Artichokes And Garlic

Giveaway Results

2009-08-22T17:40:00.000-07:00

Congratulations Misty!

The magic number straight from my boss, Dannie is #49.

I'll be emailing you tomorrow to get your info to send you your brand new Le Creuset spatulas!

A Ramble Plus A Giveaway!

2009-08-16T15:11:00.000-07:00

My husband’s 14 year old cousin Jamie was in town this past week. It’s been years since I spent any time around a teenager, and good God. The entire week has been spent entertaining Jamie. Trips to King’s Island (an amusement park), to the outlet malls, to the zoo, go-carting, and to see GI Joe, and that's just the stuff I know about. I haven’t had a vacation like that in my life mostly because my mom and I were pretty poor when I was growing up. Not poverty level poor, but pretty poor. My mom was a secretary, and for most of the time I was growing up we lived on less than $25,000 a year. Looking back on it from the perspective of a grown up with bills to pay, I really don’t know how she did it. I make more than that, and I sometimes have trouble making ends meet. And that’s without a child to feed and clothe. In case I haven’t said it lately, good job Mom. So, being poor we didn’t get to take many vacations. We went to Florida when I was 7, but that was only because my grandmother paid for it. After that, I didn’t have a real vacation until I was 19, and could pay for it myself. Some friends and I went to England and Ireland for a week. And by pay for it myself, I mean put it all on my brand spanking new credit card. That was the week that I was introduced to a little something called credit card debt, but that’s a story for another time. That week was a blast though, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything, not even a perfect credit rating. Along with keeping Jamie entertained, this is the week that I discovered that my sister in law who is Ms. Super Cool when it comes to music tastes has an even worse guilty pleasure than I do. I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone hers, so I’ll tell you mine. Fall Out Boy. Although honestly, FOB is actually really good music, so I don’t know if that actually counts as a guilty pleasure. I would say Britney, but it’s almost cliché to have Britney be your guilty pleasure these days. Maybe My Chemical Romance. Inside the heart of this 30 year old woman lies a true blue emo kid. No one understands me.

Today is a big day for artichokesandgarlic.com, and I owe it all to Jamie. I’m having my first giveaway. I’ve been wanting to do this for awhile, but I was having problems finding something that I wanted to giveaway. This weekend I found my thing. We went to the new outlet mall north of Cincinnati, and there it was: Le Creuset. A Le Creuset outlet store. The sky opened, the angels sang, and candy rained from the sky. And then I went inside and realized that “outlet store” does not mean the same thing to Le Creuset as it does to the rest of the world. Things were still outrageously expensive, so far out of my price range it was laughable. Also, there aren’t enough gadgets. I really like gadgets. Beautiful cookware, but where are the gadgets? There were a few things that I managed to snag though. One is a French rolling pin(that’s for me, you can’t have it), which is something I’ve been wanting for ages. The other is what I’m going to pry from my unwilling fingers and give to one lucky reader.

I found these:

A mini and small size silicon spatula from Le Creuset , color: Flame. These are awesome for a few reasons. They’re heat resistant up to 800 degrees, so if you’re ever in a fire, you should be fine as long as you have these spatulas.* The heads come off of each of them, so you can remove them to wash them(dishwasher safe, by the way) and not have to worry about bacteria. Also, look how cute pretty!

So here’s how you win. Leave a comment telling me what your favorite cooking gadget is. That’s it. You don’t even have to tell me why it’s your favorite. You can if you want to, though.
The winner will be chosen randomly by me asking my boss(who doesn’t read this blog) to pick a number between blank and blank(the blanks being however many comments there are).
Rules:

1. Open to US citizens only
2. One winner will be chosen on 8/22/09 using the My Boss method above, and will be announced on 8/23/09.
3. Make sure that you leave me a way to contact you, either through email or your blog.
4. More than one comment is permitted and even encouraged, but only one comment will count toward the possibility of winning.
5. I will contact the winner either by email, or by posting on your blog.
Good Luck!

*Please don’t actually use these to ward off fire. I was joking.

Monkey Bread

2009-08-11T17:07:00.000-07:00

Here’s something you might not know about me...I can’t whistle. I’m a huge disappointment to my dad who can whistle a damned aria if he wants to. I’ve tried, believe me I’ve tried. I just can’t get my mouth and my tongue to do what they’re supposed to do. I can make one note. It’s not loud, and it’s not pretty, and it never varies. My uncles can whistle, my cousins can whistle. It seems like everyone in the entire world can whistle except me. Also, I couldn’t snap until I was 11. I just taught myself how by doing it over and over again, but I’m still not great at it and my snaps never get anyone’s attention. That’s a good thing though, because I hate hate hate people that snap to get other people’s attention. It’s just rude. I really hated it when I was a waitress...that’s a surefire way to get bad service, just so you know. Snap at your waiter once, and you will wait forever for your drink refills and anything else you ask for. Servers know that you’ll tip badly, but sometimes it’s worth it.

Another thing you might not know about me is that I basically grew up on a horse farm. It wasn’t my permanent address, but it might as well have been. My paternal grandparents have a small horse farm in western Pennsylvania. And while my mom and I might have actually lived about 2 hours away, that farm was and always will be home to me, no matter how long I live anywhere else. We spent at least one weekend a month, and sometimes more at the farm. All holidays from Christmas to Groundhog’s Day were spent there. It was an amazing place to grow up. There’s a ton of room to run, a pond to swim in, dogs and cats to play with, horses to ride. It doesn’t get any better. My grandparents have this big old white farmhouse with blue shutters and a screened in front porch with a porch swing. It’s not fancy it’s just comfortable, like your favorite pajamas. There are beautiful flower gardens in back, and the horse pastures are set up so that you can cozy up on the couch, and watch the horses run and play. There are always aunts and uncles and cousins to play with.

The feeling I get when I drive to the farm is like no other feeling in the world. You make that last right turn, and start up the mile long gravel drive, and you’re in this tunnel of old graceful trees that have been there forever, and you come around the bend, and there’s the paddock and the old metal barn and the big red wooden barn, and then there’s the house. It’s like being able to breathe after holding your breath for a minute. Like, “Oh yeah, that’s what was missing.” It’s just relief to be home. Just thinking about it now, I’m experiencing hard core pangs of homesickness, because I know it will be at least another year before I can manage a trip home. And I know I have another year of holding my breath, waiting for that feeling of relief to hit me. I miss my family so much sometimes it hurts. We were so close when I was growing up, and now that I’m grown and gone, I worry that they’ll forget about me.
I was always very possessive of the farm. It took me awhile to bring friends home with me, because I couldn’t bear it if they didn’t love it there as much as I did. My friends all knew that it was a big thing to be invited to the farm. It meant that I was inviting you to be a part of my family, because once you go to the farm, you don’t stop going. Birthday’s, holidays or just to visit, after one trip, you were invited to them all, because now you’re another cousin.

I brought my husband home with me for the first time just last summer. I was a nervous wreck about it for a week before hand. If he didn’t like the farm, could I still marry him? Could I spend the rest of my life with someone who didn’t get it? The best memories of my life are tied up in that 80 acres of land in western Pennsylvania, and if he didn’t see if like I did, does that mean he’s not the right guy for me? He did, in fact, love it there...or if he didn’t he’s smart enough not to say so. So, I married him, but there’s a part of me that, even though I had a beautiful wedding, still mourns the fact that I didn’t marry my sweetheart under an arbor in my grandparents backyard with the smell of grass and horses and my grandma’s award winning gardens all around. I know that most people don’t like the smell of horses, but to me it’s one of the best scents in the world.

My grandma’s kitchen is one of my favorite places in the whole world. It’s not a fancy kitchen by any means, and in fact, the layout of it is terrible for cooking, but it’s a true country kitchen. My grandma had a country kitchen long before Martha Stewart ever even dreamed about good things. There are always cookies to be eaten, and fruit plates in the fridge. The big meals were always eaten here. The turkey at Thanksgiving, and ham on Easter. It’s the in between meals, though, that I remember the best. Springetti, which is a casserole made with rotini pasta. And Ranger Cookies. We’ll get to those at some point on this blog, I assure you. Monkey bread is one of those things that feels like it could come from my grandmother’s kitchen. Homey and easy, and enough to feed an army. My husband didn't really like this version, because apparently chocolate chips don't belong in Monkey Bread. I liked it though, and so did everyone I work with, so my husband can suck it.

Ingredients Needed:

1/2 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 stick butter
1 cup chocolate chips
2 16 oz tubes of buttermilk biscuits

To Make:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly cover a bundt pan with butter or cooking spray and set aside. In a ziplock bag, combine the white sugar and 1 tsp of the cinnamon. Remove the biscuits from their tubes, and cut them into quarters. About 10 at a time, drop the biscuits into the ziplock bag, close and shake to coat. Layer the pieces in the bundt pan, randomly adding the chocolate chips.

In a small saucepan heat butter, brown sugar, and the other tsp of cinnamon until the butter is melted and the mixture is combined. Pour over the dough in the pan, making sure that all pieces get coated. Bake for 30-40 minutes until puffy and golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Print this recipe

White Chocolate Macadmia Nut Cookies

2009-08-09T17:47:00.000-07:00

I'm about to say something that might be shocking to some people. I'm not really a cookie person. I know what you're about to say. "How can you not like cookies?" That was it, right? That's the reaction I usually get, anyway. A slice of pie, a wedge of cake, a bowl of ice cream, all of these get raves when set down in front of me, but a cookie? A cookie is a tease. You get one, maybe two bites, and then it's gone. If I'm going to eat something, I want to know that I've eaten something. Cookies just don't cut it. They leave you craving more and the next thing you know, you've eaten ~~five cookies~~ ~~ten cookies~~ ~~half a batch of cookies~~ an entire batch before your husband comes home from work, and now you have to make another batch because you promised him cookies. (This is just an example....I've never actually done that.)

However, since I found my new best friend I've had cookies on the brain. All I want is cookies. Specifically those cookies. As much as I might want to though, I can't just make one type of cookie for the rest of my life, so I set about finding a new cookie to make.

I happened across a recipe for white chocolate macadamia nut cookies over at Brown Eyed Baker
and they looked simple enough, so I thought I would give them a shot.

I've never had homemade macadamia nut cookies before. I've had the store bought variety, and those were always pretty good, so I figured a homemade version would be awesome.

I was right, and I was wrong. I didn't really care for these cookies. They were great straight out of the oven, but after a few hours they just didn't do it for me anymore and my husband hates nuts, so he wouldn't even try them. Luckily I know several people who are big fans of these cookies, and they seemed to really like them so they didn't go to waste.

I did change a few things. I only added about half of the macadamia nuts and chocolate chips that the recipe called for. Even cut in half, there were so many nuts and chips that it was hard to keep the cookies together. I don't know if that's because I did something wrong, though. I would say when making these, start out with half the recommended amount, and add more if it looks like it needs it. Way easier to add more than to take away what's already been added.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies(adapted from Brown Eyed Baker)

Ingredients Needed:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups macadamia nuts, chopped
2 cups white chocolate chips

To Make:

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon baking mats. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, beat together the melted butter, and both sugars. Once mixed, add in the egg and the egg yolk, then add the vanilla. Slowly add the flour mixture into the sugar mixture until just combined. Add in the macadamia nuts and white chocolate chips.
Roll one inch balls in your hand, and flatten just a bit. Place on baking sheet, and bake for 12-15 minutes, until edges are golden brown. Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

So, like I said, I didn't really love these cookies, but I'm not done with the cookie train. Any ideas for cookies that will blow my socks off? I would love some new recipes to try!

Print This Recipe

I'm back.

2009-08-09T17:33:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone ! It’s been awhile since I posted anything. I’m really sorry about that. Life has been crazy, but that’s not really an excuse, is it? Life has been crazy before, and I still managed to post. Honestly, I’ve been suffering from an acute case of writer’s block. I don’t normally plan out my blog posts. I usually just sit down at my computer and start typing away. That’s why my early blog posts were nothing but spelling and grammar errors. I’ve slowly learned that proofreading is a bloggers best friend. For the last two weeks, every time I sit down to post something nothing comes out. It’s really frustrating. The most frustrating thing about it is that I have no idea where it’s coming from. I’ve never had this problem before. So, I spent some time thinking about it, trying to figure out what’s happening and I think I finally figured it out. I got caught up in the whole blogging thing. You know the thing. Popularity. The world of food blogging is like high school. You’ve got the head cheerleader in Smitten Kitchen; the class president in 101 Cookbooks; and of course the most popular girl in school, Pioneer Woman. And I’m the awkward girl with glasses and braces who’s always looking in from the outside trying to hang out with the cool kids. See, in the movies, the awkward girl usually only takes about 40-50 minutes before she becomes the new hot girl. And that’s kind of what I expected. That my blog would take the internet by storm, and within months I would be the new hot girl, the new Pioneer Woman. Wow, I was stupid.

This isn’t the movies, it’s the internet. Things don’t work that way. As with anything else in life, you have to put in the work, and 6 months of blogging isn’t work. I mean, it’s work. But when you come right down to it, what I’ve done over the last 6 months doesn’t come CLOSE to what Pioneer Woman and Smitten Kitchen have been doing for years. So I came to realize that I need to just suck it up, and put in the time and the work required to get this blog where I want it to go. It’s not going to just magically happen overnight.

This post might strike some people as kind of whiny. The reason I say that is because as I write it, I’m hearing it in my head, and to my own ears (or “mind ears” I guess, since I’m not reading it out loud) it sounds whiny. And God knows I don’t mind sounding whiny in real life but on the internet, I hate it. I figure there are enough people out there whining about their lives, you probably don’t need to read anymore. But the reason I started this blog originally was to basically let my mom see what I was making for dinner each night, and I just got caught up in it. How many page views did I get, how many subscribers do I have, and why did that person unsubscribe from my blog? Is TasteSpotting going to accept my picture, and why didn’t they accept my picture, my picture is at least as good as that other one that’s on there. I was concentrating so hard on trying to make my blog popular that it just stopped being fun. And if something like this stops being fun after only 6 months, then something is really wrong. I was trying to copy what was working for other people, and that never works. In the words of the great Tyra Banks (don’t laugh she’s awesome) "if you’re going to copy someone, you have to do it better than they do." And I wasn’t doing that. So, I’m going to get back to doing it for fun. I’m going to write what I want to write, not what I think people may want to read --- if people like it, great. And if not, well, I’m pretty sure my mom will still read this, even if no one else does. Love you, Mom.

Now, on to more foodie type things.

I haven’t been posting these past few weeks, but I have been cooking and baking. There’s a lot of really delicious stuff coming up in the near future. The blog has gotten a face lift, and I'm totally in love with my look. Also, I’ll be having my very first giveaway in the next few days, so stay tuned for that!

See you on the flip side!

Mistakes happen, but I really hate it when they do

2009-07-25T17:39:00.000-07:00

You know what's awesome? When you're someone who posts recipes on the internet. What's even more awesome, is when you're someone who posts recipes on the internet in the hopes that other people will read and like and try the recipes you post. And then you post a recipe that's wrong.

In most cases, not such a big deal. When it comes to baking though....pretty big deal.

I posted a recipe recently for Fudge Drop Cookies, and apparently, I can't read my own handwriting, because I posted that the recipe called for egg yolks only, when in fact it called for whole eggs.

I realized this last night when I tried to make the cookies, using the recipe on my blog, and it turned into a disaster. I knew they didn't look right as I was making them, but I figured it was just one of those things. When I pulled the dough out of the fridge after letting it sit for the called for hour, I then had to spend the next twenty minutes hacking the dough out of the bowl with a butter knife. At this point, I went and checked the original recipe, and realized my horrendous mistake.

So, I apologize to anyone out there who tried to make these cookies with the incorrect recipe. I've updated the original post, which can be found here. I also updated the printable recipe.

Please, please don't let this deter you from making those cookies though. When made correctly, they are life changers.

Broiled Tomatoes with Feta Cheese, and a rant

2009-07-23T09:39:00.000-07:00

You know those people? You know who I mean. Those people. The ones who don't like tomatoes. Do they annoy you as much as they annoy me?* You go out to dinner, and they specifically order their salads and entrees with no tomatoes. And if there are a few strays in there, they push them off to the sides of their plate like little red goldmines of delicious flavor, just taunting you to eat off someone else's plate.

Another thing. Have you noticed that the only condiment that the tomato haters really like is ketchup? What's that about? You know what ketchup is made of, tomato haters? Say it with me. TOMATOES. Yeah, that's right.

Me, I love a good tomato. In fact, you take some white bread, tomato slices, mayo, salt and pepper, and you have a meal fit for a king. And for less than three dollars! You just can't beat that. I mean, if I had to choose between tomatoes and steak; steak wins every time. No doubt. But sadly, steak everyday just isn't in the budget. Plus, all the heart attacks. So I'll make due with tomatoes every day.

This is a tomato side dish that's versatile, light, simple and super super quick. Start to finish in 10 minutes or less. You can't get much faster than that. It would work with fish, chicken, or that steak I was talking about earlier, or even just by itself. The recipe calls for feta cheese, but you could use pretty much any cheese you want. It would be really great with some mozzarella and basil. You could really play around a lot with the flavors of this dish.

Just make sure you don't serve it to any tomato haters.

Broiled Tomatoes with Feta Cheese

Ingredients Needed:

6 plum tomatoes

1/2 tsp dried Italian seasoning

2/3 cup feta cheese

1/4 cup Italian dressing

salt and pepper to taste

To Make:

Preheat broiler. Cut tomatoes in half, then sprinkle with the Itailian seasoning and salt and pepper. Drizzle the Italian dressing over the tomatoes, then top with the crumbled feta cheese.

Place on a foil lined baking sheet, and place under broiler for 4-6 minutes, checking on them each minute to make sure cheese doesn't burn.

I cut the recipe in half, because that seemed like a lot for two people. I also added quite a bit more Italian seasoning than the recipe called for. All in all, probably one of my favorite side dishes ever.

*I'm just playing, tomato haters, you know I love you.

Tastespotting Thursday

2009-07-23T06:49:00.000-07:00

Hey ya'll. That's not a burn on Paula Deen, I live in Kentucky, we're allowed to say ya'll here.

It's time for another edition of Tastespotting Thursday. What is Tastespotting Thursday, you ask? Well, it's where I can give my readers a taste(ha ha, get it?) of things I'm thinking about making, but haven't actually made yet.

I don't know about all the rest of you, but I have to say, I've had a very disappointing spring and summer here. It feels like it has rained CONSTANTLY since April. I know that it hasn't actually been constant but man, I would really like one week, just one week, without any precipitation at all. I know that rain is good for the earth, and blah blah blah but I just don't care. I don't like rain. I don't like driving in it, I don't like walking in it, I don't like having to keep my car windows rolled up while I'm at work. I just don't like it. And I'm sick of it. It's summer here, mother nature. The rain was supposed to stop two months ago. Knock it off, already.

So, since I cant enjoy summer outside, I'm going to enjoy it in my kitchen. All the pictures I chose this week and bright and summery and fun, and will hopefully give you all, as well as me, a taste of what I'm missing this year.

1st is a Lemon Mousse from Pastry Pal
2nd is a Raspberry Mini Trifle from The Gastronomer
3rd is a Strawberry Shake from My Kitchen Treasures
4th is Martha Stewart's Blueberry Topping

All four of those look outstanding, and so summery I can hardly stand it.

Boneless Buffalo Wings

2009-07-20T15:28:00.000-07:00

I married into an amazing family. Don't get me wrong, my family is awesome too, but I'm several states away from them, and I'm really glad that I have this family here with me. Growing up, I always thought that I would stay in Pennsylvania and marry someone there, and that I would continue to go to my grandparents farm for every(and I do mean EVERY) holiday, birthday, and the random weekend here and there. I never in a million years thought that I would be living in Kentucky, hundreds of miles away from any of my family. But if I have to be, I'm so so glad that I got the family that I did. It's not a huge family like my own, but everyone has such a big personality that it feels like a really big family. My mother in law is an amazing woman. She raised two sons as a single parent, and did a great job with both of them. My husband obviously is wonderful, and his brother is one of the kindest, funniest, sweetest people I know. My father in law is great. He's just Kevin. There's really no description for him. My sister in law is probably just one of the nicest people I've ever known. I've never heard Holly say anything bad about anyone or anything. She's one of those people who can find the good in any situation. I really love them all a lot.

There's always a lot of laughter at any family gathering. Like the time I fell down the stairs, and my husband and his brother laughed at me for 20 minutes straight(after making sure I was okay, of course). And then there was the time that Adam(brother in law takes too long to type) cracked me right in the bridge of the nose with a plate, and they laughed at me for 20 minutes straight. Then there was the time that I tripped over my pants leg and fell over, and they laughed at me for 20 minutes straight. So, when I say that there's a lot of laughter, about 30 percent of the time they're laughing at me. I'm okay with it. When you're a klutz of my caliber you kind of get used to people laughing at you. And they do it with love.

I'm notorious in my family for being shy of spicy foods. At pretty much every family gathering, at some point you can hear Adam say in a high pitched girlish voice "it's a little spicy for me, you guys". Somehow that's become the ultimate Sara burn. It's said even when we're having dessert. Actually, a high pitched girlish voice is just Adam's natural voice. If he wants to dispute that, he can start his own blog. Hah! Adam burn.

So, you might be wondering why, if I don't like spicy foods, am I making buffalo wings? Two reasons. First one is that my husband loves them, and so do I(as long as the sauce it really mild, and I can dip it in a sinfully unhealthy amount of ranch dressing). Second reason is that they're SO GOOD the next day. The flavor mellows and intensifies at the same time. It's really hard to explain, but trust me, these are great when you eat them hot, but cold, they are out of this world.

These are a copy cat recipe for Chili's boneless wings, which I've never actually had at Chili's. I'll have to try them the next time I'm there, and see how they hold up against my own.

Boneless Buffalo Wings(adapted from Chili's recipe)

Ingredients Needed:
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
4-6 cups oil for frying(I recommend Canola Oil)
1/4 cup Frank's Red Hot
2 tbsp margarine

To Make:

Combine flour, salt, paprika, and cayenne together in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, mix together egg and milk. Cut chicken breasts into 1 inch chunks. Try to keep the chicken pieces as close in size to each other as possible. It makes for easier frying. One or two pieces at a time, dunk chicken into the egg mixture, then into the flour, then back into the egg and again into the flour. It seems like the flour will come off when you re-dip into the egg, but it doesn't. Set the dipped pieces on a plate.
Once all the pieces are dipped, set the plate in the fridge for 10 minutes. While the chicken is sitting, heat the oil to 375 degrees. Once the chicken is done resting, drop the chicken into the oil, and cook for 4-6 minutes, turning halfway through.
Remove from oil, and place on a plate covered with a paper towel to drain. Continue until all chicken has been fried.
In a small microwave safe bowl, combine the hot sauce and margarine together. Microwave until margarine is melted, probably about 30 45 seconds.
Place all the chicken in some sort of container with a lid, pour the sauce over the chicken, put the lid on and shake to coat the chicken with the sauce.
Serve with ranch dressing or bleu cheese.

I usually double this recipe, because it makes a TON, and then there's plenty left over for the next day. And again I say, SO MUCH better the next day.

Stuffed Pizza Rolls

2009-07-18T18:59:00.000-07:00

On my first date with my husband we had pizza. On my 3rd date with my husband we had pizza. And again on the 6th date, and again on the 10th. Some of the ladies out there may be wondering how this man who insisted on eating pizza on 4 out of 10 dates became my husband, and to that I answer....he's really cute.

I'm not a pizza lover. I crave it every so often, but it's a once or twice a year thing, and not an every other day thing like it is with certain men that I live with. I'm pretty sure that if you could lay out all the pizza boxes that were ever thrown in my trash end to end, you could get from Kentucky to California and back again.* There is always some form of frozen pizza in my freezer, whether it be DiGiorno(not recently), Totino's Pizza Rolls, Red Baron French Bread Pizzas, the list goes on. It's incredibly rare for me to ask "what do you want for dinner?" and NOT have the answer be "pizza". There's gourmet pizza, cheap pizza, take out, and delivery, and Papa Murphy's, which is basically like a Subway restaurant, but for pizza. In 9 years, I've never ever seen him turn down pizza. That's my test for him. Like, if I'm ever worried that the body snatchers have taken him I'll offer him pizza and if he says no then I'll know...he's not Jim, he's a body snatcher - or whatever the body snatchers were actually called. I've never actually seen that movie.

Part of it of course, is the fact that pizza can be delivered. The fact that you can pay someone to bring you food, and you don't even have to change out of your pajamas to receive it truly is one of the best things to ever happen in this world. And since no decent Chinese places deliver to my house, when I don't feel up to cooking, and Jim doesn't want to put pants on and go out, 9 times out of 10, we have pizza. The other time, I usually suck it up and go pick up wings.

And now, pizza places are so much more than pizza it's incredible. They'll bring you salads, wings, nachos, desserts, and drinks, and even sandwiches! You can order from a pizza place, and instead of pizza, you get a sandwich!? Ridiculous. Ridiculously awesome.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that my husband likes pizza.

So, I was looking around earlier this week for a recipe for the amazingly large carton of blueberries that I bought at Sam's Club last week(Seriously? 2 lbs of blueberries? What was I thinking?), and I found a recipe that looks awesome(more to come on that in a future post), but I also found a recipe for stuffed pizza rolls. Check out Kate and Sara's blog as soon as you can. They rock, and not just because Sara spells her name the right way(no H).

I knew that this recipe would be a hit as soon as I saw it. They're like little balls of pizza. I mean, what's not to like? I really actually liked these a lot - they were super easy, and you're limited only by your imagination, and the pizza toppings you can find at the grocery store. You like peppers? Throw some in. Hate mushrooms? By all means, leave them out.

I went old school...cheese and pepperoni. It's a classic for a reason, people.

Stuffed Pizza Rolls(adapted from Our Best Bites)

Ingredients Needed:

1 roll of refrigerated pizza dough(you can make your own, but that would take away the "quick" part of the recipe)
2 tbsp grated parmesan
1 tbsp olive oil or melted butter
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp dried Italian seasoning**
mozarella cheese
pizza toppings of your choice
marinara or pizza sauce

To Make:

Preheat oven to temperature specified by the pizza dough you are using. If you've gone ahead and made your own, use 375-400. Roll out the pizza dough on a floured surface, and roll until thin, and about 12-18 inches. Cut into squares. The original recipe said you can get 24 squares...I only got 18. In the middle of each sqaure, place your toppings, but don't overfill. About 1 tsp of cheese and each topping per square should do you just fine. Also, no sauce on the sqaures...that comes later.
Now, once all your toppings have been laid out, take each square, and fold up, making a little pizza ball. Secure the seams at the bottom, and then place, seam side down, in a pie pan or 9 inch baking dish that you have prepared by spraying it with cooking spray.
Next, lightly brush on olive oil or melted butter. I used oil, but I think the butter would do a better job of browning the rolls. Sprinkle with garlic powder, seasonings, and the grated cheese.

Once all pizza rolls are in the pan, bake for 15-20 minutes, but start keeping a close eye on them after about 10 minutes. Mine actually did take the entire 20 minutes.
Remove from oven, and serve warm with marinara or pizza sauce for dipping.

*This is not a scientific fact. I just made that up. for all I know, it could only get me from Kentucky to Tennessee and back.

**I didn't have italian seasoning, so I used a mix of basil, oregano, and parsley. Which is basically Italian seasoning when you think about it.

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TasteSpotting Thursday

2009-07-15T19:21:00.000-07:00

Everyone deals with jealousy on a daily basis. Jealous of a friend who has a nicer car or home than you do; jealous of a co-worker who got praise for something you did; jealous of the people in the apartment next door because you caught a glimpse inside as they were leaving and their TV is at least a 50 inch, while you're still bopping along with a 36 incher. I think that if you asked 10 random people on the street when the last time they felt jealous was, the answer would be "today" at least 8 times. And the other two would probably be lying.

You're probably wondering what the point of this ramble is, and here it is. The last time I felt jealous was about two hours ago. My husband and I were at his brother's house after visiting their grandmother in the hospital, and I was overcome by one of the worst cases of kitchen envy I've ever had. My brother and sister in law redid their kitchen about 8 months ago, and it is beautiful. Lovely stainless steel KitchenAid appliances, pretty tile floor, and acres of counter space. I've mentioned before how much I love cooking in my mother in law's kitchen, but I think I would actually prefer my brother in law's. And the reason is this: light. Any food blogger will tell you that the most important quality in any food photograph is light. Adam and Holly's kitchen has amazing light, coming in from several different angles. It's a food bloggers dream kitchen. I want to volunteer to make them dinner every night, just so I can have access to that kitchen. It makes me not want to cook in my own small, badly lit kitchen. Not that I'll actually stop cooking in my own kitchen, I'll just pout a bit first. I know that eventually my husband will be out of school, and we'll be able to afford a house(hopefully Jim already knows that an awesome kitchen is priority number one for me when it comes to house buying. If he doesn't though....hi honey! I'm going to make your life terrible when we're house hunting!) with an awesome kitchen and hopefully windows out the ying yang. But until then, I just have to lust after other people's kitchens. And hopefully convince all my in laws that a home cooked meal is worth waiting an extra 10 minutes to eat while I search for just the right angle in a photo.

So, this brings me to an idea that I've had cooking(ha ha, get it?) for awhile. Since I can't have a beautiful kitchen of my own to cook in, I want to see what people are making in their own kitchens. I have literally hundreds of recipes bookmarked waiting for me to try them, and about half of them I've found browsing on TasteSpotting. So, I bring to you TasteSpotting Thursday's. What I'm going to do is, every Thursday I'll give you all links to three or four of the most interesting looking recipes that I've found on there. They might not be things I've made myself, so I can't vouch for them, but they will be things that have been added to my daily growing lists of recipes I want to try, but haven't because I'm too busy, too stressed, too tired, or just too bummed to want to cook in my own kitchen.

Hopefully, if you try them first, you can let me know how they turned out.

So, for the first installment, I give you three recipes that have been added to my list, and now hopefully yours.

1.

2.

3.

Number one is an onion cracker recipe, number 2 is pecan pie bars, and number three is a lamb burger with tzatziki sauce and feta cheese.

All three of those look fantastic, and please, if you do try them, please let me know how they turned out.

A Cookie By Any Other Name....

2009-07-12T18:26:00.000-07:00

I've found it. Cookie nirvana. Seriously you guys, you have to make these tonight. It's important. If you don't make them until next week, you'll strain something kicking yourself, because you'll be mad that you didn't make them sooner. And I don't want that to happen to any of you. I love my readers. I'm currently nursing a slight sprain, because I've had this recipe for months and didn't make them until last week.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies. Brownie Cookies. Fudge Drops. These go by many names, but the name they should really go by is super chocolatey delicious bombs of happiness. If you're not a chocolate lover stay away, because these are almost chocolate overload. Almost, but not quite.
If you are a chocolate lover, I reiterate...make these tonight.

Several people told me that these are the best chocolate cookies they've ever had. While I'd like to take that as a personal compliment, it's really due to the cookie much more so than the baker.

The recipe is from King Arthur Flour, but I used Pillsbury flour, and they still turned out great. Nobody tell Arthur, please.

Fudge Drops(Adapted from King Arthur Flour)

Ingredients Needed:

8 oz semisweet chocolate
3 tbsp butter
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 cup chocolate chips(optional, but recommended)

The original recipe called for 1 tsp espresso powder, but I don't have any, and I don't think the cookies were adversely effected by the lack of it.

To Make:

In a double boiler, melt together chocolate and butter. In a separate bowl, beat together eggs yolks salt, baking powder, vanilla and chocolate chips(if you're using them). Refrigerate the dough for at least one hour.*
Preheat the oven to 325. Lightly grease, or line two baking sheets with parchment. Drop the cookies by tablespoonful onto the prepared cookie sheets. Make sure they are well spaced, because the cookies spread a bit as they bake. Bake for 11-12 minutes, until the tops are shiny and cracked the top of a brownie. This wont happen until the very very end, so I recommend starting to keep a close eye on them at about the 10 minute mark.
Once removed from the oven, LEAVE THEM ON THE COOKIE SHEET for at least 5 minutes. These are really delicate straight from the oven, and they'll break if you move them too soon. Once the 5 minutes is passed, remove to a cooling rack, and repeat until all the dough is gone.

Makes about 30 cookies.

*I actually left the dough in the fridge for about 2 hours. Not be design, just because I honestly forgot about them for awhile. The cookies were fine.

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Buckeye's

2009-07-06T13:08:00.001-07:00

So, growing up in Pennsylvania, I never really gave much thought to Ohio, other than knowing that it was a neighboring state, and hating Ohio State(GO PENN STATE!). I never actually pictured myself living in there. But come to pass, I met my (now) husband, and he was living in Ohio, so I moved to be with him, and ended up living in Ohio for about 4 years, before moving to northern Kentucky.

So...Buckeye's. Being a Penn State fan for most of my life, I knew that Ohio State's mascot was the buckeye, but I never knew that it was anything other than a nut.

Well, come to find out, buckeye's are also one of the most delicious candies on the block. Peanut butter and chocolate...what's not to love?

I had originally thought about making buckeye's as our wedding favor, but we ended up deciding to axe favors and have an open bar. Up until this past weekend, I thought that was the right choice, but seeing how these got gobbled up at my in laws 4th of July party this weekend, I might have been wrong.

These are incredibly simple, if time consuming to make, and the recipe makes a TON. It'll probably be awhile before I make these again, because, seriously time consuming, but they were SO worth it.

Buckeye's

Ingredients Needed:

2 cups creamy peanut butter(don't use all natural)
1/4 cup butter, softened
3 3/4 cups(or 16 oz) confectioners sugar
2 cups(12 oz bag) semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp shortening

To Make:

Mix peanut butter and butter together in a large mixing bowl until creamy. Beat in the powdered sugar until mixture is thoroughly moistened. Shape into 1 inch balls, and freeze 30-60 minutes.
Melt chocolate chips and shortening together in a double boiler, or in the microwave. If using the microwave, heat for 1 minute, then stir, and heat an additional 10-15 seconds at a time until chocolate is fully melted.
Using a toothpick, dip the peanut butter balls into the chocolate, leaving a small portion on top uncovered, then transfer to a parchment paper lined baking sheet. You can smooth over the toothpick hole with your finger if you want to. Refrigerate until chocolate is set, at least 2 hours. Store in fridge or freezer in a covered container.

So, when I said that these are time consuming, here's the deal: The peanut butter gets soft very quickly once it's removed from the freezer. I had to keep putting it back in the freezer for 10-15 minutes at a time, or the PB balls would just slide off the toothpick into the chocolate. All in all, to make the full recipe of buckeye's took about 3 hours. So make sure if you're making these that you have plenty of time, because they're going to take longer than you think they will. I will say again, however.....totally worth it. These are amazing. Like Reece's Peanut Butter Cups, but better, because they're mostly peanut butter. So good.

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Maple Glazed Carrots

2009-07-01T17:11:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I actually remember the first time I had cooked carrots, or if my mom has just told me the story so many times that it seems like I do.

It goes like this: the first time I ever had cooked carrots, we were at my grandmother's house for the weekend, and she made cooked carrots with dinner. I loved them, and asked my mom why she never made me cooked carrots, and her response was "because I hate cooked carrots, and I'm a grown up, which means I don't ever have to make them if I don't want to." I never said it was a particularly interesting story.

So anyway, I'm the grown up now, which means I can cook carrots to my hearts content. And that's just what I did. These carrots are SO GOOD, you guys. Sweet, and savory, and firm and delicious. And really really easy.

Maple Glazed Carrots

Ingredients Needed:

2 lbs of carrots(to start...you'll want to end up with right around a pound)
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup water
salt and pepper

To Make:

Peel carrots, then cut the both ends off of them. Slice carrots 1/4 inch thick, on the diagonal. In a large skillet, combine the carrots, syrup, water and butter.
Bring to a boil, and reduce heat to medium, and simmer, partially covered for 12-15 minutes.
If the carrots are are tender, but the liquid has not thickened by the end of 15 minutes, turn up heat to medium high, and cook uncovered until glaze thickens.

These turned out really really well. And since I'm the only one in my house(husband is a carrot hater too), they were all for me!

Cocunut Lime Cake

2009-06-27T17:49:00.000-07:00

Back before I started this blog, when I was just a food blog fan, I remember seeing this recipe at Smitten Kitchen, and thinking that it looked pretty good, but I must have forgotten to bookmark it, and forgot about it.

A few weeks ago, I saw it on honey and jam and remembered, oh yeah, I wanted to make that. Lime and coconut are two of my favorites. I was not disappointed. There were a few mishaps, but those were totally my own doing, and had nothing to do with the recipe. Actually, I think the mishaps might have made the cake better, and I'll explain why shortly.

Coconut Lime Cake(adapted from Honey and Jam, by way of Smitten Kitchen)

Ingredients Needed:

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp grated lime zest
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 tbsp rum(optional) or milk

To Make:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 inch round pie pan, and line the bottom with a piece of parchment(this is awesome by the way...no sticking AT ALL. I will do this from now until the end of time)
Toast the coconut on a baking sheet for about 10 minutes, until crispy and golden brown. Set aside. Don't turn the oven off, you'll need it still.
In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, and lime zest until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each egg is added. Stir together the flour, salt, baking powder, and to that, add 1/2 cup of the toasted coconut.
Mix together the 3/4 cup of milk, and half(or 2 tbsp) of the lime juice. At a low speed, mix the flour mixture and lime/milk mixture into the batter alternating between the two, beginning and ending with the flour(so it goes, flour, milk, flour, milk, flour). Pour the batter into the pan, and smooth the top. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until top is golden brown, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Mix together the remaining 2 tbsp lime juice, confectioners sugar and rum(or milk), and spoon over top of cake, then top with the remaining toasted coconut.
Cut, and serve.

So, you might be asking yourself, "that doesn't sound messed up...where's the mess up, Sara?"

So, what happened was, the cake was cooking fine, and after about 35 minutes, it was done, but the top wasn't brown. So, I turned on the broiler for a few minutes to brown the top, and turned my back for a second too long, and burned the crap out of the top of the cake. The rest was fine, but the top was a blackened, burned mess. So, what I did was just cut the top off of the cake, and poured the topping and coconut on the very thin cake that was left. So, where the goodness comes in, is that I think the topping would get lost in a thicker cake. The topping(which was really the best part of the cake) was so pronounced, because there was very little cake to take away from it. I'll make this again though, and hopefully the next time, I wont mess it up, and I'll be able to test that theory.

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Red Wine Linguine with Parmesan

2009-06-27T17:33:00.000-07:00

The second I saw this dish on the Real Simple website, I bookmarked it, and I actually made it that night, which is fairly rare for me. Looking back, I really don't know what possessed me to make this. Here's the thing. I don't drink alcohol. Like, at all. The last time I had a drink was at my wedding. 8 months ago. And I didn't even drink the whole thing. I think I took two sips, and the the photographer was calling back for more pictures.

So, why I thought that wine flavored pasta would be something I would like, I really don't know. If you like wine, this dish is probably the whip. But for me, it just tasted like wine, and since I don't like wine, I didn't really like the pasta. My husband liked it a little more than I did, but he likes wine, so there you go. On the plus side of the recipe, it was incredibly simple to make, and very quick, only about 20 minutes from start to finish.

Red Wine Pasta(adapted from Real Simple)

Ingredients Needed:

1/2 lb linguine
1 tbsp kosher salt
1/3 cup red wine(I used Shiraz, but most any red wine would work with this, apparently)
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp lemon zest
black pepper
1/4 cup shaved or grated fresh parmesan

To Make:

Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente(usually about 7 minutes). While the pasta cooks, bring the wine to a simmer in a small sauce pan. When pasta is done, drain, and return to cooking pot. Pour the wine in, and and cook over medium heat until wine is almost completely absorbed into the pasta, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add the olive oil, and pepper. Serve garnished with the lemon zest, and grated parmesan cheese.

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My Take On Pommes Anna

2009-06-27T17:15:00.000-07:00

So, I've been a little slow on the updating here lately, and I apologize. My job is going through some turmoil right now, and the last thing I usually want to do when I come home is cook anything. There's been lots of pizza in my house lately. BUT! Things seem to be starting to turn around. I have quite a few things coming up for you, but let's start here.

For Father's Day last sunday, I had oringally planned on making a cake, and potato salad. Well, something went terribly horribly wrong with the potato salad(raw potatoes...yummy), so I had to start all over. The last thing I felt like making was more potato salad, but I had promised a potato dish, so I went looking, and found this recipe.

Wikipedia defines Pommes Anna as a classic French dish of sliced, layered potatoes cooked in a very large amount of melted butter.

I found a basic recipe here, and then adapted it a little bit to fit my own tastes, which basically means adding cheese. Also, I highly recommend you invest in a cheap mandolin before trying this. I was slicing potatoes forever. I thought my hand might fall off.

Pommes Anna(adapted from Elra's Cooking)

Ingredients Needed:

3 lbs yukon gold potatoes
3 tbsp melted butter
3/4 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

To Make:

Peel the potatoes, then thinly slice, either by hand or with a mandolin(for the love of God, use a mandolin). Dry the potatoes with a paper towel. Starting with one potato slice in the center of a 9 inch pie pan, arrange the potatoes in a circular pattern, extending all the way to the edges of the pan. Pour 1 tbsp melted butter over potatoes, season lightly with salt and pepper, then sprinkle 1/4 cup of cheese on top of layer. Repeat twice more, ending with a layer of potatoes on top, and with 1/4 cup of cheese reserved. Cut a piece of parchment to fit over the top of potatoes, and bake at 375 for 1 hour. After the hour is up, remove the parchment, and sprinkle remaining cheese on top, and bake for another 15 minutes, until cheese is golden and bubbly.

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Daring Bakers - Bakewell Tart

2009-06-21T18:38:00.000-07:00

So, I joined the Daring Bakers last month, but it was too late to participate in the May challenge. Bummer, because strudel is one of my all time favorite desserts, and I've never had the nerve to try it myself.

June's Daring Baker challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar They chose a traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart....er...Pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history, dating back to the 1800's in England.

When I first decided to join a group like this, I spent about a week deciding between various groups, and finally landed on The Daring Bakers, because I thought it would be the best group to push me out of my comfort zone, and boy howdy, did they.

I never thought that my first challenge would be something that I've never even heard of before, much less tasted. I debated just skipping this challenge, because the recipe looked fairly complicated to me. After a few days though, I decided that this was the reason I joined, and I wasn't going to wimp out on my very first try.

So... Bakewell Tart. I'm glad I made it, but I'll probably never make it again. I think I actually did it wrong, because mine looked nothing like the picture of what it was supposed to look like. And I honestly didn't like it enough to try it again to see if I could fix the problem(which I think was actually under baking it a little).
I made a few adjustments...I don't have a tart pan, and it wasn't in the budget to buy one this month(I allot myself only so much money to spend on kitchen things, and I had already met that quota), so I used a regular pie dish. I don't know if that had something to do with it being underdone. I didn't add any almonds on top, because I knew I would never get my husband to try it if there were obvious nuts on top. I have to hide these things from him, you know. He tasted the almonds immediately, however, which leads me to the following conclusion: it's really really almond-y, almost too almond-y, and this is coming from a gal who loves her some almonds. I also didn't really manage to get any good pictures of it, which always taints a recipe for me slightly. All in all, it was a good experience, and I did what I set out to do, which was expand my skills as a baker. So...good deal.

If you want to try this yourself, head to Jasmine or Annemarie's blogs to check out the recipe!

Baked Lemon Pasta

2009-06-21T17:45:00.000-07:00

Something you should maybe know about me is that I spend an abnormal amount of time Stumbling. Not stumbling as in walking funny, but Stumbling on the internet. About 6 months ago or so, I came home from work to find that my husband had taken it upon himself to install the Stumble Upon toolbar on my computer. I had seen him use it a few times, and he had been nagging at me for months to install it, and I guess he finally got sick of me saying "maybe tomorrow" and did it himself, knowing full well that once it was on there, I would eventually use it.

My husband is a smart man.

I spend probably a good hour a day Stumbling around the internet, mostly looking for new dishes to make. My "recipes I want to try" bookmark folder is really really long. And I will make all of these things someday.

Well, one happy day, I stumbled across this little gem from The Pioneer Woman.

This is one of those ones that I wish I had tried the minute I saw it. I really don't understand why I didn't.

Pioneer Woman is a blog that probably every food blogger in the world is familiar with, but I personally hadn't spent that much time there. If this dish is any indication of the rest of her dishes, I will be spending a lot more time there.

Lemon? Check. Carbs? Check. Parmesan cheese? Check. Sour cream? Check.

Seriously, these are four of my favorite things, all in one easy to make dish? And the leftovers are great? I could slap myself for not making this sooner. My husband refused to try it, but he's not a lemon fan, nor is he a fan of pasta without red sauce on it.

My husband is not always so smart.

Lemon Pasta(adapted from The Pioneer Woman)

Ingredients Needed:
1 lb pasta(spaghetti is probably best with this dish)
2 cups sour cream
4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
juice of 1 lemon
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp salt
a LOT of grated parmesan cheese(real cheese here, not the green can kind)
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
extra lemon juice

To Make:

Cook spaghetti according to package directions, until al dente. The noodles will cook a little more when you bake them. Set noodles aside. Preheat oven to 350. In a large sauce pan, melt the butter and oil together over low heat. Add the garlic, and cook for 1-2 minutes. Squeeze the lemon juice into the pan(careful not to get any seeds in there). Add the sour cream, and stir until everything is incorporated. Add the lemon zest, and salt. Taste, and add more salt if necessary.
Add the noodles that you had set aside back into the pan, and stir together with the sauce.

Transfer the noodles to an oven safe baking dish, and cover with foil. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove foil, and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Now, in my oven, the top didn't get super brown and yummy looking, so if you want that to happen, set it to broil for about 3-4 minutes, and you should have lovely brown crust-y spaghetti on top.

Remove from oven, and squeeze more lemon juice on top. Then add a generous amount of parmesan cheese, the parsley, and yet more lemon. There will be no doubt in your mouth that this is lemon pasta.

Now, what I just listed is the original recipe from Pioneer Woman. When I made this, I actually halved the recipe, and it was still WAY too much food for one person. I have leftovers for days. So if you're just making this for yourself, quarter the recipe. You'll probably still have far more than any one person can eat in one sitting.

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Garlic Lime Tilapia and Asparagus

2009-06-17T11:02:00.000-07:00

In the past I've always been one of those cooks who Follows The Recipe. I figured that the recipe was there for a reason, and why deviate from it? Not having an ingredient, or knowing that I added more or less of something that I was supposed to, or forgetting to add something when the recipe told me to sent me into a tailspin of worry and self doubt.

One of the great things about starting this blog is that I've become so much more comfortable in the kitchen. Things that used to scare me aren't so scary anymore, and I've learned that sometimes when you forget to add something, you end up with a dish that's even better than the one you set out to make. If something doesn't turn out the way you thought it would, that's okay too. Also, I'm going to ruin a dish every once in awhile. Maybe more.

After spending about 15 minutes staring at my pantry last night, trying to decide between making hamburger helper(I know it's terrible, but it's SO easy, and even a food blogger needs a break now and then) or ordering in, I remembered that I had some tilapia in the freezer, and some leftover asparagus from one of those recipes that got ruined. I also had garlic, lime juice, and I've always got worcestershire sauce in the fridge. I decided to just fly blind, and see what turned out. What turned out, was awesome. The fish had such an great flavor to it, but honestly, the star of the show was the asparagus. This is a meal that will definitely go into the rotation.

Ingredients Needed:

4 small tilapia fillets, fresh or frozen
1/2 lb asparagus, cut into bite size pieces.
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp lime juice(I used Nellie and Joe's, rather than fresh lime juice)
1 clove garlic
salt and pepper to taste

To Make:

If using frozen tilapia, defrost in a bowl of cold water for about 15 minutes. Remove from plasic packaging, and season with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, melt the butter and olive oil together. Add the garlic and saute for about 2 minutes. Add the worcestershire sauce and lime juice. Let that reduce for about a minute, then add the tilapia fillets, and the pieces of asparagus. Depending on the size of the fillets, cook about 2-4 minutes per side, or until fish is white and translucent. Remove the fish from the pan and cover with foil, saute the asparagus about 3-5 more minutes, or until the thickest pieces are tender.

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Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies

2009-06-14T13:47:00.001-07:00

I don't think I've ever met someone who didn't like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I've been witness to raging debates about the merits of strawberry vs. grape jelly, or creamy vs. chunky peanut butter. It's a staple of childhood. Nothing was better on a hot summer day than coming in from playing Manhunt or building forts than a big glass of cold milk and and a PB & J. Unless you had one of those moms who let you have ice cream whenever you wanted. I didn't have one of those moms.

As we get older, we graduate on to more sophisticated sandwiches, but I think that given a choice, most people would choose a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich any day. At least I know I would.

I got this recipe for pb&j cookies from Rachael Ray's magazine, and I knew I had to try them. It took me awhile to get around to making them, and I really wish I hadn't waited so long. They were really easy to make, and they are awesome. Make these cookies, you wont be disappointed.

Ingredients Needed:

1/2 cup all purpost flour
1 cup creamy peanut butter, divided
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temp
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
3 tbsp jelly(whatever you prefer)
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp confectioners sugar
1 1/2 tbsp milk

To Make:

Preheat oven to 350. In a small bowl, stir together flour and baking powder and set aside.
In a large bowl, blend 3/4 cup of the peanut butter with the butter on medium speed. Add the sugar and brown sugar, and beat until smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Add the egg, and mix well, then add flour, and mix until just combined.
Using a small scoop, drop the dough 2 inches apart(they will spread, so make sure you do this) onto 2 ungreased baking sheets. Using the back of a melon baller, or your thumb, gently dent the middle of each cookie, then spoon 1/2 tsp of jelly into the center. Bake until light golden brown, about 10-12 minutes. Remove to a rack and cool.
In a separate bowl, mix together the remaining 1/4 cup peanut butter and confectioners sugar. Add the milk, a bit at a time, until smooth enough for piping. Then using either a pastry bag, or a plastic baggie with a corner snipped off, pipe the peanut butter over the cookies.

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French Fries with Creamy Chili Hot Sauce Dip

2009-06-11T17:47:00.000-07:00

Is there anyone out there who doesn't like french fries? Show of hands? No one? Good. I normally only really like fast food french fries(I know, horrible of me), but I thought that I might try my hand at homemade fries. I know that there's no way that my fries would ever be as good as say, McDonald's, but that's okay. They were really really easy, and that goes a long way with me. I don't normally deep fry things, but I figured one time wouldn't be terrible, and then I could say that I've done it.

Ingredients Needed:
(for 2 people)

2 large Idaho potatoes
2 cups canola oil
salt and pepper
onion powder
garlic powder

To Make:

Wash and peel potatoes. You can cut the potatoes anyway you like. I cut them into long thin strips, since I was going for a McDonald's type of fry. Heat the oil in a medium-large pot until it reaches 350 degrees. If you don't have a thermometer, you can tell it's ready when the oil starts to really bubble. If you're still not sure, just throw one fry in there, and if it starts to bubble like crazy, you'll know it's ready.
Fry the fries until dark golden brown, about 5-6 minutes. Remove from oil with a slotted spoon or tongs, and drain on paper towels. While they're still hot, season however you want to. I just used salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder.

The flavor of these was really good. Much better than frozen fries. And they were done. But they didn't get crispy. They weren't mushy, but they definitely weren't crispy. I'm not sure if I should have left them in longer, or if you just can't get them to do that at home. Either way, they were really good.

The sauce that I made for them was interesting. I didn't really care for it...it was a little too hot for me, and that was with using less hot sauce than the recipe called for. My husband liked it, but it got to be a little too spicy for him as well, and we both switched to ranch dressing.

Ingredients Needed for Dipping Sauce:

3 tbsp mayo
1 tbsp tobasco( i used 2 tsp)
1 tsp lemon or lime juice
1/4 tsp soy sauce

To Make:

In bowl, combine ingredients, stir until smooth.

Very simple. I might try this again using Franks Red Hot, and using 1 tsp instead of 1 tbsp.

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Key Lime Pie

2009-06-10T18:28:00.000-07:00

I think I've mentioned before that I really like lemons. Really, really like them. But I feel like sometimes I neglect another awesome citrus fruit. Limes.

One of my favorite desserts of all time has to be Key Lime Pie. I don't think I had it until I was about 23 or 24, but I've eaten 30 years worth in the last 6 years.

The thing about Key Lime Pie is that it can be really REALLY bad. So bad that you wonder who made the pie, and why they hate you so much. And you never really know when you're going to get Bad Pie, and it makes you wary of ordering Key Lime Pie in restaurants because who wants bad pie after an awesome meal? Even Red Lobster, who is normally my favorite Key Lime Pie maker, has occasionally given me Bad Pie, and it makes me not want to eat there again. But I always do, because really, who can resist those biscuits? I know I can't.

So, what to do when you want Key Lime Pie, and you don't want to risk it? Make your own.

I saw this recipe over on My Baking Addiction awhile back, and knew that I had to make this pie. Overall, it was good. Really good. It was actually a little on the tart side for me(which means it was really really tart), but the flavor was excellent. Also, I think that the over tartness was probably my fault. I used just a bit less sweetened condensed milk than the recipe called for, because I ran out. It was also really easy, which is always a bonus.

I made my own graham cracker crust, but you can just as easily use a pre made one. It wont really effect the pie at all.

Ingredients Needed:

1 9 inch graham cracker crust(homemade or store bought)
1/2 cup sour cream
3 cups sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup Nellie and Joe's Lime Juice
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
1 tbsp grated lime zest.

To Make:

Bake graham cracker crust as directed.

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, combine condensed milk, both limes juices, sour cream, and lime zest. Mix until smooth, then pour into pie crust. Bake for about 8-12 minutes or until small bubbles appear on top of pie. Do not brown pie! Chill for several hours before serving. Garnish with lime slices and whipped cream.

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You Wont Be Single For Long Penne ala Vodka

2009-06-05T17:44:00.000-07:00

This week has been disappointing. Nothing that I've made has turned out the way I had hoped. It either didn't taste very good, or didn't photograph very well, neither of which I want to post on here.

Tonight, finally, I made something that was both delicious and gorgeous. I came across this recipe over at smitten kitchen a few months back, and it's been on the back burner for a bit while I tried other things. Don't make the same mistake. This is one of the best pasta dishes I've ever had. And SO EASY. I loved it, my husband loved it. I called my mom, and she loved it over the phone without having actually tried it. It's one of those recipes that makes me wish that you could blog the way something smells. It's fantastic. Try it. Now.

Ingredients Needed:

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp butter
2 shallots, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup vodka
1 cup chicken stock
1 28 or 32 oz can crushed tomatoes
salt and pepper
16 ounces pasta, doesn't have to be penne, any sort of shaped pasta will do.
1/2 cup heavy cream
15-20 leaves fresh basil, chopped

To Make:

Preheat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the oil and butter to pan, and melt butter. Add garlic and shallots, and saute for 3-5 minutes. Add vodka to the pan, and reduce by half, about 2-3 minutes. Add the chicken stock and tomatoes. Bring sauce up to bubbling, then reduce heat to simmer. While the sauce is simmering, cook pasta according to package directions in salted water, then drain, and set aside. Stir the cream into the sauce, and season with salt and pepper. Toss the hot pasta with sauce and stir in basil leaves. Serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

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Buttermilk Raspberry Cake

2009-06-02T15:58:00.000-07:00

So last week was crazy, and I didn't get to do much cooking or baking. I hate those kinds of weeks. So does my husband, because it means he lives on soup and bagels all week.

I didn't have to work on Sunday though, and I figured it was the perfect day to make this recipe I've had my eye on from Deb over at Smitten Kitchen for the past few weeks.

Buttermilk Raspberry Cake.

Doesn't that sound amazing? Well, if you don't like raspberries, it probably doesn't, but I happen to adore raspberries, so it sounded awesome to me. What makes it even better? The fact that raspberries were on sale for 99 cents a carton at Kroger. Seriously, I really wanted to buy like 5 cartons, but I restrained myself and only got two. One for the cake, and one for snacking.

This cake is insanely simple to make, and aside from the raspberries, I had all the ingredients already in my pantry. I love it when something comes together like that.

Ingredients Needed:
1 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar plus 1 1/2 tbsp, divided
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 egg*
1/2 stick (4 tbsp) butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp lemon zest(optional)
1/2 cup shaken buttermilk**
1 cup fresh raspberries***

To make:

Preheat oven to 400, and grease and flour a 9 inch round baking dish(and really grease that sucker). In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set that aside.
In a larger bowl, using a hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy(about 2-3 minutes). Add the lemon zest and vanilla, then beat in egg.
At low speed, mix in the flour in three batches, alternating with the buttermilk but ending and beginning with the flour. Flour, buttermilk, flour, buttermilk, flour. Easy.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and smooth the top. Scatter the raspberries, or make a pattern with them, doesn't really matter. Sprinkle the 1 1/2 tbsp sugar over the cake before baking. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream if you've got it...it's sensational.

* So...the egg. I almost forgot to add the egg to this. I was just about to pour the batter into the pan when I realized that the batter just didn't look right. I turned my head to look at the laptop screen, and saw the egg still sitting on the counter, just chilling. I added the egg at that point, and the cake still turned out great.

**You can make your own buttermilk, instead of having to buy it. This is awesome, since buttermilk only seems to come in large cartons, and you only need 1/2 cup. Just add 1 tbsp of white vinegar or lemon juice to 1 cup of milk. Let sit for about 10 minutes, and voila! buttermilk.

*** You can use other berries here...blackberries, blueberries, cut up peaches, strawberries, nectarines. Pretty much any fruit you like would be good in this.

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Traditional Macaroni and Cheese

2009-05-28T11:11:00.000-07:00

So I was at work yesterday, and I stumbled across a picture of macaroni and cheese somewhere on the internet, and it was like a switch clicked in my head, and ALL I could think about from that moment on was home made macaroni and cheese. I recently made macaroni and cheese when a friend of mine was in town a few weeks ago, but that was a fancy one with gouda and gruyere cheeses, and that's just not in the budget this week. So I went looking and found a recipe on this blog that I'll be following from now on, and it looked awesome, and pretty easy, so here we go. I made a few changes to it, though. I used shell pasta, instead of elbow pasta, I omitted the ham and onion, and I used store bought breadcrumbs because I'm lazy. I mixed 1/2 cup breadcrumbs with 2 tbsp's butter before adding them to the top of the mac and cheese. I also used less noodles than the recipe calls for(about 10 0z instead of 160z), because a full pound of pasta is a LOT of pasta. Also, I used a bit more cayenne than the recipe called for, because despite what my husband might think, I do like things to have a bit of bite to them.

Ingredients Needed:

1 lb elbow noodles, cooked according to package directions.

4 tbsp butter

1/4 cup flour

1/2 small onion, chopped or grated

4 cups milk

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1 1/4 cups sharp yellow cheddar cheese, shredded(in my opinion, the sharper the better)

1 1/4 cups white cheddar cheese, shredded

salt and pepper to taste

8 oz ham, diced

2 slices of sandwich bread

To Make:

Preheat the oven to 375. Cook the pasta according to package directions, then set aside. In a large sauce pan, melt the four tbsp butter in the pan, then add the onion, cook for 3-5 minutes, then add the flour. In a steady stream(or as steady as you can make it) pour in the milk, whisking constantly until all lumps are gone. Cook this mixture, whisking frequently for about 6-8 minutes, until mixture is thick and bubbly. Then add the cheese(leaving out about 1/2 cup or so, to sprinkle on top), and stir until cheese is melted. Add the pasta back into the cheese sauce, stir, then add ham and stir again. Season with salt and pepper.

In a food processor, pulse the bread until you have large crumbs. Then with the remaining 1/2 cup cheese, sprinkle on top. Bake for 30 minutes.

This is a REALLY good macaroni and cheese. And the thing is, it just tasted better the next day, and leftovers are always a good thing.

Roasted Chickpeas

2009-05-27T20:25:00.001-07:00

I came across this recipe for roasted chickpeas a few weeks ago for roasted chickpeas, and thought to myself "I like chickpeas(well, I like hummus, and that's made from chickpeas) and I like roasting things, so how could this be bad?" That sounds like trick questions where the answer is "let me tell you how bad it could be...it was terrible!" Luckily, that's not the case. These were pretty darn tasty, actually. The thing with roasted chickpeas, it seems, is that they themselves dont have much flavor to them when they're roasted. All the flavor comes from the seasonings you add, and there are so many possibilities, you could roast chickpeas from now until the day you die, and never run out of flavor combinations.

I went fairly basic, since it was the first time I've made them.

Ingredients Needed:

1 15 oz can chickpeas

1 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

salt and pepper.

To Make:

Preheat oven to 400. Rinse and drain chickpeas, then spread out on a paper towel for a few minutes to dry. In the meantime, heat the oil in a medium skillet, then add the garlic and onion powders. Let cook for a few minutes, until the mixture become fragrant. Then remove pan from heat, and add chickpeas. Stir until the beans are covered with the oil mixture, then transfer to a foil lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then roast in the oven for 30-40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so.

Easy, and delicious. Some of them will burn, but most of them will be fine.

Like I said, I went with a very simple flavor combo here, since it was the first time I made this. The next time I make it, I'll probably add some chili powder for a bit of bite. They would also be awesome with cinnamon, nutmeg, and honey.

Endless possibilities!

Cherry....Turnovers?

2009-05-26T11:39:00.000-07:00

I've always had a slight fear of puff pastry...I got some a few years back, intending to make...something, and I ended up just throwing it all away, because I just couldn't figure out how to stretch out the puff pastry. A few days ago, I was at the store, and saw these big beautiful bags of cherries. Cherries have never been my favorite fruit...they're a little too sour for me on their own, but in things, I adore them. My aunt Jeni used to make cherry turnovers once a year at Thanksgiving. I would wait all damn year for those turnovers. They were perfect. So, when I saw that bag of cherries, I immediately thought of turnovers. Then I thought about strudel, then about empanadas, then about cherry pie. My mind tends to wander sometimes. I was right back to turnovers in about 5 seconds though.

I didn't actually go from a recipe for these. I normally never cook or bake without a recipe, and it's rare for me to deviate from a recipe for any reason other than pure stupidity. But, I figured, how hard could it be? A little hard, that's how hard. For one, it's hard to pit cherries by hand. Second, the puff pastry came in long thin strips, rather than squares, so I had to roll them out a bit in order to get them folded the right way. So these ended up being more cherry 'pockets' than turnovers.

Ingredients Needed for Turnovers:
1 1/2 cups cherries, pitted. (also, it's a pain to do this by hand, by a cherry pitter if you don't already have one)
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp sugar
1 package puff pastry
1 egg
1 tbsp water
sugar for dusting.

Ingredients Needed for Icing:
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 tbsp milk or water
1/4 tsp lemon extract

To Make:

Preheat oven to 350, and set out puff pastry to thaw. While that happens, pit cherries, and then toss with the cornstarch and 2 tbsp sugar. Set aside. In a rolled out piece of puff pastry, spoon out about 1/4 cup or so of cherry mixture. Then fold the puff pastry around the cherries. You can make a fancy design if you want, I just went for a sort of crimping action. Repeat with the rest of the puff pastry pieces. Stir the egg and water together, then brush the egg mixture over each turnover, then sprinkle it with sugar. Bake for 15-20 minutes. While the turnovers are baking, mix 1/2 cup confectioners sugar with 1 tbsp milk or water. Then add 1/4 tsp of vanilla or lemon extract. I used lemon, because lemon is awesome.

These turned out....pretty good, considering I didn't use a recipe. I've somewhat lessened my fear of puff pastry, so that's cool. They're definitely not up to my aunt Jeni's level, but she was a professional pastry chef for 15 years, so that's not surprising. I think I'll try them again sometime with apple.

Melissa's Mom's Cookies

2009-05-23T19:25:00.001-07:00

The first time I ever had No Bake Cookies, I was about 18 or 19. I went home for a few days with my friend Melissa over summer break, and her mom had made these cookies. I immediately fell in love. Now I had no real interest in cooking or baking at that point in my life, so I never got the recipe from her, and unfortunately she's no longer with us, so I've spent the past few years trying different recipes(although they're all fairly similar) and I finally found a recipe on allrecipes.com that, after a few adaptations, is about as close as I think I can get.

As the name No Bake Cookies suggest, there's no actual baking involved in these, just some stove top time. You can make these in about 30 minutes or less, which is awesome. They're a great pot-luck cookie....very little work for quite a bit of reward.

Ingredients Needed:
1/2 cup(1 stick) butter
1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
4 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter(the recipe calls for chunky, I prefer smooth)
3 cups quick cooking oats

To Make:

In a large saucepan, melt the butter, sugar, cocoa, and milk together. Bring to a boil, and cook for a minute and a half. Remove from heat, and add the oats, peanut butter and vanilla. Scoop by teaspoonfuls onto cooling racks covered with parchment paper. The cookies should start to set up after about 15-20 minutes. Aaaaaaaaaand, done.

Makes about 2 dozen large-ish cookies, or 4 dozen small-ish cookies.

See? Easy.

These are one of my favorite cookies ever, and in honor of a great lady who left us too soon, they shall now be known(at least to me) as Melissa's Mom's Cookies.

Blueberry Buckle

2009-05-21T18:07:00.000-07:00

I had to stop at the grocery store the other night because I'm an idiot, and didn't think to get tortilla's for the steak fajita's I was making that night. While I was there, I browsed through the produce department for a minute, and can I just say how much I love summer fruit? Watermelon, raspberries, blackberries, peaches, plums, nectarines, cherries, I love them all. Especially peaches, but we'll get to that later on this summer. Peaches here are still sort of anemic looking.

One summer fruit I've never really been super fond of though, is blueberries. They're okay, I guess, but they're not amazing. I like blueberry muffins, and blueberry pancakes(although not as much as I love chocolate chip pancakes) but that's about it. They're just not my favorite. My husband, however loves them. He's constantly bugging me to make blueberry pie. Since that's something I would never ever eat, he's in for a long wait on that one.

But, on this fateful afternoon, I was passing a display, and the blueberries were on sale, and they actually looked pretty nice. So, I decided to be a good wife, and make something blueberry for my hubby.

I bought two packages of blueberries, and remembered seeing a recipe that I was pretty sure I had everything on hand for in one of my cookbooks. I didn't have everything on hand. And I wasn't about to go back to the store just for shortening, so Jim would have to wait.

The next night, however, I stopped at the store, bought shortening, came home and whipped up this little baby.

I really really like it. I had never heard of Blueberry Buckle before, but it's sort of like a giant blueberry muffin. Or a blueberry coffee cake. I did a little digging to find out what exactly is a buckle, and this is what I came up with: During the baking process, the cake batter rises up around the fruit, encasing the fruit in batter and causing the streusel to buckle, creating a distinctive crinkly appearance.
Well, mine didn't seem to have a distinctive, crinkle appearance, but it was pretty darn good.

Ingredients Needed:

2 1/3 cups, all purpose flour, divided
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup sugar, divided
1/4 cup shortening
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
2 cups blueberries, well drained
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, softened.

To Make:

Preheat oven to 375. Sift 2 cups flour, baking powder and salt together. In a mixing bowl cream 3/4 cup sugar, shortening and egg together until smooth(about 2 minutes or so). Blend in the milk, then the dry ingredients, then fold in the blueberries. Spread the batter into a greased and floured 9x9x2 baking dish(I actually had a bit of a problem with this, the batter is very thick, and wanted to stick to everything but the baking dish. A little spritz of non-stick cooking spray on a spatula worked wonders). Combine remaining 1/2 cup sugar with 1/3 cup flour and cinnamon. Cut in the butter to form a crumb consistency. Sprinkle this on top of the batter. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted comes out clean. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

And I know it says to serve warm, but I had some for breakfast this morning, and it's just a good cold.

This may change my mind about blueberries.

Lasanga Rollups(or Italian Enchiladas)

2009-05-19T16:43:00.000-07:00

I've seen these everywhere lately. I found the original recipe that I used in a local area cookbook. Then a few nights ago I saw them at Olive Garden, and I remember seeing them on a few blogs here and there as well. These were pretty good. I think you're just as well off making an actual lasagna though. They're just as difficult to make, and they take just as much time, and they're harder to eat.

They would make a good potluck food, though.

Ingredients Needed:

12 lasagna noodles
1 egg, beaten
15 oz carton ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded mozerella cheese
2 medium onions, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 lb ground beef
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 tsp chopped fresh basil
2 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 15 oz jars spaghetti sauce
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

To Make:

Prepare noodles according to package directions, then drain, plunge into cold water, drain again, and place noodles on paper towel.

Combine the egg, ricotta, and mozzarella cheese. In a large skillet, saute onion and garlic in oil until tender. Add the ground beef, and cook until browned. Drain the excess fat. Stir in the 1 cup parsley, basil, oregano, 3/4 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper.
Add the beef to the cheese mixture, and blend together. Pour 1 jar of the spaghetti sauce into a 9x13 baking dish.
Spread each noodle with 1/4 cup of filling, and roll up, then place in sauce.
Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat, then add the flour, cook for about 1 minute, until flour taste is gone. Slowly add the milk, stirring constantly until thickened. Then add 1 cup parmesan cheese, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Pour sauce over the lasagna rolls. Pour remaining jar of spaghetti sauce over the white sauce, and sprinkle with 2 tbsp parsley and 2 tbsp parmesan cheese.
Bake, covered with foil at 400 degrees for 20 mintues, remove foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

See what I mean? You might as well just make lasagna, and then everyone will know that you were slaving over a hot stove all day. With these, people will think they were easy to make, when really, they're not at all.

Roasted Tomato and Basil Soup

2009-05-18T12:11:00.000-07:00

And what goes better with grilled cheese sandwhiches than tomato soup? I knew when I made the grilled cheese that I would need tomato soup to go with it, and canned tomato soup just wouldn't do with fancy grilled cheese.

I found this recipe for roasted tomato soup with basil, and since that's one of my favorite flavor combo's, I figured this would be perfect. The soup is just fancy enough to accompany the fancy grilled cheese.

Ingredients Needed:

3 lbs plum tomatoes

4 cups basil, choped

1/4 cup olive oil

1 sweet yellow onion, chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp unsalted butter

2 tbsp olive oil

1 quart chicken stock

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes(with juice)

1 tbsp thyme(fresh is best, but if you dont have that, 1 tsp ground thyme worked just as well)

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

salt and pepper

To Make:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut tomatoes into halves or wedges, and then toss with the 1/4 cup olive oil, sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Spread on a baking sheet covered with foil. Roast for 30-40 mintues. In a large pot, melt butter and olive oil together, then add the onions, garlic, and red pepper. Saute until onions are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the thyme, canned tomatoes, chicken stock, and basil. Then add the roasted tomatoes including their juices. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 40 minutes. Pulse a few times in a blender. Serve with grilled cheese sandwiches, or by itself.

I'm in Love

2009-05-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

From the Viking website.

One day, this will be mine.

Grilled Cheese with Muenster and Carmelized Sweet Vidalia Onions

2009-05-17T18:00:00.000-07:00

Grilled Cheese. Classic comfort food. Wonder bread covered in butter, all brown and crisp, with some sort of cheese product inside. It's a classic for a reason. Everyone in the world craves grilled cheese when they're sick, even people who don't know what grilled cheese is. It's in our collective DNA.

I've always been a bit afraid of grilled cheese. I would burn the bread, or not brown it enough. The cheese wouldn't melt. And trying to make the soup(you know what soup I'm talking about) at the same time was a recipe for disaster, not dinner, so either the sandwich or the soup was cold. It's a mess.

But today, dear friends, I have conquered my fear, and made what just might be the best grilled cheese sandwich anyone has ever had. The bread was perfect, the cheese was melty. Oh, and the onions. I've spent the past 29 years avoiding onions like they were poison, but in the past few months I've discovered that I adore caramelized onions.

A friend told me about this recipe awhile back, and I knew that both my husband would love it. I wasn't sure I would love it, because I have the palate of an 8 year old, plus the grilled cheese phobia, but I decided to give it a whirl.

Ingredients Needed: (for 2 sandwiches)

4 slices of bread(whatever kind you want..rye would probably work really well with this. I used white bread, because that was what I had handy)
4 slices muenster cheese
1/2 sweet yellow onion
2 tbsp butter + 1 tbsp butter softened for spreading on bread.

To Make:

Okay, really it's grilled cheese. You probably don't need me to tell you how to make grilled cheese. Slice onion, and saute in the butter until browned and soft, about 30-40 minutes. Cook grilled cheese as you normally would, except pile onions on top of cheese.

Smore's Brownies

2009-05-16T16:11:00.000-07:00

From kindergarten through 2nd grade I went to a Quaker school. My parents wanted me in private school, and that was the only non Catholic private school in our town. I'm not sure why Quaker was better than Catholic, but it was their choice, I guess.

So, every year, at the end of the year, there was a three day camping trip that all the kids in the school went to. On one of the nights, the parents were there too, and all the kids put on a talent show. Me and my friends Lindsey and Amy put on a sketch called "The Whiners". Basically, we just got up in front of everyone and whined for 6 minutes. None of us really understood how freaking annoying that must have been for all the parents in the audience.

The point of this story, is that this is pretty much the only time of the year that I would ever get smore's. I don't know that I've ever met someone who doesn't like smore's. If I do, I've probably disowned them, because seriously, what's not to like? Crispy graham crackers, melty chocolate, and burned marshmallow. What part of that sounds bad? I know that some people like to take their time, and slightly brown the marshmallow evenly, but as person with ADD, I don't have the patience for that. I would always just shove the marshmallow in the flames, pull it out after about 10 seconds, and eat whatever was left on the stick.

So, I came across this recipe for Smore's Brownies on the Betty Crocker website, and I thought it looked pretty good. Then I saw another recipe that had marshmallows baked directly into the brownie mix, and I thought that looked way better, so I decided to try it.

The results are mixed. The brownies taste pretty good, but they didn't turn out looking in any way how I thought they would look. I was hoping for lightly browned marshmallows, and instead what I got was burned to a crisp marshmallows. And it turns out, that's not nearly as good at 29 as it was when I was 7. Also, I used a box brownie mix instead of making them from scratch, which could also be a factor.

Ingredients Needed:
1 box fudge brownie mix(with accompanying eggs, water, and oil called for on box)
12 marshmallows
4 graham crackers

To Make:

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 13x9 baking dish. Prepare brownie mix as directed. Crush the graham crackers, and fold into the brownie batter. Pour batter into the prepared dish. Place the marshmallows randomly in the batter. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Sauteed Zucchini

2009-05-14T17:29:00.000-07:00

You know what I love? Vegetables. There are very few veggies that I don't like. Brusslesprouts. That's about it. And I've heard people say that if you prepare them right, they're actually really delicious. I don't know that I believe those people, but whatevs. I may try it someday.

One of my all time favorites is Zucchini. I love it raw, fried, steamed, sauteed, any which way.

I happened across a recipe for sauteed zucchini, and this is what I love about food. There's a way to make almost anything in the entire world bad for you. All you have to do is cook it in leftover bacon grease. This was my husbands idea, not mine, I assure you. I tried to fight it, but you just cant fight bacon(another one of those foods that I cant get enough of, and therefor never EVER buy, except I bought some yesterday). So that's how I ended up with really really awesome, but bad for me zucchini to go along with my burger from last night.

Ingredients Needed:(for 2 people)

2 small zucchini's
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper

To Make:

Slice zucchini in to small wedges. Heat a skillet with the olive oil(or bacon fat), and then add the zucchini. Season with the salt and pepper. Saute for about 2-3 minutes. Add the minced garlic, then saute for another minute or two.

And of course, if you actually care what you put into your body, don't use bacon grease. But if you care about putting awesomely delicious things into your mouth, definitely use bacon grease. It's awesome either way.

Steak Sandwiches

2009-05-12T17:23:00.000-07:00

I am a proud carnivore. I love chicken. I love pork. I love fish(although that's on the fence meat-wise). I love sausage, and ham, and bacon, found beef and goetta. But above all others, I love steak. Sirloin, rib eye, filet mignon, flank steak, skirt steak, t-bone. I love it all. Over the past few years, my husband has opened my eyes to the sensory pleasure of medium rare. It's all wonderful.

So, it's actually somewhat surprising that I don't cook steak all that often. I'm scared of grilling, and pan fried steaks, while delicious, aren't something I've ever mastered either. Jim does most of the serious meat cooking in our house.

But I ran across this recipe for steak sandwiches a few days ago, and I knew that I just had to make them, with just a few minor adjustments.

Ingredients Needed:

1 lb beef(tenderloin or sirloin)
Salt
2 tbsp fresh ground pepper
canola oil
2 crusty rolls
4 slices cheddar cheese
5-6 cremini mushrooms, sliced
1/2 sweet yellow onion
1/4 cup mayo
1 tbsp prepared horseradish, drained
1/2 tbsp grainy mustard

To make:

In a small bowl, mix together the mayo, horseradish, and mustard. Set aside until ready to assemble sandwiches.

Heat a medium skillet to med-high heat. Melt 1 tbsp of butter, then add the mushrooms, and cook for several minutes. Add the onions, and cook these down as well. They can keep cooking over low heat until the rest of the food is done. They'll just get better the longer they cook.

Rub both sides of the meat with oil, and go to town on it with the salt and pepper. Add about 1 tsp oil to large skillet over med-high heat, and cook steak about 5-6 minutes on each side.(3-4 minutes per side if you like your steak to be rare). Remove from heat, tent with foil, and let sit for about 5 minutes. Slice steak into 1/4 inch thick slices. While the meat is sitting, cut the two rolls in half. Layer the mushrooms and onions on the bottom half of the roll, then add the sliced steak, then the cheese. Put under broiler for about a minute or two, just until cheese is melted.
Spread the mayo mixture on top half of roll.

Enjoy. And trust me, you will enjoy.

Cornbread Casserole

2009-05-10T16:15:00.000-07:00

I normally only really like corn if it's of the "on the cob" variety. But I had to make something for Mother's Day today, and I decided to make this corn casserole that I had made once a long time ago, that people seemed to like. The best thing about this recipe is that it's incredibly easy. Only 6 ingredients, and it takes no time to prepare. It's really good. Sweet like cornbread but with actual corn in it, so it's sort of like eating a vegetable. A vegetable with a cup of sour cream, but still.

Ingredients Needed:

1 15 oz can whole kernel corn, drained, but reserve half the liquid
1 14.75 oz can sweet cream style corn
2 eggs
1 8 oz package dry corn bread mix
1 cup sour cream
8 oz sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

To make:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a 13x9 baking dish. In a large mixing bowl, combine corn, eggs, cornbread mix, sour cream, and reserved liquid. Stir until well blended. Pour into the prepared dish, and sprinkle the cheese on top. Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown on top.

See? Super easy. And super delicious. It's a dish that tastes like you spent a lot more time on it than you did, and that's my favorite kind. I love when people think that you spent all day preparing dinner, but really you were playing Puzzle Quest all day.

Try it, you wont be disappointed. Unless you really hate corn, in which case, maybe try some other kind of bread. But try this first, because it might change your mind about corn.

Coconut Macaroons

2009-05-08T15:18:00.000-07:00

There are so many cookie recipes out there, it's hard to choose which ones you want to make. I knew as soon as I saw these that I wanted to make them. Coconut is one of my favorite flavors, and I can't believe I've never had these before. They tasted so good...they were soft and chewy, the recipe made more cookies that any one person can conceivably eat in three weeks. Perfect. I'm in love. What's more, they were so incredibly easy to make. Just 5 ingredients. Crazy.

Ingredients Needed:

2 large egg whites
Pinch of salt
1 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 12 oz bags of shredded sweetened coconut

To Make:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a large bowl(and I do mean large, this recipe makes a huge amount of cookies) whisk together egg whites and salt until frothy, about two minutes if using a hand or stand mixer, not sure how long it would take by hand. Stir in the condensed milk and vanilla. Then, using a rubber spatula, fold in coconut until well blended. This is difficult by the end, the mixture gets really really thick.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon baking mat, and drop 1 1/4 inch rounds 1 inch apart. Bake for 15- 20 minutes. These get really sticky. If you have trouble getting them into shape, spray your hands with non stick cooking spray. It will give you better control over the cookies.

Remove to a cooling rack, and once cool store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Okay, so I made a few changes to this recipe. I made my cookies much smaller, so there actually ended up being about 4 dozen cookies, instead of the two dozen that the recipe calls for. This also meant that the cooking time was much lower, about 7 minutes. The cookies will feel a bit mushy when you first take them out of the oven, but they firm up in no time.

If you want to dress them up a bit, place an almond in the center of each cookie, melt some bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, and drizzle over the cookies. You've got yourself a homemade Almond Joy.

Long and Complicated Meal Part 3: Dutch Apple Pie

2009-05-08T14:24:00.000-07:00

For the last part of Phill's special meal, he requested "a pie of some kind". I'm a huge pie lover, but I'm incredibly picky about pies. The only fruit pie I really like is apple pie. And Phill only likes fruit pies, so it seemed natural to make an apple pie. My husband campaigned hard for blueberry, but I really really don't like blueberries in anything other than pancakes, so he lost that fight. And most others, but that's another story.

I found a recipe at My Baking Addiction that didn't seem too complicated, and looked awesome, so I decided to try that.

It wasn't until the day that I was actually going to make the pie that I realized that I was missing a few key ingredients. One: a pie pan. I used to have one, I have no idea what happened to it. Plus the one I had was a regular pie dish, not a deep dish pie dish, and this recipe was for deep dish pie. Two: I don't have a rolling pin. Three: my oven(as I think I've mentioned before) sucks, and I was really worried about burning the pie.

Well, one and two were easily solved, and three could be solved by making sure I check on the pie frequently. Obstacles removed, I set out to make a pie. From scratch.

Ingredients Needed:

For Crust:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp and 1 1/2 tsp white sugar
3/4 cup shortening
1 tsp salt
1/2 egg
1/4 cup water

For Filling:
6-8 granny smith apples(depending on size), peeled, cored, and sliced thin
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup whtie sugar
1/4 cup water
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg(recipe calls for freshly grated, but you can use ground nutmeg if that's all the store has)

For Topping:

1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup butter, softened slightly.

To Make:

Crust:

In a medium bowl, combine together the flour, shortening, sugar, and salt. Blend together with a pastry cutter, or a fork until crumbly. In a small bowl, mix a whole egg with water, then dump half the egg out, leaving you with half an egg. Blend this into the flour. Chill in fridge until ready to make crust.

Filling:

Peel, core, and slice your apples into a large bowl.

In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter, and then stir in flour to make a roux. Cook until flour taste is gone, about 2 minutes. Add the white and brown sugars, then water, and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce to low, and simmer for 5 minutes.
Toss the apples with the cinnamon and nutmeg. Place crust into pie pan, and pile apples in the crust, mounding them slightly in the middle.

Once apples are in pie crust, pour the butter/sugar mixture over the apples. Do this carefully...you do not want to lose any of this sauce...it's incredible.

Topping:

Mix together all ingredients except butter together in a large bowl. Add in the butter, and get in the with your hands, and mix thoroughly until mixture is crumbly.

Top the pie with the oatmeal topping, and then bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce temperature to 350, and continue baking for another 35 to 45 minutes. If the topping starts to burn a bit, cover with aluminum foil.

So, here's what I've learned from making a pie from scratch for the first time.

1. You don't need a rolling pin to roll out pie crust. Seeing as I forgot to buy one, and used a bottle of balsamic vinegar to roll out the crust, I know this for a fact.

2. This pie has a very very strong nutmeg flavor to it, so if you don't like nutmeg, reduce the amount that you put in. I really like nutmeg, and it was a little strong for me, so someone who didn't like nutmeg at all would really hate this pie.

3. This crust recipe is awesome. I had considered just buying a crust, and making the rest of the pie myself, but I'm so glad I didn't. It was really easy to make, and it tasted so good. It was flaky, and chewy, and firm all at the same time. I'm not sure how that happened, but this pie crust is a winner. Also, I forgot to add salt to it, so maybe it's even better with the salt. Or maybe the salt makes it terrible. I don't know. Probably better, though, because salt makes everything better.

Long and Complicated Meal Part 2: Salmon Croquettes

2009-05-04T06:55:00.001-07:00

Last post was about the super fabulous macaroni and cheese that I made for my friend Phill while he's in town. Part two of the meal he requested was crab cakes. I was all set to make them, until I realized how expensive crab is. Boy howdy, is it expensive. So, Phill decided that he would buy the crab himself, because he really wanted crab cakes. Good to go.

We get to the grocery store, and go to the meat and seafood counter, and that's when we realized that crab is actually way more expensive that I had even realized. 21 dollars for half a pound????? Seriously, seafood counter at Remke? Seriously?? I realize that being in a landlocked state, and not in like, Maryland, means that I have to pay a bit more, but I had no idea it would be that much. So we grabbed the crab(21$ per pound?!?) and headed off to finish shopping. About halfway through the store, one of us, and I'm not sure which one, suggested making salmon cakes instead. We thought about it, and after a quick call to my mom, who assured me that I could basically make the recipe I had been planning on, just substituting salmon for crab, we decided to make the switch. The guy at the seafood counter made fun of us. Not cool, seafood counter guy.

I was a little bit worried about making these, because just last week my husband and brother in law were bellyaching about how their mom had made them eat salmon patties when they were young, and how much they hated them. But let me tell you...these turned out great! There were a few slips and stumbles in the process, but overall, these seemed to be a hit.

Ingredients Needed:

About 1 1/2 pounds of fresh salmon(this part is very important...don't used canned salmon)
2 cups fresh bread crumbs(also very important)
3 small scallions, minced
fresh parsley, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup mayo
old bay seasoning
1 egg
2 tsp dijon mustard
fresh lemon juice
worcestershire sauce
tobasco

To Make:

Start out by cooking the salmon. This is very important it turns out. You can eat crab raw, apparently, so it wouldn't have mattered as much if we had used crab instead of salmon, but unless you like raw fish(which apparently people do....I guess they call it sushi? well, me not so much). How we did it was to cut the salmon into small pieces, then fry it up in just a bit of olive oil, for about 3 minutes or so, then flake the salmon into even smaller pieces.

Now, into a bowl goes the salmon, bread crumbs, parsley, and scallions. Mix together lightly, being careful not to crush the salmon pieces. Sprinkle a bit of the Old Bay into the mix every time you turn it, and that way it will be evenly distributed among the whole mixture.

In another bowl, mix together the mayo, egg, mustard, lemon juice, worcestershire, tobasco, salt and pepper.

Gently fold the mayo mixture into the salmon mixture, again, being careful not to mush the salmon too much. Form into patties. The recipe that I orginally used for this said that you were supposed to cover the patties, and refrigerate for one hour. I didn't do that, mostly because I forgot to, and they still turned out fine. They might have been overwhelmingly awesome had I done that, but I really don't think it adds too much to the recipe.

Heat a skillet over medium heat, and add about 1/2 inch of oil into the pan. When the oil is hot, add the salmon cakes to the pan(be careful not to break them) and fry for about 3-4 minutes on each side, depending on the size of the cake.

So, wow. I've never had salmon cakes, or patties, or croquettes before, and these were great. Crab cakes probably would have been better, because, well....crab. But these were still really good. We served them with a cajun remoulade sauce. SO GOOD. The sauce really pushed these over the top.

Ingredients Needed for Sauce:

1/2 cup mayo
1/2 minced celery stalk
lemon juice
1 minced scallion
1 tbsp minced parsley
1 tbsp ketchup
splash of worcestershire sauce
1 tsp minced garlic
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste.

To Make:

Mix all of those things in a small bowl, and you're done. Easy peasy.

Super Long and Complicated Meal Part 1: Mac and Cheese

2009-05-03T16:53:00.000-07:00

My friend Phill came into town for the week this week, and I had told him a few weeks ago that I would make him anything he wanted for dinner while he was here. His request was Crab Cakes, Macaroni and Cheese, and some sort of pie.

Since all of that is far too much for one blog post, I'll be breaking it down over the next few entries. Today we'll start with the Mac and Cheese.

This isn't just any mac and cheese. This is serious mac and cheese. No joke. I'm a Kraft kind of girl...I've never really loved homemade macaroni and cheese. Real cheese doesn't taste as cheesy as fake cheese. Which is weird, I know, but it's true.

So, Phill sent me the recipe for macaroni and cheese that he wanted, and I dusted off my metaphoric apron, and got to work.

This really isn't that complicated of a recipe, it just seems like it is. There are a lot of steps, but overall, it wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be.

Ingredients Needed:

1/2 lb pasta(the recipe called for elbow, but I used shells instead)
3 tbsp flour
3 tbsp butter
2 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 cup finely diced onion(i only used 1/4 cup, and that was plenty)
1 stem rosemary, bruised
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
salt and pepper to taste
1 large egg
6 oz gouda
6 oz gruyere

Topping(Optional, I left it off per Phill's instructions)
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
3 tbsp butter

To Make:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil pasta in salted water according to package directions. Drain, and set aside. Grate cheeses.

In a medium to large saucepan, melt the butter and then add flour to make a roux. Cook until flour taste is gone...usually about 2 minutes or so. Make sure there are no lumps, then add ground mustard and paprika. Whisk in and cook for 1 minute. Add the onion, and rosemary stem, cook another 1-2 minutes. Pour in cream and milk, whisking constantly. Simmer this mixture for about 8-12 minutes, making sure it never boils. Temper and egg(add about 1 tbsp of the sauce to the egg in a separate bowl, stir it around) then add to the mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove rosemary stem. Slowly add 3/4 of the cheese into the mix, and continue simmering until cheese is melted. Fold the pasta and cheese mixture together and pour into 2 1/2 quart casserole dish. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top, and put in oven for about 30 minutes, or until top is golden brown. If you want to add the breadcrumbs(and why wouldn't you, honestly) Melt the butter, then stir in breadcrumbs, then sprinkle over the cheese.

Okay, so here's the thing. When you get to the point where you have to add the pasta back in, you're going to think that you did something wrong. It's going to look like way too much sauce and not nearly enough pasta. Have faith. It will turn out fine. Better than fine, actually.

This was incredible. The taste, the texture, everything about it was great. This is probably the best macaroni and cheese I've ever had. It's not something I'll make often, because it turns out that fancy cheeses are really expensive, but it will definitely be a special occasion dish. Also, the next time I make it, it will have breadcrumb topping.

Peanut Butter Caramel Cupcakes

2009-04-25T19:38:00.001-07:00

I've mentioned before that I'm on a quest to make the world's best cupcakes. Well, Alton Brown told me that I'm better off just using a box cake mix, and making my own frosting, but what the heck does he know, right? Oh yeah, lots.

So, I was bored one morning and decided to go ahead and use the box of white cake mix I had to make some cupcakes. Then I remembered that I had gotten peanut butter chips and caramel sauce for a cake that I never made, and I figured, I love peanut butter, and I love caramel, so let's do this thing.

This recipe is super easy.

1 box of white cake mix(prepared according to directions)
Peanut Butter chips
Caramel Sauce

That's it.

Mix the cake mix up, then pour into cupcake pans(about 1/2 full) then add peanut butter chips and a squirt of caramel to each one, then top with more cake mix. Bake in 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes.

They were awesome. So awesome they didn't even need frosting. And honestly, I wasn't sure what kind of frosting they would call for. They were REALLY sweet, so frosting would have been overkill, and the caramel made them so moist that it really wasn't necessary for that either. They would have been fine with frosting, but I actually liked them without, which is weird, because normally I love the frosting more than the cake.

Here's what I would have done differently. More peanut butter chips per cupcake. I only put 6 in each, and they could have probably used 10-12 in each. Also, a larger squirt of caramel in each one. I put probably 1/2 tsp-1 tsp in each, and it could have used closer to a tablespoon.

Also, I think they would have been neater looking had there been more PB and caramel. As it was, it all stayed right in the middle, whereas I was anticipating a spreading throughout the cupcake. Well, live and learn.

These are definitely going on the list of things to make again.

How I ruined the same dinner twice in one night.

2009-04-20T21:02:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a few days since I had anything new up here. I've been closing at work this week, and that severely limits my cooking time. The last thing I feel like doing after getting home at 9pm is cooking dinner. It's been a takeout week.

So anyway.

You know how people say that Olive Garden isn't real Italian food? Well, they're right, but who cares. Olive Garden is the whip. The salad, the bread sticks, the long waits, and usually not great service. I love everything about it. The thing I love most about it is chicken parmesan. I've always loved it. I don't think I ordered anything else off the Olive Garden menu from the first time I ate there at 12 until I was 26 or 27. It's still my favorite thing, and it's usually my go-to birthday meal.

So, you might be surprised to find out that I've never actually made chicken parmesan. Maybe I'm afraid of ruining a good thing, because even if I love something, if I have it prepared badly once, it can ruin my enjoyment of it forever. I still cant eat a grilled chicken sandwich from McDonald's and that whole fiasco was 10 years ago. Maybe it was just laziness, but all I know is that it's time for me to face my fears, and try to conquer my favorite meal.

I looked around, and found a recipe over at Blog Chef that looked easy and tasty, I got all the ingredients I needed, and started mentally preparing myself.

So, since the recipe calls for the chicken to be browned in a pan, and then transferred to the oven to finish cooking, I figured why not use my cast iron skillet that I've had for two years, and just cured yesterday? First mistake. I've never cooked with cast iron before, and making something I've never made before in something I've never cooked in before just had trouble written all over it. I should have heeded the signs. Second mistake...I wasn't wholly paying attention to what I was doing, and managed to forget to add the flour to the breadcrumbs/cheese mix. Third mistake...I put one of the chicken breasts in the breadcrumbs without dipping it in the egg first.

Pretty!

I realize that I've made all these mistakes, but I figure I'll soldier on, and just see what happens. I get the chicken in the skillet, and it starts smoking, and I don't know if that's normal or not, but whatevs, keep going. I turn the first piece of chicken...all the breading is stuck on the pan, and none on the chicken.

I decide to just start over. I've got plenty of chicken, because it was on sale, so why not.

I do it all again, and I don't make any mistakes. I'm using just a regular non stick skillet. While searching for the pan to put the chicken into the oven in, I smell burning, and realize that one side of the brand new chicken batch is totally burned. Ruined.

So, yeah. We ended up having take out chicken wings from BW3's.

So, that's how I ruined dinner(the same dinner) twice in one night.

It takes talent, people.

Dream Kitchen

2009-04-20T07:36:00.000-07:00

So, have you ever looked at a kitchen and thought "wow, that's a really pretty kitchen, but it's not really fucntional to cook in"? Maybe you haven't thought that, but I have. I spend a lot of time online looking at kitchens, and dreaming about how I'll design my kitchen when I win the lottery. And you know what? There are a TON of really pretty kitchens out there. But a lot of them look like a pain when it comes to actually cooking in them. Which seems dumb to me, because the whole point of a kitchen is to cook in it. And if the flow of a kitchen is bad, it doesn't matter how pretty it is, it's going to be a pain to cook in, and you're not going to want to spend much time there.

Growing up, we always lived in apartments, but my mom searched high and low, and always managed to find the apartments with the best kitchens, because she's a kitchen freak like me. Even though the places we lived were small, there was always lots of counter space, and ample storage room. I got spoiled, even though I never did much cooking as a kid, I just took it for granted that kitchens came with those things.

But now, I'm grown up, and I realize that sometimes sacrifices have to be made, and if your husband is in school full time, and you're doing everything you can to save money, sometimes you have to live in a place that's got a galley kitchen with an oven that doesn't work, two cabinets, and about a foot and a half of available counter space. And then that's cut in half because your husband insists that the toaster oven needs to be on the counter.

The point of all this rambling, is that of the many reasons I fell in love with my husband, his parents house was definitely one of them. I still remember the first time I saw it. It was love at first sight. And then he took me to the basement, and showed me the indoor pool, and I knew this was the man I would marry. But really, it's the kitchen that does it for me. My father-in-law did most of the work on it, and it's outstanding. But the best part is, even though it's pretty, it's SO functional. It is a true joy to cook in, especially when I'm used to my tiny little kitchen.

A little comparison.

This is my kitchen, all maybe 60 sq feet of it.

This is my in laws kitchen.

Which would you rather cook in?

Lemon Cookies

2009-04-20T07:16:00.000-07:00

I love lemon. I love it so much that if I weren't already married, I would consider moving to Vermont or somewhere, and marrying a lemon. I think we could be really happy together.

I know a lot of people don't like lemon, and I think those people are either crazy, or missing some fundamental piece of DNA, because really, how can you not like lemon? It's tart, and sweet, and such a pretty color. So when I came across this recipe for lemon cookies, I knew immediately that I would have to make them. They are possibly the best tasting cookies that I've ever made. It's a shame that my oven sucks so much, because they got totally burned on the bottom, but they taste good enough that I'm eating them anyway. This will end up being one of my go to cookie recipes I think.

Ingredients Needed:

1 box of lemon cake mix.

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

2 tsp lemon zest

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice(i used more, because there's no such thing as too much lemon juice.)

1/2 tsp lemon extract

1/3 cup confectioners sugar

To Make:

Preheat oven to 375. Mix together cake mix, oil, eggs, lemon juice, lemon zest, and lemon extract. Drop by teaspoonfuls into the confectioners sugar, then roll into balls, and place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 6-9 minutes.

They turned out awesome. Soft and chewy, very flavorful but not overly so. And again, even with burned bottoms, the flavor of the cookie overpowers the burned flavor. These are awesome, and really easy to make. There will forever be a box of lemon cake mix in my pantry.

Pan Grilled Salmon with a Honey Soy Marinade with Roasted Asparagus

2009-04-16T11:19:00.000-07:00

So, I think I mentioned before that I love soy sauce, right? Well, I do. Evidence to that, is the fact that I've made something with soy sauce in it three out of the last four meals that I've made. Last night's dinner was fantastic. I had this frozen salmon that I got about three weeks ago, and I knew I had to make something with it soon, or it would just end up living in my freezer for the next year taking up space that could be used for things like ice cream, and pizza rolls.

I found this recipe on bettycrocker.com, and I had all the ingredients for it, and since I'm so in love with soy sauce, I thought it would be perfect. It turned out really well, actually. The flavor of the soy sauce went really well with the flavor of the honey, and it all worked really well with the salmon. I think that if you tried this marinade on a more delicate fish that it would totally overpower the fish itself(which I guess for some people is the point, but I really like fish, and I want to taste fish when I make fish, otherwise I would make chicken.) The asparagus comes from the fact that my mother-in-law gave me a ton of it that she didn't use for easter dinner.

Ingredients Needed for Fish:

2 salmon fillets, average size

1 tbsp packed brown sugar

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp butter, melted

1 tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

To Make Fish:

In a small bowl, melt butter, then add the brown sugar, honey, soy sauce, olive oil, and garlic. In shallow glass dish, place the salmon fillets, and pour marinade over them. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes, but no more than 60 minutes. In a medium sized skillet, heat a little bit of oil, then add fish, skin side down, and spoon or brush some of the marinade over fish. After about 4 minutes, turn fish over, and spoon or brush marinade over other side of fish. After another 4 minutes, turn fish over again and spoon or brush more marinade. Give that about a minute or two, then turn fish again. At this point the fish should be done, and delicious.

Ingredients Needed for Asparagus:

1 lb asparagus

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 tbsp olive oil

3 tbsp balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

To make Asparagus:

Preheat oven to 400. Wash off asparagus stalks, then snap the ends off. Just sort of bend them in half, and where they snap is where they're meant to snap. There's no science to it. Line a large cookie sheet with foil, and spray a bit of nonstick cooking spray on it. Lay asparagus on baking sheet in a single layer, then toss it with the garlic, oil, and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper, then roast for 20 minutes, stirring at least once.

Voila! Healthy and great tasting dinner.

Bourbon Chicken with Chinese Green Beans

2009-04-15T18:13:00.000-07:00

Apparently I love Chinese food. Or soy sauce. Either way, I'm having a blast making Asian dishes lately. It's sort of amazing. All the sauces are basically the same few ingredients with just a few minor adjustments, but the flavors are all so different.

I've been in love with Blog Chef for quite awhile now. I think all of the Asian recipes I've made lately have come from there. Check it out.

My husband insists that the Bourbon Chicken is a southern dish, and will not listen to me when I told him that soy sauce and ginger are usually not mainstays in southern dishes. I think I'll make chicken and dumplings with soy sauce and ginger, and see what he says.

Anyway, on to the recipe...this dish is awesome. Like, awesome. I'm a wimp when it comes to spicy food, and this was very spicy(I think I put in too much red pepper), but the flavor was so incredibly good that I just kept eating. The green beans were just okay. It's not their fault though, I'm just not a big green bean lover. For green beans, they were good, but I just always find green beans to be a bit bland. I was going to add some water chestnuts in with them, and then just totally forgot about them until I was done cooking. In my mind if I had added them, it would have been the most incredible green bean dish ever, and people would be knocking down my door trying to get some, but without the water chestnuts, they were just....eh.

Ingredients Needed for Chicken:

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast
oil(for frying)
cornstarch

Sauce Ingredients
1 garlic clove(minced)
1/4 tsp ginger(minced)
3/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 cup apple juice
1/3 packed light brown sugar
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp ketchup
1/3 cup soy sauce.

To make:

Cut chicken breasts into bite size pieces, and dust with cornstarch(make sure to get all extra cornstarch off, or it will fall off in the oil, and in general be a big mess). Heat oil in a wok or large skillet. Fry chicken pieces in batches until browned(about 5 minutes total per batch) then move to paper towels to drain. Also, very important here. Get a screen. I didn't have one, and SO MUCH OIL SPATTERS.

My husband actually did the chicken frying for me, because he's not as big a baby as I am about that sort of thing. In a medium bowl, combine all sauce ingredients. Drain oil from wok or skillet, and add the sauce mixture. Bring to a boil, then add the chicken back in. Simmer for about 10 minutes or until sauce is thick. You'll be able to tell when it's ready.

All caramelized, and yummy. Sooo good.

Ingredients Needed for Green Beans

1 lb fresh green beans
1 garlic clove(minced)
1 tsp minced ginger
1/2 tsp brown sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp cornstarch
2 tbsp water
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
oil(for frying)
and if you're not forgetful, water chestnuts

To make:

Steam green beans for 5 minutes. Remove from steamer, drain and place in cold water, then drain again. Add oil to skillet or wok, and stir fry garlic and ginger for about 30 seconds. Add the green beans to the wok, and stir fry for about 5 minutes. To make the sauce, combine the cornstarch with the water, then add the soy sauce, sesame oil, pepper, and brown sugar. Add the sauce to the beans(here's where I would have added the water chestnuts, if I weren't such a dummy) and continue to fry for another minute or two.

I just realized as I put pictures on here that I took a TON of pictures of this meal. Comes from having a little help in the kitchen I guess(hint to Jim)

Strawberries and Cream Dessert Squares

2009-04-15T17:05:00.000-07:00

I love strawberries. Not quite as much as I love raspberries, but still. I love this time of year, because the grocery store here keeps the strawberries right by the door, so every time I go in there, I'm overwhelmed with the awesome strawberry smell. You know what I mean.

A friend at work found this recipe for me, and I knew as soon as I saw it that I would be making a trip to the store for strawberries. It seems to me that this is modeled on Bob Evans strawberry pie, which is quite possibly my favorite strawberry pie ever, so I knew I had to try this.

It turned out....okay. It wasn't the best thing I've ever put in my mouth, but it's far from the worst. I will probably make them again, but not this summer, and I'll do some things differently next time.

Ingredients Needed:

For Crust
1 pouch(1 lb 1.5 oz) sugar cookie mix.
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg

For Filling
1 cup white vanilla baking chips
1 8 oz package cream cheese

Topping
4 cups fresh sliced strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/3 cup water
10-12 drops red food coloring(if desired)

To make:

Preheat oven to 350. Spray bottom of a 13x9 pan with non stick cooking spray. In a large bowl, prepare cookie mix as directed with butter and egg. Press the dough evenly in the bottom of pan. Bake 15-20 minutes until light golden brown. Cool completely(about 30-60 minutes)
Once cookie is cool, in a small microwavable bowl, melt the baking chips uncovered on high for about 60 seconds, until they are melted and can be stirred smooth. In a medium mixing bowl beat cream cheese with a hand mixer until smooth. Stir in the melted chips, and beat until well blended. Spread the mixture over cookie crust, and refrigerate while making topping. To make the topping, in a small bowl crush 1 cup of the strawberries. In a medium saucepan, mix sugar and cornstarch. Stir in the crushed strawberries and water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture boils. Stir in the food coloring, and then cool 10 minutes. Stir in remaining sliced strawberries. Pour the topping over the filling, and smooth out. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.

So...here's what I would do differently. The crust was very thick, and hard to cut. I would either bake the cookies until they're not quite done, or use only half the dough.

We had a ton of desserts for easter this year. Here they all are, lined up all nice. My strawberry squares, bunny cakes from the bakery, my brother-in-law's coconut cake(which I didn't get any of, because I was so full) and lemon meringue pie. So good.

Mustard Roasted Potatoes

2009-04-15T16:49:00.000-07:00

So, I don't usually bring anything to family dinners, mostly because up until recently, I wasn't much of a cook. But, I figure that this year, since I'm starting to cook more, and since I'm always looking for ways to suck up to my mother-in-law, I would make something.

I had planned on making this cake, but at the last minute decided to go in another direction. I was told to just go ahead and make anything I wanted, but I was torn between a potato dish, and a dessert. I ended up making both, actually, but we're focusing on the potato dish here.

I looked around for awhile trying to find something that everyone in my family would like. My father-in-law makes the best mashed potatoes around, so I didn't want to try to follow that, and I needed something that would feed 8 people. I finally found this recipe on smittenkitchen.com If you haven't checked this blog out, I highly recommend you do so. Deb knows her stuff.

Ingredients Needed:

3 lbs mixed red and white skinned potatoes, cut into wedges of varying sizes
1/2 cup whole grain dijon mustard(the seedier the better)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter, melted
2 tbsp lemon juice(fresh is best)
1 tsp grated lemon peel(i actually omitted this, since I didn't have a zester handy, and it was fine without it)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tsp kosher salt

To make:

You'll need two reasonably sized cookie sheets for this. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray both cookie sheets with nonstick spray. Whisk all ingredients together in a large bowl. Add potatoes in, and toss to coat. Season with freshly ground black pepper. Divide potatoes between the two prepared cookie sheets, and roast in oven for about 20 minutes. Since most of you don't have a double oven, after the 20 minutes is up, rotate the baking sheets, then roast for about 25 more minutes. And actually, you could probably leave them in about 10 minutes longer and get them super crusty and delicious.

These were delicious and super mustardy. If you like mustard, you'll like these. If you LOVE mustard like I do, you'll love them. The recipe said that it was enough for 10 people, but if you have big eaters it's more like 8. They also reheat really well. They're not quite as good, but they're not bad, either.

Sirloin Burgers with Balsamic Mayo, Portobello Mushrooms and Swiss Cheese

2009-04-13T09:57:00.000-07:00

You know what's awesome? Burgers. I mean seriously, is there anything better than a nice perfectly done cheeseburger? I think not. I don't have as many burgers as I'd like, actually. I have this weird fear of cooking burgers on the stove, and I don't know how to use a charcoal grill. Since my husband is a grill snob, and wont even consider getting a gas grill, and also he's lazy, we don't have burgers all that often.

I finally decided on Saturday that there's no time like the present to get over my lame fear of cooking burgers on the stove, and went in search of an awesome burger recipe. Now, I'm not a big Rachel Ray fan(don't get me wrong, she's okay, and I don't hate her as much as most people do, but she's over saturated the market, and she just needs to go away for awhile), but man, does she make some interesting burgers. I googled for a little while, and finally found this recipe. It sounds so fancy, doesn't it? Tastes pretty fancy too.

Ingredients needed:

1/4 chopped onion
1 1/3 pound ground sirloin
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
steak seasoning
EVOO(shout out to rachel) for drizzling, plus 1 tbsp
4 crusty rolls
4 slices swiss cheese
4 portobello mushroom caps, thinly sliced
salt and pepper
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 mayo

There's some other things too, but they're all optional...lettuce and things to put on the burger. I left those out.

To Make:

Preheat a grill pan or large skillet. Saute onions over medium heat until tender(3-5 minutes). In a bowl, combine beef with the worcestershire sauce, sauteed onions, steak seasoning, and salt and pepper. Form 4 large patties. Drizzle the patties with a bit of olive oil. Add burgers to grill or skillet, about 4-5 minutes on each side for medium well, about 6-7 minutes each side for well done.

Heat a medium sized skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tbsp olive oil, or 1 tbsp butter(I did both, because I love the taste). Season sliced mushrooms with salt and pepper, and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat.
Once burgers are almost done, pile mushrooms on top of the burgers, then fold cheese slices in half, and place on top of the mushrooms. Tent foil over the pan for a few minutes and allow cheese to melt over the mushrooms.

While this is going on, toast sliced rolls under the broiler for about 2 minutes.
Combine the balsamic vinegar and mayo, salt and pepper in a small bowl.
Assemble burgers, and enjoy. And enjoy some more.

Chicken and Broccoli Fettucinne Alfredo

2009-04-12T18:13:00.000-07:00

I spend probably an hour each day contemplating and deciding on what's for dinner. I don't have a huge stash of recipes hidden anywhere, so I usually decide on things either that day or the day before. Usually I ask everyone I work with what I should make for dinner that night, and then disregard all of their suggestions and make something totally different. Well, Steve gets a gold star here, because I actually made his suggestion(with a few alterations).

I've never been a huge fan of alfredo sauces. They're alright, but usually when I have pasta, I want a nice hearty, meaty red sauce. But, part of the reason behind starting this blog in the first place was because I was tired of having spaghetti with meat sauce at least once a week, so I decided to branch out and try an alfredo. But not store bought. I wanted to make my own. So I went online, and found this little gem.

Olive Garden Fettucinne Alfredo. I love Olive Garden, so how could this be anything but spectacular, right? Well, it wasn't spectacular, but it was pretty good. I'll make it again, but probably not for awhile, and I'll do some things differently the next time.

Ingredients Needed:

8 oz cream cheese
3/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup milk
8 oz fettuccine noodles
1/2 - 3/4 lb chicken, cut into bite size chunks
1 bunch of broccoli

To make:

Cook noodles as directed on packaging. While that's going on, cut broccoli into pieces, and steam until very tender. For sauce, in a large sauce pan combine cream cheese, butter, parmesan cheese and milk, stirring constantly until smooth.(Here's one of the things I would do differently than I did...I started the sauce part WAY too early. It only takes about 3 minutes to make the sauce, so don't start it until the pasta is almost done cooking. The sauce gets way too thick, otherwise.) Once pasta is done, drain and pour into pot with sauce in it, stir, then add chicken and broccoli.

This was really really rich, and as far as I'm concerned had too much cream cheese and not enough parmesan flavor to it. Next time I make this, I'll use probably 6 oz cream cheese, and double the parmesan cheese. All in all, though....pretty tasty. Very very filling.

Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

2009-04-07T15:41:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just want cookies, you know?

I've never been a huge fan of chocolate chip cookies. I prefer peanut butter, or ranger cookies by far, but there's nothing in the world like a chocolate chip cookie. When you have one, just for a minute, all is right with the world. I prefer chewy cookies to hard cookies, and that's one of my problems with chocolate chip. It's hard to have a homemade soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie. At least, homemade by me it is.

So, I was bored yesterday, and it was raining, and all I had the ingredient for was chocolate chip, so I whipped out my Pillsbury Complete Cook Book, and went to town.

I had some butterscotch chips for a cake that I'm making this weekend for easter, so I decided to dress the cookies up a bit. I'm not a huge butterscotch fan, but my husband is, so I figured why not do something nice for the guy.

Ingredients Needed:

1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 3/4 cup all purpose flower
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup butterscotch chips(you can play around with these last two as you see fit. If you love butterscotch, by all means, add more.

To make:

Preheat oven to 375. in a large bowl, combine brown sugar, sugar, butter, and shortening. beat until light and fluffy. add egg and vanilla, and blend well. add flour, baking soda, and salt and blend well again. Stir in chocolate chips, and drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

or, do what i did, and press the whole thing into a 13x9 baking dish.

if you're making regular cookies, bake for about 8-10 minutes or until light golden brown. remove from cookie sheet, and rest on a wire cooling rack. if you're making bars, bake for 15-25 minutes.

these turned out really well. the flavor of the butterscotch is definitely there, but not overpowering. just enough to give it a nice something extra. i'll make these again. maybe next time i'll try it with peanut butter chips.

What a Great Day!

2009-04-05T17:31:00.000-07:00

I'm normally not a breakfast person at all. I never have been. If I do eat breakfast, it's usually a bowl of cereal or an apple, but I've never been one to sit down to a huge breakfast unless it's some sort of special occasion.

So that's why I was surprised last night to find that I had some wild hair to make pancakes this morning. I've never actually made pancakes before. I've seen it done from a distance, but it's not something I ever considered making myself. If I want pancakes, I'll go to IHOP. Although, not really, because IHOP is gross.

So, I looked up a recipe for making pancakes, and then decided that they were too much trouble. My stove is wonky, and the electric griddle is hard to clean, and is too big for my measly counters. I decided on french toast instead. I looked around for a recipe for awhile, and finally came across the Alton Brown's recipe. My husband is a little bit in love with Alton Brown, and so we have every episode of good eats ever, and I remember seeing the one about french toast, and thinking that he made it seem really really difficult to make.

It wasn't. Not only wasn't it hard to make, it was the best french toast i've ever had. ever.

Ingredients Needed:

1 cup half and half
3 large eggs
2 tbsp honey(heat the honey up for about 20 seconds in the microwave)
1/4 tsp salt
8 slices of day old or stale thick bread sliced 1 1/2 inches thick(this is way too thick. an inch is probably good, also i used french bread)
4 tbsp butter
***my own additions***
1/2 tsp of vanilla
sprinkle of cinnamon.

To Make:

in a medium bowl, mix together half and half, eggs, salt, and honey. Alton recommends that you do this the night before, so that's what I did. according to reviews of the recipe, it's still really good if you make it on the spot though. i didn't, however leave the bread out overnight. I just cant do that. I did leave it out for about 3 hours before I made it though. I don't know what it would have been like if it had been truly stale, but it was awesome anyway.
once you're ready to make the toast, preheat oven to 375. Pour the soaking mixture into a pie plate, or some other dish that's wide and low. Put bread slices into the mixture for 30 seconds on each side, and move to a cooling rack for 2 minutes.
set burner to med low heat, and melt 1 tbsp of butter. add two slices of toast, and cook until golden brown and french toast looking. about 2-3 minutes per side. add another tbsp of butter to the pan before adding each additional set of toast. once all pieces of toast are done, set on a cooling rack over a cookie sheet, and put in oven for about 5 minutes.
serve immediately with syrup, fruit, or whipped topping(i used syrup).

seriously, this is the best french toast ever. I cut the bread a little too thick, so in the cooking process the middle of the bread wasn't fully cooked, and it was still amazing. the flavor is not eggy at all, and it's crispy on the outside, soft but not mushy on the inside. I may become a breakfast convert if it means I can have this toast more often.

I made goetta with it. if you're not from the cincinnati area, chances are you've never heard of goetta. it's one of those things that you're better off not knowing what's in it, but it's delicious. i'm fairly sure it's regional to this area...i had never heard of it before moving here. the point is, if you're ever in cincinnati or northern kentucky, and you go out for breakfast, order goetta. you wont be disappointed.

as for the rest of the good day...hung out with my husband, played some video games, watched some tv, and then took a nap. and while i was napping, he made me an awesome steak dinner. and best of all, i don't have to work tomorrow.

i love sundays.

Grilled Tilapia and Roasted Vegetables

2009-04-03T18:09:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to lie. Normally when Jim works at night and I'm on my own for dinner, I'll pull out the pizza rolls, or heat up some soup, or mac and cheese. Tonight, I decided to go the store and see if they had any decent looking artichokes. Well, they didn't, but they had some really nice zucchini and squash. So, I figured I could get some, and roast some veggies. I haven't done that in awhile. It seems like a summer thing to me. I hardly ever roast veggies in the winter. So, I got a tomato, and a nice sweet yellow onion, and I've got myself the start of a pretty good dinner. Now, the question is, what to have with the vegetables? Chicken? A pork chop? I would have to buy both of those things, and I'm poor, so no go. Then I remembered that I had a few Tilapia fillets at home, and I've got dinner. A healthy dinner, even.

Ingredients needed:

1 yellow squash
1 zucchini
1 large tomato
1 sweet onion
mushrooms
6 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp sharp cheddar cheese.

To make:

Preheat oven to 350. Slice squash and zucchini into thin circles. Quarter the tomato, and slice the onion into large pieces. Slice or quarter mushrooms. Leave garlic in full cloves still in their peels. Toss all veggies with the oil and vinegar, and season with salt and pepper. Lay flat on cookie sheet that's been covered in foil, and sprayed with cooking spray. Cook for 25-30 minutes, or until veggies are tender. With 5 minutes left to go in cooking, sprinkle cheese over vegetables.

Ingredients for fish:

2 tilapia fillets
1 tbsp olive oil
seasonings of your choice(i used garlic powder, and a steak season that had a very lemony flavor to it)
salt and pepper to taste.

To make:

heat olive oil in frying pan set to med high.
while oil is heating up, season the fish with your choice of seasonings, and salt and pepper.
place fish in pan, and cook until fish flakes easily, and is translucent in color.

Now, the fillets I used were fairly thin, so cooking time was only about 2 minutes per side, so you really need to go on how the fish looks, rather than a set cooking time.

Dinner ready in less than 30 minutes, and it was delicious. And I have roasted veggies left over for tomorrow's lunch.

Sugar Cookie Bars

2009-04-03T17:44:00.000-07:00

So, I've seen these several places lately,(namely The Repressed Pastry Chef and My Baking Addiction. Since I LOVE sugar cookies, but I HATE rolling out dough, and since I have no cookie cutters right now, I decided to try them.

Full disclosure here, I didn't actually make the sugar cookie dough from scratch...I had bought a huge box of sugar cookie mix at Sam's Club right after Christmas, and I still have 2 bags left, so I decided to use that. Also, I'm lazy.

If you want to make them from scratch, here's an awesome recipe for sugar cookie dough

Ingredients needed:

1 cup of butter, room temp.
2 cups granulated sugar.
4 eggs
5 cups of flour
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda.

To Make:

Pre heat oven to 375. Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg is added. Add vanilla and mix. In a separate bowl, combine all other ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and mix until just combined. Don't over mix. Spread on either a 13x18 cookie sheet, or if you want a thicker bar, a 9x13 pan. Bake for 10-15 minutes until browned, or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool and frost.

Or take the lazy way out, buy a box of sugar cookie mix, and follow package directions. The mix will make way less though, so you'll probably only get enough dough for a 9x9 square pan.

I will toot my own horn here though, and say that I did make the frosting completely from scratch. I love, love, love homemade butter cream frosting, and I've found the best recipe ever. It's from Em, at The Repressed Pastry Chef. It's really easy, and the it's the best frosting you will ever have.

Ingredients needed for frosting:

1/2 cup butter, room temp.
1/2 shortening
1 tsp vanilla(if you want true white frosting, use clear vanilla)
pinch of salt
4 cups powdered sugar
4-6 tablespoons of milk
food coloring if desired

To Make:

Cream butter and shortening together until smooth. Add vanilla and salt. Add the powdered sugar in 1/2 cup increments and mix well after each addition. Once all sugar is added, add the milk 1 tbsp at a time, until you reach your desired consistency. I used 5 tbsp's when I made it this time, and the frosting is actually a little thin for my taste. Not runny at all, just not as thick as I like. The next time I make this, I'll use 4 tbsp's instead of 5. Add food coloring if desired.

So, try these. They're awesome.

My Meatloaf Adventure.

2009-03-31T17:21:00.000-07:00

Dinner tonight was meatloaf, baked potatoes, and steamed broccoli. Sounds good, right? A little bit of comfort food before I have to spend the rest of the week working. Well, that was the plan, anyway. Sometimes cooking doesn't go well for me, and this was one of those nights. The broccoli looked perfect, and Jim did an awesome job on the potatoes. The meatloaf....exploded. Well, not the meatloaf itself, the dish it was in, but it all amounts to an un-eatable meatloaf, and it sounds more interesting to say that the meatloaf exploded. It will make for a good story at work tomorrow.

The frustrating thing is, I have no idea how it happened. I've made this meatloaf dozens of times, and it's never exploded before. The only thing I can think of is that after taking it out of the oven, I left it on the stove top to cool, and the stove top was still hot from the oven being on, and it just overheated. I may never know.

So, if you want to try the unexploding version of this, here we go.

Ingredients needed:

1 lb lean ground beef
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup ketchup + 1/4 cup ketchup
1 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 diced onion
1/2 cup milk

To make:

pre heat oven to 350.
mix together all ingredients in a large bowl(i usually do this by hand, because it's faster, but I suppose you could use a spoon too. careful not to over mix, or it will be mushy)
press together in an ungreased loaf pan.
bake for 40 minutes then remove and spread the 1/4 cup ketchup, and back in the oven for 15 more minutes.
let cool for 10 minutes, and serve.

For the baked potatoes:

2(or however many you are feeding) baking potatoes
2 tbsp veg or olive oil
salt(kosher, preferably)

To make:

wash potatoes
pour oil into a ziploc baggie, then put potatoes in one at a time and coat with oil.
lay potatoes directly on the oven rack, and sprinkle with salt(if you like salt, use a lot; if you dont, use a little....but put some on there)
bake in oven, or toaster oven on 350 for about 45 minutes to an hour, until tender.

This is Alton Brown's recipe for baked potatoes, and even though it sounds incredibly simple, it makes the best baked potatoes i've ever had in my life. crispy, well seasoned skin and fluffy on the inside. So good!

So, in case you want to see, here is what the meatloaf looked like right before going in the oven.

And here's what it looked like after the explosion.

So, the moral of today's story is: don't explode meatloaves.

Seriously.

I'm going to be finding little tiny slivers of glass for weeks. I'm afraid to cook in my kitchen now.

Oh yeah, and dinner consisted of the baked potatoes(broccoli was sitting right next to the meatloaf when it exploded) and McDonald's.

Taco Salad

2009-03-30T18:07:00.000-07:00

So, I think I've mentioned before how much I love tacos. It's been awhile? Really? It's only been one day. Okay, well let me refresh your memory. I love tacos. The plan all day today was to make meatloaf, baked potatoes, and steamed broccoli for dinner tonight. Well, on our way to the store to pick up the potatoes, we both decided we were too hungry to wait for over an hour to have dinner, and decided instead to have taco salad. Boss. This is one of those awesome meals that takes about 20 minutes to make, and is so good no matter what. It's really really hard to mess up taco salad.

Ingredients needed:

1 lb lean ground beef(not too lean...ground chuck works really well)
1 packet of taco seasoning
1 tomato
1/2 large onion, diced(preferably a vidalia onion if you can get it, but if you cant, a sweet yellow onion works just as well)
Lettuce for the salad part(I prefer romaine hearts, and usually buy the pre bagged stuff. it's way easier)
1 avacado
tortilla chips(no set amount, just however much you like)
taco sauce
sour cream
anything you like on your taco's

To make:

Pour a little oil into a large skillet, and let heat up at around med-high heat. Once the oil is sizzling a bit, throw the diced onions in there and let them soften, about 3 minutes or so, or until the onions become translucent.

Add the beef, and cook until brown(my little secret here, and a few generous splashes of worcestershire sauce to the browning beef...makes all the difference in the world). Then add taco seasoning, and prepare according to package directions. Once you've got the taco seasoning in the beef, you're going to want to let the liquid cook down for about 5-7 minutes, which gives you ample time to dice the tomato's,

tear up some lettuce, crush some tortilla chips, and slice an avacado. Throw all this on a plate or in a bowl, and mix it all together. Add some sour cream and taco sauce, stir that in as well, and ta da! Taco Salad. If you like olives and peppers and things, you can add those too, but they're not necessary.

This meal is always a hit at my house, and it's incredibly filling. Too filling, some might say. To those people, I say hush up, and eat your taco salad.

Double Cheese Casserole

2009-03-30T17:41:00.000-07:00

So I've been wanting to make lasagna for a little while now, and I finally decided to make it yesterday evening. I pulled out my recipe(actually Jim's grandmothers recipe) and started to make a list for the grocery store. Halfway through though, I realized that I couldn't read the recipe. I had no idea how much of what to use, or how to cook it. I offered to find a different recipe and make that instead, but Jim will only eat his Grandma's lasagna. I had found this recipe a few years back on allrecipes.com and I decided to make that instead of true lasagna. It's quoted as being a "lasagna-like" recipe. I'm not sure how lasagna like it is. Tasted more like stroganoff to me.

Ingredients needed:

1 12 oz package of egg noodles
1 lb lean ground beef
1 large onion, diced
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
4 oz cream cheese
12 oz cottage cheese
1 8 oz container sour cream
salt and pepper to taste

To make:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Cook egg noodles according to directions
While noodles are cooking, brown the ground beef and onions in a large skillet(and I mean large, you'll see why soon). Once the meat is brown, reduce heat to low and add tomato sauce. Stir well and let simmer for about a minute. Add the cream cheese, and let dissolve in the beef, once dissolved add the cottage cheese and stir together until well blended. Stir in cooked egg noodles(this is why you need the really large skillet, by the way. 12 oz of egg noodles may not look like much when they're dry, but when cooked, there are a ton), then add the sour cream. Pour into a 2 quart casserole dish, then bake for 30 minutes.

So...here's where I changed from the recipe. I added a little bit of garlic as well, and about 20 minutes in, I added some mozzarella cheese to the top of the casserole. Because well, who doesn't want more cheese?

This dish was just okay. It wasn't terrible. It wasn't great. It was fairly bland, actually. I hesitate to blame the recipe though, it could very well have been the cook. It smelled really good, so that counts for something, right? It was rated a 4/5 by allrecipe members, so someone out there likes it.

I'll probably be throwing most of it away.

scary drive home

2009-03-30T14:44:00.000-07:00

So, driving with my friend Victoria is probably something like driving with a NASCAR driver who is off his meds. Scary stuff. A drive that normally takes me 18-20 minutes took about 11. Plus side is, I got home about 7-9 minutes sooner, so that's cool.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

2009-03-29T15:49:00.000-07:00

So, the thing is, I don't really love to cook. I like to cook. But I don't love it. I love to eat, and I love spending time with my husband, and a way to combine those two things is to cook. Hence the boredom that started this blog. I probably shouldn't have a cooking blog without loving to cook, but the internet is full of things that probably shouldn't be out there, so I figured what the heck.

I do, however love to bake. I've always loved to bake. Both of my grandmothers and great grandmother are and were excellent bakers. My favorite dessert to this day is my great grandmothers lemon meringue pie. One bite of lemony goodness is worth a four hour layover in the Atlanta airport. It's amazing. I really have to learn to make it the next time I visit her. The baking gene skipped my mom. She's a competent baker, but an excellent cook. She's one of those people who can just toss things in together and have them come out as a meal. I'm much more of a follow the recipe kind of person, which is okay, but I'm sure I miss a lot of great things along the way.

So, one of my husbands favorite desserts in the whole world is pineapple upside down cake. His mother makes it several times a year for various holiday dinners, and it's very good. It's never been one of my favorites, but I figured I would make it for him, and then he would owe me favors.

So, here's how I did.

Ingredients needed:

1/4 cup butter or margarine(but really, who would use margarine in this?)
2/3 cup of packed brown sugar.
9 pineapple rings
9 marachino cherries
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup shortening
1 1/3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
1 egg

I know there's vanilla in that picture. It's just habit to grab the vanilla when baking. I had to triple check to make sure it wasn't needed. It really wasn't. Weird.

To make:

Heat oven to 350. In 9 inch round or square pan, melt butter in oven. When melted, sprinkle brown sugar over butter. Place pineapple rings over brown sugar, then place cherries in the center of pineapple rings. Word of warning. Make sure you really watch the butter while it's melting. It goes from melting to burned in about 1.8 seconds, and then you have to throw it out and start again. Pain in the butt.

In a medium bowl, beat remaining ingredients with an electric mixer on low. Scrape sides of bowl consistently for the first minute or so, and then occasionally after that. After about a minute, up the speed of the mixer. Just to 2, or maybe 3. Pour batter over pineapples and cherries.

Bake 50-55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean....if the cake starts to get too brown(like it does in my stupid oven), put foil over cake. After removing cake from oven, put a heat resistant plate over the cake pan, and turn upside down. Get it? That's the upside down part of the upside down cake. You cook it upside down. Genius. Leave the cake pan on for a few minutes, and this will give the brown sugar time to melt down the sides of the cake and get all sticky and awesomely delicious.

This turned out reasonably well for me. When I turned it over, the middle pineapple was still stuck to the pan, and not the cake, but it was easy enough to transfer over the cake, then just push some of the brown sugar around to fill in the holes. I made this cake about 4 hours ago, and Jim(my husband just takes to long to type, so from here on out, he's Jim) has been eating single bites for awhile. The cake is about half gone at this point. I've only gotten 2 bites.

Taco Stuffed Shells Goodness

2009-03-29T10:42:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a HUGE fan of tacos. Any form of tacos. Taco salad, taco dip, regular crunchy tacos, taco's that are more like fajita's than taco's. I'm taco crazy. And now taco looks like it's spelled wrong. I hate when that happens. So, I found this recipe for Taco Stuffed Shells, and it looked awesome, so I decided to try it. It's AWESOME. Like, super awesome. I wanted to make it again the next night, it was so awesome. I didn't though. That would be taco overload(if there is such a thing).

So, here we go. Delicious taco flavored stuffed shells.

Ingredients needed:
1lb ground beef
1 package taco seasoning
1 4 once package cream cheese
12 large pasta shells
1 cup salsa
1 cup taco sauce
1 cup cheddar cheese (shredded)
1 cup Monterey jack cheese (shredded)
1 ½ cups tortilla chips (crushed)
3 green onions (chopped)
1 cup sour cream

To make:

Brown the ground beef, add taco seasoning, and prepare as you would if you were making regular taco's. Add the cream cheese, and melt into the beef until well blended. Remove from pan, and set aside to cool.

While the beef is cooking, cook the shells, then drain, and toss with butter.

Stuff each of the shells with some of the beef mixture. The original recipe said it made 12 shells. I actually got 16, with a little bit of the beef mixture left over.(which was awesome by itself, by the way. I may actually start adding a bit of cream cheese when I make regular taco's now)

Pour the salsa in the bottom a 9x13 pan. Metal or glass, doesn't really matter. Arrange shells on the salsa, and then pour the taco sauce over them. Those go in the oven for 30 minutes, covered.( i forgot to cover them when I made them, and they still turned out great.) Remove from oven, and sprinkle crushed tortilla chips and cheese over them, then back in the oven for anther 5-7 minutes. Remove from oven, and cover with sour cream, more taco sauce, olives, peppers, whatever you like on your tacos will be good on this. I just went with straight sour cream. I'm a taco purist.

Now, this can be made spicy, or mild, depending on the salsa and taco sauce you use. I used medium versions, and it was spicy, but not too spicy. If you like hot stuff, use hot versions of the salsa and taco sauce. It can also be made much more healthfully. Use fat free and light versions of the cream cheese, cheese, and sour cream. Use ground sirloin instead of ground beef. Easy. Also note, instead of buying two types of cheeses, just use some kind of "taco and nacho mix" cheese. So much easier.

Mongolian Beef and Fried Rice

2009-03-29T09:57:00.000-07:00

So, for my first foray into making new things, I decided to make Mongolian Beef and fried rice. It turned out really well. Both my husband and I loved it. It wasn't the easiest thing in the world to make, but it wasn't incredibly difficult either. This will probably be a special occasion meal, rather than a regular weeknight meal. I got the fried rice recipe from my mom, actually, and the beef recipe from BlogChef. I'm not sure where the name Mongolian Beef comes from. It had a decidedly teriyaki flavor to it, which I love, so it's all good.

Ingredients needed for Mongolian Beef:

1 lb flank steak
¼ cup cornstarch
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
½ teaspoon ginger (minced)(you can use the pre minced ginger that you can find in the produce section of your market)
1 tablespoon garlic (minced)
½ cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
½ cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons rice wine
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 green onions (sliced)
1 medium onion (sliced)
Oil (for frying)

To make:

In a medium sauce pan heat 2 tsp oil, add garlic and ginger and stir fry about 10 seconds. Add soy sauce, water and wine(note, rice wine vinegar works just as well). Add brown sugar, and dissolve into sauce. Add the red pepper flakes, bring to a boil for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Slice the steak against the grain in 1/4 inch slices. Toss the steak in the cornstarch, and let sit for 10 minutes. Apparently this is very important. Dont skip this step.

Heat up about a cup of oil in a skillet or wok and add beef to oil(in batches if you have to, dont crowd them, beef hates to be crowded. It gets all cranky, and wont taste as good.) and fry for about three minutes. Turn at least once. You'll be able to tell when they're done.

Remove the meat from the pan, and lay on paper towels to drain grease. Pour out most of the oil from pan, leaving about a tbsp left. Add the onions to the pan, and fry for about two minutes, or if you like your onions softer, about 4 minutes. Add the steak back to the pan, and pour on that sauce you set aside earlier. Cook on medium low for a few minutes until the sauce thickens a bit, and you're good to go.

Ingredients needed for Fried Rice:

2 large eggs
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup shredded napa cabbage(precut coleslaw mix works just as well. I prefer it actually. Less work that way)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 green onions finely chopped(optional, it wont effect the flavor if it's not there)
5 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
4 cups cold cooked rice.(Prepare rice at least 4-6 hours before hand, the previous day is even better. This will NOT work with rice that is even the slightest bit warm)

To Make:

Lightly beat the eggs with sale and pepper to taste. Preheat a wok or frying pan to medium heat, and add about a tbsp of oil. Add the eggs, and rotate the pan so the beaten egg covers the pan. Don't scramble the eggs, just let them cook flat until firm. Remove from pan and let cool.

In same pan, heat 2 tbsp of oil. When the oil is hot, add the cabbage, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir fry briefly, until cabbage is somewhat soft. Remove from pan.

Heat another 2 tbsp of oil in same pan, and add the cold rice. Fry the rice in the pan, stirring often to keep grains separated. Add cabbage(or coleslaw) back in with rice. Stir in the soy sauce and oyster sauce. Stir in green onion. Cut up eggs, and stir into rice.

So basically, that's it.

For about 45 minutes worth of work, you have a meal that you could find at any Chinese buffet. It's not a spicy meal, but it's very flavorful. You could make it more spicy, I guess by adding more ginger and red pepper flakes. I'm not a big fan of super spicy things though, so I left it alone.

It went very well for a first try. Usually the first time I make something it turns out awful, so that says a lot about the ease and deliciousness of this meal that even I couldn't mess it up.

Side Note: the rice dish reheats really well, so I actually made that first, and set it in the microwave while making the beef. Much easier than trying to make them both at the same time.

Hi.

2009-03-29T09:43:00.000-07:00

Alright, so in the past few years, I’ve gotten in the habit of making the same things for dinner over and over and over again. There’s a limit to how much spaghetti and taco salad two people can eat. So, I’ve decided that I’m going to make at least one new thing a week, possibly more in an attempt to keep my husband from leaving me out of culinary boredom.

I’m starting this blog as a way to keep track of the things I make, and whether or not they went over well, so I’ll know if I need to scrap them or keep them.

It will also chronicle my quest to make the perfect cupcake. So far I’m 0 for 2.
I only really expect a my husband, my mom, and my best friends to read this, but if other people stumble across it and like it, that’s cool too.

I actually started my journey into cooking new things a few weeks ago, so I’ll be starting off with a few things I’ve already made. Hope you enjoy them.

Sara

My 100

2009-01-01T18:36:00.000-08:00

Soups and Stews

1. French Onion Soup
2. Tomato Bisque
3. Beef Stew
4. Chicken Noodle Soup
5. Cream of Potato Soup
6. 44 Clove Garlic Soup
7. Broccoli Cheese Soup
8. Gazpacho

Breads

9. Zucchini Bread
10. Foccacia Bread
11. Ginger Bread
12. Challah Bread
13. Cinnamon Rolls
14. Scones
15. Crepes
16. Cornbread
17. Brioche
18. Biscotti
19. Potato Bread
20. Tortillas

Entrées

21. Lasagna
22. Manicotti
23. Pork Tenderloin
24. Chicken Parmesan
25. Pizza
26. Enchiladas
27. Chicken Satay
28. Sweet and Sour Chicken
29. Chicken and Dumplin’s
30. Shepard’s Pie
31. General Tso’s Chicken
32. Pasties
33. Chicken Teriyaki
34. Chicken Pot Pie
35. Ravioli
36. Gnocci

Pies

37. Lemon Meringue Pie
38. Pecan Pie
39. Pumpkin Pie
40. Lemon Icebox Pie
41. Coconut Cream Pie

Cakes

42. Dorie’s Perfect Party Cake
43. Cheesecake
44. Coffee Cake
45. Pound Cake
46. Root Beer Float Cake
47. Black Forest Cake
48. Strawberry Shortcake
49. Dimply Plum Cake
50. Candied Lemon Cake
51. 1-2-3-4 Cake
52. Coconut Cake

Breakfast

53. Pancakes
54. Blueberry Muffins
55. Quiche
56. Biscuits and Gravy
57. Hashbrown Casserole
58. Homefries

Desserts

59. Lemon Bars
60. Cupcakes
61. Marshmallows
62. Apple Strudel
63. Crème Brulee
64. Baked Alaska
65. Cream Puffs
66. Ice Cream
67. Brownies
68. Fudge
69. Trifle
70. Peach Cobbler
71. Hot Fudge Cake
72. Peppermint Bark
73. Chocolate Mousse
74. Galette
75. Tiramisu
76. Chocolate Pudding
77. Truffles

Cookies

78. Rugelach
79. Molasses Cookies
80. Gingersnaps
81. Snickerdoodles

Sides and Starters

82. Egg Rolls
83. Pot Stickers
84. Guacamole
85. Potato Pancakes
86. Risotto
87. Mushroom Strudel
88. Caesar Salad
89. Couscous
90. Frittata’s
91. Hummus
92. Spinach and Artichoke Dip
93. Queso
94. Cheeseball
95. Deep Fried Mac and Cheese
96. Stuffed Mushrooms

Misc.

97. Crackers
98. Butter
99. Shamrock Shake
100. BBQ Sauce

Pink the color. Pink the person. Hot dogs. Basically anything that is awesome.

2009-01-01T16:46:00.000-08:00

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