OMG a Recipe: Adventures in Backyard Camping

There's camping. There's Glamping. And now there's Backyard Camping, or what some may consider Misanthropic Glamping. We offered up our backyard over a month ago to a friend who wanted her little brother's first camping trip to be as worry-free as possible. With easy access to bathrooms and an XBox. Because... really, Nature's not all it's cracked up to be when fancy yogurt parfaits are in play. AMIRITE?

The Great Outdoors ain't got nuthin' on yogurt parfaits, dawg - Photo by Wasabi Prime

OMG a Recipe: Makin' Drunk Whoopie (and other delights)

Makin' drunk whoopie PIES, that is. Get your mind out of the gutter and into the trash with the rest of us! Inspired by booze-infused baked goods, I thought I'd share some recent baking shenanigans. While this features a gluten-rich chocolate whoopie pie adapted recipe, I'm also including a gluten-free chocolate cake recipe that you could make some decent whoopie with. So let's get it on -- start the Barry White/mood music playing!

That's what you get for makin' whoopie (pies) - Photo by Wasabi Prime

OMG a Recipe: Embracing Feast Mode and Eating One's Feelings

So I think I can finally talk about The Incident, that fateful Sunday in the Year of Our Lord, 2015, on the Sunday of Superb Owl, when the beloved Seattle Seahawks played so valiantly... and lost. It still hurts to think about that afternoon. Not like arm-caught-in-a-combine hurt, but a mild, wincing pain nonetheless. I had prepared all this special food for this special game -- Special Sandwiches, that became Sandwiches of Sadness. I couldn't let all that effort go to waste, so please indulge me as I Eat My Feelings...with an egg on top.

Eating my feelings... with a fried egg - Photo by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: I Like Fresh Buns (and I Cannot Lie)

I know I should be writing about New Years diets or cleanses or anything with a hashtag and "for the glow." But I won't. Nope. Not gonna do it. I'm not trying to be obstinate or throw off any resolutions, I just decided I want to talk about hamburgers. Not because they're so popular, but marveling at how versatile a food it is. It's practically its own food group. More specifically, I want to talk about hamburger buns -- we talk so much about burger fillings, but the bread is just as important and what makes the hamburger such a versatile and delicious food. 

Cheeseburgers celebrating Lunar New Year - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Mixed Plate: Happy Brocktoberfest!

Oktoberfest is upon us... even though in Munich, it's typically celebrated in September. Confused yet? The first celebration in Bavaria was to mark the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig in 1810, on October 12th, and there was much prolonged merriment that followed. The creeping start time that eventually pushed this festival a month earlier was more out of choosing more favorable weather conditions than strict tradition. Either that or Bavarians are the ultimate Pre-Func drinkers.  Oktoberfest has also come to represent the end of summer, the harvest, and yes, there's beer, but it's typically made with ingredients gathered months earlier, since beer needs some time to ferment. We celebrate Oktoberfest in our own way, sort of a celebration within a celebration (Celebration Inception!), typically heralded by the harvesting of our own beer hops, lovingly fussed-over by the Mister, so I dedicate this post to Brock -- Happy Brocktoberfest!

It's Oktoberfest - let's eat and drink all our carbs! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: Challa-back Girl

Hello, my name is Wasabi and I'm a Stress Baker. It's certainly not an unfamiliar means to combat anxiety, and to be honest, it's a great motivator to try new, overly complex things. In this case, I learned to make the traditional Jewish bread, challah. To which we all love to shout, "Challllllahhhhh!" like we're in a Missy Elliot video. That being said, I've most certainly become a Challah-back Girl, baking up a storm when times get wiggy.

Challah, you knotty little mix of a bread, you - Photo by Wasabi Prime

OMG a Recipe: Crusty Like a Pie Shell, and This Post

It's safe to assume it's mostly bloggers who read other blog posts, so when I say this, it's not for shock value so much as Can I get an Amen, fellow blogger sistahs and brothas? This post took me almost a year to go live. There was no catastrophic human tragedy. The rights to edible food wasn't in litigation hell, being argued over by teams of overpriced Hollywood lawyers. The recipe wasn't even all that complicated -- it's just a vegetable quiche, for heaven's sake! But you know how it goes -- you put together what you know will be a tasty seasonal post, take a million photos, and then fall behind on photo editing and the recipe loses timeliness. So I'm making up for lost time, giving this long-overdue, crusty post about building the perfect quiche its long overdue spotlight.

Happy First Birthday, Year-Old Quiche Photos! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: Snow Day, Like a Boss

Not unlike other winter-trodden regions, we had a bit of snow the other week. And let me be clear, it really was just a little bit, barely anything to sneeze at for areas that are used to feet of the white stuff, but as you've heard, when it snows in/around Seattle, it literally SHUTS THE CITY DOWN. One or two inches of snow? SNOWMAGEDDON 2014. We're just not used to it, and the city and its inhabitants aren't really prepared for dealing with it because it's not a constant seasonal condition. Luckily, this brush with Old Man Winter was over a weekend, so the majority of people could stay in and leave the snow-business to the stalwart experts. For the safety of everyone around me, I stayed-put all weekend, and did a Snow Day/Weekend Like. A. Boss.

Snow  Day? Make chewy chocolate chip cookies sprinkled with sea salt - BOO-YAH! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: Tackling Pizza the Hut and Wishing the Schwartz Was With Me

We try to eat mindfully. We try to make good choices when it comes to meals. But sometimes you just have to say the hell with it all: I want deep dish, ooey-gooey pizza. I became literally possessed with the Pizza Demon, more specifically, Deep Dish Pizza Demon from the 9th Circle of Pizza Hell. I was dreaming of the stuff, and I can probably blame a lot of "Best of" food-related programming over the holidays pushing my food cravings into overdrive. Damn you, Food Paradise and Guy-freakin-Fieri. If you've never had deep dish pizza before, it's the masterful American Midwest bastardization of its Italian ancestor, trans-morphing the traditional thin, charred Neapolitan crust into a buttery, fried-dough-pie-crust-bowl, containing layers of sauce, cheese, meats, more cheese, more meats, and maybe some vegetables. God Bless America -- we don't do things half-heartedly, and definitely not when it comes to pizza.

Team America Deep  Dish Pizza - EFF YEAH - Photo by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: Still Clinging to Summer (Fruit)

Autumn never fails to catch me by surprise every year. Even though we're in the thick of it, Thanksgiving is upon us, I'm still like Keanu Reeves in The Matrix going: Whoa... It still feels like only yesterday, we were sweating through the last weeks of summer, noticing the early notes of fall starting to change the colors of leaves, and like a sledgehammer on the noggin' -- you're frantically trying to get the heater to work and desperate to find those sweaters you hid away when summer hit. I'm sure I'm not the only one -- even our food seems to be in an odd, out-of-sorts middle ground, as we had some long-lingering stone fruit and leftover berry jam from the sweltering days of July. I found myself looking in the fridge and freezer, realizing the last bites of summer were still staring at me, right in the face.

Preserved summer - blueberry ice cream on a cold autumn day - Photo by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: A Sweet Bon Voyage!

Cupcake Break. That's what my old workmates and I would declare after a particularly long, stressful, annoying day or week. One of us would to a nearby bakery and bring back some sweet treats. It would usually be multiple flavors, so we could cut them into smaller pieces and sample a little of everything, and just dwell in that drug-like haze of an extreme sugar high. At least before the crushing blow of Harsh Reality set in, and we'd have to get back to work. When Trophy Cupcakes first headed Eastside, to their spot at The Bravern, that became a regular on our Cupcake Break rotation. Which leads me to today's post -- sometimes you need not only a Cupcake Break, but a Real Break. So I'm having both!

Sometimes the day needs a chocolate cupcake. Likely more than one. - Photo by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: Midnight In the Chocolate Chip Cookie Garden of Evil

What's this noise about evil chocolate chip cookies? Is there even such a thing?? This post is inspired by CakeSpy's new book, The Secret Lives of Baked Goods, which just came out. Jessie the Spy o' Cake invited people to share their own baked goods secrets (good or bad), so I submitted a story, which I also want to share with you, about the agony, the ecstasy and the oh-the-humanity of chocolate chip cookie obsession!

Chocolate Chip Cookies... I can't quit you - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Mixed Plate: Breaking Up is Hard to Do (with cake)

The parenthetical (with cake) seemed a requirement in today's title because, really, everyone knows Facebook is the place to post devastatingly personal milestones in small, graphical icon tags. And so it was, a softly-lit, slow-dance crescendo moment of The Way We Were... an intense, short-lived romance destined to be as memorable as it was tearful. Star-crossed lovers in a whirlwind romance... Me and Milk Chocolate Cake...and then it all went wrong. (roll sad music and end credits)

The Cake-Up - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Mixed Plate: How Wasabi Got Her Holiday Groove Back

I know what you're thinking. You're looking at the calendar, the dwindling hours left to do all your holiday baking/shopping/social calls are looming like Marley's Ghost, rattling his chains to remind you that the time draws nigh to get that Christmas Spirit in your heart... OR ELSE. Fine, so I realize that's not everyone, but I know it's a few of you out there. And it's the ones who are the real doers of the family and household, the ones who make sure all their loved ones' needs are taken care of, that no one in their life feels left out. These are the Holiday Heroes who literally break their backs for every holiday/birthday/special occasion; they never forget a special date or anniversary, they're always quick with a card or a special little gift, and they are an endless font of heartfelt generosity. Baby, sit back for a spell, this post's for you.

Give yourself the gift of a day, or at least an afternoon to stop and enjoy the holiday lights - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I think of my mother during the holidays. She went into Christmas Mode early in the year, months in advance, whipping out her sewing machine and picking out patterns for some crafty, adorable handmade holiday gift for close friends and relatives. I remember one year she made a dozen or so wreaths decorated with sewn teddy bears made out of holiday quilting fabric. Another year she made these incredible stockings full of little pockets and places to stuff goodies and sweets -- exactly the kind of stocking made for kids. Every photo had the potential to be made into that year's holiday card, which would be sent out by or before the first week of December, and she'd be the one writing notes in all of them. Wasabi Mom is happily enjoying the life of leisure, in retirement on Da Islands with Wasabi Dad in temperate climate, where the Spam Musubi roam freely. She still sends a few cards out, but no photos, since it's been many years since I've lived at home for the yearly family snapshot. She puts up a few things, but nowhere near as much decor as when I was younger. But that incredible holiday spirit stuck with me all these years, and she's remained a great inspiration to stick with that tradition of making sure cards and handmade gifts never go out of style.

Holiday Hectic Mode starting...NOW - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Fast forward a few years, and many consecutive Christmases of never forgetting to send out a holiday card or making some sort of homemade baked sweets, I find myself in that Hectic Holiday mode that my mother probably felt many years ago. I would never give up the opportunity to let my loved ones know how much I appreciate them, whether it's with cards, cookies or some other weird handmade craft monstrosity I thought was a good idea at the time. And I would never consider myself the aforementioned Holiday Hero, but I understand the desire to make sure no one feels left out during the festive season -- because everyone should be reminded that they are thought of and loved! There are many people out there who truly give it their all during this time of year, with volunteering and giving so much of their time to others. If anything, those are the people who need to be remembered and thanked for their efforts, so maybe bake them a batch of cookies or something, why dontcha?

The baked good whirlwind that capsized our kitchen - Photos by Wasabi Prime

The gesture of giving means something, even if it isn't expensive or some diamond studded big screen TV. Oy, what an ugly thing that would be, no? After many weekends baking, sugar-dusting and card-writing, I finally hit the holiday home stretch of having all the goodies packaged to mail or hand-deliver. I was a multitasking queen, prepping shortbread dough, wrapping little parcels of homemade pretzels, cookies and brownies, while catching up on the last few weeks of TV on our iPad and slowly realized, Holy Crap... what about me?

Holiday baking HQ, powered by ugly cookies and iPad with recorded TV shows - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Sounds terribly selfish, I know -- ME, ME, ME. But after all that running around, I had a moment to catch my breath and say, I think I deserve a little break. And I think that goes for anyone else out there who's in the same spot as me: feeling like it's less holiday and more checking off boxes on a list of to-do's. Holiday Fail. In the pursuit of holiday magic, the spirit disappeared. Spending too much time worrying how many misshapen "Homer" cookies had to be sacrificed to a hungry Mister, and not enough time just enjoying the fact that dammit, this really is the most wonderful time of the year!

Relax, like the hookah-smoking caterpillar! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

And so I did it -- I gave myself the best possible gift one could give onself: Time. Take an afternoon or a morning -- a whole day if you can swing it. I sought out the holiday spirit in downtown Seattle, doing some simple pleasures that I'd done before, but were in danger of being sacrificed due to a busy schedule. Perish the thought! I was prompted by some appointments that went sideways, but stuck with the original plan to head into Seattle for the morning. I wanted to see the annual gingerbread village at the downtown Sheraton Hotel, near the Seattle Convention Center, now in their 20th year. They annually task local sugar artists to make these incredible gingerbread and candied creations. I saw it last year and it was such a blood sugar sight to behold, I couldn't imagine skipping it this year. This year's theme was Disney movies, or as near as I could tell, based on each gingerbread castle's design.

Sea Monkey palace never looked this great - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Right in the lobby of the Sheraton, you can tour the underwater Neptune's kingdom from The Little Mermaid, the sultan's palace from Aladdin, the Red Queen's castle from Alice in Wonderland, The Beast's rose-decorated castle from Beauty and the Beast, and even the land of Narnia. Kind of a fairy tale/Disney mashup, it's an impressive sight to see, and the display is up right now through the holidays. It's free to view, but they are accepting donations to benefit the Northwest chapter of JDRF, which focuses on the fight against diabetes. I admit, there's a part of me that finds a little irony in a charity for diabetes being involved in a sugar-coated gingerbread village display, but hey -- it's the holidays, I have to keep my snark to a minimum, lest I be given nothing but coal this year.

Ooh... ahhh... dazzled yet? - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Let's just take a moment to admire the fact that a lot of people went through some crazy-painstaking work to put these sweet sculptures on display, shall we? Cheshire Cat agrees, kick back and enjoy.

Disney movies and sugar -- what's not to love? - Photos by Wasabi Prime

I had a nougat-filled soft spot for the Beauty and the Beast castle. I'd say of all the more recent classic hand-drawn animated films of Disney, that is by far my favorite. I'm inclined to watch it with a big plate of pasta and a bottle of wine, like so many viewings of 50 Dresses or Pretty in Pink. Another gift of Me Time I look forward to indulging in.

Market shopping done right - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Another gift to myself was taking a walk through Pike Place Market. It's in its holiday finery, with the fresh tree mini-lot at the entrance. You get a lovely whiff of fresh evergreen, then likely another whiff of delivery truck exhaust, as I went during the middle of the day. Well, it is a working market after all. But I always love coming here, rain or shine, as cheesy/touristy as that sounds -- especially during the week, since weekends can get extra busy. It's a gorgeous historic market with some of my favorite shops -- I did a quick run-through of DeLaurenti to pick up some food gifts, admired the fresh mushrooms and loved seeing the winter fruit like pomegranates stacked high. There's always something to admire and marvel at, and a walk through Pike Place Market was a reminder to do so, every day.

Holiday Sanity Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself - Photo by Wasabi Prime

So if you're feeling the pressure of the holiday season, take a moment to breathe. Better yet, take a whole afternoon, if you can. Appreciate someone else's exuberance for the holidays, as that will reinvigorate your own spirit. If you're not certain you've gone mad with harried holiday to-do's, take one look at the four-foot high pile of boxes set for delivery, and the extremely worried look on your dog's face, wondering why silly hoomins gotta be so weird. Thanks for the reality check, Indy.

This is also my holiday post for the week, as I'm taking some time to just relax, so I hope you all have a very Happy Holidays, a Merry Christmas, survived another wild Hannukah, and looking forward rocking out the family love and fellowship of Kwanzaa. Merry-merry, y'all.

Mixed Plate: Hello, My Little Petite Sweet...

Tis the season for sugary sweets and decadent treats.. and then wondering why the pants don't fit come New Year's Day. It's so hard to resist all the goodies around this time of year! Especially when you work at an office and every week someone brings in something homemade or clients are sending gifts of thanks like fancy chocolates. And don't get me started on the day one of my office mates introduced me to the entity known as The Kringle. And it's definitely the season for making at-home treats, both to give away and hoard for yourself, and therein lies this bloggy sweet tale...

Deck the halls with... shiny stuff! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I don't have an office break room anymore to indulge in communal sweets, but I do get into a baking mood when the holidays come 'round. I was decorating the house, pulling out Christmas stuff one weekend and it just didn't feel like the holidays until the house had the smell of fresh baked goods perfuming the air. And just doing a run-through with a cinnamon/vanilla scented candle wasn't going to cut it. 

I had been meaning to try the recipes from the new Petite Treats cookbook, from the wild n' crazy gals over at Mini Empire Bakery. It's their newest book, as adorably cute and petite-sized as their first book, Mini Pies, which I enjoyed baking from as well. If you haven't already done your holiday shopping, it's one of those cute, charming cookbooks that make for easy gifts, since it's full of photos, the recipes are for familiar desserts, and there's a lot of good options and suggestions for making things vegan, gluten-free and just a more natural way of enjoying your sweets. And the best thing is, the desserts are MINI, so you can EAT MORE. This logic of mini desserts is brilliant.

Petite Sweets from the Mini Empire Bakery team gives you a reason to eat your beets! - Photos by Wasabi Prime

I wanted to try their Red Velvet Yippee Cakes, which are a mini version of whoopie pies. Having made whoopie pies before and seeing how large they can be, and how much butter goes into the icing, you get a little of that reality shock. As wonderful as they taste, it's the Thing That Cannot Be Unseen, remembering how many sticks of butter had to be sacrificed for a healthy slathering of sweet, iced filling. Making a mini version of whoopie pies was much easier for my brain's calorie counter to handle, plus the recipe in Petite Treats uses beets to give the red velvet cake it's signature hue. Traditionally, beets were part of the original recipe, the ingredient that gave the cake that distinctive color, but thanks to the popularity of this vintage recipe and the need to play up the red hue for TV Land and Food Photography-ville, most recipes suggest using a scary amount of red food dye. Granted, the dye is safe and it's not like the crazy tumor-growing stuff we all drank down in iced Cherry Squishee form back in the 80s, but that red color really is quite alarming, especially in the large amount required to make today's expectation of red velvet cake.

Their recipe called for canned beets, which has the benefit of the beet juice -- nature's food coloring! And don't get it on anything, it stains like Bloody Murder. I used roasted beets, just because I had them, but don't worry, whether home roasted or canned, you're not going to take a bite from the cake and say, "Mmm... borscht-y!" I've baked with beets before, even blended them into chocolate brownies to keep it moist -- they're ideal to bake with chocolate, as the bitter cocoa goes nicely with the slightly earthy, but sweet beets. You don't taste them at all, and for this recipe, they lend their color in a more natural way, more of a burgundy color. While the cake won't have that blood red look that you usually see, it's a truer red velvet cake. And hey, burgundy is one of the hot trend colors of the year, so consider your dessert extra fashionable.

I didn't have a special pan to make each little yippee pie that perfect mound-shape, and I wasn't sure if the dough would run on the pan, so I made square yippee pies. As Huey Lewis and the News would say: It's Hip to be Square. The cake batter is stiff enough to where you could pipe or carefully spoon each half onto a prepared baking sheet, just being mindful to keep each dollop as uniform as possible. I basically made a red velvet brownie, then once it was cooled, carefully sliced it across the middle and added frosting to the center before slicing into smaller pieces. I personally love cream cheese frosting, so I used that as the filling, but the recipe comes with a great buttercream icing recipe, which is more true to whoopie/yippee form.

Something sweet to give - lavender sugar - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I saved our mini red velvet cakes for ourselves, as the cream cheese frosting made it a little harder to mail out to family and friends. We have to save a little something sweet for ourselves, right? But while I was in my baking/decorating mode, I managed to make a quick batch of lavender sugar, something sweet that's very easy to package up and give to friends. In the final stages of homemade gifts, I had some dried lavender from a friend's garden and plain white sugar. I buzzed the lavender buds and sugar in a food processor until they were as chopped up as possible, and then divided up the fragrant sugar into those quaint little Weck jars, which are all the crafty rage these days. A pretty blue-lavender bow, and these little darlings were ready to gift to friends who like to bake or drink tea. A little sprinkle of this in tea is wonderful, it sweetens and perfumes the drink beautifully. You could probably incorporate it in cocktails as well, but again, using it sparingly as the lavender is strong. I used this sugar in this year's lavender shortbread cookies, cutting the regular sugar with some lavender sugar to make the cookies extra special.

A sweet finish to a productive holiday weekend - Photos by Wasabi Prime

And so I managed to cross off several holiday to-do's on my list, while enjoying a house smelling like sweet cake and lavender. It's a rare moment of holiday heaven when you can both feel productive and be rewarded with a delicious dessert afterwards. Don't forget to put Mini Empire's book on your holiday gift list, or for any dessert fan in your life -- everyone deserves to have a little something sweet now and then.

Mixed Plate: Keep Calm and Bake a Crostata

No offense to May, there were some really fantastic things going on, like fun restaurant meetups, mixing art and food, and yes, even a television appearance! But I have to say, May, I'm through with you. I'm dumping all your stuff out of that extra drawer and you'd better take that prized anthology of Police Academy DVDs with you on your way out. Thankfully it has nothing to do with food or restaurants, it's just the tough, sinewy gristle of Life that really made for some extra drama that nobody needs. So All Hail June, and may you be boring and drama-free!

Even the crostata couldn't keep itself from falling apart from all the craziness afoot - Photo by Wasabi Prime

May started out quietly enough, but it brought the hammer down with a couple of Whammies about midway through, when we had a total freak accident happen to the house, and then we took the dog, aka Miss Indiana Jones, for a routine teeth cleaning that got all Bat Country on us. One sandtrap at a time, I know -- as to the house, or the garage to be more specific, it kind of had the opposite of an organ prolapse. As in, hey lookie - the outsides are now on the inside! It was an accident, plain and simple, but a big industrial lawn mower went out of control and sorta crashed into our garage -- with the door still closed. It felt like a meteor hit the house, everything shook. The force of the impact blew the lower half of the garage outside-in, which is rather impressive considering the door is attached with springs that have enough torque to take your head off if you were messing with them. The mower is about the size of a small car, and luckily neither of our cars were damaged -- Brock was at work and mine was miraculously shielded by a support beam, which got Streetfighter-smackdowned by the mower. Ouch. 

What your garage should not look like, fyi - Photos by Wasabi Prime

I totally expected the Mayhem character from the Allstate ads to show up in his bedraggled black suit, covered in band-aids and do a little jig amid the chaos of spinning blades and wet grass spattered everywhere. The main thing is, no one was hurt, the landscape company that we've been with for years and are very good, were equally very good about taking care of things. Sometimes poop happens.  I admit, my brain was in a haze for a while and it was hard to focus that week, trying to deal with getting that sorted along with the daily work. End-of-day cocktails were a must, and I imbibed with gusto and unholy passion.

Don't mess with the Cone of Shame - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Our next doozy was Indy-related. She's getting older -- she's over 7 years, which is semi-ancient in dog years -- so that means dental care is more of a priority. It's not like we're shoving candy bars and ice cream her way, not that she'd complain, but plaque builds up and dogs can't brush and floss on their own; once teeth go bad, it's like with people -- it's painful and you're more prone to infection. We scheduled Indy's teeth cleaning, which means they have to put the animal under anesthesia. Knowing we're having to pay for the total knock-out, we got other stuff taken care of -- surgical shopping spree! She had a tiny, benign little bump on the edge of her eyelid that had the potential to grow and bother her eye later, so we had it removed. This is all with good intentions of course -- professional teeth cleaning, weirdo growth removals -- but we wind up looking like total dog owner monsters because I brought home a completely stoned Indy with a shaved eye, having to wear The Cone of Shame for two weeks until her eye could heal and the stitch was removed. She looked like a really crappy pirate, minus the eye patch. And the Cone only added insult to injury. We "leveled up" her hard plastic Cone of Shame with a soft but sturdy nylon version, which was easier to get on and off with velcro. This led to Indy being velcroed to the carpet a few times after a nap, which I admit, is kinda funny. Zero peripheral vision, a much wider turn radius, and many collisions with furniture and our legs, it's been an awesome couple of weeks.

Stay calm, Cone Dog, dessert is on the way - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Which finally leads me to the food part -- sure, they say it's not healthy to cushion the sting of whatever emotional slings and arrows with food, but dessert sure helps. I had a frozen pie crust at the ready, which I think everyone should have in their freezers -- there's no evil that can't be undone with a fresh baked pie. The CSA delivery brought us fresh strawberries and rhubarb, and making a crostata, a rustic, flat version of a pie, is probably one of the best things you can do in a pinch. You can fill this flat pie with anything, really -- sweet and savory alike. I actually cushioned those emotional slings and arrows with several different foods, but this dessert is one that can be made in record time, if you have the basics at hand. And even if you don't, store bought pie dough works in a pinch. It's a crisis man, we require dessert triage! Let the blog title ring true, when trouble sets in, simply keep calm and bake a crostata.

OMG a Recipe: You Put Your Sweet in My Savory (and vice-versa)

I remember when Reese's Peanut Butter Cups first came out (yes, I'm old enough to remember a world without peanut butter cups). The commercial had two kids, one with a chocolate bar, one with a jar of peanut butter. The kid with the chocolate bar drops the candy into the peanut butter and the famous synchronized lines, "You put your chocolate in my peanut butter/you put your peanut butter on my chocolate" was born. What, you don't remember that? My age must be showing. It got me thinking about sweet and savory, and how they can do a switcheroo in dishes without fear of cats-and-dogs-living-together mass hysteria breaking out.

Don't hate on the beets in this chocolate brownie - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Chocolate in enchiladas? Beets in brownies? Yes We Can. It's not only possible, but it's tasty. It's easy to get lulled into the traditional use of ingredients, where chocolate lives in candy bars and beets get roasted and made into soups or salads. If we looked at ingredients without the context of our own flavor preferences and just saw them for what they were -- sweet, smoky, bitter, sour, etc -- we would start to re-envision the ingredients in seemingly unlikely things. Beets are a root vegetable with a high sugar content, probably one of the highest. I remember reading somewhere how the high sugar acts as a natural form of antifreeze, preventing the vegetables from getting icy in the cold months when they're still below the ground. The same way we use carrots, another sweet root vegetable, in cakes, beets can be used as well. If we can ignore all those plates of boiled beets or bowls of borscht and just see beets as another source for sweetness, why not use them for dessert?

Of course I had our CSA to thank for this one -- we were delivered several red beets, and along with the produce, Full Circle Farms kindly includes a newsletter that has suggestions and recipes. The week's recipes included a beet chocolate cake, which I modified to become a brownie. Why? A lack of patience, mostly. I didn't want to wait for the butter to soften and the original cake recipe was more like a chocolate-beet chiffon cake, with the eggs separated and the whites whipped to help lighten the cake. I appreciate the earthy heartiness of beets, and I think it pairs nicely with bittersweet chocolate, so why not have it in a rich, dense brownie? I also went the extra mile, adding dollops of partially-frozen sweet goat cheese icing on top of the brownies, then swirling it when the oven softened it after a few minutes. This is an extra step that's nice, but not necessary. And honestly, how many people are random enough to have a little container of frozen goat cheese frosting in the freezer? If you do have this in your freezer, I doff my hat to you, fellow chevre freaks.

If you're like me and want to mess with the Mister's mind and convince them beets are not all that bad, give this beet brownie recipe a try. It's modified from Full Circle Farms' original Moist Chocolate-Beet Cake recipe.

I Can't Believe It's Beet Brownies!
2 large beets, roughly chopped (to prep, roast and peel, or boil until soft and peel)
7 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup hot coffee
7 oz butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
3 tbsp unsweetened dark cocoa powder
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a square baking dish with parchment paper to prepare for the batter. Place a medium sized pot on a burner set to medium-lo and add butter, coffee, sugar and chocolate. Melt and combine ingredients until they are fully combined and set aside to cool slightly. Place cooked and peeled beets into a blender or food processor and puree with chocolate and butter mixture until smooth.

Sift flour, cocoa powder and baking powder together into a bowl. Fold in the chocolate-beet mixture and add the eggs. Mix everything until incorporated and pour into the prepared baking dish. Place the dish into the oven and bake until just-set, 20-25 minutes, depending on your oven. Use a toothpick to check the doneness of the center of the pan; it should come out slightly moist, not coated with batter. Allow the cake to cool before cutting the brownies down.

Chocolate enchiladas for... dinner? Dessert...? - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I had beets in brownies, so how about chocolate in enchiladas? Call it reverse dessert. Using cocoa in flavor-complex mole sauces isn't unusual; a combination of dried chiles and spices, simmered in a vegetable and tomato-based sauce -- pure deliciousness. Cacao doesn't naturally taste like a chocolate bar, it's bitter and the processing of the pods is similar to coffee -- there's roasting, developing a smoky flavor, and then it's ground to release its oils and flavors. So it would make sense that unsweetened chocolate is added to rich, slow-cooked sauces to impart that deep flavor. I usually make my own enchilada sauce. Not because I'm trying to be fancy-schmancy, and I would never call the recipe traditional (it's actually a pretty quickie sauce), I just prefer building the sauce myself because I'm never totally sure what the heck is in those canned sauces.

Admittedly, when I made this batch of enchiladas, they were Cheater Enchiladas. I didn't roll the tortillas, I layered tortillas with sauce and shredded beef the way you would make a lasagne. The finished dish was more like a layered casserole. I was more interested in getting the flavor of that sauce into my hungry tummy as quickly as possible, hence the shortcut. The thing to remember when making this is don't swap the unsweetened baking chocolate with sweetened baking chips. You want the bitter, almost coffee-like quality of the chocolate to add earthy flavor to the sauce, not taste like you threw in a Hershey bar.

Adding chocolate to enchiladas? Don't judge, it's delicious - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Chocolate Mole Enchilada Sauce
1.5 pounds chopped tomatoes or 2 15 oz cans of chopped tomatoes
1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
2 ounces of unsweetened baker's chocolate (usually comes in 1 oz squares)
2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoons chile powder
1 tablespoon ancho chile powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon sugar (or more, to taste)
salt and pepper
vegetable oil for cooking

In a large pot, set to medium high, drizzle with oil. Add chopped onion, bell pepper and garlic and sautee until softened and slightly browned. Add the tomatoes, chocolate and dry spices. Mix to combine and drop heat to low. Let simmer for an hour, letting the vegetables soften. Add salt and pepper to taste. Use a stick blender to puree final sauce.

OMG a Recipe: Bourbon Whisky for Dessert

There's nothing wrong with a little hair o' the dog after a day in the saltmines of cubicle-land. There's also nothing wrong with a touch of sweetness at day's end. So let's put our hands together for making it a little less socially awkward to say you're having whiskey for dessert.

Who says you can't have whisky for dessert? - Photo by Wasabi Prime

We always have a bottle of Maker's Mark around the house. No, not stashed in the sock drawer or places where the late night ads ask a bunch of questions to determine if you have a problem or not. We keep it around the kitchen because it's as handy for sipping as it is for cooking. I add a little to the cheap vodka that's steeping vanilla beans for vanilla extract -- you can also draw from this to mix cocktails. I deglaze pans with a splash of it and some chicken broth, making a nice little sauce to go with some seared chicken paillards. It's a good bourbon whisky, more expensive than other brands, but the flavor is nice, and you don't need much to add its caramel, lightly smoky taste to things.

So of course I wanted to incorporate some liquor when I made a bourbon-themed dessert of ice cream and pie. Duh, who wouldn't? The pie was a basic apple pie, which I added pears in, just because I had them -- thanks, CSA box. The pie crust is, as always, Wasabi Mom's vinegar pastry crust. The filling was a basic apple pie -- about 2 or 3 pounds' worth of cored apples (and pears, in my case) sliced thin and tossed with a couple of teaspoons of ground cinnamon, a teaspoon of fresh nutmeg, a quarter cup of sugar, a tablespoon of flour to help absorb any excess fruit juices, and I saw this on a food show -- a dash of Angosturra bitters. A pie shop in NYC was being profiled (sorry, I can't remember their name!!) and they mentioned their use of bitters in their pie filling, to balance out the sweetness and give it a nice balance. Brilliant! I had to try it. For this pie filling, I also folded a bourbon caramel sauce with the seasoned fruit -- it added more volume and liquid to the mix, which I wasn't in love with, so I'd skip the caramel sauce in the filling or maybe drizzle the top with it. That part needs re-working, so I'm not listing details until I get something that's worth sharing, and it was likely just gilding the dessert-lily anyways, since I made ice cream to go with the pie.

There's always time for pie - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Bourbon in ice cream = Winning. I used my standby basic ice cream recipe, and added about a tablespoon or two of good maple syrup. And I mean the real stuff, not in the squeeze bottle shaped like a bad racial stereotype. I put a little less than a shot of whisky, so about an ounce, while the milk/sugar/vanilla/maple mixture was simmering. I do this before the eggs, as I want some time for the liquor to burn off. I know -- what's the point?! I don't want the alcohol content too high to where the ice cream won't set properly. I doubt a shot of booze would keep the ice cream from doing its thing, but I also like to keep the ice cream available for 21 and under. You still get the little bite of whisky, but the flavor is heightened with the extra vanilla and the maple really compliments it. On its own, it's a great alternative to a typical vanilla, but on a pie of any kind, it's ridonkulously good. And yes, that's a real word. An awesome one.

Ice cream and pie, best looking couple ever - Photos by Wasabi Prime

One of the reasons I was playing around with bourbon in desserts was because I was working on a dessert for Drink Me Magazine. I liked the combo of maple and bourbon so much, I developed a maple bourbon cheesecake for the latest issue that's out now. There's a kick of spice to it, so it's not all sweet, which I prefer with desserts. Cheesecake isn't a quickie dessert, it needs a little love, but it's worth the time and I'm particularly pleased with the brulee top. Giving it a smoky, candied sugar crunch adds a pleasant texture against the creaminess of the cheesecake. And it's fun to shout out, "Let's kick the tires and light the fires!" as you hand torch the crap out of the top of a whole dessert.

Behind the scenes on a photo shoot day - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Head to Drink Me's site to check out the whole magazine online, or if you're in the San Francisco area, printed copies are available. You can also check out their new look, they've been doing some fun things with the magazine and I look forward to developing more recipes. It's always a challenge to try and incorporate wine, beer or liquor into things on a plate, versus a glass. Hope you like the recipe, or if nothing else, the notion of mixing your drinks with food!

UnRecipe: Tips for Holiday Baked Gifts

I realize we're only at the halfway point of December, and Christmas isn't for a couple of weeks, but if you're on true Holiday Time, you know it's the home stretch for getting gifts prepared and mailed off or ready to give away at the next holiday party. By the time the dwindling days of December's early twenties hit and Christmas Eve is just around the corner, I hate to say it, your holiday goose is cooked since a lot of online stores may not be able to guarantee Dec. 25th delivery and if the malls seemed crazy before, they'll be like a cracked-out madhouse by then. So, why not keep things simple and consider something handmade and edible. Like Wasabi Mom would always say, Food Always Fits.

Tis the season to take over the kitchen with cookies - Photo by Wasabi Prime

It's gotten more difficult to buy things for people over the years. Personal interests change, priorities get shuffled with new jobs/babies/life as a whole, and for most of our friends and family, we're in that stage of "no more stuff, please." We have all the things we really need, and frankly, so many people are looking to simplify their life by cutting back on the objects that eventually become clutter. But holiday gifts are all about showing appreciation, a token of love and gratitude for the person being important in our lives, so why not get into the true holiday spirit and shower them with sweets and junk food we'll all be swearing off in the new year? Pull out that rolling pin and unholy amounts of butter -- it's time to get baking!

Dress your cookies up for the holidays to make 'em feel special - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Homemade baked goods as gifts don't have to be fancy. If anything, the simpler the better, if you're making large batches of gifts to give away. I've gone through my phases of doing complicated confections like layered petit fours with fancy-schmancy icing, holiday-shaped sugar cookies that took more time to decorate than bake, and any number of ideas I saw on Martha Stewart's site that inevitably brings up the, "Oh, that's a good idea," lightbulb in my head and I'm up till 2am, just trying to get a single batch of something completed. I've gotten to the point where I look for simple cookie recipes where the dough is very basic and easy to double or triple batches, and keep the decorating simple, but colorful. The cupcake fad has brought more confectionary elements to the basic grocery store aisles, so I've been able to find little pearlized sugar dragée decorations, along with sanding sugars in gold and silver. Instead of going to the high-end specialty shops, I often find large containers of colorful sanding sugars at discount stores like Ross or Marshalls, where they have small kitchen sections. The decorative sugars are dry goods and have a fairly long shelf life, so I often buy my supplies after the holidays and just keep them in the pantry for the following year. I probably use the plain, large crystallized sugar the most for baking projects year-round, so if you're only going to get one item, that would be the most useful.

Best tip for baking cookies for gifts? Keep it simple! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I stuck with the simple sugar bonbon cookie recipe from the CakeSpy book. It was small and jewel-like with some sprinkles on it, you stuff each cookie with bits of chocolate or nuts for a sweet surprise, and it was easily made in multiple batches since you use a little cookie scoop tool to get the shape nice and round. If you're making about three or four batches of something, this is the recipe for success. Once they're baked, it's all about packaging them to finish them off so that they feel very precious and gift-like.

Cookies with a sweet surprise and how packaging makes all the difference - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Little celophane cookie bags are your friend during the holidays. You can get printed ones or clear bags, and while they come with handy wire twist-ties, I like using those and then tying some ribbon or strips of cloth to really make it feel like a little gift. The bags come in bulk, and you can either buy them online or if you're in the Seattle area, my favorite store for getting packaging is the aptly-named Packaging Specialties store in Bellevue. They have cardboard boxes of all shapes and sizes and many have the clear, food-friendly coating on the inside, if you're putting something rich like brownies in them, and don't want the food oils to soak through. Get some ribbon or strips of decorated paper to make a simple band around the boxes and finish off with an address lable seal, writing what the item is. You don't really need wrapping paper, and probably shouldn't, as you want the recipients to know right away it's a food gift, so eat immediately. Another way of packaging food to make it feel extra-special is using glass jars. You can get large canning jars in bulk, or if you're only getting a few, nose around antique or secondhand stores -- there's often inexpensive vintage glass jars that make for great presentation. A quick run through the dishwasher, fill it with a favorite treat or snack, and then put a nice bow around the top -- it becomes a special gift, as well as a unique cookie jar for future use.

Along with cookies, I made some quick candy treats. Caramel popcorn is surprisingly easy and fast. I bought a jar of popcorn kernels and popped about three or four batches' worth of plain popcorn over the stove in a large lidded pot. I was careful to remove as many of the "old maids" as possible, to keep people from cracking teeth on seeds, and set the popcorn aside to cool while making batches of caramel. I had a basic recipe for caramel corn, but added extra flavor by putting in some cayenne pepper and cinnamon, which gave it a nice spicy sweetness. I did have one caramel casualty -- I was multitasking too many things and let the caramel sit on the stove for too long, and burned one batch. Caramel sauce down!! But it was a good lesson to not take your eyes off cooking sugar, not even for a second. Once I had a few ample piles of caramel corn popped and cooled, I stored them in large freezer bags until I could fill the individual gift bags for the final presentation. As you can see from the photo below, our house becomes like a food factory, with a few days devoted to making the sweets and then another day devoted to packaging everything up for the dozen or so people who get sweets as gifts. But it's totally true when they say packaging is everything -- if you go through the effort of making something special, it should be presented like a treasure, no?

Welcome to Santa's Village, aka, our dining room table - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I think variety is what makes baked gifts more interesting. Instead of giving a hefty bag of the same cookie, I'd rather give smaller portions of different things. So far I had cookies and caramel popcorn, so my last item was a riff on the old favorite, peppermint bark. I had done the classic peppermint bark in the past -- melting white and dark chocolate, layering on a tray and sprinkling with crushed peppermint candies. It's a pretty and simple presentation, but I wanted to do something different. The combo of chocolate and peanut butter is a favorite, so I did a layer of melted peanut butter chips mixed with white chocolate, then a layer of milk chocolate and a hefty sprinkle of crushed almonds to finish.  I also did an all-chocolate version, using a layer of melted dark chocolate sprinkled with dried cranberries, crushed pistachios and a sprinkling of a smoky finishing salt. They're so intensely sweet, it's fine to give small amounts of each one. They show nicely in clear bags, so I divided the broken-up shards of two different candy bark and labeled accordingly.

Bark if you love holiday bark! And tons of SUGAR!! - Photos by Wasabi Prime

This sounds like a wild and crazy undertaking, but by no means do you have to go this route of Holiday Baking Gone Wild. The point is to pick time-tested recipes that you're comfortable with and spending a little extra effort on packaging the finished goods. By making multiple things, it keeps the gift interesting, and I hope the recipients enjoy the variety as well. Since many of these had to be mailed, I chose items that weren't particularly delicate, since most of these treats would be sent off in boxes, tossed about every which way. Sturdiness is another Prime-Approved baked goods rule, so consider that as you're choosing cookie recipes.

As the pre-Christmas days dwindle, consider skipping the mall to get someone yet another piece of clutter they'll wonder what to do with, and just make them something sweet to show your appreciation!

UnRecipe: Gimme Some Sugar, Baby

Yes, I'm back! I'm back! Thanks to those who followed and wrote me while I was visiting family in Hawaii. I'm back on the Mainland and ready for action. Well, more like ready to get caught up on the mountain of work that had to sit while I was away, but hey, life moves on. We'll see if I do a post about my latest trip; it's going to depend on how photos turned out, but regardless -- it's good to be back in the bloggosphere.

This aptly-named post title, aside from that being one of my favorite lines by the fantastic Bruce Campbell in Army of Darkness (if you haven't seen this movie, shame on you. It's awesome. As are all the Evil Dead movies), refers to the fact I wanted sugar. Lots of it. And while this isn't representative of all the poor eating habits of a single day, it does contain all the major sweet tooth cravings I've had over the last month or two. Let the sugar rush... commence!

Coffee and ice cream, afo-ghetto - Photo by Wasabi Prime

No, I'm not pregs with fertilized eggs, but I am a lady-girl, who sometimes has lady-girl cravings. Ladies, you know what I'm talking about. And since I don't often crave sugary things, when I do get the hankerin' for something sweet, it's super-specific, and if I don't get it, the universe and everyone within my immediate vicinity are in for a world o' hurt. It's not always chocolate, but chocolate more often than not is a likely culprit. Even though we're cutting back on caffeine, I'll still have a cuppa Joe now and then, which feels like getting struck by lightning, if you must know. I craved both sugar and coffee for a potent dessert, so I made a dark cocoa-coffee ice cream and then put a scoop of it in a dessert cup, pouring hot coffee over it. The traditional way of enjoying affogato is gelato with espresso and sometimes a little dash of a liqueur, consider this afo-ghetto, since I was just working with what I had, and ice cream and coffee is effin' delicious.

The holidays are nearly upon us... start the caramel corn - Photos by Wasabi Prime

I started to think about the holidays. It's not like I just sit in a room and suddenly ponder the meaning of Christmas. But it's been getting to look a lot like Halloween, even back in August when Costco started putting bulk candy out and even now, I see holiday wrapping paper showing up on shelves and decorated trees are showing up in department stores. Retailers are insane. These are like not-so-subtle reminders, much like the Hammer of Thor beating upon your skull, that holiday season is on the horizon, so get crack-a-lackin' on what to make/bake/buy for gifts this year. I do rely on baked goods as inexpensive gifts, especially since at this point, most of the people I know don't need more stuff, but something sweet is appreciated. And I bake in bulk, so whatever I make has to be something that isn't fussy, can be done in large batches, and made a few days in advance of giving/mailing out. This year may be a caramel popcorn year. So, Friends of Wasabi, start practicing your happy/surprised face when you get a big ol' box of caramel corn this year!

I started some early recipe tests, some more successful than others, trying different ingredients to make the caramel more unique. Homemade caramel can't be beat, this is not news to anyone, but when you eat caramel corn you made from scratch and compare it to the store-bought kind, it's no wonder Cracker Jack had to put a prize in their boxes to convince people to eat it. I'm kidding, I still love Cracker Jack. But the homemade stuff really is better. And if you can avoid burning your skin off with the napalm-like hot caramel, that's just icing on the cake.

Campfire goodness, baked into a cookie - Photos by Wasabi Prime

I was feeling a little nostalgic towards s'mores. Mostly because I didn't get a chance to really enjoy the great outdoors this summer and making a sticky mess of a delightful fireside dessert. I had a bag of mini marshmallows. They're cute. They're full of mysterious preservatives. But they're still cute. I think they were 99 cents at the store, and the spirit of the impulse buy possessed me to get them. I spent one afternoon putting them on toothpics and toasting them over a lit candle. That was kind of fun. But you don't go through a whole bag of mini marshmallows like that and would feel Epic Shame if you did. So I looked for a recipe that used them, chocolate chips and buttermilk. Why buttermilk? I had half a carton leftover from making blueberry muffins, and it needed to be used up. Lo and behold, I found a recipe for whole wheat s'more cookies on Epicurious. It was like the junk food gods said, ask, and ye shall receive, you sugar-addled junkie. They were pretty tasty. Not the prettiest things in the world, but they were like big, sticky-sweet bombs of chunkasaurus rex goodness. They bake up and set nicely, but they got really sticky after a couple of days. It could have been the moisture in the air, and the fact that marshmallows are just stabilized forms of sugar-goo. The marshmallows are added whole and during the baking they melt down into gooey little craters, but in a few days they get almost syrupy, so it turns into a bit of a messy cookie, FYI. I sent some to Mr. Wasabi's parents, gave little bags of a few cookies to friends, and the rest were promptly eaten by us. I'm still deciding on whether or not to include this in the holiday baking roster, as I know friends would enjoy it, but may have to avoid sending these to family in Hawaii, as the humidity may turn the cookies into The Blob. And that's not very holiday-like.

What about you? Are you already planning your army of baked goods to send out to friends, family and the like?