Today’s lunch

20 Saturday Jul 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in food, photography, recipe, Uncategorized

Tags

Andrew Scrivani, CreativeLive, food, food photographer, food photography, hot cross bun, lunch, photography

CreativeLive has terrific classes, especially the class this weekend – Andrew Scrivani’s class on food photography. CreativeLive airs classes free to view live, which is amazingly generous. And then if you love the class and want to view later, the classes can be purchased for a reasonable fee.

Andrew Scrivani is a wonderful food photographer and I’m really enjoying his class! He has such a fantastic breezy way of teaching and the knowledge he shares is clear, interesting (of course! ♥food) and FUN. He had a Facebook contest today, Photograph your Lunch, and he will select three photographs for critique tomorrow. There are so many wonderful entries I’m sure mine will be lost in the shuffle. I thoroughly enjoyed setting up this shot of my lunch and applying some of Andrew’s excellent photography tips.

Grilled Chicken, fresh thyme and a bit of Ginger Spread on a homemade Hot Cross Bun. Dessert was a pear and two figs.

It was rich to my soul to be able to reach up and pluck a ripe fig from the tree in our backyard. The chicken with ginger spread and thyme was delicious, especially with the lightly sweet current and mace bun.

Our first ripe figs of 2013

15 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in food, gardening, nature

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

fig trees, figs, food, fruit, fruit trees, gardening, harvest, nature

The figs are juicy, sweet and huge this year!

We were really pleased that the netting kept the birds away.

We put the net over the tree too early though so some of the new tree growth went right through the net. We’ll have to either prune the tree or cut the net to get it off in the fall.

We haven’t hung the bug traps yet so we lost a few figs to beetles and bees.

But there are still so many green, healthy figs.

I hope the traps work for beetles. We didn’t have beetles last year.

It’s disturbing to see how they ravage a fig. But at least they stay on one fig until it is all used up without taking a single bite out of the neighboring fig.

Beetles ravage a ripe fig hanging on the tree.

The basket was heavy with plump figs.

This warm-from-the-tree fig fits my palm!

I remember our first harvest several years ago yielded just one tiny fig that didn’t even fit in a spoon. Look at the size of these. Luscious!

We weren’t sure if the figs were ripe or overripe. This was one of the yellower figs. I thought so much white pith might mean the fig wasn’t ripe. It still tasted delicious and juicy and sweet.

Here is a riper fig, with a darker brown skin next to the golden yellow skinned fig from the same tree for comparison.

When both figs were compared in flavor and texture, they were still almost identical. The riper fig had a slightly larger pink, seeded center. The seeded area should take up more of the fruit but this year the figs are dropping if left much longer on the tree. They still taste delicious.

Figs keep only a day or two and taste better at room temperature so these will sit on the counter for snacking. I cut and ate half of one immediately after picking then ate the other half several hours later. The flavor was better after the fig sat for a bit after picking. I’m not sure what caused it to be sweeter. We are still newbies at growing figs.

Pizza Salad

23 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in food, recipe

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

food, leftover pizza, pizza, recipe, salad, veggies

I made Pizza Salad for my lunch today with leftover spinach mushroom pizza, leftover veggie tray items and fresh Thai and Lime Basils.

Pizza Salad Ingredients: leftover Spinach Mushroom Pizza, grape tomatoes, celery sticks, carrots, spinach, Thai basil and Lime basil leaves.

The pizza slice was toasted till bubbly and then set aside to cool a little while chopping the grape tomatoes with the basil.

The basil was chopped a bit first and then the tomatoes were sliced right on top of the basil.

Celery is often very strong tasting but this was mild so I used a little more than usual. I didn’t want to bother with a grater so just chopped the carrots.

The pizza slice had cooled enough that the cheese was no longer dripping.

Warm piece of homemade Spinach Mushroom Onion pizza, cut into 3/4″ squares.

The vegetables and basil were tossed with the spinach and placed in the bowl. Then I added the still-warm pizza. Last was a drizzle of good olive oil and Balsamic Vinegar over the top.

Pizza Salad

It was delicious! Pizza is definitely an up-scale crouton.

We made up a new recipe – PB & Jam Joconde Cake – Part 4

30 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in baking, food, recipe, tutorial

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

cake, dessert, food, joconde, mousse, PB & J, Peanut Butter, recipe, sponge cake

PB & J Joconde – Almond Sponge Cake wrapped around a layer of Chocolate Almond Sponge cake under a thick layer of Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Mousse and topped with Cherry Topping.

After the pan was lined with the joconde strip and cake, we made a batch of Peanut Butter Mousse. I’ve made vanilla and chocolate mousses many times so I just adapted a vanilla mousse with the addition of peanut butter and cream cheese.

Peanut Butter Mousse
1 pkg + 1 tsp gelatin softened in 3 Tbsp water.
6 Tbsp boiling water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 cups heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
8 oz cream cheese
2/3 cup peanut butter

Stir the boiling water into the softened gelatin. Stir till dissolved. Set aside.
Beat sugar, whipping cream and vanilla until softly mounding.
Beat the cream cheese with the peanut butter until smooth.
Beat a little whipping cream into the cream cheese peanut butter mixture. Beat in the rest of the whipping cream until almost stiff.
Gradually add the gelatin mixture to the whipped cream mixture. Do NOT overbeat or the mixture will turn grainy.
Spread the Peanut Butter Mousse in the prepared pan.

I made mousse but I didn't measure all the ingredients. It wasn't peanut buttery enough so next time I will add more peanut butter.

When I made the mousse for this, I didn’t measure the peanut butter but it was about 1/3 cup. It wasn’t peanut-buttery enough so I made a second batch with 2/3 cup peanut butter (as in the recipe in this post) and that was much better.

I didn’t have any fresh fruit to make a jam topping so I used cherry pie filling. A fresh Crushed Blueberry Sauce would have been divine!

The finished cake was placed in the refrigerator for several hours. Six hours would have been better and made the cake slice better.

The cake is taken out of the springform pan.

I used a candy mold to make the chocolate shapes from Ghiradelli Bittersweet Chocolate.

There were rave reviews over our first Joconde cake. PB & Jam, dressed up to the max!

I’m looking forward to making a Lemon Almond Sponge with Pineapple Cream Cheese Mousse and Pineapple Mandarin Topping. Also a Raspberry rendition. And perhaps three crisp hazelnut dacquoise layers with coffee cream filling. The joconde was good just plain so we’ll be using the mat to develop some bar cookie recipes as well. All in all, we are very satisified with our first joconde cake.

We made up a new recipe – PB & Jam Joconde Cake – Part 3

29 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in baking, food, tutorial

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

cake, dessert, food, joconde, mousse, PB & J

— PB & Jam Joconde – continued from Part 2 —

The beautiful baking mat filled with dough fit our oven wall to wall, with barely room to spare when we first put it in the oven. After a mere 7 minutes baking at 450, smoke started pouring out of the oven. We threw open the oven door to see the mat had swelled up and was buckled and spreading up the sides of the oven! We were so relieved that the mat wasn’t on fire or melting. But some of the batter was burning on the sides and bottom of the oven. No time for photos, we grabbed the oven mits and wrestled the oven rack and huge mat out.

The steaming cake is placed on the counter.

We’re still trying to figure out what caused the gently rolling hills on the cake since we had spread the batter fairly evenly. Most likely it was caused when the mat started climbing the oven walls and the batter pooled.

The next time we bake a joconde in our little oven, we’ll try a lower temp, maybe 400 or even 385 degrees since the mat completely cuts off circulation, especially when it swells with the heat. In order to maintain some heat above the mat, we might try starting the oven at 425, quickly putting the rack and mat in but then immediately lowering the temp to 385.

A greased cooling rack was placed over the cake.

The oven rack, mat and cooling rack are lifted together and flipped.

The mat quickly began to shrink down after being removed from the oven. But you can clearly see how it is still larger than the oven rack. The mat was still very hot here.

The siliconed mat was easy to roll back off the cake. The mat was still so hot that I dropped it back on the cake immediately after this photo was taken. We had to use oven mitts to lift it off the cake.

Blurry photo but Oh what a Beautiful sight! We were stoked that the joconde was a success, rolling hills, singed edges and all. I let out a whoop of joy!

We mixed any leftover chocolate and almond batters together and spread them in a 9.5" springform pan.

We mixed the leftover chocolate and almond batters together and spread them in a 9.5″ springform pan and baked it. It made a cake layer about 1″ thick.

The first strip of jaconde is cut and placed against the edge of the cool springform pan.

A second strip of joconde is placed in the pan to fill the gap.

Here I cut off the excess joconde with a sharp knife.

The pan lined with joconde.

The cake layer is carefully lowered and pressed into the bottom of the lined pan.

—Up next, the filling of the prepared pan with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Mousse and Cherry Topping in final Part 4!

We made up a new recipe – PB & Jam Joconde – Part 2

28 Thursday Mar 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in baking, food, recipe, tutorial

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

cake, dessert, food, joconde, mousse, PB & J

— Continued from Part 1 —

Continuing our PB & Jam Joconde, we had a large baking mat, the size of the entire oven rack, filled with chocolate batter that needed chilled. If we were an actual bakery, we would waltz our carefully prepped mat into the walk-in freezer and park it between the charlottes and wedding cake layers. But we’re not a bakery, we’re just a little family kitchen with a family size fridge with shelves that barely hold a fat turkey. So we had to get creative.

We figured that the object of freezing the batter was to make it firm enough to quickly spread a second layer of batter on without disturbing the design underneath. Freezing was out so we went for a good chill.

We placed a towel on the counter and covered it with ice cubes. Then we placed two half-sheet pans over the ice. This made a very cold surface on which to place the batter-filled mat.

But the oven rack under the mat created too big a gap between our cold source and the baking mat.

We didn’t want to remove the oven rack lest it disturb the surface of the chocolate batter so we placed a wet towel on top of the cookie sheets to transfer more cold up through the rack.

The wet cold towel worked and the mat and batter became cold. It wasn’t frozen but it was cold enough to stabilize the chocolate batter before topping it with the second layer.

A second batch of batter was made but without the addition of cocoa. (Note here how large the baking mat is. It is almost the size of our oven rack. The fit in the oven will be tight.)

To spread the top layer of almond batter without disturbing the chocolate batter, it was critical to push the batter over the chocolate layer without spreading back and forth, which would have stirred up the chocolate batter. This step was similar to the technique used in crumb-coating a cake.

Finally the mat was filled and ready for the oven.

The mat still on the oven rack was slid into the oven. The batter was stiff and cold so it didn’t run out of the pan.

A very tight fit indeed!

And then came the baking and our THIRD MAJOR Obstacle. If I recall, we figured 10 minutes at 450 should do it. But by the time we hit 7 minutes, smoke started pouring out of the oven. “The mat must be burning!” I yelled. “Maybe it’s melting!” he responded. “I told you the cake might burn.” he insisted. We threw open the oven in a panic and discovered ….

— To be continued in Part 3 —

We made up a new recipe – PB & Jam Joconde – Part 1

28 Thursday Mar 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in baking, food, tutorial

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

cake, dessert, food, joconde, mousse, PB & J, Peanut Butter

There are 43 photos with this entire post so I’ve decided to divide it up into 4 parts. I will post over the next several days so as not to slow down your connection.

A Joconde cake is a delicious, decorative almond sponge cake wrapped around layers of mousse, cake, fruit or other filling. I first discovered Joconde cakes online while surfing for baking equipment. Oh my, I did a double take at the amazing artistry of such a dessert! I didn’t know what it was called, I just knew I had to make one.

[Note about the photos: Two of my sons and I took photos of the process of making this cake. Please excuse the inconsistency in focus and style. My guys were great to kindly photograph when my hands were battered up. It’s important to me that skills are passed on to the next generation. So whenever possible, the guys get to do the fun stuff! And wow, their photos are great!]

We got the silicon baking mat from Laguna Wholesale. I chose a mat with a design that had the biggest “wow” factor for me, a geometric Greek Design with precise lines and sharp detail.

Even before beginning to bake, we hit our First Major Obstacle. We’re not a bakery, we’re just a regular family that likes to bake. And our oven is a regular home oven that happily obliges. The mat purchased was 23.64 x 15.76 x 1.18 inches. I should have measured my oven before buying the mat but was just too excited.

I have no pans that size to hold the mat. We considered making a custom pan since the guys can work with sheet metal. We considered cutting the mat in half and placing each half in a half-sheet pan. (Considering the expense of the mat, that was our very last and desperate option.) We considered covering a piece of cardboard with tin foil but weren’t sure if that would affect the heat under the mat too much. Finally, we decided to use just the oven rack itself. It was a risky tight fit, with barely 1/4″ clearance on the sides but we decided to go for it before trying something else.

I found various recipes online and then created one I figured would work. I’m very disappointed in myself for losing the recipe I scratched out on a piece of paper! I decided to use just egg whites instead of whole eggs and we didn’t have almonds so I used almond extract and extra flour for best batter consistency. The batter worked fairly well.

Unsalted butter and egg whites are beaten together for the first part of mixing the batter. I took this photo just because I loved how the slippery butter bits swooshed around the bowl of egg whites.

About a third cup of Dutch processed cocoa powder was beat into the finished batter then dolloped on the mat.

The cocoa batter was spread on the mat with a large offset spatula.

We spread the batter carefully into the design, hoping to press out bubbles.

After the design was filled, we carefully scraped off all excess batter, being careful to clean off the design so the second layer of batter would show cleanly.

After spreading the batter, we hit our Second Major Obstacle. The filled mat was supposed to be frozen for 5 or 10 minutes. We’re not a bakery, we’re just a plain home kitchen with a standard side-by-side refrigerator/freezer. The mat didn’t fit in our freezer OR our refrigerator. How would we freeze a surface the size of an oven rack?

—To be continued in Part 2 —

We finished off the Valentine’s Day cookies…

20 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in baking, food, recipe, tutorial, Valentine's Day

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

baking, cherry cordial cookies, chocolate, dessert, food, recipe, scottish shortbread recipe, shortbread, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day cookies

They were delicious! We kept it simple and made just two recipes: Shortbread Hearts and Cherry Cordial Cookies.

The Cherry Cordial Cookies recipe was from a Chocolatier magazine from years ago. I cut out the recipe and taped it into my recipe notebook. I should have written down the year but it was probably from the 80’s.

The Shortbread Hearts were made by slightly adapting our traditional Scottish Shortbread recipe. The recipe was handed down from relatives in Scotland for ages. The usual form is patted out into two rounds or pressed into a 9″ x 13″ pan and cut into squares. We always do the square thing just for simplicity.

Here is the original Shortbread Recipe, which takes just 4 ingredients.

Scottish Shortbread
1 lb butter (Note: We use 1 1/2 cups of unsalted butter and 1/2 cup of salted butter for best flavor)
1 1/4 cup fine sugar (Note: We use granulated sugar and process it in a food processor until it is less grainy. It should be half-way between granulated sugar and powdered sugar in texture when you pinch a little bit between your fingers.)
1 1/4 cup cornstarch (Note: Various Scottish relations argue over whether this should be rice flour or not. We stick with corn starch because we like the melt-in-your mouth texture of the baked shortbread.)
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour (Note: We always use unbleached King Arthur flour for best texture and flavor.)

~ Knead ingredients by hand. (…um… we use a mixer…faster and way less messy!)
~ Press into a 9″x13″ pan.
~ Prick dough all over with a fork.
~ Bake at 325 for 50 to 60 minutes. The edges will be light golden brown but the top will still be pale. We usually break open a tiny bit in the middle of the pan to test for doneness in the middle, since these are very thick squares.
~ Cut while warm into 1″ squares.
~ Store at room temp for a couple days. Refrigerate air tight for several weeks. May be frozen, wrapped air tight, for over a month. (We’ve found shortbread in the freezer six months later and it was perfectly fine. It just has to be wrapped well in plastic wrap and then in foil to avoid picking up any off-flavor from the freezer.)

To make the heart shaped shortbread cookies, we added about 1/4 cup extra flour to the recipe to make the dough a little stiffer. The Valentines Day Conversation Heart Cookie Cutters were from Williams Sonoma.

Rolling out the shortbread. The cutters were from Williams Sonoma.

One side of the cutter featured Valentine’s Day sentiments, which were pressed into the shortbread. We also used a fork to press holes around the edges of the cookies.

Valentine Shortbread Heart cookies. We baked them about 20 minutes at 325 but don’t remember the exact timing. They’re very hard to ruin.

A little tray of Shortbread Heart Cookies and Cherry Cordial Cookies, ready for giving away.

A little tray of Shortbread Hearts and Cherry Cordial Cookies, ready for giving away.

The last three cookies, posing sweetly beside my vanilla bean coffee. I ended up not eating them though, I gave them away.

I didn’t take any photos when we made the Cherry Cordial Cookies but here is the recipe as printed in the magazine.

Cherry Cordial Cookies
1 pkg Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (NOTE: The recipe does not specify the size of bag. 1 cup of chips are used in the cookie dough and the “remaining cup chips” are used in the frosting.)
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups unsifted flour (We use King Arthur unbleached flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1 jar (16 oz) maraschino cherries

~ In double boiler, melt 1 cup chocolate chips over 1-inch simmering water.
~ Cream 1/2 cup butter with sugar.
~ Add egg, vanilla and melted chocolate; beat until smooth.
~ Combine flour with baking powder and salt (NOTE: salt is not listed in the ingredients so we figure this was a printing error. We use 1/4 tsp salt); add to creamed mixture, beating until smooth. Chill at least 1 hour.
~ Enclose 1 cherry in 1 tablespoon of dough.
[NOTE: Enclosing that cherry in the dough takes a lot of work! The dough is fairly dry so it has to be squished around the cherry, it can’t be rolled and folded around the cherry. We drain the cherries while the dough is chilling, otherwise, the dough becomes a gooey mess when trying to squeeze it around a squishy cherry. We put a tablespoon of dough in the palm and pressed a little hole in the middle of it to start. Then the cherry was placed into the hole and the crumbly mixture was pressed up over the cherry. Then we carefully squished the whole lump in our fists to close it all up good and tight. Finally, we gently rolled around the lump to make a nice round ball.]
~ Place on greased baking sheet. (Note: we used ungreased, parchment paper-lined baking sheets.)
~ Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes. (ours took exactly 15 minutes)
~ Cool on wire rack.
FROSTING:
Melt remaining cup chocolate chips with 2 Tbsp maraschino cherry syrup and 1 Tbsp unsalted butter.
(NOTE: We used 1 Tbsp kirsch and 1 Tbsp maraschino cherry syrup)
Frost tops of cookies.
YIELD: 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

It was so tedious forming the Cherry Cordial Cookies that we vowed we would never make them again. But then when we bit into the deep dark chocolate cookie and tasted the exquisite cherry buried within, we decided to make these cookies our new Valentine’s Day tradition.

Teeny Tiny real Italian Dinner

13 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in baking, dolls, food, miniature, tutorial

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Tags

Antipasto, Calzone, doll-size food, food, Italian dinner, miniature food, miniature real food, recipes, Spaghetti, Tiramisu, tutorial

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, a romantic Teeny Tiny Italian Dinner. Perhaps for teeny tiny appetites. ;)
Back in 2004, I wrote a book for American Girl – Tiny Treats, published in 2006. The book included recipes for making tiny, edible, delicious doll-sized foods. Over 50% of the material got cut in the final editing. This is one of the chapters that didn’t make the cut, probably because it is quite ambitious. Please excuse my photography as these photos were not intended for publication. They were just a guide for the publisher and included with the original manuscript. I didn’t have a very good camera back then, nor did I have Photoshop. Also, the original was written for a child so I removed the “have an adult help you” lines in the directions.
Here you go…. Enjoy!

Teeny Tiny REAL Italian Dinner

BITTY BISTRO ITALIAN DINNER

MENU:

SPAGHETTI
CALZONE
ANTIPASTO tray of BABY CORN, STUFFED PEPPERONI TRIANGLES, OLIVES, TWO-TONE CHEESE, PASTRAMI PINWHEELS and ROASTED RED PEPPERS
CHEESE TRAY
SALAD
TOOTHPICK BREADSTICKS
TIRAMISU

SPAGHETTI

Tiny spaghetti

Ingredients:
Ramen Noodles
Spaghetti Sauce
Grated Parmesan Cheese
You also need:
Small pot

1. Break up a package of Ramen noodles into 4 chunks. You only need one chunk so put the rest of the noodles in a plastic bag for some other time.

Break off a section of Ramen Noodles to use for the tiny spaghetti

2. Cook the piece of the Ramen noodles according to package directions but don’t add the seasoning packet. When the noodles are done cooking, remove from water with a slotted spoon and place on two serving plates.

3. Top noodles with some Spaghetti Sauce and Grated Parmesan Cheese.

CALZONE

Bite Size Calzone

Ingredients:
Refrigerated French Loaf
Pepperoni slices, cut in half
1/4” squares of Montery Jack Cheese
You also need:
Clean scissors
Baking Sheet, greased or covered with Baking Parchment paper

1. Preheat over to 350.

2. Cut a 1/4” thick slice off the French Loaf bread dough with scissors. Pat the dough out to make a 1 1/2” circle.

Bite Size Calzone ingredients: cheese, refrigerator breadstick dough, pepperoni

Bite Size Calzone ingredients: cheese, refrigerator bread dough, pepperoni

3. Place one piece of pepperoni and two squares of Monterey Jack Cheese in the center. Fold the circle in half and pinch the edge tightly shut. Place on the baking sheet.

Prepare the mini calzone using refrigerated bread dough.

4. Bake for 14 minutes or till bottom is golden brown. Cool slightly before removing from baking sheet.

ANTIPASTO

NOT made of clay, this antipasto tray contains real, delicious ingredients.

Appetizer tray of: Baby Corn, Roasted Red Peppers, Pastrami Roll-Ups, Two-Tone Cheese, Mini Olives, Stuffed Pepperoni Triangles

Ingredients:
Baby Corn
Pimientos
3 Slices Pepperoni
1 Thin Slice Pastrami
Cream Cheese
Swiss Cheese
Provolone Cheese
Capers
You also need:
Dinner Knife
Clean Scissors
Wood or Cork Coaster for serving platter

Tiny Antipasto Tray ingredients

1. Cut baby corn into little slices.

2. Stack the three pepperoni slices with cream cheese spread between. Cut with scissors into 6 triangles.

3. Spread pastrami with cream cheese. Roll up. Cut into slices with scissors.

4. Place Swiss Cheese on top of Provolone Cheese slice. Cut with scissors into little squares.

5. Arrange all on a coaster.

CHEESE TRAY

Tiny Cheese Tray

Ingredients:
Various small Cheeses
Grated Parmesan Cheese
You also need:
Dinner Knife
Empty, clean bottle cap
One gold candy cup to make the cheese spoon (see further down this post for directions)
Wood or Cork Coaster for serving platter

1. Cut cheeses into small pieces and arrange on serving platter.

Cheeses for the tiny cheese tray

2. Spoon some grated Parmesan Cheese into the bottle cap. 3. Make a small spoon for the Parmesan Cheese by cutting a tiny spoon shape from the gold candy cup.

SALAD

Tear up lettuce into tiny pieces. Cut grape or cherry tomatoes into tiny pieces

Tear up lettuce into tiny pieces. The green onion looks like full size onion slices and the capers look like olives.

Ingredients:
Lettuce
1 Green onion
Cherry or Grape tomatoes
Capers

Tear up lettuce into tiny pieces. Cut any other salad ingredients you want into tiny pieces.

TOOTHPICK BREADSTICKS

Tiny Toothpick Breadsticks

Ingredients:
Refrigerated Breadstick dough
Olive or Vegetable Oil
Salt
You also need:
Clean Scissors
Clean Brush
Baking Sheet

1. Preheat the oven to 350.

2. Unroll one Breadstick from the dough. Use scissors to cut the Breadstick into 4 pieces and roll each piece to make an 8” snake. Use scissors to cut the 8” piece into 4 pieces. Roll each piece as long as a toothpick.

Tiny Breadstick Ingredients - refrigerated bread dough and salt.

Tiny Breadstick Ingredients – refrigerated breadstick dough and salt.

Cut the dough into pieces and roll into tiny toothpick-size pieces.

Cut the dough into pieces and roll into tiny toothpick-size sticks.

3. Brush lightly with oil and sprinkle with a pinch of salt.

Brush dough with a little olive oil and sprinkle with a tiny pinch of salt.

4. Place on a baking sheet and bake 6 to 9 minutes or until golden brown. Watch closely as they bake quickly!

TIRAMISU

This miniature Tiramisu is delicious!

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon Cream Cheese, softened
1 tablespoon Vanilla Ice Cream
1/8 teaspoon Instant Decaffeinated Coffee dissolved in 1/4 teaspoon Hot Water
3 Nilla Wafers
Chocolate Frosting
Whipped Cream
1/2 teaspoon Mini Chocolate Chips
You also need:
1/4 Measuring Cup lined with Plastic Wrap
Spoon

1. Mix Cream Cheese with Vanilla Ice Cream and the dissolved coffee. The Ice Cream will melt and the mixture will look lumpy but that’s ok.

Ingredients used for the tiny Tiramisu

2. Frost the Nilla Wafer cookies with Chocolate Frosting.

The ingredients for Tiramisu, ready for assembly

3. Spoon a little Cream Cheese mixture into the measuring cup. Press a Nilla Wafer cookie down into the bottom of the measuring cup. Add some more Cream Cheese mixture and another cookie. Add more Cream Cheese mixture and the last cookie. Top with the rest of the Cream Cheese mixture. Let set about 20 minutes so the cookies can soak up the Cream Cheese mixture a little.

4. Place in freezer for 2 hours or overnight. Take the Tiramisu out of the freezer and place it on a saucer. Remove the plastic wrap.

5. To serve: Slice into 4 pieces and top each with a little Whipped Cream and Mini Chocolate Chips.

A tiny slice of Tiramisu

BITTY BISTRO CRAFTS

RED & WHITE TABLE CLOTH and NAPKINS

Tiny napkins and a red and white checked cloth napkin to use as a tablecloth

Use a red and white checked cloth napkin for a tablecloth.
Cut a red napkin or piece of red fabric into 4 inch squares.
Roll up the napkin and tape a small strip of white paper around it.
CANDLE
Place a white candle in a small jar at the center of the table.
TRAYS FOR ANTIPASTO AND CHEESES
Use clean, wood or cork coasters.
BASKET FOR BREADSTICKS
Line a small basket with a piece of fabric or paper napkin.
GOLD PLATES FOR TIRAMISU
Cut most of the side off a small gold candy cup. The base of the candy cup makes a perfect dessert plate for creamy desserts.

Cut the rim off a plastic candy cup to use as a little dessert plate

TINY SPOON FOR GRATED CHEESE

Cut a spoon shape from the side and bottom of a gold candy cup

Cut a tiny spoon shape from a small gold candy cup. The handle of the spoon is cut from the side of the candy cup. The bowl of the spoon is cut from the base of the candy cup.

Please leave a comment if you make this dinner. I would love to know what you think of it! We thoroughly enjoyed it. The only problem was there was too little of everything.

A miniature, Italian Dinner, REAL, totally edible and completely delicious. Click photo to see the larger, original photograph.

Greek Yogurt with Kumquats and Cardamom

06 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in food

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Tags

breakfast, food, Greek yogurt, kumquats

This morning I wanted a simple breakfast, something that didn’t take long to make but could take a long time to savor if I was so inclined. I was in a lot of pain and didn’t want to fuss with a skillet or heavy jug of milk. So I settled on my favorite: Greek Yogurt with thinly sliced Kumquats, Macadamias, unsweetened coconut flakes and a generous sprinkling of Cardamom.
I took this photo a couple years ago but this morning’s bowl of yogurt looked every bit as sublime.

Greek Yogurt with kumquats, macadamias, unsweetened coconut and cardamom.

We get our cardamom from Penzeys Spices. Even though ground cardamom is very strong in flavor, I still sprinkle it over yogurt generously; it compliments the kumquats and the creaminess of Greek Yogurt beautifully.
The coconut is from King Arthur Flour. I disliked coconut until I discovered these big beautiful unsweetened flakes from King Arthur. They are delicious! I also use them to top Coconut Cupcakes (shown in the Dessert Buffet I did last year) and Coconut Cream Pies.
Macadamias add the perfect salty buttery crunch.
It’s impossible to eat a bowl with so much sunshine in it without getting cheered.

All Sparkled Up

~ Like dew hanging from the tip of a leaf, a single bead or word adds sparkle where there was none. BE the bright!

Tag Archives: food

Today’s lunch

Our first ripe figs of 2013

Pizza Salad

We made up a new recipe – PB & Jam Joconde Cake – Part 4

We made up a new recipe – PB & Jam Joconde Cake – Part 3

We made up a new recipe – PB & Jam Joconde – Part 2

We made up a new recipe – PB & Jam Joconde – Part 1

We finished off the Valentine’s Day cookies…

Teeny Tiny real Italian Dinner

Greek Yogurt with Kumquats and Cardamom

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