Those of you who follow me on Facebook know that I spent this weekend with an organization called New Day For Children, an aftercare facility for several girls rescued from sex trafficking. A couple of friends and I were invited to visit the girls for a weekend. Deann, Elba, and I have very different strengths. My strengths are obviously cooking (yay for food!) and math, so I offered to whip up two meals with the girls and help them with their math homework. Deann is great with science and make up, so she tutored the girls in science and then shared some beauty tricks. Elba is a connector and was able to chat with the girls for hours on end to make them comfortable with us and learn more of the girls’ interests, ideas about the world, etc.

Since food is my thing, I offered to prepare dinner both nights that we were there. I figured preparing dinner together would be an easy way for me to engage with the girls while doing something useful. Here was our menu:

Friday night: 

homemade pizza dough + this classic pizza sauce + various toppings
my all time favorite fall and winter salad
dessert (as chosen by the girls): these chocolate cakes and these balls

Saturday night: 

my favorite ever minestrone
no knead bread
dessert: pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

I had no idea what I was getting into when I decided on this meal plan. I’ve cooked with other people before, but I don’t do it often. Most of the time, cooking is a solitary activity for me. In this case, not only was I cooking with a group of people, I was also cooking with a group of kids who had no idea how to do basic things like measure flour or double a recipe. About 15 minutes into our pizza making experiment, I realized that I had to make some changes immediately if we were going to eat before midnight. Eventually, our dough and ingredients came together and the girls were delighted to make their own pizzas. These girls have very little choice over what they eat since food is served cafeteria style. To make their own pizzas and to decorate them however they wanted was a big deal! They shaped their pizzas into various designs, stuffed the crust with cheese, slathered the dough with pizza sauce or pesto – or both! – and loaded them with cheese and other ingredients (including the apples and pears from the salad!). As we removed the pizzas from the hot stone, the girls declared them masterpieces and devoured them in minutes. It was fun to watch so much excitement around something so simple!

I let one of the girls decide what we would serve for dessert that night. Knowing that not everyone shares my dessert preferences (chocolate!) I brought ingredients for several recipes. The girl in charge of dessert chose my favorite chocolate cakes…. and ruined them. To be fair, the recipe does call for whipping egg whites to stiff peaks, something I had completely forgotten until I was trying to troubleshoot why the cakes had crumbled had crumbled into pieces like dirt clods. I wasn’t about to let her creation go to waste so I suggested we crumble all the cakes and serve them as “brownie bits” over ice cream. Success! The girls don’t often get dessert, so there were no complaints about our dirt clod ice cream sundaes.

I had prepped the no knead bread on Friday evening for Saturday’s dinner, but I quickly realized that we were going to have a problem. Their kitchen is about 50 degrees, which is not warm enough to proof bread. I decided to put the dough buckets in a warming oven. When I returned the next day, the dough buckets were literally steaming. The yeast was surely dead as the dough looked more like bread soup than dough. I am fairly confident that these girls don’t eat homemade artisan bread very often, so I hoped that I might be able to salvage the dough. My afternoon schedule was double booked, so I attempted to cook the bread while simultaneously doing math tutoring in another building. Every 15-20 minutes I sprinted from one building to another to remove a lid or remove a cooked loaf and start more dough. Needless to say, we ended up with hockey pucks. We found a bread knife that could saw through the burnt crust and chopped the bread into small pieces for dunking in the soup. The girls were none the wiser. Mental note: if I want to make bread there in the winter, I will need to come up with a solution for letting the dough rise!

The minestrone was a huge success even though the girl in charge of measuring the spices decided to put her own twist on the recipe and double the pepper. The purist in me was a little mad that she has messed up MY recipe, but I decided to shrug it off. One girl was in charge of grating cheese to sprinkle on the soup. These girls love cheese, so there was no sprinkling of cheese… there was only piling on of cheese! One of the leaders even came to us with a plate and asked if she could have a plate of shredded cheese. I was amazed when this container, which was filled to the brim, emptied in minutes!

There were so many hilarious moments from this weekend that I want to share. A photo journal is the best way to do so!

Our friend Justin who arranged our visit to New Day assured us that there was no snow in the forecast for the weekend. Riiiiight.

This sweet girl came out of the freezer with a pained look on her face. We asked her what happened. She explained that when she was in the freezer she wanted to see just how cold the poles in the freezer were. My friend and I looked at each other and gasped. Apparently this girl has never seen The Christmas Story (remember the scene when the main character sticks his tongue to a pole?), because she just reenacted it. This was a rather painful lesson for this girl to learn!

The first night we were at the ranch, I taught one of the girls the proper way to measure flour. On the second night I watched her teach another girl the proper technique for measuring flour. “No, no, no… this is how you measure flour! I’ll show you!”

This is my friend Deann using a food processor to shred cheese for the first time ever.  She was so ecstatic. She looked at me and exclaimed, “No wonder you cook everything from scratch! You have all these cool tools that make it easy!” Yup…. if I had to shred cheese by hand, I’d order takeout too.

Got this email from my mom the other day:

Need I say more? Delicious, to die for, scrumptious, out of this world, heavenly. I am speaking of the chocolate cookie you sent home with your dad yesterday. A day old and still yummy! Send more, bake more.

This from a woman who eats nothing but salads and healthy grains and 2 apples a day! These are really, really amazing cookies. They are nearly flourless, so imagine replacing all that flour in your standard cookie recipe with even more chocolate! They’re sooooo good!

Continue reading: triple threat chocolate chip cookies

The story of these raviolis begins once upon a time in Italy. (Don’t all great stories begin once upon a time in Italy? I do think so…) I was traveling with my husband and we went to a tiny region called Cinque Terra. Cinque Terra is Italian for Five Lands, named after the five adjacent and gorgeous towns built into the hillsides overlooking the ocean.

This region is not just renowned for its beauty. It’s also the birthplace of pesto, and believe me… their pesto is amazing. I made it my goal to eat pesto for every meal except breakfast. In one of the towns I ordered ravioli with pesto at the recommendation of the person seated next to me and it was the best meal I ate during my entire three weeks in Europe. I have always served ravioli with tomato sauce. Why had I not thought to try it with pesto?

As I served ravioli with pesto for dinner the other night, I thought it needed a little something extra to brighten the flavors. Our garden is overflowing with tomatoes, so I chopped up some cherry tomatoes and added that. And then it hit me: party appetizer perfection! Simply serve raviolis with a little dollop of pesto and a half of a cherry tomato on top! Easy to make, easy to serve, easy to eat. Perfect.

I served a hundred dishes at my husband’s birthday party including mojito watermelon, garbanzo bean salad, and dilled cucumbers, and yet everyone’s absolute favorite was these little ravioli appetizers. One of my friends exclaimed, “Even I could make this!” Yes, it’s true. Even *you* can make this!

ravioli bites
a Dishing the Divine original

*note: usually I add Parmesan cheese as the last step in making my pesto. Since these are being served on cheese ravioli, you could omit this extra cheese.

to serve 8 people:

32 cheese raviolis
2 batches of pesto
16 cherry tomatoes

Cook the raviolis according to package directions. Place one teaspoon of pesto on each ravioli. Top with a cherry tomato. Serve.

strawberry rosewater pancakes
adapted from www.acozyktichen.com

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cardamom

2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp rosewater
3 tbsp yogurt or milk (I add this only if the batter looks a little too thick for my preferences)

2 cups thinly sliced strawberries
additional butter or oil for the pan

Preheat oven to 200.

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients and whisk to combine.

In another bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Whisk the wet ingredients thoroughly and then add them to the dry ingredients, stirring with a spatula until just mixed. Do not over-mix. It is okay if there are some lumps.

Let the batter rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat a griddle or cast iron skillet slowly and brush with butter or oil. Once the batter is done resting, pour 1/4 cup of the batter onto the griddle or cast iron skillet. Scatter several strawberries across the top. Dab with more batter to cover the berries. Cook until bubbles form along the sides, about 3 minutes. Flip. Then cook until bottom is browned and pancake is cooked through in the middle.

Place pancake on a plate in the warm oven and repeat with remaining batter. Top with butter, warm maple syrup, and a dollop of sweetened whipped cream.

I grew up with an abundance of food issues and I am happy to say that I left most of those behind in my teen years. I now know what healthy looks like and what “eating bad foods in moderation” looks like. I’ve learned to avoid weighing myself. I know that if I don’t eat three square meals a day, all I will do is think about my next snack, which is probably less healthy for me than the meal would have been.

Before Brant and I went to Europe, I weighed our luggage to make sure it would pass TSA standards. Then, since it had been months since I had stepped on a scale, I weighed myself. Bingo. I was right where I wanted to be. Then I went to Europe (key words here: French croissants). I came home in time for the holidays (key words here: pumpkin pie and eggnog). And then I went to a friend’s house, stepped on her scale and my eyes bulged. I had gained weight. A lot of it. More than I wanted to admit. So, I decided my goal was to lose about ten pounds over the next several months in a very healthy way: running a couple times per week, foregoing the post-breakfast dessert (believe me… post-breakfast dessert is amazing!), and making sure my meals included more veggies and fewer breads.

But then there is this cake, which was the undoing of my good intentions. But it’s so good. I had forgotten to share it with you, but then a friend requested it and put it back on my radar. Oh my, this cake is so good!

triple player devil’s food cake
www.cooksillustrated.com

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate , chopped
1/4 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups water (boiling)
3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 cup cake flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pans
1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Adjust oven rack to upper- and lower-middle positions; heat oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, grease three 8-inch cake pans with butter and line bottom of each pan with parchment paper round. Combine chocolate and cocoa in medium bowl; pour boiling water over and whisk until smooth. Sift together flours, baking soda, and salt onto large sheet parchment or waxed paper; set aside.

Place butter in bowl of standing mixer and beat at medium-high speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add brown sugar and beat on high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Stop mixer and scrape down bowl with rubber spatula. Increase speed to medium-high and add eggs one at a time, beating 30 seconds after each addition. Reduce speed to medium; add sour cream and vanilla and beat until combined, about 10 seconds. Stop mixer and scrape down bowl. With mixer on low, add about one third of flour mixture, followed by about one half of chocolate mixture. Repeat, ending with flour mixture; beat until just combined, about 15 seconds. Do not overbeat. Remove bowl from mixer; scrape bottom and sides of bowl with rubber spatula and mix gently to thoroughly combine.

Divide batter evenly among cake pans, smooth batter to edges of pan with rubber spatula. If baking three 8-inch cakes, place two pans on lower-middle rack and one on upper-middle rack. Bake until skewer inserted in center comes out clean, 20 to 23 minutes for 8-inch cakes. Cool on wire rack 15 to 20 minutes. Run knife around pan perimeter to loosen. Invert cakes onto large plate; peel off parchment, and reinvert onto lightly greased rack. Cool completely before icing.

vanilla butter cream frosting
www.cooksillustrated.com

4 large eggs
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt
4 sticks unsalted butter, softened, each cut into quarters

Combine eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt in bowl of standing mixer; place bowl over pan of simmering water. Whisking gently but constantly, heat mixture until thin and foamy and registers 160 degrees on instant-read thermometer.

Beat egg mixture on medium-high speed with whisk attachment until light, airy, and cooled to room temperature, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and add butter, one piece at a time. (After adding half the butter, buttercream may look curdled; it will smooth with additional butter.) Once all butter is added, increase speed to high and beat 1 minute until light, fluffy, and thoroughly combined. (Can be covered and refrigerated up to 5 days.)

If you follow me on Facebook, you have probably already read about our butter tasting experiment. I was inspired by America’s Test Kitchen’s latest video in which they tasted several butters and rated them either “highly recommended” or “recommended with reservations” or “not recommended.” Would we generate the same results using a double blind taste test here at home? I had to know.

I went to Whole Foods with my mom and loaded up on $25 worth of butter, in addition to two butters that I had purchased at Costco. I had my mom dish out a pat of each butter into a numbered dish and write the numbers on the packages of butter for later cross reference. Then I whipped up a huge loaf of delicious Rustic Italian Bread (recipe to come soon!) and waited for my hubby to get home so we could dig in.

We started with four butters. Brant took a bite, grabbed a pencil and paper and wrote:

Figures.

I tasted the same one and agreed. It did indeed taste like butter. I tried #2. It also tasted like butter. Uh, oh? Was this whole experiment a waste? After tasting the third and fourth butters I began to realize that I’m no Chris Kimball, the host of America’s Test Kitchen. I couldn’t tell the difference between any of them. Meanwhile, as Brant continued tasting, he was able to discern subtle differences. “#2 has a strong starting taste but then it just disappears… it’s like it’s watery.” Or, “#3 is tangy… I don’t like that one.” I did not believe him. Could he really tell a difference or was he pulling my leg? I sent him out of the room and buttered a piece of bread. He returned and kept his eyes closed while tasting it. “#1. Definitely #1.” And he was right. I sent him back out again and we repeated the test. He knew without a doubt that this second sample was #3. Hmph. Obviously there was a difference. (Note: I tried taking the same taste test. My results were less than abysmal. I clearly cannot fool anyone. )

The next night we had friends over to do the same taste test, although this time we added the other 4 butters to the mix. We tasted, tasted, and tasted some more. We wrote down comments. Courtnie said, “#3 tastes like it has plants in it.” Josh exclaimed, “This one is really salty to me!” Of course, the one he referenced was the only non-salted butter in the line-up. We cracked up at this realization. Courtnie declared #7 to be her favorite, followed by #1 and #5.

For Father’s Day my mom, brother, and father tasted the butters and give their opinions. My dad also preferred #7. Brant still declared that #1 was definitely the best. My mom preferred #1 as well, but also liked #5 and #7. A common theme was occurring. My friend Nicky joined the fray later in the evening and tasted all of them in order, reaching #7 and saying, “Oooh! I like this one!”

Finally, it was time to reveal our contestants.

#1: Plugra – This butter was rated as a favorite by everyone who joined the taste test. This is about $7.50 per pound.

#2: KerryGold Irish Butter - This butter had the highest salt content of all of our butter choices, but no one liked it compared with the others. This butter is $6 per pound.

#3: Organic Valley Pasture Butter – This seasonally available butter is cultured, meaning it has a tangy, almost cheesy taste. Few people preferred this, and Brant’s comment was, “If I wanted cheese, I would have asked for cheese.” This butter is about $8 per pound.

#4: Strauss Family Creamery Organic European Butter – This butter was lightly salted so it was difficult to compare with the more heavily salted alternatives. Most agreed that if it had just a bit more salt, it would have been in their top three if it wasn’t there already. This butter is about $6 per pound.

#5: Lurpak – This is the butter that America’s Test Kitchen favored over all. It was definitely among our top three! This butter is about $8 per pound.

#6: German Butter – this unsalted butter was really impossible to compare with our other salted versions. No one liked it, but we all knew that this is likely because it had no salt.

#7: Costco’s Kirkland Brand Organic Butter – This was a real surprise winner! Almost everyone loved this butter even though it’s not a true “gourmet” butter. It’s about $4 a pound.

#8, 9: We also threw in two “cheap” butters to compare with all these gourmet options. One was the Costco Kirkland unsalted butter to which I added salt after experiencing peoples’ opinions of #6. Another was a container of whipped Challenge Butter. Most people found the Kirkland unsalted brand to be unexceptional. And the Challenge butter? “Ick! It tastes like it has chemicals!” I tasted the Challenge butter and almost gagged. There was a major difference between this and the other gourmet butters we had tasted.

Overall comments? Plugra, Lurpak, and Kirkland’s Organic Butter were our favorites. Brant says that the Plugra was definitely his favorite, but that the Kirkland brand was the best value for his money so he would most likely buy that. However, once in a while it’s fun to have a special treat. When those times come, we will be choosing Plugra.

mango chicken salad
adapted from Hay Day Country Market Cookbook

3 large chicken breasts
1 cup chicken stock
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1/4 cup plain yogurt
3 tbsp chutney (mango chutney preferred, but I used an apricot chutney because it was what I had on hand)
1 tsp curry powder
1 tbsp finely chopped cilantro
1/4 tsp kosher salt
2 large ripe mangoes, diced into 1/2-inch chunks
1 large rib celery, diced
1 cup red grapes, halved

Place the chicken in a saucepan and add the stock. Add enough water to cover the chicken. Bring to a simmer, cover, and poach until just cooked through, 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine the mayonnaise, yogurt, chutney, curry powder, and cilantro in a small bowl. Stir together, season with salt to taste, cover, and refrigerate.

Drain the chicken breasts and set aside until cool.Chop the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Combine in a large bowl with the mangoes, celery, and grapes. Add 3/4 of the dressing and toss to coat evenly. Add more dressing as desired. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

root beer float ice cream

adapted from The Perfect Scoop recipe for vanilla ice cream

2 cups whipping cream, divided
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
pinch salt
6 egg yolks
2 tsp root beer extract (you can get this on-line or if you’re local you can buy it at Harvest House)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place one cup of cream in a large bowl with a strainer over the top.

In a medium sauce pan, combine the remaining one cup of cream, milk, sugar, and salt and heat until sugar is dissolved. Do not boil.

Place the egg yolks in a medium bowl. Slowly add the warm milk mixture to the eggs while whisking continuously. Once all the milk mixture has been added to the eggs, pour the egg mixture back into the sauce pan. Heat over medium heat until the egg mixture thickens and coats a spatula. Do not boil.

Pour the egg mixture through the strainer (this catches any scrambled eggs that may have mistakenly formed!) and whisk into the cream. Add the extracts and mix well. Cool in the fridge for at least 4 hours (although 8 hours is preferred).

Pour into your ice cream maker and churn for 20 minutes. While you can eat the ice cream at this point, it will be very soft. It’s best after another few hours in the freezer.

I saw another blogger post something similar to these and I had to try them. I didn’t own any silicone pans, so I ordered the necessary pan from Amazon and followed her instructions and… failed. So I tried again. And failed. I went back to the post and reread her directions. She noted that she had trouble with this particular method as well. It worked at times but not at other times. Dang. Why don’t I read instructions more carefully before I start these kinds of projects?!

And so, with my husband’s and friend’s help, we kept trying new things again and again until finally, at the 11th hour, my dad’s Father’s Day chocolate bowls were done. And now that I know the trick to perfect bowls every time, I can’t wait to share it with you!

I have to give my husband, Brant, the credit for the idea that finally worked. The original blog suggested buying a silicone pan, freezing ice cubes in the shape of the pan, and then dipping the ice cube into melted chocolate. That worked exactly once. After that? Disaster. So, after attempting this about 13 more times, Brant finally suggested removing all the ice cubes and painting the inside of the silicone pan with chocolate and freezing that. Better, but still not perfect. And finally Brant came up with the winning solution – fill the silicone pan with ice cubes and then turn the pan over (leaving the ice inside) and pour chocolate over the outside of the pan. Perfect! The pan and ice were cold enough to freeze the chocolate instantly and made removal easy. And the ice never melted into the chocolate since it was separated by a layer of silicone.

chocolate bowls
inspired by www.mykitchentreasures.com with major adaptions and perfected by the marvelous Brant Wong

To make these delicious chocolate bowls you need a silicone pan with fun shapes. Don’t have one? I bought this one from Amazon. Place the silicone pan in a small baking tray, fill with cold water, and freeze until ice cubes are solid.

You also bittersweet chocolate; I used about 2-3 cups of chocolate chips to make 6 chocolate bowls. Heat the chocolate in the microwave until melted, stirring every 30 seconds to keep the chocolate from burning. Let chocolate cool for 5 minutes if it’s too hot to touch.

Remove silicone tray with ice from the freezer. Working quickly, flip the tray over so that the ice cubes are on the bottom, keeping the ice cubes in the tray. Break off any ice crystals that may have formed on the design. Pour chocolate over the molds, quickly smoothing out the chocolate so that it drips over the sides of the mold. Repeat with the remaining five molds. Let sit for a few minutes until the chocolate has a matte sheen and does not give under gentle pressure. Working in the same order that you applied the chocolate, carefully remove the molds from the silicone pan. Place the molds on wax paper and transfer to the refrigerator immediately.

If you want to make more than 6 molds, you will need to add more water to the ice cubes to replace the water that has surely melted and re-freeze. This will not take long since most of the ice will not have melted in the previous steps. Once frozen, repeat the above steps.

Fill with ice cream, top with chocolate sauce and whipped cream and any other favorite sundae toppings, and enjoy!

If you have not already done so, please find me at www.facebook.com/dishingthedivine!

Recently I realized that I have an entire shelf of foodie-related reading and I have never told you about any of it! Not everyone has the space or time to grow their own veggies, but more and more of us are beginning to realize that there's something very wrong with our current food system. Most of our food is manufactured, just like our computers, our electronics, and our kids' toys. Some people (ME!) want a closer connection to our food source. If you're in that camp, you will definitely enjoy this little book. Food Rules is a *fast* read that you can devour (no pun intended!) all at once like I did or leave on your coffee table to pick up and browse at your leisure. Each page offers a simple rule (i.e., "Don't eat something if a 3rd grader would not be able to pronounce the ingredient list") and a brief explanation of the rule.

I have about a million food rules, which is why I'm such a picky eater. My favorite is: "Don't eat anything that is pretending to be something else." For example, no Cool Whip for me. Either use whipped cream or don't use anything. Same goes for almond milk, tofurky, and imitation vanilla extract.

Do you have any food rules? If so, share them below! One lucky commenter will receive a copy of Food Rules shipped directly to your door!

Rules: One entry per person. Contest closes at 11:59 p.m. Friday, May 20, 2011. **Given the number of people who have left comments on our FB site, comments left on www.facebook.com/dishingthedivine will count as an entry as well!