The things I miss...

I miss having a seemingly endless supply of baking supplies.  My mother has amazing bake ware and supplies.  There were times where I would need to buy flour, sugar and butter to supplement my baking addiction, but for the most part these things were always available while I was living at home.  Now that I have ventured out on my own, I have to buy ALL of these things.  I have a whisk, recipes, measuring cups and spoons, and cupcake pans.  And that is about it. Oh and I have salt, but it is sea salt in a grinder.  I need to start stocking up on baking supplies. I miss baking...but, now I workout when I'm at home and bored instead of bake, so I guess it has perks of not having anything to bake.  I am living on a steady diet of ramen noodles, salad and PB&J at the moment until I get my moving expenses paid off.  This has been quite interesting.  I'm on a baking hiatus and starting to feel like I need a fix.  I find recipes and print them.  Then I take them home and save them for a time when I am going to spend a whole day baking. Maybe I'll just buy supplies and go to my mom's and bake because I miss it too much.

Gluten-Free is the way to be!

I am discovering a whole new realm of food. This realm is the gluten-free world that I knew about only because I used to have student's that had Celiac disease and could not eat any of the normal snack food we served the other children. Lo and behold! I am now attempting to be gluten-free which is not the easiest thing, but very worth the way I feel since I stopped stuffing my face with breads, pastas, crackers, cookies, cakes...you get the picture.
I wandered into Whole Foods today and found the gluten-free section. I picked up some pretzels and crackers and did not think to look at the ingredients. They are full of seeds! This is normally perfectly acceptable and healthy for most, but not for me. I am not allowed to eat seeds. They do a number on my digestive system. So hopefully my family will think they taste good and I will go back in search of gluten-free and seed-free alternatives. I did not know gluten-free would be such a crazy adventure. But, my stomach feels better than ever and I have lost a nice amount of poundage...of course I am exercising like crazy as well!

Dessert Time!

My mom and I went halves on the Bon Appetit Dessert book and oh wow is it ever so amazing! It has more than you could ever want or need in a dessert compilation. I am so excited and can't wait to go shopping for new supplies to bake these delicious creations. This is going to put a serious dent in my budget and I do believe I need to start selling my creations. I didn't have enough of the ingredients for the more complicated desserts that I wanted to create so I made some Peanut Butter cookies last night. I also didn't have crunchy peanut butter, but they turned out well nonetheless. I made one batch into thumbprint cookies with strawberry jam. My brother described them as PB & J sandwich cookies. I have so many things that I want to bake now! Not that I didn't want to bake before, but I have half a mind to bake my way through this book. It would only take me 2 years just about if I made something everyday. Unfortunately, I have to put my efforts toward other things and highly doubt I could afford such a hobby. I'll stick with baking on the weekends.

I realized after going to the Farmer's Market that I really could turn passion into business if I wasn't so scared of taking out a business loan and failing. After perusing the wares of other culinary enthusiasts and looking at the prices I decided I could make a decent, albeit hard earned living on baking. I would also have to wake up VERY early in the morning, which I am not too fond of. Although in looking at the pros and cons of my current 8-5 job, I believe I would rather wake up early, be on my feet all day and feel satisfied that I gave my customers delicious cookies and cakes to bring home to their loved ones, or eat on the way home. C'est la vie for now. Maybe one day I will stop talking and actually go into business.

Farewell Wine and Dessert Night for the Bros!

Two weeks ago my mom and I planned an over the top dessert night for my brothers and our closest friends and family. When I say over the top, I mean this because we worked on a budget and invited about 30 people to fill up our house and decided that all the desserts had to be homemade. We began making lists a month before the event and then the week of we started baking on a Saturday.

For those who know me, they know I have to spaz out at some point and it will be no surprise for me to relate this next story. Dessert night was on a Saturday and we needed to start preparing the cheesecakes the Wednesday before to give us enough time. I just started a new job the same week and there were some other things I was busy preparing for. Needless to say I was tired and when I'm tired I am either A) grumpy and mean or B) delirious and silly or C) extremely silent and nodding off while eating a meal. While preparing cheesecakes I decided to choose option B because the other options didn't seem so good and would not fare well with my family. Let's just say I didn't even end up helping with the baking part that night. I did get ingredients out of the cabinets...WOW! I know, big helper eh? You see what had happened was that while looking for the cook book that my recipes were in, I knocked a bottle of whiskey out of the cabinet and in slow motion it slammed onto the floor breaking all over laundry waiting to go into the wash. I just stared for a moment and as my mother is slaving away preparing cheesecake, we both just laughed. She laughed I think because it's no surprise to her that I would be a klutz in the kitchen. So the first night of preparation for me was spent getting nothing done other than cleaning up sticky pieces of glass and unsuccessfully cleaning the floor and our kitchen ended up smelling like a bar. And then in an another attempt to help I dropped the cocoa and it *poof* exploded all over the pantry. Great start!

Basically the rest of the week went off without a hitch, we got everything ready and all the desserts actually turned out well. I say actually because I usually mess one thing up, but I think breaking the bottle of whisky and cocoa explosion was enough. Are you ready to know what we had??? Wait for it....wait for it....Okay here is the list:

My creations: Lemon bars, ginger creams, and le piece de resistance, Red Velvet Cake! My mom's creations: Almond Coconut Bars, Peanut Butter Cheesecake and White Chocolate Rasberry Cheesecake. We also had about a gazillion bottles of wine which didn't all get consumed, so that's okay because I don't mind helping with that. Also of course, tea, coffee, water with lemons, and awesome flavors of Whole Foods Sparkling Sodas. Seriously, who knew Green Apple Soda was so delightfully awesome! Everyone loved it and we had sparkly lights outside and Jack Johnson softly playing on the radio, which no one could hear because it was so loud with all the friends packed in.

My brothers had a delightful send off and everyone went home after their sugar rush started to let them down. Children went home happy, parents went home relaxed, family stayed until almost 1am and didn't get the hint to leave when I started falling asleep on the couch! :) But, with that much sugar in everyone's system I don't blame them. Ironically enough I didn't even eat any of the desserts until the next day, but I have to say being a co-party planner with my mom, we did a bang up job!

The Yellow Vase

There are many places in life that I love to go, some I would like to visit more often and those that I will not see for a long time. Unfortunately the places I will not see for a long time, possibly never, are places like authentic French cafes. Really, we all know that it is not truly authentic unless it's run by people who are of that culture or you are actually in that specific country. One of my favorite things to do when I was in France a few years ago, was to go to a little cafe and just sit and watch the people pass by and chat with friends. The experience was heightened with a perfect pastry and cup of caffeinated beverage in hand. Ahhh yes, I can picture those memories now. It makes me want to shout Oui, C'est bon!
So I have been on a mission to find anything French that reminds me of my time there. I have black and white photographs lining my room, signs that say "Paris," and prints of French inspired scenes. One of my favorite artists is even French, Renoir!
Onward to the food! My mom took me out to eat the other day to a lovely little cafe called The Yellow Vase. The outside is a delightful yellow with tables on the patio and inside it is brightly lit because of large windows, they have various wares they sell conveniently located right as you walk in the door so you can browse before ordering and a lovely display of gorgeous pastries. You walk up to the counter like you would in any little cafe in France and order. My mom and I split a sandwich, 2 Almond Lattes and a Black and White Cupcake. Mind you I have never eaten here before and I was like a little giddy child getting to pick out my cupcake.
We decided to dine outside as it was a sunny day and perfect for chatting and people watching. Our sandwich came(my memory fails me on the name), and it is served with a little field greens salad. Then the almond lattes and piece de resistance---the cupcake!!! Everything was complete perfection. The baguette was perfectly crisp outside and soft inside. The chicken salad mix for the sandwich filling was delightful and the almond lattes were SO worth every penny. They even make little designs in the foam. Then I dug into the cupcake. The frosting was not that sugary, gunky stuff many places serve. It was creamy and vanilla goodness! The chocolate cake part was the gooey moist texture that you desire in a cupcake. It turns out they use all organic and natural ingredients in their cupcakes. They even have a chart listing the days they have each cupcake so you can plan your French journey accordingly. They even open at 7am so that you can go before work and get a treat...should you so desire...which is crazy, but I am just that crazy! So now I know that when I require a little authentic French boost, I can count on The Yellow Vase to take me back and I will pretend I am oh so sophisticated and shout: "Oui, C'est Bon!" Okay maybe I'm not that sophisticated, but I do what I want. Je t'aime Le Yellow Vase!

What's in a Latte? A Tea Latte That is!

Let me first say that after realizing that coffee was no longer suitable for me to drink like water on a daily basis, I kicked the addiction and switched over to a much less form of caffeine that my body can tolerate....TEA! I loved tea already, but was definitely more of a coffee drinker. I loved everything about it. Waking up in the morning without the aroma of Arabian Mocha-Java just seemed wrong and horrible. I decided that even if I lived alone and could not drink it, I'd still brew it just to wake up to that smell. Okay, not really, but I did say that. It'd probably turn out to take too much effort and I'd forget it. So back to the tea inspiration. It started with Starbucks...dun dun dun, that big green giant that seduces us into spending half our paycheck. They have this drink called a London Fog. The name sounds inticing doesn't it? My mom first brought this drink to my attention. We both agreed it is the most delightful drink. Earl Grey tea, vanilla syrup and milk. (Soy milk for me). YUM!
Then we went to Coffee Bean and that became our new favorite place to get tea lattes. They have the best variety of teas. Ginseng Peppermint, Earl Grey, English Breakfast, Moroccan Mint, you get the picture. Our wallets however, did not care about the wonderful cups of yummy deliciousness. For example, when I wonder where my money is going I check my bank account online. When I scroll down the statement and see entries like: Starbucks, Coffee Bean, Coffee Bean, Coffee Bean, Starbucks....Uh oh...I come to the realization that this is a very financially destructive habbit.
Then came the wonderful gift that my mom brought home. Her co-worker knew she was dealing with a lot of stress, loved those London Fogs from Sbux and gave her a little care package. It consisted of a tin of Tazo Earl Grey tea, Archer Farms Vanilla Syrup from Target and Voila! We can make our own tea lattes at home. Now we begin having a bit more spending cash, the lattes are absolutely delicious and we don't have to go somewhere to make a delicious treat. So we make them morning, noon and night and even though we go through syrup like crazy it's relatively inexpensive to buy more.
Then payday comes and I decide to splurge. I go to Coffee Bean and get a tea latte. First sip, ACK! It tastes like sugary dirty tea water...I drink it anyway. Then I'm out in my ministry and need a little boost being that it is a long day and I stop at Starbucks....first sip, ACK! Gross! What is up with this day!? I calculate that I just spent almost 10 dollars on dirty, sugary water. Then I decide I was better off preparing my own tea latte at home and bringing it with me. Lesson learned. So now I almost never go spend my hard earned money on dirty tea water. If I'm going to spend it, I want a quality beverage that I deem as deliciousness in a cup. That hasn't happened very much lately. Maybe all the baristas are new. I can count on my Riviera Village Coffee Bean though because it's usually the crazy comedian barista who knows what he is doing and heard me call my drink deliciousness in a cup and announced it loudly as such as he placed my drink on the counter.
So now my mom and I purchase the majority of our tea at Trader Joes. It's usually about $1.50 for a whole box, 3 bucks at Target on syrup and milk is about the same there. Yay cheapness! I love spending next to nothing and getting about a months worth of the greatest tea lattes on earth, if I do say so myself.

Experiment in Vegan Baking

So, I decided to take a risk and try something that I've absolutely never thought I would do. That is to try and bake vegan. Now this means using no dairy or eggs. Why in the world would I do such a thing? I love dairy and eggs, this is too true. In fact I love dairy so much that I'd marry it if I could. I'm serious! The only problem is, we have a rocky love/hate relationship. I LOVE it and it HATES me. It's really sad for a relationship to be so one-sided so I had to end it. I just couldn't take the repercussions of having dairy in my life anymore. So I've moved on after a bout of sadness and discovered a whole new world! Vegan! I discovered this when I took a trip to Trader Joe's with my mom and I was browsing around. I randomly looked on a shelf by the bread and there was a row of cookies. The one that caught my eye was a bag of Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. A light bulb went on in my head. I remember that Vegan meant no dairy or eggs. Mainly the no dairy thing caught my attention because I don't have an issue with eggs. After skimming the ingredients I ran to my mom and said "Look! Look! I can eat these!!!" She laughed and told me to throw them in the cart. Yay! Now getting to the crux of the story....

I came home today, popped two scrumptious cookies(as a side note my whole family loved them as well, they didn't even know they were vegan until I pointed it out) in my mouth and "ding" light bulb. I had the sudden urge to look up vegan cookie recipes and try my hand at them. I found a good website, compiled the ingredients and began. I didn't have flax seeds so I substituted applesauce for the eggs. It was much easier because I would have had to blend the flax seeds and soy milk into a paste. Not too difficult, but I'd rather open a jar than run to the store for flax seeds. Okay, so mix mix mix, taste the batter, brother tastes the batter(yes, we can because there are no eggs), and it tastes SO good.

The consistency looks like regular cookies and I start placing them on the baking sheet...then my brother starts talking about milk and I realized I didn't put the soy milk in! OH NO! I run to the oven and pull out the cookies, put them back with the batter and put the milk, stir, and UH Oh...they look runny now. I mix more and wonder what happened. Jennifer strikes again with her failing brain power. I forget that the recipe only calls for soy milk if I am mixing it with flax seeds. My brother has a great idea and suggest I just pour them into the baking sheet and make sheet brownies. Great idea Scott! Thanks. They fill the house with a delightful chocolaty aroma as they bake and lickety split they are done.

Then it's taste test time. I have to say they are good, not great. The batter by itself actually tasted better and Scott agreed. Although we all agreed they are different, the fact that the have no eggs and dairy makes them downright good. I'll try another recipe again and not mess with adding things when I don't need too, but I can always just run to Trader Joe's and get my sweet fix for about 3 bucks a bag. Oh yeah!