November 16, 2009

With our SPCA Bake Sale looming on the calendar, I’ve been busy planning and test-driving a couple of new recipes.  The last thing I need during the baking frenzy is a recipe that doesn’t work!  I have a bunch of tried-and-true favorites that I’m making, but still wandered through my cookbook collection in search of some new goodies to try.  I flipped through Carole Walter’s “Great Cookies”, and found a dark chocolaty recipe called Triple Chocolate Peppermint Bars that sounded crazy good.

You make a dark chocolate shortbread base and then top it with a dark chocolate brownie filling that has peppermint schnapps in it.  Then you cover the whole thing with a thin chocolate ganache that has even more schnapps in it.  How bad could that possibly be!  It certainly deserved a test-drive!

I didn’t have schnapps so I used peppermint extract instead, and left the ganache layer off since I thought it might be too smeary and messy once it’s packaged in a cute little treat bag.  The top got a sprinkle of crushed candy canes instead.

Can I just say YUMMY??  Oh, mommy, these have an incredible chocolate flavor!  Maybe I loved them so much because I adore chocolate shortbread and brownies and peppermint.

Only one little problem…my bars didn’t come out looking anything like the photo.  I expected the bars to be kind of chunky and thick, but mine came out very thin; only about 1/2″.  Phooey.  I can’t figure out what I might have done wrong, if anything, but I guess it doesn’t matter.  I think the bars are too thin and fragile to work well for the bake sale, which is a bummer, but this recipe is a keeper!  If I make them again and don’t need to package them, I’ll definitely add the ganache layer!

~BigSis

November 13, 2009

I’ve been searching for a vegetarian – or ideally a vegan – alternative to pork bacon that is crispy and smoky and delicious.  And by the way…I’m still looking!  Along the way, I found and tried an odd little product called Bacon Salt.  To be honest, I didn’t love it although I gave it kudos for originality.  🙂

The Bacon Salt people saw my review, and emailed me to see if I’d like to try the natural variety of the salt, as well as their Baconnaise, which is a vegetarian bacon-flavored mayonnaise type spread.  Well, this girl just saw Zumanity, which scared the tweet out of me, thanks for asking.  If I can survive that and live to tell about it, surely I’m tough enough to handle bacon-flavored mayo and more Bacon Salt, right?  Right?  Ehhh, ummm, sure…?

The bad news first. I still am not a fan of Bacon Salt.  Frankly, I think the “unnatural” version tastes better than the natural one.  The natural variety just tastes harsh and fake to me.

However!  The Baconnaise is another story.  The flavor is not bad.  It’s smoky, savory and bacon-ny, but pretty darn salty too.  I started thinking of how it might be used other than just lightly spread on a tomato and lettuce sandwich.  I think potato salad would be a good fit since potatoes drink up a lot of salt, but I don’t know how to make less than a giant washtub-sized vat of it so I settled on deviled eggs.

Baconnaise Deviled Eggs
(vegetarian)

5 or 6 large eggs
1 tblsp or more Baconnaise (can dilute with some plain mayo)
2 tsp dill pickle relish
1 tsp spicy brown mustard
Pepper to taste

Place eggs in a saucepan, and cover with water.  Bring to a boil and boil for 20 minutes.  Run cold water over eggs until cool enough to peel.  Peel, rinse and dry eggs.

Cut eggs in half lengthwise and remove the yolks to a small bowl.  Add all the other ingredients and mix well.  Add a little more Baconnaise to reach the consistency you like.  Fill each egg half, and refrigerate.  BigSis Note: I like to sprinkle my eggs with Penzeys Shallot Pepper before eating them.

The final verdict?  Baconnaise is pretty good, but it’s a little strong for me.  I’d recommend mixing it with regular mayo to smooth it out a smidge.  I think that’s what I’ll do the next time I make these eggs, or a vat o’ tater salad!

~BigSis

November 10, 2009

Hey LilSis, I think it’s a really appropriate time to talk about stress since we’re all about to go into Turbo-Speed Stress Season. We all have holiday stress for different reasons. Many of us get so excited at the holidays that we overcommit and underestimate how much time all of these things will take. We may have financial issues that make the holidays stressful, and unless we decide to be smart when it comes to our financial planning, there is a chance that this money may not see us through the rest of the month. When we start the holidays off on the wrong foot, like not having enough finances, it could seriously affect how the rest of the break goes. It nearly happened to my friend once, but luckily he decided to invest in things like Bitcoin and even went one step further and decided to Buy Bitcoin with other payment methods, or Bitcoin mit anderen Zahlungsarten kaufen as they would say in his native language of German and because of the trading that he did, it wasn’t long until his financial issues were no more. He managed to get rid of them and could live the remainder of the holidays in a much better way. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen to everyone and they may have other pressing matters to worry about.

Some people are sad at the holidays and dread going through it, and feeling like they have to do things they really aren’t up for. Other people have family issues that can’t be avoided at get-togethers. Many us of just feel pulled in too many directions at one time. One of my friends was having a lot of stress surrounding caring for her elderly parents, who could no longer care for themselves, therefore they could try and get some in-home assistance to give her a break and enjoy her time with her parents again. There are many places that can provide this service such as Seniors Helping Seniors Baton Rouge, and help take the weight off a family member’s feet.

For whatever reason, we’re ALL going to have stress to some degree over the next couple of months. Maybe we can all help each other out by sharing some ways to tame stress since it’s such a universal experience! I’ll start us off.

• My favorite way to manage holiday stress is to plan and start early! I already mentioned that I’m doing another Christmas bake sale for the SPCA on December 14th. How can I commit three full weekends to baking, just before Christmas? It helps that I’m kuku/kookoo (how do you spell that?), but I actually started planning a week ago. The baking team has already had a meeting, and we all know pretty much what we’re baking, except for a couple of new recipes that I’m going to test-drive this week. I’m going to have all my Christmas shopping done before baking time starts, as well as all the bake sale shopping, and packaging for the bake sale goodies will be ordered this week.

How does my bit of planning translate to organizing your holiday season?

• Even though it seems way too early to start thinking about the holidays, do it now! How often do you hear yourself say that the holidays just “snuck up on you”? There’s no sneaking! Christmas comes at the same time year after year! We just haven’t planned for it!

• First of all, have a brainstorming session with yourself. Find half an hour of quiet time, and just make a rambling list of everything you can think of that you need to do between now and New Year’s Day. As more and more things come to mind later, add them to your list. Just getting thoughts out of your brain and onto paper will give you a serious chunk of peace of mind. Sign me up for some of that!

• Now go back over the Master List you brainstormed, and start making Detailed Lists. If you included “buy gifts” on your Master List, then make a Gift Idea List. List everyone you want to buy for, and then start listing any gift ideas you have. You can see where the holes are. If you have no ideas at all for Uncle Paul, then make yourself a note to call Aunt Paula to find out what Uncle Paul wants. If your list includes “send Christmas cards”, then start a separate list of the recipients, and check to see if you’re missing any addresses. Look for those addresses now, and not on December 22nd! You’ll also know how many cards to buy when you’re in the store, and won’t have to run back out for more at the last minute.

• Make yourself a notebook, folder or binder with all of your lists and keep it with you! If you work outside your home, take it with you in a tote. It doesn’t do any good to have a plan if you don’t have it available to refer to when you need to.

• Now that your lists are in the works, next get yourself a calendar going. You might like a big wipe-off calendar that can be displayed in the kitchen for everyone to see, or maybe a calendar in your planner or on your phone works bet for you. Whatever it is, start adding every party, every cookie exchange, every school function and every travel itinerary on it as you find out about them. Grill your family for all of their commitments. Update this calendar immediately as new functions are discovered. Threaten your family that failure to notify you of a commitment means they have to eat the fruitcake that’s been regifted since 1974. Or you could say that Santa will bring them a lump of coal, but that would be pretty mean. 😀

• Practice saying “no”. The reality is, you won’t be able to do everything that is asked of you for the next couple of months. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. You can say “no” to good things in order to say “yes” to the best things!

That’s how I get my holiday season organized, and it really seems to help me to just write things down! It’s a simple thing but it has a huge impact. You won’t wake up in the middle of the night worrying about whether you’re going to forget to bake the two dozen cupcakes for the school if you’ve already put that on the calendar.

If you have other ideas, please pass them on. Over the next few weeks, we’re going to be on a mission to find other thoughts and tips that we think might help us all enjoy this glorious season even more!

~BigSis

November 8, 2009

We’re already gearing up for our Third Annual Bake Sale, which will be held on December 14th.  This is the second year that 100% of the proceeds will go to SPCA Texas, and we’re beyond excited to get crackin’ and bakin’!  We have a lot of work ahead of us: shopping, baking, wrapping, labeling, transporting, and promoting, but we all agree that we have more fun doing this than pretty much anything else all year!

The little-baking-team-that-could this year is me, SisMama, my coworkers K and SAA, and K’s sister L.  Our goal for the one-day sale is $3000 again!  Last year, our final total was $3055, so we’re hopeful we can exceed the goal again. We’re not totally crazy though, so the goal isn’t increasing!

To help us reach our goal again for the SPCA, we could really really use your help!  We know what recipes worked for us last year – and which ones didn’t move – but we’d love to know what your favorites are.

Pretend that you went to a fund-raising bake sale at Christmas to buy cute packaged homemade gifts to give to your babysitter, hairdresser, postman, Bunco friends, kids’ teachers, kids’ friends, Secret Santas, etc.  What would you like to find?  Traditional items like gingerbread, pound cake, biscotti and sugar cookies?  Or indulgent items you might not make yourself like almond toffee, fudge, pecan pie bars, and fancy brownies?  Would you be interested in something savory like a spicy snack mix or nut blend?  Or something else altogether?

Maybe you’ve had some great success yourself with certain items at bake sales.  What works best for you?  Or maybe you have specialties that you think would be an awesome hit at a Christmas bake sale?

If you have ideas, please pass them on to us!  Thanks in advance from us – and all of the animals at the SPCA – for your suggestions!

~BigSis

November 5, 2009

Before we went off to BlogWorld, I was on a mission to find a vegan, or at least a vegetarian, alternative to bacon since so many of us seem to be enamored with it.  I’ve actually heard of people who are vegetarian except for bacon!  I haven’t eaten bacon or any other meat product in over 15 years, but I have confessed that I do love the smoky aroma and I long for the crunchy yumminess that you get from bacon.  I just don’t want a pig to have to die for me to get my crispy-urge satisfied!

So the search continues.  One of my favorite guilty-pleasure meat analog products for years has been MorningStar Farms’ Bacon Strips.  I say “guilty-pleasure” because these guys are full of all kinds of ingredients that are hard to pronounce and identify.  If you like to fill your body with as many unprocessed foods as possible, these strips won’t be on your menu very often.

Right off the bat, they fail the vegan challenge because they contain egg whites, carrageenan and non-fat dry milk.  On the upside, they contain 60 calories per serving (2 strips, which is a pretty dinky serving), 44% less fat than pork bacon, and zero cholesterol.  So on the whole, they’re a far superior choice to pork bacon.

But, how do they taste?  The package declares that these strips have “the delicious hearty flavor of smoked veggie bacon with a crispy bite”.  I think that’s a fair claim to make; they taste pretty darn good!  I like to nuke mine on a paper towel til they’re really crispy; almost burned in spots.  I let them cool a second, then peel off the paper towel and make a faux BLT.  To be honest, I usually cook 5 or 6 slices at a time for a decent sandwich. The flavor is appropriately smoky and I get the crunch I crave.  With some good tomato, lettuce, mayo and maybe some avocado, you’ve got an excellent sandwich.

The verdict: tasty and crispy!  These strips aren’t the healthiest option in the world because of all the processing, but as an occasional treat, they aren’t a bad choice and they do satisfy a little of the bacon craving in me.  Would your meat-eating friends gobble these up and say yummy?  Probably not.  But if you’re like me and don’t want to eat pork, or just want to consume less fat, cholesterol and calories, then give these a try!  The bonus is they smell awesome while they’re nuking!

~BigSis

November 3, 2009

Apple flickr photo from Ahmed

The other day I found a stack of little bitty note-size flyers at the checkout of my hippie health food store (actually it’s Natural Grocers/Vitamin Cottage).  It was a summary of  the Dirty Dozen, which are fruits and veggies that you should always buy organic, and the Clean 15, which test lowest for pesticide residues. I was a bit surprised at some of these items.  See what you think:

Dirty Dozen
(worst first)

Peaches
Apples
Bell Peppers
Celery
Nectarines
Strawberries
Cherries
Kale
Lettuce
Grapes (imported)
Carrots
Pears

Clean 15
(best first)

Onion
Avocado
Sweet Corn
Pineapple
Mango
Asparagus
Sweet Peas
Kiwi
Cabbage
Eggplant
Papaya
Watermelon
Broccoli
Tomato
Sweet Potatoes

What surprised me? That broccoli, peas, cabbage, tomatoes, corn and asparagus were relatively clean. I always thought that the safest things to buy conventional had thick skins, like bananas, pineapple or avocados.  I’m a bit surprised too that apples are so contaminated.  It’s good to know, so thanks to the hippie health food store for the itty bitty flyers!

These lists were put together by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, and are part of their Shoppers Guide to Pesticides.  You can download the entire guide in PDF and print it out, or you can download the i-phone app to refer to when you’re out shopping.  I think the app would be super-handy since I’d never have the guide with me at the store.  I don’t even remember my coupons most of the time.  If they could only come up with an app for coupons!

~BigSis

November 1, 2009

So, I thought our Chicken Hat Fashion Show was unique to our little family of kitty pies.  Remember when we tormented featured the furkids in the cutest-ever chicken hat?

Ashy the Poo

A very disgusted TomTom in the Chicken Hat

Bruschi (K's kid)

Brady (K's other kid)

Now, I find out that the Cheezburger cats are working the chicken hat too!  ^..^  I guess we started a trend!  I swear we were first!

I Can Has Cheezburger, and Cute Chicken Hat?

As cute as our cats are, they don’t seem to enjoy modeling as much as the Cheezburger cat does.  Maybe modeling school would help?

~BigSis

October 30, 2009

Just in case you didn’t get enough chocolate overload from the Texas Sheet Cake, this recipe should definitely send you into fudgey orbit!

Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa Outrageous Brownies are my go-to brownies.  I love them with walnuts and chocolate chips (cause there isn’t enough chocolate in them already!), but on holidays I love to make them with Oreos instead.  It’s an idea that came from Joe at Culinary in the Country.  For the SPCA Bake Sale last December, I made them with Christmas Oreos and they looked adorably festive.

So here we are at Halloween.  I don’t celebrate Halloween, other than taking photos of the furkids in hats; when they let me. This year, they didn’t let me.  I found the cutest little pirate hat with black ringlets for them, but would they wear it?  Heck, no.

Oh, yeah, and I like to bake.  Just give me an excuse…holiday, Monday, rain, sun, whatever.  Any reason.

This recipe makes a huge amount of fun, crunchy, rich, and cutely Halloweenie brownies.  Go make some friends.

~BigSis

October 28, 2009

This is not cake.  I know that Cook’s Country calls it cake, but it’s not cake.  It’s a slab of rich, dense, ooey-gooey chocolate decadence.

Cook's Country Texas Sheet Cake

I baked this for my boss’s birthday, and I think it went over well! The usual Texas Sheet Cake or Sheath Cake is delicious. In fact, it’s SisMama’s signature cake and the one we all request for birthdays. It’s a lighter cake than this though. Both recipes contain cocoa powder in the batter and icing, but this Cook’s Country version also includes a half pound of semisweet chocolate in the batter! That’s where the fudginess comes in!  I’d call this more of a brownie, but whatever you call it, I call it yummy!

Texas Sheet Cake
(Cook’s Country)

Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs plus 2 yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder

Chocolate Icing
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup toasted pecans, chopped

1. For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 18- by 13-inch rimmed baking sheet. Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Whisk eggs and yolks, vanilla, and sour cream in another bowl until smooth.

2. Heat chocolate, butter, oil, water, and cocoa in large saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth, 3 to 5 minutes. Whisk chocolate mixture into flour mixture until incorporated. Whisk egg mixture into batter, then pour into prepared baking pan. Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer to wire rack.

3. For the icing: About 5 minutes before cake is done, heat butter, cream, cocoa, and corn syrup in large saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth. Off heat, whisk in confectioners’ sugar and vanilla. Spread warm icing evenly over hot cake and sprinkle with pecans. Let cake cool to room temperature on wire rack, about 1 hour, then refrigerate until icing is set, about 1 hour longer. (Cake can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.) Cut into 3-inch squares. Serve.

BigSis Notes: I added 1/2 tsp of cinnamon to the batter and used Penzeys Mexican Vanilla, so I used about 1/3 less than the recipe called for.  I used evaporated milk instead of heavy cream in the icing, salted butter rather than unsalted, and toasted walnuts on top in place of pecans.  I baked my cake in a 13 x 9 glass pan, and it took 35 minutes. Cut these pieces small; this stuff is rich! This cake is best at room temperature OR nuked for just a few seconds!  Wowee!!  😀

~BigSis

October 23, 2009

As LilSis and I were rushing out of Caesar’s Palace toward the Las Vegas airport the other day, we stopped at Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill for a quick but really delicious lunch at the bar.

The bar at Mesa Grill in Las Vegas

We wanted to try Mesa Grill the last time we were in town, but never got there, so we were determined to work it into our schedule this time around all of the BlogWorld stuff.  We were super-happy that we were able to squeeze in a speedy lunch at Mesa Grill as we were scrambling out of town.

Initially, we had an awesome impression of Mesa Grill.  The decor was absolutely beautiful with copper, wood and glass elements working perfectly together in the dining room.  Secondly, we were greeted by a very friendly, professional and helpful bartender.  So far, so good!  We’re happy.

We’ve been pretty disappointed with the service recently at most hotels and restaurants in the city.  We don’t know if it’s because we’re women or that we’re straight or that we’re forty-something, but 95% of the service has been horrible, so Mesa Grill was a breath of fresh air.  Not hating…just being honest.

Now, on to the food.  We like to try several things at a new place, so we split three appetizers.  Here’s what we got:

• Grilled Asparagus Salad with Wild Mushrooms ($14) Mixed greens, grilled asparagus, pecans, Maytag blue cheese, wild mushrooms, and Red Chile Mustard Vinaigrette.

• Sophie’s Chopped Salad ($10) Chopped romaine, tomatoes, chickpeas, kidney beans, kalamata olives, cubed cheddar cheese, and crispy little squares of  blue corn tortillas with balsamic vinaigrette.

• Wild Mushroom Quesadilla with White Bean Hummus and White Truffle Oil ($14) Housemade tortillas filled with sauteed mushrooms and really good cheese (whatever it was), with a big dollop of garlicky white bean hummus on top, and drizzled with a spicy chile sauce and truffle oil.

We absolutely loved all 3 of these dishes, as well as the jalapeno cheese bread, and agreed that it was one of the best meals we’d had in Vegas.  We ate every crumb and almost licked the plate!

Was it fancy?  Not really.  But was it well-executed, flavorful, creative, and even delicious?  Was it served in a gorgeous comfortable setting by friendly, well-trained people?  Was the service quick and efficient?  Were the prices reasonable?  Oh, heck, yeah!

Mesa Grill Dining Room

We loved Mesa Grill and will absolutely go back the next chance we get.  It was totally our kind of place.  Way to go, Bobby Flay.  You’ve done a great job with your decor, your menu and your staff.  We’re impressed!

~BigSis