Wow, has it been 3 months? geez, I promise to post soon. A recent trip to Paris and London has me thinking of Macaroons, Crepes, Croque Monsieur...things I look forward to recreating...
stay tuned...

Morning Glory, in all its glory. before and after.

I remember when I first had a Morning Glory muffin, about 25 years ago. I remember thinking that it couldn’t possibly be any good since it didn’t contain any chocolate chunks or cream cheese filling. Was I wrong. Where it lacked chocolate and cream cheese, it made up for with carrots, pineapple, raisins and coconut. To a 9 year old, it just about knocked my Vans off. My mom used to make these often, and then one day possibly after counting the calories they contained, she just stopped. Quite deceiving, they tote all the healthful ingredients, along with a healthy dose of fat. Oh well. I think that 20 years went by before I had another one, at a local and well known bakery in town. (I wont name names) Until this day, I always felt like with the Morning Glory, you can at least feel like you are eating something healthful, but this one was different, it was all too greasy. Yuk. So, it has been 5 years and while looking to clean out fridge and freezer, I came across all the ingredients…old shredded coconut..frozen pineapple..carrots..a stray apple..lost macadamia nuts..raisins..beckoning to me from behind the roasted chicken and the bag of ice,
‘mmm..remember the days..morning glory..’

I gave into their pleas, and I did what they asked.

I debated cutting back on the butter and oil, remembered my brownie fiasco, and thought the hell with it, I am going to go full force….and I was not disappointed.

Fun with Raisins, part 1.

What do you do when you have 4 pounds of puny, dried out raisins from Costco? (besides calling Sunmaid and complaining?)

You make Raisin Lekvar, that’s what!
What is Lekvar you ask? It is a fruit butter typically made from prunes or dried apricots, mainly used in European pastries…

I decided to try it out in the swirl of cinnamon raisin bread. Instead of having a bread just flecked with raisins, I ended up with a swirl of raisin-y jam like goodness. Fresh out of the oven with a little butter and cinnamon sugar, it truly was divine…




Stay tuned for part 2...

Please excuse my long hiatus from Whisk and Wander, as I have been fully consumed with motherhood and am just starting to figure out how to juggle the little guy with one arm and make cookies with the other...I hope to post more regularly from now on as I find both the free moment and the inspiration.


(baby in sling, cookies in the making...)

Back in the saddle…or trying.

Now that I am not working, every outing, whether a walk or an errand, I find that I need to have a treat in the form of an iced latte, bubble tea or Matcha Tea latte. I feel I deserve it, after all, I was able to motivate and successfully get out of the house with baby in tow. Don’t I get some kind of reward? In a way, it is those little things that I look forward to now. Going for a walk and knowing that a Matcha Tea latte awaits me after the first mile and a half, or going to the baby store in search for silicone binkies and knowing that, conveniently, the bubble tea place is around the corner, or just going to drop the mail in the mailbox outside of Lighthouse Roasters, and knowing that the best iced latte awaits me there. (even though I have a perfectly capable mailbox of my own at home, not to mention coffeemaker..)

Last week, I decided to fund my habits further by buying a cup attachment for my stroller, just for my lattes…how convenient is that?

When I step back and look at just how many coffee, iced tea lattes and bubble teas I consume a week, I try to justify it with the fact that I am not buying myself any clothes right now (trying to lose that extra 20 lbs..) and we are not eating out often..unless you count the quick runs to Paseo for Cuban goodness, or Herfeys for some greasy goodness and a shake..(yes, still trying to lose 20 lbs..)

I do have pangs of guilt though whenever I plunk down my debit card on these not so necessary items. (necessary items: diapers and wipes AND diapers and wipes..)

So, once again, I have taken to trying to duplicate my favorite drinks in the comforts of my own home. This time I have tackled the Matcha Latte with pretty good success. I actually think it surpasses the Starbucks version, which usually comes laden with way too much ice and nasty melon syrup, not to mention Matcha powder stuck to the bottom in undissolved chunks. Yum. You would think that a place like Starbucks would figure that out?

What I did was use one of those Japanese tea stirrers to dissolve the matcha in the milk, and then a cocktail shaker to create a somewhat frothy drink. I have to say that I was pretty happy with the result. Next time I walk, I will just have to take my own homemade matcha latte with me..after all, isnt it all about the journey and not the destination?

Matcha Tea Latte

6 oz good milk
1.5 teaspoons matcha tea powder
1.5 teaspoons simple syrup

In cocktail shaker, mix all together with bamboo whisk and let sit for a moment to dissolve matcha completely, add ice, shake and pour...

Refresher.

Now that it is feeling a bit like summer here, after what I like to call a long ‘Juneuary’, I am feeling like a nice cool beer, a frosty Caprihana and a nice glass of chilled white wine. In reality, I still can have none of these. But, I came across a lovely refresher in a cool book that my mom gave me, one that was nominated for a James Beard award, very deservingly. It is called Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson, and in it, she does what I have been striving to do lately; cooking more using whole grains. Not only is it a beautiful book, but it is quite informative too. She finds uses for the more obscure flours…mesquite chocolate chip cookies anyone? I have yet to try these using the mesquite flour, but I am intrigued.

In the book, she has a recipe for a drink called Aqua Jamaica. Sounds refreshing doesn’t it? It is made from Hibiscus Blossoms, which, randomly, I had in my tea cabinet, a little sugar and water. It was quite refreshing with a little sparkling water and lime.

If you have a hard time finding Hibiscus Blossoms, try Trader Joe’s Raspberry Infusion Tea. My second batch was made using this instead, and you will see that the tea actually contains hibiscus as well as raspberry..so, there you go!

To make:
Bring to boil 2 cups water and 3 Tablespoons sugar and pour over 4 tea bags. Let steep for 5 minutes. Then, add 2 more cups of cool water and chill. When ready, fill a glass with ice, pour tea to fill 2/3 and then top off with sparkling water and a couple lime wedges. Add sugar to taste.

The brownie not worthy of its name. (i.e. another dud)

I am not sure what I am thinking with this one. I think it started with my desire to play around with whole grains in my baking adventures, and secondly, the fact that I am 35 weeks pregnant and feeling large…not to mention an evil mirror and lighting experience I had last night in the bathroom at the Salish Lodge. (think posterior + cottage cheese)

My oven, after being kaput for 2 weeks, is now fixed, so you guessed it..the baking must go on.

While I have a few pretty tasty brownie recipes, I decided for some insane reason to make a low fat brownie tonight. I am kicking myself already, and they haven’t even emerged from the oven yet, in all of their non gooey, non chocolaty badness. I tasted the batter; something that I try not to do in pregnancy, given the raw egg thing and all…but, I couldn’t resist tonight when I noticed the extremely pale hue of my brownie batter. It was then that I had my doubts. Then I tasted it. Think of a batter, that tastes not even remotely resemblant of chocolate, then add that flavor of whole wheat which is great in breads, not so great in brownie batter.

People, it wasn’t good.

I should have known. Really. I mean, how many times do you see a dessert recipe that says “low fat,” and it actually tastes good? Well, I am sure that it happens every once in a while, but let me tell you as someone who spends most of her time baking with real butter and eggs….it happens not often enough. And, STILL, I went along with this recipe. Wishful thinking I guess..

So, to mildly defeat the purpose of the low fat brownie, I added a heaping cup of Green and Blacks Hot Chocolate Mix, which is essentially chocolate and sugar…so, here comes the fat, back into my brownies and onto my posterior. I am not even sure that this will salvage the mess that I may have just made…but, I am waiting, somewhat un-eagerly to find out….

30 minutes later…

Well, they don’t smell too bad…but…

It looks more like a cake, and not quite the fudgy, chocolaty brownies that I normally make…

10 minutes later…

Oh boy, I really hit it on this one. I think that this is the absolute worst dessert that I have ever made. It is that bad. How can the Bob’s Red Mill Whole Grain Baking Book publish this recipe and feel good about it? Yuk, yuk, yuk.

To think that I was so, so close to making a full fat oatmeal cookie instead, and now I have a pile of tough, chewy, not chocolaty at all, ‘if-you-can-even-call-it-a-brownie’ brownie….such a shame.

This is no brownie of mine, no brownie at all.

Chocolate Croissant, take 2.

I have been having a hard time finding a decent chocolate croissant around here. And maybe I just haven’t looked hard enough, because I know that there are plenty of good bakeries around. Instead of venturing out and risking disappointment yet again, I decided to take the matter into my own hands. If you are the most truly dedicated reader, you might be saying… “hey, you already did this post back in March 2007..” But, when I look back on photos of my earlier attempt at making the chocolate croissant, (well, I cheated and used puff pastry instead) I have to laugh since my ‘croissant’ was pretty much like the ones that I find I am complaining about…not enough chocolate for my pregnant cravings of today. This is going to change.

Making croissants is a lengthy process, so the dough that I am starting this morning, will have to wait to be devoured in the form of a tasty croissant, tomorrow morning. Yes, it is a labor of love, but I am willing to wait 24 hours. Now, I have all the time in the world, time in which I am determined to perfect these things, if nothing else. I may not have the nursery up and ready in time for baby, but I will have myself a damn good chocolate croissant. Hey, since I am officially not working, I gotta keep my hands in the dough, right?

--24 hours later---

Ah, ha. Mission accomplished. I am pretty happy with this attempt. I even had some willing friends test them out.. I think that if I did anything different, I would use bittersweet chocolate instead of the milk chocolate…next time.

And, just so you know, there will be a next time.