New Year's Eve Treat! Key(less) Lime Pie or...Diet Pie

My sister-in-law got me a diet cookbook for Christmas. 

Most people would be six-feet-under by now if they gave me anything relating to, or implying that I should lose weight. But I confide in my SIL all the time about how this year really kicked my butt OUT of shape. Getting laid off, losing one of your favorite people forever and suddenly, and then stumbling into the world of food blogging will do that to a girl. But I'm not complaining. I did complain, but to my SIL, not to you.   Hence, the diet cookbook. 

Most diet cookbooks get shoved in the BACK of my cookbook shelf behind all the regular/non-judgmental cookbooks. Before squirreling this one away forever I decided to flip through it. I think my face was already scrunched up in a defensive scowl when I began to flip through the pages of Cook This, Not That!

Here are a few meals that caught my eye:

French Toast Stuffed with Strawberries

Steak Nachos

Stuffed Jalapeños

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Chicago Dog 

Chocolate Pudding with Olive Oil and Sea Salt

oh... and 

KEY LIME PIE

Being the skeptic that I am when it comes to diet cookbooks, I decided to try out this diet pie recipe. I mean it's not midnight yet, so if I'm going to resolve to eat better in 2011, I might as well say it with a mouthful of pie, right?

To make my pie even more diet-y I decided to replace the store-bought graham cracker crust with this one, which calls itself a "healthier" crust. And with no butter, it does appear healthier... but how would it taste? That's the real test for me.

Diet Crust Recipe:

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs 
2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder 
3 tablespoons nonfat plain yogurt 
2 tablespoons brown sugar
Directions 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 
In a medium bowl, mix together graham cracker crumbs, cocoa powder, yogurt, and brown sugar. Press mixture firmly into a 9 inch pie pan. 
Bake in preheated oven for 5 minutes. Easy right?

Now, moving on to the pie filling. Firstly, I could not find KEY limes, so I used regular limes.

Cut 'em

Juice 'em

Zest 'em

Next, I was supposed to use low-fat sweetened condensed milk. Does this stuff exist? I couldn't find it, so I used the regular, fatty condensed milk. At least the crust was still diet!

Finally, the recipe calls for "low-fat whipped topping." I don't like that stuff. It tastes like metal and I would personally rather eat a smaller piece of something fattening made from ingredients I recognize, than a big piece of something that tastes like nickels and has a list of ingredients I cannot pronounce. Again, sliiiightly less diet-y now, but I added two tablespoons of lime zest into my good ol' fashioned heavy whipping cream, thinking that the presence of green would somehow still label this pie good for me.

I mean, it TASTED good. ... for me. Actually it tasted DARN good. The pie filling was zesty, tart and sweet, the crust was flavorful if ever so slightly chewy. But overall, really good pie. Diet or not. Tasty pie. Nom Nom!

Here's the recipe. I might try the super duper diet version (the original version) of this pie in a couple of weeks, when I'm in the feeling-sorry-for-myself stage of dieting and so grouchy that only pie can console me. Diet pie to the rescue!

Recipe for Diet Key(less) Lime Pie:
2 eggs
2 egg whites
1/2 cup Key(or not) lime juice
1 1/2 tsp grated lime zest
1 can LOW-FAT sweetened condensed milk
1 graham cracker crust
1 1/2 cups low-fat whipped topping.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat the eggs and egg whites until blended. Stir in juice, zest and milk and beat until well- blended.
Pour the mixture into the crust. Bake on the center oven rack for about 20 minutes until the center is set but still wobbly (it will firm up as it cools). Allow the pie to cool completely, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for two hours. Before serving, spread the whipped topping evenly, and garnish with fresh lime zest. 
Makes 8 servings
330 Calories
10 g fat
(5 g saturated)
39 g sugars

I *will* be trying other diet recipes from this book in 2011. So stay tuned for that!

Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! I hope that 2011 brings you all luck, good health and lots and lots of fun!


xoxo,
-radmegan

Making Confetti Eggs for New Years!

For most major holidays, I like a production. New Year's Eve is no exception. Being that fireworks are illegal in California, but SPARKLERS are not, I thought I would look online and find a recipe to make them at home. Why? WHY NOT. 


Here’s why not. All of the recipes I found include scary chemicals and powders that are not only REALLY hard to find, but also sketchy because if you buy them, you end up on one of those government watch lists they always refer to on Law & Order. “We cross-referenced The List and isolated the individuals who had purchased explosives in the last six months….” DUN DUN! Also, my mom begged me not to pursue this craft. She’ll let me wear burning candles on my head, but not play with explosives? Mixed messages mom!

I didn’t really have a back up plan, but knew I wanted to craft something that was like, "Boom. Party Time." So I opted for the confetti egg. Have you ever seen a confetti egg in action? On the a scale of one-to-ten, the confetti egg is near Silly String and trampolines, somewhere around a nine. A ten would obviously be sparklers, whereas a one would be the jail time you received for making them at home. 

I checked the fridge for eggs, and got cracking. Literally.

To being your confetti eggs, tap the top of your egg with the blade of a knife, and gently chip away a little hole at the top of the egg. Grab a bowl for the egg yolks and whites and save those for your morning-after omelet. Continue making tiny holes (about the size of a dime) in the tops of all your eggs, and empty their contents in a bowl. Cover the bowl and store in the fridge. 

Gently wash out the eggshells with warm water. Shake out any liquid from the shells, and place the shells back in the carton somewhere warm (in a bright windowsill, or on top of the oven…) Make sure the eggs are dry before moving on. 

You may be the kind of fun person who has confetti lying around, and if you do, that’s awesome, and I’d like to get to know you better. I’m not that fun, but I am lazy, so I still had PILES of Christmas paper strewn around the house. Take the prettiest, sparkliest paper you have, and if the pattern isn’t on both sides of the paper, grab your markers. 


Color the backside of your wrapping paper scraps as messily as you please, but make it colorful. To make the confetti, you can use a hole-punch, those nifty scissors that are used for shredding documents, or just do the cross-hatching method by cutting up your paper in parallel lines in one direction, and then (over a bow) cut them in the other direction so that the little colorful squares fall into the bowl. Use a variety of wrapping papers and markers to make your confetti as colorful as possible. 


Once you think you have enough homemade confetti for your hollowed-out eggs, turn the markers on the eggshells themselves. You can also use Easter egg dye, glitter, paint etc. I used Sharpies and was happy with the results. Once all of the eggs are decorated and pretty, grab a funnel or just use your fingers, and stuff each egg to the brim with your recycled wrapping paper confetti.


Next up, grab some tissue paper and glue. If you would like to decorate the tissue paper, do it now, before it seals the hole of the egg. Run a thin line of glue around the hole in the eggshell, and press the tissue paper down and around the hole. Let the eggs dry in their carton. 


Once dry, hand the confetti eggs to someone you love, or hurl them at someone you can't stand, but are nice to in social settings!  

Happy New Year everyone! Make some confetti eggs, and when you throw them down at midnight, enjoy the burst of color and confetti and then plant a smooch on someone cute.



xo
radmegan

Gordon Ramsay loves a Beef Wellington...

My husband and I are fans of Gordon Ramsay. I’ve said before (in the apple tart post) how much we enjoy his BBC show the F Word, and as this season of Hell’s Kitchen concluded, we noted how Gordon expects the chefflings from ALL of his shows, to cook three dishes perfectly. Those dishes are: scallops, risotto, and Beef Wellington. Sure, there are other dishes he demands while the veins in his neck pulse in harmony with his shrieks of expletives, but he seems to come back to those three dishes time and time again. I’ve seen nearly every season of Hell’s Kitchen and we (sadly) just wrapped up season four of the F Word on Netflix, so until season five makes its way online, we will remain Ramsay-less for an uncertain amount of time. Rather than filling that time calling each other "donkey" and smashing food, open-palmed when we are unsatisfied with it, we decided to take on the Holy Trinity of Ramsay, one at a time. 


I wanted to start with the Beef Wellington. It looked the hardest, and would certainly be the most impressive upon presentation.

When I went to my local supermarket for the beef fillet (I was repeating “fill-it” in my head like my favorite Scotsman) I baffled the butcher when I asked him which fill-it (whatdyousaylady???) would be best suited for BEEF WELLINGTON (blank stare from the 18-year old meat “man”). I really should have gone to the farmers market…. Anyway, I came home with a heavy weigh piece of beef. Go big or go home I guess? It was nearly six pounds of muscle. Basically the size and weight of a new born baby.

I popped in the episode of the F Word where Gordon breaks down the Welly step-by-step, pre-heated the oven to 400 degrees and grabbed two boxes of puff pastry out of the fridge.

To make Gordon Ramsays Beef Wellington at home you will need:

Beef tenderloin fillet

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

1 lb mushrooms (I used half cremini, half shiitake)

4 thin slices Parma ham or prosciutto (I used proscutto)

2 Tbsp yellow mustard (I used French's Yellow Mustard)

puff pastry (needs 3 hours to defrost in refrigerator if using frozen)

2 egg yolks, beaten. Oh. Oops. I used the whole egg, now I see why mine wasn't super yellow...

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Heat two tablespoon of oil in a large pan on high heat. Season the fillet generously with salt and pepper. Sear the fillet in the pan on all sides until well browned. Remove the fillet from the pan and let cool for about 5 minutes. Once cooled, brush the fillet on all sides with yellow mustard.

Chop the mushrooms and put them into a food processor to purée. Heat a large sauté pan on medium high heat. Scrape the mushroom purée into the dry pan and let cook down, allowing the mushrooms to release their moisture. Then set mushrooms aside.

Roll out a large piece of plastic wrap. Lay out the slices of ham on the plastic wrap so that they overlap. Spread the mushroom mixture over the ham. Place the beef fillet in the center, roll the mushroom and ham over the fillet, using the plastic wrap so that you do this tightly. Wrap up the beef fillet into a tight barrel shape, twisting the ends of the plastic wrap to secure. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

On a floured surface, roll out the puff pastry sheet to a size that will wrap around the beef fillet. Unwrap the fillet from the plastic wrap and place in the middle of the pastry dough. Brush the edges of the pastry with the beaten eggs (YOLKS!). Fold the pastry around the fillet, cutting off any excess at the ends. Place on a plate, and brush beaten egg yolks all over the top. Chill for 10 minutes.

Place the pastry-wrapped fillet on a baking pan. Brush the exposed surface again with beaten eggs. Score the top of the pastry with a sharp knife. Sprinkle the top with coarse salt. Bake. The pastry should be nicely golden when done. (I baked my giant fillet for almost 90 minutes... To ensure that your roast is medium rare, test with a meat thermometer. Pull out at 125-130°F for medium rare.) Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Slice in 1-inch thick slices.

Serves 4 people per pound of beef. 

Despite having an entire cow’s worth of meat in my oven, the puff pastry cooked evenly, and after about 80/90 minutes the oven and a good ten minutes of resting, the meat was cooked to a perfect medium rare, and exceedingly well seasoned thanks to the initial browing of the meat, the mustard, and the incredible blend of mushrooms, and the salty cured ham. This meal was succulent, and fed us for DAYS. A smaller piece of beef would surely cook faster and be far more practical for a family of only TWO people. I will absolutely use a smaller cut of meat the next time I make this. 

I only wish I could feed Gordon my Wellington next time around so that he could tell me, “well done madame” and I could bark back to him, “YES CHEF!"

To watch Gordon make this Beef Wellington with ease, I bring you this clip:

On Making Tapenade...

I love tapenade. I’ve loved tapenade since well before I loved (or liked) olives. Which is sort of like loving omelets before you love eggs. I always had a fondness for black olives- the ones we all stuck on our fingers when we were kids. Those were great olives: smooth and black, uniform in size, and void of the pucker and bite that come with the Greek Kalamata olives with their small, pointy bodies and bruise-colored skins all glistening with oil and salt. Oooh I used to shudder at the thought of THOSE olives. Ahh I’m puckering up just typing that! And as for the green olives?? I never understood what the red thing was inside them. Did you need to remove it? Was it even edible? I would see green olives stuffed with garlic and mushrooms at parties and almost gag. For as many years as I can count, I remember thinking that the only olives for me were the ones that came in cans, not in jars. I think I was telling someone about how much I loathed all other olives at a party once while shoveling piles of tapenade into my face. Looking back it may have been humble pie I was using as the vehicle for the tasty spread I love so dearly, and that is made almost exclusively of olives. And by olives I mean, the bruisey, oil, pointy olives AND the green ones with red belly button lint. 

Just FYI, discovering that one of your favorite foods is made of one of your least favorite foods is like discovering that your archenemy is actually your father. (Wheeze, wheeze “Luuuuuuuuke..”)

It should have been obvious. I’m sure to most people it IS obvious, but before you jump to the conclusion that I’m frighteningly unobservant, or one of the duller knives in the drawer, consider that I was more than likely preoccupied with charming party conversation while noshing on my tapenade, and most definitely theorizing on something very deep and smart. Ok?

So, tapenade. What is it? Tapenade is a chunky paste made of olives, capers, herbs, garlic, anchovies, and lemon. Tapenade is served on crackers or crusty bread, and can be used as a base ingredient for things like Beef Wellington. It’s salty, flavorful, and ridiculously delicious. Oh, and it’s also SUPER easy to make, as I discovered this weekend.

Like I said, I’ve loved tapenade for as long as I can recall, and for as long as I can recall, I have purchased tapenade in teeny weenie little 3 oz. containers that usually sell for anywhere between $3.00 - $8.00 depending on the neighborhood. But really, all you need are a few pantry items and you can make a HUGE batch of this stuff for a party, family get-together, or a few weeks worth of sandwiches.

The recipe I followed for my homemade tapenade was from Alton Brown via the food network. And the super cute fish bowl I used to display our tapenade was from my sister, via her kitchen.

½ lb. pitted mixed olives (you can buy one 5.5 oz jar of black olives, and one of green, or save a couple of dollars and go for a big scoop of olives from the olive bar at many grocery stores.
2 anchovy fillets, rinsed
1 small clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons capers
2-3 basil leaves
1-tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Blend everything in a food processor until the olives are the size of pea gravel. Serve on toasted bread with creamy Brie, salami and a cool and bubbly beverage of your choice preferably out of Tupperware on a blanket at the beach, from an earthenware bowl in a log cabin in front of a crackling fire, or at a black tie event out of a fine crystal bowl. Tapenade is a versatile mistress and welcome at functions. Even when green and Kalamata olives aren’t on the guestless, tapenade is always invited. Isn’t amazing how GOOD your archenemy can taste when ground up?

New Year's Eve Drinks: A Californian's New York Egg Cream

I read through probably thirty cookbooks this past weekend. After a series of festive Christmas celebrations with my family in San Diego, we all collapsed into couches, armchairs and recliners to watch Scrooged, flip through magazines and catch a few winks. I took advantage of a lot of the downtime by combing through stacks of my mother's cookbooks. I was looking for festive and non-alcoholic party drinks to help ring in the new year. When I came across New York Egg Cream, I was intrigued and wanted to find out more about this eggless, cream-less thirst-quencher from the days of soda fountains and bobby socks.

The origins of the egg cream remain shrouded in mystery, but most accounts mention Louis Auster and his early 1900's soda shop in Brooklyn. Whether Louis and his now-lost original recipe did start the trend, or if the beverage came from Europe and was named by a muddled accent and misunderstanding, the egg cream seemed to be the beverage of choice for millions of Brooklyn boys and girls who would pop into their local soda fountain with a few pennies and a raging thirst after a long day of playing stickball in the streets.

From what I've seen, all self-respecting New Yorkers will tell you that it's not a REAL Egg Cream if you don't use Fox's U-Bet Chocolate syrup. We didn't have U-Bet when this batch of drinks was made, but to remain true to tradition, I just bought some online for New Year's Eve, and will let you know if there's a big difference in taste.

To make your own NY Egg Cream for NYE, you will need the following:

Fox's U-Bet chocolate syrup

Cold whole milk or half-and-half

Ice cold seltzer water

Gently pour 3 tablespoons of chocolate syrup down the inside of the glass. Pour 1/4 cup of cold milk or half-and-half into a tall soda glass, and briskly stir together. Slowly add seltzer. The resulting drink should have a dark brown bottom and a white foamy top (if you mix it too much, the foam disappears). My first New York Egg Cream had a nice white head (beginner's luck, no doubt) but the second Egg Cream had chocolate-brown bubbly head. This could be known as a Bronx Egg Cream according to the radio interview with Robert Simonson below.

My Christmas-groggy family all enjoyed the egg creams. They had an old timey soda shop quality that came from the creamy lightness of the chocolate, and the fizzy fun of the soda. I sort of wish we had all been wearing bow ties and pin stripes like the soda jerks from the days of yore. Oh, days of yore...

For more of the history on the New York Egg Cream, check out this online radio segment called Brooklyn Eats: Egg Creams from Heritage Radio Network.

Whatever the history of the egg cream, the drink is a classic and a total must-have at your swanky ("Old New York" themed??) New Year's Eve party, or just a sweet drink to wrap up a long day of stick ball.

Photo Saturday: Christmas Amaryllis

A Merry Christmas Amaryllis!

It's Christmas EEEEEEEEEEEEEVE!

And everybody over here is waitin' for Santa...


Hey friends, HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE!


Thanks for reading, being so supportive, and for all of the comments and messages of encouragement you've sent me these past few months. I totally appreciate them, and you. Looking forward to spending an AWESOME 2011 with ya!


xo
radmegan

Making Heritage Flag Garland

I have had Christmas tree envy in a BIG WAY this year. My favorite Christmas tree of all time, has always been at my parent's house. It's a like a pine-scented scrapbook, or a scratchy hug. There are ornaments that mark just about every birthday my sister and I have had, heirloom trinkets, family jokes, and lots of handmade ornaments made by many talented aunts, cousins, and of course, my awesome mom. 

But one of the things that makes this tree so unique and special for me, are the strings of Scandinavian flags. The Scandinavian flag garland not only looks nice, but it makes me feel tied to all of my relatives, past and present. 

I tend to exclusively claim Scandinavian heritage, but the fact is, that in addition to Norwegian, Swedish and Danish, I have quite a bit of Irish in me. So while the heritage flags seem to mostly be a Scandinavian thing, I decided to make some Irish flag garland this year to add to the rest of the family flags. 

After examining my mother's store-bought garland (above), I determined that all I needed to make garland was a spool of fishing line, a pack of Avery labels, and a color printer. I downloaded the online template that corresponds to the mailing labels I bought at my local office supply store, added bands of green and orange (after triple checking that that was the flag design of Ireland), and hit command P.

Next, I took the spool of fishing line, peeled a printed label off the page, and positioned the fishing line smack in the center of the label- then folded the sticky sides together.

Repeat, repeat, repeat until you have a string of garland to your desired length!

If you too happen to be Irish, and want to use this idea, go for it! You can download my Irish Flag template here. It works with the Avery address labels 8160.

Also- keep this decoration idea handy when St. Patty's day rolls around and EVERYONE becomes Irish!

Happy holidays everyone!

Crafting a Paper Bag Stocking

While I've been really trying to keep an eye on my pennies this season, I'm hoping Christmas isn't going to FEEL like a budget Christmas. Yes, my overall spending had to be way down this year, but I didn't want to become the girl who made everything from scratch whether you wanted it or not. Picture Christmas morning... sitting around the giant tree at my parent's house. Fire crackling in the hearth, dad sipping hot tea while mom strokes her pug dog who snoring on an heirloom quilt next to her. I turn to my sister, "Hey sis, remember that iPod I got you last year? I thought this year you could really use a set of tongue depressors I painted BY HAND. They even have glitter on them. You're welcome." 

It hasn't gotten to that point yet, but as I look over the gifts I've wrapped up, the packages are a bit smaller than in previous years. When I give a gift, I really want it to be an event. "Dude, I'm getting you this because I think you will LA LA LA LOVE it!!!" So while assessing the wee pile of wee gifts for a certain someone yesterday, I was starting to feel like I needed to tie them all together in a stocking made of tongue depressors. Just kidding. A stocking made of... a paper grocery bag.

Here's why this is a GOOD idea:  
- You can use up LOTS of the colorful mail-order catalogs you have lying around. I get SO many of these things each year, despite removing myself from many a mailing list. The paper is bright, glossy, and slicing the pages up, frees you from the temptation of buying the wares they are hocking.
- It's a way nicer presentation than showing up to someone's house and handing them a brown paper bag of gifts. Oh great, I brought the wrong brown paper bag? Well, enjoy the paper towels, carrots, and milk I bought you.
- It's pretty quick. Cut out two stocking shapes from one grocery bag, iron them flat, and paste the chopped up catalogue pages around the corners, sew the pieces together, and trim with pinking shears. Make a stocking top out of a white paper bag by cutting, gluing, and sewing it down, and then add a name. 
- Your precious fabric stash remains untouched.
And for the record, my sister and I *did* paint and glitter tongue depressors one year and hand them out as bookmarks. While they were not a hit with everyone, we loved them and kept them for many years.
Happy holidays!

xo,
radmegan