Baked Potato Pizza

Well, it has begun.  School, that is.  Today was day 2 with the kids.  It hasn't been horrendous yet - I like my class - but there are all sorts of other insane things going on that make it rather exhausting and difficult.  However, that has not stopped me from cooking.

Weirdly and shockingly, my mom found a recipe in a magazine that she thought sounded great: baked potato pizza.  Would anyone on earth guess that my mom would eat and/or like baked potato pizza!?  Clearly it is obvious that I would love it, but MOM?  But she asked for it Monday night.  So last night, I made the doughs, and today I made the pizzas.

I have always used the same pizza dough recipe, but this pizza had its own dough recipe and I decided to give it a try.  Plus it's all Guy Fieri's, and that guy knows what he is talking about!  It needs to rise for a bit longer than the recipe I already used, but other than that it was easy enough.  The recipe makes two doughs, and I put them in the fridge last night.  Later I read on a blog that you should never put them in the fridge, only the freezer, but it worked out okay, luckily.

Is it ready yet!?

Today it was pizza day.  It did kind of take me a while, since I had to use a mandoline to slice potatoes and onions, I had to chop herbs, and I had to cook bacon (by the way, this was the first time that I did that in the oven instead of a skillet.  It was amazing and I am so cooking bacon this way every time.  400 degrees, 25 minutes, and a foil-lined baking sheet, and you have perfectly-cooked bacon and no messy cleanup!  Not to mention no painful spatters on your arms.  Genius.  Thank you, Pinterest).  But then it was pizza-making time.  Mark was my darling sous-chef; he rolled out the dough, I sprinkled the cheese, and then he laid out the potato/bacon/garlic etc. topping.  He was very exact about it so that each bite would have a little bit of everything.  Then he was extra good at shimmying the pizza off the cookie sheet and into the oven on the pizza stone.

We ended up making both pizzas, and then frantically sending Rach to the store for more dough, since we unexpectedly had 7 people for dinner!  They unfortunately were out of fresh dough, so she bought those Boboli already-cooked doughs, and we made two more pizzas with those.  I had plenty of toppings left to make 4 pizzas instead of the two that it claims to make, so it wouldn't hurt to double the dough recipe.

These pizzas were a huge hit!  Everyone loved them, from Mom to Rach to Mark to Alex to Jack to Luke - and of course, me!  The thinly sliced potatoes, the three types of cheese, the fresh chives and tomatoes, the bacon - oh my god.  Can there be more delicious ingredients on any pizza anywhere?  I think not.  This will a definite repeat pizza.  In fact, as I type this, Mom is saying, "that pizza was really great, Bridget."  As for the dough, I didn't notice a huge difference between this and the one I have always used (although Mom says she did.  Go figure.  She said it was the perfect taste and crispy/chewy combination).  They have both been great.  Bottom line: make your own pizza dough :)   I actually didn't try the Boboli pizzas since I got full by then, but Mom said it was surprisingly still good.  She said my dough tasted better, but this one cripsed up nicely and made up for its lack of flavor.  She still preferred mine though, luckily.

Now: bed time.  Yeah, at 9:00.  You try spending the day with 22 10-year olds!  They suck the energy right out of you!

Recipes:
baked potato pizza and pizza dough

both recipes from Better Homes and Gardens magazine, September 2012

pizza dough

ingredients:
1 tsp sugar
1 cup warm water (113 degrees... but I just go by feel)
1 tablespoon active yeast
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more to grease bowl
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve the sugar in the warm water.  Sprinkle the yeast on top.  Let stand for 10 minutes or until foamy.

2.  Add olive oil and salt to the yeast mixture, then use the dough hook to mix in the flour.  Mix until dough comes together.  Add more flour as needed and allow machine to knead dough until smooth.

3.  Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead about 2 minutes more until dough is no longer sticky.  Place dough in an oiled bowl and turn to coat surface.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap, and let stand in a warm place for 1 hour until doubled in size.

4.  Turn out dough onto a floured surface.  Divide in half.  Form into smooth, tight balls.  Cover loosely with a floured kitchen towel and set in a warm place to rise again for 30-45 minutes.

5.  When ready to use, press dough with fingers to flatten as much as possible.  Drape dough over hands, stretching to desired size and thickness (to be honest though, Mark used a rolling pin). Place dough on a floured pizza peel (on my wish list.  I used a corn meal-ed baking sheet).  Top and bake.


baked potato pizza

ingredients:
1 recipe pizza dough, or one 1-lb. ball purchased dough (boooo!)
all-purpose flour for dusting
4 medium-sized Yukon gold potatoes, skin on (1  3/4 lbs.)
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup very thinly sliced sweet onion
6 slices applewood-smoked bacon, crisp-cooked and crumbled
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves ( I ran out so I used fresh oregano, since it has taken over my garden anyway)
extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon flaked sea salt
freshly cracked black pepper
1/3 cup shredded sharp white cheddar cheese
1/3 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
TOPPINGS: sour cream (due to Mark and Rach hating sour cream, I just put this out alongside the pizza so people could serve themselves)
4 diced Roma tomatoes (I just used one big one from Heidi's garden!)
1/4 cup finely chopped chives

1.  Preheat oven with a pizza stone to 500 degrees.

2.  For pizza, thinly stretch or rolleach piece of dough, dusting with flour. 

3.  Fill a large bowl with cold water.  Using a mandoline, slice potatoes paper-thin.  Place slices in the cold water and swirl to remove excess starch and prevent potatoes from turning brown.  Drain off water; lightly pat potatoes dry with paper towels.  Add garlic, onion, bacon, and thyme to potatoes in bowl.  Drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.

4.  Combine monterey jack and cheddar cheeses.  Divide cheeses between pizza doughs, spreading evenly.  Divide potato mixture and spread evenly on pizzas.  Drizzle each pizza with olive oil.  Top with sea salt, pepper,  and sprinkle of Parmigiano-Reggiano. 

5.  Bake pizzas 8-10 minutes, until crust is golden brown, potato edges are lightly curled, and cheese is bubbly.

6.  To serve, cut pizzas into squares.  Top with a dollop of sour cream, diced tomatoes, and chopped chives.

And so it Begins!

Today was my first day of work.  No kids - more like painful meetings all day - but it still counts as work because I was up at 6:30 and had to be there till 3:30.  Ugh.  It was a stressful day for many reasons, including the "paper diet," my 700 IEPs, and the weirdness of oh so many people.  So when I got home, I needed to relax, and that means hours in the kitchen tonight!

Nick had made pulled pork today, which I really don't eat, so I knew I needed to make something to call a "side dish" (AKA my main course but everyone else's sides).  I scanned my favorite food blog, and found it quickly: stuffed tomatoes.  Well, the official name is "tomatoes stuffed with green rice," but the rice isn't green, and that sounds weird, so I am calling them stuffed tomatoes.  They were actually very easy to make; cook rice halfway, and mix it with olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, basil, parsley, and the strained juice of the hollowed tomatoes.  Bake, and you're done!  And they were delicious!  Shockingly, they were delicious even though I actually forgot to add the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese!  I bet they would be even more amazing with the cheese than they already were, and they were great.  Mom even loved it!  And if that doesn't convince you that these were great, Alex ate one.  And Alex hates tomatoes!  That is quite the compliment.  The rice ends up tasting like garlicky herby rice with a hint of tomato, and the tomatoes themselves roast up into the softest, most delicious tomato imaginable.  If you have some tomatoes to use up that may be getting a bit soft, try this recipe.

Then it was time for dessert (really it was time for bed but I was still trying to relax).  I had pinned a recipe for brownies made with zucchini that made the claim that no one could tell they were healthy.  And I had a huge zucchini to use up.  So I figured I would try the recipe out.  I was nudged in that direction when Laura said she had tried them last night, and they were a big hit.  Besides the fact that I ran out of eggs in the middle of the recipe, they were actually really easy to make.  I made them without using my mixer, and, more interestingly, without butter!  They really are healthy, I wasn't kidding!  They call for applesauce instead of butter or oil.  They also call for whole wheat flour, but I just used regular flour since I was too lazy to run out again.  And of course it called for 2 cups of grated zucchini. There were a few minutes of confusion when I realized that I was not totally sure if I had to peel the zucchini first or not.  After Googling I found out it doesn't really matter, but the skin can have lots of vitamins and nutrients in it and is a good idea as long as it doesn't seem extra thick and tough, which it didn't.  So the skin stayed on. 

35 minute later, they came out of the oven - and they were delicious.  Mom claimed they were the best chocolate cake she ever had (they are brownies but that's beside the point!).  Rachael, Jack and Allie all ate two pieces, and even Nick had a piece (I may or may not have neglected to mention to him that they were healthy and made with zucchini).  A surprising amound of them were devoured tonight!  Even I liked them.  They are really cakey and fudgy, with a great chocolatey taste.  I love the chocolate chips in there; they melt and give the brownie pockets of extra chocolate flavor.    And the zucchini just keeps them extra moist.  Definitely make these brownies if you have a zucchini to use!

And now I should get to bed... 22 ten-year-olds - brand spanking new fifth graders - await me tomorrow morning : /

Recipes:
stuffed tomatoes
healthy zucchini brownies

Blueberry Lemon Glazed Doughnuts

Well this is it.  No more denial.  Today is really my last day of summer vacation.  Tomorrow I am going in to my classroom with Anne (god knows I need decoration help, and she very generously offered the assistance!), and Monday is our first day back.  Kids start Tuesday.  I wish I could say I was pumped for a new year... I feel like probably lots of really good teachers feel this way... but I am more devastated than pumped.

In an attempt to make myself feel better, I used my new doughnut pan today.  Mark and I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond recently and we stocked up on cool things like a silicone baking mat, a huge new cutting board, and a doughnut pan.  I had seen a few recipes for baked doughuts, and you really can't make them without the pan.  It's basically a muffin tin, but instead of a hole in the pan, it's a circle.  There are six of these circles, so each pan can make 6 doughnuts at a time.  Note: most recipes make ore than 6 doughnuts, so you might want to buy two pans unless you like washing and cooling them down in between batches!

Anyway, today I made blueberry lemon glazed doughnuts.  I pinned this recipe a long time ago, but, lacking the pan, had to wait.  Today was a good time for it. We still have lots of blueberries from our picking excursion, and weird amounts of ricotta in the fridge.  They were quick to mix together, and I could do it all in one bowl, which I like.  Like I said earlier, the only thing that took a while was the fact that I only had the one doughnut pan, so there was a lot of cleaning and cooling in between batches.  I think I made three full batches, and a half of another.  Sooo, 6 x 3 = 18 + 3 = 21 doughnuts all together (that was me attempting to get back into teacher mode).

Luckily they have been a hit so far.  Mom even ate two and called them "a real treat".  I needed her to like them after the fiasco of last night's ginger cookies (by the way, Susie and Kenzie are obsessed with the cookies and fought over them today!  Go figure).  They don't look exactly like doughnuts, since they aren't fried.  They're a little flat on the top, but that's okay.  They taste great!  The ricotta in the batter makes them really moist, and the pop of fresh blueberries in them is delicious.  Then there is the lemon glaze on top, which gives them a sweetly sour-y crunchy part. 

Shout-out to Tracy who has called me on more than one occasion for "cooking advice" :)  Makes me feel like a real blogger!

Recipe:
blueberry lemon glazed doughnuts

In Denial

As I continue to wildly cling to my denial about the end of summer, Mark and I escaped for a mini getaway (really a last hurrah) to Maine the past 2 nights.  Now that we are home, and he works for the next two days, it is starting to hit me that the next time I see him, it will be Monday morning... at school.  UGH.

To attempt to distract myself from this, I cooked and baked nearly nonstop since we got home this afternoon.  After a lovely trip to the Westminster Farmers' Market, I picked up some heirloom tomatoes and beets (Mark and I recently found out that we love beets.  Who knew?).  As for the tomatoes, I just sliced them up, salted and peppered them, and sprinkled on some parsley from my garden.  Yeah, usually it's basil, but my basil tastes awful  because I let it flower (note to self: do not let basil flower or it tastes bitter and inedible!!)  Then Mark, king of balsamic, did a tiny drizzle of that and some olive oil, and voilah: delicious tomato salad.  As for the beets, I just roasted them in my Dutch oven for a half hour and then peeled and chopped them.  Mark, Mom and I were happy to just salt and pepper them.  And maybe it's weird, but I was 100% happy to eat fresh corn on the cob (from the Farmers' Market!), tomato salad, and beets for dinner.

Then it was time to celebrate National Banana Split Day.  I bet you didn't know that there even was such a day, and neither did I, frankly, until I saw it on one of my favorite food blogs.  Skinny Taste always has great recipes that are low in fat and calories, and therefore amazing.  Who would have known that things like mac and cheese or cheesecake could be actually healthy!?  Gina at Skinny Taste, that's who.  And she posted a recipe for guiltless banana splits.  After Mark and I gorged ourselves on goat-cheese-covered-everything, French fries, and mashed potatoes all week, we both felt the need for some low fat dessert, so we stopped at the grocery store on the ride home.  I did add chopped walnuts to the recipe, mainly because I knew my mother would hate (and complain about) any sundae without nuts.  This is not so much a recipe as a list of the proper ingredients for a guiltless banana split, since I'm sure everyone knows the steps to make a good split.  It's more about what ingredients you are using - no-fat frozen yogurt instead of ice cream, and low-fat chocolate syrup, for instance -and portion size (2/3 cup of yogurt).  They were very quick to whip up (it helped that we bought monster bananas and I only used one for 4 sundaes!) and everyone loved them.  Quick, easy, healthy banana splits:you just can't beat it.  FYI, the recipe calls for them to be made "in a jar" and clearly I just used small dishes and ramekins, so I removed the jar part from the recipe name.

Then even though it was getting late, I was in the mood to bake (read that as "in the mood to not work on my class website, or print my door decorations, or write out my name tags, or plan my first week's lessons, etc.").  I gave my mom a few options to choose from, and then regretted doing so.  I bought a doughnut pan the other day and I am dying to try it out, but alas - Mom chose ginger cookies.  I had pinned a recipe from Ina Garten for "ultimate ginger cookies" and figured Mom would love them.  She gets obsessed with ginger cookies.  She even buys them from the grocery store.  And this recipe had all sorts of interesting things in it, like molasses and ground cloves and cinnamon and nutmeg and chopped crystalized ginger!  I thought they sounded cool and really flavorful, so I made them.  I had been a little nervous because I was out of parchment paper, but a good spray with Pam for Baking and nothing stuck.  Whew!  The cookies were easy enough to mix up.  They did have to be balled up, flattened, and rolled in sugar, but that didn't take me too long.  The recipe says it makes 16 cookies but I got 20 out of it.  13 minutes later, and my kitchen smelled like ginger and cloves, also knowsn as Christmas (not a great thing if you are very busy pretending it is late June). 

And the end result?  Kenzie and I ate 2, and Mark had one, and we all loved them.  As for Mom? Not so much.  She claimed to get a "huge" chunk of crystallized ginger and that it was "sooo hot" and spicy.   Sigh.  I should have made the damn doughnuts!  But anyway, she's tough to please, and claims to only like her ginger cookie recipe that has fresh ginger in it instead of the "candy."  However, please do consider making these cookies despite the lack of glowing recommendation from Mom.  They are very soft, fluffy, and delicious, with all sorts of great flavor mixing going on - not to mention those perfect cookie wrinkles.  And they are the Barefoot Contessa's recipe, for god's sake!  That woman can do no wrong! 

Speaking of Ina, I just noticed that on her website, you can buy her cookbooks autographed by her!  And they are only $35!!! Does anyone need any great ideas for a gift for me?  Perhaps you are getting your Christmas shopping done now?  Or birthday (it's only about 5 months early; no biggie).  Or perhaps you realize that no one actually remembered to celebrate me getting my Master's 2 years ago?  Or you appreciate my cooking and baking endeavors and just love me? Well just in case, here you go   ;)

Recipes:
guiltless banana splits
ultimate ginger cookies

Homemade Spaghettios

All right, so I admit that I am in total denial.  I go back to work Monday, and I am panicking.  There are things I haven't gotten around to doing!  Foods that I haven't made!  Places I haven't visited!  I am not ready to think about lessons and kids and schedules!  But, ready or not, it's coming, and it's coming fast.  Hence the lack of updates lately.  I am desperately trying to shove as much as I can into these last few days of freedom!

Today I made something that Kenz has been wanting for a while: homemade Spaghettios.  We both have an obsession for Spaghettios.  In fact, if I am to be honest, in high school, I used to bring cans at school, and I'd eat them cold.  Right out of the tin.  I know that's really gross, but there is just something about those little rings of pasta in that cheesy tomato-y sauce that makes me feel young and comfy and happy!  But, god knows what's in those cans.  So when I saw a recipe for homemade Spaghettios, I knew I had to give it a try.

I have to be honest: I changed a lot about the recipe.  I doubled parts and kept others the same.  Since I did so many weird things, I will just show you my measurements here.  For instance, I cut out a lot of butter, but doubled the amount of pasta so we could have leftovers.  The good news is that regardless of what I did, this was a quick lunch.  It was ready in about a half hour.  Slightly longer than the 3 minutes required to microwave the contents of a can of Spaghettios, but worth it!

And the end result?  Well, even Mom called it "a treat" after complaining that the recipe sounded bad because she hates Spaghettios.  Kenzie and I both ate a large bowl and were happy with it.  It doesn't taste exactly like the can - but I guess that is probably the point!  Mom said that is what made it better.  The sauce is a slightly sweet cheesy tomato sauce, and the ditallini, thought a slightly different shape, make it feel a little like pasta fagioli.  All in all, I am happy with my DIY Spaghettios!

Recipe:
homemade Spaghettios
adapted from Pennies on a Platter

Ingredients:

16 oz ditalini pasta

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

1 jar spaghetti sauce (I used Wegman's roasted garlic)

2 cups water

2 tablespoons tomato paste

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 cup milk

1  1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1) Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water, to al dente (about 10 minutes).

2) Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until just fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato sauce, water, tomato paste, salt, pepper, sugar and butter. Heat, while stirring, until the butter is melted. Slowly stir in the milk, then turn the heat to low. Simmer at low heat for 10 minutes. Stir frequently.

3) Stir the shredded cheese into the soup until melted. Drain the pasta and transfer to a serving bowl. Pour tomato sauce on top of pasta; stir to combine.

Fall and Summer Desserts

Today I had the pleasure of making wedding shower favors with my bestest friend Caitlin.  She livesin Vermont and this is not okay with me, because I do not get to see her enough.  Luckily today she needed some assistance preparing the favors for her sister's shower tomorrow (congrats, Allie!) and she knew just who to call!  She had a recipe for little chocolates, but I thought we could add some pieces of my apple cider caramels.  After all, the wedding is in September at an apple farm, so these caramels could get people excited for the big day!  We worked on both recipes simultaneously.  The chocolates were called "fruity nutty chocolate valentines."  I am not sure why they are called valentines - I guess just because they are made of chocolate? But they were probably the easiest thing ever.  We melted chocolate (in a double boiler... the recipe doesn't say that but I know enough about chocolate to infer!).  Then we stirred in some trail mix, poured it into a pan, sprinkled on some more trail mix, let it harden in the fridge, and cut it into little pieces.  And, done!  Pretty easy and simple if you like fruity, nutty chocolate things.  Caitlin is going to put pieces of the chocolate into mini muffin wrappers.  We practiced with a few, and they look really cute!

The apple cider caramels took a bit longger than that. I made these last Christmas Eve for our family party and they were really popular.  My family raves about them.  And they are pretty great, but they take at least 2 hours.  And that's not like bread, where it might take 4 hours but you are sitting and letting it rise for half that.  No, you are standing there stirring for 2 hours.  But still, if you have time, and you like apple cider and caramels, then they are worth the wait.  My advice if you want to try these babies: use a good candy thermometer and be patient.  If it says to turn the heat on low and get the temp up to 324 degrees, then do it.  Don't get impatient and put the heat on medium, and watch that thermometer like a hawk; one tiny degree of difference can be catastrophic!  Now that you are sufficiently scared, just trust me that if you can follow directions, these are not hard, and they are delicious.  The cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg combine with the apple cider to make a very fall-y, amazing caramel.  I foresee another batch of these in my future, since Caitlin took all the candies back for the shower and now Mom is craving them!

Tonight I knew I did have to make something for my poor family after they watched me make 2 different candies and didn't get any!  I had pinned a recipe for cookies that look like sand dollars, and I knew immediately I had to make them.  The beach is a special place for me, and I still have a huge collection of sand dollars that I have kept since I was a little girl (by the way, fun sand dollar fact: you know how you can find some sand dollars that are brown and some that are white?  Well, the brown ones are still alive.  Don't take them or you are murdering them.  FYI :) )  Anyway, the cookies are cinnamon-sugar cookies with sliced almonds on top to make them look like sand dollars.  I fell in love with them when I saw the pictures.  I am bad at making pretty food, so when food is naturally pretty, then I like it.  The cookies did take a while; the dough has to be refrigerated for 2 hours, then rolled out and cookie cut (is that a verb) into circles.  Then each round of dough needs to be brushed with egg white, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, and decorated with 5 almond slices like a sand dollar.  Then once they go in the oven, after 3 minutes you have to pull them out again and press the almonds into the cookie.  Then they're back in for 7 minutes.  So yes, time consuming.  But worth it!  They are so gorgeous, so beachy, so tasty!  Mom and Rachael each ate 4 and Mom declared them the best cookies that I have made.  I am really happy I found a recipe that is both tasty and beautiful.  A perfect summery cookie for a chilly night that has me dreading the fall season :(







Recipes:
fruity nutty chocolate valentines
apple cider caramels
sand dollar cinnamon sugar cookies

French Onion Grilled Cheese

I love all soups.  In fact - and I may have shared this story before - on our first date, Mark brought me to a little soup and sandwich shop because he said he noticed that I seemed to mostly eat "mush."  That boy is accurate!  I do love mush.  Mashed potatoes, the insides of breads- and soups.  Now, it's about 900 degrees today (and muggy; just look at my hair) so soup is not something that I am craving.  So, when I saw a recipe for a sandwich that replicates the flavors of one of my top 10 soups, I was thrilled.  French onion grilled cheese: why haven't I thought of that!?

With the help of my adorable sous chef (see left), I made these sandwiches tonight for me, him, Kenzie, Mom, and Nick.  I have to admit that I was nervous about caramelizing the onions.  I don't think I have had much success with this before.  I can't exactly remember when I attempted this, but I have memories of burning them.  Luckily today they turned out perfectly.  The secret is not to rush things; keep the heat on low and let the onions take their time as they brown up in some salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar!  Interestingly, I am not a big onion fan; in fact, I hate them when they are raw.  But caramelize them - and I'm sold!  Once they're cooked, I added some fresh thyme from my herb garden, and put them on sliced baguettes with gouda and gruyere.  I toasted them up in the pan with some butter and rubbed the bread with a sliced garlic clove, and there you have it, folks: French onion soup, but as a sandwich.  The onions are delicious, and the fresh thymeis a great addition.  Add to that the creamy mix of those two amazing cheeses (I have previously mentioned my love for gruyere!) and the buttery bread... holy moly.  Kenzie was a huge fan, and surprisingly enough, so were Mom and Nick!  A successful - and pretty easy - dinner at last :)

Pardon the bad picture; they tasted great!

Recipe:
French onion grilled cheese

The Cook Will Play

When the family is away, the cook will play.  That seems to be my motto these last 24 hours, because I have been cooking and baking up a storm despite the fact that there have only been 2 people home at any given time.  This means lots of delicious leftovers, though :)

First, last night for dinner, I knew that something had to be done with the three giant containers of ricotta cheese in the fridge.  I don't know why we have so much of it, but we do.  I thought about making my old fall-back of stuffed shells since we already have shells, but I didn't feel like running out for spinach.  So I searched the internet for a stuffed shell recipe that would not require a shopping trip, and voila: chickpea-stuffed shells.  I am on a bit of a chickpea kick I guess, but I thought this was a pretty ingenius idea: adding beans lets you take out some of the ricotta, so it's healthier, and has more protein than normal stuffed shells.  I made a few changes though; instead of chickpeas, I used cannellini beans.  Mom  and Kenzie both don't love the texture of chickpeas, so I figured it would be a good change.  Then, the recipe calls for the beans to be pureed in with the ricotta, but Mom and I decided we wouldn't mind just fork-mashing some of them and having some whole beans in there as well.  I was also out of onions, so there weren't any in there.  In the end, we both liked the meal.  The fresh parsley from my garden made a nice bright taste in the filling, and I liked the ricotta-bean contrast.  I'm wondering if the recipe really does need the 2 egg whites though, especially if I wasn't pureeing everything altogether.  You know me and getting rid of parts of egg... but it was okay :)

Then you may remember me saying how obsessed I was with the roasted vegetable salad that I made for lunch last week.  I have been thinking about it nonstop.  This may be a new lunchtime staple for me, particularly when school starts back up (ugh).  So today I made another batch.  My only change today is - this will sound verrrry familiar - is I replaced the chickpeas with cannellini beans.  Yes, similar to last night's dinner, and for the same reasons: Kenz and Mom don't like the texture of chickpeas.  Everything else was kept the same, and the salad is yet again my new love in life.  The crunchy, sweet corn, the bite of red onion, the smooth cool beans, and the slightly sweet, slightly tangy dressing... oh my god.  I cannot stress enough how much love I feel towards this salad.  Please make it.  Make it tonight.  If not, make it tomorrow.  You won't regret it.

It was just Mark and me home for dinner tonight.  I was more than happy to just eat more of my beloved salad and some of the tons of leftovers in the fridge (stuffed shells, hibachi soup, bean tacos) but he felt like grilling.  That works for me; I can focus on the vegetarian side dishes!  And I knew just what I wanted to try: cauliflower mash.  I have been wanting to try this out, but Mark is far less picky than my family, so I wanted to try it out on just the two of us before I roll it out to everyone else.  It was almost embarrassingly easy to make.  You don't even need a stove.  You microwave the cauliflower with a little bit of cream and butter, then put it in a food processor with some cheddar cheese, salt and pepper.  And there you have it: mashed cauliflower.  It was actually really good for a no-carb mashed potato replacement.  I would live happily eating only mashed potatoes, so I can't say that I liked it just as much, but it's a very, very good replacement.  In fact, I had seconds and Mark had thirds.  I recommend lots of salt and pepper, and make sure you process it longer than you think necessary to get it as smooth as possible.

Finally tonght I got to make the recipe that I have been ecstatic about all day since I saw it posted on my favorite blog: peach cobbler scones.  I love peaches, I love cobblers, and I love scones.  And so I knew immediately that I was making these babies today.  The dough is a buttermilk scone dough, and sandwiched in between the dough are thinly sliced peaches sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.  These are a huge hit.  In fact I think I caught both Mom and Rachael eating seconds, and Rachael told me it was the best thing I've ever made.  Wahoo!  This might be a repeat recipe in the very near future.  Mark picked up the peaches for me, and they were so enormous, I only used one of the two he bought me.  What else to do with an extra peach but make some more scones? :)

Recipes:
chickpea-stuffed shells
cheesy cauliflower puree
peach cobbler scones


roasted vegetable chickpea salad
adapted from Annie's Eats

Yield: about 6 servings

Ingredients:

1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 poblano pepper, seeded and chopped (I never add this, but go ahead if you like spice)
½ red onion, chopped
Corn kernels cut from 4 fresh cobs of corn
4 cloves garlic, minced
About 3-4 tbsp. olive oil, divided
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
2 (15 oz.) cans chickpeas or cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
4 oz. crumbled feta cheese
2 tsp. red wine vinegar
2 tsp. honey
3 tbsp. fresh basil, finely chopped
2-3 tbsp. fresh chives, minced

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 400˚ F. Line a baking sheet with foil. Add the grape tomatoes, poblano, red onion, corn, and garlic to the baking sheet. Drizzle lightly with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Toss well and spread the veggies into an even layer. Roast about 25 minutes, stirring once halfway through. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly.

2) Add the chickpeas and feta to a mixing bowl. In a small bowl, combine 2½ tablespoons of olive oil with the vinegar and honey. Whisk together to blend until smooth. Add the cooled vegetables to the bowl with the chickpeas and top with the dressing. Toss to combine well. Add the herbs to the bowl and toss lightly to incorporate. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Crunchy Black Bean Tacos

A few days ago, I pinned a meal on Pinterest called crunchy bean tacos.  Basically every day, Kenzie has asked me to make them.   For some reason or another, I didn't get a chance to try them out until today for lunch.  They were pretty easy to make, since all you do is mix up the filling, put them in corn tortillas, and fry them up in a pan. 

Being a hand model as I sprinkle on some cheese!

Corn tortillas are an interesting item.  They are found in the refrigerator at the grocery store - who knew?!?  And they are nearly impossible to burn, which is always a plus.  Also, since I know you heard me lamenting the other day about my lack of food flipping skills, they hold their form really well and make flipping my little tacos pretty easy!

Anyway, the filling is black beans, red onion, paprika, cumin, and pepper jack cheese.  You fry the tacos up and make then nice and crispy on both sides, then serve with sour cream and avocado slices.  Well, you're supposed to serve them with avocado at least.  Kenzie bought one and it was moldy and soft :( But I do think it would have been a welcome addition.  The tacos were great: crunchy outside, melty cheese beany (is that a word) inside.  In fact, a certain sister of mine may or may not have eaten somewhere in the range of 4-5 tacos.  And even Nick ate one despite the fact that they did not have meat, and the fact that they did have vegetables inside. 

Great grating!

One last note: I have become a real believer in the power of grating your own cheese.  Okay, maybe the word "power" is an exaggeration, but I really do think that the pre-grated stuff is stiffer and less creamy than when you buy a block of real life cheese.  They must put something in it to make it not all stick together in one great cheesy lump in the bag, and that makes it not as perfect as when you grate your own.  I never thought I'd be the person keeping large lumps of Parmesan, mozzarella and pepper jack in my fridge - or, for that matter, that person who even has an opinion about grating your own cheese - but I tell you, I'm a believer.  Plus I am so in love with the grater I got for my birthday back in January, I basically like to grate anything.  This has unfortunately included my finger a few times.



Recipe:
crunch black bean tacos

Recipes Galore!

Whoa.  My week has been ridiculously insane, so I apologize for the lack of updates.  But the good news is that I have lots of recipes to share.  Some are amazing, some drove me insane, and some took 9 hours (okay, just one took 9 hours), but all are worth sharing :)

First up: my beloved long lost friend Courtney came to visit for lunch on Monday.  She lives in Colorado - which is way too far away - so when she is around, I leap on the opportunity to see her.  I invited her up for lunch.  I had plenty of desserts left from my baking extravaganza Sunday, and Rach had made a pasta salad; in addition, I tried out a new recipe: black bean fritters with a cilantro dipping sauce.  They sounded great: lots of veggies (tomatoes, yellow peppers, onion, garlic, and beans of course) with my beloved cilantro mixed in, and a Greek yogurt-based cilantro sauce on the side.  And they were great; they tasted so fresh and bright with all the cilantro in there, and all of the vegetables tasted delicious.  The only problem was how difficult it was to fry them up in the pan.  They didn't hold together very well - and I added a extra tablespoon of flour to try to firm them up! In addition, I am a notoriously poor food flipper.  Pancakes, fried eggs, black bean fritters, you name it: I make a mess when  I try to flip them, and these were no different.  So they didn't look so great - and lots of them fell apart - but I still think they were successful because Courtney, Kenzie, Mom and I ate them quite happily, and Mark finished off the leftovers today.

Tuesday I had a meeting at work in the morning, and before I got home, I stopped at the store to pick up some ingredients for lunch.  I wanted to make Annie's Eats' newest recipe, which had definitely caught my attention: roasted vegetable chickpea salad.  It is healthy, full of vegetables, and has feta in it: what more could I ask for?!  I have also had a love for roasted vegetables these days.  It makes them so sweet and tender.  This salad has roasted onion, garlic, grape tomatoes, and the corn kernels from fresh ears of corn (the recipe calls for a poblano pepper but as usual, I left it out).  They roast up for 45 minutes, then get tossed in a delicious honey and red wine vinegar dressing with chickpeas, feta, and basil and chives. I am honestly in love with this salad and will definitely be making it again soon.  Even Mom liked it.  Kenz realized she hates the texture of chickpeas, but this could be made with any kind of bean, really.  Trust me though: make this salad.  It's amazing.  I ate it for days and now I am sad it's gone.

And now for the cake.  Yes: the 9-hour birthday cake.  Here's the thing: yesterday was Mark's 35th birthday, and since the week was so insane, the poor boy bought his own birthday dinner for my family, and brought over cupcakes.  I felt like a dud of a girlfriend - particularly one with a cooking blog - so I promised him that today would be different.  Today, I was going to make him his birthday cake.  I had seen a picture of what I wanted to make months ago and vowed to make it for him.  You see, Mark is obsessed with Bejeweled Blitz.  He plays it on his phone constantly and is obsessed with always having the top score.  So, when I saw a picture of a Bejeweled Blitz cake, I knew that I absolutely had to create it.  The cake itself could be whatever kind Mark wanted; it was the decorations that needed the most work today.  As for the cake, Mark chose chocolate, and on Mom's insistence, I made the cake recipe that is on the back of the Hershey's cocoa powder canister.  It is called Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake, and everyone agrees that it is pretty perfect.  It's always moist and chocolately and delicious - says Mom, the chocolate cake connossieur!  Now, the recipe is supposed to make 2 round cakes.  I wanted 2 squares to be able to decorate it like a Bejeweled game board, but we only had one small square, and one big rectangle.  I used the rectangle.  It sunk a bit in the middle, but I let it cool upside down on a rack, and it filled in.  Whew!

Nick hating fondant

But that took no time at all.  It was the fondant.  To be honest, I started calling fondant the "effing fondant" - perhaps with more swearing involved.  Here's the thing: Nick and I always thought fondant would be fun to make and work with.  Maybe you think the same thing.  YOU ARE WRONG.  Fondant is horrible.  It is very hard to make, and quite difficult to  make it look like what you want it to.  But anyway, back to the fondant.  We needed 9 colors, and Nick was good enough to help me make it.  All you do is melt marshmallows, add gel food coloring, and fold in tons and tons of confectionary sugar.  Sounds simple right?  Not simple.  Wrong.  It is ridiculously sticky, and takes an insane amount of sugar to turn into something resembling fondant (my guess, for those of you insane enough to try this on your own, is 3/4 - 1 cup).  Your hands will be covered (not to mention stained from the food coloring), your counters will be sticky and rip the fondant to shreds, and you will be sweating profusely (well, it was 90 degrees out today, but still).  Honestly this took Nick and I about three hours.  We attempted to use my mixer at one point rather than our sticky hands, but it took a long time and sounded like the mixer was about to die.  I agree with you, Kitchenaid: fondant is not for the faint of heart.  But, in the end, we had nine colors, and were ready to decorate our cake.

First: the crumb layer of frosting.  I just made a quick buttercream with a stick of butter, 3 3/4 cups of confectionary sugar, 2 teaspoons of vanilla, and 4 tablespoons of milk.  Mom helped frost the cake, since I am pretty bad at that too.


















Once the crumb layer hardened, it was fondant time.  We banished Mark to the living room, and then it was a real family affair.  Surprise surprise - I also suck at making decorations out of fondant, so I was quickly relegated to the sidelines as Kenzie, Rachael and Mom diligently cut out letters, shapes, backgrounds, and jewels.  They were amazing at turning the balls of colored marshmallow fondant into exactly what I was looking for.  Little by little, it actually started to look like a Bejeweled Blitz gameboard!  And in the end, I am very happy with the result.  It looks awesome; as Mom says, it's a bit "rough around the edges," but it was made with a lot of love and Mark could tell what it was right away.  Nice job, family!

Birthday Boy!

Finished product!

As if I didn't have enough recipes to share with you, Kenzie wasn't feeling well tonight and I offered to make her a soup recipe that I knew she would like.  We like to go out for hibachi, and we both love the soup that they serve you before the meal.  Of course, she requested it without mushrooms unfortunately, but I agreed to make it while the cake was getting put together.  In the hibachi restaurants, they chop up the vegetables but then strain the soup and just give you broth with some thinly-sliced mushrooms on top.  Kenzie and I decided to leave the vegetables in it though, and I am glad that we did.  This soup is really delicious; the beef and chicken broth together with the ginger make an exotic-tasting and filling soup, and the vegetables are a welcome addition.  A note to those who want to try it though: after cooking it for 45 minutes, it gets very concentrated, and with all that bouillion, it was too salty.  I added a lot of water - probably close to 4 cups - and I promise you that it did not water down the taste at all. Don't be afraid to add lots of water after so much of it has cooked away.

Okay, now that my fingers are tired from typing, I'd say it's time for bed.  This teaches me not to postpone posting again :)

Recipes:
crispy black bean fritters with creamy cilantro dipping sauce
roasted vegetable chickpea salad
marshmallow fondant
hibachi soup

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake
from the back of the Hershey's cocoa powder canister

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

Directions:

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

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

3) Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. 

9 hours,  baby :)



P.S. I feel it is important to note that today is my 100th post!  Happy anniversary, blog! :)

From Blueberries to Zucchini

There are good parts and bad parts about coming home from vacation.  I miss the care-free days, spending the afternoon on the deck, and walking the Marginal Way.  But on the bright side: it makes me come home "feening for baking," as Mark put it.  Hence the craziness that was today.

My zucchini work station!

Mom and Kenzie went to visit my grandfather at his new nursing home in Holyoke, so they were gone all day.  I had Rachael choose what she wanted to eat from things I have pinned on Pinterest, and I was quite happy when she chose something that I was sure was another one of those things that I want to make that no one else in this house is interested in; something to add to the ranks of strawberry balsaamic pizza, goat cheese quesadillas, chick pea pot pie, mac and cheese pancakes, and mushroom pizza.  But, miracle of miracles: today Rachael wanted to eat stuffed zucchini!

About to go into the oven

This meal was very quick to put together.  You slice a zucchini in half, scoop out the insides and mix them up with feta (it called for tomato basil feta but we have an embarrassing amount of regular feta in the fridge, so I used it!), garlic powder, oregano, and tomato paste.  Then you stuff the mixture in the zucchini boats, sprinkle on some parmesan and parsely, and bake.  That's all it takes.  You're ready to go in no time.  I bought a pretty large zucchini, and Rach and I ended up just splitting one half, so there is another in the fridge for tomorrow.  We both loved our healthy little lunch though; Rach said she liked it and called it "healthfully delicious" although said she might be interested in adding pepperoni.  No thanks!  But I guess that's the beauty of the meal; you can kind of make it whatever kind of "pizza" you want.  Perhaps an addition of goat cheese would be a good idea next time? :)

Next up, I have been wanting to make a cookie that is quite different for me: chocolate crinkle cookies.  I am not really a chocolate person; I never order anything chocolatey when I am at a restaurant or bakery, and I could do without chocolate candies too, but when I found this recipe, I decided that I had to try them.  They are so pretty with their powdered sugar coats and big chocolatey wrinkles all over them.  I like when food comes out pretty without me having to do much decorating!  And these definitely come out pretty, and tasty too.  They taste a lot like brownies, but with the added powdery sugar coating.  They are delicious - and again, I'm not a chocolate lover, but I still ate three!  Rachael and Kenzie each ate 5 cookies, so I am going to assume that they love them :)  Apparently from what I have been reading, these are common Christmas cookies.  Well, it's August, and I think they are just fabulous for any time of year!

I finished up my day-o'-kitchen by making more of the blueberry muffins I made yesterday.  Shockingly by this morning, all 12 of them were gone!  As you know, we never finish the things I bake in this house.  Partly this is because we aren't big sweet eaters, partly because my mom is picky, and partly because we are pretty notorious for "forgetting" about leftover food.  No matter the reason, it's a rather sore subject for me that all my food ends up tossed.  So when I made something that all goes - and in one day - I get excited.  Hence the double batch of delicious muffins that are cooling on the counter at this second. Mom is eating one now and announcing that "these are my kind of muffins!"  Whew! Since they are a repeat recipe, I will be posting it below.  I like making these muffins; it's really fun to mix the egg, sugar, butter and sour cream together.  I'm not sure why that is fun, and I am quite sure it makes me a dork, but it's true.  So if you happen to have a cup and a half of berries, try out this recipe.

Recipes:
stuffed zucchini pizza style
chocolate crinkle cookies


blueberry muffins
from Brown-Eyed Baker, originally adapted from Baking Illustrated


yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1¼ cups sour cream
1½ cups frozen or fresh blueberries

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin (or line with paper liners) and set aside.

2. Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl untill combined. Whisk the egg in a separate medium bowl until well-combined and light-colored, about 20 seconds. Add the sugar and whisk vigorously until thick, about 30 seconds. Add the melted butter in 2 or 3 additions, whisking to combine after each addition. Add the sour cream in 2 additions, whisking just to combine.

3. Add the berries to the dry ingredients and gently toss just to combine. Add the sour cream mixture and fold with a rubber spatula until the batter comes together and the berries are evenly distributed, 25 to 30 seconds. Small spots of flour may remain and the batter will be very thick. Do not overmix.

4. Using a large spoon or a cookie scoop sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, divide the batter amount the muffin cups. Bake until the muffins are light golden brown and a toothpick or thin knife inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the pan from front to back halfway through the baking time. Immediately remove muffins to a wire rack and cool for at least 5 minutes. Serve immediately or at room temperature. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.

No More Vacations!

Okay, okay.  I'm finished.  I'm sorry.  After my fourth week of being on vacation this summer, I think I am finally finished with long trips!  California, New Hampshire - and last week, Maine.  I have really enjoyed my time away this summer, but it's nice to be home too.  My poor little abandoned blog will be abandoned no more!

Yesterday I went blueberry picking with Kenzie, Maggie, Cathleen and Amelia when we got home from Maine.  We got back just in time to join them.  Now, my advice is not to go blueberry picking on a 90-degree day, because we all thought we were about to succumb to heat stroke right there in the field.  But it was well worth it, because we ended up with multiple pounds of fresh, juicy blueberries!  This so overwhelmed me with great baking ideas that I very well could have spent all of today browsing blueberry-y recipes, but Mom came to my rescue and asked for demanded blueberry muffins.

Now, I have made blueberry muffins before.  It was my dad's old hand-written recipe.  And don't get me wrong, they are great.  But Mom said she has always been on the lookout for the perfect blueberry muffin recipe.  She is picky (shocker) and says they must be" not too sweet", "full of berries", "no extras" (i.e. topping or lemon), "moist," and "gummy" (which I am not sure exactly what she means by that but it sounds disgusting).  So I decided to see if I could find another recipe that sounded promising.

Enter: blueberry muffin recipe from the Brown-Eyed Baker blog.  She raved about them, the pictures looked great, and the recipe was different.  You don't use a mixer.  You mix the dry ingredients together.  I know, that doesn't sound so different, but then the wet ingredients get a bit crazy.  You whisk the egg and sugar together to make a thick mixture, then whisk in melted butter and sour cream until you basically have this thick cream that gets folded into the dry mixture.  The batter is very thick, and a bit hard to mush into your muffin tin (or in my case, my beloved silicone cups), but trust me: they are worth the struggle. 

These muffins are damn good.  Lots of blueberries - a cup and a half - make them juicy and sweet, and the cake is soft and moist.  The flavor is excellent.  Mom even called them "a home run," which you should know is a very big compliment.  She even said I should keep them on hand at all times, and wants another batch baked tomorrow.  I would have made more tonight, but the recipe uses 1  1/2 cups of sour cream, and I didn't have enough.  I will be making  more though: there are only 3 left!



There are a lot of green berries in that basket...

Recipe:
blueberry muffins