When I first read about cakepops and saw how cute they are on www.bakerella.com , I knew I had to try them out. It took me a year to work up the courage, the effort and the occasion to try my first batch because I am a bit of a perfectionist. The trouble is, things are rarely done the first time perfectly and so even though there are literally hundreds creative ideas in my brain at any one given time, I am often hesitant to start for fear of epic failure and judgement. It is a quality I am learning to get over because as they say life is indeed short and I would much rather say I tried, anyway back to cakepops…my occasion came in the form of my bestie’s birthday. Her love of pandas the inspiration to create and so create I did.

I would like to say these were easy, but nothing is the first time, and I would like to say making these was so much fun, but perfectionism is stressful. Finding all the finicky detail items was hard because I live on an island and we don’t have a great source for baking accessories, though we do have a Michaels. I think some of my improving worked really well. Making the cake balls themselves was easy and delicious. I will make more of these for sure as they have such potential, and even though batch one was not “perfect” it was pretty good…I think =)

I really encourage others who are thinking of giving this a try to get up the gumption and just do it. My party guests really enjoyed them and I really did realize how much the effort counts.

Posted: November 6th, 2011 under Uncategorized.
Comments: none

When I was a tiny tiny girl I refused to eat my veggies. Any of them…ever. My Mom talked to me, my doctor talked to me and I even went to the hospital, but it was of no use, veggies and I were enemies. My mom hid them in pancakes and milkshakes but face to face I could not eat a veggie. As a teenager I was very self- conscious about my dislike of the green because it made it so challenging to eat with other people without being impolite or inviting some free advice about how the body needs vitamins. I would try a veggie here and there and no luck. I felt doomed to a life of picking things off my food and funny looks.

My twenties brought the first bit of hope - juicing. I could tolerate some veggies in fresh juice, so I did that and then slowly but surely through tremendous trial and trepidation the next few years brought a few veggies into my life. Slowly spinach, peppers and mushrooms creeped onto my plate (prepared most especially by me, for me) I am less scared of public eating now as I can handle far more than I ever imagined I would but at the same time many veggies, particularly of the cruciferous variety seem like they may never be a part of my life and I am at peace with that. That was until a few weeks ago when I read about an internet friend making a cauliflower based pizza crust…intrigued and scared I filed it away in my mind for a rare adventure in eating day. Well my friends, that day was today and so, I share something non-rainbow, but equally revolutionary for me. The cauliflower pizza crust. Lulu approved.

Ingredients

3 cups cauliflower, grated

1 cup shredded light mozzarella cheese

1- 2 egg

1 tsp oregano

2 tsp basil

2 tsp sage

1/2 tsp rosemary

Garlic powder, to taste

Directions

Steam the cauliflower, let it cool and then grate it. ( I actually chopped and grated mine first using a food processor then microwaved the grated veggie for nearly 8 minutes to “steam”)

Combine grated cauliflower with the mozzarella and egg in a large bowl. Spray a circular or rectangular metal pan with cooking spray before spreading the dough evenly. ( Or if you have a pizza stone, cover it with parchment paper ) Sprinkle the dough with spices and mix them in. I found the dough to be quite wet, this may be because I steamed after I chopped, or I did not allow enough time to cool, so I added more and more cauliflower and found that worked for me.

Bake at 450° F for 12-15 minutes. Bake for another 20 or so at 350..keep your eye on things When it’s to your liking with crispiness remove from oven and add the toppings of your choice (be fast though, the tomoato sauce if you choose to add it will quickly make it’s way through the crust and sog it up a bit) - I retured mine to the oven for an additional 10 minutes plus 3 minutes on high under the broiler because I wanted everything crisp! 

My toppings? Chicken, mozza, caramelized onions and roasted garlic. delicious. This crust doesn’t taste like bread, but I can tell you it sure doesn’t taste like cauliflower and for that I am relived. It is very similar in taste and texture to polenta and next time I will season it more aggressively maybe with some chilli powder and more fresh herbs.

So, there you have it,  I’m eating my veggies, sneaking them into my own diet wherever I can and finding surprise taste adventures along the way! There are a lot of sites online with this recipe so google away friends and maybe the finiky eater in your house might find this veggie one that can be easily handled =)

Posted: August 17th, 2011 under Uncategorized.
Comments: 1

At the start of 2011 my hunny the photographer was taking maternity photos for our beautiful friend whose baby was soon to come into this world. As the day moved on and I began to help a little more with the shoot itself a suggestion came to light to use some of my feather butterflies in her last shots. In the shot shown here (my fav) one of my butterfly combs rests in her golden locks. While these pieces are beautiful it soon came to light that they had a symbolic meaning to our beautiful subject in that her own mother, who recently passed away ,had called her butterfly. I became deeply inspired and my mind wandered into a creative space ruled by the flutter of wings and the shining of rainbows.

And so within days of their departure from our island I began to feel the call of creation. The urge to make something for that baby who would be connected to butterflies. I imagined many things with wings that I could bring to her, but slowly I began to focus on an idea of movement through colour and of texture. Something that baby might love as she became a little girl and might still find of interest as she moves into being a young adult.  I got out my trusty paper punches and began to punch my way through hundreds of fluttering shapes in rainbow hues.

One by one I would place them. One by one I would add others and fold their wings. It took weeks, but it was a labor of love inspired by a little girl who by now had just entered the world and soon I had a rainbow cyclone of paper butterflies. I hope she loves it as much as I loved creating it for her.

Posted: July 19th, 2011 under Uncategorized.
Comments: none

  Recently, my brain became focused on the idea of infusing lavender with vodka, honey, vinegar or oil. I began my quest through Google and stumbled onto something great. Upon seeing this photo in Design Sponge my breath was instantly taken away by not only the beauty of the image, but the amazing possibility that lays in my own herb garden.

My thumb is not very green, I can’t seem to keep many things happy in my garden beds, but the one type of plant I really do well with is herbs. Last year I was so excited to dry my own herbs to use in cooking and have been pleased as punch that many came back after the winter. This year, my herb garden has expanded and I have a mulitude of ideas about what to do with my fragrent friends beyond mere cooking and drying.

First on the list was preparing my own vodka infusion. Inspired by that beautiful picture I put together my own mixture of  mint, lavender and rosemary - all fresh from the garden. Here you can see my experiment in the jar. I have read infusing times vary from two days to  one month. I will check on the flavor of my own creation in a week or so. Then check in week after week following. If this works, and is delicious, I can see a whole host of other herb infused beverages being created this summer.

To accompany the vodka infusions, I plan on creating a number of simple syrup infusions as well. Notably rose-infused simple syrup,lavender syrup, and vanilla-ginger syrup. If all goes well, I can see recreating these along with herb soaps from my favorite magazine of all time Martha Stewart Living. This how-to soap recipe that I have ear marked in one of her magazines is really calling to me. I can imagine making all of these things for a garden inspired wedding…a little idea that kicks around in the back of my mind ( right hunny?)

For now, it is all just great possibility. I hope to post more when I know what my infusion actually tastes like and hopefully my hunny will help create a beautiful image of our own to publish in here so I can share how to make something amazing out of our own infused-vodkas. I will likely make the rose syrup as soon as I deem the vodka is ready to go!

Posted: June 5th, 2011 under Uncategorized.
Comments: 2

Chocolate, cookies, and gelatin? Well absolutely if you are around my kitchen these days. Thanks to my recent Ebay and Etsy indulgences, I am well stocked with fun gelatin molds and always on the hunt for a reason to break them out. After successfully getting my hands on a beautiful vintage glass gelatin mold of a rabbit, my Easter plans quickly fell into place. Another ice-cream gelatin experiment coming my way.                      

In this ice-cream gelatin excursion, I added a little coconut pudding powder to the vanilla bunny and a little extra gelatin to all the bunnies because I wanted them to hold their shape. The pudding powder made the big bunny set too fast and I was scared its consistency would remain lumpy (though it did not). The small   bunnies were not as tasty as I would like. They were too firm and not chocolaty enough. In future I would add more cocoa powder to my ice-cream mix. I also tried not adding the sweetened condensed milk, a mistake I will not repeat - it is essential to creating that certain something in the taste.

  Of course, the gelatin was not enough for my Easter feast, I needed some cookies. These little sugar cookies were made from the roll out recipe that came with the cookie cutter itself. I could not stop eating these tasty treats, nor could my guests.   The cookies lasted only a day, but a tasty day it was. Learning to bake and decorate has brought me immesuable joy. I admit, I get easily frustrated when things do not come out perfect. I want to be naturally good at all I do, and teaching myself to make beautiful baked goods is a great challenge because it involves not only a lot of skill, but a lot of practice. So while I gain a few well deserved pounds, I learn a wonderful lesson of patience with myself. An excellent gift indeed.

Posted: May 12th, 2011 under Uncategorized.
Comments: none

Years before I was born, my mother went to an auction and bought herself a beautiful replica antique bedroom set. I say “replica” because the furniture, while old, was not over a hundred years of age at the time, and was made in the fashion of another era. That bedroom set is the backdrop to many of my memories. Pieces of it went in other parts of the home over the years. My mother kept the chest in the living room and stored her out of season clothing inside. Oneof my greatest joys as a child was opening that chest up, going through mom’s clothing and trying it on. When I moved out, most of the set came to me and I have been using pieces of it ever since. Over the years, it has taken a beating and the original finish is ruined on most pieces because as a family, we really did not treat it with great respect. The original desk/vanity piece is in my living room covered in the rings of drinks long past, I began to think about refinishing it. Painting it in a fun colour and bringing it back to life.

The trouble is - I have watched a lot of Antique’s Roadshow and the like and now that this set is over 100 years old and officially an antique, I know that to repaint is bring the value down . I wrestled with myself and for years I did nothing, but finally I decided it was time to truly enjoy my desk again. If I ever sold it, it would never bring a ton of money anyway! So out came the sandpaper and so began the refinishing.

My kitty Zissou was excited the moment the drawers left. In this picture you can see the old finish remains and in the larger picture the hard of work of sanding pays off and I have a sanded piece. I have to tell you though, I had no idea how much work it would be. There are a lot of nooks and crannies!

Priming, priming and more priming.

 Two coats of paint later…well, actually 3 because at first I painted it a different colour but was unhappy with it. I had a bright pop of turquoise colour for my living room and I could not be happier with how it looks. I do need to apply some sort of hardener or sealer though because i have found the paint to be rather soft..almost stick because it is meant for walls.  I will find a solution though and in the meantime I am spreading the word - if you want to enjoy it- through caution to the wind and paint your wood!!

Posted: April 6th, 2011 under Uncategorized.
Comments: 3

Last weekend my lovely friend Sarah invited us gals over to learn her trade secrets for making homemade goat cheese. Having spent time in Israel making cheese to sell at market, Sarah knows her stuff so needless to say we were all excited to try our hands at it. The cheese that we made involved no special cultures and no long aging times - so it is pretty instantly gratifying! I am happy to share what I learned so that we might all try it in our own kitchens.

  Sarah’s French Style Goat Cheese

You will need:

1-2 litres of goats milk, 1-5 tbsp white vinegar, sea salt, flavoring for your cheese (we used garlic, dill and nigella seeds)

Tools Required:

heavy bottom pot, cheese cloth or cheese molds, strainer and about 1.5 hours

 Step One - Get the Goat Milk on the Burner

  Heat milk on medium-low until almost boiling. 2 Litres of milk will take 45-60 min depending on your stove and pot. Stir often to avoid the milk from burning. Over the course of the hour or so you will notice the milk thickening up and giving more resistance to your spoon.

 Step Two - Stir til it’s Foamy

The milk is ready when it is slightly foamy on top with small bubbles beginning to rise up (190 - 200F ) . DO not allow the milk to boil, but do be sure that the bubbling has begun. It’s very close to boil and you can really see the pressure under the surface. Be sure to stir up any skin that is forming on the top

Step Three - Vinegar Makes the Magic

 Keeping the milk from boiling, now you are going to add the vinegar one tablespoon at a time to separate the curds and whey. Remove the milk from the stove top. Add each tablespoon of vinegar and stir about 20 seconds. The amount of vinegar required will depend on how much fat is in the milk. Sarah’s experience has been 1-2 tbsp per litre. Go slowly as you do not want too much vinegar. When it looks like you have curd soup, you have reached the consistency you want with the curds and whey separating.

Step 4 Strain Away the Liquid

Strain out all the liquid and put curds into a bowl

Step 5 Add the Flavor !

First you must add salt to bring out the flavor of your cheese. Keep in mind that much of this salt will be lost when you squeeze out the excess liquid in the next step so add a little more salt than you like to taste. Also know that the more salt, the more separation of curd from whey, so if you want a firmer cheese you may need more salt. I added just over a teaspoon and a half (be sure to taste along the way). Mix in your salt well and then add the fresh or dried flavors you fancy. I used nigella seeds, fresh dill, pepper, and garlic powder. The flavor possibilities are endless really.

     Step 6 Mold the Cheese and Squeeze

With the flavor all mixed in, it’s time to squeeze out the excess liquid and shape your cheese. For our workshop this involved using cheese cloth. Spoon your cheese into the center of the cheese cloth and wrap it up, then gently begin squeezing out the excess water. The cheese will still be quite soft to the touch, you can really make it the consistency you want. The cheese will continue lose liquid during this time so you will want to hang the cheese in it’s cloth over a bow in the fridge. I actually used an old yogurt container and cut slits into it to make my own cheese mold. One I put the cheese into that I used another similar sized container filled with rocks and placed that on top to press down on the cheese while it set overnight. The cheese will basically be set up in 4-8 hours

Step Seven Knock Everyone Out With Your Cheese

After the cheese has set, it’s time to un-mold it and taste the fruits of your labors.  The flavor will be mild after one night and will continue to develop over the next few days (if you allow it to last that long). Keep your tasty treat in a refrigerated air tight container and serve with crackers, sprinkle on salad or pizza and enjoy.

Read more »

Posted: April 2nd, 2011 under Uncategorized.
Comments: 3

After the rainbow cake and jello the rainbow craze did not die down in the kitchen. No, instead it has ignited a passion for making more things rainbow. A quick search on www.Flickr.com revealed a whole rainbow of folk making rainbow cupcakes. Yes, even smaller rainbow cakes, even more fuss and finesse. Perfect. Just the job for me! Making rainbow cupcakes was not enough of a challenge though I also needed to make them wheat/gluten and dairy free so that all my friends could enjoy ( the way they sadly had not been able to indulge in my cake) SO, I set about baking two batches of cupcakes. One for the gluten/dairy abled crowd and one for those gluten/dairy naysayers.

Round one:

Gluten and Dairy Free Rainbow Cupcakes

Baked with a recipe adapted from Amanda’s Random Ramblings Livejournal

I had to change up the flours used as I only had white and brown rice flour. I then omitted the salt because I find the margarine I use is salty enough and after mixing things in the Kitchenaid I found the batter to be too dry, so I added an additional 1/2 cup of vanilla soy milk. I divided up the batter into 5 dishes and mixed in the colour. 

The result was beautiful. The density of the batter kept the layers of colour well separated and the finished result looked stunning both inside and outside of the cupcake.  The taste was a little corn muffinish though even with the vanilla frosting. To be fair, I was the only one who complained, my celiac friends gobbled these up, as did my hunny who preferred the taste of this slightly less sweet cupcake (but still sweet - no worries)

Round Two

Dairy and Gluten Full Rainbow Cupcakes

Baked with a recipe for buttermilk cake, these more traditional cupcakes mixed up easily and took the food colouring gel pretty well (just like with the cake). Layering the batter in the muffin tins though was more of a challenge to keep the colours away from one another. 

The result was delicious, but the colours were a little light for my liking and the outside got a bit brown (I must have left them in too long) The gluten free cupcakes held the pre-baking colour better, but the the gluten full cupcakes came out fluffier. These were a delightful treat for our ladies craft afternoon and I think (based on the reactions of the kids there) that these snack sized rainbows would be a huge hit with a child’s party. I will try both recipes out again with a bit of tweaking and more colour gel. Til I get it right I guess I just have to keep on eating the test subjects!

Posted: March 8th, 2011 under Uncategorized.
Comments: 1

Let’s face it even in the dead of winter ice-cream is delectably delicious. My sweet tooth has always been a huge fan of ice-cream and heaven knows a few of the pounds on my body are all thanks to this sweet treat. It’s all worth it though - ice-cream is a great part of life. I have mentioned already how enchanted I am with the creations of Victoria Belanger the  jello mold mistress of Brooklyn and my latest creation is owed entirely to her innovation with gelatin. When I saw her cookies and cream jello I knew that I would one day try it out myself. This past week while out thrifting, I came across the very mold used n the recipe and knew it was a sign to begin. My hunny and I were attending another potluck (our community is full of fun food sharing) so I knew I would have some willing taste testers.

Mixing the ice-cream and the gelatin was the most nerve racking part for me because I don’t buy gelatin by the packet, I buy it in bulk, so the measurements can be a little off. I measured out several “packets” worth ( 2.5 teaspoons per packet I read) before I got started. I bloomed (sprinkled over half a cup of cold water) two “packets” and then got to work according to Victoria’s recipe. 

Cookies and Cream Jello (recipe by Victoria Belanger)

3 packages of Knox plain gelatin
3/4 cup cold water
1 3/4 cups boiling water
1 pint cookies and cream ice cream
1/2 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 bag of mini Oreo cookies

In a small bowl, sprinkle 2 packages of Knox over 1/2 cup cold water until gelatin absorbs the water. Stir in 1 cup boiling water for 2 minutes until the gelatin is fully dissolved. Stir in ice cream until the mixture is smooth. Crush up about 1/2 cup of the cookies and stir in. Refrigerate until mixture thickens to a gel. Arrange whole cookies in the bottom of the mold and spoon ice cram into mold over cookies. Refrigerate until set but not firm.

 

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl sprinkle 1 package of Knox over 1/4 cup cold water until gelatin absorbs the water. Stir in 3/4 cup boiling water for 2 minutes until the gelatin is fully dissolved. Stir in 1/2 cup sugar until dissolved. Allow to cool to room temp and stir in about 1 1/2 cup crushed cookies. Spoon into mold over ice cram layer and refrigerate until firm.

 I changed it up though (as you can see in my picture). I added a second layer of sweetened condensed milk mixed with cocoa powder ( the real stuff) I used about 2 heaping tablespoons mixed into one can of condensed milk combined with with 1 cup of boiling water. In a bowl, I then sprinkled 2 tablespoons of gelatin over 1/2 cup of cold water and let bloom for a couple of minutes then adding 1/2 cup of boiling water to dissolve. Stir well, add to the milk mixture and mix thoroughly. Cool to room temperature before pouring over the first layer of Jello. This mixture tastes out-of-control good. It was the perfect addition to the ice-cream gelatin! 

Posted: March 6th, 2011 under Uncategorized.
Comments: 2

      Five months ago my friend posted a link to a Globe and Mail article about gelatin and it’s commercial counterpart, Jell-o are becoming trendy again. At the top of the article, a strikingly beautiful rainbow jell-o made by Victoria Belanger the Jello Mold Mistress of Brooklyn. I fell in love instantly. I had never thought of gelatin in this way. I knew about jello molds, about 1970’s aspics (ewwwww veggies/meat and gelatin) but never once had I thought about creating something that would garner the awe of others through rainbow gelatin. I knew as soon as I saw Miss Belanger’s picture that I must create one of my own. By the weekend I procured the bundt pan that I knew would be the perfect vessel for my own rainbow delicacy. I read other blogs from people who created their own. I saw on Flickr the many successful creations made with gelatin and was awed each time and what people had been accomplishing with what I had always thought of as a humble childhood treat. Despite all the awe and wonder, I took no steps forward to creating my own until two weeks ago when invited to a crafting afternoon with my girlfriends. I went out and secured the colours of the rainbow, the sweetened condensed milk and began mixing the layers.

Following the Momofukufor2.com Recipe I began late on a Thursday night ( I do not recommend starting late at night) I made the first five layers and put myself to bed at about 2 a.m. Making the jello over two days isn’t wise because I ended up having to use 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk because after adding the gelatin, there is no stopping it from gelling up! I finished up on Friday night and on Saturday morning my creation was ready!!!

I was most nervous about getting the creation out of the pan without ruining all my hard work (like 6 hours!) so I had greased the pan previously with a tad of olive oil and read that gently warming the pan with warm water or a warm towel would allow the gelatin to slip out. I clearly warmed it up too much because as you can see in the picture, the top of my jello began melting down the side =( Alas, once it happened, there was no way to fix it. So beware future jell-o enthusiasts!

Still, I think it turned out great and I was very proud to bring it to the crafting party where the girls (and guys) fawned over it. But the real moment of truth for any food is how it tastes, so I was still a bit nervous not knowing what condensed milk mixed with gelatin might taste like. It tastes like a sweet dream let me tell you. The jell-o was well-enjoyed, and with each slice taken, the layers looked even more lovely.

I will make this again. I will make other desserts with gelatin. I will buy Victoria Belanger’s book when she publishes it this year and I love every moment of it because as it turns out, gelatin is back and it’s better than ever.

Posted: February 13th, 2011 under Cooking, Jello, Uncategorized, rainbow.
Comments: 3