Cooking BakingMealPrep (640 x 500 px) (850 x 500 px) (1)

How To Tell That Your Baked Item Is Properly Cooked

opt how to tell when its done

I learned this little baking tip from my friend, Trish who loves to bake, but hates to have her picture taken. Which is crazy because she is beautiful inside and out. Trish has a large family and has always cooked for them including desserts. She juggles family food allergies and preferences like a food pro. She doesn’t bake professionally, but does this as a labor of love.

As you will see below she has made some really fun birthday cakes. We always consider ourselves blessed to have her volunteer to make a surprised theme birthday cake for us. 

We had an owl take up residence in our yard last winter. We named him Hootie and look what my surprise Birthday cake was! A tree log with an edible owl.  You can’t see them real well but around the cake were little porcupines. 

My husband’s birthday cake was inspired by his love of grilling. This is his grill cake with burger patties on top. Note that there is a metal spatula on the top. 

Spring birthdays mean blueberries and butterflies. This lemon vanilla cake was perfectly balanced with the fruit.

Chocolate shards all over this chocolate cake dressed in stabilized whipped cream. Was fantastic. 

Her baked items always come out tasting wonderful too. She rarely sticks to the recipe which baffles me since baking is supposed to be more of a science. She always seems to make it work.

Trish makes gorgeous cakes, fabulous flans, crumbles, pies, hearty breads and rolls and so much more.

We have posted photos of some of her creations. I wish I had more photos to share but it seems that we dig in to most of the lovely baked items before we can even get a pic . lol 

The Baking Tip Is:

Aside from looking at the color of your bread, muffins, or cupcakes Trish says another indicator of if your baked good is finished is that is has started to pull away from the pan. I have been using this as an indicator for my zucchini and banana breads and it has been spot on each time!

Thanks Trish!

chick Pea salad w Tuna

Chickpea Salad w Tuna and Capers 

Chickpea Salad w Tuna and Capers

If you love tuna you will love this chick pea salad. The capers add just enough saltiness and the tuna adds flavor as well as protein.
Prep Time 5 minutes
Course Lunch
Servings 1
Calories 335 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 4 Ounce Chickpeas
  • 1/4 Cucumber English
  • 1/8 Red Onion
  • 1/8 Pint Cherry Tomatoes
  • 1/8 Cup Cilantro
  • 1/16 Cup Olive Oil
  • 1/16 Cup Lemon Juice
  • 1 Teaspoon Capers
  • 2 Ounces Tuna Fish Caned

Instructions
 

  • Wash the cilantro and set it aside on a paper towel to dry
  • Wash the cucumber
  • Wash the cherry tomatoes
  • Wash the lemon
  • Cut the lemon and squeeze the lemon juice then set aside
  • Chop the cucumber into bite sized pieces that may be in 4ths or 6ths depending on the size of your cucumber.
  • Dice the onions
  • Add all the vegetables to a salad bowl
  • Add the chic peas
  • Chiffonade the cilantro and add it to the salad
  • Add the olive oil
  • Add the lemon juice
  • Add the tuna
  • Add the capers
  • Add salt and pepper to taste

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 335kcalCarbohydrates: 38gProtein: 11gFat: 17gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 11gSodium: 73mgPotassium: 608mgFiber: 10gSugar: 9gVitamin A: 513IUVitamin C: 25mgCalcium: 79mgIron: 4mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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The Tablescape Contest

Knowing that the holidays would soon be upon us, we asked the members of our Love of Food Facebook group to share their beautiful table settings and participate in a contest. These are some of the photos that are being considered for our contest. We have named each one in the caption under its photo.

If you would like to vote for your favorite, visit our Facebook Group using the link above. The contest will be pinned in the group until Dec 25th when the winner will be announced.

THE AUTUMN LEAVES TABLE
THE REINDEER TABLE
THE DINNER OF THE DEAD TABLE
THE GILDAD BUTTERFLY TABLE
THE RED GLASS TABLE
THE BLACK WHITE AND RED TABLE
THE BIRDS NEST TABLE
THE CHRISTMAS BUFFET

Nicole and Jan Cook Asian

Neither I or Nicole have any ties to the Asian community except through food. We both love sushi, pho, wontons, spring rolls and just about any Asian dish you can think of. We thought it would be fun to use one of our coveted three days visiting together to not just enjoy this cultural food that is rich in flavor and steeped in tradition, but to prepare it and share it with the For the Love of Food readers.

I have never prepared my own sushi, but Nicole has several times and with her culinary background I assume that somewhere in her classes she must have been taught this art of rolling the rice, fish, and vegetables. I was not so daring as you will see in the videos. I wimped out and used what is called the Sushi Cube. I bought it at Whisk (a fabulous kitchen store in my community). It basically lets you stuff all the items for your sushi inside this little box and presses it into a cute little bit sized cube. Great for creating bite-sized appetizers, making sushi with kids or for a beginner sushi cook like me.

All of us including my husband love fresh spring rolls with a peanut sauce so we were sure to include this on the menu for the evening. We have a video and recipe for the spring rolls and a recipe for the peanut sauce. Get the recipes by clicking the button at the bottom of this blog article. 

We also added to the menu two kinds of Asian curry: one yellow and one green. I made both using a special curry mix I found in the cultural market.  Much to my surprise, we all liked the yellow curry the best. I wonder if it was because I made that one with the chicken thigh meat that lends its fat to flavor to whatever you’re cooking. The second green curry was made using the chicken breast. I will share a photo of each.  We cooked white basmati rice to serve with the curries.

To finish off the meal we stirred up and froze some fabulous ingredients that would become homemade coconut ice-cream. This came together with just three ingredients and we did not use an ice-cream maker. This was simplicity at its best! Truth be told we were so full after the meal we did not eat the ice-cream that night however, but Nicole were sure to eat it for breakfast the next morning. Hey, don’t judge us! It was almost a smoothie. I will include the recipe we used as it was very tasty!

All in all our Asian meal was a success with lots of leftover curry and rice that Rob took to reheat for his work lunch. We also saved a ton of money since going out for a great a sushi lunch can run Nicole and me almost $100. We fed all three of us more than just sushi and had leftovers for Rob’s lunch and our breakfast for much less than $100.00. In addition, I learned how to roll the sushi, we got to spend quality time together and share our recipes and experience with you our readers.