Birthday Wishes

“Cause we all know in our minds
That there ought to be a time
That we can set aside
To show just how much we love you
And I’m sure you would agree
It couldn’t fit more perfectly
Than to have a world party on the day you came to be.”
Thank you, Stevie Wonder! You took the words right out of my mouth. Each year for Mom’s birthday, the family works together to come up with a menu. It’s an annual battle: Mom trying to sneak into the kitchen to cook everything herself, older sister Kelsey trying to distract her back into the living room to dance to Madonna, brother Stevie doing something rowdy to worry her such as jumping off the counters or creating a scene…and meanwhile, I’m allowed a few moments to create the surprise of the birthday cake. Mom lets me know what flavors she wants (I guess that’s fair…I mean it is her birthday after all) and I am free to bake away as I wish. This year, it was simple…nothing fancy, just a big heart with the right tastes.



Lemon Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Cake (12 servings)
Ingredients:
1 cup canola oil
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup sour cream
Frosting:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
8 ounces cream cheese
2 tablespoons fresh meyer lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar
Directions:
1. Grease bottom, sides, and center of a cake pan & preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
2. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. Beat eggs and sugar together with your mixer on medium speed. Add oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla. Incorporate both flour mixture and sour cream.
4. Pour batter into pan and bake for 25-30 minutes depending on how thick your cake is. The heart tin I used was large so the cake was thin. Bake until the top seems firm and a toothpick comes out clean.
For the frosting…
Use an electric mixer on low speed to beat butter, cream cheese, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla until smooth. Add sugar!
Frost the cake once it is cool. Sprinkle with more lemon zest. Add raspberries for a yummy flavor. Light the candles. And make a wish (even if it isn’t your birthday). 






“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Cheers!
-Bay

Honey Fig Spread

“To eat figs off the tree in the very early morning, when they have been barely touched by the sun, is one of the exquisite pleasures of the Mediterranean.” Elizabeth David
Elizabeth David was a British writer who was influenced by the art of home cooking. She rebelled against what was socially acceptable—studied art in Paris, became an actress, and eventually ran off with a married man (they sailed away in a small boat to Greece…aaahhhh…romance). She also worked for the British government and ran a library in Cairo. Clearly, she did some radical things. But also, she introduced British cooks to various types of Mediterranean food that were barely known to them. These foods included pasta, salami, olive oil, red and green peppers, and of course…figs.



Ingredients: makes 2 cups
1 pound black mission figs
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Directions:
1. Wash and stem the figs. Cut them in half and add them to a small sauce pan. Add the remaining ingredients, and stir to combine. Let the figs absorb the ingredients (with no heat) for 10-15 minutes before continuing.



2. Set the figs over low to medium heat, and let them cook for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Using a potato masher or the back of a spoon, smash the figs to desired consistency.



3. Reduce the heat to low, and continue to cook for another 7-10 minutes, or until the jam has thickened.

4. Spoon the spread into two mason jars and keep them in the fridge for up to a month.



Cheers!
-Bay

Italian Chicken Marsala

It’s November. When did this happen? I find myself liking warm foods more in November…I’m not sure why. I just do. In that case, bring on the chicken marsala! I’ve made this dish a few times and it always proves to be tasty. I was cooking for my hungry, just-off-the-plane siblings, so we served it over a bed of wheat pasta and green beans. Perhaps better than the meal, was cooking with my sister for the first time in my apartment with Elton John’s greatest hits on the record player. I’ll always love the many ways that food and music bring people together :)



Chicken Marsala
start with golden chicken cutlets (you will make your sauce in the same pan)…this served four with leftovers.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast
salt & pepper
about 1/2 cup flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
Directions:
1. Place the chicken flat on your cutting surface. Using a sharp knife, cut the chicken in half horizontally.
2. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Sprinkle flour over the chicken to coat both sides.
3. Add olive oil to a large saute pan over medium heat. Allow the cutlets to cook until golden.

Time for the sauce!

Indredients:
3 ounces pancetta, diced
12 ounces sliced mushrooms
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
16 ounces Marsala wine (sweet or dry…I use sweet)
1 tablespoon chopped oregano (optional extra tablespoon for garnish)
Directions:
1. Cook the pancetta until golden. Add the sliced mushrooms and a bit of extra olive oil. Add garlic and tomato paste.
2. Add Marsala to the pan. Cook until the wine thickens. Stir in the oregano and you are ready to serve!

Cheers!
-Bay

The Connection Between Hummus & Psychology

I LOVE HUMMUS. No seriously…I do. Sometimes when I go to Trader Joe’s I just stand and stare at all the hummus. Who has the mind to concoct all of these wildly wonderous variations? It can mean only one thing…the human race is taking massive strides towards perfection. When I’m a little bored, and a little sleepy, and a little “not feeling like making an elaborate appetizer,” I make hummus. It’s an Arab food dip typically made from mashed chickpeas and blended with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic. It is one of those dishes that’s so simple, I can make it while simultaneously engaging in a daydream, a visionary fantasy based off the harmonies of Belle & Sebastian streaming out of the speakers and into my conscience. When I was getting scolded for being a daydreamer in elementary school, I should have told my teachers that research states people in creative careers are shown to develop new ideas through daydreaming. See…I’m daydreaming right now…and what the hell does any of this have to do with hummus, you ask? Absolutely nothing.





Ingredients:

• 1 16 oz can of chickpeas

• 1/4 cup liquid from can of chickpea

• 3 tablespoons lemon juice 

• 1 1/2 tablespoons tahini

• 2 cloves garlic, crushed

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:
1. Drain chickpeas and set aside liquid from can. Combine remaining ingredients in blender or food processor. Add 1/4 cup of liquid from chickpeas. Blend until mixed and smooth.

2. Place in serving bowl, and create a shallow well in the center of the hummus.

3. Add a small amount (1-2 tablespoons) of olive oil in the well. Garnish with chickpeas. Serve immediately with fresh, warm or toasted pita bread, or cover and refrigerate.

 Cheers!
-Bay

It’s not the barbecues in your life that count. It’s the life in your barbecues

“Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop and barbecue.” – Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland




It could be the middle of a winter snowstorm, and I would still love a good outdoor barbeque. I could never get sick of them. Ever. Learning how to barbeque is on my summer list of things to do, and I will admit that the men in my family have been quite helpful with regards to this aspiration. However, this summer list just keeps growing and the more things I become interested in, the more things I realize I need to learn about. Plato said that all learning has an emotional base, which is perhaps why my passions for many many things have led to the following self-diagnosis… obsessive compulsive google disorder. If I don’t understand something or don’t know something, I simply must google it. In the words of my mother, “just ask google. They know everything!” So, when I asked these so-called google masters what to make as side dishes for a barbeque, they came up with some pretty smart ideas—arugula corn salad with bacon and baked honey-rum beans. Thank you google. Thank you Plato. And thank you summer free time for reminding me why I love to learn in the first place.



Arugula Corn Salad with Bacon
Ingredients: 6-8 servings
4 ears of corn
1 cup cherry tomatoes
4 cups of arugula
3 strips of bacon
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
salt & pepper
Directions: 
1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Brush the corn with olive oil and roast in the oven for twenty minutes, turning once.
2. While the corn cools, mix together chopped arugula, bacon, tomatoes, and onions in a large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, and cumin for the dressing.
4. When the corn has cooled, remove the kernels from the cobs by standing a corn cob vertically over a large bowl. Use a sharp knife to make long, downward strokes. Add your corn to the rest of the salad and mix in dressing just before serving.



Baked Honey-Rum Beans



Ingredients: 6-8 servings
1 8-ounce can of black beans
1 8-ounce can of pinto beans
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 medium onion
1 carrot, diced
1/4 rum (I used Meyer’s Dark Rum)
2 tablespoon chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons molasses
2 tablespoons ketchup
salt & pepper
Directions:
1. Drain the beans and place them in an oven-proof dish.
2. Saute garlic, carrot and onions in 1 tablespoon of olive oil until soft, about five minutes.
3. Add rum and bring to a simmer. Cook until the rum is deduced by half, about five minutes. Next, add molasses, ketchup, salt & pepper, and cilantro. Combine this with the bean mixture, cover and bake for thirty minutes and garnish with cilantro.
And there you go! May these tastes bring happiness to your fellow barbeque lovers.

Cheers!
-Bay

Cinnamon & White Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

When we were kids, my brother and I used to go around the grocery store stealing all the blue stickers off the Chiquita bananas. It was always a contest, and more often than not, he would win. When I would return from the store, rather dispondant in my defeat, Dad would smile and put the stickers on his forehead in an effort to make me feel better. And trust me, it always worked. It’s interesting how our associations with certain foods can trigger memories, and though I may have disliked bananas as a child, I love them now. I find myself making banana bread as gifts often, but I always like to change the recipe. This recipe calls for cinnamon and white chocolate chips and let’s just say…it’s one of those changes worth embracing (as ALL changes should be).



Cinnamon & White Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Ingredients: makes 4 mini loaves 
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
4 eggs
3 tablespoons milk
2 cups mashed ripe bananas
1 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup sour cream
Directions:
1. Stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
2. In a mixer cream the sugar and butter. Add the eggs, one at a time, and the milk, beating after each addition. Add the flour mixture and banana mixture alternately. Fold in the chocolate chips.
3. Spray the loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.



“Things do not change. We change.” Henry David Thoreau
Cheers!
-Bay

Grapefruit & Mint Mojito

So here’s the thing…I set out to purchase grapefruit with the overwhelming desire to create some sort of grapefruit pie. Do those exist? I’m not entirely sure, but I still very much wanted to make one. SO I went to the local outdoor produce market, found some fabulous grapefruits priced at 3 for a dollar, and alas…came to the rather sad realization that no one really wanted to partake in the end result of eating my most likely pathetic attempt at a grapefruit pie. They would rather try a grapefruit and mint mojito. But then again, who wouldn’t?



Ingredients: yields 4 drinks
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup packed fresh mint leaves, plus sprigs for garnish
1 ruby-red grapefruit
3/4 cup white rum
3 cups ice
1 cup soda water
Directions:
1. Bring sugar and water to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat, and add mint leaves. Let steep 10 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve into a small bowl, and discard mint. Let cool.



2. Using a vegetable peeler, remove zest from grapefruit in long, wide strips. Place in a large glass, and add rum. Cover, and let stand for 30 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve into a large glass measure, and discard zest.



3. Cut away remaining pith from grapefruit. Cut between membranes to release segments. For each drink, place 2 to 3 segments in a glass. Top with 3/4 cup ice. Stir 3 tablespoons infused rum, 2 tablespoons mint syrup, and 1/4 cup soda water. Garnish with mint sprigs.




And do I even need to say it?

CHEERS!
-Bay

P.S. Keep in mind: Grapefruits are a great source of vitamin C.  One-half of a grapefruit provides all the vitamin C your body needs for the day.
So enjoy :)