2 cups slivered almonds
2 large egg whites
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour

Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit.
Toast the slivered almonds however you prefer. I did it in a pan on the stove top with a lot of vigorous stirring, but to do it on a sheet pan in the over is also more than acceptable. If going the oven route, toast for 5-7 minutes and watch them carefully so they don’t burn. After toasted, transfer to a food processor and blend with the flour until fairly well ground. Transfer to a bowl…or leave in the food processor for less dishes.
Set up a double boiler type contraption with a glass bowl atop a smaller pot filled with simmering water. It’s important that the water doesn’t touch the bowl so it’s strictly heated by steam. Place egg whites into bowl and immediately start beating them to prevent scrambling. As the egg whites get foamy, slowly add the sugar and continue to beat until the egg whites become glossy and thicken. I personally felt a physical difference in the thickness, but these cookies are forgiving if you underbeat.
At this point, remove the glass bowl from the hot water. Take your almond/flour mixture and fold into the glossy egg whites until thoroughly combined and homogenous. Everyone should be friends with each other. Now scoop out the batter with a tablespoon or cookie scoop onto a parchment lined sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes at 350. Let cool for 5 or more minutes before peeling from the parchment. Now you may fill if you want or just enjoy them delightfully on their own!

Now pickling, on the other hand, scares me. I don’t have any experience canning or jarring or jamming. So the idea of homemade pickles seemed very far out of reach for me until I realized that you can make pickles overnight in the fridge, free of hot glass jars. So this girl picked up some kirby pickles, garlic, and vinegar and went to town on the darn things, and man are they delicious!

Pickles
from The Edible Perspective

6 kirby cucumbers (or any other small cucumbers)
1 tbsp peppercorns
1 tbsp kosher salt
4 garlic, minced
3/4 cup vinegar
water

Combine the peppercorns, salt, and minced garlic in your jar. Slice up your cucumbers into spears or slices or both. (I did both.) Place them into your jar as tightly as possible, fitting in as much cucumber as you can. Pour the vinegar over the cucumbers and fill the jar the rest of the way with water. Give everything a hearty shake to dissolve the salt and then place in the fridge overnight. The next day you will have salty, tangy, garlic deliciousness!

I’ve been bitten by the candy making bug! I made another batch of caramels the other day and I’ve been wanting to dabble in more candy-making ever since! It’s the holiday season and we’ve received several packages of chocolate covered sponge candy from friends back home. It’s sometimes called honeycomb or sponge toffee, but Buffalonians call it sponge candy, and I imagine it’s something that I won’t be able to shake. Much like my nasally ’A’. Or my apparently insanely bizarre pronunciation of the word bison.

Sponge candy might seem like a rather intimidating confection, but in fact it’s easier than walking. Maybe even easier, if you’re a huge klutz like myself. And it’s addictive. I know I said homemade caramels were addicting, but this honeycomb, man, it takes the cake. The flavor of honey really comes through great, and the slight saltiness of baking soda is a nice contrast, similar to the way salted caramels work. Honestly, prepare yourself to make several batches of this, because if your family’s even a little like mine, you’ll need it.

Sponge Candy/Honeycomb
adapted from Cherrapeno

5 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp honey
1 tsp baking soda

Combine the sugar and honey in a large pot, the baking soda will cause everything to foam up and increase in volume. Whisk this mixture over heat until the sugar has melted and continue to cook it until it reaches a nice golden color. Then add the baking soda and whisk, letting everything foam up and then quickly pour onto a silicone or parchment lined baking sheet.

Allow to cool and then break into pieces to serve!

So what do you do when your previously carnivorous friend decides to go vegan? Kill her. That’s right, you begrudgingly make room for her new eating habits and remember than when you, yourself, were a vegetarian she graciously accepted that as well. Except wait…that’s not even true. My best friend used to dangle pieces of meat at me during meals together and poke fun at my decision to be a vegetarian. Well the tables sure have flipped now, haven’t they? Because here I am, the one who eats almost everything, and there she is in North Carolina, eating tofu, beans, and greens.

I don’t often get requests for my blog. My family is always more than happy to eat what I pull out of the oven and aside from them, I don’t think anyone else really cares what I decide to make. But about a week ago, my crazy girl Natalie requested that I make something vegan, so here you are, some vegan pear muffins. I really think these are great, and if you’re not a vegan and don’t have soy milk on hand, you can absolutely substitute regular milk in there. Otherwise, these are 100% normal muffins.

Enjoy girl. I miss your craziness when you’re down in Duke!

Vegan Pear Muffins
adapted ever so slightly from That’s So Vegan

3 cups flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups soy milk
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tbsp vanilla
2 pears, chopped

Preheat oven to 400° and line a muffin tin with paper cups.

Mix all the dry ingredients together, then add the wet. Stir until just combined. Fold in the chopped pear and pour batter into prepared pan. (I went for 12 muffins and a small loaf pan.) Bake for about 25 minutes, let cool and enjoy!

I love rosemary. I think it’s awesome. It has a great scent, looks nice, and adds a nice dimension of flavor to everything. I want to roll around in bales of rosemary, douse myself in rosemary infused oils, and dare I say it? I would even take it out on a date. Go nice and slow so I don’t scare her off. Because, guys, Rosemary is the herb of my dreams.

Okay, well that’s debatable, but it’s true that I do love rosemary. I always buy it in larger quantities than I really need (for steak) and since it tends to go brown at the tips and lose it flavor pretty quickly, I typically end up tossing a good 80% of it in the garbage. But not this time. This time I’m determined to use as much of that blessed herb as I can. In anticipation, I added lots of recipes to my queue, aiolis, different types of bread, and infused oils, but it turns out that preparation was unnecessary because this bread was so well-received that there was close to no rosemary left at the end of two days.

On another, really random note, I think Rosemary would be a great name for a girl. Though I really shouldn’t be allowed to name kids because I also think Eugenie, Rose, and a handful of other ‘old man’ and ‘old lady’ names are also great. I’ve made a few friends at college that, I’m sure, won’t allow me near the hospital until that baby is named with the birth certificate signed and notarized. Yeah, I should probably not be allowed near children…ever.

Shaker Style Rosemary Bread
halved and adapted from A Chow Life

1 cup very warm whole milk (120°F)
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 cup warm water (110°F to 115°F)
1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
1 large egg, beaten
3 1/2 (about) all purpose flour
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
vegetable oil

Pour milk into large bowl. Mix in sugar, butter, and salt; cool to lukewarm. Place 1/4 cup warm water in small bowl; mix in yeast. Let stand 6 minutes. In the meantime, beat the egg in a small bowl.

Stir yeast mixture and 1/2 of the beaten egg into lukewarm milk mixture. Mix in 2 cups flour. Beat with wooden spoon until mixture is smooth. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sponge stand until bubbles appear at edge, about 15 minutes.

Mix rosemary into sponge. Mix in flour, 1/3 cupful at a time, until soft, slightly sticky dough forms. You may need more or less than 3 1/2 cups of flour, depending on the humidity. Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead until smooth and no longer sticky, sprinkling with flour as needed, about 10 minutes. Brush clean large bowl with oil. Add dough; turn to coat. Cover bowl with plastic. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Brush a loaf pan lightly with oil. Punch dough down and turn out onto work surface; shape into a loaf and place in pan. Let rise, uncovered, until almost doubled in volume, about 45 minutes.

Position rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 375°F. Using serrated knife, make shallow cut down center the loaf. Brush with the other half of the beaten eg and bake until golden and crusty, about 35 minutes. Turn bread out of pan. Cool on racks.

This recipe has been in my queue for a long time. I mean…forever. It’s probably been bookmarked since before the meteor crashed into earth and killed all the dinosaurs this blog was even started. Somehow, for some probably stupid and now unknown reasons, I never got to make it until now.

See the thing is, I have a confession. I love Nanaimo bars…and honestly, all things Canadian. Give me some maple candy, gravy and cheese smothered poutine, and some snow and I will love you forever and ever. I grew up right on the border between the US and Canada, and for some reason my town was one that liked to make fun of the Canadiennes. Whether for their funny cute pronunciation of about, their stupid fun name for policemen, and their unprofessional awesome colored money!

I don’t care what kind of flack I get from my hometowners, because trips to Toronto were an integral part of my childhood. I loved shopping on Queen Street, getting haircuts in Chinatown, and stopping at many a Tim Hortons on the two hour trips there and back. The cool thing about living on the border is that you get to experience two cultures that are slightly different. I’ll never forget the funny confusion that involved my parents, a Canadian Tim Hortons, and the startling difference in sizing. In that way, Canada is kind of European, I guess. Never really super-sizing things and spelling things like the Brits.

Looking back, I’ve come to realize that Toronto was ‘my city’. In the same way that for some it’s New York City. Despite having lived in New York for most of my life, I’ve been to the city less times than there are fingers on my hand while trips to Toronto are more than I can begin to count. Even now in college, it’s very comforting to sit down at the bakery/coffee/bagel shop and nibble on a creamy, indulgent Nanaimo bar. Considering how simple it is to whip these up at home, that seems like a habit that will be quickly kicked.

No-No Nanaimo Bars
adapted from Seven Spoons

So a quick disclaimer. These aren’t really Nanaimo bars. Hence the title. They’re baked and don’t use a custard powder, but I think they are still pretty great.

1 1/2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs
1/2 cup unsweetened dried shredded coconut
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 tablespoons (0.875 ounce) packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup heavy cream
7 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate with 55% to 60% cacao

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Mix the crumbs, coconut, pecans, and butter and pat it very firmly into the lined pan. (I used an oddly proportion 7×11 pan, but you can use a 9×9 if that’s more normal.) Bake the crust for 10 to 12 minutes, or until it looks slightly darker at the edges and smells toasted.

While the crust is baking, mix the filling. In a large bowl, beat the softened cream cheese, brown sugar, and 1/4 cup of granulated sugar until smooth. Beat in the vanilla and then the egg. When the crust is baked, dollop the filling onto the hot crust and spread gently with the back of a spoon. Bake the bars until the edges are slightly puffed, about 10 minutes. Cool on a rack for 30 minutes. Chill for at least 2 hours.

Melt the heavy cream and chocolate together and mix until it makes a smooth, glossy ganache. Pour the warm ganache onto the bars, spread, and chill for at least 30 minutes before serving. Lift the bars out of the pan by using the edges of the foil liner. Cut into 16 or 25 squares, wiping the knife between cuts. May be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.

So the first semester of college has drawn to an end, and I know I’ve left you high and dry, post-wise and I am so sorry! Let me just get that apology off my chest and out there for everyone. But I’m back at one of my homes now, and it is so lovely. I’ve missed my family, I can’t even begin to describe to you how much. They’re goofy, fun, loving, and awesome. And they know me so well, because guess where my first stop after coming back to Georgia was? Yup. To the grocery store!

So after lugging home more than I could eat’s worth of persimmons, honey crisp apples, and oyster mushrooms, I arrived home to this rad banner that my goofball sister made me and both her and my dad hanging out in their pajamas. Hugs and kisses and unpacking were partaken in, and shortly after, sleep. Waking up today, I got to eat some of my mom’s cooking that I have missed so much at college. Cornell might have some of the best college food around, but it’s no comparison for home cooked, small batch food.

The other thing I’ve missed is having a full sized kitchen. I still long for the gas stove that we left in Buffalo, but having a real kitchen to work in with actual counter space instead of mixing ingredients in my dorm room is really awesome and I couldn’t wait to get crackin’. The first thing I made? Steak.

It’s funny that I even eat steak now, because for years I was a staunch vegetarian, but a really well prepared steak at this steak and seafood place in Buffalo completely turned me around. After I’d already started eating meat, of course. They prepare their steaks simply, with a rub of rosemary, black pepper, and sea salt, and it’s something I’ve tried to emulate halfway successfully on our lame-o electric ‘grill’. Still, it’s a really nice way to prepare a steak and celebrate a homecoming, many of which I’m sure will be occurring in the next few weeks, what with the holidays and ends-of-semesters.

Rosemary Black Pepper Steak

steaks of your choice
rosemary, enough to cover both sides of your steaks, minced finely
black pepper, preferably fresh ground
sea salt, to taste

Take your steaks out 1-2 hours before you plan to prepare them. Uncover/unwrap/unwhatever and place them on a large plate. Sprinkle the rosemary, black pepper, and sea salt onto one side of the meat and and give it a nice flavor massage. Flip the steaks and repeat on the other side and let the steaks rest and come to room temperature.

Fire up your grill, or whatever medium you’re planning on cooking your steaks with. This is a nice reference for different methods of preparing steak. Cook your steaks to preference, tent with foil and let rest for 15-20 minutes. Then serve and enjoy!

I love baking bread, but I love my family more. Bread is complex, despite it’s seemingly short list of ingredients. Starters, fermenting, rising, proofing, there’s a whole lexicon of jargon that comes with baking bread, but I’d more than say that end result is worth it, provided you like bread to begin with. In my family, my mother is the biggest fan of enriched breads. In addition to her wicked sweet tooth, she is a sucker for challah, Hawaiian rolls, Chinese bakery pastries, and the like.

I’ll keep this post short because I don’t want my words to get windy, like the braids of this challah. To sum up my thoughts in a nutshell, I miss home and family. I’m loving college, of course. Seeing friends from high school, meeting new ones, but there’s no doubt that I miss my mom, dad, and sister. Love you guys.

Challah
from Smitten Kitchen

1 1/2 packages active dry yeast (1 1/2 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon plus 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup olive or vegetable oil, plus more for greasing the bowl
5 large eggs
1 tablespoon salt
8 to 8 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup raisins per challah, if using, plumped in hot water and drained
Poppy or sesame seeds for sprinkling.

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar in 1 3/4 cups lukewarm water.

Whisk oil into yeast, then beat in 4 eggs, one at a time, with remaining sugar and salt. Gradually add flour. When dough holds together, it is ready for kneading. (You can also use a mixer with a dough hook for both mixing and kneading, but be careful if using a standard size KitchenAid–it’s a bit much for it, though it can be done.)

Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. Clean out bowl and grease it, then return dough to bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour, until almost doubled in size. Dough may also rise in an oven that has been warmed to 150 degrees then turned off. Punch down dough, cover and let rise again in a warm place for another half-hour.

At this point, you can knead the raisins into the challah, if you’re using them, before forming the loaves. To make a 6-braid challah, either straight or circular, take half the dough and form it into 6 balls. With your hands, roll each ball into a strand about 12 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. Place the 6 in a row, parallel to one another. Pinch the tops of the strands together. Move the outside right strand over 2 strands. Then take the second strand from the left and move it to the far right. Take the outside left strand and move it over 2. Move second strand from the right over to the far left. Start over with the outside right strand. Continue this until all strands are braided. For a straight loaf, tuck ends underneath. For a circular loaf, twist into a circle, pinching ends together. Make a second loaf the same way. Place braided loaves on a greased cookie sheet with at least 2 inches in between.

Beat remaining egg and brush it on loaves. Either freeze breads or let rise another hour.

If baking immediately, preheat oven to 375 degrees and brush loaves again. Sprinkle bread with seeds, if using. If freezing, remove from freezer 5 hours before baking.

Bake in middle of oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden. (If you have an instant read thermometer, you can take it out when it hits an internal temperature of 190 degrees.) Cool loaves on a rack.

Can you guys guess what I did before college? I finished a juice fast! People do juice fasts for different reasons. Some people want to lose weight and lose it fast. Some people want to clean our their urinary tract. Or colon. Or something. For me, I decided to do one because I’ve never done on before (and you guys know how I like to try new things) and because college, for me, starts in exactly a week and I wanted to start my year at a high point (from a health-oriented perspective). It’s a bit of a stereotype that all college students live off of packaged ramen and frozen waffles, but realistically speaking I see my next four years to be full of cups of yogurt, boxes of candy, and my personal weakness. Don’t ask to explain why, because I couldn’t even, but I love those things.

Anyways, my inspiration for this detox/juice fast came from Lady Cakes. She drew her own inspiration from this cleanse, which is pretty cool if expensive, expensive, too expensive for this soon-to-be-broke-student! Even though Ashlae didn’t have a stellar experience with her own cleanse, I still really liked it for several reasons. First, it’s not all “LOSE WEIGHT! WE’RE GONNA LOSE SOME WEIGHT Y’ALL!” Some of those crazy cleanses are like: ‘Mix lemon juice, hot sauce, and maple syrup together. Drink this and only this for a week.’ Um, that’s gross. BPC’s cleanse is more focused on balancing your innards while providing you with good (and raw) nutrients.

Secondly, it’s all delicious. I modeled my self-made juices on BPC’s ‘Foundation’ cleanse. I loved their description of what kind of person it’s for, because I felt like my thoughts had been plagiarized for a moment. It’s been labelled as ‘the cleanse for foodies’ and I would jump on that bandwagon because of the four juices, none of them made me think ‘Blech!’.

Speaking of, the four juices in my cleanse were: Green Juice, Pineapple Apple Mint, Spicy Lemonade, and Almond Milk. The original cleanse ends with a cashew milk, but I didn’t have cashews at home so almond milk it was! Taste-wise, I love how the use of Granny Smith apples in the Green Juice cut through the vegetables so it wasn’t overwhelmingly vegetable-y at all. After my first, mind-blowingly delicious, bottle of P.A.M. I was hesitant about how the Green Juice would taste afterwards, but it wasn’t even a little bad!

So enough of my yammering and let’s get onto the recipes, shall we?

Green Juice
4 leaves of romaine lettuce
3 stalks of celery
5 stalks of parsley
2 Granny Smith apples
1/2 cup spinach
2-3 leaves of kale
1 medium-sized cucumber

Rinse all your vegetables and trim off any ends that look a bit unsavory. Cut up the romaine lettuce and kale. Place in the bowl of a food processor and process until it reduces to pulpy-ness. You may have to add a little water to help it along, but try not to add too much. Then add the spinach and let it whir away while you cut the celery, apples (core these too), and cucumber into a manageable size and slowly drop those into your processor as well and let it whir away until everything is pretty evenly blitzed together.

Place a mesh strainer over a bowl and pour some of your green juice pulp into the strainer and let it sit for 5 minutes to let the juices drip out. Then, with washed hands, press down on the pulp and squish out as much juice as you can. Repeat until all the pulp is emptied out of the processor. Transfer your juice into a 16 oz. bottle and refrigerate.

Pineapple Apple Mint
1/3 of a pineapple
2 Granny Smith apples
1/4 cup mint

Core the apples and chop into chunks and do the same for the pineapple. Place into your processor along with the mint and blitz until smooth. Using a clean strainer, pour the juice pulp into it and repeat the steps used for the green juice.

Spicy Lemonade
15 oz. filtered water
1 oz lemon juice
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper powder
1 tsp honey or agave

Combine all ingredients in a glass or bottle. Give a hearty shake/stir and refrigerate.

Almond Milk
1/2 cup almonds
2 cups water
1 tbsp honey or agave
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon powder

Soak almonds in tap water overnight. Rinse before use and combine all ingredients in a blender and blend at a high speed until it reaches a milky consistency. Pour into a cheesecloth-lined bowl and squeeze out as much milk as you can. Refrigerate or use right away.

I’ve been seeing a lot of banana soft serve/healthy banana ice cream type posts going around the blogosphere lately. I don’t know whether this year blended, frozen bananas are really in or whether this happens even summer, but this recipe has no bananas in it. First of all…I haven’t been feeling bananas that much lately. Sure, I still dig a moist, cinnamony banana bread, but when picking out of the fruit bowl, banana has been coming last to all the exotic-er fruits we’ve had lately. (Sorry, buddy.)

Speaking of the banana soft serve trend, my recipe queue has had a bit of a trend recently as well. S’mores. I bookmarked some whoopie pies, this orgasmic-looking pie, and this ice cream just sent me over the graham cracker edge where I fell into chocolate, with a splash, and had to use a marshmallow as a flotation device. Oh if only.

It’s pretty rare that I make something that I bookmark within a couple of days, but I’ve been super proactive lately and I got around to making s’mores ice cream lickety-split. I made it twice, actually. It is that good.

In other news, I am now all moved into my dorm at Cornell, so I’m sorry to say that post frequency will probably dwindle as a result of workload, orientation, and all other sorts of school-related madness. Many apologies and thanks to my not-so-many readers!

S’mores Ice Cream
adapted from Chasing Delicious

2 cups half & half
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 ounces chocolate chips
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar

Mix-ins:
3/4 cup graham crackers, chopped
2 ounces chocolate chips, chopped up if you like
3/4 cup mini-marshmallows

Put cocoa powder in a larger saucepan than you think you’ll need. Pour in some of the half & half and whisk patiently until it becomes paste-like and the cocoa is incorporated into the half & half. Then add the rest of the half & half and the vanilla and heat until steaming from the stop. Add in the chocolate chips, take off heat, and stir until chocolate is melted.

In a separate large-ish bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until pale & frothy. Slowly pour in the chocolate half & half mixture while whisking the egg yolks quickly to temper. Transfer the contents of the bowl back into the saucepan and cook over low-medium heat, whisking constantly to prevent the eggs from scrambling, until the mix has thickened and/or is steaming. Pour back into bowl, cover with clingfilm and let cool before refrigerating over night or for at least 8 hours.

After the custard is chilled, it should be thick, like a pudding. Place in your ice cream maker and process until as thick as soft serve. At this point, scoop the ice cream into the container you’ll be freezing it in and stir in all your mix-ins, cover with clingfilm and freeze up to solidify more.

If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can make this too! Just take a shallow metal pan and place it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes and then pour your ice cream base into it and freeze again. Take the pan out even 30 minutes or so and give it a hearty stir, making sure to get all the frozen bits stirred into the center, which will not freeze as quickly. Do this until it’s thick enough to hold bumps & dips in the surface and then add your mix-ins, cover with clingfilm and freeze up. You can freeze right in the pan if you like!