Previews!

Here are some preview pictures of my upcoming posts! Will post soon. The first image is perfect for holiday gifts for your friends and teachers!

Favorite Winter Foods

Hi Everyone!

I am so sorry I haven't posted in so long. I have been very busy with school and art and college applications (yikes!).  Over my yearlong break of blogging, I still took photos and cooked food for you guys. Now that I have more free time, I am excited to finally upload some new recipes! For easier access to new posts, I will be making a Twitter and Instagram soon. Stay tuned!

For now, here are some of my favorite foods that I ate over my yearlong break from blogging...


1. Blue Barn's Winter Salad

I am obsessed with this hearty salad from Blue Barn, a charming cafe in Corte Madera's Towncenter Mall.  According to the restaurant's website, the salad is comprised of "mixed greens, arugula, dino kale, toasted brussels sprouts, blanched broccolis, roasted winter squash, pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, parmesan reggiano & meyer lemon- balsamic vinaigrette". All of the produce is fresh, the cheese is perfectly salty, and the brussel sprouts are actually appetizing. The dressing pulls all of the sweet, salty, crunchy, crispy, and chewy components of the salad together with just the right dose of lemon and vinegar flavor. Even better, its filling enough to be a complete meal; this is a first, because I usually can never just eat a salad as my main course. 

I usually like to make fun of "organic" and "sustainable" movement, not because it is a bad shift in healthy eating, but because the movement is touted and marketed towards those who can afford it. Every person should have the option to eat good food like this, not just the "food elite" like those in the Bay Area (yes, I am also referring to myself..). I also find it ironic that society pushed for technological innovations in the food industry, and are now abhorring it. 

I could go on and on about this topic, but basically I really wish everyone could try this salad. It is quite expensive at $11.75, so I don't get it very often, especially now that I am a soon-to-be college student. However, the salad is very big and easy to split with another person (except that meager piece of rosemary ciabatta bread, which is always delicious and never large enough ugh). I would even recommend going to the nearest farmer's market and just try to recreate it at home. If not, you can check out Blue Barn's complete menu. 

2. Whole Foods' Apple Pie

I know, I know, I am a hypocrite. Whole Food's and Blue Barn are "Marin Mom" food staples. But this is a shout out to any of my followers' moms who are not in the mood to make a pie and can afford not to. Pies are actually easier to make that one would think (and surprisingly fun), but I really did enjoy this pie when my mom brought it home. The pie is spot-on: the crust is the right thickness and coated in sparkling sugar, the apples maintain their bite without tasting undercooked or worse-mushy, and the whole shah-bang doesn't fall apart when sliced. Overall, it's a nice alternative to homemade pie during the holidays.

3. Now for the Real Good, Random Stuff: Chocolate-Caramel Matzo 

Looks nasty, but tastes magnificent! I made this last June, but I still have food nostalgia after eating this crunchy "cookie-candy". A holiday favorite, Chocolate-Caramel Matzo Crunch is easy to make. All you need is a couple of pieces of matzo, brown sugar, butter and chocolate chips. My recipe is adapted from Marcy Goldman's Caramel Matzo Crunch recipe on Epicurious.com. I was a bit lazy and didn't use a candy thermometer to measure the caramel; as long as it doesn't burn or look too scary as the brown sugar and butter boils, the caramel still turns out delicious! I topped mine with white chocolate chips and walnuts, but you can use whatever toppings you would like, just quickly sprinkle them on before the chocolate cools! Ms. Goldman's recipe.

4. Doctor Who Cake! Perfect for the upcoming Christmas Special!

 Shout-out to all of my Whovian fans? I made this cake a while ago, but I still love it.  I put two different blue food coloring dyes into the cake batter to get a "galaxy" effect. You can use cake mix or bake your own cake. I made a quick batch of buttercream frosting, frosted the cake, and then gently patted glittery blue sprinkles along the sides of the cake. For more drama, you can even carve the cake into a rectangle and create a Tardis! Perfect for your next Doctor Who party!





5. If you are ever in a Hangzhou, China train station...

After traveling to China for the first time this summer, I couldn't help but notice how many bakery shops were in the cities of Shanghai, Beijing, and Hangzhou. At the train station in Hangzhou, a beautiful city near Shanghai, I found these adorable panda buns in a bakery on the second floor of the train station. Look chocolate-y and sweet, right? Turns out they contain squid-ink, not dark chocolate. Bummers. The bakery's sponge cake wrapped in paper was fantastic though!

I hope you all liked this slightly arbitrary post! I am so glad to be back to Young Seasonings. :)

Warning! Still more to come! YAY

Just letting you guys know I am officially back! I already have 3 additional posts to do this week. I have some exciting food reviews to post and one of my favorite cookie recipes to show you all. It's my first day back to school tomorrow so I am dreading homework and stress and my inability to watch 10 hours of Doctor Who in one sitting... :(  That is why I am so glad to have this blog so I can ramble on about my life and eating habits...yay

Thanks for supporting this crazy person. See you soon! <3

-Emma

My Favorite Quick Dinner-Soup dee-doo-dee-doop!

Whenever my parents are out for dinner and a movie by themselves (which I love, because then I can party at home with a movie, my wii dance, homemade baked goods and the freedom to sing my heart out throughout the house), I usually fend for myself when it comes to dinner. And I do this gladly. 

When I ask my friends what they eat in a similar situation, I am surprised to here them list  frozen dinners from Trader Joe's, cereal and milk, eggs, and other foods I condemn as my evening entree. I find it much more satisfying to make my own food, no matter how ridiculously easy it is to do. 

When I don't feel like getting takeout or we don't have any leftovers, my staple ingredients in all of the "alone-time dishes" I cook for myself are:

- several types of pasta (spagetti, penne, udon, ramen, whole-wheat pasta)
-frozen or fresh peas and carrots
-leftover roasted chicken, sausage, honey-ham or other type of protein
- beans of some sort
-fresh or canned tomatoes
-chicken stock
-salad greens
-Soy sauce, teriyaki sauce (best kind!), balsamic vinegar, etc. 

With a well-stocked pantry filled with these foods, one can make just about anything! My current favorite meal is chicken noodle soup-made simply under 15 min!

ALL YOU NEED IS (serves 1-2):

1 can of reduced-sodium chicken broth (or 3 cups homemade) + water to taste (if too salty)
(or vegetable broth, or beef broth, or any kind of broth really!)
Any pasta at hand (I used Annie Chun's brown rice noodles)
an array of vegetables (carrots, peas, celery, sugar snap peas, etc)
1 small potato (optional)
Olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, seasoning, etc.

EXTRAS: roasted chicken, tortellini (instead of pasta), chopped tomatoes (make minestrone!) wonton wrappers (mash roasted chicken, peas and sesame oil into thick mixture, spread in between two wonton wrappers, seal with dabs of water)

General Directions:

1. Pour desired broth in a medium saucepan over medium heat until almost boiling.

2. Meanwhile, microwave or boil vegetables until tender but also slightly undercooked in a small bowl. Cut up potato and cook until done.

3. Lower heat over broth to a simmer. Add cooked chicken or other desired protein to broth. Add almost cooked vegetables. Add salt, pepper, garlic, and any other spice to broth. Cover and simmer for 5 min.

3. Boil noodles until al dente (slightly undercooked). Strain.

4. Add noodles to soup and serve hot!


MIX-INS and ADDITIONS (the Classic, above): 

Shake up your soup a bit with other ingredients in your kitchen. And whatever you add, make sure you also have some crusty warm bread or toast!

ASIAN SOUP:
Swap spaghetti or other Italian pastas for thick udon or curly ramen noodles.
Add a few drops of sesame oil and a splash of soy sauce to the broth in Step 3.
For protein, add small cubes of stir-fried tofu, thick portobello mushrooms, or long, stringy enoki mushrooms.

WONTON SOUP:
Make wontons with round or square wonton wrappers filled with a DIY mixture of mashed-up roast chicken, peas, sesame oil and soy sauce. Place a small portion of the filling mixture in the center of a wonton wrapper, wet the corners with small dots of water, and seal with another wonton wrapper. For an even simpler version, make the quick dumplings from a previous post and add to the broth at the very end.

ITALIAN SOUP: 
Keep Italian noodles or swap them for rice. To make lemon chicken soup, add rice, shredded roasted chicken, the juice of a lemon, olive oil, bay leaf and garlic cloves to the chicken broth. Let simmer. (this could also be considered Greek chicken lemon rice soup...)

MEATBALL SOUP: 
Add hearty meatballs to the soup by mixing ground beef, pork, turkey, or a combo, garlic powder, a bit of egg, breadcrumbs and salt/pepper together until well combined. Heat oil in a small pan and cook meatballs. Add to soup

HEARTY WINTER VEGETABLE SOUP: 
Add a can of chopped tomatoes to the broth and whatever hearty vegetable you have on hand (swiss chard, kale, fresh tomatoes, carrots, etc). Use. macaroni or other delicate pasta shapes. Add a spritz of lemon and a generous grate of parmesan cheese before serving.

Chocolate Crackle Cookies

Crackle Cookie Perfection!

Here's another great recipe I found over winter break. Roll double chocolate cookie dough in a thick layer of snow-white confectioner's sugar  and they pop out of the oven with a crispy, sweet crust and chewy, fudge-y inside. Not to mention a pretty stunning crackle-y look that is sure to win over friends and family. The holidays may be over, but cookie baking parties never have to end!

This recipe is courtesy of Food.com. Click here for the recipe.

 Note in the recipe that they omitted the added chocolate chips. After baking four batches these cookies with and without added chocolate,  I personally found the batches WITH added chocolate made a much needed difference. The cookies taste richer and the small pockets of melted chocolate hidden in the cookie are a pleasant surprise. Also, make sure to thoroughly refrigerate the dough before rolling in confectioner's sugar, or else the cookies are more likely to flatten out while baking instead of forming a nice dome-like shape.

Best of all, these cookies are ridiculously simple to make. Egg, butter, sugar, flour, cocoa powder, leavening and you have a lovely cookie!

*The following photographs were taken by me after testing the above recipe.

Did you fridge your dough?! If not, it may be difficult to handle. Thoroughly coat 1-inch dough balls with powdered sugar. The more sugar, the greater the crackle effect! 

 These are best eaten warm with a cold glass of milk!

They are also PERFECT as gifts ( I know, too bad I didn't post this before break, when people needed teacher gift ideas and holiday treats...) Whenever the season, make someone's day with a cute cookie gift. Place 6-8 cookies in cellophane bags and tie with a cute bow! 

"Pumpkin Banana Bread"

 Courtesy of Confessions  of a Chocoholic

I AM SO EMBARRASSED I AM SO OVERDUE FOR A POST! 

Dear reader (if there are any of you left) I would like to sincerely apologize for a complete lack of posts for, oh, over three months! I could go on blaming my birthday, finals week, winter break, etc but that would be a rather cruel and false attempt at condoning my bad behavior. I am very sorry that I have neglected my blog because I really love posting my food adventures and I have actually had an abundant number of recipes and pictures just sitting in my blog's iphoto album for the last two months... ugh! 


Well anyways, I appreciate any of you who still view my blog. Your support has been extremely encouraging and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for it! I have been a complete procrastinator lately so I haven't had time to be especially inventive in my culinary creations. 

Nonetheless, whilst surfing the internet for inspiration back in November, I came across this fantastic pumpkin-banana bread recipe made without butter by the fantastic food-blogger Bianca Garcia. I was quite pleased to find it because I was determined to use up a half-empty can of pumpkin which had been sitting idle in my fridge since Thanksgiving. The bread (spiked with rum btw!) came out of the oven pretty dense and lacked the sweet and perfect crumb I was looking for, however it was still very satisfying considering it was low fat and an altogether healthy treat. I made it perfect after slathering it with an chocolate cream cheese frosting (see recipe below)!

Garcia's website, Confessions of a Chocoholic, is what she calls "Part memoir, part recipe collection, and part restaurant review database", which is similar to what i've strived to post on my blog, only my blog is geared specifically towards teenagers and young adults. Her posts go beyond sharing inventive recipes: she accompanies each one with an honest, often personal story related to the food and photographs her food rather stunningly. Please check out her blog.

And to view her Pumpkin-Banana recipe,  click here. 
(All images on my post were taken by me after I tested this recipe.)

















Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting 
(far yummier than plain white cream cheese frosting, in my opinion!)
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/8 cup butter, softened 
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups confectioners’ sugar (or less, depending on your taste)
splash of milk (to thin out the frosting if it gets too thick)
few drops vanilla extract

Directions: 
1. In a medium-sized bowl, use an electric mixer to whip the softened cream cheese until smooth and creamy. On low speed, slowly add confectioners sugar and cocoa powder until well blended. Add a few drops of vanilla and a splash of milk until the frosting is your ideal consistency and taste. Spread on cooled pumpkin banana bread and enjoy! :) 


-Emma 

Nutella Cookies in Two Ways

Hi everyone, hope you all still like Nutella! I was recently skimming through the Food & Drink section of the photography sharing app Pinterest and found a must-try recipe for Nutella Cookies.  The recipe was so simple and the cookie looked delicious. Thank you to whoever pinned it!

 The first recipe below is the Pinterest recipe I found with the addition of a little cocoa powder, a couple drops of vanilla extract and a generous sprinkle of sea salt crystals. The result is a dense, chewy hazelnut-chocolate treat. The second recipe (which I proudly made up by the way) uses the same dough to make a Nutella and Raspberry Buttercream sandwich cookie.  I made both using one batch of cookies on two separate baking sheets.

Also, feel free to substitute my homemade Nutella recipe from over the summer. Click here for the link! :)

Ingredients: 
Dough
-1 egg
-1 cup Nutella
-1 (scant)  cup flour
-1 T cocoa powder
-1/2  tsp vanilla extract

Raspberry Buttercream
-1 stick (1/2 cup)  butter, softened
-1-1/2  cup confectioner's sugar (i.e. powdered sugar)
-1/3 cup raspberry jam
-1 tsp vanilla extract

* You will also need a small cookie cutter and a rolling pin!

Directions: 
1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the egg, then add Nutella and vanilla extract. Whisk some more until the mixture is well combined.

3. Carefully add the flour and cocoa powder to the Nutella and egg. Use a spatula to stir the ingredients together until they form a dense dough. It is also helpful to just dig in and use your hands to knead the dough into a ball.

4. Lay a large piece of parchment paper on your workspace. Dust with flour. If making plain Nutella cookies, simply roll small pieces into balls and then place them 2 inches apart from each other on your cookie sheets. Press cracked sea salt crystals on top of each cookie.

If making Nutella Sandwich Cookies with Raspberry Buttercream, use a rolling pin to flatten out your piece of dough into a 1/8 inch thick slab. Cut out circular cookies with a cookie cutter until you have used up all of your cookie dough. Place your cookies on the other baking sheet 1 inch apart. You may bake both types of cookies too, but make sure that they are on separate baking sheets.

5. Bake regular Nutella cookies for about 6-8 min, or until crackly and firm on the outside. Bake Nutella Sandwich Cookies w/ Raspberry Buttercream for 5-6 min or until hard on the outside and slightly chewy on the inside.

6. Transfer the baked cookies to a drying rack to cool.

6. Meanwhile, make the buttercream frosting. In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer on medium speed to cream the butter until smooth (not lumpy!). Slowly add the powdered sugar in small additions until creamy. Add the vanilla extract and raspberry jam until well combined.

7. To make a sandwich cookie, spread a small amount of frosting on one small circular cookie. Press another circular cookie on top, trying not to apply too much pressure since the frosting could spill out from the center.  Repeat this step until all of the cookies have been sandwiched!

8. Place the cookie sandwiches in the fridge for a couple of hours until the frosting firms up. Enjoy!