Strawberries

Strawberries and Cream Cinnamon Rolls

April 24, 2017

Happy Monday, friends. We find ourselves here again, on this awful day, right after the weekend. Why does this always happen to us? The sole purpose of a Monday is to remind us that we have a long work week ahead of us. It’s torturous, really. I believe that the only way to survive these next couple of days is with a batch of these Strawberries and Cream Cinnamon rolls. I’m very spoiled because living in Los Angeles, we get strawberries pretty much all year round, but right about now is when they’re really amazing. These cinnamon rolls don’t actually have cinnamon sugar in the middle, but rather they’ve received a summer makeover. They are summer body ready. These rolls are spread with strawberry preserves (instead of butter) and then sprinkled with fresh strawberries (instead of cinnamon sugar). Then they’re rolled up, sliced and baked like traditional cinnamon rolls. Then because that just isn’t enough, they’re doused with a thick cream cheese glaze, giving them a strawberries and cream flavor. If you ask me, it’s the perfect makeover on a classic dish.

Speaking of makeovers…in other exciting news, if you’re reading this on an actual computer you’ll have noticed that I gave my site a much needed new look. It was feeling a little old and tired to me. I’ve been doing this blog for about 5 and 1/2 years now and a new look is just what the site needed to make it feel new and exciting; not just for me but for you as well. I spent all weekend getting it ready and transforming it from it’s old doughnut-filled fun look (which was great don’t get me wrong) to this new more serious and professional look. I think it showcases my images a lot better, and that’s what I value the most from my site so it’s great. Among it’s new features, my favorite part is that there is a fancy new “jump to recipe” feature at the top of each post now. That’s for people who just want to get to the recipe right away and not deal with my rambling and lots of photos. I think this is very helpful. I’m excited for you all to experience the new site and I hope you love it as much as I do! There are some awesome things coming up for the site, so please stay tuned! As always, thank you for reading and following along. You guys humble me.

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Strawberry Piña Colada Pie

July 5, 2016

Summer pie season has finally descended upon us, so you know what that means…everywhere you turn us food bloggers are throwing fruit-filled pie at your face. Literally, we’re throwing pie at your face and we’re not even thinking twice about it. For my contribution I wanted to give you a pie with a twist though, because I think you need this one in your life immediately and because you know me, I can’t just give you something that is simple and basic. I just can’t. So Strawberry Piña Colada Pie is this year’s summer pie of choice because nothing screams summer more than lounging by the pool with a piña colada in hand. Now you can lounge by the pool with a slice of strawberry piña colada pie instead. Pie trumps a cocktail any day of the week.

The second bit of good news, aside from this awesome pie, is that I’m hosting a GIVEAWAY for you all! I’m giving away a signed copy of my cookbook The Slider Effect to one lucky winner! Who will it be? Will it be you? Who will it be? I have no idea actually. It’s already been one full week since my book’s official release, can you believe it? In honor of my first cookbook being published, and as a big thank you to every one of you for continuing to follow along and supporting me and this blog, I’m giving away a copy of the book (along with a special gift) each week in July. After all, none of this would be possible if it weren’t for your support! I never forget that. So if you’re good with math, that’s 4 chances to win my book and a special something extra. I won’t tell you all the prizes just yet, because I do like surprises. This week’s prize however, is small but mighty. One of my favorite things about the book are the various appetizer picks I used throughout the different sliders. I had a lot of fun finding different party picks to hold the sliders in place. It became a game for me to find new and exciting toothpicks. So this week’s prize is a copy of the book, and a big bundle of slider picks. A HUGE bundle of picks. Like, all my favorite ones from the book.

To enter, leave a comment below letting me know how you celebrated Independence Day yesterday?! As always, my mamma will be picking the winner at random. It’s one of her greatest pleasures in life, what can I say? You should know us well by now, and know that we love lots of details. Tell us what you did, how your day was, what did you eat, what did you cook, etc. I love reading all of your comments. If you live outside of the US or didn’t celebrate Independence Day, then just tell me what you did yesterday. Let’s keep things fair, only one entry per person, and if you win, you can’t enter the following weeks. Sorry but I want everyone to have a fair chance. You have until Friday night to enter! Good luck, I’m rooting for you!

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Mixed Berry Tart

July 4, 2012

Birthdays come once a year. Along with this joyous day of birth, brings with it all sorts of festivities. Parties filled with people. Parties filled with music. Parties filled with games. Parties filled with decorations. Parties filled with booze. Parties filled with food. But most importantly, parties filled with cake. As we get older we no longer look forward to extravagant get togethers with obscene amounts of gifts. The big things do not matter to us anymore. Rather we take comfort in the little things. The loved ones that surround us. The hugs and kisses we receive. We take solace in the good times and memories we create, instead of the number of presents on the table. The tearing of beautiful paper that hugs the packages, just isn’t important anymore. Good food, wine, company and laughs are all we need. In fact there are even some instances, a year here and there, in which we might forget that our birthday is near. We overlook the idea of our special day on the horizon. As if by not keeping track of this day will make the prospect of us getting older any less realistic. No, ignoring it will not work. Pushing it off and out of our minds, will not turn back the hands of time. We won’t get any younger by denying the day, no matter how many times we pretend to be a certain age.

Once we lose the fascination of presents, cake takes over and becomes our main priority. Delicious cake, high towards the sky, is what excites us about our day. As our age grows in number, the candles start to dwindle. No longer is it fun to put the exact amount of candles on the cake. Covering it with a vast array of dancing flames, with which illuminate are eager faces. Perhaps it’s because lighting that many candles takes too long? Maybe we do not want to buy that many candles? It could also be because lighting one sole candle is so much easier and less dangerous. You can put that fire extinguisher down and put away the rest of the candles, as one is more than enough for me these days. Whatever the case may be, that edible centerpiece is now the most important aspect of the celebration, when it comes to birthdays. It’s our day and therefore we have the right to indulge in a piece-or two-of cake. And why shouldn’t we?

Age is just a number and we cannot look to it to define us. We’re not getting older, we’re just getting seasoned. Look onto those youngins and be content in knowing that we have that many more years of knowledge ahead of them. Many more years of experience and life lessons that have taught us oh so much, than they do. In fact, feel sorry for them. Feel sorry because they are not at your age. You got to an age that has taught you so much. Sure we might complain, every so often, that we’re getting old and dreading our next birthday. But what you have to remember is that no matter how old you turn, there will always be someone who is older than you. There will always be someone who you cannot compete with. And that someone-or something I should say-is America. Yes, we forgot about the little detail that America has a birthday too. America does not need any presents. It does not look for or expect birthday cards and balloons. But what it does need. What it does deserve, is cake. But oh no, a regular cake will not suffice. An plain and ordinary vanilla or chocolate cake will not do. America deserves something special. Something fantastic and delicious. It needs to have a triple berry tart. A tart topped with ridiculous amounts of strawberries and blueberries and raspberries. Fresh berries. Fresh strawberries and fresh blueberries and fresh raspberries. Delicious berries. While you’re at it, put a candle on it and let’s sing Happy Birthday to the United States. If getting older requires a fake age, then America definitely needs one. Happy 236th Birthday America. Thanks for all the good times and happy memories. I will however, not thank you for the hot weather and treacherous sun, of whom I hate so much with a passion. But that’s another story, America. Another story for another time. This time you shall enjoy your mixed berry tart in peace.

This tart plays out in four acts.

The first act is to make the pastry cream.

The second act is to make the tart shell.

The third act is to make the yellow cake.

And the final act is to decorate with fresh berries. Queue fireworks. Drop the banners. Wave the flags.

Let’s start with numero uno.

Here is what we’ll need….

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Strawberry Shortcake

April 30, 2012

This is a strawberry post. Strawberries were used in the making of this dessert. Strawberries are a fruit. And they happen to be my favorite fruit. I say this with a sense of caution and fear. Caution because I know that once I write it as such, then it’s out there for everyone to read. Fear because once the words are written and submitted into the world of internet, there is no going back. I can not retract them. I can not just say “Oh nevermind. They no longer are my favorite fruit.” I say that strawberries are my favorite fruit with caution and fear because I, myself, am not one hundred percent sure if they are my favorite fruit. I mean, they are tasty and delicious, sure. They are red, fuzzy and have seeds all over them. What’s not to like? They are a summer fruit and grow during the summer months of April, May, June, July and so forth. Apparently April is a summer month now. Southern California weather seems to agree with me. I like this fruit because when I see them in grocery stores or in farmer’s markets, I know it’s summer. The beginning of summer. Summer is about to commence. When strawberries are fresh and in season they smell extraordinary. They give out an incredible aroma that brings me back to all sorts of happy memories. Summer days filled with heat and swimming pools. Summer days filled with me lying around eating nothing but strawberries. Summer days filled with strawberry fields forever. Those are not my words. They are lyrics to a song. A song by the Beatles. They too liked strawberries.

I decided to make a strawberry shortcake. A multi-layered bonanza of a cake. Tons of whipped cream and fresh sliced strawberries in between two layers of sponge cake, doused with – what should be – illegal amounts of rum simple syrup. A rum simple syrup because a regular, plain simple syrup would not have sufficed. Illegal because it tastes so good that the food police should send out warrants for anyone and everyone who consumes such a cake. They’d arrest people only to eat the cake themselves. The food police would not share said cake. Not even toss a crumb or two our way. No, they’d lick their plates clean. Bastards. We like cake too. Cake makes us happy. Especially a tall cake filled with strawberries, doused with rum simple syrup, and covered in sweet whipped cream. Everyone should eat cake. We should eat it everyday. I’m sure our doctor’s and dentist’s would love it if we did. Everyone should eat strawberry shortcake.

On the second thought, perhaps watermelon is my favorite fruit. This isn’t a watermelon post. Watermelons weren’t used in the making of this dessert. Watermelons, like strawberries, are also a summer fruit. They grow during the months of May, June, July and August. Watermelons are green on the outside and have juicy red insides. Watermelons have black seeds – No, wait – I take that back, most watermelons have black seeds inside. Some are seedless. I prefer seedless watermelon, because the prospect of accidentally swallowing a seed and having a watermelon grow inside my stomach, scares me. Why take that risk? Now I wish I had made a watermelon dessert instead of one made with strawberries. But that’s another post. Another time. For now enjoy this strawberry dessert. Made with strawberries. My favorite/maybe favorite fruit.

We start with the sponge cake.

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New York Cheesecake

September 18, 2011

I was making my usual rounds on my favorite food sites and blogs. Scouring for new recipes to try out. Hoping to come across something tasty and yummy to make. I found myself on the Smitten Kitchen site, much like I often do, and came across this cheesecake recipe. I immediately knew I wanted to try it. The idea of making a decadent cheesecake excited me, as it was just the kind of project I needed to dive into. Why? I have no idea. Knowing that the 3 women in my life would go bananas for it. As I was looking down the ingredient list, I stopped at the “5 packages of cream cheese” line. I knew that was all I needed to read. I was sold. I yelled out loud, to no one in particular, “5 packages of cream cheese? Sign me up!” And then everyone turned around and looked at me like I was crazy. But I’m not crazy, just passionate about cream cheese I guess, especially when it’s disguised as a New York cheesecake.

Once It was all finished, I had to keep the sharks at bay, just long enough so that I could finish taking pictures. All three of them were ready with their forks about to dive-in. I almost didn’t get a picture of the finished cheesecake. They tried their first piece and that was it. They were lost in all of its magic and decadence. Soon, they started to divide the cake into each of their portions stating “Don’t eat my piece.” ” I’m hiding mine.” And “Don’t come crying to me, when you eat yours too fast.” Need I say more? I didn’t know what I got myself into, or the power I’d unleash by making this cheesecake.

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