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Cookbook Review: Decadent Shakes

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date December 14, 2016

My husband and I love to go to old-fashioned 1950s diners and indulge in a decadent shake. Rich chocolate, occasionally with peanut butter or Oreos thrown in, have delighted our taste buds many a warm, lazy afternoon.

But we had no idea that these simple indulgences could be even more decadent than our wildest dreams! Just reading the table of contents for Decadent Shakes: Milkshakes with More left me drooling and ready to try out one or two — diet be damned! As the back cover promises, “These treat-laden milkshakes, dripping in excess chocolate and sweets, evoke a sense of delicious indulgence.”

NOTE: I received a free copy of this book for review, however I am under no obligation to write about it positively or otherwise.

Summary of Decadent Shakes

Who knew making milkshakes could be an art form? Apparently, Matthew, Sara and Brendan Aouad do! Their book Decadent Shakes takes the old dessert-as-beverage standby and gives it some pizzazz and flair. (And probably a bit of sugar shock thrown in!) This beautifully photographed book provides more than 35 recipes for over-the-top, not-your-malt-shop shakes. It also includes decoration (aka presentation) tips and a glossary.

What Worked for Me

The photography is mouthwatering. The presentation of each shake is creative and artful. This is a beautifully put together book with very readable instructions and easy-to-use design. The recipes are clearly divided between what goes into the shake and what is used for the presentation, so you can just make the shake and consume, if that is your preference.

What Didn’t Work for Me

I have a bias for cookbooks with easy to use bindings, which is why I prefer them to be either spiral or binder bound. This is a typical hardback book, so you may have a challenge keeping the pages open without breaking the binding, especially with recipes near the front and back of the book.

Recommendation

This book can make an excellent gift for those “arm-chair chefs” on your list. You know the type … they actually read cookbooks, but rarely use them. Also, people who love milkshakes or creative food presentation will enjoy this feast for the eyes. And, of course, anyone who wants to expand their milkshake-making expertise, can’t go wrong here.

Rating for Decadent Shakes

Specs

Format: Hardcover, 7.2 x 0.6 x 9.4 inches, 120 pages
Publisher: New Holland Publishers (September 19, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1742578691
ISBN-13: 978-1742578699

Pick up your copy on Amazon.com here.

Tags Desserts, milkshakes, shakes

Cooking Techniques Tools of the Trade

The Truth Behind A Smarter, Stress-Free Kitchen

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date November 18, 2016

Picture sourced by GaborfromHungary

A kitchen is more than the source of a hundred lovely meals. It’s more than a place for you to experiment with all the (fantastic) recipes you’ll find here. It’s a hub of family activity and a tool for everyday use. So it demands a certain level of care. A smarter kitchen owner is a cook that has to worry a lot less. Let’s get deeper into it.

Picture sourced by GaborfromHungary

An inspiration board

When you start truly enjoying food, you start coming up with ideas of your own — that’s what kitchen creativity is all about. You’ll make a recipe and think “it might need a little more of this.” Having a chalkboard (or white board) in the kitchen can be a great way to jot down your little hints of inspiration. On a more utilitarian note, it can also be a great place to make notes of groceries you need to pick up the next time you head out to the store.

Take care of your equipment

If you put a lot of thought into your choice of kitchenware, you’re probably spending quite a bit on them. (Or maybe like me, you got them as wedding gifts!) Yet wear and tear can have an effect on just about anything. To keep your food at its best, make sure your equipment is at the same level. Make sure you’re cleaning and repairing non-stick cookware with baking soda and water, then vegetable oil. Ensure you know what’s supposed to go in the dishwasher and what demands a bit more attention. Use knife sharpeners from places like Cut It Fine to make sure your utensils are in proper order.

Smarter storage

How many times have you threatened to pull your hair out over looking for one thing or another in the kitchen? If you’re truly wild about cooking, you will quickly realize that your storage isn’t enough. A few cupboards full of stuff isn’t the smartest way to store your food and equipment. Instead, think about making a few DIY storage changes to the kitchen. The spice rack is only the beginning of it. For instance, consider fitting a magnet onto the wall for your most commonly used tools like knives. Or a sliding rack for pots and pans rather than stacking them all atop one another. (Keep an eye out for full articles about better storage ideas. I’m moving soon and will be coming up with some fun ideas for my new home … and will share them with you!)

Avoiding the nightmare cleanup

A clean kitchen is something even a novice cook knows to cherish. After you’ve spent all that time cooking and enjoying a meal, you really don’t want to have to tidy everything up after. Get someone else in the house to do the dishes, but make sure any mess made while cooking is taken care of. The best way to do that is to tidy as you go. As soon as you’re finished with one ingredient, quickly wipe away the mess. When you’re done with a chopping board, rinse it. Deal with the mess you make in short, easy-to-handle bursts. That way you’re not cleaning up a whole kitchen after the work you’ve already done.

Your kitchen sees a lot of use. It takes a lot of time. But if you’re willing to put the work in and make a few changes, you can cut down a lot of that time. You’ll spend less cleaning, less organizing and more on actually making some gorgeous food.

Tags efficiency, equipment, kitchen care, storage

Taste Tests

Taste Test: Dark Chocolate Napolitains by Bouchard Chocolate

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date October 18, 2016

Dark Belgian Chocolate Bouchard Chocolate Overview

Summary

Dark chocolate Napolitains by Bouchard Chocolate are made from 72% cacao. They are not too bitter, not too sweet and, when intact, smooth. These bite sized chocolates carry a rich, dark chocolate taste that bitter sweet chocolate lovers will thoroughly enjoy.

Caveat: I received a sampling of these chocolates in exchange for an honest review. Unfortunately, the samples I received were a mixed bag of variably damaged chocolates. Some were so heat damaged they were powdery. Others were melted and a few were close to pristine. Regardless of the state in which the chocolate found itself, it tasted good. Which, I believe, is the sign of a quality chocolate.

Price: Variable, depending on size package. Available at Cost Plus World Market and other purveyors of fine chocolates.

Learn more at www.BouchardChocolate.com.

Who Are Bouchard Chocolate Dark Chocolate Napolitains Suitable For?

If you love dark, barely sweet chocolate, these are your chocolates. Because they come in individually wrapped, bite-sized packages they make great snacks and, perhaps, gifts. I could totally see these laid on a pillow or on a silver platter as a welcome gift for a guest!

Overall Thoughts

Despite the heat damage of the chocolates I received, they tasted really good. I love dark chocolate — the darker the better — so these really satisfied. I could taste the quality not only in the flavor of the chocolate, but also in the texture. They were smooth — not grainy as some lesser quality chocolates can be — and had a rich, complex flavor, even when damaged.

Video Review

Tags Bouchard chocolate, chocoloate review, dark chocolate

The Business of Food

Launching A Gourmet Eatery: Everything That You Should Know

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date October 10, 2016

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Over the past few years, gourmet foods have become somewhat mainstream. By this I mean that more and more casual restaurants are offering “gourmet-inspired” menus. However, just because there are already plenty of gourmet eatery establishments around, that doesn’t mean that yours won’t be a success.

Especially as, many of the places calling themselves gourmet, are in fact not offering a gourmet experience at all. Their food may be fancy, but to be a gourmet establishment, it’s about more than just the food. A gourmet restaurant isn’t called gourmet for any old reason; it’s because it offers something above and beyond the norm.

With this in mind, if you’re thinking of launching your own gourmet eatery, here’s what you need to know:

Your gourmet eatery menu needs to be unique

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In order for your gourmet eatery to have any chance of being successful, the food that you offer needs to be unique. It doesn’t matter if you sell the same type of cuisine as other local establishments, such as Spanish tapas for instance. However, it does matter if the food that you serve is exactly the same. To launch a venture that has the potential to be successful, the food that you serve has to have a unique twist to it.

It can take time to make your menu unique but don’t rush the process. You need to serve a selection of dishes that not only taste amazing and are unique, but that are also quick and easy to whip up. So that when your restaurant is packed on a Saturday night, there is time to create them. What you don’t want is for your dishes to be hard to do in busy periods because they’re too time-consuming. You want to be able to offer a gourmet experience regardless of how busy you get.

There’s more to running a gourmet eatery than meets the eye

A mistake that many people make when it comes to starting a restaurant is thinking that it’s all about serving delicious food, and that’s it. However, there’s a lot more to running a successful restaurant than that. Of course, the food is important — it is a restaurant after all — but it’s not the be-all and end-all of being successful.

Just like in any business, running an eatery requires you to manage it efficiently. This means organizing ordering, creating an efficient rota for staff, keeping on top of the accounts, and so much more. You need to be able to keep up to date with all of the must-have items for your restaurant. As well as knowing who to call should you suffer an emergency or problem. For example, what do you do if you have a Magic Chef HVAC failure? This could leave your restaurant without heating or air conditioning. The last thing you want is to offer guests an atmosphere that’s below their expectations.

Marketing a gourmet eatery needs to be “upmarket”

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Last but not least, it’s crucial to ensure that your marketing is as effective as possible. As well as in keeping with the tone of your place. While the aim of marketing is to build awareness of your brand, it’s important that the marketing is also well suited to your target audience — otherwise, it may not appeal to them. When your marketing is mismatched to your audience, you may fail to get the customers you need to succeed.

Launching a gourmet restaurant isn’t something that you can do without any planning. It will take time to get your new venture up and running.

Tags food business, food marketing, gourmet eatery

The Business of Food

Food Business: How to Run a Restaurant as a Former Chef

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date September 29, 2016

Photo Source

When great chefs want a little more independence, they decide to buy their own restaurants. There are many reasons for doing this. To begin with, it means that chefs don’t have to take orders from other people. But they often don’t realize what goes into running a great restaurant. Being a chef and being a business owner are two very different tasks. If you’re thinking of making the move, here are the key differences to be aware of.

Cooking is Not Accounting

One of the most important tasks you’ll have when running a business is balancing the books. This is essential because no business can survive if its accounts are not in order. This is how businesses get into financial tangles, and many businesses fail as a result. And just because you know how to cook, that doesn’t mean that you know how to manage money. You should take courses and learn from others if you have no experience of managing a business’s accounts. Hiring the right help is important too.

Shouting at Your Team is Not the Same as Managing Them

We all know that chefs that run kitchens are under pressure. And this is why they often end up doing a lot of shouting when trying to keep everything ticking in order. This is fine for a hot, busy kitchen environment. But if you try to run a business and manage a wider workforce in that way, you won’t get very far at all. You need to learn how to manage a team and give them the support they require to do their jobs well. Running a business is more about taking calm and practical steps, as well as decisions.

Good Food Alone is Not Usually Enough for a Good Food Business

Creating good food is obviously essential when you run a business. You can’t afford to shy away from the task of creating great food because this is what customers care about. But, at the same time, you will have to wear your business hat and be aware that good food alone isn’t enough. You also have to think about how you can reach out to people and turn them into paying customers. Companies that provide things like social media for restaurants can help you reach people in a modern way. And you will also need to make the exterior of your restaurant appealing to attract people inside.

Photo Source

Creativity Matters for Both Tasks, But in Different Ways

Creativity matters when you are a chef. And it also matters when you run a business. This is one of the areas of overlap that should be embraced. But they are different forms of creativity, and you should be aware of this. For a start, when a chef is creative, he or she creates great food and gives people a taste experience they haven’t had before. But creativity in the world of business is all about making the business more appealing to target customers. Think about how you can transfer your cooking skills across to your marketing efforts.

Tags chef, food business, restaurant, restaurant business

Special Occasions

The Prep-Work: Make Your Dinner Party The Best One Yet

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date August 11, 2016

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Having a dinner party? Worried you’re going to make it all wrong and no-one’s going to want to come back? Relax. A great dinner party is achieved through great planning. Don’t jump to impress with recipes you just started practicing the night before. Take your time, read the tips below and see what ideas strike you as just the kind of fun (or sensible) choices you need.

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Prep Tip #1: Don’t put your guests in the hospital

You know what’s not fun? Going to hospital. You might be in danger of doing that to a guest if you don’t find out about their food requirements and/or allergies before you start cooking. A lot of people look for a tactful way to ask for health information. The simple answer is to keep it a private conversation. Phone on the pretext of asking them whether they have any preferences for their meal. Better to be safe than sorry.

I have friends who are lactose intolerant and others who are vegetarians. Keeping their culinary needs in mind helps me create a menu that they can enjoy just as much as anyone else at the party.

Prep Tip #2: Put thought into the drinks you offer

Regardless of what courses you choose, the drink you serve can highlight or ruin a meal. Pairing drinks with food isn’t about being snobby. It’s about the very real effect that a drink has on our taste buds. It flavors the food we serve alongside it. Bitterness in drinks like beer cut through the heaviness of other foods. White wine has a cleansing effect for flavorful food like fish. Red wine doesn’t have much acidity, making it a good choice for fatty chicken and other meats.

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Prep Tip #3: Only the best in BBQ

If you’re offering a barbecue, don’t offer just the same old slabs of meat as everyone else. Be more considered in your choices. Too many people ignore the fact they can cook seafood on the grill as well. Sweet corn, salad fixings and kebabs are lighter foods that are also great at contrasting heavier meat.

Prep Tip #4: Hit it at its freshest

If you’re using whole food ingredients, then get them at their absolute best. Most foods are seasonal and getting them in season results in fresher tastes. Most recipes you’ll find need all the flavor fresh ingredients can offer. So use a seasonal calendar to see the ingredients that will blow your guests’ socks off.

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Prep Tip #5: Easy desserts

We’re not necessarily talking about desserts that are easy to make (though that’s not always bad). Instead, it can be nice to have a change of scene after dinner. Why not make a dessert that they don’t have to sit at the table to eat? For example, you can click here to see cake pops that can be eaten just about anywhere. Just give them a napkin beforehand.

Prep Tip #6: Add a bit of color to the night

If you want things to be fun, then you want to delight all of their senses. This includes sight. Try to add a bit more color to your dish in the form of garnishes. If you don’t want to experiment with the food too much, look at what drinks you’re serving instead. A super bright cocktail with dessert can be just the right kind of dazzling finish.

Tags food prep, party prep

Healthy Living Tools of the Trade

Blenders: Why They Are 2016’s Hottest Appliance

Post author By Carma Spence
Post date August 10, 2016

Image via Pixabay

When it comes to kitchen appliances, we are all spoiled with choice. From freezers to microwaves, they help us cook, prepare and store our favorite food and beverages. But one appliance, in particular, is seeing a huge rise in popularity — the blender.

Image via Pixabay

To some, a blender might not seem like the most obvious appliance every kitchen needs to have. They are often an item that people own but keep hidden away in a cupboard. This is because a lot of the time they don’t know what benefits can come from using one. It can help you eat well, try new ingredients and get more creative with your meals. If you’re still unsure, here are some other things that a blender can bring to your life.

Countless Food Preparation Options

Many people think that you can only make smoothies with a blender. But this is entirely untrue. While smoothies are popular snacks (and sometimes meals) created in a blender, there are so many other things it can make too. You can create pancake batter, make homemade soups and even create your own ice-cream. The great thing about using a blender is that you have the freedom to choose what is included and what isn’t. You can leave out ingredients with high fat and salt content and swap them for healthier alternatives. This makes the blender an ideal appliance for those who want to start a healthy lifestyle or diet regime. Search for blender recipes online to see just how many options you have.

More Flexibility

Whether it’s at home or work, we all lead busy lives. This can make it difficult to find the time to prepare healthy, well-portioned meals and snacks. Convenience and processed food that can be cooked quickly is often the only option. However, a blender can provide you with speed and flexibility. You can place your ingredients into the blender and in no time they can be transformed into soups or smoothies. You can then place these items into a portable cup, which allows you to consume your blended creations on the go. You can also use your blender when you have more time to create meals and snacks too. With this much flexibility, it’s no wonder so many people are using them.

Blenders Are Easy to Use

As blenders have become more popular over the years, their manufacturers have improved their design. Unlike ones you may have used in the past, blenders are now sleek, fast and easy to clean and use. You can also personalize them to your requirement with different attachments and fixtures. They also come in an array of sizes so they can fit seamlessly into your kitchen and suit it’s style perfectly. Just remember that blenders do vary in price and quality. So it’s always best to read reviews to gain further insight before parting with your money. Take a look at this 6500 Vitamix to get you started.

It should now be pretty obvious why blenders have become so popular. Whether you want to make healthy eating more doable or just want to try something new, a blender is the perfect appliance for you.

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Take Charge of Your Health!

Changing your eating habits can be tough. But it doesn’t have to be if you take a little time to think it out and create a plan.

This Healthy Eating Worksheet will walk you through the process of creating a healthy eating plan. All you need to do is print it out, set aside some time to complete it, and then fill it out. Then you can create your plan, knowing that you have addressed potential obstacles and came up with some creative ways to handle them.

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Tags blender, blenders, blending, smoothie, smoothies