Tomato Bruschetta

Infused oil for the bread

1/2 cup of olive oil

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of black pepper

1/2 teaspoon of rosemary

1/2 teaspoon of salvia/sage

1/2 teaspoon of thyme

1/2 teaspoon of basil

1/2 teaspoon of sweet bay laurel

1/2 teaspoon of marjoram or oregano

You will need 1 teaspoon of olive oil and a pinch  (extra from the above) of the herbs to prepare the tomatoes.

Bread

Tomatoes

Sesame seeds

To make the infused oil:

Mix the oil, the salt and the herbs into a bowl about 40 minutes before you will use them.

The longer it sits there the longer it will be infused with the taste, but 40 minutes is enough.

To prepare the bread:

The bread in the picture is homemade. It is my soda bread.

But you can use any bread that isn't sandwich bread.

The best breads to make the bruschetta are the soda bread, ciabatta and French bread.

Ciabatta is the best one by far. Sourdough bread also makes good bruschettas.

Slice the bread in a more of less thick slice and separate.

To prepare the tomatoes:

Cut the tomatoes in half and remove the center (I use the centers of it in my pomodoro sauce so I don’t waste them).

With just the out layer of the half tomatoes, cube them in small cubes. Make sure your knife is sharp or they will become puree.

Separate. If you will take a while to make the bruschetta, put the chopped tomatoes sin the fridge because they need to be firm and not mushy.

Right before you will make the bruschetta, add about 1 teaspoon of olive oil to the tomatoes and a pinch of the herbs.

With a silicon brush, brush the infused oil on both sides of the bread .

Set them on a baking sheet and bake it in the oven until both sides are golden.

I bake them at 325F (170C or number 3), and turn them so they are golden on both sides.

Add the tomatoes to the bread, sprinkle some sesame seed and voila!

Enjoy!

Listening to: Natalie Merchant - Thank You
Reading: George R. R. Martin - Game of Thrones 
Playing: World of Warcraft 
Watching: True Blood + Vampire Diaries + Game of Thrones   
+ Buffy + Angel + Friends + Ringer
Eating: Steak and salad
 Drinking: Coke
 Quote:"You've been so kind and generous 
I don't know why you keep on giving 
For your kindness I'm in debt to you 
For your selflessness--my admiration
And I never could have gone this far without you
For everything you've done You know I'm bound
I'm bound to thank you for it."
(Natalie Merchant)

Christmas Sugar Cookies

 I know it is January, but here goes the recipe I mod to fit my needs.

225 grams of unsalted butter (or the whole tablet) at room temperature

1 1/2 cups of confectioner’s (powdered or icing) sugar

1 egg at room temperature

2 tablespoons of vanilla extract

1 teaspoon of Kosher salt

2 teaspoons of baking powder

3 cups (you may have to add 3 tablespoons to that) of all-purpose flour

Cream together butter and sugar.

 Add eggs and extract and mix well.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt, add to wet mixture little by little until well incorporated.

Roll and cut cookies into desired shapes, dusting with flour as necessary.

 

Bake cookies at 400 degrees for 7-8 minutes until tops are appear dry rather than shiny.

 Do not brown.

For the icing I use ready to mix icing. But you can make your own too.

 Enjoy!
 

Listening to: Loreena McKennitt - The Mummers Dance
Reading: George R. R. Martin - Game of Thrones 
Playing: World of Warcraft 
Watching: True Blood + Vampire Diaries + Game of Thrones   
+ Buffy + Angel + Friends + Ringer
Eating: Italian
 Drinking: Coke
 Quote:"In the depth of winter, I finally learned 

that within me there lay an invincible summer."
(Albert Camus)

Chocolate Mousse

First of all, in order to make it a pie like the picture above, you need pie crust.

I call it chocolate mouse cup pie.

I created a variant of the usual pie crust. The Pie Crust Crumb Cookie.

Now for the mousse...

The picture above is made with semi sweet chocolate chips.

The step by step here is made with Lindt.

It doesn't matter which chocolate you use.

Use what you like the most.

1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips (or chopped)

You can also use milk chocolate or your favorite pure chocolate bar (like I used Lindt Milk Swiss)

3 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons of vanilla or almond extract  (if you want to make it chocolate mint add only 1/2 teaspoon of mint extract)

4 eggs at room temperature

Pinch of Kosher salt

If you ware not using chocolate chips, break the chocolate in small pieces.

Separate the egg yolks from the whites.

Mix the chocolate and water in a bain-marie bowl.

When the chocolate is melted remove from heat and stir until the mixture is smooth.

Let cool to near room temperature.

In a separate bowl mix the egg whites and the salt.

Beat in until the egg whites are thick, fluffy and smooth.

Mix the egg yolks into the cooled chocolate mixture, but mix it well.

Fold gently to lighten up the mixture.

Don't freak out if it looks like it isn't well mixed. 

When it is cold and ready to eat it will look much different.

Chill for 3 hours before serving. 

This last picture is the mousse made with Lindt from the step by step.

Listening to: Norah Jones - Turn Me On
Reading: George R. R. Martin - Game of Thrones 
Playing: World of Warcraft 
Watching: True Blood + Vampire Diaries + Game of Thrones   
+ Buffy + Angel + Friends + Ringer
Eating: Steak and salad
 Drinking: Coke
 Quote:"My poor heart It's been so dark Since you've been gone."
(Norah Jones)

Pie Crust Crumb Cookie

 

I love to make this because I use it under mousse, or on top of ice cream or cut out fruit.

2/3 cup of brown sugar (white sugar works too but it wont burn and taste as good)

3 cups of crushed graham crackers (about 25 of the round ones)

8 tablespoon of butter (you might need a couple more if you live in a dry place)

Put the crackers in a zip lock bag and brush them with the roller.

Mix all the ingredients until the mix looks oily and sticks together.

On a cookie tray spread some butter with your fingers so it wont stick and burn on the tray.

Drop the mix and flatten it out by squeezing it down with the tips f your fingers.

Make sure you press it down.

Bake it for 3 minutes or until it looks a little brown on top. Not too much or you will have a surprise at the bottom because it burns very early.

Brake it into pieces while hot and store.

It will dry more as it cools down.

You can use on anything you like.

Listening to: Norah Jones - Don't Know Why 
Reading: George R. R. Martin - Game of Thrones 
Playing: World of Warcraft 
Watching: True Blood + Vampire Diaries + Game of Thrones   
+ Buffy + Angel + Friends + Ringer
Eating: Orange Chicken and rice soup
 Drinking: Coke
 Quote:"When I saw the break of day, I wished that I could fly away."
(Norah Jones) 

Strawberry Sorbet

1 pack of firm cold tofu (soft works too, but firm works better)

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

3 tablespoons of agave syrup (could also be real maple syrup too)

10 large strawberries or 15 to 20 small ones.

2 tablespoons of brown sugar

2 tablespoons of icing sugar

In a food processor break the strawberries in small bits. Watch so you don’t make juice out of it.

  

Mix the tofu, the vanilla and the agave syrup in a food processor until it is smooth like cream.

In a bowl mix the strawberries and the tofu, and add the brown and icing sugars.

Mix well and freeze it.

Done!

If you want it more creamy than icy, you can beat 3 egg whites until it looks like a fluffy cream and fold that into the sorbet mix before freezing it.

Listening to: The Eagles - Hotel California
Reading: George R. R. Martin - Game of Thrones 
Playing: World of Warcraft 
Watching: True Blood + Vampire Diaries + Game of Thrones   
+ Buffy + Angel + Friends + Ringer
Eating: Steak and salad
 Drinking: Coke
 Quote:"A polite enemy is just as difficult to 
discredit, as a rude friend is to protect."
(Bryant H. McGill) 

Christmas was great!

 I only had time to sit and write this post now.
Mike and I had an awesome Christmas holiday by ourselves.
I made us great food, all from scratch and we watched movies.
We watched Love Actually and Madagascar.
It was just perfect.

I made us snowflakes sugar cookies ...

and double chocolate muffins ...

and strawberry marshmallow cream Santas ...

and some chocolate mousse pie for dessert...

 Our Christmas feast was great.
We ate so much we couldn't even move after.

Mike ate farofa with garlic and onions for the first time.
He loved it!
He even made a farofa layer on top of his rice.

I also made chocolate mint tofu ice cream.

Nose detail =P

The cooling rack for the cookies was filled with edible glitter.
Good thing I put a plastic bag under it!

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner.

The next day, we spent Christmas day
being lazy and watching movies in bed.

 I had the best Christmas ever.

I love you Mikey!
 

 Listening to: Love Actually - All I Want for Christmas is You
Reading: George R. R. Martin - Game of Thrones 
Playing: World of Warcraft 
Watching: True Blood + Vampire Diaries + Game of Thrones   
+ Buffy + Angel + Friends + Ringer
Eating: Italian
 Drinking: Coke
 Quote:"mayyyonaiiiise"