Cooking Challenge

cornbread-stuffed poblanos

2011-11-13T18:53:00.000-08:00

This is short and simple. It's fall, which means it's time to make chili. I am not going to share my chili recipe with you. I want to keep that to myself. People have chili they make and like and I'm going to keep my best-ever chili a secret.

But I did want to share with you a very simple side we paired with our chili this year, using some of the peppers from our garden...and then, when those ran out, peppers we bought to make this again.

It's basically cornbread in poblano peppers with cheese. The poblanos are not very spicy, but have a nice kick around the cornbread. If you don't need recipes, that's all you need to know. Go make it and be very happy. For everyone else, here's how it goes:

Ingredients

- about 8 poblano peppers
- cornbread mix
- milk and egg
(per the mix)
- shredded cheese
(I had cheddar jack.
Pepper jack would, perhaps,
send you straight into euphoria.)

Preparation

- Make the cornbread mix however the box says to do it. Or be a purist and make your own from scratch, but I think some things taste just great from a box and this is one of them.
- Cut the tops off the poblanos and pull out the center. (If your hands are sensitive to hot pepper seeds, these will maybe bother you a bit. My hands are REALLY sensitive, but the heat of these was merely noticable. Jalepenos, on the other hand, nearly send me to the ER in pain.)
- Sprinkle in the cheese.
- Spoon in the cornbread mix, filling each pepper about 1/3 full.
- Layer more cheese
- Spoon in more cornbread mix until the pepper is 2/3 full.

- Place the filled peppers in a muffin tin. (No need to spray.)
- Bake according to the directions on the cornbread.
- Sprinkle cheese on top with about 2 minutes bake time remaining.

There are only 6 peppers in this photo, because that's all we had at the time. But we had left-over mix, so I'm guessing this serves 8.

...Unless you like them as much as I do. Then they serve about 3. Enjoy!

It's ALL about the pumpkin!!!

2011-11-06T17:16:00.000-08:00

Well, I was supposed to start this off with a video of our flashing family of carved pumpkins but the format of my camera's videos doesn't seem to work here!! So, albeit bummed, I will continue with the posting (but dang it, those pumpkins were cool!!)

This time of year is one of our favorites - warm days, chilly nights, fires in the fireplace and everything popping with gorgeous colors. We live in the Blue Ridge mountains and the changing of the leaves is, most years, spectacular. And we spend lots of time outdoors.

And there is an abundance of fall produce around here. Lots of pumpkins. So in addition to getting pumpkins to carve, I got one to cook. I decided to make one of our favorite types of food - Thai, but instead of using sweet potatoes or butternut squash, I am going to use pumpkin!! Not quite a seasonal tradition, but yummy nonetheless.

This is a Thai style soup that incorporates the pumpkin with a mild curry coconut broth. It is amazingly light, but filling and warming. So, what you will need first and foremost ....... a pumpkin.

And to go along with the pumpkin you will need the following:

1 onion, diced
1 tomato diced (this is one of the last of the year from the garden)
2-3 carrots, diced
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 tsp grated ginger
4 cups vegetable broth
1 can light coconut milk
1 can Coconut water (Goya)
1 small stalk lemon grass (we grow this since it is hard to find around here)
1 tsp cumin
2-3 tsp mild curry paste (Pataks)
1 fresh chili pepper (I used cayenne, but you can use a Serrano or jalapeno or any chili you like)
1 Tbsp olive oil
Lime juice
Salt and pepper
Cilantro for garnish

You can also add a number of things to vary this soup - beans, rice, noodles, tofu, etc. I had some leftover black beans so decide to use them too.

Preheat your oven to 375F, and then attack the pumpkin - cut in half and scrape all the insides out - save the seeds to roast and munch on later. Cut the halves into 1" slices and lay on a cookie sheet sprayed with some spray oil. Pop in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes or until tender.

While the pumpkin is baking, dice up the onion, garlic and carrots. Cut the lemon grass into 3" pieces and smash with the flat side of your knife. Place the veggies and olive oil in a soup pot and saute until tender. Add in the ginger (I use the prepared stuff in a tube) and cumin and cook a few minutes more. Add the broth, tomato (diced), lemongrass, curry paste, and coconut water. Let simmer slowly while the pumpkin bakes.

Once the pumpkin is done, let cool just a bit and then remove all the skin from the slices, it peels off very easily.

I had way too much pumpkin for the soup at this point - so used about 2 cups of the cooked pumpkin. Once the skin is removed, dice the slices into small cubes.

Place about half the cubed pumpkin into the soup pot. Fish around and remove the stalks of lemon grass and then blend the soup - either with an immersion blender (I love this gadget!!!) or place in a blender.

Once blended, add in the remaining pumpkin cubes, the lite coconut milk, a bit of lime juice to taste, the thinly sliced hot pepper, and any other items you like (this is where I added the black beans). Let simmer for about 10-15 minutes more, adjust salt and pepper to taste.

So here is our soup - plain for the kids and garnished with more hot peppers and chili oil for Todd, and with chili oil and cilantro for me. Open face sandwiches round out the meal.

But I still had the rest of the pumpkin staring at me unhappily....... Hmmmm......

So to keep it company I pulled out a couple of apples, some instant oatmeal packets, cinnamon, nutmeg, honey, sugar and margarine. The pumpkin I cut into cubes just as for the soup, and the apples peeled and diced. I had some Craisins as well and tossed them in.

This was then mixed with some cinnamon, a grating of nutmeg, some sugar and honey. I just did all this to taste. And when it all tasted good I poured it into a "margarined" baking dish.

The packets of instant oatmeal were mixed with some margarine to make a crumble (I ended up using 3 packets) and spread over the top.

Bake in the oven for 50 minutes to an hour until bubbly and golden brown. In the meantime, find out that the Wizard of Oz is on TV and settle in to watch.

We had to send the kids to bed before this was done - but they were promised they could have some for breakfast!!

So here it is, breakfast!!! And this was almost better than the soup.

OCTOBERFEST!! FALL 2011

2011-09-26T18:02:00.001-07:00

It’s fall and that can mean only one thing…Octoberfest! Give us your best October food! It could be something traditional to thefamous German festival, it could be something to do with Halloween, or it couldjust be your favorite leaves-are-a-turnin’ meal. There’s bound to be something about Octoberthat inspires you. So, give us your bestfor the Octoberfest! (This challengewill run through the end of November).

Pesto-Potato Salad

2011-09-03T12:42:00.001-07:00

I'm just going to say RIGHT NOW that my cooking is typically healthy. However, if one had only my Cooking Challenge posts to go on, one might think I was always cooking things with low nutritional quotient and high "lazy" factor. (Oh geez, and I never did post my Lazy Pancakes entry. Well, some things may be best left undone, eh?)

This dish is really no different. It's embarrassingly easy. And somewhat high calorie. (Sly, I'd be intrigued for you to run your calorie evaluation on this dish. Kind of.) But you have NEVER tasted the likes of it before. And you'll want to. Trust me.

I got this recipe from fellow Cooking Challenger @theStephFisher's Fourth of July party 2 years ago. Her sister (Deborah Miller, PhD candidate) brought Pesto Potato Salad to the 4th of July picnic & I haven't stopped thinking about it since then.

This totally fits the "Local Foods" category of the Summer's Cooking Challenge. The potatoes and green beans are local, as are the basil leaves & garlic used in the pesto. And I know you're going to want to make it because it is So. Good. It best for taking to pot lucks, so you don't accidentally eat the whole bowl all alone. I have now made it three times this summer. (Granted, pesto is my favorite food, but still. 3 times!? I don't think we've had hamburgers three times this summer.)

Here are the ingredients:

Pesto (homemade)
Potatoes, chopped bite sized & boiled
Green Beans
Green Onions (I actually used real onions because I was out of green onions. Improvising is the name of the game!)
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Garnish:
Pine Nuts left over from making the pesto & some ribbons of basil

I bought my potatoes from the Minnetrista Farmer's Market. My favorite are potatoes from Christopher Farms, a local all organic farm in Randolph County. Her booth is always beautiful! Their potatoes are expensive, but almost buttery-tasting. I have a whole passle of the purple potatoes. Aren't they beautiful?

The green beans are local, too. These were also bought at Farmer's Market from a farmer who's in Blackford County, just north of here.

I made the pesto for this batch, but I've used jarred pesto at other times. You can do that. Believe me, this Lazy Baker will NEVER judge you for taking a cooking shortcut. However, making your own pesto is easy. How's about I share the recipe with you below?

So seriously making Pesto Potato Salad is this easy:
1. Prepare the pesto if you're going to make it yourself (see below)
2. Boil the potatoes (Normally I wouldn't share the photo of boiling potatoes, but the water is almost blue!)

3. Chop up the green beans & green onions
4. Blanch the green beans by adding them to the pot with the potatoes for the last 2 or 3 minutes
5. rinse the potatoes/ green beans in cold water to stop them from cooking
6. Put potatoes, green beans, green onions in a bowl

7. Pour in a few swirls of olive oil to lubricate everything
8. Put pesto in, then stir gently so as the potatoes are not turned to mush.
9. Garnish with a handful of pine nuts & some ribbons of basil.
10. Do everyone a favor & put a little portion in a separate bowl. If you eat it out of the main bowl now, you might not be able to contain yourself.

FYI - I think this is best eaten while it's still warm from boiling the potatoes. Mmmmm. PS. I love that the potatoes retain the purple color after cooking! Looks beautiful!

In today's Two For One, here's the recipe for Traditional Pesto

The hardest part about making your own pesto is growing healthy, vibrant basil. If you have a brown thumb like me, it might seem out of reach to make homemade pesto. But to my good fortune, I live ridiculously close to Minnetrista Cultural Center where anyone can go pick herbs from their prolific herb garden. Prolific. And since I had the leftover ingredients from the last time I made pesto, all I needed to do was grab some basil. (And sometimes I do buy basil from the Christopher Farms lady, too. I'm pretty sure she has a gold thumb, to my brown one!)

Traditional Pesto
Blend the following until fully incorporated:
A little more basil leaves than you think
A great big handful of parmesean cheese
4 or five cloves of garlic
a good 1/3 to 1/2 cup of pine nuts (really you need pine nuts. they make it taste best)
a great big splash of olive oil
salt & pepper

It's simple. And really, just adjust the ingredients to taste.

Easy Homemade Chicken PotPie

2011-09-03T12:37:00.000-07:00

I think the intent of the "Pie" contest was for sweet summer pies, but in late August the weather cooled, and I started craving a savory PotPie. As luck would have it, I came home from work early one night & decided we (not the "Royal We", but the me + Little People- kind of "we") would all make a PotPie together for dinner.

(Check out the super-cute mug & super-cute aprons my MIL made! Adorbs!)

My recipe is based upon one from a favorite cookbook "The Six O'Clock Scramble" by Aviva Goldfarb (which is also a website/subscription meal planning website. Totally worth checking out!). Their recipe calls for pre-made pie crusts, but I decided to make it with crescent rolls pressed out, since that's what we had on hand.

I didn't exactly use a recipe, but my memory of the Scrambler's recipe, so I'm just going to tell you about the way I threw all this together.

Here are most of the ingredients (I didn't think to ~~make this a blog post~~ take the picture until I'd already begun cooking, so it's not totally accurate. I decided against pulling the other frozen food bags out of the trash can. ew. )

To begin:
Key for me: Make sure you have about 45 -50 minutes until you're going to be hungry. It takes a little while to throw this together & cook it up. Otherwise, you end up making a second dinner for everyone to eat while you're cooking the first dinner. Or maybe that's just me.

Preheat the oven per the crescent roll. On our case it was 350
2 packages of crescent rolls, each pressed into a round/squarish shape

Spray a pie pan with cooking spray.
Next lay the rolled & pressed crescent rolls (or pre-made pie crust) in the pie pan
(I rolled them out with a little handy-dandy Pampered Chef roller so I don't have to get out my full-sized rolling pin for projects like this. That tiny roller is a fave of my Little People!)

For the filling, start with the vegetables.
I just use what's on hand. In this case it was a mish-mash of fresh & frozen items.

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 carrots, peeled & cut in 1/2 rounds
the end of a bag of pre-cut onions, approx. 1/4 cup

I wanted the veggies to be the right consistency, so I pan fried up the garlic, onions and carrots in Pam Spray before I put them in the filling. (the flavor is much better this way!)

While the pan frying is doing it's carmelizing magic, start Stirring together the filling ingredients
I let the oldest Little Person open the cans, which he thought was AWESOME. (Isn't this post full of free parenting tips!? You're so lucky!)

one can of chicken
one can of cream of chicken lite
a healthy sprinkling of onion and garlic powder & pepper
a light dash of salt (the canned soup has plenty of sodium for the whole endevour)

Then add the frozen, raw & pan fried vegetables to the bowl.
I used various odds & ends of frozen vegetables

in our case it was
approx. 1 cup of corn frozen in early fall last year

the dregs of a bag of frozen lima beans,
a nice healthy portion of frozen peas

If you're really smart (like me) you'll let your kids dump this stuff into the bowl, so they'll think they "cooked," thereby making them more likely to actually eat the meal being prepared.
And stirring. These Little People really value stirring. My oldest even participated by opening the cans with the can opener. He's pretty tough.

At this point I assessed the consistency of the filling. I wished I had a second can of cream of chicken to add. Alas, like most of my wishes, it remained unfulfilled. Upon some pretty quick thinking, though, I realized I did have some plain yogurt & sour cream in the fridge. So, I added about a 1/2 a cup of one of those to this (I think it was sour cream, but don't quote me - we're not operating in exacts here, right!?) until the consistency seemed right for the filling. And the added bonus of more stirring! for my Little People. And with the ~~yogurt~~ sour cream addition, we thereby increase the ~~health of the dish~~ number of food groups included in the meal.

Next I added the filling to the first pie/crescent roll crust. (I did this unassisted. Some instances you can have TOO much help, you know?)

Then, I debated a bit on exactly HOW unhealthy i was going to make dinner. (When I hear my skinny friend describe the gazpacho dinner she's making, I think "oh, that's why she's skinny. She'd never use 2 packages of crescent rolls for a regular dinner!")
And then I went ahead and added that second set of crescent rolls to the top. (It was for purely asthetic reasons. I have to keep the blogosphere happy, right?)

And here's the final result:

(What a cheeser!)

And the real test? Three Little People ate all their vegetables. (Even the side dish of broccoli. Supermom, right here!)

...and then asked for seconds. Yum!

Bread and Butter Pickled Watermelon- Local Food- Summer 2011

2011-08-24T19:47:00.000-07:00

I bought these from the lady who wears the big hat at the farmer's market.

The local food challenge is one I was very interested in. I had several ideas. I finally decided on pickled watermelon rind. I’d never had it before, but the idea intrigued me. I finally decided to do a Bread and Butter style pickle. I don’t know why they’re called bread and butter, but if you’ve ever had bread and butter pickled cucumbers you know what they are. Here’s the recipe:

8 cups cubed watermelon rind
2 lbs onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup pickling salt
3 cups sugar
2 tablespoons mustard seeds (brown or yellow)
2 teaspoons turmeric
2 teaspoons celery seeds
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon peppercorn
4 cups white vinegar

Both the onions and watermelon were purchased at the local farmer’s market.

Scrape out the watermelon until there is just a hint of pink left on the rind. Then peel/cut off the green. Cut into one inch chunks.

Layer the watermelon, onions and salt in a bowl. Cover with ice cubes and let sit for 2 hours.

In the meantime, sterilize your jars and lids. Get your water bath ready. Once the two hours is up, drain and rinse the melon and onion.

Bring the remaining ingredients to a boil, add the melon and onion, return to boil. Fill jars and process in the water bath for 10 minutes.

Remove, let cool for 12 hours or so. These get better with a few days of aging.

Only made 5 pints.

I really enjoyed making these. I think they turned our beautiful and was fun experience for my second canning endeavor.

BUT the real test is in how they taste.

Terrible. Absolutely terrible.

If I made these again, I would triple rinse after the two hour salting. And increase the sugar to 4 (maybe even 5 cups).

Pecan Upside Down Apple Pie- Pie Challenge- Summer 2011

2011-08-24T19:16:00.000-07:00

As many of you may there is a 4^th of July Pie Contest here in Muncie. The event is held at (fellow Cooking Challenger) Steph’s. Last year’s winner was (fellow Cooking Challenger) PK. So, you can see why I was keen to tie in a Challenge with this event. I also planned on winning.

Whippin' the cream.

I made an Upside Down Pecan Apple Pie and served it with some cinnamon whipped cream. Here’s the details:

1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
6 cups Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground clove

Prepare you crust. No store bought crust here. I use a 3-2-1 (flour,fat,water by weight) recipe. I used lard this time. I was very happy with the results. As always, chill the fat and everything else before cutting it into the flour. I also used the KitchenAid stand mixer (no surprise there). It really does make homemade pie crust a snap.

Mix the butter, brown sugar and pecans together. Cook briefly.

Pour into the bottom of a well greased 9” pie pan. I also lined the bottom with some parchment paper just to be safe.

Put you bottom crust over the pecan mixture. Mix remaining ingredients together and add to pie. Cover with top crust. Cook for 45 minutes in a 375 degree oven.

When done, let sit for 5 minutes then turn upside down and serve.

This pie came out great! Looked good, tasted better, the whipped cream was awesome. I added some pecan halves to the sides to decorate.

I came in second. Curse you Missmollys!! Your peach ginger pie was the official winner of the July 4^th contest. However, I did get a first place ribbon from M (5 yo) who said my pie was the best.

I got 1st place AND 2nd place

So, there!!

Truth be told, this pie is best right out of the oven. Try it, you'll love it.

rustic golden raspberry pie

2011-08-23T11:28:00.000-07:00

We inhereted our neighbor's wonderful golden raspberries this year. We have been able to fill a strawberry container with them every other day, so I wanted to find a way to showcase them and share them with my friends. What with this month's challenge and all, I decided to make them into a pie. They have a wonderful sweet/tart taste, so I wanted to do as little to them as possible and keep the berries as intact as possible, because they're gorgeous. (Plus, they look a little brownish as jelly.) I decided to use the filling from this recipe for raspberry pie, as it did not ask you to pre-cook the berries and added very little to them.

I don't know why I always have the urge to do something new and different when I make things for this challenge. Some day, I will stick to something I know I do well. For instance, I always make a good pie crust using my trusty Better Homes and Gardens recipe. It has never failed me. But I wanted to try something different. And I wanted my pie to be beautiful. So I did what anyone would do: I Googled "beautiful pie." Happily, nothing weird came up in the images and I was dazzled by the array. I particularly liked the rustic pies. I like how they scream "hand-made!" They seem like the pie equivalent to a round bread loaf. And I like those, too. It seemed perfect for my little-altered raspberries.

Also, as we would be entering a pie-baking contest with around 40 tasters, I wanted to make small pies for people to just grab without having to cut a pie into 40 pieces, which ruins its aesthetic. And little rustic pies sounded lovely. We made 3 for our trial run and used this recipe to make the crust.

~ turning the pie shell with my favorite kitchen knife ~
(Other tools would work well, too. Transfer these to a cookie sheet using a spatula.)

Raspberry Filling

3/4 to 1 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
5 cups raspberries

Butter Pastry Dough

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
8-ounces (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup ice water
2 tablespoons cold butter

We altered this by substituting about 2/3 c. whole wheat flour, because I always substitute some whole wheat flour and because I wanted this to really look rustic.

Optional:

1 egg white + a splash or two of water as an egg wash
sugar to sprinkle on top

(I did both options, brushing on the egg wash and sprinkling with sugar about 10 minutes before the pie was done. I also brushed any juices that escaped during baking onto the crust, as that was the best part in our trial run.)

Bake
375 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown

~ rustic mini pies ~

The trial run was wonderful. Our friends who came over to taste and offer suggestions only suggested ice cream. It was a great, unadulterated pie. The berries were still a wonderful sweet-tart...just how I like them!

But when the day came for the big pie competition, I tried to make the pies individual-sized in order to devote more of the party time to partying instead of cutting pie. THAT was a bad idea. It turns out that there is a tipping point for the crust to maintain its shape, no matter how much you refrigerate it before-hand. Apparently, it is somewhere well short of a 90-degree angle. When I peeked in on my miniature beauties, they were all discs! I hurriedly oiled and floured a muffin tin (not sure whether that was necessary...) and plopped the little pies in! They were good, but were weighted toward crust on the crust-to-fruit ratio. Micro rustic pies: cute, but impractical.

~the saving of the baby pies~

Party time was approaching and I had neither time nor sufficient muffin tins to make more personal pies. With time running out, it was time to make a behemoth pie! This was to be the mother of all rustic pies! (I don't know how much this was, but I do know I something like doubled the recipe.)

~mother of all rustic pies~
(before turning the sides up, obviously.)

And so it was. We entered the mother and her babies in an annual pie baking contest among friends. Ours was the only really tart pie. No one was in the mood for a tart pie that day, I guess. Even I had to send my vote elsewhere, but this is a great pie when you're in the mood for a tart one. Plus, it's great for spring and fall, as our raspberry bushes produce spring and fall crops!

~another look at the beautiful golden raspberry rustic pie family~

Peak of Summer From our Garden Tomato Pie

2011-08-07T11:15:00.000-07:00

I was thrilled to see the pie challenge extended since it brings us into peak tomato season in our garden and it brings me to a point in the summer where I am actually in the kitchen again!!!

Here's a look at our "local, down from the house and next to the creek" foods - a typical day from the garden right now (styled a bit for a good photo, but really, this is from our garden!!!!)

At the moment we are inundated with tomatoes and I am canning like a fiend!!! Mainly diced tomatoes and spaghetti sauce. But I am gonna be a wimp and do double duty with this pie - both local foods and pie.

Our favorite thing to do with big juicy fresh tomatoes (aside from just biting into them with salt shaker in hand) is to make fresh tomato pies. We tend to eat these a lot this time of year since they are only good with fresh ripe summer tomatoes (not those tomato look alike things you find in the stores in winter....) This is a southern classic taught to me by my mother, there are tons of variations and it goes great for lunch or dinner, can be eaten hot or at room temp, and makes a great late night snack!!! I have done lots of different things with this - different cheeses as well as adding black beans and cilantro (replace the basil) and some hot peppers for a mexican flare, veggie pepperoni and black olives for a pizza style pie, and also adding whatever other veggies we are getting from the garden such as spinach, sweet red peppers, squash and corn - the options to be creative with this are endless!!!

You will need the following for two pies - one for dinner and one for lunch and snacks the next day - or as we did today - one for lunch, then the other for dinner!!

4-5- large ripe summer tomatoes
1 large vidalia onion
6 cups grated cheddar cheese (we use veggie shreds - a mix of mozzarella style and cheddar style)
2 frozen pie crusts or crusts made from your favorite recipe (we have found the best organic whole wheat pie crusts locally and use them all the time)
1 cup more or less lite mayo
1/2 cup fresh basil - you can use whole leaves or cut them into fine thin strips (chiffonade) - or if fresh basil isn't handy you can use about a tablespoon dried italian seasoning.
Salt and pepper

(you will notice in the above photo the yellow squash and black beans - these are some "optional" ingredients I will use in one pie)

Preheat your oven to 400F. Pre-bake your crusts for about 10 minutes.

Cut your tomatoes into 1/4" slices and then into half moons (each slice cut in half). I don't peel these or remove the seeds but some folks may want to do them that way and that is just fine. Then slice the Vidalia onion into thin half moons. (Summer squash in to thin half moons as well)

Place the cheese in a bowl and add the basil and enough mayo to moisten the whole thing (about a cup or so) - mix well. If using whole basil leaves don't mix them in here - they will be layered in later.

Now to build the pies. Start with a layer of tomatoes, and top with a layer of onion. (Add a layer of basil leaves here if using whole leaves). Add any layers of optional ingredients as well. Sprinkle on a little salt and pepper.

Then top with a layer of the cheese mixture. Then repeat all three layers.

Bake in a 400F oven for about 30-40 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for about 10 minutes - slice and serve.

Ahhhhhhhh!!!! Pretty Pies!!! Lunchtime!!!!!! And here is my very sexy broken legged hubby enjoying his pie (he can't fit around the table at the moment.......)

And the two wigglewugs gobbling up their pie!!

These pies are just not good using anything other than fresh local home grown tomatoes so get busy and try this NOW. Hurry before the impending end of tomato season!!!!

The Fabulous Fisher Fourth of July Peach with Ginger Pie

2011-08-02T15:49:00.000-07:00

This pie is my mother's recipe with a couple changes. She's the Pie Lady at the Minnetrista Farmers' Market, so I feel that I did start out with an unfair advantage, when it came to the pie contest. I just got lucky in the mom department!

The crust:

1/3 c. Crisco

1 c. flour

a pinch of salt

3-4 T cold water

The filling:

4-8 peaches

3/4 c. sugar

3 T. cornstarch

The topping:

1/2 pint heavy whipping cream

sugar to taste

crystallized ginger

Instructions:

Use a fork to incorporate the Crisco into the salt and flour. Add water little by little until the crust makes a ball.
Roll out pie crust and place in pie pan. Make holes for the steam to escape by puncturing the bottom of the crust with a fork.
Bake the crust in a 350-degree oven for 15-17 minutes. Let cool.
While the crust is baking, peel all of the peaches and remove their pits. You can do a quick blanching to get the skin off, or just peel them with a paring knife.
Slice half of the peaches; puree the other half of the peaches into the blender or mash them with a fork.
Whisk together the sugar and cornstarch in a microwaveable bowl. Add the peach puree to this mixture and stir.
Microwave the peach mixture on high for around 2 minutes. Stir and then microwave for 1 minute more, until the glaze is thickened. Let the glaze cool.
Arrange sliced peaches in baked pie crust and pour the glaze over the peaches.
Whip the cream, adding the sugar to taste.
Sprinkle with chopped crystallized ginger!

Key Lime Pie-- Pie Challenge-- June/July 2011

2011-07-23T13:18:00.000-07:00

I know, I know-- the zucchini pie could have done double duty as both local food AND pie, but then I wouldn't get to share this EXTREMELY EASY key lime pie with you beautiful people. And that? Would be criminal. CRIMINAL, I say. This pie, like so many other wonderful things, comes from good ol' Pioneer Woman. I have managed to make this super-simple pie even easier, though, with a judicious purchase: pre-squeezed key lime juice. It's a revelation, I tell you.

Crust
18 whole Graham Crackers (the 4-section Large Pieces)
1/3 cup Sugar
1/3 cup Butter, Melted
_____
Filling
1 Tablespoon (heaping) Lime Zest
1/2 cup Lime Juice
2 whole Egg Yolks
1 can (14 Oz) Sweetened Condensed Milk

Now, for the crust-- I have, in the past, been known to simply buy the pre-made graham cracker crust. There is nothing wrong with this, but, to be honest, it's on the pricey side. You can make your own (even more) delicious version very easily. Crush up a whole heap of graham crackers (you can use a food processor, but I just popped them into a gallon-sized baggie and beat 'em to death with a rolling pin-- it was very therapeutic), and mix the crumbs with some sugar and butter. Press the mixture into a pie plate, and bake this for 5-7 minutes.

As the crust bakes (doesn't that sound like the name of a cooking-related soap opera? No? Never mind), mix the filling. This takes MOMENTS if you use the lovely bottle of Key Lime Juice that can be found in the jelly aisle at the grocery store. Seriously. I think it took longer to open the can of sweetened condensed milk than it took to put together the rest of the filling. Anyway. Stir it up, and then pour it into the baked crust. Pop the whole shebang into the already heated oven, and bake for another 15 minutes. Allow the pie to cool, and then refrigerate it for at least an hour.

At this point, the pie is gorgeous. You could eat it just like this, or, if you're feeling fancy, you could make some lovely homemade whipped cream as you wait for it to cool. Or, you could buy a tub of Cool Whip and call it a day. Go on-- guess which option I chose. No matter what you choose to top the pie, it will be delicious. I promise. See?

A sidenote-- a few weeks later, I made the same pie with a crushed pretzel crust. It was an interesting take on this particular pie; the salt contrasted nicely with the sweet. Give it a shot.

Savory Zucchini Pie-- Local Food-- June/July 2011

2011-07-23T12:44:00.001-07:00

Pie is one of my favorite things, in spite of my dad's efforts to convince us when we were small that "pie is bad for children". While the dessert-y pie is fantastic, I do enjoy the occasional savory pie. I came across this recipe when my ol' pal Molly Schaller (hi, Molly!) was bemoaning the excess zucchini that came with her CSA share a few years ago. One of my very favorite pastimes is perusing Tasty Kitchen, a fabulous community of home cooks who are willing to share their best recipes. There, I discovered this gem-- Savory Zucchini Pie. It looked delicious, so I forwarded to Molly, and then I decided to tackle it myself. Oh, am I glad I did... it quickly became one of our favorite summer dishes. I made this particular pie with lovely local zucchini and yellow squash, so it will serve as my "local food" entry for the month. Check it out.

4 Tablespoons Butter
4 cups Zucchini, Sliced And Halved If Large
1 whole Onion, Sliced
2 cloves Garlic, Minced
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
½ teaspoons Fresh Ground Pepper
1 teaspoon Italian Seasonings
2 cups Cheddar Cheese, Shredded And Divided
2 whole Eggs Beaten
8 ounces, weight Tube Crescent Rolls
2 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard

It's quite adaptable-- I've used a mix of yellow and green squash, and I have also played a bit with the seasoning, sometimes using fresh rosemary and thyme. It's good no matter what I decide to do to it. I usually reduce the amount of butter for sauteeing, but, hell-- you only live once. Toss half a stick in and, once it's melted, add chopped onions, garlic, and zucchini. Saute until tender, and then add seasoning, and saute a little longer.

As the veggies soften, go ahead and spray a pie plate and then press the crescent rolls into a vague pie sort of shape. Don't kill yourself making it look perfect-- if it's not, call it rustic and call it a day. Once you've accomplished this, brush some dijon mustard onto the crust. (If you can't find your brush and must resort to using a weird tiny spatula, that's cool-- in fact, I'd feel a lot better about myself if you'd do that.)

Beat the eggs in a separate bowl, add the cooked veggies, and stir 'em about. Beat in a cup of cheese, and then pour the mixture into the prepared pie plate.

Top this with the additional cheese, and stick the pie in the oven for 20-25 minutes at 375 degrees. Pull it out, and serve immediately.

I brought this to serve to my family at my mom and dad's house, and here's the general verdict:

Everybody enjoyed it, except for the children, but that was no surprise-- it didn't have bacon, so Simon wouldn't eat it, and Natalie has always viewed it with suspicion. But! Grownups enjoyed it! Try it! It's delicious!

Sour cream rhubarb pie

2011-06-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

This pie combines local Ontario rhubarb and sour cream made from 100% Ontario milk.

I make sour cream raisin bars, which is one of the best desserts and a favorite amongst my friends, so when I saw this recipe I had to try it. I used two friends and Devin as taste testers, they said the pie was tasty, specifically the tartness from the rhubarb and the creamy sour cream was a great combo. The crumb topping was really nice. I served the pie when it was still a little warm - I would not do this! It is 100 times better after it has chilled. Have a slice with coffee in the morning.

PS. I used fat free sour cream and no one noticed!

Strawberry Rhubarb pie

2011-05-30T04:30:00.000-07:00

Rhubarb reminds me of my Grandma and the arrival of spring. My Grandma had a huge patch of Rhubarb in her backyard which we would pick from. I remember her taking a few bites of raw rhubarb, puckering her lips, and declaring it good. I now put rhubarb in scones, muffins, pies, crisps, cakes, and sauces. A strawberry rhubarb pie is usually my first pie of the spring/summer pie baking season. Fresh Ontario rhubarb showed up in the market on Thursday so I bought a huge bag full and made a pie on Sunday! Sadly, the strawberries are from California. This year my friend Maria asked if I could teach her how to make a pie. I gave commands and she produced a beautifully tasty pie. Well done Maria!
However, we had a bit too much wine and forgot to take pictures until the end. Oops!
Pie crust
2 1/2 C flour
3/4 C to almost 1 cup of oil
~1/2 C water
Mix in large bowl first with spatula and then with hands. Do not over mix. Dough will be a little oily but it shouldn't be drenched in oil. Separate dough into two balls. Roll each ball of dough between plastic wrap to prevent sticking. I made a lattice top, but you could make a normal crust for the top.

Strawberry rhubarb pie filling
3.5 C chopped fresh rhubarb
3 C sliced strawberries
3/4 C sugar
1/3 C all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

In a large bowl stir together flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Add rhubarb and strawberries, gently mix until coated. Pour mixture into pastry line pie pan. Place strips of dough across the pie, folding back every other one. Lay a couple strips perpendicular to the ones you just laid on the pie. Unfold the strips over the perpendicular strips. Repeat on other half of the pie. Brush top crust with milk and sprinkle a little sugar on it. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven. To prevent over browning I often place tin foil along the pie edges for the first 20 min of baking. In my old oven, the pie needs to bake for 45 min or until crust is golden brown and juices are bubbly.

This is my favorite pie. I hope you all enjoy baking your pies this month as much as I did!

Practice Pie

2011-05-22T16:36:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be making several pies for this challenge. But just like Highlander, there can be only one.

PIE AND LOCAL FOOD- SUMMER 2011

2011-05-13T18:59:00.000-07:00

We realize that the next few months can be hectic for many people. End of the school year, summer vacations, spring cleaning. In an effort to help alleviate everyone’s stress we’ve decided to post a double challenge. That’s right a double challenge. Well, actually two separate challenges. You could post them together but that’s up to you. The good news is the deadline will be July 31st. You can post whenever you like.

Challenge #1: Cook locally. It could be from your local farmer’s market, from a CSA, something you’ve grown in your garden, locally raised beef, whatever. Make it shine.

Challenge #2: Pie. That’s right pie. Cook whatever kind you want.

Just post them by July 31st.

RESULTS: FIRESIDE WARMTH- JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011

2011-05-13T18:57:00.000-07:00

Most inventive/unique: Mini S’mores

Best cooking story: Living In Sin Soup
I desire to eat this immediately: Mini S’mores
Most effortless (but in a good way): Tinfoil Bananas
Best Photo(s): Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Best In Show: Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Thanks to all who accepted the challenge.

The Magical Crepe Buffet ~ Part III

2011-05-02T21:16:00.000-07:00

Savory Crêpes with Mushroom and Bacon Filling
via epicurious.com

Parsley-flecked crêpes filled with a bubbling hot mushroom-bacon gravy-like filling and served with roasted asparagus, these were amazing and won the popular choice award of the crêpe buffet, hands-down, but alas, I have no photos. :( Still, worth sharing the recipe.

Ingredients for savory crêpes:
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
vegetable oil for brushing pan

Ingredients for filling:
6 slices bacon
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced thin (I used portabellos and white button mushrooms)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves

1 bunch asparagus

Make crêpes:
In a bowl whisk together egg, milk, butter, and parsley until combined well. Add flour, salt and pepper and whisk until smooth.

Heat a 6-to-8 inch crepe pan over moderately high heat until hot. Brush pan with oil and heat until hot but not smoking. Remove pan from heat. Stir batter and half fill a 1/4-cup measure with it. Pour batter into pan, tilting and rotating pan quickly to cover bottom with a thin layer of batter, and return any excess to bowl. Return pan to heat and loosen edge of crêpe with a spatula. Cook crêpe until underside is lightly browned. Turn crêpe and lightly brown other side. Transfer crêpe to a plate. Make more crêpes with remaining batter, brushing pan lightly with oil as necessary. (Crêpes may be made 1 day in ahead and chilled, stacked and wrapped well in plastic wrap.)

Make filling:
In a large heavy skillet cook bacon over moderately high heat until crisp and transfer to paper towels to drain. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat from skillet and chop bacon. To fat remaining in skillet add mushrooms and 1 tablespoon butter and sauté over moderately high heat, stirring, until liquid mushrooms give off is evaporated, about 5 minutes. Remove skillet from heat.

Preheat oven to 300°F. Start roasting the asparagus on a cookie sheet.

In a heavy saucepan melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter over moderately high heat and whisk in flour. Cook roux, whisking, 3 minutes. Add milk gradually, whisking constantly, and cook. stirring, occasionally, 5 minutes or until thickened and smooth. Add mushrooms, cream, parsley, bacon, salt and pepper to taste and simmer 10 minutes, or until very thick. Cool filling slightly.

Spread each crêpe with about 1/4 cup filling and fold in quarters, transferring crêpes as filled to an ovenproof platter. Distribute semi-roasted asparagus spears over the filled crêpes. Heat crêpes in oven until heated through and asparagus is cooked tender.

The Magical Crepe Buffet ~ Part II

2011-05-02T20:05:00.000-07:00

Poppy-Seed Cheese Crêpes with Apricot Sauce
via epicurious.com

Lemony, speckled crêpes seemed like an excellent addition to the dreamy variety crêpe buffet. This so-called cheese sounded interesting, too. The yogurt drained off a LOT of water and became more cheese-like. It made a great creamy, not-too-sweet, warm "cheese" filling. The apricot sauce was labor-intensive for the end result, may be just as well to use a store-bought sauce, although I've been enjoying using it (leftover) on oatmeal with cranberries and walnuts.

"cheese" filling ingredients: two 1-pound containers of plain yogurt 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla apricot sauce ingredients: 6 ounces (about 1 cup) dried apricots 1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar poppy-seed crêpe batter: 1 cup all-purpose flour 2 tablespoons sugar 1/2 cup milk 3 large eggs 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled 1 tablespoon poppy seeds 2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest 1/4 teaspoon salt melted unsalted butter for brushing the skillet melted unsalted butter for brushing the crêpes before baking

To make the cheese filling: In a large cheesecloth-lined sieve set over a bowl let the yogurt drain, covered and chilled, for 8 hours. Transfer the yogurt to a bowl, add the confectioners' sugar and the vanilla, and whisk the mixture until it is smooth.

To make the apricot sauce: In a small heavy saucepan combine the apricots, the brown sugar, and 2 1/2 cups water, bring the liquid to a boil, and simmer the mixture, covered, for 20 minutes. In a food processor or blender purée the mixture and force it (using the back of a spoon, force it) through a sieve into a bowl. The sauce may be made 3 days in advance and kept covered and chilled. Serve the sauce either warm or at room temperature.

To make the poppy seed crêpe batter: In a blender or food processor blend the flour, the sugar, 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons water, the milk, the eggs, the butter, the poppy seeds, the zest, and the salt for 5 seconds. Turn off the motor, with a rubber spatula scrape down the sides of the container, and blend the batter for 20 seconds more. Transfer the batter to a bowl and let it stand, covered, for 1 hour. The batter may be made 1 day in advance and kept covered and chilled. Makes enough batter for about 16 crêpes.

To make the crêpes: Heat a crêpe pan or non-stick skillet (cast iron works great) measuring 6 to 7 inches across the bottom over moderate heat until it is hot. Brush the pan lightly with the butter, heat it until it is hot but not smoking, and remove it from the heat. Stir the batter, half fill a 1/4-cup measure with it, and pour the batter into the pan. Tilt and rotate the pan quickly to cover the bottom with a layer of batter and return any excess batter to bowl. Return the pan to the heat, loosen the edge of the crêpe with a spatula, and cook the crêpe for 1 minute, or until the top appears almost dry. Turn the crêpe, cook the other side lightly, and transfer the crêpe to a plate. Make crêpe with the remaining batter in the same manner, brushing the pan lightly with butter as necessary. The crêpes may be made 3 days in advance, kept stacked, wrapped in plastic wrap, and chilled. (We improvised using a griddle since the skillets were already busy with beetroot pancakes. To do this, we had to spread the crêpe batter with the back of a spoon. This was tricky at first but toward the end, Lauren was a pro and making perfect poppy seed crêpes!)

Finally: On each of the finished crêpes, mound 2 tablespoons of the cheese filling in the center of the crêpe and fold the bottom third of the crêpe up over the filling. Fold in 1 inch of each side and fold down the top third of the crêpe to enclose the filling completely, forming a rectangle. Arrange the crêpe in one layer in a shallow baking dish, brush them with the butter, and bake them in the middle of a preheated 450°F. oven for 10 minutes, until filling is hot and bubbling. Serve the crêpes with the apricot sauce drizzled on top. Mmm!

(It's too bad I didn't get any final photos - epicurious needs one!)

The Magical Crepe Buffet ~ Part I

2011-05-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

Beetroot Pancakes with Oranges and Cinnamon Sugar
via allrecipes.com

Reportedly, these are South African style pancakes, very thin resembling crepes. Perfect for my dreamy vision of a crepe buffet featuring a variety of crepes of different colors and detail. I once (well, twice ever) made a beet risotto that turns out a beautiful bright pink/magenta color, so while "beet pancakes" didn't sound particularly delicious, I was in love with the idea of their vibrant color. And figured they were worth trying. I do like roasted beets!

I made the batter the night before to minimize work in the morning. Crepes have no rising agent and typically do well if the batter is blended and chilled overnight before cooking. This works great when having people over for breakfast... although in this case I still had too much to do in the AM since I was making 3 types of crepes with 3 types of fillings. Luckily, my breakfast guests just happened to be culinary artists and happy to help with the flipping.

In all the business of eating, I forgot to take photos of the finished products! This last photo is of my lunch of leftovers the next day. Having run out of the Savory Crepes, I used the savory filling in the Beetroot crepe. I don't recommend it. The oranges and cinnamon are a much better fit, flavor-wise. They were good! And the color was magnificent. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

For pancakes:
1 beet, cooked and cooled
1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
1 cup milk
1 egg
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon white vinegar (optional)

For filling:
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 cup white sugar
2 oranges, quartered

Directions

In a blender or food processor, pulse the cooked beet, flour, milk, egg, vegetable oil, and vinegar until smooth. Pour the batter into a bowl and set aside for 30 minutes. (Or refrigerate overnight, as I did.) Combine the cinnamon with the sugar and mix well.
Heat an oiled non-stick skillet (cast iron works great) over medium heat. Pour in enough batter to cover half of the skillet. Tip and rotate the skillet until the batter covers the entire area. Cook until the batter turns from wet to moist, and the edges begin to curl away from the sides of the skillet. Turn the pancake over, and continue cooking until lightly golden on the other side. Place the pancake onto a plate, and cover with a kitchen towel to keep moist. Repeat with the remaining batter, lightly oiling the skillet as needed to keep the pancakes from sticking.
Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the pancakes. Roll up the pancakes and serve with the orange quarters.

Chocolate Pancakes-- March/April-- Nikki

2011-05-02T18:31:00.001-07:00

First of all, please forgive the tardiness. Better late than blah blah blah. Anyway. I had originally planned to make a form of potato pancakes; I, like the venerable Mr. Howard, was thwarted by the McCrorys and their lovely potato pancakes. I sat and cried for a bit, and then I pulled up my big girl panties and found something new to capture my interest. Chocolate. Pancakes. Two of my most favorite things in one tidy bundle. Even better, they were EASY. And we all know how I feel about that. The recipe:

Chocolate Pancakes
1C milk
1 egg
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1 C flour
1/2 C cocoa
1/3 C sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

It's so easy I remembered it without looking at the recipe. Anyway. Mix the liquids-- I used my extra huge 4C pyrex measuring cup. This was probably not my brightest idea ever. It was very nearly too small for the amount of liquid it was holding, and it made for some, uh, messy stirring. But, it was convenient for pouring onto the heated griddle. I digress.

In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients. (A brief confession: if I were just doing this without photographing it, I'd just toss all the dry stuff into the milk mix without mixing it. I'm a rebel. When I'm not photographing my cooking.)

Next, in two batches, mix the dry stuff into the milk mixture. Take my advice-- do it in two batches, stirring in between. Especially if you've committed to using a too-small measuring cup for your bowl. Ahem.

You're ready to pour the batter on the heated griddle. 'Cause you've heated the griddle as you mixed the batter, right? Right. Well done, you. Pour out a couple of pancakes, and let 'em cook 'til they're nice and bubbly.

(Forgive the bad photography; the weird yellow spot on the pancake to the left is the light from above.)
Because I'm not content to leave well enough alone, I decided these puppies needed some chocolate chips. 'Cause what's better than chocolate pancakes? Chocolate chocolate CHIP pancakes. You know I'm right.

I had originally planned to top these with fresh strawberries, but upon further inspection my strawberries were pretty far past their prime. Instead, Jay chose to top his pancakes with blackberry jam, and Natalie opted for fresh melon. I decided to let my pancake go commando. In retrospect, some powdered sugar would've been beautiful, and whipped cream even better. Nutella would also be a fabulous option.
The verdict?

(I'm not sure why my husband appears to be stoned; maybe there are strange properties in the jam? And also, I have the whitest hand in North America. Be careful that you're not blinded by the white.)

One last picture of the effect the delicious chocolate pancake had on my child:

The poor girl forgot her manners. The chocolate was too good for a napkin. Overall, a success. It's a fun and easy dessert that can be fancied up for guests or eaten on a Monday night. Give it a shot!

and now, for something just a little different....

2011-05-01T04:37:00.000-07:00

BANANA PANCAKES

Maybe this entry is too late...but I made these the day before a mini vacation and I'm actually posting from the beautiful Appalachian mountains. You can decide if you should dock me a letter grade for being 8 hours late or if I get bonus points for posting while on vacation.

At any rate, I just wanted to share my favorite pancakes with you. This recipe (or one very similar to it) actually comes to us by way of a man who lived in one of the group homes where we used to work. We'll call him Ron. He always insisted on having banana pancakes. "I don't know how to make banana pancakes," I would protest. "Just make pancakes and stick a banana in it!" Ron would say. One day, Pat did it for him and came home raving. He made them for me and I had to agree that they are...really good.

So here is my typical pancake recipe, from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook:

I do this (sometimes I substitute 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour, but I was out when I made these) and add in one mashed banana. Just one. If you add more, it starts getting funky.

I quintupled this recipe and made them as brunch for a group of school kids.

I usually add chopped walnuts (at which point, they are so good no syrup is required), but was afraid of nut allergies for the kids, so here they are in their simplicity. Ron and Pat like them with peanut butter and syrup. I tried to do a strawberry syrup (strawberries and sugar reduction) but learned that two pints of strawberries do not go far among so much greatness. I had to add Aldi syrup to make it stretch. It was still good. Here was my final version, topped with the strawberry syrup, walnuts, and a little powdered sugar.

They got great reviews from the kids. I ate the left-overs plain and cold on my drive down to Appalachia, which is a GREAT travel idea.

Chai Pancakes - March/April – Sara

2011-04-30T18:09:00.001-07:00

I like Chai, and I like pancakes. Hence, my entry. Quick and easy (much like this post as I’m getting in right under the wire) and yummy!

Recipe:

1 egg

¾ cup milk

2 tbsp butter

1 cup flour

1 tbsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp ginger

½ tsp cardamom

¼ tsp nutmeg

2 tbsp honey

1 tbsp sugar

hint of cloves

Mix it up and throw them in a pan for a minute or so on each side. Here’s what you get

I also made some cardamom infused whipped cream which added nicely and some rosemary lemon simple syrup which didn’t turn out quite as nicely (it became candy). Oh well… thems the breaks. Overall, very pleased.

Falafel Pancakes- Pancakes- March/April 2011

2011-04-23T13:01:00.000-07:00

OK, I had big plans to do a mashed potato pancake with a romesco sauce, but of course someone beat me to the punch. So, I went with plan “B”. This is a falafel pancake with a yogurt sauce and a dollop of hummus. The falafel recipe I use is pretty involved, and one for which you must plan ahead. Here’s the basic recipe:

1 cup dried garbanzo beans
1 cup dried fava beans
½ cup coarsely chopped parsley
½ cup coarsely chopped cilantro
½ cup coarsely chopped mint
1 to 2 bunches of scallions chopped
4 large cloves of garlic chopped
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp turmeric
¼ to ½ tsp cayenne
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
4 TBSP lemon juice
4 TBSP bulgur wheat soaked in water for 1 hour then drained
Chickpea flour to act as a binding agent

Soak the garbanzo beans and fava beans in water overnight. Chances are that once they have soaked you will have WAY more garbanzo than fava. In case you’ve never worked with fava beans before you should be aware that once they have been soaked there is a shell which MUST be removed. I didn’t know this the first time I used fava beans. I figured these were the worst tasting and textured beans ever cultivated (regardless of how good your Chianit might be). If you decide to forgo the step of removing the skins be prepared for some MAJOR gastrointestinal distress, also plan on being alone for a few days.

This picture shows an unshelled and shelled Fava bean.

Once the beans are ready pulse them in a food processor until they are roughly chopped. Add the rest of your ingredients except for baking soda and chickpea flour. Pulse some more in the food processor until everything is well mixed. It should look pretty lumpy, but your leafy herbs shouldn’t appear leafy anymore.

Stir in your chickpea flour and baking soda. Cover and let sit in fridge for about an hour. While the falafel mixture is resting in the fridge you can make a yogurt sauce. Here’s my recipe which I make to sight:

Yogurt plus equal parts of garlic paste, ginger paste, and mint or cilantro chutney. Liberally sprinkled with garam masala and mixed well.

Remove falafel from fridge. Form into patty cakes. Pan fry in olive oil until pretty brown on both sides. Finish in a 350F oven for 20 minutes.

Serve with your yogurt sauce and some homemade hummus. Super scumptastic.

and now, for something completely different....

2011-04-16T13:40:00.000-07:00

POTATO PANCAKES WITH "THE BOMB" SAUCE

I wanted to make my banana pancakes. Maybe I still will. But today, my husband issued me a cooking challenge. "Make potato pancakes," he said. So I did. I decided not to look at any other recipes for said pancakes first, and I have NEVER made potato pancakes before, so this was truly figuring it out from scratch. I decided to stay as true to a traditional "pancake" as I could, making something of a batter that is able to be poured in some way and some real syrup-consistency topping instead of going the gravy route.

Here is the ingredient list in its final version, though it took a few tries to get a good consistency. There is no picture of the ingredients, since I didn't know what I was going to end up using.

5 small-medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/4-1/3 c. plain yogurt
1 T. butter
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda

1.) Boil the potatoes in salted water until quite soft. Drain nearly all the water from the pot.
2.) Mash the potatoes with the yogurt and butter while hot.
3.) Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. (This can all be done in one pot, which is a great plus in my book.)
4.) Preheat a griddle to 375*. I used butter on it, because butter makes everything good, but that is probably not necessary.
5.) Pour and spread the batter. The batter is a little on the thick side.
6.) Cook 4-5 minutes per side.

This makes roughly 20 pancakes. You will wish you had more. Double this recipe if you have more potatoes in the house than I did.

Pat ran around Muncie while I made the pancakes, looking for the *secret ingredient* for the pancakes. We finally had Pat's sister to thank for her effort at getting us just what we were looking for: real bacon fat!

The "syrup" is easy:
2 big spoonfulls of bacon grease
2 spoonfulls of brown sugar
2 spoonfulls of tomato paste

1.) Melt the fat in a pan on medium-high heat.
2.) Add the sugar.
3.) Reduce heat and add the tomato paste.
4.) Add water to thin to desired consistency.

Pour "The Bomb" sauce over the pancakes and garnish with green onion slivers (which taste great with it, in addition to being fancy).

Pat loved it.
Eden kept saying, "Yummy syrup!" all during dinner.
Israel said, "This is the BOMB!"
Our housemate, Kyle, agreed it was very good.
I was skeptical at first as I wished they would have been a little more fluffy, but in the end I could not complain. I wished I had made more.

Oatmeal Pancakes with Lemon Blueberry Syrup

2011-04-02T17:57:00.000-07:00

I have been on a quest for a great, uncompromisingly tasty "healthy" pancake. I've tried many recipes and know that I dislike whole wheat flour in pancakes. So this morning, April 2, I searched "Oatmeal Pancake" and took my first result on a "Google knows best" kind of hunch. Allrecipes "Oatmeal Pancake II" was the winner, and with over 7,000 reviews and an average 4.5 out of 5 stars, it seemed like a winner. I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was and how light, fluffy and delicious they turned out. Our only complaint, too few for our hungry family of four (don't let the almost 2 yr-old fool you, she outdoes us all!). Definitely double the recipe for maximum enjoyment.

Tip: the absolute KEY to a fluffy pancake is to just barely mix the ingredients. Over mixing will ruin all your hopes and dreams. For cooking, my rule is 3 minutes on the first side, 1 minute on the other... so long as my griddle is perfectly heated. Pancakes are so picky, right?!

Also, I invented a kick-ass lemon blueberry syrup on the spot.

Oatmeal Pancakes II, by mom2hh (not to be confused with the horrifically inedible Oatmeal Pancakes I)

Ingredients

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup buttermilk [I used 2/3 c greek yogurt & 1/4 c milk, plus more to thin it out a bit]
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 egg

Directions

Place flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, buttermilk, vanilla, oil and egg in a food processor and puree until smooth. [this actually works really well & quick, but traditional mixing methods would do, I suspect]

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

------------------------------

Lemon Blueberry Syrup, by me

1 cup or so of frozen blueberries (I forgot to measure)
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp sugar
dash of water

Heat and blend with a stick blender, then boil until thickened a little, let stand so it won't scald your tongue.

Maddie approved

Lucy approved

Blueberry Syrup makes great finger paint

THE END

Gingerbread pancakes with lemon sauce

2011-03-20T18:19:00.000-07:00

Pancakes are one of our go-to choices for Sunday breakfast. In fact, I live with the greatest pancake flipper that ever lived (oh lucky me!). I usually do the mixing of the batter and he does the flipping. I chose this recipe for the challenge because it won a recent pancake recipe contest between Devin and I. These pancakes have great color, a wonderful smell, and they are delicious.

Pancake ingredients
1 1/3 C all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 large egg
1 1/4 C milk
1/4 C molasses
3 Tbsp. vegetable oil

SOPP (Standard Operating Pancake Preparation)
1. stir together dry ingredients
2. in a separate large bowl, beat egg with milk. mix molasses and oil together then pour into egg mixture and mix well.
3. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients ans stir until combined. Batter will be a little lumpy.
4. This is where my job ends and Devin's begins. Grease and heat a griddle. Pour small amount of batter for each pancake onto the griddle. So I guess he magically knows when to flip and BAM a perfect pancake!

Lemon Sauce
This sauce is great with the pancakes. It makes enough for leftover pancakes too! I usually make this while Devin is cooking the pancakes.
1/2 C granulated sugar
1 Tbsp. corn starch
1 C hot water
2 Tbsp. butter
1/2 tsp grated lemon peel (I never have this so I omit it)
2 Tbsp. lemon juice

To make sauce, mix sugar and cornstarch in a medium saucepan. Gradually add hot water; cook stirring over medium heat until the mixture is thick and clear.
I have to admit that I have NEVER got this sauce to thicken. I commonly have this problem with white sauces as well. I don't know why either. I may be too impatient or maybe there isn't enough cornstarch in the recipe. If someone makes this and gets the sauce to thicken, please TELL ME.

Once sauce is thickened* add butter and lemon. Stir until butter melts. Serve sauce warm drizzled over pancakes.

The cute mini pancakes are my favorite! I foolishly grab them off the griddle and burn my fingers, but they are so tasty!

Pancakes - March/April 2011

2011-03-16T18:31:00.000-07:00

We’re sure that everyone celebrated National Pancake Day on March 1^st. As such, you’re certainly primed to give us your best pancake. Sounds easy, and you would think that everyone would have basically the same taste in pancakes. However, (if the fights that ensue over the use of buckwheat here at the HoYo’s are any indication)there can be a good deal of variance in pancake preference. So go ahead and show us your favorite pancake recipe.

Winner of the Cookie Press Posts Results!

2011-03-07T19:22:00.000-08:00

This isn't an entry for the Fireside Warmth cooking challenge. Alas, I couldn't think of anything to compete with mini-s'mores, which I adore, Paula.

However, as one of the winners of the December Christmas Cookie challenge (randomly chosen winner, mind you) I wanted to share with you the amazing result of my prize. I won the Cookie Press and it has changed my way of life. No longer do I have to wait for my sugar cookie dough to chill. I scoff at rolling out cookie dough on a floured surface! Fie to the bucket of cookie cutters dusting away on my shelf.

Now I simply pack a delicious butter/sugar/flour/salt/egg/vanilla dough into the tube of the press and magic awaits in less than ten minutes.

SPRITZ!

Here's a professional shot of me using the press! Just kidding, it's a google image I found.

Confession: OK, I've only used the press once, but I'm assuming this tool will change my life. And quite possibly my waist line. Way too easy to make these little bites of buttery goodness. Thanks, Sara and Mark for my prize! Maddie and I love it!

Madeline found a way to complicate the wonderfulness that is a cookie press. She insists that cookie dough must be rolled out and cookie cutters employed, so she made the little discs into cutters.

These 8-petal flower spritz didn't behave. Oh well, still ate em up.

Just in case you wanted to see all the options for making neat little spritz cookies. Hearts were the big winner around here.

Good luck to all the fireside warmth participants. I'm hoping fireside weather is almost behind us!

Pineapple Upside Down Cake-Fireside Warmth-Jan/Feb 2011

2011-03-02T19:15:00.000-08:00

I often approach the Cooking Challenge as a chance/challenge to make something I’ve never made before. If that doesn’t work then I go for whimsy. If THAT doesn’t work I use it as an excuse to buy a new kitchen gadget. Lucky me this month’s challenge fit the bill on all three counts.

I have been wanting a dutch oven for quite some time now. This month’s challenge gave me a great excuse to buy a brand new cast-iron dutch oven. I also remembered that Pineapple Upside Down Cake (PUDC) was traditionally made in a cast iron skillet. Surely this could be adapted to a dutch oven cooked over an open fire. A very little research revealed that this concept was definitely NOT new. So, we had some friends over for dinner and as the pièce de résistance I made a PUDC over an open fire. Unfortunately, it was more of a coup de grâce to the meal.

Mmm. Mmm. Charlicious.

But it’s all a learning experience. What did I learn? Don’t preheat the dutch oven.

This is what happens if you preheat the dutch oven.

Dowsing the preheated fire with some pinapple jus.

Pretty simple. Oh yeah, and if you place coals on the lid you brush those off BEFORE you check on the PUDC status. Unless you’re into eating smoking hot embers.

Some of the brave souls who ate the original PUDC.
They LIKED the burnt flavor.

I hope you noticed the fiery flare-up and the charred goodness that happens when you do things the wrong way.

Now for the right way.
1 1/3 C. flour
1/3 C. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/3 C milk
1/3 C reserved pineapple juice
1/4 C butter, softened
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
Glaze:
3 tbsp. butter
1/2 C. brown sugar
1 can pineapple slices, drained & halved (Reserve the liquid)
Maraschino cherries

Mix all the ingredients for the batter. Have your pineapple rings and cherries ready. Put your dutch oven on the coals. Melt butter and stir in the brown sugar. Arrange your pineapple rings and maraschino cherries in the melted butter/sugar mixture. Pour the batter onto the pineapple. Cover and let cook about 20 mins.

In the meantime, you can make a caramel sauce by melting some more butter and brown sugar and adding some pineapple juice. Let that reduce while the cake is baking. You’ll probably want to check frequently to make sure that the cake is cooking evenly. You can help that out by placing coals on the top of the dutch oven. Just remember to brush them off BEFORE you take a peek inside.

Once it’s done, let it cool for a few minutes. Turn it out onto an appropriate platter.

Serve with some ice cream and extra caramel sauce if you like. Now, I’m not one to brag, but one of our dinner guests (upon seeing this lovely creation) exclaimed, “I’m hungry with THAT!”

I'm hungry with THAT!

Boy Scout Veggie Packs

2011-03-01T17:34:00.000-08:00

I always seem to be a day late and a dollar short - but hope we aren't to late to share a bit of our own fireside warmth with you!!

Now, fireside warmth. Hmmmm...... For us eating by the fire usually entails camping with the fire, of course, being a campfire, and the source of heat for cooking the food that we then eat by the campfire.... Camping in February, however, is not on the top of our list of things to do. (It may have something to do with it being cold - but we did have that nice warm spell here with temps in the 70's). Regardless we decided to camp out in front of the wood stove, and actually try and cook our meal by that fire.

One of our classic family favorites while camping is a vegetarian take on an old boy scout recipe my brothers fixed way back when we were kids (I was the only girl amongst three brothers and never got to go camping with them - and I have no clue how I learned this recipe - osmosis maybe).

So here is what you will need:

For four servings:
4 veggie burgers (you can use regular hamburger but I would pre-cook the patties if you plan to do this on a wood stove rather than campfire!!!)
Two potatoes
One large onion
1 red pepper
1 package of your favorite dried soup or dip mix (Knorr is a good brand but I used this Cuginos that I had on hand)
Drizzle of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Slice up all your veggies into rings or rounds. Potatoes do better with the skin on.

Given the uncertainty of cooking on the wood stove I took the precaution of zapping the taters in the microwave to partially cook them.

Mix all your veggies together and then drizzle with some olive oil. Add the packet of soup/dip mix and toss well to coat all the veggies. This was plenty salty so I didn't add any extra.

Now to assemble the packets:

On a sheet of foil add a layer of the veggies, then top with the burger, and then top that with more of the veggies.

Wrap tightly in the foil.

Then wrap tightly in a second layer of foil.

I decided to add in a side dish of wood stove cooked green cauliflower - I tossed this with some salt, pepper and Ms. Dash then wrapped it up just like the burgers.

Now onto the top of the woodstove.......

I cooked these for about 1 hour turning every 1o minutes or so. It started out slow but then they did indeed start to get too hot to handle and tongs were brought in to help with the flipping.

SO....... did it work?

The packets came out hot and steaming with potatoes completely done, and the cauliflower half done (you can see the gradation from near burnt to raw.....)

,

Cub Scout Neil is checking out the outcome!! He now wants to do this on a "real" fire - hmmmm, now I thought that was what we used!!!!

Lily, Little Miss Chipmunk Cheeks, gives her approval and she ended up cleaning her plate. This actually worked out much better than I had expected and now we know what to do when camping indoors or during power outages!!!

Prize Reveal

2011-02-13T18:17:00.000-08:00

Lovely Parting Gifts

"Best in Show" chose prize A. Which is a $10 Amazon Gift certificate. "Randomly Selected Winner" therfore receives prize B. Which is a Wilton brand Cookie Press. Enjoy your prizes.

RESULTS: November/December 2010(Christmas Cookies)

2011-02-13T16:18:00.000-08:00

The winners are in for the Christmas Cookie challenge.

Most inventive/unique: Christmas Mice

Best cooking story: Lazy Bake Cookies

I desire to eat this immediately: Salted Chocolate Cookies

Most effortless (but in a good way): Lazy Bake Cookies

Best Photo(s): Christmas Mice

Best In Show: Salted Chocolate Cookies

PRIZES

As promised we have ACTUAL PRIZES for “Best In Show” and a “Randomly Selected Winner”. The winner of “Best In Show” gets to select from either prize A or B. The “Randomly Selected Winner” will get the remaining prize.

Winners:

Best In Show: Salted Chocolate Cookies

Randomly Selected Winner (using an Excel random generator): Christmas Mice

Wonderful Prizes

Thanks to all who accepted the challenge.

You'll want a LOT s'more of these!

2011-02-11T17:02:00.000-08:00

Lacking a fireplace, or gas range, or fondue pot, or outdoor abilities in winter, I considered what might be possible with a tea light candle. This recipe is super simple.

Mini S'mores

You'll need:

Golden Grahams Cereal

Mini Marshmallows

Ghirardelli Chocolate Chips (I used Ghirardelli because they're bigger in diameter and kind of flattened, as compared to most chocolate chips which are more peaked.)

Tea light candle or other non-scented, non-toxic candle

Matches

Fork

Demitasse saucer or other small plate

Directions:

I wrote some directions out and then I thought, hey, this blog isn't for aliens, let's assume everyone knows the basics of s'more makin'! My only advice to any amateurs out there is: have your Golden Grahams and Ghirardelli chips laid out on the saucer and ready to receive the hot marshmallows, for maximum melty effect.

My first attempt:

And then s'more...

Enjoy!

Living in Sin Soup

2011-02-02T09:19:00.000-08:00

So, in this, the Snowmalamadingdong (TM), I decided I wanted a warm, hearty soup. However, I didn't really have much of a recipe or list of ingredients or anything.

What I did have: leftover spiral sliced ham that needed to be used up, frozen black eyed peas, and the Interwebs. As I surfed for bean soup recipes, I kinda made this one up after looking at approximately 7 million recipes.

I call this Living in Sin Soup because the beans I used were so old I bought them before I married Sean--when we were, in fact, living in sin. I'm gonna say they're at minimum 6 years old--at max 9 years old. I know I bought them for a crockpot soup recipe, and our relationship was new enough that Sean ate the soup even though he doesn't like any bean, save green and pinto. So, I'm gonna guess it's in year one of our relationship. Estimated purchase date of bean: 2002.

The beginning ingredients
strategically arranged

Ingredients I Started With
8 c water
1/3 c dried lima beans
2/3 c dried split peas
1/3 c dried navy beans
1/3 c dried light red kidney beans
2 chicken bullion cubes
1/4 t garlic powder
1/4 t cumin
1/2 t black pepper
1/4 c dried onion
1 c leftover ham
1 c carrots
4 handfuls of kale
1 c frozen black eyed peas

Ingredients Sean or I added When I Realized It Needed Something
1 t celery salt (Sean)
Crap-ton more black pepper (me)

Begin by putting the first 10 ingredients into a pot. Bring it to a boil, then cover and remove from the heat for 1 hour.

When you put the bean in the pot,
be prepared, it looks like a 70s craft project.

Ham for dogs, please? This is
my "desperate for ham" face.

As the beans soak or soften or whatever they do in secret in the pot, chop up your leftover ham. Be sure to let your OCD take over and fixate on all your ham pieces being the same size. Fixate to the extent that you drop several pieces of ham on the floor. Feel free to curse loudly when you lose precious, precious pieces of ham because you Can't. Let. It. Go.

Ham is delicious, Momma

Most of the family was either napping (Ainsley) or indifferent to the soup (Sean's previously mentioned bean prejudices, Xander cannot eat bean soup). The only assistance I had in the kitchen for this challenge was Boomer, who dutifully picked up any of the ham I dropped on the floor and begged for more.

Preeeeetty!

After the hour has passed, you should add the ham, carrots, kale, and black eyed peas. I found this stage to be quite pretty. The kale and carrots are all bright and crisp. I have to admit, I've estimated the amount of kale. I put 4 handfuls of kale into the soup; however, I have wee carny hands, so your handful size may vary. I'd estimate that I put 1c of kale in the pot. I am pretty spatially challenged, though. I also once estimated that a 12ft room was 5ft, so I wouldn't hold my powers of estimation in too much esteem. Btw, I firmly held to my belief until Sean won the argument by saying, "You really think you could lay down and touch both walls with the top of your head and the bottoms of your feet?" (Yeah, I'm very short.)

Were Ainsley here, she'd have said,
"MESS, Momma! MESS!"

I used a medium sized pot to make this soup; this was a mistake. Once I put the lid on the soup, it made a huge mess and got crap all over Sean's newly cleaned stove. ANYWAY, bring the new mixture to a boil, then cover the soup and let it simmer:

Until the beans are to the consistency of your choosing
Until you can't stand it anymore and Must. Eat.

You should stir the soup every now and then...taste test. It was about hour 2 that I added the crap-ton of pepper. In hour 3, I made Sean taste it and he deemed celery salt necessary. I think, all in all, I let the soup simmer on super low (the small burner set to low) for about 3 hours and on regular low (the medium burner set to low) for another hour.

Serve the soup with bread--we had presliced multigrain French bread (left over from a spinach and artichoke dip endeavor). Now...for those of you, like me, who are watching your calories/fat/etc., here comes the really good part of this recipe. This soup makes 10 8oz servings. Each serving has 128 calories with 1.5g fat, 21.5g carb, and 21.5 g protein.

Mmmm...2.5 servings of soup!

Tinfoil bananas

2011-01-09T07:36:00.000-08:00

From Brooke for Cooking Challenge "Fireside Warmth"

Fireside warmth makes me go tinfoil bananas!

I had completely forgotten about this treat, discovered years ago with friends while camping, until I read this month's challenge and remembered we had some over-ripe bananas. I thought my old campfire pals invented tinfoil bananas, but it must be a fireside favorite. Online I found this recipe from a book called Campfire Cuisine:

Cinnamon-Baked Banana
Serves 1

Ensure banana is slightly over-ripe. Tabitha approves.

Ingredients:
1 banana
1/2 tablespoon butter, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Cut peel lengthwise and make small crosswise incisions.

Directions:
With the banana still in its peel, make an incision lengthwise through the length of the peel and the fruit, leaving the underside of the peel intact. Pull the sides of the banana apart and dot with the pieces of butter inside. Sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon over the top. Wrap in aluminum foil and bake over high heat, 10 to 15 minutes, until the fruit is hot and soft. Remove and discard the foil; serve hot.

Lower-cal ingredients

Advice: Use a slightly over-ripe banana. Do the banana prep work on top of the tinfoil, to minimize mess. After opening the peel, make some small crosswise incisions (on the banana only, not the peel) to allow the cinnamon and sugar to penetrate. Once wrapped in foil, the banana can be packed for a campfire later, cooked at the edge of a fireplace (right in the coals!), or baked in a glass dish in the oven.

For a lower-calorie option, which is shown in my photos: Use Splenda and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter (total calories per tinfoil banana: about 100) instead of sugar and butter (total calories: about 190).

Results: Warm, buttery, cinnamon-y, banana-y deliciousness!

Banana in foil, in glass dish, ready for the oven

She looks surprised that it's good.

FIRESIDE WARMTH, January/February 2011

2011-01-05T20:23:00.000-08:00

As most of you are probably aware, January is Fireside Warmth Month. It’s also National Skating Month, but it’s probably safer to eat by the fire than when you’re skating. So, it is in this spirit that we would like to see your favorite food to eat by the warmth of the fireside.

RESULTS: September/October 2010 (Lasagna)

2011-01-05T20:19:00.000-08:00

Most inventive/unique: Indian Lasagna

Best cooking story: Mexican Lasagna

I desire to eat this immediately: Indian Lasagna

Most effortless (but in a good way): Deconstructed Greek Lasagna

Best Photo(s): Indian Lasagna

Best In Show: Indian Lasagna

Thanks to all who accepted the challenge.

Uber-Buttery Shortbread-- December Cookie Challenge-- Nikki

2011-01-01T12:10:00.000-08:00

Every year at Christmas, I make Jay's coworkers a little treat of some kind. Cookies, candy, something festive yet inexpensive. Two years ago, I ran across a very simple recipe in the (sadly) now-defunct Wondertime magazine... the writer suggested jazzing these bars up with lemon peel and rosemary, but the plain version appealed to me. They were received with joy-- one coworker calls them "Christmas in cookie form". These little bars of joy consist of just FOUR ingredients-- butter, sugar, salt and flour. That's it. A monkey could make these cookies. Here are the measurements:

11 Tbsp Butter (that's nearly one and a half sticks)
1/2 C sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 C flour

Preheat the ol' oven to 325 degrees. If you're smart, you will have set out the butter a couple of hours before you make the cookies so it will be nice and soft. If you forgot, no biggie-- soften it up in the microwave for a bit.

Cream the butter and sugar in your handy-dandy standing mixer, if you are fortunate enough to have one. A hand mixer works just as well if you don't. But try to get one. Your life will be significantly enriched in ways you would never guess.

Add the salt to the butter and sugar mixture, then add the flour. Try not to pour flour all over the counter as you add it one-handed as you try to take photos of the flour addition. Ahem.

The resulting mixture will be crumbly, but that's cool. Scrape the sides of the bowl to be sure you get all the buttery goodness into the dough, and dump it into a 9x9 glass baking dish. A pie plate works, too-- I just like the look of the rectangular shaped cookies. Please, for the love of heaven, DO NOT grease the dish. The cookies grease the dish on their own-- hello, 11 tablespoons of butter-- so they will come out without any further assistance.

Pat the crumbly mass down into pan, and score the dough into sixteen bars with a sharp knife. Pop it into the preheated oven for 45-50 minutes, and relax as your house starts to smell delicious. As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, re-score them IMMEDIATELY, as they harden pretty quickly. Let them cool, and taste the goodness.

Now, even though I make at least 10 batches of shortbread every December, I have never actually tasted it. I don't think Jay has, either. By the time I make enough for gifts, I have no desire to see anymore shortbread, let alone eat it. So this was our first taste!

We both approved, and I have a feeling that I'll have a hard time keeping Jay out of the cookies next year. Make this simple, delicious treat for yourself! Do it! Do it!

Spritz – Dec 2010 Cookie Challenge - Sara

2010-12-31T07:31:00.000-08:00

My knowledge of tradition is limited. I think it’s because I have a short attention span. Regardless, when I was looking through the ol’ Betty Crocker cookbook for inspiration, I read that Spritzes were the quintessential holiday cookie. I didn’t know what the heck a Spritz was. I was determined to find out!

Recipe:

1 cup butter

½ cup sugar

2 ¼ cup flour

½ tsp salt

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla (or almond)

Mix your dough. I had a cookie press on hand because I have a penchant for picking up culinary oddities when they’re on the clearance rack at TJ Maxx. I learned from my mother that my cookie press is called a “spritzer”. Clearly she was holding out on some cookie knowledge. We could have been eating these for years!

Spritz those cookies right onto a cookie sheet. Don’t grease it because they have to stick to the sheet to keep shape. Bake at 400 degrees for 6-9 minutes

Usually they have sprinkles etc on them. The sprinkle suggestion helped me realize I knew these cookies quite well. But, I really wanted a Milano and thought these might fit the bill. So, I melted some chocolate candy coating stuff and piped it onto a cookie.

So, there you have it, a spritzy milanoesque delight!

Coconut Snowballs for a Snowy Day!!

2010-12-26T09:59:00.000-08:00

We were wondering what to do on such a lovely lazy snowy day....... Let's make snowballs!!! Yep - edible kind first then a good round of the throw-able kind this afternoon!!

Here's what our day looks like here.

These are no -bake "cookie kinda candies" - just yummy things and great for kids to make.

You will need just a few basics:

4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup margarine or butter
1/4 cup soy milk or regular milk
1/2 cup candy bits - chocolate chips, crushed candy canes, - here we used Heath bar bits.
1/2 tsp vanilla
Shredded coconut

Let the margarine sit at room temp until soft then beat it up with a whisk.

Slowly add the powdered sugar, about a 1/2 cup at a time and whisk until powdery. I did this step without the kids due to great fear of powdered sugar all over the place!!

It should look like it is still just powdered sugar when you have it all mixed in.

Next add in the milk, vanilla and candy pieces and mix well - work the mixture, switching from the whisk to a spoon or spatula, until you have a uniform smooth "dough". Now call in reinforcements for the making of the snowballs (kids work well for this!!!)

Roll the dough in to nickle sized balls and lay out on wax paper.

Pour the shredded coconut onto a plate and using your hands roll each ball in a good amount of coconut so that it sticks all over.

Then you must get bored with just plain white coconut - so pull out the food coloring and color some coconut red, green or whatever you like. Then roll out some colored snowballs!!!

Then get even more bored with that, and pull out the sprinkles and mix any variety of them into the coconut and then roll out "super duper colored sprinkled snowballs".

Then cleanup all the coconut that ended up all over the floor - Lily sweeping and Neil ready with the dust pan.

Now show off the finished plate full of snowballs and try a white one, a red one, a green one, a red one with sprinkles and finally a green one with sprinkles. Wait for the full effect of the mighty sugar buzz that will ensue and then run them outside to make real snowballs!!!

Enjoy and have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!

Lazy Bake Cookies

2010-12-24T08:45:00.000-08:00

This is my first* Cooking Challenge post. What could be easier and more approachable to the masses than a Christmas Cookie challenge? What kind of degenerate doesn't make some Christmas cookies or candy during the holidays? I'm mean, seriously, it's un-American to not have a specialty that has your friends, neighbors, hair dresser, etc. salivating at the flip of the calendar to December. So call me un-American, I guess. I've never found my Holiday baking rhythm. (Ok, well, not never. I make a mean Easter bread. But I'm not thinking that's relevant here. I'm using Holiday as a euphemism, you know.)

Enter the Lazy Bake Oven, gift to my five-year old daughter at Early Christmas, aka Grandparents' Holiday Marathon.

To initiative the oven, The Girl baked a cake. I wish you could have seen our family of five sitting around the kitchen table for the first round of Lazy-Baking. Each of us had a (large) plate with a nearly microscopic morsel of lovingly created chocolate cake + icing, straight from the powder mixes. Yum!

So, as I've been contemplating my Cooking Challenge entry due to the promise of PRIZES, I've had the BEST intentions to do it up. But as Dec. 23rd arrived and I'd yet to find the time for this task, I'm thinking my chances of winning have faded with the month. Enter The Girl. When she asked to Pretty Please bake Santa's cookies in HER oven, I had a stroke of GENIUS! Technically, I actually had no part in the process. Please refrain from calling Child Labor watchdogs on me. But darn it, I want to WIN!

So, with the acumen of a seasoned baker, The Girl poured the powder into the mixing bowl. I'm told. You'll have to use your imagination, since I forgot to photograph that. (Disclosure: I wasn't even in the room.) Here, though, is my re-creation of the ingredients: LazyBake cookie pack and 2/3 teaspoon water.

It's actually quite shocking that we got this far into the post without bits of The Girl poking in. She's such a camera hog, normally no one can have a camera out without her flashing a grin / hamming it up / flipping her hair. I digress...

(The above photo proves I had no actual responsibility in the cooking process. See, The Dad is the actual "Fun with the Kids" parent. I merely observe, if you can call it that, from the other room. Everyone knows this.)

The directions say the LazyBake packet makes 4 cookies. Ya, right. This is the "pre-oven" pic, with two small-to-medium cookies. Because The Girl's flour-covered hands are hidden behind her back, you can't tell how hard she worked to get to this point. I know because The Dad told me.

So now is when the real work is displayed:

Put powdered cookie mix + water on Lazy Bake pan into the oven.

Heat with 100 watt light bulb for 10 min. Repeat.

Removing the pan is a careful process. The top of the Lazy Bake oven says in no uncertain terms to not touch the top: It is HOT. So, there is no relying on the machine for leverage in the extraction process. It really takes skills. I promise.

The Girl managed it with aplomb!

I'd like to clarify in fear that some of you might have a hard time following the complex process.
Let's recap.Step One: Open package & pour in a bowl,
Step Two: Mix in the not-quite-a teaspoon of water.
Step Three: Roll into ball with floured hands,
Step Four: Place lovingly in LazyBake pans.
Step Five: Heat under lightbulb for 10 minutes.
Step Six: Decorate!

Step Six started with The Girl and her Older Brother each schmearing a respectable layer of vanilla icing on the sugar cookie. The use of a butter knife was cause for excitement!

Step Six is done with verve at our house. If you look closely, you will notice the the cookie pan is veritably overwhelmed with clear sprinkles. Swimming in sprinkles. Drowning in sprinkles.
The Girl would have no less.

The Girl oh-so-graciously allowed her Older Brother to decorate one of the cookies. Such generosity is laudable when there are only two cookies to work with. I mean, what if a mistake is made? Therefore the only option here is success. And B O Y did they succeed. Have you ever seen such beautiful sugar cookies?

If only you could more easily see the plethora of white sprinkles on The Girl's cookie on the right. Older Brother's cookie - on the left- displays much more restraint . We would expect no less from him.
Christmas cookies as a microcosm of real life.

So that is all. I wish I could tell you how they taste, but since they were left for Santa no one in our house knows how they taste. Santa mentioned (He came a day early at our house. I'll explain later) that they were moist and almost spongy but retained their cookie texture. The amount of sprinkles made for a surprising CRUNCH when taking a bite. That's what Santa told me. When he was at our house. I know you wanted to know. Please message me if you'd like to know how to apply for him to come a day early at your house too. It's fairly easy, but you need to apply early to be part of the trial run on the 23rd.

Chewy, crunchy and festive. I think it's a winner!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good "I HOPE I WIN!"

*Although I made a lasagna for November's Challenge and took copious amount of pictures of the process, I've never actually participated. Since a post with said photos was never developed, I've officially never taken up the mantle of the Challenge.

Spekulatius-Christmas Cookies-Nov./Dec. 2010

2010-12-22T19:02:00.000-08:00

These cookies, called Spekulatius, are a traditional German Christmas Cookie. Typically they have intricate designs and may be topped with slivered almonds. As you can tell I have gone for the plain, less traditional cookie. I feel like the tree and star ARE traditional for this time of year, and I believe fish is a common food item in parts Italy during Christmas. I'm hopeful that the butterfly and manwithcowonhead will take off in years to come. The recipe is simple:

18 oz Flour

7 oz Butter

2 Eggs

2 dr Almond Oil

1 ts Cinnamon

1/2ts Cloves,ground

1/2ts Cardamom ground

1 ts Vanilla

9 oz Sugar

2 ts Baking Powder

4 oz Ground Almonds

Chill for a little bit in the fridge. Roll out to 1/4 inch and cut into desired shapes. Bake on greased cookie sheet for 6-8 minutes. For those who are wondering, I usually use parchment paper...but I wanted to make sure these cookies crisped up on the bottom and I thought the grease might help with that.

These cookies come out crispy and taste like a butter cookie that's been dipped in Chai. Which is awesome and makes these Spekulatius...Spekulishous!

Cream cheese cutouts

2010-12-18T10:12:00.001-08:00

I have many many favorite cookie recipes, but this one is at the top of my Christmas cookie list. My mom always made these and as kids my siblings and I would frost them. My sister now makes the best cream cheese cutouts and her cute girls frost them. This year I am not joining my family in South Dakota but instead staying in Toronto, Ontario therefore I am making the cookies to get me out of my scrooge-like holiday bah humbug spirit. Lucky for me, Devin's sister and her fiance joined us this weekend and we all made cookies together!

Cream cheese cutout cookies
Ingredients
1 C butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 C sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
3 1/2 C flour
1 tsp baking powder

Directions:
Cream butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add sugar, egg, vanilla, and almond; beat until smooth. Stir together flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Mix flour mixture into cream cheese mixture until a dough forms. If you have a great KitchenAid stand mixer this will be very easy. If you are me and only have a hand held mixer, the motor will start to smell so I am forced to use arm muscles and a big spoon to finish the dough. Chill dough in the fridge for 2 hours before rolling. Don't roll the dough too thin or it will brown too quickly.
Cut out cookies using different shaped cookie cutters and bake for 8-10 minutes just until the bottoms are nicely browned in a preheated 375 degree oven.

In the meantime, whip together cream cheese frosting:
1 4 0z package of cream cheese, softened
1/4 C butter
1 tsp. almond extract
2 1/2 to 3 C powdered sugar
milk to thin, if needed
Beat cream cheese, butter, and almond extract with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating well. Thin with milk to reach consistency you desire.
Add food coloring and frost the cookies!

We tended to eat 1 cookie, frost 1 cookie, eat 1 cookie and so on until our bellies ached and still finished with a couple dozen cookies!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Single cup of cocoa seeks level-headed mate for an all-consuming adventure

2010-12-14T18:28:00.000-08:00

I snagged a box of mint hot chocolate from Aldi last week. I drink a cup most every day. I've wanted a cookie to go with it. I hate biscotti because it's too hard to seem edible (hardly edible?) if you don't dip it in your drink. And if you DO dip, it becomes the consistency of the cereal you find still sitting in its milk when you clear the table for lunch. Yuck. So I've been looking for something to go with my hot chocolate.

I'd been feeling pretty inspired by a picture of some mint chocolate cookies I saw online. I tried my hand at those, and I'm eating them these days, but they aren't the best. I make the best chocolate chip cookies in the world (I've been told) and I used that basic recipe (but I'm not telling you what it is) plus Andes baking chunks and green food coloring. It didn't turn out so well -- mostly because it's so difficult to tell when something so green starts to "brown," because if it actually does, it's too late.

I think it's time I ventured out from chocolate cookies. I have a problem in that, when I think I've found the best of something, I stop trying other things. My motto the last few years has been, "Why bother with a cookie if it doesn't have chocolate in it?" But I am getting older and have learned that there is such a thing as "too sweet" or "too much sweet" and hot chocolate plus chocolate cookies is just too much.

We happened upon these promising cookies on the Better Homes and Gardens website. I used their chocolate chip cookie recipe as a guideline for my own, so I figured it was a good place to start.

(This is their picture.)

This is their ingredient list.

1 cup butter, softened
1 3-ounce package cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour (their site has a typo here, but I've fixed it for ya here.)
3/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted and chopped
2/3 cup sliced almonds, chopped

I was TOTALLY pumped that I had (accidentally) purchased all the needed ingredients from Aldi! That's right. You can get everything you need to make these cookies right now at Aldi. That gives this recipe an extra 100 points from me. And it gives Aldi an extra 100 points, too.

We set to work with Pat and Israel mixing the dough. About the time I took the first picture of the process, I realized we had to toast the almond slivers. No problem. We opted for the stove-top method, since the kids and I prefer to be able to observe the toasting process rather than just trusting it to the oven. It worked just fine with some almonds, a pan, and some heat. (And a watchful, very careful, very supervised 3 year old. He's going to be a natural.)

We were having fun in the kitchen. These cookies are very hands-on. Eden was inspired to go make her own "cookies" in her little kitchen area, too. Bonus.

We came to the step of rolling the dough into a snake and I had been pretty excited about letting the Iz help out with this step, but the dough didn't want to stay together as well as playdough might, so it ended up being primarily an adult job. The next step said to roll the dough in the almond slices. It didn't stick as easily as one might hope, but Israel gave a valiant effort in getting as many pieces on each roll as possible.

Eden didn't mind not being able to help with this part after we gave her the first taste-test. She gave her lick of approval to the dough. This was as close as we got to eating cookies this night, though, because the rolls have to chill for 6 hours.

But our dough chilled out for something like 46 hours, because we didn't have time to get back to the cookies until 2 days later. It was all good, though. The rolls were easy to slice with our chef's knife. We also tried our cheese slicer for uniformity, but it was more difficult and we ditched it.

The recipe said to bake the cookies on parchment paper. We don't have parchment paper. I did some online research to see about a substitute for parchment paper, but basically everything said there are no good substitutes for it. One site said something about how back in the day people used to use cooking spray or butter and flour to prevent sticking, so maybe that would work. Wow. I had no idea I'd been living in the dark ages! So I used my Aldi cooking spray, even though other sites had pointed out that this method often encourages cookies to spread. Not about to go out in the cold looking for hoity-toity parchment, we gambled it. I was afraid because the recipe said to put the cookies an inch apart. And I was fearful they would really spread and lose that cool, almond-crusted edge in the picture.

So, after Israel put them on the baking sheet, I re- put them on the baking sheet, far apart and atop a bed of cooking spray. I took a deep breath and put them in the 375 degree oven.

And they were fine! They didn't spread at all. They didn't look substantially different coming out of the oven than they did going in. They just got a little brown on the bottom. But that's pretty. They are pretty good little cookies, too! A brief description:

(This is my picture.)

Pat says they are kind of like sugar cookies, but, "You know how sugar cookies can get all hard sometimes and not taste much? I don't know what it is, but something about these makes them better than that." I say it's the cream cheese. It's a nice flavor in these cookies. The almond flavor is good, too, though I think I might go a little stronger on it next time. They are not too sweet, but my kids like them. They are not gooey at all, but have a nice texture. Pat says they're like shortbread. I say the way they break reminds me of pudding pops. Pat says they're not just dry, but there's also a sort of chewy element to them. I say I would definitely serve these to guests and/or put them in my goody bags for neighbors this year. And maybe I'll attach a bag of cocoa mix, because they go together just perfectly!

Selling points:
- kids are entertained making them
- prep time is 30 minutes (Okay, more if you have helpers...)
- they have a cool crust around them
- they're better than sugar cookies
- you don't have to drive all around town looking for the ingredients
- they're simple to make
- they're a perfect companion for warm beverages

Salted Chocolate Cookies: Holiday Edition

2010-12-12T17:01:00.000-08:00

Ok, so this is my first Cooking Challenge posting. Forgive me if I screw up. I got this recipe from my stepmom, who makes all sorts of awesome cookies.

These cookies hold no special holiday connection for me save the fact that I love them so much I could quite possibly punch Santa in the face for a plate of them. The batch I make is a double recipe because a single batch makes about 36 cookies or so...which is never enough. Ever.

So, first it's time for the "not at all bad for you" ingredient list. Remember, this is the double batch ingredient list.

12 oz semisweet chocolate
12 T unsalted butter
3 C flour
1 C cocoa
4 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
8 eggs
3 C sugar
2 t vanilla
1 C powdered sugar
dark chocolate kisses
coarse salt

Awesomeness comes at a price. The price of these cookies (aside from the size of your butt) is that this is a two day process. I've tried making them in one day, and it really just doesn't work.

Day One (about 20 minutes)

A ridiculous amount of butter

Begin by melting the butter in a double boiler--or if you're cheap like me, a bowl in a pan. Add the semisweet chocolate. I like the chips because they melt faster.

mmmmm melty chocolate goodness

Beat the eggs, sugar, and vanilla on medium high for 1 minute.

Ainsley was helping me...mostly by bossing me around and saying "I want that." She is asserting her tiny Napoleon-like demands above.

Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Be sure to lift the whisk out of the dry ingredients and spray the dry ingredients all over your jammies.

Trippy

Pour the chocolate/butter into the egg/sugar/vanilla mixture. Curse that there are 3 bowls in this recipe and you can't just say wet or dry ingredients. Be sure to take some time to marvel at the pretty swirly patterns that happen when you mix in the chocolate. Pointing and saying, "ooh pretty" is appropriate.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. If your hand mixer is as old as your first college apartment, it will whine and possibly smoke. This does not affect the quality of the cookie's taste.

Refrigerate the giant bowl of goodness overnight

Day Two (about an hour or two--depending on how many cookies you cook at once)

In an effort to make these cookies more holiday-esque, I ran to Country Kitchen to buy some green and red petal dust to tint the powdered sugar. If you're ever in Fort Wayne, you must come to Country Kitchen. It's like crack.

My recipe says to roll 1 T of the batter into 1" balls. I deem those cookies ridiculously too small and just eyeball it. Roll the balls (heh) in the tinted powdered sugar. Put them on parchment paper on cookie sheets.

Prebaking

Post baking

Bake the cookies for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Place kisses in the center of each cookie. Then return the cookies to the oven for 5-15 seconds. The kisses should look shiny but not melty. This is a pain in the butt to get right. I've learned that if you do them too long or not long enough, the salt doesn't stick. I'm sure someone with more culinary chops could get this right faster than I did.

Sprinkle the cookies generously with salt. I like to use kosher salt because it's larger. I'm also superfly impatient, so after I've sprinkled the cookies with salt, I put them on a plate in the freezer to reset the kisses. If you don't, they'll be soft and squishy for a while. Then when you're clumsy, you'll bump them and squish the kisses. This is acceptable if your want your salted crinkle cookies to look like boobs with strange, pointy nipples. However, that may not be appropriate for your cookie clientele.

So, this is the first time I tried to gussy these cookies up with color and non-salt sprinkles. It worked and they were very festive. I found they appeared more festive when they are placed on a Santa platter and held next to a Christmas tree.

I also geeked out at the petal dust implications of this recipe--pastels for Easter parties; red, white, and blue for 4th of July; orange and black for Halloween. The possibilities are endless. ENDLESS I tell you!

Adrienne called me names for making the cookies.

Be sure to take the cookies to a gathering. Then marvel as your friends and family enjoy the cookies, then hoard them from one another, then yell at you for their being so good that they ate 10 of them.

Note the look of deliciousness on Aunt Sarah's face. Xander isn't old enough to love the cookies. More for us!

Christmas Mice

2010-12-10T18:53:00.000-08:00

Madeline, my five year old, has this kids Christmas cookie recipe book and she absolutely loves it. This morning she sat and read all her favorite recipes to me, it has picture step-by-step instructions. Really great, right? Well, I thought it was a Christmas cookie book, but it actually says "Christmas CookING" but I had told her, "You get to pick a recipe for us to make and that will be our cooking challenge entry." She picked Christmas Mice. It isn't a cookie, it is more like a very unsubtle cavity attack, but don't kick me out on this technicality.

This is what Christmas Mice are supposed to look like: cute right? And EASY I thought... no baking, no waiting to decorate. Just 4 ingredients to mix and shape and decorate, fun!

So you know where this is going. First of all, the ingredients are Powdered Sugar, Coconut, Sweetened Condensed Milk, and pink food coloring. So pretty much.. sugar, and a little red dye to really make your kid freak out. What the hell was I thinking?!

You can imagine how very sticky those first four ingredients are when mixed, can you not? Well, I'm ahead of myself. Here are the pictures to tell the story:

Maddie: OMG, I'm still sifting these two cups of powdered sugar!? (after 30 seconds, I ended up sifting the rest while she videotaped the madness)

Slowly pour 1 cup of sweetened condensed milk into the SIFTED powdered sugar while your baby protests from the confinement of her high chair.

Add in 3 cups of flaked coconut and stir until arm falls off. I wish to zeus I could've found some unsweetened coconut.

Divide into two bowls and add a dab of red or pink food coloring to one, and then a dab and a half to the other, so that you can have some light pink and some dark pink mice. This is a CRITICAL step.

Dip a spoon in warm water and scoop out some sugary pink coconutty goodness, then shape the little blob into a mouse. It magically comes off the spoon and looks just like a mouse.... NOT!

I would like you to meet our best mouse. Decorate using candy for ears (we used almond joy pieces), pearl decorating ball for eyes, and twizzler peely cherry licorice for tail, or whatever.

These guys were pretty cute, too.

Holy Crap! They really do multiply quickly. You don't want a close up of these, trust me. Ah well, we had fun.... right? And a few cavities never hurt anyone. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cookies, December 2010

2010-12-01T19:02:00.000-08:00

We've been considering having a Christmas Cookie exchange with friends and family this year. Who doesn't love a plate full of assorted holiday cookies and candies? You don't need to make the whole assortment. Just give us your favorite holiday cookie or candy treat. If we use your recipe we'll let you know.

RESULTS: September/October 2010 (Fictional Food)

2010-12-01T18:53:00.001-08:00

Most inventive/unique: Schlopp!!
Best cooking story: Bananas Foster
I desire to eat this immediately: The Krabby Patty
Most effortless (but in a good way): Cup O’Pizza
Best Photo(s): Schlopp!!
Best In Show: Schlopp!!

Thanks to all who accepted the challenge.

Goat Cheese Roll-Lasagna-Sept./Oct. 2010

2010-11-07T19:06:00.000-08:00

I have to admit I’m torn about the whole cottage vs. ricotta debate. On the one hand using cottage cheese reminds me of how my mom makes lasagna, but it’s messy more like a lasagna soup. On the other hand ricotta holds its shape better, has a more authentic flavor, but there’s no nostalgia there for me. So, I did what any sane person would do. I used goat cheese.

I made some fresh pasta. I joined two sheets together in order to get a wider noodle.

I then cooked the pasta.

I had my fillings ready. Just your basic leftover bolognaise sauce (I drained this so it wasn’t too runny), goat cheese and some shredded mozzarella. I smeared the noodle with goat cheese,

topped with bolognaise,
added some shredded mozz.

Then I rolled it up jelly roll style.
I placed it in a loaf pan and baked until it was done.

It held its shape OK. I think that next time I’ll make the tomato sauce separately to give it a little better chance at holding its form. The flavor, though, was INTENSE and with a depth not found with ricotta or cottage. The richness of the goat cheese really made this a memorable lasagna. It was almost too much flavor, but we couldn’t complain too much because our mouths were full.

All in all this was a lasagna I’ll make again. It was a little soupy, like mom’s. It held together OK, like ricotta. Now I’m nostalgic for some good old fashioned goat cheese lasagna.

Indian Lasagna - Sept/Oct - Lasagna Challenge - Sara

2010-11-07T19:00:00.000-08:00

I’m feeling this months challenge. I too went for a fusion theme! I have wanted to make paneer cheese for quite some time. Thinking about how the texture is so similar to ricotta, I figured why not make some for an Indian Lasagna?!

First, to make the Paneer:

You need Milk, cheese cloth, and Lemon (or lime or vinegar). I used this website: http://sonic.net/~alden/Chefresh.html (search for Paneer and you’ll find it). This was super simple!

For the lamb mixture I browned the following in a skillet:

1lb lamb

1 tbsp garlic paste

1 tbsp ginger paste

1 tbsp cilantro paste

1 tsp garam masala

½ tsp salt

1/8 tsp cloves

For the sauce I simmered the following and then used an immersion blender on it:

14 oz crushed tomatoes

1 medium onion minced

1 tbsp garlic paste

1 tbsp ginger paste

1 tsp salt

1/8 tsp cloves

fresh cilantro (or paste)

1 tsp cumin

½ tsp chili powder

½ tsp mustard powder

1 tsp coriander

For fresh pasta I use the following recipe (roughly):

1 cup flour

1 egg

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp water

Knead well and let rest for about 30 minutes

I decided to infuse my pasta with cilantro! On the top piece I snipped cilantro leaves and sandwiched them between to sheets of pasta and then rolled them out in the auto roller for the Kitchenaid. For the middle & bottom slice I used cilantro paste and kneaded it into the dough and then rolled it out with the auto roller. It was pretty cool.

Here are the fixins’! Just layer them like you would any ol’ lasagna. *** UPDATE *** I also added an egg to the lamb & paneer mixture **

The top slice is slathered in ghee so the pretty herbs aren’t covered. Nobody puts cilantro in the corner!

Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour. This was really superb. Very delicate, the paneer worked great. I’m pretty proud of it!

Deconstructed Greek Lasagna-- September/October 2010

2010-11-06T11:10:00.000-07:00

So. It is well established that I am very lazy. (See the fact that I'm posting my OCTOBER entry in the first week of November. Ahem.) When presented with the challenge of making lasagna, a notorious time-suck of a dish, I heaved an internal sigh. All that LAYERING. All the dirty pots. Yuck. And then, factor in the baking time. I half-heartedly searched lasagna recipes on the trusty ol' internet, looking for something to strike me, when I came across this on the Good Housekeeping website. I believe I actually shouted, "AHA!" THIS is lasagna for the lazy at heart. No layering! No baking! They called it Greek lasagna toss, but I tweaked the spices, so I have reserved to right to re-name it. It's now Deconstructed Greek Lasagna. VICTORY IS MINE! Check it out...

You will need the following:
Lasagna noodles
2T olive oil
One onion, diced
Two cloves of garlic, diced
1 24oz can of plum tomatoes
Fresh oregano and rosemary-- a few stems of each
1T crushed red pepper
Salt to taste
2lb shrimp-- tails off
1/2 C feta cheese, with more for sprinkling
Fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish

Start a pot of water boiling for your lasagna noodles, and in a separate large skillet, heat the olive oil and add chopped onion.

Allow the onions and the chopped garlic to cook 'til opaque, then add plum tomatoes, and break them up with the back of a spoon. (Or the weird wooden paddle-y thing I prefer to use these days.)

Mmmm. Things are starting to smell good. Around this time, the water you started for the lasagna noodles should be boiling, so go ahead and put the noodles in the water. Add the chopped fresh herbs and the crushed red pepper to the tomato mixture, and let it simmer for a few minutes.

See the steamy goodness? It's about to get better. It's time to introduce the shrimp. I had frozen shrimp, so I defrosted it under some warm running water for a few minutes, and let it defrost the rest of the way in the sauce itself. Then, I tossed in the feta cheese.

I stirred it allll up, and about this time the lasagna noodles were done. I drained them, and then added the tomato shrimp goodness to the hot noodles, and tossed the parsley on top-- it was a thing of beauty.

Yummmmmm. A side note-- please, please, PLEASE-- if you decide to make this stuff-- make this bread to go with it.

Isn't it ADORABLE? It was absolutely delicious, and SUPER SIMPLE. Here's the link-- seriously, make this.

Anyway. Back to dinner. I KNEW the 4yo would immediately reject anything involving shrimp and/or feta cheese, so I just gave her leftovers. But, she loved the bread. (She said to Melissa, "You MUST try this bread! It's GOOOOD!") And she wanted me to take her picture. Here's your dose of cute.

She gives the leftovers a big thumbs up. Next, we had a special guest for dinner-- cousin Melissa! Wooooo! She, too, enjoyed her dinner:

Jay, too, found the meal to be delicious. He said it was "perfectly spiced". That's me, tooting my horn. Toot.

I was really happy with it, too. It took a whole 25 MINUTES to prepare, and it was delicious. I would serve it to anyone. If the queen were coming for dinner, and didn't have a shellfish allergy, she would eat this happily.

Mexican Lasagna

2010-11-05T16:48:00.000-07:00

We always do Mexican food with margaritas every Friday night so when this challenge was posted I wanted to do Mexican lasagna - but I don't like the mushy tortillas that are usually used for this - so this is my vegetarian, fusion version using the noodles and a tofu ricotta and the rest mexican ingredients.

So you will need:

For the Mexican style fake tofu ricotta:

1 block extra firm tofu (first picture) drained and mashed
Juice of two limes (only one shown - oops!!)
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 cup tofu sour cream or regular sour cream
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt

Place all the above ingredients in a food processor and whir up til it looks like this:

Next for the sauce you will need:

2 cups salsa
2 cups diced tomatoes with juice
1 onion minced
3-4 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cup water
Salt and pepper to taste
drizzle of olive oil

Saute the onion and garlic in the oil til tender then add the remaining ingredients and simmer for about 5 minutes to blend flavors.

While the sauce simmers get the dear hubby busy making his famous pink lemonade margaritas.

1 can frozen pink lemonade
Juice of several limes
Dash of triple sec
3/4 can to full can tequila
lots of ice

Blend and YUMMMMMM!!!!!!

Okay - now for assembly of the lasagna
You will need in addition to the fake ricotta (really, this is very good and we like it better than real ricotta - maybe this is the solution to the ricotta vs. cottage cheese argument!!!)

1 can refried beans
1 can black beans - drained and rinsed
1 bunch cilantro chopped
1 bag veggie mozzarella cheese shreds or regular mozzarella
1 package oven ready lasagna noodles (you don't need to precook these!)

To assemble pour about 1/3 of the sauce on the bottom of a baking dish. Add a layer of lasagna noodles, top with refried beans then the ricotta.

Next layer on the black beans, cilantro and cheese.

Repeat those layers one more time starting with the sauce. Then add a final layer of noodles and top with the remaining third of the sauce.

Cover tightly with foil and back in a 425 degree oven for one hour. Drink a couple of margaritas while you wait - dear hubby can always make another pitcher!!

After downing the margaritas for an hour remove the lasagna and take off foil. Top with more shredded cheese and return to the oven for 10-15 minutes, just enough time for yet another margarita.

Serve it up with salad bread and jalopeno peppers and of course, another margarita!!!!

And now for the verdict -

Thumbs up from the men of the family - both had seconds!!!

We even had Taz the dog interested in this one!!!

And the pickiest eater of the bunch chowed down (she just returned from a tea party and is all princess dressed up!!!

Now where did I put my margarita?????

Vegetable Lasagna

2010-10-10T08:20:00.000-07:00

This lasagna is pretty ordinary, but always good on a cool fall evening. I usually use zucchini however I couldn't find any in the store so I used eggplant instead.

Saute sliced mushrooms (1 container), sliced eggplant (1 medium), diced green pepper (1 medium), onion (1 small), garlic (2 cloves), and spices in olive oil. Add chopped swiss chard when all vegetables are almost done and saute for another couple of minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine 2 C cottage cheese, 1 C shredded mozzarella, 1/4 C Parmesan cheese, 1 egg, fresh sliced basil, oregano, black pepper, garlic powder, and no-salt sun-dried tomato seasoning. I use cottage cheese probably because that is how my mom makes her lasagna and her's has never failed a taste test.Pour some pasta sauce in the bottom of 9x13 inch pan and top with one layer of no-boil lasagne noodles. Top layer with sauce then add another layer of noodles. Spoon half of cottage cheese mixture on noodles then layer with more noodles. Top this layer of noodles with the vegetable mixture then layer on more noodles. Spoon the remaining half of cottage cheese mixture on noodles. Put a final layer of noodles over the cottage cheese mixture. Generously pour pasta sauce over noodles. Add ~1/4 C of water to pasta jar, screw on lid and shake. Pour water-sauce slurry over noodles then sprinkle 1 C of mozzarella cheese over lasagna.

Bake in a pre-heated 350F oven for 30-40 minutes.

In my book, garlic bread and wine must accompany lasagna.
Happy fall to everyone!

Lasagna 2 ways

2010-09-21T07:32:00.000-07:00

So this is my 1st entry!!! Yeah me...Anyhow, I absolutely love lasagna and just happened to making some so this challenge was right up my ally.

My "recipe" - 1 box of lasgna noodles, 1 lb groung turkey, 1lb ground beef, fresh mozzarella balls, 1 16 oz container ricotta, 1 egg, 1 cup shredded italian cheese blend, fresh veggies ( I used cherry tomatoes (from my own garden), mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash & spinach).

My own fresh herbs - basil, sage, rosemary & garlic chives, 1/2 of a small yellow onion, 1 tbsp crushed garlic, salt, pepper & a spoon full of sugar. I love to make my own sauce but the husband prefers Prego (go figure) so that's what I used....I added a 1/2 can of stewed italian tomatoes to this. First, I prepped the veggies, chopped the onion & herbs. Then I roasted my veggies (drizzeled with olive oil), sauteed the onion then added the meat seasoning with salt, pepper, garlic & sugar when nearly brown I added 1/2 of my chopped herbs. Reserving the other 1/2 of the herbs for my ricotta which I mixed up with 1 egg to bind and about a 1/4 cup of the shredded cheese. While the meat & veggies settled I par-boiled my noodles in a deep sautee pan as they "loosen" I then placed in cooking sheet of cool water.

As my title says this is lasgana 2 ways here we go -

I used a 7 x 9 glass baking dish for hubby & an 8 x 8 dish for myself...DH, dislikes my veggies & ricotta so his dish is layered with sauce, noodles, cheese & meat. While mine has all the good stuff!

Bake at 350 for about 45 mins, then enjoy the goodness!

As you can see in the photos I had 2 adorable assistants - mini chefs in the making.

LASAGNA- SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

2010-09-08T20:18:00.001-07:00

Recently a debate has been raging in our community. Should lasagna have ricotta or cottage cheese? Everyone likes it their own way. Show us how you cook lasagna. You don’t even have to use cheese.

Spicy Meatball? - Fictional Food - July/August 2010

2010-08-31T19:05:00.000-07:00

I have been absolutely inspired by the entries so far for this month’s challenge. The posts have been awesome, inventive, and mouth watering. I knew I had to bring my A-game. So, I chose that old classic of western culture…the television commercial. I went with Magdalini’s Meatballs from the Alka-Seltzer commercial. You know, “That’s a-spicy meatball-a!!”
I adapted a Madhur Jaffrey recipe for kebabs as follows:

1 pound of ground beef
1 pound of ground pork
1TBSP coriander seed (whole)
1 TBSP cumin seed (whole)
2tsp fresh black ground pepper
2tsp dried crushed jalapenos
2TBSP chickpea flour (toasted)
2 eggs
Bunch of fresh cilantro, de-stemmed

The recipe calls for the meat to be very finely ground. So, I figured what better chance to use my Kitchenaid meat great attachment. There were a few missteps along the way, though. Well, the video below is short and you can see for yourself:

Luckily, my crème brulee torch cauterized the wound long enough for me to complete the challenge. AND I was able to get most of the bits of me out of the mixture. I added the meat and all the ingredients into the bowl and used the safer flat blade attachment to complete the mixture.

I was having trouble forming the meatballs with one hand, so I pressed the mixture into a flan pan. Baked at 450 F for about 20 minutes.

Something weird happened during the cooking though. It turned green.

Then it dawns on me:

Soylent Green it’s not just people.
It’s ME!!
And I’m delicious.

Cup O' Pizza

2010-08-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

Marie: "You live here? Oh, it's nice. Did you decorate it?"
Navin R. Johnson: "Yeah, I got all this stuff from teh old Cup o' Pizza place before they tore it down.
Marie: "Godd pizza." (the two are eating pizza in a cup)
Navin R. Johnson: Oh, this is the best pizza in a cup ever. This guys is unbelievable. He ran the old Cup o' Pizza guy out of business. People come from all over to eat this."

My selection came down to two choices from classic comedies - Monty Python's "Crunchy Frog" and Steve Martin in The Jerk and his favorite food - Cup o' Pizza. Playing with chocolate and yummy crunchy stuff got nixed since I have just started a diet (Boooo.......Hiss.......). So we embarqed on the quest of taking a flat round food item and smooshing it all into cup form. First I tried to think like our good friend, Navin. But I came up blank......

So then we thought to build deep deep dish pizzas in a muffin pan.

To do this you will need:

Any kind of pizza dough - home made, frozen or refrigerated - I used the refrigerated kind in a can. Your favorite sauce, any variety of pizza toppings, and your favorite cheese.

We used home made spaghetti sauce, onions, veggie pepperoni, squash, and Anaheim chili peppers, and of course our veggie cheese.

Preheat the oven to 375. Then oil the muffin tin (we just hit it with some spray oil). Roll out your pizza dough and using a round cookie cutter or biscuit cutter cut the dough into individual rounds and lay these in the cups of the pan.

Top with a spoon full of sauce,

Then pile on any of your favorite toppings.

We had a great time with this and everyone got to make their own unique Cup o'Pizzas.

Top generously with cheese and then into the oven for about 15-20 minutes - you will see the edge of the crust start to brown and the cheese get all nice and melty.

Let cool, loosen with a knife, pop them out and start munching!!! The kids - big and small thought this was the bomb!!

Since doing this for the photos we have had it a couple more times (as I said it was an instant hit with the kids) and have tried all sorts of toppings - we did these with pesto instead of tomato sauce, and a round with refried beans rather than sauce. Next on my list is a white sauce and hide yucky stuff like spinach and artichokes in it.

Then, once perfected we are gonna put that muffin tin pizza guy down the road outa business!!!

The Krabby Patty - Fictional Food- Brooke

2010-08-21T18:02:00.000-07:00

According to Spongebob Squarepants lore, the Krabby Patty was invented by Eugene Krabs when he was young. He perfected the recipe over time through happenstance involving his friend-turned-nemesis Sheldon Plankton. Eventually he hired Spongebob to cook his most famous dish at the Krusty Krab restaurant. The exact recipe is a matter of some dispute...

(click here to see more about the Krabby Patty ingredients debate)

... but everyone knows that you MUST prepare it with love.

Because nobody in our house is a fan of crab, we substituted tuna. Lee made the patties using his tuna patty recipe, which includes:

3 eggs
4 cups corn flakes, crushed but not to a powder
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
half a large onion
3 cans of tuna
basil and pepper
Makes eight Krabby Patties

For assembly, we followed the instructions in the episode "Pickles," which can also be found at the link above.

2 seaweed seed buns (whole grain buns)
patty
ketchup
mustard
pickles
onions
sea lettuce
sea cheese
tomatoes
secret sauce (tartar sauce)
and a sprinkle of love

Results: Although they weren't cooked by Spongebob and didn't make a dime for Mr. Krabs, our Krabby Patties were delicious! As proof, I submit a photo of my pregnant sister Lori enjoying the heck out of it. Emma was a bit more skeptical, perhaps because she felt that we had nefariously aligned with the evil Plankton in an attempt to replicate the treasured Krabby Patty recipe and put Mr. Krabs straight out of business.