One Hour Skillet Focaccia

Note Tracy's Parmesan-less bread in the bowl ;)

The same day I made the amazing bruschetta, I also made this bread - mostly because the name got me excited.  One hour skillet focaccia - usually bread takes much longer than an hour because it has to rise.  This bread shortens the amount of time by letting it rise in the oven that has been preheated to 220 degrees and then turned off.  You don't want to bake it yet, but letting it rise in such a warm place speeds up the process.

I was mostly just excited to use my new skillet, too.  I've never had a cast iron skillet before and I bought one in the beginning of the summer at the outlets in the White Mountains.  I'm such a dork.  Mark bought tons of clothes and shoes, and I bought a skillet.

Anyway, this really was a one-hour bread.  It rose up quickly and beautifully, and only bakes for 20 minutes, which was good because everyone was getting excited to try it.  The bread came out puffy and chewy, but it was a little bit dry if I'm to be honest.  The recipe calls for you to brush the bread with melted butter, Italian seasoning, and Parmesan both before and after baking.  I did it before but not after, and I wish I had just done both.  Sometimes extra melted butter is all it takes - and it was only 3 tablespoons total!  Regardless, much of the bread was eaten and it went perfect with the pasta dish I made.  One hour for fresh baked bread?  There's no reason not to make it the next time you have pasta on the stove!

Recipe:

one hour skillet focaccia
from Crunchy Creamy Sweet

Ingredients:
for the dough:
3/4 cup warm water
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt

for the Parmesan butter brush:
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Instructions:

1) Place water and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir until sugar dissolves.  Sprinkle yeast over the water and stir a few times.  Let sit until foamy, about 5 minutes.

2) Turn the mixer on low speed and add 1 cup of the flour and the salt.  Mix until combined.   Add oil and mix well.

3) Gradually add as much of the remaining flour as you can (it can be only 3/4 cup) and mix until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

4) In the meantime, preheat the oven to 220 degrees and when it's ready, turn it off.  Keep the door closed.  Grease the skillet.  Place dough on a floured surface and fold the dough a few times until it's smooth and not sticky anymore.  Shape into a ball.

5) Roll dough out to the size of your skillet.  Place in skillet, and stretch dough up the sides. Cover with a kitchen towel and place in the oven for 20 minutes.

6) Take skillet out of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees.  Make indentations in the dough with your fingers.

7) Mix melted butter, Parmesan and seasoning in a small bowl.  Brush dough with half the butter.  Bake skillet with dough for 20 minutes or until golden brown.   Brush with remaining butter.  Let cool until safe to touch and slice.  Serve.

Tomato Bruschetta with Ricotta and Basil

Okay folks, I've found it: this is literally the best appetizer recipe you will ever find, and thus the only one you will ever need (slight exaggeration but not really).  If you like bruschetta (and who doesn't?), this is the greatest bruschetta ever (no exaggeration there).

Alright, I need to calm down, but that is how excited I am about this tomato bruschetta with ricotta and basil.  Easy to make, beautiful, and absolutely delicious: these little guys are honestly such a great accompaniment to any Italian meal.  I made a double batch of them one night when we had a bunch of aunts and uncles and my grandmother over to visit, along with some pasta and bread (recipes to follow!) and they were such a hit.  Betsy said she didn't remember the last time she ate something that good.  And every single one was devoured!

Really they're that good.  The thin layer of whipped ricotta just tastes so amazing and creamy, it's hard to believe it is only made from ricotta, salt, pepper, and olive oil.  The tomatoes are salty and fresh and juicy, but the ricotta prevents them from getting the bread soggy.  No one could believe that there was actually no garlic in them; they are so garlicky, but that's only because you rub each toast slice with a garlic clove!  Add the chopped basil on top and... well my mouth is watering.  Just make these, soon, and you won't be sorry.

One last note - I left out the red wine vinegar and the 3 tablespoons olive oil from the tomatoes, solely by accident, but I thought they were so perfect, I find it hard to imagine them tasting any better with the vinegar.

Recipe:

tomato bruschetta with ricotta and basil

from Sweetpea's Kitchen

yield 12 toasts

Ingredients:

1 pint grape tomatoes, quartered

salt and pepper

1/4 teaspoon sugar

7 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 loaf ciabatta bread, sliced crosswise into 12 1/2-inch-thick pieces (I bought pre-sliced at Price Chopper!)

1 garlic clove, peeled and halved

1 1/2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese

3 tablespoons chopped basil

Instructions:

1) Combine tomatoes, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and sugar in a bowl and let sit for 30 minutes.  Transfer tomatoes to a fine mesh strainer and allow to drain.  Return tomatoes to bowl along with 3 tablespoons oil, vinegar, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; toss to combine.

2) Adjust oven rack to about 4 inches from heating element and heat broiler; broil bread slices until golden brown on both sides (or just pop them in the toaster if you're lazy like me!).  Brush both sides of each with oil (I didn't) and rub with garlic clove.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

3) In the food processor, puree ricotta, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper until smooth, about 1 minute.  With processor running, slowly add remaining 3 tablespoons oil until incorporated.  Spread ricotta mixture evenly on toast slices.  Top toasts with tomato mixture and sprinkle with basil.  Serve.

Banana Bread with Pecans

I am one of those people who buys bananas with the plan to let them turn nice and brown!  I'm not really one for grabbing a banana and eating it, but I do like banana bread (and banana doughnuts.... and banana muffins.... and banana cream cupcakes.... okay you get the point).  I especially liked the idea of a banana bread with pecans, because my mom always asks for nuts but I'm not a huge walnut fan, but pecans are a different story.

When my bananas were finally overripe, my timing wasn't perfect;  in fact, I was in my nice new clothes ready for my engagement shoot with Mark!  But I wasn't about to let a little photo shoot stop me from baking (yes I also made cinnamon rolls  dressed up for the shoot as well; Susie said I may be the only bride-to-be rolling out dough in an apron with her hair and makeup done!).

This bread was actually kind of fun to make.  I always like it when a recipe seems different from others, whether due to interesting ingredients or interesting steps; this recipe was cool because of what you actually do with the bananas!  Two of the bananas are whipped with sugar in a mixer to create a light, fluffy banana cream (I probably could have stopped at that point and happily eaten that), and then the other two are roughly mashed and folded into the dough.  This means that the whole bread has a really good banana taste, but there are also some banana bites in there as well (Kenzie and I loved the bites; Mom hated them.  Go figure).

The end result is a gorgeous bread that makes your whole house smell delicious.  It was moist and fluffy and full of pecans and banana flavor... and we scarfed it down pretty quickly.  It was a great pre-photo shoot snack :)

Recipe:

banana bread with pecans
from Tyler Florence on the Food Network

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 overripe bananas
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
confectionary sugar, for dusting (optional)

Instructions:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 9x5" loaf pan.

2) In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside,

3) Mash 2 of the bananas in a small bowl with a fork so that they still have a bit of texture.  With an electric mixer fitted with the wire whisk, whip the remaining bananas together with the sugar for a good 3 minutes; you want a light and fluffy banana cream.

4) Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla.  Beat well and scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated; no need to overly blend.  Fold in the nuts and the mashed bananas with a rubber spatula.  Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.  Give the pan a good rap on the counter to get any air bubbles out.

5) Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.  Don't get nervous if the bread develops a crack down the center of the loaf; that's no mistake, it's typical.  Rotate the pan periodically to ensure even browning.

6) Cool the bread in the pan 10 minutes or so, and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.  Suggested serving method: toast the slices of banana bread, dust with confectionary sugar, and serve.

Vegetable Sushi Bowl

Rachael is probably the person least likely to go to a sushi restaurant since she hates literally all seafood - and yet, she loves going out for sushi.  She never orders fish, of course, but she loves vegetable sushi. And who wouldn't?   Rice, vegetables, soy sauce - what's not to like?  So when I saw a recipe on one of my favorite blogs for vegetable sushi bowls - basically deconstructed vegetable sushi - I knew I had to try it for her.

These bowls consist of brown rice with lots of fresh raw vegetables - like carrots, cucumber, and avocado (not to mention some cooked edamame).  To make them extra sushi-like, there are also strips of nori, which is the green seaweed that sushi is wrapped in (don't skip this in your bowl; I promise it tastes better than "seaweed" sounds, and without it you're just eating vegetables on rice.  It's not the easiest thing to cut, so I recommend using kitchen shears.  Add sesame seeds that you briefly toast, and a sauce made from fresh orange juice, soy sauce, white wine vinegar, and sesame oil... aren't you loving these bowls already?  So much fresh, healthy flavor.

We ended up having lots of people here for dinner the night I made these (and doubled it), and everyone loved them (including vegetable sushi queen Rachael!).  To make it easier to serve everyone, I mixed it all together in a big bowl and stirred it up.  I recommend doing it that way - it was pretty, and most importantly, it was tasty and healthy!

In other news.... I am mourning the loss of summer :( Back to work tomorrow.  Waaaaaah.

Recipe:

vegetable sushi bowls
from A Couple Cooks
serves 4

Ingredients:
2 cups brown rice
3 carrots
1 cucumber
1 avocado
2 green onions
sesame seeds
a few sheets of nori paper
1/2 cup edamame (frozen and thawed is okay)
3/4 cup orange juice (fresh is best)
3 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons sesame oil

Instructions:

1) Make the rice according to the package instructions (or in a rice cooker).  Brown rice takes about 45 minutes.

2) Toast the sesame seeds: over low heat in a dry skillet, toast the seeds for several minutes, stirring frequently and watching closely, until lightly browned.

3) Make the dressing: in a small bowl, add orange juice, soy sauce, white wine vinegar, and sesame oil.  Whisk vigorously to combine.  Set aside.

4) Slice the nori paper into thin shreds.

5) Prepare the edamame according to the package instructions.

6) Peel and shred the carrots.  Thinly slice the green onions.  Chop the cucumber into thin strips, and the avocado into strips or chunks.

7) When ready to assemble, place rice in a bowl.  Top with vegetables, seeds, and nori.  Drizzle with dressing.

Roasted Tomato Almond Dip

5 minutes, and 5 ingredients.  That's all you need to make this dip.  If that's not reason enough to whip out your blender, look at the name of it: roasted tomato almond dip.  So you get the sweet flavor of roasted tomatoes (but don't worry, you use a can of fire-roasted to speed things up!) with a hint of nuttiness (not to mention protein).  This dip is delicious.

Now, it says to serve it with grilled bread, and I recommend that.  I was lazy the day I made it, and I just grabbed stale crackers from the cabinet to eat with it.  Even with stale crackers, the dip was amazing; I can only imagine how good a toasty piece of good bread would be.

I'll confess that my family was a bit unconventional when it came to suppertime; we liked the dip so much that we actually made pasta and ate it as a sauce!  That's how good it is.  When's the last time you made a dip that was so delicious, you wanted to eat on top of spaghetti?

Recipe:

roasted tomato almond dip
from A Couple Cooks

Ingredients:
3/4 cup roasted almonds
1 15-ounce can fire-roasted tomatoes
1 clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup olive oil

Instructions:

1) In the bowl of a food processor, combine all the ingredients except the oil.  Process until the nuts are finely ground.

2) Scrape down the bowl.  Then, with the food processor running, add the olive oil in a steady stream until a paste forms.

3) Serve with crackers or grilled bread.

Blueberry Custard Tartlets

I have officially met Mark's entire family now; it only took 4 years!  The truth is, I met the Armenian side early on (and adore them all) but apparently the Albanian side doesn't get together all that often, so I didn't meet them until a couple weeks ago.  Mark's parents held a party for me and Kaz to meet Evelyn's cousins and their families, and it was a blast.  They were all easy to talk to and told me great stories of baby Mark (such as his severe childhood anemia and his failure to walk at 18 months... okay now I'm nervous).  Anyway, I agonized over what to bring to the party.  I almost brought my spinach pies, but then I remembered that spinach pies are an Albanian food; I didn't want to attempt to beat them at their own game, so I settled on a dessert.  My sisters had picked a billion blueberries the week before, so blueberry custard tartlets seemed the perfect recipe for a hot summer party.

They were a bit time consuming, since you have to make the custard, the tartlet dough, and the blueberry sauce, but the main issue was the dough (the other 2 parts were easy enough).  It was really dry (there's no liquid in the recipe!!!!  Butter, sugar and flour only!) , dry enough that I added milk, and it was still hard to work with.  I had to really work hard to get the dough into the mini muffin cups, and even then they came out looking nothing like the picture.  I felt better reading some of the blogger's comments - I was not the only person to have these problems.  The cups themselves were dry and crumbly and quite difficult to get out of the pan.

Note the phyllo cups in the background, crumbly shortbread cups in the foreground!

I started panicking - even after I made them up and Kenzie said they were amazing.  I decided to use some of the leftover phyllo dough from the spanakopita to make phyllo cups, and use them in addition to the tartlet cups.  It was time consuming to butter, stack, and slice all over again (I thought I was done with phyllo!) but the cups came out of the oven just fine (just a sprinkling of sugar, bake at 425 for 10 minutes in a muffin cup).  I filled them and the tartlets that survived the transfer from pan to serving dish with the custard, topped them with blueberry sauce, and off I went.

My tartlets got lots of compliments; I do think the phyllo cups may have gotten a little soggy as the day wore on, so maybe they weren't the greatest idea, but if you were going to eat them right away, go for it.  The cups, while they made me nervous, seemed to go over the best (go figure).  I think that maybe a sugar cookie crust would be the best idea: they'd be solid and hearty enough to hold the fillings without going soggy or being too difficult to work with.  Just make sure to poke holes in the bottoms with a fork before you bake!

Recipe:

blueberry custard tartlets
from Yammie's Noshery
yield about 2 dozen

Ingredients:
custard:
1 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 whole egg
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons corn starch
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

shortbread crust:
2 sticks butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour

blueberries:
1 1/2 cups blueberries
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons corn starch
3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons lemon juice


Instructions:

1) Bring the milk for the custard to a simmer.  Meanwhile, whisk together the sugar, eggs, yolks and corn starch together until smooth.  When the milk is simmering, whisk half of it into the egg mixture.  Then add the egg/milk mixture to the rest of the milk; don't just dump the egg mixture into the simmering milk or you'll have scrambled eggs).  Bring it back to the heat and cook, whisking constantly until very thick.  Whisk in the butter and vanilla.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate; make sure the plastic wrap is touching the top of the custard to prevent a skin from forming.

2) To make the shortbread, cream the butter and sugar and then add the flour, mixing until just combined.  Press into mini muffin tins.  You'll want them to be pretty thin so you can fit the fillings.  Poke to bottom of each one with a fork to prevent air bubbles.  Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees or until golden brown on the edges.

3) For the blueberries, whisk all of the ingredients together and cook over medium-high heat until thickened.

4) To assemble, fill cooled crusts with custard and top with cooled berries.

Check out that dessert table! (and my tartlets on the left!)

Spanakopita, or Spinach and Feta Phyllo Triangles

Along with the baba ganoush, I was in charge with making the spinach pies for Anne's niece's bridal shower, as I mentioned yesterday.  The baba ganoush was quick and simple.  These spinach pies were not!  Ha.  But they were worth it, and really they weren't that bad; I'm sure that tripling any recipe would take a long time.

I worked on these babies for two days; I made five or six trays' worth (well over 100 little triangles).  The good news is that they can be refrigerated if you want to put them together ahead of time before baking (they can also be frozen; I have two trays of frozen ones in the freezer right now!) so they are very doable for a party (or a shower).  And they are really delicious.  Anne said her party devoured two trays of them quickly, and when I baked a tray here for us, they were scarfed down in seconds.

Now, they are definitely not an everyday kind of thing to make and eat: first because of the sheer amount of time it takes to make the filling, prepare the phyllo dough, and fold the triangles, and second, because of the butter.  There is a lot of butter in these little pies; they must be special occasion only food!  Basically you take one thin sheet of phyllo dough and brush it with melted butter.  Add another sheet of dough, and add more butter.  Repeat one more time; then use a pizza cutter to divide it into thin rectangles, add the filling, and fold them up into triangles - then brush with more butter!  It's no wonder they are so delicious.

Butter time!

As for the filling, it's made with spinach and feta, obviously, but also parsley, scallions and dill, which really makes the flavors pop.  The dough is delicate ate flaky, and the filling is cheesy and herby and spinachy... they're just really good, and make it very hard to eat just one.

I worked on these for so much time that I think I could fold them into triangles in my sleep.  Since you may not have this knowledge yet, I recommend going to the blog I got the recipe from and checking out the step-by-step directions.  Once you figure it out, they go quickly!

Recipe:

spanakopita, or spinach and feta phyllo triangles
from Sprinkles of Parsley 

Ingredients:
1 package phyllo pastry
1/3 cup olive oil
1 bunch scallions, chopped
2 10-ounce packages frozen spinach, thawed
1 bunch parsley
1 bunch dill
1/2 pound crumbled feta cheese
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 pound butter

Instructions:

1) Chop scallions (keep these separate from the herbs), parsley and dill.  Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and saute scallions until soft.  Add spinach and saute until wilted, stirring constantly.  Strain the liquid from the spinach mixture into a small bowl.

2) Transfer spinach liquid to a small saucepan and heat over high heat until it reaches a boil.  Boil until the liquid is reduced to 2 tablespoons.  Transfer spinach mixture to a bowl and add and add the 2 tablespoons of spinach liquid, parsley, dill, and feta cheese.  Mix until combined.  Beat eggs in separate bowl, and add to mixture; stir until combined.

3) To prepare phyllo dough, carefully roll it out on a clean surface.  Place the sheet of plastic the dough came wrapped in over the entire surface and cover with a damp towel.  Always make sure to keep the towel over the plastic to avoid letting the dough dry out - but don't let the towel touch the dough or it will make it soggy.

4) Take one sheet of phyllo and lay it out on a clean surface (I used my pastry mat).  Brush the entire sheet of phyllo with melted butter.  Then lay a second sheet of phyllo over the first and brush with more butter.  Then cut your phyllo into 4 long strips; it is easiest to cut it in half and then cut each half again.

5) Spoon one teaspoon of filling onto the edge of each rectangle.  Lift your bottom right corner over the filling and evenly fold along the left side to create a clean edge.  Press down gently so the top is flat.  Then flip up, then to the right, to the left, up again, and continue the steps until you reach the edge of the phyllo.  Try to keep the edges always lined up to create a clean triangle.  When you reach the end, tuck any remaining dough under and placed on a grease cookie sheet.  Brush triangles with melted butter on both sides and bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

The lovely bride eating a spanakopita :)

Baba Ganoush

A couple weeks ago, our dear friend Anne was throwing a small wedding shower for her niece, who also happened to be my best friend in elementary school.  She was having a Middle Eastern theme (think Red Tent) and I was helping her out with good Middle Eastern snack ideas.  Our plan originally was to head to Worcester to buy what she needed, but she had a crazy schedule that weekend, so I came up with an equally crazy idea: what if I just made what she wanted to serve?  She already had other people bringing things like hummus and desserts, and all she needed was baba ganoush and spanakopita.  So I took on the catering job happily!

The baba ganoush was the first item I tackled.  It was actually quite easy.  For those of you not marrying a Middle Eastern man, baba ganoush is a pureed eggplant dip.  It is kind of similar to hummus, with cumin, lemon, tahini and (roasted) garlic, but it uses eggplant instead of chickpeas.  If you like eggplant, you'd love baba ganoush.  And if you don't love eggplant (who are you!?), at least you'll enjoy saying baba ganoush because it might be the most fun food name on earth.  Go ahead, you know you want to say it aloud right now.  Baba ganoush.

Anyway this dip was (luckily) easy, and it was simple to whip up 4 batches of it for the shower (with a little left home for us!)  Most recipes call for the eggplants to be charred on an open flame.  No open flames here (and I hope to never have a gas stove either, while we're on the subject), so I just roasted my eggplants as this recipe suggests.  Once they are roasted and peeled (which was a messy job but rather enjoyable), the insides are pureed (not too much though; rustic and chunky is good!) with the other flavorings.  It is supposed to be chilled, but I kind of fell in love with it being a tiny bit warm.  It is served with vegetables and/or pita bread.  And it is bound to be a hit.

Note the eggplant skin massacre in the background! :)

Recipe:

baba ganoush
from Daring Gourmet

Ingredients:
1 large eggplant
3 garlic cloves, peel on
2-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, according to taste
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt plus more depending on size of eggplant
extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
chopped fresh cilantro for garnishing
pinch of paprika for garnishing


Instructions:

1) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Poke the eggplants all over with the tines of a fork.  Place it on a baking sheet with the garlic and roast until tender, 40-45 minutes.  Remove the garlic after 30 minutes and remove the peel.  Remove the eggplants from the oven, let cool 10 minutes, and then remove the peel.

2) Place the eggplant, garlic and tahini in a food processor and process until fairly smooth but not completely pureed.  Scrape the mixture into a bowl and add the lemon juice, cumin and salt.  Stir thoroughly to combine.

3) With the back of a spoon, make a swirl in the top of the baba ganoush.  Drizzle olive oil in the swirl grooves, and sprinkle with paprika and fresh cilantro.

4) Serve immediately with toasted pita wedges, flatbread, or vegetables.

Mrs. Field's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Whenever I want to make cookies, my mom usually begs me to make Mrs. Field's chocolate chip cookies (occasionally she will request the fluffenutter cookies, or ginger cookies, but mostly it's these).  This is an old recipe that my dad used to use, from our beloved old orange recipe files.  I think it may be type-written (that shows how old it is!).  The paper is wrinkled and stained and covered with notes in Mom's handwriting ("they are very good, everyone loved them!  Crunchy outside chewy inside and oatmealy tasting!" for example; also, "I use a 12-oz bag of choc. chips. It was plenty").  I don't know why it took me so long to finally agree to whip them up. Maybe it's the fact that is makes 120 cookies, or the note that Mom has about how it was "difficult to make the whole recipe in the mixer.  It's do-able but fills it right up."  Then again, my mixer is practically twice the size of hers, so that was not going to be an issue for me.

Anyway, I finally decided to make them when I was going on the Ajemian family vacation in Ogunquit, Maine.  One of the best parts of that vacation is what they call "picky time."  Picky time is when everyone brings out delicious food that they brought from home and we just snack for hours, ruin our dinner appetites, but still go eat lots of dinner later :) It's so fun!  Anyway since most of our pickies are savory, I thought I'd bring these cookies as a sweet alternative.

The recipe really does make 120 cookies, which was a bit much, and requires an entire pound of butter.  I only had 2 sticks, so I decided to halve the recipe (and still get 60 cookies, which is more than enough!).  As an FYI, that works just fine if you find yourself needing less than 120 cookies.

Anyway, there is a secret to these oatmeal cookies.  Oatmeal cookies can sometimes have kind of a gross texture.  The oatmeal can be so chalky and dry, and tough to chew.  The secret here is to dump the oatmeal in the food processor and make an oatmeal flour.  That way, as Mom wrote, you get the "oeatmealy" taste without the texture of flakes of oatmeal.  Genius.  Make these cookies and enjoy the oatmealy chocolate chippy taste :)

Recipe:

Mrs. Field's chocolate chip cookies
recipe from Dad's orange recipe files
yield 120 cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups butter (or 4 sticks)
2 cups sugar
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups flour
5 cups oatmeal
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
24 ounce bag chocolate chips
Optional: 3 cups chopped nuts (any kind) and/or finely-grated 8 ounce Hershey bar (I did the nuts, no candy bar)

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream together the butter and the two sugars.

2) Add the eggs and vanilla.

3) Put small amounts of oatmeal into a blender or food processor (mine did it all at once!) and blend until it turns to powder.  Put all oatmeal powder into a bowl, and mix in flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

4) Mix together the dry and wet ingredients.  Add chocolate chips, and nuts and grated candy bar if using.

5) Make golfball sized balls of dough and place on greased cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Mark passing around my cookies at picky time!  They were a hit with all my future in-laws :)

Breakfast Cupcakes

I think I've said this before, but I think breakfast is my favorite meal of the day.  This is unfortunate because I very rarely eat breakfast.  I'm the kind of girl who wakes up, hits snooze as many times as she can, showers and is ready to go in 30 minutes.  This rushed, hectic morning is pretty terrible (goal in life: change my morning craziness, preferably before we have kids) and leaves no time for breakfast.  If I'm lucky, I can grab a granola bar, or a veggie egg white flatbread from Dunkin' Donuts if I'm doing great on time.  But never do I have a good old salty breakfast - no sweet stuff like pancakes for me.  This is one of my favorite parts about summer: I have time to make breakfast if I feel like.  I must admit that Mark makes the best breakfasts so I rarely have the chance to go up against his to-die-for hash browns or stuffed French toast, but this morning I decided to whip up something amazing for Mom and me.  I have a Pinterest board dedicated to interesting breakfast ideas, and this was one that caught my attention immediately: breakfast cupcakes.  Hash brown crust, scrambled egg top, filled with whatever your heart desired - and all in an adorable muffin form (great for grab and go!).  I was very intrigued.


These aren't exactly the quickest breakfast dish since the hash brown crust has to be baked for 45 - 55 minutes.  Once the crust comes out all golden brown and delicious looking, you smoosh it down to make room for the egg and cheese filling.  The recipe calls for bacon to be added, which I did for half of the cupcakes; the other half I left with just eggs and cheese; but i think next time I will add some fresh herbs and vegetables, kind of like an omelet.  Then you bake them one last time, and voila: breakfast cupcakes!

Breakfast cupcakes are adorable and simple.  They are also very delicious; let's just say Mom and I decided that the serving size was definitely 4 cupcakes ;)  But I can't overlook the problem in this recipe: they stuck to the foil wrappers.  Badly.  As in, you had to scrape them out with forks and spoons and knives and still end up losing most of the hash brown crust.  Why this happened, I am not sure.  I greased the muffin cups pretty well.  I am curious to see if it would happen if I made this in a casserole dish rather than muffin cups.  Maybe it would stick less (maybe it would stick more!?).  It was definitely a problem but not one that makes me want to give up on this recipe.  The cupcakes were too tasty to abandon the idea; everyone who tried one loved them (they just had to work really hard to get them out!)

Recipe:

breakfast cupcakes

from Quick Dish by Tablespoon
makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 bag (20 ounces) refrigerated shredded hash brown potatoes
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
6 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
3/4 cup crumbled, crisply-cooked bacon
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place foil liner in each of 12 regular-sized muffin cups.  Generously spray with cooking spray.

2) In a large bowl, mix potatoes, oil, salt and pepper.  Divide evenly among cups; press lightly (I found that my 1/4 cup measuring cup fit perfectly!)

3) Bake 45 - 55 minutes or until golden brown.

4) In a medium bowl, beat eggs and milk.  Stir in bacon and cheese.  Firmly press potatoes in muffin cups, and top each with slightly less than 1/4 cup egg mixture.

5) Bake 13 - 16 minutes or until knife inserted in center of egg comes out clean.  Cool 5 minutes.

Lemon Basil Sugar Cookies

Okay now just bear with me here.  Do not automatically decide that you are going to hate these cookies just because of the rather surprising ingredient (this is exactly what everyone at the beach house did).  Yes, it's a lemon sugar cookie, which isn't so weird, but yes, there is also basil in them.

Basil is a glorious plant with that oh-so-recognizable taste and scent - and honestly it can be used in both savory and sweet dishes.  For example, don't some drinks have basil in them?  Maybe some type of strange mojito perhaps?  I swear I've heard of it.  Okay and even if I'm wrong, just go with it for now.  I just had a feeling that these cookies were going to be great.  I love anything with lemon, and I figured the basil would just add a nice subtle "something" to the cookie.

Surprise surprise: I was right :)  While everyone in the house was horrified at the idea of lemon basil cookies (Mom begged me not to make them), I tried them anyway, and these cookies were flavored with lemon zest and 2 tablespoons of fresh chopped basil.  The end result was a delightful little cookie, soft and buttery, with a hint of lemon and, as I had suspected, a little "something" else.  I don't think you can pick out the basil flavor; in fact, Pat, Ross and Joey came to visit that day and I had them try the cookies but didn't tell them the flavors.  None of them could guess on their first few tries, but Joey had spotted the flecks of green, and after mint was ruled out, he was able to guess basil.  However, everyone - even my critics! - agreed that the basil didn't stand out or take over.  And all of these cookies were gobbled up by the next day.  So I beg of you to give these cookies a try, even if they sound weird.  Sometimes the best things end up being the most unexpected (Bridget and Mark, anyone!?)

Recipe:

lemon basil sugar cookies
from The Way to His Heart
yield approximately 21 cookies

Ingredients:
1 stick butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
zest from lemon
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

1) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silpat.

2) In a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Add the egg, vanilla, lemon zest and basil until combined.

3) Add the flour, baking soda and salt and mix until well combined.

4) Scoop the dough (about 2 tablespoons) and place on the prepared baking sheets.  Once all the dough has been used, place the cookie sheets into the refrigerator and chill for 10 minutes.

5) Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes.  You want to catch them before they get golden brown but make sure they no longer have a glossy sheen to them.

6) Allow the cookies to cool on cookie sheets for a few minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.

Soft Pretzel Bites

In another example of my BYOI rule while on vacation at the beach house, Pat requested soft pretzels. He tried one of the pretzels I had made the day I also made the pretzel dogs and had been craving more since then.  I will admit that I put off making them for him until his very last day at vacation.  Our week together was a nonstop heatwave; the thought of not only turning on the oven to 450 degrees but also having to boil the dough was just too much.  I literally thought there was a chance I'd overheat and die, because I think I came pretty close making dinner the other nights.  But finally I could put it off no longer, and I sucked it up and made Pat some soft pretzel bites.

I decided bites were a better idea than whole pretzels since we had such a crowd in the house and we'd get more for our buck.  I also decided to double the recipe.  This meant lots and lots of rolling, slicing, boiling and baking, but of course they were worth it.  I've never met a soft pretzel that I didn't like.  And 100% of them were gone within an hour or so, so I guess we can assume they were enjoyed by all!

The great part about this recipe is that Annie has listed three different ways to enjoy pretzel bites; you can make the regular ones like I did, or use the same dough to make a cinnamon-sugar variation or a garlic herb.  She also lists two different dipping sauces, chocolate and cheddar (respectively, obviously!).  I only made the regular ones; to be honest, I had planned on making the cinnamon-sugar ones with the second batch of dough, but when the first batch was eaten immediately after they came out of the oven, I figured I wouldn't even have time to mix up the cinnamon and sugar :)  Since I only did the regular version, I am only going to post those instructions here, but please feel free to visit Annie's Eats to get the (simple) ingredients to make either variation or sauce.

Recipe:

soft pretzel bites
from Annie's Eats
yield 12-16 servings

Ingredients:
basic pretzel dough:
1 1/2 cups warm water (110-115 degrees)
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
22 ounces (about 4 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
vegetable oil, for greasing the bowl
to finish:
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
pretzel or kosher salt

Instructions:

1) Combine the water, sugar, salt and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Mix on low speed to dissolve the yeast. Add in the flour and the melted butter and mix just until the dough comes together.  Switch to the dough hook and knead on medium speed until the dough is smooth and clears the side of the bowl, about 5 minutes.  Transfer the dough to a bowl lightly greased with vegetable oil, turning once to coat.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place, about 50-55 minutes or until doubled in bulk.

2) Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray.  Bring the water and the baking soda to a boil in a large saucepan or stockpot.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and gently deflate it.  Divide it up into approximately 6 equal portions.  Working with one piece at at time, roll the dough out into a long rope about 1 inch in diameter.  Use a pizza cutter to cut the row into small segments, no longer than 1 inch each.  Repeat with the remaining dough.

3) Place the pretzel bites into the boiling water in batches so that they aren't overcrowded.  Boil each batch for about 30 seconds, stirring once or twice to submerge all surfaces in the water.  Remove from the water with a slotted skimmer and spread out on the prepared baking sheets.  Once all the pretzels have been boiled, brush the tops with the egg wash and sprinkle lightly with salt.  Bake in the preheated oven until dark golden brown, about 9-11 minutes.  Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.  Serve with mustard.

Rocky Road Brownies

One of the nice parts about being on vacation at the same time as the Cormiers is that Betsy and I split the cooking duties quite well.  We almost always planned separately and then came together, and our meals just melded.  Another nice part was the days when Betsy made dinner, and I was free to focus on dessert.  I made a number of different things, including yesterday's chocolate chip cookies (which for some reason didn't get posted till today; technical difficulties!) and my famous eclair ring.  Another day I made these rocky road brownies per my sisters' request.

Basically these brownies are just regular brownies, but after you take them out of the oven, you add the rocky road toppings: mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, and chopped walnuts.  I was out of chocolate chips because I had made a double batch of cookies the day before, but I just used M&Ms.  Hey: chocolate is chocolate, right?  Pat appreciated the touch of color they added!  And since all the brownies were gone in under 48 hours, I'd say they were a hit.  Joey really knew how to enjoy them and made himself a rocky road brownie sundae!

Recipe:

rocky road brownies
from Taste of Home
makes about 2 dozen

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, cubed
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup walnuts, chopped

Instructions:

1) In a microwave, melt butter and chocolate; stir until smooth.  Cool for 10 minutes.

2) In a large bowl, beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla until blended.  Stir in chocolate mixture.  Gradually add flour until well blended.

3) Spread into a greased 13x9-inch baking pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Sprinkle with the marshmallows, chocolate chips, and walnuts; bake 4 minutes longer.  Cool on a wire rack.

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ah, we have finally reached my recipes that I made on vacation in Seabrook!  (Yes I am a bit backed up on recipes here!)  This year we had a lot of extra space when it came to packing, so I decided to bring all necessary kitchen supplies.  I remembered that last year, cooking and baking at the beach was not fun at all due to lack of, well, everything, from measuring cups to whisks.  So I packed everything I might need, ranging from cookie sheets to big spoons to cooling racks.  I even packed my food processor and my mixer - both of which I used.  While the boys may have complained lugging my heavy equipment out to the car when we packed, I am pretty sure that everyone in that house was grateful that I had what I needed to make lots of great food!

I had a rule while I was on vacation: BYOI, or Bring Your Own Ingredients.  Everyone could choose any recipe and I'd make it for them, but they had to do the grocery shopping if it was something I didn't have.  Luckily, Mom and Kenzie got their request in before I did the big grocery shopping trip the first day of vacation, and that is how these chocolate chip cookies came to be.  Both of them had been saying I don't make enough chocolate stuff for them (since I am not a huge fan of chocolate), so it was chocolate chip cookie time.

This is a fairly standard chocolate chip recipe, with one exception: the forming of the cookies.  This may not be confusing to anyone else, but I literally had to read it 100 times before I understood what it was asking me to do when it came to shaping the cookies.  It said to make a ball of dough, hold it in my fingertips, and pull it apart into equal halves.  Okay, so far, so good.  Then rotate halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, place the dough on the sheet.  That's the part I had to keep reading.  I think it was the 90 degrees throwing me off; it's been so many months since I taught angles! :)  Basically you make a ball of dough, rip it in half, and put the two halves down on the cookie sheet, rip-side-up.  Again, this might be way more information necessary for you to understand what to do, but I was a little lost :)

The final results were fantastic.  The cookies are thick and chewy - which I guess you'd expect, from the title, but this time the title does not deceive.  I made a double batch and they were all gone within 24 hours.  I did end up adding some walnuts to the second batch to appease my mom and aunt, so that is an option you can keep in mind if you're a nut-lover.  Basically if you need a go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe, this is it.

Recipe:

thick and chewy chocolate chip cookies
from Annie's Eats

Ingredients:
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus one egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Spaghetti with Tomato and Lemon

Rachael is the kind of eater who is 100% happy with spaghetti and "red sauce" every single day.  For lunch, and for dinner.  Maybe even for breakfast.  She orders it even when there are amazingly different items on menus, and sometimes even when it's not even on the menu at all (recently she saw that one dish had spaghetti and another dish had marinara sauce so she asked for them to be combined for her!)  So, whenever I ask her for meal ideas, she goes back to spaghetti and red sauce.  Sometimes when she is feeling extra bold, she may slightly stray from the usual, but really prefers to stick with spaghetti; and that is what happened with this meal.  I handed her two cookbooks one day when I was meal-planning for the week.  Since she is such a spaghetti girl, she usually doesn't give much input in my meals, and I was curious to see what she'd pick out.  Not too surprisingly, she handed me the book opened to this recipe: spaghetti with tomato and lemon.  Since it wasn't your average marinara sauce, I was intrigued.

Yes it is still spaghetti, and yes, there are tomatoes, but the similarities end there.  The tomatoes are blanched and peeled, then chopped; that is the extent of the tomato in this dish.  The pasta is cooked and then tossed with the tomatoes, fresh basil and garlic, a little olive oil, and - the secret ingredient - freshly-squeezed lemon juice (okay I guess it's not a secret ingredient since it's right there in the recipe's name, but you know what I mean).  One entire lemon, in fact.  You'd think it would taste really lemony with all that juice, but honestly my mom didn't even know there was lemon in there.  It didn't stand out, but melded in with the other flavors to make a really bright, fresh, delicious sauce.

This was a really quick and ridiculously easy pasta dish.  It is definitely a great alternative to a jar of red sauce on a busy weeknight; I'd say the whole thing is done and on the table in under 30 minutes.  And Rachael, Mom and I finished off the entire dish between dinner that night and lunch the next day - so I'd say they were all fans!

Recipe:

spaghetti with tomato and lemon
from Simply Delicious: Vegetarian by Carla Bardi
serves 4-6

Ingredients:
2 pounds ripe tomatoes
1 pound spaghetti
4 tablespoons finely chopped basil, plus extra leaves to garnish
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions:
1)  Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water for 2 minutes.  Drain and peel them.  Chop coarsely.

2) Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water until al dente.  Drain well and transfer to a large serving dish.

3) Add the tomatoes, basil, oil, lemon juice, and garlic.  Season with salt and pepper.  Toss well.  Garnish with basil and serve hot.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Mufffins

Delilah was very interested!

My beloved aide at work, Barbara, is famous for her blueberry muffins.  Somehow she is amazing enough to even make them in the morning before work (considering I can barely manage to make a coffee and run to my car in the morning, this is very impressive to me).  She makes them for work parties or breakfasts, and always for my birthday and last day of school.  I am not even embarrassed to say that I eat about 3 or 4 in a day, and I don't even care.

They are sweet but not too sweet, soft and full of berries.  I always could tell which muffins were hers by look, too, and when I finally got her recipe, I understood why: she uses regular and whole wheat flour.  When I figured that out, I was thrilled because I could pretend that they are very healthy breakfast foods :)

I make lots of different blueberry muffin recipes in my quest for the perfect ones, and these are as close to perfect as they get.  I made one batch of them and they were gone in 2 days.  They are really easy to make... in fact I may just go bake some tonight with the fresh blueberries my sisters recently picked :)

Recipe:

whole wheat blueberry muffins
from Barbara at work!

Ingredients:

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup salad oil

1 1/2 cups flour (use 1 cup unbleached white and 1/2 cup whole wheat)

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 heaping cup blueberries 

Instructions:

1) Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Beat egg, and stir in milk and oil.  

2) Mix in remaining ingredients until flour is moistened (batter should be lumpy).  Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.  Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown.  Makes 12 muffins.

Pretty muffins and pretty bassets!

Quinoa Veggie Burgers

What? Real burgers!?  ;)

In my never-ending quest for veggie burgers that not only I want to devour, but that will please my family to, I tried out these little beauties.  While I can't say that everyone loved them - mostly due to the fact that they have portobello mushrooms in them and both sisters refuse to eat mushrooms - they were delicious, and my mom and Mark were both big fans.  Particularly, Mom loved them and constantly told me these were the best veggie burgers I ever made.  She especially loved that they actually looked like real burgers: brown and thick and, well, meaty.  She made fun of my other veggie burgers and said she was glad these ones didn't have broccoli florets sticking out :)

But in all seriousness, these guys have a lot of good things going for them besides the fact that they look like hamburgers.  The portobello mushrooms add their color but don't give it an overly mushroomy taste - Mark is not a fan of mushrooms so I managed to forget to tell him that they were in there, and he never suspected a thing.  In addition to the mushrooms, there is zucchini and shallot for veggies, but the bulk of them is quinoa.  That's one of the best parts about the burgers: they are full of protein, and the quinoa also helps them to seem meaty in texture.

The other amazing thing about the quinoa veggie burgers - and this is not something to be skipped - is the yogurt-garlic sauce.  It's light, tangy, and really flavorful with fresh parsley, garlic, and capers mixed in.  It is not optional!

Recipes:

quinoa veggie burgers with yogurt-garlic sauce
from Meatless by Martha Stewart
serves 6

Ingredients:
2 portobello mushrooms (8 ounces), stemmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 small zucchini
1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for brushing
1 large shallot, minced
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 ounce finely-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
2 cups cooked quinoa
coarse salt and freshly-ground pepper
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups whole wheat bread crumbs
yogurt garlic sauce (see below)
6 whole wheat buns, split and toasted
1 cup sprouts
1/2 English cucumber, sliced 1/4 inch thick

Instructions:
1) Pulse mushrooms in a food processor until finely chopped; transfer to a bowl.  Coarsely grate zucchini; place on paper towels, and squeeze to remove excess moisture. Add to mushrooms.

2) Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large pan over medium heat.  Add shallot and red pepper flakes, and cook until softened, about 2 minutes.  Transfer to a bowl and add cheese and quinoa; season with salt and pepper.  Let cool completely, then stir in egg and bread crumbs.  Cover and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

3) Heat remaining 2tablespoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Shape mixture into 6 1-inch-thick patties, pressing firmly.  Cook in batches until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side.  To serve, spread yogurt sauce onto buns and sandwich with patties, sprouts, and cucumber.

yogurt-garlic sauce

Ingredients:
3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 tablespoon capers, preferably salt-packed, rinsed, and cleaned
1 small garlic clove, minced
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions:
Combine yogurt, parsley, capers, and garlic in a medium bowl.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cover and refrigerate for up to 1 day.

Asian Quinoa Salad

I have a love for all things quinoa, all things Asian, and all things edamame.  Therefore, what is not to love in an Asian quinoa salad with edamame!?  The answer to that is nothing.

Honestly besides the fact that this tastes great, the way it looks is one of my favorite things about it.  It is so colorful and bright, with the green edamame, red pepper, purple cabbage... it's like a rainbow in a bed of brown quinoa.  Dorky comparison, but seriously have you ever seen a prettier salad?

And then there is the flavor.  The dressing is a mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, red wine vinegar, scallion, cilantro, sesame seeds, and ginger.  Doesn't it just sound delicious?  It's literally bursting with flavor without even considering the vegetables in there.  This salad was a huge hit with some unexpected people.  Mark, for example, ate almost the whole thing in two day's time.  And my most surprise customer was Amelia, who is, after all, a two-year old.  I can only hope someday my toddler asks for "more queenwah."  If you can get a little kid to eat quinoa, you know the salad must be delicious!

Recipe:

Asian quinoa salad
from Two Peas and Their Pod
serves 4

Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped red cabbage
1 cup shelled and cooked edamame (I used frozen)
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 cup diced cucumber

for the dressing:
1/4 cup light soy sauce or tamari sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped green onion
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1/4 teaspoon grated ginger
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
salt and black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1) Add water, quinoa and salt to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Boil for 5 minutes.  Turn the heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until water is absorbed.  Remove from heat and fluff with a fork.

2) Place the quinoa in a large bowl and add the cabbage, edamame, red pepper, carrots and cucumber.  Set aside.

3) In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, green onions, cilantro, sesame seeds, ginger, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.

4) Pour the dressing over the quinoa salad and stir to combine.

Summer Rolls with Carrot-Ginger Dipping Sauce

When it's summer time, and I find a recipe with the word "summer" in it, it just feels appropriate.  Therefore, when I found this recipe for summer rolls - similar to spring rolls -  in my Meatless cookbook, I wanted to try it out.  They're no-cook, which is good for a hot summer day.  In a way, it is kind of a more fun method of eating your salad.  Different from spring rolls, which can be fried or baked, summer rolls are made of rice paper wrapped around fresh raw vegetables.

Rice paper is really easy to work with.  They come in hard sheets, and you just have to soak them in hot water for a few seconds until they become pliable.  Then they're ready to be filled with vegetables, rolled up, and served with the carrot-ginger dipping sauce - which is amazing in and of itself (it is very similar to my Asian ginger carrot dressing - if you like the dressing at hibachi restaurants, this is the dipping sauce/dressing for you).

Rachael was my expert summer roll wrapper while I worked on chopping the vegetables and making the sauce.  We were a pretty good team.

The end result was, like I said, a fun and delicious way to eat your salad.  These rolls were filled with beets, carrots, cucumber, red bell pepper, and daikon radish, but you could swap different veggies in or out.  In fact, on my mom's request, I added some chopped lettuce to them as well.  The dipping sauce was great and I caught people dipping not only their summer rolls but pretzels in it before dinner!  Everyone seemed to like them, with the exception of Alex, who said the rice paper texture freaked him out.  It is kind of weird to eat a food that is see-through, but I promise it doesn't really have a taste and is just there to hold everything together!

Recipe:

summer rolls with carrot-ginger dipping sauce
from Meatless by Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

for the rolls:
6 rice paper wrappers (8-inch size)
2 cups radish or alfalfa spouts
1 red beet, scrubbed, trimmed and very thinly sliced crosswise (I physically could not slice it so I made matchsticks!)
1 carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 Kirby cucumber, cut into matchsticks
1 red bell pepper, ribs and seeds removed, cut into matchsticks
3/4 cup coarsely grated daikon radish

for the sauce:
3 carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 small shallot, quartered
2 tablespoons coarsely grated peeled fresh ginger
1/4 cup rice vinegar (unseasoned)
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
pinch of each of coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup canola or safflower oil
1/4 cup water

Instructions:

1)  Make the rolls: soak 1 rice paper wrapper in a large bowl of hot water just until pliable.  Transfer to a work surface and smooth to make flat.  Place one-sixth of the sprouts, beet slices, carrot, cucumber, bell pepper, and daikon on the bottom third of the wrapper, leaving a 1 1/2-inch border.  Fold bottom of paper over fillings, tuck in sides, and roll up tightly to enclose.  Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling ingredients to make 5 more rolls.

2) Make the sauce: puree carrots, shallot, ginger, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, and pepper in a food processor until smooth.  With machine running, add oil and then water through the feed tube in a slow, steady stream until smooth.  Serve sauce with summer rolls.

Arancini

The night my friends came over and I made the glorious lemon baby cakes  and the sparkling lemonade (and, while we're on the topic, my favorite Greek salad as well), I obviously needed to make something for dinner as well!  While on Pinterest a while back, I came across the magnificent idea of arancini.  The name in and of itself is fun to say and just sounds delicious, and then when you hear that they are deep fried balls of rice and cheese - oh man.  Where can you go wrong with those parts!??!

Here's the thing... I kind of suck at (and am a little afraid of) deep frying.  I tend to ignore recipes that call for frying because it's scary and I always think back to my one frying experience when I tried to deep fry shallots for my from-scratch green bean casserole.  Things did not go well.  The oil kept getting too hot and my thinly-sliced shallots turned into charred black nuggets in seconds - not to mention the dangerous high velocity blobs of scorching oil that constantly tried to find their way towards my arms and face.  So I have not gone near hot oil for over a year.  I even tried to find recipes for baked arancini, and I did see them, but they just didn't look or sound as good as the fried ones.  I had to be brave and try to try once more!

First I had to cook the rice.  Not just any rice can be made into rice balls; it has to be really sticky. I ended up using arborio rice - and making way too much of it, by the way, but that's another story; so is the story about impatiently waiting for the rice to cool.  You definitely want to make the rice waaaay in advance!  Then, you mix up the rice with some parmesan cheese, form it into a ball with a little square of fresh mozzarella tucked inside, and roll it in egg and breadcrumbs.

My expert frying assistant!

Then comes the scary frying part.  The oil has to stay at 375 degrees; this required quite a bit of finagling with the dials, turning it up and down and up and down, but we kept it fairly close to the target temp most of the time.  The first one I tossed into the oil I took out way too quickly because I was nervous.  The recipe says to cook them until they are golden brown, but from my experience, a darker brown was the color to aim for.  Golden brown meant a nicely cooked outside but the cheese inside wasn't melty yet.  Dark brown meant it was done perfectly.  Luckily I had Dani as my frying assistant; I will admit that she was far better than I was at it and less panicky!  Thanks for coming to a dinner party and doing the dirty work, Dani!

The end result?  These guys are delicious.  Crunchy on the outside, gooey and carb-fabulous on the inside, they are absolutely heavenly served with some hot marina sauce.  Everyone loved them and we all agreed that the frying was worth it!  Healthy - not so much, but definitely a good treat :)

Recipe:

arancini (rice balls)
from Just A Taste
yield 8 arancini

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked white rice, cooled
1/2 cup gated parmesan cheese
3 eggs, separated
8 small cubes fresh mozzarella
1 cup Italian-style breadcrumbs
oil for frying
1 cup marinara sauce

Instructions:

1) Place a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat and add enough vegetable oil to rise 4 inches in the pot.

2) Combine the rice, parmesan, and 1 egg in a medium bowl and use your hands to thoroughly combine to mixture.

3) Form each arancini by taking a small portion of the mixture, squeezing it firmly and stuffing one cube of mozzarella inside each ball.  Repeat this process to form 8 arancini.

4) Whisk together the remaining 2 eggs.  Dip each arancini in the eggs and then in the breadcrumbs, shaking off any excess.

5) Once the oil reaches 375 degrees, add 2 or 3 of the breaded arancini to the pot and fry then until golden brown and cooked throughout.  Use a slotted spoon to remove the fried arancini from the pot and transfer them to a paper towel-lined plate.  Immediately salt the arancini.

6) Repeat the frying process with the remaining arancini.  Serve arancini warm with a side of warm marinara sauce.