chocolate stout cake mini-cupcakes

At the risk of incurring huge icing-swathed waves of wrath from all the cupcake fanatics out there, I have a confession:

I think froo-froo cupcakes are for the birds. Sure, those filled, tiered and stacked cupcake numbers are fabulous — if you’re six. But it’s a bit like mixing too many prints or wearing too many great accessories at once: more isn’t better. More is just more.

And while we all know there’s a fine line between understated and under-dressed, these chocolate stout cake cupcakes play that edge perfectly. They’re easy, elegant and need no extraneous adornment save a lovely creamy buttercream icing draped over the tops like a favorite cashmere sweater.

The gist of the recipe itself is classic, straightforward, and quintessentially British given that it involves some sort of stout ale. (Having been born and raised on the stuff, I recommend Guinness — and let’s face it, if you’re going to make a stout cake you may as well use the real thing).

As far as the icing goes, you can certainly be more elaborate if you’re so inclined, but I believe less really is more - and that simple is always chic. Which, I suppose, makes these the perfect little black dress of cupcakes.

Note: The cake recipe originally comes from Epicurious.com. It makes a very large quantity as also noted on the Epicurious forum. I made 12 mini-cupcakes, 18 regular cupcakes and six baby bundt cakes from this recipe. Unfortunately, I can’t report on the bundt cakes here as the dog promptly ate them before they could be enjoyed. I strongly suggest making sure you’ve got a few ready takers lined up before you start baking. (Either that, or get 911 on standby and prepare to enter a cupcake coma).

For the Chocolate Stout Cakes (from Epicurious.com)

What You Need

• 2 cups of Guinness
• 4 sticks of unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups of unsweetened cocoa powder (I like Ghiradelli or Droste)
• 4 cups of all-purpose flour
• 4 cups of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/3 cups of sour cream
• Cupcake sleeves
• Muffin tins (to place cupcake sleeves in for baking)

What You Do

1. Prepare 30 cupcake sleeves in muffin pans (if you’re like me and only own enough muffin tins to house 18 cupcakes at once, don’t freak out - just bake them in two or three batches).
2. Pre-heat oven to 350F.
3. Blend the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl and set aside.
4. Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan, then stir in the Guinness and the chocolate powder. The Guinness will foam a little - that’s fine. Whisk the mixture until it becomes a beautiful, glossy, velvety chocolate color.
5. Blend the eggs and sour cream together in the bowl of  a stand mixer (you can also simply beat them together with a whisk or a handheld mixer).
6. Add the chocolate/Guinness mixture and blend.
7. Gradually add the flour mixture from #3 and beat slowly.
8. Finish the mixture by folding it a few times with a spatula, then fill the cupcake sleeves to just below the top.
9. Bake on 350F for approximately 30 minutes (this will depend somewhat on your oven) — use a cake tester to check on their progress and remove from the oven as soon as the tester comes out clean.
10. Turn cupcakes out of pan and place on a cooling rack.

For the Icing

Making this icing is less an act of precision and more an act of glorious abandon. Hell, you’re using sticks of pure butter and a pound of pure sugar - there’s really no hiding.

A word on technique: It’s common sense to make sure the cupcakes are completely cool before you ice them, but I’ve found that if you ice them when they are lukewarm (and I do mean lukewarm - but not stone cold!) - I’ve found that the buttercream drapes and slides gorgeously over the tops. If you’re a control freak or a perfectionist (or both because let’s be honest, these things do go hand in hand), this is not the approach for you. Instead, you’ll want to make sure the cakes are cold and that you also let the icing cool so that you can either pipe it on or at least have some extra modicum of control with your “styling”.

What You Need

• Butter. 2 sticks of it, to be precise.
• Powdered sugar. 1 pound of it, to be less precise (you’ll see why in a moment).
• A tablespoon of water (or so…)

What You Do

1. Let butter come to room temperature.
2. Cut butter into small chunks (I find this makes it easier to blend) and place in the bowl of a mixer (or in a mixing bowl for use with a handheld mixer).
3. Add about half the powdered sugar and a tablespoon full of cold water, then proceed to blend.
4. At this point - at the risk of sounding horribly unprofessional - you simply blend and add powdered sugar and/or water until you get the icing to the right consistency and texture. Since some people like “skinny” icing and others (like me) prefer “fat” icing, you’ll find it really is just a matter of jumping in with both feet and playing around by adding powdered sugar/water/even some more butter to get to the kind of icing you want.

How to Ice

First, if you want colored icing….Place a couple of dollops of icing in a bowl, add one or two drops of food coloring and mix until you reach the right color. The golden rule here is that it’s easier to make your icing darker than lighter, so start with one drop and add coloring gradually. Again, the less is more rule applies.

Next, take a spoon or a knife, scoop out some icing and swirl it on top of the cupcake. Since homemade imperfection is always more beautiful than manufactured flawlessness, don’t freak out if you get a few drips or sags - just like that little black dress, that’s what gives them character!

Fresh eggs from friend and cook Gail Joyce, Lookout Mountain, TN

Easter and eggs go together like peanut butter and jelly, so in the spirit of the holiday I thought I’d crack open my own egg story. Instead of supplying one of those ubiquitous write-ups about how to dye Easter eggs, how to make Easter Egg Cupcakes and the like, though, I want to talk about something far less Martha and a lot more basic. How to find a good egg (or twelve).

Because here’s the thing. There are eggs, and then there are eggs. (Profound, I know). And if you want to be a smart shopper you need to pay attention to a little more than the price and expiration date when you’re next in the dairy aisle. After all, this much-maligned foodstuff has serious best-friend potential, but you need to know a few things to make the relationship work.

First, eggs are good for you. Now there’s a revelation. Choline, lutein, protein, B vitamins…all kinds of nutrients to help improve your cholesterol (yes, really) levels, improve vision and mood, slow muscular degeneration, reduce blood clots and more – it’s all there.

Second, unless you’re a remarkably talented vegan chef, eggs are a staple in any good cook’s kitchen. From quick breakfasts to beautiful baked goods, they’re the backbone of more dishes than you can possibly imagine and you need them in your fridge (besides, being prepared to make a special Sunday morning omelette is always a good idea….).

But how do you find a good egg? (I’m tempted to make an Easter pun about searching for the Holy Grail here but since I can’t think of one, I won’t).

Well, without over-simplifying, I have one simple rule: Choose local, choose free-range, and choose organic.

That’s it. Choosing locally raised eggs over “name brand” commercially raised counterparts helps ensure your eggs have to travel the shortest possible distance from the farm to your table - and that, of course, means freshness. As another benefit, buying from “neighbors” helps keeps valuable dollars in your own community - supporting local enterprise in the process.

As for choosing free-range and organic, well, those are two ways you can ensure the eggs you’re getting haven’t come from cage-bound chickens pumped with more hormones and anti-biotics than a pro baseball player. Instead, they’re simply nutrient-rich, natural and fresh from the bum of a happy, healthy local chicken.

And while there’s no guarantee that locally raised eggs are free-range or organic, there’s a pretty strong likelihood they’ll be both (most independent egg raisers have their own website or info page that will tell you). Either way, you can pretty much bet they’re a whole lot more ‘natural’ than eggs mass produced in huge commercial chicken factories.

So why does all this matter? Shouldn’t you be worrying about bigger, more “modern” things like your upcoming work presentation, whether you remembered to pay the phone bill on time, or how you’re going to make it to the bank, the post office, the drycleaners and the grocery store after work and before midnight, ?

Maybe.

But I for one like the idea of knowing where my eggs come from. And knowing that amidst sublime and ridiculous complexity of everyday life, the choice I make over something as small and seemingly simple as an egg really is important.

If you’re not one to wax poetic, however, let me sum it up this way: Farm fresh eggs just taste better.

This recipe for these Hot Cross Buns came originally from my grandmother, who gave the recipe to my mother. I am sharing it here for you to enjoy.

Here’s what you need:

List A

* 2 packets of instant yeast
* 1/4 pint warm (NOT BOILING) tap water minus 2 tablespoons (don’t ask why, just do it)
* 1/4 pint warm (NOT BOILING) milk
* 1 tbsp granulated sugar
* 1 egg, beaten
* 4 oz white bread flour

List B

* 8 oz white bread flour
* 2 oz granulated sugar
* 1 tbsp Ground Nutmeg (more if you like it!)
* 1 tbsp Ground All Spice or Mixed Spice*
* 2-3 good handfuls of raisins and/or currants

Note: Friends and family will agree that I’m the last person to make a case for having paid attention in math class. But as it turns out, ratios do matter - at least when you’re cooking. In fact, there’s even a great new book out about it. That’s why it’s a great idea to get a food scale if you don’t already have one. You don’t need anything fancy - just something that will help you weigh out your flour, sugar etc. I love these little Escali Primo kitchen scales — they’re inexpensive, come in great colors and are easy to store. (Plus, they’re a steal right now!)

Now, here’s what you do:

1. Put the yeast in a medium-size mixing bowl or measuring jug, then add the warm water, warm milk and sugar from List A, then stir until the mixture begins to froth.

2. Add the beaten egg next, then stir in the 4 oz of flour until the mixture froths again (you’ll see some air bubbles breaking on the surface). (By the way, in bread-making terms, the mixture you’ve just made is called a poolish and it’s basically a wet bread starter that can be used for making all different types of bread.)

3. Set the poolish aside and let the yeast really come to life - the combination of warm milk and water, and the “food” provided by the egg and sugar will get the mixture going and start the rising process. This is also a good moment to make sure your home is pretty warm - trust me, your buns won’t rise if your house is cold, and this may be the one time in life where you want your buns to be as large as possible!

4. Okay, while the poolish is doing it’s thing, get out a large mixing bowl and combine the flour, sugar, Ground All Spice, Ground Nutmeg and raisins from List B.

5. Now, here’s the fun part. First of all, make a small well in the center of the flour and pour in a small amount of the poolish.

6. Using a couple of fingers or - if you’re not really the get-messy type, a fork - start to stir the poolish in small circles so that it begins to pull in the surrounding flour. As it begins to form a very small ball of dough, pour in more poolish and continue stirring.

7. Continue adding poolish and working the dough in circles until all of the poolish has been combined with all of the flour mixture. It will start to get a little stiffer and will eventually form one large ball of dough.

8. As soon as the ball is formed, turn it out onto a floured countertop surface and knead it for about 10 minutes. This is where the dough will go from sticky and slightly amorphous to firmer, rounder and more elastic. (TIP: If the dough is sticking to your fingers, instead of throwing flour all over your counter, simply coat your hands with flour instead. The dough won’t stick to the counter or your hands and you’ll end up with far less to clean up!)

9. Once the dough has taken on a very nice, uniform consistency - it should feel soft enough to press into but firm enough that it has some “spring” and will “bounce back” when you push on it - roll it into a long sausage (about 2-3 inches in diameter).

10. Take a very sharp knife and slice the dough into 12 or 13 equal sections.

11. Pat each section into a round ball and place it on a parchment-lined baking sheet or better yet a baking stone. (If you want to make Hot Cross Buns, this is where you use the knife to score a cross across the top of each bun.)

12. Take a lightweight cotton dish towel like these beautifully colored Floursack Tea Towels (no terry cloth here, people), saturate it with warm-to-hot tap water, wring it out completely so that it’s barely damp and drape it over the top of the buns.

13. Place the tray of buns in a warm area to rise. This could be your bathroom, your living room or your kitchen counter depending on conditions in your house. Just remember, a lightly humid, warm environment is best for getting the buns to rise. (TIP: One trick that seems to work very well for me is to pre-heat my oven to 200F right when I’m starting to assemble the ingredients. Once the pre-heat is finished, I turn the oven OFF. When I’m ready to let the buns rise, I put the dish towel-covered tray into the oven. The warmth combined with the dampness of the dish towel helps the rising process).

14. Let the buns rise until they’re twice their original size - this could take 20-30 minutes or it could take an hour. There is some trial and error involved here but once they look like they’ve doubled in size, you’re good to go. If you’re not using your oven to let the buns rise, pre-heat it to 400F. If you ARE using it, you’ll need to take the buns out once they’ve risen and pre-heat to 400 before putting them back in.

15. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the tops of the buns are a lovely golden brown. If you’re using a metal baking sheet, watch carefully as it’s easy to burn the bottoms. (Another reason a baking stone is so great for buns, bread etc.).

16. Let the buns cool, at least until they are “touchable”, then mix up 3 parts confectioner’s sugar to 1 part water until you have a thick white “glaze” for the buns. This is where you have some choices. You can ice the tops of the buns completely (as shown), ice a “cross” on top for Easter, or create a runnier consistency for a lighter all-over glaze. Or, you can leave this part out completely and just enjoy them as is.

If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, then lunch, in my book, is the most difficult. Especially if you’re pretty committed to making it yourself (see Modern Girls Make Their Lunch). So when freelance writer and blogger Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen asked for ideas on how to eat healthfully when you work from home, I was excited to join the conversation.

Fresh on the heels of the Modern Girls Kitchen Brown Bag Lunch Round-Up, I’ve been ready to turn my attention to the other lunch dilemma faced by so many of us: how to avoid the abyss of comfort food and constant snacking that can come when you work a mere 20 feet from your very own kitchen.

As a not infrequent telecommuter, it’s a dilemma I face with regularity, frequently finding myself gazing aimlessly into the refrigerator’s white-lit abyss wondering how to make a quick, healthy lunch out of whatever’s available (or whether to just zap a frozen ready-meal in the microwave and be done with it).

In truth, eating a healthy lunch at home is not much different than packing a lunch to take to work, except you really can wait until the last minute to do it. But there are days when deciding what to make for lunch in my own kitchen feels a lot more difficult than pulling a few Rubbermaid containers out of a bag at the office. I can’t explain why it’s different, it just is.

With that in mind, I have two straightforward rules that have help me stay on the ‘straight and narrow’ (though not as narrow as I’d like – but we’ll save the weight loss conversation for another time).

1. Into the cart equals on to your plate. Repeat after me: If I buy Mac & Cheese, I’ll eat Mac & Cheese. Simple enough in theory, I know. But the pressure of deadlines and time constraints are just as real at home as they are in the office, and it can be tempting to load up your grocery cart with packaged, processed lunch items that offer little in the way of health benefits. To help balance the nutrition/convenience dilemma (because in all honesty, it really does come down to that more often that most of us would like to admit), take a few minutes to come up with a list of lunch items that are fresh, healthful and easy to use…then see rule #2…

1. Treat your refrigerator like your closet. You wouldn’t buy a skirt that you could only wear with one particular shirt, now would you? (Okay, maybe if it was a really, really great skirt and you already had a really, really great top…or it was a really, really special occasion or…). Seriously though, here’s what I mean: choosing healthy lunch items is just like choosing new work clothes. Go for things that you can mix-and-match – that way you’ll have a variety of healthy lunch options to suit your mood.

But With that, then, Laurie’s post over at her blog Quips and Tips for Freelance Writers offers a very practical collection of ideas for eating healthfully – and staying healthy – while working from home. Click here to see.

If you’ve been searching for ways to stop your weekday brown bag lunch routine from getting stale, look no further. Modern Girls Kitchen asked for your bring-your-own-lunch ideas and you more than delivered.

In fact, Chef T over at ChefBliss went so far as to (try to) record her lunch menu for a whole week (read about it here), while FoodWanderlust gathered some great ideas from friends and coworkers too – including some great whole grain salad and rice options.

As it turns out, however, there’s a little bit more to a great brown bag lunch than simply deciding what to put in it: thinking ahead, packing smart and playing to your own personal tastes (no matter how “nutty” you think they are!) can make bringing your lunch to work a pleasant interlude in an otherwise hectic day.

So, with many thanks to everyone who contributed their time-saving tips and their freshest, most favorite lunch ideas, here’s a round-up of ways to keep your homemade lunches both easy and appetizing – every day. (And don’t worry, if you still decide to eat out on occasion, I won’t tell!)

1. Make Your Meals Multi-Task

One of the hardest parts about bringing your own lunch to work is simply preparing it. After all, the last thing most of us want to do at the end of a day spent working, running errands, picking up that forgotten item at the grocery store, squeezing in a workout and doing a zillion other things is think about tomorrow’s lunch – especially when it’s all you can do to figure out what to have for dinner.

This rustic spinach lasagna can be frozen in individual portions perfect for lunch.But therein lies the rub. If you do figure out what to have for dinner, simply prepare a little bit extra and take it for lunch the following day (or you can freeze leftovers in individual portions ready for a later date):

For Lisa is Cooking, “leftovers for lunch work well with soups and pasta dishes. If it’s soup, I’ll make some extra whole grain garlic toast so there’s some to go with lunch. Simpler pasta dishes seem to work nicely as a leftover. Veggies sauteed in olive oil and then tossed with pasta and topped with parmesan. I take a separate, little container of parmesan so I can add it after the pasta is warmed in a microwave.”

Amanda from AlternativeConsumer.com is “also a big fan of making too much dinner the night before so I have wholesome leftovers to whip out of the fridge during my morning dash.”

And for Zerrin at Give Recipe, planning lunch ahead of time is “not something new for me as I generally prepare something to take to my work….Also, I love eating something I myself prepared. I often make borek (savory phyllo pastry), changing its filling mixture each time at the weekend. So it’s prepared on Monday and I just put a few pieces in a bag.”

Gastroanthropology is no stranger to the “tomorrow’s lunch cooked tonight” trick either: “I usually steal parts of dinner for my lunch the next day. Last night I roasted beets, but instead of chunking up the beets I cut them in slices. My lunch today is really good grain bread and the beets as a sandwich. The beets were well seasoned and delicious so I’m so looking forward to lunch.”

2. Pack Smart

Time is of the essence when you’re preparing lunch the night before – but packing is important too. We all know there’s nothing worse than soggy sandwiches and wilted lettuce that’s been marinating in salad dressing for hours on end. That’s where a good set of food containers can really be worth their weight in gold (or at least pay for themselves in averted brown bag lunch disasters!).

“I used to get a quick 30 minutes for lunch a day, so I had to be smart,” says Kellypea of Sass and Veracity. “I figured out that I could pack a tupperware of greens (spinach, romaine, arugula — whatever I had) and toss in a couple of other flavors as long as they weren’t juicy, like green or red onions, colored bell peppers, or carrots. In a separate small container, I’d keep the juicy ingredients like fruit (apples, oranges, grapefruit) or veggies (cucumbers, tomatoes, olives…) and in a third tiny container, I’d have the dressing (usually extra virgin olive oil & citrus w/salt & pepper). When it was time for lunch, I’d open the smaller containers and mix with the greens and a salad was born that wasn’t soggy and unappetizing by the time I needed to enjoy it.”

If you tend to be more of a “snacker” like me, then you’ll love this fabulous post by Adventures in the Pioneer Valley all about packing lots of individual lunch items that can be eaten as snacks throughout the day (or, I suppose, all at once if you’re absolutely ravenous).

3. Play Favorites

I’ve already confessed that there was a time in my life when I happily requested (and ate) a turkey pita sandwich for lunch every single day. And I confess I’m still teeny little bit that way now. But “food phases” as I call them aren’t necessarily a bad thing (although if they last for years at a time then yes, you might have a small problem). So don’t feel bad if you bring the same thing for lunch every single day – I’m willing to bet you have been known to switch it up a few times in history and let’s be honest, if eating the very same turkey pita for lunch every day offers a moment of comfort, go for it. It is your lunch, after all.

In fact, Amanda of Alternative Consumer says one lunch she “can’t seem to get sick of is thick sandwiches of hummus, sprouts, tomatoes and olives on whole grain bread with a side of carrots or broccoli (accompanied by a preferred dipping sauce).

Modern Girls Kitchen reader Ellen’s favorite lunch standby might not be fancy, but it’s beautifully basic: “just quick-to-prepare, nutritious and economical – [just take] peanut butter and a sliced apple on whole grain bread with a glass of skim milk. [And] if you are so inclined to get a little more elaborate: add a nice big lettuce leaf, a teaspoon of mayonnaise skimmed onto the bread and some raisins smushed into the PB!

Eaters after my own heart, Salt and Pepper keep things simple too: “Salt makes a brown bag lunch for me (Pepper) almost every day. Never anything fancy…usually a turkey sandwich, some fresh fruit, and occasionally a couple of homemade cookies.” (Yum!)

And for Jen at Palate to Pen, “breaking away from my desk for lunch is not [always] an option. Therefore, I attempt to bring “pickable” portions of eats I look forward to tasting. One of my favorite lunches is a container filled with a handful of baby arugula dressed simply with olive oil, salt and pepper; half an avocado, sliced; three chunks each of a few of my fave cheeses; dollops of chive/onion cottage cheese and hummus; half an apple, sliced; and flavorful deli crackers. Effortless eating :)”

4. Reap the Benefits

Finally, on those days – and yes, we all have them – when you’re absolutely positively indubitably not in the mood to make yet another brown bag lunch, just remember all the extra benefits you stand to reap - your food may just taste even better when you remember the health, budget and environmental benefits of bringing your own lunch.

“I always take my own lunch to work. It takes a bit of organisation but it’s worth it because I find the food I prepare myself if generally much nicer, and healthier than most stuff I can buy near my office. Plus I save a fortune!,” Emily of Meet and Two Veg shares. “In my lunch box today I have tomato cous-cous, falafels, and salad comprising spinach, romano tomatoes, cucumber and beansprouts. Oh and a handful of seeds for extra crunch….People always comment on how nice my lunches look.

Nikki the Foodie agrees – and reminds us that bringing your own lunch is a healthy activity for your wallet, too: “I have always been a huge proponent of bringing lunch! It is one of the easiest ways to save a little money, and with an economy like ours…who couldn’t use a little extra money?”

Agrees Gastroanthropologist, “I like buying lunch as it gets me out, but I hate all the packaging involved. Even many of the “organic” and sustainably marketed places use such unsustainable containers, etc. Wrapping, rewrapping, styrofoam, plastic utensils etc…Soup in a thermos is great too, especially when I go to class as there is no place to reheat anything.”

5. Use the Excuse to Try Something New

Finally, it is easy to forget that lunch is more than a necessary evil: it is a meal. Even if it is easier to rely on faithful, favorite stand-bys most days, try taking one lunchtime each week to try something new or to be a little more adventurous. (Mondays are a great day to do this as most of us tend to have a little extra time on Sundays so it’s easier to spend a few extra minutes getting lunch ready for the next morning).

I can’t wait to try The Duo Dishes’ wonderful Warm Sweet Potatoes with Chickpea Salad with Tahini Dressing – a smart, healthful recipe that was “perfect for a few days of packed lunches”.

Nikki the Foodie shares her own special recipe for New Orleans Shrimp Toss here.

You’re probably used to thinking of stock as that golden brown liquid alternately called Chicken Broth or Low Sodium Chicken Broth that comes in paper cartons or as small, dehydrated bouillon cubes. But I have news for you. Once upon a time, in the days before processed foods, unnecessary packaging and foil-wrapped cubes, there was only one way to answer a recipe’s call for broth or stock. Make. It. Your. Self. Gasp!

Yes, I’m talking about boiling chicken bones (and a few other things) people. And it’s not as hard as it sounds (though quite frankly if you think boiling chicken bones sounds hard, you probably want to reevaluate what you’re doing reading this website. I’m just saying).

I won’t lie, making your own stock is a little time consuming - so in that regard it’s not necessarily everyday Modern Girls Kitchen fare. But it is quite possibly one of the easiest, most comforting of kitchen activities you’ll ever undertake. Making a few quarts of golden chicken stock that you can use to make soups and stews, braise meats and flavor sauces over the next few weeks is not unlike the feeling you get looking into a full refrigerator after a major expedition to the grocery store: in a word, satisfied.

It’s also a smart, healthful and all-around fabulous investment in all kinds of future meals. So before you give in to the allure of all those pre-made low sodium chicken broth boxes near the soup section, consider this:

1. Making stock is a great way to make use of what might otherwise be food waste (in other words it’s ecologically and financially smart – therefore very modern).
2. Making stock means you decide what goes in it – and what doesn’t. Like MSG, sugar, preservatives and other ingredients that are only ‘necessary’ for something designed to outlast time itself. I’m far from being a nutritionist but I’d also add that it’s probably more nutritious – especially when you pick vegetables that are fresh from the local market.
3. Making stock means stocking up – with a ready supply in the fridge, you’ve got the basis for all kinds of meals from stew to soup to braised meats to sauces.
4. Making stock makes you feel competent. I’m serious. There’s something pretty cool about being able to throw a bunch of meat bones and vegetables in a pot, then end up with something that’s healthful, edible and useful. And let’s face it, if you’re going to invest the extra time (which you should, at least once anyway), you deserve to get something out of it besides a big jar of chicken juice (although, as I think we’ve just established, a big jar of chicken juice can be a very valuable thing).

So let’s get on with it.

In order to make stock, you need a chicken carcass or two. Now, I’m sure there are lots of ways to acquire such an item, but the best way (and if you’re a regular reader you know where this is going) is to do a perfect roast chicken one weekend, enjoy the chicken for dinner and during the week then toss the bones and carcass in the freezer until you’re ready to use it. (You can actually save two or three this way then use them all in one batch of stock). And by the way, this is total Depression-era style cooking here, folks, so if your chicken comes with the giblets etc., save those too – gross you out they may, but that’s the most traditional way to add flavor and depth to your stock.

Next, wait for a cold or rainy Saturday or Sunday (or a lazy one at least since you’ll need to be in/around your house for about six hours give or take), and invest yourself in some chicken stock.

Oh, one final note here before you get into the how-to part: don’t be discouraged or intimidated by the list of ingredients – all you’re actually going to do is chop all the stuff up, toss it in a big pot and let it simmer. Period.

(If you want to learn more about the basics of making stock, check out the reading list at the end of this post!)

What You Need

• 1 – 2 chicken carcasses with most meat removed (some is okay!)
• Chicken giblets, livers etc (if you have them)
• 1 leek, sliced
• 1 large onion, chopped into eighths
• 1 large carrot, peeled & sliced into chunks
• 1 large parsnip, peeled & sliced into chunks
• 1 lb celery, chopped into 1-2” lengths
• Herbes de Provence
• Bay leaves
• Fresh Marjoram (optional)
• Fresh Thyme (optional)
• Sea salt
• Black pepper
• 4 square inches of cheesecloth & a length of kitchen string
• Large stockpot, Dutch Oven or Slow Cooker
• Large, fine sieve or enough cheesecloth to cover the top of a large bowl

What You Do

1. Place the chicken carcass and giblets in a large stockpot (make sure it can hold at least 6 quarts of water), cover with six quarts of water and bring to a boil.
2. While the water is coming to a boil, place a large handful of Herbes de Provence, 4-5 bay leaves, marjoram, thyme and black peppercorns in the middle of the 4” square of cheesecloth, then tie it into a small bundle. Place it into the stockpot with the water/chicken carcass.
3. You’ll start to notice a brown, foamy “scum” on the surface of the water as it comes to a boil – take a large spoon or skimmer and “skim” this stuff off. The best way to do this is to keep a small mixing bowl near the stockpot so you can just dump the scum into it.

If you are using a Slow Cooker :

1. Place all the vegetables in the bowl of your slow cooker.
2. Once the water with the chicken carcass has boiled, let it come down to a simmer then transfer it – carefully! – into the bowl of your slow cooker over the vegetables. (I have found the easiest way to do this is to place the Slow Cooker bowl in the sink, carry the stockpot with the simmering water to the sink, transfer the chicken carcass with a couple of forks or kitchen tongs, then pour the water over it).
3. Cover and leave the Slow Cooker on low for 8 hours, stirring very occasionally.
4. If the water level dips below the level of the ingredients, top it back off again.

If you are using a stock pot or Dutch Oven :

1. Once the water has boiled, turn the heat down to a simmer and add all of the chopped
2. vegetables, a good pinch or two of salt.
3. Cover gently and leave to simmer for 6 hours, topping off with water whenever the liquid dips below the level of the ingredients. Be careful NOT to let it boil again.

After you have simmered the stock for 6-8 hours:

1. Place a large bowl (depending on your kitchen equipment you may need more than one) in the sink then set an extra-fine mesh sieve over the top of the bowl. Straining the stock is important, so if you don’t have a fine sieve, double-up a big piece of cheesecloth, rinse it in cold water and place it over the top of the bowl instead.
2. Using a pitcher or kitchen jug, pour the stock through the sieve so that the liquid filters into the bowl and any solids (bones, vegetables, meaty bits etc.) are filtered out.
3. Discard the solids and place the liquid stock into the refrigerator overnight. Once the stock has cooled completely, you will be able to remove any fat that has risen to the surface and coagulated.

If you want to create a stronger or more flavorful stock, place it back into your pot the next day and boil it down until you are left with approximately half the liquid.

Storing Your Stock

Keep stock in the fridge until needed. I use a plastic beverage/food storage container that is marked in ounces and cups – that way I can easily measure out what I need. You can store it this way for about three weeks. Another option is to measure the stock into half cup and one cup increments, pour it into individual freezer bags and freeze until needed (you can store it for a couple of months using this method).

Study the (Stock) Market

The stock recipe I use is a hybrid of personal experimentation and the wisdom of Henri Paul Pellaprat, author of EVERYDAY FRENCH COOKING, a favourite cookbook that I found quite randomly in a used bookstore in Cleveland, Ohio one snowy January day. Out of curiousity, though, I checked out a few other more mainstream titles in my cookbook library and all of them had simple stock recipes that can be easily followed or adapted to taste, including: Nigella Lawson’s How to Eat: The Pleasures and Principles of Good Food , Rick Stein’s French Odyssey , Jamie Oliver’s Naked Chef, Delia Smith’s Frugal Food (see my review of the recently re-released version here), and the Barefoot Contessa’s Barefoot in Paris: Easy French Food You Can Make at Home .

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Don’t be alarmed by the slightly long ingredients list — these chocolate truffles are, honestly, laughably easy to make - and to experiment with. Whether you make them as a gift or just for yourself (who am I to judge), these sweet treats strike a lovely balance between endearingly homemade and confectionary chic.

(If you need additional inspiration, go ahead and uncork some sparkling wine and check out Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche in Chocolat - or at least pop in the soundtrack while you’re working…that should pretty much do it).

What You Need

• Two 16oz bags of semi-sweet chocolate chips (the highest quality you can afford - Ghiradelli is ideal)
• Two 8 oz bars of dark, milk or semi-sweet chocolate (again, Ghiradelli is perfect - just make sure it is at least 60%)
• 1/2 pint heavy whipping cream
• Two 8oz bars of good quality white chocolate
• “Fillings” like ground almonds or hazelnuts, candied orange peel, crystalized ginger, coconut and glace cherries
• Liqueurs like creme de menthe, creme de cassis or creme de cacao
• Icing for decorating (you can also use more melted chocolate - it depends on how competent you are with a piping bag!
• A cake tester or long, thin skewer
• A double-boiler or two saucepans, one small enough to fit inside the other (this is what I use!)
• A couple of cookie/baking sheets, some wax paper and, if you want to get fancy, a couple of silicone ice cube trays in different shapes (like hearts or shells).
• A few small mixing bowls (cereal bowls also work well)

What You Do

1. Just fill your large saucepan about half full of water and bring it to a boil (or simply fill your double-boiler and get it going). Place the smaller saucepan inside the larger one doing your best not to let it touch the water (at the very least, it should touch only minimally).
2. Put 1 bag of the milk chocolate chips into the small pan along with a drop of cream to help the chocolate loosen and melt. It is very important to remember that it is far easier to make the chocolate more liquid than it is to make it more solid! Aim to get the chocolate loose and smooth with the consistency of a thick milkshake.
3. Place one of your “fillings” in a small mixing bowl - 1/2 a cup full of crushed hazelnuts, for example, or 1/2 a cup of shredded coconut and some chopped glace cherries.
4. Add a few tablespoons of melted chocolate to the filling. Think of the chocolate as the “glue” that will pull the filling together — in other words, the ratio should be about 2 parts filling to one part chocolate. The mixture should come together quickly and easily into a small ball, much like dough. Don’t freak out, give up and eat it all if you don’t succeed with this at first — although that’s always a tempting alternative — instead, just keep adding small amounts of filling until it thickens up.
5. Now you have a choice: you can either form the mixture into small balls with your hands (use 1 tablespoon, roughly) and place them on a baking sheet lined with wax paper, or you can fill the cavities of a silicone ice cube tray with the mixture (this will help you to form the truffles into decorative shapes like hearts, shells, pears, even penguins if you’re so inclined — of if that’s the only ice cube tray in the freezer).
6. Place the tray or baking sheet in the refrigerator for a few minutes until the chocolate sets.
7. In the meantime, take another small, clean, dry saucepan, place broken up pieces of the solid chocolate bars (either white or dark) into it and melt it over the double-boiler. Because this is a higher percentage/quality chocolate than the chocolate chips, this chocolate will melt a lot faster and will have a much more velvety-smooth consistency. You should NOT add cream to this chocolate.
8. Remove your trays from the fridge. If you’re using ice cube molds, pop the chocolates out from the cavities. Skewer each one and gently dip it into the chocolate you’ve just melted, turning carefully to ensure full coverage.
9. Gently place the truffle on a waiting sheet of wax paper to set.
10. Decorate by piping melted chocolate over the top (use white chocolate on dark and vice-versa), or use small pieces of nuts, ginger or swirls of colored icing.

These make great Valentines and hostess gifts…

• Place truffles in miniature cupcake cups and arrange them in a small gift box or place them in my favorite food-gift-container, a red Chinese takeout carton.
• Pair truffles with a good bottle of red wine for the ultimate gift-giving chic.

Note: Truffles can be stored in the fridge for up to one week - at which point they need to be eaten. Completely. No questions asked. (If you get to this point, just go ahead and open a bottle of wine too while you’re at it — in for a penny, in for a pound, after all!)

See the original Modern Girls Kitchen truffles post here.

When I was in grade school, I happily ate a turkey pita sandwich and an apple for lunch every day. Adventurous, no? Clearly my eating habits have branched out since then. After all, buying lunch out everyday is oh so tempting – but not so great for the waistline or the wallet.

Now, Modern Girls Kitchen is about anything but denial, so I’m not advocating eating microwaved ramen noodles in front of your computer everyday. I am suggesting, however, that taking your lunch just two or three days can be very rewarding. Here are three great reasons to bring your own lunch:

1. You control what you eat. I don’t just mean menu choice; I mean ingredients. In most instances, it’s hard to know exactly what’s in the food you order at a regular restaurant or (heaven forfend!) fast food joint. Even if you opt for the “heart healthy” choices, chances are an array of extra ingredients will be included free of charge by way of the preservatives and additives used to keep foods “fresh”.
2. You could save $50/week! Maybe it’s the economy, but eating frugally is certainly top of mind right now – but when you think about the cost of the average lunch out (between $8 and $10), bringing your own starts to look even more appetizing.
3. It’s environmentally responsible. Didn’t expect that, did you? But a typical workaday lunch most likely means a quick stop at the nearby deli/hotdog/burger bar, fast food or a restaurant chain. Any one of these options is going to involve disposable food packaging in the form of to-go boxes, drink cups, paper good and condiments. Compared with reusable, dishwasher-friendly food containers and drink cups from home, that’s a heck of a lot of plastic and Styrofoam for one quick 20 minute meal. Think about it.

Share Your Fave Lunch Ideas for the Modern Girls Kitchen Brown Bag Round-Up

Making and taking lunch to work a few days a week is great – but the days of the turkey pita are long-gone and I prefer a little more variety in my meals. These days I circulate my lunch menu between left-overs, banger sandwiches, roast chicken sandwiches, homemade salads or soup. Now, in an effort to inspire creative brown bag lunching everywhere, I’m launching the Modern Girls Kitchen Brown Bag Round-Up.

Write about your own favorite take-along lunch recipe on your own blog and share the link with Modern Girls Kitchen in the comment section (I’ll post a round-up of all the links at the end of next week), or just leave your ideas as a comment below. You can also Tweet your post to @emmawllms with (#mgkbrownbag behind it)!

Here’s to some fresh new lunch ideas!

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Rather than focusing on the kinds of ingredients to keep in your kitchen, The Simple Dollar shares Eight Tactics for Maximizing the Value of Your Pantry. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out these common sense steps, but a little reminder every now and again never hurts – especially when we’re all watching our wallets a heck of a lot more closely than the Bloomingdales’ sale schedule right now…

Here’s what The Simple Dollar (known for its steady supply of no-nonsense advice) suggests:

1. Eat in. Cooking at home typically costs substantially less than eating out.
2. Look for a long shelf life. Whenever and wherever possible, opt for staples that won’t spoil quickly.
3. Buy in bulk. If it’s something you use or consume regularly, take advantage of price cuts by buying larger quantities. (MGK Note: Obviously this is potentially more advantageous if you’re shopping for more than just one or two people – use your street smarts and don’t buy too much more than you really need or can really consume – otherwise, you’re creating waste).
4. Practice smart storage. Sure it’s easy to leave pasta shells in the box or flour in the bag, but once you’ve experience mealy moths or realize those crackers just aren’t as crunchy any more, you’ll understand the importance of airtight storage for making your staples last as long as possible.
5. Focus on favorites. If you’re really looking to make cut-backs, focus on purchasing items that you know you’ll use often rather than those “once in a while” sauces or seasonings that may work for only one or two recipes every few months. (MGK Note: I’m all about experimentation, so this one is potentially tough for me…however, if it’s a choice between a basic or a not-so-basic, I’m going to make sure I’ve got the basics covered first).



6. Rotate the contents of your cupboards. This one is interesting – and a great idea. The post suggests rotating contents from the back of your cupboards to the front about once a month – that way those “once in a while” ingredients (see #5) that have been pushed to the back and forgotten get their turn – and you find fresh inspiration in the process (without lingering in the exotic foods aisle…)!
7. Plan ahead. This tactic focuses on planning ahead for disaster or emergency by keeping extra water and supplies on hand. Maybe I’m not quite as concerned about this as I ought to be. Instead, I think of planning ahead in terms of looking at the ingredients I have on hand and deciding on potential meals before I hit the grocery store to buy more items. This is something I’ve been focusing on a little more recently and it’s amazing how many times you can produce a great meal based on what you’ve already got in stock!
8. Share. I love that this is one of the tactics. Because in all seriousness, sharing food is one of the most basic and beautiful acts of kindness a person can undertake. Think about all the times we offer food as a sign of love, support and sharing. The tactic itself focuses on sharing zucchini, tomatoes etc. from your garden – or some zucchini bread, at least. So even if the time you have available for gardening is anything like mine (okay I did manage to grow three whole tomatoes, one red pepper and one – yes, one – okra last summer…something to do with irregular watering…) you might, at least, try sharing homemade muffins or energy bars as a way of paying it forward.

Read the original post from The Simple Dollar here.

more than just a pretty face…

After all, fennel might be beautiful to look at (and its fronds make great additions to small flower arrangements), but it isn’t exactly the most approachable of produce items. First of all, it can’t quite make up its mind whether or not to be a vegetable or a herb (it actually depends on the variety). Second, at first glance it can be hard to decide whether or not you eat the fronds or the bulb (you can eat both).

Thanks to a regular supply of Florence Fennel (finocchio) in my local organic farm’s food subscription box each week a couple of summers ago, however, it has now become one of my most favorite vegetables. With a mild, refreshingly clean taste that hints pleasantly of anise, fennel becomes parsnip-sweet when roasted, gets along famously with fresh lemon (a pairing that can carry you from appetizer to entree), and blends well with other “root vegetable” types like carrots, turnips and the aforementioned parsnips. (Check out Fresh Farm Beets & Fennel for an easy side dish).

So without turning this into a riff on Bubba Gump Shrimp, here are a few ways to get started with this fabulously easy (read: very hard to mess up with), oh-so-healthful and virtuously versatile vegetable:

• Add raw slices of fresh fennel bulb to salads or serve thin slices with a dip instead of celery
• Dice the bulb, then boil it with white potatoes for more delicately flavored mashed potatoes
• Grill bulb slices outdoors alongside steaks, chicken or fish
• Lie long stems of fennel fronds over the top of chicken or fish on a closed outdoor grill to take advantage of its aromatic quality as well as its delicate flavor
• Use finely chopped fennel fronds, olive oil and lemon juice as a poultry rub

striped beets & fennel make a sweet little side…

Currently, my favorite and slightly more wintry approach for using one whole fennel (bulb and fronds) as one of my 1001 ways for perfect roast chicken:

Follow the basic recipe for Perfect Roast Chicken, but stuff the chicken with green fennel fronds as well as the lemon halves, then rub a mixture of finely chopped fennel fronds, lemon juice, olive oil and a little seasoned salt over the skin. Place the chicken on the roasting pan, then slice the fennel bulb thinly and arrange the slices all the way around the base of the chicken (it’s okay if they are wedged under the chicken slightly - you want them to touch). Drizzle a little olive oil over each slice and proceed to roast the chicken per the recipe.

Depending upon the weather and your mood, serve the chicken and roast fennel with small roasted red potatoes (roasted, perhaps with a few green olives), or with a light green salad. And, of course, a crisp white wine.