Death By Chocolate Cake & a torch (Part 1)

My boss's all time favorite cake, which I've heard him rave about for months, is Death by Chocolate. Recently I emailed the restaurant,  La Trellis, to see if they would FedEx us a cake. They said no.

Then, I thought about buying the La Trellis cookbook; but after googling I found several recipes online including this recipe from food.com http://goo.gl/NXAds and this blog post from ButterYum - http://goo.gl/yqsvi

At our training dinner this past Monday night my boss asked what, if anything, I'd be making for the group. You see, I've made something for every training group since I started 8 months ago (at first, just to use the massive amount of eggs sitting in my fridge but eventually it was to try new recipes).

The last group had Creme Brulee :)

During dinner our conversation turned to everyone's favorite recipes and the boss mentioned that cake..again. So, I did what any good cook would do - I googled it (yet again) and decided to try making this massive cake with an equally massive 6 pages of directions.

I could have simply made Cook's Illustrated's Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake ... for the 4th time this year, but, no I thought I'd be adventurous....

So following our dinner, I headed to the store to pick up heavy whipping cream and dark rum - I thought I had everything else I might need. When I finally got home around 8pm I realized I was short unsweetened chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate. So, off to the store again.

Then, I returned home and made the first two layers: coco meringue and chocolate mousse.


The coco meringue went surprisingly well and I even had the piping supplies to make it look neat. I used a round cake pan and not a cardboard cake round and LOVED when I realized I didn't have to cut out the traced circle. I also thought I'd be creative and pipe the left over meringue into ramekins. The recipe probably makes double (anyone have a 6- inch deep 9-inch spring-form pan?) but, I should have just made two 9-inch meringue circles -- the meringue in the ramekins crusted nicely but the inside was a gooey mess.

The chocolate mousse was going well until I decided not to rinse the mixer bowl between the whipping creme and egg white steps. (Note: milky eggs do not peak) So, I had to start over. And, then I noticed I was short some eggs...

Check back later for part 2 :)

Back to the Kitchen

I've been a terrible blogger. But, here goes a mini post to get me rolling again....

My Uncle Dave bought me this amazing new Cooking Light book/binder from Target. It is fantastic. His favorite recipe so far is Shepherd's Pie. It is a super simple recipe and can be made in under 20 minutes.

Here is the link to Cooking Light - there recipes are free to view so please check it out - goo.gl/xfJgY

Grandma's Matzo Ball Soup

I made what I believe is my Uncle Dave's favorite dish - Matzo Ball Soup. If you aren't Jewish &/or don't frequent Shapiro's Deli Matzo Ball Soup is simply Chicken & Dumplings with Matzo instead of flour. (sort of) You could also make dumplings instead of matzo balls & this soup would still be delicious (I wouldn't eat it -- but I'm sure it'd be fine). But we're Jewish and floury dough balls just don't hold a candle to Grandma's Matzo Ball Soup.

I actually wrote this one from memory - makes me happy to have a family recipe of sorts.

Here is a link to the recipe - Grandma's Matzo Ball Soup

Other resources -

Manischewitz the only Matzo Meal I've ever seen used
Low-Sodium Chicken Broth - the lowest we could find (Spotted at Target and the REALLY big Super Kroger in Speedway, IN)

And, remember if you are not in a community with a large Jewish population ask your grocer to order Matzo Meal - they will usually be able to get a small case with out any trouble. If not - you can buy it on Amazon.com :)

A week in photos! With recipe links to Cook's Illustrated Magazine

So, this month has been a whirlwind - and I have sincerely slacked at posting. It is late, I'm tired, but I wanted to attempt to post SOMETHING this month of value ... so here it goes

Chocolate Mousse

This dish is light, yummy, and has a bit of texture I think is caused by the eggs. But, all around a nice balanced mousse that satisfies that desire for decadent chocolate and rich texture. The recipe link above will make three small Pyrex containers.

Stir-fry Beef with Asparagus & Red-Peppers

We made this for a last minute little dinner party. It fed six, and these were the left overs. We substituted the veggies. It was delicious, cost under $40, could have fed 8, AND took less than an hour to make.

Classic Pound Cake

A dear friend is getting married and as a bridesmaid I thought I'd pitch in and make something for her bridal shower. This is a photo of my cubed pound cake. I made two - and they turned out beautiful - with a nice crust on the top and all. (should have taken a photo) We used the cubes for dipping in a chocolate fountain, at least that was the plan - it turned into a crock pot when the fountain didn't work ;)

Creme Brulee for Two

Half done, the batter tasted AMAZING. I can't wait to top these tomorrow after a LONG week and enjoy them with an amazing friend (and my husband too) The ramekins are a recent purchase using a Crate & Barrel card from another good friend, thank you Ashley - I was able to get all sorts of sizes, jars, etc with your fantastic gift. (hopefully you read this shout out)


Night :)

Cooking up a storm....

This past weekend I made the following

Chinese-Style Chicken Skewers with Hoisin-Sesame Dipping Sauce
Coconut Shrimp
Enchiladas Verdas (x2)
Chili Fixings for Slow Cooker
Classic Stuffed Pepper Fixings
Berry's & Cream (once with Cool Whip and Once with the real thing)
Eggs Benedict over Jowl Bacon


I have also competed the second week of 'meal' planning with my Uncle Dave and thought I'd share the worksheets i'm using.  Week 1 & Week 2

Last week the Soups were not made and the Turkey was never purchased but we (Uncle Dave, Mom, & I) all made an honest effort. This week I've prepped everything but the peppers for chili & I'm returning tonight to take care it... So Mom & Dave need only to use the slow cooker and warm up prepared meals for the rest of the week. To make sure things were heart healthy we are using Laura's Lean Ground Beef (on sale at both Target & Marsh) it has less sodium than the turkey and Uncle Dave will eat it. We are also adding in some poultry with chicken REALLY well cooked because mom and Uncle Dave both like texture (aka over cooked chicken) Also, when a recipe calls for salt, or cheese, or any other ingredient full of sodium, we are not using it (salt) or using low sodium/organic main brand substitute. WARNING low sodium store brands are FULL of sodium and are not good choices.


Here are some photos -- and I promise recipe links for those missing above sometime later this week.

Manic Monday - Food Edition?

I have been following this amazing blogger for a few years now - http://www.asleepundermydesk.blogspot.com/

She does a "Manic Monday" post where she blogs little did bits about her day, etc. So here we go with a little Manic Monday of my own.


Runts are delicious, and I don't know which Christmas Elf brought in the candy cane filled with them, but I have made about 10 trips to the snack table, and it is now empty - Thank you.

Did you know that O'charley's puts a salt liquid on their broccoli giving it more sodium than their Salmon? And, that a McDonald's Filet-O-Fish and Small Fry has less sodium than most 6-inch subs @ Subway? Check out this great app Unifed Lifestyle - Restaurants and check the facts for yourself.

Oh and those of you dieting to start the new year - watch out for Sodium loaded low-fat products they may have less calories but can really screw with your body. Better to go with a balanced portion of the real stuff. (it tastes better too)

Noticing the serious Low-sodium kick I'm on today. Well I've been working with my Uncle to figure out what he can and can not have post heart attack. So, look forward to some low-salt takes on recipes in the near future.

And, my husband went grocery shopping this weekend for me - only spent 38 bucks. I think it is AMAZING we 'save' on our grocery budget & I get to stay home.

My shoulder hurts from attempting to do push-ups. I can do a solid 10 and then I'm toast. My goal is 50 a day. . . we shall see.

Homemade Marshmellows -

I have a huge bag of sugar and BIG plans to make some of these tonight.

http://tiny.cc/mmellows

Thank you - Google alerts for sending me this random blog where I found the link.