Food In Many Forms

... you can dip almost anything into it, including coconut macaroons.  In an effort to use up my shredded coconut leftover from Valentine's Day, one of my good friends from college proposed baking up some coconut macaroons . Right as I was walking out the door on my way to her house, I sent a quick text, "anything else you need before I head over?". "A double boiler ," she replied, "I want to dip the macaroons in chocolate ." It was like music to my ears. Ingredients 2/3 cup all-purpose flour 5 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon salt Directions Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, coconut and salt. Stir in the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla using your hands until well blended. Use an ice cream scoop to drop dough o

... it's delicious. And difficult to do well. Here's what I've learned: 1) Add butter to the melted chocolate to improve the consistency for dipping.  2) Toppings are delicious and add variety (ever seen  Shari's Berries ? Good source of inspiration). Also use different types of chocolate, like dark and white chocolate.  3) Keep your chocolate-dipped creations in the fridge , especially when you are OCD, like me. Just try to keep the moisture level down in the fridge, and wipe off any condensation that appears.  4) Buy twice as many wrappers as you think you need, some will get messed up.  5) White chocolate does not like to cooperate . My white chocolate would not stay melted for more than 15 seconds, and then I had to stir it again vigorously. From all the forums I read, there is a small consensus that Trader Joe's makes the most meltable white chocolate. Also see rule #1.  6) Keep the double boiler dry and free of excess water - any extra wa

For the past couple of years, I have always stayed in and cooked for Valentine's Day. I never wanted to face the crowds or the extra expense, and in college these things just don't seem as important. When I would go to the grocery store on February 14th, I always laughed at the poor husbands and boyfriends struggling to find that last ingredient, or agonizing in front of the spice rack for 20 minutes before finding what they need. I love grocery stores, and learning how to cook new foods.  It will be nice to take a year off and go out to dinner tomorrow night to celebrate, but since I can no longer pretend that my gift is the dinner, I actually had to think of a gift. Luckily, I had an extra night to plan and prepare. I ended up making mostly milk chocolate and dark chocolate strawberries because the white chocolate was not cooperating. I had no idea white chocolate was so difficult to work with!  I'll be sure to post the recipe after I've been thoroughly romanc

I count myself lucky that I don't have any allergies, don't have to "count carbs" or "watch my salt". And even though I will try anything once, there are a handful of foods I won't be trying twice. For whatever reason they just don't agree with me.  During my internship, the hospital where I worked had an Au Bon Pain, and my partner and I would often split a pastry after a long day. It was so interesting to me how both of us would have GI symptoms with the same certain pastries. I have noticed that processed foods, saturated fats and hydrogenated oils in particular, are more likely to cause problems. Just one more reason to  eat healthy, fresh foods !  Unfortunately, these  lemon poppy seed bars  are in the second category of "never again", however delicious they might be. My friend actually used the wrong recipe when she went  grocery shopping , and I thought we could go ahead and make it since we had the ingredients. But now that