Sunflower burger

Raw food special. Sunflower burger on raw onion bread with cashew “cheese”, avocado and tomato.

Shamrock Shake

It’s that time of year when those green shakes appear. Wanna still get it on the action without all the sugar and gunk clogging up your beautiful body?

Shamrock Shake

1 banana
1/2 cup frozen mango
1 cup raw nut milk (you can substitute store-bought almond, hemp or rice milk)
1 cup water
1 cup ice
1 T spirulina
1 T chia seeds (optional)

Blend all ingredients together.

Triple Lemon Cake

After making my luscious lemon curd I decided to build on that ingredient and make a triple lemon cake. First I baked a yellow cake (use your favorite yellow cake recipe), adding a 1/4 cup of lemon juice to the mix to give it a hint of lemon. After letting the cake cool I sliced it in half and spread the lemon curd on top of the bottom half and assembled the cake.

Next I whipped up some buttercream frosting.

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 box of powdered sugar
1/4 cup half & half

Whip butter. Add powdered sugar and cream. Continue to whip until light and fluffy. I frosted the cake. That plain white buttercream canvas needed some flair. But what?

Somewhere in the deep cavern of my brain popped up “candied lemons”. I certainly had plenty of lemons.

Candied Lemons

1 large lemon
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

Prepare an ice-water bath; set aside. Cut lemon into 12 paper-thin slices with a mandoline or sharp knife; discard seeds and ends of rind.

Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil. Add lemon slices. Stir until softened, about 1 – 1 1/2 minutes. Drain and plunge slices into ice-water bath. Drain and rinse with cold water.

Bring sugar and 1 cup water to a boil in a medium skillet. Stir until sugar dissolves. When liquid is clear and bubbling, reduce heat to medium-low. Add lemon slices. Simmer about 1 hour or until rinds are translucent.

Decorate your cake with the candied slices. This decoration is a crowd-pleaser.

Luscious Lemon Curd

I was hanging out in the backyard of my dad’s house on a warm winter Southern California day when I couldn’t help but notice his lemon tree bursting with lemon-y goodness. Juicy, aromomatic organic lemons just ripe for the pickin’! We brought a bagful home and when I’m inundated with so many lemons I just start a-bakin’. I love love love lemons. They just give me that light, happy feeling as if spring were peeking around the corner.

Luscious Lemon Curd
5 large eggs
1/3 cup of sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Whisk the eggs and sugar in saucepan until a light lemony color. Add in the zest, lemon juice and pieces of butter.

Place saucepan over medium heat and constantly whisk mixture until it starts to thicken.  Allow it to come to a simmer for a couple of seconds and remove from heat.  Cool to room temperature and transfer lemon curd into a glass or stainless steel dish. Cover curd directly with plastic wrap and cool in the refrigerator. It will thicken more as it cools down.

Cake Decorating at Gourmandise School

Sometimes my “fun job” is just too much fun. We spent the afternoon with a cake decorator playing with icing.

Start with a “crumb coat”. I had no idea what that was. Apparently it’s a thin layer of frosting that “coats” the cake.

Oops, ran out of space. It’s “abstract”.

Marble Rye Bread Recipe

For some reason I’ve developed a recent obsession with the Marble Rye. Could be my German roots tickling my tastebuds. Anyway I picked up a loaf at my local grocery store and it had a bajillion ingredients in it. I got exhausted just reading the list. There’s gotta be a better way, right?

After a bit of an online recipe review I cobbled together a list of ingredients for my first foray into a marble rye.

Light Rye Dough
1 1/4 cups water
4 1/2 T vegetable oil
2 cups organic, unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups rye flour
2 T sugar
2 T sea salt
2 T cocoa, unsweetened
2 1/2 T caraway seeds
1 packet of Active Dry Yeast

I made this dough then divided it in half. One half I kept light and I added 2 T of cocoa to the other half to make it dark.

For the dough combine yeast, 1 cup bread flour, salt, sugar and caraway seeds. Mix well. Heat water and oil until it’s hot to the touch. Add to flour mixture. Blend at low speed with a dough hook. Increase speed to medium and beat for 3 minutes. Add rye flour and another cup of bread flour to make a firm, not sticky, dough.

Knead on lightly floured surface 5 to 7 minutes until smooth and elastic. Place dough in lightly oiled bowl and turn to grease top. Cover and let rise about 30-60 minutes, until double in size.

On lightly floured surface, divide each light and dark dough in half. Roll or pat each half to a rectangle about 12 inches long and 6 inches wide. I got four pieces total. Lay the pieces on top of each other. Starting with shorter side, roll up tightly, pressing dough into roll with each turn. Pinch edges and ends to seal. I dabbed my fingers with water to help with sealing the dough. Place on a greased baking pan. Cover loaves and let rise another 30-60 minutes.

Preheat the oven 375 about 10 minutes before you are ready to bake the bread. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a rack.

I’d like to learn how to make it with a crispier crust. I do love making my own bread. Beats the hell out of store bought.

Recipe – Turkey Meatloaf

Who are you calling a turkey, turkey? Yeah, yeah I know that “Turkey Eatin’ Season” is officially over. Yet if you’re not a red-meat eater, or cutting back on the red bloody stuff just happens to be on your 2012 resolution list, then turkey is a yummy, low-fat “meat”loaf option.

Here’s a good meatloaf recipe that deviates a bit from the traditional. This one has some extra surprises like grated carrots and spinach for extra vitamin goodness. For those of you wanting to integrate more veggies in to your kids’ (or your own) meals this recipe is for you.

1.25 lb ground turkey
1/3 cup quick oats
1/4 cup skim milk
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 large egg
1/3 cup catsup, organic*
1/2 cup grated carrots
1 bunch spinach, sauteed and chopped
a few dashes of kosher salt
a few dashes of ground pepper

Preheat oven to 350. I used a convection setting at 325.

Mix together oats and milk into a small bowl. Set aside. Put onion, egg, 1/4 cup of ketchup, carrots, spinach and ground turkey into a large bowl. Add oat/milk mixture. Mix together. Add salt and pepper. Coat loaf pan with cooking spray. Scoop mixture into the pan. Spread remainder of catsup on top. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until your meat thermometer reads 190. Let cool for 10 minutes before slicing. Serves 6 generous slices. 210 calories and 9 grams of fat.

Milo + Olive

Apple Streusel + Lemon Cake

I’ve been sooooo unmotivated to make anything lately. Hence the lack of fun-ness here. So I decided to cruise into a new bakery in Santa Monica to get my dose of baked goodness. Milo and Olive is a neighborhood bakery and pizzeria that serves a menu of fresh baked morning pastries and bread, wood fired pizzas, farmers market inspired salads and small plates in a very intimate and warm environment. We bought an artisanal sandwich, basically made with Italian meats and cheeses with some pickled peppers on some delicious ciabatta bread. Also got some cheese bread. At 12$ a loaf it was quite a hefty sum to pay. But damn is that bread good. The apple streusel and lemon cake were pretty good too. Shelling out over 40$ for all that and a couple of coffees was a bit over-the-top. Sometimes you gotta do those things to remind myself that the best things are made at home.

Vegan burger with broccoli and shrooms

Where I work the lunch choices are pretty grim. Mc D’s, Subway, Jack in the Crack…you get the picture. Yeah I could go to Whole Foods and spend a bunch of money but somehow their prepared foods kinda all taste the same – a little to oily and just not that good. I never leave their feeling satisfied. So when I want something healthy for lunch I make a Dr. Praeger’s California Veggie Burger and throw some other veggies in the mix, like broccoli and mushrooms. This lunch literally takes about 10 minutes to make, including “prep”. I cook the burger a little bit first, then I add the veggies. I also put in a tablespoon of my homemade pesto, which I made without cheese.

The Top of the Ramen

Scene from Tampopo, the best movie about food

I couldn’t even begin to pretend I know how to make ramen. It is an art form, practiced by many and perfected by few. Here in the city of angels there are a few places to get top ramen (not to be confused with the stuff you ate in college!). So whatever your ‘hood (west-side, east-side or way out there) there’s a ramen joint that will satisfy your noodle craving.

DAIKOKUYA
327 E 1st St
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Santouka Ramen
3760 S Centinela Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90066

Fujin Ramen
1017 S. Glendora Ave.
West Covina, CA 91790