It has been awhile since I have sung the praises of my weekly, organic produce delivery from New Leaf Grocery. It has really changed my life and introduced me to new ingredients that would not normally grace my countertops. A flavorful grab bag of grown goodies, sometimes weekly surprises are better than others. Last week’s treasure, nestled between the usual salad greens and bananas… a bag of kumquats!

They rested in my fruit bowl for a week before I took the time to figure out what to make with them. Finally I stumbled on the Kumquat Growers website and all these recipes! Since I happened to have arugula in my weekly delivery as well, this was my first experiment.

The salad was flavorful, colorful and a welcome retreat from our usual greens.

Salad of Kumquats, Dates and Shaved Parmesan

Slice the kumquats into thin rounds, discarding the seeds. Combine the arugula, parsley, dates, kumquats and Parmesan in a large bowl. Whisk together the lemon juice and olive oil; season with salt and pepper. Pour over the salad and toss. Serves 4.

It has been a long time since I played Would you Rather with you all…

In the spirit of Cinco de Mayo..

Would you rather have a lifetime supply of top shelf tequilas for free OR a magic avocado tree in your backyard that yields avocado no matter what your climate?

I tackled my first major baking project since having the baby. Wow… it took a LOT longer to get a simple cake made. Measure and sift the flour… feed the baby. Prepare pans… change the baby. You get my drift.

For people who don’t have a newborn at home, this is an easy cake that is hard to screw up. If you can make banana bread, you can make this cake! And, it is such a crowd pleaser. To tell you the truth, this is one of my top 3 recipes. I have honed it over the years and I must say, it is simply delicious. A few years ago, I planned to start an organic cake business. I tested and baked cake after cake. One night, I had visions of my first big corporate gift order and endless nights of baking the same cake over and over. Shortly after that, I opened my marketing consulting business instead - no inventory to track, get old or go bad. Coincidentally, baking has remained a passion instead of a nightmare. I do still feel a bit protective of these recipes but I suppose I will share them and some day, should I reignite the cake business dream, you will all share my secrets!

Heavenly Banana Cake
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups cake flour, sifted
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg + 1 yolk well beaten
1 cup ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sift flour once. Put in a bowl with other dry ingreindents and mix them all together with a whisk. Cream butter and add sugar gradually. Add eggs and beat well. Add mashed bananas and beat again. Add flour to mixture alternately with the buttermilk, a little each time. Beat after each addition until smooth. Add vanilla and mix in. Bake in 2 greased round cake pans (or line bottom of each pan with parchment). Cakes should bake about 25 minutes. Watch them for light brown top - toothpick should come out of the center clean. Cool cakes in pans for 10 minutes then turn onto a rack to cool completely.

Cake Flour Substitute: If you find yourself without cake flour, fill the one cup measure with 2 Tbsp corn starch and then fill with regular flour

Super Special Cream Cheese Frosting
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
3 ounces cream cheese softened
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon pure maple syrup
1 Tablespoon sour cream
3 to 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Pecans or walnuts (optional - see assembly)

Beat together butter and cream cheese. Mix in next three ingredients. Add sifted powdered sugar little by little until stiff enough to frost cake.

Cake Assembly
I frost the middle and top of the cake only. Then sprinkle the top with pecans or walnuts. For me, it creates a better frosting:cake ratio and it’s easier! If you want to frost the sides too, double the frosting recipe.

Three weeks ago, Vivian Marie joined the Whipped household. Two weeks past her due date and after about 40 hours in the hospital, our little procrastinator came into the world on April 6. She dodged her daddy’s dark, Greek looks and surprised us with red hair like her mama. Starting at 9 pounds 6 ounces, she has continued to gain weight and clearly likes to eat. yippeeee! We don’t accept picky eaters around here.

I am still hot on the open-faced sandwich kick. Partly, I am trying to reduce the carbs and hopefully in turn reduce a few pounds. Also, I have found a little cheese on top and a short stint in the broiler makes such a yummy sandwich.

For some reason, when I make reuben sandwiches at home, I always substitute coleslaw instead of sauerkraut. I love a traditional rueben and enjoy sauerkraut but it is just one of those things that doesn’t make it into my kitchen. A little corned beef, thousand island dressing and rye bread and you have yourself quite a lunch.

Pseudo-Rueben Sandwich
rye bread
corned beef
coleslaw
swiss cheese
thousand island dressing
(or make your own with equal parts mayonnaise and ketchup with some diced pickles added)

Spread the bread with the thousand island dressing. Top with corned beef, coleslaw and then top with cheese. Broil or toast sandwich to melt cheese on top.

A perfect sip of coffee tastes delicious. Perfect coffee soaked in an almond biscotti? Even better. I feel taken advantage of when I buy a biscotti at a coffee shop and it isn’t crunchy enough to be dunked for a good soak. The cakey biscotti get too soggy and sometimes even break off and slowly sink to their disintegrated death at the bottom of your cup. Tantrum ensues.

In Italian, the word “biscotto” means “biscuit” or “cookie.” More specifically, biscotti are named according to their original method of baking. The root words “bis” and “cotto” literally mean “twice” and “baked.” (I am just full of information today!) It is this important twice baking step that will provide you with the crunchy, dunking biscotti that I love so well!

Biscotti will keep in an airtight container for about a week. So, if you live alone, don’t be afraid to make yourself an entire batch. You’ll work your way through them. Also, these cookies are a great baked good to ship as gifts since they last so long.

Italian Almond Biscotti
1 cup almonds with skins
2 cups unbleached flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
3 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-3 teaspoons milk (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread almonds on baking sheet and tast them until fragrant - 5-6 minutes. Let them cool and then coarsely chop them. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in mixing bowl. Add 2 of the whole eggs, the egg yolks and vanilla and mix together with an electric mixer until just combined. Dough will be dry but should be able to be formed into a cohesive log. If not, add a teaspoon of milk at a time until just combined. Add almonds and mix in.

Turn dough onto a floured surface and work and divide in half. Shape into a flat log about 3 inches wide, 10-12 inches long and less than one inch high. Place logs on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Beat the remaining egg and brush the logs with the egg. Bake for about 30 minutes or until logs are firm to the touch.

Remove logs and let them cool on a rack. Slice the logs into 3/4 inch thick slices. Lay them on their sides on the baking sheet. Bake for another 10-15 minutes or until crisp. Cool again completely.

Variations: Instead of almonds, you can add dried cranberries and orange zest. Or, dip the biscotti in your favorite chocolate.

I am thrilled to welcome my first guest blogger, Monica. My dear friends, Josh and Monica, who I miss like crazy, are living in Thailand for two years. Monica was kind enough to share photos and thoughts on the changes in her daily eating while living abroad.

If I had to summarize Thai food in one word it would be fresh. Whether it is meat on a stick, a plate of som tom, or a simple stir-fry, everything still tastes like it should. For minimal cost and effort one can eat healthy, flavorful food all of the time. Thais eat several, small meals a day, stopping at food stalls whenever hunger calls. For about 25 baht per serving, roughly 75 cents, one can stop frequently to satisfy any craving.

Thais typically start the day off with a bowl of noodle soup. To order, one simply identifies their noodle and meat of choice. Noodles are either thin (sen lek) or wide (sen yai) rice noodles or wheat noodles (bamee). Meat is typically chicken (gai) or pork (moo) and if you’re lucky a few intestines may be thrown in for a little extra flavor. Four condiments are usually added to the soup by the individual to taste: sugar, fish sauce, vinegar, and chili (and sometimes peanuts).

After breakfast, it’s anyone’s call. The staple is rice: either white rice (khao suey, literally “pretty” rice) or “sticky” rice (rice prepared by steaming it in a bamboo basket for over eight hours). The flavors can be as simple as a stir-fry of veggies flavored with ginger and soy sauce or as complex as those found in a beef salad (nom tok) prepared with lime juice, red onion, sea salt, cilantro, and fish sauce. Our favorites include perfectly fried chicken, amazingly grilled fish, som tom (papaya salad with a “dressing” made from tamarind juice, chili, lime juice, cane sugar, and fish sauce), and noodle soup with “red” pork (moo deng).

Desserts in Thailand are usually variations on one theme: gelatinous rice, coconut, and lotus or taro held together in a banana leaf. Baked goods are few and far between. Not having quite acquired a taste for these types of sweets, I turn instead to the fruit in order to satisfy my cravings. For 10 baht one can grab a half of pineapple, mango, papaya, or watermelon (to name only a few) each sweeter than the next. Fruit carts are ubiquitous on the street and ready to serve up nature’s candy anytime. Bananas and oranges are often also bought in bulk and make up in-between snacks throughout the day.

I honestly can say that I am never bored of Thai food. It offers so much variety and reaches far beyond what I believed Thai food to be from my experiences in the States. If I was forced to identify something that I miss from the States it would be wine. What we would consider a cheap bottle of wine in the States may run upwards of 20 USD here. But, I’ve taken to drinking beer, mostly Chang, a local favorite, which satisfies thirst wonderfully after a long, hot day. Cheese and dairy are also missing from Thai cuisine. So, munching on that brick of brie before dinner is only an option if you’re willing to hand over the cash at the grocery store stacked with imported goods. Instead, we simply stick to the local, fresh (and cheap) food which never fails to hit the mark.

The world is so big, filled with layers to discover. I just love it when a little window into a new place opens and you learn about something that you never knew existed. I had just such a finding today. There is an article in the Wall Street Journal on the front page about the Baking World Cup. Since 1992, every 3 years, international teams of bakers gather to compete in a “baking marathon.” The artists must produce perfection in three categories - baguettes, yeasty pastries and a freestyle or “artistic” piece for panel of judges (which apparently range from a map of France crafted with a scalpel to full bread statues of sexy women).

After further reading on the Chicagoist, I found that a fellow Chicagoan is heading to France to represent the USA and uphold their championship status. That is right… Americans won the Baking World Cup last time. Hard to believe from a country with aisles full of preservative-pumped, plastic-enshrined loaves, but, also somewhat encouraging.

Although I enjoy a good sports match, I would take a seat in the stands of the Baking World Cup any day over most major events - including the Superbowl or the perhaps even the World Series… unless the Cubs were playing. I am dying to see how this whole thing goes down. Is there a large journalist section? Spectator’s arena? Announcers?

Commentator #1: I don’t know Pierre, it just seems to me that Paul from the American team is just not kneading the dough with the same gusto we have seen in the past years.

Commentator #2: It really is anyone’s game this year….

The photo above has nothing to do with the Baking World Cup. But, who wants to read a story without a visual?! It is a delicious olive loaf I ate in San Francisco while visiting my friends Stephen and Molly.

Lately, I have been around the house a lot and have taken to grazing all day long. Little nibbles of delicious flavors keep me going from hour to hour.

One of my latest food discoveries has been Red Anjou pears. They have been arriving in my weekly, organic produce delivery and come from this farm in Washington. Althought I haven’t made it yet, their site has a nice looking red pear pie recipe with dried apricots, pecans and cinnamon.

I read that the Red Anjou isn’t much different than its yellow/green counterpart but I would disagree. The texture seems nicer and maybe it is just the beautiful color that has me excited but I swear they taste better!

For this snack, use as sharp a cheddar cheese as you can find sliced very thin between the pears and the toast. It is a fabulous juxtoposition to the sweetness of the raisins, pears and honey. Of course, you could make a number of variations of this using different breads, apples or pear varieties.

Toast your bread. Place thin slices of cheddar on the toast and let them melt slightly. Top with thin pear slices and drizzle with honey. mmmm…..

Whew… nothing like a cookie cutting and decorating project to keep you busy for awhile. I thought these bunnies and chicks would never end. Incidentally, this recipe yields about 5-6 dozen small cookies.

Over Christmas, my sister made these cookies. I chose one off the platter because it looked so pretty. I am a sucker for sprinkles. I ate about five more because they actually tasted so good! I’m not sure of your experience, but often the cookie cutter cookies look fun but don’t taste much like anything. Thanks to the sourcream in the dough and almond extract and buttermilk in the frosting, these are a bit cakey and much more flavorful. One of the reasons I love buttermilk and sourcream in recipes is that it often yields a less “ultra-sugary” sweet treat.

The frosting is a bit thicker than most I have used so it is more of a spreading job than a cookie painting event. Extra detailed cookie cutters probably aren’t a great match for this recipe as the thicker frosting hides some of the detail of the cookie shape. For me, the flavor trumps this concern!

Sour Cream Rolled Cookies
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
4 1/2 cups flour

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, then sour cream and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients together seperately. Add dry ingredients and mix until combined. Roll out fairly thick. Cut wtih large cookie cutters. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or spray. Bake at 325 degrees for about 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool cookies completely before frosting and decorating.

Almond Cookie Frosting
1 stick margarine at room temperature
1/2 cup Crisco
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp almond flavoring
2 lbs. powdered sugar
Milk or Buttermilk added to desired consistency

Cream margarine and shortening. Add flavoring and gradually beat in powdered sugar. (it gets very dry) Add milk or buttermilk one Tablespoon at a time to get to desired, spreadable consistency. Separate and add coloring as desired.