Happy One Year Blogiversary!

First of all, today is my first blogiversary :)  It was one year ago today that I nervously googled  "how to start a blog" and found my way to blogger.com.  I secretly sat in my mom's blue chair and started my first blog post on my phone (yes it took me forever to type it out).  I told no one for a week or so, and then it was only immediate family.  By April, I let the cat out of the bag on Facebook, and before I knew it, people I hardly knew were stopping me in the grocery store to ask why I was buying tow bags of flour- was it bagel time again?  Now don't get too excited; the majority of my readers are my aunts, coworkers, and friends.  But it's still pretty cool when people tell me that they have tried one of my recipes, or when they ask for my advice on what to bring to a party. 

To be honest with you, I am still entirely shocked about how the past year has gone. A year ago today, I was making cupcakes that called for lime zest, and hacking the peel into large, bitter chunks because my grater was dull.  I wasn't sure I was going to succeed with my New Year's resolution, since let's be honest: who ever does?  How many Januaries have I joined gyms for two months?  But this time, I really wanted to succeed.  I wanted to learn how to cook and bake, and blog, too, but I never really thought I would keep up with it.  And yet I have!  Over 3,400 page views and 162 posts... what a year!

And the best part about the whole thing is that I learned this year that I absolutely adore making food for the people I love.  This is not something that I would have expected; I thought I might get through the year, but never thought I would find my new favorite hobby.  There is nothing I love more than bringing a piece of cake on a plate to my cousin Pat, who will eat any and everything I make.  I adore serving my family a steaming hot casserole, watching and waiting nervously to hear their thoughts.  I like to search for the perfect carbless recipe for my diabetic uncle Tuck.  I love when Kenzie pins recipes and writes "Bridge, get on this."  I love pot lucks, parties, and dinner guests.  I love to cook and I love to  bake.

Ironically, I do not love to blog.  I have always loved to write, but I find myself sometimes inwardly groaning when I have had an intense day in the kitchen; I know I still have a lot to write about before I can hit the hay!  I considered stopping the blog today on my blogiversary, but after backlash from my "fans" (AKA my aunts and sisters!) I have decided to continue the blog, but only post when I have a new recipe to share.  No one needs to hear every time I make another baked Alaska or another batch of bagels.  The point of this blog is still the same: I want to keep a list of recipes that I have tried, and I hope to be able to share my favorites with you.  But I will only post when I have tried out something new.  I hope this new format works for you, because I am pretty excited about it :) 

Thank you to everyone who has read, commented, pinned, or even asked me the quickest way to chop cilantro.  It has meant a lot to me to hear that you have tried my recipes or even looked at this page at all.  I am looking forward to 2013 like you wouldn't believe!

Now, on to the recipes!

Last night was freeeeezing.  It was about 23 degrees and no matter how high we got the woodstove going, nothing made us warm, so it was the perfect night for soup.  Mark got me another soup magazine - I think for Christmas?  To be honest all I can remember that he gave me is the ring ;) Anyway, in the magazine is an intriguing recipe for a vegetarian Indian soup called spinach lentil.  I have never cooked with lentils, but I was reading about them and wondered, why the hell haven't I!?  They have no cholesterol and hardly any fat or calories; plus they are full of protein (a vegetarian's best friend!), folate, dietary fiber, and iron!  Hello, perfect little legume!

This soup has a lot of dicing and mincing, which took a while (even with my amazing new knives), but I was surprised just how quickly dried lentils cook.  The whole soup was ready in about an hour.  A note about the lentils - it called for yellow lentils, but I couldn't find them so I bought red and it worked just fine.  The final result is a soup that Mom said may be the best I have ever made.  It is very flavorful, with cumin, coriander and turmeric (a new spice for me!), not to mention garlic, onions and fresh ginger.  Right at the end, you toss in tomatoes, spinach and cilantro, so there are lots of veggies in there.  The lentils get partly mashed with a potato masher to help the soup be a little thicker and creamier, but not so smooshed that it loses texture.  This is a delicious, filling, warming soup.  I recommend serving it with the ginger-cilantro basmati rice like the recipe suggests; while it was far more labor-intensive than normal rice (more dicing and mincing!), it makes a delicious accompaniment.  I suggest spooning a bowlful of soup, and then plopping the rice on one side of the bowl.  You can mix them up if you like (Rachael did), but I liked taking a bite of each to fully appreciate both flavors!  Enjoy :)

Happy New Year, and bring on 2013!

Recipes:

Spinach and lentil soup
from Cuisine's Splendid Soups and Stews Magazine, January 2013

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup sliced onion
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon minced jalepeno (clearly I skipped this!)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 cup yellow lentils (I used the entire little bag)
7 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
2 dried bay leaves
1 cup seeded and chopped Roma tomatoes (I used more like 2 cups)
1 bag fresh spinach, chopped
2 tablespoons butter (skip this; it isn't needed.  I didn't add it and didn't miss it at all)
salt and black pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Instructions:

1) Melt two tablespoons butter in a large saute or saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add onion, garlic, ginger, jalapeno (or not), cumin, coriander, and turmeric; saute until onion is softened, 3-5 minutes.

2) Stir in lentils to coat with spices and butter.  Add broth and bay leaves.  Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, and cook until lentils are tender, 5-10 minutes.  Mash mixture until about half the lentils are smashd for body, but the soup still has texture.  Remove and discard bay leaves.

3) Add tomatoes and spinach, stirring until spinach wilts.  Stir in the butter at this point if you are using it, but I recommend not.  Season soup with salt and pepper and garnish with cilantro.

Ginger-Cilantro Basmati Rice

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup sliced onion
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoons minced garlic
1 cup dry basmati rice ((I used Jasmine)
2 cups water
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1) Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add onion, ginger and garlic; cook 3 minutes.

2) Stir in rice to coat with butter, then add water and bring to a boil.  Reduce mixture to a simmer, cover, and cook rice for 20 minutes.

3) Let rice stand 10 minutes; stir in cilantro and season with salt and pepper.

English Toffee

In my holiday blog slump, I am realizing that I have not posted about the dessert that I made for our Christmas party!  But first, some background information:

I am lactose intolerant, and yet I worked at an ice cream slash video rental store for 7 years.  They were 7 glorious years - for the most part. I was there through three different owners (including a psycho and a sweet little nugget), a power outage in which we saved as much ice cream as my family could fit in our basement freezer, and the awkward changeover from VHS to DVD.  One of the things people always asked me was, do you eat a ton of ice cream?!  And the answer is, of course, no.  My lactose intolerance made ice cream less tempting than it did for, say, Kenzie, who was once questioned on her over-intake of ice cream and peanut butter sauce ;)  But one thing I was interested in was toppings.  Gummy bears, cherries, Reece's Pieces... but above all, Heath Bars.  I  may or may not have eaten most of the Heath Bar topping that was purchased throughout those 7 years, and perhaps occasionally I scooped out the larger Heath pieces from coffee heath bar crunch frozen yogurt.  Probably not good business, but delicious candy.  English toffee has always had a special place in my heart!  Soooo, when my good friend Laura posted on Facebook that she was making her aunt Kathleen's English toffee recipe, I knew immediately I had to give it a shot.  I always bring some sort of candy to Christmas Eve; it always used to be fudge (which I hated making), then last year it was my apple cider caramels, but I was excited to try these; plus they don't take 3 hours like the caramels.  It took more like 30 minutes!

Any recipe that starts off with a pound of butter is bound to be delicious.  And any recipe that only has 3 steps is also a plus!  I did get nervous that the candy was going to stick, so I coated the pan with cooking spray, and once it had hardened, all I had to do was bend the pan a little and it started cracking and coming out easily.  Once it came out, it was hard not to eat it all myself.  The toffee, topped with chocolate and walnuts, is literally perfection.  If you're looking for a quick, delicious, easy candy, go with Aunt Kathleen's English toffee :)  Thanks for the recipe, LG!


Recipe:
English Toffee
from Laura's Aunt Kathleen

Ingredients:
1 lb. butter (or 4 sticks)
6 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Hershey's chocolate bars (3-4) broken into squares
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions:
1) Heat butter, sugar and water in a saucepan to 310 degrees while stirring constantly. Add vanilla.

2) Pour into a cookie sheet with sides. Place chocolate pieces on top. Spread with a spatula when the chocolate is soft.

3) Top with walnuts. Press into candy with spatula. Cool and break into pieces.

Black Bean Soup with Sweet Potatoes

I'm back at it, folks.  I realized when I was in the kitchen this year that I was really slacking.  So I apologize again for the lack of posts at Christmas time, but I am back with a delicious soup recipe to share!

Last fall, before I started my blog, Mark randomly bought me a soup magazine, and I made this black bean soup with sweet potatoes a few times.  It was basically one of the recipes that was so successful, it made me decide to make cooking my New Year's resolution. We all liked it.  Anyway, my mom is sick and has been for almost a week, so we decided she needed soup.  I offered to make this soup, since in our crazy pre-Christmas house cleaning, I found this old magazine again.  She agreed, and it feels like ages since I made a good meal for my family, so I was happy to get back in the kitchen (and to use my new knives!!!  Thanks Rachael and Alex!)

Mmmmm!

The soup comes together in about 45 minutes.  The hardest part is the cutting of the sweet potatoes, but I swear, with my new Henckels, it wasn't too bad!  The soup is flavored with some interesting spices, like cumin, coriander, and aniseed.  I didn't have aniseed but I used a coupel drops of anise extract. Then I got to use my immersion blender, which is always fun.  When the soup is made, you remove 3 cups of the beans and potatoes, and blend all the rest; then you put the vegetables back in so that it's not just puree.  Then, there are two garnishes, and let me tell you: do not skip the garnishes.  They really make this soup's flavors pop - especially the lime slices.   Please oh please do not skip the lime slices!  I decided that every single bite had to be first spooned on top of the lime slice first to get lots of tangy lime juice.  The other garnish is plain yogurt, which makes the soup creamy and pretty - not to mention it cools it down a bit when it's right off the stove.  After eating it, Mom said it was the best she had felt all day, so I hope it is working :)  Everyone who tried it loves it; it is filling and flavorful and absolutely delicious.  And it gets even better after a couple days in the refrigerator, too.  Christy: make this soup :)

Recipe:

black bean soup with sweet potatoes
from The Best of Fine Cooking: Soups and Sandwiches magazine (2011)
yields about 14 cups, or 8 servings

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 medium yellow onions, chopped
3 medium cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1  1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon aniseed
freshly ground black pepper
2 quarts chicken or vegetable broth
4 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into medium dice
kosher salt
1/2 cup plain yogurt for garnish
8 paper-thin lime slices for garnish

Instructions:
1) Heat the oil over medium heat in a large pot.  Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until they start to soften and brown slightly, about 8 minutes.

2) Add the garlic, coriander, cumin, aniseed, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.  Cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

3)  Add the broth, black beans, sweet potatoes, and 3/4 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil over high heat.  Skim any foam as necessary.  Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the sweet potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.

4)  Using a slotted spoon, set aside 3 cups of the beans and potatoes.  Puree the remaining soup in batches using an immersion blender.  Return the reserved beans and potatoes to the soup and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Serve topped with a dollop of the garlic and a lime slice.  Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Using the immersion blender!

Merry Christmas!

Okay: officially the worst blogger ever.  I am trying not to notice the last time I posted, but I know it's a loooong time ago.  In my defense, it has been insane these past couple weeks.  It all began with the cookie swap - the topic of this post - and then moved right into preparations for Christmas Eve here at our house, and then Christmas Day... oh, and toss in MY ENGAGEMENT TO MARK, and I think I have some good excuses for being too busy to blog.  It has been a crazy, busy, wonderful week of holiday insanity!

I do have a ton to catch you up on, but for now, I wanted to just discuss the cookie swap, which we held on December 19.  It was a Wednesday, so we still had a couple days left of school before vacation, but we were starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Our house was beginning to get prepared for hosting all 50 family members here for Christmas Eve, and Anne, Kenzie, Mom and I decided that we always want to get invited to cookie swaps but never do, so why not throw our own here?  We sent out Facebook invitations to family and a few friends, and voila: the cookie swap was born.

Cookies galore!

I would say the party was a success.  Here is what we came up with for directions as to How to Throw a Cookie Swap (because we had no idea what we were doing!)

1) Invite people.  This is rather obvious, but you need a good number of cookies to have a swap.  We decided to invite about 10 people.  If you have too many, the amount of cookies to taste test is overwhelming, and too few and it's awkward.  We also told people right off the bat to bring 2-3 dozen cookies.  We felt it wasn't necessary to have people bring a dozen cookies for everyone invited, like some cookie swaps suggest.  A few of each kind of cookie was plenty.  Next time, I might have people bring a recipe card of their cookie; we didn't this year, and I wanted some of the recipes!

2) Decide on which awards will be given.  We were kind of half-assing the awards for this swap, considering I frantically created 4 ribbons using Paint on my work computer during dismissal one day. We decided to give an award for best tasting, worst tasting, prettiest, and ugliest.  My mother thinks that next year, the negative awards should be nixed, but I thought it was kind of funny.



Here are the ribbons for prettiest and ugliest, and the winning cookies!

Lots of chocolates and candles for prizes!

3) Buy prizes.  In addition to awards, it would be nice to hand out prizes for each award.  Again, we half-assed this as well, so we bought no prizes.  Luckily, I am a teacher, and it was the week before Christmas, so I may or may not have given out some of the gifts I had already received :)  Sorry kids, I am allergic to artificial scents!



Voting... Kelsey is not pleased with the results...

 

4) Prepare the house, snacks, and drinks.  You need to decide where the cookies will be set up, figure out appetizers and beverages, and make sure you have something that people will be able to use to pack up cookies to take home.  We moved our kitchen chairs into the other rooms and pushed our table against the wall for more room in the kitchen.  The cookies all went on the table, and there was enough room for us to all stand in the kitchen to vote (although most swaps do a silent ballot... we were paperless, just like we are at work!).  A few people brought appetizers, but we provided cheese and crackers, a delicious goat cheese pomegranate crostini appetizer, a Mexican layer dip, and a cocoa bar, where we had marshmallows, candy canes, and whipped cream!  All of these were a huge hit. 

Marshmallows for the cocoa bar!



Cocoa bar

4) Party!  We had a wonderful night - especially me and Susie, as the top winners for prettiest (my linzer cookies) and best tasting (Susie's almond biscotti).  Kelsey was the big winner of the night, with two awards!  Unfortunately, they were for ugliest and worst tasting.  Haha!  A for effort, Kels.  Again, my mom is now against the "mean awards" but as long as your guests have a good sense of humor, I think it is just fine.
Here are the recipes for the winning cookies (okay, except for Kelsey's!):

Linzer cookies (won the award for prettiest!)
from Martha Stewart

 

Ingredients:

 

5 ounces unblanched hazelnuts (1 cup)

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon table salt

Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

2/3 cup raspberry or cherry jam

 

Instructions:

 

1)  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place hazelnuts on a baking sheet, and toast in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and immediately transfer nuts to a clean towel. Vigorously rub the nuts in the towel to remove as much of the skins as possible. Set nuts aside until completely cool. Place nuts in a food processor, and process until finely ground. Set aside.

 

2)  In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg, and beat until smooth, about 3 minutes. Beat in vanilla.

 

3) Whisk together reserved hazelnuts, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add to butter mixture; beat on low until combined, about 2 minutes. Form dough into two flattened disks, wrap each with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or overnight.

 

4)   Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Have ready two baking sheets lined with Silpats or parchment paper. Also have ready one 2 1/2-inch round fluted cookie cutter and one 3/4-inch cookie cutter (or a Linzer set!  I think my cookies are a bit smaller). On a lightly floured work surface, roll out half the dough to a scant 1/4-inch thickness. Using the 3-inch fluted cutter, cut out cookies. With a wide spatula, transfer cookies to the prepared baking sheets. Using the smaller cutter, cut the centers out of half of the cookies. Repeat rolling and cutting with the other half of the dough. Combine the scraps from both batches, reroll and cut.

 

5) Bake until the edges are golden, 12 to 16 minutes, rotating halfway through. Remove from oven; place on wire racks until completely cool.

 

6)   Lightly sift confectioners' sugar over the decorative tops; set aside. Spread a scant tablespoon of jam on the bottoms of each cookie, and sandwich with the sugar-dusted tops.

 

 

 

almond biscotti  (won the award for best tasting!)

from a mystery source (Susie saved it into a Word file!)

 

Almond Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons almond extract
1/2 cup oil
2 tablespoons. cold water
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 1/2 cup flour
2 tsteaspoons baking powder
10 oz. slivered almonds
6 oz. chopped almonds
1 egg white, lightly beaten (for wash)
sugar or melting chocolate (optional)

Instructions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat first 6 ingredients until creamy.

 

2) Sift in cinnamon, flour, and baking powder and mix by hand until well combined.

 

3) Fold in almonds. Shape dough into 3 small loaves on a baking sheet lined with parchment and brush with egg wash.

 

4) Sprinkle with sugar and bake 20 - 25 minutes or until loaves are golden. Cool slightly and slice each loaf into bars. If desired, drizzle with melted chocolate.

 

Linzer Cookies

I have been having a rather horrible week.  Just when you thin it won't get worse, it does.  I have learned that I should stop saying, "jeez it can't get any worse."  Lots of stress, Dad's hospitalization, 2 young acquaintances dying in car accidents, and the elementary school shooting on the news - and that's not even all of it!  So tonight, I was in desperate need of some good old cookie-baking, the best form of therapy (right LG? ;) ).  I needed to get my mind off everything with a rather involved recipe, and I was lucky enough to have a new cookie option tonight: linzer cookies!  Mom got me a linzer cookie cutter set for Christmas but I talked her into handing it over early so I can make some before the holiday.  To be honest, I don't even think I knew this type of cookie existed a year or so ago.  But recently I realized that there is such thing as a nut-based sandwich cookie, with raspberry jam in the middle, and a little cut-out from the top cookie so that the filling peeks out... just adorable.

Love my new linzer cookie cutter set!

The first thing you have to do is toast the hazelnuts.  All the recipes I saw call for either almonds or hazelnuts, which I didn't know (then again I just confessed I really knew nothing about linzers so I guess that is not surprising).  I used hzelnuts, roasted them in the oven, and then peeled off as many of the skins as I could.  This took a while since all I had were chopped hazelnuts, but it was okay.  I got to use my awesome food processor again! Then I made the cookie dough, which besides the nuts also has cinnamon and nutmeg for flavoring, and let it chill for an hour.  Then it was time to use my new linzer cookie cutter set, which I am officially in love with.  The cookies come out the same perfect size with a fluted edge, and the contraption has a little pushy-thing that pushes the cookie out of the cutter, so you don't have to fight with it.  But the coolest part is that there are interchangable tiny cookie cutters that you can attach that cut out a small shape from the center of the cookie.  This allows you to make some cookies (the bottoms) that are just plain fluted circles, and the tops with a little cut-out.  I had several different shapes to choose from, and it was fun rolling out the dough and deciding which little cutter to use.  A note about baking: check them after 11 minutes in the oven.  The recipe says 12-15 minutes, but mine were done after 11.

Love the way the sugar looked after I dusted!

Putting them together was my favorite part.  First, I sprinkled the tops with confectionary sugar (you want to do this before you put them all together so that the filling stays perfect).  Then I smeared seedless raspberry jam onto the bottom cookies, and fitted each with a top.  I think they are the most beautiful little cookies I have ever made!  I love the cookies themselves because they are sprinkled with sugar, brown and flecked with hazelnut and spices.  The cut-outs from the top let the jam shine underneath.  And besides all that, they are absolutely delicious.  Mom was a huge fan! I think I found a cookie to hand out to my family and friends for Christmas!  These babies are gorgeous, tasty, and therapeutic to make, at that!

Bad news!

Recipe:
linzer cookies

Cookie Obsessed

I am a bad blogger.  I ca't even keep up with my own weekight recipes this week!  Argh.

Okay so rewind to Tuesday night.  We were all still pretty exhausted from the craziness of Dad being hospitalized (he is home now though!  Yay!) and in need of some good old fashioned comfort food.  I decided to make the caprese lasagna roll-ups again.  I made them a few weeks ago, and everyone loved them.  You know my family - that does not often (ever) happen, so I knew when I made them that I would be making them again.  This time around I was quicker, although I do still think that a regular lasagna is faster, yet not as cute or perfectly portioned!  I do also stand by my thought that you honestly cannot attempt to smear the cheese mixture on the cooked noodles until they have cooled.  And please make sure your basset hound does not eat a couple noodles while they cool on the counter.  Oh, you don't have that problem?  Weird :)

As always, they were a huge hit.  Someone who begged not to be named happened to eat 3 roll-ups, which was more than even her boyfriend ate.  They are cheesy and saucy, and the bright pop of the tomatoes and brightness of the basil... exactly the comfort food we needed.  Love these roll-ups.

Then last night, it was a cookie baking kind of night.  I was thinking, and it is kind of funny how many cookies I have been making lately.  I guess it's just the season for cookies and it has me wanting to bake them every night! The funniest part is that I remember blogging last winter that I hate making cookies.  I was on a real cupcake swing then, and now I can hardly remember the last cupcake I make.  I guesss I have phases!  Anyway, I decided to bake some cookies, and Mom had sent me an email that day with a forwarded recipe she got from Food Network: Jamie Deen's old-fashioned ginger crinkle cookies.  I love ginger, and I have been baking crinkle cookies like nobody's business this year, so I figured I would give it a try.  Mom was happy because the recipe did not call for crystallized ginger (remember how much she loathed the cookies I baked that called for that!?) and I was happy because it made the house smell like Christmas as they baked, with all the cinnamon and cloves and allspice!  You roll the dough into balls and then roll the balls in turbinando sugar, which gives them a soft inside and a crunch on the outside.  My mom has said they are very addicting, so beware if you make them :) They go fast!

The cookies from the extra dough; Mom loves them!

Tonight I had a special thing to work on.  We do a Secret Santa at work, and my person wrote that they love cheesecakes and tiramisu.  So I figured, for the big gift at the end of the week, I would combine the two and make tiramisu cheesecake bars!  I found the recipe online and it seemed easy enough: you make a sugar cookie crust (with extra dough for some cookies as well!), then fill it with a mocha-flavored cheesecake, and top it with a cream cheese/ whipped cream topping and chocolate curls.  I have all the parts made, and I am currently chilling the whole thing.  I will cut it into bars tomorrow, pack as many as I can fit into my cute little snowman tin, and bring them to work.  I hope she likes them :) 

A couple things about the recipe; there were some issues.  First, the ingredient list calls for an egg, but then never says when to add it!  Add it after the butter and sugar have been creamed.  I am so glad I realized this error before I attempted to make the dough work for me.  Also, I thought it was very weird that the topping calls for no sugar.  Cream cheese and cream alone?!  So I added 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar.  I can't tell you if it is good or not just yet, but I will be leaving a few bars at home for Mom to try, so I can keep you posted!  Now, time to decorate the top with some melted choclate (the recipe calls for grated chocoalte, but I have no chocolate to grate!)

After baking

Thank GOD tomorrow is Friday.

Recipes:
old fashioned ginger crinkle cookies
tiramisu cheesecake bars

caprese lasagna roll-ups
from Cooking Classy

Ingredients:
8 lasagna noodles, uncooked
14 oz freshly shredded, low-moisture part skim Mozzarella cheese, divided
3/4 cup Ricotta cheese
1 large egg white
1/3 cup freshly, finely shredded Parmesan cheese (about 1 1/4 oz)
freshly ground black pepper
3 - 4 medium Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced (about 1/6 inch thick slices)
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil, plus more for garnish
1 cup Simple Marinara Sauce, recipe follows  (or just use a can/jar of sauce if you want to be lazy like me!)

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook pasta according to directions listed on package to al dente. Drain pasta (DO NOT rinse with water) and align lasagna noodles in a single layer on a large sheet of parchment or wax paper.

2) For filling, in a large mixing bowl, whisk together ricotta cheese and egg white until well blended. Stir in Parmesan cheese. Mix in 12 oz. of the mozzarella cheese and season with salt and  black pepper to taste.

3) Place 1/4 cup of the cheese mixture over each lasagna noodle and spread into an even layer, going from one end of the lasagna to the other. Align 4 thin tomato slices over cheese mixture then sprinkle fresh basil over top. Snugly roll lasagna noodles to opposite end.

4) Spread about 1/4 cup pasta sauce in the bottom of an 11 x 7 inch baking dish. Align lasagna roll ups, seam side down in dish. Top each roll up with about 2 Tbsp of the pasta sauce (covering edges of pasta so they don't dry out while baking). Sprinkle top with remaining 2 oz. shredded Mozzarella. Bake in preheated oven 30 minutes. Remove from oven, plate pasta and garnish with plenty of basil ribbons. Serve warm.


Simple Marinara Sauce
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped yellow onion
2 cloves garlic finely minced
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste


Directions:
Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Add onions to hot oil and saute about 3 minutes until soft, adding garlic during last minute of sauteing. Pour in crushed tomatoes and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring mixture just to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and allow sauce to cook for about 25 - 30 minutes (which will allow some of the water in crushed tomatoes to evaporate) while you prepare pasta and lasagna filling (you can freeze or refrigerate left over sauce in a small airtight container for later use, adding fresh basil if desired).

Baking Cookies to Relax

Ugh.  Well today has not been the greatest day.  Dad is in the hospital with some sort of infection going on, and I got the job of staying home to keep the hounds from going crazy, and to make sure there is at least one family member who can sleep tonight and thus be in charge tomorrow.  So here I am, home alone and stressed, so I figured I might as well bake some cookies to try to take my mind of everything and relax.

I first did a recipe that was in my Food Network Magazine as one of their 25 Days of Cookies.  They are called oatmeal lace cookies, and in the pictures they really do look like lace with a light chocolate drizzle on top.  They don't have many ingredients: basically you melt butter and sugar together, then add oats, flour, a little salt, and egg whites.  You mush it on to parchment paper and spread it into a 3-inch circle.  In hindsight, I would recommend making the circles smaller.  The cookies end up really large (they are bigger than my hand!), and you only get 12 of them.  But just be prepared that they spread out a lot in the pan.  Anyway, they do form big lacy cookies that you then drizzle with melted chocolate.  I tried one, and they are really good.  Very buttery and sweet and delicate.  Too bad we are down to 11.

When the oatmean laces were done so quickly, I decided to make something else.  I ventured into Mom and Dad's orange recipe folders.  I found a cookie recipe that sounded great chocolate-sesame cookies.  They look similar to chocolate crinkles, but they are rolled in sesame seeds.  Plus they have tahini in them, which intrigued me since I love tahini in hummus but have never seen it in cookies.  The chocolate part of the cookie is melted semi-sweet chocolate mixed with butter and tahini (which is sesame paste, FYI).  Then separately, you mix the dry ingredients, and the eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla.  Then all three mixtures get combined, and the dough needs to be chilled.  I recommend freezing the dough, because it is a very soft, melty dough, probably because of the semisweet chocolate.  So you need it extra cold.  Then you roll the dough balls in sesame seeds.  I toasted a big batch of the seeds, but then needed more, so I just used them untoasted and they came out just fine.  I have eaten two of these already and I can already tell that people are really going to love them.  They are chocolately but at the same time have that soft sesame taste, from the tahini and the seeds on the outside.  Mom is going to be in for a treat after a very long night in the ER.  Fingers crossed that a bed opens up in the ICU soon :(

Recipes:

oatmeal lace cookies
from the December 2012 issue of Food Network Magazine

Ingredients:
1 stick unsalted butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup rolled oats (not instant)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon beaten egg white (same as 1 egg white)
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Instructions:
1)  Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

2) Melt the butter with sugar in a saucepan over low heat, stirring, until the mixture thickens and the sugar is almost dissolved, about 5 minutes.  Transfer to a large bowl and stir in the oats, flour, vanilla and salt.  Let cool 10 minutes, then stir in the egg white.

3)  Drop 6 rounded tablespoons of batter onto each prepared baking sheet, about 3 1/2 inches apart.  Spread each mound into a 3-inch circle.  Bake, switching the position of the pans halfway through, until golden brown, 12-15 minutes.  Let cool on baking sheets until firm, aboout 3 minutes.  Then use a thin metal spatula and transfer to a rack to cool completely.

4)  Put the chocolate in a small microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring, until melted.  Drizzle on the cookies and let set, about 30 minutes.



chocolate-sesame cookies
from the October 2011 issue of  Better Homes and Gardens Magazine

Ingredients:
8 oz. semisweet chocolate
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons tahini
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup sesame seeds, toasted

Instructions:
1) In small saucepan, melt chocolate and butter over low heat, stirring frequently until smooth.  Remove from heat; stir in tahini.  Set aside.

2) In small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.  In large mixing bowl, beat eggs until frothy.  Add brown sugar and vanilla; beat until well-combined.  Beat in chocolate mixture. Beat in flour mixture just until combined.  Cover; chill dough about 30 minutes or until easy to handle.

3) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Roll dough into 1-inch balls; roll balls in sesame seeds to coat.  Place on cookie sheets 2 inches apart.

4)  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until puffed and set on the bottoms.  Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

I Need 2 Ovens

What I have learned from my cooking and baking the last few days is that I need two ovens.  It is very hard to make elaborate 5-course meals when you can only bake one thing at a time.  But I'm getting ahead of myseld and I have about a billion recipes to share, so let me focus.

Thursday night, I made dinner for me, Mark, Rachael and Alex.  I had minimal supplies and was tired and stressed, so I wanted to see what I could whip up using one lone leek, some pasta, lemons, and bacon.  Strange ingredients, but I actually came up with a recipe for pasta carbonara with leeks and lemon.  Of course, not having more than 1 leek, I had to be a bit creative to add to the vegetable part of the dish, so I threw in some leftover kale, which I think was an excellent decision.  As for the pasta, I was very limited in my choices: I could use orzo, stuffed shells, or lasagna.  None of those were exactly what I wanted (the recipe calls for "short pasta"), so I got creative again and broke the lasagna into pieces.  It ended up working out just fine.  The one thing that was weird is that the sauce is made of lemon zest and juice, parmesan, and two eggs.  You toss it on the pasta and serve it.  With raw eggs!!!  That really freaked me out a little, so I ended up throwing the pot back on the stove for a quick minute to cook the eggs.  I know that's not what the recipe said to do, but I was all about making things up for myself that night.  In the end, the dish was really tasty and got compliments from all three of my dinnermates.  Plus I was rather proud of myself for thinking like a chef and doing weird things to the recipe!

Then yesterday I signed up to bring dinner to a very good family friend.  You know, one of those friends who will be at your house within 8 seconds of your family emergency with a meal from Olive Garden?  That kind of person who works for every single charity that exists, including running around like a crazy lady during my golf tournament?  The lady who will do whatever you need, whenever you do it?  That would be Tammy.  So when her mother died, I immediately sent her a text and offered to  bring over dinner.  Apparently, Susie texted her at the same time, so she took Friday and I took yesterday.  I asked Susie what she brought so I wouldn't repeat, and she said she had made a ziti bake, and then said, "Oh, and did you know there are 12 people?"  Ha!  Well no, I was not aware of that, but hey, I'm not scared of cooking for large amounts of people.  What scared me more was Susie's hint that most of the people are "big hungry men" who might like to eat meat.  Okay... so I am cooking a whole meal for 12 people and making something meaty.... no problem!  I frantically texted Kenzie for advice, and she recommended a ham dinner.  That requires minimal meat-touching and would allow me to focus on the parts that I like best: breads, dessert, and side dishes.  So Kenzie shopped for me and I got started on my menu: spiral ham, twice baked potato casserole, from scratch green bean casserole, honey yeast rolls, and chocolate crinkle cookies!

I made the cookies first, and thanks to some dough rolling help from Kenzie, they were done in no time.  These are honestly my go-to cookies for anything.  Everyone loves them, they are pretty and easy, and the recipe makes a ton.  This is my third time making them and I know it won't be my last.

Then I started my bread dough.  I knew I wanted to make the family some bread, and at first I thought I would make the herbed dinner rolls I made for Easter, but when I saw this recipe for honey yeast rolls from my beloved Annie's Eats, I knew I wanted to try them instead.  They have honey in them, so they are slightly sweet but still savory enough to serve with dinner.  Plus you brush the tops with honey and melted butter; that right there got me! The dough has to rise for 2 hours, which was good because it gave me time to work on the casseroles in between.  When it was ready, I divided the dough into perfect round little balls (I am finally getting good at that!) and put them into a round cake pan to bake.  I am very glad I doubled this recipe and kept some for my family, because they are delicious.  And I even forgot to use bread flour until my last 2 cups, so I was worried that the consistency wouldn't be perfect, but oh, it was.  They are, like I said, slightly sweet, soft and fluffy.  The top is golden brown and buttery and honey-y (is that a word), and it is very very easy to eat more than one in a sitting.  These rolls will be made again.  Soon,

Casseroles, pre-baking

Next it was casserole time.  I started with the potato casserole first.  I made a very similar one back for my family's Easter dinner, but this recipe came from Annie and so I wanted to try it.  Unlike the misleading recipe name implies, these potatoes are not twice baked, or even baked at all until you bake the whole casserole!  They are peeled and boiled, and then mashed with all sorts of delightful goodies like cheddar cheese, sour cream, bacon and scallions.  Can you imagine anything more delicious?  Baked with more cheese and scallions on top for 20 minutes, and voila: twice baked potatoes, minus the skin, minus the re-stuffing!  So easy and so amazing.  I was very glad to have doubled this recipe as well, so we got to keep one of the casseroles.  I am not embarrassed to admit that I just finished off the last tiny remnant of this casserole; it is everything that mashed potatoes in a casserole should be.

my own cream of mushroom soup!

The green bean casserole intrigued me from the minute I saw the recipe (good old Annie's Eats again!).  I have never actually had green bean casserole, actually, but I know what it is: green beans, cream of mushroom soup, topped with fried onions.  It sounds great to me, but my family has just never had it.  When I saw this recipe for the same casserole but with everything from scratch, I had to try it out.  You literally make your own cream of mushroom soup, with mushrooms, half and half,  chicken broth, and, interestingly, soy sauce.  Then you blanch the green beans and put them in the soup, and bake it all together.  Pretty easy, actually.  The not-so-easy part came while the casseroles baked; you have to fry some shallot to sprinkle over the top of the finished dish.  I've never fried anything before, and it was not the bsest experience.  The oil had to be 350 degrees, but how are you supposed to get it to stop once it hits 350? It gets hotter so much faster than, say, caramels.  My candy thermometer was going through the roof, and the oil was starting to burn to the pan.  The second I dropped in my flour-covered shallots, they turned pitch black.  Great.  So I turned the stove to low and waited for it to cool off a little; that worked better.  I guess keeping the unit on high was a bad idea.  I did get some of the shallots to look golden brown and pretty.  And yet, not a one ended up on the casserole.  Do you see where this is going?  Delilah got to eat an entire plate of fried shallots.  So I guess we can ask her how they were, since Tammy's family didn't get to eat a one.  Grrrrr.  And I did not have enough ingredients to make my family one of these casseroles, so I can't tell you how it was, but it looked and smelled amazing, so I have a feeling I will have to try to make this for us soon!

Now, I am not going to waste much time on the ham, since I hate meat, but it made me angry because it had to bake for about 2 hours, at a stupidly low temp of 275 degrees.  This meant nothing could bake at the same time with it, and it took all afternoon, hogging the oven!  This is why I need two ovens.  Hopefully I will never have to deal with giant hunks of meat again, but Tammy and her family were worth it :)

"Seriously?  There is a ham on the floor and it is NOT for us?"

Unfortunately, all this meat-oven-hogging meant that the poor people didn't eat till after 7:00, which to my family is actually rather early to eat, but I have a bad feeling that normal people in normal families eat much earlier than we do.  Let's face it: I am a slow cook.  I am thousands of times faster that I was a year ago (scary thought), but still pretty slow.  Although I would like to blame this slowness on the ham, and the fact that perhaps most people bringing a meal to grieving friends do not make 5 things from scratch.  Ahhhh Tammy, now I see why you go to Olive Garden ;)  With that said, I am really glad that I spent all day running around like a crazy lady in the kitchen for Tammy and her family.  While they might have been close to passing out from hunger by the time I got there, I was told that everything went except a tiny serving of green bean casserole.  What better way to say thank you for all that you have done for us, by doing a little something for that person?  7 hours in the kitchen is nothing compared to what we have gotten from Tammy!  :)

By the way, I recommend all of the recipes I am sharing today.  They were all easy and delicious, so give them a try!

P.S. Mark got the job :)

Recipes:
pasta carbonara with leeks and lemon
chocolate crinkle cookies
honey yeast rolls
twice baked potato casserole
green bean casserole

Mexican Tamale Pies

Tonight I made Mexican tamale pies again.  I made these before, maybe a few months ago, and I loved them.  They are so healthy and low-fat, but full of flavor.  I also like that everyone gets their own little pie in a ramekin - perfect portion control (even if Mark ate two :) It was okay because I made 10 pies anyway... you know me and doubling). 

They are basically similar to a vegetarian chili (made with corn, zucchini, tomatoes and beans), topped with polenta.  And if you haven't made polenta before, you need to.  It's really fun to stir cornmeal and water and salt together and all of a sudden go from a soupy watery thing to a thick mushy paste!  Yes that is probably the most fun I had all day.... it's been a rough week!

The only downside is that they do take a while; you have to simmer the filling for 40 minutes to let it thicken enough, and then the pies bake for 45 more minutes.  I realize that an hour and a half is probably not an insanely huge amount of time to spend on dinner, but on a rainy, sleepy Tuesday when everyone comes home from work at 5:00 starving, it did feel like a while!  I think it is a miracle that Mark ate two since he snacked throughout the whole cooking experience :)

With that said, you should probably try these pies.  They are really not that much work; you just toss everything into a pan and let it sit, then make pies and bake.  Plus they are delicious.  I am pretty happy that I have about 4 pies leftover, so I guess work is covered for the rest of the week!


Mexican Tamale Pies
from chocolatecoveredkatie
(makes 4-5 pies)

Ingredients:
1 can (15 oz.) pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (15 oz.) diced tomatoes
1 small zucchini, cut into tiny pieces
1  1 3/4 cup fresh or frozen corn
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 teaspoon onion
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
for the polenta topping: 1 cup cornmeal, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 2/3 cups water.

Instructions:
1) Combine first 8 ingredients in a small pot and cook on low-medium for 40 minutes, stirring very occasionally as it bubbles. 

2) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Meanwhile, combine all other ingredients and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. As soon as it starts to boil, lower the heat to a simmer and stir constantly until it thickens.

3)  Portion the bean mixture into oven-proof dishes. Top with polenta, smooth the tops, and bake 45 minutes. You can broil for a few minutes at the end if you wish.

Call Me Julia Child

It was another chilly day, perfect for soups and cooking all afternoon!  It was a great Sunday because Mark actually had the day off, and usually when that happens, he makes dinner, so today I decided to give him a break and make something special.  I used the same soup cookbook as yesterday and came up with a rather wild idea: beef bourguignon.  It's kind of like a beef stew, but in a red wine-based broth, and - get ready for this - you have to flambe it.  As in, light the alcohol fumes on fire.  I had my doubts that my house would survive my attempt to flambe anything, but I had to try it.

I have to say that while I love the cooking process and don't at all mind long, involved recipes, when they involve lots of meat, it takes a lot of the pleasure away!  Hacking at three pounds of beef chuck was not my idea of fun, especially when all my knives seem to be as dull as butter knives.  By the time I was done slicing and dicing, my arm was literally shaking, which made browning all the sides of my cubed beef rather painful and difficult.  But I got it done, and it made me feel better that this was the first time I got to use my Dutch oven as a Dutch oven.  I have used it before, but only to bake things in.  This time I got to use it to brown the meat on the stove, and then bake it all in the oven.  One pan, two jobs!  Gotta love my Le Creuset.

The meat cooks for two hours with carrots, onions, garlic, lots of red wine, beef broth, and a little brandy.  The brandy was what we had to light on fire, and the recipe called it an essential step in many French recipes.  Of course, I couldn't find long kitchen matches, so Mark and Aex helped me and were brave enough to man the lighter for me.  Nothing happened to first time, so we figured the whole mixture had to be hotter.  We moved it to the heat (even though I read to not flambe it while you have it on the heat), tossed in a little more brandy (this meal is an alcoholic's dream! Don't worry - it all burns or cooks off), and: whoosh!  FLAMBE!  It was very exciting.  Thanks for your help, pyro boys!

Most of the time spent on this meal was wait time; you have to bake the whole stew for 2 hours.  Meanwhile you saute pearl onions and mushrooms to toss in at the end, along with some parsley.  It ends up looking just like a thick beef stew.

I also decided to make some biscuits with the stew.  The quickest and easiest recipe I could find was one by Paula Deen.  The only weird thing was that it gives directions on how to bake them in a fire, not in the oven.  I just tossed them in with the stew, at 350 degrees, for 15 minutes.  They puffed up a little but I would have preferred them to rise a bit more.  The recipe never said how thick to roll them out, also; maybe I rolled them too thin. Nevertheless, they tasted really good and were a good mix with the stew!

And as for the beef bourguignon itself?  Absolutely delicious.  Even I liked the meat - and you know I never say that.  It was so tender, you hardly had to chew it, and the flavor of the broth was so complex and robust and absolutely amazing that I ate until I was sick.  And I don't even regret it.  It got rave reviews from Mom, Alex, Mark and Rachael (who of course complained about the mushrooms and wished there were more carrots, but that's about as "rave review" as Rach gets).  Lots of second helpings all around tonight!

And now shockingly it is 9:00 on a Sunday night and I need to start thinking about heading to bed.  Where did this weekend go??

Recipes:
biscuits


beef bourguignon

from Williams-Sonoma's Soups and Stews

Ingredients:
6 strips bacon, cut into 1/2-inch strips
3 lbs. beef chuck, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
salt and ground pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 yellow onions, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Cognac  or brandy
3 cups dry, full-bodied red wine
1  1/2 cups beef stock
1 tablespoon tomato paste
4 cloves garlic,  minced
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons butter
1 lb. white button mushrooms, quartered
7 oz. fresh pearl onions, blanched and peeled
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

Instructions:

1) In a frying pan over medium-high heat, saute the bacon until browned but not crisp, about 3 minutes.  Transfer to paper towels.

2) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Pat the beef dry and season with salt and pepper.  In a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, heat the oil.  Working in batches to avoid crowding, add the beef and brown on all sides, 4-5 minutes per batch.  Transfer the browned meat to a bowl and set aside.

3) Add the chopped carrots and onions to the pot and saute over medium-high heat until the onions are lightly browned, about 4 minutes.  Reduce the heat to low; sprinkle the flour on top and cook, stirring, until the flour is incorporated, 1-2 minutes.  Return the bacon and meat, along with any juices, to the pot.

4) Remove from the heat, add the Cognac, and flambe.  Return to medium-low heat; add the wine, stock, tomato paste, garlic, bay leaf, and salt and pepper to taste.  Bring to a simmer.  Transfer to the oven and braise, covered, until the meat is fork-tender and the stew is the consistency of thick cream, about 2 hours.  Discard the bay leaf.

5) Meanwhile, in a frying pan over medium-high heat,  melt 2 tablespoons of butter.  Add the mushrooms and saute until browned, about 5 minutes.  Transfer to a bowl.  Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter, add the pearl onions, and cook, strirring, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.  Add 1/2 cup water, cover, and cook until the onions are softened, 3-5 minutes.  Transfer to the bowl with the mushrooms.

6) When ready to serve, stir the mushrooms, pearl onions, and 1 tablespoon of the parsley into the stew.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with the remaining 2 tablespoons parsley. Serve immediately.

Roasted Vegetable Stew with Couscous

Today it has been snowing.  Since it is Saturday and I didn't have to go out into it, I didn't mind it so much.  In fact, it was really pretty, and it got me in the mood to make some soup.  I got Rachael and Mom to grocery shop for me since they were going out to lunch anyway, and I ransacked Dad's cookbook collection and found one dedicated to soups: Williams-Sonoma's Soups and Stews.  Dinner tomorrow night will also be coming from this book; there are lots of good options!

Today I was focused on making something vegetarian, since unfortunately I will be making carnivorous foods for my family.  Roasted vegetable stew with couscous caught my attention right away.  I love stew but not so much stew meat, so this was perfect!  It called for all sorts of weird vegetables that obviously were not availabe at the Ghetto Basker Mom shopped at: eggplant and "crookeck squash," for example.  In their places, I used cauliflower, and three kinds of squash: summer, acorn, and sweet dumpling.  For some reason, although this recipe claims to feed 6 people, I ended up with the most ridiculous amount of vegetables needing to be roasted in the same pan!  I don't even have a big roasting pan, so at first I tried piling everything into my biggest lasagna dish, but that made the stirring every 15 minutes impossible, and the veggies were not getting tender at all, so I put half of it into another lasagna dish and waited... and waited... these babies were roasting at 400 degrees for multiple hours when it was supposed to take one!  I swear the recipe was written wrong.... anyway, if you try this one, be sure to cut up everything pretty small; it may say that carrots can be 1 1/2 inches, but go smaller.  Don't halve the brussels sprouts; chop 'em!  Everything else cooked okay, but still took probably 3 hours.

In the end, I made couscous to serve it with, and had enough food to feed an army (and of course, no one was home but me and Mom).  I was nervous that my multiple-hour meal would be a waste of time, but it was really good.  Mom loved it and made me promise I would make it again!  I guess I will, but only if I get a big roasting pan first!  I have to say that I liked all my weird vegetable additions; the squash was Mom's favorite, and the cauliflower was one of the vegetables that actually cooked right!  I do recommend chopping the olives too; as much as I adore kalamatas, they can overpower other flavors if you get a whole one.  The store had no chives either, so I used scallions and it was just fine.  I did end up skipping the parmesan at the end; it wasn't needed.  There was plety of flavor as it was.  And serving it on top of couscous was great because it really soaked up all the flavors.  If you are interested in trying this dish, come on over.  We have enough to feed a small country!


Recipe:

roasted vegetable stew with couscous

from Williams-Sonoma: Soups and Stews\

Ingredients:
8 carrots, peeled
1 eggplant, peeled (you could also use 1 head of cauliflower)
4 yellow crookneck squash (whatever that is... use summer, acorn, sweet dumpling, all, none, etc.)
2 leeks, white and light green parts only, cleaned and finely chopped
1/2 pound baby brussels sprouts, halved (I recommend quartering)
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock (I used both because it's what I had)
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
salt and ground pepper
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tomato, peeled and diced (I didn't peel it)
1 cup Kalamata olives, pitted (and chopped)
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
2 tabelspoons finely chopped fresh chives (or scallions)
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cups cooked couscous

Instructions:

1) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2) Cut the carrots, eggplant, and squash into 1 1/2 inch pieces (or smaller!!!).  In a large roasting pan, combine the carrots, eggplant, squash, leeks, and brussels sprouts.  Pour in the olive oil and 1 cup of the stock.  Add thyme and salt and pepper to taste and mix well to coat all the vegetable evenly.

3) Roast for 30 minutes, stirring the vegetables occasionally.  Add another 1 cup stock, the garlic, and tomato to the pan and continue roasting, stirring every 15 minutes, until the vegetables are very tender, about 30 minutes (or 3 hours if you're me...)

4) Pit (and chop) the kalamata olives.  Add the remaining 2 cups stock, chickpeas, olives, parsley, chives, and basil to the pan and stir to combine.  Taste and adjust the seasoning, and return to the oven for 5 minutes more.

5) Spoon the vegetables into a largve serving bowl, garnish with the cheese, and serve each portion on a bed of couscous.

Good luck, Marky!

Tonight I am a teensy bit nervous because Marky has an important interview tomorrow.  Important as in, probably my entire future depends on tomorrow.  So anyway to keep my mind of if (and keep from scream crying with fear) I made dinner and dessert tonight.  I think Mark might be cooking to keep busy as well, since he actually did most of the work for dinner!

We ran to Vincent's because they posted on Facebook that they had a crazy deal on lobster tails.  They were selling two for $6!  So Mark and I ran down there and unfortunately found only one package left, but hey, I have two lobster rolls in the fridge for tomorrow!  We also tried to find something good to make, and when Mark spotted shrimp, we decided to make shrimp scampi.

Let me tell you: this was the best shrimp scampi I have ever eaten in my life.  I like shrimp, but I don't love it.  I hate it when it tastes... well, shrimpy.  And when they get chewy or rubbery? Blegh.  I think I have figured out why this shrimp tonight was absolute perfection: they snapped when you bit them, the texture was so perfect.  They didn't taste shrimpy at all, but buttery and garlicky.  I think the secret is not buying cookied shrimp, but raw frozen shrimp.  I even had to devein and peel them, whih was pretty gross but not as bad as cutting chicken.  And they were worth it.  Mark cooked them in butter and garlic, which made them taste insanely delicious.  The linguine soaked up the sauce and we tossed in the last few handfulls from my parsley plant on top and.... wow.  It was amazing.  Mark, Kenzie, Nick and I were the only lucky people to partake in this delectable scampi dinner, and we all agreed it was by far the best shrimp scampi ever.  This is a dinner that we will be eating again ASAP.

Then, in between practice interviewing Mark, I also made a batch of cookies.  I let him flip through my new Food Network Magazine to choose a cookie from their list of 25 (overwhelming in a wonderful way!) and he chose glazed citrus rounds.  I love citrus and still have one tangerine left that I wanted to use up (too many seeds to eat them regular), so I started right in.  I have to confess that I was nervous that something went wrong with this dough: it is the dryest cookie dough I have ever seen.  The only liquid is two egg yolks, and everything else is dry (or butter).  What you get is rather similar to pie crust dough.  I had to work really hard to form the dough into cookies to put on the baking sheets; what I ended up doing was pressing it with my hand into a tablespoon, and then pushing the round out of the spoon.  They crumbled really easily.  They had to be frozen for 30 minutes - luckily it's cold enough outside for me to just put them in the garage (why is that lucky!?) - and once I brought them back in, they were much more firm.  After I baked them, I then had to make the glaze, and of course I was out of zest, but it was all right because it tasted just fine without it.  In the end, the cookies are very citrusy and delicate.  I now know why I compared it to pie dough, because it is kind of similar!  No one but Mark and I have tried them yet, so I will have to wait and see if they pass the family test.

One interesting note: the recipe calls for the cookies to bake on parchment-lined baking sheets, but I ran out of parchment paper on the second sheet, so I used tin foil and lightly greased them with Pam.  That batch of cookies came out much better, actually; the bottoms were golden instead of browned and they seem to stay softer than the parchment paper cookies.  Keep that in mind if you try them!

Recipes:
shrimp scampi


glazed citrus rounds

from the December 2012 issue of Food Network Magazine

Makes about 24 cookies

Instructions:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1  1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1  3/4 cups granulated sugar
1  1/2 tablespoons finely grated citris zest (orange, lemon, lime or grapefruit... or I used tangerine)
2 large egg yolks
3/4 teaspoon lemon extract
1/4 teaspoon orange extract (I didn't have it so I used more lemon extract)\
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2-3 tablespoons fresh citrus juice (use the same as the zest)

Instructions:
1)  Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl.

2)  Beat the butter in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until smooth.  Add the granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon citrus zest and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, then beat in the lemon and orange extracts.  Reduce the mixer speed to low; add the flour mixture and beat until a soft dough forms (and they mean really soft!).

3) Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper (or greased tin foil).  Scoop rounded tablespoons of dough about 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets.  Freeze at least 30 minutes or overnight.

4)  Preheat the oven to 375.  Bake the cookies straight from the freezer, 1 baking sheet at a time, until the edges are set and the bottoms are lightly browned, 15 to 17 minutes.  Let cool 3 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

5) Meanwhile, make the glaze: whisk the confectioners' sugar, 2 tablespoons citrus juice, and the remaining 1/2 tablespoon zest (I had hardly any zest left but it was okay!) in a medium bowl until thick and smooth. You can add 1 more tablespoon citrus juice if the glaze is too thick.  Spread on cookies; transfer to a rack and let set, about 1 hour.

CHOREG!

Yesterday was a very successful day for me.  I have been wanting to make Armenian foods for years - basically since I met Mark.  Yes, I have made hummus and pita bread, but that wasn't enough for me; I wanted to make something really Armenian: lahmajoon or boreg or fatoush.  Or... choreg.  Yes, choreg (pronounced to rhyme with good egg), the slightly sweet braided yeast rolls, topped with sesame seeds, that I have been obsessed with since Mark's parents introduced me to them.  They know I love them so much that they buy me bags full of them every year at their church's food bazaar. But I always knew I had to try to make them myself.  After all, I adore baking yeast breads, and I adore choregs, so I began frantically searching for recipes, and that's when I found the problem: there are a thousand different choreg recipes and few of them looked or sounded like the delicious little rolls I get from the Ajemians at the Armenian Holy Trinity on Grove Street in Worcester, MA! I even asked Mark's mom, who said she used to bake them with her mother-in-law's recipe, but she couldn't find it.  So imagine my excitement when I noticed on Facebook, right before Thanksgiving, Mark's aunt Julie wrote something about how she just finished baking up a big batch of choregs!  I immediately sent her a message, and - thank you SO much, Julie! - she sent it right to me.  I was so excited, but with Thanksgiving craziness sinking in, I didn't have the time to try it out - until yesterday :)

pretty braids!

Now, the recipe calls for 8 1/2  - 9 cups of flour, which is practically an entire bag.  I had seen recipes calling for 5 pounds of flour and immediately ignored them - and then, of course, that's basically what Grammy Ajemian's recipe calls for!  Trust me, you will want to use that much flour, and many cups more when it comes time to roll out the rolls, because this dough is sticky!  It also took me about 3 hours to rise, rather than 2, but honestly there is just so much dough that it's no wonder it takes a long time.  When it's risen, the original recipe says to cut the dough into rolls, but I know the choregs I get from the church are braided, so after some more internet searching I found out a way to do it: Roll a golf ball-sized dough ball into a long (18 inches or so) rope; tear off 1/3 of it.  Then take the longer piece and make a horseshoe shape with it.  Take the little piece, moosh it right into the middle, and voila: you have three strips of dough to braid.  There was so much dough that this part of the recipe took me forever, and I started making enormous choreg, but in the end, I had 21 braids of dough ready to bake.  I topped them with an egg wash and sprinkled sesame seeds on top, and baked them.  The house smelled absolutely delicious while they were cooking, and I could hardly wait to try them as soon as they came out of the oven.  I can honestly say this might be one of the best things I have made; I have been told as much by multiple family members.  They even got Anne to break her no-carb diet!  I've eaten way more than my fair share, and I am now regretting my idea to make huge choregs because it means I ended up with less rolls, and they are going fast!  These are definitely weekend-type things to bake, because of the time it takes to let the dough rise and then form the rolls, but 100% worth it.  I am still thrilled that Mark's family enjoyed them.  I am going to be such a good Armenian housewife someday :)

Choregs!

I also decided to beextra  nice and make Mark's favorite dessert, banana cream pie, last night.  Apparently, though, my mistake was wanting to make everything from scratch.  He kept whining that insant banana pudding would be better than my homemade pastry cream with cinnamon and nutmeg!  I made my own pie crust (used my mixer this time... just as easy as the food processor but maybe a tiny bit slower), made the pastry cream on the stove (very similar to when I was on a roll making homemade pudding last winter), and made my own whipped cream for the topping.  I layered bananas and pastry cream a couple times, and topped it with my whipped cream.  My only problem was my lack of pie weights; I had to bake the empty crust empty, so it puffed up in one area and I had to fork it to let the air out.  Add to my stocking stuffer list (Mama!).  In the end, the pie was delicious.  In fact, Nick said it was one of the best desserts I have ever made, and he is a tough sell.  Kenzie, Alex and Mom have all complimented me on it.  And as for Mark?  He says it is very good, but not banana cream pie.  He calls it banana spice pie; he really had his heart set on that banana pudding, so my spiced pastry cream has him all confused :)  As I type this, he is having another piece tonight and announcing that "it is delish delish.... but I think of it as a banana spice pie." :)  I had my first piece today, and even though the recipe said it was best served the day it's made, it seemed perfect to me after a night in the refrigerator; it could definitely be made a day ahead.

Recipes:
banana cream pie


Armenian choreg

Ingredients:
1 stick butter
1/2 cup Crisco
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cups boiling water
1 cup of room temperture water ( 1/2 cup boiling water 1/2 cup cold water)
4 teaspoons dry active yeast
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
4 large eggs,  beaten
8 1/2 - 9 cups of flour (I used 9)
         for egg wash glaze:  1 whole egg, beaten
                                           sesame seeds for top
Instructions:

1)   Cut butter and Crisco into small pieces and add to a large bowl.
2)  Add 1 teaspoon sugar.
3)  Add 2 cups boiling water and mix well with wooden spoon till the shortening and the butter are completely melted.
4)  Add 1 cup room temperature water.
5)  Check that this mixture is warm to touch.
6)  Sprinkle the yeast onto the mixture and gently fold in.
7)  Allow mixture to stand for 3-5 minutes or until yeast is activated ( watch for froth under surface).
8)  Mix well.
9)  Add 1 cup sugar, salt, and beaten eggs, and mix well.
10)  Add flour in stages and mix.
11)  Form into dough ( will be a soft dough).
12) Place in a greased bowl (grease bowl with 1 tsp. olive oil) and cover with a clean towel.  Wrap bowl with towels to keep warm.
13) Allow dough to rise to double its size about, 2-3 hours.
14) Turn onto floured counter.
15. You have two options for shaping: 

• Easy option: cut into pieces: 2 inch wide by 4 inch wide roll shape.
• Harder but pretty option: Roll a golf ball-sized dough ball into a 16-18" rope; tear off 1/3 of it. Take the longer piece and make a horseshoe shape with it. Take the little piece, moosh it right into the middle of the horseshoe, and braid the three strips.

16) Place onto trays lined with parchment paper.

17) Allow rolls to rise double their size.

18) Glaze with egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

19) Bake at 375 degrees  for 10 - 15 minutes on the middle rack of the oven.