pavlova with strawberries and cream

talk about a show stopper!  pavlova is a sweet meringue pie topped with fruit and cream.  it is such a good dessert.  it tastes very sweet and marshmallowy with a thin crispy crust.  it's an impressive and delicious for company or a special meal, and it is easy to make!  there are a couple of tricks to making a good pavlova but once you learn you will love it for life.  this is my husband's absolute favorite, it is such a yummy treat!

i strongly suggest you watch a video on making pavlova first, to see the tricks and the egg white consistency for making good meringue.  i like the recipe from chef john best but i will post links to two great instructional videos.


chef john pavlova video (this is great!)
joy of baking pavlova video


sorry for the choppy picture, i've tried to upload it 100x, i just have horrible internet right now, i will try to reload it soon!  :(

pavlova with strawberries and cream

recipe from chef john

3 large egg whites, room temperature 

3/4 cup sugar

2 tsps cornstarch

3/4 tsp white vinegar

1 tsp vanilla

whipped cream

strawberries

1 Tablespoon apricot jam

put sugar and cornstarch in a bowl and mix together.

in the bowl of a mixer, mix eggs on medium to the ribbon stage.

dump in a couple of tablespoons of the sugar mixture, mix it into the egg whites until the sugar dissolves, about 10 seconds.

keep adding the sugar in a couple of tablespoons at a time, until it is all incorporated and the sugars are dissolved.  it will start getting thick and shiny and beautiful!  

after you've added the last of the sugar, mix in the cornstarch and vinegar.

mix a little bit longer until the meringue forms little peaks when you pull the beaters out, it will be still look very creamy,shiny and thick and pretty.  

plop the meringue onto the middle of a silicone baking sheet or parchment paper on a baking sheet.  you want it about 6-7 inches wide and about 2 inches high.  even it out so it's nice and flat on top.  

bake in a preheated 250 degree oven for one hour, then turn oven off and let pavlova cool completely in the oven that has been turned off and the door opened.  it is normal to have a few cracks and crevices.  

oh so carefully remove your cooled pavlova from the baking sheet and transfer it onto a serving platter-  be SO careful here!

top cooled pavlova with sweetened fresh whipped cream and berries.

to make the berries pretty and glazed, heat a little apricot preserves in the microwave with a few drops of water and brush the mixture atop the berries.  the whole berries are a pretty presentation but it is much easier to eat pavlova with sliced berries on top.  enjoy! 

fashionably late!

so

 it has been forever since I've blogged.  

excuses:  

internet.  my internet here in mexico has been terrible over the last year.  like unable to upload pictures terrible.  it has been better over the past month or so, but still.  gah it's annoying!

family:  i delivered the last baby in our family, a bouncing baby girl named Estella Faye (after my darling Grammy Faye.)  my oldest was six when the baby was born, so we have a houseful of stairstep born babies.  to say i have been busy would barely touch it.

cooking: life has been crazy for me lately.  i'm starting to get into a routine now with four littles but i am the first to admit that i fed my family way too many pb&j  kinds of meals while i was adjusting!  i have found lots of simplified dishes we've been loving, so you can count on me to deliver some new easy meals that your kids and families will love.

i'm back in the kitchen, i'm feeling more myself than ever, i'm dying to blog and i have tons of yummy recipes to share with you guys!  i'm going to start off with a new favorite of our family- a delicious, super impressive gourmet-ish dessert called a pavlova.  you'll love it~!

thanks for sticking with me in the interim,  glad to be back   :)

xoxo

rachelle

white chocolate macadamia nut cookies: best recipe ever

if I had to pay money for this recipe, I would pay alot.  I've been making these cookies for years and they are my go-to cookies for surprise guests, because this is one of those recipes that tastes much more complicated than it is to prepare and they are so quick to make!    these cookies take seriously under 10 minutes to get in the oven, they are FAST.  they are beyond delicious and in my opinion, a must have recipe for everyone!

white chocolate macadamia nut cookies
recipe from taste of home, cookout 2007

1/2 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup plus 2 TB flour
1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 bag macademia nuts
1/2 bag white chocolate chips

in a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  beat in egg and vanilla.  combine flour and baking soda, gradually add to creamed mixture.  stir in nuts and chips.
drop heaping TB two inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.  
bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes until golden brown.
cool 1 minute, move to wire racks.

how to cook a perfect holiday turkey!

happy thanksgiving eve everyone!  i bet everyone has a sink full of thawing turkeys right now, and today is a busy day getting ready for thanksgiving.  this is my favorite easy way to ensure a delicious moist turkey every year.  it always turns out.  i have a turkey in the oven now so i don't have a cooked turkey pic up yet. i will add one in a couple of hours.  in the meantime, here's what you need to do to make a perfect turkey.

how to cook a perfect holiday turkey.

1. buy a turkey.  most turkeys are frozen these days, but if you are getting a fresh turkey, congratulations and you can skip this part.  if it's frozen and you are very lazy, make room for it in your fridge a week ahead of time.  it will be ready in time for t-day.  if you are more of a procrastinator (i like to say i work better under pressure,) start thawing it in cold water in your sink the day before, changing the water and flipping the turkey over every hour or two as you remember.
2. buy some turkey bags.  the reynolds turkey bags. 
3. once your turkey is thawed, remove it from the package.  it has a neck cavity and ahem, another one.  the neck cavity is where you will find a long turkey neck and a package of giblets (heart, liver) to be removed.  pull these out and do whatever you need to with them.  i throw them away, but i know many use them for stuffing.  *shudder*
4. rinse the turkey well inside and out.  dry off with paper towels.
5. using melted butter (which solidifies as it touches the turkey so it can be a little tricky) or oil, cover the whole top of the turkey, rubbing the oil or butter all over.  season with salt and pepper or whatever spices you like.
6. stuff the neck cavity with something good.  i have used lots of different things and it always turns out well.  my favorite things to use:  halved onions, apples, oranges, lemons, herbs, celery.  i really like the combination of apples and onion, that is what i am making again this year.
7. cover the oiled/buttered turkey with paprika.  TONS of paprika.  i included a picture so you can see my turkey loaded up with paprika in every area.  don't skip this!  it makes your turkey golden and gorgeous like a norman rockwell painting!
8. put 2 tablespoons of flour in the turkey bag, open it up and set inside your roasting pan.  you need a deep pan, at least a couple of inches deep.  you can add some apple, orange or pinapple juice to the bag if you like-  about 2 cups.
9. put the turkey in the bag, seal it up, slice 6 half inch slits all over the top of the bag, and tuck the top and ends of the bag under the turkey.
10. put in the oven and cook.  if you have a small turkey you're looking at 2-3 hours, a large one will be 3-4.  most turkeys have a red tab that will popout when it's done, you can watch for that.  your turkey will be golden and moist and deliciously perfect!

enjoy and have a happy thanksgiving!!

currently loving: cargo skinnies, white knuckles and cocoamotion

so it occurred to me that my food blog, fashionably foodie-  is too much foodie and not enough fashionably!  i'm going to kick off a new feature on this blog, currently loving.  this is something i like do on my personal blog, and i thought it might be fun on this blog too.  if you hate it or love it or want to talk this or anything else, email me at fashionablyfoodie AT gmail DOT com. 
this is what's on my radar this week!

xoxo, rachelle


to eat: i'm on a pepperoni pizza kick, my two girls and I have a standing weekly pizza lunch date
to drink: it's hot chocolate time again! we love our cocoamotion hot chocolate maker.  extra marshmallows please
to shop: hitting amazon, american girl and pottery barn kids in one fell santa swoop! i want to be done with my christmas shopping early this year!
to hear: ok go, white knuckles~ if prince and lenny kravitz had a beautiful baby, it would be this song, LOVE it, i am beyond, beyond obsessed with it!! (and my kids know that they can't talk during this song, i'm going to play it really really loud,  may play the air guitar, and we WILL stay in the car to hear the whole song) lol
to wear: if you see me this week i'm wearing these pants. loving my army green skinny cargos. also still obsessed with revlon super lusterous lip gloss, i love that stuff
to watch: the only things on my tv these days are icarly and call of duty: black ops (that would be my six year old and my husband)
to do: plan parties! just catching my breath from my six year old daughter's birthday, getting ready for the Thanksgiving dinner for 200 and the Christmas gift Bazaar at the gradeschool and am already thinking about my three year old's  birthday party... next August

Please hold...

Laptop, meet computer virus. Awesome Trojans, meet laptop.

Ipads aren't for blogging, if you have one (or an iPhone). You'll understand. Auto correction nightmares. Notice all the periods and capitalization?
See you next week after the nerds resurrect my computer!