{dancing with food}

{double chocolate peppermint cookies}

2011-02-08T12:11:00.000-08:00

Over the holidays I went to a friends cookie exchange party and had to come up with something creative to bring along. I found a recipe with the perfect combination of espresso, chocolate and peppermint that didn't look too difficult to put together since. List in hand, I headed to the store knowing that I needed to make 4 dozen cookies. For some crazy reason in my head, I thought all cookie recipes make only ONE dozen. So, naturally, I quadrupled my ingredients. Now, this was not a big deal except in regards to the chocolate chips. The math I did (again in my head) was that I needed to have about 10 bags of chocolate chips. mhm. 10. Wisely, upon returning home, I decided to actually check and see how many this recipe said it yielded...about 50. ehem. Well, I now have enough chocolate to last me the entire year.

Other than my lack of ability to read or do math, this recipe was really easy to do and turned out great! It would be a perfect end to your Valentines Day meal or just to fulfill any chocolate craving you might be having.

You can find the recipe here.

{daring cooks: cassoulet}

2011-01-19T07:33:00.000-08:00

Our January 2011 Challenge comes from Jenni of The Gingered Whisk and Lisa from Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. They have challenged the Daring Cooks to learn how to make a confit and use it within the traditional French dish of Cassoulet. They have chosen a traditional recipe from Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman.

Okay so technically this challenge was to make a confit (any kind of food that has been immersed in any kind of fat for both flavor and preservation) and include it in a cassoulet (a french slow cooked stew). Now, I have to be honest, I had planned to do the garlic confit but in the end decided to skip it. I saw no point to it and decided the dish would be fine without it.

The recipe I chose came from the same source that all of my recent slow cooker dishes have come from: Slow Cooker – The Best Cookbook Ever. Other than the fact that the original recipe did not fit inside my slow cooker thus causing it to boil over a few times, it turned out great! For the final 30 minutes of cooking I transferred the slow cooker insert into the oven to allow the topping to crisp up. I recruited John for this part since it was a bit of a feat...the cassoulet was practically overflowing. We did enjoy it though and it made for some delicious leftovers.

Recipe after the jump

{lamb cassoulet with white beans and rosemary}

recipe adapted from: Slow Cooker: The Best Cookbook Ever by Diane Phillips
serves: 6

ingredients:

2 cans cannelloni beans
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 lb lamb shoulder, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 medium onions
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 medium carrots, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves, finely chopped
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes, with their juice
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups beef broth
1 bay leaf

topping:

1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs
1/2 cup freshly grated parmigiano reggiano cheese
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup finely choppsed fresh parsley

directions:

Place the beans into a 5-7 quart slow cooker. Season cubed lamb with salt and pepper and place into slow cooker.

In a skillet over medium, place the onions, garlic, carrots, celery and rosemary and sauté until the vegetables are softened, 5-7 minutes. Add the tomatoes and 1 cup of the chicken broth to the skillet and heat. Transfer the tomato mixture to the slow cooker and stir in the remaining broths and the bay leaf.

Cover and cook on high for 6-8 hours or low for 10-12 hours, until the beans and lamb are tender.

Combine all the ingredients for the topping in a small bowl while the lamb is cooking. Cover and refrigerate while the dish is cooking.

Uncover the cooker and spoon off any fat on the surface. Taste and adjust with seasoning. Sprinkle the topping over the cassoulet, cover and cook on high another 30 minutes. If you need to, you can pre-heat your oven to 350º and place the slow cooker into the oven for 30 minutes or until the topping is browned.

{creamy tomato bisque}

2011-01-11T10:40:00.000-08:00

I am a HUGE fan of the tomato basil bisque at Dish in Charlotte, NC. Its simply fantastic. Since discovering it, I've been searching for a recipe to try on my own and well, I've found it. Not only is it very simple to put together, but the flavors are incredibly delicious and it does a great job of warming you up on these cold winter nights. Serve it with a grilled cheese sandwich and don't be shy about dipping it in the bisque for extra deliciousness.

I do need to mention that I was not only excited about trying this recipe but was also very exciting because I was able to break in my brand new immersion blender! I might have been a little too excited about this but man did it make puréeing the soup a breeze. If you do not own one (get one! you won't regret it), you can let the soup cool and then transfer it to a blender to puree.

Recipe after the jump

{creamy tomato bisque}

recipe adapted from: Slow Cooker: The Best Cookbook Ever by Diane Phillips
serves: 8

ingredients

two 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried marjoram
1/2 cup chopped red onion
6 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 tsp salt
pinch red pepper flakes
1/2 cup vegetable or chicken broth
1 cup whole-milk ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups soy creamer (can use heavy cream instead)
1/2 cup freshly grated parmigiano reggiano

cheese + bread for the grilled cheese sandwich

directions

Combine the tomatoes, olive oil, basil, marjoram, onion, garlic, salt, red pepper flakes and broth into a 5-7 quart slow cooker.

Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3-4 hours until the tomatoes and onion are softened. Using an immersion blender, purée the soup or, cool and purée in a blender. Whisk in the ricotta, cream and parmigiano reggiano.

Cover and turn temperature to low. Allow the cheese to melt (shouldn't take long at all).

Serve with a grilled cheese sandwich and enjoy!

{a wintry shot}

2011-01-10T07:06:00.000-08:00

Over the xmas holiday we had a lovely staycation that consisted of watching movies, making delicious food, climbing and just enjoying some quietness. We of course also indulged in a few beverages to honor the snow gods that bestowed their loveliness upon us. One of the shots we took to honor them came from a recipe Jamie Oliver created. Now, he used tequila, but I was more in a vodka mood...especially since thats what the snow gods prefer. We combined the vodka with some colorful pomegranate seeds in our frozen shot glasses and shot 'em back. Before swallowing, make sure to chomp down on those pomegranate seeds for a nice burst of flavor.

Recipe after the jump

{xmas shots}

recipe adapted from: Jamie Oliver

ingredients

vodka
pomegranate seeds

directions:

Chill your shot glasses and vodka.

Cut your pomegranate in half and remove the seeds. The best way we've found to do this is to put some water in a small bowl and remove the seeds under water. This protects your eyes from the seeds inevitably bursting.

Fill the bottom part of the chilled shot glass with pomegranate seeds and pour in the ice cold vodka. Make a toast and drink it down!

Cheers!

{creamy loaded baked potato soup}

2011-01-06T16:25:00.000-08:00

Its been nice and chilly outside giving me the perfect opportunity to use my crock pot to make all sorts of stews and soups. This week I attempted a loaded potato soup and I must say that it came out pretty delicious. I was all out of cheddar cheese so there is none in the soup but I felt it tasted just as good as if it had it in there. Leaving it out also made it a good bit healthier! If you have cheese I'd say leave it out of the soup but maybe add a little on top with the sour cream and bacon crumbles. Serve this up with a delicious sandwich or salad and you have a meal to warm you on these cold winter nights.

Recipe after the jump

{creamy loaded baked potato soup}

recipe adapted from: Slow Cooker: The Best Cookbook Ever by Diane Phillips

ingredients:

2 medium leeks, finely chopped, using the white and some of the tender green parts
6 medium yukon gold potatoes
4 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup soy creamer
6 green onions, finely chopped, using the white and some of the tender greens parts

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (optional, I left this out)

8 strips bacon, cooked crisp, drained and crumbled (save some for the topping)
salt and pepper to taste

garnish:
cheddar cheese
bacon crumbles
sour cream

directions:

Combine the leeks, potatoes, chicken broth and some salt and pepper in your slow cooker and cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 5 - 6 hours until the potatoes are tender. Using an immersion blender, purée the soup or cool the soup and purée it in a blender.*

Reduce heat to low and add the soy milk, soy creamer, cheese if you're including it, green onions and bacon. Cover and cook for an additional 1 hour. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve the soup with a bit of sour cream, bacon crumbles and cheddar cheese. Enjoy!

*My immersion blender was on its way to me in the mail so I did the blender method....if you do not cool the soup be super super careful because it will explode hot liquid out the top (I learned the painful way).

{new years quiche}

2011-01-03T06:55:00.000-08:00

{pictured above: our 2010 piratey card}
Happy new year! 2010 was a wonderful year filled with climbing, moving across states, concerts, traveling, baking + cooking and adventure. I realize I slacked off the last few months with posts and am making it a goal this year to post regularly. I have several recipes queued up including some lovely celebratory beverages but I wanted to start this morning off with my very first quiche! I've been wanting to make a quiche for some time now and finally, over our holiday vacation, decided to do it. Its a hybrid of a few recipes since I couldn't find anything with the ingredients I wanted to include and I have to say it came out quite perfectly.

The recipe below can be modified to include pretty much any filling. If you don't want as much prep work, leave out the bacon. Without the bacon the whole time should be about an hour including prep + cooking. If you include the bacon, add another 15 - 30 minutes. I loved making this quiche because it was really simple to put together and the results were amazing. You can easily serve this quiche to 8 people or make it on the weekend and reheat piece by piece for some delicious weekday breakfasts. Enjoy!

Pictures + recipe after the jump

{spinach, bacon, onion + goat cheese quiche}

serves: 8

ingredients

1 (9-inch) frozen pie crust (in pie pan), thawed 10 minutes (or that pre-made dough you just put in your own pan...as you can see I had a cake pan and it worked just fine)
1 medium onion, diced
1-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 bag (16 oz) spinach, chopped
10 slices bacon, crispy
6 eggs
3/4 cup soy milk (any milk will be fine)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
2 ounces soft goat cheese, crumbled

directions

Preheat oven to 400°F. Prick crust all over with a fork. Transfer to a baking sheet and bake 15 minutes (until golden). Set aside and reduce oven temperature to 375°F.

Meanwhile, heat a frying pan on Medium. Once hot, add your bacon and cook until crispy. Drain on paper towel and let cool. Once cool, place on a cutting board and chop. Set aside. Avoid temptation to eat all bacon.

Poor out grease and add diced onion and garlic to the same pan. Cook for 5-7 minutes until caramelization begins. Add chopped spinach to the pan and cook until softened. Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, salt, pepper, oregano and thyme. Add the spinach mixture, chopped bacon and goat cheese. Stir to combine. Pour egg mixture into the baked pie crust and bake until puffed in the center and lightly browned, 40 to 50 minutes. Set aside to let cool until warm or serve at room temperature.

Check out that height!

{daring bakers: rustic apple crostatas}

2010-11-29T06:45:00.000-08:00

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

This months Daring Bakers challenge was crostatas or tarts. Tarts are made up of a sweet short crust pastry dough and either fruit or pastry cream based fillings. With Thanksgiving coming up I decided to make an apple tart and since I had no tart pan, I went for the rustic look (which I think adds to the homeyness of it all). I adapted my filling recipe from Joy of Baking and used one of the pasta frolla recipes provided.

It was quite an adventure.

I wanted to serve the tarts on turkey day which meant I needed to assemble and bake these babies day of. I planed ahead with the hostess to make sure there would be space for me to work/bake and discovered she had three ovens! Awesome. I prepped my pasta frolla the day before and brought it with me along with the rest of the ingredients. After rolling out my dough, filling my tarts and folding over the rustic edges, I was ready to bake. I went to place my pan in the oven and what do you know, it doesn't fit! Not to worry, I thought, I'll go pre-heat the big oven downstairs and bake it in there. So, I place my tarts back in the fridge so they stay firm and run downstairs. Since there was no light indicator as to whether or not the oven was pre-heated, I decided to give it a half hour to get hot. Once the time had passed, I walked downstairs precariously holding my tarts and placed them in the oven...which wasn't really that hot but I figured it would be okay. Using my trusty iphone timer I set it for 30 minutes and walked back upstairs to mingle. The alarm goes off. I happily hop downstairs to check on the tarts and what do you know, the oven was warm enough to keep a plate warm and make my dough gooey. Fantastic. So along with some help I try to transfer the tarts to a smaller baking pan...let me tell you...gooey dough does not transfer. Thankfully, a fellow daring baker was there to advise me (and help me remain calm!) to place the pan back in the fridge to firm up again before transferring it to a smaller pan. This worked wonderfully and we ended up having the tarts with the late night turkey day snack.

Despite the bumps along the way, everything came out pretty delicious. I really loved the crust and the filling was nice and lite. I will definitely be making these again as I thought the whole process was actually fairly simple. Thank you Simona for a fun challenge!

See more pics and the recipe after the jump.
success!!!

{pasta frolla}

ingredients:

1/2 c. minus 1 tablespoon superfine sugar (see Note 1)
1 and 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
a pinch of salt
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
grated zest of half a lemon (you could also use vanilla sugar as an option, see Note 2)
1 large egg and 1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten in a small bowl

{Note 1} Superfine sugar is often also referred to as ultrafine, baker’s sugar or caster sugar. It’s available in most supermarkets. If you cannot find “superfine” sugar, you can make your own by putting some regular granulated sugar in a food processor or blender and letting it run until the sugar is finely ground.

{Note 2} There are different ways of making vanilla sugar. I keep vanilla beans in a jar half-filled with sugar until I need to use them, for example, to make vanilla ice cream. After I remove the split bean from the custard that will go into the ice cream maker, I rinse it, dry it and put it back in the jar with sugar.

Making pasta frolla by hand:

Whisk together sugar, flour and salt in a bowl.

Rub or cut the butter into the flour until the mixture has the consistency of coarse crumbs. You can do this in the bowl or on your work surface, using your fingertips or an implement of choice.

Make a well in the center of the mounded flour and butter mixture and pour the beaten eggs into it (reserve about a teaspoon of the egg mixture for glazing purposes later on – place in the refrigerator, covered, until ready to use).

Add the lemon zest to your flour/butter/egg mixture.

Use a fork to incorporate the liquid into the solid ingredients, and then use your fingertips.

Knead lightly just until the dough comes together into a ball.

Shape the dough into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill for at least two hours. You can refrigerate the dough overnight.

Variation for Version 1 of pasta frolla:

If you want, you can make the pasta frolla using a combination of all-purpose flour and whole-wheat pastry flour.
If you choose to try this variation, use 1 cup [240 ml, 135 g, 4 3/4 oz.] unbleached all-purpose flour and 3/4 cup [180 ml, 100 g, 3.5 oz.] whole-wheat pastry flour.

{apple tart}

recipe adapted from: Joy of Baking
serves: 6-8

ingredients:

6 cups (2 pounds) (about 5 large) apples, peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
2 tablespoons granulated whitesugar
1 tablespoon unsaltedbutter, melted
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg

directions:

Preheat the oven to 375ºF.

Remove chilled pastry from the refrigerator and roll out from the center to about 1/8" thick. A tip for this is to place the dough between two pieces of saran wrap. It will keep the dough from sticking to anything and allow you to easily flip the dough over into your tart pan or onto the baking pan if you're going for the rustic look. If your dough is getting sticky, place it back in the fridge for a few minutes to firm up.

Arrange the apple slices evenly over the pasta frolla leaving a 2 inch border if folding over the crust. Once filled, fold the pastry up and over the apples and pour any leftover butter on top. Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of sugar over the crust and apples if you want it a little sweeter.

If you've made one large tart, bake for 50 - 60 minutes or until the apples are soft and the crust is golden brown. If you've split the dough in half and made two medium size tarts, bake for about 30 minutes until apples are soft and crust is golden brown.

Let cool and serve warm or at room temperature.

{daring bakers: donuts}

2010-10-27T06:36:00.000-07:00

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

So, I have taken a couple month hiatus from daring bakers/cooks as work has picked up and I just needed a break. I am back and ready to go for this months challenge and was very excited when I saw that we get to make donuts! It is a rare treat for me to have a donut...typically just walking by a Krispy Kreme or Dunkin Donuts and smelling the aroma is enough for me to gain 5lbs. The only mandatory item for this months challenge was that we make donuts; they could be any flavor, filling, topping we wanted. Lori was kind enough to include a recipe for pumpkin donuts in this challenge and well, I'm all about some pumpkin in the fall. Pumpkin beer, pumpkin coffee, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies...if pumpkin is in the name, I will eat/drink it. I have never had pumpkin donuts, but well, they sound delightful. This is the first challenge that on the day of posting, I had both the time and ingredients to put it all together! Also, John was coming home from a week long business trip and I thought it would be a fun surprise to have them waiting for him.

The methods used for cooking the donuts in each recipe Lori gave us was to fry them. Since I'm not a fan of a vat of grease and I wanted to make these as "healthy" as possible so I found some recipes online where people baked the donuts. I made a half batch of the pumpkin donut recipe provided (since it is only the two of us indulging) and found a cinnamon glaze recipe for my topping. Since I had a few chocolate chips left over from making pumpkin chocolate chip cookies I decided to add them to half of my recipe to see how that tasted.

The overall process of making the donuts was incredibly simple. Just keep in mind that you need it to chill for at least 3 hours before baking/frying. My end result...to die for as far as taste goes. I could live off of these babies. They did not however maintain their very puffy rounded shape and turned out to look more like cookies. I blame it on using a cookie sheet instead of with a donut mold. Thanks for a great challenge Lori!

Check out pics after the jump.
To see the full recipes and what others did check out The Daring Kitchen.

La batter.

I used a ziplock bag to pipe out my donuts.

aaannnnddd they became cookies.

Yum.

{october daring bakers: stuffed grape leaves}

2010-10-14T20:04:00.000-07:00

Our October 2010 hostess, Lori of Lori’s Lipsmacking Goodness, has challenged The Daring Cooks to stuff grape leaves. Lori chose a recipe from Aromas of Aleppo and a recipe from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food.

For this months challenge we had to make a filling and then stuff and roll it into grape leaves. A Mediterranean restaurant is the only place I've ever eaten stuffed grape leaves before and I've always thought they were pretty delicious. Never once did I think to actually try making them so, I was very interested to see how this would turn out.

Work has gotten pretty busy lately (thus my lack of posting) so when it came to be the week before our post date, I began to wonder if I'd even be able to participate in this challenge. When a friend of mine suggested we tackle this one together and have a full blown Mediterranean meal, I jumped on it. We each brought our ingredients together in order to make the Wara Einab or Dolma (cold stuffed grape leaves). The men grilled the lamb while we separated, filled and rolled the dolmas. It definitely was a process and one I'm glad to not have done on my own. The grape leaves were a bit fragile as the slightest poke of a fingernail tore them. Towards the end we were double wrapping the grape leaves in order to make a whole one. They turned out delicious though and went very well with the hummus, pita, roasted veggies and lamb.

Check out the recipe and what other daring cooks did over at The Daring Kitchen.

See more pics after the jump.

{daring cooks: pierogi}

2010-08-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale.

One of my good friends has been raving about how awesome pierogi are ever since I met her and introduced her to climbing. It seemed like after each climb night she said she was going home to eat pierogi. She was astonished that I had never heard of them or had them before and stated that she had to make them for me. Sadly, I moved before we could set that up so, you can imagine how happy and excited I was to see this months challenge. Finally, I'd get to have pierogi! (kface I've been dying to tell you that it was this months challenge!)

So, what is a pierogi? It is basically a dumpling filled with deliciousness. For the challenge, we had to make the dough and filling from scratch. Pierogi can be either savory or sweet so I chose to lean more to the savory side of things for John's sake. LizG provided a few recipes but said that we should adjust our fillings to include something that represented where we are from. So, my fillings ended up being: twice baked potato, chicken basil pesto and sweet potato. I did manage to sneak in a little sweetness on the last one, but still served it as part of our dinner, not dessert. After all, sweet potato soufflé is usually served as one of the many sides my family consumes during the holidays, even though its sweet enough to be a dessert. I chose these because here in North Carolina, sweet potatoes are a big agriculture product, chicken (which is usually fried in the south) is loved down here, and well, potatoes are just good.

I made a few adjustments to the recipes provided based on what I had on hand and what I could get locally. For the dough, all-purpose is called for but I got away with using whole wheat pastry flour and it came out just fine. I did a double batch of the dough recipe since I wanted to try several different fillings and still had filling left over! Thankfully, this dish is easily frozen and we now have a few bags of pierogi awaiting a night I don't feel like cooking.

In filling them, I found that the potato versions were very easy to do. The chicken version however liked to poke through the dough and cause problems so just a note if you choose to make these with some sort of solid filling. I'd just roll your dough a little thicker to protect it.

Since the recipe made so many, it took a while to fill them all up. I ended up filling what we were eating that night and cooking those first. While they were boiling, I worked on filling the rest. It takes a little time, but for the amount you get, its worth it.

I tried to keep all of the varieties separate from each other so I'd know what I was serving, but after the boiling step they got all mixed together. After boiling them I popped them in a little olive oil and sauteed them up to brown them a bit. This also warmed the ones that had boiled first. I had no sour cream or any idea of what kind of sauce to put them in so we enjoyed these plain. They were delicious! It was kind of like a treasure hunt since we didn't know what we were going to be biting into. John's favorites ended up being the twice baked potato and chicken basil pesto versions. I loved them all.

See more pics and the recipe after the jump. See what other Daring Cooks did here.

{pierogi}

dough

ingredients

2 to 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 large egg
1 teaspoon salt
up to 1 cup lukewarm water (you will probably use all of this if you're using whole wheat flour…if not, then only use enough to make the dough come together)

directions

Place 2 cups flour in a large bowl or on a work surface and make a well in the center. Break the egg into it, add the salt and a little lukewarm at a time. Bring the dough together, kneading well and adding more flour or water as necessary. Cover the dough with a bowl or towel. You’re aiming for soft dough. Let it rest 20 minutes.

twice baked potato filling

ingredients

4 medium potatoes
3/5 cup cheese grated
6 pieces crispy bacon
salt/pepper to taste

directions

Clean, dice and boil your potatoes until fork soft. Drain water and mash it up. Add in your cheese and bacon and continue mixing and mashing. If you have butter or milk (I had none on hand) you can add a little in. Its fine without too.

Set aside.

chicken basil pesto filling

ingredients

1 chicken breast, cubed
olive oil
salt/pepper to taste
1 sprig fresh rosemary

pesto ingredients

1 cup basil leaves
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic
salt/pepper to taste
(nuts + parmesan cheese are usually in pesto. I had none, but feel free to add it in)

directions

Sauté your chicken in a little olive oil with the rosemary, salt and pepper until done.

In a food processor, place all ingredients and whiz until combined.

In a bowl, mix together your chicken and pesto. Set aside.

sweet potato filling

ingredients

1 large sweet potato
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
dash of cayenne

directions

Pre-heat oven to 375º.

Scrub potato and poke several times with a fork. Place in the oven with a pan on the shelf below to catch drippings. Bake for 45 mins - 1 hour until soft.

Once done, carefully peel off the skin. In a bowl, mash it up along with all of the spices. Taste to make sure its to your liking. Set aside.

assembly

On a floured work surface, roll the dough out thinly (1/8”) cut with a 2-inch round or glass (I used the lid of a mason jar). Spoon a portion (teaspoon will be the best) of the filling into the middle of each circle. Fold dough in half and pinch edges together. Using a fork, crimp the edges down to complete the seal. You do not want ANY of the filling sticking out or else you will have a huge mess while cooking. Gather scraps, re-roll and fill. Repeat with remaining dough.

Bring a large, low saucepan of salted water to boil. Drop in the pierogi, not too many, only single layer in the pan! Its best to do one kind of filling at a time. Return to the boil and reduce heat. When the pierogi rise to the surface, continue to simmer a few minutes more (usually about 5 minutes). Remove one dumpling with a slotted spoon and taste if ready. When satisfied, remove remaining pierogi from the water.

Serve immediately or sauté in a pan with a little olive oil to crisp them up. Cold pierogi can be fried.

To freeze, you can either boil them al dente or just stick them straight in the freezer once assembled. I laid them all out on a cookie sheet and let them freeze a few hours before bagging them up. When ready to eat, place straight from freezer into boiling pot of salted water and cook until done. Don't unfreeze before boiling or there will be a mess of dough.

{daring bakers: swiss swirl ice cream cake}

2010-07-27T12:39:00.000-07:00

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

Upon first sight of this months swiss swirl ice cream cake challenge, my thoughts were as follows: I get to make ice cream!!! Wait. I have to make swiss rolls as well? Like those little debbie ones I loved as a kid? And then combine it all?! Okay, a kid HAD to have made this up and then an adult just made it pretty...who else would have come up with combining swiss rolls and ice cream but a kid?

So, yes, that was my thought process pretty much exactly. I was very excited to get started so I began brainstorming my dream combinations of ice cream flavors. Strawberry + lemon, blueberry + lemon, mint + chocolate, mint chocolate + coffee, mint + chocolate cinnamon, chocolate coffee + mint...the list went on. I have determined that I will make all of these flavors at some point or another. For this challenge though, I chose to do a chocolate espresso + mint ice cream along with a mint cream filled swiss roll.

It was quickly evident that I would not be able to make this dessert with entirely locally sourced ingredients so, I did the best I could and at least used my own fresh mint from my container garden. My other challenge was that I am a bit lactose intolerant which is very sad as I LOVE ice cream. I do sometimes indulge in the occasional ben & jerry's just to ya know, "test" my stomach out. I savor every single bite and then about 5 minutes later, immediately regret my decision. Thankfully, a friend of mine has the book The Vegan Scoup on her iPad and was able to send me over a few of the recipes I needed to make my concoction. Let me tell you, ice cream is incredible simple to make without an ice cream maker! You just need to have an entire day that you will be home so you can babysit it. Totally worth it in my opinion.

As this challenge had so many components (the ice cream (two versions!), swiss rolls, hot fudge sauce and then assembly which had several steps of letting it freeze for hours) I had to break it down into a several day process so that my brain wouldn't explode. I started with the chocolate espresso ice cream to make sure it would work. It did. I enjoyed a bowl that evening. The following day I made the mint ice cream. Delicious. The green leaves even turned the ice cream a light mint color! I then took a day of rest to build my courage to create the swiss roll as I'd heard too many horror stories with it not working from other daring bakers.

Took another day to build more courage.

Finally got the courage to try it on the 5th day and was very hopeful. I'd read all sorts of tips from others and felt I was ready to face the challenge. Everything mixed nicely and remained fluffy. It baked beautifully. It even came off of the parchment paper without too much trouble. I was feeling very happy and wondered what all the fuss had been about. I rolled it up nicely in my towel and left it to cool for the two hours recommended. A few minutes before it was ready to be filled I made my mint cream filling and then sat down to do my unrolling. It went okay as I unrolled but I noticed it cracking a bit. I figured it was okay and kept on going. Added the mint filling and began to roll it back up without the towel this time and well...DISASTER. A thin amount stuck to the towel and did not come up which caused the cake to crack even worse. Lets just say at this point, the day before our challenge is due, I just gave up and kept on rolling it. Somehow I got it wrapped in plastic and placed in the freezer hoping it would take some shape and allow me to cut it. Thankfully it did and I was able to slice it up nicely and begin assembling the masterpiece.

The assembly process was fairly easy, it just took forever for each layer to freeze. I must say that the end result was absolutely worth the long drawn out saga. The flavors combined delightfully in my mouth and I think I could eat this every day. In the end, I don't know if I'd ever make this entire thing again. I will definitely be making more ice creams, but just not sure about doing the whole thing all over again. Thank you Sunita for an awesome challenge! It was perfect for this ridiculous summer heat we've been having.

Visit the Daring Kitchen for the original recipes and see what others created. Check out more pics and my recipes below the jump!

{swiss roll}

The Swiss rolls: Preparation time: 10 minutes Baking time: 10 - 12 minutes Rolling and cooling time: at least 30 minutes Filling: 5 - 8 minutes Filling and rolling: 5 - 10 minutes

ingredients

for the cake

6 medium sized eggs
1 C caster sugar + extra for rolling
6 TBS. whole wheat pastry flour + 5 TBS. natural unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted together
2 TBS. boiling water
a little oil for brushing the pans

for the filling

2 C whipping cream
1 vanilla pod, cut into small pieces of about 1⁄2 cm (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
5 TBS. caster sugar
handful of fresh mint leaves

for the cake

Pre-heat the oven at 200 deg C /400 deg F approximately. Brush the baking pans (11 inches by 9 inches) with a little oil and line with greaseproof baking paper. If you have just one pan, bake one cake and then let the pan cool completely before using it for the next cake.

In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar and beat till very thick; when the beaters are lifted, it should leave a trail on the surface for at least 10 seconds.

Add the flour mixture, in three batches and fold in gently with a spatula. Fold in the water.

Divide the mixture among the two baking pans and spread it out evenly, into the corners of the pans.

Place a pan in the center of the pre-heated oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes or till the center is springy to the touch.

Spread a kitchen towel on the counter and sprinkle a little caster sugar over it.

Turn the cake on to the towel and peel away the baking paper. Trim any crisp edges.

Starting from one of the shorter sides, start to make a roll with the towel going inside. Cool the wrapped roll on a rack, seam side down.

Repeat the same for the next cake as well.

for the filling

Grind together the vanilla pieces, mint leaves and sugar in a food processer till nicely mixed together. If you are using vanilla extract, just grind the sugar and mint and then add the mixture and extract to the cream.

In a large bowl, add the cream and vanilla-mint-sugar mixture and beat till very thick.

Divide the cream mixture between the completely cooled cakes.

Open the rolls and spread the cream mixture, making sure it does not go right to the edges (a border of 1⁄2 an inch should be fine).

Roll the cakes up again, this time without the towel. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge till needed, seam side down.

{chocolate espresso ice cream}

makes: 1 quart

ingredients

1 cup soymilk, divided
2 tbs. arrowroot powder
2 cups soy creamer
3/4 cup cane sugar
3/4 cup fresh, strong espresso
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 tbs. vanilla extract

directions

In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup of the soymilk with arrowroot and set aside.

Mix soy creamer, remaining 3/4 cup soymilk, sugar, espresso, cocoa powder and chocolate chips in a saucepan. Stirring frequently over low heat, melt the chocolate chips, then bring to a boil. Once mixture begins to boil, remove from heat and immediately add arrowroot cream. This will cause the liquid to thicken noticeably.

Add vanilla extract.

Pour into the container you plan to freeze the ice cream in (I used a gallon size plastic container). Set this into an ice bath to cool the ice cream. Once cool, cover and place into your freezer. After about 45 minutes, using a spatula, stir the starting to freeze sides into the mix. Do this every 30 minutes until frozen. It can take a while so be sure you'll be home and set your timer.

{mint ice cream}

makes: 1 quart

ingredients

1 cup soymilk, divided
2 tbs. arrowroot powder
3 tbs. chopped, packed fresh mint
2 cups soy creamer
3/4 cup cane sugar
1 tbs. vanilla extract

directions

In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup of the soymilk with arrowroot and set aside.

In a food processor, blend remaining 3/4 cup soymilk and mint until smooth. Set aside.

Mix soy creamer, mint-milk blend and sugar in a saucepan and cook over low heat. Once mixture begins to boil, remove from heat and immediately add arrowroot cream. This will cause the liquid to thicken noticeably.

Add vanilla extract.

Pour into the container you plan to freeze the ice cream in (I used a gallon size plastic container). Set this into an ice bath to cool the ice cream. Once cool, cover and place into your freezer. After about 45 minutes, using a spatula, stir the starting to freeze sides into the mix. Do this every 30 minutes until frozen. It can take a while so be sure you'll be home and set your timer.

{hot fudge sauce}

Preparation time: 2 minutes
Cooking time: 2 minutes

ingredients

1 C caster sugar
3 TBS. natural unsweetened cocoa powder
2 TBS. cornstarch
1 1⁄2 C water
1 TBS. butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

directions

In a small saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, corn flour and water.

Place the pan over heat, and stir constantly, till it begins to thicken and is smooth (for about 2 minutes).

Remove from heat and mix in the butter and vanilla. Keep aside to cool.

{assembly}

Cut the Swiss rolls into 20 equal slices (approximately 3/4" each).

Cover the bottom and sides of the bowl in which you are going to set the dessert with cling film/plastic wrap.

Arrange two slices at the bottom of the pan, with their seam sides facing each other. Arrange the Swiss roll slices up the bowl, with the seam sides facing away from the bottom, to cover the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till the slices are firm (at least 30 minutes).

Soften the vanilla ice cream. Take the bowl out of the freezer, remove the cling film cover
and add the ice cream on top of the cake slices. Spread it out to cover the bottom and sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till firm (at least 1 hour).

Add the fudge sauce over the vanilla ice cream, cover and freeze till firm. (at least an hour)

Soften the chocolate ice cream and spread it over the fudge sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4-5 hours till completely set.

Remove the plastic cover, and place the serving plate on top of the bowl. Turn it upside down and remove the bowl and the plastic lining. If the bowl does not come away easily, wipe the outsides of the bowl with a kitchen towel dampened with hot water. The bowl will come away easily.

Keep the cake out of the freezer for at least 10 minutes before slicing, depending on how hot your region is. Slice with a sharp knife, dipped in hot water.

{resources}

- rolling a swiss roll
- making a swiss roll
- making ice cream without an ice cream maker
- easy chocolate ice cream
- vanilla ice cream

{daring cooks: nut butter}

2010-07-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a recipe. Their sources include Better with Nut Butter by Cooking Light Magazine, Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds, and Food Network online.

I was really looking forward to this months challenge of making a nut butter and then using it in an entree So was John. He was ready for a daring cooks challenge that was super savory and this one was it. The challengers gave us several recipe options to use our nut butters in. The nut butters could be made of peanuts, cashews, almonds or whatever nut we wanted. I had just made some peanut butter and as peanuts are easy to get locally, I went with that for my nut butter. You can check out my previous post on making peanut butter here. For my entree, I chose to go with the Asian Noodle Salad with Peanut Dressing recipe. Let me tell you, I could eat that dressing by the spoonful! It was absolutely one of the best things I've ever tasted and paired with the rest of the ingredients, it was wonderful. I highly recommend making this sauce and just spooning it over everything you eat. The recipe made more dressing than was necessary for the dish but it refrigerates well and can be used in a variety of other dishes.

In order to make this dish entirely local, I switched up some of the ingredients to make my own version. I loved how easy it was to make it from all local and fresh ingredients...it really added to the scrumptiousness of it all. The sauce would not have been easy to make using all local ingredients except that I already had the soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar and ground ginger on hand.

Since beginning our locavore challenge, we have run out of noodles so, for the first time in my life, I made from scratch pasta! I was super excited to give this a try and found a simple recipe over at the Food Network website. It required a good bit of kneading with gave my forearms a workout. I'm sad to say they were even sore the following day! I am so happy I'm climbing again now that we've moved one mile from the climbing gym. I will no longer be shamed by making pasta again. Anyway, I have no pasta roller so this stuff had to be rolled out with my awesome long rolling pin. I think it needed to be a little thinner but my arms were done. The pasta on its own was pretty delicious and a lot of fun to make. I did a half recipe of the pasta since that was all the flour I had left. It made plenty to serve us four times.

To get the original recipe and other options we had, check out The Daring Kitchen.

See my version of the recipe after the jump

{asian noodle salad with peanut dressing}

serves: 4

peanut butter

ingredients

1 cup peanuts (If you start with 1 cup nuts, you’ll get about 1/2 cup nut butter.)
1 teaspoons vegetable oil (or peanut oil)
salt to taste

to make the peanut butter

Grind peanuts in food processor for about 2 minutes until smooth. Add in the oil as needed. If you bought unsalted peanuts you can add salt in to taste. If you have salted peanuts, then no extra salt is needed.

peanut dressing

ingredients

2 teaspoons ground ginger
8 cloves garlic, more or less to taste, chopped
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons vinegar
3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon water

to make the dressing

Combine ginger, garlic, peanut butter, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, sesame oil, and water in food processor or blender. Process/blend until smooth. Be sure to process long enough to puree the ginger and garlic. The dressing should be pourable, about the same thickness as cream.

Adjust consistency (thinner or thicker) to your liking by adding more water or peanut butter. If the peanut butter was unsalted, you may want to add salt to taste. Makes about 1 1/2 cups dressing. Store any leftover dressing in the refrigerator.

fresh egg pasta

makes 1 pound (I cut the recipe in half when I did it and it made enough to serve 4. Below is the full recipe)
recipe source: Food Network

ingredients

3 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour plus 1/2 cup
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon olive oil

to make the pasta

Make a mound of the flour in the center of a large wooden cutting board. Make a well in the middle of the flour and add the eggs, oil and any other flavoring you choose. Using a fork, beat together the eggs, oil and flavorings and begin to incorporate the flour starting with the inner rim of the well. As you expand the well, keep pushing the flour up to retain the well shape. Do not worry that this initial phase looks messy. The dough will come together when 1/2 of the flour is incorporated.

Start kneading the dough with both hands, using the palms of your hands primarily. Once you have a cohesive mass, remove the dough from the board and scrape up any left over crusty bits.

Lightly flour the board and continue kneading for 3 more minutes. The dough should be elastic and a little sticky. Continue to knead for another 3 minutes, remembering to dust your board when necessary. Wrap the dough in plastic and allow to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature. Note: do not skip the kneading or resting portion of this recipe, they are essential for a light pasta.

Once time is up, roll out the pasta as thinly as you can on a lightly floured surface. Cut into desired shapes. Fresh pasta only needs about 3 - 4 minutes to cook until its done so it can be made right at the end of this entire dish.

noodle salad

ingredients

1/2 pound linguine
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 lb sirloin steak, cut into cubes
1 large zucchini
1 medium yellow squash
1/4 cup scallions, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

to make the noodle salad

Heat oil in large non-stick pan over medium heat. Add steak to the pan and sauté with a little of the peanut dressing until done (about 10 minutes depending on thickness).

Add zucchini, squash, basil and scallions to another pan over medium heat with a little olive oil. Cook until veggies are soft.

to assemble

Slice basil into thin ribbons. Combine cooked noodles, veggie mixture and basil in a large bowl. Add about 1/2 cup peanut dressing; toss gently to coat. Scatter beef on top and drizzle a little more peanut dressing as desired. Top with more fresh basil and enjoy this delightful dish.

{vegetable + meatball soup}

2010-06-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

This is my second attempt at a vegetable soup and I think I finally got it right. This soup was absolutely delicious and I think one of the best things I've ever made. Since I had ground beef I decided to add a few meatballs to the mix but you could easily leave them out and sub a vegetable stock for the chicken stock to make this vegan. You could really put any veggies you have on hand into this and it will come out good.

Recipe and pics after the jump

vegetable + meatball soup

serves: 4 - 5

ingredients

for the soup

1/3 cup red wine
3 cups chicken stock
2 cups water
10 small - medium carrots
1 medium onion
4 garlic cloves
4 - 5 small - medium potatoes, in 1 inch cubes
1 cup beet greens (could use kale, spinach or other green)
handful of parsley plus some for garnish
1 tablespoon basil (can add more to taste)
1 tablespoon oregano (can add more to taste)
salt + pepper to taste
4 - 5 medium tomatoes, diced
corn from 2 cobs (easily could do more!)

for the meatballs (makes about 20 small meatballs)

1/2 lb ground beef
salt + pepper to taste
2 tsp basil
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp all spice
1/4 cup red wine to cook with

time: Should take about 15- 20 minutes of prep work and 30 - 40 minutes to cook.

to make the meatballs

In a bowl, mix the meat with all of the spices and a few dashes of salt + pepper. Form into 20 small balls.

On medium heat add the red wine to a pan. Once heated up, add in the meatballs and cook until done. Might need a little more wine depending on size of your balls.

to make the soup

Chop the carrots, onions and garlic. Place into a large pan and cook with a little olive oil on medium heat until carrots get more translucent.

In a large pot, place the chicken stock, water, few dashes of salt and cubed potatoes. Bring to a boil.

In a bowl, place the chopped greens, spices, tomatoes and corn. Once the water has come to a boil, add in the rest of the ingredients (including the wine) and stir bringing it to a simmer. After a few minutes, taste it to see if it needs anymore of the seasoning. I kinda added in more salt, basil and oregano as I felt it was needed so you'll want to do the same to your tastes.

The soup is ready once the potatoes are fork soft. Add in your meatballs, give it a stir and serve. Garnish with some parsley and enjoy!

{local pops}

2010-06-28T07:54:00.000-07:00

Summer is here and with that comes the lovely days of 90 and 100º weather. Blech. Thankfully, I found some recipes out there to make fruit popsicles that are both healthy and refreshing. I was inspired by these delicious looking treats and decided to use the raspberries and blueberries I'd picked up at the market to try my own version. You could make these without adding any sweetener but I had some local honey on hand and decided to add in just enough to take out the bite...especially with the raspberries. I highly recommend using molds that have no funky shapes or dips like I did with my raspberry molds...it made it terribly difficult to get out of the glass after it had frozen. My favorite was the blueberry version...perfectly refreshing and scrumptious. The raspberry version ended up not having quite enough honey in it so it had a little bit of a bite. If you make these, just taste them once its all mixed up before putting into the molds to make sure the sweetness factor is to your liking. As we are moving south this week, these will definitely become a staple in our freezer to help us survive the hot summer months.

Recipe and pics after the jump

local pops

serves: depending on size of mold, 4 - 6

ingredients

1 pint blueberries
1 pint raspberries
honey
molds (glasses, yogurt cups, actual popsicle molds)
sticks or spoons

You could really use any berries or fruit you have on hand to do this. Simply place the fruit into a food processor or blender and puree. Add in a teaspoon of honey, mix and taste to make sure its to your liking. I only had small juice glasses to use as a mold but you could use yogurt cups if you've got any. Place sticks in the center of the mold and freeze. If your spoons won't stay in the middle, put your mold into the freezer for an hour or so. Then as it freezes up a bit, place spoon in the middle. To remove from mold, run under cool water for a little. This loosens the edges just enough for you to pop it out and enjoy.

{june daring bakers: blueberry pavlovas}

2010-06-27T08:52:00.000-07:00

The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard

This months challenge was to make chocolate pavlovas and chocolate mascarpone mousse. As I am trying to make each challenge using as local of ingredients as possible, I am happy to say that I only had to go out and buy the heavy cream and mascarpone cheese. Granted, we did make mascarpone cheese in the Tiramisu daring bakers challenge back in February, but I really didn't want to go through the trouble and end up with butter again so I bought it instead. I discovered that yes indeed, I had made it incorrectly during that challenge...oh well. So, getting back to this challenge, at the market last Saturday I discovered that blueberries had come into season. I was so excited that I bought several pints...these have to be the best blueberries I've ever eaten in my life. For the challenge I decided to use them to make a blueberry meringue, blueberry mouse and the mascarpone cream drizzle.

I decided to do a half recipe since it was going to only be John and I eating this. Sadly, we still had too much. My changes to the original recipe were basically doing a straight substitute of the chocolate for the blueberries. To prepare them, I simply pureed them in my tiny food processor so that they would mix well with all of the other ingredients. The nice thing about this dessert was that it was fairly easy to make and put together. The longest portion was waiting on the merengues to cook but let me tell you, crispy blueberry merengues absolutely melt in your mouth. It was like cotton candy in crunch form. I would have been fine just making and eating those! The mouse was also pretty delicious and the blueberys flavor came through nicely. It all combined to make an absolute delight in the mouth. John, who doesn't usually enjoy sugary sweets, LOVED these.

Check out the pics and recipe after the jump

{blueberry pavlovas}

blueberry meringue

ingredients

3 large egg whites
1⁄2 cup plus 1 tbsp white granulated sugar
1⁄4 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/3 cup blueberries pureed

directions

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 200o F (95o C) degrees. Line two baking sheets with silpat or parchment and set aside.

Put the egg whites in a bowl and whip until soft peaks form. Increase speed to high and gradually add granulated sugar about 1 tbsp at a time until stiff peaks form. (The whites should be firm but moist.)

Sift the confectioner’s sugar over the egg whites and pour in the blueberries. Fold the ingredients into the white. (This looks like it will not happen. Fold gently and it will eventually come together.)

Fill a pastry bag with the meringue. Pipe the meringue into whatever shapes you desire. Alternatively, you could just free form your shapes and level them a bit with the back of a spoon.

Bake for 2-3 hours until the meringues become dry and crisp. Cool and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

blueberry mascarpone mousse

ingredients

1 1⁄2 cups heavy cream
1 cup blueberries pureed
1 2/3 cupsmascarpone
pinch of nutmeg
2 tbsp rum

directions

Put 1⁄2 cup of the heavy cream and the lemon zest in a saucepan over medium high heat. Once warm, add the blueberries and whisk until melted and smooth. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and let sit at room temperature until cool.

Place the mascarpone, the remaining cup of cream and nutmeg in a bowl. Whip on low for a minute until the mascarpone is loose. Add the rum and whip on medium speed until it holds soft peaks. (DO NOT OVERBEAT AS THE MASCARPONE WILL BREAK.)

Mix about 1⁄4 of the mascarpone mixture into the blueberries to lighten. Fold in the remaining mascarpone until well incorporated. Fill a pastry bag with the mousse. Again, you could just free form mousse on top of the pavlova.

mascarpone cream (for drizzling)

ingredients

1 recipe crème anglaise
1⁄2 cup mascarpone
1⁄2 cup heavy cream

directions

Prepare the crème anglaise. Slowly whisk in the mascarpone and the Sambucca and let the mixture cool. Put the cream in a bowl and beat with electric mixer until very soft peaks are formed. Fold the cream into the mascarpone mixture.

crème anglaise (a component of the mascarpone cream above)

ingredients

1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
6 large egg yolks
6 tbsp sugar

directions

In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture turns pale yellow.

Combine the milk, cream and vanilla in a saucepan over medium high heat, bringing the mixture to a boil. Take off the heat.

Pour about 1⁄2 cup of the hot liquid into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly to keep from making scrambled eggs. Pour the yolk mixture into the pan with the remaining cream mixture and put the heat back on medium. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens enough to lightly coat the back of a wooden spoon. DO NOT OVERCOOK.

Remove the mixture from the heat and strain it through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl. Cover and refrigerate until the mixture is thoroughly chilled, about 2 hours or overnight.

assembly

Pipe the mousse onto the pavlovas and drizzle with the mascarpone cream over the top. Dust with confectioner’s sugar and fresh fruit if desired.

{potato, squash and goat cheese gratin}

2010-06-24T11:45:00.000-07:00

As more items are becoming available at our local farmers market, I'm having to stretch my imagination further to figure out what to make with it all. Its not that there are no recipes out there, on the contrary, there are too many and I can't choose. The other issue I've been having is in trying to stretch our meat supply since it tends to be the more expensive portion of our weekly food budget. I've been able to successfully make a couple vegetarian dishes a week that John approves of and fills us up adequately. However, since we are not vegetarians and I've never done much vegetarian cooking, I'm having a difficult time knowing where to look and knowing if the dish will be filling enough. Thankfully, the other day as I was surfing around on The Kitchen, I found this delicious looking vegetarian dish using ingredients I had picked up from the market. I decided to add some onions into the mix and only used about one third of the cheese it called for since I was saving the rest for the summer pizza. Served with a salad, the meal ended up being quite filling and we were able to get 3 servings out of it. It would work great as a side dish as well, but we were both pleased with it as the main course. I would add all of the cheese it calls for though as it will only make it taste better.

Recipe and pics after the jump

potato, squash, and goat cheese gratin

recipe source: the Kitchen
serves: 6 as a side, 3 - 4 as main dish

ingredients

2 medium yellow squash
4 small to medium red potatoes
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 ounces goat cheese
salt and pepper
1/4 cup soy milk
1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (we didn't have this)
1 tablespoon thinly sliced basil, for garnish

directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Use a mandoline or chef's knife, slice the squash and potatoes into very, very thin slices, 1/8-inch or less. Toss the sliced vegetables with the olive oil in a large bowl.

Pour a small drizzle of olive oil in a casserole dish (around 8 or 9 inches square) and spread it around the bottom and sides. Place 1/3 of the squash and potato slices in the bottom of the dish—no need to layer them squash-potato-squash-etc.—then season with salt and pepper. Top with half of the goat cheese, scattered evenly in large chunks. Repeat with another 1/3 of the vegetables, seasoning again with salt and pepper and topping with the other 1/2 of the goat cheese. Finish by layering on the final 1/3 of the vegetables and seasoning with salt and pepper.

Pour the milk over the entire dish. Top with the parmesan cheese. Bake, covered, for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake 15 more minutes, until the top browns. Scatter on the fresh basil and enjoy.

{summer pizza}

2010-06-24T11:03:00.000-07:00

We are a huge fan of pizza. Me even more so because its one of the simplest things to put together for dinner and it usually comes out tasting quite delicious. Also, I can usually make it entirely vegetarian and John doesn't complain. I call this one the summer pizza because it uses delicious ingredients that are in season during the summer (creative, I know): yellow squash, tomatoes + onions. Paired with some fresh basil and goat cheese this pizza will just melt in your mouth. Since I'm more a fan of thin crust I found a recipe that required no yeast and no rising time and adapted it to what I had on hand. The original recipe can be found here. I'm not entirely sure what salad oil is so I used olive oil instead. Below the jump is my version of the pizza crust recipe and pizza.

Pics and recipe after the jump

summer pizza

serves 2

for the crust

1 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup soy milk (whatever milk you have will work)
2 tablespoons + a little more (for brushing) olive oil

to make the crust

Pre-heat oven to 425°F.

Place all ingredients (except 2nd amount of salad oil) into a bowl and stir until mixed.

Gather the dough into your hands and shape into a ball. Then knead dough in bowl 10 times to make smooth.

On lightly floured surface roll into a circle or rectangle (depends on what kind of pan you are using) and place on lightly greased or nonstick pan. Brush the dough with remaining 2T of olive oil. Set aside for toppings.

for the toppings

1 medium yellow squash, sliced thinly
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
salt + pepper to taste
handful of fresh basil
1 medium tomato, sliced
4 oz. goat cheese

In a pan with a little olive oil, salt + pepper to taste, sauté the sliced onion and yellow squash together until slightly browned.

On the prepared crust place the basil, squash + onion mixture and sliced tomatoes. Crumble the goat cheese on top and place into a preheated oven. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes until done. Slice and enjoy!

{stuffed yellow squash}

2010-06-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

Yellow squash is in season! Yay for color and something new! I've seen several stuffed squash recipes that looked delicious so I figured it would be easy to mix up something on my own. I have to say that this recipe turned out just wonderfully. In fact, we have now added it to our list of favorites. We ate this on its own and it was just barely filling enough. Next time I think I'll add in a side of veggies or a salad to help complete the meal even more.

The goat cheese added a nice flavor to the overal taste but when I try this again, I think adding in even more goat cheese and/or sour cream will help keep the meat a little more moist. Once I had combined all of the ingredients, I realized that I could have gotten away with using even less than 1/4 lb of beef since there were so many other things going into the mix. As the summer veggies continue to come into season, I think we will be trying several different variations of this...I could see using chicken, tomatoes, zucchini and peppers with some italian spices. mmmm, I'm hungry.

Recipe after the jump

stuffed yellow squash

serves 4

ingredients

4 medium yellow squash
5 small to medium carrots
1/4 lb ground beef
1 onion
1/2 cup parsley (I used the carrot top for this)
1 cup beat greens (you could use kale, spinach or whatever green you like)
couple dashes of cinnamon
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup goat cheese (or any soft cheese)
salt to taste
pepper to taste

directions

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Slice the squash in half and scoop out the seeds to make a hole for the stuffing. Spray with a little olive oil and place onto a cookie sheet.

In a pan, cook the ground beef until done. Drain and add in the beat greens. Toss around and season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

In a bowl, place the chopped carrots, onion, parsley, sour cream, goat cheese, cinnamon, salt, pepper and meat mixture. Stir until combined.

Scoop mixture into the hallowed out squash and bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until the squash is fork soft.

{ketchup}

2010-06-21T10:20:00.000-07:00

Ketchup is a staple ingredient in our household. As we began the locavore challenge, one of our rules was that we would not go to the store before hand to stock up on anything...we would just continue on with what we had on hand and when it ran out either make it or do without. Well, last week we ran out of ketchup and now that potatoes are coming into season, well, we must have ketchup. John has taken on the responsibility to create any condiments or staple items that we might need such as chicken stock and in this case ketchup. So, on Saturday we drove out to a nearby market located on the side of the road that had plenty of delicious looking red tomatoes. Granted, it is not quite tomato season up here, but this farmer uses a hothouse to grow them during the off-season. We bought 10 tomatoes and headed home to test out our new recipe.

We chose to cut the original recipe into thirds and saw in some other recipes that people had added in some sweetness so we did a hybrid of recipes. We forgot to time how long it took to reduce the mixture a ketchup consistency but it was a while. It was definitely cool to see it go from liquid to a nice thickness. The smells from the spices filled our house with deliciousness. Unfortunately, since we only used one cup of the vinegar it evaporated within the 30 minutes of simmering so, we recommend only simmering it for about 15 minutes. Since the vinegar disappeared, we thought we could just adding another cup into the spice mixture and it would be okay...well once that was added to the tomatoes lets just say that the ketchup had a nice bite of vinegar. Thats when we saw that other people's recipes added in brown sugar or maple syrup so, we decided to give it a try thinking that it might help out with the overpowering of the vinegar. It definitely helped but there is still a strong vinegar taste to it.

The original recipe called for a tablespoons of paprika which we didn't have. We did have cayenne and thought it would be a good substitution for the paprika. We put in a couple teaspoons of cayenne and whew!! spicey! Next time, we will just add a couple dashes.

All in all, it was a fun experiment and we will definitely use the ketchup we made until its gone. Next time I believe we will try a different recipe.

Recipe and pics after the jump

ketchup

recipe source: alibi.com
serving: a little more than one jars worth

ingredients

10 fresh tomatoes
1 medium onion
1 cup vinegar
1 stick cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1/3 head of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon agave nectar
cayenne to taste
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp agave nectar

directions

This recipe can take a while to make because of the time needed to reduce the mixture to a ketchup consistency.

Slice the onions place in food processor or blender. Add tomatoes and liquefy.

Place mixture in pot and simmer the mixture for about half an hour. Then push it through a food sieve or food mill. Get everything but the skins and seeds through…this might take a little work.

Return mixture to the pot and simmer slowly, stirring often.

In a different pot, simmer the vinegar (we used apple cider vinegar) with the cinnamon, cloves and garlic. After 15 minutes, kill the heat under the vinegar.

When the tomato-and-onion mixture has almost reached the consistency of ketchup (this can take a while), filter out the spices by pouring the vinegar mixture through a strainer and into the pot.

At this point, add in the cayenne to taste, brown sugar and agave nectar. The vinegar will dilute the ketchup slightly; continue to simmer until it's thick.

Pour into desired container and enjoy! Should have a shelf life of about 2 months.

{daring cooks: pâtés and bread}

2010-06-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

Our hostesses this month, Evelyne of Cheap Ethnic Eatz, and Valerie of a The Chocolate Bunny, chose delicious pate with freshly baked bread as their June Daring Cook’s challenge! They’ve provided us with 4 different pate recipes to choose from and are allowing us to go wild with our homemade bread choice.

I've been having so much fun with all of the Daring Bakers challenges that this month I signed up for Daring Cooks. John was particularly happy about this as he prefers the savory over the sweet. hehe Daring Bakers has been my excuse to actually have sweet things around so I figured he deserved a little something too.

Our challenge for this month looked very interesting and was something I've never experienced before. A pâté is basically a meat or veggie based paste that can then be spread onto bread or served with crackers. The meat versions are usually made with liver or gizzards which was just not something that I could stomach making so, I opted for the veggie version. My goal was to create a tricolor vegetable pâté using as many local ingredients as possible.

On a visit to our farmers market this morning we discovered so many more vegetables available! Yellow squash, zucchini, brocoli and garlic were just a few items we were able to pick up. So very happy about the variety being harvested right now! With all of my fresh ingredients in hand I went to figuring out the recipe I'd be able to make for the challenge.

Beans are not something that I can find at my farmers market and peppers are not quite in season so I knew those two layers had to be adapted. Most seasonal ingredients tend to taste good together so I chose to go with a zucchini top layer, carrot and goat cheese middle layer and the basil pesto as my bottom layer. Individually it all tasted pretty good and as as a medley, it was delicious. Since its only John and I, I did a half recipe for the top two layers but a full recipe of the pesto...you can never have too much pesto.

For the bread I used a recipe from my Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day cookbook. The honey whole wheat baguette turned out super delicious and was great with the vegetable pâté. It would also taste great served on crackers or with raw veggies. The taste of the pate was so very refreshing...I think I could eat it simply spread on a sandwich slice as my lunch.

I really enjoyed this challenge and it was relatively simple to adapt and create a completely local and seasonal pâté. It was pretty quick and easy to put together which is great since for the next month, my life will be consumed with watching all of the world cup soccer games! GO USA!! Definitely give the recipe a try, it works great as a snack while watching the matches. For the meat based pâtés, original tricolor veggie pâté and baguette recipes, check them out at the Daring Kitchen.

Recipe and pics after the jump

{tricolor vegetable pâté}

Yields one 10 by 5 inch loaf pan (1/2 recipe yields two ramekins)
Fresh produce from the farmers market.

zucchini layer

ingredients

2 large zucchini
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp minced fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried
2 garlic cloves, pressed

directions

Peel, slice and saute zucchini in a little bit of olive oil for about 10 - 15 minutes until soft. Alternatively, you could slice in half and bake in the oven at 400º until soft. Let them cool.

Add lemon juice, olive oil, oregano and garlic and blend in food processor until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Spread bean mixture evenly on bottom of prepared pan.

carrot layer

ingredients

2 bunches (16 medium to small sized) of carrots
3/4 cup (about 4 ounces) crumbled goat cheese (could use feta or your favorite soft cheese)

directions

Slice carrots into small pieces and saute until they become soft. Let cool.

Combine carrots and goat cheese in processor and blend until smooth.

pesto layer

ingredients

2 garlic cloves
1 cup fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts (I did not have these and it tastes just fine without them)
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup goat cheese

directions

Mince garlic in processor. Add basil and continue mincing. Gradually add oil and process until smooth. Mix in the cheese.

to assemble

Line dish or ramekins with plastic wrap so it overlaps the sides. Spread zucchini layer evenly in the bottom then spread the carrot and cheese layer on top of that. Finally, spread your basil pesto on the very top and smooth evenly. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or at least 8 hours before serving.

To unmold, invert pâté onto serving platter. Peel off plastic wrap from pâté. Garnish with herb sprigs and serve with bread slices.
Honey whole wheat baguette...mmmmmm.

{may daring bakers: piece montée}

2010-05-27T04:51:00.000-07:00

The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.

This months challenge at first glance was very intimidating. First of all, the title of the recipe was french and then a little googling of what piece montée (aka. croquembouche "crunch in the mouth") looks like revealed these towering masterpieces of puff pastries. The requirements of the challenge were that we had to make our own pate a choux (puff pastry) and crème patissiere (filling). We were allowed to experiment with the flavors of the filling. Thankfully it was actually a relatively simple process to create the puff pastries and fillings. I say relatively simple because not everything puffed like it was supposed to...I think it had something to do with the humidity in the air today with all the rain we've been having. In the end I was fairly pleased with how everything turned out. I chose to try a few flavors: vanilla, chocolate and rum. My favorite was the chocolate.

Now, my boyfriend and I are continuing our efforts to source everything we eat from within a 100 mile radius, as well as, use up any leftover pantry items we might have had before beginning this locavore challenge. For the challenges of daring bakers, I have decided that I will do my very best to continue using local ingredients, but if I must purchase an item or two from the store, well then I must. For this challenge the only things I had to get as extra were the soy milk and chocolate. My boyfriend pointed out after the fact that we did have cocoa powder that I could have used, but I forgot about it and bought semisweet chocolate chips instead. Other than that, the eggs, flour, butter were all local and all other ingredients I had in my pantry.

It took me a while to find a flour mill that was local, but Virginia happens to have a few of them. Wades Mill is a stone ground flour mill that is a little less than an hour away from our home. Its a lovely drive down a skinny road that passes a winery and several other farms all with green rolling hills. I could totally live out there! (after the jump I've shared a few pictures from the mill and the drive) As I pulled up I saw a large water wheel that I learned is a working power source for grinding some of the flour with the rest being electrically powered. The woman I met in the little shop was very passionate informative of all sorts of issues facing the local farmers. Having worked in the farming industry the majority of her life, she had a lot to say about the issues they face with the term organic. I won't go into it here, but it was really a great experience getting to chat with her. I think thats become one of my favorite things about doing the locavore challenge; getting to speak with the farmers themselves. Anyway, I digress, back to the flour. They have a wide variety of flours you can purchase either online or at the store. Since shipping is almost more than the cost of the flour and I was driving that direction anyway, I chose to stop by. I picked up whole wheat bread flour and whole wheat pastry flour which I used for this month's challenge. So far its been very tasty! I'm still learning the proportion of flour to liquid so that what I make doesn't come out too dense, but I can honestly say its pretty freakin delicious.

Recipe and pics after the jump

{vanilla crème patissiere}

A few notes about the process. Have your flavorings ready because the chocolate, coffee, rum, etc. gets added into the vanilla crème patissiere at the same time the vanilla and butter are added. I split my recipe into thirds to create a vanilla, chocolate and rum version. For this you did not need to have a full batch of the flavorings but I've left the ingredients in portions as if you were doing a full batch of each so just keep that in mind as you plan out your fillings. The fillings do need to refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight.

ingredients

1 cup soy milk (you can use whatever milk you like)
2 tbsp. cornstarch
6 tbsp. sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tsp. vanilla

directions

Dissolve cornstarch in 1/4 cup of milk. Combine the remaining milk with the sugar in a saucepan; bring to boil; remove from heat.

Beat the whole egg, then the yolks into the cornstarch mixture. Pour 1/3 of boiling milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so that the eggs do not begin to cook.

Return the remaining milk to boil. Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, continuing whisking.

Continue whisking (this is important - you do not want the eggs to solidify/cook) until the cream thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla. This is the time you also add in any flavoring you might like.

Pour cream into a stainless steel/ceramic bowl. Press plastic wrap firmly against the surface. Chill immediately and until ready to use.

for chocolate pastry cream

Bring 3/4 cup milk to a boil in a small pan; remove from heat and add in 3 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, and mix until smooth. Whisk into pastry cream when you add the butter and vanilla.

for rum pastry cream

Whisk one ounce of your favorite rum into pastry cream with butter and vanilla. Taste for strength and add more if you feel it needs it.

for coffee pastry cream

Dissolve 1 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder in 1 1/2 teaspoons boiling water. Whisk into pastry cream with butter and vanilla.

{pate a choux}

(yield: about 28)
Note: humidity effects how much they puff up. Some of mine came out puffier than others which effects how much of the creme you can pipe in (the important part!). Some people on the forums did say that you can freeze the puff pastries unfilled and then pull them out when you want to fill and eat. You definitely want to eat them soon after filling since the pastry will become soggy fairly quickly.

ingredients

3/4 cup water
6 tbsp. unsalted butter
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
4 large eggs
for egg wash: 1 egg and pinch of salt

to make the pate a choux

Pre-heat oven to 425ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely.

Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly.

Add 1 egg. The batter will appear loose and shiny.

As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes.

It is at this point that you will add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.

piping

Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip (I piped directly from the bag opening without a tip). Pipe choux about 1 inch-part in the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high about 1 inch wide.

Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping. You want them to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top.

Brush tops with egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with pinch of salt).

baking

Bake the choux at 425ºF until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes.

Lower the temperature to 350ºF and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool.

You can be stored in a airtight box overnight.

filling

When you are ready to assemble your piece montée, using a plain pastry tip, pierce the bottom of each choux. Fill the choux with pastry cream using either the same tip or a star tip, and place on a paper-lined sheet. Choux can be refrigerated briefly at this point while you make your glaze.

Use one of the following glazes to top your choux and assemble your piece montée.

glazes

to make the chocolate glaze

8 ounces finely chopped chocolate (use the finest quality you can afford as the taste will be quite pronounced; I recommend semi-sweet)

Melt chocolate in microwave or double boiler. Stir at regular intervals to avoid burning. Use the best quality chocolate you can afford. Use immediately.

to make the hard caramel glaze

1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Combine sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan with a metal kitchen spoon stirring until the sugar resembles wet sand. Place on medium heat; heat without stirring until sugar starts to melt around the sides of the pan and the center begins to smoke. Begin to stir sugar. Continue heating, stirring occasionally until the sugar is a clear, amber color. Remove from heat immediately; place bottom of pan in ice water to stop the cooking. Use immediately.

to assemble the piece montée

You may want to lay out your unfilled, unglazed choux in a practice design to get a feel for how to assemble the final dessert. For example, if making a conical shape, trace a circle (no bigger than 8 inches) on a piece of parchment to use as a pattern. Then take some of the larger choux and assemble them in the circle for the bottom layer. Practice seeing which pieces fit together best.

Once you are ready to assemble your piece montée, dip the top of each choux in your glaze (careful it may be still hot!), and start assembling on your cake board/plate/sheet. Continue dipping and adding choux in levels using the glaze to hold them together as you build up.

{strawberry limeade}

2010-05-26T17:12:00.000-07:00

Okay, I realize this beverage is not entirely a locavore recipe. We splurged and bought limes to make margaritas the other week and I had some leftover that needed to be used soon. On Tuesday I picked up some deliciously fresh strawberries, so I chose to pair the two and create this refreshing drink. I absolutely loved the color and the flavor was incredible. So light and refreshing. Now, it wouldn't be us if I didn't add a little rum to the mix! It is perfect on its own if you would rather have it non-alcoholic, but the rum doesn't hurt. It also would have been just fine to leave out the limes or exchange them for lemons. As long as you've got strawberries, you can't go wrong.

Recipe after the jump

{strawberry limeade}

ingredients

2 cups of fresh whole strawberries
the juice of 2 limes
3 cups of water
1/4 cup of agave nectar
1 shot of rum (or vodka or tequila, all would be great!)

directions

Remove the tops of the strawberries and give them a good rinse to remove any loose dirt. Place all of the ingredients into a blender and puree everything together. The strawberries I had were nice and sweet so I didn't need too much agave nectar, but feel free to add more if you prefer it to be sweeter.

Pour into a highball glass along with the rum and several ice cubes. Enjoy!

{strawberry rhubarb pie}

2010-05-24T15:08:00.000-07:00

FINALLY!! Strawberries are beginning to appear in our farmers market! I cannot tell you how excited I am about this. For two months of seeing only green items, I am thrilled to have some color on my plate. In honor of our first strawberries, I chose to make a dessert. Rhubarb is also in season right now so at the farmers market we picked up a couple pints of strawberries and a bunch of rhubarb to make a pie.

Recipe and pics after the jump

{strawberry rhubarb pie}

recipe source: vegaliciousrecipes
serves: 8

for the pie crust

1 & 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 & 1/2 tbs. baking powder
1/2 cup butter
6-8 tbs. cold water

for the filling

2 cups rhubarb, chopped
2 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced
1 & 1/4 cup sugar
4 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cardamom (or cinnamon)
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt

to make the pie crust

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

In a large bowl combine flour, salt, baking powder and sugar.

Cut margarine into the flour mixture until it looks like coarse meal.

Add the water a few tablespoons at a time and mix until it becomes a smooth dough.

Wrap dough and chill in refrigerator while you make the filling.

to make the filling

In a large bowl place the cut rhubarb and strawberries.

In a smaller bowl, combine the sugar, flour salt and spices and pour the mixture over the fruit. Gently mix so that the rhubarb and strawberries are evenly coated with the dry ingredients.

assembly

Lightly grease the ramekins with oil.

Divide the dough into 4 pieces and on a lightly floured surface, roll into a circular shape. Cut one quarter out of the dough and set aside (you will use this to make the lattice). Place the larger rolled out dough into the bottom of the ramekin and smooth cut sides together. Trim the extra dough and add to the small portion you set aside for the lattice work.

Place the fruit mixture into the ramekins.

Roll out the smaller portions of dough and cut thin strips to form the lattice and weave on top of the fruit mixture. Pinch edges together.

Place ramekins onto a cookie sheet to avoid making a mess in your oven like I did. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool. It will come out nice and juicy but will solidify more as it cools. Serve warm with ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream.

{april daring bakers: traditional british pudding}

2010-04-27T05:24:00.000-07:00

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

Suet: the hard fat found around the kidneys and loins of a cow or sheep. When I read this months challenge, I have to admit that I was pretty grossed out by the thought of suet. Thankfully, Esther was kind enough to allow other fat substitutes as well as pretty much any variation on a traditional pudding we wanted, savory or sweet. Sure, suet might be just as bad butter (what I chose to use), but I felt better about using it vs. actual hard fat from a cow.

As I thought about the challenge, I became more excited to try it. John was also thrilled to find out I'd be making something savory this month. As we are taking on the challenge of eating foods produced within 100 miles of where we live, I was very happy to discover I could make this entire challenge with what I had on hand and a few things from the local farmers market. Buckwheat was the flour I used for the crust and since there is no gluten in buckwheat, the crust did not get as crispy as others. It was still tasty, but hopefully after my trip to the local flour mill I will be able to make these again using whole wheat flour. For the inside I used local bratwursts, potatoes and green onions. I used individual sized ramekins to steam the puddings and each one was a perfect serving size. Even though I put some beer and Worcestershire sauce in the pudding, it was not as juicy as I'd imagined. I saw that some people were putting a gravy into their pudding after it had been steamed and think I will try that next time. It was still incredibly filling and full of flavor. Thank you Esther for this challenge!

Recipe and pics after the jump

This was by far one of the least time consuming challenges I've participated in so far. I can see a lot of potential with these puddings and plan to continue making them in the future with a variety of savory fillings. Hopefully I can find some local ingredients to create a sweeter version as well. I saw some rhubarb versions that look tempting and may give one of those a shot. For now you can see my version below. See the original recipes over at The Daring Kitchen.

{savory pudding crust}

ingredients

12 ounces Buckwheat flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
3/4 cup of butter
Little less than a cup of water

directions

Begin by mixing the flour and butter together. Add in the salt and pepper.

Slowly add in the water as you continue to blend the pastry together. When it reaches its dough-like consistency, it is ready.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface but reserve enough dough to put a lid on your ramekin. Place into lightly greased ramekins and set aside.

{savory filling}

ingredients

3 bratwursts, sliced
4-5 small-medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" cubes
3/4 cup chopped green onions
2 tablespoons flour
salt + pepper to taste
handful of fresh thyme
Worcestershire sauce
dark beer

directions

In a bowl combine the bratwursts, potatoes, green onions, flour, salt, pepper and thyme. Mix to coat.

Spoon into the ramekins. Add a couple dashes of Worcestershire sauce and a couple glugs of beer. Top with remaining crust and pinch shut. Top with a small piece of parchment paper and tin foile to seal.

Place in steamer with boiling water and steam for 1 - 1.5 hours or until the crust is done. Keep in mind with the buckwheat flour that I had it never became completely crusty so I cooked it longer just to make sure. It doesn't hurt to steam it longer by any means. I imagine with a whole wheat flour the crust would be finished in about an hour, but that is simply a guess at this point.

When the puddings are done, use a knife to loosen them from the ramekins. Turn upside down and dislodge onto a serving dish. Cut open and enjoy the deliciousness!

{sausage, tomato and goat cheese pizza}

2010-04-20T12:48:00.000-07:00

So, it has been a little over two weeks of doing the locavore challenge. We have really enjoyed taking the steps to eat locally grown foods and have learned a few things in doing so. First of all, forget about meal planning for the week when heading to the market. I am hoping this will change as the harvest comes in and the weather gets warmer, but so far our options have been very limited. What we've had to do is basically take stock of what we have on hand and then while at the market plan our meals. Its been fun and challenging as we are not entirely sure what will be on the menu.

Another thing that has happened as a result of the challenge is that we really have discovered whats been hiding in our freezer and pantry. Everything in there is down to slim pickings as I've used most of it to make or supplement our meals. It will at least make moving a lot simpler!

In doing all of this, we have actually been less tempted to eat out because the meals that we do end up making always sound so delicious. Also by eating locally we've decreased the amount of money we've spent on both groceries and eating out. It will be interesting to see if that continues as more fruits and veggies become available. We have found that the most expensive items to buy are the locally grown, grass fed meat products. It makes complete sense and we are happy to spend the money knowing that the animals have been treated like they are supposed to be and they haven't been pumped full of hormones. It has also caused us to get more creative in how we might stretch the use of that meat. All in all, its been exciting so far and I can't wait to have more options than lettuce and butternut squash...although I do heart the butternut squash.

Pizza recipe and pics after the jump

{sausage, tomato and goat cheese pizza}

ingredients

hot italian sausage
2 large ripe tomatoes
goat cheese
basil
garlic powder
olive oil
5 sheets of phyllo dough or make your own pizza dough (phyllo is what I had on hand)

directions

Preheat the oven to 375ª.

Cook the sausage until done in a frying pan on the stove and crumble into small pieces.

Meanwhile, on large cookie sheet, place your dough and brush with olive oil. Slice the tomatoes and place in rows leaving about an inch or so around the border of your crust. Sprinkle or crumble the goat cheese onto each tomato. Add sausage and top everything with a few dashes of basil and a garlic powder (don't over do it on the garlic powder!).

Place in oven and cook for 15 minutes until dough is crispy and golden brown. Serve hot and enjoy!

{how to make: peanut butter}

2010-04-20T11:41:00.000-07:00

Since starting the locavore challenge I have been eating a lot more peanut butter. I get tired of eggs every morning and haven't found a place to buy oats locally. I could use some advice on other tasty/healthy breakfasts if you've got any! My breakfasts have consisted of toast with peanut butter and honey or strawberry marmalade for the past couple weeks. As a result, I quickly used up all the peanut butter I had on hand. Since we live in Virginia which is known for peanuts I went on the hunt for some. I found my recipe off of wiki and gave it a go. My sad little food processor, which I had been so happy to buy, did not enjoy the process of chopping up the nuts. I was only able to make about 1/3rd of a jar per batch in the processor. The processor needed a few breaks as did my ears during the 5-10 minutes it took.

Recipe and pics after the jump

{peanut butter}

ingredients

2 cups roasted peanuts
1 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil (or peanut oil)
salt to taste

directions

Pour peanuts into a food processor. You may have to do this in a couple of steps if you have a small one like me. Add the vegetable oil in and begin the crushing. Scrape down the sides randomly and continue chopping until its at a consistency you like. The peanuts I bought were already salted so it didn't need anymore, but add it end at the end if you feel it does.

To make it crunchy peanut butter, add in a handful of nuts and pulse the processor a few times to chop them down. If you prefer creamy, leave as is.

Place in a jar and enjoy within about 2 weeks.

{farmers market + carving a chicken}

2010-04-12T20:31:00.001-07:00

This Saturday was our first trip to the main farmers market in town. There were many more vendors there compared to Tuesdays market. We were most excited to find meat and cheese vendors as I'd used the last of our frozen meats to make all of last weeks meals. Unfortunately, the main meat vendor was out of chicken so we purchased some round steak, sausage and ground beef. We later discovered a local butcher who carries Polyface Farm chicken and bought an entire bird.

There are still not very many veggies at the market but we were able to buy butternut squash, potatoes, lettuce, goat cheese and more homemade pasta in addition to the meats. I was super sad not to find any tomatoes but hoped that at Tuesdays market the tomato vendor would be there. John was thrilled to discover that there are such things green eggs. We learned there's no difference in taste and that the color varies based on the type of chicken.

More pics after the jump
So, we have never bought an entire chicken before and therefore had no idea how to carve it. John decided it would be his job so he used this video to carve the bird. He did a bloody good job in my opinion and the meat we've had from it so far has been delicious. We froze most everything except for the breasts. Since we've only ever cooked with chicken breasts I need time to figure out what do with the rest. I do plan to use the bones to make some chicken stock for future meals.

{stuffed beef burgers}

2010-04-09T20:05:00.000-07:00

Inspired by the Mozzerella Stuffed Turkey Burgers I made a couple months ago I decided to give it a go with the beef I had in the freezer. We had no buns or the ingredients to make them so these were bunless burgers that I topped with a tomato sauce made from the tomatoes I bought at the market. We used up the last of the asparagus and potatoes to finish up the meal. Deliciousness.

More pics and recipe after the jump

{stuffed beef burgers with asparagus + crushed potatoes}

serves: 4

for the burgers

1 lb ground beef
2 tablespoons cilantro
1/2 cup scallions, chopped
2 cloves of garlic
2 dashes of lemon juice
2 tablespoons of worcestershire sauce
salt
pepper
1/2 teaspoon oregano

for the stuffing

your favorite cheese, I used the last of my fresh parmesan and feta
basil

to make the stuffed burgers

In a bowl, mix together all ingredients gently. Be careful not to over combine. Form into 8 thin patties a little over 1/4 inch thick.

Place slice of your cheese in the center of four of the patties and sprinkle with basil. Take additional patties and place on top of cheese. Pinch shut as best as possible or else the cheese will melt out during cooking.

In a preheated pan on medium heat cook burgers about 8 minutes on each side until done.

for the sauce

1 cup grape tomatoes
2 shallots, chopped
1 teaspoon cilantro
1 garlic clove
salt and pepper to taste (couple dashes)
dash of olive oil

to make the sauce

Begin by placing tomatoes in a bowl and mashing with a fork. Doesn't have to be perfect but get the juices out and make sure the skins are broken up.

Heat a small pot on medium heat with dash of olive oil. Add in garlic, you should hear it sizzle. Cook for about one minute then add in the shallots. Cook for another minute then add in the rest of your ingredients stirring occasionally. Once bubbly, turn heat to lo and let simmer while you finish the rest of your meal. All in all, should take about 5-10 minutes to make. I highly recommend doubling the recipe in order to have more sauce, sadly I only had 1 cup of tomatoes left.

for the potatoes

(original recipe: The Pioneer Woman)
4-6 small/medium potatoes
olive oil
salt and pepper
thyme (or your favorite spice)

to make the potatoes

Preheat the oven to 450ºF.

Scrub and prick potatoes with a fork. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in microwave to quickly "bake" your potatoes.

Once done, place potatoes on a large pan and smash with a potato masher or fork. Brush/drizzle olive oil on top of each potato and top with the salt, pepper and thyme. Cook for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and crispy. These are great by themselves or served with ketchup.

{butternut squash, steak + sweet potato pasta}

2010-04-08T19:29:00.000-07:00

At the market on Tuesday I found the vendor Nellies Noodles. They were selling a few varieties of handmade pastas so I picked up the sweet potato one to try out. Since I'm still using what is on hand and the few things I picked up from the market, I chose to pair it with some roasted butternut squash and pieces of steak cooked with some stubbs marinade. It couldn't have tasted more delicious. The textures were very smooth and it was incredibly savory.

More pics and recipe after the jump

{butternut squash, steak + sweet potato pasta}

ingredients

butternut squash
salt
pepper
thyme (or other spice like basil or oregano)
steak
stubbs marinade (or your own special seasoning)
pasta

directions

Preheat the oven to 400ºF.

Halve the butternut squash. Brush with olive oil and dash with some salt, pepper and thyme. Bake for 40 - 50 minutes or until fork soft.

Heat a pan on medium heat and add in some stubbs. Cook to your likeness and set aside.

Once the butternut squash is done, remove skin and cut into 1/2 inch cubes. Boil pasta, drain and plate. Add desired amount of squash and steak. Top with grated parmesan cheese and enjoy the savory dish.

{asparagus, steak, oven fries + turnips}

2010-04-08T11:46:00.000-07:00

At the market on Tuesday I found one vendor who had asparagus. It was going quickly since it is just coming into season so I bought one of his last few bags. I think every meal during the spring should be served with fresh asparagus as it is one of the most delicious vegetables out there. I cooked mine by sautéing it in a pan with a little olive oil, salt and pepper until they were soft but still had a little crunch. Asparagus is even better grilled, but since we don't have an outdoor space at the moment, the stove top worked just fine.

Recipe and more pics after the jump
Turnips. I thought that I liked them, but now I'm not certain I've ever had them before. I picked up a pound of them at the market and figured I could cook them up just like my oven potato fries. I sliced them into bite size pieces and drizzled a little olive oil, salt and pepper on top. They came out tender and the first one I tried was tasty. However, there were several that were incredible bitter and made my face turn-up into a weird squidged looking face that made John laugh. Maybe thats where they get their name from. Dipped in some ketchup made them tolerable, but I'm not sure I will do much more cooking with them. Please let me know if you have any recipes that make them taste better!

I discovered some frozen steaks in the freezer, thawed them out and cooked them in a pan with some stubbs steak marinade that we had on hand. For the oven fries I peeled, sliced and tossed the potatoes in olive oil, salt + pepper. Delicious.

{stove-top asparagus}

serves: 2

ingredients

2 handfulls of asparagus
olive oil
salt
pepper

directions

Place asparagus in medium hot pan with olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste and toss around. Cook for about 8 minutes until soft but still with some crunch.

{simple oven fries + turnip bites}

serves: 2

ingredients

4 small potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
4 turnips, cut into bite size pieces
olive oil
salt
pepper

directions

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

Place potatoes in large bowl and add a couple glops of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper then toss around. Do the same for the turnips

Place on baking sheet and cook for 20-25 minutes.

{windowsill gardening}

2010-04-07T14:02:00.000-07:00

Inspired by the warming weather and our new challenge of becoming locavores we decided to try our hand at starting our own window garden. We have no outdoor space where we currently live, but we do have large windows with decent light. We bought the book Grow Great Grub: Organic Food from Small Spaces by Gayla Trail and have used it as our instruction manual. It has a lot of great information and once we move to a place with a balcony hopefully we will be able to expand what we can grow. Gayla also has a great blog with plenty of information on getting your own garden started.

We started by planting a variety of sprouts to be added to sandwhiches, salads and soups for seasoning. The sprouts: sunflower, broccoli, radish, onion, black seeded simpson lettuce, spinach, mustard and beet. For our herb garden we are trying tarragon, oregano, thyme, basil, cilantro, rosemary, sage and parsley. We also planted a couple lettuce heads, green onions, jalapeno and sweet banana peppers to grow fully.

So far, most have sprouted and are looking lovely. I can't wait for the herbs to grow in so I can start using them to cook with! I'm not too sure how the lettuce, peppers or green onions are going to hold up, but we will see.

More pics after the jump

Here John is putting the seeds we plan to use for sprouts in water in order to help the germination process go faster.
The space.

DIY watering can! We just used a nail and hammer to make several holes in a 28 oz tomato can. Paired with a whole can...viola, a free watering can that doesn't drown the plants.
Week 1: Sprouts popping up to say hello!
Week 2: Cilantro and Basil
Week 2: Sprouts!

Our lettuce heads...I believe we need to thin these out at this point.

{the challenge of a locavore}

2010-04-06T20:09:00.000-07:00

In an effort to eat healthier, fresher foods my boyfriend and I have decided to become locavores. Our goal is to eat locally grown foods within a 100 mile radius of where we live during the months of April to November (prime farmer's market months!). We wanted to do this for several reasons: 1) to eat fresh foods only 2) reduce the distance our food has traveled 3) support the local economy and 4) reduce/eliminate the amount of pesticides and hormonally treated food that we consume. We are allowing ourselves to clean out the pantry and use whatever foods we already have on hand. That's down to mostly condiments at this point because we weren't able to make it to the market this past Saturday. We do plan to support our local wineries, breweries and any local restaurant that also uses local ingredients. We will also have a few ingredients that will be allowed. At this point we are going allow olive oil, salt + pepper, orange juice and rum :D. If and when we do buy those items, they will be organic (except for the rum - that just needs to be alcoholic). We are still figuring out how eating when traveling will work, but so far we are planning to try and eat within 100 miles of wherever we are. If there are no locavore restaurants then we will at least support the local restaurants.

Recipe and more after the jump

The farmers market where we live is open Tuesdays and Saturdays from 7am - 1pm so we have limited times to shop. We missed this past Saturday so its been interesting figuring out how to throw some meals together with what we had left in the kitchen. Since today was Tuesday, I was able to go to the market. In Virginia the season has just barely begun so there were not too many vendors. I was able to get a decent assortment of veggies, some eggs, bread, pasta and greens. Sadly, there were no meat or cheese vendors! Thankfully, I discovered some frozen beef that we already had when I got home. I'm not sure John would have made it until Saturday with no meat. It was a lot of fun to talk with the farmers who were there about how their food was grown and how their chickens were raised. I'm looking forward to seeing more vendors and foods this Saturday.

On Sunday I had done some meal planning so that when I went shopping I would have some sort of idea what to get. There really were not many of the ingredients my recipes called for so I'm improvising this week. I had intended to make a beet and goat cheese galette for dinner tonight but neither items were available so, tonights dinner became a potato, steak and parmesan galette. It turned out pretty tasty! Goat cheese would have been better, but parmesan was what I had. See the recipe below.

We are really excited about eating locally and can see how its already affecting how we plan our meals. I'm on the hunt for seasonal recipes or cookbooks so if you've got any resources, please leave them in the comments below.

{potato, steak and parmesan galette}

for the crust

2 cups buckwheat flour (or whatever flour you have on hand)
1/2 stick of butter, cut into small chunks
1 tsp salt
small handfull of thyme (fresh preferably, I only had dried so I made do)
1 cup of water (might need more/less depending on the flour you use so add slowly)

for the filling

3 - 4 small potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
salt and pepper to taste
thyme to taste
thinly sliced steak (cooked is what I had but would probably work raw and cook in the oven)
your choice of cheese, grated
olive oil

to make the crust

Put the flour, butter, salt and thyme into a bowl and combine. Slowly add the water until the dough is combined. Be careful here not to add too much. For the buckwheat flour I had to add a good bit of water to make it work so just go slowly. Roll into a ball, place in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.

assemble

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface until its about 1/4" thick and cut into circles. It might help to roll the dough onto wax paper so its easy to transfer over to the baking sheet.

Add grated cheese to the middle of the dough about an inch away from the edge. Layer sliced potatoes in a circle like you would your apples for an apple pie. Add more grated cheese on top along with some thyme. Next, place the thinly sliced strips of steak across the top and top with more grated cheese.
Carefully fold up the edges of the crust (see finished picture to see how it should look).

Brush/drizzle/spray some olive oil on top and place into the oven. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until the potatoes are done. Serve with a salad and enjoy!

{cheesy, onion, bacon biscuits}

2010-03-31T15:37:00.000-07:00

recipe source: The Pioneer Woman
Wow. I remember loving the cheddar biscuits that I got as a kid at Red Lobster but they don't even compare to how delicious these are! Cheese, check. Bacon, check. Onions, check. Gooeyness, check. Flavor, check. Breakfast, check. Rolled into a biscuit form, amazing. The Pioneer Woman has outdone herself with this recipe. I can't think of a thing that would have made it better. The batch lasted us almost a week and is perfect served warm. One was plenty for breakfast for me but John preferred two.

Recipe and pics after the jump.

{Cheesey, Bacon, Onion Biscuits}

servings: 12

ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 cups butter
10 tablespoons soy milk (or whatever milk you have)
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 egg
10 slices of bacon, fried And crumbled
1 cup finely diced onion
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

directions

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter until everything is combined.

Combine milk, oil and egg in a separate bowl then whisk together.

Combine flour mixture, milk mixture, bacon, onions and cheddar cheese in a large bowl. Stir gently until all combined.

Spoon batter into greased muffin tins. Bake for 20 - 22 minutes until golden brown. Remove from pan and serve warm.

{butternut squash lasagna}

2010-03-31T12:01:00.000-07:00

recipe source: Closet Cooking
To continue the butternut squash obsession I'm having I discovered this great sounding recipe from Closet Cooking for a lasagna that needed to be made. Since I had a lot of leftover mix from the butternut squash, chicken and parmesan pasties I went ahead and used it in this recipe instead of making a whole new batch of everything. It was just the right amount to make a delicious lasagna. The combination of flavors were fantastic and it went down oh so easily. This has to be one of the best bechamel sauces I've ever made. You could easily leave out the chicken to make this vegetarian.

Recipe and more pics after the jump

The bechamel sauce in progress.
Layering up the goodness.

{Chicken, Roasted Butternut Squash and Feta Lasagna}

(makes 9 servings)

ingredients

for the butternut squash

2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
olive oil for brushing seasoning of your choice

for the sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup white wine
1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon oregano
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups chicken, cooked and cubed

for the bechamel sauce

4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
2 cups soy milk (or regular milk)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 pound lasagne noodles, cooked
1 cup feta, crumbled
1/2 cup mozzarella, grated

directions

to make the butternut squash

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Cut butternut squash in half, brush with olive oil and season with whatever you'd like. Rosemary or oregano would be good in this case. Cook your butternut squash at 400°F for about 30 - 40 minutes or until fork soft. Let cool a little so you can handle it. Peel off the skin and cut into cubes. Set aside.

to make the sauce

Heat the oil in a good size pan and add the onions. Cook until translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for another minute or so.

Add the wine, tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the sauce starts to thicken, about 15 - 20 minutes. Add in the cooked chicken and set aside.

to make the béchamel sauce

Heat the butter in a small saucepan until it is bubbling and it has turned a light golden brown. Whisk in the flour and let simmer for a minute or two. Gradually add in the milk, nutmeg and cheese. Cook until the sauce has thickened and set aside.

assembly

Preheat oven to 350ºF

In a lightly greased 8 inch square baking dish place a layer of noodles, tomato sauce, grated feta, butternut squash and béchamel sauce. Repeat a second layer in the same order. Save a little of the béchamel sauce. Top with a layer of noodles, the remaining béchamel sauce and grated mozzarella.

Bake in a preheated oven for 30 - 45 minutes or until the golden brown and bubbling.

{butternut squash, chicken and parmesan pasties}

2010-03-30T07:33:00.000-07:00

recipe source: The Kitchn
I am currently on a butternut squash kick which works out nicely since it has been in season. Sadly its on its way out, but I have definitely gotten my fill of it this past month beginning with these: butternut squash, chicken and parmesan pasty (pronounced: past-ee). I found the original recipe over at The Kitchn and have altered it slightly by adding in some chicken.

Pasties originated in the UK as a food for miners since it was a simple hand held pie usually filled with beef, potatoes, onion and turnips. According to Wikipedia, the miners could easily hold the folded pastry with their dirty hands and eat most of it, discarding the last little bits. The thrown away bits were said to please the knockers, mischievious spirits who were believed to play practical jokes on the miners by stealing their tools. Traditionally, the ingredients are placed inside the pastry dough uncooked and are then steamed inside as it cooks. This recipe is not exactly true to the original as most ingredients are cooked prior to placing inside the pastry.

More after the jump

These guys were a lot of fun to eat and tasted delicious. The dough was very good and crisped up nicely in the oven. The mixture made a lot so I actually had leftover mixture which I used for a lasagna that I'll post later. I was able to get one extra small pasty out of this making five in total. The fifth was consumed for breakfast by me! So very good. You can serve these with some marinara sauce or have them plain. Either way they are great. I foresee a variety of fillings working very nicely with this method of cooking.

{Butternut Squash, Sage, and Parmesan Pasties}

(Makes 2 large or 4-5 small Pasties)

ingredients

Dough

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt 
2/3 cup chilled butter, cut into small pieces
6-8 tablespoons ice water

Filling

8 ounces butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1 cm cubes
1 - 1 1/2 chicken breasts, cubed
1 medium red onion, diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon sage, chopped
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt to taste 
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Olive oil

directions

To make dough

Sift flour and salt into a large bowl. Using a pastry blender or knife, cut butter into flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add 1 tablespoon of ice water at a time, gently tossing between additions, until the dough just holds together. Shape dough into a ball and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before rolling out.

Before rolling out the dough, let it soften slightly so that it is malleable but still cold. On a lightly floured surface, roll it out to 1/8-inch thick. Cut out two to four circles using a plate or bowl as a guide.

To make pasties

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Cut butternut squash in half, brush with olive oil and season with whatever you'd like. I've used basil, rosemary or in this case sage before. Cook your butternut squash at 400°F for about 30 - 40 minutes or until fork soft. This makes it a lot easier to cut into cubes and peel off skin.

Next, cook your chicken with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Feel free to flavor with some garlic during this step if you like.

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a large bowl, combine butternut squash, chicken, onion, garlic, sage, parsley and Parmesan cheese.

Spoon mixture over half of each dough round, leaving a 1-inch border around the edge. Sprinkle well with salt and pepper.

Brush the edges of the dough with a little olive oil. With cool hands, fold the pastry over and crimp the edges. Try to get it as sealed as possible. Cut a small slit in the top of each pasty. Brush all over with olive oil and grate fresh Parmesan cheese on top.

Bake until golden and cooked through, about 40 minutes. Serve hot or warm.

{march daring bakers: orange tian}

2010-03-27T01:00:00.000-07:00

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

Spring has arrived! What better way to usher in this wonderful season than with this months Daring Bakers challenge: Orange Tian. I had never heard of this dessert before and in hearing that it was a recipe from France didn't help my intimidation level. I was however, thrilled to see that the challenge was a colorful citrus flavored dessert that looked light and perfect for Spring.

Orange Tian is made of several layers including pate sablee (tart crust), orange marmalade, a whipped cream filling topped with orange segments and a caramel sauce. Our requirements for the challenge were that we had to make the pate sablee, whipped cream filling, marmalade, citrus segments and caramel sauce. We were allowed to play with flavoring and different fruits in the citrus family. Immediately after reading the description I wanted to do a variety of toppings merely for the sake of playing with colors. I also decided to try making a strawberry marmelade in addition to the orange.

So with all the fun I was planning to have with colors I set off in search of cookie cutters. I was really planning on being early with completing this months challenge but, my plans were foiled by UPS. I found some square cutters on Sur la table that I ordered within a few days of the challenge being posted. Excited about creating the colorful tians, I tracked them online and discovered they went to Richmond then somehow ended up in San Diego. I live in Virginia. Long story short, they didn't get here until the 19th.

{orange marmalade}

I started by making both the orange and strawberry marmalade. The orange marmalade did not take too long to make and filled my kitchen with a delicious smell. There was some confusion as to whether or not we were supposed to include the rind in the marmalade. Verdict: use everything except the seeds; rind and all goes into the pot to be blanched. The blanching process actually helps remove some of the bitterness in the rind making it very edible. It came out beautifully.

{strawberry marmalade}

The recipe I found for strawberry marmalade was a very simple one from Epicurious. It included 1/2 cup of the orange marmalade I had made and took all of about 15 minutes to assemble and jar.

{segmenting}

The next step was to segment the citrus. I bought naval oranges, lemons, limes, kiwi and strawberries from the store. I couldn't stop! The citrus was pretty easy to segment, although it made a bit of a mess. I sliced the kiwi and strawberries and placed everything in their individual bowls. The You Tube movie Jennifer recommended on segmenting an orange was a life saver.

{caramel sauce}

I was very excited about making the caramel sauce...I heart caramel. I guess I didn't really factor in the word "sauce". It was not that difficult to make but you want to monitor the sugar closely. I might have poured in the orange juice a little too early instead of waiting until all the sugar was bubbling. It all melted during the simmering and boiling process though so it wasn't a big deal.

{pate sablee}

When I read that I had to make my own pate sablee, I was worried because I had no idea what pate sablee actually was. After I GTS (googled that s@#*), I discovered it is simply a French pastry crust. Whew. Again, still no rolling pin so I made do with my hands and a bottle of Pam spray wrapped in parchment paper. Seriously, I need to pony up and buy a rolling pin.

{whipped cream filling}

This was my second time making whipped cream. I'm still amazed at how simple it is to do. Watching the peaks form is a lot of fun! I split the mixture into two containers and added orange marmalade to one and strawberry marmalade to the other. I also added in a dash of nutmeg.

{assembly}

Finally, after all those steps, time to assemble these babies. The tians are assembled upside down: layer the segments, add whipped cream filling, spread some marmalade on the tart crust then place on top. Chill in freezer and viola, Colorful Tian's!

{the tians}

I ended up with a variety of combinations: strawberry marmalade with lime, with kiwi, with strawberry and with orange segments. Orange marmalade with lemon, strawberry and orange segments. The combinations were wonderful. John's favorite was the lemon combined with orange marmalade. The tartness of the lemon bites you gently at first but is quickly balanced out with the sweetness of the pate sablee, whipped cream filling and marmalade.

This has been my absolute favorite challenge yet! I got to work with color and lovely fresh fruits to create a delicious, light dessert. There were a lot of steps to put this one together, but it was well worth it in the end. You can get the entire recipe over at The Daring Kitchen.

{the first cookout of the year}

2010-03-07T17:40:00.000-08:00

The snow is finally melting! We can see the ground and the weather is a lovely 65 degrees. This is our first Spring in the mountains so we are really looking forward to a lot of camping and cookouts as the weather continues to warm. One of our favorite things to grill is hamburgers, so as soon as we realized that Sunday was going to be in the 60's we made plans to have a cookout.

More after the jump

I was super excited not only for the delicious taste of a grilled burger, but to use my brand new picnic basket John had given me for Christmas. Its exactly what I've always imagined a picnic basket should be and did a great job holding most of what we needed for the cookout. We filled it up and drove over to Westover Park to find our grill.

John is the grill master so whenever we grill out he is always in charge of making the burgers. Whatever he put in them, they were delicious. Burgers, baked beans, sun chips, pickles and potato salad paired with pink lemonade made it a perfect cookout.

{buffalo chicken chili}

2010-03-04T17:00:00.000-08:00

Whoah mamma this was spicy! Dawn over at Vanilla Sugar posted this recipe and talked about how she had been sick and needed something spicy to open up her sinuses. If this chili didn't do it, I don't know what would. Salsa, spicey bbq sauce and jalepenos...need I say more?

Recipe and pics after the jump
Instead of cooking everything individually like the recipe calls for, I threw it all into the crock pot and let it cook on High for 4 hours. I'm not a huge fan of blue cheese anything so we left that off and topped it with some sour cream and cheddar cheese. Tostitos scoops were the perfect vehicle to get this spicy dish into my mouth.

Now, I said this was spicy, and I meant it. Even John thought it was too much so, after having it for dinner I took the rest and added a can of stewed tomatoes to it to try and bring down the hotness level. It helped but the chili was still incredibly spicey. Next time I plan to make it with mild salsa and regular BBQ sauce. The combination of everything should be spicey enough but not so much so that it has you putting a dollop of sour cream on each bite.

buffalo chicken chili

{adapted from Vanilla Sugar; serves: 8-12}
2 chicken breasts
salt + pepper to taste
1 large red onion, diced
3 - 5 cloves garlic, chopped
2 chopped carrots
1 TB ground cumin
2 jars of salsa (I recommend getting mild salsa)
1/2 cup bbq sauce (again I recommend a non spicy version)
couple big squirts of ketchup
1/4 cup of Coke
2-3 small jalapenos, chopped
1 - 2 TB honey
1 can black beans
1 can red kidney beans
A little fresh lime juice

Start by chopping your onion, garlic, carrots and jalapenos. Dump them into your crockpot along with everything else except the chicken. Stir it around.

Salt and pepper the chicken breasts then place them on top of everything. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.

Before serving, pull out your chicken breasts and shred them. Put them back in the pot and mix up all the goodness.

Serve alone or with some sour cream, grated cheddar cheese and tostitos. Enjoy!

{slow cooker pepper steak}

2010-03-01T16:35:00.000-08:00

recipe source: allrecipes.com
Comfort food. Flavor. Colorful. Tender. This recipe was incredibly easy to put together and came out tasting oh so lovely. The only problem I had was smelling the delicious aromas all day without being able to eat it. I served it over some yellow rice to complete the meal. John was a huge fan of this dish and enjoyed the leftovers for his lunch.

{february daring bakers: tiramisu}

2010-02-27T06:45:00.000-08:00

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

When I saw that the challenge for this month was tiramisu, I was very intimidated. The amount of steps required to create all of the components of the dessert was a little overwhelming and ended up being the most challenging part. I discovered that the actual assembly of the tiramisu was incredibly simple.

More pics after the jump

To complete the challenge we were required to make the mascarpone cheese, zabaglione, pastry cream and ladyfingers all from scratch. Everything except the ladyfingers needed to refrigerate for several hours or overnight so I made them all ahead of time. All of it came together pretty easily except for the mascarpone cheese that I struggled with. After working with it for over 45 minutes I could not get it to the temperature of 190º. I gave up and put the pot directly onto the stove top to try heating it up above 140º and still had no success. After about an hour I gave up and went on to the next steps to finish it up. It turned out the consistency of butter...pretty hard. I let it warm up a little to room temperature before combining it with the zabaglione and pastry cream. I've only ever had mascarpone cheese once so I have no idea what it is supposed to taste like but once combined with everything, I thought it tasted pretty delicious.

Instead of using coffee and wine for flavoring, I chose whisky. I put 1/4 cup of whisky into the zabaglione and dipped the ladyfingers into a bowl of straight whisky. I also wanted to do something different with the layers so I split the mascarpone mixture in half and added two teaspoons of cocoa powder to one half. I layered ladyfingers, plain filling, ladyfingers, chocolate filling and dusted with more cocoa powder. Delicious.
I'm fairly pleased with how the tiramisu came out and if I were to make it again, I'd probably try some combination with fresh fruits. As long as you prepare everything in advance, its a pretty simple dessert to put together. Thanks Aparna and Deeba for a great challenge!

Check out the original recipes below. I've noted the changes I made.

Tiramisu

(Recipe source: Carminantonio's Tiramisu from The Washington Post, July 11 2007) 
6 servings

Ingredients:

For the zabaglione: 
2 large egg yolks 3 tablespoons sugar/50gms
1/4 cup/60ml Marsala wine (or port or coffee) {1/4 cup of whisky instead}
1/4 teaspoon/ 1.25ml vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

For the vanilla pastry cream:
1/4 cup/55gms sugar
1 tablespoon/8gms all purpose flour 
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon/ 2.5ml vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
3/4 cup/175ml whole milk {3/4 cup soy milk instead}

For the whipped cream:
1 cup/235ml chilled heavy cream (we used 25%)
1/4 cup/55gms sugar
1/2 teaspoon/ 2.5ml vanilla extract
{added 1/2 teaspoon whisky}

To assemble the tiramisu:
2 cups/470ml brewed espresso, warmed  {instead of these first three ingredients, i used about 1/4 - 1/2 cup of whisky to dip the ladyfingers into}
1 teaspoon/5ml rum extract (optional)
1/2 cup/110gms sugar
1/3 cup/75gms mascarpone cheese 
36 savoiardi/ ladyfinger biscuits (you may use less)
2 tablespoons/30gms unsweetened cocoa powder

Method:

For the zabaglione:
Heat water in a double boiler. If you don’t have a double boiler, place a pot with about an inch of water in it on the stove. Place a heat-proof bowl in the pot making sure the bottom does not touch the water. In a large mixing bowl (or stainless steel mixing bowl), mix together the egg yolks, sugar, the Marsala (or espresso/ coffee), vanilla extract and lemon zest. Whisk together until the yolks are fully blended and the mixture looks smooth.

Transfer the mixture to the top of a double boiler or place your bowl over the pan/ pot with simmering water. Cook the egg mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, for about 8 minutes or until it resembles thick custard. It may bubble a bit as it reaches that consistency.

Let cool to room temperature and transfer the zabaglione to a bowl. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

For the pastry cream:
Mix together the sugar, flour, lemon zest and vanilla extract in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. To this add the egg yolk and half the milk. Whisk until smooth.

Now place the saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring constantly to prevent the mixture from curdling. Add the remaining milk a little at a time, still stirring constantly. After about 12 minutes the mixture will be thick, free of lumps and beginning to bubble. (If you have a few lumps, don’t worry. You can push the cream through a fine-mesh strainer.)

Transfer the pastry cream to a bowl and cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic film and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

For the whipped cream: 
Combine the cream, sugar and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Beat with an electric hand mixer or immersion blender until the mixture holds stiff peaks. Set aside.

To assemble the tiramisu:  
Have ready a rectangular serving dish (about 8" by 8" should do) or one of your choice.

Mix together the warm espresso, rum extract and sugar in a shallow dish, whisking to mix well. Set aside to cool. {This is where I just used whisky}

In a large bowl, beat the mascarpone cheese with a spoon to break down the lumps and make it smooth. This will make it easier to fold. Add the prepared and chilled zabaglione and pastry cream, blending until just combined. Gently fold in the whipped cream. Set this cream mixture aside. {Here I split the mixture in half and added 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder to one half}

Now to start assembling the tiramisu.
Workings quickly, dip 12 of the ladyfingers in the sweetened espresso, about 1 second per side. They should be moist but not soggy. Immediately transfer each ladyfinger to the platter, placing them side by side in a single row. You may break a lady finger into two, if necessary, to ensure the base of your dish is completely covered.

Spoon one-third of the cream mixture on top of the ladyfingers, then use a rubber spatula or spreading knife to cover the top evenly, all the way to the edges.

Repeat to create 2 more layers, using 12 ladyfingers and the cream mixture for each layer. Clean any spilled cream mixture; cover carefully with plastic wrap and refrigerate the tiramisu overnight.
To serve, carefully remove the plastic wrap and sprinkle the tiramisu with cocoa powder using a fine-mesh strainer or decorate as you please. Cut into individual portions and serve.

Mascarpone Cheese

(Source: Vera’s Recipe for Homemade Mascarpone Cheese)
This recipe makes 12oz/ 340gm of mascarpone cheese

Ingredients:
474ml (approx. 500ml)/ 2 cups whipping (36 %) pasteurized (not ultra-pasteurized), preferably organic cream (between 25% to 36% cream will do)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Method:

Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a wide skillet. Reduce the heat to medium-low so the water is barely simmering. Pour the cream into a medium heat-resistant bowl, then place the bowl into the skillet. Heat the cream, stirring often, to 190 F. If you do not have a thermometer, wait until small bubbles keep trying to push up to the surface.

It will take about 15 minutes of delicate heating. Add the lemon juice and continue heating the mixture, stirring gently, until the cream curdles. Do not expect the same action as you see during ricotta cheese making. All that the whipping cream will do is become thicker, like a well-done crème anglaise. It will cover a back of your wooden spoon thickly. You will see just a few clear whey streaks when you stir. Remove the bowl from the water and let cool for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, line a sieve with four layers of dampened cheesecloth and set it over a bowl. Transfer the mixture into the lined sieve. Do not squeeze the cheese in the cheesecloth or press on its surface (be patient, it will firm up after refrigeration time). Once cooled completely, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate (in the sieve) overnight or up to 24 hours.

Vera’s notes: The first time I made mascarpone I had all doubts if it’d been cooked enough, because of its custard-like texture. Have no fear, it will firm up beautifully in the fridge, and will yet remain lusciously creamy.

Keep refrigerated and use within 3 to 4 days.

Ladyfingers

(Source: Recipe from Cordon Bleu At Home)
This recipe makes approximately 24 big ladyfingers or 45 small (2 1/2" to 3" long) ladyfingers.

Ingredients:
3 eggs, separated
6 tablespoons /75gms granulated sugar
3/4 cup/95gms cake flour, sifted (or 3/4 cup all purpose flour + 2 tbsp corn starch)
6 tablespoons /50gms confectioner's sugar,

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 F (175 C) degrees, then lightly brush 2 baking sheets with oil or softened butter and line with parchment paper.

Beat the egg whites using a hand held electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Gradually add granulate sugar and continue beating until the egg whites become stiff again, glossy and smooth.

In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks lightly with a fork and fold them into the meringue, using a wooden spoon. Sift the flour over this mixture and fold gently until just mixed. It is important to fold very gently and not overdo the folding. Otherwise the batter would deflate and lose volume resulting in ladyfingers which are flat and not spongy.

Fit a pastry bag with a plain tip (or just snip the end off; you could also use a Ziploc bag) and fill with the batter. Pipe the batter into 5" long and 3/4" wide strips leaving about 1" space in between the strips.
Sprinkle half the confectioner's sugar over the ladyfingers and wait for 5 minutes. The sugar will pearl or look wet and glisten. Now sprinkle the remaining sugar. This helps to give the ladyfingers their characteristic crispness.

Hold the parchment paper in place with your thumb and lift one side of the baking sheet and gently tap it on the work surface to remove excess sprinkled sugar.

Bake the ladyfingers for 10 minutes, then rotate the sheets and bake for another 5 minutes or so until the puff up, turn lightly golden brown and are still soft.

Allow them to cool slightly on the sheets for about 5 minutes and then remove the ladyfingers from the baking sheet with a metal spatula while still hot, and cool on a rack.

Store them in an airtight container till required. They should keep for 2 to 3 weeks.

{chili take two}

2010-02-26T19:11:00.000-08:00

recipe source: Cooking Light
So since the first chili didn't turn out as well as I'd have like it, I've kept looking for a new chili recipe. I think I have found a keeper. This one was a much better consistency and had really delicious flavors. We are not huge fans of chili powder since it gives us heartburn so I only put in about two teaspoons of chili powder instead of the two tablespoons it called for. I've never had chili that uses red wine it it but it really gave it some nice flavor. Of course it needed more salt than what was called for so if you make it, try to salt it throughout the cooking process. Top it with a little grated cheese and some sour cream and enjoy!

{cupakes}

2010-02-19T07:19:00.000-08:00

vanilla cupcake recipe source: Joy of Baking
chocolate cupcake recipe source: Joy of Baking
My best friend is getting married! In honor of that special occasion I threw her a party to celebrate with all our friends. She loves chocolate and vanilla cupcakes so I searched online for the perfect recipes. Joy of Baking had some good looking options for a chocolate cupcake and a vanilla cupcake that I decided to use.

More after the jump

Everything was very easy to put together and came out delicious. The chocolate cupcakes puffed up very nicely. The vanilla ones, not so much. For some reason they sunk a little in the middle. Can't figure out why, but they still tasted fine. I used the buttercream frosting recipe that went along with the vanilla cake recipe. For the chocolate one I chose to do a chocolate cream cheese frosting.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

recipe source: Cupcake Project
1 8 oz package cream cheese at room temperature
1/4 C butter (1/2 stick) at room temperature
4 C sifted powdered sugar (You can decrease this amount if you don't care about it being as stiff for piping)
1/2 C cocoa powder

Mix cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy.

Mix in powdered sugar, one cup at a time.

Mix in cocoa powder.

{red pepper, red onion, goat cheese + bacon pizza}

2010-02-17T19:00:00.000-08:00

recipe source: Love and Olive Oil
Not only was this pizza gorgeous to look at but it tasted just as good. The crust is brushed with a mixture of olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes. Its then topped with spinach, red onions, mushrooms, goat cheese, roasted red peppers and bacon. Lots of crunchy bacon bits. John loved this and said it balanced out all the veggies perfectly. This is by far one of the best pizza's we've ever had. It was incredibly simple to put together and has been added to our favorites.

More pics after the jump

{irish lamb stew}

2010-02-16T20:00:00.000-08:00

recipe source: Eating Well
This stew was the exact comfort food needed for a cold winter night. The lamb was extremely tender and the seasonings perfect. The leeks were kinda stringy so I think next time I will chop them up to be a little smaller. Also, it definitely could have used more carrots and a little more salt. A very tasty stew though!

{curried butternut squash, caramelized onion + chicken pizza}

2010-02-15T21:35:00.000-08:00

recipe source: Closet Cooking
Amazing. This is one of those cases when I wish I had multiple stomachs. The smooth butteriness of the butternut squash combined with the spice of curry and sweet caramelized onions was devine. I roasted the butternut squash halved, brushed with olive oil, topped with curry at 400ºF for 50 minutes until it was fork tender. Goat cheese is my go-to cheese so I used it instead of gorgonzola. I sliced up one and a half chicken breasts and cooked it in the pan with a chopped garlic clove and a little olive oil. Cilantro is one of those things that if you don't use it almost immediately it goes bad so I didn't have any on hand. I imagine it would have only enhanced the flavors. I brushed the pizza crust with some olive oil and grated parmesan cheese and popped it in the oven. It came out perfect.

More pics after the jump

{valentines weekend 2010}

2010-02-14T12:10:00.000-08:00

John and I took a weekend getaway to Richmond, VA for valentines this year. It was a perfect weekend of climbing and eating delicious food. Even with the real fire at our hotel, it was perfect.

For our "fancy" dinner out we went to Kuba Kuba, a local Cuban restaurant tucked in a beautiful neighborhood in downtown Richmond. It is a small restaurant, but very popular. We waited for only about 30 minutes before being seated, all the while smelling the delicious aromas coming from the grills right behind us. Neither of us had ever had Cuban food before so we were excited to try it all. We tried the coconut soda to start with...it was very sweet but still tasty.

More after the jump
For starters we ordered the tostones (fried plantains) and empanadillas. I absolutely love plantains and have't had them since I was in Guatemala a couple years ago. John had never had them, but thought they could have used some dipping sauce. We ordered the empanadillas filled with picadillo. They were delicious.
Everything on the menu was tantalizing but we both chose to go with the specials. John got the grass fed sirloin with roasted shallot and garlic butter, yukon fries and asparagus. I ordered the pan seared salmon with coconut risotto cakes, black bean and corn salsa and asparagus. I loved the coconut risotto cakes! They were very sweet, but very good. Everything was amazingly delicious and we now have a new favorite restaurant.

{tomato, goat cheese and carmelized onion tarts/pizzas}

2010-02-10T21:48:00.000-08:00

recipe source: Piece of Cake
It took about an hour total to do the prep work, cooking and baking of the pies. Caramelizing the onions took about 30 minutes to do. Assembly took maybe 5 minutes and then they cooked for 20 minutes. The aromas in the kitchen were delicious throughout the entire process.

More pics after the jump

I've never worked with puff pastry before, but note for the future, it needs to thaw out ahead of time. The recipe wasn't really very clear on how many layers to use so I used 5. The pastry I bought was very very thin and I felt it needed a little thickness to it to hold everything on top. It was a little messy working with the flour and when cutting out the pies the dough tore pretty easily.
Pepperoni was added for John's sake but honestly, I felt that the other flavors overpowered the pepperoni and it was not needed. I was able to make 4 normal size pies and one smaller pie from all the ingredients. We each ate about two of the tarts and it was the perfect amount. These will definitely be made again, but next time I'll just make them with thin pizza crust to make things simpler.

{dolmas wrap}

2010-02-08T11:32:00.000-08:00

recipe source: Eating Well
The dolmas wraps are a delicious meal, but much better for a lunch vs. a dinner. Dolmas are a Middle Eastern food consisting of chopped veggies or ground meat stuffed into grape leaves. You can usually find them prepared in the grocery store's salad bar. The ones I found were veggie stuffed and about two of them fit into the size tortillas that we had. I chose to use flour tortillas instead of the lavash since its what we already had. It was refreshingly delicious and light. I think next time I'd add more lettuce and tomatoes just as slices inside the wrap...it would at least make the picture better looking.

{superbowl extravaganza part two}

2010-02-07T23:10:00.000-08:00

onion ring recipe source: Eating Well
boneless buffalo wing recipe source: Eating Well
For our main superbowl course I used two recipes from Eating Well to create a healthy version of onioin rings and boneless buffalo wings. I only had panko breadcrumbs, but figured they'd work good enough. They didn't coat the onion rings as well as a finer breadcrumb, but it was suffiecient. The buffalo wings were made with boneless skinless chicken breasts. They came out very moist and with plenty of spicy flavor. I used a package to make the ranch dip that was the least healthiest thing on the plate, but helped to cool your tongue. Everything tasted just as good as the unhealthy version but came with much less guilt.

More pics after the jump

{superbowl extravaganza part one}

2010-02-07T22:34:00.000-08:00

recipe source: Lifes Ambrosia
John and I are not pro-football people at all. However, we watch the superbowl each year simply for the commercials. This year I planned a typical superbowl party meal for the two of us that was slightly healthier than the norm.

The menu:

cream cheese and bacon stuffed jalapenos
boneless buffalo wings
onion rings

See more pics of the cream cheese and bacon stuffed jalapenos after the jump

I learned several things making these stuffed jalapenos. First of all, see those seeds? Yeah, when you scoop them out, don't put them into the sink disposal. Put them in the trash. The seeds and insides are the spiciest part of a jalapeno and when you put them into something that chops them up, the vapors float up through the air and into your lungs. Not pleasant. Also, don't touch your face.

After the dangerous part of making the jalapeno boats, everything else is pretty simple to assemble. Have the cream cheese be at or close to room temperature to make the mixing of it easier. Crispy bacon really tops this dish off nicely. I took the extra bacon and placed bigger pieces on the tops as well as in the mix. It was super delicious and super spicy!

{beef chili}

2010-02-06T22:15:00.000-08:00

recipe source: Eating Well
What better way to warm up after canon balls in two feet of snow than with some warm chili. The recipe didn't actually call for using a slow cooker, but I used one anyway. Playing in the snow sounded more fun than spending my snow day cooking. I cooked it on high for 4 hours and it turned out just as well as if I had done it the way they called for. We topped it with a little goat cheese and light sour cream and scooped it up with tostitos.

I altered the recipe by using ground beef instead of beef round. Now that I'm looking at the recipe again, I think I forgot the beer, that might have helped the flavor out. It all tasted good, but was just not the best chili I've ever eaten. It didn't really thicken up like the picture Eating Well shows, but maybe the beer would have helped. I think next time, I'd add more salt and possibly a small can of tomato sauce to help it out.

More pics after the jump

{snow day + mexican breakfast burritos}

2010-02-06T12:51:00.000-08:00

We were hit with an awesome snow storm that dropped two feet of snow on us! Since it snowed for about two days we were stuck inside for the most part. It was a perfect day for some delicious mexican breakfast burritos. I've been making these for John in the mornings to take with him to eat on the road on his way to work since they are very portable. So far we've done several combinations that we like. Eggs, mushrooms, spinach and goat cheese. Eggs and turkey sausage. Black beans, eggs, sour cream, salsa and turkey sausage is the combo we chose for the snow day.

Recipe and pics after the jump

{mexican breakfast burritos}

ingredients

eggs
1 can refried black beans (ducal are the best...you will have leftover beans from this)
light sour cream
salsa
turkey sausage crumbled
small burrito shell

directions

Start with cooking the turkey sausage. Set aside and keep warm. Meanwhile putt a little olive oil in a pan and cook up the black beans. Scramble one egg per burrito you want to make (ie. I made two so I used two eggs). Salt and pepper to taste your eggs.

When eggs are almost done, warm your burrito for about 15 seconds in the microwave. Spread black beans and sour cream on top. Add eggs as soon as they are done and top with crumbled turkey sausage and salsa. Roll burrito and place a toothpick in the center to help keep contents inside. Enjoy!

{butternut squash carbonara}

2010-02-05T21:21:00.000-08:00

recipe source: Closet Cooking
John has been telling me that butternut squash is good and I found a recipe that looked good enough to try it out. I did learned you have to cook the squash ahead of time in order to make this dish so I roasted the squash halved and seeds removed for about 40 minutes in the oven at 400ºF. I brushed them with olive oil and sprinkled a little thyme and cinnamon on top for seasoning. I made the mistake of adding the egg mixture to the pan while still cooking so the sauce ended up getting cooked, but I also really didn't want to eat raw egg so it worked out. The flavors were a delicious combination of the creamy butternut squash and crispy bacon. I tossed it with some orecchiette noodles and grated some fresh parmesan cheese on top to finish it all off.

More pics after the jump

{chicken taco chili}

2010-02-04T21:06:00.000-08:00

recipe source:: Ginas WW Recipes
This is hands down the best chili we've ever had. The flavor was a perfect combination sweet and spicy. Since the chicken ends up being shredded, I only put in 1.5 pieces of chicken and it turned out to be plenty. There is so much stuff in this chili that it didn't matter if there wasn't as much chicken. It definitely made 10 or more servings and has kept very well in the fridge. We served it over some yellow rice with a little sour cream and grated mozzarella cheese on top. One of the best things about this chili was that it was ridiculously simple and cheap to make since most of the ingredients were canned items. Make this.

More pics after the jump

{spaghetti with sauteed chicken + grape tomatoes}

2010-02-03T20:00:00.000-08:00

recipe source:: Ginas WW Recipes
Six cloves of garlic. Need I say more?

The chicken was seasoned with some oregano, basil, cinnamon, salt + pepper. Six cloves of garlic were chopped up and sauteed with the grape tomatoes. I used orecchiette pasta instead of spaghetti noodles and tossed it all together. Topped with some freshly grated parmesan cheese and it took all of 30 minutes to do. It was a very light and delicious dish.

More pics after the jump

{hungarian beef goulash}

2010-02-02T14:36:00.000-08:00

recipe source:: Eating Well
This was amazingly delicious. The flavors were really good and the red peppers were very flavorful. I added a few carrots into the mix since I had them and needed to use them. We bought some potato gnocci to try with this and it turned out pretty good. Next time I think I'll use noodles though. Since I didn't have any paprika, I substituted some cayenne which gave it a really nice spicy flavor.

More pics after the jump

The beef with the all the yummy spices.

{mini mushroom + sausage quiches}

2010-02-01T14:17:00.000-08:00

recipe source:: Eating Well
Breakfast this week were these delicious min quiches. I made them Sunday afternoon and individually wrapped them in plastic to be reheated quickly each morning. The recipe made 12 quiches that have lasted most of the week. One was just enough for me and I sent two with John to eat on his beautiful drive through snowy mountains to work. The turkey sausage was delicious and I opted for white button mushrooms since they were on sale.

More pics after the jump

The batter filled all the muffin tins up pretty evenly and puffed up as it cooked.

{eggplant and tomato sauce with turkey sausage}

2010-01-31T21:44:00.000-08:00

recipe source:: Ginas WW Recipes

I've never really had eggplant before and since I'm branching out I decided to give it a shot with this recipe. I had some turkey sausage left over from the stromboli so I added it to the recipe. It was delicious. Plenty of eggplant and good flavored tomato sauce. The best part was that it took only about 30 minutes to make!

More pics after the jump

{sausage, pepperoni, peppers + onion stromboli}

2010-01-29T21:30:00.000-08:00

recipe source:: My Kitchen Addiction
I have to say that this was by far the best stromboli I've ever had. It used chicken sausage, red + green peppers with some onions. I also had some pepperoni that I tossed into the mix. The topping I put on the crust was a little oregano, parsly, basil and freshly grated parmesan cheese. I could have eaten it all by itself! We put a little Trader Joes marinara on top and it was simply heaven.

More pics after the jump

{crock pot santa fe chicken}

2010-01-28T20:00:00.000-08:00

recipe source:: Ginas WW Recipes
I am really starting to like cooking with my Grandma's crock pot. This dish took all of about 10 minutes to prep and filled the house with a delicious aroma. Since we didn't have any rice to serve it over we ate it with some tortillas but it is fine on its own. The one teaspoon of cayenne pepper really spiced it up a lot! Next time I'll make sure to add a bit of sour cream on top to help cool our tongues.

More pics after the jump

{january daring bakers: nanaimo bars}

2010-01-27T10:09:00.000-08:00

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

This is my first time participating in the Daring Bakers challenge and I absolutely loved it! The challenge had two parts to it: 1) bake homemade graham crackers and 2) use the graham crackers you made to create Canadian Nanaimo Bars (pronounced Nah-nye-Moh). We had the option to make this a gluten free recipe but since all-purpose is what I had on hand, I opted for it.

More pics after the jump

recipe source:: 101 cookbooks
The graham crackers were delicious on their own and I foresee some s'more making in the near future. I didn't have a rolling pin so I improvised with a wine bottle to roll out the dough. Next time, I will just go buy a rolling pin.

recipe source:: City of Nanaimo
Vegan middle layer:: Everyday Dish TV
We used the graham crackers in the bottom of the 3-layer Nanaimo Bars. Coconut and walnuts were also supposed to be in the bottom layer, but since I had neither and am not a fan of coconut, I left them out. For the middle layer I used the vegan recipe with some modifications. I left out the tumeric and used soy milk and real butter instead. I also added a couple tablespoons of creamy peanut butter to the mix. Nothing beats peanut butter and chocolate.

The Nanaimo bars were delicious and ended up being fairly easy to make. They were incredibly rich so I cut all the pieces very small and sent them with John to work to share the wealth.

{flemish beef stew}

2010-01-26T22:05:00.001-08:00

recipe source:: Eating Well
This is a wonderful slow cooker recipe that has delicious flavors. I prepped it all in about 45 minutes this morning and cooked it on low for 8 hours. Everything came out nice and tender. I think next time I will add in more carrots and some potatoes. There was definitely a lot of meat in the stew and it easily could have had less. Of course John thought it was great!

More pics after the jump

all set...
...8 hours later...voila!

{mozzerella stuffed turkey burgers}

2010-01-25T21:48:00.000-08:00

recipe source:: Eating Well
nomnomnom.

John loves burgers. Beef burgers. This dish had him drooling and wanting more.

Turkey burgers can dry out, but the way that these were created left them nice and moist and the marinara sauce was some of the best I've ever had. Make these, you will love them.

More pics after the jump

recipe source:: The Pioneer Woman
I served the burgers with some crushed potatoes that were the best combination of chips and french fries, only healthy. I didn't have any new potatoes so I used the Idaho potatoes we did have. They were just as delicious.

{parmesan crusted chicken with tomato-basil cream sauce}

2010-01-24T21:42:00.000-08:00

recipe source:: Life Ambrosia
Last summer John and I went on a deep sea fishing trip and caught a lot of different fish that are now in our freezer. This dish was originally supposed to be parmesan crusted *insert fish here*.Since we're not big fish eaters I thought I could try this out as a first. Well, neither of us could motivate ourselves to eat the fish so I ended up substituting chicken. It turned out great and we will be making it again sans the fish of course. Peas + a baked potato made the dish complete.

More pics after the jump

{cheese tortellini with pesto + sundried tomatoes}

2010-01-20T21:16:00.000-08:00

recipe source:: Life Ambrosia
This was my second attempt at a meatless dish. It went over about the same on John as the Pasta Primavera did the other week...he would like it better with meat. I thought the flavors were outstanding though. I used some basil pesto I had frozen from my basil plant and bought three cheese tortellini from the grocery store. The sundried tomatoes packed in oil were too expensive so I thought I could get away with plain ones. I have now learned why you should get them packed in oil...they don't soften while cooking unless they've been soaked in oil so they were a little on the tough side. Having never cooked with sundried tomatoes before, I wasn't aware that they had such a strong taste. They were not bad, but in this dish I think putting in some halved cherry tomatoes would be even better. I will definitely make this again with those adjustments and a little chicken for John.

More pics after the jump.

{honey kissed crispy chicken}

2010-01-19T21:30:00.000-08:00

recipe source:: Life Ambrosia
This dish was originally supposed to be made into a sandwhich, however, I felt it would be perfect on its own. I served it with a side of sweet potatoes with goat cheese + sage.

More pics after the jump

The chicken was perfect. The addition of honey reminded me of eating chicken nuggets as a kid. It does require a couple hours of marination, but is relatively simple to create. I recommend slicing the chicken into strips so it cooks quickly.

recipe source:: Whipped
The sweet potato side dish was really good. Of course, John would have preferred regular potatoes, but he ate these anyway. Goat cheese makes anything good. They are good served warm or cold, my preference is warm.

{cheesy chicken + pasta}

2010-01-18T21:07:00.000-08:00

recipe source:: Kraft Foods
omg, this was amazing. You really can't go wrong with cheese and salsa. I did add in a half can of black beans to the mix...you can't have mexican without them. The dish was very easy to make and we had plenty of leftovers to enjoy. Unfortunately this dish disappeared before any photos could be taken.

{pasta primavera}

2010-01-12T20:22:00.000-08:00

recipe source:: The Pioneer Woman
I am trying to cook more meatless meals and this one was my first. It was delicious! John of course wanted meat, but he still liked how it all tasted. The recipe made a ton of food so, if cooking for two, I recommend making a half recipe. You will still have enough for leftovers. Next time I will add in a little chicken for John, while still letting the main part be the veggies + pasta.

More pics after the jump

{mexican pizza}

2010-01-11T20:48:00.000-08:00

recipe source:: Food Network

My first time eating this dish was with some my girlfriends from work...it was so good I've added it to our favorites list of eats. We adapted the recipe a bit. Instead of using tortillas, I used a pre-made pizza crust. We also added cilantro to the toppings put on after baking. We found its best to only put the lettuce, tomatoes + salsa/sour cream mixture on the pieces you plan on eating. This way your leftovers don't get soggy.

{roasted duck with bubble + squeak}

2010-01-08T20:54:00.000-08:00

recipe source:: Jaime's Kitchen
This was supposed to be our New Years Day lunch...3 bottles of bubbly on New Years Eve changed that. This was my first time cooking an entire bird, or duck for that matter. I almost became a vegetarian while dressing it. However, the dish ended up being pretty good. The flavors were very different from anything we've ever eaten before. The colors and smells were lovely, although, I think that will be my last time cooking an entire duck.

More pics after the jump

bubble and squeak

{pepperoni, tomato-basil pizza}

2009-12-30T19:36:00.000-08:00

recipe source:: The Pioneer Woman
This turned out to be delicious! Next time I'll use a little less sauce as the pieces we re-heated were a bit soggy. I added the pepperoni and voila.