Growing Up (And Having Fun) After 40

TCS: Tiramisu Cake

2012-01-20T07:47:00.000-06:00

Life got in the way for a couple of months which meant I missed out on making some delicious cakes with my fellow bakers over at The Cake Slice. And given the fact that there's a whole lot of nothing going on because I'm sick, I figured for awhile that this was going to be a month I missed again which would have been a shame as I love love love Tiramisu.

As cakes go, this was pretty good. It's not the time of cake to bake on a whim...in fact, I ended up baking it two days before everything else and it still turned out well. The only major substitution I made was to use gluten free flour due to a gluten sensitivity in the house and that worked much better than I had expected especially with a genoise base cake.

Overall, I'm glad I tried it but I"m not sure I'd make it again. It was a bit of a complicated cake but a delicious one. My main problems were in not listening to the instructions...when it said to whip the marscapone for 30 seconds, I didn't think that was long enough and whipped it a little longer which ended up giving it a curd like texture for awhile until the rest of the ingredients were added. Also, I used a springform pan just a little bigger than the cake which may have been the reason for the uneven layer of frosting.

Overall Grade B+

Gluten Free Baked French Toast

2011-12-17T10:48:00.001-06:00

It's been awhile since I've been able to bake along with Club Baked. But, as I am a french toast girl at heart when it comes to breakfast, this seemed like a good recipe to get myself back into my baking state of mind. As I'm gluten sensitive, the only major change was to swap out gluten free bread for the challah. This unfortunately did add a bit of blandness to the dish especially since challah tends to be a rich buttery bread. I think that this could easily be rectified by using a flavored half and half to add a bit of a flavor punch. Give the fact that gluten free bread tends not to be the sturdiest bread in my opinion, it still held up fairly well under the overnight soak with the egg/milk/half and half mixture and I only had a few minor problems with turning the bread slices over the next morning.

I would try this again, just with a few tweaks. Definitely, the first would have to be more raspberry sauce (can there ever be enough of that?). In addition, I would like to try toasting the almonds before sprinkling them to give it a richer and nuttier flavor and add more cinnamon - although the recipe called for a 1/4 tsp I used a full tsp and thought it needed more.Overall, a good breakfast dish . For the recipe, please check out Julie's blog, "A Little Bit of Everything" to see how she fared and don't forget to check out the other bakers over at Club Baked for their valuable feedback on the recipe.

Bourbon Baked Beans

2011-12-05T07:00:00.002-06:00

Bourbon Baked Beans
from Cooking Light: Comfort Food

I had thought about not posting this recipe due to the...ahem...less than appetizing appeal of the photo. My fault in a couple of ways. I took the picture late at night when the lighting was bad and I slightly overcooked the beans thanks to my decision that cooking them on top of the stove was just as good as baking them in the oven AS THE RECIPE CALLED FOR (when will I ever learn) . But having devoured a plateful I decided that photo or no photo, the recipe was too good not to be shared.

Given the fact that this was the first time I cooked with navy beans and the 8 hour soaking process, I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. There's a delightful tangy sweetness to them thanks to the maple syrup and mustard with an underlying smokiness that in due entirely to me doubling the quantify of bacon called for (can there ever be too much bacon?). I would definitely make these again, maybe, just maybe, with following the directions this time.

Bourbon Baked Beans
from Cooking Light: Comfort Food

1 pound dried navy beans (approximately 2 1/2 cups)
3 slices applewood smoked bacon (I doubled to 6 slices)
1 cup finely chopped onion
5 cups water divided (4 cups + 1 cup)
1/2 cup maple syrup divided
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp bourbon divided
1/4 cup dijon mustard
1 1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tsp salt
Chicken sausage(I just can't have baked beans without sausage)

Sort and wash beans; place in large dutch over. Cover with water to 2 inches above beans; cover and let stand 8 hours or overnight. Drain beans. Wipe pan dry with paper towl.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat pan over medium high heat. Add bacon to pan and cook 4 minutes or until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 1 1/2 tbsp drippings in pan; crumble bacon. Add onion to pan and cook 5 minutes or until onions begin to brown, stirring frequently. Add beans, bacon, 4 cups water, 1/4 cup maple syrup, 1/4 cup bourbon and mustard, worcestershire sauce and black pepper to pan. bring to boil, cover and bake at 350 degrees for 2 hours.

Stir in remaining 1 cup water, 1/4 cup maple syrup and 2 tbsp of bourbon. Cover and bake for 1 hour or until beans are tender and liquid is almost absorbed. Stir in vinegar and salt. Yield: 6 1/2 cups.

Gingerbread Souffle

2011-09-26T06:21:00.000-05:00

You know you have a serious sweet tooth when you're laying on the couch most of the weekend with a bad head cold and can still motivate yourself to bake dessert. I'm not sure if making this was good for my heath since dairy and head colds are not a match made in heaven, but my inner child thinks it's a damn fine idea. Then again my inner child thought it made sense to eat cheese puffs for dinner tonight.

I haven't made a lot of souffles in my lifetime but even so, it still seemed like a lot of time was required required between steps. In other words, this is not a recipe to whip up on impulse and serve it for dinner. Between steeping and chilling, it takes at least 3 hours before you can even fold the egg whites in and pop the souffle into the oven. However, I was pleased with how well it turned out considering I used gluten free flour. Well, and also because my fear of working with egg whites still continues to worry me anytime I have to whip egg whites.

Overall, a solid B+. It may be an A by the time this head cold is over and I find a sauce that would work well with the gingerbread flavor. Although the recipe calls for a white chocolate vanilla creme anglaise, I wasn't terribly fond of the combo and would like to try the souffle again with a different flavor contrast.

Gingebread Souffle
In The Sweet Kitchen by Regan Daley

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split
3 large egg yolks
2 tbsp molasses
1/2 cup gluten free all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnmaon
3/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
4 large egg whites room temperature
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
Unsalted butter and sugar for coating dishes
Individual Souffle Dishes

1) Combine milk and vanilla bean in 2 quart heavy duty saucepan. Bring to just below a boil on medium high heat, then remove from heat and allow to infuse for 1 hour.

2) In medium bowl, whisk egg yolks and molasses together and set aside. In separate bowl, whisk together flour, spices and salt. Add 1/2 cup infused milk to flour mixture, whisking to form a thick paste. Add more milk if paste is too thick. Scrape paste into pot containing remaining milk and place over medium heat. Whisk constantly and cook mixture until thickened and smooth, approximately 5-7 minutes.

3) Pour hot mil mixture into bowl containing egg yolk and molasses mixture. Whisk to blend. Place plastic wrap directly onto surface of mixture and cut several slits into the plastic wrap, allowing stem to escape. Chill mixture a minimum of 2 hours or overnight.

4) Allow souffle base to come to room temperature for 1 hour before baking. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Generously coat souffle dishes with butter and sugar so that it is thoroughly lined, including rims.

5) Whip egg whites in very clean bowl until just foamy before adding cream of tartar. Whip until very soft peaks form before gradually adding sugar. Fold egg whites into base mixture in 3 parts, then divide amongst individual souffle dishes.

6) Place dishes on cookie sheet in center of oven for 16-20 minutes. Edges will appear slightly darkened and matte. Serve immediately using sauce of choice.

Nutmeg Spice Cake

2011-09-06T07:00:00.000-05:00

When, oh when oh when oh when will I learn to READ the directions thoroughly when I'm baking.

Although you can't tell from this picture, I had made a gorgeous buttercream frosting earlier in the day. I'm talking glossy, fluffy almost too pretty to eat it buttercream. Which got stored in the fridge as I'd made the frosting before the cake. And then, the disaster. I pulled it out of the fridge and immediately started to mix it again in the stand mixer instead of bringing it back to room temperature first. The worst of it that I attempted to fix it on my own by throwing things into the buttercream to thicken it and pull it back together when all I had to do was leave it alone for another ten minutes and let it mix itself back into shape.

Still, never mind, the cake was really good. And in an effort to put a positive spin on my comprehension skills, I like to think that I saved myself a few thousand calories because had the frosting been delicious, I would have eaten it straight out of the bowl and skipped the cake altogether. Which would have been a shame as the cake is really good.

I made a few modifications to the cake by doubling the spices as I had attempted this once before sans frosting and wasn't terribly impressed with the flavor of the cake. I also submitted gluten free flour for the regular flour and cut back on the baking time by 5 minutes.

Overall grade: B. I liked the cake quite a bit. The frosting, even before I desecrated it, was a bit heavier and and butter than I normally like my frosting. I would definitely try the cake again, maybe with a apple based frosting that I think would go great with spiciness of the cake.

NUTMEG-SPICE CAKE
Modified from "Flour" by Joanne Chang

CAKE
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup canola oil
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
2 cups gluten free flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup nonfat buttermilk, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat butter and oil on medium speed for 1 minute or until well combined. Slowly add sugar and vanilla and mix until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until combined.

In medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt. On low speed, add 1/3 of flour mixture to egg butter mixture and mix until just barely combined. Pour in half of buttermilk and mix until almost thoroughly incorporated. Add half of remaining flour and mix until just combined, adding remaining buttermilk and mixing until incorporated. Add remaining flour mixture and mix until completely incorporated. Divide batter evenly between prepared cake pans.

Bake for 30 - 40 minutes (25 if using smaller cake pans) or until cakes spring back when pressed in middle. Let cool completely before turning out on rack.

Sage and Pancetta Biscuits with Fontina Cheese

2011-08-01T07:00:00.000-05:00

I love cooking for myself on some evenings. Because of that I can decide that I want to have biscuits for supper and there's nobody around to tell me that it's not a balanced supper or encourage me to pair it with more than just butter.

I've spent some time this evening trying to figure out how I could describe my baking efforts tonight. Biscuits just don't seem to work because they don't look anything like them. And while these do resemble a hockey puck, they don't taste like them at all. Actually, they taste quite good which one should always expect with bacon, cheese and buttermilk.I did make these with gluten free flour but I don't think that's what caused the biscuit pucks to fail to rise. I'm pretty sure that they are as small as they are because I rolled the dough out too thin before cutting them out.

Seriously good biscuits/pucks though. Enough to motivate me to find something that would pair well with them and have a biscuit sandwich for tomorrows dinner too.

Sage and Pancetta Biscuits with Fontina Cheese

from: Bon Appetit Fast Easy Fresh

3 oz package thinly sliced pancetta, chopped
2 cups all purpose gluten free flour
2 tbsp sugar
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (I used smoked salt - it rocked)
6 tbsp butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
1 cup coarsely grated fontina cheese
1 tbsp chopped fresh sage
3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp chilled buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Sautee pancetta in medium skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 8 minutes. Remove form heat and cool.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl to blend. Rub in butter with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in fontina and sage, separating strands of cheese. Add 3/4 cup buttermilk and pancetta with pan drippings and stir until moist clumps form. Turn dough out into floured work surface and knead just until dough holds together, about 4 to 6 turns. Flatten dough to 3/4 inch thickness (totally missed the mark on that one!). Using floured 2 1/4 inch biscuit cutters, cut out rounds. Flatten dough to 3/4 inch thickness and cut out additional rounds until all dough isused.

Transfer biscuits to large ungreased baking sheets, spacing them apart. Brush biscuit tops with remaining buttermilk. Sprinkle with smoked salt (optional). Bake until biscuits are puffed and golden, about 14 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

TCS: Zebra Cake

2011-07-20T07:00:00.000-05:00

Zebra Cake
This months winning cake over at The Cake Slice was Zebra Cake. Which in theory, means that there should be even or semi even stripes of alternating chocolate and white cake.

Alas, not in my case.

I have some serious cake envy right now after having looked over the posts of those who had baked early. My poor sad mutant cake looks nowhere near as pretty as theirs. I had a suspicion that something might be amiss when the chocolate batter seemed thick but somehow, despite the fact that the regular batter was thin, somehow I rationalized that this was how it was supposed to be..that there had been some culinary magic thanks to a little cocoa powder. In hindsight, I realize now that this was really nothing more than my sad math skills trying to eyeball what a third of the batter meant and missing the quantity completely. And sure enough, when the cake baked up, there was a core center of chocolate and a uneven ragged outer portion of plain cake and that was about it. Fortunately, the cake was tasty enough between all that butter and oil so it was still eaten even if is the ugly stepsister of cakes.

I thought briefly of trying to re-bake to see if it would turn out any better, but with the heat wave we're having in the Midwest, I just could not make myself turn on the oven. And although the cake was tasty, it wasn't so "wow, this is the cake of cakes" for me so I don't see myself making this again. So I'm hoping for a better result with next months cake.

Please check out the other bakers over at the Cake Slice who made their cakes look so much prettier and stripey than I did.

Zebra Cake
From: Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman

Ingredients
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup whole or 2% milk
½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted and cooled
½ cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp unsweetened Dutch cocoa powder

Method
Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a 9 inch pan, line with a circle of parchment paper, grease the parchment and dust with flour. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
Combine the eggs and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on high speed until thick and pale, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, stir in the milk, butter, oil and vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice as necessary. Stir in the flour mixture, ½ cup at a time.

Transfer a third of the batter into another bowl and whisk in the cocoa powder.

Place a quarter cup of the vanilla batter into the centre of the pan and let it stand for a few seconds so it spreads out slightly. Place 2 tablespoons of the chocolate batter right on top of the vanilla and wait another few seconds until it spreads. Continue alternating vanilla and chocolate until you have used up all the batter and it has spread to the edges of the pan.

Bake until the cake is set and a toothpick comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Run a sharp knife around the edge of the pan and invert the cake onto a cutting board. Peel away the parchment paper. Re-invert onto a wire rack and cool completely. Slice and serve.
Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper or wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for 3 days.

Sweet Corn Ice Cream

2011-07-04T10:31:00.000-05:00

When I had the chance to go to San Francisco a few weeks ago, one of the first things I knew I had to do was go to Slanted Door at the Ferry Building. I thought I had been going to have the Shaking Beef but as it turns out, my destiny was actually to be introduced to Sweet Corn Ice Cream. It was one of those things that on my own on any average day, I might have actually turned it down because it really sounds a bit odd for an ice cream base. But on vacation, somehow, your culinary bravery rears its head and takes you down those foodie roads you wouldn't have ordinarily traveled.

When I figured the hot weather here in Chicago meant Ice Cream was in my future, I started digging around on the internet for a sweet corn ice cream recipe. And thanks to Rick Bayless, I found one that seemed close enough to the original to work for me. And except for the fact that the flavor wasn't as pronounced as the one I had in San Francisco - not Rick's fault but a lack of corn kernels on my part - I thought this was a really good runner up to the original dish.

The only thing that can be slightly off-putting about this recipe, both at Slanted door and this homemade version, is that it does tend to leave a minimally waxy feeling in your mouth after eating it. But for the sake of having another bowl, I'm going to be strong and overlook that sensation as soon as possible. I think the next time I make it I might cut back on the cinnamon a little as it did tend to overpower the dish very easily - although that could be a difference of opinion in what Rick Bayless and myself would call a scant half teaspoon of cinnamon.

So if you have any leftover corn from the holiday, definitely consider giving this recipe a shot. If you're an ice cream junkie like me, let me know what you think of it :)

Sweet Corn Ice Cream By Rick Bayless

http://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/view?recipeID=94

Recipe from Season 6 of Mexico - One Plate at a Time

Makes 1 1/2 quarts

Ingredients

2 to 3 ears fresh sweet corn
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
4 egg yolks
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/3 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup evaporated milk
A scant 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, preferably Mexican cinnamon
2 tablespoon orange liqueur, preferably Gran Torres
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Directions

1. Set up a double boiler. Set up a 4-quart saucepan, filled halfway with water, into which you can nestle a 3-quart stainless steel bowl. Bring the pot of water to a boil over high heat while you're preparing the custard base.

2. Cook the base. Husk the corn and pull off all the silk. Cut the kernels from the ears and measure 2 cups. Scoop into a blender and add the half-and-half. Blend until smooth. In the 3-quart stainless steel bowl, stir together the egg yolks and sugar until thoroughly combined. Add the corn mixture and whisk to combine thoroughly. Reduce the temperature under the pot of boiling water to maintain a gentle simmer. Set the bowl of custard base over the simmering water and whisk frequently, until the mixture thickens noticeably, about 20 minutes. The custard is sufficiently cooked when it reaches 180 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. (You can also test it by dipping a wooden spoon into the custard, then running your finger through the custard: if the line holds clearly, the custard has thickened sufficiently.) Pour the base through a medium-mesh strainer into another bowl (preferably stainless steel for quick cooling).

3. Cool the base. Fill a large bowl halfway with ice. Nestle the custard into the ice and whisk regularly until completely cool. Refrigerate if not using immediately.

4. Finish the base, freeze the ice cream. Stir the heavy cream, evaporated milk, cinnamon, orange liqueur and lime juice into the base. Freeze in an ice cream freezer according to the manufacturer's directions. Scrape into a freezer container and freeze for several hours to firm.

Publish Post

CB: New York-Style Crumb Cake

2011-07-01T21:29:00.001-05:00

Having baked our way (or semi baked as was my case) through the Sweet Melissa cookbook, the consensus among the SMS bakers was that we were having too much fun baking and blogging to just stop The call was put out, the challenge was accepted and we have now begun our journey through "Baked Explorations."

I actually hadn't heard of the book before that. But I am nothing, if not flexible, when it comes to needing to buy a new baking cookbook especially when it is right at the time where I have a Barnes and Noble Gift Card burning a hole through my pocket. So it was with some happiness that I realized the first cookbook was a coffee cake considering how readily I will leap at the chance to attack any baked good with an obscene amount of streusel topping.

But to be on the safe side, I halved the recipe and hoped for the best. I used an odd little pan I'd bought a few months back that was touted as a mini monkey bread pan. Why I bought this, I'm not sure as I have never made monkey bread and probably never will, but it worked perfectly for this cake. Even with halving the recipe I still managed 5 of these mini cakes, one of which left me blissfully full.

This recipe adapted very well to gluten free flour, and was wonderfully moist when I baked it. Given the smaller pans, I cut the baking time back to 30 minutes which worked out well. And even though I did not wait nearly long enough (or anywhere near it ) to let this cool, it still held it's shape as I popped it out of the pan and began to devour it.

I would like to say that I shared this but can't. I did however freeze a couple of the mini cakes for a future sugar fix and am hoping to have one soon.

Please check out Karen's blog over at Karen's Cookies, Cakes and More for the recipe and swing by our Club Baked Blog when you have a chance to see how the other bakers fared with our inaugural recipe.

Greenhouse Herb Chicken

2011-06-27T06:48:00.000-05:00

I'd wanted to buy this cookbook for a long time before I found it on sale at Borders a month or so back. I mean, we're talking a cookbook titled "Bite Me." What's not to love about that? But apart from the sheer fun of reading through the book (the photographs are not be missed, both food and other) there were some good recipes that I'd been ignoring for too long. This was one of those recipes where I had all of the ingredients on hand, but would not myself have thought of putting them together like this. So it's a good thing the authors of this book did as it would have been a shame to miss something this good. It reminded me a lot of chicken parmesan actually but in a slightly different can't put my finger on it way. Although the dish was good, I think next time I would skip the breading and just season the chicken well before putting it into the sauce to cook for a lighter taste and flavor.

Greenhouse Herb Chicken
Adapted very slightly From
"Bite Me - A Stomach Satisfying Visually Gratifying Fresh Mouthed Cookbook"
by Julie Albert and Lisa Gnat

Chicken
2 large egg whites
1 cup gluten free bread crumbs
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
3 tbsp olive oil

Herb Sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup finely sliced green onions
(recipe called for 1/4 cup but there can never be too many green onions)
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 tbsp dried thyme
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp basil (optional)
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
3 cups chicken broth
4 tbsp tomato paste

Mix breadcrumbs, oregano, basil, salt and pepper in large bowl. Dip Chicken breasts in egg whites and then into breadcrumb mix, pressing down firmly to evenly coat chicken.

Heat 3 tbsp olive oil in large skillet on medium high heat. Brown chicken breast in olive oil, two minutes on each side, or until brown. Remove from pan and set chicken aside. Wipe skillet clean (or skip it like I did).

Add 1 tbsp olive oil to pan over medium heat. Add green onions, oregano, garlic, thyme, basil and parsley. Saute for 1 minutes, stirring constantly. Add balsamic vinegar and cook for 2 minutes. Add chicken stock and tomato paste. Bring to boil, before reducing heat to low and simmer uncovered for 2 minutes. Add chicken, cover pan and cook for 20 minutes. Serves 6.

SMS: Pear (Raspberry) Pie with Gingersnap Crumble

2011-06-05T08:16:00.000-05:00

I'm delighted to be hosting this week's recipe for Sweet Melissa Sundays. Although I've been a little lax with baking along with the rest of you due to time restraints for a few months, sometimes you just have to put down your foot and make the time for a pie that sounds as good as this. Also, after having been given the chance to host one of the recipes, not making the pie in the end is rather like inviting everyone to your home for a party and leaving the guests standing out on the lawn because you went out of town and didn't tell anyone. But having made the pie, I'm thinking I might still leave the guests out on the lawn because I would be too busy devouring the pie in kitchen to answer the door.

Pies have always been a bit of a culinary catastrophe in my house, at least for my poor sister, because when she was growing up she would never be able to enjoy a piece of pie since they were always missing something. My mother would either eat all of the crust and leave the filling, or I would eat all of the filling and leave the crust. The most unfortunate part of this was that my mom and I NEVER did this on the same pie. Didn't matter what type of pie we had, it would either be missing the filling or the crust depending on how got to it first before my sister had a chance to eat a piece. But this pie would have been the one that finally appealed to all of us at the same time. Which is nothing short of a culinary miracle in my family. It is just that delicious. Between the gingersnap crust and the combination of sweet and slight tart filling, it is the pie that would have finally ended my sister's long standing drought if we were all still living under the same roof.

Given the fact that I could not find fresh or frozen cranberries at the store as I was told by a clerk that they were out of season and I had my doubts about using canned cranberries, I substituted fresh raspberries for the cranberries. And considering raspberries were always my mom's favorite thing to snack on, it was a nice way to remember her and her love of all things pie today. I did also go with a frozen gluten free pie crust instead of using one of Melissa's recipes because we're trying to go gluten free in the house and for convenience I went with store bought gluten free gingersnap cookies because trying to make more than one recipe today was just not going to happen.

I loved loved loved the gingersnap crumble. And despite the fact that using raspberries made it a little difficult to cut the pie because it made the pie a tiny bit more watery (has nothing to do with the fact that I dug into the pie long before it cooled to room temperature of course) I thought the combination of pear and raspberry was perfect. I would totally made this again, maybe with cranberries, definitely with this combination today. Then again, I think skipping the pie crust and making a crumble from this with just the filling and topping would be sublime, especially with a huge dollop of whipped cream on top.

I think my only mistake was removing the pie a little early so the pears will still a little firm but it was still quite enjoyable.

Rating: A+. This one for me is a keeper.

Pear Cranberry (or Raspberry) Pie with Gingersnap Crumble
from: The Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy

Gingerbread Crumble:
1 cup all purpose (we used gluten free with great success) flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 pound gingersnaps, approximately 10 cookies, crushed

1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp kosher salt
8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Pear Cranberry (or Raspberry) Filling
2 lbs ripe bosc pears (approx 6) peeled, cored and quartered, sliced into 1/4 inch slices
1 1/2 cups raspberries (or fresh/frozen cranberries)
1 tsp freshly grated lemon zest
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/t tsp salt

Before beginning - preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper and place rack in bottom third of oven.

To Prepare the Pie Crust
Roll pie dough out into a round 12 inches wide and 1/4 inch thick. Gently fit into 9 inch pie late. Fold edges under and crimp. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

To Make the Crumble

In Medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugars, gingersnaps, ginger and salt.
Stir in melted butter.

Crumble will last in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days on in the refrigerator up to 7 days. Let crumble come to room temperature before using.

To Make the Filling

In medium bowl, combine pears, raspberries (or cranberries), zest, lemon juice and vanilla and mix gently. If using raspberries,they will pretty much disintegrate at this point and turn the pears pink.
In small bowl, whisk together sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Stir sugar mixture into fruit mixture.
Pour fruit mixture into unbaked pie shell.

To Complete Pie

Sprinkle gingersnap crumble on top of fruit mixture.
Place pie pan on prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes or until juices are bubbling and thick. remove to a wire rack to cool to room temperature before serving. Pie is best eaten the day it is made.

Dreamy Orange Waffles

2011-05-30T07:05:00.000-05:00

I've known my best friend since we ended up in a split grade class in grade school. I was in third grade, she was in fourth and after a fight to start out with, we settled into a best friendship that's lasted for way longer than I'd like to admit to. But considering my blog is called "Growing Up and Having Fun After 40", my age can be pretty much guessed at. I've known J for 37 years and beside being bookworms, we're also foodie fanatics. Although our preference of cookbooks varies...when we went shopping, she picked out a Bisquick book, I picked out a Macaroons cookbook...we both love good, simple food especially when we have to be out the door on a Sunday morning at a reasonable time.

This was a recipe both of us nearly drooled over when we were checking out breakfast recipes and I am really craving another one right about now. Simple enough to put together on a Sunday morning especially with the ingredients being ones that you're likely to already have in the pantry.

Rated: A. The batter tasted great even with using gluten free bisquick but the syrup is absolutely delightful.

Dreamy Orange Waffles
Adapted slightly from: Best Bisquick Recipes Cookbook

Orange Syrup
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 cup orange juice
1 can (11 oz) mandarin orange segments, drained
Chopped Pecans (optional)

Waffle Batter
2 cups Gluten Free Bisquick mix
1 1/4 cups milk
2 tbsp butter melted
1 tbsp grated orange peel
1 egg

Heat brown sugar, cornstarch and orange juice to boiling over medium heat until slightly thickened and mixture is clear. Remove from heat and stir in mandarin orange segments. Keep warm while making waffles.

Heat waffle maker. Mix ingredients until thoroughly combined. Pour batter into center of hot waffle maker and bake for 3-5 minutes or until waffle maker stops steaming. Pour sauce over waffles and enjoy.

Tropical French Toast

2011-05-16T06:55:00.000-05:00

After a day of being cooped up in the house due to some miserable weather outside, I was in the mood for something yummy that didn't require going outside. And as always in situations like this, whatever I'm in the mood for for the most part is nowhere to be found in the kitchen. Of course, as always in situations like this, there is my inherent tendency to say "well that seems close enough." Such as in telling myself that 3 eggs will work just as well as 4.

Due to the modifications I had to make with the sauce, this is a pretty sweet caramel...the recipe calls for heavy cream which I did not have so I made do with a half cup of sweetened condensed milk and half a cup of whole milk. This was a little sweet, even for me (although I made do nicely and tasted it many times to make sure of the sweetness), with the sauce but overall, I liked it and would make this again...just maybe reading the instructions a little more closely especially with the french toast recipe (note to self..soak both sides in egg mixture) and turning down the heat a little with my electric oven for a more even brown on the toast. The french toast tasted better than I had thought it would using gluten free bread so I'm a little more cheered up about possibly needing to stay gluten free for awhile.

Grade: B

Tropical French Toast

French Toast
Adapted from: The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook by Elana Amsterdam

8 slices gluten free bread

1/4 cup coconut milk
2 tbsp agave nectar
3 large eggs (recipe calls for 4)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger (recipe calls for cinnamon)
Cooking spray
Shredded coconut for garnish (optional)

In medium bowl, whisk together coconut milk, agave nectar, eggs, vanilla extract, salt and ginger until thoroughly combined. Pour mixture into 13X9 inch baking dish and soak slices of bread in mixture for 5 minutes on each side. Coat pan with cooking spray. Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side until golden brown. Transfer to plate.

Banana Caramel Syrup
Adapted from: Seduced by Bacon - Joanna Pruess

1 cup sugar
14 cup water
1 whole banana sliced thin
2 tbsp corn syrup
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk with 1/2 cup whole milk
(or 1 cup heavy cream if you have an organized kitchen)
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp rum

Combine sugar, water, corn syrup and banana over medium high heat in medium sized heavy pan. Cook, stirring frequently until sugar is dissolved. Bring mixture to a boil and cook undisturbed until sugar turns golden. Swirl pan to color evenly and cook until sauce becomes a rich amber color.

Remove pan from heat. Carefully stir in cream or milk mixture which will bubble up. Return to heat and bring sauce back to boil. Remove from heat. Stir with wooden spoon until smooth. Stir in butter, vanilla and rum. Serve warm.

Lemon Chicken

2011-05-12T07:00:00.002-05:00

I've been intending to make this dish for awhile now. I even went so far as to defrost the chicken a couple of times and picked up green scallions at the store (which slowly faded away in the fridge during its long wait to be used). But while I was in the kitchen today baking with the Sweet Melissa Bakers with Cherry Clafouti Tart, I figured I might as well go for broke while I was throwing my kitchen into complete chaos with dirty dishes and clutter.

So glad I did. Curiously enough, I've never ordered lemon chicken when I have Chinese food. I think I might have had some bits of leftover versions of it after an event at work, but for some reason, this recipe piqued my interest some weeks back and I've had the page marked ever since then.

Although the chicken never really browned like it was supposed to do (I'm not sure if it was the gluten free flour coating or just not having the oil hot enough) the chicken did get crispy enough to work wonderfully with the lemon sauce. That delightful, tart and sweet lemon sauce that could be dangerous if I made that often enough - I could seriously see myself making a batch of that for one lonely chicken breast and managing to finish the sauce off.

Grade: A. Would made this again without a second thought. Now if I can only leave the rest of the chicken alone so I have leftovers to take to work tomorrow.

Lemon Chicken

From: Quick and Easy Chinese by Nancy McDermott

Chicken
1 1/2 cups all purpose gluten free flour
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken

Lemon Sauce
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 cup chicken stock
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp chopped fresh ginger (optional)
1 tsp gluten free so sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 tbsp thinly sliced green onion (garnish)

1/3 cup vegetable oil

Combine flour, salt, and pepper in medium bowl and whisk well. Cut chicken breasts crosswise for wide, thin pieces. Dip each piece of chicken in flour to coat well and gently shake off excess. Arrange pieces on large plate and set by stove.

Combine water and cornstarch in small bowl and mix well. In medium saucepan, combine chicken stock, sugar, ginger, soy sauce and salt. Bring to gentle boil over medium heat and stir to dissolve sugar and salt. Bring to gentle boil and add lemon juice. Bring sauce to boil again and add cornstarch mix. Cook, stirring often, until sauce turns clear and thickens to shiny glossy state, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and keep warm while preparing chicken.

Heat oil in large deep skillet over medium high heat. Working in batches, cook chicken 1 to 2 minutes until golden and crisp and cooked through. Transfer to serving platter and keep warm.

Pour hot lemon sauce over chicken and sprinkle with green onions. Serve hot.

SMS: Cherry Clafoutis Tart

2011-05-08T15:39:00.002-05:00

First things first: thanks, Tessa, for a great recipe pick this week!

It's been way too long since I've been able to bake along with everyone over at Sweet Melissa Sundays. But one thing I don't turn down whenever given the opportunity to devour/eat it, is a custard pie. So off I went to the grocery store this morning (nothing like some last minute procrastination to start my day) only to find out that my local Jewel was not carrying cherries, fresh or frozen. If they were, they were hiding them. Very very well I might say. So after twenty minutes of frustrated shopping, I grabbed a couple cans of cherries and hoped for the best.

My biggest modification for the recipe apart from the cherries was to swap out the crust and exchanged it for a gluten free pie crust (which surprisingly was actually really nice and flaky at least in the parts where it wasn't burned on the bottom). I also opted due to time restraints to use raw slivered almonds instead of toasted. And my time restraints, I mean I was hungry and wanted to eat the tart now. Okay, so that's actually quite a few changes for a fairly straight forward recipe. But, despite all of my best intentions (which usually do not turn out so good when it comes to baking) I ended up with a tasty pie. Some of my cherries migrated during the baking process so that half the pie ended up with more then their fair share, but fortunately for me the drained canned cherries worked well with the custard. But I would still like to try this recipe again with fresh cherries as I'm pretty sure this would be an amazing dessert with them.

Please check out Tessa's blog, The Cooking Chemist, for the recipe which should be posted there shortly. And check out the other bakers over at Sweet Melissa Sundays for their experiences with the recipe.

TCS: Cold Oven Cream Cheese Pound Cake

2011-04-26T07:00:00.003-05:00

It's been awhile since I've baked along with everyone over at The Cake Slice. Life got in the way for awhile. Add in my inherent tendency towards procrastination and there just wasn't time. So despite being late this month, I'm proud that I actually got off my...couch...and into the kitchen to make this months cake.

I've been trying somewhat unsuccessfully to live more of a gluten free life. Mostly because eating gluten I've found leaves me feeling exhausted and scatterbrained, not to mention cranky. But after last weeks attempt to bake gluten free cookies, I was a little leery about trying it with a cake. And as I understand the Gluten Free baking world, one does not typically take a recipe and swap out the main ingredient without repercussions. So yes, of course, I thought "hey, I'll just switch out the KAF Gluten Free Flour for the cake flour. And while I'm at it, I'll just toss in some arrowroot powder for binding and swap out some of the flour for cornstarch."

I consider myself extremely lucky that I have a cake to talk about at all, not to mention one that was actually pretty good and even tasty. The cake was tender without the funky gritty aftertaste I found with the rice flour I'd used for the cookies last week. Then again, with two sticks of butter and a package of cream cheese, this cake had some tasty friends to help it on its way. The only issue, and it was minor, that I did have was that the outside of the cake (crust for want of a better word) had a somewhat curious taste...not unpleasant but there a slight bit of chewiness there.

To be on the safe side, I baked the cake for 65 minutes...lucky for me as it was done. And actually, lucky for me that the cake came out of the pan and I had skipped the flouring process when I was prepping the pan from sheer laziness.

Overall, I really liked this cake. For gluten free, way better than I had expected and makes the prospect of gluten free baking much more appealing (thanks KAF). The photo doesn't do the cake full justice...I took the picture late at night with overhead lights but it does have a nice color to it in real life.

Rating: A-

COLD OVEN CREAM CHEESE POUND CAKE
From: Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman

3 cups King Arthur Gluten Free Flour
(minus 3 tbsp/replaced by 3 tbsp cornstarch)

1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 sticks butter, softened
1 tsp arrowroot powder
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 1/2 cups sugar
6 eggs (room temperature)
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp lemon zest powder

Adjust rack to lower middle position. Grease bundt pan and flour (trust me, the flouring step is important as I learned when I fought to get the cake out of the pan.) Combine flour, baking powder, salt, cornstarch and arrowroot powder in bowl.

Combine butter, cream cheese and sugar and cream using electric mixer on medium high for 3 minutes or until fluffy. Lower speed to medium and add eggs, one at a time, scraping down as needed after each addition. Beat in vanilla, ginger and lemon zest.

Turn mixer speed to low and add flour mixture in half cup increments, scraping down bowl as needed. After last addition, increase speed to medium for 30 seconds. Pour into bundt pan.

Put cake in cold oven. Turn heat to 325 and bake WITHOUT OPENING DOOR for 65 to 80 minutes. I highly recommend checking at 65 minutes as my cake was already done at that point. Cool in pan for 15 minutes and invert onto rack. Cool completely before slicing and serving.

Store cake in cake keeper at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Gluten Free Thin Mints Style Cookies

2011-04-17T07:00:00.000-05:00

There are some words that strike fear into my culinary heart.

Whipping egg whites. Folding with a light hand. And now a new one. Gluten free baking.

Now mind you, it's not an official diagnosis by my doctor. Just a suggestion from one of my friends who thought that my irritability, tiredness and spaciness seemed to coincide mostly after I'd been eating something with gluten. And gave me a challenge to try going gluten free for a week. I would of course like to blast holes into the theory, except that I'm very crankily unhappy to announce that I have more energy and concentration just after 24 hours of not eating gluten products. So, I might just have to settle for pelting said friend with dinner rolls until I feel better. Just for bringing logic into my happy food based life.

I'm really really REALLY hoping that this is just something that got triggered into going overboard because of a lot of stress. And that if I"m really good about behaving myself I might be able to go back to the real deal. But in the meantime, I'm at least going to give gluten free baking the benefit of the doubt until the weather gets warmer for ice cream. At least to post about it. I very happily eat ice cream when it's well below zero.

As for gluten free baking, I did try making these mint cookies t with brown rice flour and wasn't too happy with them. I know that Bob's says they grind the flour super fine but it still tasted gritty to me. Didn't stop me from eating several of the cookies although I think that had more to do with the fact that they were covered with chocolate that helped console me somewhat.I have a box of King Arthur Flours multi purpose gluten free flour that I think I'll try again with the recipe to see if that would help at all. Either that, or pulverize the brown rice flour in my food processor to see if fixes the gritty issue.

Overall, these were okay. Given my preference for chewy cookies, I should have probably gone with another one from the book but I think with practice and time, I might try these one more time to see if I can fix the issues I had with it.

Thin Mints -Style Cookies
from: The Ultimate Gluten Free Cookie Book by Roben Ryberg
COOKIE BASE
1/3 cup oil
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 egg
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp vanilla extract

FROSTING
12 oz broken milk chocolate bar
2 tbsp confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp mint extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease cookie sheet.

In medium bowl, combine oil and sugar. Beat well. Add brown rice flour and beat well. Scrape sides of bowl down at least once during mixing. Add remaining ingredients and beat well. Beat until dough comes together. Dough will be soft and oily to the touch.

Roll small balls of dough and flatten slightly on cookie sheet. Bake 8-9 minutes or until tops are dry (mine took closer to 12 minutes in electric oven). Cool well - cookies should be crisp when completely cooled.

Melt milk chocolate in microwave, 1-2 minutes on high or until melted. Stir in sugar and mint extract and mix until creamy. Dip cookies into chocolate and place on waxed paper.

Dilly BLT Pasta Salad

2011-04-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

No need to worry.

If you think that the earth did stop spinning for one brief second last week, you are correct. Not only did I cook twice (and blog about it to boot) I actually cooked from one of my brand new cookbooks. Regarding my dozens of other abandoned and neglected cookbooks, let's just all pretend they don't exist and avoid that sad topic for another day.

One of my favorite things to get for a quick evening meal (although out of sheer laziness it's few and far between) is Jewel's BLT pasta salad. Totally yummy and all it requires of me is to find a clean dish and a fork (although, I've been known to eat directly out of the container at times and skip the plate altogether). This recipe is not quite as convenient and does require more organization but it's just as equally yummy and should last me for a few lunches or dinners easily this week.The recipe states that it serves four, but I think I could easily get six fairly nice sized meals out of this as long as I stay out of the kitchen and stop picking out of the bowl.

Apart from eating several slices of the bacon and having less for the salad, the only other substitution I made was to swap dill for the thyme called for. One, because I had no thyme and having discovered how awesome fresh dill tastes, I wanted to use some more of it before I have to throw it away. Also, in an effort to eat somewhat healthier, I did use fat free mayonnaise and fat free sour cream. Comparing the store bought version with this, there was definitely a little decrease in the flavor but I think that if I had added a little more dill it would have complemented the overall dish nicely.

Overall rating, a solid A. And with the lettuce and tomatoes in there I can rationalize it as being healthy for me, hopefully enough to compensate for all that lovely bacon! Plus, even the bacon has got to be good for me because I made it in the oven laid out on a cooling rack on top of a cookie pan. So that makes it healthy with all the grease dripping below. Right?

Dilly BLT Pasta Salad
Slightly Adapted from: Food Network "Great Easy Meals"

12 oz tri-colored rotini pasta
1/2 cup milk
12 oz lean bacon
1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes with onion
1 tbsp fresh dill
1 clove garlic, minced
Kosher Salt and fresh ground pepper
1/2 cup fat free maynnnaise
1/4 cup fat free sour cream
4 tbsp chopped scallion greens
5 cups chopped romaine hearts

Cook pasta according to directions. Drain, toss with milk and set aside.

Cook bacon in oven, laid out on rack slightly elevated over cookie pan so that grease drips below and does not saturate bacon. Drain on paper towels. Crumble into bite sized pieces.

Toss pasta with diced tomatoes, dill and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Mix mayonnaise, sour cream and 3 tbsp chives with pasta until evenly combined.Add lettuce and toss again to coat. Top with reserved bacon and remaining scallion greens. Serve at room temperature.

Blueberry Upside Down Cake with Yogurt Sauce

2011-04-07T07:00:00.007-05:00

This happened to be one of the books I bought sight unseen. I had drooled (and bought) Roland Mesnier's other book, "Dessert University," after a visit to my local library. Come to think of it, this was also during the dreaded cake phase I was going through where I felt I had to have cake books. All of them. Now.

Fortunately, my wallet did not agree with the decision to buy all of the available cake books. So, I had to make do for a few weeks while this stage lasted by checking out books at the library. But on impulse, based on my love of "Dessert University" I bought his other book sight unseen over at Amazon. And since this book was the opposite of what I normally go for in cookbooks, I didn't do much with it. We're talking no glossy pages or full color photos. In other words, no visual string pulling on my culinary heartstrings. So I tucked it away on my bookshelf and left it there for a few years. Until I had one of my rare, "I must have cake and bake it myself moments" that inspired me to finally crack this open again and give it a second chance.

As recipes go, this is a slightly complicated simple recipe. There's a minimum of ingredients which is always a plus with a baking technique that I've had very little experience with. But I would still give this a enthusiastic thumbs up for flavor and texture. The cake was very light, with the blueberries playing a big role in providing sweetness. I wasn't terribly fond of the yogurt sauce recommended to go along with the cake and would prefer a lightly sweetened whipped cream instead. It's a cake that would be very easy to overbake (as I did) so start checking your cake early. After a few hours of sitting, the juice from the blueberries will soak into the cake making it very tender and melt in your mouth. I would prefer this as a dessert although the recipe also recommends it for breakfast and brunch. Be warned - it's a dessert/brunch/breakfast with a short life span...it was great the day of, but it had definitely gone slightly stale by the next day.

My only substitution was to use frozen blueberries instead of the fresh recommended which worked out well. I also skipped the step of melting jelly and glazing the berries, mostly for convenience.

Blueberry Upside Down Cake with Yogurt Sauce
From: Roland Mesnier's Basic to Beautiful Cakes

3 cups blueberries
4 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup plus 1 1/2 tbsp all purpose flour
pinch salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups plain yogurt mixed with 1/4 cup honey

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Grease cake pan. Line bottom with parchment paper and grease paper. Arrange blueberries in even layer on bottom of pan.

Pour 2 inches of water into medium saucepan and bring to bare simmer. Combine eggs and sugar in bowl of stand mixer. Place bowl over simmering water and whisk constantly until egg mixture is lukewarm and reads 86-90 degrees ( I went by touch).

Return bowl to stand mixer with whisk attachment. Whisk on high speed for 5 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and whisk until mixture is cool, thick and creamy, approximately 12 minutes.

Using rubber spatula, fold in flour, salt and vanilla. Pour batter over blueberries, Tap cake pan on counter 4-5 times to eliminate any large air pockets. Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, approximately 40 minutes.

Remove cake from oven and let cool in pan 5-10 minutes. Invert onto plate, berry side up. Allow cake to cool completely. Serve with yogurt sauce if desired.

Ricotta, Ham and Scallion Tart

2011-04-04T07:00:00.003-05:00

Egg and ham to me are just a marriage made in heaven. Whenever I have the chance to go out to breakfast, it's pretty much a given that I'll order either an omelette or a skillet, heavy on the ham. Somehow, in the back of my mind, I can rationalize the fact despite being about to eat hundreds of calories in this innocent looking food, I can still rationalize it as being healthy when I compare it with the pancake side of the menu.So when I saw this recipe in my latest impulsive cookbook purchase, I was off to the grocery store. Even more amazing...I ONLY HAD THE BOOK FOR A WEEK BEFORE I COOKED FROM IT!

It's the little things in life that mean a lot.

However, my quest to not burn a crust continues. Although this recipe calls for refrigerated pizza crust, it still gave me the culinary twitches. I put tart exactly where I was told to, at the right temperature, checked the tart early and STILL burned the crust.

No matter. The rest of the tart was still delightful. While mixing the ingredients together, I realized that the filling wasn't going to be enough for the size of the tart pan so I doubled that part of it(reflected below.).

My only problem with the recipe was that the list of ingredients did not include water (I added it to ingredients below) but it was called for in one of the steps. Also, I felt that the tart could have benefited with a touch of salt. Apart from that, I would definitely make this again. It's a light, simple and quick meal after work, even for someone as lazy as me.

Ricotta, Ham and Scallion Tart
Modified slightly from Food Network Great Easy Meals

3 tbsp unsalted butter
One 13.8 oz tube refrigerated pizza crust dough
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 large eggs
2-3 bunches scallions
4 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
3-4 tbsp chopped fresh dill
freshly ground pepper
5 oz deli sliced ham
2 tbsp water

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place baking sheet on top rack of oven (I did not do this but placed tart pan in correct area with burnt crust after 18 minutes.)

Grease tart pan. Line pan with pizza dough, press carefully against sides and trim excess dough.

Whisk ricotta, cream and eggs in medium bowl. Mince enough green scallions to make 2 tbsp, add to ricotta mixture with parsley and dill. Season with pepper. Slice remaining scallions into small pieces.

Heat 2 tbsp butter in skillet over high heat. Add sliced scallions and water, cook until scallions are tender, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat, add ham. Spread most of scallion mixture on crust. Pour in ricotta mixture and scatter remaining scallion mixture on otp.

Bake tart for 20 minutes or until crust is golden and filling set. Rest in pan for 5 minutes, then slice and serve.

Citrus Cornmeal Shortbread

2011-03-29T07:00:00.003-05:00

I've had Martha Stewart's Cookies book for some time. Originally I checked it out from the library, drooled over the recipes and then decided I must absolutely, positively have this cookie book or perish from the lack thereof. This was around a year or more ago and if you've read my blog before, you know the next one is coming a mile in advance.

And the book sat on my shelf unopened all that time.

Which is a shame, because as photos go, Martha's cookies always look sublime and it's just so much fun to flip through all those nice, shiny glossy pages.

So, after realizing I had been neglecting my blog again, I flipped through, found what looked like to be a fairly simple recipe (it's usually hard to find a 7 ingredient recipe with Martha) and headed back into the kitchen.

It just feels wrong to say I didn't care for this cookie. I mean, we are talking Martha Stewart after all. But considering my coworkers happily gobbled them down it's probably just me. I prefer a sweeter shortbread cookie. Martha's cookie is very light and very subtle with a lovely hint of orange as you bite into it. I feel like I had overbaked them somewhat but nobody seemed to mind or notice so I'll just keep that info to myself (at least when it comes to them knowing about it).

Overall a B cookie. I think I might give this a shot with some chocolate chips another time...the combo of orange and zest in a shortbread cookie sounds sublime.

Citrus Cornmeal Shortbread
from: Martha Stewart's Cookies

2 sticks butter, unsalted, room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla paste or extract
2 cups regular flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp yellow cornmeal
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp finely grated orange zest

Mix butter and sugar in mixer with paddle attachment on medium speed until creamy, approximately 2 minutes. Add vanilla and zest. Mix until combined.

Reduce speed to low. Add flour, 2 tbsp cornmeal and salt for 3 minutes or combined well. Halve dough and roll into log. Wrap each half in plastic and refrigerate for minimum of 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place remaining cornmeal on sheet of parchment paper. Roll dough logs in cornmeal to coat. Cut into slices and space rounds 1 inch apart on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake until golden, 30 -35 minutes (less for me but my cookies were smaller). Cool on wire rack.

Mom's Brandy Old Fashioned Sweet

2011-03-24T19:34:00.000-05:00

My mom's favorite drink had to be a Brandy Old Fashioned Sweet. Which to the best of my knowledge is a drink that is pretty much popular in Wisconsin (at least this version of it is) and those who may have hailed from there. So in memory of my mom, who would have turned 69 today, I made her favorite drink. And given my love of maraschino cherries despite the knowledge that all those chemicals are probably going to lead to me growing a third arm someday, I went a touch overboard with adding them to the drink. But considering my mom and I always shared a serious sweet tooth, I like to think she would have approved.

MOM'S BRANDY OLD FASHIONED SWEET
Angostura Bitter
Sugar cube
Old fashioned glass (nowhere to be found in my kitchen)
sweet soda (sprite, sierra mist etc)
brandy
marachino cherries
ice

Place sugar cube in glass with splash of water. After sugar cube soaks up some water, mash cube with handle of a wooden spoon (or you could do what I did...add a tsp of granulated sugar and still be happy). Avoid leaving large chunks of sugar cube.

Add ice to glass. Add 1 1/2 oz brandy. Add three shakes of bitters, then sweet soda and stir. Garnish with maraschino cherries and serve.

Baked Shrimp with Fennel and Feta

2011-03-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

I was going to credit making this recipe to my desire to do the right thing by my cookbook collection and use it a little more. But I have to be honest. It's all about the shrimp. And when you tell me that not only can I have shrimp but I can also have some feta cheese and garlic with it, then you have my heart and my stomach right there.

And maybe there was a tiny bit of wanting to do the right thing by cracking open this long unused cookbook anyway.

Now I did not really (as usual) make this as I'm sure the fine people over at Fine Cooking intended it to be. I went with a different size shrimp as that was on sale at the store and then I added insult to injury by using cooked shrimp. So I consider myself to be one lucky girl that this turned out to taste pretty darned good if you ask me (and I really couldn't answer with my mouth full of shrimp anyway). The feta cheese and tomatoes worked very well with the shrimp and even though I started out with cooked shrimp, I couldn't tell the difference when all the flavors pulled together in the oven.

Even more interesting, as far as I know, this was my first time with fennel in a recipe and I actually liked it. Not sure if this is exactly Weight Watchers approved as I haven't figure out the points yet, but it was a fine splurge for a Sunday evening dinner.

Baked Shrimp with Fennel and Feta
From: Fine Cooking Annual 2007

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups diced fennel bulb
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup dry white wine
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with juice
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs
2 tbs dried parsley
1/4 lb feta cheese crumbled
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lb large shrimp peeled and deveined

Preheat oven to 450 degrees with rack placed in center of oven. Heat 2 tbsp oil at medium high. Add fennel and cook for 7-8 minutes or until slightly softened and lightly brown. Add minced garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add wine and bring to boil. add tomatoes with juice, season with salt and pepper, and cook until heated through. Spread tomato mixture evenly through pan.

Combine bread crumbs, parsley, feta, remaining olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Arrange shrimp in single layer over tomato mixture and sprinkle with breadcrumb mixture. Bake until shrimp are cooked through and cheese is melted, about 12-15 minutes.

Peruvian Roast Chicken with Garlic and Lime

2011-02-24T06:57:00.000-06:00

It's now time to break up with Boston Market's chicken.

Roast chicken has been one of my weak spots in the culinary world. I successfully did one. I failed at my next attempt. So, I figured it was time to get off the fence and try one more time. Roast chicken for me is such a comfort food and when it doesn't work out, it just leaves a flat note in the day.

My only concern was some of the spices as I'm usually not a big fan of them. It used to be that I considered myself daring and on the edge if I used pepper. Now, I can border out as far as tossing in some sweeter milder chili powder and feel like I've conquered the villain and saved the world.

I am proud to say that having made this chicken, I can now boldly face down the rows of whole chickens at the grocery store without fear. Although I had some concerns about the spices, letting this marinate for 24 hours tempered it perfectly and the rub gave the chicken a lovely crispness to the skin. The smell alone very nearly had me salivating while I waited for it to cook.

Grade: A. Sorry Boston Market. There's just no comparison.

Peruvian Roast Chicken with Garlic & Lime
very slightly adapted from Cooks Illustrated - February/March Magazine

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup lightly packed fresh mint leaves
2 tbsp kosher salt
6 medium garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tbsp black ground pepper
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp ground oregano
2 tsp grated zest and 1/4 cup juice (from 2 limes)
1 tsp ancho chili powder
4 pound whole chicken

Process all ingredients except chicken in blender until smooth paste forms (10-20 seconds). Using fingers or handle of wooden spoon, carefully loosen skin over thighs and breast and remove any excess fat. Rub half of paste beneath skin. Spread entire exterior surface of chicken with remaining paste. Place chicken in gallon sized zipper lock bag and marinate for 24 hours.

Roast at 400 degrees for 1 hour fifteen minutes or until done based. Rotate chicken while cooking. Carve, serve and enjoy!

Greek Chicken Salad Pitas

2011-02-21T14:59:00.000-06:00

I have no excuses for not blogging these past two weeks. Could have cooked, didn't want to. Could have rambled, but was already doing enough of that in real life. But it's amazing how a few days of doing close to nothing can leave me relaxed and even slightly bored enough to get into the kitchen and do something productive.

Like most of my cooking magazine purchases, this sat on my shelf unopened (apart from the browse at the store) for about 6 months until today. And once I saw this recipe, I realized that this was simple enough and very nearly healthy enough to pull it off today. This of course after I realized another recipe I had been thinking of was going to take 6-24 hours to marinate and was not going to make it as a post today.

Super simple to pull together. I added more chicken then the recipe called for as it didn't seem quite enough and added extra red onions as well. Although the recipe was very good, it would have been even better with some sort of greek side dish to complement the flavors.

Overall rating: A- for simplicity, B+ for flavor (maybe a little more lemon juice next time?)

Greek Chicken Salad Pita

Adapted very slightly from: Cooking Light 5 Ingredient 15 minute recipes

serves 4

2 cups sliced romaine lettuce
2 cups chopped roasted chicken breast
2/3 cup seeded cucumber
1/.2 cup red onion
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp salt (forgot this...might explain the taste)
6 tbsp roasted red bell pepper hummus
1 6 inch whole wheat pitas, cut in half

Combine first five ingredients in large bowl. Add lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper: toss gently.

Spread 1 1/2 tbsp hummus inside each pita half and spoon salad mixture evenly into halves. Serve immediately.

Cinnamon Madelines

2011-02-06T12:28:00.000-06:00

I have a thing for madeleines. Not so much for eating them but just admiring how cute they look with those scalloped edges. Which is probably why I bought a special madeleine pan that has been sitting in my kitchen cupboard along with all the other pans I haven't used while the ones I do want seem to have fallen into some sort of culinary black hole. In any event, the madeleine pan finally had its official unveiling last week when I was desperate for a sweet and came across a very simple recipe on the back of the box.

At first, the cookies seem a little on the simple side. I had made some adjustments to the original recipe and whether it was the changes or even a tiny second or two of overcooking, I found them to be slightly on the dry side. In retrospect, I wish I had given them a slight dip in some rum or other type of booze to moisten them up and give a little kick. But they were good enough that I ate more than I ought to have had threw half the batter away so I wouldn't be tempted to eat more.

Overall, I'd grade these a B. But to be fair to them, I'll give the recipe one more try without the substitutions to see if that makes a difference.

Cinnamon Madeleines
from: Chicago Metallic

2/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter melted and cooled
2 eggs
1/2 tsp cinnamon extract
1 cup powdered maple sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray pan with nonstick spray. Sift together flour and baking powder in small bowl and set aside. In an electric mixer, beat eggs and maple extract on high speed for 5 minutes. Gradually beat in sugar. Beat another 5 minutes or until thick.

Gently fold in flour mixture, then melted butter. Mix until smooth. Spoon into cups filling approximately 3/4 full. Bake approximately 8 minutes or until edges are light brown. Cool in pan 1-2 minutes. Loosen cookies with knife and then invert pan onto rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar when cool. Makes 25 madeleines.

Easy Pork Tacos with Mango Salsa

2011-02-02T13:39:00.000-06:00

Yes, it is true. I have cooked twice, in one week, and from the same cookbook I had bought during a just because I want it moment. Cue the made for tv movie with inspirational music and a close up of me saying in a slightly tremulous voice "I ...I knew I could do it...all I had to do was try."

Okay, so being snowed in over here in Chicago did give me some extra time on my hands to get this done as well.

I don't think I've really tried the tropical fruit salsas (at least not as far as I remember) but I'm definitely glad I got out of my same old same old food ruts that I slip into from time to time and tried this. I did make a few substitutions as I am a wimp when it comes to very spicy foods and there was no way I was going to go down that canned chipolte chile road they suggested so I substituted some generous dashes of chili powder instead. Also, I chose to be a little lazy and went with dried cilanto (which I rehydrated) versus fresh.

Total revelation: I really liked this. The combo of the very slight spicy hint from the pork mixture combined with the mango salsa was great. The only thing I did not like was the corn tortilla as it bought a blandness to the dish so I would try something different the next time I make this.

Overall grade: A-. Yum.

Easy Pork Tacos with Mango Salsa
Very slightly adapted from: The Best Simple Recipes
Serves 4

1 1/2 cups chopped mango
1 small red onion chopped fine
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tbsp lime juice
Salt and Pepper
2 tsp vegetable oil
2 tsp canned chipotle chiles (or chili powder for the less brave)
1 1/2 pounds ground pork
1/2 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
12 6 inch corn tortillas, warmed

Combine mango, half of chopped onion, 1/4 cup cilantro, 1 tbsp lime juice, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper in bowl.

Heat oil in large skillet over medium high heat until it begins to smoke. Add onion, chipotle and salt and cook until onion in softened, approximately 3 minutes. Stir in pork and cook until no longer pink.

Remove pan from heat and add remaining cilantro, lime juice and cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with tortillas and mango salsa.

Chicken and Spinach Farfalle

2011-01-30T15:09:00.000-06:00

Well, it's official. Either the end of the world is near or I have had a good spell cast on me by a culinary genie. Because I've actually made a recipe from a cookbook that I did not need but bought anyway, rationalizing it as being meant to be due to the living social amazon gift card deal. And I did all of this within a week of getting the book. Plus I've already earmarked several recipes that I want to try in the future. That is the sign of a good cookbook find.

Although, if I have to be honest, this recipe sounded delicious and it wasn't really as hard as I had thought it might be to motivate me to get up from my computer desk and into the kitchen. This is a super simple recipe even for someone who is having a semi meltdown about work issues and trying to figure out where Office 2007 is hiding on the computer anyway because I'm trying to take a online computer course all at the same time.

The recipe called for the spinach to be added at the last minute, shortly before tossing, I cooked mine until wilted in the sauce and then added all of the remaining ingredients at the end. This recipe has some good, simple flavors and even better, plenty of leftovers so I can eat healthier for the rest of the week and stay out of the beguiling snare of McDonalds.

My only glitch (which I discovered while typing the post up) was that I completely missed the part about cutting the chicken crosswise before cooking. I ended up browning the chicken in the skillet and then sticking the chicken in the oven to finish cooking.

Chicken and Spinach Farfalle
Adapted ever so slightly from: The Best Simple Recipes from America's Test Kitchen
Serves 4

Ingredients
2 bonless skinless chicken breasts (approximately 3/4 pound) - cut crosswise into 1/4 inch pieces
salt and pepper
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tsp grated lemon zest
3 tbsp juice from 1 lemon
1 pound farfalle
1 6oz bag of baby spinach
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/3 cup pine nuts (omitted in recipe above)

Instructions
Bring 4 quarts of water to boil.

Pat chicken dry, then season with salt and pepper. Melt 2 tbsp butter in large skillet over medium high heat. Cook chicken until no longer pink, about 3 minutes, and transfer to plate.

Add garlic to empty skillet and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in cream, lemon zest, lemon juice, and spinach leaves until sauce is slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cover.

Add 1 tbsp salt and farfalle to boiling water and cook until al dente. Reseve 1/2 cup cooking water, drain pasta and return to pot. Add sauce, parmesan cheese, pine nuts (if using) and cooked chicken to pot. Toss to combine, adding reserved pasta water as needed. Season with salt and pepper before serving

Ragu Alla Bolognese

2011-01-24T07:00:00.000-06:00

Due to an assortment of chaos going on in life recently, I haven't had time to cook along with the group over at Cooking Italy. Which is a shame as Angela comes up with some to die for recipes between Marcella Hazan and the occasional guest recipe so to speak such as this recipe for Ragu Alla Bolognese from la Cucina Italiana.

Compared to my regular quick bolognese, this was was much more labor intensive and time consuming. I was worried for a bit as I did not see my sauce reducing as much as the recipe said it would, but after realizing I hadn't had the heat high enough, a quick adjustment pulled the recipe together within an hour.

I found the recipe to be a rich and savory delight for the tastebuds. I am not a fan of carrots and celery at all, but after several hours of simmering the flavors all meld together perfectly and the vegetables were a good pairing for the rest of the dish. If you're a meat lover, you will love this recipe. I could not find veal at my local grocery store (they said they were out) so as the recipe suggested I substituted extra beef and pork and found the flavor to be perfect. My picture may not do this justice as I took it at night without some natural light, but please take my word on this...you really need to try this at least once and you'll be hooked.

Ragu Alla Bolognese (from La Cucina Italiana)

Ingredients

For the sauce:
1 (14-ounce) or 1/2 (28-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes in juice, preferably San Marzano
1 1/2 to 2 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon tomato paste, preferably double concentrated
1 teaspoon beef base (available in some supermarkets and specialty food stores) or 1 beef bouillon cube
1 celery rib, roughly chopped
1/2 medium onion, roughly chopped
1/2 medium carrot, roughly chopped
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 ounces sweet Italian sausage, removed from casing
2 ounces pancetta or slab bacon, finely chopped
3/4 pound ground beef (not lean)
3/4 pound ground pork
1/2 pound ground veal
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup dry red wine
1 bay leaf
3/4 cup whole milk
Freshly grated nutmeg
For serving:
Fresh tagliatelle, or other pasta, cooked until tender in salted water
Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Instructions

Purée tomatoes and their juice in blender until smooth; set aside.

In a small saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups water to a simmer; whisk in tomato paste and beef base. Remove from heat; set aside.

Make a battuto (the foundation for many Italian soups, stews and sauces) by finely chopping together (by hand) celery, onion and carrot.

Heat butter over medium-low heat until melted and foaming; add battuto, sausage and pancetta. Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, until sausage is broken into small bits, then continue cooking, stirring frequently, until vegetables are softened (do not brown), about 25 minutes.

Add beef, pork and veal; increase heat to medium. Cook, stirring until meat is broken into small bits, then season lightly with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly for 10 minutes more (do not brown).

Add wine; bring to a boil and cook until wine and juices in pot are mostly evaporated, 3 to 5 minutes. Add reserved puréed tomato, reserved beef base mixture and bay leaf.

Cook ragù at the barest simmer, stirring occasionally (making sure to stir into edges of pot), until meat is very tender and sauce is thick (as sauce thickens, add water, bit by bit, if necessary, to keep sauce moist and just barely liquid), about 2 1/2 hours.

Add milk and continue cooking for 30 minutes more. Stir in pinch nutmeg. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To serve:
Toss the ragù with pasta using 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups of sauce per pound of pasta. Serve immediately with cheese.

Graham Cracker Chocolate Chip Cake

2011-01-20T06:52:00.000-06:00

I am a girl who loves her fluff. It's just so decadently ridiculously over the top sweet that given a chance I will eat it by the spoonful. So you better believe that when I saw the cake that my fellow bakers had picked over at The Cake Slice, I was ready to go. I had my prepped this morning so that I could start baking at soon as I got home from which says a lot about how I was looking forward to this. I am prone more to frantically searching for measuring cups and spoons after I've started mixing.

I wouldn't say it was a disappointment. There were good elements. I liked the graham cracker taste to the cake even though I found it a tiny bit dry despite cutting back on the baking time by 5 minutes. And despite my love of fluff, I thought the taste of it was overshadowed by the powdered sugar. Overall, I'm glad I made the cake but one piece was enough for me tonight. I've already packed up the rest minus two pieces and am taking it to work to share/dump on my coworkers in case a snacking attack does hit. My overall rating for this would probably be a B-. It's just missing something in it that I can't put my finger on.

Please check out the other bakers over at The Cake Slice for reviews, tips and some sure to be yummy substitutions!

Graham Cracker Chocolate Chip Snacking Cake

(Recipe from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman)

For the Cake
8 whole graham crackers, finely ground (about 1 cup) *
¼ cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
6 tbsp (¾ stick) butter, softened
¼ cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup milk
½ cup semisweet chocolate chips

For the Frosting
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup confectioners sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ cup marshmallow fluff *

Method – Cake
Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease an 8inch square baking pan and dust it with flour, knocking out any extra. Combine the graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
Combine the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. With the mixer on low speed, add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then beat until smooth.
With the mixer on low speed, add a third of the flour mixture, then half of the milk, stirring until combined. Repeat with the remaining flour and milk, ending with the flour. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Invert it onto a wire rack, and then turn it right side up to cool completely.

Method – Frosting
Place the butter in a medium mixing bowl and beat until creamy. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Stir in the vanilla and the marshmallow fluff and beat until smooth. Use immediately or cover the bowl with plastic wrap and keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Cut the cake into squares and serve each one with a dollop of frosting on top. (Bring the frosting back to room temperature first if it has been stored in the fridge). Store any uneaten cake in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Corn Soup with Tomato Garnish

2011-01-17T07:00:00.004-06:00

I've had Virginia Willis's book "Bon Appetit, Y'all" for quite some time. But like most of my cookbooks, it unfortunately at first turned out to be another case of wanna gotta have it now cookbook lust which I put on my bookshelf and ignored for several months, intending to get around and cooking something but never quite managing it. However after I got back from a walk to/from my weight watchers meeting with temperatures around 10 degrees and feeling closer to 0 degrees, soup demanded to be made. Which was a good thing as I cracked this book open and realized this was a book to take a chance on as soon as I saw the Corn Soup recipe.

I had to make some substitutions as I had frozen corn and not corn cobs as the recipe called for. If you have a chance to check out her book, try the recipe as it was called for as I think the flavor would be sublime with the corn cobs simmered in chicken stock. But even with frozen kernels, this is a very satisfying and hearty soup. However, I thought my addition of fire roasted tomatoes and ancho chili powder added a very subtle hit of spicy, perfect for a winter afternoon.

Corn Soup with Tomato Garnish
Adapted from: Bon Appetit, Y'all - Virginia Willis

4 cups frozen sweet corn kernels
4 cups chicken stock or chicken broth
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, very finely chopped
1 potato, chopped
1 tbs fine white cornmeal
1 tsp each: parsley, thyme, peppercorn
1 bay leaf
Pinch of ancho chili powder
1 tbsp diced bacon
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
1/2 cup heavy cream (optional per Virginia)
Salt
Black Pepper (several grindings based on personal taste)
additional fire roasted tomato/frozen corn for garnish

Combine 1 cup corn and 4 cups stock in medium saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, then reduce to low and simmer for about 10 minutes. Set aside.

Add oil to large pot and heat; add onions and cook until soft and translucent, approximately 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add remaining corn kernels, potato and cornmeal. Cover with corn stock and kernels from other pan. Add spices, pepper and salt and bring to boil over medium high heat. Decrease heat to low and simmer until potato is tender, approximately 20 minutes.

Add 1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes and puree with immersion blender until soup is smoother. Add in cream and reheat. Garnish bowls with additional fire roasted tomatoes, corn and salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Hazelnut Raspberry Layer Cake

2011-01-09T15:11:00.000-06:00

This week, the bakers of "Sweet Melissa Sundays" tackled Hazelnut Raspberry Layer Cake" which was picked by Candy over at Candy Girl. And although the recipe looked yummy, I wasn't so sure about trying it because of my egg white phobia. Any time I have to deal with whipping egg whites and manage to successfully whip them into peaks, I feel like Superman having just saved the earth. Egg whites and I have had a bit of a rocky relationship in the past and although I've gotten better at working with them, I do occasionally fall flat with them as I did with this cake.

Although, really, it was the frosting that did me in. The cake turned out well. I enjoyed the flavor and the texture overall although I could definitely see that it could be a bit dense if you had made traditional layers . I had made the cake two ways - one in traditional cake pans (which I'm saving for another day) and the remainder in a more shallow pan where I cut out small circles for individual frosted cakes once it had cooked. The frosting was another matter. I had had two packages of egg whites in my kitchen. And unfortunately, the older (read past it's prime) egg whites were what was left when it came time to do the frosting. So they never quite whipped, the syrup did nothing but lead to a watery mush and after adding the butter, I finally gave up and started whipping in some powdered sugar to make the best of a bad situation. Which basically resulted raspberry flavored sugar in the end and a bit overpowering with the cake.

I think I would try the cake again but use a tip Candy mentioned in her blog with cream cheese and cooked down raspberries. That sounds delightful and well worth the egg white extravaganza!

Please check out the other bakers over at the Sweet Melissa Sundays blogroll to see how they fared with the cake.

Macattacaroni

2011-01-02T15:24:00.000-06:00

I love bacon. That's hardly a surprise I know for those who have visited the blog more than once. But I can't help it. Bacon is just one of those foods that is so yummy it is just wrong on so many levels that it can't be rationalized as healthy. I've been wanting to make this recipe for weeks but never quite got around to it, more due to laziness than busyness. Today, with the weather hovering near zero around Chicago, it seemed a perfect day to cook something warm, hearty and packed full of bacony goodness.

As macaroni and cheese recipes go, this was a bit more complicated than I had expected despite the fact that I had picked the recipe out previously (we'll just chalk that up my usual habit of focusing on the ingredients and not so much on the instructions). But despite some not so tiny shortcomings (I didn't have enough milk and substituted buttermilk instead rather than brave the cold and overcooking it just a little) this turned out to be a pretty awesome recipe. I would have preferred a little more creaminess to it but considering the substitutions and overcooking it's understandable. Definitely a keeper for me.

MACATTACARONI
Adapted from "Seduced by Bacon" by Joanna Prues & Bob Lape

1/2 pound dry elbow macaroni
8 slices thick slice bacon, cut into 1 inch strips
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups evaporated milk
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp hungarian paprika
1 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 large egg
3 cups sharp white cheddar cheese shredded
1/2 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook pasta in boiling water for 8 minutes; drain and set aside.

Cook bacon in large skillet over medium high heat until fat begins to melt and overs bottom of pan. Stir in onions and cook until bacon is crisp and onions are golden brown, stirring often. Set aside.

In large saucepan, melt butter over medium high heat. Whisk in flour and cook over medium heat until completely smooth, whisking constantly. Whisk in milk, paprika, salt and pepper. Reduce heat and cook for 10 minutes.

Whisk egg in bowl before whisking in 1/2 cup of white sauce mix. Whisk mixture back into saucepan. Stir in 2 cups of cheddar cheese into sauce until melted. Season with salt and pepper. Combine macaroni, white sauce and bacon mixture together. Spoon into 2 quart casserole dish. Place dish on baking pan.

Combine remaining cheese and bread crumbs. spoon topping over macaroni and bake for 30 minutes or until top is lightly browned. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Happy New Year

2010-12-31T10:08:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year to all of you from me. And the human too. Who despite having slacked a lot this month on baking still redeemed herself with buying me this new perch thingy. But never fear, she has new cookbooks and a desire to try them out so expect yummy posts in 2011!

Meow,
Katie

TCS: Cranberry Cake

2010-12-20T07:00:00.000-06:00

This month's recipe over at the Cake Slice Bakers was particularly festive and timely considering the holiday season. All those juicy red cranberries that just make everything look so pretty. That said, I was grumbling a bit when it was picked as I hadn't really wanted to make it (not that I remember what I voted for anyway now). I know this may strike horror into the hearts of cooking purists, but I've always been a whole berry cranberry straight out of the can kind of gal. So cooking with fresh cranberries struck horror into MY heart.

There is something to be said for stepping outside of our comfort zone. The cake was a lot better than I had been willing to give it credit for when I knew it was the month's pick. Yes, there are some tart bites that you get when eating the cake but it's wonderfully blended with the sweetness of the cake. And the cake is beautifully moist. It went over very well at a staff holiday part I had gone to so thanks to my coworkers, I don't have to eat a great deal of this by myself (although I had been prepared to make the sacrifice).

Just a word of warning when it comes to making this...the batter as others have reported is a very thick one. And extra cooking time may be warranted depending on your oven - I cooked mine for another 20 minutes over what the recipe called for.

Adding this to my list of cake keeper cake's for sure.

December’s Cake: Cranberry Cake
(Recipe from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman)

For the Streusel
1 cup sliced almonds
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
2 tbsp light brown sugar

For the Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
3 eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
¾ cup (1½ sticks) butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 bag (12 ounces) fresh cranberries

Method – Streusel
Heat the oven to 300F. Grease a 10inch round springform pan.
Combine the butter, almonds and brown sugar in a medium bowl. Work the mixture between your fingers to form large crumbs. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Method – Cake
Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Combine the eggs and granulated sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium high speed until the mixture is lightened and increased in volume, about 5 minutes.

With the mixer on low speed, add the butter in a slow stream. Turn the mixer to medium speed and beat for another 2 minutes. Stir in the vanilla.

Gently but thoroughly fold in the flour mixture, half a cup at a time. Then stir in the cranberries.
Scrape the butter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a spatula. Sprinkle the streusel over the batter. Bake the cake until it is golden and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean, about 1 hour to 1hour 10minutes.

Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Release the sides of the pan and use a large spatula to slide the cake from the pan bottom onto the wire rack. Cool completely before cutting into wedges and serving.

Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper or wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Vanilla Pudding with English Toffee Bits

2010-12-17T07:52:00.000-06:00

I'm not normally a big vanilla pudding person. Give me butterscotch or pistachio or lemon any time. But what I am is a woman who when she needs dessert, needs it now and as recipes went, this was a simple and easy one to put together with what I had in the house. And life is always better with English toffee bits after all.

Since I had no milk in the house, I substituted Half and Half for a very rich and creamy pudding. This would have been perfect with some whipped cream, but in lieu of that sprinkling English toffee bits on top made for a nice flavor contrast. Even if this wasn't one of my favorite pudding flavors, it was still a satisfactory, flavorful pudding that did the job on a cold fall evening.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 cups half and half
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
English Toffee bits for garnish (optional)

In large sauce pan, blend together the cornstarch, sugar and salt. Set aside for a minute.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg and add in the milk. Stir into cornstarch mixture.
Cook over medium heat until it thickens but be sure to stir it the entire time. Constant stirring will ensure that it doesn't burn.
Once it thickens, continue to cook and stir for an additional minute.
Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla. Blend well until smooth and creamy.
Pour into a serving dish (one large or individual serving size dishes) and chill before serving. However, this is really great still warm. You can also pour this into a graham cracker crust or a cookie pie shell for a wonderful pie once chilled.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

2010-12-02T07:00:00.000-06:00

I woke up last Sunday morning with a craving for McDonald's McGriddles. Not so much that they're what I want (although they are yummy) but they are convenient since I live a block away and most weekends wake up feeling too lazy to cook. But in my effort to eat more mindfully (eat what I make as much as possible), I started googling away and came up with this lovely treat which was a great way to start my Sunday morning off on. I used Ghirardelli chocolate chips in the recipe and it was just sublime.After getting halfway through the prep I also realized I had no milk so I substituted half and half instead.

Overall, this is a great recipe. At first, the pancakes seem ordinary but then the buttery goodness hits the tongue followed up by a whollop of chocolate to seal the deal. I liked them. I would probably add a hint of cinnamon the next time just because cinnamon would give a tiny spicy warm bite to the batter and as a great plus would pair well with the chocolate.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Recipe Courtesy Gale Gand, “Butter Sugar Flour Eggs” by Gale Gand, Rick Tramonto, Julia Moskin, Clarkson N. Potter Publishers, 1999

Ingredients

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup whole, 2 percent fat, or 1 percent fat milk
1 1/4 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, or less to taste
Butter, for cooking

Directions

In a small saucepan, combine the butter and milk. Place over low heat just until warm and the butter is melted. Let cool slightly. In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt; mix well.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with a fork. Whisk in the milk mixture. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until barely blended. Add the chocolate chips and mix.
Heat a griddle or large skillet over medium heat. Add about 1 teaspoon of butter and melt until bubbly. Ladle 3 tablespoons of batter for each pancake onto the hot surface and cook until bubbly on the top and golden brown on the bottom. Turn and cook until golden brown on the other side, about 30 seconds more. Repeat until all the batter is used up. Serve hot.

French Onion Soup

2010-11-29T06:51:00.000-06:00

One of my all time favorite things to order when I go out to eat is French Onion Soup. I mean, what can possibly be better than all of that gooey cheese, toasted bread and rich broth? It's happiness in a bowl to me.

Which is why I am completely perplexed as to why I've never tried to make this on my own. My only excuse is that sometimes, I think I am convinced that creating something this good has got to be really complicated. Plus I have had some broiler issues in the past (one involving setting scones on fire in the oven by accident) that got in the way of recipes like this.

Whatever it was, I'm glad I got over it. I had had all of the ingredients in the house already and finally decided that a cold November day was the perfect time to get over my french onion soup phobias and have a big bowlful for lunch. The only substitution was using sourdough bread for french bread since that was all I had in the house but it was a delicious sacrifice I had to make.

Definitely would make this again. Thank you, Julia Child, for such a tasty recipe!

French Onion Soup

Recipe adapted from Julia Child, "The Way to Cook (Food Network)

Ingredients

1/2 stick butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 cups thinly sliced onions (about 2-1/2 pounds)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon flour
8 cups homemade beef stock, or good quality store bought stock
1/4 cup Cognac, or other good brandy
1 cup dry white wine
8 (1/2-inch) thick slices of French bread, toasted
3/4 pound coarsely grated Gruyere

Directions

Heat a heavy saucepan over moderate heat with the butter and oil. When the butter has melted, stir in the onions, cover, and cook slowly until tender and translucent, about 10 minutes. Blend in the salt and sugar, increase the heat to medium high, and let the onions brown, stirring frequently until they are a dark walnut color, 25 to 30 minutes.

Sprinkle the flour and cook slowly, stirring, for another 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat, let cool a moment, then whisk in 2 cups of hot stock. When well blended, bring to the simmer, adding the rest of the stock, Cognac, and wine. Cover loosely, and simmer very slowly 1 1/2 hours, adding a little water if the liquid reduces too much. Taste for seasoning

Divide the soup among 4 ovenproof bowls. Arrange toast on top of soup and sprinkle generously with grated cheese. Place bowls on a cookie sheet and place under a preheated broiler until cheese melts and forms a crust over the tops of the bowls. Serve immediately.

SMS: Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

2010-11-21T08:51:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile since I've been able to bake along with everyone at Sweet Melissa Sundays. But no matter how busy or chaotic life is, I will never ever be able to pass up the chance to make a pecan pie. There's just something about all that sugary, gooey yummy filling that makes Thanksgiving for me. So many thanks to Jennifer of Oh Sweet Day who picked this pie and will have the recipe on the website today.

Apart from some issues with the pie crust, it was a snap to make. And the pie crust was strictly my own personal issues with it despite it being store bought...which is why you don't really see a crust in the picture. I'd burnt the edges of the crust and ended up cutting a square from the middle so my offering wouldn't look completely mangled in the picture.

Oddly enough, the dessert wasn't as sweet as I've been accustomed to with store bought pecan pies. I liked that the recipe allowed the pecans to really shine through and the aftertaste of chocolate that followed after each bite of the pecan filling. Definitely would make this again.

Please check out everyone's offering over at Sweet Melissa Sundays to see how they fared with this delicious pie!

TCS: Cinnamon Pudding Cake

2010-11-20T07:00:00.004-06:00

A few years back, I was completely gonzo for Haagen-Daz's "Sticky Toffee Pudding" Ice Cream. I think I may have spent a small fortune on it as I picked up a pint every time I was at the store but this was the seriously best ice cream. Ever. And since it was a limited time flavor, there are more than a few of us who still mourn the loss of it.

However, thanks to Lauren Chattman and the bakers over at The Cake Slice, I can now once again get my Sticky Toffee Pudding fix through this month's cake "Cinnamon Pudding Cake."

In a word...diet busting worthy. Delicious. Awesome. The new culinary love of my life. Pick your choice, they all apply.

As appearances go, its looks are deceiving. The cake was a little tricky to photograph and as soon as I cut a slice, the caramel sauce poured across the plate. But I can live with that. This is a great cake. Just a small word of warning: the sauce may be a little on the sweet side for some people (fortunately I am not one of them). But a little does go a long way with the cake...after indulging in a second bowl, I was feeling the effects of all that sugar.

For presentation, I went with serving this in a bowl to make it a little easier to eat. My only regret is that it's not the type of cake that I can take to work and dump on the coworkers but I'll make the sacrifice and eat it myself if I must.

Definitely a keeper recipe. Please check out the other bakers over at The Cake Slice to read about their experiences and opinions of the cake.

Bon appetit!

November’s Cake: Cinnamon Pudding Cake
(Recipe from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman)

For the Caramel Topping
1 cup plus 2 tbsp packed light brown sugar
¾ cup water
1 tbsp unsalted butter
½ tsp salt

For the Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method – Topping
Heat the oven to 350F. Spray the bottom and sides of an 8 inch square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.Combine the brown sugar, water, butter and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, whisking occasionally, then set aside to cool.

Method – Cake
Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and sakt in a medium mixing bowl.

Combine the butter and granulated sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes.

With the mixer on medium-low speed, add a third of the flour mixture to the bowl. Add half of the milk and the vanilla. Add another third of the flour, followed by the remaining milk and the rest of the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds.

Scrape the batter onto the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Pour the topping over the batter (the pan will be very full). Carefully transfer the pan to the oven and bake until set, 45 to 50 minutes.

Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes, invert it onto a large rimmed serving platter and serve warm.

Let any leftover cake cool completely before storing in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 day or in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Cornmeal Pancakes with Ham

2010-11-16T07:00:00.002-06:00

Sunday mornings and pancakes just seem to go together. So when I was flipping through my cookbooks, feeling that I needed to do something creative and get back into some regular cooking, I came across this recipe and the search was over. Granted, I have a known love of ham that pops up on the blog on a regular basis but even without it, I think I would have made this anyway. With the onions, there's a pleasing reminder of potato pancakes, which brings back some happy memories of my best friend and I chowing down on her mom's potato pancakes with apple sauce and syrup.

I had some issues with getting the consistency that the recipe called for but it might have had more to do with the water not being at a full boil when I added it to the cornmeal. And I also had issues with grating the onions, so I made do with chopping them and adding them to the mix. But considering I've never been a fan of polenta, which I always associate cornmeal with, the texture of this was surprisingly good and tender. This would be a great dish for a company brunch if I ever do one. But I would definitely make this again for myself!

CORNMEAL PANCAKES WITH HAM
From Williams Sonoma Essentials of Breakfast and Brunch

1 1/2 cups fine grind white or yellow cornmeal
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 small yellow onion grated
1/4 to 1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup finely chopped cooked ham
Freshly ground pepper
2-3 tbsp melted butter
Sour Cream for garnish

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Whisk cornmeal, sugar and salt in large bowl. Add boiling water slowly and whisk until smooth and batter is very stiff. Let batter stand for 10 minutes. Stir in onion. Stir in just enough milk to make a batter with a porridge like consistency. Stir in ham and season with pepper.

Place large griddle or frying pan over medium heat until pan is hot enough for a drop of water to sizzle and evaporate. Brush with melted butter. Ladle 1/4 cup batter for each pancake onto pan and flatten cake with spatula. Cook until browned and crisp, approximately 5-7 minutes. Carefully flip pancakes and cook other side for 5-7 minutes. Transfer to platter in oven to keep warm - do not cover or pancakes with get soggy. Repeat with remaining batter and butter.

Serve with dollop of sour cream or drizzle of warm maple syrup (or both if you're anything like me!).

CI:Mushroom Sauce with Ham and Tomato

2010-11-14T07:00:00.001-06:00

Oh so close and yet so far. On my way to cooking one of the November recipes for my blogging friends over at Cooking Italy, I got waylaid by this delectable recipe right before it. At least my heart was in the right culinary direction.

Now despite the fact that I love mushrooms in most dishes, I was a little worried about the amount of mushrooms called for in the recipe and the secondary nature of the tomatoes in this dish. But to be fair to Marcella, my experience throughout my childhood with Italian cooking was entirely limited to the American Italian restaurants my family went to where there was not much variations with sauces or noodles or flavorings. Pizzas, raviolis and spaghettis with basic tomato sauces ruled and mushrooms, ham and tomato sauces were nowhere to be found back then.

Oh, the deprived culinary life I lived then. This sauce was great.

Even better, for once, I actually followed the directions exactly, despite some misgivings about how the amount of mushroom water was supposed to evaporate during cooking (it did) and trying to figure out exactly what Marcella meant by a "lively heat". And I'm glad I did because this dish was, for me, a great flavor eye opener. It's one of those dishes where the attention to detail goes a long way. And it's a hearty dish perfect for a November evening.

Due to a few factors such as reconstituting the mushrooms and then cooking the mushroom water down, the cooking time was a little longer than I had expected but still from start to finish, I would estimate it was maybe a little longer than an hour.

Definitely would make this again. Now I need to go find the eggplant at the store to try the other recipe that looks just as intriguingly tasty.

MUSHROOM SAUCE WITH HAM AND TOMATO
from "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" by Marcella Hazan

3/4 cup fresh white mushrooms
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and lightly mashed
1/3 cup boiled unsmoked ham cut into julienned strips of 1/8 inch wide or less
1 oz dried porcini mushrooms
Filtered water from mushroom soak
2 tbsp chopped parsley
Salt
Black pepper freshly ground
1 cup canned italian plum tomatos chopped fine with juice
1 pound fusilli pasta

Soak porcini mushrooms for 30 minutes. Drain mushrooms through strainer and set liquid aside.

Wash white mushrooms under cool water. Slice and set aside.

Place oil and mashed garlic clove into sautee pan. Turn heat to medium high. Cook until garlic is colored a light nut brown and remove it immediately.

Add ham strips (be care as the oil will splatter up at this point) and stir for a few seconds. Add porcini mushrooms and filtered water. Marcella recommends cooking at a lively heat which on my stove translated to medium high heat. Continue cooking until all mushroom liquid has evaporated - towards the end, stir mushrooms lightly to prevent them from sticking to the pan.

Add fresh mushroom, parsley, salt, and several pepper grindings. Stir for 30 seconds before adding tomatoes and juices, stirring until all ingredients are coated. Turn heat down until sauce bubbles steadily - for my stove this was a high low/low medium temperature. Cook for 25 minutes or until oil begins to separate from sauce.

Wordless Thursday

2010-11-11T21:25:00.000-06:00

Katie holding down the fort while mom is busy...more baking coming soon though!

Favorite Pumpkin Bread

2010-10-25T07:00:00.004-05:00

After this month's recent challenge with the Cake Slice Bakers, I started thinking about my favorite pumpkin bread. It's been awhile since I've made it mostly out of sheer laziness and a over abundance of cookbooks mostly unused which are staring at me reproachfully wondering when I'm going to get around to them. But with fall officially here and the leaves turning all sorts of lovely colors, it's finally inspired me to drag this book out and try to give it a slightly healthier spin by substituting apple sauce for the oil. And as it's a quick bread, it's easy even for a lazy girl like me to whip up on a fall afternoon. The recipe will make 2 large loaves or three smaller loaves. I opted to make a small bundt cake and 4 mini loaves instead.

Even with the substitution of apple sauce for the oil, this still made a very moist and tasty cake, with a pleasing pumpkin flavor and just enough of a cinnamon hint to go very well with the store bought chocolate dulce de leche sauce I served along with the cake.

Now if you'll excuse me, there's a plate of cake with my name on it taunting me from across the kitchen.

Pumpkin Bread
Adapted from: Better Homes and Gardens Complete Book of Baking

3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup apple sauce
4 eggs
3 1/3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
2/3 cup water
(1) 16 oz can pumpkin

Mix apple sauce and sugar together. Add eggs. In separate bowl, mix all dry ingredients together. Add dry mix to apple sauce/sugar mix, alternating with water, beating on low speed until combined. Beat in pumpkin.

Pour batter into prepared pans and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 50 minutes if using large loaf pans. If using a bundt pan and mini loaves as I did and you forget to set the timer, cook loaves for approximately 30 minutes and bundt cake for 40 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool.

TCS: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

2010-10-20T06:57:00.000-05:00

This month, my fellow bakers and I started a new book "Cake Keeper Cakers" by Lauren Chattman. And although my first pick wasn't picked this month, I was still pretty pleased with being able to make pumpkin pound cake.

Now I thought this cake was good, but not great, although I think the fact that I used dark chocolate chips (it was all I had in the house) instead of milk chocolate chips definitely took something away from the cake. Plus, I have a favorite pumpkin bread recipe that I think I was also unfairly comparing this recipe to. I was hoping for a little more of a pronounced pumpkin taste in the cake was well.

Still, overall, a good cake, and something I might bake again for friends and serve alongside some steaming mugs of hot cocoa or coffee.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pound Cake
(Recipe from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman)

Ingredients
1¾ cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground cloves
Pinch nutmeg
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1¼ cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts

Method
Heat the oven to 350F. Coat the inside of a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and dust with flour.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, cloves and nutmeg in a medium mixing bowl.

Combine the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice as necessary.
With the mixer on medium low speed, add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Stir in the pumpkin puree and vanilla. Stir in the milk.
Turn the mixer to low speed and add the flour mixture, ½ cup at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Bake the cake until it is firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean, 55 minutes to 1 hour. Let the cake cool in the pan for 5 minutes, invert it onto a wire rack and then turn it right side up on a rack to cool completely.
Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator, wrapped in plastic for up to 1 week.

CI: A Farm Wife's Fresh Pear Tart

2010-10-18T07:00:00.002-05:00

After a short hiatus with my fellow bakers/cooks from Cooking Italy, we're back and baking our way again through Marcella Hazan's amazing "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" book. This week, (well, last week's recipe really...I am a just a little late making this) is "A Farm Wife's Fresh Pear Tart."

For once, I followed the instructions fairly precisely (I know, who would have thought it) and went with her recommendations of using Anjou Pears (Bosc is another) for the best flavor results. However, as I didn't have whole cloves, I sprinkled a pinch of clove and cinnamon into the batter instead.

Now the most amazing thing is that I really liked this. And that's unusual as I am normally a big sugar fiend and this is a very understated dessert, allowing the pears to shine through as the focal point. Although, I will confess, I did use some homemade caramel sauce as a drizzle but it didn't overwhelm the tart and actually complemented it nicely.

This is something I would definitely make again. Even better, it's not horribly high in points as I'm on Weight Watchers (for the record, it's 7 points if you make 6 servings) so it made a wonderful Sunday morning breakfast for me.

A Farm Wife's Fresh Pear Tart
Slightly Adapted From: Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian cooking

2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 cup granulated sugar
pinch of salt
pinch of cloves and cinnamon
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 lbs fresh pears (Bosc or Anjou)
9 inch round cake pan
Butter for greasing pan and dotting cake
1/2 cup dry unflavored bread crumbs.

Preheat oven to 375.

Combine eggs and milk together. Add sugar and salt and whisk until incorporated. Add flour slowly until you have a thick batter.

Peel pears. Slice in half and remove core and seeds. Slice pears thinly and stir into batter until pears are evenly distributed.

Smear pan well with butter. Sprinkle light coating of bread crumbs into baking pan and tap to remove excess crumbs. Place dabs of butter across top of batter. Place pan in top half of oven and bake for 50 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove tart from pan while still slightly warm. Marcella recommended spatulas which did not work for me, so I slid a knife around the edge, inverted it onto a platter and flipped it over to another platter which worked well.

Serve slightly warm with optional drizzle of caramel and enjoy.

Gingerbread Pancakes

2010-10-07T07:00:00.001-05:00

Anytime my sister comes to visit, it's time to break out the pots and pans and try something new. I believe she has now rightfully earned the honorary title of Most Brave Sister Guinea Pig at this point.

I had been thinking of doing something nice and healthy from one of my weight watchers cookbooks but waking up to a cool morning made me want for something hearty and warm. This hit the right spot. I always know when I have a winning recipe with my sister based on her mmm's.This was was a mmm from beginning to end. It's a nicely understated spicy perfect fall breakfast .

GINGERBREAD PANCAKES
from Essentials of Breakfast and Brunch by Williams Sonoma

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tbsp molasses
2 tbsp butter, melted
3/4 cup water

Position rack in middle of oven and preheat to 250 degrees.

In large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. In another bowl whisk together brown sugar, eggs, molasses, butter and water. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until just blended. There will be small lumps in batter.

Preheat griddle pan until hot. Spray with cooking spray or brush with butter. Cook pancakes to desired doneness. Remove pancakes to plate in oven to keep warm while cooking - do not cover plate or pancakes will get soggy. Serve pancakes warm with syrup.

SMS: Banana Cupcakes with Coconut Pecan Frosting

2010-10-03T07:00:00.002-05:00

This week, the bakers over at Sweet Melissa Sundays got a yummy pick by Eliana of "A Chicka Bakes" AND a challenge to pick the cake of their choice to go along with it. I've never been a big fan of German Chocolate cake which I've always associated this frosting with. However, I've always been a big fan of 99% of all known frostings so it was time to give this frosting a second chance...just with a new cake.

I went with a very yummy and moist Banana cupcake recipe from AllRecipes.Com. For awhile, I had been trying to figure out a way of giving it a pineapple filling but soon gave up on that because I couldn't find the right consistency and flavor. Also, it helped that the banana and coconut went very well together all by themselves.

For the frosting, you definitely need to check out Eliana's blog where she will be posting the recipe. And stop by the other Sweet Melissa Sundays bakers who are sure to be posting some very yummy combinations of their own.

Banana Cupcakes with Coconut Pecan Frosting

Ingredients

1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugar. Add the eggs, vanilla, bananas and buttermilk. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to banana mixture. Fill 18 paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove to wire racks to cool completely. In a small mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugar and enough milk to achieve desired spreading consistency. Frost cupcakes.

Ham and Bean Soup

2010-09-27T07:00:00.000-05:00

It's been a rough couple of weeks with slightly falling off the weight watchers wagon. Okay, maybe totally falling off the wagon if I have to be honest. A few pounds gained back. But I'm getting my mind back on track by deciding the best way to avoid going overboard with eating is to make dinners and desserts myself because I keep getting distracted by McDonalds on my way home from the train station.

Now combine that with the cooler weather that we've been having this week in Chicago and soup seemed the perfect dish to warm me up and get me back on track. I found this recipe in a book I've had sitting on my bookshelf for a few years now which I've never used until today.

I would recommend using a little more pepper than the recipe calls for as with all the lighter ingredients it does need a tiny little flavor kick. Overall, I liked this more than I would have thought considering I've never been a big fan of navy beans. I think I would make this again but would use more ham next time(can there ever be too much ham???).

HAM AND BEAN SOUP
Slightly adapted from: Better Homes and Gardens - Family Favorites Made Lighter

1 cup dry navy beans
1 cup sliced celery (2 stalks)
1 cup sliced carrots (2 medium)
1 cup cooked onion (1 large)
3/4 cup chopped fully cooked lower sodium ham
2 lower sodium chicken boullion cubes
1/2 turnip
3 small potatoes
1 tsp dried thyme, crushed
2 bay leaves
1/4 tsp pepper

Rinse beans; drain. In large saucepan, combine beans and 4 cups water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Cover and let stand for 1 hour.

In same pan, stir together beans, 4 cups water and remainder of ingredients. Bring too boil and reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 1 1/4 hours or until beans are tender. Discard bay leaves. Using a fork, slightly mash beans against side of saucepan to thicken soup a little. Sprinkle with additional pepper grinding if desired.

Makes 4 servings.

Maple Ice Cream

2010-09-23T07:00:00.001-05:00

When it comes to Ice Cream, every day is a good day. I'm one of the only people in my immediate circle who can go to the store on a bitterly cold below zero degrees day and still want Ice Cream when I see it in the freezer display. I have David Lebovitz's Perfect Scoop and Ciao Bella's Gelato Book and I gaze up on them as fondly as I suspect I might with the White Sox winning another World Series (Next Year...For Sure).

This was beyond good for me (then again, I'm the one who is always happy when someone brings those maple leaf candies to work even if it is pure sugar). The only thing that would have made this better would have been the addition of some walnuts, or as the recipe suggested toffee bits, but as I was in a hurry (read I needed a sugar fix bad) I didn't have the time to toast or carmelize the walnuts or go to the store for toffee bits both of which would have made this so over the top I would still be in a sugar coma after having eaten the entire quart in one sitting.

MAPLE ICE CREAM
from About.Com

Ingredients:

1 cup grade B maple syrup, or dark amber
1 tablespoon cornstarch
6 large egg yolks
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup skim or low fat milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation:

In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, bring the cream to a simmer. In a bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, cornstarch, and egg yolks. Pour about one third of the hot cream into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly, then stir the egg yolk mixture into the remaining cream into the saucepan. Stir to blend well. Lower the heat to medium-low and heat, stirring constantly, until hot and slightly thickened. Do not boil. Pour through a mesh strainer into a clean bowl. Stir in the milk and vanilla. Cover and chill thoroughly.

Freeze in your ice cream machine following manufacturer's directions.
Makes 1 quart of maple ice cream.

Fresh Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze

2010-09-20T07:05:00.000-05:00

I ended up making this cake twice. Mostly because of a small little glitch in the glaze the first time around when I ended up melting a rubber spatula while stirring because the glaze had boiled up and gotten a lot hotter than I had expected it to. Naturally, this did not occur to me until after I'd had a piece of the cake, fortunately with no ill effects.

While I liked the first cake, it felt a little greasier than I would have liked from all of that oil. So when I remade the cake, I only used 1/2 cup of oil and substituted unsweetened apple sauce for the rest of the oil. I also went with mini square cakes but that was mostly because I have every intention of saving one more piece for myself and taking the other ten pieces to work tomorrow.Also, because of lack of bowl space, I ended up reversing some of the instructions and incorporated the egg mixture into the flour mixture with no ill effects.

My reaction to the revised cake...I actually liked the second cake a lot more. It helped that the brown sugar glaze wasn't toxic this time of course. But what I liked most about it was the fact that the apple sauce seemed to leave a more pronounced apple taste to the cake combined with the diced apple. I would definitely make this cake again using the substitution. Plus, I can rationalize eating more of the cake now that it's healthy for me with all of that fruit. :)

This was a great cake to end with from Southern Cakes.

Fresh Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze

(Recipe from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott)

Fresh Apple Cake

3 cups all purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3 eggs

1½ cups vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups finely chopped apples

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts

Brown Sugar Glaze

1 cup tightly packed light brown sugar

1/3 cup butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp evaporated milk, half-and-half or cream

Method – Fresh Apple Cake

Heat the oven to 350F. Grease a 13 by 9 inch pan or two 8-9 inch cake pans.

In a medium bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Stir with a fork to mix everything together well.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a wooden spoon or a mixer at low speed until pale yellow and foamy. Add the oil and vanilla and beat well. Stir in the flour mixture with a wooden spoon and continue stirring the batter just until the flour disappears. Add the apples and nuts, stir to mix them into the batter until fairly uniform. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans.

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the cake is golden brown, springs back when touched lightly near the centre and is beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan. Place the cake (still in the pans) on a wire rack and spoon over the glaze while still hot.

Method - Brown Sugar Glaze

Combine all the ingredients in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the mixture comes to a gentle boil. Then cook for 3-5 minutes.

To Finish

Spoon the hot glaze all over the hot-from-the-oven cake. Let the glazed cake cool completely before serving straight from the pan.

Pecan Brown Sugar and Bacon Ice Cream

2010-09-07T07:00:00.001-05:00

Yes, it is true.

Bacon and I are back together.

Granted they're a bit tricky to include in Weight Watchers on a regular basis unless you decide to use your sister as a Guinea Pig for a bacon blow out weekend. And even then, you will eat too much and then sit down with yourself to have the "This has to stop...beginning Monday, we will eat like a grownup" speech said in a very firm no nonsense voice.

So I have had in one weekend way too much Ice Cream and Bacon and Caramel but I am okay with that. Just as long as I weigh in on Saturday instead of Thursday and be a very good girl the rest of the week.

Just a word of warning. This is a very sweet tasting ice cream. If I were to make it again (which would be dangerous unless I had more guinea pigs to eat most of it up for me) I would definitely cut back on the amount of sugar. The recipe called for 1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar but I think you could easily use 1 cup, maybe even of light, and still have a delicious recipe. The book called suggested using a caramel bacon sauce but I think this recipe would do better with a different sauce..one perhaps with a bit of spice in it to contrast with all the sweetness in the Ice Cream.

Pecan Brown Sugar and Bacon Ice Cream

3 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 1/4 cups packed dark brown sugar(I highly recommend cutting this back to taste)
4 egg yolks
1 cup chopped pecans
1 pound bacon cooked until crisp and chopped fine

Combine milk, cream and sugar in heavy sauce pan...it will froth up quite a bit so I would recommend going with a deeper saucepan than you might think you need. Cook over medium high heat until hot and sugar is completely dissolved, stirring occasionally.

In small bowl, beat egg yolks until smooth. Slowly whisk in one cup of hot cream mixture. Return yolk mixture to saucepan, stirring constantly. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture coats back of wooden spoon. Do not let boil.

Strain mixture into clean bowl and let cook completely, Stir in pecans and bacon and freeze in Ice Cream maker. Savor and enjoy!

Pecan Pancakes with Caramel Bacon Sauce

2010-09-02T07:00:00.001-05:00

I have met the culinary cookbook love of my life.

I feel badly though. I used to think it was my book, "The Great Big Butter Cookbook." But after wandering around in a Borders Store dragged in there against my will by myself and nobody else, I found it. The book. The book of all books.

SEDUCED BY BACON.

Seriously. How could anyone resist this book?

The first recipe I tried was Pecan Pancakes with...wait for it.....Caramel Bacon Sauce.

OMG.

This is just divine. No other word for it. I mean the pancakes are really good, and had I made it exactly like the recipe called for they would have been awesome. But this Caramel Bacon sauce goes beyond words for me. Just try it. You'll thank me for it.

Pecan Pancakes with Caramel Bacon Sauce
Adapted from "Seduced by Bacon" by Joanna Pruess with Bob Lape

For the Caramel Bacon Sauce
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp light corn syrup
1 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp dark rum or bourbon (optional- yes, you better believe I went for it)
6 slices thick sliced bacon, cooked until crisp and finely crumbled

For the Pancakes/Waffles
2 cups sifted flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
5 tbsp melted butter
1 cup chopped pecans, lightly toasted

Make the Caramel Bacon Sauce
Combine sugar, water and corn syrup in medium sized heavy pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved. Bring mixture to a boil and cook undisturbed until sugar begins to turn golden. Continue cooking until sauce becomes a rich amber color and immediately remove from heat.

Carefully stir in cream as it will bubble up.(Mine actually seized into a giant clump but dissolved once on the heat again). Return to heat and bring sauce to boil before removing from heat. Stir with spoon until smooth. Stir in butter, vanilla and rum or bourbon. Add bacon and serve warm. Sauce will keep in fridge for a few weeks and makes about 1 1/4 cups sauce.

Make Pancakes
In large bowl, sift flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and cinnamon. In separate bowl, beat eggs, milk and butter until smooth. Stir in pecans. Combine dry and wet ingredients and cook. Serve pancakes with warm Caramel Bacon Sauce.

BB: Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwich

2010-08-30T07:00:00.000-05:00

I haven't been able to bake along with the Barefoot Bloggers as much as I have wanted to the past few months so it was nice to be able to catch up with them this month and bake along with all of the recipes. Even better, we got a bonus recipe this month from Ina Garten's new cookbook How Easy Is That? which is set to be released on October 26, 2010. Ina’s cookbook publicist sent an advanced copy of the book to our blog leader, Tara, and has encouraged us to start trying some of the recipes.

This is a seriously good grilled cheese sandwich recipe. Very decadent. And definitely not for those who are on a diet. I am currently on Weight Watchers and even after making some adjustments to the recipe (deleting the butter, using reduced fat cheddar cheese and mayonnaise, spraying the foreman grill with pam) one sandwich alone ended up being 16 points which is more or less 3/4 of my daily food calories.

That said, it is so worth it. It was a little saltier than I had expected, most likely due to the bacon. And although I'm not sure how it would have tasted without the modifications, it still tasted very good to me. I did not have a pannini press (despite my best efforts to rationalize buying one, I didn't get around to it) but my foreman grill worked perfectly.

Ultimate Grilled Cheese

as chosen by Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake

serves 6

12 slices thick-cut bacon, such as Nodine’s applewood smoked
1 cup good mayonnaise
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 white pullman loaf or sourdough bread, sliced 1/2 inch thick (12 slices)
6 tbsp salted butter, at room temperature
6 oz aged Gruyere or Comte cheese
6 oz extra-sharp Cheddar, such as Cabot or Shelburne Farms

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Arrange the bacon on a baking rack set over a sheet pan in a single layer and roast for 20 to 30 minutes, until nicely browned. Drain on a plate lined with paper towels and cut in 1-inch pieces.

Meanwhile, combine the mayonnaise, mustard, Parmesan, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Lay 12 slices of bread on a board and spread each one lightly with butter. Flip the slices and spread each one generously with the mayonnaise mixture. Don’t neglect the corners!

Grate the cheeses in a food processor fitted with the largest grating disk and combine. Distribute the bacon evenly on half the slices of bread. Pile 1/3 cup grated cheese evenly on top of the bacon and top with the remaining bread slices, sauce side down.

Heat an electric panini press. When the press is hot, cook the sandwiches for 3 to 5 minutes in batches until the bread is toasted and the cheese is melted. Allow to cool for 2 minutes. Cut in half and serve warm.

BB: Mixed Berry Cheesecake

2010-08-24T07:00:00.000-05:00

I love Ina Garten's food. Between how yummy it always looks and how calm she is when she's making it, it always makes me feel like I can do the same thing. So when I saw that Nathalie of Snowball Jewelry had picked cheesecake, I was optimistic. It's been a long time since I've made traditional cheesecake, but considering how I've struggled with not eating an entire pan of it in the past, I decided to quarter the recipe. Which is not as easy as it sounds when it comes to quartering 5 eggs and 2 egg yolks.

Poor little cheesecake. It never had a chance.

There were a couple of issues that I had with it. And by it, I mean the adjustments I made to it. The cheesecake recipe by itself would have been lovely. I was happy when everything came together well. The cheesecake filling tasted great despite the adjustments. . But I didn't quite compensate enough for the reduced pan size with the baking times, so the graham cracker crust tasted slightly burnt. Also, the outside of the cheesecake turned very brown. And let's not forget the cracks in the crust ( from when the cheesecake rose too high, then cracked open and slightly caved in) that I decided to cover up by drizzling sarabeth's strawberry rhubarb jam over it until I realized that there was no way anyone would ever be able to identify that brown pat as a cheesecake unless I cut it open for them.

I thought briefly about trying to make this again, but realized that I'd be in trouble if it turned out well. And by trouble I mean, burying my face in the cheesecake, diet be damned. Which I'm trying very hard not to do after only gaining one pound after two weeks of going off the rails with watching what I ate earlier this month.

End result is that I liked it. But I don't see myself making this again. Just too much temptation in a creamy sweet just one more spoonful taste kind of way.

Mixed Berry Cheesecake

Recipe courtesy Ina Garten
CRUST

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (10 crackers)
1 tablespoon sugar
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted

FILLING

2 1/2 pounds cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
5 whole extra-large eggs, at room temperature
2 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

TOPPING

1 cup red jelly (not jam) such as currant, raspberry, or strawberry
1/2 pint sliced strawberries
1/2 pint fresh raspberries
1/2 pint fresh blueberries

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

To make the crust, combine the graham crackers, sugar, and melted butter until moistened. Pour into a 9-inch springform pan. With your hands, press the crumbs into the bottom of the pan and about 1-inch up the sides. Bake for 8 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

Raise the oven temperature to 450 degrees F.

To make the filling, cream the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Reduce the speed of the mixer to medium and add the eggs and egg yolks, 2 at a time, mixing well. Scrape down the bowl and beater, as necessary. With the mixer on low, add the sour cream, lemon zest, and vanilla. Mix thoroughly and pour into the cooled crust.

Bake for 15 minutes. Turn the oven temperature down to 225 degrees and bake for another 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turn the oven off and open the door wide. The cake will not be completely set in the center. Allow the cake to sit in the oven with the door open for 30 minutes. Take the cake out of the oven and allow it to sit at room temperature for another 2 to 3 hours, until completely cooled. Wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Remove the cake from the springform pan by carefully running a hot knife around the outside of the cake.

Leave the cake on the bottom of the springform pan for serving.

To make the topping, melt the jelly in a small pan over low heat. In a bowl, toss berries and the warm jelly gently until well mixed. Arrange the berries on top of the cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

SMS: Sweet Almond Cupcakes with Lemon Curd and Mascarpone Frosting

2010-08-22T07:00:00.014-05:00

I haven't baked with the Sweet Melissa Sundays Group for several weeks now to a host of varying (read sometimes boring and occasionally preventable) reasons. But when I saw this weeks recipe, selected and hosted by Katie of Katiecakes I had to face facts.

This was a recipe to make time for. Yes, okay, so I have a bit of a lemon fetish when it comes to baked goods. That was a helpful motivator right there. And mascarpone cheese wasn't something I had baked with before, but considering how delightfully it goes with my beloved Tiramisu it really didn't take a lot of persuading to set aside part of my Sunday to pull this together.

Excuse me for just a moment as I wipe the drool off my chin.

So good. Really. I knew it was going to be good when I kept tasting the batter. It had a taste similar to a french macaroon batter. Because I was a little worried about having an entire cake like this in my house, I ended up halving the recipe and going with cupcakes instead. There was a brief moment of panic when I saw how thin the batter seemed but I relaxed a bit when I figured that hey, for once I was actually making the recipe far enough in advance to redo it if the cupcakes turned out to be a dud.

I went with the 350 degree temperature called for with the cake but cut the baking time to 20 minutes. And they looked perfect when I pulled them out. Also, because I am so proud of having done this despite the fact that you cannot tell it from the photo, I have to tell you that I even scooped out some of the cupcake center and filled it with lemon curd before covering it with the frosting and a tiny dollop of curd. The only bit I cheated on was going with a store bought curd instead of making my own. But it still tasted as good as the homemade lemon curd I've made in the past and it saved me a lot of time.

Go check out Katie's blog as she gets to post the recipe there and definitely try this yourself if you haven't already. Yum. Thanks Katie for picking an awesome recipe!

TCS: Tres Leches Cake

2010-08-20T07:00:00.000-05:00

I really really wanted to like this cake due to my love of sweetened condensed milk. If I have to be honest, I'm known to dip a spoon into a can of sweetened condensed milk and eat a spoonful (and enjoy a potent sugar rush afterward).

That's why I was disappointed that it wasn't all that for me. I followed the instructions to the letter (which is unusual for me) except for quartering the recipe. I even added a little extra drizzle of sweetened condensed milk. Maybe it was just a question of having too high expectations for the recipe what with my SCM issues. But it was just okay for me. I don't think I would make it again at least not from Southern Cakes recipe but I would be interested in how it turns out using another recipe.

To console myself and get over how the cake turned out, I added whipped cream and a drizzle of chocolate syrup to ease my pain which helped a little :)

Please check out the other bakers over at The Cake Slice to see how their recipe turned out.

Tres Leches Cake
Recipe from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott

Cake
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup milk

Three Milk Sauce
1½ cups milk
½ cup sweetened condensed milk
One 12ounce can evaporated milk
1 tbsp grated lime zest

Garnish
Sweetened whipped cream for garnish (optional)
Fresh fruit, such as kiwi or berries for garnish (optional)

Cake Method
Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 13 by 9inch pan. In a medium bowl, combine the flour and baking powder and stir with a fork to mix well.
In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugar and beat with a mixer at high speed to mix well. Add the eggs one by one, beating well each time and stopping to scrape down the bowl now and then until the mixture is light, fluffy and smooth.
Add one third of the flour mixture and then half the milk, beating at low speed each time just until the flour or milk disappears into the batter. Add another third of the flour, the remaining milk and then remaining flour in the same way.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35 – 40 minutes, until the cake is golden brown, springs back when touched lightly in the centre and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.
While the cake bakes, make the sauce. (You want the cakes to still be warm when you add the sauce)

Three Milk Sauce
Combine the milk, sweetened condensed milk, and evaporated milk a medium saucepan. Heat gently over medium heat, stirring often until the mixture forms a smooth, steaming hot sauce. Do not let it come to the boil. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before using.

To Finish
Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Sprinkle the lime zest over the cake. Punch holes with a toothpick in the top of the cake, about 1 inch apart.
Slowly pour the warm milk sauce over the warm cake, in stages, stopping to let the cake absorb the sauce before adding more. You may not need it all. You can add more later if needed.
Let the cake stand for 1 hour. Cover and refrigerate, allowing the cake to come to room temperature before you serve it. Cut into squares and serve right from the pan. Garnish with sweetened whipped cream and fresh fruit if desired.

CI: Spareribs with Tomatoes and Vegetables for Polenta

2010-08-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

I really really wanted the picture to turn out as well as the dish but for the life of me, I could not get a decent picture...at least not one that showed off the dish I had actually made instead of resembling every other dish I've made with tomatoes recently.

I've recently had a chance to start baking along again with the group over at Cooking Italy. This past year we've cooking from Marcella Hazan's book "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking." And although I had to miss the first few recipes this month, I was finally able to catch up this week with the cumbersomely titled but still tasty "Spareribs with Tomatoes and Vegetables for Polenta."

Unfortunately, being the slightly lazy cook that I am, I wasn't able to quite manage to get spareribs that were cut into finger sized pieces as recommended by Marcella. When I asked the butcher at Jewel, she gave me a strange look and said that while they could cut the rack into single ribs, cutting the ribs into bite sized pieces might cause them to cut off a finger in the process. So I made do with that and tossed in some sausages per Marcella's recommendation.

Apart from substituting sausages for half the ribs, I also went with some fire roasted tomatoes in lieu of the Italian plum tomatoes and went with a white cornmeal polenta.

I'm not a big fan of ribs, and even though I liked this dish, I do see myself being converted to the joys of eating ribs. But for a Sunday dinner that didn't require a tremendous amount of work, I still enjoyed it.

SPARERIBS WITH TOMATOES AND VEGETABLES FOR POLENTA

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2/3 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 lbs spareribs cut into single ribs
1 pound mild sausages
2/3 cup chopped celery
2/3 cup chopped carrot
1 1/2 cups chopped Italian Plum Tomatoes with juice
Salt
Fresh Pepper ground from the mill

Place olive oil and onions in deep pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are a light gold. Place ribs in pan, turning them several times until browned. Add carrots and celery and cook until they are tender.

Add tomatoes, salt, and several grindings of pepper and place lid over pot, leaving lid slightly ajar. Cook at a slow simmer until meat is very tender, approximately 1 1/2 hours. Add 1/2 cup water if ribs being to stick to bottom of pan. Several over polenta.

Chicken with Balsamic Barbecue Sauce

2010-08-12T07:00:00.003-05:00

One of my usual habits is to check cookbooks out from the library in order to save myself from financial ruin by keeping out of the book store. And then to flip through them, sigh happily, and never cook from them. So I'm pretty happy that I've actually been making recipes from a few of them lately as this is giving me hope that I might be able to break my love of browsing amazon for discount books that usually sit on my bookshelf until I fell guilty and usually give them away to my neighbors in order to make room for the new ones that I've been drooling over.

I'm pretty sure that had I followed the recipe exactly I would have ended up more with a actual sauce instead of a marinade. Giada's recipe called for ketchup which I did not have so I threw in a can of fire roasted tomatoes which I cooked on the stovetop hoping it would thicken up some and when it looked like it was not going to happen, I put four chicken breasts in a pan, covered it with the sauce/marinade and let it cook for around an hour at 350 degrees.Partially because the chicken was still half frozen and I was keeping my fingers crossed that this would help some.

While it did not make a sauce, it made a wonderful tasting chicken, especially with the fire roasted tomatoes that took on a vinegary/barbecue taste. And the chicken did cook up with a tasty glaze on top due to the sauce. So I think I would definitely make this again, both as directed and with my adaptation below.

Chicken with Balsamic Vinegar Sauce
Adapted from Giada's Kitchen by Giada de Laurentiis

2 cups assorted vinegar (balsamic, apple cider & white)
1 can (12 oz) fire roasted tomatoes
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 minced garlic clove
2 tbsp worcestershiresauce
2 tbsp dijon mustard
large pinch salt
several gratings freshly ground pepper
4 chicken breasts

Mix ingredients together in a saucepan and cook over low heat until tomatoes soften slightly. Place chicken breasts in baking pan and pour sauce over them. Cook at 350 degrees for approximately 1 hour or until chicken is tender. Serve with sauce and fire roasted tomatoes on top.

Prosciutto Mozzarella Pinwheels

2010-08-09T07:00:00.000-05:00

I made this recently as part of Bacon Tuesdays for some friends at work. And I should warn you that Giada's picture of this is much more prettier. However, despite its lack of distinct layers, this is very yummy for something so easy to make. I would recommend using your best judgment for baking times depending on the thickness of the roll as it can take longer than the 25 minutes that she recommends. This would be something super simple to whip up on a weekday after work if you're a slightly lazy cook like me.

PROSCIUTTO MOZZARELLA PINWHEELS
from "Giada's Kitchen" by Giada de Laurentiis

Flour for dusting
1 pound purchased pizza dough
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
7 ounces prosciutto thinly sliced
1 cup coarsely chopped baby spinach
1 tbsp olive oil
Kosher salt & freshly ground pepper to taste

Preheat over to 425. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

On lightly floured surface, roll out pizza dough to 12 or 14 inch circle approximately 1/4 inch thick. Sprinkle half of mozzarella cheese over dough and arrange prosciutto over cheese in single slayer. Sprinkle with spinach and top with with remaining cheese and mozzarella.

Roll dough into thin tube (as much as you are able to if you are like me) and tuck in ends. Brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place on baking sheet with seams down and bake for 25 minutes or until top is golden brown. Mine was a thicker tube, so it took over 35 minutes until it was done).

Cool for 3 or 4 minutes, then cut and serve.

Tangy Yogurt Chops

2010-08-05T06:35:00.000-05:00

Awhile back I bought a cookbook solely because I like butter. I know it's not healthy for you in great quantities. I know that if I wanted to be good girl with eating healthy, I would use less of it. But it just would not give the same taste to anything that I like to eat and even sometimes the things that I don't like to eat but do anyway because it's healthier than the things I like to eat.

Plus when you're browsing cookbooks at Barnes and Noble and come across a book that's called "The Great Big Butter Cookbook" and see a bowl full of butter balls on the front as artwork, you get drawn into looking at it and then leave the store quickly so you don't spent a fortune on it and go home and buy it used at Amazon.

So considering how long I've had this (months) it's amazing that I have never once cooked from it until today. And considering the number of desserts in this (naturally) it makes it even more strange. But having eaten my fair share of sweets earlier in the day, it was a dinner recipe I went with instead.

Tangy Yogurt Chops
From "The Great Big Butter Cookbook"

4 tbsp butter
4 pork loin chops
2 large onions, sliced
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms cleaned and sliced
1 tbsp paprika
1 14 oz can sliced tomatoes
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp marjoram
1 small bay leaf
2 tbsp flour
1/4 cup water
1 cup plain yogurt

Melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Brown pork chops on both sides, about 3-4 minutes and remove from pan.

Add remaining butter and onions to pan and cook until onions are tender and transparent. Add mushrooms and paprika and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, salt, marjoram and bay leaf. Return the pork chops to the sauce, raise the heat and bring sauce to a boil.

Reduce heat, cover pan and simmer for 1 hour. Remove pork chops and keep warm. Discard bay leaf.

In small bowl, combine flour and water until smooth. Gradually stir this into sauce and cook until thickened. Remove pan from heat and stir in yogurt.

Sesame Chicken

2010-08-02T06:58:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite dishes in the world has got to be Sesame Chicken.

That said, I have to be straight with you...this is not much like your Sesame Chicken that you get at your average Chinese restaurant. At least, it's nothing like my favorite Sesame Chicken dish which is served with a thick and sweet (but oh so yummy) sauce. This is as close as I think I will ever come to a Sesame Chicken Recipe that might actually be healthy for me.

Personally speaking, I would give this an B+ only because it was a bit salty with the soy sauce but it would be an A for me with a lower sodium soy sauce.

Sesame Chicken
Adapted from Quick and Easy Chinese by Nancy McDermott

2 tbsp toasted white sesame seeds
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp Asian sesame oil
2 tbsp finely chopped garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh pepper
4 chicken breasts
1/4 cup chopped green onions.

Combine soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, garlic, salt, pepper and toasted sesame seeds.

Transfer chicken to marinade, turning evenly to coat and marinate for 1 hour. Turn chicken over occasionally.

Put chicken in baking pan and cover with remaining marinade. Cook at 350 degrees for approximately 1/2 hour or until chicken is tender. Serve atop brown rice and sprinkle with chopped green onion. Serves 4.

Spicy Beef in Lettuce Cups

2010-07-30T07:41:00.000-05:00

I was slightly curious about this book as I only knew Nancy McDermott's recipes from her baking book "Southern Cakes" which is a bit of a hit or miss book with getting recipes to turn out. That said, it may not be the book sometimes as it is me sometimes not reading directions or issuing those dreaded words "that should be good enough." Hence the adaptation below. Nancy's instructions were very simple but exact. I on the other hand pretty much dumped everything together into the skillet and skipped a few steps altogether. So I was pretty happy when everything turned out surprisingly tasty.

I've had some issues with messy eating involving lettuce cups and this one was no exception but it's a great meal to whip up on a lazy Saturday afternoon when you're hiding in your house because it's too humid to go outside. Although I would probably make this again on a weekday as it's very simple to put together. Only minor changes I might make is to add some fine diced veggies in this to give it some crunch but overall, liked this. Now I just have to stay out of the kitchen so I don't keep taking spoonfuls of meat out of the fridge.

Spicy Beef in Lettuce Cups
Slightly adapted from: Quick & Easy Chinese by Nancy McDermott

3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp dry sherry
2 tsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 pound ground beef
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp dried ginger powder
1 tbsp fresh ginger chunks
1 tbsp garlic
1/2 tsp ancho chili powder
3 tbsp green onion
1 tbsp Asian sesame oil
Cup shaped lettuce leaves

In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, sherry, cornstarch, sugar and salt and stir well to dissolve cornstarch.

Place ground beef in medium bowl.Mix with half of soy sauce mixture. Combine sesame oil, ancho chili powder, and dried ginger and combine with soy sauce mixture. Let sit for 10-15 minutes.

Lightly stir fry diced green onions and ginger chunks until aromatic but not browned. Add ground beef and stir until meat no longer has any chunks. Cook until completely browned. Drain fat from pan.

Transfer to a serving plate. Serve hot or at room temperature.

BB: Blueberry Streusel Muffins

2010-07-27T08:00:00.006-05:00

This month,Maria of Close to Home selected Blueberry Muffins. And the Barefoot Bakers were given the option of picking one of Ina's two blueberry muffins, Coffee Cake or Streusel.

I didn't even have to think twice about what I wanted to do. In my opinion, one can rarely have too much streusel on baked goods. So while I halved the recipe in order to have 1 or 2 to keep at home and the rest to dump on my coworkers who are rapidly becoming my culinary guinea pigs, I made a full recipe of streusel and packed it on the tops of the muffin dough until you had to take my word on it that there was a muffin below the streusel.

The words overmix always worry me a little when I see them in recipes as I suspect that I do tend to lean toward overbaking anytime I make most baked goods. And folding is one of those tasks that I guess at so I was a little concerned when I had everything pulled together and in the oven. But overall, I was pretty happy with how these turned out. However, I don't see myself being able to take them to work as due to putting too many blueberries into the batter, this was a very juicy and slightly messy muffin to eat. Plus, due to the excess blueberry juice oozing out and onto the pan, only a few actually make it out intact.

Messy they might have been, but yummy they indeed were.And they are even better the next day too.

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp Kosher salt
2 cups buttermilk, shaken
1/4 lb (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
2 extra-large eggs
2 cups fresh blueberries (2 half-pints)

For the Streusel Topping

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp Kosher salt
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line muffin tins with paper liners.
Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in to a large bowl and blend with your hands. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, butter, lemon zest, and eggs. Stir the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture with a fork, mixing just until blended. Fold the blueberries into the batter. Don’t overmix! With a standard (2 1/4″) ice cream scoop or large spoon, scoop the batter into the prepared cups, filling them almost full.
For the topping, place all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and pulse until the butter is in very small pieces. Pour into a bowl and rub with your fingers until crumbly. Spoon about 1 tbsp of the streusel on top of each muffin. Bake the muffins for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown.

SMS: Toasted Almond Lemon Bars

2010-07-25T08:00:00.001-05:00

This week's recipe for the Sweet Melissa Bakers was Toasted Almond Lemon Bars which was picked by Rebecca of Indecisive Baker.

Go check out her blog. Yes, now. The recipe is that good. It's my new go to shortbread/lemon bar recipe.

That's not to say that I didn't make some minor tweaks that ended up getting their revenge later. I decided to go with a round pie pan because I thought it would make the bars look striking for when I bought them into work. Problem was that I did not factor in the difference in size so I had more dough than I should have which made the rest of the assembly more complicated...the baking times were off and the filling just never set properly after that.

Fortunately, in my new attempt to embrace moderation with eating, I threw some dough into a few mini tart pans to save for me while I bought the pie to work. While the pie just never came together the tarts obediently baked and firmed up perfectly. I did skip the prebaking on these and just patted the dough into place, poured the filling on top and baked it along with the poor doomed should have worked out and not sure why it didn't pie pan. The mini tarts turned out wonderfully..crust was lightly golden and the filling was perfect.

I'm thinking that this may be have a blessing in disguise as I could see myself picking at the pie all weekend and finishing off way too much of it had that turned out as it was supposed to have. I would definitely make this again..but I would want to chill the dough before putting it into the pan as it came out a bit sticky for me. But I would use the smaller tart pans again instead of a traditional bar...they worked out perfectly as a single serving and came out of the tart pans fairly easily even though I didn't spray the pans before hand.

Maple French Toast Bacon Cupcakes

2010-07-16T06:14:00.000-05:00

A few months back Bacon Tuesdays at work was born, thanks to Not Quite Nigella who posted a recipe for bacon jam on her website. I persuaded one of my coworkers to make the recipe and the rest, fortunately and yummily, was history. Although we took a break for awhile, we've relaunched Bacon Tuesdays with the recipe I made for Bacon Cupcakes.

I know. Sounds a little offputting doesn't it. But from my own personal opinion, there are few things that bacon does not make better so for a late celebration of someone's birthday at work, I bought in Bacon Cupcakes today. They were, I am gratified to report, a hit. Although putting any one of us at work together with sugar and bacon is bound to be a success. I did find the frosting a little sweet so next time, I would cut down on the amount of powdered sugar in it. And although i found the cupcake itself to be a lot more dense than I had expected, a soak in some maple syrup and a rest after frosting made a marked improvement overnight. Still very sweet mind you but the bacon flavor especially is more noticeable in both the cake and frosting after 24 hours.

Would I make these again? Maybe. I would want to do some tweaking with the recipe, experiment with different flavors, maybe take out the cake flour and replace with regular flour for a softer moister cake. But this was still worth the calories I took in between tasting the frosting (I had to make sure it was safe to bring to work after all) and the cupcakes I ate today.

Maple French Toast Bacon Cupcakes

(From Food Network)

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup cake flour

1 3.9-ounce box instant vanilla pudding mix

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon potato starch

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 large egg whites, at room temperature

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup half-and-half, at room temperature

1/2 cup chopped cooked bacon (5 strips)

For the Frosting:

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 strips bacon, cooked and chopped (optional)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Place paper liners in a 12-cup muffin tin.

Prepare the cupcakes:

Combine the flours, pudding mix, baking powder, potato starch, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a bowl with a whisk.

In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugars with a mixer on low speed until combined, 6 to 8 minutes. Gradually mix in the vanilla and egg whites. Scrape down the sides of the bowl; continue mixing until light and fluffy. Add the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the maple syrup and half-and-half, mixing after each addition and ending with flour. Mix until the ingredients are just combined; do not overmix. Fold in the bacon.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling each cup about three-quarters of the way. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool completely.

Meanwhile, prepare the frosting: Beat the cream cheese and butter with a mixer on medium speed until creamy. Add the confectioners' sugar, maple syrup and cinnamon; beat until combined. Spread on the cooled cupcakes; top with chopped bacon, if desired.

Creamy Cucumber Dressing

2010-07-14T06:41:00.000-05:00

Recently, when my sister came to visit, I went on a bit of a cooking spree. Which has subsequently pretty much ground to a halt now that I'm up to my own devices and eating cereal for supper because I'm too lazy too cook. But I digress. Between me being on the weight watchers plan, and my sister's high fiber, low fat plan I didn't have an idea of what to make so I dug out my old edition of The Best of Cooking Light Cookbook from 1998. Sadly, I don't have nearly as many healthy cookbooks as I do cookbooks that contain huge amounts of butter and sugar but this one had a few recipes that looked promising and got a nod of approval from both of us. I missed the taste of full fat mayo and yogurt in this recipe, but for a low calorie salad dressing this was really better than I had anticipated. Also, it tastes really awesome on chicken too. I don't know if I would use this regularly on salads but I would definitely try it with meats and maybe even branch out into some international foods with this.

CREAMY CUCUMBER DRESSING
1 cup plain low fat yogurt
1/3 cup peeled, seeded and finely chopped cucumber
1/4 cup reduced fat mayonaise
2 tbsp chopped green onions
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dried dillweed
1/8 tsp pepper

Combine all ingredients and stir well. Cover and chill. Serve over salad greens. Yield: 1 1/3 cups.

SMS: Sour Cherry and Almond Biscotti

2010-07-11T08:17:00.000-05:00

This week's recipe for the Sweet Melissa Bakers was Sour Cherry and Almond Biscotti which was selected this week by Tracey of Made by Tray Tray. And you have got to go to her website because she gets to list the recipe there and it is well worth the the visit. Yummy recipe. Thanks Tracey!

That said, I'm just grateful it turned out. We're talking a serious substitution made in the recipe here. I blame myself for not thinking ahead when planning the recipe...only excuse I can make is that I've been distracted this past week with hounding my rental office for my new lease as the current one is expiring at the end of this month. Long story short, I panic easily (I'll be evicted sort of thing) and they were late in getting it to me. So when I was at the store this morning picking up almonds and cherries, I though idly of picking up butter just to be on the safe side but then decided against it convinced I knew I had picked up butter the last time I was there.

I hadn't.

There was no butter in the house. None. Well maybe a tiny sliver but not nearly enough for the recipe. So in desperation (it was hot, I was lazy, I didn't want to have to go out) I googled and figured that substituting cream cheese might work. And fortunately for me, I had a brick of cream cheese so I threw that in figuring at least I would have a good time tasting the recipe until I threw the flour in.

My other change which was not so drastic was to throw in some tart cherries instead of dried sour cherries. And that was because it was early, I wanted to go home because I hadn't had my caffeine yet, and I had to stop by the rental office again to make sure they didn't forget about me. In other words, I didn't want to have to go out of my way to run around the store trying to find them.

And okay, so I skipped rolling the dough into logs partially because the biscotti I've had before has been the more rustic version with slightly jagged edges and long crunchy pieces. Also I was panicking slightly because the dough seem very soft, I was regretting the cream cheese decision and wondering what kind of mutant cookie was going to come out of the oven as a result. I was figuring either some flat misshapen thing or a dough that rose high and looked more like a cake than a cookie. Plus we still have to factor in the laziness factor of not wanting to go through the extra step of rolling and slicing.

But apart from that, I kept to the recipe :)

Honestly. And one of these days I really am going to do Melissa justice by following one of her recipes as she calls for it to be made.

What was great about this is that the recipe actually turned out. And granted I am not a biscotti expert, but this tasted pretty darn good compared to the biscotti I've had before even with the cream cheese substitution. Would definitely make this again. My only hope is that I can stay away from the rest of them long enough to dump on my coworkers Monday instead of eating them myself.

Great pick, Tracey. Thanks!

Buttermilk Pancakes with Fresh Orange Pancake Sauce

2010-07-07T07:00:00.000-05:00

I know. Two blog posts in one week? And both of them involving food? You know what this means of course.

My sister is in town.

Which is always nice, but I still really need to make the effort to cook for myself like this too as this is some seriously good stuff. I'm a pancake girl anyway. And buttermilk pancakes are something I rarely turn down when given the opportunity.But it's the homemade syrup that really blows this dish away. Considering it was my first time making pancake syrup I was impressed at how well this turned out...although I need to remind myself now: USE A BIGGER PAN NEXT TIME. I hadn't considered the syrup would bubble up while cooking so my burner is...ahem...a bit of a sticky mess.

Buttermilk Pancakes
Adapted from Cooking Light: 5 Star Recipes

1 cup King Arthur Flour White All Wheat Flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
1 egg lightly beaten
1 cup nonfat buttermilk
1 tbsp vegetable oil

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture. Combine egg, buttermilk and oil and add to dry ingredients until just moistened.

Coat nonstick griddle with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cup batter for each pancake and cook until lightly browned.

Fresh Orange Pancake Syrup
Adapted slightly from Cooking Light: 5 Star Recipes

1 cup sugar
1 1/3 cups unsweetened orange juice
1 1/3 cups fresh orange sections (approx 4 medium oranges)
Fresh Zest to taste

Combine sugar and orange juice in a large saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat; cook 20-25 minutes or until reduced to 1 cup, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in orange sections. Server warm or chilled with pancakes or over angel food cake. Store in airtight container in refrigerator. Yield: 2 cups.

Tomato Sauce with Garlic and Basil

2010-07-05T07:00:00.001-05:00

So my sister and I went into the Fourth of July Weekend with a bit of a predicament.

We were both on a diet. She, on a low carb, low fat high fiber diet. Me on Weight Watchers. And both of us have very different styles in how we approach weight loss, programs aside.So when she agreed to eat a pasta dish as long as it was low carb/high fiber, I immediately turned to my favorite Italian Book "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" by Marcella Hazan. And found a very lovely, very simple recipe that was very delicious to boot.

One thing I love about Marcella's recipes is that she's very precise and very thorough, especially when it comes to someone like me who has a tendency to say "oh that should be good enough" at a very critical or a point of not return in a recipe. I got a bit carried away with adding white pepper to taste so it had a tiny bit of a bite to this but I actually quite enjoyed it.

Marcella does say not to be concerned about the 5 cloves of garlic in the recipe as the taste will mellow during the simmer and I agree. I did not taste an overbite of garlic..just white pepper. Definitely a recipe I would make again.

Tomato Sauce with Garlic and Basil
Adapted slightly from "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" by Marcella Hazan

Dried Basil (Marcella calls for fresh but I forgot it at the store)
2 cups canned imported Italian Tomatoes, drained and cut up
5 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped fine
5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Black Pepper ground fresh from mill
1 pound pasta

Put Tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, salt and several grindings of pepper into a saucepan and turn heat to medium high. Cook for 20-25 minutes or until oil floats free from tomato. Correct to taste with salt and pepper.

Remove sauce from heat and add basil before tossing pasta and sauce together.

Makes 4 servings.

SMS: Ginger Snap Cookies

2010-06-27T17:09:00.000-05:00

Tasty Mutant

Not so Tasty Burnt Cookies

Today's recipe for the bakers of Sweet Melissa Sundays was Ginger Snap Cookies picked by Gloria of The Ginger Snap Girl who has the recipe posted on her blog. And I have to say I'm glad she picked it because I seriously love gingerbread despite hating the smell of molasses. I'm a complicated woman when it comes to food...that's all I can say.

I'm not sure what I did wrong, but I could not get a decent cookie to save my life out of this recipe. So, please definitely check out Gloria's website as she has some cookies there that gives this delicious recipe the credit is is due instead of starting a panic of people running for the door after being presented with mine.

Okay, so maybe I'm over dramatizing but I had so hoped my cookies would turn out better. My traditional cookies all burned and the picture above is alas the best of the lot. I even tried a variation by making them into tiny little cakes but they caved in at the top and only a few came out of the pan...hence the unfortunate mutation above that is also the best of the lot.

Never mind. They were still delicious topped with some lemon curd and I would definitely try making this recipe again as soon as I figure out where I went wrong with these one.

TCS: Shenandoah Valley Blueberry Cake

2010-06-20T07:52:00.000-05:00

We have a winner!

I made this cake for my sister when she came to visit a few weeks ago for breakfast. And despite the fact that I did not as usual wait long enough for the butter to soften properly it still turned out wonderfully moist and very nearly addictable. It was just one of those cakes where after eating a piece, you cut yourself a tiny sliver more, nibble on the rest and then throw restraint to the winds and just dive on in.

No doubt I would make this again but only if I had guests as I could see myself eating way too much of this. I'm very happy about how well this turned out especially as I had actually been concerned about how good this would taste considering how simple the ingredients and instructions were. The only thing that would have made this absolutely perfect is if I had had whipped cream on top... however my sister in a flash of brilliance suggested adding a scoop of peach ice cream on top which I will love her forever for.

Shenandoah Valley Blueberry Cake

(Recipe from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott)

Ingredients
1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1/3 cup butter, softened
¾ cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (do not thaw)

Method

Heat the oven to 375F and generously grease a 9 inch square or round pan.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and stir with a fork to mix well. In a medium bowl, combine the butter and sugar and beat with a mixer at high speed until well combined. Add the egg and beat well for 1 to 2 minutes, stopping to scrape down the bowl until the mixture is smooth and light.

Stir in half the flour mixture then half the milk, mixing just enough to keep the batter fairly smooth and well combined. Add the remaining flour, then the rest of the milk, mixing gently. Stir in the blueberries.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 375F for 30 minutes or until the cake is golden, springs back when touched gently in the centre and is pulling away from the sides of the pan.

Serve a square of cake right from the pan, warm or at room temperature. If its round, let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack or folded kitchen towel for 10 minutes and then turn it out to cool, top side up.

So-Cal Hot Dog

2010-06-15T08:00:00.005-05:00

One of the best things about having my sister visit is having a chance to use her as a human guinea pig when I want to try out new recipes. But in case she's reading this, I love your company of course...you know that. Honestly. The guinea pig thing is really just a lucky coincidence.

I found this recipe in the Cuisine Grilling magazine I picked up a month or so ago. As hot dogs go, this was way outside my comfort zone. I'm usually a ketchup, mustard and relish kind of girl although I've been lead to believe that that is a severe hot dog faux pas in Chicago. So when I saw this, I went hmmm because I love my guacamole fixes. The other ingredients either left me dubious or a little perturbed at the thought of mixing them all together.

But don't let that turn you off. This is a mmmmm recipe in sister speak. When she is too busy eating and asks for seconds I know I have a winner. The only substitution I made was to omit the jalapeno but for those who love the spicy, I think this would make it even better.

Now I just have to work at figuring out how to dice melon without it looking like a prop from a horror movie and it would look even better.

I should also admit...I liked this a lot more than I had expected too. There's something about these flavors together that blend well...first you taste the fruit, then the mayo and then the guacamole when you bite it and then you think yum. Definitely a eye opener for me in regards to stepping outside my food comfort zones.

SO-CAL HOT DOG
From Cuisine Grilling Magazine

AVOCADO MASH
1 avacado, pitted and peeled
Juice from 1/2 lime
Salt to taste

CILANTRO LIME MAYONAISE
1/2 cup mayonaise
1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro
Juice of 1/2 lime

MANGO PICO DE GALLO
1 cup diced fresh mango
1/4 cup diced red onion
2 tbsp seeded and minced jalapeno (I omitted this)
1 tbsp honey
Juice from 1/2 Lime

4 hot dogs
4 hot dog buns

Mash avocado with lime juice and salt with a potato masher or fork until chunky.
Whisk together mayonnaise, cilantro and lime juice in bowl until combined.
Combine mango, onion, jalapeno, honey and lime juice in bowl. Chill until ready to serve.
Grill hot dogs and buns to desired doneness. Serve hot dogs in buns with avocado mash, cilantro lime mayo and mango pico de gallo.

SMS: Chocolate Orange Macaroons

2010-06-13T06:54:00.000-05:00

It's been quite awhile since I've had the chance to bake along with everyone over at Sweet Melissa Sundays (Thanks to Tracey for hosting in my place last week) so I was glad for what looked like an easy recipe to sort of ease back into the baking routine. 5 ingredients seemed fairly foolproof which it was and it wasn't. I liked that I had all the ingredients on hand in my pantry already but the cookies didn't come together quite as I had been expecting. My cookies weren't sticking together with the 3 egg whites so I cheated a bit and poured a dollop of rum into the dough to add a little more moisture. I also was concerned about the 25-30 minute cooking timeframe so I set the timer for 20 minutes and ended up pulling them out about 2 minutes early already nicely browned.

Tastewise these were great, whether they turned out well like in the photo above or turned into tasty mutated cookies (already devoured by my sister and I). This weeks recipe was chosen by Ellen over at Blue Tree Green Heart (great pick, Ellen!) so please check out her blog as she will be posting the recipe over there.

Skillet Chicken Teriyaki with Fruit

2010-06-11T15:14:00.000-05:00

I had a chance to make this recently when I was staying with my sister and trying to keep busy so I didn't go nuts from having to sit through a few hours of Home Shopping Network. No offense to those who shop it. I'd watch cooking shows all day in a heartbeat but clothing shows are not my thing.

As my sister is not a cook herself, she didn't have much in the way of cooking items like measuring cups and timers and the such so I was a little concerned for a bit but I was happy (well more like relieved) that it turned out surprisingly good for a new recipe.

I should confess...I did mess up on following the instructions a bit by adding everything all at once but it still turned out very tasty according to my sister who says she would request it again. The picture doesn't do it justice as it was a night shot without a great deal of light but it's worth trying at least once.

Skillet Chicken Teriyaki with Fruit
from Creative Everyday Cooking

8 chicken thighs
1 can (8 oz) pineapple chunks, packed in juice
1 can (11 oz) mandarin oranges
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp pepper
4 scallions
3 garlic cloves minced or crushed

In a large skillet, place chicken thighs skin down. Set cold skillet on burner. Start heat low and gradually increase to medium high until chicken fat is rendered.
Brown chicken on one side, about 10 minutes. Turn chicken over and brown on other side for approximately 8 minutes.
Drain pineapple, reserving juice in 1 cup measure. Drain mandarin oranges, adding enough of syrup to reserved pineapple juice to measure 1/2 cup.
In small bowl, combine fruit juice, soy sauce, cornstarch, dry mustard, ginger and pepper.
Coarsely chop scallions
Remove chicken to plate and cover loosely to keep warm. Pour off all but 1 tbsp fat from skillet. Add garlic and stir fry over medium high heat for 1 minute. Add scallions and stir fry until limp, 1-2 minutes.
Stir in fruit juice mixture and pour into skillet. Add any juices that have accumulated on plate under chicken. Bring to a boil, stirring and cook until slightly thickened, 1 to 2 minutes.
Add chicken and pineapple to skillet and let sauce return to boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 8 minutes.
Just before serving, stir in mandarin oranges. Serve chicken topped with some sauce and fruit.

Mom's Raspberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake

2010-05-30T10:45:00.001-05:00

Technically my mom never made this. Apart from a killer rhubarb pie that she made while I was growing up, she wasn't much of a baker. But one thing my mom and I both share is a love for yummy baked goods. So I made this loaf to take to her in the hospital as a pick me up gift. And since I was up early enough to get some things accomplished apart from playing computer games, I whipped this up this morning. The original recipe can be found at Taste of Home's website but as always I made several substitutions mostly because I didn't have several of the ingredients and hoped for the best (fingers crossed) that it would work.

This is such a wonderfully moist cake (then again, with a cup of sour cream, how it can it not be). It's not pretty, at least not the way I made it, but the taste factor more than makes up for it.

RASPBERRY SOUR CREAM LOAF

adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream (plus 1 extra dollop)
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup fresh raspberries

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients until just moistened. Fold in raspberries if desired or put half of batter in pan, dot with raspberries and cover with remaining batter. Top with additional raspberries..
Transfer to an 8-in. x 4-in. loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Yield: 1 loaf (12 slices).

Wednesday with Katie

2010-05-05T20:34:00.000-05:00

Mom is a little distracted so being the nice thoughtful cat that I am, I'm here to save the day even if this is cutting into my nap time/staring into space contemplating complex quantum physics moments . Still, anything for the human. Someday soon she'll be back into kitchen and baking again once she has it organized and clean again.

In the meantime, purrs to all. I'll be keeping an eye out for the human and getting her back onto the blog soon.

Maque Choux

2010-04-27T07:00:00.001-05:00

MAQUE CHOUX
Adapted from "Cuisine Grilling"

I was always the kid who you had to threaten to get her to eat her veggies. So when I started eating veggies more as an adult(trust me, there's a long way to go) my family nearly passed out from the shock. But in my defense, growing up veggies were out of a can as was. No seasoning, no sauces..really no taste. So, discovering that veggies were not the culinary evil I had always thought was a culinary revelation.

Now, adding a cup of cream and bacon is probably not the healthiest way to eat veggies, but let's remember, at least I'm eating them. And they are yummy.

INGREDIENTS

4 strips thick sliced bacon, diced
3/4 cup diced red bell pepper
1/2 cup diced onion
1/4 cup dry sherry
4 cups veggies(I used corn and french cut green beans)
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp tabasco sauce (I skipped this as I had none)
1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions (optional..as in I forgot)

Sautee bacon in large skillet over medium heat until crisp; pour off all but 1 tbsp drippings. Add bell pepper and onion; cook until soft about 5 minutes.

Deglaze skillet with sherry, simmer until liquid is nearly evaported, scraping up bits from bottom of pan. Stir in veggies, cream and tabasco; simmer until thickened, 3-4 minutes. Season corn with salt and pepper, then stir in scallions. Serves 4.

Tipsy Steak

2010-04-26T07:00:00.001-05:00

Tipsy Steak
Adapted from "Cuisine Grilling"

I so wanted to make this recipe as it was called for in the magazine...I mean, what's not to like about a recipe called "Drunken Pork Kebobs". But as I did not have any pork tenderloin and I did have some thawed steak in the fridge, logic reared it's ugly head and I, actually cooked something that didn't involve (a lot of) sugar and did involve something legitimately nutritious.

This makes a wonderful glaze/sauce. If I was allowed to grill on my balcony (fire code in my village says no, neighbors do it anyway and I'm a coward with things like that) this would be even better than it was with the foreman grill. The recipe called for pureeing the sauce but I skipped the step as I liked the slight crunch the onions gave to the sauce.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup diced onion
3 tbsp butter
3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup bourbon whiskey (I used scotch)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce

Sautee onion in butter in a saucepan over medium heat until soft, 4-5 minutes. Stir in remainder of ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Cool slightly. Puree if wanted with hand blender, and set aside half the sauce for serving.

Baste steak with sauce. Grill for 3-4 minutes (approximate), turn meat and baste again. Grill until done to your preference. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving with reserved sauce.

BB: Jam Thumbprint Cookies

2010-04-25T18:37:00.001-05:00

This weeks recipe for the Barefoot Bloggers is Jam Thumbprint cookies, chosen by Cassandra of Foodie with Little Thyme.

I have been trying to successfully make a jam thumbprint cookie for awhile now. My best friend from grade school makes a lethal one and I have tried my hand, somewhat (okay a lot) less successfully. Which is why I was glad this recipe was chosen as I figured Ina would have a cookie that knocked everything else out of the park.

Now I rarely meet a cookie that I didn't like. I have met a few that I've been relatively indifferent to and unfortunately, this were one of them. Poor cookie..it might not have entirely been it's fault considering I had to make an emergency substitution of Nutella for the jam when I knocked the jar off the counter and it shattered into tiny little pieces all over my floor. Considering the crappy weather, Nutella was the second place runner up.

I had problems with this recipe overall. It was a pain to roll the dough together into a disc for refrigeration. Also, I didn't like the coconut with the cookie dough too much...it just gave it an odd, rustic appearance that wasn't really my thing. Taste wise, it was decent. But considering the millions of cookie recipes that are floating around in the world today, I can't see making this twice when there's so much more to explore in the culinary world.

My overall grade...a B-. It was chewy and I liked the taste mostly of the cookie because it reminded me of shortbread (well with 3 sticks of butter it's hard for it not to). Please check out the other bakers over at Barefoot Bloggers, most of who raved about it enthusiastically as every cookie deserves a fair shot. It just may not have been my "thing."

Now my coworkers did really like these when I bought them in so this was definitely a personal issue with me. Although I'll have to admit that they did taste a little yummier the day after so maybe it may have just been a question of letting the flavors deepen a little more.

JAM THUMBPRINT COOKIES - INA GARTEN

Ingredients

3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
7 ounces sweetened flaked coconut
Raspberry and/or apricot jam

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until they are just combined and then add the vanilla. Separately, sift together the flour and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar. Mix until the dough starts to come together. Dump on a floured board and roll together into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. (If you have a scale they should each weigh 1 ounce.) Dip each ball into the egg wash and then roll it in coconut. Place the balls on an ungreased cookie sheet and press a light indentation into the top of each with your finger. Drop 1/4 teaspoon of jam into each indentation. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the coconut is a golden brown. Cool and serve.

TCS: Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting

2010-04-20T05:55:00.000-05:00

This month's recipe for the Cake Slice Bakers was "Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting."

In one word: yummy.

I would definitely make this cake again. However, I cannot have this cake in my house ever again. Not without guests at least who will make a promise in writing to eat the rest of it for me or take it home with them. It is just that good.Seriously. You won't regret making this. Fortunately for me, I halved the recipe and made mini square cakes out of it to limit how much of it I could eat.

I've had some limited successes with past months cakes from "Southern Cakes". Sometimes the frosting was good, sometimes the cake was good but the key point is good. They were good. They were not great. This cake was great. For me at least. The cake was incredibly moist and tasted wonderful on it's own. The frosting, which I modified slightly by adding less powdered sugar to it to limit the sweetness, was wonderful on its own. In fact I had to throw the rest of it out to avoid eating it by itself. Together they were amazing.

I made the cake as is which is a amazing feat of its own. The frosting I modified slightly as I added only one cup of powdered sugar so I ended up more with a thick glaze that still tasted wonderful despite forgetting to add the vanilla extract.

Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting

(Recipe from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott)

Banana Cake

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

¾ cup (1½ sticks) butter, softened

1½ cups sugar

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup buttermilk*

1½ cups mashed ripe banana

Chocolate Frosting

½ cup (1 stick) butter

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/3 cup evaporated milk or half-an-half

4 cups sifted confectioners sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

* If you don’t have buttermilk you can make your own by stirring 1½ teaspoons of vinegar or lemon juice into ½ cup of milk and leaving for 10 minutes.

To make the cake, heat the oven to 350F. Grease and flour two 9 inch cake pans. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and stir with a fork to combine well.

In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugar and beat well, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one by one, and then the vanilla. Beat well for 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl occasionally until you have a smooth batter.

Using a large spoon, stir in half the flour just until it disappears into the batter. Stir in the buttermilk and then the remaining flour the same way. Quickly and gently fold in the mashed banana and then divide the batter between the 2 cake pans.

Bake at 350F for 25 to 30 minutes until the cakes are golden brown, spring back when touched lightly in the centre, and begin to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Cool for 10 minutes in the pans on wire racks. Then turn out onto the racks to cool completely.

To make the frosting, combine the butter, cocoa and evaporated milk in a medium saucepan. Place over medium heat and bring to a gentle boil. Cook, stirring often for about 5 minutes, until the cocoa dissolves into a dark shiny essence. Remove from the heat and stir in the confectioners sugar and vanilla. Beat with a mixer at low speed until you have a thick smooth frosting.

To complete the cake, place one layer, top side down, on a cake plate and spread about 1 cup of frosting evenly over the top. Cover with the second layer placed top side up. Spread the rest of the frosting evenly first over the sides and then covering the top of the cake.

Cooking Italy: Ricotta Fritters

2010-04-19T08:00:00.004-05:00

I'm a fairly new covert to recipes involving ricotta cheese. I had been introduced to it some months back by a some of the recipes Palidor over at Crazy Asian Gal had been posting on her blog. Just one of those ingredients that I never much got into just because of a very limited exposure to it. So when I realized that this recipe was fairly easy not to mention involved honey, one of my favorite versions of sugar, I figured I had to try it. And as my sister was in town, I had a victim (I mean a taste tester) to eat half of them so it if was very good, I wouldn't have to worry about eating them all by myself.

I made this and the lamb chops on the same weekend, pretty much clearing out my supply of canola/vegetable oil in my house.And for the most part, I did like them. Maybe because I have such a massive sweet tooth I was taken aback at how mild the sweetness was. Probably closer to what I should be eating to retrain my taste buds to enjoy more subtle flavors. I thought the fritter itself was wonderfully light in texture and flavor.I think I might also try to add a little more lemon zest next time to give it a bit more pop on the taste buds or maybe even sprinkle a bit of cinnamon into the fritter dough itself before frying it.

RICOTTA FRITTERS (MARCELLA HAZAN)

1/2 lb fresh ricotta

2 eggs

1/3 cup flour

1 1/2 tbsp butter, softened to room temperature

Peel of one lemon grated

salt

vegetable oil

Honey

Place ricotta in bowl and crumble. Break eggs into bowl andmix with ricotta. Add flour a little at a time, working it into the ricotta/egg mixture. Add butter,lemon peel and pinch of salt and mix until evenly combined.

Rest batter for 2 1/2 hours (no longer than 3 1/2 hours - why? She didn't say.)

Pour oil to come up 1/2 inch of pan you are using. Turn heat to medium high. Drop dough into hot oil. Flip in pan when golden brown on one side. Turn heat down if fritters are NOT puffing. Transfer with slotted spoon to cooling rack to drain. Drizzle honey and serve hot.

SMS: Sweet Potato Bread (and more) with Cinnamon Rum Orange Glaze

2010-04-18T08:00:00.003-05:00

Part I: The Challenge

Part II: The Yummy Experiment

This weeks recipe for the Sweet Melissa Bakers was Sweet Potato Bread (with a to die for Cinnamon Rum Orange Glaze) chosen by Lorelai over at Mermaid Sweets - please check our her blog too as she will be posting the recipe there and you won't want to miss it. This was a great recipe...that I almost didn't make because I wasn't in a bread state of mind. In fact, I had decided to turn it into a pancake recipe but I had so much left over afterwards I still ended up making 3 mini loaves with it in the end...one of which my sister ate, another that she took home to my mom and one that is sitting in my refrigerator taunting me to eat it as I type.

But I digress. The only thing that I found a little offputting about the recipe was actually making the glaze...I had a hard time for some reason gauging if it was sufficiently reduced and I had been expecting a slightly thicker almost syrupy consistency that it never achieved (most likely because it wasn't meant to). I did end up using walnuts instead of pecans in the recipe as I had a lot of them in the house and now that I think about it, tossing some chocolate chips in there would have been really yummy too. Next time for sure.

For the pancakes, I took a quarter of the dough, added milk to it until it reached a smoother thinner consistency and they turned out very well for breakfast with the orange glaze spread on top and just a hint of maple syrup drizzled over it. I found it a tiny bit hard to tell when they were done because of the color of the dough so I had to guess (and burn) one in the process but after that, it got a little easier and tastier.

Please check out the other Sweet Melissa Sunday Bakers blogs for their experiences with this weeks recipe!

MSC: Jumbo Chocolate Filled Cupcakes

2010-04-15T08:00:00.004-05:00

This months recipe for the talented bakers of the Martha Stewart Cupcakes Club was Jumbo Chocolate Filled Cupcakes, chosen by Jess of Cookbook Habit. And as Martha's cupcakes go, this was actually surprisingly simple to put together. If I was still a bigger fan of chocolate as I was in my 20's and early 30's (what has happened to me over the years???) this would have been a wonderful cupcake. As it was, I only had one...I loved the cream filling (the fluff is a weakness of mine in general) and enjoyed the cupcake overall but was not tempted to try/attack/devour another one like I would have a few years back.

Apart from adding a chocolate mint glaze to the cupcakes to give it more of a finished look, I didn't make too many changes to it .Since I cannot pipe to save my life I settled for just putting a dollop of cream filling on top of the cupcake. And as my cupcakes were smaller (I don't have a jumbo pan) I was hesitant to try the scooping method and went instead for cutting the cupcake in half, putting a small layer of cream filling there, and replacing it with the glazed top

My opinion...good, but I don't think I would make them again.I've got a few regular cupcakes with glaze and without fluff filling that I might take into work. The cream filling, considering I could easily eat it by the spoonful/container, has alas already had to be disposed of for the sake of my weight loss goals. I had already attacked a previous container of fluff and had to go out and buy a new one in order to make the recipe.

Thanks, Jess, for giving me a chance to recreate one of my favorite cupcakes growing up as a kid. Please check out the other bloggers over at Martha Stewart Cupcakes Club and see how their baking experiences went.

Spanish Chicken Skillet

2010-04-13T08:00:00.001-05:00

I am a sucker for gizmos, gadgets and cutesy packaging. So when I saw that there was something new (Oh McCormicks I love you ) on the shelves that not only included a recipe but also all the little individual spices that went with it so you didn't have to buy a whole bottle , I went to my buy it now happy place. And surprisingly, I actually made it too.

Granted, you do have to have the other ingredients on hand, but this does simplify matters with measuring out all the individual spices.And it's another step out of my culinary rut by including red peppers.

Gotta admit, it wasn't as bad as I had been expecting it to be with the red peppers in it. And not nearly as spicy as I had thought it would be either. Maybe my taste buds are starting to grow up.

SPANISH CHICKEN SKILLET
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp thyme leaves
1/4 tsp coarse ground black pepper
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

1/4 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breats
2 tsp olive oil
1 large red or green pepper, cut into thin strips
1 large onion cut into 1/2 inch thick wedges
1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup chicken broth or sherry

Mix flour, salt and all spices (except red pepper) in small bowl. Season chicken with 2 tbsp of the seasoned flour.
Cook chicken in hot oil in large skillet on medium high heat 3 minutes per side or until browned. Remove from skillet. Add bell pepper and onion, cook and stir 5 minutes or until tender.
Stir in tomatoes, broth and remaining seasoned flour. Bring to boil, stirring frequently. Stir in red pepper to taste. If desired return chicken to skillet. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Cooking Italy: Parmesan Lamb Chops

2010-04-12T06:56:00.001-05:00

I was a little dubious about trying this recipe. Mostly because I've never been a huge fan of lamb dishes. A lot of the time it always seemed to taste a little gamey to me and as a result I ended up avoiding most of the opportunities to try it again as a grown up with some more mature taste buds. But I've learned over the past several months that I have in many ways gotten into a culinary rut that is only going to shift with going outside my comfort zone and trying new recipes. So I wrote up my grocery list, went to the store, realized I had no idea of what type of lamb to buy and ended up going home with two chops from the arm region figuring it was good enough (never never EVER good words to hear from me when I'm have a moment of culinary confusion.)

First things first...this was a much thicker chop than the recipe called for. So there really wasn't a way to flatten it to the consistency that Marcella called for not without pounding the life out of it in the process. And I've never really gotten a lot of practice with frying meats for the most part so I was somewhat dubious about how long to cook this while hoping that the oil was hot enough to fry the meat. In the end, after the nice brown crust had formed, I ended up taking it out of the oil and putting it into the oven to bake.

My sister and I were both looking a little worried as we sat down to eat. She's never eaten lamb without mint jelly. I've not even had that but am fairly sure that I've eaten it in some middle eastern foods in the past so I wasn't sure what to expect from this dish.

In a nutshell: it was amazing.

My sister ate the entire lamb chop humming and yumming. Both of us agreed it was tender, without any hint of the gaminess that I had feared it would. Nor did it taste of oil due to the bath in the oil before I gave up and switched to the oven. The color was gorgeous, the breading was awesome and that cheese coating was perfect. I would definitely make lamb chops again using this recipe. And that's saying a lot.

THIN LAMB CHOPS FRIED IN PARMESAN BATTER
12 single rib lamb chops, flattened
1/2 cup parmigiano reggiano cheese spread on plate
2 eggs, beaten lightly in deep dish
1 cup fine, dry unflavored bread crumbs on plate
Vegetable oil
Salt
Black Pepper

Turn chops on both sides in parmesan cheese, pressing firmly against the cheese until it adheres well to the plate. Tap to remove excess cheese, dip into beaten eggs and let excess egg drip off. Turn chops in bread crumbs, coating both sides and tap to remove excess. Chops can be prepared up to 4 hours ahead - bring meat to room temperature before cooking.

Pour oil into pan until it comes 1/4 inch up sides of pan. Turn heat to medium. When oil is very hot, slip chops into pan. Turn chops over when a golden crust ha formed and cook other side. Transfer to cooked chops to a warmed platter and serve promptly.

Growing Up (And Having Fun) After 40

TCS: Tiramisu Cake

Gluten Free Baked French Toast

Bourbon Baked Beans

Gingerbread Souffle

Nutmeg Spice Cake

Sage and Pancetta Biscuits with Fontina Cheese

TCS: Zebra Cake

Sweet Corn Ice Cream

CB: New York-Style Crumb Cake

Greenhouse Herb Chicken

SMS: Pear (Raspberry) Pie with Gingersnap Crumble

Dreamy Orange Waffles

Tropical French Toast

Lemon Chicken

SMS: Cherry Clafoutis Tart

TCS: Cold Oven Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Gluten Free Thin Mints Style Cookies

Dilly BLT Pasta Salad

Blueberry Upside Down Cake with Yogurt Sauce

Ricotta, Ham and Scallion Tart

Citrus Cornmeal Shortbread

Mom's Brandy Old Fashioned Sweet

Baked Shrimp with Fennel and Feta

Peruvian Roast Chicken with Garlic and Lime

Greek Chicken Salad Pitas

Cinnamon Madelines

Easy Pork Tacos with Mango Salsa

Chicken and Spinach Farfalle

Ragu Alla Bolognese

Ingredients

Instructions

Graham Cracker Chocolate Chip Cake

Corn Soup with Tomato Garnish

Hazelnut Raspberry Layer Cake

Macattacaroni

Happy New Year

TCS: Cranberry Cake

Vanilla Pudding with English Toffee Bits

Vanilla Pudding

Adapted from Ehow.Com)

Ingredients

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Ingredients

Directions

French Onion Soup

French Onion Soup

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Directions

SMS: Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

TCS: Cinnamon Pudding Cake

Cornmeal Pancakes with Ham

CI:Mushroom Sauce with Ham and Tomato

Wordless Thursday

Favorite Pumpkin Bread

TCS: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

CI: A Farm Wife's Fresh Pear Tart

Gingerbread Pancakes

SMS: Banana Cupcakes with Coconut Pecan Frosting

Banana Cupcakes with Coconut Pecan Frosting

Ingredients

Directions

Ham and Bean Soup

Maple Ice Cream

Ingredients:

Preparation:

Fresh Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze

Pecan Brown Sugar and Bacon Ice Cream

Pecan Pancakes with Caramel Bacon Sauce

BB: Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwich

BB: Mixed Berry Cheesecake

Mixed Berry Cheesecake

FILLING

TOPPING

Directions

SMS: Sweet Almond Cupcakes with Lemon Curd and Mascarpone Frosting

TCS: Tres Leches Cake

CI: Spareribs with Tomatoes and Vegetables for Polenta

Chicken with Balsamic Barbecue Sauce