Snack Time; Best ever

I don't have time right now to put up the pictures, but I just wanted you to know how to make the best smoothie ever.

Choco-nana-berry Smoothie
1 cup Strawberries
1 cup Raspberries
1/2 cup Blueberries
1 cup ice
1 serving strawberry and banana yogurt
2 bananas
2 squares, 70% lindt excellence dark chocolate

Put all ingredients into blender. Blend. Well.
(You can sub frozen berries if you can't get fresh, but then cut out the ice. And do NOT skip the chocolate.)
Serves 2 very greedy people.

Interruption

Snack Time!

Blend until Smooth

Cravings

Brownies, in the making

A Few Weeks back....

This cat? He hates me. So I bribed him with food to take some pictures.

Not happy, but eating anyways

Last month, I was in the states to celebrate the real Thanksgiving - after having celebrated the fake and altogether too early thanksgiving in Canada in October. I took a few shots of the preparation work being done for dinner. We went ahead and had some Turducken this year, and I have to say, I still like it. I prefer it slow cooked and stuffed with "normal" stuffing (none of this oyster or cranberry stuffing).

So this is what happened the night before the big day....

Turkey, Carver

Chicken, Sides

Onlooker

Ready for stuffing

If you have good taste, you'll want to make these RIGHT NOW

So, I've been a MIA lately. Sorry about that. I got a little swamped with being out of the house and also, had some entertaining to do. That's right. I had a guest. And it was a guest with brains. The best brains in the world. She thought she would buy tartlet tins. To make Lemon Tartlets with. It was the best idea she's ever had in her whole life and I love her to pieces for it. The tartlets idea was so good, that in the 5 days she was here we made them TWICE. Because we lurved the tartlets so.

Lemon Tarts with Vanilla

Lemon Tarts with Vanilla

Recipe (both shell and filling) stolen shamelessly from Epicurious:

Tarte au Citron

There are different ways to make a lemon tart. At Bouchon, the French Laundry, and Per Se, we use a sabayon method, in which the eggs are first cooked with the lemon juice and sugar over hot water, then the butter is gradually incorporated — an easy method that results in a consistently good lemon custard or curd. The crust is made with sweet and nutty pine nuts, which I think are the perfect balance for the rich, tart custard.

Makes 8 servings.

Butter and flour for the tart pan
1/3 recipe Pine Nut Crust

Lemon Sabayon
2 large eggs, cold
2 large egg yolks, cold
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) cold unsalted
butter, cut into 6 pieces
preparation
For the crust:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Generously butter and flour a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom and refrigerate it while the oven preheats.

Remove the tart pan from the refrigerator. Use your fingertips to press the chilled pine nut dough evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Trim off any excess dough.

Bake the crust for 10 to 15 minutes, then rotate it and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until it is golden brown. Remove the crust from the oven and let it cool while you make the filling. (There may be some cracks in the crust; they will not affect the finished tart.)

For the sabayon:
Bring about 1 1/2 inches of water to a boil in a pot that is slightly smaller than the diameter of the bowl you will be using for the sabayon. Meanwhile, in a large metal bowl, whisk the eggs, yolks, and sugar for about 1 minute, or until the mixture is smooth.

Set the bowl over the pot and, using a large whisk, whip the mixture while you turn the bowl (for even heating). After about 2 minutes, when the eggs are foamy and have thickened, add one-third of the lemon juice. Continue to whisk vigorously and, when the mixture thickens again, add another one-third of the lemon juice. Whisk until the mixture thickens again, then add the remaining lemon juice. Continue whisking vigorously, still turning the bowl, until the mixture is thickened and light in color and the whisk leaves a trail in the bottom of the bowl. The total cooking time should be 8 to 10 minutes.

Turn off the heat and leave the bowl over the water. Whisk in the butter a piece at a time. The sabayon may loosen slightly, but it will thicken and set as it cools. Pour the warm sabayon into the tart crust and place the pan on a baking sheet.

Preheat the broiler. While the sabayon is still warm, place the tart under the broiler. Leaving the door open, brown the top of the sabayon, rotating the tart if necessary for even color; this will take only a few seconds, so do not leave the oven. Remove the tart from the broiler and let it sit for at least 1 hour before serving. Serve at room temperature or cold.

Bouchon, 2004
by Thomas Keller

Add two vanilla beans to lemon mixture and one vanilla bean to the crust mixture for the vanilla impact. Also, use one additional lemon for more kick. And the browning in the oven is not needed - the 60 minute cooldown is.

Now go! MAKE THESE.

These are even better than the last ones, I swears

Look, I don't know what's gotten into me, but I'm turning into a baker. Candlestick making to come soon. And photographs thereof. For now, seriously, go buy 4 bananas so you can make these fantastic muffins in a week. Recipe below.

Melted Chocolate in Your Mouth And Your Hands So Handle With Care

Taken on March 11, 2007, 5:34pm
Freehand, 1/8s, f/5.00, 44mm, ISO 200

"The I Don't Care If You Can't Cook, You Must Make These Muffins" Chocolate Chip Banana Muffin Recipe
yields 12-15 muffins (The measurements are weird because I scaled it down to get only a dozen, and I actually got 15.)
Prep time 15 minutes
Bake time 25 minutes

*2/3 margaine
*3/4c 1T 1tsp white sugar (Or round abouts that.)
*1 egg
*4 ripe bananas (Speckled or even MORE ripe is best)
*1 tsp vanilla extract
*1 1/2c all-purpose flour
*1/8 tsp salt
*3/4 tsp baking powder
*3/4 tsp baking soda
*2/3c semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350F (175C). Place 12 cupcake papers in the muffin tin. Or ... Grease 12 muffin cups.
2. In a bowl, cream together the margarine, sugar, egg, bananas, and vanilla extract. Add the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Fold in the chocolate chips. Spoon into greased muffin tin cups. Fill to tops of muffin cups!
3. Bake for 25 minutes. Take out and rest for 1-2 minutes and then turn out to cool on wire rack.

Best eaten when still warm!

Next time I will try half chocolate chips and half peanut butter chips - I CANNOT wait!

I done gone and baked some fine muffins

I love muffins. And banana bread. And lemon loaf. And all sorts of dessert-y type baked goods that are easy to bake and yummy in my tummy. So when sifting through the fridge looking for something sweet after already having had my savory for dinner, I ran across a lone apple that was just crying out to me to be eaten. And who can just eat an apple and call it dessert-y? Not me, that's who. So I made me some apple cinnamon muffins. Witness, yo.

Fields of tasty
Taken on March 8, 2007, 8:56pm
Freehand, 1/13s, f/5.00, 34mm, ISO 200

Now go make some of your own because there are a precious few left, and I never learned about sharing.

The Apple Cinnamon With a Hint of Lemon and Vanilla Muffins Recipe:
yields 12 muffins
prep time: 15 minutes
bake time: 15 minutes

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 4 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 pinch salt
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 2 eggs, lightly beaten
* 10 tablespoons butter/margarine
* 1 tablespoon lemon zest (I didn't have any so its fine if this is skipped.)
* 1 teaspoon lemon juice
* 1 cup milk
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 large apple - peeled, cored and chopped into cubes of 1x1 cm or smaller
* 1 tablespoon sugar
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 425F (220C). Grease 12 muffin cups. (I'm lame and hate greasing things for baking so I use cupcake liners. For muffins. I KNOW!)
2. In a bowl, cream together the sugar, eggs, butter, lemon juice, milk, and vanilla. Mix in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Fold in the apples. Spoon into greased muffin tin cups. DO NOT FILL to the top! (You'll be sorry if you do.)
3. Mix the 1 tablespoon sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle over the tops of the muffin batter - the batter in the muffin tin cups.
4. Bake 15 minutes. Toothpick test if you're very uncertain in your bakery skills. Turn out onto wire rack after 2 minutes to cool completely.

Notes: Sprinkling cinnamon and sugar over the tops of the muffins is really really necessary - it makes the muffins so much better. And - from this ingredients list, I got 15 cupcakes. With one more apple I'm sure I'll get more.

I'll use one more apple next time, I thought only one apple wasn't enough. And maybe a little more cinnamon and vanilla. But just a touch.