But what I really want to say is

I had a blog post planned about what has been going on in our family. I wanted to talk about plans and dreams, and people getting their braces off, and about having your blog mojo go missing.

But then there's Boston*. If you're a praying person I hope you'll join me. I think there are a lot of moms and dads and sisters and brothers who need us to do that. I think there are a lot of doctors and nurses and social workers and chaplains who need us to help them. People are tired and hurting, in pain and scared, at the end of their physical, and emotional and spiritual limits. We can help carry that.

So that's what I wanted to say.

Boston Cream Pie from Serious Eats

* Highlighting what occurred in Boston in no way diminishes pain and suffering in other parts of the world. There was an earthquake in Iran today, strife in the horn of Africa, slavery in India. I could go on. Just today, Boston was on my mind.

Run in with an Avocado

Fruit can be dangerous. We found this out recently when my daughter was attempting to remove the pit from an avocado. The knife slipped off the edge of the pit and slid into the palm of her hand. We took her to a local emergency clinic for what I assumed would just be a few stitches. The reality of the situation was more along the lines of: 2 severed nerves, 1 emergency surgery, and 0 basketball tournaments. A basketball tournament in Barcelona Spain that was going to begin in 2 days time. It's her senior year. Ouch.

Side bar: Being a nurse, my plan, had I found a suture kit in my box of supplies, was to give her a shot of tequila and throw in the 3 stitches needed to close the original wound.

Yes, really I had thought about it. Yes, I think we're all glad that I didn't have a suture kit.

We still went to Barcelona, she cheered on the team, it was really hard, but good. Good in the way that one day you'll look back and see that you learned a lot but at the moment this really sucks and you need your mom to buy you churros and dark chocolate and shirts from H&M.

I'm still needed. So grateful for that.

You're probably wondering about the picture of the avocados. You're probably thinking that it's pretty insensitive of me to post that photo or maybe even have large bowls of avocados in my kitchen. You're probably right. But in my defense, avocados are just so darn good.

And so for my avocado loving daughter who needs a little balm not only for her hand, but for her heart that is a little disappointed, I give you this.

Chocolate Avocado Pudding. I have to say when we tried this I wasn't sure what to think. It was good, but I was hoping that I could say it did not taste like avocados. But it does. That's not a bad thing, unless you end up in the emergency clinic while trying to make this dessert.

I used some melted dark chocolate along with cocoa powder to give a deep chocolate flavor, some dark brown sugar underscores it even more. Most recipes only use honey or agave nectar to sweeten the pudding, so feel free to leave out the brown sugar if you want to. My feelings won't be hurt in the least.

Chocolate Avocado Pudding
4 ripe avocados
1/4 cup coconut milk
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
3 ounces of dark chocolate 70% or higher, melted and slightly cooled
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Pit and peel the avocados and place in the bowl of a food processor. Add the remaining ingredients and puree until very smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Taste, season as you would like, more sweetener, more vanilla.....process again for 2 minutes until the pudding is very smooth.

Serves 4. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Did Someone Say Cake?

I have an indiscriminate sweet tooth. If it contains sugar, I'm in. My children know not to leave their candy unguarded, even the picked over unwanted Halloween candy is fine by me. Santa never gets to eat his cookies on Christmas Eve, and ears have been known to go missing from chocolate Easter bunnies. 

Don't get me started on what I would do for a tub of red vines.

Thankfully this week combines two great reasons to bake. Valentines Day and a friends birthday. That is where this cake comes in.

It was my friend Marty's birthday. He has a sweet tooth as well. He's a good guy.

The other day for inspiration I was looking at the Cupcake Royale website, they feature a treat called the Deathcake for Valentines Day. A jaw dropping combination of a Chocolate Decadence cupcake with espresso infused ganache and a sprinkle of fleur de sel. Since I couldn't have theirs (they don't deliver to Tunisia. I checked) I decided to make my own. Then I got a little lazy. I didn't want to make, frost, and decorate a bunch of cupcakes. And that is how the Deathcake, as layer cake, was born.

Viola!

A molten chocolate cake, gooey in the middle, with a smear of bittersweet chocolate ganache and a sprinkling of vanilla bean infused sea salt.

Santa will not be getting a bite of this either this year.

Happy Birthday Marty!

This cake is perfectly acceptable without the ganache topping. Take it out of the oven, let it sit for 15 minutes and serve it with some whipped cream or ice cream. It's fantastic like that, or if you want to make someone swoon on their birthday, top it with the ganache.

Molten Chocolate Brownie with Espresso Ganache and Vanilla Bean Fleur de Sel

3 ounces 70% bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 cup butter, room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

2 tablespoons sour cream

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease the bottom and sides of an 8 inch springform pan, line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.

Whisk together the flour and cocoa powder, set aside. Melt the chocolate in a microwave oven, in 30 second bursts, stirring well until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a medium mixing bowl cream together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the salt, mixing well, then the eggs one at a time until well blended. Stir in the sour cream and vanilla extract, and melted chocolate. Beat until well combined.

Gently fold in the flour and cocoa powder until just blended. Spread into the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes.

The cake will be puffy but the center should still jiggle and be gooey. Allow to cool for 15 minutes if you are going to serve it right away or cool completely before topping it with the ganache.

Once the cake is cool, pour the ganache evenly over the top of the cake and spread with an off set spatula. Let the cake sit in a cool place for several hours or until the ganache is firm. Once the ganache is firm to the touch release the sides of the springform pan (you may need to run a knife around the edges of the cake first) and then sprinkle with the vanilla bean fleur de sel.

Espresso and Chocolate Ganache

1 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons corn syrup (optional)

12 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chopped

1 tablespoon instant espresso powder

Bring heavy cream and corn syrup to a simmer. Add the chocolate and espresso powder. Stir well, then cover and let sit for 5 minutes. Whisk until completely smooth then allow to cool until it begins to thicken slightly.

Vanilla Bean Fleur de Sel

2 tablespoons large flake sea salt or fleur de sel

1 vanilla bean split and scraped

In a small ramekin or other small bowl combine the salt and vanilla bean seeds, rubbing together with your fingers until the vanilla is uniformly disbursed.

Chocolate, Cheese, and Wine, Oh My

For the second year Andy and I hosted a party featuring chocolate, cheese and wine. Most of our friends travel over the school Winter break. We send out an invitation asking people to pick up either some chocolate, cheese, or wine while traveling and bring it the party to share. We get together the first weekend we return from the holiday so everyone has a chance to get caught up with each other. We've had the chance to sample some excellent treats from all over the world. This year we had Pecorino from Umbria, Reblochon from France, a really strong cheddar from England, and Dutch goat cheese. Yes, things smelled a little funky, but I mean that in the nicest way.

Here are a few pictures of some of the treats we sampled.

In addition to the chocolates and cheese I like to add a few homemade treats. Brownie stuffed cupcakes, Mexican Chocolate Cake, and White Chocolate Cranberry Bars. I did make a rule that you had to eat a cupcake before you went home. I did not want any of those leftover in my house.

After everyone went home there were several odds and ends of cheese lying about, and what to do with leftover cheese?

Fromage Fort of course. Fromage Fort (Strong Cheese in French) is a creamy dip made up of leftover cheese, a little wine, come garlic, herbs, and butter. Serve it with bread, grissini, crudite, or make an over the top great grilled cheese sandwich.

Fromage Fort

adapted from Food and Wine magazine

This is a forgiving formula.....use what cheese you like or have on hand. Be warned that a strong, funky cheese will dominate in flavor so use them judiciously unless that's what you're looking for.

1 pound (more or less) of cheese. I used a mixture of Pecorino, another unidentified hard cheese, Edam, Brie, and Chevre.

3/4-1 cup white wine, any variety

1 clove of garlic

1-2 tablespoons of minced herbs, rosemary, chives, parsley.....whatever strikes your fancy

2-6 tablespoons of softened butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Grate the hard cheeses and cut or tear the soft cheeses into chunks. Put all the cheese in the bowl of a food processor. Add the garlic, herbs, butter and about half of the wine.  Process until smooth. Add more wine or butter if you want to loosen the mixture up a bit. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Resolutions? Probably not, but maybe this one.

How is 2013 treating you? Made any resolutions?
Confession.
I don't make New Year's resolutions. (I also don't give things up for Lent).
Why you ask?  Slippery slope people. Some would say I am weak, (or distracted by shiny objects), I say, I'm a realist. I know for fact that I WILL eat all that chocolate, not go to the gym, not drink 8 glasses of water a day, nor learn to crochet. And then once I do/don't do all those things I'll think, well heck what else is there to lose, and then who knows what I'll get in to.
See, slippery slope.
But......maybe I will make some resolutions this year. Like I most definitely WILL resolve to make these more often.

Nope, they aren't Cinnamon Rolls. They are what Cinnamon Rolls would be if they spent a semester abroad in some place sexy and exotic. They are Tahini Buns. What's that you say? Never heard of them? I hadn't either, but I had a big ol' jar of tahini that I needed to use before we left for Christmas break, and while searching out ways to use it I found this recipe.

They start with a pita dough which is rolled up with tahini, sugar, and cinnamon. I was skeptical but wow, it's a deadly, addictive combo. So, when you fall off your "I'm never eating carbs again" wagon, we'll be here waiting for you.
No judgement.

Tahini Rolls (Tahinov Hartz)
adapted from Taste of Beirut

1 recipe of pita dough. I used this one
1 1/4 cup of well stirred Tahini
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
coarse sugar for dusting

Make the pita dough. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Once the dough has risen, divide it equally into 3 portions. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Stir together the tahini, sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
Roll out each portion of dough into a rectangle about 12 inches long and 8 inches wide. Spread one third of the tahini mixture over the dough and roll up as you would for cinnamon rolls.
Seal the ends well and gently, using a back and forth motion (as though you were making play dough snakes) stretch the dough out to a 2 foot rope. I read that you should try for a 3 1/2 foot rope of dough but I think that's just silly talk.
Cut each rope into 6 pieces. Roll each piece in a pinwheel fashion and pinch the ends tightly to seal. Flatten each roll slightly with your hand and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes.

Well Hello There

Um, yes it has been a while....I appreciated your kind notes and inquiries....it was just....Life.

It happens you know. Busyness sets in, stuff happens, and things like blogs fall by the wayside. 

But, while I was away there was this.

We spent Thanksgiving in Brussels eating loads of CHOCOLATE and giving thanks for great beer. 

Really. Great. Beer.

And then there was this

We spent the Christmas holiday wandering around Italy with some family friends. (More about that later).

And the blog was set aside for a bit. But, with the New Year, I have some new inspiration in the kitchen, I have new look for the blog (BIG thanks to Kristin at Designer Blogs), and well, there is more new stuff coming down the road. Intrigued? Stay tuned.

While in Italy we (surprise) ate our fill of pizza, pasta, bread, and cheese so when we got home, even though inspired by what I saw in the markets and ate in restaurants, I was craving Mexican food. Actually I am always craving Mexican food. No really, if you ever want to go for a taco ask me. I'll say yes every time.

EVERY time.

So I whipped up burrito bowls, technically Tex-Mex, but we're not going to argue that point are we? To be honest, whipped up is not the right word here. There's a lot of parts to this. Not a school night meal at all but a great weekend, curl up and watch the Seattle Seahawks take down the Washington Redskins meal for sure.

Burrito Bowls
Grilled Chicken with Spicy Honey Chipotle Glaze (recipe follows)
Brown Rice with Cilantro (recipe follows)
Mojo Black Beans (recipe follows)
Salsa (recipe follows)
Guacamole or sliced avocado
Sour Cream
Shredded Cheese
Sliced Green Onions


Grilled Chicken with Spicy Chipotle Honey Glaze
1/3 cup honey
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce minced
1 tablespoon of orange juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts placed in a zip top bag

In a small bowl whisk together the honey, minced chipotle pepper, and orange juice. Set aside.
In another small bowl whisk together the olive oil, salt, ground coriander, ground cumin, and paprika. Pour this mixture over the chicken breasts and give the bag a few good squishes to coat the chicken evenly with the oil. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Prepare grill to medium high heat. Cook chicken breasts for 3-4 minutes on one side. Turn chicken over and brush cooked side with the glaze. Cook for another 3-4 minutes. Turn again and brush the second side with glaze. Cook for 1 minute, turn the chicken and brush again with remaining glaze.
Allow chicken to sit for 5-10 minutes then slice diagonally.


Brown Rice with Cilantro and Lime
2 cups cooked brown rice
1/4-1/2 cup chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 clove of garlic minced
salt and pepper

Whisk together the cilantro, lime juice, orange juice, olive oil, cumin and garlic. Pour over prepared brown rice while still warm and stir well to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Mojo Black Beans
2 cans of black beans drained and rinsed
1 medium onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 bay leaf
11/2 teaspoons ground cumin
11/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried chipotle chili powder
Juice of one medium orange
Juice of one medium lemon
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Saute the chopped onion until translucent, about 3-5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute until the garlic becomes fragrant and starts to turn golden.
Add the black beans, chicken broth, bay leaf, cumin, oregano, chipotle powder, orange and lemon juice. Stir well and simmer for approximately 10-15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Salsa
2 cans of diced tomatoes (drain them if you like less liquid in your salsa)
1 shallot minced
2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar or lemon juice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of sugar
1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

In a medium mixing bowl stir together all the ingredients and let sit for a few hours to blend the flavors. Keeps for one week in the refrigerator.

To assemble burrito bowls, place a few spoonfuls of rice in a bowl, layer on the beans, grilled chicken, salsa, guac, sour cream, cheese, and green onions.
Enjoy!

While it lasts

It's nearly November and the weather still allows us the luxury of eating in the garden. While it lasts, we try to grab as many meals as we can on the patio. This Saturday morning was a beauty; blue skies, warm breezes, the scent of Jasmine, and a house filled with giggling girls.

And, eating on the patio gave me a few more moments of relaxation before I tackled the cookie crumbs, lemonade spills, and the microwave popcorn arson scene in the microwave from lasts nights sleepover.

Banana Scones with Brown Sugar Glaze
adapted from theKitchn

2 ripe bananas, mashed
milk, approximately 2-4 tablespoons
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold butter cut into small pieces
Glaze:
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.
In the bowl of a food processor combine the flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, and butter. Pulse until the butter pieces are no bigger than pea sized. Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Alternately combine all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and cut in the butter until the butter pieces are no bigger than pea sized.

Combine the mashed banana with enough milk to equal 1 cup. In a small mixing bowl combine the banana, and yogurt. Mix well.

Pour the banana mixture over the dry ingredients and mix with a rubber spatula until just combined  The dough will be slightly wet and sticky. Turn out onto a floured surface and gently pat into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Using a biscuit cutter or floured glass cut out the scones. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Gather the dough scraps and repeat.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the scones are browned and firm to the touch.

While the scones are baking make the glaze. Melt together the butter and brown sugar. Stir until the sugar has melted. Add the vanilla and stir well. Add the powdered sugar and whisk to combine. Drizzle over the top of the scones after they have slightly cooled.