Cee in the Kitchen

chocolate cut out cookies for your valentine

2012-02-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

Ask any of my friends: I'm far from saccharine by nature. But on Valentine's Day (and several other special days of the year, to include birthdays, weddings, and when my softball team wins) I want nothing more than to be sappy, happy, sentimental, and surrounded by glittery hearts and twinkly lights and pretty flowers. Yay hearts!

Regardless of if I'm single or lucky enough to be with a kinda awesome dude (hi!), I cheese OUT for Valentine's Day. You see, my life is and always has been filled with love. I've been blessed with family that's pretty close despite the geographical distances across states and continents (thanks Facebook). I've kept only the best of people in my life as friends and more (hi again, you rock!). Many of those friends have been around since I was a kid (high five to longevity). I have never had a traumatic Valentine's Day. Heck one of my favorite ones was maybe 15 years ago spending a night with my other single girls giggling and watching a hot young Brad Pitt in Thelma and Louise. I never want for good food cuz I'm the one making it, haha. I get to SHARE said good food with the people in my life. Oh, and my car is hot and my home is cozy. I love Valentine's Day because I get to "officially" recognize just how lucky I am.

So, allow me to cheese it up with some out of character things like chocolate and hearts in one little cookie. I hope you get a chance to make these for someone who has made your life a little better, or for someone whose life you want to make better, or for yourself, cuz you make your own life Awesome.

Because these cookies ARE awesome. Perfect for Valentines Day, or maybe a bridal shower using the bride's colors, hehe. They taste like thin brownies. They're easy to work with and hold their shape, too. Instead of royal icing, I decorated with glace icing. I'm still pretty new to piping and stuff, so it's better you go HERE for the recipe and instructions. One note is that they do need to dry overnight, so plan ahead! They turned out dainty and pretty, and I hope the person getting these will love them as much as I do!

Brownie Roll Out Cookies
Adapted from The Busty Baker

3 C flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 C cocoa powder (I used dutch processed)
1/2 tsp espresso powder
2 sticks butter
1 1/3 C sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla

Sift together all the dry ingredients (from the flour to the espresso powder). Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat eggs in one at a time until combined. Mix in vanilla. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients until smooth. Make sure to scrape down the sides a few times to make sure it's even.

Separate dough into 3 quart bags. Flatten out so it's about 1" thick, then press out the air and zip closed. Refrigerate at least an hour or overnight.

When ready to roll out cookies... preheat oven to 350. Flour your work surface, turn a pack of dough out onto it, flour that and flour the rolling pin. Roll out your cookies to about 1/8" to 1/4" thickness. Cut out and lay on parchment lined baking sheets. It's best to chill cookies on the pan for another 5-10 minutes before you bake. I baked the small 2" cookies for 5-6 minutes, and the larger 3-4" cookies for 6-7 minutes. Allow to cool on the pan.

When completely cool, decorate with icing (again, see this link) and allow to dry overnight so you can stack them.

kale and potato fritatta

2012-02-08T13:35:00.000-08:00

I bought a bunch of kale the other day with the intent of making a green smoothie. You know... a fruit smoothie blended with with some a super veggie for extra nutrients. Yep, didn't quite get around to that, whoops. But I didn't want the kale to go to waste and I've needed another grab and go breakfast anyways so viola, breakfast fritatta!

I was originally just going to make a straight kale and onion fritatta until I saw the link for adding potatoes, and what a great idea! It gives the fritatta some heft and textural interest. I wasn't intentionally going the vegetarian route, so if you wanna throw in some meat, brown up some sausage and throw it in there, too.

Kale and Potato Fritatta
slightly adapted from Eggs on a Sunday

1 Spanish onion, peeled, cut in half, and sliced into strips
2 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" pieces
3 C kale, remove the stem and chop into bite size pieces
2 tbsp canola oil
8 eggs
salt and pepper
special equipment: cast iron skillet or a skillet you can put into the oven

Preheat oven to 400. Beat eggs in a large bowl.

Heat skillet over medium heat. Add oil. Add potatoes, sprinkle with a light layer of salt, and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add onions, sprinkle with another light layer of salt. Cook, stirring pretty regularly, until onions soften and start to turn golden and the potatoes are fork tender. (Add oil if potatoes stick to the bottom.) Add kale, sprinkle with a bit more salt and plenty of freshly ground pepper, and cook for 3-4 minutes or until wilted.

Give the eggs one more whirl with the whisk to make sure it's beaten and airy. Check that the bottom of the pan has a glisten of oil (so the eggs wont stick), and then pour the eggs over the veggies and stir until it's even. Stir a bit to make sure the kale and potatoes are evenly distributed, too.

Put in oven and bake for 10-15 minutes or until it's all puffy. Take out of the oven. It will drop. Loosen the edges. Turn out onto a cutting board and cut into 6 pieces.

stout brownies plus 6 savory Superbowl ideas

2012-02-04T09:32:00.000-08:00

So the Superbowl is tomorrow. I'm a Redskins gal, so yeeaaaaahhhh... the game itself has never held that much excitement :-D For me, the Superbowl is good for exactly one thing: an opportunity to try out a new recipe! I opted for something sweet this year, but wanted to incorporate something superbowl-y. Like beer. Yup, there's beer in these here sweets: Stout Brownies.

I used double chocolate stout in these brownies, yum, and they have a deep chocolately flavor with a hint of the stout. I'm having a hard time explaining the texture, though. They don't have the crackly top or crisp edges that I love in brownies, but they do have an airy fudgy texture. Almost like a substantial, dense mousse. Like the freaky child of a cakey and fudgey brownie... they look like cake but melt like fudge. They'd benefit from chocolate chips to add textural interest, so I'll do that for tomorrow. Hopefully they'll be a nice balance to all the savory food I'll be pigging out on!

Stout Brownies
adapted from We Are Not Martha

1 C chocolate stout
2/3 C flour
1/2 C cocoa powder (I used dutch processed)
1/4 tsp salt
5 oz chocolate (I used 60%)
1 stick butter
1 C white sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 365. Line a 9x9 metal baking dish with foil or parchment with a 1-2" overhang.

Pour 1 C stout into a liquid measuring cup (don't count the foam!) and allow to settle. Sift together the flour, cocoa, and salt and set aside.

In a double boiler (I used a metal bowl over a small pot of simmering water, make sure the bowl doesn't touch the water!), melt the chocolate and butter until smooth. Take off heat. Beat in sugar until thoroughly combined. Allow to cool to lukewarm. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Mix in vanilla. Mix in the stout. Whisk in the dry ingredients until combined. (It will be a more liquidy batter than thick.)

Pour into prepared baking pan and bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick poked in comes out mostly clean. Allow to cool. cut into 25 (or 16) pieces. Enjoy!

AAAAANNNND.... Not in the mood for a sweet something at Superbowl? Here are 6 ideas for savory goods you can make, too:

BACON EXPLOSION

Shrimp and Andouille Sausage Skewers

Carne Machaca Taquitos

My absolute most favorite Guacamole and some Pico de Gallo

Turkey Chili (with lots of cheese!)

morning glory muffins

2012-02-03T15:49:00.000-08:00

I'm not a morning person. At all. I sleep until I have EXACTLY enough time to shower, groom, maybe blow dry my hair (more often then not I put it in a bun or pony tail), and (hopefully) make it to my daily 8:15 meeting on time. I don't take my time to do all that stuff, either, I hustle, checking my watch every free second I have. So unless it's a lazy weekend, my breakfast had better be grab and go... like a muffin!

I've been wanting something more substantial than yogurt and fruit, so I tried my hand at these healthy, not too sweet breakfast muffins. These are not your light almost cupcake like muffins you'll find at the store... these are hearty and dense, made with both yogurt and fruit plus whole wheat flour and oats and flax to boost the fiber content. This by itself plus a cup of coffee will last me until about 11, but when I eat it with another piece of fruit, I'm good until lunch time. Added bonus - they freeze well*, so you can grab a frozen one and have it as a nice 3pm snack to help you last until dinner. Morning, noon, or even night, these make a great treat.

Morning Glory Muffins
adapted from Cooking Light

1 C white whole wheat flour
1/2 C all purpose flour
1 C old fashioned oats
1/2 C brown sugar
3 Tbsp flax meal
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 bananas, mashed
6 oz plain Greek yogurt
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 C chopped walnuts
1/2 C pitted dates, chopped
1/2 C dried apricots, chopped
1/2 C dried cranberries, rough chopped
turbinado sugar, for topping (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare muffin tins -- spray 18 liners with cooking spray then put in tins.

Thoroughly combine all dry ingredients (from the flour to the salt) in a large bowl. Combine all the wet ingredients (from the bananas to the vanilla) in a smaller bowl and mix well.

Make a well in the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and stir until about 80% combined. Fold in the add ins (from the walnuts to the cranberries) until evenly distributed and batter is just combined. Dish out evenly into the 18 liners. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until a a toothpick inserted comes out dry.

* If freezing, wait until they're cooled. Wrap in two layers of plastic wrap and then put into a freezer zip top bag.

southwest seasoning and a quick quesadilla

2012-01-17T19:59:00.000-08:00

Say hello to tonight's dinner:

This delightful little quesadilla was perfect for one person and took me all of 10 minutes to put together because everything* was premade, including some cooked, seasoned chicken thighs I had in my fridge. All I had to do was slice some up and add it in.

I try to keep cooked chicken thighs in my fridge for quick dinners. Thighs, not breasts. I don't know what it is about chicken breasts but I can NOT cook them well. One time I boiled a chicken breast - boiled, like in liquid - and it STILL turned out dry and chalky. Ever since then I'm strictly a thigh girl, lol.

I'll buy a pack of organic thighs and then forget about them until the day they're almost bad, lol, and then bake them all off. I usually line a 9x13 with little sections of foil with edges folded up so that there are little compartments, then add different seasonings. A couple are simple salt and pepper in case I want to make chicken salad. I'll add lemon pepper to another, and in this case, I seasoned some with Emeril's spicy southwest seasoning. Banging seasoning, btw, and I highly recommend you try it, thus, a recipe. I like heat, so I upped the hot ingredients, but feel free to use Emeril's original proportions.

Emeril's Southwest Seasoning Blend

2 Tbsp chili powder
2 Tbsp paprika
1 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp ground coriander
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp Mexican oregano
1 Tbsp salt
1 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp chipotle chile powder
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients and blend well. Store in an airtight container away from sunlight and heat.

I trimmed the fat off the thighs then seasoned liberally with this southwest seasoning. I then baked them at 350 for around 20 minutes. I cut one open to make sure they were done... best to check because thickness varies

* Bonus note. The guacamole I had with that quesadilla was NOT my normal guacamole recipe. I was in a rush, and thus my recipe for insta-guac: mash up an avocado, mix in enough bottled salsa to suit your tastes. Viola.

French Dip Sandwiches

2012-01-05T21:08:00.000-08:00

Perfeclty rare meat + buttered crusty bread dunked in jus = comfort and joy.

My brother introduced me to the french dip au jus (with juice) sandwich in LA around 10 years ago. I thought it was ridiculous he'd pay nearly $20 for a meat sandwich. But oh my, was it so worth it! Every GOOD french dip I've had has been that pricey, presumably because of the pile of thin slices of quality roasted beef, so that became my goal for making my own. While I saw different seasoning recipes all over the webs, it was on an episode of Diners, Drive Ins and Dives that I saw someone use Montreal steak seasoning before roasting. That's one of the few spice blends I use regularly because it's well balanced. That plus some extra thyme, garlic, and salt made for an exceptionally crusted and flavored meat that I roasted rare - we could eat the meat all by itself...and we did!

But it is a sandwich after all, so it was better on a fresh, buttered, toasted crisp french roll. Want to kick up the flavor and some extra texture? Add a slice of provolone, too, and broil until melted. Soak each bite in that jus and try not to dribble all over yourself while eating it!

Slow Roasted Beef
adapted from Teri's Kitchen

2.5 to 3 lb sirloin roast, brought to room temperature
Montreal steak seasoning
dried thyme
garlic powder
salt
2 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp butter
Special equipment: probe thermometer, dutch oven

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Heat a dutch oven (large enough to fit roast) over medium high heat.

Season all sides of roast with an even layer of steak seasoning, thyme, and an extra dusting of garlic powder and salt. Pat down so the herbs stick.

Make sure the oil is really hot and add the roast. Sear - about 2 minutes each side - until browned. Insert a probe thermometer about halfway into roast. Put roast, uncovered, into oven and cook until it reaches 130 degrees for rare (around 2 hours).

Take off the heat and allow to rest. When ready to eat, slice into thin slices -- thinner than these in this pic. Mmm look how perfectly rare and juicy!

Au Jus
pan drippings from the roast beef
1/2 carton of reduced sodium beef broth
1 to 1-1/2 C water
1/2 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1-2 Tbsp butter

Put the dutch oven with all the beef drippings on the stove over medium heat. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer about 15 minutes, or until it reaches the flavor you like. Pour through a fine mesh strainer to remove the chunky parts. Serve hot with the sandwiches.

And now I can knock off the first item on my 2012 Hit List, hooray!

egg and potato breakfast bake

2012-01-02T11:42:00.000-08:00

Say hello to my very first meal of 2012! I had people over for NYE, and I wanted to make sure they woke up to something home cooked. So I brewed some coffee and got to work in the kitchen on this filling and possibly even sorta healthy casserole. And then I fried up a bunch of bacon to go with it :-) It tasted great topped with leftover guacamole and some sour cream, and I bet salsa would have gone really well with it, too - now I know for next time! Not a bad way to start the year at all.

You could sub out frozen Potatoes O' Brien, but I bought a big bag of potatoes I needed to use. I roasted them with salt and pepper and olive oil for about 25 minutes at 450 a few days in advance and then just kept them in the fridge. You could also make the onions/pepper in advance, too. If you like a little kick, fine dice a seeded jalapeno or serrano pepper and toss it in with it, too. This is kinda like a really big, southwesternish tortilla espanola :)

Egg and Potato Breakfast Bake
adapted from A Communal Table

2 lbs Yukon gold potatoes, cubed into 1" pieces and roasted ahead of time
3/4 large sweet onion, diced (
1 red bell pepper, seeded and deveined and diced
1 Tbsp canola or olive oil
1 1/2 C shredded Mexican cheese blend
12 eggs
1/2 C milk
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Put potatoes into a big bowl.

In a large skillet over medium heat, saute onion in some canola/olive oil (or bacon grease, if you have any on hand, yum!) until it starts to get translucent. Add in the bell pepper and saute another few minutes until onion is soft. Season with a big pinch of salt and stir. Add to the potatoes and toss until evenly incorporated. Dump in an even layer into baking dish. Spread the cheese evenly over the taters.

In a large bowl, whisk/beat eggs until completely combined and starting to get fluffy. Season with a generous pinch of salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Whisk in the milk. Pour over the potatoes and cheese.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until middle is set. You should be able to insert a knife and it'll come out clean.

Happy 2012: It's Hit List Time again!

2012-01-02T08:19:00.000-08:00

My 31st birthday was the day before NYE, and I celebrated with ridiculous food, a movie, and later drinks and dancing surrounded by lots of friends. And if that wasn't Yay enough, the next night I ended 2011 and begin 2012 on an Unexpectedly high note... I really couldn't have asked for a better transition of time.

So of course, it being the new year, it's resolution time. For me, 2012 is devoted to moving forward with optimism and strength. Changes are coming, and commitments will be kept.

First commitment involves my family... both of my brothers are flying in to run a half marathon with me (plus two more of my friends) in March. I don't care how long it takes me (but no more than the 5.5 hr limit, haha), but I will cross that finish line. That means I should probably head to the gym today to restart training ;-) That's actually tied in pretty well with my next resolution to strengthen relationships. More phone calls and emails, more making time to see people, more being involved in their lives. So... to my friends out of state, get your couches ready!

And of course, as food is one of the great loves of my life, here are my food resolutions. My 2012 Hit List involves finishing the unconquered foods from Hit Lists past (2010 and 2011):

1) chicken stock from scratch
2) chicharon de cerdo
3) patatas bravas
4) pain au chocolate
5) french dip completed 1/5/12
6) tamales
7) baked char siu bao
8) cheese souffle a la Panera
9) garlic knots a la C&Os Trattoria
10) thai rice pudding with mango
11) *successful* matzo ball soup
12) my mom's mocha cake

Steak & Potatoes

2011-12-24T17:12:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while I feel a need to impress with something incredibly tasty yet simple. "Simple" means few ingredients and minimal prep time, and by "impress" I mean all pieces can be put out to eat at the same time while hot, and I can still talk while putting it all together. Because some nights, just chilling out maxing, relaxing all cool with someone over a killer meal and a few glasses [sic] of pinot noir (btw, thanks Charlie and Jenny for that bottle of La Crema!) is the best gift of all.

Notes on short cuts and timing:

1) I got the small bag of prepped green beans from Wegmans -- the kind where all you have to do is microwave them to steam them. Major time saver right there.

2) Put the cast iron skillet onto the bottom rack of the oven so you can preheat that while the potatoes roast.

3) Also, put the steak out while that's happening so it can come up to room temperature while the potatoes roast.

4) Start cooking the steak when there's 10 minutes left on the potatoes, because...

5) After the steak is done, you need to rest it for 5ish minutes. While the steak rests, prepare the green beans.

6) Take the taters out, season the beans, and serve the steak all at the same time!

Roasted Potatoes

1 lb red potatoes, cubed so pieces are about the same size (i like 1-2 bite size pieces)

1 tbsp canola oil

about 1 tbsp Montreal steak seasoning, or enough to lightly coat the potatoes

salt

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil (so you don't have to clean the pan later). Arrange the potatoes on it in a single layer, and drizzle with the canola oil. Make sure that they're evenly coated with the oil - you may need to use your hands. Sprinkle with the steak seasoning and just a LITTLE more salt (there's salt in the steak seasoning). Place in oven and roast for about 30 minutes, stirring/flipping so it browns evenly every 10 minutes. They're done when they're fork tender.

Pan Seared Ribeye Steak

adapted from Alton Brown

2 ribeye steaks, about 1-1 1/2" thick

canola oil

salt

pepper

Special equipment: cast iron frying pan big enough to hold steaks

(If you followed the hints, the cast iron skillet should already be preheating in the oven and the steaks are at room temperature now.) Take the pan out of the oven and place on the range over high heat.

Pat the steaks dry with a paper napkin. Brush oil onto each side of the steak. Generously sprinkle with salt and then grind some pepper onto it.

Place steaks on the skillet and cook for 30 seconds without moving. Use tongs to turn them to the other side and cook another 30 seconds. Put entire pan back into oven and cook for 2 more minutes. Flip one more time and cook 2 more minutes.

Remove steaks from pan and allow to rest for about 5 minutes for juices to redistribute.

NOTE: this is for rare-medium rare done-ness, which, btw, is THE way to eat steak. Well done? Hellz no. If you MUST have medium, add 1 more minute on each side when steak is in the oven.

Lemon Parmesan Green Beans

1 small pack of green beans

1/4 lemon

parmesan cheese
few grinds of red pepper flakes (optional)

salt

Steam the green beans according to the package directions. Drain out the water, then place into a bowl. Squeeze the juice of the lemon and add about 1/4 tsp of the zest into the beans. Grate some parmesan cheese -- however much floats your boat. Add a pinch of salt and a few grinds of the red pepper flakes if you like spicy, and toss.

scallops au gratin

2011-12-21T20:21:00.000-08:00

Christmas is around the corner, yay! My tree is up and pretty. Cookies are baked. Parties are in full swing so I'm seeing lots of friends and family. It really is the most wonderful time of year.

The Christmas party I went to over this past weekend was with The Girls (check out Jenn's blog), and we went for an Italian theme -- Feast of the Seven Fishes. Sure it's normally celebrated on Christmas Eve, but hey we made it work. This time of year is about friends and family being together, right, so got that part down pat! There were mussels and baked salmon and crab dip and ceviche and a shrimp pasta and tons of cookies and desserts. My contribution to this potluck was baked scallops, or scallops au gratin. I saw Ina Garten make it on Food Network once and finally got my chance to make it.

Instead of the bay scallops Ina used, I used giant (10 per pound count) sea scallops. I didn't write down the quantities of the ingredients before I left my house for Jenn's, so I kinda winged it. I wish I'd baked a bit shorter and then broiled them longer for a crisper crust (recipe reflects that change), but it still turned out great!

Scallops Au Gratin
adapted from Ina Garten

12 big scallops
6 tbs butter, softened
5 small cloves garlic, minced
2 small cloves shallots, minced
2 or 3 slices proscuitto, diced
1 tbsp parsley, chopped
1-2 Tbsp lemon juice
salt
1/4 C panko bread crumbs
2 or 3 Tbsp white wine

Preheat oven to 425. Remove the little tabby thing on the scallops (I had the guy at the fish counter do it for me), then wash and pat dry. Arrange in a baking dish.

Mix together the butter, garlic, shallots, proscuitto, parsley, and lemon juice. Sprinkle some salt on it an mix again. (The proscuitto is already salty so don't get too overzealous there.) Spread evenly over the scallops. Sprinkle with the panko. Pour white wine into dish.

Bake for 6-9 minutes. Turn to broil and broil another 3-5 minutes or until the tops are golden and crispy. Enjoy!

Christmas cookie staple: chocolate crinkles

2011-12-10T11:42:00.001-08:00

Here's an oldie but goodie: choco crinkle cookies.

I haven't made this since 2008, and I don't know why... they're so good. Pretty, too. To get those contrasty cracks, you roll the dough in powdered sugar before baking, and then they spread in the oven to reveal the chocolatey goodness. Take a bite you get sweet and a deeply chocolate numminess with a hint of Christmas spice. The insides are almost fudgey, and the edges just crisp enough.

Chocolate Crinkles

3/4 C flour
3/4 C sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
4 tbsp butter
1/3 C cocoa powder (NOT dutch processed)
1 egg
1 tsp instant espresso that's been dissolved in 1 1/2 Tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C chocolate chips
1/2 C powdered sugar

Combine first 5 ingredients (flour through cinnamon) in a large bowl and set aside. Melt butter and mix in the cocoa powder until smooth. Whisk in the egg, espresso, and vanilla. Pour over the dry ingredients and use a wooden spoon to mix until combined. Mix in the chocolate chip cookies. Refrigerate while the oven preheats to 350. (Chilled dough will make it easier to scoop and roll around in the powdered sugar later.)

Put powdered sugar in a small bowl. Scoop a cookie and drop into the powdered sugar. Roll to coat. Place on cookie sheet. I bake 12 evenly placed on a sheet. Sprinkle just the tops with a bit more powdered sugar. Bake for 9 minutes. Allow to rest on the baking sheet about 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

This recipe makes exactly 24 when using a 1" scoop.

saved shortbread snafu: cacao nib lace cookies

2011-12-04T19:10:00.001-08:00

On Wednesday when I came into a box of Sharffen Berger cacao nibs. I was soooo excited! I spent 3 days looking for recipes, and ultimately decided to use the Nibby Shortbread Cookie Recipe provided on the side of the box. For one of the only times in my life, I followed a recipe ingredients exactly. Do these look like shortbread? Nope! Because they so weren't. Clearly there was too much butter/not enough flour, because look how much they melted and spread. But thankfully they turned into something else, something delicate that still pack a wallop of flavor. So, I present to you... cacao nib lace cookies :-)

Not what I expected, but sooo delightful. Light, crispy, super buttery with that punch and bite of cacao nib.

So what's a cacao nib? It's basically raw chocolate - the chocolate before it's processed with milks and sugar and other flavors to become the chocolate bars/chips you know and love. They're teeny little pieces that don't melt, so they stay crunchy in a recipe. Because it's unsweetened chocolate, there is a distinct chocolate flavor but it gives way almost instantly to a complex almost but not quite bitterness reminiscent of espresso. The flavor sings when added to something sweet, and these do exactly that.

The only thing I can possibly think of that I did wrong is over mix the batter. Oh, and I refrigerated the dough before baking, but I do that with all of my shortbreads to excellent results. But hey, if you follow this word for word, maybe yours will end up like shortbread. If they end up like these, though, you'll be just as lucky.

Cacao Nib ~~Shortbread~~ Lace Cookies
directly from the Scharffen Berger Cacao Nib Box

1 C butter, slightly softened
3/4 C sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3 oz (1/2 package) Scharffen Berger Cacao Nibs
1 1/2 C all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Use paddle to cream butter, sugar, and salt just until incorporated. Mix in cacao nibs. Gradually add flour until combined. Do not over mix.

Using the palm of your hand, roll into 1" balls and flatten.

Place on cookie sheets, and bake 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Holiday Throwbacks

2011-12-01T19:53:00.001-08:00

When the holiday parties start, particularly if they're potlucks, there are usually three types of people. 1) There are those who make that one signature dish, that one perfect cake or candy or casserole recipe that the party just will not be complete if it's not there. Then there's 2) The people who want to outdo what they did last year, so they're always trying something new each year. And 3) the people who don't cook, and bring booze. We love you #3, haha.

But the discussion I've been having these past few weeks has been about if it's "better" to be a 1 or a 2. I'm very clearly a 2. There are SO many recipes out there that I have to keep exploring/trying new ones. But I also get a twinge of jealousy when people fawn all over that One Signature Dish that someone else brings, oh it's soooo good I'm soooo glad you brought it! I suppose what most gets to me is... were all those old things I made in the past just simply... forgettable? Or do I make them forgettable because I always bring out a newer ~~younger model~~ treat each year?

Anyways, in an effort to honor the definite #2 side of me, I'll continue to post new recipes for this season. But in an effort to honor recipes gone by (and also because I haven't started baking those new things yet and it IS December and I want a kick off post for the month) here are 6 throwback recipes that would STILL make a great gift or addition to a cookie tray this year.

Try the classic wintery flavor combination: iced choco peppermint snaps:

I'll be making these tender, lovely rugalech for my friend's Hanukkah party later this month:

This was one of my first posts on this blog: spicy molasses cookies. I color coordinated them for Christmas, but they'd be just as nice with clear sanding sugar for some sparkle.

Want to make something extra special? Try French macarons. They scream special. They'll make an impressive gift.

Oh and remember the hot 4 chocolate mix I made just the other day? These fluffy peppermint marshmallows will be awesome in it.

Last but not least, you can never go wrong with a classic. These are seriously my absolute most favorite chocolate chip cookies:

I hope to make new classics, but I don't ever want to forget these oldies but goodies!

Hot 4 Chocolate Mix

2011-11-26T09:56:00.001-08:00

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and didn't get pepper sprayed while shopping on Black Friday! So now that that's all behind us, we are 100% full into The Holiday Season. This is my favorite time of year... the cheery Christmas music, out of town friends coming home to visit, parties, count down to my birthday, and of course lots and lots of treats! So, if you're having people over, or heading to others' homes for the holidays, why not have some Hot 4 Chocolate Mix on hand.

This particular mix is made with cocoa powder plus 3 kinds of chocolate... Chocoholics rejoice! It starts sweet and ends with just a touch of bittersweet-ness, with espresso and cinnamon adding a depth of flavor not found in most commercial mixes. Use the best quality chocolate you can find - Guittard, Scharffen Berger, Valhrona, for example. It makes a great gift, so share share alike!

Hot 4 Chocolate Mix
adapted from Simply Cooking School

2 C sugar
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped (save the pod, only use the seeds)
12 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
6 oz dark chocolate, chopped
4 oz white chocolate, chopped
1 C dutch processed cocoa powder
4 tsp espresso powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt

Split the vanilla vertically, scrape out the seeds. Mix seeds into the sugar*. Combine the sugar and chocolates into a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse to combine. Store in an airtight container.

To make Hot Chocolate: Heat 8oz of milk (definitely use milk for the creaminess) until very hot - about 2.5 min in microwave, or until scalded using a stovetop. Whisk in 4 Tbsp of the cocoa mix until all the chocolate is melted. Top with whipped cream or home made marshmallows.

* Don't throw away the vanilla pod. Put it into a small jar of sugar to allow the scent of it to permeate the sugar. After some time, you'll have delicious smelling vanilla sugar.

Hot Spiced (and sometimes spiked) Cider

2011-11-19T17:12:00.000-08:00

Apple cider is the epitome of fall drinks. Heat it up and add spices and you've got a nice party drink. Top it off with sweet wine and you've got a real winner!

I was making this for a crowd, but you can easily divide or multiply the recipe to suit how many people will be drinking it. Also, you can either heat it up in a saucepan (bring to a simmer, let it simmer about an hour to allow the spices to infuse the liquid) or use the slow cooker. The longer it's on the heat, the more intense the spices get. Adding more cider will keep it balanced.

Hot Ginger and Spice Apple Cider
adapted from Weight Watchers via the girl with the little black cat

8 C apple cider*
2" fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into discs
4 cinnamon sticks
12-16 whole cloves
peel of 2 lemons -- remove only the peel (not the white pith) with a veggie peeler
4 Tbsp brown sugar
sweet red wine** (optional)

Combine all the ingredients in a slow cooker. Heat on high until hot, stirring every once in a while. Turn down to low and keep it hot through your party.

* Note: Buy a gallon of cider. I started with 8 C so it fit in my slow cooker and kept adding at about the halfway point until we finished it all.

** Alcoholic version note: I'd fill the cup about 2/3 of the way with the cider then top off with the sweet red wine. My wine of choice was Lakeside Red by Lake Anna Winery, a Virginia vineyard. I actually liked it better with the sweet wine because it mellowed and rounded out the spiced cider.

Cranberry Apple Sauce

2011-11-16T14:26:00.000-08:00

There are certain things that just belong on a Thanksgiving table: turkey, stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes... and cranberry sauce. Truth be told, I've never been a fan of the stuff. My favorite turkey day foods are the salty and buttery Stovetop or potatoes. Heck, I can only vaguely recall cranberry sauce at any of our Thanksgivings growing up. BUT I understand how important cranberries can be to the holiday table for others, so I grabbed a bag intending to use it only as decoration, lol. But that nagging feeling that some people just love it led me to turn that decor into a last minute addition to our holiday table.

Look how red and pretty!

I'm still not sure about the eating it with turkey thing, but I really liked this! It was tart and just sweet enough. It was received nicely as a side, but next time I'm going to use it to top a brie en croute as an appetizer. Oh look at that, it's a yummy AND versatile holiday dish.

Cranberry Apple Sauce
loosely adapted from Food Network

12 oz bag fresh cranberries
1/3 C vanilla sugar (to taste)
3 Tbsp Grand Marnier
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1 honeycrisp apple, peeled and diced

In a food processor, combine the cranberries, sugar, and Grand Marnier, and lemon zest and pulse a few times to chop up the cranberries and incorporate all the ingredients. Put cranberries into a small saucepan and mix in the apple. Cook over medium heat until cranberries soften, tasting along the way to add sugar if necessary, until it becomes the consistency you want. (I did add about 2 tbsp of water because I lost track of it for a bit and wanted to loosen it up, and it turned out great.)

Holiday Season Kick Off Post: Pumpkin Roll

2011-11-13T22:44:00.000-08:00

This week is my official start of the holiday party season. I have no less than 3 Thanksgivings to celebrate this month, then Hanukkah, Christmas, my birthday, New Years, and my company holiday party... all in the next 8 weeks! I'm sure your holidays will be just as full of parties... and you can't show up to many of them empty handed! Through the end of the year, I'll be posting (no seriously, I'll post!) treats you can bring to all the upcoming potlucks or give as food gifts.

Of course I'm going to start with dessert :-)

They say the holidays are not a time to try a new recipe because of risk of stress or things not working out. Pshaw, this is the perfect time to play. Case in point... I wanted to make something pumpkin, but I didn't want to make the same cheesecake I do every year. Thus: I made a pumpkin roll. At midnight. The midnight before my first Thanksgiving meal. I made the icing in the morning after it cooled and assembled it while the turkey was in the oven. It can even be made ahead up to a couple days before an event, so it's both good as a pre-planned or sort of last minute treat!

First things first, though, you need a jelly roll pan - 10"x17". I always wondered about that slightly smaller than normal baking sheet I had... turns out it wasn't a rejected half sheet pan after all, lol. You'll also need a clean dishcloth (not a thick or terry cloth one, just a thin one) because you'll use it to roll the cake while it's hot - if you cool it flat and attempt to roll, there's a much higher chance of it cracking, so best to do it while it's hot/pliable.

Pumpkin Roll with Cream Cheese Frosting
adapted from Libby's

Roll:
3/4 C flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp powdered ginger
1/8 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 C minus 1 Tbsp vanilla sugar*
2/3 C canned pumpkin

Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease a 10x17 jelly roll pan. Line with parchment paper, and then lightly butter and flour the paper.

Combine dry ingredients (flour through salt) in a small bowl and whisk to combine. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until thick - it should be light yellow and almost fluffy looking. Add pumpkin and beat until combined. Fold in the dry ingredient mixture. Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake 13-15 minutes or until the middle springs back up when you gently press on it.

While it's baking, lay out a clean dish cloth and sprinkle or sift some powdered sugar on it. When the cake is done, immediately loosen edges and turn directly on to the sugared dish cloth. Carefully peel off the parchment. While it's hot, roll (with the towel) into a tight log.

* Note about the sugar: I love vanilla, and I had vanilla sugar on hand, so I used it. You can sub plain sugar.

Icing:
1 8oz bar cream cheese, room temp
4 tbsp butter, room temp
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 C powdered sugar

Blend the cream cheese and butter. Add in vanilla. Slowly blend or stir in the powdered sugar and beat until well combined.

To assemble the pumpkin roll:
Unroll the cooled roll. Spread the icing evenly. Reroll. Chill for an hour or so to firm up the icing to make it easier to cut later. Enjoy!

hello fall

2011-10-16T19:35:00.000-07:00

Why hi there. Been quite a while. Where've I been? Well.... The important thing is I'm back, and I bring muffins!

The muffins themselves are lightly spiced and mild. You know me... I don't like things too sweet. Then the choco chips add the nuggets of sweetness and texture that create a nice balance in the muffins. I doubled the original recipe so I could use a whole can of pumpkin, so be prepared for at least 2 dozen muffins when making these!

Pumpkin Choco Chip Muffins
Adapted from A Farm Girl Dabbles

3 1/2 C flour
1 1/2 C sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
1 C butter, melted
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 C semi sweet choco chips

Preheat oven to 350. Spray or line standard size cupcake pans. (Note: if you fill them about 3/4 of the way, you'll get about 32 cupcakes. If you fill them almost all the way up, you' can get an even 24.)

Whisk together the dry ingredients - flour through cloves - in a large bowl until well combined. Create a well in the middle. Scoop 1 tsp of the dry ingredients into a small bowl and toss the chips in it. Set aside.

In another bowl, combine wet ingredients - pumpkin through vanilla - and whisk so thoroughly combined. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until just moistened. Fold in the choco chips.

Scoop into prepared muffin pans. Bake 17-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool, and enjoy!

sweet and spicy watermelon salad

2011-09-05T14:10:00.000-07:00

Happy Labor Day! Celebrate the end of summer with a perfectly summery dish:

To Jenn's bbq today, thought I'd bring a classic summer side to the table, but with an out of the ordinary twist. I caught wind of the idea when perusing the new Food Plate Guide the gubment put out to replace the food pyramid. Sweet watermelon and spicy red pepper flakes? Niiice. I tucked this recipe away until I started seeing all the melons at the farmers markets. I of course googled it and saw a bunch of different variations, so played with it to end up with a watermelon, yellow cherry tomato (which I find to be the sweetest), cuke, and onion version. The balsamic and red pepper flake dressing enhances the flavors without overwhelming. I love that the heat just lingers on your tongue and lips, but is immediately cooled by the next bite of watermelon. And it's so colorful... this salad look so happy! And I'm all about bringing the happy :-) So again, Happy Labor Day!

Sweet and Spicy Watermelon Salad
adapted from da gubment (scroll down for recipe) and One Perfect Bite

2 1/2 lbs seedless watermelon, cubed in 1" pieces
1 pint yellow cherry tomatoes
1 9" seedless cucumber, diced into1/2" pieces
1/2 C vidalia onion, sliced into very thin 1-2" long strips
mint leaves from 2-3 sprigs, rolled and sliced thin (chiffonade)
3 Tbsp white balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp extra light olive oil
5 grinds red pepper
1 pinch red pepper flakes

Combine watermelon, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, and mint in a large bowl. Whisk together the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and red pepper until emulsified. Pour over the watermelon mixture and toss to combine. Garnish with more mint leaves if you like.

A few notes about this recipe:
1) If you don't like raw onions, and I generally don't, a nifty trick to dull that raw bite: dunk the sliced onion in ice water for 2-3 minutes then take out.
2) This salad releases a LOT of water given the nature of the ingredients. I don't mind draining some of it off through the day.

Lime-y Shrimp Tacos

2011-08-24T19:58:00.000-07:00

Day after the earthquake dinner: shrimp tacos!

I can't believe we had an earthquake here in VA. I've spent a lot of time in LA and never once felt one. I read that Santorini is accustomed to feeling earthquakes, too, but I didn't feel one while I was there either. My mom just told me she grew up with them in the Philippines, but I had no idea there were quakes there. So when everything started shaking like a freight train was coming at us... very surreal! To be honest, one of the first things I thought was What happened in DC that we can feel it here? Oh these times we live in. *shakes head* Anyways, we got evacuated and had to head outside. Thankfully it was wasn't raining, so we got to all freak out in nice weather :-)

It was that nice weather that made me think of grilling. Today was pretty much glorious, and I wanted to take advantage of that before Hurricane Irene makes it up the coast this weekend. I originally thought of getting a steak, but then I remembered the leftover black bean salsa from this weekend. And the lone avocado begging to be made into guacamole. So THEN I thought I'd grill up some fish for tacos. But hey why buy fish when I have frozen shrimp, thus how I came to these awesome flavored shrimp tacos.

The lime and garlic make the flavor pop, with just a hint of heat so it paired nicely with the slightly thicker flour tortillas and salsa. I would have loved some cabbage slaw on it for more texture, but Alan broke up some tortilla chips for the crunch and that worked just fine! This was enough for 3 or 4 tacos, so scale as necessary. BTW I never did end up grilling these, haha, I just sauteed them, but I have no doubt they'd be better actually grilled.

Shrimp Tacos
adapted from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/grilled-shrimp-tacos/detail.aspx

1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
juice of 3/4 lime (or 1 lime)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced (about 1/2 tbsp)
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp red chili flakes
a few grinds of white pepper

Combine lime juice, olive oil, garlic, cumin, chili flakes, and white pepper. Add the shrimp and marinate for about 5-10 minutes. The shrimp will start turning pink because the citrus is "cooking it". Add them to a skillet on medium high heat and toss until they are pink and form an almost closed C.

Serve on tortillas. I recommend The Farm at Red Hill black bean salsa with it, which is spicy and bold - it's what I'm trying to duplicate, so whenever I get it just right I'll add that recipe to the blog, too. I also topped with guac and chips a la Alan.

my most loved kitchen equipment

2011-08-21T23:17:00.000-07:00

In recent months I've been on a slow but steady trek to upgrade my kitchen tools. As I get older, I want more high quality stuff that I can keep with me for I hope the rest of my life... Also, I've learned a LOT about kitchen tools recently because I have been working at a part time job at a large kitchen place**... and I'm taking advantage of that discount :-) To give you an idea of how much stuff I've bought in attempts to "upgrade" my kitchen, I feel like I've put my entire paycheck back into them! Granted I have bought gifts for people, and I've bought some decorating food (i.e. sprinkles) for my cookies/cupcakes, but the bulk of what I've bought is equipment/tools.

Can I tell you a secret? Some of the things I've bought I still haven't taken out of the box, lol. Don't get me wrong, I'll use them... but not all the tools are as essential as I thought they'd be (I'm looking at you, gorgeous and reportedly awesome All Clad 4qt covered saute pan). What's essential, you ask? Well, what a great time for me to discuss the tools I use the most! These are things that I use regularly, and I suspect you would too. These are things you'll want to be high quality so they last long and stand up to the use. These are things that I'd suggest for a registry if you were making one, or the things I'd recommend to give as gifts to friends starting out (or looking to upgrade).

The things I use almost daily:

~ 8" or 10" nonstick pan* -- perfect for eggs (I love eggs) or bacon or one piece of fish or a single serving of shrimp

~ 7" santoku* (or a similar sized chefs knife would do) -- I can cut almost everything with this
~ 3" paring knife* -- because sometimes a santoku is too much knife for slicing strawberries or other small fruit/veggies
~ medium and large saucepans -- for making hard boiled eggs or a serving of pasta
~ locking tongs -- I use it to flip bacon, but also to grab things off high shelves!

Tools that work for cooking and baking:
~ set of nested glass mixing bowls -- used to hold prepped food, tons of popcorn, and sometimes even as serving bowls for chips

~ silicone spatulas -- great for scrambling eggs or folding dry ingredients into wet

~ wooden spoons -- they won't scratch my stuff, they're sturdy, and don't retain heat so if you're stirring a simmering soup you're not going to burn your hand grabbing the handle
~ a microplane -- for shredding parmesan or zesting citrus (and I do both quite often!)
~ fine mesh strainer -- draining, rinsing, or sifting
~ bamboo cutting boards with a well to catch juice
~ loaf pan, an 8x8 glass baking dish, and a 9x13 glass baking dish

Baking equipment I use the most:

~ my mom's hand me down Kitchenaid mixer -- no clue how old it is, but it's powerful, reliable, sturdy, and all around awesome

~ half sheet pans -- I have at LEAST 4, probably more, and whenever I bake cookies I use 3 sheets at any given time - 1 in the oven, 1 sitting out cooling with the cookies on them, and 1 cooling without cookies on them so that I have a cool pan for the next set of dough
~ parchment paper -- cookies come off the sheet WAY easier using this, and also essential for making fish en papillote
~ 1", 1.5", or 2" diameter dishers/cookie scoops -- if you haven't noticed, I make cookies a lot, and I like them to be the same size
~ thick oven mitts -- getting burned does not feel good at all
~ 2 sets each of measuring cups and spoons -- I hate to wash stuff out and dry it while making one recipe, it's just faster to have 2 sets
~ 2 sets of regular and 1 set of jumbo muffin tins

Daily items that make life in the kitchen easier:
~ nylon scouring pads -- they're cheap, colorful, and are great for scrubbing without scratching
~ absorbent kitchen towels -- they can double as pot holders or trivets

Things that I'm glad I have when I need them, but don't use often:
~ meat thermometer
~ candy thermometer
~ 6qt enameled cast iron dutch oven (mine's a Staub, though Le Creuset is probably more common)
~ bundt pan, pie plate
~ kitchen scale (absolutely essential when I make macarons)
~ food processor, blender
~ straight rolling pin

So there you have it -- a relatively short list (compared to the # of items you CAN buy for a kitchen... really, who needs a banana slicer?) of my most used and loved kitchen tools. What are the things you can't live without?

* One other thing I've learned regarding your pots/pans and knives -- go to the store and hold them. They have different balances and weights. You want what feels comfortable in YOUR hands. What you feel comfortable with you'll use most. Plus it's fun to play in kitchen stores!

** It's not important where since I have no intention of getting into any sort of mess where they call me into the office one day to "discuss" something I said on the blog about them. Not that I'd ever say anything negative about them, but I just don't want to get into it, so I'm officially saying that what I write is in no way a representation of the company. Except this: I genuinely enjoy being there for the time I am there, and I'm amazed at the knowledge I've picked up since working there. It's a fantastic mental break from my normal gig behind a desk because I get to spend x amount of time talking to people about one thing I really am passionate about: food and food accessories.

another easy weeknight dinner

2011-08-11T08:39:00.000-07:00

Being Filipina, I love me some rice. But, like most food, it's really hard to cook exactly one serving of rice when I'm making myself dinner. Even the frozen rice packets at Trader Joes serves 2. I'm really bad about eating leftovers, so having foods that I can make exactly one meal at a time is ideal. This is one reason I often go to pasta as my starch of choice. Measure out 1/2 C of dry pasta, boil, add seasonal veggies and some kind of sauce... golden.

This dinner took me all of 12 minutes to make, which is the amount of time it took the pasta to boil. While the pasta was boiling, I sauteed some minced garlic in olive oil just long enough to take the bite off of the garlic. Burnt garlic is terrible. I sliced up some heirloom cherry tomatoes, both I got from the farmers market over the weekend. Drain the pasta, toss it all together, top with parmesan cheese, and viola! Dinner for one. No waste. Oh yeah.

Simple Summer Pasta Dinner for 1

1/2 C pasta

1/2 Tbsp olive oil

1 small garlic clove, minced

3-4 leaves basil, rolled then sliced (chiffonade)

1 C cherry tomatoes, halved

parmesan cheese, to taste

salt and pepper, to taste

Bring water to a boil in a medium sauce pan. Add pasta and cook according to package directions.

In the mean time, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and sautee for a minute or two, or until it starts to get soft. Take off heat. Slice tomatoes.

Drain the pasta. Add olive oil, basil, and tomatoes. Toss. Season with salt and pepper. Toss together and taste. Add as much parmesan as you like. Eat!

You can, of course, customize the heck out of this. I've made pasta with sauteed zucchini and squash. I've added frozen peas and corn. I've added shrimp or diced chicken. Pasta is a fantastic blank canvas that you can play around to your heart's content.

Crunchy Granola Bars

2011-08-09T19:49:00.000-07:00

I have no idea why I've had a major itch to make granola bars. I don't even eat granola regularly in any form on a regular basis! I probably saw it on Tastespotting or Foodgawker recently. It could also be because I've been eating yogurt and berries for breakfast a LOT lately, and adding granola would make it a cute lil parfait. Or it could be that I just saw granola on Down Home with the Neely's on Food Network the other day. Whatever the reason, I've had granola bars on my mind for the last couple weeks, and I finally made it correctly tonight.

Notice how I said correctly, haha. My first attempt was last week and I added dried apricot and figs to half a batch, but it didn't really stick together, so I crumbled it and turned it into the loose granola. The other half of that batch... flavor was great, but I forgot to grease the bottom of the pan and used wax paper and that got very stuck to the granola, so I ended up crumbling that one trying to pull it off the paper. Oops.

(Parchment paper this time, and I remembered to butter it!)

I specifically wanted crunchy granola bars because my Favorite Convenience Granola Bar (FCGB) are those great honey and oat ones that come in green packaging. They're so simple, not overly sweet, and that was my goal. Well, the goal was crunchy, not too sweet, and healthier. After reading through a few dozen recipes, I decided to add to the oats: almonds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, and puffed kamut. (I had never even heard of that last one until looking at granola recipes. It tastes like unsweetened honey smacks, and is a good low cal source of fiber and protein, so perfect addition!) And to legitimately call these "healthier" than my FCGB, and because I wanted to procrastinate going to the gym tonight (yup, I detect the irony), I looked up the nutritional info for all the ingredients and did some basic math (thanks, Excel). While this homemade granola bar has twice as many calories, it has 3x the fiber and almost 3x the protein. They've got crunch, but don't fall apart the minute you bite into it. It's a great grab and go breakfast or snack.

Crunchy Granola Bars
adapted from Brown Eyed Baker and Alton Brown

2 C old fashioned rolled oats
1/4 C raw sunflower seeds
3 Tbsp flax seeds
1/4 C honey
1/4 C agave nectar
1/4 C brown sugar
3 Tbsp butter + 1 Tbsp
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
2 C puffed kamut
1/2 C blanched almonds
4 tbsp flax seed meal

Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9"x13" pan with parchment paper, then butter it with the 1 Tbsp butter.

Combine oats, sunflower seeds, and flax seeds. Toast in oven for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. While the oats are toasting, combine the honey, agave, brown sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Stir until brown sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.

Take the oats out of the oven, then drop the temperature to 300. Transfer oats to a large bowl. Add the kamut and almonds to the oat mixture and stir until combined. Add the wet ingredients and stir until evenly combined. Turn mixture out into the prepared pan, spread until it's an even layer, and press down. Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove from oven. Allow to cool completely. Take out of pan and cut into 16 bars or squares.

Wrap in parchment paper cut to size and keep in an airtight container up to a week.

Ceviche a la Cabo

2011-08-03T19:27:00.000-07:00

It's. So. Hot. NoVA (and the DC metro area in general) has some brutally hot summers. It's not necessarily the temps, it's the humidity that makes it stifling. And sometimes when it's really hot, you want something cool to eat that's not a dessert. Ceviche would be one of my favorite cold foods.

The first time I had ceviche, I was in Lima and my gracious hosts ordered like 3 plates of multicolored marinated seafood. Not going to lie, I wasn't too much a fan of it. I was slightly weirded out by how it was "cooked"... and why was it different colors? I partially blame ignorance for that poor first impression. Flash forward 3 years and I was in Cabo, and the ceviche was one of the first things we ordered. It was AWESOME. The tart was tempered by sweet mango and cooling avocado. It was bright and balanced, and I knew it would not be the last time I'd eat it. Fortunately for me, I wasn't the one who figured out how to make it, haha. My girl and travel buddy, Danielle, attempted to make it one night, said it was great, and sent me the recipe. I've made it a couple times since, and it still brings back the memories every time.

Since this is a recipe that takes a considerable amount of wait/marinating time, and because this is how Danielle gave it to me, I'm writing it in steps.

Cabo Ceviche
thanks Danielle!

Combine the following and marinate for a 2-3 hours, tossing/mixing 2 or 3 times:
1-2 lbs red snapper, skinned, cut into bite size pieces
2-3 limes, juiced
1 lemon, juiced

Add the following to the marinating fish, and marinate for another 2 hours.
1 small red onion, diced small
1 jalapeno, diced small
1 tomato, seeded and diced
1 mango, diced
1/4 C cilantro (or more/less to your taste)

Mix this in just before serving:
1 avocado, diced

Serve with tortilla chips.

chimichurri sauce over grilled steak

2011-07-11T18:53:00.000-07:00

Well isn't this a pretty sight! Bright green chimichurri sauce over a chimichurri marinated grilled steak. I had it for the first time in years just a few weeks ago (hi Joyce and co!) and had been thinking about it ever since. And thus, last night's delicious dinner!

What's chimichurri, you ask? In a word, awesome. In a few more descriptive words, it's a parsley-based Argentinian condiment that's a lot like a pesto sauce... herby, fragrant (garlicy awesomeness), fresh. This is a bit different from a traditional pesto because it's also tangy and quite spicy. It's an excellent topping for pretty much anything, and most commonly it tops grilled steak.

Oh and gee did I mention I got a new grill this year? Because I did! I got a Weber, and it's the first charcoal grill I've ever used. I invited my Cabo girls over for a grilling potluck as an opportunity to practice. I grew up with gas grills, so charcoal is a whole different ball game for me. A smoky, delicious ball game! The steaks came out perfectly and we supplemented with shrimp, corn, potato and pasta salads, and topped off with grilled peaches for dessert. I served my strawberry lemon-limeade, also. It was a delightful Sunday evening!

Chimicurri Sauce
adapted from chef blade

1 bunch flat leaf parsley
6-8 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp diced onion or shallot
1/3 C red wine vinegar
2/3 C olive oil
1/2 lemon - zest and juice
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper
pinch or freshly ground red pepper flakes

Pulse parsley in a food processor to chop. Add remaining ingredients and blend. (Or you can chop it all up and blend by hand.) Divide into 2 equal parts - half for marinade, half for topping. Allow to sit for at least 2 hours for flavors to marry. You can refrigerate it, but make sure to bring it to room temp before serving.

Marinate steak 2 hours up to overnight. Grill to desired tenderness. (For a guide to steak doneness, see here.) Allow steak to rest for at least 10 min for juices to redistribute. Slice on the diagonal for pretty presentation, and top with the chimichurri.

Red Velvet Cookies

2011-07-04T15:26:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July!

I love holidays - Give me a reason to make or bake up something theme-y, and I'm thrilled. One of these days when I have a family of my own, I'm so going to be That Mom who makes the tastiest little treats for back yard BBQs and t-ball games. I'll be That Mom who sends delectable home made goodies to school for birthdays (and to suck up to the teachers). One of these days...

Til then, I'll experiment here and there with fun themed things, like these red velvet cookies with a cream cheese icing and red and blue sprinkles. Patriotic, yay - just right to bring to a rooftop gathering to watch the DC fireworks tonight. You can use 2 of the cookies and sandwich the icing to make whoopie pies, but right now the individual cookies will do just fine. I doubled the original recipe, so this will make about 48 cookies or 24 sandwiches.

Red Velvet Cookies
adapted from Paula Deen

Cookies:
2 2/3 C flour
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 stick butter
1 3/4 C sugar
4 eggs
4 tbsp buttermilk
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp red food coloring

Preheat oven to 375.

Mix together the dry ingredients - from the flour to the salt. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together until thoroughly combined and fluffy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Using a silicone spatula so nothing gets stained, mix in the buttermilk, vanilla, and food coloring until well combined. Mix in dry ingredients until combined.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Use a medium cookie scoop (to scoop batter onto sheet, leaving at least 2" between each. Bake for 7-8 minutes or until top springs back when touched. Allow to cool on pan.

Cream Cheese Frosting
2 bars cream cheese
1 stick butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 to 2 C powdered sugar

Beat the cream cheese and butter together. Mix in the vanilla. Mix in powdered sugar -- taste along the way to get your desired sweetness.

This was submitted for the Sweets for a Saturday post over at Sweet as Sugar Cookies.

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

2011-07-03T14:12:00.000-07:00

Can I tell you a secret? Before this week, I don't recall ever eating zucchini in my life. The squash family in general isn't one that often makes an appearance at my table, but I'm trying to expand my horizons. And oh look at that, zucchini bread is on my Hit List this year.

I had no idea what to expect when I added zucchini bread to the Hit List. Would it be sweet? Would it be plain tasting? Would it be zucchini-y? Oh, right, I didn't know what zucchini tasted like. Lol turns out that it's a lot like pumpkin bread (oh right, they're related!) in regards to the zucchini adding moisture and healthy goodness, and generally doesn't add much of its own flavor. So I guess the trick is in what you put into it. I had blueberries in the fridge, found an a recipe using both, and it's viola! Sweet, juicy berries bursting inside a nicely spiced bread. Great use of summer produce.

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

adapted from Allrecipes.com

3 C flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

3 eggs

1/2 C canola oil

1/2 C applesauce

1/2 C white sugar
1/2 C brown sugar

1 Tbsp vanilla

2 1/2 C zucchini, shredded (about 2 7" zucchini)

1 pint blueberries

Preheat oven to 350. Spray muffin tins or small loaf pans with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In a small bowl, toss the blueberries with about 1 tbsp of the dry ingredients. Set both aside.

In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, applesauce, vanilla, and sugars until well combined. Fold in the zucchini. Mix in the dry ingredients until mostly combined. Gently fold in the blueberries.

Fill loaf pans 3/4 of the way and/or muffin tins almost to the top. If using an 8"x4" loaf pan, bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes. If using jumbo muffin pans, bake for 45 minutes. If using a regular muffin pan, bake for 30 minutes.

tonight's dinner: baked snapper

2011-06-29T15:47:00.000-07:00

If you're anything like me, you don't eat enough fish. I know you can buy it frozen, and I currently have 2 salmon fillets in the freezer, but I prefer fresh. But then most of the times I do get fresh fish, I don't use it soon enough and I've wasted some cash money. No one likes to waste cash money in this economy!

I just so happened to have a piece of red snapper, and determined not to let it go to waste, this was tonight's supper. I baked some zucchini along with it in my attempt to eat more veggies, too. I paired it with brown rice for a well balanced meal. An awesome well balanced meal, by the way. The fish was perfectly cooked and not dry at all. The panko topping was so crunchy and is where most of the flavor comes from. Good mix of texture and taste right there. I'm definitely adding this to my dinner rotation.

Baked Snapper
adapted from about.com

1 4-6oz red snapper fillet
1/2 tbsp butter
1 tsp olive oil
1 small garlic clove, minced
3 drops Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp Cajun seasoning
few grinds black pepper
1 tsp freshly minced parsley
salt
2-3 Tbsp panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 400.

In a small pan, combine butter and oil over med-low heat until butter is melted. Add the next 5 ingredients and mix over the heat for 1 more minute.

Lightly sprinkle fish with a bit of salt, then brush both sides of it with the oil mix and place in a glass baking dish. Toss the panko to the remaining oil mixture. Top fish with the panko mixture. Bake for 12 minutes.

If you plan on making the zucchini: Before you prep the fish, cut a small zucchini in half. Cut one of the halves in half again, lengthwise. Cut into 1/2" half moon slices. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil, a pinch of salt, and a bit extra of the cajun seasoning. Put it into the oven at the same time as the fish, stirring/flipping the pieces halfway through cooking.

a toast to my family!

2011-06-19T19:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's day to all you proud pops out there. That includes you, Dad. You rock. Today is also my kid brother's birthday, thus the dual celebration. Cheers to the two of you!

I love this drink almost as much as I love my family. Slight exaggeration? Maaaaybe, lol. It's bright and tangy thanks to the citrus, then the strawberries adds summer sweetness. I didn't add that much extra sugar since I don't like my drinks overly sweet, but that just made it that much easier to drink. This recipe makes about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 quarts which was perfect for the 3 of us, but if you're planning it for a larger picnic or BBQ, double (triple?) it and put in a large beverage jug. Then just kick back and enjoy it on a hot summer day.

Strawberry Lemon-Limeade

3 limes
2 lemons
2 C hulled strawberries
1/3 C sugar
1/2 C plus 6 cups water

Make simple syrup -- Combine sugar with 1/2 C water in a pot over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Then set aside to cool.

Juice the limes and lemons. Pour juice into a blender. Add strawberries. Blend. Add simple syrup and blend again. Pour into a pitcher* and add water. Refrigerate until cold.

Garnish with a strawberry and/or wedge of citrus.

* There'll be some strawberry seeds at the bottom, but you can easily get rid of those if you strain before storing.

Carne Machaca in taquitos and nachos

2011-06-12T18:51:00.000-07:00

This month's Girls Potluck theme made up for the Cinco de Mayo celebration we didn't have last month, lol. Thus, it was Mexican Month! There were berry mojitos and carne asada (thanks Julia!) and shrimp veracruz (thanks Ang.!) and plaintain chips and watermelon margaritas (thanks Jenn!) I wanted to make tamales, per my 2011 hit list which I am horribly behind on, but I realized I don't have a steamer. So what're my other favorite Mexican restaurant meals? Easy: the carne machaca from The Torilla Factory, and my take on machaca is what I brought to the table.

What is machaca, you ask? In a couple words: spiced, shredded beef. It's full of flavor thanks to overnight marination, then cooking with onions and peppers for hours (translation: plan ahead, this recipe takes time!)... then it's shredded and cooked down even longer. It makes an excellent filling for burritos, tacos, or enchiladas, or you can eat it with eggs and/or potatoes for breakfast. I didn't use it in any of those ways today, though... today I used them to make oven taquitos and nachos, and they were AWESOME.

Machaca
adapted from David Bulla

Marinade:
1/4 C Worcestershire sauce
juice of 2 limes
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 C canola oil

Machaca:
3 lbs chuck roast (or skirt steak), fat and silver skin trimmed, cut into 3/4 - 1 lb pieces
2 tbsp oil
1 large Spanish or Vidalia (or other sweet yellow) onion, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, seeded then diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, deveined and diced
1 serrano pepper*, seeded, deveined and diced
1 10oz can original Rotel tomatoes with green chiles
1 or 2 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/4 C beef broth
1 Tbsp dried Mexican oregano
1 Tbsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp tabasco sauce
few grinds of red pepper flakes
salt and pepper

Prepare the marinade - combine all ingredients and whisk to form an emulsion. Pour into a 1 gallon zipper bag, and add meat. Massage so meat is evenly coated. Put bag in a bowl or baking dish in case it leaks. Refrigerate overnight.

Make the machaca - Take meat out of the fridge and leave out for about 30 minutes to come to room temperature. Remove from marinade, pat dry, and discard the marinade. Prepare all your veggies.

In large pot (I used my 6 qt. dutch oven), heat oil over medium high heat until hot. Add meat and sear - you want each side to be a rich caramelized brown. You may have to cook in batches if there's not enough space in the pot for all pieces. Set aside on a plate.

Add the onions and peppers to the same pot and saute for about 3 minutes, scraping all the brown bits from the bottom. Add the garlic and saute another 2 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Add the meat back into the pot. Bring to a simmer then reduce heat to low. Cover and cook for 2 to 2.5 hours.

(mmm look how brown the meat got)

Remove beef to a cutting board and shred with 2 forks. It should be tender and pull apart easily. Add back to the pot, then simmer, uncovered, until there's almost no liquid left. This took almost an hour for me., and I had it on low heat.

Taste again and add any additional seasoning/heat to your liking. (*This recipe is pretty mild with just a hint of heat from the peppers. It's a friendly recipe for people who don't like spicy stuff. Personally, the next time I make this I'm adding at least 1 more serrano pepper.)

One note - this makes a LOT of machaca, about 8 cups worth. I used half between the taquitos and nachos, then packed and froze the rest for future use.

Oven Baked Taquitos:
machaca
6" flour tortillas
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with foil for easy clean up later.

Spread 2-3 tbsp of machaca in a line about 1/4 the way up the tortilla, then roll. Repeat with as many taquitos as you want to make. Spray with cooking spray. Place on baking sheet seam side down. Bake 10 minutes. Take out of the oven, turn them so the other side browns, and bake another 5 minutes until golden brown.

Take out of oven, cut in half on the diagonal. Serve with guacamole, sour cream, and/or salsa.

Machaca Nachos
machaca
tortilla chips
cheddar jack cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spread tortilla chips across a baking sheet. Add a spoonful of machaca to each chip. Sprinkle cheese over each chip. Bake until cheese is melted - about 5 minutes. Serve with sour cream and/or guacamole.

(not pretty, but pretty delicious)

Iced Tea Month: peach and ginger iced tea

2011-06-07T20:43:00.000-07:00

National Iced Tea Month is in full swing, which is great because the temps are rising here in NoVA. Supposed to be 100 degrees come Thurs, ew. This week's tea concoction was inspired by the Republic of Tea's ginger peach tea. I figured I'd be able to mimic that using actual ginger and peach. Plus, peaches are one of my favorite fruits (see the peach pocket pies and peach salad recipes), so here's another way to use them.

Here's a nice recipe you can make all year round, even when fresh peaches aren't available. I also used vanilla sugar to give it a nice mellow note, and because vanilla makes everything better, lol, but it's not too sweet. I'd like to hit the farmers market soon and try this again with fresh peaches, too. In any case, this is a very mild, light drink.

Peach and Ginger Tea

adapted from Emeril and Food Network

6 C water

2" section of ginger, peeled and sliced

1/3 C vanilla sugar

8 green tea bags

1 can no sugar added peach slices

Combine first 3 ingredients in a pot and heat until small bubble start to form and water starts to steam. Add tea bags and steep for 13 minutes. In the mean time, pour the peaches and juice into a blender and blend until fine. Remove the ginger from the tea, then add the peaches to the tea. Refrigerate until cold.

If you don't like the bits of peach, feel free to strain it out after it's cooled so the flavors have time to blend.

Celebrate National Iced Tea Month

2011-06-01T05:22:00.000-07:00

Any time a server asks, "What would you like to drink?" I say, "Iced tea, lots of lemons. Yes, lots please." And the server arrives with a tall glass of tea, usually with one wedge on the rim, and (hopefully) a plate of lemon wedges. I squeeze 3 wedges into the glass, add 2 packets of Splenda (or 3 of sugar), stir, and consume approximately 1/3 of it before I put it down and continue with my conversation. Throughout the course of the meal I suck down 3, possibly 4 glasses (and inevitably hit the little girls room at least 2 times before I leave, lol).

Why the play by play of my drinking habit? Because June is National Iced Tea Month!

Iced tea is so refreshing and easy to make - at its most basic, all you need is tea, water, and time. It's perfectly satisfying on its own, but you can dress it up any which way you like. I like iced black tea, iced green tea, iced herbal tea... do I sound like Forrest yet? So in honor of National Iced Tea Month, and because every summer shindig should have delightful liquid refreshments, I shall be sharing some of my favorite recipes each week this month. First up: the classic iced tea you'd get in any restaurant. Try it with 3 lemon slices and some sugar and you'll get a taste of how I <3 it.

Basic Iced Tea

2 quarts water (preferably filtered)
8 lipton tea bags
*2 tbsp Splenda (or 4 tbsp sugar)

Heat water in a pot over on the stove until the bottom just starts to bubble and it begins to steam. Add 8 tea bags. Steep for 5 minutes. Remove bags. *If adding sweetener (and what I put there is JUST enough to give it a hint of sweetness so if you like it sweet, keep on adding more) mix it in now. Put in a heat proof pitcher. Cool in the fridge overnight (I put it on top of a folded up kitchen towel just in case the heat would do something not so good to the cold glass shelves, but I could just be overly precautious). Enjoy over ice.

Happy National Macaron Day

2011-05-31T18:46:00.000-07:00

Today is National Macaron Day. Yep, didn't know that macarons had their own day either. Good excuse to use part of my Memorial Day weekend to bake? Yes. BTW, I've also noticed that I've made enough macaron recipes that they should get their own tag. Yay macarons!

For the coffee lover, I made espresso macchiato macarons. A macchiato is a shot of espresso with a dollop of foam, so it's got the bite of espresso softened a bit. To mimic that, these have an espresso shell with a white chocolate ganache filling. (A side note about the ganache - don't let it chill too long or it'll be way too hard to spread like mine was, thus why it's a touch uneven.) The shell's intense and the white choco rounds off the edge. If you want a more mild coffee flavor, cut the espresso back to 1 tsp.

Espresso Macchiato Macarons

For the Shell:
90g aged egg whites
1-2 Tbsp sugar
110g blanced almonds
200g confectioners sugar
1 Tbsp instant espresso powder

For the Filling:
1/4 C heavy cream
6 oz good white chocolate
2 tbsp butter

Special equipment: food processor, sieve/fine mesh strainer

Age the egg whites: keep egg whites in a container in the fridge for 3-5 days, or at room temperature for 24 hours.

Make the shells: Combine the almonds, confectioners sugar and espresso powder and put into food processor and grind until it looks fine. Sift into a large bowl. Dump the stuff that doesn't go through the sieve back into the food processor and repeat. Keep repeating until the majority of if is sifted into the bowl.

In a super clean mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, start beating egg whites at medium speed. When it gets bubbly enough that it looks like bubbly dish soap, up the speed to high. Add the sugar little by little until the foam turns into shiny meringue, the consistency of shaving cream. Stop when you can make slightly stiff peaks.

Fold in half of the dry ingredients until mostly combined. Fold in the rest. It's done when you can cut the spatula through the batter and it sinks back into itself in 10 seconds. It shouldn't take more than 50-55 strokes total.

Pipe onto parchment lined baking sheets - about the size of a quarter or half dollar. Make sure to leave at least 1-2" between them because they'll spread. Let sit for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Bake shells 14-15 minutes. After they're cool, match up like-size shells to make sandwiches.

Make the filling: Chop chocolate well and put in a heat proof bowl. Heat cream in a small pot over medium heat until the edges start to bubble. Add to the white chocolate. Allow to sit for a minute. Stir until smooth. Whisk in the butter. Allow to cool to room temp. Beat again with a whisk. Fill the cookies.

As usual, all macaron recipes are inspired and adapted from Tartelette.

homemade mayonnaise

2011-05-29T20:13:00.000-07:00

Mayonnaise is a condiment I only got into as an adult. My mom didn't put it on sandwiches when I was in grade school, and I don't recall ever eating a chicken/egg/potato salad that I liked when I was young, so I just never had a taste for it. I didn't know so many awesome dips had it as an ingredient until I started making them myself. Not sure when it all changed, but now I love me some mayo.

I've been buying the stuff in jars for years, not knowing that all along I've always had all the ingredients to make it at home. It took maybe 15 minutes (the manual way) and this tastes WAY better than the jarred stuff. Creamy, a touch of tang and salt. Plus I know where the ingredients came from, so it's "healthier" mayo, lol. That being said, fresh ingredients means that unlike the store bought kind, this will only last about a week in the fridge. So given that burger season is officially underway, use it up on those or sandwiches or salads and enjoy!

Homemade Mayonnaise
adapted from Alton Brown

1 egg yolk, room temp
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 pinches sugar
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp cider vinegar
1 C extra light olive oil (or other mild oil)

In a glass bowl, whisk together the yolk, mustard, salt, and sugar until combined. Whisk in the lemon juice and vinegar 1 tsp at a time, beating well after each addition until well combined.

(This is where the patience kicks in, so brace yourself, and your arm.)

Add the oil very little at a time (about 1/4-1/2 tsp), whisking vigorously with each addition, until it thickens and lightens in color. (This is you emulsifying, yay.) When it gets to that point, you can start adding the oil in a little more at a time (like a tablespoon or two), whisking until it all gets incorporated and thickens. If it gets too thick, add a little bit of water to think it out to the consistency you like.

Use immediately or refrigerate up to a week.

Be advised that this does use raw egg, so please use the freshest you can find. If you're not comfortable eating raw egg cuz of the risk of salmonella, I don't recommend making this recipe.

matzo toffee

2011-05-26T20:22:00.000-07:00

Soooo remember how in my tortilla espanola post I mentioned I had a few unfinished posts I promised to publish? This is one of them. So, pretend that it's Passover. Yes that was over a month ago, thus the pretending. Picture me and 2 friends celebrating it with a nice lil Passover lunch. There was matzo ball soup from Jon, and lamb stuffed tomatoes by Ang. And as usual, I rounded it out with a sweet treat: matzo toffee! See the 3 layers... matzo cracker, toffee, and chocolate:

Not gonna lie, this is kinda addictive. It's salty, sweet, crunchy, and in this case, kosher! Plus it was a breeze to make (if, ya know, you're used to making candy... but this is kinda cool because it doesn't require a candy thermometer.) A very popular variation is using saltines instead of the matzo, and I look forward to making that version. Make them for the holidays. Give them to friends. They will like you more. Promise :)

Matzo Toffee
adapted from Turntable Kitchen

6 Passover friendly matzo crackers (or enough to fit a baking sheet)
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp fleur de sal
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips (I used both semisweet and dark)

Preheat oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, overlapping over the edges. Arrange matzo crackers into one even layer so edges are touching - you'll probably have to break some to make it fit. Set aside.

Melt butter over medium heat, and mix in brown sugar and salt. Bring to a boil, and cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes. Take off heat and stir in vanilla. Pour over the matzo and use a silicone spatula to spread into an even layer over the crackers. Bake for 5 minutes or until it looks bubbly.

Take out of oven. Spread chips over the toffee. Let sit for 2-3 minutes or until you see them starting to melt.

Spread the chocolate in an even layer. Allow to cool completely. Break into pieces. Eat!

~ ~ ~ ~

One side note about the chocolate... I used both Nestle semisweet chips (left) and Guttiard 72% bittersweet (right).

The Guttiard melted soooo much smoother than the Nestle, you can actually see the difference in the pic. I don't know if it's because of the % cocoa or the quality of the chocolate itself. Maybe I will try 2 versions of the same brand in the future just to find out. Either way, try to use the best quality chocolate you have on hand... your taste buds will thank you!

personal fritattas aka egg muffins

2011-05-15T11:48:00.000-07:00

I love eggs. They provide such a great canvas for different flavors and meals. Whether scrambled, poached, or whipped up into omelets, I could eat them every day. Like this morning, I wanted to use the last of the veggies sitting in my fridge, so I made some personal fritattas, which are essentially omelets made in a muffin tin. They're similar to the tortilla espanola I made last week, except smaller and with different veggies... but same general idea.

The beauty of this recipe is threefold: you can use just about any combination of flavors in it, they are easy to make ahead then grab and go as you need, and they're healthy! You can personalize these any way you like. Today I used cheddar, shallots, tomatoes, broccoli and bacon because that's what I had on hand. Leave out the bacon and make it vegetarian. Add more meat. Use onion instead of shallot. You can use spinach and feta, or ham and cheese, or sausage and cheese... use whatever combination floats your boat!

Personal Fritattas
makes 6*

9 eggs
1 tsp olive oil
2 shallots, diced
1 C broccoli florets
1 or 2 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
3 slices bacon, cooked crispy and cut into small pieces
1/2 C cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste
cooking spray
Special equipment: *large size 6-muffin tin (though you could use average size and eat 2 as a serving)

Preheat oven to 350. Spray the heck out of the muffin tins.

Heat oil in a small pan over medium heat and sautee shallots until soft. Set aside.

Microwave broccoli with a tbsp of water for 1 minute to precook them a little bit. Drain, and set aside.

Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pepper - remember your cheese is salty so don't over do it! Mix in the shallots. Pour half of the among the 6 muffin cups. Add the broccoli, tomatoes, and bacon to the muffin tins. Sprinkle with cheese. Add the rest of the eggs.

Bake for 25 minutes. They will rise, and then fall. Eat!

Or refrigerate them - these make a great grab and go meal. These will be my breakfast or snacks for the week. You can freeze them, too, to eat later. Heck if you want, you can make these in average or even mini size muffin tins, and make ahead for a brunch buffet, too.

tortilla espanola

2011-05-05T21:16:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's May already and I've gone this long without posting! I've been cooking, I swear. I have probably 3 other posts saved to finish later. But really I've spent most of the last couple months working my tail off. And vacationing in the Dominican. But mostly working, lol. My goal this month is to finish those other posts and get back to sharing!

While I know it's Cinco de Mayo today, and that's totally Mexican, I made a Spanish dish last night. As in Spain. As in the tortilla espanola, which is essentially a potato omelet. It's one of the simplest foods out there - eggs, potatoes, onions (if you like), oil, and some salt and pepper. For so few ingredients, the key is in the execution. This took forever to make (so set aside plenty of time!) because I cooked each step low and slow. Each part was soft and tender without falling apart, so each ingredient's integrity is maintained, yet balanced delightfully with the other flavors. See - you can see the different potato pieces in the tortilla. Yum!

Tortilla Espanola (with onions)
adapted from allrecipes.com

1 lb butter potatoes, peeled, halved, and cut into 1/4" slices
1 small Spanish onion, peeled, cut in half, and sliced into thin rings
8 eggs
1/2 C olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Heat 1/3 C oil in a large skillet over medium low heat. Add half the potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until just fork tender. This takes about 20 minutes. Repeat with the rest of the potatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

If necessary, add a little oil to pan, and turn heat up to medium and cook onions until soft and golden - about 15 minutes. Add to bowl of potatoes to cool a bit. Add salt/pepper if needed.

Turn stove top heat down to low. Add enough oil to lightly coat bottom of pan so tortilla won't stick.

Beat eggs in a large bowl. Add potato/onion mix. Pour into pan and allow bottom and edges to set - about 10 minutes. Loosen edges and bottom with a spatula so it can slide out of the pan easily.

Here's where you need to work pretty quickly so nothing spills: Slide onto a large plate, top with another plate, flip over (so cooked side is on top), slide back into pan. Cook for another 3-5 minutes until cooked through and set in the center.

Remove from pan. Cool. Cut - I find cutting it into 8ths is good for a snack portion, cutting it into 6ths is good for a breakfast/lunch portion, or you can also cut it into smaller pieces if serving as a finger food. I like to eat this slightly warmed, but it's just as good room temp.

Baby Shower Cookies

2011-02-21T18:57:00.000-08:00

Look how cute! They are ALMOST as cute as the mom-to-be :-)

Our girl, Genelle, is preggo. A few of us took on different roles to help throw her baby shower this past weekend, and of course I volunteered to do cookie duty! I wrapped them in individual baggies so guests could take them home as the favors. Since they don't want to know if it's a boy or girl yet, I went with some gender neutral baby shower themed sugar cookies. I am VERY happy with how cute they turned out. With some tweaking and practice, I can totally rock making decorated sugar cookies in the future.

I made sugar cookies with royal icing for a Daring Bakers challenge, but I used entirely different recipes this time around. I'm still tweaking them, so I'm just pictures to post at the moment.

Instead of royal icing, I used glacee icing. It's MUCH better tasting than royal icing and dries to a nice sheen so you can still stack cookies later.

Piping takes patience and practice. I'm still pretty new to it, but I doubt this'll be the last time I do it.

Can't wait to find out if they're having a boy or girl!

REEdiculous: shrimp caprese pasta

2011-02-15T12:04:00.000-08:00

I spent Valentine's day with my bestest friend and we each decided to make something off our 2011 Hit List. It was my turn to do the main course, thus I recreated my favorite Olive Garden meal: Shrimp Caprese Pasta. Think cheesy cream sauce, tomatoes, basil, garlic, cheese, spaghetti, shrimp, and more cheese. It was absurd! Like you should probably only eat salad and fruit on the day you consume this to average it out :-)

Definitely calling this one a success. Unlike Olive Garden, my pasta wasn't overcooked, hehe. Salad would have gone nicely with this, but didn't want to distract from the cheese, lol. Mmmm cheeeeese.... That's a whole lot of melted mozz on top. Yep, I put the before picture after. Deal. :)

Shrimp Caprese Pasta

adapted from whatscookingamerica

1 lb roma tomatoes, cored and cut into 1" pieces
15 basil leaves, torn into 1" pieces
1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp italian seasoning
1 large pinch salt
2/3 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 box thin spaghetti
2 tbsp butter
1/2 C white wine
1 C heavy cream
1/2 C milk (I used 1%)
1 C freshly grated parmesan
1 C freshly grated mozzarella

Combine tomatoes, basil, garlic, olive oil, italian seasoning, and salt and mix well. Cover and allow to marinate for 1 hour.

Cook pasta according to the directions. Drain and put back in pot and cover while you make the sauce.

Preheat oven to 450. Melt butter over medium heat in a large nonstick skillet. Add wine and simmer for 1 minute. Add cream, milk, and cheese. Bring to a simmer, and cook, stirring reguarly, until it reduces to the thickness you want. (I should now note that while I made half the pasta from the original recipe, I made the regular amount of sauce and reduced it down about 1/3-1/2 so it was a thick cheesy sauce.) Remove from heat. Add spaghetti and tomato mix. Combine well so pasta is evenly coated. Transfer to an oven safe dish (I used a pie plate).

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and drizzle with a little olive oil. Spread the shrimp in an even layer. Roast about 3-5 minutes or until shrimp are pink and just slightly curled.

Turn oven to broil. Sprinkle mozzarella over the pasta. Broil until cheese is melted. Take out of oven and top with shrimp.

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T03:26:00.000-08:00

Happy Heart Day!

After my awesome macaron fail the other week, I was deterimined to try again. I did, and succeeded, just in time for Valentine's Day. Macarons are quite the labor of love - they require patience in aging the eggs and beating the meringue until just right, tenderness while mixing the sugar/almonds into the meringue, of course some sweetness, and definitely hope that they'll turn out well, lol! And a sense of humor to shape them like little hearts!

This is the 1st (successful) time I've flavored the macarons - these are chai macarons with pink honey vanilla buttercream. This time around, I did everything I didn't before - aged the eggs, measured by weight, didn't overbeat or overmix anything. And look how cute! These are definitely a sweet treat for Valentine's day.

I Heart Chai Macarons

90g aged egg whites
2 tbsp white sugar
110g blanched almonds
200g powdered sugar
2 chai spice tea bags

Combine almonds, sugar, and the contents of the 2 teabags in a food processor and process until fine. Sift the contents into a big bowl, and then regrind the big bits and then sift again. Repeat until it's all fine.

In a stand mixer, beat the egg whites on medium until foamy like bubble bath. Turn the mixer up to high and add white sugar a little at a time and beat until you get stiff peaks. Remove from stand mixer.

Add 1/2 of the almond mixture to the bowl and use a spatula to fold in. Add the rest of the almond mix and continue folding until the batter is evenly incorporated. You want to fold until you get a consistency where you cut the spatula across and the batter sinks back into itself after 10 seconds. The whole process shouldn't take more than 50 strokes.

Line your baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop batter into a disposable piping bag. Snip off a 1/2" opening. To make hearts, pipe Vs onto the baking sheets. Otherwise, pipe quarter sized rounds. Make sure to leave at least 1" between them as the batter will spread. Allow to sit for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 300. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool on the baking sheets.

Per the usual, recipe adapted from Tartelette :)

Pink Honey Vanilla Buttercream
1 stick butter
3/4 C confectioners sugar
1 Tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla
red food coloring (optional)

Beat all together. Scoop into a piping bag. Fill macaron shells.

say it with cupcakes

2011-02-13T10:52:00.001-08:00

Valentines Day is upon us, and I can't be happier. Nope, no love of my life to shower me with flowers and shiny things, lol. BUT, I am surrounded by love in my family and friends (and hell, even some kind strangers, lol) and I count myself quite blessed for it. And, since sweets are my way of showing love, I decided to make some cupcakes for my family. I LOVE vanilla chai and was looking for a chance to make them into something edible, so here we are.
Vanilla Chai Latte Cupcakes
adapted from princesscarissa on Bake Space

1 1/4 C Silk vanilla soy milk
3 bags of your favorite vanilla chai tea
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 3/4 C sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 C cake flour
1 C all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 375. Line 24 cupcake cups.

Heat soy milk in a small sauce pan or in the microwave until hot, but not scalded. Steep the tea bags in there for 10-15 minutes. In the mean time, sift together the flours.

When the tea is done steeping, take out the bags and squeeze the milk out of them. Make sure it still makes 1 1/4 C soymilk. If you're short, add a bit more milk to make 1 1/4 C.

In a stand mixer, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in the vanilla, salt, and baking powder. On low speed, add in 1/3 of the milk, then 1/3 of the flours and mix until incorporated. Repeat 2 more times. Mix on low until everything's incorporated and smooth.

Dish out the batter evenly among the 24 cups. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Bacon EXPLOSION!

2011-02-06T21:26:00.000-08:00

Pigskin for Superbowl? Pshaw... how about pig flesh! Bacon inside of pork sausage inside of bacon. Three layers of pork, rolled, mmmm. That's right, I'm talking about the BACON EXPLOSION!

I feel like there should be an echo... the BACON ex-PLOOOO-ZHUNNNN... ZHUNnnnn... Shun...shunnnnn.....

I first heard about this bad boy when my girl Jen (hi Jen!) made it for some event and got 2nd place in an appetizer contest (when really she shoulda won since 1st place was really an entree, right!). Oh, and apparently the NYT did an article about it in 2009. I've wanted to make it since, but could never really bring myself to. As my boss said the other day when I showed him the recipe, "it's like the inside of a cannibal's intestines!" Gross. But apt. But I didn't care, lol. If you're gonna make something for Superbowl, may as well go all out, right!

I so rarely do progress pics, but this is so awesome I just HAVE to :-)

BACON EXPLOSION!!!!
introduced by Jen, apparently in the NYT, and here's a link to the 1st search result from google

2 lbs thick cut bacon
1.5 to 2 lbs Italian sausage, casings removed
3 Tbsp BBQ rub
2/3 C BBQ sauce
Prep a sheet pan with a layer of aluminum foil topped. It just makes this a bit neater start to finish.

Take 10 strips of bacon and create a tight 5x5 basket weave. (What's a basket weave you ask? the NYT recipe describes it, and the BBQ addicts show it.) I should note that I had thinner strips so I eventually did 6x6 (don't mind the pic, I took 1 strip away eventualy).

Spread all of the sausage over the basket weave of bacon. All the way to the edges in an even layer.
Preheat oven to 225. (Or you can smoke it, but I don't have a smoker, so we'll be baking.)

Snip the remaining bacon into 1-2" pieces. Fry to your desired doneness- when they're about halfway there sprinkle in about 1T of BBQ rub and keep cooking. Cool. Spread the cooled bbq bacon bits over the sausage in an even layer.

Drizzle with 1/2 C BBQ sauce and sprinkle with 1 T BBQ rub.

Carefully roll the SAUSAGE and COOKED BACON into a log -- you'll need to separate it from the bacon weave. Press it so there are no air pockets, and pinch the seam and the ends shut to seal in the crumbled bacon. Roll the log again with the bacon weave until completely wrapped. Turn it seam side down. Sprinkle with 1 T BBQ rub.

Bake until internal temperature reaches 165. It's approximately 1 hour for every inch of thickness. Glaze with BBQ sauce.

Cut into 1/4" too 1/2" rounds and serve.

oh macarons, you finicky bastards

2011-02-03T22:03:00.000-08:00

Remember the first time I made macarons? I totally had beginners luck! And then the second time I made them? I pretty much impressed myself with how easily I took to these bad boys. You were probably thinking, what was she blabbering on about that first time about being all nervous about making macarons? Surely they can't be THAT difficult if she got it right the first time around... Sadly, my third time was NOT a charm.

Today's post will include no recipe, just pictures - THIS is why I was fretting way back when:

Where are the feet!? Why are the tops wrinkly? What are those black specks? (Oh wait, I remember now - those are tea leaves, hehe...) And how come this happened on my THIRD batch in the oven? I had to bake in 3 rounds... the 1st batch of the night came out nicely. The 2nd batch half of them rose with feet, the other half did not. The third batch? I'm still trying to wipe it from my memory.

First batch. Ooh pretty! Uniform. Smooth tops. All have distinct feet. Not as pretty as the last times, but hey I think they're acceptable... The texture of the cookie was right on.

Second batch: Um, something is amiss. Notice the cracks up top. And how the ones on the right have feet but the ones on the left do not. Some of them even had, like, half risen to create half a... foot?

And you saw the pictures of the 3rd batch. I may have just shed another tear. Those were supposed to be macarons?

I have theories as to why:
1) I didn't measure with a scale, and instead used cups and tablespoons per Tartelette's recipe via bell'alimento.
2) I didn't age the egg whites.
3) I overbeat the whites.
4) The tea made the batter too heavy so it didn't rise properly.
5) I overmixed the batter.

BUT. How come my first batch turned out fine but then they got progressively worse? I don't get it!

Ugh. That's TWO cookie FAILs this week. (I forgot I had no raisins when halfway through making oatmeal raisin cookies, and it was so late the stores weren't open, so there may or may not be a stand mixer hanging out on my counter with creamed butter/sugar and a bowl of dry ingredients hanging out next to it waiting for said raisins...) TWO! I haven't messed up a batch of cookies since those stupid choco chip cookies (and I really dont think that was ME who messed up.) This is ridiculous. OH, and to add insult to injury, I messed up my new manicure while piping that last batch of reject macarons. (And why was I piping while waiting for my nails to dry? Oh... let's not talk about that...)

Tomorrow I attempt this again. Notice I never said they tasted bad... in fact they are downright delicious! They're just not RIGHT. If they turn out well, I will post a recipe. I will probably do a happy dance too. And I really like to dance, so let's cross fingers that it works out!

casserole time: turkey tetrazzini

2011-02-01T12:24:00.000-08:00

I have a really bad habit about leftovers: I almost never eat them. I'll keep them with the best intentions, but probably 99% of the time I totally forget until I notice something green and moving in the back of my fridge. Yeah, ew. Sometimes, though, I'm smart and put them into the freezer. I often still forget about them til they're totally iced over, which is why I'm glad I found this chart. I froze some turkey from Thanksgiving, and that's within the 4 month limit for cooked frozen poultry, so I actually used it to make turkey tetrazzini. This is really easy to make, so hooray me for not wasting for once, lol!

Turkey Tetrazzini
adapted from Turkey Tetrazzini II at allrecipes.com

1/2 box (8oz) thin spaghetti
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp flour
1 1/2 C chicken broth
1 C milk
a bit more than 3/4 C grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp salt
ground black pepper
2 C chopped cooked turkey
1 C frozen swet peas
1/2 C panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350. Cook spaghetti according to box instructions to al dente. Drain and put into a pie plate or similar sized baking dish.

Melt butter in a small pot over medium heat. Add flour and whisk until well combined. Add chicken broth and milk, stir, allow to come to a boil, and stir until slightly thickened. Add 2/3 of the parmesan cheese and mix until melted. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Pour over spaghetti. Add turkey and peas, and mix until evenly combined. Top with the remaining parmesan and then with the panko. Bake for 40 minutes.

potato fauxtato leek soup

2011-01-31T13:03:00.000-08:00

It's so cold, and there are rumors of another midweek snowstorm. Last week's midweekstorm totally crushed VA/DC/MD... friends and coworkers were reporting 6, 7, even 8 hour commutes home (if they even made it home at all)! Holy sheesh, right. I am SO glad that I left work before it really started and I got home with no problems. I was all warm, toasty, catching up on DVRs cuz I never lost power... Now I'm just bragging, lol. Anyways, like I said, it's pretty cold, so it's time for soup.

Unphotogenic soup, but soup nonetheless, lol.

Normally I prefer brothy soups like miso, wonton, or this or this. I had a potato and leek soup at Cafe Du Parc (it was also brothy) the other week and I liked the flavor. When I was looking for similar recipes, nearly all of them were a creamy or thick version, so hey, why not branch out? And by creamy and thick versions, I mean they usually call for heavy cream and a lot of butter. To lighten it up, I used a touch of milk and since I had some cauliflower left in my freezer, and since I know cauliflower make acceptable mashed fauxtatoes, I figured I'd toss them into the mix. Verdict? It makes a hearty and slightly creamy and oh hey it's generally pretty healthy soup. If the snow does come and I'm stuck indoors, at least I know I'll have something nummy to eat!

Potato Fauxtato Leek Soup
adapted from Potato Leek Soup I at allrecipes.com

4 C chicken stock
1.5 lb white potatoes, peeled and cubed into 1" pieces
1 lb cauliflower florets
1 leek, (white part and a bit of the green, but not the leaves up top... about 3-4" of it)
3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp canola oil
2 tbsp white wine
1/2 C milk (I used 1%)
salt and pepper to taste
Special equipment: immersion blender or food processor

Put stock, potatoes, and cauliflower florets into a medium pot and bring to a boil.

While the potato and cauliflower is coming to a boil, cut the leek in half lengthwise and soak in water for a few minutes to clean. Take out and slice finely. In a small pan, melt butter with the canola oil over medium. Add the leeks and sautee until translucent. Add the white wine and cook 3 more minutes.

Check that the potatoes and caluflower are fork tender. Turn off heat. Add leeks and milk and mix. Using an immersion blender*, blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste. I used about 1 tsp salt and just a bit of pepper. If you want it thinner, add more broth and reseason accordingly.

* If you don't have an immersion blender, blend in batches in a food processor.

another chocolate chip cookie

2011-01-30T15:22:00.000-08:00

Who doesn't love a chocolate chip cookie, right? (And whoever doesn't, don't trust them!) I don't actually remember the last time I made a batch, so I figured I'd whip some up. It was also a good opportunity to try yet another recipe claiming to be the best. This time: Cooks Illutstrated's Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies. These are so good they may actually live up to the name: I'm usually good at only having 2 or 3 cookies from a batch, but I Cannot. Stop. Eating these.

Funny thing is I posted a choco chip cookie recipe about a year ago. Didn't like it one bit. THIS recipe, though, I'd totally hit the like button if I had one! I dare say it's on par with, maybe even better than Alton Brown's recipe, which has been my go to classic CCC recipe for as long as I can remember. Like Alton Brown's, it involved an egg plus a yolk. Like the NYT recipe, I used chocolate disks. Unlike both, the CI version involves browned butter. (Sidenote #1: I've said it before and I'll say it again: browned butter = heaven, which may be the tipping point as to why this recipe is awesome!) (Sidenote #2: unlike most cookie recipes, you can also make this without a stand mixer, so added bonus I suppose.) My verdict = 9.5*. I could have been happy eating just the dough.

* I "accidentally" used 72% bittersweet chocolate disks for this recipe. By "accidentally" I mean that I was looking at a bunch of different recipes before baking, and bittersweet is what got stuck in my mind (I was looking at the NYT recipe). So I used the disks I had on hand, and it makes for a more sophisticated taste and I really liked how they created layers of chocolate to bite into. BUT. The Cooks Illustrated one calls for semisweet, and I bet it'd taste better because it's The Classic flavor. I have no doubt in my mind that had I used the semisweet, the flavor would be a solid 10! If I can't stop eating them now, I'm scared for when I do use the semisweet, lol.

Cook's Illustrated's Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie
(Trom the May/June 2009 issue by way of The Way the Cookie Crumbles)

14 tbsp unsalted butter, divided
1/2 C white sugar
3/4 C brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 3/4 C flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 C bittersweet chocolate chips/disks/chunks* (see note above)

Over medium heat, melt 10 tbsp of butter in a saucepan or skillet. Continue cooking, swirling constantly, until butter turns slightly darker and smells nutty (or like toffee). Remove from heat and pour into a large heat proof bowl. Stir remaining 4 tbsp butter into it until melted.

Add white and brown sugars, vanilla, and salt to melted butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Whisk in the egg and egg yolk until mixture is smooth. Let it sit for 3 minutes, and then whisk again for 30 seconds. Repeat the 3 min-30 sec directions two more times. It should be lump-free, smooth and shiny.

Combine the flour and baking soda in a medium bowl and then mix until its even. Using a wooden spoon, stir into the butter mixture until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Refrigerate while you preheat the oven to 375.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. If using a large cookie scoop (about 2 tbsp size), place about 6 on the sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. If using a medium cookie scoop (about 2 tsp size), place about 8 on the sheet and bake for 7-9 min. Edges should just be golden brown and centers should still look soft. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet while the next round is baking.

Hit List 2011: Caramel Corn!

2011-01-04T18:40:00.000-08:00

It's not even a full week into 2011 and I can check off my Hit List item #1: caramel corn! I've been craving it, dreaming about it, drooling for caramel corn for weeks. Must've been those tins of popcorn we kept getting at work for the holidays, haha. Then it popped up on Tastespotting, and I had to make it. Plus I love popcorn - it's probably in my top 5 favorite foods I could eat every day. And I was at my mom's the other day and broke open a can of poppycock and couldn't put it down. It was time to make it for myself!

So, I've made toffee before, so you'd think I'd be confident in the making the candy part of this... except I've also attempted soft caramels before and ended up with a solid, entirely NOT soft piece of sugar candy. It's one of the few things I've ever had to toss out. So I was nervous, but luckily it was surprisingly easy! I read a couple recipes and just went with them versus pulling out my candy thermometer. Thankfully it worked! This is freaking awesome. Vanilla-y (we all know I'm a vanilla girl) because I "accidentally" spilled a little extra, crunchy, light, sweet... and addictive! When I first started making it I thought 20 cups was a lot of popcorn.,, Now I'm not sure if it'll make it to my family dinner on Thursday :-D If you like caramel corn - make it at home and enjoy :)

Caramel Corn
adapted from Dunkin Cookin the Semihomemade Way

20 cups popcorn (approx 1 cup popcorn kernels - I popped them according to the package directions)
1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 C light corn syrup
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 C almonds* or other nuts if desired

Pop the popcorn. Allow to cool. Place in a large roasting pan.

Preheat oven to 275. In a medium heavy bottom pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil, then stirring, cook for about 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat and add the vanilla (it'll sputter a bit) and baking soda. Stir until it gets fluffy and the color becomes lighter. Pour over the popcorn and stir until evenly coated.

Bake for 1 hour, taking out every 15 minutes to stir. Pour out onto parchment or wax paper lined baking sheets to cool. Once it's cool, break up into pieces and try not to eat it all :)

* Note - I made 3/4 regular caramel corn and 1/4 caramel corn with almonds... so if you want to add enough nuts for all of it, probably increase it to 1 1/2 C.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

2011-01-03T20:31:00.000-08:00

It's getting kinda chilly, which means it's a good time for soup! This hearty chicken tortilla soup is very easy to make using a bunch of canned ingredients and a rotisserie chicken, so it makes for a simple, any time meal. Also, this makes a lot - like half a stock potful - so you can freeze it and have some later, or just eat for a week, hehe.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 tbsp canola oil

1 small onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 can black beans

1 can corn

1 jar salsa OR 1 can diced onions with jalapeno

1 box reduced sodium chicken stock

water, if you want it more liquidy (fill half of the stock box, shake, then dump into the pot)

1 rotisserie chicken, without skin, and shredded

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

freshly ground black pepper

shredded mexican cheese

tortilla chips

Heat oil in a stock pot over medium high heat. Add onion and cook for 2-3 minutes until softened. Add garlic and sautee another minute. Add the black beans, corn, salsa, stock and water and chicken. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil. Add spices. Drop down to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20-30 minutes.

When serving, sprinkle with some cheese (which I didn't here, but it's much better if you do) and crushed tortilla chips.

Happy 2011: Hit List Time!

2011-01-02T18:34:00.000-08:00

Warmest wishes for a healthy, prosperous, and delicious 2011! I spent New Years Eve quietly - at home watching Don't Mess With the Zohan, taking 10 minutes to watch the ball drop with Dick Clark, Ryan Seacrest, and <3 NKOTBSB <3. I was in recovery from a very spectacular, fun, and long Thursday night. Thursday was my golden birhtday = I turned 30 on the 30th! So you can see, the end of the year is a great time for me :-)

I have some recipes to post, but no pics yet. So instead, I'll do the same thing I did for last year, which is post a hit list of foods I want to conquer. No I didn't actually finish my Hit List 2010, but I got most, lol. They'll be an addendum to this new list, haha.

Hit List 2011:
1) ~~caramel corn~~ (completed 4-Jan-11)
2) pain au chocolat
3) ~~zucchini bread~~ (completed 3-July-11)
4) ~~shrimp caprese a la Olive Garden~~
5) french dip sandwich au jus
6) tamales
7) baked char siu bao
8) cheese souffle thing a la Panera
9) some kind of from scratch cupcake or cake
10) shrimp and grits
11) garlic knots a la C&Os Tratorria (if you've been to Marina Del Ray, you know!)
12) thai rice pudding with mango

Bring it on!

Christmas macarons

2010-12-26T08:47:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, my mom challenged me to make French macarons. Well, more accurately, I took it as a challenge when she asked if I'd ever made them before because she had some frozen macarons she brought back from France and didn't know how to make them herself. Something to compare my macarons to? Challenge accepted! Oh, THEN my mom says something along the lines of she can't believe I make all the stuff on my blog, haha. She's like, "I recognize the kitchen towels in the pictures and your dirty fingernail, otherwise I wouldn't believe it!" So this is a chance to impress her with my mad skillz and show her that I am a chip off the old block (half of my memories involving her are in the kitchen baking something) I told h er, well yes I do make it all, and yes I do know how to make macarons. Wanna see?

I followed the same recipe for the shells I used last time, and then filled them with a simple chocolate ganache. Love the classic combination. And while the macarons my mom brought back were flavored, so not an exact comparison to mine... We can both confirm that the texture of the macaron cookies themselves were spot on, so Victory is mine!

Macarons and Chocolate Ganache Filling
adapted from Tartelette

3 egg whites, aged 1-3 days (large eggs)
2-3 tbsp white sugar
110 grams blanched almonds
200 grams powdered sugar

Prepare/Age the eggs: Separate the whites from the yolks, place whites in a really really clean bowl, and cover loosely. Let it sit at room temperature 1 to 3 days. I aged mine for 3 days. You can also refrigerate up to 5 days.

Prepare the almond meal: Combine almonds and confectioners sugar in a food processor and proccess until it's very fine. Sift through a strainer to keep the big bits out and regrind as necessary, until pretty much all of it can be sifted through.

Make the meringue: In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the egg whites until foamy -- it should look like a bubble bath. Continue beating and add sugar little by little (I added 2 tbsp worth) just until it forms a glossy meringue that looks like shaving cream - you should just get stiff peaks.

Add about half the almond meal/powdered sugar mix to the meringue and mix in - about 10 strokes. Gently fold in the rest of the dry mix until it comes together. You know it's done if you cut your spatula through it and it sinks back into itself within 10 seconds. You can also take a little bit and dollop it onto a plate - it should flatten on its own. If it's got peaks, fold a couple more times. This whole thing shouldn't take more than 50 strokes.

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Fill a pastry bag or zip top bag with the batter. If using a zip top bag, snip off the bottom corner when ready to pipe. Pipe small rounds the size of a quarter onto the baking sheets. It should spread a little, so leave an inch between each one. Let sit for 1 hour so the shells harden. Preheat oven to 300.

Bake for 12-14 minutes. Look, more feet!

Chocolate Ganahce

1/3 C heavy cream
1/2 tsp instant espresso
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped well

Put chocolate into a small bowl. Heat heavy cream over medium high heat until the edges start to bubble. Mix in espresso powder until dissolved. Pour over the chocolate and let sit for 2 minutes. Stir until smooth. Allow to cool until thick enough to pipe.

Assemble the macarons: Match up similar sized/shaped cookies. Pipe or spoon about 1 tbsp of the ganache in between and sandwich the cookies. Allow to cool/set completely (I just did this overnight) so flavors can meld. Enjoy!

Christmas Eve dinner recipes

2010-12-25T07:35:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! Maligayang Pasko! My gift to you: recipes from last night's killer meal :)

Since I wouldn't get to spend Christmas dinner with my dad and little brother, I made dinner for us for Christmas Eve.I went with something not so traditional and knocked off another Hit List item at the same time: pastitsio. Almost didn't happen, though -- I may have almost burned down my kitchen, haha. That's an exaggeration, sorta... Instead of turning on the burner to boil water, I ended up charring the bottom of the box of pasta sitting on the other burner, lol. By the time it stopped smoking and, um, glowing, half of the bottom was gone, lol. Don't worry, I saved the pasta and was able to make this!

So pastitsio... Never heard of it? It's a Greek casserole, kinda like lasagna: you layer pasta (in this case, tubular noodles), meat sauce, and bechamel, then bake. It's not the same in flavor, given you use cinnamon and nutmeg in the meat sauce. The only change is that next time I'll double the bechamel (and go to the gym for twice as long, lol) cuz I LOVE that stuff. I wish I could explain it better, but you'll just have to try it: it's definitely delicious!

Pastitsio
Adapted from food.com

For the pasta:
1 box ziti (since I couldn't find bucatini or the traditional No. 2 pasta)
4 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 C parmesan cheese, grated
1/3 C milk
1 egg, lightly beaten

For the meat sauce:
1 lb ground lamb (or ground beef*)
1/2 large yellow onion, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 8-oz can of tomato sauce
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
freshly ground black pepper

For the bechamel:
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp flour
3/4 tsp salt
2 C milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 C parmesan cheese

Make the pasta according to the box al dente instructions. Drain, then return to the pot. Mix in the milk, butter, cheese and egg then set aside. Preheat oven to 350.

Make the meat sauce: In a large sautee pan, heat the oil over medium and add onions. Cook for 2 minutes, then add the lamb. Cook until the lamb is no longer pink and the onions are translucent. Drain off the fat. Add the tomato sauce, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Set aside.
(*Note: if using ground beef, the 2 tsp salt should be good... If using lamb, make sure to taste it and add salt as necessary.)

Make the bechamel: In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Mix in the flour and salt. Slowly stir in the milk, whisking constantly so there are no lumps. Cook, stirring, on medium high heat until sauce thickens (thicker than gravy, not as thick as sour cream) then take off heat. Mix in the egg, stirring well. Mix in the cheese.

Spread half the noodles into an 11x7 or a 9x9 baking dish. Spoon on all the meat sauce and spread so it's even. Top with the remaining pasta. Pour the bechamel over so everything's covered. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes or until top browns. (I shoulda baked mine a bit longer to have it brown all over but we were impatient, lol.) Allow to stand for 10-15 minutes before serving.

Delish!

Okay and for those green beans:
These are SUPER simple and absolutely awesome. I think I actually ate MORE of them than of the pastitsio, lol. (I heard a radio commercial say that the average american gains 10 lbs during Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays... not for me, thank you very much.) So. I got 2 bags of the prewashed, steam in the bag green beans (from Wegmans, though I'm sure most grocery stores have something similar). I microwaved it for 30 seconds shorter than the instructions said. Drained them, then put into a bowl. Drizzled some olive oil and lemon juice from half a lemon, sprinkled with salt, ground some red pepper flakes and viola! Absolutely perfect green beans! I will make those over and over again!

Christmas Eve spread

2010-12-24T19:29:00.000-08:00

Dinner for three on Christmas Eve:

> fried Halloumi cheese over sourdough crostini with orange apricot marmalade
> PASTITSIO!
> lemony haricort verts
> 2008 Kendall Jackson Reserve Chardonnay
> cookies for dessert (not pictured)

Recipes to come! Until then, Maligayang Pasko! Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad!

iced chocolate peppermint snaps

2010-12-24T18:51:00.000-08:00

Behold, the one Christmas cookie recipe I will be posting before Christmas. Just under the wire, lol. They're basically thin mints topped with white chocolate and crushed candy canes... perfect for the holidays! Big thanks to Carly for trying the recipe first and sending me a sample. So good I had to try for myself :-)

These crisp cookies are adapted from Martha Stewart's recipe. I didn't get 60 cookies the way she did, I got 36 uniform square cookies. I skipped her method of chilling discs of dough then rolling them out and cutting out circles. I went the shortcut method (that I picked up from a post on one of the first blogs I started reading, Smitten Kitchen): after mixing the dough, dump into a gallon size ziplock bag, roll until unform, chill, then cut away the plastic and cut squares. That method is SO much neater and in my opinion much simpler to cut out cookies. And I'm all about easier and neater during this majorly hectic cookie baking season!

Iced Choclate Peppermint Snaps
adapted from Martha Stewart

1 C flour
1/2 C dutch processed cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
5 tbsp butter
3/4 C sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp peppermint extract
crushed candycanes -- about 20 small ones
8oz white chocolate

Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and powder, and salt in one bowl. Beat butter and sugar on medium high until well combined - 2-3 minutes. Reduce speed to med-low and mix in the egg, then the yolk, then extract - beating well after each addition. Slowly mix in the flour mixture, mixing until just combined.

Dump into a gallon size bag, zip about 75% so air can escape while you roll it out. Roll it to about 1/8" thickness -- will take up about 3/4 of the bag. Zip, and refrigerate flat for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.

Preheat oven to 325. Cut edges of the ziplock so you can peel back one side, exposing the flat dough. Cut with a knife or pastry wheel into 36 squares like so:

Arrange on baking sheet with at least 1" between each cookie. Bake for 11-13 minutes then cool completely on a cooling rack that's over newspaper or something you won't mind throwing away later...

Chop up white chocolate and put into a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 30-second bouts, stirring between each one, until chocolate is melted. Put into a piping or ziplock bag and snip a small piece off the end. Drizzle over the cookies. (You can also just dip a fork into the chocolate and drizzle, but the bag was a lot neater cuz I just tossed it out afterwards. This is also why you want something under the cookies to catch the extra drizzle.) Sprinkle with the crushed peppermint. Allow to dry completely (I let it sit overnight) and then enjoy!

hit list challenge item: Risotto

2010-12-19T20:21:00.000-08:00

You'd think I'd be blowing up the blog with Christmas cookie recipes. Well, I wish I had been, but not so much, lol. Wll, since I'm not playing any sports (shocker) and I dropped choir, I had a lot of free time so I picked up a seasonal job. So, there goes my free time to bake, lol.

BUT, I did make time for Friendsmas* at Ang.'s. It was a perfect time to try out a new recipe and to knock out one of my Hit List items. There are only a few things left, so I went with the risotto. Since she was making the pot roast, I opted for a side dish version. It was yummy! The addition of meyer lemon zest really made the flavor sing. Or as Danielle said, "what is that extra something... it tastes... zesty..." Lol.

I was actually quite surprised at how easy risotto is. It's not HARD to make per se, since it's mostly just stirring. It is just time consuming. Patience is definitely your friend here... Like the original recipe said it'd take some 18 minutes for it to cook, mine probably took closer to 25-30. Be patient, taste it along the way, and enjoy.

*Friendsmas = the Christmas version of Friendsgiving, of course!

Asparagus Risotto
adapted from Gourmet

4 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
1 cup water
1 lb asparagus
3/4 sweet onion, chopped small
4 tbsp butter, divided
1 1/4 C arborio rice
1/4 C white wine
lemon zest from 1/2 lemon
1/2 C parmesan, (freshly grated, may want to use less if using the plastic jar kind)

Snap the ends of the asparagus then cut into 1" pieces. Bring the broth and water to a boil. Add the asparagus, reduce the heat and simmer for 3-4 minutes until tender. Use a slotted spoon to remove the asparagus and put in an ice bath to stop the cooking, then drain. Keep the broth/water mix on the stove.

In a large pan, melt 2 tbsp butter over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until tender - about 5-6 minutes. Add the rice, stir constantly, and cook for about a minute.

This is where the patience begins :-)

Add 1/2 C of the broth mix to the risotto and mix until absorbed. When it's absorbed, add another 1/2 C of the broth and mix until absorbed. Keep repeating - adding 1/2 C at a time and allowing to absorbe before adding more - until the rice is al dente. (Note: it should be simmering, and mine wasn't, which is probably why mine took so long to cook,)

Stir in the asparagus, remaining 2 tbsp butter, parmesan, and lemon zest. Serve hot.

This can easily be made into a main course by adding shrimp, but otherwise this works as a lovely vegetarian side.

cheddar biscuits

2010-12-10T19:52:00.000-08:00

I love buttermilk biscuits. I don't care how full I am, I will always make room for them. Add cheese and garlic, and you've got some of the best biscuits ever that taste pretty much like those from that red crustacean restaurant chain. Ya know the one. But I get to control the butter, so yay! I got the recipe from America's Most Wanted Recipes. It's actually the first recipe I've made from it even though I received it as a gift last year from James. (Hi James!) I made them for one of our Thanksgiving potlucks as an alternative to the normal dinner rolls. Yum!

Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits
adapted from that book linked above, lol

For the biscuits:
2 rounded cups of buttermilk biscuit mix
1/4 rounded tsp garlic powder

4 tbsp cold butter

1 overflowing cup of grated cheddar - I used a mix of mild and sharp cheddar
3/4 C cold whole milk

For the buttery topping:
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp garlic powder
dried parsley flakes for color

Mix garlic powder into biscuit mix. Cut butter into the biscuit mix until incorporated but bits are still about the size of peas. Gently mix in the cheddar. Stir in the milk until just combined.

Preheat oven to 400. Drop into big dollops (about 1/4 C sized) onto the parchment lined baking sheet. Smooth the tops so you don't get any crispy parts. Bake for 15 minutes or until they're lightly golden.

Melt the butter and mix in the garlic powder and parsley flakes. Brush the baked biscuits while hot.

Makes 1 dozen.

Daring Bakers: Crostata (better late than never!)

2010-12-09T19:45:00.000-08:00

November has come and gone, but I didn't forget about the Daring Bakers' challenge. The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well. I only got a chance to make this tonight, so here is my take on November's challenge.

The pasta frolla was easy to make and absolutely delicious. It tastes like a sugar cookie that mated with shortbread! (In fact, instead of using the excess to create a pretty decoration on the crostata, I baked them up as cookies then inhaled them.) It's such a great base to any kind of tart or crostata or pie. I was thinking about doing a fruit preserve crostata, but I've already made some fruit pies this year (see here and here), so this time around I needed to try something entirely not me: chocolate.

I used the pasta frolla recipe per the challenge, but pulled the chocolate filling from Rachel Eats and added about a teaspoon of orange zest, so thanks to everyone for making this possible!

This is decadent. It's like fudge in a cookie in tart form.

Friendsgiving Turkey

2010-11-21T21:43:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is 4 days away, and Friendsgiving was just last week. Neither would be complete without TURKEY!

The Friendsgiving invite put full disclosure out there: I had never made a turkey before, so I promised to have some deli turkey and sandwich bread just in case, haha! I lied, though - I had no back up plan that day! I basically obsessed over how to roast a turkey for the week before Friendsgiving and gave it my best go. I came across 2 different recipes/methods for making the turkey: the first that involves refrigerating the bird overnight w/o it's wrapping found at Simple Bites, and the other where you roast the bird breast side down so the juices all drip into the breast while cooking - I can't find the link to the site right now, but when I do, I'll edit this post. It was basically a 24 hour process - I started to prep the night before. Actual cooking day, took about 15-20 minutes to prep, and then roast away. Between the two, I totally NAILED it! My house semlled delicious, the turkey was moist and seasoned just right. AND it was gorgeous. Recipe WIN.

This is what I did. I was cooking for 14. Combined with the apps and all the delicious side dishes everyone brought, there was plenty of food to stuff us that night AND have enough leftovers to bring home a full meal each!

Roast Turkey

15 lb fresh turkey
1 stick butter, room temp
salt
large yellow onion, quartered
2 large carrots, snapped into pieces
2-3 ribs celery, snapped into pieces
1 lemon, quartered
fresh rosemary
fresh thyme
fresh parsley (I got both curly and flat leaf, mostly for decoration purposes)
Special equipment: roasting pan, meat thermometer (preferably the probe kind like this)

The night before: Make space in your oven for the bird! Remove the giblets (keep in a ziplock bag - use to make the gravy). Rinse the turkey very well inside and out. Pat dry with a paper towel. Lightly salt the inside of the turkey. Lightly salt the outside of the turkey. Spread an entire stick of butter around the entire outside of the bird. Put bird breast side down onto the rack in the roasting pan. Put back into the fridge overnight. No, don't cover it with anything - just put it on the rack and throw in the fridge. The point is to dry out the bird a bit.

(See : it's breast side down)

The day of: Take the bird out of the fridge and bring up to room temperature (took me about 2 hours). Drain/wipe up the liquid that's in the pan.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly salt the inside of the bird again. Shove the inside of both cavities with a couple sprigs of parsley, then an equalish amount of the onion, carrots, and celery, and the lemon. You'll probably use about half of what's in the ingredient list. Shove a handful of parsley and 2 sprigs each of thyme and rosemary into any leftover space between all those veggies. Try to make it kind of even. Lightly salt the outside of the bird again. Toss the leftover onion, carrot, celery and lemon into the bottom of the pan.

Stick the probe part of the thermometer into the thickest part of the bird (into the inner thigh near the breast), but don't allow it to touch the bone. (If you're using an instant read thermometer instead of the probe, first, don't leave it in the bird while cooking -- insert and check the temp when it comes out of the oven.) Roast at 400 for 30 minutes. Drop the temperature to 350 and roast for approximately 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until the internal temperature reaches 155 degrees.

(OMG look how golden!)

Take the turkey out of the oven. Flip the breast to right side up. Be very careful and use your oven mitts - sure they'll get a bit dirty, but much better than burning yourself!

(Someone needs a tan!)

Put back into the oven and roast until the breast is golden - about 15-30 minutes - and the temperature reads 165 degrees. Take out of oven.

Tent with foil. Allow to rest for at least 30 minutes. I'll say it again - let it rest! Two things happen while it rests: The turkey will continue to cook up to about 170-175 degrees, which is safe eating temps, and it allows time for the juices to redistribute throughout the bird.

To decorate (see first picture): Line plate with the parsley, and a few sprigs of the thyme and rosemary if you like. Put bird on it. I added these mini pears I found because one of the desserts was a pear and blueberry crisp. You can also use crabapples, slices of lemon, mini pumpkins, or anything really!

To carve the bird: I should have cut the legs and thigh off first, but I forgot, lol. Instead, I cut the the entire breasts free from the bird, then cut slices so everyone got the same amount of skin. My cutting was very messy, but everyone got plenty to eat.

This bird had flavor! It wasn't too salty, wasn't dry, the skin was golden and delicious... Total success! If I can do it, so can you!

One pretty important note: This recipe is for a 15 lb bird. Cooking times obviously vary according to the size. Use the Simple Bites link for a good idea of how long to roast different size birds.

Friendsgiving app # 2: stove top stuffed mushrooms

2010-11-16T18:49:00.000-08:00

That's right. STOVE TOP. As in the best stuffing out there.

A quick aside: Stove Top is THE stuffing. None of this cornbread stuffing... or sausage and sage stuffing... or oyster stuffing (oysters? really?). No. Absolutely not. Stove Top chicken stuffing goes with all things poultry or holiday or anything that requires awesome delicious stuffing.

Okay so I like Stove Top. So much that it never quite occurred to me to use it in, like, any other way. That's a partial truth - I once made a bruschetta chicken bake with it, but that was years ago and I totally forgot about it until Ang. and I found this cookbook:

Oh. My. Gawd. How the hizzle did we never think to use it in all those different ways? Answer: because Stove Top is that good on its own :-) Anyways, this is the first recipe that caught my eye, and thus we made it for Friendsgiving. And by we, I mean my brother, Ang., and I all had a hand in making it, lol. See - stove top bringing people together! Friendsgiving win!

Stovetop and Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms
from that Kraft mini magazine

1 1/2 C hot water
1 6 oz package Stove Top for chicken
24 oz white mushrooms
2 tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 1/2 C shredded mozzarella
1 C grated parmesan
salt to taste
Heat oven to 400.

In a large bowl, add hot water to stuffing mix and stir until moist. Pop the stems from the mushrooms and chop the stems, putting the caps onto a parchment lined baking sheet.

In a large pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add mushroom stems and garlic. Cook and stir for about 5 minutes or til tender. Add spinach and mix. Take off heat. Mix into stuffing. Add cheeses and mix well.

Spoon into mushroom caps. (To make it uber fast, I used my smallest cookie scoop to do this.) Bake for 20 minutes.

Ridiculous and easy. You can bet I'll be making these again and again!

food and fun for Friendsgiving

2010-11-15T15:41:00.000-08:00

What is Friendsgiving? It's Thanksgiving, but with friends! No family drama, no kids, just you, your friends, and the huge Thanksgiving meal that brings you all together. It's usually celebrated a couple weeks before actual Thanksgiving to avoid the hectic holiday season. I'd love to say I came up with the idea, but nope, I was fortunate enough to be invited to one a few years back, and the tradition lives on. Basically it's a huge potluck where the host makes the bird and everyone brings traditional Turkey Day sides. Well, not necessarily traditional - one year we did an Alternathanksgiving, where we all made a twisted recipe of a traditional meal - i.e. I made mashed cauliflower instead of taters, mmm. If you've never been to a Friendsgiving, I highly recommend starting that tradition with your friends!

Over the next few days/weeks I'll start posting the recipe from this year's Friendsgiving, which will, of course, work perfectly well for offiicial Thanksgiving! I kinda started with my Friendsgiving recipes yesterday when I posted about the meringues, but instead of dessert this time, how about an appetizer recipe for caramelized onion dip:

I made this the day before and let it sit in the fridge. That really allowed the flavors to marry, and it made actual Friendsgiving Day a breeze! This is a snazzy version of a typical sour cream and onion dip - the caramelized onions are so sweet, but it's balanced out by the kick of the cayenne pepper. Serve it with some kettle chips and enjoy an easy make ahead app good for pretty much any party!

Caramelized Onion Dip
adapted from Ina Garten

2 large yellow sweet onions
4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 bar (4 oz) cream cheese
1/2 C mayo
1/2 C sour cream\

Quarter onions then slice into thin pieces. Heat butter and oil over medium heat in a large pan. Add onions and stir until soft. Add salt and peppers. Continue to cook on just a bit lower heat than medium, stirring once in a while for 25 or more minutes until it caramelizes - you want them to get to this color.

Try not to eat them right out of the pan :-) Allow to cool.

Use a blender to mix the cream cheese (room temp so it's easier to blend), mayo, and sour cream. Once the onions are cool, mix them in. Add salt or pepper to taste, but keep in mind the heat of the cayenne will get a little stronger as it sits. Refrigerate a few hours or overnight so the flavors have time to marry.

Serve at room temp. Makes about 2 cups.

meringue kisses

2010-11-14T20:17:00.000-08:00

Meringues are some of the simplest and most versatile cookies to make. Cookies? Confections? Whatever, lol. I say simple because the most basic merginue only has 2 (maybe 3) ingredients: egg whites and sugar... and maybe salt (or cream of tartar) as a stabilizer. Versatile because you can flavor them pretty much any way you can imagine - use a vanilla bean, extracts, zests, spices, etc. This time I made one batch and split it into vanilla and chocolate.

I found out AFTER I made this recipe that meringues generally fall into two categories: The kind that creates something of a crisp shell and a marshmallowy center. I associate this texture more with pavlovas (basically a topped meringue, lol) than cookies. These are also delicious, and you get the contrasting textures which is interesting. There's also the kind that's crisp all the way through, which is my favorite because it kind of crumbles then melts on your tongue when you eat. And apparently it tastes kinda like the marshmallows you get in kids cereals, lol. I attained both textures when I made these -- I got the marshmallowy one first, then decided I wanted it crisp, so I dropped the oven temp to 200 and baked for another 25 minutes to dry it out. Turned out just the way I liked it!

Two tips: First, since you just gotta say it when it comes to making meringues: CLEAN BOWL! CLEAN UTENSILS! Clean = Successful :-) Second, did you notice how my chocolate ones kind of cracked? I shouldn't have opened the oven door so many times. And to avoid cracking as they cool, I turned off the oven, cracked open the oven door, then let them cool slowly that way.

Meringue Kisses

3 egg whites

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

3/4 C superfine sugar (food process granulated sugar for about 30 seconds to make superfine), divided

1 vanilla bean, split and caviar scraped

1 tbsp cocoa powder

Special equipment: stand mixer (preferably), and 2 piping bags and tips (one for each flavor)

Preheat oven to 300. Line 2 pans with parchment paper.

Mix vanilla caviar into 1/2 of the sugar and set aside. Combine egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment and beat at medium spead until foamy. Turn mixer to high. Add the plain sugar slowly, a table spoon at a time. Then add the vanilla sugar little by little, all while the mixer is running. Beat until glossy and stiff peaks form (check by sticking a spoon in and pulling out real quick - peak should stand straigt up like in the pics above. Also, make sure your mixer is OFF before you do that!) Also, check that most of the sugar is dissolved - if you rub it between your thumb and finger, it shouldn't be too grainy.

For the vanilla meringes, fill first piping bag with half the meringue. To make the chocolate ones - fold the cocoa powder into the 2nd half of the batter. Once it's even, fill other piping bag. Pipe 1-1/2" rounds onto baking sheets. (Should make approximately 30 of each.) Bake for 30-35 minutes. If you like marshmallowy center meringues, turn off oven, crack door, and allow to cool. If you want it completely crispy, drop the temp to 200 and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes, then turn off oven, crack door, and allow to cool.

Store in an airtight container.

I put some out at Friendsgiving, then paired them up in little baggies for guests to take home:

spicy steamed shrimp for one or more

2010-11-13T12:59:00.000-08:00

The inspiration for this meal actually came from a dive of a restaurant in Fairfax. Like really dumpy dive. But we went one day for $2 seafood, and I got the shrimp. It was surprisingly delicious - spicy and perfectly cooked. There wasn't a whole lot to it, so it wasn't hard to figure out the recipe and make it a couple weeks ago for girls night... but we scarfed it down so fast I didn't get any pics, lol.

I've been getting busy again planning for the holidays, and I needed an easy fast meals for just me, so here we are again! This was so fast to put together... 2 minutes of prep (not including boiling water), and 9 min to steam, then ready to eat! Even better, while this meal was steaming, I chopped some onions for another holiday treat (recipe to follow, stand by!). Multitasking is good. So is this spicy Old Bay shrimp!

Spicy Steamed Shrimp for One

1/2 lb raw easy peel shrimp
2 tbsp Old Bay seasoning
water
cocktail sauce and lemons, if desired

> pot and colander that fits inside it w/o touching the bottom

Fill a pot of water 1 or 2 inches with water - enough that your colander/steamer won't touch it. Stir in 1 tbsp of old bay. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Mix shrimp with 1 tbsp of Old Bay. Put into steamer colander, put in pot, cover, and steam for about 9 minutes.

Sprinkle with more Old Bay if you like it spicy (I do!), serve with some cocktail sauce and a sliced lemons if you like. Enjoy!

Good thing about this -- you can easily multiply the recipe for more people. Serve it as an app, even. When you're steaming, just watch the shrimp. They should turn bright pink and curl into a nice capital C. You don't want it to curl up too much aka overcook or it'll get rubbery.

October Daring Bakers: Donuts

2010-10-27T09:03:00.000-07:00

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

Given how much I LOVE Alton Brown, I made his yeast donut recipe. I woulda made more, but 1) that's a LOT of donuts for 1 person and 2) I actually had a donut baking night with Jenn The Cookin Cutie where she made the pumpkin kind, so I got to try different type. We cut and fried away, dipped and decorated. The yeast donuts were light and fluffy with a greaet crust. They're best fresh, but I froze a bunch the same day I made themand have been defrosting as I want them. Still pretty good, though a bit more chewy. Again, just make sure to eat them the same day. It was a great challenge this month!

I guess I used a small cutter because mine made over 4 dozen donuts:

The first set I made had a maple glaze, which was essentially powdered sugar, a bit of vanilla, and pure maple syrup. Look how cute the sprinkles are:

Here are a few I defrosted a few days later. I coated one in cinnamon sugar, and the rest have a plain vanilla icing, which is powdered sugar, vanilla, and a bit of milk. After the donuts defrost and the icing sets, zap them in the microwave for 5 seconds. They taste like new (minus the crisp crust, lol)!

pumpkin cookies with browned butter icing

2010-10-17T11:37:00.000-07:00

I like the idea of Martha Stewart, but don't actually know enough about her style to know if I like her. I've watched her, but never tried any of her ideas to know if I'm a fan or not. I even get her cookie a day emails, but is the first time I've ever actually made anything. Based on these alone, I'm now a fan :-) It was the browned butter icing that caught my eye -- because browned butter is amazing and I have no idea how I lived without it until recently when I made some for a Daring Bakers challenge (which I haven't actually posted, whoops). Holy canoli browned butter is good. So put that on a cookie? Heck yeah I'm in. I also happened to have a lone can of pumpkin in my pantry, and it's getting to be pumpkin and Halloween time, so here I am with these:

After baking them, I wouldn't exactly call them cookies. I understand there are different textures and types of cookies, but I generally don't like this kind... These were basically dollops of cake. Or mini muffin tops. And you know what, they were really GOOD little cakey muffin tops. By themselves, they're fluffy and spiced just right that I kept popping them in my mouth. But then there's the icing... That browned butter icing where you see flecks of the browned parts. Ridiculous. It's rare I meet a cookie that I can't stop eating - I'm usually happy with 2 or 3 in a batch. I could not stop eating these. This recipe easily makes over 5 dozen little cookies... so I had to give them away to save me from myself because I really could have eaten all of them. They're delightful.

Pumpkin Cookies (little pumpkin muffin tops) with Browned Butter Icing
adapted from Martha Stewart

Cookies:
2 3/4 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/4 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 C (1 1/2 sticks) butter
2 C brown sugar
1/4 C sugar
2 large eggs
1 15-oz can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie, straight up pumpkin) minus 2 tbsp
3/4 C evaporated milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375. Sift together the dry ingredients - flour through the nutmeg. Cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Mix in eggs. Slowly mix in the pumpkin, evaporated milk, and extract until well blended. Add dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Dish out cookies -- you can either use a 1-1/2" scoop then slightly flatten, or pipe out 1-1/2" rounds. I did both, and got the same general result. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool on sheet while you bake the next set. Allow cookies to cool completely before icing.

Icing:
1 1/4 sticks butter
4 C confectioners sugar, sifted
1 tbsp vanilla
1/4 C evaporated milk

Sift the sugar into a bowl. In a small, light colored bottom pot or pan, melt butter over medium heat. Cook, swirling occasionally, until golden brown. (The milk solids will fall to the bottom of the pan - cook until they get a nice milk-chocolatey brown and the butter darkens a bit. But don't cook too long or it'll burn - it should smell a bit nutty, or like toffee.) Immediately add to the sugar (make sure to get allll the brown bits). Add the vanilla and evaporated milk, then mix until smooth. If it's too firm to spread, add a bit more evap milk. Ice cookies. Try not to eat the icing straight.

Note -- this icing doesn't harden completely. It'll develop a shell, but it's a soft icing that'll squish, so when storing, don't stack them or the icing will stick. That's it you don't eat them all.

let soup season commence

2010-10-14T21:32:00.000-07:00

Today was a soup day - tons of rain, looked like it was night time at high noon, cold, and straight up dreary. I had pho for lunch and STILL wanted soup for dinner, lol. All that rain closed the softball fields tonight, giving me my first free night in a week. Don't get me wrong... I like being busy, but a night of down time is way underrated so I was going to take full advantage. Go fig the rain stopped, blue skies came out, and suddenly it was quite lovely. Quite a lovely evening, indeed, to stick to the plan and make some soup :-)

I got the original recipe off the Eating Well website and it had this long name basically telling you what's in it - chicken, spinach, pesto. Yep, it's all that and some carrots, beans, and broth and little pasta to give it extra bite. That's about it. Deceptively simple and even pretty healthy... and totally awesome. Took me all of 15 minutes to put together plus the boiling time. It's like the fresher version of the hearty chicken soups you'd eat on a snowy (ack, too soon for!) winter day. It's a nice transitional soup, comforting and light.

Chicken Soup for Fall
adapted from EatingWell.com

1 tbsp olive oil
1 C chopped carrots
8-12 oz boneless, skinless chicken thighs, chopped into bite size pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 C chicken broth
2-4 C water (depending on how liquidy you like it, I just refilled both broth cans ~ 4c)
6 oz baby spinach, chopped
1 15-oz can cannellini beans, rinsed
1 C little pasta (I used stelline, but you can use orzo or something similar)
salt
freshly ground black pepper
5-6 Tbsp store bought pesto (recipe from scratch in the source recipe)

Heat olive oil in a medium pot or dutch oven over medium high heat. Add carrots and sautee for a couple minutes. Lightly salt the chicken, then add to the pot and allow to brown lightly on all sides. Add garlic and sautee until it's soft. Add the broth and water and bring to a boil.

Once the soup is boiling, add the pasta and spinach. Boil according to the pasta directions. Add the beans with 2 minutes to go to heat them through. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Take off the heat when the pasta is cooked al dente. Stir in the pesto.

Enjoy!

shrunken chicken pot pies

2010-10-03T21:33:00.000-07:00

I've been craving chicken pot pie lately, but here's one of the moderately annoying things about being single -- making a regular 9" pie recipe for something like this would be very, very wasteful since I can't eat a whole pie by myself, I generally don't like leftovers, and even when I force myself to eat them, most of it still goes bad before I get a chance to finish it. I also rarely have enough people over to eat a whole thing before all that stuff happens. One day, when I have a family all my own, I'll be able to make a whole pie. But until then... Solution for a single gal? Mini pies!

I got this cute little lattice pocket pie mold from Williams Sonoma a while back and it made for perfectly portioned pies. Here's a little trick about this sucker, by the way -- it's a dough cutter and mold in one, but when you cut the dough it's not quite big enough for the mold (dumb, I know) so I just cut them then rolled them a little to give it the extra width. Just make sure to wet the edges before crimping or else they're going to come apart. Worked brilliantly. You can freeze them and take one out at a time for a simple meal for one.

Chicken Pocket Pies
adapted from allrecipes.com

1 lb chicken breast or thigh (boneless), cubed into bite size pieces
2 cans chicken broth
1 1/4 C carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
3/4 C green peas, frozen
1/2 sweet onion
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
rounded 1/2 tsp salt
pepper, to taste
ground red pepper flakes, to taste
2/3 C milk
2 C chicken broth (from the boiled chicken)
2 9" pie crusts (see below)

Place chicken, celery, and carrots in a medium pot and cover with chicken broth (about 2 cans). Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes. Drain, saving the liquid.

In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onions and sautee until translucent. Stir in flour, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and peppers. Continuously stir to allow flour to mix in and cook a little - about 2 minutes. Slowly add in milk and chicken broth. Simmer over medium low heat, stirring regularly, until thick.

Cut out, fill, and form the pocket pies -- makes 10 using the pocket pie cutter. If baking right away, set oven to 425, place on parchment lined baking sheet, brush with egg wash, and bake for 16-20 minutes, or until golden. Otherwise you can freeze them -- when ready to use, take right out of the freezer then follow the same directions above except bake for about 25 minutes or until golden.

Oh. About that crust... That flaky, buttery, lovely crust... It's really just a variation of the crust I used for the galette and peach pies.

Pie Crust for something savory -- you'll need to double this recipe to make the chicken pocket pies

1 stick butter, cut into small pieces and frozen
1 1/4 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
4-6 tbsp ice water

Combine flour and salt. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter or food processor until it forms a coarse meal. Stir in ice water a tablespoon at a time until dough starts to come together into a dough ball. You may need fold/roll it around to get most of the pieces. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight before using.

Definitely keep pie crust cold -- Since I was cutting out shapes, I'd cut each disc into two, then roll/cut only a half at a time to make sure the rest of the dough stayed chilled.

And yay, I get to check another item off my 2010 Hit List!

homework pics

2010-09-29T21:59:00.000-07:00

I bought my DSLR a month or two ago because I wanted to improve the quality of my food (and I guess all other) pictures. I was on full auto for a long time, but what's the point of a SLR if I'm not going to learn how to use it properly? So I signed up for an intro to photography workshop at the Washington School of Photography thanks to a groupon or living social deal. I'm glad I did because I finally get what ISO means *not* regarding to internal auditing for work, and I now know what the f-stop does. Am I a pro now? LMFAO hellz to the nizzo. But am I starting to understand basic stuff like composition better? Indeed.

So during our first class we went over that technical stuff and then 6 basic composition guidelines -- rule of thirds, filling the frame, leading lines, change of perspective/point of view, repetition, and frame within a frame. (All are easily googled for examples if you're curious.) We were supposed to bring in some examples for critique in class. I had all these grand ideas of food pics I wanted to take... closeups of pillowy cupcake frosting kissed with sprikles, filling the frame with some nifty kitchen gadgets, cookies that look so scrumptious you can't help but drool... Unfortunately, I didn't do a whole lot of baking/cooking, and also sometimes what's conceptually awesome in my head doesn't translate well in real life (or at least I haven't figured out quite how to make it translate yet). I did manage to get 2 food-related pics that I liked, and both were well-received from the instructor and the class with "This is an interesting picture" comments, lol. Actually for one of them, he asked the class what they thought, and I think they were scared. Something about being a serial killer...

Here are the 2 food pics I brought in for my homework assignment. Which composition techniques did I use for each? What do you think of them?

~~ 1 ~~

~~ 2 ~~

I've also learned a few things about my photographing skillz: 1) I need a tripod. My hands are so not steady! And 2) I take a bazillion pictures to get one good one. I'm hoping that with this class and more practice, I'll start getting better than 1 in a bazillion. I'll definitely save a lot of time if I can get it right sooner rather than later. I just gotta keep practicing. So with any luck, over time, you'll see this blog get prettier!

What's your favorite way to compose your food pictures?

daring bakers: decorated sugar cookies

2010-09-27T00:53:00.000-07:00

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking. You can find the recipe on Mandy's blog. I followed the cookie recipe almost exactly - I just added a tsp or two of cinnamon to spice it up a touch!

We were supposed to decorate these cookies with a "September" theme. And while most of the American population starts thinking about football come September, I think of the same thing I think of for 3/4 of the year: softball. September is the beginning of the last season of the year - that last 8 weeks before the cold kicks in and I trade in the glove and ball for, well, different kind of gloves and balls (ski gloves and dodgeballs, but not at the same time!) I currently play on 3 teams, and because of the timing of when I got to bake, these cookies are dedicated to my Sunday night team, the Coconut Banger's Ball Club:

Super cute, right!

So I made cinnamon sugar cookies, and topped them with vanilla icing. We weren't required to make royal icing from scratch, so the first round of cookies I used a store bought cookie decorating icing. That's what I used on the stars. But I wanted to try the royal icing, too, so I whipped up a batch using meringue powder and used it to make the softballs. I have no idea if it turned out the way it was supposed to... but the icing dried well enough so I assume I got it right. I used a decorating writing icing tube thing for the red, blue, and yellow writing/outlines.

rugelach

2010-09-11T11:24:00.000-07:00

I haven't yet met a rolled food I don't like. Cinnamon rolls, sushi, croissants, lumpia, mocha rolls, those little canned crescent dough things... And to add one more to the list - rugelach.

Pronounced "rug-uh-la," these are little rolled Jewish cookie - tender, just sweet enough, and completely addictive. It's either a yeast-based dough or a cream cheese based dough (like this one) that's rolled into a circle, then spread with a variety of fillings (jam, cinnamon sugar, chocolate, nuts and berries, etc - I'm partial to apricot preserves!), then cut into triangles that are rolled into little crescent shapes. They can also be shaped into logs and cut into little pieces:

While rugelach are common enough that you can get them almost anywhere, they're particularly popular during Jewish holidays - and given that Rosh Hashanah just ended yesterday, I had to try my hand at them. Okay that's not entirely true, hehe, I'd already been planning to make these this week because I had some awesome ones in this deli in NY last weekend. Then I noticed all the happy new year statuses from my Jewish friends on facebook... good timing, right!

Rugelach
from Ina Garten

Dough:
8oz bar cream cheese, room temperature
2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 C sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 C flour

Filling:
1/3 to 1/2 C apricot preserves (or your jam of choice)
6 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
raisins (I used golden raisins)
mini chocolate chips

and one egg for the egg wash

Make the dough: Cream the cream cheese and butter until light. Beat in the sugar, salt, and extract. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour until just incorporated. On a lightly floured surface, form into a ball. Cut into 4 equal parts, flatten into discs, wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least for several hours, or better yet, over night.

Prepare the filling: Combine the sugar and cinnamon. Place jam in a small microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir until it's all liquidy.

Make the cookies: Lightly flour your work space. Take out one disc of dough and roll out into a 9" circle. Spread a thin layer of jam evenly over the circle, leaving a 1/2" border. Sprinkle with a tsp of cinnamon sugar. (If making chocolate rugelach, spread a super thin layer of jam and cinnamon sugar like above, then sprinkle the mini choco chips evenly, then press into the dough so it'll be secure when you roll it up. If making the raisin one, first sprinkle the raisins with a bit of cinnamon sugar and give them a rough chop. Then same directions - super thin layer of jam, a bit of cinnamon sugar, press chopped raisins into dough.)

Use a pizza cutter or large knife to cut the disc into 12 wedges (like a piza is cut). Starting from the wide end, roll each wedge towards the point. (Keep in mind you can also roll into a long rectangle that's 4-5" wide, then spread, roll, and cut.) Place the roll with the point on the bottom (so they don't unwrap) onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 while it chills.

Beat the egg in a small bowl, then add a bit of water and beat well to make the egg wash. Brush each cookie lightly with egg wash. Sprinkle with sugar -- you can use more cinnamon sugar, turbinado, sanding sugar, or just plain sugar. Bake for 17 minutes.

Makes 48 cookies.

spanakopita (or, greek spinach triangles)

2010-09-10T17:03:00.000-07:00

'm a Top Chef fan, especially this season because it's set in my home town. DC, despite being a small city, has a plethora of really great restaurants. That is partially thanks to renowned chef Jose Andres, who's the mastermind behind Jaleo (supposedly the place that brought tapas to DC), Cafe Atlantico, Minibar, Oyamel, and Zaytinya. (I've been to all except Minibar, which is the one Bourdain went to in his DC ep, and is definitely in the top 5 of my To Eat At list). The Chef at Zaytinya is Top Chef contestant from last season, Mike Isabella. (See how I brought that right back around :-)) One of the most memorable things I ever ate there was a crab (or was it lobster?) spanakopita which was a special during the Easter season a few years back. It was AWESOME.

So I've had a hankering to make spanakopita lately, plus it's on my Hit List. Lo and behold, Mike Isabella has a little instructional series on just this dish. Here's the first vid. He says "uh" a LOT, but once you get past that, it's a really informative set of videos. I watched it a few times to get an idea of how to do it, and viola - here's my spanakopita!

The first time I tried to make this, I was fresh out of college. I knew I was supposed to defrost the phyllo... so I left it on the table for, like, an hour. When I started to unroll it, it cracked almost immediately! I promptly quit trying to make it, and haven't bothered since, lol. But this time, it phyllo was not as tough to work with, simply because I actually prepared well - fully thawed (won't forget that one), damp towel to keep it covered, everything organized so I could move quickly. That being said, I still tore a few sheets. And the towel can't be that wet because the phyllo turns gooey.

Please enjoy the pretty process pics. I <3 my new camera!

Spanakopita

adapted from Mike Isabella's videos

1/2 large vidalia onion, diced
1 leek, white part only (mine was pretty small), diced
4-5 stalks green onion, diced

olive oil

10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

8 oz package feta

1 egg

2 tsp dried dill

1 tsp dried parsley

freshly ground red pepper flakes, to taste

fresh ground black pepper, to taste

kosher salt, to taste

phyllo dough, defrosted overnight in the fridge

clarified butter

Heat olive oil over medium high heat and sautee onions until half translucent. Add the leeks and sautee another 2-3 minutes. Add the green onion and sautee until everything is soft.

Turn off heat, then add spinach and mix until everything's combined. Add about 1/2 tsp salt and peppers to taste. Put into a large bowl and allow to cool while you prepare the phyllo.

For the phyllo - cut into 11"x3" strips. The package of phyllo I got was 18 sheets, so I only had to cut one 3" strip -- this recipe makes 18. (Please see my note at the end of this post.) Cover with damp towel so it doesn't try out.

Add the feta to the spinach mixture and season to taste. Mix in the egg.

To form the spanakopita: Lay out a strip of phyllo. Brush with clarified butter. Put a heaping tablespoon of spinach mix in the bottom corner. Fold over to form a triangle, press down the filling a bit, then keep folding (like making a paper football). Brush top with more butter. Place on parchment lined paper. When you have enough for one tray, put in fridge for at least 30 min (and then repeat until you're done with filling).

Make sure the oven rack is in the top 3rd, and then preheat oven to 350. Bake spanakopita for 8 minutes, then flip them over, and bake for another 3-4, or until the whole thing is toasty brown.

Enjoy hot! Mmm flaky.

When I do this again (and I'll be making this again soon because I have leftover phyllo), I'm going to play with the size and shape. For one thing, the one I had at Zaytinya was shaped more like a cigar, so I'll try rolls. Also, I don't think that I got enough flaky layers, so I'll double up the sheets of phyllo.

crab cakes for Chesapeake eggs benedict

2010-09-03T20:01:00.000-07:00

This baby is one of my favorite special breakfast ot brunch (or in crab fest's case, dinner) items.

Crab cakes by themselves are a treat, but top them with a runny poached egg and some hollandaise? Taking them to the next level. They're not terribly hard to make (assuming you know how to poach an egg, and if you want a good idea - google how Alton Brown does it cuz he's the man) but they do take some time and good timing to have everything come out at the same time. We cheated and used a hollandaise mix, thus the recipe for only the crab cakes here, since that's the only recipe we really used, hehe. But basically, if you have 2 people, great - one can poach the eggs while the other fries the crab cakes. OR if its just you, make the hollandaise first, then poach the eggs while the crabcakes are being broiled and muffins being toasted. By the way, split an English muffin with a fork, please! Nooks and crannies, folks... you don't get them if you use a knife, mmkay!

Besides these crab cakes, you'll need English muffins, eggs to poach, and some hollandaise. Oh, and butter for the muffins. To make the eggs benedict: buttered muffin topped with crabcake topped with the egg topped with hollandaise. Serve with some homefries for breakfast. Mmmm. Or with salad for dinner. Mmmm.

Crab Cakes

adapted from allrecipes.com

1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
4 green onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp dry mustard
3/4 tsp cayenne pepper (1/2 if you don't like a little kick of heat)
1 1/4 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp old bay powder
1/2 C crushed buttery round crackers
16 oz crab meat
1 egg, beaten
2 tbsp mayonaisse
squeeze of half a lemon (no seeds!)
salt and pepper to taste
1 C panko
more oil for frying

Sautee green onion and garlic in the 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp olive oil. Set aside and allow to cool while you combine the next five ingredients (from the dry mustard to the buttery round crackers) in a small bowl. Put crab meat into a large bowl. Add egg and mayonaisse to it then give a gentle toss. Add the spice mix, cooled onion/garlic, and lemon juice. Toss gently until combined well -- but be gentle so you keep the chunks of crab. Form into patties. This will make 12 small patties, or 8 larger ones. Use the english muffins as a size guide. Refrigerate until ready to use.

If you're going to fry these: heat up some olive oil over medium high heat. Coat each patty with panko, then fry until each side is golden brown.

If you're going to broil them, set oven to broil. Coat each patty with panko. If they're small, broil for about 6 min a side. If they're larger, about 8 minutes per side.

I'm back, with stuffed mushrooms

2010-08-31T19:14:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I'm still alive :-) What have I done in this past month? Hmm... got pretty sick, got better, went to the beach, watched a bunch of movies, played some softball. Notice that baking/cooking isn't listed. Yep, I've been bad about that. But here I am now, with food!

So the other weekend was crab and beer fest at National Harbor. Because we planned in advance (was that sarcasm?) we did not get the general admission tickets. Not to be defeated by that, though, we had our own Crab Fest at Chez Smurf (aka Ang.'s place). That led to the best of sayings...

"We went to Angela's house and all we got were these stinking crabs!"

"By the end of the night you WILL have crabs!"

"Who knew having crabs could be so good."

What was on the menu? Maryland crab soup. Crab bites. Crab cakes eggs benedict. Steamed snow crab legs. And these not so photogenic but very tasty crab-stuffed mushrooms. The mushroom caps came out a bit... black. But they were tender. I think using white mushroom caps would make much prettier stuffed shrooms, but guess I'll just have to make them again to find out, heh. Oh, and coincidentally, stuffed mushrooms were part of my Hit List, so yay I can cross another item off!

Oh, and by the way, these were yummy. Not overwhelmingly crabby, not too mushroomy, just the right amount of cheese. Maybe next time I'll add some panko breadcrumbs to the top for some crunch, but they're delightful as is.

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms
from allrecipes.com

24-30 baby portabella or white mushrooms
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 stalk green onions, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp lemon juice
1 C crab meat
1/4 C breadcrumbs
1/4 C crushed buttery round crackers (since I had them leftover from the crabcakes, otherwise just make it more breadcrumbs)
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tsp dried dill
1 C monterey jack cheese, divided
1/4 C dry white wine

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with baking spray. Preheat oven to 375.

Remove stems from mushrooms and dice finely. Heat butter and oil over medium heat in a medium pan. Add mushroom stems and green onions and sautee about 3 minutes. Add garlic and sautee an additional 1 minute. Remove from heat and allow to cool 5-10 minutes.

Arrange the mushroom caps out in the baking dish and spray one more time with the spray. Bake for 10 minutes.

Mix in the lemon juice, crab meat, breadcrumbs, crushed crackers, egg, dill, and 1/2 C of the cheese to the mushroom stem/onion mix.

Fill with the crab mixture, and top with the rest of the cheese. Pour wine into the bottom of the baking dish. Bake 20-30 minutes or until mushrooms are soft. (Note: I wonder if I'd used white mushrooms that I'd have to bake them for a shorter amount of time, because at 20 minutes the baby bellas were still on the raw side. Just something to keep in mind.)

peach pocket pie

2010-07-25T15:31:00.000-07:00

I went to the farmers market yesterday with the intention to buy some sour cherries. Shows what I know - there wasn't a cherry to be found; guess cherry season's over, lol. There were, however, peaches everywhere. And I heart peaches. See - I got 2 lbs. Mmm. Farmers market swag:

Remember that poll I had a couple weeks back when I had all these ideas of what to make? I ended up making the galette, but this time around I'll be using those delicious peaches to make hand pies aka pocket pies. I used the same dough recipe from the galettes, and they translate to these little pies nicely. These were flaky, sweet and fresh tasting. Made a great snack for me and the fam at the Beach Boys concert at Wolftrap today. Look how pretty:

Peach Pocket Pies
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 recipe pie dough (split into 2 pieces, wrapped and refrigerated at least 2 hours, preferably overnight)
1 lb peaches
1/8 C flour
1/8 C sugar (my peaches were pretty sweet, so I only used 1 tbsp)
1/2 tsp bourbon
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg, beaten (for the egg wash)

Make the filling: Peel and dice peaches into about 1/2" pieces. Mix in the flour, sugar, bourbon and vanilla until combined.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out 1 of the doughs to about 1/8" thick and cut 4-5" circles - I used one of my bowls to cut them out, but a cookie cutter or the top of a circle tupperware will work. Spoon 1 to 2 tbsp of filling (just the fruit, skip the liquid that forms) onto the half of each circle. Dip your finger into the egg and brush around the circumfrence of the circles. Fold over one half to make a half moon and press down the edges to seal - use a fork to make crimp the edges shut. Repeat with the rest. Put pies into the freezer to chill dough for 20-30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375. Place chilled pies on a parchment lined baking sheet. Brush with egg wash. Sprinkle with clear sanding sugar if you'd like to decorate. Use a knife to poke a small hole in the top of each pie. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Makes about a dozen pies.

PS - these are awesome with vanilla ice cream :-)

Oh I just have to throw this little aside in there - I went to the Beach Boys concert, right. They sounded the same - upbeat tunes and great harmonies. I was singing along and dancing, hehe. I was also very Very *VERY* thrilled when I saw that JOHN STAMOS was performing with them! He was on guitar, drums, bongos, and even sang a song! He was so clearly loving every moment of it -- I totally flash backed to that episode of Full House when Uncle Jesse got to perform with them. He was dancing and taking pictures with his phone, pulled a girl wearing an Uncle Jesse tshirt onto the stage to dance with him. He was yummy icing to a very fun show (made even more fun by the mini hurricaine we had that drenched the lawn and dropped the temps some 20 degrees... glad I was in the theater so I didn't actually get wet by the rain.). It's the best concert I've been to this year, I think. Oh, and by the way, John Stamos -- still super freaking hot. Wish I had a camera that coulda caught this better... we were in row O and my phone didn't get the best shot, but I tried:

All the more reason to upgrade cameras, hehe.

first time's a charm: french macarons

2010-07-23T18:42:00.000-07:00

You ever have moments where you want to throw your arms in the air and shout, Queen of the Kitchen! Cuz tonight I definitely did. I present to you: French macarons.

So the first time I ever tasted a French macaron was maybe a month or two ago. I talked Brandt into baking some - purely because I was too intimidated to make them myself. Intimidated? Yeah. Google the French macaron and you'll see so many blogs talking about how tempramental macarons can be. Meringues in general can be tricky, so making a little treat where the meringue is simply the base? Ugh. Let someone else make it. Hi Brandt! Okay so he made them, right, and they were good! As much as I bake/cook I don't usually go back for seconds after I try anything that first time, but I think I ate, like, half a dozen... and it would have been more had he not run out.

Flash forward to this week when I decided it was time to tackle macarons myself. Was I still intimidated? Yup. I mean I've been researching these puppies for weeks now... seen plenty of pictures of failed ones, read lots of stories of how many times someone had to try it before it finally worked out. Where are the feet!? They shells are too bumpy! They didn't puff up! They puffed up too much! I looked at these freshly piped dollops of batter and mentally prepared myself for the worst.

There is a flip side to all that research. I read about all the techniques needed to make these a success. I learned that it will take anywhere from 1 to 5 days for the whole process start to finish. I learned that weighing them is your best bet (but estimated conversions will be listed below.) I learned that by letting the batter sit for a while after piping, their outside shells will harden a bit. I'm guessing that makes for a very delicate top. I took all the tips into account, and these turned out exactly right -- crisp delicate top, airy middle, meringue-y cookie part. Smooth tops. And look at the feet! Queen of the kitchen!

The recipe below is for the shells. A macaron is basically a sandwich with 2 shells and a filling - often ganache, buttercream, jam, or curd. In my first picture, I filled them with key lime curd, peach preserves, and raspberry jam. (I had all three in my fridge, convenient yay!) The curd was my favorite, though I look forward to trying a flavored buttercream or ganache... and to trying different shell flavors too. In the mean time, heck, I could happily eat the shells by themselves!

One more note: Of the dozens (seriously, dozens) of blogs I read to find recipes and tips, the vast majority of the variations are based off of Tartlette's recipe. Apparently she is the macaron goddess. Thus, this recipe is from Tartlette.

French Macarons

90g egg whites (just a touch less than 3 egg whites)
25-50g vanilla sugar (2 tbsp to 1/4 C)
110g blanched almonds (about 3/4 C)
200g confectioners sugar (about 1 1/2 C)

Prepare/Age the eggs: Separate the whites from the yolks, place whites in a really really clean bowl, and cover loosely. Let it sit at room temperature 1 to 3 days. I aged mine for 3 days. You can also refrigerate up to 5 days.

Prepare the almond meal: Combine almonds and confectioners sugar in a food processor and proccess until it's very fine. Sift through a strainer to keep the big bits out and regrind as necessary, until pretty much all of it can be sifted through.

Make the meringue: In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the egg whites until foamy -- it should look like a bubble bath. Continue beating and add sugar little by little (I added 2 tbsp worth) just until it forms a glossy meringue that looks like shaving cream - you should just get stiff peaks.

Add about half the almond meal/powdered sugar mix to the meringue and mix in - about 10 strokes. Gently fold in the rest of the dry mix until it comes together. You know it's done if you cut your spatula through it and it sinks back into itself within 10 seconds. You can also take a little bit and dollop it onto a plate - it should flatten on its own. If it's got peaks, fold a couple more times. This whole thing shouldn't take more than 50 strokes.

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Fill a pastry bag or zip top bag with the batter. If using a zip top bag, snip off the bottom corner when ready to pipe. Pipe small rounds - about 1" in diameter - onto the baking sheets. It should spread a little, so leave an inch between each one. Let sit for 1 hour so the shell hardens.

Preheat oven to 300. Bake for 14-18 minutes, depending on the size. My small ones baked in 15 minutes. I made bigger ones (about 2" diamater) and they took 16 min.

Pico & Guac

2010-07-13T20:33:00.000-07:00

Just about 2 months ago I was kicking it in Cabo. What better way to remember that great time than by hosting a little Cabo reunion? (Shout out to Jeffrey, Ang., Danielle, Mike, and Team Heater!) Each of us made something that reminded us of our trip - there was ceviche, tacos, margaritas... And I made the two things that were served with every single meal (and snack) in Mexico: pico de gallo and guacamole. Both were always so fresh, soooo tasty, so Mexican, lol. And you know what, I never once got sick of either while I was there :-) These two are a natural pairing - they share many of the same ingredients and thus complement each other well.

Pico de Gallo

4 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced (I took out most of the fleshy insides so it wouldn't get too mushy - just toss those into a pasta sauce)

1/2 medium-large sized vidalia onion, diced

1-3 jalapeno peppers (depending on how hot you want it), seeded, deveined and diced small

1/2 C cilantro leaves, then chop finely

1/2 lime

dash of garlic powder

salt

Combine the tomatoes, onion, jalapeno, and cilantro. Juice the lime all over, and mix. Add garlic powder and mix. Add salt to taste. Cover and let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour to let the flavors mingle then serve.

The funny thing about guacamole is that I did not like anything that had to do with avocados for most of my life. I think I only developed a ~~liking~~ love for it in the past couple years. Now I probably make something with avocado a few times a month.

Guacamole

from Alton Brown

3 ripe avocados (should give a little when squeezed)

2-3 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced

1/4 medium-large vidalia onion, diced finely

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 C cilantro, then chop finely

1/2 lime (mine was large and really juicy, so if yours isn't that big/juicy, use a whole lime)

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (mine was closer to 1/2 tsp)

salt

Cut open avocados, remove pits (don't throw them away!), and scoop out into a bowl. Mash lightly and squeeze lime juice over it to keep from browning. (Note: the avocado will continue to break down when you mix in the rest of the ingredients, so mash only enough so it's twice the chunkiness you'll want in the final product.) Mix in tomatoes, onion, garlic, cilantro, cumin, cayenne, and salt. Taste, and add seasonings as necessary. Squeeze the hell out of the lime so whatever juice is left covers the guac, then add pits to stave off browning. Cover - press the plastic wrap down directly onto the guac to keep oxygen out so it doesn't brown - and let sit in the fridge for a few hours for flavors to hang out and get to know each other.

balsamic strawberry galette

2010-07-12T19:25:00.000-07:00

While I did not actually make it to the farmers market on Saturday morning due to the rain, I just picked up some strawberries from the happiest place on earth to make the winning goody from the Poll. 47% of the voters wanted a galette, so here it is! What exactly is a galette, anyways? Basically, it's a free form pie. Instead of forming the crust in a pie plate and worrying about crimping a crust, you basically lay out the dough on a sheet pan, put some filling in the middle, and fold over the edges to create a nice rustic crust. The filling can be just about anything, and summer is great for it because of all the fresh fruit around. In this case, it's strawberries that've been soaking in sugar and balsamic vinegar for a while. You can also use peaches, berries, apples... just make sure it's fresh and sweet and not too juicy so it doesn't make the crust soggy (like I don't think watermelon would work).

I should note that I split the dough and made two mini galettes. Each would make a modest dessert for 4, or a generous dessert for 2. For the first one, I let the dough rest one hour and the berries macerate for the same amount of time. This turned out to be soggier and the berries were okay. I didn't get to make the second set until tonight, so the berries were macerating and the other half of the crust was sitting in the fridge for an extra day. I also made sure to keep the dough as cold as possible, throwing it back into the freezer to chill between steps. And it was downright delicious - not too juicy, the crust was crunchier - more airy and flaky. Quite pleased with the result. Balsamic Strawberry Galette

1 pie crust (recipe to follow)

1 pint strawberries, hulled and halved

3 Tbsp vanilla sugar, split

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp flour

1 tsp ground nuts (in this case almonds)

egg, beaten

turbinado or clear sanding sugar

Put berries in a bowl and sprinkle with 2 Tbsp sugar and vinegar. Macerate for an hour (or more, and if you read the paragraph before the recipe, you'll know I macerated in the fridge overnight).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll out half the pie crust until about 1/8" thick then place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Put into the freezer for a few minutes to chill. Strain the strawberries (keep the juicy goodness and reduce down for a yummy sauce later.)

Take back out, then sprinkle the flour, ground nuts, and the other tbsp of sugar in the middle. Make sure to leave an edge that's at least 1 1/2" wide. Placing the berries in the middle on top of the flour, sugar, nut mix. Fold the edges of the dough over the strawberries. Brush with the beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the edges are golden. (reminder: this is for a half recipe)

(above: you can see I folded the edge pretty tightly so it didn't cover much of the berries. you don't see the pleating much after it baked up, but it sure was flaky and delish! the great thing about being rustic is you can make the edge/crust as big or little as you like!)

Pie Dough

adapted from Gastronomer's Guide

1 stick butter, cut into small pieces and frozen

1 1/4 C flour

2 Tbsp vanilla sugar

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 C ice water (give or take)

Mix the flour, sugar, and salt with a whisk. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until it resembles a coarse meal -- there should be some butter clumps that are the size of small peas, but most should be pretty small. Chill in freezer for a few minutes just to make sure the butter doesn't melt.

Form a well in the middle of the mixture and pour in 2 Tbsp ice water. Mix with a wooden spoon, adding more water 1 Tbsp at a time until dough starts coming together. Form into 1 disc (or 2 small ones like I did), wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at LEAST 1 hour - I recommend overnight - before rolling.

UPDATED: This dough is really easy to make with a food processor, too. Basically you'll want to cube the butter and freeze. Then combine the dry ingredients in a food processor and pulse a couple times to combine. Add butter to the dry ingredients and pulse until it's a coarse, pebbly texture. Some pieces should be the size of peas. Add water 1 tbsp at a time, pulsing a couple times with each addition, until a ball forms. Form into a ball, flatten, wrap, and refrigerate.

a peachy keen simple salad

2010-07-09T14:20:00.000-07:00

One of the best treats of summer (and one of my most favoritest types of fruit) is the white peach. When perfectly ripe, it's fragrant - sweet, happy and almost innocent. Yes things can smell innocent :) It's lighter than a yellow peach in hue and taste... delicate, even. And then it gives just the slightest bit to your touch. It has firm flesh but it bursts with juice when you bite into it. I would write a love poem to this fruit.

In fact, I will.

sweet white peach in hand

summer's gift to the taste buds

juice dripping down chin

Have I ever mentioned that sometimes I break into random haiku?

Anyways. I usually happily consume white peaches as they are as a midday snack - either sliced or I bite into it like an apple. But today I made a meal of it. I took a hint from those popuar proscuitto wrapped melon slice recipes -- the sweet and salty flavor combination is always a winner. I added the almonds for some crunch and cuz apparently they're really great for you, too. It's a very simple salad that I happily dug into for a light lunch. It's way nutritious, too, bonus!

White Peach and Proscuitto Salad

1 large white peach, sliced thinly
2 C baby spinach leaves
1 oz proscuitto, torn or cut into pieces
1/4 C dry roasted almonds (or pecans or walnuts)

Toss all the ingredients together and eat!

I should note, by the way, that I don't usually have dressing with salads. I like to make sure every bite has peach in it so its sweet juices coat everything - it's its own dressing! However for you dressing lovers out there, a balsamic vinaigrette would complement this quite well.

A Poll

2010-07-07T09:12:00.000-07:00

Oh hey let's be interactive today :-) I haven't baked anything in a little while, and that's just weird. So, since summer is such a great fruit time of year, I'll be heading to the farmers market on Saturday morning. Last time I went they were chock full of cherries, berries, and peaches, so I'll probably pick up one of those. The question is, what do I make with it? So... click on the link below and answer!

POLL ME

Results can be found here.

jambalaya rice

2010-07-05T09:08:00.000-07:00

Egads time flies! I had one recipe left to share from Fathers Day dinner, and this is it. Cajun food has always been kind of mystifying to me - something I'd always bought but never attempted to make on my own because it seemed a bit labor intensive. I mean, there are a lot of ingredients in this! But in reality - I was pleasantly surprised at how simple and quick it was to make this. Basically you dump everything into a pot and cook. This is easy enough to make on a weeknight, and pretty enough to dress up for a special occasion.

Since my awesome shrimp and andouille skewers had the meat/seafood components of a jambalaya, I just made this a rice side dish. To retain the smokiness the ham would have supplied in Ellie's original recipe and to mimic the skewers, I swapped smoked paprika for the regular. I also threw in my leftover tomatoes. This puppy is chock full of veggies and has very little oil - thanks Ellie for making this healthy and tasty! You can, of course, just follow her recipe and add the meat into it and you have yourself a stellar one pot meal, too.

Jambalaya Rice

adapted from Ellie Krieger

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, diced

1 green bell pepper, seeds and ribs removed, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 bay leaf

1/2 tsp crushed red chili peppers

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

3/4 tsp salt

ground black pepper to taste

1 can reduced sodium chicken broth

dash of hot sauce

water (about 2/3 of the chicken broth can)

handful or more of chopped cherry tomatoes (optional - these were leftover from the skewers)

1 can diced tomatoes

1 1/2 C long grain white rice

In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat and sautee the onion, garlic, and pepper until soft. Add in the rest of the ingedients except the rice. Stir and bring to a boil. Add in the rice, cover, reduce heat to low, and cook about 25 minutes. Most of the liquid should be absorbed, and rice should be soft. If adding shrimp, add it now, cover, and cook for 5 more minutes.

shrimp and andouille skewers

2010-06-22T19:20:00.001-07:00

This little skewer rocked my taste buds. And it kind of looks like a cheerful cyclops, doesn't it!It's a bit naked in this picture, since these skewers get slathered with a spicy, smoky sauce. Say that five times fast :)

I find most of my recipes via the internet, so it's not often that a magazine cover grabs my attention... but Bon Appetit's June issue did just that. They looked delicious and simple, and they were exactly that. Prep took all of 10 minutes, and the skewers were on the table in under 20. Even if they were naked, I bet they'd taste great because shrimp + andouille = winning combination. But the sauce... oh the sauce! It's smoky and spicy at the same time, perfectly suited for the shrimp and a great accent to the andouille. For Fathers Day I served this over some jambalaya style rice, and like I said before - it rocked my taste buds!

Shrimp and Andouille Skewers with Spicy Smoky Sauce

adapted from Bon Appetit

Sauce:

3/4 C olive oil

5 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp dried thyme, chopped

5 tsp smoked paprika

4 tsp red wine vinegar

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

freshly ground black pepper

Skewers:

12 6" bamboo skewers

12 extra large shrimp (16-20 count), peeled and deveined

12 slices andouille sausage, sliced about the same thickness as the shrimp

12 grape tomatoes

12 2-layer sections of red onion, cut about the same thickness as shrimp/sausage

To make the sauce: Combine all the ingredients. Divide into 2 bowls - one to glaze before grilling, one to serve with the cooked skewers.

Soak the skewers for at least 30-60 minutes so they don't burn when grilled. Thread each skewer with a piece each of shrimp, sausage, tomato and onion (any order will do).

Heat the grill (or grill pan) to medium high. Brush skewers with the glaze (from the glazing bowl... don't cross contaminate with the serving bowl!). Grill, turning and brushing occasionally with more sauce, and cook for 6-8 minutes.

Transfer to a platter and serve with the second bowl of sauce. Mmmm smoky.

sweet dessert for a sweet dad

2010-06-20T12:16:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day! I'm a Daddy's Girl myself, and thus I love to celebrate this day. My dad taught me some of the best lessons of my life, one of my favorites being: if you love and enjoy something, share it with others. And I love food, thus I shared a home cooked meal with him today, and I'm sharing this with you now.Our deconstructed jambalaya dinner was on the spicier side, so dessert needed to be cool and sweet. The panna cotta topped with balsamic strawberries hit the spot. I've always loved panna cotta - it's so light and vanillay and creamy. It's like the grown up version of jello. I had no idea it was as easy to make as jello, too. Since there were 3 of us, I just split it between 3 small bowls, but this can easily be divided into 4, too.

Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta

adapted from David Lebovitz

2 C half and half

1/4 C sugar

1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped

1 package gelatin

3 Tbsp cold water

Lightly oil 3 small bowls.

Heat half and half, sugar, and vanilla bean caviar and bean in a pot and heat until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to sit for 30 minutes to let the vanilla infuse.

In a medium bowl, dissolve the gelatin over the cold water. Let stand for about 10 minutes. Pour the warm half and half mixture through a strainer (to catch the bean and any filmed milk) over the gelatin and stir until completely dissolved.

Divide between the 3 bowls. Chill until firm - at least 2 hours, but can be made up to a day or two in advance.

To serve, you can either serve it in bowl, or you can run a knife along the edges, dip the bowl in some hot water to loosen, and turn out onto serving plate. Finish it with topping of choice, such as...

Balsamic Strawberries

adapted from Allrecipes.com

1 pint strawberries, rinsed, hulled, and sliced in half

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/4 C white sugar

Put strawberries in a bowl and drizzle with the balsamic and sugar. Stir gently to combine. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour. Spoon over or around panna cotta.

This would also go really well with vanilla ice cream or topped with whipped cream. I should also note that the red and white color combo makes this perfect for a valentines day dessert (especially if using a heart mold) or Christmas... or throw in some blueberries and you have a nice patriotic looking dessert, too.

celebrating 25 with coconut and lime!

2010-06-19T17:15:00.000-07:00

My Kid Brother, not to be mistaken with "Little Brother" since he's 8" taller than I am, hits his quarter century today. While he was off hang gliding during the day, I was busy ~~playing softball~~ making his birthday cake. Upon asking him what kind of cake he wanted, I got this text message:

Ice cream! JK, surprise me with one of your special cakes.

Special, huh. Guess that meant no box cake. (Which is a shame, because box cakes always turn out right.) Trying to steer clear of a typical chocolate or vanilla cake, I was very happy to stumble upon a recipe from Pinch My Salt. I'd had this blog bookmarked for ages now because everything looks so drool-worthy, so I'm glad to finally try out a recipe for real. This single layer cake was a winner! The creaminess of the coconut is countered by the sweet tartness of the lime glaze. Texture wise, it's tender and almost melts in your mouth even though it's not super airy. Then the sometimes chewy, sometimes crisp coconut on top adds to the experience. Once you take one bite you want another, and another, and another. And... Jeffrey loved it!

Lime and Coconut Cake for my Kid Brother's 25th

adapted from Gourmet via Pinch My Salt

1 C flaked sweetened coconut, divided

1 C butter, room temp

1 1/4 C sugar

3 or 4 limes, juiced and zested (should make about 3 tbsp lime zest and 5 tbsp juice)

2 eggs

1/2 tsp coconut extract

1 3/4 C self rising flour

3/4 C buttermilk

3/4 C powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a 9" round baking pan - butter the bottom and sides, line the bottom with parchment, then butter the parchment.

Mince or food process 1/2 C of the coconut. Mix with the flour and set aside. Combine the buttermilk and 2 tbsp lime juice and set aside.

Beat together the butter, sugar, and half the zest until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in extract. Mix in a third of the dry ingredients, then half the wet, then a third of the dry, then the rest of the wet ingredients, and the rest of the dry. Beat until well combined.

Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth out the top. Bake until it's golden for about 40-45 minutes (it was 38 minutes for me) or when a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pan until warm, then turn out onto a rack and remove the parchment.

Toast the remaining coconut - spread in a pan and put in 350 degree oven for a few minutes. Watch it closesly because it can burn quickly. Make the glaze - mix the remaining 2 tbsp lime juice with the powdered sugar. After the cake is plated, poke holes all over it (I used a skewer) and pour the glaze over it. Top with the toasted coconut. (I should note that I put some untoasted coconut and toasted. I don't know if you could actually tell that both kinds were on there. Go with whichever one floats your boat.) You can end there and eat, but I didn't. To make it just a little more "special" and because I find cakes without icing to be quite odd (unless it's a coffee cake, and even that must have streusel topping), I decided to make some lime buttercream. The coconut on top was so pretty, but I wanted another indication of the lime, so I tinted the frosting green. I just piped little stars around the rim of the cake. I wouldn't ice the entire cake with it since the glaze and coconut pretty much rock on their own, but that little extra burst of creamy lime is refreshing.

Lime Buttercream Icing

adapted from MyRecipes

remaining tbsp lime juice

remaining lime zest
1/2 stick butter, softened

1 Tbsp half and half

1 C powdered sugar

green food coloring (optional)

Beat the butter with the lime juice and zest. Beat in the half and half. Beat in the sugar - slowly, and tasting along the way so it gets to your desired sweetness. Blend in food coloring if using.

chocolate love

2010-06-14T21:15:00.000-07:00

Wait, did I really used "chocolate" and "love" in the same phrase? But I'm a vanilla girl! Don't worry, I haven't gone to the dark side... (get it! dark... chocolate...! *cough*) It's actually the recipient of these chocolate marshmallows that I love. It's Kayla's 6th birthday, and like her mommy (my (other) best friend Lauren), she loves chocolate. So for her birthday, she got these sticky, melt in your mouth treats.

While I still buy marshmallows from the store to whip up a quick batch of rice crispy treats, I defintiely prefer homemade ones. They're just so much fluffier and richer. They're even easy to make (if you don't count the work it takes to clean up the sticky mess hehe) and I can make it in lots of variations. I just made some vanilla ones to make some s'mores (graham cracker recipe coming soon!). And of course there are the peppermint marshmallows for Christmastime. And now... chocolate! These are more creamy and denser than those two variations, probably because chocolate as an ingredient is simply physically heavier than an extract, but the end result is rich and tender (just like my future husband will be, aw yeah). Oh, and I love how my cookie cutter created that decorative ridge - SO cute, just like Kayla, awwww!

Chocolate Marshmallows

adapted from about.com and Alton Brown

1 C ice water, divided

3 packages gelatin
1/4 C + 2 Tbsp water

1/3 C cocoa powder

1 C light corn syrup

1 1/2 C sugar

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 C powdered sugar

1/4 C corn starch

1 Tbsp cocoa powder

Special equipment: candy thermometer, and preferably a Kitchenaid or similar mixer

Place 1/2 C ice water into the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle gelatin over it.

In a small bowl, heat the 1/4 C + 2 Tbsp water in microwave for 1 minute. Mix the 1/3 C cocoa powder in it until smooth. Mix into the bloomed gelatin until smooth.

Combine the other 1/2 C ice water, corn syrup, sugar, and salt into a small pot. Cover and bring to a boil over medium high heat for 2-3 minutes. Remove cover and attach candy thermometer. Continue to cook until it hits 245 degrees. Once it hits that temperature, immediately remove from heat.

Turn the mixer on low and slowly pour the hot sugar syrup until completely combined. Increase the sped to high, and beat for 15-19 minutes. Add the vanilla, and beat 1-2 more minutes until combined.

While it's beating, prepare a 9"x13" pan: Combine confectioner's sugar, corn starch, and remaining cocoa powder. Spray the pan with cooking spray. Coat with some of the powder, and save the rest.

When the marshmallow is done mixing, pour into the prepared pan. Spray a spatula with some cooking spray and use it to help scrape it out of the bowl and then to smooth out the marshmallows. Coat the marshmallow with more of the confectioner sugar-corn starch-cocoa powder. Allow to set overnight.

Use a big chefs knife or pizza wheel or cookie cutter that's been dusted with more powder to cut up the marshmallows. Toss the marshmallows in the remiaining sugar-corn starch-cocoa powder. Store in an airtight container for up to a week... if they last that long!

grilling time - chipotle lime chicken

2010-06-07T18:32:00.000-07:00

Look at that fire and smoke... you can almost hear it sizzling, can't you.Somehow or other I ended up with a bunch of limes after Memorial Day weekend. So before heading to the happiest place on earth the other day, I made a plan to cook some kind of lime chicken dish. And a Bobby Flay marathon was on while I was brainstorming, so I had a major hankering to use chipotles, too. Mmmm spicy. Thus, this.

I really loved this marinade. Lots of flavor. Next time, though, I'm going to make it with chicken thighs to make it juicier. Or maybe I'll use it on a kebab. It seems like a pretty versatile recipe, and it's a definite keeper.

Chipotle Lime Chicken

adapted from RecipeZaar.com

1 chicken breast*

2 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, minced

1/2 tsp adobo sauce

1 garlic clove, minced

1/4 C fresh lime juice (1 whole lime)

1/4 C olive oil

3 tbsp honey

salt and pepper

Lay the chicken between 2 pieces of wax paper or plastic wrap and pound out the thicker side until the chicken is an even layer (this ensures even cooking). Whisk together the next 6 ingredients. Cover the chicken breast with half the marinade. Reserve the other half of the marindade. Refrigerate/marinate for a few hours or overnight.

Grill over medium high heat for about 3-4 min each side, basting with leftover marinade. (This can be done on an outdoor grill or stovetop grill pan.) Allow to rest for 5-10 minutes. Slice on the bias. I ate it wrapped in a tortilla, but next time I'm definitely serving with Mexican rice and beans.

* The original recipe marinade makes enough for about 4 chicken breasts. I did have quite a bit leftover, but I used some of it to drizzle over the lettuce. Or I could have marinated more chicken.

chicken salad

2010-06-06T19:10:00.000-07:00

Whenever I think of salad, I think of greens topped with other veggies or maybe some meat. Or maybe a nice fruit salad as a side or dessert. But I don't think of the mayo based chicken, egg, potato or pasta salads. Salads = healthy. Mayo does not = healthy. It's a disconnect in my head that the chicken/egg/etc kinds are consdered salads. And I can probably count the cumulative number of times I've eaten any of those on both hands.

But my coworker, Mary, was kind enough to share some of her chicken salad with me the other day, and it was pretty darn good. So I figured, I should try my hand at making it, too. I looked up a ton of recipes and found that they all pretty much have this in common: chicken, mayo, lemon juice, celery. Some have nuts, others have fruit, Mary's had capers (yum). So I figured I'd wing it with that in mind, and came up with this. I love the tang the dijon brings and that the cranberries add just a teeny bit of sweetness to it. And while I still can't see it as a traditional "salad" the way my little brain thinks of salads, I do consider it tasty :-)Chicken Salad

4 oz chicken breast, cooked (approx. 1 cup)

2 tbsp light mayo

1/2 tsp dijon mustard

1 tsp lemon juice

1/4 celery stalk, finely diced

1 tbsp onion, finely diced

1 1/2 tbsp dried cranberries, finely diced

salt and pepper

Cut the chicken breast into small pieces (or shred it). Season with some salt and pepper. Mix together the rest of the ingredients, then fold in the chicken breast.

I'll be eating this stuffed inside a whole wheat pita with some lettuce. I'm not sure how else to eat these mayo based salads other than in a sandwich of some sort... if you have any ideas, leave a comment!

Piece Montee

2010-06-03T23:47:00.000-07:00

I'm a Daring Baker! This is officially my first post for their challenges, and boy am I thrilled to be part of this. The May Daring Baker's challenge (yup I'm a couple days late, my bad) was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged us to make a piece montee, or croquembouche, based on the recipes from Peter Kump's Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri. I first saw a croquembouche on some Food Network holiday special years ago, so at least I was familiar with this tower o' cream puffs. It's the first time I have heard it called a piece montee (one of these days I'm going to learn how to make the little accent marks over the e's). Piece montee literally means "mounted piece," which explains the stacking of creme filled puffs into this little cone shape. There are many ways to create this form - use an actual cone as a base, use toothpicks to keep them together, or... just stack them, like I did, using the chocolate as a glue. You can also use molten sugar to get that crunch (croquembouche = "crunch in the mouth"), but it was raining today and humidity and spun sugar don't really mesh well.

The croquembouche is made up of 3 components - the puffs (pate a choux), pastry creme filling, and the glaze. I followed the recipe for the choux and chocolate glaze exactly. I used the vanilla creme recipe and folded in some diced candied ginger. That addition was simply awesome if I do say so myself... it makes the filling's texture and flavor more interesting. I also happen to think vanilla and ginger are a match made in heaven, so I may be biased :-) I think I either didn't cook the choux long enough or added the egg too early because it was a little liquidier than I'd have liked (see next picture), but they puffed up nice and golden (see picture after that). After they cooled, I filled, glazed, then stacked them. Viola, piece montee!

One of these days I'd love to try it with the hard caramel glaze and maybe a different flavored filling, but it won't anytime soon. NoVA's summers are hot and very humid, so maybe I'll do it sometime for Christmas as a special occasion treat.

breakfast burrito... for dinner

2010-06-03T15:48:00.000-07:00

Breakfast for dinner is always a good idea, especially when it's just for one person. Usually cereal is my breakfast for dinner of choice, but I wanted something cooked tonight. And in lieu of my recent vacation to Mexico, the obvious inspired choice was a breakfast burrito.

I had spare egg whites from a pastry creme (stand by, something special coming soon) so just added them to the whole egg and onions. Top with whatever toppings you like, fold, eat. I've also made a variation (scratch the avocados and tomatoes, include shredded chicken and corn), let it cool, then eat it the next morning for breakfast. Really easy grab and go type thing.

Breakfast Burrito

1 flour tortilla

1 egg

1 egg white

1/8 C diced onions

1 tsp olive oil

a few cherry tomatoes, diced

3-4 slices avocado

mexican cheese

salt to taste

Heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook until translucent. Add eggs, salt, then stir, cooking to your desired doneness. Take off heat, and put on tortilla. top with cheese, tomatoes, and avocado. Wrap up like a burrito and num num num.

Additional topping ideas: black beans, queso blanco, sour cream, salsa, peppers... pretty much anything you like.

I'm not dead :-)

2010-05-24T19:57:00.000-07:00

Nope, I was in Mexico on vacation! Cabo, specifically, and it was sunny, clear, and tasty. That's right... guacamole every day, tacos, the best ceviche of my life. Wanna see pictures? Here they are :-)

Seriously best ceviche ever! I think it was probably the chunks of avocado and definitely the little bits of mango. And right under here... Loaded steak nachos. Had this at least twice, lol.Last but not least are the fish tacos. These are particularly special because Mike and my brother actually caught the fish that morning. Tiger fish, a blondie, and I think a yellow snapper maybe. Sooo good.