Shred Days 2 and 3

Oh. My. Goodness.

I have just completed day 3 of my 30 Day Shred Challenge. I am so sore! It really is a good kind of sore though. It is a sore that comes with knowing I am doing something good for my health. A kind of sore that let's me know this will all be worth it.

I have tried to workout before. I have tried to diet before. I have failed so many times. I have not gained a substantial amount of weight in the past few years, but I have gained enough to notice a change in my energy, mood and appearance. My goal, when all of this is said and done (even though I never intend to be done- I plan to continue working out) is to lose 23 pounds. Losing 23 pounds still keeps me well in the healthy body weight range for a person of my height. I have always been somewhat petite. Who knows? Maybe I will be able to fit in my wedding dress again...

I am so thankful for this group of ladies who are doing this challenge with me and keeping me accountable. Before, I would have given up thinking, "who cares?" Now I know I have three ladies who care. It keeps me going. The awesome thing?? I am starting to care myself. :-)

3 days down, 27 to go!

PS: I've already lost 1 pound! Yay me! :-)

Breakfast Breads Day 5- Culinary School

Last night we were informed that it was the last night of breakfast breads. We will be starting cakes on Wednesday! We were scheduled to make 3 different things last night. Actually, I ended up bringing home 5 different goodies. We made a pannetone, pain de mie (white bread), and a brioche fruit tart. We all made more brioche rolls with our extra brioche dough and I baked my left-over danishes that had been in the freezer since last week. My carrier was packed and I still had more to carry! I'm sure it was a funny sight to see me juggle everything on the way to the car last night. :-)

Here are pictures of what I made:

Pannetone

Pain de mie

Danishes

Brioche Apricot Tart

On a side note: Yesterday I completed the first day in my 30 Day Shred Challenge. I am doing this challenge with two of my girlfriends from when I lived in OK, Jessica and Liesl. Jessica's friend Erin has also joined this challenge. All four of us were successful in completing day one. Yay for us! I am REALLY sore this morning. I still plan on doing my workout today during Maddie's nap-time. I am glad I don't have class tonight. Hopefully, I won't be as sore tomorrow. We will see. The last time I tried this DVD it took about 4-5 days for the soreness to lessen. I have to admit I am a little worried that my culinary adventures are going to get in the way of me actually losing weight. I may rethink trying everything I make... My goal is to lose 20 pounds. Wish me luck!

Breakfast Breads Day 4- Culinary School

Last night was pretty laid back. We actually didn't have enough to do, so we ended up making an extra puff pastry dough again. Soon I will have several batches of puff pastry in my freezer... You would never know we didn't have a lot to do last night by the looks of what I brought home. My carrier was packed! It was filled with probably some of the most delicious breakfast breads we have made so far: croissants, chocolate croissants, scones, and a German bread called a Stollen that is traditionally served at Christmas. Everything tastes delicious! I am so glad we were able to share some of what I brought home with friends. Otherwise, I think both Jason and I will have gained a few pounds this weekend...

Here are pictures of what I made:

Croissants

Chocolate Croissants

Scones

Stollen

Speaking of gaining weight... Monday I embark on a challenge with two of my girlfriends from OK (one of which has since moved to Kansas). We are all starting a 30 day challenge to improve our health. How are we going to do that?? 30 days of the "30 Day Shred". I read a blog post from one of my friends about doing this challenge with the other and I decided that I would see if I could join them. I need to do something with all the sweets that are in my house... They enthusiastically said, "yes!" I am excited to start this journey with them. I knew I needed others besides my husband to keep me accountable to working out. It will be hard, but I am hopeful that I can stick with it. Wish me luck!

Breakfast Breads Day 3- Culinary School

Last night my carrier was completely packed! We continued with breakfast breads and made danishes, brioche, kugelhopf and blueberry muffins. We also made croissant dough which we will be using on Friday. While I like this section, I have to admit that it is not my favorite so far. I guess bread-making is not really my thing. I enjoy creating pastries more. I wasn't sure which I would like better, but I am not really that surprised. I wasn't sure if I would want to work in a bakery and now I know. I am still thinking cake shop. We start cakes next so we will see how I like it. :-)

Here are pictures of what we made last night:

Danishes. Some have pastry cream and some have cream cheese. Fruit can be added to the ones with pastry cream- we just didn't have any in our classroom last night.

Brioche

Kugelhopf. It is a "cake" with raisins and lemon zest.

Blueberry Muffins

Breakfast Breads Day 2- Culinary School

Last night we made 3 batches of dough (classic puff pastry, brioche and danish), fruitcake, and did a repeat of an upside down apple tart that was part of the puff pastry unit. We were definitely busy last night. We did a lot and yet we brought home very little. We didn't have time to bake our danishes. We will be baking them tomorrow night and Friday night. Chef baked his so we could see and taste how they will come out. (I have included a picture of his danishes below.) We only brought home a fruitcake and the upside down apple tart. Honestly, these are about the least appetizing things I have baked.

The fruitcake is so saturated in rum that I couldn't even try it. We all made jokes last night about how we are going to go home and get drunk off of our fruitcakes... No kidding. The rum is so strong. I'm not even sure Jason's co-workers will eat it but I sent it up there with him anyway. No point in keeping it around.

The apple tart tastes good, but is pretty mushy. The apples were very soft, but apparently it turned out better than the last time it was made. This tart was made the day I missed class and my classmates told me that everyone threw it out because the apples turned into applesauce and it was a huge mess. Chef wanted everyone to try again, so that is what we did last night.

After last night I am really excited for Wednesday. The danishes were delicious and I am excited to make my own. We are also making blueberry muffins, which I have heard are awesome. Blueberry muffins happen to be one of Jason's favorites, so he is very happy with the menu for tomorrow night. :-)

And now... here are the pictures from last night:

Fruitcake

Apple Tart

Chef's danishes

Gilroy Gardens

Saturday we had a fun-filled day at Gilroy Gardens with some dear friends. Maddie had a blast! She loved everything about it. She wasn't scared of anything. I think her two favorites were the mini carousel and the kid's playground. She rode the carousel 3 times and she didn't want to leave the playground for anything. All in all, it was a great day filled with friends and a lot of fun!

We are so happy Maddie did so well. I think she will love our upcoming trip douth south to visit my sis and go to Disneyland. We can't wait!

Isn't she just adorable?

Getting ready to ride the firetrucks!

Our little racecar driver!

Petting her carousel horse.

Fun at the playground!

Day 27- Culinary School

Tonight we started breakfast breads. We were originally supposed to do breakfast breads in the middle of puff pastry, but they got delayed when it was decided that we would not take a break from puff pastry and would continue on and finish before we moved on to something else. I'm not sure if this counts as a new unit of school or not because I am pretty sure we will not have a final when we finish this section. I'm sure chef will clarify this for us later.

Speaking of finals.... I got my written and practical exams back from Wednesday and I scored a 94% on both! Yay me!!

So here are pictures of what we made tonight:

Sally Lunn Rolls

Challah Bread

Spiked Pecan Sticky Buns

Orange Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Everything is delicious!! I have 11 rolls, 4 sticky buns, 2 loafs of Challah bread and one loaf of swirl bread. We will be eating for a while... I wasn't sure if I would be able to carry it all to my car, but I managed. :-)

Puff Pastry Final

Last night was my puff pastry final exam. It was the most challenging final yet, BUT I got the best grade yet! 94% on the written exam and straight 9's on taste, texture and presentation on the practical. I do not know my complete practical grade (he grades us on different criteria while we work), but I think it is possible that I could have scored an "A". Not that grades matter per say, but that makes me happy. :-)

Here is what I made:

napoleon

dartios aux pommes

palmiers and vol-au-vents

I also had to complete a 6-turn classic puff pastry dough.

Day 25- Culinary School

Last night we finished out puff pastry. I have a written/practical exam on Wednesday. We have 3 choices to choose from, however, I really only have one choice. The other 2 options available both have an item that they made on the day I missed class. We all made extra dough last night, which is a good thing because Chef added an item to each choice for the practical, so we will need that extra dough. I ended up making 2 extra, which was needed for my practice at home (I already had one dough at home and now I have two).

Last night the items we made were not too difficult, except for maybe the classic Napoleon strip. It is easy until the finishing where you glaze the top with fondant and add a chocolate design. The Napoleon strip is one of the items I will be doing for my final, so we will see how this turns out...

Anyway, here are the pictures of what I made last night:

Napoleon Strip

Dartois aux Pommes (Apple Tart with Lattice) This is another item I will be making on Wednesday.

Mini Bouchee

Day 24- Culinary School

Last night we were all surprised when we walked into class and noticed the daily outline for class had different recipes than what we were previously told would be done on that day. The decision had been made to finish out puff pastry instead of taking a small break for breakfast breads. We pulled out our notecards and wrote down our new recipes for class and started to scale. Thank goodness I had made the chocolate puff pastry dough they made in class Wednesday at home and brought it with me. That would have been a disaster. I wouldn't have been able to do anything. Luckily, I brought what I had made and it worked perfectly! It was just as flaky as everyone else's. Yay me!

Also, at the end of the night we were given our scores for our practical exam on pate a choux. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I scored a 90%! The funny thing is that I scored an 84% on my written, so really my score averages out to the same as the first final (I scored a 90% on the written and an 84% on the practical for tarts and cookies).

I have a written exam for puff pastry next week. Hopefully, I will be able to score better on this written than the last one. :-)

Here are pictures of what I made last night:

Mille-Feuilles au Chocolat (Chocolate Napoleon)

Tarte aux Bananes en Chocolat (Chocolate Banana Tart)

We also made Palmiers (palm leaves) out of the chocolate puff pastry dough. Those are pictured above in the first picture.

No Culinary Post Today

That's right. I did not go to school last night. I haven't been feeling very well and decided to take it easy last night. I still feel crummy today, but I am hoping I feel much better tomorrow. I do not want to miss two classes in a row. Luckily, a classmate of mine sent me a message as to what they did last night and sent me the recipe list for Friday's class.

Here is a sneak peak:

orange cinnamon swirl bread

spiked pecan sticky buns

sally lunn rolls

challah bread

Day 22- Culinary School

Last night we made three different desserts: conversations (individual almond tartlets), galettes aux fruit saison (seasonal fruit tartlets), and tarte aux poires en cage (individual pear tartlets with lattice). We also made another classic puff pastry dough. I was able to make an extra dough last night as well because, as my instructor says, I am "super fast". :-)

We will be making more puff pastry desserts on Wednesday, but then we go into unit 4, which starts with breakfast breads (croissants, sticky buns...etc.). We do go back into puff pastry a bit before the next final exam on 8/17.

Here are pictures of what I made:

Galettes aux Fruits Saison

Tarte aux Poires en Cage

Conversations

Day 21- Culinary School

Friday night we did more with puff pastry. We used the inverse puff pastry dough we made on Wednesday to create three different pastries: 2 sweet and 1 savory. We also made a quick puff pastry dough that we are going to use on Monday as well as one classic puff pastry dough that we got to take home with us. My instructor is encouraging us to try and make an extra dough each night, so that we feel more and more comfortable making and working with the dough. We got to use the sheeting machine, which is so much nicer than rolling the dough out by hand. It was definitely intimidating at first, but I got the hang of it. I am really enjoying this unit so far.

Here are pictures of what I made:

Tart Feuilletee (Fruit Strip)

Mille-Feuilles des Forme Ronde (Napoleon)

Bouchee

Day 20- Culinary School

Last night I made another puff pastry dough (Pate Feuilletee Inversee) and used my existing classic puff pastry dough to make a bande de tarte aux fruits (fruit tart/strip) and petite galette aux pommes (petite apple tarts). Chef put me on the spot last night. He kept saying that I was "super fast" and that I should finish before everyone else. The funny thing? I did. I did finish before everyone else. (It must have been the extra pressure.) Maybe him giving me a hard time was just what I needed. It didn't allow me to second guess myself and I felt confident about what I was doing. When I didn't feel confident, I asked questions and then got it done. I left feeling great about what I had done. It had been a while since I had felt that way. :-)

Here are pictures of what I made:

I had to cut the fruit tart to make it fit into my carrier.

Petite Galette aux Pommes

Bande de Tarte aux Fruits