Kayte's Kitchen

You say Cottage Pie, I say Shepherd's Pie

2010-03-17T20:04:00.003-04:00

So, during the day today, while I was thinking about making tonight's dinner, I kept referring to the dish I was going to make as Cottage Pie. I can't even remember at this point where I first learned that Shepherd's Pie made with ground beef instead of ground lamb should be referred to as Cottage Pie. And since I've never made either before, I really had no reason to worry about the specifics. Turns out, here in the good old US of A, we refer to it as Shepherd's Pie whether it's made with lamb or beef. From what I read on Wikipedia, in England they make the distinction, based on what type of meat is used. But the article I read said that in Ireland, they will refer to it as Shepherd's Pie whether beef or lamb is used. Why might this be so important, you might ask?? Well, because today is St. Patrick's Day and, being the good Irish girl that I am, I decided to make something traditionally Irish for dinner tonight. I've made Irish Soda Bread in past years, and had totally planned on making some today. But my laziness got the best of me and my family is lucky I bothered to cook anything at all :) So anyway, for my purposes, this dish will be known as Shepherd's Pie, being that I'm both American and Irish :)

This is a tradition Irish dish that is made, usually, to use up leftovers. So I'm pretty sure you could use any vegetable you have in the house. I considered adding green beans, but I thought my husband might boycott, since there are already peas in it and he doesn't much like either peas or greens beans. So I left the green beans out. But, like I said, I'm sure most any vegetable would go well here.

I saw this recipe on this morning's CBS Early Show and decided it would be perfect for dinner tonight because I had everything I needed and because I had been trying to think of something Irish to make. I was happy that this recipe turned out to be kosher-friendly. I found that a lot of the Irish recipes I was finding weren't. I mean, I know I can always omit the bacon or ham or whatever. But still, I needed something that was already easily made kosher without having to make a whole lot of substitutions due to my lack of motivation :) The only thing I had to do was scale the recipe down a bit. I only had a pound of beef to work with and the original recipe calls for 2 pounds of lamb. Also, I chose to omit the celery since I pretty much despise the stuff, so I just added an extra carrot. I used an 8x8 baking dish to bake mine and the "gravy" started bubbling over the sides. Probably because I forgot to scale down the amount of broth I used. But it turned out OK. I just put a baking sheet underneath of the baking dish while it was baking to avoid any drippings ending up on my stove. And I like lots of gravy anyway, so it all worked out. The only other changes I made were to use beef broth instead of chicken broth and I did not brush my potato topping with heavy cream and I used dried basil instead of thyme.

Shepherd's Pie ( source: CBS Early Show)
INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 pounds ground lamb
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 large carrots, diced
1 large celery rib, diced
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup frozen peas
Simple Mashed Potatoes (recipe below)
2 tablespoons heavy cream

METHOD:
Preheat oven to 400°F.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the lamb and use a wooden spoon to break up the meat as it browns, season with salt and pepper. Transfer browned lamb to a paper towel lined dish to drain. Wipe skillet clean.

Heat remaining oil in skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, celery, carrots and thyme. Cook until the onions are translucent and vegetables are tender, about 10 to 12 minutes. Return the lamb to the skillet and stir in the tomato paste. Add flour. Cook about 2 minutes. Pour in the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and let cook until the sauce begins to thicken. Stir in the corn and peas.

Transfer to a casserole dish and spread mashed potatoes on top. Use a fork to create swirls on top. Brush with heavy cream. Bake 20 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

Simple Mashed Potatoes

INGREDIENTS:
2 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and quartered
Kosher salt
1/2 cup whole milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

METHOD:
Place potatoes in a medium pot. Cover with cold water and add 1 teaspoon salt. Bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat. Lower heat to a simmer and cook until potatoes are fork tender, about 20 minutes. Drain.

In the meantime, heat milk and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until butter is melted and milk is very hot but not simmering.

Return the potatoes to the pot and add the hot milk mixture and 2 teaspoons salt. Using a handheld electric mixer, whip the potatoes until smooth and creamy with no lumps. Adjust seasoning to taste.

I did not use Katie Lee's mashed potato recipe since it would have made this dish not kosher. I just boiled my potatoes in salted water until they were fork tender, drained them, and mixed them with some chicken broth and parve margarine. They were pretty tasty, but if you're not worrying about keeping it kosher, I'd go with the butter and cream version :) Mostly because I think butter and cream makes everything better. But honestly, I didn't miss it in this recipe. It was super flavorful and my whole family loved it.

Beef Stew

2010-02-08T21:51:00.006-05:00

So, incase you hadn't heard, the Mid Atlantic was hit by a HUGE snowstorm on Saturday. Here in Columbia, MD, we got 30+ inches of snow, and we're expecting another 12-20 inches tomorrow night. Needless to say, we've been pretty much stuck in the house, no school (I happen to be on vacation this week) and lots of free time that is getting harder to fill. I'm trying not to bake too much, because I know we'll just sit around and eat it all out of boredom. I have some chili leftover from last weekend, but since Rob and Maura don't like chili, I knew I needed to make something warm and comforting for them.

I have made beef stew once before, in my Crock Pot, and it was ok, but nothing I was head over heels for. My mom makes a wonderful beef stew, but I wanted to try something a little different. When I saw that this recipe called for red wine, I knew this would be the one I'd try because I'm always looking for a reason to cook with wine, and because I had half a bottle sitting around that needed using up. Also, I found this recipe on my good friend Chelle's website, and I know that any recipe that she has endorsed is going to be a good one. This will, from now on, be my go to Beef Stew recipe.

I plan on playing around with a little to make it more broth-y. The potatoes and beef soaked up most of the liquid, and the stew was amazingly flavorful, but I would have preferred more broth. I am amazed by how few ingredients this stew called for, yet how much flavor it has. I was floored and I can't wait to eat the leftovers. It was so simple and so comforting, and I am quite sure I will always have beef stew meat waiting in my freezer to make this dish.

I will link to the recipe on Chelle's site, but I will also post my slightly adapted version below. Chelle originally found this recipe on Good Things Catered, but I believe it was originally an America's Test Kitchen recipe.

Hearty Beef Stew

2 lbs. beef stew meat, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2 in. cubes
Salt and ground pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 medium onions, chopped
3 medium garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup dry red wine
2 cups beef broth
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried basil
4 medium red potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-in. cubes
4 large carrots (about 1 lb.), peeled and sliced 1/4 in. thick

Dry beef throughly and season generously with salt and pepper.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in heavy-bottomed pot over medium high heat. Add half the meat so that pieces are not touching and cook not moving until brown (about 2-3 min). Use tongs and rotate pieces until all sides are browned (about 5 additional min.). Transfer beef to medium bowl and add another 1 tablespoon oil to pan, repeating previous steps with other half of beef (I wasn't able to do this process in just 2 batches. I had to do it in thirds.)

Reduce heat to medium and add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to now empty pan and swirl to coat bottom. Add onions and 1/4 tsp salt and cook, scraping bottom of pan for brown bits until softened (about 5 mins). Add garlic and continue to cook for 30 sec. Stir in the flour and cook until lightly colored (1-2 min.). Add wine, scraping the bottom and stiring until thick and flour is dissolved.

Gradually add the beef broth, stirring constantly, scraping up the remaining browned bits on bottom of pan. Add bay leaves and thyme and return to simmer. Add beef, return to simmer, reduce heat to low, and cover. Simmer for 1 hour.

Add potatoes and carrots, leave uncovered, increase heat to medium and cook for about 45 minutes.

Discard bay leaves and serve immediately.

This is the wine I used. It is one of the best Kosher wines I've found, so far, and I know that this wine is a huge reason why my stew turned out so flavorful. I plan to use this wine next time I need to cook with red wine.

Herbalicious

2009-11-11T20:01:00.005-05:00

So, I don't like turkey. On Thanksgiving, I pile my plate with side dishes and save room for dessert. Call me crazy, but I have just never liked the stuff very much. But when I saw Turkey breasts at Trader Joe's I decided I wanted to try to roast one. Because I love the idea of roasted turkey this time of year. Also, my daughter loves turkey so I knew that even if I didn't like it too much, I could slice it up and make turkey sandwiches for her lunches.

I had the day off today (thanks Veterans!) so I decided that since it was rainy and gross outside, and I had a few extra hours to spare, I'd give the turkey breast a shot. I knew that it couldn't be that complicated. I've roasted meats before and it's one of my favorite ways to prepare proteins because it's so simple and produces such great flavors. All I really needed was a guide to oven temperature and what temperature the turkey needed to come to before we could dig in. So off I went to allrecipes.com. Surprisingly enough, when I typed "turkey breast" into the search field, I came up with a big fat nothing. I was dumbfounded. It's November people! Sites such as this one should be bursting with turkey recipes. Then I remembered seeing a delicious looking roasted turkey recipe on Annie's blog and traveled on over to see what I could see.

Annie's recipe was everything I was looking for. Not only did it sound like an amazingly simple but delicious recipe, Annie told me everything I needed to know about oven temperatures and internal temps for the meat. I knew Annie wouldn't let me down :) The woman is a cooking and baking powerhouse and never ceases to amaze me with her awesome skills in the kitchen. But I digress. Back to the turkey.

I can now honestly say that I love turkey. Prepared just like this. It was amazing. Tender, juicy, flavorful, just the right amount of herbs. The vegetables were out of this world and made me want to jump up and down. I didn't have any white wine in the house, so I used chicken broth instead, and I think I will do this every time I make this recipe. It made for an amazing pan gravy, which we enjoyed pouring over our meat and veggies. We all enjoyed this meal immensely (my husband looked at the pictures as I uploaded them to my computer and said "I miss that meal" heehee) So thanks Annie, for providing me with just the right recipe for an amazing meal for my family :) I strayed from the recipe only slightly, so I'll type it just as a made it, but I"ll link to the recipe on Annie's blog here.

Herb Roasted Turkey Breast with Vegetables

3 cloves garlic minced
1 tbsp. Italian seasoning
2 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 cup olive oil
2-3 lb. turkey breast
4-6 carrots, chopped into 2 inch pieces
1 onion, cut into small pieces
6 red potatoes, quartered
3/4 cup chicken broth

Preheat the oven to 325° F. Combine the garlic, herbs, salt, pepper and olive oil in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Spray a 13x9 inch roasting pan with cooking spray and arrange the vegetables in the pan in a single layer. PLace turkey breast on top of veggies. POur olive oil and herbs over turkey and vegetables, making sure to cover the turkey with the mixture liberally. Rub the oil and herbs into the turkey. If your turkey breast still has the skin on, rub some of the herb mixture underneath the skin as well. Pour the broth over the vegetables, as well as a few splashes over the turkey breast itself.

Bake uncovered for approximately 2 to 2 1/2 hours (mine only took about 1 1/2 hours, until the internal temperature of the turkey breast reaches 170-175° F. Transfer the turkey breast to a serving platter and surround with the roasted vegetables. Let rest 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Apple-Oat Cookies

2009-10-15T18:46:00.003-04:00

Another winner from the Betty Crocker Fall Baking cookbook! I knew this cookbook would serve me well. These cookies are very yummy, and I am excited to take them to my coworkers tomorrow. The only issue I had is that the drizzle was not thick enough and basically soaked right into the cookies. So, aesthetically, they may not be too pleasing, but they sure are yummy.

Apple-Oat Cookies (source: Betty Crocker Fall Baking cookbook)

3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon abking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups old fashioned or quick cooking oats
1 medium apple, peeled and shredded (about 1 cup shredded)
1 cup powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons apple juice or milk (I used milk because we never have apple juice in the house)

Heat oven to 375. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. In large bowl, beat butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Beat in eggs and vanilla, scraping sides occasionally, until blended.

In medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Gradually beat flour mixture into sugar mixture. Stir in oats and apple. Onto cookie sheets, drop by rounded tablespoonfuls, 2 inches apart.

Bake about 10 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.

In medium bowl, beat powdered sugar and apple juice (or milk) until smooth, using wire whisk or fork. Drizzle over cooled cooking on cooling rack. Let stand about 1 hour or until glaze is set.

Makes approx. 3 dozen cookies.

Chicken Soup with Rice

2009-10-15T18:31:00.004-04:00

So the pictures of this soup pretty much speak for themselves. There's not much more that I can say, except that this was one of the most comforting, delicious soups I have ever made. This was my first time making chicken soup with rice instead of noodles, and I definitely prefer the rice. Of course, Maura and Rob both said they prefer noodles, so there ya go. Anyway, I loved this soup and plan on making it this way from now on. So there! I decided to go ahead and cook the rice separately. I figured that way the rice would not soak up all the yummy broth.

I normally use boneless skinless chicken breasts in my soup, but I opted for chicken legs and thighs this time. My reason for this was that I was making my own stock, and I used chicken leg quarters to make it. So I just used the meat from making my stock in my soup. I definitely prefer the flavor of the dark meat over the white, and it is so much more affordable. I doubt that I'll ever use white meat in my soups again. It just dries out too quickly.

Chicken Soup with Rice
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 carrots, peeled and cut into coins
2 celery stalks, sliced
4 cups chicken stock (I used homemade. You could definitely use store bought)
3 chicken thighs and 3 chicken legs, cooked and de-boned (You could definitely use pre-roasted chicken here. Or you could use boneless skinless breasts. I just find that the dark meat is juicier and more flavorful)
Thyme, basil, oregano, salt and pepper (I did not measure these at all. Sorry!)

1 cup long grain rice
2 cups water

In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and onions and cook until softened. Add carrots and celery and cook over medium heat for approximately 3-5 minutes, or until vegetables are softened. Add stock, chicken, and herbs and spices. Cook over medium-low heat, testing the seasoning as it cooks, for approximately 45 minutes.

In a separate pot, add rice and water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook for approximately 15-20 minutes, or until all of the water is absorbed into the rice and the rice is light and fluffy. Fluff rice with fork and spoon into soup bowls. Ladle soup over rice and enjoy!

Pumpkin Cookies with Browned Butter Frosting

2009-10-12T11:47:00.005-04:00

So, apparently, the big pumpkin scare is over. I was worried there for a while that I wouldn't be able to find any canned pumpkin this season, and I have to admit that I was getting kind of anxious about it. I did end up finding a bunch of sugar pumpkins to roast, which kept my anxiety at bay. But now the shelves in the stores seem to have an ample supply of the canned stuff so everyone can stop panicking :-) I grabbed a few small cans at Target last week, and my Mom grabbed me 4 of the big guys. So now I should be set until next year :) I'd also like to thank my good friend Meredith for picking me up a can of pumpkin when she found some at the grocery store. Sorry I had to turn it away Mere, but I just don't know what I'd do with one more can! Thanks for thinking of me anyway!

Now, on to these cookies. I believe I started hearing about these last fall on a cooking message board I used to frequent a lot more often than I do these days. I'm pretty sure I recall these babies being pretty popular and I'm not sure why I never tried them. I guess I just had so many other things to try, they never made it close enough to the top of the list. Well, I am really glad that I decided to give these a whirl because they are really yummy! A note of caution though, the frosting is very rich. I mean, 3 cups of confectioner's sugar will hurt your teeth, and your tummy. The recipe says to frost the cookies generously, but I think just a thin spread would be sufficient. I went ahead and generously frosted mine, and they are very yummy, but maybe a bit too much frosting for me. I think spreading too much frosting on hides the real flavor of the cookies. And these cookies deserve to shine. They are light and cakey with a hint of spice from the cinnamon. I'd even venture to say you could go without the frosting, if you're the kind of person who prefers their cookies frosting-free. Either way, these are a winner, and I'm excited for Maura to test them out when she gets home from school today.

Pumpkin Cookies with Browned Butter Frosting (source: Betty Crocker by way of Carrie's Sweet Life)

2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup pumpkin ( not pie mix)
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Browned Butter Frosting

3 cups confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3-4 tablespoons milk
1/3 cup butter (do not use margarine or spread; it will burn)

Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, beat granulated sugar, brown sugar, 3/4 cup butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally, until well blended. Beat in pumpkin and eggs until well mixed. On low speed, beat in flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. (I always mix my dry ingredients together with a whisk before adding them to my wet mixture. This way, I'm sure that everything is as evenly incorporated as possible.)

On ungreased cookie sheets, drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until almost no indentation remains when touched in center. Immediately remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 45 minutes.

In medium bowl, place confectioner's sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 3 tablespoons milk. In 1 quart saucepan (I used my 9 inch nonstick skillet and it worked just fine) heat 1/3 cup butter over medium heat, stirring constantly, just until light brown,

Pour browned butter over powdered sugar mixture. Beat on low speed about 1 minute or until smooth. Gradually add just enough of the remaining tablespoon of milk to make frosting creamy and spreadable. Generously frost cookies. (I did not need to add any additional milk. Three tablespoons was perfect.)

I wanted to add that I think this frosting would pair well with other types of desserts. I'm thinking some kind of spice cake or apple spice cake. Maybe I'll experiment with it a bit...

Dutch Apple-Pumpkin Crisp and the (possible) return of my blog

2009-09-30T12:22:00.004-04:00

Fall is officially here. Which means I'm probably going to be doing more baking, much to the chagrin of my bathroom scale. I had to cut back on my baking because we were all eating way too many sweets and no one could fit into their pants. So, now that I have lots of coworkers who are willing to eat all my yummy goodies so I don't have to, I figure I'll bake more and see how it goes. My problem is that when I take the goodies into work, I still have to face them and the temptation that comes along with them. So we'll see.

The other main reason for my complete abandonment of my blog is that I just don't make anything new and exciting. Pretty much the same stuff every week. All stuff that has already been posted here. So obviously, I had no reason to blog.

Well, while shopping over the weekend, my mom and I found one of those wonderful little Betty Crocker "cookbooks" in the checkout aisle at Target. It was full of a ton of really yummy Fall Baking recipes, so we both grabbed one and pored over it when we got back to her house. It was so hard to decide what to make first. A few things stood out to me, but I just couldn't pick something. So with the help of the lovely ladies on The Nest's What's Cooking message board, I decided to go ahead and try the Dutch Apple-Pumpkin Crisp.

I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical about this one. For some reason, the idea of pumpkin and apple together just sounded a little off to me. I don't know that I've ever had them together before now. Well, Betty Crocker sure does know her stuff. Cause this is a seriously delicious dessert. And incredibly easy as well. Chopping the apples is the most complicated part of the whole process. I highly recommend looking for Betty Crocker's Fall Baking mini cookbook in the checkout aisle of your local Target/grocery store. There are some really great looking recipes that I'm sure you'll see featured here in the near future.

Dutch Apple-Pumpkin Crisp (source: Betty Crocker's Fall Baking cookbook)

1 1/2 cups chopped peeled apples (2 small) - I used 2 small apples and didn't measure. But I don't feel like that was quite enough. I"ll probably do 3 small or 2 medium apples next time
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup of milk- I used half and half because all I had was skim milk and I really wanted this to be rich and creamy
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 egg
whipped cream, if desired

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread apples over bottom of 9-inch glass pie plate. Microwave uncovered on high about 4-6 minutes or until apples are crisp-tender.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, toss 3/4 cup flour, the brown sugar, butter and 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice until crumbly. Set aside.
3. In medium bowl, beat remaining ingredients except whipped cream with wire whisk until smooth. Pour over apples. Sprinkle with flour mixture.
4. Bake 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and set. Cool 20 minutes. Serve warm with whipped cream.

Hummus

2009-01-24T14:50:00.002-05:00

I got the inspiration for this hummus from Katie over at Good Things Catered. I will link her recipe here, but type my slightly different version below. I have been wanting to try my hand at some homemade hummus for a long time, and since I finally own a food processor, I decided that would be a great way to use it for the first time. I used 2 cloves of garlic, which worked out fine for me since I love the stuff. But if you're not a fan of lots of garlic, I'd cut it back to maybe just 1 clove. This is such an easy recipe, even for a first timer and I can't wait to dive into it with some pita chips!

Hummus

1 15 oz can of chick peas, drained (reserve the liquid)
1-2 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp+ extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp+ tahini
1/4 tsp salt
juice of 1 lemon (I didn't happen to have any lemons today, so I left this out. Don't know how big of a deal it is. It tastes fine to me without it!)

In a blender or food processor, combine chick peas, garlic, olive oil, 1 tsp tahini, salt and half the lemon juice. Process for about 1-2 minutes and check the flavor and consistency. Add more tahini, lemon juice and reserved liquid from the chick peas as needed. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes before serving.

I found that I ended up needing more olive oil than just 2 tbsp. But that could be because I didn't use the lemon juice? I'm not really sure. I will definitely be playing with this recipe a little and maybe trying some adaptations like adding roasted red peppers or roasted garlic in place of the raw garlic I used today.

First Time's a Charm

2008-11-08T19:23:00.005-05:00

So, until today, I had never tried to make chili. As a matter of fact, for a large part of my life I didn't even like chili. I had a huge aversion to beans growing up and avoided eating anything that contained them. Well, as with pretty much everything else I thought I didn't like (don't worry, there wasn't much. I've never been super picky) I've learned after trying them again, that I do, in fact, like beans. My biggest problem with chili is that I love to put cheese and sour cream on mine, but since we keep kosher at home I wouldn't be able to have ground beef in my chili if I wanted to add sour cream and cheese. And I worried that I'd miss the beef. I considered adding fake beef, like the Morningstar Farms crumbles I've used before. But I've never really been a huge fan. They're alright, but I didn't want them in my chili.

I decided that I'd go ahead and look for a vegetarian chili recipe and atleast give it a shot. I don't have a whole lot of patience for searching through recipes and recipe reviews looking for the perfect recipe. Actually, it probably has less to do with patience and more to do with the fact that my 9 year old can be a bit demanding. So I don't always have a ton of time to sit at the computer searching through websites. Anyway, it all worked out perfectly because within about 2 minutes I found what looked to me like the perfect recipe on allrecipes.com. I really wanted a chili recipe that didn't include any seasoning packets and that also looked like it would be easy to adapt to my own liking. The recipe I found turned out to be perfect and I honestly don't think I would change a single thing from the way I made it. The recipe on allrecipes called for tofu, but i decided not to add it. Instead, I added just a little more beans and some frozen corn. It turned out amazing and colorful and I absolutley loved it. I am so happy that I have found my go-to chili recipe on the first try.

I think the one thing that really made me choose this recipe in the first place was the picture on the website. It looked exactly like what I wanted my chili to look like. And although mine came out looking a bit different, it ended up tasting exactly like I wanted my chili to taste. Which is what's really important, right? But it just proves the statement that we eat with our eyes :-) I'll link here to the original recipe here, but will type my adapted version below.

Vegetarian Black Bean Chili

~1/4 cup olive oil
~2 onions, chopped
~1 green pepper and one red pepper, chopped (I happened to have a bag of frozen red, green and yellow pepper slices in my freezer so i chopped those up and used them instead)
~2 cloves garlic, minced
~8 oz frozen corn
~1 29 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed (I also added a little bit more from some I had leftover from another black bean dish i made last week. not sure how much more I added though)
~1 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes (I didn't actually add the whole can because I was afraid if I added too much it would water down the chili. It would probably be ok to use the whole can though)
~1 tsp salt
~1/4 tsp black pepper
~1 tsp ground cumin
~2 tbsp chili powder (the original recipe called for 6 tbsp, but I did half the recipe and decided not to add 3 tbsp of chili powder. I don't like my chili super spicy)
~1 tbsp oregano
~1 tbsp cider vinegar

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions and cook until soft. Add peppers, garlic and corn and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender.

Pour beans, crushed tomatoes and seasonings into pot, lower heat to low and simmer on stove top approximately 4 hours. Makes about 6 servings (This is a total guess. The original recipe says it makes 8 servings, but even just making half the recipe made a ton of chili).

Oh, and before I forget, I had an awesome helper in the kitchen today. Maura helped with everything from stirring the chili to baking the cookies. Thanks Maura!

Apple Spice Cookie Bars

2008-10-18T20:52:00.003-04:00

Fall is my favorite time of year. I love when the temperature drops and I can start wearing my sweatshirts and jackets again. There is something about the air that I just love this time of year. But another reason I love this season so much is because of all the fall baking I get to do. Luckily, I have lots of friends and family and coworkers to share my goodies with so I don't have to worry about eating them all :-)

We started a new tradition last year of going to the apple orchard and picking apples. We went to a different orchard this year. It was much bigger and they had things besides apples for us to pick. We got a bunch of heads of broccoli and some bunches of fresh spinach. So exciting! I definitely see a quiche in my future...

But we came home with about 15 pounds of apples, and aside from having plenty of apples to snack on, I knew I'd want to bake something new and yummy. So I went blog surfing last night and came up with these tasty looking treats on Katie's blog. They looked amazing so I decided they would be the first thing I made with my apples.

I am so glad that I stumbled across this recipe. It is relatively simple and the taste screams fall. If you're like me and love fall baking, you must try these!

Katie's Apple Spice Cookie Bars (source: Good Things Catered)

2 c. plus 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
small pinch ground cloves
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 c. packed brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 apples, peeled and diced
cinnamon sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 9x13 pan with foil and baking spray. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. Whisk to combine well and set aside.

In bowl of stand mixer, combine sugars and butter and beat on medium high until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well to combine. Add vanilla extract and beat to combine. Turn mixer on slow and fold in flour mixture a little at a time until just combined. Fold in apples. Spread mixture evenly into prepared pan and sprinkle top generously with cinnamon sugar.

Place in oven and bake until cooked through, when top slightly bounces back to the touch, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely before removing from pan, cutting and serving.

World Day of Bread - Cornbread

2008-10-16T20:42:00.004-04:00

I'm back in business! After months of not posting in my beloved blog, I'm back in the blogging world. I have to give some of the credit for getting me back into it to my good friend Chelle. If she hadn't told me about the World Day of Bread, I would have probably gone weeks or months without posting anything. So thanks for being the extra little motivation I needed Chelle! I am so excited to be participating in World Day of Bread. I love the smell of fresh bread baking in my home. And I have, sadly, not had a whole lot of time to do much bread baking lately. So I am going to use this event to help motivate me to make more time for trying different bread recipes in the near future.

My one and only issue was that I was afraid I wouldn't have time to make something and blog it before the deadline. I knew I definitely wouldn't have time to do a yeast bread. And I couldn't come up with any quick breads that I either hadn't tried yet or was interested in making. So I consulted my other good friend, Martha Stewart. Now I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook is a must have if you're as in love with baking as I am. Some of the recipes seem a little intimidating or daunting, but there's really something for everyone in here. And there are pictures for every recipe, which I love. But my favorite thing about this book is the detail. Martha has taken so much time to explain how things work and what tools you'll really need to do what. There is so much attention to detail in this book, that even a novice baker, like myself, would feel comfortable tackling even the most intimidating recipe.

So I went to my Martha Stewart Baking Handbook in search of a relatively simple, no yeast, bread recipe. There were so many options, but I decided on the cornbread. Cornbread is something that I have not mastered yet, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to try another recipe. The flavor of this cornbread is amazing. The only thing I may do next time is not use skim milk. I think a little milk fat would add some flavor and moisture. Outside of that, this cornbread recipe is very yummy and I will definitely be making it again.

Cornbread (source: Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook pg 51-52)

1/3 cup vegetable shortening, plus more for pan
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal
1 cup milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Coat an 8-inch square baking pan with vegetable shortening; set aside. Melt butter in a medium saute pan over medium-high heat; add corn. Cook, stirring occasionally, until corn has softened and some of the kernels have begun to turn light golden brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside to cool slightly.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the cornmeal. Using a pastry blender, cut shortening into mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Add milk, egg and reserved corn; stir to combine. Do not overmix.

Transfer batter to the prepared pan and bake until the top begins to turn golden and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Martha's Notes: Sauteed corn moistens this cornbread, but you can moit it if you are using the bread in a traditional stuffing. For a spicy variation, add two medium jlapenos, seeded and finely chopped, to the corn before sauteeing. Cornbread is best served the day it is bakes, but it can be kept at room temperature, wrapped well in plastic, for up to 1 day.

I've been a bad blogger...

2008-09-21T16:51:00.002-04:00

I can't believe how long it has been since I've blogged. I have about 3 posts that i've been meaning to get up. But I just haven't been able to find enough time to devote to them. I have pictures and stories of my trip to Japan, some cookies, and some other dishes I've made. The pictures are sitting in my memory card in my camera waiting to be uploaded. I am going to try to make some time to just sit down and do it. Hopefully soon! I miss my blog and I wish I had more time for it. Hopefully now that Fall is just around the corner I'll have lots of inspiration to get back into blogging.

Pasta in a Tomato Cream Sauce

2008-07-30T21:13:00.006-04:00

I have been making this dish for a while now. I invented it on a whim about 5 or 6 months ago, but was never able to get a decent picture. And it seemed so simple that I never considered it blogworthy. Well, I made it again tonight after not having it for a while, and I decided that it's totally blogworthy. Mostly because of it's simplicity. But also because it tastes wonderful.

This is the kind of meal that can be thrown together in less than 30 minutes, is cost effective and sure to be something everyone will like. Any short pasta will work fine with this recipe, but I find that Rotini/Fusili works best. They just tend to hold the sauce better. I haven't tried it with spaghetti or linguini or any other long pasta noodles, so if anyone decides to give that a shot, I'd love to hear how it turned out.

I'd also like to say that I've made this sauce without the cream/half and half and cheese and it's really good that way too. So if you're looking to cut back on fat and calories, just leave out the cream/half and half and cheese. It will still be very yummy! I also like to mix it up with the herbs I use. Tonight I used dried oregano and fresh sage. I loved the sage in it and I think next time I'll just use sage.

And Mom, if you're reading this, you HAVE to try it. I think of you every time I make it because I know how much you'd love it.

Pasta in a Tomato Cream Sauce (source: my brain)

olive oil
1 (14.5 ounce) can Diced tomatoes
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tso dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 cup heavy cream or half and half
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
about 6-8 ounces pasta (like I said, I prefer Rotini)

Heat medium skillet over medium high heat and drizzle about a tsp or 2 of olive oil into the skillet. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant. Meanwhile, start cooking the pasta in boiling, salted water. Add the tomatoes to the skillet and simmer over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until the tomato chunks start to soften. With a spatula, lightly mash the tomato chunks to release the juices and soften the chunks. Continue to simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, approximately 5 more minutes. Add the cream and cheese and cook 1 more minute, or until cheese has melted. After the sauce has thickened to your liking, add the pasta to the skillet and toss to coat the pasta with the sauce.

Serves 2-3

Chocolate Ice Cream

2008-07-27T12:01:00.002-04:00

Although the Vanilla Ice Cream recipe I posted below is easy and yummy, I have to admit that I am really not a huge fan of vanilla ice cream. I can usually only eat it with pie or brownies or some other kind of dessert. Or if it is drowned in caramel or fudge sauce. Chocolate Ice Cream, on the other hand, I could eat just the way it is every day of my life and never get tired of it.

This particular Chocolate Ice Cream recipe is not hard to throw together at all and results in a rich and creamy ice cream. It is perfect and I can't wait to make it again. Once again, this recipe comes from the user's manual of my ice cream maker :-)

Basic Chocolate Ice Cream (source: Cuisinart ICE 20 User's Manual)

1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, broken into 1/2 inch pieces (I used semisweet)
2 cups heavy cream, well chilled
1 tsp vanilla extract

Heat the whole milk until it is just bubbling around the edges (this may
be done on the stovetop or in a microwave). In a blender or food processor
fitted with the metal blade, pulse to process the sugar with the
chocolate until the chocolate is very finely chopped. Add the hot milk,
process until well blended and smooth. Transfer to a medium bowl and
let the chocolate mixture cool completely. Stir in the heavy cream and
vanilla to taste. Chill for 30 minutes or longer.
Turn the machine ON, pour chilled mixture into freezer bowl through
ingredient spout and let mix until thickened, about 25 – 30 minutes.

I missed my blogiversary!

2008-07-27T11:48:00.006-04:00

Yep, July 14, 2007 was the date of my first blog entry. And I missed my blog's birthday :-( I can't say I'm surprised though. I've had a couple of recipes that I've wanted to blog about this month, but I just haven't had the time. And I apologize for neglecting my blog so much. I feel lucky some days to have time to breathe. But I have a few minutes today and so I figured why not finally add those ice cream recipes that have been waiting to be put in my blog.

I bought myself a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker a while back and only really used it once. So when summer rolled around and it started getting really hot, I decided to break it out and get some good use out of it. I started with the Basic Vanilla recipe I had used before (it's the one in the user's manual from my ice cream maker ;-)), but decided to add chocolate chips to it, since my husband loves Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. I used mini chocolate chips which turned out to be perfect. This ice cream recipe is so simple and yummy that we have made it at least 3 times this season already.

Basic Vanilla Ice Cream (source Cuisinart ICE 20 User Manual)

1 cup whole milk, well chilled
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups heavy cream, well chilled
1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract, to taste (I always use 1 teaspoon. I find anything more than that is overpowering)

In a medium bowl, use a hand mixer or a whisk to combine the milk and
granulated sugar until the sugar is dissolved, about 1 – 2 minutes on low
speed. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla to taste. Turn machine on,
pour mixture into freezer bowl through ingredient spout and let mix until
thickened, about 25 – 30 minutes.

To make chocolate chip ice cream, simply add about 1 cup of chocolate chips in the last 5 minutes of mixing.

Serve with a fresh, warm brownie :-)

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

2008-06-28T07:39:00.004-04:00

I love pot lucks at work. It gives me a chance to bake something new and have people to share it with so I don't eat it all by myself. Everyone at work said they wanted cookies. And they requested the molasses cookies I made around the holidays. That sounded good to me because they are my favorite. But I didn't have all the right ingredients so I decided to try something new. And as common and "run of the mill" as Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are, I think I've made them once. And it was years ago and they didn't not turn out well. I don't know what I did differently, but I know I used this same recipe and that they were not good at all.

This time however, they were perfect. Soft and chewy, sweet but not too sweet. They are wonderful, and I will make these over and over.

Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (source: Quaker Oats by way of Bakingblonde's Weblog)

2 stick margarine or butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
3 cups Quaker Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1 cup raisins (bakingblonde soaked her raisins in warm water and vanilla for 10 minutes and i didn't not do this. i think i will next time though, because my raisins weren't as tasty as i'd hoped they'd be)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, beat margarine or butter and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. In a small bowl combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture and mix well. Add oats and raisins; mix well.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes (mine took more like 15 minutes for some reason) or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wir rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

Better Homes and Blondies

2008-06-23T23:51:00.003-04:00

Blondies are kind of a staple dessert in my house. it's something that everyone here likes, and they're easy to throw together so they're perfect for those sudden cravings. Like the one I was experiencing tonight. But I haven't been super thrilled with the recipe I've been using. They always seem to come out raw and I can't seem to find the right baking time. So I've been planning on trying out a new recipe for while, but haven't gotten around to it.

I wasn't even planning on baking blondies tonight. I wanted to make some cookies, and I wanted to try a new recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook again. But when I saw that there was a recipe in there for blondies, I decided that blondies would be even better. I am SO HAPPY that I stumbled across this recipe. It is perfect. These blondies puff up quite a bit more than the other ones I usually make, so I was afraid they'd be too dry and cakey. Not the case at all. They are still gooey and soft and chocolatey and everything I've always wanted in a blondie. Needless to say, this will now be my go to blondie recipe :-)

Blondies (source: Better Homes and Gardens 75th Anniversary Cookbook)

2 cups packed brown sugar
2/3 cup (10 2/3 tbsp) butter
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup semisweet chocolate pieces
1 cup chopped nuts ( I omitted these)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 13x9 baking pan; set aside. In a medium saucepan heat brwon sugar and butter over mudium heat until butter melts and the mixture is smooth, stirring constantly. Cool slightly. Stir in eggs one at a time; stir in vanilla. Stir in flur, abking powder and baking soda.

Spread batter in prepared baking pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and nuts. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean (avoid chocolate chips). Cool slightly on wire rack. Cut into bars while warm.

Hot Milk Sponge Cake

2008-06-23T23:35:00.004-04:00

This cake is a very popular one in my family. My dad loved it, and my Aunt Clare is almost famous for it. So it seemed only fitting that I should make it for her for her birthday this year. It was a big milestone birthday for her ( I won't announce her age here, out of respect) and the whole family got together to celebrate. We had tons of fun and the cake was a huge hit.

I'm glad that I decided to try to make it myself. I thought it would be complicated, but it wasn't. Aunt Clare told me that she usually uses half and half for the milk part because it makes the cake richer. But she said that using skim, or 1% or 2% would work just as well. So I decided to save myself a trip to the store and just use the skim milk I already had in my fridge. The cake was definitely rich enough with the skim milk and I will probably always just use skim, unless I happen to have some half and half on hand and I feel like being extra bad ;-)

I was always a bit skeptical about the use of unsweetened chocolate for the drizzle on top. But the frosting is so sugary, and the cake is so rich, that it really is a nice balance. I will definitely be making this again very soon!

Hot Milk Sponge Cake (source: my Aunt Clare)

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup half and hlaf (or skim, 1% or 2% milk)
4 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and flour a tube pan or 2 cake pans (I used 2 9" round cake pans)

Sift together flour and baking powder; set aside

In a mixing bowl beat eggs with an electric mixer on high speed about 4 minutes or until thick. Gradually add sugar, beating on medium speed for 4-5 minutes or until light anf lfuffy. Add the dry mixture; beat on low to medium speed just until combined.

In a small saucepan heat and stir milk and butter until butter melts. Add to batter, beating until combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake in a 350 dregree oven for 30-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack.

Butter cream frosting
5 tbsp butter, softened
2 cups confectioner's sugar
milk to obtain consistency

Beat butter until smooth. Slowly add confectioner's sugar, alternating with milk until spreading consistency is obtained.
(You may find that this recipe does not make enough frosting for your cake. I like lots of frosting so I made 1.5 of this recipe. so I used 10 tablespoons of butter and 3 cups of confectioner's sugar. I didn't really measure the milk too well, but I'd guess I used about 1/4 cup)

After icing cake with butter cream frosting, drizzle melted unsweetened chocolate on top and down sides in an interesting pattern.

Corn Muffins

2008-06-23T21:30:00.004-04:00

The recipe for perfect cornbread continues to elude me. I was in the mood to bake some muffins the other night, and I have a ton of cornmeal to use up. So I decided to break out my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and give their recipe for cornbread a try. I find that I don't use my cookbooks a lot, and this particular cookbook does not get the attention it deserves. It's one of those cookbooks that is a staple in any kitchen. There are so many timeless, classic recipes in there, and I always seem to forget about it.

I'm glad I tried this recipe because it is quite good and very easy to throw together. It's a little crumbly for my liking, but still very tasty. And definitely still worth trying. I will definitely make these again.

Corn Muffins (source: Better Homes and Gardens 75th Anniversary Edition Cookbook)

1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
2-3 tbsps sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
2 beaten eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup cooking oil or melted butter

In a medium bowl stir together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a small bowl combine eggs, milk and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened.

Spoon batter into 12 greased, or paper lined, muffin cups, fillinf cups two thirds full. Bake in a 400 degree oven about 15 minutes or until lightly browned anda wooden toothpick inserted in centers come out clean. Makes 12 muffins.

I've been tagged!

2008-06-03T20:28:00.002-04:00

I'm usually really bad at actually posting these things :-) But I was tagged by Christina over at Nothing to see here! and I thought it would be fun to do it this time around :-)

The rules:
Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

What was I doing ten years ago?
Graduating from High School :-)

What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today?
1. Go to the store for some ingredients
2. Cook dinner
3. Bathe my daughter and put her to bed
4. Watch a movie with my husband
5. Eat some ice cream :-)

Five snacks I enjoy:
1. Doritos
2. guacamole and tortilla chips
3. soft pretzels
4. White Cheddar Cheez-its
5. Popcorn

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Buy a house
2. Build my dream kitchen
3. Have more children IMMEDIATELY
4. Quit my job :-)
5. Donate a large sum of money to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

Places I’ve lived:
1. Baltimore, MD
1. Columbia, MD
LOL I haven't exactly moved around a lot :-)

Jobs I’ve had:
1. worked at a bakery
2. Cashier at a children's clothing store
3. Cashier at a toy store
4. After school daycare program
5. Cashier at a gift/card /book store
6. Bank Teller
7. Mom :-)

I am tagging:
Bakingblonde
Gillian
Steph
Annie
Chelle

Chicken Fajitas

2008-06-01T20:26:00.003-04:00

So, as simple as this dinner is, I've never made fajitas before. I guess I just wasn't sure of the technique. And actually, now that I think about it, I'm not sure I've ever really eaten fajitas before. These were so good and easy to throw together. I really wanted to make them with a combination of red and green bell peppers, but when red bell peppers are almost $5 a pound, I will stick with green bells. Although I have to admit, I prefer the flavor of red bell pepper over green. If someone could enlighten me as to why red peppers are so much more expensive, I'd appreciate it :-)

Chicken Fajitas

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Asian Marinade
2 large bell peppers
1 small yellow onion
vegetable oil

Assemble marinade in a large liquid measuring cup and stir well. Put chicken in a large zip top bag and pour marinade over chicken. Let as much air out of the bag as possible, seal and marinade in refrigerator for at least an hour.

Slice the bell peppers and onions into thin strips and sautee in oil over medium heat until softened. I actually like to sautee them until the onions are starting to caramelize a bit.

Remove chicken from marinade, discarding leftover marinade. Grill chicken on either an indoor or outdoor grill ( I use my George Foreman) until juices run clear. Remove chicken from grill and slice into strips. Serve chicken and vegetables inside warm tortillas.

Basic Blondies

2008-05-28T21:20:00.008-04:00

I have made these blondies countless times, but have never blogged them. This recipe was passed on to me by bakingblonde of Bakingblonde's Weblog. She is the queen of the blondies on The Nest's What's Cooking message board. These blondies are my go-to dessert for when we really want something sweet but don't have lots of time. They are so easy to throw together at the last minute, and as much as I love my Kitchen Aid stand mixer, I love when I don't have to get it messy. This is a one bowl dessert that is always a crowd pleaser.

The only issue that I have with this recipe is that it has no leavening agent and they always come out flat and a little raw tasting. Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind the ooey gooey undercooked chocolatiness. They're just a little hard to get out of the pan without squishing them. I think next time I will add a bit of baking powder and see if that does anything.

Basic Blondies

8 tbsp butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 cup all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 and grease an 8x8 pan. Mix melted butter with brown sugar and beat until smooth (I always just do this in a large mixing bowl with a wooden spoon) Beat in egg and then vanilla. Add salt, stir in flour, and add in any mixins (below)

Pour into prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until set in the middle. Cool on rack before cutting.

Mix in ideas:
1/2 to 1 cup of chopped, toasted nuts
1/2 to 1 cup chocolate/white chocolate chips
mint/almond/any other extract of your choice in place of the vanilla extract

My favorite mix ins so far were a combination of toffee chips, almonds and dried cranberries. Yum! Tonight I just did about 3/4 cup of chocolate chips though. Rob and Maura like them best tat way :-)

Brown Sugar Pound Cake

2008-05-26T15:08:00.003-04:00

I sometimes feel like I don't try enough new recipes. If I blogged every single time I baked something, including repeat recipes, I'd have well over 150 posts by now. But I tend to make the same baked goods over and over because they feel safe.

Well, I decided it was time to try something new. I have been wanting to make a pound cake for a while now and I knew that there were several recipes floating around my family. Mostly my aunts. I have lots and lots of aunts. My Dad had 7 sisters and my Mom has 2, and I have a couple of aunts related to me by marriage (my dad also had 2 brothers). So between all of them, I have enough recipes to last me a life time. I decided to refer to my family cookbook put together by one of my Dad's sisters. I found my Aunt Clare's Brown Sugar Pound cake recipe, and while it wasn't the traditional pound cake recipe I was looking for, it looked wonderful so I decided to give it a shot.

This cake is dense and rich and delicious. The brown sugar gives it a deep flavor that is amazing. You will definitely need a glass of milk though! The original recipe in my cookbook calls for a Caramel Rum Sauce to drizzle over the cake, but I skipped this because i was feeling a little lazy :-) However, the next time I make this for a party or get together, I will definitely try out the sauce because it sounds wonderful. This time I jsut dusted it with a little bit of powdered sugar.

Aunt Clare's Brown Sugar Pound Cake

2 sticks (1/2 pound) butter, softened
2 cups dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup granulated sugar
6 large eggs
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup of milk (Aunt Clare uses fat free half and half so that's what I used :-) )
2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 10" tube pan. In a large bowl, or the bowl of an electric stand mixer, beat the butter until fluffy. Add the sugars and cream until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl, and then add to the butter mixture alternately with milk or half and half, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Add the vanilla. Fill prepared pan and bake for 1 hour and 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (my cake took only an hour and 15 minutes) Cool cake completely, then remove from pan. To serve, drizzle with rum sauce.

Caramel Rum Sauce
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp corn syrup
3 tbsp dark rum

Combine all ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking occasionally. Cover and continue to boil for 1 minute to wash sugar crystals from the sides of the pan. Uncover and continue to boil for 3-4 minutes without stirring. Cool slightly. Drizzle over cooled cake and serve.

Asian Marinade

2008-05-17T18:42:00.003-04:00

I made a really simple dinner tonight of grilled chicken, roasted veggies and brown rice. I have no pictures because I left my camera at my Mom's house last weekend. But the chicken was so delicious, that I had to post about it.

I love Asian inspired marinades and I've used one that is slightly similar to this one for my chicken stir fry. I was actually sad to discard the leftover marinade tonight because it smelled so good. Looking back, I probably could have reduced it in a saucepan on the stove top and turned it into a glaze for the grilled chicken. Next time!

Asian-inspired Marinade (I used this for my grilled chicken tonight, but I'm sure it would be delicious on veggies or even shrimp)

1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
3 tbsp honey
3 tbsp olive oil
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
salt and pepper

Combine ingredients in a large liquid measuring cup and whisk briskly with a fork or wire whisk. Add chicken (I used 3 boneless skinless breasts) and marinade ingredients to a large zip top bag and marinade in refrigerator for at least 2 hours. I marinaded mine for more like 5 or 6 hours. The longer the better. Grill or bake, as desired.

So easy and so delicious! I think I may use the leftover chicken in a salad tomorrow...

Blueberry Cream Cheese Tarts

2008-05-07T20:19:00.005-04:00

Today was the Teacher Appreciation Luncheon at my daughter's school and I signed up to send in a dessert. I thought I'd do a mini cheesecake recipe that I've made several times and always loved. It was a recipe I saw on an episode of Paula Deen's "Paula's Home Cooking" show a long time ago. This recipe is incredibly easy to throw together and is a really great dessert for picnics or cookouts.

The idea was that my daughter would just take the dessert with her on the bus and take it to the office at her school for me since i have to be at work so darn early every day...Not such a great idea. Poor Maura dropped the container of cheesecakes while she was waiting for the bus. She felt really really badly about it! So anyway, the cheesecakes didn't end up making it to school. I feel really bad about the teachers not getting their treat, but I'm sure there were other desserts, and what can ya do? It was an accident. And now I have 12 smooshed mini cheesecakes to tempt me in my fridge :-)

Here's a pic of the disaster:
And here's the recipe:

Blueberry Cream Cheese Tarts (source: Paula's Home Cooking)
~2 8oz packages cream cheese, softened (I usually use 1/3 less fat cream cheese and that works just fine)
~1 cup sugar
~1 tsp vanilla extract
~2 eggs
~12 vanilla wafers
~1 (21 ounce) can blueberry pie filling, or other pie filling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place paper liner in each cup of a 12 cup muffin pan.

Beat cream cheese with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add sugar and vanilla beating well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Place vanilla wafer, flat side down, in each muffin cup. Spoon cream cheese mixture over wafers, filling liners almost to the top. Bake for 20-23 minutes. Allow tarts to cool completely. Serve with blueberry pie filling on top, or pie filling of your choice.

These are much better the next day, but should be chilled in the fridge for at least 3-4 hours before serving. Otherwise, they stick to the liners and become an awful mess. I learned that the hard way. Next time, I may try these with lemon extract instead of vanilla. I love the blueberry and lemon combo.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

2008-04-29T22:26:00.005-04:00

Ok, so I have this thing for lemons. I love them. I put lemon juice or zest in anything possible. But it wasn't always like that for me and lemons. For the longest time I didn't even like them. But I realize more and more that there are things that I *think* I don't like, only to find out that if I try them again, I do like them. Anyway, I digress. Back to lemons.

Lemon poppy seed muffins is one of the ways I realized my love for lemons. They're sweet and tart and I love the extra crunch from the poppy seeds. So when I started seeing other food bloggers making them, I realized that I needed to find a recipe and make them for myself (and for my mom. I totally plan on giving her some when she comes over tomorrow.)

When I found this recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours on Julia's blog, I knew I'd found a winner. These muffins are fantastic. Very dense, but moist and sweet and tangy. I love them and will be making them again sometime. Do yourself a favor and don't skip the glaze. It totally makes the muffins and brings them to a whole other level. Also, this was my first time ever glazing anything and I'm very happy with the results :-)

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins (source: Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From my Home to Yours by way of Two Novice Chefs, One Tiny Kitchen)

Ingredients:

For the Muffins:
2/3 cup sugar
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 cups all purpose flour
2 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
3/4 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 t pure vanilla extract
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 T poppy seeds

For the Icing:
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2-3 T fresh lemon juice

Directions:

To Make the Muffins:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan, which needs neither greasing nor paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, rub the sugar and the lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of the lemon strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and melted butter together until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the wish or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don’t worry about being thorough-a few lumps are better than over mixing the batter. Stir in the poppy seeds. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold. Cool the muffins completely on the rack before icing them.

To Make the Icing:
Put the confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl and add about 1 1/2 T of the lemon juice. Stir with a spoon to moisten the sugar, then add enough additional lemon juice, a dribble at a time, to get an icing that is thin enough to drizzle from the tip of the spoon. You can then drizzle lines of icing over the tops of the muffins or coat the tops entirely, the better to get an extra zap of lemon.

Super Simple Corn Muffins

2008-04-13T18:43:00.004-04:00

I went in search of a corn muffin recipe today, and found several on recipezaar.com I found one, in particular, that got some pretty great reviews so I decided to give it a try. They are so easy to throw together, and are pretty good. They are moist and tasty. I definitely recommend them if you're looking for something quick and easy.

Dot's Corn Muffins (source: recipezaar.com)

Ingredients
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup sour cream

Directions

~Line 8 muffin cups with paper liners. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
~In a bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
~In another bowl, beat egg and sour cream; stir into dry ingredients until moistened.
~Fill prepared muffin cups 2/3 full.
~Bake in preheated oven for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
~Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

Cupcakes!

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

I realize that I made cookies for my husband for his birthday. And he didn't ask for cake. But the dog ate all the cookies, and I've been craving cake. So hubby got some cupcakes too! I have had my eye on a couple of yellow cake recipes. I never think of making yellow cake because I'm such a chocolate cake lover. But Rob loves yellow cake with chocolate frosting, so I decided to try a from-scratch recipe for the first time. I looked through blogs and cookbooks and finally settled on the Cook's Illustrated's recipe for Fluffy Yellow Layer Cake. But decided that I'd make cupcakes instead of one big cake. Cupcakes are just so much fun and I don't make them nearly enough. It's also a really great way to control portion size :-)

This cake is absolutely amazing. It wasn't too hard to pull together and it turned out fantastically. The recipe calls for cake flour, which I didn't have. And I didn't want to have to go buy any. So I searched around the web and found a substitution for cake flour using all purpose flour and cornstarch. It worked perfectly. Here's a link to the substitution on Recipezaar. The substitution worked out perfectly for me. The cake really was light and fluffy.

I used the Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting. This is really some of the best frosting I have ever made and it complimented the light, fluffy yellow cake perfectly.

Fluffy Yellow Layer Cake (source: Cook's Illustrated)

2 1/2 cups cake flour (see link above for cake flour substitute)
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp table salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
10 tbsp (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
6 large egg yolks, room temperature
3 large egg whites, room temperature

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 9x2 round cake pans and line bottoms with parchment paper. Grease paper rounds, dust pans with flour, and knock out excess. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soad, salt and 1 1/2 cups sugar together in a large bowl. In a 4 cup liquid measuring cup or medium bowl, whisk together melted butter, buttermilk, oil, vanilla, and yolks.

2. In clean bowl of stand mixer with whisk attachment, beat egg whites at medium-high speed until foamy, about 30 seconds. With machine running, gradually add remaining 1/4 sugar; continue to beat until stiff peaks just form, 30 to 60 seconds (whites should hold peak but mixture should appear moist). Transfer to bowl and set aside.

3. Add flour mixture to now-empty mixing bowl fittes with whisk attachment. With mixer running at low speed, gradually pour in butter mixture and mix until almost incorporated (a few streaks of dry flour will remain), about 15 seconds. Stop mixer and scrape whisk and sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium-low speed and beat until smooth and fully incorporated, 10 to 15 seconds.

4. Using rubber spatula, stir 1/3 of whites into batter to lighten, then add remaining whites and gently fold into batter until no white streaks remain. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans. Lightly tap pans against counter 2 or 3 times to dislodge any large air bubbles.

5. Bake until cake layers begin to pull away from sides of pans and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 22 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes. Loosen cakes from sides of pans with a small knife, then invert onto greased wire rack and peel off parchment. Invert cakes again and cool completely on rack, about 1 1/2 hours.

This recipe can easily be turned into 24 cupcakes. Line 2 12 cup muffin pans with paper liners. Decrease bake time to 18-20 minutes.

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting (source: Hersheys.com)

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. Makes about 2 cups of frosting.

Black and White Cookies

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

So for those of you who don't know, my husband grew up in New York. Specifically the Bronx. So when I asked him what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday this year, he said he wanted me to try to make authentic New York Black and White Cookies. Not exactly what I had in mind, but hey, it's his birthday after all.

So I started to think of where I might find a recipe. I picked up my Martha Stewart Baking Handbook and low and behold, there was a recipe! Not to mention wonderful tips and pictures (thank you Martha!) That's what I love about this book. Awesome step by step instructions and pictures for every single recipe. That being said, this is actually the first recipe I've made from this cookbook (that I received from a friend in December) I'm not very good at remembering to look through my cookbooks! I normally use online websites or recommendations from friends. Anyway, I've been meaning to bake something from this book since the day I got it and this was a perfect inaugural recipe :-)

Anyway, as I suspected, Martha did not disappoint me, or my New Yorker husband. These cookies were incredible. I'm considering making just the cookies again, without the frosting. They were just so sweet and cakey and delicious! One teensy adjustment that I would make next time is to not use lemon juice in the frosting. It was a bit overpowering. I think next time I'll just use milk. Martha says these cookies are better the next day and she is right. They were good the day I made them, but after sitting on the table wrapped in plastic overnight, they were even better. Well, the ones that were left anyway. See, my lovely dog ate all but 3 while we were sleeping. Argh! All that hard work. Oh well, I definitely learned my lesson about leaving the dog and the cookies out overnight :-)

Black and White cookies (source: Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook)

Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 sticks (10 tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup plus 3 tbsps sugar
2 large whole eggs, plus 1 large egg yolk
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup heavy cream
Black and White Icings ( recipe follows)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of and electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, shortening, and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add whole eggs and egg yolk, one at a time; beat until combined after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add the flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the cream. Beat until just combined (do not overmix).

Use a 1/4 cup measure to scoop dough 3 inches apart onto prepared sheets. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until the edges begin to turn golden and the centers are cakey and tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer parchment and cookies to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Remove cookies from parchment and let cool completely.

On the flat side (bottom) of each cookie, use a small offset spatula to spread chocolate icing over one half of the cookie, creating a straight line down the center. Spread white frosting on the other half. Set cookies aside until icing is set, about 30 minutes. Makes about 18 cookies.

Black and White Icings

Ingredients:
4 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
2 tbsp plus 2 tsp light corn syrup
1 tbsp plus 2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tbsp Dutch-process cocoa powder

Directions:
Whisk sugar, corn syrup, lemon juice, vanilla, and 1 tbsp water in a bowl until smooth. Add more water, if needed, until mixture is slightly thicker than honey. Set aside half of the sugar mixture (for white icing). Stir cocoa into remaining sugar mixture to combine (for black icing); thin with water if needed. Use immediately.
Maura approves :-)

Chicken Cacciatore...I think??

2008-03-24T21:55:00.004-04:00

When I came up with the idea for this meal, I really wasn't thinking of it as Chicken Cacciatore. But the more I thought about it the more I realized that that's pretty much what this is. I don't have onions or bell peppers in mine, which are 2 things you'd usually find in Chicken Cacciatore. But otherwise, it's pretty much the same. I actually can't take all the credit for coming up with this idea. Most of the credit has to go to my wonderful husband. Last week I made a very simple pasta dish that I watched Giada make on one of her Everyday Italian shows on The Food Network. We all loved it and Rob could not stop raving about it. He decided that it would be even better with chicken. So I started brainstorming and came up with what I guess is my own version of Chicken Cacciatore. It was delicious and I cannot wait to have the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Chicken Cacciatore, Kayte-style :)

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin or butterflied
1/4 cup flour
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup chicken or vegetable broth
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 pints grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup baby portabella mushrooms, sliced
oregano
basil
salt and pepper

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper and dredge lightly in flour. Cook in pan until browned on both sides, about 4-5 minutes per side. Remove chicken from pan and cover.

Add broth and garlic to pan. Scrape brown bits off of bottom of pan. Add tomatoes and cook until softened. After the tomatoes have softened a bit, smash them with the back of a fork, creating a chunky tomato sauce. Add mushrooms and simmer for 5 minutes. Add chicken back to skillet, season with herbs and salt and pepper, cover and simmer over low-medium heat about 20 minutes. Serve over whole wheat pasta.

Cheesecake Swirled Brownies

2008-03-24T21:27:00.004-04:00

I have seen so many variations of this wonderful treat and have never made them before. Which is odd since they are 2 of my favorite desserts all wrapped up in one delicious little treat. But there's a reason for this. You see, neither my daughter nor my husband will eat anything even remotely related to cheesecake. So I have chosen not to make them up until this point because it would be extremely dangerous for me to have something like this in my house and be the only one to consume them.

I knew that we would be spending Easter with my family and I had planned on making a Blueberry Pie. But those plans fell through due to time constraints, and I needed a dessert that would come together a little more quickly. So I realized that I had a perfect opportunity to make my beloved Cheesecake Brownies and not have them staring at me from my kitchen!

My next job was to find a recipe. I decided that I wanted to use my Deep Dish Brownie recipe, since they're my absolute fave and the only brownies I ever make. So I surfed over to bakingblonde's blog, knowing that I'd find a great cheesecake component for my yummy brownies. So I just took the cheesecake part of her Cheesecake Brownies recipe, added it to my Deep Dish Brownie recipe, and VOILA! Cheesecake Brownies! Unfortunately, my aunt made me bring home the leftover brownies and I'm not going to embarrass myself by telling how many I've had since yesterday...

Cheesecake Swirled Brownies

Brownie Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt

Cheesecake Ingredients:
7 oz cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp flour
1 tsp pure Vanilla
1 egg

Directions:
To make the brownies:
~Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8 inch square pan.
~In a large bowl, blend melted butter, sugar and vanilla. Beat in eggs one at a time. Combine the flour, cocoa powder and salt in a separate bowl. Gradually blend dry mixture into the egg mixture.
For the cheesecake mixture:
~In bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, flour and vanilla beat until smooth. Add egg and beat just until combined.

Spread 2/3 of the brownies batter into prepared pan. Dollop cheesecake mixture on top of brownie batter and dollop remaining brownie batter on top of cheesecake mixture. Run a knife through the batters, creating a swirl pattern. Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, or until a tester comes out with a few crumbs on it.

Irish Soda Bread

2008-03-18T20:23:00.004-04:00

I grew up in a big Irish Catholic family and St. Patrick's Day was always a big event in our house. We always went to the parade in Baltimore and my mom always (actually she still does) decorated the house with all kinds of Shamrocks and other green things. I even took a few years of Irish Step dance lessons and danced in the parade on a float a couple of years in a row. One thing I had never done, though, is make an Irish Soda Bread. So I decided to look for a recipe and give it a shot this year.

I searched blogs and websites and finally decided on a recipe I found on allrecipes.com. I really do love this site. It has become my go-to site for tried and true recipes. This recipe was amazing. It turned out more beautiful and delicious than I thought it would. The only issue I had was when it came time to knead the dough. The recipe says that the dough will be sticky. Well, that may very well be the biggest understatement of the century. In the future, I will let my KA mixer do the kneading. I will definitely be keeping this as my go-to Irish Soda Bread recipe. It was so yummy!

Irish Soda Bread (allrecipes.com)

1/2 cup white sugar
4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
3 cups raisins
1 tbsp caraway seeds (I omitted these because I couldn't find them in the store)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 inch round cast iron skillet or a 9 inch round cake pan (I used a cake pan).

In a mixing bowl, combine flour (reserving 1 tbsp), sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt raisins and caraway seeds. In a small bowl, blend eggs, buttermilk and sour cream. Stir the liqiud mixture into flour mixture just until flour is moistened. Knead dough in bowl about 10 to 12 strokes. Dough will be sticky (they aren't kidding!) Place the dough in prepared skillet or pan and pat down. Cut a 4x3/4 inch deep slit in the top of the bread. Dust with reserved flour.

Bake in preheated oven for 65-75 minutes. Let cool and turn bread onto a wire rack.

Tastes great toasted with butter or jam!

Honey Wheat Bread

2008-03-08T20:46:00.008-05:00

I have actually already made this bread before. But I haven't made it since I started my blog. I guess I forgot how easy it was to make. This was my first yeast bread ever, and I think it is the perfect bread for someone who has never used yeast before. It is very easy and has very few ingredients. the only issue is that the instructions from allrecipes.com left out a few helpful tips. First of all, it just says to dissolve the yeast in the warm water. It doesn't describe how long this will take or what it will look like. Basically, it takes about 10 minutes and the mixture should get foamy. This is called proofing. I didn't know this when I first made the bread, but luckily I was able to enlist the help of my nestie friends, so it was still a success.
Another thing I didn't know when I first made this loaf was how to shape a loaf so that it looks pretty. You'll notice from the white bread I made a while back, that I didn't learn this until recently :-) Actually, I believe Amber was the one who told me how to roll it out into a rectangle and then roll it into a log and tuck the ends in. My loaves turned out much better this time, so thanks for the tip Amber :-)
If you have never made a yeast bread before, but are interested in taking the plunge, I'd highly recommend this recipe. it is so easy and very delicious. It doesn't really make good sandwich bread because it's very sweet. But it's perfect for breakfast/snacks. I love to make it into French Toast. Yum!

Honey Wheat Bread (source: allrecipes.com)
Ingredients:

2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup honey (I used more like 1/2 cup)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
5 cups all-purpose flour (I only ended up adding 4 cups of flour. 5 cups of flour makes this bread very dense)

Directions:

Dissolve yeast in warm water. This should take about 10 minutes. The yeast is dissolved when the mixture is foamy. Add honey, and stir well. Mix in whole wheat flour, salt, and vegetable oil. Work all-purpose flour in gradually. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead for at least 10 to 15 minutes (I let my KA Stand Mixer do the work for me here). When dough is smooth and elastic, place it in a well oiled bowl. Turn it several times in the bowl to coat the surface of the dough, and cover with a damp cloth. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.

Punch down the dough. Shape into two loaves, and place into two well greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise until dough is 1 to 1 1/2 inches above pans (this should take about 45 minutes to an hour).

Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes.

My first award :-)

2008-03-07T16:48:00.006-05:00

I can't tell you how honored I was to find out that Chelle has bestowed such a wonderful award upon me! Chelle is a very dear friend of mine, and I absolutely adore her blog. So when she told me that she was passing along the "You Make My Day" award to me, I was so touched. Chelle totally makes my day, everyday. She makes me laugh all the time and she is just about the sweetest person I know. Thanks so much Chelle!

I am now going to pass this award on to 10 people who make my day (Chelle, I'd totally give this one right back to you :-)) Elly, Meghan, Kate, Carrie, Jenny, Gillian, Renea, Ally, Danielle, and Lauren. Pass this award on to 10 people who make your day!!

Eat to the Beat - Custard Pie

2008-03-02T16:50:00.005-05:00

Elly over at Elly Says Opa is having her first blogging event and she has named it Eat to the Beat. I am really excited about this one for a few reasons. First of all, this is my first blogging event. Second, this is Elly's first time hosting event and I am excited to be participating. Most importantly though, is that I think this is a really great idea and really gets people to be creative. I'll be honest though. I didn't think I'd be able to come up with anything. I'm not huge into music. I mean, I love music, don't get me wrong. But I'm sort of indiscriminate to the types of music I listen to. I'll admit to loving a song for a long time and not even knowing who is singing it...But I knew I wanted to participate. So I enlisted the help of my fantastic husband, Rob. And within about 5 minutes I knew what I was making for my entry.

Rob is a pretty big Led Zepplin fan, so for anyone reading this who may already know Rob, it should be no surprise that the first thing that came to mind was a Led Zepplin song. I, of course, had never heard of this particular song, but just from the title I knew what kind of recipe to search for:

Led Zepplin: Custard Pie
Drop down, baby, let your daddy see. Drop down, mama, just dream of me Well, my mama allow me to fool around all night long Well, I may look like I'm crazy, I should know right from wrong See me comin', throw your man out the door Ain't no stranger, been this way before See me comin', mama, throw your man out the door I ain't no stranger, I been this way before. Put on your night shirt and your morning gown You know by night I'm gonna shake 'em all down

Put on your night shirt Mama, and your morning gown Well, you know by night I'm gonna shake 'em all down Your custard pie, yeah, sweet and nice When you cut it, mama, save me a slice Your custard pie, I declare, it's sweet and nice I Like your custard pie When you cut it, mama... mama, please save me a slice.

Chewin' a piece of your custard pie. Drop down

Easy enough, right? Now the only problem I faced at this point was that I'd never really had custard pie before, much less tried to make it. So I didn't have a tried and true recipe to go to. So off to williams-sonoma.com I went to try to find a fancy, gourmet Custard Pie recipe. No luck. I couldn't find one. So I went to my trusty allrecipes.com and found several. So after reading reviews and looking at pictures, I landed on what looked like the best one with the best reviews. I also found out that Custard Pie is extremely easy to make. Bonus points!!

I have also never made pie pastry from scratch before. So I went back to williams-sonoma.com and found a really easy Basic Pie Pastry recipe. It was so easy to throw together and I am very happy about having an opportunity to make pie pastry for the first time. The pastry was a sinch to throw together and rolled out really easily. It resulted in a nice flaky pastry, and was really great for a beginner like myself. However, the flavor was lacking something and I will keep trying other pastry recipes until I find one that is just right for me. I do really recommend this recipe for those who are afraid of pastry dough though! It was super simple and I am no longer afraid.

I'm really disappointed because my pictures turned out really horrible. It's really hard to get a good picture with my camera. But this pie was so delicious! The pictures really do it no justice. I realized as I was measuring the milk that skim milk might not be the best idea for something like a custard pie. But it's all I had because it's all I ever have. And I think it turned out wonderfully. That being said, if I want to make it again (and I'm pretty sure I do!) and make it thicker and firmer I might try half and half or whole milk. My mom tells me that Custard Pie was my grandfather's favorite dessert and so I am dedicating this blog entry to his memory. I wish he could share a piece of this delicious pie with me!

Basic Pie Pastry (source williams-sonoma.com) - I am going to type up only the parts of the recipe I used. If you follow the link, it will give you the ingredients for a double crust pie and also the method to use if you are using a food processor.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
3 to 4 tbsp cold water

Directions:
Hand Method
Combine flour and salt in a mixing bowl and toss together with your hands. Add the shortening. With your fingertips, 2 knives or a pastry blender (i used my fingers), blend the ingredients together, working quickly, until you have a mixture of tiny, irregular flakes and bits about the size of coarse breadcrumbs. Sprinkle on the water, 1 tbsp at a time, stirring gently with a fork after each addition. Add just enough water for the dough to form a rough mass.

With floured hands, pat the dough into a smooth disk. The dough is now ready to use. It is not necessary to refrigerate the dough before rolling (inless you included some butter), although for convenience it may be covered in plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 2 days.

Rolling our the dough:
Roll out the dough on a floured surface until it is about 12 inches in diameter and 1/8 inch thick, or about 2 inches wider than the top of the pie dish. Try to keep the dough as roung as possible.

Transfer the rolled out pastry to the pie dish. Pat the pastry in around the egdes to fit the shape of the dish.

Egg Custard Pie (source: allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsps flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
3 eggs, beaten
1 recipe for a 9" single crust pie
Directions:
1. Bake pie shell at 400 degrees for 5 minutes. Set aside.

2. Combine melted butter, sugar, flour, milk, vanilla and nutmeg. Add beaten eggs and blend well. Pour filling into partially baked pie shell. I sprinkled the top of the pie with nutmeg and granulated sugar (about a teaspoon of each) before baking and it made for a really nice crust on top

3. Bake at 325 for 45-55 minutes (mine took more like 60 minutes) or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Do not overcook.

Blueberry Crumb Muffins

2008-02-28T21:30:00.007-05:00

I would like to start by apologizing for the poor quality pictures. I've lost my camera batteries, so I've resorted to using my cellphone camera again. And being that it was one of those free phones that comes with the plan, the camera is not that great. I was so happy to be using a camera, and I had to go and lose my batteries. Well, they're here somewhere and hopefully I'll find them soon. Anyway, these muffins turned out so cute that I really wanted to get a couple of pics up for this blog post. And even though they're not the greatest pictures ever, I think they still capture the cuteness of my muffins :)

These muffins turned out wonderfully. I was looking for a healthier recipe, so my friend Beth gave me this one from Weight Watchers. They are 4 points per muffin, which sounds like a lot to me, although I'm not on Weight Watchers, so you can take that with a grain of salt :). But with the sour cream, and all the sugar and the streusel topping, I don't see how they're especially good for you :) But they're great in the morning with a big cup of coffee. I am definitely holding on to this recipe. They turned out moist and delicious and packed full of blueberries. Thanks Beth!

Blueberry Crumb Muffins (source: my buddy Beth. original source: Weight Watchers website)

Ingredients
~2 1/4 cups flour, divided (I used half all purpose flour and half whole wheat)
~1/2 tsp baking soda
~1 tsp baking powder
~1/2 tsp salt
~1 large egg
~1 cup sugar, divided
~3/4 cup reduced fat sour cream
~1 tsp vanilla
~1/4 cup fat free milk
~2 cups blueberries
~2 tbsp butter, melted

Directions
~Preheat the oven to 375. Place muffin liners in a 12-hole muffin tin.

~In a large bowl, combine 2 cups of flour (this is where I used half AP and half WW), baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.

~Using an electric mixer, beat egg with 3/4 cup of sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add sour cream and beat until thoroughly combined; blend in vanilla.

~Add half of the flour mixture and half of the milk to the sugar mixture; beat until just combined. Add remaining flour mixture and milk and beat until smooth.

~Fold in blueberries and fill each muffin cup 3/4 full.

~To make streusel topping, in a small bowl, combine remaining 1/4 cup each of flour and sugar. Pour in melted butter and combine with fingertips (this part was kinda fun :)) Divide crumb mixture over muffins. Gently press into top of muffin batter with fingertips.

~Bake until slightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes. Cool in pans for about 10-15 minutes and then remove to cool completely on wire racks. Store in refrigerator in an airtight container.
Nutrition Info:

Calories: 192.9
Total Fat: 4.2 g
Cholesterol: 26.7 mg
Sodium: 207.0 mg
Total Carbs: 35.9 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.0 g
Protein: 4.0 g

Pacman Cheesecake

2008-02-25T19:34:00.006-05:00

How cute is that?

I never get to make cheesecake. I mean, I could. Except I'm the only one in my house who will eat it. Which means I'd have to eat the whole thing by myself. Which is really not a good idea. So when my friend Beth (aka Shortcake79 on The Nest) invited us all over to her house for dinner, I knew I would have someone to make a cheesecake for. See, neither of our husbands will eat cheesecake. So we decided that we'd have cheesecake and the guys (and the kids) would have chocolate chip cookies. I decided to look for a recipe for Pumpkin Cheesecake and I came across The Cheesecake Factory's recipe on RecipeZaar.com.

The recipe was incredibly easy. The part that took the longest was processing the cookies for the crust in my Magic Bullet. The recipe called for graham cracker crumbs. But I didn't have any, so I substituted Vanilla Wafer crumbs. The crust was delicious and I think the only thing I would do differently next time would be to add some cinnamon and nutmeg and prebake it a little longer. I meant to add spices to the crust this time, thanks to the advice of my wonderful friends on The Nest's WHat's COoking message board, but I forgot. I definitely recommend using the vanilla wafers for the crust. I don't think I'd like it as much with a graham cracker crust. Elly suggested Gingersnaps, which I think would be even better than the Vanilla Wafers, but I didn't have any. So I'll use them the next time Beth invites me over :-)

The Cheesecake Factory Pumpkin Cheesecake (source: recipezaar.com)

1 1/2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs

5 tablespoons butter, melted

1 cup sugar, plus

1 tablespoon sugar

3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 canned pumpkin

3 eggs

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (I used more like 1 tsp)

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon allspice

whipped cream - (I omitted this)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine vanilla wafer crumbs with melted butter and 1 tbsp sugar in a medium bowl. Stir until the crumbs are coated with the butter. Do not over mix. You want it to be crumbly. Press into the bottom and up 2/3 of the sides of an 8" springform pan (I used a 9" pan because that's all I have). Put foil halfway up the outside of the pan. bake the crust for 5 minutes and set aside until you're ready to fill it.

In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Mix with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the pumpkin, eggs and spices and continue mixing until creamy. Pour the filling into the pan and bake for 60-70 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature. Once cake is at room temperature, place in refrigerator to chill. Once the cake is chilled, remove the pan sides and serve.

Cornmeal Crusted Chicken

2008-02-20T18:12:00.004-05:00

I realize that Elly just made this last night. And I feel like a complete copycat. But one of my favorite teachers from when I was little always told me that "copying is a compliment." So take it as a compliment Elly, that I thought your dinner looked so wonderful last night that I just HAD to make it tonight :-)

Anyway, I did mine a little differently than Elly did, although the inspiration came solely from her delicious looking concoction from last night. I did not stuff my chicken with anything. In the kosher world, mixing chicken (or meat of any kind) with cheese (or dairy of any kind) is a big no-no. I may have mentioned that once or twice before, but I just wanted to clarify just in case. So stuffing my chicken with cheese is pretty much out of the question. Coating it in cornmeal, on the other hand, is completely ok, so I just stuck with that. I also didn't add the peppers. For one, I don't really like spicy peppers too much. Also, we had no peppers on hand. So I just added a good dose of paprika and chili powder to my cornmeal before tossing my chicken in it.

I also wanted to clarify one other thing. Eggs are not dairy. I know, I know. I thought they were too. But they're not. Dairy products are anything that consists of milk. So butter, cream, milk (duh), cheese...those kinds of things. Those are all dairy and you will not find any of them in my meat dishes. I sometimes feel limited because I cannot combine these things in my kitchen and so many wonderful recipes that I've come across call for them. But honestly, I love being kosher and I am more than willing to make the sacrifice. Also, there are always substitutions that cane be made. For example, dairy free margarine comes in handy when making mashed potatoes that will be eaten with meat. Or when making a dessert that will be eaten after a meat meal. Ok, I think I've rambled long enough. I just wanted to give those of you who may not know much about the kosher lifestyle a glimpse into what goes into keeping kosher. Onto the chicken.

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup cornmeal
salt
pepper
paprika
chili powder

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.

Coat chicken in egg and then toss in cornmeal mixture. Place on prepared baking sheet and spray chicken with cooking spray. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until juices run clear.

This was such an easy and delicious dinner. I know I'll be making this many many times again! Thanks for another winner Elly :-)

(sorry for the lack of pictures. i took one and it turned out teeny tiny. i don't know what's going on with my camera.)

Molten Lava Cakes

2008-02-19T23:23:00.004-05:00

I have been meaning to make this dessert since the beginning of the year. I promised Rob and Maura that I would make them for New Year's Eve. But for whatever reason, I didn't end up making them. Then I told them I would make them for Valentine's Day, but I didn't make them then either. So when Rob asked for them tonight, I made sure I got whatever ingredients I was missing when I went to the store and I finally made them.

I have made these once before, so I knew how easy they would be to throw together. I love how it's so simple. Just one big bowl and a wire whisk. My pictures didn't turn out so great though. Mostly because I think I have the worst camera known to man. Also, the top of the cake cracked open a bit. I think it sort of resembles an outie bellybutton. But anyway, they were really yummy and really easy and the nice big scoop of French Vanilla ice cream was the perfect compliment :)

Dark Molten Chocolate Cakes (source: kraftfoods.com)

~1 package (6 squares) BAKERS Bittersweet Baking Chocolate (I used Nestle Chocolatier 62% Cocoa Bittersweet Baking Bars)
~10 tbsp butter
~ 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
~1/2 cup flour
~3 eggs
~3 egg yolks

Preheat oven to 425. Grease six 6oz ramekins and place on a baking sheet.

Microwave chocolate and butter in a large microwaveable bowl on Medium for 2 minutes or until butter is melted. Stir with wire whisk until chocolate is completely melted. Add sugar and flour; mix well. Add eggs and egg yolks and beat until well blended. Divide batter evenly into prepared ramekins

Bake 14-15 minutes or until cakes are firm around the edges but still soft in the centers. Let stand one minute. Run a small knife along cakes to loosen. Invert cakes onto dessert dishes and sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired. Serve warm.

I took my cakes out at 14.5 minutes and I thought they were still too runny. I will leave them in another minute or so next time to firm them up just a bit more.

I've been tagged!

2008-02-10T08:53:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I've actually been tagged several times by different people. But I can never think of anything to say about myself! But I was just recently tagged by Robin over at Made with love... and I decided to go ahead and give it a shot finally. I mean, I enjoy reading other people's memes. It's fun to learn a little about other bloggers. So here's my meme...

Rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

1. I love to read. It has become almost an addiction of mine. I am always reading something and always on the lookout for new books. So if you have any great book recommendations, let me know!

2. I love sappy movies. Like, the girly kind that usually make me cry at more than one point in the movie.

3. I have a huge family, My Dad was one of 10 kids and my Mom was one of 3. And I think I have something like 30 cousins just on my Dad's side of the family. And now that my cousins are having kids, the family is just getting bigger and bigger. And I love it!

4. I've wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember. I never got my degree, and now that I have a family, I'm finding that it's harder to go back to school. But my dream is to go back and get my degree and teach 2nd or 3rd grade.

5. I love animals. We currently have only one dog and one cat, but when we have a house and more space, we totally plan on fostering homeless animals. My husband and I both have a very strong passion for helping homeless animals, and although our dog was purchased from a breeder, we plan on only adopting any of our future animals.

I am tagging:
Lindsey at Lindsey's Kitchen
Nikki at Pennies on a Platter
Kylee at What's cooking, Kylee?
Kelly at Kelly's Kitchen
BMK at Reservations not Required

Baked Tortilla Chips

2008-02-09T13:50:00.000-05:00

This is such and easy and fun snack! i got the inspiration from Amy Finley of The Food Network's "The Gourmet Next Door" and the most recent winner of "The Next Food Network Star." I really like Amy, although I haven't caught too many of her new shows. A few weeks ago she made Chiliqueles and homemade stovetop salsa. She fried her tortilla chips, but I knew I wanted to bake mine. I tried her recipe for Homemade Salsa, and while it was good, it wasn't what I really think of when I think of salsa. It was more of a puree. I like my salsa thick and chunky. However, since making the chips a few weeks ago, they have become one of my favorite snacks and I've made them several times. They are so easy, which I love, and I can be completely done and munching on them in about 15 minutes, including baking time. They are fabulous dipped in some hummus, but I plan on trying other homemade salsa recipes to dip them in. I also plan on trying them with corn tortillas in the future! Here is my method for making tortilla chips.

7-8 flour tortillas, soft taco size (or more tortillas, depending on how many chips you want)
kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350. Stack tortillas on top of each other and cut them in half down the middle. Cut the halves in half and then cut them into triangles. Lay in a single layer on baking sheets sprayed with olive oil cooking spray. Spray chips with olive oil cooking spray and sprinkle with salt. Bake in preheated oven for about 8-10 minutes. Keep an eye on them becuase they go from done to burned very quickly!

Enjoy!

Chicken Veggie Stir Fry Revisited

2008-01-21T18:08:00.000-05:00

I've blogged a chicken vegetable stir fry I've tried in the past. The picture looked awful and I didn't really like the outcome. So when I made a chicken veggie stir fry tonight that everyone loved, I knew I had to come back and blog this one. I tried some things I haven't done with my stir fry before that I know made a huge difference.

First of all, I marinated the chicken before cooking it. I usually just season with salt and pepper and add to the skillet. I think this is a huge reason why I have not liked my stir fry in the past. The marinade added so much flavor and really helped the meat retain it's moisture. I also added a spice that I don't use very often; cumin. I've not been a huge fan of cumin in the past. But I've been incorporating it into some meals recently so I decided to give it a shot. It really added a ton of flavor to the dish and I think I'll never made stir fry without it. I did not get any pictures of this meal. I have a hard time taking pics of my food as it is, and this one just didn't look like it would photograph well.

Chicken Vegetable Stir Fry

Ingredients:
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, sliced
1 medium zucchini squash, cut into chunks
7-8 baby bella mushrooms, sliced thick
1-2 tsp cornstarch
1-2 tsp canola oil
1/4 cup vegetable broth (chicken broth could certainly be substituted here; I just didn't have any on hand tonight)

Marinade ingredients:
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cumin
salt and pepper

Directions:
Combine marinade ingredients in a large liquid measuring cup and stir briskly with a fork. Add chicken and marinade to large zip top bag and marinade in fridge 2 hours.

Heat oil in a large skillet and add vegetables. Cook over medium-high heat until tender. Remove from skillet and set aside.

Remove chicken from bag and cut chicken into 1/2 inch pieces, reserving marinade. Cook chicken in skillet until no longer pink. Add cornstarch to marinade and stir briskly with fork until completely incorporated. Add marinade and broth to skillet and cook over medium heat until bubbly and thickened; approximately 15 minutes.

Add veggies back to skillet and cook just until heated through. Serve over rice, if desired.

Serves 4

Ina's Chocolate Cupcakes

2008-01-15T11:05:00.000-05:00

I had an itch to bake the other day and I wanted to try something new. I searched my cookbooks and landed on a recipe in my Barefoot Contessa at Home cookbook for Chocolate Cupcakes. The recipe sounded wonderful and I was sure that I would fall in love with them. Ina's recipe in the cookbook comes with a recipe for "Kathleen's Peanut Butter Icing." Which I thought was another good sign since Kathleen is my full name and I love peanut butter icing :-) I decided to skip the icing though, since my husband and daughter aren't fans of peanut butter icing.

Unfortunately, we were less than impressed. The cupcakes came out dry and with very little chocolate flavor. I'm not sure if it's because i didn't have buttermilk and substituted with a combination of skim milk and vinegar. Or it could be that I used Hershey's cocoa powder when Ina called for "good" cocoa powder. I'm not sure if Ina would consider the Hershey's brand "good." ;-) Anyway, they weren't bad. I mean, they were chocolate cupcakes after all! But I probably won't be making them again :-(

Chocolate Cupcakes (source: Barefoot Contessa at Home)
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temp
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 extra large eggs, at room temp
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, shaken, at room temp
1/2 cup sour cream, at room temp
2 tbsp brewed coffee
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup good cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and two sugars on high speed until light and fluffy, approximately 5 minutes. Lower the speed to medium, add the eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, sour cream, and coffee. In another bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. On low speed, add the buttermilk mixture and the flour mixture alternately in thirds to the mixer bowl, beginning with the buttermilk mixture and ending with the flour mixture. Mix only until blended. Fold the batter with a rubber spatula to be sure it is completely blended.
Divide the batter among the cupcake pans (one rounded standard ice cream scoop per cup is the right amount). Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, remove from the pans, and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Ina says this recipe make 14-15 cupcakes but i got 19 cupcakes using about 1/4 cup of batter for each cup.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

2008-01-05T21:25:00.000-05:00

Around the holidays, tons of people were making these cookies. I realized that I had never made them before. I've really never even eaten them all that much. I'm not a huge fan of peanut butter cookies. But I wanted to try them because everyone raved about them and they're so darn cute. These are very simple and very tasty. Even for someone who doesn't particularly care for peanut butter cookies! I had to give a bunch of them away to friend tonight because my husband and daughter really don't eat peanut butter cookies at all and I didn't want to eat them all by myself!

Peanut Butter Blossoms (source: Michelle at Sugar & Spice)

Ingredients:
48 Hershey's kisses, unwrapped
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown suage
1 egg
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
sugar for rolling

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375. Remove wrapper from chocolates.

2. Beat shortening and peanut butter in a large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 cup sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg. milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together Flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.

3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet. (I lined my sheets with parchment paper)

4. Bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie; cookie will crack around the edges. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

Honey Oat doggie treats

2007-12-25T09:54:00.000-05:00

I have been itching to make some homemade doggie treats for so long. I mean, we've had Murphy for 2 1/2 years and I've never made them. Am I a bad doggie mom? Probably not. But I can't believe I haven't done this before. It's so easy and cheap.

My friend Michelle over at Sugar and Spice made some peanut butter treats for her doggie a while back and she really inspired me. The only problem was, I didn't have any fun doggie shaped cookie cutters. Not that Murphy would care, but what fun is making dog treats if they're not in fun shapes? So when I was at Barnes and Noble and saw a dog treat cookbook that came with 3 fun cookie cutters, I grabbed it right up.

The first recipe I decided to try was the Honey Oat cookies. They were super easy and smelled really yummy when they were baking. Murphy really loves them and will do pretty much anything for them. See how patient he is?

Honey Oat Cookies (source: Make your own Healthy Doggie Biscuits book)

Ingredients:
1 cup oatmeal
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:
Mix oatmeal and whole wheat flour together. Blend honey, water and cinnamon and slowly mix with dry ingredients. Mix until a stiff dough is formed, adding more flour if needed.

Place dough on floured counter and roll out, about 1/2 inch thick. CUt into shapes with desired cookie cutter and place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until biscuits are crisp.

Makes about 30 treats

Gingerbread Cookies

2007-12-25T09:42:00.000-05:00

These need some frosting. I have decided that cookies that require rolling and cutting are not my friend. So I'm not going to make them anymore. I had to add so much flour to these just to keep them from sticking to my counter. So they are pretty dry. They taste ok, but they're dry. Some kind of frosting would help. I guess thats what I get for using the recipe on the side of the molasses jar...

Gingerbread Cookies
8 tbsp (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves

Beat butter with sugar and molasses. Mix in egg. Sift dry ingredients and mix into wet mixture. Chill in freezer 1 hour or in refrigerator 2 hours.

Heat oven to 350. Roll out portion of dough 1/4" thick on lightly floured board. Chill remaining dough. Cut with cookie cutters, place on greased baking sheets (I used parchment paper) and decorate with raisins, chip or nuts, if desired. Bake 8-10 minutes. Cool.

Lemon Cookies

2007-12-25T09:23:00.000-05:00

So I feel like I need to start by saying that these are actually called Frosted Lemon Cookies. but as you can see from my pictures, I decided to skip the frosting. Since these are going in tins with lots of other goodies, I thought it would be a good idea not to frost them. So I didn't. Anyway, they are very very good and I am definitely holding on to the recipe. And when I make them just to have around the house, I will definitely frost them.

I found the recipe on Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats. I love this blog. I have yet to be disappointed by one of MrsPresley's recipes. And her pictures always look so yummy. So when I saw these cookies on her blog, I knew they'd be a sure thing. Maura absolutely loves them and I think I'll be making them just for us sometime very soon.

Frosted Lemon Cookies (source: Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats)
Cookie Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups sugar
1 cup unsalted Butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon peel
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1-1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Glaze Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice

Heat oven to 400°F. Combine all cookie ingredients in large bowl. Beat at low speed, scraping bowl often, until well mixed.

Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls, 2 inches apart, onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.

Meanwhile, combine all glaze ingredients in small bowl; stir until smooth. Frost warm cookies with glaze. Sprinkle with additional lemon peel, if desired.

Yield: 5 dozen cookies.

Molasses Cookies

2007-12-25T09:13:00.000-05:00

This was the first time making, and eating, molasses cookies for me. I had honestly never even heard of them. But someone on the nest posted a link to a food blog, and there were molasses cookies staring me right in the face. They looked amazing and I knew I had to try them. They have become my new favorite cookie. I think I will always have a jar of molasses in my house.

The blog that I found them on is named Cast Sugar and it is amazing. Everything on there looks incredible and I'm so glad that I stumbled across it. Thanks for all the great recipes Nemmie!

Molasses Cookies (source: Nemmie at Cast Sugar)

Ingredients:

2 ¼ c. all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 ½ tsp. cinnamon

1 ½ tsp. ginger

¾ tsp. ground cloves

¼ tsp. allspice

¾ c. shortening

½ c. dark brown sugar (I didn't have dark brown so I used light brown)

½ c. granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1/3 c. molasses

Preheat oven to 375 F.

In a medium bowl, sift and mix together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and allspice. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and sugars, until fluffy (about 2 minutes). Add the egg, vanilla, and molasses. Beat until combined, about 30 seconds.

Add dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Roll dough into small balls, and roll balls in sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheets (I used parchment papaer on my cookie sheets), about 2 inches apart. Bake 11-13 minutes, then cool on racks.

Holiday Goodies

2007-12-25T09:07:00.000-05:00

This year I am baking almost all of my gifts for my family. I have a huge family (9 aunts and uncles just on my Dad's side) so giving baked goodies is much easier than trying to buy something for everyone. I decided to try a few new recipes this year, along with atleast one tried and true recipe.

My gift tins will include:
mini pumpkin bread loaves
molasses cookies
chocolate covered pretzels
lemon cookies
gingerbread cookies

Chicken Not Piccata

2007-12-15T21:58:00.000-05:00

So I had every intention of making Chicken Piccata tonight. I had to go to the store to get some ingredients, and capers were on the list. Only problem was the only capers I could find were not certified kosher. So I couldn't buy them. No biggie. I just made the recipe without the capers. I'm sure they add a whole new dimension to the dish, which I will hopefully get to experience once I can find some kosher capers. Until then, I will continue to make this dish without them. Because it became one of our favorites tonight. Rob said it was one of the best things I've made to date and Maura said it was delicious. A dish they both like? And I like it too??? This one is definitely a keeper. I'm actually afraid to add the capers. Why fix it if it's not broken, right?

I believe this is originally a Giada recipe, but I found the recipe on Mary Ellen's blog. It really is easy. I had dinner ready in well under 30 minutes. And after my long day of cleaning and baking and High School Musical 2 watching, I greatly appreciated that. Next time, I will serve it with pasta or rice. I followed the recipe using Mary Ellen's measurements since I was also making 3 chicken breasts. And I was left with a lot of sauce. But that was probably because I only served broccoli on the side. I poured the sauce over the broccoli, but it just doesn't need much. So next time I'll serve something that will soak up a lot more sauce. I didn't add the parsley at the end because I didn't have any. But I wish I had. I think it would have looked prettier.

Happy Birthday to me!

2007-12-10T22:06:00.000-05:00

I decided I was going to make my own birthday cake this year. I made the Hershey's Chocolate Cake for Maura for her birthday back in August and it was awesome. But this time I wanted to make it with the rich chocolate frosting instead of the light cool whip frosting I used in August. Plans changed, however, when someone pointed out that Nestle had a chocolate cake on their website that looked like it would be a pretty good contender against the Hershey's recipe.

Nestie living_insanity posted the recipe one day, and I decided that I had to try it. She recommended maybe doing a taste test to see which one is better. That would be fun and all, but I wasn't up to making 2 seperate cakes. It was my birthday after all. So I decided to just make the Nestle recipe and try hard to remember what the Hershey's cake tasted like.

I was blown away. This cake is so moist and rich and delicious. There are a few things that I did "wrong"/differently though. When I lined the baking pans with wax paper, I didn't grease/spray the wax paper. Big mistake. It doesn't say to do that in the recipe, but do it! The wax paper was a pain to get off. It was really stuck to the cake and it took me about 10 minutes to get it off without tearing my cake apart. Also, I used 2 9" cake pans, since thats what I have. I just reduced the baking time to 30 minutes and it turned out great.

Honestly, I don't remember the exact taste of the Hershey's recipe. So I don't think I can make a fair comparison. I will say that I know that this recipe is atleast just as good as the other. But I would need to taste them both at the same time to make a fair judgement. Anyone want to make me a Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Ckae so I can compare it to the leftover cake in my fridge???

Here is a link to the recipe on Nestle's website.

Snickerdoodles

2007-12-10T21:41:00.003-05:00

The fall after I graduated from high school, I worked at a mall in Towson, MD at an Imaginarium toy store. There was a Great Cookie right down the hall and I remember being in love with their Snickerdoodles. They were so soft and chewy and sugary I am really glad that I don't work near a Great Cookie anymore, because I can guarantee that I would be there everyday buying a sleeve of those things.

I realized a few weeks ago that I had never made them, and I had an opportunity so I decided to give them a try. The ones I made were not soft and chewy like the ones I used to love at The Great Cookie. But they were totally delicious. The recipe was posted on the What's Cooking message board on The Nest by nestie I&R_4_23_06. She got the recipe from Cooking Light. I didn't know it was a Cooking Light recipe until I had made 2 or 3 batches of them. Turns out, if you make only 30 cookies, they are only 99 calories per cookie! Yay! I usually get about 34-36 cookies out of this recipe. We had a lot of fun making them. Maura loved rolling the dough in the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Snickerdoodles (source: Cooking Light)

3/4 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 6 3/4 ounces)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400°.

Combine 3/4 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, and butter in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and egg.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and salt, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to butter mixture; beat just until combined. Shape dough into 30 balls.

Combine 1/3 cup granulated sugar and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon in a small shallow dish. Roll balls in sugar mixture, and place 2 inches apart on baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 8 minutes or until tops crack. Cool on pans 1 minute. Remove from pans; cool on a wire rack.

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 99(30% from fat); FAT 3.3g (sat 2g,mono 0.9g,poly 0.2g); IRON 0.5mg; CHOLESTEROL 15mg; CALCIUM 17mg; CARBOHYDRATE 16.9g; SODIUM 59mg; PROTEIN 0.9g; FIBER 0.3g

Potato Latkes

2007-12-10T21:31:00.000-05:00

I do not have an actual recipe for this. I just have a method that I have come up with over the years. It is a combination of many recipes I have used in the past. But I don't need a recipe anymore. They are relatively simple, so you just have to get the consistency right and then you're golden.

One thing I've learned is that you need to be really patient with the potatoes. You need to let them lose as much water as possible. If they stay too wet, they won't crisp up real nice. So let them drain a looooong time. And you'll probably have to still drain more water while they're sitting in the bowl waiting to be fried. Here is my "recipe"

4 medium to large yukon gold potatoes, grated
1/2 medium yellow onion, grated (I have also used chopped green onions heer and it was good that way too!)
1/2-1 tbsp flour
1 egg beaten
oil for frying (I use canola oil)

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Stir until well combined. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and coat pan with oil. You'll want to use enough oil to coat the bottom of the skillet, but not too much, or they won't cook right. Drop batter by tablespoons into hot oil and flatten with the back of the spoon, forming a pancake shape. Fry until golden on both sides (about 5-6 minutes each side, depending on how crispy you like them.) Drain on paper towel lined plate. You can keep them warm in a 200 degree oven on a baking sheet while you cook the rest.

Happy Chanukah!

2007-12-05T16:14:00.000-05:00

I just love Chanukah. I love lighting the candles with my family and singing the songs. It's such a wonderful feeling. I also love Chanukah because I get to make latkes. Now, I know I could make latkes more often if I didn't fry them in oil. But they're just so good that way I can't imagine baking them in the oven. So every year I wait until Chanukah comes around and I grate potatoes and onions for almost 8 straight days.

I also wanted to make a really special meal to go along with the latkes. I decided to roast a whole chicken. This is about the 3rd or 4th time I've done this and I love it more and more every time. It's such a wonderful, comforting meal and it went really well with the latkes.

We also had parsnips for the first time last night. I roasted them in the pan with the chicken and they were really yummy! For those of you who maybe haven't had them before, they taste kind of like a combination of a carrot and a sweet potato. I really liked them and I think I will be adding them to the menu more often (despite the fact that Rob and Maura did not like them very much.)

Herb Roasted Chicken
1 3-4lb chicken
olive oil
1/2 a lemon
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme, chopped and divided
4 or 5 leaves of fresh sage
dried basil
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 450. Rinse chicken inside and out and pat dry. Place in roasting pan with a rack, breast side up. Rub with olive oil, salt and pepper and half of the herbs. Fill cavity with lemon, salt and pepper and the remaining herbs. Cover with foil. Roast for 20 minutes at 450. Decrease oven temp to 350 and remove foil. Roast for another 50-60 minutes, or until a meat thermometer reads 180 at the thickest part of the thigh. Let rest for 15 minutes before carving.

I used the drippings in the pan to make a pan gravy. I simply put my roasting pan across 2 of my stovetop burners and heated it. Then, I deglazed with some homemade chicken stock (you could also use part white wine here, but I didn't have any) Add about a tbsp or so of flour and whisk until thickened.

Not so Spicy Honey-Brushed Chicken

2007-12-02T09:08:00.000-05:00

I have been wanting to try Cooking Light's Spicy Honey-Brushed Chicken Thighs for some time now. The recipe gets rave reviews on The Nest's What's Cooking message board and I trust those ladies. So I knew it would probably be really good. But I was scared. See, I don't really like spicy food. Actually, that's not true. For a long time I didn't like spicier foods. Now that I'm trying to branch out and try more new things, I'm finding that I'm building up a pretty decent tolerance for spicy stuff. Still. I was scared. A recipe with Spicy right in the title didn't really sound like something I would be able to handle. But I read the recipe a little closer and saw that I could very easily control the amount of heat. So I gave it a try.

I did not use boneless skinless chicken thighs because I didn't have any. Instead, I used chicken leg quarters, but I did remove the skin. This recipe was so incredible. I loved the smoky flavor. It was really wonderful. I have to say that I didn't really measure the spices very well. So I'm not going to type up the recipe the way I made it because I'm not really sure what I did :-) I will link to the original recipe here though. What I tried to do was cut the spicy spices in half (cumin, chili powder) and add more of the smoky stuff (paprika) Also, I didn't have any ground red pepper, so I just used my black peppercorns in my pepper mill. It was not spicy at all! I think next time (and there will be a next time!) I will make it just as the recipe says and see what happens.

Mmmmmmmuffins!

2007-11-25T12:34:00.003-05:00

I woke up this morning and remembered that I had 2 huge bananas on my kitchen table. I went in and saw that they were way too ripe to eat. I remembered that I had made a banana bread recipe that I found on Amber's blog a while back and that I hadn't made it in a while. I also remembered that the recipe hadn't made it onto my blog yet, so I decided that I'd make banana muffins for the week.

This recipe really is the best banana bread I have ever had. Its so moist and delicious. The recipe on Amber's blog calls for 3 bananas, but my 2 bananas were huge, so they were just fine. Next time, I will buy double the bananas and make a double batch. I was only able to get 10 muffins out of this recipe. but I'm not very good at making my muffins all the same size. So if it weren't for my 2 huge muffins, I may have been able to make 12 muffins :-) Here's a link to the recipe in Amber's blog.

Banana Bread (source: Amber's Delectable Delights)

Ingredients
3 bananas, smashed (I used 2 very large bananas)
1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup nuts (I omitted these because i do not like nuts)

Directions
Combine all ingredients, except for nuts, using a mixer. Add nuts and mix by hand. Grease bread pan. Pour batter into bread pan and bake for 50 minutes at 350 degrees. Check with toothpick for doneness.

Amber says you can easily make these into muffins, which I did. You can bake the muffins at the same tempertaure, but decrease the baking time to 25 minutes. My muffins were done perfectly in 20 minutes :-)

Sweet Potato Pie

2007-11-25T12:15:00.000-05:00

This year, I wanted to try something new for Thanksgiving. We almost always spend the holiday with my Dad's family, and there are so many people that I usually only have to bring a dessert or bread. The past 2 years, I have made a Pumpkin Roll, and everyone has really enjoyed it. But I wanted to try something new this year. Something that we never have.

I decided on Sweet Potato Pie. No one has ever brought it to any family gatherings, and I was itching to try something new and exciting. I searched the web and came across a recipe on allrecipes.com. It seemed simple and got great reviews, so I decided to give it a try. I was nervous because I knew I wouldn't be able to do a trial run. And I don't like taking something that I've never tried before. But it turned out really great and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

The only thing that I did differently from the original recipe was to bake it longer. I took my pie out of the oven after 30 minutes and it was not done. This caused it to crack down the middle. So I'd say that this pie actually needs to bake for a total of about 50-60 minutes. It bakes for 10 minutes at 400 degrees, and then the recipe says to bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. But it really should bake for 40-50 minutes at 350. Anyway, it still turned out great. Since I didn't make any changes, I will just link to the original recipe.

Cheesy Baked Penne and Sort of Homemade Breadsticks

2007-11-16T18:36:00.001-05:00

I want to start by saying that I added the picture above because my dog made it into the shot. Can you see him? Fortunately, the picture of the pasta didn't turn out too bad either :)

I have been craving some baked pasta for the past week or so. So since it's Friday, and it's cold and windy, I thought tonight would be a great night for some comfort food. I threw this together pretty quickly and I would consider this an extremely easy dish even for a beginner cook. I will say that next time I will add more sauce. But it was very yummy and very comforting and it really hit the spot. Craving fulfilled!

Cheesy Baked Penne

1 lb penne pasta
1 28 oz can marinara sauce
1 15 oz container of Ricotta cheese
about 1.5-2 cups mozzarella cheese, divided (I like my pasta really cheesy. This is NOT a healthy dinner)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp dried basil
2 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 13x9 inch pan with cooking spray. Boil pasta in salted water until almost al dente. Meanwhile, combine sauce, ricotta, mozzarella, and seasonings in a large bowl, reserving 1/2 cup of the mozzarella. Drain pasta and add to cheese mixture. Stir pasta and cheeses together until well combines. Spread cheese and pasta in pan and top with reserved mozzarella cheese. Bake in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. Let rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Sort of Homemade Breadsticks

1 round of refrigerated pizza dough (I used Trader Joe's brand)
olive oil spray
garlic powder
dried oregano

Preheat oven to 350. Roll dough out into 10 inch circle. Slice into sticks with a pizza wheel and lay on greased baking sheet. Spray with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder and oregano. Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes.

Chicken in Mushroom Pan Sauce

2007-11-15T19:45:00.000-05:00

Another recipe inspired by Elly! Actually, I first saw the recipe that inspired this meal on Ashley's blog, Delish. It looked so yummy, and since I had a bunch of mushrooms left from when I made my soup, I decided to do a mushroom sauce instead of an herb sauce. I also did not use wine because I was cooking for my daughter as well and I guess I felt more comfortable skipping the wine altogether and just used broth. It was so tasty and comforting. I also made mashed potatoes for the first time in a long time. Its kind of hard for me to make mashed potatoes, because the meals that they go with are usually meat meals. And since we're kosher, that would mean not using butter or milk or cream in my mashed potatoes. And I was pretty sure, until tonight, that you just can't have good mashed potatoes without all those things. Well, I will say that they are certainly better with butter and milk and cream, etc. BUT. My mashed potatoes were very good tonight.

Chicken in Mushroom Pan Sauce

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced horizontally or pounded thin (I always slice mine)
flour for dredging
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2-3/4 cup chicken broth (I used part homemade stock, part store-bought broth)
3 ozs sliced baby portabella mushrooms
3 cloves of garlic, minced

Add flour, salt and pepper, and oregano to a shallow dish. Mix together and dredge the chicken in the flour. Add oil to a skillet and heat. Cook chicken in skillet, about 4 minutes on each side, until done. Set aside and keep warm. Add mushrooms to pan and cook until tender, about 2-3 minutes. Add garlic and cook another minute or so. Add broth and cook until reduced and thickened; about 5-7 minutes. Serve sauce over chicken and potatoes.

Non-dairy Garlic Mashed Potatoes

4 small-medium yukon gold potatoes
2-3 cloves smashed garlic
chicken broth
2 tbsp non-dairy margarine

Boil potatoes with garlic cloves. Drain and smash with a fork. Add broth and margarine and mix until smooth and margarine is melted.

Chicken Vegetable Mushroom Soup

2007-11-15T19:32:00.000-05:00

So the first thing I did with my homemade stock was make soup! It was soooo cold and rainy here last week and it was perfect weather for homemade soup. I had also been inspired by all the delicious soups and stews on Elly's blog. I have been eying them and drooling over them for some time and was so happy to be able to make my own. I definitely did not use a recipe. Instead, I just looked over all of Elly's recipes and used parts of them in mine.

Chicken Vegetable Mushroom Soup

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1 tbsp olive oil
8-9 cups chicken broth (I used homemade stock)
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 ozs sliced baby portabella mushrooms
1 large carrot, cut into bite size chunks
dried oregano
dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste

In a large Dutch Oven, heat oil and cook chicken until almost done. Remove chicken and set aside. Add onion to the pan and simmer for 2-3 minutes, until softened. Add garlic and cook for another minute, until fragrant. Add stock and all other ingredients, except chicken and mushrooms, and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes. Add chicken and mushrooms, cover and simmer for another 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Homemade Stock

2007-11-15T19:22:00.000-05:00

I roasted a whole chicken last week, and decided that I wanted to make homemade stock from the leftover bones, fat and meat. I am thrilled with the outcome and I have already purchased another chicken to roast and plan on making another stock very soon. I am not going to post about the chicken that I roasted because I really did not follow a recipe and I didn't get any pictures. I will say this though. It tasted amazing and comforting and I can't wait to eat like that again.

Here is what I did with the stock:

bones, fat, and some meat from 3-4lb chicken
1 leek
2 whole cloves of garlic (I honestly can't remember if I added these, but I'd like to think I did)
1 carrot
1 medium yellow onion, quartered
a handful of fresh parsley
1 tbsp peppercorns
salt to taste

Add all ingredients to a large stock pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 2-3 hours. The longer you simmer, the more flavor you will get. Strain, let cool to room temperature, skim fat, and store in fridge for up to a week. Can be frozen for much longer than that!

Soup from a box can be good!

2007-10-27T22:29:00.000-04:00

Admittedly, this is not the most healthy "recipe" It's high in sodium and full of stuff I usually try to avoid. So why would I be posting about it??? Because it's yummy! That's why! And it's so easy. Convenience meals are not something that are served in this house very often, but this is one that we have once every fews months and we love it. I'm not going to bother to post the "recipe" since it's really just directions from the back of the box. I'd be willing to bet that anyone could find a box of this stuff in the kosher aisle of their local grocery store. Give it a try sometime! Its yummy! And it is a traditional Jewish food, and since I don't have many of those types of food (shame on me!), I thought I'd take this opportunity to post something traditionally Jewish.

(pardon the ugly broken blinds in the background of the picture with the box. my dog likes to stick his head in them and mangle them.)

Apple Cake

2007-10-27T21:59:00.000-04:00

This recipe has very quickly become my favorite thing to bake. I have now made it 3 times and each time it has been incredible. It is the first and only apple cake recipe I have ever made and I don't see a reason to go looking any further. The first 2 times I made it, I made it in a 13x9 pan. When I made it today though, I decided to try it out in a Bundt pan. It came out beautifully. My in-laws are coming to spend a few days with us and I am excited for them to try it. I have not made the frosting that the original recipe calls for, only because I really feel like it does not need frosting at all. So I will not post the frosting recipe here, but here is a link to the original recipe with the frosting recipe included.

Apple Cake (source: Culinate.com)

2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp each of ground cloves and ground nutmeg
1/2 cup soft unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
4 cups peeled and finely chopped apples (I used 4 small to medium apples)
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts (I omitted these)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees (I set my oven to 300 because I used nonstick bakeware) Butter and flour a 13x9 inch baking pan (or a Bundt pan)

2. In a large bowl mix together flour, baking soda, salt, and ground spices. In a mixer bowl, or with an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and mix for another minute, until the eggs are blended into the butter and sugar. Reduce the speed to low, and add the flour mixture - a third at a time - just until the dry ingredients are incorporated. The batter will be very thick and stuff.

3. Fold in the apples and nuts and stir just enough to evenly distribute the apples and nuts through the batter.

4. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, and with a spatula smooth the surface, pushing the batter into the corners of the pan. Bake in preheated oven for 40-50 minutes, checking the cake at 40 minutes with a toothpick. When the top of the cake is firm and in inserted toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done. Cool on a wire rack.

*Note: when baking in a 13x9 pan, my cake was done perfectly at 43 minutes. In the Bundt pan it took 50 minutes. If using a Bundt pan, cool the cake for 10-15 minutes and then invert onto a plate or serving platter.

The pictures above are from today when I baked it in the Bundt pan, but here's a picture that I took the first time I made it in a 13x9.

Homemade Applesauce

2007-10-15T21:03:00.000-04:00

I am slowly making my way through the bags of apples in my kitchen. I still have lots left! I'm thinking I need to pawn some of them off on some other people. I just don't want them to go to waste. Although I think I may be making another batch of this applesauce before too long. Maybe tomorrow! It was so easy and so delicious. I plan on having some for breakfast tomorrow. I got the idea from Steph. She's a fellow WC nestie and food blogger. Steph (aka beebe) made pumpkin applesauce, but I didn't have enough pumpkin. So I just made cinnamon applesauce. Maybe I'll try it with some pumpkin tomorrow...
Anyway! This is how I did it, per Steph's instructions.

Peel, core and chop 5 small to medium sized apples. Add to a large pot with a bit of water and cinnamon, if you choose. I didn't measure, but I think I used maybe 1/2 to 3/4 cup of water. Simmer on stove top for about an hour. The apples will start to break down and form a sauce all on their own.

This was so easy. I decided to leave my applesauce a bit chunky. Partially because I am too impatient to wait for it all to break down and partially cause I like chunks of apples :-) This was so much fun and I can't wait to try it with pumpkin.

Apple Blondies with Brown Sugar Frosting

2007-10-14T21:44:00.001-04:00

Yep! Another apple post! I have a feeling I'm going to be posting about apples a lot in the next few weeks. This recipe sounded amazing to me from the moment I first saw it on WC. As I was making this recipe, I contemplated skipping the frosting all together. When the blondies came out of the oven, they looked so delicious and so perfect, I didn't want to ruin them with the frosting. But I decided to go ahead with the frosting. I'm really sad that I did. I feel like the frosting really kills this recipe. The blondies are so rich and delicious, they really don't need the frosting. I don't even know if I'll be able to eat the blondies at this point because of all the frosting. Between the 2 cups of brown sugar in the blondies, and the 1 cup of sugar and 2 cups of powdered sugar in the frosting, it was just too much sugar for me. I will DEFINITELY be making this recipe again, but I will skip the frosting next time. The blondies are incredible and I highly recommend them. And if you really love really sugary desserts, go ahead and add the frosting! I added 1.5-2 tsp of cinnamon to the blondie recipe and I am really glad that I did. It really adds an extra yummy flavor!

Apple Blondies with Brown Sugar Frosting

Blondies:
2/3 cup butter, softened
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chopped peeled apples
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (i did not add nuts)

Brown Sugar Frosting:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup milk or cream (I used skim milk)
2 cups confectioner's sugar

Blondies:
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla until thick and smooth, about 3 minutes. Combine flour, baking pwder and salt. Add to butter mixture on low speed, mixing until blended. Stir in apples, cinnamon and nuts, mixing well. Spread evenly in greased 9x13 pan.

Bake in Preheated oven at 350 degrees until set and golden, 25-30 minutes. Let cool completely in pan on rack.

Brown Sugar Frosting
In a small saucepan over low heat, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar and milk. Bring mixture just to a boil then remove from heat and let cool to lukewarm. Stir in the confectioner's sugar, mixing until smooth. Spread evenly over bar. Let stand until frosting is firm enough to cut. Cut into bars or squares.

Grandma's Apple Crisp

2007-10-14T21:34:00.000-04:00

The whole way home from the apple orchard, all I could think of was getting home and making my Grandma's apple crisp. It is so easy and delicious and I knew it was the first thing I wanted to make with our apples. I have never had Empire apples before, but they are my new favorite. I used a combo of Empire and Jonagold apples for the crisp and it turned out wonderfully. I think I added a little too much cinnamon on top because i didn't measure. But I love cinnamon so I don't mind!

Grandma's Apple Crisp (source: my Grandma)

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
dash of salt
1 egg, slightly beaten
8 tbsp butt, melted
4 apples, peeled and sliced
2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Mix flour, sugar , baking powder and salt. Gradually add egg until crumbly. Layer apples in and 8x8 cake pan. Cover apples with flour mixture and drizzle with melted butter. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes until golden brown and bubbly.

Apple Picking

2007-10-14T21:22:00.000-04:00

Rob surprised Maura and I with a trip to an orchard on Saturday and we had such a great time. The weather was perfect. We had never been apple picking and Maura was thrilled. I think we went a little overboard. We ended up with more than 25 pounds of apples! So now I'm trying to find all the apple recipes I can so I can use up all the apples before they go bad. Luckily, I spend plenty of time on The Nest's What's Cooking message board, so I'm always finding new recipes of all kinds and I can always count on the WC ladies for new recipes. We picked several different varieties of apples. Some of which I had never heard of. We picked Empires, Jonathans, Red Delicious, Fuji and Jonagold. Maura also grabbed a couple of Golden Delicious. The orchard we went to also had a pumpkin patch and flower picking. We had so many apples, though, that we decided not to get a pumpkin from the patch. I did pick up a Cinderella pumpkin, which I plan on roasting and pureeing and using in a few dishes later in the week. So stay tuned for lots of apple recipes! Here are some picture of our fun day at the orchard! Enjoy!

Baked Teriyaki Chicken

2007-10-12T09:19:00.000-04:00

I finally made something blogworthy last night. I haven't been cooking much lately, due to some stuff going on at home, so I was excited to get back in the kitchen and try something new. I had saved Amber's recipe for Teriyaki Chicken that she adapted from allrecipes, but never got around to making it. So I decided to give it a go last night, knowing I had all the ingredients I needed. We were not disappointed. Teriyaki chicken is one of my daughter's favorite dishes, and she was thrilled when she heard I was making it. She had 2 pieces! We all loved it and I served it with a side of white rice cooked in chicken broth (yum!) I wasn't able to get any pictures because my camera batteries were dead, but I'm sure I'll be making this again soon, so I'll be sure to come back and update with a picture!

Baked Teriyaki Chicken (source: Amber's Delectable Delights original source: allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp cold water
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup cider vinegar
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used 4)

Directions:
In a small saucepan over low heat, combine all ingredients except chicken. Let simmer, stirring frequently, until sauce thickens and bubbles. Let sauce cool.

Pour cooled sauce into bottom of greased 9x13 casserole dish. Coat chicken in sauce and marinade in pan in the fridge for atleast an hour.

Preheat oven to 375. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until internal temp is 165 degrees. Brush chicken with sauce every 10 minutes during cooking.

Sloppy Joes...without the can!

2007-09-23T18:11:00.000-04:00

I have to admit that I have only ever made Sloppy Joes with Manwich from a can. We haven't had Sloppy Joes in a long time, and we have a can of Manwich hanging out in our kitchen, and Rob requested that I use it. I definitely wanted an easy dinner tonight, but I wasn't willing to make it that easy. So I started surfing the net for an easy, but yummy recipe. I found just what I was looking for on allrecipes, but I decided to change it up a bit. I used some of the recommendations from the reviewers on allrecipes and came up with something that was easy and delicious. I can't say we'll be eating this very often. It's not especially healthy, but it was wonderful in a pinch. And I think it's safe to say I'll never be buying a can of Manwich again. You can find the original recipe here.

Simple Sloppy Joes (source: me? adapted from allrecipes)

1.25 lbs extra lean ground beef
1 1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp yellow mustard
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup barbecue sauce (I used Hunt's Hickory and Brown Sugar, so I left out the brown sugar that the original recipe called for)
dash or 2 of chili powder
1 1/2 tsp cider vinegar
salt and ground pepper to taste

Brown beef and pepper; drain. Stir in remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly. Heat through about 5 minutes and transfer to slow cooker. Cook in slow cooker on low approximately 3-4 hours.

I served this with herb roasted red potatoes and roasted broccoli. One thing I will do differently next time is use chopped onion. I didn't realize that all of my onions had gone bad, so I had to use onion powder. Certainly not a gourmet meal, but yummy nonetheless!

Vegetable Gnocchi Soup

2007-09-18T17:40:00.000-04:00

My first soup of the Fall! Ok, so it's not officially Fall yet. But it's close! And the weather has been a lot more Fall-like around here. Anyway, my friend Julie (aka ladychicago) from The Nest's What's Cooking message board shared a recipe she had for Chicken and Gnocchi Soup. I have had a package of premade gnocchi sitting around for a little while and I wanted to use it up. I didn't have any chicken in the freezer, so I decided to try this soup meatless. It was wonderful and flavorful and I will definitely be making this again, although next time I think I'll try it with the chicken and see how that goes.

The original recipe that Julie gave me called for frozen peas, and although I was positive that I had some lurking in my freezer, I did not have any. So I used frozen corn, much to the merriment of my husband. He doesn't like peas, but corn is one of his favorite vegetables. So he was very happy. He claims that the carrots were not cooked well enough, but I disagree. I think they were perfect. Maybe he just likes mushy carrots. Anyway, here's the recipe in it's original form, with my changes in italics and parenthesis.

Chicken and Gnocchi Soup (but I'm calling it Vegetable Gnocchi soup tonight :-)
Source: nestie ladychicago

6 cups chicken broth, homemade or low-sodium canned (I used fat free vegetable broth in a box)
4 cloves of garlic, minced (I have to admit that I used jarred, minced garlic here)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon sugar
2 carrots, thinly sliced
1 rib celery, thinly sliced
2 cups prepared potato gnocchi, about 11 ounces, thawed if frozen (I probably used more like 2 1/2 cups)
2 cups frozen peas, 8 ounces (I used frozen corn)
2 cups shredded cooked chicken, about 1 large chicken breast (I omitted this)
Freshly ground black pepper
Hunk of good Parmesan

Put chicken broth, garlic, butter and sugar in a large
saucepan over medium-low heat, bring it to a simmer,
and cook, uncovered until the garlic is tender, about
2 minutes. Add the carrots and celery and continue to
simmer until almost tender, 2 minutes. Bring to a full
boil, stir in gnocchi and, cooking until the gnocchi
are al dente, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in frozen peas and
chicken and turn off the heat. Season with salt —take
into consideration that Parmesan cheese is salty, and
a generous amount of pepper, to taste. Ladle the soup
into warmed shallow bowls and shower each with freshly
grated cheese.

It's the most wonderful time of the year

2007-09-16T10:13:00.000-04:00

Fall is my favorite time of year. I love when the temperature drops and I get to wear my sweaters and sweatshirts again. And I love the smell of fall. I also love the yummy baked goods that fall always brings. While I must admit that I don't really wait for fall to start baking with pumpkin, I definitely do feel so much more motivated to bake with it once the temperature changes. So when I was at the store a week ago, I picked up 3 cans of pumpkin and started keeping my eye out for new pumpkin recipes. While surfing around The Nest's What's Cooking message board, I came across a Pumpkin Bread recipe that Cara, of Cara's Cravings, says she loves. And knowing that Cara loves Pumpkin as much, if not more, than I do, I knew I had to give it a shot. I was not disappointed and I'm pondering the idea of baking a bunch of loaves of it for holiday gifts.

I did have a couple of problems with the recipe. It makes a TON of dough and the next time I make it, I will be sure not to overfill my loaf pans. I probably had enough batter to make 2 loaves, plus a few muffins. So that's what I'll do next time. I made one loaf plain for my mom, and then added chocolate chips to the rest of the dough. The problem came when I tried to fill my second loaf pan. I could see that it was filled way too high, and being that the recipe call for 1 tablespoon of baking soda, I just new it was going to overflow. Of course, I didn't think of the muffin idea until after I was finished baking the bread. There's always next time! My chocolate chip loaf did , in fact, overflow. And it did not cook all the way through. Bu I had a slice of my mom's plain, and much prettier, loaf this morning, slathered with cream cheese. It was incredible. Even with all the problems I had, I still highly recommend this recipe. It was only my first time making it, so I'm sure next time will be less of a mess. The original recipe can be found here. But I'm going to type my slightly modified version out as well :-)

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:

1 cup butter or margarine, softened
3 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 (16 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin (I used one 15 ounce can of pumpkin)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs; mix well. Combine dry ingredients; stir into creamed mixture just until moistened. Stir in pumpkin. Pour batter into one greased 9x5 loaf pan. Add chocolate chips to the rest of dough and add to second greased 9x5 loaf pan. Be sure to only fill the pans up about 1/2 to 2/3 full. The batter does rise quite a bit. You can use any leftover batter to make muffins. Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour or until bread tests done.

Baked pasta...minus the pasta

2007-09-06T21:43:00.001-04:00

I have been wanting to try Spaghetti Squash for the longest time. The only thing that has been holding me back is the fact that my husband isn't usually keen on trying new things. And being that none of us had ever had it before, he really wasn't too interested. I should probably start off by saying that this was not the most successful meal. While it wasn't a total flop, I did not roast the squash long enough and so the texture was not so good. It was crunchy. Which we all found kind of gross :-) But the flavor was awesome I think I may give this another shot, knowing now that the squash really needs to roast for a long time. I started out in the microwave and moved to the oven. But I think next time I will just do it all on the oven. I also bought a pretty big squash, so next time I will look for a smaller one.

Baked Spaghetti Squash Casserole (source: me!)
1 large Spaghetti squash
1 medium zucchini squash, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
16 oz part skim Ricotta cheese
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
Italian seasoning
salt and pepper
garlic powder
1 jar spaghetti sauce (I used homemade), divided

Spray a casserole dish with olive oil cooking spray (I ended up having to use 2 smaller dishes for this one, but a 13x9 pan would probably work.)

Roast the squash in the oven in a pan with a little water for about an hour. It can be roasted whole or cut in half and then roasted, but it's pretty hard to cut through a big raw squash. When the squash has cooled down, slice it in half, remove the seeds, and remove the flesh with a fork.

Saute the zucchini slices in the oil and garlic in a skillet until tender. Set aside.

Combine cheeses (save some mozzarella for sprinkling), herbs and spices (to taste) in a large bowl. Add the squash and most of the sauce to the cheese mixture, saving a small amount of the sauce to put on top of the dish. Pour half of the mixture into prepared pan and and lay on most of the sauteed zucchini slices, reserving some for the top. Pour the rest of the mixture on top, add rest of the sauce, and lay the rest of the zucchini slices over the sauce. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese and bake in preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Let rest for about 5-10 minutes before serving.

Herb Roasted Chicken

2007-09-06T21:35:00.000-04:00

Wednesday night's dinner was easy and delicious. It was a sort of variation on a recipe i've made before. I took 3 split chicken breasts (bone in, a little bit of skin on) and sprayed them with olive oil. Then I rubbed them with some salt and pepper, Italian seasoning, basil, oregano and thyme. I like my chicken really herb-y :-) Then I sprayed a 13x9 pan with olive oil and laid the chicken breasts in the pan. I poured in enough vegetable broth (you could use chicken broth, but I didn't have any last night) to cover the bottom of the pan. Then, I roasted them at 350 degrees for about an hour, basting once or twice. I also had to add more vegetable broth halfway through. The chicken came out moist and delicious and I will definitely be making it this way again soon. I served it with steamed corn and roasted zucchini.

Chelle's Chocolate Chip Cookies

2007-09-04T22:38:00.000-04:00

My good friend Michelle came up with a new chocolate chip recipe and when she said they were everything she dreamed a chocolate chip cookie would be, I knew I had to try them. And I am so glad I did. They are perfect. I did mess up a little at first. I forgot to stick the dough in the fridge before baking. But that's ok, they were still yummy. I also didn't have enough vanilla. I could definitely tell that the cookies needed more vanilla. Again, they were still delicious. Here's Chelle's recipe. My changes are in italics. But they really aren't changes. Anyway...

Chelle's Soft & Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Source: Sugar & Spice)

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon milk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate chips because that's what I had. They are yummy!)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. (I set my oven to 350 because I was using nonstick pans)

2. Microwave butter for 30 seconds, stir and set aside. Do not worry if it is not completely melted.

3. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl and set aside.

4. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla on medium-high speed until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add milk and beat until combined. Gradually beat in flour mixture, beating just until combined (do NOT overmix!). Stir in chocolate chips.

5. Refrigerate dough for 15-30 minutes.

6. Drop by rounded spoonful (I used a Pampered Chef cookie scoop that holds approximately 2 tablespoons) onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 12 minutes (my cookies only needed 10 minutes) or until edges are just brown and middle is not quite set yet. Cool on pan for 2 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.

7. Before adding more dough to warm cookie sheets, place sheet in freezer for 5-7 minutes to cool.

Store in an airtight container. Recipe yielded 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

Parmesan Broccoli Orzo

2007-09-04T19:52:00.001-04:00

I needed something easy and quick for dinner tonight. Rob and Maura made themselves pizza bagels, but I didn't want that. Also, I wasn't hungry when they ate. So later on, I had to cook for just me. Which hardly ever happens around here. I remembered that I had some orzo and that I hadn't had any in a while. So this is what I did.

Parmesan Broccoli Orzo
Ingredients:
2 oz orzo pasta (any pasta would work for this)
1 tbsp butter
1/3 cut broccoli florets, cut into very small pieces
1 1/2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Directions:
Bring water to a boil in a saucepan and salt the water. Add pasta after water has come to a boil and boil for about 9-10 minutes. Add broccoli during last 5 minutes of cooking time. Drain well. Toss with all other ingredients and enjoy!

How easy is that??!! I realize with the addition of butter, this isn't an especially healthy meal. But it has veggies!

Pumpkin Scones

2007-09-03T20:31:00.000-04:00

I love pumpkin but I really haven't baked with it much yet. I did make some yummy, and healthy, pumpkin muffins. But that's pretty much it so far. I normally just use it for my pumpkin oatmeal, which is delicious by the way! Or I feed it to my dog. But I realized that I need to start baking with it more. I had some buttermilk left over from making buttermilk pancakes for dinner last week and I wanted to use it up before it went bad. I found this recipe on Annie's blog and I knew I had to try it. These scones are easy and delicious!! I'm looking forward to having them for breakfast this week. Here is the recipe, with my adjustments in italics.

Pumpkin Scones
Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup light or dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger (i didn't have ginger, so i used ground nutmeg)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/3 cup white chocolate chips (optional) (i used semisweet chips because thats what i had)
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the eggs wash:
1 large egg, beaten
1 tbsp milk or cream (i used fat free half and half)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 and place rack in the middle of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. I cut my butter into pieces and then refrigerated it for a few minutes so that it stayed cold. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs. Stir in the chocolate chips. In a separate bowl mix together the buttermilk, pumpkin and vanilla, and then add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture. Mix just until the dough comes together. Do not overmix the dough.

Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead the dough for or five times and then pat the dough into a circle that is about 7 inches round. Cut the circle into six equal triangles (i was able to get 8 scones out of this recipe) Place the scones on the baking sheet. Brush the tops of the scones with the egg wash.

Place the baking sheet inside another baking sheet to prevent the bottoms of the scones from over browning. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown and a toothepick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Snap, Crackle, Pop

2007-09-01T19:02:00.000-04:00

Chicken fingers!! When I decided to make chicken fingers tonight, I decided to try something new. I have always used bread crumbs to bread my chicken, but my Dad always used cereal, so I decided to give that a shot. And I though Rice Krispies would be perfect. Partly because I had some, but partly because they're so crunchy. It worked out wonderfully and I can honestly say I don't think I'll be using breadcrumbs to bread my chicken ever again. Here's how I did it:

Kayte's Chicken Fingers (serves 3-4)
Ingredients
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into nuggets or strips
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups Rice Krispies cereal, crushed
1/4 cup Canola oil

Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Season chicken pieces with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Dredge strips or nuggets in flour, coat with egg, then coat in crushed Rice Krispies (I crushed mine in a gallon sized freezer bag and used my hands). Add chicken pieces to pan and cook, flipping once, about 5-7 minutes per side. If your skillet isn't big enough to fit all of the chicken (mine wasn't) keep the cooked chicken pieces in the oven to keep them warm. I laid mine out on a plate covered with a paper towel to soak up some of the oil.

I served the chicken with oven fries and roasted broccoli.

Oven Fries (serves 3-4)
2 medium sized Yukon Gold potatoes
olive oil cooking spray
salt and pepper to taste

Cut potatoes into strips. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and lay the potato strips out in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and spray with cooking spray. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes, flipping halfway through so that they cook evenly.

Roasting broccoli is done pretty much the same way as the fries, except the broccoli only has to roast for about 10-15 minutes.

Hershey's Best Brownies

2007-09-01T12:00:00.003-04:00

These really are the best brownies. I have been making the Deep Dish Brownies recipe from allrecipes, with some adjustments, for a while now and they had been my favorite. But I think they have been replaced. [EDIT: After making my Deep Dish Brownie recipe several more times, as well as this one, it has been decided that my Deep Dish Brownie recipe reigns supreme. Althought these are pretty yummy too :-)] I found the Hershey's recipe on Jessica's blog and I made them exactly the way she did. They were chewy and fudgy and wonderful. I made a second batch to take to my aunt's house yesterday and they were a big hit there as well. So here's the recipe the way Jessica (and I) made them.
Hershey's Best Brownie
Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa (I used Hershey's Special Dark cocoa)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts(optional) (I did not add these)
CREAMY BROWNIE FROSTING(recipe follows) (I did not use the frosting)
as per Jessica's alterations, I also added about 2 tbsp of Hershey's Chocolate Syrup and about 1/3 cup of semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 9-inch square baking pan.

2. Stir together butter, sugar and vanilla in bowl. Add eggs; beat well with spoon. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; gradually add to egg mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in nuts, if desired. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan.

3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Prepare CREAMY BROWNIE FROSTING; spread over brownies. Cut into squares. About 16 brownies.

Jessica used a 9" round pan. I did this as well, since I didn't have a 9" square pan

Oh, and here's a link to the original.

Breakfast for Dinner

2007-08-29T18:09:00.000-04:00

Once again, my friend Michelle helped me figure out what to make for dinner :o) She's such a lifesaver! She recommended pancakes and eggs and, knowing that I had my aunt's recipe for homemade buttermilk pancakes in my recipe arsenal, I immediately agreed that it would be a great idea. Rob agreed as well, so all I had to do was run to the store for some buttermilk.

These pancakes are easy and delicious. They are what my Aunt Laura is famous for, and she always makes them for everyone for breakfast when we are together. I was so happy to find the recipe in the family cookbook she put together for everyone. I sprinkled some blueberries on mine, and Rob wanted to try one with chocolate chips. He decided he didn't like them that way (he's weird) so he'll be sticking to the original recipe. I also made scrambled eggs to go with them, but wasn't able to get a good picture of them. So I'll just share a bunch of yummy pancake pictures with you :o)

Buttermilk Pancakes (source: my Aunt Laura; originally from Marion Cunningham's Breakfast Cookbook)
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs at room temperature
6 tbsp butter, melted
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda

Combine buttermilk. eggs and butter. Blend until smooth. Combine flour, salt and soda. Stir dry ingredients into milk mixture until just moistened. Pour onto hot griddle. Sprinkle blueberries if desired. Flip when bubbles have set.

I used a wire whisk to blend the wet ingredients and it worked perfectly.

Breaded chicken in Mushroom Sauce

2007-08-28T19:22:00.000-04:00

I had such a hard time coming up with a good idea for dinner tonight. I knew I had some boneless skinless chicken breasts thawing, but I couldn't think of anything yummy to make. So my good friend Michelle helped me brainstorm. First, she suggested fajitas, which I've never made, but they sounded great. Only problem was, I didn't have most of what I'd need to make them. And I did not feel like going to the store. So then we started talking about sauteeing them on the stove top and Michelle told me all about how she makes them. And I had everything I needed (since it doesn't require many ingredients) so I decided to go for it.

The result was a dinner that everyone loved. Maura said "this is the best chicken you've ever made!" Which was really sweet of her to say, but I did remind her that she says that a lot :-) She's not hard to please. Here's the "recipe" the way I made it, using Michelle's instructions.

Michelle's Breaded Chicken in Mushroom Sauce (source: Michelle)
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin or sliced in half (I always slice mine down the center to make 2 separate pieces)
~2 tbsp olive oil
flour
mushrooms (I used pre-sliced baby bellas)
vegetable broth

Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add oil. Dredge both sides of chicken in flour. Add to pan and brown on both sides; approximately 3-4 minutes per side. Add mushrooms and cook through, about 3 minutes. Add vegetable broth (I did not measure the broth at all, but I'm guessing I used 1/2 cup or so) Cook over medium heat until sauce is reduced and thickened, about 10 minutes.

I served this with roasted yukon gold potatoes and garlic green beans. The green beans were really simple. I just threw some frozen green beans into a pan sprayed with olive oil. I also added 1 clove of garlic, minced finely. I cooked them over a medium heat for about 5-7 minutes, until they were cooked through. My mom has asked for an actual recipe for my roasted potatoes, so here it is

Roasted potatoes (serves 3-4 people)
3-4 medium potatoes (I use either Yukon Gold or Red potatoes)
olive oil spray
salt and pepper
Italian Seasoning

Preheat oven to 425. Cut potatoes into chunks. Spray baking sheet with olive oil and spread potatoes on baking sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning (the options are really endless here as far as what you season the potatoes with. I have used garlic and basil, or rosemary. It's really all about what you want to use) Spray potatoes with olive oil and bake in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, flipping halfway through.

Oh Kitchen, how I missed thee!!

2007-08-26T21:41:00.001-04:00

I missed my kitchen so much while I was on vacation. I got to cook dinner for everyone (meaning about 24 people) only once. It was quite the experience. But I loved it. I made shredded BBQ chicken, breaded zucchini, and corn on the cob. The whole dinner was a huge hit. It was a ton of work though. Imagine shredding enough chicken for 24 people. Not a quick meal! But anyway, I missed my kitchen and did not get any chances to bake at all.

So tonight, I got back in the kitchen and threw together a dinner with what I had on hand. I made some BBQ chicken in the oven and roasted some potatoes. I was going to make a veggie side, like roasted zucchini. But I forgot to pick up veggies at the store yesterday, and all the veggies leftover from before we left for vacation looked questionable. So no veggies with dinner tonight.

For the BBQ chicken, I just let the chicken pieces soak/marinade in some BBQ sauce for about 15 minutes(Hunts' Hickory and Brown Sugar...sooooo good!) I lined a baking sheet with foil, placed the chicken pieces on the baking sheet and baked them at 425 for about 25 minutes. I took them out about basted them, then put then back in the oven for another 15 minutes, basting with the sauce one more time before they were done cooking. It was super easy and super yummy.

To roast the potatoes, I just cut them into chunks, laid them on a baking sheet (which i sprayed with olive oil first), sprayed the potatoes with olive oil, and then sprinkled some salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning on them. I threw the potatoes in the oven at the same time as the chicken, and they were done before the chicken, so i probably should have waited.

I also decided to bake tonight, since I haven't baked in over a week, and I loooove to bake. Also, tomorrow is Maura's first day of 3rd grade and I wanted to bake some goodies for her to have in her lunches for her first week of school. I used a recipe I have used over and over again for Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies. But I made it differently. This time I used Dark Chocolate cocoa powder and White Chocolate Chips. This is by far my favorite cookie recipe. I am not a huge fan of white chocolate, so I was hesitant to try it this way. They were very tasty, but next time I will stick to other add-ins. I have made them with semisweet chips, and with chopped up dark chocolate and milk chocolate bars. The original recipe comes from foodnetwork.com and can be found here.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 cup Hershey's Special Dark cocoa
2 cups white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl stir together flour, salt, and baking soda. In another large bowl stir together butter, both sugars, eggs, vanilla and cocoa. Gradually stir flour mixture into butter mixture and mix until combined. Add white chocolate chips and stir to distribute evenly.
For cookies: Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto greased baking sheets and bake about 10 minutes. Cool on a baking rack.
For bars: Pat dough into a greased 9 inch square baking pan and bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cut into squares when cooled

Oh, and here's a picture of the beach for you :-) We went to Bethany Beach, Delaware last week and had a blast with my entire family.

Pizza!!

2007-08-15T18:48:00.001-04:00

I love making homemade pizza dough. It tastes so much better than the pre-made crusts that are already baked. And it's also a lot less expensive than ordering in! But I never feel like taking the time to let it rise. Patience is not something I have a lot of :-) But I have been itching to make this again, and we're leaving for vacation on Friday, so I needed something relatively simple. I found this recipe for pizza dough thanks to Jen (I've been using a lot of her recipes lately!) It is incredible and so easy. I also decided to make my own pizza sauce since we were running low on the canned stuff.

Tonight's pizza tasted wonderful and was a great comfort meal. The dough recipe makes 2 large pizzas, and the sauce recipe makes enough to cover both pizzas. I got the sauce recipe from my good friend Michelle, of Sugar and Spice. Sauce makes such a big difference in pizza and this stuff really makes the pizza! I made a few changes to the recipe because i didn't have one of the ingredients, so you can find the original recipe here.

Here is a picture of the dough before I topped it and baked it.
Jay's Signature Pizza Crust (source allrecipes.com and Jen)

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degreesF/45 degrees C)
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 1/3 cups all purpose flour

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and brown sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes.

2. Stir the salt and the oil into the yeast solution. Mix in 2 1/2 cups of the flour.

3. Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky.

*I let my Kitchenaid Stand Mixer do all this work for me. But kneading by hand gets the job done too
Place dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. let the dough rise until double; this should take about an hour. Punch down the dough, and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax for a minute before rolling out (i usually give it more like 2-3 minutes so the gluten really has a chance to rest) Use for your favorite pizza recipe.

4. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, you may place your toppings on the dough, and bake immediately. If you are baking your pizza in a pan, lightly oil the pan, and let the dough rise for 15 to 20 minutes before topping and baking it.

5. Bake pizza in preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Here is my version of Michelle's pizza sauce recipe.

Pizza Sauce
15 oz. tomato sauce
2 Tablespoons parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients.

I decided to try baking the pizza with all of it's toppings on it right away, instead of pre-baking the crust like I usually do. We liked it much better this way, so I will not be pre-baking my crust anymore. I also wanted to add that I usually have to add a bit more flour than the recipe calls for. I just keep adding in very small increments until the dough isn't sticky anymore.

BBQ chicken and sweet potatoes

2007-08-14T18:54:00.000-04:00

I have made pulled BBQ chicken in the crockpot before. But while surfing The Nest's What's Cooking Message Board, I learned that there is a different way to do it without a crockpot. And since I hate my crockpot, I was excited to learn all about it. The always brilliant Jen of Jen's Culinary Adventures told me how you can boil the chicken in broth and then go from there. I thought it sounded like a great idea so I decided to give it a whirl. Here is what I did, per Jen's instructions, and a little help from another nestie, Mollie.

I had some chicken pieces from a whole chicken. So I took a breast, thigh and leg, all with the bone in a skin on. I took the skin off and boiled them with the bones still in, in a combo of chicken and vegetable broth until they chicken was cooked through. I removed the chicken from the pot, drained the broth from the pot, and took the meat off the bones. I added the meat back to the pot and shredded it with 2 forks. Then, I added enough barbecue sauce to coat all the meat. I have, until now, not found my favorite barbecue sauce. I am limited as to which brands I can buy, since we keep kosher. So I tried Hunt's Hickory Smoke sauce and it was awesome! It's my new fave. Although I am still dying to try Sweet Baby Ray's at some point in my life. Anyway,I just heated the sauce and chicken up and served on hamburger buns.

Tonight was also a first for me. I have eaten and loved sweet potatoes my entire life. but I have only ever had them baked or mashed. And I hardly ever make them at home. But I have been hearing so much about oven roasted sweet potatoes that I just had to try them, so I picked up some sweet taters at the store today. I discovered that cubing a sweet potato is a lot harder than cubing a yukon gold. I almost really hurt myself! Until a fellow nestie told me that popping it in the microwave might help soften it up. It did the trick and we had delicious roasted sweet potatoes with our barbecue chicken.

Unfortunately, I was not able to get a good picture of dinner tonight. I realize that a food blog post without a picture can be a little disappointing, but trust me, the pictures I got would not have made much of a difference :-)

A farewell party

2007-08-12T21:51:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was a very bittersweet day. We had a party for my younger brother who is moving to Japan in less than 2 weeks. We are all really happy for him. He has been wanting to go there and applied for the JET program and was accepted. He will be living there for atleast a year teaching English to middle school students. it is a dream of his and I am so happy that it is happening for him. But he will definitely be missed!

We had a party for him at my aunt's house and it was a lot of fun, although it ended with some drama. My aunt fell and had to go go the hospital and my cousin almost choked. So it was eventful if nothing else. We had some wonderful food though! We had London Broil, coleslaw, pasta salad, corn on the cob, roasted potatoes, homemade French bread, and tomato slices. I didn't get any pics of the whole spread. But I do have pics and recipes for the dishes I made. I asked my brother what his favorite dessert is and he requested Oreo Truffles. I hadn't made them since the holidays, so I was excited to make them again. They are a bit tedious and messy, but so worth it. And my aunt also asked if I could bring some bread. So I decided to try my hand at making some French bread loaves. It was fun and I will definitely be making them again the next time I want some crusty bread.

I was originally going to make a recipe for Italian bread that I found on the back of my bag of bread flour. But I saw the French bread in Bean's blog and decided to give it a whirl. I doubled it so it made 2 loaves instead of one. The original recipe can be found in the manual for the Kitchenaid Stand Mixer. It turned out delicious and was a huge hit.

French Bread (source: Bean's Bistro and the Kitchenaid Mixer manual)
2 packages active dry yeast
2 1/2 cup warm water (105 degrees to 115 degrees)
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon butter or margarine, melted
7 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornmeal
1 egg white
1 tablespoon cold water

Dissolve yeast in warm water in warmed mixer bowl (you can warm the mixer bowl by rinsing it with warm water). Add salt, butter and flour. Attach bowl and dough hook to mixer. turn to Speed 2 and mix until well blended, about one minute. Knead on speed 2 about 2 minutes longer. Dough will be sticky *this is where i may have made a mistake. I added all 7 cups of flour before kneading. the bread came out a bit dry. so next time i will start out by only adding 6 cups of flour and go from there.

Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from draft, about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.

Punch down dough and divide in half. Roll each half into a 12x15 rectangle. Roll dough tightly, from longest side, tapering ends if desired. place loaves on greased baking sheets that have been dusted with cornmeal. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from draft, about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.

With a sharp knife, make 4 diagonal cuts on top of each loaf. Bake at 450 for 25 minutes. Remove from oven. Beat egg white and water together with a fork. Brush each loaf with egg mixture. Return to oven and bake 5 minutes longer. Remove from baking sheets immediately and cool on wire racks.

Now for the truffle recipe :-)

Easy Oreo Truffles (source: Kraft Foods, and the WC nesties)
1 pkg Oreo Sandwich Cookies, divided
1 pkg (8oz) cream cheese
2 pkg (8 oz each) Baker's Semisweet Baking Chocolate, melted

Crush 9 of the cookies into fine crumbs in food processor; reserve for later use. (cookies can also be finely crushed in a resealable plastic bag using a rolling pin) Crush remaining 36 cookies into fine crumbs; place in medium bowl. Add cream cheese; mix until well blended. Roll cookie mixture into 42 balls, about 1 inch in diameter. *i rolled my truffles one at a time and i did not get 42 balls from the mixture.

Dip balls into chocolate; place on wax paper- lined baking sheets. (any leftover chocolate can be stores at room temperature for another use) Sprinkle with reserved cookie crumbs.

Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Store leftover truffles, covered, in refrigerator.
*i find that the easiest way to melt the chocolate is in the microwave. i also add a small amount of vegetable oil to the melted chocolate to make it easier to work with.

Our favorite lunch

2007-08-11T14:08:00.000-04:00

We always have such a hard time coming up with yummy lunches. Maura is pretty picky about what she will eat for lunch. Growing up, my mom always made pizzas on english muffins. But we use bagels in our house. It is so easy and yummy and very filling. It's not the healthiest lunch, but it could be worse! And I know it's not exactly gourmet, but I wanted to share it with everyone anyway :-)

What we usually do is take a bagel, one for each person, and split it in half. Our fave bagels to use for this are Thomas' plain bagels. Lay it on a baking sheet and top with the sauce of your choice. We use Don Pepinos when I don't feel like making homemade sauce (which is most of the time). This sauce is really really yummy. I'm guilty of licking the spoon after I spread the sauce on the bagels. Then top with your favorite toppings!! We are boring, so we always just top with shredded mozzarella, but the possibilities are endless. Pop them in the oven at 425 degrees for about 10-12 minutes, depending on how you like your pizza. These are so simple and so yummy I wish I could have them everyday!

Jenny Lea, I love your grandma!!

2007-08-11T09:54:00.000-04:00

I'm always interested in trying new cookie recipes. Especially for chocolate chip cookies. I think the ones with pudding in them are my favorite. But really, I can't decide! A good friend from the Nest What's Cooking message board shared this recipe that she inherited from her Grandma.

Now, I have never made chocolate chip cookies, or any cookie for that matter, with shortening. Growing up, my mom really only ever used butter. I can vaguely remember her using those sticks of shortening for something, but I can't remember what. Anyway, it was almost always butter. I had a can of shortening in my cabinet from a failed attempt at cornbread. And that was months ago. But the stuff lasts a year, and when I saw that Jenny's recipe called for shortening, I saw it as a good opportunity to use some of it up.

The cookies turned out chewy and rich and delicious. One more chocolate chip cookie recipe to add to my collection!

Chocolate Chip Cookies (source: Jennylea525 from the nest)
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
6 oz chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. Cream shortening, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Then stir in dry ingredients. Bake 8-10 minutes.

Jenny says to make sure not to over mix once the dry ingredients are added. Also, it took the entire 10 minutes for my cookies to be done. I also rotated the pans halfway through. The recipe above is just the way Jenny wrote it. But I made a double batch and got about 4 1/2 dozen cookies out of the recipe. But I made some of them bigger than others.

Mmmmmm, Chocolate!

2007-08-08T23:07:00.001-04:00

I love chocolate. And as far as I'm concerned, the darker the better. So when I was at the store getting some cocoa, since I had run out, I decided to buy the Hershey's Special Dark Dutch Processed Cocoa instead of the Hershey's Unsweetened Cocoa I usually buy. Rob was wanting brownies tonight and I was really excited to crack open my container of dark chocolate yumminess. I opened the container and was shocked by how dark it looked. And at that point, I had already realized that I did not have quite enough sugar to make the brownies. So I panicked. But the butter was already melted, so I decided to keep going and see how it turned out.

I was definitely worried that the brownies would come out bitter. The original recipe calls for 1.5 cups of sugar and I had a little more than 1 cup. I had maybe 1 and 1/8 cup. So I was definitely concerned. But they turned out super yummy. I will say though, they would benefit from some extra sugar, but as a dark chocolate lover, they are more than delicious to me :-)

The original recipe can be found on allrecipes.com here. I never follow this recipe exactly the way it is on allrecipes. I always cut out the baking powder completely and only use 2 eggs. I learned these little tips from the reviewers on allrecipes and the changes make for a really gooey, fudgy brownie. This is the only brownie recipe I ever use. Even though I linked to the original recipe, and mentioned how I change it up, I'll go ahead and type up the way I make them here.

Deep Dish Brownies

3/4 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used the Special Dark cocoa powder tonight)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8 inch square pan.
2. In a large bowl, blend melted butter, sugar and vanilla. Beat in eggs one at a time. Combine the flour, cocoa powder and salt in a separate bowl. Gradually blend dry mixture into the egg mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 40-45 minutes, or until brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Let brownies cool, then cut into squares. Enjoy!

Did I mention that I love to bake?

2007-08-05T16:54:00.001-04:00

I think it's in my DNA. All of my aunt's on my dad's side are bakers. My mom and her sister and my cousin all love it. I'm convinced that I was born with a baking gene. I just love it. And seriously, it's not just the eating of sweets that I love, although that is a huge part of it. I love mixing stuff together and watching it turn into something delicious. And I love feeding people sweets. Anyway, I'm always looking for healthier ways to fulfill my baking urges so that I don't feel so guilty about it. And I have a bag of whole wheat flour that needs using. I found a recipe on sparkrecipes.com for Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins that sounded perfect. I love taking muffins for breakfast in weekday mornings because it's just so easy to grab one and go. These muffins were amazing! I will definitely be holding onto this recipe.
Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins (source: sparkrecipes.com)
Ingredients

1 egg
2/3 cup sugar
1 can (1 3/4 cups) mashed, plain pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup nonfat milk
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (I didn't have any so I just used a little extra cinnamon and nutmeg)
1/ cup chopped walnuts (i omitted these since I didn't have these)

Directions

Position oven rack in center of oven.
Preheat oven to 400*F (I set my oven to 375 since i use nonstick pans)
Place foil muffins cups in a 12-cup muffin pan; or spray muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray, Note: Do not use paper muffin cups; muffins will stick.
Cream egg and sugar with electric mixer until thickened, about 3 minutes.
Stir in pumpkin, vanilla and milk until well-mixed.
Gently stir in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices until combined.
Do not over-mix.
Stir in walnuts.
Drop batter into prepared muffin pan, filling cups about 3/4 full.
Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the middle of the muffins comes out clean.

Number of servings: 12
Nutrition Facts:
Fat: 4.0g
Carbs: 28.2g
Calories: 156.5
Protein: 4.2g

And I didn't stop there! I've been buying zucchini like crazy lately and remembered that my friend Amber made zucchini bread not too long ago. Growing up, my mom always had a vegetable garden in our backyard with all kinds of homegrown veggies. Tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini just to name a few. And she always made homemade zucchini bread. I asked her for her recipe a while back, and haven't gotten it yet, but I can't wait to try it out on my own. Amber's recipe is wonderful, but definitely a lot sweeter than I remember my mom's being.

Zucchini Bread (source: Amber's Delectable Delights)
Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil (can also use applesauce)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup zucchini, loosely grated
1 1/2 cups flour (I did 3/4 cup whole wheat, 3/4 cup all purpose)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Optional - 1/2 cup chopped nuts
Optional - 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
- Beat eggs until frothy
- Add in sugar, oil and vanilla and mix until combined
- Add zucchini, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and optional ingredients (if desired) and mix until well blended
- Pour mixture into greased loaf pan
- Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes

And I baked some bread...

2007-08-03T19:24:00.000-04:00

I have been wanting to bake a loaf (or 2) of bread for a while. But I feel like I have to have a ton of time on my hands since it has to rise for an hour, and then rise again. So I finally had some time today and decided to make white bread since I've never made it before, and Rob won't eat the Honey Wheat I also wanted to make. My good friend Michelle (of Chelle's Cooking and Baking Creations) gave me 2 wonderful recipes. I believe she got them from her Joy of Cooking cookbook. I decided to try the fast and easy one since I started feeling a headache coming on. The recipe was easy and the result was a delicious loaf of bread. It didn't turn out as pretty as I would have liked, but it was delicious right out of the oven, slathered with some butter. theer goes my healthy night...

Fast White Bread

One 9x5-inch loaf

A quick and easy yeast bread designed to work with quick-rise yeast; regular active dry yeast works too.

Stir together in a large bowl or the bowl of a heavy duty mixer:

2 cups bread flour

1 T. sugar

1 package (2 ¼ tsp.) active dry or quick-rise yeast

1 ½ tsp. salt

Add:

1 cup very warm (115-125F) water

2 T. butter or margarine, melted or softened

Mix by hand or on low speed for 1 minute. Add ¼ cup at a time until the dough is moist but not sticky:

1 to 1 ¼ cups bread flour

Knead for about 10 minutes by hand or with the dough hook on low to medium speed, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl and turn it over to coat with oil. Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place (75-85F) until doubled in bulk, 40 to 45 minutes.

Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan. Punch down the dough, form it into a loaf, and place seam side down in the pan. Oil the surface and cover loosely with a clean cloth. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 20 to 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 450. Bake the loaf for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 and bake about 30 minutes more. Bake until the crust is golden brown and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped. Remove the loaf from the pan to a rack and let cool completely.

Finally! Some healthy food!

2007-08-03T18:58:00.001-04:00

I wanted to cook something healthy for dinner tonight because I feel like I've gotten away from the healthy lifestyle I had been trying to get myself into. With the weekend at Hershey Park, and all the other birthday celebrations, this week has been full of unhealthy foods. I knew I had some chicken breasts in the freezer, so I took those out this morning and decided to do a chicken and veggie stir fry. I had zucchinis and onions and garlic and green peppers. So I used all of them up. This is the first time I have made a stir fry without soy sauce and I did not miss it. I served it with basmati rice and it was delicious.

Chicken Veggie Stir Fry
~2 tbsps olive oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
2 green peppers, cut into small strips
2 medium zucchini, chopped
salt and pepper
1 chicken (or beef) bullion cube

Heat oil in a large saute pan or wok. Add garlic and onion and cook until tender, about 2 minutes. Add chicken and saute until almost done. Add veggies and crumbled bullion cube and stir fry until done. Serve over rice of your choice!

Happy Birthday Maura!

2007-08-01T21:07:00.000-04:00

Maura turned 8 years old today! We took her to Hershey Park over the weekend and did some celebrating and had lots of fun there. And tonight, my mom and my brother and sister came over and we had a really nice dinner and really yummy cake. Maura's new favorite meal is the Caramelized Baked Chicken from allrecipes.com. This is the first recipe in my blog and definitely one of the best chicken dishes I have ever made. So she requested it for her birthday dinner. It was delicious and everyone loved it. I think my brother had about 4 pieces. He's a big eater!

I made Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake and let me tell you...it was perfect! It was seriously the best chocolate cake I have ever had. It was rich and moist and "perfectly chocolate" I can't say enough about it. I made a frosting that I found on allrecipes that uses Cool Whip and vanilla pudding mix. It was much lighter than most traditional frostings, but still very sweet and good. I will say that next time I think I will stick with a buttercream icing. I just like a richer, denser frosting. But the frosting tasted wonderful and the cake was amazing. It was my first attempt at cake decorating, so it's a little droopy. But I did the best I could and I think it turned out pretty well! So here are the recipes for the cake and frosting.

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake (source: hersheys.com)
Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING(recipe follows)

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING. 10 to 12 servings.

VARIATIONS:
ONE-PAN CAKE: Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely. Frost.

THREE LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.

BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost.

CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes.
Cool Whipped Frosting
Ingredients
1 8 ounce container frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 3.4 ounce package instant vanilla pudding mix
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
In a medium bowl, combine pudding mix with milk and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Gently fold in whipped topping until no streaks remain. Spread evenly over cake.

Everything was wonderful tonight and Maura had a great time. I'm so glad that my family could come and share everything with us tonight. It made the night extra special for all of us. My dad was sorely missed. This is Maura's first birthday without him and that is very hard. So I'm gonna put a picture of him in here too, cause I know he was here in spirit! (it's a very old picture, but it really captures his wonderful, funny personality :) )

Oh! And this post would not be complete without a picture of the birthday girl herself! I couldn't get a picture of her tonight because she just wouldn't stand still long enough and my phone camera isn't good at action shots. So this is the best I can do!

Not exactly blogworthy....

2007-07-31T18:43:00.000-04:00

But ya know what? Its food, this is a food blog, so I'm posting about it! Tomorrow is my daughter's birthday and I will be busy baking her cake tonight and tomorrow night will be very busy with lots of cooking and celebrating. So I wanted an easy dinner. I was going to make pasta, but I had pizza for dinner, and I didn't want pasta and pizza in the same day for some reason. So I decided to make hot dogs, oven fries, and roasted zucchini.
The oven fries were really yummy. I don't always do well with these. I always seem to over cook them and they get gross. This time they were very good though. I sprayed them with olive oil spray and sprinkled some salt, fresh ground pepper, and garlic powder. They were very tasty! I know my hot dog looks naked. I did put toppings on it, but I took the pictures first. I also want to mention that roasted zucchini is my favorite vegetable, and if you think you don't like zucchini, try it roasted and I think you might change your mind!

I joined the foodie blogroll!

2007-07-31T10:47:00.000-04:00

I have found so many great blogs on there so I decided to join. I'm not sure I'm on there yet, since I just emailed Jen at The Leftover Queen. Thanks so much for taking the time to put this together Jen! It's such a wonderful resource!

BBQ Chicken, Potatoes, and Green Beans

2007-07-30T18:15:00.000-04:00

BBQ Chicken is one of my favorite foods. I love it on the grill and could eat it a couple of times a week and not complain. Living in an apartment, unfortunately, means that I do not have an outdoor grill. I do have a George Foreman Grill, but it's such a pain to clean and I really didn't feel like dealing with it. So I decided to just try it in a skillet on the stove top. I've made bbq chicken this way before, except the last time I used boneless skinless breasts and cut them into chunks and made BBQ chicken wraps. This time, I used chicken leg quarters. I use this kind of chicken a lot lately because it is very in expensive (kosher meat is ridiculous sometimes) and it tastes really yummy. I took the quarters and separated the leg from the thigh to make it easier to fit into my little skillet. I "marinaded" the chicken pieces in BBQ sauce for about an hour before cooking. I like to do this because I like my chicken really saucy and that helps it hold onto some of the sauce and the flavor. I have to confess here that I used bbq sauce from a jar. I just used Kraft Original Barbecue Sauce. It was delicious! I sprayed the skillet with some olive oil spray, and cooked the chicken pieces over a medium flame for about 35-40 minutes. I basted with more sauce on each side a couple of times during cooking. It was really good and easy and everyone here loved it.

For the potatoes, I took 3 medium-large red potatoes and cut them into relatively small pieces. I laid them on a baking sheet coated with olive oil spray and sprayed them with the oil. I sprinkled salt and pepper and chopped rosemary leaves on them and roasted them at about 400 degrees for about 40 minutes. They were brown and crispy and delicious.

I tried something new with my green beans, and I won't be making them this way again. I sauteed them in olive oil spray and garlic. That, on it's own, probably would have been fine. But I also squeezed some lemon juice on them and that did not taste right to me. Rob liked them though, so that's a big success!

Oh, and I usually leave the skin on the chicken when I cook this type of chicken because I love it so much. But I decided that it was time for me to start taking it off. And I did not miss it at all! The sauce got cooked right into the meat and tasted wonderful!

Turkey burgers

2007-07-27T09:28:00.000-04:00

This dinner is actually from Wednesday night, but the site that I upload my cell phone pictures to has been down. Well, I wish I hadn't waited because the picture isn't that great. But I put it in anyway! I promise it looked a lot yummier in real life. And they were really good!I found a recipe on Cara's blog for Teriyaki Turkey Burgers, and it sounded great! Only problem was, I didn't have any teriyaki sauce! So my Turkey burgers had some of the same ingredients as Cara's. Let's just say I used her recipe as a starting off point. I'll call mine Onion-y Garlic-y Basil Turkey Burgers.

I picked up some fresh basil at the farmer's market on Sunday, and needed a way to use it up before it wilts away. So I threw some of that in there. Cara's recipe called for red onion, but I only had yellow onion, so that's what I used. Here's my recipe for Onion-y Garlic-y Basil Turkey Burgers:

1.25 pounds ground turkey
1/2 a yellow onion, chopped finely
2 cloves of garlic, minced
about 5 or 6 leaves fresh basil, chopped
salt
pepper
i might have added oregano, i don't remember :-)

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix together with hands. I was able to get 5 burgers from this recipe. I cooked mine on the stove top because I did not feel like dealing with our George Foreman Grill. I just sprayed a nonstick skillet with cooking spray and cooked them in that. It was super easy and delicious! I served them with long grain white rice (I know, not the healthiest) and roasted zucchini. It was a really simple and yummy dinner!

Lasagna!

2007-07-24T21:07:00.000-04:00

So let me start by saying that I hated lasagna as a kid. I thought it was disgusting. But as I got older, I started trying it again, and realized how yummy it was. So since my daughter is away for the week, and has the same hate for lasagna that I had when I was a kid, I decided that today would be a great day for a lasagna. My mom made it an even greater day for lasagna but saying that she was going to come over and take me shopping! I knew I could talk her into staying for dinner if I said I was making Spinach Lasagna. Only problem is, Rob doesn't really like spinach So Christit493 from the nest recommended that I make half of the lasagna with spinach and half without. Genius! It worked out perfectly. I simply topped the spinach half with oregano so we'd know which side was which. I used the recipe on the box of San Giorgio No Boil Lasagna. It was a pretty basic, but delicious recipe. I will definitely make it again, but next time I'll add more herbs and seasonings than it called for. It needed some salt and pepper, and more oregano and basil. My sister ended up coming over as well, and she raved about it. It felt so good too make a nice big dinner for my family! I hope I get to do this more often.

Step by Step Lasagna (from the San Giorgio box)
1lb ground beef ( I did not add beef because then this dish would not be kosher)
3 cups (about 28 oz jar) spaghetti sauce (I made my own the other day)
1 cup (8 oz czn) tomato sauce (optional) I did not use this
1 3/4 cups (15 oz) ricotta cheese I used part skim
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves I used about 5 fresh basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
12 pieces San Giorgio Oven Ready Lasagna, uncooked, unsoaked
4 cups (16 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese I used part skim
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Preparation
1. Heat oven to 375
2. In large skillet, cook meat until browned; remove from heat. Drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce and tomato sauce, if desired.
3. In a small bowl, sit together ricotta cheese, egg, basil and oregano This is where I split the ricotta cheese mixture into 2 equal parts and added thawed out frozen spinach to one part. I did not measure, but I'll take a wild guess and say I added maybe 1/3 cup?

Assembly
1. In a 13x9 inch baking dish, spread 3/4 cup meat sauce.
2. Place 3 pieces uncooked pasta crosswise over sauce (there's a great little diagram on the box that helps a lot) Pieces should not overlap or touch side of pan since they will expand when baked.
3. Spread about 2/3 cup ricotta mixture evenly over pasta. Spread 3/4 cup meat sauce evenly over ricotta covering pasta completely; sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella cheese.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 two more times. Top with remaining 3 pasta pieces. Spread remaining meat sauce completely over pasta; sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.
5. Cover with foil. Bake 30 minutes; remove foil. Bake 10-15 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting. Serve with additional sauce, if desired. 10-12 servings.

This recipe can be made ahead and frozen. Simply assemble per the instructions, cover with plastic wrap and then foil and freeze for up to 2 months. Simply remove the foil and plastic wrap, and put the foil back on. Frozen lasagna should be baked for 1 hour and 30 minutes, removing foil for last 10 minutes.

I served with homemade garlic bread. I took Italian bread and drizzled some olive oil on both sides and baked it in the oven on a baking sheet for about 15 minutes. then, I took a garlic clove and cut off the tip and rubbed it on the bread so the fresh garlic melted into the hot bread. This is my new favorite way to make garlic bread!