hazelnut... it does a body good

A few years ago, I thought I might be lactose-intolerant. I haven't figured out if I really am or not, but I have never gone back to cow's milk. Instead I went to soy, then lately was on an almond kick, but a week ago, I found hazelnut!!! YUM! I highly recommend it. The best of the milk substitutes that I have tried.

The facts:

It's so good. It's thick and hazelnutty... delicious! Adds a ton of flavor to my morning cereal.

Speaking of cereal, I have overcome my laziness a few times this week and made oatmeal on the stove. I managed to cut out additional sugar between the hazelnut "milk" and the berries or peaches I add in.

Here it is with blackberries:

I ate out a lot this weekend, but I attempted to balance that out with a healthy soup on Saturday night. I steamed asparagus, then threw it in the blender with a tiny bit of light cream, some water, and a bit of chicken broth powder. And voila!

In other news, I tried to make a clementine cake this weekend... I had a bad feeling when the clementines were boiling for 2 hours (yes, 2 hours!!!). I didn't like the smell, but thought maybe it would still turn out okay. But then the recipe called for ground almonds, which I did not find, so I ground them myself in my new 3-cup food processor. Of course, they weren't fine enough, but again, I thought it might do. I should also mention that the recipe called for this batter being prepared in a food processor - well my new little 3-cup one wasn't going to cut it so I used the blender. Definitely not meant for that. But despite all of this, I persevered, ever optimistic! As you may have guessed by now, it didn't work out. The texture was off, the taste wasn't very good, and the middle seemed undercooked. I was so disheartened that I couldn't even take a picture. It went straight into the trash, not even completely cooled yet. I really rarely mess up cakes - strange that I have now had to throw 2 cakes out in less than one month. What was my last post? Oh yes, listen to your gut! Ha! Well now I have that reminder every time I walk into my house: the boiling clementine smell that I didn't like is lingering. Perhaps the other lesson here is, make sure you have the right ingredients and tools before you embark on a recipe journey.

But let's end on a high note. To make up for the clementine cake, I made quatre quarts (or pound cake, or literally four fourths). I figured that the chances were low that something would go wrong with such a classic. Did you know that there is a very easy way to make one? This is how it's done in France: weigh your eggs, however many you want to use. The guideline is 2 eggs for 4 people. Then, use the same weight in sugar, butter, and flour. Add 1 teaspoon of baking powder and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract or 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract (or both extracts, as I did). I also threw in some quality French chocolate that I had finely chopped with my fantastic Wusthof knife. If you bake it as one cake, it will take about 45 minutes at 350 degrees. I made cupcakes and they were in for about 25 minutes.