Our book group met @ Karen's house tonight. We tried for a blood-red/blood orange theme, b/c the book was The Killing Floor by Lee Child.
I bought a bottle of blood orange olive oil at Olive That! in Montclair and used it in a multi-layer, gluten-free, dairy-free chocolate cake from the BabyCakes Covers the Classics cookbook. Anne Q in our group is gluten- and dairy-free.
The recipe was pretty involved, with brown rice flour, arrowroot, agave nectar, xanthan gum and potato starch, along with sugar, cocoa, applesauce and more. The layers were sliced crosswise and stacked with melted dark chocolate and raspberry jam. Anne Q said she loved it, and Figgy did, too. [The recipe made so many layers that I left one home.] One thing I noticed is that the cake is really filling--it figures that brown rice flour is more filling than white flour, just as brown rice feels heartier vs. the fluffy white stuff.
Karen's house looked so pretty, with a beautiful mantel and tree decked in red and gold, fire glowing, candles everywhere. We even had mulled wine and Christmas ham, and for more notes of red, Karen made cranberry sauce, Anne brought beets and Elly put pomegranate molasses [?] in her salad.
So lovely.
Good night.
TCOY
I bought a bottle of blood orange olive oil at Olive That! in Montclair and used it in a multi-layer, gluten-free, dairy-free chocolate cake from the BabyCakes Covers the Classics cookbook. Anne Q in our group is gluten- and dairy-free.
The recipe was pretty involved, with brown rice flour, arrowroot, agave nectar, xanthan gum and potato starch, along with sugar, cocoa, applesauce and more. The layers were sliced crosswise and stacked with melted dark chocolate and raspberry jam. Anne Q said she loved it, and Figgy did, too. [The recipe made so many layers that I left one home.] One thing I noticed is that the cake is really filling--it figures that brown rice flour is more filling than white flour, just as brown rice feels heartier vs. the fluffy white stuff.
Karen's house looked so pretty, with a beautiful mantel and tree decked in red and gold, fire glowing, candles everywhere. We even had mulled wine and Christmas ham, and for more notes of red, Karen made cranberry sauce, Anne brought beets and Elly put pomegranate molasses [?] in her salad.
So lovely.
Good night.
TCOY
- Caught the end of Mass, and liked it. Seemed like the priest was talking directly to me @ the end, when he said even though we are cooking and making cookies for Santa, we should allow some time to be quiet and spiritual and pray.
- Made a healthy lunch--baked fish, plus sauteed spinach in a little blood orange oil with sea salt, garlic, red pepper flakes and cracked black pepper.
- Book group with girlfriends. :)
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