Smitten...with this cookbook

I swung by our amazing library on Monday during my lunch break to pick up a book I had on hold that had come in (Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan, which was very good) and did a quick peruse of the "what's new" shelves.  I've been a Smitten Kitchen follower for years, and being in quite the meal rut lately, I of course snagged the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook.

Later that night I kicked back on the porch swing while Oscar and Ninja played in the backyard and started tabbing recipes....2 pads of post-its later....

I basically tabbed every other recipe.  It all just looked SO good, and her obsessive recipe testing guarantees it's not going to be a flop.  So far, I've made the zucchini ribbons with almond pesto (very tasty, though I sliced the zucchini too thick and need to try this one again; user error on my part as I can do like 1 setting on our mandolin grater) and the shaved asparagus pizza with her rushed pizza dough.  Oh. My. Goodness.

Never in a million years would it have occurred to me to thinly shave asparagus (which sounded really hard, but was a piece of cake with a potato peeler) and put it on top of a pizza.  I'm also a huge tomato sauce fan, so a sauceless pizza.....but I took one bite and fell in LOVE, this was out of this world.  Full disclosure:  Ryan got his own pizza with tomato sauce, cheese and mushrooms.  The asparagus was too "weird" for him.  

I will say, the next time I have this on the menu, I'll make the dough on a Sunday, freeze it then grab it out of the freezer the day I want to make it. Even with it being a "rushed" pizza dough recipe, it still took 45 minutes just for the dough, and that's too long for a weeknight dinner.

I haven't been this fired up about cooking in I don't know how long...maybe never?  There's a killer veggie ratoutille that WILL be made when our CSA ramps up at the beginning on June, popcorn cookies (with actual popcorn kernels in them, the anticipation is killing me on this one), lemon bars (for Ryan), a fruit breakfast crisp, shells with peas and a light alfredo....I could go on and on, and probably will as I start to cook my way through this!

I am a big library user, and really only buy books at garage sales or thrift stores.  But this book might be what I spend my $25 Barnes and Noble gift card on, that's how amazing it is.  I have stuff to make for dinner for weeks now!

Have you made anything particularly tasty lately? I know some of you are doing the Whole30 Cleanse, (Jessi I am super sorry about that Tiramisu recipe from earlier this week!),  I'd love to hear about some of the recipes you're using for that! 

Tiramisu

I worked at Bella Italia, this cute Italian place downtown, all through high school and college.  A pastry chef named Pat worked there too and made all of our desserts in house; whenever she leveled off the layer cakes, she'd leave a huge platter of cake shards and whip up 3 or 4 flavors of frosting for us to dip it in.  She was amazing!  Before I left, Pat graciously wrote out her recipe for my mom's favorite dessert, a Tiramisu layer cake.  I make it every year for Mother's Day and again for my mom's birthday in July.  It's not at all a traditional Tiramisu, with the ladyfingers soaked in espresso; but I really like the traditional Tiramisu flavors in a layer cake format (I think the ladyfingers get soggy!).  

This cake is a process, a labor of love!  My favorite way to cook it is to assemble each component separately the week before I'm serving the cake, that way you're just left to whip the whipped cream and assemble the cake.

Components all ready to go!

Ingredients:

• 2 boxes Duncan Hines white cake mix
• 1 pint heavy cream
• Powdered sugar
• 2-4 tablespoons Kahlua (depending of course upon how "spiked" you like your cake)
• 1 tablespoon corn syrup
• 1/2 cup leftover coffee
• Vanilla
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (or 1 cup if you really dig ganache)
• 8 oz. cream cheese

Step 1:  The cake layers.

You'll be making 4 round cake layers total.  I only have 2 9" round cake pans so these get made in 2 batches.  I grease the pans really well with Crisco and then flour them thoroughly; that combined with Calphalon coated pans makes my cake layers slide right out (for the most part).  

Once your 4 cake layers are baked and cooled, flip them over so they're right side up.  Even off the layer; shave it down so the top of the cake is a relatively even, flat surface.  At this point, I wrap them in plastic wrap and freeze them;  they're sturdier to handle when frozen.

Step 2:  Ganache

I make 1/2 the ganache Pat's original recipe called for, as the cake is so rich as is.  If you are a big chocolate fan, then make the ganache using the full cup of chocolate chips.  Melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips (I use 1/4 cup milk chocolate and 1/4 cup dark chocolate, Ghiradelli chocolate chips) with a splash of heavy cream; 45 seconds in my microwave does it.  I make this and then keep it in the fridge until Cake Day.

Step 3:  Cream Cheese

Mix 8 oz. cream cheese (this goes easier if it's softened) with a couple of teaspoons of powdered sugar (or to taste).  Package and keep in the fridge until Cake Day.

Step 4:  Coffee Mixture

Mix 1 tablespoon corn syrup with 1/2 cup coffee and 1-2 tablespoons of Kahlua.  If you do this with hot coffee it all blends together nicely.  Package and keep in fridge until Cake Day.  (You can make all of the different components on one day if you really wanted to; I've done it before, but you will end up with a crippling amount of dishes.)

Cake Day:  Assembly Time

First you're going to whip the whipped cream.  Dump your pint of whipped cream (minus that splash you used for the ganache) into a stand mixer; add a couple of tablespoons of powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons of vanilla and 1 tablespoon of Kahlua.  Mix on medium until you get whipped cream(4-6 minutes in my mixer). Also heat up your cream cheese mixture (until it's softened and easy to spread) and your ganache (until is liquidy). 

Get out whatever plate you want to serve the cake on; or you can get real fancy and use one of those stiff cardboard rounds, whatever floats your boat.  For Mother's Day yesterday I used a milk glass dish we used at our wedding.  

Get your cake layers out of the freezer and place one on the bottom of the plate.  Drizzle a few spoonfuls of the coffee mixture onto the cake layer, letting it soak into the cake.  Spread a thin, even layer of cream cheese onto the cake.  Add about 2 tablespoons of the whipped cream and spread it thinly and evenly onto the cake.  Now drizzle some ganache, like so:  

Now add your next 2 cake layers, drizzling on coffee, then cream cheese, then whipped cream, then ganache on each layer.  For your final cake layer, crizzle on the coffee and cream cheese.  Then add a big "plop" of whipped cream to the top and start icing that bad boy!  I ice the top, then do a thin layer on the sides, then I go back and add to the sides as whipped cream allows. 

Don't go for perfection with the icing, you've made a gorgeous, delicious homemade cake!  After you get the whipped cream situated, drizzle ganache on the top.  Here's yesterday's finished product:  

Whew!  Now eat a piece, you've earned it :)

What are some of your traditional family desserts that got associated with you or a certain holiday over the years?

Weight

Weight.  Lately it's been too all consuming for me, and I just don't know how to make that stop.
I exercise regularly.  I'm not killing myself at the gym 2 hours a day, but I am routinely active every day.  I eat well, better than I even thought (food tracking showed me that much at least).  But a few years ago, these new hips showed up, and I still don't know what to do with them.  I logically know that I am not overweight, but emotionally I am having an increasingly difficult time KNOWING that.

I tried MyFitnessPal, setting the calorie goal far too low for any comfortable and made myself miserable for a month or so, losing my ability to eat when I was hungry and stop when full.  I'd be starving all day, then have 800 calories left I then felt the need to use....it's not like they're going to roll over.  This just wore me out and I finally stopped.

Then I focused on just being regulary active-running, elliptical, workout DVDs.  But still I hated the way I looked.

So I gave LoseIt a try, this time setting the calorie goal to something where I'd lose weight slowly and NOT miserably.  I got within a pound of where I wanted to be, and still felt huge.  I did that in part to show myself that hitting the number on the scale wouldn't make it better, and I was right.

Now I'm in limbo.  My poor husband just wants me to be happy, and is encouraging me to work on body composition and try watching carbs/protein/fat instead of calories.  I dread getting back on the treadmill of tracking and obsessing so I'm hesitant.

What I struggle with most is why eating well and exercising on a regular basis isn't enough for me.  I know by now that what I see in the mirror isn't reality, and without that to trust I don't know where to turn or what to do.  I hate expending so much of my energy and brain power on this stupid cycle of self-loathing.  I wish I could rejoice in how my body moves and the good, whole foods I put into it, but I just keep hitting a roadblock.  I'm just not willing to put myself on an insanely restrictive diet but I'm not happy either.

Sigh.  I guess I need to psych myself up to give the composition game a try...maybe 3rd time would be the charm?

Anyone else struggle with body image and want to share?  Safe space ya'll!  And sorry to be such a gray cloud today...the farmer's market starts back up again tomorrow, I'm sure that will get me back to rights :)

On the Table

A couple of months ago Ryan showed up at our house with a stack of old barn wood he found on Craigslist.  Rusty nails were sticking of the boards from all directions, and the boards were...less than clean.

Ryan's Grandpa passed in January, and he was a woodworker.  When Ryan's uncles were cleaning out Grandpa's garage, they kindly handed down some of Grandpa's tools to Ryan.  Overnight, Ryan's garage turned into a woodshop!  It would've taken us years to save up for the tools Ryan's uncles generously passed on to him.  We bought Ryan a planer, and he got to work making a kitchen table.  I knew it was going to turn out cool, because I think my husband is smart and talented and amazing, but I had no idea just how cool it would turn out!

 

Ryan also found time to finish painting all of our cabinet doors smack in the middle of track season, his busiest time of year at work.

We bought the chairs at a local antique store ($25/chair) and Ryan painted them white.  I'm beyond thrilled with how it all turned out, and it's 100000x cooler to me since Ryan built it, designed it, the works.  Planing the wood smoothed everything down but still maintained the character of the reclaimed wood with the nail holes, splits in the grain, etc.  Ryan sealed it with a Butcher Block seal.  All total, it was a $310 project-$100 for the wood, $160ish for the chairs, and $40ish for the spray paint/Butcher Block seal.  It feels like a family heirloom already!

I was perusing my Pinterest boards last night and found these inspiration pictures:

Super close, don't you think?  I know that Jess just did the CUTEST cabinet remodel; have you been up to any house projects lately?

This Weekend

Happy Monday!  I hope it's treating you well :)  I know I'm having a productive day-don't you just love those, where you're crossing stuff off that to-do list?

This weekend was filled with LOTS of rain, but that somehow made it super low-key and relaxing, which was nice.  Saturday morning I got up and ran with my mom and my sister Alli + my dogs, Oscar and Ninja and Alli's dog Henry.  It was a great run-3 hilly miles around campus.  Poor Ninja was all bedraggled afterwards...

I baked bread (this recipe-her tip about 1/4 of the water needed for yeast being boiling with the other 3/4 being cold is worth its weight in GOLD) and then tried (somewhat unsuccessfully) to not eat ALL of it at once.  That's the only bread recipe I can do; this time I did 1/2 all purpose flour and 1/2 graham flour which was a great combo.  I watched lots of Scandal; I just discovered that show and I love it.  I also made granola which got a little too toasty, but it still tasted good this morning with blueberries on top.  If you want your house to smell like heaven, make that granola, it's guaranteed.

I also made meat sauce for dinner this week and I am really excited to have it tonight on top of zucchini noodles.  SO GOOD.

I hit Old Navy with my mom and Alli and surprisingly did really well!  I haven't bought much there larely.  Everything was an extra 30% for cardholders and my mom was nice enough to ring up my stuff on her card.  I got this dress (that I'm wearing today) for whatever 30% off of $5.97 is!  I also got a comfy sweater that covers my butt to wear with my leggings (just try and get me out of my leggings on the weekend, try it), a bright orange boatneck T and a swimsuit that doesn't make me feel large.  When you find a swimsuit that doesn't make you feel huge you pretty much buy it, right?

Last week was crazy town work-wise for me, so I'm looking forward to having more time to get projects hammered out this week.  I have a press release and e-blast I need to get out for a storytelling event we're putting on in May, and the Great Race (a time speed endurance rally for cars manufactured before 1969) is getting CLOSE!  I learned how to add transparency to pictures in Indesign today too!

How was your weekend?  How's your week looking?

What Happened Today in Boston

Ryan ran the Boston Marathon in 2009.  It was a joyous, incredible day for both of us.  Watching Ryan run past at mile 10 looking so strong, so in his element.  Jumping on the train, dashing to the finish, seeing him running towards the finish line on the Jumbotron, throwing my arms around him when I found him after the race.  Seeing how happy he was with his time.  I was so proud of him, so glad that his months of hard work paid off, so glad that he got to experience this once-in-a-lifetime race, a milestone in his running career.  We got engaged on the start line later that night.

Seeing what happened today has completely stunned me.  Running in the Boston marathon requires a qualifying time, one that you have to work very hard for.  It's a highlight in any runner's life, and it should be a  happy, euphoric day, a day where they can enjoy the fruits of their labor.

My heart breaks for everyone in Boston today.  I remember trying to find Ryan in all those people....and I can imagine how panicked spectators must have been, trying to find their runners today...trying to get ahold of them and make sure they're safe when their phones are in their gear bags that they checked at the start line.  I remember how packed with people the finish line was, everyone craning their necks to get a glimpse of the runner they're cheering for.  I can't stop looking at Twitter and the news and the pictures are too familiar but nightmarish instead of celebratory like they should be.

I'm so sad.  I'm so sad for everyone in Boston today.  It's a wonderful city full of welcoming, kind people and they love the marathon and everyone who travels from all over the world to run it.  Today should be a happy day, and instead it's heartbreaking.

Church in Boston in '09 decked out for the marathon; the church also offered a Blessing of the Athletes the day before the marathon

Social Media and Work

I'm in charge of social media for my job in tourism (VisitCape on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter, come check us out, its me behind all those posts!) and sometimes I feel like I've been binging on social media.  I try to unplug at night but it's hard because that's when I want to check my personal accounts.  I know I need to step away from it so it doesn't fry my brain.

I use HootSuite to manage all of my work social media/accounts/posts....what do you use to keep everything straight?

I actually got to meet a HootSuite VP (@DaveOHoots) at a social media conference I went to in November in El Paso, and he talked about these fun community gatherings called "HootUps".  A HootUp is basically like a TweetUp, where you can meet folks you know on Twitter, but it's more social media in general minded.  A friend of mine works for the local university and was organizing a Creativity Festival and wanted to incorporate a HootUp into the festival planning, so we got to put on #HootUpCape, and it ROCKED.

We had the event at a local lounge/tapas place, and kept it super casual.  We streamed my HootSuite on the wall, we had a hashtage (#HootUpCape)...

I submitted our event to HootSuite, and they sent us some "HootKits" with stickers, pins, coozies, temporary tattoos.....lots of fun goodies to make the event even more entertaining.  We had SO many temporary tats that we set up a station on the "tatio".

People even wore awesome owl jewelry, since HootSuite's logo/mascot is a super cute owl :)  

One of the groups I got to work with in planning the event put together these awesome social media photobooth props:

We had a Twitter one, a Facebook one, a Pinterest one and an Instagram one.  It was SO much fun, and we even got some really cool media coverage from the local news station (I come in at the 1:30 mark!)

And @DaveOHoots even tweeted at me.  Fangirl moment right here!  It was SUCH a fun event to work on, with really stellar folks, and I hope we can do another one soon.  I met some people I only knew previously via Twitter/Instagram, so it was great to put names to faces.

Have you ever gone to a HootUp or a TweetUp?  I need to look into doing one of those Instagram meet ups here, I think that would go over well.