Chocolate Chip & Strawberry Crepe {Strawberry Field}

I am thrilled that I finally published my first home movie. Just a short while a go I found a software called Window Live Movie Maker on Youtube; and I was so excited to have learned some of the tools to deliver this video. I found that Window Live Movie Maker is very easy to learn and you can free down load too. There are many tutorials you can learn on Youtube.  My favorite ones are here, here and here.

I wish I could get rid off those two black rectangular on the top and bottom of the video screen. I have to learn more about on how to make it wide screen. I know I set it for a wide screen as there is a tool for this on Window Live Movie Maker but I did not know why it still appearing  like that. Perhaps it has something to do with Blogger  configured video this way. 

Since this is my first video; I begged my husband "Steven" to be my camera man. He is not inclined with camera and video making so I had to teach him and pointed out which button doing what and we laughed and had a good time together. I found this is an easier shooting than a fashion photo shoot. Simply because in Window Live Movie Maker you can cut and trim the part of video you do not like and continue on with different shooting, and so on. One thing also I do not know what is the right setting of my camera for video shoot. So I just shoot with Auto setting. There has to be a much better setting to shoot video out door. Well, I am still learning and this is good enough for me for now.

Prior shooting the movie; I know I wanted to try and make a strawberry desert. I have been wanting to go to this strawberry farm which is situated near our home for a long time but never get to do it. So thought  the strawberry picking video is the perfect additional picture  for the desert blog post  I am about to make. 

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the movie about me going on a strawberry picking one afternoon.

Oh, I forget to mention that we had a small dinner with my in-law a few nights a go. And I served this Choc Chip Strawberry Crepes. At the end of the evening and when they about to go home he took one of my crepe desert home. That's when I knew that this desert is good. I love the combination of sour cream, cream cheese, chocolate and strawberry. You can not go wrong eating it with home made chocolate sauce either which I made for my father in-law because he loves chocolate so much!

::Recipe::

Chocolate Chip and Strawberry Crepe

Strawberry-Grand Marnier Sauce;

~ 2 cups sugar

~ 3/4 cup orange juice

~ 2 pounds Fresh strawverreids, stemmed

~ 6 tablesppoon Grand Marnier

Crepes:

~ 1 pound cream cheese

~ 1/2 cup sour cream

~ 1/2 cup convectioner's sugar

~ 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

~ 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

~ 8 ounces fresh Strawberreis, sliced

48 each 6-inch plain creapes (mine store bought)

~ 1-1/2 cups butter

As needed fresh strawberries, sliced

Strawberry Gran Marnier Sauce

To make Strawverry-Grand Marnier Sauce, in a suacepan, heat sugar and orange juice until sugar dissolves; cool. In blender, puree strawberries with orange juice mixture and Grand Marnier. Strain.

Crepes

To assemble crepes, in electric mixer with paddle attachment, mix cream cheese, sour cream, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add chocolate chips; mix just until chips are evenly incorporated. Lay 1 crepe on work surface. Place 1 tablespoon cream cheese mixture in center of crepe, top with 3 or 4 slices strawberry. Fold up bottom edge of crepe, fold in both sides and roll up to form a rectangular package. Repeat with remaining crepes. Refrigerate, covered.

For each serving, to order, in sauce pan, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat. Cook 2 crepes about 4 minutes on each side or until golden brown and warmed through. Place crepes on plate; sppon 1/4 cup Strawberry Grand Marnier sauce on op. Garnish with sliced strawberries.

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Thank you for stopping by !

Quinoa + Poached Salmon with Creamy Piccata Sauce

Tonight I had quinoa with salmon for dinner. Since hubby does not like 'quinoa', I made him a  different salmon dish. He loved it !

But mine was equally as delicious !

This dish has many surprising delicious tastes; bound together in one plate and just melt in your mouth when eating with the soft salmon meat. The dill was definitely  adds a special flavor; one can't go wrong with 'dill and salmon.' 

~Recipe~

Poached Salmon with Creamy Piccata Sauce

~ 1 pound center-cut salmon fillet, skinned (see Tip) and cut into 4 portions

~ 1 cup dry white wine, divided

~ 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

~ 1 large shallt, minced

~ 2 tablespoons lemon juice

~ 4 teaspoons capers, rinsed (mine did not have capers)

~ 1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream

~ 1/4 teaspoon salt

~ 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

1. Place salmon in a large skillet. Add 1/2 cup wine and enought water to just cover the salmon. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to a simmer, turn the salmon over, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. 2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallot and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the remaining 1/2 cup wine; boil until slightly reduced, about 1 minute. Stir in lemon juice and capers; cook 1 minute more. Remove from the heat; stir in sour cream and salt. To serve top the salmon with the sauce and garnish with dill. Note: I like my quinoa with raisins. To do this, while warm add 1 teaspoon low fat butter and raisins in to cooked quinoa and mix well.

Tip: How to skin a salmon fillet; Place skin-side down. Starting at the tail end, slip a long knife between the fish flesh and the skin, holding down firmly with your other hand. Gently push the blade along  at a 30 degrees angle, separating the fillet from the skin without cutting through either.

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Thank you for stopping by !

Breakfast Delight {French Toasts + Apple Compote}

Today is one of those days;  dark and raining ! 

I woke up and on walked slowly to the kitchen and thought to myself; was I dreaming about French Toast last night ?

Yes ! French toast !

After cutting the apples, whisking the eggs, frying the toasts; found out that I ran out of Maple Syrup ! Ooops !

Said to myself, "not too worry!"

I cooked butter and brown sugar under low heat, put dash of cinnamon and nutmeg; voila...I got myself a delicious maple syrup substitute.

And ohh, so yummy !!

- Recipe -

French Toast & Apple Compote

~ half of an apple

~ 4 loafs of white bread
~ 1/4 cup of 1% milk

~ cinnamon

~ nutmeg

~ pinch of salt

~ 2 eggs

~ 3 tbsp low fat butter for syrup plus for frying the toasts and more for cooking the apple and toasts.

~ 1/2 tbsp brown sugar

1. Cut apple into bite size. 2. Heat butter and sautee the apple. 3. Add pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg. Cook until apple become soft and tender. Put a side. 4. Whisk eggs and milk and put pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg  {I like to put a little more of cinnamon and nutmeg because I love the taste of it. Use your own judgement on this.}  5. Add pinch of salt. 6. Take a new frying pan heat the butter and dip 2 loafs of bread in eggs and fry them. Cook them on both sides until golden brown. Put a side. 7. Using the same pan as the one from cooking the apple; put 3 tbsp of butter on a low heat, add brown sugar and pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg. Stirring well until all combined about 5 to 10 minutes. 8. Arrange french toast on a plate, apple compote and drizzling with butter brown sugar syrup.

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Thank you for reading !

Chocolate Macaron Turned into Brownies Macaron

Today I felt very confidence in making chocolate macaron for the in-laws for Jewish holiday celebration "Yumkipur." A few days a go I made Pumpkin Spice and Praline Cream macarons and they turned out to be perfect macarons {here}.

But the chocolate macarons I made turned into brownies macarons. The macarons won't form feet as it supposed to be. But it surprisingly taste delicious just like chewy brownies. I can only suspect that I used an old chocolate powder that caused feetless shape of macarons. Lesson learned that never used old, damp ingredients like almond meal, flour, powdered sugar, etc. I did put the almond meal in the oven for about 3 minutes with temperature 240 deg. but I did not warm the chocolate powder to take the moist out.

Meanwhile, I took a few shots of my old 'Praline Cream with Pear Cream Cheese filling.' I have these cute little bowls  that I want to shoot and style the macarons with. So here are some pictures of them.

This is a quick post and I want to share with you what the 'failed feetless chocolate macaron but tastes delicious' looks like.

Really, they aren't so bad looking at all once they sandwiched together except they do not have feet. And tastes just like delicious chocolate brownies especially with chocolate ganache filling inside. I still want to give them to my in-laws. My father in-law is a chocolate lover. He will eat anything 'chocolate!' And I am sure he will like these 'brownies macarons.'

I have made a successful chocolate macaron in the past and in case you want recipe; you can find it here and here.

Thank you so much for stopping by !

Halloween Treats + Cake Stands {DIY}

One of the holiday season that I am not familiar with is 'Halloween.' I grew up celebrating Christmas from my father's side of the family and 'Lebaran' {biggest holiday occasion for Muslims) from my mother's side of the family. But in our country 'Indonesia,' we do not celebrate 'Halloween.'

Only recently do I feel festive welcoming the fall season. I have started to appreciate and enjoy making pumpkin soup, pumpkin cake and apple cider. I love any cake with apple and the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg when baking. There is nothing like the aroma of cinnamon and nutmeg blowing by the wind throughout your home when baking.

So yesterday was 'Sunday' and thought it was a perfect day for baking and did a few DIYs to welcome the fall season.

I did not do a good job trying to create  the Jack O Lantern's faces by piping it on the cup cakes. I thought they are quite cute and funny looking.

I know, I have too many pictures here; but I love them all. Orange is not my color but I like the colors of  vibrant orange mix with midnight blue and I really enjoyed executing this project from baking the macarons, mini cup cakes, DIYed the cake stands, styling and finally took lots of pictures yesterday.Pheww...at the end of the day my feet were killing me from standing from noon until late afternoon.

On my last post I mentioned that I picked up a few things for projects from Good Will from our last trip in Florida. So I picked up these 4 items; 2 plastic goblets and 2 plastic plates for 70 cents each. And I hand carried them all the way from Florida to New York. Yes, I am way too serious about my project.

The step by step

1. The above itmes +  Martha Stewart multi-surface acrylic craft paints color of your choice available at Michaels. 2. Brushes. I am using my artist brush. 3. Small plastic container to put the paint on. 4. Glue gun. {to join the goblets and plates together} 5. Very small artist brush to paint the chevron motifs.

Start painting 2 coats on the outside of your goblets and plates. You can give another coat if you want to be more opaque in color.

  These are what the cake stands should look like after giving two coats of painting. I later on finished painting the chevron motifs on the other cake stand pedestal. For this tutorial; I simply dip my smallest round brush in the paint and start to paint the motifs anywhere free hand on the goblets. Again I go over on top of the first paint to make it more opaque in color. Note; it is not perfect but I like the imperfection and makes it more look like hand painted which it was !

So now the 'recipes'

Pumpkin Spice Mini Cup Cakes

Makes 24 mini cup cakes.

~ 1 cup all-purpose flour

~ 1 teaspoon baking powder

~ 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

~ 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

~ Pinch of salt

~ 2 eggs, lightly beaten

~ 1/2 can of 15 ounce pumpkin

~ 1/2 cup sugar

~ 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Cream Cheese Frosting

~ Wilton Black Decorating Icing from Michaels

1. Preheat oven to 350 deg. Put mini cup cake liner in a large cup cake pan (about 24 cup cakes) set a side. In a medium bowl stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt; set aside. 2. In a large bowl stir together eggs, pumpkin, sugar, and oil. Stir in flour mixture until combined. Scoop batter with spoon in to cup cake pan. Filling in only 3/4 to the top. 3. Bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let it cool. 4. Spread with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting; In a small bowl combine 1/2 cup of cream cheese and 1/2 cup softened butter, add 1 tsp vanilla and orange color. Beat with electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Gradually add 1-1/2 cup powdered sugar, beating until smooth. 5. Fill Wilton Balck Decorating Icing into piping bag. Using no. 1 Wilton piping tip start making the design (here Jack O Lantern's face} on top the Frosted cup cakes.

Pumpkin Spice Macaron

Recipe (here) except put orange color on the meringue and 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice

For the filling I am using the same Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Frosting above.

Praline & Cream Macaron

Recipe (here) except put 1/2 tsp praline & cream essence on the meringue and a dash of cinnamon to give a little of color.

For the filling.

1. 1/2 pear; chopped finely

2. 1-1/2 tablespoon of butter

3.  1 tbsp of brown sugar

4. Lemon juice

Heat butter and put in chopped pear and brown sugar. Stirring until pear becoming soft. Let it cool and put a side. Meantime, with electric mixer soften 1/2 cup cream cheese. Put in the cooked pear and mix well. Squeeze a drop (only a drop) of lemon juice to naturalize the too sweet taste of macaron.

Styling props

~Glitter pumpkins from Michaels

~ Paper straw from Michaels

~ Bunting; DIY out of cup cake liners

Good luck Everyone and Thank You for stopping by !

Heavenly Apple Cake

The simple title of this cake speaks for itself; it's divine and heavenly delicious cake.

You can't go wrong with 'cinnamon' and 'apple'; it's just a perfect combination.

This simple cake as in it's title is easy to make and you will want to make it more and more. It is moist, melt in your mouth tasty cake. Good company with a cup of tea in the cold winter month to come or just as good to have as any days.

Oh, I have to put this image as I was playing around setting for this cake photoshoot. I think it is lovely !

I like to modify a simple cake by adding a cinnamon creme sauce. I made the cinnamon creme sauce myself; and to my surprise it tastes even better with the cake.

As you can see I am having fun doing the photoshoot and eating the cake at the same time.

And the piece of cake is getting smaller and smaller !

Did I see an empty plate ?

Recipe

APPLE CAKE

12 servings

- 2 tablespoons unseasoned bread crumbs

- 1/2 cup granulate sugar

- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

- 2 Granny Smith apples

- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick ) unsalted butter at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pan

- 1 large egg

- 1-1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- Pinch of salt

- 2/3 cup half-and-half ( I used low fat)

- 2 teaspoons confectioners' sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350 deg. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and coat with the bread crumbs. 

2. Toss together the granulated sugar and brown sugar. Set aside.

3. Peel and core the apples, then slice on apple into 16 wedges. Combine the cinnamon and 1/3 cup of the sugar mixture in a medium bowl. Add the apple wedges and toss to coat. Roughly dice the remaining apple.

4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter and remaining sugar mixture on the medium speed until light, fluffy, and lemon-colored, about two minutes. Add the egg and mix until combined. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour, baking powder and salt mixture. Slowly add the half-and-half and mix until combined. Fold the diced apple into the batter.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Arrange 14 of the apple wedges fanned a long the outer edge of the pan and place the two remaining wedges in the center. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the center is golden brown. {Note; I like my cake a little moist so when inserted tooth pick comes out clean or still with a little pieces of cake I remove the cake from the oven. I found that over baked the cake will come out dry textured cake.}

6. Remove from the oven to a wire rack to cool completely. Run a small offset spatula around the edges to release the cake from the pan and remove the springform. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar, then cut in to 12 wedges.

 Cinnamon Creme Sauce

- 2/3 cup half-and-hal

- 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

- 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix and stir together in a low heat until thickens. Do not over cook and boil the mixture.

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 Have a lovely week-end Everyone !

Lemon and Orange Macaron

The making of macarons continues. This time it's 'lemon and orange' flavoring.

For the recipe; please look at my previous page of basic macaron here. I just add lemon food flavoring and yellow food color about 3 drops. You might want to put more food color because I think they need more yellow and orange color. I put a view drops of lemon food flavoring and orange blossom food flavoring.

I might say though that I did not very happy with the butter cream filling because it is too sweet and after filling in the macaron the butter cream is melting and dripping on the side of the macarons. So what I did was I added a cream cheese of the amount to your liking. Just mix them well and refrigerate for about an hour before you put in the filling in the macarons. The cream cheese helps the butter cream filling stays nicely inside the macarons and I think it is taste better as well.

Here is the recipe for the Cream Cheese Butter Cream Filling

- 2 large egg yolks

- 3/4 cup granulated sugar

- 3-1/2 tbsp milk

- 10 tbsp unsalted butter in room temperature

- a few drops of vanilla essence

- 6 oz. low fat cream cheese

Method:

1. Beat the eggs and sugar using hand mixer until well mixed and pale in color.

2. Transfer to a pan in a low heat then add milk

3. Keep stirring until thicken like custard; then put vanilla essence

4. Remove from heat and keep stirring until custard become thick and cold in temperature

5. Meanwhile beat the butter until it looks like mayonaise then put butter in custard; keep stirring until mixed well.

6. Then put the cream cheese and mix well.

Thank you for reading !!

Ellya

Mojito

Do you have a sudden crave? Well, I did last night; a glass of mojito! The problem was I did not have any ice cubes in the fridge. We did not turn on the ice maker. I am not a fan of alcohol but I do love mojito lately as long as it is not so bitter in taste; I need a little sweetness to it.  So just now  I went out and bought some mint leaves and made myself a glass of mojito. Oh, it is so refreshing even though it is very cold outside.

Here is the picture and recipe in case you want to make some !

Recipe

* 1/2 lime cut into 6 wedges

* 1-1/2 tbsp lime juice

* 2 tbsp honey, warmed (I did not use honey because I used fresca and it is already sweet)

* 2 oz. of rum

* 4 oz. club soda (I substituted with fresca for a little of sweetness)

*Pestle or long spoon

* Martini shaker

*Rocks Glass

*Ice

1. Fill a martini shaker with 1 cup of ice. Add lime wedges, lime juice and mint. Muddle lime and mit with the pestle or spoon until well-bruised and fragrant.

2. Combine honey, rum and club soda; stir gently to dissolve honey.

3. Add to muddle mixture and stir until mixture is well-chilled.

4. Strain into rocks glass filled with ice; garnish with mint and lime if desired.

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Panzanella Bread Salad & Tomota Apple Soup

I have been craving for a delicious Tomato Soup lately. I love this recipe because it has a kick to it; a hint of sambal spice in it!. It is pairing with Panzanella Bread Salad and is definitely light, healthy winter meal.

RECIPEES

Tomato & Apple Soup

Serves 6 - 8

2 tbsp butter

1 large yellow onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, sliced

3 Honey Crisp (of Fuji) apples, peeled, cored and sliced

1/2 cup tomato paste

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp sambal (Huy Fong sambal oelek chille paste $4/8 oz.

at amazon.com or local Asian market)

1/2 dry white wine

2 16 oz. cans whole peeled tomatoes (and juice)

4 cups apple cider

3/4 cup heavy cream, divided in half

Salt and pepper to taste.

1. In a large soup pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, and a

pinch of salt. Saute for 10 minutes until pale and tender. 2. Add apples, tomato paste, mustard, sambal, and white wine. Let wine reduce by half (5 - 7 minutes). 3. Add tomatoes and cider; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for an hour. 4. Pour half of the soup in a blender. Puree with one part of the cream until smooth. Repeat with the second batch and combine it all together. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

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Panzanella Bread Salad

Serves 4 - 6

4 slices of day-old sourdough bread, cubed

1/2 cup/125 ml of olive oil

Handful of dandelions (arugula)

Handful of fresh basil

12 cherry tomatoes, halved

1 red bell pepper,  charred , peeled and diced

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

8 capers berries

1 clove garlic, smashed

3 or 4 tomatoes, halved

1/2 pound/225 g of asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 tbsp/15ml butter

15 medium size shrimp, deveined but tails intact

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 burrata cheese, mozzarella di buffalo or feta cheese

Preheat oven at 350 deg F/200 deg. C

1. Place the sourdough bread on a parchment paper line baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until the bread is golden brown.

2. Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix together the dandelions/arugula, fresh basil, cherry tomatoes, roasted pepper, red onion and caper berries. Keep aside in the refrigerator.

3. Chop a garlic clove in half, and rub it on the bottom and sides of a large bowl. While the croutons are still hot, add them into the bowl to infuse the garlic flavor. Squeeze the tomato halves over the croutons to allow their juices to mix in. Once the tomatoes have been juiced, cut up the remainder of the tomatoes and toss in with the crouton mixture. Drizzle with olive oil and let it rest at room temperature for 2 hours fo the bread to soak all the juices from the tomatoes and olive oi.

4. In a pan on medium-high heat, sautee the aspargarus in butter for 2 minutes. Season with salt and pper. Remove from the pan and toss it with the croutons. Add the shrimp to the same pan and sautee in olive oil for 1 minute, on each side. Add the garlic. Season with salt and pepper. 5. Combine the croutons and asparagus with the dandelion/arugula salad.

6. For serving; cut the burrate cheese on the serving plate, season with salt and pepper. Pile the panzanella salad and the garlic shrimp on top.

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Good Luck Every One...

Soup That Warm Your Heart During Cold Night....

I never really like soup until winter time comes, and this is one of my favorite soup during fall/winter time. To me the taste like across of banana and sweet potato. And I like it ! It is rich, creamy and sweet but not overly sweet. Do you know that pumpkin is in the Squash family ? Please read this !

I have been wanting to make this soup since last week. So I finally made it for the first time tonight. It is delicious and very easy to make.

Recipee

For the soup :

- 3 to 4 pounds butternut squash, peeled

 and seeded

- 2 yellow onion

- 2 McIntosh apples, peeled and cored

- 3 tablespoons olive oil

- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

- 2 to 4 cups chicken stock, preferably

- homemade

- 1/2 teaspoon curry powder

Condiments :

- Scallions, white and green parts, trimmed and sliced diagonally

- Flaked sweetened coconut, lightly toasted

- Roasted salted cashews, toasted and chopped

- Diced banana

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 deg. F. Cut the butternut squash, onions and apples in 1 inch cubes. Place them on a sheet pan and toss with the olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Divide the squash mixture between 2 sheet pans and spread it in a single layer. Roast for 35 to 45 minutes, until very tender.

Meanwhile, heat the chicken stock to a simmer. When the vegetables are done, put them through a food mill fitted with the medium blade. (Alternatively, you can place the roasted vegetables in batches in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add some of the chicken stock and coarsely puree.) When all the vegetables are processed, place them in a large pot and add enough chicken stock to make a thick soup. Add the curry powder, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Taste for seasonings to be sure there's enough salt and pepper to bring the curry flavor. Reheat and serve hot with condiments either on the side or on top of each serving.

Recipee from Ina Garten

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I did not have the soup with the condiments as per above recipee but I had it with crackers. And I added a swirl of heavy cream and garnished with basil leaves. The aroma of the basil leaves incorporated into the soup made the soup taste even better with a hint of basil.

Good night,

XOXO, 

Ellya