Pumpkin Spice Cake with Cinnamon-Apple Filling

October 8, 2013October 8, 201319 Comments

Dear California,

This is a friendly reminder that it is, in fact, October. That means the temperature should be below 90F. Can you get it together so we can enjoy fall baking, pumpkins, sweaters and boots?

Sincerely,

Karla

I don’t know where you are but I can almost guarantee it’s not hotter than Southern California was this weekend. Seriously, it was the first weekend of October, and it felt like summer. I went kayaking. It was breezy, hot and perfect. Then I wore a dress to dinner, with only a tiny cardigan, and had a rack of lamb. It was delightful.

I also baked a cake.

I won’t lie, the temperature was slightly less than perfect for cake, but it happened anyway. And since it’s October, I finally allowed myself to give in to the pumpkin season. But in the spirit of moderation, I made a tiny cake.

6 inches, 2 layers and wonderful.

Full sized layer cakes can be too much. 6 inch cakes are my favorite.

Pumpkin Spice Cake with Cinnamon Apple Filling

cake adapted from All Recipes

For Cake:

1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mace
1/2 tsp cardamom

For Filling:
1 apple, diced
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp rum (optional)

For Frosting:

1/4 cup butter, room temperature
4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2-4 cups powdered sugar

First make the cake. Pre-heat oven to 350F. Using a mixer, beat together sugar, oil, pumpkin puree and vanilla extract. Add eggs one at a time, beating one minute after each. Add dry ingredients and beat until well combined. Pour batter into 2 6-inch round cake pans greased, flours and lined with parchment paper. Bake about 30 minutes (this will vary depending on your oven, start checking after 25 minutes) or until golden and cooked through. Allow to cool completely. (Note: you can make the cake a day in advance, just be sure to cover with plastic wrap so it doesn’t dry out)

Next make the filling. Melt butter in a pan, then add apples, cinnamon and sugar. Stir to combine and allow to cook on low heat for about 10 minutes. Add rum and cook for an additional minute or two, or until all the liquid is gone. Set aside and allow to cool completely.

Next make the frosting, beat together butter, cream cheese and vanilla. Add powdered sugar until you get desired sweetness and texture. You want it to be firm enough to hold, but not so thick you can’t spread it. Set aside.

Now assemble the cake. Level off each of the layers using a serrated knife or cake leveler. Place one of the layers crumb-side down on a plate or cake circle, put a few pieces of parchment paper along the edges to keep your plate/cake circle clean. Put some of the frosting in a ziplock back and cut off a corner. Pipe some frosting around the edge to create a barrier for the apples (you don’t want them falling all over the place). Like this:

Next, place the apples in the center, spread them as evenly and possible (because no one wants a crooked cake).

Then place the second layer on top, crumb side down.

And then frost! Remember to do a crumb coat first. Don’t worry about getting too fancy, with a thick enough coat of frosting you can grab a spoon and make awesome swirls…

I’m totally in love with this type of frosting decor. It’s a little bit hap-hazard but still nice looking. And if we’re being honest, I totally want my wedding cake frosted like that with just a few flowers on it… but back to fall…

Pumpkin. Apple. Spices. What’s more fall-like than that?

pumpkinapplecake

So go ahead make yourself a little cake (or just double the recipe if you want to make the standard 9 inch layer cake). If California would get with the program, I think I’d enjoy Fall flavors a little bit more.

Not to jump the gun, but I can’t wait til December, at which point gingerbread will be appropriate. In the meantime let’s enjoy the Fall with flavors like pumpkin and apple.

Also, let’s not forget, I go to Peru in exactly 5 weeks, where it will be summer! Talk about seasonal confusion!

What’s on your Fall agenda?

Farm Fresh to You: Get Produced Delivered, Eat More Vegetables

October 2, 20135 Comments

I’m going to be honest. This is not what I had in mind for dinner tonight.

I had a salad for lunch and because I’m all about balance, I’m generally of the belief that if I had a salad for lunch, I’m certainly not having one for dinner. But here I am. Having a salad for dinner after I had one for lunch. I don’t want to be one of those girls. I’m not one of those girls.

Let me tell you the story of this salad, because really it started a few weeks ago.

Several weeks ago, Living Social was running a deal for Farm Fresh to You. It’s like a CSA delivered to your house, but instead of buying in at the beginning of the season, you can just order whenever you want it and pay weekly. So I saw the deal: $15 for a delivery box of vegetables.

If you used to read my blog when I was in grad school, you’ll know that I had a CSA share in Ithaca, NY from the Early Morning Farm and I absolutely loved it. Every week I was so excited to pick up my share at the farmer’s market. I got to try new and exciting vegetables like rhubarb and kohlrabi. For a foodie writing her thesis on Sustainable Food Systems, you can probably imagine how amazing that was for me.

When I left Ithaca, I was sad that I wouldn’t have a CSA share to pick up weekly anymore. CSA shares in Southern California are basically twice as expensive as my share was in Ithaca (I paid about $20 per week back then). So I was bummed. I couldn’t afford to get one. Let’s be honest, healthy living can be expensive. (Remember how I got a second job to pay for Crossfit… omm yeah).

So when I saw this Living Social deal for Farm Fresh to You, I was all over it. Last week, I placed my order and my box arrived today. I had it delivered to my office because I was worried I wouldn’t be home when they delivered it and the heat wave here has been rough. Now let me tell you, during my drive home, I was thinking about all the possible things to have for dinner, completely forgetting the box was in the backseat.

By the time I got home I had pretty much decided I wanted polenta with a poached egg. But then I remembered the box full of vegetables. I unpacked them and saw everything that was inside:

1 head of lettuce
1 honeydew melon
2 delicata squash
1lb potatoes
3 apples
2 oranges
2 pears
1 pack of Berry Kiwi
1/2 lb green beans
1 bunch of carrots

That’s when I remembered: Oh yeah, I used to eat salads all the time because that shit goes bad real fast AND I hate to waste food. There’s no two ways around it, you have to be a voracious vegetable eater if the box is just for you (and that’s the case for me, since I live alone).

And you know what goes bad first? Lettuce. You can wrap it in a paper towel to keep it crisper longer, but let’s be honest, it’s not making it past 4 days. I wish the box included kale instead of lettuce… but alas not reality. So that’s when I knew salad was for dinner.

Instead of that polenta and poached egg dinner I had in mind, I threw together a salad of lettuce, carrot, edamame and a Moringstar Farms Veggie Patty. For dressing, I mixed together some natural peanut butter, hoisin sauce, sriracha and vegetable broth, for a little Asian inspiration (Note: that’s basically how you make the dipping sauce for Vietnamese Spring Rolls).

So you’re probably thinking… good for you! Pat on the back for having a salad! Who gives a crap!?!

Well really the whole point of all this was to tell you one of the top benefits of having one of these produce delivery services (or a CSA share) and why I’m considering getting it again: it forces you to eat more vegetables. And not just that… organic vegetables, even better!

Farm Fresh to You brought my count of vegetables for the day from 4 to 6 (plus 3 servings of fruit). While I probably would have added spinach to my polenta with poached eggs, the box diversified my vegetable intake, because I already had spinach in my smoothie this morning. Even better, different nutrients!

Overall: I was pleased with what was in the box. It had a little too much fruit for my liking, but I love the idea. I think in the future I’ll just choose the vegetable-only box. I’m all for eating more organic vegetables, because with a sweet tooth like mine, I can always use extra vegetables to balance it out (I’ll be completely honest, after the salad I had a spoonful of peanut butter mixed with sweetened condensed milk for dessert… I know… we won’t talk about it anymore).

Oh and just so you know, I was not compensated by Farm Fresh to You. I bought the Living Social deal on my own and these are just my opinions.

Have you tried a produce delivery service? Did you like it?

Life After the Paleo Challenge

September 19, 2013September 20, 201319 Comments

A few months ago, I was frustrated with my body and how I felt. I’m a firm believer in the idea that your diet can affect how you feel about yourself. So I decided I wanted to try to do a 30 Day Paleo Challenge.

Remember that?

Yeah I had a terrible time and ended the challenge after 14 days. It’s funny because I was miserable but that post has become one of the most popular posts on my blog (after Samoas Bars and Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti Squash). Paleo really wasn’t for me, and I came to terms with the fact that I need to listen to my body and NOT force a lifestyle on myself just because it’s popular.

Today, I went to lunch with some co-workers to 118 Degrees. It’s a raw, vegan restaurant. Afterward, another co-worker who didn’t go with us, asked me what I thought. I said it was tasty. He suggested I try a vegan diet for 30 days.

I said no thanks.

I’m not against vegans. As a former vegetarian, I’m ok with meat-free meals. But the real reason I said no is I think I’ve finally figured out what works for me. So I figured I’d go ahead and tell you a little bit about how I figured it out.

Note: this is just what I’ve found works for me. I’m not a nutritionist or advocating you eat the way I do. I’m just sharing what works for me in hopes it’ll help you figure out what works for you.

It’s All About Balance

This is going to sound cheesy, but what works for me is balance. I know you’ve heard it a million times, but really, being able to have everything in moderation keeps me sane. So just to give you a little bit of a breakdown, this is what an average day look like:

Breakfast:

Green Smoothie: 1/2 frozen banana, 5-6 frozen mango chunks, handful of spinach, handful of kale, protein powder, water and ice.

After I did my search for the best protein powder, I bought some Garden of Life Vanilla protein. Then Garden of Life was nice enough to send me some Raw Fit to try, it has more protein and green coffee bean extract and a bunch of other stuff. That stuff is seriously amazing. Flavor-wise, the vanilla raw protein is better tasting, but Raw Fit seriously keeps me full for 4-5 hours. And that’s even after crossfit. I’m amazed. I hate to sound like an ad for Garden of Life, but I’m definitely buying the Raw Fit as soon as I run out.

Lunch:

I rarely ever buy lunch. Honestly, most weeks I eat the exact same thing for lunch everyday, just because I cook once per week and eat leftovers.

When putting together my meals, I try to keep this ratio in mind: 2 parts vegetable, 1 part whole grain, 1 part protein.

So here are some examples of lunches I’ve been having recently:

Tilapia with cumin and paprika, with Quinoa Salad
Kale salad (just kale with olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper) with ground turkey cooked in spices with bulgur wheat
Kale salad with rotisserie chicken and rice
Kale salad (can you tell I’m obsessed) with a veggie patty

Honestly, I eat a lot of kale salad because it holds up well and there’s no cooking involved. I can throw it together in the morning, put dressing (really just olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper) on it and it’s not soggy and gross like other salads would be by lunch. Also, I just think it tastes good, which is important. Lunch should be fun, even if it’s healthy.

Dinner:

Ok I wish this was my dinner all the time but yeah right.

Especially now that it’s been hot, the last thing I want to do is cook, but I’ve been trying. Either way, the fact that breakfast and lunch were so healthy makes me feel better about eating a banana with peanut butter and ice cream for dinner. Not that I recommend that, but baby steps right?

But I’ve been working on it. Recently I’ve made:

Vanilla coconut protein pancakes

Grilled Pizza and grilled corn

Grilled Tilapia

Now that it gets cooler, I’ll concentrate on making more stews (which I’m a huge fan of). Like:

Caldo de Pollo

Coconut Curry

In a Nutshell…

Overall, I feel better about life. And honestly, making sure I go to Crossfit at least 3 times a week really helps.

But in terms of diet, I’ve found a few key things:

1. More protein early in the day helps keep me fuller longer. Raw Fit has 28g of protein per serving. That’s a lot. I’m thinking of trying two scoops of the raw protein when I run out of Raw Fit to see how that tastes/feels (that would be 32g of protein, woah! too much?).

2. Whole grains help keep me full and satisfied. I still try not to eat too much bread, because that’s processed but I’ve been having of whole grains like quinoa, bulgur, and barley. But even then, I usually only have about 1/2 cup at a time. Moderation is key.

3. I like eating a lot of vegetables. If I concentrate on having 4-5 servings of vegetables per day, I feel great and usually end up eating pretty healthy.

4. Snacks aren’t essential and actually discouraged. I can’t really snack. Once I start, I have a hard time stopping the consumption process until I’m full. I’d rather just eat meals. Might not work for everyone but works for me.

5. Nothing is off limits. I’m more likely to eat when I’m hungry and stop when I’m full when I don’t feel like I can’t have a certain food. On the Paleo challenge, I remember I was constantly thinking about what I could eat. Lately, I just haven’t found myself worrying about that, which is great. I mean, let’s be honest, as a foodie, I constantly think of food, but now it’s things I want to make, as opposed to thinks I want to eat. That said, I am conscious to not over eat certain things. I always want to eat 3 pieces of cake and 4 slices of pizza, but I stop myself because I can always have more later when I’m hungry if I still want it. So while I can have everything, that doesn’t mean stuff my face to the point of feeling ill. I’m definitely guilty of doing that at times, but I’m trying to keep it under wraps.

In retrospect, I’m still glad I tried Paleo for a few weeks (despite how miserable it was). I still think if you haven’t found what works for you, you should definitely give it a try, because it could be amazing for you.

I just found that lots of vegetables with some grain and protein is the best strategy for me. No labels, just real food. Overall, I try to eat well 70-80 percent of the time. That helps keep me happy and healthy.

The other 20-30 percent of the time involves things like this…

Oh wait, that was only true when I lived in Italy. Now it looks more like this…

Because Bacon = ‘Merika!

I’m sure I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to eat less of that stuff, but I guess that’s the lifelong struggle of a sugar addict?

Have you figured out what works for you? Do you love paleo? Is a vegetarian or vegan diet what keeps you happy or healthy? Are you still figuring it out? Tell me where you’re at!

Vanilla Coconut Protein Pancakes

September 12, 2013July 26, 201528 Comments

Brunch is totally mainstream these days, but I don’t think that was always true. In the past ten years, we’ve become very familiar with brunch, sort of akin to how “googling” something or someone is totally normal.

I love brunch, the wonderful marriage of breakfast and lunch that often involves a tasty libation. I’m totally on-board. What I wish would gain great popularity is Brinner. I have no idea if that’s actually a term, but let’s go with it.

Brinner, the happy marriage of breakfast and dinner. AKA Breakfast for Dinner. It should most definitely be a thing.

But you should probably know I have this thing where I think breakfast should be healthy. It’s the first meal of the day and you should probably start it off on the right foot. For me, it’s usually a smoothie with banana, mango, spinach, kale and protein powder. I drink it on my way to work, and it keeps me full for a long time without feeling sluggish.

So if we’re having breakfast for dinner, that doesn’t mean we have to go crazy and eat tons of bacon, pancakes and eggs drenched in maple syrup. That’s ok sometimes, but for days like today, let’s keep it light and full of protein.

Now, all that aside, what is more beautiful than a stack of pancakes?

Well… a stack of these pancakes…

Vanilla Coconut Protein Pancakes

2 tbsp spelt flour
2 tbsp almond meal
3 tbsp protein powder (I used Garden of Life Raw Vanilla Protein)
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp chia seeds
1 tbsp shredded unsweetened coconut
1 egg
2-4 tbsp almond milk

Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Then add wet ingredients (start with 2 tbsp of almond milk and add more accordingly. Every protein powder is different so to avoid getting batter that’s too thin, adjust accordingly) and stir together.

Heat a pan and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Pour 2 tbsp of batter to form each pancake. Cook a few minutes. Once it starts to bubble on top, flip and cook an additional minute or two.

You’ll get exactly 4 pancakes if you measure (and use a spatula to scrape the bowl). Serve with you toppings of choice.

I served it with some extra coconut and a maple syrup/yogurt combo (2-3 tbsp greek yogurt + 1 tbsp maple syrup + water to thin it out). Deeeelish.

Nutrition-wise, they’re not too bad either.

There’s almost 30 grams of protein in there! Note: these stats are only for the pancakes, not any of the toppings. The fat comes mostly from the almond meal and coconut. But don’t be scared of fat! It does a body good.

Ok so please tell me you’re going to help me make Brinner a thing and tell everyone about these protein pancakes. Yes!

Do you ever do breakfast for dinner? What’s your favorite Brinner item?

Peanut Butter Bacon Rice Crispies

September 10, 2013September 9, 201311 Comments

I’m going to go ahead and let you know that after this post, all you’re going to want in life is a rice crispy treat. If there’s bacon in it, that’s going to be an added bonus. But rice crispies are going to be on your brain and I’m not even sorry.

The past few weeks have been the most insufferably hot weeks ever. It’s like I forgot that I grew up in a desert-like region where 100F+ is normal during the summer. 100F in Costa Mesa is hell (without AC). As a result, I refused to turn on the oven.

Frying bacon on the other hand, no heat could stop that.

When I was trying to think of what to make for dessert for a potluck, I could only think of making something that did not involve turning on the oven. So of course I had a brilliant idea, and I made it a reality

The world can pretty much thank me for this.

Peanut Butter Bacon Rice Crispies

3 slices of thick cut bacon
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter (I used Peanut Butter & Company Crunch Time)
4 cups mini marshmallows
6 cups puffed rice cereal

In a large pot, fry bacon. Once cripsy, remove from pan and pour off the majority of the grease (it’s ok if some stays on there). Allow bacon to cool completely, then chop. Add peanut butter and marshmallows to pot and melt on low heat. Once melted together, add rice cereal and bacon. Stir to combine. Press into a 9×13 baking dish lined with parchment paper. Allow to cool completely, slice and serve!

These were tasty. Next time, I’ll drizzle some chocolate on them, because I’m intense like that. Also because peanut butter, bacon and chocolate are an awesome combination. Did you forget about the Chocolate Pudding with Peanut Butter Mousse and Maple Candied Bacon? In case you did, here’s a reminder…

Peanut Butter and Bacon is absolutely a thing. If you haven’t tried it yet, you should. And seriously, this couldn’t be an easier way to do so. No baking, just a bit of stirring, pressing and slicing.

Get on it.

What’s your favorite sweet bacon combo??

Chronicles of the Busiest Weekend Ever

September 3, 20133 Comments

This weekend I averaged about 4 hours of sleep, with the exception of Sunday night where I slept like a goddess for 11-12 hours. You see, this was my EPIC weekend. Let me tell you about it.

It all started on Thursday night. Jesse and I drove to LA for a concert at the House of Blues on Sunset. In case you’re wondering, we saw Bajofondo, here’s one of their songs:

That got us home at about 1:00AM, at which point I was dying (because I had been up since 5:30am). After getting home at 1:00am ish, I was up at 5:00am to take my sister to the airport. I skipped crossfit and came home and napped for another half hour, then headed to work.

After work I braved traffic and made it to Downtown Disney to pick up my race number for the Disney 10k the next morning. This is where it starts to get good.

I picked up my number, met up with a friend, had dinner and went to sleep around 9:30. All was well in the world.

The next morning we were up at 4:30am for the race!

Oh hey look it’s me running and looking like a hot mess. Why yes that’s the previous night’s make up. How could you tell? Cute, I know.

Oh hey there I am checking the time…

Overall, it was super fun! Disney races aren’t really the type of races you do for speed. They’re more fun. And luckily I had some awesome running buddies with me!

While we all didn’t run together the whole time, it was fun to know that someone else was doing it with you.

After the race, I rushed home and took a shower and headed to LA to photograph a wedding.

You heard that right: photograph a wedding. Remember way back when I wanted to try out something new? Well it’s photographing people, not just food.

Let me tell you… photographing a wedding is hard. It looks easy, but it’s stressful and long. And for God’s sake, when you get married, walk slowly down the aisle!

So after a long day of photographing (I’ll show you some pics once I get them edited), I got home around 12:30pm (luckily this wedding didn’t run too late). I crashed into my bed, only to wake up at 7:00am for work the next morning.

I told you I got a second job to pay for crossfit and my camera, right? Well, that involves me waking up early on the weekends. It’s all good.

I left work at 3:00 ish and was pretty much starving. I should also mention that this is probably the weekend I ate the least I’ve eaten in a long time, just on a count of being busy.

So I got myself to Baja Fish Taco (seriously I love this place. If you’re in OC, try it), got a Baja Bowl with grilled fish and headed to my sister’s house (where I was house-sitting) to sit in AC and be a sloth with her cat who doesn’t bother to come near me. I ate, watched Julie and Julia (which by the way I’m still not a fan of, but I was too tired to ever search through the channels) and took a nap.

Later, Jesse came over as I was mid way through A Walk to Remember. It was really a day of gems for me (I had completely forgotten how bad that movie is). I fell asleep at about 9pm and didn’t open my eyes until about 8:30 or 9 the next morning. It was fantastic.

Thank goodness for Labor Day. I’m not sure how I would have made it without this holiday.

Labor Day was spent doing some much needed cleaning, watching Catfish (I’m obsessed), grilling burgers and drinking beer. Jesse and I also saw Elysium, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

And now, after a day of crossfit at 6:00am and work. I just enjoyed an egg sandwich on leftover hamburger buns and a few dates with peanut butter.

I’m excited for this week. I have a potentially awesome treat planned to share with you later this week, and hopefully the cooking/baking can get back into full swing.

How was your Labor Day weekend?? Tell me what exciting things you did!

The Perks of Living Alone and a Plum-Almond Tart in a Buckwheat Spelt Crust

August 28, 20138 Comments

Living alone can be absolutely fantastic. Sometimes I think I’m borderline hermit, because there’s nothing I love more than crawling into my batcave and not talking to a single person. A lot of people ask me if I get lonely living alone. Honestly, some days… YES (especially when I hear a noise on my patio, even though I’m 99.9% sure it’s the fat black cat that likes to hang out).

But then other days, I cherish the fact that I’m independent. So in case you’re wondering, here are some of the perks of living alone:

1. Permanent No-Pants Party. Pants are over-rated. When you live alone, you can walk around with no pants. There’s no one to hide from or be judged by. It’s just you and your thighs, hanging out.

2. The peanut butter jar is yours and only yours.

You can dip your fingers in peanut butter, eat huge bowls of ice cream, have handfuls of chocolate chips, and pretend like calories don’t matter, because if no one saw you consume it, it didn’t happen. Ok so I’m kidding, but really you can have ridiculous eating habits and no one will judge you. Jesse saw me devour a banana with almond butter one day and was completely horrified. I keep it private now. (Note: the obvious exception to this is the awesome roommate who goes to the store to get half moon cookies and coconut popswith you at midnight… looking at you Christina!)

3. You’re the Queen of the Remote. This is pretty much self-explanatory. You decide what’s on TV… I’ve watched the same 2 episodes of Catfish like 5 times… When Jesse comes over and I turn it on, he comments on how we already saw that one… Oh yeah…

4. You can fart if you want to. Totally not lady-like, but let’s be honest, everyone farts. It just happens. When you live alone, you don’t have to worry about anyone else hearing you, because no one is around. You can keep up lady-like appearances in public when you know you can let loose at home.

5. You can hog the kitchen and bake whenever you want.

I’ve been lucky and have generally had roommates who are cool with me dominating the kitchen. Only one roommate was not ok with it (there’s a reason I live alone now…). But the best part of living alone, for me, is being able to spend hours with baking experiments, like this plum-almond tart.

I’m going to be totally up front and honest with you. I have mixed feelings with this recipe so I decided not to share my recipe. I’m going to try again until I get it to taste awesome. I wanted to love this tart, because it has all the makings an an awesome blog post: healthy alternatives, unique non-wheat flour, no added refined sugar (does maple syrup count? It’s still sugar).

The crust is made of buckwheat and spelt flours.

Honestly, this crust tastes a little too “healthy” for my liking, and the texture is a little too crumbly, not flakey. The filling on the other hand, I liked. Moist but nutty and slightly “healthy” tasting. It involves almond meal and maple syrup. And the plums. Divine.

Ok so at this point, I’ve told you why living alone is great and why it’s not so great. I’ve also told you why this tart was awesome and also not so awesome.

Do you live alone? Do you love it? Hate it? Do you have roommates/friends/partners you live with? What’s best?

I Will NEVER be Joy the Baker

August 22, 201323 Comments

My blog is having an identity crisis, as it periodically does. Every so often I reassess what I’m doing and try to figure out if it’s making me happy.

Lately, I’ve come to a very important realization: I will NEVER be Joy the Baker.

Image from Joy the Baker (I hope she doesn’t mind that I borrowed her pic)

I feel like Joy the Baker is the blogger that we all (or maybe just me?) strive to be like, because it’s awesome and she takes awesome photos and I pretty much think we’d be great friend. But let’s be honest. I will NEVER be Joy the Baker. I mean honestly, who will I even convince to take an awesome picture of me like the one above?

I’m not hipstery cute enough. I don’t have enough antique plates or counter space. I don’t have an orange cat.

And let’s be honest, I don’t really want to be all those things (ok I might want more plates, but who doesn’t?). I think I’ve reached a point in my life (aka I’m a grown-ass woman- ish) to realize that being my own person is more important that trying to get more readers.

With food blogs these days, I feel enormous pressure to have awesome photos and amazing props and make ridiculous recipes.

You know what I mean… your caramel-banana-pecan-bourbon-cardamom-date-almond milkshake must have 3 paper straws in it and it must be served in a golden chalice.

Hmm not really my style or in my budget. So let’s stop trying to be that. I’ll let Sally keep up the ridiculous recipes with the ridiculously bright photos.

I’ll stick to being Karla at Foodologie and tell you a few things about me so we can clear the air.

1. My life is a constant battle between my love of sugar and my desire to be strong and fit.

2. I love baking almost as much as I love eating, but I have a huge guilty conscious.

3. I got an extra part-time job largely so I could pay for crossfit (we can talk about this more later).

4. My internet is often so crappy that blogs don’t even load for me. True story. Often times, I read your blog and don’t comment because I get frustrated after 10 minutes of trying to comment with no avail. (I have no idea why this is relevant).

I love blogging and I’m still trying to find my niche in the blogging world. But ultimately it comes down to just being me and not caring what other people think.

Ok that’s all I got. I’m going to go try to make a buckwheat pie crust. Wish me luck, then tell me which blogger you admire!

Technical Difficulties and My Baking Wish List

August 18, 2013August 18, 20136 Comments

Hi All. I have so many things to tell you about… OC Restaurant Week (that’s happening now!), my first attempt at mac and cheese, gnocchi making. So many things!

But sadly, I’m having technical difficulties with some photos and my internet just plain sucking most days. So while I get that sorted out, let’s talk about things I’ve been dying to make lately, but haven’t had a chance to…

(Image from Martha Stewart)

Crepe Cake. I don’t even really like crepes. I just want to make tons of crepes, and layer them with some amazingly delicious fillings. I have so many ideas for a wonderful crepe cake. I hope it happens soon. If you’ve made one tell me if it’s amazing or not.

Bake Bread. I haven’t made bread in a really long time. In fact, I think the last bread I made was the Challah in the photo above. I’d love to make a good, hearty wheat bread, or maybe some pretzel rolls.

Along those lines… bread pudding. I made some not too long ago, but I didn’t try it and I hated my photos. That probably means I need to remake it. Sometimes I still reminisce about this Bourbon Bread Pudding I made a long time ago…

Memories.

I’m also really curious to experiment with new flours and healthier baking options. I remember I made that Bourbon Bread Pudding because I made some wheat berry bread that didn’t taste very good. Back then I used to experiment. What happened to that?

Well I’m off to take my Dad to the airport. Hope you’re having a fantastic weekend and making (and eating) lots of tasty things!

What’s on your list of things to make?

Nectarine Tart with Pistachio Oat Crumble

August 11, 2013August 10, 20136 Comments

Pies vs Tarts?

What’s the difference? Great question. There’s probably an official answer but honestly to me they’re the same thing. The only difference is the type of pan you make it in. But honestly, you can make any tart recipe into a pie and any pie recipe in to a tart. So whether you want to call this a pie or a tart, I’m ok with either.

I took this to a potluck and I think I called it a pie. But now that I think about it, I made it in a tart pan so it should be called a tart. A tart sounds fancy, doesn’t it?

Pie sounds homey. Tart sounds regal. I’m ok with fancy business, but let’s be honest, I’m not a fan of expensive. My tart pan was $2.50 at the Good Will. I wanted to keep this dessert low budget too. I went to the store and looked for the cheapest fruit available. That’s my strategy because generally the cheapest fruit is in season.

Nectarines were $0.50/lb. So awesome. It took about $1.50 worth of fruit to make this tart. Beautiful and frugal. I’m into it.

Nectarine Tart with Pistachio Oat Crumble

For Crust:

175g All Purpose Flour (about 1 1/4 cup)
1 tbsp Sugar
pinch of Salt
1 stick of Butter, cold
2 tbsp (maybe more) Ice Water

For Filling:

8 Nectarines, diced
1 1/4 cup Sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp Flour
1/2 tsp Cinnamon (optional)
2 tbsp Rum (Optional)

For Topping:

1/2 cup Flour
1/3 cup Oats
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
2 tbsp White Sugar
1/4 Pistachios, chopped
pinch of Salt
4 tbsp Butter (plus extra for placing on top)
1 tbsp Rum (optional)

Prepare pie crust by combing flour, sugar and salt. Using your fingers, break the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles very coarse crumbs (even pea sized is fine). Add ice water and bring it all together into a ball using your hands. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate a few hours. You can make this up to two days in advance (or much longer and freeze it).

Once the dough has rested enough (a few hours or days), roll out and place into a 9 inch fluted tart pan (this will also work in a pie dish). Place in freezer while you make the filling and topping.

Pre-heat oven to 350F.

Dice nectarines (leave the skin on) and combine with sugar, flour, cinnamon and rum. Set aside and make the topping. In a bowl, combine ingredients for filling. Using your fingers, work ingredients together (feel free to add more pistachios if you’d like) until the texture of coarse crumbs.

Now assemble tart. Place nectarine filling into prepared tart pan. Top with crumble topping. Lay a few thin pats of butter over the top. Bake for about an hour and a half, or until filling is bubbling and top is golden.

Allow to cool completely. Serve and enjoy!

This was a big hit. I was a fan. I loved the crumble topping with pistachios in it, and let’s be honest… nectarines > peaches, but we never see nectarines in a pie/tart. I’m not sure why, but I’m glad I changed that. Also, everyone should leave the skin on the fruit. Just saying…

For some reason I’m thinking plum pie needs to happen sometime soon, because I never see plums in a pie.

What’s your favorite fruit pie? If you have an awesome recipe, share it in the comments!