ireallylikefood's IReallyLikeFood

Vanilla Bean Caramel Dip with Sliced Apples

Thu, 24 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT

This is a guest post from For the Love of Cooking.

I was recently chosen as a winner of a cookbook & brownie mix giveaway on Vanilla Sugar. It was really cool to win this wonderful giveaway because Vanilla Sugar is one of my favorite blogs. Dawn is seriously talented in the kitchen and creates the most amazing food with awesome combinations of flavors and textures. Be sure to check our her site! Anyway, I received a box of brownies (that I can’t wait to make) and two cookbooks, Baked & Baked Explorations both by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. More Here...

Does Organic Food Turn You Into a Jerk?

Wed, 23 May 2012 23:00:00 GMT

Living in Boulder, land of the perfectly healthy, educated and morally superior, I encounter these jerks everyday.

Imagine sitting at a restaurant.

Organic buyer- Are these rolls gluten free?

Waiter - Let me check.

Organic buyer - If you need to check, the answer is no. What about substituting rice for Quinoa?

Hiking with my friend.

Her - Do you mind if we stop at the Farmer's Market on the way back?

Me - Sure, I love their veggies.

Her - I am going to make sure they don't use any pesticides or raise livestock before I buy from them.

In the local Safeway, there is a "Nut Bar" with a wall of mixed nuts in every variety. There's medical marijuana shops that outnumber Starbucks, but if you light a cigarette you are scorned.

I am all for striving to be healthy, but the moral superiority that organic eaters has always irked me. Apparently I am not the only one. More Here...

Foolproof and Easy Hollandaise Sauce

Wed, 23 May 2012 20:30:00 GMT

Hollandaise sauce is an emulsion of egg yolk and fat, and is one of the five ‘mother’ sauces in French cuisine (the others being Béchamel, Velouté, Espagnole and Vinagrette ) and it is in effect a warm mayonnaise. Since Hollandaise is a mother sauce, there are many variations and derivatives such as Béarnaise, Noisette, Crème Fleurette, Colbert, Café de Paris, Vin Blanc, Bavaroise, Choron, Foyot, Girondine, Maltaise, Mousseline, Divine and Paloise to name a few. The name Hollandaise, is thought to have come from a Dutch sauce that French cooks served to a visiting King of the Netherlands.

Oven baked salmon with foaming hollandaise sauce

My first attempts at Hollandaise sauce came about after coming back from a trip to New Zealand. More Here...

Hello Kitty Shaped Food on Hello Kitty Jets!

Wed, 23 May 2012 18:00:00 GMT

I never thought the Hello Kitty craze would go this far, but it has. Hello Kitty themed jets will be taking flight from Taipei to Asian destinations featuring a variety of Hello Kitty themed cuisine. Eva Air and Sanrio teamed up for this and I must say I am quite impressed.

More Here...

Strawberry Cheesecake Cups

Wed, 23 May 2012 15:30:00 GMT

This is a guest post from Feast On The Cheap.

Mariel here. I spent the past weekend down in Asheville, NC celebrating my best friend’s wedding. I served as her (very pregnant) matron of honor and although I moved a little more slowly than usual, I managed to keep pace with the whirring, purring wedding machine. She was hand’s down one of the calmest brides I’ve ever seen – you may know your friend like the back of your hand but you can never guess how she’s gonna handle her big day. The wedding went off without a hitch – including my speech, which I really sweated over – and we were all exhausted on Sunday, just as it’s supposed to be.

In the midst of all the prenuptial hullabaloo and packing for our upcoming move – on Memorial Day weekend, no less – I had very little time to do more than order takeout. Thankfully, for this month’s edition of Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned the infinitely lovable blog, Lick the Spoon, which is brimming with easy-as-pie desserts and treats. More Here...

Baked Pumpkin Donuts with Maple-Cinnamon Glaze

Wed, 23 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT

This is a guest post from For the Love of Cooking.

My kids wanted donuts so I decided to bake some. I found a delicious looking recipe at Taste and Tell that look perfect. They were really simple to make, smelled amazing while they baked, and tasted even better. The kids absolutely loved them and each gobbled up two. My husband thought they were delicious and I tried a small bite and thought they were fantastic too… it took all of my willpower not to eat more! I will be making these again – soon! More Here...

My History and a History of Powdered Sugar

Tue, 22 May 2012 23:00:00 GMT

It may sound strange to you, but ever since I have been eating dessert confectioners’ sugar has baffled me. “How so delicate, white powder?”, I would ask myself, watching my grandmother dust it onto little crescent moon shaped butter cookies. Some may say I was just a strangely curious child, others might agree that this was a question a foodie in the making would wonder about.

Now that I am older the answer to my question is quite simple: confectioners’ sugar, also known as icing sugar, is the finest grade of powdered sugar. It is ground granulated sugar to which a very small amount of cornstarch has been added to prevent clumping. The fineness to which the white sugar has been ground is reported using an “X” with a number in front of it. For instance, 14X is finer than 12X, and so on. 6X is the most commonly used and 4X is the coarsest powdered sugar.

Technology of the 19^th Century made it widely available, but food historians tell us that European bakers were using it as early as the 18^th Century. Not coincidentally, cake icing made an appearance during this time.

I love how you can use this type of sugar to make a variety of different icings for cakes and cookies; butter cream, glazes, etc. But, there is just something so fun about eating desserts with powdered sugar on them. Here are a few I like to indulge in.

More Here...

The Relationship Between Temperature And Taste In Food

Tue, 22 May 2012 21:00:00 GMT

A recent study published in the journal Chemosensory Perception founds that temperature plays a key role in the intensity of flavors in drinks. Researchers used solutions of varying rates (bitter, sour, sweet, astringent) and either chilled them to 5 degrees Celcius or heated them to 35 degrees Celsius. The subject then consumed and rated the taste of the solutions.More Here...

Natural Sweetener Substitutes

Tue, 22 May 2012 19:00:00 GMT

I love my sugar just as much as the next dessert queen, but sometimes it gets old. I love my butter cream and white sugar laden cakes and light brown sugar rolled snicker doodles, but lately I have been on a sort of health kick. I went from eating probably a sweet thing almost every day to a couple times a week in moderate portions. As you can see I am a dessert fiend. I have taken to researching substitute sweeteners aside from Splenda, because chemicals are no good for you.

There are endless options and countless bloggers creating recipes using such sweeteners, in addition to substituting white flour for almond flour, and so on. The thing with these sugar substitutes is that they are natural sweeteners. They are not empty calories, contrary to refined sugars that make up my favorite baked goods. I still think it is okay to have them once in a while, but these are some unique and nutritious options. And no, it is not an excuse to eat unlimited sweets. Sorry!

More Here...

Recipe: Cast-Iron Chicken

Tue, 22 May 2012 17:00:00 GMT

This is a guest post by Christie's Corner.

I’m filing this under “Why didn’t I think of this?”

This dubious looking chicken is one of the best I’ve ever had. Moist, juicy and with an impossible crisp skin. It also won me over with its simplicity. I made this in between bursts of gardening. Charmian 246. Weeds 0.

Like all good recipes and techniques, this arrived in a cirucuitous route. Karen, a fellow roast chicken fanatic, read about the method in the New York Times, who in turn described the technique as “age-old” and “classic.” The idea is to cook a whole chicken evenly using a hot cast-iron frying pan. By splaying the legs and placing them directly on the hot pan, the dark meat begins cooking before the breast meat even hits the oven. The bird emerges evenly cooked with crisp skin and moist meat. I’m sure someone is going to tell me this is how they used to do it in the 1700s or that their grandmother never cooked a bird any other way, but it’s new to me, so I’m passing it along.

More Here...