Cook for the Cure Annual Pink Party!

This past Sunday I hosted a party to raise money (and awareness) for the CBCF (Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation). With the help of my dear friends, we raised $300! I had a buffet style dinner around my kitchen island and set up the dining room with pink tableware. The menu was as follows:

Appetizers:
Crab Cakes with Red Pepper Tapenade
Smoked Salmon Cream Cheese Ball rolled in chopped walnuts and pink peppercorns
Baked Brie with Cranberries in phyllo dough
Nachos with Pink Salsa (salsa and sour cream)

Main:
Quinoa Tabouli salad with pomegranates
Penne alla Vodka
Rainbow Trout
Roasted Garlic Couscous

Dessert:
Strawberry Cupcakes with Pink Ribbon white chocolate toppers
Pecan Balls rolled in pink icing sugar
Pizzelle dusted with pink icing sugar
Pink Popcorn

Beverages:
Cream Soda
Raspberry Gingerale
Rose Wine (White Zifandel)
Pink Chambord Vodka
Cranberry Juice
Cosmos

I then taught the girls to make gingerbread cookies and royal icing which we coloured pink. Pics are below. I look forward to next year's event to be bigger and better!



Recipe of the week: Zuccotto

Zuccotto is a typical dessert from Florence. The shape of the cake is said to resemble the dome of Florence's famous church, il Duomo.

Ingredients

12" round sponge cake layer
1/4 cup Brandy
1/4 cup Amaretto or Frangelico
120 gr. almonds
120 gr. hazelnuts
180 gr. dark chocolate
600 ml whipping cream
1/2 cup icing sugar

Toast almonds and hazelnuts under broiler for 5 minutes. Allow to cool before roughly chopping.
Cut cake is slices 1/2" thick on the diagonal, in triangular shapes. Combine liqueurs and brush one side of each section of cake with mixture. place sections of cake, unbrushed side against sides of tin, against the inside of a 10-cup capacity round-based bowl which as been lined with a layer of plastic wrap (leaving 5" overhang all around), with the narrowest end of cake on the bottom. Alternate crust and not-crust sides of cake to give striped effect. Fill the gaps with pieces of moistened cake. Trim edges of cake so they are level with the top of the bowl.
Chop 60 gr. of dark chocolate and melt remaining chocolate in microwave, at 20 second intervals until completely melted. Whip together cream and icing sugar until stiff then fold in nuts. Divide mixture in half. Fold chopped chocolate in one half and melted chocolate in other half.
Spoon white cream mixture evenly over entire cake surface, leaving a cavity in the center of the bowl. Fill in cavity with chocolate mixture. Moisten remaining cake with liqueur and arrange on top to cover surface completely.
Wrap bottom with overhanging plastic wrap and chill overnight. Invert over serving plate and dust top with combined sifted icing sugar and cocoa powder.

Banana Bread

I always end up having over ripe bananas since I'm the only one in my family who eats bananas, which I then turn into banana bread! I end up sometimes making 2 loaves which I bring one to work and keep one at home...both lasting no more than a day!

Ingredients

3 ripe bananas, mashed with a fork or masher
3/4 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips or chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour loaf pan. Beat together sugar and oil. Add eggs one at a time then vanilla. Fold in mashed bananas. Whisk together remaining ingredients except chocolate chips or nuts in a separate bowl, then add to wet mixture just until combined. Gently fold in chocolate chips or nuts. Bake for 1 hour and allow to cool for 10 minutes in pan before inverting onto cooling rack.

Easy Peasy Key Lime Pie

I'm typically not a fan of fruity desserts, but the tartness of key limes perfectly balances the sweetness in this pie. Be sure to use key limes and not regular limes for a more aromatic pie. This recipe yields a very light, airy pie as it doesn't call for eggs which tends to make the pie more dense. The combination of the lime juice with the condensed milk is what causes the mixture to thicken, thus requiring very little baking.

Ingredients:


9" prebaked graham pie crust
2 cans sweetened condensed milk 
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cups key lime juice (from about 20 limes)
1 tbsp grated lime zest

Preheat oven to 350 F. Beat together condensed milk, sour cream, key lime juice and zest in a large bowl with paddle attachment for 5 minutes, until thoroughly combined. Pour into prepared pie crust and bake for 8-10 minutes, until bubbles on the surface burst. Do not brown. Allow to cool completely and refrigerate for a least 2 hours before serving with whipped cream.

Itsy Bitsy Creepy Crawly Cupcakes

Adapted from Martha Stewart, these bite-sized cupcakes are actually cinnamon-flavoured Red Velvet cakes with cream cheese icing. Makes insect eating a lot more palatable!

Ingredients:

1 recipe Red Velvet cake (store bought or homemade)
1 tsp Cinnamon flavour
Cream Cheese icing (store bought or homemade)
Black sanding sugar
Black liquorice strings, cut in 2 1/2 inches
Small red candies or red coated chocolate sprinkles
Mini marshmallows, cut in small cone shapes


Prepare cake mix adding cinnamon flavour. Bake in min muffin pans with black liners. After completely cooled, frost with cream cheese frosting and dip in black sanding sugar. Add 8 pieces of liquorice for legs, 2 red candies for eyes and marshmallow cones for fangs.

Coconut Creme Caramel

One of my favorite fruits is Coconut. Yes, it's a fruit (not a nut, so not considered to be an allergen) with many beneficial properties. Coconut water is a very potent electrolytic drink used by many athletes pre and post-workout without the sugar and chemicals as in other sports drinks. Coconut oil is used for cooking as it is trans-fat free, and also as a moisturizer (I strictly use coconut oil on my body). Then there's coconut milk and meat (the white fleshy part) that is used in baking. Coconut creme caramel (or Flan de Coco) is a typical South American dessert where coconuts are found in abundance.

Ingredients

1 can (400 ml) coconut milk
1/3 cup milk
1 cup grated fresh coconut
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup granulated sugar

6 ramekins (1/2 cup capacity)
9 x 13" pan
Pot of boiling water

Combine coconut milk and milk and bring to a boil in a small saucepan. remove from heat. Whisk together eggs and 1/3 cup sugar. Slowly add a small amount of milk mixture to egg mixture and whisk briefly. Pour remaining egg mixture into pot and gently cook on medium heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. This is known as "custard".

Combine water and 1/2 cup sugar in small pot and boil without stirring for 5-10 minutes, until syrup becomes golden brown. This becomes "caramel". Remove from heat. Place ramekins in pan and distribute caramel evenly in ramekins. Pour coconut custard overtop the caramel. Pour boiling water in pan along the side so that it does not get in custard. Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes until set but still jiggly. Allow to completely cool in pan before placing custards in refrigerator over night. To serve, run a butter knife around edge of ramekins and invert over plate. Caramel will drizzle over top. Buenapetito!

Back to school nut-free snacks!

I'm back...1 year later! It's been a very busy year and I apologize but I promise to keep this updated and provide you with many delicious recipes and creative fun ideas!! Now that the kiddies are back to school and routine, I thought I'd share a very quick and easy healthy snack that you can add to their lunches:

Agave Oatmeal Bars

1 cup raisins or other dried fruit (cranberries, currants etc)
1/2 cup chia seeds
1 cup water
1/2 cup agave nectar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs, separated
2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1/2 cup butter
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Cream agave and butter together. Add 2 egg yolks, vanilla and water; mix thoroughly. Add flour, baking soda, raisins, chia seeds and rolled oats. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into the batter. Pour into 9 x 13 inch buttered baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. Cool and cut into squares.