Reading, 'Riting and Recipes

For Me

2012-01-28T08:21:00.001-05:00

So as I get all these web-enabled devices in my life, the blog is an easy way for me to find, tag and archive my stuff. so, they ain't pretty, but more recipes i want to remember will be showing up here.

Take-out Fake-out

2012-01-22T11:28:00.004-05:00

Rice Noodles with Beef and Spinach

Adapted from Cooking Light

6 ounces uncooked wide rice sticks (rice-flour noodles)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup thinly sliced green onions
1 pound flank steak, cut into thin strips
2 cups sliced shiitake mushroom caps (white will do)
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 (6-ounce) bag washed baby spinach
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons lower-sodium soy sauce
1 Tbs Sriracha (hot chile sauce)
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cook noodles according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain and rinse under cold water; drain.

Heat a large skillet or wok over high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onions and steak; stir-fry to med-rare minute. Add mushrooms and garlic; stir-fry 3-4 minutes. Add spinach; stir-fry 1 minute or until greens wilt.

Combine rice vinegar and the next 4 ingredients (through Sriracha) in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add vinegar mixture to steak mixture; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Stir in noodles and salt; cook for 1 minute or until noodles are thoroughly heated, tossing to combine.

Best Meatballs

2012-01-22T11:22:00.002-05:00

Adapted from Giada Turkey Meatballs

Best Meatballs

1 lb pork
1 lb 90% lean beef
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup milk
3 eggs
3/4 cup parm

Mix crumbs, milk, egg and cheese in a large mixing bowl. Add meat and mix well. Bake on a rack over a foil covered baking sheet, 375 for 25-30 min. Makes a huge batch, about 40. Freeze and reheat in sauce.

Pork Chops Taste Good

2012-01-22T11:13:00.003-05:00

Adapted from Simply Recipes

Dijon Pork Chops

1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
4 center-cut rib or loin pork chops, boneless or bone-in - I like bone in, 3/4 inch thick, thicker dry out
Salt
1/4 cup chopped shallots
about 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
3/4 cup heavy cream or 1/2 and 1/2
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard

Pat the pork chops dry with paper towels. Sprinkle with salt. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Stir in the butter. As soon as the butter has melted, add the pork chops to the pan and sear them, about 2-3 minutes on each side. Reduce the heat slightly if the chops brown too quickly.

Remove the pork chops from the pan. Add the shallots and cook them on med high heat until softened, about 1 minute. Add about 3/4 cup of the stock and bring to a boil, deglazing the pan by scraping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Return chops to the pan. Bring sauce to a simmer, reduce heat, cover and cook until chops are cooked through (145°F internal temp), about 8-10.

Remove the pork chops to a warm platter; cover with foil to keep warm. Add the remaining stock. Increase the heat to high to boil the pan juices. Reduce the juices by half, about 3 minutes. Add the cream and boil 3 minutes more, until sauce reduces and thickens, and scraping the pan with a wooden spoon leaves a trail. Remove from the heat and whisk in the mustard. If you want, add more mustard to taste. Place chops on a bed of sauce and serve.

Reflection - and thanks!

2010-02-17T20:25:00.003-05:00

First of all, let me say thanks to those of you who commented on my last post. I appreciate the support and kind words!

So this being Ash Wednesday, I've been thinking about sacrifice and self reflection for Lent. I know I said I'm not much of Lent observer in my last post, but I guess I meant the part about being required to give something up. I'm not Catholic and the whole "giving up for Lent" thing wasn't a big part of my observation of the season, but Lent was always kind of important for me in other ways. I was a member of a very active church community and every Wednesday of Lent for my entire childhood, we went to mid-week Lenten services - services that were preceded by a community Lenten supper. Groups of church members would sign up each week to cook a meal for the entire congregation who showed up for the mid-week services. I always kind of liked that tradition. For those six weeks we connected with our community in a very different way. Mid-week services were laid back - people came in the work clothes or school clothes or soccer uniforms from practice. We slowed down our crazy week, shared a meal, and the service was shorter with a sermon that tended to focus on very tangible issues and often lead to interesting conversations on the way home.

Anyway, I was thinking about that tradition today, and my decision to "give up" processed foods and takeout for the next six weeks. I guess Lent and food have always been tied for me, and I could do a lot worse than taking time I might spend picking up take out reflecting for a few moments as I prepare and share a meal with my husband. So tonight, when after a very, very long difficult day at work, when all I really wanted was something fried and takeout, I took stock of my bigger goals and prepared a great meal. One of the lessons I remember from those mid-week Lenten services was what my pastor said about how we NEED the Easter journey in order to really appreciate Christmas. I'm not all that theological these days, but the idea of going through the suffering part, the journey part, to earn the joy part is something that makes sense to me.

Anyway, I'm babbling about childhood and theology and I'm sure some therapist could have a field day with me. :) So - to the meal...

It's not a recipe, but I did try something new tonight. It's not a new thing, I know tons of people do this, but for the first time I ground my own chicken breast. I just threw a couple of boneless skinless chicken breasts in the food processor, browned them with a little olive oil and some southwestern seasoning, and used it for taco salad. And it was GOOD - tastier than ground beef or ground turkey I thought. I sauteed some black beans with tomatoes and jalapenos and cumin as well, threw those and the taco meat onto some romaine and topped it with some freshly made salsa and guac and some fat free plain greek yogurt (my most favorite food accessory ever and I think it tastes better than sour cream). So, nothing earth shattering, but I was shocked at how tasty the chicken was. I was expecting it to be all dry but it was awesome.

And it was worth the "sacrifice" and focus on the larger picture to make it happen.

For Me

2010-02-15T10:05:00.003-05:00

Ok, so I'm pretty sure at this point that no one is reading my blog anymore, and that's ok. But I've come to realize that without the discipline of writing in my blog several times a week, I'm forgetting what I make and the recipe tweaks I add. I found my blog most valuable for those times when I would say "hey, remember when I made that thing? How much blank did I use?" And, of course, without the blog I never wrote it down. So this is for me. It's been almost exactly a year since my last post and in that year, well, frankly I've been eating like crap. So I'm working on stopping that. Eating cleaner, eating whole foods, focusing on lean protein, lots of veggies and no processed foods. I'm not much of a lent observer, but I'm kind of into the idea of letting go right now, so I'm giving up takeout and processed foods for the next 6 weeks.

So for now, this is a record for me. The pictures might not be great, or exist at all, but I hope the act of writing stuff down and publishing it will help.

Crustless Quiche

2 small zucchini, cut into half moons
1 bunch asparagus, cut into 3/4 inch pieces
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
olive oil, salt pepper
1 package chicken breakfast sausage (I love these ones)
3/4 cup low fat cottage cheese
2 "glugs" skim milk
14 eggs
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

On a foil lined baking sheet, spread out your cut veggies and drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake in a 375 oven for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, brown your sausages and cut into bite-sized bits. In a blender, blend the cottage cheese and milk until smooth and creamy (a great low-fat way to get that creamy quiche texture). When the cheese is totally smooth, add in the eggs, blending just to combine. Season eggs with salt & pepper.

When the veggies are done, put them into a 9x13 dish that has been well coated with cooking spray. Spread evenly in the pan, and then top with an even layer of the sausage and then the feta. Pour the egg mixture over the top (this is the easiest way to get the fillings distributed that I've found). Bake in a 350 oven for about 30-35 minutes until top is set and browned. Serve warm, or keep in the fridge for up to a week reheating slices as needed.

Stuff It

2009-02-24T15:25:00.017-05:00

As promised, I actually have some new recipes to share from my most recent menu. And boy is this a good one! I mean, what's not to love? Pasta, cheese, sauce, spinach... mmmmmm

Neither the hubs nor I are much for ricotta. Surprising since he is Italian and we have a very Italian last name! But there's something about the texture that we just don't care for. And growing up in the Midwest, I actually never knew that lasagna and stuffed shells were supposed to have ricotta in them - heck, I don't even think I knew what ricotta was! I always grew up with cottage cheese in it's place and the hubs was glad when I introduced him to the concept.

I was inspired to make these by Giada's Turkey and Artichoke stuffed shells and they were pretty good, but the hubs wasn't that into them. I decided to make up my own version and we both liked them a lot. Sometimes these kind of dishes get really heavy but these were nice and light. They also freeze like a dream, so I divided the recipe up into two pans - one to eat for dinner and the other to freeze for another night down the road.

This is also a great way to sneak in more veggies. I love spinach in almost everything. Last week I got a huge 14oz tub of organic baby spinach on super sale for $3.00. Let me tell you that 14oz of raw spinach is a LOT. We had quite a few spinach salads but I still had about half of it left, so chopping it up to mix in with this filling was a great way to used it up. I just gave it a rough chop, tossed it in a bowl with a little sprinkle of water and put it in the microwave for about 3 minutes. If you don't have fresh, a thawed and well squozen (I love that word) package of frozen chopped spinach would work just fine too.

Chicken and Spinach Stuffed Shells
Mollie's Collection

1 lb ground white meat chicken breast
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbs olive oil
Kosher salt
Crushed red pepper
1 16oz container low fat cottage cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
10oz fresh spinach, chopped and cooked until just wilted
1 box large shell pasta, cooked just to al dente and drained
2-3 cups of your favorite tomato sauce (yes, I used jarred this time... get over it!)

In a saute pan, cook the onion and garlic in the olive oil until they begin to soften. Add the ground turkey and season with salt and crushed red pepper to taste and cook until the meat is cooked through and well broken up. When cooked through, set aside to cool.

When the meat is cool, stir in the cottage cheese, 1 cup of the shredded mozzarella and the spinach. Mix well to combine. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in well salted water until just al dente, drain and set aside to cool slightly before stuffing.

When ready, spoon a little bit of the sauce into the bottom of the pan to prevent sticking. Using a spoon, gently open up each shell and fill with about 2-3 Tbs of the filling mixture. Place into a baking pan, set close together to prevent them from moving around too much. Spoon the remaining sauce over the top of the shells and sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella cheese. Cover with foil and bake in a 350 oven for about 30 minutes, until everything is melty and bubbly. Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes or until the cheese begins to brown slightly.

If freezing, cover tightly with plastic wrap and then foil. When ready to cook, thaw for 24 hours in the refrigerator before reheating. Remove the plastic and cover with foil, cooking for about 45 minutes or until bubbly, and then removing the foil to brown as above.

Aren't they cute?

2009-02-22T10:00:00.000-05:00

Ok, I'm taking a diversion from the menu I just posted to share these little cuties with you.

I don't really like bananas. My husband eats one almost every day, but I find them pretty gross. However, I love a good banana bread. He, on the other hand, won't eat cooked bananas. Or, any banana that has even a hint of black on it. A few brown streaks or small spots, fine. Once they hit black they'll get passed over in the fruit bowl for days until I realized and rescue them by peeling and stashing in the freezer until I have enough to bake with. By today, I'd amassed 6 bananas and it was time to do something about it. Chocolate Chip Banana Bread it was!

One quick note on freezing bananas. When you thaw them, you may get a lot of liquid that oozes out. Don't worry, just throw it all in and mash it all up and you'll be fine. I won't bother to retype the recipe because all I did was double this one from cooking light. I love quick breads made with yogurt - I think they stay so moist and I like the flavor. I used 0% Fage Greek yogurt. I seriously love this stuff and use it in cooking all the time. It's thick and rich and creamy and so good for you. Yum!

The only other changes I made besides doubling the recipe was to cook it in 4 mini loaves - one of them plain and the others with chocolate chips stirred in. I LOVE banana with chocolate. But then I discovered that 4 mini loaves do NOT equal 2 big loaves. I had a lot of batter left and no more mini loaf pans. Just that morning tho, I had reorganized my pan cupboard (I know, I have an exciting life) and had rediscovered my mini muffin pan. Perfection! I got exactly 24 our of the remaining batter. They are so cute, and also fun to eat! Cooking time for the mini loaves was about an hour, 18 minutes for the mini muffins.

I still suck...

2009-02-16T15:57:00.008-05:00

Not only has it been a month, but I actually drafted most of this post over the long weekend last week and still couldn't get my act together to post it. So the menu below was from LAST week, but there will be another one to come! So I offer this picture of the pup as a peace offering.

While I am at work, this is what he gets to do with his day. I know where the phrase lucky dog comes from.

So, right after my last post I was besieged by the flu - big time. I was out of work for almost a full week and didn't feel quite right for nearly two. And it morphed into a bronchial infection which was more fun for all around! All I can say is, because of the cooking I did that weekend when I posted, we were able to eat fantastically well all week with no effort on my part. So my strategy worked! Even tho it was lack of the ability to stand up on my own preventing me from cooking, not my crazy busy work schedule. But it was nice, considering that throughout my ordeal I was hungrier than I ever remember being. People told me that I was hungry because my body needed energy to fight my illness. I think they were being nice because the size of my ass tells a different story...

I am however back in action, and spent a good portion of last holiday weekend cooking up a storm for this coming week and the freezer. I don't have all the recipes ready for the new items on the menu (yes! There were actually some new items never before blogged!), but I figured I'd post the menu and we'll get to the recipes this week.

Sunday - Corn Chowder and Brethren Cheese Bread (with the Asiago substitution)
and for dessert - our FAVORITE blondies (thanks Jen!)
Monday - Chicken Tortilla Soup
Tuesday - Chicken Stir Fry
Wednesday - Meatloaf and mashed potatoes (meatloaf recipe to come!)
Thursday - Chicken and Spinach Stuffed Shells (recipe to come!)
Friday - Shepherds Pie (recipe to come - I SWEAR!)

I prepped and cooked everything on Sunday, with the exception of the stir fry - that is so fast that I can do it even on a weeknight. I did however cut up the chicken and prep my veggies! One thing I'm trying to get better at is looking over all my recipes to find common ingredients or cooking times. I needed an ass ton of chopped onions so I threw about 6 or 7 that were on the smaller side into the food pro and gave it a few pulses. It was SOOOO nice to just scoop out what I needed instead of chopping them all by hand! I did that with some garlic in my mini chop too. And I was able to make one massive batch of mashed potatoes for meatloaf night and shepherds pie too. Those meals are kind of similar so I may wind up swapping out the Friday dinner - but that's ok because I prepped it to be freezer ready so if we don't eat it it can be stored for another night. The stuffed shells and meatloaf also make 2 meals worth so I'm set for future weeks with those as well - and I'm pretty sure I'll wind up freezing some shepherds pie leftovers too.

As for order of cooking, I got the bread in the oven, then mixed up the blondies and got them in there with it, since they bake a the same temp (saves energy too!). Then, once I had my garlic and onions ready to go, I got my potatoes boiling. While they were going I cooked up the ground beef for my shepherds pie and the ground chicken for my shells in two separate saute pans. I set those aside and wilted my spinach in my chicken pan and cooked my veggie filling for the shepherds pie in the ground beef pan. Then set everything aside for assembly and mashed my potatoes. Some got put right in a container for later in the week, the others were used to top my shepherds pie after assembly. Then I cooked my shells and while they were boiling I got the tortilla soup into the crock pot. Stuffed my shells and that one was done. Then I mixed up the meatloaf and formed it into two free form loafs. One was frozen before wrapping (I freeze it raw and cook when ready - the hubs says it's less like "leftovers" this way!) and the other one is ready to cook on Wed.

THEN I finally got around to making the corn chowder, after which I fell over dead only to be revived by the offer of a glass of wine from the hubs. I like not cooking all week, but boy is cooking day busy!

Is this thing on?

2009-01-24T14:48:00.004-05:00

Boy do I suck. I know. And I'm sorry. So if anyone is still out there, I'm going to try and stage a comeback! No excuses - yes, I've been busy. Yes, I'm not cooking as much or as creatively lately, but really, I just hadn't made time for the blog. So, I'm back. Pictures may be a little more scarce - I leave for work at 6am and get home at about 7pm and in New England, that means not much daylight! And me and flashes and light boxes... not so much just yet. However, despite my lack of experimentation lately, I have been very diligent about my meal planning, so in the hopes that this might help others, I'm going to try and post my weekly menus and weekend prep.

I've also been trying to work the sales and save a bit of dough along the way. I'm proud to say that for the month of January, I have fed the hubs the pup and myself for just under $400! I know, it's not the end of the month, but I've already shopped this week and won't go again until after the 31st. And I know it's not exactly pennies, but for where I live and the fact that we eat mostly fresh food and organic meats, and drink our fair share of wine, I feel pretty good about it. And it does include 40 lbs of dog food. And it's breakfast, lunch and dinner because the hubs and I have also been pretty good about taking our breakfast and lunch to work too. And we've eaten well! A little planning and reading the circulars really pays off. And the freezer is a huge help. I've started keeping an inventory of stuff on the door of my fridge, and getting better at dividing up recipes so we have one for a meal now and one for the freezer.

In any event, here's this week's menu:

Saturday - Chicken Broccoli Pasta
Sunday - Going over to a friend's for dinner - yay
Monday - Shredded Beef Tacos
Tuesday - Chicken Pot Pie
Wednesday - Burgers and sweet potato fries
Thursday and Friday I'm on my own so I'll be eating leftovers.

Nothing earth shattering, all things I've done before. And it's no surprise that we have a dinner from the fabulous Jen in there. Last week I made her spinach stuffed chicken breasts and they were outstanding!

As for prep... today after shopping I started marinating the beef for the tacos, and tomorrow morning after breakfast I'll put it in to braise. Then it will go in an oven safe dish in the fridge for reheating Monday night. All I'll have to do while it heats up is mix up some guac and warm up the tortillas. Score.

I also made burgers and stuck the patties, individually wrapped in plastic, in the freezer to be pulled out the night before we eat them. I also cut up the sweet potatoes so they're ready to go in the oven - same recipe as the grill, just in a 425 oven.

The chicken pot pie and crust were made a few weeks ago so they just have to thaw, roll out the dough, and bake when we're ready. Freaking love my freezer.

Hopefully some pictures to come. In the mean time, enjoy this one of the pup. :)

Easy Like Sunday Morning

2008-11-28T08:32:00.000-05:00

I seem to be really into song lyrics as blog post titles these days. But this one was a natural. There's a long-running radio show here in Boston on Sunday morning called "Sunday Morning Over Easy" that I've always loved. There's nothing better than a Sunday morning with the paper and a pot of coffee and a really yummy Sunday morning breakfast.

We all know my love of the 'tater, and I've shared my no-fat hashbrowns before. And they're good - honest, they really are amazing! This recipe however, is at a whole other level. Because the only way to improve a potato even more is to add some fat and sausage. These are so easy to do, particularly if you have the shredding attachment for your food processor. All you have to do is shred your taters, toss them in the pan with your meat and then comes the most important part - DON'T TOUCH IT! This is the secret to hashbrowns. You have to let them sit to get that great crust. Then you can use a plate to help you turn them over, but if you're way cool like me, you can flip them one handed in your skillet. Yes, I swear to god, that's how I did these, and if I can perfect the pan toss, so can you. It's all in the wrist baby!

These crispy savory bits of heaven will turn any lazy Sunday morning into a something special. And if you get some perfect velvety poached egg yolk on the 'browns, life is even better. Try them this Sunday!

Hashbrowns & Sausage

Mollie's Collection

2 medium Yukon gold potatoes

1/2 a small onion

1 Tbs butter

1 link of your favorite sausage (I had a chicken apple sausage today that comes pre cooked - if you're using a fattier sausage that starts raw, you can reduce the butter), cut into small pieces

Salt & Pepper to taste

Using the shredding blade of your food processor, shred the 1/2 onion. Remove it from the food processor and set aside. Using the same blade, shred your potatoes. Place the shredded potato in a clean dish towel and squeeze as much liquid out of them as possible.

In a large skillet, melt the butter and saute the shredded onion until translucent. Add in the sausage pieces and cook through (or brown them up if they are pre-cooked). Add in your potato. Season with salt & pepper. You can stir it a bit to get things combined and get the potato coated with the fats in the pan. Then, WALK AWAY. Let it sit for a good 10-15 minutes or until you start to get a firm, browned crust on the bottom. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, loosen the browns from the bottom of the pan by pushing against the edges - don't break it up, but make sure it's loose from the bottom.

To turn, you can slide it out of the pan onto a plate and then flip it back over into the pan. OR, using a scooping motion, as if you're digging out a big scoop of grain from a bin (because I'm SURE you do that all the time...) flip the whole thing over and catch it in the pan. Cook another 10 minutes or so until the other side is crisp. Serve immediately and enjoy.

I Found My Thrill...

2008-11-25T08:00:00.001-05:00

I've been trying to find the best blueberry muffin recipe for a while now. As I've noted before, the hubs is really into blueberries. And every once in a while when I ask him what he wants he'll say "a-big-huge-blueberry-muffin-like-the-ones-at-the-bakery-with-a-poofy-crunchy-top" all in one breath. Phew! I've never been able to deliver on that request before, but now I think I may have it.

These muffins were really good, even to someone who isn't a huge blueberry fan. I also think they'd be great as just a sour cream coffee cake muffin if you made extra streusel and swirled it through the batter. I'll have to experiment on that one tho and get back to you - because that's my standard order when we do break down and go to the bakery for big beautiful crusty topped muffins.
I modified this a bit since I only had a half pint of blueberries and only wanted to make a dozen muffins. I got 12 that were just slightly domed, but I think in future I'd go for 10, filled right to the top, for an even better muffin top experience. Because this type of muffin top is the good kind!

Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Topping
Adapted from Sunday Nite Dinner

Streusel Topping Ingredients
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, slightly softened and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Muffin Ingredients
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 ounces sour cream
3 Tbs milk
1 cup (1/2 pint) fresh blueberries, stems removed

For the topping, in a small bowl, stir together the flour, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Add the butter pieces and combine the mixture with a fork until the topping resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place paper liners in muffin pans. In a separate medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

With an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. At low speed, beat in the egg, then add vanilla, sour cream, and milk until combined. Add 1/3 of dry ingredients at a time and beat until just combined. With a spatula, evenly fold blueberries into batter - toss the berries in flour before adding to help keep them from sinking in the muffins.

Scoop batter into muffin pans and fill each cup to the top. Sprinkle topping evenly over batter. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a cake tester or wooden skewer comes out clean.

Yields 12 flatter or 10 fuller muffins.

Roasty Toasty

2008-11-23T10:07:00.009-05:00

In case you hadn't noticed on all the other food blogs, Thanksgiving is coming! So I thought tonight might be a good time to share my recipe (well, more method than recipe really) for roasted garlic mashed potatoes.

Clearly I love all things potato, given how many times they make an appearance on this blog - and I have another one coming up too! But mashed potatoes have got to top the list. Adding the sweetness and just, really, scrumptious flavor of roasted garlic to them takes it to a whole other level. I served these the other night for Sunday dinner with a whole roasted chicken and some roasted asparagus. Roasty Toasty indeed!

I don't know that this is really a recipe - mashed potatoes are one of those things I kind of do by feel and taste. But I can give you my method and feel free to tweak it as you see fit.

Start by roasting your garlic. I like to split the bulb apart into cloves before roasting. This cuts the roasting time way down and makes it easier to retrieve all of the roasted garlic when you're done. For about 2 1/2 pounds of potatoes, I used 2 heads of garlic. YES - I said TWO whole HEADS of garlic. Don't be afraid. Roasting really mellows the garlic taste and transforms it - you won't be complaining about garlic breath, I promise.

Separate the bulbs from the head and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Toss with a bit of olive oil and roast at 350 for about 20 minutes, or until the husks start to split open and the garlic has softened. When done, set them aside to cool before peeling. Once they are cool enough to handle, peel off the husks by hand and set the roasted cloves aside.

Clean and cut up about 2 - 2 1/2 pounds of potatoes. I really think Yukon golds are perfect for mashed potatoes. They are creamy and delicious, and they have a very thin skin which I like because I have no patience for peeling potatoes. I always leave the skins on and they really almost disappear into the dish. Plus, you keep all the vitamins and fiber that reside in the skins. Put the potato chunks in a pot and just cover them with cold water. Bring to a boil and simmer rapidly for about 15-20 minutes, until fork tender. The cooking time will vary depending on how big your chunks are.

When the potatoes are done, drain them and put them directly back into the hot pan. Put the pan back on a low burner for just a minute or two. This heat will help steam off any excess water that may impact the texture of your mashed potatoes. Once the excess water seems to be gone, add in butter, cream cheese and/or laughing cow cheese to taste and the roasted garlic. This is where the recipe kind of falls apart for me - people have pretty passionate and personal feelings about what should and should not go into mashed potatoes. Some make them with fat free broth to keep the fat down. Some pile on the butter and sour cream. I like just a bit of unsalted butter and some low fat cream cheese or laughing cow cheese. I like the little tang from the cheese a lot, particularly with the garlic. For this volume of potatoes I used about 2 Tbs of butter, 3 oz of cream cheese and 2 wedges of laughing cow.

At this point, start to mash by hand. Again, some will swear by their kitchen aid mixer for mashing. I don't like this for four reasons. 1 - I think it's too easy to over mix with an electric mixer of any type and they get gluey. 2 - I think the potatoes have too much time to get cold transferring into a new, cool, metal bowl and then back into another cool serving dish. 3 - I've already dirtied a pot, a colander and a baking sheet for this dish. I'm not cleaning my mixer and paddle on top of it! 4 - I like lumps. Mash in the butter and/or cheese until it's melted, and get the garlic all mixed in. At this point, season with salt and pepper to taste. If your consistency is still to thick (and it likely will be) add some milk, just a little at a time, until you get to desired consistency.

Roasted garlic really elevates the humble mashed potato to a whole other level - even if my after dark pictures of the final product don't quite look it. If you've never tried it, I highly recommend it to accompany your turkey on Thursday!

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Mollie's Collection

2 heads of garlic

2 - 2 1/2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes

salt, pepper, butter, milk, cream cheese and laughing cow cheese to taste

Break apart the cloves in each head of garlic and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Toss with a bit of olive oil and roast at 350 for about 20 minutes or until softened. Cut the potatoes into chunks and boil until fork tender. Mash together the potatoes, garlic and seasonings to taste.

Yankee Thrift

2008-11-18T08:05:00.006-05:00

It seems like everybody is looking to save a buck these days, and beans are one of the best ways in the world to do that. And not only are beans thrifty, they are SOOOOOO good for you! High in protein and fiber, low in fat, and can be used in infinite ways. They are a great base around which to build a meatless meal and they make a wonderful addition to lots of meat dishes as well.

I've just recently become a convert to making my own beans. I always used canned before, and still have no objection to canned. But when you make them yourself you not only save money, but you have control over the amount of sodium as well. Based on some unscientific observation, for most of the beans I use most often, a 1lb bag of dried beans is about 20 to 50 cents less expensive then a can of the same type. But a 1lb bag yields the same amount as 3 cans! So you're paying at least 1/3 as much. Score!

Beans are easy, they just take a little time and forethought. I've become a fan of doing up several batches on the weekend and then throwing them in the fridge and freezer. Then they are ready to go whenever you are, just as easy as canned. And to make it even easier, below is the quick soak method I used on today's black beans.

1 - Rinse off your beans and pick them over, discarding any that look shriveled or in any other way "funky".
2 - Put 1lb of beans in a large pot with 6-8 cups of water. Bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes. Cover and remove from heat. Let stand for 1 hour. Pour off the soak water and rinse well. At this point they beans are rehydrated but they aren't yet cooked!
3 - To cook, put them back in the pot and add 4-6 cups of water. I also add a pinch of salt at this stage. Bring to a low simmer and simmer 1-2 hours. They are done when they are tender to the bite. At this stage they are ready to go in any recipe that calls for canned beans. I like to divide in thirds and store in plastic baggies.

If you're looking for something to do with your fabulous beans, I suggest this dish. It's one of my husbands favorites and it so tasty and really good for you too. mmmmmmm

The Things we Hold Dear

2008-11-15T20:13:00.007-05:00

The amazing Todd, of the amazing Diane and Todd, over at White on Rice Couple wrote a post that really got me thinking the other day. Thinking about how we remember. And thinking about how the tools we use reflect who we are.

I love tools. Not so much gadgets, tho some of those are pretty cool. But the good, sturdy, solid, beautiful tools we use every day. I love tools that have been passed down in particular. I'm not sure if I'm lucky or unlucky in that I have lots of tools in my kitchen that have been passed along to me from family members who are gone. Unlucky for sure that they are gone, but so thankful for the lessons they left me with and the tools to remind me of them.

Their pictures are better, but WoRC's post made me think of these bowls. They belonged to my paternal grandmother. We've met her before. I wound up with these bowls sort of by accident, but they are my favorite bowls to use. They are always the perfect size, and their festive colors make them a joy to use to mix or even serve. That little bowl is perfect for whisking up sauces and marinades. The medium one is perfect for scrambling eggs or mixing pancake batter. The large one is low and wide which makes it a shoo-in as my go-to bowl for cutting in butter for pie crust.

My grandmother managed to keep this set of bowls intact for 50 some odd years, and I've broken the second largest since they were in my care. I curse myself over it all the time because it would be JUST the right size for so many things, but I've also learned you can't waste too much time wishing for what was. You have to stay in the moment of now and cherish the good memories. And I have memories of my grandmother making her meatballs (more German/Swedish, not Italian - they had whole mustard seed in them and if anyone has a recipe I'd be forever grateful!) in this big yellow bowl. I remember her making her mountains of pfeffernusse cookies in them. I also particularly remember her making Grumpen Suppe in that bowl.

Grumpen Suppe is, well, god knows where it came from. I think it came from the logging camps in northern Michigan that my great-grandfather was a part of. Or maybe it was a holdover from my great-grandmother's German roots. Wherever it came from, it is peasant food at its best. Simple enough to make... you take a loaf of stale bread, preferably pumpernickel or dark rye. Break it up and put it in the bottom of your big yellow bowl. Meanwhile, boil up some potatoes until tender - but when you drain them, don't dare toss that starch water out! You pour enough of it onto the stale bread to make it soggy - think of a slightly wet stuffing consistency. Then you make mashed potatoes and spread those in a layer on top of the bread. Then you fry up a mess of bacon, cut into small bits. When it's ready, pour it all, bacon bits, grease and everything, on top. This meal will stick to your ribs through hours of logging for sure! And a dish that reminds you to make full use of and appreciate whatever you have.

My mom, her mom, and my dad's mom at my mom's wedding shower. And I promise, she never ever again in her life looked that happy to see an ironing board!

I've had a pretty amazing and wild and crazy week, but it has made me think a lot about everything I have to be thankful for. I know, I'm a little early for Thanksgiving, but true gratitude knows no season. So I am very thankful to Todd for inspiring me to think about remembrance in this way. And I am full of gratitude to the many women in my family and my life who have given me strength and wisdom and helped sustain me through all the events that have led up to my amazing and wild and crazy week this week. You know who you are.

Beef Smileys

2008-11-09T16:09:00.009-05:00

I was looking a cookbooks for kids a few years ago as a gift for a friend. It was one of those books aimed at people who've never really cooked, but whom upon giving birth discover that not only will the little one require food, they will require all kinds of silly names and games to get them to eat it. Or so the theory goes when marketing a book I suppose. In any event, there was a recipe called "ground beef smileys" that was, well, tacos. Because, you know, I guess a taco shell looks like an upside-down smile. I'm not sure why a child would be drawn to eat a "ground beef smiley" (and an upside-down one to boot) instead of a taco, but that's why I'm not in marketing. What I do know is that THESE beef tacos made me smile for sure.

My friend, the lovely and talented and snarky and fabulous Lady Death Strike (aka Jen) shared these a while back and I was in love from the first glimpse. I've blogged some of her recipes before and they've never steered me wrong. I love her recipes so much that I tend to ignore most of the directions and do whatever I want to anyway - such is the joy of friendship and food blogging. :)

So, I adapted these a bit - I couldn't find the eye of chuck that was recommended so I went with a regular old chuck pot roast. I've never actually cooked a pot roast or any beef besides steak tips or tenderloin or new york strip, but my butcherman assured me this cut would be fine with a long slow cook. And it was on insane sale this week too - score. I also increased the amounts to accommodate my super-duper on sale pot roast which I was very glad of because this stuff is even better the longer it sits. Case in point, when I styled the taco for my photos this morning, I then ate it for breakfast and it was truly one of the best breakfasts I've had in a while! And, I used beer for my braising liquid. I sent Jen a "help I need your advice now" email about the broth issue and she recommended Better Than Bullion which I normally have on hand for the Kale Soup (recipe to come soon!) my hubby loves, but I was out. So I went with beer and a bullion cube. See, that's what friends are for - bother them for advice you must have this minute and then ignore them.

This was AWESOME. So tender. So moist. So flavorful. Topped with fresh homemade guac with lots of lime (that's all I put in mine - avocado, lime and salt, mooshed with fork - perfect) and I could eat a bowl of just that. I also loved the feta tip from Jen (handy to know since I had it on hand and was too cheap to buy queso fresco). I'd never thought to grate my feta before but it worked out perfectly because it allowed you to get just enough of the smooth, salty cheesiness on the taco without overwhelming it.

You've got to make this. It's really easy, would be perfect for a crowd, and will make your mouth smile at the beefy goodness for sure.

Shredded Beef Tacos
Adapted from Use Real Butter (who adapted it from The Boarder Cookbook)

Approx. 2.5 lb Chuck Pot Roast, cut into 3-4 big hunks
1/3 cup vegetable oil (I had a cilantro citrus oil I've used before that worked well)
3 Tbs vinegar (I used apple cider)
Juice of 2 limes
1 Tbs ground cumin
1 Tbs chili powder
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup good beer (I had an Oktoberfest that worked nicely)
1 cube beef bouillon
Corn tortillas, guacamole, salsa, lettuce, cheese, etc. as desired (or just shovel it in to your mouth straight from the dish - works either way). I will say tho, some finely grated feta or queso fresco and the guac are kind of essential for me.

In a large zip top bag, mix the oil, vinegar, lime, cumin, chili powder and garlic. Add in the hunks of beef and let marinate at least 4 hours or over night. When ready to cook, place in baking dish that has a tight fitting cover and add the cup of beer and the bouillon cube. Cover and cook at 350 for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours, or until it falls apart when you stick a fork in it.

When the meat is done, use two forks to shred it and season with salt as desired. To serve, lightly fry corn tortillas in oil. I used a rack on a paper towel lined baking sheet to help me shape mine as they came out of the oil. When the tortillas are cooled, fill as desired with beef and toppings. Dance with joy and give a groan of satisfaction as they hit all the right spots of a Tex Mex craving.

Coming Home...

2008-11-08T12:32:00.006-05:00

I know, I know, I've been away too long. I could list lots of reasons why, but the only thing that really matters is that I'm back now! I have several things on tap to blog about, so hopefully my absence won't be a continuing thing. My schedule has been changing a lot lately, and combined with the whole dark-as-a-black-hole-by-4:30 thing we have going on the East Coast, my pictures and bloging have suffered. Never fear tho - I'm perfecting the styling of refrigerated leftovers for daytime photo shoots! And, I'm also starting to do a lot of my prep work on the weekends for dinners later in the week. I'm kind of hoping to do a series of Robin Miller-esque posts on prep-ahead menus that will outline how to shop for and quickly prep several REAL meals at once to make week-night eating a little easier. But we'll see how that plan works out...

But, in honor of coming back home to my blog I'm posting one of our all time favorite comfort food meals. And no matter how much natural light you have it doesn't take sexy pictures. But it sure does taste great. I mean, look at that... creamy chicken, bacon, mushrooms all over some wide ribbons of pasta. This is an easy, tasty meal that is a huge hit on a cold night at my house! I have posted about this recipe before, but I didn't have a picture and I've tweaked it a bit to make it even better. Enjoy!

Creamy Chicken Stroganoff
Mollie's Collection (inspired by Cooking Light)

4 slices thick cut bacon
1 large or 2 small onions, chopped
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
1/3 cup AP flour
2 cups chicken broth or stock (homemade is fantastic in this)
10oz mushrooms, sliced (I usually buy the pre-sliced even tho Alton Brown is against it)
1 cup low fat cottage cheese
Splash milk
Salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste
8-10 oz broad egg noodles (or noodle of your choice)

Cut the bacon into small pieces and cook until crisp in a deep sided stainless saute pan. When all the fat is rendered out, remove the bacon from the pan and drain on paper towels. Leave the fat in the pan and lower the heat to medium or medium low. Add in the onions and saute for a few minutes until tender and translucent. (This is usually about where I get my pot of water for the pasta started - be sure to salt your water well.) Add in the chicken and let it start to brown on all sides - don't stir it too much, let it sit and get some color while it cooks before moving it around.

Once the chicken has enough browning to your taste, add in the flour. Stir it in well to get all of the flour coated in the fat in the pan. Cook, stirring constantly, for 1-2 minutes. Add in the chicken broth and bring to a simmer, stirring frequently. Make sure to stir up all of the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Once it starts to simmer and thicken, add in the mushrooms and the cooked bacon and turn it down to a low simmer and cook for 10 minutes or so (this is about the time I try and get my noodles in the water).

While it cooks, put the cottage cheese and the milk in a blender. You just need enough milk to let the blender smooth out the cottage cheese. Blend until it is a very smooth and thick mixture. When the chicken mixture is done, turn off the pan and add in the cheese mixture, stirring to combine. (Note: You can substitute sour cream for this step, but the cottage cheese tastes better to me, and gives better body.) Season to taste with salt, pepper and crushed red pepper (if desired).

When the pasta is done, drain it well and put it into the pan with the chicken mixture. Stir well to combine and coat the pasta and let it stand a minute to soak up the flavors. Serve with a great salad and some crusty bread to soak up all the delicious sauce.

All wrapped up

2008-10-19T09:25:00.005-04:00

I think pizza might be the worlds perfect food. Bread. Veggies. Meat. Cheese. All in one convenient spot - what could be better? I love a good pizza and they are a great way to use up all kinds of leftovers too. But I've recently started to get really into calzones. Well, maybe I'm into calzones... I might be into stromboli. I can't really figure out the rules about which ones have cheese and the rules about sauce inside or along side. I don't put any sauce into my calzones, but I do tend to do a dipping sauce for them, which some would argue plants me firmly in stromboli land, but whatevs. For simplicity's sake, we'll call it a calzone. All I really know is, wrap up good stuff in dough and bake = GOOOOOOOOOD.

I'll admit these ones were a little dry and under seasoned - not enough of either of the kinds of cheese. I was saved by the freezer tho - I had some spicy arrabbiata sauce left from another recipe and it really gave these some good punch and flavor. If I'd only had a regular marinara they would have been ok, but the kick from the arrabbiata was really nice on these.

I also learned something about the dough. As much as I love pizza, and my favorite pizza dough recipe, I've been having trouble getting it rolled out. It tends to bounce back into a ball. This time, I had a slight delay in my cooking schedule so I had to punch down the dough and let it rise again and the dough was much more relaxed and rolled out thin enough for me to fold over. I don't mind a thick crust on pizza, but in a calzone where you've already got a top and bottom layer, you don't want it to stay super thick. The second rise really made it easier to work with and it was very very tasty.

There are plenty of other combinations for a calzone. One we like is bbq chicken, sauteed onions and mozzarella, dipped in bbq sauce. Or spicy italian marinated chicken, roasted garlic, sun dried tomatoes and goat cheese dipped in marinara. Or shredded chicken tossed with Frank's Red Hot sauce, mozzarella and blue cheese crumbles dipped in a spicy blue cheese dressing. The possibilities are endless!

Chicken, Spinach & Feta Calzones
Mollie's Collection

2 chicken breasts
Juice of 2 lemons
2-3 cloves minced garlic
Kosher salt & fresh ground black pepper
Olive oil
1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
8oz crumbled feta cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella
1 recipe of pizza dough
2 cups spicy marinara or arrabbiata sauce, for dipping

Mix together the lemon, garlic and olive oil and season with salt & pepper. Marinate the chicken for several hours and grill or bake as desired. When cool, shred or chop and mix it with the spinach and feta.

Divide your dough into 3 equal parts. Roll out each one into a large circle and cover half of the circle with 1/3 of the chicken mixture and 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese. Fold the dough over and pinch the edges together to seal. Brush the tops of the calzones with some olive oil and sprinkle with tiny bit of kosher salt. Bake on a parchment lined baking sheet or on a baking stone for 10-15 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

Warm the dipping sauce while they cook and serve it along side.

Love Bites

2008-10-11T13:20:00.005-04:00

It was the hub's birthday this week. He's not much into big birthday bashes. I've never understood this. I LOVE celebrating birthdays with people. It doesn't have to be a big deal with tons of presents or anything, but it's a day to celebrate that this person is in the world and in your life. And a day to let someone you love how much you appreciate them. So despite his protests, we did have a nice birthday dinner at home, and at the end of the day it was all worth it. As we were going to bed he told me how much it meant to him to know how special I thought he was. Well worth it.

So dinner was simple but fantastic. We had pan seared filet mignon, done to a beautiful medium rare. If you ever want an easy way to cook a fantastic steak, check out the link. We also had roasted garlic mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus. A simple but really flavorful and comforting meal that contained all of his favorites.

Planning dinner was easy, but what for dessert? He's not a huge chocolate fan, so any decadent chocolate dessert would have really been about me and not him. He does love berries and I thought about a blueberry pie or the blueberry crumble bars he loved so much but I wasn't finding good fresh berries and didn't want to use frozen. Then I saw these bars from Annie and knew we had a winner. These were totally fantastic. They really tasted like a sweet little bite of apple pie, and were perfect for sharing the next day at work.

I made a few changes. Annie's post mentioned that they were a little crust heavy. I LOVE crust, so instead of reducing the crust layer I upped the number of apples used. I also increased the fruit by using an apricot preserve that had whole half (whole half? Is that legal? or grammatical?) apricots in it. The apricots and apples worked beautifully together. There are a lot of steps, but they fit together well - while the apples cook you can be mixing the base, while it cooks you can prep the top, etc. I imagine we'll be making this many more times to use up all the fall apples.

These are super sweet, tiny little bites of apple love. Happy Birthday my sweet!

Apple Crumble Bars
Adapted every so slightly from Annie's Eats

For the filling
5 medium apples, peeled, cored and diced (I used Macintosh)
5 Tbs sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp cornstarch
1/4 cup fruit jam (I used apricot preserves)

For the Base
1 1/3 cups flour
2 Tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened

For the topping
1/2 cup flour
3 Tbs sugar
4 Tbs butter, softened

For the icing
3/4 cup powdered sugar
3-4 Tbs milk

In a large skillet, combine the apples, sugar and Cinnamon. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 5-7 minutes until apples are tender but still firm. In a small cup, whisk the cornstarch and lemon juice together and add to the apple mixture. Continue cooking, stirring well, for 3 minutes or until thickened.

While cooking, preheat oven to 350 and prepare an 8x8 pan. Line the pan with foil, leaving an overhang for removal later, and grease the foil.

To prepare the base, in a medium bowl combine the flour, sugar and salt. Cut the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter until it resembles breadcrumbs. Press the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned at the edges.

While the base cooks, prepare the topping. Combine all topping ingredients and mix well until combined and crumbly. When the crust is done, remove from the oven and spread the jam over the warm crust. Pour the apple mixture on top, and then sprinkle with the topping evenly.

Bake 25-30 minutes (mine took more like 35), until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. When cool, chill for about 1-2 hours for easier cutting. Cut into 16 squares and set on a wire rack set over a piece of foil for earlier cleanup. Sift the powdered sugar to remove any lumps and whisk in the milk, 1 Tbs at a time, until you get a thick but drizzlable (is that a word?) consistency. Using the whisk, drizzle on top of all of the squares as desired. Store in the fridge. They are great cold, but heavenly if they are warmed a bit before eating!

The Great Pumpkin

2008-10-09T11:40:00.006-04:00

If you're a child of the 70's like me, you probably remember waiting for the annual airing of "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" every year near Halloween. For you kids out there, back then we had to consult a piece of paper for the time and date and channel when something would be on, and then we had to sit down and watch it, commercials and everything. And then we didn't get to see it again for another year. And if you talked during the good parts your brother would pummel you. It was good stuff.

In the age of dvrs and dvds and ipods, I worry that future generations will never know this kind of excitement. I had an english teacher who used to say that emotion comes from the time and space between identifying a need and fulfilling it. Are dvrs turning us into emotionless, instant gratification junkies? That's probably a topic for a different blog.

In any event, we still wait patiently (kind of... patient for me anyway) and sincerely along with Linus to see if the The Great Pumpkin will deem our little pumpkin patch worthy of a visit this Halloween. But in the meantime we have produced these three little fellows. Remember back when they were just those funky pinwheel blossoms?

Not exactly state fair ribbon winning melons, but I'm pretty proud of them. The tall one sort of looks like a Frankenstein head to me. And the little one might be gourd. It was a volunteer plant that grew in our compost pile. We threw all the pumpkins and gourds from fall decorating last year out there, and let me tell you, recycling works people!

This is the last of the garden for this year. I've frozen lots of sauce and some squash for a taste of summer when we need it this winter, but the last of the fresh produce is gone. Now we get to put the garden to bed and start planning for next year!

Sweet Tooth

2008-10-04T14:05:00.009-04:00

I haven't been very creative in the kitchen this week. Which isn't to say I haven't been productive! Just yesterday I went a little crazy in the kitchen. I roasted a chicken, pulled the meat to make some casseroles for the freezer, used the carcass to make stock, whipped up a pie crust to chill for a quiche, and even managed to whip up these yummy cookies. It feels good to be organized tho, and to get so much done and have a plan that will get me through several meals. Tho, I will admit I can get a little to obsessive about organization sometimes... and my relationship with the label maker can be a little nauseating.

It was an exhausting day, but the cookies were worth it. I've had a craving lately for a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie. I'm not even sure why - I couldn't even begin to think the last time I'd had an oatmeal cookie of any sort. But these really hit the spot. Really thick and chunky with lots and lots of oatmeal, a crisp crust and tender inside. I didn't do much to modify this recipe from Chelle, aside from leaving out some of the spices and doubling up on the chocolate chips to replace the raisins. But I did learn a few tips that I'll pass along.

1 - Make sure your pans are cool before scooping our your dough. I know this is a pretty standard piece of wisdom in baking, but it's ultra important with these - they flatten out a lot and while still tasty, aren't quite as good as the ones that raise up high.

2 - Watch for the bottoms getting to brown. The bottoms will brown up fast, even on parchment. And the centers may still look a little underdone when they start to brown. I reduced the heat just a little from the original to combat this, and just keep a close eye.

3 - As the queen of immediate gratification I routinely ignore instructions like "let cool on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack." Don't be like me. They need that extra minute so they don't fall apart while they're too hot.

4 - These are AMAZING warm. They're still really good once they've cooled, but they are just outstanding when warm. I recommend sticking them in the microwave for 20-30 seconds before downing them with some cold milk. And they allowed me to cross off #91 on my list. YUM!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups old-fashioned oats
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla extract until well blended. Meanwhile, combine flour, baking soda, salt in another bowl. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture, mixing just until combined.

With a sturdy rubber spatula, fold in rolled oats and chocolate chips. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons (or use a scoop like I did) about 2 inches apart onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment.

Bake for 10-12 minutes in a 350 degree oven or until edges are lightly browned. Cool 2 minutes and remove to wire rack to cool completely. Makes 4 dozen cookies.

Don't call me chicken

2008-09-29T09:46:00.009-04:00

I love all kinds of soup. Even in the dead of summer, soup is always on my mind, even if I don't make it as often. Soup is a perfect meal to me - veggies, protein, sometimes even diary all in one bowl. It's easy to eat, easy to clean up after, and always so satisfying. I'm always on the look out for new soups, stews and chili's and this new addition to my repertoire is a keeper!

I think I'm lucky that my husband also considers soup to be a complete meal. I've often heard people complain that their family or spouse would object if "all" they served were soup for dinner, but we have no such issue at my house. Particularly when it's one like this - thick with chicken and beans and with a creamy, warm and spicy flavor. And it's healthy for us too!

And as much as soup is a meal to me, it's even better with some fresh bread. This cheesy quick bread is an old recipe from my mom that has been showing up on some other blogs lately - and that makes me so happy. It's really awesome to see something you love making others happy too! The bread was even better this time around because I replaced the cheddar with asiago and sprinkled a bit on the top too for extra flavor - both suggestions from others who've made it. It's great to see how others can make a favorite even better!

White Chicken Chili
Adapted from Annie's Eats

1lb chicken breast, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1 medium onion, diced
1 Tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chicken broth
2 (15.5 oz) cans Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes (I used the Hunts Petite Diced with Green Chilies)
2 (4 oz) cans diced green chilies
1 tsp salt
1/2 Tbs cumin
1/2 Tbs chili powder
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne powder
12oz reduced fat cottage cheese
1/2 cup skim milk

In a large dutch oven or soup pot, saute the chicken and onion in the olive oil. Cook until the chicken has lost it's pink color and the onion is softened. Add the minced garlic and cook with the chicken and onions for a few minutes, until it begins to soften.

Add the chicken broth to the pan and stir to deglaze, making sure to get up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add in the beans, tomatoes and chilies, stirring to combine. Add the seasonings and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat and keep it at a slow simmer, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes.

In a blender, combine the cottage cheese and milk until you have a completely smooth, creamy mixture. Remove the soup from the heat and add in the dairy, stirring to combine. The heat of the soup will bring up the temperature of the cream mixture. Serve immediately. If you don't have the cottage cheese, you can use sour cream.

Makes 5 dinner-sized portions.

Nutrition Information:
Calories: 365
Fat: 6.5 g
Carbs: 35.2 g
Fiber: 9.4 g
Protein: 41.4 g

Four and Twenty Black Birds...

2008-09-23T19:21:00.008-04:00

I feel like that is about the only thing I haven't baked in a pie crust this week. Between dumplings, a quick trip to the freezer for some chicken pot pie filling that I baked off with fresh crust for dinner and this little number, I've been mad over pie crust. I guess it's like anything new you discover you can do - you start using it everywhere. When you've got a shiny new hammer, all the world looks like a nail.

So I made my first "real" pie crust today. I say real because it required rolling out large enough for an entire 9" pie pan. And it didn't involve a stabilizer like the yummy cream cheese crust I'd been using. Or sour cream like the mulit-step crust from that fabulous galette the other day. This was your basic flour, butter and ice water crust. And I think it was just about perfect. Everybody and their mother raves about Martha's Pate Brisee and they are right. Simple and prefect. And easily halved for applications like this quiche. And practice really does breed confidence - I've rolled out enough dough lately that I've figured out how to not ruin it's tenderness by adding tons of flour, and how to get it to a fairly even thickness. This crust was far from exactly perfect looking (thank god I'm a "rustic" cook and happy about it) but it wasn't too shabby. It it really tasted great too. I made mine savory by omitting the sugar and adding some white pepper to it as well.

Clearly I'm getting ready for fall with soups and baked apples, but my garden is giving a last gasp of produce and I had a basket full of cherry and roma tomatoes today, in varying stages of about to go bad before they were used. I'm sauced out, and the hubs had actually asked me the other day "when do we get another one of those roasted veggie pie things?" When a man asks for quiche, he gets quiche! Plus I had some leftover cream cheese and shredded asiago to use up too.

One other trick to this pie that I learned from Martha. I saw her making a tomato tart earlier this summer and they suggested spreading the crust with roasted garlic. The garlic paste acts as a moisture barrier and helps keep the crust from getting soggy from the eggs and veggies while it cooks. It also adds a great dimension to the roasted tomatoes. Inspired!

Tomato and Asiago Quiche
Mollie's Collection

1 9" pie crust
3-4 pints of mixed tomatoes (grape, cherry & roma are all nice, as are all kinds of heirloom)
4-6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
olive oil
kosher salt
several large handfuls raw baby spinach
4-6 leaves of basil, ciffonade
4oz cream cheese, softened to room temp
5 eggs (you may need less - my pie plate is kind of deep)
1/2-2/3 cups milk or cream
1/2-3/4 cup shredded asiago cheese

Halve your tomatoes and spread in a single layer, cut sides up on a baking sheet. Add the garlic cloves to the baking sheet and sprinkle everything with olive oil and kosher salt. Place in a 400 degree oven for about 30-35 minutes (less if the tomatoes are very small) until they begin to shrivel up a little. Set aside to cool.

Line a 9" pie pan with your crust and crimp the edges as desired. Squeeze the garlic out of the skin around each clove and spread it all over the inside of the crust. Next, take your spinach and give it a rough chop. Spread in an even layer on top of the crust, and add in the basil as well. Next layer in all of your roasted tomatoes.

In a blender, mix together the softened cream cheese, the eggs and the milk. Mix well to combine into a smooth mixture. Gently mix in the cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables and bake at 400 for about 25 minutes, or until the crust is browned and the middle of the quiche is set. Let rest at least 40 minutes before slicing and serving.

Kona likes quiche too.
"What? I'm not touching it... yet..."

Apple Dumplin'

2008-09-21T17:37:00.013-04:00

I'm giving in to the season... it's time for baked apples! I'm not much for pies... particularly in a two-person household, a pie is a lot of food. And while you can always give baked goods away, pies in particular don't travel all that well, and even less well in pieces. So I decided to whip up some individual apple desserts in these little dumplings.

I must say that I am feeling a lot more confident with pastry crust these days. It's amazing how just jumping in and trying things makes you realize how silly you were to avoid them in the past. For this one I went back to the crust we've loved most, the cream cheese pastry crust that adorns the best chicken pot pie you'll ever taste. I had to change it up just a little tho - no pepper in these dumplings! But the crust took to a sweet application beautifully and comes together in a flash without being at all fussy.

Another thing I liked about these dumplings is the fact that it fit my kitchen. You see, I actually have a pretty large kitchen but still manage to have almost no usable counter space. Drives me nuts. But with the dumplings, I could roll out a small amount of dough at a time for each dumpling and it worked very well. I also figured out that you can make these in advance and bake them off when you're ready. I stored mine in the fridge for about 8 hours before we baked them and they turned out perfectly. I had extra dough so you could probably get 6 dumplings out of the recipe if you upped the number of apples, but below I've listed what I did this time.

Apple Dumplings
Mollie's Collection

For the Filling
2 large or 3 medium granny smith apples
Juice of one small orange
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

For the Crust
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3 cups AP flour
10oz cream cheese, cut into large pieces (I use reduced fat)
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
egg white & sugar for sprinkling (turbanado would be great, regular is fine)

Peel the apples and cut them into a large dice, about 3/4 inch pieces. Toss the pieces immediately with the orange juice to prevent browning. Add the remaining ingredients and toss to mix well.

To make the crust, place the butter and flour in your food processor fitted with the metal blade and pulse until you have a mixture resembling coarse crumbs. Add remaining ingredients and mix until a ball forms.

Working with a handful of the dough at a time, roll it out on a lightly floured surface (don't add too much flour) to a 1/4 inch thickness. You'll need a piece big enough to cut out a square about 6 inches one each side. Cut the square out of your dough and set the scraps aside to roll into the next dumpling crust.

Carefully scoop about 1/2 a cup of the apple mixture into the middle of your pastry square, making sure you get a bit of the syrup that will have formed in the bottom of the bowl. Wet all the edges of your square with some egg white and bring two of the corners together, pressing the seam tightly to seal. Repeat with remaining corners until you get a square dumpling. Cut a small vent in each side of the dumpling and place in a buttered glass or ceramic baking dish.

At this point you can refrigerate for up to one day, covered with plastic wrap. When ready to bake, brush the tops of each dumpling with egg white and sprinkle liberally with sugar. Bake at 325 for about 30 minutes, until apples are tender and the crust is golden brown. Let cool for at least 20 minutes before serving. Fantastic with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

My Big Fat Greek Dinner

2008-09-19T18:53:00.013-04:00

I'm not Greek, but sometimes I think I was meant to be. I love Greek food. Growing up there was a fantastic Greek diner in my town - and I mean old school diner. Steam table buffet at lunch, table service after 5pm only, and every crazy Parthenon inspired cheesy faux temple architectural detail you can imagine. Even big, fake, back lit, plastic "stained glass" windows with Greek dancers in fez's on them. Every cliche in the Greek banquet hall from My Big Fat Greek Wedding? This place had it all. And as a kid, man did I love very inch of it. I wanted our whole HOUSE to be as cool as this place. And to top it off they set plates of cheese on FIRE. Opa! indeed.

My dad used to order their salad with extra feta to start his dinner. This was basically a saucer with a few pieces of iceberg lettuce topped with about 6 kinds of olives, a huge slab of feta, topped with an amazing home made Greek dressing and a pile of pita along side. The idea makes me drool to this day. Plates of dolmathes, spanakopita, the big rotisserie of lamb for gyros (and if you say "JI-row" just leave now), tzatziki sauce, souvlaki, fresh homemade pita.... how can you not love this stuff? And pastitsio was always my favorite. Noodles, meat, and that creamy, dreamy bechamel....

It had been a LONG time since I'd had decent Greek food before I found this recipe. Most of the Greek diners I found served mostly pizza with the odd gyros or Greek salad thrown in. I'd occasionally find pastitsio or mousaka, but it was never what I remembered. This stuff is the real deal, I'm telling you. And it should be. It comes from a real Greek Yiayia. Elly's Greek Y iayia to be exact and this is a lady who knows what she's doing. I love Elly's blog and you've seen plenty of ideas from her here before, but if I learned nothing else from her but this recipe, she'd still be one of my favorites. It's outstanding.

I'll just direct you to her recipe since I follow it pretty exactly. But here are a few tips I've picked up after making it several times now.

1 - The meat sauce is very thick - the can of tomato paste called for is the small 8oz can. It seems like a small amount for all that meat, but it's all you need. You also may just want to sit in the middle of your kitchen floor and eat this with a spoon and never get around to making the pastitsio.

2 - I don't add the parsley or diced tomatoes, and I use ground cloves and allspice - about 1/2 tsp each.

3 - I have a hard time finding the Greek cheeses and usually just sub with all romano or pecorino romano. Still tastes great.

4 - When you're ready to do the noodle and bechemel layers, get everything prepped and measured out before you start. Things start to go fast when you're at that point and it will really help you out.

5 - I always just do one layer of noodles, then all the beef, then the bechemel. This is how I remember it growing up, and even tho Elly's Yiayia does 2 layers of noodles, I figure a single layer is fine. And it does make the layering easier.

If you've never had pastitsio, please try this today. I've always thought that this is the type of dish that if you took it to a school potluck anywhere, everyone would devour it and ask you for the recipe. Whereas if you said "We're having Pastitsio" you'd get a look of doubt and resignation like the one that crossed my husband's face the first time I told him we were having this. Don't let the name scare you. It's just freaking good no matter what language. And my Italian husband did give me a huge compliment after he tried it. He told me "This is the best Italian food you've ever made."

She's got legs...

2008-09-17T12:33:00.005-04:00

Let me just say I didn't want to like this chicken. I was over it. Everybody under the sun had made it and raved and it was on a million blogs. I mean, really, how good could it be? I'm sure it was fine, and I liked the idea of yogurt, but I wasn't going to love it and I certainly wasn't going to blog about it. But it's the best freaking oven "fried" chicken I've ever had.

I think I may be finally discovering what my blog is about. I've been blogging away for over a year now, but was never entirely sure exactly what my focus was. It was a place to keep track of things I did. A way to share them with people. I kind of wanted to eat better and healthier. But I'm not into everything low fat low carb low fun every single day. And I've realized that what gets me really excited are things that are fantastic and just happen to be pretty good for you. With a healthy dose of "oh Christ this is so good I don't care if I gain 40 lbs and a fatty tumor from it." I've always said that I believe in everything in moderation... including moderation. Life is to short to not just freaking go for whatever you want from time to time.

This one falls in that ever elusive category of so freaking good but still not bad for you. The original took a great idea of using yogurt with chicken, but it didn't let the yogurt work it's magic as a marinade, and it added gobs of butter to totally negate all that healthy yogurt. I made this dish that way once. And it was good. I gotta say tho, my modified version, is, in my opinion, even better. I also made some changes to the coating - because frankly, I don't always have panko around. But thanks to my current obsession with these "oh Christ this is so good" blondies, I always have plenty of rice krispies around.

And the reason there's only one sad picture of a single pathetic leg up there? I made these for a hungry crowd of football watchers and figured, eh, I'll take pictures of the leftovers. Yeah. That sad little leg was it. But it still tasted freaking good when I ate it for breakfast after I took the picture.

Oven Fried Chicken with Yogurt
Adapted from Pioneer Woman's Crispy Yogurt Chicken

Note: The quantities are loose on this - you can expand or contract it at will, and adjust it to what you have on hand.

Chicken parts of your choice - I love the legs and they can be found on sale cheap too
1-2 cups fat free plain yogurt
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
juice of one lemon
2 cups (or so) of Rice Krispies or Special K cereal (something rice based and puffy)
1 cup (or so) bread crumbs (I like seasoned, you can use anything)
Salt & Pepper
Cayenne Pepper

Mix the yogurt, garlic and lemon together and toss your chicken with it to get it all coated. Let marinate for several hours (but if you have no time, you can skip the marinating and just move on to breading).

Crush the cereal in a food processor or blender. When you have crumbs, add the bread crumbs and season with salt, pepper & cayenne to taste. If you're out of cereal or crumbs, you can use all of one or the other, but the combo is nice and I really love the texture of the cereal in the final product so I'd be more inclined to use all cereal. Roll the chicken in the coating and get a good thick coating on each piece.

Place the pieces on a baking sheet lined with foil. I have found that the Reynolds non-stick foil works really really well for this and makes things nice and crispy. If you don't have it, just spray your regular foil with cooking spray. Spray the tops of the chicken lightly with cooking spray or an olive oil mister. Bake at 350 until cooked through and the coating is browned and crisp, about an hour for bone-in pieces, 30-45 minutes for boneless.

The combination of the release foil and just a touch of spray on the breading gives you a super crisp crust, without any added fat.

Punkin'!

2008-09-13T14:57:00.011-04:00

I keep saying I don't like things or don't do things, but then I turn around and prove myself wrong. I must not know myself very well, but I guess that's ok. Sometimes it's good to learn new things about yourself and challenge your preconceptions. But what I do know is that while you still won't catch my attention with a piece of pumpkin pie, these little beauties ROCK.

The recipe is from Cara, a girl who really knows her pumpkin! She uses this superfood in ways I never could have imagined. And I'm starting to come around the the wonders of pumpkin and other winter squashes. Combine pumpkin with cheesecake and a super rich and dark brownie and it's hard to go wrong. These are RICH, and a little piece is all you need to keep you going, but they are a great fall flavor combination and they look really cool too. And isn't that what it's all about, really?

Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake Swirl Brownies
From Cara's Cravings

Brownie Batter
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon (note: this is reduced from the original)
1 Tbs instant espresso powder (note: not in the original)

Cheesecake Batter
6 oz cream cheese, softened (note: I used reduced fat)
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp flour
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp each ground ginger and ground cloves

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8x8" square metal baking pan.

For the Brownies
Beat together melted butter, sugar, and vanilla, then beat in eggs one at a time. Combine dry ingredients and then gradually stir into butter mixture by hand.

For the Cheesecake
In a separate bowl, beat together all ingredients.

To assemble
Spread about 2/3 of chocolate batter into prepared pan. Spread the pumpkin batter over it, distributing evenly. Drop the remaining brownie batter over cheesecake batter. To make the swirls, run a butter knife back and forth through the pan - don't be afraid to go all the way to the bottom of the pan like I didn't on this batch!

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until center is set. Cool completely and chill before cutting and serving.

I'm not obsessed, really...

2008-09-11T13:22:00.017-04:00

Ok, I promise, I'm really going to shut up about the corn soon. I promise, really. I've just been fascinated by the growing process and the somewhat limited but still incredibly tasty results we achieved. So I told you all about corn sex, and how each and every silk needs to hook up with a piece of pollen to make each and every kernel. Well, when only a few rogue silks (wow this is sounding dirty) make their way to the mating grounds, this is what happens. Wacky huh?

So my whole corn experiment yielded only 5 usable ears. From 24 plants. I had ears on every stalk but a lot didn't fertilize, or yielded so few kernels they weren't good for much. But I still agree with my earlier assessment that even one mouthful of truly fresh corn is worth it! So discounting what turned out to be the best ear of the harvest that I ate raw straight from the garden the other day, I had 4 little lovelies to turn into something.

Soup! I love soup. Stew. Chowder. Bisque. Broths. Consummes. Bring it on. In my trip down nostalgia lane with my Cottage Cheese Onion Dill Bread yesterday I started to think about the soup my mom would make every fall to go with that fabulous stuff. Potato Leak. Now, honestly, my mom's soup was just ok. It was kind of just leak, potato, milk and cream, seasoned with salt & pepper. Which is hard to go to wrong with, true. But I knew it could be taken to new levels. So starting with this corn chowder I made last fall, and the fabulous new cream-replacement trick I used in my fettuccine alfredo, I was off.

So before I shut up about the corn, let me just pass along a tip for any of you that are gathering the last of the harvest. This method for removing the kernels from the cob is the prefect first step for freezing. Well, it's actually the only step. You can do this, pop it in a baggie and freeze for soups all winter long. Yum. So moving clockwise from the upper left, I saw this trick on Rachel Ray (I know, gag, whatever, but it's a good tip). Set a small bowl inside a bigger one (make sure the bigger one is kind of shallow) and use it as a secure base for the end of your cob. Slice down all sides to remove the kernels. You'll see there's still parts of the kernel left in the socket at this point, along with a ton of great, tasty, sweet corn milk. So here's what you do - you run the back of your knife along the cob to squeeze out the last bits of goodness. And there you have it, corn ready for freezing, cooking, or simply spooning right into your mouth.

This chowder rocked. Pancetta - rules. Fresh sweet corn - amazing. Potato & leek - foods from the gods. Peppery kick - perfection. And a better-than-cream substitute for cream that brings this sucker in under 300 calories for a huge bowl? It should be a crime. I wouldn't lie to you. Sometimes things are "fine" when you make them healthier. And I'm ok with that. This wasn't fine. This was fantastic, and honestly better than versions of chowders I've made with heavy cream. It's thicker and has an amazing body and tang. It's just a fantastic dish that happens to be good for you. Bonus.

Potato, Leek & Corn Chowder
Mollie's Collection

6oz pancetta (or thick cut bacon) - cut into cubes
1 Tbs olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 large leaks, sliced (white parts and the ends of the greens only)
3-4 Tbs flour
5 cups (give or take) low sodium fat free broth or water
1 lb yukon gold potatoes, skins on, cut into bite sized pieces
1 cup fresh sweet corn (plus the cobs if desired - see instructions below) - frozen will work too
kosher salt
ground white pepper
crushed red pepper flakes
16oz container reduced fat cottage cheese
1/2 cup skim milk

A note on leeks - they are notoriously sandy, so place them in a bowl of cold water and do several water changes after slicing to get out any grit.

In the bottom of a dutch oven, heat the oil and cook the pancetta until all the fat starts to render out. Add in the garlic and leek and cook in the oil and pancetta fat until the leek just starts to get a little bit tender. When the leek is tender and the pancetta is getting crisp, add in the flour, a Tbs at a time, and whisk vigorously to combine it with the fat, making sure you don't get lumps. Cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly, for about a minute to cook off the raw flour taste. The amount of flour will vary depending on the fat content of your pancetta, but you want a very tight paste to form.

When the flour has had a chance to cook off, add in the broth/water a little at a time, continuing to whisk so you avoid lumps. Once all the broth is in, make sure you scrape up any bits still stuck to the bottom of the pan and bring to a simmer. Add in the potatoes and the corn, and return to a simmer. If desired, you can also add in the corn cobs at this step and simmer them with the potatoes to add more sweetness to the broth. Simmer gently for about 25-30 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Remove the cobs from the pot and season with the salt, white pepper and red pepper flakes to taste.

While the potatoes are cooking, combine the cottage cheese and milk in a blender and puree until totally smooth. You may need to adjust the amount of milk, but you just want enough to let the mixture blend. You are creating a very thick, creamy mixture that will be almost like soft peak whipped cream when you're done.

Reduce the heat to low and stir in the cottage cheese mixture. Stir well to combine, heating until it is just hot - don't boil the mixture after the dairy is added. Check for seasonings - I like a nice peppery bite, but that is up to you. Serves 6 dinner sized portions.

This also reheats well - often cream soups can separate when reheating, but this one held up very well.

Nutrition Information
Calories: 300
Fat: 12.4 g
Carbs: 31.1 g
Fiber: 3.0 g
Protein: 18.8 g

Proust had his Madelines

2008-09-10T14:18:00.009-04:00

Me? I've got cottage cheese onion dill bread. And I have to say, I'm pretty freaking proud of how it turned out - my first loaf of yeast bread and my first braided bread. Ain't she purdy?

Growing up, one of the things my family loved to do was ride our bikes down to the fantastic Ann Arbor Farmers Market, right in the heart of the Kerrytown Shops. This mecca of food and shops was always one of my favorite parts of town, filled with unique gifts and clothes, a fantastic cooks shop that did demonstrations, a huge, fantastic, year round farmers market, one of the best fish markets I've ever seen and the historic and delicious Zingerman's Deli. Some of the shops have changed since my day, but by all accounts it's still a foodie destination nonpareil. I think in my heart of hearts I was always a foodie, what with my farming roots and a family that appreciated hand crafted foods and the freshest of ingredients. And one of the artisanal food products we loved were the breads of the Mill Pond Bakery.

The Mill Pond Bakery made lots of magic stuff, including an apple turnover so good my dad would buy one on the way into the market to eat while he walked, and other on the way out to eat when he got home. And they made this Cottage Cheese Onion Dill bread that was unlike anything else I'd known. Sweet, savory, soft, with a shiny eggy crust. I haven't been back to Ann Arbor in years now, but the minute I saw this post from Peabody I was taken back. I thought I'd never have this bread again, and while it has taken me some time to get around to making it, it was well worth it. This is the prefect compliment to soups and chowders (tune in in a few days for the potato leak soup we ate it with tonight) and a fun, easy bread, even for beginners.

I made a few changes to the recipe. I used a little more cottage cheese than called for because I had it to use up. I also used more dill because I like it, and dried onion because, well, it was easier. I also ended up using far less flour than directed - more like a scant 5 cups. The biggest change I made was to the shape. The Mill Pond always made their dill bread in a braid so I wanted to give that a shot, and it had that shiny crust so I gave mine an egg wash. Many thanks to Bridget for her tips on converting a loaf to a braid, found here. This dough was really easy to work with - the original instructions warned of it being very sticky and soft, which it was, but once it sat in the oiled bowl for the first rise it was easy to work with. With just the light coating of oil my hands got while punching it down I could handle it easily.

It was heaven, and just what I was remembering and craving. The crumb is smooth and soft and the crust was exactly what I remember. I'm so happy to have discovered it so I can again relive those great days of going to the market with my family. I also can't freaking believe that this bread wasn't on my list of things to make, so I'm making it honorary number 101. And it's even low fat!

If you're interested in a quick version of dill bread, I made th is one about a year ago. It was also a family favorite from my mom and always takes me back to the comforts of home.

Cottage Cheese Onion Dill Bread
Adapted from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

2 TBSP active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water(110F)
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese(I used reduced fat), at room temperature
2 TBSP granulated sugar
2 heaping TBSP dried chopped onion
2 TBSP fresh dill, minced
1 TBSP salt
¼ tsp baking soda
1 whole egg + 1 egg yolk (plus another egg reserved for the egg wash, if desired)
2 tsp olive oil
5-6 ½ cups Better for Bread Flour (or all-purpose - or what I did, which is mix a ratio of 1 part bread flour to 2 parts AP flour)

Dissolve yeast in the warm water at the bottom of the mixing bowl of your stand mixer. Let sit for about 5 minutes until it becomes creamy in color.

Add all the remaining ingredients except the flour and egg for the egg wash and mix well.

Attach the dough hook to the mixer. Add flour 1 cup at a time until you have a soft dough. Knead bread for 5 minutes. If you are doing it by hand, knead for about 8 minutes.

Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place. Let rise until dough has doubled, about 1 ½ hours.

When dough has doubled, punch it down and remove it from the bowl. On a clean work surface, divide the dough into 3 equal pieces and roll each one into a strand about 16" long. Braid the three pieces, pinching the ends together and tucking them under the loaf. Place on a parchment covered baking sheet or baking stone, cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap and let rest about one hour in a warm place.

Preheat your oven to 350. Before baking, mix one egg with a splash of water. Brush this over the entire crust and bake the loaf for 25 minutes, then cover with a loose tent of aluminum foil to prevent over browning, and bake another 5-10 minutes longer. Let cool for 5 minutes and then remove from the baking sheet and continue to cool on a rack. Yields 16 servings.

Nutrition Information
Calories: 187
Fat: 3.1 g
Carbs: 32.7 g
Fiber: 1.2 g
Protein: 6.4 g

Chicken & Beer

2008-09-06T12:19:00.009-04:00

Now that I've gotten over my fear of roasting a whole chicken, I'm pretty obsessed with cooking things on the bone. You don't even realize the flavor you're missing with all those boneless, skinless chicken breasts we've all made over the years. I clearly haven't abandoned the ease of the boneless breasts, but a whole chicken is where it's at for flavor. And not only is the flavor great, but it's a pretty economical thing to make too - you get a meal off the chicken the first night, plenty of leftovers for lunches or at least one more meal, and then you have bones for stock. It's a win all around.

In an effort to expand the cooking on the bone theme, and to avoid heating up the kitchen on these lingering warm days at the end of summer I tried my hand at a beer butt chicken. It's a very elegant name, isn't it? Makes you think of refined late summer garden parties, no?

Naming aside, it's a great, easy, extremely flavorful way to cook a chicken and I highly recommend it. You can flavor it however you like, but the method is as easy as 1-2-3.

1 - Assemble your Beer Delivery Mechanism
You need an open can of beer, about half full - it doesn't matter what kind. I actually grabbed a leftover Coors from a party for this one. I never drink Coors, but it has a slightly smaller diameter can that works well for this application. But anything will do. The make all kinds of fancy beer can chicken holders these days, but I didn't have one. What I did have was my round grill pan that I repurposed here as a way to get the chicken on and off the grill more easily. This way I could lift the chicken on and off the grill with the handles. But if you don't have anything like this, just set it directly on the grill and use two pairs of tongs to get it back off the hot surface when cooked.

2 - Season & Mount
You've got to use liberal amounts of kosher salt, freshly ground pepper, and olive oil. Beyond that you can use whatever seasoning you want. I used the fantastic blend of Northwoods Seasoning from Penzeys. Really great flavor. Be very liberal - I used at least a Tbs or two each of the salt & pepper, and 2-3 Tbs of the seasoning. Get it inside and outside the chicken. Next time I would also lift the skin and get some under that skin over the breast and back. Once it's seasoned, you want to place the end opening of your raw chicken over the beer can, and use it, along with the legs, as a tripod to support the chicken upright.

3 - Grill it Baby!
Then, get your grill to medium heat. You want indirect heat, so on my gas grill, I turned on the right and left burners, leaving those directly under the chicken off. With the grill closed I was running a temp of about 325-350. Then, let it go for about 90 minutes or so (for a 4lb chicken), or until the breast reaches 165. When it's done, remove from heat and let it rest 10 minutes or so before serving.

A note about the chicken
I'm all about a bargain. But I also don't mind splurging for something great. And I have to say, an organic chicken is worth it for an application like this. Great flavor and it's really worth investing in a piece of poultry that you're going to get this much mileage out of. So much more flavor, and isn't that what it's all about?

This stuff was so good that the hubs was still raving about it as he picked at the leftovers for days afterwards. It is so juicy you won't believe it. It's so juicy that it might just drip out the bottom of your grill and overflow your drip pan. And if you happen to leave your dog outside while this cooking and dripping goes on, this could be your fate:

The goof ball had to have a bath because he stuck his head under the grill to lick up the juices while hot grease dripped on his head. But hey, at least we knew it was good stuff!

Pimpin' ain't easy

2008-09-02T21:48:00.010-04:00

I may be a corn pimp, but I'm not a very good one.

Well, ok, I sort of take that back. The full results are not yet in, but in today's garden roundup I have the first sampling of our sweet corn. The good news is that my corn sex experiments were somewhat fruitful resulting in very sweet corn that tastes fresh from the field just like I remember growing up. The bad news is that we had some stunted growth and development. One side of my short little cob was perfect. The other side was a little sad. But hey, it was all worth it for the corn snob to get her truly fresh from the field corn this season! The grandparents would be proud I think - even in these suckers could never be sold at market.

Other exciting developments are happening in the squash family. The first butternut squash are ripe and being used in the kitchen. And the pumpkins are taking over. We have one vine climbing up the pine trees (with several blossoms and even one fruit starting!), several green pumpkins about to go orange, and that little sucker in the lower right? He's sprung up in the compost pile where we threw out the pumpkins we had on our porch last year. I love recycling.

And of course, the tomatoes are giving forth in their end of season burst of ripeness. If you need any ideas to use up yours, just click on the links. The garden is getting weedy and leggy (because the gardener is getting lazy), but it keeps on giving, particularly my herbs. I'd badly neglected them, but realized I had plenty of basil poking through the weeds for a quick batch of pesto for the freezer as well. I just whir up some garlic, salt, pepper, any kind of nut you desire, the basil and olive oil to desired consistency before freezing - wait to add any cheese until you're heating it to serve.

Enjoy the produce while it lasts!

Squish Squash

2008-09-02T19:56:00.008-04:00

I've never really been excited about butternut squash. Or any winter squash really. It's a texture thing. They often have that mealy stringy quality. An they are often served with heavy sugary syrups and toasted marshmallows on top. I don't want marshmallows on anything that isn't a s'more so that was out. But I think I've learned that roasting almost any veggie, no matter how much I think I didn't like it, transforms it into something magic. And if you wrap it in a pie crust and throw in some goat cheese, life is sweet.

I planted a butternut squash plant this year in the garden since the hubs likes it. Now that they are getting ripe I had to do something with the suckers, preferably something I would enjoy as well. I've been dreaming of a butternut squash ravioli, but as I don't have a pasta roller this would require a trip to visit my mother-in-law and that wasn't in the cards this week (but I promise it will be soon!). Thankfully, the blogs where there for me. When reading Smitten Kitchen's recent post on fruit hand pies, I stumbled on a link to a post of Deb's from last fall for a butternut squash galette. It was like the clouds parted and the church bells began to ring. I had to have it.

I followed the recipe pretty faithfully, particularly the crust. I actually have made a pie crust before, even tho it was on my list of things to try. I made one years ago and all I really remember were tears and cursing. And I did make the fantabulous cream cheese pie crust from my favorite pot pie. But this was a fabulous crust that could go savory or sweet, and while I'm not usually much for recipes with lots of steps and waiting and planning ahead, this was fantastic and totally worth it. And as it had the unique twist of adding sour cream, I think I've decided that the secret to great crust is the addition of high fat dairy products. Bonus.

So not only was this a fantastic dish that blew my mind, it was also a chance to knock off #66 from my list. And I'm just a hop, skip and a jump away from crossing off a fruit galette - end of season nectarines anyone?

Butternut Squash, Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Galette
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

For the pastry:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into
pieces
1/4 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup ice water

For the filling:
1 small butternut squash
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs
1 large vidalia onion, halved and thinly sliced in half-moons
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of sugar
1/4 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
3-4oz crumbled goat cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage leaves

For the Pastry:

In a bowl, combine the flour and salt. Place the butter in another bowl. Place both bowls & your pastry cutter in the freezer for 1 hour. Remove the bowls from the freezer and, using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, lemon juice and water and add half of this mixture to the flour/butter. With your fingertips, mix in the liquid until large lumps form. Remove the large lumps and repeat with the remaining liquid and flour/butter. Pat the lumps into a ball; do not overwork the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

For the Filling:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Peel squash, then halve and scoop out seeds. Cut into a 1/2-inch dice. Toss pieces with olive oil and a half-teaspoon of the salt and roast on foil lined sheet for 30 minutes or until pieces are tender. Cool before combining.

While squash is roasting, melt butter in a skillet and cook onion over medium heat with the remaining half-teaspoon of salt and pinch of sugar, stirring occasionally, until soft and lightly golden brown, about 20 minutes. Stir in cayenne.

Set oven temperature to 400 degrees. Mix squash, caramelized onions, goat cheese and sage together in a bowl.

On a floured work surface, roll the dough out into a 12-inch round. Transfer to a parchment lined ungreased baking sheet. Spread squash, onions, cheese and herb mixture over the dough, leaving a wide margin. Fold the bare edges up over the filling, leaving the center open.

Bake until golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven, let stand for 5 minutes, then slide the galette onto a serving plate. Cut into wedges and serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

Special Thanks to the Smitten Kitchen for the layout ideas too - makes the process pictures much easier to fit in!

What a Maroon...

2008-08-28T08:35:00.009-04:00

Sometimes you get cocky. You think you've got it all under control, you can do it all and then you are humbled. And all you can do is slap yourself on the forehead and quote the ever insightful Bugs Bunny, "What a Maroon!"

This dinner is one the hubs has loved forever and will order it on whatever chain restaurant menu it pops up on. But it's not very good for you and is often sub par when it comes out of an assembly line kitchen. So I wanted to recreate it to not only taste better but be a little better for us. Well, I succeeded on both fronts, but failed on the simplest of tasks. I'm not sure quite how, but I managed to under cook my pasta to the point where it had a hard, chewy core. Now really... I'm not exactly new here. I've cooked pasta about 47 gazillion times before. It's not really all that hard. I set the timer, I stirred, I even tested a noodle that was perfect. And yet, the rest of it was beyond al dente... it was just uncooked. Bah!

Thankfully the flavors were outstanding and we managed to muddle through. This alfredo sauce was amazing - I was expecting to have to compromise a lot on the flavor and texture to reduce the fat, but I was inspired by this technique over on Cara's Cravings and it is a total winner. It wasn't a passable substitute, it was seriously GREAT. And the blackened chicken was really tasty too - bit of heat, lots of flavor. I could have blackened it more but since it was my first time I wasn't sure how long it would take. And I love finding yet another use for my cast iron skillet. How did I ever live without one? This also crosses another item off my list - #37, blacked chicken. I'm leaving the alfredo on there for now, since I do want to try the real deal at some point.

Blackened Chicken with (Lower Fat!) Alfredo
Mollie's Collection

2 chicken breasts, about 4oz each
Penzey's Northwoods Seasoning (or your favorite blackened seasoning mix)
Olive oil for the pan
6oz of pasta
3/4 cup low fat cottage cheese
1 wedge laughing cow cheese
1 oz finely grated parmigiano reggiano cheese
1/2 cup skim milk
pinch nutmeg
salt & pepper to taste
1 clove of garlic, minced
2-3 handfuls of fresh baby spinach, given a rough chop

Cook your pasta according to package directions in well salted water (some of us need this reminder more than others!). Then start on your sauce, combining the cottage cheese, laughing cow cheese, parmigiano reggiano cheese, and milk in a blender. Puree until smooth, adjusting the amount of milk as needed. Season with the nutmeg, salt and pepper, mixing to combine. Set aside.

Heat a little bit of oil in your cast iron skillet and let it get screaming hot. While it heats, season both sides of your chicken pieces well with your blackened seasoning. When the pan is super hot, place the chicken in carefully with tongs. Cook for 4-5 minutes on each side until a blackened crust forms and the chicken is cooked through. It's best if your chicken is fairly thin so it will cook through while it blackens. If you have thicker pieces, either pound thin or place the chicken pieces on a foil lined baking sheet in a preheated 400 degree oven for a few minutes to finish cooking through. When done cooking, set them aside to rest for a few minutes.

While the chicken cooks, put a little more oil (or cooking spray) in a skillet and saute the garlic until fragrant. Add in the spinach and stir until it starts to wilt. Add in your sauce mixture from the blender, stirring over low heat until heated through. You don't want to boil or simmer the sauce, just gently heat through. When the pasta is cooked, add the hot, well drained pasta to the pan with the sauce.

To serve, plate the pasta and sauce, and top with one of the rested chicken breasts, sliced thinly across the grain.

Nutrition Information (for alfredo sauce and pasta only)
Calories: 438
Fat: 9.6 g
Carbs: 62.6 g
Fiber: 3.2 g
Protein: 26.9 g

All in the Technique

2008-08-24T20:46:00.012-04:00

One of the things I like best about cooking, and expanding my cooking horizons is the realization that it all really comes down to some fundamental techniques and knowledge of how flavors combine. Once you start to learn those things, you can create anything your little heart desires. So I'm always excited to learn a new technique and start to see how I could use it a million different ways. Today's challenge was an aioli that contributed to some pretty amazing shrimp tacos.

This aioli was built around another find from our trip to Long Island - some fun flavored grape seed oils. They had a toasted pumpkin seed, walnut, lemon and this citrus cilantro. I'd been noodling around for ideas to use it and kept coming back to some sort of shrimp dish. Regular old fajitas, one of my standby dishes, didn't seem quite special enough so I had to up my game. Enter aioli - which, when you come down to it is just mayonnaise taken to a whole other level. In fact, a lot of fish and shrimp taco recipes I looked at today use mayo as a base and just add flavor, but I was determined to start from scratch and incorporate that flavored oil.

I've tried to make fish tacos before and they were just eh. I now realize that the aioli was the missing thing - it adds a creamy bite that compliments the slaw that is a key component of most fish tacos. Now that I've mastered the idea behind an aoili, I am bursting with other ways to use it. I think fish and shrimp tacos will now be in heavy rotation because this really was outstanding. I thought the sauce was too hot at first, but once it's on the taco with the cabbage and avocado and everything else, it was prefect.

A quick aioli step-by-step. Place all of your flavoring ingredients and acids in a blender, along with the egg yolk(s).

Whir everything up to combine. Mine kind of exploded, but never fear, it still worked out just fine after I scraped it down.

Next, drizzle in your oil while the blender does its thing, and then season to taste. And voila - a creamy lovely aioli. The ratio of oil seemed to be somewhere around 1 yolk to 1/2-1 cup of oil. Really, it's up to you to get the consistency you want and the flavoring options are endless. But it's a great sauce to know.

Shrimp Tacos with Citrus Cilantro Aioli
Mollie's Collection

For the aioli:
1 small Serrano pepper
3 cloves of garlic, pealed
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp cumin
Zest and juice of one lime
1/3-1/2 cup citrus cilantro grape seed oil (or substitute another flavored oil)
Salt & Pepper to taste

For the shrimp tacos:
12 oz shrimp, peeled and deveined (I like smaller ones for tacos)
Juice of 3 limes, divided
1/2 tsp cumin
1 Tbs of citrus cilantro grape seed oil
1 small head of cabbage
Thinly sliced red onion (optional)
2 medium avocados
salt & pepper to taste
5-6 small flour tortillas

Combine all the aioli ingredients up to the oil in a blender and pulverize. With the blender running at high speed, slowly drizzle in the oil until you get your desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper and reserve in the refrigerator. Best made at least 1 hour ahead to let the flavors fully combine. (Note: I didn't have any fresh cilantro on hand, but that would have been a great addition as well)

Combine the shrimp and the juice of 1 of the limes with the cumin and oil. Stir to coat and combine, and let sit in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes. In the mean time, shred your cabbage and set aside. Cube your avocado and combine in a small bowl with the juice of the other two limes and season with salt and pepper. Stir and smoosh until desired consistency - I like mine chunky.

Cook the shrimp in a saute or grill pan until just opaque. To assemble, start with a flour tortilla, topped with cabbage, then the shrimp, ailio and avocado mixture. Bite and enjoy.

Served with sauteed black beans, but that's a story for another post...

Note: My Serrano pepper was from the garden - I had about a dozen all ready at the same time and could never use them fast enough, so I froze them. I took off the stems and chopped them up in the food processor, and then divided them into the sections of an ice cube tray and topped with chicken broth. To use, either dump the whole cube into sauces, or thaw under cold running water in a small strainer to remove the broth and add to your dish.

99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall

2008-08-23T09:24:00.010-04:00

I hadn't planned on tackling an item from my list quite so soon, but the occasion arose and I managed to cross #86 on my list, Pound Cake. Pound Cake with Blueberry Compote to be exact.

I love pound cake - simple and not overly sweet, rich and buttery and a great compliment to lots of other flavors. I'd say this one was successful, but not perfect. My first mistake was making a lighter, lower fat version. I've had some great yogurt and sour cream pound cakes that were lower in fat, but this one didn't quite hit that mark. The crumb was just a little bit tight. I think that may be a combination of the lower fat content and the fact that I might have over mixed. This is a common problem with me and baking. Also, I didn’t use cake flour, but this substitution instead. Not sure which is the culprit, but I’m willing to bet any or all of those contributed.

Don't let my review scare you tho - this was still very tasty. And I got to use several of my favorite kitchen toys, including my new 4 part mini loaf pan and this sucker for the sour cream:

I love this measuring cup when you're measuring anything you'd normally have to scrape out of a measuring cup with a spatula. And it's got that cute little picture of Alton on it. I love Alton for his own sake, but he also reminds me of my brother - a blondish slightly balding guy with cute little glasses and a PhD in Chemistry who also says "oh bother." See what I mean?

The loaves were pretty and not overly sweet and the perfect foil for my blueberry compote. The compote is so easy and is a perfect compliment for cheesecake, ice cream, shortbread cookies and of course, pound cake. The hubs loves his blueberries (so does my brother, come to think of it) so he was in heaven, and the dense cake is perfect to soak up every bit of blueberry goodness. Me? I had mine with chocolate sauce. Talk about a good time...

I followed the recipe pretty closely; the only real changes I made were to use real butter instead of margarine, and to use the mini-loaf pans instead of a tube or bundt pan. I think I could have actually used 5 or 6 mini loaf pans because the four of them were very full and puffed up a lot (which I kind of like) and I also had 2 mini (3") cake pans full of batter to boot. But I like the mini loafs because in a 2-person household you find yourself freezing or giving away lots of baked goods and a mini loaf of anything wrapped in a ribbon is hard to refuse. And it let me bake once to have a treat for the hubs plus a dessert for a party this weekend without showing up with a cake with 2 slices taken out of it. Tho, I'm not above that either...

1 down, 99 to go.

Sour Cream Pound Cake
Cooking Light

3 cups sugar

3/4 cup stick margarine, softened (I used butter)

1 1/3 cups egg substitute (I used the egg whites mentioned below)

1 1/2 cups low-fat sour cream

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 1/2 cups sifted cake flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 325°.

Beat sugar and margarine at medium speed of a mixer until well-blended (about 5 minutes). Gradually add egg substitute, beating well.

Combine sour cream and baking soda. Stir well; set aside. (Note: This will puff up as pictured below - don't let that scare you!) Combine flour and salt. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Stir in vanilla.

Pour batter into a 10-inch tube pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. (Note: My mini loaves took about 55 minutes.) Cool in pan 10 minutes; remove from pan. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

Eight egg whites can be used in place of egg substitute, if desired. Add one at a time to sugar mixture.

Blueberry Compote
Mollie’s Collection

1 pint fresh blueberries or 2 cups frozen
1/3 cup water
2-3 Tbs crème de cassis (optional)
½ cup sugar (more or less to taste, depending on your berries)
Zest and juice of half a lemon
1 Tbs cornstarch

Pinch of salt

Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for 10-15 minutes until it begins to thicken. Serve warm or cold.

My First Blogiversary

2008-08-20T14:39:00.011-04:00

I've always found anniversaries to be an occasion for reflection, for hope, for taking stock of the past and making plans for the future. Whether it's a birthday or the new year, it's a time to think about what has gone before and what is yet to come. So I had a chance this week to take a long walk with the puppy and think about how to celebrate my first blogiversary.

It was an exhausting excursion for him.

The first anniversary is supposed to be paper, right? So I'm celebrating with a list. A list that would be on paper if I were born 30 years earlier and kept a journal instead of a blog. Well, I do keep a journal too but you can't see it. So ha.

I love lists. Sometimes I write things on lists just to have the satisfaction of crossing them off. This is what passes for a good time in my world. And a list is a good way to plan for your future - if it's your future trip to the grocery store, or one of those much talked about "bucket lists" of life experiences you want to achieve. So to that end, here is my list.

This list was inspired by Chelle over at Brown Eyed Baker, where she posted a list of 100 things she wants to make. I think this is a fabulous idea, and a great way to break down that vague notion of how to "be a better cook". I've come a long way in the last year with my cooking - I've mastered roux, I learned how to cook in cast iron and make sauces in stainless cookware, I made home made pasta sheets and turned them into ravioli, grilled pizza and made yeast doughs, perfected my quiche and even baked just about every sweet to come from my kitchen from scratch. I've tackled lots of challenges, but there are plenty left, so here is my list of 100 things I'd like to still do. I'm not going to put a deadline on this, but hopefully by next year I'll have quite a few of them crossed off.

Some are specific recipes I have in mind. Some are things that require techniques I've never tried. And quite a few are things that just scare me a little bit. Some will stand alone and some may be combined. And there's lots of baking which hasn't always been my forte... But I am learning in life that the more uncomfortable something makes me the more I need it in my life (especially when it relates to carbs). So here goes nothing!

100 Things to Make, Do or Try
(in no particular order, other than savories first, followed by sweets)

White Sandwich Bread
Whole Wheat Bread
Baguette
Soft Pretzels
Fried Chicken
Fish & Chips
Butternut Squash Ravioli
Brown Butter Sauce
Kofta
Carnitas
Tortillas
40 Cloves of Garlic Chicken
Duxelles
Beef Wellington
BBQ Ribs
Italian Wedding Soup
Fettuccine Alfredo
Frittata
Sourdough Bread
Tamales
Polenta
Zucchini Strand Spaghetti
Fresh Mozzarella
Cassoulet
Dill pickles
Chicken and Dumplings
Risotto
General Tso’s Chicken
Pot Roast
Mu shu pork
French Onion Soup
Leg of Lamb
Baked Beans (starting from dry beans)
Whole Artichokes
Creamed Spinach
Moussaka
Blackened Chicken
Soufflé
Chicken Cacciatore
Chicken Picatta
Veal Marsala
Tomatillo Salsa
French Fries
Potato Latkes
Challah
Clam Chowder
Matzo Ball Soup
Whole Wheat Pasta Dough
Popovers
Braised Short Ribs
Braised Chicken
Buttermilk Biscuits
Stuffed Squash Blossoms
Eggs Benedict with Hollandaise
Gnocchi
Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
Corned Beef Hash
Brioche
Cornish Game Hens
Calamari
Tomato Soup
Spanakopita
Yellow Layer Cake
Chocolate Ganache
Buttercream Frosting
Pie Crust
Blueberry Pie
Doughnuts
Cheesecake
Red Velvet Cake
Snickerdoodles
Scratch Pancakes
Chocolate Pistachio Cake
One Bowl Chocolate Cake
Dorrie’s Carmel Peanut Brownie Cake
Shortbread
Boston Cream Pie
Crème Brule
Waffles (I own a waffle maker and have never done it…)
Biscotti
Homemade Ice Cream
Some Sort of Fruit Galette
Caramels
Salted Caramels
Meringues
Pound Cake
Chocolate Pudding
Bread pudding
Cinnamon Rolls
Crepes
Oatmeal Cookies
Buckeyes
Derby Pie
Sour Cream Coffee Cake
French Toast Casserole
Carrot Cake
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake
Baklava
Marshmallows
Chocolate Frosting

So maybe this list will inspire you too. It has certainly given me a lot to think about and plan for! And here's to another year of great cooking... and hopefully continued improvement to my photos! Thanks to all who've stopped by so far - I really appreciate it.

Bridging the Gap

2008-08-19T16:35:00.013-04:00

It's still summer but I'm ready for fall. Most of my friends live for the summer - boating, beaching, laying out. That's all well and good, but cooking in 90 degree heat with no air conditioning is no fun at all, and I'm not a happy camper when I'm hot. Fortunately we are having a fairly mild August here in New England so I'm starting to bridge the gap between summer and fall foods. This is a great recipe for such an occasion, using up garden produce but in a creamy, cheesy casserole.

Growing up in the Midwest, casserole was something typically made with a pound of pasta and the better part of a pound of cheese. And preferably topped with crushed potato chips. Not that there's anything wrong with that! But this one is lightened up a bit, while still being satisfying, comforting and nice and creamy with plenty of melted cheese. I started with this recipe from Cooking Light, but I'm not much of a fan of their method of thickening sauces with broth mixed with flour. Instead I've become a big fan of making a "cream" sauce with laughing cow cheese and it worked great in this case. I made a few other changes and wound up with a really satisfying yet light dish.

Zucchini, Feta and Sausage Casserole
Mollie's Collection

10oz penne or other small pasta
1 pound chicken sausage (I used a sun dried tomato basil variety)
2 medium zucchini, sliced
1 large onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
crushed red pepper to taste
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 wedges laughing cow cheese
3oz feta cheese
4oz grated part-skim mozzarella cheese
bread crumbs for topping (optional)

Cook the pasta in well salted water until just under done (about 2 minutes less than package recommendations). Reserve about 1/2 a cup of the cooking water. When done, drain and set aside in a large mixing bowl.

Remove the sausage casings and cook the meat in a large skillet, breaking it up as it cooks. When cooked through, remove to the same large mixing bowl leaving any fat and drippings in the pan.

Add the onion, garlic and zucchini and saute until tender. Season with the salt, pepper and crushed red pepper as they cook. When nearly done, add in the laughing cow cheese and stir to melt and distribute evenly. Add some of the reserved pasta water as needed to thin the cheese. You don't want it watery, just a nice creamy sauce around the veggies. When done, add this to the sausage and pasta in your mixing bowl.

Stir to combine everything, and add in the feta and mozzarella cheeses. (Note: I had some sun dried tomatoes on hand so I chopped up a few and added those as well - fresh tomato would be great too.) Pour into a 9x13 casserole dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake, covered, in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Uncover and top with breadcrumbs if using. Bake another 5-7 minutes or until top starts to brown. (Note: To freeze, wrap well in plastic wrap, followed by foil. When ready to serve, thaw in fridge for 24 hours, remove plastic and cover with foil. Bake as directed - you may need to increase covered cooking time.)

P.S. It's really hard to make a casserole look sexy...

Nutrition Information
Calories: 340
Fat: 4.5 g
Carbs: 35 g
Fiber: 3.4 g
Protein: 11 g

It's a Salad! It's a Pizza! You're both Right!

2008-08-19T07:29:00.006-04:00

What could be better - salad and a pizza built into one! This meal was inspired by a pizza at one of our favorite local pubs. They've taken it off the menu now, but that could be a good thing because it forced me to recreate it at home.

This pizza has all of my favorite things going on - shrimp, garlic, goat cheese, sun dried tomato (handmade by my favorite local Italian market!), and spinach. mmmmmmmmm. It may sound strange, but the combination of the warm melty pizza and the just slightly wilted but still fresh spinach salad is a total winner for me. And doing it on the grill makes it even faster and easier and I love the crust you get on the grill. Check out those fabulous grill marks!

I used the dough recipe and technique described in my previous grilled pizza post, with a new set of toppings. I've learned that prep is important to grilled pizza - it cooks up fast so you want to have all your toppings ready to go in one place before you get going. If you haven't started grilling you pizza yet, you've got to get out there before the summer is gone. If you have, then you must to make this pizza immediately!

Shrimp Scampi & Spinach Salad Pizza
Mollie's Collection

olive oil
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
8oz raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
crushed red pepper to taste
6 oz goat cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
6 sun dried tomatoes, julienned
4 cups baby spinach
balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing to taste
Dough for 2 medium pizza crusts (I used 2/3 of this recipe)

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a saute pan. When heated, add garlic and saute until fragrant. Add the shrimp and crushed red pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until shrimp just turns opaque. Remove just the shrimp from the pan and give them a rough chop. Set aside. Save the leftover oil and garlic, adding more oil if necessary so you have enough to brush on both pizza crusts. Set aside.

Break up your goat cheese and chop the sun dried tomatoes and set aside. Toss the spinach with the vinaigrette - but do not overdress. You don't want it to be soggy at all - just a light coating. Set aside with the rest of the toppings.

Roll out your two pizza crusts. Place each on a grill heated to medium high heat (oil your grill grate before heating the grill). Let the dough cook for about 4-5 minutes until the bottom of the crust begins to bake and you get good grill marks. Flip each crust and brush with the olive oil garlic mixture - make sure to get lots of the garlic onto the crust. Sprinkle with the shrimp, goat cheese, sun dried tomatoes and mozzarella. Close the lid and let the crust cook and the cheese melt, about 7-10 minutes. Once the cheese is melted, top each pizza with half of the spinach mixture and let cook for 1 minute to just begin to wilt the spinach.

Remove from the heat and serve immediately.

Festive Fruit Salsa

2008-08-17T12:32:00.011-04:00

Fruit salsa is one of my new favorite things. It's a huge hit at parties and is such a great fresh alternative to some of my usual appetizers. It does take a little time to chop everything, and to make the fresh sugar and cinnamon chips, but they are SOOOO worth it. I've done this several times with store bought cinnamon sugar pita chips, but today I decided to make the home made and I will never go back. Not only were they about 20% of the cost of the pre-made kind, the taste is incomparable.

The salsa is also great on top of ice cream, pound cake, nilla wafers, yogurt or just eaten straight from the container with a spoon!

Fruit Salsa
Mollie's Collection

There are a million recipes for fruit salsa, and mine changes all the time too, but the basics for my version are the apples, kiwi and strawberries. If you have those three you're guaranteed a good flavor base and a nice combination of colors. Beyond that, add whatever else you may have on hand - today I had some peaches that worked in beautifully.

2 granny smith apples
2 kiwi fruit
1 cup strawberries
2 peaches
zest and juice of one orange
1-2 Tbs brown sugar
1-2 Tbs apple jelly

Peel and dice the apples and kiwi. I have found a mandolin is great for the apples, but the kiwi is too soft, so I do that by hand. You're looking for about a 1/4 inch dice. Hull and dice the strawberries. Peel and dice additional fruit as desired (peaches, nectarines and plums are all fantastic). Add in the zest and orange juice and stir to combine. Season with the brown sugar and apple jelly to taste. Let stand at least 1 hour before serving. Can be stored in a tightly covered container in the fridge for 4-5 days.

Cinnamon Sugar Chips
Mollie's Collection

The method I describe below is based on what I have found works best for me. You don't need all of the tools I mention - you can do this with just a knife and a cutting board - but after making about a gazillion batches today for the party, this is what I came up with.

Ingredients:
Flour tortillas
Granulated Sugar
Cinnamon
Pumpkin Pie Spice (optional)

Special Equipment:
Flexible cutting board
Pizza cutter
Small mesh strainer or sifter
Bowl of water
Cookie sheet lined with parchment
Wire cooling rack

Heat oven to 400.

Combine your sugar, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice and sift together using your strainer. The amount you need will vary depending on how many chips you are making, but the ratio that was working for me was about 1/2 cup of sugar to 1 1/2 Tbs cinnamon to 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice.

Place a tortilla on your cutting board and using your fingertips, slightly dampen the surface of the entire tortilla - don't forget to get to all the way to the edges. Using your pizza cutter, cut into wedges or squares - my tortillas were slightly larger so I cut them into thirds, turned them 90 degrees and cut into thirds again, resulting in some triangular chips, some squares, all good sized to pick up salsa. Sprinkle the damp pieces with the sugar mixture. Gently shake off each one and place on the parchment lined cookie sheet. Use your flexible cutting board to return any excess sugar to the strainer and repeat as needed to make desired number of chips.

Bake at 400 for 6-7 minutes. Watch carefully so they don't overcook. Remove to the wire rack to cool.

These are best made the same day you plan to eat them, and they will suffer on a humid day. But if you cook them to a dark crisp they should hold up ok. I did a couple of tests yesterday and found that 10-12 hours is the optimal life span.

I know a little place called Heaven

2008-08-16T15:09:00.006-04:00

One of the best things about my garden is the fact that I can walk out and get a tomato that actually SMELLS and TASTES like a tomato! It's not just a tasteless red thing with a vaguely wet texture to put on a sandwich. Oh man I wish I had the words to describe the amazing aroma you get when you pull the stem off of one of these suckers. A fresh, organic, home grown tomato is an event in and of itself, and it deserves to be celebrated. And this sandwich is one of the best ways to celebrate a perfect, beautiful fresh tomato.

About a year ago I discovered a little shop near my house called Tutto Italiano. They bake their bread fresh each day, import the best meats and cheeses, make their own mozzarella, sell wonderful wines, olive oils and vinegars and make out of this world sandwiches. When you can drive by a place that has no advertising and no coupons and see about 15 trucks belonging to plumbers, electricians, phone repair and HVAC guys during the lunch hour on a weekday, you know they're doing something special. You walk in and it smells like heaven - or at least my version of heaven which is full of fresh bread and cured meats.

I stopped by Tutto while running errands this morning to get bread fresh from their ovens, a ball of homemade mozzarella and a few paper thin slices of their best prosciutto de parma (because you gotta get the imported stuff for something this fresh and good) to do justice by our fresh tomatoes. The end result made the hubs and I swoon with delight.

Tomato, Basil, Mozzarella & Prosciutto Sandwiches
Mollie's Collection

2 super fresh baguettes or crusty Italian rolls
6-8 slices Prosciutto de Parma
approx 1/4 lb fresh mozzarella, cut into thin slices
2-3 fresh ripe tomatoes, just picked from the garden, sliced
good quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar (vinegar optional)
salt & pepper
8-10 fresh basil leaves (not pictured, because I was way too excited to eat the dang thing by that point)

Slice open your bread and layer with the prosciutto, mozzarella and tomatoes. Season with salt & pepper to taste and drizzle with olive oil and vinegar. Top with fresh basil leaves, sit yourself down and take a bite into heaven.

Above and Beyond Blondies

2008-08-12T15:30:00.004-04:00

I never really got into the blondie thing. For one, why make desert if it doesn't have chocolate in it? And if I wanted a blondie with chocolate chips, wasn't I just making bar chocolate chip cookies? Which I do like, but why mess with perfection by adding all sorts of other fluff? Well, I stand corrected.

These blondies were outstanding and go far and above a bar shaped chocolate chip cookie. I loved the combination of pistachio and chocolate. I kind of over toasted my pistachios, but that toasty salty flavor played nicely off of the sweetness. These are sweet - Jen over at Use Real Butter felt they were too sweet, but I'm not sure I believe that such a thing could ever be true. They are satisfying tho - 1/16 of the 8x8 pan is plenty to quench a sweet craving. And the rice krispies add this really interesting lightness and crunch that I never would have thought to add. My only changes were to omit the almond extract and replace with vanilla since I didn't have any on hand, and reduce the chocolate chips to 3/4 cup. The hubs loved these as well - I went to bed before he did last night and woke up to a half empty pan. Success!

Pistachio Chocolate Chip Blondies

From Use Real Butter, based on Blondies on Smitten Kitchen

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp almond extract

1 cup flour

1/8 tsp salt

3/4 cup pistachios, toasted

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup rice krispies cereal

Butter an 8×8 pan (or 9×13 for a double batch). Mix the melted butter with brown sugar and beat until smooth. Beat in egg and then vanilla and almond extracts. Stir in flour and salt. Mix in nuts, chocolate, and rice krispies. Pour into pan and bake at 350°F 20-25 minutes (40 minutes for a double batch), or until set in the middle. Cool on rack before cutting.

503 Reasons to Love Long Island

2008-08-10T20:06:00.012-04:00

We were out of town this weekend visiting with friends in Long Island and had an amazing time. I'd never really spent much time in that part of New York state and came away extremely impressed. We had a wonderful time, and I found 503 reasons to love Long Island... besides Billy Joel and P-Diddy's white party.

Reason #1: Long Island Wine Country

We spent an amazing day touring many of the wonderful wineries on Long Island, most of them in the the North Fork area. I'd never done any sort of winery tours or tastings like this before and it made for a fun outing. We stopped at six or seven wineries and tried flight after flight of great local wines - and thankfully had a driver to get us from place to place! The wineries are beautiful and most have outdoor seating areas where they welcome you to bring a picnic or snacks and enjoy the wine and the vineyards. Some highlights from the tastings:

Palmer Vineyards - 2005 Chardonnay

The presentation of the tastings here was one of our favorites of the day. The flights were served on a tray with a paper "map" to each of the glasses so you could compare and contrast without forgetting which wine was which. Most of the other tastings of the day were progressive and they tended to use the same glass over and over as you moved through the flight. Now, I'm no major wine connoisseur, but this seemed odd to me. Not only because the flavors could mix, but because you couldn't go back and compare similar wines as you went. But at Palmer, the map guided us to lovely Chardonnay that is a lovely everyday wine for summer meals.

Macari Vineyards - Collina 48 Merlot & 2004 Bergen Road

The Collina Merlot was one of our favorite reds all day. Another inexpensive everyday wine that I imagine we'll be enjoying a lot this fall. The Bergen Road is a Meritage (or blend of several wine types) that had a lovely smooth feel with a nice sweetness.

Lieb Family Cellars - White Merlot & Blanc de Blancs

Something of a novelty wine, Lieb offers a tasty White Merlot - which kind of messes with your head, because you're looking at white, but smelling and tasting a red. A unique wine experience. The Blanc de Blancs is a great sparkling wine - and one of my new favorite domestic sparklers. The person serving our tasting was knowledgeable and generous as well, and he played The Wall in the background while we were tasting. Who could ask for more?

Pindar Vineyards - Sunflower Chardonnay & Pythagoras

Pindar is one of the biggest and most popular stops on North Fork with a great group of wines for any budget or taste. The Sunflower was a fun, light, drinkable wine that is will be fantastic with spicy foods, light summery meals and sushi. The Pythagoras is another Meritage that makes a very drinkable everyday wine that would go well with pastas, steaks and other cool weather favorites.

Reason #2 - Blue Point Brewing Company

Our Long Island friends have been bringing us cases of Blue Point Toasted Lager for years and we finally got to visit ourselves. Their tasting room will offer you free 2oz samples of all of their beers - all day, as many and as long as you want - for free. There's music, a great crowd, and lots of amazing craft beers. Some of my favorites were the Toasted, the Blueberry, and the Oatmeal Stout. Slashfood agreed with me on the Blueberry Ale in this recent review - yum!

But the best part of the tasting was the fact that our friend's dad happens to know the owner. He was walking through the crowded bar as they were closing up for the afternoon and he stopped to chat. Not only did we score a few more after-hours free samples, but he gave us a personal tour of the brewery and told us the fascinating story of his own journey from beer appreciator to owner of one of the most successful microbreweries going. If you're ever in the area, make sure to stop by and say hi to Mark and the rest of the crew in the brew room.

Reason #3-503: The Clams

Our friends live right along the shoreline and introduced us to clam digging. We went out expecting mostly to have a laugh and get enough clams to make it worth putting a pot of water on to boil to cook them. 501 clams later, we decided that clamming might just be the best way to spend a summer morning we'd ever heard of.

Yes, in about 90 minutes the 4 of raked up 501 little neck clams - and we know there were 501 because their neighbors have two little boys who counted very single one of them for us on the dock. What do you do with 501 clams? You invite over 15 or so of your other friends, open up a case of Blue Point Toasted Lager, and have a clam boil!

So on a perfect summer night, we had some of the freshest, tastiest clams I'd ever experienced - cooked in a broth made with some Old Bay Seasoning, onion and garlic, dipped in melted garlic butter. Heaven on earth. What could be better than great friends, great fresh seafood and great beer? Not much.

If you're headed to Long Island I highly recommend you check out the wine country, sample the local brews, make sure you get yourself some fresh seafood, and enjoy it all with good friends.

Remember The Great Rememberer?

2008-08-06T16:08:00.005-04:00

Ok, raise your hand if you're sick of baking and Zucchini!

Just a quick post this time with some mini-loaves of zucchini bread - some with chocolate chips, some without. I made these as a hostess gift for some friends we'll be staying with this weekend and thought mini-loaves would be good since they can easily be stored in the freezer if they don't want them all at once. I didn't own mini loaf pans previously but found this fun one today that has 4 loaves in one pan, which makes things nice and simple when getting in and out of the oven.

Oh yeah, and the reason for the title of this post? I forgot to pre-heat the oven. And for some reason when I panicked and turned it on at the last minute I set it to 400 instead of 350. In some ways this was good - I got a great rise out of these suckers and nice crispy edges, but if I hadn't realized it at about 20 minutes in, we could have had a disaster. When I figured it out I turned it down and the insides caught up with the outsides. Oops.

Zucchini Bread

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

For the most part this one is straight from this recipe over at Smitten Kitchen, with slight modifications to lower the fat content and increase the amount of zucchini. I used pecans in all 4 loaves, but added 1/2 a cup of chocolate chips after filling the first two pans so I got two loaves with chocolate, two without.

2 eggs

¾ cup fat free plain yogurt

¼ cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 cups grated zucchini

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

1 cup dried cranberries, raisins or chocolate chips or a combination thereof (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and flour two 8×4 inch loaf pans. Alternately, line 24 muffin cups with paper liners or 4 mini-loaf pans.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk. Mix in oil and sugar, then zucchini and vanilla.
Combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder and salt, as well as nuts, chocolate chips and/or dried fruit, if using.

Stir this into the egg mixture. Divide the batter into prepared pans.

Bake loaves for 60 minutes, plus or minus ten, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Muffins will bake far more quickly, approximately 20 to 25 minutes. (My mini-loaves were done in 28 minutes.)

Summer Veggie Pasta Saute

2008-08-05T19:50:00.003-04:00

This was one of my favorite dinners of the summer. Light and fresh and tasty and straight out of the garden. Perfect!

I was inspired by this recipe from the Pioneer Woman - but god love her I had to lighten it up a bit. I wanted a bit of that creaminess so I used some laughing cow cheese to achieve that in place of the cream and it turned out really well. This would be great on plain pasta, but tonight I had some amazing fresh tomato and mozzarella raviolis from our grocery deli. The combination of the filled pasta and the sauce made for a totally decadent dinner that was still pretty healthy.

I used the honkin' zucchini I picked today in this - I got all the zucchini I needed for this recipe and then 6 (six!!!) cups of shredded zucchini out of that one monster. I think I'll be making some gifts of zucchini bread soon. For now it's all packed in 1 cup servings in baggies in the freezer. And thank god for the shredding blade on my food pro!

Summer Veggie Pasta Saute
Mollie’s Collection

3 Tbs olive oil, divided
1 ½ - 2 cups sliced zucchini
1-1 ½ cups fat free low sodium chicken broth
1-2 large shallots, sliced
3-4 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 pint (2 cups) grape or cherry tomatoes – halved
Kosher salt
Crushed red pepper
1 Tbs Penzeys Pasta Sprinkle
8-10 fresh basil leaves, cut into ribbons
3 wedges laughing cow cheese
10 oz pasta of your choice – 1 cup of pasta water reserved (or 4 servings of filled pasta of your choice)

Heat a large pot of well salted water and cook pasta according to package directions.

Meanwhile, heat half of the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the zucchini and season with salt. Stir occasionally until it begins to brown. Remove the zucchini from the pan and set aside.

To the leftover browned bits in the bottom of the pan, add the remaining olive oil. When heated, add the shallots and garlic, cooking until fragrant. Deglaze the pan with the chicken broth, being sure to stir up all the bits from the bottom of the pan with a flat wooden spoon. When it begins to simmer, add the tomatoes. Simmer until the liquid is reduced by at about half. Season with more salt, crushed red pepper and the pasta sprinkle seasoning.

When the sauce has thickened, turn the heat down to low and add the cheese and stir as it begins to melt. Add in the cooked pasta and the reserved zucchini and toss to combine, making sure to coat everything with the sauce. Use some of the reserved pasta water to thin the sauce and help with melting the cheese. Sprinkle with the basil and season again to taste.

Serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings

Nutrition Information (Sauce Only):
Calories: 162
Fat: 13.4g
Carbs: 8.4g
Fiber: 1.8g
Protein: 3.2g

Today's Haul

2008-08-05T17:02:00.003-04:00

It was picking time today in the old garden. Today's haul:

1 Zucchini the size of my leg
2 Crookneck
3 Cucumbers
6 Cherry Tomatoes (which seem to be the size of Romas in my garden)
7 Serrano Peppers
and
3/4 of a pound of green beans (first of the season!)

And I have tassels coming on from my first ears of corn. Very exciting stuff. Dinner last night included slices of tomatoes fresh from the garden on our turkey burgers. The Hubs took a salad to work with fresh cucumber and tomato. And stay tuned for dinner tonight, featuring the use of that huge zucchini, the beans and some more tomatoes. Yum!

The Great Rememberer

2008-08-03T14:21:00.013-04:00

I try not to post too many recipes that I didn't either make up or significantly modify, because I can rarely improve on whatever source I found them from. That is again the case with these amazing little blueberry treats. But I had a bounty of random associations while making them which I thought I'd pass along anyway. For the most beautiful pictures and some of the best food prose on the 'net, head over the source for this recipe, Smitten Kitchen. For my a peak inside my random little brain and at my not-nearly-as-good pictures, come on in, the water is fine...

Random Thought Number 1: The Great Rememberer

One of my many nicknames around here is "The Great Rememberer" because, of course, I never remember anything. We'll, that's not really true. I remember in excruciating detail the day we went house hunting when I was 6 years old and I pitched a fit that we didn't buy the house with the orange carpet on the walls and the pink sparkle Formica counter tops everywhere. But if my husband asks me to remind him to take something to work in the morning, or there is one item that we need or our entire lives will stop functioning, there's a 99.9% chance I'll forget it. And the the great rememberer is not likely to remember to thaw chicken, marinate a full 24 hours ahead, or bring butter and eggs to room temperature. I have gotten better in the cooking department, planning meals ahead and remembering to thaw and prep, but baking is always more of a spur of the moment thing. I think that's why I'm drawn to recipes like this - cold butter, only one egg so if it's cold it's no biggie, and there's nothing you have to remember to do hours before you're ready to bake. Heck, half the reason my favorite brownie recipe is a favorite is that it calls for melted butter not soft. It's good to make sure your baking doesn't add any more undue stress to your life by requiring advance planning.

Random Thought Number 2: Fruit = Breakfast

I was putting this recipe into my computer files and found myself wondering if it should go in deserts or breakfast. Cup of butter, cup and a half of sugar... kinda sounds like desert. But it's got FRUIT man! That means well rounded nutrition! And I've always preferred cold pizza or pasta to cereal in the mornings. Oh, I've learned to love eggs as I've grown up, and there's a diner near me that bakes it's own bread, cuts it into Texas toast size slices, makes them into a mean french toast and serves it with house made apple chicken sausage. That's breakfast food I can get behind. But growing up, any kind of pie, muffin, bread, cobbler or fruit "dessert" would always be snarfed up as breakfast the next morning for sure - even if there was also cold pizza. And heck, even cake is a great breakfast - remember that old Bill Cosby routine? Dad is great.... he gives us the chocolate cake!

Random Thought Number 3: Baking is therapy

I'm in the midst of a lot of transition right now, most of it welcome, some of it not, but transitions are always tough for me. I thrive on change, but that period where there's no "new normal" yet is hard my hyper-organized self. And right now, these transitions are also requiring some unplanned downtime of me. I'm not good with downtime. I'm good with deadlines and fires to put out and a crisis to fly off and resolve. So not having a lot of professional challenges at the moment has left me feeling a bit at loose ends and bit useless. I think all the baking (you know, the baking I said I don't really do...) is a response to that. It makes you feel accomplished. In a short amount of time you can take flour, sugar, eggs, butter and turn them into something good, something new, something whole and unique and capable of putting a smile on people's faces. That's a feeling you need when you're feeling at loose ends. And fortunately my downtime has also allowed for lots of time at the gym to accompany the baking.

Not-so-random Thought Number 4: My hubs is pretty awesome
For lots of reasons. Today the reason is that he's got broken ribs and still spent the weekend cleaning up the several trees that had to come down in our yard after recent storms, without complaining a bit. And he's the reason I made these beauties. Blueberries are his favorite thing in the world but I almost always wind up baking chocolaty things to satisfy my cravings when I do bake. So this one's for him. It went perfectly after his favorite pasta dinner. Warmed up just a bit, with a scoop of coffee ice cream. Gotta take care of the guy who takes care of me.

A Final Thought

These were outstanding. Quick to come together and sure to be a hit. And I kind of love anything that gives me a reason to use my pastry cutter - very soothing and zen. I added my notes in italics below, but wanted to share this great way to use up some summer berries.

Blueberry Crumb Bars
Adapted by Smitten Kitchen from All Recipes

1 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup cold butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces)

1 egg

1/4 teaspoon salt

Zest and juice of one lemon

4 cups fresh blueberries

1/2 cup white sugar

4 teaspoons cornstarch
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch pan.

In a medium bowl (I used a really large shallow bowl - makes for easier mixing with the pastry cutter), stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.

In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. (Smitten Kitchen said hers took 15 minutes longer... mine was done in 35 minutes, so keep an eye on it.) Cool completely (I chilled) before cutting into squares.

Yield: 36 smallish rectangles (I got 24... my smallish must be bigger than hers...)

Kona likes blueberries too...

Do you know the muffin man?

2008-08-02T16:21:00.010-04:00

I keep saying I'm not a baker, and then I bake stuff. This week alone I've made a yeast based pizza dough, and now muffins. But I have to say that when I do bake, I tend to prefer savory baked goods - with the notable exception of chocolate. I hope to give a chocolate zucchini cake a try soon since I have gads of zucchini to use up, but today it's savory zucchini muffins. I upped the savory factor even more by adding some turkey sausage, and made these into a complete breakfast-on-the-go muffin.

I have to say that I think these muffins were amazing. I started with this recipe from Simply Recipes that I discovered over on Liz's Cooking Blog, but changed it up quite a bit to get the savory base I was looking for. I left out some of the sugar and the other sweet seasonings, and I used a combination of butter and olive oil for the fat. I was also thinking about my frog & toad muffins when I made these and used the same sausage idea. But I have to say this version was much tastier. The bread part was just a bit sweet, a perfect accent to the savory sausage. The crumb was soft and moist and dense enough to be really filling without being heavy or tough. If you're looking for yet another way to use up that summer zucchini, I can't recommend these enough.

Next time I might go for even a little more savory seasoning. I thought about fennel but the hubs isn't into it. Oregano? My old standbys in most savory dishes are crushed red pepper and garlic, but it might overwhelm. What are your suggestions on which savory herb might go well with this combo?

A note on the shredded zucchini. I usually use a box grater but today I used my food processor and I was REALLY pleased with the results. The shreds didn't seem to get as bruised up and were less wet, and I also thought they looked so pretty the way the shreds got all whirred around. I got 6 cups out of the 2 largish zucchinis I shredded, so I saved the leftovers in 1 cup batches in baggies with the air pressed out and threw them in the freezer.

Savory Zucchini Muffins
Mollie’s Collection

12oz turkey breakfast sausage links (12 links - I used Jenny-o Breakfast Lover's)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
Juice of half a lemon
3 cups grated fresh zucchini
1/3 cup melted unsalted butter
1/3 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 350.

Pre-cook your sausage links. I bake mine on a baking rack that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, placed on top of a cookie sheet, to remove as much fat as possible. Even with turkey sausage, they still seem to release a lot of fat in the cooking process. Let cool and cut each link into 4 bite sized pieces.

In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, eggs, and lemon juice. Mix in the grated zucchini and then the melted butter and oil. Sprinkle baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add in the flour and stir until just combined. Fold in the sausage pieces. Don’t over mix – it will yield tougher muffins.

Coat each muffin cup in your muffin pan with a little butter or non-stick cooking spray. Using a 1/4 cup cookie scoop, divide the dough equally among the cups, filling each one completely (a heaping scoop is about right for standard muffins).

Bake on the middle rack until muffins are golden brown, and the top of the muffins bounce back when you press on them, about 25 minutes. Set on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from the tin let cool on a rack for another 20 minutes.

Yield: 14 muffins

Hard out here for a Pimp...

2008-07-31T15:40:00.015-04:00

I'm a corn pimp. I've been accused of being a corn snob before, but now I'm officially a corn pimp. Facilitating the sexual relationships between the male and female manifestations of the sweet corn plant. I think my family would be proud.

My paternal grandfather working the fields, sometime in the mid 1930's

So the garden is going well and I'm particularly excited about the corn. I won't eat corn that's been off the stalk for more than 24 hours. That's because growing up I was spoiled by my grandparent's farming. I wasn't born on a farm, but both of my parents were, and the older I get and further away from the farm I live the more I've learned to appreciate it. My mom's family ran a large dairy operation and my dad's family were truck gardeners.

That's Grandpa, and my dad on the right, putting up silage corn sometime in the late 1940's

It their day and age the farmers market wasn't the same homage to local and organic growers that it is today. It was a tough life for a truck gardener - meaning they made their living growing vegetables, loading them on trucks and selling them at different farmers markets all over the state every day. Up at 3am to finish loading and driving to market to be there by dawn for the big bulk buyers, then until early afternoon serving the home buyer. Back home to work fields and pick again to load the truck for the next day's market. It was a hard life and they did it for decades.

This is grandma and grandpa at the market, sometime in the early 1980's - and someone bought grandma an ice cream bar. I bet it was grandpa - he was good like that.

I have an admiration and appreciation for that life now that I never could have before. And as hard as it was, we did have fun. Or at least I did, being the baby of the family who only had to help on summer vacations! But this garden and figuring out how to make it grow feels like a way of honoring my grandparents. And Grandpa would be proud I've learned to be a corn pimp.

And in case you're wondering WHY I have to be a corn pimp, it's because those tall wheaty looking things are the male sex organs of the corn - they have no shame, like so many men. Sticking up in the wind like that. And a grain of pollen from those has to hit every single piece of corn silk in an ear in order to get a kernel - each piece of silk makes one kernel on the cob. You need a lot of corn and to have it close in order to get good pollination, and in a small garden this can be a problem. So I was out there wafting the male parts over the stalks in hopes of pollination. Not sure if the corn got pollinated, but I sure did.

We've got lots of other action happening in the garden too. It's only been 15 days since my last check but things are changing fast. Remember those little bean flowers? Look at them now:

Tomatoes are ripening - these are my grape tomatoes and they are huge! Romas and Early Girls still green on the vine.

I have butternut squash coming in too! I can't stand winter squash, but the hubs loves them and I'm excited to cook our own this fall. And I think I might like it now that I know things like how to make a squash ravioli in a brown butter sage sauce.

And these little suckers are not only beautiful, but they are going to be pumpkins someday. And that's pretty exciting too.

Slow and Low

2008-07-30T20:41:00.008-04:00

That is the tempo. With humble thanks to the Beastie Boys, I'm here to share with you the mantra for grilling. Slow and Low... that is the tempo for all happiness on the grill.

It's also an excuse to enter this dish into Elly's next round of Eat to the Beat! All summer I've been bonding with my grill, and this song is a recurring theme every time my hubs and I talk about whatever we might be grilling. And thanks to the fab outdoor speakers the hubs hooked up, we can listen while we cook. The hubs rocks.

Like a lot of my easy summer dishes, this one is again not much of a real recipe, but more of a technique for fantastic BBQ chicken. Most meats on the grill, and in particular bone-in meats on on the grill, take a while. And that's ok. It's summertime. Get yourself a drink. Take a seat on the deck. And let your grill do the work for you.

One key when making a BBQ chicken with a sauce that contains honey or sugar is to not sauce too early. This is where a dry rub comes in - to give you flavor that won't burn in the early stages of the cooking process. I'm a big fan of chicken leg quarters for BBQ chicken on the grill - lots of tender juicy dark meat and it makes a nice presentation too. Messy to eat, but that's part of the fun of outdoor cooking.

To start, I season my thighs with some sort of dry seasoning - it can be as simple as salt & pepper to fancy BBQ rubs. Tonight I used some Galena Street Rub from Penzeys. This stuff is fantastic - I sprinkled it on and got some under the skin as well. I start them bone side down and put them over a medium high heat. Close the lid and let them go about 20-25 minutes.

Open up the grill and flip them over - give them about 15-20 minutes on the skin side. The fat on the skin side will cook a little faster and you don't want too much char - some is good, but too much gets nasty tasting.

When the time is up the meat should be cooked through and it's time to sauce. Start by brushing the bone side that is now facing up with your favorite BBQ sauce - I'm in love with Dinosaur BBQ these days. Flip that sauced side down on the grill and sauce the tops. Close the grill again and give them another 5 minutes or so to just thicken up the sauce on the chicken. Remove from the heat and let stand for a few minutes - these suckers get hot. Serve with extra sauce for slathering.

We ate these tonight with corn bread and a simple grilled green beans. Tossed the beans in a grill basket with some olive oil on them. When done, sprinkled with kosher salt, lemon and a quick crumble of feta. Perfection.

An Ode to Cast Iron

2008-07-30T18:41:00.009-04:00

One of the joys of learning more about cooking and cooking tools and techniques is when you find a simple, effective, inexpensive tool or method that is infinitely versatile. My good buddy Alton Brown is the scourge of uni-tasking kitchen tools everywhere, and I can't think of a product that would make his (or my) heart sing more than the cast iron skillet. There was a time, yes, when it scared me. How could this big black charred thing help but make all of my food stick? How the heck do you clean it? It doesn't have a fancy brand name or cost a lot - how can THAT be good?

But my friends, the humble cast iron skillet, available for under $20 (often under $10) at any decent hardware or discount store can bake, saute, fry, go on the grill or the open flame and gives a flavor and crisp to any dish that you can't get anywhere else. And it turns out cleaning it is a snap too.

I love the cast iron skillet so much that I've added a new tag for it on the blog, and plan to feature it more often. A few dishes not tagged as such can also be made easily in a cast iron skillet, like my mac & cheese, or especially brownies. Brownies are awesome in a cast iron skillet - when you make them simply put the pan with about a Tbs of butter in it in the oven while you pre-heat. When ready to bake, pour in the batter and cook as usual, but watch the time - it may go faster than you think. The hot butter in the hot pan gives you a lacy edge to the brownies (or the cornbread!) that is just out of this world.

Tonight the star in the skillet was corn bread. I've featured this recipe once before, but in my ode to the cast iron skillet I wanted to feature it again. And back then I had no pictures and it was buried in a post with a bunch of other things. This one deserves it's own post. It is moist, savory and sweet, and a hit every time I've made it.

The recipe is straight out of Cook's Illustrated - the only modifications I made are to the method of prepping the pan and the vessel in which you cook it. I'm sort of shocked that this classic recipe wasn't made in cast iron skillet in CI since they are all about authentic methods. And there is nothing like the crisp lacy edges from cooking in the skillet - and it looks fantastic on your table too.

All Purpose Corn Bread
Cook's Illustrated

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup yellow cornmeal (this dish was tested using Quaker yellow cornmeal)

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon table salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

3/4 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed (Note: I used mine still frozen and it was fine)

1 cup buttermilk

2 large eggs

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 8-inch square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Note: To make this in a cast iron skillet, place approx 1 Tbs of butter in the skillet and place it in the oven while preheating. Whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl until combined; set aside.

2. In food processor or blender, process sugar, thawed corn kernels, and buttermilk until combined, about 5 seconds. Add eggs and process until well combined (corn lumps will remain), about 5 seconds longer.

3. Using rubber spatula, make well in center of dry ingredients; pour wet ingredients into well. Begin folding dry ingredients into wet, giving mixture only a few turns to barely combine; add melted butter and continue folding until dry ingredients are just moistened.

4. Pour batter into prepared baking dish; smooth surface with rubber spatula. Note: If using cast iron skillet, remove from oven and turn pan to coat all surfaces with the melted butter. Pour the batter into the hot pan. Bake until deep golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 25 to 35 minutes (Mine was done in 22 minutes in the cast iron skillet). Cool on wire rack in the pan for 10 minutes; invert cornbread onto wire rack, then turn right side up and continue to cool.

A note from me on cleaning cast iron:

I use a hard rubber scraper (one that came with my pizza stone actually) to scrape of as much debris as possible while running the pan under hot water. The key is, you don't want to leave the pan wet for too long, and you don't want to soak it. So run it under hot water and scrape out all you can. Then, I give it a quick swipe with a slightly soapy sponge. A little soap won't take off all your seasoning, but it does help get it a little cleaner. Then rinse in hot water again. I like to dry mine on heat - if your oven is still warm from cooking dinner, stick it in there to dry. Or stick it on the burner on high for just 1-2 minutes. Let it cool completely before putting it way.

Jumping on the Bandwagon

2008-07-28T19:08:00.008-04:00

There's nothing like jumping on a trend when it's already way past trendy, but this is one I'm happy to have hitched my wagon to. As much as I love to grill, I had yet to try grilled pizza until tonight. It was so easy and everything turned out fabulously. The hubs was skeptical but I turned him into a believer.

Not much to this recipe, and really, you can use anything you've got on hand to top your pizza. But the buffalo chicken sausages we had were really tasty and made a nice compliment to this fantastic crust. I'm still a little wary of yeast, but I'd tried this whole wheat crust with great results and figured I could handle this one. I highly recommend this crust recipe from Baking Illustrated that I found over on the fantastic Brown Eyed Baker. And I'm thrilled there are leftovers for the freezer so we can have pizzas in a flash whenever we're ready.

No process pictures today... everything starts to come together super fast once you get it on the grill so I ran out of time.

Buffalo Chicken Sausage Pizza
Mollie's Collection

1 pizza crust (I used 1/3 of this recipe)
2 large shallots, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
olive oil
crushed red pepper
salt
2 links buffalo chicken flavored sausage, pre-cooked and sliced
3-4 oz crumbled blue cheese
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella (I didn't have much so mine was a little sparse on cheese)

Saute the shallots and garlic in olive oil until caramelized. Add a bit more olive oil and season to taste with the crushed red pepper and salt. You want enough flavored oil to be able to brush a coating across the entire pizza crust. Remove from the heat and set aside. Assemble all of your topping ingredients and have them handy next to your grill before you get started cooking the crust.

Heat your grill to medium/medium-high heat and make sure the grate is clean. Roll out your pizza dough to desired thickness (thin is good for this). Just before placing your pizza on the grill, dip a balled up paper towel in some olive oil and using tongs, swab the grates to prevent sticking. Then carefully place the crust on the grill.

Cook about 3-4 minutes or just until grill marks start to appear on the underside. Using tongs or a large spatula, flip the pizza over. Working quickly, use a pastry brush to spread the olive oil/shallot/garlic mixture all over the top of the pizza. Top with the sausage and cheeses. Close the grill cover and let cook for 7-8 minutes, or until the crust has crisped and the cheese is melted.

The Summer of Squash

2008-07-27T16:29:00.021-04:00

It's summer and the squash are breaking forth and multiplying like you wouldn't believe. I am officially deeming this the summer of the crookneck, because I didn't even know what these suckers were until I planted my garden and now I seem to be picking about 4 a day. The zucchini is no where near as prolific at this point even tho there are a ton of flowers, but I'm sure I'll be complaining about them soon too. But for now, it's the crookneck. And I must say, they are cute little buggers. Beautiful shades of yellow and all those amazing bumps and wrinkles. And don't they kind of look like they're snuggling?

In the quest for what to do with crookneck squash we have roasted (yum!), steamed (just ok, needs plenty of seasoning), and put in quiches of various sorts (everything is good with eggs and pastry). Time for something new. The fates were looking out for me and within three days of each I saw an episode of Iron Chef featuring courgettes of various kinds where the winning chef made individual gratins of yellow squash in cast iron, and this post from Smitten Kitchen. Inspired, I set about creating this dish.

Another fun aspect of this totally yummy and amazing dish is that I got to really practice with my new mandolin. I've never had one before, but it really is essential for a dish like this, unless you have amazing knife skills. It makes quick work of all the bazillion even little slices of veg you'll need.

We really enjoyed this as a side for some roasted pork. It was really flavorful, but I would add even more cheese next time, possibly even some cheddar or gouda. The prep takes a little work and the bake time is a little lengthy, but I think you'll agree it's worth it when you take a bite of this buttery, sweet, crunchy little torte. And you'll never complain about what to do with a crookneck squash again (ok, I probably will, but not tonight).

Crookneck Squash and Potato Torte
Mollie’s collection

4 slices thick cut bacon
3-4 medium Yukon gold potatoes
3 medium crookneck squash
1 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated
2 Tbs flour
8 green onions
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper

Special Equipment: mandolin, cast iron skillet

Cut the raw thick cut bacon into small pieces and cook until crisp in an 8 or 9 inch cast iron skillet. When the bacon is cooked crisp, remove to a paper towel lined plate and set aside to cool. Pour off most of the rendered fat, leaving just a skim coating of fat in the skillet. Reserve fat in a small heatproof bowl. Set the skillet with the remaining fat aside to cool while prepping the vegetables.

Using a mandolin set for 1/8 inch slices, slice the potatoes and squash. This recipe works with young and tender squash or with the big monster ones with seeds, so it’s great for using up whatever you have from the garden. No need to seed before slicing. And it would work with any yellow squash if you don't have crookneck. When you’ve sliced all the vegetables, set them aside until you are ready to assemble.

Combine the remaining ingredients in a small bowl, stirring to combine and coat the cheese with the flour evenly. Add in the cooled bacon pieces and stir to combine (just be sure the bacon is cool so you don’t melt your cheese).

When ready to assemble, take your slightly warm (you don’t want it to be cold so the fat has solidified again, but you also don’t want it screaming hot for assembly) skillet and place a layer using about 1/3 of the potato slices in the bottom of the pan, overlapping the edges.

Make a second layer with about 1/3 of the squash. Due to the overlap, you should have about 3 thickness of each vegetable in any give place on the layer. Using a small basting brush, brush a very small amount of the reserved bacon fat onto the top of the squash. Top the layer with 1/3 of the cheese mixture. Repeat two more times (total of 3 layers each of potato, squash and cheese). Press down lightly between each layer to make sure it all fits inside the pan.

Cover the pan tightly with foil and bake at 350 for about 40 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Remove foil and cook another 20-25 minutes until it begins to brown around the edges and the top layer of cheese begins to bubble.

Let cool at least 20 minutes before serving.

No-fat Home Fries

2008-07-23T12:53:00.006-04:00

Ok, not completely NO fat - I suppose the spray of Pam has a tiny bit, but these are virtually no fat and you'd never even know it. This is one of my favorite ways to have potatoes. It's hardly even a recipe, just a little trick I wanted to share.

All you do is par-cook as many potatoes as you need for however many you're serving (about 1 medium per person) in the microwave. They should be fork tender but not ready to fall apart. I love to use redskins for this, but russets and yukons are fine too. It's also a great way to use up a leftover baked potato - and I'll often throw an extra potato or two in the oven if I'm doing them for dinner just to have the leftovers for this dish. Let them cool, and then cube them - and be sure to leave the skin on.

Spray a non-stick skillet with a bit of butter flavored Pam and add in your potatoes. Turn it up to medium/medium high heat. Season with salt & pepper (or whatever else you want - crushed red pepper, scallion, garlic). Toss frequently as they start to brown to ensure you get that crisp on as many sides as possible. When brown, take off the heat and serve.

That's it. Couldn't be easier but they are so crispy and tasty and taste like the ones from the diner for way less fat. I often make these for breakfast along side some eggs on Sunday mornings - sometimes I slice up some turkey kielbasa and toss that in the pan too and it crisps and browns right up with the potatoes. You could do this with any pre-cooked breakfast meat you wanted. I also like to eat them topped with a big scoop of cottage cheese. Don't laugh! I love cottage cheese on a baked potato instead of sour cream, and it's even better on these ones with all those hot crispy edges contrasting with the cool creamy cottage cheese. Yum!

I have a girl crush...

2008-07-19T12:03:00.007-04:00

I do. It's similar to my crush on Clint Eastwood. I mean, the girl I have a crush on lives on a ranch, and Clint made some westerns and stuff. And he's exceptionally talented and versatile, as is the the girl I have a crush on. Anyway, I'm in love with Pioneer Woman, and I don't care who knows it. Hmmm... maybe I have a woman-crush? Whatever. She's hysterical and her food always looks amazing and you know it will always be man-pleasin' and crowd-pleasin'.

I'm having a dear friend over for dinner tonight and wanted a decadent chocolate desert. I was tempted to make molten lava cakes, but it was pointed out to me that if we consume as many cocktails as I imagine we will, the lava cakes would never get made. I had a mental image of the two of us sitting there with many empty wine bottles just eating the chocolate out of the package and knew I needed a new plan. Something I could make ahead for sure. And I was reminded of this recipe that looked so simple and so yummy. And boy is it ever. Go see PW for the full rundown... The recipe is exactly like hers, but I halved it since even I can only eat so much chocolate, but this will be a go-to dessert from now on.

Pots de Creme

Pioneer Woman

6oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used ghirardelli)

2 eggs

1 Tbs vanilla (I used Kahlua instead)

pinch salt

4oz very hot strong coffee

Place the chocolate chips, eggs, Kahlua and salt in a blender. Give it a whir to chop the chocolate and combine the ingredients. Once the chocolate looks chopped up fine, add in the piping hot coffee while the blender is running. The coffee will melt the chocolate bits and bring it all together. Whir until it looks like all the chunks are gone and it's one smooth consistency and color. Pour into 4 small containers and chill at least 4 hours. Serve topped with fresh whipped cream.

Serves 4.

Mistress Mollie, How Does Your Garden Grow?

2008-07-15T11:45:00.016-04:00

Very well, actually! I'm very excited about my garden this year. We've had a vegetable garden a few times before, but I wasn't very into it. This year, I'm all about the garden. I still don't like weeding it (thank god for my hubs and his mantis) but it was fun to plan and plant, and we are starting to see the fruits of our labor. Here's a few pictures of the journey our garden has been on this summer.

Where it all began - the seeds and seedlings in the wheelbarrow on their way out to be planted.

The seedlings going into the ground - these are the tomatoes and zucchini.

And a mere 35 days later.... This view is from the other side of the garden - tomatoes on the left, zuchs and squash in the middle and corn on the right.

The corn is looking great. I am going to have to figure out how to hand pollinate it since we don't have a big enough field for it to pollinate itself. I hope it works out tho!

These cute little flowers are going to be green beans soon.

And these are the crookneck squash and the zucchini. One of the best decisions we ever made was to get the bush type of squash plants. We had the regular ones before and they vine all over the garden and make it impossible to weed or find the veggies. I do have a pumpkin plan taking over the garden with it's vines, and a butternut squash doing the same. But these ones are staying nice and compact, and the other benefit is that the zucchini grows straight up so they don't get all bent and crookedy or water damaged like they can on the ground. I highly recommend them. And if you need something to do with all your zucchini and other produce you can try zucchini fries, or my summer vegetable pie, or this salad with green beans and potatoes, or this one with pasta. Yum!

And last but not least, some roma tomatoes waiting to ripen.

I've been enjoying the garden and can't wait for even more produce. The cookneck squash and zucchini at the top of the post are the first of our harvest with plenty more to come! And I'll leave you with a few pictures of our peonies from the spring... just because.

Choppin' Broccoli

2008-07-14T19:44:00.006-04:00

Don't you love that skit from Dana Carvey? Every time I make broccoli for dinner I seem to end up singing it in my head... and yeah, sometimes out loud too. My husband hates it when I sing because frankly, I can't carry a tune in a bucket. But this pasta dish with broccoli is one of his all time favorites so he usually forgives me.

It took me a while to perfect this dish. The hubs had a chicken ziti broccoli dish he used to get back in college in mind the first time he requested it. Since I never had the chance to taste the original, it took a couple of trials and some feedback to wind up with this recipe. But it's a sure fire hit every time now. And I've even managed to lighten it up without giving up any flavor to the point where it comes in at under 500 calories for a really satisfying portion. Schwing!

Chicken Broccoli Pasta

Mollie's Collection

10oz pasta (I like penne and/or campanelli - the campanelli holds the light sauce so well)

About 2 cups fresh broccoli florets - one large head, or 2 smaller ones

1 lb chicken breast

1 cup AP flour

salt

pepper

1 Tbs olive oil

3 Tbs Smart Balance Light Olive Oil Spread - divided

3 cloves garlic - minced

2 medium shallots - sliced thin

1 cup low sodium fat free chicken broth

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook pasta according to package directions. When there are 4 minutes of cooking time left, toss the broccoli (tossin' broccoli!) into the pot with the pasta and give it a stir. It will be perfectly done when the pasta is ready. When done cooking, drain well and set aside.

Meanwhile, cut the chicken into bite sized chunks. Place the flour in a large plastic bag and season well with salt and pepper. Shake the chicken in the bag to coat each piece. Shake off the excess from each piece. Heat the olive oil in a large stainless (not nonstick - you won't get the same browning) saute pan over medium/medium high heat. When hot, place the chicken in the hot oil and cook about 5 minutes on each side. Only turn the chicken once to make sure you get lots of great golden color. You want the chicken to get cooked through most of the way in this step. When done, remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.

Put 1 Tbs of the smart balance spread into the pan with the drippings and add the garlic and shallots. Cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant. Add the broth to the pan to deglaze. Make sure you stir well to scrape up all the yummy bits from the bottom of the pan. Let the sauce reduce by about half. Season with the crushed red pepper (or regular pepper) and salt to taste. At that point, add the rest of the smart balance spread and put the cooked chicken pieces back in the pan. Cook for about 2-3 minutes, stirring to coat the chicken pieces well with the sauce.

Turn off the heat and add the cooked pasta and broccoli to the pan and toss to combine. Let sit for a few moments and stir occasionally to let the sauce soak into the pasta. Serve immediately, with grated parmesan on top if desired.

Serves 4

Nutrition Information

Calories: 450

Fat: 16.4 g

Carbs: 46.6 g

Fiber: 2.8 g

Protein: 34.5 g

As Easy As Pie

2008-07-11T14:04:00.014-04:00

That's a deceptive little phrase. You see, I'm a bit scared of pie. Well, not pie exactly, but pastry crust. I know, I know, we all thought I'd licked that demon back with the chicken pot pie crust, but this is different. This is PUFF PASTRY my friends. PUFF. Who wouldn't be intimidated? And as you'll see, my intimidation is warranted.

It's heading into late summer and the produce is abounding, and we all gotta do our part to use up the bounty. I'd been craving something with a buttery flaky crust that wasn't going to totally ruin my healthy eating plans (the onion ring binge is over thank god) and this seemed just the ticket. Yeah, it's not like it's SOOOOO healthy, cream, pastry, gah. But it's loaded with veggies and not all that unreasonable as a side dish. Or breakfast for the next 3 days which it's so totally gonna be for me. And you can lighten it up by not using cream, I just had some to use up and figured what the hell.

We had this with some unbelievable flank steak courtesy of Jen over at Use Real Butter. Can we talk again about my love for this site and this food and this girl? And I may not have used butter (well, the nice people at Pepperidge Farms did in the puff pastry), but look ma, CREAM!

So I didn't go into this project blind - I'd done some looking at various quiches and tarts and had a whole game plan. I was gonna blind bake this perfect puff pastry crust that wouldn't puff too much, just enough, because I was so freaking smart and knew just what to do. Yeah.

So I roasted my veggies.

And I blind baked my crust.

Now let me just say this. I have NO patience. But I promise I do have many other fine qualities. I didn't really let the puff pastry thaw enough to roll it... and I should have taken the time to cut out a circle of parchment and weighted it.... these were all things I knew might help, yet I had the patience for none of them. So this was the woeful crust into which I poured my eggy, veggie, cheesy goodness. Hoping to god the filling would set up enough to cut nicely anyway around the edges.

They say God looks out for fools and children. I think they're right. The final product was delicious. My crust wasn't the most attractive thing ever, and one part got a little brown. But the taste was outstanding. The hubs and I both went back for seconds. And honestly, I could have used even a few more veggies. But I think this one is a keeper, and is a great way to use up all that summer produce. It's also a good way to use veggies a little past their prime - roasting covers a multitude of sins!

Summer Vegetable Pie

Mollie's Collection

1 puff pastry sheet (9oz - I used Pepperidge Farms brand)
1 medium zucchini
½ cup cherry or grape tomatoes
1 bunch asparagus
3-4 cloves garlic
Lemon juice (optional)
1 Tbs Olive Oil
Kosher Salt
3 eggs
½ cup heavy cream
3 oz feta cheese
3 oz grated gouda
crushed red pepper

Remove the puff pastry from the package and let thaw at room temperature according to package directions.

While it thaws, cut the zucchini in half lengthwise and slice thinly; Halve or quarter the tomatoes; break the tips off the asparagus; and take the outer skin off of the garlic cloves. Place all of the veggies on a rimmed baking sheet and toss with the olive oil. Squeeze lemon juice on top if desired and season with the kosher salt. Roast in a 425 degree oven for about 10-12 minutes. Let cool. When cool, chop the roasted garlic cloves into small pieces. Note: This can be done in advance. Store the cooled veggies in the fridge until ready to use.

When pastry is thawed but still quite cool, roll out as needed and use it to line a greased 9-inch pie pan. Using a fork, make several small holes in the pastry along the bottom and sides of the pan to prevent it from puffing up too much when baked. Bake according to package directions and set aside to cool. Note: Were I to do this again, I think I might try filling the raw crust and baking them together, or just use a pre-made regular pie crust.

When ready to assemble, beat the eggs and cream together in a large bowl. Add your cheeses and veggies and stir to combine. Season with salt and a bit of crushed red pepper to taste (you can use black pepper for less heat). Carefully pour the filling into the pre-baked shell and bake for about 20 minutes at 425, or until eggs are set and top starts to brown. Let cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

Nutrition Information (Note: These numbers were calculated using a Pepperidge Farms puff pastry crust)

Calories: 270

Fat: 19.8 g

Carbs: 13.2 g

Fiber 0.7 g

Protein: 9.3 g

Penne with Shrimp and Creamy Tomato Sauce

2008-07-10T18:12:00.007-04:00

For the last six or seven months, I've been trying to take better care of myself. Eat better, move more, lose some weight, all that good stuff. And in that time I've learned something. A serving of pasta is 2 ounces. NO - really! It is! Be still my carb loving heart.

I used to scoff at the idea of eating 2 ounces of pasta but you know what, 2 ounces is actually a serving of pasta! You can actually feel full eating a single serving. It's shocking. I'd gotten so conditioned to plates overflowing with 4, 5, 6 ounces that it took some time to get my brain around it. But it really is ok to eat just 2. And I also learned that if you're only going to have 2 ounces of pasta, it better have a GREAT sauce. This one is. Fast and simple too.

It started with the idea of a simple vodka sauce, tweaked a bit. I want to play with it some more again and see if I can achieve good results with fat free condensed milk in place of the cream - I'll let you know if it works. I can attest that milk, half and half and light cream all get a little grainy, so I say, go for the good stuff once in a while. And yes, my portions work out to 2.5 ounces of pasta per person. I may have realized that 2 ounces is a serving, but sometimes the rebel in me just likes to stick it to the man.

Penne with Shrimp and Creamy Tomato Sauce

Mollie's Collection

1/2 Tbs olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes

1/2 cup low sodium fat free chicken broth

12 oz shrimp (small to medium size)

salt

crushed red pepper

6-8 fresh basil leaves

1/2 cup heavy cream

10oz penne pasta

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook penne according to package directions.

While the pasta cooks, heat the oil in a large saute pan. Add minced garlic and cook until fragrant. Add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Once simmering, add the broth and return to a simmer. Cook at a rapid simmer until the sauce begins to get thickened and most of the liquid has evaporated. Season to taste with salt and crushed red pepper. Cut the basil into a chiffonade and add just before adding the shrimp.

Add the shrimp and stir frequently to cook evenly. You don't want to overcook the shrimp so keep them on the heat just long enough to cook the shrimp through. Turn off the heat but leave the pan on the burner and add the cream, stirring to combine. Add the cooked and well drained pasta to the pan and toss to coat all the pasta with the sauce. Serve immediately.

Serves 4

Nutrition Information (Note: values based on using Barilla Plus pasta)

Calories: 518
Total Fat: 16.7g

Carbs: 58.4 g

Fiber: 6.8 g

Protein: 32.5 g

I blame the fuzzy margaritas...

2008-07-09T13:09:00.004-04:00

This fourth of July I was looking for a new beverage to share - something light and tasty and tart and yummy. I think we found it. As you can see by the picture, it was quite a bash. I blame it all on the fuzzy margaritas. And the jello shots. And the empty Patron bottle. You get the idea.

These were actually supposed to be called FIZZY margaritas, but by the time someone asked me what they were I must have been overcome by the heat (yeah, that's it) and called them FUZZY Margaritas and a legend was born. So enjoy. Responsibly of course.

Fuzzy Margaritas

Mollie's Collection

1 container frozen limeade concentrate (I like Minute Maid - the store brand gave me heartburn)

1 liter Diet 7-up

Tequila

Thaw the concentrate and put it in a 2 quart pitcher. Add the liter of Diet 7-up. Add tequila to fill pitcher (or to your taste). Keep chilled and serve over ice. Salted rims optional.

All about the grill

2008-07-09T07:07:00.009-04:00

I love my grill. As part of our new deck project, we finally took the fabulous new grill (you can see it peeking around the corner) a friend gave us when they moved out of storage. It's nothing too fancy, just a nice Kenmore, but it's working great for us and has great side tables to hold dishes and a few other nice features. And come on, who wouldn't want to step out on that deck to grill and eat out on a hot summer night? And trust me, it's HOT right now so the less time in my kitchen the better!

Last night I tried a new technique for sweet potato fries that worked out pretty well so I wanted to share it. I normally do them in the oven, but with the heat I didn't want to have that oven on 425 for half an hour to make oven fries. Thanks to some tips, this is the the method I figured out. I don't have a grill basket, but some foil did the trick - and the non-stick is great for the sticky sweet potatoes.

Sweet Potato Grill Fries
Mollie's Collection

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled
Kosher salt & cayenne pepper to taste
Olive oil in a mister or olive oil flavor cooking spray
Reynolds Non-Stick foil

Place the peeled potatoes on a microwave safe dish and microwave for about 3-4 minutes to par-cook. Let them cool completely before handling. Cut into desired shape - wedges, planks, fries, etc. They can be stored at this point in the fridge for a day or two if you're prepping ahead.

When ready to cook, lay a piece of the non-stick foil directly on the grill grates. Set the grill to medium/medium high heat. Place the potato pieces in a single layer and spray the tops with some olive oil and season with the salt and cayenne. Flip and season the other side. Let them cook on one side for about 8-10 minutes, flip each one, and cook another 6-8 minutes. Even tho they are on the foil, you should still get some nice grill marks, and plenty of crisp without turning on the oven.

Happy Grilling!

I'm on a salad bender...

2008-07-03T10:55:00.005-04:00

Well, at least on the blog. If you were to guess based on what I've posted this summer you'd think I'm eating nothing but salads and veggies these days. Sadly, you're not seeing the onion ring bender I've ACTUALLY been on. Yes, for better or worse, our summers seem to involve a lot of weekend nights spent on patios eating seafood, onion rings and drinking drinks with names that end in "-ita" and "-ini". But in blog land I'm full of healthful, flavorful salads. We'll see which land my ass decides to live in come fall.

But I have to say that this salad is a fantastic summer dish. I love dishes that combine all of your side dish requirements into one, with veggie and carb combined. This dish is fast and simple and a great compliment to anything you might want to throw on the grill - we had it with portabella burgers. mmmmm

I was inspired by this Warm Vegetable Salad recipe from Giada and was drooling at the idea of this salad from the moment I saw her make it on her show a while back. Hers has roasted red pepper in it, which I left out because we don't like roasted peppers. I wish I liked them, they look fantastic, but I knew after going to all the trouble of roasting them we wouldn't eat them. I also added some feta for more salty kick to accent the potatoes and beans. Totally fantastic, with a bright light taste with all that lemon. My adapted recipe is below.

Warm Vegetable Salad

Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis

1 1/2 pound assorted red and white new potatoes

3/4 pounds green beans, trimmed and halved

4 scallions, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons chopped oregano leaves (I used a combination of fresh thyme and oregano)

1 large lemon, zested and juiced

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3-4oz crumbled feta cheese

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the potatoes and cook until tender, about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove the potatoes to a cutting board. Add the green beans to the pot. Cook the green beans until tender, about 3 minutes. Remove the green beans to a large bowl.

Slice the potatoes in half while still warm and combine them with the green beans in the large bowl. Add the scallions and garlic and toss to combine.

In a small bowl combine the oregano, lemon juice and zest. Whisk in the olive oil. Stir in the salt and pepper. Toss the warm vegetables with the herb vinaigrette. Serve immediately.

This is also great the next day served at room temperature. Would be great for picnics since there is no dairy to spoil and is good at multiple temperatures. If made the day before, squeeze a little more lemon and check if it needs more oil before serving.

More Summer Salads

2008-06-09T19:49:00.005-04:00

It's hot. Dang hot. Africa hot.

And I'm not just in a bad mood when it's hot, I'm a bad person. I really am. And since our house doesn't have central air I try to limit my time in the kitchen as much as possible - for the health and safety of everyone involved!

This was an easy summer side dish that combines a carb and lots of veggies in one fresh dish that doesn't heat up your kitchen to much. And it has no dairy so it can hold at room (or dang hot kitchen!) temp for a long time, always a plus for BBQs and picnic. I can't wait to be making this with tomatoes and green beans from my own garden - but my basil was ready and it's always fun to cook with your own fresh herbs.

Summer Veggie Pasta Salad

Mollie's Collection

4oz whole wheat pasta*

3/4 cup fresh green beans

1/3 cup cherry or grape tomatoes

1 clove garlic, minced

juice of half a lemon

1 Tbs olive oil

1/2 tsp kosher salt

5-6 fresh basil leaves

Cook pasta according to package directions in well salted water.

Meanwhile, trim your green beans and cut into roughly bite size lengths. Blanch them by placing in a pot of boiling water for 2-2 1/2 minutes and then transferring them to an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Dry well and place in your serving bowl. (To save time, dishes and heat, you can use a heat proof strainer to blanch them in the already boiling pasta water.)

Cut the tomatoes into quarters and add to the bowl. Add garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and kosher salt, stirring to combine flavors.

When the pasta is cooked, drain and pour the hot pasta over the veggies, stirring well. Roll the basil leaves into a little "cigar" and cut into small strips (called at chiffonade) and sprinkle over the top of the salad.

Makes 2 large servings.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 250

Fat: 8g

Sodium: 586 mg

Carbs: 46.5 g

Fiber: 6.7 g

Protein: 8 g

*Tonight I used DaVinci 100% Whole Wheat Pasta for the first time. I thought it was great - lots of fiber and protein, great nutty taste that was a good compliment to the crisp veggies and garlic, and fewer calories than white pasta. Can't say enough good things about it!

Perfect Summer Salads

2008-06-03T19:40:00.008-04:00

The weather is starting to get warmer and it's time for all those perfect summer salads. And the AWESOME Joelen agrees, because she is sponsoring a Blogging Adventure all about salads called Salad Spinin'. Among the many many amazing things she does, she hosts a foodie activity group called What's Cooking Chicago and has brought the fun online with her blogging adventures.

Tonight I was craving something southwestern, and had lots of produce to use up. In the end I came up with this fantastic dinner salad featuring a corn and black bean salad (or would it be a salsa? I'll settle with salad for now...) with a super tasty lime and cilantro dressing.

The dressing would be great on lots of other dishes as well. Greens topped with grilled flank steak and cilantro lime dressing anyone? And the final black bean and corn salad is great on it's own or you can let it serve double duty along side some tacos or fajitas, or as we did it tonight, on top of greens with some tomato, red onion, avocado and sour cream. The sour cream with the dressing on the corn and black beans was plenty to flavor all the greens. We also had some grilled chicken that had been marinated in a chipotle marinade. I loved the sweet almost nutty-ness that roasting the corn gives the finished product. Simple, tasty, and the perfect salad for a warm summer night!

Roasted Corn and Black Bean Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing

Mollie's Collection

1 cup frozen corn kernels

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

Juice of 2 limes (about 1/3 cup)

2 Tbs olive oil + oil for drizzling

small handful of fresh cilantro, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 tsp cumin

dash adobo seasoning

dash crushed red pepper

salt & pepper

Spread the corn kernels on a baking sheet and drizzle with a small amount of olive oil. Place in a 400 degree oven and roast until they just start to brown around the edges. Note: a toaster oven works great for this without heating up your kitchen on a summer night! Or you could grill corn on the cob as well.

When the corn is roasted, put in a small saute pan with the black beans. Heat over medium just until all are heated through.

Meanwhile, combine all of the remaining ingredients in a small bowl and mix well to combine. Season with salt & pepper to taste. Pour the dressing over the warm corn and beans, stirring to coat.

Makes 3 servings, approx 2/3 cup each.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 221

Fat: 10 g

Sodium: 251 mg

Carbs: 26 g

Fiber: 7.5 g

Protein: 7.7 g

This little piggy...

2008-06-01T15:24:00.007-04:00

For not being much of a pork fan, I've been talking a lot of hog lately.

I have to give HUGE props for this one to the amazing Jessy - you can find her new blog HERE and I beg of you to go check it out. She is wickedly funny and amazingly generous and she cooks like a fiend. Ok, I've never actually TASTED her food, but I love her ideas! And while her blog is new, her influence on me is not, as she is a big part of the heart and soul of the What's Cooking message board I frequent.

Ok, enough lovin' on Jessy, what about that pork? I tweaked this a bit from the recipe Jessy shared on the cooking board, so here is my version. She doesn't have hers on her blog yet, but hopefully she will soon, along with the rest of her fantastic creations.

Mustard Marinated Pork Chops

Adapted from Jessy

4 boneless pork chops, 1-1 1/2" thick (or 8 thin cut chops)

1 tsp dry dill

large pinch kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 tsp dry oregano
1 tsp garlic powder
Juice of one large lemon

3-4 Tbs dijon mustard
3-4 Tbs olive oil

If you're using the thicker chops (the only ones my store seems to have) cut them in half horizontally to yield 8 pieces that are about 1/2" thick. Combine the remaining ingredients in a small bowl and mix well to create the marinade.

Coat each piece of pork in the marinade and let them sit, refrigerated for at least 30 minutes or up to 8 hours. Make sure you get it all over every piece.

Place on a hot grill for about 4 minutes per side - be careful not to overcook the pork or it will get tough. Like mine did. But it still tasted fantastic! I served it with some orzo and grilled asparagus. A great summer evening meal.

The first cut(let) is the deepest

2008-05-29T19:13:00.012-04:00

I am so excited to be participating in this quarter's Eat to the Beat blogging event hosted by the fantabulous Elly over at Elly Says Opa! She is one of my favorite bloggers and I was wracking my brain for a dish to contribute this weekend when I realized I had just posted one this week! So with permission from Elly, I'm humbly submitting it for her event.

I'm not quite sure what drew me to title this post with the title of this classic song. I'm bad at blog entry titles and when I was thinking about the cutlet, well, it's the first thing I thought of. And really, while this entry is about Chicken Parmesan, I wanted to feature the cutlet - once you master it as a technique, there are so many things you can do. It's utility runs deep - how's that for stretching a metaphor to the breaking point? And a little research actually taught me a few things about it - including the fact that it was first written and recorded by Cat Stevens, even though he was never one of the several artists to make it into a chart hit. Learn something new every day! In any case, I'm very happy to be able to participate in this blogging event and can't wait to see what everyone else has to offer!

Chicken cutlet is a very versatile component and can be morphed into lots of different dishes. But it took me a while to perfect the perfect crispy, well seasoned, brown crust that is the hallmark of a great cutlet - just ask my husband. He'd grown up with the cooking of his mother and sisters who alllll made perfect cutlets, and he had to suffer for a while until I figured it out!

Tonight I made our cutlets into Chicken Parmesan, but they can be used for lots of different things. One of the hubs favorites is an invention of his sister's called "asparagus chicken" - you simply warm up a can of cream of asparagus soup with a bit of milk and spread it over the cutlet, along with some rice or pasta and some steamed or roasted asparagus. Comfort food at it's best.

But tonight's menu was parm, so lets get to that cutlet...

Start out with your breading station - you'll need 3 shallow dishes or pie pans. I use plates for my dry stuff, and a pie plate for the wet. The first step is flour, seasoned with salt & pepper (cayenne is fun too for a bit of a kick). Next is a milk/egg wash. Tonight I had leftover buttermilk to use up. It's nice and thick on it's own and adds some great flavor. If I don't have that, I usually use one egg, beaten with skim milk. The final stop is bread crumbs - these are store bought seasoned bread crumbs, with some grated parmesan cheese mixed in.

Then, take 2 large chicken breasts - about 10oz each. Cut them in half horizontally to make a thinner piece. Often this will result in a thin enough piece, but if not, pound them between two pieces of wax or parchment paper. I should have done that last night since these are still kind of thick, but I didn't. Once you have them to the desired thickness (1/4-1/2 inch is good) you want to start your breading - flour, milk, crumbs.

You're supposed to use one hand for the wet and one for the dry but I always forget and wind up with the dreaded chicken nugget fingers.

Once they're breaded, stick them in the fridge for 30-60 minutes. You can skip this if you're short on time.

When you're ready to cook, heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of your pan over medium high heat. You may want to get your pasta water and red sauce going at the same time - yes, this meal uses a lot of pots! Any red sauce will do, home made or jarred. (And don't you LOVE my harvest gold stove? It rocks...)

Cook on each side for 4-6 minutes (depending on thickness) until you get a golden brown crust and they chicken is cooked through. Remember if your chicken is thicker that you need to turn down the heat once it starts to brown so you don't burn the outside while the inside is cooking.

When they are done, remove them from the pan and place on a baking sheet, covered in foil for easy clean-up. Spoon a small amount of the heated sauce over the chicken and pile on some shredded cheese - I used mozzarella. Stick it under the broiler for a few minutes until the cheese gets melty and starts to brown.

Serve alongside the pasta topped with sauce. mmmmmmm... crispy, gooey, saucy heaven. If I do say so myself!

Chicken Parm

Mollie's Collection

2 large chicken breasts (about 8-10oz)

approx 3/4 cup flour

approx 3/4 cup buttermilk or milk/egg wash

approx 3/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1oz grated parmesan cheese

salt & pepper

olive oil

2 cups red sauce
2oz shredded cheese - I like mozzarella. Or use slices of fresh mozzarella

4oz pasta of your choice

Cut the chicken in half length wise to yield 2 thin cutlets. If still to thick, pound between sheets of wax or parchment paper to a 1/4-1/2 inch thickness.

Set up your breading station. Season the flour with salt & pepper, whisk the egg and milk in a shallow dish, and combine the bread crumbs with the grated parm. Dredge each breast in flour, then milk/milk mixture, then bread crumbs. Place on a platter and chill in the refrigerator 30-60 minutes. When ready to cook, heat enough oil to coat the bottom of a large skillet on medium high. Place the chicken in the pan carefully and cook 4-6 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Turn carefully to avoid breaking the crust.

When cooked through, transfer to a baking sheet covered with foil. Spoon a small amount of sauce over the chicken and top with the cheese. Place under a broiler until the cheese melts and begins to brown. Serve alongside the pasta topped with remaining sauce.

Never wrestle with a pig...

2008-05-28T08:02:00.005-04:00

...you just get dirty and the pig is the only one who enjoys it.

But it could be worth it if you're going to ROAST that pig. I know not everybody likes to see their food before it becomes shrink wrapped and placed on a foam tray, so if that's you, don't scroll down. But if you want some goooooood eatin', I highly recommend giving a pig roast a try.

This is the main event of our Memorial Day party, and for good reason. The long, slow cooking method gives you flavorful, tender meat and really, the experience of cooking and eating this way is something to behold. And one of the best parts of the night for me is when it gets late and everyone gathers in the garage with a beer in one hand, reaching in to get the last juicy bits of meat from the carving board with the other. I know, not everybody's cup of tea, but there's some sort of primal bonding experience to it. Or maybe it's just the beer...

To roast a whole pig you need a roaster. Ours is made out of an old 250 gallon oil tank with a rotisserie. There are other options - an in-ground oven made with bricks and rocks, some concrete block box methods, the list goes on. There is a wealth of information on the 'net on making your own. Ours burns charcoal and my husband made it after taking some welding classes at our local vo-tech. We burn charcoal (but never use lighter fluid!) as our main heat source, and add some water-soaked mesquite chunks as cooking starts.

To season, we rub the inside and outside of the carcass with olive oil and a generous amount of McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning. One thing to remember with this type of cooking is that because it will rotate, anything on the outside will burn/drip off, so you want to season from the inside out. The outside oil will help with crisping, but the flavor will come from the inside. To take advantage of this, we fill the cavity with lemon halves, heads of garlic cut in half, and onions. Apples might be tasty too. But get your flavorings and aromatics inside. Then the pig is wrapped with chicken wire around the spit - because as it gets tender and cooks, the meat will fall off the bones and into the fire if it's not wrapped. We also recommend wrapping the head and feet in heavy duty foil to prevent burning.

Our 65 pound pig this year took about 4-5 hours, and you want to let it rest about 30-45 minutes before carving. We slice some and shred some, and serve with a variety of bbq sauces. You can either eat it by the plate with some corn bread and beans, or make the best pulled pork sandwich you ever had. And I guarantee that no one will EVER forget your BBQ if you bust out a whole roast hog! Happy eating!

A REAL 30 minute meal

2008-05-28T07:36:00.005-04:00

I haven't finished posting all of the recipes from our Pig Roast yet, but I had to share this meal. It has quickly become one of my favorites, and it is one that really and truly does come together in under 30 minutes, INCLUDING your mise en place.

My only hesitation in posting this meal is that I took one picture of the onions and garlic and then didn't get another one. But it plates beautifully for serving family style - I usually put the rice, beef and veg I'm serving on a big platter and it looks, smells and tastes great.

Update! I made this dish again and actually got a picture. The veg this time was green beans sauteed with garlic chips, and the rice was brown rice cooked in chicken broth with some garlic and onions. mmmmmmm

The main dish of this meal, the Chinese Stir-Fried Beef is fantastic. Perfect, tender, flavorful and simple to prepare. Jen over at Use Real Butter is simply amazing and I beg of you to click on over to her site to check out her fantastic recipes and pictures. I use her recipe mostly as is, but sometimes I use tamari instead of the regular soy sauce and I tend to use more onion and garlic.

Jen serves this over greens, but I usually serve it with rice and a veg. I've done it with plain brown rice, pilaf from a box, my own Fried Brown Rice, or whatever rice floats your boat. But if you're going to do it in 30 minutes, go with a white rice.

And as a veg, I often do my sauteed garlic green beans, but last night I had some leftover coleslaw mix to use up, so I thought back to the filling I used for my veggie pot stickers. That shredded coleslaw mix is genius - simply saute in some sesame oil with a little tamari and rice wine vinegar for a crisp, fresh, different type of side dish.

Pig Roast 2008!

2008-05-27T17:26:00.007-04:00

Four years ago this month we closed on our new house. It was a wonderful day, and we were so thrilled to finally have a place to entertain that we wanted to throw a big memorial day party. Only one issue. That year memorial day fell 9 - yes NINE - days after we moved in. Undaunted by event planning on epic proportions, we built it into the moving schedule. No problem. Move in, host 80+ people in under 10 days. Perfect timing. Oh, and did I mention that I had to be out of town for work on 4 of those days, and we were having new floors installed? And somewhere along the line my now husband said he "knew a guy" and we could borrow his pig roaster and make this shindig a pig roast. I told him "honey, I love you, but I have too much going on. I can handle everything else, and if a pig shows up and roasts itself that's fine with me but I have no time to deal with any of it."

Needless to say, a pig did show up and roast itself (with a little help from us) and this memorial day party has become a tradition ever since. This year was the 5th time we've hosted this party and it gets better every time. This year we also celebrated the addition of the new deck that had been part of our vision since the day we moved in. It was also constructed in 9 - yes NINE - days. Are we seeing a trend here folks?

Some of these recipes have been posted here or in other sources before so I'll link to those in the menu below, and I'll get to work on posting the rest of them as soon as I can. I don't have many pictures because, well, we were building a deck in 9 days on top of the regular party prep and there's only so much a girl can do! But I can attest to the yumminess and crowd-pleasing nature of all of these. I hope they come in handy as you plan all of your summer get togethers!

Appetizers

Cold Spinach Dip

Hot Spinach Dip

Hummus with pita and veggies - this one is gluten free and REALLY tasty

Sweet Chili Lime Drumsticks

Beef Sate with Peanut Dipping Sauce - we love this recipe as an app or a main

Main Dishes

Roast Pig

Deep Fried Turkey

Hamburgers

Hot Dogs

Brats with peppers & onions

Side Dishes

Loaded Potato Salad - only I used real bacon for this version, not the turkey indicated in the recipe here in the blog

Corn Bread

Quick & Dirty Baked Beans - this isn't even a recipe, just your favorite canned vegetarian baked beans with some sauteed onions and green pepper added, along with some dry mustard and brown sugar, topped with molasses and baked.

Fruit Plate

Grizzle's Creamy Egg and Sausage Casserole

2008-05-26T14:37:00.005-04:00

In every cook's life, the occasion for a breakfast casserole calls. There are a million of them around, but I think this one is my new favorite. I'll be posting the menu and all of the recipes for our annual Memorial Day weekend Pig Roast, but as part of this grand affair I also serve brunch the next day. We have lots of friends scattered all over the state and after a day and night of pig, booze, party and late night bonfire the least we can do is let everybody crash overnight. So the next morning I have a hungry, slightly groggy crowd to feed and by then I'm pretty sick of cooking. The perfect solution is a casserole you can prep in advance and just pop into the oven when you're ready to eat.

This recipe comes from my mother in law, affectionately named "Grizzle" by her grandchildren when they were too little to say "grandma". I've tweaked it a little, but it's creamy, dreamy, rich and the perfect solution for a tasty, savory, fabulous looking casserole without a lot of work when you're ready to serve.

No pictures of this one - I was waaaaayyyy too lazy to take pictures the day after our party!

Griz's Creamy Egg and Sausage Casserole
Mollie's Collection

1½ lbs link breakfast sausages (I use turkey sausage)
6 Tbs butter
6 Tbs flour
3 cups milk (I use skim)
½ tsp each salt & pepper
pinch (or more) cayenne powder
½ lb mushrooms, sliced
¼ cup vermouth or lemon juice (I use lemon)
12 eggs, beaten
½ lb grated cheddar cheese

Cut all but 8 of the sausage links into bite sized pieces. In a skillet, saute the pieces and the whole links until cooked through. Separate the links and the pieces and set aside.

Melt butter in a small sauce pan and add flour, stirring constantly to make a roux. Slowly add the milk milk and stir, simmering until white sauce thickens. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne. Set aside.

In a large pan, saute the mushrooms and vermouth/lemon until tender. Add the eggs and scramble until loosely set. When the eggs start too set, stir in the small pieces of sausage, the white sauce and the grated cheese. Pour into a large casserole dish that has been generously buttered. Lay the 8 whole sausages across the top of the egg mixture - I line mine up parallel to the shorter edge of the pan and line them up across the top of the casserole. Cover tightly and refrigerate at least overnight, or up to 24 hours.

To reheat, remove from the fridge and let come to room temperature for about 20 minutes, then cook at 325 for 30-45 minutes.

Note: I haven't done it this way yet, but I think that spinach would be a great addition to this casserole.

Mac & Cheese for Two

2008-05-14T21:25:00.005-04:00

Boy, there is nothing as comforting as mac & cheese, is there? I've already shared my mac & cheese for a crowd, but sometimes you just need a little taste. A little soothing at the end of a long day. So this recipe makes 2 generous servings that can work as a main event or a side dish. I intended this one as a side and to keep it as a side I should have made into 4 servings in smaller ramekins. But, I didn't, and we enjoyed ever last bite!

I served this along with some chicken that I had grilled after seasoning it simply with a squeeze of lime and some Galena Street Rub from Penzey's. The asparagus was sprinkled with olive oil and roasted for about 12 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

It ain't low fat, but it could be worse, as I made it with whole wheat pasta and skim milk.

Mac & Cheese for Two

Mollie's Collection

4oz elbow macaroni (I used whole wheat)

3 Tbs butter

3 Tbs flour

approx. 1 cup skim milk (I didn't measure)

1 cup shredded cheese (I used a 4 cheddar blend)

salt & pepper to taste (Note: I used some of the rub from the chicken to season, along with a pinch of salt. I also like to use cayenne pepper to season the cheese sauce and give it a little kick)

Bread crumbs (or potato chips!)

Cook the pasta according to package directions and drain.

While the pasta cooks, melt the butter in a small sauce pan. Add the flour one tablespoon at a time, whisking constantly. Cook the roux for about 90 seconds to cook off the raw flour taste. Slowly add the milk, stirring constantly. Cook over medium/medium high heat until the mixture begins to thicken. As soon as it does, remove from the heat and stir in your cheese and seasonings.

Combine the well drained pasta and cheese sauce, and divide between two small baking dishes (or 4 ramekins). Sprinkle with bread crumbs and put under the broiler for a few minutes, until the crumbs start to brown and the cheese bubbles at the edges.

Serves 2 as a main dish, 4 as a side.

The sign of a good cook is their Roast Chicken

2008-05-12T19:39:00.006-04:00

I'd always heard that the sign of a true cook was their roast chicken. That simple, classic dish can tell you a lot about the tastes and technique of a chef. And perfecting it can take a lifetime. I think that's the reason cooking a whole chicken scares the bejezus out of most people.

It's that or the fear of a crippling dose of salmonella.

I'm happy to report that I roasted my first whole bird with neither fear nor poisoning my family. I may have killed my dog who stole the bones of one of the wings off of my husband's plate while I was cleaning up, but hopefully not. I guess it was just so good, even my normally well behaved dog had to get in on the action.

I was really pleased at how simple and tasty this dish was, and that crisp skin is to die for. There are a thousand ways to roast a chicken. Ten thousand probably, but below is the way I did it. It was heaven with some mashed yukon gold mashed potatoes and sauteed green beans. Perfection. And now I have leftover meat for panini's later this week and bones to make a rockin' stock.

Simple Roast Chicken

Mollie's Collection

1 roasting chicken, about 4lbs (On advice I'd read in Cook's Illustrated, I went with a Bell & Evans chicken)

2 lemons

1 small onion

1 head of garlic

kosher salt, freshly ground pepper, oregano & olive oil

Make 2-3 loose balls of aluminium foil and place in the bottom of a large dutch oven (or, you can use a layer of carrots and celery, cut into large chunks - you won't eat them, they are just to keep the chicken out of the fat as it cooks). Rinse the chicken and pat dry, placing it on the balls of foil. Cut one of the lemons and the onion into quarters and stuff them into the cavity of the chicken. Cut the head of garlic in half lengthwise and put as much of it as will fit into the chicken as well. If you can't fit everything inside, just arrange them around the chicken. Squeeze the juice of the other lemon over the chicken and season generously with kosher salt, fresh ground pepper and oregano. Drizzle with olive oil to coat skin.

Place in a 375 degree oven for about an hour, or until you get an internal temp read of 180. Let rest 10 minutes before carving and serving.