Café Cosmopolitan

2011-10-27T16:12:00.000-07:00

Chocolate chip chocolate granola muffins. Low calorie, wholesome treat.

2011-10-20T19:43:00.000-07:00

Ever since I officially admitted that different scales that are not related to each other can't lie and those extra 20 pounds that they show actually do exist somewhere throughout my body (in some parts more evident than others) I've been on lookout for something, that would answer following criteria:
a) Chocolatey
b) Moist
c) Sweet
d) Delicious...
... something that would have a texture of moist, decadent, chocolate cake and smell like sweet tahitian vanilla... yea. I know - I tend to be too particular at times. Well, that basically covers it, except for couple of more things: whatever it it was I was craving, it was suppose to be LOW IN CALORIES AND GOOD FOR YOU IN GENERAL. I know, i know...
Well, you'll never guess, but I actually did find it, and it wasn't all that simple I must say. It happened almost accidentally, with series of rather fortunate events that started with me signing up for Costco, which is located nowhere near my place. It was a fully conscious decision though - they have some really good selections of organic products, and I decided that for this one reason it's totally worth some travel time. So there I was, shopping at Costco for a very first time, dancing my happy dance every time I would stumble on something like a double size jar of Better than Bouillon Chicken Base for $6.99 or a huge bag of organic sugar for a bargain price, when my eye has caught a big box of Nature's Path organic Ancient Grains Granola with Almonds. The more I read the ingredient list - the more I've forgotten about how nobody, not a single soul in my 6-person family would never show a slightest interest in any kind of granola - been there, done that. Guess what? I have no recollection of how exactly did this happen, but the two(!) 2 pound boxes of granola safely landed on the belt for checkout, along with chickens, hot dogs, cheeses yogurts and Seventh Generation laundry detergents. I was ecstatic!
To make a long story short, I googled "granola muffins" and to my disappointment none of those came up where the chocolate or low calorie ones. So I decided to take matters in my own hands and came up with my "Chocolate chip chocolate granola muffins".
Chocolatey - check! Moist - check! Sweet - check! Delicious - check! Only 203 calories per standart size muffin. And there's a bonus too - the batter will sta in the fridge for quite some time, so the recipe is for 48 muffins - when you need to bake more, just spoon and bake.
So here it goes:

You will need:
4 Cups of good, all natural granola with almonds
1.5 cups of raw sugar that is naturally darker in color, if not available try brown sugar instead (turbinado and sucanat work great too)
5 cups of all purpose flour. To give it an extra healthy kick try spelt or PASTRY whole wheat flour instead.
1.5 tsp stevia extract
2 tbsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 quart buttermilk (or kefir)
1 tbsp of good vanilla extract (I love the aroma of Trader Joe's vanilla - not too strong, very delicate and sweet)
0.5 cup vegetable oil (I prefer sufflower or grapeseed as this oils hav no flavor or aroma)
1 cup dutch processed cocoa powder
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (Trader joe's ad Whole Foods chips maintained soft and creamy texture even after the muffins where completely cooled and the day after)
______________________________
Instructions (are simple):

Mix dry and wet ingredients separately in two bowls than mix everything together. Spoon batter into to the lined muffin tins approximately 2/3 full and bake at 350 F for 25 minutes. If you don't like to use stevia it can be substituted with 1.5 cups of sugar.

Fondant from scratch:

2010-04-21T17:13:00.001-07:00

Paula's Peach Cream Tart

2010-04-21T13:56:00.000-07:00

Peaches and cream....mmmm....
One summer day I stumbled upon Paula Dean's recipe of this scrumptious and really easy to make tart. The pastry is flaky and melts in your mouth with this amazing rich peachy filling.
Even though Paula's recipe calls for fresh or canned peaches, I found that frozen work best - they are already cleaned and sliced for you, and you can just buy them ahead of time and they will wait in the freezer until you're in the mood for something peachy. Besides, since peaches had made it to the very top of so called "dirty dosen" I prefer to buy them organic, which is much cheaper and available year around when frozen. I use 2 1lb bags of organic sliced peaches, defrost them in the micro and drain them well.

Here's Paula's recipe:

Ingredients

Crust:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
2 tablespoons sour cream

Filling:

About 6 medium peaches, peeled and sliced*, or 1 (28-ounce) can and 1 (16-ounce) can sliced peaches in light syrup, well drained
3 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Glaze:

1/2 cup peach preserves or jelly, warmed
1 tablespoon frozen lemonade concentrate

Directions

Preheat the oven the 375 degrees F.

To make the crust, place the flour, butter, and sour cream in food processor and pulse to combine. When the dough has formed a ball, pat with lightly floured hands into the bottom and sides of an ungreased 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom and 1/2-inch sides, or a round au gratin dish. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the crust is set but not browned. Let cool while preparing the filling.

Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

To make the filling, if using fresh peaches, peel and thickly slice the peaches. Arrange the fresh or canned peach slices in overlapping circles on top of the crust, until it's completely covered. Overfill the crust, as peaches will draw up during cooking. Combine the egg yolks, sour cream, sugar, and flour and beat until smooth. Pour the mixture over the peaches.

Place the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake for about 1 hour, until the custard sets and is pale golden in color. Cover with an aluminum foil tent if the crust gets too dark.

Transfer the tart pan to a wire rack to cool. When cool, remove the side wall of the pan. To make the glaze, combine the preserves or jelly and lemonade. Spread with a pastry brush over the top of the warm tart. Serve the tart warm, at room temperature, or chilled.

*Cook's Note: If using fresh peaches, sprinkle with a little lemon juice after slicing.

5-minute tandori naan pizzas: Flounder pizza

2010-04-15T17:44:00.000-07:00

When I had my third baby, while my oldest two where still babies too I had no choice but to come up with some quick recipes that would result in a healthy and delicious dishes for my growing family. One of our family favorites became 5-minute pizzas, that are very easy to make, no special ingredients needed (just stuck on flatbreads and keep them in your freezer). Minimal cost, minimal time, your favorite ingredients, high-end result - what can be better?
Make them sweet or savory, French or Italian, for breakfast, lunch or dinner - simply play with your ingredients, there’s no wrong or right, just do whatever you like.
I personally prefer to use Tandori Naan - buttermilk flatbreads, perfect size for an adult, or split in half for younger children. Tandori Naan sold fresh or frozen in many stores, including Costco, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. You can also use pita breads, mini pitas would be perfect for smaller children.

Ingredients:

1 Flatbread (fresh or frozen tandori naan, pita, etc.)
1 tsp Mayonaise
1 tsp Fresh lemon juice
1 tsp Cilantro leaves
Dash of Ground chili
1/2 Frozen flounder filet
1/2 medium Fresh ripe tomato
2 Slices of lemon
Horseradish cheddar cheese cubes
Extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

For the flounder, lemon & cilantro pizza:
Defrost your naans (15 sec on high in the microwave per each) or use defrost setting in your turbo convection.
In a small bowl or a cup mix together 1 tsp of mayonaise, 1 tsp of freshly squeezed lemon juice, chopped cilantro leaves, dash of ground chili.
Spread your cilantro sauce over the flatbread and arrange on top sliced (still frozen) fillet of flounder, sliced tomato, sliced lemon, cheese cubes.
Place your pizza in COLD oven on the top rack right under the broiler, set your broiler on HIGH setting and time exactly 5 minutes. You can use your turbo convection, tall rack, 500F, no pre-heating, 5 minutes. Your pizza is ready, just add a drizzle of a good extra virgin olive oil.

Turkey meatballs filled with vegetables and brown rice

2010-04-13T19:47:00.000-07:00

Very juicy, nutritious and filling dish. Very easy to do. Sometimes I make a double batch of the meatballs and freeze half of them uncooked on a plate for about an hour and then put them in a zip bag. Whenever I'm too busy to cook I just pull them out of the freezer put them in a pot still frozen, just pour the sauce, add water, spices and let them simmer for about 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey (can be chicken, ground pork or beef, whatever you like)
1 portion bag of frozen brown rice
1 medium onion finely chopped
1 medium carrot shredded
1 egg
chopped parsley
salt, ground black pepper
1 jar of vodka sauce (or your other favorite pasta sauce )
1 tbsp sugar
black peppercorns
1 bay leaf

Directions:

Mix together ground meat, frozen rice, onion, carrot, parsley, egg, salt and pepper.
Form large meatballs (I use 2 ice cream scoops per each) and place them in a single layer in a wide pot. Place peppercorns and a bay leaf in the same pot and pour the entire jar of the sauce on top of the meatballs, add water to just cover the meatballs and a pinch of salt and 1 tbsp. of sugar. Bring the sauce to a boil, cover the pot and let it simmer for 20 minutes, uncover and let it simmer for another 10 minutes.
Serve with your favorite bread and salad.

The best ever SUGAR BUNS!

2010-04-13T12:21:00.000-07:00

Nothing that good should be so simple, but it is a really simple recipe. Not for me though: I had to change the original dough recipe several times, before I could call these little guys "the best ever!" They melt in your mouth, not too sweet, with a little crunch on top from the all the syrup and sugar...
And here's how:

1 cup of buttermilk
0.5 cup of vegetable oil
1 tbsp active dry yeast
0.5 tsp. salt
2.5 tbsp sugar plus 4 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
1 egg
3.5+ cups of unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 stick butter softened + 1 tbsp butter for the pan
For the syrup: lemon zest of 1/2 lemon or natural lemon flavor, 4 tbsp sugar+ 2 tbsp water

Mix together buttermilk and oil and warm up in the microwave oven for about 40 sec. to a minute. Mixture should be warm, but not hot.

Add yeast, egg, salt, 2.5 tsp sugar and wisk.

Add flour and knead well - the dough should be very soft, but not sticky, add a little more flour if the dough remains sticky after kneading.

Place the covered bowl with the dough in a warm place for about 1 hour.

After the dough has risen knead it down and roll to about 1/4" thick.

Spread 1/2 stick of the butter all over the dough and evenly sprinkle 4 tbsp of sugar on top of the butter. Roll the dough up, jelly roll fashion, cut 12 slices and place these cut side uppermost in the pan (use 1 tbsp of butter to spread on the bottom and the sides of the pan) close to each other. For these particular buns I always use Pyrex baking dish - it's just the perfect size and lets the dough to brown evenly from top to bottom. Let them rise for another 30-45 minutes, brush with a beaten egg, than bake in pre-heated oven on 375F for about 30 minutes.

For the glaze: boil together sugar, water and the zest of a lemon for about 2 minutes. Try to replace lemon zest with 1/2 tsp of a rose water - I love rose water in my pastry.

These buns freeze beautifully. Rather than keeping them on the counter for several days I prefer to freeze them and in the morning pull out as many as I need and warm up in my Secura infrared turbo oven - this way they always taste like if they were just baked.

Quick and easy make-ahead crepes

2010-04-11T19:03:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't love crepes?

The question is how you like them: sweet, savory or both. When I was a little girl, my mother used to melt fresh butter, that where purchased from the farmer's market, shaped by hands in ball, she would cut a piece and melt it on the stove in a tiny enamel pot. We would fold each crepe and deep it in this warm butter.... it still is my favorite way to eat crepes.

Crepe's are also a best way and fastest way to feed my toddlers breakfast, that is reach in protein, omega and amino acids, vitamin B, A, etc. We all know, that eggs are a superfood, but my kids unfortunately don't love eggs - crepes are the way to make my little ones really enjoy their nutritious breakfasts.

So, here's how I make mine:

2 cups of whole milk

1 cup of buttermilk (kefir or plain yogurt will do)

5 eggs

1 tsp salt

3 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp oil

2 cups of all purpose, unbleached, unbromated flour

I blend everything with stick blender , I really like Cusinart immersion blender, I use it every day, it lets me make my own baby food without placing hot veggies in the plastic food processor bowl. Just don't buy the one that comes in a set with the tiny food processor, because even though the blender itself works beautifully, the processor knife kept coming off, I returned mine. The best ever pan for the crepes is a cast iron one. I own Lodge Logic pan, really cheap one - only $15, and it performs beautifully! Cast iron gives you a very even heat distribution, and, if properly seasoned, is naturally non-stick, just preheat it well every time.

Rub your pan with just a little bit of oil and get it very hot, almost smoking-hot, lift hot pan with your left hand using a mitten or a kitchen towel and pour batter in the center of a pan, give it a little rotating motion with your left hand to spread the batter all over the surface of the pan. Do it quickly. For 10.5" pan you'll need exactly 3 fl. oz of batter to make a perfect crepe. I always make just enough crepes to serve now and store the rest of the batter in the fridge and than just use it the next morning to make more crepes, which only takes several minutes.
For fillings my family likes jam, farmers or ricotta cheese blended with a little heavy cream, sugar and vanilla bean paste or berries (fresh or frozen)

5-minute tandori naan pizzas: breakfast Apple pizza

2010-04-10T11:39:00.000-07:00

Tandori Naan are buttermilk flatbreads baked in tandoor - cylindrical clay oven ( origin: India, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Transcaucasus, the Balkans, the Middle East, Central Asia as well as Burma and Bangladesh - From Wikipedia). Naan are delicious by themselves, but also just a perfect base for all kinds of toppings, which makes them ideal for personal sized pizzas. I usually buy mine frozen at my local Trader Joe's for $1.99 per bag of 4 naans. Ask for them at your local supermarket, I know Costco sells them too. You can also order them from Amazon

My whole family adores these beautiful little pizzas and this is always my go-to recipe when meal has to be served fresh, delicious, almost immediately.
For 1 apple pizza you'll need:
1
Tandori Naan
1 apple cored
1 tsp Butter (or creme fraiche)
Handful of grated mozzarella cheese (2 tbsp mascarpone is even better)
Spices (vanilla, cinnamon)
Fresh tarragon for garnish

I love my apples with vanilla, therefore I take a 1/4 tsp per pizza of vanilla bean paste - amazing stuff, so much better than the extract - smells just like vanilla bean. I even took a close-up picture of it to show you: it's literally vanilla beans in a sugar syrup - so good!

and mix it with my butter or creme fraiche and spread it on top of my naan. Next comes thinly sliced apple an a french tart manner, I sprinkle it with sugar and cover with cheese. If I use mascarpone, than I add another 1/4 tsp of vanilla paste to it and spread it over the apple. Next comes the best part: I broil these pizzas for 5 minutes only, NO PRE-HEATING! From cold oven to your plate - 5 minutes even. If I make just 1 or two pizzas than I use my turbo convection oven - tall rack, 500f, 5 minutes, no pre-heating.
Done!

2010-04-10T06:35:00.001-07:00

Some like it hot, some like it sweet.. I like it both ))

2010-04-08T16:54:00.000-07:00

Broiled to perfection steak, glazed with just a bit of a sweet chipotle sauce, served with the sexiest salad ever.
What could be better for Sunday dinner for two? And it only takes about 20 minutes to make.
Couple of words about the salad: if you've never tried combination of fresh greens, tangy aromatic cheese, sweet and sour apple, candied nuts and zesty, sweet dressing - once you try it you'll be speechless, believe me! It only takes couple of minutes to put together and you can also use store bought candied nuts if you don't want to bother doing it yourself. So here we go.

Ingredients:
Beef tenderloins (filet mignon) ~1.5" thick
Salt, pepper, safflower oil
Hot Squeeze Sweet Heat chipotle sauce
Grill pan
For the salad:
Mixed baby greens,
Sunflower seeds (shelled), pepitas or walnuts, pecans, almonds - whatever nuts you prefer
1 tbsp sugar (I like turbinado) or honey
1 tbsp butter or oil
1 gala apple
Sweet onion
Gorgonzola cheese
Dried cranberries
Wild maine blueberry dressing

Note: Always take your steaks out of the fridge 15 minutes before cooking to bring them to the room temp.
Place your grill pan on one burner and a regular pan on another burner.
Rub your steaks with oil and season them generously with salt and black pepper
Add 1 tbsp of oil or butter and sugar or honey to the plain pan
When the grill pan is almost smoking hot put your steaks at 45 degree angle and time 5 minutes
Throw your nuts/seeds into the melted sugar/butter and stir. Transfer them to the plate to cool.
After 5 minutes flip your steaks keeping the same angle. Time 2 minutes.
Arrange your greens on the large serving plate, peel and core an apple
Flip your steaks at the different angle to complete the grilling marks pattern on the first side and time 2 minutes
Dice your apple, coarsely chop nuts, slice onion (just a few rings)
Flip you steaks one last time to complete the pattern on the second side and time another 2 minutes
Toss your apples, nuts, onions, cheese and cranberries on top of the grins, mix and lightly dress with berry dressing
Steaks are ready, salad is ready. Just glaze your steaks with Sweet Heat chipotle sauce (this stuff can make a shoe sole taste like heaven) and let them rest for about 5-7 minutes before cutting them. It took longer to write than it takes to cook.

Garbanzo burger panini

2010-04-08T11:47:00.000-07:00

Last year my husband decided that he wants to fast during the Great Lent (great lent lasts for about 40 days and for most part of it you have to become vegan until the great lent is over ). As we never did it before I had to rethink our menu in order to keep my workhorse hubby not only alive, but also happy and healthy, especially considering the fact that this guy is a big meat eater and veggie hater.
I knew, that burger would make him happy. This is how I came up with a garbanzo burger panini, which is vegan, healthy and tastes crazy good (very easy to make too).

Ingredients:
1 cup dry garbanzo beans
2 cups drinking water
Handful of each: fresh cilantro and parsley
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1 clove of fresh garlic
Salt to taste
Avocado
Tomato
Baby spinach
Onions
1:1 mayonaise (or veganaise) and lemon juice
Ciabatta rolls (Trader Joe's, Panera, etc.)

Soak garbanzo beans in water for about 8 hours (you can do it in the morning and by the dinner time they will be ready). Place soaked beans in the food processor with spices and greens (except for spinach). Process them well and taste for salt and other spices, at this point you can adjust the recipe to your taste by adding other spices if you like. Form patties (I use 3 ice cream scoops per each) right on the oiled baking sheet (do not use non-stick ). Place baking sheet with patties in the oven on the second top rack and set your broiler on high. Broil 7 minutes, than flip and broil for another 5 minutes. If you are one of those happy owners of a turbo convection oven, than just simply place your patties on the tall rack and broil on 500F for about the same time.
Slice rolls in half, spread with the lemon juice/mayonaise mixture, top with a handful of fresh baby spinach, place garbanzo burgers over the spinach and top them with sliced tomatos, avocados and onions, add a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, and close the sandwich with the second part of the roll. Grill for several minutes using panini press or electrical grill, or simply place your sandwich upside down on the well heated griddle, cover with smaller diameter lid and apply pressure with your hand.

You don't have to broil all patties at once, garbanzo mixture will be just as good for 3-4 days in the fridge. It's better if you broil your burgers fresh every time, as they become dry the next day once cooked.

Gagets, gadgets everywhere...

2010-04-08T10:50:00.000-07:00

Are you a gadget person?