Mostly Soup!

Sausage and White Bean Cassoulet

2012-01-21T10:25:00.000-08:00

This is one of those recipes that you would be proud to serve to company yet it's ridiculously simple. My favorite recipe type by far. While it could definitely be gussied up by adding some confit, some homemade bread crumbs, or maybe serving it over some sort of puree, I liked it just the way it was. Served with some french bread torn right off the loaf, a glass of wine and a simple salad with nothing more than red leaf lettuce and some homemade vinaigrette. Yup, this was winter Friday night staycation worthy alright. Follow it up with a documentary and some downloading of Nico records and I'm in heaven.

I modified the recipe a little and added some spices to the tomatoes before they went into the oven. I also added much more than a "glug" of wine...I like to drink my wine in as many ways as possible. Enjoy!

Sausage and White Bean Cassoulet

recipe from Sweet Sugar Bean

2 pints of cherry tomatoes
4-6 hot Italian sausages OR Chorizo sausages
4 large garlic cloves, smashed
1 onion, cut into wedges
extra virgin olive oil
balsamic vinegar
coarse salt and pepper

few sprigs fresh thyme OR rosemary

3 cups cooked white navy beans or white kidney beans OR 1 19 oz can (540ml) of white beans, rinsed and drained well
chicken broth or white wine(optional)

Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 425 *F.
Scatter tomatoes over bottom of dish (reserve about 1/2 cup to add later). Add garlic, onion and sausages over top. Drizzle with balsamic and olive oil. Toss on rosemary and sprinkle with S & P and other spices if using. Bake about 25-30 minutes, for sausages to be golden and tomatoes start to burst. Remove from oven and stir in beans and reserved 1/2 cup of cherry tomatoes. If you'd like a bit more sauce with your beans, add a glug or white wine or chicken stock. Return to oven and bake 20 minutes longer or until beans are cooked through. Serve with bread and butter for dunking; green salad on the side. Makes enough for 4.

Snug as a bug

In go the beans

C'est fini

Hot and Sour Mushroom, Cabbage and Rice Soup

2012-01-09T16:19:00.000-08:00

This was seriously the most delicious thing that I have made in a while. The moment I saw this recipe in my email from The Kitchn I knew I had to make it as soon as humanly possible and I am so very glad I did.

I have always loved hot and sour soup at Chinese restaurants, though I have not had it in a very long time. This soup was not quite exactly the same as how I remember traditional hot and sour soup, but the flavors were very similar. This soup is much different than soups I typically make, flavorwise, but I loved it. I never thought I would create such a close replica of hot and sour soup at home as quickly and easily as it was with this recipe.

I modified the recipe a touch from the original, but only adding an onion and shredded chicken. I didn't have any home made stock to use, but store bought worked great for me. I could not stop oohing and aahing over how delicious it was! In fact I think as soon as I finish with this post I will go eat another bowl of it.

I highly recommend making this soup if you are in dire need of a winter blues remedy, as the original post suggested. It definitely made me happy. This could very easily be made vegan by omitting the chicken and using veggie broth. I also think it would be great to add more vegetables like carrots or using brussels sprouts in place of cabbage or tossing some spinach in or any other veggie that needs to get used up. The broth is so flavorful!

Without further ado, here is the recipe as I made it.

Hot and Sour Mushroom, Cabbage and Rice Soup:(makes about 8 servings)

Ingredients:
-1 tablespoon canola oil
-1 small onion, julienned
-1/2 pound cremini or shiitake mushroom caps, thinly sliced
-1 to 3 jalapeno peppers, finely diced (I used 2 red peppers because the store didn't have jalapenos, and I wish I had used more, but topping the finished soup with Sriracha chili sauce did the trick!)
-6 cloves garlic, minced
-One 3-inch lump ginger, grated, or 1 tablespoon ginger puree
-3 limes, zested and juiced
- 8 cups broth — turkey, chicken, or vegetable
-2 boneless and skinless chicken breasts
-1/2 cup jasmine rice
-1/2 small head green cabbage, cut in half and shaved thin
-2 tablespoons soy sauce, plus more to serve
-Chili garlic sauce or kimchi, to serve

Process:

-Heat the oil in a large heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent.

-Add the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes without stirring. Toss the mushrooms after 5 minutes and cook for an additional 5 minutes, or until well-browned.

- Add the diced peppers, garlic, and ginger and cook for about five minutes or until fragrant and slightly softened. (This smelled incredible!)

-Add the lime zest, chicken, and broth and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked.

-Remove chicken from pot, add the rice, cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the rice is just barely soft.

-While the rice is simmering, shred the chicken.

-Once the rice is barely soft, add the shredded chicken back to the pot along with the shaved cabbage, lime juice, and soy sauce.

-Simmer for another few minutes or until cabbage is hot.

-Serve with extra soy sauce, lime wedges, and kimchi or chili garlic sauce.

Now I'm hungry. Enjoy!

Chicken Pot Pie

2011-10-06T13:22:00.000-07:00

We arrived home from a two week trip to Spain to find that fall has hit in Portland! Which is just dandy by me, I sure do love this season. All the traveling and hotel hopping left me yearning to spend the day in my kitchen so I decided to spend my Sunday making this very involved, from scratch, chicken pot pie that I got from the new Bon Appetit magazine. It was the perfect cure for fall weather and the need to cook. I went above and beyond on this one and even pulled the meat from the chicken carcass with my bare hands, a first and most likely a last for me. I'm not as carnivorous as I may have thought after shirking my vegetarian upbringing some 12 years ago. Overall, this recipe turned out really well but I think I prefer Ina Garten's Chicken Stew with Biscuits more. It's an all time favorite. This recipe can be a close second though and one to keep around should I ever need to impress anyone with my chicken ripping skills.

Chicken Pot Pie
slightly altered from Bon Appetit

Crust
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" cubes
1/4 cup vegetable shortening

Chicken
2 cups peeled, coarsely chopped carrots
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
1 leek, coarsely chopped
1 3-pound whole chicken
4 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
6 sprigs thyme
1 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 tablespoon tomato paste

Filling
2 tablespoons dried chanterelle or shittake mushrooms
1 cupo 1/2" slices of carrots
1 cup fresh (or frozen, thawed) peas
1 cup fresh (or I used frozen already peeled) pearl onions
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup all purpose flour
6 fresh sage leaves
4 thyme sprigs
2 sprigs rosemary
1 cup button mushrooms
1 cup 1/4" rounds sliced fingerling potatoes
1 egg, beaten to blend
coarse sea salt and ground pepper

PREPERATION:

Crust

Mix flour, salt, and baking powder in a food processor. Add cubed butter and shortening and process until mixture resembles coarse meal with some pea-size lumps. With machine running, add 1/2 cup ice water and process, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if dry, until dough forms. Form dough into a ball; flatten into a disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place chilled dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out to a 12x9 1/2" rectangle, about 1/4" thick. Place on prepared sheet and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Chill. DO AHEAD: Can be made 6 hours ahead. Keep chilled.

Chicken

Preheat oven to 400°. Place carrots, onion, and leek on a rimmed baking sheet and roast until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Transfer to a large pot fitted with a lid. Add chicken, breast side down, celery, thyme sprigs, wine, salt, and peppercorns to pot. Add 8 cups water to cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Remove pot from heat, cover, and poach chicken until cooked through, about 35 minutes.
Remove chicken from pot and set aside until cool. Reserve broth. Shred meat; discard skin and bones. Set a large strainer over another pot. Strain broth into clean pot. Stir in tomato paste. Return to medium heat and simmer, uncovered, until reduced to 5 cups, about 40 minutes. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Chill uncovered until cool. Cover chicken and broth separately; keep chilled. Rewarm broth before continuing.

Filling

Place dried chanterelles in a small bowl and cover with 1 cup hot water. Let steep for 10 minutes; set aside. Reserve soaking liquid. Cook carrots in a large saucepan of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a medium bowl. Add peas to saucepan; cook for 1 minute; transfer to bowl with carrots. Add onions to saucepan and cook until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Remove from pot and set aside; let cool. Peel onions. In a large heavy saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Whisk in herbs and warm broth from chicken. Using a slotted spoon, transfer chanterelles to saucepan. Pour in soaking liquid, leaving sediment behind. Simmer for 20 minutes. Set a strainer over another large pot. Strain broth into pot; discard solids. Add chicken, carrots, peas, onions, mushrooms, and potatoes. Bring to a simmer. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Chill uncovered until cool; cover and keep chilled. Rewarm before continuing. Preheat oven to 400°. Spoon filling into an 11x8x2" or 2 1/2-qt. round baking dish. (Add pie bird, if using.) Top with pastry, pinching edges to seal. If not using pie bird, cut a 1" slit in center of crust for steam to vent. Brush pastry with beaten egg, and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper, if desired. Place pot pie on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly, about 45 minutes.

Poaching the chicken and making the stock base

Stirring the roux

The filling. so good

et voila

Chicken and Orzo Stew

2011-09-25T19:52:00.000-07:00

If you find yourself home alone on a Sunday with a bit of rain outside and a hankering for an easy, delicious and hearty soup, this is the recipe for you.

I got this recipe out of The Big Book of Soups and Stews and went to the store during a brief sun break to get a few ingredients.

Here is the recipe as I made it.

Ingredients:
-2 tablespoons of butter or olive oil
-2 cans (14.5 oz each) diced tomatoes with juice
-1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth
-3 cloves garlic, minced
-1 teaspoon dried basil
-1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
-1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
-1 teaspoon salt
-pepper to taste
-2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 pound), cut into bite-sized chunks
-1/4 cup dry white wine
-1 1/4 cups uncooked orzo
-1/2 of an onion, diced
-8 oz mushrooms, quartered
-2 medium zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch slices
-2 large handfuls of baby spinach

Directions:
1. Warm butter in large soup pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, saute until soft. Add mushrooms, saute for about 5 minutes until mushrooms are soft.

2. Add broth, tomatoes, garlic, basil, thyme, marjoram, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil.

3. Add chicken, wine, orzo, and zucchini. reduce heat to one step above low and simmer, covered, until chicken is cooked through and orzo is tender.

4. Stir in spinach.

5. Once spinach is wilted, serve and enjoy!

This was seriously so quick and delicious. I would recommend cutting the zucchini slices into half moons so they would get a tad squishier, they were a bit too crunchy for me.

Enjoy!

Chicken with Tomatoes and Mushrooms

2011-07-14T18:54:00.000-07:00

I had a very hard time choosing what to make for dinner last night. I knew I would have the house to myself, and could take my time and make whatever sounded most delicious. I decided I should make something that would provide lots of leftovers for lunches the rest of the week. I wanted something with tomatoes and I wanted to soak up the yummy juices with delicious bread. I figured chicken would be cheapest. After scouring the internet for what felt like forever (how hard does it sound to find a recipe that suited my needs??), I finally decided to make this recipe from Martha Stewart. Below is the recipe as I made it, with only a few adjustments:

Chicken with Tomatoes and Mushrooms

Ingredients:

-about 2 pounds boneless/skinless chicken. I used 2 breast halves and 4 small thighs.
-Coarse salt and ground pepper
-1 tablespoon olive oil
-a little over 1 pound mushrooms, trimmed and quartered
-4 garlic cloves, minced
-1 large can (28 ounces) whole stewed tomatoes
-half of an onion, quartered
-1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
-1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
-a few dashes of paprika
-a few dashes of cayenne pepper
-delicious hot bread to soak up all that juice (or rice if you prefer)

Directions

1. Season chicken with salt and pepper. In a large (5-quart) saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, heat oil over medium-high heat; swirl to coat bottom of pan. Cook chicken, turning when it easily releases from the pan, until golden, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

2. Add mushrooms; cover, and cook until softened, about 5 to 10 minutes.

3. Add garlic, tomatoes, onion, oregano, thyme, paprika, cayenne pepper, and a little bit of salt and pepper.

4. Reduce heat to medium-low; cook, covered, until tomatoes have broken down, about 20 minutes.

5. Return chicken and any accumulated juices to pan; cover, and cook until chicken is opaque throughout, 4 to 6 minutes. Turn chicken to coat with sauce, and serve.

I felt like something was missing from this, and it might be because usually when I make something like this it is spicy. This was not spicy at all but it was super tasty. I ate it with a ton of bread for dinner and then boxed up the rest with rice into FOUR perfect lunch containers.

I liked the chicken breasts more than the thighs, and I think this would be delicious without meat, just maybe with some portabella mushrooms in place of the meat. Or steak! I think I will be making many variations of this dish in the fall.

Enjoy!

Lemon Rolls with Cream Cheese Lemon Thyme Glaze

2011-04-05T14:35:00.000-07:00

There were a million things pointing me towards making these sweet wonderful rolls. First off, I planted my first herb garden this last weekend! I'm pretty excited about it and I keep smiling every time I walk into my kitchen and see a window sill of fresh herbs smiling back at me. I've managed to use them in just about everything I've made since then but the one that has by far stolen me away is the lemon thyme. Just rubbing your fingers on it leaves the beautiful refreshing smell of lemon on them. It doesn't get much better than that. Secondly, I ran across a recipe for these lemon rolls on The Kitchn that I remembered I had bookmarked some time ago so I stocked up on lemons at the grocery store the very same day.

Those lemons came in handy later that day when I started feeling sick. I must've had about 15 lemon, hot water and honey drinks over the next 24 hours trying to chase the bug away. But alas, I'm home sick today with nothing to do but bake to make me feel better. I realized while making these that yellow is one of my favorite colors and I sure do have a lot of it in my kitchen decor. It's a brighten your day kind of color. The next thing you know I'm stumbling across this post on Poppytalk alerting me that today was in fact declared a day of yellow for Spring Colors Week. Sometimes when you get a good idea it doesn't take a lot of convincing to carry it through but it sure does help when the universe is there to back you up. So, here's my own little tribute to yellow.

I made the recipe as it was posted but I added some fresh lemon thyme to the cream cheese glaze. I also modified the lemon amounts a bit as I think my glaze and filling were a bit too wet and it needed to be adjusted into measurements instead of just whole lemons.

Sticky Lemon Rolls with Lemon Cream Cheese Glaze
Makes 12 large breakfast rolls

Lemon Roll Dough
1 envelope (0.25 ounces, or 2 1/2 teaspoons) active yeast 
3/4 cup milk, warmed to about 100°F (warm but not hot on your wrist)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, very soft
1/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 eggs
2 tablespoons of grated lemon zest (about 1 lemon)

Sticky Lemon Filling
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon freshly-ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, very soft
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest (about 1 lemon)

Lemon Cream Cheese Glaze
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons fresh lemon thyme
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest for garnish (about 1 lemon)

Make the dough:
Zest and juice the lemons. Divide the zest into three parts. Divide the juice into two parts, and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer sprinkle the yeast over the warmed milk and let it sit for a few minutes. With the mixer paddle, stir in the softened butter, sugar, vanilla, and one cup of the flour. Stir in the salt, nutmeg, and one part (1/3) of the lemon zest. Stir in the eggs and enough of the remaining flour to make a soft yet sticky dough.

Switch to the dough hook and knead for about 5 minutes, or until the dough is elastic and pliable. (If you do not have a stand mixer, stir together the ingredients by hand, then turn the soft dough out onto a lightly floured countertop. Knead the dough by hand for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the dough is smooth, pliable, and stretchy.)

Spray the top of the dough with vegetable oil, and turn the dough over so it is coated in oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a towel and let the dough rise until nearly doubled — about an hour.

Make the filling:
In a small bowl, mix the sugar with the nutmeg and ginger, then work in the second part of the lemon zest (1/3) with the tips of your fingers until the sugar resembles soft sand. Slowly pour in one part of the lemon juice, stirring. Stop when the sugar and lemon juice form a wet, clumpy mixture. (You may use all of the reserved half of the lemon juice; you may stop before completely adding that half of the lemon juice.)

Assemble the rolls:
Lightly grease a 13x9 inch baking dish with baking spray or butter. On a floured surface pat the dough out into a large yet still thick rectangle — about 10x15 inches.

Spread the dough evenly with the 3 tablespoons of softened butter, then pour and spread the lemon-sugar mixture over top. Roll the dough up tightly, starting from the top long end. Stretch and pull the dough taut as you roll, to keep the lemon sugar firm inside. Cut the long dough roll into 12 even rolls. Pinch the bottom of each roll closed and place each one, open and cut side up, in the prepared baking dish.

Cover the rolls with a towel and let them rise for an hour or until puffy and nearly doubled. (You can also refrigerate the rolls at this point. Cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap, and place it in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. When you are ready to bake the rolls, remove the pan from the fridge, and let them rise for an hour.)

Heat the oven to 350°F. Place the risen rolls in the oven and bake for 35 minutes or until a thermometer inserted into a center roll reads 190°F.

Make the glaze:
While the rolls are baking, prepare the glaze. In a small food processor (or with a mixer, or a sturdy whisk), whip the cream cheese and the lemon thyme until light and fluffy. Add the remaining lemon juice and blend until well combined. Add the powdered sugar and blend until smooth and creamy.

Finish the rolls:
When the rolls are done, smear them with the cream cheese glaze, and sprinkle the final remaining lemon zest over top to garnish. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving, but do serve while still warm.

My Inspiration

A little before and after

My pretty tea towel with the dough rising

Makes my mouth water just looking at 'em

Another before and after

Labor of Love-Macaron Making

2011-03-09T22:00:00.000-08:00

This past Valentine's day I took as an excuse to tackle a long time goal of mine-french macaron making. Michelle got me a detailed book on the subject for my birthday last year that I've been studying intently for the last 6 months. I invested in all the necessary equipment and we also got to use my new Kitchenaid mixer for the first time. A day of firsts indeed. Michelle came over to lend a hand in the kitchen and also for all the adorable crafting we did for our Valentine's gifts that we passed out to our loved ones. This was an all day project, with a couple of fails and do-overs, luckily we were smart enough to fit in pedicures and champagne drinking.

These little cookie monsters are hard to make but I think we had success in the end. They turned out really well, as did the darling packaging we made. We ended up making two different kinds of macarons. The first was a fig cookie with orange liqueur buttercream filling. The second was a pink colored cookie with fresh strawberry buttercream and a sprinkle of Dagoba's spicy chocolate powder on top. We did half of the strawberry batch with coconut on top but unfortunately those didn't turn out because we didn't cook them long enough. In the end we impressed ourselves with pulling off this baking feat. It left me wanting to experiment even more with the french macaron! Here is the detailed process of this labor of love.

Fig Macarons with Orange Liqueur Buttercream or

Pink Macarons with Fresh Strawberry Buttercream and Spicy Cocoa Topping

Adapted from I Love Macarons by Hisako Ogita

Macaron batter:

2/3 cup (3 ounces/85 grams) ground almonds

1 1/2 cups (5.25 ounces/150 grams) powdered sugar

3 large egg whites, at room temperature

5 tablespoons/65 grams granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract, or seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean
Additions:

2 tablespoons ground dried figs or

red food coloring

Orange Liqueur Buttercream or Fresh Strawberry Buttercream:

7 tablespoons (3.5 ounces/100 grams) unsalted butter, softened

3 tablespoons (1.4 ounces/40 milliliters) water

3 tablespoons (1.4 ounces/40 grams) granulated sugar

1 egg

vanilla extract
Additions:

2 tablespoons orange liqueur, such as Cointreau or

4 tablespoons fresh strawberry puree

Toppings:

shredded unsweetened coconut or

Dagoba's spicy cocoa powder

To make macaron batter:

Cut a sheet of parchment paper (or silpat) to fit your baking sheet. Draw 1 inch circles on paper, spacing them at least 1/2 inch apart. This patter will be your guide for squeezing out the macaron batter. In a food processor, grind almonds and powdered sugar together to a fine powder. Sift the mixture through a medium-mesh sieve twice. Set aside.

In a stainless steel mixing bowl, beat egg whites (in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer) on high speed until they are foamy. Gradually add the granulated sugar to the egg whites. Add vanilla and continue to beat the meringue until it is stiff, firm, and has a glossy texture. Make sure this is VERY stiff. Just when you think it's stiff enough, beat a little more. This part is crucial to not ending up with runny macaron circles (we found out later).

Add half of the sifted flour mixture and stir with a spatula while scooping it up from the bottom of the bowl. Add the rest of the flour and mix it lightly in a circular motion. At this point add any flavors, such as the fig bits, or coloring you desire. Feel free to experiment with a variety of dried fruits or coloring, we did! After you run out of flour or have added your flavoring, press and spread out the batter against the bowl's sides. Scoop the batter from the bottom and turn it upside down. This is called making the macaronnage. Repeat this process about 15 times but not more than 20. When the batter becomes nicely firm and drips slowly as you scoop it with a spatula, the mixture is done. This is called the macaronner.. Attach a 0.4 inch tip to a pastry bag. Twist the bag to hold the tip tightly. This prevents the batter from leaking out. Place the pastry bag, tip down, inside a deep measuring cup and pour the macaronner batter into it. After pouring the batter into the bag. clip the bag top to prevent the batter from coming out. You can also use a rubber band. Using the parchment outlined in circles, squeeze small circles of batter onto a cookie sheet, making sure that the batter is firm and does not run. At this point sprinkle any coconut or cocoa or other powdered toppings you may want onto the circles.

Rap the baking sheet firmly against the counter or other flat surface. This helps the macarons hold their rounded shape and helps the pied, or "little foot", to form. Dry the batter at room temperature, uncovered, for 15 minutes. A slight crust should form on top of the macarons. On rainy days, it helps to dehumidify the room. If the batter circles do not stick to your finger when you touch them, the drying process is complete. On a dry and sunny day, the drying process takes approximately 30 minutes.

After the macarons have sufficiently dried you are ready to bake them. Place the oven racks in the center of the oven. Preheat to 375 degrees. Stack the baking sheet with the batter circles into an empty baking sheet and slide both into the oven. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes until slightly crisp and crackled on top. If the insides of the macarons are still soft after 15 minutes lower the oven temperature to 300 degrees, cover the tray with foil, and bake for another 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and cool on a wire rack. When the macarons are completely cooled, remove them from the baking sheet.

To make buttercream:

Cut butter into small pieces and put in a medium bowl. Stir the butter with a spatula until it becomes smooth and creamy like mayonnaise, set aside. Put water and granulated sugar in a small saucepan and stir well. Heat the mixture over medium low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture begins to become syrupy. Scoop some syrup with a spoon and drop it into a small amount of water. Then try to scoop the syrup out of the water and make a ball with it using your fingers. If you can do this, the syrup is the right density. While heating the syrup, break an egg into a bowl and beat it lightly with a hand mixer. Pour the syrup like a thread into the bowl and beat it at high speed. Reduce the speed to medium and then to slow, and continue beating until the bottom of the bowl is no longer hot and the mixture becomes white and heavy.

Add the creamed butter in 3 batches into the syrup beating with the hand mixture each time you add it. When the mixture is well mixed the process is done. Stir a drop or two of vanilla extract and whatever flavoring you are adding. When the mixture is well stirred it is done. Spread the cream between the macaron puffs and sandwich together. Now they are ready to eat!

Not runny, very important

A sprinkle of cocoa

Little feet

Getting creamed

Stuffed!

Valentines presents ready to go

Just a peek at the goods

Crack Cake aka Pineapple Upside Down Cake Reinvented

2011-03-04T11:01:00.000-08:00

Lately I've got a case of the winter blues. I thought Portland was going to skip over its rainy storm weather since we've had a very mild winter thus far. But after 5 years I should have known better 'cause we've been getting slaughtered lately. It's enough to make a girl start looking at last minute plane tickets outta here and spend long periods of time dreaming of warm sun and fruity drinks. So when I saw a large pineapple display at the store this week I thought, well, it's a start. I got that pineapple home and starting chopping it up only to realize it's not quite pineapple season and that sucker was tart. Like lip puckering, tawlk lawk dis tawt. So I immediately thought what if I made a pineapple upside down cake, not like the ones of olden days with canned pineapple and maraschino cherries, but a really amazing fresh and well done version.

I went in search of a recipe and whaddya know that wonderful blog Smitten Kitchen had a perfect recipe, yup, of course it did. And it just so happened I had all the ingredients I needed at home. Any recipe that starts with a homemade caramel is aces in my book and this one did NOT disappoint. I took it out of the oven and the smell was intoxicating. I waited until it was just cool enough, slapped some vanilla ice cream on a slice, and immediately proclaimed (to no one at all) "that's some crack cake right there!". This is going to make many a reappearance come pineapple season. Mark my words.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Source: Smitten Kitchen

Topping:

1/2 medium pineapple, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and cored
3/4 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

Batter:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon dark rum
1/2 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
2 tablespoons dark rum for sprinkling over cake

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Make topping: Cut pineapple crosswise into 3/8-inch-thick pieces. Melt butter in a small saucepan. Add brown sugar and simmer over moderate heat, stirring, four minutes. Remove from heat and pour into a 9" cake pan. Arrange pineapple on top of sugar mixture in concentric circles, overlapping pieces slightly.

Make batter: Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, then gradually beat in granulated sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla and rum. Add half of flour mixture and beat on low speed just until blended. Beat in pineapple juice, then add remaining flour mixture, beating just until blended. (Batter may appear slightly curdled.)

Spoon batter over pineapple topping and spread evenly. Bake cake in middle of oven until golden and a tester comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Let cake stand for five minutes. Run a knife around the edges to loosen the cake. Invert a plate over cake pan and invert cake onto plate (keeping plate and pan firmly pressed together). Replace any pineapple stuck to bottom of pan. Sprinkle rum over cake and cool on plate on a rack.

Serve cake just warm or at room temperature. And add some vanilla ice cream, you won't regret it.

Do ahead: Cake may be made one day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Caramel making and nesting

Batter making

Some rum for sprinkling on the final cake

Pretty as a picture

Slow Cooker Beef and Mushroom Stew

2011-02-27T17:13:00.000-08:00

I have said it before, and I will say it again: I love mushrooms. LOVE.

This stew is very beefy but also has a ton of mushrooms and is quite a crowd pleaser. I made this for Matthew and my 3rd annual Christmas Party as a step up from the Hungarian mushroom soup I made the prior two years. I wanted to make something I didn't have to hover over while getting ready for the party! I forgot to take pictures the first time but luckily I had a special request to make it again recently and made sure to document thoroughly. The recipe makes a ton of food, so serve it for a dinner party!

The recipe I used is from Sunset magazine and I found it on MyRecipes.com. I didn't follow the instructions to a T, mainly because I am a pretty lazy cook and look for shortcuts wherever I can.

This is a little more work than a normal slow cooker recipe, simply because you make a sauce to pour over the meat and cook the mushrooms separately. But don't be discouraged! The stew is definitely worth it. To make it easy on myself this last time, I made the sauce and poured it over the meat the night before and let it marinate all night in the refrigerator. In the morning before work, I turned the slow cooker on and when I got home from work I cooked the mushrooms. It worked out perfectly and made it seem like less work.

Here is the recipe as I made it:

Ingredients:
-3 pounds boned, fat-trimmed beef chuck
-1 orange (2 1/2 in. wide), rinsed
-1 onion (about 8 oz.), peeled and finely chopped
-3 cloves garlic, chopped
-About 1 cup beef or chicken broth
-1 cup red wine
-1/2 cup port
-1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
-2 tablespoons soy sauce
-1 teaspoon dried thyme
-5 very thin slices of peeled fresh ginger (quarter size)
-2 pounds mushrooms
-3 tablespoons butter
-1/4 cup flour
-Salt and (lots of) pepper

Preparation:
1. Rinse meat; cut into 3 to 4 inch lengths (for chuck, about 1 inch thick and 1 1/2 inches wide) and place in a 5 to 6 quart slow cooker.

2. With a vegetable peeler, pare orange part of peel from orange and sliver it; save orange for other uses.

3. In a 2-quart sauce pan, combine orange peel slivers, chopped onion, 1 cup broth, wine, port, vinegar, soy sauce, thyme, ginger, garlic, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat.

4. Pour liquid over meat. Turn slow cooker to low.

5. Put cover on slow cooker and cook on low until meat is very tender when pierced, 6 to 7 hours.

6. Rinse and drain mushrooms; trim off and discard stem ends. Cut mushrooms into quarters and place in a 12 inch frying pan with butter.

7. Skim off and discard fat from liquid in slow cooker. Ladle 1 cup of liquid from slow cooker into pan with mushrooms. Stir mushrooms often over high heat until liquid has evaporated and mushrooms are lightly browned, 13 to 17 minutes.

8. When your mushrooms are almost finished (liquid almost evaporated), eyeball the remaining liquid in the slow cooker. There should be plenty of liquid covering the meat, about 2 cups. If you think you don't have enough liquid, add some broth. You want the meat to still be covered with liquid. (Sorry I forgot to take a picture of this!)

9. Add the cooked mushrooms to the slow-cooker.

10. In a small bowl, mix flour with about a cup of the hot liquid from the slow cooker. Whisk vigorously until flour is dissolved. Pour evenly over meat and mix gently to blend with liquid still in slow cooker, trying not to break up the meat too much. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let the mushrooms and meat mingle together for about 20 minutes in slow cooker.

11. Serve with garlic mashed potatoes, egg noodles, or rice! (I prefer potatoes to rice, and haven't tried egg noodles but think it would be delicious!)

Winter Comfort in a Bowl-Vegetable and Sausage Cobbler

2011-02-21T15:17:00.000-08:00

This is one of those recipes that surprises you with its astounding goodness. In search of something wintery and cozy to serve my craft night buddies I had been sitting on this recipe from Moosewood Cookbook called Vegetable Cobbler. It sounded a tad strange since I've only had cobblers of the sweet kind. But I figured it had biscuits on top and well, as you may know from my last post, biscuits are one of my favorite foods.

The result was something so cozy and delicious that it sent some folks back for seconds. We decided it was a cross between Shepard's pie and chicken pot pie. I'm really glad I took a chance on this one as it's definitely something I'll be making again and again (I ended up making it again 5 nights later). I added some basil garlic chicken sausage to the recipe and altered the vegetables I used a bit as I wasn't in the mood for corn or white potatoes. And if you don't fancy yourself a baker don't let the biscuit part scare you; drop biscuits don't require any rolling out or cutting. Here is the recipe as I made it.

Vegetable and Chicken Sausage Cobbler

adapted from the Moosewood Classics Cookbook

Serves 6
2 tablespoon olive oil (or butter)
1.5 lbs bulk basil garlic chicken sausage (or any type of ground meat you prefer)
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped onions (about 1 large onion)
1 fennel bulb, core removed, thinly sliced
2 or 3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 to 2 teaspoons dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
4 to 5 cups sliced mushrooms
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 cups peeled and chopped sweet potatoes (or butternut squash)
2 cups peeled and chopped carrots (or parsnips)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 cups mushroom stock
3 tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 1/2 cup cold water
1 cup fresh or frozen green peas
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
Dash of hot sauce (optional)
Biscuit Topping:
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt (I used nonfat yogurt)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill (or any herb you have on hand)
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly oil a 9 X 13-inch baking dish.
2. Warm 1 tablespoon of the oil in a Dutch oven or soup pot. Add the sausage and saute just until all of the pink is gone. Remove the sausage and all of its juices and set aside in a bowl to add back later. Warm the other tablespoon of oil in the same pan. Add the onions, fennel and garlic, cover, and cook on medium heat for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the salt, thyme, crushed red pepper flakes, mushrooms and mustard. Cook until the mushrooms start to release their juices, about 5 minutes.
4. Add the sweet potato, carrot, black pepper and water or stock, and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until the vegetables are just tender.
5. Stir the dissolved cornstarch mixture into the simmering vegetables, stirring constantly. When the liquid starts to thicken, mix in the peas, soy sauce and salt. Add the cooked sausage back to the pot. Taste and adjust the seasonings, if needed. (You can also add a dash of hot sauce.)
6. Pour the vegetable/sausage mixture into the prepared baking dish, and set aside.
7. In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. In a separate bowl, mix together the melted butter and buttermilk or yogurt. Combine the wet and dry ingredients with as few strokes as possible to make a soft dough.
8. Drop the biscuit batter over the vegetables in the dish in six equal mounds. Sprinkle the dill over the dough.
9. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of a biscuit comes out clean. Serve immediately.
Into the oven it goes
Done!

Angel Biscuits

2011-01-04T18:30:00.000-08:00

Growing up I remember my grandmother making homemade biscuits as any fine grandmother does, more specifically my grandmother made Angel Biscuits. I'm not sure what exactly is angelic about them, I'm guessing it's a reference to being light as air, but what I do remember is helping her cut the biscuits and always hoping there would be raw dough scraps leftover. My grandmother would hand them to me and I would chomp on the yeasty sweet dough. It's one of my favorite childhood memories. When I was in my early 20s I began collecting all of these family recipes in a small notebook so I could use them for years to come. Somewhere along the way, between many moves, I lost the recipe book and hadn't seen it in years.

I'd pretty much written the book off until I was home for Christmas this year and my aunt walks up to me and asks, "Recognize this?" and holds up my long lost collection of recipes. I squealed with excitement and realized that they were actually using the book for a couple of recipes for Christmas dinner that evening. So after thinking it was long gone I had such a good time browsing through the book and got really excited for being able to recreate these recipes again. The first thing I made when I got home was Angel Biscuits. And fortunately for me, I was the only one around to eat all of the leftover dough scraps. These biscuits are slightly sweet and can be served with jam but they also work well as a dinner roll. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have (and will)!

Angel Biscuits

original source unknown

1 package active dry yeast

2 tablespoons warm water

5 cups self rising flour (or make your own by adding 1 tsp baking powder for every 1 cup of all purpose)

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup shortening

2 cups buttermilk

melted butter for pans and tops of biscuits

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease two 13x9 inch pans with melted butter. Dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside to activate. Meanwhile, stir flour, sugar, and baking soda (and baking powder if using) together. Cut in shortening until mixture is pea sized consistency. Mix buttermilk with yeast and add to flour mixture. Stir until just combined. Roll the dough out onto well floured surface until 1/2 inch thick. Cut with 2 inch biscuit cutter or a pint glass works just as well. Place close together in buttered pans. Allow to rise one hour. Bake for 15-20 minutes until lightly brown. Brush tops with melted butter.

Cutting the shapes and my dough scraps

Rising and fully baked

with some apricot jam

Morrocan Lentil Soup

2010-11-28T19:46:00.000-08:00

I was so excited to have friends visiting during cozy fall and thought what better way to spend an evening than sipping wine and making soup with some of my most favorite ladies. I hunted high and low for the perfect vegetarian friendly recipe that we all would devour and found this one!

Though the recipe called for red lentils, I only found generic 'lentils' at the store. I was pretty annoyed but I honestly have no idea if red ones taste different or if they are just red for show.

Everyone ate lots of this soup and it made way more than enough for us four girls and my mister. He and I continued to eat this soup all week!

We doubled most of the spices in the recipe linked above. You could blame the wine we were drinking, but we all agreed more spices could only mean more flavor and who doesn't want that?! I was so anxious to eat this that I forgot to add the frozen peas that the original recipe included, and I was cursing myself on that one. I love little snappy peas in thick stew-like dishes.

Without further ado, here is the Morrocan Lentil Soup as interpreted by Mostly Soup (and friends):

Ingredients:
-2 Tbsp Olive Oil
-3 small onions, chopped
-5 cloves of Garlic, minced
-2 Celery stalks, chopped
-1 Carrot
-3 tsp Turmeric
-3 tsp Cinnamon
-4 tsp ground Cumin
-1 tsp fresh Ginger grated or 1/2 tsp ground
-about 4 dashes of cayenne pepper
-salt and pepper to taste
-8 cups of vegetable stock
-12 ounce pack of lentils
-1 tablespoonp Tomato Paste
-3 potatoes peeled and cubed (you could also use sweet potatoes or squash!)
-1 can stewed Tomatoes (I got tomatoes stewed with sweet peppers and onions)
-Sour cream and fresh parsley for serving

1. In large soup pot heat oil over medium heat. Cook onions, carrot, garlic, and celery, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5-10 minutes.

2. Add salt, pepper, turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, and cayenne. Cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes.

3. Add veggie stock, lentils, tomato paste, potatoes and tomatoes (including juices), breaking up tomatoes with spoon. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 40 minutes or until lentils are cooked to desired consistency.

(3 1/2. This is where you would add in the frozen peas and let them cook for about 5 more minutes if you are using them!)

4. Once your lentils are perfect, taste the broth and add salt/pepper as needed. Ladel into bowls. Dollop each with sour cream and sprinkle with parsley. Serve with pita bread!

My favorite thing about this soup was the tomatoes. They were so tasty, bursting with all the flavors they were simmering in for what seemed like ages! I wish I would have frozen half of this to eat later!

Enjoy!

Cranberry Apple Butter

2010-11-09T18:50:00.000-08:00

I remember my grandmother making apple butter year after year when I was a kid, always thinking it tasted nothing like butter (and a tad disappointed with that fact). I'm not sure how she was making hers but I remember thinking how insanely talented my grandmother was. If only I knew how easy she was getting off. This is one of the easiest recipes you'll ever make. I guarantee it. That fact is largely due to using a crock pot and an immersion blender but you can still make this recipe even if you don't have those tools.

This recipe was very good. I would've preferred it a little bit thicker, however, I loved how the tartness of the cranberry played off the sweetness of the apple. This recipe made quite a bit of apple butter so this would be a perfect gift to jar up and hand out for the holidays. Impress your friends with your grandma-like skills. We ate this on pumpkin bread and regular toast for breakfast for weeks. Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Cran Apple Butter

source: Mommie Cooks

10-12 Apples, Chopped
3 Cups of Whole Cranberries
1/2 Cup of Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup of White Sugar
1 tsp of Cinnamon
1/2 tsp of Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Ginger
1/4 tsp Cloves
4 Shakes of Salt

Instructions

Throw it all in your slow cooker and cook it on low for 12 hours. You can also do this using a dutch oven in your regular oven at 400 degrees. Emulsify it smooth with an immersion blender or by batches in a regular blender.

All lined up ready to be chopped

The beginning

12 hours later

Pretty in jars

Even better on pumpkin bread

Chicken and Pepper Stew With Olives & Cranberries

2010-11-02T17:37:00.000-07:00

I know, this sounds like a strange combination of flavors. That's exactly why I wanted to try it. I thought to myself, "That sounds weird, but I like all those things so let's try it out!" V came over for some pre-halloween crafting and I made us a feast.

The original recipe arrived in my email from Real Simple. I realize that I post a lot of recipes from them, but its just so convenient to have recipes that are delicious randomly emailed to you daily! I cannot keep up with all the amazing recipes out there on the internet!

In any case, to get back on track, Here is the recipe as I made it, only a few substitutions. (dried cranberries instead of raisins, chicken breast tenders instead of thighs, and just less of everything because I didn't want to feed 8 people.)

Chicken and Pepper Stew With Olives & Cranberries
Makes about 4 to 6 servings, depending how hungry you are!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika (but regular would work too)
kosher salt and black pepper
10 boneless, skinless chicken breast tenders (about 2 to 3 pounds)
1 tablespoons olive oil
1 each of red, yellow and green bell peppers, sliced.
4 cloves garlic, sliced
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup pitted olives (I used kalamata)
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 cups long-grain white rice

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, paprika, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add the chicken and toss to coat.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. In batches, brown the chicken, turning, 6 to 8 minutes; transfer to a plate as it browns and add more oil as necessary.
3. Add the bell peppers, garlic, 1/4 cup of the broth, 1 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper to the pot. Cook, stirring and scraping up any browned bits, until the peppers begin to soften, 4 to 6 minutes.
4. Add the olives, cranberries, and the remaining 1 cup of broth and bring to a boil. Nestle the chicken in the vegetables and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.
5. Uncover and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce is slightly thickened, 15 to 20 minutes. (Maybe longer, I might have also used too much liquid)
6. Twenty minutes before the stew is done, cook the rice according to the package directions. Serve with the stew.

I thought this would have been pretty tasty with some feta cheese on top but I didn't think of it when I was at the store. It was kind of a salty sweet combo with the olives and cranberries. The chicken was falling apart and would have been extra delicious if I had used thighs, but the chicken tenders are what I had on hand. This also heated up nicely for lunch the next day!

I always forget to take pictures of the process, but seriously, this was delicious!

Sweet & Spicy Black Bean Soup

2010-10-19T22:28:00.000-07:00

I was craving cornbread. V's brother suggested black bean soup via Facebook and I set off to find the most delicious black bean soup I could find. Plain old black bean soup sounded kinda blah so I chose this recipe as a starting point.

I cheated a bit because I was too impatient to make my own black beans or to let canned ones stew for a while for added flavor. Instead I bought Trader Joe's Cuban black beans in a can because they are already a little bit spicy. If you want to stew your own or spice up a regular can of black beans, check out the original recipe that I linked to above! I also omitted chipotle powder because I didn't see any at the store and I added bacon and chicken andouille sausage to the mix.

Here is the recipe as I made it:

Sweet & Spicy Black Bean Soup

2 cans black beans (Trader Joe's Cuban black beans were perfect!)
4 slices of bacon, diced
2 spicy chicken andouille sausages, diced
1 1/2 onion, 1/4 inch dice
2 celery stick, 1/4 inch dice
2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch dice
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon cumin
2 tablespoons medium heat red chile powder
a few shakes of cayenne pepper and garlic powder
14 oz can diced tomatoes
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 orange bell pepper, diced
1 cup frozen corn
salt and pepper to taste
juice of 1 lime
Cilantro, minced for garnish

Cook the bacon and sausage in a large soup pot until brown. Remove from pot and set aside.

If needed, add some oil to the pan and toss in the onion, celery, and sweet potato. Saute until lightly browned, about 10-15 minutes.

Add the garlic, cumin, chile powder, cayenne, and garlic powder along with some salt and pepper. Saute a few minutes more.

Add the beans, tomatoes, broth, bell pepper, corn, and salt. Simmer for 20 minutes, uncovered. Puree 1/2 of the soup. Return to the pot. Add the lime juice and add salt and pepper as needed. Serve with cornbread!

This recipe made a ton of soup, a giant pot that my boyfriend and I ate all week. It was perfectly spicy, a hint of sweetness from the corn and peppers, and it was extremely delicious. It tasted even better the second day. Cornbread was a perfect accompaniment, and I will definitely make this again!

Beef and Sweet Potato Stew

2010-10-12T19:14:00.001-07:00

The lovely and generous V gave me a crock pot! It was my turn to host Mad Men Monday so I decided to use my new slow cooker to make a hearty beef stew. The only thing I had made in a crock pot prior to this was pot roast, so making a stew was kind of new and I was a little unsure about seasonings, etc.

I searched the internet high and low and found this recipe on Taste As You Go. I liked the idea of using sweet potatoes and made a few modifications. Here is the recipe as I made the stew:

2 pounds stew beef, cut in 1-inch cubes
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
olive oil
1 large white onion, cut into 1-inch pieces
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 14.5-ounce can beef broth
1/2 cup beer
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
1/4 teaspoon dry nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1 cup frozen green beans
Salt and pepper, to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Brown beef on all sides, working in batches if necessary.

Place sweet potatoes in the base of a preheated 4-5-quart slow-cooker. Layer on the browned beef, onions, garlic and ginger. Pour in beef broth, beer, and Worcestershire sauce. Sprinkle in nutmeg and thyme.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

Remove about cup of the broth and place in a bowl. Whisk in heaping teaspoon of flour until there are no more lumps. Add the broth and flour mixture back to the slow-cooker. Add frozen green beans and cook the stew for an additional 15-20 minutes.

I served with cous cous, but bread would have been better. The sweet potato didn't come through as much as I would have liked, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it! Definitely was a satisfyingly hearty cold evening meal.

Ratatouille Throwback

2010-10-05T22:51:00.000-07:00

In my fourth year of high school I was in french class and one of our assignments was to partner up and make a classic french recipe. My partner decided upon ratatouille and well, it sounded french to me. When we made the recipe I kept expecting there to be a grand finale but it turned out it was just a bunch of sauteed vegetables. I was underwhelmed thinking we picked the most unexciting recipe possible. Maybe it had something to do with being raised a vegetarian and more veggies was the last thing I needed to see. Some years later I have a much different take on this classic french recipe. I realize now that its beauty is in its simplicity. Paired with some crusty french bread and a glass of red wine and the meal feels downright decadent.

My inspiration for this comes from it being french week over at The Kitchn. DP and I took the opportunity to pick up a bunch of fresh veggies at the Kruger Farms roadside stand here in St. Johns and I was set. The recipe I got from The Kitchn was perfect, no revisions needed. I served this with some homemade garlic bread and a glass of red wine. Natch.

Dad's Authentic Ratatouille
Source - The Kitchn

Ingredients (feel free to play with proportions as this is a more or less situation):

2 large eggplants, peeled and cubed into 1-inch cubes
6-8 zucchini, coined
3 bell peppers, roughly chopped (red are classic, but use what you have on hand)
5 cloves garlic, whole
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 yellow onions
1 bay leaf
3-4 sprigs thyme (fresh thyme is the key to making this Ratatouille taste right)
1 can whole tomatoes or 4 large tomatoes that are nice and ripe
1 tablespoon olive oil

In a large pot sauté the onions in olive oil until brown, then add peppers and allow to soften. Stir in whole garlic cloves, tomatoes and bay leaf and turn heat down to a simmer and leave for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a separate pan, sautee eggplant and zucchini (they tend to get mushy if you throw them in with everything else but that can be good too and is easier than dirtying a second pan) until browned and softened.

Add the zucchini and eggplant to the simmering pot along with the sprigs of thyme and some salt and pepper (to taste) and allow to simmer at least another 20 minutes. Simmer longer if you want the flavors to really get good, or just reheat it the next day and you'll have the same effect.

Add the minced garlic on top or serve with some extra garlicy french bread as I did. And don't forget the red wine.

Separate but equal

All together now

The grand finale I was waiting for

Chicken and Dumplings-Trial One

2010-09-16T23:06:00.000-07:00

I recently met a friend at a bar here in St. Johns which is somewhat known for its chicken and dumplings. I'll admit, I've never had chicken and dumplings before and I didn't that night either. But my friend did and as I looked at the dish I thought, hm, just seems like thicker chicken pot pie without all the fuss, I could probably swing that. And it just so happens that DP loves chicken and dumplings. Probably because he likes to say dumplings but really, who doesn't? I went in search of a recipe and ended up with one from Real Simple that looked easy. I didn't change much about the recipe except for I poached some chicken breasts and shredded them instead of using a store bought rotisserie chicken. Oh yes and I added mushrooms. And peas.

I liked this recipe but it lacked the thickness that I wanted. Next time I'd probably try using a slurry or a beurre manie to thicken it up. I'll definitely give this another go during the approaching fall! I have posted the recipe as I made it.

Chicken and Dumplings

adapted from Real Simple

Ingredients

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 carrots, halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces
1 stalk celery, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 leek (white and light green parts), halved lengthwise and sliced crosswise
1 1/2 cups of crimini mushrooms, sliced in half
3/4 cup of frozen peas, or fresh if you have 'em
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
kosher salt and black pepper
3 medium sized chicken breasts (2 1/2 to 3 lbs), poached and meat shredded
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream
1 large egg, beaten
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

Directions

First poach the chicken. Cover chicken with water in a medium sauce pan. Add any spices you like, I usually go for ones that dissolve easily. After about 15 minutes of boiling, check the chicken. Be careful not to overcook it as it will cook a little bit more later in the recipe. Once it's done, put it on a plate and shred it using two forks.
Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the carrots, celery, leek, and mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Sprinkle with ½ cup of the flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute (do not let it darken). Stir in the broth, wine, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper and bring to a boil. Add the chicken and reduce to a simmer.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 cup of flour with the baking soda and ¼ teaspoon salt. Stir in the sour cream and egg.
If soup doesn't seem thick enough, this is where I might add in a slurry to thicken it up. Add the frozen peas. Drop tablespoonfuls of the dough into the stew and cook, covered, until the dumplings are plump and cooked through, 15 to 17 minutes. Sprinkle with the dill before serving.

Siamese Mushroom!

Chopped up

I really missed Mich for this one, she's a master shredder

Sauteing

This was the fun part

and done.

Blueberry Streusel Scones

2010-09-06T15:23:00.001-07:00

Having newly discovered my love of baking, thanks to those cupcakes I posted about whenever that was, I decided to make some scones last weekend for breakfast. Scones are another new love of mine, since I recently discovered that scones are delicious and flaky like a biscuit and not hard as rocks as I had been led to believe by a certain big coffee company's poor excuse for scones! In any case, I had been wanting to make something with the blueberries that popped up in our front yard and I found this tasty recipe on Joy of Baking.

Without further ado:
Blueberry Streusel Scones!

Ingredients:
Blueberry Streusel Scones:
-2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour
-1/3 cup (65 grams) granulated white sugar
-2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking powder
-1/8 teaspoon salt
-6 tablespoons (85 grams) chilled, unsalted butter, cut into pieces
-1 cup (150 grams) fresh blueberries
-1 large egg, lightly beaten
-1 teaspoon (5 grams) pure vanilla extract
-1/2 cup (120 ml) milk or cream
-Brushing tops of scones:
-Milk or Cream

Streusel Topping:
-1/4 cup (55 grams) brown sugar
-1/4 cup (35 grams) all purpose flour
-1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
-2 tablespoons (30 grams) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Directions:
For the Scones: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs. Gently fold in the blueberries. In a small measuring cup combine the cream, beaten egg and vanilla. Add this mixture to the flour mixture and stir just until the dough comes together. Do not over mix the dough or the scones will be tough.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead the dough gently four or five times and then pat the dough into a circle that is about 7 inches (18 cm) round and about 11/2 inches (4 cm) thick. Cut this circle in half, then cut each half into four pie-shaped wedges (triangles). Place the scones on the baking sheet. Brush the tops of the scones with a little cream or milk.

For the Streusel Topping: In a small bowl whisk together the sugar, flour, and cinnamon. With a pastry blender or two knives, cut in the butter until crumbly. Top each scone with a teaspoon or two of the streusel mixture. Cover and refrigerate any leftover streusel mixture.

Bake the scones until nicely browned, about 18 - 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a scone comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly. These are best eaten the day they are made but can be covered and stored for a few days. Makes 8 scones.

Note: I did not have any baking powder! so after a little bit of research, I put in about 1 teaspoon of baking soda and about 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice. I also discovered mid mix that I did not have vanilla! I just threw in a tiny extra sugar. The scones still turned out delicious though probably not perfect. We ate them all up over the next few days and I marvelled at my newly acquired baking skills. These also weren't nearly as sweet as we expected they would be, given the streusel topping. Super tasty and a great consistency, even with my jankity improvisations!

Sadly, none of my photos turned out so hot, but you can get the idea:

Coconut Rum Cupcakes!

2010-08-28T16:40:00.001-07:00

I was asked to make cupcakes for my boyfriend's little sister's wedding on Labor Day weekend and V pointed me to Ming Makes Cupcakes. I drooled over all the recipes there for a while before deciding I definitely wanted to make something with Coconut. T he bride to be let me pick whatever kind I wanted and I chose to make Cupcake 30, Coconut Rum Cupcakes with Coconut Creem Cheese Frosting.

Since I am not much of a baker, not that I thought it would be hard, but simply because I wanted to make sure the recipe worked okay, I did a test run a couple of weeks ago and a bunch of people (including Ms. Co-blogger V) came over to help me and Matthew eat them as well as to drink the rest of the coconut rum, which was fun and everyone said that these cupcakes were amazing.

Coconut Rum Cupcakes with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting.

Ingredients:
Cupcakes -
-2 cups flour
-1 tsp baking soda
-½ tsp salt
-1¼ cups light brown sugar
-1 stick of butter
-1 egg
-1 cup buttermilk
-⅓ cup coconut rum

Frosting -
-4 oz. cream cheese
-½ stick of butter
-2 cups confectioners sugar
-3 tbsp coconut rum

Directions:
Cupcakes-
Mix flour, soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, cream brown sugar and butter until fluffy. Add egg and beat well. Add buttermilk and flour mixture alternatively while mixing. Add rum and mix well. Pour into lined cupcake pan. Bake at 375°F for 20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Frosting-
Mix together all ingredients with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Frost cupcakes.

This recipe was simple, and I am glad I bought a little electric mixer for $8 to help me with the process because it was about 95 degrees the day I did my test run. Everyone agreed that they were delicious and not too sweet. They were almost like muffins but I loved them. I topped them with shaved coconut by Bob's Red Mill and thanks to all of my taste testers, these were gone within 1 1/2 days!

Can't wait to make these again in a few days for the big day!

Birthday Cakes are the Best, especially Carrot Cake

2010-07-13T21:11:00.000-07:00

I love volunteering to make birthday cakes for people because I really don't get many excuses to make cake. I'm not one to spend the time on something I'll undoubtedly end up throwing away. But birthdays are occasions to celebrate which means I get to spend time making pretty cakes in honor of the ones I love. And when the ones I love request carrot cake, well, that just turns out to be one of my favorites as well. My mom has spent the last decade or so using a great recipe she got from Bon Appetit long ago. I was having trouble finding my copy of that one so I went in search of a new recipe on the blogs of my favorite food bloggers. I settled on one from Simply Recipes. It turned out absolutely divine. It was moist and beautiful, dense and light, all at the same time. And as the birthday girl said, this cake was all about the cake and not so much the cream cheese frosting which carrot cakes have a habit of drowning in. I made a couple of modifications to the original recipe. I have posted it as I made it.

Carrot Cake

Adapted from Simply Recipes

Cake:

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tbsp baking soda
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups olive oil or grapeseed oil
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups shelled walnuts, chopped (more whole or chopped for topping)
1 1/2 cups sweetened, shredded coconut
2 cups of finely grated carrots
1 cup of drained crushed pineapple

Frosting:

8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temp (I accidentally used a whole stick and it was fine)
2 1/2 cups of confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tbsp lemon juice

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two 9 inch cake pans. Cut out rounds of wax paper and place at bottoms of cake pans. Butter the top of the wax paper rounds.

Sift dry ingredients into a bowl. Add oil, eggs, and vanilla. Beat well. Fold in chopped walnuts, coconut, carrots and pineapple.

Pour batter into pans. Set on the middle rack of oven and bake for 45-50 minutes (shift positions of cakes front-to-back if necessary about halfway through), until edges have pulled away from sides and a toothpick or sharp knife tip inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on a cake rack.

To prepare frosting, cream together the cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl. Slowly sift in the confectioners sugar and beat until mixture is free of lumps. Stir in vanilla and orange juice.

Once cakes have cooled, frost. Sprinkle top with chopped walnuts or arrange walnut halves in a crown around the top.

Serves 12-16.

Summer is here! And so is this salad.

2010-06-24T20:15:00.000-07:00

Yes. Summer, or what seems like summer, has finally arrived. As all of us Portlanders rejoice and pray it's not a wolf in sheep's clothing, I snagged the moment to make a quintessential summer salad. I saw this recipe in Sunset's latest issue and boy was it pretty in pictures, which made me want to make it immediately. I made a few modifications. I added an avocado because, well avocado is good, you see. I also added mustard to the vinaigrette because I thought it needed an emulsifier. The other thing I liked about this salad is that it's basically a potato salad but no mayonnaise and with all the other veggies added, it's light and breezy. Just like our fair city.

Potato Salad with Corn and Cherry Tomatoes

Adapted from Sunset, July 2010

3/4 pound purple potatoes

3/4 pound fingerling potatoes

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons sherry vinegar

1 tablespoon stoneground mustard

1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided

1/2 teaspoon pepper, divided

2 medium onions, cut into 1/2-in. dice

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

3 large ears yellow corn, kernels cut off

1 pt. multicolored cherry tomatoes, halved

1 avocado, pitted and diced

1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh marjoram leaves

Preperation

1. Bring potatoes to a boil in a medium pot of well-salted water just to cover. Reduce heat and simmer until just soft when pierced (or cut one in half and try it).

2. Whisk 1/2 cup oil, the vinegar, mustard, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper in a small bowl.

3. Sauté onions in remaining 2 tbsp. oil until translucent. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds, then add corn and heat until just warmed through. Season with remaining 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper and let cool.

4. Drain potatoes and let stand until just cool enough to handle. Taste a shred of skin; peel if bitter. Cut potatoes into bite-size pieces and toss with 1/2 of vinaigrette.

5. Add cooled corn mixture, tomatoes, avocado and marjoram. Drizzle with remaining vinaigrette to taste and gently mix together.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

2010-06-17T09:00:00.000-07:00

Spaghetti and meatballs is a classic recipe but one I don't find myself craving very often. So when the time struck I went in search of a recipe that would satisfy. One of the first places I look for recipes is on the food blog Smitten Kitchen. If you haven't already please check out one of my favorite blogs. This woman manages to be funny and interesting while pulling off food that looks effortless and beautiful despite her small NY kitchen and having a newborn in tow. So when I came across a spaghetti and meatball recipe on her site that was an incarnation of a Barefoot Contessa (also one of my faves) recipe, I looked no further. And I'm glad I didn't because this recipe was flawless, which was to be expected. We stretched this dish for three meals and I dare say I won't be craving spaghetti and meatballs for quite a while.

I went ahead and used her suggestion on increasing the amount of sauce you make. I also didn't use any veal and just did a combination of pork and beef since my local grocer didn't have veal available. I re-wrote the recipe as I made it.

Spaghetti and Meatballs
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

For the meatballs:
1 lb ground beef
1lb ground pork (I used the italian pork and I highly recommend this)
1 1/4 cups fresh white bread crumbs (about 5 slices, crusts removed)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or more to taste
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 extra-large egg, beaten
Vegetable oil
Olive oil

For the sauce:
1 1/2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 large yellow onion or 2 small ones, diced
3 large cloves of garlic, minced
Pinch or so of red pepper flakes
3/4 cup good red wine
1 (28-ounce) can pureed tomatoes
1 (14-ounce) can chopped or diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
3 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For serving:
1 1/2 pounds spaghetti, cooked according to package directions
Freshly grated Parmesan

Make the meatballs:
Place the ground meats, bread crumbs, parsley, Parmesan, salt, pepper, onion powder, egg, and 3/4 cup warm water in a bowl. Combine very lightly with a fork. Using your hands, lightly form the mixture into 2-inch meatballs.

Pour equal amounts of vegetable oil and olive oil into a large (12-inch) skillet to a depth of 1/4-inch. Heat the oil. Very carefully, in batches, place the meatballs in the oil and brown them well on all sides over medium-low heat, turning carefully with a spatula or a fork. This should take about 10 minutes for each batch. Don’t crowd the meatballs. Remove the meatballs to a plate covered with paper towels. Discard the oil but don’t clean the pan.

Make the sauce:
Heat the olive oil in the same pan. Add the onion and saute over medium heat until translucent, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes, and cook for 1 more minute. Add the wine and cook on high heat, scraping up all the brown bits in the pan, until almost all the liquid evaporates, about 6 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, parsley, salt, and pepper.

Return the meatballs to the sauce, cover, and simmer on the lowest heat for 25 to 30 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through.

Serve hot on cooked spaghetti and pass the grated Parmesan.

Hot and Spicy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-06-14T21:35:00.000-07:00

This is one that Michelle has been bugging me to post about for quite some time. These cookies were a bit out of the ordinary for a chocolate chip cookie, which can be hard to do. Who would've thought that adjusting the seasoning ever so slightly would create a whole different experience? I really liked these cookies and not only for their spiciness. The texture of them was fantastic as well. So if you're tired of the same old same old, add some heat to your cookies and make them hot and spicy.

Hot and Spicy Chocolate Chip Cookies

from No Recipes

1 1/2 sticks of butter at room temperature
3/4 C packed dark brown sugar
1/2 C granulated sugar
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 C + 2 Tbs all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 C bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks

Move the oven rack to the middle position and preheat to 325 degrees.

Cream the butter and 2 kinds of sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and mix till combined after each addition. Add the vanilla, cinnamon and cayenne pepper, mixing until combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together. Add it to the butter mixture and mix until just combined. Add the chocolate chips and stir in by hand.

Scoop roughly 1/4 cup of batter for each cookie onto a baking sheet (it’s okay if the balls are jagged) leaving enough room for them to spread. Bake 1 sheet at a time for about 12-15 minutes each or until the edges are set, but the middle is still soft. You may need to experiment with your oven to figure out the perfect cooking time. As these cookies bake, they go from chewy to cakey to crisp, so you can change their characteristic by the amount of time you bake them for.

To get the chewy center, allow them to cool on the pan (not on a rack).

Infallible Lemon Blueberry Muffins

2010-06-14T20:15:00.000-07:00

Alright, people. I've been on hiatus, yet again, and during that time it seems I lost my ability to bake. And not just to bake well, but to bake the easiest thing of all, what some may call my specialty - the muffin. Luckily enough for me I managed to pick what would appear to be a recipe so good it's impossible to mess up. Because I tried, not once, but twice. You see, when a recipe tells you to cream the butter and sugar, don't forget the sugar until the last minute, when upon licking the beater it occurs to you that something is off. And certainly don't add the lemon juice in early instead of said sugar, making it nearly impossible to cream the butter. But if you do both of those things, most definitely do them with this recipe. Because despite all that drama I still managed to put forth muffins so lemony and crumbly that I couldn't eat less than two in one sitting. Six times in a row.

Alice’s Blueberry Muffins

From Sweet Savory Life

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons butter, softened

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup of sugar

zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 eggs

2 tsp. of vanilla extract

1/2 cup of sour cream

2 cups of AP Flour

2 tsp. of baking powder

1/2 tsp. of salt

1.5 cups of fresh or frozen blueberries

*optional 1/4 cup turbinado sugar/sugar crystals

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium mixing bowl, cream butter, oil, lemon zest, and sugar for 3 minutes until light in color and creamy. Add eggs, sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla beating for an additional 2 minutes. Add salt, baking powder, and all-purpose flour gently mixing everything for an additional minute until everything is fully incorporated, approx. 2 minutes. Batter will be nice and thick. Gently fold in blueberries and pour batter into muffin tin lined with paper cups 3/4 cup full. Top each muffin with a sprinkle of turbinado sugar or sugar crystals.Bake for 30 minutes or until done. Makes 12 regular sized muffins.

Resurrection by way of pork.

2010-06-01T14:42:00.000-07:00

Almost a month and a half since this blog has been updated! Yeesh. Well, I am going to revive this here blog with this delicious slow cooked pork recipe that I made yesterday.

Slow-Cooked Beer-Braised Pork and Black Bean Soup (from Real Simple,again!)

Ingredients:
2 12-ounce bottles of beer (I used Blue Heron Pale Ale)
3 cups water (I should have used a little less)
1 tablespoon chopped canned chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, plus 1 tablespoon adobo sauce
1 teaspoon ground cumin (I used more like a tablespoon and wish I used a bit more)
1 large onion, chopped
1 pound dried black beans, rinsed
1 1/2 pounds boneless pork butt (pork shoulder) (The store I went to only had 2 pound chunks, so I used all of it.)
salt & pepper
sour cream
store-bought refrigerated fresh salsa (I bought a jarred one, it worked fine)
fresh cilantro

1. Set the oven to 300 degrees.
2. In a bowl, combine the beer, water, chilies, adobo sauce, cumin, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt.
3. In a big pan, (I used a 9 x 12 glass pan) spread the onions out, pour the beans over the onions, and the pork on top of that. (I cut my huge slab of meat into 3 chunks.) Pour the liquid mixture over everything. I ground a bunch of pepper over the top of all this.
4. Cover with foil, place on a cookie sheet if your pan is almost overflowing like mine was, and place it carefully into the oven so beer doesn't spill everywhere.
5. Cook covered, until the beans are tender and the pork pulls apart easily, 3 to 4 hours. Try not to uncover the dish until at least 3 hours. You want the heat to stay trapped under the foil.
6. Once the meat is cooked, remove from the oven and use a fork to separate the pork into large pieces.
7. Divide among individual bowls and top with sour cream, salsa, and cilantro.

Notes:
-The original recipe is for a slow cooker, which I'm sure would be amazing. I don't have a slow cooker (I plan to get one soon because I loved this), so I cooked it in the oven, covered, at 300 degrees for about 3 or 3 1/2 hours.
-I served this with warm corn tortillas and we also had some tortilla chips, which were good for scooping up the beans. It was a little more liquidy than I expected, and I think the 3 cups that were in the initial recipe could be cut back to maybe 2 cups when cooked in the oven rather than the slow cooker.
-It could have been a tad spicier for my tastes, but it did have a nice amount of heat.
-The meat was super tasty and tender, the beans were perfect. This dish was super simple but extremely delicious.
-Our impromptu guests loved it!
-Lots of Leftovers!

Amazing Cream Sauce made easy.

2010-04-20T22:57:00.000-07:00

If you're anything like me, you love alfredo but never want to take the time to make the sauce from scratch and alfredo in a jar is just not gonna cut it. I came across the most amazingly delicious and gourmet tasting cream sauce that is the easiest thing to make.

This recipe again came from Real Simple, and did not disappoint me in flavor or simpleness.

I made this sauce twice this past week and I ate the leftovers, so I ate it three times in a week. That's how delicious it is.

So, the basic original recipe is as follows:
Directions
1.Season 8 thin chicken cutlets (1½ pounds total) with salt and pepper. In batches, cook in olive oil over medium-high heat until golden; remove.
2.Add 1 pound sliced mushrooms to pan, season with salt and pepper, and cook until tender. Stir in 1/2 cup heavy cream, 1/2 cup goat cheese, and 1/4 cup chopped parsley. Serve with the chicken.

My boyfriend picked up the 4 ingredients at the store: chicken, goat cheese, cream, and mushrooms. He got a garlic and herb goat cheese that was extremely delicious, since we both love garlic. I cut the recipe in half, using 2 regular breasts, which I cut up into 4 total cutlets. Instead of parsley I threw in some green onions I had left in the fridge which added a nice crunchiness. I also roasted some asparagus to go on the side which was great with the dish. I forgot to take a picture but believe me, we were oohing and aahing over it.

The second time I made this, I used shrimp instead of chicken, cooked some onion with the mushrooms, and added some steamed spinach in at the end along with some pasta. So so so good. We agreed, better than regular alfredo sauce. Way better. and easier.

Enjoy!

Asian Dumpling Soup with Shiitakes and Edamame

2010-04-11T19:03:00.000-07:00

This recipe arrived in my email box from Real Simple and I had to try it out immediately. It reminded me of my serious love of ramen and udon and now that I made this soup in the blink of an eye, I cannot wait to make one with noodles next time.

Asian Dumpling Soup With Shiitakes and Edamame

Serves 2 (2 giant bowls)
Total time, about a half hour.

Ingredients:
1 32-ounce container chicken broth
1 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves
8 frozen pot sticker dumplings or Japanese gyoza
1 medium carrot, halved lengthwise and sliced
4 asparagus stalks, choped into bite size pieces
4 ounces shiitake or white mushrooms, stems discarded and caps thinly sliced
1 cup frozen shelled edamame
a few handfuls of fresh baby spinach
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 scallions, sliced

Directions:
1.In a large saucepan, bring the broth and ginger to a boil.
2. Add the carrots, asparagus, and garlic and simmer about 8 to 10 minutes.
3. Add the potstickers, and mushroom and simmer until the potstickers are heated through and the mushrooms are cooked to your liking.
4. Stir in the soy sauce, edamame and spinach, let simmer just a few minutes so the spinach will wilt and the edamame warms up.
5. Scoop into bowls and sprinkle with the scallions.

I made a few minor adjustments to the original recipe, but nothing major. The original recipe called for low sodium broth and low sodium soy sauce, both of which I decided against. I also did include the extra salt that the recipe called for but in retrospect, the salt really wasn't needed so I left it out here. I suppose if you did use low sodium broth and soy sauce, the extra salt would be tasty. I also used fresh asparagus instead of watercress, because I couldn't find any at the store and I am not particularly fond of them in general. The edamame was interesting, I've never had it in a soup before, but it was a tad too chewy. Maybe I didn't let it sit in the hot broth long enough or maybe edamame in soup is just not for me. I think I would use peas next time. I added the spinach because I had some in the fridge and thought it would be a good addition. We ate this with some veggie spring rolls as an appetizer.

This soup was so hearty and healthy and so delicious. I am not kidding when I say this is definitely in my top three soups ever and I will be making similar style soups again and again and again and again.

Muenster Mushroom Chipotle Cream Soup!

2010-03-11T16:53:00.000-08:00

Ok that title is a mouthful. I have been calling this Spicy Cheesy Mushroom Soup. This recipe came to me highly recommended by my friend Meredith who hosted a soup party a while back and asked all her guests to bring some soup. A girl after my own heart.

This soup was brought to her party and was a hit with everyone who attended. Meredith got me the recipe and I whipped it up with a few additions (noted below). The original recipe came from RecipeZaar.com.

Muenster Mushroom Chipotle Cream Soup (with Meatballs, not pureed)

Ingredients:
2 ounces unsalted butter
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup russet potato or yukon gold potato, peeled and diced
1 cup onion, chopped
3 cups white mushrooms, chopped
salt and pepper
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups muenster cheese, grated
1 tablespoons chipotle chiles in adobo
1 cup heavy cream
2 portabella mushrooms chopped and sauteed (or roasted and chopped)
a dozen or more frozen meatballs (from Ikea!)

Directions:
1. In a large skillet over medium heat, heat oil and butter.
2. When butter is melted, add potatoes, onion and white mushrooms; season with salt and pepper.
3. Saute until onions are translucent, add broth, cheese and chipotle. Stir to combine and allow to simmer until potatoes are very soft, stirring frequently--do not worry if cheese seems to clump. (**I put in two of the chiles and some of the sauce, thinking it would not be that hot. I also added the meatballs in this step so they would cook in the broth.**)
4. Puree soup in a blender or food processor, strain through a sieve back into a saucepan (press on solids to remove all liquid)(**I left the puree step out because I did not want to deal with a blender/food processor. Instead I removed the adobo chiles at this point**) and add cream and portabellas.
5. Heat gently until just simmering.
6. Serve hot.

I made this so long ago, (but due to computer issues I am just posting it now) that I do not honestly remember what other additions I made to the original recipe but i don't think there were many. I pretty much stuck to the recipe except for leaving out the puree step and adding meatballs. Instead of the 4 portabellas that the recipe called for I used two and used meatballs to sort of replace the portabellas.

This soup turned out really great. It was a little bit too spicy though because of the adobo chiles. I'm glad I removed them whole rather than chopping them first or blending it like the recipe called for. But I think if I had used only one chile instead of two, it would have been just the right amount of spice. The meatballs were a nice addition, I just love those frozen Ikea meatballs in soup.

Apparently my photos of this soup got lost in my move to a new laptop and I am really sad because I just typed this whole thing up! You will just have to take my word for it. This is one delicious soup if you like mushrooms and cheese and spicy!

Classic Minestrone, sorta.

2010-01-13T15:55:00.000-08:00

As part of the new year I'm trying to get back at this blogging thing. I have a million recipes to try, more time to spend cooking and baking, and tons of motivation to boot. Yet one missing piece still remains and that is a functional camera. So for the last time I ask you to please excuse my horrible iPhone pictures because I'm setting forth on a camera buying mission this weekend.

As an homage to my last poorly pixelated pictures we have minestrone soup. I came across this recipe on Food & Wine's website and since I had a bunch of kale to use up (isn't that always the case?) and we haven't done one of the most classic soups of all time I decided it was meant to be. I modified the recipe quite a bit and used cannellini beans in place of potatoes, added a can of fire roasted tomatoes and substituted the kale for the chard/spinach but I guess I'll still give credit where credit is due. I also added more spices than just the s&p that the original recipe called for, I can't help myself when it comes to throwing those around.

The final result was really good. One trick that you can use for any soup, but works perfectly in this Italian soup, is saving parmesan rinds to throw in while the soup is simmering. I keep them in a plastic bag in the freezer. It adds a rich creaminess that isn't too salty and can't be replicated with just stock alone. Plus it falls under my neurotic need to not waste food!

Minestrone Soup
adapted from Food & Wine

3 tblsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 fennel bulb, chopped
3 ribs celery, chopped
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp garlic powder
1 quart low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock
2 cups water
1 can cannellini beans
1 can diced tomatoes (I used fire roasted)
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 cup orecchiette pasta
1 bunch of kale, tough stems removed, roughly chopped
1/3 grated parmesan or parmesan rind (optional)

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over moderately low heat. Add the onion, fennel, celery, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, and other spices. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables start to soften, about 10 minutes.

Add the beans, tomatoes, broth, water, the remaining 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, and the pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes (this is where I throw in the parmesan rinds). Stir in the pasta and simmer for 5 minutes longer.

Add the kale and bring the soup back to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the greens are wilted and the pasta is tender, about 5 minutes longer. Stir in the Parmesan, if using.

Prepped

Almost ready

Set up and my shriveled parm rinds

The long awaited Hungarian Mushroom Soup post!

2010-01-04T19:47:00.001-08:00

I love mushrooms. I love mushrooms so much that I use them in almost everything I cook.

I found this simple and amazing Hungarian Mushroom Soup recipe at Closet Cooking and have made it three times in the past year. I am no expert in Hungarian Mushroom Soup, but this one is delicious and seemingly impossible to mess up. I am about 90% sure that this was the first soup I tried to make from a recipe and was amazed how easy it was and how delicious it was! The flavors are amazing! I made this for a little Christmas party and got more than a few compliments!

Ingredients:
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion (chopped)
1 8 ounce package mushrooms (quartered)
2 teaspoons dill
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 cups chicken stock (or vegetable broth)
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons flour
salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup fresh parsley (chopped)

(I've used both chicken broth and veggie broth, not much difference there. I've left the parsley out all three times I made this soup, didn't miss it. I used dry dill the most recent time I used it, and fresh the previous two, both options work perfectly. I made double the recipe twice and it worked great! See what I mean, hard to mess up!)

Directions:
1. Melt butter in a pot.
2. Add onions and saute until tender.
3. Add mushrooms and saute until the mushrooms are cooked.
4. Add dill, paprika, soy sauce and chicken broth.
5. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
6. Mix the milk and flour in a bowl.
7. Add the milk mixture to the pot, cover and simmer for another 15 minutes.
8. Add the lemon juice, salt and pepper.
9. Remove from heat.
10. Add the sour cream and parsley and stir.

Voila! Amazing party pleasing mushroom soup! This might be my favorite soup ever, just saying.

Pass the honey, honey!

2009-12-15T17:15:00.000-08:00

So this is going to be two posts in one because I am behind! And neither of them is soup! But I will be posting about soup in the next couple days, promise.

First up...

For Thanksgiving at my boyfriend's aunt and uncles house, we were assigned to bring a sweet potato dish. I scoured the internet for one that sounded delicious and easy and wasn't pureed, since I wanted my sweet potatoes to stand out and not be just another mushed up potato dish. I found this on Epicurious and it turned out amazing. I modified the recipe only very slightly (cooked at a higher temp, added some cayenne pepper and rosemary).

Wildflower Honey & Whisky-Glazed Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 cup light-flavored honey such as wildflower, orange blossom, or clover
2 tablespoons Scotch whisky (I used Cutty Sark)
2 tablespoons (packed) dark brown sugar
3 pounds orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
about 1 tablespoon of fresh rosemary

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 375°F (I cooked the potatoes at closer to 400). Butter 2-quart casserole dish.

2. In small saucepan over moderately high heat, combine butter, honey, whisky, and sugar. Bring to simmer, whisking until butter and sugar are melted, then reduce heat to moderately low and simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes.

3. In large bowl, toss potatoes with butter mixture, salt, and pepper. Transfer to prepared dish and bake, tossing occasionally, until tender and glazed, about 45 minutes. Serve warm. (I cooked mine for an hour and they were perfect. When put back into the oven right before being served, the potatoes got super carmelized and crispy and were even more delicious than when I first took them out of the oven!)

These were so incredibly easy to make and super tasty. I think they will be a Thanksgiving staple from here on! Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of them after they were extra sugary carmelized, but this is what they looked like when I first took these morsels from the oven.

The other item I wanted to share is...
When my boyfriend's produce delivery service brought him an acorn squash, I was excited but then realized I've never cooked an acorn squash, what the heck do I do with it?! I found this recipe, thinking it sounded easy and it turned out even better than I had hoped for. Never having cooked any kind of squash besides zucchini before, I was pretty pleased with myself after this one.

This came from Ms. Paula Dean.

* 1 acorn squash, cut in 1/2
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preperation:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Scoop the seeds and stringy pulp out of the squash cavities and discard.

3. In a small mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar, butter, syrup and salt and pepper, to taste.

4. Rub the squash cavities and cut sides of the squash with the butter mixture and place them on a baking sheet, cut side up. Put about 1/4 inch of water in the bottom of the pan.

5. Cover and bake in the preheated oven for about 1 hour until the squash is tender when pierced with a fork. Serve 1 half per person.

I took mine out when it was falling off the skin and it was so so so so so so so good. I want some right now!

Poor Man's Soup

2009-12-15T14:39:00.000-08:00

Otherwise known as "the soup I made yesterday because I'm on a Christmas budget". Or you folks might know it as Split Pea Soup. This was one easy and cheap soup to make. Although this soup has never exactly screamed appealing I have to say I thought it was quite good for a rainy winter evening. I took the original recipe from Apartment Therapy's The Kitchn but I modified it a bit.

Split Pea Soup
modified from The Kitchn

4 tbsp. butter
1 medium onion, diced
3 stalks celery, chopped
3 carrots, sliced or diced
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
1 tablespoon garlic powder
Salt & pepper to taste
2 cups of dried split peas
6 cups broth of choice
1/2-3/4 cup of half & half

Preparation
In a large, heavy pot (about 4 quarts in size) melt the butter and add the vegetables, and cook until the onions are soft. Add the bay leaves, thyme, garlic powder, and salt & pepper and stir. Add the split peas and stir to coat with the spices and the butter, then add the broth. Turn heat down to low, cover, and simmer for an hour. Check on the soup. It should be creamy and soft, but not so thick that it's like a pea loaf. If it's getting too thick, add a little more broth. The soup is ready when the peas are soft, about a hour to a hour & half. Puree in a blender if desired (I did about 3/4 of the soup and left the rest chunky). Add in half & half and serve.

Please excuse the iphone pics. Santa needs to bring me a god damn real camera.

"Best stroganoff I've had all month."

2009-11-25T16:22:00.000-08:00

This isn't exactly a soup, but no posts for a month is just out of control. So here we go. Last week I made Beef Stroganoff. I have made stroganoff before, but i couldnt find the other recipe I made so I went looking for a new one. I forget where I found this one (sorry!) but it sounded a little different, not quite traditional, but still tasty.

Ingredients:

* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 1 pound beef sirloin, cut into 2x1x1/8-inch strips
* salt and pepper to taste
* 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 12 ounces button mushrooms, quartered (I used a mixture of crimini and button, probably more than 12 ounces, I love mushrooms.)
* 1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
* 1 tablespoon tomato paste
* 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 2 cups beef broth
* 1/4 cup sour cream
* 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (I left this out because I forgot to get it at the store. Don't think it was needed though.)
* 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
* 1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves (instead of parsley I used fresh dill.)

For noodles:

* Kosher salt
* One 12-ounce package wide egg noodles
* 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (I didn't use this)
* Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Preheat a large skillet over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes. Raise the heat to high and heat 1 tablespoon oil. Season half the beef with salt and pepper, add to the skillet, arranging it in a single layer, and saute, without stirring, until well-browned and still pinkish inside, about 1 to 2 minutes. (It is key to only partially cook the meat at this stage, since it will be finish cooking later in the sauce.) Transfer to a large plate and set aside. Repeat with the remaining oil and beef. Discard any excess oil.

Return the skillet to medium-high heat. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter and, when the foaming begins to subside, add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until well-browned, about 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to the plate with the beef.

Heat 4 tablespoons butter and, just as the foaming begins to subside, add the onion and cook, stirring, until lightly caramelized, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, until lightly browned, about 1 minute more. Whisk in the flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Pour in the beef broth and, whisking constantly, bring to a full boil. Remove from the heat. Whisk in the sour cream, mustard, and lemon juice and season with pepper to taste. Set the sauce aside covered.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt generously, and cook the noodles until tender but not mushy. Drain and transfer to a large bowl. Toss with the butter and season with pepper to taste. (I didn't butter the noodles, seemed a little excessive.)

Add the beef and any juices, mushrooms, and parsley (or dill or both!) to the sauce and reheat over medium heat until just hot. (Do not boil.) Divide the noodles among 4 plates and top with the stroganoff. Serve immediately.

This stroganoff was extremely delicious, but it reminded me more of this hungarian mushroom soup recipe that I love (recipe coming soon!) rather than stroganoff. My boyfriend proclaimed it as the best stroganoff he had eaten all month, and he had actually had stroganoff earlier in the month! I count that as a win. I would definitely make this again. The only thing I changed was adding dill instead of parsley because I just really like dill. I think I used slighly more sour cream than called for also. This made a ton of food, probably about 6-8 serviings. Not traditional though, the paprika and tomato paste I guess are what makes it different. And it tasted pretty light considering how much sour cream and butter was used in the making of the sauce!

Enjoy!

Too much cheese. Yes, it can happen.

2009-10-21T17:25:00.000-07:00

Now that it is officially fall, I decided to venture back into my good friend, "The Big Book of Soups & Stews."

I asked my boyfriend for a particular ingredient that I should feature in this soup, and he said cheese. I looked in the index of the Big Book and decided on Potato Soup With Bacon and Gorgonzola Cheese. I thought about this soup all day at work and knew it was going to be amazing. I went a little overboard though. Let me elaborate after I tell you the recipe.

Ingredients:
4 slices bacon, diced.
1 cup chopped yellow onion. (I used a whole onion, I dont bother measuring veggies.)
2 stalks celery, sliced.
2 large russet potatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds), peeled and cubed.
1 cup chicken or veggie broth or stock.
2 cups milk.
1/4 cup chopped parsley.
3/4 teaspoon salt.
freshly ground pepper to taste.
4 ounces crumbled gorgonzola cheese or blue cheese for topping (optional).

Process:
In a large soup pot over medium heat, cook bacon until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon to a plate, leaving 2 tablespoons bacon drippings in pan. Add onion and celery to pan and saute until vegetables are slightly tender, about 6 minutes. Add potatoes and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature to medium-low and simmer, covered, until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Transfer 1 cup of the vegetables to a food processor or blender and process until smooth. (Note: My bf does not have these items so i just scooped some out and mashed them up with a potatoo masher, and it worked fine. Not quite as creamy but enough for me.) Return to pan and add milk and parsley. Season with salt and pepper and rehehat over medium hehat for about 5 minutes. Ladel into bowls and sprinkle with bacon and chese, if desired.

My changes/additions/mistakes:
-I added about 8 mushroms, quartered. (good decision)
-I added a little more broth than it called for as it didn't seem like enough liquid to me at first. After adding the milk, it turned out I hadn't needed that extra broth. (bad decision)
-I added the bacon back into the soup rather than just using it as a garnish. In fact I got so carried away and excited that I forgot to save a little to garnish for the picture! (good decision)
-I added the full 4 ounces, maybe even 5 ounces, of gorgonzola cheese into the soup and let it melt a bit, rather than using it as a topping. (bad decision)

I thought, "I love gorgonzola! This is going to be amazing! Why would you just put a few crumbles on top of this normal old potato soup when you can mix in a ton of yummy cheese!?" Well, dear readers, because there is such a thing as too much blue cheese. The deliciousness I had envisioned quickly turned into I can't eat any more of this, what a disappointment.

I would still recommend making this soup, but be sparing with the cheese. As with salt you can add, but you cannot subtract once you add it in, and too much is just too much. Also this soup is pretty rich, I would recommend making it as an appetizer rather than a full meal, which is typically how I prefer my soup. I am just not patient enough to make soup for a first course and then follow it with a full meal. But if you are into that sort of thing, or want to make a hearty soup to bring to a potluck this holiday season, this is a great option. But seriously, even if you love blue cheese, don't mix it all in. You will regret it, I promise.

A Book Review-Jam Today: A Diary of Cooking With What You've Got

2009-10-03T10:45:00.000-07:00

I've been absent from this whole blogging shindig for a bit and I'm sure all three of you followers noticed, yuk yuk. In my absence I've been moving, working hard, and without a home computer to create any blogging masterpieces (another requisite yuk yuk).

In the meantime Michelle and I managed to attend our very first book reading! The book is Jam Today: A Diary of Cooking With What You've Got by Tod Davies. This came recommended to me by a dear friend, and freelance publishing company advocate, Jenn Abel. Not only did she recommend the book but managed to have a copy sent to me with a note from the author. I've never felt so special in my life!

The book reads much like a blog does; short entries about what the author cooked, ate, felt, and experienced in her day. There's an underlying theme throughout the book and that is simplicity. As the title implies, the book exudes a sense of gearing down and viewing cooking not as a chore or a nuisance but as a call to listening to your body and the ingredients you have on hand. Two points I absolutely loved about the book, and identify strongly with, are the fact that she hates to waste things and that she gets a thrill out of thinking up quick dinners that require a short stop at the market, if any at all. Easily two of my favorite pastimes.

Michelle and I got to experience her skill for turning other people's pantry items into quick dinners firsthand at the reading. Attendees were instructed to list and circle the items they currently had stocked at home and Davies turned these into quick and delicious sounding meals off the top of her head. All the while the audience munched away on homemade eggplant caviar (recipe listed in the book, page 154). Pair this with Davies' quick wit and instant charm and I'd say it was a successful first book reading for us indeed.

Inspired by this, Michelle and I went back to my place and decided to cook with what I had on hand. It was not exactly from scratch or extravagant (that's the point right?) but it was delicious. We pan fried pot stickers from TJ's, steamed some broccoli, and made a small salad with cucumbers and asian ginger dressing. I whipped up a dipping sauce made of soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sriracha, fish sauce, honey, chopped garlic, and ginger powder. Accompanied by a glass of wine, which Davies seems to add to her meals more often than not, and I'd say we paid proper homage to a great book.

steaming away

et voila!

Fish Tacos, Finally

2009-09-20T14:37:00.000-07:00

I've been searching high and low for a delicious fish taco in Portland since I moved here in October 2007. Though I haven't tried them everywhere possible, I kind of gave up after a handful of disappointments. One place that is particularly known for their tacos have a taco that has delicious fish but it is smothered in fruity salsa, overwhelming the delicious fish. Another place that is more known for burritos has a very simple fish taco that has kind of skimpy fish and no sauce to be mentioned, only spicy cabbage. Total let down.

In any case, I finally got around to making my own fish tacos. With some help from V, her new dominos, our boyfriends and some tasty Tequila + Squirt drinks, we had a fantastic evening, the highlight of which was the fish tacos if you ask me! Totally fulfilled the craving and I can't wait to make these again.

Recipe:

The first thing you need for this, obviously, is a filet of fish. A white fish like halibut, cod, tilapia, or even catfish. I'd say get whatever is on sale. We had a little over a pound of halibut bought fresh from the farmer's market and it was a ton of fish. We each had three tacos and there was leftover fish.

The marinade for the fish was made up of:
Lime juice, lots of it.
A couple splashes of clear tequila. We used Sauza silver (the rest of the bottle was mixed with Squirt and drank by the four of us in the span of a few hours.)
Salt & Pepper
Chili Powder
Some diced up peppers, one step in spiciness below jalapenos
a few cloves of crushed garlic
a little olive oil

We let this marinate for about a half hour or so then put it in the oven at 350. It was a large chunk of fish so it took quite a while to cook all the way through, I think about 45 minutes or so.

The next most important thing is the sauce. When the fish is almost done, whip up the sauce. Here is what we used in ours (this came from our pal Amy P!):
1 1/2 tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream
1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

(Please note that you use TEAspoons for the lime and vinegar, and tablespoons for the sour cream and cilantro. I sort of messed that up and had to send the boys out to get more sour cream to correct my mistake.)

Another important aspect of fish tacos is the pico de gallo. I like my tacos simple. A basic pico de gallo is just tomatoes, onions, cilantro, lime juice. V made this pico before she came over and she added some fresh yellow watermelon(last of the season!) which was amazing. It made the pico a tiny bit sweet but not overwhelmingly sweet. It still tasted like pico de gallo, not fruit salad, if you know what I mean.

You also need:

-Cabbage. We had a head of red and a head of green.
-Guacamole if you are in the mood. (I just bought some fresh stuff from New Seasons, and in fact I didn't even put any on my tacos.)
-And Finally, Tortillas. I prefer Corn.

V also made a really delicious Black bean and corn salad which was great on the side. Black beans, fresh corn from the farmers market, tomatoes, cilantro, olive oil, lime juice, chili powder, garlic powder, dash of cayenne, and some salt and pepper.

So you put this all together, squeeze a little fresh lime juice on top, and you get the most delicious fish tacos ever made. The only thing I would have liked would have been a dash of hot sauce but they were still amazing without that!

Voila! Or should I say Ole!? Either way, YUM!

Get ready for Fall!

2009-09-08T19:12:00.001-07:00

This post is for my sister (Hi, Sister!) and for all the readers out there who want to start making soup but need a basic tutorial to get started. I will lay out the basics of a basic soup and give you a couple of variations to get you started! The soup world is your oyster! Ok that doesn't really make sense. What I'm trying to say is, you can make any kind of soup that sounds good to you since Fall is right around the corner! Ok, here we go.

Ingredients:

You definitely need:
-1 onion, yellow or white, diced.
-2 carrots, diced.
-2 sticks of celery, diced.
-2-4 cloves of garlic, depending on your tastes, minced.
-chicken broth (2 boxes or 1 box + water and lots of seasonings) (or veggie broth or beef broth!)
-salt & pepper to taste
-generous amounts of any other seasonings you like or have on hand, such as oregano, curry, sage, dill, dry mustard, rosemary, chili powder, cayenne pepper, etc.

Then also pick up whatever veggies you like such as:
-mushrooms
-zucchini or other squash
-corn
-peas
-bell peppers
-potatoes
-canned crushed or diced tomatoes
-kale

Also try some meat such as:
-chicken breasts or tenders (pan fry and chop/shred or try poaching!)
-turkey (same methods as chicken)
-meatballs (we favor the cheap and tasty ones from Ikea!)
-bacon (if using bacon, cook it first, then use the grease to cook the onions to add flavor! Add the bacon back in when the soup is almost done to warm it back up.)
-ground sausage (same method as bacon!)

Some other things you might want to try:
-Pasta - shells or penne work great
-egg noodles
-rice - arborrio, jasmine, whatever
-barley
-beans - kidney, black

*One thing to keep in mind before you start, try to chop all your veggies into
similar-sized pieces.*

So, now that you have your ingredients all ready to go, here's what you do!

Process:

1. The first step in making soup is to dice up your onion and throw it in a pot with some butter and/or olive oil over medium heat. Stir the onions and let them cook down. This is called Sweating. Sweat the onions until they are nearly translucent. Probably about 7-10 minutes, depending how big you diced 'em.

2. Next, throw in your carrots, celery and garlic. Stir them around and let them cook with the onions for about 7-10 more minutes, still over medium heat, until the carrots are soft, but not too falling apart. This is also the step where I would recommend adding a lot of the spices that you want to use, so that the vegetables will soak them up while they are cooking.

3. Once your onions, carrots, and celery are looking pretty good, cooked and soft but not mushy, add in whatever other veggies you decided to use. My favorites are mushrooms (usually quartered or in slightly smaller chunks), followed by zucchini (cut into 1/4 thick rounds and then halved). The key is to add the veggies and sautee them in the order in which they cook. So carrots take a long time, that's why they are one of the first things to cook. zucchini cooks pretty quick, so its one of the last things you cook before you add the broth. Practice and experimenting make perfect!

4. Stir in your chicken broth. Raise the heat on your burner up to medium high and bring it to a boil. If you are adding in meat, pasta, rice, potatoes or any combination of those things, you will add those in with the broth so that they can cook in the broth. (Egg noodles cook very fast, so you can add those in towards the end rather than when you add the broth, they are the one pasta exception.) If you are using canned tomatoes, add those in at this point too. Once your broth is boiling, reduce the heat to a low temperature so that it can simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Once it's warm, I usually taste the broth and see if i want to add any other particular seasonings.

*If you used chicken, taste the broth before you put the chicken in! Also, once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pot and shred it or dice it, then drop it back in*

5. If you added pasta or rice, once that's cooked, your soup is done. So keep an eye on it. Soggy pasta is gross. If you plan to add anything else that cooks quickly, such as canned corn, frozen peas, black beans, anything that pretty much just has to be warmed up, add that in the last 5 minutes or so of cooking. If you plan to add kale or any other leafy green that basically just has to wilt, add that in just before you serve it.

6. Once everything in the pot seems to be cooked and hot and flavored well, Serve it up! A nice big slice of delicious bakery fresh bread with butter spread on it is my favorite accompaniment to any bowl of soup.

As with most dishes, the leftovers are always almost better than the original meal!

Here are some photos of a few recent soups V and I have made in the past couple weeks. I will tell you what we used for each, though all three were made using this same basic veggie type soup recipe that I detailed above.

Soup #1:
I had a hankering for some soup!

For this soup we used:
onion, carrots, celery, garlic, yellow squash, mushrooms, one box of chicken broth and some water plus a ton of seasonings, black beans, ikea meatballs, and pumpkin flavored prepackaged risotto including some of the seasoning that came with that. This soup turned out super spicy and super hearty thanks to all the risotto.

Soup #2:
I made this at my boyfriend's house only a few days later, because once I start making soup it's pretty much all I want to eat.

For this soup I used:
onion, carrots, celery, lots of garlic, 2 boxes of chicken broth, zucchini, mushrooms, potatoes (I wish I had cut them into smaller pieces!), and black beans. I don't have too many seasonings there, just salt, pepper, oregano, red pepper, and dill. I used quite a bit of all these. There was so much soup leftover that we had to pawn it off on a couple of his friends a few days later. They both had seconds!

Soup #3:
This soup is very similar to the first soup I posted except I think it turned out a little better.

For this soup we used:
onion, carrots, celery, 1 box of reduced sodium chicken broth plus some water and lots of seasonings, mushrooms, a can of tomatoes, a can of corn, zucchini, ikea meatballs, and rice. The carrots in this one were perfectly cooked. Usually I like the carrots to sort of blend in, as I am not a huge fan. But in this soup they were just the right consistency and tasted really good. I don't know how that happened, but I think I declared this one of the best soups we had made, even better than the other meatball soup I posted (Soup #1!)

So, I hope this gets you started. These are the basics that got me hooked on making soup, and just typing all this makes me want some soup right now, and I already ate dinner! Fall is just around the corner, so get out your sweaters and scarves and fear not soup lovers! There will be plenty more fabulous and varied soups to come! In fact, I am going to make a goal of posting in this blog at least twice a month. I have been slacking!

Happy souping!

P.S. Happy birthday to the best co-blogger and best muffin maker in the West!
Love you, V!

Whose Pizza Reigns Supreme?

2009-07-28T09:42:00.000-07:00

Ugh. It's so hot here that the thought of food itself has been turning me off lately. I think I might live these next (and only) few days of heat that we get living on popsicles. Despite the heat DP and I did manage to get away to Bend last weekend for some R&R. While we were there we had a pizza-off for dinner. As it turns out, it was pretty much an even tie because both of the pizzas were great! I think I won in presentation, if I do say so myself. But flavor was even steven. We bought all of the ingredients, including the pizza dough, ready made from Whole Foods. Next time I'll make the dough from scratch and try using a pizza stone but we had to make do being that we were "roughing it" in a vacation home. Having A/C and a hot tub is really tough guys. DP did bring some fresh oregano that a co-worker gave him and incorporated it into his sauce. He went with a classic vegetarian pizza with black olives, mushrooms, basil and heirloom tomato. While I whipped out a BBQ chicken pizza. Behold, recipes:

DP's Mad Stylin' Veggie Pizza
ready-made dough from your local grocer (or make your own goddammit)
1 small can of pizza sauce
garlic
fresh oregano
1/2 lb mozzarella cheese
fresh basil
crimini mushrooms
1 small can sliced black olives
1 heirloom tomato

V's Bitchin' BBQ Chicken Pizza (with a Hawaiian-style edge)
ready-made dough from your local grocer
1 bottle BBQ sauce (or make your own goddammit)
1 chicken breast, poached and shredded
1/2 lb mozzarella cheese
1/2 red onion
1 can of pineapple chunks

First of all, don't judge me for those names. Clever is not a product of heat stroke. Then, take your dough out of the packaging and pat it a couple of times, just 'cause it feels nice. Next, stretch that dough to the size of your pan any way you can. I chose a bend and push method and DP decided he would throw his up in the air (not recommended). Position the dough on the baking sheet and make sure the the whole thing, top and bottom is brushed with olive oil for easy removal and flavor. Next, make your sauce for the pizza. If making the veggie pizza, blend the can of pizza sauce, chopped fresh oregano and chopped garlic. If making the BBQ pizza simply pop the lid. Spread the sauce on the dough and top with shredded mozzarella. Next, evenly distribute whatever pizza toppings you are using. After that, I added a little extra cheese and sauce for flavor and adhesive purposes. Bake in a pre-heated 450 degree oven for about 12-18 minutes. Behold, pictures:

BBQ Chicken-before and after

Veggie-before and after

and no pizza night would be complete without a movie and candy.

233rd Annual Dionysian Ritual of Opulence Over Open Flame

2009-07-14T17:49:00.000-07:00

When DP announced that he would be hosting a BBQ for the 4th my mind immediately starting reeling with what food I was going to bring. I have this terrible problem of overcompensating with food when either invited to or hosting a gathering of any sort. What can I say, I like options. So I started off with about 10 ideas and ultimately narrowed it down to 3 dishes.

The first thing was pulled pork. I have always wanted to make this and being that it is mostly hands off I figured it'd be a great recipe to add to the mix. I don't have much experience with slow cookers but there's not a whole lot to it. I used a recipe from the blog Soup Belly. It was really simple but next time I'll probably make my own bbq sauce. Even though I used one I really like, Stubb's, I feel the recipe could've been a touch more homemade. I might try a dry rub beforehand as well. Also, at 10 hours my pork was falling apart and ready to shred. This may have been because I used a boneless pork shoulder. Overall the pork was well received and a cinch to make.

Pulled Pork in a Crock Pot (serves 10)
adapted from Soup Belly

4 lbs of pork shoulder (often called pork butt)
2 large yellow onions
1 cup ginger ale
18 oz. bottle of bbq sauce of choice (feel free to make your own here) plus more for dipping if so desired

Chop onions and scatter half on the bottom of crock pot. Lay pork shoulder on top. Cover with second onion and ginger ale. Cover with lid, turn crock pot on to low and let cook for 10 hours. This can take up to 12 hours but I think my crock pot cooks at a high temperature so be sure to check the pork as you near the end. When it falls apart to the touch, it's nice and ready.

Take pork out and place on a cutting board. Shred the pork using 2 forks. Discard the onions and pork juices and place shredded pork back in the pot. Cover with bbq sauce and cook on low for another 4-6 hours. Serve on buns or alone. Either way is delicious!

Alongside all that pork I couldn't resist making some baked beans. I used a recipe I found via Cooking Light. There was something that tasted off about this recipe to me but people seemed to like it at the party. I'm not sure i'll used it again, although I did like the heat that came from using the chipotle peppers.

Honey-Chipotle Baked Beans (serves 8-10)
from Cooking Light

Cooking spray
1/2 cup minced shallots (about 5 ounces)
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 cup tomato puree
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 chipotle chiles, canned in adobo sauce, seeded and chopped
2 (28-ounce) cans baked beans

Preheat oven to 300°.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add shallots; sauté 4 minutes or until golden. Add cumin and garlic; sauté for 1 minute. Add tomato puree and oil, and cook for 2 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly. Add honey and the next 5 ingredients (through chiles). Reduce heat; simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Combine beans and shallot mixture in a 2-quart baking dish. Bake at 300° for 1 hour or until thick and bubbly.

And last, but certainly not least, was cherry pie! I found a recipe for "slab" cherry pie which is basically just pie in giant proportions. I figured that it'd be better for serving a crowd. I even invested in a jelly roll pan for this baby, oh and (!) a Cherry Chomper to do the dirty pitting work. I'm such a sucker for an excuse to buy new kitchen gadgets.

Cherry Slab Pie (serves 12)

taken from The Italian Dish

Slab Pie Dough (pâte brisée)

3 ¾ cups all purpose flour
2 ½ teaspoons coarse salt
1 ½ teaspoons sugar
3 sticks unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces
½ cup ice water

Place the flour, salt and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, about 10 seconds.

With machine running, slowly pour the ice water through the feed tube until the dough just comes together in a ball.

Divide the dough into two pieces, one slightly larger than the other. Flatten a little, dust with flour and wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour or overnight.

Pie Filling

2 ½ pounds (about 6 cups) fresh cherries, pitted, or 2 ¼ pounds (about 6 cups) of fresh blueberries
1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
¼ cup cornstarch
juice of ½ lemon
¼ teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, stir to combine, set aside.

Glaze:
2 tablespoons heavy cream
¼ cup sanding sugar or granulated sugar

To make the pie:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the larger piece of dough into a rectangle, a little bit larger than your baking sheet. The original recipe calls for a 15x10 baking sheet, but I used a 13x10 jelly roll pan. To make this easier, place a piece of plastic wrap on your working surface, dust with flour. Place pie dough on top, dust with flour and place another sheet of plastic wrap on top. When your dough is the right size, lay your rolling pin on top of the top sheet of plastic wrap. Start rolling the dough around the rolling pin, leaving the bottom sheet of plastic wrap on your working surface. Dust the dough around the rolling pin as you go, so it will not stick to itself. Lift rolling pin over your baking sheet on one end and unroll dough. Remove plastic wrap from top. Fit into your rimmed baking sheet, pressing into corners (pastry will hang over sides). Spread filling into pie shell.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out remaining piece of dough to the size of your pan. Using same method as above, drape dough over filling. Fold edge of bottom dough over top dough. Pinch edges to seal Prick the top dough all over with a fork. Brush the entire surface of the pie with the cream and sprinkle with the sugar.

Bake until crust is golden brown about 40 to 55 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool just until the pie is still warm to the touch. Serve warm or a room temperature. Cut into 12 pieces. Slab pie can be kept at room temperature, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for up to 2 days.

And because this is already just too much information in one post I'm going to 80's montage the pictures again:

And I just realized I didn't take any pictures of the baked beans. 4th of July is ruined. 10 days after the fact.

Slaw for everyone!

2009-07-07T14:24:00.000-07:00

For 4th of July, I made a light and refreshing non mayonnaise based Cole Slaw to complement V's Pulled pork, the recipe for which should appear here shortly!

Sesame Coleslaw found on Epicurious

Ingredients:
6 cups very thinly sliced green cabbage (about 1-pound head)
3 cups shredded peeled carrots
2 cups fresh spinach leaves, trimmed, thinly sliced
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1/4 cup oriental sesame oil
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
2 teaspoons soy sauce
Additional fresh spinach leaves
1 1/2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
about a 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (Our addition)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine cabbage, carrots and sliced spinach in large bowl.

Whisk vinegar, oil, sugar, ginger and soy sauce in medium bowl until sugar dissolves. Season with salt and pepper. (Cabbage mixture and dressing can be made 1 day ahead. Cover separately; chill.)

Toss cabbage mixture with dressing. Season coleslaw with salt and pepper. Line platter with additional spinach leaves. Mound coleslaw on platter. Sprinkle sesame seeds over and serve.

This recipe made so much slaw, and we had no platters big enough to hold it all, so we just served it in the bowl that I mixed it in. It was super tasty and everyone seemed to like it!

Strawberry Overload

2009-06-24T16:30:00.000-07:00

On a recent trip back from The Oregon Gardens, which are amazing and totally worth the short trip and $10, my mom and I stopped at one of the many roadside fruit stands to check it out. We picked a great one and scored an entire flat of strawberries for $14! That is seriously cheap. So now, after giving two pints away and eating them every morning for breakfast, I was faced with what to make/bake with the 4 pints I still had. I decided on Strawberry Cornmeal Muffins and a batch of Strawberry Freezer Jam! And it's no coincidence that these two items go together splendidly, nosiree.

Strawberry Cornmeal Muffins (taken from Eating Out Loud)
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 beaten egg
1/4 cup oil
1 cup milk
1 cup chopped strawberries, plus 1/2 cup for garnish

In a large mixing bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add beaten egg, oil and milk, stirring until just combined. Fold in 1 cup chopped strawberries. I used smaller berries and simply cut them in half. I suggest chopping the berries no larger than 1/2″.

Fill muffin cups 3/4 full, then garnish with a few chopped berries. Bake at 400F (200C) for 20-25 minutes or until testing done.

Allow the muffins to cool before removing from the muffin tin. I ran a sharp knife around the edge of each muffin, then popped them out of the tin.

These were freaking fantastic. Moist and delicate, easy and quick, and they made the whole house smell amazing. I wanted to smear them with butter and jam the instant they came out of the oven. The freezer jam, on the other hand, was only slightly successful. I don't remember where I originally pulled the recipe from so I'm not going to post it. Also, I'm unsure of what method we finally went with as Michelle and I were awfully confused on what to do between the recipe I got off the internet and the print out in the box of pectin. Ultimately, my sources (Michelle) tell me that the jam is delicious but still pretty runny. I guess that means we didn't use enough pectin. I'm going to have to try my hand at this again; I'm not going down without a fight, jam! We should have called the JAMLINE number that was listed on the box of pectin but I was too scared I would end up getting lectured by a grandmother in a rocking chair with a serious passion for jam. And now:

STRAWBERRY PHOTO MONTAGE!

So Sagey

2009-06-11T12:09:00.001-07:00

When my Boyfriends fridge was suddenly filled with mushrooms, I went searching for a good tasty recipe to use them in. I came across a few things that sounded great, and finally narrowed it down to either a Chicken Marsala or a Creamy Sage sauce, both from Barn Appetit. I went with option B!

Chicken with Mushroom Sage Sauce

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup chopped shallots (I used 2 whole shallots)
2 garlic cloves (I added this part)
8-10 ounces mushrooms, any sort (I used Crimini sliced and Shiitakes quartered, probably a bit more than 10 oz as I really love mushrooms)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley (Optional, I didn't use any and didn't miss it)
1 cup dry vermouth or dry white wine (I used Chardonnay)
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
3 Tbsp chopped fresh sage (Fresh from the yard!)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts (I used 6 little fillets)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Process:
The recipe I used listed a roasted chicken method, but I just cooked my little fillets in a pan with salt and pepper, then set them aside while I made the sauce.

To make the sauce, start by melting the butter in a large sauté pan on medium high heat. Add shallots and garlic and sauté for one minute. Add mushrooms (and parsley, if using) and sauté for
5-10 more minutes, until the mushrooms have browned. If you are using unsalted butter, sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Add vermouth or white wine and deglaze the pan, scraping up any bits that may be sticking to the bottom of the pan. Stir in the cream. Bring to a simmer and cook the sauce down until it is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon (about 10 minutes).
While the sauce is reducing, add the chicken breasts/fillets back in to the sauce early enough to just warm them. The last step is to stir the fresh sage into sauce, adjust seasoning to taste with salt and pepper. Plate and spoon sauce over chicken to serve. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley if desired.

I served this with minute rice, as that is what I had available, and a side of broccoli. I would have preferred mashed potatoes or a better rice, but I was being lazy and did not realize there were potatoes at my fingertips that I ended up making mashed potatoes with later in the week! Anyway, this sauce was so so so good and so simple, I intend to make it again and again and again. And even though it has the heavy cream, it didn't taste too heavy. I had a hard time putting my fork down and from what I heard from my favorite guy, the leftovers were just as amazing.

Focaccia for Dinner

2009-05-27T09:16:00.000-07:00

One of the facets of baking that I haven't explored much is bread. Bread using yeast to be more specific. There's a certain lore that accompanies bread making that might turn one off to it. Funny that I wasn't nearly as scared to try my hand at it than I was at making a pie crust. But I will admit that I still stand around the yeast bowl when it's activating asking, "Is it working? Did I do it right? Is it foaming enough?"

Focaccia is one of the easier breads to start with. You usually only have to let it rise once and it takes little to no kneading. To put it simply, if I've managed to pull it off, you'll have no problem. We made a batch for dinner recently adding some pizza-like toppings to make it more hearty. Serve it with a salad and you've got an easy dinner. We also had asparagus 'cause I can't seem to kick my farmer's market asparagus habit. It's just too good.

Hearty Dinner Focaccia
focaccia recipe courtesy Ezra Pound Cake
toppings free-styled

Focaccia Dough:
1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
1 package (1/4 oz) active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon honey
1/2 extra virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing
1 teaspoon sea salt
3 cups bread flour, plus more for dusting

Toppings:
1 yellow onion, carmelized (couple of teaspoons of oil and/or butter needed)
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped kalamata or green olives, or a mixture
feta cheese, sprinkled on to taste
4 cloves garlic, chopped
rosemary, fresh if you have it
coarsely ground black pepper
coarse sea salt

In a large bowl combine water, yeast and honey. Stir to dissolve and allow to activate until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add oil and salt to the yeast mixture. Gradually add the flour using a pastry cutter to gently incorporate. Once the dough begins to form and pull away from the sides of the bowl, dump out onto floured surface and knead the dough for 5 minutes. Form into a ball (dough should be smooth to touch) and place in a large lightly oiled bowl; turn to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm area until doubled in volume, about an hour.

Meanwhile, start a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon each of olive oil and butter. Chop onion into strips and place in skillet. Sprinkle some salt over onions and allow to slowly carmelize in the pan, stirring frequently, about 20 minutes. Onions should be golden brown and soft when finished. Chop tomatoes and olives in half. Mince garlic cloves.

Preheat the oven to 425F. Lightly grease a baking pan. I used a 9x13 pan to create a sturdier crust for the toppings. You can also use a 11x17 jelly roll pan for a thinner crust. Punch down the dough and spread into baking pan of choice. Dimple the surface with your fingertips and distribute toppings evenly over the surface. Lightly drizzle with olive oil and place in the oven for about 25 minutes.

Before

After

Yeah, this was pretty awesome. Mich thought it needed more salt. I wanted more olives. Jessie said, "mmmmmm. I'm drunk", then nodded off.

The only way I would eat Spinach as a kid

2009-05-26T11:01:00.001-07:00

When I was a kid, I did not like vegetables. Peas mixed into mashed potatoes and green beans smothered in butter were pretty much the only ones I would eat without wrinkling my nose. However, my mom and my grandma would both make this tasty and hearty dish and I would gobble it up even though it is packed with spinach. I recently remembered to ask my mom for the recipe and I jotted it down in the back of my soup book. When we had an abundance of spinach in the fridge, I finally made it. Here is my moms recipe, from her memory.

Jo's Special (or Joe Special? Not entirely sure)

1 lb hamburger
2 box frozen spinach (I used about 3/4 of a giant tub of fresh baby spinach, and wilted it. I would have liked to have more though.)
1 Onion, chopped
Mushrooms (I used about 12 mushrooms, sliced)
Garlic (I used 3 cloves)
A pinch each of Oregano and Numeg (I used more like 3 pinches of each)
Salt and Pepper to taste
3-4 eggs, beaten (I used 3. If i had used more spinach I probably would have used 4.)
(I also added a dash of Cayenne Pepper and a dash of dry mustard)

Cook burger and onion in a large skillet. Cook spinach. Combine. Add mushrooms, garlic and spices. Saute until mushrooms are cooked to your liking. Let the veggies simmer for a little while, 5-10 minutes, then taste. Add more spice if needed. Add eggs and stir constantly, scrambling the eggs. Once the eggs are cooked, it's ready to eat!

It looks weird, but it is really tasty. I love the combo of the oregano and nutmeg, and eating this reminded me of being 8 years old. Also, super easy to make.

How to Cure a Case of the Blues-Baking and Chocolate

2009-05-22T09:27:00.000-07:00

I'm so predictable in some ways. When I'm feeling down I put on this CD and bake. It never fails to make me feel better and I hope it never does.

Instead of the usual banana bread recipe that I use, I was feeling something chocolate. I found this recipe on The Sisters' Cafe blog and off I went. Humming and stirring.

Double Chocolate Banana Bread
courtesy of The Sister's Cafe

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 1/4 cups mashed bananas (about 3)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips (I used a 4 oz bar of Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate, chopped)

Heat your oven to 350. Spray bottom of 8x4 inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

Beat sugar, eggs, and oil in large bowl at medium speed until combined. Beat in banana and vanilla at low speed. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl (I sifted the flour and cocoa as it gives a lighter batter); beat into banana mixture at low speed just until combined (I just stirred with a spoon here as to not over mix the batter). Stir in chocolate chips.

Pour batter into loaf pan. Bake 60-70 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely on wire rack.

(if you're wondering where the other pieces of bread are, I ate them. for dinner. don't judge me)

The end result turned out great! I wish I had taken it out of the oven a little sooner. I forget that banana bread is always better when left undercooked in the middle as it will finish cooking quite a bit once you've pulled it out, it's the magic of the loaf. It was still damn tasty though. I am glad I made the bittersweet chocolate substitution. I think it left it with more of a rich dark chocolate taste rather than a sweet one. Yum. This recipe is a keeper.

Refreshing, Delicious and Beautiful

2009-05-21T13:19:00.000-07:00

Recently, V has got me dabbling in White Wine. I remembered I had a recipe for a white wine sangria I found for another friend of mine and decided I should make some for a BBQ we had last weekend. I don't remember where the original recipe came from, and we used different fruit, so here is MY White Sangria recipe!

White Sangria:

6 cups Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc (I used Pinot Gris I think)
1/4 cup superfine sugar
1 cup white grape juice
1 blood orange, sliced and quartered
1 grapefruit, sliced and quartered
1 apple, cut in chunks
a dash of fresh mint, diced
1 cup citrus flavored sparkling water

In a large pitcher or other container, combine the wine and sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the remaining ingredients, excluding the sparkling water, and mix well. Place the pitcher in the refrigerator and let the sangria sit for at least 1 hour (and up to 4 hours). The sangria will sweeten with time, so the longer it sits, the better. Just before serving, stir in the club soda. Serve over ice.

This was the perfect drink to sit outside with, bubbly and refreshing and tasty without being too sweet. We ran out so fast, I wish I had doubled the recipe. I will for sure make this again!

***Edit***
My second time making this, we used different fruits. I think the best combo is Apples, Strawberries, Nectarines, and Blood Oranges! oh and Pineapple! Tried grapes but they just sink to the bottom!

Quichetastic!

2009-05-15T14:25:00.000-07:00

Pie crust is one of those legendary things that sounds harder to make than it is. I was scared of them for years and avoided making any pie that wasn't our family's apple pie, as that one has a crust you make in the pan and don't need to roll out. But once you make a pie crust from scratch it's like riding a bicycle. You'll never go back to being that loser with training wheels. I sat myself down with a recipe and a rolling pin last summer to see if I could master the skill and from then on out, I was unstoppable.

One of my favorite things to make with pie crust is quiche. The best thing about quiche, aside from the pie crust making, is you can throw just about anything in a quiche. Once you've got the basic formula down, you can freestyle quiche to your heart's content. It a lot like soup that way.

Here's one I made the other day with asparagus and an orange bell pepper.

Asparagus and Bell Pepper Quiche
Crust from Molly Katzen's Sunlight Cafe
Filling freestyled

Pie Crust:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick of unsalted butter, COLD
3-5 tablespoons of milk or water (or buttermilk or cream)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. You can also use a food processor throughout this process if you have one (I don't-boo). Take the butter (and seriously people, as cold as you can get it) and incorporate with a pastry cutter until the mix is in pea-sized crumbles. Be careful not to overwork this as the butter will melt and get soft and it will affect the flakiness in the end. Add 3 tablespoons of liquid and mix until just combined. At this point if the mixture is too dry and not coming together, add a little more liquid. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and shape into a ball. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin until it is about 1/8 of an inch thick. Carefully transport it to a pie pan and trim any edges. You can make a pretty fluted edge or leave it a sloppy mess, either way it tastes good!

Filling:
1 bunch of asparagus
1 medium bell pepper
5 eggs
1 cup whole milk
4 large slices of havarti cheese
3 tablespoons stoneground mustard (I used a spicy version)
Seasonings of your choice, I chose s&p, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, rosemary, dry mustard

Chop asparagus and pepper into 2 inch pieces. In a pan over medium heat saute your veggies until they are softened but still have some crunch, throw some s&p in the pan while you're at it, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. Spread the mustard evenly on your assembled pie crust. Lay the slices of cheese in an even layer over the mustard. Throw the sauteed veggies over the cheese and arrange in an even layer. Beat eggs, milk and seasonings with a whisk until incorporated. Pour over the veggies and carefully place in the oven to bake for about 30-40 minutes. This can vary a bit so be sure to check the quiche often. You want the middle to be pretty firm when you wiggle the pie plate.

So quichey.

Cheese and bacon are always good

2009-05-12T11:17:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, V made the most delicious corn chowder ever, and we kept saying "next time we will do this and this and this and it will be even more amazing!" I had a hankering for something rich and creamy and cheesy and delicious on a cold day last week, but we could not quite nail down the recipe that had been used before. I took a look through The Big Book of Soups & Stews, and decided to make this:

Cheddar Chicken Corn Chowder

3 slices bacon, diced
1 cup chopped yellow onion
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped (We used the whole pepper)
2 cloves garlic, minced (We used 3)
3 cups chicken stock or broth
1 1/2 cups unpeeled cubed red potatoes (We used 3 small-medium ones)
1 1/2 cups corn kernels, fresh or frozen (We used frozen, and a little more than 1 1/2 cups)
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups milk
2 cups cubed cooked chicken breast (We used 2 small breast fillets, poached them in the broth and shredded them instead of cubing them)
1 cup seeded, peeled, chopped tomato (I bought a jar of diced tomatoes instead of whole, oops)
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese (We used white cheddar, closer to a cup)
3/4 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper to taste

In a large Dutch oven, over medium heat, cook bacon until crisp. Transfer bacon to a plate, leaving 1 tablespoon drippings in Dutch oven. Make sure you don't eat all the bacon while you cook the rest of the soup. Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add Stock and potatoes and bring to a boil. If you choose to poach the chicken like we did, add the chicken in at this point as well, so it will cook in the broth. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Stir in Corn.

In a bowl, blend flour and milk. Stir into soup. Increase heat to medium-high and stir until thickened, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and add bacon, tomato, cheese, salt and pepper (and chicken, if you choose to cook it beforehand and add it in, as the recipe calls for originally).) Simmer, uncovered, until flavors are blended and cheese is melted, about 15 minutes longer. If it doesn't seem thick enough, you can add a dash more flour, which we did.

We ate this soup with a big loaf of rosemary bread that I found at Whole Foods which was super tasty. The soup turned out really delicious. Perfectly creamy, the bell pepper added a nice bit of crunchiness, and the tomato, though it was a little saucier than the recipe called for, was delicious. If I make this again, I will make sure and use tomato chunks instead of diced saucy tomatoes from a can. Sometimes I am just lazy and did not feel like trying to peel and de-seed a fresh tomato. I think I would like the fresh tomato addition with the cheesiness. The soup was so pretty and colorful too!

Yummmmmm.

Lemon/Lime-Not just for Sprite anymore

2009-05-11T13:55:00.000-07:00

After Cinqo de Mayo we ended up with 2 leftover bags of lemons and limes. There was no way I was going to be able to drink enough cheap beer to mow through all of those before they calcified so I decided a citrus dessert was in order. With a little bit of research and a little bit of kismet I came across a recipe for Lemon Lime Cookies via Culinary in the Desert. At first I didn't think much of these cookies but let them sit overnight so all that icing can soak in and man! So lemon-limey, so refreshing, just perfect. I brought what wasn't consumed upon the roomies discovering these to a Naked Ladies party and they were a hit there too!

Consensus: make these ASAP.

Lemon Lime Cookies
Source: Culinary in the Desert

For the cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tablespoon fresh grated lemon zest
1/2 tablespoon fresh grated lime zest
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon vanilla

For the glaze

2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon fresh grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh grated lime zest
2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

To prepare the cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar and zests until creamy. Beat in egg, vanilla and juices. Gradually mix in flour just until combined.

Using a tablespoon cookie scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Place into the oven and bake until edges are golden, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cookies cool for 2 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

To prepare the glaze

In a medium bowl, whisk together confectioners' sugar, zests and juice until smooth. Spoon over the cookies and let set for about an hour to firm up.

Makes about 24 cookies.

Drippy.

Stir, Stir, Stir-Shiitake and Asparagus Risotto

2009-05-04T12:51:00.000-07:00

Well, it's true what they say about risotto, it requires a whole lotta stirring. Mich and I are not very patient cooks but I'd say we pulled this one off without a hitch. It helps to have a glass of wine in hand. I picked up some shiitake mushrooms at the Farmer's Market last week intending to try out a sublime sounding slow-cooked pork recipe that my dear friend Jenn sent to me. But between work and packing to take off for a 3 day weekend in rainy CA, I didn't have time to pull that off. So using the rest of the bunch of asparagus we ate with the chicken parm and the shiitakes, I thought, hey, ho - risotto. And what a lovely idea it was.

Shiitake Mushroom and Asparagus Risotto
Adapted from May 2003 Gourmet via epicurious.com

5 cup chicken broth
1 cup water
1 lb asparagus, trimmed and cut into pieces (I used a tad less than this)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 stick unsalted butter
3/4 lb shiitake mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced
1 small onion, finely chopped (I used 4 large shallots instead)
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine (I used pinot grigio as that's the stuff I like to drink)
2 oz Parmesan cheese

Bring broth and water to a boil in a large soup pot. Prepare a bowl with ice water. Throw in chopped asparagus and cooked until slightly tender, about 4 minutes. Remove from pot with a slotted spoon and put in the ice water bowl to stop the cooking process. Keep the broth simmering over low heat, covered.

Heat oil and 1 tbsp of butter in a large soup pot over moderately high heat. Saute mushrooms until browned and soft, about 4 minutes, season with salt and pepper (I threw in some thyme too) and remove from pot to a small bowl.

Put 2 tbsp of butter in the same pot and saute the shallots until soft. Add rice to the pan and coat with butter, stirring, about 1 minute. Add wine and cook, stirring until absorbed, about 1 minute.

Ladle in 1 cup of the simmering broth, stirring, until all is absorbed. Continue this process until most all of the broth is absorbed and your rice is soft and creamy, about 18 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup of cheese, remaining butter (I skipped this part), and salt and pepper. Add asparagus and mushrooms back in and let stand, covered, for about a minute. Serve with remaining cheese on the side.

Stir stir-drink drink

Eat eat-drink drink

I have to say this turned out pretty outstanding and was still delicious the next day for lunch. Some of the asparagus had too much of a crunchy texture but I think that's due to my dumbass not trimming them down far enough. Well worth all the stirring!

You can never have too much cheese!

2009-04-29T12:33:00.000-07:00

Since Vanessa keeps posting every day, making me look bad, I thought I would take it back to the old school with a nice warm tasty soup on a cold rainy day.

Coburg Inn Beer Cheese Soup from The Big Book of Soups and Stews

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup diced celery (I used 2 smallish stalks)
1/2 cup diced carrot (I used 1 large carrot)
1 cup diced yellow onion
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
5 cups chicken stock or broth
3 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese (I used more like 5)
2 cups firmly packed grated cheddar (I used smoked medium cheddar)
1 12 oz bottle of beer, allowed to go flat (I used Drop Top Amber, not flat)
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
freshly ground pepper to taste

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add celery, carrot, and onion and saute until soft, about 10 minutes. Add flour and mustard and cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Slowly stir in stock. Bring to a boil and cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and add cheeses, stirring until melted. Add beer, salt, and pepper and simmer, uncovered, over low heat to blend flavors, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Note: The soup thickens and the texture improves the second day. Warm carefully over medium-low heat, as it scorches easily. Add more liquid if the soup is too thick.

As you can see, I noted what I changed above in parentheses. This recipe was super easy, and turned out amazing. The only thing I would do differently is to saute the veggies a tad longer. They were a tiny bit crunchier than I would have liked. I was just so impatient to eat! I served this with fresh sliced french baguette.

Veggies and Cheese!

More ingredients and simmering!

Voila! Yummmm!

The perfect end for a rainy spring day, paired with watching Battlestar Galactica with my favorite guy.

Land of Giant and Farmer's Markets

2009-04-28T11:10:00.000-07:00

Michelle and I have a Monday night tradition-food and wine and tube. This last Monday it was time to use up some homemade tomato sauce that DP and I whipped up over the weekend using some amazing yellowfoot mushrooms from the Farmer's Market. The sauce turned out incredibly well and we served it over some delicate homemade spinach fettucine that was also purchased at the market. And I tell ya, if you're of the mindset that pasta is pasta is pasta, think again and try the fresh stuff....(drool)....

So, there was no way I was letting that sauce go to waste and I quickly thought of Chicken Parmesan for a fast and easy dinner. Served alongside were some roasted baby asparagus (also picked up at the Farmer's Market-god I love that place) served simply with garlic salt and lemon pepper. In all that eating haste I forgot to grab the camera, so you'll just have to trust us that it was damn delicious. What we DID manage to document was the BIG CRUMB COFFEE CAKE we made for dessert.

I snagged a few stalks of rhubarb at the good ol' FM thinking it was time to try my hand with them since I never had. I took this recipe from one of my flagship food blogs Smitten Kitchen. I can honestly say that I never fear when using a recipe from this blog; the woman has class. This turned out spectacular and my only regret was not getting enough fruit to load into it, which is my own damn fault. But, my oh my, the crumbs were GIGANTIC.

Big Crumb Coffeecake with Rhubarb
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Butter for greasing pan

For the rhubarb filling:
1/2 pound rhubarb, trimmed (I also threw in an apple because I was short on rhubarb)
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

For the crumbs:
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup melted butter
1 3/4 cups cake flour (I used all-purpose)

For the cake:
1/3 cup sour cream
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup cake flour (again, used all-purpose)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons softened butter, cut into 8 pieces.

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8-inch-square baking pan. For filling, slice rhubarb 1/2 inch thick and toss with sugar, cornstarch and ginger. Set aside.

2. To make crumbs, in a large bowl, whisk together sugars, spices, salt and butter until smooth. Stir in flour with a spatula. It will look like a solid dough.

3. To prepare cake, in a small bowl, stir together the sour cream, egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add butter and a spoonful of sour cream mixture and mix on medium speed until flour is moistened. Increase speed and beat for 30 seconds. Add remaining sour cream mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition, and scraping down the sides of bowl with a spatula. Scoop out about 1/2 cup batter and set aside.

4. Scrape remaining batter into prepared pan. Spoon rhubarb over batter. Dollop set-aside batter over rhubarb; it does not have to be even.

5. Using your fingers, break topping mixture into big crumbs, about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch in size. They do not have to be uniform, but make sure most are around that size. Sprinkle over cake. Bake cake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean of batter (it might be moist from rhubarb), 45 to 55 minutes. Cool completely before serving.

Monster crumbs

Fresh from the oven

In need of some vanilla ice cream

Criss Cross Applesauce

2009-04-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

So in order to give you all the impression that we whip up something nightly, I've decided to start documenting anything remotely photo-worthy. And by me I mean me yelling, "Michelle get the camera, I'm doing something!". Because sometimes, when it comes to blogging at least, it's quantity over quality. I shed a small tear during my morning blog roll if my favorite foodies don't update daily (shout out to smitten kitchen, simply recipes and culinary in the desert-you guys rule large amounts of foodie ass).

I've been sitting on some apples gone wrinkle-y for a while now so I picked up some cider and lemons to turn them into applesauce. Mich was shouting "Apple Butter!" from her blanket fortress on the couch but we discovered that that takes 12-15 hours in a slow cooker, so we'll save that for the inevitable next time that one of us lets apples go south.

Raspberry Applesauce
adapted from Joy of Cooking

4 apples of any sort, peeled, cored and cut into inch size pieces (you don't have to peel them but it's a personal preference
1/2 cup of apple juice or cider (less if you're using really juicy apples)
1 lemon, squeezed
1 cinnamon stick (I was out so I used whole cloves)
1/2 pint of raspberries

Put all ingredients in a medium size saucepan, cover and cook on low heat until apples are soft and most of the liquid has cooked down, about 20 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick (or cloves). Add to the pot:

1/3 cup sugar (I used a combination of brown and white sugar and really you can tinker with this to your liking, some might cut all of the sugar out and decide to let the fruit stand on its own)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Stir until the sugar has dissolved and turn off the heat. At this point you can decide what sort of texture you want your applesauce to have. If you want it slightly chunky, just mash it up roughly with a potato masher, which is what I did. Since I added the raspberries, I would have liked a food sieve to get the seeds out, but I don't.

This was a great way to use up mealy apples! Given my pet peeve of spoiled food, I get a small thrill when I find a way to make use of something that would otherwise be thrown out. And this was great on toast or just the way it is.

Peeled and ready

Mushed!

Mmmmmm toast.

Please and Thank You

2009-04-23T09:01:00.001-07:00

Being that I bought an entire pound of bittersweet chocolate to make a flourless chocolate cake while we were away in Bend last weekend, only to discover that I needed an electric mixer and had none, I decided that something was to be done with all that chocolate. It's been a while since I made some good ol' fashioned chocolate chip cookies. I came across the NY Times Jacques Torres' recipe via Nosh and Tell and decided to give it a go.

Jacques Torres' Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 cup sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 egg

3/4 cup plus 1/2 tablespoon cake flour (I used regular flour)

3/4 cup bread flour

1/4 tablespoon salt (you can sprinkle coarse salt on top in lieu of this)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 tablespoon vanilla

1/2 pound or 8 oz best-quality semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used 1 bar of 4 oz bittersweet Ghirardelli chocolate and found them to be chocolate-y enough)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl cream together butter and sugars. Add egg and mix well. Add both flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and vanilla, mix well until combined. Fold in chocolate chunks.

*Instead of adding salt to the recipe, I sprinkled coarse salt on top of the cookies before baking. I've been seeing some food bloggers do this and since I'm such a fan of the coarse sugar/salt thing, I jumped right on that bandwagon.

Using a 4 ounce scoop for larger cookies or a tablespoon scoop for smaller cookies scoop cookie dough onto prepared cookie sheet placing about 2 inches apart. Bake until lightly browned, but still soft, about 20 minutes for larger cookies and 15 for smaller cookies. Cool slightly on baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

My oven cooks a little high so I took these cookies out at about 11 minutes. I like to take cookies out a tad early and then let them finish cooking on the sheet before removing them. I find you get a better consistency that way.

These cookies were near perfect when cooled just a little but still warm. They hardened up more than I like after they completely cooled. Not a terrible recipe, and maybe it's the fact that I didn't use the fancy flour, but I like my cookies less crunchy. Back to my Joy of Cooking standby!

Sitting Pretty

And they all lived happily ever after.

Hippity Hop!

2009-04-16T21:39:00.001-07:00

No soup in this post, but! Our lovely little home had been planning a big Easter Extravaganza for months. Well, since Easter last year, to be honest. Instead of dying eggs the old boring way with kits from the store, we decided to try this!

Here are the ties we used:

Here are our finished eggs:

They did not turn out as vibrant as we had hoped for, but they still look 1000 times better than if we had just done plain old regular egg dying! In addition to these eggs, we made a bunch of decorations such as bunny rabbits and flowers cut out of construction paper, and taped them up around the house. We also made (and ate!) a lot of fantastic food!

Michelle decided that she wanted to make Macaroni and Cheese from scratch. After looking at loads of recipes, the final recipe was modified from Food Network's Paula Deen.

Yummy and Easy Mac 'n' Cheese

4 cups macaroni
4 cups cheese, a mix, your choice of cheese. I used about:
1.5 cup grated Aged White Cheddar
1/2 cup grated Gruyere
1/2 cup grated Fontina
1 cup grated Smoked Gouda
1/3 cup grated Chipotle Cheddar
1/2 cup sour cream
6 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
a few dashes of Nutmeg
a few dashes of Cayenne Pepper
1.5 cup milk
breadcrumbs (I used Panko)
Nonstick spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large pot, bring water to boil. Sprinkle a little salt and cook macaroni until al dente. Drain pasta and place in a large bowl and while pasta is still hot add all the cheese and fold it in. In a separate medium bowl, using a whisk, combine the sour cream, butter, eggs, salt, pepper, nutmeg, cayenne, and milk. When mixed, add to the macaroni
mixture. Spray casserole dish with nonstick and pour macaroni mixture into the dish. Bake for 30 minutes, sprinkle bread crumbs on, and bake for a few more minutes until it looks pretty crispy on top and bubbly around the edges. Top with additional cheese, if desired.

It was delicious and a huge hit with everyone at the party! It was one of the first dishes to disappear! We forgot to take pictures until a lot of the food was already gone, but here is how the
mostly eaten macaroni turned out.

Vanessa made her holiday family tradition, Nut Loaf. A vegetarian dish made just like meat loaf but with nuts and cheese and ground mushrooms. It's a crowd pleaser every time.

Cheese and Nut Loaf
Source: The Tassajara Recipe Book (a great vegetarian resource)

2 tablespoons butter or oil
1 onion
1 1/2 cups chopped mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
1 small green pepper
1 teaspoon each dried thyme, savory and marjoram (you can use whatever dried spices you like but I stick within these boundaries)
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
salt and pepper
1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice
1 1/2 cups walnuts, chopped
1/2 cups cashews, chopped
4 eggs
1 cup cottage cheese
3/4 pound grated cheese: cheddar, gruyere, fontina, smoked (whichever you like but I always make sure to use Parm and something smoked)
1/4 cup mixed fresh herbs such as parsley, oregano, thyme

If you have a food processor, you're going to make good use of it. If not, make sure to finely chop the onion, mushrooms, garlic and green pepper and skip to heating the butter or oil up.

In food processor finely chop onion. Heat up butter or oil in a large skillet pan. Throw in onion and cook until translucent. While that is cooking put garlic, mushroom and pepper in food processor and pulse until finely chopped. When the onion is cooked, add the chopped mushroom/garlic/pepper mix, dried herbs and salt and pepper, then cook until soft. Let cool slightly and then put into a large mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients. Check the seasoning but leave a little undersalted because the saltiness of the cheese will come out later while baking. Liberally butter a 9-inch loaf pan. Put mixture into pan and smooth out the top. Bake for an hour in a 350 degree oven. Take out and let cool 5-10 minutes before serving.

And scene.

Vanessa also whipped up a Carrot Apple Salad and an Apricot-Mustard Glazed ham (I cheated and bought a pre-cooked ham and just did the glaze/baking part). Oh and deviled eggs.

Hope you all had a lovely Easter!

Love and bunny rabbits,

V and M

Back to Soup

2009-04-11T17:08:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the momentary diversion but it can't be all soup all the time. Just most of the time. Ahem.

This last week we whipped up some Creamy Asparagus Soup using some asparagus I snatched up at the PSU Saturday Farmer's Market and some left over buttermilk I was itching to use up (I get antsy if I know there's impending spoilage in the fridge). This recipe came from Mich's soup bible, aka The Big Book of Soups and Stews. We modified it slightly because the grocery store only had one leek left so we subbed a yellow onion. Also, we sauteed some shrimp in orange juice, salt and pepper to throw on top. Oh and those red strips? That's our attempt at "presentation" with a couple of red bell pepper slivers. All in all, a solid soup.

Creamy Asparagus Soup with Shrimp
adapted from The Big Book of Soups and Stews

2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 leeks, whit and light green parts only, sliced 1/2 cup chopped celery
1 large russet potato, peeled and cubed
3 cups chicken stock or broth
1 lb asparagus, tough end removed and discarded, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
1 to 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (can use low-fat)
1/2 cup bay shrimp for topping (we used large ones as that is what we had)

In a soup pot over medium heat, melt butter. Add leeks and celery and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add potato and stock. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, about 10 minutes. Add asparagus and simmer, covered, until potato and asparagus are tender, about 10 minutes longer.

Transfer to blender or food processor in batches and puree. Return to pot and stir in salt, pepper, and buttermilk and reheat. For a creamier soup, puree again. Serve in bowls with a few shrimp sprinkled on top.

Cooking

Puree

Done! <3!

Lasagna: The Perfect Food!

2009-03-26T14:29:00.001-07:00

I love lasagna. Ever since I was a little kid, lasagna for dinner was always my favorite. I was scared to try to make it at first, but discovered that it is super easy to make, and always turns out delicious. I sometimes forget the proportions of cheese and stuff, so what I normally do is loosely follow the directions on the box of whatever lasagna noodles I buy, modifying it to my liking! I recently made a giant batch of lasagna and it was one of my best to date. These measurements are really... rough, as I kind of just eyeballed the amounts.

Ingredients:
1 pound of ground turkey thighs
a small tub of part skim ricotta cheese (I think its 8-10 oz)
a hunk of part skim mozzarella
shredded parmesan
1 egg
A jar of basic marinara sauce. I picked one with italian seasonings
about a dozen mushrooms, sliced
half an onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 package of lasagna noodles (I bought Spelt by mistake and they were great!)
Spices: basil, nutmeg, salt, pepper. You could use some cayenne or chili powder for spice if you want.

So, to make the lasagna. First cook the meat. Once that is cooked, add in the onion, mushrooms, and the garlic. Also add in some basil, salt and pepper to taste. Once the mushrooms and onions are cooked up nicely, add the jar of sauce and let simmer. In the meantime, cook the pasta according to the package directions. Some noodles do not require pre-cooking, and generally I prefer those just because it is less work. But the noodles I bought turned out fantastic.

For the cheese mixture, mix the following in a bowl. The whole tub of ricotta (the small one, not the giant pound one or whatever), about 2 cups of shredded mozzarella, about a teaspoon of nutmeg, a little salt, a little pepper, a small handful of the shredded parmesan and one egg.

Next is the fun part, layering.

First some sauce on the bottom of the pan (greased, by the way). Next, a layer of (cooked) noodles, with the edges slightly overlapping. Next, a layer of cheese mixture, then a layer of the meat/onion/mushroom/sauce mixture. Then more noodles, followed by more cheese, more meat/sauce. Then more noodles, more cheese, more meat/sauce. Finally, whatever cheese left on top.

Bake covered on 350 for about 45 minutes. In the last 15 minutes you can sprinkle some of the shredded parmesan on top and remove the cover of foil. Let cool for about 10 or 15 minutes and dig in! Amazingggggg!

Eat my muff.

2009-03-24T16:11:00.000-07:00

I originally came across this recipe on Confections of a Foodie Bride via Tastespotting and knew immediately from the picture that I would be making these. I've always fancied myself more of a baker than a cook and muffins are one of my favorite things to make. Not only for the sheer versatility, such as sweet or savory options, but also because they are so easy. You rarely have to leave butter out to soften, they come together in a snap, and I can't recall ever messing muffins up. And don't even get me started on the portability of those suckers; I've spent many a morn grabbing a muffin and shoving it into my face on the drive down to work.

The end result was extremely tasty. I love the effect of coarse salt or sugar sprinkled on a muffin. My only complaint was that they ended up being a little dry. Next time I might try subbing yogurt for the butter and seeing if they moisten up any. Enjoy!

Scallion & Goat Cheese Muffins
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Coarsely ground black pepper, to taste
2 large eggs, room temp
1 cup buttermilk, room temp
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 bunch scallions, sliced thin
5.5 oz goat cheese, crumbled
Sea salt, for garnish

Preheat oven to 400F. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan or line with paper liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper into mixer bowl.

Lightly beat eggs and add to mixer bowl. Add buttermilk, melted butter, scallions, and goat cheese. Mix on medium speed until just combined - do not overmix.

Scoop the batter into the muffin pan. Sprinkle with sea salt. Bake for 20 minutes, until well risen, golden brown, and firm to the touch.

Let muffins cool 5 minutes in the pan before removing. Serve warm or cool completely and store covered for 3 days.

Yields: 12 muffins
Source: Adapted from 1 Mix, 100 Muffins

Pre-oven

Baked!

Hello blogosphere. I suck.

2009-03-19T16:29:00.000-07:00

As some of you may have gathered from the posts below and from Michelle's real time belly-aching, I suck at posting to this blog. Not for lack of wanting to. No no, never. It's more of a combination of thinking no one really cares and being the crazy perfectionist that I am and needing massive amounts of time to create the perfect first post. I've come back down to reality and realized that that doesn't really exist and blogs, if nothing else, are meant for all sorts of fools to spout all sorts of benign ramblings. Hence, I give you, CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP.

We made this a few months ago and we're still talking about it. It might be the best soup we've made so far. Well, at least together. This was taken from the blog From the Gallery and we thought it was fantastic just the way it is. Easy and cheap.

Ingredients

1 Tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 onions, chopped
1/2 bell pepper (capsicum), red or green, chopped
2 jalapeno chili peppers, diced
2 chicken breasts, skinless
3 tomatoes, chopped
2 tsps cumin
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup corn, canned (drained) or frozen
1 Tbsp tomato paste
salt and pepper

To Serve:
8 corn [or flour] tortillas, cut into 1/8" thick strips
canola oil, for pan-frying
2 avocado, halved, pitted, peeled, diced (optional)
1 cup Jack cheese (optional)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped (optional)

Method
In a large pot saute the onion, garlic, chili peppers, and bell pepper with olive olive until soft.

Add the chicken breasts, tomatoes, cumin, and stock, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. When the chicken breasts are cooked through (about 15 minutes) remove from the pot and shred (use two forks to pull apart meat).

Return the shredded chicken to the pot along with the corn and tomato paste and simmer 30 minutes.

While the soup is cooking heat 1-inch of canola oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil begins to smoke add the tortilla strips in batches and fry until crisp on all sides. Remove to a paper towel lined plate and sprinkle with salt.

Salt & Pepper to taste. Serve topped with tortilla strips, avocado, and cheese. Garnish with cilantro and lime wedges. Serves 4-6

Also, from this recipe I was exposed to the beauty of poaching chicken. I had never worked with this method before but was most impressed at how juicy, tender and quick it was. Plus, no fat or oil is used in the cooking process. It comes out fairly flavorless though (if you're not cooking it in a soup) so I would recommend only poaching chicken to put in salads or other dishes, such as enchiladas!

Loose instructions:
Put chicken breast in a pot and cover with water. Add whatever seasonings you desire that will dissolve in water. You can use non-powder seasonings and bulkier flavorings if you like but it's suggested you then put them in a cheesecloth and tie them up before throwing it in. I'm not really sure I see the point in that as you drain the chicken anyway but I thought I might mention it for all you rule followers. Bring the pot to a boil and then simmer for roughly 15-20 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Drain from water and shred. Add or use in whatever dishes you like. I usually tailor the seasonings to what dish I'm using the chicken in, i.e. cumin, chili powder, garlic, salt and pepper if using in enchiladas.

et voila! That wasn't so scary. Maybe my next post won't be so far off.

soup for years

2009-02-25T11:28:00.000-08:00

My boyfriend bought me this book as a belated birthday gift. Watch out guys!!! Everything in it sounds delicious, I cannot wait to pick one at random and get started!

Easy Chicken Noodle Soup

2009-02-11T12:27:00.000-08:00

What is better when you are feeling a little sick than a huge bowl of home made chicken noodle soup? Well I didn't really know until I decided to try to make it myself. I read through about 20 recipes, all of which stated to boil a whole chicken to make your own broth. I did not want to dedicate an entire day to making my soup, so here is the recipe I came up with.

3 smallish boneless skinless chicken breasts
8 cups chicken broth
1 celery stick, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
a handful of sliced mushrooms (optional)
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
6ish oz egg noodles
a few shakes each of basil, thyme, dill, rosemary, sage, oregano
a bay leaf
salt and pepper

So, first things first. Saute the onion. Add the garlic, carrots and celery. Add the mushrooms if you want to include them. Add your seasonings, including a little salt and some pepper. I also added a dash of cayenne pepper. You don't have to use all the ones i listed, but I am really glad I did. Once the veggies are all cooked, add the chicken broth. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to mediumish. Add the chicken breasts and let them cook in the seasony broth for about 20 minutes or until cooked through. Remove the chicken from the broth and shred it. Put it back into the broth and let is simmer a little while on lowish mediumish heat. Taste your broth and if it tastes amazing, turn the heat up a little and put in your egg noodles. When they are done the soup is done! Today mine tasted a little too salty so I added in a couple cups of water. Made the soup a lot more brothy than the first time I made thish and I think it tastes a lot better too.

YUM. I am feeling better already.

Spicy Cabbage Soup

2009-02-02T15:49:00.000-08:00

So, this is probably a pretty terrible first post, and long overdue! Let me just say that for the past few months, I have been making soup constantly. My blog co-conspirator, Vanessa, is the person who taught me the basics of making soup and I have seriously been making at least one pot of soup a week ever since. Soup is so easy to make, so much easier than most other recipes, and so delicious and fulfilling and usually not too unhealthy. We have made a ton of soups already, together and individually, but this blog is an attempt at documenting our many soup adventures. I am sure that V will do a better intro later. By later I am hoping that I mean soon. *hint hint*

So the first soup I am going to write about is my Step mom's Cabbage Soup. I grew up eating this soup, at home and also at the local Mexican restaurants. Having pretty much lost touch with this part of my family, I thought I would never be able to eat this tasty spicy treat ever again unless I went to Vince's back in my hometown. My good good friend Jessie made a few calls for my birthday and got me the recipe! Of course I had to make it immediately.

Here is the recipe that I transcribed from a voicemail:

1 cabbage head
1 large onion
3 beef bouillon cubes
1 tbsp cumin
1-2 tbsp chili powder
3 chopped carrots
1 can tomato juice (size??)
1 can water (again, size??)

Chop cabbage, carrot and onion
Put in pot with 1/4 cup oil, sautee
When sauteeing cabbage, add cumin and chili powder so flavors will be released in the oil as its sauteeing.
Add tomato juice, water, bouillon. salt and pepper to taste.
Simmer, eat.

As you can see, the measurements are not too exact. We used about 2 cups of tomato juice and I put in a good deal more cumin and chili powder. Instead of beef bouillon, we used beef broth and thus omitted the can of water, but if I make it again I will try the bouillon.

The final product was pretty tasty, though not exactly how I remembered it. V and I agreed that it would be really good with rice in it, or maybe potatoes. I also think some garlic might add a little extra flavor. I also feel like it should have been a little spicier, even though it was already pretty spicy. This is the kind of thing that I feel like I could tweak the recipe and get it to taste just how I remember it tasting after a few tries, but seeing as how it gave Jessie and V the worst farts ever for days, I am not sure when I will be making this again.

Please pardon my terrible photos of this soup, and my finger! Bon Appetit!

~Michelle Suzanne