Review: Gilmon's Bakery

Jacksonville's newest Bakery has arrived, and it's called Gilmon's Bakery. Conveniently located at 11362 San Jose Blvd, in the same plaza as the Tree Steakhouse and Beach Road Diner, it's going to be Mandarin's go-to source for their fix of sweet treats.

As you walk into the shop, you're greeted with the heavenly aroma of baking, a swirl of vanilla goodness. The walls are painted a shade of Tiffany blue and the floors have a retro feel with a black and white checkerboard pattern. There are some brushed stainless tables to sit and enjoy your treats with your friends. You can't miss the display case holding all of the luscious sweets. I picked out 6 different flavors to try and share with my co-workers. They have a great selection of cupcakes including the following, plus more:

• Peanut Butter : chocolate cake topped with peanut butter frosting and a Reese's Cup
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough: yellow butter cake with a chocolate chip cookie baked inside, topped with chocolate frosting and mini chocolate chips.
• Cookies and Cream: chocolate cake topped with Oreo frosting
• Coconut Rasberry: Coconut cake with rasperry frosting topped with coconut shreds
• Classics: Yellow butter cake topped with chocolate fudge icing, chocolate cake topped with vanilla frosting and chocolate sprinkles, or vanilla cake topped with vanilla frosting
• German Chocolate: Chocolate cake topped with chocolate cream cheese frosting and a sprinkling of chopped walnuts, and shredded coconut
• Salted Caramel: German chocolate cake topped with a smooth salted caramel frosting
• Red Velvet: a red velvet cake topped with cream cheese frosting.

When we had our sampling, the hands down favorite was the Red Velvet. Gilmon's homemade cream cheese frosting just melted in your mouth and was like a little bite of heaven. In a close second place came the Peanut Butter.... the peanut butter frosting complimented the chocolate cake so well, the perfect ratio of peanut butter to chocolate. The cake part of all of the cupcakes was superb. It was moist, and light, not too dense or dry. Each of the frostings were creamy and delicious.



Gilmon's also has a daily selection of cakes available whole or per slice. My mom tried the Italian Cream Cake and said it was simply wonderful. The cake was moist and buttery, while the cream cheese frosting with chopped nuts was to die for.




Gilmon's also takes orders for wedding cakes, special occasion cakes, and cupcakes. Stop by or call Gilmon's owners Dena Bowman or Kathy Jones at 904-288-8128.

Quiche Lorraine

Ah, the wonders of Quiche. A recipe that uses ingredients that most people have readily available to them. A bit of this, a bit of that, and you've got yourself a delicious breakfast or brunch entree. We had some refrigerated pie crusts that we had bought extras for some Christmas baking that we didn't use.

Classic Quiche Lorraine traditionally is made with bacon, but Julia Child says that it has NO CHEESE. Well where's the fun in that? I grabbed some leftover bacon from the morning's breakfast, some shredded swiss, and some frozen chopped spinach and got to work.

For those that like to take the easy route, grab your thawed pre-packaged pie crust and place it into a high sided pie pan. Press it lightly around the edges, making sure not to tear. Take a piece of foil, press it into the pie crust, and bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove the foil, and check for bubbles in the crust. Press down any bubbles, and put the crust back into the oven for 3 minutes. Remove pan from oven and set to the side.

The egg base of the quiche is the following:

• 5 large eggs
• 2 cups of heavy whipping cream (you could also use half and half)
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• I also added 1/4 tsp of dried mustard, 1/2 tsp garlic powder to my mix for extra flavor!

Crack your eggs into a bowl and whisk until they are all combined, then add all other ingredients. Once you have this egg mixture, the possibilities of your own quiche are endless. My quiche had 7 slices of bacon that I finely chopped, 1 1/2 cups of shredded swiss cheese, 1 chopped green onion and a half a package of frozen chopped spinach that I had thawed and squeezed out all the moisture.

Take your filling ingredients and place them into the baked pie crust. I like to mix mine up for even coverage throughout the quiche. I even save a little of the cheese to sprinkle on top before baking. Pour your egg mixture over the filling, then bake at 325 degrees for 45-50 minutes. When it's done, it should not be jiggly, it should be firm. Let stand for 10 minutes before eating. This is also a dish that's served well at room temperature or even cold. One of my favorite lunches is a slice of this paired with a small salad!

Some other ingredients that are wonderful in quiche are :

• leftover ham, chopped
• sliced mushrooms
• sharp cheddar
• cooked leeks
• blanched and chopped asparagus
• cooked and crumbled sausage
• crab

As I said before, there are endless possibilities in the world of quiche.... just take whatever is leftover in your fridge and go wild!

24 Before 24, Day Three

I'd like to make a haiku dedicated to muesli.

Wonderful Muesli
Delicious and Nutritious
Why did I hate you?

Seriously, why did I ever doubt the stuff? It's packed with things that are so good for your body! Normal ingredients in muesli can include the following: uncooked rolled oats ,dried fruits, and nuts.

On my recent trip to IKEA, my Swedish visitors picked up a bag of Finax Nordic Muesli from the Swedish Food Market at the front of the store. Traditionally, they eat it with plain unsweetened yogurt for breakfast. I've NEVER seen people eat as much yogurt as the Swedes do.... just 3 of them killed an entire 2 POUND (32oz) container of yogurt in a morning. It would take me about 2 weeks to finish a container that big!

Today's breakfast is a 1/2 cup of muesli ( I finally found one without nuts! Not a fan of them!), 3/4 cup of 2% milk, and 1/2 a sliced banana. A filling breakfast and sooooo good!

24 Before 24, Day Two

Day two begins with a breakfast of low fat organic vanilla yogurt with sliced fresh strawberries and sprinkled with a bit of Museli. There's also a slice of whole grain toast with black forest ham slices, a small glass of orange/pineapple/carrot juice, and a cup of PG tips breakfast tea. I'm taking baby steps to eating better breakfast...I used to not eat any breakfast at all. Eating breakfast in the morning signals your body's metabolism to wake up and get going.



Lunch is a salad consisting of mixed baby romaine lettuce, chopped grilled chicken, crumbled herbed feta cheese, diced cucumbers, and chopped hardboiled egg. A filling and perfect salad for lunch!

24 Before 24, Day One

So I'm starting my New Year's resolution over a week later. I've decided that my new motto is "24 before 24" which means I want to lose 24 lbs before my 24th birthday, which is April 8th. I hit up the grocery store tonight, and over $125 later, I came out well stocked. My plan is to eat as much low fat, healthy grains and protein as possible.

For my first meal, I've got a mixed baby romaine salad with crumbled feta, diced cucumbers, steamed seasoned shrimp, tossed in a homemade dijon vinaigrette. Served with a side of fresh blueberries and a clementine and a big glass of ice water with lemon slices.

Food like this is not only beautiful to the eye, but is honest feel good food. I'm excited to begin this journey!

Breakfast Omelette

Ahhhh, Saturdays. While the rest of the world gets to enjoy a lazy Saturday at home, sipping coffee, reading the paper, I'm off to work. Sometimes I wake up early enough to have a little breakfast with my family, and this week we made omelettes!

An omelette is a fear of many people and I don't know why! It's such a simple thing you can whip up with whatever leftover ingredients you have in your fridge! Ours today was leftover ham chopped up, green onions, and diced mushrooms.

For delicious and fluffy omelettes, you'll take two or three eggs, add a splash of heavy cream, a sprinkle of salt and pepper, and whisk them in a bowl. Set aside. Spray a nonstick frying pan with some Pam spray or if you're feeling naughty, add a tablespoon of butter. Sautee your diced ingredients in your pan, and then add your egg mixture. I like to swirl the eggs around to provide even coverage. Don't stir! Put that spoon down!

Let this sit until your eggs are no longer runny, and add a sprinkle of cheese of your choice. Ours was shredded cheddar this morning. Carefully flip one side on top of the other, and you've got a delicious omelette! I like to let mine sit just a minute in the pan so it gets crispy!

Nigella Lawson's Rapid Ragu

While browsing some cooking blogs, I caught wind of a cooking group called I Heart Cooking Clubs and saw that they will be featuring Nigella Lawson recipes for the next 6 months. Well, Nigella Lawson is one of my favorite personalities on the Food Network, I make sure to DVR whenever she's on. Watching the way she cooks and describes things makes me want to curl my hair, put on a cute outfit and get in the kitchen. She's so lovely and I'd like nothing more than to sit and gossip with her.

Anyways, this week's recipe was for "Man Food". Could be a number of things, steak, hearty stews, etc. I quickly browsed through my collection of Nigella cookbooks and decided on the "Rapid Ragu" It looked so hearty and delicious, I knew it'd be perfect to make. I adjusted the recipe a little to use ingredients that I had on hand. For Nigella's exact recipe, click here.

Here's what I used:

• 1 lb of ground beef
• 1 small container of sliced baby bella mushrooms
• 1 14oz can of diced tomatos
• 1 8oz can of tomato sauce
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 cup of small cubed pancetta ( you could also use diced bacon)
• 1/3 cup of Marsala wine
• 1/2 cup of water
• 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• Grated cheddar (optional)

First you will cook the pancetta with the oil until it's crispy. Once cooked, remove from the pan and set aside. Add your sliced onions and sautee them with the tablespoon of sugar until they are a beautiful golden shade. Nigella uses onion confit in her recipe, which I can't seem to find here. I made to make due! Add the mushrooms and garlic clove to the onions and cook until they have gotten soft. Add the ground beef, stirring it to break it up, also add the pancetta back into the pan at this time. Cook until beef is no longer rare.

Then you'll add the can of tomatoes, tomato sauce, Marsala, and water to the pan and simmer for 20 minutes. You can serve it as is, or be like me and serve it on top of buttered egg noodles.

Trust me on this, it's a perfect man food. It'll stick to your ribs and is perfect for the chilly winter months coming up. Make it for your man this weekend and he may wash your floors and do the laundry for you :)