&mdash; tannerodell.com

One of my favorite things to do is find fun and inspirational quotes, can you believe I’ve never come across this one before? Miss Piggy was THE celebrity…and sadly I’m about to admit that-

……I never watched the muppets. I know! Gasp! Some of you may think this is a crazy thing to claim, but indeed, I never watched Kermit and Miss Piggy. (i know they were hot for each other though)

“Never eat more than you can lift” is just pain hilarious. Inspirational? I hope not. Don’t take her advice. She was a pig after all. But as soon as I stumbled across this quote I had to share it with you.

The cook inside of me says “Make so much tasty food that no one will be able to move after they are done eating dinner” but then the health nut inside me says “Aren’t we trying to de-pig the world? don’t stuff your dinner guests”

…Then out comes the motivational speaker inside of me. Guess what he says? “You know, we could all learn a lesson from miss piggy. As humans we can only lift so much…so make sure that whatever you take on in life, or “eat”, just make sure you can carry the weight that comes with it.”

We all read quotes and apply them to our lives as we see fit. This post is actually meant to introduce you to my Tuesday Quote Day blog. Every Tuesday I’ll be sending out a quote to you. Maybe something funny, or inspirational…but the idea is to interpret the quote however you want. I’ll let the cook, the health nut, and the speaker inside of me dissect the quotes…but you let your mind dive right into the world of exciting quotes.

Because quotes…they just rock.

Snow Day…and Gluten Free Sponge Cake

February 6, 2012

This snow day was highly anticipated, extremely needed, and sent everyone to the grocery store at the exact same time. You would’ve thought that none of us had ever seen snow before…probably because it was just 70 degrees outside like 4 days before it happened. I went from having a severe case of spring fever to singing christmas songs! (Not even kidding…ask my mom and my girlfriend, they had to listen) But the most appealing thing to me about this snow storm was the fact that I didn’t have to leave my house…for 1 whole day. I was SO pumped that all I had to do was sit around in my pajamas, stay warm, and make some food. We all know that I like food…so welcome to my heaven.

Let’s talk about snow day food here for a second though before I share my recipe with you. Normally I eat, cook and spread healthy food because that’s what I believe in doing…but not on a snow day. I rarely ever have a day where I get to sit at home and do nothing, so I decided to add “eat anything I want” to my list of things to do for the day. This was the FIRST and possibly the ONLY snow day of the season so I had to jump on this unhealthy opportunity! No, I don’t take “eat anything I want” days all the time obviously…but let me just say this: I really hope there’s another snow day soon.

The one thing that is slightly lame is the fact that this amazing snow day happened on a Saturday. I definitely can’t complain since I have the best senior year schedule ever…but I can’t help but feel like this day would’ve been so much better during the school week.

But anyway…below is a literally amazing cake recipe that you NEED to make the next time you have a snow day. For those of you in snowless places, just take a day to lock yourself in the house in your pajamas and eat this whole cake. Wait…just have a piece or two, the whole cake is probably a little over board.

My kitchen was the hub of all the snow day activity, and I might of gotten just slightly crazy during this cake making process…so enjoy!

Mocha Sponge Cake

For the cake

8 eggs, room temp and separated
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup Tapioca Flour
1 tbsp. Espresso Powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. Bailey’s. (My mom official snow day drink was Baileys and coffee…so I worked it into the recipe. Feel free to leave it out if you’d like)

For the chocolate filling

1 cup dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup whole milk, or cream (room temp)
1 tbsp. bailey’s

How to

Pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees.
Make sure all the eggs are at room temp and then separate the whites from the yolks. Put the whites into the bowl of your kitchen aid mixer, or just a big bowl with an electric mixer close by. (You can always go old school with a whisk)
Using the whisk attachment for your stand mixer, or the standard attachments for your electric mixer to whip the egg whites to stiff peaks. Once they are finished just set them aside and deal with the yolks.
Whip the yolks in a large bowl for about 2-3 minutes or until they are a lighter yellow color. Then add the vanilla extract and start combining your dry ingredients.
Combine the powdered sugar, tapioca flour, and salt in a small bowl. Make sure to sift the powdered sugar and tapioca flour if any lumps are present.
add the dry ingredients into the egg yolks in 3 installments. (1/2 cup at a time) and mix until well combined. Add the espresso powder and the bailey’s to the party and then give the mix a final stir.
Now it’s time for the egg whites! Gently fold the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture with a silicone spatula. Be extremely gentle and slow. You can do this in about 5 installments. (about 1 cup at a time.)
Baking time! Line a jellyroll pan or sheet cake pan with parchment paper. (You can use butter, coconut oil, shortening, or a non-stick spray instead of parchment.) Add the sponge cake batter to the pan and evenly spread it out. It will look like there isn’t enough batter, but trust me there will be!
Place the pan in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Once that time is up, just open the oven door a couple of inches and leave the cake inside, with the door open, for another 5 minutes.
Take the cake out once the time is up and let it cool for 20 minutes.
Now you can flip the cake out of the pan and start the decorating process!

There are many ways you can serve this sponge cake. It’s delicious by itself…but of course chocolate makes it even better! So to make the chocolate sauce:

Melt the chocolate chips over a double boiler. (Use a glass bowl and a small pot with about 1 inch of water in it. Bring the water to a simmer and then add the chocolate to the bowl. Stir until the chocolate melts.)
Once the chocolate is melted, pour in the milk/cream and the bailey’s. Then your chocolate sauce is finished!

Once you have your chocolate sauce ready to go, it’s time to plate up some cake! to make the cake as you see it above, you just cut 3 squares out of the sponge cake and add a layer of chocolate in between them as you stack on the plate. It’s very simple, yet elegant. (and very tasty of course!) Then dust it generously with powdered sugar and serve!

But here’s where I start to get a little bit out of hand. Since it was a snow day I had to make breakfast when I woke up. Bacon was on the menu and I just happened to have some left over. So naturally…what do I do?Yes…I make a bacon, chocolate, and coffee sponge cake. (and those are bacon sprinkles on top) It was SO GOOD! The ultimate dessert, the ultimate breakfast, and the ultimate indulgence. Try it, I’m completely serious.

Or you can always roll up the sponge cake with the chocolate sauce inside. This was still amazing…even though some bacon would’ve been nice.

I had so much fun creating this recipe…that I almost forgot it was snowing outside. Until the powdered sugar came out to play. Powdered sugar really is the best ingredient to use on snow days. Man I have such a hilarious story involving powdered sugar. It will have to wait for another blog though.

Enjoy this recipe, enjoy the weather, and tweet me with questions.

Have you read my Julia Child blog?

Bon Appétit

Here’s your butter Julia!

February 3, 2012

Sometimes I have dreams about food.

Shocking right? And most of the time they are crazy…which is why i don’t tell you about them. (I think I’ll just publish a “Tanner’s Crazy Dreams” book later in my life) Every once in a while though I have a dream that is not quite as crazy as the others and needs to be shared. Last night I fell asleep in Lincoln, Nebraska and woke up in the land of Julia Child.

As a 17 year old…sure I know who Julia Child is, but I never really had a chance to experience what she was all about. To be totally honest I thought she was boring when I first layed eyes on her TV show. CRAZY…I know. But there has been a change in the air.

Every day during the week I’ve started to watch “The French Chef” on the Cooking Channel. Her show puts me in a trance, ignites my passion for food, and sends me over a flavor rainbow with a huge pot of beef bourguignon on the other side. I DIDN’T KNOW HER MAGIC EXISTED. Sure, I knew who she was, I knew she was THE celebrity chef…but I didn’t know why she was who she was.

After being completely sucked into everything she has done…I’ve started to feel sad, and guilty, and in love. I feel like maybe I could’ve gotten to know her better before she passed away…even though I know that would’ve been a far off dream. Maybe I could’ve run into her in a french bistro, and asked her to sign my forehead. Who knows! But I think my feelings of guilt, sadness, and love all stem from me wishing I could meet her and follow in her footsteps…and somehow fall in love over a fancy dinner. I mean she’s just plain awesome.

So I finished sending emails last night and slowly fell asleep. My dream started like normal…Everything I was thinking about before bed started fighting to the death. The topic that came out on top received the high honor of supplying me with great entertainment for about 5 hours. Julia was obviously the winner with her big knife and chicken minions.

In my dream Julia received an email from me. (I frequently send out emails to amazing chefs asking for advice) While I slobbered on my body pillow last night…My new Idol hit reply. She asked me to come to her home. Not because she wanted to cook with me, or talk with me, but because she was out of butter and desperately needed me to bring her some. Funny huh? I remember arriving at her kitchen, which was the exact kitchen out of her show, and guess what happened? She wouldn’t say a word to me. I offered her the butter she desperately needed…and she just didn’t say anything. I didn’t know if I came too late, or made her mad…I was extremely confused, but became even more confused when she finally looked up at me and said “just keep chopping.”

“Just Keep Chopping,” What the heck does that mean? I wasn’t even chopping anything. I was just standing in her kitchen with the butter she asked for! I tried again to communicate with her, but from then on the only thing she would say to me was “just keep chopping.”

Sadly I don’t remember much more from this dream. The part that I do remember though really REALLY impacted me. The “just keep chopping” went on for quite some time I believe. Before I headed over to the radio station today to share my super bowl hot wings recipe…I googled quotes from Julia Child. I was thinking that it would be really creepy to see “just keep chopping” on the list.

No, I didn’t find it (that would’ve been crazy!)…but I did find this one:

“You’ll never know everything about anything, especially something you love.”
― Julia Child

So I decided to interpret my dream in this way:

Just keep chopping is Julia’s way of telling me to not give up. Lately I’ve been trying to really figure out the direction I want to go after High School…and what this quote tells me is that for the rest of my life I get to chase after my dreams. I WILL be on the Food Network, I WILL go to culinary school, I WILL speak to and inspire millions of people. And while I’m doing all of this I will continue to grow, and learn about what I love. Everything will happen the way it should. (even though I’m slightly disappointed I didn’t get to eat any of her food in my dream)

—————————————————————————————————–

Share your dreams with me in the comments.

Tweet me too!

Bon Appétit!

Fake Fried Hot Wings

February 3, 2012

I took a day and experimented with one of my favorite finger foods…CHICKEN WINGS!

Is the caps lock really necessary? YES IT IS.

With the Super Bowl coming up I figured that many of you needed a recipe to distract you from watching Madonna perform during halftime. These wings literally had me stuck in the kitchen until every last finger was licked clean of sauce. I’m not just talking these up either. They are crunchy, moist, sweet, and spicy all at the same time. My secret? White rice flour.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

For the wings

12 chicken wings
1/3 cup white rice flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder

For the sauce

1/4 cup Sriracha sauce
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce (I use gluten free teriyaki sauce)
1/4 cup agave nectar or honey
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tsp. freshly grated ginger

How To

Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees.
Make sure all of the moisture is off of the skin of the chicken wings by patting them dry with paper towels.
Mix the rice flour, salt, and garlic powder together in a bowl. Then add the wings to the bowl and gently toss them around until they are lightly coated in the rice flour.
Tap the excess flour off of each wing and transfer to a broiler pan or a sheet tray fitted with an oven safe metal cooling rack. The cooling rack allows the chicken wings to be elevated off the pan, making them extra crispy! Make sure to spray the rack, or broiler pan with non-stick spray!
Bake for for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy!
While the wings are cooking it’s time to make this super simple sauce! Just add all of the ingredients into a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the rockin sauce to a simmer for about 5 minutes and then set it aside and wait for the wings to come out of the oven! (To grind the ginger I just take the skin off and use a microplane grater.)
To serve the wings, just toss in the sauce and put on a plate with plenty of celery and bleu cheese dressing!

Let me know what you think.

Tweet Me

My mind is laying on a beach…

February 1, 2012

My day has been like a boring conversation.

As the person you’re talking to rambles on, you slowly start focusing on the scratch that you found on your thumb. “Where did it come from? …hmmm, maybe I’ll scratch it…CRAP, that hurt. Is it bleeding? yea, dang it’s bleeding. Maybe I should go get a band-aid? If I do, that would end this conversation that I’m not listening too. Hahaha, I’m looking right at you and you think I’m listening but I’m not, I’m actually talking to myself in my head…you crazy boring person.”

Get it?

My brain just happens to be somewhere else today. We all have those days where instead of being in our bodies, we just lazily observe what we are doing as if we are having an out-of-body experience. As I sit at my desk with the sunlight peering through my curtains all I can really focus on is…well nothing.

I’ve tried all day to find a quick cure, or a way to lasso my mind and yank it back into my head. Did I find a cure? No…and as for the lassoing, I actually tried but it’s a little bit impossible. Funny to watch though.

So this is what I have decided:

Everyone likes to be busy…You could be busy watching tv, busy making phone calls, busy working….it doesn’t matter what you like to do, we just all like to be busy.

So every once in a while our brains have to send us away. (Today I got sent to St. Maarten) (nice place by the way) It’s our brains way of telling us to chill. So after I recorded a radio show earlier today, I decided to do exactly that. Sure, I have to be on the air later tonight…but man this 6 hours of chillaxing is making me extremely happy, rested, and it will bump up my productivity later.

So what’s my blog really about today?

I just want to remind you all to take time to chill. Let your brian take you on vacation every once in a while. It’s always hard for me to just stop and not do anything, but sometimes that’s exactly what I need to do. There’s no quick cure, and there’s no lasso…but there is a great invention called a bed. It will get you up and going again while eliminating the out-of-body boring conversation side effects.

Just chill people. It’s good for you.

Tweet me.

It’s a chocolaty kind of Friday

January 27, 2012

Tweet me with questions and like my Facebook page.

1 Comment

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Mousse (Made with Tofu)

(after this recipe, read on to see how Ignite Lincoln went!)

Last week I made my version of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup…But turned it into a healthy almond butter cup. (find the recipe here) So this week I’m sticking with the chocolate and peanut butter theme!

Mousse is one of those desserts that I crave. I always want something creamy, smooth, and rich…something so chocolaty that you can feel your heart beat faster and faster with every bite you take. The thing is…I like the flavors of those kinds of foods, I just don’t believe in eating them when your body is going to be slowly rotting away. Don’t take this the wrong way though…I believe in dessert of all kinds, and I ate them for a long time! (well 16 years) But I just decided that if you can make it healthy, then why eat the unhealthy.

So for you today I have an amazing guilt free chocolate dessert. Enjoy my friends and let me know what you think!

Ingredients

12 oz. of Silken soft tofu
1/4 cup of agave nectar
1 cup of at least 60 percent dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup of water
2 tbsp. powdered peanut butter/ or an equal amount of regular peanut butter (all natural please, the ingredients in the jar should be peanuts and salt…that’s it)
1 tsp. vanilla extract

How to

using a food processor or an electric hand mixer, beat the tofu in a medium-sized bowl until nice and smooth. About 2 minutes.
Melt the chocolate chips over a double boiler. To do this find a 4 quart saucepan and fill it with about 2 inches of water. Bring the water to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Dump the chocolate chips into a glass or metal bowl that snuggly fits over the top of the 4 quart saucepan. Place the bowl on top of the pan and stir the chocolate chips slowly while the steam from the simmering water below melts the chips into a velvety chocolate pool.
Slowly add the melted chocolate into the tofu. Then you can add all of the remaining ingredients while mixing the mousse on low-speed. If you’re using a food processor just pulse the mixture each time you add a new ingredient to the mix.
Once the mousse comes together, just transfer it to a holding vessel (a plastic container or mason jar) and place it in the fridge for 1 hour. The mixture will become thick and then you can transfer this rich, chocolaty, moussey goodness into your serving dish of choice.

By the way! Ignite Lincoln was an amazing success last night. I had a blast speaking to over 350 people…sharing my passion with Lincoln! I’ll post the video of my talk as soon as I get it.

Lincoln is truly a booming city…with so many amazing people following their passion. It was an honor to be apart of this event!

The Spork Means Business

January 26, 2012

Let me start by telling you about my love of Sporks.

Do I love them because they are retro? Do I love them because they are the most useful thing on the planet? Nope! both of those are close….but the truth is:

I just fear that If someone doesn’t start using them, then slowly the spark of the spork will drift away.

So let me show you what I got for christmas this year: Cool right? a knoork? My mom knows me darn well. The name Spork became a registered trademark in 1969. The Van Brode Milling Co., Inc., of Clinton, Massuchests described it as a piece of cutlery combining the features of a spoon, a fork and sometimes a knife. This means that even though it has a knife as well…if can still be called a spork. (I was kinda digging the knoork actually)

If you know me well, then you know that l like to find meaning in everything. lately I’ve been relating the spork to business…Helping me be more efficient in what I do. As a small business owner myself, I’m constantly trying to be more and more productive. The trick I’ve learned though is that you have to effectively combine everything you’re doing into a single successful brand, which is easier said than done. So here’s my sporkarific observation

Spoon

I describe a spoon as a calm and relaxed utensil. you use it to gently bring warm and cozy soup to your lips, or comforting and cold ice cream to your soul. (yes, ice cream goes straight to your soul) But how do I relate this to real life? Well here’s the deal…When I’m most relaxed the ideas start flowing extremely fast! Sometimes so fast that I don’t know what to do! My mind will get crowded and then all of the sudden there are new ideas shoving my old ideas out through my ears. Those old ideas were great though…so how do I get control of my dreams and head back down towards a relaxed state?

I create a list of 100 dreams. You may have read my previous 100 dreams blog, but this list is a different kind of list. I’m a person that gets my best ideas in the shower. Why? I’m not sure…but what I now do with those ideas is write them down on my Spork Dream List. These are dreams relating to my business that I’ll be able to tackle. You might think that having all of those dreams written down will still make things crazy and confusing right? That leads me to the fork….

Fork

Forks are go getters. They not only go after what they want, but the bring back a prize. (occasionally they miss the bite, but don’t worry, they never give up!) What the fork represents is your ability to choose. You have to be able to narrow down your dreams and your goals to the ones that will be most beneficial for you NOW! The future is a great thing to think about, trust me I spend a lot of time there in my brain, but being able to choose the most feasible dream is a necessity. Go through your list and pick one, maybe two projects that you can start right now. Then be a go getter and chase that dream until it brings you the ultimate prize. By taking a small bite out of your list you’ll gain experience, and gain customers just like that. Remember that It’s okay to say “no, not right now” to your dreams. You just have to know when the right time to say yes is. How do you know when the right time is? Well…That leads me to my last little rant. Careful of the knife!

Knife

Quite the amazing utensil right? Knives can be intimidating and sharp. If you don’t see it coming them BAM…no more finger. here’s how you use the knife to help your business:

Once you have chosen your one or two goals to bite, it’s time to dissect them. What is it going to take to accomplish them?

Whenever I’m cutting a steak I always have a plan. I’ll look for which way the grain is running through the meat, and then I picture what bite will be the best. Then, with a method, I cut the steak…leaving the best bite for last. (Doesn’t everyone do this?)

Having a plan just rocks. It does! I use to be horrible at creating a plan, but slowly I’ve gained some skill in this area. Sure things happen that you don’t expect, and organizing yourself can be intimidating…but by having a base plan you’ll be able to adapt to anything. So use your knife to dissect the dreams that you have chosen to tackle.

The Review

Sporks can be a part of your everyday life! Go buy one at the store! Even if you just keep it in your office reminding you to successfully combine your thoughts together…I’ll be happy! Just remember that you can spoon your dreams into an un-intimidating list. After that then you can carefully pick and choose which dream will help you the most right now, and prepare to take a bite! If your lucky enough to find a spork with a knife attached as well…then put that baby to use by dissecting the dream you carefully chose. Make a plan and believe in yourself!

Whether you are in the restaurant industry….or any other industry for that matter…You have potential to use a spork for more that just eating.

Tweet me with questions.

Ignite Lincoln

January 26, 2012

Tonight I’ll be speaking at Ignite Lincoln along with 15 other amazing speakers! For more information about this event check out ignitelincoln.com! This is a FREE event for anyone who wants to come and be inspired, so I’ll see you at the Bourbon Theatre in Lincoln Nebraska tonight at 6:30. The event starts at 7 pm but get there early to catch a good seat! We’re going to have an awesome night!

I had Justin McDowell on my radio show last night talking all about the event. Trust me, you don’t want to miss it!

Almond Butter Cups

January 20, 2012