I followed the recipe for this almond cake from Smitten Kitchen. It tastes like marzipan (which is one of my favorite things in the world) because of the almond paste.
My one complaint with this cake: it didn’t rise very much since it has no baking powder. It still tastes great though and looks pretty too!
Grilled chicken breast, steamed broccoli with onions, crispy roasted brussels sprouts, grilled endive with balsamic vinegar
Mango and raspberries
Dark chocolate almond bark is by far one of my favorite snacks, so I figured why not make it myself? The only hard part is tempering the chocolate. (Unfortunately, I discovered you cannot just melt chocolate and dip almonds in it, though I am sure that would taste delicious too. I am not going to describe how to temper chocolate on my blog because I am far from a pro).
What You’ll Need
Directions
1) In a medium bowl, pour 1/2 of tempered chocolate over almonds and stir until well combined. Add remaining half of the chocolate and stir until almonds are completely coated with chocolate.
2) Pour chocolate and almond mixture evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
3) Refrigerate for 3 hours (or until hardened).
4) Once hardened,using your hand or a knife, break the chocolate almond bark into smaller pieces.
5) Store in an airtight container and refrigerate.
Enjoy!
This healthy and easy breakfast was delicious and a nice change from my usual bowl of cereal with milk.
Click here for the recipe I used (from skinnytaste.com). Some minor changes: I used both walnuts and pecans, I didn’t have bananas, so I just used blueberries, and my baking dish was longer than the one called for, but I still baked my oatmeal for 30 minutes.
My parents and I devoured this (even though the recipe says 6 servings)! I guess I am my parents’ daughter.
For dinner last night, I was inspired to make these soba noodles from a post by Hip Foodie Mom.
I love soba (buckwheat) noodles’ unique taste, so I used a few ingredients merely to enhance the flavor of these noodles.
What You’ll Need
Directions
1) Cook soba noodles in boiling water. (Follow cook time on back of packet).
2) Heat olive oil in wok or frying pan under medium heat. Put mushrooms in and cook for 2 minutes.
2) Add the snow peas and sesame oil and cook for another 2 minutes.
3) Stir in the edamame (if using frozen edamame, boil them first).
4) Pour in the soba noodles and mix with the vegetables. Add soy sauce and scallions. Cook for 1 more minute stirring frequently.
This recipe serves 4 people.
Enjoy!
I got the recipe for these cookies from Smitten Kitchen. I absolutely love the texture the oats and pecans add. The chocolate chips were a must for me (I am addicted to dark chocolate!), and the cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove add an earthy richness to the cookies.
A few things I changed: I halved the recipe (to get a yield of 1 1/2 dozen cookies), I left out the orange zest, and only used 1/3 of the amount of regular white sugar. My cookies still came out sweet and delicious!
This is super simple to make and healthy too!
White Bean Salad
Combine all ingredients into a bowl.
Spoon the white bean salad onto endive leaves.
It’s so hot outside that I knew I couldn’t eat anything hot for lunch today. I decided to try something new and make one of my favorite Asian foods – summer rolls.
What You’ll Need
Directions
1) Cook vermicelli noodles in a pot of boiling water. Once cooked, run vermicelli under cold water until fully cooled. (The noodles should be room temperature or slightly colder).
2) Carefully put one spring roll wrapper on a large flat surface. (The wrappers are extremely fragile). Using a pastry brush, brush water onto the spring roll wrapper. This will allow you to handle the wrapper, so it doesn’t break.
3) Spread 1 tablespoon of hoisin sauce on the wrapper. Then add half your vermicelli, shredded carrots, mung bean sprouts, mint, and scallions.
4) Brush more water around the edges of the wrapper and fold like a burrito.
5)Repeat steps 2-4 to make the second roll.
This recipe yields 2 large summer rolls (I cut mine in half, so everyone got half a roll).
Serve with more hoisin sauce for dipping.
Today was my grandmother’s 90th birthday, so to celebrate, my family went to Daniel Boulud’s three star Michelin restaurant, Daniel. On this fine evening, I ate the best meal of my life (I should declare tonight a milestone!).
Let me cut to the chase – here is the food I ate. (I will try my best to recount all the ingredients in each dish).
Amuse bouche: tomato used three different ways. From left to right: tomato with octopus and yellow squash, gazpacho (the best of the three), and tomato with a langoustine.
Appetizer: trio of arctic char. From left to right: tartare with wasabi-spinach coulis, smoked with yukon golden potato, and confit with lemon zest.
Entrée: monkfish and king crab wrapped in spinach over wild rice.
Dessert: Kenyan coffee ganache with dark chocolate, rice crispy, and coffee ice cream. This was absolutely amazing!
They also served us freshly baked madeleine cookies, which were still warm.
And last but certainly not least, petits fours. I ate two small square chocolates, a blood orange jelly, and an orange macaron.
Tis the season for tomato sauce as the tomatoes are ripe and juicy now. I made my tomato sauce with vine tomatoes, portobello mushrooms, onions, basil, garlic, and salt and pepper. I cooked the veggies first and then blended them. I was surprised to get a lovely pink color (which reminded me of vodka sauce. My sauce has no cream or vodka!)
We had a lot of edamame in our fridge, so I added these to my sauce. I plated my pappardelle and topped it with some fresh parmigiano reggiano curls.
Twas was a very delightful dinner.
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