Red Velvet Cake Appreciation Day

Dear reader,

I wish you the happiest Red Velvet Cake Appreciation Day, which as we all know is February 14th. I hope you take the time to make and share this tricked out confection with all those you like, like-like, and even love. Definitely, don't share the scrumptiousness with frenemies-- since we all know that fruit cake is the official cake for those people. You can learn more about the history of red velvet cake here because it's way too extensive for me to summarize. The short version is that the combination of tangy, sweet, and delicately cocoa-y has enchanted Americans for several decades and continues to do so today. I have only taken the time to make this cake for my dearest friends and family. It may be a little work, and you will end up with red dye somewhere you didn't want it, but the final product is unrivaled. I've scoured the internet and made several different recipes, but this one is, without question, the best! There was even a scientific trial performed to demonstrate the recipe's superiority.

Red Velvet Cake

Makes 36 Cupcakes

3 1/2 cups cake flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa + 1 Tablespoon (not Dutch process)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 cups canola oil

2 1/4 cups granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon red gel food coloring dissolved in 6 tablespoons of water

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/4 cup buttermilk*

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 3 Cupcake tins with cupcake liners.
   
2. Whisk cake flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl.
   
3. Place oil and sugar in bowl of an electric mixer and beat at medium speed until well-blended. Beat in eggs one at a time. Turn mixer off and slowly add red food coloring and vanilla.
   
4. Turn mixer on low and allow to mix for 30 seconds.
   
5. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk in two batches. Scrape down bowl and beat just long enough to combine.
   
6. Place baking soda in a small dish, stir in vinegar and add to batter with machine running. Beat for 10 seconds.
   
7. Fill cupcake liners up 2/3 of the way full.
   
8. Bake for 20 minutes

*Instead of buying buttermilk, you can also use regular milk with 2 teaspoons of lemon juice stirred in. This will cause the milk to curdle, but don’t worry. Allow this mixture to sit a couple of minutes before using it.

Fluffy Cream Cheese Icing

Makes Enough to Frost 36 Cupcakes

8 ounces cream cheese, softened at room temp

1 stick of unsalted butter, softened at room temp

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

½ teaspoon salt

4 Cups Confectioner’s Sugar, sifted

1. Place cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat and high speed until fluffy.
2. Beat in vanilla and salt
3. Add the Confectioner’s Sugar in slowly in batches
4. Beat until fluffy
   

Red Velvet Cake Recipe Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Long Distance Relationships: A How To Guide (Kind of)

Photo Credit

When I tell people that my significant other and I are doing long distance for at least 4 years while he is in dental school and I am in medical school, the typical responses are: "Oh my gosh! That sounds so hard!" or "Wow! I don't think I could do that..." or "That sounds really difficult, but if your relationship can withstand this then it can withstand anything." The truth is: It is really hard. And if you have to do it, you can, in fact, do it. And sometimes the things that would normally be no big deal for a same-city couple might very well knock down a long distance couple. So far, we've done 3.5 years of living 333 miles apart. I kept my hopes resting on the idea that May 10, 2015 (his graduation date) would be the end of this annoying distance...but alas, it seems there are no guarantees in the world of residency matching. And so the very real prospect of another 3 years of long distance looms ahead. And as tempted as I am to throw a 1-year-old-style temper tantrum and chuck the whole thing out of the window of a speeding car-- I can't. (Full disclosure: I have already thrown the aforementioned tantrum). As several dear friends put it, 'how do you give up the person you know you're supposed to be with because of complicated logistics and inconvenient geography?' And to this, I have no logical answer except that 'you don't.' Instead I have compiled a list of things that helped me survive the last 3.5 years... and possibly the next 3. If you or someone you know is faced with having to do long distance, I hope this helps!

1. FaceTime: Usually this devolves into a contest of who can make the silliest faces

2. Audio Books: These are almost necessary to make the boring trips across The Plains pass by quickly. My favorites over the years have been #1. Bossy Pants, #2. Middlesex, #3. Anything by David Sedaris, #4. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me & Other Concerns, #5. The Stieg Larsson Millennium Trilogy, #6. The Kite Runner, #7. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, #8. The Fault in Our Stars,  #9. Bringing Up Bebe, and #10. The Harry Potter series read by Jim Dale

3. This American Life podcasts & Snap Judgement podcasts: See #2. Simply stated, these are wonderful AND free!! Great for when the library is out of the audiobooks you've been wanting or you can't pay $20 to buy an audiobook.

4. Working Out "together": We loved working out together when we were a same-city couple, but it's hard to keep each other motivated to workout when we're apart. We text each other as soon as we're done with our workouts each day and encourage each other with a 'congrats!' or 'good job, babe!' Also, we have a sort of penalty system going for missing workouts: I must donate $5 to the NRA Institute for Legislative Action and Ry must support fame hungry, albeit entertaining, dregs of society by buying me an episode of the Real Housewives on Amazon Prime. If you know either of us, you'll know just how punitive (and thus motivating) these conditions are.

5. Safe Cars w/ good mileage: If it's at all an option, driving a car with good fuel economy really helps! It gets you to your destination faster and cheaper than a guzzler. At the same time, driving a Smartcar at 80 miles an hour on a highway for 5 hours does not exactly reassure loved ones of your safety-- remember that safety is still the most important thing.

6. A Southwest Credit Card: We don't fly to see each other much ever since the direct route got cancelled, but this credit card is amazing! You get 2 free roundtrip tickets when you sign up and it's pretty easy to continue to rack up more free flights just by using it for daily expenses. Even if we don't use the free flights to fly to Oklahoma or Kansas City, we can use them to go somewhere different and fun together.

7. A Supportive Network of Friends and Family: This is by far the most important tool in your LDR survival kit. Being in a LDR means A LOT of time alone, which inevitably leads to feeling lonely. We've each leaned on our friends a ton to keep those feelings of loneliness at bay. Make it a point to make plans with your local friends and spend time with your family. Go out! Start a new hobby! Don't put your life on hold because you're apart. Being individually happy makes your relationship a lot stronger and healthier. When you are in the same city, hang out with each others' friends. It's great that I can call Ry's friends my own friends too and vice versa.

I'm currently visiting Ry on one of my rare breaks from school. We love to cook together when we can. With Autumn occasionally peaking through the 80 degree weather we're having in September, I decided to make something delicious with one of my favorites-- butternut squash. I'm extremely impressed with the richness of this dish considering the fact that unlike most butternut squash recipes, this one is not swimming in heavy cream or butter! It's very easy to make...and easy to make disappear as well :-) We ate this for dinner last night next to some smoked chicken Ry's parents whipped up in their Green Egg.

KiwiConfections Butternut Squash Pasta

With Crispy Sage and Bacon

Serves 5

4 Slices No or Low Nitrate Bacon, finely chopped

1 ½  Tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage

1 2-lb. butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cut into ½” pieces

2 large scallions, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

Kosher salt and ground black pepper

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

12 oz. linguine

¼ cup grated Pecorino, plus some shaved Pecorino for serving

1. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add bacon, and reduce heat if necessary. Cook until crisp, 3-5 minutes.
2. Using a slotted spoon, remove the bacon onto a paper towel. Discard 80% of the bacon grease.
3. Add the chopped sage to the skillet and toss to crisp it up in the remaining bacon fat. Use the slotted spoon to transfer the sage out of the pan and onto the paper towel with bacon.
4. Add squash, onion, and garlic to skillet; season the mixture with 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, for 7–9 minutes.
   
5. Add chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until squash is soft and liquid is reduced by half, 15–20 minutes.
6. Turn the stove off and let cool slightly. Once slightly cooled, pour the squash (with all the liquid) into the blender. Keep the skillet—you’ll use it again soon.
7. Purée until smooth; season with salt and pepper to taste.
8. Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water until al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the pasta cooking liquid.
9. Combine pasta, squash purée, and ½ cup of the pasta cooking liquid in the skillet and cook over low-medium heat, tossing and adding more pasta cooking liquid as needed, until sauce coats pasta, about 2 minutes.
10. Mix in ¼ cup grated Pecorino, bacon, and sage.
11. Serve pasta topped with shaved Pecorino.

Recipe Adapted from Bon Appetite

Giving Thanks: version 1.0

Facebook, texting, Instagram, emailing, Twitter, Snapchat....this blog! Technology has done a pretty amazing job connecting people better over the last couple of decades. Or has it? The question contemporary sociologists are posing today is: Does having hundreds of followers or thousands of friends make us truly feel more connected or is it making us feel more alone? The growing research points to an actual increase in feelings of loneliness and disconnectedness among those in the facebook generation.1 Why? To put it simply: we're not actually compelled to leave our social media-machines (i.e. cell phones and computers) and go interact with people. The faster pace and increasing demands of work and school only perpetuate the compulsion to stay plugged in. Luckily, there are still wonderful facets of life that prevent us from heading straight  into a world of soma, obstacle golf, and conditioning centers. Girls night, book clubs, classroom discussions, phone calls, brunch dates, pot luck get-togethers....THANKSGIVING! These are a few of my favorite things and things that I hold sacred enough not to dilute with too much tech. Every week I look forward to getting together with some girlfriends and cooking a meal. We take turns bringing ingredients and/or hosting. We catch up, cook, eat, and enjoy. It helps me stay sane. The recipe below is for my very favorite Chicken Pot Pie-- a dish I made at one of these girls' nights. It's part of my Thanksgiving post because Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays (surprise, surprise), and this is a great dish to make with turkey leftovers OR just because you're around the ones you love and want to show them how much. Although I am ever-grateful for advancing technology, next Thursday I'll be sticking with my non-updated version of Thanksgiving and expressing my gratitude for wonderful friends, family and health in person at an actual table!

p.s. If you do decide to use turkey leftovers, just use store-bought low sodium chicken broth in place of making your own as seen in the recipe below

1. http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/09/the-real-reason-facebook-makes-us-unhappy.html

Chicken Pot Pie

Serves 6-8

Chicken Broth:

2 lb raw chicken breast, cut into 3 inch pieces

4 cloves of garlic

1 Tablespoons salt

½ Tablespoon pepper

1 sprig of Rosemary

7 Cups of water

Pot Pie Stew:

2 Cups diced yellow onion

1.5 Cups diced carrot

1.5 Cups diced celery

6 Tablespoons butter

6 cloves garlic

2 teaspoons thyme

2 teaspoons rosemary

1 bay leaf

¾ Cup corn starch + ¼ Cup cold water

1/3 Cup dry sherry wine

6 Cups chicken stock (from above)

1 Cup frozen green peas

1/2 Cup heavy cream

Crust:

1 package frozen puff pastry

1 egg, beaten

1 Tablespoon water

Directions:

1. Fill a medium pot with 7 Cups of water.
2. Chop the garlic and add it to the pot of water. Add salt, pepper, and rosemary to the pot as well.
3. Place the cut, raw chicken in the pot. Cover the pot with a lid and cook over low, medium heat.
4. Reduce the heat to low once it comes to a boil. Keeping the lid on, continue cooking for 15-20 minutes.
5. Turn the heat off, remove the lid, and allow the chicken and the resulting chicken stock to cool.
6. Start the process of cooking the pot pie stew (directions below). During the step of waiting for the veggies to cook, use a slotted spoon to remove the chicken from the stock. Cube the cooked chicken and set aside. Save the chicken stock (throw out the solids) because it is the stock you will use for the pot pie stew. 
   

1. In a large saucepan, sauté onions, carrots, and celery, in butter over low/medium heat. Once the onions start to turn transparent, add garlic and herbs in.
2. In a small bowl, mix the corn starch with ¼ Cup cold water. Stir until a smooth paste is formed. (this step helps you avoid the clumps that would form if corn starch was added directly to the hot pan).
3. Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees
4. Once the carrots have softened slightly, lower the heat. Add the corn starch paste to the sautéed vegetables and stir constantly to form a roux.
5. Add chicken stock and sherry and stir to make sure clumps don’t form. Allow the mixture to come to a boil, and the mixture will become thicker. Turn the heat down to low.
6. Add chicken breast and stir to combine.
7. Add heavy cream, stir, and bring the mixture to a boil once more. Reduce to a simmer and continue to cook for 3 minutes or until thickened.
8. Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Stir and allow the pot pie stew mixture to cool.
   

1. Line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper
2. In a small bowl use a fork to beat the egg with the water and set aside.
3. Sprinkle the counter lightly with flour.
4. Roll some refrigerated puff pastry to 1/8 inch thick. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter cut circles that are ½ wider than the rim of your individual ramekins or mini-pie dishes.
5. Fill each ramekin or mini-pie dish 80% full with the warm pot pie mixture
6. Brush each circle of dough with egg wash and place each circle of dough egg-washed-side down on top of each of the filled ramekins.
7. Cut a small slit in the middle of the pastry.
8. Brush the top of the pastry with egg wash. Place each of the completed ramekins/ mini-pie dishes on the baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
9. Bake for 15 minutes in the pre-heated oven. Decrease the heat to 400 degrees and bake until the crust is puffed and golden brown (another 15-20 minutes)

          Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Recipe Adapted from Beth-Ann McFarland-Lyons' recipe at her restaurant Kitchen 324

Photo Credits: KiwiConfections