Happy Veteran's Day!

I've got a few recipes to share today.  Can I say how much I love long weekends!?

First, yesterday I decided to make some lunch with ingredients we already had in the house.  I knew this was going to be a tough sell: it's a soup made out of spinach.  I love spinach, but my mother hates it, and I figured Rachael, who was the only other peson home at the time, wouldn't be a fan either.  But nevertheless, we had baby spinach, and lots of it, that I didn't want to waste, and we happened to have everything else I would need for this, so: witches' brew it was!  I realize this was a "Halloween" recipe since it makes a bright green soup, but hey, I'm only a couple weeks late!  And it's spinach and gruyere, so honestly, it couldn't be bad.

And me say this: I adore this soup.  It kind of tastes like spinach and artichoke dip, minus the artichokes.  But the cheese and the spinach made for the most delicious blast of flavor, not to mention the garlic, onion and potato.  The whole thing gets blended together - I got to use my immersion blender!  -so you end up with a creamy and amazing bright green soup that is quite filling.  Of course, as I expected, it didn't go over well.  Mom absolutely hated it, and Rachael said she felt like it would be  better as a dip (she hated the consistency).  And I am fine with this.  More for me!  I ate it for lunch yesterday and today and may or may not have licked my bowl.  If you like the taste of spinach and gruyere, and don't get freaked out if you are eating a bright green liquid, then please try this soup.

I went grocery shopping last night at 10.  Yeah, you know you're cool when you hit up Price Chopper at 10:00 on a Saturday night... after your book club meeting.  It was actually quite a pleasant experience.  The 24-hour grocery store is a fantastic invention.  Anyway I wanted to go last night because I had found a recipe on a blog that I follow that I wanted to try out, even though it is a meat dish.  Yuck, I know, but it was beef ragout, which I love to order when I go to Via (short rib ragout, but close enough).  I figured it would be pretty easy since it does not involve too much touching of the meat; the recipe uses the slow cooker.  I did have to take a gross roast out of the styrofoam container, and sear it in a pan, and I tried to hack off some fat, which was pretty upsetting.  Then the roast just cooks for 8 hours on low, with a mixture of tomato sauce, onion, garlic, broth, bay leaves, whole cloves, and cinnamon sticks.  Really part of the reason I wanted to try this recipe was that I was intrigued about tossing cloves and cinnamon sticks in with meat!  And I will say that the house smelled really good all day.  I served it on top of egg noodles, and with a side of salad, since there are really no vegetables in the ragout (who have I become!?) As for the final result... Mom loved it and said it took her a few bites to get acclimated to the mixture of tastes, but then she had seconds.  Kenzie really liked it too.  Rachael called it "cinnameat" and didn't like it because it was sweet.  I would have to say that it's not sweet, since it only had one cinnamon stick in there and nothing else "sweet," but I did not really love this either.  I thought the flavor was really good, but the texture of the meat wasn't what I wanted.  I don't really know what I expected - I guess I just wanted my braised short rib ragout from Via!  I thought it wasn't soft enough, or tender enough....I don't really know how to describe it except to just say, why the hell did I roast a beast and think I would enjoy it!?  No pictures of this one... just imagine shredded meat in a brown sauce over egg noodles.  Not the most photogenic of meals!

Then for dessert, I caved and made baked Alaska yet again.  Mom has been begging.  I still don't get the allure of this dessert, since it's mostly just ice cream with meringue on top, but my family goes nuts for it.   Mom claims that even though she doesn't love pistachio or cherry ice cream, that combination makes the best baked Alaska.  As always, it got rave reviews.  I did warn my family that I am getting a bit sick of making it every weekend, and perhaps they could like something with less parts, or something that's not one bowl of ice cream that I can't even partake of, but I don't see that happening too soon!

Recipes:
witches' brew, or cheesy spinach soup
slowcooker Greek beef ragout
baked Alaska

New Life for Caramel Apples

The other day, Nick and Mark made caramel apples.  Unfortunately they aren't like me and used box mix, so it was a little strange.  Very chewy.  Like, rip your teeth out chewy.  So a lot of the apples went to waste; they were put into Tupperware containers and forgotten.  The caramel sort of melted off them, but the apples were still sticky.  I didn't want to waste a bunch of perfectly good, if sticky, apples, so I found a couple apple recipes to bring to my aunt's baby shower today.

First, last night I made cookies.  I used a recipe from one of the magazines that Mark got me this week.  The recipe called for frosting on the cookies, but I didn't feel like they needed it.  They certainly would have looked better - my drop cookies always end up looking pretty asymmetrical - but they were pretty darn good without any frosting.  They are spiced with all sorts of great fall spices like cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, and they have apple cider in them too, along with chopped apples and walnuts.  I actually had only 1/4 cup walnuts when it called for a cup, which I prefer anyway.  I ended up peeling the apple right in its Tupperware, hacking off pieces, and chopping them up for the cookies!  Mom and Susie were here last night when I baked them, and they loved them; they agreed there was no need for frosting. The bites with apple are my favorite!

In addition I made dinner for me, Mom and Susie last night.  I knew since it was just us, I could make something I have been dying to try: mushroom stroganoff.  I love beef stroganoff - just not the beef part.  And I adore mushrooms.  So this meal was perfect for me: mushrooms, creamy sauce, egg noodles - and to top it all off, it's from Skinny Taste!  A low fat, meatless, delicious dinner?  Pefect.  The sauce has some surprising ingredients, like tomato paste (it hides in there, I swear you'd never know there was tomato!), beef broth, thyme, and Worcestershire sauce.  The recipe calls for 3 different types of mushrooms, but my local store only had button mushrooms, and so buttons it was.  As always, I added in more pasta than the recipe called for, which might have been a bad idea because the leftovers look pretty dry now, but last night everything was delicious!  So much flavor for a quick, meatless, low fat meal!

This morning, I salvaged another apple and made baked apple cider donut holes.  If you try to make these, try not to look at the pictures; your end results will look nothing like them!  They look more like pumpkin donut holes... and these look more like lumpy roundish cookies... so I was really nervous.  I was also concerned that my "batter" was not really a batter.  It was much more like a dry dough.  But I mashed it into a mini muffin tin and it came out just fine.  I was nervous they'd be dry since the batter was, but the cup and a half of chopped apple definitely made up for the lack of liquid in the dough.  It didn't hurt that they are brushed with butter and rolled in cinnamon and sugar.  I got some compliments on them, and Rachael ate three for dinner.  I brought a plate of these and the cookies to the shower.

Tonight I made guacamole.  I don't know why it has taken me this long to make my own guac, because I adore this stuff.  It's so easy and quick to throw it together soon.  I need to keep avocados on hand more often.  Tracy said she doesn't usually like guacamole but loved mine, and Kelsey agreed.  This was a big hit, and we ate a whole bag of tortilla chips with it!

I also made another baked Alaska.  My mother has been begging me for it ever since I made the other one Thursday.  It really is not very hard to make - it just takes a while.  If you want to try one, I recommend changing the order of the steps.  I will post it just the way good old Martha intended, but the longest "wait" time is once you have the ice cream scooped into the bowl and you put it in the freezer for two hours.  I'd do that first, and then you can do the other two layers while the ice cream freezes.  Then, it is possible to start this and eat it within 2 and a half hours, which is not so bad considering the fancy schmancy outcome that you get!  The grocery store downtown didn't have pistachio ice cream, so I used maple walnut.  I was worried this would clash really badly with the cherry ice cream, but everyone loved it again just like last time.  I don't even bother having any so I don't see the big craziness about this dish, but people go nuts for it!


Recipes:
baked apple cider donut holes
guacamole

spiced apple drops
from 100 Best Cookies (Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publications, 2012)
makes about 40 cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup softened butter
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 egg
1/4 cup apple juice or apple cider (I used cider!)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped, peeled apple
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 recipe apple frosting (optional; I didn't use it)

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease cookie sheets; set aside.  In a large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds.  Add granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, and cloves.  Beat until combined, scraping side of bowl occasionally. 

2) Beat in egg and apple juice until combined.  Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer.  Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour, along with the apple and walnuts.

3) Drop by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are light brown.  Cool on cookie sheets for 1 minute.  Transfer cookies to wire racks; cool.  Frost cookies with apple frosting.

Apple frosting: In a large bowl, beat 4 cups powdered sugar, 1/4 cup softened butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and enough apple juice (3-4 tablespoons) with an electric mixer to make frosting a spreadable consistency.


baked Alaska
from Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons sugar

3 large eggs, separated                                       

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled

Pinch of salt

1 1/2 pints pistachio ice cream, slightly softened

1 1/2 pints cherry ice cream or berry sorbet, slightly softened

Vegetable-oil cooking spray

1 recipe Swiss meringue frosting (see below)

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8-inch round cake pan with parchment paper, and spray with cooking spray.


2. Combine 3 tablespoons sugar and the egg yolks in bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment; whisk, on medium speed, until pale yellow and thick, about 15 minutes. Add vanilla, and fold in melted chocolate just to combine.


3. In a medium bowl, combine egg whites and pinch of salt in bowl of electric mixer; whip, on medium speed, until frothy. Add remaining 3 tablespoons sugar; beat until stiff. Fold egg whites into the chocolate mixture.


4. Carefully pour batter out into prepared cake pan. Bake until cake is set and top is dull, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool on a wire rack.


5. Spray a 5-cup-capacity metal bowl with cooking spray; line with plastic. Pack base of bowl with pistachio ice cream; layer cherry ice cream over pistachio, then finish with another layer of pistachio ice cream (or layer ice creams and sorbets as you desire). Pack firmly, cover surface with plastic wrap, and place in freezer. Freeze until ice cream is very hard, at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours in advance.


6. Place cake on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Remove ice cream from the freezer, and invert bowl over cake. Keep the ice cream covered with plastic wrap, and return ice-cream cake to the freezer.


7. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.Fill a pastry bag, fitted with an Ateco #5 star tip, with meringue; pipe onto ice cream in a decorative fashion, or spoon meringue over ice cream and swirl with a rubber spatula (that's what I do). If ice cream starts to soften, return cake to freezer for 15 minutes.


8. Place in oven, and bake until meringue just starts to brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from oven, and serve immediately.

 

Swiss meringue frosting:

 

Ingredients:

4 large egg whites, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 pinch cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

 

Directions:

 

1.  Fill medium saucepan one quarter full with water. Set the saucepan over medium heat, and bring water to a simmer.

 

2.  Combine egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in the heatproof bowl of electric mixer, and place over saucepan. Whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved and whites are warm to the touch, 3 to 3 1/2 minutes. Test by rubbing between your fingers.

 

3. Transfer bowl to electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and whip, starting on low speed, gradually increasing to high until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 10 minutes. Add vanilla, and mix until combined. Use meringue immediately.

Celebrating Good News

I got some great health news this morning, and texted everyone to let them know.  Within seconds, my phone was full of happy texts, including some from Susie recommending a celebration, and jokes from Mom that it was a baked Alaska kind of night (we've always joked about making baked Alaska because it's so difficult), and Kenzie telling me to get back into the kitchen!  I knew they were all joking, but I figured, why not throw a party tonight? It's not every day we have great health news in my house, after all.  Tonight was a night to party, and a night to make baked Alaska!

slicing into it!

So, if you don't know, baked Alaska is ice cream topped with meringue that gets baked in the oven.  Yes, you read that right: ice cream that gets baked!  And it doesn't melt!  The meringue acts as an insulator... I might have to teach about this when I get to heat energy.  It's pretty fancy schmancy, but it was a special occasion, so it was the first thing I started when I got home.  I made the bottom "cake" first.  I say "cake" because it has no flour (Kaz!); it is a spongy kind of cake made from lots of eggs, chocolate and sugar.  Then I took a plastic wrap-coated bowl and filled it with softened pistachio and cherry ice creams (apparently those are the flavors used in baked Alaska; who knew?) and froze it up, and worked on the meringue frosting.  The ice cream gets put on top of the cake, and the meringue gets spread over the entire thing.  Then into a 500-degree oven it goes for 3 minutes, until the meringue starts to brown.  It seems miraculous when you cut it open and the ice cream isn't melted!  This thing got absolutely rave reviews.  Betsy requested that any time I make it, we invite her over immediately.  There were lots of moans and compliments from the baked Alaska.  I may have even a spotted a certain mother of mine eating seconds! It was really not that hard to make - there are just a lot of steps - but it has wow factor!

All baked and browned!

Mom was my froster

raviolis!

I also made an appetizer that was kind of spur of the moment; I was worrying that I was taking too long to get dinner done, and I had recently pinned a recipe that I knew I had all the ingredients for, so I gave it a shot: oven toasted ravioli.  They were very easy and surprisingly delicious.  You just take frozen ravioli and defrost them, then dip them in egg and milk wash, and then bread crumbs and parmesan, and bake.  That's it!  I served them with some tomato sauce that I added some basil and oregano to, and everyone loved them.  Rachael said they were the best thing I've ever made, which is great since they were so easy.  I should say one reason why I think they were so great, though: Mark and I made our own bread crumbs!  We were out, and instead of going to buy some, I knew we had some old crusty bread and a brand spanking new food processor, so we gave it a try.  We sliced the bread and processed it, and it was turned into crumbs in no time.  Then, since the recipe called for Italian bread crumbs, I found a recipe that gave me the spices to mix in, and Mark whipped them up for me.  We had to bake them for 10 minutes, and then they were done!  I really think they made the raviolis even better, and I might never buy bread crumbs again.

photo credit: Susie!

Last but certainly not least, we made pizzas for dinner.  I made my usual dough, courtesy of Bobby Flay's recipe.  Mark was mostly in charge of the pizza making; he does a great job flipping the dough up in the air and everything.  I think our best pizza (we made four!) was with sauce, ricotta, mozzarella, and fresh basil.  Mmmmmm!  Our pizzas got rave reviews.

I also heated up the remnants of my soup from the other night and it was a huge hit yet again.  I even got rid of a couple more bread bowls :)

All in all, I am totally exhausted from this party; I cooked for 4 hours after work to party it up with 12 of my favorite people, but it was totally worth it.  We had a lot to celebrate, a lot of great food to eat, and a lot of love going around :)

Recipes:
baked Alaska
oven toasted ravioli
Italian bread crumbs
pizza dough