I Made a Mess, but It Tastes Good

… and I fixed it.
Let me tell you what happened.

When I have 14 egg whites in the freezer (leftover from recipes that use egg yolks), it means only one thing – it is time to bake a chocolate roulade.
Last time I made this cake, I tried a new variation on a recipe I had and I turned it into a Black Forest Chocolate Roulade. Today I made another variation and turned it into a birthday cake because today is my little girl’s birthday. She is 1 years old! Yay! Time sure flies fast. And we’re going to have a party. Yippie!

I was baking all morning; 2 batches of cupcakes, a butternut squash galette for dinner – that I didn’t have time to assemble and bake yesterday because I spent 1 ½ hours at the grocery store with the kiddies having an afternoon snack there and shopping for the party (recipe will be posted soon) – and, of course, I made the birthday cake.

It’s a chocolate roulade with whipped cream filling. I also wanted to use strawberries. I see them at the store and they look so perfect and gloriously red and so tempting. But I know that since they are not in season they look good, but taste only 'ehh', and they are a bit expensive. So I thought of a solution. I used strawberry jam. This is why they make jams, so we can eat the fruit when it is out of season.
But first, I have to send you to see the original recipe – click here – so you’ll know what I’m talking about.

And now to the birthday cake…

Chocolate Roulade – Birthday Cake Variation

* Mix ½ cup strawberry jam with 1 tablespoon of raspberry liquor. If you want, blend it with a hand blender for a smoother texture. Then, spread it on the baked and cooled cake.
* Next, spread the whipped cream.

Messing up & fixing it:

Problem #1

I was so busy this morning and I have so much on my mind lately so, just like last time, I overbeat the egg white. AGAIN.

The solution – instead of folding the whipped egg whites with the melted chocolate using a spatula, I used a whisk and gently combined them. It worked and the cake baked nicely and evenly. As I said before, I think it’s a very forgiving recipe. So don’t be afraid if you don’t have much experience with whipping eggs, OK?
Also, the best thing is that you can hide the parts you have messed up.

Problem #2

Maybe it has to do with over whipping the eggs because the cake did break a bit when I rolled it, and a bit more when I moved it to a serving platter.
Usually I roll it from the long side so I get a longer cake which yields more, but smaller in size, servings. Today I rolled it from the short side, which made the cake shorter, with less servings, but each slice is bigger.

The solution – I messed up pretty good this time, so to cover the mess, I made more cream for the topping by whipping 1 cup heavy cream, 1 tablespoon sugar and 3 tablespoons vanilla pudding. Well, it is a birthday cake after all, isn’t it?
And on top, of course, colorful sprinkles.

You see how pretty it looks? And my baby was very happy.

I only hope that our guests for the party tomorrow are not reading this post and this will be our little secret. Can you keep a secret?

Tomorrow we party, but coming up next… cupcakes with pesto frosting and butternut squash galette.

Have a wonderful wonderful weekend,

Nurit

More cakes:

Whiskey-Soaked Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake
Cocoa-Marzipan Pound Cake
Rose-orange cheesecake
Babbo Modenese Crumbly Cake
Sour Cream Coffee Cake

UPDATE:
With the second cake that I made – I had 14 egg whites, remember? – I watched the mixer closely and whipped the egg whites perfectly as the recipe says. The texture was perfect and the cake did not “break” when I rolled it.
I chilled it in the fridge, covered with the parchment paper, for a few hours before I transferred it to a serving platter. It was firm and I could lift it to the platter with my hands, without using my large spatula for help, and nothing happened to it.
The guests LOVED the cake. There were no leftovers.

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Food Photography Class: Part 1

Today was a fun day.
I have finally had the chance to get a photography lesson from Erik. And what tops a photography lesson by a great, and super nice, photographer who comes to your own home for a private class? Not a whole lot. (If you are interested in some classes for yourself, or having Erik take photos of you or your family, or an event, see his contact info at the end of the post).


I’ve started blogging about 7 months ago. I think I came a long way from the first photos I took and up to now (see for example this photo or this one). And since I have started blogging about food, food photography has become a hobby I really fell in love with.


All the photos on this blog are taken by using a basic most simple point-and-shoot camera. I feel it’s time to move on to learning more about food photography, and buying some equipment and a better camera. And maybe experimenting more with food styling down the road. But if I ever get that good, like this lady who writes La Tartine Gourmand, and is my number one food blogger - she does such an amazing job - I will start a new blog, probably, not to scare those of you who are afraid to cook or mess with food too much ;-)

So yesterday Erik and Mary came to my house to teach me a couple of tricks of the trade. All this photography language is new to me so I hope I got things right.

Here is Erik preparing “reflectors” by covering a white card board with aluminum foil – this is helpful for having more light reflect on the food you are shooting.

Here you see how Erik arranged a couple of reflectors around the food to make the light bounce back from the light source and onto the food.


And here he is shooting the food with his fancy gigantic camera. You’ll get to see his photos in upcoming posts.

Ignore the cold chicken on the plate for a second, OK? Because we did not spend any second on food styling. That will be another class in the future. Today just focus on the light. See how the plate has lots of light and the food and the colors really pop out of the plate?!

Next, we moved on to shooting a salad.

I spent only 1 minute "preparing" the salad, tearing the lettuce with my hands, I didn’t even wash it, then I “sprinkled” it with tomatoes. No food styling at all. We focused around moving the light and reflectors around the plate because sometimes I shoot food (it’s so funny every time I write it – “shoot the food”) on that kitchen island at night without great results (like this photo of a salad) and I wanted to see what Erik will do.

I don’t have a Photoshop program, so I played a bit with the colors of this photo using the Microsoft Picture Manager I got.

So there you have it for class #1. We have also used different props like fabrics of different colors to see how it affects the light and the mood of the picture, and we analyzed some of the works of other food bloggers’ style of photography.

I’ll show you more later on after Erik will send me the photos he took with his fancy camera and his explanations about the techniques, so stay tuned and check back again in a couple of days, OK?

One more thing.

I find that figuring out what is my style of taking photos or food styling is just the same as finding out what is my style of writing. I get better with time, my inner “voice” slowly unfolds itself, I am still learning about myself in this process.
What about you? Have you found yours or is it still a work in progress?

If you want to, contact Erik Mosvold by e-mail: photoman@ihmail.com , or phone: 425-495-2612. Also, check out his web site: http://www.aweddingphotog.com/, and his blog: erikmosvold.bigfolioblog.com .

And don’t forget to check back again for more “classes”.
Nurit

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Home Made Chai “Latte”

The sun is shining this morning. What a perfect light to take a photo. However, my throat feels a little like I swallowed a frog, so I really really wanted tea this morning and not my usual coffee. But I don’t have an espresso machine at home. My husband did buy me one for my birthday, but I had something else in mind that I wanted which I gave him big hints about, which he ignored. Can you guess what it was? Well, I’ll give you a hint. I had to buy it myself. And the espresso machine went back to the store. So anyway, back to the chai. I got a recipe for you.

I love chai latte. It’s my new addiction. Thanks to my friend L. who has introduced me to it a long time ago. But hers was from a coffee shop that starts with an “S” (no need to name names), so I wasn’t that impressed with the flavors. But I did get curious because she likes that drink so much. So I have tried it in other, better coffee shops, Seattle has many of those, and I got hooked.


Home Made Chai “Latte”
Makes 1 serving

1 big mug
One chai tea bag (I use Tazo decaf chai)
½ teaspoon (raw) sugar
½ teaspoon honey
Pinch (1/16 teaspoon) cinnamon
Pinch cardamom
½ cup boiling water
½ cup hot/warm milk

Put all the ingredients in the mug. Let tea bag swim in the mug for 5 minutes.
Take a sip.
Enjoy.

More tea please, Warm Winter Herbal Tea

Weight Loss Weekly: My Relationship With the Scale

Let me tell you about a new trick I have found to lose weight quickly. Get on the scale. First time with your clothes on. The second time without (much) clothes. Hoopla! You just lost 5 lbs.!!! Doesn’t it feel great?

This week my blogging friends and I are discussing our relationships with the scale.

Joie de Vivre writes: "This topic actually causes me a lot of anxiety and I am tempted to just say, "My relationship with the scale is tenuous at best. The End.", but I think discussing WHY it is tenuous, will help me in my further weight loss journey, and that is where I will begin...". To read more, click Joie de Vivre

Giyen from Bacon is My Enemy says: "If bacon is my enemy, the scale is my nemesis." Read more here.

Sunny at That Extra 20 Pounds answers: "I must say... I love the scale! Is that weird?"... Keep reading at That Extra 20 Pounds

1 family. friendly. food answers:
Truth is I don’t have any special relationships with the scale. I don’t love it or hate it. I just don’t use it very often and I pretty much ignore it. I did take it out of the closet and moved it next to my side of the bed, but I rarely use it. Why is that?

#1 my most convincing argument for not using the scale is - a few years ago I used to exercise with a group of women and our trainer once told us that muscles weigh more than fat. This means that if you go to the gym and work your butt off, and actually turn your fat into muscles, you will weigh more. This can actually be very discouraging and frustrating to someone who is working hard at the gym but relying on the scale to tell them if they are making progress or not.

#2 I rely on my clothes to “tell“ me if I lost or gained weight. It’s pretty straightforward with clothes. You either fit into your old or new clothes, or into that 00, 6, or, 10, or 16 size pants, or you don’t. Clothes don’t lie to you. You either fit in them or not, right?!

#3 I’m not that much into numbers when it comes to weight loss. I don’t count how many calories I burnt during workout, and I don‘t count the calories of food I eat or want to eat or food I think I should avoid eating. My approach is more to eyeball things. I think it’s better for my sanity, and also, I really don’t have time for this.

#4 My goal is to fit into my old clothes, those from 5 years ago, and not to lose X or Y lbs. So, again, the scale doesn’t really serve any purpose in achieving this goal.

#5 Different scales show different numbers. For example, when I am weighed at my doctor’s office my weight is different than in my home scale.

Because of all of these reasons, my relationship with the scale can be summarized in one word - indifference. How about you?


Now let’s move on to this week’s challenge. Are you ready?
Last week’s challenge was - portion control (click here to read). Did you do it? How did it go?

I did pretty well, but since I was out of town it was a bit challenging. As Joie de vivre wrote: “I eat like I don't know where my next meal is coming from”. I had to travel out of town last week and because I wasn’t in my usual environment I did not eat what and when I normally do, and literally I did not know what and when I’ll eat next.
So, last week’s challenge is still my current week’s challenge + there’s a new one: Park a little farther, walk a bit more.
Instead of parking your car the closest to where you need to go, park a little farther and take a few extra steps. Walking is this week’s challenge.

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Previously on “Weight Loss Weekly”:

Why Do I Want to Lose Weight? What’s the Plan?
Why Did I Get Overweight in the First Place?

Home-Made Cinnamon Ice Cream

I love that when I bake a cake at home the aroma of the cake can be smelled from the garage when someone comes home. It can be smelled even from the street. Imagine this – an aroma of freshly baked cakes coming out of each house on your street. Wouldn’t it be absolutely wonderful?

But I have to travel out of town, so no time to bake a cake for the weekend this weekend.
My little guy expressed his concern for the lack of cake. He asked me if he can bake a cake with his dad. I said: “sure”. Mind you, this is the same boy who always chooses gummy bears over freshly baked cake!

There’s something about a homemade cake that, for me, turns a “place to live” into a “home”. My aunt always baked on Fridays, 2 cakes! And her home always seemed to me to be so… a place of family.

If I can’t, for any reason, bake a cake on Friday, it makes me go bananas. It’s like an addiction. I gotta to have cake. I don’t always eat it, but I’ve got to make it.
So I made a fresh batch of cinnamon ice cream instead.

You might have missed the recipe in my long post - 5 stars dinner at home, so I give it to you here, in a separate post, to make sure you have it.
So what if it snowed again when we have totally not expected it (‘cause we thought we have already had enough snow for this year)? It’s nice and warm in the house. The fireplace is on. It's ice cream time!

Cinnamon Ice Cream
Make this at least 1 day ahead just to be of the safe side that the ice cream has the right consistency.
Slightly adapted from Suzanne Goin, “Sunday Suppers at Lucques”
Makes 1 quart

2 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
2 cinnamon sticks
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 extra-large egg yolks
½ cup granulated sugar
My additions:
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon hazelnuts extract
Pinch of ground cinnamon for serving

Place the milk, cream, cinnamon sticks, and ground cinnamon in a medium pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Turn off the heat, cover, and let the flavors infuse about 30 minutes.
Bring mixture back to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat.

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl. Whisk a ¼ cup of warm cream mixture into the yolks to temper them. Slowly, add another ¼ cup of the warm cream, whisking to incorporate. At this point, you can add the rest of the cream mixture in a slow steady stream, whisking constantly. Pour the mixture back into the pot and return to the stove.

Cook the custard over medium heat 6 to 8 minute, stirring with a rubber spatula, scraping the bottom and sides of the pan. The custard will thicken, and when it’s done will coat the back of the spatula. Off the heat, add the vanilla and hazelnut extracts.

Strain in a fine mesh sieve and chill at least 2 hours in the refrigerator. The base should be very cold before you churn it. Process in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Serve with a sprinkle of ground cinnamon.

If you want to bake a cake, click Cake for the weekend
This one seems to be a great hit - Whiskey-Soaked Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake

Leftovers: Creamy Orecchiette with Roasted Vegetables, Chicken, and Leafy Greens

Whenever I manage to create a beautiful dish out of leftovers, I think about my grandmothers. Strong, hard working, stubborn and resourceful women (I got those genes), they can cook something great out of anything (and those genes too). Back in the old days there was no such thing as throwing food away, right?!

I think my cooking style is a bit old-fashioned in that way. As much as I enjoy a gourmet this or that, mid-high end food and restaurants, and following top chefs’ cookbooks and magazines, my way of cooking is a “no-nonsense cooking” – as I like to call it – using the resources of ingredients and time wisely and carefully. And the most important thing above and all is, of course, having a family meal at the end of the day with my husband and my kids.

I felt very proud of myself with the result of this pasta dish. Orecchiette is my favorite shape of pasta because it has a fun & funny shape and a soft but chewy texture, it is like having plenty of little cups on your plate, each one has a bit of the filling and sauce that surrounds it. It works so well with a mish-mash or mix and match kind of dish just like this one.

I had so many different leftovers at home and I didn’t feel like reheating any of them and eating them again as is, and then I thought: “of course, Orecchiette!”

You can really do whatever you want with it and throw in any kind of leftovers you have and it’ll work. I think. I hope. Because I really don’t know what kind of leftovers you got at home. I added some crème fraiche to it which I hesitated about, not being sure if it will match with all the different flavors. But it worked like magic, binding and bringing everything together. So this is how it went:



Leftover:
½ onion, small chopped
1/3 roasted whole chicken, pulled/cut to large bite-size pieces
3 breakfast sausages, diced
3-4 cups roasted vegetables (potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes, rutabagas), diced if not already
Blanched kale and chard, chopped to large pieces
½ cup crème fraiche from the lovely onion tart in this post (substitute with heavy cream. Sour cream might work too)
1/3 cup grated cheese

Pantry items:
Olive oil
1 clove garlic
½ box of orecchiette or other kind of short pasta



Bring water and salt to a boil and cook the pasta according to the instructions on the box.
Meanwhile, in a big big skillet sauté onion in olive oil until it softens. Add the garlic clove. Move to the side of the skillet and add the leftovers. Warm it all up good.
When pasta is ready, drain and add to the leftovers, add salt, ground black pepper, and crème fraiche. Mix and toss it all together. Serve with grated cheese.
That’s it!

Makes 6 servings



Tell me about your winner leftover & pasta recipes and I will post them here. E mail me at nurit AT familyfriendlyfood DOT com, or in a comment below.

More leftovers, please:

Leftover bread turned into Bread pudding with spiced rum sauce for dessert
Mashed Potatoes with Cheesy Crunchy Topping
Mashed potatoes turned into Light-as-a-feather potato pancakes
Black Forest Chocolate Roulade, using Leftovers Egg whites
Roasted Chicken

Weight Loss Weekly: Why Do I Want to Lose Weight? What’s the Plan?

A-ha! This seems like a silly question, doesn’t it? We take it for granted that if we gain some weight we have to lose it as soon as possible. But stop and think about it for a minute – Why do we want to lose weight?

For me, my reasons are:

#1. I’ll tell you the truth. If I lived in a time and place where being roundish was an object of beauty waiting to be captured by the most talented painters and then admired by millions of people, I might have re-evaluated the situation. But, you know, we live in a society where being even a little chubby isn’t considered pretty. In the old days it was small breasts and big thighs, while today’s model of beauty is the total opposite, large (by nature or not) breasts and tiny thighs. Isn’t this ridiculous?! We have so much food but we need to be skinny. I can only assume that in other places and times where food was/is scarce being rounded is considered to be beautiful.
So, yes, society is a part of it. But I have other reasons as well.

#2. I still remember that I used to be thinner. And I have the clothes in the garage to prove it!
They have been waiting there for about 5 years now to be rescued from the dust and spiders. Naaaa, they are neatly organized in tightly closed plastic containers and in ship-shape because one day I WILL wear them. I only hope it’s going to be before I’m old and losing weight because I’m shrinking.

3. I feel heavier and less energetic then I used to be.
I think the extra weight is contributing to that. Yeah, and maybe age too, and having two very joyful and bouncy kids around. They are so energetic those two. I would like to chase them around a bit faster and still have energy by the time they go to bed.

4. It is not a lot of fun to look in the mirror from the waist down.
And the waist line is higher now, if you know what I mean…
Sometimes I think – it’s not THAT bad. I’m only one size up and about extra 18 pounds. On the other hand, a heavy backpack or an average baby weighs 18 pounds. So it’s like carrying a heavy suitcase or being pregnant. Only I’m not.


So what is my plan?

I haven’t quite figured out a plan. But my thoughts are:

#1. Do it in baby steps.
I think if the change it too big or quick, it won’t last. Habits are hard to change. So whatever I do, I’ll do it in small and manageable weekly challenges that hopefully will turn into new better ways.
This week the challenge is – portion control. Click here to see what I’m talking about. It will open your eyes.
This means that this week I am going to use a smaller plate, smaller fork, weigh and measure the food. Not counting calories. What do you think? Would you like to join me?

#2. Find inspiration.
I am currently reading the book “Food Matters” by Mark Bittman, mainly because I try to be a conscious eater as much as I can. This helps me stay away from many many bad foods, highly-processed ones, junk food and all that “stuff” (see my second blog “Good Food and Bad Food”).
I also want to be a role model to my kids. For example, I don’t want them to drink Coke, so I don’t drink it either. I stopped buying it. “Cheese-it” and cereals are next.

#3. Follow a diet?
When I was pregnant I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. That was the only diet I was on my whole life and it was a success as both me and my baby are healthy, and the bonus was I lost weight, I could feel that my arms and hips are slimmer. It sure felt nice. I loved it.

I’ll tell you about this diet later in another post. If you are interested to know how it works, write a comment below, OK? (If you are not familiar with this, there’s a link below that says “comment”)

#4. Find support (group).
Support is always a good thing. This is why I wanted to do this weekly post with 3 other bloggers who are dieting.

#5. Work out?
I never liked sports. Not even to watch it on TV! No basketball, no football… No game nights… Oh, I can hear your “Whaaaaaatttt?”
Give me a book on the other hand and I’m happy.
The only thing I was able to stick with in the past 5 years is one weekly Pilates class. It’s better than nothing, right, right?
I would like to walk more, like I used to. But that’s about it. Would that be enough? We’ll see.

#6. Finding out what’s holding me back.
This is the soul searching part (See Giyen’s post from last week) and while it is a topic for a post on its own, after last week’s post – “why am I overweight” question (click here to read it), I have realized that during the day I mostly eat by myself as I work from home. I have a better control over portion size and eating alone is not that much fun, especially if I eat and watch CNN. It can totally ruin one’s appetite. At dinner, however, the company and food are so much better and we spend about an 1/2-1 hour at the table (no TV), and then I eat more then I need.

It’s funny though, that I have no memories of family dinners from my childhood. I’m sure we had a few, I just can’t remember. It’s like a black hole in brain. Now that I am a mom, dinner time is the most important part of my day. Even if it is only scrambled eggs or leftovers, even with a picky eater who doesn’t like to eat this or that, and so on, it is the time of day that I am looking forward to everyday (see a funny post about it here). It is, on the other hand, the time when I need to be more careful with eating.


So don’t forget this week the challenge is – portion control and now let’s check what the other bloggers are saying.


That Extra 20 Pounds answers: One of the biggest reasons I want to lose weight is because I just turned 30 in November. And that makes me mad... Keep reading at That Extra 20 Pounds: My Weight Loss Blog

Bacon is my enemy answers: I think I've talked about why I wanted to lose weight ad nauseum, let's get to the "how" ... read more.

Joie de vivre answers: Have you ever asked yourself, "Why do I want to lose weight?". In our culture, it's just assumed that most people could stand to lose a few pounds but have you ever asked yourself that question? To read more, click Joie de Vivre: An amateur gourmet's guide

Previously on “Weight Loss Weekly”, Why Did I Get Overweight in the First Place?