Zucchini Pizza Boats

Just now we have an overabundance of zucchini in our garden and due to that I have gone on a wild hunt for new recipes to try.

I came upon this one last night and whipped it up today. Personally I liked it very much. My zucchini avoidance club (AKA as my 3 kids) said it was ok, and so continues my search to sneak zucchini into their meals as often as I can to use up my bountiful harvest.

Click on the photo to open the link for the recipe. Thanks to Cooking Classy!

 

Chicken Spring Rolls

I love spring rolls and this is the best recipe I have used for chicken spring rolls.They are fairly easy to make and a few extra pairs of hands make the rolls of them quick. My 7 year old boy loved helping out! They make a great party food and kids love them! 

Chocolaterie in Tallin

Last week I had the chance to explore Old Tallin for a day.

For me a perfect day will include a stop at some charming cafe for some good coffee or cake and perhaps a bit of shopping or at least some fantastic window shopping.

My day in Tallin was perfect in that it included all of these things, and I did them with my 5 year old daughter.

We started exploring Old Tallin in the late morning and roamed about to our hearts content. We stumbled upon a little street with a cafe that had lots of tables outside.

The atmosphere was so romantic with the vines growing over the tables and the interior of the cafe was so charming and old fashioned or Bohemian.

I was delighted by the feeling of the place both inside and out. So different from all the other cafes I had peeked into.

Then I saw the cakes and asked about them and knew I just could not leave without tasting something because they were so different than in other cafes.

The cake was served large plate, beautifully adorned and such a generous slice. YUM! As a baker I was tantalized by the flavors and fillings that were unlike what I have made and tasted elsewhere. I only wish I had photographed the name of the cake. . . because the name of it slipped my mind. It was delicious!

Cake Contest - Latvijas Gardaka Kuka

To those of you who so faithfully supported me with your daily votes, and many kinds thoughts. Thank you for believing in me!  And for those of you who have wanted to follow up and know how the contest went here is my LONG and detailed summary with photos :) 

I was very nervous in the days leading up to the contest- knowing I had very little time to devote to my cake planning due to the wedding cake I had to finish in order for me to even participate. I was on a strict deadline to complete the wedding cake by Friday evening so that I would be able to go to the contest Saturday morning and participate there and then come home and in the evening deliver the wedding cake. 

Saturday morning I was so nervous I could  not even eat and headed to Valmiera ( a 2 hour drive one direction) for the competition with my friend along. At least our chatting helped ease my nerves on the drive there. 

We arrived, got my stuff taken to the tent and waited for the other participates to arrive. The day was already hot- probably about 90 degrees F. and inside the tent it was hotter. 

I did all my prepping, was informed of the days schedule and tried to decide when to remove my butter from the fridge so that it would be soft, but not squishy. I cut it into the glass bowl I had along and immediately it started melting along the sides of bowl- proving that the heat of the tent had so warmed my bowls that they could melt COLD butter. I then placed both of my glass bowls and butter in the fridge to chill. 

The contest started with a nice introduction and we each had to tell why our cake was the best. I had been so nervous to get up and talk in front of everyone- but my neighbor here in the orange dress was also nervous and we chatted and got to know one another a bit. 

Once the contest started, we were sweating with the heat of the 90 + degree weather inside the tent, and constantly being photographed and filmed and working our fastest while being bombarded with questions by the jury. 

Breaking the caramelized sugar. My amber. . . 

 Answering questions. 

Because of the heat several of us had problems with our cakes. My whipped cream filling separated, making it impossible for me to decorate with it as planned. I was thankful I didn't have any more problems than I did- though because of the distance and heat I was not able to assemble my cake ahead of time which resulted in it being very hard to cut. 

 My neighbor was one of the ones who went on to advance to the next level with her beer chocolate cake (which supported the local city festival). 

It was great fun participating, and a delight to get to know some other bakers. I wish those who advanced to do their best. 

I was not disappointed not to have advanced because I knew this was not my best work- I submitted this recipe because it was different and unusual and I knew full well that it was not a good cake for clarity and precision- but the taste is amazing! 

That being said I was so relieved when the whole thing was over because of the stress, the horrible heat and extreme cake decorating conditions. 

I hope the next contest I am is in a nice cold/comfortable setting where we don't have to battle with the heat melting our fillings. 

I got to redeem myself in the evening with my well received and very tasty wedding cake which was very quickly devoured.

Dill = Dilles

Dill it such a part of Latvian cuisine that I sometime forget that it is not used in my homeland of America as often as here.

I had some American girls visiting and we were making cold soup and the girls commented on how they didn't know how to chop the dill- what to do with the stems, etc because it wasn't used in the States.

Growing up in America we used dried dill seeds when canning pickles and some dried dill weed on potatoes- but my Dad is American-Latvian, so perhaps that was the Latvian influence coming out.

As for us dill is a part of nearly every cucumber salad we make in summer. We love fresh garden cut cucumbers sliced with some fresh dill, a bit of salt and pepper and sour cream. YUMMY!

They even add dill and cucumbers for a nice refreshing water here- I was a bit skeptical when we ordered it in the cafe- but WOW- it was refreshing, and summery.

So here are my recommendation for using dill:

• use it as a garnish for potatoes (they do it with chives and sometimes parsley here- it is lovely and delicious). 
• use it in chopped in salads and soups 
• use if in pickles (the more the better- use the heads, stems, leaves, etc). 
• use it in a summery water combo with cucumber
• use it in dips- you can make a nice dill and herb dip by blending sour cream, garlic and herbs in the blender. This is great with fresh veges and baked potatoes. 

So where do you use dill? 

Silver Pink Wedding Cake

Spring and summer are the wedding season and I had my first order of the season:

Cake or 60 people (top layer no included in this- so that the couple can save it for themselves)

Bottom layer- chocolate cake, cherry filling, custard filling

Middle layer- chocolate cake- meringue- chocolate ganache,

Top layer- German chocolate

Weight- 11 kg (- top layer)

 Price - 10 eiro/kg + decorations

Spaghetti and Meatballs

When I want spaghettig and meatballs or a comfort food from home, this is the recipe I always turn to. I love the meatballs and the sauce and with Rachel Ray's recipe is great- with a few of my own tweaks. After watching Lady and the Tramp my boy wa pestering me for spaghetti and meatballs so we made a double portion of this! Enjoy:)

Meatballs: (single portion)

1 1/4 pounds ground beef
2. t. worcestershire sauce
1 egg ( I used 3 for a double batch)
1/2 c. bread crumbs
1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic- chopped
salt and pepper

Method:

Mix all ingredients together and form balls. Place on cookie sheet and bake 10-12 min. until no longer pink.

Sauce:
2 T. oil
4 cloves garlic- finely grated
1 onion finely chopped
1 cup beef broth
1 large can crushed tomatoes - 28 oz. 
 2 T. dried basil 
2-3 T. red wine
1 small grated zuchini (optional- I used it because I wanted a thicker sauce)

Note: When I am making a double batch depending on the consistency I also add a small can of tomato paste for a thicker sauce). 

Method: 

Saute onions, zuchini and garlic. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until well blended and alcohol has evaporated. If your tomatoes are too large you can blend this with a hand blender for a more smooth sauce. Add the meatballs and continue to simmer a bit until flavors marry. 

Serve over prepared noodles. 

Pumpkin Cake Roll

We were expecting company today, I was to meet a relative for the first time . . So I wanted something delicious, but since I am a baker I wanted something other than what I bake at work :) Plus I have TONS of pumpkin this year. So I decided to try this recipe to test it . . . It was delicious, easy and so handy that it can be made ahead. I made a double batch and have one in the freezer for an emergency dessert :)

I also tweeked the recipe by sprinkling chopped nuts and dried cranberries over the filling before rolling it up. YUMMY!

Notes: You do not need to roll the cake up in a towel, as long as you do not over-bake it. Be sure to line the pan with baking paper. Enjoy :) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Ingredients

• 3 eggs, separated
• 1 cup sugar, divided
• 2/3 cup canned pumpkin
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• FILLING:
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla
• Additional confectioners' sugar, optional

To see the instructions click on this LINK

Honey Cake- My Favorite Cake

Since I work in a bakery I bake ALOT of cakes. Were I to count them they would be in the hundreds this year :) But my all time favorite cake right now is this Latvian honey cake. I love that it is sweet, but perfect with coffee and as moist as one could wish! YUMMY. This cake vanished in no more than 10 minutes this evening!

I have borrowed this recipe from the website cetrassezonas and tweaked it some. I hope it will work with your American sour cream or wherever you are from. But as long as you can get your hands on real sour cream you should be fine.

You will need:

Springform pan 10-11 inch. 

Dough:

1 1/4 c. sugar
3 cups flour
7 T. butter
2 eggs
2 T. honey
1 t. soda.

Filling:

2 cups sugar
3 cups sour cream
2 T. grated lemon rind
1 t. vanilla extract

Decor:

1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup cream

Method: 

Melt the butter, sugar and eggs. Stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Pour into separate bowl.

Place soda and honey in pot, heat over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture is caramelized. It will be foamy and gradually turn a rich brown. Do not burn! This part is always so cool! I didn't know you could do this with honey :)

Add this mixture to the egg mixture and stir well. Stir in flour. The dough should be stiff and you can let it cool and it will become even easier to handle.

Prepare sheets of baking paper by  tracing the size of the pan on the paper. You will need 5 such prepared baking sheets or papers. Divide the dough into 5 equal portions. Flip the paper over and roll out so that the dough is the size of your drawn circle. Use flour as necessary to keep from sticking. It will be thin, apx. 1/8 inch. There is no need to have a perfect circle, you will trim the edges later.

Bake until brown, and crisp. DO NOT  BURN! It bakes quickly.

When the rounds are ready let them cool and then trim them to fit inside your springform pan. Save the trimmings for later. Prepare the filling by stirring it well, until the sugar is dissolved. It will be soupy!

Layer one cake round at a time, then spread apx. 1 cup of the sour cream mixture. Then another round until you have used up all the rounds and all the filling. Pour any remaining filling under the last layer. Do not put filling on top layer if you desire to top with chocolate. Chill overnight. You can also add the chocolate at this point or do it the next day.

The next day if you haven't already topped it with chocolate then melt the chocolate with the cream and then spread over the cake. I topped mine with rough sugar grains here and chilled the chocolate. When it was set I then removed the cake from the pan.

You can put the remaining edges that you cut off in a blender and grind them into crumbs which can then be used to garnish the edges of the cake. This cake is meant for home so the decor is simple, but you can decorate it as you desire!

Slice and enjoy!

Delicious!

So let me know if you make this cake and how it turns out for you!

Key Lime Pie- On a Stick

So here is a recipe I just really want to try. It looks fabulous and though it would take some time to prepare and dip I think it would be well worth it!

Classic Bran Muffins

Made these yesterday and added some nuts and dried cherries. YUMMY! 

Thanks to : http://allrecipes.com/recipe/classic-bran-muffins

 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups wheat bran
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup raisins

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
2. Mix together wheat bran and buttermilk; let stand for 10 minutes.
3. Beat together oil, egg, sugar and vanilla and add to buttermilk/bran mixture. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir flour mixture into buttermilk mixture, until just blended. Fold in raisins and spoon batter into prepared muffin tins.
4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool and enjoy!

Basil Pesto

I love basil and the best way to use a lot of it fast is to make pesto. My kids love noodles and they love using pesto. I made some of this and froze it in small portions for the winter.
 

My recipe is something like this one:

www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/fresh_basil_pesto/

But my recipe has 5 cloves of garlic and a bit more oil. I add enough to make it a nice consistency, I don't measure it :) I also used toasted almonds because pine nuts are too expensive. 

What do you make with your basil?

A Summer Wedding

 This summer I got to make another wedding cake for a sweet friend. Doesn't she look lovely?

Homemade Rootbeer

It is always a pleasure to meet another person from your home country. When you live far from home like I do, meeting another American is like meeting a person you've got lots in common with- even if that is just being American.

We had the pleasure of getting to know some friends better over the weekend and they shared with us the fact that they make their own root-beer. First of all I was surprised, it had never occurred to me to even consider making any. You can't get it here in Latvia, but I haven't missed it and so I just lived on in that state until now.

Our friends made us some rootbeer and gave me a bottle of rootbeer extract. I was excited to try it out and now that the weather is extremely hot I thought I'd give a whirl.

I decided to deviate from the recipe on the bottle a bit after theirs had turned out flat. We make our own fruit syrups every year and they make a nice sparkling juice when you add them to sparkling water.

So I decided to make my rootbeer syrup and only add it to each glass as it was served. The results were delightful and delicious and very much a taste of home :)

The recipe on the bottle says to make one quart you need 1/2 T. extract, and 8 tablespoons sugar, and enough water to make 1 quart. I decided to make a double portion for my 2 liter bottle of carbonated water.

My recipe version :

1 T. extract
12 T. sugar
1/4-1/3 c. boiling water.

I then stirred this over a low heat until the sugar was dissolved and then let it cool . To serve add a couple of tablespoons or more (to taste) to each glass, add the fizzy water and stir. Add ice and serve.
Delicious, and refreshing.


Best of all you kind find this cheap on Amazon :) Yay!


Thanks to new friends for new ideas!

Chocolate Mousse Cake

So if you have never had or made a mousse cake you SHOULD try this one. My friend told me about a cake in France and I had a hunch it was a mousse cake. I scoured the internet and found this recipe and since then I have made this MANY times. Everyone loves it.

It is rich, and light and so chocolately!

DELISH! Thanks Brown-Eyed Baker for another great recipe!

A litte bit of France- Repost

There is not many people who could resist a freshly baked crossiant, and by request of Julija we made these one lovely evening. Wow, were they fantastic. Just look at all those layers!

Here is a recipe, not sure if it is the one we used, but it looks good. (I tried this recipe today before reposting this it IS a winner.) You can never go wrong with a warm crossiant. YUM!

We also whipped up some French onion soup and I made some French Macarons to complete our evening with a French theme. 

American Pancakes

Pancakes are a BIG deal to my kids. They LOVE them, I mean, really LOVE them. We usually only eat them on Saturdays- they are the special weekend treat.

My husband makes some really good Latvian pancakes, and he makes some amazing onion pancakes. Let me tell you, that man can make some amazing pancakes.

But you know what, mine aren't bad either :) Now and again I want so really American pancakes and some maple syrup- at least the fake stuff which I make myself with my maple flavoring. So here is the recipe we made the other day, and this time it wasn't Saturday because my boy said he wanted so pancakes, even it was only Tuesday :)

Ingredients:

1 1/4 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1 T. sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 T. oil

Method:

Mix wet ingredients and dry ingredients separately. Then combine and stir VERY lightly, just until combined. DO NOT over stir. That is the secret to fluffy American pancakes. Bake on hot, oiled pan. Makes 8 - 4 inch pancakes.

I doubled that recipe.

Chicago Style Pizza

Ever since we were in Chicago and I had the amazing deep dish pizza there; I have known that  I needed to try my hand at making it myself.

I finally looked up a recipe and thanks to The Brown Eyed Baker the girls and I made it Sunday. We were all in LOVE. It is so different than traditional pizza- and so yummy!

Cinnamon Rolls and their friends :)

Everyone loves cinnamon rolls. But how about some new fillings in those doughs? Today we made the good old fashioned cinnamon rolls and two other variations: 

I made a half a batch of this dough recipe and it was still enough for 4 pans of rolls. 

Quark and Chocolate: 

 Mix some quark (biezpiens) aka farmer's cheese or curd cheese, with sugar and a little sour cream if it is very dry. Spread and sprinkle with mini chocolate chips. Roll, cut, let rise and bake. YUMMY! 

Pizza Rolls:

Roll dough, spread with a light coating of tomato sauce. Sprinkle with pizza spices (oregeno, basil), top with a good amount of grated cheese and some chopped meat (I used pepperoni sausage). Roll, and slice. Let rise and bake. A great appetizer or snack for kids. 

Other variations: 

caramelized milk and chopped nuts

quark and berries

vanilla pudding, topped with glaze and coconut

 

Biezpiens-Quark-Farmer's Cheese

Here I have lived in Latvia for 8 years and spent a whole lifetime in the States before that and I have been totally sure that there is no such thing as "biezpiens" in the USA. A few times now I have seen the word translated as "quark". Finally, I remembered to look up the subject and as it turns out this type of cheese is widely spread throughout the world.

Quark is made by warming soured milk . . . you can read about it online if you are interested. 

Sometimes it gets translated as cottage cheese- but the cheese we think of in the States for cottage cheese is not like this. This is typically dry, crumbly and not creamy- though it comes in a wide selection here as well. It is eaten both as a sweet dish and salty dish. My kids love it mixed with sour-cream to make it creamy, sprinkled with sugar or with jelly or jam. That is a popular breakfast here in our home.

In the USA it is known as farmer's cheese. I must say that I personally never saw nor ate it when I was growing up in the States- but it does me good to know it does exist there:)

So next time you are living in the States and want to make a Latvian recipe or recipe from another country that calls for quark or biezpiens you will know you can find it, or something similar.