happy mother's day!

it's mother's day! i know i said i was doing a banana series, but i'm taking a quick break to bring you yummy goodness. this year is for M and for new mom- s1. for mother's day the family is having crabs, but i also got a chance to try out this cauliflower recipe and made some dessert as well (i hate to admit that the frozen cranberries from thanksgiving lasted until now...but no wasting of food, and it turned out pretty darn good:)

my friend actually found this awesome recipe and as we were paying attention so well in class, we got sidetracked by this. the crust is a cauliflower base and it's actually really tasty. i think processing the whole cauliflower i got more than the 4 cups that the recipe called for and i think it would have been better w/ more cheese and egg to bind and also baking a bit longer. i put in about 2-3 tsp of frozen garlic paste which melted into the cauliflower after i microwaved it. (it's awesome that you can cook things in the oven)

toppings included: green pepper, tomato (too watery), kale, onions, avocado (i preferred it broiled in the oven over topped fresh afterword) w/ fresh mozzarella on top. i baked the crust for i think 10 minutes (b/c the edges were crisping) but i should have baked it longer b/c it was still a pretty soft crust. also, spread oil or spray the tray/aluminum foil w/ oil so it doesn't stick. i only made one pizza and am saving the crust to make it fresh tonight. eummm, just writing about it i want some more. time for a break...


ok, back :D my tummy is happy again. so for dessert i figured the frozen cream cheese and frozen berries needed to be used up (although M loves angel food cake, that will have to wait until after finals)

i tried my hand at jam making. i boiled the frozen cranberries in a small amount of water w/ lemon juice (i think it was about 1.25-1.5 cups of cranberries w/ about 1/2 cup of sugar. i boiled the cranberries and popped them as i went, once it boiled i added the sugar and stirred constantly for about 5 minutes. even though it didn't seem to make the pectin-esque jam, after a while it became jelly-ish (although it did make a film, but just mix that in).

this is sort of baking in my mind- cranberry cheesecake bars modified from pillsbury's raspberry version. the frozen cream cheese consistency changes a bit w/ the ice particles so i'm not sure how that works out and i also added in an additional 1/2 cup of cream cheese b/c the crust to cheesecake ratio seemed a bit too heavy on the crust side. i also didn't add the jam on top. it's hanging out in the fridge right now waiting to be cut into by M, but i'll get back to you on the texture and taste of frozen cream cheese (but the cranberry jam tasted pretty good- i like it on the tart side).

happy mother's day to all the moms out there (who all seem to be at home depot...:)

* finally got around to trying the cheesecake squares, i don't know if i pressed the crust in too tight but it turned out like shortbread (which is not a bad thing) and was hard to get to come out w/ the cheesecake. so we sort of ended up eating the cheesecake part and then topping the shortbread cookie-esque crust w/ cranberry jam.