valentines chocolate cake

I'm not the sort of person who takes shortcuts in the kitchen. If I have to melt chocolate, I find it easier to use a double boiler instead of the microwave. If I want chocolate cake I don't buy a box of Dunan Hines. I'm not stating this as a point of personal pride, but rather out of necessity because if a recipe is too easy I inevitably screw it up. Every batch of Rice Krispie Squares I've made has been a disaster, but I don't bat an eyelash at tackling divinity. I guess I need a little challenge in my life to get things right. Or maybe I just love the process of creating delicious food and need to be engaged in order to be successful. Whatever the reason, it's getting a little more difficult to take on time-consuming challenges in the kitchen between motherhood and my 9-5 job. 

But I may have discovered the happy medium in this Busy Day Chocolate Cake that falls just short of boxed cake and icing. I was picking through Mad Hungry on the weekend and became intrigued by a chocolate cake recipe that didn't require eggs or butter. Not only that - it is mixed in the very pan it bakes! No clean-up dance!! In a matter of minutes I got to work on making my Valentines chocolate cake.

Now for the frosting. On the theme of quick and easy I chose to make 7 Minute Frosting from Everyday Food March 2005. This frosting is a meringue style frosting that whips over a double boiler till it quadruples in volume. Seven minutes only indicates the amount of time you whip this frosting on the double boiler - then another 3 after that. And, in my case, another 7 minutes cleaning frosting splatters off the backsplash & counter from the hand mixer. This frosting is exactly what I like, light and guilt-free. 

As for the cake, it's quite good for something so simple and old-fashioned. It tastes like a traditional chocolate cake similar to a boxed kind with a spongy texture and mellow chocolate flavour. It certainly isn't as delicious as the two chocolate cakes from Everyday Food or The Cake Bible, but for a one pan wonder with pantry staples, this works just fine!

note: OK, the whole cake is eaten and I immediately want to make another... yeah, it's good!

sweet potato and chipotle soup

There is this handy feature that our oven has where you can program it to bake. I'm finding this a useful luxury now that I'm a strapped for time working mom. It's no good for meats because you must be able to leave what you're baking/roasting in the oven all day, but it's particularly useful for roasting vegetables. It typically takes 40 minutes to properly roast potatoes/sweet potatoes, so I wash, cut and season my potato wedges in the morning and pop them in the oven to begin roasting at 4:30pm. By the time we get home and the rest of the dinner complete, we have perfectly roasted potatoes/sweet potatoes. Potatoes are very forgiving and if they are ready just a little early, the oven also has a 'hold' feature that keeps food warm without over-cooking and drying out (great for keeping deep fried food in limbo while you work in batches).

That said, I was trying a new roasted sweet potato spice blend from 'Mad Hungry' with a combo of brown sugar, salt, cumin and cayenne to eat alongside our old fashion cheeseburgers. I made so many sweet potatoes that we had a ton of leftovers that I decided to make a quick Roasted Sweet Potato and Chipotle Soup. I altered it based on, you guessed it, this handy Everyday Food recipe (published December 2009) by holding back on the spices and seasoning since the sweet potatoes were already seasoned. Once complete a dollop of sour cream adds richness and a velvety texture. This is a wonderful & warming middle of winter soup.

roll another one...

This long weekend I spent it rolling - tortillas and crepes!

I've started making bean burritos on the weekends and freezing them in batches for lunches during the week. I became interested in this when I saw Amy's Burritos on 'sale' for $3 a pop and thought it was economical to make my own. First up was to cook 3/4 cup of rice. Then make the bean mixture, where I substituted many ingredients from the original recipe. I used chipotle peppers and adobo sauce instead of jalapenos and added more spices including chili powder and cayenne. Finally, there is the addition of Monterey Jack cheese.

I think I'm pretty good at the burrito wrap since I spent months folding Owen in his receiving blankets, but you have to be careful of how much filling you place in the tortilla or they become difficult to wrap. Once complete they are frozen on a cookie sheet overnight. The next day I wrapped each individually in parchment and plastic lunch baggies and stash in a freezer bag. Funny enough, I can see why you'd pay for burritos at the store. CONVENIENCE! This is a 2 day job, but I enjoy it. You have to really want to make these or it could feel like a tedious chore much like making pot stickers or perogies.

I always serve them with sour cream and salsa.

This morning was my first attempt at working from Mad Hungry (the book I was talking about last week). These are 'Man Crepes'. I'm not sure why they are so manly, but calling them that might just make guys more apt to eat them. This recipe is much simpler than the one I've always used before and I'm happy with switching over to this one from now on. I found the most delicious crepe combination of mashed banana and Banana Dulce De Leche creme spread. It's killer.

We also snapped a cute photo of Owen I wanted to share. He's just started playing with ring & peg toys. He has the traditional plastic Fisher Price set and one called, Taggies. It's the best toy! It's a plush ring and peg toy with tags dangling from it. This toy must have been invented by a seasoned mom since the idea of a toy covered in tags is ingenious - babies love it!