Daring Bakers Challenge #3: Panna Cotta

The February 2011 Daring Bakers' Challenge was hosted by Mallory from "A Sofa In The Kitchen." She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies. 

(And I'm making it just by the hair of my chinny chin chin.... finished the panna cotta and cookies yesterday, and managed to get some good pictures while the sun was out today!)

Baked Oatmeal

The dogs are just as bad as E and I about wanting to get out of bed in the mornings, especially when it's chilly outside.  They'll wake us up demanding breakfast and as soon as they've eaten, they climb into bed with us to warm back up.  During the week, they're on their own for snuggling, but come Saturday morning, the whole family gets to sleep in.  Freya will bark at the side of the bed, demanding that we make room for her.  Ellie will bounce her little head up with a tiny whine to let us know she's ready to be invited up for that last hour of pre-dawn sleep.  We read a bit, or fall back asleep briefly, and generally enjoy the fact that we don't actually have to be anywhere just yet. 

Umami Eggs

Pardon me for a moment while I nerd off a bit... Have you heard about this "umami" that's sweeping the foodie world?  (Sorry, I promise not to say foodie again.  I don't know about you, but the word makes me cringe.)  At any rate, people are throwing "umami" around and it's actually all for a very good reason.  Umami is one of the five basic tastes.  The mysterious "they" added it on to the list with sweet, salty, sour, and bitter a couple decades ago at a symposium dedicated solely to the understanding of this taste.  The Japanese have been touting it for much longer, and it basically means "savory."

Savory Dinner Tart

My sincerest apologies for being absent these past few weeks; I'm still getting into the rhythm of this whole blogging thing.  Things have been pretty busy, but in a very good way.  There has been lots of thesis-finishing, a bit of job-hunting, some dog-sitting, birthday-celebrating, new flavor-discovering, good book-reading, exciting new book-starting, warmer weather-appreciating.... and of course cooking. The DEB kitchen has been rather busy, and I have loads of tasty treats to share with you that will trickle out as I get the photos uploaded. (Note- photo quality may be lacking in the upcoming posts as I'm doing the edits on my lap-top and I can't ever tell if the color is right.  As always, you have to trust me that I don't actually cook or eat ugly things.) To start, here's a simple recipe that's perfect for the coming end of the season: one more taste of the winter greens and squashes, warm and light, and perfect with a glass of white wine to remind you of warm and sunny days ahead.  

Bacon Baklava

I know I've recently bestowed the incredibly delicious bacon jam upon you all, and you probably thought that was quite enough bacon debauchery to last me a while, but it was most certainly not.  In the same vein as the bacon-pecan cookies, I've yet again managed to take an ordinary sweet and bacon it up right into the ranks of amazing.