Los Angeles Wine and Pairing Event Sept 18th - LA Tasters!

Friends of the Blog, LA Tasters is having a Wine and Food Pairing event on Sept 18th at Seasons 22.
 
If you enjoy getting out, meeting new people and love trying food one bite at a time, then
LA TASTERS is for you.

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Wow! Blueberry Octopus Cake!!!

There was this delicious looking recipe in the One Pot cookbook I got from the library.

I had fresh blueberries and all of the ingredients needed (well, not buttermilk, but you can fake that with a cup of milk and a teaspoon or two of vinegar), but I did not have a pretty bundt cake pan as shown in the picture in the book.  So, being one not to give up so easily, I found a pan that most closely resembled the the size of the one in the recipe.

The pan I found happened to be shaped like an octopus.

It was a gift from our neighbor for the kids' birthday one year.

It worked like a charm.

Who knew it would come in so handy?

I have to say, it is the best looking Octopus cake I have ever made.

Won't the kids be surprised tonight!

From the Garden

From the garden today, two beautiful green peppers.  What shall I make with these?

Here are some possibilities:

Sideways Stuffed Peppers

Chicken Fajitas

Pizza topping

Cut up with Hummus 

Roasted Peppers

Kabobs

Stir Fried Pepper Beef

Chili

Wait a minute... It's Breakfast time...

I'll make Bell Pepper Toad in the Hole (aka Egg in the Hole or Rocky Mountain Toast)!

Here's what to do...
Cut the top off of the pepper, clear out the seeds.

Slice the pepper and saute on a medium heat in olive oil for a few minutes.
I used Salt, Ground Black Pepper, and 21 Season Salute from Trader Joe's to season.

Crack the eggs carefully as you can in the middle of the peppers.
Sprinkle with seasoning.

Gently flip the egg and cook to desired consistency.
Mmmmmm, Tasty and garden fresh!

Oster Quickbake Recipe

Experimenting with the "Quickbake" settings on my Oster bread maker.

This one turned out well, good texture, holds together when sliced, nice flavor.  Based in Brioche, it is a bit sweet and seems rich, but I replaced the butter with nonfat yogurt, so it's not nearly as sinful.  Next time I may lose the sugar, too.

Here is the recipe for the 80 min. Oster Quickbake setting - if you don't happen to have this machine, bake on white bread setting in other bread makers or try kneading and cooking in the oven like other white breads.

Load ingredients into machine in this order

3 Cups Flour

1/4 Cup Sugar

1 tsp Salt

2 Eggs

1/2 Cup Plain Nonfat Yogurt

1/4 Cup Warm Water

1 TBSP Yeast sprinkled over water allowed to sit for a few minutes until bubbles start to form.

Start Machine

If You Grill it, They Will Come.

Today I stumbled upon the pre-grand opening of The Melt on San Fernando in Burbank.  Grilled Cheese on a sunny day, sounded great.  I texted a friend down the street and she met me to grab some grub.  There was a line out the door of this modern, clean shop, managed by a friendly hostess.   The line seemed to him smoothly along mostly because they distracted us with samples of soft serve as we waited.  When we got to the front, our excellent cashier explained that the menu was limited today and that it was all FREE!  I got the classic, Aged Cheddar cheese on Artisan White Bread with a Bacon "Middle" accompanied by two tomato basil soup.  Add to that a mixed Boylan Natural Cane Soda fountain Drink and I was set. It hit the spot!

From environmentally friendly packaging, to the hi-tech order board, to the extremely friendly staff, This place has it all going on.  Check it out when you are in Downtown Burbank.

Official grand opening is Sunday.

Breadmaking Again

Again, I attempt a bread-maker bread. This one tastes very good, but is filled with bad for you goodness with extra eggs, sugar and butter.  The texture is crisp and crusty on the outside and more flaky on the inside.  The recipe is close to the Brioche recipe that I make sometimes. It's OK to experiment.

Here is the recipe:

3 Cups of All Purpose Flour
1/3 Cup of Sugar (a bit less than this, really)
1 tsp Salt
3 Large Eggs
3/4-1 Stick of Unsalted Butter - Melted and Cooled
1 Cup Water
1 TBSP Yeast

Add these ingredients to the breadmaker.  Mine works Dry ingredients first, but some machines use the wet ingredients first. I add the yeast on top of the wet ingredients. Set to Basic or White Bread and push start.

Bread Machine Sandwich White Bread

I wanted a good sandwich breadmaker bread for lunch today.  I found a good Sweet Mexican bread recipe, but it seemed too sugary for a tuna sandwich.  I dialed back the sugar, added some yeast and it yielded a nice loaf with a thick crust, that sliced cleanly, and held together well for sandwiches.

Here's the recipe:

• 3 cups flour 
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tbsp sugar  
• 2 teaspoons yeast 
• 1 cup milk  
• 1/4 cup melted butter  
• 1 egg  

Layer the ingredients as your breadmaker suggests, mine uses dry ingredients first as listed.
Set to basic bread setting.

It was no Breadmaker Brioche, but I will surely make this one again.