CEiMB: Nope, not this week...

With most sincere apologies to Anonymous New York I did not make the Jambalaya this week. I intended to, really I did. I also intended to be recovered from the big party by now. Everything up to Saturday I estimated spot on. I just didn't even think about the "aftermath."

I'd post pictures from the party, either the 100 people having a great time or the great food I made with lots of help that was delish. Sadly, I took no pictures, so I have none to share. I'll try to solve that problem in the near future with another post. But for today, I'm still getting my life, and my kitchen, back to normal.

I'll be back with you all soon -- promise!

TWD: Honey-Peach Ice Cream

I come from a long line of ice cream eaters, so this recipe is the perfect end to a 5 day family fest. Mom's 80th party was a big success and everyone had a good time (more details later). That said it's nice to get back into the swing of things, and ice cream seems to be a nice end to the first "normal" day in weeks.

I made the custard this morning before work. That came together easy enough. My only real problem was not enough ripe peaches despite a weekend in a dark place. I put the two truly ripe peaches into the sauce pan and added honey.


It always surprises me when the tempering process works the way it is supposed to. I always expect to scramble my eggs so I tend to be super careful. As I was working on it this morning, I wondered who was the first to figure out this process works. The same person who figured out those spiny, bug-looking bottom feeders taste yummy boiled and dipped in butter?


Anyway, I got the custard to a temperature that would be happy in the fridge, and chilled all day. When I got home I whipped out the ice cream maker (love it!) and the bowl from the freezer (it lives there all the time, but, sadly, is rarely used). This process made me realize that I could do this more often - custard making in the AM, a trip to the maker in the PM, and a yummy midnight snack to top off the day.


Since so many people did not like how the frozen peaches felt/tasted in the ice cream I only put one peach when the ice cream was almost done. Otherwise I followed the recipe as written. I think it's a very tasty choice. If you want to see the recipe head over to Tommi's blog at Brown Interior for all the info, plus a cute limerick.

TWD: Parisian Apple Tartlet

Jessica at My Baking Heart is my new hero and best friend, though she doesn't know it. Anything with baked apples is at the top of my culinary loves. One day remind me to wax poetic about the Tarte Tartin I had during my 48 hours trip to Paris. It was long before I knew anything about food, but the trip gave me an inkling of what I was missing. So I was totally on board with any pick that has apples and sugar in it. Then add to the fact that on the busiest week of my year Jessica picks a recipe with no need for a mixer, a bowl, a sauce pan or most any other kitchen tools, well, I almost fell to my knees in gratitude!

I had some puff pastry from our friends at Trader Joe's in the freezer. Only needed to pick up some apples from the store, and I was ready to go. This couldn't be easier to make. But just like the last few recipes I've tried, it took longer to bake than stated in the recipe. And even then my apples weren't completely cooked. I was worried about the puff pastry being a little too done, so I made do.

It was yummy for dessert last night and yummy for breakfast this morning. I love the fact that I could whip this up at basically a moment's notice. We've had other desserts that were prettier, more decadent and/or sinful, but this wins in the "easy to make but with bang for your buck" category (don't worry if you didn't know that was a category until now. Neither did I).

This will be it for me until sometime next week. Plans for Mom's party are in full swing with relatives landing on Thursday AM and being drafted into work upon arrival. Shopping on Thursday, food prep on Friday, panic on Friday night into Saturday morning, then "too late to change anything now" mode at noon on Saturday. Wish me luck. I'll report on how it all turns out next week (I'd say after I've recovered, but it would be nice to make an appearance here sometime before 2010).

Will miss you while I'm gone. Have a nice week and see you soon!

TWD: Cinnamon Squares

You know how sometimes you just sit and stew about things? Or wash dishes and stew about things? Or bake and stew about things? Well, that's where I was at when I made this very yummy dessert picked by Tracey at Tracy's Culinary Adventures. Plans continue for Mom's party, and those are going great. The trouble comes when relatives try to throw monkey wrenches into the plans. But that's why we love relatives, right???

Good thing this recipe was easy with all the stewing going on, in addition to the fact that half of my tiny kitchen (I mean TINY) has turned into a photo lab. I use my kitchen table for a variety of tasks, and really need the space when it comes to baking day. But with the photo scanner, little laptop, and pictures and slides o'plenty being cleaned and prepped for a presentation at Mom's party, space is at a minimum. Happily this recipe didn't need a lot of bowls or fuss, so the photo lab remained undisturbed.

How embarrassing!

Lucky for me I find stirring and mixing to be very therapeutic, so before long I was done stewing and enjoying the baking. Everything worked out great in putting this together. It took a little longer than stated to bake (almost an hour), but other than a very golden top, the cake turned out great.


Had a little trouble with the frosting when I put that together -- it got a little runny, so the frosting spent a few minutes in the fridge, and the frosted cake took a quick trip to the freezer to set before cutting this up and bringing it to work for my boss' birthday. My co-workers made quick work of it, and I must admit I was over getting a square or two throughout the day. Very yummy indeed.


Another tasty and easy pick to put in the repertoire. I would definitely make these again.

A little housekeeping

You'll notice I've changed the design of this blog, and it may change a few more times before I settle on something. The black worked during the winter, but with the beginning of summer just around the corner, I thought I'd lighten up this space.

I'll also eventually be changing my name -- no more "tour guide" just "Jenn" as I want to retain the tour guiding thing for actual tour guide business (not that there is much of it in this economy, but eventually it has to get better). I'll have to figure something out so when I go visit blogs and leave comments everyone won't wonder "who's the new girl?"

Let me know what you think of the changes!

CEiMB: A funny thing happened on the way to Crispy Fish Fingers

I've been a little distracted lately. Okay, a lot distracted. Just came off of a huge project at work, and now I'm working on a huge project for next month -- I'm throwing a party for my Mom's 80th birthday. We're looking at about 100 people attending, many of them out-of-town relatives, and I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row for that. Just got tables and linens rented, now working on how to get the flowers to the location on time. You know the drill.

I tell you all this as a explanation for my "oops!" this week. I saw the "Crispy." I saw the "Fingers." What I missed was the "Fish." Somehow I got it in my head that we were doing the "Crispy Chicken Fingers" (page 200). Like I said -- Oops!

So enjoy the pictures, and I'll include the recipe below. Good to know the group hasn't made this one yet so I feel like I'm blazing a new trail rather than doing a rewind (it may not seem like a big consolation to you, but when blazing a new trail to stupidity it's nice to know the scenery will be new to everyone else).

These were tasty and super easy. The chicken was very moist and the texture was fried chicken-like, but the taste wasn't. But with the addition of the Honey-Mustard Sauce, it was really yummy!

Crispy Chicken Fingers

from The Food You Crave (p. 200)

1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut across into 1/2-inch thick slices

1/2 cup lowfat buttermilk

Cooking Spray

4 cups whole-grain corn cereal such as Corn Chex or corn flakes (I used regular corn flakes)

1/4 teaspoon salt

Pinch of freshly ground black pepper

Honey-Mustard Sauce (recipe follows)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine the chicken and buttermilk in a shallow dish, turning the chicken to coat it with the buttermilk. Cover and chill for 15 minutes. Coat two baking sheets with cooking spray.

Put the cereal in a sealable plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. Transfer the crumbs to a shallow dish and season them with the salt and pepper. Dip each piece of chicken in the cereal to fully coat and arrange on the prepared baking sheets. Bake until cooked through, about 8 minutes. Leave the chicken on the baking sheets to cool slightly. It will become crispier.

Serve with the mustard sauce on the side.

Honey-Mustard Sauce

1/3 cup Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons mayonnaise

2 tablespoons honey

In a small bowl, stir together the mustard and mayonnaise until smooth. Stir in the honey.

TWD: Chipster-Topped Brownies

Every once in awhile one of Dorie's recipes will break your heart, and for me, this was the one. I was rather ambivilant about the recipe -- chocolate chip cookie dough on top of brownies seems a little excessive. It's the "one of a good thing means 5 will be better" kind of thinking that is the root cause of much that is wrong in modern times. But I was willing to give this recipe a shot. I love chocolate chip cookies. I love brownies. How could this go wrong?

It went wrong in one way - not getting cooked enough. When I came out to the kitchen the next morning and saw the crater in the middle of the pan, my heart sunk (just like this recipe!). Although I cooked it for the required amount of time, and did the test per Dorie's instructions, the middle was not cooked enough. The edges were cooked a little too much. If I were to make this again I'd make it in two smaller pans rather than in one large one.

I followed the directions and everything went great. I did use the nuts (stunningly I had just enough on hand), and had no problem getting the cookie dough on top of the brownie layer. The brownie layer seemed to set up nicely while putting the dough together, and I didn't have the problems there that some seemed to comment on in the P&Qs this week.

Since I planned on bringing these to work for an occassion, I tried to save the middle pieces by sending them back to the oven for a short time. Crazy, I know, but desparate times require desparate measures (it was a whole lot of chocolate and butter to just go to waste. I had to try something!). After 6-7 minutes in a 350 degree oven......well.......see for yourself.........

Before.........


After.........

Despite the trouble and heartbreak, these were very tasty and my co-workers gobbled them up. Sadly there were only a few that were just right rather than too soft or too dry (perhaps I'll call these the Goldilocks bars - I kind of like that!).

The recipe can be found at Supplicious and was picked by Beth. I always feel bad when I make something that doesn't turn out -- I don't want the one who picked to think they picked a dud! So Beth, although it was a mixed result, the part that was edible was really tasty (okay -- even the melty version above, super tasty!).