Another Birthday Means More Kitchen Creations...

OK, so I think I'm kind of on a roll with all these winter birthdays and truthfully I am loving it.  This time around, I made a couple batches of Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Spread.  I may have had to do some quality control sampling along the way, I mean who can refuse roasted hazelnuts blended with Penzy's Dutch Cocoa Powder, ooohhhhhh YUM.  I got so carried away with the making I totally spaced the photographing, so here are just a couple pics from the beginning and the end.  I really hope anyone who enjoys Nutella will give this a try, it takes the spread to a whole new level.

Thank Goodness For Birthdays...

So it seems that Birthdays are my mojo in the kitchen of late.  I took the time to get busy making a special treat as a belated gift for a friend the other day, I am so hoping she supports my "better late than never" theory.  We were about out of our last jar of curd (a favorite of my youngest to top pancakes with) and I know my friend loves curd as much as we do here.  Up until last year, lemon was the only flavor of curd I had ever tried, it honestly never even occurred to me that there were even other kinds.  Last year I happened upon a orange vanilla curd recipe from my trusty advisor to all things jarred and it is now my absolute favorite.  It has a bit of a softer flavor than lemon and the addition of vanilla beans takes it to a whole new level of delicious!   It is well worth the time to make a batch or two for yourself,  we love it on pancakes but I also like to mix it into yogurt with nuts or granola and fruit.  I imagine smeared on a  nice thick slice of your favorite toasted bread it would be heavenly.  Though my recipe sites a fairly quick cooking time, it has never worked that way for me, generally I need to give a solid hour of time standing and string at the stove, but really please don't let that stop you from trying this out.  I promise you it will be well worth your time.

More Cake...

This winter has found me feeling a bit blah in the cooking department for some reason.  But I'm trying to shake it off and today I found myself itching to bake a cake.  It helped that there was a special someone celebrating a birthday today, and I really wanted to make something homemade for this celebration.  After a quick look through the pantry, a little help from Google and knowing that chocolate would be a choice ingredient for this Birthday Celebrant I landed on this gluten free chocolate cake made with almond flour.  I also had a bit of marshmallow fluff on hand from holiday fudge baking so I did some searching for a marshmallow frosting.   And well, I think I have hit on a new birthday favorite!  If you really wanted to get fancy you could top the cake with some graham cracker crumbs and call it a s'more cake.  The cake was a crowd pleaser and came together fairly simply and with ingredients (minus the marshmallow fluff) that we always have on hand.  I love it when things come together so simply and deliciously.  I'd love to hear what other folks do to get out of the winter slump when it comes to cooking, do you just let your self roll with it -- sure that it will pass or do you try to jumpstart things in some way to get back on track?  I feel I've been "rolling with it" a bit too long and am hopeful that this cake will serve as a bit of a jump start.  I don't know what tomorrow has in store but I am hoping to find myself back in the kitchen letting some creative juices flow.

The Soup That Kept Me Up All Night

I spend a crazy amount of time thinking about food; what I should cook for my family, what I want to cook for my family, what ingredients do I need to try to get into more of our meals, what have we been eating lately... it goes on and on but you get the idea. So to have something linger in my mind is nothing new, but TO KEEP ME UP ALL NIGHT?!?! Well, that was new for me. So let me back up a bit here, it all started with a sweet potato. I had one left over from this curried sweet potato salad I made last week, and I bought another to make these yummy looking sweet potato/pretzel balls. But time and life got away from me, I never got around to making the sweet potato/pretzel balls and now had two sweet potatoes sitting on the counter staring at me. I was thinking about the curried salad but it's been so cold around here lately I couldn't stomach the thought of a cold meal, I needed something warm and soothing and then it hit me - a steamy bowl of creamy curried sweet potato soup just sounded so good. I couldn't get the thought out of my head, I laid awake thinking how the flavors of curry, sweet potato and coconut milk just sounded like they were made for each other. I dreamt about creating this soup, crazy right? So 1 am, 3 am, 4 am the clock is ticking by all I can do is think about the amazing flavor of caramelized onions pureed with the sweet potato and finished off with coconut milk. So first thing that morning I got up and hit the WWW for a little guidance, really validation. I mean, to me it sounded like a little slice of heaven but would the flavors come together as gracefully as I had hoped? First off I found a recipe that suggested roasting the potatoes first, great idea. But nothing that I found in my quick search mentioned caramelizing onions, and most recipes called for all sorts of other additions like celery or apples. None that I found really hit the spot of what I was looking for, other than simply validating that I was on the right track with the curry and potatoes. So, I winged it. Roasted the potatoes in the morning, then chopped a big onion and caramelized it. Once that was done I threw in some garam marsala and curry powder to let the flavors really sink into those onions and toast themselves a bit. Next I added three roasted sweet potatoes and about a quart of homemade chicken stock. Once this came to a boil I pureed it all with my immersion blender and added a can of coconut milk and salt and pepper to taste. At the table we topped our bowls with some toasted pumpkin seeds and goat cheese. Home run I tell you. The smell told me I was on the right track, but when I finally had a chance to sit down to dinner and eat, it was exactly what I had hoped for. I was especially grateful for the suggestion to roast the potatoes and for the addition of the garam marsala. On a cold night, this was so warming from the inside out. It will definitely make a regular appearance on on our fall and winter table from here on out.

A Winter Wonderland

This is the view from my back door off my kitchen today.  A beautiful winter scene.  I walked in and out of the kitchen so many times today, mostly to enjoy this view, but also to snack on the gingerbread that was still warm from the oven.  We had the rare treat of a snow day that we all were able to enjoy from home, no work and no school, lots of sledding, tea, cocoa and of corse gingerbread.