I Scream for Ice cream!

In the beginning there were simple ingredients

Things you could trust, Things you didn't have to Question

Now you have to check labels on anything you dare eat.

So in defense of MY food I decided it was time 

for good old fashion ice cream

Cream, Milk, Sugar, Eggs, Vanilla & Cocoa  

- No additives, Preservatives or other junk -

The Deets

2 Cups Cream

2 Cups Skim Milk

6 Eggs Yolks

1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder

2 1/2 Cups of Sugar

1/2 Cup Chocolate Chips

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Mix Milk & Cream with Cocoa Powder and bring to a simmer

Once Cocoa Powder is well incorporated add chocolate chips 

and continue simmering until chocolate chips are melted

Separate yoke from whites

Whisk yolks until creamy light yellow

Gradually whisk in Sugar until Smooth

Add 1/4 of cream mixture into egg mixture

Carefully temper mixture

Continue gradually adding cream mixture 1/4 at a time until fully incorporated

Return the mixture to heat, 

continue cooking until mixture reaches 170 degrees

Now for the Hard Part...The Waiting!

Let mixture cool for 30 minutes, Add Vanilla

Mix Well & Refrigerate for 4 hours

Once Mixture sets pour into Ice Cream Machine 

& proceed according to machine directions

(I'm a big fan of the Kitchen Aid attachment it's about $100)

It takes about 20 minutes in the KitchenAid

Ice Cream is Served!

*Warning* This is Super Chocolaty! I thought it was a little too chocolaty (crazy I know)

Husband said there is No such thing & loved every bite.

SO If you're into Super Chocolaty Ice Cream Give this recipe a shot.

Last Meal of the Summer

For our last official meal of Summer 

I prepared Seared Ahi Tuna Salad and Quinoa

The Salad

Organic Baby Spinach

1/2 Grapefruit (I was tricked - the label said red but it was really pink)

1/4 Cucumber

1/2 Avocado 

1/2 tsp Lime Juice

1 TBS Grapefruit Juice

1 Sprinkle of Lemon Pepper

Sprinkle of Sesame Seeds

The Tuna

1 Sushi Grade Ahi Tuna Steak

Season with Lemon Pepper & Sea Salt

Roll in Sesame Seeds

Wipe pan with oil and heat to high

Sear Tuna on all sides for 3 minutes

Let Tuna rest for 5 minutes

Sprinkle with 1tsp Soy Sauce & 1/2 tsp Lime Juice

Slice into 1/4 inch slices

The Quinoa 

Prepare Quinoa according to package directions

I make mine in 1/2 water 1/2 chicken broth & added some fresh basil

Plate & Enjoy!

Cookies Part I

Some Days you just need cookies. 

Today was one of those days.

I Love Chocolate Chip Cookies! 

Of all the desserts in the world, a perfect cookie is my favorite.

I'm pretty sure it is because I have such great memories of making chocolate chip cookies with my Dad when I was little.  My Dad makes THE BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies.  

His secret? Maraschino cherries & lots of love. 

My sis sneaking some cookie dough circa 2006?

Memory plays a big role in food choices. There are foods we love or hate based on past experiences (See my very first post for more details). Making cookies with dad was always fun. No matter how many little hands were trying to help, he always made you feel like your job was the most important part.  He never got frustrated and he never worries about the mess we made. And the best part?  He always let us eat as much cookie dough as we wanted! Oh & he did the dishes!

I don't make Dad's cookies very often, because it's a pretty sticky process & I tend to like to experiment with making my treats a little healthier.  Plus it's just more fun to make them back home with Dad. 

Tonight I used the following recipe:

1 1/4 cup mixed flour (1/2 whole wheat, 1/2 unbleached flour)

1 cup oat flour (1 cup oatmeal blended in the blender)

1/2 cup oatmeal

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup butter (2 sticks)

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp real vanilla extract

2 free range eggs

1 bag chocolate chips (Ghirardelli to be exact)

Bake at 375 degrees for 9-11 minutes

The Set up

I Love Love Love my Kitchenaid Mixer. My parents bought it for me 5 years ago when I bought my first place. One of the best gifts ever.  Also note the awesome collapsible measuring cups by Chef n. As you will note I have a thing for Kitchen tools. There is at least one kitchen tool on my wish list for every holiday.  My latest acquisition is a set of Williams Sonoma Gold nonstick insulated cookie sheets (I also got a set of matching muffin pans because my husband rocks!) Let me tell you, these cookie sheets are amazing! They really do not stick.  Your cookies slide right off, pure perfection. 

Baking away

So this was my first attempt at "Low Elevation Baking". I've always been a high elevation girl, I learned to bake nestled in the Rocky Mountains, I've been doing it for so long, that I forgot there was a difference when you change elevation. Well. Let me tell you. There is a difference.

The Proof

The cookies jumped off the pan so fast (courtesy of husband) I couldn't get a shot of the whole sheet. 

But these 4 little guys just couldn't bear to part.

Although they weren't aesthetically pleasing, they were delicious!

A few more batches & I'll have them back to perfection.

Happy Baking!

Mozzarella in the Making

I have a confession to make, I love cheese. No, I really, really love cheese.  My sisters and I are big, big cheese lovers.  We love cheese so much that fondue, raclette and cheese tastings are often part of our sister time. We love all types of cheeses, but one of our favorites is fresh Mozzarella. Nothing really compares to a fresh ball of Mozzarella. You can slice it up with some fresh tomatoes, basil, balsamic vinegar and a splash of extra virgin olive oil and make a great Caprese Salad.  You can toss it in a light pasta or bake is in perfect Italian style pizza. You can't go wrong with fresh Mozz


A few weeks ago when I decided to resurrect the blog, I thought of all the things I love about food, and one of the first things that came to mind was the discovery process - I love discovering new foods.  I decided it was time to share what is probably the best food discovery in Denver - Marczyk's Mozzarella.  Several years ago I stumbled upon Marczyk Fine Foods located at 17th and Clarkson in Downtown Denver. Marczyk (pronounced Mar-zik) is a locally owned fine foods grocery store featuring local produce, meats and cheeses as well as fine imported foods.  They also have a large wine selection (if you're into that).  My favorite thing about Marczyk is the Cheese.  Their motto is "From around the World and Around the Corner ".  What a great concept!  Literally, the best of both worlds. 



Upon my first experience in the fine foods wonderland I discovered fresh Mozzarella, made on site.  I of course had to try it.  To my astonishment and delight it was the best Mozzarella I've had outside of Italy. Since then, I have become a regular drive-by Mozzarella poacher, running in grabbing my Mozzarella and running out before I am sucked into the delicious vortex of Marczyk's other items. Don't get me wrong, I still often peruse the isles filling my basket with scrumptious delicacies, but usually I'm on a strict Mozzarella mission.

A few of the delectable temptations

A few weeks ago, I did a quick Mozzarella mission, when I got home with my bounty, I couldn't get over just how good the Mozz was (as always). I decided it was time to take action, so I sent an raving praise email to Marczyk, expressing my love of their Mozzarella, then I got brave and told them about my little blog (I was even honest & told them I don't think anyone actually reads it) and asked if I could watch them make the Mozz.  To my delight they said yes.  So I met Christopher, the head Maitre Fromager bright and early to watch the magic of the Mozzarella.   

I won't bore you with what I think is a fascinating process, so I'll give you the picture version. It all starts with fresh curds straight from Wisconsin, then the Curd is Heated.

 

    Then it rests in warm water

Then Christopher works his magic, folding and resting the hot cheese. 

 

Once the Mozz gets the perfect "you know it when you feel it" texture and shine, Christopher starts forming the Mozzarella Balls.

 

Once the Perfect Balls are formed they take a soak in a warm brine before being wrapped for your enjoyment.

The finished product.  

Here are a few of my Mozzarella Meals

Day 1 Caprese Salad

 Day 2 Mozzarella, Basil, prosciutto and tomato pizza

No matter how you slice it Fresh Mozzarella is the King of Cheese.

I'd like to send a special thanks to Marczyk for their great hospitality and great food.  Thanks for the Good Eats! Love you guys!

Fro' Yo' Yo

Now that Spring is in full bloom (minus those pesky snowstorms that keep showing up) it's time for a fair weather treat.  What's the best way to combat a heat wave? With PeachWave of course!

Peachwave is a self serve frozen yogurt in Edmond, OK.

Peachwave serves actual frozen yogurt with live cultures that is not only low in fat, but also good for you and most importantly delicious!

Peachwave has a small chain of stores throughout Oklahoma and 4 other states.  

"Our" Peachwave is located in the trendy Spring Hill Village in Edmond, OK

Peachwave has a Funky Art Deco Decor & is always packed

Don't you love the chairs?

Peachwave is unique in that you get as little or as much delicious fro yo & toppings as you want for a staggering $.33 an ounce.  The machines are set up with 2 flavors each so you can swirl your fro yo if that's how you roll

The flavors range from original tart, pomegranate, pineapple and blueberry to chocolate, vanilla, tiramisu, and my personal favorite chocolate raspberry.

I've lost count but I believe there are 18 flavors each day 

Peachwave has something for everyone 

If you're a  rich & creamy kinda guy I'd recommend the vanilla, chocolate, cookies & cream or coconut

If your more tart & tangy  I'd go for original tart, blueberry or pomegranate 

For our Fruity friends I'd recommend the pineapple - Ah-May-Zing!

As if the freedom of mixing & matching your fro yo in the Exact quantity you want wasn't awesome enough - you can personalize even more with the toppings bar

Toppings range from fresh fruits & berries to your favorite candies

While I'm a purist & like my fro yo plain I do like to mix it up.

This particular evening I divided my cup into 3 sections - Chocolate, Coconut & Pineapple

After getting our fro yo - for a whopping $3.89 for the 2 of us  I forgot to take a picture of my actual fro yo. But let me tell you, as always it was Delish!

3 more quick tips about Peachwave

1. The staff is super fun & helpful

2. They have a frequent fro yo card that gives you a discount once you spend a certain amount

3. If you want to buy me a birthday gift please buy me a Peachwave store for Denver

PeachWave is a MUST if you are ever in the OKC area

PeachWave gets a solid 5 stars + a bonus for being healthy on top of it!

Sushi Sushi Sushi!!!

How does a picky eater from small town Montana become a Sushi aficionado? I don’t know. It just happened. I think along with the rest of the Western world I first tried sushi because I thought it was exotic and sophisticated. The really odd thing is that I didn’t even eat fish the time I first tried sushi! I couldn’t stand the fish. But for some reason the thought of eating it raw was intriguing.

Now I’ve eaten sushi all over from dives here in Colorado, to the highly regarded Sushi Den Sushi Roku in Las Vegas and Kai Sushi in Maui. I’ve had great sushi, bad sushi and so-so sushi.

When it comes to sushi, more often than not I am accompanied by one of my dearest friends. We share a love of the law, fashion, hiking, snowboarding and sushi, among other things. We also share a love of men who are not so fond of sushi. As such we often spend girls nights filling our bellies with wriggling pieces of fresh fish.

Last night Mary and I went to one of her favorite sushi restaurants, Sushi Hai, which is located in the uber trendy uber cute Highlands neighborhood in North West Denver. http://sushihai.com/index.shtml As always it was a great time with great food.

Our Order was as follows:

Shrimp & Vegetable Tempura
Salmon Avocado Roll
Unagi (Freshwater Eel & Cucumber) Roll
Lobster Tempura Roll
# NINE  - The # NINE is a Crab & Tempura Shrimp roll topped with Salmon, Avocado and Strawberries.

The Sushi was fresh & flavorful. The tempura was light & delicious. The shrimp was succulent and the veggies were fresh & crisp. The vegetables included sweet potato, zucchini, carrots, green beans, onions & red bell pepper. I got quite the zesty surprise when I tried the pepper, thinking it was a carrot, but it was fantastic!

And now for the Score…

The tempura gets 4/5 Stars
The Salmon Avocado Roll gets 3/5 Stars – it was fine, not great
The Unagi Roll was the loser of the evening. It was far too fishy. 1/5 Stars
The Lobster Tempura Roll gets 4/5 Stars
The # NINE gets a stunning 5/5 Stars  Whoever thought of puting strawberries with sushi was a genius!  The #NINE was amazing - sweet & savory, fresh & fruity... In the words of Rachael Ray “Yummo!”
Over all Sushi Hai gets a 4/5 Star Rating.

If you’re in the Highlands Neighborhood be sure to check out Sushi Hai. http://sushihai.com/index.shtml

Sushi Katsu
On a more adventurous night Mary and I gave Sushi Katsu a run for their sushi. Mary had just landed from a business trip, I had just returned from DIA for the second time in 2 days unable to get a flight to OKC due to record ice storms. The perfect solution to too many hours in airports? All you can eat sushi? Ok.

As we were exploring the sushi listings at peak dinning time on that Friday night we came across an interesting listing – all you can eat sushi. We giggled and thought why not. We then embarked on a very serious mission to master all you can eat sushi. We greedily order roll afer roll, piece after piece. When the waitress came to take our order she said “Just you two?” Yes we replied. She then explained the catch to all you can eat sushi: “You must eat everything you order – no eat it – pay full price”. Having been saved from what could have been a very, very large bill, we paired down our order and giddily awaited our food to arrive.

To say we ordered a lot of food would be an understatement. To say that the sushi chefs were taking bets on how these two little girls were going to finish over $125.00 worth of sushi would be accurate (Full price for what we originally ordered was over $200 worth of Sushi!).

The sushi was fresh and flavorful. We ate our way through the Alaskan Roll, Fresh Water Eel, Caterpillar Roll, Spicy Tuna Roll, Lobster Roll, Dragon Roll, Rainbow Roll, Denver Roll, Crunch Mushrooms, Goyza, Tempura, Albacore, Yellowtail, Halibut, Scallops and a first for Mary Salmon Roe to name a few.

One of our Many Plates of Sushi

We ate our weight in sushi and almost every bite was worth it. The Scallops were not so good, too much milky sauce and just an all around off flavor. Mary wasn’t a fan of the Salmon Roe, but that was due to personal preference, not to the quality of the food. Over all the food was great and we got a kick out of the all you can eat adventure. I’m not sure which Sushi Chef lost the bet, but I’m sure he was entertained enough that he didn’t mind losing.

We Did It! Every last grain of rice! We win Sushi Katsu!
You should definitely check out Sushi Katsu http://www.katsusushi.net/

Let's Get Juiced

When I grow up I wanna be Jack Lalanne.  Ok not really, but I love juicing.  It's fun, healthy & usually pretty tasty.  Here are some recent creations:

Carrot, Kiwi, Pear, Clementine, Beet, Apple juice

The Prep

Beautiful Beet Juice

The finished product - it tastes much better than it looks

Kale, Carrot, Beet, Grapefruit, Spinach, Apple, Celery, Blueberry Juice

The Green Goodness

The final product - a little to "grassy" but still good

Here's to your health

Drink up

And she's back in the eating game

It has been almost three years since I've blogged!

To set the record straight:

No I have not been starving

Yes I still am a food snob

Yes I still critique every meal I eat

Now on with the blog. So many great places have been ignored by my blogging hiatus but in the process I have found some new favorites and some never again eateries. I have also rediscovered my love for experimenting in my own kitchen. This has led to a love of farmers markets, cheese mongers, and specialty stores. This has also led to many many pictures of my kitchen creations.

Now for the game change! This blog will now be about Food Food Food no matter how, where or how far along in the process it is in the cooking process.

Here is a little sample of what I've been cooking.

Frenched Rack of Lamb with Quinoa and grilled asparagus mushrooms and carrots

Here's a little sample of what you've been missing:

Watercourse Foods - delicious vegetarian comfort food

http://www.watercoursefoods.com/menu.php

Pho Fusion - One of my favorites - Vietnamese, Thai & Chinese cuisine

*Best Egg Rolls in Denver* Amazing noodle bowls & of course great Pho

http://www.phofusion.com/ 

Pizza Republica - Great Pizza & Amazing Tiramisu

http://www.pizzarepublica.com/

Harry’s Chop House

Harry’s Chop House
www.harryschophouse.com

When I envision a great chop house, two different sceneries typically run through my mind; the dark paneled old boys clubs of the old lawyer movies; and the simplistic “we’re just here for the food” setup of the old cowboy movies. Where does Harry’s fit in? Neither of these actually. Harry’s is a cozy neighborhood “IT” spot. The ambiance is stylish yet warm; the dining area features dark-wood furnishings, snug booths and walls mounted with amber-hued sconces. It’s a Thursday night, the house is packed and the show has been rewritten, rehearsed and is ready for applause. On with the show!

Act One: Appetizers
Scene One.
For starters I tantalized my taste buds with Yellowfin Tuna Tartare served with Shitake Mushroom Pot Stickers and a Curry Vinaigrette. The presentation is beautiful, simple yet playful. The Tartare was superb, thin and tender, perfectly seasoned. The Pot Stickers are crisp, sweet and savory. The combination of the light, refreshing Tartare with the savory Pot Stickers is unexpected yet delightful. Diva’s Dish: 7/10 Diva Stars

Scene Two.
Harry’s classic Shrimp cocktail. The Shrimp cocktail features jumbo shrimp cooked and chilled to perfection. The shrimp are firm yet tender. The sauce is a Horseradish Crème Fraîche, Herbed Tomato Coulis. The flavors are muddy, and are reminiscent of a child’s first experimentation in the kitchen, dumping everything he can get his hands on into the mix. This sauce is so awful that I would rather eat ketchup! Diva’s Dish: 4/10 Diva Stars

Act 3: The Main Course
And for the Marvel of a main course I was entertained with a 14 oz blackened Rib Eye served with Mashed Potatoes, Sautéed Mushrooms with a gorgonzola fondue. The steak is seared to perfection; the spice rub is alluring, the right balance of the beef’s natural flavors and a custom blend of spices. The mashed potatoes are creamy, buttery and melt in my mouth. The sautéed mushrooms are bursting with flavor. The gorgonzola fondue is the star of this act, rich and creamy, with earthy flavors it is a perfect companion to the blackened Rib Eye. Diva’s Dish: 8/10 Diva Stars

Diva’s Dish on Harry’s Chop House: This is a show worth a second run.