Culinary Adventures

Recipes to Rival: Beef Rendang

2008-11-01T10:33:00.003-04:00

This month's Recipes to Rival post is probably going to be my last blog post for a while. I have a lot going on right now and just need to focus on other things. I still plan to cook great dishes, just not take the time to blog about it. I'll miss Recipes to Rival and The Daring Bakers.

Anyway, this month I co-hosted with Rayrena of Happy Cows. It was her birthday month, so very fitting for her to be able to host.

I was glad to be making a curry dish for Lee. He loves it so much. I had a bit of difficulty finding all of the ingredients. I went to a local Asian market and a local Indian market (just in case the Indian one had some ingredients) and couldn't find the galangal, kaffir lime leaves, or duan salam leaves. I ended up finding ground galangal at Penzeys (regular ginger could be a substitute), used some lime zest for the kaffir lime leaves, and some regular bay leaves for the duan salam leaves.

This is definitely a dish for a day when you're sitting around the house. After three hours, all the liquid hadn't yet reduced, but we ate it anyway because we were hungry and we like saucy curries anyway. We probably didn't get the full experience, but it was pretty good and Lee loved it. Other people had to reduce their rendang for about 5 hours!

Make sure you are careful about where you serve this! The tumeric stains like a @%^#$@! Lee was eating some leftovers as lunch the next day at his computer, spilled it on the floor, and the tumeric looks like it's all out until you look at it in sunlight. I think that's strange that we can now only see the tumeric if the sun hits it... I learned that hydrogen peroxide can help. We also used a Woolite Rug Stick to help out. I think we got as much as possible, but if anyone has any more suggestions for getting turmeric out of the rug, I'd love more ideas!

Look at all the fat I strained out!!

Rubber Chicken: Day 3

2008-10-22T21:43:00.004-04:00

Tonight was chicken pot pie night. I've always thought I didn't like chicken pot pie. My mom used to make it for dinner quit a bit, but I always hated it. It turns out that I hate the frozen chicken pot pies with the mixed vegetables inside. A family I nannied for had me try Willow Tree chicken pies and those were pretty good with just the crust, gravy, and chicken breasts.

Penzeys had good timing for sending their Thanksgiving catalog. There were a few ideas for turkey leftovers and I think most turkey recipes work just fine with chicken. There was a recipe for turkey pot pie in the catalog, so I adapted it for the chicken and what we had on hand.

I had about 1 cup of leftover gravy. I think leftover potatoes or carrots would probably be ok to throw in the pot pie too and save you a bit of time. I wanted to make the pie crust, but I got out of work a lot later than I planned, so I grabbed a box of pie crust at the store on my way home.

Even though this chicken pot pie had vegetables (peas no less, a food I really just don't like) it was really good! To make this better, I'd just use a homemade pie crust. This is supposed to serve 2, but with our salads before, we probably could have made this serve 4. I think it depends on how much you eat.

Chicken Pot Pie
serves 2-4

2 medium-small potatoes, peeled and diced
1 carrot, peeled and sliced
½ cup frozen peas
1 cup leftover gravy
½ cup milk
salt
curry powder
granulated garlic
ground pepper
1 cup leftover chicken
1 egg yolk, beaten

Preheat oven to 325°F.
Place potatoes in a pot, cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes.
Add carrots to the potatoes and cook for 5 more minutes.
Drain the potatoes and carrots. Mix in the peas. Set aside.
In a sauce pan, pour gravy and milk. Whisk together.
Add salt, curry powder, garlic, and pepper to taste (1/4-1/2 teaspoon each).
Heat until the gravy looks like a thick sauce.
Shred leftover chicken and mix into vegetables. Pour into 1½ qt. cassrole dish.
Pour the gravy mixture over the vegetables.
Top with crust and brush with egg yolk. Pierce with knife or fork to vent.
Bake in oven for 30-45 minutes or until crust is brown and bubbly.

Rubber Chicken: Day 2

2008-10-22T21:31:00.003-04:00

Day 2 of my Rubber Chicken Challenge was curry night. Curry is a great dish for stretching the chicken because you can add so much other things to it and the rice is so very filling. Adding some mixed vegetables is definitely a great way to stretch the meat.

I used 1 cup of chicken I just picked from the carcass and added it to the curry sauce as it was simmering.

I used the recipe from my first curry, but I used granulated onion and garlic and it just didn't taste the same. I'd definitely use the "real" onion and garlic in the future.

Rubber Chicken: Day 1

2008-10-19T21:00:00.004-04:00

I've been a bad blogger. I have been horrible about posting lately, but I haven't been cooking much either. I've either been unmotivated, or like with my apple stuff, forgetting to take pictures to blog about it. I did make fabulous apple butter and apple pear sauce, but forgot to take pictures!

Anyway, at a forum I belong to, there was a thread a long time ago about Rubber Chicken. The idea is to make the chicken stretch to as many meals as possible. The thread was revived a few days ago and today I decided to do a Rubber Chicken challenge. The biggest part of this challenge won't be to think of a variety of ways to use the chicken, I already have ideas thanks to that thread, but to make sure my human garbage disposal boyfriend feels full at the end of the meal without needing to eat a lot of meat. With today's economy, I'm sure a lot of people can sympathize.

I didn't decide to blog about this until we were sitting down to eat, so I cheated and used boxed scalloped potatoes. If I'd planned to blog, I would have made them from scratch. Oh, well. That's not the point of this challenge.

I am also not going to post the recipe for the stuffing. It's a family favorite and although they would probably not mind me posting the recipe, I think that even in this time of sharing information and recipes, some things should still be kept in the family. I will tell you that it involves sitting over a bowl, picking white bread (preferably stuffing bread), onions, poultry seasoning, and butter.

I started off with a 6.75lb chicken. I made a mirepoix with carrots, onions, and celery flakes (yes, I know it should be real celery, but we're trying to economize and I didn't want to have to buy any of this except the bread because we eat wheat but I like white for the stuffing, and the chicken itself). I cooked it low and slow in the oven at 325°F for 3 hours. I am a person who loves the flavor the stuffing gets from being inside the chicken. If you don't stuff the chicken, it won't take as long to cook. I always cook my poultry upside down for most of the time. It makes the breast meat so moist and juicy!

Rubber Chicken Meal #1:
Roast Chicken
Stuffing
Scalloped Potatoes
Carrots
Gravy

Rubber Roast Chicken

1 6.75lb chicken
mixed herbs
tarragon
rubbed sage
savory
ground black pepper
kosher salt

Remove giblets. Rinse chicken and pat dry with paper towels.
Stuff with stuffing.
Sprinkle herbs evenly over both sides of the chicken.
In the bottom of the roasting pan, place in the mirepoix. Put the chicken on top of the mirepoix, upside down.
Cover the chicken with aluminum foil.
Cook for 2 hours. Remove foil and turn chicken over. Cook for remaining hour.
Allow chicken to stand for a a few minutes then carve.

Recipes to Rival: Dumplings!

2008-10-02T17:45:00.002-04:00

I completely forgot to post on posting day! I've been so busy that it just skipped my mind. I KNEW I should have used the Blogger in Draft feature!

Anyway, I did do the challenge and did pretty well.

The dough was a failure for me at first. It was just way too goopy and I couldn't get it to come together the right way. I had to try again and ended up getting them thin enough. My circles weren't perfect, but that's what makes them homemade!

The filling was really easy to make and tasted INCREDIBLE! I made the shrimp and turkey recipe. I just used my tablespoon measuring spoon to scoop out the right amount.

It was difficult to do the pleating. I'm not sure I did it right, but the taste is what counts, right? I ended up also doing some tortellini-shaped dumplings because I got bored with the pleating.

I have a steamer basket for my pots and pans set, but it doesn't fit properly. I ended up not using the basket because I had just seen an episode of Tyler's Ultimate in which he was looking for the ultimate dumplings and one guy was making potstickers. Other Rivalers had made some potstickers, so it seemed like it was allowed within the rules. I learned they are called potstickers for a reason. They stick to the pot like crazy. If anyone has tips to help potstickers not stick so badly they tear apart, I would greatly appreciate it!

The dumplings tasted amazing! Lee and I both ate way more than we should, especially since I made a full Chinese meal with lo mein (chow mein for the UK) and sweet and sour chicken.

Apple Cider

2008-09-21T19:11:00.003-04:00

I love going apple picking in the fall. I didn't get to go last year, but Lee and I did go this year. We went to a place that has apple and pear picking. We got 10 Bosc pears and a bunch of MacIntosh, Cortland, Royal Gala, Empire, and Liberty apples. Today I started a cook-a-thon with the 20 pounds of fruit we got!

I've started some apple butter, but can't post about that yet because it's still simmering. I'm also going to make something with the pears later this week after they have ripened.

One thing I did start and finish today was apple cider. It turned out really well and I didn't even have to use a press!!

The only problem I had was straining the pulp at the end. I was squeezing the cheese cloth and I had a load of pulp squirt all over the wall!

My cider turned out just a little watered down, but I'd just make sure not to put quite so much water in next time. It still tasted delicious, though!

I'm not sure how often I'll make cider, but this is a great recipe to keep on hand if I have a bunch of apples that need using up!

Apple Cider (yields 1/2-3/4 gallon)

10 apples (I used a mix of all apples we picked)
½-1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons cinnamon (or 4 sticks)
4 tablespoons allspice

Cut apples into quarters, leaving all parts intact.
Place apples in a large stock pot and pour enough water to cover all but the top layer of apples.
Place in spices (put in cheese cloth to keep separated).
Bring to a boil and boil for one hour.
Reduce to a simmer and simmer for 2 hours.
Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Remove spices and mash apples, using a potato masher, to a pulp-like consistency.
Strain through a double layer cheese cloth, squeezing out any extra juice.

The Mac and Cheese that Won!!!

2008-09-07T13:17:00.003-04:00

I did it!!! I did it!!!! I did it!!!

I found a mac and cheese recipe Lee likes!!!!

I wasn't planning on blogging about this recipe, but sometimes life comes out and surprises you. I've made this recipe I found on Recipezaar before, but Lee wasn't home. I had wanted a quick mac and cheese recipe for lunch and didn't have any Velveeta. I liked it, thought the garlic taste was a little much, but I had a large clove of farm-fresh garlic, so blamed it on that.

Today I wanted mac and cheese for lunch and decided to use this recipe again, with a few variations. I used a smaller clove of garlic, just one, and instead of just cheddar, used part cheddar, part Monterrey Jack. I also made a bit more mac and cheese so that way I could use the whole can of evaporated milk instead of having leftover milk. Lee came in as I was cooking the garlic in the butter and got excited about the smell. I told him that it was for the mac and cheese, thinking that would be the end of him wanting it.

Imagine my surprise when I was dishing out the mac and cheese for myself and asked if he could try some! He thought that since it had garlic in it, he might like it. I let him try a bite and he thought it was good. He asked to try another bite, and he decided to get his own bowl, then he went back for seconds!!!

Lee said he likes the light garlic flavor in it and thinks that it is more creamy and less cheesy tasting than the others that I've tried. I won't argue with him if it got him liking mac and cheese!!!

Oh, happy day!!!

The Mac and Cheese that Won (aka Quick Macaroni and Cheese)

10 ounces uncooked macaroni
salt
1½ tbsp butter
1 clove garlic
pinch cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon flour
1½ cups (1 can) evaporated milk
1 cup white extra sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup Monterrey Jack cheese

In a pot of boiling water, add salt and uncooked macaroni. Cook until al dente.
Meanwhile, melt butter in a saucepan.
Mince garlic and add to melted butter, along with cayenne pepper.
Cook for 1-2 minutes.
Add flour and cook for one minute more.
Add evaporated milk and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
Meanwhile, shred the cheeses.
Add cheeses to milk and melt.
Drain the macaroni and add to the cheese mixture.
Allow to sit on a cool surface to thicken for about 5 minutes.

Recipes to Rival: Tamales!

2008-09-01T16:14:00.009-04:00

The tamales were due to be posted on August 27, but I had a rough week and wasn't able to get it done in time. At least I'm still making them, since I was really looking forward to this challenge!

I think that someone somewhere didn't want me to do this challenge. I wanted to make this while at my grandfather's cottage, like I did the eclairs, but my very picky eater father nixed that. Turns out I might not have been able to do them up there anyway as I couldn't find the corn husks. I completely forgot about banana leaves, but didn't see them anyway. I was going to spend the weekend before posting day doing an even wider search for corn husks, but I had some family stuff come up. I'm lucky to have some great people in the Recipes to Rival group and both Meg and Jen offered to send me some corn husks as they had loads extra.

Anyway, I finally go around to making the tamales today. It's definitely a project for the weekend or a holiday, unless you prep for several days in advance. I can completely understand why this is a traditional Christmas dish in Mexico.

The first step I did was to prepare some stock for the batter. I made a large vat of veggie stock (well, I used veggie bullion) and divided that into three parts for an ancho chile (smoked poblano) stock, chipotle (smoked red jalapeño) stock, and left one plain vegetable. All I did for the chile stocks was to take one dried pepper of each type and place it in three cups stock. I let it simmer until the chile was rehydrated and the flavor was infused in the stock.

I just love the ancho chile flavor and I wanted to have that flavor in other parts of the tamales. I made the bell pepper compote from a pork recipe I like, the rice and chili from the Southwestern Chili Lasagna, and a variation of the bean recipe from Debyi, our wonderful host this month. Since I haven't posted the bell pepper compote before, and I didn't use the bean recipe as written, I'll put those recipes later on in the post.

Since Lee had the car today, and I just wasn't thinking before today, I made a list for him to buy some ingredients for the fillings while he was at work today. He came home on his break today with the ingredients, so I couldn't get started until after 1:00.

First, got started on the chili. Usually, Lee is guilty of buying too much food, so I didn't even think that he would buy less than 2lbs. ground beef. I guess I should have thought of that. I ended up texting him to bring home some more ground beef when he came home from work. I got the rest of the chili started and allowed it to simmer, figuring it was better to get most of it ready while waiting on the other pound.

Next, I made the bean mix. I had some dried pinto beans in the cupboard, so I soaked those overnight. The recipe called for shredded carrots, and my box grater hadn't been cleaned since I used it to grate my Lush bubble bath, so I ended up just using my vegetable peeler to get thin shreds of carrot.

I was ready for the part where I am supposed to toast some coriander seeds (the seeds of a cilantro plant) and cumin seeds. I didn't have any cumin seeds, so I just toasted some coriander seeds. Well, I THOUGHT I didn't have any cumin seeds, but as I was making the bell-pepper compote, I found a jar of cumin seeds right front and center of my spices. Oops!!

The bell pepper compote and the rice went off without a hitch and were quickly finished.

Now it was time to fill the tamales. I had soaked the corn husks, and I divided the batter into batches. I used 3 cups masa, 1 cup shortening, and 3 cups stock to make each type of batter. I couldn't really taste much for the ancho chile dough, but once I made the chipotle dough, I could notice a big difference in flavor.

Lee helped out with putting the tamales together. He spread the masa on the husks while I filled and folded them. Spreading the masa on the husks was a bit frustrating for us. Neither one of us had eaten, nevermind made tamales before and had no clue how thick to spread the masa batter. I know other rivalers had problems with too much masa and I wanted to avoid that problem, but didn't want it spread too thinly either.

I didn't have a steamer big enough for the job. Actually, my steamer doesn't even really fit any of my pots, so I really have to be careful what I put in it. I knew tamales wouldn't work because they would be too heavy and would fall over. I was reading blogs and Lan had mentioned fashioning a steamer out of a colander and a large pot. I decided to go that route. I also read Temperance mention putting some stock as her liquid for steaming. I decided to use some of my vegetable bullion in the water for my steaming liquid. One last precaution for avoiding the dry tamales some people complained about was to take a tip from a site I visited (can't remember which, but it wasn't someone from R2R). I took my baster and squirted some of the plain vegetable stock into each tamale to keep them moist.

Since we had too many tamales to steam at once, I steamed the batch with the ancho chile batter first. While that was steaming, I made the chipotle batter and Lee and I assembled those ones.

I didn't realize how many corn husks were in one packet! We ended up with 24 tamales and we barely made a dent in the package of corn husks. We also only made about 2/3 of the total batter. I'm glad I had reduced the portions of the fillings because we would have run out of room in our freezer!

We ate a couple for dinner tonight and I plan to have some for lunch tomorrow, but there are just too many to eat in one week, so we'll freeze the leftovers. To reheat from the freezer, defrost and steam in a microwave oven or wrap in foil with some moist paper towel and heat at 350°F.

We didn't have any problem with dryness, but ended up not being too thrilled with them. We didn't like the masa. I'll eat up what we have, but besides that, I don't know if I'd make this again. They're a lot better with some sauce over the top. If I could figure out how to make the dough a lot thinner, it would be better, but I think we made the dough as thin as possible.

Although we didn't end up liking these as much as we'd hoped, I'm really glad I made them since I've always wondered how they would taste.

Tamales Made:

chipotle batter with bell pepper compote
chipotle batter with pinto bean filling
ancho batter with rice filling
ancho batter with chili filling
ancho bater with chili and rice filling

See the Recipes to Rival Blog for the official recipe.

Bell Pepper Compote

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1/2 red onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1/8 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon Mexican oregano 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium-low heat.
Add peppers and onion.
Cook for about 5 minutes.
Add the remaining ingredients.
Cook until vegetables are soft, but not brown, and the balsamic vinegar scent has dissipated and flavors come together.

Pinto Bean Chipotle Filling 8 oz. pinto beans, rinsed 1/8 cup of shredded carrot 1/8 red onion, minced 1 cloves garlic, minced 1/8 tsp. chipotle powder 1/8 tbsp. ancho chile powder 1/8 tsp. whole cumin seeds 1/2 tsp. whole coriander seeds pinch of salt 1 tsp. of olive oil Option: 1 cup of soy chorizo

Shred the carrot.
Mince the onion and garlic.
Rinse the beans.
Combine all of these together in a bowl.
In a small pan, toast the cumin seeds and coriander seeds on a medium heat in the 1 tsp. of oil until the coriander seeds start to pop or the cumin seeds turn a deep brown color, whichever comes first.
Mix the chipotle powder, ancho chile powder, cumin, coriander, and salt together.
Toss this into the veggie mix.

The Daring Bakers: Eclairs

2008-08-31T00:01:00.001-04:00

This month's challenge was hosted by Meeta of What's for Lunch, Honey? and Tony of A Warm Welcome. They chose to have us make eclairs this month. I was going away with my family for a vacation at the beginning of the month and thought it would be a great idea to make it while there since there would be more people to help eat them. Lee and I end up eating to many when I make the challenges at home.

I've never really been fond of eclairs, nor have I ever made them. My family was excited for eclairs, though. We were given the choice of flavoring, as long as we kept one chocolate element of the dish. My dad chose to have a vanilla flavored filling with the chocolate glaze instead of the chocolate pastry cream. I have heard other Daring Bakers say that the chocolate pastry cream was delicious, so part of me was disappointed that I didn't make it!

I made this while at my grandfather's cottage in New Hampshire. Since he rents out the cottage, they don't have the best cookware. People tend to take nice things in rental properties. I don't understand that, but it's a sad fact. Unfortunately, that meant I had to make these without modern conveniences such as my Kitchen Aid.

I was a bit nervous when I read the directions and it said you could make the batter for the eclairs by hand "if your arms aren't too tired" since I had no choice but to mix by hand, but it wasn't bad.

I didn't have any pastry tips with me. I had already left my house before the recipe was announced, so I didn't know I would want to bring them. I just used a plastic Ziploc bag with a hole clipped out.

My eclairs worked out ok, but one sheet of eclairs deflated. This was a pretty common problem with some Daring Bakers and I think it was due to steam.

Both my glaze and pastry cream turned out well. I wasn't able to spread my glaze with a spatula like the directions said, so I just used a spoon to pour it over the top of the eclairs.

The pastry cream ended up being a group effort! My grandfather's cottage didn't have any electric mixers, so I had to use a rotary beater. Actually, my dad and sister's boyfriend had to use a rotary beater to beat the whipped cream (Lee wasn't able to come up for the vacation). I thought we were going to have to use a whisk, so my dad and sister's boyfriend were happier to use the rotary beater that we found. It didn't actually take them all that long. I did chill the bowl down in the fridge for a while before whipping the cream, though.

Everyone loved the eclairs and I loved that I was able to be creative with my picture taking! I didn't take pictures of the process, but I did take a picture of the eclairs on a lily pad. I had been planning all week to take a picture of them on the lily pads. Unfortunately, none of the pink flowers close enough to shore were blooming when I took the picture, but I'm pretty pleased with this one. When I showed the picture to Lee, he started to ask if the picture was photoshopped before he realized he was looking at it in the camera!

Southwestern Chili Lasagna

2008-08-24T19:17:00.005-04:00

So, this morning I was browsing a forum I frequent. There is a thread where people can post what they made for dinner and I like to read that to get ideas since my knowledge of different meals is still small. One lady made a post about a blog she loves and that she was trying the Mexican lasagna recipe from that site for dinner.

I posted last week that I was going to try making meals that take a while on Sundays since it's usually a lazy day and I tend to be home all day. I asked Lee what he wanted and eventually he decided upon lasagna.

Well, after hearing about the Mexican lasagna, I thought I would try that. I didn't see the Mexican lasagna on that site, so I decided to come up with my own creation. I thought that flour tortillas would work instead of the noodles and that chili would work in place of the tomato sauce and ground meat. I figured a Mexican cheese blend would be good for the cheese layer.

I got to work on my chili for the recipe since it needed to simmer. I was glad I had decided to buy some nice ground peppers from Penzeys. (Well, I actually bought some whole ancho chiles and whole chipotle peppers as well, but decided it would be easier to use the ground for this purpose.) I love the ancho chile flavor, so I decided to use some of that in my chili. I also added some chipotle pepper. Ancho chiles are smoked purple poblanos, and chipotles are smoked red jalapeños. Add some smoked Spanish paprika (smoked red bell pepper) and I had a great smoky taste with my chili!

I was eventually directed to the post about the Mexican lasagna, but by that time I had already started my own version, so I just took the idea of adding some rice to the lasagna to add another layer of texture to the dish. I'm so glad I saw that post and added the rice! It would still have tasted good, but it tasted more complete and well-rounded with the addition of rice.

I ended up using the same peppers in my rice that I did in my chili. I thought it would be best for making the rice and chili blend well together, plus I like those flavors anyway. When Lee first tried a bite of the rice on its own, he said "Oh, wow! First you taste the rice, then you get some heat from the peppers, then there is a smoky flavor!" Yes, my dear, that's the smoked peppers! The rice had nice flavor from the Basmati rice (it was recommended in the blog post for the nice flavor and texture and I have to agree). I think it was the sensation of the flavors coming in waves that he thought was so cool.

Since I was making up my own recipe (although basing proportions of ingredients on recipes I found online since I'm not very comfortable being completely on my own with this), I wanted to make sure that the rice and chili each tasted good on their own. I figured if they taste good on their own, they would taste great together. Turns out I was right and now I have a great recipe for chili and a great recipe for Mexican rice!

This had a mellow heat to it. I wouldn't describe it as spicy. If you want spicy, add some more chipotle or add some cayenne pepper to it. Ancho chile doesn't have much heat to it, so it wouldn't do much for added spiciness.

Only problem with this was I couldn't think of an appropriate side dish. Any suggestions are welcome!

What started out as an improvisation is now a new favorite in our house!

Southwestern Chili Lasagna

For the chili:
2 (28 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
2 lbs ground beef
1 medium onion
2 garlic cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons ancho chili powder
1 teaspoon chipotle powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
1 teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika
1 teaspoon salt
ground black pepper

For the rice:
1 cup basmati rice
2 cups chicken stock
1 teaspoon butter
1 cup diced onion
1 garlic clove
1 (10 ounce) can Rotel
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
1/2 teaspoon ancho chile powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried chipotle powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked spanish paprika

For the assembly:
4 large flour tortillas
shredded Mexican cheese blend
cilantro (for garnish)

For the chili:
Dice the medium onion.
Cook in a 8qt. pot over medium heat.
Dice 2 cloves garlic and add to onions.
Add ground beef and cook until browned.
Drain out most of the fat.
Add the remaining ingredients for the chili. Simmer on stove for several hours or until all the flavors have come together.
For the rice:
Rinse rice to remove excess starch. Add to pot with the chicken stock.
Bring to boil, cover, and reduce to simmer until all the stock has been absorbed.
Remove from heat.
Meanwhile, in a skillet, melt 1 tbsp butter over medium heat.
Add 1 cup diced onion, Rotel, and 1 clove minced garlic. Add the remaining ingredients. Stir together.
Cook until onion and garlic are tender.
Add to tomato mixture to the rice by fluffing with a fork until it is evenly incorporated.
For the lasagna (I made an 8x4" lasagna):
Ladle a thin layer of the chili on the bottom of your pan.
Trim the rounded edges off the tortillas and cut into strips. Create a layer of tortilla strips in the pan.
Scoop about 1-2 cups rice and spread in even layer over tortillas.
Spread about 2 cups chili over rice.

Sprinkle to cover with cheese.
Repeat until you are within 1/2" of the top of your pan. Leave the cheese as the last later.
Sprinkle with cilantro.
Spray aluminum foil with non-stick spray and bake in a 350°F oven for about 1/2 hour. Remove foil and cook until cheese is melted, browned, and bubbly.

Meatloaf and Ratatouille

2008-08-17T22:55:00.005-04:00

Tonight was a scrumptious dinner. Since Lee and I share a car right now and he works all day on Sunday and takes the car, I'm usually at home all day. I've decided to use Sundays to make some of those more special dinners that take longer to make (lasagna, roast dinner, etc...).

Today I chose to make meatloaf and ratatouille. It was kind of a repeat from when Lee's family came to visit a couple of weeks ago. I didn't take a picture of it then, but it worked out because today I was actually able to make it better!

Since I raved so much about the ratatouille when I made it for Recipes to Rival, how could it be better, you ask?

Well, I made it with mostly farm-fresh ingredients. I've fallen in love with the farmer's market. I wish I lived in an area that had one year-round, but they end here in October. Also, it won't be as easy to get to it now that school's starting back up because the market is only there from 9:30-2.

This past week I managed to find Japanese eggplant at the farmer's market! There is an Asian family that has a farm and they go to the farmer's market on Wednesdays and Fridays. They have some great Asian ingredients that maybe harder to find. Of course, when I saw the Japanese eggplant, I knew I HAD to make ratatouille again with the proper ingredients! Well, not only was I able to get the eggplant at the farmer's market, there was yellow squash and zucchini that were the same diameter as the eggplant (bonus!!!!) and there were Roma tomatoes! I bought fresh-picked onions and had some fresh garlic as well. I'm not sure the eggplant made a big difference, but the freshness of the ingredients certainly made a HUGE difference in the taste.

The meatloaf was incredible! I first made this meatloaf when Lee's family came. I love Tyler Florence and have had his cookbook Tyler Florence's Real Kitchen for years. I have loved the recipes I've tried. He is all about fresh ingredients and making amazing food simple. This recipe is a variation of his father's meatloaf, so it's called "Dad's Meatloaf with Tomato Relish."

Mr. Florence was trying to be sneaky!!! The day before Lee's family came, I was watching Tyler's Ultimate and it happened to be an episode that featured his meatloaf recipe. Well, he changed the recipe since my cookbook was published! In the cookbook, he uses just ground beef for the meat. In the show he used ½ ground pork and ½ ground beef. Also, instead of using plain breadcrumbs, he says to use 3 slices of bread soaked in milk. He mentioned he learned that trick in Italy while learning to make meatballs and he has started doing that in all the meatballs and meatloaves he makes.

Now, Tyler's recipes was fantastic as it was. In fact, in the book he says it was one of the biggest hits of the Cafeteria Restaurant in New York where he was the chef. The problem I had was the amount of liquid that seeped from the meatloaf while it cooked. I don't have a loaf pan (well, I have one, but it's 16" long and I thought that was a bit much for the meatloaf!), so I layed it out on a sheet pan. I watched Tyler do that on his show, and his meatloaf turned out fine, so I felt confident in doing it that way myself.

My meatloaf turned out flat. Luckily meatloaf isn't big in England and his family didn't know better. It also still tasted fantastic, but I knew it wasn't as it should have been.

I ended up making the recipe a little bit differently today. Instead of using all milk-soaked bread crumbs, I used half-soaked and half-unsoaked. The recipe called for white bread crumbs, I made a special effort to get white bread last time, but this time I just used the wheat I had on hand and it was fine. I actually think the stronger wheat bread was better. I also rigged the pan a little differently. I pulled up the aluminum foil to make a pocket for the meatloaf and mounded the meatloaf a little higher than I had before.

These precautions worked great and the meatloaf had perfect shape after cooking. The unsoaked breadcrumbs helped a lot with the moisture of the meatloaf. It still had plenty of moisture, but it didn't leak as much as it had the first time.

One of the best parts of this meal? Mashed potatoes are always a must with meatloaf, but the ratatouille really complements the tomato-pepper relish. The flavors just match so well.

You can get the recipe for the ratatouille from clicking on the link above, but here is the recipe (as I made it) for the meatloaf. Since I changed it from Tyler's I'm not using the "Dad's" part of the name, since my dad would certainly never make anything with onions!

Meatloaf with Tomato-Pepper Relish
Serves 4

For the Relish:
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 bay leaf
1 red bell pepper
1 tomato
3 tbsp dried parsley flakes
6 ounces ketchup
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
salt
pepper

For the Meatloaf:
1-1.25 lbs. mealoaf mix (ground beef, ground pork, ground veal)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 slice bread
milk
1/4 cup bread crumbs
2 strips bacon

Put olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Sauté onion, garlic, and bay leaf until onions start to become transluscent.
Core, seed, and finely dice the red bell pepper. Toss in skillet.
Take tomato and slice in half, remove the seeds and core. Finely dice the tomato and add to skillet.
Add in the parsley, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and salt and pepper to taste. Give a good stir and cook for about 5 minutes, or until flavors mix.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Remove 3/4 cup of the relish and set aside in measuring cup or small bowl to cool a bit.
In a small bowl, place a slice of bread and pour just enough milk in for the bread to soak it up.
In a separate bowl, combine the meat, egg, thyme and 3/4 cup tomato-pepper relish (as long as it's cool enough for your hands to touch it, go ahead and add it). Be careful to lightly blend with hands, don't smash.
Remove the bread from milk, drain any excess. Break the bread slice into pieces and add to mix. Slowly add in dried bread crumbs until there is just enough for soaking up moisture.
Place meatloaf in loaf pan, or aluminum foil-lined baking sheet. Form into a loaf shape. Lightly press top of loaf to make a smooth, flatter surface.
Spoon 1/4 cup tomato-pepper relish over the top.
Lay the 2 strips bacon lengthwise over meatloaf.
Place in oven and cook for 45-60 minutes or until bacon is crisp and the meatloaf is fully cooked.
Heat up remaining tomato-pepper relish and serve over the meatloaf.

My Favorite Blueberry Muffins

2008-08-14T16:31:00.005-04:00

Lee and I went blueberry picking at the beginning of blueberry season. I used some of the blueberries to make muffins, but forgot to post about it!

On Wednesday, Lee and I did some more blueberry picking (we picked some raspberries as well, but that's another post) I made them again today so I decided to post about it.

Well, these muffins were amazing , I couldn't get enough!

The first time I made these muffins, I hadn't yet been to Penzeys to get spices. Well, I am now officially in love with Penzeys' spices (must go to special spice stores from now on!!!) and decided to use one of the three types of cinnamon I bought there. I went with the Korintje Cassia cinnamon. Also, because Penzeys' spices are so much fresher than the supermarket spices and have much more scent and flavor to them, I used a little less cinnamon.

There are two main types of cinnamon [Cassia and Ceylon "true" cinnamon (I'll post more when I make something with it)], but there are several variations within the cassia cinnamon family, each tasting different depending on where it was grown. I went with the Korintje Cassia cinnamon because it has the mildest flavor out of the three Cassia cinnamons. (Chinese and Vietmanese are the other types Penzeys carries.) I didn't want the cinnamon to be the star of the show, just add a bit of flavor.

I used the basic recipe from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. I remembered learning that vanilla can help bring out flavors in fruit dishes, and remembered how delicious the apple filling for the Daring Bakers danish challenge was and decided to add some vanilla.

I made some vanilla sugar with my vanilla beans and added that to the mix. The vanilla sugar was really easy to make.

Vanilla Sugar

1 vanilla bean, sliced lengthwise, per 2 cups sugar.

Allow to infuse for a week.

I used one Bourbon and one Tahitian bean and shook this once a day to help mix it up well.

Blueberry Muffins

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup vanilla sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I used 1/2 to 3/4 tsp of Korintje Cassia cinnamon)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 large egg
1 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray muffin tins with non-stick spray, or line with paper cups.
Mix together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder.
Make a well in the center.
In a separate bowl, mix together the butter, milk, and egg.
Pour the wet ingredients into the well in the dry ingredients.
Using a spoon or rubber spatula, mix until just blended. Be sure to fold and mix gently, do not beat.
Carefully mix in blueberries at the last minute.
Spoon into muffin pans.
Bake for 20-30 minutes depending on size of muffins.

Daring Bakers: No Go

2008-07-30T11:12:00.004-04:00

Unfortunately, I didn't get to do the Daring Baker's Challenge this month. With work, a conference for work, and Lee's parents coming over for a week and half I just couldn't get it done. Right now I'm getting ready to go on a vacation with my family. I hope to see the other DBers posts a bit today and when I come back.

I look forward to next month's challenge!

You can check out the Daring Bakers who made some fabulous cakes this month by clicking on the blogroll on the sidebar.

Recipes to Rival: Thank George's Bank

2008-07-25T12:28:00.009-04:00

This month I was able to co-host the challenge for Recipes to Rival with Lori from Lipsmacking Goodness. We made Thank George's Bank from The Black Dog Summer on the Vineyard Cookbook. I had bought this cookbook a few years ago on a trip to the Vineyard and have tried several of their dinner recipes with great success, but had never tried one of their breakfast ones. I wasn't sure how many people would think of a challenging breakfast recipe for their turns to host, so I thought a breakfast recipe would be a good choice.

Since so many people only really have time on the weekends for a cooked breakfast, I think many people, including myself, made this for a brinner (breakfast for dinner) to complete the challenge. I was glad I made this for dinner rather than a brunch or breakfast, it took a lot longer than I thought it would to make! It wasn't that the recipe itself is a long, involved recipe, it would actually be a great special occasion brunch or breakfast, it's that I had a few problems.

The recipe for the fishcakes is pretty runny. I tried forming patties and ended up with this:

I found that using a ladle to pour the batter onto the non-stick skillet and cooking them like pancakes (the American kind, not English) did the trick.

I then moved on to poaching eggs. I have never poached eggs before and was so scared! It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I tried both cracking the egg right over the water and dropping it in, then cracking the egg into a bowl and pour it from the bowl into the pan, but that worked about the same. Jeanette of Cooked from the Heart mentioned cracking the egg into a ladle and allowing it to begin to set before pouring it into the liquid helped prevent feathering and Temperance of High on the Hog mentioned using muffin tins to create a hot water bath and cooking them in the oven (she recommended 350°F) for cooking larger batches. I think I would use large muffin tins for this, I'd worry about the smaller ones. I'll have to give each of these a try. The only problem with the muffin tins would be how to get them out....I used a fine mesh skimmer to get my eggs out of the pot, but I guess a slotted spoon would work for the muffin tins?

When melting the butter, I put it in a plastic container and it popped and the butter sprayed over the whole microwave!! It was a mess to clean up (sorry, not the best picture, eggs and fishcakes were done and all I had to do was hollandaise sauce and was ready to just be done with it all!!!).

We both really liked this dish. I'd love to make it again for guests.

Black Dog Fishcakes
(this says 4 patties, but even with wasting a lot on mistakes, I still got 6. I think this more closely yields 12)

These fishcakes are a popular Black Dog alternative to bacon or sausage. These are excellent for using up leftover potatoes!

2 cups cooked potatoes, mashed
1 pound skinless and boneless codfish
1 cup diced yellow onion
1 tablespoon fresh chopped thyme (1 teaspoon dried)
1 teaspoon white pepper
1-2 teaspoons salt
1 egg, beaten
½ cup cream
2 tablespoons butter

1. If you don’t have leftover mashed potatoes, peel and dice two large potatoes. Boil in salted water for about 20 minutes or until soft. Mash and set aside.
2. Place fish in a steamer, cover with diced onion and seasonings. Cover and steam for 10-15 minutes or until the onion is cooked.
3. In a medium bowl, combine cooked fish and seasoned onions with the mashed potatoes. Mix in the egg and cream, divide into four patties.
4. Sauté the fishcakes in a sauté pan in butter over medium heat until browned.

Easy Hollandaise Sauce
(yields ½ cup)

2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ pound (1 stick) butter, melted
splash Tabasco sauce
dash cayenne pepper
dash salt

1. Combine egg yolks and lemon juice in the bowl of a food processor.
2. Turn on the food processor and slowly add the melted butter.
3. Allow to run until the sauce emulsifies.
4. Add Tabasco, salt, and cayenne pepper.

Alternately, you may use this hollandaise sauce from The Joy of Cooking (yields 1 cup) (for those without a food processor):

10 tablespoons (1¼ sticks) butter
3 large egg yolks
1½ tbsp cold water
½-2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
dash of hot pepper sauce
salt and white pepper to taste

1. Over low heat, melt the butter.
2. Skim the foam off the top and keep warm.
3. In a double boiler (or a bowl on top of a saucepan), place the egg yolks and water.
4. Off the heat, beat the yolks with a whisk until they are light and frothy.
5. Place on top of saucepan or double boiler and whisk continuously until eggs are thickened, 3-5 minutes, making sure the eggs don't get too hot.
6. Pour into a separate bowl to cool, and while whisking continuously, slowly add the butter, omitting the milk solids.
7. Whisk in the lemon juice, hot pepper sauce, salt, and white pepper.
8. If sauce is too thick, add a few drops warm water.
9. Serve immediately or you can keep it warm up to 30 minutes by placing the bowl in warm water.

Thank George’s Bank
(serves 2)

4 Black Dog Fishcakes
2 teaspoons white vinegar
4 eggs for poaching
½ cup hollandaise sauce
toast or breakfast bread of choice

1. Prepare fishcakes and hollandaise sauce.
2. Fill a large saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Add white vinegar and reduce the heat to a simmer.
3. Crack and gently drop in the eggs.
4. Simmer about 3-5 minutes or until whites are firm and yolks are done to your likes.
5. To serve: place each poached egg on a fishcake, cover with hollandaise sauce. Serve with your favorite breakfast sides.

Chicken with Apples

2008-07-06T15:52:00.004-04:00

I've had pork with apples before, but for this Zaar World Tour recipe, I tried chicken with apples. I'd never heard of doing that before!

This was a recipe for Eastern Europe. I'm not quite sure what makes this Eastern European, but it was delicious anyway. This would make an excellent weeknight meal in the winter. It's warming and comforting (may be where the Eastern European comes in with cold winters?) and it's very quick, only taking about ½ hour from start to finish!

I had Fuji apples leftover from doing the Daring Bakers Danish, so I used those in this recipe. They also hold their shape well when cooked, so I didn't have to worry about them getting mushy or looking more like apple sauce than apples.

I've said before how much I love vanilla beans now. I learned I love vanilla beans with apples. I think next time I try this, I'll see how it does with some vanilla bean and cinnamon. I'll let you know how it goes!

I'm posting the recipe how I made it. I kept the sauce the original measurement, because we love saucy things. I didn't peel the apples and it tasted great. If you'd rather peel, by all means do! You can make this look Christmasy by using 1 red apple and one Granny Smith. You can view the original at Recipezaar.

Chicken with Apples

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cooking apple
¼ cup butter, divided in half
½ cup heavy cream
½ cup apple juice
1 teaspoon thyme

In a sauté pan, melt half the butter and pan fry the chicken breasts.
While the chicken is cooking, peel (if you want), core, and slice the apple into 16 slices.
When chicken is brown and done cooking, remove from pan and cover with aluminum foil. Set aside.
In the same pan you used to cook the chicken, add the remaining butter, apples, and thyme.
Cook apples until tender. If using a firm apple like Fuji, it will still retain its shape.
Place apples on top of chicken, recover to keep warm, and return pan to heat.
Deglaze the pan with the juice.
Add the cream and cook until slightly thickened.
Serve with the cream sauce poured over the chicken and apples. (I also put the chicken on top of a bed of rice and the sauce was delicious with that as well!!)

Stardust Chocolate Pancakes

2008-07-04T16:30:00.002-04:00

I've mentioned the Zaar World Tour before. It's winding down, but I haven't been good about posting some of the recipes I've been making.

For the Germany/Benelux region, I found this recipe for Stardust Chocolate Pancakes. I'm not sure how authentic these are, but they were the cookbook for that region and I enjoyed them!

I made these one morning while Lee was at work. He's not a big fan of chocolate at breakfast, while I love me some chocolate chip pancakes or waffles!

These were delicious, but so sweet that I felt finished after eating just one and a half. After eating them, I think they are good for either a kid's breakfast or a dessert pancake. I think they are too rich for most adults' breakfast tastes!

These won't go well with maple syrup. I served these with a dusting of powdered sugar (hence the "stardust" part of the name).

Recipes to Rival: Ratatouille

2008-06-30T00:00:00.002-04:00

The Daring Bakers have been doing a lot of sweet challenges lately. My tastebuds love it, but not so much my waistline. A few people started talking about wanting to do savory challenges too, so Lori of Lipsmacking Goodness and Temperance of High on the Hog decided to found Recipes to Rival. Like the Daring Bakers, Recipes to Rival is a group of people cooking the same recipe to see how they turn out. The difference is that Recipes to Rival is going to be meals, while The Daring Bakers is, of course, baking. I love both groups, so I plan to do both each month. For more information, you can click on the link in the sidebar.

Our first challenge would make Remy proud. Remy who? The one and only rat of Ratatouille!!

That's right, we all chanted "Anyone can cook" and worked on figuring out how to find Japanese eggplant (never could, had to use baby eggplant) and slice the vegetables 1/16th of an inch thick [(went out to buy a mandoline) say it with me, "any excuse to buy a new kitchen toy"]. ;-)

Of course, you can't make ratatouille without watching Ratatouille, so I put the DVD in the DVD player and got to work (it takes longer to make the dish than to watch the movie, so I ended up playing it twice). One thing that I realized was that at the end of the movie, Remy makes this dish for Anton Ego. He only decides to make it as Mr. Ego arrives at the restaurant. Unless Anton Ego waited for 2½ hours for his meal, there is no way Remy could have done this in time...movies are just so unrealistic sometimes! I am so disappointed! ;-)

The recipe calls for peeled, diced tomatoes. I just opened up a can. I didn't read that part of the directions ahead of time and it was too late to do the tomatoes any other way.

Is it strange that I love to roast and peel peppers? I think it's so cool how they just slip right off the skin once roasted. I also love the smell. I love bell peppers. Bell peppers and vanilla beans, I wonder what I could do with that....

Anyway, slicing the vegetables wasn't too bad with the mandoline, except for the eggplant. I found that didn't slice very well with the mandoline, so I just used a knife for that.

Now, I can't figure out how to plate the ratatouille very prettily, but I must say this is the best vegetable dish I have ever had! We ate the whole thing the first night, then I made a double recipe again the next day since it was so delicious! I served this with a roll, and pork chops roasted with the other half of the peppers, onion, and some garlic. Lee actually asked to go vegetarian because of this dish...after just buying a bunch of meat on sale at the store...not sure how that's going to work out. We both just couldn't get enough of this fabulous dish!

I must say, I never would have made ratatouille if it wasn't for joining Recipes to Rival. I must also say that although it's time consuming, this isn't really a difficult dish to make, but it looks impressive and I can't imagine anyone not liking it. It is full of flavor!! It's the perfect complement to a roast dinner.

For the recipe, you can visit the Recipes to Rival page and also visit all the other dishes from other Rivalers. You can see more information about Ratatouille and how they made the food look so realistic by visiting the Revolution Health website.

Here are some pictures, I only have three of this challenge, so I didn't do a slideshow.

Yes, my lovely Emerilware stainless steel pans are oven safe and broiler safe, so I was able to follow the recipe and use a skillet to cook it in. Too bad my hands just can't seem to remember to put on mitts when I put skillets in the oven. For some reason I always remember to get mitts for baking sheets, roasting pans, etc...but not skillets! I'm just so used to the handles of skillets not getting hot, I don't think "hot oven=hot skillet" and just stick those hands right in!

OOOOOOUUUUCH!!!!!

Luckily, I've never burned my hands badly, just a bit red, no blisters. I'm now making myself get into the habit of putting the mitts on my hands before even opening the oven door.

Look at the thinness of the vegetables! The mandoline made them paper-thin!!

Thanks, Remy, for showing us that a peasant dish can be fine cuisine!

Daring Bakers: Danish!

2008-06-29T00:00:00.003-04:00

I was a bit intimidated when I saw what Kelly of Sass and Veracity and Ben of What's Cooking? chose for us, but that's the whole point of the Daring Bakers. I don't tend to like Danish, but I really think that's because they have all had cream cheese in them and I don't like cream cheese. I was excited to make a Danish that had a flavor I liked.

This Danish recipe called for orange in the dough. I wasn't sure how I would like that with my apple filling, but I went for it since it was in the recipe. Next time, I'll leave out the orange, it had a strong enough flavor that I didn't like it with the sweet fruit. Lee bought some bing cherries instead of maraschino cherries for ice cream, so I decided to use up the bing cherries for a second Danish.

My braids turned out pretty well, although not as nice as some others. I think most of us who tried a cherry filling ended up with a bit of a "cracked rib" look to our Danish, that one seemed to expand and spread apart the braid a lot more than other fillings. Someone mentioned it had to do with the liquid. I also think it may have been my layer of pastry cream that didn't allow the braid to stick together as well.

The trickiest part of this was the rolling. I made this on a day when it was 90°F outside!! I cranked the A/C and went for it. I had some butter popping out (definitely made a crackle sound as it popped out!) After the first turn it was fine and no more butter popped out. It wasn't as difficult to roll it out as I thought it would be.

The best part of this challenge? Discovering my love of real vanilla beans!!! Kelly mentioned seeing a blog where the person stated she bought vanilla beans off e-Bay. They are a lot less expensive than the grocery store and they are better quality too. I bought mine from The Organic Vanilla Bean Company. I ended up buying both Tahitian and Bourbon vanilla beans so I have loads on hand. The scent from the vanilla beans is incredible! It's such a clean, fresh scent.

The other best part of the challenge? The apple filling! This has got to be, hands down, the best apple filling I have ever tasted in my entire life. I could not stop eating it when it had cooked. It's apple crack. They're like Pringles, once you start you can't stop!!

As I said before, I made one apple filling, that was just the one from the recipe and one cherry. I found a cherry pie filling recipe from Recipezaar that I decided to try as well as a pastry cream recipe. The pastry cream used my new favorite ingredient: vanilla bean!

As I was talking about making the cherry filling, I mentioned I would need to buy a cherry pitter so I could pit the cherries. Lee thought I was just looking for an excuse to buy a new toy, but I told him no way was I picking cherry pits out of my mouth as I was eating a Danish. He didn't think they were too big. I beg to differ! The pitter definitely make it much easier to pit about 100 cherries!

The assembly wasn't too bad, I just had a bit of difficulty getting the first Danish onto the baking sheet because I didn't think to put my Silpat under it before assembling. I made sure to do my second one on top of parchment paper so it would be easier to transfer.

The Danish needed to proof for two hours. Lee and I went swimming while it was proofing and came back to find the power went out!! I couldn't cook dinner, and I couldn't cook the Danish. My Danish ended up getting a bit of an extra rise time. The Danish tasted just fine, though.

I'm not sure with all the time this takes if it is really worth making a lot, but maybe as a once in a while treat it would be good. I really like that I can make whatever fillings I want.

Here are some pictures in my first try making a slideshow! I hope it works. :-)

Maple Apple Crumble

2008-06-27T17:43:00.002-04:00

I have a backlog of recipes I've made lately for the Zaar World Tour, but with the end of the school year and two friends having babies this week, and some personal things going on, I've been too busy to post! I'll get them all up eventually, because I've made some fabulous things I can't wait to share, but I'll start with last night's dessert: Maple Apple Crumble. A crumble is a less sweet version of a crisp. Some people say they are the same thing. I think the crust of a crisp is more sugary than the crust of a crumble.

This is a recipe I made for the Canada part of the Zaar World Tour. I wasn't very sure how much I'd like it because of the maple syrup. I was worried there would be too much of a maple taste, but it was delicious. It had just a hint of maple flavor. The only thing I would prefer is to have more cinnamon than the original recipe calls for. In my posted recipe I have increased the cinnamon and change the method a little.

Maple-Apple Crumble
Serves 4

2 fuji (or other tart cooking apples), peeled, cored, and diced
1 teaspoon cinnamon
51g butter, softened
50g brown sugar, packed
42g all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
26g rolled oats
4 tablespoons maple syrup

Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
Combine apples and cinnamon. Divide into 4 ramekins. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar.
Add the flour, salt, and oats. Stir to combine.
Pour one heaping teaspoon of maple syrup over apples in each ramekin.
Cover each ramekin with 1/4 oat mixture.
Place ramekins on baking sheet and cook for about 20 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.
You may serve with a scoop of ice cream, or go with Lee and have custard or cream!

Hummus, Hummuses, Hummi???

2008-06-08T15:50:00.005-04:00

Lee and I are trying to figure out what the plural of hummus is. We cannot figure it out. It's kind of necessary I do, because I made two recipes of hummus last night and want to blog about it!!!

Well, I made hummus last night for the Greek part of the Zaar World Tour. I made a regular hummus recipe and a roasted red pepper hummus.

I didn't mind the roasted red pepper hummus, although I can only eat a little bit at a time (I think it's the taste of the chick peas that take some getting used to), but I do not like the regular hummus. The regular hummus recipe took so much salt, that it was almost like eating salt water! I'm not sure if hummus is supposed to be that salty, but the roasted red pepper one didn't take much at all.

Since I have changed the idea behind my blog, I will only post the recipe I did like...the roasted red pepper hummus.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

1 can (15 ounces) chick peas (garbanzo beans) rinsed and drained
1 cup roasted red pepper, deseeded, drained, and diced (or 1 red pepper)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 cloves of garlic, minced
½ cup sour cream
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp ground black pepper

If using fresh red pepper, preheat broiler. Broil pepper until top is charred, turn, and char again. Repeat until all sides are charred. Cool.
When red pepper is cooled, cut in half, deseed, and dice.
Place chick peas in a food processor, process until smooth.
Add the red pepper, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, sour cream, salt, and black pepper and process until smooth.
Serve with pita, chips, crackers.
Keep refrigerated.

Steamed Salmon with a Ginger/Soy Glaze

2008-06-02T21:49:00.000-04:00

Tonight I made another recipe for the Zaar World Tour. I was making a recipe for the "Hot and Steamy" challenge. There was a recipe I found to be interesting called Steamed Salmon with Soy Glaze and I decided to make that last night.

There was one problem with that.

There recipe wasn't complete.

It was missing directions for the noodles and green beans.

I sent a message to the woman who posted the recipe and she let me know that she is trying to edit the recipe and get it fixed, but let me know how to complete the recipe. I didn't get the message until well after dinner last night. That wasn't much of a problem though because I just changed around my plans.

This was delicious!!! It is also low calorie, according to the nutrition facts on Recipezaar. This was pretty easy to make as well. The most difficult part was grating the ginger because it was so moist.

This is definitely a recipe I'll have to make again sometime!

Steamed Salmon with Soy Glaze

4	skinless salmon fillets, 6 oz. each
3	tablespoons soy sauce
1/2	cup soy sauce
1	garlic clove, minced
1	tablespoon finely grated ginger
2	tablespoons shredded ginger
2	tablespoons rice wine or sherry wine
1/4	cup rice vinegar
2	tablespoons lemon juice
1	tablespoon sugar
2	tablespoons sliced scallions
1 (18 3/4	ounce) package soba noodles or 1 (1 lb) box whole wheat pasta
1/2	lb small green beans, sliced in half lengthwise

Place the salmon in a shallow dish. Combine 3 t. of the soy sauce, the garlic, grated ginger, and 1 T. of the rice wine and pour over the salmon, turning to coat. Cover and marinade for 15 minutes in refrigerator (fish shouldn't be marinaded for much longer than that).
Place the rice vinegar, lemon juice, sugar, the remaining soy sauce, and the remaining rice wine in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir, and when sugar is dissolved, bring to a boil, and cook until reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Set aside and keep warm.
Fill a large saucepan with 1 inch of salted water and bring to a boil. Remove the salmon from the marinade and place in a steamer basket over the pot. Sprinkle the scallions and shredded ginger over the salmon. Cover and steam over the boiling water for 4 minutes or until cooked through. Remove and keep warm.
While the salmon is cooking, bring a pot of water to a boil and cook noodles to package directions. Add green beans to the noodles for about 3-4 minutes of boiling time.
Drain the noodles, serve on a plate, topped with the salmon, and pour some glaze over the top.

Enjoy!

Sweet and Sour Pork with Pork Fried Rice

2008-06-01T21:07:00.003-04:00

I'm participating in a cooking event on Recipezaar called Zaar World Tour 4. We are trying recipes from or inspired by various regions from around the world. Apparently we don't visit all regions for each tour, this time we are doing Asia (huge region, I'm surprised it isn't broken down more since there is so much variation), Germany and Benelux, Italy, Canada, Central and South America, Africa (except for the northern part), Eastern Europe, and Greece.

This week we are working on Asia and Germany and Benelux. Italy is a Wild Card that we can do until the end of the game.

On Saturday night, I did my first recipe, we have until June 5th to complete it, but apparently starting on Saturday was a bit later than we were supposed to do. I wasn't happy about that, I figured that as long as it was done by the 5th it was no big deal. I digress....

I decided to start with an Asian dish. I had Pork defrosting, so decided to make pork fried rice and Lee said he wanted Sweet and Sour Pork Balls to go with it. I didn't feel like getting any ground pork, so I found a recipe for regular Sweet and Sour Pork and did that.

These recipes turned out pretty well. I would prefer the Sweet and Sour Pork without the pepper, but Lee loved it and I had to make extra for him to eat with some of the leftover rice. I added some extra soy sauce to the rice to give it a bit more flavour.

This recipe I used makes A LOT of rice!!! Apparently it wasn't too much for Lee because I realized today there isn't any more rice left. Lee ate it all!

I am so happy that I made Chinese food! I always think of this stuff as food I can never make myself, but apparently that's not true!

Partial Defeat....

2008-06-01T00:27:00.003-04:00

So, I have been doing well with trying something new every day, but not with posting. I have been really busy and at least half of my new foods this month have been convenience foods. That is not what I intended this blog to be. I will continue with trying new foods, however the blog will be different. I will no longer post about any new food I try, but will only post about new recipes or foods I have made myself. I am disappointed I haven't done better, but I've realized that this goal is different from some something like Project365. I have to research to find new things and that takes up a lot more time than just finding something interesting, like I was able to do at first. May killed me, with work and social life, it just got the best of me. Lee doesn't want me to do this, but I think it's for the best. So I start anew in June, and hope it will make this a better quality blog.

Thanks for reading!

Robyn

Going to L'Opéra

2008-05-28T16:17:00.003-04:00

This month's Daring Bakers challenge was a bit scary. We had to make Opéra cakes! I have never heard of an Opéra cake before and it was a very long recipe that involved lots of folding, something I have ruined many a dessert from not doing right.

I made these over the weekend. It was perfect timing because my sister's birthday was on Monday and I made mini Opéra cakes so everyone could try a bit.

Usually Opéra cakes are chocolate in flavor, but the hosts for this month, Fran of Apple Peaches Pumpkin Pie, Shea of Whiskful, and the co-founders Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice and Lis of La Mia Cucina, wanted these cakes to be in honor of the blog event "A Taste of Yellow" and the season of spring, for the northern hemisphere! We had to make sure our cakes were light in color. I decided to make a raspberry flavored cake.

I didn't see almond meal at my local grocery stores and I didn't feel like hunting for a health food store, so I just bought some almonds, blanched them, and put them in the food processor with a bit of flour to make my own almond meal. I felt like the joconde had a bit of a grainy texture, which is because I couldn't get the almonds fine enough, so I would prefer a finer grain, but it turned out well.

I love having my Kitchen Aid for this! I also love Alton Brown!

Kitchen Aid+Alton Brown=Robyn actually being able to fold!!!

With the Kitchen Aid, I was able to walk around and do other things while it was mixing, so I didn't get bored and I may have given up too early when mixing it with a hand mixer. I saw an episode of Good Eats when Alton Brown was doing some food that needed to be folded, and I saw him add the folds in thirds. I decided to try that for the joconde and the mousse and it worked a treat! I actually had a lot of air still in both and it didn't flatten.

I'm not a fan of white chocolate, so I ended up making a flavored glaze that didn't taste like white chocolate at all. It turned out fantastic and wasn't too runny at all. It actually cooled a bit too thick, so I had to heat it up before pouring it on the cakes. I didn't get the glaze as smooth and to the edges as I wanted, but it still looked nice.

For the assembly, I really feel it was easiest to make the cupcakes. I don't have any biscuit cutters, or round cookie cutters, so I used an egg ring to cut the joconde. It worked just fine. I put the buttercream in a pastry bag and piped it onto each layer of cake. It seemed piping would be the easiest way to get the buttercream neatly on the cakes. I also did this in another bag for the mousse. It didn't seem to flatten the mousse much, but the mousse did flatten once the glaze was poured on top and it set in the fridge.

The taste? These were really good! I thought it had a bit too much raspberry flavor, but apparently that was just me. Nobody else had that complain, even when I said I thought that and would change it next time.

For the original recipe and the techniques, you can visit any of the hostess's websites. I am posting the recipes I used for the glaze and mousse (for the buttercream, all I did was add some puréeed raspberries until it had a good color and flavor).

Raspberry Glaze (Thanks, Sandra!)

200g heavy cream, divided (13.5 Tbsp or 3/4 cup + 1.5 Tbsp or 6.71 fl oz)
50g sugar (1/4 cup)
40g glucose or corn syrup (2 Tbsp)
50g white chocolate (1.76 oz)
5g unflavored gelatin (2.15 tsp)
1 tsp aroma or liquor of your choice
40g fruit pulp or puree
a drop of food coloring (optional)

Sprinkle gelatin over 1/5 cup (40g) of the cream in a small bowl and let stand for 10 minutes to soften (allow to soften while making the syrup).
Mix cream, sugar and glucose or corn syrup in a saucepan, bring to boil. Continue cooking for 4 - 5 min stirring continuously.
Add the chocolate and stir it in to melt completely. Remove from heat and add the gelatin/cream mixture, stirring until dissolved.
Add the aroma or liquor, the fruit puree and the food coloring. Mix well and let cool until smooth and almost creamy.
Refrigerate to set.

Raspberry Mousse

1	lb ripe raspberries
2	tablespoons granulated sugar
1	tablespoon Raspberry Twisted Smirnoff (or similar)
1/2	cup confectioners' sugar
1 1/4	cups heavy cream (or whipping cream)

Puree the raspberries together with the confectioners' sugar in a blender.
Whip the cream to stiff peaks.
Carefully fold the cream into the pureed raspberries.
Place in refrigerator to set.

Amish Friendship Bread

2008-05-21T19:08:00.002-04:00

I'd never heard of Amish Friendship Bread before, but a girl at work brought some in and I got to try it. It was delicious! Apparently, it's the chain letter of the baking world. You get some sourdough starter and let it ferment for 10 days. You then split the starter into four parts and keep one to bake, one to start fresh, and two to pass on to others. Done righggt, you can have you and your friends baking forever! The recipe my colleague used tasted like a sugary corn bread. Definitely something I'll have to try to make myself sometime.

Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper Chips

2008-05-18T19:28:00.001-04:00

To carry on with trying a few new variety of chips, I tried some Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper chips. MUCH better than the sea salt and vinegar chips! There was a distinct red pepper taste, but it wasn't overwhelming. I actually kind of like it and I don't usually like chips.

Mac and Cheese, Third Time the Charm?

2008-05-13T20:38:00.002-04:00

I decided to try another mac and cheese today. I had some evaporated milk in the cupboards and it had a recipe for spicy broccoli mac and cheese. Lee has gotten to the point where he doesn't mind the cheese as much if there is something else to balance the taste. I thought the broccoli might help.

Well, the brocoli did help him out, but I accidentally substituted too much mozzarella cheese (putting in 16 oz. when all I needed was 2 oz. to make up for having only 6 oz. of cheddar because for some reason I thought I needed four cheeses) and the macaroni was too cheesy and stringy. I'll have to try this recipe another time with the right ingredients! Even I didn't want the leftovers.

Here is the correct recipe from the can of Carnation® Evaporated Milk:

Spicy Jack Mac & Cheese with Broccoli

2 cups dry elbow macaroni
2 cups chopped frozen or fresh broccoli
2 cups (8 oz.) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 cups (8 oz.) shredded Pepper Jack cheese
1 can (12 fl. oz.) evaporated milk
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
½ tsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp. bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Bring water for pasta to a boil. Add macaroni and cook per package directions. Add broccoli for the last 3 minutes of cooking.
Drain.
While the pasta is cooking, mix the cheddar, Pepper Jack, evaporated milk, ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, and black pepper in a buttered casserole dish.
In a small bowl, combine the rest of the Parmesan cheese with the bread crumbs (I did more bread crumbs for a more bready coating).
Add drained macaroni and broccoli to the cassrole dish with the cheeses. Mix well.
Pour the bread crumb mixture over the macaroni, cover with aluminum foil and cook for 20 minutes.
Remove aluminum foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until the bread crumb topping is golden brown.

Sea Salt and Vinegar Chips

2008-05-13T20:34:00.002-04:00

I don't like to try things that are meant to taste like vinegar. I don't like the smell of it, so I figure I won't like the taste either. Well, Lee was eating some sea salt and vinegar chips, and I tried one. YUCK!!! Note to self: don't try chips that are meant to taste like vinegar, because they really do have a big vinegar flavor!

Texas Roadhouse Smokehouse Burger

2008-05-13T20:27:00.003-04:00

For Mother's Day, we went to the Texas Roadhouse. I usually get the smothered BBQ chicken, but I decided to have a burger for a change. I wanted barbecue sauce, so I got the smokehouse burger which has sautéed mushrooms, onion, lettuce, and tomato on it. I decided to have it with just the BBQ sauce, two cheeses, and mushrooms. I'm glad I didn't get the onion, lettuce, and tomato on it. The burger was HUGE!! I could barely get my mouth on it to bite in.

The mushrooms were great, but the cheese was too thick. I liked the taste of the cheeses, but would have liked it better if they were a bit thinner.

Grilled Chicken and Vegetables

2008-05-13T20:08:00.005-04:00

One excellent thing about Friday is that our new grill came! I've complained before about our George Foreman being too small and the fact that it seems to burn the outside in order to cook the inside of the meat. Plus, it cooks so fast, the food just can taste a bit dry, a little better than being microwaved.

So, how 'bout this indoor grill? The only thing I don't like is there isn't a cover for it, but I can live with that. You can adjust the temperature, cook just like you do on an outdoor grill, and the food just tastes so much better! The size of this thing is the same size as my parents' full-sized outdoor grill, so there is plenty of cooking space. On Friday I made cheeseburgers, but on Saturday I decided to so something a little more involved.

I decided I would try my hat at grilling vegetables on it. I have never grilled vegetables before, so this was a bit of a challenge. I read that you can cut them up and wrap them on foil before putting them on the grill, so that's what I did. I added a bit of the marinade (Lawry's Carribean Jerk) to the mix, closed it up, and placed it on the grill. I should have cooked it a bit longer. I placed the pouch on the grill after I turned the chicken the first time, but I was making four carrots and a head of broccoli, so it wasn't long enough. Some of the vegetables were cooked through, but others tasted raw. Next time, I'll put them on the grill at the same time as the chicken and see if that helps. I'm also wondering if there wasn't enough moisture in the pouch since I only put in a drizzle of the marinade over the top of the vegetables. I will tinker around with that next time too. I'm not posting a recipe since I haven't gotten it right yet, I'll do that another time.

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream!

2008-05-13T19:55:00.003-04:00

Friday was the last day of my school's Math Week. My school has done a lot of work to improve the English Language Arts curriculum over the past couple of years, so now it's Math's turn. To get the children excited about math, we did a whole week of math across the curriculum. We read stories that were about math, math poetry, and we did some fun experiments with bubble gum, a Math Vocabulary Bee, and graphing favorite flavours of ice cream. It was so much fun!

Anyway, on Friday it was the day to taste flavours of ice cream. Edy's was on sale and ended up being the least expensive, so I went with it. These brands really are coming out with some fun flavors nowadays. I had to stay away from any flavors with peanuts in it, but I decided to get some things I thought the kids might like, were sort of familiar, but with a twist. From past years I also had a good idea about what they may like, so I bought Cookies 'n Cream, Double Fudge Brownie, and Chocolate Chip Mint Brownie.

I am usually a big fan of Cookies 'n Cream and Mint ice creams (not peppermint, that green one and it may be just mind games, but I swear I taste a difference between mint chocolate chip that is white, and the kind that is green!), but I don't get chocolate unless I'm eating it plain. It just has too much chocolate otherwise. Chocolate ice cream with brownies on it is just plain decadence. We each tried a scoop of ice cream and the Double Fudge Brownie wasn't too bad. I'm not sure if a bowl full would be too much, or if I could handle it with chocolate sauce on top, but it was good and I won't mind finishing off the leftovers.

Pringles Loaded Baked Potato Chips

2008-05-13T19:48:00.003-04:00

Oops! Time is flying! I didn't realize it had been so long since I'd posted!

Well, last Thursday I ended up making a dish we'd had before, so I made sure to try some of the loaded baked potato chips by Pringles. I was lucky to get a chance to have one because Lee ate so many of them! Anyway, they didn't taste like loaded baked potatoes to me. We both thought they tasted more like sour cream and onion chips, without the onion. So basically they tasted like sour cream! Not the best flavor in the world. We both decided we'd pass next time.

My First Attempt at Homemade Curry

2008-05-07T22:45:00.005-04:00

I'm awful at remembering to defrost meat for dinner. We usually have a bit of meat at each meal, and I stock up when it's on sale, so we usually have quite a bit in the freezer. Remembering to take out some the night before is one of my biggest problems with cooking. Tonight was one of those nights. I was so focused on wanting to keep the chicken eggs safe and remembering to bring them to school, that I plum forgot to defrost something!

At first I thought of making a tuna noodle casserole, but then I remembered we had some Tandoori curry paste and Garam Masala powder. Lee loves curry, so I thought it would be a good way to help with the taste of chicken nuked in the microwave. I also wanted to use up some of the frozen peas and corn I had, and curry seems to be great for using up odd bits and pieces of things.

I spent some time searching around online for curry recipes. I've never made a curry from scratch before, and haven't had it, or paid attention to the ingredients enough, to know what goes in it or how much of the ingredients to put in. I had a couple of recipes I looked through online, but they all included ingredients I don't have. One person told me that curry is one of those things that you can play around with and really adapt to your tastes, that it may never turn out the same way twice (kind of like how I make my spaghetti sauce). I decided to take some of the ingredients I was consistently seeing in curry recipes and make my own. Of course, I recruited my resident curry enthusiast to help me out with the tasting since he loves curry and I'm not the biggest fan of curry.

I almost forgot to fix the rice! I had just added the peas and corn to the curry, which was almost done, and remembered about the rice. It was ok, the peas and corn needed to cook in the sauce for a few minutes and it would be fine to let the curry sit for a bit longer if needed.

When the curry was almost done, it didn't taste quite as spicy as Lee would have liked. I tried it and figured I could handle it a bit hotter, so added some powdered cayenne pepper. I added ½ teaspoon, but it was a bit much. It was pretty hot after that. Lee liked it, but it was too much for me. The final touch of cayenne pepper for extra heat is definitely one of those things for you to play around with for your own tastes.

Lee said he thought it was good, and to me it tastes about like other tomato-based curries I've tried, so I'll post the recipe.

My First Curry

oil
1 medium white onion, diced
4 medium cloves of garlic, minced
1 chicken breast, cubed
1 10oz. can Rotel
1 28oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp garam masala
½ tsp ground ginger
cayenne pepper (as desired for extra heat)
cornstarch

In a large skillet or a dutch oven, lightly coat with oil.
Over medium heat, add onion. Cook about 5 minutes.
Add garlic cloves and chicken. Sauté until chicken is almost cooked through.
Add Rotel , stir, and cook for a few minutes more.
Add crushed tomatoes, garam masala, and ginger.
Allow to heat for several minutes for garam masala and ginger to flavor the tomatoes.
Add any vegetables.
After about 5-10 minutes, test for flavor. If you want more heat, add cayenne pepper a little at a time until it tastes how you want it.
The sauce may be runny, if so, you may add a bit of cornstarch to thicken.

Tomato Mozzarella Pringles

2008-05-07T22:38:00.002-04:00

I hatch chicken eggs every year with my class. Yesterday, I drove out to get the eggs, so I ended up just grabbing food afterward. It was only about 25 miles to the farm, but it's all back roads and driving through town centers, so it takes about an hour.

Pringles were on sale, and I had a coupon (not the best coupon, but a coupon nontheless), so I got three different types. I bought Pizza, which I knew I liked, Loaded Potato, which will probably be another post on another day, and Tomato Mozzarella. The loaded potato and tomato mozzarella didn't sound exactly the best, but I like the real thing so I thought I'd give them a try. Lee was skeptical too, but we both ended up liking them.

They are a bit different...I can taste tomato for a second, then a hint of mozzarella, tomato, hint of mozzarella....

These aren't my favorite snacks in the world, but I do like these and would eat them again.

Quiche

2008-05-07T22:33:00.002-04:00

I've never tried quiche before. Something about it just scares me. I can't put my finger on it, but it's just creepy to me.

On Monday, there was a Teacher's Appreciation breakfast at school. One of the choices was quiche. I've heard loads of good things about quiche, so I figured it must just be me who thinks it's creepy. I was surprised to find that I liked it! These were tiny, mini quiche, but they were good. I'm not sure what was in it, but it was green. I'm thinking maybe it was spinach. I wonder if I'd like a full-sized quiche. I guess I'll have to try one sometime!

Rice Pilaf with Chicken and Vegetables

2008-05-04T20:03:00.005-04:00

Well, after a longer day with a baby shower, cleaning, and some grocery shopping, I decided I needed an easy dinner. I was so excited from a great grocery shopping trip where I got $108 worth of stuff for $36, plus got a coupon for $5 off my next shopping trip. I am so proud of myself for that trip!

Well, I just couldn't really think properly about dinner, so I decided to just use up some vegetables I had bought earlier in the week and do a variation of a dinner I make with rice pilaf, chicken, diced tomatoes, and corn. I wanted to use up some zucchini, squash, and broccoli, so decided to use them instead. After chopping up the zucchini and squash, I realized the vegetables would overwhelm the chicken and rice if I also used the broccoli, so I left that out. This turned out pretty well. The liquid from the vegetables is really hot, so it takes a little longer to cool off enough to eat than the other version, but still quite good.

I really need to start setting aside some of these dinners to keep for my lunch the next day because Lee feels he eats too much and I would like some of these dinners as leftovers. It would really be best for everyone if I could remember to do that.

Rice Pilaf with Chicken and Vegetables
1 box Near East® Chicken flavored Rice Pilaf
2 boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed
1 small to medium zucchini, diced
1 small to medium yellow squash, diced

Cook rice according to package directions.
Over medium heat, cook chicken until almost cooked through.
Add vegetables, cover and cook for a few more minutes or until tender.
Drain vegetables and chicken, return to sauté pan, and add rice.
Mix well and serve.

Fancy Shmancy Filet Mignon and Loaded Mashed Potatoes

2008-05-04T19:36:00.004-04:00

On Friday night, Lee came home with some "beef tenderloin steaks." He was very disappointed, but I wasn't in the mood to cook and I had never heard of this type of steak, so at the time I was very overwhelmed and just not in a good mood. period. We had the tenderloin steak tonight.

A little research online for recipes told me that beef tenderloin steaks are also known as filet mignon! I had never had filet mignon before and was so excited to try it! I learned that filet mignon is the most tender cut of beef, so therefore the most expensive. Because it has little fat, it is frequently cooked wrapped in bacon. it can be seared on a flat pan or grill. We were tired of the George Foreman, so I decided to use my enameled cast iron dutch oven for the job.

When I have steak, I think potatoes go well with it, so I decided to do mashed potatoes as a side dish. Since the filet mignon was wrapped in bacon, I thought loaded mashed potatoes would be a good choice. I wasn't very excited when I learned that loaded mashed potatoes had sour cream in them since I don't like sour cream, but I went with it because I'd had loaded mashed potatoes before and liked them.

I had a little trouble with making the mashed potatoes; I didn't cook them long enough at first and had to throw some more water on top and try again. Other than that, the mashed potatoes were easy, especially since I left on the skin, and we both loved them! Lee asked me to make these often.

For the filet mignon, one of the recipes I found didn't have any seasonings, it just called for wrapping the filet mignon in bacon and cooking as is. I wanted a bit more flavour, so I did it differently. I thought that I'd try to make fewer dirty dishes and I cooked the bacon for the mashed potatoes, and sautéed the garlic in my dutch oven where I was going to cook the meat. I thought that helped give it a little more flavor. We both loved the filet mignon and I ate it all even though I was so full afterward! Hey, it's not every day we get to eat something so fancy, I might as well enjoy it!

Loaded Mashed Potatoes

2½-3	lbs red potatoes
1/4	cup butter
3	garlic cloves
½	tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
1/6	cup of finely chopped chives
1/4	cup sour cream
1/8	cup milk
1/4	cup cooked bacon, chopped
1	tablespoon kosher salt, divided (to taste)
½	tablespoon black pepper (to taste)

Cook bacon, set aside to cool. Chop when cooled.
Scrub potatoes, dice with skin on, taking care to cut out any black spots.
Place in a pot with cold water and a crushed clove of garlic on the stove; high setting.
When water boils, add ½ tbsp salt and cook until soft and a knife inserted easily comes out.
Mince and sauté two cloves of garlic in olive oil until brown and caramelized.
Drain potatoes and remove garlic clove.
Mash and add sautéed garlic and remaining ingredients.
Mix well.

Filet Mignon

2 beef tenderloin steaks
salt
pepper
garlic
4 uncooked strips of streaky bacon (regular bacon in the States)
1 tbsp butter

If making loaded mashed potatoes, cook the bacon and sauté the garlic in heavy-bottomed pan to be used for the filet mignon. Leave the fat and some garlic behind for flavor.
Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of steak. Wrap with bacon, two strips of bacon per steak. Hold bacon in place with toothpicks.
Melt butter in pan.
Add steaks and sear 7-9 minutes on each side. Filet mignon is meant to be on the rare side.
Remove toothpicks and serve.

The Specialty Sandwich Shop: Cheeseburger

2008-05-04T19:32:00.002-04:00

I wish I could say that I tried something really new, exciting, and different on Friday. Truth was, I had to spend a day doing curriculum work on the computer and I was tuckered out. I wasn't in the mood to be creative for dinner, or even cook at all, so I just had Cheerios for dinner (didn't make DB so cheery, but he didn't feel like cooking either).

Well, I had never had a cheeseburger at the place we ordered lunch from and so that was my new food. I thought it was really good! I'm not sure what it was, but it had a great, almost buttery taste to it. I'm wondering if the bun was buttered, then toasted. I'll definitely get a cheeseburger from this place again!

A New Chocolate Chip Cookie

2008-05-01T22:38:00.005-04:00

Tonight I decided to bake. I really wanted to make S'more cookies, but couldn't figure out how I wanted to do them. I was browsing Recipezaar and I found a recipe for applesauce cookies. I thought they sounded very...interesting. I wasn't sure I would like these, but I have been playing it pretty safe the past couple of days and I really need to expand my horizons. I wasn't sure about the combination of the applesauce, nutmeg, cinnamon, and chocolate chips. I thought it sounded pretty strange.

I had some original applesauce and some cinnamon applesauce in the fridge, but went with the cinnamon just because it was slightly simpler than measuring out cinnamon from the container.

The batter was very soft and moist. I used my cookie scoop, which scoops out about a tablespoon of dough, and I couldn't use it the way I usually do with cookies. I usually press the scoop on the side of the bowl to level the dough, but when I did that with this batter, the dough stuck inside the scoop and it was difficult to get it out on the cookie sheet. It worked best to just scoop it out like a spoon and let it fall out onto the cookie sheet.

They actually tasted pretty good! I thought the nutmeg was overpowering and would reduce it, but Lee loved them, so I will definitely make them again.

Here is the recipe as I would try it again:

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 cup applesauce
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (omit if using cinnamon applesauce)
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400F
Mix shortening and sugar in a large mixing bowl.
Add applesauce and mix until blended.
Pour in the two beaten eggs and blend.
Slowly add the dry ingredients.
When fully blended, stir in the chocolate chips.
Bake on lined cookie sheet for about 8 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

Dutch Apple Pie

2008-05-01T22:31:00.002-04:00

I try to make the new foods interesting, and foods that I cook myself, but I've been so busy and tired that I just need to do convenience foods sometimes. I can't wait until the summer when I'm home a lot and can do more experiments.

Anyway, yesterday was one of those nights. I was at work late and wasn't getting home until late because I had to run errands. We stopped at Burger King for dinner. Lee forgets that I can't always finish the meal, never mind even eat something else afterward! He ordered a slice of apple pie for each of us. I had to wait until later in the night to try my slice, but I did manage a bite. :-)

I thought it was ok, a lot better than I expected from a fast food pie!

Rice-a-Roni Rice Pilaf

2008-05-01T22:28:00.002-04:00

I love Near East Rice Pilaf. On Tuesday, Lee decided to make dinner since I had to work late. He made Rice-a-Roni Rice Pilaf, which I bought because it was on sale and I was getting different flavors.

I still love the Near East Rice Pilaf, but the Rice-a-Roni has a nice buttery taste to it that made a fun change.

Twinkies...

2008-05-01T22:16:00.002-04:00

Have you ever watched a TV show that reminded you of a childhood favorite and you just HAD to run out to get some? I was watching one of those shows on the Food Network that talks about how food is made and they talked about Twinkies. I was excited to have some again and got a package at the convenience store. Well, I was very disappointed. I hadn't had them in years and my more adult, sophisticated ;-) taste buds thought they were gross!

Now, does this count as a new food when I hadn't had it in years and years? I'm thinking it does...

Heaven in Pretzel Form

2008-04-27T16:06:00.010-04:00

Picture it. New Bedford. 2002. I had just taken the children I used to nanny for apple and pumpkin picking followed by a hayride. We went to pay and what to my wondering eyes to I see? Many large pretzels with apple inside. I was intrigued. I was unsure. I had to have it. I was deLIGHTed when two of my favorite tastes came together in my mouth...apple and soft pretzel.

I have longed for these scrumptious creations ever since and finally decided to do something about it. I have long since moved away from New Bedford, and haven't made a trip back to an apple orchard, but wonderful Recipezaar to the rescue again. I found a recipe for apple stuffed pretzels with streusel topping!

I had a big baking weekend and my Kitchen Aid got a fair amount of use, but my taste buds thank it. I had to get the Daring Bakers challenge out of the way yesterday, so today I went for the pretzels.

These were pretty easy to make, but took about 2½ hours in all. The only thing I would change would be to add a little more of the apple filling to the pretzels. I had quite a bit left over, which made for a great munch while waiting for the pretzels to cook, but would have been better inside the pretzel itself because some bites had more pretzel flavor than others.

Dough
2 1/2	teaspoons yeast
1	tablespoon sugar
1	cup warm water
1 1/2	cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2	cups bread flour
1/2	teaspoon salt
2	tablespoons vegetable oil
Filling
3	small granny smith (or other cooking) apples
1	tablespoon butter
2	tablespoons brown sugar
1/2	teaspoon cinnamon
1	pinch ground cloves
Streusel
1/2	cup flour
1/2	cup brown sugar
1/4	teaspoon cinnamon
4	tablespoons butter
1/2	cup finely chopped pecans (optional)
Additional ingredients
1/3	cup baking soda
2	cups water
1	egg white

To prepare dough:
Combine yeast, sugar, and water and allow to rest for 5 minutes until foamy.
Meanwhile, mix the flours, salt, and oil in a mixing bowl, then add proofed yeast mixture.
Stir to form a dough.
Place onto lightly floured surface and knead for 2-3 minutes until a smooth, but slightly sticky dough is formed.
Place into a greased bowl, covered with plastic wrap, and let sit until doubled in size (45-60 minutes).
Use the rising time to prepare the streusel and filling.
To prepare filling:
Peel, core, and thinly (1/4" thick) slice the apples and then cut each slice into 8 pieces. (I cut into 8 slices with my apple corer/slicer, then cut them into thirds width-wise, then half length-wise, and finally into cubes.)
Sauté the apples with 1/2 of the TBS of butter, cinnamon, and cloves until the apples are tender, but not mushy.
Remove from heat and add the additional 1/2 TBS of butter.
To prepare streusel:
Combine the flour, sugar, and cinnamon.
Cut in the 4 TBS of butter to a crumb consistency.
Stir in the chopped pecans.
Back to the dough:
When dough has risen, punch down, place on lightly floured board, and cut into 8 equal pieces (mine were 95-98g each).
With hands, roll each piece into a 15" long cylinder.
Flatten the cylinder down with a rolling pin to measure 3" wide by 17" long.
Place 1 1/2 TBS of the filling mixture along the length of each piece and fold the long edge over to meet the other side.
Pinch along the seam to thoroughly enclose the filling.
Roll the dough with your hands to form an even cylinder and fully encapsulate the filling.
Form into a pretzel shape and press to seal.
Place on a parchment or Silpat lined cookie sheet.
Repeat for all 8 pieces.
Allow to rise on the cookie sheet for 15 minutes.
Preparing the baking soda mix:
While they are rising, boil the water and add to a bowl with baking soda.
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Prepare for baking:
Beat the egg white with water and lay it on a flat plate or shallow bowl.
Lay the streusel topping on a flat plate (I used an 8"x8" cake pan).
When the pretzels have fully risen, drop one at a time into the boiling water for 10 seconds.
Remove with a large slotted spatula/spoon to drain slightly and then drop into the egg white, turn to coat, then drop into the streusel and turn to coat.
Lay each pretzel on the lined cookie sheet.
Repeat this procedure until all pretzels are finished.
Place into the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes (check on them at 12 minutes, mine only took 12).
Remove from cookie sheets and place on racks to cool.

Daring Baker Challenge: Cheesecake Pops

2008-04-27T00:01:00.002-04:00

Well, it's that time...another Daring Baker's Challenge. This month's challenge was hosted by Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms and Deborah from Taste and Tell.

This month it was another recipe that I'm not too fond of, but hope to like, cheesecake. All the other DB recipes I'd seen from past months looked like ones I'd like, so I'm sure there will be some more enticing ones soon. I must say, the pops Elle made did look so darn cute! Another Daring Baker said she didn't think she liked cheesecake, but tried this recipe and found she just hadn't tried the right one. I was hoping I'd be one of those lucky people. Was I? Read on to find out!

As usual, I procrastinated and didn't start my pops until yesterday. Since I'm not a big fan of cheesecake and Lee didn't want to end up with too many to eat on his own, I decided to follow another DBer's idea of cooking 1/5 of the recipe. I figured that if we wanted more, I could always make more later. I bought the cream cheese in bulk at Sam's before seeing someone 1/5 the recipe, so I have plenty of the ingredients.

I got to use my Kitchen Aid for this challenge. I'm so glad the Kitchen Aid comes with a booklet that has sample recipes to try out, they have an example for each area of baking you would want to do so you can see the method and adapt it to other recipes. I wasn't sure whether to use the wire whisk or the flat beater for this recipe, but the two cheesecake recipes in my Kitchen Aid booklet said to use the flat beater, so that's precisely what I did. The Kitchen Aid definitely makes it a lot more fun to be a Daring Baker!

The challenge of baking only 1/5 of the recipe was the scale of the ingredients. .4 of an egg yolk was tricky, so I just eyeballed it the best I could. In baking it's best to be exact, but my cheesecake turned out fine, so I don't think it was an issue. I used my 6 inch cake pan and put it in an 8 inch cake pan for the water bath. I'd never made cheesecake before, so I did my usual lining of the pan with parchment paper to prevent sticking. I'm not sure it was really necessary since I scooped the cheesecake out of the pan. Also, Elle and Deborah said the cheesecake should be 1¼" thick in the pan to make scooping easier, mine was more like 1", but again, it didn't seem to make much difference, I was able to scoop out just fine.

The allowed adaptations were flavoring in the cheesecake (as long as it was still white) and any color/flavor coatings we wanted. Since I figured Lee would be the one eating them all I asked him what he wanted for the coating and he decided he wanted strawberry. I found a recipe for a strawberry glaze.

Later on, Lee said he wanted some graham cracker crumb when I asked him if he wanted a bit, so I had him pick up some graham crackers at Shaw's on his way home from work. Well, that was a bit of a project because of the pronunciation differences of g-r-a-h-a-m in the US and UK. In the UK the name is pronounced "grayam", and in the US it's pronounced "gram." I'm not a big fan of the UK pronunciation, but that's probably because it's just different and I have a hard time saying it that way. Unfortunately, Lee's step-grandfather is named Graham, so I have to try to pronounce it the UK way when talking about or to him! Well, Lee decided to be funny when calling me from the store and say that he couldn't find "gram crackers" all he could find were "grayam crackers." HA. HA. HA. Very funny. He was also confused about the different flavors and didn't know whether he should get chocolate, cinnamon, plain, etc...I figured plain would be the best for the cheesecake since I was trying the strawberry glaze. Anyway, he got home with the the g-crackers and I had to break it to him that He got the wrong brand! I had to tell him that Honey Maid is to graham crackers what Heinz is to ketchup...he bought Keebler!! The horror!! Well, we made do.

While the cheesecake was cooling, I made my strawberry glaze so it would have plenty of time to cool to room temperature before coating the pops. I didn't want the hot glaze to melt the cheesecake. This was pretty easy to make and only took a total of about 10 minutes. I ended up doubling the recipe because I wanted to make sure to have enough glaze to dip the pops into. I was worried that just making the recipe as is wouldn't make enough. I had glaze leftover, but I feel it was worth it. The hardest part was crushing the strawberries for the recipe. I tried using a potato masher, but it didn't work out well, so then I took the rough side of my meat mallet and pressed it against the strawberries. This worked so much better! I measured out the ½ cup of crushed strawberries, then added the juices to the pan. The strawberry scent wafting out of the pot was AMAZING! While making the glaze, it will look cloudy and thick. Don't worry about that, once you strain it, it will be a gorgeous, bright red color and I didn't even use any of the food coloring! I also didn't use any of the lemon, but that's just personal preference.

The Elle and Deborah said the pops had to be 2 oz. in size. 2 oz. made for some pretty big pops! It wasn't too bad making the pops. I wanted to get mine moving a long, so after my cheesecake was in the fridge for about an hour, I put it in the freezer just to top it off. It made it easier to shape the cheesecake into balls since cheesecake is so sticky. I had tried to make one pop before freezing and my hands were just as gooey as they were after the freezer, making 6 pops. If you have the freezer space, definitely try freezing them for about ½-1 hour to make them a bit firmer, but not so firm you can't manipulate them into the shape you want. That was another plus to only making 1/5 of the recipe. Many Daring Bakers had problems with freezer space, I didn't have to worry about that since I was only making 6.

After freezing the pops for about an hour, and cooling the glaze in the fridge, it was dipping time! I'm glad I made a double batch of the glaze. I did a coating, then put the graham cracker crumbs on it, and realized it was a thin coating. I froze all the pops for a few minutes more, then did a second coating of the glaze. If I make these again, I would do the double coating of glaze, allow that to cool a bit in the freezer, then dip them in the crumbs. Because the glaze is runny, it had a bit of pooling like a caramel apple, but that was easily smoothed away. I ended up dipping them in the graham crackers again just before serving.

The verdict? Well, I'm not a cheesecake fanatic, but these pops have definitely made me want to try this recipe with different flavors. These are very creamy and rich, they reminded me of the texture of ice cream. I also think it might be too rich to eat in regular cheesecake form. I must admit, I liked the pops in the part where there was the thicker coating of graham crackers. I guess just need a balance of texture and tastes. I think I'll add extra graham cracker to mine and both Lee and I agree that we would like them better if they were smaller, say 1 ounce. I think that would make the dipping a lot easier too.

This is a really long post, so you can visit either Elle's or Deborah's blogs for the complete recipe. I'm posting the measurements to make 1/5 of the recipe as well as the recipe for the glaze.

Cheesecake Pops

1/5 recipe (yields 6 2oz. pops):

1 8-oz pkg cream cheese
86 grams sugar (0.4 cups)
7.6 grams all-purpose flour (0.05 cups)
0.05 tsp salt (a little less than half of a 1/8 tsp measure if you have it)
1 large egg
0.4 egg yolk (eyeballed this obviously)
0.4 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tbsp (15 mL) heavy cream (0.05 cups)

Strawberry Glaze

1 tbsp. cornstarch
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup crushed strawberries
1 teaspoon lemon juice (optional)
1-2 drops red food coloring (optional)

In a saucepan over medium heat, blend cornstarch, corn syrup, and water until smooth.
Add strawberries and turn up heat to medium-high.
Stirring lightly, bring to a boil and allow to boil for one minute.
Strain, add lemon juice and food coloring if desired, and cool.

Pork Chops with Herby Cream Sauce

2008-04-25T22:42:00.004-04:00

I decided to make a pork dish since we got a large tenderloin on sale and cut it into chops. I had found this recipe in the Taste of Home cookbook I had borrowed from the library. I'm not a big fan of pork chops, so I thought the sauce would help the flavor.

This was a really simple recipe to make. The only problem was that neither one of us felt that the cream sauce had enough flavour for our tastes. I'll try this recipe again, but try a full tablespoon of beef bullion (a whole cube instead of half) and either up the amount of herbs, or put in a bit of garlic...garlic would be nice...mmmmmmm!!

Anyway, we both liked it, just iddn't feel like it had as much flavor as we would have liked.

Pork Chops with Herby Cream Sauce

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 pork chops
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon beef bullion (½ cube)
1 tablespoon minced parsley
½ tablespoon basil, thyme, or tarragon
2/3 cup milk or half-and-half
2 tablespoons water
pepper

In large skillet, heat vegetable oil and cook pork chops until browned and 160°F internal temperature.
Drain and set pork chops aside.
Cook flour, parsley, and basil/thyme/tarragon for a minute or two.
Slowly add milk, water, pepper, and beef bullion. Whisk together.
Bring to a boil, cooking and whisking for about 2 minutes or until thickened.
Pour over pork chops.

Mac and Cheese, Take 2

2008-04-25T13:55:00.005-04:00

So I'm making another attempt at a mac and cheese Lee will like. This was the final recipe I had to make for April's recipe swap. It turned out pretty good, but a bit grainy (although I wonder if that was because I used my enameled cast iron dutch oven for baking since I didn't have a big enough casserole dish, I'll have to get a bigger casserole dish and try again sometime) . Lee can't stand Velveeta and didn't believe me that there was Velveeta in the recipe even though he saw me take out the Velveeta for it! He was actually taking little bites of it and complaining that he's starting to like mac and cheese. Must. find. more. recipes!

I like baked mac and cheese with bread crumbs on top, so I might do that if I make this again. I would also leave out the salt. I added it to be true to the recipe since I was rating the recipe as is for a game, but I think Velveeta has a salty enough taste without adding more. As usual, I'm posting the recipe as I would make it next time with a link to the original.

Oh, and I didn't get to eat this at home. I've been bugging Lee about getting his driver's license. He never got it in England because he didn't really need it much at Uni and when he was with his parents he just made do with them driving him places. He needs a license in the States, but was nervous about it. I ate the mac and cheese on the way to bring him to his license test. He was shocked, but then ecstatic when he passed! He's driving himself to work this weekend and had to take a little driver yesterday afternoon to Radio Shack just because he could. Turns out he was just worried about the test, not the actual act of driving.

Classic Velveeta Macaroni and Cheese

6 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ white onion, diced
¼ cup all-purpose flour
pepper
4 cups milk
2 lbs. Velveeta, diced
1 lb. elbow macaroni
1½-2 cups breadcrumbs

Melt butter over medium-low heat in a large pan (I used a 6 qt. pan.)
Add onion and cook until soft.
Add flour and cook for a minute or two.
Meanwhile, cook macaroni according to package directions and preheat oven to 350°F.
Add milk and pepper and cook for a few minutes until thickened and bubbly.
Add diced Velveeta and cook until melted.
Drain macaroni and mix cheese sauce and macaroni in a large 5 qt. casserole dish.
Top with breadcrumbs and bake for 45 minutes.

Rigatoni Bolognese

2008-04-25T13:23:00.004-04:00

Well, after this month, I think I may take a break from the recipe swaps on Recipezaar and focus on doing a tag game here and there and my Daring Baker's challenges. I'm finding that I am buying extra food for these things and we're trying to stick to a budget. We've been doing a lot better since I found The Grocery Game, but we're still trying to keep within reason and I also tend to forget about them until the end of the month feeling like I have so much time!

On the topic of The Grocery Game, I do recommend you try it out if you're interested in saving money on groceries! It's $1 for a month long trial, and then there is a small fee after that. We have saved so much in groceries by learning how to combine sales with coupons. I'd read that you should do a price book and use coupons and stock up at "rock-bottom" sales, but can't be bothered to track the sales like that. We have saved about 1/3-1/2 of our grocery bills each week because of this and the savings are getting even bigger now that we're getting through our "stockpiling" stage. I just think it's great so far, so does Lee and now when I go grocery shopping he asks me how much we saved! We're getting to buy fun food for less than we spent on just the basics!!!

I digress...

This post is supposed to be about rigatoni bolognese, so here we go. I had meant to make this on Tuesday night, I had looked at the times and saw the recipe said ½ hour cook time and ½ hour prep. I thought that meant that I should plan a full hour for the cooking. Well...it turned out that the sauce had to simmer for an hour, so it took more like an hour and a half to cook the dinner and by the time I was going to get started on Tuesday, it was getting later, so we just something else quick instead.

On Wednesday, I did set aside enough time to make it. It turned out pretty good, but I found I needed twice the amount of tomatoes that the recipe called for to have enough tomato sauce for the amount of rigatoni used. Lee didn't like the taste of the wine, so I would have to cut that back some more if I made this again, or find a better tasting wine than we used. I know you aren't supposed to cook with a wine you wouldn't drink, but neither one of us are big fans of alcohol, and I don't like red wine much on a good day (I'm a Pinot Grigio girl) so I don't see the point in spending too much money on something we don't use much, that is just meant for a bit of flavour.

I'm posting the recipe how I did make it and would adapt it for making again, but am linking to the original recipe if you would like to look at it.

Authentic Rigatoni Bolognese

2 carrots diced
2 ribs of celery, diced
½ white onion, diced
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 lb. ground meat (I used turkey)
½-1 cup red wine
1 29 ounce can crushed tomatoes
salt
pepper
½ lb. rigatoni
parlsey

Heat olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add celery, carrots, and onion. Cook until soft.
Add ground meat and cook until browned.
Add wine, tomatoes, salt, and pepper and simmer for an hour on low heat or until sauce has thickened.
When sauce is almost finished, cook rigatoni to package directions, drain, and mix with sauce.
Plate and garnish with fresh parsley.

Breakfast for Two

2008-04-25T13:06:00.004-04:00

Woops! I didn't realize it had been so many days since I last updated! Well, it's been school vacation, and although I had to go in to work for a few hours on Wednesday, and a little bit today, I've been trying to take it easy.

On Tuesday, Lee didn't have to work until the afternoon and I didn't have to go to work at all, so I made breakfast for us. I had bought some egg rings at Crate and Barrel and have been waiting for a chance to use them. I made egg sandwiches on cinnamon swirl bread.

I liked the egg rings. I prefer my little egg pan that is so cute with the egg guy on the handle, but when you're making more than one sandwich, it's so much better to have the egg rings so you can make them faster. I love the cinnamon swirl bread and it was great with the egg and cheese. I forgot to take a picture because I was planning to make something else for the blog later on, but didn't end up doing that.

Egg Sandwiches on Cinnamon Swirl Bread

1 tablespoon butter
2 eggs
4 slices cinnamon swirl bread
2 slices American cheese
pepper

Melt butter on a non-stick skillet over medium-low heat.
In a small bowl, place in one egg, add pepper, and whisk together.
Place egg ring on skillet and pour egg mixture inside. Repeat with other egg.
Meanwhile, toast bread in toaster, butter lightly when finished.
When the egg looks almost set, remove ring and flip to finish off the top.
Place a slice of cheese on each egg round and melt slightly.
Put egg between two slices of cinnamon swirl bread and enjoy!

Stovies

2008-04-21T19:52:00.004-04:00

A couple of months ago, I asked some people what to do with leftover roast beef. These people are in/from the UK and had some great ideas since roasts are traditional Sunday meals there! One of the recommendations was Stovies. Stovies is a Scottish dish made from "the scrapings off the stove." In its simplest form, you just take all your leftovers from the Sunday roast and heat it all up together. You do need to mince the beef first, but that's easily done with a sharp knife or a food processor.

I just had Lee mince the beef since my thumb has been bothering me. I then put it in a roasting pan with the leftover vegetables from last night's dinner and dribbled some gravy over the top. I heated it in the oven at 350°F for about 15 minutes or until hot.

The taste of this will depend on the quality of your leftovers. If you had an excellent roast dinner, your Stovie will taste good, if not, your Stovie will not taste as nice. I'd definitely make this again to use up leftovers, it's quick, easy, and delicious!

For more information and a recipe in case you want to try it and don't have leftovers you can visit www.stovies.com

Brownies from Scratch, Take 2

2008-04-20T23:20:00.004-04:00

A couple of months ago, I made some brownies from scratch. They tasted pretty good, but they were really flat and I wasn't able to get the flourless brownies to rise properly.

Today I tried a recipe that included a bit of flour, but not a lot. It rose beautifully, and was really easy to make. Of course, it's not a brownie for me without chocolate chips in it, so I included a couple of handfuls of those. The only downfall was they were a bit dry and powdery tasting. It tasted a bit overwhelmingly of the cocoa powder. I don't mind them, but would prefer if they didn't taste so powdery. I might actually try these a gain with baking chocolate to see if they taste better.

The Real McCoy Brownies

6 oz (12 tbsp) butter
2/3 cup cocoa
1¼ cups sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
2/3 cup cake flour or ½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup nuts, chopped or semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Melt butter, while hot whip in cocoa.
Allow to cool.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Whisk in sugar, salt, and vanilla.
Add all the eggs at once, and whisk until smooth and fluffy.
Fold in flour (and nuts, or chocolate chips) until just incorporated.
Transfer to floured, parchment paper lined 9x9" pan.
Bake for 20 minutes. A toothpick inserted should not come out clean, but the batter that clings to the toothpick should be dry.
Allow to cool, the enjoy!

Caribbean Jerk Chicken

2008-04-20T23:06:00.003-04:00

On Saturday, I used one of my Lawry's marinades called Caribbean Jerk. I've said before that I'm trying to cut down on the convenience food, but sometimes you just have to use the convenience food for sanity. Maybe I wouldn't want to turn to it as much if I wasn't working, but even on the weekends I just need time to relax and don't want to do as involved meals as I would if I were stay-at-home.

Anyway, I've been learning how to combine coupons with sales through the Grocery Game. It's fabulous so far and we've had each grocery bill cut in half through following this program and each week we need to buy less and less. The Lawry's marinades were on sale, and I had coupons, so I got a few.

I also used a bit of the marinated on the carrots I made as a side dish. I did make the mistake of forgetting to turn on the burner, but the marinade did make our raw carrots taste good!

I grilled the chicken on the George Foreman and they turned out pretty well, but both Lee and I are pretty tired of the George Foreman grill. We both feel that it ends up overcooking the outside a bit in order to properly cook the inside. It also ends up leaving a flat char on the meat, rather than just the regular grill lines people like to see. We decided we would like something like an indoor grill that you use just like an outdoor one.

Anyway, there isn't really a recipe for this. I just marinated the chicken for an hour and grilled it. My plan with the carrots was to steam them with a couple of tablespoons of the marinated and a touch of water. The rice was Herb and Butter Rice-a-Roni.

Marinated Chicken Tenders and Seafood Risotto

2008-04-20T22:44:00.004-04:00

Friday is the day my grade level orders lunch out. On Friday I ordered some marinated chicken tenders, what they were marinated in, I have no idea, but they were marinated. When I think of chicken tenders, I think of long chicken nuggets, these did not have any breading on the outside, they were just the marinated meat, grilled.

I did like these. I wish the menu said what they were marinated in, I couldn't quite tell, but it was very good and I'd order it again.

Friday was a busy night and I didn't take a picture.

Friday was definitely crazy. I also had to drive down to my parents' house for my mom's birthday dinner. We went to Davy's Locker and I decided to go for something different than my usual lobster or baked stuffed lobster. I went with the seafood risotto. It was scrumptious! It had mussels, shrimp, scallops, clams, and lobster in it. I hope to find a similar recipe so I can make it at home some time.

By the way, the five stars is for the risotto, I would rate the chicken as a four.

Pudding Pie

2008-04-20T22:40:00.002-04:00

On Thursday, it was not only my mom's birthday, but it was the birthday of one of my students. The student's mother brought in some cupcakes for her birthday, and I noticed a large cupcake on top of the containers of smaller cupcakes. I asked the girl if her mom had bought the big one for the birthday girl and she said that her mom told her to give it to me. That was very thoughtful.

I must say, I was surprised to bite into it and discover it was not a cupcake at all, but a pie filled with chocolate pudding and topped with whipped cream and chocolate crumbs! I must say I was a bit disappointed to not have a cake, but the pie was really good. It was too big for me to eat all in one go, but I did save it to finish later.

Unfortunately, I forgot the pie at school and didn't remember to take a picture. It's now vacation, and I'm afraid it will be bad before I get back to school to try to get it. Too bad, it was pretty good!

Steak Burrito

2008-04-20T22:38:00.004-04:00

Wednesday night, I had some late conferences, so we ate out at Qdoba. I got the Fajita Ranchera burrito and Lee got the Steak Burrito. Lee agreed with me that the burritos taste better at Qdoba, but the chips and salsa are better at Moe's.

I had the Fajita Ranchera before, but hadn't tried the steak burrito. I tried a bite of Lee's and it was pretty good. I prefer chicken burritos, but I'd have no problem ordering the steak burrito once in a while.

I forgot to take a picture again, but I did take a picture of a cute kitty we found in the parking lot!

Tuna Fish with Corn?!?!?!?

2008-04-20T22:33:00.002-04:00

I couldn't believe it when Lee said that he wanted me to buy some "sweet corn" a.k.a. canned corn so he could have a tuna fish sandwich. I have never heard of anyone mixing corn in with tuna fish. He then mentioned putting cucumber on it, but that he preferred corn.

I had very big reservations about trying this concoction, but it actually wasn't too bad. I can't say I like it, but I can't say I don't like it either. It was a strange texture too. I'm not used to having crunchiness with tuna fish sandwiches. I don't think I'd make it for myself, or really even want to have it again, but there are plenty of things I would choose it over.

I forgot to take a picture, but I'm sure Lee will be having it again and will try to update with a picture then.

Spicy Rotel Chicken Skillet Meal

2008-04-14T21:50:00.004-04:00

Tonight I had to work late because of conferences, so I needed something quick and easy for dinner. It took me longer to decide what to make than it did to make the actual recipe!

I found a recipe for Rotel Spicy Skillet Chicken on Recipezaar and decided to try that. I wasn't sure what to make with it for the rice, but I ended up going with some plain long grain rice where I put in some bullion cubes with the water to give it a bit of flavor.

This was so easy to make and it turned out delicious! The mushrooms were incredible when I bit into them and the Rotel and onions mixed in well with the rice. The only problem is that I forgot to add the final touch of some shredded cheese on top! I'll definitely make this again, with cheese.

Also, I almost forgot to make the salad, but remembered at the last minute and I've made it two days in a row.

Cheese Stuffed Meatloaf

2008-04-13T20:00:00.002-04:00

Well, I'm all caught up now and I'm hoping to keep it that way! I'm also trying to make our meals more well-rounded. We usually have two sides, but often it's rice and bread, or mashed potatoes and corn. I learned that you aren't apparently supposed to mix too many "starches" and corn should be considered a starch for these purposes. Lee grew up with a vegetable with every meal and doesn't feel a meal is complete without one. I really can't argue with that since I know it's better to do it that way, I just never was really used to it. I haven't gotten good at it over the past few months because it's overwhelming to me to learn so many new things at one time, so I decided today that I'm going to make it a goal to make sure I have a salad with every meal. Once that is a habit for me, I'll start adding the second veg and making sure the meals are well-rounded. I figured salads would be the easier place for me to start and I can get more variety into our diet faster that way.

Today I did have a salad for each of us with the meal. Lee doesn't like uncooked tomatoes (something he doesn't like, shocking!!!), so his salad didn't have tomatoes, but we both had mixed field greens, cucumber, and mushrooms. I had Catalina dressing, Lee had Ranch. He just loves ranch. I'm going to have to perfect a recipe for that before we move to England because it's very hard to find over there.

Moving on to the main dish...today I made cheese stuffed meatloaf with garlic roasted tomato Rice a Roni. This was really good. The meatloaf recipe called for 1/4 cup chopped onion, but I would leave that out next time. Lee thought it was a bit too much and I agree since the pasta sauce I used had chunks of onion in it as well.

I wasn't sure how the layers of cheese would turn out in the meat, and I probably could have spread it more evenly, but it still was really good. We both topped it with Parmesan cheese.

The rice was also really good. It went well with the tomato flavour in the meatloaf. I'd make that again as well.

Ranch Cheeseburgers on Homemade Buns

2008-04-13T14:49:00.004-04:00

I joined another recipe swap on Recipezaar this month. One of the recipes I tagged is for Ranch cheeseburgers. I didn't have any hamburger buns, so I decided to make some from scratch. I found a couple of recipes that sounded good, but I went with one that was for rolls that should be done in 40 minutes.

The cheeseburgers called for dry ranch dressing mix, but I didn't have any on hand and the only ground beef I had was 7% fat, so I used regular ranch dressing to add some moisture to the meat. It worked a treat. I tried a bit of one of the burgers without dressing and thought it tasted really good. I was wondering about whether it would take too much away from the flavor of the burgers to add ketchup, but I tried a little bite with some ketchup and I figured out it would be ok with just a tiny bit.

The buns turned out great as well. The first batch weren't the best shape, but they still tasted great. They were pretty easy and I have loads of leftovers for other burgers too. They actually taste quite good as just rolls on their own. These rolls remind me of the Texas Roadhouse rolls, not an exact match, but similar.

I made some fries to go with them, the same recipe I did with my fish and chips.

This was an excellent meal and I'll definitely have to make these time and time again! I'm learning that I really do seem to prefer making my own things at home. I'm not sure how long it'll last, but it'll be fun for now!

Thanksgiving on a Bun...

2008-04-13T14:44:00.002-04:00

What could be more perfect? The local D'Angelo near the place I went for my Masters degree had a Thankgiving dinner sub. It was scrumptious and had turkey, cranberry sauce, and stuffing. I would always get it there and hadn't been able to find it at any other D'Angelo that makes it.

I was so excited when my grade level team decided to order our Friday lunch from D'Angelo and saw that it was on their menu now!!! It also comes with gravy. I wasn't so sure about the gravy on it, but now that I think back, what is there NOT to love about it. I decided to dip the sandwich in the gravy and..it. was. heaven!

I can't wait to have it again and my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Perfection, D'Angelo, just perfection!

Honey Wheat Bread

2008-04-13T13:49:00.005-04:00

One of Lee's complaints about the US is that the bread is too small! His English side of the family is made of big eaters. His little 9 year old brother can well out-eat me! All of my friends are shocked when they see how much he eat, and the most surprising thing is that he isn't very big! Well, he's tall, but not round in the slightest.

Anyway, back to the bread. The bread I buy in the US, (Home Pride Wheat) is about 4" x 4" but the bread he likes in England is about 6" x 6". That's quite a difference! Since I bought my Kitchen Aid® I wanted to give it a shot and after searching for larger bread pans, found one by Wilton that is huge!

I was wondering how much dough I should make, and was thinking I'd have to double recipes, but I was excited to see that it comes with a recipe for Honey Wheat Bread! I just had to give it a go.

I looked at my instructions for my Kitchen Aid® to see how much I could make, I remembered seeing a note in it that told how much flour you could use at a time. Since this is a big recipe, I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to overload my brand new mixer! The directions said not to use more than 10 cups all-purpose flour or 6 cups whole wheat flour when making dough in a mixer the size of mine, since this recipe called for 8 cups flour total, I thought that maybe it might compromise and work out ok.

Since I have never made a bread in one of these things before, I did have some problems, but I don't know if it's because of me or because I had too much dough in my mixer. The dough actually crept up and was higher than the top of the hook. I found out I accidentally had it at too high a speed as well (it says not to put it to a higher speed than 2 with the dough hook and I put it to 4). I'll have to try it one more time and then see if it works. I ended up divining the dough into two parts for the kneading and it worked a little better after that.

I was wondering how difficult it would be to roll out to the size needed, but it wasn't difficult at all and I didn't even need to flour the surface first.

It turned out fantastic! Neither Lee nor I could stop eating it. The bread wasn't as wide as what he likes in England, but he felt the height was so much better, a good compromise for now. I could not stop myself from eating slice after slice, and it tasted AMAZING with just a little butter on it.

The only other thing now is for me to figure out the best way to slice it up! I did ok, but it was tricky.

Be sure to half the recipe unless you have the same pan I do, or plan to make two loaves.

Honey Wheat Bread

4½ cups all-purpose flour, divided
2 teaspoons salt
2 packages (2¼ teaspoons) instant yeast
1½ cups milk
1½ cups water
¼ cup honey
¼ cup oil
4 cups whole wheat flour

In a large mixing bowl, combine 3 cups all-purpose flour, salt and yeast.
In a separate bowl, or pan, heat milk, water, honey, and oil until hot to the touch or about 125°F.
Gradually add liquids to the dry ingredients and beat for about two minutes at medium speek.
Add 1 cup-all purpose flour, beat at high for 2 more minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.
Switch to dough hook, and gradually add the whole wheat flour, and enough remaining all-purpose flour to form a stiff dough. Knead until smooth and elastic.
Place in a greased bowl and coat. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
Turn out dough and roll to 18" x 10" rectangle. Roll up from the long end to make a loaf.
Pinch the seam ends and seal. Place, seam side down in greased pan, cover, and let rise until doubled in size (about 30 minutes).
Bake at 375°F f or 35 minutes or until done.
Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.
When cooled, slice and enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookies a la Kitchen Aid®

2008-04-13T13:33:00.004-04:00

I got a new Kitchen Aid® stand mixer!! I am so excited! Lee and I went to do a little clothes shopping on Friday and they were on sale. He mentioned that if I didn't want any clothes, we could count that as my birthday present and get one. I was not happy. He knew how much I wanted it, but I really did need at least a couple of new shirts. We talked about it and decided that it would also count as part of a "Congratulations on your Promotion" gift because it is a lot more expensive than what he got. I also put back a couple of things I planned to get and only bought three shirts.

Well, because of report cards and being so tired, I hadn't gotten to play with my new toy until Wednesday night! I decided to try a new recipe for chocolate chip cookies, the one that came with my mixer.

They weren't as soft as the ones I usually make, and they tasted more like Chips Ahoy® than my Nestlé Toll House. I don't really like Chips Ahoy®, so that wasn't a good thing for me. I even did my usual trick of using half butter and half shortening and it still didn't help them stay chewy! Lee thought these were just OK too, and I won't plan to make these again.

Kitchen Aid® Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margerine, softened
2 eggs
1½ teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a medium bowl, mix baking soda, salt, and flour.
In a separate bowl mix sugars, butter, eggs, and vanilla.
Gradually add the flour mixture.
Add chocolate chips.
Drop rounded teaspoons onto baking sheets and cook for about 10-12 minutes at 375°F.

Penne with Tomatoes and Basil

2008-04-13T13:20:00.002-04:00

I loved that roasted cherry tomato recipe I made a few weeks back, so I decided to have another go at a similar recipe. This recipe had the same general concept, but it ended up lacking flavour. It did call for some beans, which I left out since I didn't have any, but I really don't think that would have added any flavor at all. I'd have to seriously tweak this recipe to make it taste good and don't think I'll bother when I have one that is similar and tastes so much better.

Chicken Cutlet with a Mushroom Sauce

2008-04-13T13:15:00.002-04:00

I went to a conference and they served us lunch. I liked the salad (Cesar) and the rolls were delicious, but I wasn't a big fan of the lunch itself. It was a chicken cutlet and it had some sort of mushroom sauce on it. It tasted about like a TV dinner. The chicken and breading had barely any flavor and the mushroom sauce was so thin and flavorless too.

Oreo® Jello Pudding

2008-04-13T12:29:00.002-04:00

I used to not like pudding. I used to never want to try it. Then came my discovery of pudding cups when I worked in daycare. Turns out I just didn't like instant pudding with the plasticy film on top. I loved the Dulce de Leche pudding and when I got a coupon for pudding and it was on sale, Lee and I decided to try Oreo® pudding too.

I think this pudding is ok. It has a bit of Oreo® flavour, but not as much as I was looking for. I will, and have, eaten it again.

SSShhhh...I snuck a meal out!

2008-04-13T12:17:00.001-04:00

Ok, so this isn't the most discrete sneaking of a meal out I've done, but it's my new food for the day, so I guess I kinda have to fess up. My boyfriend and I are trying to save money by not eating out much, but I had some errands to run and decided to try Qdoba while I was out. My former roommate raves about it and I like Moe's Southwest Grill and figured this would be similar.

I was a little sad to see that they didn't just give you chips and salsa with the meal. They did have a sign that said they were available for free upon request, I don't know why they do it that way, maybe because it's across the street from Moe's and they do it for free with everyone's meal?

Anyway, I think I prefer Moe's chips and salsa and Qdoba's burritos. I can't explain it well, but the chips and salsa just tasted better to me at Moe's. I preferred the burritos at Qdoba because everything was just more fresh tasting and flavorful. I could actually make out the different flavors of the ingredients depending on where I bit in. I don't get that with Moe's.

Hmmm....I wonder if it'll look strange if I get some burritos at Qdoba and head across the street to Moe's for the chips and salsa....

Starburst Sour Jelly Beans

2008-04-13T11:47:00.002-04:00

I only in the past couple of years started to like jelly beans. I didn't like the consistency of them. Jelly Belly got me started back into them, even then just a couple of flavors. Since then, I have also found out I like the Starburst jelly beans.

Lee got me some Starburst jelly beans for Easter, but got me some sour ones. I'm not a fan of sour. I just don't like it. I wasn't going to take them back, so I decided to try them anyway. Surprisingly, they aren't that sour, more just tart. I do like tart. I can't eat as many of these at a time as the regular ones, but that's probably a good thing.

These aren't my favorite, but they will do if someone happens to buy them for me.

Dopiaza Curry

2008-04-13T11:26:00.002-04:00

In an attempt to use some of the leftover turkey from the turkey breast we made a few days before, we used our last jar of UK curry sauce. I guess I'll have to learn how to make my own now!

Anyway, the jar was of a Dopiaza Curry. Apparently, this is a style of curry that has a lot of onions in it. I was surprised to find that I didn't find it too spicy at all! I think my taste buds are becoming used to curry now and the heat that comes along with it. Like I usually think of curries, this was ok, but not a favorite.

I forgot to take a picture again!

Clorets

2008-04-13T11:16:00.003-04:00

The mother of one of my students went to the Dominican Republic and brought back some food for her daughter. The girl offered me a piece of gum her mom gave her called Clorets. It tasted just like a spearmint Chicklet!

New York Strip Steaks

2008-04-13T11:04:00.003-04:00

Well, one perk/frustration of having a boyfriend who works in the meat department is he's always wanting to buy the different meats that are on sale. We tend to have so much meat in our freezer that we don't have as much room for other things. One day, he bought some New York Strip steaks for us to cook up. I found a recipe on trusty ol' Recipezaar that sounded really good. I didn't have any Jack Daniel's Whiskey, and wasn't going to go out and buy some just for the recipe, so I just used some of my Jack Daniel's BBQ sauce for the sauce.

These turned out very good and they were so easy to make! I'll definitely have these again and will maybe buy a nip of JD to try making the sauce sometime.

For the vegetables, I just cooked some carrots and green beans in a skillet with the same seasonings as the steak.

White Chili

2008-04-12T23:59:00.004-04:00

I have made White Chili before when I got the general ingredient list and method from a forum I frequent, but I used a jar of salsa for it and ground turkey for the meat. It was also a lot of going ty taste and feel, and being new to it, I wanted to write it out as a recipe so I wouldn't forget. This time I made my own homemade salsa and used some ground pork for the meat.

It turned out great! It was a lot easier for me to adjust the heat of the chili since I made the salsa myself as well. I also used some extra tomatillos to add liquid to the chili instead of as much chicken broth as I had before.

The only problem I had was that I used dried pinto beans and didn't soak them for long enough, so they were still a little firm. They still weren't bad, my boyfriend didn't even comment on that, but it was noticable to me.

I'm not sure I noticed a huge difference in flavour between using a jar of salsa and making my own, but it's been so long since I made it, that I could just have forgotten.

An interesting note: In the UK, they serve chili curry-style, over rice. My boyfriend was surprised and confused to find out that in the US it's served like a soup, in a bowl. He can't bring himself to eat it like a soup and must have it over rice. I don't care either way.

My Very Own Cheeseburger Macaroni

2008-04-12T23:41:00.004-04:00

I love Hamburger Helper® Cheeseburger Macaroni. I've said before, and I'll say it again...I'm trying not to buy boxed mixes because of moving to the UK and trying to save money. I really had a craving for this dinner so I went to trusty ol' Recipezaar to find a copycat. I didn't find quite what I was looking for, but I did find a recipe that I changed to make it taste how I wanted it to.

I liked the taste of this and Lee loved it. He said it tastes so much better than the boxed stuff. I'm used to the boxed mix, so it tasted a bit like something was missing to me, like it needed a bit more spice, but it did taste delicious and I'll plan to make it again. The garlic and paprika are approximate amounts. I just kept adding to it to make it taste how we liked, and will probably tweak it again next time. Definitely make those suit your own tastes if you try this recipe. The paprika does add a bit of spice. I also loved how adding the flour to the meat dried up the juices without me having to drain it, brilliant! I recommend shredding your own cheese. I used to buy the pre-shredded stuff, but when I made the macaroni and cheese a couple of months ago, I noticed that shredding your own fresh cheese makes such a difference in flavor and texture.

Cheeseburger Macaroni

2 tablespoons oil
½ cup onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. ground beef
2 tablespoons flour
½ cup milk
4 tablespoons butter
½ cup tomato sauce
2 tablespoons paprika
1 teaspoon garlic salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
4 cups cooked macaroni
1½ cups shredded cheddar cheese

In a dutch oven, heat oil.
Add onion and garlic. Sauté about 2 minutes, then add the ground beef a cook until browned.
Add flour, cook it and stir for 1 minute.
Add the milk, butter, tomato sauce, and spices. Stir until creamy.
Add the macaroni and stir until well coated. If sauce is too thin, simmer to thicken.
Top with the cheese and stir to melt.

Cinnamon and Spice and Everything Not Quite Nice...

2008-04-12T23:35:00.002-04:00

I usually have oatmeal for my breakfast at work because I'm always running late and I can make it real quick before the kids come in. Shaws was having a buy one get one free special on oatmeal, so I got a few different types and I tried the Cinnamon and Spice kind. I usually love cinnamon flavoured things, but this just didn't do it for me. The ingredients list doesn't tell what the spices are, but they definitely don't seem to make this good tasting at all. I might finish this box, but I definitely don't think I'll buy it again. By the way, I make my oatmeal with milk instead of water because I think it tastes so much better and creamier.

Easy Crock Pot Turkey Breast

2008-04-12T23:17:00.003-04:00

Well, I have been very tired lately. I haven't been going to bed at a decent time, so I'm just exhausted. I have had a couple of days when I've planned a meal and asked Lee to put it together. he seems to be getting more comfortable with his cooking skills and agrees more easily now. He didn't have to go to work until later in the afternoon, so I asked him to pt it all in the crock put and set it to cook before leaving.

This turned out really good. It was done by the time I got home and I only had to put the crock pot on warm until he got home. There was a lot of juice at the bottom of the crock pot. It would have made a good gravy if I had felt like making one, but I decided to just leave it be. I'll definitely make this again.

I can't find a picture of it, so I must have forgotten. :(

You can find the recipe at Recipezaar.

Green Apple Licorice

2008-04-12T22:39:00.002-04:00

I happened into a collegue's classroom while she was having a snack of green apple licorice. I had never heard of this stuff before! She offered me a piece to try. I usually like apple flavored things, so I decided to try some. They were great! I'll definitely have to find these and buy some for myself. They tasted like a soft green apple candy.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

2008-04-12T22:22:00.004-04:00

I had made Lee his first Tuna Noodle Casserole in the fall. He was apprehensive about trying it, but he ended up loving it and has been asking me to make it ever since. On March 27th, I finally got around to making it again. Of course, I had to try a different recipe this time.

I didn't see any recipes on Recipezaar that only had ingredients I already had on hand, so I decided to combine a few and see what happened. I turned out pretty well and Lee was surprised when I said I kind of made it up!

Tuna Noodle Casserole

8 oz. egg noodles, cooked
1 can white tuna fish
1 cup peas
1/4 cup mushrooms
1 10oz can condensed cheddar cheese soup
milk
breadcrumbs

In a casserole dish, combine noodles, tuna, peas, mushrooms, and soup. Add milk until it just covers the noodles.
Mix well.
Cover with breadcrumbs.
Bake at 350°F for approximately 25 minutes or until sauce has thickened and bread crumbs are browned.

Rolo Easter Egg

2008-04-12T22:19:00.003-04:00

Lee's mom had sent us a few Easter things. One of the candies she sent us was a Rolo Easter egg for each of us. I love Rolos, so figured I would love the Rolo. It was good, but the chocolate to caramel ratio wasn't quite the same as what I usually love so much with Rolos. I would eat it the once a year for an Easter treat no problem, but prefer the regular ones.

Easter Brunch

2008-04-12T22:00:00.002-04:00

I thought that since Easter is a holiday, I would make a special breakfast for Lee and me. We both love a Full English breakfast. We don't have the right type of bacon here in the States, but I figured I would make do with what we had and try my best. For a Full English, there is usually some fried toast and baked beans as sides. I didn't do the toast or beans, but I did decide to make an English/American fusion breakfast by adding home fries.

I had never made home fries before, but I thought I'd try them. I looked around online and decided to try to make a recipe that was my own and a combination of what I saw.

I was worried about the breakfast turning out well. I love the flavor of the mushrooms for a Full English and was afraid I wouldn't be able to get mine to taste so good. I was also unsure of how long it would take. I started as soon as I got up and it ended up taking me about an hour to make the breakfast. I could probably do it a bit faster with a griddle, but I was using one skillet and a sauté pan for the home fries.

I had a hard time with the home fries. Mine kept sticking to the pan and they didn't brown properly. The home fries did have excellent flavor, though.

English/American Easter Breakfast

vegetable oil
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
butter
mixed herbs
4 links breakfast sausage
4 slices of bacon
½ cup button mushrooms, brushed
1 tomato (medium-sized)
2 eggs

Heat 1/3-1/2 cup vegetable oil in a large skillet.
Meanwhile, melt a slab of butter in a separate skillet. Add breakfast sausage and cook until done.
Transfer the cooked sausage to a ovenproof pan and keep warm.
Pour some of the sausage grease into the skillet for the home fries. Add potatoes and sprinkle with mixed herbs. Cook for about 20 minutes or until tender and golden brown.
In the skillet used for the sausage, add the bacon. Cook until done.
Transfer the cooked bacon to the oven to keep warm.
Place the button mushrooms in the skillet and cook until done. Transfer to oven.
Cut tomato in half, season with salt, pepper, and mixed herbs. Cook flat side down until beginning to be tender (about 2-3 minutes). Turn over and cook 2-3 minutes more until tender, but still holding its shape.
Transfer the tomatoes to the oven to keep warm.
Add a small bit of butter to the skillet and cook eggs as desired.

Stuffed Shells

2008-04-10T22:20:00.004-04:00

On Saturday, March 22, I decided to try my hand at making stuffed shells. I found a recipe on Recipezaar to try and got started.

I found the shells fairly simple to make, except for the stuffing part. There was no easy way to do it besides just grabbing wads of the stuffing mixture and shoving it in. I already had some pasta sauce in the freezer that I had made a while ago, so I just used that instead of jarred sauce.

I didn't think the filling had much flavor, and Lee didn't like the texture of the ricotta cheese and would have preferred less ricotta and more mozzarella.

I'd make stuffed shells again, but would probably find another recipe to make.

Sweet Tarts Gummi Bunnies

2008-04-10T22:17:00.001-04:00

I love SweetTarts and was excited to see some gummi ones for Easter. I figured I would love them, so I bought a pack. I was wrong. I don't think they are very tasty at all. The sugar on the outside was too much and I don't think they even really tasted like Sweet Tarts.

Kashi Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

2008-04-10T22:15:00.002-04:00

I was working with a collegue on curriculum work and we both got a little hungry. She had some Kashi chocolate chip granola bars in her classroom, so she went to go get them and I got to try some. I thought they were ok, but very sweet. I was surprised to find that I couldn't finish eating the bar in one sitting because of the sweetness. I don't think I'll eat them again.

A Celebration Dinner

2008-04-10T21:49:00.002-04:00

I found out on March 19th that I got a new job at work! I am going to be a reading specialist next year. I had been hoping for this position since January and was so excited to have it! I wanted to go out to eat, but Lee got out of work late, so we ordered food to go. Now, it was a celebration dinner for us, but I chose to get food from the 99. I got my usual Honey BBQ Chicken Wrap, but Lee got the Teriyaki Chicken dinner. I had never tried that one before, so I tried a bite of his chicken. It was good, but won't replace my beloved chicken wrap.

Dulce de Leche Pudding

2008-04-10T21:35:00.002-04:00

Well, we were going to have a Kerry Apple cake recipe I found for St. Patrick's Day, but I didn't feel like cooking. I just tried some of the Jello Dulce de Leche pudding. I wasn't sure if I would like it, but it was fantastic! I now consider this a pantry staple and we haven't been out of it since!

Catch Up Attempt: Irish Stew

2008-04-10T21:02:00.003-04:00

I'm now trying to catch up on my posting and am not going to allow myself to get so far behind again! I had a rough month in March, and have just felt overwhelmed so far in April, but I'm trying to get back on track!

I did our St. Patrick's Day celebration the day after St. Patrick's Day since I was sick. I decided to go with a traditional Irish meal, so I bought some soda bread (I didn't feel like making it) and bought some stewing lamb to make a stew. The recipes I was finding all mentioned how simple and rustic traditional Irish meals are because of the history of poverty.

When I went to the store to get the lamb, I was excited to see that soda bread was on sale buy one get one free! That's one good thing to doing St. Patrick's Day late! I got to the meat section and saw that there was a lot of lamb chops, but they were all very expensive, two for about $17. I then saw the stewing lamb and it was only $5, a much better price!

I found several recipes online, but the one thing they all agreed on is that if you add alcohol, it is not Irish stew, if you add too many herbs that they would not have had, it's not traditional. I made it about as simple and rustic as you can get and it tasted fantastic! I was also very pleasantly surprised to find I liked the soda bread. I had tried Irish soda bread in the past that had caraway seed in it, and I didn't like it. This soda bread didn't have any caraway seed at all, so it tasted much better to me.

I would definitely make this meal again!

Irish Stew
knob of butter
1 large white onion, diced
1 package lamb stewing meat (4 bones)
4 yellow potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup peas
2 tablespoons parsley
salt
pepper

In a 6 quart dutch oven, place the butter and onion over medium-low heat and cook onions for about 5-10 minutes.
Place in lamb, potatoes, and carrots.
Fill dutch oven with water to about 1 inch from top. Place back on the stove.
Allow stew to simmer for 1½-3 hours or until meat is falling off the bone. Add peas, parsley, salt, and pepper about 30 minutes before stew is done.

Catch Up Time

2008-04-01T22:18:00.002-04:00

I'm sorry. March was such a bad month for posting. I have still stuck with the new food a day and I am going to try to have a fresh start in April and get those March foods posted! I was really busy, so I did a lot more new foods that were not things I made, but have made it ¼ through the year so far!

A Cake and a Fire

2008-03-31T22:42:00.007-04:00

Well, I'm a little late with my first Daring Baker's challenge. I kept thinking I had more time to get it done and all of a sudden the deadline hit! I ended up making it tonight.

Well, I bought the ingredients and was skeptical because I don't like lemon flavoured things unless it's lemonade. I also wasn't sure I would like the coconut and the raspberry jam either. The whole point of this blog and joining the Daring Baker's was to try new things so I stuck with it and didn't do any of the allowed changes.

Well, making the batter went well. While it was cooling we had a bit of excitement when an apartment across the street caught on fire! My former roommate called me to see if I was smelling the smoke and hearing sirens. I didn't, but opened my window. I hear the sirens sounding like they turned onto our apartment's street. I was hoping they would keep going, but they stopped and I noticed it was top floor apartment across the street and was part of my former roommate's building! Five fire trucks showed up, although it didn't seem the fire spread. I think they just wanted to be safe. My former roommate grabbed her cat, laptop, and important papers and came over for a bit. I don't even what to think about how my cat would react, she's feisty when scared!

Well, baking the cake took a break during the excitement. Luckily, everything is ok and the fire didn't spread, but it was still a little scary for her and we felt lucky that our building wasn't affected. I am now planning to call and find out about renter's insurance!

After the fire, I got back to work on the cake. The buttercream was easy to make, although I have never make it that way before. It took a lot longer than the other recipes I've tried.

I did end up liking the cake, but only want to eat small slices. My boyfriend loved it! I think I'll try this again sometime in the future with different flavours that I might like better. The cake itself was a perfect texture that was moist and not very crumbly.

This month's challenge was hosted by Morven. You can check out the recipe at her site.

Bangers and Mash

2008-03-17T21:32:00.004-04:00

Tonight I had hoped to do a traditional Irish fare in honor of St. Patrick's Day. Unfortunately, I was sick and didn't get out to the store to get food and didn't have all the ingredients on hand. I'll do some Irish food tomorrow, a day late, but hopefully well worth the wait.

Tonight, we went with Bangers and mash. I left my boyfriend, the Brit, in charge of this meal. He said he always eats it with ketchup. I know the essentially, putting ketchup on mashed potatoes isn't very different from putting it on French fries, but it just didn't seem right to me. I thought it would taste better with some gravy on top. I was thinking a thick, sausage gravy like the one used in biscuits and gravy, but I did a search online and found that bangers and mash is traditionally served with an onion gravy. I'm not sure why my boyfriend didn't do that, but I would have much preferred it that way. I didn't have any gravy left over from last night, so I asked him to make some instant brown gravy for this and it helped a lot.

I just called him over to ask him about it and he said he has had the gravy on bangers and mash, but he didn't realize it was compulsory, he thought it was just an option.

I'm not sure how he made these, he just baked some plain breakfast sausage (thicker ones would be better, but not Italian sausages), and made some mashed potatoes.

I want to try this again with a proper onion gravy and see how it tastes.

Chocolate Decadence

2008-03-17T21:22:00.002-04:00

I love Rice Krispy Treats. Cocoa Rice Crispy Treats are even better. The best of all were the Cocoa Krispy Treats made with chocolate marshmallows!

While at Target buying some goodies for an Easter basket for Lee, I saw some chocolate marshmallows. I also bought some coconut ones, but I didn't buy those. I couldn't resist the chocolate marshmallows and bought a bag. I just knew I had to try them as Rice Krispy Treats with Cocoa Krispies. Boy, am I glad I thought of that!

I wasn't feeling well, but I did want my new food for the day and the roast dinner I was making wasn't something new, so I asked my boyfriend to make the treats. He was nervous about it since he says he can't cook (he seems to do just fine if he follows directions, I think he just needs some confidence). Anyway, after him asking me every 5 seconds what to do and me thinking it may have been easier to do it myself, he got it right and we had some delicious treats!

I did get to try a chocolate marshmallow on its own before he made the Cocoa Krispy Treats and it tasted like a hot chocolate that had gone cool to room temperature. It was delicious!

Extra Chocolatey Cocoa Krispy Treats

3 tablespoons butter
1 package chocolate marhsmallow puffs
6 cups Cocoa Krispies cereal

Melt butter in a microwave-safe bowl.
Add marshmallows, coat in butter, and return to microwave until melted.
Add cereal and blend thoroughly.
Line a pan with parchment paper and spread mixture to cool.

Warning: These are highly addictive and won't last long!

Rogan Josh

2008-03-17T21:20:00.001-04:00

On Saturday, I tried Rogan Josh curry. I used the leftover chicken from Wednesday night and added it to the curry sauce. This was a mildly spicy curry that was just hot enough to make me wish for a soda instead of water!

I forgot to take a picture.

Shrimp and Scallop Scampi

2008-03-17T21:17:00.002-04:00

We went out with my family for Lee's birthday. We had the worst service ever! We didn't get our drink orders for a half our, and only got our appetizers after being seated for an hour!

The food wasn't as good as usual either. I had the shrimp and scallop scampi and, while it tasted good, it felt like it was missing something. I took home leftovers and on Saturday, for lunch, added a clove of garlic and some Parmesan cheese. The extra garlic and cheese made a big difference!

The Rock-Hard Birthday Cake

2008-03-17T20:56:00.002-04:00

Well, I tried to make a birthday cake for my boyfriend, but it just didn't work out. I'm not good at folding and the cake turned out to be a rock-hard solid slab. The batter did taste good, though.

Spicy Crock Pot Chicken

2008-03-17T20:43:00.003-04:00

This was a delicious recipe I choose for the Australian/New Zealand recipe swap on Recipezaar. It was really easy, except for me cutting my finger while chopping the onion! The meat turned out tender and juicy.

I used 4 large bone-in chicken breasts (I saved 2 for a curry) instead of a whole chicken because that's what I had and I figured it would work just fine. For maximum flavour, marinate overnight.

Whole Chicken Crock Pot Recipe

4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon white pepper
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 large roasting chicken
1 cup onion, chopped

Combine spices in a small bowl.
Remove giblets from chicken and clean thoroughly. Pat dry with paper towel.
Rub spice mixture over chicken. cover with plastic wrap or place in a ziplock bag and refrigerate overnight.
When ready to cook, chop onion and place in bottom of crock pot.
Add chicken.
There is no need to add liquid, there is plenty of liquid that will come from the chicken and you can even make gravy from it!
Cook on low for 4-8 hours (depending on your crock pot).

Sticky Toffee Pudding

2008-03-17T20:38:00.002-04:00

Blech!!!!! Yuck!!!! I did not like this at all!!!

It could be that it was not homemade. It could have been a bad one since my boyfriend didn't think it tasted as good as it should. Or, I could just hate sticky toffee pudding. Regardless, I did not like this at all. I'll have to try making this traditional English dessert at home to see if it tastes better.

Homemade Brownies

2008-03-17T20:19:00.004-04:00

I made my first batch of brownies from scratch!!!

Now, I am not good at folding, and they turned out quite thin, but they tasted delicious and I'll have to work on my folding technique to get them to turn out a bit thicker. My boyfriend actually said they were the best brownies he's ever had. This was a fabulous recipe that included ingredients I always have on hand anyway.

The original recipe did not include chocolate chips, I added those myself since I love chocolate chips in brownies!! Please check out the original recipe to see how they are supposed to look!

I have rated it 4 out of 5 stars because of my difficulty with folding in the egg whites.

Fudgy Brownies

½ cup flour (for coating pan)
2 eggs
½ cup butter, melted
¼ cup cocoa, moistened
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
¼ cup confectioner's sugar

Grease an 8x8 pan and coat with flour. Place a piece of parchment paper to prevent sticking.
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Separate the egg whites into one bowl, and the egg yolks into another larger bowl.
Beat egg yolks with sugar.
Add melted butter, cocoa, and vanilla. Mix well.
Beat egg whites until stiff.
Gently fold egg whites into batter.
Gently add in chocolate chips.
Place in pan and bake for approximately 30 minutes.
After 5 minutes, remove from pan. Before serving, dust with confectioner's sugar.

Lasagne al Forno

2008-03-17T19:09:00.007-04:00

I already knew all lasagnas aren't created equal, but I didn't know that in some areas, lasagna is completely different from what I know. I have grown up with the American style of lasagna with the layers of red pasta sauce, ricotta cheese, ground beef, etc... Apparently, there is a whole other world of lasagna that is "lasagne" and does not have red sauce and is made with a white bechamel sauce.

This didn't feel like lasagna to me. It felt like a completely different dish, kind of like the difference between fish fingers and chicken fingers; similar concept but not the same.

That said, I did like this lasagne, I just have to recognize it as a completely different style than what I'm used to. I loved that I could use regular lasagna noodles and not precook them! I hate having to precook lasagna noodles and keep them from sticking while doing the layers. I have worked out a system for that, but it's still nice to not have to do that.

I made a few changes with the recipe. I did not use chicken livers for this recipe. I just couldn't bring myself to do that. I also would shred the mozzarella cheese next time to make it easier to spread evenly. I had difficulty layering the cubes and I could get it much more even if it was shredded. I also had to stir the ragú approximately every 45 minutes because otherwise the meat was blackening and I was worried about it drying out. Lastly, I sprinkled some Parmesan cheese over each layer of mozzarella cheese.

This wasn't as difficult as it sounded. The best thing to do is to set out all your materials you will need so you are not rushing about. I actually chopped up everything before starting to cook. I just then added things as needed. I also set out my pots and pans ahead of time. This made it so much more relaxing for me since I didn't have to stress about getting things chopped in time to go in, while worrying about the things already cooking becoming overcooked. I'm not the fastest cutter, so this is definitely the way to go for me.

This recipe is from Delia Smith, a British cookbook author, who seems to be to the English what Julia Child is to the Americans.

Lasagne al Forno

1 lb. lasagna noodles
14 oz. mozzarella (diced)
4 oz. Parmesano Reggiano cheese

For the Ragú Bolognese:
12 oz. (350g) ground beef
12 oz. (350g) ground pork

200g pancetta
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large white onion, chopped
2 large cloves of garlic (chopped )(I double this)
630g Italian chopped tomatoes
6 tablespoons tomato purée
6 fl. oz (175ml) red wine
whole nutmeg
salt
freshly ground black pepper
15 g fresh basil

Bechamel Sauce:

6 cups(1.5l) milk
6 oz. (175g) butter
4 oz. (110g) flour
salt
pepper
2 large cloves garlic, minced
6 fl. oz (175ml) heavy/double cream

In a large sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat. Add onion and fry for about 10 minutes.
While the onion is cooking, chop the pancetta. The best way to do this is to roll it up, cut lengthwise then across.
Once onion is softened, add the pancetta and cook for another 5 minutes.
Place the pancetta and onion in a 6 quart dutch oven, add another tablespoon of oil to the sauté pan and return to heat.
Add the ground beef and cook until browned. Transfer to the dutch oven, add another tablespoon of oil to pan and return to heat.
Add the ground pork and brown.
Once pork has browned, add it to the dutch oven.
Preheat oven to 275°F (140°C, Gas Mark 1)
Place dutch oven on burner and stir ingredients together. Add the tomatoes, tomato purée, red wine, salt, pepper, and about ¼ nutmeg, grated. Stir all ingredients together and bring to a simmer.
While bringing mixture to a simmer, tear half of the basil leaves from the stem, tear or chop the leaves and add them to the pot. As soon as the mixture is simmering, place in preheated oven. You do not need to cover the mixture.
Here the recipe says to let simmer for 3 hours before giving a stir, I stirred every 45 minutes.
When liquid has reduced to a concentrated sauce, season to taste with salt and pepper and add the remainder of the basil.
About 20-30 minutes before the ragú bolognese is due to come out of the oven, begin the bechamel sauce.
Place the milk, butter, flour, salt and pepper, and garlic in a large saucepan. Heat oven medium-low heat and whisk until simmering and thickened. Reduce heat as low as possible and simmer for 10 minutes more.
Sieve the sauce into a large bowl and add the cream. Adjust seasoning and add another quarter of nutmeg.
Preheat oven to 350°F (Gas mark 4, 180°C).
Now for the assembly. Organize your materials in the order in which you will use them, with the baking dish on a cookie sheet (to catch spillage) in the middle.
Spread a thin layer of the ragú bolognese on the bottom of the pan. Cover with ¼ of the bechamel sauce, diced mozzarella and a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese. Add a layer of lasagna noodles (They don't need to be cooked, the large amount of sauce cooks the noodles). Repeat in this manner, finishing off with a top layer of cream sauce and a coating of Parmesan cheese.
Place in oven (be sure to keep the baking sheet underneath!) and bake for 45-50 minutes or until golden brown and bubbling.

Meridian Pino Grigio

2008-03-17T19:07:00.002-04:00

I am not the biggest alcohol drinker, but I do like most Pino Grigio wines. I tried a brand called Meridian, which was really good!

Tomato and Chicken Pizza

2008-03-17T19:05:00.001-04:00

My boyfriend and I ordered Pizza from Papa John's. I usually only go for cheese, but he ordered their tomato and chicken pizza and I must say it was delicious! It was full of flavor and I think I'll definitely have it again sometime!

Marinated Garlic and Curry Rubbed Steaks

2008-03-17T18:50:00.003-04:00

I had planned to make a recipe that is called Grilled Marinated Garlic and Chili Rubbed Striploin Steaks, but we didn't have any chili powder, so my boyfriend substituted curry powder. These weren't bad, but I would like to try these again with the chili powder instead of curry, since I'm not the biggest fan of curry.

Marinated Garlic and Curry Rubbed Steaks

3 large garlic cloves, mashed
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoons honey
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
4 strip steaks about 1 inch thick.

Mash garlic cloves and salt in a small bowl to form a paste. Add the curry powder, cumin, honey, and Worcestershire sauce to form a paste.
Rub both sides of steaks with the paste.
Place in a ziplock bag and refrigerate for about 24 hours.
Before cooking, allow steaks to sit at room temperature for about an hour.
Grill about 4-5 minutes on each side until medium rare.

Penne with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

2008-03-17T18:32:00.004-04:00

I'm participating in a recipe swap for the Australia/New Zealand area of Recipezaar. Strangely enough, you don't have to do Australian or New Zealand recipes for this swap, just participate.

Last week, I made some Penne with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes. I haven't had many pasta dishes that don't have a sauce, but this recipe sounded the best out of the ones I had to choose from, so I went for it. I love pasta, I love tomatoes, the only thing I wasn't sure about was my boyfriend because he doesn't like raw tomatoes.

This was such a simple, tasty dish to make. I easily threw it together, halved the recipe, and it was on the table in about 20 minutes. I can't wait to make this again!

Note: The recipe doesn't state what type of breadcrumbs to make, I used Italian style. It will take about 30 minutes to cook the full recipe.

Penne with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

2 lbs. cherry tomatoes, halved
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
sea salt, to taste
ground black pepper, to taste
½ cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese (plus more for serving)
½ cup breadcrumbs
1 lb. penne
2-3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup fresh basil, chopped

Preheat oven to 450°F.
Place tomato halves in a single layer on the bottom of a casserole dish.
Coat with oil and season with salt and pepper.
Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and cheese.
Place in oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until the tomatoes have wilted.
After placing tomatoes in the oven, heat a pot of water until boiling. Season well with sea salt.
Cook penne until al dente.
Reserve about 1 cup of pasta water.
Drain pasta and toss with tomato mixture, adding 2-3 more tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil and basil.
Season to taste, adding reserved pasta water if more moisture is needed.
Dish out and top with additional cheese to taste.

Sorry

2008-03-10T22:28:00.003-04:00

I'm pretty far behind in posting, although I am still trying new foods each day. I have had a really rough couple of days and this is about all I'm up to really posting right now. I'm going to make it my goal to catch up with the posing this week.

Coming Soon:

Penne with Roasted Tomatoes
Steak
Tomato and Chicken Pizza
A new Pinot Grigio
Lasagne al Forno (a British Lasagne)
Brownies from scratch!

Fish n' Chips

2008-03-04T21:13:00.006-05:00

Fish n' Chips is synonymous with England. That and curry, but fish and chips was first. I've been to a chippy (a fish and chips shop) in England a couple of times and just loved it! Fish and chips in the US is just not the same, it's really hard to find a place that even comes close to a British chippy. In England, the fish fillets we had were huge, about ½ pound each! Over here, all the "fish and chips" I've ever had or seen have been smaller and more like fish sticks.

My boyfriend tells me that plaice is the traditional fish to eat for fish and chips, but his step-father says it is cod. Regardless, I saw cod at the market, so that is what we had.

One thing I was really confused about on one of my trips to England is that I knew they called "fries" "chips" but I saw some restaurants advertise french fries. I found out that, in England, that "french fries" are the thinner version, more like you would get at McDonald's or Burger King. "Chips" are like what we Americans call "steak fries." Chips are "chipped off the potato" instead of "being Frenched" or "being cut in the French manner."

As for the debate of whether to do beer batter or not, I found a recipe from a woman who was from Yorkshire that was for beer batter. I also see boxes of batter at the supermarket for beer batter, so I figured it was traditional. My boyfriend said that he didn't think that he ever had a beer battered one, and I looked online and it seems as though only some places do beer batter. It makes sense since chippies are relatively inexpensive and beer would raise the price.

We both loved this meal, although neither of us are beer fans so I don't think I'll do a beer batter next time. There was just too much of a beer taste for us. I used a Newcastle Ale for the beer since that is from England.

We both LOVED the chips! I didn't have a mandoline or Vslicer, so I just used my chef's knife, which was perfectly fine for chips. I soaked them in water for about an hour to get rid of some excess starch and then did a double frying method. The chips turned out perfect! Lee couldn't stop eating them. I thought I made too many chips (six or seven russet potatoes go a long way!), but it turns out we didn't really have leftovers.

To fry or not to fry...Fry!! Baking won't give the same taste as frying. Also, according to Alton Brown, if you do the frying correctly you don't get in much extra fat anyway. As he explains, the moisture in the food is trying to get out and there is no room for the fat to go in. It's only once the moisture in the food is gone that it begins to absorb the oil. If done correctly, the food should absorb no more than a tablespoon for the entire dish!

As for the oil and frying method, I used canola oil because it doesn't add a lot of strange flavor to the food. When first making mozzarella sticks, I used vegetable oil, but I could taste the oil too much. I switched to canola and it soon became my favorite oil for frying. I didn't manage to get the oil up to the recommended temperature, but the oil got plenty hot enough and the chips turned out perfect anyway. I think the oil got up to 350°F in the end, but for most of the cooking the temp was in the high 200s.

One more tip, when beginning the process, turn on the kitchen fan and/or open some windows, otherwise your home will start to smell like a chippy. It's one thing to taste like a chippy, a completely different thing to smell like one!

I am rating this dish as a 4 out of 5 just because we would prefer it without the beer batter.

Beer Batter Fish and Chips

~3lbs. russet potatoes (or other good frying potato)
1 gallon mild oil such as canola
2 lbs cod fillets (you can sub either haddock or plaice)
6 oz. all-purpose flour + a bit extra for coating the fish
1 teaspoon baking soda
8 oz. beer
juice of ½ a lemon
salt
pepper

Place oil in a dutch oven or fryer. My 6.5 quart dutch oven held a gallon. Leave about 1½ inches at the top to allow for oil bubbling.
Scrub, peel, and thickly cut potatoes. Place in water to soak for about an hour.
When oil reaches approximately 320°F, remove potatoes from water and dry. Carefully drop potatoes in oil one by one. Do small batches so the chips don't crowd. To safely drop in chips, hold by the end and only let go when the potato is mostly submerged. Cook for about 3 minutes or until soft, but not browned. Allow to sit on a cooling rack placed on top of a baking sheet.
When potatoes are finished with the first fry, prepare the fish for frying. Coat them in the flour, shake off the excess, and coat in the batter. When thoroughly coated, slowly submerge the fish in the oil. Do not just drip the fish in the oil or the batter cannot set and it may stick to other parts of the fish. Cook for about 6-10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to cooling rack and sprinkle with lemon juice. Place in oven at warm setting.
Raise the temperature of the oil to approximately 375°F. In small batches, fry the potatoes in the same manner as before for about 3-5 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to the cooling rack and salt.
Serve with malt vinegar and ketchup.