National Chocolate Cake Day

Yes, you heard me, January 27th was National Chocolate Cake Day.  I found it on the internet, http://www.757dining.com/holidays.php so it must be true! 

I have something to admit.  I like cake.  You don't see cake very often on this website, because really, who needs a cake around?  But I really like cake.  So, when I opened up Facebook on Sunday morning only to see a post by King Arthur Flour ... (See, I really am a food geek - I "liked" King Arthur Flour on Facebook!) ... about National Chocolate Cake Day I knew I had to make one.  Just a small simple cake would do. 

In fact, I'd seen a couple recipes for Chocolate Buckwheat cake and that is what I wanted.  Ironically, both of the Chocolate Buckwheat cake recipes are from my French food blog connections, therefore it must be good!

For Christmas Joe always gets me a cookbook.  This year he got a winner.  If you haven't heard of La Tartine Gourmande, you really should check out her blog, http://www.latartinegourmande.com/.  She's well known for both her pictures and her food and she's French, living in America. So with my visit to France this past year, Joe got me her book and it really is everything I loved about French food, simple, light,colorful, and flavorful.

In addition, she seems to cook mostly gluten free and has these amazing GF recipes I look forward to trying.  Unfortunately, that only works if you have the right flours and I didn't have any Buckwheat flour left in the house. So I used whole wheat pastry flour.  And thus the substituting began...

I was excited to try her recipe, but now I'd changed the flour and then, as I was gathering ingredients, I was short two eggs.  Hmmm, now it's turning into a slightly different recipe and a really small cake - but still doable!

So I cut all the measurements in half.  I gather the rest of the ingredients. And, I learn a new term, Bain-Marie.  This technique is simply the process of melting butter and chocolate over simmering water (over, never in the water).

I find my small cheesecake pan thinking that will work and it'll be easier to get it out.  Genius!

Just about 27 minutes of baking and ta-da - a CAKE!

I waited just about 5 minutes before undoing the pan and after it cooled completely I added just a little powdered sugar. 

I served it with a bit of coffee ice cream and then we had little slices left as a treat with our coffee on this Monday morning.

I'll be trying this again with the Buckwheat flour, but as is, we enjoyed it.  Joe proclaimed it moist and I liked that it wasn't too sweet. 

You can find another similar Chocolate Buckwheat cake recipe at David Lebovitz's blog, http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2013/01/buckwheat-chocolate-cake-recipe/#more-11478.  If you were reading my Paris blog posts you remember David!

Check out the list of food holidays and scope out your favorite food or drink.  I've already scoped out National Margarita Day later in February.

Kindness

There's been a lot of work travel, hence little cooking.  Recently, when I had one full day to do laundry and prepare before leaving on my next trip, I'd been cleaning up my house and plants. 

The Lipstick Plants are thriving.  I continue to find them fascinating because they just keep flowering!  Remember I came awhile back asking if anyone knew the name of this plant?  It really is called a Lipstick plant!

In fact, I enjoy them so much I've already restarted some of the clippings from when I was giving them a trim.  The little glass of water is full of roots and the starters are already growing little trumpets to hold the flowers!  Now, to find time to replant them!

As I was admiring my plants, I couldn't help but notice my views.  What a stunning day it has been.  Can you beat that blue sky?  This next view was from the kitchen window.

In addition to admiring my views and taking care of my plants, I thought, what can I do to show my husband I love him today? 

I thought, "I bet he would love some cookies. Some quick chocolate chip cookies, should do the trick."  So what did I do?

 Yep, I grabbed that familiar and comforting bag of Nestle Chocolate Chips.  I know they don't fall under my normal whole grain and vegetable attempts, but sometimes I just need to be kind to those around me and give them what they want, not what I think they should have.

Of course I substituted some whole wheat flour and some natural sugar, but for the most part I left the recipe alone because they weren't for me.  That's the recipe on the back of the bag I'm talking about.

About half way through I had some visitors, they wanted cookies too.   But, oh no!  I don't feed these visitors, other than the wild grasses and flowers they dig up with their noses.

You can't see in the picture, but in addition to the deer there are four grouse that had been sleeping in the snow and the deer woke them up.  The deer are so hairy right now and cute with the tops of their heads and noses covered in snow.

You should have seen the smile on dear husband's face when I brought him two warm cookies.  Works every time!

I find sometimes I need to be kind to myself... Lower my expectations of myself just a little bit.  I could have thought, "I don't have time to find a healthy cookie recipe with the ingredients I have and make them." But by keeping it easy, Joe got cookies and I got a needed 1/2 hour in the kitchen... me, the mixer, and the oven.  It really worked out best for both of us.

Do something today to be kind to yourself.....accept your own limitations or those set upon you by time and life.

Carrot Cake Waffles

Yep, you read that title right, Carrot Cake Waffles.  That got your attention! 

We hardly ever make big breakfasts anymore, but I've been craving some pancakes or waffles.  This is unusual for me as I don't normally choose sweet for breakfast, but it was time to give into this craving - therefore, it was time for breakfast for dinner!   To top it off, my husband was sick and something comforting for dinner was called needed.

So I decided on waffles, but then I felt that little guy on my right shoulder saying, "But then there aren't any vegetables ... and it's dinner."  Well, I'm creative, I can solve that problem.  So I decided to make my own waffle recipe for Carrot Cake Waffles.  This is my first try, there are a few things I'm going to tweak and I'll get back to you with Version two.  But I've already decided that Zucchini Bread Waffles will be necessary in the future also!

Carrot Cake Waffles Version 1
This made 12 waffles.

1 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1/2 cup Oats (regular)
1/2 cup Gluten Free Whole Grain Flour Blend (This is a King Arthur blend, but you could use regular white or wheat flour here.)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
a pinch of ground cloves
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk (You could substitute soy milk or whatever your preference.)
2 tablespoons Olive Oil (I'll be tweaking this oil combination next time.)
2 tablespoons Flax Seed Oil
4 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
1 cup yogurt (Any type of yogurt will work.  I used plain greek.)
1 cup grated carrots (Next time I will be grating the carrots smaller and adding more.)
1/4 cup raisins (More raisins next time!)
Toasted Pecans

This is a long recipe but it's basically broken into two parts: dry and liquids. 

1. In a large bowl, mix together all your dry ingredients: flours, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, spices, and brown sugar.

2. In another bowl, mix together your eggs, milk, oils, and yogurt. Stir in the carrots and raisins.

3. Slowly stir the liquids into the dry ingredients and let sit 5 minutes while your waffle iron heats up.  Make waffles per the directions for your specific waffle maker and top with toasted pecans.

I served this with a fruit salad.

Happy 2013 Everyone!