we’re friends and we’re neighbors! Lori, Ronnie, Amy, and me

Before you even look at this recipe, disclaimers all around! This is not an original recipe, this amazing cake was inspired by a recipe in the December 2007 issue of Bon Appétit. Since it was already not expensive, time-consuming, or impressive enough; I added in the toppings of vanilla pastry cream, whipped cream, and fresh berries!

Do you want to know what is really crazy– I made this cake 5 times! I needed to make a total of four cakes for two separate cooking classes that I taught back in December (four cakes so I would have the various stages of the cake for each class). I used two of those cakes to actually serve at the classes, two as prizes for students who visited my blog, and finally, the fifth one was for my dear friend, Ronnie’s, birthday. Unfortunately, the pictures do not show the cake with its toppings because I was too tired, broke, overbooked, and overworked to put those on Ronnie’s cake. Although, even without the extra work and calories of the toppings,  it is truly a showstopper and undeniably delicious too!

Ronnie not only got gypped by not getting the cake toppings but also was ripped off on my blog when I didn’t even mention that it was her birthday! You see, her birthday is December 23, so I’m sure that all her life, she’s felt slighted in the birthday department -always being upstaged by Christmas, and here I did it to her again. Sorry, Ronnie, I love you and dedicate today’s blog to you! xoxo

Consider making this cake for the next big birthday in your house or maybe even for Valentine’s Day, as long as there are at least a dozen of you celebrating together (kinky!) because, boy oh boy, is this thing rich!

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Different fats and oils have different uses. Each performs best within a certain range of temperature. Some are made for high-heat cooking, while others have intense flavors that are best enjoyed only lightly heated or uncooked and straight from the bottle drizzled on food or used in vinaigrettes.

As with many Asian recipes, today’s calls for peanut oil. Especially in stir-fry, peanut oil is the fat of choice. It has a higher smoke point than many other oils and lends a light peanut flavor that complements so many Asian-inspired dishes. The smoke point of an oil or fat is the temperature at which it gives off smoke when heated.

Other important considerations are food allergies and the type of fat the oil contains; saturated, polyunsaturated, or monounsaturated. Here are the differences, straight from the American Heart Association.

“Saturated fat:  Saturated fat is the main dietary cause of high blood cholesterol. Saturated fat is found mostly in foods from animals and some plants. Foods from animals include beef, beef fat, veal, lamb, pork, lard, poultry fat, butter, cream, milk, cheeses, and other dairy products made from whole and 2 percent milk. All of these foods also contain dietary cholesterol. Foods from plants that contain saturated fat include coconut, coconut oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil, and cocoa butter.

Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats: Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are the two unsaturated fats. They’re found in many fish, seeds, nuts, and oils from plants. Some examples of foods that contain these fats include salmon, trout, herring, avocados, olives, walnuts, and liquid vegetable oils such as soybean, corn, safflower, canola, olive, and sunflower.”
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“Next to music, there is nothing that lifts the spirits and strengthens the soul more than a good bowl of chili.” Harry James (1916-1983) band leader and trumpeter.

OK, I wouldn’t go quite that far; to say that nothing lifts the spirits more, but just like most people, I do enjoy a spicy and steaming bowl of chili. There are more chili recipes, and really great chili at that, than one can count. Chili is a truly American dish with so many great variations; with and without beans, mild to very hot and spicy, vegetarian, or made with any type of meat imaginable. Hope you enjoy this chunky beef version… until you have time to try it out, one more quote from a famous chili-loving American.

“Wish I had time for just one more bowl of chili.” Alleged dying words of Kit Carson (1809-1868), Frontiersman, and Mountain Man.
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Within the first couple weeks of each new year, predictions of upcoming food trends are announced.  One of my favorites this year is “breakfast for dinner”. Now, that is one trend I can get on board with! I love breakfast foods and I especially love to eat them for dinner, strangely it seems like such a treat. These light and fluffy little slightly savory pancakes with a lightly sweet topping are what I consider a perfect ending to the day.
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Today I’m driving up to Flagstaff to deliver Connor back to NAU to finish his freshman year. I can not begin to believe it is already half over! So last night, the four of us had what will be our last family dinner all together for quite a few months. Dave had been craving ribs and since we haven’t had anything but traditional “American” or southwest foods recently, regular old barbecue was out of the question, Asian flavors fit the bill.

A couple of ingredients you may or may not be familiar with are Chinese five-spice powder and Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce. Chinese five-spice is a mixture of ground spices (cassia cinnamon, cloves, star anise, Szechwan peppercorns, and either ginger or fennel) that combine the five primary flavors of Chinese cuisine: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and spicy (or pungent). This follows the Chinese philosophy of balancing the yin and yang in food. Works perfectly with my philosophy in food too; that it tastes great!

Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce (also known as “Rooster Sauce”) is a must-have for your pantry and is one of your best friends in the kitchen. There is really no need for me to wax poetic about its attributes and qualities since there is a fabulous article in this month’s issue of Bon Appétit, which will inform you more than you may ever need to know about “Rooster Sauce”. Click this LINK to read the article and see a bottle, so you know what to look for at the grocery store.

Plus this recipe works into our “easy-breezy” category, just be sure to plan ahead, 12 to 24 hours ahead, to allow the ribs to marinate and soak up all the great Asian flavors.

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Today I am not grocery shopping, chopping, dicing, sautéing, roasting, grilling, taking food photos, formatting those photos in Photoshop, typing a recipe, and then posting it all. Instead, I’m doing this super quick post and taking a “personal day”.  Why not? I am self-employed and yet, for whatever reason, I have been imposing this “daily blogging” rule on myself. Don’t get me wrong, I love it, love the creativity and satisfaction of it, and I do it daily, because…I love it! But I need a little rest.

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I don’t know if you’ve figured it out yet, but I LOVE soup!  Honestly, I could have soup for dinner five nights a week and be as happy as a clam. You’ll find that just about all of my previous soup recipes call for chicken stock or broth (not sure what the difference is between broth and stock? Click HERE to find out). But now that I’m working towards the goal of eating more vegetarian, more often – I will be using vegetable stock, more often. Of course, vegetarians already know to substitute vegetable broth in any recipe, soup or otherwise, that calls for chicken broth. I will be going back and putting that option into all my previous soup recipes posted here and then listing them in the new “Vegetarian” category on The Recipe Index, for those of us who may need a little reminding.  You can purchase vegetable broth in boxes or cans beside the chicken, beef, and fish broths, or make your own. My favorite recipe for a rich roasted vegetable broth is posted here, right below the soup recipe.

Since not everyone in my house in on-board with my goal, I do have added the option to place some chopped smoked salmon on top of the soup as a garnish. It is pretty darn tasty that way, so do as you please.
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My various citrus trees are producing pounds upon pounds of citrus. The oranges, lemons, and grapefruit are being picked and eaten or used in cooking daily. The limes, blood oranges, and Meyer lemons aren’t quite ready yet, and I’m grateful for that, I can’t keep up as it is! So don’t be surprised to see citrus popping up in just about every post from here on out, for months to come.

To kick it off here is a quick and light salad using another couple of favorites; avocado and fennel. The fennel bulb, fronds (leaves), and seeds are used in cooking. The bulb is a crisp, root vegetable and may be sauteed, roasted, stewed, braised, grilled, or eaten raw.  The fronds are delicately flavored and look very similar in shape to dill. The seeds are used either fresh or can be found dried in the spice aisle. The hollow stems are tough and stringy and are usually discarded or used in making vegetable stock. Fennel pollen is actually the most potent form of fennel but is very expensive and difficult to find. Fennel grows like a weed, so be sure to cultivate the pollen yourself, if you grow fennel in your garden, it is amazing! For this salad, we’re using the bulb and a few of the fronds, as garnish. If you can not find, or do not want to pay the price for, blood oranges or Meyer lemons, use regular oranges and lemons instead.

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Ahh, to be able to eat and live a vegetarian lifestyle! It is something I often think about, but in the middle of the thought process, the answer is always, “Yeah, I don’t think so!”  I’m Irish, I’m a meat and potatoes girl, a carnivore at heart. There aren’t many meats I haven’t or wouldn’t eat. My daughter, Marissa, was vegetarian for a couple of years, back in high school, and what a pain it was, for me – the mom, the cook! But in reality, I would love to give it a try – so to that end, my goal this year is to eat “vegetarian” at least one meal a day (not that hard, when you count in breakfast!) and to make dinner, that one meal a day, at least twice a week. To that end, a new “Vegetarian” category has been added to The Recipe Index on the left.

On the Tip Index, at the left, there is already a listing and link for “roasting peppers” plus there are additional pictures here. So if you need a refresher on the process, check out the previous listing on the Tip Index.
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There are some dishes that should be saved for the company, just like some people save the good towels for the guest bathroom. This is one of those dishes, it is a treat and should only be had on rare occasions to keep it that way. We’ve had a special guest for the weekend, so I made this for the family on Sunday morning. So nice to have you stay with us Albert, have a great semester at UA and practice up on the ping-pong!

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