on leaning in.

Homemade channa masala (with this recipe) spiced chicken drumsticks, and naan (with this recipe). The naan was ridiculously easy and SO good. Will be making that on a regular basis. With more garlic next time. 

Strawberry sponge layer cake with home made whipped cream. Topped with powdered sugar. 

Weddings make a great occasion for a reunion. We spent our weekend down in Western Massachusetts catching up with les nantais. There was hiking, cute, slobbery dogs, wonderful breakfasts, and cocktails for everyone. 

Doesn't this little piece of bark remind you of the infinity sign? 

Things have been up and down over here. Transition periods are always the hardest ones to get through, I know that's not a monumental discovery. But for the sake of my mental health, I've decided to (try to) embrace the hard parts. The pointy edges that I just want to smooth out. There are going to be difficult parts in life and sometimes you just have to lean in to them. Even though it's uncomfortable. I don't know if my strategy is working yet, but I do know I am considerably calmer this week than last. I go for long runs. I did hot yoga this afternoon and sweat everything out of my body. I wrote a story this morning for the first time since who knows how long. And now I'm getting back to work this afternoon, trying to move forward and see what's ahead for me. 

How is your week going? What recipes are you cooking up? 

xo

in the kitchen: caramel apple layer cake with apple cider frosting.

You are in for a treat! I had a special occasion to celebrate last week and I was invited to make dessert. So logically, my first stop was Pinterest, to find a bit of inspiration. I stumbled upon this recipe pretty quickly, for caramel apple layer cake from the blog a hint of honey. After drooling on my keyboard and reading through the fairly minimally-intimidating directions, I pinned it up and started gathering ingredients. 

The cake was made completely from scratch, and there were two parts that I was semi worried about. The first was making caramel sauce, which was an ingredient in the cake. First step: buy a candy thermometer. Check!

I found the recipe for the caramel sauce on another blog, my baking addiction.

Caramel sauce: 

1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1/4 liquid cup water
1/2 liquid cup heavy cream, heated until warm
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Stir together the sugar, corn syrup and water in a large-ish pot. Hook on the candy thermometer and bring the mixture to a (slight) boil. 

Watch the sugar like a hawk!

During this time, you should also be heating the cream in a smaller saucepan. Careful not to heat it too fast. Mine got slightly scorched, but no big deal.

I found it was pretty uneventful until all the sudden it was eventful. Here it started turning a darker color. 

This is right after I added in the milk and stirred it viciously to keep it from overflowing. I really wanted a picture of me adding the cream to the boiling sugar, but in retrospect, I'm glad I wasn't holding a camera during these steps! 

Now stir in the butter. And the sea salt. Easy as that! Try not to eat up all the caramel before you add it to the cake mixture later. 

Now on to the cake! Growing up my mom always made two layer cakes, I think they're more fun. A little surprise layer of frosting in the middle is always a good idea. This recipe made for two 9 inch cakes.

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (I used only all-purpose flour. So a total of 3 3/4 cups)
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1½ tsp. baking soda
1½ tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
1½ cups light brown sugar
¾ cup canola oil
¾ cup unsweetened applesauce
¾ cup caramel sauce (homemade or jarred)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 eggs
1½ cups buttermilk

Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl.

Pause to take a picture of what a mess the countertop is.

In a larger bowl, combine oil and brown sugar. Beat together.

Voila your homemade caramel sauce! The recipe I used made about a cup of sauce. I measured out 3/4 cup for the cake batter, and ate the rest saved the rest for later.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time.

Now add the dry ingredients in small batches, alternating with the milk. 

Lightly spray the cake pans or wipe them with butter. Pour in the batter and pop them in the oven!

Deliciousness waiting to happen!

Run out to the balcony and take a picture of the sunset you were missing while slaving away in the kitchen. :)

While the cake is cooking, move on the frosting! This was the other part I was slightly intimidated by, since I had never made frosting before. And because the recipe called for 7 3/4 to 8 cups of powdered sugar. Whaaaa?! I only ended up using 5 cups, and I think 7-8 may have caused heart failure. While I'll admit the frosting was a bit thin/slippery at the beginning, I put the cake in the fridge after frosting it to let it harden a bit, which really helped.

Ingredients for Apple Cider Frosting:

7 1/2-8 cups confectioners’ sugar (or 5 in my case)

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 cup apple cider or apple juice (I used juice)
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
pinch of salt

Less than one bag was used for this recipe.

Cream together the butter, juice/cider, cinnamon and salt, adding sugar as you go to get to your desired consistency.

Cakes almost done! I cooked them at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.

Let the cakes cool for about 15 minutes, then remove them from the pans and place them on cooling racks. Or those cool, cheap plates you bought from IKEA. Let them cool COMPLETELY before frosting.

Disclosure: I am not a professional froster, nor do I claim to be. These pictures may make you cringe at their lack of neatness, but oh well. Only so much can be done with a metal spoon and silicone spatula.

Frost the bottom cake a bit.

 I didn't put as much frosting as I could have, since I was afraid of running out. Could have been a bit thicker in the middle, and I had plenty of frosting left over. 

I guess this was as far as I got picture-wise, until right before we ate the cake...

YUM!

Alright, a little messy. But in my defense, this guy survived a killer snowstorm, two 15 minute walks to and from metro stations, hidden under that metal bowl you saw pictured earlier (mental note: MUST BUY CAKE CONTAINER).

I would most definitely make this cake again. It satisfied the sweet dessert craving even though it wasn't the standard chocolate recipe. Fairly straightforward recipe, with no hidden traps or surprises!

Voila!

What's cooking in your kitchen recently??

xo

All pictures are my own, recipes from a hint of honey and my baking addiction.

in the kitchen: roasted eggplant with caper salsa.

This is one of my favorite recent recipes. I love capers, but don't buy or cook with them very often. After this recipe, however, I think I'll keep a jar in my fridge at all times!

via smitten kitchen.

I saw this on Pinterest a while back and decided to give it a try. I love eggplant, and was looking for some new ways to cook it.

First I cut up the aubergine into slices.

I poured a considerable (2-3 tbsp?) of extra virgin olive oil onto the tray before arranging the eggplant slices. I lightly salted and peppered them, and stuck them into the oven at 425 degrees. This is a picture from when I was halfway through roasting them (at about 10-12 minutes) before I turned them over to finish up.

While they were roasting, I worked on my salsa. The recipe from Smitten Kitchen (shown below) gives you a lot of options for substitutions, several of which I took.

Makes about 4 appetizer/salad portions, assuming people will eat two rounds each.

Roasted Eggplant:
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds eggplant (about 2 medium), in 3/4- to 1-inch slices

Salsa:

1/2 cup chopped or crumbled ricotta salata (I used feta, which was delish)
2 tablespoons capers, drained
1/3 cup finely diced red onion (I used about shallots instead)
3 seeded, diced medium tomatoes (1 1/2 cups)
3 tablespoons minced fresh mint leaves (I used freshly chopped parsley)
2 teaspoon red wine vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)
Freshly ground black pepper

Once the eggplant slices were done, I immediately plated them and piled a good amount of salsa on top. I kept the rest of the meal simple- pork tenderloin and white rice. I could definitely imagine eating this in the summer, fresh from the barbeque. And maybe I'll try the mint and ricotta version next time. Also ate the leftover salsa with pretzels and crusty bread in the days following (yum!)

What's your favorite eggplant recipe?

xo

maple hazelnut goodness.

Oh yea. On the menu, folks. Second go around for this guy. Delicious last time, hoping for the same. Although I'm semi-cheating and using a pre-made crust. Sssshhh.

Photo is actually from epicurious, but I'll supply a real-live action shot tomorrow.

TGIF, man. This week wiped me out. 

Looking forward to catching up on some sleep this weekend.

Hope your weekends are lovely!  

xo

alli

sundays.

I, my friends, am exhausted.  And although this Sunday night post merits more than a few sentences I'm afraid that's all I have at the moment.  Tomorrow let's discuss:

pumpkin oatmeal raison walnut cookies
the death of my faithful mixer/beater.  RIP
a most wonderful and sunny afternoon experiencing the 'tam tams' of mont royal park

until then!

xo

alli

at the moment...

My kitchen smells delicious with the garlic sautéing on the stove.  I'm making lemony tuna and olive oil pasta with red pepper flakes from this recipe.

I'm laying out what to wear tomorrow for the 10K.  Gloves, hat, two layers of underarmour, new amazing underarmour running pants, long socks.  sunglasses?

I'm still laughing about the montage of clips sent in to jimmy kimmel when he asked parents to film themselves telling their kids they ate all their halloween candy.  My favorite was the little boy randomly doing (bad) math at the end and calling his mom sneaky :)

I'm thinking this dress would be a lovely addition to my winter wardrobe.

Looking forward to an extra hour of sleep on Sunday!! Not so much the getting dark at 4:30pm part though :(

Happy Friday friends!  What's in store for you this weekend?

xo

alli

la cuisinière.

recipe time!

this weekend i made roasted beets with balsamic vinegar and feta cheese

and janet's granola.

last night i put a lime and garlic chicken marinade in the fridge

and ate it tonight. no picture of that one though :(

please bear with me for the photo quality. 

next time i'll take them when i'm not as starving and impatient to eat.

or i'll have Mr. S take them, he's good with a camera :)

roasted beets.

i used this recipe from Girl's Gone Child.

every so often she asks her mom to do

cooking posts, which always look delicious.

i have half of them bookmarked.

i roasted the beets in the oven (for not long enough)

and cooked the greens in some olive oil and garlic until they were wilty.

i used three beets and had some left over,

so on monday we cut them up and made some sort of

beet fries. creative, and perfect since the beets needed to cook a little longer.

granola!

the list of ingredients for this recipe

is pretty huge,

but i figure you can kind of pick and add as you choose.

i didn't have any coconut, but next time i'll definitely go for that.

and maybe more oats too 

(i added more like 2 cups instead of the 6 recommended).

also, i didn't add the maple syrup.

you make the glaze, pour it over your mixture,

and then bake it for 30 minutes. 

delish with a bowl of yogurt!

the garlic lime chicken recipe i found on epicurious

and it was really simple

(chop, bag, sit, cook).

the lime was pretty subtle, but it was good, and very easy.

voila!

i just made an online recipe box at epicurious, 

so i'm scouting out for more ideas.

i have all the ingredients for the quinoa, 

so that will likely be made soon.

and maybe bread coming this weekend, 

we shall see!

what more recipes do you have to share with me?

xo

alli

friday top ten.

so i was just sitting down to ponder some friday top tens,

when i opened my google reader

and see that one of my favorite bloggers 

re-posted a 

ghandi's top ten.

i hope the little man knows he's my guest blogger this evening.

via

i guess i've had an inspirational sort of week, eh?

what are your plans for the weekend?

i'm going to grocery shop and hopefully 

try my hand at 

Chicken Soup with Lemon and Bulgur

Roasted Beets with Feta

or

Black Bean and Tomato Quinoa

and then i think i'll go ice skating! 

:)

happy weekend!

xo

alli

life list: make a tiramisu.

is your mouth watering yet?

this afternoon i was looking through

my little recipe book 

i've been slowly adding to

on a tattered piece of notebook paper,

is a recipe for 

homemade tiramisu

that a french friend passed on to me.

one of these days i'll try it.

maybe on a rainy afternoon 

where i want to do is curl up with a book

and boycott classes and errands.

oh wait, that's today.

(well, the rainy part anyway)

what recipes do you have stashed away

that you want to try on the next rainy afternoon?

xo

ps! stop by tomorrow for 

a new feature on mistinguett! 

photo courtesy dailymail.