A different kind of pie crust

Okay, so I pretty much rock, so I'm sure My Man's family likes me, even without the baked goods. And one day when he does drop to one knee, I'm sure I'll be welcomed into the family with open arms. But that doesn't mean I can't guarantee my spot into their lives w/ sweets. Right?

This crust is a mixture of two crusts I found online and my own little improvising. So is the filling, I guess. When I first started making desserts, I have to say, I was hardcore about not changing anything. Followed the directions to the T. After I started culinary school, I kinda started playing around a bit. A lot of it had to do with the 9 steps of the baking process. After learning those, I knew how to substitute ingredients or how to double or halve recipes w/out just messing with the recipe too much.
I try to use my understanding of the baking process to help me figure out why a bread didn't rise as much, or why the cake seems drier than others, or even why my chocolate chip cookies flatten. I think I figured that one out! Check back soon for some of my experiments!
The 9 steps:
1. Gases form. Gases are introduced by air, steam or carbon dioxide, such as baking soda or powder. They expand w/ the heat in the oven, which helps your product rise.
2. Gases are trapped. The proteins in the product create small bubbles when beaten, which pull in air until they are full, which makes them grow. When the gases expand, they push on the cell walls forcing them to stretch, making the product increase in size and volume. Eggs are the best protein to use; typically egg substitutes will result in a drier product w/out the introduction of another ingredient to help the product retain moisture.
3. Starches gelatinize. When the dough or batter reaches 140 degree Fahrenheit, the flour will absorb the moisture and grow to ten times their own weight. This makes the dough expand and helps create structure for the product. There is usually more flour in a product than anything else since it provides the structure of the product.
4. Proteins coagulate, or solidifies. When the dough reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit, the proteins being it bong to each other and, at the same time, they stretch form the gases expanding. If proteins solidify before the gases can fully expand, the product won't rise at all. If the gases escape before the proteins coagulate, the product will puff up and rise, but then collapse.
5. Fats melting. This is important b/c when the fats melt, the droplets coat the starch and moistens them. As I noted in step three, it is important for the starch to moisten for the shape and volume. Fats tenderize the products. Using butter, which has a low temp melting point will tenderize products more so than a high temp melting point product like margarine or shortening. Which is why I never use shortening in pie crusts or cookie doughs. However, that is also why cookies spread more w/ butter than shortening. But butter tastes WAY better.
6. Water evaporates. Any liquid in the butter, eggs, extracts, fruits, etc will turn into steam and evaporate. When the steam escapes, the top of the product will form a nice crust. Like w/ brownies or cookies.
7. Sugars caramelize. When the product is heated above 320 degrees, the sugars will caramelize. This gives flavor and provides a nice color to the product. Granulated white sugar will do the trick, but a light or dark brown sugar provides even more color and provides a nice caramel flavor to the product.
8. Carryover baking. When you take a product out of the oven, it continues to bake. The heat from the baking pan or sheet continues to bake the products. Since you cannot typically remove a product form the container until it has cooled some, you have to let them stand in or on the baking container before transferring to a cooling rack or plate. It is important when there is a range of baking times on a recipe, to check the product at the lower temp first. You can always add more minutes, but once you over bake something, you can reverse the process.
9. Staling. Once a product has cooled completely, it beings a process called starch retrogradation. This is when a product looses moisture and dries out. Some products w/ more fat and sugar will stay moist, longer. This process works the fastest at 40 degrees Fahrenheit, which is why products are better left at room temperature, except for things like cheesecakes. It is also best to store the product in an airtight container so as not to lose moisture.

These steps are important b/c changing one thing can change the outcome. I have memorized these steps (so bizarre) and use them every time I bake, or every time something comes out wrong. I always think, which step did I go wrong? It helps when I make something the next time around.

In this case, I wanted a less flaky crust, something more crusty and tender, but would hold up and keep the shape. This crust did exactly that. It was a good crust, but I have decided that I really do prefer flaky crusts better. This was delicious and had I had the exact ingredients as the two recipes, I may have gotten the flaky crust. But I set out for a more solid crust and I got just that!

I printed out this recipe from Cherry on a Cake and this recipe from Whitney in Chicago. I found Cherry on a Cake on tastespotting and I first saw Whitney when she was commenting on another one of my favorite blogs, Food Loves Writing. I have to say, I follow some pretty awesome bloggers out there.

Gosh, I keep going off on tangents here!!!

Anyways, here is the recipe for the pie dough... Btw, this was to make enough dough for 2 pies, top and bottom crusts, as seen in the pictures.

The Crust

8 oz cream cheese
2 sticks of butter
4 cups of flour
1 Tbsp Sugar
1/2 Tbsp vanilla sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup really cold water (I stuck ice cubes in it to ensure max coldness)

Cut the cream cheese into cubes and stick in the freezer.
Cut the butter into even smaller cubes and stick in the freezer.

In a LARGE bowl, put in the flour, sugars and salt; whisk together. Cut in the cream cheese until the mixture becomes a course meal.
Place the mixture into a Ziploc bag with the cut butter sprinkled in. Make sure there is no air in the bag before sealing, then flatten the butter w/ a rolling pin (Wanna laugh? I did this at my cousin's house and couldn't find her rolling pin, so I used a huge can of Pam). Once the butter is spread out into thin flakes w/ the dough, place in the freezer to firm up for about 10 mins. Once it has firmed up, put the mix back into the large bowl and add about half of the water. Mix together. I used my hands here. So much easier. Add more water if necessary, but remember the dough should not be runny, nor should it be crumbly. After you've done this, shape the dough into 4 even discs and wrap w/ saran wrap or toss in individual Ziploc bags w/ all the air expelled out. Flatten the discs some and place them in the fridge. You can leave them there for a minimum of 2 hours, but in this case, I made the dough on a Thursday night so I would have them ready for the next afternoon.

When I was ready to use the dough, I rolled out the four discs, places two in the Pam sprayed pie pans and left the other two sitting on the plastic wrap on the counter, each covered w/ a damp (not soaking wet) kitchen towel.
Btw, remember how I couldn't find the rolling pin? Well, since my cousin was in the Caribbean, I couldn't exactly call her, so I used the Pam can to roll the crusts out too :) I'm so handy. Although, I have to say, I thing they would have been a bit thinner if I had the rolling pin.

My filling.
This was adapted from my head. I really didn't use ANY measurements here. And when I say I really didn't use them, I mean, REALLY, I didn't use them. So bear with me :)

I peeled, cored, halved and sliced thin 7 Jonathan apples that My Man brought me back from an orchard in Michigan. As I was doing this, I tossed the first half of the cut apples w/ the juice from half a lemon. As I tossed in more sliced apples, I sprinkled sugar and cinnamon on top. Until it looked coated. As I tossed more sliced apples in, I would toss the freshly cut apples w/ the cinnamon sugar coated apples. I would add more cinnamon and sugar if necessary. Which is always was....
W/ the flour, I actually did measure this out. Partially b/c I had a tablespoon right next to me, so I tossed two tablespoons into the apple mix.
I neatly arranged the apple slices so they were all flat on top of the bottom crust layer. I repeated this for the second pie.
Before placing the top crust on, I sprinkled some vanilla sugar on top of the apples and dotted it with butter.
I brushed some milk on the edges of the bottom crust and then placed the top crust over. I pressed the edges together, after trimming some of the excess dough (I'm not one for pretty scalloped edges, as you can plainly see).
I used the excess dough to roll out and cut out a couple of flowers and hearts. I brushed milk under the cut-outs and pressed them onto the top of the crust. I sprinked some white sparkly sugar on top, cut four slits in cross pattern and popped into a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 45-55 mins.
I also place foil around the edges for the first 30 mins so they didn't brown too quickly.

I kept this one

And this one went to the future in-laws

Nice inside shots, notice how thick the crust is? Yep, Pam can only do so much...

All in all, it was a good pie. My Man was meh about it, but his mom and sister LOVED it. And the Sis could even tell there was cream cheese in it. That was kinda cool. Good taste buds there.
Probably a crust I'll use again for them. Maybe not for a pie for my family though. They definitely prefer the flaky crust like I do.

Mexican Chili Brownies

So I love brownies and I love love love spicy foods. I have been experimenting with adding savory items to sweet desserts, so I thought now would be the time to start adding some spicy to my sweet treats. I made these brownies the same day I made the guacamole for my co-worker's party last month, but of course I've been slacking on posting this stuff!

I decided to see if I could find a Mexican brownie I liked, but couldn't, so I started browsing for a new brownie recipe (I know, I had the other brownie recipe I've been making a lot, but I wanted to try something new). So I found this recipe on King Arthur Flour and it looked good, so I figured why not?

So I altered the recipe a tad bit... Here is my adaptation of the recipe!

Mexican Spicy Brownies

2 sticks unsalted butter
1 Lindt Excellence Chili Bar
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cups cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

Directions

1) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan

2) In a saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter and chocolate bar, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat briefly, just until it's hot (about 110°F to 120°F), but not bubbling; it'll become shiny looking as you stir it. Heating this mixture a second time will dissolve more of the sugar, which will yield a shiny top crust on your brownies.

3) While the sugar heats a second time, crack the 4 eggs into a bowl, and beat them with the cocoa, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, chili powder and vanilla till smooth.

4) Add the hot butter/sugar mixture, stirring until smooth.

5) Add the flour again stirring until smooth.

6) Spoon the batter into a lightly greased 9" x 13" pan.

7) Bake the brownies for about 30 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it. The brownies should feel set on the edges, and the center should look very moist, but not uncooked. Remove them from the oven and cool on a rack before cutting and serving.

These brownies were moist w/ an awesome top crust. The spice from the cayenne and cinnamon add a nice flavor to the brownie w/out adding an intense heat. The spice kinda tingles the back of your throat as you swallow. It's not spicy hot, just a wee bit tingly.

Also, I made these the following week, but w/ unsweetened baking chocolate and no pepper or cinnamon and then baked them for 20 mins in a mini muffin pan to make brownie bites. The recipe yielded aprx 48 brownie bites. They were just as good; just like the brownie bites you can get at the store in a container. Nice and crusty on the outside and soft, rich and chocolaty on the inside. I think I do like these better in bar form though. I like the fudgy chocolaty texture more so than the extra crunchy outside. But they are good both ways, for sure!

Scallop and zucchini rice pasta

So recently I won a contest and got Earth-Friendly Set of Jalapeno Roots, Red Pepper and Aztec Chocolate Spice Blends.
For this dish I used the Red Pepper Spice Blends and it was delicious! I was very excited when I got these spice blends, and honestly, I made this dish weeks ago, but I was trying to post everything as I was making it but life caught up to me and I didn't have time to post all of these recipes. So I was slacking... I'm sorry Val!!!

I'll be honest, this is mostly thrown together, but I wanted to emphasize a few things with this post. This was done when I was detoxing a while back and trying new products to replace the ones I have been using and that have been making me somewhat sick. Gluten is a huge thing I've been having trouble digesting.
I found something called brown rice pasta. And I found it at Jewel!!! Complete shocker for me. I am very happy to say that more and more, I've been finding stuff at Jewel that is better for you! They have a whole aisle of organic products, section of gluten free products (that is bigger than Whole Food's section!) and tons of organic frozen food and fresh products. And they really aren't any more or less expensive than Whole Foods. Pretty much the same. So convenience for products that aren't miles and miles away... :)

Tinkyada Pasta Joy, Brown Rice Pasta, found at Jewel!

Basically, I cooked the pasta according to the directions, but added some veg oil in the pasta water to help keep the pasta from sticking together. And I constantly stirred it.
After draining the pasta, I coated the bottom of the pot with olive oil and dried garlic flakes (Tastefully Simple's Garlic Garlic-I love that stuff!). When the dried garlic flakes got some extra juice to them from the olive oil, I tossed the drained pasta w/ the garlic oil.

With the scallops, I coated them with the red pepper spice blend, sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper and let them sit for a bit. I covered a saute pan with the red pepper infused olive oil, also found at Jewel. Once the pan was hot enough, I placed the scallops in the pain and seared both sides, aprx 4-5 mins on both sides. The thicker they are, the longer they sear for.
The zucchini was sauted in a pan w/ the same red pepper olive oil and red pepper spice blend. After everything was cooked, I tossed the zucchini with the pasta and sprinkled a little bit of parmesean cheese on top. I added the scallops and dinner was ready!


The red pepper was added a nice heat and fire to the dish, but it wasn't overpowering, nor was it too much. The red pepper olive oil was a perfect substitution for the normal butter we use int he house to coat the pasta and cook the scallops. I always use olive oil to saute zucchini. The olive oil was light and added a really good flavor. Not the buttery flavor I know and love, but it was healthier and tastier w/ the addition of the red pepper infusion and red pepper spice blend.

So check out the Made with Love website and look out for the creations I make with the Aztec Chocolate blend and jalapeno root!!!

Sonoma Chicken Salad

So a while back I got this chicken salad from Whole Foods. I thought it was so awesomely good, so I tried to make it myself. I think I did a pretty good job but ironically, there is a recipe on the Whole Foods website!!!

So I didn't make it just like the website's recipe b/c I had no recipe to follow, but I think it came out pretty darn good!

The recipe on the website has a different sauce, but mostly the same solid ingredients. Both version we very yummy, so I am pretty happy that I did well based on my taste buds.

Sonoma Chicken Salad
adapted from Whole Foods

For the chicken:
1lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Chicken stock, enough to cover the chicken breasts in a pot
1/2 cup dry white wine

For the dressing:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup poppy seed dressing
Salt and white pepper to taste
Splash of Tabasco sauce

Additional salad ingredients:
1/2 cup toasted pecan pieces
1 cup red grapes, halved or quartered, depending on how large they are
2 celery stalks, sliced

Place the chicken breasts in a pot and add the chicken stock until completely covered. Add the wine. Cook for aprx 10-15 minutes, depending on how thick the pieces are. Remove the chicken pieces once they are fully cooked and let cool.

While the chicken is poaching, mix the ingredients for the sauce and put in the fridge to keep cool.

Once the chicken is cooled off some, you can cut it into a medium dice and toss w/ the sauce and add'l salad ingredients.

Cut a fresh croissant or roll in half horizontally and add however much you want. Add some lettuce, tomato, red onion and whatever else you like on your sandwich.



Yum!!!

Everything but the kitchen sink gaucamole

Everyone who knows me, knows I LOVE guacamole! My co-workers often see me munching on chips and guac at work, I'm making it for parties all the time, I love this stuff! I prefer it with tons of stuff in it, kinda like a creamy salsa, but I will take it any which way I can get it!

For this guacamole, I got EVERYTHING. I added giardiniera, yellow peppers, orange peppers, jalapeno peppers... Everything. Yum.

My Favorite Brand- It has no jalapenos :)

Let me lay it all out there for you!

Ingredients:
1 yellow bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
3 Roma tomatoes
1 medium sized red onion
3 jalapenos
1/4 cup of giardiniera (1 tsp of the liquid)
1 tbsp of Tastefully Simple's Garlic Garlic (or 5-6 cloves of garlic)
2-3 tsp crushed red pepper
2 limes
2-3 tsp Tabasco sauce
5 avocados
Sea Salt and fresh cracked black pepper, to taste

I had to use the Garlic Garlic (Tastefully Simple) b/c I ran out of fresh garlic. Oops. How did that happen?!?! So since Garlic Garlic is dried garlic flakes, I soaked the Garlic Garlic and the crushed red pepper in juice from half a lime, the Tabasco sauce and the liquid from the giardiniera. I let them soak while I chopped everything. If you are using fresh garlic, then I would recommend combining the liquid ingredients together and whisk a little so it is all together to be tossed over the guac before it's done.
I chopped the first 6 ingredients, placing them in a container and took half a lime and squeezed the juice over the cut veggies.



After all the veggies were cut, I cut the avocados and removed the pits, setting aside three pits. I scooped the inside meat from the skin and tossed all of the avocado meat in a large bowl. I squeezed half a lime over the avocado.
Using a mini potato masher, I mashed the avocado until it was smoother, but still with some chunks.
I tossed the mashed avocado with the cut veggies until they were coated w/ the mashed avocado. After everything was mixed together, I tossed in the garlic and red pepper mix, cracked fresh pepper over, sprinkled some sea salt and mixed everything again. I tasted it with an authentic tortilla chip at that point, b/c if it needed some more of something, now would be the time. I actually didn't have to add anything at this point, so I squeezed the last of the lime over the guac, mixed it up and placed the three pits inside.

You can't even see the pits in there
It was creamy and chunky and yummy. I have to say that I kinda thought the heat mellowed out when I got to the party, but it was still good and you still felt it. But I had leftovers, which I brought to work on Monday and whoa. That heat had time to develop and it was awesome. I definitely recommend making this the night before and keeping it in the fridge. The heat comes out way more that way. And since I used lime juice and left the pits in, the guac stayed just as green as you see it in the pictures now. And that was after sitting out on a table outside for a few hours, then covered and left out of the fridge, then put back in the fridge and reopened two days later. Not so bad huh?

I hope you all enjoy! Especially you, Jen!! ;)

Delicious Raspberry Cookies

I saw these awesome cookies not too long ago and at first I was a bit skeptical b/c I hadn't heard of a couple of the ingredients before, but after chatting a bit w/ the blog writer, I just HAD to make them. The cookie is fantastic. The only change I made was that I used brown sugar instead of tagatose sweetener, only b/c I couldn't find it. But the found spelt flour and I am hooked. I made these at the end of my detox and it was my first sweet treat (other than the disastrous black bean brownies). I picked up the ingredients and trekked home to make them. Unfortunately, my raspberries were less than ideal and I had to go out again to pick up more. Those weren't much better. So I cut the berries in half to make them spread out in the batter more. I made 23 cookies, but there probably would have been more if I made them all the same size! The cookie was so thick and fluffy, it really could have been a muffin top. But it had a bit of a biscuit-y texture too. Not super biscuit-y but a bit. The taste was light and airy and the perfect balance of tart and sweet.


I just wish my chocolate chop cookies would be this thick!!!

My only beef w/ these cookies is that you definitely need to eat them the day you bake them! They definitely weren't dry cookies, but they weren't very moist andwet. But when I wrapped them to take to work the next day, they got ery soggy :( I don't know if it was b/c they weren't 100% cooled off when I tossed them in the baggie, but I'll try it out w/ a couple cookies next time and see what happens.

These are definitely on my make over and over list!!! Enjoy!!!

Black Bean Brownies and my search for less gluten-ous foods

So I jumped on the black bean brownie bandwagon. And I am jumping off now.

I am not hear to say anyone is crazy for liking this brownie. I'm not trying to say that it is gross b/c of someone's specific recipe. I'm just saying I HATED it.

I agree that there is no black bean taste. With the amount of unsweetened chocolate in it, along w/ the sweet honey, there was no way you would be able to taste the bean. But you can sure feel it.

I didn't change a single thing from this recipe except I subbed honey for the agave nectar, but she said that was okay. And I used cocoa powder instead of the coffee powder, which I always do and nothing bad ever happens.

But I didn't like the bitter, overwhelming chocolate taste mixed w/ the overly sweetness from the honey (which, again, you can't taste, but it definitely changes it...). I think that if I had used flour and regular sugar, instead of beans and honey, respectively, this might have worked. Well, probably not because that bitter chocolate taste left me w/ a very unpleasant aftertaste in my mouth...

When I made the batter and poured it into the parchment paper lined and oil sprayed brownie pan, I knew something wasn't right. It was smooth when I poured- yes, poured it in. It was the consistency of a melted milkshake. It was dark like poo and the smell of unsweetened chocolate wafted up to my nostrils, nearly giving me a nose bleed.
I was somewhat reminded of the scene in Drop Dead Fred where Fred and Lizzie made mud pies... remember that scene?

Fred: I'm not afraid of the megabeast!
Young Elizabeth: I'm not either, when she comes in here we'll make her eat up all this mud!
Fred: Yeah... and then we'll cut her head off...
Young Elizabeth: with scissors...
Fred: Yeah... and then we'll make her eat it
Young Elizabeth: ...make her eat her own head... with what?
Fred: Oh yeah, well I'll eat her head then.
Young Elizabeth: And I'll eat the rest of her!
Fred: Yeah! And then we'll get up and poo her all over the table cause we're not afraid of anything
Fred, Young Elizabeth: yeah, yeah YEAH!

God, I love that movie.

Anyways, getting back to the brownies. I seriously didn't think they'd bake. I thought I would pull it out of the oven and it would be just really super hot soup.
But they did bake. And they took like 3 hours to cool down enough to cut. And when I cut them into little squares, they were still so gooey, that most of the batter stuck to the knife, but not in crumbly yummy pieces, in thick gooey wet muddy mess.
So I threw them back in on the parchment paper on a cookie sheet, completely cut into squares, hoping that would make them less of a gooey mess.


Nope. They weren't as gooey but they were still gross. The texture was kind of like a fruit jello w/ cream mixed in before it was put in the fridge to set and it is almost set, but not quite? Yeah, like that only a wee bit less gelatin-y. A piece did Jell-o giggle in my hand. And when I took it off my hand, half the brownie was still stuck to it...

Gross. But I took them to work. I mean, someone liked these things, why not let it my co-workers try tham and they can decide? Oh and btw, I left them out, cut in squares and separated and uncovered, hoping they would dry up a little.

Negative. But they didn't stick anymore. Instead they were a bit... oily? Not sure what the best word would be, but they kinda slid off the parchment paper...

So I layered the brownies in the tuperware container and put wax paper b/w the layers. I brought three layers of brownies.

How many layers does it look like are left in the picture? If you said two (plus two from the top third layer) you are right!!! You win the prize!!! Okay, so there is no prize, except for maybe me telling you that this is a bad idea. Bad bad bad.

But, I also made some raspberry cookies the same night and those turned out fantastic! Check out my next post for that recipe!

A New way of thinking... cooking... baking... eating... living

So lately I've been having stomach problems and I just wanted some relief. I consulted my doctor, who had a surprising answer. Detox. I thought he would want me to go on antibiotics or something, but thankfully, knowing that I hate drugs, he suggested another way of going about making me feel better. And you know what? It's awesome. I have to say I didn't feel sick ONCE during that week. Now knowing what I do, I've learned what to cut, what to not have a lot of, what to have instead of something that makes me sick. It's good stuff.

If anyone has been having troubles with food, this is what you have to do... Stop eating gluten, dairy, wheat, red meat, butter and sugars. Eat only fruits, veggies, chicken, fish, nuts (no peanuts or peanut butter), eggs, grains like quinoa or rice, and olive oil. You would be surprised on how easy it really is and how good you will feel after a week. I dropped 10 lbs, probably from food that hadn't digested before.

I am not crazy enough to nix everything from my diet. Like Cold Stone Creamery??? Maybe only once every couple of months, kinda like I did before anyways. And no more baking? You gotta be kidding. But it doesn't mean I won't try things like black bean brownies that sub black beans for the flour and honey for the sugar. It's amazing the minor changes you can make w/out cutting out flavor and yumminess. I've even discovered Spelt flour from a fellow blogger. I bought it and made her raspberry cookies too (look for the future posting on those-yum!).

Either way, it is ok to diet to feel good. I haven't dieted as dramatically this weekend as I had last week for the detox, but the difference in how I feel after is awesome. I don't feel nauseous or bloated or whatever.

I think that even if you don't do it all the time, everyone should detox once every couple of years. It's worth it, trust me!!!

Chocolate chip banana cake

I am not a Tuesday's with Dorie member, mostly b/c I don't like a bunch of the recipes in her cookbook. But occasionally, there is a recipe here or there I am interested in trying. This past week we just so happened to have 10 bananas that were forgotten about. Sad... So they were super brown, nearly black and I was going to freeze them for when I had a craving for something banana-y when I saw the Classic Banana Bundt cake recipe all over tastespotting.com. And all of a sudden, I had a craving :)

So Saturday morning, I took my yiayia to church in the morning for the celebration of the Dormition of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary), then we visited my papou at the cemetery b/c his birthday was yesterday (Happy Birthday Papou! I still miss you!) and we went to put a new candle in the holder and add some more pretty flowers. We went to lunch at Moondance Diner on Ogden Ave in Westmont (really good, pretty healthy food, check them out!). By the time I got home, I was pooped and didn't want to do ANYTHING!

But I knew I had these bananas and I knew I wanted to make this cake... So I did. My only beef with it is how long it baked for! It felt like FOREVER! But that's only cuz I really wanted to get over to Mike's house and I had to bring him some, so the longer the cake took, the longer till I got to see him.

It's a REALLY good cake. I mean really, really good cake.

Classic Banana Bundt Cake
adapted from Dorie Greenspan

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups brown sugar***
1/2 cup white granulated sugar***
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, preferably at room temperature
About 4 very ripe bananas, mashed (you should have 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 cups)
1 cup vanilla yogurt***
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips***

Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.

Spray your bundt pan with cooking spray w/ flour (I use Crisco brand w/ Pillsbury flour)
Don’t place the pan on a baking sheet - you want the oven’s heat to circulate through the Bundt’s inner tube.

Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter until creamy.

Add the sugar and beat at medium speed until pale and fluffy (won't be as pale since the addition of the brown sugar makes it more speckled w/ brown). Beat in the vanilla, then add the eggs one at a time, beating for about 1 minute after each egg goes in.

Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the bananas.

Finally, mix in half the dry ingredients, all theyogurt and then the rest of the flour mixture.

Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top.

Bake for 60 minutes***, or until a thin knife inserted deep into the center of the cake comes out with little crumbs stuck to it, but not wet. Check the cake after about 30 minutes - if it is browning too quickly, cover it loosely with a foil tent.

Transfer the cake to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before unmolding onto the rack to cool to room temperature.

If you've got the time, wrap the cooled cake in plastic and allow it to sit on the counter overnight before serving - it's better the next day.

*** Okay, so the original recipe uses 2 cups of white granulated sugar and there is no brown sugar whatsoever in it. I personally believe that brown sugar makes everything better, so I subbed it. The first time I made the cake, I used 1 cup light brown sugar and 1 cup regular granulated sugar. The pictures below show that cake. It was definitely good, but I wanted to know what the difference would be with more brown sugar... So the second cake I made for work had the measurements above. I think next time, I am going to try it w/ all brown sugar. Maybe one day I'll try it w/ only regular granulated sugar. It seems that all the bloggers loved it just the way it was w/ the white sugar, so it can't be that bad. I just love the deeper, almost carmelized taste the brown sugar gives.
Also as for the yogurt. The recipe says 1 cup of sour cream or 1 cup of plain yogurt. I used vanilla yogurt b/c I'd rather have the sweet vanilla taste rather than a tangy taste. Just my preference...
And I added the chips for fun, but it would taste AMAZING w/out them too. Although I think I'd use mini chocolate chips next time, if I did chips again.
And the original recipe said to bake 65-75 minutes. I only baked it for 60 and it was prefect!

And if you feel like the cake is going to overflow (my second one did, just a wee bit), take like a cup of the batter out and make a couple of muffins/cupcakes. That way, if you have to save the cake for something like work the next day or a party, you get to savor some of it all by yourself... :)

So the cream cheese frosting. Looks kinda gross doesn't it? Wait till you see the picture below... I was impatient. Remember how I wanted to go to Mike's and the cake was taking forever? Well, I made the frosting while the cake was baking and I took the cake out of the bundt after 10 mins and waited another 30 mins at least before putting the frosting on it... Okay, maybe more like 15 mins. Like I said, I was impatient. Well, it melted right off the top and pooled in the middle. It still tasted good, but it looked soooo gross.
I just mixed a brick of cream cheese, 3/4 stick of softened butter, 1 tsp of vanilla and added powdered sugar until it had the taste and consistency I liked. (Start w/ a 1/2 cup and add more slowly from there, if you'd like).

The first cake I made, of course I had a piece like right after the frosting stopped spilling over the sides... It was so soft and fluffy and light and moist and omg, it was sooooooo good. It was delicate and airy and just wonderful. I sliced three more pieces to take to Mike. He devoured the first piece in like a second. He loved it, which always makes me feel good.
I had read in one of the TWD blogs that the cake had such a different texture the next day, and I had to put it in the fridge b/c of the frosting, so I was a bit scared how it woudl turn out. It was very dense and heavy, more of a pound cake consistency. I thought it dry out a bit, even though it was covered, but not at all! Just as moist as the first day. My mom liked it, my dad liked it (but thought it could do with the chips since he doesn't like chocolate chips), my cousin liked it, my sister liked it.

When I made it for work, I knew it would be good for them b/c so many people like banana bread/cake. When people were asking for the recipe and my boss said that it reminded him of his granmother's banana bread that he hasn't had in so long, I knew it was a success.

This cake will definitely be made over and over and over again. I think I'll make it into a layered cake next time w/ the cream cheese frosting... But I think I would make the cake layers the night before and then frost it after it is COMPLETELY cooled and has had a chance to thicken up and be a bit sturdier to frost!

I recently learned some new tricks to taking pictures for the blog, but I have not yet used them. Primarily b/c I was in a super hurry on Saturday and I forgot my camera at home so I couldn't take any at work yesterday. So the pictures aren't as pretty as I would have liked. But next round, I'm sure it'll be better!

I need a break!!!

I need a break. Just like the title says. I almost had a break at the end of July, but things fell through b/c my boyfriend just had to go buy a house! Okay, so the house is way more important, but I was sooo looking forward to that weekend trip. :(

You see, I've had a medically stressful year. I started (literally) the new year w/ a horrible eye pain and vision loss that turned out to be optic neuritis and was in the hosp for a few days, on heavy doses of steroids and ibuprofen and had to take additional medicine for the heartburn the meds were giving me. I ended up w/ bronchitis a few days later and was given antibiotics and cough medicine. I spent most of January on at least 3 different medicines at the same time...

A couple months goes by and no major issues. In March, I got a tattoo on my foot and when the tattoo healed, the swelling didn't go down. After four months (yes, FOUR MONTHS) the second podiatrist I saw diagnosed me with severe tendonitis in my right foot. I am stuck in gym shoes (that cost me $140, but they are awesome New Balance shoes, so hopefully worth it) and compression socks for the next couple of weeks (btw, I work in a business dress environment, which means NO GYM SHOES! My boss is not thrilled...) After the swelling has reduced enough to his satisfaction, I am out of the gym shoes and compression socks (which, btw, are costing me $60 a pair since they are not covered by health insurance) but then I am in flat comfort shoes w/ orthotics that are being made special for my feet. Those, thankfully, are covered by my insurance at 100% (I hope, cuz they told me the compression socks were covered too!). Did I also mention that at night I have to wear leg splints that will be keeping my feet at a proper angle or whatever so that I can quit getting leg cramps in the middle of the night that are so bad I am screaming in pain while my dad has to rub them out cuz I can't move? My doc thinks they are caused by the lack of Vitamin B-12 in my system. Not that it has been confirmed, but maybe I'll find out soon enough.

So onto the newest unknown. I guess it's not really a new unknown, per se, but I've finally decided that it is bothersome enough to find out what is going on.

For the last few months, food has been making me sick. You know that full feeling you get after you know you have eaten WAY too much? The feeling that you've eaten so much so fast that it is backed up in your chest and throat, waiting for the rest of it to digest so it can go down? Okay, maybe you haven't ever felt like that, and for those of you looking at the computer funny right now- you are so lucky... I get that feeling every single time I eat. At first, it was only once in a while. Then more often, and now it seems that I am lucky to have finish a rare meal that I don't feel sick afterwards. It's like a heavy full feeling, causing cramps in my stomach and that nauseous feeling in my chest and throat, but it's an empty feeling too. Almost like I'm hungry sick. But the smell of food, the intake of food, even the thought of food makes me break out in a nauseous sweat.

So a few of the ideas have been either that I have ulcers, which wouldn't be too far off since my dad had them pretty bad, so bad they ruptured (or something like that, I was pretty young whe he was in the hospital for it). The inside of my stomach lining could be corroded from the mass quantities of medicines that have been passing through my system in the last 8 months. Someone mentioned Crohn's disease. Someone else said acid reflux, but I don't have the pain they were describing.

Anyways, I finally decide to call my PCP and he is on vacay until next Monday. Blah. So I wait...

Until then... I bake!