Archive for February, 2012
Andre 3000- Master of Cool and Kale?!
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Andre 3000. Whew! The Love Below!!!! That is all I can say on that subject since Greg is an avid reader of FierceFoodie.com. Andre 3000 is primarily known, of course, as the better half (sorry Big Boi but he caters to the ladies) of one of the greatest rap groups EVER- Outkast!!! Andre is a musician, actor, fashion designer, one of Gilette’s Masters of Style, and now —chef. Bon Appétit magazine recently interviewed Andre on his preference between Collards and Kale. Being that he is southern-raised (Ga.), I assumed there was no question- collards. I was very surprise when he chose kale. o_O So you know, as a fan (and former stalker), I had to try the recipe he provided. I mean the man can’t be good at EVERYTHING! right? wrong!
But—–a few of the ingredients were a bit difficult to find. We didn’t have that brand of soy-free margarine or seasoning so I substituted with regular butter and a seasoning blend that I tried for this and fell in love with!! I did purchase coconut oil for the dish and that was interesting and I loved the flavor it added! However, that crap was $10 and I only needed a few tablespoons…y’all know I only splurge on hair and shoes. lol Anyway, when I read that I could use it for my hair and body, I got over it. 
Please try this recipe. If you are trying to get more greens in your diet or just switch it up a little, this is a winner. I have 2 more bags in my refrigerator to make some more at Greg’s request.
Courtesy of Bon Appetit Magazine
President’s Day Recipes: Favorites from The White House
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Today is President’s Day and coincidentally the day Greg and I eloped. But we’re not going to talk about that, we are going to let him have his little day. It is no secret that I looooove this dude (speaking of the President right now…Greg, it’s HIS day, don’t be so selfish. Lol) so the idea of preparing some of my “play-play” hubby’s favorite dishes was quite appealing to me. Everyone knows the way to a man’s heart… Anyway, I skimmed a copy of A White House Garden Cookbook looking for something healthy and tasty to commemorate his day. The recipes were created by White House Chef, Sam Kass and Pastry Chef, Bill Yosses and feature simple and fresh cooking from their garden. Because I would also use these recipes for my cooking class, I needed them to be doubly good! And they were! I make a pretty mean turkey lasagna on my own so I was expecting it to be tasty but nothing to write home (or to y’all) about. Boy was I wrong. It was superb! Instead of a jarred sauce, it called for a can of whole plum tomatoes that I crushed along with fresh herbs. It also used low-fat ricotta and fresh spinach (which I typically associate with veggie and white lasagnas). We LOVED it! It WILL HAS replaced my usual recipe.
Although the President’s absolute fav dessert is sweet potato pie, I was quite sure no one would be thrilled to prepare or eat one so close to the recent holidays so I opted for the Honey Cupcakes in the book as a fun twist. These cupcakes use honey (duh!) as their primary source of sweetness so they in turn use less sugar and can be toted as “better for you” cupcakes. The icing (not pictured) was the easiest and tastiest thing in the world!!! It reminded me of the icing on the Lemon Pound Cake- made of confectioner’s sugar, a touch of honey and a nice splash of lemon juice. The lemon juice made it bright and was the perfect Ying to the sweet Yang of the honey. The kids loved it, the real hubby loved it! I am Fierce Foodie and I approve these recipes. < — God, why did you make me so lame?? Lol Enjoy!
For the recipes, please click here: (more…)
Wear your heart on a stick?
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Lollipies or Pie Pops...whatever
Believe it or not, while in college, I dumped someone on February 12th. Yep, I made the ultimate relationship faux pas and sacrificed a Valentine’s gift right at the finish line!! I worked hard for that gift and just threw it away….lol. I simply couldn’t take any more of that foolishness and he half-assed worked anyway so what was I REALLY sacrificing?! lol Anyway, I spent that Valentine’s Day with some really good and also recently single friends. We hung out, did a little shopping and got pedicures together to numb the pain. On the way out of the mall, I insisted that we stopped in Godiva to get ourselves some little treats to completely KILL the pain! So we’re waiting to be waited on and we spot the beautiful chocolate covered strawberries in the case as well as some up on top of the counter in a covered glass dish. We concluded that the strawberries on the counter must’ve been the ones that were not up to their standards and were free samples for people who didn’t mind eating marred food. THAT’S US!!! Lol When I tell you we ate our single asses off! LMBO! In between bites, we managed to acknowledge how “we’d pay for them” and that they were “pretty enough for us” and tried to identify exactly why the berry had been discarded, noting the most insignificant aesthetic flaws in the history of chocolate making. My, my, my, Godiva was strict we thought!!! When it came time to order, we were pretty much good on the strawberries so we settled on a few truffles to take home. Seeing that we’d saved so much money, I offered to pick up the tab. I almost fell down when the lady behind the counter told me we’d eaten $24.50 worth of chocolate covered strawberries at $3.50 a pop and our new total was $33. I told her if she don’t get those truffles back in that case! Lol Although I couldn’t afford dinner that night, we later laughed about that for years to come. Ever since then, it is a tradition of mine to try to get at least ONE (and only one) chocolate covered strawberry on Valentine’s Day.
Since V-day is on everyone’s brain and I have to send a little treat with one of the nephews tomorrow, I made these little heart-shaped strawberry pies last week to test them out and thought they were too cute not to share with you guys! Because I used a 3 inch heart cut-out, some of them were too top heavy for the sticks so I made them into hand pies. The problem though is that you can’t get much filling in with smaller cut-outs so you have to make sure whatever you’re stuffing them with makes a good flavor impact. These were good but need more filling and that boost I just mentioned. Strawberries have a tartness that needs to be balanced with sugar. I would kick up the preserves and use less actual berries next time.
I HEART-YOU LOLLIPIES
10 strawberries, chopped small
3 tablespoons Strawberry Preserves
1/3 cup Cream Cheese
1 large Egg, Separated, divided
2 tablespoons Sugar, divided
1⁄2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 cup Raw Sugar
Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crust
12 lollipop sticks
Prepare 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 400F. Combine cream cheese spread, egg yolk, 1 tablespoon sugar and vanilla in a medium bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until well blended.
Roll each pastry disk on a lightly floured surface. Using your cookie cutter, cut out as many hearts as you can, re-roll scraps and continue until you can’t get another little pastry cut out of it. Being careful keep the filling in the center of the pastry shell, center a dab of the cream cheese mixture and top with the berry mixture. Place one lollipop stick in the middle of the shell leaving a little less than two-thirds of it exposed. Top with the other shell and seal it all around with a clean lollipop stick or a fork. If some of the filling spills out while sealing, it is ok. Place on the prepared cookie sheets. Make 2 or 3 small slits in the top crust of each pie to allow heat to escape. Beat the leftover egg white in a small bowl with a whisk until foamy. Brush tops of pies with the egg white and sprinkle the pies generously with the raw sugar.
Bake the pies until golden, about 20-25 minutes. Remove from baking sheet; cool completely on a wire rack.
Happy Valentine’s Day!!
Chocolate and Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies
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Pipe, Decorate, Fill and Sanwich.
Although I had no interest in the Super Bowl Game itself and really needed to be home taking out my hair in preparation for my trip this week, I did attend a party at our friends’ house. (I’m not telling yall where we’re going because I am surprising Greg and some of y’all can’t hold water so you’ll get the kool-aid when he gets it. Lol) Anyway, because I’d prematurely made the whoopie pies, they were murdered before the party so I had to make more. In the last post, I made Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Swiss Meringue Buttercream, but at hubby’s request, I made the second batch with a Peanut Butter Filling. The Swiss Meringue Buttercream yields a flavor that is similar to an ice-cream sandwich while the Peanut Butter Buttercream makes you think of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. I mean, they are BOTH great but the peanut butter….there are no words.
The game was cool, I guess. I seriously kept forgetting which team I was rooting for because they were both wearing blue and it was really confusing for some reason. Other than their 10 month old Lab’s COMPLETE OBSESSION with licking my toes and my almost falling out of my chair trying to reach my phn (curse these short arms) nothing was out of the ordinary. Actually, me falling is pretty standard too…. But we had big laughs and good food. What more do you need at a Super Bowl party? Oh yeah, I guess it would help if your team wins. Lol Sorry Greg. :( wanted the blue team to win too. (more…)
Superbowl Whoopie Pies
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For some odd reason, I haven’t done ANY posts on Whoopie Pies. That is absolutely crazy since they are all the rave around these parts! If you don’t know, a whoopie pie is a great substitution for the cupcake. Because the filling is sandwiched between 2 cake-like cookies (or vice versa) the cake-to-icing ratio is spot on, leaving no gobs of icing behind and none of it goes into your nose. No shade to the cupcake- I still will get down with you lol but who doesn’t love the idea of being able to go absolutely HAM on a sweet without a trace? As to be expected, I have been invited to several game-day parties (please don’t hate on my fame and popularity…ok, 2 parties and one invite was really for Greg..but who’s counting?). Of course, I can’t go anywhere empty-handed. I was going to make something from my Superbowl post last year but a friend of mine sent me this cute idea and I HAD to recreate it. (Thanks Zack!!)They had an oval shaped pan but I made my own pattern and traced it onto 4 sheets of parchment paper. #POW (who’s bad??!!) The only thing that made them a little more involved than I would’ve liked (aside from my decision to free hand the shapes) was making the the Swiss Meringue Buttercream. I didn’t like having to use another pot for the double broiler. But it is definitely doable and most defintely worth it!
This recipe comes from my two new boos, Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. They are the authors of my baking bible, Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented. Enjoy!
Chocolate Whoopie Pies
Yields 10-12 large whoopie pies, 15-17 small pies
Ingredients
3 1/2 cups (17.5 oz) All Purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup (2.18 oz) dark cocoa powder, sifted
2 tsp instant espresso powder
1/2 cup (4 fl oz) hot coffee
1/2 cup (4 fl oz) hot water
2 cups (15.32 oz) light brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup (6 fl oz) canola oil
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup (4 fl oz) buttermilk, shaken
Swiss vanilla filling (recipe follows)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line four baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, combine the AP flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
In a large bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder and espresso powder. Pour the hot coffee and hot water over the cocoa mixture and whisk until the mixture is completely smooth.
In another medium bowl, combine the canola oil and light brown sugar. Add this to the cocoa mixture and whisk until combined. Add the egg, vanilla, and buttermilk and whisk until smooth.
Gently fold the flour mixture into the cocoa mixture.
Spoon into a piping bag and pipe into 2 inch rounds on prepared baking sheets, 1 inch apart (or scoop onto sheets with a small scoop).
Bake 10-15 minutes, until the cookies crack slightly on top and spring back in the center when gently pressed. Let cool completely, then remove from sheet with an offset spatula. Pipe or scoop half of the rounds with the filling. Top each piped round with another cookie and serve.
Swiss vanilla filling
5 egg whites
1 1/2 cups (10.5 oz) sugar
2 cups (1 pound) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into 1 inch cubes
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together egg whites and sugar. Place over a pan of simmering water and gently whisk until the sugar dissolves (test this by dipping your finger into the mixture – when you can no longer feel grains of sugar when you rub the mixture between your fingers, then the sugar has dissolved) – the mixture will be slightly warmer than body temperature.
Transfer bowl to mixer and beat with the paddle attachment until the mixture is smooth, white, and fluffy – about 5 minutes. Add the butter, one piece at a time. Add sea salt and vanilla extract and mix until combined. Beat until the filling is smooth and glossy (it may look curdled, but just continue to beat – eventually the mixture will come together).
My name is Zina and I am "thirty -none of your business". I live in Tally with my husband and business partner, Greg. (He rocks!) I am an aspiring cook, novice baker, business owner, entertainer and friend to all. And if you haven't gathered, a bit of a cornball. But, it's my blog --deal with it or get your OWN! lol Enjoy and Thank you for stopping through!
