Blush Mac n’ Cheese with Tomatoes

One benefit of doing a cleanse is that it makes you appreciate the food you used to eat without reservation. After doing the Ultimate Beach Body Detox cleanse, I really thought about what food or dish I wanted to have once the cleanse was over. After careful consideration, I knew I wanted some kind of cheesy pasta, but I didn’t want to go overboard with the cheese. So, I turned to Cooking Light and found this blush mac ‘n cheese with tomatoes dish.

The pasta was extremely rich and creamy, considering the roux only contained 1 tablespoon of flour as thickener. And, who knew you could get so much flavor from just a bit of shallots, garlic, 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, and only 4 ounces of reduced-fat cheddar? I went a step further in the health department by using organic soy milk instead of 1% milk. I couldn’t even tell a difference. This came together so easily and satisfied my three-week long craving for cheesy pasta. And, the best part is that I didn’t have to undo any benefits I received from the cleanse to enjoy it!

This recipe can be found in the April 2013 issue of Cooking Light or here.

ffwD: Pierre Herme’s Olive Sables

Anytime I see a recipe for sables, a combination of nervousness and excitement washes over me. My nervousness comes from a concern that these delicious homemade slice-and-bake cookies will crumble to pieces as I’m plunging my knife through the chilled cookie dough log. However, my excitement stems from the fact that sables are delicious whether crumbly or whole, and despite what ingredients might be included. I was also excited that this would be the first time baking something sweet since I finished the three-week cleanse last month!

I did my best to find oil-cured black olives per Dorie’s suggestion, but the best I could find were Kalamata olives in oil. The chewy and salty bits of olive were pretty delicious within the rather sweet cookie. I also found these buttery cookies flaky, tender, and appealingly deceptive in their looks, as from afar they were similar in appearance to the chocolate chip butter cookies found in Christmas tins. Overall, a good recipe!

Pierre Herme’s olive sables were made as a part of French Fridays with Dorie, a group of bloggers who are cooking their way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours.

TwD: Baking Rustic Potato Loaves with Julia

I was hesitant about making this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julia assignment. Having just finished up a three-week cleanse, I wasn’t sure how safe it was to incorporate baked goods back into my system. However, I thought it wouldn’t be too harsh since the recipe is vegan-friendly. I was also able to use up ingredients I had on-hand, including red potatoes instead of russet and doing a half whole wheat flour/half all-purpose flour mix.

The dough came together easy enough though I did notice some medium sized bits of potato that refused to get mashed. Also, the recipe stated to be patient while the dough mixed for 11 minutes, indicating that it would look crumbly like pie crust at first but would eventually come together and start clinging to the bowl like brioche dough. That part was true, but what the recipe didn’t say was that the dough would continually “walk up” the dough hook like the top of the dough wanted to jump out of the bowl during mixing!

This bread wasn’t as soft or pillowy as I expected, but that could be due partly to my use of whole wheat flour. My loaf also came partially unfurled, so I guess I didn’t use enough flour to seal the seam. However, the dough didn’t become wet enough for me to even think it would stay closed during baking. Oh, well. The slices tasted great with butter nonetheless! If you’d like to try your hand at these rustic potato loaves, head over to this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julia host, Dawn of Simply Sweet, where she’s posted the recipe.

ffwD: Lemon-steamed Spinach

Nothing out of the ordinary with this week’s assignment: just steamed baby spinach with olive oil and grated lemon zest, seasoned with salt and pepper. I left out the salt and pepper because I ate this for dinner during my “fruits and vegetables only” week of my 3-week cleanse. (Sidenote: During the cleanse, I was ingesting natural Himalayan crystal salt in water four times a day.) Oh, and I didn’t have a steamer basket, so I just stuck the baby spinach in the microwave with a bit of water for 1 minute. Tasty!

Speaking of the cleanse, I’ve completed it, and I will say that it was worth the 21-day effort. Many bloggers have asked what cleanse I did, and it was the Ultimate Beachbody Reset. It’s broken down into three weeks. The first included limited healthy proteins (chicken/salmon/unsweetened low-fat yogurt), healthy grains, beans, fruits and veggies. The second week cut out all meat and dairy, and the third week eliminated all beans and grains. This meant that every meal in the third week consisted only of fruits or veggies. Additionally, thirty minutes before each meal, a different combination of vitamins and supplements were taken with plenty of water, with week two incorporating a mild colon cleanse (think lemon-flavored Metamucil).

Pros: I kicked my Diet Coke/caffeine habit; I slept more soundly; I woke up feeling refreshed (after the first five days of caffeine withdrawal); I felt more alert and productive at work and home; I curbed my craving for sweets; I feel lighter and my stomach appears flatter; my clothes feel looser; I saved a lot of money by not buying soda and processed foods; and I seem to be more satisfied by the smell of my food more than the taste. I don’t know how I feel about that last one really.

Cons: I had the WORST caffeine withdrawal ever (think: waking up, going about the day, and going to sleep with severe migraines) for the first five days; I was craving protein throughout the cleanse because I had already started a vegan smoothie regime before the cleanse started and thus had no healthy proteins that first week; my dining out was extremely limited (read: non-existent) because the cleanse really encourages home-prepared food, so I had to reschedule a lot of dinner plans; and I go to the bathroom so much that I feel like there’s something wrong with my kidneys. However, overall, the cleanse is definitely worth it in the end.

This lemon-steamed spinach was made as a part of French Fridays with Dorie, a group of bloggers who are cooking their way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours.

ffwD: Ispahan Loaf Cake

I’ve been looking forward to making this week’s assignment for awhile now because of its odd name and because I’ve never baked with rose syrup or rose extract. Like some Doristas, I had to purchase the syrup and extract from Amazon.com, and surprisingly enough, after perusing all the possible options for rose syrup, I ended up buying the Monin brand Dorie suggested without even realizing it! I also found a set of three rose extract bottles for roughly the same price as one bottle of a comparable brand. To top off what seemed like fate in making this cake, I was offered yet another free 30-day Amazon Prime trial membership, so I was able to get my syrup and extract in two days without paying extra.

I guess I was too excited about my luck with the rose syrup and rose extract that I neglected to read the recipe all the way through. When I saw a “pint of raspberries”, I naturally assumed it was for garnish and didn’t bother to notice the instructions stating they were for the batter. So, I actually made a raspberry-free Ispahan loaf cake first. I brought a slice for my friend to try, and she said it needed the raspberries.

So, the next night, I properly incorporated the berries, but my berries got a bit smushed during baking. I think two factors contributed to this: first, that I didn’t whip the egg whites long enough or that I let the aerated whites fall during the batter folding process, thus not allowing the cake to rise as much to give the berries room. Or, second, that after each layer of batter was added on top of the berries, I attempted to smooth out the top layer thus pressing the berries down further into the bottom layer.

Regardless of my “sinking” raspberries, I think the cake turned out pretty well. It smelled amazing anyway. Again, I haven’t tasted it because I’ve got two more days on my cleanse, but I have several slices ready to go come Monday morning. And, yes, I’m going to have Ispahan loaf cake for breakfast Monday morning.

This Ispahan loaf cake was made as a part of French Fridays with Dorie, a group of bloggers who are cooking their way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours.

TwD: Baking Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies with Julia

Even though I’m in the final week of my cleanse, I couldn’t pass up this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julia assignment, mocha chocolate chip cookies. Not because I’m a chocolate or coffee fanatic, but because I actually had all the ingredients on hand. Well, everything except the dried apricots which were never going in my cookies anyway.

However, not to worry. Although I baked these cookies, I didn’t eat any of them. I didn’t even taste any of the batter. This cleanse has changed my attitude towards food and has really curbed my cravings for sweets. I’ve even kicked my Diet Coke habit! Not one drop of Diet Coke for 16 days straight! I’m not going to lie: it was HORRIBLE going cold turkey from Diet Coke for the first five days. I never want to go through that again.

I’m bringing these cookies to my friends, and hopefully, they like them. I can say this: the instant coffee powder really smells amazing when baked in chocolate chip cookies. If the smell’s an indicator, then I’m sure these cookies taste amazing. So, if you love the taste of coffee and chocolate, head over to this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julia host, Peggy of galettista, where she’s posted the recipe.

ffwD: Orange-scented Lentil Soup

Was anyone else surprised by how much the orange permeated throughout this soup? Especially from just one sliver of orange peel? Or was it just me?

Anyway, as many of you know, I’m about to complete week two of a three-week cleanse diet that renders a sizable portion of Dorie’s cookbook off-limits. However, a few of the recipes can be tweaked to keep them cleanse-friendly, with this lentil soup being one of them. Of course, I couldn’t garnish with the fun yogurt, bacon, or lardons as Dorie suggested, but the soup was still plenty flavorful. It had a nice lift from the bright and citrus-y orange peel, which was a nice surprise coming from a lentil soup. I made sure to make the entire batch so that I can substitute it for times when I get tired of the other soups on the cleanse. Here’s to one more week!

This orange-scented lentil soup was made as a part of French Fridays with Dorie, a group of bloggers who are cooking their way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours.

No French Fridays…

…at least this week.

I’m currently finishing up the first week of a three-week cleanse, branding this week’s assignment, cheesy crème brulee, a “no-go” for me. However, with a bit of tweaking, I think I can make (and eat!) next week’s orange-scented lentil soup and definitely the lemon-steamed spinach on the 29th. I’ll also be making the ispahan loaf cake scheduled for the 22nd just because I’ve been waiting for this recipe to be on rotation for awhile. In order to stick with the cleanse, I won’t eat any of the cake and will bring the slices to my co-workers instead.

Until then, please know that this cleanse has severely limited what foods I can eat and bake, so my own posting will be rather limited. This also means my commenting on your own delicious blog posts will be sporadic at times as to avoid the temptation to cheat on the cleanse. I should be back to more frequent posting after Easter. Here’s to a healthier blogger in two more weeks!

Chocolate-dipped maple & bacon Madeleines

To continue my new found fondness of pure maple syrup, I thought it appropriate to make these chocolate-dipped maple & bacon madeleines next from the We Love Madeleines cookbook. I knew immediately that I’d enjoy these madeleines simply for the maple syrup and bacon. However, I was a bit wary about the chocolate. I rarely like things dipped in dark chocolate being a white chocolate fan myself. But, I’ve seen so many chocolate and bacon pairings that I thought these shouldn’t disappoint.

And, I was right! These madeleines were light and airy but substantial enough to support the chocolate, bacon, and cayenne pepper garnishes. Plus, this recipe switched baking temperatures halfway through the process, and it seemed to give the madeleines a softer texture, which I enjoyed immensely.

Up next: graham cracker madeleines

BACON AND CHOCOLATE MADELEINES (Makes about 24)
by Sean Magrann-Wells as seen in We Love Madeleines

Ingredients
3/4 c. all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 tbsp. maple syrup
2 tbsp packed brown sugar
zest of 1 orange
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and kept warm, plus more for greasing the pans

Directions
1. In a small bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, granulated sugar, maple syrup, brown sugar, and orange zest until thoroughly blended. Add flour mixture and whisk until just combined. Add melted butter and mix until just incorporated. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rest in refrigerator for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.
3. Position rack in upper quarter of oven and another in center and preheat to 400 degrees. Generously great two madeleine pans with melted butter and dust with flour, tapping out excess.
4. Spoon batter into prepared pans, filling 2/3 full, and bake, staggering the pans so that the top pan is not directly over the lower one, for 4 minutes. Then rotate the pans from front to back, and upper to lower, reduce the heat to 350 degrees, and bake about another 5 minutes more.
5. Let madeleines rest in pans on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then turn them out onto rack and let cool.
6. Meanwhile, in a double boiler over simmering water, melt 8 ounces dark chocolate, stirring occasionally, until completely melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Dip each madeleine into chocolate, sprinkle with crumbled bacon (3 strips total), and dust lightly with the cayenne pepper. Return to wire rack and let set.

ffwD: Chicken Breasts Diable

My first thought on this week’s assignment was “Mustard’s in the sauce? Blech. Mustard. I hate mustard.” However, after eating dinner at L2O last weekend, I had the pleasure of experiencing different pairings of flavors that I thought would never go together (much less like on their own) throughout a 15-course tasting menu. For instance, I never knew foie gras would taste so good with both sweet and savory ingredients! However, there was a course in the meal that had bits of Meyer lemon zest sprinkled on top, and it tasted genuinely nasty to me. I know a two-star restaurant would never zest close to the pith, but I had the taste of pith in my mouth nonetheless. Despite that one moment of unpleasantness and in the spirit of culinary adventure, I threw caution to the wind, plunged tablespoon first into a jar of grainy German mustard, and used the full three tablespoons called for in Dorie’s chicken breasts diable. Surprisingly, the tartness from the mustard cut down the richness of the cream to the point where I actually enjoyed the mustard sauce! Who knew? I can see myself making this chicken dish again with the mustard sauce without even a second thought to the dreaded mustard. Progress!

This chicken breasts diable made as a part of French Fridays with Dorie, a group of bloggers who are cooking their way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours.