Beggars Can't Be Choosers Linguine: French Fridays with Dorie

I ate ALL of last night's French Friday dinner by myself! All. Of. It. This recipe was like, I don't know, funnel cakes and caramel corn on top of pasta. (I swear to god, this stuff smelled like caramel corn while it cooked.) And. . . it was that good. If you're into carnival foods. . . and I totally am (but you can leave the clowns at home)! Now, could I have been so down and out over the state of affairs for dogs here in Missouri last night that my appetite for anything remotely sounding and smelling like runway food would win me over? Certainly. And now amid today's crisis in Japan, could I be AS down and out again? Absolutely. So I very much could have this tonight, again. . . along side a nice slice of pizza (which is what is always on the menu on Friday night).

Vegan Savory Cheese And No-Chives-for-You Bread: Returning to French Fridays with Dorie (A Pyrex Story And Why Organic Isn't Always Best)

So I solved two great mysteries yesterday. First, I thought I was the subject of some great baking conspiracy whereby every single time I ran across a loaf recipe--be it cake or bread, and the pan size called for an 8 x 4 inch pan, all I've ever had in my pitiful collection were two very old 9 x 5 sizers in aluminum, from my mom's collection--nice and stained from years of holding meatloaf recipes. (I have turned out very good quick breads and the like from these old pans, mind you, some were squatty-potty breads because of the larger size I resorted to when desperate times called for desperate measures, I'd just make do with what I had.) But then comes Dorie. In her very clear style of writing and very encouraging words for this week's French Fridays with Dorie bread recipe, she stated: Generously butter an 8-x-4 1/2-x-2 3/4 inch loaf pan -- a Pyrex pan is perfect here. Pyrex. Say what?! I have one of those. It, too, was my mother's. So in went my head into the dark cavernous kitchen cabinet holding all things to bake with, hands reaching around in the dark waiting to hit something cool and smooth feeling (knocking over every other cake, bundt and muffin pan along the way, spilling several pans out onto the floor and onto my lap), until I felt the cool slick side of something. I pull it out. My glass loaf pan! I turn it over and viola! Well I'll be darned, THAT's the mysterious eight inch loaf pan! I've had it all along!

Vegan Orange-Almond Tart (Pardon Me, Have You Seen My 10 lb. Bag of Oranges?): French Fridays with Dorie

So, this week, it's oranges, last week, it was eggs. Not that oranges pose any great diet/moral concern, they don't. However, how I lost a 10 lb. bag of oranges is a whole other story. I wanted to write a true "foodie" post today. Bring in all the bake-ness verbiage I could muster, follow that with some true-to-form food shots. Well, that all got tossed out the window when I lost my bag of oranges I'd purchased to make this lovely French dessert some place between Walmart and home. It doesn't seem like a big deal until you realize I never purchase oranges more than two at a time. If that. 

Basque Potato Tortilla (a.k.a. Red Neck Vegan Tater Hash): French Fridays with Dorie

Nine eggs. NINE?! I screamed this over the phone to my husband as I ran to the store grabbing our food stuffs in the wake of this last two-inch state-of-emergecny snow we had--fearful we'd be "trapped" for a week and I'd be facing Thursday night, Dorie-less. "For crying out loud, it's a quiche we're making!" Husband is now silent as my diatribe calms down. To be quite honest, I am not much of a planner and had not even opened the book to this next recipe yet. I like to be surprised. Nothing like a nine-egger to throw you a curve. I vaguely recalled there being some potato thingy coming up in the French Friday cookbook--but the egg thing, not so much. Checklist in hand, I asked my DH to please finish reading me the ingredients so I'd be sure to have all I needed to re-create Dorie vegan. Oh please, potatoes and onions? I'm getting a little fed up with the French here or I am having one heck of a PMS bout (I think it's the latter). I can only say that for the American diet crisis we are in, using nine eggs in anything these days may get you put on a list of "Most Dangerous to Your Health Food Blogs" to follow. To her credit, Dorie does suggest that were you to make this, a serving option might be to cut this up into little squares and serve it from a toothpick--appetizer-like. Uh, okay.

Vegan Chicken B'stilla: French Fridays with Dorie

I said I had no idea where Morocco was, but if I could guess, maybe Spain? (I probably just lost what few readers I had admitting this.) But. Yep. I'll go with Spain. My husband, No, Kelly. . . it's in Africa. I said, Wanna bet? Really? A bet? To which DH then turned to the laptop and within a blink of an eye, we were looking at a nice bright green detail area clearly located in Northern Africa. Hmmm, I said to myself. Then, out loud, What is it with the French? (Well and if we are being totally honest here, What is it with public education that let me get to be Almost Fifty thinking Morocco was in Spain! Life with a really smart person can sometimes be such a downer.) 

Michael Rostang's Double Chocolate Mousse Cake: French Fridays With Dorie

If there is one thing I know, it's chocolate. (See "My Profile" on right). If there's another thing I know, it's how to bake. No, I'm not "professionally" trained nor do I have the money to do so, but I've been baking since I could hold a spatula. Once I'd even considered opening a small bakery doing cookies, cakes and books. I take baking seriously. Then yesterday happened and I'll reserve the comments that flew from my lips in trying to re-create this Frenchie chocolate specialty in vegan form for "offline".  I'll also not be posting any pictures of my kitchen in the aftermath, as I found myself wiping counters down one last time ten thirty last night (third failed attempt going into the trash).

Vegan Gnocchi a' la Parisienne: French Fridays with Dorie, Y'all!

I counted down the days to last night's French Fridays with Dorie cooking selection: vegan gnocchi. I'll be honest, this was a nail biter. Did I have the chops to pull it off? I needed to substitute butter, eggs, cheese AND whole milk. Each ingredient a French cooking mainstay. Each ingredient, a vegan cook's worst nightmare--especially when the ingredients ARE the recipe! However, chefs around the world have combined these simple (dare I say "peasant-like") ingredients to make the seemingly mundane into something to behold. Now the question was: Could I? See for yourself. I was so darn proud when this came out of the oven, I nearly cried. I spent the whole day speaking with a French accent and channeling Julia--I had even considered donning a French maid's outfit, feather duster and all--but didn't. My ego got such a boost from this reecipe, I think I'm ready to conquer vegan puff pastry. . . from scratch!

Vegan Paris Mushroom Soup (French Fridays with Dorie)

My day began the usual way: feed the kids, fall down, have coffee (maybe I should have had my coffee before I attempted my "outside" chores), check email, then more coffee. (I'm okay, scraped up my knee. . . and my palm, you know catching myself from the fall.) So, back to the computer, something caught my eye on my blog roll: Paris Mushroom Soup on Tasty Trix. (I met Trixie waaay back via our blogs via Food Buzz and am really happy our paths crossed!). So I saw her post today: Whoa! Mushrooms. Soup. LOVE both of those! Then I read on and discovered there's a little cookin' thing going on every Friday on French Fridays with Dorie to honor and showcase cooking from the new cookbook: Around my French Table by Dorie Greenspan. I have another Dorie cookbook--(she's known for her incredible baking talent): Baking with Julia. She actually got to work with and bake with Julia! Sadly, Julia is gone. Double sad that I've never attempted French cooking, well. . . not much of it anyhow. And triple sad for me: Santa did not bring me this French Table cookbook for Christmas. (That's since been taken care of.)