GOOP Junger Detox

Just a few of the foods I've been juicing, putting into smoothies, etc.

6 days ago, my friend Kathryn and I decided that we wanted to do a cleanse. Now, I know that there is no way I could do the master cleanse. Lemon water with syrup and cayenne pepper? and laxatives? Gross. I subscribe to Gwyneth Paltrow's newsletter GOOP. I remembered reading about a 7 day version of the Junger Cleanse that she had done after new year's one year. I went to the GOOP website, found that particular newsletter, looked it over, and decided that this was a reasonable looking cleanse. It's only 7 days long, and you get to eat one solid meal a day! I'm currently on day 6 of this program. Basically, I have a fruit, rice milk, protein powder, and greens powder smoothie every morning for breakfast. For lunch, I have a solid meal consisting of chicken, fish, or salad. Then dinner is either soup or juice.

I've been juicing things I never thought I'd eat, such as beets and kale. I think I've had more vegetables in the last 6 days than I've had in the last five years. I feel quite healthy and energized. In fact, I'm surprised by how good I feel. I'm also surprised that I like beets. This has been an interesting learning experience for me. If anyone is thinking of doing a cleanse, I absolutely recommend this one!

Here's the link to the newsletter:

GOOP Detox

The beet, carrot, apple, lemon, ginger juice is by far my favourite one!

Leaving the Kitchen: Calle Ocho

Today, I partook in my first ever boozy brunch. My friend Yvonne had made a reservation at Calle Ocho a couple of months ago and invited our friend Kathryn and me to join her. Their deal is that complimentary sangria is served throughout your brunch. This was not your typical, sloppily made, somewhat mediocre sangria. It was fantastic, and you could order from 8 different flavours of sangria! My favourite out of the flavours we tried was called Blanca, and it was made with white wine, brandy, fresh fruit, and a splash of spirits.
I loved the presentation of the bread basket. They served an array of breads in a cuban cigar box, with a side of strawberry butter. I love strawberry butter, but there aren't a whole lot of places that serve it. Also, the cigar box was such a cute touch.
No good brunch is complete without good friends and good conversation! I love these girls!

We all shared a side of incredible home fries.
I got their take on steak and eggs, called Vaca Frita. Steak and eggs can be an overwhelming dish, but this was actually a perfect amount of food. The latin rice that came with it was one of the best parts. The skirt steak was flavourful and the fried eggs were done perfectly. I tried to get a little bit of everything on the plate in each bite.
Yvonne ordered the Tortilla Espanola, a sort of Spanish frittata. I tried one bite of it, and it was quite delicious.
I didn't get a chance to try any of Kathryn's Pollo Ranchero, but it looked amazing. We really couldn't find anything to complain about with this restaurant. The food and drinks were tasty and the presentation was beautiful. That's probably why you have to make reservations about 2 months in advance.

Calle Ocho is located inside of the Excelsior Hotel at 45 w 81st Street

between Columbus and Central Park West

Happy Valentine's Day!

I've got 15 minutes until Valentine's Day is over, so my title for this post is just barely legitimate. As everyone well knows, today is Valentine's Day. For the most part I think it's kind of a silly holiday, but that doesn't mean it can't be a fun one! Pink is one of my favorite colors, and I love a pretty decoration as much as any girl, so I do rather love the design scheme that generally comes with this holiday.
Every year, my mom sends me a Valentine's Day package. Last year it contained heart shaped measuring cups (as seen in the above picture). This year it contained thin mints and a bottle of one of my favorite salad dressings. Cookies and salad dressing may seem like an odd combo for a Valentine's Day gift, but they were much appreciated. There are few things that make me as happy as a thin mint. Now I just have to be careful to ration them out and make the two boxes last as long as possible. I can never seem to find thin mints in New York. Girl scouts can't exactly go door to door here, so where do they sell their wares?

In honor of the holiday, I decided to bake heart shaped sugar cookies. I was too lazy to make the frosting that goes with the cookies, so I just decorated them with multi-colored sugar flakes. The sugar flakes do give the cookies a pretty, festive look, and take way less decoration time than frosting!

I enjoyed these with a delightful mug of milk. The mug shown here is a "hug mug" from Max Brenner. You can hug it with your hands! I thought that would be a cute compliment to my heart shaped cookies. Hug mugs are also a pretty good gift idea for Valentine's Day, especially if your loved one enjoys drinking coffee or tea!
Sugar Cookies

recipe adapted from 17andbaking

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

2 eggs

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the sugars and the butter until fluffy.

Beat in the vanilla extract and the eggs, one at a time.

In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients, then gradually mix into the butter-sugar mix until just blended.

Flatten the dough into a disk, cover in plastic wrap, and cool in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, or store in the freezer for up to a week.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4" thickness.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut with a cookie cutter and transfer to ungreased baking tray using a spatula. Sprinkle sugar flakes on cookies.

Freeze these cookie shapes for 15 minutes before you bake them to help preserve the shapes.

Bake for 10-15 minutes (depending on cookie size) until edges are lightly golden.

Cool on tray for 5 minutes, then cool completely on wire rack.

Enjoy them on your own, or with a valentine!

CHALLAH

When we were much younger, my parents used to take me and my sister to Shabbat services. Back then, I didn't really pay attention to services. I would always bring a book and read the whole time. If I forgot a book, I would sit and read my favorite Torah passage (the story of Joseph in Egypt), whether it was what the Rabbi was talking about or not. My favorite part of going to services happened when the service was over. Everyone would go out into the lobby and eat challah and drink grape juice (or wine for the adults). I love challah. These days, I appreciate Shabbat services for more reasons than the challah, but that doesn't mean I don't still look forward to eating challah on Shabbat.

This was my first adventure in baking challah on my own. It was intimidating, but I have to admit that I'm pretty impressed with myself. It's not as good as the challah from the bagel shop in Houston (their challah is truly the best), but it's one of the best homemade challahs I think I've ever had. All the leftover challah made for some pretty sweet french toast.
I did find the braiding instructions to be a bit challenging, but I found a youtube video that showed you how to do it, so I got some nice braids in the end.

Challah

recipe from SmittenKitchen

Ingredients:

1 1/2 packages dry active yeast

1 tablespoon plus 1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil plus some more for greasing the bowl

5 large eggs

1 tablespoon salt

8 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl dissolve the yeast and 1 tablespoon of sugar in 1 3/4 cups lukewarm water.

Whisk in the oil and then beat in four eggs, along with remaining sugar, and salt.

Gradually add the flour.

When dough holds together, turn it out onto a floured surface and begin kneading.

Knead until smooth.

Clean out the bowl and grease it really well.

Return the dough to the bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it rise in a warm place for about an hour, until doubled in size.

Punch down the dough, cover again, and let rise for another 1/2 hour.

Cut dough in half, and break each half into six pieces.

Then, use this video to braid it.

Beat the remaining egg and brush it on the loaves.

Let the loaves rise one more hour.

Preheat oven to 375 and brush loaves with egg wash again.

In the original recipe it says to bake the loaves in the middle of the oven for 30-40 minutes. Mine was decidedly done after 15 minutes. So I guess, just check on the bread after 15 minutes and if it still needs to cook more, leave it in.

Cool loaves on a rack.

Enjoy!

Salmon Wellington with Dijon Whipped Cream

A while back, I saw an incredibly good looking recipe for beef wellington. I wanted to make it so badly. Unfortunately, it involved meat and dairy being cooked together, meaning that I couldn't cook and eat it. When I was home my mom mentioned that she had found a recipe for salmon wellington that she was interested in trying. Of course, I immediately jumped on that idea. While I may not be able to mix meat and dairy, I can mix fish and dairy!
We enjoyed this recipe so much that we made it multiple times during my short, three-week stay in Houston. The leek and onion mixture just might be the best part. We were worried that the salmon might get overcooked, but it was cooked perfectly and the leek mixture gave it the perfect amount of extra moisture.
This dish also looks so pretty!

I didn't get a picture of the Dijon Whipped Cream, but it was the perfect accompaniment to the salmon

Salmon Wellington

recipe from Food Network

Ingredients for Salmon Wellington:

6 tablespoons of butter

3 leeks, washed and sliced

1 red onion, finely sliced

2 tablespoons dried tarragon

1/2 cup white wine

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

2 puff pastry sheets, thawed (I used Pepperidge Farm)

flour for dusting a surface

1 egg plus 2 teaspoons of water for egg wash

1 3-lb salmon fillet, skin removed

Ingredients for Dijon Whipped Cream:

1 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper (the original recipe suggest using white pepper so that you don't see black flecks in the whipped cream, but it makes no difference in taste if you use black)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.

Add the leaks, red onion, and tarragon and saute until the onion mix is soft. This should take about 10 minutes.

Add the wine, raise the heat to high, and bring to a boil.

Let the liquid cook off, and then add salt and pepper.

Remove from the heat and set aside. Let this mixture cool before using.

Unfold 1 pastry sheet and lay it on a slightly floured surface.

Brush 1 edge with egg wash and overlap the other pastry sheet by about 2 inches.

Roll this pastry out until it's big enough to fold around the salmon.

Spoon the cooled leek mixture down the middle of the pastry, place the salmon on top of the leeks, and fold the pastry around the salmon.

Egg wash the edges to seal and press the well.

Place the whole thing seam side down on a sheet pan. Brush the top with egg wash and place in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until the pastry is puffed and golden brown.

While the salmon is cooking, prepare the Dijon whipped cream.

Pour cream into a chilled, stainless steel bowl and whisk until soft peaks begin to form.

Add the mustard, salt, and pepper, and continue to whisk until stiff peaks form. Refrigerate until ready to use.

After removing the salmon from the oven, let it sit for 15 minutes before slicing. Slice and serve with Dijon Whipped Cream.

Double Chocolate Cherry Truffle Cookies

I love chocolate. Specifically, I love dark chocolate. At school there's an administrator who has a candy bowl, and the best days are days when the candy bowl contains dark chocolate (and sour punch straws). Over break, my mom and I were trying to come up with some good, new, festive cookie recipes to make for our chanukah brunch. While my mother doesn't like chocolate, the rest of my family does, so I gave this recipe a try and it was a huge success. Considering the ingredients that go into it, I don't see how it could possibly not be a a success.

(mmm...yummy melty chocolate!)

Posting over the next few weeks may prove to be quite difficult. I have grad school auditions in February (scary!), and competitions coming up in June (assuming I get into them). These things will require a lot of practicing. Luckily, the orchestra office gave me a break this semester and gave me almost no orchestra! I shall try to find the time to cook lots of yummy things and share them with you!
These cookies are amazing with a glass of milk!

Double Chocolate Cherry Truffle Cookies

recipe from 17andbaking

Ingredients:

1/2 cup and a tablespoon of all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

5 oz bittersweet chocolate

4 oz unsweetened chocolate

8 tablespoons of butter

4 eggs at room temp

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 tablespoon freshly ground coffee

4 oz semisweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup dried cherries, chopped

Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cream of tartar. Set aside.

Melt bittersweet chocolate, unsweetened chocolate, and butter in a metal bowl set over a pot of simmering water.

Stir frequently until melted and then remove from heat. Allow to cool for about ten minutes.

Meanwhile, beat eggs with mixer (fitted with whisk) on medium speed. Add sugar and beat until eggs triple in volume and hold the line of the whisk. This should take about 10 minutes. Add ground coffee and beat for another minute.

Add the melted and cooled chocolate to eggs on low speed.

Beat until incorporated.

Add dry ingredients, chocolate chips, and dried cherries. Beat until just combined, making sure not to overmix.

Finish mixing it all together by hand with a rubber spatula.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Scoop batter into fairly large mounds (2 inches apart), then cook for about 12 minutes.

Allow cookies to cool and then enjoy!

Apple Latkes

Happy belated Chanukah!During my winter break I did a lot of cooking. I also did a lot of practicing, reading, and tv watching. So I didn't quite get around to blogging about my recipes. I'm back to new york now and plan to blog about a few recipes before I get back to real work.
I've never really liked latkes. That's because your traditional latkes are potato latkes and are often made with a store bought mix. Ew. When I saw this apple latke recipe, I couldn't resist giving it a try. My family had a chanukah brunch on christmas day, providing me with the perfect opportunity to make these.
These latkes were delicious and sweet. I finally found a latke that I liked! My dad, who also doesn't usually like latkes, loved these. We did end up also trying a potato latke recipe that I had to (begrudgingly) admit that I liked. These apple latkes are definitely my favourite though!

Apple Latkes

recipe from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 lb Granny Smith Apples (2 or 3)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 large eggs

butter for frying

crème fraîche for serving

Peel and core the apples and then grate them (I used a cheese grater).

Transfer grated apple to a clean dishtowel and wring out as much juice as you can.

Transfer grated apple to a medium bowl and toss with lemon juice.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cinnamon, and baking powder, then toss with the apple and lemon mixture.

Whisk eggs in another dish until lightly beaten, then mix into apple, flour, lemon mixture.

Heat a large skillet to medium heat and coat with a pat of butter.

Drop tablespoons of apple batter in little piles on the skillet and gently press flat with a spatula.

Fry until nicely browned underneath (4 or 5 minutes) and then flip. Drain briefly on paper towels.

Add a pat of butter to the pan between each batch of latkes.

Serve with crème fraîche!

You can keep latkes warm in a warming drawer or heated oven (200 degrees) for up to an hour!