HBin5 Challenge - Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

I love sandwich bread.  Ok, that's not exactly true.  I love grilled cheese sandwiches, which happens to use sandwich breads. I was really excited about this particular challenge because it was a win-win situation. I got to learn to make a whole wheat sandwich bread and got to eat a grilled cheese sandwich on top of it [yeah, yeah...i'm trying to eat healthier this year...but really, WHOLE WHEAT...and Dairy/Calcium.  That's healthy, right? Don't tell me otherwise, I'm not listening].  

So since I am trying to pretend like I'm eating healthier, I opted to make a gruyere and turkey sandwich on the whole wheat bread. I threw in some cranberries and some arugula from my garden.  It made a great dinner!

Sesame Soy Chicken Salad

I have to admit, my cousin's wife [who IS Chinese] makes the best Chinese chicken salad. Ever. No question. In spite of having the recipe, I can't seem to make it like she does.  I think she's holding out on some secret ingredient.  Some day, I promise to share this crack like salad with you guys...but not just yet.

A close second to this dressing is one that I normally use for my somen salad - Sesame Soy Chicken Salad Dressing Recipe. Because I'm trying to lose some post holiday weight, I've decided to play with the recipe a bit and cut out the fried wonton skins and maifun [it really DOES make the salad] but feel free to put it back in!

Lettuce greens of your choosing

arugula [I took some from my garden]

carrots

dried cranberries

slivered almonds

Chicken breast, shredded

Dressing Recipe:

1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil [i used canola]
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tsp salt
6 Tbsp vinegar [i used rice wine vinegar but any white vinegar will do]
1/4 cup white sesame seeds, toasted
2 tsp sesame oil

mix together ingredients until combined and sugar is melted. Toss over salad ingredients listed above.

Healthy Bread in 5; Bread Braid : Epi and Spicy Crackers

I am the worst when it comes to sticking to a timeline. I find them too restrictive.  So  not surprisingly, here I find myself on Wednesday night, the only night I have available before the January 15th due date for the first bread braid.  There is NO way I was going to flake out on the very first project of the year.

I mixed up the dough on Tuesday evening, understanding that it was going to be a "wet" dough but still concerned that it was really, really wet.  After work on Wednesday, I went straight into my kitchen as soon as I walked through the door, well, because my back door is attached to my kitchen.  But the point here is that I got straight to work.

I decided to start on the Epi because I thought it was so pretty!  I stretched and pulled  and let the dough rest...stretched and pulled some more with a snip-snip here and a snip-snip there.  The more I snipped, the goopier it was getting.  That's when I realized that I was supposed to let it rest & rise before I snipped it. In addition to my problem with procrastination, I'm also really bad at reading instructions. Scrapped and started again.

Once I let it rest and rise, I did my snipparooo.  I examined my work. I couldn't figure out why my Epi looked so flat.  I look at the picture in the cookbook. Nice and puffy. I looked back at mine. Flat and pankcakey. Hmmmm. I was about to stick it in the oven when I realized that I needed a baking stone.  I mentally searched my brain as to its location. ARGH. Store room. The room that contained boxes and boxes of stuff - and the baking stone underneath ALL the boxes up against the wall.  I got scared and pretended like I didn't own one.

As i waited for the Epi to bake, I decided to start on my spicy chips.  I began rolling out the dough. I was completely baffled by how I could best combat the stickiness and wetness of the dough. I ended up dusting on enough flour to build a small child. From scratch.  I grumbled, I growled, and I rolled. After I brushed on the oil, I started sprinkling the chili powder on little by little, using all but a teeeny weeeny bit.  I looked down and realized that it was on a bit thick. 

Hmmm...read the instructions again and realized that there was supposed to be leftover chili powder. Crap.  Well, there goes that.  During my brief reading of the instruction, I saw that the instructions called for a pizza wheel.  A pizza wheel??? What the HECK would I be doing with a pizza wheel??  I mentally visualized my utensil drawer.  Hmmmm...well, ok, theoretically, ANYTHING could be in that thing including a pizza wheel and a tire jack.

[Friends, please note, if I ever tell you that I NEED a utensil, remember this photo and realize that I am lying to you and that my pants are on fire.  Also, if you happen to see my mom, please don't tell her that I actually posted up a photo of my utensil drawer for all the world to see.  If she were dead, she'd be turning in her grave.  Thankfully, she's still alive and quite able to yell at me for shaming her and all the generations of women who have gone before her.]

Sadly, my crackers came out more like the bread and my bread had the consistency of the crackers.  Quite unfortunate but it most definitely tasted wonderful! Better luck next time [hey, who knows...perhaps I'll read the instructions THOROUGHLY first.  naaaahhhh]

**Los Angeles friends: SweetTartelette will be teaching a food styling and photography class on Saturday, March 6th from 2pm - 5pm.  There are only a few spots left, so if you're interested, please email Rachael [at] lafujimama [dot] com to reserve your spot! [see below at the macaron entry for additional information on the class]

Macarons - 5; Jenny - 0

I will be the first to admit it.  I am a total Macaron retard. I am now officially down 5 against the macaron.  I have actually been beaten by a baked good.  WTH??

My quest for the perfect macaron began after my trip to France in 2008 but took full steam when I first sample Miette's Macaron.  I had emailed Helen of My Tartelette and she patiently answered my questions but it wasn't the same as having someone SHOW you.  I even read her step by step instructions on how to make a macaron. Close, but still no cigar.  I even took a class on it but without the hands on from start to finish I still wasn't getting it - plus our ovens were loopy crazy making it even harder to get consistency.

Rachael of La Fuji Mama and I started tweeting each other [usually never a good thing because it's always to plan some sort of mischief!], taunting Helen to come out to LA and play.  Helen, in return, tweeted back telling us to set it up! The major problem we had was finding us a kitchen. I searched high and low for a few months!  Everything was so expensive, too restrictive, or not organized enough. In came Gaby of What's Gaby Cooking to the rescue! She found us a spot in less that 3 days and we were off & running.

Where: Our macaron class will be taking place at the beautiful Academy of Culinary Education.  I used to pass by this place all the time! Great location, perfect set up, and super helpful staff!

When: Friday, March 5th from 7:00pm or Saturday, March 6th from 10:00am.  **Please note that the Friday & Saturday Macaron class is FULL. You can be placed on a waiting list.**

How: Registrations [or to be placed on the wait list] will be handled by Rachael of La Fuji Mama. Please email her at Rachael [at] lafujimama [dot] com.  Classes will need to be pre-paid in order to be confirmed.  [The $55 tuition should be made either through PayPal or check].

We hope to see you guys there.  This will be a great opportunity to learn how to make a macaron from a true Pro!  Please feel free to leave me a message in the comments section with any questions you may have!

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Just added - FOOD STYLING & PHOTOGRAPHY CLASS!!

When: Saturday, March 6th from 2-5pm

Where: ACE

Cost: $55

Number of openings: 12

The class will address photography basics, such as light (how to grab it -

how to use it - how to modify it), ISO, aperture, white balance, lenses,

myths and misunderstandings of Point and Shoots and DSLRs. It will also

cover styling basics and easy tips to replicate at home to make your food

pop in a picture, composition and trends and hopefully help you find your

own style for where you are in your journey and where you want to go (find

your own groove)!

Pear Squares

My friend, whom we'll call "Bron", was dating this girl, whom we'll call "Bemily", who I wasn't totally crazy about.  However, the one thing she could do well was BAKE.  Amazing bites of deliciousness.  That's what I remember most about her [other than the fact that I didn't care for her very much]. 

This pear square recipe had to be one of her best and I was able to get it before they broke up [no fault of mine, I assure you]. I love preparing this because it's easy to do and has a huge impact on the taste scale.  It's a great potluck dessert!

Crust: 

1 cup unsalted butter

1 1/3 cup nuts [i use pecans or almonds]

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour    

Middle Layer:

2 [8 ounce] bricks of Cream Cheese

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Topping:

1 large can pears, drained and sliced

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp sugar

Instructions:

1. Prepare crust: Soften butter and mix with flour and nuts. Press into a 9 x 13 pan, baking at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

2. Cream together cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla.  Mix until smooth. Pour onto cooled crust.

3. Cut pears over cream cheese mixture, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

4. Bake at 350 for 25 - 35 minutes until edges are gold brown. Cool and refrigerate.

Oshogatsu [New Years] with my family

It was so wonderful having my cousins all under one roof for New Years Day again.  It had been 20 years since we were all together under one roof for the New Year. The only other times we're all together is either for funerals or weddings, so this was such a joy to just hang out and catch up.  It was with a lot of anticipation that my mother & I worked for several days just to get the menu done & ready for the masses that would flow through the day/evening.

We had so much food at the party, I didn't even realize that my stomach had that much room in there to down it all.   My cousin, Kathy, makes the BEST CHINESE CHICKEN SALAD EVER.  I mean EVER. I had the recipe but it just never tasted like hers.  Not to worry, I will post up this recipe for you guys but I'm sure that there is just some element missing from this recipe.

The one thing that probably stood out the most at the party was the Bacon Maple Caramel Pecan Bars a la SweetSavoryLife that I made for this party.  I decided to experiment a bit by using the caramel recipe from La Fuji Mama [adjust to fit products that I actually had on hand] along with the crust from a Pear Square recipe that I had.  It made for a dense chewy wonderful bit of deliciousness.  My cousins spent some time suspiciously hovering around the dessert table before one of them would actually take a chance on it...

This caramel was the one thing that was no longer left by the end of the evening [of course, I was hiding Tartelette's Dark Chocolate Truffles in a corner so I could take some home]. 

 

Bacon Maple Caramel Pecan Bars

 adapted from La Fuji Mama and Savory Sweet Life

2 cups granulated sugar
8 ounces unsalted butter
1 cup Rice Syrup

1/2 cup Maple syrup
2 cups Heavy Cream
1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 package bacon, brown to a crisp

3 cups pecans

1. Prepare tart crust recipe [below] in a 9 x 13 pan

2. Place the granulated sugar, butter, rice syrup, maple syrup and heavy cream in a heavy saucepan (minimum size of 3 quarts)  and cook over high heat while stirring until the mixture reaches 210 degrees Fahrenheit.

3. Reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking and stirring constantly until the mixture reaches 245 degrees Fahrenheit (firm ball stage). 

4. Remove the pan from the heat and add the vanilla, pecans and bacon and stir quickly.  Pour the caramel into the buttered 9×13-inch pan and set aside to cool.

5. When the caramel has cooled completely, cut into squares.

Pecan Tart Crust

 from "Cooking with Love", Favorites of JANM Volunteers

1 cup unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/3 cup pecans [chopped]

Soften butter and mix with flour and nuts.  Pres down in a 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. [Be careful not to overbake this - it'll make it very difficult to remove the bars from the pan.]