The Hazards of Combining Flavors: Espresso Cheesecake Brownies

“Tomorrow, I will combine everything I like about dessert into one mega-dessert!”

This dessert is a crazy mixture of several other desserts.  There is a layer of very chocolatey brownie.  Then there is a rich cheesecake, flavored with coffee. To top them off, there is a sweet-tart layer of sour cream.  

Combining flavors is a risky business.  You never quite know what will be delicious and what will fall flat. And the more flavors you combine, the greater the chance that you will choose one that people don’t like. As a result, I wasn’t able to give these brownies away very quickly. Coffee haters and cheesecake haters both spurned these brownies.

Dessert: Delicious yet Devious

For me, this dessert was a dream come true.  I love coffee, I love chocolate, I adore cheesecake (especially in small amounts), and sour cream was literally the icing on the cake.  

Quick Hot Cocoa: An Easy Treat

 “Tomorrow, I’m going to make hot cocoa without a mix.”

I occasionally get into hot cocoa grooves.  I can go months and years without drinking hot cocoa and then, one not-so-special day, I must have it.  

I’m admittedly food snobbish about many things, but not hot cocoa.  One day, I tried to be.  I decided to melt bittersweet chocolate and add some milk, making a thick concoction that was undeniably delicious.  However, it was so rich that I threw up. Yeah...cool story, right?

Since that unpleasant experience, I have preferred a less rich, very milky hot cocoa. Something that resembles the kind made from a mix, but without the trip to the store. Since I usually keep milk and cocoa on hand for baking, this recipe is perfect for a one-off hot cocoa craving.  Without the vomit.

FILL ME WITH DELICIOUS

Quick Hot Cocoa
(one serving)

1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 tablespoon water
¾ cup milk (any fat %, non-dairy would probably work as well)
drop of vanilla extract

Combine cocoa, and sugar in a microwave safe mug.  Pour over water and stir.  Microwave on high for 30 seconds.  
Add milk and stir to combine.  Microwave on high until as warm as you like (about a minute on my microwave that is from the the 80s).
Add a drop of vanilla extract.  Stir one last time.  Serve with marshmallows or whipped cream, if you like.

Source: Top Secret Recipes- Starbucks Hot Chocolate by Todd Wilbur

Roasted Chicken: Making it a Meal

“Tomorrow, I’m going to make a very fancy roasted chicken.”

Roasting a chicken makes me feel like the most powerful kitchen wizard, and it isn’t even that difficult.  You could sum it up in just a few words:  Put chicken in 400 degree oven.  Take out when the thigh meat is 180 degrees Fahrenheit (about 90 minutes).  Eat.  

My blurry chicken. I got excited and ripped off the legs in joy.

But we make things more complicated for ourselves.  So here are a few tips I have picked up:

Spice Blends Help
If you don’t know how to season the bird, just stick with poultry seasoning.  I made this chicken with garam masala, a north Indian spice blend.  It takes the guesswork out of seasoning, and you can experiment with spices as you learn to combine them.

Clean Hand, Dirty Hand
This is a trick that I picked up doing tissue culture in the lab.  You keep one hand clean, and use the other to touch possibly contaminated items.  While prepping the bird, use your clean hand to grab the salt shaker, the spice mix, the lemons, and the like.  Use your dirty hand to rub them around the bird, lift the bird up and rotate it, etc.  When you’re finished, wash both hands with soap and very hot water.  This prevents poisoning yourself and others with salmonella.

Veggies are Good
I’m still working on perfecting a method to produce perfectly cooked veggies on the same time scale as the chicken.  What I do know is that you should stir them up a bit every half an hour or so so that they cook evenly and are evenly moistened with chicken juices.

Use Foil
You can use foil to wrap up the ends of the legs and the wings up with foil if they start to get too dark.  This seems easier than tucking and tying that some recipes make you do to keep the extremities from burning.

Make a Finishing Sauce
Roasted chicken and veggies are only made better with a moist sauce to add more intense flavors to their own.  Gravy is the classic choice.  I’m still figuring out how to make a good gravy from a small roast chicken. I usually make it from a mix. For this meal, instead of gravy, I made parsley gremolata by blending garlic, parsley, and lemon zest.  A bright, herby sauce like this is a fresher, brighter alternative to gravy.

Have fun crafting tasty meals around a roasted bird!

Comfort in a Bowl: Matzo Ball Soup

“Tomorrow, I’m going to make one of the most beloved comfort foods of all time.”

This month, I am gravitating towards comfort foods.  Hot, steamy, mushy, salty comfort foods. Matzo ball soup is one of the most popular and well known comfort foods in the world. It originated in Eastern Europe, where dumplings are very popular.  Jewish women made them with matzo meal, possibly to be kosher for passover or possibly because they just had a lot of matzo around. Whatever the reason for their invention, matzo balls taste amazing. Their popularity is well deserved.

Prior to making it myself, I had tasted matzo ball soup only once in my life, when Sarah and I made it from a mix using some questionable egg replacer in place of the eggs.  It was pretty good, actually. But to make it from scratch, the only non-pantry staple item you need to buy is matzo meal.

Found in the Kosher/Jewish foods section.

Then I made it myself, and I am officially hooked!  Making it from scratch isn’t all that different from making the box mix.  Matzo meal, salt, pepper, water, fat and eggs are mixed together.  You chill the mixture for a bit, shape it into dumplings, and cook them.  Then you add them to chicken broth, which can have carrots and other veggies added to it if you like.  Pretty simple.

When homemade stuff doesn't cut it, this is my secret weapon.

I used leftover broth from my turkey soup.  It wasn’t quite flavorful enough, so I added a little chicken bouillon.  Is this cheating? Possibly.  Did my tastebuds really mind? No.

Matzo Ball Soup

(makes 8-12 matzo balls)
½ cup matzo meal
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
2 eggs
2 tablespoons chicken fat or vegetable oil
2 tablespoons seltzer water

2-3 quarts chicken broth (See my note)
1 carrot, sliced
Fresh dill

Mix the matzo ball ingredients together. Chill for 30 minutes.  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and turn down to a bare simmer.
Wet your hands and roll the mixture into balls about 1 inch in diameter.  Carefully drop the balls into the simmering water.  You may want to use a slotted spoon for this.
Cover the pot and simmer for about 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, bring the broth to a boil and turn the heat down to simmer.  Add the carrots and simmer for 5-10 minutes (depending on how big your carrot pieces are).
To serve, lift 2-3 matzo balls out of the water into a soup bowl.  Ladle broth and carrots into the bowl, and top with a few pieces of fresh dill.

Rachael’s note:  Don’t worry if you don’t have enough broth.  You can get by with less than two quarts if you aren’t serving many people. My rule would be about 2 cups per bowl of soup you intend to eat. Make more broth if you love broth, less if you’re more about the matzo balls.  People will tell you homemade is the only way to go but canned/boxed broth or bouillon added to water both taste just fine to me! Disclaimer: I love bouillon.

Recipe Source: Matzo Ball Soup from smitten kitchen.

Matzo Ball Soup Info Sources:
Arfa, Orit. “Thinking Outside the Matzah Ball Box” JewishJournal.com.  25 Mar 2009. Accessed 8 Jan 2013.  

“Jewish Cooking.”  Judaism 101. Accessed 8 Jan 2013.

Rest Periods: Recovery and Rest vs. Lazy

“Tomorrow I’m going to actively recover from my awesome workout today.”`

You take that extra sip of water. You go chat it up with your buddy. You go chalk your hands, because you know sweaty hands must be chalked frequently. You lay around on your couch eating chocolates or watching t.v.

Alright, reality check, taking obscenely large breaks during a workout are reserved for people who do balls to the wall olympic training. People who do olympic or competitive training, meaning those who sprint like a cheetah or can lift your car plus you in it.

The disadvantages to taking long rest breaks (greater than 2 minutes) is that your heart rate falls from where it is supposed to ideally remain in a workout (depending on what you are trying to achieve, a 50-85% range for target heart rate). What’s the point of maintaining a target heart rate? Maintaining a certain number of beats per minute allows you to either be in a steadier fat burning state or cardio mode.

So the next time you go for that extra five minutes to get some water or towel off your brow remember that you are robbing yourself of consistent training. A good rule of thumb I like to use is if you are able to have a full conversation while working out (as in you’re not working much besides your jaw from talking) then you should be dropping the chatter and working harder. It’s fine and great that people like to have a good time working out, but it’s going to take you much longer to reach your goals if you don’t make efficient use of your workout time.

The other kicker is taking “rest” days. Yes, you should avoid overtraining, but a rest day is a far cry from helping you recover. What you should aim for is taking 30 minutes to an hour on recovery/rest days and stretching out, rolling out, gaining mobility and flexibility. If you don’t invest time in recovering progress in your runs, lifts, or jazzercise is going to be stunted.

So ladies and gents, please consider how many rest breaks you take (limit them to 30 seconds-2 minutes absolute max) and actively recover your muscles for maximum performance.


Hi I am Katie, and here’s me in a nutshell. I love to eat, and used to live to eat. Now I eat to live. There is never a day that goes by that I am not reading a new scientific article about gluten intolerance and fitness or perusing a blog on gourmet paleo cooking ideas. I Crossfit and am on the Couch to 5k running series. Hit me up with your nutritional, health and fitness based questions.