Silly Little Life…

Archive for the ‘In the Kitchen’ Category

I know most people say that in jest about something silly like not having the right milk percentage for your coffee. But the weight battle is something that has plagued me for years. So here we go again. Last September I did Whole 30.  I liked the idea, it was real food and no preservatives, which I am not a fan of. And by saying I did it, I mean, I really did it. I stuck to it for the whole time. It stunk. I felt HORRIBLE all the time. My friend who had encouraged me to do it told me I wasn’t eating enough. That was definitely a new one!  On the other hand, it wasn’t that hard – the prep, the sticking to it, etc. I just felt gross. I am pretty sure that was because in Whole 30 you give up EVERYTHING! No grains, no dairy, no sugar. It’s quite the challenge. I’m aware that there are more restrictive diets  – For example, for the past few weeks I’ve been considering Medifast… shudder…. But I want something that I can deal with for the long term, thus a modified Whole 30 – No dairy (goodbye ice cream and milk in my coffee) No sugar (duh) and no gluten (in other words, rice and oats are ok). I think a modified program is doable. I want something that I can feel good about and feel good doing. I’ll let you know. So here we go… Day 1 of a modified Whole 3000+

Here’s today’s breakfast – Sausage, onion, pepper, hash. It was good!

First of all, this is the difference between an egg from my full-grown chickens and one from a silkie.    

Currently, we are getting about 8 eggs a day. That is a lot for 2 people – one of whom doesn’t eat eggs. That’s right unless I disguise eggs (think cookies, cakes, etc…)  DH won’t eat them.

So, what do you make when you have soooooo many eggs all the time?  How about an angel food cake?  Yes – they take 12 egg whites! It seems crazy to waste a dozen eggs on a cake, unless you’re like us and your egg cup runneth over!

Although DH sells a couple dozen eggs a week at work (halleluiah – what a relief) we still have so many. I love angel food cake. It was always my birthday cake when I was growing up. My mom used the box mix which is fine, but from scratch is amazing!

With 4 of the yolks, I made lemon curd sauce. It turned out great and poured over the yummy treat it was a perfect Mother’s Day treat!

The cake –

Mix 3/4 cup all-purpose flour with 3 tablespoons of cornstarch. Run through a sieve two times. Stir in 3/4 cup sugar and a pinch of salt. Set aside.

Separate 12 eggs. Careful not to get any yolk in the eggs. Put 1 teaspoon of vanilla and one teaspoon of cream of tartar into the egg whites and beat until soft peaks. Beat in 3/4 cup of sugar a bit at a time until the egg white peaks are stiff. Gently, fold in flour mixture. Put into a UNGREASED tube pan and bake at 325 for 35 – 40 minutes. Turn the cake upside down on a bottle to cool.

The sauce –

Mix  1/2 cup sugar, pinch of salt, 4 tablespoons cornstarch. Whisk in a cup of water and 3 tablespoons lemon juice. Bring to a boil. After the mixture becomes thick. Whisk 4 egg yolks. Pour 1/3 the lemon mixture into the yolks to temper them. Pour the mixture back into the pan and bring back to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in 2 tablespoons butter. Let cool.

Pour over cake…

I have been wanting hot cross buns for a long time. They are a wonderful Easter treat. I made this Pioneer Woman recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/hot-cross-buns

If you don’t know about Pioneer Woman, you should. She’s an amazing blogger and now has a show on the Food Network.

Anyway, I used cranberries instead of raisins. I think they came out perfectly… and YUMMY!

Over spring break I made a birthday cake for my son and his wife. Their birthdays are just 6 days apart in April and so I thought it would be fun to have a mini pre-party. I asked my grandchildren to help decorate the cake. That was a bit messy but… oh well….

I learned an important piece of baking information during this round of cake. My son asked for chocolate ganache frosting and that was no problem. BUT, I bought the richest, darkest chocolate I could find. Of course, nothing is too good for my family. (insert eye roll here, but I was trying to make it extra special). Well, guess what?  Although that is good, it’s not sweet enough for frosting and just turns out to be heavy and dark. There wasn’t enough sugar!  Lesson learned…

After watching Chopped, my daughter challenged me with the following four ingredients: Graham Crackers, strawberries, hazelnut wafer cookies and ghost peeps.  Gourmet S’mores was the obvious choice.

My nephew is getting married in a few weeks.  I had the privilege of giving the shower for his fiancé. It was fun and memorable.  We used a black and white theme to be classy and and we made the food ourselves.  Thank goodness for Wendy and Patty’s decorating skills and for Ken’s cooking skills (even if he was offended that he wasn’t invited to the all girl shower – sorry Ken)  It was a wonderful day.  My favorite part was the game where we made bridal dresses from TP, paper towels and kleenex.  All teams had something special – bouquets, hats, etc… But the special dress was a reenactment of the 1920’s dress of Craig’s great great grandmother. Unfortunately, I don’t have a great pic of it but take my word for it -it was spectacular.