Birthday Bark

With my new life of working in the restaurant business, weekends, birthdays, and nights off are something of the past. But, with a new restaurant repertoire on my resume, birthdays also come with the expectation of homemade, tasty gifts. Especially when it comes to my family.

With my sister’s birthday coming up, I knew I had to make her something that wouldn’t take too much time (sorry sis, free time is also a thing of the past) that she would love. Since spying on fellow food blogs is one of my favorite past-times, when I found the idea for cake batter chocolate bark, I knew I had found my sisters perfect gift. 26 years young, she has a sweet -tooth and childish ideology to match.

There’s no exact recipe here; simply melt about a pound of your favorite dark chocolate (and temper, if you have the patience and time) and spread a thin layer on a sheet tray lined with a non-stick surface. Let harden for about 30 minutes in the fridge. While dark chocolate is hardening, melt about a pound and half of white chocolate and whisk in 2 tablespoons of your favorite yellow cake mix. Pour over dark chocolate, cover with rainbow sprinkles, and let harden. Break into chunks, and put away in gift bags immediately…or it all may be eaten first!

Play On,

T

Better for you; Better for your taste buds.

This week was all about upgrades. Progressively, I’ve seen my food transform from the traditional vegetarian fare (let’s just say…boxed mac and cheese served with a Morningstar burger) to something a little more complicated. I guess I’m now classified as a “flexitarian,” but really, I like to see it as a plant-based diet, with a big sweet tooth.

My first upgrade was a recipe from a fellow culinary student. My friend Emiko designed these veggie burgers as a way to eat whole grains and simply put, to eat real food. They definitely aren’t a weeknight quickie, but can easily be molded into patties and frozen so you can have them on hand whenever needed.

Mediterranean Burgers:

Yield: About 30 2-inch burgers

1 cup dried french lentils
1 cup short-grain brown rice
6 cups vegetable stock
1 carrot, grated
1 onion, small dice
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 zucchini, small dice
1 red pepper, small dice
1 yellow pepper, small dice
1 tablespoon dried cumin
1 teaspoon all-spice
1 teaspoon paprika
1 and 1/2 cups bread crumbs
1 egg
Extra virgin olive oil, for sautéing
Canola oil, for burgers
Salt and pepper, to taste

1. Bring lentils and 3 cups stock to a boil in a small sauce pan. Reduce heat to a simmer for about 25 minutes, cook until tender.
2. Boil 1 and 3/4 cup stock. Toast rice in a small sauce pan, and then pour boiling stock over the rice. Bring back to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for about 40 minutes.
3. Heat olive oil in a sauté pan and saute onions until caramelized. Add remaining vegetables and saute until tender. Add and adjust seasoning
4. Combine rice, lentils, and vegetables in a large bowl. Add egg and 1 cup bread crumbs. Mix until all ingredients are fully incorporated. Let sit in refrigerator for an hour.
5. Mold patties into 2 inch discs*. The mixture should make about 30 patties.
6. Heat about 1/4 cup canola oil in a saute pan. Fry burgers about 3 minutes on each side, until browned and warm.

*I used an ice cream scoop to ensure uniformity, and then pressed them down into a flat burger shape.

The grilled cheese. The token vegetarian sandwich or ideal choice for a 3AM run to Steak and Shake. My upgrade transformed a simple, usually not health-supportive-served-on-white-bread meal and upped it to a classy, filling, and plain old yummy meal. The typical tomato-basil-mozzarella combo is a classic, and I served it on sprouted whole grain bread. I choose to sauté some kale for the side dish, but I think kale chips would go great with this.

Lastly, the chocolate chip cookie. All of my friends (and I mean…all of them) are constantly asking me to mail them treats. Due to time and financial obligations, I’ve saved this for special occasions. A friend’s birthday called for something that was easily able to shipped, and of course something that was super yummy. I choose to sandwich my version of the tollhouse cookies between a layer of teal-dyed whipped, non-overly sweet, frosting. Hopefully they’ll help her celebrate another year!

The Classic Chocolate Chip Cookie:

Yield: About 4 dozen 1 inch cookies
2 1/3 cups organic, unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup organic butter
2/3 cup organic cane sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon organic, fair trade vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups milk chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped pecans
Yield: about 4 dozen 1 inch cookies

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. Cream together butter, sugars, and vanilla. Once butter is light and fluffy, add eggs.
4. Slowly add the dry ingredients in. Once combined, add chocolate chips and pecans.
5. Using a sheet tray lined with parchment, scoop cookies onto tray, about 12 per tray. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown.
6. Fill sandwiches with your favorite buttercream frosting. I choose the one posted on this blog:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/desserts/thate28099s-the-best-frosting-ie28099ve-ever-had/

Warming Winter

Somehow in the last four months, I’ve transformed from a college student-activist into a New Yorker with big hopes. Culinary school was a great learning experience, and most of all, helped me move slightly closer to my sweet dreams. For the next few weeks, I’ll have quiet days and busy nights, which leaves me with much more time to prepare my meals. I’ll be able to revisit all the techniques I learned at NGI and finally stop depending on the local sushi bars and deli’s to provide me with nutritional energy.

The recipes below were both adapted from the Food Network to fit my needs. I’m a notorious snacker, and have been wanting to develop a great recipe for granola bars for quite some time now. I’m hoping that these will help to curb my ever demanding sweet tooth and appetite. The blend of coconut, cranberries and chocolate is just simply divine.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there’s soup: the ultimate dinner to survive a New York winter. However, it’s hard to find one that is both nutritionally dense and filling; that’s where Pasta e Fagioli comes in. I added some chard to meet my leafy greensrequirement, and served it with a piece of sprouted whole grain bread on the side.

Recipes are posted below, happy winter (and bring on spring)!

Triple threat granola bars:

Yield: About 20 3-inch bars

2 cups organic rolled oats
1 cup organic almonds, roughly chopped
1 cup organic, unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup raw wheat germ
3 tablespoons organic butter
1/3 cup raw honey
1/3 cup organic maple syrup
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons organic vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate, roughly chopped
1/2 cup dried organic cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 8 x 12 baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.

2. Stir the oats, almonds, coconut, and wheat germ together and place on a sheet pan. Bake for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and set aside.

3. Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F. Place the butter, honey, maple syrup, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir and then pour over the oatmeal mixture. Add the chocolate and cranberries, stir well, and pour onto the prepared pan.

4. Baked for about 25 minutes until firm and golden. Cool for a minimum of 3 hours before cutting into bars.

Pasta e Fagioli with Rainbow Chard
Yield: 4 Servings

1 carrot, small dice
3 ribs celery, small dice
1 medium onion, small dice
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 stems fresh rosemary
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 cup prepared cannelini beans*
1 cup prepared chick peans*
1 cup prepared red kidney beans*
3 tablespoons tomato paste
3 cups organic, free-range chicken broth
3 cups water
1 cup ditalini pasta
1 cup green beans, trimmed and chopped
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1//4 cup basil leaves, chiffonade
1 cup rainbow chard, chopped
1/2 cup Parmiginao-Regginao cheese, grated

*The original recipe called for canned beans. I choose to purchase dried beans and soak them overnight and prepare them this afternoon. I cooked them until they were tender and placed them in the fridge until I was ready to prepare dinner.

1. Heat a large soup pot with two tablespoons extra virgin olive oil. Add carrot, celery, onion, garlic, rosemary, bay leaves, and oregano. Season with salt and pepper. Saute for about 10 minutes, until vegetables are tender.

2. Add beans and tomato paste and stir to fully incorporate. Add water and stock, cover, and bring to a boil.

3. Add pasta and let simmer for about five minutes, then add green beans. Cook until pasta and green beans are tender.

4. Add the lemon zest and juice and stir. Remove both rosemary stems and remove soup pot from heat.

5. In individual serving bowls, add a handful of rainbow chard to each bowl. Ladle soup over greens, allowing them to wilt. Garnish with cheese and basil.

Play On,

Tracy

Existentialism for Dummies

As someone who over-analyzes everything, I quite often find that believing in existentialism can be somewhat exhausting. The constant wild-goose chase to understand “what it all means” proves itself to be just that – a chase.

The issue is two-fold.  

1.) Existentialism requires one to abandon all notion of purpose; as in, we are merely tiny specs of dust on the geological time scale, ultimately going nowhere.

2.) Personally, I struggle with seeing the big picture. My life functions on a day-to-day basis. For me, there is no 10 year plan, hell, there is no 5 year plan. However, there is a “what am I going to have for dinner?” plan.

The continuous quest for understanding just leaves us feeling empty. The string of questions that we have for the universe will, for the most part, remain unanswered. So maybe we should stop asking.  

Amid all of the madness, I’ve found that reaping joy from the littlest of life’s pleasures can silence the curious existentialist in you. Cue fall’s most joyous bounty: the pumpkin.

Once slice of this heavenly cake, and inner-peace will wrap its warm arms around you while you enjoy a moment of bliss.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake

1 can Organic Pumpkin (I like the Farmer’s Market brand)

1/2 cup Organic Pure Maple Syrup

3 tablespoons Organic Expeller-Pressed Canola Oil

1 ¾ cups Organic Pastry Flour (whole wheat pastry flour works too)

¼  teaspoon fine sea salt

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons Organic Pumpkin Pie Spice

½ cup Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, plus extra for the top

Pre-heat oven to 350 F

Combine the flour, salt, baking soda and pumpkin pie spice together in a small bowl, mix with a fork or whisk.

Whisk the pumpkin, oil and maple syrup. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet in a minimum of 3 batches. Once you have your batter, gently fold in the chocolate chips with a rubber spatula.

Grease an 8.5 inch loaf pan with soy butter (I like Earth Balance) or your favorite organic butter, then pour the batter in. Top with some chocolate chips and bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let it rest in the pan for 5-10 minutes on a cooling rack before cutting. If you’re feeling extra needy, add a scoop of Purely Decadent vanilla ice cream.

P.S.  The toothpick will be covered in melted chocolate, what you’re looking for is any uncooked batter.

Play on,

Marla ❤

It’s All In The Cupcake

Culinary school is proving to be no easy feat, and my 3 inch binder is already busting at the seams with papers, recipes, articles, and several knife cuts. It’s been a whirlwind of information over the last four weeks yet also a ton of fun. If I could summarize all of the lectures I’ve had so far, it would come down to only a few key ideas. Using high quality ingredients is the most important part of your cookery and truly makes all the difference. It’s one of the many ways you can show your loved ones how important they are to you, your cupcakes will be healthier for it, and lastly, they will taste divine.

And let me tell you, these are no Duncan Hines cupcakes. Adapted from an Ina Garten recipe and topped with a milk chocolate caramel frosting, they are made with high quality, local, fresh ingredients. Plus, they look delicious.

Play On,

Tracy Michele

Happy Fall!

Happy Fall!

The leaves are changing, the weather is cooling down, and the wind smells of a new season. I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate Fall than by whipping up a batch of pumpkin muffins. With a sugar-pie pumpkin from the local farmers market as the star, these muffins guarantee a smile and make a great breakfast or mid-day snack. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Muffins:

Recipe yields about 30 muffins, or 24 muffins and 12 minis

Ingredients

3 cups organic, whole wheat pastry flour

2 and 1/2 cups cane sugar

2 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

2 cup pureed pumpkin

1 cup soy milk (feel free to substitute almond milk if you want a more nutty flavor)

1 cup vegetable oil

4 tablespoons maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Take your sugar-pie pumpkin and  rub it with olive oil and place on a cookie sheet. Roast in the oven for about 60 minutes, until skin is easy to cut through with a knife. Cut open the pumpkin and puree the pumpkin, making sure to leave the seeds and skin out. The seeds are a great treat!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees for the muffins. Either grease or line muffin pans and set aside. Sift together the dry ingredients and place in a bowl. Whisk together the wet ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Blend until creamy mixture appears and all ingredients are combined. Fill muffin tins about 3/4 of the way full and bake for about 22 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for about 5 minutes before placing onto a cooling rack.

Quick and easy sweet roasted pumpkin seeds:

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Lay the pumpkin seeds on a cookie sheet and pour oil evenly over seeds. Sprinkle sugar and spice mixture onto seeds and cook for about 8 minutes while the remaining muffins are baking. Serve as a party appetizer or along with the muffins.

Instant Smile

These cupcakes are nothing too special or extravagant. What they are is a general crowd pleaser. The childish flavors will promise to bring a smile to your face and all of your guests, and their baking ease will motivate you to make them time after time. If you want to pipe the icing, make sure you make your cookie crumbs very small, or you’ll have to use a knife to ice the frosting. Besides that, that are easy, fun, and of course, delicious!

Recipe:

Cookies and Cream Cake Batter:

1 box Arrowhead Mills vanilla cake mix

1 cup water

3 organic eggs (or Ener-G Egg Replacer)

1/2 cup organic vegetable oil

30 Newman O’s Orignal Flavor (or mix it up–go for a mint cookie batter!)

Cookies and Cream Buttercream:

1 cup Earth Balance Butter, room temperature

3 cups confectioners sugar, sifted and set aside

3-5 tablespoons soy milk

1 teaspoon organic, fair-trade vanilla extract

Preheat your oven 350F. Line 24 cupcake tins with paper lines, set the pans aside. Using 12 of the cookies, place one side of the cookies on the bottom of the cupcake liner, making sure icing is on each of the half and placing the icing side facing up. Break up the remaining cookies into crumbs using a rolling pin and a ziploc bag. Set aside.

Place the cake mix, water, oil, and eggs into a bowl with a mixer. Blend for about 2 minutes until mixed throughly. Measure out about 1 and 1/2 of the crumbs and place into the batter. Spoon into the cupcake tins, each should be about 3/4 full.

Bake the cupcakes until they are lightly browned and come out clean using a cake tester, about 18 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 5 minutes. Place each individual cupcake onto a wire rack and let cool for a least a half hour.

While waiting for them to cool, prepare your cookies and cream buttercream frosting. Blend the butter with an electric mixer for about 30 seconds until it reaches a fluffy consistency. Add the sugar, 3 tablespoons of the milk, and the vanilla. Blend on low speed until all combined. Add more milk if the texture of the frosting is too thick and continue to beat until light and fluffy. Add the remaining cookie crumbs and frost onto your cupcakes. Make sure to keep these cupcakes in a cool room or the refrigerator until serving due to the buttercream frosting.

Play On,

Tracy

Members of the Tribe

Tonight begins the celebration of the Jewish New Year. This means Facebook statuses proclaiming “L’Shana Tova” and text messages wishing friends and family a happy new year. This is my first Jewish New Year not spent in the state of Florida. I have a good feeling with the beginning of year 5771, as I spent the last hours of year 5770 baking my favorite Jewish cookies.

This year represents the year  that I took everything I had and began to chase my dreams. I wish everyone a year of filled with joy, health, family, and of course, love. And if you can’t celebrate with those you love the most, take five minutes and remind them why they are so important to you. Best wishes to all that celebrate, L’Shana Tova.

Recipe for Rugelach:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature**
• 1 cup Earth Balance butter, at room tempature
• 1/4 cup organic, unbleached cane sugar plus a few teaspoons extra on the side
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon organic, fair trade vanilla extract
• 2 cups organic, unbleached white flour
• a few teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup apricot preserves*
• 1/2 cup raspberry preserves*
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (miniature sized, preferably)*
• 1/4 cup canola oil

**Feel free to substitute a dairy-free cream cheese of your liking

*You can use any preserves or filling of your choice, including raisins, walnuts, poppy seeds etc. These are just my family favorites.

Using a stand mixer, cream together the cream cheese and the butter until light and fluffy. Stir in the 1/4 cup of sugar, salt, and vanilla. Slowly add in the the 2 cups flour until just combined. Pour the dough onto a well-floured board and roll into a ball. Cut the ball into four even pieces, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for an hour.

Place one of the four balls onto the well floured board. Roll the ball into about a nine inch circle and place the preserves on the flattened disc, about an inch away from the end. Cut the disc in half, then into quarters, and then into thirds (making 12 even triangles). Roll the triangles up, starting from the widest edge, until the top is under. Place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (recommended to be greased as well, these can be very sticky) and let chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350F. Brush each cookie with canola oil. In a small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon (ratio should be about 2:1, but that is a personal preference) and sprinkle on top of each cookie. Bake for 16-20 minutes, until lightly browned. Let sit for about 5 minutes before placing on racks to cool.

Play On,

Tracy Michele ❤

Back in Action

Sorry, fellow bloggers. I’m sure you’ve been lonely and depressed wondering where the rants of Marla &Tracy have been. Graduation tore the best friends and roommates into two different states (thankfully still on the time zone) — and our lives have taken us in two very different, yet exciting directions.

While Marla is off teaching the next generation, I have abandoned everything I know to follow my lifelong dream. I, Tracy Michele, the ultimate foodie, am beginning culinary school in only a few days. Words cannot express my excitement to begin to sauté and julienne my way through New York City.

Of course, living in one of the most crowded cities in the world can happen to be quite lonely. Although my iPhone maps app can take me anywhere I want to go, I’ve be spending my days getting adjusted to my new kitchen. Which is what brings us to my latest recipe.

I decided to come up with a copy-cat-recipe of one of my childhood favorite treats. I used to eat these with my best friend while waiting for our parents to pick us up from the mall. They promise to bring a smile to the most solemn face with their endearing colorful toppers and whimsical frosting.

Recipe:

2 and 1/4 cups organic, unbleached white flour (no one ever said these were good for you)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup organic earth balance butter, softened
3/4 cup organic, unbleached cane sugar
3/4 cup organic brown sugar
2 tsp organic, fair trade vanilla extract
2 large eggs*
2 cups Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips
*feel free to sub Ener-g Egg Replacer in order to make the recipe cruelty free

Preheat oven to 375F, stir together flour, baking soda, and salt into a small bowl, set aside. Using a stand or hand mixer, beat together the butter and both sugars until creamy. Add vanilla and eggs*, one at a time. Mix until fully incorporated. Gradually blend dry mixture into creamed mixture until combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Using a pre-greased, mini cupcake pan, place about 2 teaspoons of cookie dough mixture into pan, roughly 3/4 full. Bake for about 8-10 minutes until golden brown.

Cool in pan for about 10 minutes and then pop out of cupcake pan. Wait until fully cooled before frosting and placing your favorite candy on top!

Play On,

Tracy Michele

I wish I was French…or do I?

Nobody ever dares to confront the idea that evil hotly pulses through the veins of their hero; and any such matter is typically an uncommon occurrence. Actors, athletes, what have you – Marie Antoinette can do no wrong, I’m sure of it. Cake, what cake?

It’s indisputable that American culture has its special place in history’s book; the supersized sodas, universally rude Wal-Mart cashiers, and of course, our undying affection for reality TV (Thank God Ali is the next Bachelorette). Yet even with all of our rarities – thanks, Speidi, – we are still somehow able to cold shoulder other, less “normal” cultures. Yes, I know, the French are notoriously arrogant and remarkably stinky from practically bathing in cheese, but we could undoubtedly take a few hints from their wealth of knowledge – Existentialism, anyone?

So anyways, with insane anticipation I finally saw the new Robin Hood. Oscar, c’est toi? As legend would have it, the French crept along England’s coast while it was more or less a wounded puppy, heartbroken teenager, etc. Oh Philip, will you ever step foot off that boat? To see the French in such a dim and daunting light was like learning that Milli Vanilli was a scam – not exactly the hero you were hoping for. It was almost painful to see my beloved French so calculating and heartless. Yet, the Medieval era was that way for a reason – the incessant struggle for power, the uniquely unfashionable and obnoxiously heavy chain mail…

But as we’ve learned from the movies, and inarguably from life, there always has to be a hero and a villain. What we choose to make of this perspective is purely up to us.

Play on,

Marla ❤