Caprese Salad with Peaches

I know, a recipe for caprese salad is hardly the newest concept out there, and it's so easy, no recipe is really needed.  However, last week on a trip to Whole Foods to grab some lunch, I came across a different twist on the caprese salad--the addition of fresh apricots.  That combination of fresh mozarella, tomatoes, basil and sweet apricots was quite possibly the perfect flavor combination.  Of course, I had to give it a try at home with some super fresh peaches I picked up at the farmer's market. The sweetness of fruit paired with the creaminess of the mozarella, the tartness of the balsalmic reduction,  the bite of freshly ground pepper, the bit of freshly sprinkled sea salt and the clean fresh taste of basil....definitely a fan.  Don't forget a bit of olive oil drizzled over the top.

For balsalmic reduction, you just boil a bottle of balsalmic vinegar down to about 1/4 of it's original volume or until it's a thick sweet and slightly tart syrup...about 15 minutes on medium high.  It keeps in the fridge for months.

Puppy Party

When you don't have kids to plan fun parties for, you have puppy birthdays.  No apologies here, it's just what you do.  What might be sad is that between dog day care, dog parks and dog events,  I've spent a lot more energy ensuring that Brooklyn is well socialized, than I have myself.  In the end though, no one wants a crazy unsocialized dog right?   Crazy maybe, but never unsocialized.

So with all of Brooklyn's new friends, how could I not celebrate her birthday...she's a one year old peanut now.  Oh I'm so weepy.  I think she had a good first birthday.

A little playtime with her peeps...

A little inappropriate behavior that no puppy or human parent ever wants to witness....

A little puppy pouting because someone didn't want to have her picture taken....

And of course some cake.  Or really meatloaf in this case.  I called a few dog bakeries but no one made wheat free cakes.  I found some recipes using rice flour, but in the end I realized that birthday cake would really be for my benefit--Brooklyn hates biscuits and other cookie like treats.  Eats cat poo, but dramatically spits out biscuits...it's so (not) endearing really.

Birthday girls should get the kind of cake they want, even if they are bratty and will not want to take a picture with it. 

And of course lots of presents, because you're only one once. All this has me fearing that if I were a mother, I'd be an overindulgent one. 

Puppy Birthday Meatloaf Cake

1 lb ground beef

1/2 lb baby carrots cooked, pureed and cooled

1 egg

1/4 cup rice flour (or bread crumbs, oats or other binder)

3 large potatoes

1/2 cup cottage cheese

Preheat oven to 400 and grease a 6 inch cake pan

Combine ground beef, carrots, egg and rice flour.   Press into pan

Bake for 30 mins and allow to cool.

For "frosting":

Peel potatoes and cut into thirds

Boil on med heat for 20 mins or until fork tender

Add cottage cheese, and mash together until creamy.  You may need to add water or milk. 

Rainbow Cake

Have you heard of "baby cakes?"  Instead of finding out the gender of baby at the doctor's office, some mothers are opting to have the Dr. write down the baby's gender and seal it in an envelope.  The mother delivers the envelope to a baker who makes either a pink or blue cake and frosts it.  The parents find out the gender of the baby after slicing into the cake. I'm thinking another occasion for cake is just genius.

When my sister gushed over the idea, I thought it might be fun to make her a cake with a surprise.  With no babies on the horizon, I thought her birthday might be the perfect occasion to whip up the Rainbow cake I've been admiring for ages.  You would think a grown woman would could resist rainbows. I blame Pinterest for my recent rainbow addiction.  I really do. 

Have to throw a little love for Mesa Grill.  I took my sister to brunch at the Mesa Grill in Caesar's Palace and it was outstanding, phenomenal, delicious, spicy and just outright YUM.  I really wish my photos had turned out so that I could share with you the delight that is Ranch Style Eggs with a crispy flour tortilla and ancho chile sauce.  It was one of the best meals I've ordered in ages, and that's not just because I secretly root for Bobby Flay on many Throwdown episodes.  Any place that advocates a margarita with your brunch and brings a bread basket full of little coffee cakes, blue corn muffins, green chili puffs and cookies is not too shabby in my book.  Definitely worth a trip if you are in town.

You would think that with that enormous breakfast, we wouldn't have room for cake, but after we got home, we perservered.  We are just that dedicated.  I used Whisk Kids' Super Epic Rainbow Cake recipe and followed it pretty closely except  that I substituted almond extract  for the vanilla and lemon in both the cake and the frosting, I only made the one batch (9 egg white recipe) of frosting and then covered the cake in coconut.

I have to admit that despite the shocking amounts of food coloring required, I absolutely loved making this cake. I love those vibrant colors.  It wasn't as difficult or time consuming as it appears at first--the frosting might be the most time consuming part.  The cake recipe makes enough for all six layers.  I have three 9inch cake pans so was able to bake these in just two rounds, and they are so thin that they only take 15 mins to bake. 

And even with all of those colors popping everywhere, when you cover it with all of that creamy meringue buttercream, the colors are perfectly hidden, just waiting there patiently to surprise everyone with that first cut. It's such a fun surprise too, even when your sister guesses it's a rainbow with the first knife slice just by seeing a bit of red crumb at the top and a bit of purple crumb at the bottom.  We are a RoyGBiv kind of family.

Happy Birthday dear sister!

Cooking on a Salt Block

Have you seen these salt blocks? I once had dinner at a restaurant where they brought us a 500 degree salt rock and we were able to sear our fresh ahi right at the table.  It was fun and delish and quite fascinating.  I've resisted the temptation of the $70 salt slab, but when I saw that World Market carries them for only $20, I grabbed it without second thought.  Even better is when it's on sale  and then you apply your World Market Explorer coupon.  The only thing better than a $20 salt block is a $10 one. 

This is going to take a bit of experimentation it turns out.  I don't think I got it quite right the first time.  I started out with some flank steak marinated in a soy ginger marinade overnight.

Even after slowly heating the salt over 40 minutes, I don't think it was hot enough. Or I overloaded the slab...the steak was more steaming in it's juices than searing. Not the most successful first try, but we'll just heat it up a bit longer next time.

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake pops

Okay, not really cake pops.  I tried sticking them on a stick but they looked a little odd so they became cake bites. 

I've learned that cake pops have strong appeal to the young and the young at heart.  And I also learned they need not be intricate or fancy--kids LOVE them regardless of how simple you decide to go, which makes them a perfect fast homemade treat to bring when you receive a last minute BBQ invite that you can't quite squirrel out of.  Not that I know anything about that.

One cake mix made per box instructions (I used red velvet because, well, it was Memorial Day) cooled and crumbled,and 2/3 of container frosting mixed in.  Let cool for 2 hours in fridge, scoop with mini cookie scoop, roll into balls, insert sticks and refrigerate for 30 minutes more.  When ready to dip, just melt candy melts, dip and sprinkle and stick into a block of styrofoam to allow to harden.  Serve it up in a cute little pail from the $1 section at Target. I add a few of the decorative rocks to the bottom to weight the bucket down (very important), a bit of styrofoam in the middle to stick the pops into and then tissue paper on top. It couldn't be easier, and all the kids at the BBQ will think you are way cool.  Because, well, you are. 

For the strawberry ones, you just shape the cake like strawberries instead of balls and refrigerate for 30 mins.  Dip bottom 3/4 in melted red candy melts, refrigerate until hardened (about 5-10 mins).  Dip top 1/4 in green candy melts, using toothpick to pull some down randomly onto the red and refrigerate until hardened. If you want chocolate covered strawberries, melt some dark chocolate candy melts and dip the lower strawberries in the chocolate. I used dk chocolate candy melts because it was easier than tempering real chocolate, but if you like tempering chocolate, it would be phenomenal with the cake.