My Newest Venture

Introducing! My newest venture. Work has been slowly picking back up and I have had a project in the works for awhile. It's something that I have done unofficially, but finally decided to just go for it. My newest venture is called...

A Sweet Intention

I will be providing custom cakes and baked goods for those located near Clinton Township,MI (Metro Detroit area) I am so excited to finally go for it and put my name out there.With all the exciting events going on at work, my new business will provide some extra excitement for myself as well. 

So heres to eating dessert first!

A year and some change.....

Nope. Not going to deny it. I am the worst blogger in the history of blogging. How long has it been? A whole year and a few months? Let's do an update..

• The beginning of last year, I had to cut ties with the company I was working for. It was an unhealthy relationship and I came home feeling down everyday. Plus, payroll wasn't getting paid. 
• I am now going on almost a year as an assistant pastry chef for a four star,four diamond hotel and I LOVE my job.
• I fell in love and moved into an apartment with my beau. Hopefully he will let me post about him on here. 

In addition to my full time job, I am slowly doing cakes as a side business and here are a few things I have done.

Tomato and Cucumber Salad

*comes up for air*

Hello?

Anyone out there?

What month is it?

What year is it?

Oh, January? 2010?

I don't know about anyone else, but 2009 was a doozy.Not sure how many life lessons one can fit in a year, but I heard from quite a few of them. Things have been changing and life has been rearranging. I think things have finally calmed down by now. Maybe.

The new year always presents an opportunity to start fresh and new. We have a chance to look back at what happened in the year and pay attention to what lessons we learned and bring them along with a clear mind in the new year.

So to bring in the first entry of 2010, a simple and fresh tomato and cucumber salad.It goes well on top of a bed of greens or works by itself as an appetizer.

Tomato and Cucumber Salad
Printable Recipe

Makes 4 servings

4 tomatoes,medium
1 cucumber,medium
1/2 white onion,medium
1 lemon,juiced
Salt and Pepper

1. Slice the white onion into julienned strips, or thin strips and place into a bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pour lemon juice over the onion.Set aside for 30 minutes.
2. While the onion is marinating, slice tomatoes and cucumber into desired cut. I prefer the half moon shape.
3. When the onion is finished marinating, add the tomatoes and cucumber. Toss until evenly combined. Season with salt & pepper and enjoy.

Pumpkin Doughnuts

I've never been big on fashion trends. Actually, I've always secretly enjoyed fashion trends, but I was always a good two or three weeks behind. When I finally bought a tattoo choker, people had moved on to mood rings.Wait, was it choker first then mood rings? Or the other way around? Don't jelly rings come between those two? Why were tattoo chokers popular anyways? I feel like i'm being strangled and if you move your neck just the right way, you can feel a not so pleasant pinch on your neck. Discomfort aside, you were the shiz.

Fashion goes in and out so fast, but everything eventually comes back around in some form or another. SO my plan to finally become the trendy one is to wear a choker, jelly rings, clog sandals,and a poncho until it comes back around. That way, I will be TEH SHIZ....or not.

Now back to food....

It seems like every fall, more and more pumpkin recipes show up. Of course, me being the late trend person, I am just now posting my first and last pumpkin recipe for this year. When does the pumpkin trend end exactly? What are we on now? Christmas cookies? Thanksgiving ideas? Ahh forget it. I'll never be on time with the trends.

Pumpkin Doughnuts and Spiced Sugar
Makes about 24 doughnuts and doughnut holes

Adapted from epicurious.com

Spiced sugar

1 cup sugar
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg

Doughnuts

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon whole milk
1 cup pure pumpkin,canned or fresh
Canola oil (for deep-frying)

1. In a small bowl, combine the spiced sugar ingredients and set aside.In a medium bowl, combine the first 7 ingredients and set aside. With an electric mixer or spoon, beat the sugar and butter until blended. Beat in the egg, egg yolks, and vanilla. Gradually beat in the milk. Beat in the pumpkin in 2 additions.With a spoon, fold in the dry ingredients in 4 additions.After all the dry ingredients are combined evenly,the mixture will be sticky and be similar to drop biscuit batter or dumplings. Cover and set in the refrigerator for 3 hours.

2.Pour your oil into a deep skillet or fryer to a 1 1/2 inch depth. If using a skillet, attach a deep fry thermometer and heat the oil to 365°F to 370°F.If using an electric fryer, just set the temp to 365°F.

3. While the oil is heating, sprinkle counter or a cutting board with flour and press out 1/3 of the dough onto the floured surface to 1/2-2/3 inch thickness. You may have to sprinkle the top with flour to relieve some of the stickiness. Cut out doughnuts using a 2 1/2 inch circle cutter, then cut out 1 inch holes using a large pastry tip or small circle cutter. Arrange circles and holes on a floured surface. Continue to re roll scraps until all dough is used up.

4. When the oil is properly heated, fry doughnuts a few at a time about one minute per side until golden brown.Fry doughnut holes in 2 batches,turning occasionally, about 2 minutes, or until golden brown. Flip using a slotted spoon or chopstick.With the slotted spoon,move to a plate lined with paper towels to drain.Let cool and roll in spiced sugar.Enjoy when warm.


Other Pumpkin Recipes
Pumpkin Mac and Cheese

Next: Miss Anna's Chip Cookies

Pork,Sweet Potato,and Mung Bean Soup

Coughing..sneezing...sore throat..headache..

This post is starting to sound like the beginning of a Pepto or Nyquil commercial.

I hate being sick. I hate being sick so much that I've avoided being sick for years. (seriously) The most I've ever had was an irritation in my throat for like 5 minutes. I actually started to believe that I had some sort of ancient blood that allowed me to stay immune to the common cold and flu.

Whenever someone is sick, what are the top suggestions we give? Drink lots of water! Get plenty of fluids! Eat Soup! I hear eat soup all the time, but we forget that when we're sick, we really can't taste anything. So the soup that we're eating has a pretty interesting texture with barely a hint of flavor.

But alas, there is a cure. If you're going to eat soup, then go for a soup with different textures and different flavors. This soup has flavors from ginger and garlic and different textures from spinach, sweet potatoes and mung beans.


Pork,Sweet Potato, and Mung Bean Soup
Makes 6-8 servings

2 lbs. country style pork ribs
4 cups chicken stock*
6 cups water
1 leek ( washed and split in half)**
1 inch piece fresh ginger (peeled)
2 cloves garlic(peeled)
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 cup mung beans
2 cups sweet potato ( Peeled and diced into bite size pieces)
5 cups fresh spinach (Washed)
juice of 1 lemon
To taste-salt and pepper


Rinse the pork ribs in water until the water runs clear. This rinses away the blood taste in the meat. In a large stockpot over medium-high heat, place the pork ribs, stock, water, leek, garlic, ginger, fish sauce,and soy sauce. Let it come up to a boil then turn down to a simmer. Let simmer for an hour or until the meat is tender.

Halfway through simmering the pork meat, place the mung beans in a bowl of water to wash off tiny pebbles or dirt. In a medium pot over medium-high heat, place the mung beans and 7 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Boil for 30-45 minutes, or until beans are soft. Add the diced sweet potato and boil until soft. Drain mung beans and sweet potato in a colander. I prefer to cook the mung beans separate because the water gets cloudy when boiling them.

Add the mung beans and sweet potato to the pork. Add the juice of the lemon. Add the rinsed fresh spinach to the pot and cover until it is wilted.

Adjust with salt and pepper to taste and serve alone or with steamed rice.

* I prefer the taste of the chicken stock compared to pork stock. It balances well with the taste of the pork.
**I prefer to use only the white and light green part of the leek. The green part can be used to make stock.

Awhile back, Foodbuzz offered Tastemakers an opportunity to sign up for a gift certificate to use at the Asian Food Grocer site. I knew I had to opt in because I love this site. If you have not heard of this site, then you really need to check it out. They have a great range of asian foods for really great prices.