Baked Alaska

I haven't been participating in Daring Cooks recently, but decided this month to try to begin participating again. The 2010 February Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Michele of Veggie Num Nums. Michele chose to challenge everyone to make mezze based on various recipes from Claudia Roden, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Dugid.

If you don't know what Mezze is, here is what Wikipedia says: "In Eastern Mediterranean it is a selection of appetizers or small dishes often served with beverage, like anise-flavored liqueurs such as arak, ouzo, raki or different wines, similar to the tapas of Spain or finger food". Our challenge was to create a Mezze table. Our requirements were that we had to make Pita and Hummus using the given recipes, and we could make anything else we wanted to accompany that. I made a rather large feast. We started with Pomegranate Martinis. Then the spread included Pita Bread, Hummus, Muhammara(roasted pepper & walnut dip), Lavosh Crackers, Cucumber Raita, Feta Cheese, Olives & Caper Berries, Roasted Red Peppers, Cherry Tomatoes, Lamb and Feta Patties with Red Pepper Relish and Baked Meatballs from Syros with Walnuts, Almonds and Prunes. What I thought would be an easy meal to throw together ended up taking all day to make. But it was worth it.

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A couple of days ago I wrote about the challenge I am having with what to put on my blog. I was sick last week, and off work, and have had a little time to browse a few blogs. I came across a few healthy recipes that got me to thinking about cooking again. I began with this soup - a Roasted Vegetable Soup with Polenta Croutons. I saw this on Tartelette's blog and I just had to try it.

It is a very flavorful soup. The turnips make it a bit on the sweet side. You can adapt this recipe to whatever you have on hand. I only had one very small potato, but it turned out just fine anyway. I also forgot to add any olive oil, and it was still great. I topped it with the Polenta Croutons that came from the blog Lisa's Kitchen. They added a nice hearty flavor to the soup. I followed the recipe except I added a little parmesan to the polenta before cooling.

Hopefully, this will be the beginning of my wanting to cook again, for now making healthy recipes.

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This year, I am really trying to get healhy. For me, that means losing some weight and exercising more. The losing weight part is a struggle for me because I love to cook. And while I think I eat healthy the majority of the time, I know I eat too much food. When trying to lose weight, I normally try to do it by not cutting out everything unhealthy, just cutting back and trying to eat a little less. But I generally don't lose much. I am trying to lose 20-25 pounds, and this time I'm doing it differently-I'm counting calories. I figure that even if I don't do it forever, it gives me a better idea of what I can eat in a day and lose. You know the saying-calories in, calories out. I started on Jan. 1 and I have lost 7 pounds so far.

The struggle that comes with this is what to do with my blog. I have belonged to several cooking groups that I post about-Daring Bakers, Daring Cooks, and our Sunday Whatever (it is now Sunday Slow Suppers). I dearly hate to give those up, but for now I am not following any recipes, I am eating mainly oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, a turkey wrap for lunch, yogurt and fruit for a snack, and fish or chicken, along with vegetables and a salad for dinner. Maybe a little quinoa if I've exercised hard that day. Not really anything to put on a food blog. So I"ve posted one recipe since the holidays, and it was one I made over the holidays. I might go back and repost some of the recipes I've posted in the past. I'm still not sure. I do know that I'm not too motivated to work on the blog while I'm not cooking, but I don't want to give it up all-together. So bear with me during this period as I figure things out. And if anyone has any suggestions on what they'd like to see me do, by all means let me know.

On Christmas Day, I wanted to make a nice brunch. I decided to make a Zucchini, Bacon and Gruyere Quiche recipe that I found on Epicurious.com. It was a wonderful quiche. The great flavor of bacon combined with the gruyere. It was easy to make also. I don't use frozen pie crusts, so I've also listed the recipe that I used for my crust.

If you're looking for a nice quiche recipe, give this one a try-I think you'll really like it.

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This year, after Christmas, I made another Italian specialty that I had eaten before, but never made. That was Panforte, a version of an Italian fruitcake, from the town of Sienna. I hate to call it a fruitcake, because it is nothing like fruitcake we have here in the states. It is more of a confection-chewy, and rich in dried fruit and nuts.

I had a lot of candied fruit left over this season. I planned on making stollen, but never got around to it. So for my Panforte, I used a mixture of what I had- candied orange, candied citron, a mixture of fruits used in fruitcake(orange, citron, cherry, etc.) and prunes. (Yes, the mixture had those awful-colored green cherries, but I didn't want to waste the mixture.) For nuts, I used a mixture of almonds, pine nuts, and pecans.

I was concerned that this confection would be nothing like what I had tasted in Sienna. But it was very similar! And a nice surprise was that it was very easy to make, except for it is difficult to get all of the sticky ingredients mixed thoroughly. I so enjoyed making this that I think it will be my Christmas gifts for next year. All wrapped up in fancy paper. I'd love to bring paper back from Italy next fall to use, so I'll have to keep that in mind.

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