Raspberry Swiss Buttercream on Chocolate Cupcake

It was time to make a new flavour and add it to my collection of buttercream flavours.

I personally love berries so I decided to try to make a raspberry Swiss buttercream.
I used the same method I use for strawberries.
Cook the raspberries down until it's concentrated and mash it up.
The more it's cooked down the better so you remove as much liquid as possible and left with flavour.

Even though the puree is about the same color as the strawberry one, the difference in the buttercream colour is huge.
I've never had such a dark deep beautiful red color before with strawberries.

I also find I have to use more raspberries then I do strawberries when flavouring buttercream.
It seems like out of the 2 berries I've tried so far, strawberry is the strongest flavour so you don't have to use too much of it.

An other difference between the raspberries and strawberries is the number of seeds. For such a tiny berry, there is a ridiculous amount of seeds in it.
Honestly, seeds makes the flavour feel more real but it's a pain to pipe roses as the seeds get stuck in the piping. I also feel like the seeds add more fibre so if possible I would like to keep it in.

My co-workers loved the result. As always, the sweetness is at such a level that people don't feel guilty eating multiple cupcakes so they went back for seconds.
I also asked them about the seed and no one seemed to care if there's seeds vs no seeds.

So my conclusion about this flavour, if requested, I can seed the raspberry puree and use the 1M tip for piping the cupcakes.
If I'm using it within cakes or just a circular tip, then I can leave the seeds in if they do not make a request.

Right now, I take personal orders from friends and family for cakes and cupcakes as I continue to grow the number of flavours I can create on a consistent basis.

One day I'll open up a store ;)

Quick and Easy Fried Rice with Sausage

This is a super easy to make fried rice. Usually done in 15 mins, about the time it takes to cook the sausage. I like to use sweet sausages for this particular recipe but honestly you can use any meat when you make fried rice. I just find sweet sausage to be very easy to use as it's full of flavour so there's less things you need to do when you need to cook something fast.

Trick to cooking good fried rice is using day old rice. After the rice has been cooked and been in the fridge for a day, it's at a good dry level that makes it perfect for fried rice.

Quick and Easy Fried Rice with Sausage

Makes about 7 bowls of rice Prep time: 10 mins cook time: 10 mins

Ingredients

• cooked rice - 3 rice cooker cups when uncooked rice
• 400g of Sausage (I use Chinese Red Sausage or Sweet Longaniza)
• 2-3 Green Onions
• 2 Eggs
• Soy Sauce
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tbsp oil

Directions

1. Start to heat up the pan
2. While the wok is heating, cut the sausage into bite size pieces.
3. The pan should be hot by the time you're done cutting, add the oil and the garlic to the wok. Then add the sausage you just cut up.
4. While the sausage is cooking, dice up the green onion
5. Stir the sausage around so it cooks evenly and scramble the eggs in a bowl.
6. When the sausage is done cooking, mix in the rice and stir around. The rice will change colour due to the sausage. Add a touch of Soy Sauce. I usually pour straight from the bottle and make a circle around the pan.
7. Once it's well mixed and the rice is all warmed up, mix in the green onion.
8. Make a hole in the middle and pour in the scrambled egg.
9. Let it cook a little bit before mixing the rice into egg

And you're done :)

Simple, fast and tasty.

Mozzarella Stuffed Turkey Meatballs with Chia Seeds

Chia Seeds were recently on sale so I decided to buy some to see what the fuss is all about.
Honestly, it's hard to see the health benefits when you're just trying them out. I think you have to be committed to eating them to really truly see the benefits of switching to Chia.

One of the things I like about Chia Seeds is that it's easy to use.
It's so easy to incorporate since it's tasteless unlike Flaxseed and you DO NOT have to grind it up before you use them.
I can just throw the Chia Seeds into my smoothie in the morning to give it that extra boost without any extra work or throwing off it's taste.

Since it has the abilities to soak up water and gel things up, I figured why not try it in meatballs.
Turkey is healthy, Chia seeds are healthy, lets make a healthy meatball. The gooey cheese in the middle definitely helps counter the lean meat I used and make it moist and tasty.

It's pretty easy and if you lack time, you can skip the browning process in a skillet and just preheat the oven to a higher temp, like 450 degrees F, and cook it for 5 mins before adding the sauce and turning down the heat.

Mozzarella Stuffed Turkey Meatballs with Chia Seeds

Makes 20 meatballs Prep Time 45 mins Cook Time 45 mins

Ingredients 

• 2 lbs ground Turkey
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 Tbsp chopped garlic
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground pepper
• 1 tsp Oregano
• 1 tsp Parsley
• 1 tsp Basil flakes
• 2 or 3 Tbsp Chia Seeds
• 1/2 garlic powder
• 1 Egg
• 125g Mozzarella Cheese - Cut into 20 cubes
• half a can of pasta sauce

Directions

1. In a bowl, mix together the onion, garlic, salt, pepper, herbs and chia seeds.
2. Add the turkey and mix it in well.
3. Make a hole in the middle and crack the egg in it. Whip the egg.
4. Mix the meat with the egg.
5. Preheat skillet to medium low heat and preheat oven to 350 degree F
6. Grab a handful the meat mixture and press it flat on the palm of your hand.
7. Place a cube of cheese in the middle and curl your hand to make a fist to close the meat ball.
8. Roll it around a bit to make sure it's closed and you can't see any cheese.
9. Place it in the skillet and while it browns, make the next one.
10. Keep on repeating steps 6-9 until you finish using all the meat.
11. Place brown meatballs into a baking pan.
12. Once all the meatballs are browned, add the pasta sauce into the pan.
13. Bake for about 25-30 mins so the meatballs are cooked and the cheese is all melted.

Great on pasta or on it's own :)

Steamed Tofu with Minced Shrimp and Pork

In this dish, the pork and shrimp mixture nicely contrasts the softness of the tofu creating a very nice feel in your mouth when you eat it.
It's not too complicated to make as long as you have minced pork on hand as the shrimp can be minced up quite fast.
Any pork and shrimp left over can be cooked on it's own in a "meat ball" which is quite tasty on it's own.
The shrimp is actually the star of the dish while the pork is used as a binding agent for the pork since it's not fully minced and needs help to stick together.

Steamed Tofu with Minced Shrimp and Pork

Makes 8 blocks Prep Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 10-15mins

Ingredients

Main:

• ~50g  of Minced Pork
• 100g Shrimp (peeled and shelled)
• 1 package soft or silky Tofu (Other Tofu like all-purpose or firmer ones are fine too but in a steam dish, you can use more delicate tofu)
• 1 tsp Soy Sauce
• 1 tsp Sugar

Sauce - Optional:

• 1/2 Tbsp Oyster sauce
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp Corn Starch
• 1/3 cup water

Directions

1. On a cutting board, start chopping up the shrimp and mince the shrimp. It does not have to be finely minced, you can have some bigger pieces but you'll want to have at least 1/2 to 3/4 shrimp in a nice paste
2. Mix with the mince pork. Use just enough to help bind the shrimp together, you may not need to use all 100g. I personally like more shrimp then pork
3. Add soy sauce and sugar and mix
4. Open the package of tofu and very carefully rinse the tofu water off.
5. Cut the tofu into enough pieces to fit your steam dish. I'm able to fit 10 pieces before I run out of room.
6. Put all the tofu pieces onto the dish and lightly score the top with a hash pattern.
7. Put a spoon of the pork and shrimp mixture on top of each tofu piece. (picture to the right)
8. Cover the dish with saran wrap and steam for 10-15 mins.
9. Keep an eye on the meat, the pork will be the longest thing to cook so depending on how much pork you used, the cooking time can vary.
10. Once it's done steaming, you'll still find a considerable amount of water in the dish, try pouring as much out as possible.

The dish is basically ready but if you find it too bland because the tofu is bland, either make the sauce or just add fish soy sauce to the dish.

1. If you want to make the sauce, in a small bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the sauce.
2. Heat it up in a skillet until a boil.
3. Cook until the sauce is at the right thickness to your liking.
4. Remove from heat and pour on top of the tofu.

Cranberry, Sunflower seeds and Flax Seed Bread

I've been baking bread from the Bread Bible ever since I got it.
There's so many recipes to try but recently I've been playing around with the basic hearth bread recipe (page 305).
What I like about this one is that it has that nice rustic crust I like from artisan bread and because it's a basic recipe, I can use it as a base to try different things.
This is one I've recently finished perfecting and I'm quite happy with this variation.

Toasted slice of bread

You can borrow the book from the library. I found that it was available in both Markham and Toronto.

For this variation, I used half the recipe to create a loaf bread.
I like the loaf bread because I find it easier to cut and it's perfect size for 2 people to eat within 1 week.

Modifications
1. Add 1/3 cup of soaked dried cranberries.
2. Use the water used to soak the dried cranberries as the water the recipe calls for in the dough starter.
3. Add sunflower seeds
4. Add Ground Flaxseeds. (I've done with both whole and ground but I read that it's better to use ground because you can absorb all the benefits Flaxseeds bring vs it going through your system undigested)
5. Baking with La Cloche instead of just straight into the oven.

Method Modifications
In regards to adding the extra ingredients, I added them before the first rise so it has time to meld into the dough.

After Kneading the dough and it's ready, let it rest for 10 mins for the dough to relax.

Then press out the dough into a rectangle.

Do not press too thin or else the seeds and berries will cut right through the dough.

Once it's pressed out, I spread the ground flax seeds all over.

Then sprinkled both cranberries and sunflower seeds to cover the dough. (Picture to the Right)

Once that's done, I rolled it up like a jelly roll.
(Picture below)

Connect the ends to make a donut shape and knead softly a couple of times.








Then proceed as the instructions in the recipe.
You can make a round shape loaf or a loaf
If you wish to make a loaf, then follow the instructions for how to roll a loaf bread

The picture below is my loaf without tucked ends. You can tuck the ends to make it look prettier on the ends.

Baking with la cloche
I've tried both starting with a cold oven and starting with a preheated oven.
Some people say the crust is crisper if you preheat the over.
I do agree but honestly if you're scared of the la cloche cracking, go with the cold oven.
I found the baking time different between cold and preheated to be about 10 mins for my oven. It may very pending on how fast your oven heats up, so please check your break before you turn off the oven.

Cold Oven
If you decide to use a cold oven, place the bread in the la cloche with the top on and turn the oven on to 475 degree F.
Once the oven reaches temperature, start the timer for 10 mins then turn it down to 425.
I lifted the lid after 10 mins and only needed to bake it for an other 5 mins and it was done.

Preheated Oven
The Bread Bible will tell you to preheat the oven with the lid inside. The la cloche instructions will just tell you to preheat the oven.
I tried the Bread Bible method and my la cloche did not crack. This will be up to you for how confident you are with cracking or not.
Preheat to 475 degrees F, lid is optional.
Once it's preheated, place the bread in with both la cloche top and bottom and start the timer for 10 mins.
Turn down the heat to 425 and bake for 15 mins.
Lift the lid and cook for about 10 more mins afterwards. Check your bread as it will vary oven to oven.
Cooking time is very similar and to cold oven start. Really depends on how long it takes for your oven to heat up.

Happy baking

Pesto Chicken Baked in La Cloche

I've been having a lot of fun with the la cloche. I found that baking chicken in the la cloche actually helped keep the chicken moist.

I had left over pesto sauce that we made an other day so I decided to use it on the chicken.
I rubbed the sauce in-between the chicken breast and the skin so it would get to the meat directly.
It's my favourite thing to do when baking a turkey and I'm glad it also works for a chicken.

Pesto Chicken Baked in La Cloche

Makes 1 Chicken, Prep time: 15 mins Cook Time: 40-60mins

Ingredients

• 1 Whole Chicken, washed and dried
• 3 carrots
• 3 sticks of celery
• 1 Onion, quartered and 1 quart cut into 1/8
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic
• Salt and peper
• 1 Tbsp Pesto sauce

Directions

1. Preheat the over to 375 F.
2. Wash and cut all the veggies
3. Placed the washed and dried chicken onto the la cloche dish.
4. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and rubbed it in.
5. Use your hand to separate the skin from the breast meat of the chicken. The middle part to separate the 2 halves of the breast will stay but that's ok.
6. Use your hands and rub the pesto sauce on the breast meat under the skin. This will help marinate the meat directly
7. Put a quarter of the onion and half the garlic in the tummy of the chicken.
8. Rub the rest of the garlic along with left over pesto sauce onto rest of the chicken (the legs, wings and back)
9. Sprinkle the veggies around the chicken.
10. Put it in the oven with the lid on top.
11. For a 1.4kg Chicken, I cooked it for 40 mins covered                                                                               and 15 mins uncovered.

Enjoy

How to keep Celery Longer

I don't use celery very often in Chinese cooking and when I do, it's usually just 2-3 stalks at most per dish I make.

So you can imagine if I buy celery, it'll stay in my fridge for a very long time.

However if you just keep it in the fridge, it'll wilt rather fast and become limp. Definitely not ideal if you want to use it in stir fry or even just eat it as is.

To keep celery over a long period of time, put it into water as if you meant to grow it!

If you keep it out of the fridge, over time you will find it sprouting leaves even if it doesn't grow taller.

If you don't want more leaves, then put the celery in the cup of water in the fridge and it will slow down it's growth.

You can revive limp celery this way too!

My husband left half a stalk of celery in the fridge for a week after he cooked with it and it was quite limp by the time I found it in the fridge.

I cut off a bit of the bottom and put it in a cup of water on my counter top.

The first day the celery was all bent over the cup and I had to stand it up against the paper towels.

The second day it had more strength and only the top was curled over.

By the third day it's fully standing up straight on it's own and all ready for me to use whenever I want.

Happy cooking.