Macarons Class at Sur la Table

When I have more time, I'll update this post with tips from my Basics of French Macarons class that I took at Sur La Table this past weekend.  The class was so fun; plus, taught good technique.  I was surprised that a silicon macarons mat isn't necessary.  Just need a piping bag!

Did you know that macarons at the very
basic consist of just egg whites, powdered sugar,
almond flour and cream of tartar?

This is how the egg white mixture should look - stiff,
firm, glossy peaks!

Waiting for the slight film to form on the macarons
before baking.

Out of the oven!

My very 1st macaron that I've made myself:
Mint Macarons with Chocolate Ganache

Recipe: Winter Salad with Avocado, Pomegranate and Almonds

We try to be healthy and generally eat a salad at dinner most days.  Our go-to salad is usually pretty boring -- lettuce, tomato, croutons and dressing.  This year, I want to amp it up!  I saw the Winter Salad with Avocado, Pomegranate and Almonds recipe in Food and Wine Magazine (Dec 2013, p.92).  It's great and is one of my new favorite salads we can make this year.

Here were a few modifications I made to the recipe:

• Made 1/2 of the amount of dressing (since the recipe makes 8 servings)
• Used white wine vinegar instead of Champagne vinegar (I need to get some Champagne vinegar at some point since it seems to be used in a lot of salad dressings)
• Added a little lemon zest instead of preserved lemon peel
• Left out the fennel bulb (it was probably key to the salad; will try adding it next time)

In case you've never de-seeded a pomegranate, here's how.
And if you want to know more about pomegranate power, read about the health benefits here at WebMD -- apparently, it's full of antioxidants!

Crepes!

We received a crepe pan from guest blog contributor FoodFiend (thank you!) for Christmas.  We made honey ham & gruyere crepes for dinner and "Blue Lagoon" (Nutella, blueberries, brown sugar, Bailey's Irish Cream) crepes for dessert.

Here's the basic crepe batter recipe we used from allrecipes.com
It's 1 cup of flour, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup of milk, 1/2 cup of water, 1/4 tsp salt, 2 tbsp of melted butter -- ingredients most people have at home.  (Note: A crepe pan isn't totally necessary; use a large, flat-bottomed non-stick saute pan)

An easy and quick meal!