Tempest in a Blue Teapot

Woot woot, dinner party

2011-10-25T20:35:00.001-04:00

So I was pinning stuff (if you haven't heard of pinterest, search for it...and don't blame me), and I came across a fall menu for a dinner party. I was immediately intrigued and FB-messaged these girls I know and was all "hey, we haven't gotten together lately...whatcha doin this weekend?" sly, right?

And of course one of them is on pinterest so she was enjoying my dinner party pins, which included this little gem here. I was perusing the menu as well, which included:

Fig and Goat Cheese Bruschetta

Grilled Chicken and Pesto Farfalle

Chardonnay

Caramel-Apple Cheesecake

Coffee, tea

Oh God...it was like a fallgasm. And only after I pinned and read and re-read the recipe for the chicken and pesto farfalle did I realize...I made it already. In 2008.

See?

Hmm. Well at least I know it's good! So I volunteered to do the pasta and dessert, and the ladies volunteered to fill in the rest. Mags baked bread (we had the leftover bread tonight, it made our hamburger helper blush), and Lars came packing heat with some fan-freaking-tastic cheese with roasted vegetables in the cheese - yeah, I know, I thought cheese was only for hiding pills you want the dog to take too - and scallops with an apple-cider reduction. I think. She basically just waved her hands in the kitchen and things danced and sang like in Beauty and the Beast. I heart my friends.

Anyway, I digress - to the cheesecake:

Caramel-Apple Cheesecake
Ingredients
Crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 8 cookie sheets)
1 tablespoon egg white
1 tablespoon water
Cooking spray
{I did not measure the egg white, and added too much, and ended up coating a spoon with butter and pressing my crust down that way because it stuck to my fingers}

Cheesecake:
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup light sour cream
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 (8-ounce) blocks 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1 (8-ounce) block fat-free cream cheese, softened
4 large eggs

Topping:
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons half-and-half
1 3/4 cups thinly sliced peeled Granny Smith apple (about 8 ounces)
Dash of nutmeg
{and I totally forgot the half-and-half too...so I substituted my coffee creamer}

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. To prepare crust, combine the first 3 ingredients in a bowl; toss with a fork until moist. Press mixture lightly into bottom of a 9-inch springform pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 6 minutes. Remove from oven; cool on a wire rack. Wrap outside of pan with a double layer of foil. Reduce oven temperature to 325°.
3. To prepare cheesecake, place 1 3/4 cups sugar and next 7 ingredients (through fat-free cream cheese) in food processor; process until smooth. Add eggs, 1 at a time; process until blended. Pour cheese mixture into prepared pan. Place springform pan in a large roasting pan; add hot water to larger pan to a depth of 1 inch.
4. Bake at 325° for 1 hour or until cheesecake center barely moves when pan is touched. Remove from oven; let stand in water bath 10 minutes. Run a knife around outside edge of cheesecake. Remove pan from water bath; cool on a wire rack to room temperature. Cover and chill at least 8 hours.
5. To prepare topping, combine 1/3 cup sugar, 3 tablespoons water, and lemon juice in a small, heavy saucepan; cook over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves, stirring frequently. Cook 4 minutes or until golden (do not stir). Remove from heat. Add butter to pan; gently stir until butter melts. Stir in half-and-half. Cool slightly.
6. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add apple to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Stir in sugar mixture and nutmeg. Serve topping with cheesecake.

I used my mom's trick instead of the water bath - bake as usual, after one hour, turn the oven off, put a stick in the oven door, and let sit for one hour. And of course, there was a crack down the middle...but I covered it with not-quite-caramelized apples so it was all good.

Verdict:

Pumpkin cookies!

2011-10-24T21:25:00.001-04:00

yay for baking again!

now, let's see...for what did I make this glorious recipe...??? I think it may have been just for fun.
oh wait - bake sale!

I bought a Taste of Home fall baking catalog/book/wasteofmoney last month at the store and bookmarked recipes that looked good. I failed to realize that the pumpkin cookies I marked were full of *gasp* raisins. And as you all know, they are just humiliated grapes.

So, I looked for a new one. And I found...these babies! They did the trick. Next time, however, I may look for something that features the pumpkin flavor more prominently. And I totally did not make them as cute as the spirally frosting picture.

but they still get...

you're damn right.

2011-06-06T00:07:00.000-04:00

I have not made anything new in the last year. Er, wait...when was the last time I was here? D'oh.

Well that will all change, because my bff is getting married in January, and I'm sick of this extra baby weight (oh who am I kidding, it's cake weight) I'm carrying around. Plus? I don't like scrounging up food or scouring the frig for any old thing - I need to start eating real food. Like, the kind that normal people eat. Plus? I'd like to start instilling healthy eating habits in the burrito.

Here's the burrito just for reference:

Cutest damn thing evah? I think so.

And now he is stirring, so I'll say good night, and good luck. To myself. Trying to eat like a healthy person. Grapes, spinach, wheat bread in the frig - I'm referencing you.

Fontina Mac 'n' Cheese

2010-12-28T10:08:00.000-05:00

Oh gosh, this was good. It was a different kind of MNC, so if you're looking for the really creamy or chunks of cheese variety, this is not it. This is heavy on flavor and texture, and I might try a different type of noodle next time to capitalize on that.

Fontina Mac and Cheese
courtesy Annie, my favorite doctor. More info at her site, please visit, she makes me hungry just looking at titles.

Ingredients:
1 lb. small or medium pasta shells
5 tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
1 cup heavy cream
8 oz. Fontina cheese, shredded
Salt
Pinch of grated nutmeg
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400˚ F. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the pasta according to the package directions just until 1-2 minutes shy of al dente.

Meanwhile, dice 4 tablespoons of the butter and place in a large mixing bowl. Warm the cream in a small saucepan or the microwave. Cover to keep warm.

Once the pasta is cooked, add to the bowl with the butter and toss to coat well. Stir in the warm cream and the Fontina until the cheese starts to melt. Mix in salt to taste, and add the nutmeg.

Pour the mixture into a buttered 2-quart casserole dish. In a small bowl, melt the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter. Mix in the panko breadcrumbs and shredded Parmesan. Toss with a fork to coat evenly with the butter. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture evenly over the pasta in the baking dish.

Bake until the sauce is bubbling and the topping turns golden brown, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Notes: I omitted the parm cheese and the nutmeg, primarily because I forgot about the nutmeg, and had no parm cheese. I mixed butter and panko, the end.
I also took half and put it in a freezer-safe dish so that we could have some for later, when I didn't feel like cooking. Which will probably be sometime this week, lol. Again, I will PIP then as I will be insanely excited about taking food pictures with my new camera lens, and hubs will be laughing at me while waiting for food.

Verdict:

hollaaaaaaaaa

2010-12-28T10:01:00.000-05:00

yeah, sorry guys. If there are any of you still reading, that is, lol. I've been pretty darn busy with the burrito for a while - not a food-related burrito, the baby. Yeah, it figures he'd have a bunch of food-related nicknames.

SO, the first thing I've actually made in a while that I haven't made before/doesn't involve a box is...

COOKIES!

How did you guess it would be a baked good?

This December was my first time making two types of cookies, Peanut Butter Blossoms and Thumbprints. I've had the Thumbprints bookmarked for a while to be made, but the PB ones were a special request from hubs. They were made for the cookie exchange at work, and were received pretty well. I thought the thumbprints could've used a bit more sugar. Or, I should have put more sugar in the nut topping that I rolled them in. Anywho, the thumbprints were better. Go fig!

Also - I got a brand spankin new nikon lens for my D40 from Santa, so pictures to come should be freakin spectacular. Only thing I'm missing is a giant light!

Peanut Butter Blossoms
courtesy Hershey, founder of all things good. Like me. The recipe is on their website, and it's more fun than mine, so I'm not gonna c&p it here - the only change is that I used room-temp butter instead of shortening, because, well, shortening grosses me out. No, I've never made biscuits, and of course, I'd use shortening for those. Now move along, self-righteous shortening devotees.

Thumbprints
courtesy Martha, natch.

Makes about 3 dozen.

Ingredients:

* 1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
* 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
* 1 large egg, separated
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
* 1/2 cup whole blanched almonds
* 1/2 cup jam, or preserves

Notes: I doubled the recipe, and used both apricot and black raspberry jelly, and also used almonds for the apricot ones, but pecans for the black raspberry ones.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and 1/2 cup sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg yolk and vanilla; beat well. Whisk together flour and salt, and add to mixture, beating on low until combined.
2. In a small food processor, combine almonds with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, and process until almonds are finely ground. In a small bowl, lightly beat egg white. Form dough into 1-inch balls. Dip in egg white, then in almond-and-sugar mixture. Place balls on parchment-lined baking sheet. Make a deep indentation in the center of each ball with your finger or bottom of a thick wooden spoon.
3. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven, and press down the centers again. Fill the center of each cookie with about 1 teaspoon of jam. Rotate sheets, and bake until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes more. Remove from oven, and place on a wire rack to cool.

These came out really well, but the black rasp jelly did run over in a couple. The apricot stayed together a bit better. Next time, I might splurge on the black rasp jam with fruit instead of the jelly kind. Also - I will make sure I mix the nuts and sugar better before I dip the cookies. I used my coffee bean grinder to chop the nuts as I didn't want to clean the whole darn food processor. And also, the processor may still have been dirty from last week's mac and cheese. Oh, I have to post that recipe too, gar.

PB Blossoms:

Thumbprints:

Food. Finally.

2010-11-03T11:11:00.004-04:00

I made something today! Granted, I've been making things for a little while now, but they're all old and tired. And some are from a box.

But today, I made...something new! From scratch! I found some apples at Weaver's Orchard which I had not tried before, and I was tired of the regular old Granny Smith. However, don't remember what they were called, so all you get is "green not granny smith apples," internets. Sorry.

I'd been craving baked goods lately, and the only apple recipe in my arsenal for which I had all ingredients was this one. There was an apple crisp from Emeril as well, which I may make with the remainig two apples. I got four altogether.

It's in the oven right now, so I'll be back later to update you all with how it tastes!

Apple Walnut Bread

found at MyRecipes.com, by Mary Ostyn

Ingredients
3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups apples - peeled, cored and chopped
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions
In a bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In large mixing bowl, place oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla, applesauce and apples. Stir together. Add flour mixture and stir until combined. Add walnuts and mix again. Divided mixture between two greased 8-in. x 4-in. bread pans. Sprinkle tops of loaves with a little bit of granulated sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes on wire rack before removing from pan. Serve warm or cooled.

First post since December...WAY TO SLACK!

2010-08-03T11:09:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I have been MIA for a while. WHILE. A. While. Sorry. I've been kind of side-tracked/busy/in hell. Seriously.

Anywho, it's a whole big long story, but with recent events, I need something to get me back on track to what I would like my life to be. For now, it's just me, Leroy, and the kid (set to be an outside baby end of Sept/beg of Oct). And I really really need to start focusing on how we're going to get along as a family of 3! Or 2.5, however you want to count the wiener dog. He's only 8lbs.

I saw on Kelsey's blog a list of 30 before 30, and since I'm going to be there soon (knocking on death's door, I know ::rolls eyes::) I figured I'd start one. Or add to one, as I've had some plans for what I wanted out of life before I was 30 prior to now.

So, here's my tentative list! If you want, help a sista out with some suggestions, or show me your own lists.

30 Before 30
1. Get Married. Status: Check.
2. Have Baby. Status: getting there.
3. Buy House. Status: done! Just have to finish it now...
4. Obtain Degree. Status: in progress.
5. Make Bread.
6. um...that's all I can think of for now!

I'm sure I'll come back and add things later. Help me out here people.

Ok, time to get back to clearing my google reader - er, work.

Chocolate-Covered Candy Cane Cookies

2009-12-16T15:54:00.004-05:00

Once in a while, I like to make things with spectacular alliteration. It's just good business.

These are actually listed as Half Hearted Valentine's Cookies in my mom's cookie cookbook (I have no idea what the name is, and I couldn't find it online) that has recipes from tons of national brands - I found the recipe online here, and the recipe from Land O' Lakes is here, they are the national brand that put these in the book. So, people, go there. I'll feel guilty if you don't.

Who am I kidding? I have no e-feelings. Just make some cookies and we'll call it square.

Since it's winter and all, and nowhere near Valentine's day, I made these babies into candy canes, since they're flavored with peppermint.

Original Recipe:

Half Hearted Valentines Cookies

Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup butter, softened
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup butter

Directions:
In large mixer bowl, combine all cookie ingredients except flour. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until light and fluffy. Add flour, beat until mixed. Divide dough into halves. Wrap in waxed paper. Refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.

Heat oven to 375 F. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out with floured heart shaped cutters. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes, or until edges are very lightly browned. Remove immediately; cool completely.

For glaze, in a small saucepan, melt chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally, over low heat until melted (4 to 6 minutes). Dip half of each heart into chocolate.

Refrigerate on waxed paper lined cookie sheet until firm. Store covered, in refrigerator.

This recipe from CDKitchen for Half Hearted Valentine Cookies serves/makes 3.5 dozen

These cookies are fantastic! I made them with half whole wheat flour instead, and accidentally put a whole package of cream cheese in, so had to double the recipe and got a million pounds of batter out of it. I'll be making these for the rest of the month.

I started off by dipping the top of the canes in the chocolate, but figured it might look prettier if I dipped the bottoms. These cookies almost taste like a shortbread, but are lighter - probably due to the influx of cream cheese (whoops). For the rest of the batter, I might try holly (thanks to MrsBones, my elf for the WC holiday exchange, I have a bucket of new cookie cutters!) and put some berries on them. Or, gingerbread people with pants. And not made of gingerbread. Or something.

Verdict:

More stuff for my living room!

2009-11-20T14:49:00.001-05:00

I have the picture of what I want to do with the west wall at home, so I'll upload that later.

In the meantime...here is the north wall, again:

And here is what I'd like to do. I want to put two swing-arm plug-in wall lights on either side of the window. I want to stick with a base in the black family, as I think that's what will go best with the white window trim and the tan-ish wall color.

I have the following lamps (lampsplus.com, love love love) picked as inspiration:

I'd also like to do a rug that's bigger than the brown one there, because my furniture is bigger now and needs a rug to match, and also because there's enough brown - I need some color. (clicky pic for more views!)

The blue one would be nice. I may head over to a flooring place to see if they have any remnants of nice light-colored rugs that they can edge or whatever you call it and I can have for less than $800, TYVM.

I'd also like some pillows to add color to the couch.

Mmm, corduroys.

Living room help needed!

2009-11-18T14:25:00.006-05:00

Ok, so I have new furniture in my living room (relatively new...got it earlier this year). I haven't put anything on the walls yet, except for 2 stars, because I'm deathly afraid of the walls falling down. They are plaster, and yes, have fallen before (half of the bathroom is drywall, part of one bedroom wall as well, and the ceiling almost fell on my mom so that went too!). **I fixed the pictures. Sorry about that.**

So, I think I know what I want it to look like, but I need some help. I currently have this:

↑This would be the west wall of the living room. See the wall? Bare. And the couch is low, so I need some stuff to put up there. Also, instead of the lamp and end table on the side, I want something else. I'd like to put a DVD shelf there, one that holds arond 200 because that's what we have now. It might need a lamp, obviously, but I'll figure that out after the DVD shelf.

↑Here's the front of the living room; north wall. See that floor lamp? Can't stand it there. I want wall lamps, and they have to be the plug-in type. I actually already have a portfolio at LampsPlus.com, which shows what I want. I just want to know which one to pick!

↓This would be the corner with the stars - I'd move a star for the wall light, duh.

SOOOOOOO...I'm trying to find a place where I can make polyvore-type boards for houses, so I can see what it all looks like together, with the lights I want, and the shelves I want from tar-jay, and the photo collages I want to put on the walls (hopefully without fallage). Any suggestions? Things that would go well? Anything?

Oh, and FYI, yes I did buy my dog a Snuggie.

Soups on!

2009-10-21T09:35:00.004-04:00

Since soups are a big favorite of mine in the fall, I thought I'd recap soups I've done and those I hope to do in the coming months!

Last week I made a HUGE pot of Pasta e Fagioli ala Rachel Ray, which, although it differs from most of the pasta e fagioli I've seen in restaurants, is my favorite recipe for it. Mine is more like a pasta dish however - I always overdose on the pasta!

Another favorite of mine is Tyler Florence's Corn Chowder. It filled my dutch oven to the brim, and was spectacular. I can only imagine how much better it would have been with fresh corn, yum.

Broccoli-Cheese soup - I got this as part of a recipe exchange, and loved it, but thought I could do better next time, so hopefully this is one of the items I'll get to make again this season.

The soups I am looking forward to making this season:

Black bean and bowtie soup (this is basically black bean vegetable soup with farfalle; one of the ladies at church brought this in a while back and I looooved it)

Homemade chicken noodle soup (did this once, with broth and anelli, but looking to do it again with homemade chicken stock!)

Beef Barley soup (probably won't be a favorite of hubs, but I've always wanted a great, simple recipe for this)

Do any of you, out there in cyber-inter-web-land, have any great soup suggestions? What is your favorite soup for cold weather?

Recap

2009-10-16T09:01:00.002-04:00

I am so so sorry I haven't been updating. I have been a bad blogger. But I have some darn good excuses! My lack of blogging is proportional to the amount of work I have been doing offline...I've actually made things, but they're old recipes that are already here! But don't worry, I have good things in the works:

Monday: I made chicken noodle soup for the first time! It was cheater noodle soup in a way though - picked up a rotisserie chicken from the store on the way home. I used these babies (anelletti), and chicken broth, onions, carrots, garlic, bay leaf, thyme, and a touch of rosemary. It wasn't incredibly impressive, it could have been more flavorful - but it sufficed to keep the chill away for a little bit.

Last night: Applesauce Spice Muffins, mmm mmm good. I filled the mini muffin pan almost three times (60 mini-muffins!) and made 12 big muffins to take to work. They taste just like applesauce. Post to come!

Tonight: will be prepping to make two bundt cakes this weekend. Will not be putting flower pots in the middle. Then, GREEK FESTIVAL!!!! Then, possibly going to drop food off/see my best friend and her kids. Small wonder is 6 weeks old! She's a cutie.

Saturday: wake up as early as freaking possible, make Chocolate Pumpkin Marble Cake for the bake sale Sunday, then make Pear Cake for a family reunion this weekend. *whew*

Sunday: set up for a 'Fall Fest' at church, run the bake sale, rush home, pick up hubs, go to reunion, and then MAYBE take a nap. LOL.

Monday: I have off!!! I'm going to drop my poor doggie off for some tests (he's peeing like a fountain on everything), then bake some stuff for my meeting that night. Hopefully I'll get to decorate the house for Halloween as well.

Next Saturday: make mac 'n' cheese for small wonder's baptism party, make cake for yet another meeting. If I'm going. Haven't decided this one yet. Oh and make cake/cookies/etc for coffee hour at church.

Next Sunday: Teach Sunday School, do coffee hour, run to small wonder's baptism party, maybe go to church talent show, maybe go to meeting.

Holy crap. Remind me again why I say yes to everything?

I have a meeting with a gyro and a couple of loukoumades.

2009-10-05T17:12:00.005-04:00

Extra points if you say "yee-roh" instead of "jai-roh."

Greek Festival!!

Yeah, you heard me. Greek Festival. Every year, the Greek Orthodox church nearby holds a spectacular food-o-rama. Baklava, gyros, souvlaki, dolmades, pastitsio, loukoumades, the list goes on and on. And (wait for it) they're open until midnight this year. There *might* be some ouzo involved.

That's a full 12 hours of partying, PA Greek-style. Oh yum. The possibilities. I'm so sorry turkey-day challenge, you will need to be postponed due to fantastical deliciousness.

And just to show that I'm actually trying to get back into the swing of cooking...I'll be making pasta e fagioli tonight. I'll take pictures! Don't fret!

Pasta from Roma

2009-09-22T15:14:00.006-04:00

My sister recently spent some time overseas as part of a semester abroad program, and brought me back some pasta. I got a nice apron too, with all different kinds of pasta on it.

I told her I'd make the pasta and take pictures of it and put it online - and I believe she actually came over and had some of this particular dish.

So, a couple months late, here you go!

Paula's Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

2009-09-21T09:57:00.003-04:00

We had a going-away party for two coworkers last week, and I volunteered (as usual) to bring dessert. It is, after all, the most important meal of the day. I'm sure the people who make that food pyramid thingy will come to realize this in time.

I decided to pick a new recipe, one that I hadn't tried before, and my cans of pumpkin were calling my name (and maybe gathering dust), so I chose Paula Deen's pumpkin gooey butter cake. My mom made this last year for T-day, and I only remembered that it was good, so I figured it would be a nice addition to the work spread.

Paula Deen's Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

Recipe courtesy pauladeen.com

Ingredients & Directions:

Cake:
1 18 1/4-ounce package yellow cake mix
1 egg
8 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch baking pan. Prepare Filling

Filling:
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 16-ounce box powdered sugar

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar and mix well. Spread over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to over bake as the center should be a little gooey.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Ease of preparation: easy

Oh gosh, was this good. I got somewhat cautious about the center not being done, because each time I jiggled the oven rack, it still looked watery, so I may have overcooked it just a bit. Instead of "gooey," the center was sort of just moist. But oh my word, the sugar. The pumpkin. The cream cheese.

Confession: I used a can of pumpkin pie mix, I think it was the only thing I had left, so I didn't add the spices - it may have been better or worse for this, but I really can't say until I make it again, hehe. Served this with two kinds of whipped cream, the CoolWhipfrozen stuff, and the CoolWhipbrand-in-a-can style, just for comparison. I'm sure you know which turned out better - coolwhipinacan lost miserably to the favorite of pumpkin pie aficionados the world over. Didn't stop me from trying both. And squirting the canned version directly into my mouth (after everyone else was done, of course).

Sorry for the bad picture, I was in a hurry again and didn't get to take a pic with my real camera! This was almost the last piece of the cake, it went fast:

Verdict:

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

2009-09-02T09:43:00.003-04:00

I told one of my coworkers I made this and she said "you ruined perfectly good zucchini bread by putting chocolate in it?" - my husband said the opposite; "you put zucchini in there? with chocolate?" It didn't matter when I told him the zucchini magically disappeared, he was already biased. That's ok; more for me!

(pictures to come, when I get a free second and ok lighting!)

Chocolate Zucchini Bread
from JoyofBaking.com
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups shredded raw zucchini (about 1/2 pound or 227 grams)
1 cup (140 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (45 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted (not Dutch-processed)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 cup (120 ml) safflower or canola oil
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar
1/2 cup (105 grams) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup (125 grams) semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place rack in the center of the oven. Grease (or spray with a nonstick vegetable spray) a 9 x 5 x 3 inch (23 x 13 x 8 cm) loaf pan. Set aside.

Grate the zucchini, using a medium sized grater. Set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon, and ground allspice. Set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the oil, sugars, eggs, and vanilla extract until well blended (about 2 minutes). Fold in the grated zucchini. Add the flour mixture, beating just until combined. Then fold in the chocolate chips. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the bread has risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 to 65 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes, then remove the bread from the pan and cool completely.

Makes one - 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf.

This bread turned out fantastically, with a somewhat crispy crust and a moist inside. I didn't have ground allspice, so I took a whole one and attacked it with my microplaner - it smelled soooo good. However, there is a little discord with something in my recipe - it tastes a little, maybe, salty? Almost like there wasn't enough sugar. I did sub 3/4 of the flour with whole-wheat flour, so maybe it's just an adjustment to that.

Verdict:

Psst, Fall, come a little closer

2009-08-25T08:52:00.004-04:00

For today's Tuesday List, I decided to do the Fall list. I know, it's a bit early, but in reality, it's never too early for Fall! (for me at least. not for Hubs.)

Fall Things To Which I'm Looking Forward (see grams, didn't end my sentence with a preposition)
caramel apple upside-down cake
pumpkin muffins
butternut squash (for the 1st time!)
fall coffee flavors at Starbucks/local coffeeshop
raking leaves...NOT (said Borat-style)
mums!
all kinds of fall produce
fall festivals
carving pumpkins
Halloween ~~candy~~
taking walks in non-humid weather

Finally, dinner

2009-08-24T21:26:00.004-04:00

I'm going to try to attempt more meal planning, even though technically I'll only be making about two-three meals a week! But it will help with eating more healthfully.

Since this week's Ingredient Challenge is Parmesan cheese, I decided to make a risotto when doing my planning on Sunday night. Of course, when I tried to search, no one makes a plain risotto anymore (I could hear the internet scoffing at me), so I went back to the basics - Pioneer Woman's Risotto. You can visit her for the recipe, since it's pretty simple, and I made a few adjustments - I used olive oil, garlic, shallots, a cup of arborio rice, a half cup white wine (the bottle was open and sitting right in front of me), chicken broth, a bit of 1% milk, and of course, my giant hunk of Parmesan cheese.

For the main course, hubs had requested pork chops since we had pork loin chops in the freezer, and we're trying to use what we have before buying more. I have been wanting to break in my new ~~boobs~~ Giada book for some time now, and this was the perfect chance. Whenever I get a new, relatively small book, I go through and post-it mark the recipes I want to make. Unfortunately, I didn't have any of the pork chop ones marked in this book! But I have to start branching out, so I picked one anyway: Pork Chops with Fennel and Caper Sauce.

Pork Chops with Fennel and Caper Sauce

Ingredients:
¼ cup olive oil
4 boneless (2-inch-thick) pork chops (about 2 pounds total)
¾ teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning meat
¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning meat
2 fennel bulbs with fronds, thinly sliced (about 8 ounces or 2 cups)
2 large shallots, thinly sliced
1/3 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus 1/3 cup
½ cup white wine
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with their juices
½ lemon, zested
2 tablespoons capers

changes: I used one fennel bulb, and completely forgot about the fronds; also omitted the parsley since it didn't look great at the store this week.

Directions:
In a large, heavy skillet heat the olive oil over high heat. Season the pork chops with salt and pepper. Add the pork to the pan and brown on both sides, about 4 minutes each side. Remove the pork from the pan, cover loosely with foil, and set aside.
Add the fennel, shallots, and 1/3 cup parsley to the pan and cook over medium heat until beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the wine. Using a wooden spoon, scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Add the tomatoes and stir. Add the pork back into the pan, nestling the chops between the fennel and tomatoes so they are mostly submerged in the pan juices. Cook until the fennel is tender and the pork is done, about 12 to 15 minutes.
Place the pork on a serving dish. To finish the sauce, add the lemon zest, remaining 1/3 cup parsley, capers, and 3/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Spoon over the pork chops and serve immediately.

This was fantastic!! I'm so glad I branched out. I even ate some of the sauce - those in my family know I'm not a huge fan of anything resembling an onion or of cooked tomatoes, but these ones were so flavorful. It almost reminded me of a chicken cacciatore sauce, which I'm now also wanting to make.

The risotto was great too, I halved the recipe but used a little more than a cup of my Parmesan (not the cat's meow to grate, FYI) so it was very cheesy.

Sorry for the awful picture, hubs was ready to eat and making fun of me (he even got my brother involved in the mockery) and I didn't have time to find good lighting so was forced to use the flash:

Verdict:

It's almost fall!

2009-08-17T14:01:00.003-04:00

Ok, not really...but I'm looking forward to it! With the incredibly high temps recently (hello accuweather bar, what's that you say, it's currently sunny and 90 outside?!?!), I'm looking forward to days where walking outside won't make me sweat bullets, and when more fantastic produce along with tons of fall festivals come into play. Don't forget the mums, too! I love fall. *sigh*

On that note, our second picnic of the year went off without a hitch. I was just a family get-together really, and the first lesson I learned is "talk about menu with husband." Because dang, I really like the taco pasta salad, but I didn't want to end up with the entire bowl minus about two servings. Have no fear, I'll PIP later.

We had burgers and dogs on the grill; potato salad from hubs' mom; I made the much-raved-about Taco Pasta Salad from Cara's Cravings blog; the infamous Grammy brought chips, and hubs' uncle brought meat and cheese (definitely a Berks County favorite) with some amazing mustard. Honey mustard, with a spicy kick. It was a very small jar though, so I can control myself. Mostly.

I also made Peach Cobbler from Kelly Cooks and other Feats. MMMM, good stuff. I'll also PIP that later. Hey, I've been busy! I had to spend some time with hubs last night watching Band of Brothers. I bought it for him, so I figured I'd suffer through it. Anyone else find it very strange trying to picture David Schwimmer in the military?

SO, hopefully I will be able to manage my time better this coming fall, as I have joined a new group at church (so, let's see...that makes...5 groups I'm now part of?) which only takes an hour a week, but it's dinner hour. Another *sigh*. I'm going to work on it, I promise! Don't hate me, internets!

I do get really excited for fall food, and with the produce I've had lately, good things will abound this season, oh yes.

I've made:
peach cobbler
taco pasta salad
corn on the cob, so sweet and fresh

looking forward to making:
blackberry coffee cake
chocolate zucchini bread
caramel apple upside-down cake
pear cake

and the thousands of recipes I have starred in Google Reader. Goodness I'm behind.

Is there anything you're looking forward to making/eating this fall?
(yes Lauren, I know you're looking forward to those cupcakes I promised you)

You know what I miss?

2009-08-12T13:20:00.002-04:00

I miss PBS. Growing up, we had tons of those channels - 2, 3, 11, 17, etc. They were home to Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow, The Magic School Bus, and tons of other (growup) stuff like Yan Can Cook, Julia Child, auction shows, and This Old House.

Now that I have a 'cooking' blog (I use that term loosely in my current status), I miss the originality and the authenticity of those channels. I haven't even looked at them in some time, so there may be some value yet to what's on there now, like Lidia's shows, or maybe even some Julia reruns (would be nice!).

I just hope that shows like that and stations like that for that matter will be around for my children, as they seem more real than other stations. More...true.

If you have a favorite PBS show, comment for me!

TWD: Brownie Buttons

2009-08-11T22:07:00.004-04:00

For this week's TWD, Jayma of Two Scientists Experimenting in the Kitchen chose Brownie Buttons. This was a bit of a last-minute one for me (obviously) as I have lots and lots of work lately. But, they were incredibly easy, so I actually believe the line about these being good for an after-school snack that Dorie put in there!

The recipe's on Jayma's page, so go check out her loverly blog. When I first started these, I have to admit I made an error and started melting the chocolate, butter, and sugar on medium heat. Oops. I put everything else away and was going to chalk this up as a bad day for TWD, but decided if I was going down, I would do it with flare. So, I mixed everything together and scooped it into my mini-muffin tin. I filled 13 of them almost to the top and baked for...a while. I had my timer set for 10 minutes, but must have baked them for about 16 (or more). I'm really bad at timing things. I usually go with my instinct on when my baked goods are ready. I know, it's going to come back to bite me in the butt some day.

Since I felt bad about not making the glaze for the top, I put a little white chip on some of them, to make them feel better. Because these brownie buttons had read about their origins in the book, and felt left out. I should never have showed them that picture.

Verdict:

Absence makes the bloggers grow fonder, right?...right?

2009-08-10T15:34:00.003-04:00

So, I've been away for a while. While. A. While. Sorry about that, guys. I promise I will be back with a vengeance (and more food) soon. Like... tomorrow! ; )

But in the meantime, I will describe, in detail, my vacation.

Just kidding.

But I will tell you about our trip down! We drove to Myrtle Beach, SC, for vacation. It was our first time at that beach, and our first vacation outside of NYC, OCMD, or the honeymoon, so a new experience all around. We left around ~~tortuream~~ 4:30am and drove for a bit, stopping a few times and at Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Now, I actually detailed our day of driving in my crackberry because it was too funny not to have saved somewhere. Here goes:

425 am - start of our vacation! No stops until we reach another state.
715 - Stopped for breakfast at cracker barrel.
Stopped for gas at a Shell, took 5 minutes for 4 gallons, decided we could make it to the next stop.
Waffle House, Chick-fil-a at every stop.
11 am - stopped again for gas, BP, but was deserted and somewhat scary. Signs still up, weird.
1115 am - stopped again for gas, it worked this time! Saw a mini school bus with the back cut off to look like a truck, pulling a gigantic trailer. Wanted to take a picture, but they might take me down Cletus-style.
1230ish - stopped at South of the Border. Very humid and hot. Bright colors everywhere, not much other than cheap souvenirs and pink flamingos. Will get fireworks on way home.
Why do old guys keep talking to me outside restrooms?
2 pm - I'm hungry, but we're almost there and I take too much time at rest stops so we're pushing through!

Other than the interesting things that happened on the way down, we had a great time. We stayed in a resort in Myrtle Beach, right on the beach, but found that we had to drive to get to anything other than Damon's (which was right next door). Fo real. There wasn't even a Dunkin Donuts within normal-person walking distance. I suffered.

But the beach was wonderful - first day it was all shell-y and hurt my feet, but we figured out it was because the tide was really high, and I am a wuss and will not go out past a certain point because I don't want to end up being taken down by a wave and ending up on the shore with no top. True story.

After the first day, the sand was glorious! The shell-y part was way before we entered the water, and I had no fear of stepping on something sharp. The lifeguard's flag did have pictures of jellyfish on it though, so I made Hubs go ask. Apparently, it's just a general warning flag, and that day it meant watch out for rip currents. That didn't stop me from yelling "jellyfish!" every time something touched my foot.

We went to several awesome restaurants:
☼Sunday - Drunken Jack's - this was one of the restaurants on the Marsh Walk in Murrell's Inlet. The wait is insane anywhere you go, time of year, amount of people, blah blah blah. So we went downstairs to the bar/band/deck area and had some appetizers and drinks and listened to some live music while we waited. Because the wait was 2 hours, we also walked the Marsh Walk and checked out the other restaurants - they all looked great! Hubs had scallops, and then got a lobster tail for dinner, he said it was the best he'd ever had. I had the salmon, it was fantastic. I highly recommend this place for atmosphere, bar, and dining - although the dining room was a little less interesting than the lower floor area.
☼Monday - Hard Rock Cafe - Hubs has a special card for the Hard Rock, so we got in with no wait (most wonderful thing ever!). The Myrtle Beach one is the one shaped like a pyramid, and was great inside - you go down stairs, and there is a big screen in front and notable items and photos as far as the eye can see up the pyramid walls. Pretty cool. The food was also good, I had some cooler to drink that was fab, and steak and potatoes just because I could : ). This was one of the restaurants we hit up at Broadway at the Beach, a huge area built around a bay-like enclosure which includes Ripley's Aquarium, where I saw some of those jellyfish I love.
☼Tuesday - on the recommendation of a friend, we checked out Dick's Last Resort, which is up by Barefoot Landing. I'm not going to tell you what my hat said, you're just going to have to guess. Hubs' was really embarrassing too, but there is a chance his mother may be looking so I'll keep it quiet. I encourage you to go there, but we went on lunch so it was a bit quiet - go at dinner time. Oh, and I'd kill for their chili fries.
☼Wednesday - Margaritaville! We went to Broadway again for Jimmy's place, and were smart about it this time - we went over around 430 to get put on the waiting list for 630! The atmosphere is so cool, they have a giant map on the ceiling, and a storm that makes margaritas. But, I had a banana drink instead, mmm. I also had a blackened fish sammich there, which was wonderful. And we signed the wall of our booth.
☼Thursday - today was our shopping day, and after heading to the Market Common, a new structure with shops and houses by our Resort, we decided to grab a drink at Gordon Biersch Brewery. It was great! I had the summer ale, and we split some coconut shrimp and potstickers. Then, it was off to dinner at Umi, which is a pacific rim cuisine restaurant, and the best of the trip. We started out with duck egg rolls with a sweet chili dipping sauce and spicy mustard dipping sauce, and the ahi tuna plate. Ooooh so good. We split a Caesar salad which was spiced with an asian oil in the caesar dressing - hubs didn't like the way it was presented, which was just the romaine leaves spread out on a rectangular plate, but I did. He doesn't like cutting up his own salad. Then, dinner - I had the Mongolian Beef (it was heavenly, perfect amount of sauce, and had a great texture - so easy to chew) and I believe Hubs had something to do with scallops, which had the best-looking sauce I have seen for scallops. He said they were wonderful. I also had a cherry mojito which I could have chugged but controlled myself. We had key lime pie and Ghirardelli brownie for dessert, which were also plated impeccably. I HIGHLY recommend this restaurant to anyone going to MB.
☼Friday - home! boo! stopped at Chesapeake Bay Bridge and ate at the Seagull Pier though, and when Hubs told me about the little diner place on the pier, I was immediately lusting after a hot turkey sammich. Wish granted. yum.

So, that was our trip. Much beaching was done, and tons of walking. And I only gained a pound! Now, to take off the rest of them...
*sigh* back to real life now. Oh, I have to make brownies for TWD tonight, whee!

PS - I added a link to Million$$Baby's fund over on the side, her triplets were born prematurely but they are troopers! She's a What's Cooking nestie. When I can figure it out, I'll get the pic up too, but work isn't conducive to that type of stuff!

One-pan Chicken with Zucchini

2009-07-21T12:50:00.003-04:00

I was REEAAAAALLLY hungry last night but didn't want to do a lot of damage in the kitchen because, well, it's already a disaster area. I'm surprised the governor hasn't declared it a state of emergency yet. ~~Hopefully~~ I will have it cleaned up before we go on vacation!

SO, I had some thin-sliced chicken breasts and zucchini (yellow and green) from the orchard, and wanted to make a simple, quick dinner. I thought of how flavorful the chicken was from the chicken marsala recipe, so I decided to make it the same way, and just throw the zucchini in there at the end.

Ingredients:
1lb thin-sliced chicken breasts (cutlets?)
1 c AP flour
assorted herbs/spices (I used salt, pepper, and herbs de provence)
1 small zucchini, yellow or green, sliced (I used half of each)
1 TB butter
2 TB EVOO
1 TB lemon juice

Directions:

I mixed the flour and seasonings on a shallow plate, and coated the chicken.
In a saute pan, I melted a pat of the butter (1/2 TB I'm guessing), then added 1 TB olive oil and the lemon juice. (If I had gotten a lemon at the store I would have added the zest to the flour mixture, but alas, went to the store afterwards.)
After the chicken was cooked on both sides I set it aside and added the rest of the butter to the pan. I added the zucchini and a little more salt and pepper and cooked for a couple minutes, until the thinnest slices were somewhat transparent.

I don't have a picture, because as I said, this was a fast dinner and we both had to get places! But it turned out well, and with some Ready Rice (guilty) it was a hubs-pleaser. Another quick chicken to add to my repertoire for crunch times.

Happy Anniversary to me!

2009-07-08T07:46:00.003-04:00

My one year anniversary was on 7/5, and amidst all the celebrations for the holiday (for which I did not have time to cook, I know I know...), we got to go out to dinner and cut our cake Monday.

Hubs asked if I was going to take pictures of the cake... OF COURSE. : )

It's a white chocolate raspberry cake made by Melinda Valencia - it was the second time I'd had that cake and it is to die for.

She said when I asked for that cake, I don't make them like the magazines do, mine are plain and simple. And that's what I wanted for the wedding. Because it tastes good enough, it doesn't need a lot of frill.

Happy Anniversary baby! : *

TWD: Perfect Party Cake

2009-06-30T23:59:00.001-04:00

Today's (yesterday's) TWD is brought to you by Carol of mix, mix...stir, stir. I actually made this Tuesday night but finished it Wednesday morning, as I was bringing it to a work function (Food Day for July 4th).

I was a bit skeptical at first about the buttermilk, but the batter tasted ok and smelled pretty good while baking (I left out the lemon extract but added more lemon zest) so we'll see when we cut into it.

The frosting...*sigh* The frosting was not what I had expected - it was very very watery and did not start to look like the regular buttercream I am used to until about 8 minutes into beating it, when the hubs walked into the kitchen and said "Is your mixer on fire? Will it last much longer?" and simultaneously, the frosting curdled. Yay! I was never so happy to see something look so odd, mostly because Dorie said it might and it meant I was doing something correctly, haha.

It turned out to be very smooth and silky, pretty good. I frosted it Wednesday morning by putting a layer of frosting on the bottom half of the cake (I didn't split the layers) and then covering it with blueberries. Yum, fresh fruit.

Then I put the other layer on top, and covered everything with the frosting (I find it easier to pipe it on and then spread it out with a spatula/knife).

I added the top layer for fun, berries in stripes. And it will be ready to be eaten at noon today. Or before, if we get hungry early.

Verdict: awaiting first trial taste!

Pasta with Peas and Proscuitto

2009-06-20T08:15:00.005-04:00

I saw some shelling peas this weekend at the local street farm market and had never worked with fresh peas before, so wanted to try something with them. I immediately thoguht of a pasta dish with a cream sauce that I had seen...somewhere...

Since I couldn't remember, I just went online and searched. One dish that caught my eye was Pasta with Peas and Proscuitto on the Martha Stewart site. It looked good and had everything I wanted, I just had to find some pasta to go with it. I have about 10 boxes/bags of pasta in the house, but none of them were fettuccine, so the pasta original to the recipe was out. I decided on the penne I had gotten from BJ's, which was a gigantic pack of farfalle and I think mezzo penne? I know it's smaller penne. It's pasta, works for me.

I started shelling the peas, and after a while found the quickest way to do it: pop the end of the pea open by squeezing it, run your thumb down the side to open, and run your finger down the inside of the pod to pop the peas out. Works for me, at least.

Mmm, fresh peas.

Pasta with Peas and Proscuitto
Martha Stewart ~ Everyday Food

Ingredients
Serves 4
Coarse salt and ground pepper
12 ounces fettuccine
1 tablespoon butter
1 shallot, finely chopped (1/4 cup) I omitted this, didn't have them at the farm market and didn't want to run to the store
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 package (10 ounces) frozen peas, thawed
8 slices prosciutto (about 4 ounces total), halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise, about 1 cup (a note in this recipe says it's easier to slice when chilled & rolled)
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving (optional)
Directions
In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente, according to package instructions. Reserve 1 cup pasta water; drain pasta and return to pot.
Meanwhile, make sauce: In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-low heat; add shallot and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add cream, peas, and prosciutto; bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Simmer until peas are heated through, 3 to 4 minutes.
Stir in lemon zest and juice. Pour sauce over pasta; add Parmesan, and season generously with salt and pepper. Add enough reserved pasta water to thin sauce as desired. Serve immediately; top with additional Parmesan, if desired.

This was fantastic. And so easy, it's almost a 30-minute meal. The Hubs loved it, but was half-asleep so I didn't get a whole lot of feedback other than "mmm" and an empty bowl in about five seconds.

Verdict:

Biscotti Adventure

2009-06-19T10:10:00.002-04:00

For Mother's Day, I wanted to do something special this year, and I thought the moms around me might like some biscotti with their coffee. I asked the top-notch bakers on the WC for their favorite recipes, and gleaned it down to two: Chocolate Biscotti from TPOX's blog (Proceed with Caution) and Almond Biscotti from BridgetMc's blog (The Way the Cookie Crubmles).

For my first time making biscotti, I have to say that these turned out rather well. I did shape them pretty oddly, so I'll have to learn to really pound them flat next time so they don't look like biscotti hills. Also, I didn't flip them when cooking the second time, so one side was more golden than the other.

I do have to admit though (yes, admit, for I am a chocoholic) that I like the almond ones better! I think it was the liqueur. The only additions/substitutions I made were white chips instead of the almonds in the chocolate biscotti. I did use mini chips for the chocolate in those as well.

Sadly, they were bagged and bestowed before I got pictures, so for now internets you will have to visit the origin blogs and take a gander at their photos for your food fix.

verdict:

Chicken Marsala

2009-06-12T13:22:00.005-04:00

I've been wanting to make this for a long time now, and have honestly been scared. I didn't think I'd ever have it as good as I've had in a restaurant, mostly because I am not a fan of mushrooms and didn't want to buy them when I'd just pick them out anyway.

**for proof that I am not a fan, and that I did in fact try mushrooms and make odd noises and cringe and almost spit them out, please talk to A. (the stuffing in them was really good though!)**

I asked The Girls about it (from the WC Nest board of course) and some had done this before, so I decided to Go For It. My little brother got me a Martha DVD with the chicken marsala episode some time ago, and I though I didn't watch it while making this or even the day before, I did use her recipe.

Making the chicken...one done, one in process.

Saucy Times.

It was such an easy way to make a good chicken dinner, lemme tell you. Chicken + seasonings + flour? Fry it in a big pan? Good Stuff. I used my new Paula Deen gigantic frying pan for this one. I originally asked for it for Cmas because the Hubs didn't like making things (grilled cheese) in my non-Teflon ss pans. But as he's been busting his butt in school/work, I got to it first - AFTER soaking it in a solution of water & baking soda to dissolve the protective layer. I made it with half a box of penne, and poured some of the sauce over that too.

The only thing different from the restaurants was that the sauce was not thick at all - more like a broth really. I'm attributing this to the lack of mushrooms. I'm sure I could just thicken it with flour, but I wasn't sure what that would do to the taste. As it was, it tasted spectacular. The sauce was a wonderful addition to the pasta as well, giving the plain pasta a little flavor.

Verdict:

Wherein I post more pictures of cupcakes.

2009-06-12T13:15:00.003-04:00

I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but I lurve me some bake sales.

This time, it was more though... a bake off.

So I pulled out the big guns (frosting tips) and got down and dirty in my kitchen (baked a lot). I made the Hershey's Chocolate Cake and Frosting recipe and the BC Silver White Cake and MS Basic Buttercream, and then mixed them up - so I came up with 12 chocolate/chocolate, 12 chocolate/buttercream, 12 white/chocolate, and 12 white/buttercream.

Yum.

Stuff the Hubs wants to throw out

2009-06-12T09:33:00.002-04:00

We did a LOT of shopping this year, mainly for the house. We got new living room furniture, a new TV, TV stand, side table, hutch for the dining room... next up on the list: rug and end table for the living room. And Ikea curtains for the sunroom, and maybe some curtains for the upstairs, because I might be a little tired of running past the office naked because the neighbours might be pulling a Rear Window and watching me. Not that I've killed anyone in my house, mind you. But I do lots of interesting things... like run past the office naked.

But I digress. So after we got said new furniture, I gleefully started piling stuff into my new hutch. That was a fun day. Any day where I can organize stuff* is a good day. So I'm arranging my china and glass in my cabinet, and I decide I should probably make a note of what I have. I tried to take good pics, but the light in my dining room is not the best if it's after, oh, 8am.

here's my depression glass, it's square and red and I heart it way too much:

And here's my great-grandmother's china, it's way old and a little cracked, so it may come out just for show:

Pretty, no? It's a bit mixed-era right now, what with the china and red glass, but that's ok. So on to the instance referenced in the title: we were out to dinner with Hubs' parents and he starts talking about the hutch, asking why we don't put the regular dishes in there and why don't we throw out that old stuff and put things in there that we actually use?
I gave him a Look. I said, "that's my grandmother's family's china." I said, "that is depression glass." I also said, "how about we throw out some of those old things you have from your family and get some new stuff?" I'm not sure he got it, and I didn't want to go into a whole rant at dinner, even though his mom gave me a look that said even she didn't know where that came from.
Later on in the car, he asked me if his old stuff (several items in particular) bothered me, and I said no, that I just wanted to find a way to relate it to him so he'd understand what I meant when I said that we are NOT throwing anything in that hutch out. His mom also told him that hutches are mostly for displaying things, so that helped.

But seriously, hubs? THROW IT OUT? If we had been at home, I might have thrown something at him.

So the hutch is staying put, with all of its contents. If you're lucky, interwebs, later on I might give you a pic of my wedding china... that is, when I get around to putting it in the hutch, too. yes, yes, shoot me, I didn't finish my organizing...

*"organize stuff" does not mean clean the house and/or put away laundry.

Moi as a Slacker ~ Blog Awards

2009-06-09T22:28:00.006-04:00

So, a while ago, like March, say, MrsSac and her purple kitchen gave me a blog award. Two, actually. Did I do the responsible thing and post it right away, thus awarding more bloggers in a timely manner? Not so much.

So, MrsSac, I apologize. Forthwith is the awardage:

Woob! Awards! Sa-Weet! Thank you so much (do you see that I'm pretending I just got these?) MrsSac!

Rules for the Awardage:

- Add the logo in your blog.
- Add a link to the person who gave you the award.
- Nominate other (refreshing…like lemonade and fabulous) blogs of your choice.
- Don’t forget to add links to those blogs in yours.
- Also leave a message for your nominees in their blogs, informing them about the award.

So, without further adieu, I am going to nominate...
Jenn, of Jenn and Food, Perfect Together
Maryanna, of Taste & See
and Lesli of Miller Moments because, let's face it, they are fabulous.

whee Awardage!

My First Risotto

2009-05-28T11:00:00.005-04:00

At the Orchard/Farmer's Market near work, I saw that they had asparagus for sale - homegrown. Since I'd never had asparagus before, I figured why not. The Hubs likes it, maybe I would too.

I found a couple different recipes for spring risotto and asparagus risotto from the WC, which all included blending some of the asparagus into the risotto. I didn't really want that, just wanted a plain risotto recipe with a little spring veg involved. I came across this recipe, and it looked like a keeper. The rest of the site looks cute too!

When it came time to prep, I couldn't find shallots at the orchard, so I had to go with regular onion, to the detriment of the dish I think. Also, my garlic was shot (STUPID GIANT! what is up with all of your garlic turning green and sprouting?!?!) so I had to use *gasp* garlic powder. I know, horrendous.

I thought it would be much more complicated than it was, but I will offer up the things I learned:
- do your prep first. follow the recipe. one minute before you have to add the asparagus is not the time to be cutting the asparagus.
- the liquid absorbed much faster than I thought it would, so keep an eye on that.
- wine makes everything better.

Here is the risotto in my lovely dutch oven:

Here is a closeup of the creamy goodness:

Verdict: two thumbs up for the idea...next time will be better. nothing wrong with the recipe though!

Chocolate Bundt Cake

2009-05-28T10:59:00.001-04:00

Made for a church event, I tried a different take on this bundt in order to save some time and possibly a little $.

I tried this recipe, and it worked beautifully - evidence below.

Double Chocolate Bundt Cake

Ingredients:
1 package (about 18 ounces) chocolate cake mix
1 package (4-serving size) instant chocolate pudding mix
4 eggs, beaten
¾ cup water
¾ cup sour cream
½ cup oil
6 ounces (1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips
Powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 10-inch Bundt or tube pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Beat cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, water, sour cream and oil in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until ingredients are blended. Stir in chocolate chips; pour into prepared pan.

3. Bake 55 to 60 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool 1 hour in pan on wire rack. Invert cake onto serving plate; cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

Turned out very moist, and a great time-saver.

Mom's Bday Cake

2009-05-28T07:47:00.011-04:00

For my mom's bday this year the gma asked me to pick up a cake. I figured since I had sooooo much free time, I'd make one. So here it is internets, my first full-on cake, iced and all.

I used the Betty Crocker Silver White Cake recipe, with the Martha Stewart Buttercream Icing recipe. But I also put in a lethal dose of raspberry filling: whipped heavy cream with a little powdered sugar, mixed with raspberry preserves. It was muy bueno, and my mom said it tasted like ice cream.

Whoo-hoo, first writing-with-icing job too! The 'th' got smushed, along with a couple other places, but it drove for an hour so it's to be expected.

TWD: Chipster-Topped Brownies

2009-05-26T10:29:00.011-04:00

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie was the Chipster-Topped Brownies, a double-decker brownie with a layer of cookie on top. I actually got pictures this time!

Brought to you by Beth of Supplicious, go take a look at hers because mine don't really do the recipe justice! She also has the recipe.

I halved the recipe and put it in a square pan - first mistake. Should have used my loaf pan, they would have been thicker. Second mistake - the timing. I took them out of the oven too soon I fear, because they were a bit gooey still when we ate them (at the Hubs' family picnic over the weekend). Maybe if I hadn't put a pan underneath as well? Next time, hehe. I omitted the nuts (I'm a fan of the female brownies) and added mini peanut butter cups instead of the chocolate in the Chipster layer.

Getting ready to bake, just look at that cookie layer, YUM!

Out of the oven. Mine got a little dark, mostly because I kept poking it with toothpicks and they were still gooey.

Verdict:

even though mine were gooey, if I had done them right they would be fantastic.

Best thing since sliced...bars

2009-05-19T14:50:00.002-04:00

So I've been having lots of bars for breakfast (or second breakfast) lately, because now that gorgeous weather and semi-gorgeous weather is back, my day starts with a wiener walk.
**insert picture of cute-as-pie perfectly groomed dogs with matching leashes and collars and dog tags here**
We take a different route every day, but they almost always all take 20 minutes. Normally I just walk it without having eaten, but I'm thinking it may be better to have a small smackerel of something before. So I picked up one of these, and one of these:

I had a third of the vanilla this morning, and well, it tasted like soymilk. But it was good, and served its purpose. I'm thinking it might be better blended with banana for a smoothie...but I'm not sure if I'm that adventurous.

After this, I head to work and have second breakfast, which is usually a Luna bar of some sort - the White Chocolate Macadamia are the bomb diggity. But currently, I have fallen in love with a bald guy and so changed my ways - this is my new second breakfast love.

MMMMMM so dang good. There are other kinds too, dontcha know. I'm munching on the chocolate walnut right now. And I don't even mind the walnuts (usually I prefer things sans walnuts, or female).

Dr. Weil, you have my vote. Well done, old chap. I'm not sure if you're British or what but I seem to remember you having some sort of an accent.

TWD: Mango Bread

2009-05-19T10:21:00.003-04:00

This week's recipe was chosen by Kelly of Baking with the Boys, you can find the original recipe here.

I was especially excited about this one because I'm not a fan of mango normally, but I have found a few instances where I enjoy it, and breads and muffins are my favorite things. I'm making it tonight after work, so it will be a true Tuesday with Dorie. I'm not sure yet how I'll tweak it, but I saw muffins over at Sing for your Supper, and that will take less time, so I may do that. I'm not sure if I'm going to take class tonight (8-9pm) or not. I may skip it, to the detriment of my waistline, but to the benefit of my blog. Because, believe it or not, *insert gasp here* I haven't blogged in a long time and have some items which are past due!

And once again, you will have to wait for pictures as I started baking very late and my pictures take about 20 minutes to upload to blogger and I'm going to bed!

Verdict:
(awaiting first try, my muffins were too hot and I'm giving them some resting time so tomorrow is it!)

warning: sci-fi post ahead

2009-05-11T08:49:00.003-04:00

So, went to see the Star Trek movie this weekend. On the Imax screen. And now, all I can think about is when I'm going to see it again. Yeah, it was that good.

There were a couple things I didn't like, and since I love lists so much here they be:
1) Chekhov's accent, I think they overdid it just a smidge.
2) the Kobayashi Maru sequence - really? Kirk would have been sitting there laughing and eating an apple?
3) the alternate reality thing. at least it was done in a way that made a really cool movie possible this time.
4) the red shirt dying. you really have to accent that?
5) someone spoiled the spock's mom thing for me (who plays her) and I just couldn't take that character seriously after that!

Other than those...I just really want to see it again. I'm sure there are parts I missed because I was squealing over zachary. I would contemplate leaving my husband for him, but I'm not quire sure he plays on my team. LOL.

My favorite moments:
1) the ship coming out of the cloud of red planet-ness, awesome.
2) the scene with kirk and spock saying goodbye in the transporter room (uhura, scotty, priceless)
3) kirk running screaming on the snow planet - so nice to hear a 'kirk' scream for once lol
4) any scene with spock

so... who's comin with me?

TWD: Tiramisu Cake

2009-05-05T09:51:00.007-04:00

This week's TWD brought to you by Megan of My Baking Adventures. This one looks good, folks!

I was all set to make this last night, but we got distracted by house stuff... so again, Tuesday is the night for me. Hopefully I won't get held up at work and I'll be baking by 830pm!

I saw on the TWD site a lot of people were having trouble finding the instant espresso powder and mascarpone. Well, thanks to my local Italian grocery (only open til 6pm so I had to book it over there after work!), I was able to find them with the greatest of ease. When I was scoping out the coffee aisle for the espresso, one of the owners said "do you need ladyfingers next?" I actually had to laugh and say, "nope, it's a variation on tiramisu." I heart Russo's.

However, I now have 16 oz of mascarpone, so I'm going to have to find something else using it.

The cake is made in three steps: cake, espresso syrup, and the creamy filling (where the mascarpone comes in). Unfortunately, I don't have a icing spatula, and I don't have Kahlua, and my pastry brush is - er - a little stiff from something that I can't quite remember. So, it might look a little less than appetizing, but luckily I can cover the whole thing with cocoa powder and call it a day.

Wish me luck!

and PS - I'm still working on pictures from prior yet-to-be posts. If that makes any sense at all.

**********

aaaaand I'm illegal again - I actually posted this yesterday but fell asleep last night before I got to post again!
Well I was right about the cream, it didn't look too fancy or anything, but it sure tasted good! Pics to follow as the camera was not where I expected yesterday. So it's really going to get that refrigeration that it needs. Apparently it tastes even better after being reefer-d but I don't know how that's possible - cake, espresso syrup, mascarpone cream? mmmmmmmmmm

Verdict:

Savannah Trip

2009-05-04T15:47:00.006-04:00

I know I haven't been here in a while, I've been busy! Taking trips, making cupcakes... the usual.

Here are some highlights from the trip:

- The scenery. Savannah is fabulous for the Southern charm of the houses and the waterfront.

- The food. We dined at Huey's (twice), The Chart House, and The Lady and Sons (mom's choice, it's her bday), all fantastic. I must say, the salads at Huey's made me really happy. I'm a sucker for a good salad dressing.

- The tours. Now, I am not usually a fan of tours in any city because it's very touristy (natch), but the Paula Deen tour was highly entertaining, what with Cindy, our flamboyantly southern tour guide. The Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil tour was just as entertaining, with a glimpse (however truthful it was or not!) into the society and a bit of corruption of Savannah.

- The weather. While it reached a balmy 90 in PA, we were enjoying spectacular walking-around weather in GA, perfect for peeking into storefronts and stopping to have a cafe au lait.

The not-so-good: train. I have one image for you:

That is my sleeper car. Top bunk. Train going faster than normal. Enough said.

Onto the rest of the slideshow:

Our view from the hotel, I think this is a museum.

one of the small tugs (just like Michael's boats! screams the flamboyantly southern tour guide of our Paula Deen tour) outside our hotel window

a really cool bridge on the river

out back at Uncle Bubba's (Paula Deen's brother's restaurant), notice all the docks and stuff, because it's a swamp, people. sidenote: this very much reminds me of the tree level in Myst. anyone? no?

part of the historic district of Savannah (and my aunt taking a picture)

Mercer House (of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil fame [or as mom calls it, the garden of good and plenty])

the sidewalk chalk portion of a SCAD art show - these art kids are pretty heavy, man.

Fountain in the middle of Forsythe park, love it.

meal at Huey's - salad, salad, salad, beignets. you can tell who's just in it for the dessert.

meal at The Lady and Sons, we got in pronto because of misinterpreted directions via the flamboyantly southern tour guide. Kim told me to take a pic, and this was where I was when I stopped stuffing my face and remembered.

the FABulous 70's-era train station in Savannah. the moms is not a fan of flying sans drugs, so we took the train. See those candy machines? they were 25 cents! I stocked up on chicle-type things and candy-that-turns-into-gum for the train ride home, thinking it would be boring. WROOOOOOONG.

again, proof of love for all things aqua-colored and 70's-esque.

Kim, for your viewing pleasure, the fully documented The Lady and Sons food picture (click to view larger):

PS - did you see my Kate Spade diaper bag in that train picture??? I love love LOVE that bag. I got it on eBay and I don't even have kids, I just wanted to have a really cool bag for when kids happen or trips to Savannah happen.

TWD: Chocolate Cream Tart

2009-04-28T16:16:00.006-04:00

And now, for my next trick (aka Tuesdays With Dorie):

Chocolate Cream Tart

Oh, it's a glorious thing, this chocolate. Picked by Kim of Scrumptious Photography, the original details can be found on her blog.

The things I have loved about my first sessions of TWD: each part of these can be made in advance and chilled. I heart chillin. It makes me happy, because work normally interrupts my cooking, and we can't have that, now can we?

I don't have a tart pan, so my plans for tonight are to put some parchment on a pie pan and do it that way - you think that will work, internet? I hope so. I hear good things about this pie.

**********

Oh my goodness, I just realised I never updated this! Well I don't have pics, because I took it to work with me, and it got eaten there in about 5 seconds flat. So count this as my 2nd TWD success! Although, again, I just wanted to eat the filling. I'm not a huge crust fan, so the filling is what appeals to me.

I did find, with my newfound baking obsession, that I am getting better with each recipe. Oh, and if I make something more than once, I can usually streamline the process and it works out a lot better the second time around!

Ok, onto the score:

Tuesday List

2009-04-28T12:38:00.008-04:00

1 I had a wonderful time in lovely Savannah Georgia this weekend for the momma's birthday. This will be highlighted in an upcoming post with pictures.

2 My dog put on a full pound while I was away. I'm sure this is not all due to the Hubs' feeding techniques, but the antibiotics he was on working and him gaining back his lost weight (and then some) from when he was sick. Still, he's not venturing out into full-on Dachshund territory anytime soon (11 lbs is the max for mini's).

3 I am not a huge fan of the choo-choo. (again, upcoming post)

4 When on said choo-choo, apparently I am hard to entertain.

5 I really really need to drop the weight I put on since the wedding. I did eat lots of salad last night, and lots of salad on the trip, but dressing is my kryptonite.

6 The spot where the Flat Earth Farmland Cheddar chips usually are at the store was filled with Garlic Herb instead. Maybe the Hubs will not eat them all before I get to the bag this time. Bets, anyone?

aaaaaaand that's a wrap.

Things That Are Annoying

2009-04-13T12:59:00.002-04:00

1) Lady Gaga.
A) She stole her hair from Cher - seriously, give it back; she does a much better job in the wig department.
B) you're really going to take that wig and make a HAIR BOW with it?!?!
C) learn to dance and not just hunch your shoulders and move your legs.
D) stop riding killer whales. even if they're floats in a kiddie pool, that's disgusting and they're endangered.
E) I think you might be a man like Katy Perry.

2) Having to buy a single-serving pack of cheddar Flat Earth chips at work because your husband ate almost the whole bag you bought at the store last week.

3) JCREW free shipping emails - off of your first million dollars spent.

4) STILL not being warm enough to walk the dogs in the morning. I don't go outside for anything under 30.

My First TWD: Banana Cream Pie

2009-04-07T13:41:00.004-04:00

Here it is, expectant reader(s), my first TWD (Tuesdays With Dorie) post. Dorie Greenspan is the author of Baking: From My Home to Yours, a gigantic volume which has inspired various bakers to join a blog called Tuesdays With Dorie. Every Tuesday, these bakers take one recipe, chosen by a member, and all post about their experience making that recipe.

As of St. Patrick's Day, I am now a member.

However I have not gotten to bake yet due to extenuating circumstances (illness/new job/another new job/no time to breathe) but this week, I'm all in!

So, tonight will be Banana Cream Pie night. For the recipe, please visit the Great and Powerful Recipe Chooser, Amy of Sing for your Supper.

::time elapses::

Ok, so the post started on a Tuesday, which is legal, but ended on Wednesday morning. So sue me, I have three jobs and a dog that pees on everything. This turned out beautifully for my first TWD even though I used a store crust - and it was to be debuted tonight at dinner, but it looks like it will be just me myself and I because my friend's son is sick! But K may be coming over so I may still get my fajitas with Banana Cream Pie dinner, hehe.

I really wanted to eat the banana pudding-y stuff by itself. Yum. Pictures to come (technical difficulties sorry sports fans), and taste test to come, after the BCP's debut at dinner tonight!

Ok I'm totally late with this, but here you are:

Oh gosh... it makes me want it again just looking at the pictures.

Verdict:

Tuna Noodle Casserole

2009-03-19T13:56:00.004-04:00

Or, I Should Have Made This On Friday. 'cause, it's fish and all.

Again with the BCC. I love that darn crocker. In fact... I should make it a label over yonder →, hmm...

Tuna-Pasta Casserole
from the Betty Crocker Cookbook
prep: 20 min bake: 30 min; 6 servings

Crumb Topping (or 2/3 c crushed potato chips; I used panko and 1 tb butter)
2/3 c crushed cereal or dry bread crumbs
1 tb butter or stick margarine, melted
Directions: Mix. Natch.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 c uncooked medium pasta shells or elbow macaroni (about 5 ounces) (I used whole-wheat egg noodles)
2 tb butter or stick margarine
2 tb all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
2 c milk
1 c shredded sharp process American or Cheddar cheese (4 ounces) (I used some leftover mozzarella and Cabot Vermont sharp cheddar, mmm)
2 c cooked broccoli flowerets (yes, that's seriously how it's spelled in the book) or 1 c frozen (thawed) green peas
2 cans (6 ounces each) tuna in water, drained

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350. Make Crumb Topping; set aside.
2. Cook and drain pasta as directed on package.
3. While pasta is cooking, melt butter in 1 1/2-quart saucepan over low heat. Stir in flour and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until smooth and bubbly; remove from heat. Gradually stir in milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Stir in cheese until melted.
4. Mix pasta, broccoli, tuna and sauce in ungreased 2-quart casserole. Cover and bake about 25 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Sprinkle with topping (I totally did this before I baked it, oops). Bake uncovered about 5 minutes or until topping is toasted.

Nutrition Info:
1 serving: 360cal, 14g fat, 35mg chol, 600mg sodium, 33g carbs, 29g protein, Vit A 28%, Vit C 18%, Calcium 24%, Iron 24%.

The Hubs doesn't like this too much, he'll eat it, but it's one of those things he ate a lot as a child so he's not thrilled about it like I am. Yes, I am. Anything with "casserole" in the name is good for me.

Verdict:

St. Patrick's Day cupcakes

2009-03-19T13:34:00.004-04:00

Since I didn't get any alcohol last year for St. P's day, I figured I'd make it a prerequisite this year and put it in my cupcakes (made for a St. P's day pot luck at work that I didn't know about until a day prior).

Back to the trusty ol' Betty Crocker cookbook, to try a recipe I saw before when making the Starlight Yellow Cake (or whatever they decided to call it back in the 50's). That other cake is in my links over yonder →.

So, without further adieu, and I have no idea what that means but will probably Google it later, I give you...The Silver White Cake.

I totally only used 1 cup of milk for this, and the batter I had leftover after I made the cupcakes was poured into a cake pan and got kind of gooey.
My cupcakes continue to come out looking different depending on which pan I use. The darker pan, the edges came out darker than the center. Lighter pans, they were white all the way around. Moral of this story: cheap pans are not all bad.

And now, for the frosting:

3 sticks room-temp unsalted butter, cream them in a mixer
1 lb powdered sugar, add to creamed butter in 1/2 cup increments
3 tb Bailey's Irish Cream, add to frosting and maybe drink some
green food coloring (I used the gel kind, I heart it) to preference

I really really liked the frosting, some people could really taste the Bailey's and my mom couldn't at all...hmm. Anywho, the cake part was fantastic as well, it will be my go-to white cake recipe from now on.

Verdict:

And in the morning, I'm making waffles.

2009-03-18T21:00:00.013-04:00

So I got a waffle maker for Cmas, fun fun! I get to use that Donkey line more often now. And apparently my mixer. More to follow on that.

I looked up a couple recipes (DrAnnie, I heart your waffle mixes) and such, but realised I didn't have something that they called for. I can't recall what it is offhand right now, but I didn't have it.

So I used the recipe in the little book included in my WM package. I normally hate doing that, but it was the only recipe that included stuff I have in my house.

Classic Waffles
The Oster Instruction Book That Came With My Waffle Maker

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c cornstarch
2 TB cornmeal (optional) (You're absolutely right, I did not add this)
1 TB baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 large eggs, separated
2 TB granulated sugar
1 3/4 c milk
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Instructions:
In large bowl, sift or whisk together flour, cornstarch, cornmeal, baking powder and salt to blend thoroughly; set aside.
In mixer bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add sugar; continue beating just until stiff peaks form; set aside.

↑ That's a picture of the egg whites, right?? My work firewall doesn't like some of my pictures so I can't tell!

Whisk together egg yolks, milk and vanilla.
(check out my three bowls ↓)

Using rubber spatula (strong with the Oster people, the English is), stir milk mixture into flour mixture, blending just until dry ingredients are moistened (there should still be small lumps; do not over mix).
Stir in melted butter. Fold in beaten egg whites until combined.

Pour batter onto hot, greased waffle maker and bake.
Makes about 5 1/2 c batter.
Waffle tip: Cornstarch makes the waffles crispier. If you don't have cornstarch, you could still make great waffles by omitting cornstarch and increasing flour to 2 cups. Bake as directed. ~ a friendly tip from the Oster people!

Yum! They were a little light at first because obviously, first time making waffles. hubs wanted his darker, so I left them in longer. They were fab, especially with real maple syrup and jam for Hubs (since he's a syrup unsnob and likes fake syrup which I didn't keep in my house until this week when I broke down and got him some only for him to say he likes the jam on top better).

Oh and also - I refused to drag out That 70's Mixer to do the egg whites thing so I beat them by hand. Never again. I woke up Sunday with "waffle-hand" and couldn't use my right arm for the rest of the day. It sucked, and I didn't realise until about noon that day why it actually hurt so much. So, That 70's Mixer will have a place of honor when my new hutch is delivered in 2-3 weeks.

Verdict:

Cupcakes

2009-03-17T12:47:00.003-04:00

this is just to show you out there on the interwebs what a glorious baker I am.
just kidding...I just want to show off my St. Patty's Day cupcake wrappers and green icing!

St. Patrick's Day white cupcakes with Bailey's icing:

The One With My Eyeball Infection

2009-03-10T13:26:00.002-04:00

My eyeball started watering a while ago, just the left one, almost like I was crying every five minutes.

Saturday, it started to hurt.

Sunday, it hurt way worse.

Monday morning (the day I started training for my new job, I was a hot mess) the pain was so bad that I threw caution and savings to the wind and made an (costly) appointment with the eye doctor. He poked the skin around it (where most of the pain was...it was radiating into my sinuses by then and every time I sneezed, thanks spring, it was doubly painful) and said "do you feel this lump?" Uh... what lump?

He said I most likely have an infection. Fan-freaking-tastic. What followed was hilarity.

He asked my allergies, then said "have you taken medicine A before?" I remember I did, a long time ago. "Any problems with it?" not that I recall. It was a long time ago.

Run to Target, pick up medicine A, where the pharmacist tells me "Are you sure you are ok to take this medicine? It it closely related to the one you are allergic to. If you break out in a rash or have problems breathing, you should go to the hospital." good Lord.

Run home, empty medicine box, find old bottle of medicine A, which has about a third of the pills missing. Call my regular Dr and ask what happened that I didn't finish medicine A? "It says here that you didn't see any reaction from it at all, so we put you on medicine B instead."

Call eye doctor, explain what happened. "Well it is a different infection so it may work this time... would you feel better if I wrote you a new script for medicine B?" yes please! I like my eyeball! "Ok, you'll have to come back to pick it up though."

Run back to eye doctor, get new script, run to Giant (didn't want Target to think I was crazy/selling things illegally), their computers are down. Wait a half hour for them to come up, get medicine B, pharmacist tells me "Our records say you're allergic to Penicillin so you can't have this." um... what? no, I'm allergic to something else, not Penicillin. "Ok, then this must have been filled out incorrectly, just making sure!" aw, they care.

Run home with medicine B, take four ibuprofen, take medicine B, eat a handful of pretzels, fall asleep on couch.

And the pain is now gone, friends. My eyeball is back to normal. Well, as normal as an eyeball can be.

My New Job

2009-03-10T13:22:00.002-04:00

So, for any of you that remember (I don't like telling stories more than once) I was moved from my tiny department (more like our jobs were made to disappear, even though the work was still there) and put into an 'experimental' department.
Well that didn't really get me all hot and bothered so I decided to move to the Operations department. Whee! A promotion and a salary increase all in about a week.

Those perks also come with a downside... I don't know what my hours will be. I may get stuck with any shift from 8-5 to 11-8pm. Boo. That may mean kaput to my 2nd job at the karate school, but my boss knows about it and will try to work around it. So, it will more than likely mean my meager amount of cooking will be scaled back as well.

I'm sorry, blog.

I swear I will try... it has been tough this week and last because of all the changes, and I haven't gotten to grocery shop at all. This means fast food and lots of it. I'm hoping to change all of that and start making more make-ahead healthy stuff, so look for that in the future... and a LOT of 30-minute meals! That RR book I got for Cmas is going to come in reeeeaaaaaaal handy.

Is this what it's like for normal people?

2009-03-03T09:54:00.002-05:00

So I don't usually go to the bathroom a whole lot; I'm kind of a camel. I can hold my liquid pretty well. But now that I'm sick (for the second time this year, WTF??) I have been drinking copious amounts of water because it's the only thing that makes my throat feel un-plagued by this guy.

So now I go to the bathroom all the time. It's insane. I see this is the way the other half lives, so I won't complain too much.

The lady at the self checkout lines at Giant this morning said "Ricola and Tylenol, that doesn't look good." uh... no, not really, thanks for noticing my purchases though! Way to pay attention! I just laughed, since I don't talk until ten am.

Mmm, Ricola...

Dinner Divas: Rice Pudding and a sick day

2009-03-02T11:18:00.003-05:00

I picked two recipes for Dinner Divas this time, but only got to make one - I am a bad diva! But the one I did make was definately worth it.

Arborio Rice Pudding (the hubs' request) - Dave Lieberman

Ingredients
1 cup water
Pinch salt
1/2 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup Arborio rice
2 cups whole milk
4 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Few dashes ground cinnamon
Whipped cream, for serving (as usual, I didn't have the garnish!)

Directions
Bring water, salt, and butter to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the rice, return to a boil, and then reduce the heat to the lowest setting. Shake the pan occasionally and cook until rice has absorbed the water but it still al dente, about 15 minutes.
Bring milk, sugar, vanilla, and a few dashes of cinnamon to a simmer in a separate saucepan. Add the cooked rice and cook at a simmer over medium-low heat until rice absorbs most of the milk and mixture starts to get thick and silky, about 10 to 15 minutes.
Transfer pudding to a large bowl and cool to room temperature. Place in refrigerator until cool and set. Serve with whipped cream and a dash more cinnamon.

Verdict:

This was a great recipe, next time I think I may take it off of the heat when it's still a little liduidy to make it creamier in the end. It was also good because today is a sick day and leftover rice pudding really comes in handy when you are fighting a repeat performance of that green guy from the mucinex commercials.

Oh, ps, here's what my backyard looks like today, it's not only a sick day but also a snow day:

Panko-Encrusted Tilapia and Mac 'n' Cheese

2009-03-02T10:49:00.004-05:00

I decided to go with the whole "fish on fridays" vibe that's going on during Lent in order to eat more fish. Thanks to my new bff, Google Reader, I marked Lovestoeat's blog with the tilapia recipe in it from Martha. It was great, the hubs loved it as well. He was not, however, a fan of the mac 'n' cheese, which was a RR recipe I printed out a loooong time ago. I got a common brand of cheese and got sharp instead of extra-sharp cheddar, so next time I know to get the more flavorful (read: expensive) cheese.

Panko Encrusted Tilapia ~ found here on Lovestoeat's blog

Mac 'n' Cheese - from Rachel Ray via Food Network

Ingredients
1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil, 1 turn of the pan in a slow stream
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups whole or 2 percent milk
3 cups shredded white cheddar cheese
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, ground or freshly grated
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper, a couple pinches
Salt
1 pound elbow macaroni, cooked 8 minutes or to al dente, with a little bite to it (I used mini fusili)
Directions
Heat a medium, deep skillet over medium heat. Add oil and butter. When butter melts into the oil, add flour and combine. Gently cook, whisking flour and butter together, until smooth and flour has had a chance to cook, about 3 minutes. Slowly add milk while continuing to whisk. Gently bring milk to a bubble while stirring frequently. Allow the milk to thicken a bit, then stir in 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese a handful at a time. Season sauce with nutmeg and cayenne. Taste and add a little salt, if you like. Add cooked pasta to sauce and coat completely by turning over and over in the cheese sauce. Transfer to a baking dish and top with remaining cheese. Place baking dish under a hot broiler and brown the cheddar cheese on top.

Verdict:
tilapia,

mac,

Day 1 of the CFL

2009-02-25T10:22:00.002-05:00

So, I decided to give up chocolate for Lent. Oh yeah, and "eating after 8pm" (the hubs' idea, I may enforce it on him as well...). Day one, 10am, doing good so far. Had a baldguybar (Dr. Andrew Weil ~~makes~~ has a company make a banana manna bar which is spectacular) for breakfast because I'm still so full from last night (Pancake Supper at church) and because I still think I smell bacon everywhere, and if you're still hungry after being inundated by bacon for almost 24 hours then you might have a problem.

I'm going to have to hide things, I have figured out, because I will eat them without realizing what I'm eating. Thank goodness there are mashed potatoes because I'd go nuts without some type of comfort food. Oh and the crack dressing (Annie's Naturals Asian Sesame). I'm going to try to eat more salads too and put interesting veggies on them. If you have any suggestions for interesting veggies let me know!

Why am I at all surprised anymore.

2009-02-19T14:28:00.002-05:00

Most recent text convo with the Hubs:

Hubs: Wats the name of that good choc from switzerland

Kitty: Lindt?

Hubs: I thought it started with a n

Kitty: There are hundreds of chocolates from Switzerland, did you get it somewhere special? (thinking maybe he's trying to remember something he had)

Hubs: Ok maybe its france. The question was who is Hershey biggest competitor in the world!

Kitty: (so he's asking me a trivia question? about chocolate?) Cadbury's I'd say

Hubs: Hershey makes candy for them though i was thinking of that candy you like in the long triangular tube (he can't write out "what" but he can type "long triangular tube?")

Kitty: That's Toblerone and hershey has nothing to do with Cadbury's of England. Hershey just acquired the US side of the business, Cadbury's of England is the biggest confectioner in the world. (Yes, I am a Cadbury's snob, TYVM.)

Hubs: Ok who is their biggest comp in us mars?

Kitty: Could you be thinking of Nestle?

Hubs: I was thinking mars they make mm snickers (you said you were thinking it began with an "N"...)

Kitty: Well then it's Mars. Why are you asking? You thought it started with an n. It's Mars then Nestle acc. to google.

Hubs: work quiz. who is bachman biggest comp in us? Frito lay

...I'm so done.

Sausage with peppers, roasted broccoli, maybe something else?

2009-02-18T16:52:00.005-05:00

Hey there Kitty, in case you forget what you wanted for dinner:

Roasted Broccoli via TFN:
Cut one large bunch of broccoli into 3-inch spears, toss with 3 smashed cloves garlic, a pinch of red pepper flakes and 3 tablespoons sesame oil. Spread the spears on a baking sheet and roast at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Top the spears with a handful of sliced scallions and 2 teaspoons soy sauce.

Ok, so dinner done! I made sausage (just sauteed it with bell peppers) and roasted broccoli from the food network recipe above.

Hubs called the broccoli "Chinese broccoli" so I will probably only make it for me from now on!

Faux Hamburger Helper

2009-02-18T09:33:00.007-05:00

This recipe is from Eating Well by way of the Food Network, I'm not sure how I got my hands on it but I decided to make some for my friend who is...busy. Since I had off on Monday, I told her I'd bring lunch.

Hamburger Buddy
EatingWell.com by way of Food Network

Very finely chopping onion, mushrooms and carrots in the food processor is not only fast—it makes the vegetables hard to detect for picky eaters. They also form the base for the sauce of this ground beef skillet supper. Make it a meal: Serve with a green salad.

Makes 6 servings, about 1 1/3 cups each

ACTIVE TIME: 40 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 40 minutes
EASE OF PREPARATION: Easy

3 cloves garlic, crushed and peeled
2 medium carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces (I used 3 carrots)
10 ounces white mushrooms, large ones cut in half (I used 3 lg)
1 large onion, cut into 2-inch pieces (I used half, can you tell I am a fan of some veggies and not others?)
1 pound 90%-lean ground beef
2 teaspoons dried thyme
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 cups water
1 14-ounce can reduced-sodium beef broth, divided
8 ounces whole-wheat elbow noodles (2 cups) (I used Chiocciole in keeping with my pasta quest)
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley or chives for garnish

1. Fit a food processor with the steel blade attachment. With the motor running, drop garlic through the feed tube and process until minced, then add carrots and mushrooms and process until finely chopped. Turn it off, add onion, and pulse until roughly chopped.
2. Cook beef in a large straight-sided skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the chopped vegetables, thyme, salt and pepper and cook, stirring often, until the vegetables start to soften and the mushrooms release their juices, 5 to 7 minutes.
3. Stir in water, 1 1/2 cups broth, noodles and Worcestershire sauce; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is tender, 8 to 10 minutes.
4. Whisk flour with the remaining 1/4 cup broth in a small bowl until smooth; stir into the hamburger mixture. Stir in the sour cream. Simmer, stirring often, until the sauce is thickened, about 2 minutes. Serve sprinkled with parsley (or chives), if desired.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per serving: 326 calories; 10 g fat (4 g sat, 3 g mono); 54 mg cholesterol; 38 g carbohydrate; 23 g protein; 4 g fiber; 431 mg sodium; 644 mg potassium. Nutrition bonus: Vitamin A (70% daily value), Zinc (33% dv), Iron (20% dv), Potassium (18% dv).
2 1/2 Carbohydrate Servings
Exchanges: 2 starch, 1 vegetable, 2 medium-fat meats

Verdict:

3 Teapots because it was good, but I didn't have enough time to make it good! (I added too much thyme, didn't let it cook as long as I should have for the type of pasta I used)

Cupcakes...it's what's for dinner.

2009-02-17T20:53:00.011-05:00

I stayed home with a migraine tonight, so decided I needed to make some more cupcakes to use up the rest of the buttercream from Monday's day-off-cupcakes, and to get my mind off of...well, my mind.

I ended up making a half recipe of banana cupcakes from my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook to go with the leftover icing. So, in order to catch up, here are my recipes for the chocolate cupcakes, buttercream icing, and banana cupcakes. Yum!

One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes, MSL ---> recipe here

Basic Buttercream, MSL
this one is from the Living magazine, but I couldn't find it on the website.
(makes about 4 cups)
12 oz (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 pound confectioners' sugar, sifted (I totally do not do this, oops)
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Beat butter with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to medium. (or if you have That 70's Mixer like me, pick a speed based on how much c sugar you will keep in the bowl)
Add sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beating after each addition, about 5 minutes (after every 2 additions, increase speed to high, and beat for 10 seconds, then reduce speed to medium-high).
Add vanilla, and beat until buttercream is smooth. Use immediately, or cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days (bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth before using). I also have some of this in my freezer, I haven't thawed it yet but I'm sure it will be fine with the above directions also.

Banana Cupcakes
(formerly Applesauce Cake turned into Banana Cake turned into Banana Cupcakes)
This is the original recipe from The Betty Crocker Cookbook which I adapted - I halved it and used half whole-wheat flour.

2 1/2 c AP Flour (I used half ww flour)
1 1/2 c unsweetened applesauce ~put the bananas here
1 1/4 c sugar
1/2 c butter or stick margarine, softened
1/2 c water ~put the buttermilk here
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice ~omit
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking powder (I forgot to increase this and they turned out great!)
2 lg eggs
1 c raisins ~omit
2/3 c chopped nuts ~omit if you like
rec. icing is Browned Butter Buttercream Frosting from the BC cookbook.
Banana Cake adaptation: Sub 1 1/2 c mashed ripe bananas (3 med) for applesauce and buttermilk for the water. Omit pumpkin pie spice and raisins. Increase baking powder to 1 tsp.

1. Heat oven to 350. Grease cupcake pan or put liners in the pan (the recipe lists 12 to 16 servings, I halved and made 9 cupcakes).
2. Beat all ingredients in large bowl with mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally (stir in raisins and nuts at this point if used). Pour into pan/liners.
3. Bake rectangular pan 45 to 50 minutes, rounds 40 to 45 minutes, cupcakes about 20 to 25 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool rectangle in pan on wire rack. Cool rounds 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
4. Frost.

Eat.

Verdict: Banana Cupcakes,

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-13T10:57:00.002-05:00

A Valentine I got from my Coworker. Awesome.

Bday/Vday Dinner: Ruth's Chris Steak House

2009-02-12T15:00:00.004-05:00

So for my birthday/Valentine's Day (early cause the hubs has school on VDay) we went to Ruth's Chris Steak House. It's a weird name, but made sense once I looked it up.

Of course, it was a surprise, so I hadn't any idea where we were headed. Which is just how I like it.

Ohhhh goodness was it good. When we first got there, hubs said it looked like a Denny's, which was kind of true - it is deceiving from the outside. But once you get inside, it's all upscale steak house (upscale meaning $$$$).

We started out with wine, him picking the Chianti as usual, which prompted a Hannibal impersonation from me (not in front of the server, don't worry) and a Riejo for me. Next, the Veal Osso Buco (don't yell at me! I only ate it because I've never had it before! I'm sorry baby cows!):

Next we had the Caesar salad, which was great, since I don't usually have that. It's nice to have an old standby once in a while. I should note, all of the sides are served family-style with one serving two people. So it worked out nicely.

For entrees, we picked petite fillet, hubs deciding on the lobster tail with his:

We also got the broccoli and mashed garlic potatoes, which were fantastic. Hubs said they were the best potatoes he'd ever had. I said that's because the Buttertons made them.

The steaks are served on 500º plates, which keep the steaks nice and sizzling. I ordered mine medium-rare, because I was hovering in between donenesses (I know it's not a word), and the server said that if it was too rare, we could just slice it and lay it on the plate, and it would continue to cook. This was too much for us, it was like putting kids at a sand table. Science day at a fancy restaurant! But it really did work.
Oh, the Buttertons got a hold of the steaks too - all steaks are served in butter unless you ask for them without it. So I dipped my broccoli in the butter. Not going to let that go to waste.

On to the most memorable part - dessert (natch). I ordered the Caramelized Banana Cream Pie (swoon), and had it delivered with a little candle. No singing, no made-up Birthday jingle, just a fantastic dessert. Perfect.

Ooooh it was fantastic. Two thumbs up. But it's a once-a-year thing, as it broke the bank.

Oh and also way too tempting, as this was next door:

Birthday Cupcakes!

2009-02-04T23:11:00.004-05:00

they're LEGENDARY. in the words of neilpatrickharris.

Ok, so I wanted to make cupcakes for my bday. I was aiming for the ones on the MSL cover, which were iced using gel colors and all I have are the regular colors. So they didn't turn out incredible but for my first cupcakes I think they were satisfactory.

Recipes to come, I used the MSL one for One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes and the Buttercream frosting (in the last catalog) and I used my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook's recipe for the vanilla ones - Starlight Yellow Cake, I believe it was called? I wanted to do the Silver White Cake but didn't have something that the recipe called for...can't remember what though!

Cupcakes:

For the frosting, I doubled the recipe, and used That 70's Mixer (as posted yesterday on WC, I don't usually use a mixer, and only used it for the frosting in this case) which is ancient and small and gave off this funny almost-burning smell when I turned it to 9 (it has numbered speeds, not medium, high, etc.). But I powered through, getting butter and powdered sugar all over my kitchen - but it was worth it.

Meet the frosting:

I didn't have any bags so I used a ziploc freezer bag with the tip cut off - that's why the frosting is so weird-shaped. Next time: bag with tips. I'll branch out to decorative frosting.

My coworkers are somewhat scared this morning by the multi-colored cupcakes, but oh well - they taste damn good.

PS - that frosting, it is superb. SUPERB. Thus filed in Proof of Domestic Awesomeness.

Grandma's Lasagna

2009-02-02T19:46:00.003-05:00

After the hubs raved about her lasagna, I had to get the recipe. She told me (over the phone) that it is Mrs. Anderson's recipe, whatever that means - no offense Mrs. A but I'm not sure if you're a person or a magazine or what!

It's so good, but a single recipe of this won't fit in your usual 9x13 pan, so you may want to do something smaller. I didn't cook the noodles, so I added a cup of water. If doubling, add two cups if you don't cook the noodles.

Grandma's Lasagna

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef (or whatever meat you have on hand - she said something about bison because Grandpa is a hunter)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 6oz can mushrooms
1 6oz can tomato paste
1 3/4 cups tomato juice
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp parsley
6oz pack lasagna noodles (I had to weigh mine and ended up using about 9, but if you like just cook them and see how many fit!)
1 cup each mild cheddar, swiss, and mozzarella

Directions
cook lasagna noodles per directions on box. brown the beef and onions in saute pan on stove. add ingredients through parsley and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. add a layer of sauce to your cooking dish first, then noodles, sauce again, then cheese. continue layers until all ingredients are used. bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. if you like, broil at the end so the cheese bubbles, browns, and crisps.

For however much speculation is involved in this recipe, it's really wonderful. You can make it your own by how much you make, layer, or adjust. It's a favorite with my husband now.

Pasta e Fagioli, Smoky Cheese Fries

2009-02-02T14:58:00.003-05:00

Did I post the pasta e fagioli before? OH well, here it is again! This is my go-to soup recipe and almost the whole family loves it. I made it for the "big b-day bash" we had on Saturday for myself, my brother, my other brother (Darryl), and my grandmother. We don't all share a birthday but it's easiest to get us all together on one weekend. Except for when my brother's boss calls him in because his replacement called off. *not cool, employer*
So I made a double batch, which is not a 30-minute meal, and my mom got impatient, but it all worked out anyway. I can take a pic of the leftovers, because I didn't get any of the food that day, or I could just appease you with pictures of the cakes (yes cakes)...later, my friends. My camera card does not accompany me to work, alas.

Pasta E Fagioli
courtesy Rachel Ray

Ingredients

* 2 tablespoons (2 turns around the pan) extra-virgin olive oil
* 1/8 pound (about 3 slices) pancetta, chopped
* 2 (4 to 6-inch) sprigs rosemary, left intact
* 1 (4 to 6-inch) sprig thyme with several sprigs on it, left intact
* 1 large fresh bay leaf or 2 dried bay leaves
* 1 medium onion, finely chopped
* 1 small carrot, finely chopped
* 1 rib celery, finely chopped
* 4 large cloves garlic, chopped
* Coarse salt and pepper
* 2 (15 ounce) cans cannellini beans
* 1 cup canned tomato sauce or canned crushed tomatoes
* 2 cups water
* 1 quart chicken stock
* 1 1/2 cups ditalini
* Grated Parmigiano or Romano, for the table
* Crusty bread, for mopping

NOTES: I find that the rosemary leaves fall off the more you stir. Just an FYI. I used tomato sauce, and I omit the celery because most of the fam are not fans.

Directions

Heat a deep pot over medium high heat and add oil and pancetta. Brown the pancetta bits lightly, and add herb stems, bay leaf, chopped vegetables, and garlic. Season vegetables with salt and pepper. Add beans, tomato sauce, water, and stock to pot and raise heat to high. Bring soup to a rapid boil and add pasta. Reduce heat to medium and cook soup, stirring occasionally, 6 to 8 minutes or until pasta is cooked al dente. Rosemary and thyme leaves will separate from stems as soup cooks. Remove herb stems and bay leaf from soup and place pot on table on a trivet. Let soup rest and begin to cool for a few minutes. Ladle soup into bowls and top with lots of grated cheese. Pass crusty bread for bowl mopping.

For my next trick... we had a small football-related get-together on Sunday to watch a little game, you may have heard of it, superbowl. There were hot dogs, sauerkraut, quesedillas, Belly Busters (giant subs from a local place), the hubs' buff chicken dip, and of course because we didn't have enough of it, cheese fries. I found this because I was looking for recipes using tomato paste as someone on WC had some left over. It involved chiles in adobo, and while I've always read about them, I have never used them... well now I have some left over so I have an excuse to make more smoky chile recipes!
These were ok, mostly because I don't think I used enough cheese. I doubled the recipe which may be the culprit - so folks, just use the recipe. But everyone liked it, and next time I will actually put the sauce on the fries and be able to serve that way instead of taking it with me to another house! mmm...cheese...

Smoky Cheese Fries
also from Rachel Ray

Ingredients

* 1 large package frozen waffle cut fries
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 2 tablespoons tomato paste
* 2 cups milk
* 2 cups grated Cheddar
* 2 chipotles in adobo, chopped, plus 2 spoonfuls sauce
* Salt

Directions

Bake waffle fries to package directions. Heat butter in a small pot over medium heat and whisk in flour. Cook the flour a minute then add the tomato paste. Cook paste a minute then whisk in milk. When sauce bubbles, stir the cheese and chipotles into it. Season the sauce with salt, to taste.

Remove fries from oven when crisp and golden brown. Spoon the thick cheese sauce over waffle fries and serve.

Friday List

2009-01-30T15:03:00.002-05:00

I figured I should do a list of Stuff I Should Know How To Make By Now. Because, you know, I should.

◙ lasagne
◙ peanut butter cookies
◙ hummus
◙ guacamole
◙ salsa
◙ pumpkin cookies
◙ pot roast

Corn Chowder

2009-01-29T07:07:00.004-05:00

My fabulous dinner last night, which turned out ok even though I screwed it up royally.

Corn Chowder, courtesy Tyler Florence

Ingredients

* 2 tablespoons butter I completely forgot this because...
* Extra-virgin olive oil
* 1 onion, diced ...I completely ran out of onions
* 2 garlic cloves, minced
* 6 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only I killed my thyme so I used dried
* 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
* 6 cups canned vegetable stock I used 4c veg stock and 2c chicken
* 2 cups heavy cream
* 2 Idaho potatoes, peeled and diced
* 6 ears corn I used frozen corn, about 2 16oz bags
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions

Heat the butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and thyme and cook until the vegetables are good and soft, 8 to 10 minutes. Dust the vegetables with flour and stir to coat everything well. Pour in the vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Add the cream and the potatoes, bring to a boil and boil hard for about 7 minutes, until the potatoes break down (this will help to thicken the soup and give it a good texture).

Cut the corn kernels off the cob and add to the soup. Season with salt and pepper and simmer until the corn is soft, about 10 to 12 minutes. Stir in the parsley and give it another little drink of olive oil. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.

Upon opening my cream, I found a lovely pudding-type blob on top. I smelled the cream, and it smelled like cream... so I poured it into a strainer and tasted it... then it occurred to me, I don't know what cream should taste like. But it didn't taste bad, so I added it to the soup minus the blob. Tee hee hee.

Cookin' in my new Paula Deen dutch oven:

I heart my PD pot.

yum, soup completed, with oyster crackers.

The Hubs was making fun of me taking pictures, but I had to take this one because he put so many damn crackers in it looked like cereal.
Later, he said, "Is this what corn chowder is supposed to look like? Creamy?"...uh, it's chowder. What else does it look like? Well it didn't look like his Wawa corn chowder, but too bad... it was homemade and darn good. He ate two bowls.

Hershey's Chocolate Cake

2009-01-15T13:04:00.002-05:00

Best. Cake. Ever. Anyone in my family will agree.

Due to copyright infringement (or because I'm a Hershey advocate and want you to be suckered in) go to the website and get the recipe there!

Pardon the pic, as it was the last piece left. It goes that fast.

Banana Bread

2009-01-15T12:58:00.002-05:00

I had some old bananas (I buy food, hubs doesn't eat it, I make dessert) so I figured why not. Pulled out the old (and by old, I mean I went to my mom's and photocopied her circa-1970 Betty Crocker) cookbook and found a recipe for nut bread. Now, the recipe I used had several different variations on nut bread, and the one for banana said to lower the milk amount to 1/3 cup, which I thought was preposterous so I just dumped the rest of my milk in. I'm thinking it might have been 2/3 cup total. Or 3/4, like the recipe I found online says.

Nut Bread with a variation: Banana Nut Bread with a variation: Banana Bread
courtesy mom's old old old BC cookbook, recipe found online at recipelink.com

BETTY CROCKER NUT BREAD
(Variations such as Banana Bread are listed after this basic recipe for Nut Bread.)

2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar (my recipe called for 1/2 c reg sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar)
3 1/2 tsp. baking powder (I thought my recipe said 2 1/2??)
1 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. oil
1 1/4 cups milk (reduce for Banana Bread as instructed in variations)
1 egg
1 cup finely chopped nuts (obviously, I omitted these)

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 9 X 5 X 3-inch loaf pan or two 8 1/2 X 4 1/2 X 2 1/2-inch loaf pans.

Measure all ingredients into large mixer bowl; beat on medium speed 1/2 minute, scraping side and bottom of bowl constantly. Pour into pan(s).

Bake 55 to 65 minutes or until a pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from pan; cool thoroughly before slicing.

*If using Self-Rising Flour, omit baking powder and salt.

VARIATIONS:

Apricot Nut Bread:
Decrease milk to 1/2 cup; add 4 tsp. grated orange peel, 3/4 cup orange juice and 1 cup fienly chopped dried apricots.

Banana Nut Bread:
Decrease milk to 3/4 cup; add 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 to 3 medium).

Date Nut Bread:
Add 1 cup cut-up dates.

Orange Nut Bread:
Decrease milk to 1/2 cup; add 4 tsp. grated orange peel and 3/4 cup orange juice.

Prune Nut Bread:
Decrease milk to 1/2 cup; add 3/4 cup prune juice and 1 cup drained chopped cooked prunes.

picture to follow!

Black Forest Cookies

2009-01-15T12:52:00.004-05:00

Part of my Tuesday List last week, these were cookies I made for the cookie exchange at work. I must say, Ghirardelli chocolate is FANTASTIC in cookie form. Just the cookie itself would have been heaven.

Original Recipe is at Martha's website. It was either these or the Chocolate Sable Cookies from Food Network's 12 days of cookies, but that called for Dutch Process cocoa, and though I am in Dutch Country (PA to be exact) there is no Dutch Process cocoa to be found. And I'm not brave enough yet to mess with the extra stuff needed to sub.

Pappardelle with Chicken Cutlets in Vodka Cream Sauce

2009-01-06T10:37:00.002-05:00

I wasn't sure what I was hungry for last night, but I knew I wanted something tomato-ey and cream-ey. So I stopped at Russo's (Italian heaven) and picked up some stuff.

1) saw the chicken cutlets, thought, ok I can do that.
2) got myself some vodka cream sauce
3) saw pappardelle sitting next to the sauce... DONE

I sauteed the chicken in EVOO after I spiced it with some salt, pepper, and garlic powder (too much garlic powder as I later found out, but not a problem for the hubs). I cooked the pappardelle and because I still can't judge cooking times, had to put a lil EVOO on it and let it sit until the chicken/sauce was finished.
After the chicken was fully cooked I added the sauce to my ginormous Emeril pan. I ♥ Emeril. After it bubbled, dinner was ready.
The chicken was excellent and very moist, too much garlic, but oh well. This is one of the hubs' favorite dinners now. He ate half of it. I had 1/4 and took 1/4 today for lunch. Yum, pasta.

Tuesday List

2009-01-05T21:59:00.007-05:00

items about which I have yet to blog

admittedly, this list will slowly dwindle down as I use the pics for the other posts!

1) homemade hamburger helper, that's right. I make the easy dishes more complicated.

2) Christmas cookies. The only ones I actually made are the chocolate ones (Black Forest Cookies) and the white chocolate chip macadamia ones.

3) SPAGHETTI-Os! (ok they're really called anelli or anelletti)

Monday Random

2009-01-05T16:16:00.004-05:00

One of my mom's first text messages (in response to my asking if the puppy could have cheese):
Yes cheese ican text, iam sopmebody

so cute. and then she proceeded to overextend my texting limits. you owe me $2.50, mom.

Martha Stewart Basic Buttercream

2009-01-01T12:00:00.003-05:00

Basic Buttercream
this one is from the Living magazine, but I couldn't find it on the website.
(makes about 4 cups)
12 oz (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 pound confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Beat butter with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to medium.
Add sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beating after each addition, about 5 minutes (after every 2 additions, increase speed to high, and beat for 10 seconds, then reduce speed to medium-high).
Add vanilla, and beat until buttercream is smooth. Use immediately, or cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days (bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth before using).

Betty Crocker's Silver White Cake

2009-01-01T12:00:00.002-05:00

Silver White Cake
from the Betty Crocker Cookbook
prep: 10 min bake: 45 min cool: 1 hr 10 min; 12 servings
(I doubled the recipe and made 24 cupcakes and an overflowing round cake, so judge for yourself)

2 1/4 cups all-purpose (not self-rising) or 2 1/2 cups cake flour (I use cake flour because I'm cool like that)
1 2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup shortening (I use butter, same amount)
1 1/4 cups milk
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
5 large egg whites

The recommended frosting is White Mountain or Chocolate Buttercream. Go buy the book for those recipes.

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350. Grease bottom and sides of 13x9", 2 round 9", or 3 round 8" pans with shortening; lightly flour.
2. Beat all ingredients except egg whites and frosting in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.
3. Beat in egg whites on high speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan(s).
4. Bake rectangle 40-45 mins, 9" 30-35 mins, 8" 23-28 mins, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean or until cake springs back when touched lightly or when your smoke alarm goes off. Cool rectangle in pan on wire rack. Cool rounds 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
5. Frost and enjoy. I made this last one up.

Nutrition Info:
1 serving 310 cal, 12g fat, 0 chol, 370mg sodium, 47g carbs, 5g protein, 10% DV calcium

Tuesday List: yay for gifts

2008-12-30T10:32:00.001-05:00

(pictures to come later)

1) paula deen dutch oven
2) paula deen 12in frying pan (more for the hubs)
3) waffle iron
4) lots and lots of chocolate
5) gc to red lobster
6) recipe books
7) $$$$

woob!

Monday Random

2008-12-15T10:09:00.008-05:00

So my sister says I should blog more. Granted, it has been one month since last blog. So here begins Monday Random.

1) my new sigg bottle. Turn your head sideways, cause I don't have the patience this morning to put the picture upright.

It came about after I left my other sigg (shiny purple with 'rise above plastic' written on it, RIP sigg) in The Land Of Evil (and some pretty houses), aka Jersey. If you really wanna know, ask.

2) My excellent new wardrobe choices. I'm wearing a very cool green shirt:
(picture to come later as apparently mozilla doesn't like monday either)
and my awesome red shoes (thanks mom) of which I cannot find a picture, so you're just going to have to use your imagination. But I'm pretty much all Christmas today.

3) I'm sending out my Christmas cards today. WOOB. I especially heart the david hasselhoff cards I found, TYVM Target. they're the bomb.

That is all for now.

12 Days of Christmas Cookies!

2008-11-12T09:52:00.007-05:00

So everyone on WC keeps asking about Cmas cookies (already, I know) and since I have the Food Network's 12 Days of Cookies emails from about two-three years back, I figured I'd post the list to maybe give some ideas. If you wanna make it really fun, do it like one of those email forward thingies, and color the ones you've already made. Whee, cookie fun! Oh also, I have the recipes so if you want any of them let me know!

12 Days of Cookies: 2004

1) Ginger Spice Cookies
2) Maamoul: Stuffed Date-Orange Cookies
3) Citrus Shortbreads
4) Welsh Cookies (similar to a sweet scone with currants)
5) Ribbon or Swirl Cookies (a make-ahead freezer dough using chocolate and vanilla)
6) Mixed-Nut Honey Baklava
7) Czech Squares (with a walnut crust and cherry jam)
8) Cornmeal Wreath Cookies
9) Swedish Christmas Cookies
10) Hazelnut Mocha Macaroons
11) Triple Chocolate Cookies
12) White Chocolate Holiday Bark

12 Days of Cookies: 2005

1) Ginger Cookies
2) Hazelnut Crunch: Noci Croccante (hazelnut brittle)
3) Rosemary-Cheese Spritz Cookies
4) Toasted Coconut Marshmallows
5) S'more Rockin' Reindeer Ravioli
6) Christmas Citrus Squares
7) Mexican Wedding Cookies (simple pecan cookies dusted with powdered sugar)
8) Sherry Butter Nut Drops
9) Chocolate Dipped Hazelnut Shortbread
10) Booze Balls
11) 3-in-1 Sugar Cookies
12) White Chocolate Holiday Bark (with a vengeance)
BONUS COOKIE: Chocolate Peppermint Pizzelle

12 Days of Cookies: 2006

1) Black and White Tie cookies
2) Almond Shortbreads
3) (uh-oh, I'm missing day three!!)
4) Peanut Butter and Chocolate Biscotti
5) Chocolate Cheesecake Candy Cane Bars
6) Whoopee Pie
7) Golden Rugalach
8) Iced Citrus Crackle Cookies
9) Coconut-Cranberry Macaroon
10) Super Gooey Chocolate Drops
11) Ginger Pecan Oatmeal Crisps
12) Butter and Jam Thumbprints
BONUS COOKIE: Angel Wings (ver quick cookie using puff pastry)

12 Days of Cookies: 2007

1) Almond Lace Cookies (Florentines)
2) Moravian Spice Cookie Wafers
3) Double Chocolate Sable Cookies
4) Walnut Sugar Cookies (Kourabiedes)
5) Cinnamon Stars (Zimtsterne)
6) Crumb Cookies (Fregolata)
7) Sesame Rings
8) Chocolate Oat Cakes
9) Peanut Butter Nanaimo Bar (I have made these before, DELICIOUS!)
10) Spoon Cookies (Lusikkaleivat) (cookies with jam)
11) Fruit and Nut Bars (Mazurkas)
12) Pistacio Melbas
BONUS COOKIE: Coconut-Peanut Cookies (Galletas Maria)

2008 soon to come!

At the Movies

2008-11-10T10:09:00.003-05:00

So, we were going to see a movie this weekend, but with all the cleaning I did and hubs being overly tired for some odd reason (he says as he lays on the couch, "I feel like I got hit by a ton of bricks, I don't know why" --my response-- "um, maybe you worked all week, had class all week, studied for a test, and had clinicals Saturday and Sunday 6am-3pm?") we did not go see a movie. But here were hubs' choices for a movie:
1) Madagascar 2 (heart heart heart the penguins and lemurs)
2) Zack and Miri (which he kept calling "Zack and Marie")

how odd are those choices?

So also, I was over at mom's yesterday coming off of a Pier 1 high and watching the Dr Doolittle marathon on ABC Family when lo and behold a Twilight promo comes on. My lovely sister goes NUTS. "omg he's so hot, omg omg omg" and all that. AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO DOESN'T THINK HE'S HOT!?!?!?! Hence, a poll. Please vote. My reputation as an adult depends on it. El Oh El.

Dinner Divas: Grilled Chicken and Pesto Farfalle

2008-11-04T21:52:00.002-05:00

I know I am totally late on this one!! For this month's Dinner Divas I wanted to try both the Rachel Ray Mexican Lasagna and the Grilled Chicken and Pesto Farfalle from Cooking Light. But, I only got to try one.

I decided to do the Chicken Pesto because I've never had pesto and I had extra chicken from the roast chicken I made a little while ago. So, it turned from Grilled Chicken and Pesto Farfalle to just Chicken and Pesto Farfalle. Also, it added to my Pasta Quest! Even though I've had farfalle before, I hadn't had the pesto.
Here's the recipe:

Grilled Chicken and Pesto Farfalle (courtesy Cooking Light)

Ingredients
* 1 3/4 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
* 1 teaspoon salt, divided
* 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
* Cooking spray
* 20 ounces uncooked farfalle (bow tie pasta)
* 1 tablespoon butter
* 3 garlic cloves, minced
* 1 1/2 cups 1% low-fat milk, divided
* 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1 (3.5-ounce) jar commercial pesto (about 1/3 cup)
* 3/4 cup half-and-half
* 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
* 4 cups halved grape tomatoes (about 2 pints)
* 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil (I omitted the basil since I didn't feel like going to my mom's to steal some from her garden)

Preparation

1. Prepare grill to medium-high heat.

2. Sprinkle chicken evenly with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Place chicken on grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 10 minutes or until done, turning after 6 minutes. Remove from grill; let stand 5 minutes. Cut chicken into 1/2-inch pieces; keep warm.

3. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain in colander over a bowl, reserving 1/4 cup cooking liquid. Place pasta in large bowl.

4. Heat butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Combine 1/2 cup milk and flour in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add milk mixture to pan, stirring constantly with a whisk. Stir in pesto. Gradually add remaining 1 cup milk and half-and-half, stirring constantly with a whisk. Cook 8 minutes or until sauce thickens, stirring frequently. Add 1/4 cup reserved cooking liquid, remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt, remaining 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and 1 cup cheese; stir until cheese melts.

5. Add chicken and sauce to pasta, tossing well to coat. Add tomatoes and basil; toss gently. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese. Serve immediately.

Halloween!!! (Chili)

2008-11-04T21:13:00.003-05:00

OK, I'm finally getting to it. For Hday this year we had a work party where we brought in dishes. We had contests for the tastiest and scariest food. Since we don't have a ton of cooks, I usually bring a main dish. This time, chili. I decided to use the recipe from the Brown Eyed Baker's blog. She makes it look so easy!

Being that my schedule was like this:
Tuesday: work, then work
Wednesday: recipe exchange dinner, prep pumpkin muffins, bake pumpkin muffins
Thursday: work, work, pumpkin muffins, frost pumpkin muffins, prep chili
Friday: (morning) brown meat for chili, throw stuff in crock pot, carry 30lbs of stuff to work, work, scurry home, carve my pumpkins, decorate house, hand out candy (and maybe eat some dinner)

I decided to assemble said chili the night before, cutting veg and opening can and dumping everything into a crock pot (which mom bought me the day before, I was complaining, and she got me a crock pot. I heart mom) which worked beautifully. I browned the meat the morning of, mixed, set on high, and it was great by noon. Hubs LOVED this. I didn't tell him it came from the crock pot. He wouldn't eat it.

Chili
(Adapted from Recipezaar) ~ via Brown Eyed Baker's blog

2 lbs ground beef
1 (29 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans (with liquid)
2 (15 ounce) cans pinto beans (with liquid) Cat used black beans because the hubs likes.
1 medium onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 stalk celery, diced Did not use, it's so uneconomical to buy a whole freaking thing of celery just for one stalk.
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups water

1. Brown ground beef in a large pot (or a pan, so that you can shove everything in a crock pot) over medium heat.

2. Drain off the fat.

3. Combine the beef plus all the remaining ingredients, and bring to a simmer over low heat.

4. Cook, stirring every 15 minutes, for 2 to 3 hours.

Yay for Chili!! Sadly, all was eaten before I could get a picture. Just pretend.

Recipe Exchange: 3 Cheese Broccoli Soup

2008-11-04T20:51:00.005-05:00

I made my entry for the latest recipe exchange last Wednesday, when I was also busy prepping for Halloween goings on. It was sooooo good. I do have to admit I couldn't find all of the cheeses from Wisconsin, so I just picked up the cheeses from as close as I could get (one was from Ohio, it's still midwest!)

Without further adieu:

Taste of Wisconsin Three Cheese Broccoli Soup

Ingredients:
6 Tbsp. butter
1/3 C. flour
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ground white pepper
dash ground thyme
1 - 13 3/4 ounce can chicken broth
1 C. milk
3 C. bite-size broccoli florets (I used fresh broccoli, took me fo-eva to cut the sucker up)
1 C. whipping cream
1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp. hot pepper sauce
1 C. (4 ounces) shredded Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese
1/2 C. (2 ounces) shredded Wisconsin-Style Havarti Cheese
1/2 C. (2 ounces) shredded Wisconsin Swiss Cheese

Preparation:
Melt butter in 3-quart saucepan over low heat. Blend in flour and seasonings. Gradually add broth and milk; cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Stir in broccoli; simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in cream, Worcestershire sauce and hot pepper sauce. Add cheeses; stir until melted. Makes 6 - 3/4 cup servings.

It turned out very well, even though I am the worst with melting cheese into any sort of roux with milk. I've determined I don't get the milk hot enough before adding. I am impatient. Natch.

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T11:05:00.004-04:00

I've been a bad food blogger, for I have made bounteous meals (including Dinner Divas and my recipe exchange!) and have not blogged. There are photos, oh yes, but nary a blog entry. And now's not the time.

For I have punkins to eat! I don't have time right now to relay all the sordid details (Stella likes frosting), but I'll leave you with a picture. Alas, some of my punkins' frosting melted, but they still taste fan-freakin-tastic. And I have a dozen left over at home!

punkins:

Pear Cake

2008-10-27T13:28:00.004-04:00

Yum! I made this for a meeting on Sunday (which I was late for, thanks cake) and it was still warm when we cut it almost two hours later. I also licked the bowl for the glaze. Good Stuff.

Fresh Pear Cake (from Weaver's website, my fave orchard)

Ingredients
3 eggs
2 c. sugar
11/2 c. vegetable oil
3 c. flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
11/2 c. pears, peeled and finely chopped (2-3 pears)
1 tsp. vanilla
11/4 c. confectioners' sugar
2 Tbs. milk

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs on medium speed. Gradually add sugar and oil; beat thoroughly. Combine flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda; add to egg mixture and mix well. Stir in pears and vanilla. (The batter will be stiff.) Spoon into a greased and floured 10 in. tube pan.
Bake at 350° for 60-65 minutes or until cake tests done. Let cool in pan for 10 min. before inverting onto a serving plate. In a small bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar and milk; beat until smooth. Drizzle over warm cake. Cool completely. Yield: 14-16 servings.

Used by permission from Reiman Publications - Taste of Home

(hopefully TOH doesn't come after me for this...)

Pictures to follow, I was in such a rush I didn't take any beforehand.

Oh, forgot to add, since I was running late the hubs offered to help. New skills he has since acquired:
♥ greasing a pan
♥ flouring a pan
♥ learning NOT to ask me stupid questions when I'm baking

Cat Roasts a Chicken

2008-10-22T19:32:00.012-04:00

Look Ma, I'm all domestic-like!

Not really though. I had my first experience with dead animal skin two Thanksgivings ago, when I (foolishly) agreed to brine the 20-lb turkey for my Mom's T-day supper. It was slimy. And disgusting. Do you know how hard it is to lower a 20-lb turkey slowly into a bucket of brine? My kitchen floor knows.

So, this time, I started small - 5lb little sucker. Got it at my fave orchard (yes, chickens too!) and it still had feathers on it when I got it out of the packaging. Gross. I also had to chop the neck off (after a call to Mom...we had a 'what would Julia do?' moment) Here's what it looked like:

So, I dealt with the sliminess and got through the cutting off of the neck (ew) and buttered the little sucker and stuck him in the oven.

Leroy is not impressed by my culinary skills.

And it turned out great in the end actually! I do have to work on my timing, because the potatoes were cold and I forgot all about the corn. Oh well. Yay for chicken!

Here's the recipe I used:

Roast Chicken, courtesy Julia Child via FoodNetwork.com
1 (3 1/2 to 4 pound) chicken
1 small yellow onion, quartered
1 lemon, thinly sliced
1/2 cup celery leaves (not a fan of celery, so didn't use this)
Salt and black pepper
Butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 cups chicken broth
Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Wash the chicken in hot water and dry thoroughly. Season the cavity with salt and black pepper and stuff with the onion, lemon, and celery leaves. Rub the chicken lightly with softened butter and season all over with salt and pepper. Tie the drumsticks ends together and set the chicken, breast side up, in an oiled v-shaped rack or on an oiled roasting pan in the oven.

Roast for 15 minutes at 425 degrees F, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees, baste the chicken, and roast for 15 minutes. Add the chopped onion and carrot to the pan, basting them and the chicken. Continue roasting the chicken until the juices run clear, for a total of 45 minutes plus an additional 7 minutes for each pound. (In other words, a 3 1/2 pound chicken would take a basic 45 minutes plus an additional 25 minutes, for a total 70 minutes or 1 hour and 10 minutes of cooking time.)

Remove the chicken and spoon the fat out of the roasting pan. Into the pan, stir in the herbs and blend in the broth and, stirring constantly, boil for several minutes on the stovetop to concentrate the flavor. Correct the seasoning and strain the sauce into a warm sauceboat. Carve the chicken and serve with the warm sauce.

oh yeah, here's the sauce and the giant mutant carrot that hubs got at the farmer's market this morning:

Listaciousness Volume Food

2008-10-21T11:39:00.004-04:00

Inspired by a recent post on WC, I've made my own to-do list for this season.

♪Chili
♪Pear Cake
♪Baked Mac 'n' Cheese
♪Apple Caramel Upside-Down Cake
♪Roast Chicken (tomorrow, yay!)
♪Risotto
♪Christmas Cookies
♪Mini Pumpkins in my new Bundt pan
♪Sugar Cookies (frosted) with Candy Corns
♪Chicken Pesto Pasta (hopefully before the end of Oct!)
♪Mexican Lasagna (ditto!)
♪Chicken Salad
♪Homemade Tomato Soup
♪Corn Chowder

The Hubs' Buffalo Wing Dip

2008-10-14T12:33:00.002-04:00

I just recommended this dip to someone on the Nest and then didn't tell them the recipe, GUILTY. So, here it is! This is some guy who works with Hubs' version of the infamous Buffalo Wing Dip (aka Crack Dip).

Buffalo Wing Dip

Ingredients:
2 8oz packages of cream cheese, softened
1 8oz bottle of ranch dressing (I used 10oz to make it a lil creamier)
1 package of shredded jack/mixed cheese
10oz of Hormel canned chicken (I believe I got two 9.75 oz cans and used about 15oz total to make mine a little more chicken-y)
1 5oz bottle of Frank's Red Hot Sauce

Directions:
Mix cream cheese, ranch dressing, chicken, and hot sauce until thoroughly combined. Put in baking dish and sprinkle cheese on top (I add half of the shredded cheese to the mixture and put half on top, this makes it less greasy). Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes. *be careful as the cheese on top will make it a little greasy/slide-y!*

Pasta with Turkey Sausage

2008-10-13T11:08:00.004-04:00

K came over last night for dinner and brought some excellent turkey sausage and multigrain bread, so we had a pasta night. Pretty simple really, but the combination of the sausage and sauce was great!

I used ziti, and K cut the casings off of the sausage and we fried it up with a lil olive oil (cause I'm paranoid about my pans, haha). It was different, I usually use regular sausage or ground beef with my sauces, but this was flavored excellently.

The sauce was great too, if you get the chance try it! Seeds of Change, Garden Vegetable Piemonte (which is a region of Italy acc to Wikipedia, because I am clueless about Large Words in Other Languages) - it is sooooo good! The combination of the sauce and the sausage was wonderful flavor.

So, that was my easy-peasy dinner. Maybe this week, I'll actually *gasp* make something! Wait for it...

Pasta Quest

2008-10-10T11:38:00.002-04:00

So, another in a long line of 'list'-focused things for me. I have decided to embark on a season-long Pasta Quest. I will attempt to try every kind of pasta I can get my hands on, baked, cooked, whatever. There is a local Italian market that now stocks many a strange, new pasta type, and I am forever looking for new recipes in which to use said pastas.

Some may be older recipes, and things I have done before, and some may be new. But whatever they are, it's gonna be mighty tasty.

GOALS:
- to try one new pasta every two weeks (because, honestly, I would love mucho carbs every week, but my hips would not)
- to make these pastas using different recipes, not just 'spaghetti and meatballs'
- to blog about these dishes so that others may benefit from my pas-telligence.

Let me know if there are any odd pastas you have tried, or recipes you want me to try which aren't your everyday tomato sauce-type dishes!

Layered Mini Lasagne Casserole

2008-10-09T09:34:00.004-04:00

Or, as I like to call it, mini lasagna.

This recipe comes from the back of the Mafalda box. Mafalda is a mini lasagna noodle basically. It's cut short though; at times I will see mini lasagna noodles in the store which are only 1-2 inches wide but still are extremely long; these are almost square.

This is the easiest lasagna I have ever made. Ok, it's the only lasagna I have ever made. I have actual lasagna noodles in my cupboard, but haven't used them. They may be used as part of my year-long pasta quest.
Anywho, these noodles only appear once in a blue moon on my grocery shelf, so I stock up like a mad Y2K shopper whenever they appear. I heart this lasagna so much. I am so disappointed that I didn't get a picture when I first made it, because Hubs then proceeded to eat the rest of it. So, picture next time!

Layered Mini Lasagne Casserole
(courtesy back of the San Giorgio box)

Ingredients:
1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion (I omit the on, not a fan)
3 cups (about 26-oz jar) spaghetti sauce (make sure you get ex sauce, a reg jar is only 24 oz, we usually end up adding ex sauce!)
1 package (12 oz) San Giorgio Mafalda, uncooked
3-3/4 cups (2 lb) ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or 1 TBS dried parsley flakes
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups (8 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese, divided (I used an Italian mix)
grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:
Heat oven to 375ºF. In large skillet, cook meat and onion until meat browns; drain.
Stir in spaghetti sauce; heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low; simmer 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. In large bowl, stir together ricotta cheese, egg, parsley, pepper, and salt (I usually add some of the cheese into this mixture, I'm all about cheese).

In 13x9x2-inch baking dish, spread 1 cup meat sauce; evenly layer one-half pasta over sauce. Spread ricotta mixture over pasta; sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers of meat sauce and pasta. Spread remaining meat sauce over pasta, covering pasta completely; sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, if desired; cover with foil. Bake 30 minutes. Remove foil; bake 5 minutes of until hot and bubbly.

10 servings (1 cup each).

And, for your viewing pleasure, my copy of the recipe.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

2008-10-08T20:38:00.011-04:00

Mmm, muffins. We were finally home together last night and decided to go all out for dinner. We had grilled salmon fillets, fresh green beans from the orchard, and a rice mix that we found at our local grocery. I think it has wild, brown, and long-grain.

So, obviously, I had to make something for dessert. Hubs isn't fond of pumpkin, but since he ate my bananas I couldn't make banana bread for him, so I pulled out a recipe I'd been wanting to try, healthy pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. I didn't know I had three cans of pumpkin in my cupboard so these will be made again, oh yes.

I was amazed at the amount of batter I had, but I'm not sure that my mini-muffin tin was actually 2 1/2 inches (looked more like 1 1/2) so I filled my 36-mini muffin tin and another regular tin of 12. Without further adieu, here's the recipe:

Healthy Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip Muffins
(courtesy Very Best Baking by way of lovestoeat's blog)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, slightly beaten
2 cups granulated sugar
1 can (15 oz.) LIBBY’S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels (I only had one cup so I used one cup of milk choc chips to compensate)

Directions:
PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Grease thirty-six 2 1/2-inch muffin cups or line with paper bake cups.
COMBINE all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in medium bowl. Combine eggs and sugar in large bowl. Add pumpkin and oil; mix well. Stir in flour mixture until moistened. Stir in morsels. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
BAKE for 20 to 25 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched. Cool in pans on wire racks for 5 minutes; remove from pans.

Here is my plethora of muffins:

And here is my lovely oven, complete with periwinkle (yes my kitchen is periwinkle) wall, green teapot, red toaster, and myriad salt shakers. Notice the weiner dog salt shakers.

Pork-tastic! (and a dog story)

2008-09-25T11:18:00.005-04:00

I feel a bit guilty because I didn't really 'make' the pork tenderloin we had last night, as in season it or such things, but it was still a damn good dinner.

I got one of those hatfield (I think) pork tenderloins in the meat section of my local grocery store, flavored with "peppercorn." So basically I could've done it myself, but oh well. It was great!! Roasted with foil on for 20 min, stuck some shaved carrots (whole) in for 10 min (seasoned with olive oil and S&P), took the foil off, roasted for another 10 min, took the pork out to 'sit' and did the carrots for another 5 min or so. Who knew it took so long for carrots to roast???

The carrots came out with a great flavor because of the pork remnants/liquids/essence. The carrots of course were organic, they come with their manes still attached, not sure what I should do with all that greenery so i just throw it out. If anyone has anything interesting to do with carrot stem please let me know!! I buy the organic carrots because I am a snob. Or because I bought them once and they tasted so freaking good I just can't eat any other carrots now.

The potatoes I made were from my favorite place for food-ness, Weaver's Orchard (see previous posts for website). They were great! Just plain ol' gold potatoes, took about 5/6 of them (the biggest ones, left the smaller ones to make roasted taters another day), boiled them, mashed them, stuck them in a - NO. nevermind that.
Left the skin on, because that's hubs' favorite part apparently. Why? potato innards = so yummy!
Some 1% milk, from local cows in Lancaster (I like having milk come from cows I can actually drive by and moo at), a little bit of butter (I'm estimating about 2-3 tbs, give or take a stick), and some sea salt and I was in heaven. No, they will never compare to my grandmother's potatoes, but nothing really will. Sigh.

All in all, great dinner! easy too because I had to do laundry in between prep & cook. OH. AND. I had to take my overpeeing dog out.

That cute dog, in the posts from a couple weeks ago? Yeah, he's the devil incarnate. He was perfect last week, and Monday started up again with the "I'm gonna pee on everything sucka" routine. So I threw his little gold self in the car and off to the vet we went. $800 later (I exaggerate, it's what I do), I left with antibiotics and a bill for urine and blood tests. I half hope it's nothing, I half hope it's something - treatable. I'm so sick of the smelliness! and feel so bad that he pees and doesn't really know it, hence sits in it all day. bathtime = dinnertime for Leroy lately.

We'll see how it goes next week. On the bright side, I didn't threaten to turn him into a rug this week. Yet. It's only Thursday.

*disclaimer: no dogs were nor will be harmed by writer of this blog. though I may wax poetic about threats, I carry no big stick.*

...aaaaand here's dinner as leftovers the next day, WHEEEE!!!

I Fought The Law (session #1)

2008-09-22T14:02:00.004-04:00

SO... yours truly got a parking ticket back in, oh, March. It was for parking at a meter without paying (I think), and as I remember it, there was only about 20 minutes until the meters turned off. So I had a 20-minute window where I could get fined. And I was. GLORIOUS.

I promptly threw the ticket in the backseat and forgot about it. It got lost in the backseat (as things usually do) and I forgot about it until June, when I got a letter in the mail saying I hadn't paid, and this was the last warning. So I sucked it up and paid the fine.

Fast forward to today: I get a certified letter in the mail saying that I have a court date. Or, rather, will have a court date if I plead 'not guilty.' I sent the payment by check back in JUNE! Apparently the mail system played a cruel trick and ATE MY PAYMENT! So now, I either have to pay the fine plus an exorbitant amount of 'cost' and 'other' to the city, or show up in court. I will gladly cut another check for the cost of the original fine, but I want a darn good reason (and to know where my 'cost' and 'other' are going) before I pay the 'cost' and 'other' categories. SO...

I'm pleading not guilty and showing up in court.

WISH ME LUCK!!!

New Pictures Blog!

2008-09-18T08:41:00.003-04:00

I decided to make a blog just for pictures. So if family comes here looking for an update on my life, they don't have to read all the recipes. Although they should, it's a show of support people.
So here it is! Tempest in a Blue Teapot presents PICTURES!

Take that, Martha.

2008-09-17T20:30:00.010-04:00

this is my new b*tchin' wreath - that I made myself!
and here are the products I used to make it. Blackberry included.

Recipe Exchange - Shrimp and Pasta

2008-09-17T20:30:00.008-04:00

For the most recent recipe exchange, Keepin' it Real, I was given Shrimp and Pasta. This recipe exchange was all about using staples, a fast-and-easy kind of thing. At first glance, it seems pretty simple, but I was a little confused by the instructions! Don't worry recipe-writer, it's the operator, not the machine!

Shrimp and Pasta
(total cook time, 20-30 minutes, most ingredients on hand)

Ingredients:
1 lb peeled, deveined shrimp (thawed)
olive oil
cooking spray (olive oil, preferably)
crushed red pepper flakes (at least 1 tsp, more if you like heat)
fresh ground black pepper
salt-free seasoning
6-7 garlic cloves, finely chopped, divided
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped, divided
2 shallots, finely chopped, divided
wine (drinking or cooking) I used white wine
angel hair pasta

1. cook pasta according to package directions (I halved the recipe)
2. In a dish place about a tbsp of olive oil and crushed red pepper flakes. Pat shrimp dry and place in dish. "Salt" and pepper shrimp and toss to coat with olive oil and red pepper flakes.
3. spray a skillet liberally with cooking spray and add about a tbsp of olive oil and heat over medium high heat. Add just a small amount of garlic, onion, and shallot to pan and cook until just soft, less than 2 minutes. Add shrimp to pan and spray with more cooking spray.
3.cook shrimp, not stirring too often. When shrimp are about halfway done, add the rest of the first half of garlic, shallot, and shrimp (think they meant onion) (the other half will go in the pasta). Cook shrimp to desired doneness, trying to get a little bit of crisp on it (times wil vary). When shrimp is done, remove from pan, set aside and cover.
4. Add just enough wine to skillet to deglaze the pan. Once wine has almost evaporated, add about a tbsp of olive oil and the rest of the garlic, onion, and shallot. Saute until soft, about 2 minutes.
5. Add cooked and drained pasta to skillet and toss to coat.
6. Serve shrimp over the pasta.

Survey says:
HUBS LOVED IT. He loved it. I think it was cause I halved the recipe but OD'd on garlic and pepper. I was not as impressed, but I think since he loved it so much I'll add it to the repertoire! Thanks recipe exchange!!

**sidenote: I just want to let you all know... I peeled and deveined those babies! yes, got fresh shrimp right before dinner and did the dirty work myself. I told hubs afterward, and he was like, why didn't you just get frozen shrimp? BECAUSE... if I have the availability of shrimpies that are fresh I'll take those. for a regular weeknight dinner, I'd probably get the frozen ones. But I'd never done fresh shrimp before so now I can say I have!

This is what I do when I'm home sick and bored.

2008-09-12T14:03:00.005-04:00

These are the doggies halloween costumes from last year:

here are the dogs trying to ignore me:

and here they are extreme close-up:

Dinner Divas - Mac & Cheddar Cheese w/ Chicken and Broccoli

2008-09-10T20:17:00.003-04:00

So for my next Dinner Divas trick, I decided to do Rach's recipe. AS USUAL I didn't follow the recipe to a T, but made my own adjustments. They are listed below.

Rach's Mac & Cheddar Cheese with Chicken and Broccoli

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
1 pound chicken breast tenders, chopped
Salt and pepper
1 small onion, chopped (I used about a quarter onion because I don't like them)
1 pound macaroni elbows or cavatapi corkscrew shaped pasta twists (I used a fantastic noodle called Casarecce from the local Italian market because I couldn't find cavatapi)
2 1/2 cups raw broccoli florets, available packaged in produce department
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I don't have this, oops)
1 teaspoon paprika (don't have this either, I suck at this)
3 cups whole milk (I didn't have whole milk either, and realized that I only had two cups of skim milk halfway through, so I used a cup of heavy cream to make up)
1 cup chicken stock
3 cups yellow sharp Cheddar (I got a block of cheddar, 8 oz was about 3 cups)
1 tablespoon prepared Dijon mustard

Place a pot of water on to boil for macaroni.
Heat a medium pan over medium to medium high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil and chicken and season with salt and pepper. Saute a couple of minutes then add onion and cook another 5 to 7 minutes until onions are tender and chicken is cooked through. Turn off heat and reserve.

To boiling pasta water, add pasta and salt to season the cooking water. Cook 5 minutes, then add broccoli and cook 3 minutes more or until pasta is cooked to al dente and florets are just tender.

While pasta cooks, heat a medium sauce pot over medium heat. Add butter and melt, then add flour, cayenne and paprika and whisk together over heat until roux bubbles then cook a minute more. Whisk in milk and stock and raise heat a little to bring sauce to a quick boil. Simmer sauce to thicken about 5 minutes.

Drain macaroni or pasta and broccoli florets. Add back to pot and add chicken to the pasta and broccoli.

Add cheese to milk sauce and stir to melt it in, about a minute or so. Stir in mustard and season sauce with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over chicken and broccoli and cooked pasta and stir to combine. Adjust seasonings, transfer to a large serving platter and serve.

VERDICT: like one of the other commenters on this meal, I found the flavor a bit lacking, so ended up dumping sea salt like mad, something hubs isn't happy about (but he wasn't here when I was eating, so I got away with it, mua ha ha). It was nice and creamy though, and the broccoli with the cheddar was fab! So, three out of four stars from me. For hubs, this was his favorite so far (better than the mandarin chicken of Monday).

Here are two pictures I attempted to take, the lighting in my house is not the best so let me know which one you like better! he he.

Mmm...candy corn...

2008-09-08T20:40:00.005-04:00

So I was at the market today getting the usual supplies (giant head of broccoli for $1.99, deli meats, one pear) when I spied from the corner of my eye some sugary colored goodness: CANDY CORN. Assorted kinds, assorted shapes. I got a bag of yellow corns, brown corns, and pumpkins. Ohhhh good stuff. I just ate ten of each and 5 pumpkins so I am in sugar happy land. And of course since apparently too much sugar can cause nightmares I will be attacked by giant candy corns tonight.

BRING IT ON, CORNS!

Dinner Divas - Orange Mandarin Chicken (a little late)

2008-09-08T20:30:00.003-04:00

ok ok I'm late, I know. I just did Dinner Divas' August recipe today. But I really only have two nights of the week to cook!

It was the Orange Mandarin Chicken from Cooking Light. I picked Udon noodles to go with it, and had to ixnay the garlic because when I opened my jar, it smelled like...well, nothing good. Or edible. So I shook in some garlic powder.
I also omitted the green onion because they cost a lot and I wouldn't be able to use the rest of it before it went bad. A common theme in my two-full-time-jobs-two-part-time-activities-no-time-for-anything-else household.

All in all I give this recipe four stars. ****
Hubs was not that thrilled, given his disinterest in anything Asian-flavored, but he liked the noodles! hehe.

Oh, I would have taken a picture, but by the time I thought of it, hubs' was gone and mine was cut up into me-sized pieces. My bad.
Here's the recipe for those of you who don't feel like clicking the link:

Orange Mandarin Chicken
Ingredients
2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
4 (4-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 (11-ounce) can mandarin oranges in light syrup, undrained
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 tablespoon finely chopped seeded jalapeño pepper
1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch
Preparation
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until browned.

While chicken cooks, drain oranges in a colander over a bowl, reserving 2 tablespoons liquid. Add oranges, 2 tablespoons liquid, onions, jalapeño, and garlic to pan. Reduce heat; simmer 2 minutes. Combine broth, soy sauce, and cornstarch; add to pan. Bring to a boil; cook 1 minute or until slightly thickened.

Nutritional Information
Calories:212 (16% from fat)
Fat:3.8g (sat 0.7g,mono 1.3g,poly 1.3g)
Protein:27.2g
Carbohydrate:15.2g
Fiber:0.7g
Cholesterol:66mg
Iron:1.9mg
Sodium:562mg
Calcium:27mg

Listaciousness!

2008-08-29T13:28:00.004-04:00

I heart lists. As you all may (or may not) know. Whilst browsing my fellow WCers blogs, I came across this gem: The Omnivore's Hundred! So without further adieu, here goes:

(addition: the instructions for this are "1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.")

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. ~~Black pudding~~
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. ~~Borscht~~
10. Baba ghanoush
11. ~~Calamari~~
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. ~~Black truffle~~
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. ~~Brawn, or head cheese~~
26. ~~Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper~~
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut (I practically live in the sauerkraut capital)
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. ~~Curried goat~~
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. ~~Sea urchin~~
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. ~~Sweetbreads~~
63. Kaolin
64. ~~Currywurst~~
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis (funny story: ask me about the time hubs confused this with hummus)
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. ~~Caviar and blini~~
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. ~~Roadkill~~
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. ~~Snail~~
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. ~~Horse~~
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Baked Orzo with Fontina and Peas; Blackberry Cobbler

2008-08-28T08:13:00.007-04:00

YUM. I actually got to make dinner last night. I'm still amazed at myself. Of course, I didn't do anything else... but at least I was productive! There are leftovers!

First up was Giada's recipe . I did modify it because I didn't have time to get all the ingredients, and wasn't sure about the mushrooms. I don't like them, but hubs is picky about them so next time I'll make it more spot-on.

Baked Orzo with Fontina and Peas

4 cups chicken broth (found out i didn't have any chicken broth... sub #1 = water)
1 pound orzo pasta
3 tablespoons butter, plus more to grease the baking dish
1 onion, chopped
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced (none of these either!)
1 cup Marsala wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 ounces shredded fontina cheese (about 1 cup)
4 ounces diced fresh mozzarella cheese (about 1 cup) (i had an italian cheese blend, bag o' shred)
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup bread crumbs (ran out of these too! i'm so bad at this.)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon dried thyme

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter a 9 by 13-inch baking dish.

Bring the chicken broth to a boil over medium-high heat in a medium saucepan. Add the orzo and cook until almost tender, about 7 minutes. Pour the orzo and the broth into a large bowl. Set aside.

Meanwhile, melt the butter over medium heat in a medium skillet. Add the onions and saute until tender, about 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and continue to saute until the mushrooms are beginning to turn golden around the edges, about 7 minutes. Add the Marsala. Scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan and cook until the Marsala has reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Add the mushroom mixture to the orzo in the large bowl. Add the cream, fontina, mozzarella, peas, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.

In a small bowl combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan, and dried thyme. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture on top of the pasta. Bake until golden, about 25 minutes.

Verdict: pretty darn good! I'll try it the 'real' way next time, but it worked just fine my screwy way so I'm predicting a surefire hit with the true ingredients.

Next: dessert! this was a recipe I gleaned from the website of my (kind-of) local orchard. It was pretty easy... I almost wondered if they left something out! But this is a great quick dessert for hectic nights.

Blackberry Cobbler

Note from the Editor:
A tasty, light dessert, this cobbler has long been a family favorite. It is a great Sunday evening supper or quick dish to prepare for unexpected visitors. The blackberries can be substituted by any other berry or sour cherries. (If using frozen or canned fruit, must drain well!) ENJOY!

Ingredients

1 c. flour
1 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. fresh fruit
4 Tbs. butter (melted)

Combine flour, sugar, and baking powder in a two quart baking dish. Stir in milk and vanilla to make a thin batter (do not over-mix). Place fruit over batter and drizzle melted butter over top. Do not stir. Bake at 350° for 30-40 minutes.

Fantastic! Loved it. So easy. Not as healthy as some, but it was fast, easy, and mmm mmm good. Hubs tried to tell me what I used were black raspberries...so that led into a 10-minute conversation about berries that really wasn't necessary. Oh well.