National S'mores Day!

Today (Sunday August 10) was National S'mores Day!


I started preparing on Saturday, making marshmallows. The Alton Brown recipe has been my favorite so far.

Then I made graham crackers from one of my favorite cookbooks, Homemade Pantry.

When the graham crackers came out of the oven, I set the pans on cooling racks and immediately put chocolate and marshmallow on them. This way the chocolate would melt, then cool with the cracker and become one.

I assembled them this way to transport more easily to work tomorrow.

This photos are showing me that I seriously need a better camera than just my phone if I want to take better food photos!

I really wanted to roast these marshmallows over the fire pit, but I'm having a S'mores party in a couple weeks to celebrate my birthday, so I'll wait until then. For which I have plans to make marshmallows and I'm thinking about making a S'mores tart. Graham cracker crust, chocolate ganache topped with marshmallow creme and toasted via culinary torch!

Chocolate Zucchini Cake -OR- How to use up your giant zucchini

This cake means summer, and also has been m birthday cake pretty much every year for as long as I can remember. It is a cake with no frosting, and is probably why I love cake and dislike frosting.

1/2 cup soft butter

1 & 3/4 cup sugar (sometimes I reduce this down to 1 cup when I'm going for "healthy" cake)

1/2 cup vegetable oil (you can replace some or all of this with applesauce

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup sour milk (to make this, pour a little lemon juice in the 1/2 cup and then fill with milk)

2 & 1/2 cups flour, sifted

4 Tbsp cocoa

1/2 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/2 t cloves

2 cup zucchini, grated

1/2 to 1 cup chocolate chips

 

Cream butter and sugar in stand mixer or large bowl. Add oil, eggs, vanilla and sour milk and blend. Mix together all dry ingredients in medium sized bowl and beat well into wet mixture.  Stir in zucchini.  Spoon mixture, and smooth top, into greased and floured 9 x 13  pain; sprinkle top with chocolate chips.  Bake at 325 degrees for 40 - 45 minutes.

I need to get a better camera than my phone. No frosting allowed, I love this cake!

Awesome dinner, curry and mashed cauliflower

Mashed garlic cauliflower and red pineapple curry. Eating while watching Ratatouille, quite possibly my favorite movie :)

Cook up 2 bags frozen cauliflower.
In small saucepan, heat up a couple Tbsp coconut oil and a cup of coconut milk, a crushed clove of garlic. Heat up for a few minutes.
Put cauliflower in the food processor with the liquid and blend until smooth. Add Salter and pepper.

For the curry... Coconut oil in hot pan, spoonful of red curry sautee a bit, toss in some thinly sliced onion, sliced zucchini, can of pineapple chunks after drinking most of the juice, shredded 1/4 cabbage. Sautee for a while then pour in a can of coconut milk and add a pound of sliced already cooked chicken thighs (cooked on the George Foreman). Put lid on and simmer!

I was so pleased with this dinner... deliciousness! And paired with Ratatouille?! Now I'm even more excited to cook more! Omnomnom!