Bread: I Want To Make It With You

Ah. . . Bread.

No country in the world values bread like France. Today, bread is rarely baked inside a French home, as the country subsidizes and controls the price of their national treasure, the French baguette. You will find your daily baguette at a reasonable .99 euros at all boulangeries in France. During my last trip to Antibes, the shopkeeper wore an apron with a pocket to quickly return the one cent euro coin change. Well-prepared for high volume sales with low technology.

Bread is the origin of the word pantry, so frequently used in conversations today. The French word for bread is pain (pan) and after baking, ancient French homemakers would place the coveted poofs in a room or cupboard to retain freshness. Voila - a pantry!

Yeast is used to make bread rise, as well as making beer and wine. Cheers! Its use in making bread can be traced back to the Egyptians. Until World War II, when commercial dry yeast was introduced, bakers around the world relied on a homemade yeast or sour dough starter for their daily bread. In fact, homesteaders on the Oregon Trail carried their starter around their necks to retain its ambient temperature.

During this pandemic, dry yeast was one of the first products to go missing from grocery store shelves. That seemed like a good launching point to share my recipe for sour dough starter! You can find many recipes on the internet, but this one I made myself. It works - be patient. This uses simple ingredients, but it does take time; no muscle, just time. Flour is abundant on store shelves again so grab some whole wheat and bread flour. If possible, rye flour will be useful for future loaves to mix it up. You will need either rye or wheat with bread flour being essential in each loaf.

Sour dough starter begins with making a batch of starter called the mother. This will take 5 days to develop.

At the end of 5 days, you will test a spoonful of the mother to see if it floats. If it does, you will create a batch of leaven from the mother to use as an ingredient to make your first loaf of bread!

The mother remainder can continued to be fed for repeated baking of loaves, or it can be refrigerated and fed weekly to be kept alive for future baking. Just bring to room temp, feed over 5 days and you can create another leaven.

First, for baking it really is necessary to measure ingredients using a digital scale as shown in the photo. They cost $10-15 on Amazon. I converted the mother starter to tablespoons, so you can make that while you wait for delivery of your scale. You will love your scale! During this period, purchase your 3 types of flour mentioned above.

Here are the steps and tools:

Tools: digital scale and pot with lid to withstand 475 degree oven. Bowl or brotform to proof in refrigerator overnight, lame or sharp blade to score the loaf before baking. Link at end for Amazon proof bowl and lame like shown in photos.

Timeline:

5 days for mother starter to grow
1 day for loaf to shape and proof overnight in refrigerator
1 day to bake (actually bakes for 45-50 minutes)

Mother Starter:
Day 1
2 Tablespoons whole wheat or rye flour (best) or all purpose
4 Tablespoons bottled water NOT tap as the chemicals will prevent bacteria needed to grow.
When using a digital scale the conversion is:
25 grams flour
50 grams water

In a quart size glass jar combine above with a spoon and cover with a lid or I used a basket coffee filter. A reused plastic tub like Cool Whip works perfectly, too. Place in a dark warm place on kitchen counter on top of a towel if counter is stone or cold. You want ambient heat.

Days 2-4
At the same time each day add another 2T flour and 4T water to the jar and mix. Return to covered spot. This is called feeding the starter or mother.

Day 5
Before feeding, take a small spoon sample and drop it into a glass of room temp water. This can be from the tap but it can not be warm or cold. If the starter floats, you can start making the leaven for bread. If it drops to the bottom, feed the starter again, and repeat the test the next day. You can not make the leaven until the mother floats. It can take a day or 2 more.

Make the Leaven - early in day as it need 3 hours to rest

Once the sample floats, you will remove from the mother starter jar add these ingredients into a bowl on your digital scale. Leftover leaven can be refrigerated for later use. Just bring to room temp before repeating the recipe steps below.

25 grams of mother starter
100 grams of bottled water NO tap
50 grams bread flour
50 grams wheat OR rye flour
Combine and let sit on the counter covered for 3 hours.

Mix the Bread Dough

One loaf (double for 2)

100 grams of the leaven you just made
300 grams bread Flour
200 grams wheat or rye flour
375 grams room temp bottled water (if cool heat briefly in microwave to 98 degrees)

Mix the above measured ingredients with a spoon or your hands for 3 minutes just to consolidate all the flour and water. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes. It is very sticky. SET A TIMER.

Add at this mixing period add:
13 grams table salt
Blend the salt into the mixture by hand until you can no longer feel the grit. It is still very sticky. About 4 minutes.

Ferment Period - About 4 hours 

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set timer for 30 minutes.

When the timer goes off you will now be doing four turns of the dough inside its bowl by pulling it up onto itself. Think of it as north, south, east, west. This folding over a period of the next 2 hours is the equivalent of kneading traditional dry yeast bread. For sour dough starter bread this is called fermenting.

Second turn: After 30 minutes uncover the dough and make the 4 turns. Recover. Set timer 30 minutes. Dough will begin to be less sticky. Yeah!

Third turn: same.

Fourth turn: set the timer for 2 hours.

When the 2 hour rest period timer goes off, now you will begin the shaping process as you ready the dough to be put in the refrigerator overnight.

Remove the dough from the bowl and place on work surface. Cover with a towel and rest it 30 minutes.

Now, add some wheat flour on the surface just a little so it doesn't stick. Make 4 folds onto itself north, south, east, west. Move the blob of dough away from the edge of the surface. You will now roll the blob onto itself as you roll it toward you. You are shaping it into a very round ball keeping the dough as tight as possible. Do this about 4 times so you don't overwork the dough. You are creating air pockets inside the tight ball that will rise when you bake it.

Lightly sprinkle some flour inside the proofing bowl or the bowl you will use for overnight proofing in the refrigerator. Place the tightened dough ball inside the bowl. Cover with a towel and let it sit on counter for 30 minutes.

Put Dough to Bed

Final preparation step:
Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough ball in the brotform (shown) or bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and place the bowl in the refrigerator for 12-14 hours.

Bake the Loaf

Remove bowl dough from refrigerator and let it sit for 30 minutes while preheating oven and pot with lid on in oven at 475 degrees 30 minutes. The pot and lid need to be the same temperature as the oven before you add the dough. After 30 minutes, ease the dough onto a sheet of parchment paper so the bottom of the dough that was in the bottom of the bowl will now be the top of the bread. Gently score your dough with a lame or sharp knife in any shape you would like. This helps the bread release air pockets. If you do not score, the bread will create its own release by bursting a bit.

Quickly take out the preheated pot and cover - it will be VERY HOT and steamy when you release the top of the preheated pot so be careful. Quickly place the parchment paper with the dough on it inside the steaming pot. Close the lid and return to the 475 degree oven. Set the timer for 25 minutes. Quickly open the oven and remove the lid from the pot. Set timer for 15 minutes. At that buzzer turn the pot inside the oven and turn it 180 degrees. Set the timer for 12 minutes. When the buzzer goes off the bread is done! Allow it to cool on a rack 30 minutes before cutting.

Looks professional! Roasted artisan sour dough bread.

Samples of digital scales from Amazon see link below.

The Mother Starter must float to be ready to mix into leaven.

Measure by grams for perfect bread. So easy!

Dough after turn and resting 30 minutes.

Dough resting after 4 turns and 2 hour rest. 

Dough after rolling into a tight ball. Very little flour used.

Dough placed in brotform for overnight rest.

Dough after 25 minute bake lid just removed.

Proofing basket and lame and digital scales on Amazon when back in stock Amazon proof and lame

Go For Gourmet With Mock Chocolate Mousse Pie!

This little blog reaches folks around the world. For all of us, April has been a challenging month. Between your career duties, family obligations, and health concerns these are pressure filled days.

Beyond the obvious, most of us have been preparing our own meals non-stop for nearly two months. It is exhausting! Here is a quick, tasty, no cook, dessert that I challenge you to delegate to even the most insecure non-cooking partner OR your very young child. It is that easy!

For your next venture to the grocery store - be sure to grab prepared graham cracker crusts. These are inexpensive, versatile, take up little storage room, and they have a long shelf life. I purchased mine at the Dollar Tree back in January. I love the BAMA brand, as they are a designated bakery for McDonald's world-famous apple pies! Kudos to their female leader, Paula Marshall, a friend and author I have known for two decades. Check out the company link below. 

Keeping track of products on hand in order not to waste our precious inventory is also a new domestic job. In this recipe, I had half & half ready to expire, so I used it up. It added a depth of texture and taste to the pudding. 

Especially during these times of long days, gathering at the table to enjoy a meal should be the highlight of your day. Adding a simple, yet luxurious dessert caps the day perfectly.

Bon Appetit!

Easy Gourmet, No Cook, Mock Chocolate Mousse Pie (Serves 6)

Ingredients:

1 prepared graham cracker pie crust or prepare your own with grahams or cookies

1 small package chocolate pudding

1.5 cups milk or half & half

1 regular 8 oz container defrosted Cool Whip

Shredded chocolate for topping (optional) crumbs work, too

Method:

Prepare the pudding using only 1.5 cups of milk or half & half. Allow to thicken about 5 minutes. Take the defrosted Cool Whip and gradually, lightly add 1/2 container to the pudding to create lighter consistency using a whisk. Add the mixture to a prepared graham cracker crust. Lightly spoon remaining Cool Whip on top. Sprinkle shredded chocolate on top. Refrigerate until serving.

They will line up for Mock Chocolate Mousse Pie!

Three Ingredients + milk = YUM!

Pudding in base before topping with remaining Cool Whip.

Click here for the BAMA website for their variety of products and interesting company history:

BAMA (pie crust here)

Shakshouka For Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner

There are as many ways to spell this dish as there are countries that take credit for its origin. I am sticking with the Irish spelling. It is one country that does not claim to have invented it!

Historically, Shakshouka has roots to North Africa, which covers a large piece of geography. The word Shakshouka translates to, "all mixed up" and it is! A perfect recipe for using ingredients you likely have on hand - or - can easily substitute.

There are three ingredients that are the stars: eggs, tomatoes, and spices! I offer a general recipe below, as well as possible substitutes. Be creative, courageous, and glow in the kudos from your grateful consumers.

Despite the ideal of serving this dish with soft eggs, if you have left overs just reheat on the stove (not the microwave) and the eggs will be transformed to hard and just as delicious.


Irish Shakshouka

Ingredients: Serving of 2 people @ 2 eggs each for a total of 4 eggs, takes 20 minutes only.

In a skillet, non-stick shown here, heat up the spices. Just until warm to wake them up. If they smoke that's too much. Just remove pan from stove to reduce the heat quickly.

1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon paprika

Add:

1 Tablespoon cannola or a clear oil
1 Tablespoon dried onion or 1/2 small chopped onion
1/2 chopped green pepper
1/2 chopped red pepper (if you have or double green)
Bring to rolling bubble until peppers soften about 3 minutes

Add:
1 clove chopped garlic (adding it too soon causes overcooking and bitterness)

Cook until you smell the garlic 1 minute or less.

Add:
One 14 ounce can tomato sauce, or chopped tomatoes, or tomato with chiles. This is whatever you have on hand. I used the Hunts below, but use only 1/2 can. Bring ingredients to bubble and cook 5 minutes.

Add:

4 eggs one at a time by breaking into a bowl 1 by 1 and place in a dent in the sauce you will make with a spatula. Lower the heat slightly and cover the frying pan with a lid. Let the eggs steam for 6 minutes you want them to be soft with juice ideally. Remove from heat.

To Serve top with:
Pieces of feta, or goat cheese, or pieces of cream cheese. Add fresh herbs if you have them parsley,
basil, or anything green. Serve with toasted garlic bread or crusty Italian bread. I buy mine at Dollar Tree - 6 for $1 for Texas Toast in the frozen section.

Can you tell the cream cheese blobs from the goat cheese? Me Neither!

Tomatoes 14 oz. whatever you have on hand. Spice up if needed. I used the Hunts. 

Toast spices in dry pan to wake them up!

Add oil and dried onion.

Chopped peppers red and green or whatever you have.

Goat cheese may not be in your fridge - cream cheese chunks worked fine!

Make hole in sauce for each egg you drop in from a bowl to avoid shells.

Where did the eggs go?! Leftover sauce for squirrelly.

There's Nothing Like Gnocchi. . . Swimming in Sauce

While we join our world neighbors in hunkering down in our homes, let's look at how we can make a delicious meal using only a few ingredients on hand. This recipe uses a few potatoes, a little flour, one egg, and a jar of tomato sauce.

In Tuscany, the word gnocchi translates to knuckle. I am told the word translates in southern Italy to something more derogatory (perhaps knuckle head?). Either way, these little knuckles of pasta will elevate a traditional pasta meal to a magical event. And. . . your kids can help shape them if they are Play Doh masters!

On the other "hand," the same recipe below for gnocchi can be prepared and added to a skillet of smoked sausage, onion, and sweetened sauerkraut to become a perfect Bavarian comfort food feast. This is a versatile potato pasta that is very easy to make, and it can be used in any recipe that calls for dumplings by providing a mouthful of comfort that we all can appreciate.

As usual, please read the entire recipe first. I bought my family and friends a digital scale for Christmas, so I am providing approximate weights of potatoes and flour. Weighing is useful in cooking!!

Ingredients: (makes 2 meal servings or 4 side dish servings)

3 white potatoes cooked unpeeled about 3-4 inches in size ~14 ounces by weight (peel after cooking)
1 cup all purpose flour ~ 4 ounces
1 egg mixed in bowl before adding to mixture
1 tsp salt
small pot with lid for boiling potatoes
pot of boiling salted water for cooking gnocchi


Method:

Place 3 whole potates in a small pot with lid covered in water. Boil them about 40 minutes until soft. Remove from water and while holding each one in a dish towel, peel off the skin. You want the potatoes to remain as dry as possible so do not run under water to peel.

Chop the potatoes using the bench scraper. Add flour to potatoes to cool off and then add the egg and salt. This will create a nice mound to knead. Divide into 2 mounds. Take pieces of each mound and roll into snakes either in your hands or on work surface. Remember play doh? Same idea.

Once you have a nice width of a snake as shown, take the bench scraper again and cut into one inch "knuckles" to form a row of gnocchi. That's it! Let them sit before boiling at least 10 minutes. Just like making pancakes, the flour needs some time to absorb the liquid in the dough. Sitting is important it incorporates the tastes of the ingredients.

Place the rested gnocchi in a pot of boiling water - about 20 at a time - don't crowd. This will take 2-3 minutes only. Once they begin to float, remove with a slotted spoon. Repeat in the same boiling water until done. You can store these in the refridgerator for future use once they are boiled. You can freeze once cooled in fridge, just separate them so they don't stick together like a blob!

Shown swimming below in a jar of Bertolli Vodka Sauce. YUM!

Use 3 medium potatoes about 3-4 inches in size as shown. With peels my 3 weighed 14 ounces.

One cup flour weighs 4 ounces.

A few ingredients: salt, flour, egg, boiled potatoes.

Knead into a ball and cut in half.

Roll into a snake and cut into 1 inch knuckles. Let sit 10 minutes.

Place raw gnocchi in pot of boiling salted water. Remove when they float in pot .

Planning Focaccia Perfection

You cannot whip up a perfect focaccia by using up ingredients you think you have on hand. You will need to do a little planning ahead to make sure you have the few crucial ingredients that will make this focaccia recipe perfect.

It is not difficult or time consuming, but you do need to follow the recipe for this taste of heaven. This recipe will take 3 hours total from prep to palate, but it is EASY! Actual work time is about 30 minutes.

I have thrown away more dry yeast than I have ever cooked with. Yeast has to be fresh, so check the date on the package even at the store before you purchase it.

This recipe is based on Italian best practices, so you cannot substitute all purpose flour for the seminola or the bread flour. Seminola flour is made from durum wheat, and it is the basis of all homemade pasta created in Nonnas' kitchens in the old country. Both the bread and seminola flours contain higher levels of protein. They are readily available on your grocery shelf.

I only make this recipe using my Kitchen Aid mixer with the dough hook. So easy! The alternative is to mix by hand, build your muscles, and enjoy your sticky hands. It will work using the same time method as the machine.

Finally, a tip when making yeast dough: I let my dough rise in a plastic container not on my marble counters. I find stoneware to be a bit cold and also marble counters are cold. The cold interferes with the warmth the yeast needs to bloom during rising. I place the plastic container of rising dough on my wood butcher block or a wood cutting board placed on top of the marble counter. Toasty! It works perfectly.

Read directions before starting! 

Time estimate: 20 minutes to assemble dough and mix. 1 hour dough rising in container. 1 hour dough rises in 9 X 13 pan. 20 minutes to bake. Total prep to eat time: 3 hours.

Ingredients for One 9 X 13 pan of Focaccia:

2 cups bread flour
2 cups seminola flour
1 teaspoon sugar
2 packages dry yeast (fast acting or regular)
2 cups warm water from tap not boiled just luke warm
2 teaspoons of salt

After rising will add these ingredients for toppings:
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1.5 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoons dry oregano or rosemary or both

1 cup rough chopped plum tomatoes or cherry tomatoes halved (squeeze tomatoes in bowl to removed liquid you want them dry when added to top of dough)
1 cup olives dried or mushrooms or vegetable of your choice

Method:
Combine flours, sugar, and yeast NOT salt in mixer fitted with the dough hook stir on low just to combine. Add the warm water slowly and then mix on medium 5 minutes. Dough will be sticky. Cover bowl on the stand with plastic wrap and rest it 10 minutes.

Now add the 2 teaspoons of salt and mix the dough on medium 5 minutes. It will come together like the photo below.

Sprinkle rising container with extra virgin olive oil and with oiled hands place the dough in the plastic container to rise. Shape it in the container as a rectangle so it rising to the shape of the baking pan.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rise for 1 hour on a wood surface or someplace not cold.

Gently roll the dough into a olive oiled 9 X 13 pan that will be used for baking. Gently stretch it to fit the pan. This should be easy with your hands oiled. Try to not work the dough only touch it barely. With your pinkies make random presses into the dough, not all the way to the bottom, just to give it a slightly rugged surface.

Sprinkle the dough with the salt, oregano and toppings and more extra virgin olive oil as shown below.

Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise 1 hour while you preheat the oven.

Bake (heat oven during the second rising):

Preheat Oven to 500 degrees place a pizza stone in the oven to preheat (if you have one) or I use a cookie sheet so the 9 X 13 pan heats evenly on the bottom.

Bake 20 minutes. Remove and cool in pan 5 minutes. Remove gently from pan and cool 15 minutes.

Buon Appetito!

Dough will look like this after mixing.

Dough olive oil added placed in plastic container for 1 hour rising
covered with plastic wrap.

Looks like this after 1 hour rising. Gently move to 9X13 pan.

Add toppings and let rise again for 1 hour cover with plastic wrap.

Cooled in pan 5 minutes and moved gently
to rack for 15 minutes. Mangia!

Risotto in 30 Minutes: Yes Sir & No Stir

A perfect, creamy risotto is both elegant and elusive, which makes it a popular dish to order in a restaurant. Once you make this easy, quick recipe adapted from my cooking class in Verona, Italy, it will become a family favorite. Not only is it basically NO stir, it is NO oil! In order to create the creamy texture, you beat the rice in the pot (a process called mantecatura) which activates the starch to create the creaminess. This is a great meal for going meatless and for a hearty meal during a cold winter day.


Ingredients for Mushroom Risotto: 
Total cooking time 20-25 minutes serves 4

1.5 cups rice the very best is Acquerello brand of carnaroli rice about $15 for a 17 ounce can or arborio rice easier to find and less expensive. You can not use regular rice!!

1 cup dry white wine room temp (chenin blanc, sauvignon blanc not chardonnay).

4 cups heated chicken stock in a pot (may not use it all).

1 cup mushrooms chopped and fried in a separate pan add before serving.

Method:

In a non-stick dry frying pan at medium heat, fry the rice dry until warm. Don't brown or burn! Add the wine to the rice and stir with a spatula to mix it. Wait until all the liquid is absorbed by the rice. Keeping the chicken stock warm in the pot, using a ladle, add one or two ladles of stock to the rice. Stir to mix into rice.

Leave it to absorb, repeat this until the 4 cups of the stock are nearly completely absorbed by the rice. Test the rice before the end of the stock is used up to see if it is ready. It will have a little bite to eat not completely soft.  You may not use all the stock.

The last step is to remove the rice to a steel pot and with the ladle, beat the rice by whipping it with the ladle. It is metal on metal. Important. This will not break up the rice, just make it creamy. About 1 minute beat it. You will see it change color to creamy and the texture will become creamy. Add the mushrooms and serve! So easy.

Options: add grated cheese before serving; add a pinch of saffron to the chicken stock; or, substitute any vegetable for the mushrooms just add after the "beating."

My Creamy Mushroom Risotto no oil or cream added.

Fry chopped mushrooms separately and add to risotto before serving.

Fry dry rice until warm in non stick frying pan the large cook surface allows liquid
to absorb quickly.

After one minute beating or mantecatura.

Before the beating - no cream.

Best rice to purchase. Used in this recipe. Click here to purchase on Amazon:
Acquerello Rice on Amazon

Chinese New Year January 25 Treats, Tips, Trivia & Kunghei fatchoy!

Julia Child was fond of Chinese cuisine dating back to the 1940s when she met her husband Paul in China while working for the State Department during WWII.

Tomorrow begins the Spring Festival celebrating the year of the Rat considered to be a lucky year ahead. A huge 20% of the world's population celebrate CNY, and the holiday begins tonight with dramatic fire works displays around the world making it the largest one day fireworks display on earth! The tradition is to scare away evil spirits to make way for all good things for the year ahead.

The two week holiday concludes with the Lantern Festival on Saturday, February 8. In between families celebrate with reunion dinners bringing folks together to feast on the many tasty foods of CNY.

I was lucky enough to witness CNY first hand in Hong Kong for both the Lantern festival with its giant lighted lanterns displayed in the Kowloon park along Victoria Harbor. They are similar to the balloons shown in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on a smaller scale, yet more unique and plentiful. Gorgeous!

For the Spring Festival there is a parade in Kowloon with celebrities and amazing floats. They build stadium seating just for the parade, if you are lucky enough to purchase the limited tickets which I did in 2016 the year of the monkey. The parade broadcasts on TV, and the hosts were stationed directly in front of our viewing seats. During commerical breaks they blared out Uptown Funk, which remains a kind of happy ear worm for me!

The Cantonese greeting for CNY is: Kunghei fatchoy! (pronounced: Gung Hay Fat Choy)

Here are some fun food and tips to ensure you have a prosperous and auspicious CNY.

• It is good luck to give red envelopes of money to family and friends.
• You should clean your home thoroughly before CNY to allow good luck to enter.
• Do not clean on the first and second day of CNY or you will be sweeping the good luck just acquired away!
• Wear red colored clothing, not black or white during the first two days those colors are associated with mourning.
• Purchase a new broom for the new year - makes a great gift, too.
• Eating a whole fish symbolizes abundance.
• Serving and eating dumplings is considered to resemble coins so pile them up!
• Mandarin oranges are popular decorations and food as they are round and gold colored like coins, too.
• Avoid being ill or the victim of crime during the holiday or it means you are up to a challenging year ahead.

Here is a delicious, easy Chicken Fried Rice Recipe from Chef Ken Hom, from Chicago and restaurateur and TV celebrity in London:

Link to recipe courtesy of The Telegraph: Ken Hom Chicken Fried Rice Recipe

For a great traditional dessert, I share again the pineapple tarts from author Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, from my blog from last year's celebration.  Her amazing book about Singapore with recipes can be purchased on Amazon, A Tiger in the Kitchen. Click here to order Cheryl's book

Pineapple Tarts Recipe in this Blog

Kunghei fatchoy Everyone!

And. . . Bon Appetit!

CNY Greeting from Disney HKG

Hong Kong Fireworks CNY 2016

One of the many HKG malls decorated for CNY

One of the floats in the CNY parade.

Viewers Choice: The Best of 2019

I email a link to this Blog to fewer than 40 people whenever there is an update. I am amazed that this Blog has had 2,500 views in less than one year! Thank you - especially to those who continue to forward my email to friends and family.

In the fall of 2018, I was lucky enough to spend a week in Julia Child's cottage in Provence, France cooking, shopping at markets, laughing, and eating with a small group of five complete strangers from Chicago who quickly became my new, lifetime friends. Serendipity. That experience became the impetus for writing this Blog for people who like to travel, cook, and eat!

Julia Child's Cottage in Provence, France.

Thanks to Google analytics, I can track the most viewed posts, and here are the FIVE most viewed postings from 2019. They are linked by clicking on the orange text, so you can easily view them again, and again, and again!

MOST VIEWED POSTINGS 2019

1.  One the few recipes reliant on alcohol (hint to self), this was the #1 most viewed posting since last March. Also includes a no-bake Oreo cookie based Baileys dessert. My Irish relatives are proud! Baileys Irish Cream Brownies


2.  I am pleased that this post on Julia's $1 cooking tool was the #2 most viewed post! In fact, I just bought 11 more of these wonders over Christmas to give away - $11 only!  Julia Child's Must Have $1 Kitchen Tool


3.  In a non-traditional approach, this posting focused on What Not To Do when making the all time favorite Rice Crispy Treats! Tricky Rice Crispy Treats


4.  Clearly everyone loves cream puffs - so easy! French Spin: Italian Zeppoles or Cream Puffs


5.  Last but not Least - Julia Child's Perfect Omelette includes a video link to see her make this recipe! Julia Child Making the Perfect French Omelette with recipe

Thank you for following this Blog, as we continue Meandering Around the World Channeling Julia Child. . . and having fun! I am looking forward to sharing more fun food related tips in 2020.

Bonne Année and Bon Appétit!!

Cranberry Blessed Bars Better Than Starbucks

One of the best tastes of the Christmas and Hanukkah holiday seasons is the arrival of the coveted Cranberry Bliss Bars at Starbucks. The cost of a tiny triangle puts the kibosh on any idea of ordering a decent family-size serving. With that challenge in mind, I set out to recreate this delicious bar at an affordable price. I knew I was on the right track when I found a 5 pound Flintstones size bag of dried cranberries on sale for $5 at Costco, of course! Yes, I bought 2 bags.

The Starbucks version relies on a cream cheese base, which I think is impractical for adding to kids lunch boxes, since it requires refrigeration. The recipe below borrows from the familiar Magic Layer Cookies of old, and they are delicious. They look similar to the Starbucks version by using white chocolate chips both whole and melted. Easy. Tasty. Timeless.

Cranberry Blessed Bars

Preheat Oven 350 bake 20-25 minutes makes 24 or fewer if cut larger.
Must: line pan with parchment paper in order to cut into bars!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups crushed graham crackers about 28
1 stick melted butter
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup walnuts (can eliminate if needed)
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 can 14 oz sweetened condensed milk

Topping:

For decorating when cooled out of oven
1/4 cup white chocolate chips melted in a baggie inside a bowl then clip a corner to stream out.

Substitutes:

Can add 1 cup of coconut. Can remove nuts.


Method:

Place parchment paper in a 9 X 13 pan. Spray with non-stick oil.
Melt butter in a pan and add the crushed graham crackers. Mix and move that mixture to the 9 X 13 pan. Sprinkle cranberries, walnuts, and white chips on top of graham crackers. Pour entire can of sweetened condensed milk over all.

Bake in preheated oven 20 - 25 minutes or less if it starts to brown. You don't want it to brown that is too much caramelization.

Remove from oven and cool. When cool removed from pan in one piece using the parchment paper. Then decorate the top using the melted white chips by streaming from the cut baggie. Alternatively, you can melt the chips in a bowl and drizzle by using a fork. You want a small stream affect as seen in this photo.

Cut 4 rows across and 6 down using a sharp serrated knife or 3 across and 6 down for larger serving. I used a bread knife. OR to mimick the Starbucks version cut the larger bars into triangles. The design part you can control!

Bon appetit!

When in Verona: Marry Christmas: Just Like Romeo & Juliet

Ready to start the holidays celebrating peace on earth good will towards men and women?

Listen to this brief 4 minute recording to lighten your heart, as we prepare for this special season of love and kindness:

From National Public Radio, The World, November 2019

Letters to Juliet click below:

Brief Radio Interview Dr. Donna Blanchard Curin and others

Where the magic happens.

Letters coming and going.

Thanksgiving Here, There and NOT Everywhere

My first visit to Ireland was during Thanksgiving, and I celebrated the occasion with my son over a delicious Italian feast at a small restaurant called Kitty's Kaboodle on Merrion Row. It was near the famous O'Donoghue's Bar. Turkey was not on the menu. Thanksgiving isn't celebrated on the Emerald Isle or most of the world outside North America. We used the occasion to make hand traced turkeys to decorate the paper tablecloth the aged photo is included below.

Despite the important role pilgrims have in our feast history, Americans probably owe credit for the Thanksgiving celebration to our neighbors to the north. Canadians have been celebrating their Thanksgiving feast since the 1500s. Rooted in a religious harvest influenced by early French settlers, the holiday, held on the second Monday of October, was made an official public holiday in 1957. Unlike our Eve of Black Friday celebration, shopping is not part of the Canadian tradition.

For Canadians, the meal is quite similar to the state-side version with turkey or ham and plentiful harvest vegetables. The tradition allows folks to celebrate the Thanksgiving meal on any of the three weekend days in contrast to our single day focus. A distinct addition to the Canadian menu is the inclusion of maple syrup in their recipes. YUM! EY?

Your family may not be ready for a maple syrup glaze on your turkey, so try incorporating my pumpkin maple bread with maple topping. This bread can be made a few days before Thanksgiving just refrigerate it. This is perfect dessert to serve to people who are not fond of traditional pumpkin pie. It is delicious and attractive as shown below!

Most people bake sweet breads in a 9 X 5 pan, but I use a 12 X 4 pan shown below. These pans are hard to find in stores, but Amazon can deliver this to you quickly. The larger pan produces slices for a perfect size serving unlike the smaller pan that I cut slices in half. And, you get more slices! You will love this pan! I keep the baking time the same for both pans, but check the bread 10 minutes before the end time in case the larger pan bakes faster.

Pumpkin Maple Bread (one loaf)

READ RECIPE FIRST

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Bake 1 hour 15 minutes. Done when toothpick inserted in middle is dry.

Ingredients:

Streusel for top before baking:
1/2 stick of butter at room temp (1/4 cup)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Bread:
1 can 15 ounces pure pumpkin
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup (100% Canadian preferred, Vermont good)
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup vegetable oil (canola preferred)

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup milk at room temp

Glaze for when bread comes out of oven:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup

Method:
Mix the streusel with a fork keeping it lumpy cut in butter like pie crust mix. If it blends too much put in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. It should look like a crumb as in photo. Set aside.

In a bowl blend first 6 ingredients with a hand-held mixer until blended. In another bowl whisk flour and 5 ingredients.

Add dry ingredients to the liquid by alternating the additon of the milk.

Prepared bread pan by adding a sheet of parchment paper and spray with nonstick oil.

Add mixture to pan. Sprinkle the streusel to the top of the mixture. Move to preheated oven.

Bake 1 hour 15 minutes.

While baking, make the maple glaze and sprinkle on top of the hot bread. Cool bread in pan 30 minutes. Lift out and cool completely before serving. Refrigerate any leftovers. Keeps for days.

Use pure maple syrup.

Add maple glaze to top when hot out of oven. Gorgeous!!

Purchase the 12 X 4 pan on Amazon here priced for 2 pans. 

This handprint now cuddles his 7 month old daughter. Paper tablecloth from
 Kitty's Kaboodle 2001. Happy Turkey Day Everyone!