Big Girl/Small City

My latest macaron: coconut shell with mango jam

This recipe yurned out a bit thick and not as shiny as i like, but the BOY who despises my macaron making (and who i force to test them anyways) actually had TWO! He liked how chewy these ones were. Those are his dirty fingers.

Here goes:

Line three baking pans with parchment.

In a large bowl whisk together 5 tbsp of coconut, 3 2/3 icing sug and 3 1/4 almond flour.

In your mixer beat 5 egg whites until frothy and white. Add 2 tbsp white sug and a teaspoon of cream of tartar, and 1 tbsp vanilla. Beat until stiff and glossy (about 2 mins).

Add the dry ingredients in quarters, folding each time until just incorporated before adding the next quarter.

Pipe onto parchment lined sheets. Pipe about a 2 inch circles. Because this dough is tougher, you may need to smooth the tops with your finger dipped in cold water. Sprinkle tops with coconut. Let rest 40 mins. Place in 325 oven, which you will immediately reduce to 300. These will probably need 12 min, but check at 10.

I filled half of them with yummy gourmet mango jam and half with sweet chocolate ganache.

Sundried tomato quinoa salad:

2tbsp olive oil
1/2 red onion chopped
1 clove garlic minced
1/2 c chopped sun dried tomatos (the dry kind)
1/2 cup white wine (i used sibling rivalry)
1/2 cup chicken stock
Juice of half a lemon
2 pinches pepper
3 pinches salt
1/2 c quinoa
4 green onions chopped
A few sprigs parsley chopped

Cook red onion and garlic in oil on med high heat two mins. Add tomato and cook another min. Add white wine, stock lemon juice, s & p, and bring to boil, add quinoa, reduce to simmer and cover. Cook for 20 min. Add green onion and parsley. Stir, eat.

I worked on this with leslie of try to keep up, so u can check it with a full meal at www.westcoastleslie.blogspot.com

Rusted roots and cold french lentil salad:

For the roots:
4 or five new potatos
3 medium beets, peeled
4 small carrots
1 spanish onion
1/2 c hard marg
3 cloves garlic

Slice roots and layer in greased casserole dish. Top with slices of onions. Crush garlic and disperse atop roots. Top with chunks of the hard marg. Cover. Put in 350 oven for about 1 hr or until roots are soft when stabbed. Remove lead and cook another 5 to 10 min. Voila! Top with salt and pepper.

Cold french lentil salad:
1 cup french lentils
3 cups water
1 tbsp tarragon vinegar
3 tbsp evoo
1 crushed garlic clove
2 pinches goid salt
2 pinches pepper
Just a bit of agave nectar for sweetness
Half a small tube of goat cheese (i used the honey flavored kind)
A couple handfuls of sweetened dried cranberries

Put lentils and water jn saucepan and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 45 min. Meanwhile combine ingredients 3-8 for the dressing. Once soft, drain lentils and place in bowl. Let cool for 5 minutes. Add the dressing and toss. Let cool in fridge for 5 minutes. Add cranberries and crumbled goat cheese. Toss. Let cool in fridge. Toss and devour!

Strawberry shortcake was the dessert for last night’s pulled pork sammies. I used hand picked berries that my parents had pawned off on me (which i gladly accepted). The recipe comes from:
Www.joyofbaking.com/BerryShortcake.html

Now, the pic shows an unfinished cake… There is a top layer of cake that was placed on top before we brought it out. The original recipe tells you toslice the cake horizontally so you get two layers. BUT seeing as hiw the caje is actually one giant scone, we were sure it would crumble to pieces. We made another entire cake to place on top, which makes for a heavier, albeit prettier, portion. If you do this i suggest the following:

1) cut up additional berries and make more whipped topping to have on the side

2) sprinkle granulated sugar on top of one of the cake’s cream glaze. This will give your top layer a pretty (and sweet) sparkle

Could definitely serve 8. Could likely serve 10.

You could also crumble and layer into little serving bowls for individual trifles!

Key lime squares:

Cool and fresh for a hot summer day…

Grease an 8x8 pan.
Melt 1/2 c butter. Add 1 1/2 c graham cracker crumbs. Press into pan.

Mix 1/2 pkg cream cheese with 1 tbsp lime rind (dont grate the bitter white insides). Add i can sweetened condensed milk, 1 egg yolk. Mix till smooth. Add 1/2 c lime juice and lightly mix. Pour over crust. Bake in 325 oven for 15-20 min, until it is set and beginning to peel away from the sides of the pan. Add shredded coconut to top. Cool to room temp. Then toss in fridge to make it cold, maybe 45 min-1 hr.

Hot mushroom salad: I recently purchased some $17 tarragon vinegar after taste testing it on butter lettuce. So yummy! So i’ve been coming up with ways to use it. Put the salad mix of your choice in a bowl. Salt and pepper it. Chop about three bunches of broccoletta (or broccolini), but dont use the stems (stems make the salad hardy and we want to stay light). Add this to a medium high heated pan with evoo. Slice about 4 mushrooms. After a couple mins toss em into the pan. Turn heat to medium until mushrooms have browned up and are soft. Mix 1 T of tarragon vinegar and 1/2 T evoo and pour over bowl of salad. Flip onto plate to toss. Top with hot veggies and a good sprinkling of hemp seeds. While we are talking about salads, head over to www.westcoastleslie.blogspot.com who us having 30 days of salads!

I thought i’d share my dinner tonight. It has been bizarrely humid in my small city. Hot weather seems to make me crave pasta, but not the saucy pastas of winter. No, no, a fresher, lighter version! This is a very simple and healthy recipe: Put water on to boil for pasta of your choice. I used half a pack of eden organic’s kamut and quinoa twisties. Cook up a pack of lean ground turkey in a big ol pan. Lower the heat to 1 or 2. Add a couple tbsp if evoo. Add 3 minced garlic cloves. After about one minute, add a can of diced tomatoes. Turn the heat back up to medium. Just before your pasta is ready add salt and pepper and a handful each of oregano, parsley, and basil (smash em up to release the flavours). Add pasta to the pan and mix. Voila! Top with lots of parm and more salt and pepper as needed!

Whoopie pies get a second go here at a family member’s engagement party. Same recipe as my previous post, but this time i used a pan specifically for whoopie pies (purchased from michael’s). See how they rose a little too much? Using a basic sheet pan is much better…
BUT these would work PERFECT for the increasingly trendy muffin tops. Just ice the round tops instead of making sammies.
Reminds me of top o the muffin from seinfield!

This was the second dessert for this weekend’s bridal shower. As we went with the love/sex theme for the desserts we decided that whoopie pies would make a good co-pilot for the pinneapple delight. The placecard says “let’s make whoopie.”

Because these are quite sweet we cut them in half and found this was a good move on our part.

Find the recipe here: Http://www.katyelliott.com/blog/2009/07/real-maine-whoopie-pies.html