Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Parsley Pesto.

I am one of those people who forgoes buying a whole tree of parsley when the recipe calls for one sprig. I hate to think of the extra going to waste in my crisper. I almost always, up until now, have forgotten about it until it pretty much grows a pair of legs to up and walk out of the fridge. so, many times, I just decide to do without that little extra flavor in my soup or my pasta. bad I know, you would think that after years of working in kitchens, that I would be savvier about using up ingredients in creative ways. but, I guess the last 20 months of motherhood have erased some of my previous know how.
but, the other day, I finally started thinking again. Pesto isnt just limited to basil and I know this. as I stared at the wilting parsley and cilantro slowly dying in my crisper, I nearly kicked myself for forgetting about a very basic and simple way to use this stuff up. Funny, because I have had abundance of basil in the past; which turned me into a pesto making machine all summer. (this was back in Ithaca, where basil actually grows with wild abandon..unlike here in the NW, where it doesnt really) and, I know that I have made a cilantro pesto or two in my life. not quite sure how this all had escaped me.

oh yeah, its that motherhood thing. can I blame this again?

Anyway, so I had some extra parsley and some cilantro.
and, some pecans in my freezer.
and a little bit of parm cheese, and a little bit of garlic and olive oil.

and, with a little whirl of the cuisinart, a pretty tasty pesto was born.


Monday, March 22, 2010

I spend quite a bit of time at Woodland Park Zoo, and I am a big fan. Of course, I have a special place in my heart for the place having once had the opportunity to volunteer there within the Australasia exhibit. but, that is a whole different story, one that I have already blogged about here.

The zoo membership is all of 40$ for a year of me and my son. 40$!!! Really, this is the best deal in town. I go there at least once a week, if not more. I love living nearby too. instead of just walking to a park, I can just walk to the zoo and let Z run around without feeling like we have to get our moneys worth and see everything. Many times when we visit, we see maybe one or two animals before he loses interest and wants to just wander around. On many occasions, I have noticed that we seem to hit the zoo when the animals are away, or inside, but today, EVERYONE was out. it was really great. even the elusive ones like the snow leopard and grey wolf to name a few, were out enjoying the sunshine. and, today, Z let me see more of the animals, and as a result, I was able to get some fun pictures!  I am writing more and more about food on whisk&wander lately, but I also want to focus a little bit on our wanderings, and since the zoo is a huge part of our life here, I wanted to share it.





Sunday, March 21, 2010

Yesterday, I went to Specialties and couldn't walk out of there without buying one of their wheat germ chocolate chip cookies. I bought 2 actually. I have been wanting to recreate these gems for a while and so I was conducting a little taste research.

yeah, taste research.

I like the ring to that.

what makes these cookies so good is the amount of butter or shortening that is in them, and the nutty flavor of the wheat germ, a hint of cinnamon, little chocolate chunks scattered throughout. their texture is a little on the cakey side, with a little chewy and a little crispness on the outer edges.

I tend to like my chocolate chip cookies on the either crisp-chewy or the really crunchy side. I am not really a cakey cookie gal, but who am I kidding? I wouldnt actually turn any chocolate chip cookie down.

Today, I set out to recreate these puppies. take one.





the result.

a good first attempt! I do think that I could have used more butter to mimic the cafe's cookie, but I was actually happy with my lower calorie version. with a little less fat, it wasnt quite as moist, but I definitely thought the flavor was there, not to mention those healthful ingredients!

here is the recipe:

note: I have since made batch number 2 which doesnt quite resemble the cookies above, but I felt it yielded a tastier and moister, yet a little flatter result. I have increased the butter 2 oz and lessened the egg by one.

6 oz butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 eggs
1/4 teas vanilla
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup wheat flour, fine
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/4 teas cinnamon
1/4 cup oats
1/2 teas salt
1/4 teas baking powder
3/4 cup chocolate, chopped

cream sugar and butter. add eggs and vanilla and cream until fluffly. mix dry ingredients and set aside. add dry ingredients to wet, stir to combine. add chocolate and stir to combine. bake at 350 12-15 minutes.
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Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Happy St Patty!

So, last year, I whipped up a batch of Soda Bread, as I do every year, and I wrote about it here. I also posted a recipe adapted from a cookbook that I use often. This year, I did soda bread two ways. Yesterday, I decided to venture out from my normal white loaf and do a more healthful wheat variety. This was not a raging success, but it wasnt bad either. it was just a far cry from my favorite soda bread of all time, from the ol' Crusty Loaf Bakery..rest her soul. it got me thinking, why dont I make that today, my all time favorite, instead of trying every other recipe out there. The thing about the ol CL recipe is that is sort of got lost in the shuffle. but, luckily, I can still remember portions of it and all the ingredients and ratios, so I was able to recreate it. thank goodness for all the repetition of making it weekly. thank goodness for that.





and, in the spirit of St pattys, I had to add a little green!



as promised, here is my recipe:

3 3/4 cups flour
2 Tabl corn starch
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teas baking soda
1 1/2 teas cream tartar
1 1/2 teas salt
2 Tabl butter
2 cups buttermilk (more or less..)

combine all the dry ingredients. add the butter and rub the mixture until the butter is incorporated and it resembles a more coarse mixture, yet uniform. add the buttermilk and stir just to combine. scoop it out onto table and knead barely, just make it hold its shape. you really want a sticky dough, barely handled. bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes until golden. this makes 2 loaves at about 20 oz each.



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Thursday, March 11, 2010

Whole Wheat Challah French Toast.

Challah is really good on the first day, pretty good on the second day, and so-so on the third day. In our house, we got through about half before day three hit. I always seem to forget these things when I bake bread. I love it, but we just dont go through it fast enough. and, in the case of WWchallah, this was no different. I was seconds from just tossing it, and then, i sort of kicked myself. Z has been on a morning-cake roll, be it pancakes, crepes or waffles for breakfast lately, and I guess I just overlooked the obvious. french toast. being a pastry person, I tend to think of all the dessert options first..like bread pudding, bread pudding, bread pudding..and then I think of all the dinner options, crostini, bruschetta, panzanella, ribolita..and I am not sure that challah really suits the bill there.

and, I am a little embarrassed to admit, I dont think that I have really ever made french toast. really? its just not something I think to do often for some reason. until now. this morning, I mixed up some milk, eggs, a touch of sugar, cinnamon and salt and then I soaked the bread in it until it was good and ready. (about 10 minutes.)

come to think of it, I was probably inspired by the donut I ate yesterday..

anyway, it really is amazing how you can take a piece of stale bread and create something really delicious.

french toast, welcome to our house.

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Friday, March 05, 2010

Challah Day.

Challah is an eggy, light and slightly sweet bread. It differs slightly from Brioche in that it usually contains more eggs and less butter. What contributes to the light airy texture is also the type of flour used. In Challah, traditionally, it is white flour which is able to create more gluten thus creating a lighter and airy structure to the bread.

Today when I set out to make Challah, I didnt realize that I was pretty much out of white flour. So began a little experimenting and what I got in the end was actually a decent loaf of bread! In place of most of the white flour, I used a fine milled whole wheat flour and a touch of oat flour.

The end result was good, maybe not as fluffy in texture, but definitely not heavy and dense like wheat breads can get. and, the flavor was good and not too different from a Challah made with all white flour.




recipe to come..
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