Lisa2k

KIm..I think it looks awesome..besides, when you look at it, you just want to dig into it instantly. As gorgeous as it is, it has that 'homemade' cozy look to it, which makes it all the more appealing I would LOVE to get that as a birthday or celebration cake. Besides, I know what you mean about the lettering. I've been baking and decorating cakes since I was 10, and I still can't do a decent lettering on a cake! Also, that apple tart recipe is in my blog, and thank you for the compliment. You MUST try the green apple ice..so refreshing and delicious!

I had some frozen chicken breasts I wanted to use, since they'd been in the freezer for two weeks, so I defrosted them, butterflied and pounded them (not quite scallopine, but thin enough to roll), seasoned them, then spread each of them with chevre, roasted red peppers, and baby spinach (i only added one layer of the baby spinach, forgetting how much it shrinks (brain freeze), so next time, several layers of spinach!). After I rolled them up tightly, I rolled 2 to 3 buttered and seasoned phyllo sheets around each one, then baked, and served with a saute of fresh zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, shallots, and garlic in butter and olive oil, with a few grinds of black tellicherry pepper and a light sprinkling of fleur de sel. Also, below is a basic baked ziti, with ricotta, cream, Parmigiano Reggiano , homemade beef ragu, fresh basil, oregano etc..BUT, I made the mozzarella, hence why I took photos and posted it. It was the first time I ever made it myself, so I wanted to save and share the first dish I used it on..since we ended up eating the rest of it caprese style (great plum tomatoes at the farmer's market, which I also used for the ragu), and uhh...just as is. ,

Remember, dark chocolate is good for the heart, so ""If I want them to be more chocolate than 'health bar' "" really means 'more chocolate, more healthy!".. Thank you so much, Spring, as 'winging' it with whatever you have on hand is sometimes better than any tried and true recipe. However, I need a good cocoa nib cookie recipe or idea, as many of the ones I've seen are simply chocolate chip cookie dough, with nibs instead of chips. I've had baker's block the past 2 days..lol

milgwimper - I posted the recipe in my blog, which you can link to at the bottom of this post. UPDATE - On the Green Apple Ice, I had to make a correction on the sugar to water simple syrup amounts! Please check back! Sif - Thank you! Your vegan cupcakes look absolutely sinful, delicious and so pretty. One would never know they're actually good for you! Peanut butter and chocolate slays me. I would lick it up off a floor! Spring - Could you post the recipe for those 'Health Bars'? I have a huge bag of cocoa nibs. and I'd love to use them to make those!

Since my father absolutely adores anything apple with cinnamon, I wanted to incorporate some Fall flavors into a summer dessert when they came over for dinner Saturday night. I came up with an Apple tart with a filling of mascarpone, figs and cinnamon, using a shortbread crust, so it was like an apple-fig cheese cookie. I served it with a batch of Traci Des Jardin's Apple Ice, using whole Granny Smiths, juiced..(skins and all) to give a nice, green hue to it. With a little warm cider caramel, it was a great combo of cold, sweet, tart, and warm.

There used to be a place near a gym I used to frequent (I know..go figure) called Miami Subs. They made these big, fat, battered, somewhat greasy, onion rings, but they were OH, so good. They cut the onions pretty thick, so you weren't getting mostly batter with a thin slice of onion. My question is, if anyone has/had ever tried them, or just know what I'm talking about, do you have any kind batter recipe that would/could come close? It was definitely a heavy batter, and very delicious (even without the onion). I still have such a weak spot for fast food sides..lol

Rob, when I was a child, my mom would occasionally wrap up some celery sticks filled with cream cheese and cut up black olives, in my lunchbox, because I loved it so much. Once I saw that, the memories came flooding back. I would be very interested in trying that, as the sweet edge with the white chocolate ganache paired with briny, salty olives and mild celery is too cool not to try, but also because I've been sprinkling cinnamon sugar over cream cheese on celery as of late. No, not pregnant..I think..lol

Damn, C, that's a dish I would get on my hands and knees and beg for. I'll also happily take several loaded plates, not to mention I want to smother my palate with that sweet potato!

I made a shellfish 'type' of cannelloni last night, with homemade pasta squares, shrimp-scallop mousse with chunks shrimp and scallops folded in, served over a shellfish-truffle butter reduction, and a quickly cooked tomato concasse with a little seafood demi-glace. I got the idea from a recipe I saw on Epicurious, and tweaked it. There were many steps, so I decided to just add some stock photos, the rolled cannelloni prior to baking, and the finished dish. Shrimp shells, scallop abductor muscles and mire poix, being sauteed then deglazed with white wine. After the white wine has reduced. Adding water, a little of the seafood demi-glace, herbs, and a bit of tomato paste. Numero uno of 12 cannelloni..lol The finished dish. I didn't roll the pasta as thin as I would have liked, since I was running out of time, but it was still quite tender and tasted delicious. I broiled it on top for a little 'crisp bite', prior to topping with tomato concasse. Have a Happy 4th of July all!

Since I didn't see this touched on in the original macaron thread (unless I missed it), I was speaking with a pastry chef pal of mine yesterday, and he uses a combination of french meringue and italian meringue in his macarons. He simply splits the whites by weight, one half done french, the other half done italian, the tant pour tant folded into the french, and the italian folded in last. He said it makes the best textured, most beautiful macarons he's ever put out. I have yet to see or taste them, so I was wondering..has anyone ever used this method, and if so, opinion(s)?

Thank you, and to say he got better pretty quickly, is an understatement. Chocolate has magic powers That said, I kind of liked the imperfect ganache too, as imperfections lend that 'homemade-grandma's cozy kitchen' look and feel to baked goods.

I've been on a miniature cupcake binge lately, especially since my sister had her first baby yesterday, and I'll be baking up a couple dozen vanilla and chocolate with blue cream cheese frosting and teeny, tiny fondant pacifiers and rattles. That said, a few months ago, I experimented with some raspberry puree, cooked down with sugar until thick, then used that as a glaze beneath a piping of chocolate ganache. The below are filled with an almond paste 'based' cream, but I couldn't cut them open since they were a gift for a sick friend. The ganache wasn't quite set up as much as I would have liked, and I didn't have time to wait, so it came out of my plain pastry tip too loosely and in gobs, kind of ruining the presentation. However, no need for a fix, as 'too much chocolate ganache' on a mini cupcake isn't necessarily a bad thing..lol The thing I really liked about these, was the 'layered' look between the glaze and ganache, on such a small cupcake. Nothing fancy, just thought it was kind of neat.

Oh, Kim, everything looks so amazing, and that cake..wow! Peanut butter and milk chocolate..I just drooled!! I love how you swirled the top, so pretty!

I got myslef a Fujicolor Finepix F30 a year and a half ago and am really happy with it. I haven't done lots of food photography with it, but you can see some pictures I took with it in my food blog (I was just learning to use it then). I also have lots of closeup botanical stuff at http://picasaweb.google.com/dolichos. It cost about 325 then, and there was a 50 dollar rebate. The way things are going, there is probably something even better for the same money. ← sazji, thank you for your recommendation, and your photos are beautiful. After much research, forays into photography forums for advice.. I finally decided on the Canon Powershot G9. An SLR with all the lenses would be too much for me, since I'm not into photography enough, outside of taking photos of what I cook and bake, to invest the money, extras etc, FOR NOW..as I did catch myself trying to take a decent photo of some hot pink roses with my current 'not that good' camera. I'm easily lured into many hobbies, but I don't want to get serious about it now! I just want clear, detailed, well lit images of my food

Parathas Stuffed with Beef, Chiles, Garlic, Tomatoes, Garam Masala and Cilantro (Keema Ke Parathe or Kheema Paratha), fried/brushed with Ghee and served with creamy, thick yogurt mixed with mint, cayenne, and coriander. My mango chutney was knocked to the floor by one of my kitties, so it had to be ditched I just bought a Canon PS G9, so hopefully I'll be getting some better photos, now that I've got the lighting, angle, tripod, background..all around composition etc..sort of down pat..LOL

So, as a regular cookie, 'eh', but would better if frozen with ice cream? Have you tried Cook's Illustrated Super-Nutty Peanut Butter cookies with the Bouchon filling? I thought they turned out quite well, although they were a little on the soft side, and for me, if I'm going to fill a peanut butter cookie, I prefer a little 'crunch' along with the chewy.

Kim, you're so sweet, thank you. That said, your oreo cupcake looks amazing. I was thinking of adding chopped oreos to the cake batter, to get that great, large, speckled effect, but then I realized it would wash out the oreo buttercream a little. Plus, I wanted to see how that 'swirl' would work. Anyway, you know what I was just thinking? An Oreo macaron. Pierre Herme's chocolate macaron recipe, filled with either oreo buttercream, or even that nasty confectioner's sugar, shortening goo they put in actual oreos. OK, it sounds gross, but we all love that filling..lol Boy, do I have a knack for taking something so refined and delicate, and turning it into Route 66 fare..lol From Matcha and Lavender macarons, to OREO macarons and Lemon Meringue macarons! OK, let's just say I'm 'Americanizing' them..LOL Well, the Mojito is Mexican...heh. *Covering eyes so I don't have to look at Rob's latest, incredible dessert* Every time I see one, I have to eat something sweet. lol Looks like the gym will be getting extra business from me this summer.

Oreo Extravaganza Cake (think I could come up with a less original name?) for a Memorial Day rooftop BBQ. Frosted with vanilla Italian meringue buttercream. After chilling the frosted cake, shiny, Belgian dark (69%) chocolate ganache was poured over the top, to create that 'drip' effect, and glaze the surface. The original cake didn't have as much buttercream and oreo decor, but when you have a 6 yr old little cutie sitting next to you, 'demanding' "MORE!", you HAVE to keep going. The yellow cake batter for each pan was split, covered with a layer of ground oreo cookies, then covered with the rest of the batter, and baked, resulting in the 'swirl' you see in the middle of each layer. When someone wants a chocolate cake, I just torte the layers and fill them with vanilla or oreo buttercream, along with the oreo buttercream in the middle. Filled with italian meringue buttercream loaded with ground and coarsely chopped oreo cookies. Also, thanks for the camera recommendation, Rob..and Jmahl, your tart looks awesome!

Rob, I really want to invade your store and buy every single item you bake/create. I'm dead serious! On another note, could someone recommend a really good digital camera that isn't OTT expensive (under $400), and gives you great detail and good zoom (you know,shine, crumb..as if the plate is right in front of you..like the photos in this thread)? I have used every single setting on my crappy Vivitar vivicam, in every single room, flash - no flash, sunlight, outside... colored backgrounds,plates.. etc..and I've finally come to the conclusion that it's not me. Someone recommended a Sony Cybershot WC55 or some number-letter combo like that, but then again, I've heard people singing the praises of Canon. Any advice/recommendations would be awesome.

I made this for my sister's baby shower (she's having her first baby, a boy, in 3 weeks). I'm going to be an auntie . I got the idea for this cake from a site online, and decided to tweak it to my own preferences. Two basic, moist and fluffy yellow cakes - torted- the head filled with a 'nutella like' ganache filling (hazelnuts, cream and Callebaut milk chocolate), the body with a Swiss meringue buttercream loaded with coarse and finely chopped oreo cookies aka 'cookies and cream buttercream' I rolled some homemade chocolate fudge into 'arm shapes' and covered them with White chocolate *which I tinted with copper and pink gel colorings, to get a flesh tone* Choco-Pan (the fondant I used). The ears look huge because I used cherry jelly slices, and covered them in fondant. I refuse to put anything inedible in or on my cakes or food in general, and the aforementioned site used a heck of a lot of fondant covered cardboard in their version! Except for a few lollipop sticks to stabilize the ears and little curl on top of his head....everything was edible Note - I don't 'usually' like to use fondant, as I'm a purist when it comes to cake decorating, and I feel it takes away from the flavor and texture of the cake, not to mention it's so super sweet, and IMO, kind of an easy way out of frosting and decorating a cake flawlessly using buttercreams, ganaches etc. However, in this case, I wasn't sure if I was going to make the cake or not, due to feeling a little under the weather this past weekend, SO, I didn't have enough butter for 'enough' buttercream to fill and frost both cakes 'fully', but did have several pounds of fondant for people who request it on occasion.

Thank you, Liz I freeze a lot of homemade pastas (tortellini, fettucine, et al), but this is before they've been cooked. I've frozen fully cooked lasagnas before, with great success, but not with homemade, cooked lasagna sheets. Maybe someone here has and can give us their opinion/experience with it? On another note, what a beautiful chicken mole photo, above. ← I've made a lasagna with homemade pasta before and frozen the cooked leftovers without issue. ← Well, Liz, there's our answer. Thank you doctortim

Thank you, Liz I freeze a lot of homemade pastas (tortellini, fettuccine, gnocchi, et al), but this is before they've been cooked. I've frozen fully cooked lasagnas before, with great success, but not with homemade, cooked lasagna sheets. Maybe someone here has and can give us their opinion/experience with it? On another note, what a beautiful mole photo, above..not to mention the shrimp galangal soup and accompaniments.

Wow..just gorgeous. Incredible photography, and fantastic piping. BTW, I'm also drooling ~~~

Thank you, doctortim {I'm still hungry for it too, but now it's gone! } Kim, thank you so much! As dockhyl mentioned, Lasagna Bolognese is made up of just those three ingredients -- the long and slow simmered Bolognese sauce..with such amazing, concentrated meaty flavor, along with the creaminess of the bechamel, and the sharp, nuttiness of the parm-reg, so you don't miss the usual ricotta and mozzarella lasagna (NOT that I don't love a nice ricotta, meat sauce and fresh mozzarella lasagna!!). Do you have a pasta roller, Kim? If so, it really does make quick work of homemade pasta. I recall watching an episode of 'Ciao Italia' one night, and the host (Mary Ann Esposito) was in Italy..maybe somewhere in the Puglia region, with a sweet, old italian granny, who hand rolled all of her pasta..paper thin. Ever since watching the love, patience and strength this lady put into her homemade pasta, I feel like such a cheat when I use a pasta rolling machine! DrJ - Phew, I was hoping I didn't 'overdo' it. I had loads more photos, but I didn't want to take up two pages..LOL NOW, I just need to get a better digital camera. The one I have is simply awful, and I almost want to cry when I see the lovely, detailed photos here. It looks like the food is RIGHT in front of you, ready to eat! OH, and thank you for the lovely compliments dockhyl, Thank you, also! I start with #1 for several times through, then go 'at the most' up to #3. I don't want my lasagna sheets too paper thin, since after a quick boil, they'll be cooking for a while in the oven. I get them just thin enough. It's sort of by 'feel' from doing it for so long, not to mention I use small amounts of pasta (a little larger than a golf ball, give or take) per sheet rolled.

I know exactly what you mean! I posted a dessert I served at a dinner party last week, and once I saw that gorgeous lemon mousse charlotte, I wanted to delete it..LOL BTW, your cookies look delectable and SO pretty. I love white chocolate, and oddly, I'd never thought of pairing it with orange. NO idea why! Now I have a gazillion ideas running through my head, in conjunction with craving your cookies!