In case you missed anything the past week, I’m here to tell you what we had here:
Chocolate Dipped Marshmallow Cake Cones – Ice cream cones filled with homemade strawberry marshmallow, topped with devil’s food cake and dipped in Callebaut milk chocolate
Sedona Sights — photos of pretty Sedona, AZ from our weekend trip
Boiled Beef Soup — mommy’s Filipino recipe of her childhood favorite comfort food called “Nilagang Baka”. Made with beef soup bones, beef brisket, cabbage and spinach. Great for the cold winter days.
Chocolate Covered Craving — We asked YOU what kind of chocolate you want. So far the Dark Chocolate camp has the majority of votes. You can still vote here.
In Defense of Milk Chocolate– Milk chocolate has been neglected and have been dissed by chocolate purists for years, but it’s now making a comeback.
I’ve talked to a lot of people and it seems like they don’t know what I’m talking about when I say Chocolate Covered Strawberry Marshmallows. I’ve devoured boxes and boxes of these as a child and when they were suddenly discontinued before I turned 10, I was forced to move on to other (evil) snacks. I searched for it online a couple of weeks ago but found only marshmallow cones categorized under “retro candy” (that made me feel OLD). Not chocolate dipped and not strawberry-flavored. As you can tell by now, I’m very specific about what I want and will insist upon it as much as possible. Refusing to accept I won’t be able to enjoy this evil dessert, I took it upon myself to make them for Valentine’s Day.
I’ve never made marshmallows before and just the thought of melting sugar and corn syrup made me dizzy, but again, I was determined to make this happen in spite of all my kitchen fears. I found this recipe for homemade marshmallows, and I added the recommended strawberry puree, except that I cooked it a little with sugar and lemon juice and used a lesser amount. I poured this pink marshmallow goodness into ice cream cones. This is where my little experiment took a different turn. The marshmallow mixture fell flat at the top instead of how I dreamed it would twirl up to the sky like an ice cream twirl. Instead of crying over it, I stuck on top of each cone a cupcake and shaved it into the conical ice cream shape. The marshmallows were sticky enough to hold the cupcakes, pressing it onto the cone several times did the trick. I then dipped this cake-mallow-cone combo in melted Callebaut milk chocolate, sprinkled some cane sugar crystals to give it a little crunch, and let it cool in the fridge for half an hour.
The result: a seriously sinful treat worthy of Hansel and Gretel’s insatiable sweet teeth. [I almost said sweet tooths!]
I wish I could say these a snap to create to entice you into making them right at this very moment, but the hard truth is some great things require time and a bit of effort. One thing I can assure you is that these were 100% fun to make, down to cooking the sugar for the marshmallows. And have I mentioned they are yummy yummy yummy?! The most labor intensive step was whipping the candy syrup into the strawberry puree with gelatin, but only if you use a hand mixer. That shiny, sexy and expensive KitchenAid stand mixer would be your best friend for this delicious treat.
If you want to take the tooth-aching route, use the milk chocolate dip like I did. Otherwise, I suggest you either mix 2 parts dark with 2 parts milk chocolate, or go with the dark altogether.
This would be a great make-ahead dessert so you can have these at your next party. Or just make it as a treat for yourself. Whatever you do, make sure you try it!
Hi hi! Teddy here and here is my first post! Mommy and Daddy talk about this Show, Semi-Homemade, and I’m here to show you how easy it is to make something delicious, satisfying, and pretty! The process starts with Devil’s food Cake Mix from Duncan Hines and prepare as the package suggests! But follow the directions carefully, you don’t want to over-beat the batter! An over-beaten batter makes cupcakes stiff! You want your guests to love your cupcakes!
One box should have enough for about 18 regular sized cupcakes. Once you have filled your pans to 2/3 the size of the cup (Don’t forget the papers before you pour it in!), give the pans some tapping so any air bubbles that are trapped come to the surface. Make sure your oven is preheated and cook as the box says. Start with the lowest time for the length. Your nose will tell you when it is getting close to being done!
When the timer goes off the first time, poke a few of the cupcakes with a toothpick. Cupcakes are done when the pick comes out clean! Still have bits on the pick? Leave it in the oven for a few minutes more!
Now they are done, put the trays on a cooling rack or heating pad for at least 10 minutes. Meanwhile, take some strawberries, not too large, but not too small, and cut thin slices from those strawberries width-wise so it has those pretty looking heart shapes! (Well, not really, because you have to cut off the tops, too, but you get the idea!) Put a cupcake in the center of a tea saucer, sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar, and surround the cupcake with the slices! Enjoy! I hope you liked my post! Bye!
There’s something about Super Bowl and the hoopla and the parties. I’ve never really been into it and my most in-depth participation in this old American tradition — and you can take my “in-depth participation” in football as lightly as you want — was yesterday. I probably shouldn’t tell you that aside from knowing that the game was going to be in our own backyard of Glendale, AZ, I knew nothing more of it until the day before. And when we went home, I found out that the players were staying at the hotel right across where we live. Obviously non-plussed. All I can say about the game is that it’s good to see the underdog win, and the two Mannings brothers have each won. See? I know a few things.
I’ve twice declared yesterday in mid-inebriation that Super Bowl is my new favorite holiday next to Christmas and Thanksgiving. Anything that involves a fiesta of good food and great company is right up my alley. What’s not to like? It makes me sound like complete glutton, but the easiest way to get me into anything is through food. At heart, I’m a man with a big stomach and and even bigger eye for food. Wait, that didn’t sound right… nevermind.
Yesterday for the party at Dan’s parents’ house, Dan and I brought spinach and artichoke dip, which garnered a handful of “Can you give me the recipe?”s, and red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Dan will tell you all about his amazing dip later — you better try it!
I’ll provide you with some artery-clogging-free pictures of cupcakes for now.
These cupcakes were “semi-homemade”, thanks to the Sprinkle’s Cupcake Mix from Williams-Sonoma. I must admit, it was alright for what it was worth. I totally agree with Dan’s dad that he was expecting a little bit more moisture as you bite into the cupcake. It wasn’t awesome and I’ve had better red velvets, but this was nice to try, especially for the eye candy factor.
I just adore the red batter and the resulting cake color.
The cupcake mix kit comes with the cupcake mix and the candy topping of brown and red circle, which was a cute touch. It doesn’t include the confectioner’s sugar for the icing, but it was so good that I will post it up here for you and you can make it for your cupcakes. Dan, who is averse to cream cheese, liked it a lot.
Please register and Vote for Gourmeted between February 4 and 8. Won’t you please, please — vote on the newbie on the block?
We’ll all have a chance to win a trip to Napa Valley for the annual Death by Chocolate Festival. We’ll take you there with pictures and send you postcards from beautiful Napa, if you want. ;-) It’s a win-win situation! What are you waiting for? Go vote!
Thursday night was an interesting night for me. I did not feel like cooking too much and really did not feel like getting something from a local fast food place. Joy suggested I make an omelette. So I did.
But I have never made an omelette before, so I hit up good old Google for advice: WikiHow for the perfect omelette. Please follow along with feasting eyes.
A recent article appeared in the LA Times that caught my eye. You may read it here. It brings an interesting light on what Joy and I have been noticing as well, but never really wanted to talk about it. Please indulge me with your thoughts with my post:
Christmas Eve dinner has always been a tradition in my family that was made by reservation. Between Eli’s of Chicago to some of the fine dining chains here in Phoenix, my family was always treated out for dinner.
This year, Joy and I wanted to do something different. We wanted to make Christmas Eve dinner. Even before we sent out the invitations for the dinner, we spent many nights planning this out. Every detail needed to be precise to us. I believe we did a most restaurant-worthy job.
One of our appetizers for Christmas Eve dinner was the Spinach Dip from the 75th Anniversary Joy of Cooking. While we have no images, I believe the ingredients speak for themselves as to how delectable the dish will be.
One of our favorite new places to eat, Sauce, has an awesome salad: Chopped Chicken, Pine Nuts, Cherry Tomato & Gorgonzola. It was my idea to replicate that salad and its dressing. But I also wanted to make it something of my own. I did not write down anything for this recipe, so I’m going on sheer recollection of the dish.
I give you my first attempt at this dish, that I have entitled:
SPINACH PANCETTA SALAD WITH GORGONZOLA VINAIGRETTE
Yields: 5-6 servings
Ingredients
For the vinaigrette:
4 ounces crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
For the salad:
9 ounces of baby spinach
1/4 cup (or 2.25 oz package) pine nuts
1/4 pound thin sliced pancetta
2 tablespoons olive oil
Preparation
1. Vinaigrette: In a food processor or blender, combine and pulse the olive oil and canola oil. Add the Gorgonzola, salt and pepper next and mix well, pausing a few times to scrape the sides. Add the lemon and lime juice, pulse. The resulting consistency is similar to that of Caesar salad dressing.
2. Salad: Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Fry the pancetta to golden brown. Transfer the cooked pancetta to a paper towel-lined plate and let it cool. Crumble when cooled.
3. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread pie nuts over a cookie sheet evenly and place in the oven to toast it for about 5-8 minutes. Keep a vigilant eye on the nuts. When you can smell them outside the oven, take them out and allow them to cool by placing the cookie sheet on a cooling rack.
4. In a large serving bowl, pour the vinaigrette. Add the spinach, crumbled pancetta and pine nuts and toss together using salad forks or tongs. Make sure to reach from the bottom. Serve immediately.
This recipe, although nothing was written, was a massive success. Even the guest we thought would not touch it finished her serving and gave it a rave review. I am not sure I would change much about the recipe, but one thing is for sure, we will be serving it often. I hope it brings as much enjoyment to your table as it has to ours.
This was the other side dish we wanted to serve with dinner. I used the word ‘was’ because everything did not go as well as expected. We wanted to make a potato dish with the beef but we did not want to make the regular mashed variety. Then one night while watching Food Network, Paula Deen and Robert Irvine made this potato dish that looked awesome with the presentation. When Robert said the name of the potato, we knew what our potato dish would be on the holiday table. First, the recipe. Then, how we worked around our issues. Continue Reading
