The Poison on My Dinner Table

     As a home cook, culinary student, science enthusiast and mother the type of food I purchase has always

been very important to me.  As a child I became a victim of science and greed.  We ate mostly chicken as our protein at home.  When I reached puberty at  nine years old it came as a surprise to everyone.  I remember to this day telling my mother "Does that mean I can't play with barbies any more?"  She held me close and told me I could play with barbies all I wanted.  I wasn't the only one either.  Many of my friends developed early too.  I left Puerto Rico when I was eleven and a few years later my mother and I heard that they had closed down the factory where we had purchased all of our chicken. Authorities had found that they factory had been using unsafe levels of estrogen on the chickens.   

     This is one of the reasons I am picky about what I buy.  I just finished watching the movie GMO OMG and it reminded me again when one problem is mitigated another arises.  When I was in high school we talked about genetically modified organisms (GMOs).  We talked about the fact that they could help produce more food for a hungry world, we talked about how these new organisms could withstand pests better and therefore save the world from having a food shortage.  There was also a small group of people that were against them.  Who knows what ingesting something like that could do to you?  The only way we were going to know was to wait it out and see.  Now big corporations and greed stand in the way of myself and many other mothers' purchasing decisions.  The only way to get away from GMO's is to purchase organic non-processed foods.  This means that anything that comes out of a box has GMOs unless it is has the USDA's organic seal on it.  My mother and I pride ourselves in making everything from scratch.  We buy fresh produce, meats, dairy and baking ingredients to make everything we eat.  However, I discovered even that is not safe.

     I look at my raw materials including flour, sugar, syrup, milk, cream, cheese, fruit, vegetables and wonder what really is in those products I buy.  Even if I make everything myself my family is not safe.  Can you really be proud of the magnificent meal in front of you if your ingredients possibly contain poison?  One of the points the movie makes is that GMO corn kills pests that try to eat it.  Common sense dictates that if it kills insects it can probably hurt us too.  Yes, we are much bigger but at the end of the day we are part of the animal kingdom and chemicals are dangerous to us also.  Poison in organisms accumulates up the food chain.  If you eat enough of these small things (or eat enough things that eat these small things) they add up in your system until toxic levels are reached and they can hurt or even kill you.  That is a fact, feel free to check me on that one. 

     The only way to get away from this is to buy organic food.  However it is very expensive and unless you make a significant amount of money it can hike up your grocery bill to the point that you can't afford it.  As the movie points out even organic is not totally safe.  Plants reproduce by pollination.  Contaminated pollen can end up somewhere else just the same.  I'm sure organic farmers take their precautions, but even growing my own organic produce I can't be 100% sure that there are not any contaminants out there.  

     At the end of the day it boils down to one thing.  Safety.  Are these GMO's safe?  Many people around the world disagree.  Many European countries refuse to buy US food because of that reason.  It is a fact that if you go to many places in Europe their produce tastes better.  I have experienced this myself.  Even my poor attempts at organic gardening produced the sweetest strawberries I had ever tasted.  One of the chef's at school discussed at length that US produce does not taste as good. Taste buds were created as way for us to distinguish good food from bad food.  Maybe they have been telling us something all these years...

     Who knows in reality, nobody has done a long enough research about it. The movie highlighted a study by a French professor that showed an increase in cancer tumors in rats fed GMO corn and treated with roundup.  In female rats it attacked the mammary glands.  GMO's have been in our food chain for over fifteen years. Could that be the reason that breast cancer in women seems to be growing?  I would like to see somebody prove otherwise.  

     And at the end I am selfish and the real reason the movie hit me hard is because it rung a bell with my childhood experiences. My three year old is hardly talking. Professionals  have been telling me he has red flags for autism.  Autism has been on the rise for years now.  Now one 1 in 68 kids has one form of autism or another compared to 1 in 150 back in 2000.  If you look at the charts on the CDC website the rate of autism is rising.  Could GMO's also be to blame for this?  After all we are what we eat and back when I was a small child they were not on my food chain.  Autism was rare when I was a child.  

    We have been in and out of therapies for months and he is getting better, but I am still wondering if my child is a victim of corporate greed just as I was.  Is his developmental delay caused by the food I have been feeding him?

     So to all of the people that are owners of our food supply.  Look around you, does your wife have cancer?  Will she in the future?  Do you have a child with autism?  Will your babies or grand babies develop normally? Was there a mother missing out of a wedding or graduation? Was there one of your brother's or sister's kids that was not able to make memories with yours because they were different?  Money and greed in this world are powerful, but you can't take them to your grave. Look at your own life.  All you can take is your memories.  Who's memories did you sabotage?  Where you part of your family's own misfortune?

     In the end I am just one person.  And these are just my opinions.  Watch the movie.  More importantly do your own research.  If you have the power to conduct the studies do so.  Let us know for sure if GMO's are safe or not.  Help all mothers' out there put safe food on the table for their children.

An Ode to My College Days

The Southern Living Cookbook Bible...

     Sometimes I find it funny that it took me so long to get this far.  I've been cooking and baking for people for so long.  My first full blown cooking experience happened in college.  Back then when most college students were concerned about what frat party to go to or which major to stick to I was thinking about what meals I was going to make for my roommates that week.
     Much like any kid just out of high school I was terrified to go to college.  This was the first time away from my parents for a long time and living away from home.  For me that also meant having to feed myself. My Mom had always cooked.  I only did that on special occasions.  Why cook if she was going to?  Well she wouldn't be there anymore so I was going to have to feed myself.
     I was one of the lucky ones.  Our school "dorms" were more like apartments.  We had two bedrooms with a kitchen and a living room/ dinning room set up.  They also came equipped with a full size fridge and two burners. That summer vacation before college I went with my mother and bought some kitchen equipment.  To add to my small kitchen we bought one frying pan and two pots, a toaster oven, and an array of small kitchen gadgets.  Also my mother let me borrow her Southern Living cookbook.  It was six books in one!  There was a thirty minute meal section, a section for chicken dishes, a section for healthy cooking, a section for desserts and a few others I don't recall.  In the end it had so many recipes that I figured if I could just follow them I would feed myself just fine.
     The first week of school I picked out my recipes and made myself dinner. Jennifer who lived in the same room as I saw what I was cooking and within that first week was offed me to go half on the groceries if I cooked for her too.  I had no problem with this.  It was actually easier to cook for more people.  Within a month my other two roommates joined in and I became the only person I know to this day that cooked for their roommates in college.  I made roasted chicken, stir fry, pastas, cookies and cakes all with just two burners and a toaster oven.  It was really something I looked forward to each day, seeing them enjoy something I had made.
     Really, what brought this reminiscing on?  A BLT Salad out of that same book.  I was flipping through it today to get ideas for my grocery list and I decided to make that salad that they used to enjoy so much.  It is a simple recipe: lettuce, tomato, bacon pieces, boiled eggs and chicken with a BBQ sauce/mayo dressing.  It was always that dressing that I had to make extra of because they loved it so much.  Really it was a great book to start my journey.  It was simple and the recipes were always a hit.  So to my old college roommates thank you so much for allowing me to share my first attempts with you. Jennifer, Kelly and Karissa I hope everything is going well with your lives and much happiness to you always.  

Bananas Over a Picky Eater

Or Really Plantains

      Every mother dreams of having a child that will eat everything.  Let's face it though this is rarely the case.  Mine is a lover of fruit, milk, juice and really anything sugary.  From time to time he will surprise me and eat something out of the ordinary.  A few weeks back I made Chicken Enchiladas Mexican style and he loved them.  He ate every bite!  It made me feel so happy.  Unfortunately,  I can't feed him those everyday.  Mommy, Daddy and Grandma can't take all those fried tortillas.

     So in an effort to come up with something that he might eat today I looked no further than the ripe plantains sitting on my kitchen counter.  Yes, they look like a bananas, but they are not.  People that grew up in the Caribbean or South America are familiar with this type of fruit that is very similar to a banana.  If you have never heard of it never fear here is a crash course.

    Plantains are bigger, firmer bananas.  They can be eaten when green either fried, roasted or boiled.  They have a slight nutty flavor when green.  As the plantain ages it gets sweeter and softer just like a banana.  At this stage it can be eaten roasted, fried or as a dessert sweet.

     Since my kid loves bananas I figured I could use this to come up with a meal he might like.  I took a ripe plantain and cut the ends off.  I peeled it and cut a slice off the bottom to be able to lay it on a sheet tray.  I cut out the middle of the plantain to make what looks like a boat.  My mother used to make a dish that she called "canoes" when I was a child.  That dish had ground beef and American cheese.  I really liked it when I was a child, but seeing that my kid won't touch ground beef that didn't help me any.  So I decided to keep the idea but modify the contents. I took the plantain insides as well as some finely cut yellow pepper (red would have been better) and sauteed with chili powder, salt and pepper.  I set that mixture aside to wait for the chicken.  The canoes I placed in the oven to bake until they softened about 20 minutes.

     I roasted chicken in the oven and seasoned it with chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. After 30 minutes or so I took it out of the oven and let the meat rest.  Yes, you have to let meat rest after its cooked otherwise all the juices will run out of the meat and you will have dry meat.  (Yes this is also the main reason Thanksgiving turkey is usually dry)  Don't worry it won't get cold after ten minutes.  I then shredded the meat and mixed it with the yellow pepper and plantain mixture.  I stuffed the little canoes and topped them with goat cheese. Goat cheese tends to be a little salty and it brings a nice contrast to the sweet banana and spicy meat.   I placed them back in the oven just to melt the cheese for about 5 to 7 minutes.

     As Murphy's law would have it my kid got hungry the moment I started cooking.  He loved the shredded chicken and by the time I finished with dinner he was stuffed so he didn't actually really eat much of the dish.  Grandma and me enjoyed it very much and I am positive if I can catch his hunger early he would really like this dish.  They way I see it mission accomplished.  He ate something other than fruit and when feeding a three year old, beggars can't be choosers.

The Evolution of a Wedding Cake

       By someone who has never made one before

 
   So...it has been a while since I posted anything. When it rains it pours they say.  However, I have been busy.  I have been baking a long time, but I have never decorated anything fancier than a birthday cake.  I pride myself to be a flavor baker.  My cakes are first and foremost tasty.  Prettiness has always been a bonus.   So when I told my brother and my new sister in law that I would make their wedding cake I plunged myself into a world in which really I knew very little about.  Really I never even covered a cake in fondant before and I had six months to figure out how to build an entire wedding cake.  It sounds like a long time, but when you have no clue what you are doing, are busy with school, housework, errands and a very active two year old it really amounts to no time at all. 

     The first step was to pick a cake and learn how to cover it.  After trial and error I went with an orange almond cake filled with apricot jam and iced with orange flavored Italian Buttercream.  The next step was to find a fondant that would work.  I did an internet search for "fondant recipe for hot and humid climates" and I came upon Veena's art of cakes blog.  She has a wonderful vanilla fondant recipe that really is good enough to eat. 

     At the same time I bought a batch of a top of the line commercial brand. Yes, it did work like a dream.  However, just the smell of it made me want to gag.  So I couldn't actually bring myself to put it on one of my cakes.  It would ruin the flavor and as I said before that is the whole reason I bake.  So the homemade recipe wasn't quite as white or as smooth, but it was tasty and that is what I was looking for.  So I took my measuring mat and rolled enough of the dough to cover a six inch practice cake.  Step one complete I had my first ever cake rolled in fondant!  So, I rolled it a little too thick, but I was pretty proud for my first try.

     Step two was to figure out what to put on these two cakes and learn how to do it.  In a feverish frenzy I looked for ideas and I didn't quite think anything was good enough.  Then, it dawned on me. I was going to make the whole family in figures and a camera shaped cake for the groom's cake!  That's when I ran into a problem.  I had no clue how to do any of that.
     I started with the camera cake.  I looked around for ideas online and also asked my teacher at school.  I had to use a sturdy cake and freeze it in order to carve it.  The better I carved the cake the better my end product would be.  So I made a pound cake and froze it.  I found some round cutters and I took out my ruler and my toothpicks and cut out some shapes.  I stuck them together with buttercream and covered it in chocolate fondant that I also pulled out of Veena's blog.  It was passable. I very much wanted to do a lens out of caramel and even though it initially worked it would not hold up more than an hour in Florida humidity.  I filed that away as to something I would have to ask one of my teachers when I took a future class in caramel.   I wrote detailed notes on what I would do differently for the wedding and moved on.  I had other things to figure out
     Next step was to figure out how to make figures.  I started off easy.  I took an opportunity to make a cake and give it to my aunt to take to her church for Easter.  I practiced my fondant rolling (this makes 2 now), my border creation and figure modelling.  I made her a cake with a rope border and a bunny on grass.  I figured out really quickly I needed to do something about getting some one on one help with making those figures.  The bunny was kind of cute, but human figures are much more difficult and I wasn't going to be able to make them without some kind of assistance.
     And low and behold luck was on my side! I was able to find a cake supply store near me that just happened to be giving classes on modeling.  I was excited so I signed up and spent an entire Saturday afternoon trying to make a Disney character.  The result was not very pretty.  But at least I had the idea.  This particular doll was quite chesty, oh boy and not very kid friendly.  Good thing I wasn't making a birthday cake!

     Three weeks before the wedding I embarked on my task. First, I made my icings and froze them, then I made my fondants and set them aside.  I began making body parts and building figures, covered cake boards and made seashells out of modelling chocolate all for the big day.  I was surprised how much time this could take.  The week of the wedding I baked macaroons for party favors baked the cakes, filled them and refrigerated them.  I brought together everything I had learned over the past six months in order to make a leveled layer cake.  I assembled three orange almond cakes and one chocolate raspberry rectangular cake as well as the carved camera.   A few days before the wedding I covered the camera cake and painted on the details the following day.    I didn't have as much time to work on that as I had planned, but I went with it anyways.  I was out of time!
     The day of the wedding I was behind.  I still had not covered the chocolate layer cake and had not rolled any borders for any of the cakes.  I went to the reception site early and finished the work there.  Fridge space becomes a major commodity when you are working with all these baked products.  I covered the cakes and went ahead and put in supports for all the tiers of cake.  I cut up dowel rods and leveled them and placed them on each of the tiers that were going to hold up a cake. I built the tiered cake and almost had a heart attack when I had to move it back and forth from the the prep table to the cake table.
That thing was so heavy.
     I placed the cakes on the table and then placed all the figures and the seashells I had made for them.  The figures were not perfect either, but considering the first chesty doll they were much better.  I placed the seashells all over the cake table and around the cake for decoration.  In retrospect I should have used a smaller table, but that was all we had available at the time.  Finally the project was ready!  Now all I had to do was run to my house get dressed and drive to the beach in time for the wedding.  That's when I realized that I had an hour and 15 minutes to do that and my house was nowhere near the beach. Yikes! I really had to run, but I made to the beach at 4:59, talk about cutting it close!

      My final creation was certainly not perfect, but at the end of the day the bride, groom and their kids were ecstatic over the cake and that was really my goal all along.  They had a great day and I was lucky enough to be one of the ones that helped that happen. So for all of you out there that are scared to do something for someone just go for it. You might surprise yourself or at the very least and most important you might help make that someone happy.

Little Hamburgers?

      Actually, not really this is a very meatless post, but they certainly ended up looking like little hamburgers.  My two year liked them better than the real ones anyways.  These are the very daunting macaroons. Yes, you've got that right I tried my hand at making one of the most finicky desserts of all.  If you have never had one they are crunchy, yet chewy little sandwich cookies that you fill with buttercream, ganache or any other tasty fillings.  They are quite the rage now and they are being used not only as dessert, but as gifts.  These little cookies can be quite difficult to make because there are many details you have to keep in mind.  The quality of your almond flour and your eggs, the way you sift your ingredients the temperature of your oven and the level of humidity in your house are all things that will affect the quality of your macaroons.

     But, there are days that you just get tired of making cake so I figured I would tackle the very scary task of making some of these.  I made the basic vanilla macaroon recipe from the book I love Macaroons by Hisako Ogita.  If you are interested in these tasty treats I recommend this book.  She has pictures of every step of the process as well as pointers to make your macaroons turn out.  She also has recipes for fillings and other desserts you can make with the egg yolks you will have left over.

I used almond flour.  I've seen other books in which they grind fresh almonds.  If this is your first try (like mine) you have enough to worry about as it is. Macaroons are really a mixture of a meringue and an almond and powdered sugar mixture.  If you can master a meringue you are halfway there.

     After that you will fold the mixture together and then place it in a piping bag.  In here it is critical that you don't over mix. I think my macaroons didn't turn out as glossy because of it.  The next step is to pipe your circles into the templates you prepared before you started this whole process.

     Next you wait of them to dry out.  This process varies.  It took me about 25 minutes in a sunny day in South Florida.  Keep in mind humidity and location can change your cooking and drying times.  If you live in Denver, Colorado I'm sure that your results are going to be quite different.
     When you place the macaroons in the oven they will form a pied on the bottom of the cookie.  If  you don't see one form you need to adjust something next time you make them. Mine took about 12 minutes to cook.
      After that was fun part.  I filled them with chocolate ganache and a raspberry caramel my mother created (yes, that is how it all started).  You can fill them with many things, caramel, flavored icing etc. Hisago gives you plenty of ideas about what to put inside your macaroons.  She also gives you the recipes to flavor your batter and dye it different colors.  I am highly thinking about making some of these for my brother's wedding as party favors. They look very elegant and can be dyed any color, not to mention they are edible so people don't have to worry about where to put them when they leave the wedding.  I am glad I finally took the leap into the macaroon world.  Next time flavorings...hmm... so many choices.

A Lucky Accident

     So one day my husband and I were on vacation.  We were living in Pennsylvania at the time and were looking for possible settling down spots in Florida.   We decided to go look around downtown Fort Lauderdale and see if we could find a mall.  We ended up in Las Olas Riverfront shopping district. Quickly we figured out there wasn't much there (at least during the day).  I wanted to go ahead and leave but he had to go to the bathroom and couldn't hold it. 

     I really didn't want to stay there and was kind of annoyed at him.  We managed to find a quick service pizza place called Riverfront N.Y. Style Pizza.  It was small and simple and I wasn't really in the mood for pizza.  Unfortunately he couldn't just use the bathroom; we had to buy something.  

     The pies were displayed in front of you  behind a glass counter and after you made your choice the nice gentleman behind the counter would put them in the oven.  I noticed the pizza didn't have much sauce  or cheese and the crust was very thin, however the slices were very generous.   The prices ranged from three to four dollars a slice so it wasn't a stiff price to pay to use the bathroom. We decided upon a fresh tomato and basil pizza and a drink as the price for his bathroom visit.  I figured nice, simple and hopefully not to heavy because we weren't very hungry.

      Wow! What a surprise when I took that first bite. The crust was thin yes, but there was the right balance of crispy and chewy in your mouth at the same time.  That wonderful crust allowed you to fully taste the flavors of the fresh ripe tomato, basil and cheese.  In most pizza's I have ever tasted the bread overpowered the toppings, and I didn't even know it until that day. There were also a few other spices in there like oregano and pepper that simply enhanced the flavor.  And as for the lack of sauce and cheese, truth be told it didn't bother me. Drowning pizza in cheese and sauce doesn't do anything to make flavor better I realized.  It just packs unnecessary calories to your diet. 
      That day I thought to myself "this is what pizza is supposed to taste like." So even though we were not hungry we ended up buying two more slices to enjoy and I thanked my husband and his tiny bladder.  For anyone reading this, if you are ever in Las Olas Riverfront and are in the mood for some great pizza definitely give this place a shot.  It might not be a great fancy restaurant, but to me the quality of the product measures up to anything you might find in one of those without the price tag.

Hooray for the Late Comers

Whenever you have been out of school for a while you worry about being one of the oldest in the classroom.  I graduated college about seven years ago and haven't taken a class since.  So naturally when I went to orientation this week that was really what had me nervous.  To my surprise there was a good mix of ages there and quite a few that were significantly older than me. 
Unfortunately, society seems to have this picture of what success is really like.  You have to be a doctor or a lawyer or a Naval Officer (ha ha ha) to be "successful in life."  It really is a shame though that people many people suppress their desires to fit in this mold that society cuts out for us. Yet, as I saw this week some people eventually do get tired and decide enough is enough.  They leave their secure "successful" lives to pursue their happiness. 
The culinary student they picked to talk to us was a lady in her late forties.  She lives in student housing and is very active around campus.  This surprised me, just when I thought I was maybe to old to be in any of the student clubs.  She is getting her culinary management degree and graduates soon.  Not only that, but she is talking to a clothing designer about starting a line of chef uniforms.  I could only think "wow!"
So in that crowd of students I wasn't the only one, and once again I remembered why I am going back to school in the first place.  Unlike the first time I went to college my goal isn't to have the best grades or get a really great paying job.  It is to get the skills I need to continue making people happy.
When I was in the service I was stationed over seas.  I saw first hand what a powerful effect a great meal could have on someone's day.  Literally "sometimes food is the only morale they have," was something that often came out of people's mouths.  In those days I began bringing cakes to work.  It took me a few tries to figure out the oven and get a few recipes down, but the effort was worth it.  I showed up with a simply decorated cake baked from scratch and they were as excited as little kids.  Eventually, it came to a point where they would ask me what kind of cake I was bringing next week.  And when I showed up they wouldn't last thirty minutes.  It made me really happy to see them smile and have a little piece of something "homey" while we were away.  I got more satisfaction out of that than many of the things I was doing for the military over seas.
At the end of the day I remembered why I was really happy to be there.  Finally I am doing something I want to do.  Something that will make people around me happier and therefore make the world my son will live in just a tiny bit better.