Great Find for Eco-Friendly Shopping

Last night, I popped into a Trader Joe's I'd never visited before, in the Pompton Lakes/Wayne area of Northern New Jersey. I was pleasantly surprised that I could purchase an insulated shopping bag for carrying freezer and refrigerated items instead of just the canvas bag I'd been carrying. Additionally, the bag is sizable enough to carry more than a typical paper bag of groceries, and you can hook it over your shoulder!

Mind you, I'd been to the Trader Joe's in Florham Park, New Jersey earlier in the day, and they did not yet have the insulated bags, just the laminated shopping bags -- nice themselves, albeit not insulated.

The insulated bags are $1.99 a piece and the laminated ones are $.99 each. What a deal for not using more plastic/paper bags every time you shop!

Two of Dorie's Waffles Altered to Suit Sugar Sensitivities

Nearly four years ago, when John and I were first dating, we went shopping with a thick stack of gift certificates to Williams-Sonoma from my first engagement. One of the items I purchased was this great heart-shapes waffle iron from VillaWare. It came with a thin booklet with some pretty standard recipes, so I added Dorie Greenspan's Waffles From Morning to Midnight book to our basket.

Over the years, two of the recipes have become our favorites: Double Vanilla Waffles and Gingerbread Ice Cream Hearts. I made both these recipes for the great breakfast extravaganza a few weeks ago. I think the vanilla ones are my favorites, but either way, they always come out great!

Luckily, waffle recipes often include a significant liquid component, so it makes it easy to swap out sugar for agave nectar, which is just what I did. If you wish to veganize these, just use margarine and soy or rice milk, along with egg replacers. It does work, albeit, not as well.

Two caveats: these recipes are not quick. If you're giving a breakfast extravaganza, like I did, start early! Also, remember that agave nectar batters brown faster, so you might want to adjust the heat of your waffle iron after the first batch.

Here are my versions of the two recipes:

Double Vanilla Waffles (makes approximately 15 small heart-shaped waffles)

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups milk
2 tablespoons vanilla paste (divided)
5 tablespoons butter (I used salted)
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
1/3 cup agave nectar
2 large eggs

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan on medium-high heat, whisk 1 tablespoon of the vanilla paste into the milk. Heat the mixture until the milk boils, then cut the heat and let it sit for at least an hour.
2. In a small skillet, melt the butter until it's golden brown, swirling often so that it doesn't burn. Set the butter aside to cool.
3. Turn on your waffle iron and preheat your oven to 200 degrees F because you will want to keep the done waffles warm while you're making the others.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder.
5. Whisk the butter, eggs, agave nectar and remaining vanilla into the milk until well combined.
6. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and whisk until just combined.
7. Pour the whole mixture into a large liquid measuring cup (a four-cup measuring cup works well), and pour from the cup into your waffle iron's hot, oiled grids until the batter just covers the grids. You may need a silicone spatula or a wooden spoon to gently spread the batter over the grids.
8. Close the lid and bake until crisp.
9. Place the cooked waffles in a single layer on a baking sheet in your heated oven until you're ready to serve.

These are great with ice cream, Rice Dream or any other frozen dessert.

Gingerbread Ice-Cream Hearts (makes approximately 20 heart-shaped sandwiches)

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons butter (I used salted)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon double-acting baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 dried mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (or freshly grated)
3/4 cup agave nectar
1 1/2 cups milk
2 large eggs (separate whites from yolks)
1 quart softened ice cream (or your favorite frozen dessert) to fill the sandwiches

Directions:

1. Melt the butter and set it aside.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices to combine.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the milk, agave nectar and egg yolks.
4. In your mixer bowl, whip the egg whites until they hold firm peaks.
5. Blend the milk mixture into the dry ingredients until they are combined.
6. Stir in the melted butter to combine.
7. Gently fold in the egg whites.
8. Oil your pre-heated waffle iron.
9. Pour the whole mixture into a large liquid measuring cup (a four-cup measuring cup works well), and pour from the cup into your waffle iron's hot, oiled grids until the batter just covers the grids. You may need a silicone spatula or a wooden spoon to gently spread the batter over the grids.
10. Close the lid and bake until crisp.
11. Cool the cooked waffles in a single layer on a baking sheet until room temperature.
12. Spread half of them evenly with the ice cream, between 1/4 in and 1/2 in thick, depending on how indulgent you feel.
13. Top them with the remaining waffles.
14. Feel free to decorate the sides however you wish -- candied ginger (although they contain lots of sugar), carob chips, etc.
15. Transfer the sandwiches to a waxed paper-lined baking sheet and freeze until firm. Use small zip-lock bags to store the sandwiches when they are firm.

Cinnamon Rolls

A few weeks ago, I hosted a breakfast extravaganza for Mom, Dave, Lenny, Jerome, John and myself. I served two different kinds of waffles, vegetarian sausage links and patties, Mom's fruit salad, and the cinnamon buns described in this entry.

These cinnamon rolls are based on the Fruit Sweet and Sugar-Free cookbook's "The Best Egg Bread" and "Our Famous Cinnamon Rolls" recipes. I've made a few little alterations. I've included both still photos and little movies in the description. Please let me know what you think!

Do ahead:
The day before, make the cinnamon roll filling below.

Cinnamon Roll Filling:
1 cup walnuts
3/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons cinnamon
3 tablespoons flour

1. Toast the walnuts in a 350 degree F oven for 7 to 10 minutes. Allow the nuts to cool, then chop them coarsely either by hand or via a food processor.
2. Boil one cup of water and add the raisins. Cut off the heat when the water returns to a boil again, and let the raisins plump for 10 minutes. Drain the raisins and store them in the fridge until needed.
3. Cream the agave nectar and the butter until well mixed. Stir in the cinnamon and flour, then the walnuts. Refrigerate this mixture until you're ready to use it.

Make the Egg Bread:
1 1/2 cups milk
3 tablespoons agave nectar
6 tablespoons softened butter
3 eggs beaten
2 teaspoons dry baker's yeast
2 teaspoons salt
5 - 5 1/4 cups unbleached white flour

1. Scald the milk with the agave necar over medium heat.
2. Combine the scalded mixture with the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer.

3. After the mixture has cooled to lukewarm, add the eggs, yeast, salt and 5 cups of flour until it forms a soft dough. Knead for 5 to 10 minutes.

4. Place the well-kneaded dough in a lightly oiled bowl covered with plastic wrap, and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in size.

5. After the first rise (about 1-2 hours), gently deflate the dough and knead it in the bowl for about 1 minute. Then cover it again, and let it rise again until doubled.

Assemble the Cinnamon Buns:

1. After the dough has risen twice, roll it into a rectangle measuring 18 inches by 20 inches. Cover the rectangle with the chilled filling, leaving 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch of space at the top of the rectangle. Sprinkle the raisins on top.

2. Beginning at the side closest to you, tightly roll the dough and mixture all the along the length of the rectangle until you've made a spiral.

3. Use a serrated edge knife to cut the roll into equally sized portions. I cut mine about an inch thick because I didn't want gargantuan rolls.

4. Place each roll 1-inch apart on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, and cover with plastic wrap for their third rise.

5. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Bake the rolls for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and slightly crusty.

6. While the rolls are baking, prepare the glaze.


Cinnamon Roll Glaze:

1/4 cup instant nonfat dry milk (get this as powdery as possible by putting it in a ziplock bag and crushing it with a rolling pin)
2 1/2 tablespoons of unsweetened apple juice
3/4 cup agave nectar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon almond extract

1. Whip all the glaze ingredients until just foamy.
2. Generously brush the rolls with the glaze while they're still warm from the oven.
3. Chow down with friends!

Review:
I deviated a bit from the recipe because I wanted to freshly bake these the morning of the event. I had refrigerated the rolls after their third rise, and I think this affected the dough a bit. They were somewhat hard after baking, but not altogether bad at all. I had enough dough and filling leftover to make two loaves of cinnamon bread. I gave one to Mom and Dave, which they enjoyed. I also had some of the glaze leftover. This did not store well, and in fact, separated. The foamy bit on top really reminded me of marshmallow fluff. Overall, flavor was good, and the loaves fared much better than the rolls. This makes me think that it was cook's error, and that I should have sliced the rolls much thicker. A B- would be a fair grade.

Next time, the waffles, which were far superior to the cinnamon rolls. They should have been, their recipes came from the Dorie Greenspan "Waffles" book.

My Take on Isa's Gingerbread Apple Pie

My apologies to Isa Chandra Moskowitz as I write the following words: I have de-veganized yet another of your wonderful recipes from Vegan With a Vengeance. I admit, I like butter. A lot. And, it made a great pie that John's Aunt Dot really enjoyed. Dot wasn't the only one, either.

It's such an easy pie to make. The only time-consuming part was slicing the bag of Granny Smith apples thinly because I did it by hand, not via a mandoline (a good birthday gift, hint, hint, hint) or a food processor (mine doesn't slice -- another good gift idea). I'm looking forward to making this a whole grain recipe. The crust really lends itself to tinkering in that way, especially given the liquid sweetener.

Here's my altered version of the recipe. It takes a few more liberties than usual, especially with the crust to account for the sugar/agave exchange, but it was definitely a success!

Gingerbread Apple Pie

The Crust:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
1/3 cup agave nectar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup butter -- use salted
1 tablespoon cold water, if needed

The Filling:

2 pounds Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1/3 cup agave nectar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 tablespoons arrowroot

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Make the crust:
Sift together the flour, spices and baking powder. Cut in the butter one tablespoon at a time. Drizzle the agave nectar over the dough, mixing until the crumbs begin to cling together. If needed, add the water. Set 1/2 cup of the dough aside. Gather the rest in a ball and knead for 5 minutes. Press into pie pan and bake for 10 minutes.

Make the filling:
While the crust bakes, mix all the ingredients for the filling together except the arrowroot. Then, add the arrowroot and mix until it is completely dissolved.

Assemble the pie:
Fill the crust with the apple mixture and crumble the remaining dough over the filling. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil after 20 minutes and bake for 30 minutes more. The filling should be bubbling and the apples should be tender.

When I baked this pie for John's family gathering last month, I baked it for a total of 40 minutes, then popped it in his cousin Holly's oven to finish it while we were eating Steve's (of Bethlehem) pizza. Eating the warm pie was wonderful. Not a piece was left.

I'm having a bit of difficulty linking to Flickr from Blogger (what a surprise!), so if you want to see a photo of the pie, click here.

Corn Fritters

This is another slight alteration to a recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance.

Backstory: I'd made some frozen organic corn as a side with dinner. John didn't want any, so I was left with way too many servings for myself. I had been paging through all my cookbooks for recipes I'd altered when I found the "Fresh Corn Fritters" in VWAV. While I'm not a fan of tofu, I decided to keep an open mind and try the recipe. My review is at the end.

By the way, I'm trying to use more video footage in my blog. Please let me know what you think of this technique.

Here's my version:

1 12-0z package of extra-frim silken tofu
2 tablespoons of organic raw agave nectar
4 tablespoons of organic rice milk
1/2 cup of all-purpose flour (you can substitute most flours here)(fava-garbanzo might be interesting)
3 cups of cooked frozen corn kernels
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt (I grind mine in the salt mill)
Grapeseed oil for frying

In a food processor, whip the tofu, agave nectar and rice milk until smooth.

Add half the corn and pulse until the mixture is chunky, but you can't see too many corn pieces.

Transfer to a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients except the oil.

Now, here's where I made my first mistake -- I used too much batter and didn't flatten the fritters out with the back of my spoon.

The recipe says 2-3 minutes on each side, but I wound up cooking all my batches much longer than this.

The key thing is to use much smaller amounts of batter than you think you'll need, and turn these into wee appetizers.

Have French Toast, Will Travel

Last Friday, I drove an hour north to the home of my friend Richard Factor and his lovely housemate, Barbara. Also visiting (and hungry) was Terry, from up the road and across the street.

I descended upon them with a bag of sliced French Bread from Callandra's, a container of my French toast dip and a small bottle of agave nectar for my own use.

Then began the discussion of The Stove. Richard's basement is home to the new stove, which is hardly new since it's been living there for quite some time. It's still there, and not located in the kitchen where it should be, because there is some disagreement between Richard and Barbara regarding the counters. As far as I can tell, the counters will have to be replaced in order for the stove to be installed. However, they also have a sizable kitchen island that matches the counters, and will also have to be updated should they replace the current counters. Have you been through this?

The advantages to replacing the old stove would be many. First, the old stove only has two working burners. Second, they're electric. Third, one of the working burners only works on high, which was very challenging for me and led to my nearly burning the French toast.



All this was discussed while I soaked the day-old bread in my special egg mixture (to be included in the future cookbook). Speaking of the cookbook, while I was shooting this little film of Barbara turning the bread, Richard figured out a name for the cookbook (which will remain a secret until published, but he will get full credit for it).

Here's Richard now making space for my book in their kitchen shelves. I will have between 1 and 1.5 inches for mine. Isn't that nice of him?

It was a gorgeous, yet chilly day. Just perfect for a warm breakfast of French toast with friends.

What's in My Grocery Cart?

A few fellow food bloggers have been writing about what's in their "trolleys." Here in the U.S., we tend to call them grocery carts, although I like thinking about them as trolleys. Reminds me of San Francisco.

This is a big food weekend for me. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to visit Richard and his lovely housemate Barbara and cook my famous French Bread French Toast for them. That's reflected in some of the ingredients in the list below. On Sunday morning, Mom, Dave, and my friends Lenny and Jerome will come for homemade waffles and cinnamon buns (among other delights). Some of the needed ingredients also were in my grocery cart this morning.

Here's what was in my cart:

2 packages of cage-free eggs (two for $5)
Skim milk
1/2 lb of Boar's Head baby swiss cheese (for John's lunch sandwiches)
1 lb of Boar's Head Ovengold roasted turkey (again for John's sandwiches)
1 package Callandra's sandwich rolls (the BEST bakery in NJ)
2 long Callandra's French bread loaves (for tomorrow morning's festivities and one to send to John's parents in Utah, where good bread simply does not exist)
1 Calladra's panella loaf (also bound for Utah)
1 package of soy sausage patties (for the Sunday breakfast extravaganza--I haven't tried these yet, so I'll post a review afterward)
2 24-packs of Dannon half-liter water bottles (John drinks bottled water almost exclusively)
1 8-slice package of Taylor pork roll (also another item that cannot be had in Utah)
2 small bunches of bananas
1 lemon
1 10-pack of organic baby carrots (for John's lunches)
1 bag of organic spinach
2 packs of Hodgson Mill yeast (for the cinnamon buns)

The bill came to just over $60.00.

Next time, French Bread French Toast on location at Richard's house. Have a wonderful day!

A New Meme: Your CD Collection

This meme is a bit different than your typical q & a about myself. It's more a snapshot of my CD collection. I hereby invite all bloggers and non-bloggers to participate in whatever way pleases you the most. Please supply photos to go along with each question.

1. How do you organize your CDs (e.g., in alphabetical order or by genre)?
I recently changed from genre to alpha order. As a result, you'll see in the photos in this post that it's like having a wild party. Imgaine Ella Fitzgerald sitting with The 5.6.7.8's, talking about their groovy tunes! (If you haven't heard of them, they do the Whoo Hoo song in the Vonage commercials.)

2. What is your favorite style of music?
That really depends on what I'm doing. If I'm cooking or making chocolate, it may even depend on precisely what I'm making. One of my current favorites is Juana Molina. She's an amazing musician from Argentina. You can sample some of her music at Amazon.com. My favorite song of hers is Slavese Quien Pueda. Most of the time, if I'm writing or editing, you'll find me listening to classical music. Other types, like jazz, require that I pay too much attention to the music to do much of anything else except maybe cook.

3. If you arrange your music alphabetically, what is the strangest combination of artists in your collection?
Tough to say, but probably Beck, Beethoven, Tony Bennet and Bjork might top my list. Although, ELO and En Vogue might come in a close second.

4. Along the same lines, what is the best combination of artists/styles that popped up just because you alphabetized them?
This one probably makes more sense -- Jimi Hendrix and Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Greats. Another would be John Lee Hooker and the Indigo Girls. However, I'd pay good money to see The White Stripes play with Stevie Wonder.

If you enjoyed this little glimpse into my diverse CD collection, please 1. let me know, 2. do one of your own and link to it from the comments here. I'd love to see yours.

P.S. This came about as a result of having to pack up all my CDs in boxes when our bedroom recently was painted. They haven't been this well organized since I first bought the house almost four years ago. Mind you, this is only my collection. John's is in storage since he put his entire collection on his computer to be able to use his MP3 player. He probably has around 250 CDs as well. We'll need to build some serious shelving in our next house.

The Great Macaroni and Cheese Debate of 2007

Seems reminiscent of the great grilled cheese debate of 2005, actually. Nonetheless, there has been some chatter amongst the bloggers regarding an article on Salon.com that has some pretty nasty things to say about Annie's Homegrown Macaroni & Cheese.

First things first, while I love a great homemade mac and cheese, baked in all its cheesy, buttery goodness, I'm also a fan of the quick and easy. Moreover, while Mom raised me on Kraft's ubiquitous blue box, I found Annie's organic and less-chemically-altered version much more palatable as an adult, especially the white Wisconsin cheddar and shells. It's REAL cheese folks! Not processed cheese food.

Additionally, I learned from an Annie's box that if I turned off the gas on the stove once a boil had been re-achieved after the pasta had been added, placed the top back on the pot and let the thing sit while I did other things, I could save on gas! I now do this whenever I cook pasta. It's a simple thing, but sometimes we just don't think that way.

Finally, the recipe the author posts is not an effective way to make macaroni and cheese. When you use grated cheese in the way she explains, you get lumpy bits of cheese everywhere.

If you have the time and want a real dose of old fashioned mac and cheese, go with Paula Deen's. It's easy to make and really cheesy. If you don't have the time and just need a quickie, use Annie's organic. It's a lot better than the author of the Salon article says, especially if you use fresh butter and less milk than recommended.

I know I said I'd write about diversity, but this came up, so that will come later.

Carob, Hazelnut and Agave Biscotti

I've decided to write a cookbook. Yes, indeed, that's big news. Over the years, I've altered so many recipes to meet my dietary requirements that it made me think about how many other people are doing the same thing.

The focus will most likely be altering treats and desserts to accommodate my friend agave nectar.

Please note that I fully agree with copyrite laws and promise to provide full citations to all the originators of their recipes.

One example is this lovely recipe from Gourmet magazine that I altered in a few ways. First, I used whole wheat pastry flour. I also added a half cup of carob powder to offset the substitution of the liquid agave nectar for the sugar. I also cut the eggs by one.

Using a liquid sweetener always leads to a stickier dough unless the dry ingredients are increased so much that it throws the flavor way out of balance.

In the case of biscotti, though, I was counting on the fact that these cookies would be double baked (in other words, dryed) in a slow oven. Therefore, the wetness of the dough wouldn't matter in the long run.

I was right.

The original recipe calls for the oven to be kept at 350 degrees F. When dealing with agave nectar, it is necessary to keep the oven 25 degrees F colder because the risk of burning the food increases with each degree.
I followed the recipe with the timing for the first baking, and the biscotti logs came out as expected, with the typical cracking on the top, although one was more cracked than the other.

Years ago, prior to my discovery of sugar sensitivity and prior to my starting Deb's Delectables, I made hundreds of biscotti each year as holiday gifts. So, I had an idea of what to expect. However, this was my first ever attempt at making one of my favorite cookies with agave nectar.

The addition of the carob made it a bit more challenging to see how browned the cookies were, but I used the timing of the original recipe again to achieve a successful batch of biscotti.

As you can see at the right, I did not observe the 1/2 inch rule of biscotti. I like mine a bit thicker. They're more fun to dunk in tea that way.

Prior to my giving up caffiene, my favorite tea was a flowery Earl Grey from Harrods. This tea was a wonderful complement to pure biscotti (not altered with chocolate or carob.

These days, it's herbal tea for me. I paired this carob version with cammomile for a lovely honey overtone. A very yummy result.

The gourmet recipe is very true to every traditional recipe I've tried, except typically, they use toasted almonds rather than hazelnuts. But, who am I to argue with the rich flavor imparted by the humble hazelnut.

Just in case you might have wondered where I've been all this month, I've had my office painted and sent my computer back to the nice folks at Tiger Direct for a thermal issue. Today, I sit in my freshly painted office with my newly fixed machine beneath my fingertips. In the meantime, boxes filled with books sit patiently at my left and right, waiting to be placed on the shelves I hefted up the stairs yesterday.

Don't worry, I never packed the cookbooks away. They've just been relocated to the newly placed shelves in the dining room. They're sharing the space with John's fly-fishing books and our travel books.

Next time, an examination of diversity as seen through packed boxes.

A Newcomer to Vegas

As I've said previously, prior to a couple of weeks ago, I'd never been to Las Vegas. When John's family decided we were going, I asked his Mom if she wouldn't mind taking me to a local Barnes and Noble so I could buy a Las Vegas travel book. Of course, I had one home in New Jersey, but that didn't help me then.

I went through the book, making a list of my must-see choices. The Liberace museum, Bellagio conservatory and fountains, Hoover Dam (see the post here for those pics), Ceasar's Forum, and the Eiffel Tower at the Paris hotel and casino topped my list. Although I didn't make it to the Liberace museum, I did get to see quite a bit of the famous strip. Here are some of the photos I took while I experienced Sin City.

Oh Vegas! Home to Big Elvis. When I say "Big" I don't mean big, I mean HUGE. This fellow has to weigh at least 400 pounds.

Connie, John's Mom, knew I have a penchant for Elvis impersonators, so she motioned for us to follow her into the casino next to the Flamingo Hotel where we stayed during our trip. Toward the back of the casino was a little performance area packed with people listening to this big fellow sing from his chair.

All of a sudden he rose, and I snapped this photo, albeit a bit out of focus. I had to catch him while I could because it would be a while before he stood again. His performance was fine and we all had a good laugh. If you're like me, and just go to Vegas for the spectacle, don't miss Big Elvis.

Speaking of spectacle, you should definitely visit the Rio. The casino features Carnevale "floats" suspended from the ceiling that circulate around the casino floor. We watched the procession at least four times while we waited for our turn at the famous seafood buffet.

It was not worth the wait. Most of the food was cold, the crab was very fishy tasting, and there wasn't a big variety of things. I was surprised since it had been rated so highly. You had to peel your own shrimp as well.

Nonetheless, go see the floats. The music is fun, and dancers throw Mardi Gras beads to the crowds on the balcony while they make their rounds.

If you want to see wildlife in Vegas, you can certainly see some at the Secret Garden of Sigfried and Roy at the Mirage. You pay $15 to take a tour of the gardens and possibly see dolphins playing. Within the gardens are white lions and tigers in smaller-than-zoo-size cages. When we were there, the 20 mph winds were making the animals squirrelly, so they paced back and forth in their anxiety.

This make photo-snapping very challenging, but here's one of the better shots of a white lion.



One of the advantages of seeing Vegas on foot is that there are many walkways and bridges with great views of the spectacles.

On the bridge from Ceasar's Palace to the Flamingo, the plexiglass walls along the bridge can provide some shelter from the elements (in our case wind). At night, you can catch ironic reflections such as this one with Ceasar's Palace superimposed upon the Bellagio on the plexiglass.

John took some great shots of the Paris hotel reflected on the Flamingo. By the way, if you want to use the fanciest potties in Vegas, go to the Paris shopping area. It was the nicest public lavatory I have ever experienced (and we tried them in all the casinos while we were there).

Next post -- Carob Hazelnut Biscotti.

Open Letter to Wolfgang Puck

Dear Mr. Puck:

You're quite a famous gourmet chef and restauranteur, so I thought I would try your Las Vegas Spago restaurant when my husband and I were at Ceasar's Palace two weeks ago.

There was a long wait to get in, and were told it would be 20 minutes although it turned out to be almost 40. The waitstaff took another 10 minutes to give us menus when we were seated, then another 15 minutes to take our orders. After that, it took an hour to deliver our meals.

My husband ordered the pulled pork sandwich and I ordered the hand cut herb fettuccini with wild mushrooms, baby arugula and glazed shallots. Do these normally take an hour to prepare and serve? If the waitstaff had informed us that the handmade pasta would take so long, I would have ordered something else. However, there was no such notification or apology for the long wait.

On the menu, as you see here, there is no mention of either pancetta or corn in my dish. However, when it arrived, it had both. I do not eat pancetta. In fact, I have not eaten pork in 16 years. Because the lunch took nearly an hour to reach our table, I did not send it back for fear of another 60 minute wait. Instead, I merely picked the pork from the dish and put it aside. I wish that the menu had stated that this dish contained pork so that I could have ordered something else and not have felt so uncomfortable about it.

The big letdown of the meal was that the menu stated the pasta was "herb fettuccini." There were no herbs present in either the pasta or the sauce. The pasta was plain. The sauce only contained the wild mushrooms, very little arugula, the errant pancetta, the puzzling corn, and the shallots. I was terribly disappointed by the meal, especially after waiting so long for it to appear. Moreover, I deliberately ordered a specialty dish because of your great reputation, thinking it would be more carefully prepared. I know I was just a tourist, like the millions of others who pass through Vegas, but I'm still a paying customer.

The saving grace was that my husband said his pork sandwich was alright. He opted out of the apple slaw.

Overall, I really wish I'd had a better experience with my lunch. I'm just glad the dishes were reasonably priced.

I hope you'll consider what I've written here because I'd like to give one of your other restaurants another chance given the opportunity.

The Best Snow on Earth and Other Highlights of Our Christmas Trip West

...are in Utah. More specifically, the best place to ski (if you just want to ski with other skiers without snowboarders) is at Alta.

John and I were pretty lucky -- we skied the only day it snowed while we were in Utah. His parents live about 30 minutes from the parking lot at Alta, so we had fresh snow to play in pretty quickly.

Utah is essentially a desert, so the snow on the mountain is powdery and lofty. I learned how to ski during a blizzard, so I'm much more comfortable skiing while it's snowing or when there's fresh snow on the ground, than when there's not.

I had a good first day until my knees decided to give out. John seems convinced that I have the green slopes down cold, and that I should try the blues. Maybe next time because my second day didn't last long at all due to the pain and dysfunction in my legs. It frustrated me so much that I cried on the mountain. I've worked very hard on rehabilitating my legs all year, so I was devastated by the disappointment. Now that I'm back home in NJ, I've been working even harder at getting my legs back up to snuff.

This is the view coming back down the mountain. Salt Lake City is the valley sitting in the middle of the Wasatch mountain range. At night, you can easily see the huge Mormon temples lighting up the landscape.

Since we were there during Christmas, we did see a lot of colorful lights and seasonal decorations.

When there aren't any snow storms, Salt Lake City suffers from an "inversion." You may know this as smog. Because it sits in a valley, the city's polluted air is trapped within the mountains. When we first flew into Utah, we saw the yellow smog ring settling on the city. I always get a headache the minute we land.

Because I probably wouldn't be able to ski again this trip, we told my in-laws that if they wanted to go to Vegas, we could go with them. They were originally going to be in Vegas when we arrived, but because John's Aunt Pris died, they had come back to Pennsylvania for the viewing and funeral instead.

They were relieved to be getting out of town, so we left for Vegas the day after Christmas. I'd never been before, so the trip was full of firsts for me.

Most likely, the highlight of the trip for me was visiting the Hoover Dam. If you haven't been, you ought to go because the U.S. government is building a bypass road (a marvel in itself) that will avoid the dam and cease all traffic over it. In the photo on the left, you can see the Colorado river on the Nevada side of the Dam.

What you don't see here are the massive power lines and erector-set-like structures wired up and over the dam.

On the Arizona side of the dam, you can walk by the overflow area. It looks like the ultimate skateboard trick park. In this photo, you can see the Arizona side of the dam, with it's clear, blue-green water and salt line showing how deep the water has been in the past.

While we were at the dam, the weather changed from sunny to rainy, with 20 mph winds. These same winds kept us from seeing some of Vegas' typical sights later in the week.

One thing that John and I didn't expect to see were at least four Geodetic Survey buttons pressed into the concrete, both on the Nevada and Arizona sides of the dam.

We usually see these when we tour and hike the national parks. Don't bother asking at the visitor's center if they have pins or patches of these for your collection. They don't have them.

The fun thing about the dam is that you can stand on the timeline between the two states. Arizona is an hour behind Nevada.

It's a good thing we went first thing in the morning (as recommended by Fodors) because when we left the Hoover Dam, there was a line of vehicles stretching for at least 5 miles into the next town.

Between now and the end of next week, I'll post more items on our trip west. One will be an open letter to Wolfgang Puck regarding our lunch at Spago at Ceasar's Palace. The other will be a photo diary of the Vegas sights.

Finally, I'll also be posting another fun and easy recipe for biscotti from a recent issue of Gourmet.

I'm looking forward to a visit with Mom and Dave tomorrow. With the loss of John's Aunt Pris, family continues to become even more precious.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes Take Over!

And, surprise! They're good for you.

Yet another great cupcake from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. These were a big hit for my brother Jorden's birthday at Mom's the day we found out that John's Aunt Pris had passed away.

I have to admit that I de-veganized these by using dairy yogurt instead of soy yogurt, and neufchatel cheese and butter in my frosting, but the original recipe is vegan. Here it is:

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Ingredients

2/3 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
2/3 cup sugar (I used agave nectar)
1/3 cup vegetable oil (use 1/4 cup if you use agave nectar)
1/3 cup soy yogurt (plain or vanilla) (I used a grain-sweetened dairy yogurt in peach flavor)
1 teaspoon vanilla (I used vanilla paste)
1 cup finely grated carrots
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup raisins

Frosting of your choice (I made up a frosting from vegan rice protein powder, neufchatel cheese, butter, vanilla paste, and agave nectar. I'm probably going to make it differently next time, though, since it turned out to be gritty.)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners (I used mini cupcake pans and had extra batter that filled two mini pie pans).
2. In a medium mixing bowl, mix together sugar, vegetable oil, yogurt, and vanilla. Sift in the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices), and mix until smooth. Fold in carrots, walnuts and raisins.
3. Spray the cupcake liners with non-stick baking spray. Fill the liners 2/3 full. Bake for 26-28 minutes, until a toothpick inserted through the center of one comes out clean.
4. Once fully colled, top generously with cream cheese frosting.

It was my first time using pastry tips, so I had a variety of different designs. Those that weren't so pretty were dipped into chopped walnuts to make them look like I meant to do that.

I also filled these tiny gems by poking a hole in the middle of the tops of each cupcake with my index finger, then using a medium round tip to fill with frosting. My family was pretty impressed. I just enjoyed how much fun it was to make them.

Happy New Year!

And, may all your baked goods rise to perfection in golden goodness.

Catching up a bit, after John's Aunt Pris' (please see the post below) funeral, John and I left for Utah to spend an extended visit with his mourning parents. They live in a suburb of Salt Lake City that's close to the beautiful mountains that make up the Wasatch mountain range. This includes the famous skiing-only resort of Alta, where we ski. I took some photos which I'll post later in the week, but we only skiied twice because my wretched knees were acting up. However, we did ski on the only day when it snowed.

One of the things that John's Aunt Pris really enjoyed was visiting with John's parents. She often joined them in Las Vegas (a 6-hr drive south from the Salt Lake City area) to gamble and enjoy the sights. In a way of celebrating her love for the town, we wound up taking a last-minute trip to Vegas the day after Christmas.

It was my first trip, so I took a few photos. Like the Utah pics, I'll post them later in the week as well.

Finally, John and I would like to thank everyone who has sent their condolences to his family for their tragic loss. We appreciate your sentiments as well as your prayers during this time. Also, thank you to everyone who participated in the Menu for Hope. The food bloggers of the world raised $60,000 (last year's take was $17,000) to help feed the world through the UN's World Food Programme. It's an honor to be a part of this thoughtful and collaborative effort.

Tragic Days

This is a photo of John's Aunt Pris (Priscilla), who died in a tragic accident at her home early Saturday morning. She was a very vibrant, loving, fun and caring person who was just 49 years old -- a woman in her prime.

John's family is pretty large, close-knit and well-known in the area where they're from. Pris' husband, Rich, also comes from a very well-known family, so it didn't surprise me that there would be at least 200 people (seemed like many more than that) at her viewing last night. Pris touched so many lives outside her family, from her long-time fellow co-workers, to her 4-H friends, and everyone she ever taught how to ride a horse. They were lined up in the freezing cold, for blocks outside the funeral home, waiting for more than an hour in some cases, to help the family grieve.

When John's mom told me the terrible news, I was right in the middle of frying potato/veggie pancakes (latkes) for my mom's Chanukah celebration on Saturday afternoon. I was shocked and couldn't think of how I could help Pris' surviving immediate family members. It took a day to figure it out: I would cook for them. If there's nothing else I can do, I know I can cook for people. John joined in as well, making a massive chicken and vegetable stir fry.

We sat down with a list of pretty universal food items that we thought they might like. The list grew ever larger, but I knew I could do it all before Tuesday when we left for the viewing. All day Monday, I made baked ziti, baked macaroni and cheese, red sauce (Italian), garlic whipped potatoes, sauteed green beans, corn, peas, carrots, jasmine rice and a few other items that escape me at the moment. John came home from work and took over for a while, making the stir fry, at the same time I prepared a cookie crust dough for a couple of pies I wanted to make. I gave Pris' kids a list and they promptly posted it on the fridge. On Tuesday morning, I baked the two fruit pies (berry and summer fruit, and peach blueberry), which were still warm when we arrived in Pennsylvania to greet her family with two coolers filled with food and open arms for loving embraces.

Our intention was to make sure that Rich would not have to think about cooking for at least a week. Fortunately, Rich and Pris' son Michael will be staying with Rich for a few weeks, and their elder daughter Holly and son-in-law Steve live right next door. Michael let us know that he was looking forward to diving into the bounty, but Holly said that she and Brianne would be dividing up the food into portions to freeze for Rich. Either way, John and I made a commitment to ourselves to visit Rich when we return from our Christmas trip to Utah and periodically check up on him from time to time.

In the meantime, I will keep them all in my prayers.

This is how the newspaper The Morning Call published her obituary:

Priscilla E. Stocker, 49, of Lower Nazareth Twp., died December 16 following an accident at her home. She was a daughter of the late John P. and Elaine (Wagner) Wettlaufer. She had been employed by Cadmus Specialty Publications for many years. She was a 1975 graduate of Easton High School. A Northampton County 4-H Club leader, she loved her horses and her dogs, even Bart. Survivors: Husband of 31 years, Richard; two daughters, Holly Hess and her husband Steven of Lower Nazareth Twp., Brianne of Bethlehem; son, Michael R. of Doylestown; four brothers, John of Sandy, Utah, Thomas of Bangor, James of Palmer Twp., Timothy of Bel Air, Md. Services: 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Ashton Funeral Home, 14th and Northampton streets, Easton. Call 7-8:30 p.m. Tuesday. Contributions: To the Northampton County S.P.C.A.

Menu for Hope -- I'm Offering Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World -- Enter Code UE33

Here's a quote from Pim to explain what A Menu for Hope is:

Every year, Food Bloggers from all over the world get together for a fundraising campaign. We call it "Menu for Hope." Last year, we raised $17,000 to help UNICEF.

This year, Menu for Hope III raises funds to support the UN World Food Programme, which provides hunger relief for needy people worldwide. To us Food Bloggers, food is a joy. On our blogs, we celebrate food as a delight or even an indulgence. Unfortunately, for many others who share our world do not share that privilege. For them, food is a matter of survival. This "Menu for Hope" is our small way to help.

On our Menu this year is a great list of amazing food related prizes. We hope that they will entice you to give whatever you can, and with some luck you can win unique and wonderful food gifts offered up by food bloggers from around the world.

The rule is pretty easy. For every US$10 you donate, you may claim one raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice. The more you give, the better your chance to win. The campaign is scheduled to run from now until Friday Dec. 22nd, 6PM PST. So get a move on!

Originally, I wasn't going to participate in the raffle because I didn't have Deb's Delectables to put up for the prize. But, after thinking about it for a while, it seemed like a good fit for me to offer one of my favorite new cookbooks up for a prize instead.

Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero is a great new book from the same person (Isa) who brought us the classic Vegan With a Vengeance. The recipes are wonderful, flexible and tasty! Best part is there's a photo of every cupcake recipe in the book, in color!

So, please see the info below (from Pim's site) to donate and earn a ticket for the raffle. Mine is code UE33.

Here's what you have to do to donate:

1. Choose a prize or prizes of your choice from our Menu for Hope.

2. Go to the donation site at http://www.firstgiving.com/menuforhopeIII and make a donation.

3. Each $10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice. Please specify which prize you'd like in the 'Personal Message' section in the donation form when confirming your donation. You must write-in how many tickets per prize, and please use the prize code—for example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for EU01 and 3 for EU02. (Please use the double-digits, not EU1, but EU01.)

4. If your company matches your charity donation, please check the box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.

5. Please allow us to see your email address so that we could contact you in case you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

Check back on Chez Pim on January 15 for the results of the raffle.

A Gentle Reminder -- America's Second Harvest

For those who haven't yet participated in A Menu for Hope, or who have and still wish to help others less fortunate, I suggest donating to America's Second Harvest or your local foodbank. ASH has links to local foodbanks, so you can start there if you don't know where yours is.

My local foodbank is The Community FoodBank of New Jersey. It allows you to take part in a virtual food drive where you can choose directly from a list of items that they need at that moment. It's a pretty neat solution to a pretty bad problem.

Last year, I participated in Pim's Menu for Hope effort, raffling off a box of my Deb's Delectables chocolates. This year, because we're renovating the kitchen, I've closed up shop for the year and all my supplies and tools are in storage for the next few months. Sorry, folks. Definitely next year, though.

In the meantime, I've been suggesting that family members and friends they pick a cause they think is worthy and give to it. Sure, new things are nice, but in the back of my mind (and most days in the front of my mind) knowing that people within a 5 mile radius of my house are going hungry really puts things in perspective.

Basic Pizza Dough from Mark Bittman

Well Mr. Bittman, in my book, you're two for two. First, your vanilla ice cream recipe and now your basic pizza dough.

I recently bought a handful (or rather a boxful given their girth) of cookbooks including the one here, Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. I'm slowly making my way through all of the pages I've marked with little copper page points from Levenger or ye olde post-it flags.

John and I usually eat/make our own pizza about once a month. I've shown some of our efforts on this blog. Of all the dough recipes we've tried none have come close to the flavor and texture of Bittman's Basic.

What you see here is a 12-in. eggplant pie I made using some of the dough. It was light and airy, and tasted like pizza parlor dough. It was a bit plain in flavor, but Bittman suggests adding a variety of ingredients before adding the water to achieve a tastier dough. We intend to try the freshly cracked black pepper and garlic.


To the right is the upskirt. Crispy due in part to the high heat of the oven, the recipe, and the pan, the bottom of the pie came out perfectly.

Prior to laying the dough on the pan, I lightly sprayed it with canola oil.

Interestingly, Bittman says he gets 1 large or two small pizzas from the recipe. We got one large and two small. Maybe he likes deep dish pie. We like a relatively thin crust, but this poofed up enough to make typical pizza joint crust.

Here's a side view so you can have an idea of the height of the 'za.

The recipe is very simple and can be made by hand, in a food processor or a stand mixer. Of course, I used the Artisan mixer for this recipe.

Here's the recipe (I shortened it a bit for space):

1 teaspoon instant or rapid rise yeast
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons coarse Kosher or sea salt
1 to 1 1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons plus 1 tablespoon olive oil

1. Combine the yeast, flour, and salt in the mixer. As it is mixing, add the 1 cup of water and 2 T of oil.
2. Mix, adding more water until the mixture forms a ball and is slightly sticky.
3. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for a few seconds until it forms a smooth round ball. Use the last tablespoon of oil to grease a bowl, and place the dough in the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft free area until it doubles in size (1-2 hours). (It took ours much longer since we keep the house a bit cool due to energy prices. But, we were doing laundry, so putting the bowl on top of the dryer made the dough poof up well.)
4. Heat the oven to 500 degrees F while you stretch out the dough onto your pans. (This dough is really easy to manipulate, so it won't take long.)
5. Add your toppings. (We used my homemade tomato sauce and added a mixture of shredded cheeses. John left his plain, but I also added some fried panko-breaded eggplant I had from an earlier recipe.)
6. Cook for 10-12 minutes depending on how crisp you like your pizza.
7. Enjoy!

Homemade Granola Bars

One of my newest cookbooks is the King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion. It's a huge (more than 500 pages) hardcover book filled with a wide range of classics. The various cookies include bars, drops, roll-outs, shaped, batter, no-bakes, and essentials like sugar and chocolate chip.

There are some great photos in the middle of the book, but probably the most helpful aspect of this tome is the all the tips scattered throughout. King Arthur's book editors were kind enough to list both weights and measurements for the ingredients as well as nutritional information (yay!) and suggested variations on recipes.

I recommend this cookie book for people who love to bake and try new recipes as well as different versions of the classics.

Earlier this week, I decided to try one of the recipes from the book, Vermont Granola Bars. It seemed like it would be easy to adapt since it called for two different liquid sweeteners.

Here's my version (I used organic ingredients when possible):

1.5 sticks of butter
1.5 cups of agave nectar
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups rolled oats
1 cup chopped almonds
1 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
1 cup of dried unsweetened cherries
1 cup dried chopped apricots
1 tablespoon vanilla paste
1 teaspoon Vietnamese cinnamon

First, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (25 degrees cooler than the original due to the agave nectar), and lightly grease two 9 x 13 inch pans.

Combine the agave nectar and the butter in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Continue to boil for 5 minutes. Then set aside to cool a bit.

While the syrup is heating, place all the dry ingredients except the cherries, apricots and cinnamon in the prepared pans and bake for 12 minutes.



Stir the ingredients on the pan every 4 minutes to prevent the edges from getting too dark. After the time has elapsed, remove the pan from the oven and transfer the oat mixture to a large bowl.

Add the cherries and the apricots and toss to mix thoroughly. Then add the cinnamon and toss again.

The mixture should look like the photo at the right.

Now add the vanilla paste to the butter and agave syrup and stir until combined.

Then, gradually mix the syrup into the oat mixture until everything is well moistened.

Move the batter into the pans and press it flat. The cookbook suggests using the bottoms of other pans the same size to flatten the mixture, but I found that it was easily enough flattened using the back of a silicone spatula.

Bake the bars for 8 minutes until they are a light golden brown.

Cut into squares or bars while they're still warm. I tried it both ways and found that they were very difficult to cut and remove from the pan once they had cooled.

King Arthur recommends using a baker's bench knife to cut the bars into long strips, then transfer each strip to a cutting board to cut into bars.

I just used a large chef's knife and cut them into bars. Then, I used a steel spatula to remove them from the pan. Not too much trouble when warm.

So, how do they taste? Well, pretty darn yummy. Toasting the coconut and almonds beforehand really brings out those flavors. They're a bit sticky, so my guess is that you could probably get away with just 1.33 cups of agave (or even less) and do just fine. I'm not sure I'd bring them along on a hike, but rather serve them as dessert, perhaps drizzled with a carob ganache.

For a low-cholesterol version, you can substitute 3/4 cup of grapeseed oil instead.

The yield, according to the book, is 48 small bars. I cut about 20 decent-sized bars.