The Kitchen is for Cooking

Cinnamon Craisen Cranberry Sauce

2010-11-25T12:10:00.000-08:00

Oh boy. I combined a couple recipes from food network and it turned out delicious!

Cinnamon Craisen Cranberry Sauce
1/2 bag fresh cranberries
1/2-1 granny smith apple, skinned and sliced into pieces about the size of the cranberries
1 C cranberry grape juice (or other cranberry juice)
1/2 C sugar
1 cinnamon stick broken in half
1 ish C craisens

Into a med. sauce pan, combine everything but craisens. Heat on med. until cranberries start to burst, add craisens. Lower temps for another 5 min. or so or until it starts to thicken. If it looks too watery, add a few more craisens. It does thicken up upon standing off heat.

The cinnamon makes is so yummy! I bet it would be good with some walnuts in there also.

Sept. Recipe Exchange Favorites: Breads

2010-09-08T11:19:00.000-07:00

We have a church recipe exchange once a month. This month's theme was bread. I'm posting my favorites so I can have them easily accessible.

Artisan Bread Loaf (I loved this one. Probably my fav. Great crumb)

By: Ruth Judd

Recipe:

3 cups (430g) flour 1½ cups (345g or 12oz) water ¼ teaspoon (1g) yeast 1¼ teaspoon (8g) salt olive oil (for coating) extra flour, wheat bran, or cornmeal (for dusting)

Two medium mixing bowls 6 to 8 quart pot with lid (Pyrex glass, Le Creuset cast iron, or ceramic) Wooden Spoon or spatula (optional) Plastic wrap Two or three cotton dish towels (not terrycloth)

Process: Mix all of the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Add water and incorporate by hand or with a wooden spoon or spatula for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Lightly coat the inside of a second medium bowl with olive oil and place the dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rest 12 hours at room temperature (approx. 65-72°F).

Remove the dough from the bowl and fold once or twice. Let the dough rest 15 minutes in the bowl or on the work surface. Next, shape the dough into ball. Generously coat a cotton towel with flour, wheat bran, or cornmeal; place the dough seam side down on the towel and dust with flour. Cover the dough with a cotton towel and let rise 1-2 hours at room temperature, until more than doubled in size. Preheat oven to 450-500°F. Place the pot in the oven at least 30 minutes prior to baking to preheat. Once the dough has more than doubled in volume, remove the pot from the oven and place the dough in the pot seam side up. Cover with the lid and bake 30 minutes Then remove the lid and bake 15-30 minutes uncovered, until the loaf is nicely browned.

*I used the baking directions from a similar recipe and put the loaf on a baking stone that had been preheated in a 450 degree oven. Right before I placed the loaf on the stone I sprinkled some cornmeal on the stone. I baked the loaf for 20 minutes, and had a pan with a cup of hot water under the stone to steam the loaf while it baked. Try the other method as well though. Each will make a great loaf.

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bread (Not overly sweet, which I liked)

By: Melissa Smith

For the bread:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. grated lemon zest (about 1 lemon)
1/2 milk (or buttermilk)
1 cup fresh blueberries

For the filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 egg

For the glaze:
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
2 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 1 lemon)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. In a mixing bowl, fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 1-2 minutes). Add eggs, one at a time, and mix until incorporated. Add vanilla and lemon zest and mix together. Alternately add the dry ingredients with the milk, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix well. Fold in the blueberries.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, add all the ingredients for the filling and whisk together.

Prepare a loaf pan by coating with cooking spray. Spoon about half of the batter into the pan, then spread the filling over the top. Spoon the remaining batter on top of the filling; you may want to drop by spoonfulls to get an even distribution as it will be hard to spread over the filling.

Bake bread for about 55-65 minutes, checking for doneness after 55 minutes. While bread is cooking, prepare lemon glaze. In a small saucepan, bring to a boil lemon juice and sugar. Stir until completely dissolved. Remove from heat. When bread is done, remove to a cooling rack and spoon on warm glaze. Let cool 10-15 minutes in the pan then remove the loaf to a cooling rack to cool completely. Resist the urge to cut into the loaf while it is hot, it needs time to set up.

Overnight Rolls (Crescent Rolls I'll probably use for Thanksgiving this year)

By: Marci Preece

1 ½ c. warm water, divided ½ c. shortening

1 TBS. yeast, (1 package) 2 eggs

Pinch of salt 1 tsp. salt

1 cup canned evaporated milk 1 tsp. baking powder

6 cup flour ½ tsp. baking soda

½ cup instant mashed potato flakes ½ TBS. sugar

1/3 cup sugar

In a small bowl add ½ cup of warm water, yeast, and ½ TBS. sugar. Set aside to dissolve. In a large bowl (or your electric mixing bowl) mix warm milk, 1 cup warm water, 2 cups flour, instant potato flakes, sugar, shortening, eggs, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Add yeast mixture and remaining 4 cups of flour. Knead well. Crisco a large bowl and place dough in it. Cover with plastic wrap or a towel and place in the fridge overnight. Remove from fridge and flour the counter top very well. Flour dough, and roll out. There are many ways you can shape these. Use a pizza cutter to cut strips and tie into knots. You can also separate dough into 2 balls and roll out like a pizza. Cut into slices and roll from wide end to the tip for crescent shapes. Place on cookie sheets and let rise three hours. Preheat oven to 400. Brush with butter and bake for 10-12 minutes (or brush with melted butter after they are cooked).

Rocky Road Ice cream

2010-04-24T21:20:00.000-07:00

I just made rocky road ice cream tonight and it turned out really well. Like, Matt said he would have thought he was eating premium store bought ice cream if he hadn't seen me make it. So I figured I'd write it down.

Rocky Road Ice Cream
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
3/4-1 C. coco powder (depending on how dark you like your chocolate)
1 C. heavy cream
1 3/4 C. whole milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 C. chopped pecans
1/2 C. mini-marshmallows

Directions
1. In a medium saucepan over low heat, mix sweetened condensed milk and coco powder until smooth and slightly thickened, about 5 min. Remove from heat, let cool slightly and mix in cream, milk, and vanilla. Put in the fridge and let it get cold.
2. Pour into ice cream canister and freeze according to manufacturer's directions. Stir in nuts and marshmallows in the last few minutes.
3. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze for 5-6 hours (it will be too soft to eat right out of the ice cream maker).

3 hour French Bread

2010-02-24T19:28:00.001-08:00

This was the second time I made this, and I decided it was definitely a good enough recipe to keep and link.

I got the original here. That link has lots of helpful photos, so I suggest you go there. I do add some sugar because I just can't fathom using yeast without sugar...

3 Hour French Bread - makes 2 small loaves
2 tsp active dry yeast*
1 1/2 C. warm water
2 tsp sugar

2 tsp kosher salt
4 C. bread flour

Proof the yeast in the warm water with the sugar in a large bowl (I do this in my Kitchen Aid). Wait 10 min. for it to foam up.
Put 1/4 cup of bread flour on your clean counter top and reserve. Add the flour, mixed with the salt, to the yeast mixture 1 cup at a time with a paddle. Once the dough comes together in a mass, switch to the dough hook. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Dough should clear the sides but stick to the bottom. If it is too sticky, add 1 T of flour at a time. If too dry, add 1 T of water to dough to adjust. After 2 minutes, let the dough rest for 5 minutes.
Turn the mixer on again and mix for 3 minutes. Take the dough out and place on the 1/4 cup of flour that we reserved flour We’ll use it now. As you knead the dough by hand, incorporate more flour as you need. You might not need it all. Knead by hand until the dough is very satiny, smooth, tight and formed into a nice, compact ball.
Place this dough in a large lightly oiled bowl (I use Pam spray). Turn dough over so that all sides have a thin coating of oil. Cover with plastic wrap and set in warm place for 1 1/2 hours. Dough should almost double in size.
About 1 hour into the rest stage, preheat your oven to 450F (convection 425F). Place your pizza stone, inverted baking sheet or covered cast iron pot into the oven to heat up.
Cut the dough into half – you’ll shape one half at a time (keep the other piece under wraps) Pick up the dough – stretch it out until it forms a big rectangle. On your counter top dusted with flour, fold each long side in toward the middle, slightly overlapping.
Now do a little “karate chop” lengthwise down the middle of the bread and stretch out the long ends again. Fold over in half lengthwise and pinch all sides shut. This is important – you want to make sure that all ends including the short ends are pinched tightly to create a seal. This allows the bread to rise & expand up and out evenly. If the bread looks a little lopsided, you can try to fix it by letting it rest 5 minutes and gently stretching it out again. Just don’t knead the dough again – you’ll pop all the beautiful gas that took 1.5 hours to create!
Turn the bread over so that its seam side down. Cover the loaf with a damp kitchen towel. Repeat with the other dough halve. Leave the loaves to rest on your well-floured pizza peel or cutting board for 30 minutes. After resting, take a sharp paring knife and make 3-4 shallow, diagonal slashes on the surface of the loaf. This allows the steam in the bread to escape so that it expands evenly during the baking process.
When you are ready to bake, remove your baking vessel. Carefully slide the gorgeous loaf into or onto your baking vessel. I like baking one loaf at a time. The most important equipment to have is an instant read thermometer to measure temperature of the bread.

If you are using pizza stone or inverted baking sheet: You can probably fit both loaves on it at the same time if you wish. -> Get a 1/2 cup of water ready next to the stove. Open the stove, put your bread in the oven and throw the water on the oven floor. Immediately close the oven door. This creates your steam. -> Bake 20-25 minutes. Check temperature of the bread – internal should be 190-210F. Remove and let cool before cutting into it.

If you are using a long cast-iron pot or covered baker: -> Before closing the lid on your pot/baker, put 1/4 cup of water directly in the pot. Cover immediately. Put pot in oven. -> Bake 10 minutes. Remove lid of pot. Bake another 14 minutes. Check temperature of the bread – internal should be 190-210F. Remove and let cool before cutting into it. Repeat with other loaf. (For convection ovens- bake 8 min covered, 10-12 min uncovered. Check temperature of bread) To re-crisp the crust, put in 375F oven for 5 minutes. Eat one loaf, share the other loaf with a friend!

*I have tons of active dry yeast, so I always use this and proof it with the water and sugar before adding the other ingredients. If you have the instant or rapid rise yeasts, you can follow the directions on the link.

Homemade Falafel and Pitas

2009-11-19T18:16:00.001-08:00

I've been in a bit of a funk lately with dinner, so when someone posted a falafel recipe on a blog I watch, I decided I wanted to make some. I just love that stuff. I modified the recipe, so in order to remember what I did, I'm going to write it down. Matt said it was the best falafel and pita I've ever made. Boom.

Falafel: makes enough to stuff about 3 full pita rounds (6 halves cut open)
1/2 C dried bread crumbs
handful flat leaf parsley
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4-1/2 tsp (just shook it in?) turmeric
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 lg. egg
1 (15-oz) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
1 Tbsp olive oil

Place everything in a food processor; process mixture until smooth. Divide mixture into 16-18 equal portions, and shape each portion into a 1/4-inch-thick patty. Heat additional olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add patties, and cook until patties are browned on both sides. I had to add oil every time I put a new batch in the pan.

Salad with a dill sauce: (I know falafel is usually served with cucumbers and tzatziki sauce, but I didn't have cucumbers nor did I have tahini. This worked out really well and complimented the falafel well)
Romaine Lettuce, chopped thinly
2 Tbsp (ish) mayo
3 Tbsp (ish) sour cream thinned with milk to a yogurt consistency*
a generous amount of dried dill
a splash or two of lemon juice

Mix it all together.

*Or just use plain yogurt! I just didn't have any on hand.

Pitas: Makes 8 whole pita rounds. I've made these 3-4 times now and I have vowed to never buy store pitas again. They are soooooo much better! The original recipe is here.

Ingredients
1 1/8 C. warm water (about 110*)
3 C. AP Flour
1 tsp salt (I always use kosher in baking)
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp white sugar
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

1. Preheat oven to 500*. Place all ingredients in bread pan of bread machine, select Dough setting and start. Move on to step 2 after machine beeps and is done.

2. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surgace. Gently roll and stretch dough into a 12 inch rope. With a sharp knife or dough cutter, divide dough into 8 pieces. Roll each into a smooth ball. With a rolling pin, roll each ball into a 6-7 in. circle. Set aside on a lightly floured counterop and cover with a tea towel until you put it in the oven.

3. Place 2-3 pitas on a wire cookie cooling rack. Place rack directly on the oven rack. Bake 4-5 min. until puffed and top is beginning to brown.

4. Remove from oven and immediately place on a plate and put a damp kitchen towel over them until soft. Onve pitas are softened, either cut in half or split top edge to fill the pitas. They can be stored in a plastic bag in the fridge for several days or in the freezer for 1-2 months.

Glorious. Stuff the halved pitas with the salad a falafel and enjoy!

A better burger bun

2009-10-08T17:59:00.000-07:00

I've made buns before, but I tried a new recipe today (see a trend?) and it was FABULOUS. It's pretty much a King Arthur's Beautiful Burger Bun recipe, but I used bread flour instead of All Purpose. Oh, and since I didn't have instant yeast I proofed mine in warm water with the sugar. The result was super delicious.

A better burger bun- 8 buns

3/4 C. water
2 Tbsp butter
1 large egg
3 1/2 C. bread flour
1/4 C. sugar
1 1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 Tbsp yeast

Directions

If using active dry yeast, proof it in the water with the sugar and add the rest of the ingredients after it bubbles. If using instant yeast, just add all the ingredients at the same time.
Knead by hand or mixer. (If using a mixer, know mine was a stickier dough and did not clear the sides of the bowl. I had to scrape it down a couple times.) Form it into a ball if it isn't already.
Place it in a greased (I used spray) bowl and cover it for 1 hour or until double.
Gently deflate the dough and divide it into 8 pieces. Shape each piece into a 1"(ish) thick and about 3 in. across.
Place on a lightly greased baking sheet, cover, and let rise 30-60 min. or until very puffy.
Lightly brush with an egg wash.
Bake at 375* for 12-15 min. or until golden.

A better flour tortilla

2009-10-05T18:50:00.000-07:00

I have used the same tortilla recipe for about 8 years now, but I've always felt they lacked in the texture department. After having fresh tortillas in the store that had great texture but horrible taste, I set out to find a better tortilla recipe. I ended up mixing my original recipe with a recipe I found online (can't find it now or I'd link it).

I've made these a couple times with minor variations in cooking technique, but tonight's tortillas were the best so I'm set to type it up now. =)

Flour Tortillas-makes 8 large tortillas
Ingredients:
2 C. all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt (I'm sure regular salt works fine, but I always cook with kosher)
1/4 C vegetable shortening

3/4 C warm milk

Directions:

Mix together first 4 ingredients, cutting in the shortening with a pastry cutter or two knives or forks.
Add the warm milk a little at a time until completely incorporated.
Flour a workspace and dump out dough. It'll probably be a little sticky, so flour your hands and have a little extra flour on the side. Hand kneed the dough for about 5 min.
Put in a bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Let it sit for about 15-20 min. If it's too tough or rubbery, let it sit a few more min.
After 20 min. cut the dough into 8 equal parts. Roll these pieces into balls.* Flatten into a disk and roll into tortillas. It's okay if they're not quite as large as you want them. Cover and let sit another 5-10 min.**
Warm up a cast iron skillet (or a non-stick pan, but honestly, they cook better on cast iron) Keep it dry-don't add oil or anything. Once the pan is nice and hot, slap your tortillas on about 30 seconds on each side (more or less depending on how hot your pan really is). If your pan is hot enough, they'll start to puff up and get big bubbles. Keep the cooked ones warm under a clean kitchen towel until you're ready to eat. them

*If you used a stand mixer to knead, you may need to let them sit for another 10 min. at this point. If your dough is ever too elastic or rubbery, just let it sit a bit longer to relax.
**I have stacked them in between pieces of wax paper and put them in a ziploc in the fridge for a couple hours. It worked just fine after sitting a couple hours, but the next day the final product was a little brittle and not quite chewy.

Artichoke and Spinach Lasagna

2009-09-10T18:13:00.001-07:00

I whipped this up last night on the fly. Nothing too fancy, but it was good.

Artichoke and Spinach Lasagna-8X8 pan so about 4-6 servings
1 small container ricotta cheese
1/2-1 can artichoke hearts
a couple good handfuls of fresh spinach (2 cups?), chopped thinly
a couple handfuls of shredded mozzarella (plus some to top)
some fresh parmesan (if you have it)
2 cloves garlic, pressed
fresh nutmeg to taste (I grate it on the small side of my cheese grater.)
fresh ground pepper to taste
salt to taste
Red sauce
1 egg

8-9 lasagna noodles, depending on the type you use

Directions

Combine all filling ingredients except the egg. I don't pre-cook the spinach. I always add the egg last so I can actually do my spices "to taste". Add the egg and mix well.
If you're using the noodles you pre-cook, you only need 8 noodles because you'll have to cut off the long end to fit the pan. I just used the pieces I cut off to make up the last noodle. So, cook or don't cook the noodles, depending on the type.
Spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of the pan, place 3 noodles on the bottom. Spread a layer of filling, sauce, 3 more noodles, repeat till you've used it all up. End with noodles, sauce and top with the reserved mozzarella.
Cook for 30-40 min. on 350* covered and then uncover another 10 min. or so to brown the cheese on top.

Ideas for vegetable packed main dishes

2009-08-27T20:09:00.000-07:00

A friend asked for some help coming up with veggie packed main dishes that her kids would eat.

Here are some of my favorites:

Veggie packed chili:
Chop an assortment of veggies into smallish cubes (carrots, celery, onions, bell peppers, zucchini, corn, hominy)

Saute the veggies until tender (add zucchini a little later than the others since it cooks quickly) and add to canned chili or homemade chili. I have a recipe for homemade if you want that.

Broccoli, Cheese and Rice dish (serves 6-8 as side or 3-4 main)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (10 oz.) pkg frozen, chopped broccoli (or equivalent fresh broccoli, chopped)
1 (7 oz) box long grain and wild rice mix
1 Tbsp butter
salt to taste
2 Tbsp. flour
1 C. evaporated milk
1 C. cheddar cheese
*You can also add cooked chicken to make it heartier...*

Lightly coat a 9X13 baking dish with cooking spray. If using frozen broccoli, microwave for 5 min. and drain. If using fresh, just chop it up. Add to baking dish. Prepare rice according to package. Add to baking dish. Suate onion and add to dish. Melt butter in the onion pan and stir in salt and flour. Add milk gradually, stirring to mix well. Cook until thickened, about 3-5 min. Take off heat and stir in cheese until melted. Add cheese sauce to dish and stir. Bake at 350 for 30 min.

Chicken and Broccoli Braid
This is good, though I don't always add the dill. You can change the chicken to broccoli ratio so there is more broccoli and less chicken. You can also use pizza dough if you don't want to use the crescents. I have another variation that uses cream cheese and you roll them into individual bundles if anyone's interested.

Summery Baked Tomatoes
While I've never tried this, I just saw it today and it looks delicious.

Taco Salad (a suggestion, but if you need a recipe, ask) or Something like Cafe Rio Salad

Cold Tortellini Salad-serves 8
16 oz cheese tortellini, cooked to al dente, drain and rinse

Optional additions:
1 (6 oz) jar marinated artichoke hearts
1 can pitted black olives
Your choice of type and amount of chopped: broccoli, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, red or green onion, bell peppers, carrots, cucumbers, fresh mozzarella, feta, or parm. cheese

Dressing:
1/4 c. olive oil
3/4 C. balsamic vinegar
garlic salt to taste

Add veggies and cheese to cooked pasta. Combine dressing ingredients and mix into salad. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Toss again before you serve to see if you need to add a bit more dressing.

Cold veggie pizza

Easy Bean and Rice burritos with Veggie add ins

Vegetable Quesadillas - serves 2-3
1 Zucchini, cubed
1/2 Onion, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced
1 garlic clove pressed or diced
fresh lime juice from 1 lime
Taco seasoning packet (not necessarily the whole thing...I just make my own concoction, so I don't know how much you'd need of this...to taste) or your own mixture of chili powder, cumin, chipotle chili powder and salt
Cheese (mozz. is low fat but not high flavor. I don't mind using it. You can use a mexican blend, asedero cheese, cheddar or Colby or Monterrey jack. Whatever you love.)
Large flour tortillas (I use burrito sized, but soft taco sized would work for kids)
A drizzle of oil to saute veggies

Directions:
Saute the onion and bell pepper. Just before they are tender, add in the zucchini and garlic. Sprinkle seasonings and lime over the top, adding a little more oil if necessary. Season with salt to taste. Take off the burner.

Sprinkle cheese over half of each tortilla, top with veggies, and sprinkle a little more cheese on top. Fold over and cook on a cast iron pan (med. heat) until cheese melts and tortilla's toasty.

Shredded zucchini and egg:
Shred zucchini and saute. Pour scrambled eggs over top and cook. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle cheese on top and cover to help melt. Serve with veggie sides and rolls or bread.

June Daring Baker: Bakewell Tart/Pudding

2009-06-27T11:49:00.000-07:00

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

I'd never heard of this, but was excited to make it since the hosts' pictures looked so tantalizing. I as I was making it, I thought it was going to turn out perfectly. By the picture you can tell that it didn't quite turn out perfectly!

When it finished cooking I thought back to where I went wrong since the top got a little too brown and the frangipane was the wrong consistency (and the middle was not quite done). As I thought about it, I realized I did a few things wrong:

The pie pan I thought was 9" was really larger...9 1/2 or 10 in. Oops.
I totally forgot to put the flour in the frangipane! My 18 mo. old was "helping" me cook, and I just got too distracted. Plus I can always use my "I'm 9 mo. pregnant!" excuse since pregnancy seems to make me very forgetful in the kitchen.
My crust seemed waaaayyy too dry after adding the amount of water in the recipe, so I added an extra Tbsp. I think that made it too wet. It didn't taste bad, I think it's just not quite what it should have been.
I rolled the shortening crust a little too thin since my pan was too big.

Despite my errors, the taste of this was actually quite good. It got pretty brown (though it didn't taste burned), so next time I think I'll check and cover it the last 10 min. if needed. Also, I think doing smaller tartlets (like Audax's) would help with the middle not being done...

I made some low sugar blueberry jam. I just used the Ball no-sugar pectin recipe and added 1 cup of sugar to the whole batch. It worked nicely. I think a tarter jam could have worked well too. Cranberry, apricot, etc. I wouldn't mind trying it again, especially if I were to do mini-tartlets. I think that would be quite nice.

Bakewell Tart...er...Pudding

Makes one 23cm (9” tart)
Prep time: less than 10 minutes (plus time for the individual elements)
Resting time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes
Equipment needed: 23cm (9”) tart pan or pie tin (preferably with ridged edges), rolling pin

One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)
Bench flour
250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz) jam or curd, warmed for spreadability (My homemade stuff didn't need any warming)
One quantity frangipane (recipe follows)
One handful blanched, flaked almonds

Assembling the tart
Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Jasmine’s notes:
• If you cannot have nuts, you can try substituting Victoria sponge for the frangipane. It's a pretty popular popular cake, so you shouldn't have any troubles finding one in one of your cookbooks or through a Google search. That said, our dear Natalie at Gluten a Go Go has sourced some recipes and linked to them in the related alt.db thread.
• You can use whichever jam you wish, but if you choose something with a lot of seeds, such as raspberry or blackberry, you should sieve them out.
• The jam quantity can be anywhere from 60ml (1/4 cup) to 250ml (1cup), depending upon how “damp” and strongly flavoured your preserves are. I made it with the lesser quantity of home made strawberry jam, while Annemarie made it with the greater quantity of cherry jam; we both had fabulous results. If in doubt, just split the difference and spread 150ml (2/3cup) on the crust.
Annemarie’s notes:
• The excess shortcrust can be rolled out and cut into cookie-shapes (heck, it’s pretty darned close to a shortbread dough).

Sweet shortcrust pastry

Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)
Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film

225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Jasmine’s notes:
• I make this using vanilla salt and vanilla sugar.
• If you wish, you can substitute the seeds of one vanilla bean, one teaspoon of vanilla paste or one teaspoon of vanilla extract for the almond extract

Frangipane

Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Equipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.

Annemarie’s notes:
• Add another five minutes or more if you're grinding your own almonds or if you're mixing by hand (Heaven help you).

White Chocolate Blondies with Goodies

2009-06-19T19:50:00.000-07:00

I got the base of the recipe from Picky Palate's White Chocolate Butterfinger Blondies, but I made a number of modifications since I didn't have butterfingers on hand! I made these for a funeral today and one of the people in charge of the food hounded me until I got her the recipe! I was in such a rush to get them to the church on time, I didn't get a picture. Matt said he really liked them too.

White Chocolate Blondies with Goodies
1/2 C. butter
1 1/2 C. white chocolate chips

1 C. white sugar
1/2 C. brown sugar
2 C. flour (I used 1 C. wheat and 1 C. white with good results)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 C. coconut
3/4 C. chopped walnuts

4 eggs
4 Tbsp sour cream

Powdered sugar for dusting

Directions

Preheat oven to 350* F
Melt butter in microwave safe bowl. Stir in white chips until melted and smooth. You may have to nuke it a little after you add the chips to help them melt.
In a large bowl add the sugar, brown sugar, flour, baking powder, salt. In a small bowl whisk the eggs and sour cream. Pour into the dry ingredients along with the melted white chip mixture. Mix until just combined. Incorporate the semi-sweet chips, coconut, and walnuts.
Pour into a 9X13 baking dish lined with foil that's been sprayed with cooking spray (for easy clean up. You don't have to do that. Just remember to spray your dish regardless.).
Bake for 30-35 min. or until toothpick comes clean from center. Dust with powdered sugar. Let cool before cutting.

June Daring Cook: Dumpling/Potstickers

2009-06-14T18:59:00.000-07:00

This month's challenge was hosted by Jen from Use Real Butter. Thanks for a great challenge! I really enjoyed this one.

I've made potstickers before, but this challenge was still great since I've never made my own wrappers before. Final results: Matt and I loved how the wrappers turned out. We didn't love the pork filling recipe, but it wasn't bad.

I was a little over ambitious and also made vegetable sesame pancake sandwiches (as found at The Dumpling House in NYC). I made that all from scratch as well. While the dinner was quite successful, between the two things it took about 6 hours of cooking after I got home from church!

I steamed the dumplings in a metal basket lined with cabbage leaves.
That worked nicely except I put a few too many in at once and they kind of stuck together.

Here is our whole dinner. The sesame "pancake" bread worked really great after I added a whole lot of extra flour! It was liquid goo after the first rise so I added flour until I could actually handle it. Part of the problem was attempting to do it in the bread maker like the recipe says. Just didn't work the flour in well enough for some reason. I should have just used my KitchenAid.

Final product was really great though. We stuffed it with yellow squash, red onions, zucchini, and carrots. The sauce on it could have used a little help, but it was still good. We served the dumplings with soy sauce and a Chinese red chili sauce.

Chinese Dumplings/Potstickers

pork filling:

1 lb (450g) ground pork
4 large napa cabbage leaves, minced
3 stalks green onions, minced
7 shitake mushrooms, minced (if dried - rehydrated and rinsed carefully)
1/2 cup (75g) bamboo shoots, minced
1/4 (55g) cup ginger root, minced
3 tbsp (40g) soy sauce
2 tbsp (28g) sesame oil
2 tbsp (16g) corn starch

dough: (double this for the amount of filling, but easier to make it in 2 batches - or just halve the filling recipe)
2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (113g) warm water
flour for worksurface

dipping sauce:
2 parts soy sauce
1 part vinegar (red wine or black)
a few drops of sesame oil
chili garlic paste (optional)
minced ginger (optional)
minced garlic (optional)
minced green onion (optional)
sugar (optional)

Combine all filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly (I mix by clean hand). Cover and refrigerate until ready to use (up to a day, but preferably within an hour or two).

Make the dough, Method 1: Place the flour in the work bowl of a food processor with the dough blade. Run the processor and pour the warm water in until incorporated. Pour the contents into a sturdy bowl or onto a work surface and knead until uniform and smooth. The dough should be firm and silky to the touch and not sticky.[Note: it’s better to have a moist dough and have to incorporate more flour than to have a dry and pilling dough and have to incorporate more water).

Make the dough, Method 2 (my mom’s instructions): In a large bowl mix flour with 1/4 cup of water and stir until water is absorbed. Continue adding water one teaspoon at a time and mixing thoroughly until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. We want a firm dough that is barely sticky to the touch.

Both dough methods: Knead the dough about twenty strokes then cover with a damp towel for 15 minutes. Take the dough and form a flattened dome. Cut into strips about 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide. Shape the strips into rounded long cylinders. On a floured surface, cut the strips into 3/4 inch pieces. Press palm down on each piece to form a flat circle (you can shape the corners in with your fingers). With a rolling pin, roll out a circular wrapper from each flat disc. Take care not to roll out too thin or the dumplings will break during cooking - about 1/16th inch. Leave the centers slightly thicker than the edges. Place a tablespoon of filling in the center of each wrapper and fold the dough in half, pleating the edges along one side (see images in post for how to fold pleats). Keep all unused dough under damp cloth.

To boil: Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add dumplings to pot. Boil the dumplings until they float.

To steam: Place dumplings on a single layer of napa cabbage leaves or on a well-greased surface in a steamer basket with lid. Steam covered for about 6 minutes.

To pan fry (potstickers): Place dumplings in a frying pan with 2-3 tbsp of vegetable oil. Heat on high and fry for a few minutes until bottoms are golden. Add 1/2 cup water and cover. Cook until the water has boiled away and then uncover and reduce heat to medium or medium low. Let the dumplings cook for another 2 minutes then remove from heat and serve.

To freeze: Assemble dumplings on a baking sheet so they are not touching. It helps to rub the base of the dumpling in a little flour before setting on the baking sheet for ease of release. Freeze for 20-30 minutes until dumplings are no longer soft. Place in ziploc bag and freeze for up to a couple of months. Prepare per the above instructions, but allow extra time to ensure the filling is thoroughly cooked.

May Daring Baker: Apple Strudel from Scratch

2009-05-27T11:10:00.000-07:00

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

Success! I quite enjoyed this challenge. I made this for our Memorial Day BBQ dessert. We had friends over and everyone had good things to say about it. Nice and flaky crust. I could have probably used a little less filling (though I didn't even use the full 2 lbs. of apples in the recipe) so I could have rolled it a little tighter and had a few more layers of flaky crust.

I served it with vanilla ice cream. I wanted to do some creative filling, but my husband wanted the apple so I used the recipe given with the challenge. It was good (maybe a little boring, but still good). Light and not too rich. The dough was really easy to work with (I let it sit the full 90 min.) and I was only a few inches shy of the 2'X3'. The biggest hole in my dough (which was not big) was from my 18 mo. old son trying to sample it! haha.

I don't even own a table cloth, so I used an old, clean sheet. It was the best I could think of. Worked well enough. I had my husband help me roll it up and transfer it to the baking sheet.

I wish I could capture it better with the photography.

Preparation time
Total: 2 hours 15 minutes – 3 hours 30 minutes

15-20 min to make dough
30-90 min to let dough rest/to prepare the filling
20-30 min to roll out and stretch dough
10 min to fill and roll dough
30 min to bake
30 min to cool

Apple strudel
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

2 tablespoons (30 ml) golden rum
3 tablespoons (45 ml) raisins
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (80 g) sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick / 115 g) unsalted butter, melted, divided
1 1/2 cups (350 ml) fresh bread crumbs
strudel dough (recipe below)
1/2 cup (120 ml, about 60 g) coarsely chopped walnuts
2 pounds (900 g) tart cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into ¼ inch-thick slices (use apples that hold their shape during baking)

1. Mix the rum and raisins in a bowl. Mix the cinnamon and sugar in another bowl.

2. Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the breadcrumbs and cook whilst stirring until golden and toasted. This will take about 3 minutes. Let it cool completely.

3. Put the rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a large baking sheet with baking paper (parchment paper). Make the strudel dough as described below. Spread about 3 tablespoons of the remaining melted butter over the dough using your hands (a bristle brush could tear the dough, you could use a special feather pastry brush instead of your hands). Sprinkle the buttered dough with the bread crumbs. Spread the walnuts about 3 inches (8 cm) from the short edge of the dough in a 6-inch-(15cm)-wide strip. Mix the apples with the raisins (including the rum), and the cinnamon sugar. Spread the mixture over the walnuts.

4. Fold the short end of the dough onto the filling. Lift the tablecloth at the short end of the dough so that the strudel rolls onto itself. Transfer the strudel to the prepared baking sheet by lifting it. Curve it into a horseshoe to fit. Tuck the ends under the strudel. Brush the top with the remaining melted butter.

5. Bake the strudel for about 30 minutes or until it is deep golden brown. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Use a serrated knife and serve either warm or at room temperature. It is best on the day it is baked.

Strudel dough
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

1 1/3 cups (200 g) unbleached flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons (105 ml) water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

1. Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.
Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.

2. Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.
Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).

3. It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.
Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.

4. The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it's about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.

Tips
- Ingredients are cheap so we would recommend making a double batch of the dough, that way you can practice the pulling and stretching of the dough with the first batch and if it doesn't come out like it should you can use the second batch to give it another try;
- The tablecloth can be cotton or polyster;
- Before pulling and stretching the dough, remove your jewelry from hands and wrists, and wear short-sleeves;
- To make it easier to pull the dough, you can use your hip to secure the dough against the edge of the table;
- Few small holes in the dough is not a problem as the dough will be rolled, making (most of) the holes invisible.

The first ever Daring Cooks' Challenge: Ricotta Gnocchi

2009-05-15T20:30:00.000-07:00

When the creators of Daring Bakers started a cooking challenge group, I decided to join. I like cooking better than baking anyway.

This first challenge was something I've never done. I've never tried ricotta gnocchi, but I like potato gnocchi well enough. Well, I did not like this recipe. I let my cheese drain for almost 2 days but it was still too wet. Half of my gnocchi were made exactly as written. I added flour to the other half and it turned out so much better. Matt said he felt sick after eating it (he got more of the "original" gnocchi than I did.

I made a creamy red sauce with sausage to go with it. I'll never make this again.

Zuni Ricotta Gnocchi

Source: From The Zuni Café Cookbook.

Yield: Makes 40 to 48 gnocchi (serves 4 to 6)

Prep time: Step 1 will take 24 hours. Steps 2 through 4 will take approximately 1 hour.

Tips:

- If you can find it, use fresh ricotta. As Judy Rodgers advises in her recipe, there is no substitute for fresh ricotta. It may be a bit more expensive, but it's worth it.
- Do not skip the draining step. Even if the fresh ricotta doesn't look very wet, it is. Draining the ricotta will help your gnocchi tremendously.
- When shaping your gnocchi, resist the urge to over handle them. It's okay if they look a bit wrinkled or if they're not perfectly smooth.
- If you're not freezing the gnocchi for later, cook them as soon as you can. If you let them sit around too long they may become a bit sticky.
- For the variations to the challenge recipe, please see the end of the recipe.

Equipment required:

- Sieve
- Cheesecloth or paper towels
- Large mixing bowl
- Rubber spatula
- Tablespoon
- Baking dish or baking sheet
- Wax or parchment paper
- Small pot
- Large skillet
- Large pan or pot (very wide in diameter and at least 2 inches deep)

For the gnocchi:

1 pound (454 grams/16 ounces) fresh ricotta (2 cups)
2 large cold eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) unsalted butter
2 or 3 fresh sage leaves, or a few pinches of freshly grated nutmeg, or a few pinches of chopped lemon zest (all optional)
½ ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated (about ¼ cup very lightly packed)
about ¼ teaspoon salt (a little more if using kosher salt)
all-purpose flour for forming the gnocchi

Step 1

If the ricotta is too wet, your gnocchi will not form properly. In her cookbook, Judy Rodgers recommends checking the ricotta’s wetness. To test the ricotta, take a teaspoon or so and place it on a paper towel. If you notice a very large ring of dampness forming around the ricotta after a minute or so, then the ricotta is too wet. To remove some of the moisture, line a sieve with cheesecloth or paper towels and place the ricotta in the sieve. Cover it and let it drain for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours in the refrigerator. Alternatively, you can wrap the ricotta carefully in cheesecloth (2 layers) and suspend it in your refrigerator for 8 to 24 hours with a bowl underneath to catch the water that’s released. Either way, it’s recommended that you do this step the day before you plan on making the gnocchi.

Step 2 (the day you plan on eating the gnocchi): Making the gnocchi dough.

To make great gnocchi, the ricotta has to be fairly smooth. Place the drained ricotta in a large bowl and mash it as best as you can with a rubber spatula or a large spoon (it’s best to use a utensil with some flexibility here). As you mash the ricotta, if you noticed that you can still see curds, then press the ricotta through a strainer to smooth it out as much as possible.

Add the lightly beaten eggs to the mashed ricotta.

Melt the tablespoon of butter. As it melts, add in the sage if you’re using it. If not, just melt the butter and add it to the ricotta mixture.

Add in any flavouring that you’re using (i.e., nutmeg, lemon zest, etc.). If you’re not using any particular flavouring, that’s fine.

Add the Parmigiano-Reggiano and the salt.

Beat all the ingredients together very well. You should end up with a soft and fluffy batter with no streaks (everything should be mixed in very well).

Step 3: Forming the gnocchi.

Fill a small pot with water and bring to a boil. When it boils, salt the water generously and keep it at a simmer. You will use this water to test the first gnocchi that you make to ensure that it holds together and that your gnocchi batter isn’t too damp.

In a large, shallow baking dish or on a sheet pan, make a bed of all-purpose flour that’s ½ an inch deep.

With a spatula, scrape the ricotta mixture away from the sides of the bowl and form a large mass in the centre of your bowl.

Using a tablespoon, scoop up about 2 to 3 teaspoons of batter and then holding the spoon at an angle, use your finger tip to gently push the ball of dough from the spoon into the bed of flour.

At this point you can either shake the dish or pan gently to ensure that the flour covers the gnocchi or use your fingers to very gently dust the gnocchi with flour. Gently pick up the gnocchi and cradle it in your hand rolling it to form it in an oval as best as you can, at no point should you squeeze it. What you’re looking for is an oval lump of sorts that’s dusted in flour and plump.

Gently place your gnocchi in the simmering water. It will sink and then bob to the top. From the time that it bobs to the surface, you want to cook the gnocchi until it’s just firm. This could take 3 to 5 minutes.

If your gnocchi begins to fall apart, this means that the ricotta cheese was probably still too wet. You can remedy this by beating a teaspoon of egg white into your gnocchi batter. If your gnocchi batter was fluffy but the sample comes out heavy, add a teaspoon of beaten egg to the batter and beat that in. Test a second gnocchi to ensure success.

Form the rest of your gnocchi. You can put 4 to 6 gnocchi in the bed of flour at a time. But don’t overcrowd your bed of flour or you may damage your gnocchi as you coat them.

Have a sheet pan ready to rest the formed gnocchi on. Line the sheet pan with wax or parchment paper and dust it with flour.

You can cook the gnocchi right away, however, Judy Rodgers recommends storing them in the refrigerator for an hour prior to cooking to allow them to firm up.

Step 4: Cooking the gnocchi.

Have a large skillet ready to go. Place the butter and water for the sauce in the skillet and set aside.

In the largest pan or pot that you have (make sure it’s wide), bring at least 2 quarts of water to a boil (you can use as much as 3 quarts of water if your pot permits). You need a wide pot or pan so that your gnocchi won’t bump into each other and damage each other.

Once the water is boiling, salt it generously.

Drop the gnocchi into the water one by one. Once they float to the top, cook them for 3 to 5 minutes (as in the case with the test gnocchi).

When the gnocchi float to the top, you can start your sauce while you wait for them to finish cooking.

Place the skillet over medium heat and melt the butter. Swirl it gently a few times as it melts. As soon as it melts and is incorporated with the water, turn off the heat. Your gnocchi should be cooked by now.

April Daring Baker Challenge: Cheesecake

2009-04-27T23:00:00.000-07:00

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

I love cheesecake and I loved this challenge. After my less than impressive Valentine's Cheesecake this year, I was happy to have a chance to redeem myself. This basic cheesecake recipe was quite divine. A keeper for sure.

I made mine in a spring form pan. To keep the water from seeping in, I first wrapped it in saran wrap about half way up (I promise, it didn't melt). I then used two layers of heavy duty foil. One piece is big enough to cover the whole pan, but I used two just in case of a leak or puncture. It worked beautifully and this was the absolute BEST attempt I've had at making cheesecake. It was silky smooth.

Other tips I've picked up over the years:

MAKE SURE YOUR CREAM CHEESE IS AT ROOM TEMP!!!! Honestly, do not skip that step. Otherwise you'll have a lumpy cheesecake that you'll probably over beat to compensate. That will then make your cheesecake puff up and crack. Not a pretty or tasty thing. (This is what I did wrong this year on V-day, so I'm speaking from experience.)
I've had better luck using an electric hand beater as opposed to my kitchenaid. I can control the mixing a little better and thus beat it less.
Don't overbeat the mixture or it will puff up and crack while baking.

Instead of using the crust recipe provided, I made a peanut butter-pretzel crust and LOVED it. I got the recipe here but reduced the oil by a 2 TBSP. So my crust recipe was as follows:

Peanut-butter pretzel crust

2 cups of pretzel crumbs

1 Tbsp. sugar

1/4 cup extra light olive oil

3 Tbsp. natural (salted) peanut butter

Start with a clean food processor and make the pretzel crumbs by whizzing the pretzels in there for a while. Add the remaining crust ingredients right in there and pulse until it starts to clump together slightly. The little bit of PB with the pretzels tastes like a Butterfinger bar.

Press the crust into the bottom of a spring form pan.

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:

crust: (didn't use this recipe, so I can't vouch for this crust)
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake: (awesome!!! my new basic cheesecake recipe!)
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake (I used no liqueur)

*My variation on this was a nutella marbled cheesecake. I took out 1 cup of batter and mixed it with 3/4 of a small bottle of nutella. I then put a layer of regular cheesecake batter on top of the crust, then the nutella batter mixture, then another regular layer. I used a chopstick to swirll the batter together.

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil "casserole" shaped pans from the grocery store. They're 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!

_______________________________________________

I also made a german chocolate frosting for the top, but it made it way too sweet and really overpowered the cheesecake. It was WAY better without it. But here's a picture anyway.

March DB Challenege: Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna

2009-03-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

This was one of the more time consuming challenges, but I won't lie, it was probably my favorite result yet. Homemade pasta. Homemade Ragu. Homemade Bechamel. Put them all together and it was homemade deliciousness.

Before I give the recipes, know this:

After chopping the spinach I didn't see how it could be humanly possible to get all the spinach in if it was uncooked. So I cooked it, squeezed it dry and then mixed it with the egg. The egg amount seems like it has to be wrong, though. The "more than 60 grams" threw me since 1 large egg was 57 grams. I ended up using 6 large eggs for the entire amount of flour. I could have probably used less and added a little water and oil. I did use semolina flour instead of AP flour. I figured if I was going to spend the time I might as well do it properly...I am not new to kneading stuff by hand, but to get this elastic enough I knew I couldn't do it by hand after about 5 min. of trying. I threw it in my kitchen aid with the dough hook. I had to hold the bowl down because it made it go a little crazy, but it really worked out nicely.

The pasta rolling by hand was absolutely ridiculous. I will never attempt that again. It took me 1 1/2 hours just to roll. I would say I got it to the proper thinness, so it is possible. However it will be pasta machine or bust if I do this again.

I didn't really have anything to dry it on, so I used cookie cooling racks. Bad idea. Every point it touched a metal point it was much more likely to crack after drying. Hanging over a broom handle would have been better. Guess I'll just have to wash mine next time.

The ragu given with the challenge was really quite amazing as written. The browning tip helped a ton. I didn't add any salt (unheard of for me, however my broth was probably extra salty...) or pepper (also unheard of). I did have to use an immersion blender to get the stewed tomatoes as small as I like them. Not a fan of big chunks of tomato. The bechamel sauce was great also, but I used almost a full recipe for a half lasagna. So, if I were to make a full lasagna I would double that recipe. I even bought fresh nutmeg for it and that was a fun, new experience! I just used the small side of my cheese grater.

Overall very flavorful and "restaurant tasting" according to my husband. We didn't miss ricotta one bit in this.

Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna (Lasagne Verdi al Forno)
(Serves 8 to 10 as a first course, 6 to 8 as a main dish)

Preparation Time: 15 minutes to assemble and 40 minutes cooking time

10 quarts (9 litres) salted water
1 recipe Spinach Pasta cut for lasagna (recipe follows)#1
1 recipe Bechamel Sauce (recipe follows)#2
1 recipe Country Style Ragu (recipe follows)#3
1 cup (4 ounces/125g) freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Method
Working Ahead:
The ragu and the béchamel sauce can be made up to three days ahead. The ragu can also be frozen for up to one month. The pasta can be rolled out, cut and dried up to 24 hours before cooking. The assembled lasagne can wait at room temperature (20 degrees Celsius/68 degrees Fahrenheit) about 1 hour before baking. Do not refrigerate it before baking, as the topping of béchamel and cheese will overcook by the time the center is hot.

Assembling the Ingredients:
Have all the sauces, rewarmed gently over a medium heat, and the pasta at hand. Have a large perforated skimmer and a large bowl of cold water next to the stove. Spread a double thickness of paper towels over a large counter space. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius). Oil or butter a 3 quart (approx 3 litre) shallow baking dish.

Cooking the Pasta:
Bring the salted water to a boil. Drop about four pieces of pasta in the water at a time. Cook about 2 minutes. If you are using dried pasta, cook about 4 minutes, taste, and cook longer if necessary. The pasta will continue cooking during baking, so make sure it is only barely tender. Lift the lasagne from the water with a skimmer, drain, and then slip into the bowl of cold water to stop cooking. When cool, lift out and dry on the paper towels. Repeat until all the pasta is cooked.

Assembling the Lasagne:
Spread a thin layer of béchamel over the bottom of the baking dish. Arrange a layer of about four overlapping sheets of pasta over the béchamel. Spread a thin layer of béchamel (about 3 or 4 spoonfuls) over the pasta, and then an equally thin layer of the ragu. Sprinkle with about 1&1/2 tablespoons of the béchamel and about 1/3 cup of the cheese. Repeat the layers until all ingredients are used, finishing with béchamel sauce and topping with a generous dusting of cheese.

Baking and Serving the Lasagne:
Cover the baking dish lightly with foil, taking care not to let it touch the top of the lasagne. Bake 40 minutes, or until almost heated through. Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes, or until hot in the center (test by inserting a knife – if it comes out very warm, the dish is ready). Take care not to brown the cheese topping. It should be melted, creamy looking and barely tinged with a little gold. Turn off the oven, leave the door ajar and let the lasagne rest for about 10 minutes. Then serve. This is not a solid lasagne, but a moist one that slips a bit when it is cut and served.

#1 Spinach Egg Pasta (Pasta Verde)

Preparation: 45 minutes

Makes enough for 6 to 8 first course servings or 4 to 6 main course servings, equivalent to 1 pound (450g) dried boxed pasta.

2 jumbo eggs (2 ounces/60g or more)
10 ounces (300g) fresh spinach, rinsed dry, and finely chopped; or 6 ounces (170g) frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
3&1/2 cups (14 ounces/400g) all purpose unbleached (plain) flour (organic stone ground preferred)

Working by Hand:

Equipment

A roomy work surface, 24 to 30 inches deep by 30 to 36 inches (60cm to 77cm deep by 60cm to 92cm). Any smooth surface will do, but marble cools dough slightly, making it less flexible than desired.

A pastry scraper and a small wooden spoon for blending the dough.

A wooden dowel-style rolling pin. In Italy, pasta makers use one about 35 inches long and 2 inches thick (89cm long and 5cm thick). The shorter American-style pin with handles at either end can be used, but the longer it is, the easier it is to roll the pasta.
Note: although it is not traditional, Enza has successfully made pasta with a marble rolling pin, and this can be substituted for the wooden pin, if you have one.

Plastic wrap to wrap the resting dough and to cover rolled-out pasta waiting to be filled. It protects the pasta from drying out too quickly.

A sharp chef’s knife for cutting pasta sheets.

Cloth-covered chair backs, broom handles, or specially designed pasta racks found in cookware shops for draping the pasta.

Mixing the dough:
Mound the flour in the center of your work surface and make a well in the middle. Add the eggs and spinach. Use a wooden spoon to beat together the eggs and spinach. Then gradually start incorporating shallow scrapings of flour from the sides of the well into the liquid. As you work more and more flour into the liquid, the well’s sides may collapse. Use a pastry scraper to keep the liquids from running off and to incorporate the last bits of flour into the dough. Don’t worry if it looks like a hopelessly rough and messy lump.

Kneading:
With the aid of the scraper to scoop up unruly pieces, start kneading the dough. Once it becomes a cohesive mass, use the scraper to remove any bits of hard flour on the work surface – these will make the dough lumpy. Knead the dough for about 3 minutes. Its consistency should be elastic and a little sticky. If it is too sticky to move easily, knead in a few more tablespoons of flour. Continue kneading about 10 minutes, or until the dough has become satiny, smooth, and very elastic. It will feel alive under your hands. Do not shortcut this step. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and let it relax at room temperature 30 minutes to 3 hours.

Stretching and Thinning:
If using an extra-long rolling pin work with half the dough at a time. With a regular-length rolling pin, roll out a quarter of the dough at a time and keep the rest of the dough wrapped. Lightly sprinkle a large work surface with flour. The idea is to stretch the dough rather than press down and push it. Shape it into a ball and begin rolling out to form a circle, frequently turning the disc of dough a quarter turn. As it thins outs, start rolling the disc back on the pin a quarter of the way toward the center and stretching it gently sideways by running the palms of your hands over the rolled-up dough from the center of the pin outward. Unroll, turn the disc a quarter turn, and repeat. Do twice more.

Stretch and even out the center of the disc by rolling the dough a quarter of the way back on the pin. Then gently push the rolling pin away from you with one hand while holding the sheet in place on the work surface with the other hand. Repeat three more times, turning the dough a quarter turn each time.

Repeat the two processes as the disc becomes larger and thinner. The goal is a sheet of even thickness. For lasagne, the sheet should be so thin that you can clearly see your hand through it and see colours. Cut into rectangles about 4 by 8 inches (10 x 20 cm). Note: Enza says that transparency is a crucial element of lasagne pasta and the dough should be rolled as thinly as possible. She says this is why her housekeeper has such strong arms!

Dry the pasta at room temperature and store in a sealed container or bag.

#2 Bechamel

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

4 tablespoons (2 ounces/60g) unsalted butter
4 tablespoons (2 ounces/60g) all purpose unbleached (plain) flour, organic stone ground preferred
2&2/3 cups (approx 570ml) milk
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Freshly grated nutmeg to taste

Using a medium-sized saucepan, melt the butter over low to medium heat. Sift over the flour, whisk until smooth, and then stir (without stopping) for about 3 minutes. Whisk in the milk a little at a time and keep the mixture smooth. Bring to a slow simmer, and stir 3 to 4 minutes, or until the sauce thickens. Cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Season with salt, pepper, and a hint of nutmeg.

#3 Country Style Ragu’ (Ragu alla Contadina)

Preparation Time: Ingredient Preparation Time 30 minutes and Cooking time 2 hours

Makes enough sauce for 1 recipe fresh pasta or 1 pound/450g dried pasta)

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (45 mL)
2 ounces/60g pancetta, finely chopped
1 medium onion, minced
1 medium stalk celery with leaves, minced
1 small carrot, minced
4 ounces/125g boneless veal shoulder or round
4 ounces/125g pork loin, trimmed of fat, or 4 ounces/125g mild Italian sausage (made without fennel)
8 ounces/250g beef skirt steak, hanging tender, or boneless chuck blade or chuck center cut (in order of preference)
1 ounce/30g thinly sliced Prosciutto di Parma
2/3 cup (5 ounces/160ml) dry red wine
1 &1/2 cups (12 ounces/375ml) chicken or beef stock (homemade if possible)
2 cups (16 ounces/500ml) milk
3 canned plum tomatoes, drained
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Working Ahead:
The ragu can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate. It also freezes well for up to 1 month. Skim the fat from the ragu’ before using it.

Browning the Ragu Base:
Heat the olive oil in a 12 inch (30cm) skillet (frying pan) over medium-high heat. Have a large saucepan handy to use once browning is complete. Add the pancetta and minced vegetables and sauté, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, 10 minutes, or until the onions barely begin to color. Coarsely grind all the meats together, including the prosciutto, in a food processor or meat grinder. Stir into the pan and slowly brown over medium heat. First the meats will give off a liquid and turn dull grey but, as the liquid evaporates, browning will begin. Stir often, scooping under the meats with the wooden spatula. Protect the brown glaze forming on the bottom of the pan by turning the heat down. Cook 15 minutes, or until the meats are a deep brown. Turn the contents of the skillet into a strainer and shake out the fat. Turn them into the saucepan and set over medium heat.

Reducing and Simmering: Add the wine to the skillet, lowering the heat so the sauce bubbles quietly. Stir occasionally until the wine has reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Scrape up the brown glaze as the wine bubbles. Then pour the reduced wine into the saucepan and set the skillet aside.

Stir ½ cup stock into the saucepan and let it bubble slowly, 10 minutes, or until totally evaporated. Repeat with another ½ cup stock. Stir in the last 1/2 cup stock along with the milk. Adjust heat so the liquid bubbles very slowly. Partially cover the pot, and cook 1 hour. Stir frequently to check for sticking.

Add the tomatoes, crushing them as they go into the pot. Cook uncovered, at a very slow bubble for another 45 minutes, or until the sauce resembles a thick, meaty stew. Season with salt and pepper.

February Daring Baker's Challenege:

2009-03-01T06:11:00.000-08:00

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

Feb. is just too short and I totally spaced getting this up by yesterday! I actually made it way back at Valentine's Day.

Chocolate Valentino
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.
Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.
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I used a mixture or semi-sweet and milk. The consistency of the cake wasn't even, but it all tasted good. I think I didn't fold in my egg whites quite right. But overall I call it a success. We ended up eating the whole thing.

Normally for V. Day I make a cheesecake, so I just incorporated that into the challenge. I made a custard ice cream base using my kitchen aid recipe, I added strawberries I'd mixed with sugar and smashed, and then I chunked up the cheesecake and put it in at the very end. It turned out to be pleasing.

Pie crust

2009-02-03T18:01:00.000-08:00

Pie Crust:The best (and easiest) homemade recipe I've tried to date

*This recipie makes enough crust for 3 pies. I freeze the leftover flattened into a disk, wrapped in wax paper and use it later.*

5 cups flour

2 cups shortening

1 TBSP white vinegar

1 cup water

1 egg, beaten

1 1/2 tsp. salt (kosher if possible)

Combine flour and shortening with a pastry blender or two knives until it resembles coarse crumbs. Mix together, vinegar, water, and egg then add to flour mixture. Mix until just blended. Roll out between two sheets of waxed paper then place in pie pan. Be sure to poke holes in bottom of crust.

*Note: twice I made this I didn't quite use all of my liquid. Once I used it all. I think it depends on how big the egg is that you use...*

Alton Brown's Biscuits

2009-02-01T19:29:00.000-08:00

I have tried lots biscuit recipes with lots of failures. This is my favorite at the moment. The original recipe is here. The best, though is the kneading tip from his show that's not on his recipe. You always hear "don't over mix the dough!" but I never really knew how much was too much. I often didn't mix mine enough so they turned out crumbly. His suggestion helped out. It has amazing texture and my only minor complaint is that it has a very slight baking powder taste. They're still the best yet though.

Alton Brown's Southern Biscuits: makes about 12
2 C. flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp kosher salt
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp shortening
1 C. chilled buttermilk (or 1 C regular milk mixed with 2 tsp. white vinegar works fine too)

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 450*
2. Mix all of the dry ingredients together. Add butter and shortening and cut in with knives, forks, or a pastry cutter. You can use your fingers too if you want.
3. Make a well in the center and pour in the buttermilk.
4. Stir the wet and dry ingredients until they just come together. It will be sticky.
5. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead 10 times by folding it on itself. (His tip from the show.)
6. Press into a 1 in. thick round and cut out with a 2 in. cup or cutter. (just reform the scraps and cut until you've used everything)
7. Place biscuits on a sheet so they just touch and cook at 450* for 15-20 min. or the tops are lightly golden brown. (I've had best results with the air cushioned pans used for cookies.)

My mom's peanut butter granola

2009-02-01T19:23:00.000-08:00

This was my favorite granola growing up, but I still need to make it as an adult. I got my mom's recipe awhile back, so I'm posting it now for myself and siblings.

Peanut butter granola: makes 14 (1/2 C.) servings
4 Tbsp oil
2/3 C. peanut butter
1 C. brown sugar
5 C. old fashioned oats
1 C. raisens

Stir oil into peanut butter. Stir in brown sugar. Add oats and stir until coated. Bake at 300* for 15 min. stirring occasionally. Add raisins when cool.

This is not a crunchy or low fat granola. It is very delicious though.

Puffy Oven Pancakes

2009-02-01T19:19:00.000-08:00

A.k.a Hootinanny, German Pancakes, Dutch baby

This was a favorite growing up and I still love them. It's a tradition (since college) to make them for one of the mornings of LDS general conference in both April and October. We generally cut the 9X13 pan into 4ths for adults, but kids won't need a piece that big.

Puffy Oven Pancakes:
6 eggs
1 C. flour
1 C. milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cube butter cut into pieces

1. Put the butter in a 9X13 (I use glass) pan and put into a cold oven. Let the pan heat up as the oven is preheating to 400*. Make sure the butter doesn't burn, but it is imperative that the pan is hot when you put the batter in.
2. Mix the eggs, flour, milk and salt together.
3. Pour the batter into the hot pan and cook for about 18-20 min. It will be big and puffy right out of the oven but will deflate as it cools off. Eat with syrup, jam, fruit, applesauce, powdered sugar, or any other favorite topping.

Basic Granola

2009-02-01T19:10:00.000-08:00

I got this here but modified it..

Basic Granola (about 5-6 cups)
3 C. oats
1/2 C. chopped nuts (I use a mix of pecans and almonds)
1/2 C. coconut
1/2 C. wheat germ or oat bran or flax seed
1/2 C. brown sugar
1/2 C. oil
1/2 C. honey
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 C. dried fruit like raisins or craisins
pinch of kosher salt

1. Preheat oven to 325* and line a heavy cookie sheet. I use my silpat.
2. I mix the sugar, oil, honey and vanilla together in a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients (minus the dried fruit). Spread it evenly on the cooking sheet.
3. Bake at 325* for 12 min. Stir and bake for 12 min. more. It won't be crunchy straight out of the oven. It has to sit and cool to get crunchy! Don't over bake it or it will burn.
4. Add dried fruit and let cool. Store in an airtight container.

Buttermilk Pancakes

2009-02-01T18:48:00.000-08:00

I don't know where I got this recipe. I've had it for years and love it, so sorry I can't give them proper kudos.

Buttermilk Pancakes
3 C flour
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. salt
3 C FRESH buttermilk (not powdered)
½ C milk
3 eggs
1/3 C butter, melted

Combine all dry & wet separately. Mix wet into dry. Don't over mix. After all the dry is incorporated and looks like lumpy mashed potatoes, stop there and cook up on a griddle.

Chicken Taco Soup

2009-02-01T18:39:00.001-08:00

Chicken Taco soup- Serves 4-6
1-2 breast chicken—boil to shred (I use 1)
1-2 cans pinto and/or black beans, drained and rinsed
Corn or diced green peppers or other veggies that would work well…
½ can Mexican style diced tomatoes *optional*
4-6 cups water + 4 tsp better than bullion (or 4 cups broth)
little lime juice
2 cloves garlic
½ Onion diced

to taste:
Chili powder
Cumin
Jalapeno salt (jalapeno salt is just if you want some heat. I've only seen it sold here in TX though)
Cayenne

Saute the onion and any other hard veggies in a little oil in the bottom of the soup pan. When mostly tender, add everything else and heat. Season as you like with the chili powder, cumin, jalapeno salt, and/or cayenne. You can also use ranch style beans in place of the black or pinto to cut down on the seasoning you need. If that's the case, don't rinse and drain them.

Easy Beans and Rice

2009-02-01T18:26:00.000-08:00

This is one of my all time favorite way to make beans into a main dish. I originally got this recipe from Foxyj, but I modified it slightly to make it more of a main dish rather than a side dish. The only real difference is that I halve everything except the beans. Even halving her recipe, this still makes enough for 4 adult sized servings.

Easy Beans and Rice (Serves 4 adults)

1/4 onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 Tbsp oil
1/2 cup long grain rice
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (approximate, or add some hot sauce if you have it)
1 cup chicken broth (If you need it vegetarian, just use vegetable broth)
1 can black beans, drained (I've also used Pinto, and I bet Goya pink beans would be good too)

Saute the onion and garlic over medium heat for a few minutes in the oil until soft. Add the rice and stir around for a minute or two so it gets nice and toasted (it will turn white). Add the broth, cayenne, and black beans to the pan. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat, cover, and simmer for about 20-30 minutes until the rice is cooked and fluffy. (I think mine usually takes about 30 min., but check it at 20 and see how it's going...)

To turn it into burritos:
4 Large Burrito sized flour tortillas
any accompaniment you like with Mexican food

Sometimes I add seasoned shredded pork or chicken. I've also cubed up and sauteed some zucchini and seasoned it with chili powder, garlic salt and cumin and added it for vegetarian burritos. It works nicely and gives it a little more body than just the beans and rice. Grilled or caramelized onions are good in it too. As a standard, I'll usually have guacamole, sour cream, and cheese inside the burrito with the bean and rice mixture. It's so delicious.

Easy Black Bean Salsa

2009-02-01T17:57:00.000-08:00

Black Bean Salsa
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed (get a good brand so they're soft right out of the can)
2-3 roma tomatoes (or 1 larger tomato), seeded and diced
1/4 small red onion, finely diced
1-2 avocados, diced
handful cilantro, washed and coarsely chopped
1 lime's worth of juice
a splash of white vinegar (trust me, it works nicely with the lime)
1-2 cloves garlic
celery salt (use it if you have it! It REALLY helps bring all the flavors together), cumin, and garlic salt to taste

Mix all together and eat with chips or on top of tilapia or any other way you like your black bean salsa! Yuuummm...
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Now, just so you know, we've made a lot of pico de gallo and fresh salsa and we've found that the addition of vinegar and celery salt take it to a whole new level of deliciousness. I don't know why, but they just make it better. I think it really helped for this one too, since Matt usually doesn't love black bean salsa and he said after tasting this, "This is some GREAT salsa." His only comment was that it could have used more avocado. I only had one in there, so we'll try 2 next time.

January Daring Baker: Tuiles

2009-01-29T19:52:00.000-08:00

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.
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It's 10pm on the post day and I'm still in the process of getting mine together. I made the dough last night, but Dean took next to no nap today and I had book club tonight. Yes, I know, I put this off to the end so there's no excuse. I honestly was not happy about this challenge. After the holidays I did not want something sweet. Sure this had a savory option, but it just felt like a lame cracker challenge. I wanted something savory, bready, yeasty, salty, SOMETHING other than sweet/cracker. But whatever. Maybe that's just the pregnant lady in my talking.

Ok. Now that I'm finished and I've eaten them, I have to say this was a decent recipe. It made me think of mini strawberry sponge cake tacos or something. The one completely covered in chocolate was total overkill and made me feel sick. Honestly, my favorite was the plain tuile with strawberries and whipped cream. No chocolate. The chocolate rim wasn't bad, but it overpowered the cookie's taste. Matt liked them too. They were easy, cheap and quick. So I guess they get a good rating. You're supposed to be able to shape these easily right out of the oven, but I found mine were a little too springy to really hold a tight shape. Maybe I made them too thick, but I liked the taste and consitency of them anyway.

Following is a recipe taken from a book called “The Chocolate Book”, written by female Dutch Master chef Angélique Schmeinck.
Recipe:
Yields: 20 small butterflies/6 large (butterflies are just an example)
Preparation time batter 10 minutes, waiting time 30 minutes, baking time: 5-10 minutes per batch

65 grams / ¼ cup / 2.3 ounces softened butter (not melted but soft)
60 grams / ½ cup / 2.1 ounces sifted confectioner’s sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar (7 grams or substitute with a dash of vanilla extract)
2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork)
65 grams / 1/2 cup / 2.3 ounces sifted all purpose flour
1 table spoon cocoa powder/or food coloring of choice
Butter/spray to grease baking sheet

Oven: 180C / 350F

Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste. Be careful to not overmix.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with either butter/spray and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template such as the butterfly. Press the stencil on the bakingsheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter. Leave some room in between your shapes. Mix a small part of the batter with the cocoa and a few drops of warm water until evenly colored. Use this colored batter in a paper piping bag and proceed to pipe decorations on the wings and body of the butterfly.

Bake butterflies in a preheated oven (180C/350F) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Immediately release from bakingsheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape. These cookies have to be shaped when still warm, you might want to bake a small amount at a time or maybe put them in the oven to warm them up again. (Haven’t tried that). Or: place a bakingsheet toward the front of the warm oven, leaving the door half open. The warmth will keep the cookies malleable.

If you don’t want to do stencil shapes, you might want to transfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip. Pipe the desired shapes and bake. Shape immediately after baking using for instance a rolling pin, a broom handle, cups, cones….

Crockpot Swiss Chicken

2009-01-28T18:14:00.000-08:00

Ok. This recipe is so easy and delicious in my opinion. I RARELY use the crockpot because I can't ever get things other than roasts to turn out well. But this one is a keeper and Matt once said he could eat this meal once a week. I got if from my friend Pam, but I've modified it slightly because we like the sauce a little more plentiful and slightly thinner.

Crockpot Swiss Chicken: serves 2-5 people depending on how big those people are. (i.e. children)
2-3 chicken breasts, pounded thin and sprinkled with salt and pepper
4-6 slices of Swiss cheese (Gruyere is the absolute BEST, but it can be expensive. The baby Swiss seems to melt a little better than just regular Swiss.)
1 small can cream of chicken soup mixed with
1 can of milk (I use the soup can to measure the milk)
1 Box of stuffing (I usually use chicken flavored)
2-4 Tbsp melted butter (Kinda just depends. I start with less and use more if it seems to need more.)

Mix the soup and milk in the Crockpot and then push down the chicken with the cheese slices on top so it's covered with the mixture. (That just cuts down on dishes, but you can do it however you please.)
I generally cook the chicken in the milk/soup mixture about 2-3 hours on high first.*
After it cooks a couple hours, sprinkle the stuffing on top, lightly pushing some of it down into the sauce and leaving some exposed.
Pour the melted butter evenly on the exposed stuffing, cover and cook on low 1-2 more hours.

*If you're going to be super busy you can put the stuffing and butter on top of the chicken mixture from the beginning and just cook it on high for 4 hours and serve. The stuffing turns out slightly mushier and the chicken slightly drier, but it's still good.

Now, this is not a "pretty" meal. The chicken often breaks apart so you can't just pull out a whole chicken breast in one piece. The stuffing in the sauce is a little mushy, but it really does still taste good.

Israeli Couscous with Chicken and Veggies

2009-01-14T17:26:00.000-08:00

Now, I don't know how authentic this is (I combined a couple recipes), but it tasted really good. I don't have a picture of the version I made tonight, but it looks a lot like my banner picture but with slightly different veggies. Also, the veggies were cooked on the stove top as opposed to the grill for this one. They are delicious grilled as well. Matt liked eating it with a warmed tortilla since I didn't have any pitas or flat bread. I didn't think it needed anything.

Israeli Couscous with Chicken and Veggies
Makes 4-6 servings

1 Chicken Breast: (If your 4-6 eaters are big meat eaters, double or triple this part. We're not, and we don't like chicken left over, so I only use 1 for the two of us. The left overs are just meatless.)

Cut the chicken breast in pieces. (I cut the thickness in half with a really sharp knife to end up with 2 thin chicken breasts. Then I cut it in strips and cut the strips in 2-3 pieces.)

Marinate the chicken overnight in a ziplock bag with a little olive oil, 1/2 tsp. turmeric, 1 tsp. cumin, 1 tsp. garlic salt and a dash of white pepper.

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Veggies I used:
2 carrots, peeled and cut into medium sized pieces
2 medium turnips, peeled and cut into 1 in. squares (got em from our garden)
1 small onion, diced
1 zucchini, cut in quarters and diced in medium sized pieces
1 clove garlic, pressed
I threw a few leftover mushrooms in for good measure and they worked out fine
about 1/2 tsp. tumeric
about 1/2 tsp. cumin
2 pinches kosher salt
dash of cayenne if you like some heat
olive oil

(You could also add and/or substitute: celery and/or red or orange bell peppers)

Directions:

Put a swirl of olive oil in the bottom of a big pot.
Cook the carrots on medium high heat, covered but stir occasionally for 2-3 min. Add onions and turnips. Cook covered, but stir occasionally until crisp-tender maybe another 7 min. or so.
When those veggies are crisp tender, add in marinated chicken. Cook until no longer pink.
Add zucchini, mushrooms, garlic, cumin, turmeric, and cayenne. Cook uncovered a couple more min. until those are tender but not overcooked.

While the veggies are cooking, make the couscous.

Couscous:
1 1/2 C. Israeli Couscous (the big pearl kind, not the instant)
2 C. broth (veggie or chicken-I used chicken but most recipes I saw called for veggie)

Boil the water and add the couscous. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 10 min. while stirring occasionally.

Mix cooked couscous and cooked veggies. Season with salt and pepper to your liking.

A Bûche de Noël: December Daring Baker

2008-12-31T19:10:00.000-08:00

This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux.

They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand

Ok. This recipe was like 16 pages long with all of the possible variations, so I'm not listing the whole recipe. You can view it on the host, Saffron's, post. Even after I condensed it down to the pieces I used, it was 6 pages or something. Crazy long. I almost didn't do it, but Matt really wanted me to. I broke it up into two nights. It probably took about 4 hours total to make and assemble the 6 parts. It wasn't as daunting as it looked, but I'm still not sure if it was worth it. It was good though. AWESOME? Well, it was good. My favorite parts were the mousse and the cinnamon ganache.

My buche de noel consisted of the following:
Dark Chocolate Mousse: very good. I loved it, but it was slightly too dark for Matt.
Ingredients:
2.5 sheets gelatin or 5g / 1 + 1/4 tsp powdered gelatin
1.5 oz (3 Tbsp / 40g) granulated sugar
1 ½ tsp (10g) glucose or thick corn syrup
0.5 oz (15g) water
50g egg yolks (about 3 medium)
6.2 oz (175g) dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1.5 cups (350g) heavy cream (35% fat content)

1. Soften the gelatin in cold water. (If using powdered gelatin, follow the directions on the package.)
2. Make a Pate a Bombe: Beat the egg yolks until very light in colour (approximately 5 minutes until almost white).
2a. Cook the sugar, glucose syrup and water on medium heat for approximately 3 minutes (if you have a candy thermometer, the mixture should reach 244°F (118°C). If you do not have a candy thermometer, test the sugar temperature by dipping the tip of a knife into the syrup then into a bowl of ice water, if it forms a soft ball in the water then you have reached the correct temperature.
2b. Add the sugar syrup to the beaten yolks carefully by pouring it into the mixture in a thin stream while continuing to beat the yolks. You can do this by hand but it’s easier to do this with an electric mixer.
2c. Continue beating until cool (approximately 5 minutes). The batter should become thick and foamy.
3. In a double boiler or equivalent, heat 2 tablespoons (30g) of cream to boiling. Add the chopped chocolate and stir until melted and smooth.
4. Whip the remainder of the cream until stiff.
5. Pour the melted chocolate over the softened gelatin, mixing well. Let the gelatin and chocolate cool slightly and then stir in ½ cup (100g) of WHIPPED cream to temper. Add the Pate a Bombe.
6. Add in the rest of the WHIPPED cream (220g) mixing gently with a spatula.

Vanilla Creme Brule: not impressed. Bland and icy. Plus, it didn't set up according to the directions in the recipe. I got it to set after turning up the oven for about 3 min. after it was supposed to be done.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (115g) heavy cream (35% fat content)
½ cup (115g) whole milk
4 medium-sized (72g) egg yolks
0.75 oz (2 Tbsp / 25g) granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean

1. Heat the milk, cream, and scraped vanilla bean to just boiling. Remove from the stove and let the vanilla infuse for about 1 hour.
2. Whisk together the sugar and egg yolks (but do not beat until white).
3. Pour the vanilla-infused milk over the sugar/yolk mixture. Mix well.
4. Wipe with a very wet cloth and then cover your baking mold (whatever shape is going to fit on the inside of your Yule log/cake) with parchment paper. Pour the cream into the mold and bake at 210°F (100°C) for about 1 hour or until firm on the edges and slightly wobbly in the center.

Coconut Crisp Insert: Tasted fine, but it didn't hold together well. I used crushed up rice crispies, but I don't think it was optimal. I did reduce the rice crispies to 1 oz, but it still seemed like too much cereal to white chocolate.
Ingredients:
3.5 oz (100g) white chocolate
1 oz (1/3 cup/25g) shredded coconut
1 2/3 Tbsp (25g) unsalted butter
2.1 oz (60g) lace crepes or rice krispies or corn flakes or Special K

1. Spread the coconut on a baking tray and bake for 5-10 minutes at 375°F (190°C) to toast (a different temperature might work better for you with your own oven).
2. Melt the white chocolate and butter in a double boiler. Stir until smooth and add the toasted coconut.
3. Add the coarsely crushed lace crepes. Mix quickly to thoroughly coat with the chocolate. Spread between two sheets of wax paper to a size slightly larger than your desired shape. Refrigerate until hard.

Cinammon-Milk Ganache Insert: Both Matt and my favorite layer. I did burn the sugar the first time and nearly burned it the second. Watch it closely! It burns very quickly.

Ingredients
1.75 oz (4 Tbsp / 50g) granulated sugar
4.5oz (2/3 cup – 1 Tbsp / 135g) heavy cream
A pinch of cinnamon
2.7 oz (75g) milk chocolate, finely chopped
3.2 oz (90g) dark chocolate, finely chopped
3Tbsp + 1/2tsp (45g) unsalted butter softened

1. Make a caramel: Using the dry method, melt the sugar by spreading it in an even layer in a small saucepan with high sides. Heat over medium-high heat, watching it carefully as the sugar begins to melt. Never stir the mixture. As the sugar starts to melt, swirl the pan occasionally to allow the sugar to melt evenly. Cook to dark amber color (for most of you that means darker than last month’s challenge).
2. Heat the cream with the cinnamon (use the quantity of cinnamon you want to infuse the cream, a pinch is the smallest amount suggested) until boiling. Pour cream into the caramel and stir thoroughly. Be very careful as it may splatter and boil.
3. Pour the hot caramel-milk mixture over the milk and dark chocolate. Wait 30 seconds and stir until smooth.
4. Add the softened butter and whip hard and fast (if you have a plunging mixer use it). The chocolate should be smooth and shiny.

Dacquoise Biscuit (Almond Cake): Good, I made it on my silpat and it worked out ok. I also ground my own almonds and it worked out fine.

Ingredients
2.8 oz (3/4cup + 1Tbsp / 80g) almond meal
1.75 oz (1/2 cup / 50g) confectioner’s sugar
2Tbsp (15g) all-purpose flour
3.5oz (100g / ~100ml) about 3 medium egg whites
1.75 oz (4 Tbsp / 50g) granulated sugar

1. Finely mix the almond meal and the confectioner's sugar. (If you have a mixer, you can use it by pulsing the ingredients together for no longer than 30 seconds).
2. Sift the flour into the mix.
3. Beat the eggs whites, gradually adding the granulated sugar until stiff.
4. Pour the almond meal mixture into the egg whites and blend delicately with a spatula.
5. Grease a piece of parchment paper and line your baking pan with it.
6. Spread the batter on a piece of parchment paper to an area slightly larger than your desired shape (circle, long strip etc...) and to a height of 1/3 inches (8mm).
7. Bake at 350°F (180°C) for approximately 15 minutes (depends on your oven), until golden.
8. Let cool and cut to the desired shape.

Milk Chocolate Icing: Neither of us liked this layer at all. The gelatin made it look nice and shiny, but it had a weird rubbery texture.

Ingredients
4.2 oz (120g) milk chocolate
2 Tbsp (30g) butter
¼ cup (60g) heavy cream (35 % fat content)
1 2/3 Tbsp (30g) glucose or thick corn syrup

1. Soften the gelatin in cold water for 15 minutes.
2. Coarsely chop the chocolate and butter together.
3. Bring the cream and glucose syrup to a boil.
4. Add the gelatin.
5. Pour the mixture over the chocolate and butter. Whisk until smooth.
6. Let cool while checking the texture regularly. As soon as the mixture is smooth and coats a spoon well (it is starting to gelify), use immediately.

November Daring Baker: Caramel Cake and Frosting

2008-11-29T16:46:00.000-08:00

Wow! I'm going to make today's challenge date by the skin of my teeth. Because I put myself on a sugar treat block 3 weeks this month, I put off making this until I could eat sugar again. I think between Thanksgiving pies and this cake I am on sugar overload. Maybe I should go on sugar block again until Christmas...

Because I didn't want too much sugar after the holiday, I halved everything. I baked my cake in a 6 in. round cake pan. It worked perfectly. The frosting has a very unique flavor. I loved the browned butter flavor, but boy is it SWEET!!! I didn't even add all the sugar it called for. Matt said he thought it tasted like a fancy desert you'd get at a restaurant. You know, the kind you can only eat the small portion you're given before going into a sugar coma. He liked it.

I first started by making the caramel syrup. Two suggestions on the forums really helped me out here.

After turning the heat on, don't stir the sugar until it turns amber and you add the water.
When you add the water, use a strainer. I didn't have any splatters or splashes whatsoever come near my tender skin...
Also, don't over cook the syrup. I let mine reduce a little too long and it turned out a little too firm. When I used it in the cake batter there were little crystal shards. It turned out just fine after baking, but I had to add a little water and reheat the syrup just long enough to thin it out so I could use it in the frosting.

I'm obviously no cake decorator!

After cutting out Matt's piece, I thought it quite resembled Pacman.

This month's challenge is hosted by Dolores, Alex, and Jenny.

RECIPE SOURCE

Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting courtesy of Shuna Fish Lydon (http://eggbeater.typepad.com/), as published on Bay Area Bites (http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/).

CARAMEL CAKE WITH CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING

10 Tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/4 Cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 Cup Caramel Syrup (see recipe below)
2 each eggs, at room temperature
splash vanilla extract
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 350F

Butter one tall (2 – 2.5 inch deep) 9-inch cake pan.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and salt & cream until light and fluffy.

Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl. Scrape down bowl and increase speed. Add eggs/vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform.

Sift flour and baking powder.

Turn mixer to lowest speed, and add one third of the dry ingredients. When incorporated, add half of the milk, a little at a time. Add another third of the dry ingredients, then the other half of the milk and finish with the dry ingredients. {This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.}

Take off mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds, making sure batter is uniform. Turn batter into prepared cake pan.

Place cake pan on cookie sheet or 1/2 sheet pan. Set first timer for 30 minutes, rotate pan and set timer for another 15-20 minutes. Your own oven will set the pace. Bake until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool cake completely before icing it.

Cake will keep for three days outside of the refrigerator.

CARAMEL SYRUP

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup water (for "stopping" the caramelization process)
In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush. Turn on heat to highest flame. Cook until smoking slightly: dark amber.

When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and be prepared to step back.

Whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.}

Note: For safety reasons, have ready a bowl of ice water to plunge your hands into if any caramel should land on your skin.

CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING

12 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound confectioner’s sugar, sifted
4-6 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons caramel syrup
Kosher or sea salt to taste

Cook butter until brown. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool.

Pour cooled brown butter into mixer bowl.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, add confectioner's sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks too chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until mixture looks smooth and all confectioner's sugar has been incorporated. Add salt to taste.

Note: Caramelized butter frosting will keep in fridge for up to a month.
To smooth out from cold, microwave a bit, then mix with paddle attachment until smooth and light
-

Cooking and Using Fresh Pumpkin

2008-11-15T08:18:00.000-08:00

As Halloween is just over and Thanksgiving is coming up, pumpkin season is right on top of us. I had a couple sugar pumpkins I picked up early on (they go so fast!), but I used one for Dean's birthday cake and the other will be for a pumpkin pie. I wanted some pumpkin for the freezer and was happy to pick up a large after-Halloween-pumpkin on sale for $1 a couple weeks ago.

To cook a pumpkin: Preheat the oven to 350*

The small sugar pumpkins make around 2 cups of puree. The large pumpkin I used made 10 cups of puree.

Cut off the top (like you would if you were carving it),
Scoop out as much of the innards as possible.
Cut into chunks. I cut the small sugar pumpkin in half. I cut the large pumpkin into 8ths.
Place skin side up on a cookie sheet. I have done it both directly on the cookie sheet and also on a silpat. I think I liked the silpat better. Less browning.
Cook sugar pumpkins about 30 min. or until tender when pierced with a fork. Cook large pumpkins about 1 hour.
Take out of the oven and cool until you can handle it.
Peel off the skin and remove any remaining strings and seeds you may have missed.
Cut up into smaller chunks and blend in a food processor. I usually have to add a little bit of water or milk. Just enough to get it to move and puree properly.
BLEND UNTIL IT'S VERY SMOOTH. Do not attempt to mash it with a potato masher. Chunks don't "cook out" in pies.
Store it in the fridge if you're going to use it in the next couple of days. Store it in the freezer (I put it in 2 cup Tupperware bowls. That way you can use it a little at a time.) for longer term. To thaw just pop it in the fridge or let it sit on your counter a day or two in advance.
(Use just like canned pumpkin. You don't have to add sugar to it since all recipes using pumpkin will have sugar in them.)

We wanted a "healthier" cake for Dean's first birthday since he's really not eaten refined sugar much. We were going to go with carrot cake, but my sugar pumpkins were calling out for me to bake them. We went with this pumpkin cake and I loved it. It was super moist. We topped it with this cream cheese frosting.

Dean's 1st Birthday Cake (Pumpkin: Originally found on Allrecipes Modified by me.
2 C. Sugar
3/4 C. Oil
3/4 C. apple sauce
1 tsp. vanilla
2 C. pumpkin puree
4 eggs
2 C. all purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. ground cloves

Bake at 350*. If using a 9X13 cook about 35 min. or until a toothpick comes clean. If using a fluted bunt pan, cook about 50-60 min. or until a toothpick comes clean.

Daring Baker Pizza

2008-10-31T19:00:00.000-07:00

I'm late in posting this, mainly because I forgot to look at the post date (which was the 29th).

I make pizza frequently. I have two recipes I really love, but I don't mind trying new recipes. This one was really weird, though. I weighed everything to be as accurate as possible, but boy was it sticky! This was after having added extra flour.

After I was done mixing, I cut it into 6 pieces and placed it on a cookie sheet to sit in the fridge over night. It was very hard to handle because it was so sticky.

Tonight I got it out 2 hours before we were to eat and let it sit. When I went to make them, the dough was totally and completely unmanageable. I had to reform the balls before I could form the pizza crusts.

They were personal sized. I didn't have a chance to get to the store so I didn't have any fancy toppings. I mainly just used a homemade red sauce, pepperoni, olives, bacon. On one I used feta and mozzarella instead of mozzarella and cheddar.

The crust ended up better than I thought it would, but I will not be making it again. It was way too hard to handle and took too long for mediocre results.

For a better crust, I'll stick with Alton Brown's (reduced salt version) or Jay's Signature Pizza Crust.

I'll post the recipe anyway. Just remember, I DO NOT ENDORSE THIS RECIPE!

~ BASIC PIZZA DOUGH ~
Original recipe taken from “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” by Peter Reinhart.

Makes 6 pizza crusts (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter).

Ingredients:
4 1/2 Cups (20 1/4 ounces/607.5 g) Unbleached high-gluten (%14) bread flour or all purpose flour, chilled

1 3/4 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Instant yeast -
1/4 Cup (2 ounces/60g) Olive oil or vegetable oil (both optional, but it’s better with)
1 3/4 Cups (14 ounces/420g or 420ml) Water, ice cold (40° F/4.5° C)
1 Tb sugar
Semolina/durum flour or cornmeal for dusting

DAY ONE

Method:
1. Mix together the flour, salt and instant yeast in a big bowl (or in the bowl of your stand mixer).

2. Add the oil, sugar and cold water and mix well (with the help of a large wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment, on low speed) in order to form a sticky ball of dough. On a clean surface, knead for about 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are homogeneously distributed. If it is too wet, add a little flour (not too much, though) and if it is too dry add 1 or 2 teaspoons extra water.

NOTE: If you are using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for the same amount of time.The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet, sprinkle in a little more flour, so that it clears the sides. If, on the contrary, it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a teaspoon or two of cold water.
The finished dough should be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky, and register 50°-55° F/10°-13° C.

3. Flour a work surface or counter. Line a jelly pan with baking paper/parchment. Lightly oil the paper.

4. With the help of a metal or plastic dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you want to make larger pizzas).

NOTE: To avoid the dough from sticking to the scraper, dip the scraper into water between cuts.

5. Sprinkle some flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Gently round each piece into a ball.

NOTE: If the dough sticks to your hands, then dip your hands into the flour again.

6. Transfer the dough balls to the lined jelly pan and mist them generously with spray oil. Slip the pan into plastic bag or enclose in plastic food wrap.

7. Put the pan into the refrigerator and let the dough rest overnight or for up to thee days.

NOTE: You can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag if you want to save some of the dough for any future baking. In that case, pour some oil(a few tablespooons only) in a medium bowl and dip each dough ball into the oil, so that it is completely covered in oil. Then put each ball into a separate bag. Store the bags in the freezer for no longer than 3 months. The day before you plan to make pizza, remember to transfer the dough balls from the freezer to the refrigerator.

DAY TWO

8. On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator. Dust the counter with flour and spray lightly with oil. Place the dough balls on a floured surface and sprinkle them with flour. Dust your hands with flour and delicately press the dough into disks about 1/2 inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. Sprinkle with flour and mist with oil. Loosely cover the dough rounds with plastic wrap and then allow to rest for 2 hours.

9. At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone on the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven as hot as possible (500° F/260° C).

NOTE: If you do not have a baking stone, then use the back of a jelly pan. Do not preheat the pan.

10. Generously sprinkle the back of a jelly pan with semolina/durum flour or cornmeal. Flour your hands (palms, backs and knuckles). Take 1 piece of dough by lifting it with a pastry scraper. Lay the dough across your fists in a very delicate way and carefully stretch it by bouncing it in a circular motion on your hands, and by giving it a little stretch with each bounce. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss.

NOTE: Make only one pizza at a time.
During the tossing process, if the dough tends to stick to your hands, lay it down on the floured counter and reflour your hands, then continue the tossing and shaping.
In case you would be having trouble tossing the dough or if the dough never wants to expand and always springs back, let it rest for approximately 5-20 minutes in order for the gluten to relax fully,then try again.
You can also resort to using a rolling pin, although it isn’t as effective as the toss method.

11. When the dough has the shape you want (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter - for a 6 ounces/180g piece of dough), place it on the back of the jelly pan, making sure there is enough semolina/durum flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide and not stick to the pan.

12. Lightly top it with sweet or savory toppings of your choice.

NOTE: Remember that the best pizzas are topped not too generously. No more than 3 or 4 toppings (including sauce and cheese) are sufficient.

13. Slide the garnished pizza onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for abour 5-8 minutes.

NOTE: After 2 minutes baking, take a peek. For an even baking, rotate 180°.

If the top gets done before the bottom, you will need to move the stone or jelly pane to a lower shelf before the next round. On the contrary, if the bottom crisps before the cheese caramelizes, then you will need to raise the stone or jelly.

14. Take the pizza out of the oven and transfer it to a cutting board or your plate. In order to allow the cheese to set a little, wait 3-5 minutes before slicing or serving.

Was cooking ever so easy?

2008-09-29T17:28:00.000-07:00

My husband left today on a business trip so dinner tonight was all me. I found myself "cooking" my most frequently eaten meal as a single adult. It's basically a salad wrap made with whatever I have on hand.

I know the picture isn't magnificent, but it was an afterthought. I'd already eaten one wrap.

This was the version I made tonight:

Salad Wrap
a plate full of chopped lettuce, romaine is my lettuce of choice
black beans mixed with rotel (left over from another dish)
1 cheese stick, chopped into pieces
1/2 avocado, diced
dressing of choice (I used Italian tonight)
burrito sized tortilla or two

Mix all together and either stuff a tortilla or rip pieces of tortilla and eat a bit at a time. Easy. Healthy. Yummy.

Hummus and Lavash

2008-09-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

Well, for the September Daring Bakers' challenge we had a vegan recipe. Lavash crackers with any vegan dip we wanted. When I told Matt what it was he said, "A cracker? Boring." We already love hummus and I wasn't feeling all creative, so I just used my standard recipe.

The recipe didn't look difficult at all. I had to purchase some instant yeast since I still use dry-active. Not a big deal. I used sugar since I couldn't find agave syrup. The one problem I ran into was in the actual baking. When I rolled out the dough, I couldn't get it perfectly even. The edges were a bit thicker. I must have rolled mine out too thinly, because a good half of my dough burned when cooking a min. or two under the time specified on the recipe. So, the thinnest parts burned. The medium worked just fine and tasted good. The thick edges were a little chewy (but still better than the burned stuff I threw out).

I cut the batter into 3 sections. One section I used brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. One section I used kosher salt and cumin. The last section I used garlic salt. The worst was the sugar. Just didn't work. It burned the worst of the three batches. I didn't even like them enough to try and make a sweet dip for them. The best, by far, was the salt and cumin.

Matt actually really liked the taste of the Lavash with the hummus and said it might even be better suited for it than my pita bread I usually make. I guess I'll have to revisit this recipe and try not to roll my dough so thin next time!

Easy but delicious basic hummus:
Ingredients
1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1-2 cloves garlic (depending on how garlicky you like things and how big the cloves are)
½ teaspoon ground cumin (or you can just shake it in, like me. I never actually measure and it's slightly different every time)
½ teaspoon salt (I use kosher)
1+ tsp lemon juice (the bottled kind works if you don't have fresh)
2+ Tbsp olive oil
water (if needed)

Directions
1. In a food processor (or blender, but blender might be a little more difficult) combine garbanzo beans, garlic, cumin, salt, lemon, and olive oil.
2. Mix it well and taste it. It should be very smooth. If it’s gritty at all, or kind of dry, add more oil or lemon juice or water (a little at a time) and blend some more. Add more salt, cumin or lemon juice, as your taste buds so desire…

Also, if it doesn't taste quite like store bought, it's because store hummus has tahini paste in it that gives a little sesame flavor. I don't care for it much in hummus.

variation ideas:

roast a head of garlic in place of the fresh garlic.
roast a red pepper (or buy a can of roasted red pepper) and include
chipotle pepper (or powder) for a smokey twist
fresh dill to taste
tahini paste (most store bought hummus has it, but I don't care for it which is why I like mine better!)
add cilantro

This pairs well with:

"The best pita ever" (according to my food critic husband)

and/or

Lavash "this might even be better with hummus than pitas" (according to my dh)

Makes 1 sheet pan of crackers

1 1/2 cups (6.75 oz) unbleached bread flour or gluten free flour blend (If you use a blend without xanthan gum, add 1 tsp xanthan or guar gum to the recipe)
1/2 tsp (.13 oz) salt
1/2 tsp (.055 oz) instant yeast
1 Tb (.75 oz) agave syrup or sugar
1 Tb (.5 oz) vegetable oil
1/3 to 1/2 cup + 2 Tb (3 to 4 oz) water, at room temperature
Poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, or kosher salt for toppings

1. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, salt yeast, agave, oil, and just enough water to bring everything together into a ball. You may not need the full 1/2 cup + 2 Tb of water, but be prepared to use it all if needed.

2. For Non Gluten Free Cracker Dough: Sprinkle some flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Knead for about 10 minutes, or until the ingredients are evenly distributed. The dough should pass the windowpane test (see http://www.wikihow.com/Determine-if-Bre … ong-Enough for a description of this) and register 77 degrees to 81 degrees Fahrenheit. The dough should be firmer than French bread dough, but not quite as firm as bagel dough (what I call medium-firm dough), satiny to the touch, not tacky, and supple enough to stretch when pulled. Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

2. For Gluten Free Cracker Dough: The dough should be firmer than French bread dough, but not quite as firm as bagel dough (what I call medium-firm dough), and slightly tacky. Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

3. Ferment at room temperature for 90 minutes, or until the dough doubles in size. (You can also retard the dough overnight in the refrigerator immediately after kneading or mixing).

4. For Non Gluten Free Cracker Dough: Mist the counter lightly with spray oil and transfer the dough to the counter. Press the dough into a square with your hand and dust the top of the dough lightly with flour. Roll it out with a rolling pin into a paper thin sheet about 15 inches by 12 inches. You may have to stop from time to time so that the gluten can relax. At these times, lift the dough from the counter and wave it a little, and then lay it back down. Cover it with a towel or plastic wrap while it relaxes. When it is the desired thinness, let the dough relax for 5 minutes. Line a sheet pan with baking parchment. Carefully lift the sheet of dough and lay it on the parchment. If it overlaps the edge of the pan, snip off the excess with scissors.

4. For Gluten Free Cracker Dough: Lay out two sheets of parchment paper. Divide the cracker dough in half and then sandwich the dough between the two sheets of parchment. Roll out the dough until it is a paper thin sheet about 15 inches by 12 inches. Slowly peel away the top layer of parchment paper. Then set the bottom layer of parchment paper with the cracker dough on it onto a baking sheet.

5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit with the oven rack on the middle shelf. Mist the top of the dough with water and sprinkle a covering of seeds or spices on the dough (such as alternating rows of poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, kosher or pretzel salt, etc.) Be careful with spices and salt - a little goes a long way. If you want to pre-cut the cracker, use a pizza cutter (rolling blade) and cut diamonds or rectangles in the dough. You do not need to separate the pieces, as they will snap apart after baking. If you want to make shards, bake the sheet of dough without cutting it first.

5. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the crackers begin to brown evenly across the top (the time will depend on how thinly and evenly you rolled the dough).

6. When the crackers are baked, remove the pan from the oven and let them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. You can then snap them apart or snap off shards and serve.

Vanilla syrup and Pumpkin Waffles

2008-09-12T21:50:00.000-07:00

I haven't made the waffles yet this year (I'm holding out for fresh pumpkin), but I thought I'd put it up here because it goes so nicely with the syrup recipe I'm posting. This is heaven. I've heard the syrup is a Magleby's copy cat, but I've never eaten there so I can't tell you. I can tell you it is thick, rich, and oh so goooood.

Devilishly delicious vanilla syrup
Ingredients:
1/2 C. butter (not margarine! The margarine separates and makes it funky...)
1/2 C. buttermilk
1 C. sugar
1 tsp karo syrup
----------
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
Directions:
1. In a medium sauce pan over medium heat bring the first 4 ingredients to a boil.
2. Stir in the baking soda and vanilla.

BEWARE! When you add the soda and vanilla it bubbles us quite a bit. DO NOT MAKE THIS IN A SMALL PAN!!!

Pumpkin Waffles--serves 5 hungry adults
In a large bowl combine:
2 C. flour
2 Tbsp. baking powder
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt

In a separate bowl combine:
4 beaten egg yolks (save the whites for later!!)
1 1/2 C. milk
1 C. pumpkin
3/4 C. melted butter
1 Tbsp. vanilla

Directions:
1. Mix the dry mixture into the wet mixture with an electric mixer.
2. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until they form peaks.
3. Fold egg whites into batter with a spatula or large spoon.
4. Pour into waffle iron according to your manufacturer's instructions.

Chocolate Eclairs

2008-08-31T07:00:00.000-07:00

This month I decided to join the ever growing circle of Daring Bakers. The challenge this month was Pierre Hermes' Chocolate Eclairs. It was for chocolate glazed and chocolate filled eclairs. We had to keep one of the chocolate elements, but had the liberty to choose which one and what other flavors (if any) we wanted to introduce.

This was my first time for doing pretty much every part of the challenge: the chocolate glaze, pastry cream, and pastry dough. Oh, and I've never been much of a food photographer, so I'm learning about that as well.

I had to split this up into 2 days because of cooking time constraints with a baby and all.

Day 1
I first started by

so I could make the chocolate sauce and glaze.

Now, I thought it a bit odd I'd have to make a chocolate sauce in order to make the glaze. It felt a little over the top. The glaze only needed 7 Tbsp. of sauce, so I cut the original sauce recipe in half. The sauce seemed to take FOR-EV-ER since you had to thicken it on low. I think I was sitting there stirring about 20 min. or so. The sauce really was essential to the glaze. The glaze was nice and pretty dark. Will I make it a again? No. Took too long for my baking attention span!

I also made the

the first day.
I made a vanilla pastry cream because Matt wanted it simple and not a chocolate overload.
I've been looking for the recipe I used, but I've misplaced it somewhere! I think it may have been a Julia Child recipe I found online though...

For my enjoyment, to a small portion, I added a little

I thought the orange would go nicely with the dark chocolate glaze.

It did.

(But the vanilla was better.)

Day 2
I began on the stove top by

I then took it off the heat and added eggs in 1 at a time.

Don't forget to pipe the dough while it's still warm!

(As an aside here, the recipe calls for the pastries to be baked on wax or parchment paper. I couldn't find my parchment paper, so I did a few on wax and most of them on the silpat. The wax paper started smoking and stinking up the house, so I quickly pulled the few off and baked them directly on the pan. They still worked out. The silpat worked very nicely, though.)

After 20 min. of baking, rotating, and propping the door with a wooden spoon,
Voila!

Now to combine all my efforts...I present to you The Eclair!
These were good. Matt's response after tasting them was, "Yep. This is an eclair." We were happy with how they turned out, especially since it was my first try. It was a whole lot of steps and effort, though. I probably won't be making them again any time soon.
But I'm very glad I made them for this challenge.

So, if you're feeling DARING, here is the recipe:

Pierre Hermé’s Chocolate Éclairs
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• Cream Puff Dough (see below for recipe), fresh and still warm

1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the oven into thirds by positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets with waxed or parchment paper.

2) Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough. Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 41/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers. Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff. The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.

3) Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip the handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in the oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking time should be approximately 20 minutes.

Notes:
1) The éclairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling.

Assembling the éclairs:

• Chocolate glaze (see below for recipe)
• Chocolate pastry cream (see below for recipe)

1) Slice the éclairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. Set aside the
bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper.

2) The glaze should be barely warm to the touch (between 95 – 104 degrees F or 35 – 40 degrees C, as measured on an instant read thermometer). Spread the glaze over the tops of the éclairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the bottoms with the pastry cream.

3) Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the éclairs. Make sure you fill the bottoms with enough cream to mound above the pastry. Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream and wriggle gently to settle them.

Notes:
1) If you have chilled your chocolate glaze, reheat by placing it in a bowl over simmering water, stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Do not stir too vigorously as you do not want to create bubbles.

2) The éclairs should be served as soon as they have been filled.

Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• ½ cup (125g) whole milk
• ½ cup (125g) water
• 1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature

1) In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the
boil.

2) Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough will be very soft and smooth.

3) Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your
handmixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough. You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.

4) The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above.

Notes:
1) Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.

2) You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking
sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the
piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.

Chocolate Pastry Cream
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by PierreHermé

• 2 cups (500g) whole milk
• 4 large egg yolks
• 6 tbsp (75g) sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
• 7 oz (200g) bittersweet chocolate, preferably Velrhona Guanaja, melted
• 2½ tbsp (1¼ oz: 40g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1) In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together and whisk in a heavy‐bottomed saucepan.

2) Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture.Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.

3) Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stop) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat).Stir in the melted chocolate and then remove the pan from the heat.

4) Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice‐water bath to stop the cooking process. Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth.

5) Once the cream has reached a temperature of 140 F remove from the ice‐water bath and stir in the butter in three or four installments. Return the cream to the ice‐water bath to continue cooling, stirring occasionally, until it has completely cooled. The cream is now ready to use or store in the fridge.

Notes:
1) The pastry cream can be made 2‐3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.

2) In order to avoid a skin forming on the pastry cream, cover with plastic wrap pressed onto the cream.

3) Tempering the eggs raises the temperature of the eggs slowly so that they do not scramble.

Chocolate Glaze
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 1 cup or 300g)

• 1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream
• 3½ oz (100g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 tsp (20 g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
• 7 tbsp (110 g) Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

1)In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.

2) Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce.

Notes:
1) If the chocolate glaze is too cool (i.e. not liquid enough) you may heat it briefly  in the microwave or over a double boiler. A double boiler is basically a bowl sitting over (not touching) simmering water.

2) It is best to glaze the eclairs after the glaze is made, but if you are pressed for time, you can make the glaze a couple days ahead of time, store it in the fridge and bring it up to the proper temperature (95 to 104 F) when ready to glaze.

Chocolate Sauce
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 1½ cups or 525 g)

• 4½ oz (130 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 cup (250 g) water
• ½ cup (125 g) crème fraîche, or heavy cream
• 1/3 cup (70 g) sugar

1) Place all the ingredients into a heavy‐bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly. Then reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens.

2) It may take 10‐15 minutes for the sauce to thicken, but you will know when it is done when it coats the back of your spoon.

Notes:
1) You can make this sauce ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for two weeks. Reheat the sauce in a microwave oven or a double boiler before using.
2) This sauce is also great for cakes, ice-cream and tarts.

Bran Muffins: Give bran a chance!

2008-08-16T18:32:00.001-07:00

I've been meaning to post this forever, but I've been going through a non-blog phase for some reason.

I try and make Matt some sort of muffin for breakfast about once a week. His favorite happen to be Bran muffins. Yes, you heard me right. Bran. I have had some bad bran muffins in my life, I won't lie. Dry, tasteless, crumbly...you get the point. (Heck, the recipe on the back of my oat bran box is one of those! It calls for all bran and no flour, and it tells you to bake it at 425 for 15-20 min!! WAY too long and too hot! The bottoms of the muffins burned, and the muffins were not that good.)

Well, I've tried a few recipes in the past couple of months, and this is one of my favorites. I like it because it's quite versatile and you can change them up a bit so you don't get too bored. For ideas of how to change it up, look to the asterisks. These were moist and delicious.

(Better than) Classic Bran Muffins--adapted from Classic Bran Muffins
Makes 12 good sized muffins
1 1/2 cups bran (oat, wheat, whatever)
1 cup buttermilk*
1/3 cup canola or EVOO**
2 large eggs***
2/3 cup brown sugar or molasses (or a combo of both)****
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup whole wheat flour***** (I like King Arthur brand; it seems smoother and less gritty to me)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (I use Kosher)
Optional: 1/2 cup mix-ins such as raisins, craisins, walnuts, blueberries (fresh or frozen), dried cherries, etc. (you can also do cinnamon for a change in flavor, but I don't recommend a 1/2 cup!)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease or line muffin cups.
In a bowl or large measuring cup, mix together bran, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt.
In a separate large bowl, mix together buttermilk, oil, egg, sugar and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients into the wet and incorporate well (though try to not over mix). Fold in the mix-ins if you are including any.
Bake in muffin tins for 14-20 min. (really depends on your oven and elevation and stuff, so check at 14 min. by toothpick test.) 14 min. is perfect in my oven.

* you can substitute 1 cup regular milk + 1 Tbsp white vinegar or lemon juice
** OR applesauce OR banana mash OR pureed pumpkin OR a combination of the above (I'd keep in at least a Tbsp of oil because it helps lengthen the shelf life.) I used about 1/2 EVOO and 1/2 applesauce. I've actually used a mixture of oil and sweet potato puree successfully as well.
*** I did 1/3 cup of each. I like this amount. Matt thinks it could use a little more molasses.
**** Can use all purpose flour, oat flour, etc. or a combo of them all.

Italian vinaigrette from scratch

2008-07-28T18:11:00.000-07:00

I didn't have any salad dressing on hand, so I threw this together. It turned out pretty decently. I didn't measure anything, so this is more for my sake in remembering what I used. The amounts are guestimations!

Italian vinaigrette
2 Tbsp olive oil
1-2 tsp vinegar (I used rice vinegar)
1-2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 clove garlic minced
generous pinch of sugar
celery salt to taste

Optional toppers: fresh grated parm cheese and crushed black pepper

mix well and pour over the salad. I actually put mine in the salad spinner after dressing it to help mix the dressing throughout. I then spooned a little of the leftover dressing on top and grated the cheese and added pepper. Oh, and I soaked some boxed croûtons in the dressing for a min. to help them soften a little.

Strawberry Jam

2008-07-27T18:21:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I decided to try my hand at jam. I've never tried it before, but I had some great strawberries that needed to be used. I didn't have any room in the freezer, so I decided to actually cook and can jam. Here are a few things I learned.

Freezer jam will taste fresher and lighter since you don't have to cook the fruit and you can use less sugar. Only problem with that for me is a need for freezer space. I like the idea of putting it on my shelf if I don't have room in the freezer.

Sugar helps with gelling and it helps preserve and lengthen shelf life. If you use less sugar than called for by the type of pectin you're using, it will not set up properly. You'll have syrup rather than jam.

I bought the regular pectin since I didn't know there were different kinds. Big mistake. It meant that I had to use TONS of sugar (7 cups of sugar to 4 cups of fruit!) to make it gel properly. I didn't put in the full amount called for and decided I'd just use it as syrup if it didn't gel. That's exactly what happened. Even with the reduced amt. of sugar it still tasted super sweet. Fine for syrup, but it would have been too sweet for a basic fruit jam that I wanted.

There are different types of pectin you can buy. Regular pectin requires a lot of sugar if you can. It doesn't take quite as much when you do freezer jam, but it's still more than I want in my jam. There are also low sugar and no sugar pectins. No sugar pectins require a sugar substitute like Splenda if you use it according to the box. I found out this weekend that you can actually add sugar to jams made with the low/no sugar pectins and make it still work. My sister made some DELICIOUS jam with no sugar pectin by adding just 1 cup of sugar to it. It gelled well and tasted like fruit rather than sugar. Definitely do that next time.

So, my "recipe" suggestion:
1 box no sugar pectin
1 C sugar
1 C unsweetened juice (white grape or something that fits with the type of fruit you're using)
4 C strawberry

Follow the directions for cooked jam on the box.

ALSO: If you're doing cooked/canned jam, spend the $6 or whatever for the propper tongs! I totally burned myself when the bottles splashed back into my water bath because I couldn't grip them well with what I had.

Cheesy Breadsticks

2008-07-13T18:28:00.000-07:00

Matt requested cheesy bread to accompany our dinner tonight. Since he rarely has requests, I thought it best to comply forthwith. So I went to looking for a recipe. I was disappointed in the lack of cheesy bread recipes online! Almost everything I found called for canned biscuits or frozen pizza/roll dough.

So, I got out my trusty recipe collection and decided to create a cheesy variation of a fast bread stick recipe I got from a friend last year at a recipe swap. (Thanks Amy!) It worked so fabulously. I got one of the best compliments EVER from Matt. He said it made him think of something off of the food network (possibly a Diners, Drive-in, and Dives episode) where people say, "I come from miles away just for this bread". Yeah. It was good.

So, here's the recipe.

Easy Cheesy Breadsticks
Ingredients
1 Tbsp yeast
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp kosher salt, plus some for sprinkling the top
1 1/2 C warm water (around 110*)
Approx. 3+ C BREAD flour (Trust me!! This makes a HUGE difference in the final texture of the bread!)

a little butter
a cup or two of cheese: I used mozzarella and cheddar inside and parmesan on top

Directions

Pre-heat the oven to 400*
Dissolve yeast and sugar in the water. (Don't add the salt in yet because at this point it can kill the yeast.) Let it sit about 5-10 min. to bloom.
In a stand mixer (or by hand), knead in the 3 cups bread flour and salt. Mix for a couple min. The dough is a bit sticky with just 3 cups. At this point I took the dough out of my mixer and kneaded in about 1/4 cup more flour by hand, just enough to get it not sticky and to a point where you can roll it out. You can probably keep it in the mixer and add a little flour at a time until it pulls off of the side of the bowl.
On a floured surface, roll out the dough into a rectangle, approx. 15 X 12. Put this onto a greased cookie sheet or baking pan (I bet a pizza stone would work nicely too, though the cooking time would change a bit if you did that).
Sprinkle the cheese over half the bread vertically, leaving about 1 in. on the edges cheese free.
Fold the un-cheesed (short) side over the cheesed side and press the edges closed. You will have a long strombli/calzone like bread.
Brush the top with some butter, grate as much parm cheese as you'd like, and sprinkle the top with kosher salt. I didn't let the dough rest or rise any more than the time it took me to fill it and get it ready for baking.
Bake at 400* for about 15 min.
Let it rest about 5-10 min. after pulling it out so the cheese doesn't just goo out everywhere when you cut it.
Cut it into 1-2 in. strips and serve as a breadstick.

* Just so you know, this dough doesn't have any butter or oil in the dough. The means it doesn't keep as long. You can always add in 1-2 Tbsp of EVOO or canola oil if you find you don't eat it quickly enough before it spoils.*

What we ate: week 2

2008-07-12T19:52:00.000-07:00

Sausage, homemade rolls, coleslaw-The rolls were pretty decent. I just got the recipe off of allrecipes. Matt wasn't in the mood for a crusty roll, so I brushed them with butter and let them sit a little and the tops softened. I made the coleslaw mix with purple and regular cabbage, julienned carrots, small broccoli, green onions. The dressing recipe I use is Alton Brown's.
Potstickers and fried rice (I made too much coleslaw mix, so I chopped it up into small pieces, added peas and used it in the fried rice. It worked well.) The potstickers I made awhile back froze really nicely. I just put two Tbsp oil in the pan, frozen potstickers, 2/3 C water and covered. Cooked for 8 min. on medium high, took off the lid and made sure everything had crisped up on the bottom.
Chipotle beef soft tacos
Homemade Chili Chock-full o' Veggies, Cornbread
Hot dogs, spicy potato salad (made by a friend), watermelon

Cheesecake Pops

2008-07-12T19:01:00.000-07:00

I recently found out about a cool blog-ring called The Daring Bakers' Challenge. Every month all participants get a challenge. They have to make the same recipe, take photos, and blog their end result on the same appointed day. This was the April challenge. I love challenges, so I decided to join the Darking Bakers and I will officially start with the challenges in August.

They are from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O’Connor.

Cheesecake Pops
Makes 30 – 40 Pops

5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ cup heavy cream
Boiling water as needed
Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks
1 pound chocolate, finely chopped – you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionary coating or wafer chocolate – candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)

Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) - Optional

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F.

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer set at low speed, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at lwo speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.

Lightly grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan). Pour the cheesecake batter into the cake pan and place in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly goldenon top, 35 to 45 minutes.

Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

When cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchemtn paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.

When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.

Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.

Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.

Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My review of the cheesecake:
Most of the reviews said that this cheesecake didn't set at the time and temp. given in this recipe. So I wne to my normal recipe and took the time and temp from there. That was kind of a mistake because I ended up overcooking it a little.

Overall the taste was good, but this recipe called for a lot of eggs and I could actually taste the egg on the slightly overcooked edges. I didn't have a large enough pan to do a proper water bath and my cake ended up rising, splitting, and then collapsing a little bit. I think this was because of the eggs and perhaps over mixing combined with no water bath. I make cheesecake every valentine's day and I've never had problems like this. I think I will actually stay with my normal recipe from now on. Once I trimmed the top, bottom, and sides off, I was ready to scoop.

The ball rolling was a little messy, but I didn't have huge problems with it. I just had to periodically wash my hands to get the stickiness off. The sticks were easy enough, and dipping was fairly easy. However, because the cheesecake was frozen, it made the dipping chocolate firm up rather quickly, so I had to decorate fast. I just let them sit head up in a cup to firm before putting them back in the fridge.

Oh, I dipped a few in jam before I dipped in the chocolate. It made the chocolate a little tricky, but the pops with the thinner homemade strawberry jam turned out quite tasty. The ones with the thicker freezer jam were too sweet.

Main problem:
The main problem with this recipe was the stick. This is a rather cute idea, but the cheesecake just didn't adhere well enough to the stick to actually eat it like a lollipop. If I set them upside down the stick just pulled out when the cheesecake was at room temp. If I turned them right side up, the cheesecake slid right down the stick. So, overall, these were a little tricky to serve.

Cupcake bites

2008-07-12T17:57:00.000-07:00

So, Bakerella got onto Martha Stewart with her little Cupcake Pops. Since I was already doing cheesecake pops for the party, I decided to make her Easy Cupcake Bites instead. They are pretty much the same thing, just less time consuming. This recipe is directly from her site.

Easy Cupcake Bites
1 box cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)
1 can cream cheese frosting (16 oz.)
1 package chocolate bark (or candy melts for cupcake bottom)
Colored Candy Melts (for cupcake top)
Candy Cup Mold
Sprinkles and m&ms for decoration

After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl. (The texture should be fine/fluffy)
Using the back of a large spoon, mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)
Roll mixture into quarter size balls (make sure they are smaller in diameter than that of your candy mold) and lay on wax paper covered cookie sheet.
Chill in the freezer for a few minutes, until they are slightly firm, not frozen.
Melt chocolate bark and candy melts in microwave per directions on package.
Using a spoon or squeeze bottle, fill each mold cavity with a small amount of chocolate. Sorry, I didn't think to measure how much. But as soon as you fill the cavity, go ahead and place one of your rolled balls into it. Carefully push it down until the force causes the chocolate to push up and fill in around the sides of the ball. You may have to experiment with a couple to get the right amount. Stop pushing once the chocolate reaches the top edge.
Place the mold tray filled with cupcakes in the freezer for just a few minutes to let the chocolate set. Remove and then gently pull up on the cake ball top to release from candy mold.
Now, holding the bottom of the cupcake, dip the top in another color of melted chocolate.
Decorate.
And, probably impress your friends and family

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What I used:
I used a butter pecan box cake. I only had about 1/4 of the cream cheese frosting I needed, and I used all my cream cheese on the cheesecake, so I had to improvise. I made an almond flavored butter cream frosting and added it to the cream cheese frosting. These two things combined made for a very sweet little cupcake bite.

What I suggest to remedy that:
I think these would work really well with a dark cocoa (preferably homemade) cake and cream cheese frosting. That way the frosting would balance out the cake rather than overtake it.

Problems I had and a few remedies:

I'm pretty sure the candy mold I used was a little shallower than Bakerella's. I just got it at Michaels. Anyway, because it had such a small base it was a little difficult to hold when I was dipping the tops. It was also difficult to set them down without getting chocolate smearing on the bases.
I just used candy melts from Michaels. The dark chocolate worked the best and stayed melty longer than the colored white chocolates. The colored melts seized pretty quickly and I kept having to remelt them.
After doing the bases, I tried dipping the tops. The cake had thawed and when I tried dipping the top ripped right off into the chocolate. I had to refreeze the bites before dipping the tops. This worked but presented a new problem.
Because the cake was frozen, the top chocolate cooled too quickly for me to properly decorate it by myself. It would have been easier with a helper, but I ended up with plain bites because I was cooking solo. They still looked cute.
Lastly, because I used a light brown cake, I was afraid it would look too bland inside. Bakerella's red velvet is stunning. I thought, "Hmmm...why not just color the frosting I mix in with the cake?" So I made pink frosting. Once I mixed it in with the cake and rolled it into balls, I realized that it made them look like uncooked meatballs. Eeew. So, I strongly discourage mixing a light cake with pink frosting.
Oh, and make sure there aren't any little pieces of cake not completely mixed in (like you see the white pieces below). They just made frosting a bit more difficult.
I first tried to "frost" the tops with a knife because it was hard to hold the little bottoms. DID NOT WORK. It was a much smoother top to just dip. That meant I needed a fair amount of chocolate. You can't just work with a little bit of chocolate at a time or the cake gets stuck and mucked up.
I kind of had a hard time figuring out the "perfect amount" of chocolate for the bases, because my bases weren't 100% even my top frosting was a little hard to get right on.

What we ate: week 1

2008-07-02T09:59:00.000-07:00

Stuffed chicken, sautéed purple cabbage, mashed garlic and rosemary red potatoes: The filling was left over from the ravioli. I butterflied chicken breasts, filled them with the artichoke/ricotta mixture, topped it with red sauce and grated parmesan cheese on it. Baked it in a small glass dish for 35 min. at 400*. The chicken was a little dry, but I like it like that. So, I'd probably reduce the heat to 375 or 350* if you like it juicier. For the cabbage, I just shredded it and cooked it in a small amount of EVOO with salt and pepper. Sometimes I add the fresh, precooked bacon bits for a little extra flavor.
Homemade artichoke and ricotta ravioli, yellow squash: On the back of my leftover potsticker wrappers it said you can use them for raviolis, so I tried that. It was gross. The dough was too slimy when boiled. It may have been ok if we'd done fried ravioli, but I won't try it. The filling was good. It was my own concoction of garlic, onions, artichoke hearts, ricotta, parsley and salt.
Curried vegetables and paneer cheese, rice, baked green beans: We ate this the night my crockpot shattered. We needed something quick, and the curry mixture was prepackaged. It was Tasty Bite: Cuisine of India brand. We both really liked it. It was very tasty. I can't remember the exact name of it though. I baked the green beans on a cookie sheet with a little olive oil, garlic, onions and pepper. I really like beans done this way, but I always over cook them. I bake them on 400* and depending on the bean size, it will take 10-20 min. Stir and check them every couple of min. to make sure they don't get over cooked.
Beef and bean flautas, salad, and Matt made pico: The flautas are just flour tortillas with refried beans (cannery is what I use), cheese and seasoned ground beef down the middle. I roll them up without folding the ends (flauta means flute), and then I crisp them on all sides in a pan with a tiny bit of extra light olive oil.
Bean, veggie, and bacon soup, sourdough bread: The soup base I use for this quick meal is Campbell's Bean and Bacon soup. I dice and sautéed veggies (save the zucchini till after you simmer the rice though) to a crisp tender, added in about 1/4 cup uncooked rice, and about 3/4 c water. Covered and simmered on low for about 15 min. and then added the soup, 2 cans water, and a little "better than bullion chicken base" to make up for the extra water I added. Carrots, celery, onions, a little garlic, zucchini are the veggies I use, but I'm sure bell peppers and other veggies would work fine too.
Hamburgers,fries, and onion rings: Sometimes we indulge. For those in our area, Baker's drive in on Hwy 5 has great onion rings. Their fries are nothing special, the burgers are pretty decent, but their onion rings are delicious.

Rival Crockpot lid shattered

2008-06-24T16:43:00.000-07:00

What the???

I had 2 chicken breasts in my crockpot cooking away like they're supposed to. I put them in a little later in the afternoon, so I had them on high. I was sitting in the computer room when I heard a loud pop from my kitchen. Upon inspection, the crockpot lid shattered into tons of pieces. It was all intact until Matt tried to lift it up. The handle came right off and the glass all fell into the pot. I have no clue why it would have done that. I've used the crockpot for so many things, but I've never had this happen. There was ample water, so it wasn't because it had boiled out or anything. Nothing else seemed amiss.

I JUST threw out the box too. I've had this crockpot for only a few months. Lame.

Candy Bar Bar Cookies

2008-06-21T19:14:00.000-07:00

Matt was going to be out last night, so I decided to try and get a spur of the moment craft group together. After contacting a few people, I decided I ought to make a treat just in case. I needed something easy for which I had all the ingredients on hand. I love trying new recipes, so this recipe caught my eye.

I was afraid they'd be overpoweringly sweet, so I made some minor changes. They turned out quite good in my opinion. I usually can resist going back for more, but these kept calling my name and I had a few. My changes are in red.

Candy Bar Bar Cookies
Ingredients
3/4 C butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1/4 C peanut butter (I used organic natural PB)
1 C firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 C all purpose flour
1/2 C whole wheat flour
2 C rolled oats, pulsed a couple times in the food processor
1 egg
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated!)
3 C chopped candy bars (mixed is fine. I used a combo of snickers, almond joys, 1000 Grand, butterfingers, and a few peanut m&m's for kicks. The almond joys were my favorites)
1 C chopped nuts (I used pecans and walnuts)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350*
In a large bowl combine softened (room temp., not melted) butter and peanut butter until smooth. Add brown sugar and baking soda. Beat well and stir in flour and oats. Set aside 1 3/4 C oat mixture for later.
Stir egg into the remaining oat mixture in bowl. Pat into a 9 X 13 in. baking dish (I used metal) and bake for 15 min. Remove from oven.
Pour sweetened condensed milk over the crust and spread evenly. Stir together reserved oat mixture with the candy bars and nuts. Sprinkle mixture evenly over top.
Bake 25 min. or until golden brown. Store left overs loosely covered at room temperature.

Pecan Pie

2008-06-16T10:13:00.000-07:00

Pecan Pie
Ingredients
3 eggs
2/3 C sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 C melted butter
1 C corn syrup (I use dark)
1 1/2 C pecan halves

1 pie crust

Directions
Heat the oven to 375*. Beat everything together except pecans. Place pecans on the bottom of an unbaked pie crust (I used 9 in. pan). Pour mixture on top of pecans. Cover the crust with foil. Bake 45-55 min. or until it's not real jiggly. Uncover the crust and bake about 5-10 min. more until golden.

Classic Stir-fry Sauce

2008-06-15T19:22:00.000-07:00

This was adapted from Restaurant Teriyaki Sauce recipe from Gourmet Mom on-the-Go. If you're looking for a good homemade teriyaki sauce, follow that link. It really is good. We just needed something not quite as sweet.

Classic Stir-fry Sauce
Ingredients
1/4 C. soy sauce
3/4 C. water
1-2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 Tbsp. honey
1 1/2 Tbsp. corn starch dissolved in a couple Tbsp. water
a couple drops of sesame oil

Directions
In a small sauce pan stir together all ingredients. except the cornstarch/water mixture. Heat until sauce bubbles and thickens, stirring frequently with a whisk. It's important to get the sauce to bubble so it boils out the "cornstarch" taste. You can add more water if it gets too thick.

We both really liked the sauce for the veggie stir-fry.

I might try variations on this including ginger and crushed red pepper.

Basic Brownies

2008-06-10T11:36:00.000-07:00

I wanted to provide treats last night for the recital. At first I thought I'd just purchase some cookies and fruit, but as I was going down the cookie isle and reading the ingredients, I decided the cheap cookies were cheap for a reason! And while the expensive cookies may have been good, they were TOO EXPENSIVE!

So I came home and made my own lemon bars and brownies. I'm not giving you the lemon bar recipe. It was a new one and it was ok, but not good enough to give out with my stamp of approval.

The brownie recipe is SO easy, and I got it from my friend Pam (the same friend from whom I got the apple pie and crust recipe). They are chewy without being gloppy/gooey and underdone or cakey. They're really good.

Brownies: Full 9X13 batch
Ingredients
2 c sugar
2 cubes butter
4 eggs
1 ½ c flour
1/3 c cocoa
dash of salt

Directions
Cream sugar and butter, add eggs then dry ingredients. Cook at 350 for 25-30. Greased 9X13 pan

Brownies: Half batch for 8X8 pan
Ingredients
1 c sugar
1 cube butter
2 eggs
3/4 c flour
1/8 C + 1 Tbsp cocoa
pinch salt

Directions
Cream sugar and butter, add eggs then dry ingredients. Cook at 350 for 25-30. Greased 8X8 pan.

I don't frost mine, but she does.

Easy Chocolate Frosting
Melt 2 tbsp butter. Add powder sugar until you get a consistency a little thicker than you want. Add a little milk, a little cocoa, a little vanilla. (Real specific, hu? That's how I like it!!)

The best cheese enchiladas I've made yet

2008-06-05T19:08:00.000-07:00

So I've struggled with enchiladas in the past. I continually try and make them, but Matt (and I) are always disappointed. The only enchiladas he's ever eaten that he's liked are Amy's brand organic cheese enchiladas. So that's what I am supposed to try and emulate.

I made a red chili sauce earlier this week for the tamales and it was the best chili sauce I've made yet. So I decided I ought to try the enchiladas yet again. I thought they were good. Matt said they were the best I've made, but they weren't as good as Amy's. I told him it's a good thing I'm not trying to mass market them. He even went back for seconds (gasp!). I thought it was a keeper.

10 min. Red Chili Sauce- Originally found on Allrecipes.com (all my changes are in this color.)
Ingredients
1/4 C vegetable oil
2 Tbsp flour
1/4 C chili powder (Mexican style)
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 1/2 C water
1/4 tsp cumin
2 large cloves garlic, pressed
1/4 onion, finely diced
salt to taste

Directions

Soften the onion in the oil (in a medium saucepan) over med. high heat.
Just as they are getting soft, add in the pressed garlic for a few seconds, stirring to make sure it doesn't burn.
Stir in flour and chili powder, reduce to medium heat, and cook until lightly brown, stirring constantly to prevent burning flour.
Gradually stir in tomato sauce, water and cumin, and continue cooking over medium heat approximately 10 minutes, or until thickened slightly. Season to taste with salt.
After it's cooled a little, blend with a blender or stick blender if you want a smooth sauce.

Cheese Enchiladas-my own recipe I made up tonight (made 6 corn tortilla enchiladas)
Ingredients
2-3 nice sized handfuls of shredded cheese. (I used cheddar and mozzarella because that's what I had. Monterrey Jack, Pepper Jack, Colby, and/or Colby Jack should work fine as well.)
1/4 bell pepper, diced very finely (I used yellow because it's what I had. The flavor worked well for me.)
1/4 red onion, diced very finely
handful of black olives, diced very finely
a spoonful or two of sour cream
A little salt

6 corn tortillas
Red chili sauce (see above)

Directions

Mix the ingredients (except the sauce and tortillas) all together.
In an 8x8 baking dish, spread sauce on the bottom.
In a skillet (I used my trusty cast iron), put a small amount of oil (I used olive oil), and heat. Warm each tortilla on the skillet before you fill it. If you don't do this, your tortillas will most likely crack when you roll them. My mom used hot water to soften them when she made hers growing up, but every time I try that, they fall apart on me.
Fill each tortilla down the middle with the cheese mixture and roll it up.
Spoon a good amount of sauce over the top and cover the dish with foil.
Bake at 375* for 30 ish min. (or until cheese is bubbly).

Serve with a side of beans or rice, lettuce, guacamole, pico, and anything else that floats your Mexican boat.

Something like "Cafe Rio" Salad

2008-06-03T11:09:00.000-07:00

I've seen this recipe all over, so I'm not citing my source. Also, I've changed it up a bit to my own liking. The rice/water measurements on all of the recipes I saw were way off. You should have twice as much liquid as rice. Most recipes I saw had 1:1 ratio!! Not right at all.

I've made this 3-4 times now and it fulfills my Cafe Rio cravings. The chicken is not exact, but it's good. The rice here, in my opinion, is a little better. The dressing was right on.
The Chicken (for 2-4 people):
Ingredients
1/3 small bottle Zesty Italian Dressing (I don't measure-I just cover the chicken)
1 tps. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1-2 minced garlic clove

2-3 chicken breasts

Directions
For optimal taste: marinate the chicken for a couple of hours. Grill on a charcoal grill with some soaked hickory wood chips for added flavor. Chop and serve with salad.

For shredded/easy cooking: Combine all sauce ingredients and pour over chicken in the crock pot. Cook for 5-8 hours on low, shred, and let sit in sauce until ready to eat.

The Rice (for 4-6 people so I generally cut this in half for us):
aprrox 2-2 1/2 C. water + 2-2 1/2 tsp bullion (or that much chicken broth)
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1/4 bunch cilantro
1/2 can green chilies
1/4 med. onion

1 1/2 C. rice
1/2 tsp salt

Directions
Puree cilantro, onions, and green chilies together in food processor or blender to a liquid state. Scrape it into a large measuring cup (with measurements on the side). Add enough broth to make 3 cups liquid total. Pour into a medium saucepan and heat liquid to a boil, add rice and salt, turn down the heat to a simmer (on our electric range I turn it to 1 or 2). Cook covered approx. 25-30 min. or until all liquid absorbed and it's not crunchy. If the liquid is absorbed and it's crunchy still, add a little more water and cover again (try not to stir it too much at this point) for a few more minutes so it doesn't burn. After it's done, it's better if you let it sit covered for about 10- 20 min.

*I've made this a couple times and tonight I forgot to add my "Better than Bullion" to the water since I was rushing about. It was NOT as good without it.*

The Creamy Tomatillo Dressing (makes a little over a cup of dressing)
1/2 packet buttermilk ranch powder
1/4 C sour cream
1/4 C milk
1/2 C mayo
1 small tomatillo (green tomato with husk. Take off the husk and wash before use.)
1/4 bunch cilantro (nice big handful)
1 clove garlic, pressed
Juice of 1/2 lime
1/2 jalapeño, seeded (optional)

Blend all ingredients in a food processor or blender until well combined. Let sit in the refrigerator a little while to set up.

*I've tried this a couple ways, and this is by far the closest I've gotten to Cafe Rio's dressing. The sour cream made a HUGE difference in consistency and taste. I use full fat, so I don't know if reduced fat or fat free works. Matt actually said it tasted almost exactly like it, so that's saying something!!*

The Beans (4-6 people)
1-2 can black or pinto beans, drained. (we use 1 can for the 2 of us and have a little left over)
1-2 cloves garlic, pressed
pinto bean seasoning (if available) or season with cumin, chilli powder, liquid smoke, onion powder or minced onion, salt etc. to taste

Put beans in a sauce pan and add about 1/2-1 can new water to it. Put in cloves of garlic and shake the pinto bean seasoning in it. You can add a little (couple drops) liquid smoke if you so desire. Let it simmer on med-low covered for 15 min-1/2 hour, depending on how tough they are out of the can. Taste it and add salt or more seasoning to your liking.

The Guacamole (2-3 people)
1 Avocado smashed
very finely chopped onion (less than 1/4 of a small one)
lime juice to taste
1 garlic clove pressed
jalapeño salt to taste (or regular salt. the jalapeño salt just adds a nice kick.)
a little chopped cilantro if you want
a little cumin if you want
a little red pepper if you want

Mix all together.

(or you could just do smashed avocado mixed with store bought pico or salsa if you're short on time.)

Flour Tortillas-makes 8 large tortillas
Ingredients:
2 C. all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt (I'm sure regular salt works fine, but I always cook with kosher)
1/4 C vegetable shortening

3/4 C warm milk

Directions:

Mix together first 4 ingredients, cutting in the shortening with a pastry cutter or two knives or forks.
Add the warm milk a little at a time until completely incorporated.
Flour a workspace and dump out dough. It'll probably be a little sticky, so flour your hands and have a little extra flour on the side. Hand kneed the dough for about 5 min.
Put in a bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Let it sit for about 15-20 min. If it's too tough or rubbery, let it sit a few more min.
After 20 min. cut the dough into 8 equal parts. Roll these pieces into balls.* Flatten into a disk and roll into tortillas. It's okay if they're not quite as large as you want them. Cover and let sit another 5-10 min.**
Warm up a cast iron skillet (or a non-stick pan, but honestly, they cook better on cast iron) Keep it dry-don't add oil or anything. Once the pan is nice and hot, slap your tortillas on about 30 seconds on each side (more or less depending on how hot your pan really is). If your pan is hot enough, they'll start to puff up and get big bubbles. Keep the cooked ones warm under a clean kitchen towel until you're ready to eat. them

*If you used a stand mixer to knead, you may need to let them rest a little longer. If your dough is ever too elastic or rubbery, just let it sit a bit longer to relax.
**I have stacked them in between pieces of wax paper and put them in a ziploc in the fridge for a couple hours. It worked just fine after sitting a couple hours, but the next day the final product was a little brittle and not quite chewy.

The Salad: You need a lot of Romaine
Use a pie pan and place a warmed burrito sized tortilla on the bottom. Layer the rice and beans and chicken. Cover with a good amount of chopped crisp ROMAINE lettuce. Add a little cilantro. Put on dressing and guac. to your liking. Squirt lime on top. You can crumble fresh cotija cheese (fresh mexican cheese) on top if you like.

A great topper:
Slice up some corn tortillas and pan or deep fry them till crisp. Salt them. Put them on top. Sometimes we opt out of the bottom tortillas as long as we have some of these.

Enjoy.

Non-soupy Blueberry Pie

2008-06-02T11:21:00.000-07:00

I couldn't find any recipes specifically for frozen blueberries, so I did what I always do and combined a lot of recipes. It turned out better than I could have hoped; it was a very "pure" pie that tasted like blueberries. The filling wasn't overly sweet. I think it could have used a little salt and a little more lemon to bring out the flavors. The filling was not soupy at all, and may have been a tad bit too thick/solid. If you like a nice, solid pie, keep the tapioca to berry ratio 4 Tbsp tapioca to 4 C berries. If you like it a little runnier, I'd probably do 3 Tbsp tapioca to 4 cups berries. It was really easy. I used frozen pie crusts that I made probably 3-4 weeks ago. I just let them thaw on the counter.

Here's the recipe I created:
A Non-Soupy Blueberry pie made with frozen berries

Ingredients

4 C frozen blueberries

¾ C sugar (increase to 1 cup+ if you like really sweet pies-this pie tastes more like fruit than sugar)

3-4 T instant tapioca (4 makes the filling really thick)

1-2 tsp lemon

dash cinnamon
dash nutmeg
dash salt

2 pie crusts (for a great recipe, see this post)

Optional: sugar to dust the top (and food coloring if you want to color it. That's why my pie is colored)

Directions

Partially thaw blueberries by putting them in a strainer and running water over them a few seconds. Transfer to a bowl and mix with sugar and tapioca. Let sit for 15+ min. Mix in remaining ingredients. Spoon into crust. Do what you want with the top crust (lattice, shapes, full crust). Bake (covered with foil) for 30 min. at 425. Uncover top (leave perimeter crust covered) and bake another 10-15 min. Take it out and let it cool. Eat and enjoy.

I would imagine you could make this with any frozen berry, but the sugar and extra seasonings would probably need to be altered according to berry sweetness and flavor...