Showing posts with label cake. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cake. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Secret ingredient: Leek!

So I wanted to make something with a leek... After looking around for recipes/ideas that didn't require me going out and shopping some more I came across this one: Chicken breasts with leeks, wine and cheese. Check, check and check!

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
1/2 stick of butter
1 leek
4 garlic cloves
1 shallot
1/3 cup of red wine of choice (I used Shiraz since the bottle was almost empty anyway hehe)
1tbsn balsamic vinegar
2tsp fresh ground peppercorns (use black pepper if you got nothing else, it's ok!)
salt to taste
parmesan or romano grated cheese to taste

In our house marinating for a little while is better than not marinating at all. So even though I had only as long as it would take me to prep I used my trust Goya Adobo dry rubs on 2 boneless/skinless chicken breasts.

In a deep pan/skillet on medium heat, add the butter. Once it is melted and covering the bottom of your pan, add the leeks, shallots and garlic. Cook these until the leeks are mushy and the shallots are translucent. This will take a few minutes but it is worth it so be patient! Spread the contents of the pan and place the chicken breasts on top of them. Mix the wine and the balsamic vinegar and add them to the pan. Sprinkle your pepper and salt over the chicken as well (both sides ok!). Now cover them and it all simmer for about 20 minutes. Feel free to turn the chicken as you see fit. After the 20 minutes are over, uncover and add the cheese on top, cover once more and allow to cook for another 5 minutes.

It looks very nice served on a plates with the chicken on a bed of the greens. The chicken was very moist and delicious, highly recommended! Great for low carb fare, more of those to come.

Chicken with wine/leeks/cheese




Cheesecake

Well, I am on my slow carb diet once more. This means a lot of what gets cooked is veggies and proteins. Having a sweet tooth in a low carb diet can be challenging. Luckily I found a great crustless cheesecake recipe and by tweaking it a little we have a fantastic low carb cheesecake! Then I did the same with a whipped cream topping and the results were stellar. Here it goes:

Ingredients - Cheesecake
3/4 lbs ricotta cheese
8 oz cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar substitute
3 eggs
3 tbspn all purpose flour
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tspn vanilla extract
1/4 tspn lemon zest

1. Allow all the ingredients to come to room temperature.
2. Preheat the oven to 325F.
3. Using a springform pan is preferable but a regular 9 inch cake pan will do as well.
4. Cream ricotta, cream cheese and sugar substitute until smooth.
5. Add the eggs one at a time waiting until each one is fully incorporated.
6. Add flour one tablespoon at a time waiting until each one is fully incorporated.
7. Add sour cream and vanilla.
8. Pour the mix into the pan.
9. Place the pan on a rectangular baking pan with 2 inches of water.
10. Bake for 90 minutes.
11. Turn off the over without opening it and leave the cheesecake in the over another 60 minutes.
12. Remove the cheesecake from the oven and let it cool on the rack/counter for another 60 minutes.
13. Frost and refrigerate.

Ingredients - Whipped Cream Topping
1 cup of heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar substitute
1 tspn vanilla

1. Cream the heavy cream.
2. Add sugar and vanilla and whip until it peaks.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Caramel Pistachio Cake!

So this past weekend I thought it would be great to try and bake a cake. After my last attempt I was rather sad and unmotivated. Even though the cake tasted great, it sank in the middle and the frosting was a little too sweet/heavy. Recently on 'Ace of Cakes' (which I love to watch) they mentioned that their most popular flavor was pistachio caramel and that somehow sounded awesome. After exploring the internets for a while there was one recipe which stood out as simple and delicious. With a few changes of my own and some disclaimers on how making your own buttercream is never really simple, I give you the recipe and the finished result!



From Cakes

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Cookies and gardening

This past weekend we made a yellow cake with orange/mango frosting, oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips and walnuts (my foolproof Oatmeal Choc Chip from the Quaker oats box recipe). We also spent some time buying some plants for our garden. This is what we have so far:

- tomatoes
- sweet pepper
- thai pepper
- strawberries
- spicy oregano
- sweet basil
- chocolate mint (it smells so good!)
- chives
- cilantro
- yellow begonias
- purple/pink hydrangeas
- spider plant

They all looked much better after being re-potted. Lucky for us WalMart had some clay pots for a very low price and we were able to get new homes for all of them. Here's a few pictures from before and during re-potting and some pictures of our baking results! The cake didn't come out quite perfect as it sank in the center after coming out of the oven. We think it was because I forgot to sift the flour before measuring it - won't be making the same mistake twice!