Winter ONEderland

There are so many things I've been wanting to blog about, and too little time to do so. My head feels like Fred, my popcorn machine. Thoughts and ideas pop up, transform themselves and then get all mixed in a large bowl of confusion and to-do lists (then... my children eat them). 

So, before my concentration flies elsewhere--which is about to do-- an announcement:
This upcoming weekend (Saturday and Sunday), the Kids Food Festival is taking place from 10am to 5pm at Citi Pond™ at Bryant Park. This event's goal is the fight against childhood obesity through fun and flavorful activities (my cup of tea). The festival includes kid's cooking classes, food samplings and product demonstrations, live music, a balanced plate scavenger hunt, giveaways, free-admission ice skating, and more!
I will be there on Sunday at 4:30 pm demonstrating how to prepare a fruit, veggie and chia rainbow trifle, and would love if you and your children could join me!
For more information, go to www.kidsfoodfestival.com

The other thing I want to share are the pictures of the best gig I've ever got! There was baking, crafting and creating. Plus, my client gave me plenty of time to plan and prepare; and most importantly, she trusted me and said yes to everything I proposed. It was just a dream! The theme was a Winter ONEderland to celebrate her daughter's first birthday. The palette was white and pale pink.
I wanted to make a buffet that was ethereal, very feminine, with a vintage feel and completely winter-y.
I started by touring and taking photos all over Manhattan. The holiday window displays were helpful, but as it always happens to me, Anthropologie ended up being the most inspiring place and a good source of materials. My Pinterest addiction started out of this job too, I joined craftgawker and spent hours at Paper Source and Michael's. I raided my dear friend (mentor, voice of reason and genius behind Confetti Cakes) Elisa Strauss' home for stands, vessels and advice; and invaded all the possible surfaces of my apartment with baking ingredients, paper, disco dust, and random materials (thank you my dear children for not eating them and thank you to my dear husband for not complaining...not that any of them read this blog anyway!).
I went for a combination of lace, ribbon, doilies, snow flakes, white feathers, the birthday girl's initial and a light touch of glitter (no girl should ever celebrate a birthday without sparkles!). I wanted it not to look too structured nor flashy, as I was going after softness, but I still wanted it to be cohesive (but not too matchy-matchy). 
I made lots of round paper fans and circles with paper of different textures and patterns within the color palette, I thought of them as snow (I'm sure I was the only one who did). I used all the craft supplies I had seen Martha Stewart using throughout the years and after 2 rolls of double sided tape, lots of floral ribbon, hundreds of glue dots, many hours in the kitchen, some online shopping and a car drive to Connecticut, it all came to be.
My client, a trained chef and a fabulous cook who really knows how to entertain (no pressure for me....), wanted the desserts to be delicious and not particularly healthy. I know she cooks wholesome meals at home always with fresh ingredients, but this was a very special occasion. I did use some white flour for the cake, and yes, refined sugar (although it was organic!). However, I did follow my own recipes that are less sweet than the typical baked good, I managed to bake the cookies with whole oat flour and didn't use any shortening or margarine. Please don't take this as an apology, as I've said in many occasions that I do believe in enjoying and celebrating all kinds of foods under special circumstances where the treats are seen as part of a whole, a meaningful gathering where we can feel positively about bonding with people, having fun, enjoying the aesthetics, the sounds, and the tasty food. It's all part of the balance of things and the pleasure of being at a party.
And since I'm mentioning this, please don't miss Mark Bittman's article in today's NYT's dining section. I'm printing it and keeping it taped to my desk! Read it here.  
Thanks to my friend, Three Tablespoons' very first customer, and everyone's favorite child photographer Shirley Serure for the following pics.

MASCARPONE-RASPBERRY MINI PAVLOVAS

This post's recipe, was inspired by one of the desserts I prepared for the sweet table for the party. It doesn't contain any refined sugar, although be warned that mascarpone cheese, which is a deliciously creamy Italian cream cheese, is more cream than cheese, but a luscious and easy ingredient to work with. I combine it in equal amounts with plain Greek yogurt (don't use low fat) and sweeten it with a touch of honey and some vanilla bean. I served it in push-up individual molds, that are fun and practical, but you can serve it in small jars or even disposable clear plastic cups. While preparing for the party, I was sure these "pavlovas" were going to fly due to the innovative containers. However, it seemed people went for the traditional goodies...Which only served to show me more about the Irony of Baking!
  

Ingredients:

      For maple meringues:

• 1 cup (8 ounces) pure maple syrup
• 4 egg whites (6 ounces)*
•  1 teaspoon white vinegar
•  pinch salt

      
      For mascarpone cream:

• 4 ounces (1/2 cup) mascarpone cheese
• 4 ounces (1/2 cup) plain full-fat Greek yogurt
• 2 teaspoons raw honey
• Seeds of 1 vanilla bean

   For raspberry filling:

• 5 ounces frozen raspberries, thawed
• 1 lemon, juice and zest (preferably Meyer)
• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup (or honey)       

*I use Organic Valley 100% Egg Whites 

Method
For maple meringues:



Preheat oven to 300 F. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. 

Place a saucepan filled with 2 inches of water over medium heat and bring water to a boil. 

In the meanwhile, wipe off the bowl of an electric mixer and the whisk attachment with a wipe moistened with vinegar.



Place all the ingredients in the clean bowl, and set the bowl on the saucepan with the water. 

Whisking by hand (using the mixer's attachment) constantly, heat up the ingredients until mix feels hot to the touch (with very clean hands!!), but not burning.

I Immediately, remove from heat and place the bowl and attachment in the mixer and mix on high speed until the meringue is formed (it might take between 5 to 10 minutes). NOTE:Don't forget to turn flame off. Yes...I've done it!!! 

Pipe (no need to get fancy, a zip top bag with a cut end works) or spoon out portions of the meringue (small enough to fit into the container you'll serve it in) onto the prepared baking sheets.  

Lower down the oven temperature to 250 F and bake meringues for 1 to 1:30 hours (time will depend on size). 

Turn oven off, but let meringues cool completely inside the oven (this will help with the drying process), you could leave them in the turned off oven overnight.

For mascarpone cream:

Whisk by hand all the ingredients in a bowl until soft peaks form. Keep cold.

For raspberry filling:
In a medium bowl, mash all the filling ingredients with a fork and add more sweetener if desired.

Assembly:
Layer each component in the serving vessel alternating each one. Although the components may be prepared ahead (2 days for mascarpone cream and raspberry filling, and 2 weeks for meringues) dessert must be assembled right before serving.     

CRAFTY NOTE 

I'm very proud of myself for coming up with this idea for a dessert stand. It was easy, inexpensive and original.

I used a glass flower vase to which I glued on the outside doily confetti using glue dots. Then I placed more confetti and a bit of glitter into the bottom of the vase and I placed the wood monogram (that I bought at Michael's) standing inside the vase (I used lots of glue dots to secure it). Then I added even more glue dots on the top edges of the vase that I topped with a serving platter, and voila! A personalized stand.

PS: obviously I took this photo! 

Last Chance for Hamantaschen Kit Order!

Purim is coming!
These Hamantaschen kits are a great opportunity to prepare the holiday's pastries with your kids (or by yourself!) with all the fun, the wholesome ingrdedients and without the mess, the gluten, the margarine and the overload of sugar.
Plus...while dough chills and cookies bake, the kits come with everything you need to decorate the box for a super cute mishloach manot.

Each Kit Contains:
- Dry cookie mix (premeasured, gluten free)
- Pure maple syrup (premeasured)
- Olive oil (premeasured)
- Fluted round cookie cutter
- 2 fruit-chia seed fillings
- Mini chocolate chips
- Kid-friendly decoration materials
- Baking instructions

Price: $30.00 per kit that makes about 2 dozen cookies

Please place your Hamantaschen Kit order by tomorrow night (2/13/13)

Winter Rainbows

Since she was very young, my daughter has loved colors. She could barley speak, but she could identify every hue. She was two and already knew what combination of primary colors made every secondary one. She requested her fourth birthday party to be rainbow themed, and even as she pretends now to be an 8-year-old teenager and begs me to get her pencil skirts and allow her to wear makeup, she still tries to wear as many colors as possible, even if that means complete mismatch. All her friends know rainbows are her thing, and she made her little brother memorize the right order of the color spectrum while he only wanted to play with cars.
And that's why the Eat-A-Rainbow strategy is so effective in my household, and I truly believe that it's the right way to teach our kids and ourselves how to eat right.
Of course, by eating-a-rainbow, I'm not referring to squeezing out the bottle of  Red #45 food coloring on the chicken (although, I did once accidentally served my guests blue fish after a container had fallen from the shelf onto the tilapia) or adding sprinkles.
The rainbow should be made up of plant-derived foods, that are NATURALLY pigmented.
The result is not only healthy, but fun, delicious and gorgeously looking. It's also easier to keep track of what we eat and how many more colorful fruits, veggies, etc we still need to eat to fulfill our daily rainbow quota.
For optimal health, we're supposed to eat 5 to 9 portions of produce each day, and it's easy to forget, so again, thinking of every color might help. I personally hate measuring and counting my food, so I fill my plate at least half full of a combination of plant-derived foods at every meal.
While combining different fruits, we make them even more nutritious, as the compounds in some plants synergize the compounds present in others; complementing and/or enhancing each other and interacting in different ways to help our bodies benefit more fully.
For example, the addition of foods rich in vitamin C (such as citrus, chile peppers, bell peppers, tomatoes, mango, etc) to dark leafy greens allows us to absorb the iron in the greens more effectively.
Another tip is adding oils, nuts or avocado to fruits and vegetables, as they help us use the vitamins A, D, E and K they might contain.
Besides being rich in vital nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, protein (especially legumes combined with whole grains) and good fats (avocado, nuts, seeds) and providing us with the fiber we need, produce contains other important substances.
The different colors are the natural marketing campaign plants use to attract us, and to teach us about some of the beneficial chemicals they contain. These substances are collectively known as phytochemicals or phytonutrients and there are more than 1000 of them.They  are non-nutritive plant chemicals that have protective or disease preventive properties. Phytochemicals are considered non-nutritive because they are not required by the human body for sustaining life, but they are beneficial to preserve our health (mostly in a preventive way). They are present in fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts and legumes. 

Phytonutrients can help us stay healthy in different ways, for example, most of them are ANTIOXIDANTS, which protect our cells against the oxidative damage of free radicals (from other foods, the environment, and our own metabolism), reducing the risk of developing certain types of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and other diseases; and can boost immunity to certain infections. 
Other phytochemicals have HORMONAL ACTION, for example, isoflavones, found in soy, imitate human estrogen and help to reduce menopausal symptoms and osteoporosis. Some phytonutrients STIMULATE or INTERVENE with ENZYMES and others INTERVENE WITH THE REPLICATION OF OUR DNA. For example, saponins, found in beans interfere with the replication of cell DNA, thereby preventing the multiplication of cancer cells. Capsaicin, found in hot peppers, protects DNA from carcinogens.

There are some phytochemicals with ANTIBACTERIAL EFFECT, such as allicin from garlic. Lastly, some phytonutrients can BIND PHYSICALLY to cell walls and prevent the adhesion of pathogens to human cell walls. This is the case with proanthocyanidins, which are responsible for the anti-adhesion properties of cranberries, which reduce the risk urinary tract infections and improve dental health through this mechanism. 


So, going back to the kitchen, let the color guide you when food shopping, and remember, that the deeper the color of each piece of produce, the higher level of phytochemicals. The following is a guide of some phytonutrients and their colors that is good to keep in mind to inspire your cooking. Mix and match at leisure, but always remember to vary your combinations of WHOLE PRODUCE as much as you can, to ensure you obtain the maximum benefit, not only of phytochemicals, but of all nutrients.
I love this quote published a couple of years ago in Martha Stewart Living (I know...how scientific of me!). David Jacobs, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota said: "A tomato isn't just lycopene. An orange isn't just vitamin C. The foods we eat are living systems, with a careful balance of thousands of constituents, many of which are crucial to health. Even the balance in which they occur may be important." So...don't eat pills, eat salads and a huge variety of them!
 
Unfortunately, I don't know how to credit the great chart above, as I found it in Pinterest and it was taken from bing.com, but I hope the author gets credit for it.

And before I bid you farewell for today, let me share with you this roasted vegetable winter salad that I made. I know the cold season might be discouraging, but explore new fruits and vegetables. Have you eaten persimmons, pomelos or celeriac? Citrus, roots, dark leaves and members of the brassica family (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlirabi, etc) are amazing this time of the year and many just need to be roasted in olive oil and sea salt, while others are great eaten raw. You can also take advantage of the frozen produce section, and try the magic of turmeric and/or saffron in whole grains, or use some forbidden rice or multicolored beans. You might come up with something delicious, surprising and packed with nutrients.
For more info, visit:

http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/TreatmentsandSideEffects/ComplementaryandAlternativeMedicine/HerbsVitaminsandMinerals/phytochemicals

http://www.phytochemicals.info/ 

WINTER RAINBOWS

Instead of giving you a recipe, let me tell you what I did, so you can use any ingredients you like. This time I used purple cauliflower, blood oranges and pomegranates, sweet potato, golden beets, fresh mint and roasted pistachios, but dare to use bok choy, red cabbage, bell peppers, artichokes, squash, corn and anything else you find that looks good.

• First of all, I made a BALSAMIC REDUCTION:

Just cook 2 cups of balsamic vinegar (don't waste money on a fancy kind, an inexpensive one works well in this case) in a medium saucepan over medium heat (you don't want it to boil, but just simmer) until the total liquid is reduced to 1/2 cup. It will take about 40 minutes. Keep an eye, but don't touch it!

Let cool.

It will thicken into a deliciously intense sweet and sour syrup. You will use only a little bit, but keep the rest covered in your fridge and use with other salads, vegetables, or as a glaze for meat or fish.

• While balsamic reduces, preheat oven to 425 F. and prep your veggies: wash, pat-dry, peel (if needed) and slice, keeping each color separate, so the colors don't combine. I use a mandoline for hard roots, but you can use a sharp knife too.

• Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Place one of the vegetables on the prepared sheet and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Mix well and spread out all the pieces on one layer. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Bake until slightly browned. Set aside on a plate and work with the next vegetable. You can work with 2 sheets at a time.

• Plate vegetables, fruits and nuts taking advantage of their colors and shapes. Use leafy greens if you have them and drizzle all with more extra virgin olive oil and the balsamic reduction. Sprinkle with seeds or nuts for texture and enjoy!