A "Swing and a Miss" Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is either amazing or awful. For those of us lucky enough to experience the absolute best and worst of our loved ones on this holiday instead of sitting at home and eating a TV dinner (alone); this holiday falls into one of two categories “hit” or “miss”.

Either (a) the following morning you wake up thinking about all the great moments you shared with your friends and family or (b) you wake up remembering how your parent’s bird sprung out of the it’s cage and flew directly into the mash potatoes and/or how your dog decided that it would be a brilliant idea to use the marble floor and Persian rugs at your parent’s house as his personal bathroom.

If your Thanksgiving leaned more towards the (b) scenario, the recovery time for another Thanksgiving gone a rye is between two days and a week.

The start to the recovery process is the feeling of complete and utter guilt particularly if you have the fortune of a great family and really sweet, wonderful parents. You also start evaluating at exactly what point the holiday started going downhill. For me, I didn’t have to look further than my dog, Brando, who has been a dog of model behavior since returning back to my Venice apartment from the Thanksgiving holiday. It’s almost as if Brando decided, “Let’s just see how bad I can misbehave before everyone completely flips out.” Mission accomplished, Brando.

While my Thanksgiving was in the (b) category this year, there were some things that went right, and I’ll start with my favorite of the positives, dessert.

Gluten Free Apple Pie

Ingredients:

For the pie shell:

A frozen gluten free pie shell from Whole Foods

Filling:

6 cups of thinly sliced apples (Macintosh apples are good)

¾ cup sugar

¼ tsp. ground cinnamon

¼ tsp. salt

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Topping

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons rice flour

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

Preparation

Pie Shell – Remove from freezer and set aside.

Filling – In a large bowl combine all ingredients and spoon into the pie shell.

Topping – In a small bowl, cut butter into small pieces and combine together with the flour and cinnamon until you have crumbs then spread those crumbs evenly over filling.

To Cook:

Place pie in a pre-heated 450-degree oven and bake until you see liquid bubbles appearing at the edge of the shell. Then remove from oven and set on a wire cookie sheet and cool.

Serve with ice cream and / or whipped cream.  

Sunday Lunch in Marina Del Rey

Enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon with my dog, Brando in Marina Del Rey. Thus far we've watched one episode of Jamie Oliver's "Food Revolution" and one or so.. episodes of "The Bachelorette." Brando's sleeping on the couch and I'm starving so I decide to make a salad. It's not typically a "Greek" salad per se although there is tons of feta cheese, it's more like an Abby salad. So, I thought I'd share. Here's the recipe.

An Abby Salad

Ingredients
- 3 Persian cucumbers (chopped)
- 2 Green peppers (chopped)
- 1 Red pepper (chopped)
- 1 Onion (chopped)
- 10 Ounces of feta cheese
- 1/2 Tablespoon lime juice
- 1/2 Tablespoon oil (good quality)
- 1/2 Tablespoon vinegar (good quality)

Directions: Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and serve.

Delicious Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

Delicious Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cake


Since posting a dessert recipe on cookies full of gluten, etc, I thought I’d even out the playing field and post another dessert this one completely free of gluten and absolutely delicious. This comes from my friend, Joanne, who is master of everything, gluten free. Now, in all sincerity, while this is free of gluten, calories it is not.
Ingredients:

• 1 pound of semi sweet chocolate chips

• ½ pound (2 sticks) of butter

• ¼ cup sugar

• 6 eggs

• ½ teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract



Directions:

• Preheat over to 325 and grease a 9-inch cake pan

• Melt butter in a pot on the stove (or in the microwave)

• Add chocolate chips ( ¼ of a bag at a time to the melted butter)

• Reheat the mixture until the chocolate chips are melted being careful not to burn the chocolate.

• Remove from heat and set aside

• Beat the eggs with the sugar until frothy and light in yellow color

• Slowly whisk a small spoonful of chocolate into the egg mixture (repeat several times)

• Once you’ve whisked in several spoons of the chocolate mixture, it is safe to pour the remaining chocolate into the egg mixture.

• Mix in the salt and vanilla extract

• If the batter seems too thick add a small amount of water.

• Bake for 45 minutes for until the center seems to set

• Cool on the counter for 10-15 minutes and then place cake in the refrigerator

• The cake does not need frosting but you may want to sprinkle some confectioner’s sugar over the cake as garnish.

A Sunday in Marina Del Rey, Chocolate Chip Cookies and The Oscar Awards

I woke up this morning and decided on an impulse to make chocolate chip cookies. It brought me back to the days when I was 24 living in South Orange County. Whenever, I was feeling slightly dejected the solution was always to make some type of dessert and watch a whole day of Food Network while drinking a minimum of three glasses of wine. Today is the Academy Awards. Why not make chocolate chip cookies decadent. Tomorrow I must face the horrors of a five-day workweek in Corporate America, but today, I ‘m going to enjoy my Sunday in Marina Del Rey making chocolate chip cookies.

Decadent Desserts: Subjectively speaking, the key to making any dessert decadent is solely based upon presentation. Vanilla ice cream with raspberries can be amazingly decadent; it’s all about how you present the dish. So here it is, I’m going to make tollhouse chocolate chip cookies delicious and beautiful. And really who doesn’t love chocolate chip cookies.  Now where is my owl apron…

Side Note: This is not a gluten free recipe, so for any people with wheat or gluten allergies consumption of this dish is not recommended.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. of salt

1 tsp. baking soda

¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar

¾ cup granulated sugar

1-cup butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup of chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat the over to 375 F. Combine flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. Combine brown sugar, granulated sugar, softened butter, vanilla and eggs. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in semi sweet chocolate chips and chopped nuts. Drop mixture by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8 – 10 minutes.

February in LA

February in LA

What’s In/Out

Out: Hipsters, People who say they’re from LA and then tell you they were born in Connecticut Linsey Lohan, Charlie Sheen (he’s the worse of the two), Guys that don’t appreciate a good girl when they have them, Girls that feel bad for themselves, attention hogs

In: Facing your fears, organic gardens, not taking yourself too seriously, roller blading, laughing when you feel like crying, being nice, trying your best even if it’s not that good, girlfriends who let you be yourself, gigglers, loving your dog even if he’s not well behaved, doing something new

In Season:

Fruits: Oranges, Grapefruits, Lemons, Papayas

Vegetables: Broccoli, Cauliflower

Music:

What I’m Listening To: The Cold War Kids, Best Coast, Blind Pilot “Three Rounds and a Sound,” Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

What I’m not listening to ever: Any band that takes themselves too seriously. Christian Aguillera, etc….

Side Note: I’m less critical early in the morning, I may add to this list.

Styles:

In: Beachy chic, long blond hair, floppy hats, skinny jeans with flip flops, a good pedicure, boyfriend jeans with high heels

Out: Too much make-up, the “chic” bob, overdone hair, anything worn by the Kardashians

Movies I’m totally into: The Kids are All Right, the Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

TV: Californication (Season 3), Thirtysomething on Netflix