The Cake with a Surprise Inside (two actually)

My oldest turned 15 a month ago.  Each year on her birthday, I'm reminded of how she came into the world - 3 months early and only 2 pounds 15 ounces. Now she's teaching herself and others (via YouTube) how to play the guitar, she's making her own spending money from babysitting jobs and doing her own laundry.  And she's a year away from driving a car.   I'm. Not. Ready.

But ready or not, your kids grow up.



So let's bake a cake and forget about our kids growing up and leaving us for a minute ...one recipe of white vanilla cake batter, six 6-inch round cake pans, 6 jars of gel food coloring in the colors of the rainbow.   A rainbow cake is beautiful and makes a huge impact - the oohs and aahs you hear when you pull out that first slice!

So what is the second surprise in the cake? Well, just keepin it real -in my haste to get 6 layers of cake in the proper order all frosted and perfect, I forgot to pull the parchment paper off the yellow layer of cake. I cut into the cake, everyone waiting for the big surprise, and I felt some resistance, then I felt a bit of embarrassment. I knew exactly what the problem was. I cut through the parchment to get the first piece out, then I gently pulled the entire piece of parchment out of the rest of the cake - voila! What a relief!

It's a good lesson to learn when it's only close family around to see the blunder!

Happy Birthday Ellen!




To make this rainbow cake, I used my favorite white cake recipe  and divided the batter evenly into 6 bowls. A scale is handy for this to be sure the layers are the same size. Add the desired amount of food coloring (Spectrum or Americolor gels are easiest to use) and pour into 6 separate greased and parchment-lined 6-inch round baking pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool completely.

Layer and frost with Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream.  I used this easy method of decorating.

Lego Star Wars Brownie Pops

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

...a 5 year old had a birthday party. His grandma made all the guests brown Jedi hooded capes and the little Jedi warriors went home with one of these brownie pops.

To make these for your little Jedi, follow the instructions for basic brownie pops.

For the yellow Lego head, shape the brownie into a marshmallow shape and chill. Make a peg for the top by shaping a piece of Tootsie roll and inserting it into the brownie shape. Dip the end of the lollipop the stick in yellow melted candy pieces thinned with vegetable oil and insert the stick into the bottom of the brownie. Then dip the entire shape into yellow candy melts and let dry. Then pipe face with fairly stiff black royal icing using a very small round tip (I used a PME 1.5).

For Princess Leia and Hans Solo, make round brownie forms, insert the stick and dip into a mixture of mostly white, with a few yellow and pink candy melts to make a skin tone mixture and allow it to dry. {For Princess Leia, while the pops are drying, form the braids by making thin snakes out of Tootsie roll and coiling the snakes into a flat round shape. Set these aside.} Dip the top, back and sides of the heads in brown candy melts for the hair. {For Princess Leia, while the brown is still wet, attach a Tootsie roll braid to each side.} Pipe the face using fairly stiff black royal icing and a small round icing tip.

For the storm trooper, do your best to shape the head into a Rolo candy shape with a flaired bottom. You can use tootsie roll snakes for the bottom edge to create the flair if it's easier for you. Insert the lollipop stick and dip in white candy melts. Pipe the details using fairly stiff black royal icing and a small round piping tip.

Have you tried...Wheat Chex with Peaches?

I love, love, love peaches. But I'm picky. They have to be perfectly ripe and juicy, not mealy (of course), in season, and grown locally. I buy my peaches from Soergel's and let them sit on the counter until they are perfectly ripe (the fruit yields to gentle pressure and it is no longer green at the stem end). If you're not ready to eat them when they become perfectly ripe, they can be placed in the fridge for a few days longer.

I don't generally like my peaches cooked, like in a pie or a muffin. I think that some of the flavor is lost in the cooking as well as the texture that I love.

My favorite way to eat a peach is for breakfast with Wheat Chex and whole milk and maybe just a sprinkling of sugar, but often the sugar is not needed. There must be enough peaches in the bowl so that there is peach in every bite. It's a bonus if the peaches are cold from the fridge.  So delicious.

Provençal Tomato Tart with a Crunchy Savory Tart Crust

This is a wonderful way to use the abundance of tomatoes from your garden or farm market. I wouldn't exactly call it a quiche, although it does have a little egg custard to bind the filling together. The main stars are the tomatoes, and the Gruyere cheese, and the herbs. There's also a little Dijon mustard in there, but it's not noticeable - it just adds a little extra flavor.

And the crust! I loved the slight crunch from the addition of semolina flour. It is the perfect complement to the savory filling.

The tart calls for a bit of herbes de Provence, but since my bottle of herbes de Provence is getting old, I thought I'd chop up a combination of herbs from my garden - thyme, oregano, rosemary, sage, and summer savory (new to my garden this year). It's delicious, fresh, seasonal, and pretty too.

Provençal Tart with Gruyere and Herbes de Provence

from Once Upon a Tart by Frank Mentesana and Jerome Audureau

one par-baked 9-inch Crunchy Savory Tart Crust (recipe below)

12-15 plum tomatoes cut into 1/4-inch thick rounds

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 cup grated Gruyere cheese

1 teaspoon herbes de Provence (I used a tablespoon of chopped fresh herbs - rosemary, thyme, sage, summer savory, and oregano)

2 large eggs

1/4 cup light cream

1 teaspoon salt

freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Place the tomato slices in a colander and place it in the sink. Let the tomatoes drain their excess water for 15 minutes.

Spread the mustard evenly over the tart shell, then sprinkle the cheese and half of the herbs. Lay the tomato slices in overlapping concentric circles until the crust is entirely covered.

Whisk the eggs in a bowl with the cream, salt, and pepper. Pour the mixture evenly over the tomatoes until it comes to about 1/4 inch from the top edge of the crust. Pour a little cream on top if there is not enough to fill the tart.

Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until the custard is set. Remove the tart from the oven and allow it to cool slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Crunchy Savory Tart Crust

from Once Upon a Tart by Frank Mentesana and Jerome Audureau

2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons semolina flour

1 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks or 6 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes

3 tablespoons cold solid vegetable shortening

a glass of ice water

Put flours and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse to combine.

Add the butter and shortening and pulse several time until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some butter chunks still visible.

Remove the blade from the food processor and dump the dough into a large bowl. Sprinkle 4 tablespoons of ice water evenly over the dough, then use your hands or a wooden spoon to bring the dough together to form a ball. The dough should be just past crumbly, but holding together. Add more water as needed, a tablespoon at a time, if necessary to get the dough to come together.

Cut the dough in half, shape each half into a disk, and wrap each disk in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before rolling out.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness, fit it into your tart pan, and trim the edges. Chill 30 minutes. Prick the bottom of the tart with the tines of a fork, line the tart with parchment or foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans.

Place the tart shell on the center rack of the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the paper and weights from the pan and return the tart crust to the oven. Bake another 5-10 minutes for a par-baked shell (crust is golden brown and no doughy areas remain), or bake for 10-20 minutes for fully-baked tart shell (golden brown all over). Cool on a wire rack.

Tomatoes, from Seedling to Fruit

It's time for tomatoes!

You might remember last Mother's Day, when all I asked for was a garden. I never dreamed this little plot of land could produce such bounty.

May 8, 2011

The seedlings went in shortly after and the mushroom compost was spread around to keep the weeds in control and nourish the plants. (The mushroom compost is the only fertilizer we used.) I bought so many plants, I had to give some away, but I packed as many in the garden as I could.

May 23, 2011

A little more than 3 weeks later on June 15th - I think that rate of growth could break a record - in my garden anyway. It's so green and lush. They look happy.

June 15, 2011

Here they are, another three weeks later on July 5th, the day before we left on a 2-week vacation to the other side of the country. Are you kidding me? I was stunned at how well the garden was doing. The plants were loaded with green tomatoes. I hated to leave it.

July 5, 2011

When we returned home, the tomatoes were just beginning to ripen. The beefsteak tomatoes were so big that after a heavy rain, the plants and stakes just couldn't support them anymore. They toppled over and have taken over our sidewalk. We'll just walk around for now. There's just no moving them, or the stems would break. The tomatoes from these plants are huge. Some have been eaten by chipmunks, but there are so many tomatoes, I don't even mind sharing.

August 12, 2011

There have been multiple days of harvesting, but here's what I picked on just one of those days...

The beefsteaks:

The plums:

Tomorrow, I'll show you a delicious tomato tart you can make with the bounty from your garden or farmer's market.

But guess what I'm doing today.

Canning, of course! And thinking of how nice it will be to have jars full of tomatoes for making wintertime soups and sauces.

I'd love to hear how your garden is doing!

Fattoush {Middle Eastern Chopped Salad}

I beg your pardon! Fat what?

Fattoush is not a fat anything, but a delicious salad made with chopped vegetables like tomatoes and cucumber, feta cheese, olives, herbs, and grilled pita wedges. It's the Arabic version of the Italian Panzanella salad. It's also the perfect summertime salad to serve alongside some grilled chicken or kebabs. This version of fattoush includes some grilled zucchini and red pepper strips, but you could easily leave those out if you want. If you have some purslane handy, throw some of that in as well! This is an awesome salad.

Grilled Zucchini and Bell Pepper Fattoush

as seen at Yum Yum originally from Epicurious

Yield: Makes 4 to 6 servings

On the grill
3 medium orange or red bell peppers (about 1 pound), stemmed, seeded, quartered
4 to 5 slender zucchini (about 1 pound), trimmed, cut lengthwise in half
2 (5- to 6-inch) pita breads, each cut horizontally into 2 disks, or two 6x4x1/2-inch slices country white bread
Olive oil (for grilling)

For the dish
1 (8-ounce) cucumber, peeled, halved, seeded, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
12 cherry tomatoes, each halved
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1 cup (scant) pitted Kalamata olives, halved
1/2 cup (packed) fresh mint leaves
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 4-ounce piece feta cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (scant 1 cup)
Ground sumac (I omitted)

Prepare barbecue (medium heat). Brush peppers, zucchini, and bread on both sides with oil. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Grill peppers and zucchini until slightly charred and just tender, turning often, about 6 minutes. Transfer vegetables to foil-lined baking sheet. Grill bread until lightly charred and just crisp, turning often, about 3 minutes. Transfer to sheet with vegetables and cool. Tear bread into 1-inch pieces. Vegetables and bread can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.

Cut peppers lengthwise into 1/2-inch-wide strips, then crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces. Cut zucchini lengthwise in half, then crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces. Place in large bowl. Add cucumber, tomatoes, green onions, olives, mint, and cilantro and toss to combine. Add bread pieces. Whisk 1/2 cup oil, lemon juice, cumin, and sumac, if using, in small bowl to blend. Season dressing to taste with salt and pepper. Add dressing to salad; toss to coat. Add feta and gently mix into salad.
Transfer salad to large bowl. Serve immediately.

Summertime Cookies - Peaches and Watermelon

Peaches and Watermelon are two of my favorite fruits this time of year. Sweet...juicy...delicious.  These aren't the juicy variety, but delicious all the same! Enjoy the season while it lasts!

To decorate the peaches:

1. Frost peach with royal icing colored with one part copper and two parts lemon yellow gel food coloring

2. Frost stem with chestnut-colored icing and the leaf with leaf green-colored icing

3. Let dry 8 hours.

4. In each of 2 small bowls, mix about 3 tablespoons of water with one drop of peach or orange gel color in one bowl and one drop red gel color in the other bowl.

5. With a food-only paintbrush, brush lightly all over the peach with peach colored water and then highlight the left side with red colored water.

6. Before the water dries, sprinkle all over with white sanding sugar.

Happy Summer!