Friday & Fabulous: The Faux Hippie in me.

Anyone who knows me will tell you I am probably the true hippies anti-Christ... I mean just today I had to go shopping for gun accessories to send to my trained warrior of a husband...... BUT, when it comes to food... I seriously have 50% Californian in me and it's gotten worse with running and then becoming a mom.  We are now post baby #2 and I am training for my first race since having her in late July. Lots of whole foods and pseudo Mediterranean living going on right now.  I wanted to share a sandwich I have been eating post workout or for a light dinner.  Calories wise its definitely well under 500 and 100% crunchola, all good eats. I do a tortilla version and a whole grain toast version... totally obsessed w/ both. YUM.


Veggie Bite & Avocado Sandwich/ Tortillas

Needs: 
 4 Veggie Patch Spinach Bites or Chicken Nuggets
2 pieces of 12 grain bread or 2 corn tortillas
half an avocado
fresh lime juice to taste
kosher salt
Sriracha Hot Sauce


Toast the bread or warm the torillas
The nugget must be warmed, I zap them for 30 seconds..... 
smash fresh avocado on one half of the bread or divide in half and distribute on both open tortillas
squeeze fresh lime juice over the avocado to taste and a sprinkling of kosher salt
place all 4 bites on one piece of whole grain bread OR 2 each on the open tortillas
drizzle the Sriracha over the nuggets, it is super spice... I like a good amount but be careful if you aren't a super spicy fan.

Close up your sandwich, roll your tortilla and chomp away. SO GOOD.

XO,
d

Pizza Margherita.

We make homemade pizza in our house about  once a week.  Usually, I stick to a recipe that was my great grandmother's dough paired w/ traditional NYC style sauce, cheese and toppings.  The husband has been asking for Margherita style pizza for a while so last night I tweaked a recipe and it was AMAZING.  Like, the kind of amazing that makes me want to forfeit all calories during the day and eat this for dinner 7 days a week.

Below is my adaptation of La Cucina Italiana Magazine's published recipe.  Mine is basically the quick version with a few specifics. 

 The original:  http://lacucinaitalianamagazine.com/recipe/pizzamargherita

Heat the Oven to 485 degrees F

You will need:

For the dough

• 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1 1/8 cups warm water 
• 4 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus more for the bowl

For the topping:

• 1 (28-ounce) can whole Muir Glenn Organic tomatoes- if not stick to the original recipe request of San Marzano.  Normally, I use San Marzano for everything I make, but the Muir Glenn organic are OUTSTANDING.
• 12 ounces of Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella- * I presently live in culinary Siberia so I had to sub w/ a block of Pollio Mozzarella (doing my cross accordingly).  Cut 1/4 in thick slices.
• 8-10 small fresh basil leaves * this is your call- we like alot, use your judgement to taste.  
• Extra virgin olive oil ** I subbed my traditional olive oil w/ my home infused olive oil (Rosemary, fresh garlic & thyme).  
• Kosher or Sea Salt to taste.  

Make the dough.

In a glass bowl combine your water and yeast.  Let rest and activate for about 5-8 minutes.  This is a smaller amount of yeast so the water didn't get frothy like when making bread BUT it should get a creamy look to it.  In a mixing bowl combine the flour and salt followed by the yeast & water mixture.  Finally, add the infused or plain olive oil.  I personally combine this in a stand mixer using a dough hook on a low speed until the dough forms a ball.  Once it combines I flour a dry surface and like the original recipe says, knead the dough for close to 10 minutes.  Form into a nice ball and rest the dough in a lightly oiled glass or metal bowl covered with a cloth at room temperature.  Unlike the original recipe I let my dough rise for 1.5 hrs.  It doesn't get huge but it does rise and has a really beautiful velvety texture.  After the resting period place the dough back on a floured surface and roll out your dough to a traditional 10" round pie and create a nice 1/2" - 3/4" folded edge for the crust.  You can cook on a pizza sheet or preferably pizza stone if you have one. Be sure to flour the sheet or stone to keep the pie from sticking.

Top it.

I crush whole tomatoes by hand. Always have, always will.  If you aren't comfortable with this method you can use a potato smasher or food mill. Add roughly a tsp of salt to the hand crushed tomato's.  Evenly spread by hand your crush tomato's on the pie, a little but of the liquid is useful too for moisture, don't only apply the full tomato's.  Add your basil and place the sliced mozzarella as you like.  Finally, I put a light drizzle of the infused olive oil over the top and in my oven the bake time was about 11 minutes.  Check your pizza starting at the 8 minute mark as every oven cooks differently, especially at these higher temps.

Crack open the vino.

Enjoy!

XXOO d

Almond Crumble Cookies- Jacques Pepin

Fans!  I know I haven't blogged in quite a while.  The holidays are rolling around and many of you still faithfully follow the page to place orders when I am available.  Many of you made extremely generous donations to our Hurricane Sandy relief cause and this a tiny way to give back.  Over the next few weeks I am going to post person recipes or recipes I really love for all of you cooks & bakers out there!  This isn't so much going to turn into a recipe blog- just something I will do over the holidays and hopefully some of you will enjoy it!

Today I tested out my own version (very slight variations to make the recipe quicker).  For my Greek family and friends- these are a less buttery, almond based type of Kourabiedes

XO danelle


ALMOND CRUMBLE COOKIE By:  Jacques Pepin.

Set aside a cookie sheet (lined w/ a silicon mat or parchment paper)

Pre-Heat Oven 350

1 cup of Almonds
1/2 cup flour
1/2 stick of cool unsalted butter
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup of confectioners sugar ( for dressing after the cookies are baked )


In a food processor chopped the almonds to fine powder like texture.  In a bowl or stand mixer add your almonds, butter, sugar and flour.  Cream together and the proceed to add the vanilla and water. Cream the cookie dough together until it is well blended and a thicker texture.

Using a traditional tablespoon scoop your batter and roll into a ball in the palms of your preferably clean hands. ;) Place the ball onto a cookie sheet and press down slightly. Proceed with all of your cookie dough.

Bake at 350 for 21 minutes.  After removing from the oven let the cookies partially cool.  While still warm toss each cookie in the bowl of confectioners sugar to coat.

Mum Mum.  Enjoy!!

Recipe Alert! Blueberry Banana Muffins.

I made these muffins this weekend for my finicky and extremely active 2 year old and just had to share. I LOVE North Country Farms muffin mix base- its a quick blend of ingredients we'd all use for a muffin base give or take... and its what I find to be the perfect balance.
I really try to limit the sugar Sofie gets and go as natural as we can with what she eats so there are a few subs in the recipe.

Blueberry Banana Muffins w/ rice milk & honey!
+1 serving of North Country Farms Muffin Mix
Follow their prep directions BUT sub the milk w/ rice milk
+3/4 of Honey (I try to use local since we all have had allergies up here and this apparently tends to help with your immunity to that)
+1 or more cups of blueberries
+1 cup of sliced bananas

If you are using 12 traditional muffin pans cook for 25+ minutes at 375 degrees

Giant Muffin tins 27+ minutes- it's best to just check with a tooth pick from 27 minutes on as each home oven is different.

Enjoy!

XO!


http://ncfarms.net/products.html

Gravy + Bread = Sunday.

Long before the days of the "Jersey Shore" came to reality TV, having Sunday dinner was a standard tradition in my family. Thankfully, my husband.... although Greek, has embraced this tradition. Even during football season, while the rest of America is having wings and dip... we are cursing our team with antipasto and manicotti in tow. A staple for this meal is Italian bread which plays a roll from preparation to cleaning the plates. To my surprise, I had ignorantly gone 30 years of life thinking Italian bread was Italian bread.... end of story. Fast forward to leaving the tri-state area. I now know that just because they call it Italian Bread, does not mean it warrants being dipped in our gravy. I started to scour the Internet, tried different local breads... nothing has the same taste. Not having THA BREAD created a huge hole in our Sunday dinners, until this evening.

I reached out to a fellow baker and well respected food blogger ( I hope that is the right thing to call you Marilla?) to see if she had tested any true Italian bread recipes... she hadn't but had one that she felt should be tested out. Tonight I did my own version of this recipe and I am elated to say, I am fat and full....happy Sunday.

Below is MY variation of the original recipe which is also referenced below with the original link.


ITALIAN BREAD.

pre-heat to 425

Needs:

3 CUPS OF ALL PURPOSE FLOUR
1 1/4 CUPS OF SEMOLINA
1 CUP OF WARM WATER
1 CUP OF SKIM MILK
1 TBLS OF HONEY
2 1/4 TSP OF ACTIVE DRY YEAST
SESAME SEEDS

STEP 1:

IN A GLASS COMBINE YEAST AND WARM WATER. THEN IN A STAND MIXER COMBINE WATER/YEAST MIXTURE, HONEY AND MILK. MIX FOR ABOUT 2 MINUTES AND THEN LET SIT FOR ABOUT 5 MINUTES TILL YOU SEE SOME FOAM FORM.

STEP 2:

ADD 2 CUPS OF THE ALL PURPOSE FLOUR TO THE RESTING MIXTURE IN THE MIXER, MIX AT MEDIUM SPEED FOR ANOTHER 2-3 MINUTES AND MAKE SURE ALL IS COMBINED.

STEP 3: LET MIXTURE SIT FOR 1 HOUR COVERED WITH A CLOTH AT ROOM TEMP.

STEP 4: AFTER THE HR BRING YOUR BOWL BACK TO THE MIXER AND ADD THE BALANCE OF THE ALL PURPOSE FLOUR AND SEMOLINA. MIX WITH THE DOUGH HOOK ATTACHMENT FOR 4 MINUTES. REMOVE THE BALL OF DOUGH TO A FLOURED SURFACE. SPLIT THE AMOUNT IN HALF- I USED ONE HALF FOR TONIGHT AND FROZE THE REST FOR NEXT WEEK.

STEP 5: I KNEADED THE DOUGH LIGHTLY AND FORMED A TRADITIONAL LOAF. YOU DON'T HAVE TO FOLLOW THIS- ROUND LARGE LOAFS ARE NICE AS WELL, LIKE THE ORIGINAL RECIPE. I MADE ANGLED SLICES ACROSS THE TOP, BRUSHED THE TOP WITH WATER (YOU CAN USE OLIVE OIL AS WELL) AND PUT SOME SESAME SEEDS.

*THE SEMOLINA WILL BROWN- IT DIDN'T BURN AT ALL IN MY EXPERIENCE... THAT WAS MY FEAR BUT ACTUALLY LEFT A REAL NICE NUTTY SMELL IN THE KITCHEN AND WAS PERFECT ON THE BOTTOM OF THE CRUST!




MOST RECIPES USE CORNMEAL ON THE BOTTOM OF THE PAN, I DIDN'T HAVE ANY AND REALLY FELT LIKE THE BAKERIES AT HOME USED SEMOLINA.... SO I COVERED THE BOTTOM OF MY BAKING SHEET W/ SEMOLINA, MADE SURE THE BOTTOM OF MY LOAF GOT COVERED AND LET IT REST AT ROOM TEMP AGAIN FOR 15 MINUTES.

YOUR OVEN SHOULD BE PRE-HEATED TO 425 DEGREES. IN A SECOND SMALL CAKE PAN OR WHATEVER YOU HAVE AVAILABLE SET A BAKING PAN WITH ABOUT 1/2" OF WATER ON THE RACK BELOW WHERE YOUR BREAD WILL BAKE. WHEN THE 15 MINUTE FINAL REST IS UP, PUT YOUR LOAF IN THE OVEN, BAKE ABOUT 25 MINUTES OR UNTIL GOLDEN BROWN.

COOL FOR ABOUT 15 MINUTES BEFORE CUTTING AND SERVING.



I KNOCKED MY SESAME SEEDS OFF..DON'T ASK..LOL...

I HOPE YOU ENJOY THE ORIGINAL RECIPE BELOW OR MY VERSION ABOVE....man jeeh!


MY RECIPE ADAPTED FROM THIS ORIGINAL WHICH WAS GIVEN TO ME BY MARILLA DELNICK OF CUPCAKEREHAB.COM

http://www.suite101.com/content/italian-bread-a13702


oh and my version of the recipe is exclusive to bake boutique inc. ;)

Friday & Fabulous: Operation Get the Shop Open.

I thought today I would just dedicate a post to a shop update and what's coming for bake boutique. For those of you who don't know, I took the shop space on the square a few months back, long before I had planned to. We were mid PCS living in a hotel but I didn't want to give up the space so with a lot of encouragement and support from my husband I rented it. This is why it feels like the store is never opening but really- about now is when I am ready. Thanks to some new friends, I have met some really great people/connections and finally have some help with my little Sofie! Other than my sitting and waiting for the Department of Health to catch up to speed, we are on our way. Taking an old run down spot on an old square that is trying to be rejuvenated is not something that happens quickly. Yes, I guess it is if you are cleaning it, painting it and throwing in some retail items. No if you want it to be the way you envision, clean, efficient and to code for a food establishment. As it stands I would say the doors will be open in the next 2 weeks and if they aren't, it isn't on me. ;) The Watertown Daily Times will also be doing a piece on me and the shop.... so when you see that you know we are open! It's a very exciting experience and such a baking time of year. I think opening close to October is quite perfect. Before you know it we will be taking Thanksgiving Pie orders and serving up cinnamon/pumpkin treats galore! I have to thank all of our new fans for their interest and support, I promise the wait has been worth it and I really hope you enjoy the small little bake shop that I felt was missing from this little city that is a small town.




Speaking of pie....... I am not 100% ready to let go of summer entirely so last night I made an apple pie with local apples a friend brought me and some strawberries. Holy heaven if I don't throw the rest out all of my marathon training will be out the window.
I am a firm believer that pie should be messy, piled high and visually uneven goodness. Pie that comes out of a factory is not for me.... Did you know my dad works for Entenmann's? Love them, but I want a pie that looks like its been loved, not manicured.

Enjoy the before and afters....out of the oven and in my belly. =)

Friday & Fabulous: 71 Days, 22hrs, 51 mins.

Before my ramblings start and the point gets lost, here is my page for the MS Society- we need your help. I am running 26.2 miles in support of one of my best friends who is fighting this disease.

https://secure3.convio.net/nmss/site/Donation2?idb=1065089416&df_id=28516&FR_ID=13714&28516.donation=form1&PROXY_ID=8023003&PROXY_TYPE=20



71 Days. That is how many days till I run the NYC Marathon. I have been battling this marathon in my mind for close to 3 years now. I started running seriously in 2006 when my husband deployed to Iraq. I had to physically beat myself down to stop my mind from getting the best of me. In 2007 my best friend and I starting running a bunch of races with the New York Road Runners and in 2008 starting the 9+1 program to get guaranteed entry to the 2009 ING. Lucia got in and I got a Sofie. No regrets but 9 months of pregnancy and a c-section recovery can seriously make a runner INSANE. I cried the entire 5 hr broadcast last year and clocked Lucias progress every step of the way. It was amazing and I was SO proud of her. I busted my butt while living in Oklahoma for 9 months, ran some beautiful places got into the ING NYC Half for March 2009.... somehow... probably the Elgin, Oklahoma address got me into the 2010 lottery. This is all great and as a runner I am accomplishing all of my goals but this one is bigger this year.... Regardless of the lottery I was running this marathon with the Run for MS Team in honor of one of my best friends..... I think I wrote my reason for choosing this charity on my fundraising page so I will just quote myself again here:

"Life takes us on many different paths with many different challenges. Last year I came to find out one of my best friends since the age of 11 was diagnosed with MS. It was my first time being faced an illness like this touching someone so very close and so young. For obvious reasons, I decided to take my helpless feeling and my love of running and put them to work in her honor."


Running has helped me conquer so many fears and hopefully it will help conquer other challenges like fighting this horrible disease.

I have to say when I went to run the Half marathon I wrote a great damn blog and I think everyone should read it.

http://bakeboutiqueinc.blogspot.com/2010_03_01_archive.html