An Inspired Kitchen

Ameera’s Sweet 16th Birthday Party Dessert Table

Vanilla Cake with Buttercream and Strawberry Filling covered with Fondant and Chocolate Cake with Buttercream and Raspberry Filling

Cake Truffles

White Chocolate Dipped Marshmallows

Vanilla Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

White Chocolate Dipped Oreo Cookies

Raspberry Custard Cups

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Buttercream Frosted Sugar Cookies

Photo Backdrop

Pink Peony Flower Centerpieces

I was so happy to do the dessert table for Ameera’s Sweet 16th Birthday Party.  She had a vision of gold and pink and since her name means princess in Arabic, she likes crowns, so I incorporated all of these inspirations into the desserts.  My dear friend Laura helped me decorate the cakes.  I have never really worked with fondant, but she guided me through the process as we gingerly covered the cake with fondant and “glued” each little gold dot into place.  I spray painted a crown I bought at the dollar store for the topper. The bottom layer chocolate cake was piped with buttercream roses.  I bought some tuille with gold dots to lay over the white tablecloth. The craft store had a large cardboard letter A which I used to get some height on the table that I painted pink and then glued gold glitter on the bottom half.  I used white serving platters for the desserts. The cake truffles are super easy and can be made several days in advance.  A cake mix (I know – I know!) is involved combined with butter and sugar and then formed into little balls that you dip in melted white chocolate.  I loved them and could have eaten them all!  I used pretty straws and dipped jumbo marshmallows in white chocolate and decorated them with sprinkles and put them in a vase with pink and gold dotted tissue paper. I made vanilla cupcakes and piped pink buttercream on top and garnished them with cute little gold crown picks I found on line and gold metallic cupcake wrappers.  Oreo cookies were dipped in melted white chocolate and decorated with sprinkles which can also be made several days ahead.  I made little raspberry custard cups and topped them with whipped cream and a fresh raspberry with mint sprigs for color.  I dipped fresh strawberries in white chocolate and decorated them with sprinkles.  For the thank you gift, I made sugar cookies and cut out and decorated crowns and 2 different circles with the letter A and another with 16. I put them in little bags and printed thank you tags that I tied on with the curly ribbon I used throughout the party.  Every teenage party these days needs a photo backdrop, and we made ours from gold metallic and pink and white streamers and bought silver letter balloons that we tied in place.  For the table decorations, we spray painted apple cider bottles metallic gold and I made little pink glittered letter A’s for Ameera and glued them on long skewers that we put into the vases with peonies and decorated them with curling ribbon to carry the pink and gold theme throughout the party.  A lot of the desserts can be made several days in advance which made the process easier.  I hope she has great memories of her 16th birthday and I know I had a lot of fun making the dessert table.

Roasted Purple Brussels Sprouts with Cranberries, Pecans, Gorgonzola

and Maple Syrup

I love Brussels sprouts and was very inspired when I saw these beautiful purple sprouts at Trader Joes.  They don’t taste different from the green sprouts, but the color combination is so pretty.  My favorite way to cook sprouts is to roast them but you could also pan sear them in a skillet.  I cleaned and halved the sprouts and tossed them in a bowl with olive oil, salt and pepper and tumbled them onto a foil lined roasting pan for easier cleanup.  When they were most of the way browned, I added the chopped pecans so they could lightly brown, and added dried cranberries, drizzled a mixture of balsamic vinegar and maple syrup over the whole pan and continued roasting the sprouts until they were cooked through.  After they were cooked, I put them in a serving bowl and sprinkled Gorgonzola cheese over the sprouts.  The maple syrup and vinegar combo makes a wonderful sweet and sour note, and the blue cheese and toasted pecans add another sweetness to the dish.  You can use any blue cheese you like, or even use feta or goat cheese. This is easy to make and delicious.  Click here for the recipe….

Beef with Korean Rice Cakes, Asparagus, Carrots, and Spicy Black Bean Sauce

The tteokbokki or traditional Korean rice cake noodles used in this dish are a thick, elongated noodle that are soft and chewy and go really well with the ground beef.  The sauce is made with some traditional Korean accompaniments which include soy sauce, gochujang paste, black bean sauce, ginger, and garlic.  You could also use ground turkey.  This dish is really quick to put together and packed with flavor.  I added asparagus and carrots for more veggies in the dinner.  Look for the rice cake noodles in an Asian store, or you could use other rice noodles or even fettuccine or rice.  Click here for the recipe….

Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe and I have used it for years.  I always use dark brown sugar, add lots of vanilla and always refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes before I bake them. This prevents them from baking flat.  Another tip is not to cream the butter, sugar and eggs too long, but long enough for them to mix together and do not over mix after you add the flour. I usually add pecans or walnuts, but a friend requested some without nuts (they are pictured here) which just isn’t the same!  They have a nice chewy consistency and are dense without being cakey.   I like to use Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate chunks, but any chocolate chip is good including white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips or peppermint chocolate chips.  Click here for the recipe….

Carrots with Orange Glaze, Za’atar Spices, Cranberries and Pistachios

The orange glaze and za’atar spices give these carrots a wonderful sweetness.  I made this dish with fresh rainbow baby carrots that I peeled and cut in half, but you could use regular carrots and cut them in rounds or on the diagonal if you prefer. I made these for Thanksgiving and they are a good side dish because I can make them on the stove when my oven space is at a premium.  All the ingredients can be prepped the day before, and the carrots cook in 5-8 minutes and make a delicious and easy side dish for any meal.  Za’atar is a Middle Eastern spice is mix of thyme, sumac, oregano, and sesame seeds, but there are a lot of variations.  Mix orange marmalade, orange juice and zest together for the glaze.  In a skillet, add carrots, glaze mixture, dried cranberries, salt and pepper and a little water.  Put a lid on skillet and cook until the carrots are almost cooked through about 4-5 minutes.  Remove lid and allow the glaze to cook down and evenly coat the carrots.  Sprinkle with toasted and chopped pistachio nuts and serve.  Click here for the recipe….

Five Spice Chicken with Vermicelli, Mushrooms and Fennel

Chinese five spice powder is a wonderful spice combination that has been used for centuries and traditionally has Szechwan peppercorns, star anise, cloves, cinnamon and anise or fennel seeds that are ground into a complex spice mix.  You can find it at most grocery stores. The chicken is served over rice vermicelli (noodles), but if you don’t have them on hand, you can use spaghetti, fettuccine or angel hair pasta, or even serve the chicken over rice.  The chicken is sprinkled with the five spice powder and cooked and set aside.  The veggies cook together quickly and you sauté green onion, garlic, ginger, mushrooms, collard greens, fennel and when they have browned, make a sauce with hoisin and soy sauce.  It makes a delicious and healthy week night dinner and takes less than 30 minutes to cook, always a plus.  Click here for recipe….

Chocolate Hazelnut Thumbprint Cookies with Caramel

These chocolate hazelnut thumbprint cookies with caramel centers and drizzled with chocolate will be a big hit at any cookie exchange or dessert table.  The chocolate cookie has a nice crisp bite and when you roll the chocolate balls in hazelnuts, they become nice and toasted after baking.  The soft caramel centers are a perfect combo with the chocolate and hazelnuts. I unwrapped caramels and melted them with a little heavy cream for the centers and spooned them into the thumbprint center when the cookies came out of the oven.  When the cookies had completely cooled, I melted some chocolate chips in a baggie, cut a little end off and drizzled it over the tops of the cookies.  I wish I had one of these cookies now!  Click here for the recipe….

Japanese Chicken Tenders with Lemon Sauce

Sometimes you just crave something fried and this is really good to make without having to get a deep fryer out. It’s also quick to cook because the chicken tenders have no bones and the pieces are smaller than a whole chicken breast which takes longer to cook. I used chicken tenders because they are usually all the same size and you don’t have to cut anything, but you can also use chicken breasts and cut them into equal strips.  I combined flour and buttermilk (if you don’t have buttermilk you can use milk or half and half and add a teaspoon of white vinegar and let it sit for 5 minutes) with some salt and pepper and dipped the chicken in the batter and fried it in a skillet with an inch of canola oil.  To make the glaze you combine honey, soy sauce, pineapple juice, brown sugar, lemon juice, vinegar, olive oil, pepper and garlic powder in a small saucepan cook until slightly thickened, about 10-12 minutes.  After the chicken is cooked, just pour the glaze over.  I served it with some Japanese sticky rice and some quickly sauteed snap peas.  Click here for the recipe….

I made this salad to serve alongside a middle Eastern lamb dish I made and it was just right with the acidity and tartness paired of the oranges with the rich rack of lamb.  I couldn’t find blood oranges in the store which would have been pretty, but I got several kinds of oranges and mixed them all together.  I found some delicious date and fig mustard at Granville Island market and used it to make a vinaigrette, but you could also use apple cider vinegar, white balsamic or even rice vinegar. I lightly tossed some arugula with the dressing and plated it and then added the oranges and sprinkled toasted almonds, thinly sliced shallots, and sliced picholine olives to complete the salad.  Click here for recipe….

Quince

Saffron

My friend has a quince tree that was brimming with ripe quince and he brought me a bag of this beautiful fruit from his backyard.  Quince is a fall fruit and resembles an apple or Asian pear, but it is quite bitter and a little chalky in texture.  It makes a wonderful jam and the flavor is really brought out with slow cooking and a little sugar with almost a sweet perfume quality.  I decided to make Moroccan Braised Lamb Shanks with Quince because stewing brings out the best flavors in both the lamb and the quince.  The dish was also enhanced by a beautiful gift of saffron he brought me back from his trip to the Middle East – a perfect gift for someone like me who loves to cook!  Saffron is one of the most expensive spices in the world because the stigmas are picked by hand from the crocus flower.  It takes 75,000 blossoms or 225,000 to make a single pound!  It has a slightly honey-sweet hay taste and imparts a beautiful yellow-orange hue to the dish so this lamb was extra special.  You brown the lamb shanks with an onion, and add garlic, coriander, ginger, cinnamon a touch of tomato paste, lemon peel, beef stock, saffron, honey and quince and braise it in the oven for several hours.  To finish the dish, you add some fresh lemon juice and I garnished it with fresh cilantro which brings some fresh vibrancy to the stewed dish.  I served Couscous with Apricots, Mint, Cilantro, Parsley and Fried Shallots alongside and it made a delicious side dish.  A wonderful fall stew with a fruit you don’t often think about pairing with a hearty lamb dish. Click here for the recipe….