The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Surrender, Cupcakes! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Charlotte, the multi-talented Social Committee chair, asked me to make a cupcake creation to accompany the ‘Wizard of Oz’ birthday spread for our Lower School faculty/staff.  My immediate response was, “Of course!!! It’s my favorite film, and I’m such a fan of the Baum books!” Ah, yes…it was only a few moments later that I realized that they would be required at approximately the same time as parent-teacher conferences/conference-note writing and such craziness.  However, I couldn’t pass on this opportunity!  I found a blog posting at Baking Bites for rainbow cupcakes and I just had to try them!  My culinary confidantes, just mixing/pouring these lovely treats was a process.  It took close to an hour to prepare them for baking, and they were overflowing quite a bit!  Muffin tops, muffin tops, muffin tops – oh, my!  Needless to say, they were too moist upon retrieving them from the oven, so I put them in the freezer to firm up just a bit.  Only two were salvageable enough that I felt comfortable serving them to colleagues.  Due to the moisture added from the gel coloring, they were super-duper tasty, but too soft to hold their shape.  If/when I choose to recreate these little darlings again (anyone need LGBT/PRIDE cupcakes?), I shall reduce the amount of oil called for in the recipe, and use only 2t (rather than 1T) per color when layering the batter in each well.  Oh, and silicon liners would be preferred.  In the end, I chose to create chocolate ‘munchkin cupcakes’ and decorated them with white buttercream and a few fondant friends from Oz.  The ‘Accident in Munchkinland’ cupcake (photo to be added soon!) was inspired by another post I found online – so much fun!

All Hail Deborah Madison! – Part One

Please don’t mistake one for the other:

Dolley Madison = The First Lady of Fashion

Deborah Madison = Goddess of Vegetarian Cooking

We have spent the past couple of weekends in homage to the latter of the two, after I finally procured a gently used (but autographed!) copy of Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.  May I also mention that, somehow, most of this weekend’s treats were divined by the grace of my infrequently used food processor.

The first recipe choice was the Quesadilla with Smoky Black Bean Spread (p.123) & Salsa, including the Black Bean-Smoked Chile Dip (p. 98) .  Who knew that San Diego’s version of the grilled cheese sandwich could be a little fancy pants?!  It could be made with staples that you should already have in your pantry:

• black beans
• coriander
• cayenne
• cumin
• salt
• fresh cilantro
• lime 

This little ditty of a dip is spread on corn tortillas, then topped with scallions, queso fresco (or goat cheese), a serrano chile, some additional cilantro and some fresh salsa.  After topping with another tortilla, the quesadilla is toasted (er, lightly fried) in a buttered skillet.  Served with the guacamole mentioned in a previous blog entry, and….oh my.  Just enough of a kick to keep us tuned into the Padres action and True Blood’s sassiness.  Delicioso!!

LOST – Finale Dinner!

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I just started watching LOST (thank you, streaming NetFlix!) this spring.  Yes, I’m often behind the times…

As Sam is a big fan, I decided to make a post-finale LOST dinner for him, featuring my yummy vegetarian chili (recipe below) renamed ‘Smoke Monster Chili’ for the event.  Thanks to printing labels from this site, the tomatoes and beer seemed to originate from the Dharma Initiative itself!

Smoke Monster Chili

Ingredients

• 2T Olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium zucchini, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, cored/seeded/diced
• 1 to 2 jalapeño peppers, seeded, minced (Taste + check the heat of the jalapeños before adding both.)
• 1 28oz can tomatoes (low-sodium), chopped + including liquid
• 1T ground cumin
• 1-2T chili powder
• 2t dried oregano (or 2T fresh, chopped)
• 1t fennel seeds
• 1 15oz can black beans (low-sodium), drained and rinsed
• 1 15oz can kidney beans (low-sodium), drained and rinsed
• 3T lemon juice + zest of one lemon
• 1/2c red wine (remember, if you wouldn’t drink it - don’t cook with it!)
• 1t sugar
• 1/3c chopped fresh cilantro
• Salt + freshly ground black pepper to taste

Order of Operations 1 In a large stock pot (not kidding - it would make enough to feed 10 Hurleys!), heat olive oil on medium heat. Add onions and cook until translucent, about 4mins. Add the garlic + cook about a minute more. Add the bell pepper, zucchini, and jalapeños. Cook about 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally.

2 Add the tomatoes with any liquid that may have been in the can. Add oregano, cumin, + fennel seeds. Add chili powder to desired heat. Simmer for 20 minutes over low.

3 Add all of the beans, lemon zest, lemon juice, sugar, + cilantro. Add salt + freshly ground pepper to taste. Simmer 5 mins.

Serve with any combo of sliced avocados, sour cream, grated cheddar cheese, + chopped green onions.

Serves: Hurley, Jack, Kate, Locke, Sayid, Charlie, Sun…you get the idea.

Godfather & Cannolis

"Leave the gun. Take the cannolis." 

I have never seen 'The Godfather.' (Gasp) Enter Sam and a copy of this classic film, with a promise from me to make a fabulous Italian dinner, complete with fresh cannolis. I headed to the Hillcrest Farmer's Market to pick up fresh, garlic-basil fettucini and walnut pesto from the divine owner of Lisko Imports to cook as a main course, and asked him if he knew where I could find cannoli shells. "How many do you want? I'll bring them by your house when I'm in the neighborhood tomorrow morning; my treat." Free cannoli shells!? Whoa. Sure enough eighteen, lovely, golden, crisp cannoli shells were left in a bag on my porch the next morning. Michael Chiarello’s recipe was used to craft the dessert as a tribute to The Godfather. Loved the film, loved the cannolis, will need to top this for The Godfather II. Any suggestions?