The best scallops I have ever eaten.

I had never eaten scallops growing up.  It wasn’t until about a year or so ago that I was willing to try one.  Watching Hell’s Kitchen has made me want to be a scallop eater.  However the few times I tried scallops it wasn’t really worth the hype.  I didn’t enjoy the texture or flavor of the scallop.  It wasn’t until last year when my work had a wine maker dinner that I went to where I had the BEST scallops.  I seriously could have eaten plate’s worth of these bad boys. 

I feel that it is also worth noting that I am not a beer or wine drinker either.   I can barely drink Moscato let alone imagine drinking and enjoying a glass of red wine.  Going into this event I was open to trying the pairings of wine and food.  I enjoyed every bite and sip.  Maybe too much! The pours of wine were VERY generous and I was feeling it!  Needless to say that Basel Cellars http://baselcellars.com/ impressed me with the taste of their wine.  This evening taught that there are wines that I can enjoy, apparently I have expensive tastes! Ned Morris really knows his wine!  It was a really nice hear about how they create their blends and learning about how wine is made.  It was an evening I will remember for a long time. 

Back to the scallops…MMMMM.  The corn was the perfect complement to the scallops.  I will be trying to recreate this dish….it was heavenly.

Here is the rest of the food we ate!

I forgot to take picture of the first course. :\

This is the duck with arugula! (I easily drank 7 glasses of wine and they were fuller than the picture above)

Chocolate mouse with candied rosmary!

Hopefully I can get in on this years wine maker dinners!
© Kim Bohme and A Bohme Cooked Meal

Chocolate Cheesecake Cake

It is really hard to decide what my first food focused blog is going to be about.    I decided to write about baking with friends and my first attempt at cheesecake.  I don’t know what it is about cheesecake but I have always been intimidated by it.  The idea of giving a bath to my dessert is unsettling and seemed unnecessary to me.  However one of my good friends Molly wanted to have a baking date and will only eat desserts that are chocolate.  This seemed like an exciting challenge.

I prepared the cheesecake (it was terrifying and successful) the night before our baking date and the rest is history. This was the picture I sent to my friend documenting my success!

Pictures of our baking date!

 Look how pretty that cake is!  Best date ever!

Nobody finished their slice of cake!

Please note that this chocolate cheesecake cake is RICH.  When I say rich I mean….owning a mansion and having 100 housekeepers and someone to help you put on your underwear kind of rich.  I enjoy all types of decadent desserts and this was way too much for me.  If you enjoy dark chocolate this is the cake for you.

I brought most of this cake with me to work and it was devoured by the chocolate lovers in my office.  I think this cake is a winner that I also made the Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake.   The only thing I did differently than Recipegirl.com was to leave out the chocolate shavings on the top and omitted the instant espresso powder from the cake recipe. 

I hope you enjoy!

Chocolate Cheesecake Cake

Source: Recipe Girl

Yield: 12 to 14 servings

Prep Time: 1 hr + cooling and chill times

Cook Time: 1 hour 15 min

Ingredients:

CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE:
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate (70% cocoa), chopped
Two 8-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons granulated white sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 large eggs

CHOCOLATE CAKE:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups buttermilk, divided
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

CHOCOLATE SOUR CREAM FROSTING:
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons light (white or golden) corn syrup

Directions:

1. Prepare the cheesecake layer: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Place a large roasting pan on the lower third rack of the oven. Place a kettle of water on the stove to boil. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick spray and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper. Wrap a double layer of foil around the bottom and up the sides of the pan (you want to seal it so the water from the water bath doesn't seep into the pan). Place chocolate in a medium glass bowl. Melt in the microwave in 30 second bursts until the chocolate is melted and smooth, stirring after each burst. Set the chocolate aside and let it cool off until it is lukewarm but still pourable. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to mix the cream cheese- blend until it is nice and smooth and creamy. Mix in sugar and cocoa powder and blend until incorporated, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed. Add eggs, one at a time, blending after each addition. Mix in the lukewarm chocolate. Mix until smooth. The batter will be very thick- scrape it into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Set the pan into the roasting pan in the pre-heated oven. Carefully pour the hot water from your kettle into the roasting pan (it will fill the pan surrounding the cheesecake). Pour enough water so that there is about an inch of water coming up the foil along the sides of the cheesecake pan. Bake the cheesecake for 45 minutes. It should be set to the touch and not jiggly. Remove the cheesecake from the roasting pan and let it cool on a wire rack for at least an hour. When it has cooled, place the pan into the freezer and let the cheesecake freeze completely. This can be done in several hours- or overnight.

2. Prepare the cake layers: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round metal baking pans (or spray with nonstick baking spray with flour). In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add espresso powder, eggs, 1/4 cup of the buttermilk, butter and vanilla to the flour mixture. Using an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat for 1 minute, until blended. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl with a rubber spatula. Beat on high speed for 2 minutes. Add the remaining buttermilk and beat on low speed for 15 to 30 seconds, until just blended. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pans, dividing equally. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Let cool in pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pans, then invert cakes onto a rack to cool completely.

3. Prepare the frosting: In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine the chocolate chips and butter. Microwave 1 to 2 minutes, stopping every 30 seconds to stir, until melted and smooth. Whisk the sour cream and corn syrup into the chocolate mixture until smooth. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until firm enough to spread.

4. Assemble the cake: Place one cake layer into the center of a cake plate or platter. Remove the cheesecake from the freezer, take off the sides of the pan, and slide a knife under the parchment to remove the cheesecake from the pan. Peel off the parchment. Measure your cheesecake layer against the cake layers. If the cheesecake layer turns out to be a slightly larger round than your cake, move it to a cutting board and gently shave off some of the exterior of the cheesecake (with a sharp knife) to get it to the same size as your cake layers. Place the cheesecake layer on top of the first cake layer. Place the 2nd cake layer on top of the cheesecake.

5. Frost the cake: Apply a crumb coat layer to the cake- use a long, thin spatula to cover the cake completely with a thin and even layer of frosting. Be sure to wipe off your spatula each time you are about to dip it back into the bowl to get more frosting (this way you won't be transferring any crumbs into the bowl of frosting). Don't worry at this point about the crumbs being visible in the frosting on the cake. When your cake has a thin layer of frosting all over it, place it into the refrigerator for 30 minutes to "set" the frosting. Once the first layer of frosting is set, apply the 2nd layer. Start by adding a large scoop of frosting onto the top of the cake. Use a long, thin spatula to spread the frosting evenly across the top and then spread it down the sides of the cake too. Because you applied a crumb-coat layer, you shouldn't have any crumbs floating around in the final frosting layer.

Adapted from: RecipeGirl.com  http://www.recipegirl.com/2012/01/05/chocolate-cheesecake-cake/

© Kim Bohme and A Bohme Cooked Meal

The Girl Behind the Food

My name is Kim and I am a weird and goofy person who enjoys eating delicious food.  Let me tell you a bit about who I am so you can start to understand what I am looking to get out of posting on A Bohme Cooked Meal.

I am so stinken cute!

I met my husband at a youth leadership training camp that promotes healthy lifestyle choices called Operation Snowball.  We dated throughout our last two years of college and got married in 2009. We adopted a cat and have been happily married ever since.

I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and moved to Central Oregon in 2010.  Why did we move?  Because we can!  The husband and I wanted to find someplace calmer and nicer and boy did we find it. We currently don’t have children and it seemed like the right thing to do for us.  Not to mention that I HATED Chicago winters with a passion and the winters out here are so mild.

I learned much of what I know about food in general from my mother.  She enjoys food just about as much as I do.  I am so thankful she tried to each me a ton about food and cooking while I grew up under her roof.  I didn’t appreciate it when I lived with her…mainly due to my HATERED for doing dishes.  It wasn’t until I moved out on my own that I started to develop my love for baking and it wasn’t until I got married and got a stable job that I really enjoyed eating.  (Ramen just isn’t what it used to be now that I can afford to eat steak. Who knew!)  Anyways, whenever I happen to have access to cable TV I am glued to Food Network and I follow so many different food blogs that some may say I have an addiction.

One of the things I enjoy most and don’t get to do often enough is invite people over to my house and cook meals for them.  I can spend hours thumbing through cookbooks, www.theoldreader.com, and Pinterest trying to assemble the perfect menu.  I love the feeling I get when people stop talking at the dinner table and shovel food into their face.  The best compliment I could get in regards to my cooking.  I may not appreciate the same reactions if I asked the group how I was dressed and silence overcame the room and people start scarfing food in their mouths.

A bit more about me!

What’s my favorite color? 

Blue (none of that baby blue stuff either) 

What do you like to do other than cook and eat? 

I love to roller skate, watch reality TV, editing sound in films (nerd alert), music (listening and singing)!  I have recently gotten really into Zumba!  I am sure there is more but that is the basics.

Are you into sports? 

I love watching Hockey!  Roller Derby!

Me skating as a jammer! Photo from Polished Photography. 

My sister and I at a hockey game!

What do you do for a living?

I work at a Child Abuse Intervention Center.  If a child is suspected of being abused they come to the center and get a full head to toe examination and receive a forensic interview where the child can share their story in a child friendly environment.  I have the privilege to work in child abuse prevention where I train adults on how to keep children safe from all forms of abuse.  I love my job…it is not at all what I went to school for.  But life is a journey right!

Do you have any pets?

We have two animals.  Patty our mostly toothless cat and Lucy, a two year old standard poodle (the newest addition to the family) who is a total cuddle monster!

Why call the blog A Bohme Cooked Meal?           

It was better than calling it…a blog that justifies me making really delicious food and an even better excuse to eat it!  Actually my last name is Bohme and when you say it out loud it sounds like A Home Cooked Meal.  It just sounded right.  My roller derby name (more on that later) is Bohme Crusher when said out loud is Bone Crusher.  It just seemed right.  It’s me!

So what do I intend for this blog to be…?

1I hope that this blog will challenge me to write down my recipes for dinners.  On more than one occasion I have come up with a stellar recipe and want to recreate it a few months down the road but can’t remember how many shakes of “this” and pinches of “that.”  It drives me CRAZY!

2A mechanism to practice photography.  Before I went to art school I was pretty sure I wanted to be a photographer but decided to learn audio arts and acoustics instead!

3To challenge baking comfort zone.  Things that used to freak me out…cheesecake and yeast.  Now I can make these without a sinking pit in my stomach.

A place where I can talk about my life and experiences. (My challenge this year is to create better life balance. More on that down the road.)A place where I can have an outlet for my skills/talents.  I know how to create films and edit them professionally and I rarely get to do that in my current field.
A place/outlet for me to be real.

7A place where I can use as many “…” and “!!!!” as I want!  (AHHH the power)

What this blog will not be…

1A showcase for bananas or sweet potatoes.  I do not enjoy them and rarely bake with them.  I am so thankful that my husband dislikes them too!  That is true love!

Grammaticly correct.  (ßSee what I did there)  I am not an English major.  I do not enjoy editing my own writing.  And I am not writing this blog to impress anyone.  If this bugs you…don’t read my stuff. Mmmk!?!

3Anything but real.  This is my life…you don’t have to like it but one thing is for damn sure and it is that I will not change who I am to feel accepted.  I love the person who I am and have worked hard to find people in my life that can appreciate who I am.  I am glad that I have learned this lesson so early on in my life.

Super edited.  I want to write from the heart and so I don’t plan to go back and sensor myself.  You may get some rambling and you will have to deal with that.  It is how I would talk to you if you were here…so there!

I am sure if you are reading the blog from the beginning you will learn plenty about me as we move forward.  So enough about me. 

I do want to say thank-you to those who have helped me become who I am today. 

Thanks to those in my daily life who will receive tons of baked goods…willingly and unwillingly, because I don’t want to eat all of it.  I would be the size of a blimp if I did.  I have to share the love right.

Thanks to my husband for being supportive of all the crazy things I do.  I am not the easiest person to be with but you love me regardless! 

© Kim Bohme and A Bohme Cooked Meal