The Weekly Photo

Elanor loves making foot prints in the snow.

All Dressed Up

Last weekend, Tyler had to work part of the day on Saturday.  I decided we would do something fun when he got back, so Elanor and I got all dressed up. I let Elanor pick whatever dress she wanted and I asked her how she wanted her hair done. She chose a fancy pink dress and wanted her hair done like Cinderella. I did Elanor's hair in a fancy little bun right at the top of her head. She looked pretty darn cute.

 Elanor holding our hands on the escalator at City Creek Mall. 

We had to run a few errands at the mall and then to make Elanor's day, we stopped off at the Disney Store. She has heard of Disneyland somehow (maybe I told her, who knows?) and thinks that the store is Disneyland. I keep telling her that Disneyland is much, much cooler and infinitely more fun than the store. However, for right now she seems fairly content with the store (since she does not actually know how awesome Disneyland is).

Oh, what a wonderful place!

 Later, we went out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants, Sea Salt, which was a big treat since we never go out.

Elanor drinking her water.

 The next two pictures Elanor took. I have never shown her how to take a picture but once I showed her, she did not want to stop taking pictures.

I thought this one turned out pretty good.

 We had a fun night and it is so fun to get all dressed up. Elanor certainly enjoyed it.

This is what Elanor's hair looked like after I took it out of the bun--oh, and she is making a silly face. Hahaha!

In the Kitchen: Chocolate Decadence with Raspberry Sauce and Whipped Cream

I put up a tantalizing picture of this delicious dessert in my post about Valentine's Day and then promised to share the recipe. I plan on keeping that promise, so now you can go and make this yummy dessert yourself.

{side note}Have I ever mentioned how much I love cooking and baking? I suppose you might have guessed considering how many recipes I have posted. I love making food from scratch and enjoying the fact that it tastes so good. I do like to go out to eat and to order dessert, etc., but there is something nice about making it yourself. Of course, there is something nice about not having to make it yourself as well. 

 This dessert is chocolatey. Really. It is even chocolatey enough to be completely satisfied while watching the movie Chocolat.

Oh, and this is another one of my mom's recipes. She would make this every Valentine's Day. I and my siblings were lucky children. Recipe? Here you go:

For the cake you need:

16 oz. quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped

10 tablespoons butter

4 eggs

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon flour

How to:

Preheat oven to 425 degree F. Butter and flour an 8-inch round cake pan. If you have parchment paper and feel like cutting out a circle, you can and then line it to the bottom of the pan (it does make it easier to get it out).

Place chocolate and butter in a double boiler (or metal/glass bowl) and set in a pot over simmering water. Stir until smooth. Set aside and cool.

In another double boiler or bowl (or the same one cleaned out) over hot water, combine the eggs and sugar. Whisk until the sugar is dissolved (put a dab of the egg mixture on your finger and rub a bit of it between your fingers, if still grainy keep whisking, if smooth, remove from heat). Remove from heat and beat 5-10 minutes with an electric mixer until thick and light. Fold flour into egg mixture. Fold a third  of the egg mixture into the chocolate. Add remaining egg mixture to chocolate and fold in. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 15 minutes. Let cool and then freeze overnight. If you do not have that sort of time freeze for a least 3 or 4 hours. It tastes better if frozen overnight however. Remove from pan by dipping the bottom of the pan in hot water and then tipping upside down.

Raspberry Sauce:

1 10 oz bag of frozen raspberries

2-3 tablespoons sugar

Heat raspberries an sugar on the stove in a small sauce pan or in the microwave. Mix until the sauce is to the desired consistency.

Whipped Cream:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tablespoon powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Whip the cream using an electric mixer. When almost done add the vanilla and sugar, then whip some more until done (make sure to not over do it and turn your cream to butter from too much mixing).

To assemble:

Cut a small slice of the cake (it is very rich), top with the warm raspberry sauce and then the whipped cream. Enjoy!

This is a very tasty dessert and not all that difficult to make and very delicious to consume. So try and make it and let me know what you think!

The Weekly Photo

Elanor pushing her baby doll in the stroller.

Valentine's.

We had a lovely Valentine's Day. The most important part about Valentine's is to be with the ones you love and I sure love Tyler and our little girl.

We started the day by seeing Tyler off to work (he had got us each flowers, chocolates and a balloon for Elanor) and then I made some heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast.

Then, Elanor and I made some Valentines. 

Elanor loves stamping, can you tell?

Elanor in her Valentine's outfit. I forgot to take a picture before her nap, so her hair is a bit messy, as are her clothes.

We went out to the Beehive Tea Room for a little "tea party" at lunchtime since Elanor had been asking for one. We had cucumber sandwiches, soup, petite fours and shared a pot of herbal chocolate mint tea. Elanor loves tea and drank 3 cups of it! It was an adorable little place and I am so bummed that I forgot to bring my camera...

We then came home for a nap and afterwards we went over to a friends house to play and decorate cookies. During Elanor's nap I was busy making dinner and dessert. I made Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon with some mashed potatoes as well. If you are like me, and don't drink alcohol, nor do I use it in my cooking really, then you can do what my mom does for this dish. She uses more beef stock than it calls for to make up for the liquid in the wine and then adds a half cup of red wine vinegar. Yes, I am well aware that red wine vinegar is nothing like wine--I mean, it is vinegar----but, the vinegar in the red wine vinegar really goes well with the meat. I think the vinegar actually makes this recipe taste better. I have also known people who substitute grape juice for the wine or you could just buy cooking wine too if you don't mind. Sorry for the ramble.

Whatever the case, it was delicious.

I am lucky enough to be able to eat dinner with these two:

 Later, Tyler and I enjoyed this delicious dessert:

 Chocolate Decadence with a raspberry sauce and freshly whipped cream. I am going to post this recipe on here soon, it is of course one my mom always made for Valentine's Day.

While we ate our scrumptious dessert, Tyler and I watched a wonderful little movie called "Romantics Anonymous".  

It is a French film about two people who have anxiety, are chocolate makers and fall in love. It is very funny, quirky, and adorable. I highly recommend it. I think the translation of the title is not exactly correct. The girl in the movie attends one of those help groups and in the movie they call it "Emotionals Anonymous"--emotional meaning anxiety, not being in control of your emotions, something like that...I am not really sure. Whatever the case, it is very cute and you should watch it.

I hope everyone had a Happy Valentine's Day!

The Weekly Photo

In an effort to use my camera a lot more, I am going to be taking pictures all week, every week and every Monday I will post my favorite picture from the last week.  A lot of bloggers do photo-a-day things which I think are pretty cool, but I don't have an iPhone or instagram and well, a lot of people do it. So, I am going to try this. One photo from the past week that hopefully gives an idea of what we have been up to or our personalities or something to denote who we are as a family. 

Here is my favorite from last week, and there were a lot of good choices, but I like this one because of Elanor's expression (she wanted to ring the Pitcher's side door bell).

In the Kitchen: Chocolate Ice Cream with Chocolate Sauce and Chopped Almonds

Yum. I can't stop looking at this picture. 

Tyler and I got an old-fashioned crank ice cream maker for Christmas from Tyler's mom and step-dad. We love it! We love how the old ones look, which is why they thought to get us one and fix it up. Here are a few awesome things about this maker:

1. It can't really break. There is no motor, no electric anything, just you cranking the thing. If a piece breaks (unlikely), you can easily fix it. 

2. It can make a ton of ice cream. Most electric mixers make fairly small amounts of ice cream. We have made double batches (1/2 gallon) and there is still plenty of room. Most new ice cream makers make a quart of ice cream, so it is nice to have more, especially if we are having people over.

3. It is aesthetically pleasing.

4. Man power. So far, Tyler has been the one to churn it, but I like that you can control the speed and check and see how it is doing. 

5. It makes good ice cream that has a great texture. 

We have made a few different ice cream flavors so far and we really like the chocolate ice cream recipe from Annie's Eats, which is the one pictured above. Ice cream is really quite simple to make but it takes quite a bit of time. It is essentially like making a custard (if the recipe does not have eggs or cream in it do not bother making it--unless it is gelato or sorbet or something and that is completely different). You cook the mixture on the stove, doing the whole tempering eggs thing, and then that mixture has to chill in the fridge....for a long time. It has to be really cold before you can churn it and so does the bowl/ice cream holder thing that is inside your maker. After it is chilled, you start churning using ice (or snow in our case) and lots of rock salt to keep the whole thing cold, or you just put it in your machine. Once it is done, the texture is like soft serve so you freeze it (in a tupperware) for a few hours or overnight for the best texture. There is a lot of waiting involved, but it is so worth it. Homemade ice cream is the best, plus you know exactly what is in it and are not eating a ton of that high fructose corn syrup garbage that is sadly in most store bought ice creams now.

I also made a chocolate sauce to go with this ice cream because I sort of really like chocolate. Quality chocolate. Please, please use quality chocolate to make this ice cream and sauce! I am not saying you have to buy a $7 bar of chocolate, but at least use the Ghirardelli 60% cacao baking chips. 

 This is chocolate sauce, not chocolate syrup or hot fudge. I made this recipe simply because I had all of the ingredients. It is thicker than syrup, but not at thick as fudge and very chocolatey.

Chocolate Sauce

6 oz. quality chocolate

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

6 tbsp. water

pinch of salt

Combine all of the ingredients in a double boiler over simmering water (or if you don't have a double boiler, like me, put a glass or metal bowl inside of pot with simmering water in it). Whisk until smooth. Serve warm over ice cream or anything in need of a chocolate sauce. Keep in a glass jar in the refrigerator. Warm up in the microwave or on the stovetop (put glass jar in a pot of hot water) and stir before serving.

To make what I did in the picture, put your chocolate ice cream in a bowl or glass, spoon the hot chocolate sauce on top and sprinkle with chopped almonds.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Sauce recipe from Luscious Chocolate Desserts by Lori Longbotham.