Cooking Class Confessions: Macarons from France

Hi everyone! It has been too long since my last update. In these past couple of months, I have been helping out at a delightful cooking school in Clintonville, Ohio, The Seasoned Farmhouse. During my assistance, I learned the ins and outs of instructing a cooking class. I saw how much work went into it, from buying ingredients, preparing them, preparing recipes, and cleaning, but I also saw how much enjoyment can be had in the process of teaching others the joy of cooking! I've assisted with French Bistro classes, Middle Eastern cooking classes, and Italian pasta cooking classes. These experiences made me realize how much I would enjoy being a cooking instructor as well.

MACARON LOVE

 Following this inspiration, I have designed and led several cooking classes, my first being an Italian pasta cooking class (pictures to be posted soon) and my second, a french macaron baking class. The French Macaron isn't an easy cookie to master. These small and seemingly innocent cookies actually take a lot of attention to detail, precision, and time.

Our Melange of Sweet Shapes

A typical batch takes at least around 4 hours from start to finish. If you saw my very first blog post below, it contains the recipe for the French Macaron which I learned from a class I took in Paris :). For now, I wanted to document the macaron cooking class, and what I learned from doing it.

Some of our participants got very creative

Voila! Heart Macaron

Demonstrating how to pipe a macaron

Beautiful Mika and her Rose Flavored Macaron

Rose Flavored Macaron, filled with white chocolate and Rose Water

Grace and her piping skills

Green Tea Matcha Macaron

I intend to continue with the cooking and baking classes :). I will update soon with photos from the Italian Pasta class!

Yummy Yummy Beef Stew! SUPER EASY

Ever crave a warm, hearty soup on a cold day? Well that exact scenario is what prompted my husband and I to invent Yummy Yummy Beef Stew! Loaded with hearty beef chunks that melt in your mouth, onions, carrots, bell peppers, tomatoes and squash, this soup is basically a garden vegetable soup with beef in it, meaning that it is also pretty healthy! It filled me up the last two days I was substituting at a high school, and made me happy and satisfied...and, it was very easy to make. So, I want to share it with you!

Yummy Yummy Beef Stew:
serves 10, recipe can be halved if you want a smaller quantity.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs chuck roast beef, cut into 2 inch cubes (or however you like)
• 2 small yellow squashes 
• 4 carrots, peeled 
• 2  28 oz cans diced tomatoes (I like to use 1 can diced and 1 can stewed tomatoes)
• 3 small onions
• 3-4 dried bay leaves
• 1 bell pepper
• 4 cups water (add more later if you like your stew more soupy)

Steps:

1. Cut up all ingredients. Open the two cans diced tomatoes and put into a pot, as well as all the cut-up beef (if it's frozen, just put the whole chunk in, and then after it defrosts you can take it out and cut it into small pieces). Cook on stove at medium-high heat for 1 hour. Using a dutch oven is best, but any kind of pot will work. 

2. Cut up all vegetables into bite-size pieces, and add to the pot with the dried bay leaves after the tomatoes and beef have cooked for 1 hour. Cook at low-medium heat for another 1.5-2 hours or so (the longer you cook it, the more tender it gets). If you're using a crock-pot, just throw all these ingredients in together and cook for 5-6 hours. 

3. Remove bay leaves, season with salt and pepper, and Enjoy! Serve with a fresh pot of rice, crusty bread, or noodles. 

Best wishes in the kitchen!

Kaori

Cute Pie Decorations!

I recently discovered that Pie crust cutters are the best invention ever to decorate and dress up simple pies! I can't be going back to not using pie cutters, and I won't be :P. I bought pie crust cutters on Amazon.com for $5. Here is the link to the ones I bought. They took about one and a half weeks to get here, but got here just in time for Thanksgiving! You can also use them for fruit pies and basically any kind of pie! Have fun!

Pie crust cutters!

pumpkin pie!

Cherry pie before baking :)

Cherry pie!

Homemade matcha green tea cake with matcha cream cheese frosting

This matcha cake is SO good! I would make it again in a heartbeat! It was very easy, thanks to another blogging site called Oishii Treats, "Oishii" meaning delicious in Japanese (My mother is Japanese :) ). Click on this link. All I did was put it in a round cake pan instead of using cupcake tins, and decorated with a little bit of milk chocolate ganache and some cute sprinkles (which I bought from Walmart :P). So there you go! YUM.

Gluten-free Bakery: Yummy Vanilla and Chocolate Almond Flour Muffins

I put a little too much batter in these, and didn't have any muffin liners, but if you make sure to follow recipe below and you will be fine!

Gluten-free is getting more popular now, since eating a gluten-free, or reduced gluten diet has helped people lose weight, eat healthier, and go for beneficial grains, vegetables, and fruit instead of wheat. Lately, I've been getting very into the idea of going gluten-free, and replacing wheat products and gluten with products made from nuts, fruit, or other grains such as rice, amaranth and quinoa. The only problem for me is that I can't leave out desserts from my diet. I just can't. I need that sweetness at the end of the day, or during hump day of the week, to carry me through. Luckily, there is a way to eat baked sweets but still be healthy. Thus, I will be exploring and trying out different gluten-free desserts as well as breads :).

Gluten-Free Flours:

• Almond Flour- can be bought at nearest Indian grocery for pretty inexpensive prices
• Coconut Flour- I think the brand Bob's Red Mill sells this at a pretty cheap price and you can find it at grocery stores that sell more specialty flours than just your basic flour.
• Xanthan gum- gives dough elasticity. This can also be bought at grocery stores that sell more specialty flours than just your basic flour, or online
• Tapioca Flour (same as above). 
• Costco, I have heard, has big bags of Gluten-free flour available from time to time

I have really enjoyed the blog Comfy Belly. It has a ton of low-fat, gluten-free recipes! And I love the simplicity of the recipes. The recipe I'm about to display is adapted from Comfy Belly's brownie recipe :).

Vanilla Chocolate Gluten-Free Muffins

Ingredients:

Vanilla cake:

• 1.5 cups blanched finely ground almond flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tblspns honey or other sweetener
• 1/3 cup butter or coconut oil (at room temperature or slightly melted)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• muffin liners

Chocolate cake:

• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tblspoons honey
• 1/4 cup butter or coconut oil (at room temperature or slightly melted)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tblspn milk
• 1 egg 
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350. 

2. Blend vanilla cake ingredients ingredients together with mixer on medium for 2 minutes or until well blended and pour up to 3/4 way into muffin pans with muffin liners.

3. Blend chocolate cake ingredients together with mixer on medium for 2 minutes or until well blended.

4.  Fill last 1/4 of each muffin tin with the chocolate mixture. You can just take a spoon and plop some chocolate cake mixture on top of the vanilla cake mixture. 

And next time...I shall post about how to make gluten-free bread!! :) So stay tuned!

TOO EASY and TOO GOOD Apple and Berries Puff Pastry Tart

Christmas Eve is here and the question looming around today is what you should make for Christmas Eve Dinner with friends, or, more importantly, what you should make for dessert! Well, this easy recipe will take away this dessert dilemma super fast, in a super delicious and chic way that will have friends raving about your dessert to others for days to come. I love using puff pastry, which you can buy frozen at any grocery store, because it bakes easily and puffs up to a beautiful golden crust all on its own! It's basically the dough they make croissants out of, made of a mixture of flour and lots of butter (that's why it's so flaky!). I used a recipe from Ina Garten for the puff pastry apple tart, and then my friend and I improvised and put frozen berries on top of the second puff pastry layer that came in the box. We covered each fruit layer with 1/2 cup sugar and chunks of butter to caramelize. Looking back, however, I think the butter on top of the berries was probably not necessary, since they are already most and do not need the same caramelizing effect that the apples do. I will post Ina's recipe below, so go buy a frozen puff pastry, some apples (we used 2 for one puff pastry sheet), and get to work! It is hard to fail with this one ;). 

Instagram pictures below of apple and berry puff pastry tarts:

Apple Puff Pastry Tart
(Based on Ina Garten's Apple Puff Pastry Tart recipe)

Ingredients:
-1 box frozen puff pastry (should come with two sheets)
-2 Granny Smith apples, or 4 if you want to use both puff pastry sheets (to make a berry tart, use a bag of frozen mixed berries instead)
-1/2 cup sugar
-1 teaspoon cinnamon
-4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, small diced (butter not necessary for berry tart)
-1/2 cup apricot jelly or warm sieved apricot jam (this part is optional, I don't think it's really necessary)
-2 tablespoons Calvados rum or water
-walnuts for topping (optional)
-whipped cream for topping (not optional ;) )

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
• Open puff pastry box and let the puff pastry sheets thaw for 1 hour or 2. 
• Roll out puff pastry sheets onto baking sheet (you can put parchment paper under them if you want)
• Refrigerate or freeze puff pastry sheets while you prepare the apples
• Slice apples semi-thinly and layer them onto the puff pastry sheet, leaving an inch of space on each side of the puff pastry sheet (as Ina says, "Peel the apples and cut them in half through the stem. Remove the stems and cores with a sharp knife and a melon baler. Slice the apples crosswise in 1/4-inch thick slices. Place overlapping slices of apples diagonally down the middle of the tart and continue making diagonal rows on both sides of the first row until the pastry is covered with apple slices.")
• Sprinkle cinnamon all over the apples
• Scatter 1/2 cup sugar over apples, and then scatter the tiny diced squares of butter over the apples. 
• Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes to one hour, until the pastry is browned and the edges of the apples start to brown.Rotate the pan once during cooking.
• Optional: "When the tart's done, heat the apricot jelly together with the Calvados and brush the apples and the pastry completely with the jelly mixture. Loosen the tart with a metal spatula so it doesn't stick to the paper. Allow to cool and serve warm or at room temperature." (Ina Garten)
• Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

Kaori

Super TASTY Natural & Healthy Chai Tea Recipe!

Cardamom, peppercorn, cloves, cinnamon sticks= tea spices

Do you ever feel like holding a warm, spiced up hot beverage in your hand? Well, I do, everyday :). This is a Chai Tea Recipe that my mother-in-law makes pretty often, and I love it! It's really healthy, uses whole spices, and very little sugar. This tea recipe is good for your kidneys, especially during the winter months, and it helps prevent colds and the flu, inflammation, and regulates insulin (according to the recipe book). It also tastes SO good, warms me up, and helps my digestive system. You're gonna love it, too. Best part is that it is really easy to make.

Chai- The Perfect Winter Drink

Pick your favorite mug and start sipping!

mmm yummy chai on a cold snowy day!

This recipe is from the book The Complete Natural Medicine Guide to Women's Health (but it's also great for guys!) and is called "Yogi Tea" but is basically the same as Chai. Worried that these spices are hard to get or expensive? No fear! You can get all of the spices in this recipe in bulk for really cheap at Indian grocery stores (cardamom, cloves) or Korean stores (they sell cinnamon sticks for a great price). 

Yogi Tea

*makes 10 servings

Ingredients:

• 40 oz of water
• 12 whole cloves
• 16 whole green cardamom pods, cracked open (you can use the back of a knife or a mortar and pestle to crush it open
• 16 whole black peppercorns
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 8 slices fresh ginger root
• 2 black tea bags
• 2 cups regular milk or organic soy milk
• 1/2 cup sugar or honey

Method:

• Bring the water to a boil. Add the cloves, cracked open cardamom, peppercorns, cinnamon sticks, and ginger
• Boil for 45 minutes
• When it reaches a reddish brown color, turn off the heat. Drop in the tea bags for 1 minute and then remove them. Add the sugar or honey and stir. 
• Add in the milk
• Done! :) Enjoy!

*Can be stored in the fridge for several days or even a week