Cauliflower Tortilla Shells

I've seen and read a lot about using Cauliflower to make pizza crusts and other things, like these tortilla shells.

As well as using them as a sub for mashed potatoes, or ricing them and eating them instead of rice. 
And well, gee, I was neutral on the whole idea. 

I love cauliflower, but I like eating it raw, or steamed with a little butter or my favorite,  Cauliflower with Herbs.

I don't make it that often, cause I can eat the whole head all by myself.   Which is OK, except for all that butter. sigh

And then last week, I bought a head of cauliflower and realized I already had one in the fridge, and we were going to be eating out a lot that week. 
What to do?
I decided to try making tortilla shells out of riced cauliflower. so I googled it and there were all kinds of sites out there with recipes.  Which all boiled down to the same basic recipe.  1 head of cauliflower, riced, 2 eggs and seasonings. A couple of places mentioned adding cheese to it, but the amount they suggested seemed like a lot.
So I did what I usually do with something like this.   I played with it.
And while I love corn tortilla's and flour tortilla's, I can happily make and eat these Cauliflower Tortilla shells.

 Literally, I can eat these plain, OK so a little cheese on top doesn't hurt either.

And...
They cook perfectly in my little toaster oven.  In fact, I cooked some in my big oven and some in my little toaster oven, and I liked the ones in the toaster oven better.  Which is a good thing because we're coming into the hot season here, and the regular oven tends to heat up the house.

I made these for Taco Tuesday last week, and I'm making more this week as well.  

 Cause they were that darn good.

 I had to include one picture taken with my phone,

I even used one under my Huevo Ranchero's for my Sunday breakfast.   And I didn't miss the regular tortilla at all.

If you make more than you'll eat at one meal, just wrap them well and keep them in  the fridge for up to 3 days.

Yield: 6 tortilla'sAuthor: Sidsel Munkholm adapted from several online recipes

Cauliflower Tortillas

prep time: 5 minscook time: 10 minstotal time: 15 mins

These don't taste exactly like a corn tortilla, but you don't miss the corn either.

ingredients:

• 1/2 head Cauliflower, riced in the food processor
• 1 egg - beaten lightly
• 1/2 cup shredded monterey jack/cheddar cheese (Cojack) (optional)

instructions:

1. Cook the cauliflower in a food safe bowl in the microwave for 1-2 minutes at 80 % power.  Press out as much liquid as possible, using either a cheese cloth or a cloth pressed on top of the cauliflower.  Allow to cool.
2. Mix in one egg, until it is well mixed.   Add 1/2 cup cheese if desired. 
3. Measure out 1/4 cup of the mixture, and press into a rough circle (4-5 inches wide) on parchment paper.    Bake in toaster oven at 400 degrees for about 8 minutes, then turn over and bake an additional 2-3 minutes.  (my toaster oven does two at a time).  Remove from parchment paper and continue until all the tortilla's are cooked.  Fill with taco meat and toppings.  
4. These are fairly sturdy, but will not act like a traditional taco shell.  They do sometimes come  apart as you eat them. 

Created using The Recipes Generator

Dumbo Style Cake

A friend asked me a couple of months ago if I would make a Dumbo cake for a baby shower.   I casually tossed off, sure no problem, happy to do it.

And I was, but then came the test, how to make a Dumbo.
I went online, I googled, I checked Pinterest and even Etsy.
Did you know you can buy Dumbo figurines made of fondant? 
You can, and you pay for the artist who made them.  They're not that cheap.

No problem, I thought, I used to do some clay sculptures, back in my way, way, way younger days and maybe I could play with fondant and make my own.

Well, that idea hit the skids almost right away.
I live in the south, and the humidity would have made for a sorry looking Dumbo, he would have been all flollopy.

Yes, that's a word, flollopy, the same way you get when you have one drink too many.
Sorry, I got caught up in a word there.

Well, last year I made Calla Lilies out of gum paste for a wedding cake I made and I decided to play with the gum paste.  I thought the Calla Lilies turned out pretty good.   

I'd made a few extra's so put them on a little cake for the Bridal Shower.

So I was pretty confident I could do something with Gum Paste.
Honestly, I kinda impressed myself with how well it turned out.


Here's a few pictures of the process of making my Dumbo.

I did use this website as a guide though, and I want to give Kudos to him/her for the clear pictures.

I also wasn't going to post about the process, so I just used my phone to take pictures, and then I thought well, maybe someone might be interested in the process. 

I used Gum Paste and made the basic figure, added the front legs, then the collar,  I used toothpicks to make a kind of ruffle around it.

Let it dry, and then added the ears, flaring them out slightly. 

After that, I made his little hat

Let him dry for a couple of days and then painted him using gel food coloring mixed with a little gum paste and water.  Next time, I'll thin it out with some vodka so that it may dry faster, I hope.  We had really humid weather that week.

Here he is on top of the cake.   Thanks to the high humidity, he still glistened as he wasn't completely dry.  I thought he resembled a porcelain figurine, myself.

And there you have it, my venture into modeling a figurine with Gum Paste.
I had fun with him.
I even bought some more gum paste to play with. giggle. 

Spice Bundt Cake with Lemon Cream

I made such a good cake last week for the Legion Cake Raffle.

I know I've mentioned that I do this a bunch of times already, so I won't bore you with the details.

I also like to make something different every time, and this week was no exception.

However, I had a fail cake, something that rarely happens to me.    This cake barely rose, and in fact, it may have risen a little, but it sure wasn't by much.
So... I did what any self respecting baker would do, I made another one, and threw it gently into the freezer to cool.
The top one was the final cake, the bottom one, the fail.

I'd also had the idea that I could put a layer of homemade Lemon Curd in the middle, and so I made some.
While I don't want to call it a total mistake, it was a trifle strong.
OK, so my taste buds puckered up and went into hiding when I taste tested it.  Gee...
But I wasn't down for the count yet.
I grabbed some whipping cream out of the fridge, whipped it up and then folded the lemon curd into it.
WOW, is all I can say, it tempered the sharpness of the lemon curd, and well, let me just say, I have an idea that I want to play with for the future.  But for today, I just cut the cooled bundt cake in half, added some of what I'm now calling lemon cream, and then added more to the outside of the cake.
I'd had enough batter from the second cake that I also baked a little mini cake, so I taste tested it. 
Dang, it was good.
However, I did feel that there needed to be something more, and then the light bulb lit up.  I'd made some Peanut Brittle for a friend, and had made two batches, so I had some on hand.  I chopped it up and sprinkled it on top. 
And that was the crowning touch.
Perfection... even if I say so myself.

Yield: 12 ServingsAuthor: Sidsel Munkholm

Spice Bundt Cake with Lemon Cream

This Spice Bundt cake goes so well with the Lemon Cream topping and is perfect for any special occasion.

ingredients:

Cake

• 3/4 Cup Butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2-3 teaspoons Spice Mixture (recipe follows)
• 2 3/4 cups sifted self rising flour
• 1/4 cup potato starch
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Spice Mixture

•  2 tablespoons Cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons whole allspice - ground or 1 tablespoon ground allspice
• 2 tablespoons ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

Lemon Cream

• 2 cups Lemon Curd
• 2 cups lightly whipped cream
• Optional:  2 teaspoons sugar added to the cream.
• You can add more sugar to this if you like.  Just whip it into the cream.

instructions:

Cake

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees, and grease and flour a 10 cup bundt pan/.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together for at least 5 minutes, until it is lighter in color. While it is creaming, sift the flour, potato starch and spices together.
3. Add the eggs, one at a time and mix well.
4. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, mix together and add half the milk.
5. Alternate adding the flour and milk together, finishing off with the flour. I like to add the vanilla to the milk when mixing the cake.
6. Pour the batter into the bundt pan, and bake for 55 minutes, testing for doneness by using a toothpick and also by touching the top of the cake lightly and seeing if it springs back.

Lemon Cream

1. Lemon cream - Whip the cream lightly, not stiff. Fold the Lemon curd into the cream, refrigerate until ready to use.
2. Let cool and then cut the cake in half, spread 1 3/4 cups of the Lemon Cream in the middle. You can use less, but aim for a good layer.
3. Frost the outside with the remainder of the Lemon Cream. I find that if I pipe it onto the sides with a star tip, it's easy to spread out. Decorate the top with the remainder of the Lemon Cream
4. You can also dress it with some crushed and chopped peanut brittle if desired.
5. Refrigerate until ready to serve

Created using The Recipes Generator

First Monday Favorites - March - 28

It's time for First Monday Favorites and I had a grand choice of two things.  I didn't bake or make a whole lot of new things this past month.  I've had a lot of other things on my plate and quite frankly, I wasn't feeling like doing much of anything new.

I made a PB&J cake for the Legion, which was new, and while it was good, it wasn't my favorite recipe of the month.

I also made a favorite of mine from many years ago, Mini Toad in a Hole.

Well, guess which one won?

The Mini Toad in a Hole.  

I made it for breakfast, two or maybe three? days in a row.

Nothing like overdoing it, is there?

Nah, not a bit, but having it one day, reminded me of how much I loved it when I'd made it in the past, for dinner.

But boy does it work well for breakfast.

I want to know what your favorite recipe was from last month.

Not just the one with the most views but your own personal favorite.   You know, the one recipe that you know you're either going to make a lot or the one that you've already made multiple times.

Yup, that one.

Inlinkz Link Party

Tapas for March

Can I just say this has been a crazy week? 

This was one of those weeks I'd like to take a week to recover from.

Not that it was bad, in fact parts of it were good.  

This month Tapas was hosted by friends, Caroline and Peter.  They opened up their gorgeous home and hosted Tapas.

As I said this past week was nuts.  
In fact Saturday was crazy busy. 
Let me tell you about my day.  I'd promised weeks ago to make bread for our local library's Bread, Books and Soup Sale.  They do this once a year to raise money.
No problem, I thought.  I'll just throw a couple of baguettes together.
Then I realized I'd also promised to make a Dumbo cake for a baby shower, the same day.  OK, no problem. 
And then there was Tapas that night. 
I changed up my plans a little, instead of making baguettes, I made two loaves of my No-Knead bread.   They always sell well.  And they did.
I'd also started the shower cake earlier in the week, so it was just a case of putting it together and bringing it to the shower.  (I'll detail how and what I did in a later post).
I also had a bit of a quandry, I wanted to make something for Tapas but didn't have time to make anything elaborate, so I made some Kringle. 

Now that you've waded through the verbosity, I have to say I also forgot to bring my camera to the party, and ended up taking pictures with my phone. 
Please pardon the poor quality. 
We had wings and there were dipping sauces as well.

 A lovely quiche, some goat cheese and crackers

 Clockwise.  Stuffed Shells, Grape Salad, Carrot Salad and Quiche.

 A sausage and bean soup

 served over basmati rice

and the desserts - fair warning I didn't get a picture of all of them. 
A pecan cake

 I believe this was a German Chocolate cake

another loaf cake

 A sheet pan cake- I believe it was a lemon cake

 I made some Kringles.

We also had Santa and his pineapple but my phone battery was low and I didn't get any more pictures.