February Happenings

It has been an extremely relaxing but busy February so far.  How can something be relaxing but busy? Let’s just say I’ve had a lot going on, but also a lot of down time due to the crazy weather we have been having, along with events and fun things that have been really great! But also very exhausting! So there you have it, relaxing but busy.

I’ve been cooking a lot more lately and baking a little less. I am sort of gearing up for March which is filled with bridal and baby showers!  I just ordered lace fondant molds to add a delicate touch to the upcoming displays I have planned which is getting me quite excited!

Highlights of the month:

I made some Valentine’s Day Dino’s which came out a bit sloppy due to their size (way too big! I totally misjudged the size of the cookie cutters  I used, but they were yummy none-the-less).

It snowed. A lot.

Still moving into the apartment and making it feel like home. Our next project is shelves! Louis is building them from scratch, just like he did the bookcase!

I’ve been cooking a ton! Lots of warm veggie stir fries with wholesome ingredients! Delicious.

There was a knifing incident. I guess it was going to happen eventually, right?  I was rushing as I chopped ginger root. Bye bye thumb!

Valentine’s Day consisted of a red wine chicken and veggies, candles and lots of merlot! Louis surprised me with flowers and Julia Child’s “The Art of Mastering French Cooking” which I have been wanting! I can’t wait to dive in!

I made awesome chocolate crinkle cookies topped with edible cookie dough heaveness.

Louis bought a gorgeous Swarovski pendant and prep cart for my birthday, perfect for cake pop workspace!

My brother flew all the way from Florida for an overnight to surprise me for my birthday which was so exciting! Him and Marissa brought me a TV for my upstairs living room and it was so great to see them!

It was a blizzard but we all went out for Chinese food then back to my apartment for a party to ring in the big 2-5 and it was so much fun. I am so blessed with amazing people in my life!

So, the proof is in the pudding—crazy month so far! But so much fun and love in there, I really can’t complain J

Oh except it snowed, again. And again. It’s everywhere. It’s still snowing. Still in the forecast. Snow. Ugh.

Looking forward to spring!

-Elena

Unite, Love, Share, and Eat--Happy Thanksgiving

It is 7:53am on Thanksgiving morning and I feel light and energized. I ate turkey burgers and steamed asparagus all week and drank a ton of water and tea.. snuck only a few chocolate pieces! Worked out or went to yoga every day... I tried my best to save myself the calories and room for today--the best day of the year-- Thanksgiving.

My family has always been very traditional with Thanksgiving. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatos, rolls... and my Grandma Pauline's French meat pie. Oh I could eat an entire one in a sitting. Growing up she would bring three, two to serve and one for my freezer, all for me! I want to learn to make it her way soon. But I don't think it will be the same... she has to do it! I hope she makes it today and my mom brings me some! 

I am spending the day with Louis' family, who are very fun and very much into food--different foods, to me anyways. Cornbread and corn dishes, polish dishes, but mixed with the traditional turkey day fare. And I am excited for it!! 

I am contributing a dessert obviously! I made an apple crisp that is just delicious. It is my favorite recipie ever. I am very picky about my apple crisp. I like there to be a caramelized, thick topping, not a little dusting of brown sugar. So here it is! Very easy, basic ingredients but huge flavors!  My mom and I each made one last night, and here is what we did!

First, the dreaded task of peeling apples. I hate peeling apples, or anything for that matter. I have a very sharp, state of the art peeler from Cutco that Louis gave me, and it is still such a daunting task. But you have to do it! 

Next, use an apple corer and core the apples. Take each piece and cut into three so you are left with chunks.  Put these in a baking pan, then coat with cinnamon and sugar. I coat mine thick! 

Preheat the oven to 350.

Now it's time to make the topping. I like a lot of the topping so I increased everything by .5. So in a bowl, combine 1 1/2 sticks melted butter, 1.5 cups flour, 1.5 cups sugar and 1.5 egg, beaten. Add a pinch of salt and mix until it forms a wet dough. It will be sticky and buttery!

Don't pour it over the crisp! Take the dough in your hands and break into pieces over the apples. 

It should look like this before baking!

Now here is the key--Sugar in the Raw! Get some and use it in all your baking, it adds so much texture and flavor!  Sprinkle it over the dough, and it will caramelize during the baking process! Yum! 

Bake crisp for 50 minutes to an hour. It should be bubbling and starting to brown on top. Let cool then serve warm with ice cream, or (my favorite) cold!! You will not be disappointed! It is easy and amazing, so if you need a last minute recipe today, this is it!

I will post a picture of what it looks like once it's on the plate, ready to be devoured!

I can't wait to eat everything and talk all day long about my favorite subjects in the world--baking and cooking. I am thankful to have such a great guy to call mine and to be a part of his family! I will miss my own family today, especially my brother Nick who is in warm, sunny Florida and won't be making it back until Christmas! But I am thankful for all of the amazing people in my life who have taught me and guided me through this life so far. I am thankful for the ability to eat, and to be able to have such a passion and engage in it on a daily basis. 

I hope your Thanksgiving is filled with love and happiness, and of course delicious food! Take it one bite at a time, and savor the time spent with your loved ones today, because it isn't about shopping deals or football.. It is about uniting, sharing, loving and eating, of course. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

-Elena 

A Polish Hash

Happy Monday! I am feeling rested and rejuvenated after a successful weekend of errands, cooking, and relaxing!  My boyfriend and I spent a lot of time this weekend in the grocery store and local ethnic markets picking out some foods for new recipes to enjoy while sipping wine and watching The Walking Dead, which we are totally addicted to!  I know I feature primarily sweets on my blog but I do cook often and wanted to share the meal I made this weekend.  

On Saturday afternoon we were perusing the shelves of Stop and Shop when I saw perogies and instantly got a craving.  Louis is Polish and absolutely loves Polish food – golumpkis, sauerkraut, kopusta... Up until I met him, I had never had polish food, not even a perogi.  It was all foreign to me, but I am not a big cabbage person, and that is a main ingredient in a lot of polish foods, but I did grow fond of Polish sausage and perogies!

So when I saw the perogies, my craving kicked in and Louis was totally on board.  However, we left S&S and he decided to take me to Belvedere’s, a local Polish market in East Windsor, CT.  I loved walking through the aisles and not being able to read anything—it reminded me of grocery shopping in Greece!!(which was the most INTERESTING experience of my life and warrants its own blog post someday!)  The juices and spices and soups..and the Polish sausage! It all looked so good, we couldn’t even choose. We ended up walking out with two packages of perogies (one 3-cheese and one with potato and bacon), half a stick of sausage, some sesame crackers, a loaf of fresh rye bread and a package of flavor filled chocolates that smelled so heavily of liquor after opening the bag, I had to put them away instantly.. although they were tasty! Just strong.. after biting into one, Louis laughed at me and said “it’s candy made by Polish people, obviously it has vodka in it!”… I should have known!

Anyways, I created a delicious dish with the perogies, sausage, onions, bacon and sweet potato. I don’t really have a recipe… I am all about cutting up ingredients and throwing them in together with spices… measuring just takes up too much time, and this dish wasn’t going to be healthy from the start so who cares! It was the perfect Saturday night meal we needed, filled with warmth and carbohydrate goodness!  Not every meal you eat needs to be healthy! You have to indulge! It’s all in moderation.

First I thawed the packages of perogies, and chopped the onions, bacon and sausage.  I cubed the a sweet potato and a Yukon potato and threw that into boiling water with some garlic salt for 15 minutes, until they were tender but not cooked all the way through just yet.  I drained and set aside. 

I got my skillet hot and added ¼ stick of salted butter and melted that down before throwing in the perogies.  I let them brown on each side for about 10 minutes, then removed from the skillet and put on a paper towel to rest and patted dry.  Of course, a healthier route would be to boil them, but traditional perogies are browned in a skillet with onions and bacon!   

I immediately added the bacon, onion and sausage to the skillet and let cook for about 15 minutes on medium heat, stirring frequently until onions and bacon was browned, and the sausage turned a darker pink. I added spices at this stage, such as cracked black pepper, garlic salt, a pinch of red pepper flake and some parsley.

I then added the potatoes, and let them brown while soaking up the flavors from the onions and sausage.  Once everything was browned and cooked to my liking, I threw the perogies back in the pan to heat them back up.  I topped it all with a thin layer of a three cheese blend, but any cheese works.  The salt of the cheese and sausage marries with the sweetness of the perogi dough and sweet potato, and the combination is amazing!

I served the dish with a side of rye bread, and mhmm it was yummy!

  It is definitely heavy on your stomach… You could lighten it up by adding veggies like sauerkraut or asparagus, or use less perogis, but it is rare to eat this food so I say if you’re going to make it, really go for it!  It will definitely hold my craving over for a while! 

We hope to travel to Poland in the next few years and really try an authentic Polish spread!

-Elena 

The Art of Balance

I wake up on Sunday mornings and the first thing I do is cook turkey burgers… nice, thick, juicy (surprisingly!) turkey burgers with garlic, basil, red pepper flakes and some feta.  I get them going on my big stationary skillet, then I boil my brown rice and in one hour I have a delicious, 310 calorie, high protein lunch for every day of the week! Meal prep at its finest!

Then I wash all those dishes, and get started on cakes.  I bake nearly 4 cakes a weekend, some to use right away and some to freeze for upcoming events.  Cherry cake made with fresh maraschino cherries… or double chocolate cake with pudding in the recipe so it comes out so moist it’s sinful…  If I have to make cake balls, or cookies, I use my weekends. It’s therapy.  Free therapy.

I’ll admit it. I am a walking contradiction.  An oxymoron.  I know it.  I count my calories, shoot for a perfect protein/carb/fat ratio diet every day, and I don’t stray from it Monday through Friday (ok maybe the occasional Reese’s PB cup but when your coworkers have jars of them on their desks it’s hard to always say no) but I eat super clean all day, and then at night I’m baking cakes and drizzling things in chocolate and filling the kitchen with the most unhealthy foods, because I love to create desserts. Do I test them? Sometimes.. but I’ve had enough cake pops to know what they taste like.  I can create all the unhealthy food my heart desires, but I don’t have to eat it. Most of it I don’t, but some if it I do…because life is about balance.

Balance. I balance well… work with play, relationships with alone time… and I balance what I need with what I want. Oh and I balance on one leg.  Sometimes I balance on my forearm, leg in the air.  I am working towards balancing on my head.   Balance, Balance, Balance. It’s everything yoga is teaching me.  I wandered into the studio last May and had no idea what I was in for, but that class sparked something inside of me that I think was always there but never surfaced. A sort of, mental being.  A voice. It has changed me.  The physical part is hard… no one enjoys pigeon.. if you were naturally born with flexible hips that can get you into a flat split, congratulations! That’s not me though.. but I am getting there.  Yes it hurts but the mental part is tougher.  To tell yourself that you are going to stay in this pose, body wobbling around, in a 95 degree room.. to tell yourself your body is strong and this will better you… to set an intention for your practice at the beginning, holding on to it for 1 ½ hours, then leaving the room and carrying that intention with you.. is exhausting.  But I am learning the balance of life through it, and I am so thankful for it.

So that is why I don’t find my lifestyle weird, despite how others view me.  Hypocritical is not the word (I’ve been called that).  I am simply balanced.  I don’t SAY I eat healthy then make a ton of desserts and chow them down.  I actually eat super healthy and stay that way until I have a stressful day and need a friggen piece of cake. Or a glass of wine. Or hell, both! And that’s ok, because you need to treat yourself.  So I will go on making beautiful little cakes filled with calories and fat, and burn just that off my body at the gym and yoga, not gaining weight, only self-enrichment and empowerment. 

-Elena

A Cake in Uniform

A friend from culinary school approached me and asked if I would make a sampler for her brother and his fiancé.  They are having a military wedding and she thought it would be fun if she brought them cake pops styled for the Marines. It hit close to home, since my boyfriend is a former Marine and Veteran. I wanted to make them extra special.

So with the proud colors of the USA, I created these!

But I really wanted to make these special, I wanted them to symbolize the couple and the strength it takes to endure a military relationship. So I created what I envisioned would be their wedding day! 

The good buttons and red stripe of the Marine uniform and the glitzy pearls of a wedding dress, all edible and ready for admiration! 

Pretty good right? Louis and I won't have a military wedding someday, but we did get to dress snazzy for the marine ball a couple years ago! Gotta love a guy in uniform!

Anyways, the happy couple loved the treats and I will be making more for them soon!

Happy Monday! Take the week one sweet bite at a time! 

-Elena