The Bliss Point

Salted caramel, peanut butter and jelly, chocolate pretzels.  You've probably realized on some level that when you pair salty and sweet together you strike the perfect balance of flavors... but did you ever wonder why?

The answer is, as usual, science.  Studies have shown that the sugar receptors on your taste buds are activated when salt accompanies sugar.  When researchers formulate food products they utilize this phenomenon (aptly named the "bliss point"), to create junk foods that harmoniously combine salt, sugar, and fat.  Even so, my favorite healthy snack is a marriage of homegrown figs, goat cheese, and crispy rosemary and raisin crackers.  Try it out!  I guarantee that you won't be disappointed.

Just call me Little Miss Figgy.

You can learn more about the bliss point in this article published in the New York Times.

Strawberry Rhubarb Vodka

LCOHOL IS SO universally loved it that really does not need PR.  My friend made a quiz that calculates how much your vices stack up to be every year and I was blown away by my results.  My booze spendings were exorbitant enough to make me want to drown my sorrows that very instant (those bastards tend to float though).

After I was done letting out a string of expletives, I resolved to make some changes.  For one thing I've started taking wheatgrass shots (non-alcoholic, in case that wasn't clear).  This wake-up call to my wallet also helped me cut down to avoid getting gouged so heavily at bars, and I decided to begin making beverages at home to share with friends.

Last weekend I bought the biggest bottle of Vodka I've ever seen in my life from where else but Costco, and tried my hand at a refreshing strawberry rhubarb-infused vodka.

Better for my savings account but more detrimental to my liver.

INGREDIENTS - Makes about 6-8 oz Vodka 

• 1 1/2 cup quartered strawberries
• 1 cup rhubarb, 1/4 inch slices
• 2 cups Vodka

DIRECTIONS

Place rhubarb, strawberry, and vodka in a jar and refrigerate. I used a vintage Vodka decanter which had the perfect opening to keep the fruit contained when straining the mixture. Take care to give the jar a shake a couple of times every day for 5 days. 

After straining the strawberry/rhubarb out, combine the vodka with whatever you'd like!  We enjoyed it with a splash of grapefruit juice, a spritz of lime juice, and muddled mint leaves.

Banana Caramel Cupcakes

HEY SAY there's a reason people from your past don't make it to your future.  I try not to dwell on the reason when it's one that causes pain.  For the past few months I've been working hard not to let the darkness define me, instead striving to become a source of light.  I have been trying to actively focus on the current moment and the positives because there is so much to smile about.

Up until recently, the personal struggles I've been grappling with have felt inescapable, consuming most of my thoughts and creeping into my subconscious.  You'd think that if you let go of something toxic that it'd be easy to move on, but then grief always catches me off guard.  

Even though there are still difficult days where I feel like I'm relapsing, most days I feel like I am making progress because I still gained a lot when I lost.  Over time, the clarity that truth provides has given me a renewed sense of self-worth and optimism.  I feel good about not taking the easy route that troubled people often do, ignoring logic and reasoning for the temporary and illusionary psychological comfort of the status quo.

In the time spent away from blogging I took greater interest in many activities that slowly helped bring me back to feeling like me.  Yoga has been and remains one of the most influential.  It teaches appreciation for the journey rather than the destination; it dissolves the ego and allows us to enjoy the beauty that surrounds us if only we took the time to look for it.

My months have been filled with lots of loyal friends, new faces, and countless fun activities: live concerts, comedy shows, parties and gatherings, poetry readings, basketball games, photography, and most recently a return to the kitchen.  I feel ready to re-immerse myself again after taking some time out to reflect and pursue other interests.

CUPCAKE INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 3 pureed bananas
• ½ cup sour cream
• 3 tbsp dark rum
• 1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
• 4 oz. butter, room temperature
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• banana chips for garnish

CUPCAKE DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Combine dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients (pureed bananas, sour cream, rum and vanilla extract) in another.
3. Beat butter until smooth and add sugars slowly until creamy. Add eggs one at a time and mix after each addition. Then alternatively add dry ingredients and wet ingredients, starting and ending with the dry mixture. Do not overbeat!
4. Fill mini cupcake pan until ¾ full. Pop into oven to bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

CARAMEL FROSTING INGREDIENTS

• 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
• ½ cup water
• 6 oz unsalted butter at room temperature
• ¼ cup sour cream
• 2 tbsp rum
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp sea salt
• 16 oz. cream cheese at room temperature

FROSTING DIRECTIONS

1. Mix sugar and water in a saucepan, cooking on medium high heat until sugar dissolves. Then raise heat and let the mixture boil. Do not stir. 
2. When the sugar is a deep amber (took approximately 20 minutes for me), remove immediately and stir in butter sour cream, vanilla extract, rum, and salt. Let cool.
3. In your stand mixer, beat the cream cheese until it's smooth and beat in the caramel.
4. Place in refrigerator until firm enough to pipe. Overnight is a good choice, or freezer if you want to expedite the process.
5. Frost and garnish with banana chips. Eat immediately! :)

Banana chip on top.

Once In A Blue Moon (Cupcakes)

T FELT LIKE I hadn't made cupcakes in ages until my friend Rachel and I planned to make Blue Moon flavored cupcakes. The combination of wheat, honey and citrus-y notes that Blue Moon offers are so refreshing and make it one of the few beers I never really get sick of. I was very intrigued by the idea of a cupcake with this flavor and consequently pretty thrilled to make them.

To accomodate Nick's veganism, we opted for a cream cheese-less frosting, but if you don't have these dietary restrictions, I say use regular cream cheese!

CUPCAKE INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cups Earth Balance butter (room temp)
• 3 eggs
• 2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp orange zest (reserve a little bit extra for garnish)
• 1 cup Blue Moon
• 1/4 cup soy milk
• orange wedges (garnish)

FROSTING INGREDIENTS

• 12 oz Tofutti vegan cream cheese
• 6 tbsp Earth Balance butter
• 1 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1 tsp orange zest
• 5 cups powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine dry ingredients in one bowl: flour, baking powder, and salt. Combine milk and Blue Moon in another bowl. Beat together softened butter and sugar until fluffy. 
2. Add eggs one at a time to butter/sugar mixture and then vanilla and orange zest. Then add milk/Blue moon mixture alternating with dry ingredients to the creamed butter/sugar.
3. Fill cupcake liners 2/3rd full and bake at 375 degrees. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden.
4. For the frosting, first cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add orange juice, zest, and powdered sugar until smooth.
5. Apply frosting to cupcakes with a knife once cupcakes have cooled. Garnish with orange wedge and orange zest.

Petite Raspberry Tarts

OW DID MY MOM get me to eat healthy food when I was younger? She quickly learned that it would be a losing battle to use force. There was no point in forbidding me to leave the dinner table until I ate my veggies because I would let them sit in my mouth for hours, leaving her feeling pretty defeated. But being the resilient person my mom is, she found new ways.

I am very conscious of what I eat now that I am older, and I accredit that largely to my mom. She made me realize that there's a pretty direct (seemingly obvious) correlation between what you eat and how you feel. With fruit, she got me hooked with some of the most irresistible berries nature has to offer—raspberries. Not only did I enjoy their sweet and sometimes subtle tartness, I enjoyed eating them the way Amelie did. My boyfriend and I love putting them on our cereal, eating them by the handful, and lately, on top of tarts and in pies.

Raspberry Tart Heaven

I took a stab at making a vegan raspberry tart for my boyfriend's birthday. I had a bit of difficulty with the pie crust, but the trick I learned is not to overdo it on the kneading. You want to work the dough as little as possible while still forming its shape. Sounds paradoxical but it'll make sense once you get to trying it for yourself.

TART CRUST INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup Earth Balance Butter (Vegan)
• Several tablespoons ice water

TART FILLING INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 Package Soft Silken Tofu
• 2 teaspoons Lemon Juice
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 4 Tablespoons Confectioners Sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 Tablespoons Soy Milk

INSTRUCTIONS
1. For crust: mix flour and salt. Cut in vegan butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. One tablespoon at a time, add ice water and mix until the dough holds together. (Don't overdo this step!) Form into a ball, cover in saran wrap, and place in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

2. Remove dough from fridge and roll out to 1/8 inch thick. Fill tart pan with crust and score bottom of the dough to prevent air bubbles from forming.

3. For filling: combine all ingredients in food processor and pulse until smooth. After baking tarts at 400° for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown, spoon filling into shells and top with raspberries. Return to fridge to set.

If you're feeling more ambitious than I was, you can also make a chocolate ganache to top over the chilled filling, or sprinkle chocolate shavings on top. Can't go wrong with either!

Thanks for reading,
Margaret

For My Mother Theresa

EAR-ROUND APPRECIATION is something my mom deserves simply because she is an amazing person. She amazes me with her resilience, kindness, optimism and her incredible ability to nag non-stop. I'm also amazed by how silly she can be—she sends text messages to my dad asking, "Do you want a snake?" because she thinks that's how you spell 'snack'. Yep, she can diffuse any situation with her silliness.

She also bears an uncanny similarity to Mother Theresa in every almost every way: she is way too nice and has superhuman powers when it comes to multi-tasking (working 9 hour days, cooking, cleaning, laundry, taking her kids to doctor appointments/school/visit friends, taking my grandparents places, grocery shopping)... umm, is she a saint?

My sister and I had the idea of making casual breakfast foods in dressed-up ways. I couldn't think of anything too visually spectacular, but with the idea of daisy eggs in toast, I'd say breakfast foods vaulted from forlorn to pretty darn fantastic in my book.

On the menu for Momma, there was...

DAISY EGGS IN TOAST

Directions:

1. Using a flower-shaped cookie cutter, cut out the center of a slice of bread.
2. Toast the bread, then fit cookie cutter coated with cooking spray in the center of the bread. 
3. Crack an egg into cutter. Cover your pan and cook for 2-3 minutes, then let cool and remove cookie cutter. (You can use a toothpick to loosen the egg if you have problems with sticking.)

ROASTED FENNEL AND CITRUS SALAD (my sister's recipe)

Salad Ingredients:

• 2 bulbs of fennel, cut into 1/2 inch strips and roasted
• 2 oranges, cut into wedges without pith
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 4 cups mix of spring greens and spinach
• 6 leaves mint
• 1/2 cup walnuts, *optional

Vinaigrette Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup juice from orange
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/8 cup balsamic vinegar

 

Directions:

1. Trim the fennel bulb. Cut into slices about 1/2 inch thick. 
2. Roast fennel at 350° for 20-30 min. until translucent and caramelized.
3. Remove the skin of the oranges with a sharp knife, taking care to remove all the white pith from the fruit. Cut out the orange sections and squeeze the orange juice for the vinaigrette.
4. Slice the onion and mint into ribbons, and scatter walnuts on top of combined ingredients. 
5. Whisk olive oil and vinegar into orange juice.
6. Drizzle vinaigrette on salad and serve.

LEMON SOUFFLE

Ingredients:

• 8 lemons
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Directions:

1. Cut 1/5 of the tip of a lemon off and make sure it sits level. Do the same with the top of each lemon, and save the tops for caps.
2. Scoop out the pulp of the lemon with a melon baller or spoon, and squeeze the juice for later. Repeat with all lemons. Put shells on a sheet lined with parchment paper and place on baking sheet.
3. Separate egg yolks and whites. Combine egg yolks, sugar, flour and 1/4 cup lemon juice in a heat-proof bowl. Whisk the mixture on a medium speed for about 3 minutes until it becomes a light yellow. Using a double boiler, beat for 5-7 minutes until thick. Take the bowl off the double boiler and beat on a medium speed until cool (8-10 minutes).
4. Combine egg whites and 1/4 cup sugar in a new bowl. Using a double boiler, stir until the sugar is dissolved. Remove the bowl and beat on low speed until very frothy. Gradually use a faster speed until the meringue holds soft peaks. Do this for about 2-3 minutes and do not overbeat.    
5. Whisk 1/3 of the meringue from Step 4 into the mixture from Step 3. Pour this mixture into the lemon shells. Heat oven to 350°, and put sheet into oven. Remove from the oven after 10-15 minutes when meringue has puffed up and is slightly golden. Put caps on each lemon and serve immediately!

Happy Mother's Day!
XO // MARGARET

The Pineapple Purse

Y WEAKNESS for bags that resemble food and/or are sparkly  is pretty transparent, even to people who have only known me for a few months. Fortunately my raccoon-like nature is not lost upon them and makes gift-hunting for me a cinch—my presents usually involve some sort of shiny bauble or tasty morsel, and if I'm lucky, a combination of the two.

As you can imagine, I was pretty thrilled to see that I am not alone: I stumbled upon this fortune cookie coin purse made out of recycled leather last week, and most recently, this pineapple coin purse from Kate Spade.

 So shiny. So delicious. I want.

Available from katepsade.com for $95, this tropical sparkler is oh-so-cute. Did I also mention it is ready for purchase? My birthday is in November so you have a few months to save up. ;-)

xo,

margaret

Let Him Eat Strawberry Cake

ESSERTS DON'T go well with New Year's resolutions, unless you resolve to eat them. For 2011, I've resolved to bake a birthday cake a month, starting with my dad's 60th birthday this weekend. My dad is a devout Dr. Oz worshiper but also has a hard time resisting dessert, so I knew he would have no qualms digging into a healthier strawberry cake covered in (not so healthy) vanilla glaze.

Yes, I'm aware the cake looks like it was designed for a 12-year-old girl, but he still loved it. I am going to tweak this recipe a little more because it's not quite as light as I would like. Please let me know if you have any changes to suggest! :-) Also, from this point on I'll be formatting my recipes on download-able cards. Just right click, select "Save Image as..." and enjoy!

DIRECTIONS

1. Beat softened margarine, sugar, and strawberry gelatin together. Then, separating yolks and whites, mix eggs in little by little. Mix remaining dry ingredients flour and baking powder. Alternate flour mixture with milk into the batter, then blend in vanilla and strawberry purée (make sure to add a little bit of water/milk to your strawberries before puréeing).
2. Grease and flour your cake pans. I used the recipe with two round 8" cake pans (to create a 2 layer cake), but I think 9" would work easily too. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

xoxo, margaret

Cocktails & Countdowns

ART OF THE FUN (OK, almost all of it) about New Year celebrations is drinking bubbly. Usually I pass on champagne because I find it to be too bland. It's not that I have it too much; in fact I rarely drink sparkling wine or any of the fancy schmancy stuff. For the holidays, I like to use flavored liqueurs and champagne to make glittering drinks... so for those of you eager to label me a lush, put a cork in it! ;-)

DRYNESS & SWEETNESS SIMPLIFIED:

This is a Strawberry cocktail that uses demi-sec wine (although any sparkling wine will do, really). It's fruity and delicious!

INGREDIENTS

• 4 fresh strawberries for garnish, 4 hulled and diced strawberries, distributed evenly
• 4 teaspoons grenadine syrup
• 4 ounces strawberry liqueur
• 1 bottle sparkling wine, demi-secs pair well with desserts (and strawberries!)  

Photo source unknown--but I will attribute if it's yours!

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011. Be happy and safe everyone!

love,

M A R G A R E T