But I just had to share...
J&L in San Francisco last weekend. The most beautiful city in the US. Ahhh. Thank you to the new Dr. Frome (Andrea) for giving us a fantastic excuse to visit your lovely city:))
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Isn't this pretty?
Isn't it lovely? I generally try not to pat myself on the back (I generally think that humility is among the most important qualities one can strive to possess) but I just think it's beautiful and feel the need to share. This was Jim's 40th birthday cake (for the public party). It's a chocolate cake (our usual low-fat formula), with Maple Buttercream Frosting (per his request).
I am in the process of writing a more detailed entry on the preparation of the cake, but I had to put a "teaser" up in advance. Jim took a great bunch of pictures of the process, and I’m hoping it will be a fun and informative entry—once I manage to find the time to type it out.
It's amazing how little personal fulfillment I get in my job, where I spend most of my time, but looking at this cake fills me with a feeling of such accomplishment. Oh well, that's what spare time is for...more on the full process involved in the preparation of this cake to come shortly…
Quinoa Pizza Dough Update
In an earlier post, I gave the formula for quinoa pizza dough. While tasty, this dough was not easy to work with; none of the batches that I had made had the necessary stretch to allow me to form a pizza with a thin enough crust. So, the crust was tasty but the crust was just too thick for each slice (and I couldn’t make a pizza large enough in diameter to accommodate all of the toppings I prepared—so the pizza tended to grow upwards, like a skyscraper).
I suspected that the lack of “stretchiness” was due to the lower gluten content of the dough, since quinoa is apparently a gluten free product. A couple of weeks ago when we had pizza night, I added about 1 tablespoon of Vital Wheat Gluten to the flour mixture before adding the oil and water. This made a world of difference in the ease of working with the crust, and also vastly improved the texture of the finished product (it had a much more satisfying bite). It does not adulterate the flavor at all, but instead only improves these other attributes. I purchased a small box of it at WFM, which had instructions for inclusion in baked goods (based on the amount of flour you’re starting with). So, if anyone is actually reading this and is interested in preparing the quinoa pizza dough (in the “I’m Unemployed; Let’s Have Pizza” entry), try adding some Vital Wheat Gluten when you combine the flours in the food processor.
I suspected that the lack of “stretchiness” was due to the lower gluten content of the dough, since quinoa is apparently a gluten free product. A couple of weeks ago when we had pizza night, I added about 1 tablespoon of Vital Wheat Gluten to the flour mixture before adding the oil and water. This made a world of difference in the ease of working with the crust, and also vastly improved the texture of the finished product (it had a much more satisfying bite). It does not adulterate the flavor at all, but instead only improves these other attributes. I purchased a small box of it at WFM, which had instructions for inclusion in baked goods (based on the amount of flour you’re starting with). So, if anyone is actually reading this and is interested in preparing the quinoa pizza dough (in the “I’m Unemployed; Let’s Have Pizza” entry), try adding some Vital Wheat Gluten when you combine the flours in the food processor.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
The Injured “Chef"
I have been felled by an injury. It was incurred while dancing, intoxicated, at a wedding. In Las Vegas. I fell on the floor, basically flat on my face except for the fact that my shoulder got in the way. The diagnosis: Severe tendonitis of the shoulder, with extremely limited range of motion and basically constant pain. The treatment: ice, heat, Advil and Vicodin (thank you, Dr.). The good news: I might think twice about dancing in public again, which will no doubt make the world a better place. The bad news: I’m getting an early taste of what it feels like to be older.
Suffering with this injury has given me some pause for thought on just how easy it is to take health and mobility for granted. Certain activities that would normally be completely painless, such as shampooing my hair or parking my car, have become extremely painful. And, because I haven’t been injured long enough to be completely conditioned out of doing these things in a way that causes pain, I’m constantly hurting myself. I’ve been through three major surgeries at this point in my life (at 9 years old, 24 and 25) and each time as I’ve recovered, I’ve had the “revelation” of how fortunate one is to be in good health. While this may not compare to the surgery recoveries that I’ve endured, I’ve been flirting with a similar revelation in the past couple of weeks: when my arm is back to normal (assuming this won’t become a chronic or lasting problem), I will be very fortunate and should appreciate every day the sheer joy of being able to move freely. The second revelation that I had was more sobering: I will probably forget this message after my arm is better, just as I forgot it each time I’ve recovered in the past and I’ll start taking my health for granted like always. But, I will try not to return to that way of thinking, and I think that I have a better chance at success now because my general outlook has changed in recent years.
Over the past few years I've discovered that I love to exercise; I start every day on the Nordic track (after a light breakfast, to provide some much needed—and quickly expended—energy). I think that I’ve gradually become addicted (or dependent, at least) to the endorphin rush that comes with a body-pounding workout. Also, as I explained to Jim during my 2-day workout-hiatus following the injury, I’m a sub-100 pound girl but I have the daily food lust of a 200-pound man—and those extra calories have to go somewhere. After 2 long days off from working out, I was back in business (and back to eating like a pig).
It occurred to me when I was back in the swing of things on the Nordic track just how happy I was to be back on it again; not just for the allowance it gives me in eating but because I really enjoyed the workout. I enjoyed much more than I had in a long time, and honestly treasured each second that I could devote to the exercise. As much as I thought I loved exercise before, I think this injury gave me a newfound appreciation for it, while also giving me a new respect for the limitations of my body. I eventually returned to the gym for non-arm-engaging aerobic activity. I usually visit the gym for weight training but, since my weight workouts usually focus primarily on my upper back, chest and arms (with some legs thrown in to help support my knees, which occasionally cause me trouble), I could not yet engage in weight training that day. At one point, I caught myself watching someone doing a pull-up, and an intense feeling of envy overcame me. Maybe this speaks to a newfound appreciation, and maybe I’ve got a fighting chance of not returning to being ungrateful for good health and mobility as I’ve always done in the past.
So, now that I’ve given my love-ode to the Nordic Track, I’ll get on to some food related talk. April 20th was Jim’s birthday—the big 4-0. We stayed in on Friday night, and went to brew beer on Saturday at the local brew-on-premises brewpub. I wanted to have a special dinner to celebrate the big day, but I also knew that I would be in no shape to make dinner by the time we arrived home (it takes between 3-4 hours to brew, and they have beer on tap: you do the math). So, I prepared the bulk of the meal in advance, with only minimal grilling work to be done when we arrived home.
I knew we’d be hungry when we got home, so I prepared a couple of dips for us to enjoy while dinner cooked. I made my usual guacamole (I gave the recipe in a previous entry)—although this time it was a very chunky dip because I had proportionally less avocado than tomato and peppers (but I actually prefer a chunky guac with lots of adjuncts—if I wanted pureed avocado, I’d just make that). I also threw together a horseradish mustard dip that we sometimes have on soft pretzels or on the roast beef and Gruyere crostini treats that I sometimes make. It’s a really simple dip, mixed by eye-measurements until the thickness and horseradish/mustard balance are just right. I combine light sour cream, non-fat buttermilk, prepared horseradish, whole grain mustard, salt and pepper and blend until smooth with a fork. Served on hard or soft pretzels, or even over Bratwurst, it’s a tasty treat.
I’ve mentioned in previous posts that I’m not a big fan of beef. Because of this, we hardly eat beef at home. However, Jim loves beef. On the rare occasions that we actually eat out, he almost always takes the opportunity to get a nice big hamburger. So, for his birthday dinner I offered to make steak, but only if I could have a different protein. So surf and turf seemed to be the answer. Jim loves beef, but he’s no fool either: he also loves scallops. Our chosen proteins for the birthday meal became steak (as lean a cut as I could find; he’s turning 40, and we want to keep him around for a while), gigantic sea scallops and shrimp. All of these items were to be coated with a couple of simple spice rubs that I saw in this month’s Cooking Light and grilled to perfection.
To go alongside, I prepared a cold quinoa salad with a roasted garlic dressing (and a load of veggies, steamed and shocked with cool water). First, I roasted a head of garlic in the oven. This is really easy to do: strip off the outermost layers of loose paper from the garlic head (leaving the tight papers on and the head intact), wrap the head in foil (a little loosely), and pop it in the oven at about 400 degrees for a about an hour. When it emerges, you’ll have soft, sweet roasted garlic cloves. I took the yield from the roasted garlic head and combined the softened cloves in the mini-food processor with some sherry vinegar, dried thyme, mustard, some jarred roasted red peppers and a dash of vegetable broth (to provide some liquid for blending, in place of the more commonly used oil). I tossed the cooked quinoa with the dressing and added some green beans and carrots that I had cooked lightly in the microwave and shocked with cold water to set their fresh and vibrant color. I sprinkled the salad with sliced green onions and minced Italian parsley and put the salad in the fridge, so the flavors would meld. Now one of our side dishes would be ready for consumption once we arrived home.
Jim had long ago expressed an interested in baked beans, so his birthday meal seemed a prime opportunity to deliver them. Having never made them before, and having no particular recipe in mind (or real idea of what they were generally comprised of), the recipe research began. I surveyed probably 20 or so baked bean recipes before developing my own formula and method. The method here was crucial, since most baked bean recipes would have you bake the beans in a low oven (250 to 300) for over an hour (I saw one that went as high as 3 hours), adding additional liquid during the baking time to prevent drying. Since we would be away for most the afternoon, and since we would want to eat soon after arriving home, this method would not work. So I improvised a stove-top method, which I could transfer to the crockpot to keep warm while we were away brewing beer.
The beans were to have a maple flavor because, as you’ll likely discover in an upcoming post about his birthday party, Jim loves maple syrup. He (apparently—I didn’t know this until he told me) eats at least a spoonful of it every night before bedtime. I used dried navy and great northern beans (soaked overnight), which I cooked on the stovetop for about 1-2 hours with some smashed garlic cloves and bay leaves. I didn’t make too much in the way of notes regarding the sauce that I prepared; I started with a sheet of paper with various ingredients scribbled on it (diced or crushed tomatoes, various spices, honey or maple syrup or brown sugar, balsamic or apple cider vinegar…and many other options), and proceed to throw a bunch of that stuff together until I created a sauce that tasted sufficiently good to be married with the beans. (Two weeks later I did the same thing—make a great batch of BBQ baked beans and again failed to write it down.) One day, I’ll write down what I put in the beans and post it, but it doesn’t seem fair to try to summarize it now when I have no real recollection of exactly what I did. (That was a big, long apology for not posting the recipe).
For the vegetable component of our dinner, we decided to use the grill also. I cut up an assortment of vegetables that do well on skewers, including red bell peppers, red onion, yellow squash and zucchini. When we arrived home, we threaded these onto skewers, along with cherry tomatoes and mushrooms and grilled them off. I also steamed some broccoli, which would be mixed with the grilled vegetables and the dressing I prepared for them. The dressing consisted of pineapple juice, apple cider vinegar, fresh basil and Dijon mustard, all blended in the food processor. This is a variation of a recipe from the Whole Foods cookbook, but of course they use what I consider to be an insane (and completely unnecessary) amount of oil; my version has none. The hot veggies get tossed in this mixture and then they’re ready to eat.
For dessert, I prepared a “birthday brownie” rather than a cake. We had just come back from a heavy weekend of eating in my least favorite American city (LV), and having an entire cake in the house for just the two of us seemed like a bad idea. So, I made our favorite low fat brownie recipe (it makes an 8 by 8 brownie), which is deceivingly decadent and fudgy for it’s low fat content. I topped it with a honey-fudge glaze; also a low-fat (but high sugar, obviously) concoction. The secret to low fat chocolate baking is cocoa power, and finding a way not to add tons of oil. Cocoa powder has hardly any fat, especially compared to bar chocolate, which contains milk solids. The brownie was delightful and offered us a way to “toast” his birthday without having a huge cake taunting us from the refrigerator for days.
So, that was Jim’s birthday celebration (the private one; we planned to have a party in a couple of weeks—more to come on that later). Now I’m on the long road to recovery, but I’ll continue to hoist my arm onto the countertop so I can prepare us relatively healthful meals in the coming days. I’m still kickin’ despite the injury and refuse to slow down too much; anyone who knows me well knows that I don’t believe in breaks (for myself, at least). Someday, that will probably be my undoing.
Suffering with this injury has given me some pause for thought on just how easy it is to take health and mobility for granted. Certain activities that would normally be completely painless, such as shampooing my hair or parking my car, have become extremely painful. And, because I haven’t been injured long enough to be completely conditioned out of doing these things in a way that causes pain, I’m constantly hurting myself. I’ve been through three major surgeries at this point in my life (at 9 years old, 24 and 25) and each time as I’ve recovered, I’ve had the “revelation” of how fortunate one is to be in good health. While this may not compare to the surgery recoveries that I’ve endured, I’ve been flirting with a similar revelation in the past couple of weeks: when my arm is back to normal (assuming this won’t become a chronic or lasting problem), I will be very fortunate and should appreciate every day the sheer joy of being able to move freely. The second revelation that I had was more sobering: I will probably forget this message after my arm is better, just as I forgot it each time I’ve recovered in the past and I’ll start taking my health for granted like always. But, I will try not to return to that way of thinking, and I think that I have a better chance at success now because my general outlook has changed in recent years.
Over the past few years I've discovered that I love to exercise; I start every day on the Nordic track (after a light breakfast, to provide some much needed—and quickly expended—energy). I think that I’ve gradually become addicted (or dependent, at least) to the endorphin rush that comes with a body-pounding workout. Also, as I explained to Jim during my 2-day workout-hiatus following the injury, I’m a sub-100 pound girl but I have the daily food lust of a 200-pound man—and those extra calories have to go somewhere. After 2 long days off from working out, I was back in business (and back to eating like a pig).
It occurred to me when I was back in the swing of things on the Nordic track just how happy I was to be back on it again; not just for the allowance it gives me in eating but because I really enjoyed the workout. I enjoyed much more than I had in a long time, and honestly treasured each second that I could devote to the exercise. As much as I thought I loved exercise before, I think this injury gave me a newfound appreciation for it, while also giving me a new respect for the limitations of my body. I eventually returned to the gym for non-arm-engaging aerobic activity. I usually visit the gym for weight training but, since my weight workouts usually focus primarily on my upper back, chest and arms (with some legs thrown in to help support my knees, which occasionally cause me trouble), I could not yet engage in weight training that day. At one point, I caught myself watching someone doing a pull-up, and an intense feeling of envy overcame me. Maybe this speaks to a newfound appreciation, and maybe I’ve got a fighting chance of not returning to being ungrateful for good health and mobility as I’ve always done in the past.
So, now that I’ve given my love-ode to the Nordic Track, I’ll get on to some food related talk. April 20th was Jim’s birthday—the big 4-0. We stayed in on Friday night, and went to brew beer on Saturday at the local brew-on-premises brewpub. I wanted to have a special dinner to celebrate the big day, but I also knew that I would be in no shape to make dinner by the time we arrived home (it takes between 3-4 hours to brew, and they have beer on tap: you do the math). So, I prepared the bulk of the meal in advance, with only minimal grilling work to be done when we arrived home.
I knew we’d be hungry when we got home, so I prepared a couple of dips for us to enjoy while dinner cooked. I made my usual guacamole (I gave the recipe in a previous entry)—although this time it was a very chunky dip because I had proportionally less avocado than tomato and peppers (but I actually prefer a chunky guac with lots of adjuncts—if I wanted pureed avocado, I’d just make that). I also threw together a horseradish mustard dip that we sometimes have on soft pretzels or on the roast beef and Gruyere crostini treats that I sometimes make. It’s a really simple dip, mixed by eye-measurements until the thickness and horseradish/mustard balance are just right. I combine light sour cream, non-fat buttermilk, prepared horseradish, whole grain mustard, salt and pepper and blend until smooth with a fork. Served on hard or soft pretzels, or even over Bratwurst, it’s a tasty treat.
I’ve mentioned in previous posts that I’m not a big fan of beef. Because of this, we hardly eat beef at home. However, Jim loves beef. On the rare occasions that we actually eat out, he almost always takes the opportunity to get a nice big hamburger. So, for his birthday dinner I offered to make steak, but only if I could have a different protein. So surf and turf seemed to be the answer. Jim loves beef, but he’s no fool either: he also loves scallops. Our chosen proteins for the birthday meal became steak (as lean a cut as I could find; he’s turning 40, and we want to keep him around for a while), gigantic sea scallops and shrimp. All of these items were to be coated with a couple of simple spice rubs that I saw in this month’s Cooking Light and grilled to perfection.
To go alongside, I prepared a cold quinoa salad with a roasted garlic dressing (and a load of veggies, steamed and shocked with cool water). First, I roasted a head of garlic in the oven. This is really easy to do: strip off the outermost layers of loose paper from the garlic head (leaving the tight papers on and the head intact), wrap the head in foil (a little loosely), and pop it in the oven at about 400 degrees for a about an hour. When it emerges, you’ll have soft, sweet roasted garlic cloves. I took the yield from the roasted garlic head and combined the softened cloves in the mini-food processor with some sherry vinegar, dried thyme, mustard, some jarred roasted red peppers and a dash of vegetable broth (to provide some liquid for blending, in place of the more commonly used oil). I tossed the cooked quinoa with the dressing and added some green beans and carrots that I had cooked lightly in the microwave and shocked with cold water to set their fresh and vibrant color. I sprinkled the salad with sliced green onions and minced Italian parsley and put the salad in the fridge, so the flavors would meld. Now one of our side dishes would be ready for consumption once we arrived home.
Jim had long ago expressed an interested in baked beans, so his birthday meal seemed a prime opportunity to deliver them. Having never made them before, and having no particular recipe in mind (or real idea of what they were generally comprised of), the recipe research began. I surveyed probably 20 or so baked bean recipes before developing my own formula and method. The method here was crucial, since most baked bean recipes would have you bake the beans in a low oven (250 to 300) for over an hour (I saw one that went as high as 3 hours), adding additional liquid during the baking time to prevent drying. Since we would be away for most the afternoon, and since we would want to eat soon after arriving home, this method would not work. So I improvised a stove-top method, which I could transfer to the crockpot to keep warm while we were away brewing beer.
The beans were to have a maple flavor because, as you’ll likely discover in an upcoming post about his birthday party, Jim loves maple syrup. He (apparently—I didn’t know this until he told me) eats at least a spoonful of it every night before bedtime. I used dried navy and great northern beans (soaked overnight), which I cooked on the stovetop for about 1-2 hours with some smashed garlic cloves and bay leaves. I didn’t make too much in the way of notes regarding the sauce that I prepared; I started with a sheet of paper with various ingredients scribbled on it (diced or crushed tomatoes, various spices, honey or maple syrup or brown sugar, balsamic or apple cider vinegar…and many other options), and proceed to throw a bunch of that stuff together until I created a sauce that tasted sufficiently good to be married with the beans. (Two weeks later I did the same thing—make a great batch of BBQ baked beans and again failed to write it down.) One day, I’ll write down what I put in the beans and post it, but it doesn’t seem fair to try to summarize it now when I have no real recollection of exactly what I did. (That was a big, long apology for not posting the recipe).
For the vegetable component of our dinner, we decided to use the grill also. I cut up an assortment of vegetables that do well on skewers, including red bell peppers, red onion, yellow squash and zucchini. When we arrived home, we threaded these onto skewers, along with cherry tomatoes and mushrooms and grilled them off. I also steamed some broccoli, which would be mixed with the grilled vegetables and the dressing I prepared for them. The dressing consisted of pineapple juice, apple cider vinegar, fresh basil and Dijon mustard, all blended in the food processor. This is a variation of a recipe from the Whole Foods cookbook, but of course they use what I consider to be an insane (and completely unnecessary) amount of oil; my version has none. The hot veggies get tossed in this mixture and then they’re ready to eat.
For dessert, I prepared a “birthday brownie” rather than a cake. We had just come back from a heavy weekend of eating in my least favorite American city (LV), and having an entire cake in the house for just the two of us seemed like a bad idea. So, I made our favorite low fat brownie recipe (it makes an 8 by 8 brownie), which is deceivingly decadent and fudgy for it’s low fat content. I topped it with a honey-fudge glaze; also a low-fat (but high sugar, obviously) concoction. The secret to low fat chocolate baking is cocoa power, and finding a way not to add tons of oil. Cocoa powder has hardly any fat, especially compared to bar chocolate, which contains milk solids. The brownie was delightful and offered us a way to “toast” his birthday without having a huge cake taunting us from the refrigerator for days.
So, that was Jim’s birthday celebration (the private one; we planned to have a party in a couple of weeks—more to come on that later). Now I’m on the long road to recovery, but I’ll continue to hoist my arm onto the countertop so I can prepare us relatively healthful meals in the coming days. I’m still kickin’ despite the injury and refuse to slow down too much; anyone who knows me well knows that I don’t believe in breaks (for myself, at least). Someday, that will probably be my undoing.
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