The grass is greener....

Ever been to Assateague? I only surfed it once during my random summer spent in Ocean City, MD, but I think about it often. It is a beach inhabited with wild ponies. They run the show. If they want to trample your towel and eat from your cooler, chomp on your beer cans and whinny all over your folding chair, then move over. I remember watching it from the line up and my jaw nearly dropped in excitement. The reason I recall that day, other than the territorial animals, is because I lived every moment as it came along. Each wave. Each conversation with my girlfriend surfing with me. The clouds. The air (chilly!). And the horrified look on a middle-aged woman's face as a proud pony snorted in her face and stomped on her woven sunhat and rattan beach bag, only to run off with its friends and start an all out stampede.

Sometimes we focus so much on what's to come, we forget to look at what we're actually doing. I am definitely guilty of that right now. I find myself constantly planning ahead, looking to tomorrow, next week, month, and so forth. But what about now? I had to tune back in today. I've been on autopilot. I've noticed it even more since I moved to Orlando. Now when I go to the beach, almost every weekend, I want to spend every minute like it's an hour, and you'll often hear me saying jokingly it's the best day of my life. But when I lived on the beach, I was unhappy, unsettled, and felt like I was wasting my potential... And the cycle continues....and so the grass is greener always it seems. I'm sure I'm not the only one with this habit.

It doesn't help that I've been in a Bread and Viennoiserie class for over a month. The concept of breadmaking is "hurry up and wait." Three and a half hours of this. Make your dough, let it proof, fold it, scale it, rest it, shape it, proof it and so on. I miss baking little sweet treats! Atleast we made puff pastry and did some different formations. There is a lot of photos because I have waited until now to post all the bread pictures. I figured it wasn't that exciting but maybe someone will be fascinated by it. In that case, feel free to drop me a line and I'll tell you all my bread secrets.

This is our main bread oven. I wish I had a single oven this wide in my house. Maybe one day.

J'aime des baguettes.

 

White pan bread at its finest, aka white mountain bread if you shop at Publix.

 

Fresh sage, garlic, and rock salt epi formation with baguette dough.

And now in a fougasse (foo-gahz) formation.

And we made brick oven pizzas. I let my partner put meat on the pizza because I wasn't going to eat it.

Rosemary and rock salt focaccia.

Swirled pumpernickel loaf.

 Pain de campagne. Sounds fancy, tastes pretty standard. Contains animal fat. Meh.

 Ciabatta! Mussels marinara anyone?

 Soft rolls in several formations.

 Amish pretzels... they have little fu-man-chu mustaches..

Black sesame, poppyseed, and coarse salt bagels.

Apple cinnamon coffee cakes, double chocolate chip muffins, and cranberry chocolate scones.

Strawberry boulee formations of puff pastry.

Apple or guava turnovers.

Puff pastry pinwheels.

Rosemary olive oil cake with bittersweet chocolate chunks. I can't take credit for this one. I made it from Heidi Swanson's 101 cookbooks website. It smelled divine.

 Challah bread. Pronounced Hollllllaaa... Can I holla atchu?

 

And finally my brie en croute from outer space. My fluted round details on top really blew up. In hind site, a simple handcrafted leaf would have been better. But I am fond of my little cheese pastry martian.

And now, only 2 weeks left until my "summer break" which lasts 10 days. Can't wait to lounge in my bikini for the entire duration, slam coconut waters, use the ocean as a shower and live like an island child, because that's who I am.

Growing up in an Italian family, my grandfather always stressed the importance of your word being your bond. As promised, I am back today with some sub-par pictures and quite extraordinary recipe for a key lime cheesecake. Grandpa Ted would be proud. He has always had the biggest sweet tooth in the family. I guess that means I come in second place! This cheesecake, as mentioned in the last post, was for my buddy Luke. When I asked him what he wanted me to bake him for his birthday, he was torn between a cheesecake and a key lime pie. Naturally, the best answer was to combine the two. Who cares if it's November! Off I went to Harris Teeter to collect all the necessary ingredients, plus some amazing vegan eggnog that I was determined to combine with Goldschlager and Cafe Rica (coffee liqueur from Costa Rica) as soon as the baking began.

With my almost Christmas-like cocktail in hand, I set up my iPod dock in the kitchen, set my playlist, and got to baking a summer-like dessert.. and I think it's fall? Who knows..

Key Lime Cheesecake



You will need a springform pan. Just go ahead and buy one. It's worth it.



For the crust:

2 c graham crackers crushed
1/4 c turbinado sugar
1/2 c (1 stick) butter melted

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Add the crushed graham crackers to a bowl with the sugar. Pour the melted butter on top and mix until crumbly and combined. Press the crust mixture onto the bottom of the springform pan. You can go up on the sides a bit if you like, but I like to just have it on the bottom so it's a little thicker.

Bake for 8-10 minutes then let it cool completely. In this time you can go ahead and make the filling.

For the filling:

3 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese
1 1/4 c sugar
6 large eggs, separated
8 oz sour cream
1 1/2 tsp key lime zest
1/2 c key lime juice

Beat the cream cheese with a hand held mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and continue to beat the cream mixture. If the cream cheese is room temperature this is all a LOT easier... Just sayin'..

Separate your eggs. Add the yolks one at a time while the mixer is going. Add in the sour cream, lime zest, and juice. If you like your cheesecake really dense, just beat until combined. I like mine to have a lighter, airy texture, so I continue to beat mine much longer than needed to add the air inside.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Yes, it takes longer than I'd like it to, but it's worth it. When stiff peaks form, FOLD it into the cheesecake mixture.

Pour the mix on top of the cooled crust in the springform pan. Bake for 1 hour and 5 minutes. Turn off the oven and let it sit for another 15 minutes. Pop it in the fridge overnight for better results.

So that's it! You're welcome.



Oh and make sure to listen to this song while you're baking:

Easter has come and gone! Thank goodness because I was counting down the days to a much anticipated Easter brunch with my best girls. This day was to include fancy hats, long dresses, and lots of mimosas. Oh, and making an outstanding brunch of course. We decided that Sarah would make a vegetable mini quiches, Jocelyn would make banana bread, and I would make blueberry cheesecake. These were all vegan too! It was a challenge. I did not get any pictures of the blueberry cheesecake, as it went very quickly. We liked it so much we had some before the quiche and after as dessert.




The day went by faster than I would have liked. It started out at Sarah's with mimosas. We put frozen strawberries on the bottom of our flutes and used a mango-orange juice to kick it up a notch. It was a very striking cocktail. When we ran out (which didn't take long) we switched it up to Absolut Peach with the mango-orange juice plus a bit of soda water. We packed it all in my lovely picnic basket and took the cocktails to Colonial Lake to people watch and hopefully not get in trouble with the cops for drinking in public. In our hats and flowing dresses, we brought the party to the lake. Each person that approached us made a comment on our hats. My favorite was from a homeless man who told us we looked like flowers. We all agreed and tried to pick flower names. Somehow, I ended up being "coon-tail" which is not a flower, nor does that nick name even apply to that day (long story).



More pictures to come.... but until then.. here is the recipe for the blueberry cheesecake.


Blueberry Cheesecake for a Vegan Brunch

Filling:

16 oz Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese
1 c raw sugar
1/4 c vegan butter, such as Earth Balance
3/4 bag frozen blueberries or about 3 cups fresh
4 tbsp Kuzu Root*

Crust:

1 package of vanilla snaps
1/2 cup vegan butter
1/2 cup barley or other crunchy cereal/granola (I use Grapenuts)

Blueberry Compote (spoon over cheesecake when serving)

The rest of the frozen blueberries or about a cup of fresh
1/4 cup coconut milk
2 tbsp kuzu root*
1/4 c raw sugar

* Kuzu root is a vegan replacement for gelatin that works as a thickener. You should be able to buy it at a health food store or Whole Foods. Try not to use gelatin anyway, it's made from animal bones and horse hooves. Gross.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Begin by combining the butter and sugar in a bowl. Whipping with a hand-held mixer gives the creamiest results. Gradually beat in the cream cheese, one package at a time. In a separate bowl, add 2 tablespoons water for each tablespoon of Kuzu root. Mix in the kuzu, then water, and so on in a separate bowl until it is a white, liquidy mixture. It should be fairly runny. Add the kuzu mixture and beat until smooth. Fold in the blueberries until just combined. Set aside. This can be made in advance and stored in the fridge all day if necessary.

To make the crust, crush the vanilla snaps in a food processor until some pieces are very small and there are a few bigger chunks. I feel this makes for a crunchier crust, but if you like it smaller, feel free to grind away. Melt the butter and combine with the cookies in a bowl. Add the Grapenuts, or whatever you decide to use. You may need a bit more butter, so feel free to ad-lib.

Press crust into a greased springform pan or if you don't have one, a glass brownie pan works great too. Pour in cheesecake mixture and place in center rack in oven for 30-45 minutes, checking it at 30 minutes.

Now in a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the extra blueberries and sugar. When the sugar and blueberries melt together a bit, add the coconut milk. You want to just use the thick coconut cream on the top of the can, using only a little liquid from the bottom. It will make for a creamier mixture. In a separate bowl, whisk together kuzu root with water. Gradually stir in the kuzu root with a whisk. The mixture should start to thicken after a few minutes. The heat activates the kuzu root, so if you want a thicker mixture, use higher heat- but don't burn it!!!!

Let cheesecake cool overnight for best results. Reheat the blueberry compote and spoon it over the cheesecake before serving. So ridiculously good... I promise. ;)

So I have been quite busy lately... but with the warm weather, my friend Sarah and I decided to make a Mexican (vegan) feast. Although I'm not vegan, just merely a vegetarian who will never give up fish, cooking vegan has opened my eyes to so many delicious recipes with fresher ingredients. Okay, so we may have used some black beans in cans... but really fresh otherwise. Especially because Sarah grows her own vegetables... I envy her.. although I don't have yard. We also, at my request, made a huge bowl of sangria! I knew it was going down that night. I knew I'd be riding my bike places one shouldn't ride their bike completely content and full of sangria.






I think Sangria is one of the best things to drink in the spring. I just went to the grocery store and went wild thinking about things to put in it. Here is my recipe:

Fiesta Sangria Especial

1 big bottle of red wine (rioja is preferred)
2 cups valencia orange juice
2 red delicious apples
2 oranges
2 boxes of strawberries


That is a scaled down, weekday version. If you want to get extra wild, consider adding a cup of white rum, peach flavored vodka, triple sec, or a limon vodka. We made our enchiladas really spicy so the sangria always goes quick!



We used fake meat crumbles, jalapenos, corn, black beans, red onion, cilantro, tomatoes, and olives as the filling. We covered it in vegan "cheese". It's easily some of the best enchiladas I've ever had! So when people if we (vegan and veggie) ever get tired of eating salad all day, rather than hit them in the mouth, maybe I'll send them a link to this blog. That could keep me out of trouble... for awhile.