Happy New Year! With Porztelchen (Portzelki, New Year's Cookies, Ollie Bollie, etc.)

Happy New Year!

I'm happy to say good-bye to 2013.  It was a very difficult year indeed but I am very optimistic about 2014.

Most people who know me also know that I don't deep fry food.  In fact, the deep fryer at my restaurant was used as a convenient shelf.  All the same, I'm sharing this traditional Mennonite dish that we'll be preparing today.  Another recipe for Portzelki can be found at the Mennonite Girls can Cook! site, http://www.mennonitegirlscancook.ca/2011/12/portzelky-new-years-cookies.html.  This recipe is my Gro�ma's with a few variations from the other.  If you have instant yeast, you can skip the first step of starting the yeast and mix into the flour just before mixing.

Portzelky

2  pkgs (~4 1/2 tsp) yeast in 1/2 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
Let stand for 10 minutes

2 cups warm milk
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
4 eggs, separated
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 lb raisins or currants (soak and then gently dry on low oven on paper towel until water is off but plumped)
Flour for soft batter (~5 cups)
Optional:  good pinch saffron in warm milk

Combine milk, salt, sugar, baking powder, raisins and egg yolks.  Add 2 cups flour to yeast and milk and stir.  Let stand until bubbly.  Add remaining flour.  Beat egg whites to stiff peak and fold into batter.  Drop by spoonfuls into hot oil (375�F).  Space evenly and do not over crowd.  Allow room for portzelky to turn over.  When fully cooked, drain and cool.

Serve with small bowls of sugar for dipping.

Enjoy and Happy New Year!  Photos coming soon!

Cheers to the New Year: 2014

Christmas is over, and my house is, for the first time in months, cookie-free. My tree is still up and there are gifts strewn about the living room, but that's another story. Here are some phone pics of my Christmas vacation (we went ice-caving!). 

I don't know about you guys, but I'm beyond stoked for 2014! In 2014, I'm getting married. WHAT!? 

2013 has been a wild year. I got engaged and wrote a 50,000 word novel for NaNoWriMo. And that was only the month of November! 

I rang in 2013 at a snowy cabin with some of my favorite people. I went wine tasting in Sonoma, house-boating in Shasta, hiking and exploring in the Gifford Pinchot, and camping at the Oregon coast. We celebrated our nephew's 1st birthday in New York, and my sister's Masters graduation from UW. I won a quinoa recipe contest and this blog turned four years old. Evan and I bought a car together, and (after almost a decade of dating and several years of living together) our parents finally met. Some good things happened in 2013.  

2013 also had some bumps, with health scares and hospital visits for people I care very much about. I'm crossing my fingers that 2014 is a happy, healthy year for everyone I know and love. And for all of you guys, too!

So, here's to the new year! I'll be back in 2014 with great new recipes, photos, and stories. Until then, here are my top 20 of 2013. Some of these were the most visited posts, and some were just my favorite to write, eat, or photograph in 2013. Cheers!

Southwest Quinoa Burrito Bowl Salad

Peppermint Mocha Icebox Cookies

Simple Chicken Noodle Soup

Coconut Lemon Bars

BBQ Pulled Pork Hand Pies

Creamy White Chicken Chili

Sweet Potato, Pear, and Wild Rice Salad

Pumpkin Spice Almond Milk Coffee

Fried Green Tomato Salad

Peach Pineapple Crisp with Coconut Ginger Crumble

Tortas with Chorizo Scrambled Eggs

Totally Grilled Guacamole

Baja-Maui Zucchini Tacos

Wheat Berry Salad with Avocado, Strawberries, and Caramelized Shallots

Food Bloggers Against Hunger

Tex Mex Taco Stack (Dinner & a Movie)

Soba Salmon Noodle Bowls

Lemon Cake with Blackberry Buttercream

Roarin' 20s Murder Mystery Dinner

The Perfect Entree Salad

Does the Vitamin and Mineral Content of Food Influence Our Food Intake and Body Fatness?

The Claim: We Overeat Because Our Diet is Low in Vitamins and Minerals

We know that animals, including humans, seek certain properties of food. Humans are naturally attracted to food that's high in fat, sugar, starch, and protein, and tend to be less enthusiastic about low-calorie foods that don't have these properties, like vegetables (1). Think cookies vs. plain carrots.

In certain cases, the human body is able to detect a nutritional need and take steps to correct it. For example, people who are placed on a calorie-restricted diet become hungry and are motivated to make up for the calorie shortfall (2, 3). People who are placed on a low-protein diet crave protein and eat more of it after the restriction is lifted (4). Humans and many other animals also crave and seek salt, which supplies the essential minerals sodium and chlorine, although today most of us eat much more of it than we need to. At certain times, we may crave something sweet or acidic, and pregnant women are well known to have specific food cravings and aversions, although explanations for this remain speculative. Research suggests that certain animals have the ability to correct mineral deficiencies by selecting foods rich in the missing mineral (5).

These observations have led to a long-standing idea that the human body is able to detect vitamin and mineral (micronutrient) status and take steps to correct a deficit. This has led to the secondary idea that nutrient-poor food leads to overeating, as the body attempts to make up for low nutrient density by eating more food. In other words, we overeat because our food doesn't supply the micronutrients our bodies need, and eating a micronutrient-rich diet corrects this and allows us to eat less and lose body fat. These ideas are very intuitive, but intuition doesn't always get you very far in biology. Let's see how they hold up to scrutiny.

Read more �

Cranberry Gin Fizz

Are you guys all ready to have a holly, jolly, merry, bright, drinky, fizzy holiday? I am! Pick me!

Christmas break has begun and it's officially time for some holiday spirit. Holiday spirits, rather.

This cocktail combines three of my favorite things: gin, bubbles, and cranberry. Plus a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. 

A few of these fizzy cranberry and gin drinks and you'll be super jolly. 

Cranberry Gin Fizz

For each drink:

1 ounce (shot) good quality gin (I like Hendricks)

Juice from a quarter or half a lemon

2 ounces cranberry simple syrup (recipe below)

Champagne or prosecco 

Frozen cranberries (on a pick, or otherwise)

Add gin, lemon juice, and cranberry syrup to a cocktail shaker with ice, and shake until cool. Strain into glass, then top off with bubbles. Add more lemon or syrup, to taste. Add frozen cranberries to keep cool. 

Note: this a strong boozy drink. To make a little less strong, you can use soda water instead of prosecco, or leave out the gin, and just do prosecco, cranberry syrup, and lemon.

Cranberry Simple Syrup

2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup water

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil, then reduce heat, and let simmer for about 15 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, and cool before using. 

Makes about a cup and a half. 

Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"... peanut M + M's!!!

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Dinner & Movie: Creamy Mac n Cheese

�Bless this highly nutritious microwavable macaroni and cheese dinner and the people who sold it on sale. Amen.� - Kevin McCallister

Guys, Christmas is just around the corner, and it wouldn�t be the holidays without Home Alone. I happen to think Home Alone is the greatest holiday movie of all time, and potentially one of the greatest anytime movies of all time. It�s super quotable, has a killer soundtrack, fills you with warm holiday fuzzies, and helped an entire generation plan out how to protect their homes in the event of a burglary. Safety first. Amanda and I recently got together for our annual Home Alone viewing, and made a big pot of creamy Mac n Cheese for the event.

Its dinner & a movie: Holiday Style!

The Movie: Home Alone

Look what you did, you little jerk! Home Alone! The McCallister family heads to Paris for Christmas, and they accidentally leave 8-year old Kevin (an adorably tiny Macaulay Culkin) home alone. WE FORGOT KEVIN! Meanwhile, two crooks, the Wet Bandits, have big plans for the McCallister�s giant mansion-like house. Kevin comes up with a genius plot to foil the bad guys, and hilarity ensues. The little Nero�s pizza guy runs off in fear from Snakes and Johnny (Acey says 10 percent�), John Candy does the polka, Uncle Frank tries to steal the silverware and champagne glasses from the airplane, Kevin gets a good look at Buzz�s girlfriend (woof!), some totally great classic holiday tunes play, the old guy turns out to not be the shovel slayer after all, and in the end, the whole family is reunited on Christmas morning. Holiday classic! 


The Dinner: Creamy Mac n Cheese

There are a few potential meals you could serve with Home Alone. Pizza might be the obvious choice, since the Little Nero�s pizza guy makes a couple appearances, and Buzz eating all the cheese pizza in the beginning really sets off the chain of events that follow. But, remember that scene right before the Wet Bandits arrive for the final show-down? Kevin sits down (at a candle-lit table) to a bowl of microwaveable Kraft mac n cheese, and says a little thanks for the meal (see quote above). But then the clock chimes, and he doesn�t even get to take a bite. I always felt bad that the mac just sat there getting cold. Did he go back and eat it afterward? Maybe if he had a big pot of creamy, homemade mac n cheese he would have.

This recipe comes from Joy the Baker, and is simple, creamy, and rich� everything a good bowl of Mac n Cheese should be. So, head on over to Joy the Baker, whip up some mac n� cheese, and get ready to rock around the Christmas tree: it�s time for dinner & a movie!

Recipe: Joy the Baker�s Classic Mac n Cheese

Chongqing Hot Pot (huo go m� l�) - Perfect for icy cold days

Chongqing Hot Pot

We are also serving this at Christmas time this year!

When I lived in Chongqing, I had this special dish quite often with large groups of people.  It is quite a party or communal fare.  It brings back wonderful memories of my time in China and the wonderful people I got to meet.  

2 cups stock (turkey, chicken, beef)
4 cups water
1 cup chopped mushrooms (button, shitake)
1 tbs garlic black bean paste
1 tbs chili paste
1 tbs chili bean paste
1 tbs chili oil
1-5 whole dried red chilies
1 bunch green onions, 1 inch chop
1/2 cup white wine or Mirin (sweetness balance)

Dry Spices: 3 star anise, 1tbsp Sichuan Peppercorn, 1 black cardamom, 4 green cardamom, 2 dried ginger, 1 piece cinnamon stick, 3 slice liquorice, and 1 tbsp fennel seeds 

Simmer all ingredients together for a long time until a rich broth (you may need to add more water during the eating time as it reduces quite a bit).  Serve at the tabletop with the following optional items to enjoy cooking with chopsticks.  Serve with rice. 

Firm tofu
Garlic Greens
Green Onions
Green Cabbage leaves or baby bok choy, baby Shanghai cabbage or Savoy
Red or Green pepper slices
Enoki Mushrooms
Shitake Mushrooms (without stems)
Bean Sprouts
Thinly Sliced Beef or lamb (buy sliced or slice while half frozen)
Blood Tofu (coagulated pig's blood, not for the picky eater but one eats everything)
Skinned and boned eel slices
Noodles
tripe
ETC.! 

Hints:  Eat veggies first.  Serve with dipping sauces that will contrast as well as cut fat or enhance it, Sichuan peanut sauce, Hoisin, etc.

Braunschweiger Kuchen, Gro�ma's recipe, by request

These cookies are from an old recipe of my grandmother's (Gro�ma Klassen).  The recipe calls for 4 1/4 cups flour but the extra 1/4 cup is not often used.

Braunschweiger Kuchen

 2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup butter
4 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground mace (or nutmeg)
1 tsp soda
1 tsp ground star anise
1 egg
1tbs lemon juice
1 tbs grated lemon zest
2 tbs milk

Mix the sugar and honey and heat over gentle heat (flame) until melted.  Do not boil.  Add butter, lemon juice and zest.  Cool.

Combine milk to which a beaten egg is added and stir liquids into flour that has been sifted with spices and soda.  Should be a soft sticky dough.

Let stand, wrapped in plastic, overnight.

Roll dough out 1/8 inch thick.  Sprinkle with sugar and roll over once.  Cut into shapes.

Bake at 350�F for up to 15 minutes (I baked for 11-12 minutes until just brown, depends on pans and ovens).  Store when cooled in containers with a piece of apple until cookies are soft - up to 3 weeks.

Happy Holidays!

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2013: Peppermint Mocha Icebox Cookies

For the second year in a row, I participated in THE BEST COOKIE SWAP EVER: The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap! Last year I made Maple Waffle Cookies for the swap. This year, I decided to go minty and chocolaty.

I�m pretty much obsessed with peppermint. When peppermint ice cream starts popping up in stores I go crazy. It�s so good! And I�ll even bend my no-sugar, no-flavorings-in-coffee rule for peppermint mochas. Chocolate, coffee, peppermint...seriously, put that in my stocking this year!

I had seen peppermint mocha cookies before, but usually in drop-cookie form, with pieces of crushed candy cane mixed in the dough. I wanted to make something new, so I decided to do slice and bake cookies (icebox cookies), and then dip them in chocolate and coat that in crushed candy canes.

Sidenote #1: crushed candy canes are the most beautiful thing ever. It�s like sparkly white and pink glitter snow.

Sidenote #2: crushing candy canes kind of sucks. I put them in a big freezer sized ziplock, then wrapped that in a hand towel, then beat it with a hammer. Then, because I�m crazy and wanted perfect tiny little speckles, I sifted out the big chunks. #imcrazy

I love icebox cookies because they�re so easy. You can make the dough, then roll it in logs (which, unfortunately, resemble a friendly little Christmas cartoon named Hanky), and then freeze. Then you can fully clean your kitchen, listen to some holiday tunes, watch Home Alone, drink some hot buttered rum, get a good night�s sleep, and wake up the next day, bright eyed and ready to slice and bake!

Sidenote #3: I love the word icebox. Oooh, how retro. How very Madmen of you, Amber!

Also, thanks to the espresso powder, these cookies are super chocolaty. Like, majorly so. Like tiny little cookie shaped brownies. You�ll die ten times. Then you�ll add that cool pepperminty crunch of the crushed candy canes, and you�ll die a few more times. Probably 15 times in all.

Guys. Seriously.

Peppermint Mocha Icebox Cookies

Very loosely adapted from this recipe 

Makes about 2 dozen cookies

3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup quality unsweetened cocoa powder

2 teaspoons instant espresso powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 egg

12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 cup dark or semi sweet chocolate chips

8-10 candy canes, crushed

Whisk flour, cocoa, espresso powder, and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.

In bowl of stand mixer, beat sugar, vanilla, and egg on high speed until thick and pale, about 3 minutes. Add butter and continue to beat on high speed until smooth, about 3 more minutes. Using your fingers, work flour mixture into butter mixture until dough is just combined. It will be sticky and a little difficult to work with, but it's all worth it!

Divide dough in half and roll each half into a 9" log. Wrap each log in parchment paper, twisting ends tightly to make a uniform longs. Freeze for at least 8 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap dough and slice each log into rounds about 1/3 inch thick. Place rounds 1/2 inch apart on parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. Bake until cookies are slightly puffy, about 8-9 minutes. Let sit on the cookie sheet for a minute before transferring to a rack to cool. Be careful, they're really soft at first. 

Let cookies cool completely. Melt chocolate in a microwave safe bowl or over a double boiler, stirring until smooth. Dip each cookie half-way in the chocolate (I tried to dip only on the top), and then dip in crushed candy canes. Set on wax paper to harden. Let cool completely. 

Enjoy!

Wait, there's more!

Looking for more recipes from the cookie swap? Check out the blogs of my random matches: the bloggers I sent these bad boys to, as well as the bloggers who sent cookies to me!

Strudel and Streusel

Thirty Five Ninety Five
Pudgie Pies

A Family Feast

DESIGN + LIFE + KIDS

It's Good to be the Cook

Does "Metabolically Healthy Obesity" Exist?

Obesity is strongly associated with metabolic alterations and negative health outcomes including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some types of cancer (1, 2, 3, 4). Excess body fat is one of the primary causes of preventable health problems and mortality in the United States and many other affluent nations, ranking in importance with cigarette smoking and physical inactivity. Obesity is thought to contribute to disease via the metabolic disturbances it causes, including excess glucose and lipids in the circulation, dysregulated hormone activity including insulin and leptin, and inflammatory effects. This immediately raises two questions:

1. Does metabolically healthy obesity exist?
2. If so, are metabolically healthy obese people at an elevated risk of disease and death?

Does metabolically healthy obesity exist?

Read more �

Caramelized Onion & Goat Cheese Truffles

Do you guys have a favorite holiday movie?

As far as classics go, I love It's a Wonderful Life and White Christmas. I also love all the old animated ones like Rudolph, Frosty, and (the original) Grinch. The best newer holiday movie is obviously Elf. And as far as all-time favorites go, the best holiday movie, hands down, is Home Alone. I probably quote Home Alone at least once a month. I'm pretty bummed it's not available on streaming Netflix. Christmas Vacation is available though, and I watched that last night in the glow of my round, shrub-like Christmas tree. 

This year I decided I'm going to try to watch Love Actually. Guys, I'm sorry. I've tried. I really tried to watch it when it came out, and I just made fun of it and eventually left the room. I just don't love Hugh Grant romantic comedies. Not my thing. The only movie that I've liked in that type of genre so far is the Holiday, which is actually pretty good. So. I'm gonna do it. I'll report back and let you know what I think.

But in other news� CARAMELIZED ONION, PISTACHIO, AND GOAT CHEESE TRUFFLES. 

I love cheese balls, and couldn't get the idea of a caramelized onion and ch�vre ball out of mind. Then I remembered these little gems, and just couldn't live with myself if I didn't make tiny little bite-sized goat cheese balls. THESE ARE SO GOOD. The caramelized onions, with honey and balsamic, are sweet and tangy, and go so good with the creamy cheese. Then you roll them in ground pistachios for a nutty little crunch. The hardest part is waiting for the onions to cool so you can get to rolling.

You can serve these with crackers and jam (try something like peach jam or orange marmalade) or you can just pop 'em in your mouth like candy. Make these for a holiday party, and people would be pretty stoked about it. Or�make them for yourself, then sit inside near a heater and watch holiday movies, which is my plan, because it's freaking freezing outside. 

Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Truffles
Inspired by this recipe

1 onion

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 tablespoon butter

salt

honey

balsamic vinegar

8 ounces ch�vre

1/2 cup pistachios, finely ground (using food processor)

Dice the onion in small pieces.

Heat a  thick-bottomed saut� pan over medium high. Add olive oil and butter, and heat until it's shimmering. Add onions and stir. Spread onions evenly, and cook, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium/medium and cook for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with salt, and cook another 20-40 minutes, until brown and caramelized, but not burned. Stir in a small spoonful of honey and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Add more honey, vinegar, or salt, depending on your tastes. Cook another minute or two, and remove from heat. Let cool completely. 

Crumble ch�vre into a bowl, and stir in cooled onions. Roll into 1 to 2 inch balls, and then roll in ground pistachios. Refrigerate until time to serve. 

Chicken Tajine and Moroccan Butternut Squash Soup cooking demo

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Today I had the pleasure of presenting the following recipes at D. A. Niels Gourmet Kitchenware.  Cooking with tajines is very elegant and simple and always yields a beautiful result.  I've cooked whole a whole 10 lb chicken in a medium-sized tajine in a Korean recipe(Samgeytang) and it was fall off of the bone tender within 1 hour.  

These recipes are adapted from Paula Wolfert's, The Food of Morocco.  Please see her work as a great resource.

Chicken Tajine with Apricots and almonds

1 chicken � (3 1/2 lbs)
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 cup apricots
1-2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 large yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced lengthwise
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground ginger
1 cup whole blanched almonds
vegetable oil for frying

Rub all the chicken pieces with salt, pepper and cumin. Let stand for at least one hour.

Place onions in a wide shallow casserole with turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, salt and pepper to taste, 1/4 cup water, cover and steam for 15 minutes.

Brown the almonds in 4-5 tbs oil in a large skillet and drain on paper towels. Brown the chicken evenly on all sides in the oil and transfer to the steamed onions. Cover with parchment paper and cook in tajine on the lowest heat for about 1 1/4 hours.

Discard the parchment paper. Add the Apricots and bring to a gentle boil. Remove from the heat. Serve with almonds sprinkled on top.

Enjoy.

Moroccan Butternut Squash Soup

1 yellow onion, chopped
pinch coarse salt
1 1/2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 lbs butternut, kabocha, or calabaza squash halved, peeled and seeded and cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks (about 6 cups)
2 tbs tomato paste
1 tsp La Kama Spice Mixture (1 tsp each of ground ginger, turmeric and white pepper, good pinch of grated nutmeg, 1/2 tsp each of cinnamon and optional cubeb pepper)
1/2 cup heavy cream or creme fraiche
1/2 lb crumbled chevre
1 tsp or more to taste Harissa paste (available in select stores, including Herat Foods on Pembina)

salt and pepper, to taste

1. Cook onion in heavy bottomed pot or casserole dish (tajine) on medium low heat with the olive oil until the onions are soft, about 10 minutes
2. Add the squash, cover with parchment paper and/lid and cook for 20 minutes.
3. Add tomato paste, spices and 4 cups of hot water and bring to a boil. Then simmer until the squash is tender, about 20+ minutes. Remove from heat.
4. Blend in batches or with an immersion blender until smooth. Add the cream and 3/4 of the cheese and the harissa at the end. Pur�e until velvety.
5. Bring up to heat and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Serve into warmed bowls and top each portion with a light sprinkling of the remaining cheese.

Enjoy!