Drip Cake: Chocolate Quinoa Layer Cake with Vanilla Bean Buttercream (gluten free)

Made my own Birthday Cake. Yes I did😆

6 inch GF Chocolate Quinoa Cake layers and Vanilla Bean Buttercream

This is my favourite part of making a cake

Decorated with my fave goodies: matcha macaron, Lindt chocolate balls, dragées, a mini KitKat and mini Coffee Crisp and crushed macaron shells

The chocolate ganache was perfect. I threw dragées on the side of the cake too and they stuck🙌

It's late November and the only thing blooming in my garden are these little purple Daikon flowers.  I just let the daikon go to seed and never did harvest the daikon (so bitter!)  The flowers sure are pretty...and edible

Scroll down past the recipes to watch a video of me assembling the layers

BEST EVER QUINOA CHOCOLATE LAYER DRIP CAKE WITH VANILLA BUTTERCREAM (GF)

adapted from Quinoa 365:  The Everyday Superfood

makes 3 6-inch layers

• 2 1/4 cups cooked quinoa (see note below for instructions to cook quinoa. No substitutions)
• 1/3 cup milk
• 4 large eggs
• 1 tsp pure vanilla bean paste
• 3/4 cups coconut oil, melted and cooled (you can use unsalted butter)
• 1 1/2 cups organic cane sugar
• 1 cup unsweetened organic cacao powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

*3 6-inch cake tins (you can make do with 2 pans and after baking the first batch, make the last layer after cleaning the pan)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray the tins with coconut oil spray or non-stick spray.  Line with a round piece of parchment paper
2. In a Vitamix, heavy-duty Blender of Food Processor, combine:  milk, eggs, vanilla paste.  Blend until combined.  Add 2 1/4 cups of cooked quinoa and the melted coconut oil and continue to blend until smooth.
3. Dump in the sugar, cacao powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt into the Vitamix.  Blend well to combine.  [NB: if you are using a regular blender, you will encounter problems with the thick batter and may not be able to totally break down the cooked quinoa grains. In this case, you should use a food processor]
4. Divide the batter evenly between the 3 prepared cake pans. Gently tap the pans on the counter to get rid of air bubbles and smooth the tops evenly
5. Bake in the centre of the oven for approximately 25-30 minutes.
6. Test the cakes for doneness with a toothpick or cake tester.
7. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.  Remove from the pan and allow the cake layers to cool completely on a rack. 
8. Frost with Buttercream (see recipe below).  Refrigerate the cake for at least 30 minutes. Make the ganache (see recipe below) and allow to cool as the cake is in the fridge.  Drip chocolate ganache over the cold buttercream. Decorate with your fave chocolates and bling✨ it up with dragees if desired.
9. Cake layers can be stored sealed in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 1 month. 

COOKING QUINOA Note:  Bring 2/3 cup raw, rinsed white or golden quinoa to boil in a heavy saucepan with 1 1/3 cups water.  Cover, reduce to simmer and cook for 10 minutes.  Turn off heat and leave covered saucepan on burner for another 10 minutes.  Fluff with fork and allow the Quinoa to cool.

Rice Cooker Method:  Cook rinsed quinoa as you would rice, following manufacturer's instructions and the indicator lines for appropriate water levels.    I made 1 cup quinoa and found it had enough leftovers to make another dish.

VANILLA BEAN BUTTERCREAM 

(makes just enough for a nearly naked cake; or just enough to frost this little 6 inch cake)

3 cups confectioners' sugar (icing sugar)

1 1/4 cups unsalted butter [I used Kerrygold]

1 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste

1 tablespoon milk

1. In an electric mixing bowl, beat the butter until creamy and smooth
2. Add the confectioners' sugar 1/2 cup at a time
3. Add vanilla bean paste and gradually add milk until the buttercream is at a consistency that is not too stiff. Continue beating [speed 8 on the KitchenAid] for 7-8 minutes until almost white in colour. The buttercream will be fluffy
4. Use immediately to frost the 3 cake layers.  

CHOCOLATE GANACHE

1 cup whipping/heavy cream

1 bag Wilton Chocolate Candy Melts (chocolate chips or dark chocolate will work as well)

OR

8 ounces chocolate

1 cup heavy cream

NB: before you start! if you have a kitchen scale the ratio for the ganache in weight is 1:1.  But if you don't or if you're too lazy to whip out the scale like me, you can eyeball it and adjust by adding more chocolate or cream until you get a thick pouring consistency.  

1. Put whipping cream in a microwave-safe container and heat in 30 second increments until it is hot to the touch.  Check on it at intervals so it doesn't boil over.
2. Add 1 cup of the Candy Melts or chopped chocolate and stir gently until the ganache is thick but pourable.  Mine was too runny initially so I had to add another handful of candy melts. As well, allowing it to cool will also thicken the ganache before pouring.  Test the ganache before drizzling on the cake by attempting to drip from the top edge of a glass or mug.  If it runs too quickly then add more chocolate or candy melts.  

♬Bossa Nova Royalty Free Background Music

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Gluten Free Oatmeal-Banana Bread

My 9 yr old's Gluten Free Oatmeal-Banana Bread...all made in the Vitamix!

I'm the only person in the household that avoids gluten because of my autoimmune disease...Hashimoto's.  One of the things I miss a lot is a really good Banana Bread...full of gluten. There's something about the texture of gluten-full banana bread that I miss!  But lucky for you I hit upon a lovely oat flour banana bread that is not only super easy to make (in one container!) but has an amazing texture and flavour.

She made mini doughnuts too! They were absolutely delicious with my espresso...and my 15 hours of marking

My homemade gf flour blend is great for cakes and I usually add psyllium husk powder to help with the texture (this works really well, by the way).  But sometimes I don't want to buy all those flours and have all those bags half-full of varieties of flours.  It's a pain because you have too much of one and not enough of the other!  

My 9 yr old loves anything mini and cute.  Here is her little Mouse Chef for perspective...next to  my one shot of espresso.  The kid's mini banana bread doughnuts were so moist and gave me energy to power through 15 hours of marking. geesh

Mostly all of the gf baked goods I buy in stores and gf bakeries are too dense or heavy and I don't know about you but sometimes gf flour is pasty or painfully grainy.  I have yet to find a really good gf bread that's chewy, crusty and slices well (still working on that!)  I've had great success with my own gf flour blend when I bake cakes but a recent spate of moths found in my cabinets had me throwing out everything.  I think the rice that I had stored in the cupboard had brought in some moth eggs. They even got into sealed plastic containers! ew.  Anyway, I store my oats in a sealed plastic container in a different area of the house and I thought they would make a perfect substitution for my usual gf flour blend.  There's something satisfying about grinding your own oat flour and only having to wash one container.  And only ONE flour! yay! And case in point...avoid those moths from the multitude of half-used flours you need to make your own flour blend!  

Bake your loaves until they have lovely cracks...don't be afraid to bake longer by up to 10 minutes because sometimes your bananas might be big so your batter might need the extra baking time

As a treat for the kid because after all, she did all the mixing and baking (and all I did was grind the oat flour)...I took a few of the mini banana bread doughnuts she made...and the next day coated them with a white glaze and cake sprinkles! Can you spot Mickey Mouse on Hello Kitty? 

yes, I only had red Mickey Mouse cake sprinkles so put 2 heads together for Hello Kitty's red bow

So not only is grinding your own oat flour in a Vitamix easy, but it is also a resounding success flavour-wise.  To boot, it's way cheaper than gf flour or bagged oat flour.  The oats add an amazing nutty flavour and you'll find yourself wanting to experiment with oat flour in other baked goods too (like me!) Let me know in the comments if you'd like more Vitamix recipes (which I can do because I use it a lot...but I have no idea if people actually want that?)

GLUTEN FREE OATMEAL-BANANA BREAD MADE IN A VITAMIX

• 2 Cups oat flour**[see note for how to use the Vitamix to grind oats into oat flour] (If you are Celiac, you should buy certified gluten free oats. Some Celiacs may be sensitive to gf oats too so play safe and maybe replace with a gf flour blend if you wish. I used Trader Joe's Rolled Oats) 
• 1/2 cup gluten free flour blend [any gf blend will do but I used "Namaste GF Organic Perfect Flour Blend" that I bought at Costco.  If you don't have any gf flour, you can just use another 1/2 cup of oat flour. Everything will turn out just fine!  If you're not avoiding gluten, just use 2 1/2 cups total of all-purpose flour]
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 sticks salted butter, softened [yes, you read right...SALTED. You can use unsalted but it will taste different]
• 1 1/2 Cups packed light brown sugar
• 2 Large eggs
• 3 Cups ripe bananas mashed (about 7 medium)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• optional: 1/2 cup chocolate chips, nuts or whatever chunky dried fruit cranks your wheel

**GRINDING YOUR OWN OAT FLOUR IN THE VITAMIX

You will need the "Dry Grains Container" for your Vitamix for this and approximately 3 cups of rolled oats or steel cut oats.

Place the oats into the Vitamix Dry Grains Container.  Set the Vitamix to variable speed.  Start out low and slow and pulse until the oats are ground into a powder.  You may need to stop the machine and stir down any chunks that cling to the side.  Continue to do this until the oats have been finely ground.  You will have more than enough for the recipe above so you can store the rest of the oat flour in an air tight container.  1 cup of rolled oats will yield approximately 1 cup of oat flour.

1. Preheat oven to 325degrees F.  Prepare 2 loaf pans by spraying with nonstick spray (I used coconut oil spray) and line with parchment paper. [My 9 yr old used 1 mini doughnut pan and 2 small loaf tins. You can also use paper-lined muffin tins but adjust baking times according to the size of your tins]

2. In the regular ("Classic") Vitamix container, place your salted butter and brown sugar.  Pulse on variable speed until the mixture appears creamy and cohesive.  Add 2 eggs and vanilla...continue to pulse to mix well.  

3.  Turn off the machine and periodically scrape down the sides of the Vitamix container with a rubber spatula to ensure that all the contents are evenly mixed. 

4.  With the Vitamix running on medium variable speed, add the whole bananas one at a time through the lid's chute.  Continue to blend until the mixture is smooth...this should take a couple of minutes

5.  Add all the dry ingredients to the Vitamix: the oat flour, gf flour, salt and baking soda.  Blend on Variable speed until the mixture is combined well; turning off to scrape down the sides if needed.

6.  If you want to go crazy, toss in chocolate chips at this point and just stir to combine with your rubber spatula before pouring into your prepared loaf tins.

7.  Pour prepared batter into the lined loaf tins. For regular-sized loaves, bake for 60-70 minutes until toothpick inserted reveals crumbs.  [My girl's mini doughnuts took 12 minutes.  Regular muffins might take anywhere from 12-15 minutes.  The small loves took 45 minutes. Don't worry...just check that there is no jiggle in the middle and use that toothpick-test to ensure it is baked through well. If your bananas are large sometimes you will have to bake up to 10 minutes longer]

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Miso-Maple Glazed Japanese Eggplant

Here is yet another fabulously easy go-to no-recipe recipe! 

Miso-Glazed Japanese Eggplant

3 Japanese eggplant, washed and stem end trimmed off

1 tablespoon Shiro Miso (White Miso Paste)

1 tablespoon pure maple syrup (more or less to taste)

1 tablespoon hot water

1 tablespoon avocado oil

Extra avocado oil for brushing

Slivered Scallions for sprinkling (I had to use organic baby spinach lol! It's the only green stuff I had in my fridge)

1. Slice the Japanese eggplant on the bias (diagonally) into 1/2 inch slices.  

2. Arrange on a parchment-lined baking sheet or shallow pan in a single layer.  Brush the tops of the eggplant slices with avocado oil.  

3. Preheat a broiler or crank up the bbq.  If using a bbq, you may want to place the eggplant in a foil-boat or metal veggie basket so that they don't fall through the grate.

4. Mix together the Miso paste, maple syrup and hot water to make a paste.  Add more hot water if the paste is too thick to brush.  Stir in the avocado oil.  Brush the miso mixture onto the tops of the eggplant slices.

5.  Place under the broiler and broil until golden brown and glazed.  The eggplant should be soft all the way through.  Mine took approximately 12 minutes because I had the rack placed in the middle of the oven.  I moved it up to the top third of the oven mid-point because I wanted it to brown more quickly and I was hangry!  Cooking time all depends on how far away your eggplant are from the top element...watch the eggplant carefully so they don't burn.  If you're using a bbq, your eggplant will not char if they are in a foil boat.  However, you can get char on them if you use a metal veggie basket.  

6. Sprinkle with slivered scallions to serve.

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Roasted Cauliflower Steaks

Um. Do we even need a recipe?

This may be more about technique.  Just remember to roast cauliflower steaks to a golden brown. I sometimes bring out the roasted cauliflower too early; when the cauliflower is a little brown on the edges but the majority is still not brown.  I regret when I do that.  It's just not as tasty. Put that pan back in and roast it longer!  The more brown (not black), the better!  

There are variables like your oven temperature, the thickness of your steaks and whatnot but here goes anyway. This is what I did.  You may add chunks of onion, cloves of garlic, chili flakes, shaved parmesan, parsley and capers to the pan near the last 10 min of baking if you want to gild the lily.  Golden brown though.  You are not going to have yumminess unless you go golden brown ALL OVER :)'

Roasted Cauliflower Steaks

1 whole cauliflower, washed and leaves trimmed off

2 tablespoons avocado oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1 whole lemon

1.  Preheat oven to 375F (convection) or 400F (regular oven).  

2.   Using a large knife, slice the whole cauliflower into steaks about 3/4 inch thick.  Carefully slide the steaks onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.  Use a spatula to transport the steaks to the pan if you have difficulty keeping the steaks together

3.  Brush avocado oil over all the steaks.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

4. Flip the steaks carefully with the spatula and/or tongs.  Brush the other side with avocado oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

5.  Roast the cauliflower steaks--in a convection oven ideally-- at 375F for 20 minutes. If you don't have a convection feature on your oven, bake at 400F

6.  After the 20 minutes, remove pan from the oven (rest on heatproof surface) and carefully flip the cauliflower steaks with tongs and/or a spatula.  Return to the oven to roast for another 20 minutes. Check to ensure that the cauliflower steaks are evenly golden brown all over.

7.  Serve with wedges of fresh lemon which should be squeezed all over the steaks before eating. 

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MINI STICKY RICE WRAPPED IN BANANA LEAVES "Joong/Zongzi"

Toisan Pork and Chinese Sausage Joong (Zongzi)

My kids are carb-addicts.

I have always loved joong (sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves) from New Town Bakery because the fillings most closely approximate the ones I grew up with made by my Poh Poh.  Unfortunately, when she passed away when I was in my early 20s, I lost the source of all the recipes I loved eating growing up. I hadn't had the forethought to ask her for the recipes in my youth and that is my one big regret.  

Now, my kids love them all year 'round and sometimes they take joong to school for lunch in their thermoses.  In the morning, I would take the joong out of the freezer, microwave one on high for 3 minutes and then plop it into a saucepan full of boiling water for 15 minutes to ensure it was heated all the way through.  We have always lamented the fact that each joong was too big for each kid; yet one joong was not quite enough for both to share.  I always supplement with extra Chinese sausage because the store-bought joong only had a miniscule little sliver of sausage that the kids fought over. The salt-pork, mung beans and salted duck yolk were parts of the joong I'd pick out because the kids didn't care for it.

My mother is not a font of information when it comes to cooking Chinese food.  She is more apt to buy cooked food from the market or go out to eat.  She was a career woman so never had the time to stay at home with her mother to watch her cook or learn the secret recipes.  So, that leaves me to search the internet for Toisan mothers and grandmas online who make what most closely resembles foods of my youth.

Fortunately for me, people have documented how to wrap these tricky-to-fold rice dumplings on youtube.  I had no idea how to go about it having never made them with grandma in my youth.  So today was pretty much a test to see if I could do it.  I made a small batch in mini shapes so that I wouldn't be frustrated if I had problems.   Let me know if you want a video of me doing it and I will make one; otherwise there are plenty on youtube if you look.  I learned a few tricks from watching several.

I think I was channeling PohPoh because these turned out fabulously!  The sticky rice was perfectly seasoned, the fillings were so tasty and proportional to the rice.  The problem with other peoples' joong--their fillings were chosen for their family's tastes.  

My kids hate seafood (dried scallops & shrimp), don't care for dried shitake mushrooms, would rather not eat salted duck egg yolk (though I'm starting to enjoy it as I age) and don't appreciate mung beans (which I love).  The 9 yr old is allergic to peanuts and it seems that every auntie that gifts some joong to my mother makes theirs with tons of peanuts.  It's like biting into a nut-bomb.  I dislike the texture and flavour of peanuts myself and find them quite repulsive (sorry peanut-lovers).  

So these mini joong were specifically made for the kids and each one is smaller than my fist.  Each contains: 3 slices of Chinese sausage and 1 piece of salted pork belly.  That's it.  So simple and so yummy. No weird stuff.  Just good ol' pork fat that renders out into the glutinous rice to infuse it with rich flavour.  The fantastic thing about joong is that the fillings are customizable.  You could even go vegan if you wanted to by filling it with red beans, peanuts, firm tofu.  I'm going to try making the sweet joong which is served in my household with maple syrup!  My Poh Poh always put a red stick in the centre which I assume is for good luck because it certainly didn't leave any flavour...just a stain of red dye that radiated from the centre.  I might also try a sweet tapioca and red bean mini joong too. They look so cute and yummy.

MINI STICKY RICE WRAPPED IN BAMBOO LEAVES (TOISAN PORK and CHINESE SAUSAGE JOONG/ZONGZI)

• 36 dried zongzi (bamboo) leaves (2 leaves per zongzi)

• 5 Cups uncooked short grain sticky rice (also called glutinous rice, or "sweet rice")
• 2 Tbsp light soy sauce (for seasoning rice) [I used gluten-free tamari]
• 2 tsp salt (for seasoning rice)
• 2 Tablespoons avocado oil or any veg oil (for seasoning rice)

• 1 lb Fresh pork belly, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (for the pork)
• 2 teaspoons light soy sauce (for the pork) [I used tamari]
• 1/2 tsp sugar (for the pork)
• 2 tsp shaoxing wine (for the pork)
• 1/2 tsp ground white pepper (for the pork)
• 1 tsp oil (for the pork)

• 3-4 links of Chinese sausage (4 if you're making just salt pork and sausage; 3 if you're including optional mung bean filling
• Kitchen twine 

Optional ingredients:

• 14 oz of green mung beans, shelled and split (these look yellow, actually) (14 oz package)
• 4 tsp Salt, kosher (for the mung beans)
• 2 tsp Avocado Oil or veg oil (for the mung beans)

• 6 salted duck egg yolks
• Things we never put in joong but other people like: Raw peanuts, chestnuts, rehydrated dried shitake mushrooms, dried shrimp, dried scallops, preserved duck & pork, red beans, shallots, 5-spice powder, bbq pork, bbq duck, dried abalone

THE NIGHT BEFORE

Prepare the bamboo leaves:

1. 36 to 40 bamboo leaves (use 2 leaves for each mini joong; 3 leaves for large joong)
2. Place the dried bamboo leaves in a large stockpot with water and bring to a boil.  Boil for 10 minutes.  Drain and refill with cold water.  If you need to weigh them down with a plate, do so to keep them submerged.  Soak the leaves overnight. The next day, wash and rinse each leaf front and back, keeping them in a large bowl or tub of water until wrapping time so they don’t dry out

Prepare the sweet rice:

1. Use 5 cups of short grain sweet rice for approximately 15 mini joong
2. Soak the sweet rice overnight. The next day, drain completely in a colander. Mix the soaked, uncooked rice with light soy sauce [or tamari]. 2 tablespoons avocado oil and 2 teaspoons salt in a large bowl and set aside.

Prepare the mung beans (if using):

1. Soak the mung beans overnight.
2. Drain. Mix mung beans with 2 tsp oil and 4 tsp salt

Prepare the pork belly:

1. 1 pound pork belly, cut into 12 equal pieces
2. 2 teaspoons light soy sauce
3. 1/2 teaspoon sugar
4. 2 teaspoons shaoxing wine
5. 1/2 teaspoon salt
6. 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
7. 1 teaspoon oil

MAKING THE JOONG:

Prepare the additional ingredients/fillings:

1. 3-4 Chinese sausages (lop cheung):  cut on the diagonal in bite-sized pieces
2. 6 salted duck egg yolks (if using): using a sharp knife cut each in two

Wrapping the zongzi:

1. Check out youtube videos for wrapping technique:
   2 leaved mini joong: (will make about 15)
2. Using kitchen shears, cut off the stem end about half an inch 
3. Have ready the kitchen twine and sharp scissors for cutting the twine.
4. If leaves rip anywhere during the wrapping process, you’ll need to start over and discard the ripped leaf. The recipe calls for extra leaves to mitigate these rips
5. Take 2 leaves:  layer the leaves with the shiny side up; larger leaf on the bottom. If you are OCD, you can place stem ends in opposite directions and trim off the tips to even out the ends.  Fold lengthwise close to the centre.  Then fold up about a third from the end facing you.  Create a cone by opening up the leaves leaving the folds to the right. 
6. Fill with a little rice on the bottom, along with your egg yolk, pork belly and pieces of Chinese sausage. I used 3 small pieces of sausage for each mini joong.  Use 1 tbsp mung beans if using.
7. Top with a bit more rice.
8. Fold the top of the leaf towards you so that it covers the rice.  Ensure that you bend crisply at the fold making clean corners pointing out. Then fold down the edges of the fold to create a point using the trapezoid shape to guide you...all the time cupping your hands at the bottom of the cone so it doesn’t fall apart. Watch the youtube video.  It's easier seen than explained.
9. Tie the joong securely with twine. Cut off excess bits of the leaves with kitchen shears.
10. Continue until your leaves and filling are used up.

To cook the zongzi:

1. Place joong in a large stock pot.  You might need a plate to weigh them down. Fill the pot with cold water, until the zongzi are submerged. Place the pot on the stove over high heat. Once the water boils, turn the heat to low/medium-low, and let it simmer for 1-2 hours.
2. Check the pot occasionally to make sure the joong are always submerged in water. Only add boiling water to adjust the water level—do not add room temperature or cold water. 
3. Remove and cut open the joong leaves to serve, discarding the twine and bamboo leaves. 
4. After cooling to room temperature, you may place in freezer bags, where they will last for months.  When you want a quick meal, you can defrost by putting each in the microwave for 2-3 minutes or you can boil them for about 20 minutes to reheat.
5. Yield: 12-15 zongzi

NOTES:

1. My KIDDIE VERSION: 5 CUPS OF RICE (no mung beans) makes 15 2-leaved mini-dzung
2. Any leftover salt pork can be frozen for future use
3. Any leftover leaves can be dried for future use
4. Serve piping hot with hot sauce (I prefer XO sauce) and soy sauce.  The kids only use sweet soy sauce instead of regular soy sauce on theirs. 

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CONDENSED MILK POUND CAKE WITH ORGANIC GROUND VANILLA

Condensed Milk Pound Cake with Organic Ground Vanilla

That Organic Raw Ground Vanilla was very expensive.  Like $54. I had plopped it into the basket when my husband wasn't looking.  

Happy Friday!
After School Cake Date! 

I'm baking cake (non-gluten-free!) for my kid today.  It's been forever since she asked me to bake anything.  She's not a sweet-tooth like the 9 yr old.  So this morning when she arose from bed and exclaimed "mommy, you can bake a cake if you want. My friends are coming over after school" I was like "holy smokes!"

Since when did "after-school playdates" evolve into "hanging with friends?"

Times flies.

When I started this blog, it was primarily to document recipes for my newborn (the big kid in question...Bebe is her alias on my blog).  I was hoping to leave a legacy of recipes and stories for her but the blog took on a life of its own as I explored cake decorating and photography and found myself engrossed in trying to make my blog more beautiful.

So Bebe is heading to high school in September.   Along the way, I've put the blog on the back-burner as real life (and actual money-paying) opportunities took precedent.  The blog was never meant to earn me any money and I had initially balked at ugly ads...but I gave in.  Cake supplies were expensive!  The blog is still a money-loser on the whole, but it is priceless in connecting me with wonderful bakers and bloggers around the world and I have even met some of them in person! Currently, I just feel more connected to people on Instagram than I do on this blog because there is a sort of immediacy and intimacy that Instagram has that blogs don't.  I like being connected to my readers but I've lost a lot of readers because I allowed the frequency of my posts to slide. This is a choice I made because I had to take time for my health, my life, my kids and career.  I don't regret it. Thank you if you're still following my blog and reading for over a decade!

Thus, this morning...upon entering the kitchen I immediately took out some good butter to soften for later. This chunk is unsalted local Avalon organic butter.  Then I spent a good couple of hours contemplating what type of cake I would bake.  I took a nice morning run--and then after coming home and opening my pantry I spied the ridiculously expensive bag of GiddyYoYo Ground Raw Organic Vanilla I had recently bought at Famous Foods.

Batter ready for the oven. The ground vanilla looks amazing!

I felt no guilt baking this pound cake because I knew I wasn't going to eat it.  In fact, with 7 girls in the house after school, they made short work of eating almost the entire loaf in under an hour.  I have been pretty good with avoiding eating too much gluten and my Hashimoto's disease is quite manageable now.  With regular exercise and a personal trainer to help me resolve my shoulder impingement I'm finding myself feeling way better.  I've been busying myself on Instagram with my newfound love of Smoothie Bowls and Chia Pudding.  I'll be posting something on smoothie bowls soon.  I have accumulated quite an arsenal of toppings for these healthy post workout smoothies.

An afternoon snack baked for my kid's friends on a Friday Afternoon.

Have a slice with a glass of milk or a cup of green tea.  This Condensed Milk Pound Cake is a delicious start to the weekend!

CONDENSED MILK POUND CAKE

Adapted from Pichet Ong's Sweet Spot

Makes one 8 1/2 - x - 4 1/2 inch cake, about 12 servings

• 1 Cup (8 oz/226g unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pan
• 1 1/3 Cups all purpose flour (7 oz/200g)
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 Cup evaporated cane sugar (3 3/4 oz/106g)
• 1 tsp organic ground vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 Cup sweetened condensed milk (8 oz/239g)
• 3 Large eggs

METHOD:

• Preheat the oven to 350° F. 
• Generously butter and line with parchment an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 - inch loaf pan and set aside.
• Sift together the flour and baking powder and set aside.
• Put the sugar and the ground vanilla in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade and pulse. 
• Add the butter and salt and process until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl occasionally. Add the condensed milk and pulse until well incorporated, about 15 times, scraping down the sides of the bowl once. 
• Add the sifted dry ingredients and pulse until no traces of flour remain, about 10 times. Add the eggs and pulse just until combined, about 5 times. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, add the vanilla extract, if using, and finish mixing by hand to fully incorporate the eggs. 
• Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes; then reduce temperature to 325 degrees F and continue baking for another 35 minutes, until the top is dark golden brown and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour 20 minutes total.
•  Cool completely in the loaf pan on a rack, then unmold.

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PAPRIKA-GARLIC CHICKEN OVER SWEET KALE MIX

PAPRIKA-GARLIC CHICKEN BREAST ON A BED OF SWEET KALE SALAD MIX

Yah. You heard me:  Salad in a bag! And frozen chicken breast (organic)

This took absolutely no time to put together.  I swear. Gluten-free, paleo, delish.

Don't you just LOVE that Sweet Kale Salad Mix with that awesome dressing and cranberries and pumpkin seeds?  I could eat the salad everyday.  I worry though about how raw cruciferous veggies like the ones in the mix are goitrogenic.  For people like me who have Hashimoto's disease, I've read that we should avoid eating goitrogenic foods.  Since having half my thyroid removed (it was a size of a walnut); I've become sad finding that practically everything I ate before is something that might cause me to have another goiter. I do want to keep that left thyroid as healthy as possible.   So did you know that broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, strawberries, spinach and practically all the cruciferous veggies that composed the main part of my diet are goitrogenic?  Apparently if you eat them raw it's goitrogenic.  Aiya.  

Scroll down to the bottom for the recipe if you want to skip my long-winded explanation of why I have to not post a cake pic and recipe today. Heehee

Fortunately, and I'm going to just trust the articles I've read because I don't want to give up my fave veggies, and it's convenient to believe so...if you cook them, it reduces the goitrogens.  

So we arrive at today's lunch after my workout at Steve Nash Fitness.  Yah.  You heard right.  Since my shoulder impingement is starting to slowly defrost (frozen shoulder! Such an apt term!) I decided to join a gym.  I thought about just joining a yoga studio; but frankly, I love my kettlebells and want to start using them again.  For a whole year, this frozen shoulder has been a pain and I've been afraid to do weights and use my kettlebells.  I had injured it skiing I think.  Frankly, I don't remember it hurting that much when I fell; but the pain increased afterwards over the course of a few months to the point that I couldn't even change my clothes without extreme pain.  I used up all my physio and massage therapy and eventually went to UBC Sports Med to see a specialist.  He essentially told me there's not a whole lot you can do to hurry along a frozen shoulder.  He said eventually it will slowly defrost.  And it did.  But it took just over a year. He told me when it starts to defrost, I should start exercising and rehabilitating the shoulder.  

Lovin' Costco's Pre-washed Shredded Veggies in a bag for Juicing and Smoothies! This mix has: beet greens, carrots, kale, broccoli stems, chard...and all you add is fruit. I used a granny smith

With my gym membership I received 3 free sessions with a personal trainer; so this month with my left shoulder having increased mobility, I decided to start the journey back to health.  When I booked my 3 sessions, I was told he was the most educated trainer at the gym. I must have sounded like a difficult case! LOL! She told me that he's an ex pro-hockey player and is familiar with sports injuries too.  I was like "holy smokes! He's gonna kill me!"  What I found out later when I met him is that he is a kettlebell specialist (yay!) and is very well-rounded.  I'm feeling lucky here to have such a knowledgeable trainer *Hi Kyle!*  who is a rock star.   He's created an exercise plan for me to help build up strength in my wonky shoulder and get me back into shape from that whole year of pretty much not exercising much.   His plan includes self-myofascial release techniques using a foam roller and this really hard plastic ball.  When I'm doing the release techniques, it's like "OW"; but I know it's good for me.  

I know he's going to address my eating next session (yikes) but for me it's not about a lack of knowlege of how to eat healthy but the loss of my muse (desserts).  You know I love to take pics of my food...that's why you're here right?   And I love to bake. And baked goods ALWAYS look good in pics.  They don't move around. They ooze sexiness.  Now I've gotta make kale look sexy.  It's gonna be rough guys. Fortunately, I have willing colleagues that'll eat my baked goods so the baking probably won't end.  I just love cake...the idea of cake, the taste of layered cakes, and the perfect beauty of cake.  Believe it or not, I'm not tempted to eat baked goods, cake and other desserts, but potato chips are kind of my achilles heel.  If I just have a taste of cake, like one bite, it'll suffice for me. Sometimes I don't even taste things I make because they're for parties or other people; but I know how it tastes from how it looks.  If it looks like a sexy cake, it'll taste good.

This weekend I have to bake some cupcakes for my 8 yr old's birthday.  Twice.  Once for the party and once for the class.  So yes, I'll still have plenty of cake to take pics of in the near future. Until then, here's an easy-peasy chicken dish.  Next time I think I will have it without the guacamole.  It was good; but not necessary.  In fact cherry tomatoes with the kale would be a better choice next time.  

PAPRIKA-GARLIC CHICKEN BREAST OVER SWEET KALE SALAD (GF & Paleo)

1 organic skinless, boneless chicken breast

2 handfuls of Sweet Kale Salad Mix (from Costco) 

*NB you will NOT use the dressing or pumpkin seed/craisins mix

1/4 tsp Garlic powder

1/4 tsp Smoked Paprika

Salt & Pepper to taste

1 tsp Avocado oil

Optional: 1 tablespoon prepared guacamole or cherry tomatoes

1. Marinate the chicken breast with the salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder & avocado oil.  Set aside

2.  Heat a cast iron skillet until hot.  Place the chicken breast in the pan and cover with a loose lid or splatter screen.  Reduce heat to med.  Allow to cook for 4 minutes.  Flip the breast and cook the other side for another 4 minutes, loosely covered

3.  Remove chicken breast to a cutting board to rest.  

4.  Wipe the skillet with a paper towel. It's okay to leave some bits and oil in there.  Toss in the sweet kale salad mixture (just the veggies, not the packaged dressing or seeds and stuff).  Add a splash of water and sautee the veggies until slightly wilted.

5.  Remove the kale mix to a plate.  Slice the chicken breast and arrange on top of the kale.  NB:  if you like, you can add 1 tablespoon of prepared guacamole on the bed of kale like I did, just before you place the chicken on top OR sliced cherry tomatoes

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Itty Bitty Lemon Meringue Tartlets!

Mini Lemon Meringue Tartlets

Pucker up! Mini Lemon Meringue Tartlets for the New Year!

Wishing you all a healthy, happy, delicious 2016 full of laughter and good times!

My 8 yr old asked Santa for a mini whisk!  And he came through!

From me, she received a new tartlet pan.  So she did a lot of stirring with the new whisk when we made the lemon curd for these little tarts.  She made the tart dough recipe on the back of the WS tartlet pan's box.  Then I made an easy food processor lemon curd recipe and an easy meringue

I did the piping because she's not too savvy with the piping bag as of yet.  Instead of a big swirl, I decided to make little poofs to cover the tartlets.  The result: billowy little meringue puffs atop creamy lemon curd that is seriously to-die for! It's perfectly balanced; not too tart and not too sweet and easy peasy.  I'll be making double-batches of this in the future and keeping it on hand for emergencies.  It's one of those lick-the-bowl when you're cleaning up kind of recipes.  

LEMON CURD

(Adapted from Barefoot Contessa)

• 3 organic lemons
• 1 1/2 Cups organic evaporated cane sugar (or granulated sugar)
• 1/4 lb (1 stick or 1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 4 Large free range eggs
• 1/2 Cup lemon juice (3 to 4 organic lemons)
• 1/8 tsp kosher salt

1. Zest 3 lemons with a zester, being careful to avoid the white pith. Put the zest in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the sugar and pulse until the zest is very finely minced into the sugar.
2. Add the butter pieces to the processor and pulse in the sugar and lemon mixture. With the food processor running, add the eggs, 1 at a time, and then add the lemon juice and salt. Continue mixing until combined.
3. Press the entire mixture through a sieve into a 2 quart saucepan.  
4. Cook over low heat until thickened (about 10 minutes), stirring constantly. The lemon curd will thicken at about 170 degrees F, or just below simmer. Remove from the heat and cool or refrigerate.
5. Makes 3 cups

TART CRUST

(Adapted from the back of the WS tartlet pan box)

• 2 1/2 cups (390g) alll-purpose flour
• 2 Tbs sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 16 Tbs (2 sticks/250g) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch (6 mm) pieces
• 6 to 8 Tbsp (90 to 125 ml) ice water

1. In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar and salt and pulse to combine.  Add the butter and pulse until the ixture resembles coarse meal.  Add the 6 Tbs (90ml) ice water and pulse twice.  The dough should hold together when squeezed with your fingers but should not be sticky.  If it is crumbly, add more water, 1 tsp at a time, pulsing twice after each addition.  Turn the dough out onto a work surface an divide in half.  Shape each into a disk.  Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.
2. Preheat oven to 350F (180C)
3. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let stand for 5 minutes.  Place 1 dough disk on a lightly floured surface and roll out 3/16 inch (4.5 mm) thick.  Using the cutter, cut out the tart shells, reserving scraps of dough to re-use.  Place the cutouts on a baking sheet.  Repeat with remaining dough disk.  Re-roll the scraps and make more cutouts.  If the dough becomes too soft to cut, refrigerate it for 15-20 minutes.
4. Center a cutout over one of the wells in the baking pan and using the tamper, gently but firmly press the cutout into the well so that the sides of the tart shell come just above the pan.  Press a cutout into each of the remaining wells.  
5. Dock the tart shells with a fork; line with a circle of parchment and load in some dried beans or pie weights.  Bake the tarts for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan 180 degrees.  Bake for an additional 5 minutes.  Remove to cool on a rack.  Allow tart pan to cool and complete the same process for all of the rest of the remaining dough until everything is baked off.  
6. Place the pre-baked tart shells on a rimmed cookie sheet in preparation for filling or store in sealed container for use later.

MERINGUE:

4 organic large egg whites

1/2 cup organic evaporated cane sugar (or regular granulated sugar)

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1.  In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, whip the egg whites on med speed until frothy.  Add the cream of tartar.  Turn up the speed to 8 (med-high speed) on a KitchenAid and continue beating

2.  Gradually add the sugar while the mixer is running; continuing to beat until stiff peaks form

3. The meringue should be very stiff.  Fill a pastry bag with the meringue with decorative tip of your choice.  

4.  Follow assembly instructions below

MINI LEMON MERINGUE TARTS ASSEMBLY:

1.  Preheat oven to 400F.  Arrange the pre-baked tart shells on a rimmed cookie sheet

2.  Pipe the lemon curd into the pre-baked tart shells

3.  Pipe the meringue onto the filled tarts.  

4.  Bake the tarts in the oven until the meringue is a golden brown, approximately 10 minutes.

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