Birthday Extravaganza

Birthday Extravaganza

So Allison’s birthday is 12/20/07… 5 days before Christmas. I always have this fear that her birthday is going to become horribly overshadowed by Christmas so I have tried to go all out. This is the first year that she is old enough to really have her friends from school involved and have a big, all inclusive party. We decided to do a party at Bounce U, for you who don’t know it’s an indoor bounce arena where there are 2 different rooms with huge inflatables that all the kids can run around and bounce in. They got to bounce for 1.5 hrs, and then we had 45 minutes in the “party room” for lunch, cake and presents.  We invited her entire class from school (all 23 kids) all my co-residents, and a few of our friends who had kids. We had about 20 kids and their parents show up so it was a packed house. It was a Beauty and the Beast themed party as that is Allison’s favorite Disney movie and Belle is her favorite princess. She is completely obsessed with Belle.  To complete the theme, she wore her Belle dress and crown she got from the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at Disney World and I made the most elaborate princess castle cake I have ever attempted….

Her invitation

I researched different cakes online didn’t find exactly what I wanted but found one that was close. I knew I could make the majority of the castle from a tiered cake then add on towers. Decided that it must be impressive so went with a 3 tiered cake, 12 in round, 9 in round and 6 in round. I stacked them off-set to leave room for the towers. The towers I made out of rice krispy treats. These were a bit fickle…. My first go round did not go so well because they must be very firmly packed or else they just fall apart and the small towers I did not have anything to mold them into. The big towers I molded into bread pans then carved into ovals with a bread knife. I finally remembered a random episode of cake boss or some other baking show I have watched and decided to stack rounds. So I firmly packed rice krispy treats into a sheet cake pan and used a small round cookie cutter to cut out rounds and stack them, 8 high per tower. I skewered them with kabob skewers to secure them and then frosted them with butter cream.  The tops of the large front towers were hand cut out of the pressed treats from the sheet cake pan.  All the rice krispy treats were cut, iced with butter cream and put in the fridge to harden and cool. Then the next night everything was covered with fondant.

I assumed that all the kids would prefer vanilla cake so I made the base cake (12 in round) vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream. 4 layers of cake, 3 layers of buttercream, iced with the same buttercream then chilled in the fridge for several hours then covered with fondant. So turns out all the chillin wanted chocolate cake (I was lucky that we had enough!) My 9 in round, middle tier, was a chocolate sour cream cake with a semi-sweet chocolate buttercream icing. Again, 4 layers with 3 layers of buttercream and iced with buttercream, chilled, covered with fondant. The top 6 in round (which was about to be the death of me as the small rounds are very difficult to cover with fondant) was alternating chocolate cake, vanilla cake, chocolate cake, vanilla cake, with vanilla buttercream between each layer, iced with vanilla buttercream, chilled and covered with fondant.

For the decorations I dyed my white fondant a light brown, hand cut 3 large doors, added some details that looked like wood boards and attached them to the front of the 2 large towers and the front of the base cake. I then squished a small round cookie cutter to an oval shape and cut out about 30 of them out of the brown fondant and attached them to the towers and layers of cake.

All the deconstructed pieces, covered and decorated.

For the tops of the towers I used modeling chocolate… let me just tell you how difficult it was to find modeling chocolate in Harrisburg, PA! Luckily my AMAZING husband found a Williams Sonoma that had just gotten some in the day prior! So I used the modeling chocolate and molded the tops of each tower. I also used the “white” modeling chocolate to mold the tops of the large towers.

I think that smile says it all.

This was definitely the biggest/most time consuming/most technically difficult cake I have done yet but it was fun in the end and Allison was amazed and so very excited about it. It was totally worth all the effort seeing her face when she saw it!



Getting ready to blow out her candles.



Goat Cheese Risotto

By popular demand:

Goat Cheese Risotto

2 cups short grain white rice

6-7 cups chicken stock (or broth)

2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves

1 teaspoon dried basil, crushed

Salt and pepper to taste

3-4 large garlic cloves finely chopped

2-3 oz good quality goat cheese

Add rice to non-stick pot and turn on medium heat to toast. Make sure your pot is large enough, your rice will about double in size. I like my rice to get to a nice golden brown… gives it a nice toasty, almost nutty flavor. In another sauce pan add your chicken stock, thyme leaves, basil, salt pepper, and garlic and turn on low heat to keep warm. After rice is toasted add 1-1.5 cups of stock into pan with rice and stir several times. Cover and let sit stirring occasionally until stock is absorbed. When almost completely absorbed add another cup of stock and stir occasionally until stock is almost absorbed. Repeat process until almost all the stock is added to rice, rice is soft and creamy. When rice is cooked you can add your goat cheese to your rice mixture and let it melt. Start with 2 oz and add as you see fit. I love the taste of goat cheese so I ended up adding about 4 oz, but you may not want that strong of a flavor. You may need to add a little more salt/pepper to taste at the end. Remember to taste everything as you cook. If you aren’t  tasting nothing will turn out well in the end.

PS: Things have been pretty crazy recently and I haven't been very good about posting updates and recipes. I will put a big birthday update for the castle cake from Allison's birthday party soon. I did take a few pictures of construction as I went so you can see my process. I also am planning a big Christmas dinner that I will post the recipes from afterwards too!

Fall entertaining

Stuffed Pork Chops, seasonal roasted veggies, mashed potatoes and peanut butter chocolate chip pie.

So a lot of things going on in this post but this is the dinner menu I put together for a little get-together we had last night. Josh and I invited over some friends of ours who are very recently married and I wanted to have some nice food that fit into the season to serve to them. This seemed to fit.

Stuffed pork chops:

I started with 6 thick cut pork chops, mine were 1.5 in thick, boneless. You could use bone in. Would add a little more flavor, the butcher just did not have any when I was there.  I brine the pork, as it tends to dry out easily.

Brine:

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup salt

1 tsp poultry seasoning

1tsp ground black pepper

Dissolve all of the above in about 1.5-2 liters of water (enough to cover your pork chops)

I let the pork brine overnight (in the fridge). About 12 hours.

Stuffing:

I used pre-cut stuffing cubes (my way of cheating) about 2 cups

½ cup celery finely diced

½ cup onion finely diced

1/8 cup dried cranberries chopped

½ gala apple finely diced

1 teaspoon olive oil

I sauté celery, onion, cranberries and apple in the olive oil until cooked down. Then I add about 1-1.5 cups of chicken stock. I usually have my own on hand, but pre-packaged works. If you use pre-packaged I suggest the low sodium. Warm this in the pan and then add to the stuffing cubes. Stir until all stuffing is moistened.

Cut slit in the middle of pork chops… almost, but not all the way through. Just to make a pocket to stuff. Add about ½ cup stuffing per pork chop and then secure pork chop with 2 toothpicks to make sure the stuffing does not fall out. Repeat will all pork chops. Season the outside of all pork chops with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning to taste.

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in large sauté pan, place pork chops in pan and caramelize outside of chops until golden brown on both sides. Then transfer to a baking dish, cover with foil. Place in 350 degree oven for 15-20 min to finish cooking. Remove from oven and serve.

Mashed potatoes

So mashed potatoes are easy and some people may criticize me for even putting this on my blog, but I have gotten texts from multiple people in the past asking me how to make “real” mashed potatoes and not just the ones out of the box. Really easy… Please stay away from the boxed flakes.

2-3 lbs of russet potatoes, peeled and cubed to similar sized pieces

Boil potatoes for 25-30 min until fork inserted comes out easily and they seem very tender. Then drain potatoes in a colander.  Place potatoes back in pot you cooked them in. Add 4 tbsp butter and allow to melt from the heat of the potatoes. Mash potatoes with potato masher. If you do not have a masher, then you can use a hand mixer to whip your potatoes instead. You can then add milk to your potatoes until the consistency you desire. I personally prefer sour cream, for the tanginess and for the consistency. I have recently replaced my sour cream with Greek yogurt which is great too. I add about a cup to get the consistency I desire. I then add about 2-3 tsp salt, 2 tsp garlic powder and about 2 tsp ground black pepper. This can all be changed to how you want your potatoes to taste. Make them the way you want them, not the way I want them. I crave garlic, you may not.

Roasted seasonal veggies:

Super easy. I chose what was in season.

Butternut squash – 1 squash cut into chunks of about the same size (peeled and de-seeded)

Carrots – about 1-1.5 lbs, cut into chunks of about the same size

Cauliflower – 1 head cut up

Zucchini – 3 medium sized cut into chunks of about the same size

I tossed all the veggies in olive oil and salt, pepper and thyme. Then I roasted the butternut squash and carrots for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Then added the cauliflower and zucchini and continued to roast at 350 degrees for another 20-25 minutes until all veggies were soft. Then they were ready to serve. One of the easiest side dishes I have made, but super delicious if you like veggies.

Peanut butter chocolate chip pie:

Crust:

1.5 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 stick butter melted

3 tbsp granulated sugar

Mix all ingredients and press into a 9 in pie plate to form a pie crust. (or cheat and buy a 9 in graham cracker crumb pie crust)

Filling:

1 cup peanut butter

½ cup powdered sugar

1 - 8oz packaged cream cheese softened

Mix above ingredients until combined, set aside.

1 pint heavy whipping cream

1 tbsp vanilla extract

¼ cup powdered sugar (or a little more depending on your taste and how sweet you prefer it)

Mix whipping cream, vanilla and powdered sugar and whip until you form stiff peaks. Once you have formed whipped cream you can combine with peanut butter mixture. Start by adding 1/3 whipped cream to the peanut butter mixture and mix together. Then add second 1/3 of whipped cream to peanut butter mixture and fold in slowly to keep light and fluffy. Add last 1/3 of whipped cream to peanut butter mixture and fold in slowly to keep light and fluffy. Finally add ½ bag of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips to mixture. Mix until combined, place in previously made pie crust and put in fridge for 2+hrs to harden prior to eating. I usually make this pie the night before I serve it that way I don’t have to worry about desert the day of, and it is nice and firm the day it is served. I have also frozen this before and it is delicious that way too.

Hope you enjoy these recipes. A little taste of fall. As always, if you have questions feel free to email or post comments.

Going to sleep now... 100 pumpkin cupcakes to make this weekend for the girls' school for their halloween party on Monday. Pumpkin cupcakes are one of my favorite. Probably because they have cream cheese frosting... I do make a mean cream cheese frosing :)

Happy Cooking!!

Not Quite Great-Grandma's Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon Rolls

So I somehow managed to lose my great-grandma’s cinnamon roll recipe, which were the best cinnamon rolls in the world. But I did my own take on them. It's not quite her recipe but as close as I have gotten to it. So here is my cinnamon roll recipe:

Dough:

1 cup milk
½ cup butter
1 cup cool water
1 tablespoon active dry yeast (this is for those of you who buy a big container like me… otherwiseuse 2 packages of the yeast)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
6 cups all purpose flour

Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles. Then add the butter, you want it to melt. Add the cool water and let the combination cool until just lukewarm. Then add your yeast and let set a couple minutes until it starts to get creamy looking (that means your yeast are alive and working). Add the sugar, salt, eggs and 2 cups of the flour. Mix until combined. Then mix in the rest of the flour ½ cup at a time until the dough has pulled together. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until it becomes smooth (usually takes me 5-6 min of kneading). Cut the dough into 2 pieces.  Take the first piece and roll it out into a rectangle. Top the rectangle with ½ stick of softened butter. I just take a frosting knife and act like I am frosting it. Then add ½ the cinnamon mixture.

Cinnamon mixture:

2 cups brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp ground cinnamon (you can alter this to your taste, I like a lot of cinnamon)

Roll the completed rectangle and seal the edge with a touch of water. Using a very sharp knife or dental floss (I use a knife) cut into 12 equal rounds. Place in a greased 9x13 baking dish. Repeat with the second half of the dough.

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1-1.5 hrs in a warm area of your kitchen. I like them to double in size, then I think they have expanded enough. Then bake in a 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. I like to let them cool a little then top them with my cream cheese icing.

Cream Cheese Icing:

1 – 8oz block of cream cheese, softened
½ stick butter – softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 lb of powdered sugar (or maybe a little more, depending on your consistency)

I mix the cream cheese butter and vanilla together until light then add the powdered sugar until it has reached the thickness that I want. If you add too much powdered sugar add just a touch of milk to the mixture to loosen it up some.

So these aren’t my great-grandma’s recipe, but pretty good anyway. Hope you enjoy.

Pulled Pork and Beer Bread

Pulled pork and beer bread

So we don’t have a smoker… I do feel that true pulled pork is smoked but unfortunately I don’t feel like spending the money on a smoker so I use my crock pot. The longer you cook your pork shoulder the more tender and easier to pull it will be.  I prefer bone in pork shoulder because you get the extra flavor out of the bone as you cook. Bone out is fine too and I know many people prefer this.

Pork shoulder – 3-4 lbs (I trim this to get rid of the excess fat… I’m not a fan of pork fat)

Brine:

Enough cool water to cover your pork shoulder
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup salt
1 tbsp black pepper ground or 10 whole peppercorns
2-3 tbsp of my dry rub

I will give you the recipe for my dry rub if you keep reading. I put the pork shoulder in the brine for overnight. Brining helps ensure juicy meat (especially if you smoke your pork and don’t cook it in the crockpot.)

Dry Rub:

½ cup kosher salt
2 tbsp paprika (can be plain or hot… I prefer Hungarian hot paprika)
1 tsp cayenne
2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp onion powder
2 tbsp ground black pepper

The morning after the shoulder has brined I take it out and pat it off. Then I apply my dry rub liberally and let it set for a couple hrs. During that time I prepare the juice I cook the meat in.

Cooking liquid:

2 – 12oz cans or bottles of beer (your choice, we had yuengling in the house)
Enough hot water to cover the pork shoulder
2-3 tbsp of the leftover dry rub
2 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp of liquid smoke
1 yellow onion diced

I put the rubbed shoulder in the liquid in the crockpot and let it cook for 6-7 hrs. Usually on high for 3-4 hrs then down on low for the rest of the day. If I know I am going to be gone for 12+ hrs then I will just leave it on low the entire time. If I only have 4-5 hrs, I cook it on high the entire time. Basically cook it until it falls apart, or is very easy to pull apart. I usually drench it in barbeque sauce, whatever your favorite is or if you prefer to make your own. Today we are having it with homemade coleslaw, baked beans and beer bread.

Beer Bread:

This is a super simple beer bread recipe. It’s mildly sweet bread but goes great with the pulled pork. It isn’t a typical, let it rise type recipe so your loaf looks rustic when coming out but it tastes amazing.

3 cups self rising flour
½ cup granulated sugar
½ tsp salt
1- 12 oz can or bottle of beer (the heavier the beer the more flavor, we again used yuenling)

Mix the flour, salt and sugar together, add the beer and mix until combined. The dough will be sticky. Prepare a loaf pan (butter and flour) or use a baking spray so it does not stick. Then bake at 375 degrees for 50-55 minutes depending on your oven. When I pull the loaf from the oven I brush it with a little melted butter.

Pulled pork is traditionally smoked, but if you are like me and just don’t have a smoker at this time you can still enjoy it. I think that the beer bread compliments it well with the bit of sweetness. If you have any questions about these recipes or are looking for any others, email me and let me know. Happy cooking!

Cupcakes and Cioppino

The past week has been crazy. I’m not entirely sure if I need 5 thousand things going on at once to feel satisfied or if scheduling just ends up that way all the time. For months now, I knew I had to give Neurology Grand Rounds on the 19^th. That’s great except for my need to procrastinate. It’s easy enough, they asked me to do an interesting case presentation. I had a young girl with Von Hippel Lindau disease I knew I wanted to present, not only for the medical aspects and learning but also for the social learning, helping patients cope in difficult situations etc. I waited until the week before to put together my powe point presentation. Yeah…. not the best idea.  Especially since Grand Rounds is a presentation for the entire neurology department for CME credit. Nothing like procrastinating a presentation for 75 to 100 people. But it turned out well and went off without a hitch. On top of that I was asked to be the team leader for the Stroke Team for the AHA Heart and Stroke walk in Sept. For that we needed to fundraise. Our fundraising idea…. cupcake sale. Great idea and I knew exactly where I wanted to do it. The conference room across from Starbucks. Get your coffee and then grab some cupcakes, perfect right? Perfect until they told me the only day they had the room open was the 19^th. I had to take it, it was the only day but I needed that room for maximal exposure. To top the week off, I had already invited all the residents and their significant others/families over for dinner on the 20^th.

So the presentation came together well. I’m on a light rotation and I finished it while at work over the past week. The cupcakes however were a challenge. I had 3 days notice to make as many cupcakes as possible to sell. I was slightly skeptical as to how many we would actually sell but my husband Josh knew they would sell well. My goal was 500, but I had a down and out migraine on Thursday so it put me behind. I managed to get 400 completed by 7:30am on Friday when we started our sale. Our flavors were as follows:

1. Devils food cake with bittersweet chocolate buttercream

2. Black bottom cupcake with cream cheese icing (oreo base with chocolate cake and a cream cheese chocolate chip filling.)

3. Pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese icing

4. Strawberry champagne cupcake (glazed with a champagne reduction) with a fresh strawberry whipped cream.

5. Classic red velvet cupcake with a cream cheese icing.

If anyone is curious about the recipes I would be happy to share if you comment or email me. It would fill up pages to list all the recipes right here. A few are very detailed and tedious recipes.

This is what 400 boxed cupcakes looked like hanging out in Allison's room for the night.

So the sale was Friday, we officially opened at 8am and we were sold out by the time I started my grand rounds presentation at 1pm. We made $567 with selling only 400 cupcakes. I have to say going back I could have charged $2 for each cupcake and made more money but I feel fairly accomplished with what we did. It more than doubled the money we had raised for the Heart and Stroke Walk and we are officially over $1000. Total of 6 hrs of work on my part and 4 hrs of playing nice and selling them. Not too bad, I think.

I had a few people ask if I did birthday parties or other events which I said I would if I had the time. It would be fun to do that occasionally on the side.

Saturday was the night the residents were coming over for dinner. I had promised them a cioppino (which I have never made until that day) with crusty bread and my goat cheese bruschetta for appetizer. Here is how I made the cioppino (Italian fish stew for you of those who didn’t know):

My base started with the following:

2 cans crushed tomatoes

4 cans of chicken stock (I would have made my own but I had no reason to cook a chicken since it’s a fish stew. It usually works ok, but I suggest the low sodium and fat free version or else it will be salty and you will be skimming oil off the top of your stew)

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon of old bay seasoning

Lots of black pepper (didn’t measure but I’m guessing at least 2-3 tablespoons)

Garlic (I dropped in whole cloves that I had smashed with the back of a knife to cook and added about a tablespoon full of garlic powder as well)

Dry parsley (didn’t have any fresh, about a tablespoon full)

Now, I let this simmer all day long on low just to build the flavor, there isn’t really a definite need to do that but the longer it goes the more flavor you get from the spices. It could work in a slow cooker too. About a half hour prior to everyone coming over I pulled the bay leaves, whole cloves of garlic and tasted. Tasting your cooking is the most important part. It was good but I added a little more garlic powder at that time. Seasoning is all about your taste, what you like. I think I may have thrown in a little smoked paprika as well but I’m not entirely sure to be honest.

10 minutes prior to eating I added:

2 lbs of sea scallops

2 lbs of jumbo shrimp cleaned and peeled

1 lb of haddock fillets

I let this cook about 7-8 minutes then added:

2 lbs of king crab meat (I had picked the legs earlier that day)

The crab was already cooked so it just needed re-heated in the broth.

Then I served it with a crusty French baguette. It was a hit. I think the best compliment I got that night was the wife of one of my coworkers said it tasted like something her grandmother made she remembered from being a small child. I loved that. That’s the kind of cooking I like, something that has an emotional response. That really hits you and makes you appreciate what you are eating.

I made this recipe for 13 people, so for smaller groups you can easily size it down, but it also can be stored in the fridge and re-heated easily. 

Bruschetta:

2-3 lbs of tomatoes diced(used my own from my plants so I had cherry and roma, doesn’t really matter what kind)

1 jar kalamata olives diced (packed in water not oil…. oiled ones are hard to work with)

2 roasted red peppers diced (I bought them jarred because it was easier than making my own this time)

Shallots diced (total of about ½ cup)

Olive oil (I used a little less than a quarter cup, just enough to give you a little juice)

2-3 cloves of garlic diced

Salt and black pepper to taste.

Baguette sliced about a quarter in thick cut on the bias toasted in the oven until crispy on the outside but a little soft on the inside.

To assemble I take a piece of baguette and spread on a thin layer of goat cheese (I prefer the kind that already has the mediterranean herbs added) then pile on some of the bruschetta and serve.

The combination of the tang of the goat cheese and the salty of the bruschetta is amazing, that is why I prefer goat cheese, not everyone likes it so you could use any soft cheese.

It was a busy but really fun week.

Intro

So I have never done this "blogging" thing before. I think blogging sounds like a ridiculous term. But recently I had a friend suggest it so I could tell people about my creations in the kitchen. As I am guessing most of you know, I am by trade a neurologist. Fourth year resident, so this is my last year before I can officially go out and practice on my own. I apparently am a glutton for punishment, however, and signed up or a year long fellowship next year studying exclusively stroke (vascular neurology). With the hopes of being a hospitalist after I am done. Besides my day job (any one who is familiar with the system knows it is really more than just a day job) I have two small girls. Allison turns 4 in December and Emma is 13 months old. We have two large dogs and two cats. It's a full house here. I don't have a lot of free time but my biggest hobby is cooking and above just cooking, it's baking. I love baking. It's my passion. I would never give up being a physician, but I LOVE baking. Someday I will have the income and I will open my own bakery. Cathy's Cupcakes has a nice ring to it I think.
I can't tell you how many times over the past week I have heard, "You are a doctor, why do you like to cook and bake?" Everyone has their release, what makes them happy and de-stresses them. Baking is mine. Cooking is as well, but baking beats cooking in my world. It's my stress relief. If I have had a hard day or week at work it's nice to come up with a new different type of cupcake to try out.
I think having a science and chemistry background adds to that. Everything I make is kinda like a little experiment. I've always been good at chemistry and if you can do chemistry you can bake. Technically if you can read a recipe you can bake but if you can do chemistry you understand baking. If you understand the concepts of why things work then that is how you can bake without recipes. I don't have to measure everything precisely because I know proportions of about how much you would need.
I think having the ability to cook something great or bake something amazing gives me an advantage to connecting with my girls as well. Both are interested every time I am in the kitchen and want to be there with me. I hope to be able to pass on my skills to them just like my grandmother and great-grandmother did for me.
I have had a busy week this week, involving the baking of 400 cupcakes, cooking all the neurology resident's dinner and presenting my Grand Rounds presentation all in the same week. I just wanted to give a brief introduction as to what I hope to get out of my ramblings here. My next post will give more details about the past week.