Simply Me

I craved duck…for weeks. So I finally convinced my hubby to let me buy some at the store. I read up on cooking duck breast and I prepared it like this:

-1 duck breast

sauce:
-dried cherries
-Southern Comfort
-2 mushrooms
-1/2 tbsp butter
-1/2 tbsp olive oil
-1/3 cup chicken stock
-1/8 cup of apple cider

Preperation:
Soak dried cherries in so. Comfort. Score the duck breast on the skin side every 1/4 inch. Make sure not to cut into the meat. Season with salt and pepper. In a hot (not too hot pan) put the breast skin side down on a medium/low heat. When the meat hits the pan it should sizzle but then the heat should be lowered so it doesn’t burn as the breast should cook skin side down for 5-10 minutes based on the size of your breast. Suatee mushrooms in butter and olive oil deglaze with chicken stock and let simmer until reduced by half. Flip the breast and cook for 2-3 more minutes and place in a 375 degree oven until meat is 140 degrees return to stove top and add sauce to pan. Add cherries and liquid to sauce, and light on fire…come on it’s fun. Continue to cook breast until the meat is 150 then remove from heat and let rest, meat should be about 160. Slice and serve with sauce over the top.

I can’t believe how quickly time flies.  One day I was struggling to figure out how to get my newborn to stop crying for one minute and the next I was planning her 1st birthday.  And now, it’s almost 2 months later and I realized I never put up pictures.  For shame.  I had so much fun planning her party.  As far as themes go I didn’t really push the envelope or get very creative.  I just knew that I was going to throw her a cowgirl party.  We were going to be in the hick town of my childhood to celebrate so it seemed appropriate…and fun.  My inspiration and my main goal revolved around the cake.  Yes of course…FOOD.

Here’s the inspiration photos:

And here’s the cake the I barely managed to finish in time:

This cake was time consuming but fairly easy to make…I’ll admit it I used a box mix.  No shame in it as it turned out great.  It took approximately 3 pillsbury vanilla cake mixes and 1 chocolate.  I didn’t do anything fancy just followed the directions on the back of the box.  However, I did make my own butter cream frosting, marshmallow fondant, lemon filling and cinnamon chocolate fillings…easy as pie…I mean cake.

Here’s the website that taught be how to make the best marshmallow fondant
I used wilton’s butter cream frosting recipe x like 4

I made a
2 layer, vanilla 12 inch cake
2 layer, chocale 9 inch cake
2 layer, vanilla 6 inch cake

For the filling between the vanilla layers I mixed 1 1/2 jars of trader Joe’s lemon curd with 1 batch of buttercream frosting.  I spread the remaining lemon curd directly on the cake before adding the filling to add some moisture (great results)  Make sure that when you spread your fillings on your base cake to leave a 3/4 to 1 inch ring around the outside of the cake, then with a pastry bag with only the coupler (no tip) pipe a line of white butter cream around the rim.  This will keep your slightly yellow or chocolate colored filling from squeezing through and possibly being visible through the fondant…that stuff shows everything.

For the filling between the chocolate layers I mixed 1/2 batch of buttercream frosting with 2 tbsp cocoa powder and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon (these numbers are guesstimates…I just added the two to my buttercream until I was happy with the flavor)  assemble your cakes…frost with buttercream.  Then roll out your fondant (which can be made up to a week in advance) For the cow print (work quickly, and have the black fondant pre dyed)  roll out enough white fondant to cover the tier you’re working on.  Very quicly roll out the black fondant and cut or tear pieces that look like irregular cow spots.  Dab a tiny bit of water on the back of the black and lay it on the white fondant.  when all your black pieces are assembled to your satisfaction roll the fondant with your rolling pin to merge the two colors together for a seamless cowprint…easy.  Gently slide your hands under the fondant and drape over your cake.  Very VERY VERY gently Smooth it over the cake.  If there are any wrinkles just smooth them out like a sheet on a bed…again very gently as too much preasure will leave behind marks and your fingernails can easily scratch and even tear the fondant.  For the “bandana” roll out the pink fondant, smooth the top like before, but when smoothing out the sides start at the “back of the cake and gently smooth the fondant while pulling the excess towards the “front” of the cake.  When you reach the front 1/3 of the cake create two folds that meet and smooth.  Trim the excess and use the remaining pink fondant to cut out two leaf shapes and roll out a 1- 1 1/2 inch ball.  Create a “fold” in the wide ends of the leaf shapes and lay them creased sides touching in front of the folds and place the ball on top of where they meat…and you have a knotted bandanna.  To create the paisley print I piped on white butter cream.  I ran out of time for the third tier, so I just piped on some pink buttercream frosting, but I’m rather glad that I had to stop or the cake might have been too busy.  Some notes…when making a cake that’s this many layers you really should use cake dowels…luckily the cake was assembled only hours before being consumed otherwise it would have been listing terribly…note to self, don’t trust husband to bring the important things…remember to pack them yourself.  All in all my first fondant experience was positive.  The cowprint would have turned out better if I had the black fondant ready to go when I needed it as it was the two were a little dry and didn’t look as polished as could be.  I also would have assemebled the cake the night before.  I was concerned about the moisture level…and what would happen with everything encased in fondant.  It would have been fine.  The top of the cake didn’t get eaten at the party and it was a couple of days before it was cut into…it was still moist and delicious.

Now the rest of the party:
the menu: (think cook out/picnic food)
shredded beef sandwiches
(super easy…crock pot, pot roast meat in water over night, shredded and mixed with BBQ sauce, served on
hamburger buns)
Hot dogs (costco)
smores sandwiches (for the kiddos, toasted white bread peanut butter and marshmallow cream that got toasted by a
blowtorch)

Baked beans
salad
pineapple

tortilla chips (costco)
nacho cheese dip (costco)
creamy chili dip (1/3 of a bar of cream cheese to each can of chili, heated up and mixed together VERY VERY GOOD)
Salsa (1 jar of trader joe’s fire roasted salsa mixed with 2 jars of their smokey peach salsa)
Someone donated some potato chips and clam dip (yum)

Lemonade with fresh strawberries and sliced lemon floating in it (we cheated and used country time from costco to save money)
bottled water
Root beer

Makes 4 pieces

1 large (sushi grade) scallop sliced into 1/4 inch thick rounds
4 tubular shaped pieces of sushi rice
4-1 cm wide strips of nori
dynamite sauce
paprika

Very quickly drop the scallops on a hot non stick pan. Flip immediately and remove just as quickly.  Place the scallops on top of the rice and secure with the stip of nori.  Top with dynamite sauce and dust with paprika.  YUM

Creamy Scallop Nigiri

OK, so my introduction to the wonderful world of sushi has been slow but wonderful. I asked a waitress at my local sushi restaurant for a recommendation and she suggested the creamy scallop nigiri.  Oh me oh my.  It was love at first bite.  These are the yummiest little tid bits EVER

This is enough for one order (2 pieces) of nigiri, the sauce makes like 3/4 cup (there will be extra)

1 Scallop diced (U-6 to U-8)
1/2 teaspoon sliced green onion
1/2 teaspoon fish roe like capelin roe
enough Dynamite sauce to coat scallop mixture
2- 1 1/4 inch strips of nori
2- 1 1/2 inch balls of sushi rice

Mix scallops, green onion, roe and sauce together and set aside.  Form rice into balls and squish the top and bottom and wrap the nori around the outside and secure the over lap with a little water.  fill the void created by the nori with scallop mixture

I was introduced to the wonder of honey baked hams from the honey baked ham store…however I cannot bring myself to pay for them…they’re pricey. I tried to find out how they made their hams so special…turns out it’s easy…ish. Mix 1 1/2 cup of white sugar with 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 4 tbsp of pumpkin pie spice. rub onto the outside of the ham and then caramalize with a blow torch or under a broiler. When using the broiler remove from heat ever 2-3 minutes to prevent burning. make sure to get the sides browned too. when it is crispy on the outside turn down the heat to 300 degrees and finish warming the honey ham…serve with any drippings on the side. YUM

Tuesday: Foaccacia bread topped with hummus, olive oil, basil, pine nuts, onion, zucchini, mushroom, & tomato (hold the mushroom for kevin and add some shrimp on his side) *note this turned out AMAZING.  I brushed a little olive oil over the bread, spread the hummus, and the topped it with the before mentioned toppings and little shredded harvati and put it in the oven long enough for the bread to get crispy, the shrimp to cook, the cheese to melt and the veggies to cook a little.  this is a do over for sure.

Wednesday:  Wild Pheasant (thanks darryl!) seared and covered with an onion & garlic white wine and cream sauce, served over steamed rice w/ asparagus…*note this pheasant was a fat ass…literally I’ve never seen so much fat come out of a bird before…my cream sauce broke because of it…I skimmed the excess fat off and we ate it anyways.  the flavors were good, but I’m not sure to what temperature pheasant should be cooked to…med. rare like duck? because all the way cooked like chicken was tough and chewey.

Thursday:  Tempura fried shrimp covered in lemon curd (a.k.a the best lemon chicken EVER) over left over steamed rice & stir fried broccoli

Friday:  Beef Brisket

Saturday: Spaghetti

Sunday: night out

Chicken Salad (rotisserie chicken, grapes, mayonaise, plain greek yogurt, candied walnuts)

Honey Yogurt w/ granola for breakfast

My Baby Ballerina

Lela is my favorite subject…mostly because I can take as many pictures of her that I want.  For Christmas her auntie made her a tutu.  She’s had it on several times and each time I can’t help but take photos of her.   This morning my brother and I tried everything we could think of to get her to dance…I think her mommy (me) needs to remember that you have to learn to walk before you can learn to dance.  Her toddling is so cute, and when I put her pink shoes (not visible) on  she started walking on her tip toes like a ballerina.  We started throwing a favorite toy back and forth to get her to turn and spin.  It took a bit of “work” to get some “movement” into the photo.

This recipe was the product of my twisted brain.  I was menu planning and the idea of adding lemon to pesto just burst into my consciousness and I have to say…it was quite yummy

1 lrg bunch of basil
3/4 cup of marscapone
3 tbsp of pine nuts
3 tbsp of olive oil
1/2 tsp of kosher salt
1 tsp of lemon zest
10-15 Jumbo Prawns
Spaghetti noodles
Parmesan cheese

In a food processor blend basil with pine nuts and salt, slowly drizzle in olive oil.  When well blended add the lemon zest and marscapone cheese.  Prepare your noodles as the package directs and in a frying pan sear the prawns with a little olive oil and let them cook until they are 3/4 way cooked.  Top with the pesto then cover the pan, remove from heat, and let sit 5 minutes.  Mix with pasta and serve.  Top with freshly shaved Parmesan cheese

My first real job was working in the same real estate office as my mom, awkward at times, but it had some perks.  Lunch was one of them.  We’d often go to this Mexican restaurant and I ALWAYS ordered the same thing.  A chicken chimichanga.  I’ve never been able to find another to compare, and since that’s the only thing I like from that restaurant and that restaurant is 250 miles away, I had to come up with my own recipe.   The most important thing for me is large amounts of jack cheese.  YUM that’s my favorite part lots of cheese.  Unfortunately there is one hard to find ingredient…GIANT 13 inch flour tortillas.  I get mine from Winco, they also make great salad wraps that I send my husband to work with. (more…)

Next time you buy green onions stick them in a cup of water on your windowsill. They just keep growing. So any time in the next 6 months that you need green onions…snip, snip and there you are. I couldn’t believe how fast they grow, my hubby was a little annoyed at how long they got and I actually had to trim them…it usually spurred me on and we would end up with an Asian inspired dish that night.