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Sugarbabies: Small Enough For a Pumpkin

LilSugar — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:00:40 -0700

What's sweeter then pumpkin pancakes, Jell-O Jiggler Jack-O'-Lanterns and Picture Perfect Pumpkin Treats combined? Why a tiny lil tot posing in a pumpkin, of course! Auntie senorita shares:

This Halloween it might be hard to fit my niece in a pumpkin, but last year it wasn't a problem! Perhaps, I just have to find a bigger pumpkin and hope she might sit still long enough!

It's the perfect time of year to spotlight your Sugarbaby! Join the Sugarbabies group in the LilSugar Community and upload a past or current pic of your wee one in their costume (or just being silly)! Your sweet pea could be featured on the site.

Alton Brown's Tips For Perfect Pancakes

partysugar — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:15:42 -0700

At his Kidz Kitchen demonstration at the NYC Wine and Food Festival, Alton Brown not only answered audience members questions, but he taught the eager crowd how to make a kid-friendly dish, a pancake cake with a slime-like avocado frosting. Here are his tips for making the most delicious pancakes:

Always weigh out the dry ingredients. It's especially important to weigh out the flour which can become very compact.
For the best batter consistency, use both all-purpose and cake flours.
If using baking soda include an acidic ingredient in the wet mixture. Brown likes buttermilk.
To create your own pancake mix, measure several batches of the dry ingredients. Keep stored in air-tight container. Shake to combine before using the pancake mix.
Don't overbeat. The batter should be lumpy.
Be patient! When bubbles form around the edges of the cake and the center looks firm and set, carefully pick up with a spatula and flip over.

Did Alton Brown forget something? What's your technique for making the best pancakes?

Source

Do You Eat the Same Thing For Breakfast Every Day?

FitSugar — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 03:30:00 -0700

I'm not sure I'd define myself as a creature of habit, but I definitely love to eat the same thing for breakfast most days. Cereal and fruit with milk or yogurt has the perfect combination of healthy carbs, fiber, and protein, so it gives me energy for late morning workouts and keeps my belly satisfied until lunch. I mix up the cereals and fruit I eat, so it feels different to me, but it's just so easy that I've stuck with it for a while. On the weekends, I do stray from my cereal bowl since the fam likes to have pancakes or eggs. What about you?

Scotland Sets Record For World's Tallest Pancake Stack

YumSugar — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 09:00:09 -0800

To celebrate National Pancake Day yesterday, IHOP was serving up flapjacks for free. The only breakfast our nation cared about, it seemed, was the short stack. But across the pond in Glasgow, Scotland, a couple of chefs were more concerned about the tallest stack of pancakes. In fact, two chefs, Sean McGinlay and Natalie King of Glasgow's Hilton Grosvenor hotel, claim to have broken the record for the steepest stack of pancakes in the world.

The tower of 672 flapjacks measured in at 29.5 inches high, tottering over the standing world record of 29.1 inches, set by a Slovenian team last August. Guinness will still need to confirm the record. In order to prepare for the challenge, the chefs mixed over 17 pints of milk, 100 eggs, 11 pounds of flour, and 6.6 pounds of butter. The key to their success? The perfect stacking technique. Said hotel general manager Stuart Nelson:

Sean McGinlay and the kitchen team have spent a great deal of time this week perfecting their pancake recipes and stacking techniques . . . It was a bit shaky towards the end, but somehow we managed to pull it off.

Judging from the height of the pancake stack, it looks like defeating this new record will be a tall order. Wouldn't you love to help clean up after the event?

Source

Has Becoming a Mom Changed Your View of Plastic Surgery?

babysugar — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 07:00:03 -0700

Before I had children, I swore I would never, ever go under the knife. But as the saying goes, "You should never say never." Putting forth a fake image is something I didn't believe in... until I had children.

I don't want a picture perfect bikini body, but what I do want back is my perky bust and a toner tummy sans stretch marks. I wouldn't dash down to the beach and flaunt it like Heidi Montag, I just want to feel attractive to my husband, which is hard when I tuck my tummy into my pants or adjust my pancakes in a supportive bra. I don't know if I'd actually be willing to have any procedures done but I certainly won't frown upon the mommies (like Kate Gosselin who looked amazing in a bikini after eight kids!) who do.
INFDaily.com

Latkes Two Ways - Beginner and Expert

YumSugar — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 03:00:20 -0800

In case you aren't familiar with them, latkes (or latkas, depending on where you're from), are fried potato pancakes traditionally prepared during the Jewish Hanukkah festival. Although latkes come in many shapes and forms - from zucchini variations to beet renditions - the classic latke is made of shredded potatoes, oil, and seasoning. It's garnished with sour cream or applesauce.

You don't have to be celebrating Hanukkah to enjoy latkes: When topped with smoked salmon and crème fraîche, they're the perfect appetizer at a holiday party. They're also a great side dish alternative to roasted or mashed potatoes. If you're a beginner, make things easier on yourself with already-shredded potatoes, or to go truly gourmet, try making your own savory applesauce. To see both recipes, read more.

Beginner Latkes
From Rachael Ray

Ingredients

1 (24-ounce) bag shredded potatoes for hash browns
1 large carrot, peeled
1 medium onion, peeled
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons matzo meal, cracker meal or all-purpose flour
Vegetable oil, for frying
2 cups chunky apple sauce
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup sour cream

Directions

Heat 1/2-inch oil in a large skillet over medium to medium high heat. To test oil, add a piece of bread to the pan. It should turn golden brown in a ten-count. Adjust heat, as necessary.
Place potatoes in a large bowl. Using a hand grater, grate the carrot and onion into the bowl. Add eggs to the bowl. Add salt and baking powder, then sprinkle in meal or flour. Combine vegetables and meal with a wooden spoon.
Drop mixture into oil in 3-inch mounds, press down gently with spatula to form patties. Fry in batches of 4 to 6 patties depending on the size of your skillet, 1-inch apart, until golden, about 3 minutes on each side.
Put chunky applesauce and the cinnamon stick in a saucepan over medium heat and warm for 3 to 4 minutes.
Drain latkes on paper towels or parchment lined tray. Serve with warm applesauce and sour cream.

Makes 12 latkes, or 6 servings.

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Expert Latkes
From Bon Appétit

Ingredients

Rosemary and Brown Butter Applesauce:
3 cups unsweetened apple juice
3 4-inch fresh rosemary sprigs
1 1/2 cinnamon sticks
3 1/2 pounds (7 to 8 medium) Braeburn apples or other tart-sweet apples, unpeeled, quartered, cored, cut into 1-inch chunks (about 12 cups)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Latkes:
6 large russet potatoes (4 pounds)
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup finely chopped shallots (about 6)
2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
12 tablespoons (about) prepared usli ghee* or clarified butter, divided

Directions

Make applesauce: Combine first 3 ingredients and large pinch of salt in large pot. Boil until juice is reduced by half, about 8 minutes. Mix in apples. Cover; cook over medium heat until apples are very tender, stirring occasionally, about 35 minutes. Uncover and, if necessary, cook until liquid evaporates. Discard rosemary and cinnamon.
Transfer apples to food mill fitted with fine or medium plate and pass apples through mill (or press through coarse sieve) into medium bowl; discard skins.
Melt butter in small skillet over medium-low heat. Cook until butter browns, stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes. Mix brown butter into applesauce. Cover and chill. Can be made a day in advance (bring to room temperature or rewarm before serving).
Make latkes: Cook potatoes in large pot of generously salted boiling water until partially cooked (tester will meet some resistance), about 15 minutes. Drain potatoes, rinse in cold water, and drain again. Peel, cover, and chill until very cold, at least 4 hours and up to 1 day.
Coarsely grate potatoes into large bowl.
Melt butter in large ovenproof cast-iron skillet over medium-low heat. Add shallots; sauté until soft, about 6 minutes.
Add shallot mixture, 2 teaspoons coarse salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper to potatoes (reserve skillet). Toss to blend evenly (do not compact potato mixture).
Preheat oven to 450°F. Melt 4 tablespoons ghee in reserved skillet over medium heat. Add half of potato mixture (5 1/2 to 6 cups). Stir gently until ghee is absorbed, about 2 minutes. Spread potatoes to even layer, then press firmly with metal spatula to compact. Cook 5 minutes, pressing and flattening occasionally. Reduce heat to medium-low. Place slightly smaller skillet atop potato cake. Weigh down with heavy can (such as 28-ounce can of tomatoes). Cook potato cake 15 minutes, pressing occasionally.
Remove can and small skillet. Press potato cake again to flatten. Spread with 2 tablespoons ghee.
Place skillet in oven and bake potato cake uncovered 15 minutes. Run narrow spatula around potato cake. Turn out onto platter, bottom (crusty) side up. Immediately cut into wedges and serve with applesauce. Repeat with remaining potatoes and ghee.

Serves 8 to 10, with 3 cups of applesauce on the side.

*Indian clarified butter (also called ghee); available at some supermarkets and specialty foods stores and at Indian markets.

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52 Weeks of Baking: Puffed Pancake

YumSugar — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 06:58:13 -0700

Last time I was at the library I picked up Dorie Greenspan's first book, Sweet Times - Simple Desserts for Every Occasion. It's from 1991 and so it doesn't have the glossy, fancy feel that any book from the last five years has. However I really enjoyed it and felt it was definitely a good solid book. It's broken into eight types of recipes (from Tea Time Treats to Holiday Wrap-ups) and includes a great "Quick Fix Matrix" that allows you to look up recipes by craving (crunchy, spicy, chocolaty, etc.). It also included a fantastic glossary that doubles as dessertmaking 101 and each recipe comes with an alternate "playing around" version.

Looking through it, I definitely wanted to try my hand at quite a few of the delectable recipes, but it was Sunday morning and I was really feeling like breakfast. So I opened it up to the breakfast section and discovered the recipe for a puffed pancake. I've been wanting to create a puffed pancake for a few years now, so I figured this would be the perfect opportunity. I actually ended up making two batches, as the first one came out a bit greasy. However they were both tasty with the end result being a rather eggy (in a good way) puffed pancake with a crispy, almost donut-like edges. And believe me, donut-like pancakes = super fantastic for Sunday morning. To check out the pictures and see step-by-step photos, read more

Puffed Pancake
From Sweet Times by Dorie Greenspan

4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter *See Note
1/2 cup milk, preferably at room temp
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temp
Pinch of nutmeg

Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 425F.
On top of the stove, melt butter in a 10-inch oven-proof skillet, tilt to coat the sides. I used my cast-iron skillet which is actually too heavy to tilt. I ended up making two batches and on the second one I used a smaller amount of butter (see *Note) and I found it was much easier to let the butter melt a bit and rub it all over the pan with a paper-towel on the end of tongs.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar and nutmeg.
Whisk in eggs, and milk until mixture is smooth.
Pour the mixture into skillet and cook over medium heat for 1 minute. Do not stir.
Place the skillet in the oven and bake until pancake is puffed and golden, 12-15 minutes.
Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar and serve! I found it easy to use the tongs to transfer from hot skillet to a plate. However, this definitely makes the pancake deflate faster (and it deflates pretty quickly as it is).

*Note: I made these twice and they were too greasy the first time. In fact, if you look at the pictures you will see that all the butter ended up going on top of the pancake, so I cut down the butter from 4 tbsp to 1 tbsp. Also, on the first one, I let the butter brown too long, it added a nutty characteristic to the pancake.

View 18 Photos ›

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Sugar Shout Out: Everything You Need to Know About the New MacBooks!

PopSugar — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:50:00 -0700

Check out all of Geek's great coverage about the new MacBooks!
Win a $500 breast cancer donation in your name!
Bella quiz: Which one is not a fragrance?
Candidates differ on drafting women: Where do you stand?
Would you rather your kids know too much or too lil?
Do you dress up to work out?
Robbie Williams buys a Beverly Hills mega-manse
Samantha Bee and Jason Jones take their funny to CBS
Alton Brown's tips for the perfect pancakes
The best and worst bang-for-your-buck cities
What to do about bad breath
Fashion police: Do Agyness Deyn's dogs have fake Louis Vuitton leashes?
We're open. . . unless we're closed

And Now For a Few More Words With Christopher Kimball

YumSugar — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 10:01:11 -0800

Yesterday we ran part one of our interview with Christopher Kimball - editor, TV personality, and all-around food superstar - and today we've got part two. In this section Kimball compares gourmet cooking to gourmet sex. If you want to know exactly what that means, you'll just have to keep reading.

YumSugar: When you cook for yourself, do you follow recipes, or do you just make things up as you go?
Christopher Kimball: I have preached the value of a limited-recipe repertoire at home for years. Most folks should start with just 25 or so recipes until they can make them from memory and make them well. Then expand from there. So I have my repertoire and for those, I don't need a recipe. Plus, there are master recipes for roasting, braising, sautéing, stewing, etc., which - once one gets the hang of it - can be improvised. That being said, if I am making someone else's recipe, I always follow it religiously the first time. If it looks suspect or something seems out of whack, I just won't make it at all.

YS: I read an interview with you in which you said, "I think the gourmet cooking thing is over. That happened in the '70s." With our easy accessibility to fancier ingredients and exotic spices, do you think this is true still? If so, why?
CK: Gourmet cooking is for restaurants, not home cooks. This is hobby cooking and, for the most part, I am against it. It implies that everyday cooking is a chore and something to be avoided. I would rather focus on really good, everyday cooking - from-scratch oatmeal, a really good pancake, the perfectly-cooked skillet steak - then get all caught up in exotic ingredients and cuisines that most of us are not intimately familiar with. That doesn't mean that one shouldn't try new things once in a while for fun. But what would you think of someone who was promoting "gourmet sex" or "gourmet childrearing?" What's wrong with the day-to-day stuff? And isn't that more important anyway?

For the rest of the interview - learn all about his four freezers! - read more

YS: What advice would you give to an aspiring home chef?
CK: Stop trying to be a chef! Home cooks are not chefs; they are cooks plain and simple. Even Julia Child never liked being referred to as the French Chef. She was a cook. Keep it simple. Start with a small group of recipes. Get really good at them. Make food that means something to you and your family. Stick to the basics. Don't be ashamed of a good grilled-cheese sandwich or oven-fried chicken. Enjoy yourself!

YS: And finally, if we opened up your fridge, what would we find?
CK: Well, if you opened our freezers (we have four of them) you would find over 1,000 lbs. each of beef and pork from our own animals plus frozen corn from the summer and frozen apple cider from our orchard. There would be no junk food. (We do have the odd jar of marshmallow fluff since my 17-year-old, Caroline, loves to make Moon Pies - at least that is what she claims.) The closest we get is store-bought yogurt although we often make our own as well. You would find our own eggs, our bacon (my favorite food), low-fat milk as well as whole (my one nod to the low-fat craze), pickles, our own homemade jams, mayonnaise, lots of mustards, lots of cheese and butter, a jar of anchovies and capers, the odd package of herbs in the Winter (in Summer we pick them from the herb garden), the odd vegetable, buttermilk (always have that on hand for baking), peanut butter (my wife demands that we refrigerate open jars), at least one bottle of opened white wine, etc. We also have a full root cellar where we store our own maple syrup, honey, potatoes, beets, carrots, and apples. Now I am sounding like Alice Waters! Oy!

New Kashi Granola Cereal: Yum!

FitSugar — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 02:00:00 -0700

You know I love Kashi! I've told you about their Chewy Granola Bars, their TLC Crackers, and their tasty Frozen Entrées. Now they're making deliciously satisfying and flavorful granola cereals too! Each serving of the cereal provides an excellent source of fiber, delivers powerful nutrition with 300 mg of Omega-3 fatty acids and offers over 2 full servings of whole grains.

Why are whole grains so important for women? A recent study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association shows that people who ate 2 1/2 servings of whole grains a day had a 21% lower risk of developing heart disease. Cardiovascular health is an important topic for women of all ages -- According to the GoRedforWomen campaign, heart disease is still the number one killer among women.

Want to see the nutritional info and get a closer look? Then read more


Serving Size	1/2 cup	1/2 cup
Calories	220	220
Total Fat	7g	7g
Saturated Fat	1g	1g
Cholesterol	0mg	0mg
Sodium	130mg	110mg
Carbs	37g	37g
Fiber	6g	6g
Sugar	11g	12g
Protein	6g	6g
Taste	A delicious apple pie taste, with a sweet honey, cinnamon and nutmeg flavor; real pieces of dried apples, pecans, and raisins; great texture - perfectly crunchy and it even has whole flax seeds.	Reminded me of pancakes and syrup, has a warm maple syrup flavor; can see pieces of sliced almonds, pecans, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries and raisins; perfect mix of chewy fruit with crunchy oats and nuts.

This granola has 7 whole grains and sesame just like all the other Kashi products so it's healthy for you, but it also tastes as sweet as home baked bread or oatmeal cookies. Look for it at a store near you and pick up a box (or two). If you've already tried it, tell me your opinion in the comments section below.