Obsession of the moment: Kombucha

I had a little photo shoot with my Synergy bottle while in Stat class today.  ( Yes that is a cookie in the side of the photo.  We were using them as an example of calculating IQR.)

I am always trying new things as far as food and drinks go.  I kept coming across Kombucha and just didn't have the guts to try it.

While at Whole Foods today, I decided it was at least worth a try.  I got the Synergy brand Enlightened Kombucha in 'Trilogy," the flavor is described as "threes company with tangy raspberries, tart lemons and spicy ginger"

For those who are not familiar with Kombucha:

Kombucha is an effervescent tea-based beverage that is often consumed for its anecdotal health benefits or medicinal purposes. Kombucha is available commercially and can be made at home by fermenting tea using a visible, solid mass of yeast and bacteria which forms the kombucha culture, often referred to as 酵母 (kombo, lit. "yeast mother", see etymology for disambiguation with 昆布, kombu, kelp), according to Wikipedia.

Kombucha may contain a trace amount of alcohol from the fermentation process, but believe me...you are not going to get intoxicated off this beverage.  

When first opening the bottle, there was a loud "pssst" similar to when you open a bottle of soda.  I smelled it, and it smelled like vinegar. It did not smell appetizing.  But I spent $3 on this beverage, I was at least going to try it.  I took a sip and was pleasantly surprised.  It tasted like a fruity flavored champagne with a little bit of fresh ginger. The vinegar smell was just that, a smell.

While this isn't a drink everyone would like, I really enjoyed it.  It wasn't too sweet and the fizziness added a nice texture to the drink.

"Trilogy" is pictured far right of the screen.  I also got the "multi green" but haven't got around to trying it yet.

Synergy makes a number of different Kombucha beverages, many combined with fruit juice.  As I am sensitive to super sweet drinks, I chose one that didn't have much juice it in. If you are into super sweet drinks, I've heard their guava and mango flavors are also quite good.  But, be warned, the higher the fruit juice content, the higher the sugar and calorie count will be.

To warn you, this drink is a raw fermented beverage.  It has live cultures in the bottle and sediment in the bottom.  This doesn't mean the beverage has gone bad, it is how it is suppose to look.

Kombucha is rich in probiotics, similar to that in yogurt as well as many B vitamins.  There is a lot of speculation about the benefits of Kombucha and its benefits.  While I enjoy the benefit of the probiotics and vitamins, I don't expect this elixir to make me immortal.

Personally, I am just pleased to have a new healthy beverage that isn't super high in sugar and calories to add to my fridge.  If I get any health benefits from it, I won't complain.

You will find many different articles about kombucha.  While I was doing research for this blog posting, I found many news articles warning that this drink could be deadly.  Let me be clear, these people were brewing their own kombucha at home and something was not right.  As many commercial brewers and home brewers that do this process correctly know, this beverage must be brewed in a sterile environment.  The one thing in connection with many of these articles are conditions that are not sterile, or the beverage was not brewed in the proper vessel. 

I recommend checking out this website for benefits of kombucha:
http://www.foodrenegade.com/kombucha-health-benefits/

I don't believe everything I read point blank...I like to test theories out for myself.   I shall keep you posted if I feel that kombucha has worked a miracle on me.  Until then, I enjoy the fizzy, tangy taste of this twist on typical tea.

Here's to good health, Caitlin.

Oreo Balls ( Truffles)

For Valentine's Day this year I wanted to make a little something for those who didn't care for cupcakes or maybe just wanted chocolate.

I decided to make Oreo balls.  Little did I know they would be such a huge hit at work.

While I don't usually give away my recipes....

You will need:

-1 package of Oreo cookies

- 8 oz. block of cream cheese, room temp. ( don't get the low fat stuff.  You are eating oreos afterall. Its like ordering Diet Coke with a Big Mac)
Melting chocolate of your choosing ( I like white chocolate)

*optional sprinkles

Begin the recipe by separating the Oreo cookie from the cream filling- for the whole bag.  Crush the cookies into crumbs ( I used a blender, you could also use a food processor).  Add your room temperature cream cheese to the cream filling and combine until smooth.

Combine the Oreo crumbs with the cream cheese/cream filling mixture until it makes a dough.  Roll the dough into 1 inch balls and place on a cookie sheet ( I use wax paper for easy clean up.)  I recommend putting the balls in the fridge or freezer for 20-30 minutes to harden up before coating in chocolate.

I attempted to make a cake pop style Oreo ball, but the dough kept falling apart. Yes, that is chicken on the side of this pic.  I can't survive off cookies you know...

I ended up just drizzling the Oreo balls with the melted chocolate and adding sprinkles while still sticky.

Oreo balls are easy to make and taste delicious!  Feel free to experiment with different types of Oreos and different types of chocolate!

Sunday Gravy

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past year, you are aware of what "The Sunday Gravy" is.  With popularity of red sauce on television shows, mostly based in New Jersey...it has gotten a lot of press.

 Red sauce can be vegetarian, filled with meat on bones, meatballs and is served over a variety of foods.

Being a good Italian, I do make my own red sauce. It has taken me a few years to perfect it to my liking. There are so many variations that can be made to a red sauce.

 You have the option of selecting the meat of your choosing, meatballs or no meatballs, what brand of tomato sauce to use, fresh or dried herbs.

 Here is what the gravy looked like this Tuesday ( yes, you can make it on days other than Sunday).

Meatballs all rolled out and ready to go.  I bake them prior to cooking in sauce.

Every college students best friend, The Crock Pot.  I prefer this method of cooking because of the slow, even heat.  It also doesn't hurt that I can start this in the morning and come back to a fully cooked sauce in the evening.

Meatballs after being cooked. I use a little olive oil on the pan to prevent sticking.

The final product.

Red sauce doesn't always have to be difficult.  You just have to figure out what you like and tweak it, until you have your own version made.

I won't reveal the secrets to my red sauce.  But my biggest tip would be to never used dried, canned or jarred garlic products.  It will never yield the garlic flavor that fresh garlic does.

Mini Apple Crisp

I had no idea what I was going to cook when I got home from work a few nights ago.  I like to make things using ingredients that I already have.  That night, I happened to have a few apples that needed to be used....a mini apple crisp was the result.

I started with fresh apple slices (peeled) and placed them in the mini pie pan. (I had two apples, so I made a mini sized version of this apple crisp.)

The 'crisp' consisted of rolled oats, brown sugar, baking powder and melted butter.  The apples were covered in a mixture of cinnamon ( I went a little heavy on the cinnamon because I like it that way) white sugar and a little bit of flour.

Add the crisp topping to the apples ( before)

(after) Baked until bubbling and crisp.  

What I couldn't photograph was the way that this makes your house smell, which is an added bonus.  This took no more than 15 minutes to prepare and doesn't require babysitting while in the oven.  Apple crisp doesn't need to have perfect portions to taste good.

Just goes to prove that you don't have to spend all night making dessert to have  homemade delights.  Apple desserts are always a crowd pleaser and allow you to focus on the rest of your meal while its in the oven.

**I recommend adding ice cream and enjoying while still warm**

While Mama Bakes did a great job with the whoopie-pies, I was burned out on chocolate by the time I left her house. It is my bosses birthday tomorrow, and I wanted to make something special for her since we have to work on her birthday/Valentine's Day.

I thought pretty pink cupcakes would be the best option.  Sure, I could have taken the easy route and just died a white cake or bought a pink colored cake mix at the store...but that's not my style.  I don't like using artificial ingredients or using unnatural food coloring. I feel like it is eating a science project when you consume artificial dyes and colors.

Since the grocery stores have had an abundance of strawberries for Valentine's Day, I took advantage of it. Strawberries it is!

My "food coloring" for the cake.

The dry team! ( Flour, baking powder, salt)

The wet team, strawberry puree, egg, vanilla, sugar, butter.

Super fluffy batter prior to baking.

Fresh out of the oven!

Making the strawberry frosting. (Butter, sugar, strawberry puree, vanilla)

Finished frosting.

 

 

 

Perfectly pink Valentine's/Birthday cupcakes! I added little pink sugar pearls to the top.

 I was really happy that I had the time to watch Mama Bakes today and still have time to bake my own sweets!

Perfectly pink cupcakes, whoopie-pies and sugar coated dreams,
-Caitlin

Heart shaped whoopie-pies for Valentine's Day.  All dressed up and no where to go!

Valentines's Day Baking
Contributing post by Mama Bakes ( a.k.a my mom)

Baking has always been a huge part of our family dynamic.  With Valentine's Day fast approaching my mom and I are both scrambling to put together our heart shaped sweets.

Mama Bakes had ordered her heart shaped whoopie pie pan a week ago.  With the right temperatures this pan could easily be used with cake mix, cookie dough or even eggs (yes, you can bake eggs).

During the journey into whoopee pie land,  Mama Bakes encountered many battles with the 'non-stick pan'.  She feels like this pan vastly misrepresented itself, as everything stuck to it.

"Obviously someone was asleep at the nonstick pan factory when this one was made," Mama said.  In-between her expletives of 'Mother Hubbard.'

Mama Bakes tip of the day #1: "Non-stick always sticks.  Don't trust it."

Here we have 'the dry team' which consists of flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt.

The frosting mix consists of butter, salt, vanilla, marshmallow cream, and powdered sugar.

'The dry team' well mixed and ready to be gradually added to 'the wet team.'

Eggs are slowly incorporated into the mixture.

Whoopie pies baking and puffing up to perfection.

Finished cake parts of the 'pie'

We had so many cakes when we started, but the time they were all stacked....we had 13 total pies.

To explain, you always assemble the dry ingredients ( dry team) and wet ingredients (wet team) separately. ***Sugar is considered to be a wet ingredient.  Yes, I know its not actually wet.  But how it behaves when baked ( aka it melts, or is creamed with butter...etc) is wet.

Peace, love and heart-shaped sweets.
-Caitlin

Let's talk pie.  Everyone loves pie.  This was my first attempt at a meringue style pie, it turned out pretty good.  Like a good baker, I like to cook with what is in season. Given that it is the middle of Winter, citrus is readily available, cheap and full of flavor.  There are so many things that you can do with citrus, but in this case....making a lemon curd and dousing lemons in sugar seemed like a good option. 

The pie after its toasting in the oven.

Mile high meringue!

I was pretty intimidated by making a pie, I had never made one before.  Particularly I was nervous about the meringue.  I always heard horror stories about meringues 'falling'.  Fortunately, mine stood up proudly and I was very happy with my filling to pie ratio ( I like meringue).  I did 'cheat' on this pie by using a premade crust.  But, given how easy this one was to make, I will try to make my own crust next time. 

For this recipe, I created the lemon curd using fresh lemons and fresh lemon zest, slowly tempering the egg yolks so they came up to temperture just right.

For the meringue, I put the egg whites in my mixer, slowly added sugar, and just let it go to work.  The whites were so stiff that I could have turned the bowl over and they wouldn't have spilled out.

A little toasting in the oven and the pie was good to go!

First Blog Post

After much thought, I have decided to start a food blog.  I love to eat, I love to bake, I love to analyze food, I love to learn about new foods.  I have a sincere appreciation those to create the food we eat.  Yes, food is needed to survive, but if that was the case....we would all be eating tofu.  Food brings people together, it shapes cultures, it is a life force that fuels the human race.  With that said, don't eat to live...live to eat.
( The above picture is what my fridge currently looks like.  Jammed packed.  Just the way I like it.)