Desserts for Still Hot Weather

We're still in summer .That means a hot kitchen. Yet many are craving desserts , sort of an upcoming nod to fall where home baking resumes. The best bet is go the easy route.Don;t heat up the kitchen too much,

Again Dave Tanis tapped into this in Wednesday;s New York Times Wednesday Food section.He create a blackberry napoleon iwt fresh blackberries and easy to defrost frozen puff pastry. The puff pastry is put into the oven while a lemon curd for the filling  is made on the stove top.This is an easy cook, similar to sabayon where eggs sugar and salt are remixed together with lemon zest.Once this is cooked this is blended with whipping cream and confectioner's  sugar.Its the layered on the cooled and split puff pastry along with the blackberries to create a sandwich.You can do the same with ice cream and any kind of sauce, Think chocolate ice cream with strawberries and a bit of chocolate sauce or vanilla ice cream with caramel and  air fried toasted almonds. The puff pastry can also be the base for a fancy strawberry shortcake,Just layer the berries with whipped cream(or even Cool Whip) if you don;t want to fuss.You can also create a quick chocolate mousse with Cool Whip and chocolate pudding mixed together. Layer this on puff pastry for an elegant quick dessert.

Ice cream pies ,cakes and cupcakes are all still great right now.They're the perfect send off party cake too, for kids heading off to college . Have a good silicone pan that's easy to take the cake out of. (Amazon has a good array of them)It starts with a good crust - name Nabisco chocolate wafer cookies These are crushed and mixed with melted butter or margarine. The crust can be layered two or three times throughout the cake.Then add whatever flavors the future college student's favorite flavors. Think a mocha latte  pie or cake.Start with the chocolate crust. Then add a layer of chocolate fudge and fill in the mold with softened coffee ice cream.Layer with more chocolate crumbs and then spread a layer of whipped cream or Cool whip on top. You can just add puffs of Reddi Whip too for a fancier cake or pie.This can  be done with ice cream cupcakes too. Use silicone cupcake molds (again you can get these on Amazon). Use the same technique that you would for the pies and cakes. You can also do a fun surprise layer of M&M's chocolate chips or even crushed toffee.Top with a swirl on Reddi Whip and top with sprinkles or cherries.

Desserts can still be made.Yet make them easy during these still hot days. It;s a simple way to enjoy having a sweet treat 

Your Decorating Dictionary

This is the season that screams for all sorts of fun, icings , frostings and decorations . Yet do you know what goes with what and what kind of candy decoration works? It pays to be knowledgeable about what you're putting on those baked treats. It makes not only for a tastier treat but also for a prettier one too.

Before you rev up the mixer for frosting, know the differences between icing and frosting. Icing is thinner and glossier , usually reserved for some cakes, breads and buns like hot cross ones.It is perfect for topping sugar or lemon cookies. It's usually made of any kind of milk , confectioner's sugar and corn syrup. An extract, whether vanilla, almond or fruit such as lemon or orange is added for flavor. It's easy to tint. A thicker, maybe more manageable version is royal icing, used primarily in England but gaining popularity here. This is usually made with egg whites, confectioners sugar, and vanilla, however a healthier and safer version is made with aquafaba or the bean water from chickpeas. It's just three ingredients - that and confectioners sugar and some kind of flavoring. You can tint it the same as the regular royal icing. Frosting is heavier thanks to the addition of some kind of  butter, margarine, or shortening. This is perfect for cakes and cupcakes and can be tinted in any color and piped to look like ruffles and rosettes. Both icings can be frozen if you make too much or are planning a second batch of treats. There are also glazes. These are for reserved for Bundt cakes and sweet yeast breads and rolls. A basic ones has butter, confectioners sugar and enough milk to thin it out for an almost watery consistency. It can be flavored like icing , but most home bakers usually add in vanilla or lemon/ orange.

Now the extras. There's so many - what comes first? For the best and simplest designs just tint or dye the icings and frostings. You can use the old fashioned liquid food coloring however the best results come from gel food coloring. It has a glycerin or corn syrup base which makes it thicker and won't ruin the consistency of the frosting or icing. Of course there has to be red and green sprinkles which can be baked into cookies or sprinkled on cakes cupcakes and even buns. A prettier effect is sanding sugar , especially the silver which sparkles like snow in the moonlight.  What is sanding sugar? It's dried out sugar syrup and then the leftover granules are screened and colored. You could create it at home using the British turbinado sugar and gel food coloring. You could try it in red and green to be sprinkled over icing or frosting. Another elegant decoration is a sprinkling of silver dragees, These can be pretty on butter cookies but also on iced snowflake sugar cookies. Serious home bakers usually apply them with tweezers but you can use your fingers. You can also buy gold and pearl dragees too. Chopped nuts are a classic decoration. There's such a big choice from walnut chips which look sweet on brownies or slivered almonds that go well on butter or lemon ones. Candy also works. Mini candy canes are always fun on cupcakes and crushed ones can grace anything from brownies to fudge to cookies.

Holiday treat decorating is always fun. Just know what you're using for the prettiest and tastiest cakes, cookies, breads and brownies. It makes it easier to ice and frost , sprinkling, painting,  and glazing,

A Spring Diet

Spring is the time for all things green - and that includes diets. It's time to shed those heavy winter dishes and think lighter and brighter. Embrace low calorie meals and a different way of eating during the warmer days.

The colder months leave us wanting heavy, gravy rich meals. This is fine. because we need more energy in shoveling snow and just dealing with frigid temps. However now that some areas are hitting sixty and  even seventy degrees , it's time to serve lower in calories foods. Luckily Spring ushers in asparagus season. One serving is only thirty calories. Asparagus is delicious when it's dressed with melted butter, sliced hard boiled eggs and Parmesan cheese. However these amp up the calories and fat. What you can do is try a low calorie cheese and margarine. As for the eggs you can scoop out the yolks if you want and just chop up the egg whites.Artichokes are also big right now. It's tempting to stuff them with oil soaked bread crumbs and mozzarella however think lighter. Imagine dipping the leaves in a refreshing lime vinaigrette where fresh squeezed limes sub in for lemons. Add some oregano or  dried cilantro for some zing. This makes a nice appetizer for early season barbecues. Dandelion greens are also in season. These can easily be picked from your yard and turned into zippy salad. Remember to wash them very well because every creature in the neighborhood could have sniffed them or worse.

Spring is the time of foraging. One of the biggest woodland  harvests right now is fiddlehead ferns. These are a dieter's dream with only ten(!) calories a stalk. Many will balk, wondering what the flavor will taste like. Not to worry. Fiddleheads have a flavor that's that some compare to asparagus, broccoli or green beans. Try them sauteed in margarine and chopped garlic. They're the perfect foil to grilled chicken or salmon. Ramps are also growing right now and they're ready for the picking. They have an onoin-y taste and again, think of them as a great side to chicken or fish. The Spring season is the start , not just of the growing season but also the grilling season. It's tempting to throw a steak on the coals and just feat. Yet the average eight ounce steak has close to a whopping five hundred calories, more if you brush it with any kind of butter.Opt for salmon instead which is only about two hundred and thirty calories. Even better are scallops with only eleven (!) calories for each one. You could even afford to brush them with butter.Serve them with morels , a wild mushroom that can be foraged. These tasty forest nuggets are only ten calories a mushroom. It's an elegant dinner , full of substance , but light and airy.

Warmer weather means a change of diet. Think chicken and fish, along with the greens of the season. It makes for a wonderful, and healthier change of pace.

Your Holiday Baking Guide

It's that time of year when home bakers start creating all those holiday goodies.A successful bake relies on a well stocked kitchen. Get the arsenal ready now. The end result is stress free prep, without any worries.

Before you even assess your ingredients, take a look at your cookie sheets and baking pans. Sometimes rust sets in  which means only one thing -toss.The same principle applies to cookie sheets and pie plates. Splurge and give yourself the early holiday present of a new bake set. Stores such as K-Mart, Target and Wal Mart have great sales on them right now so it pays to replace the old set. The same goes for whisks and rolling pins too,. along with both plastic and metal cookie cutters.Another pre-baking must is checking your hand mixer and blender to make sure they're up to snuff.If not, then take advantage of the holiday sales and buy a new one.If you're thinking of making candy invest in a good candy thermometer.This will help more in registering the right temperature as opposed to the old fashioned way of dropping the mixture into ice cold water to determine its' stage.Cake icers can also crack so check to see if yours still works. If you're planning on creating elaborately decorated cakes and cupcakes, you may want to get more icing nozzles . These will help in fine tuning the decorating with different squiggles and swirls.

Basic ingredients also have to be scrutinized. Luckily granulated sugar can last indefinitely. Brown sugar doesn't and after two years can get hard, sticky, and lumpy.Replace your flour if its' been in the pantry for more than seven or eight months.Anything baked with it will have a stale taste. Whole wheat lasts even less. If you;ve had it more than six months toss. Keep the vanilla extract. it's good for four years. The same for your cocoa powder - it lasts  two years before going stale.If you have to go shopping for new ingredients, make a list beforehand. Ask yourself if you want to make a holiday treat from scratch or from a mix.You can stock up on mixes  if you're pressed for time. The same goes for ready made icings too,.Also stock up on sticks of butter and margarine because you'll be using these the most. Get a five pound bag of flour instead of the usual two pound bag. (remember extra flour will come in handy for thickening sauces too ).It pays also to get bags of almonds ,walnuts and pecans for both baked goods and candy. Don't forget the holiday themed decorations like red and green  sprinkled and metallic sanding sugars.

The best treats come from a well prepped kitchen. Makes sure yours is ready for the onslaught of holiday baking.Stock your arsenal now so you don;t have to run out later.

Vegan For The Summer

One of the best aspects of summer is that you can nix the meats and live off the land - literally. This is a great time to take that long promised stab at vegetarianism, thanks to all the harvests right now. It's time to discover all these hot weather veggies and the dishes that go with them.

Squash is always popular and is in full harvest right now. Many home farmers have an abundance of them, thanks to their hardiness and ability to thrive. They are versatile from their delicate flowers to the mature vegetable. Squash flowers, those fragile yet delicious blooms, are best made into a kind of fritter. This Provencale and Piedmontese recipe is easy,The flowers do have to be picked early morning before they close for the day. They're then washed and patted dry , ready for battering. The batter is a simple mix of  one cup each of flour and water. One egg and one tablespoon oil are also added for body. The flowers can be fried in margarine,oil, or the preferred French way, butter until crisp. Mature squash is another great versatile veggie.It can be turned into a green version of spaghetti, thanks to a neat little gadget called Veggetti. This hourglass shaped spiralizer turns any squash into a tasty pile of noodles. They can be made with sauce but a better and healthier way is sauteing them in olive oil, tempered with margarine and minced garlic. The spiralizer can also be used to make a tasty cucumber slaw too. Serve with an apple cider based vinaigrette for a nice cool salad.

Of course it's the season of the tomatoes. These bright red gems are the stars of any summer harvest and rightly so. They can be made into any type of dish., from starters to even dessert (technically they classified as fruit). Try them as bruschetta, piled on top of toasted crunchy rounds of Italian bread or as a flavorful salsa. The last can also highlight other summer stars green peppers and onions. This is the time to make homemade sauces for those fall and winter pasta dinners. Fresh ones are great in a pasta crudo where  they 're mixed raw with just cooked spaghetti or angel hair pasta. One of the best way to have them is in a sandwich.Toast your favorite bread, slather on mayo and them layer on the tomato slices Tomaotes can even be turned into a sorbet for an unusual but flavor packed dessert..Another use for them along with eggplants and onions are the French classic ratatouille.Novice home chefs may be put off by the name's fanciness but it's really easy to make.It's basically sauteing sliced the veggies in a garlic and oregano spiced olive oil.They're then cooked down until tender. It's usually served with crusty baguette slices to sop up the juices however it can also be served with rice too. Green and red peppers can be added along with zucchini to mix it up a bit.

Anyone can go vegan on a summer diet thanks to all these abundant harvests. Take advantage of them of them and cook healthy. It's a great boost to your health and to your taste buds!

Zoodle-licious!

Cooking vegetables is not always easy. Try as all we home chefs might , it's hard to make the most mundane exciting. Not anymore. I just got  a spiralizer and it's a whole new and fun world out there.

Mostly influenced by a cookbook about spiralized vegetables that I just reviewed for this blog, I decided to get a spiralizer in the hope of making dishes with new twists to them. I bought Veggetti from Kohls on line.

As you can see it 's an hourglass shaped grater that has two sets of grates located on  opposite ends of the device. They're marked thick or thin for the width.

. I opted for the last which I felt would be good for what I was making. As you can see I used smallish zucchini to make the zoodles or zucchini noodles.It's an easy to do, and in a way much safer than using the scarier looking mandolin. The squash goes in the wide cone  shaped ends and all you do is twist. What comes  out is long pasta like strands of squash.There is a gripper that you insert in the squash's end  as it whittles down to a cone. The cone which is basically a nub can be sliced and added to the noodles. The spiralizer's interior produced these curly fry looking spirals that can also be cooking with the zoodles.

How did I make the zoodles and spirals? 

In a simple saute with olive oil, margarine and garlic

What you'll need:

4 smallish green zucchini, washed and dried,

2 cloves minced garlic,

A good slug of extra light olive oil

(Bertolli brand is the best for this)

margarine or butter

salt 

pepper

Spiralize the squash and put to the side..Mince two cloves of garlic  and set aside.Pour a good slug (figure three to four tablespoons ) of olive oil in a skillet and set over a medium flame. Added about a tablespoon of margarine or butter. Stir the margarine or butter around in the oil until melted. Add the garlic and then carefully pour in the  zoodles. You will have a lot but they will cook  down . Constantly stir until all the zoodles have been coated. Ten minutes into cooking you can put a glass lid over the skillet.If you want, add another tablespoon of margarine or butter for more flavor. You can also season right now with salt and pepper (I used  sea salt and fresh ground pepper for it).Cook until the strands are a pale translucent color.(uncooked squash strands will have an opaque white color.)

If you want, sprinkle Parmesan cheese over them. I like my zoodles just as they  are!

The Annual Christmas Checklist

 Successful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinners begin with well stocked kitchens. These meals are not ones to improvise with or sub in anything last minute.Everything  should be on the ready. There should not be any hiccups or snags. The meal , albeit  sometimes a difficult cook and roast,should go easily without any drama.

By now most home chefs should have the main dish, namely the roast. Make sure that it's enough for your guests. Two servings usually work per person .If you feel you'll come up short then get a second  roast. Also have make sure you have every ingredient for your sides. Have extra cans of faves such as green beans and corn. If you haven't shopped yet, then get larger versions of what you normally buy.After all you'll not only need that olive oil for salad but you 'll need it for sauteing vegetables as well. Not only will you need more olive oil but it also pays to have extra margarine and butter , both for cooking and the table. Keep enough chicken, beef or vegetable stock on hand too It's just as valuable as a stuffing ingredient as it is for gravies. Flour is the backbone of any dinner. It is used in making roues as well as the chief ingredient for baked goods. You may think that eggs are only good for that Christmas breakfast. You're partially right, however they're also needed for binding stuffing  as well along with being those yummy appetizers deviled eggs. Remember that hard boiled eggs are also  part of the stuffing in stuffed celery too and they  make a nice addition to any salad.


What else should you have ? The basic condiments. Salt and pepper are used in almost everything, and salt even more so because of baking. Brown and white sugar is also needed. Brown sugar is needed for  rubbing onto ham as well as for candied yams. It can even be added for color to roast beef gravy. Make sure you also have filled spice jars too. Chive and dried scallions go well  in homemade mashed potatoes along with being good sprinkled on green beans. Keep in ind that you have to have cinnamon too. It 's vital in any sweet potato dish as well as gracing dessert cappuccinos.If you run out of it, don't fret Nutmeg can sub in or it if you're in a pinch. Another inventory to double check is your beverage one. You should have a basement  full of different kinds of soda and flavored waters to suit everyones' tastes.Get the kids Simply Fruit Punch to drink with their holiday dinner.It's a nice alternative to sodas and has a refreshing mixed fruit flavor. Holiday desserts stretch out into two and three hours so have plenty of coffee and tea on hand for sipping. Make sure you have a few different flavors of teas so guest can have a choice. There should be equal amounts of decaf and caf as well as espresso shots for those who have a long drive home. A nice tough is having two or three flavored creamers on hand too.

A well stocked holiday kitchen is key to a successful dinner. Make sure you have everything and you don't run out. Christmas Eve and Christmas are not the times for culinary disasters. Enjoy the holiday and holiday cooking.

Is It Safe To Eat

There's been a little bit of controversy lately about expiration dates.Is it OK to eat food a day, a week a month, even a year past its' use by date? does it on the item?depend ?Or the fussiness of a wary home chef? The answers may surprise you.

We Americans are somewhat paranoid about the blue stamped dates on the bottom of our containers and bottles. Even British comedian John Oliver commented on it on his HBO show This Week Tonight According to him we throw away nearly 730 football stadiums full of food per annum. It all has to do with our squeamishness about those darn sell by dates. To be honest , we don't have to. Of course dairy should be thrown out . The smell of sour milk alone can stink up any fridge and kitchen, Old dairy products can cause food poisoning. However if it's unopened and only a day or two past the sell by date it's still OK to eat. Cheese can more or less last up to four months depending on the kind Parmesan, Asiago and Romano can be kept for this amount of time. The semi soft ones like Brie and Camembert should be kept only two to four weeks. Butter can last a month before turning while margarine has a further run at four to five months. Ice cream should only be kept three months after opening however I've had no problem with ones opened six months  ago. The texture will be very gritty and icy but still edible. Unopened sodas like Coke and Pepsi can last six to nine months.

What about all those sell by and eat by warnings? A "sell by" date tells the store how long to display the product for sale.It's not mandatory .It's just a guide to tell the retailer when the food is at its' freshest and best tasting. The  can be eaten weeks afterwards. There is also the "best used by" date which refers to quality not safety. For example sour cream is already sour however it has a zingier taste when it's fresher.Born on date is the date the item was brewed or baked.Guaranteed fresh is used for baked goods. You can still eat then  after the date but it will be less fresher or even stale. Many even buy the staler breads and cakes because their prices are usually slashed almost down to half.Use by is for foodstuffs and items and it's is the last date recommended while at peak quality.  The deciding date is up to the manufacturer to decide this. Last is the pack by date and usually found on canned and tinned goods. This is a tricky date and can go by month -year - day or even stranger, by the Julian calendar not used in this country (or worldwide for that matter) since the  mid 1700's. A can of beans can have a date of 090912 or 009-999.The best method to determine of a canned food is still OK to eat is look at the can.If it has a normal shape it's fine. If it 's bulging or even growing then toss. Bacteria is a living thing that grows and expands. It will stretch out the can to accommodate itself.

So when food is OK to eat and when  should it be tossed. Use your senses as a guide If it looks, smells and tastes bad, toss it . If not then it's still viable to use. Whtever you do, don't waste good food. There are some people out there who would die for stale bread and expired milk.

Icing On Your Cake

Thanks to Easter,home bakers the world over will be decorating cakes and cookies with Easter egg colors,.The question is do most know the difference between the two? What about glaze?How does that figure into holiday cake and cookie decorating.Another question is there a healthy frosting to counter balance all those Peeps and chocolate eggs. Surprisingly there is a difference between frosting and icing ,although we tend to use the two words interchangeably.Frosting is made with butter, lard or margarine along with confectioners's sugar and milk.It's beaten until fluffy with either a spoon or beater.It can work as filling too,depending upon the cake flavor( simple chocolate or vanilla cakes can stand up to a frosting filling)?It can be piped or spread on the cake's surface with a knife or spatula.Fondant icing which is popular in the UK is more like a shiny covering ( think the icing on Hostess cupcakes).Corn syrup is the reason for that shininess and usually a quarter of a cup is added.)If you're making an egg shaped caked then ice with the fondant .It"ll take the shape better and give the appearance of an egg shell.You can decoratevwith buttercream frosting afterwards.If you're baking a lamb or chick cake ,then use the buttercream frosting piped on in small florets.This gives both a soft'fuzzy"look. For those worried about too much sugar, you can make a sugar free icing using liquid stevia ,cream cheese and heavy whipping cream mixed together.It's a bit runnier than the regular kind but still delicious and decorative. Icing is frosting but without the buttercream.It works best on cookies.Icing is nothing more than confectioner's sugar mixed with light corn syrup and milk.You can add flavoring such as lemon or almond extract to give it flavor.You can also use this on cupcakes if you're not into big fluffy puffs.If you're planning on making Easter egg and daisy cookies ,then split the icing into individual bowls and tint with food coloring or natural dyes.Glaze is a type of simple icing. It taste best on sweet breads and sweet rolls.It is usually made with a cup and a half of sugar with only two to three tablespoons of milk added. You can trade one of those teaspoons for lemon juice to cut the sweet.Glaze can not only be drizzled over rolls but also over coffee cakes ,crullers and doughnuts.An orange or lemon glaze would amp up the holiday fanciness on a simple yeast based butter cake. Easter baking time is here and with it a host of baked goods to decorate.Decide what you're going to make and pick the best topping for it.It'll guarantee prettily decorated and delicious cakes, cookies and breads with just the right amount of sweetness to top it off.