A Cook in the Kitchen

Perfect Party Cake

2009-03-18T08:46:00.000-07:00

It seems that March is the month for birthdays; I know of a dozen people offhand who celebrate birthdays during this month, one of whom is my dear husband. I decided that this year, rather than buying a cake I would make one for him.

I was feeling a little intimidated by the prospect of baking a layer cake, as well as stacking it and icing it. But I was determined to do it! After scouring the web for recipes, I went out and finally purchased the infamous Dorie Greenspan book so that I had all the information I needed to make the cake I decided on, the Perfect Party Cake. This book is a must-have in my opinion; lots of clear, detailed instruction and hints for variations on most of the recipes, as well as the sheer volume of delicious cookies, cakes, and desserts to bookmark.

I chose this cake because it was reminiscent of our wedding cake, which was a snow-white cake with fresh raspberries and Grand Marnier. For this cake, I used fresh raspberries in addition to the raspberry preserves called for in the recipe, and decided to try Meyer lemons in place of the regular lemons. The greatest thing about this recipe is that it can be easily adapted to whatever tastes you prefer; I believe fresh strawberries would be equally fantastic.

My cake definitely had a "homemade" look to it, but for my first cake, it turned out pretty well. I baked the layers the day before I actually put the cake together, and just wrapped them well with plastic wrap. The layers were quite sturdy, but I decided to use a cake torter to cut them since I didn't trust my abilities to cut a straight layer ;) I had a little trouble trying to get the frosting to cover the entire cake, as the fresh raspberries created a bit of extra room between layers, so I was a little short when the time came to fully cover the sides. I compensated for this by adding some chopped almonds to the sides of the cake, which complemented the other flavors nicely.Perfect Party Cake
from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking From My Home to Yours

Cake:
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups whole milk or buttermilk (I used buttermilk)
4 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp grated lemon zest (I used Meyer lemons)
1 stick (8 tbsp or 4 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 tsp pure lemon extract

Buttercream:
1 cup sugar
4 large egg whites
3 sticks (12 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 large lemons)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Finishing:
2/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves stirred vigorously or warmed gently until spreadable
1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut (omitted)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9 x 2 inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

Cake: Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl. Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the butter and working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light. Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the milk and eggs beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients. Finally, give the batter a good 2- minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated. Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the touch – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean. Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unfold them and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature, right side up (the cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to two months).

Buttercream: Put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or another large heatproof bowl, fit the bowl over a plan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream. Remove the bowl from the heat. Working with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes. Switch to the paddle attachment if you have one, and add the butter a stick at a time, beating until smooth. Once all the butter is in, beat in the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6-10 minutes. During this time the buttercream may curdle or separate – just keep beating and it will come together again. On medium speed, gradually beat in the lemon juice, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more, and then the vanilla. You should have a shiny smooth, velvety, pristine white buttercream. Press a piece of plastic against the surface of the buttercream and set aside briefly.

Assemble: Using a sharp serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, slice each layer horizontally in half. Put one layer cut side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper. Spread it with one third of the preserves. Cover the jam evenly with about one quarter of the buttercream. Top with another layer, spread with preserves and buttercream and then do the same with a third layer (you’ll have used all the jam and have buttercream leftover). Place the last layer cut side down on top of the cake and use the remaining buttercream to frost the sides and top. Press the coconut into the frosting, patting it gently all over the sides and top.

Storing: The cake is best the day it is made, but you can refrigerate it, well covered, for up to two days. Bring it to room temperature before serving. If you want to freeze the cake, slide it into the freezer to set, then wrap it really well – it will keep for up to 2 months in the freezer; defrost it, still wrapped overnight in the refrigerator.

Irish Soda Bread - Spotted Dog

2009-03-17T08:51:00.001-07:00

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I decided to make some Irish soda bread. I made a loaf last year that was rather unimpressive, and I knew there had to be better ones out there. I chose this one because I happened to have several of the ingredients left over from the recipe for Nick's birthday cake, and also because it had raisins in it. My husband is away right now on an internship (he LOATHES raisins; I really enjoy them) so he doesn't have to be subjected to them!

This bread was so good, I ate about 3 slices as soon as it had cooled enough to eat. The buttermilk adds a delicious light and flaky quality to what can be a very dense bread, and the raisins and caraway seeds round out the flavors with a hint of sweetness and nuttiness.

Irish Soda Bread with Raisins and Caraway (also called Spotted Dog)
Good Things Catered

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
2 c. cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cream of tartar
2 tsp caraway seeds
1/2 cup raisins
1 1/2 - 2 c. buttermilk (I used about 1 3/4)
1 Tbsp butter, melted

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a heavy baking sheet with parchment.
-In large bowl combine dry ingredients, caraway and raisins.
-Whisk to combine.
-Add buttermilk and slowly fold in with a spoon until it starts to come together.
-Turn dough out onto floured surface and with floured hands, divide into two and knead one half until just coming together.
-Form dough ball into 6 by 2 inch disk and place on prepared baking sheet.
-Repeat with other half of dough, placing the two disks as far apart as you can on the baking sheet.
-Cut cross in top of dough and place in oven.
-Bake for about 30-40 minutes or until middle of loaf is set and outside has started to brown to a light golden color.
-Remove from oven and brush tops with melted butter.
-Let cool on pan for 10 minutes.
-Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely or let cool for 10 more minutes and serve warm.

Doughnut Muffins

2009-02-15T16:44:00.000-08:00

These muffins are very, very dangerous to have around. They may not be as good as an actual doughnut, but they come pretty darn close. I saw this recipe last week on the blog Sweet Cheeks in the Kitchen and I've been dreaming about them ever since.

I went a little heavy on the cinnamon sugar topping (key word: sprinkle), but otherwise I thought these were excellent muffins with that distinct doughnut flavor. I think I would probably bake them at a little bit lower temperature, as they were a little crispy by the time I took them out (and I took them out after about 17 - 18 minutes of baking.) I am trying to keep from eating anymore today, as I have already consumed 3. I will definitely put these in my favorites category - they are fantastic!

Doughnut Muffins
from Sweet Cheeks in the Kitchen,
Source: Marjorie Standish

Yield: One dozen medium sized muffins

1 egg

1/3 cup oil

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 cups flour

2 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 cup sugar

Beat egg and then add oil and milk. Beat. Sift the dry ingredients. Add dry to wet and stir with forks. Pour into greased muffin tin. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and dot with butter. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes (mine were definitely ready to come out around 17 minutes, but my oven tends to run hot, so just check on them around 15 minutes.)

Optional: Once the muffins came out of the oven I brushed each with melted butter then rolled completely in cinnamon and sugar.

Yogurt Scones

2009-02-10T12:23:00.000-08:00

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Draney Photography

This post marks my 1st Blogiversary! It has been an amazing year experimenting with different recipes and posting to a food blog, and I look forward to many more posts in the future.

I found this amazing recipe on the blog Chocolate & Zucchini. I was attracted to this recipe because it only called for 2 tablespoons of butter. (I know, I know, there's nothing wrong with using lots of butter in your scones. But I was looking for something that would be a tad bit lighter in the calorie content.) Trust me, you won't even notice the lack of butter once you taste these light, fluffy scones.

I took her basic recipe and added cranberries and lemon zest, but you can mix any add-ins that you like. And the best part is you won't feel quite so guilty reaching for a second (or a third...)

Yogurt Scones
Chocolate & Zucchini

1 2/3 cups flour
2 heaping Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
2 Tbsp butter, softened & diced into cubes
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 Tbsp milk
2 - 3 Tbsp chopped nuts or dried fruits, or a teaspoon citrus zest (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and baking powder. Add in diced butter and blend it in with a fork or pastry cutter, until no visible lump of butter remains. Add the yogurt, milk, and zest, as well as any add-ins (cranberries), and blend them until the dough forms a ball. Handle the dough as lightly as you can, without overmixing, or the scones won't raise as much.

Pat the dough into a flattened round, a little over an inch thick, and cut into eight wedges. You can also divide the dough into eight balls, which is what I did.) Place the eight wedges/rounds a couple inches apart on the cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, until the top of the scones are set and lightly golden.

Yields 8 scones

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Draney Photography

Double Chocolate Cookies

2009-02-08T16:01:00.001-08:00

This recipe comes from my new "The Best of Cooking Light" cookbook, and provides exactly what I was looking for - small, soft, chocolate-packed cookies for around 100 calories a pop. (Although I think with the extra chocolate chips I added, that number is a bit conservative.)

Double Chocolate Cookies
adapted from The Best of Cooking Light

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 Tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg white
1/3 cup dried cherries (I didn't have any so I omitted and just added more chocolate!)
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chunks (I upped this to 1/2 cup)
2 1/2 Tablespoons white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly spoon the flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt, and whisk ingredients together.

Combine butter, sugar, and brown sugar in a large bowl; beat with a mixer on medium until well blended. Add vanilla and egg white; beat for another minute. Stir in flour mixture, cherries, and chocolates.

Drop the dough by tablespoons onto baking sheets. Place the pans in the freezer for around 5 minutes, then bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. (Mine stayed in for almost 12 minutes, and my oven tends to run hot, so make sure they are done when you take them out.) Cool on pans for 2 minutes before removing, and cool completely on wire racks.

Yields 2 dozen cookies; 1 cookie ~98 calories

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

2009-01-27T11:42:00.000-08:00

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Draney Photography

Growing up, whenever we went somewhere for ice cream, I always went for the mint chocolate chip. Something about the fresh minty cream and the sweet, crunchy chocolate pieces made for a perfect treat on a hot summer day.

I received an ice cream attachment for my beloved KitchenAid mixer back in July as a birthday gift, but I had yet to try this childhood favorite flavor of mine. I have to take advantage of the mild winters here in Southern California, so I decided to make a batch despite the fact that it's January - hardly a time most people are thinking about eating ice cream! (Although I suspect true ice cream lovers will eat it any time of year, even when temperatures drop below zero.)

I found this recipe on the blog Proceed with Caution after spotting this other recipe for Nutella ice cream (which I would also like to make, although I am afraid to be left alone with the remainder of the Nutella once the recipe is made...highly addictive stuff.) I liked this recipe in particular because she gives suggesting for working with different amounts of creams and milks to bring the ice cream that is not quite so high in fat, but yet still has a rich and creamy consistency, rather than an icy one.

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
adapted from Proceed with Caution,
originally adapted from Doc Wilson

- 1 egg
- 1/2 can of fat-free sweetened condensed milk
- 6 Tablespoons white sugar
- 4 ounces heavy whipping cream
- 16 ounces fat free half and half
- 4 ounces skim milk (or 1%, or 2%, whatever you have)
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 3 - 4 drops green food coloring (I only used 3 to keep it from being too green)
- 2 tsp vodka OR mint schnapps OR "The Good Doctor" (optional, I didn't have any so I omitted)
- 6 ounces semisweet or dark chocolate (I used Lindt 70%), finely chopped - keep in freezer until using

In a large mixing bowl whisk together egg, sweetened condensed milk, and sugar until thoroughly mixed. Add heavy whipping cream, half and half, skim milk, salt, vodka or schnapps, mint extract, and green food coloring. Chill the mix in the refrigerator for about four hours which allows the mix to "age" before freezing according to the directions with your ice cream freezer. Add the chocolate pieces in the last 5 minutes of freezing. This recipe makes the perfect amount to fit in a 1.5 quart ice cream maker. Makes between 4 and 5 cups of ice cream.

Cranberry Orange Muffins

2009-01-24T10:49:00.001-08:00

I guess I went a little crazy with buying cranberries when they went on sale for .39 cents a bag after the holidays...I was starting to run out of room in my freezer after a recent trip to the grocery store and decided I needed to use some of them up. I had saved this recipe in my Google Reader in December, and came across it this weekend as I was looking for cranberry-related goodness.

I really love the way cranberry and orange go together, and what better way to start your day off but with some tasty muffins? Despite the fact that this recipe only uses whole wheat flour, they were still quite light and fluffy, and make for a (somewhat) healthy breakfast.

Cranberry Orange Muffins
From The Way the Cookie Crumbles,
adapted from King Arthur Flour

Makes 12 muffins

1½ cups whole wheat flour
¾ cup quick-cooking rolled oats
¼ cup buttermilk powder or nonfat dry milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon orange zest (finely grated orange peel)
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped
½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
2 large eggs
⅔ cup (4.67 ounces) sugar
¾ cup milk
⅓ cup melted butter or vegetable oil

Glaze (I omitted)
2 tablespoons orange juice
3 tablespoons sugar

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick vegetable cooking spray.

2. Whisk flour, oats, milk powder, baking powder, and orange zest in a large mixing bowl. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk egg until broken up. Add sugar and whisk until combined. Whisk in butter (or oil) and milk.

3. Add cranberries and nuts, if using, to dry ingredients and stir to combine. Add milk mixture and fold with rubber spatula until batter comes together. Do not overmix.

4. Divide batter among 12 muffin cups. Bake until toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean, 18-20 minutes. Cool in pan 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack.

5. If using glaze: In a small saucepan or the microwave, stir together the glaze ingredients. Bring just to a boil, to dissolve the sugar. Dip the tops of the warm muffins into the glaze.

Joy of Cooking Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-01-17T16:44:00.000-08:00

I have wanted to own a copy of Joy of Cooking for the longest time, and this past Christmas I finally received it as a gift. There are so many hints and tips in here, and hopefully they will help me to have many more successes in the kitchen. It is a classic cookbook everyone should have a copy of.

I have become obsessed with chocolate chip cookie recipes. I have set out to try as many as I can. So far, I have blogged about the New York Times Chocolate Chip cookies, which I loved, and my husband enjoyed...but nowhere near as much as the Best Big, Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip cookies from All Recipes.com, aka "Devil Cookies", as he calls them. They are incredibly rich and soft, and my husband's absolute favorite.

But of course, once I have seemingly found the "perfect" recipe for chocolate chip cookies, I decide that there must be an even better one out there. But so far, I have yet to find one. This one from the Joy of Cooking was pretty good, but definitely below my expectations. They are super buttery, soft and chewy, but also fell quite flat. So far it is Devil Cookies 2, other cookies zero.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Joy of Cooking

Preheat the oven to 375. Grease or line 2 cookie sheets.

Whisk together:
1 cup plus 2 Tbs all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda

Beat in a large bowl until well-blended:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

Add and beat until well combined:
1 large egg
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Stir in the flour mixture until well-blended and smooth. Stir in 1 cup chocolate chips (I added an extra 1/2 cup).

Drop the dough by heaping teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheets. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, until the cookies are just slightly colored on top and the edges are brown, about 8 - 10 minutes. Let stand briefly, then remove to a rack to cool.

Makes about 36 cookies.

Spicy Crockpot Chickpeas

2009-01-17T16:23:00.000-08:00

I recently tried hummus, and fell in love. I typically hate beans, and I refuse to call chickpeas by their other name, garbanzo beans (even though that was what the cans I bought at Trader Joes called them.) I have fooled myself into thinking they are not, in fact, a bean, but a pea instead. Whatever you call them, they are delicious, as well as high in protein, fiber and iron. They are a great replacement for red meat in your diet, which is great for someone like myself who does not eat any red meat.

This crockpot recipe is simple to throw together, and can cook in your crockpot while you are at work during the day, providing a great option for a weeknight meal. It is also great with naan or pita bread as an appetizer or snack.

Spicy Crockpot Chickpeas
Recipezaar

20 minutes prep, 1/2 day cook time

1 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 onions, peeled and finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 Tbsp minced fresh gingerroot
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cumin seed
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (reduce if too spicy for your tastes)
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 cups coarsely chopped tomatoes (canned or fresh)
2 (19 oz) cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained*

*Be sure to thoroughly rinse your chickpeas before cooking with them, as the canning process alters their taste.

In a skillet over medium heat, cook onions, stirring, just until they begin to brown; then add garlic and all spices and cook, stirring for 1 minute.

Add vinegar and tomatoes and bring to a boil, then place mixture in your slow cooker; add chickpeas and combine well.

Cover and cook on Low for 6 - 8 hours, or on High for 3 - 4 hours, or until the mixture is hot and bubbling.

Serve with hot naan or pita bread (I ate this over brown rice and it was delicious! A dollop of yogurt on the side would also be excellent.)

Orange Almond Biscotti

2008-12-21T15:41:00.000-08:00

I spotted this in my google reader the other day, and lo and behold, it was another recipe from the Good Things Catered blog :) She is doing 25 Days of Treats, so of course there are many more recipes I have marked to try as well. This recipe comes from America's Test Kitchen, and so far, they haven't steered me wrong.

I had never made biscotti before, and was surprised at how simple it was. (Other than mistakenly adding only 2 tsp of zest, rather than 2 Tablespoons. Oops.) They still turned out really well, and I just dipped 'em in chocolate, which should more than make up for the zest. Biscotti is a great gift for friends, coworkers, and family, and make a yummy treat for yourself as well on a cold winter's morning.

Orange Almond Biscotti
America's Test Kitchen
2 cups A/P flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened but still cool (I like to cut the butter up into small pieces prior to creaming)
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
3/4 cup almonds, toasted, cooled and chopped coarsely
2 Tbsp minced orange zest (I was out of oranges but found I could substitute the zest from clementines, which I had a whole box of.)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.

Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl and set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and smooth, about 2 minutes. Beat in eggs, then the extracts. Stir in almonds and zest. Fold dry ingredients into wet until dough is just mixed.

Halve the dough, and turn portions onto prepared baking sheet. Stretch each portion into a rough 13 x 2 inch loaf, and pat smooth.

Bake for about 35 minutes, or until the loaves are golden and just beginning to crack on top. Remove baking sheet from over, and let cool for 10 minutes.

Lower oven temp to 325. Cut each loaf diagonally into 3/4 inch slices. Lay each slice cut-side up on baking sheet, and return to oven. Bake, turning each cookie halfway through baking, for a total of about 15 minutes, or until crisp and golden brown on both sides.

Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

I dipped my biscotti in melted semi-sweet chocolate, as well as in white chocolate drizzled with semi-sweet.

White Chocolate Dipped Dog Bones

2008-12-21T15:23:00.000-08:00

I wanted to make some special treats for the furry children in our families, but I wanted something super easy and quick. I decided to just buy some regular milkbones from the store, and dip them in melted white chocolate. You can also make your own bones, and do the same for a completely homemade treat!

White Chocolate Dipped Dog Bones

1 lb. white chocolate chips
2 - 3 dozen milkbones (you can probably get 4 dozen if you buy the smallest size bones)
Colored sprinkles

Melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave or in a double boiler. Dip each biscuit halfway in the melted white chocolate. (I used a spoon to make sure I got both sides covered completely.) Set on parchment paper, wax paper or a silpat. Add colored sprinkles before chocolate sets, and allow chocolate to harden before packaging for your furry friends!

Fudge

2008-12-14T16:07:00.000-08:00

For Christmas this year, I decided I wanted to bake some of my gifts for my clients and co-workers. I made some of the Malted Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk cookies (and of course, saved some for myself), and then I decided I wanted to make some fudge after seeing a really easy recipe on Beantown Baker.

She suggests using the defrost setting on the microwave to melt the chocolate, which worked out really well! The only problem I had was that I forgot to pick up some sweetened condensed milk at the store, but luckily I found a recipe for a substitution for it, so I didn't have to run back out to the store. The fudge was nice and creamy, and hopefully everyone I made it for enjoys it!

Fudge
All Recipes

3 cups semisweet chocolate chips (like Beantown Baker, I used 2 cups milk chocolate and 1 cup semisweet, Ghirardelli chips.)
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup butter
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Place chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, and butter in large microwaveable bowl. Cook in microwave on defrost until chips are melted, about 3 - 5 minutes, stirring once or twice while cooking. Stir in nuts, if desired.

Pour into well-greased 8x8 inch baking dish (I just lined mine with aluminum foil for easy removal); refrigerate until set.

Cranberry-Orange Cookies

2008-12-07T14:39:00.000-08:00

These cookies are absolutely amazing! I picked up some extra bags of fresh cranberries from the grocery store during their post-Thanksgiving sales, and was excited to come across this recipe last week. The orange zest & juice combined with the tartness of the cranberries is an unbeatable combination. I seriously can't stop eating these; they are super simple to throw together, and will definitely be in my rotation of holiday cookies from here on out. I found this recipe on one of my favorite blogs, Good Things Catered. You can never gone wrong with any of Katie's recipes, they are all fantastic!

Cranberry-Orange Cookies
Good Things Catered

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
1/4 c. brown sugar, packed
1 c. granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp grated orange zest
juice of 1/2 orange
1 tsp vanilla
1 c. chopped fresh cranberries

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment.
-In medium bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt, and whisk; set aside.
-In bowl of stand mixer, combine butter and sugars and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
-Add yolk and beat until fully incorporated.
-Add orange juice, then zest and vanilla and beat until fully incorporated.
-Turn mixer to low speed, add flour mixture and beat until just incorporated.
-Remove bowl from mixer, stir in cranberries, and place 1 Tbsp rounds of dough onto cookie sheets. Be sure to place the cookies several inches apart, as they do spread a bit while baking.
-Place cookies in the oven and bake, switching baking sheet positions half way through baking time, for 12-14 minutes (they should not brown)
-Remove from oven and let cool on pans completely, about 10-15 minutes.

Makes about 18 Tbsp-sized cookies

Warm Baked Autumn Oatmeal

2008-11-22T13:03:00.000-08:00

Once I find myself craving oatmeal, I know that cooler weather has finally started to arrive. I found this recipe in the newspaper my husband is interning at, and it sounded so tasty I couldn't wait to make it this weekend. It is made with old-fashioned rolled oats, and it takes a bit more time to cook than instant oatmeal, but the flavors are so much richer...not to mention the lack of added salt, sugar and other added ingredients found in processed foods.

I added dried cranberries, but this is a pretty versatile recipe, so you can experiment with different fruit, nuts, and spices to your liking.

Warm Baked Autumn Oatmeal
Ogden Standard-Examiner

1 3/4 cup water
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
2/3 cup milk
4-oz. carton egg substitute (I used two eggs)
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup dried fruit bits
Non-fat vanilla yogurt, optional
Chopped, toasted pecans, optional (I omitted as I didn't have any)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray and 8x8 inch square baking dish with nonstick spray; set aside.

Place water in medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir in oats and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a small bowl, whisk together milk and egg, and set aside.

Add brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt to oats; stir well. Blend in milk mixture and dried fruit bits. Pour into prepared dish.

Bake, uncovered, for 30 to 35 minutes, or until center is just set. Allow to cool 15 to 20 minutes before serving. Spoon into individual serving dishes. If desired, dollop each with about a tablespoon of nonfat vanilla yogurt, then sprinkle with chopped, toasted pecans.

Serves 6.

5-Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

2008-10-28T12:43:00.000-07:00

This recipe is very, very dangerous. It is so simple to make, and you probably have all of the ingredients sitting in your cupboard at any given time, so beware! You might make this the first time and make it the next 2, 3 or 4 nights as well...

5-Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
a small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes on high. The cake will rise over the top of the mug. Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate. (This is also excellent with a scoop of chocolate ice cream on the side.)

The Famous NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookies

2008-08-31T19:39:00.000-07:00

This cookie recipe has been making its way around the blogosphere, and when I saw it a couple of weeks ago, I knew I had to make it. The recipe comes from the NY Times, also home of the famous no-knead bread recipe we loved so much. The most difficult step of baking these cookies is the waiting period of 24 - 36 hours, during which the dough is chilled in order to deepen and heighten the flavors. I could only manage to wait about 26 hours before I had to break out the dough...but it seemed like long enough to do the trick! These were some of the richest cookies I have ever eaten, which also may have had something to do with the 60% cacao chips I used. My husband didn't really care for the sprinkle of sea salt on top, but I really enjoyed it; we agreed to disagree. Definitely not your run-of-the-mill chocolate chip cookies, but they make a special treat if you are willing to take that extra time to wait.

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Draney Photography

NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from The New York Times, David Leite, and Jacques Torres

2 cups minus 2 Tbsp. (8 ½ oz.) cake flour (I used A/P as I didn't have any cake flour on hand)
1 2/3 cups (8 ½ oz.) bread flour
1 ¼ tsp. baking soda
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. coarse salt, such as kosher
2 ½ sticks (1 ¼ cups; 10 oz.) unsalted butter, softened
1 ¼ cups (10 oz.) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. (8 oz.) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 ¼ pounds bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks, preferably about 60% cacao content (I used Ghirardelli)
Sea salt, such as Maldon

Combine flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Whisk well; then set aside.

Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until very light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Reduce the mixer speed to low; then add dry ingredients, and mix until just combined. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

When you’re ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F. Remove the bowl of dough from the refrigerator, and allow it to soften slightly. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat.

Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (about the size of golf balls) onto the baking sheet, sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.

Almond-Glazed Sugar Cookies

2008-08-08T09:32:00.000-07:00

Photo by Nicholas Draney Photography

I recently discovered that I am very, very fond of almond. I have been tagging every recipe I come across that has anything almond-related in the ingredients list. When I came across this recipe for almond sugar cookies, I had to make them that very night because they sounded so good. And they didn't disappoint; these cookies are the perfect blend of good old-fashioned sugar cookie with a great hint of almond flavor. I found this recipe by way of The Spicy Skillet, where she switched up the almond with lemon...these sound delicious as well!

These sugar cookies were really easy to make, as there was no rolling/cutting out/refrigerating of the dough needed. I got about 2 dozen cookies out of this recipe, and I'm going to have to give some away before I eat them all myself! There is nothing like a really great sugar cookie, and this one is definitely a winner.

Almond-Glazed Sugar Cookies
Your Home-Based Mom

1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. almond extract
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

Mix butter, sugar and extract in a large bowl. Beat until creamed, 1 to 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients. Beat 1 to 2 more minutes. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet and flatten balls to 1/4 inch thickness with the bottom of a buttered glass dipped in sugar. Bake at 400 for 7-9 minutes or until edges are very lightly browned. Cool 1 minute. Move to a wire rack. Stir together glaze ingredients with a wire whisk. Decorate cooled cookies with glaze and sliced almonds (optional).

Glaze: 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp. almond extract, 4-5 tsp. milk.

Guinness-Milk Chocolate Ice Cream

2008-07-13T19:36:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make a classic chocolate ice cream with my new ice-cream maker; I love milk chocolate, and had found the perfect recipe in The Perfect Scoop, by David Lebovitz. I showed my (Irish) husband my book, and he was immediately drawn to this recipe instead on the next page. It turned out to be delicious combination; so incredibly creamy and rich. If you are a fan of Guinness, this ice cream is for you.

Guinness-Milk Chocolate Ice Cream
from The Perfect Scoop

Photo by Nicholas Draney Photography

7 oz. milk chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
4 large egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup Guinness Stout
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Put the chocolate pieces in a large bowl and set a mesh strainer over the top.

Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer over the milk chocolate, then stir until the chocolate is melted. Once the mixture is smooth, whisk in the cream, then the Guinness and vanilla. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Cherry Sorbet

2008-07-06T20:24:00.000-07:00

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Draney Photography

For my birthday, my mom surprised me with an ice cream attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer, as well as the book The Perfect Scoop, by David Lebovitz. I couldn't wait to make my first recipe. But which one should I choose? I wanted to make the vanilla frozen yogurt, the chocolate French-style ice cream, the strawberry granita....but my decision was made as I went grocery shopping and came across some shiny, bright red cherries. Cherry sorbet it was!

Although I think I prefer the flavor of fresh cherries better (and have eaten at least a pound in the last week or so to prove it), this sorbet is a great choice for summer. The cherries are cooked prior to mixing, and this provides a deep, rich flavor. The sorbet itself is nice and light, perfect for a hot summer day.

Cherry Sorbet
from The Perfect Scoop

2 pounds cherries
1 cup water
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon almond extract

Stem the cherries and remove the pits. In a medium saucepan, warm the cherries over moderate heat with the water, sugar, and lemon juice until they start becoming juicy. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the cherries are soft and cooked through. Remove from the heat and let stand until they reach room temperature.

Puree the cherries and their liquid with the almond extract in a blender until smooth.

Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.

No-Knead Bread

2008-07-06T20:02:00.000-07:00

I recently celebrated my 28th birthday, and luckily my family and friends know me well, as I received many kitchen-related gifts. I have been wanting a french oven for the longest time, and when I saw the no-knead bread recipe going around the blogging community, it only solidified my desire. My mother-in-law, Teresa, surprised me with a beautiful, red, 7-qt. cast iron pot, and I finally got to break it in today, when at long last, I made the infamous bread.

I could not believe how easy this bread is to make. There are only four ingredients, and you literally mix them together, let them sit overnight, and make the bread the next day. Amazing. The crust is nice and crunchy, and the interior is so soft and light. One of the easiest and best bread recipes I have ever seen; my new pot is going to be put to great use!

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Draney Photography

No-Knead Bread, revisited
from Steamy Kitchen
adapted from Mark Bittman of NY Times, who got it from Sullivan Street Bakery. When the recipe first came out, it was the blogging community who took the bread to new heights, especially Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of The Bread Bible.

Yield: one 1½ lb loaf
3 cups bread flour
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
3/4 tablespoon kosher salt (or 1 teaspoon table salt)
1 1/2 cups warm water
Covered pot (five-quart or larger cast iron, Pyrex, ceramic, enamel…something that can go into a 450F oven.)

1. Mix dough: The night before, combine all ingredients in a big bowl with a wooden spoon until the dough just comes together. It will be a shaggy, doughy mess. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit 12-20 hours on countertop.

2. Shape & preheat: The dough will now be wet, sticky and bubbly. With a wet spatula, dump the dough on a floured surface. Fold ends of dough over a few times with the spatula and nudge it into a ball shape. You can use your hands if you like, just keep your hands wet so that the dough does not stick. Generously dust a cotton towel (not terrycloth) with flour. Set dough seam side down on top of towel. Fold towel over the dough. Let it nap for 2 hours. When you’ve got about a half hour left, slip your covered pot into the oven and preheat to 450F.

3. Bake: Your dough should have doubled in size. Remove pot from oven. Holding towel, dump wobbly dough into pot. Doesn’t matter which way it lands. Shake to even dough out. Cover. Bake 30 minutes. Uncover, bake another 15-20 minutes or until the crust is beautifully golden and middle of loaf is 210F. Remove and let cool on wired rack. If not eating right away, you can re-crisp crust in 350F oven for 10 minutes.

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Draney Photography

Malted Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies

2008-06-18T13:44:00.000-07:00

I found this recipe on one of my favorite blogs, Cafe Johnsonia. The malt combined with the chocolate gives it such a wonderful flavor; I saved half of the dough in the freezer because I couldn't trust myself to have too many of these around for long. Beware - the dough itself is to die for! Such a delicious cookie, and it's great to have extras sitting in the freezer to make whenever I want more.

Malted Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Cafe Johnsonia

2 sticks butter, melted
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup malted milk powder (I used Carnation--look for it by the hot chocolate at the store)
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
2 cups chocolate chunks

Melt the butter in a large mixing bowl on 50% power in the microwave, or in a saucepan. Whisk in the brown sugar. Let cool to room temperature. Add the malted milk powder and whisk to remove any lumps. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk well.

Sift the dry ingredients. Using an electric mixer or a wooden spoon, add the dry ingredients a little at a time into the butter/sugar mixture, beating or stirring well after each addition.

Stir in the chocolate chunks. Chill the dough for about an hour, or until firm.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line several baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper, or spray with nonstick cooking spray. Drop tablespoon sized balls onto the baking sheets--about 2" apart. (A jellyroll pan will get 12 cookies on it.) Bake at 375 degrees F for about 10 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes and then remove to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

Fresh Vegetable Salad with Red Wine Vinaigrette

2008-06-18T13:03:00.000-07:00

My husband and I try to always eat our veggies. But we tend to always fall back on our standby, spinach; we eat salads with most meals, and after awhile, eating the same thing day in and day out starts to get old. We were watching the Food Network the other day and saw this delicious, simple veggie salad Giada was making, and decided to try it out. A perfect side dish for summer.

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Draney Photography

Anytime Vegetable Salad
Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

2 cups shelled edamame soy beans
8 ounces thin green beans, trimmed
8 ounces yellow wax beans, trimmed (I omitted, couldn't find any at the store)
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil or tarragon leaves
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Cook the edamame in a large pot of boiling water until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Drain. Rinse with cold water, then drain well and pat dry. Repeat with the green beans and yellow beans. Combine the vegetables in a bowl.

Add the vinegar, oil, herbs, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 3/4 teaspoon pepper to a glass screw-top jar. Seal the jar and shake vigorously to mix the vinaigrette.

When you're ready to serve, shake the jar again to re-mix the vinaigrette and pour it over the vegetables. Season with more salt and pepper, if desired.

Alternate Method: Whisk the vinegar, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 3/4 teaspoon of pepper in a large bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in the oil. Add all of the beans, tomatoes, basil, and thyme, and toss to coat. Season the salad, to taste, with more salt and pepper, and serve.

Whole-Wheat Orange Juice Muffins

2008-06-09T17:07:00.000-07:00

I found this recipe on Cooking Light, but adapted it to make it a little healthier and more low-cal. They were a just a little bland, but they were very moist and since I had most of the ingredients on hand, they were totally easy to throw together.

Whole-Wheat Orange Juice Muffins
Adapted from Cooking Light

1 1/2 cups AP flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup Splenda
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup orange juice
1/4 cup applesauce, unsweetened
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon rind (I omitted as I didn't have any, but added 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. I think the lemon rind would've given more flavor)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup rolled oats
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon sugar

Preheat oven to 400.

Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine all-purpose flour and next 5 ingredients (through cinnamon) in a medium bowl; stir well with a whisk. Make a well in center of mixture. Combine juice, applesauce, vanilla, and egg; add to flour mixture, stirring until just moist. Stir in rolled oats. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with 1 tablespoon sugar. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes, or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

La Brea Country White Sourdough or: The 360-Hour Bread

2008-06-09T15:59:00.001-07:00

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I asked my husband to buy me this book featuring breads from La Brea Bakery. All I knew was that the La Brea breads we purchased at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods was some of the best bread I had ever tried.

My dear husband bought me the book, and I opened it up. The first 28 pages are devoted to all of the proper "tools" you will need to make the breads in this book. I was a little overwhelmed. Then I got to the chapter titled "A Lesson in Bread Making." It proceeded to walk me through a day-by-day tutorial of making a sourdough starter. Which, for baking a loaf of bread worthy of Nancy Silverton (the author), involves 14 days. Fourteen. (Thankfully, as long as I never kill off my starter, I won't ever have to repeat this process again.)

Needless to say, I was a little overwhelmed. The first 9 days involve fermentation of the culture. Day 10 is the day you begin to feed the starter. Three times a day. For five days. I followed her every instruction to a T, and by Day 15 I was ready to make my first loaves of bread. After this extensive process to which I committed so much time and energy, I wanted some payoff!

But the process to make my first loaf of bread was a 2-day process. Well. Technically, according to her bread baking schedule, it COULD be completed in one day (18 hours). So of course, I was going to do it in one day. One looong day.

I got up that morning at 6:00 am to begin mixing. The bread finally went into the oven to bake at 11:45 PM and was done baking around 12:20 AM. So for next time, I think I'm going to stick to the 2-day bread making schedule. Because by 1:00 in the morning, when the bread had cooled and I could finally, at long last, try some of this masterpiece bread, I was super tired and frustrated and just wanted to go to bed.

(The bread was absolutely amazing. It was just a royal pain in the butt to make.)

I will include the original recipe, for anyone who might already have a sourdough starter at home; I am also including a link to Williams-Sonoma's site for a similar La Brea recipe for those who want to use active dry yeast.)

Country White Bread
Nancy Silverton, La Brea Bakery

12 ounces (about 1 1/3 cups) starter
2 pounds plus 2 ounces (about 7 cups) unbleached white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
1 pound plus 2 ounces (about 2 1/4 cups) cool water, 70 degrees F
1/2 cup raw wheat germ
4 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
Vegetable oil

Using your dough hook on your electric mixer, measure the water, starter, flour and wheat germ into the mixing bowl; mix on low speed for 5 minutes. The dough should be sticky and pliable. If it appears too dry, dribble a bit more water in slowly and keep mixing.

After 5 minutes, turn off mixer, cover dough with proofing cloth, and let dough rest for 20 minutes. Add the salt and mix the dough at medium speed until the dough reaches a temperature of 78 degrees F, looks satiny and feels smooth (about 5 more minutes.)

Remove dough from mixing bowl and place it in a clean bowl lightly coated with vegetable oil. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, and allow the dough to ferment at room temperature, until it doubles in volume, about 3 1/2 to 4 hours.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and cut into two equal pieces. Slap each piece gently against the work surface to deflate the dough. Tuck all the edges under to form a sort-of rounded mass; don't bother making it look like loaf at this point, you are simply preshaping to suggest the shape to come. Cover the two pieces of dough with a piece of cloth. Let the dough rest for about 15 minutes.

Using a strainer, sift a thin, even layer of flour along the sides and bottom of a cloth-lined proofing basket. (If you don't have proofing baskets, you can proof the bread directly on a proofing cloth similarly dusted.) Wrap your hands around the side of one piece of dough and with a rolling motion, rock it into a ball. Do not overshape; don't worry about getting a super-compact ball, just apply even pressure all around to get a taut ball with smooth skin stretching over the surface of the dough.

Put the shaped boule smooth side down into a basket. Pinch the seam closed with your fingers. Repeat the process with the second piece of dough. Cover each basket with a piece of plastic wrap, and place them at room temperature to let the dough proof just until it starts rising up the sides of the baskets, and increases volume by one-fourth. This will take approximately one hour.

Next, the dough needs to age. Retarding the dough helps allow it maintain the long, slow rise required to develop flavor and texture. Place the boules in your refrigerator for 8 to 12 hours, but no more than 24 (this step allows for a range of flexibility in the times.)

Remove the boules from the refrigerator, and take off the plastic wrap. Cover the boules with proofing cloth. (If your oven cannot accommodate both boules, you should bake them one at a time. That means you should remove the second boule 1 hour after the first so it is ready to bake just as the first loaf is removed from the oven.)

Proof the boules at room temperature, away from drafts; the dough is ready to bake when it has doubled in size, no longer springs back when poked with your finger, and has come up to a temperature of 62 degrees, about 3 hours. While the bread is proofing, preheat the oven to 500 degrees F, placing a pizza or baking stone on the bottom rack of the oven.

When the boules are properly proofed, lightly dust them with flour and turn them out onto a baker's peel (I didn't have one, so I just used a giant spatula from our grill set.) Slash the top of the dough at a 45-degree angle, starting about 1 inch from the top edge of the boule down to the bottom (I just did a simple X.)

A minute before you place the bread in the oven, spritz water heavily onto the preheated baking stone, and all around the sides of the oven; quickly close the door.

Open the oven door, slide the boule from the peel directly onto the baking stone, and close the door. Turn the oven temperature down to 450 degrees. *My first loaf was baked exactly according to these instructions, and got really crispy, almost burned. I turned the temp down to 400 for the second loaf and got perfect results.

During the next five minutes, spritz the oven with water 2 more times. After those five minutes, don't open the oven door for 20 minutes. You want to maintain the steam you've created.

After 25 minutes, check the bread and rotate the boules as necessary. Continue baking for another 20 minutes, for a total of 45 minutes (my bread was done in just about 40 minutes.) Tap the bottom of the loaf to check for a hollow thud; this means the bread is done.

Place the boules on a cooling rack and allow to cool.

Peach Cobbler

2008-06-04T17:12:00.000-07:00

I went to our local farmer's market this morning, and was thrilled when I found some delicious, juicy peaches at one of the stands. I think peaches are my absolute favorite fruit...or maybe cherries, or watermelon...strawberries, blackberries, oh, and pineapple...anyway. Peaches are up at the top of my list. I saved a bunch to eat by themselves, but cut the rest of them up and put them into this yummy cobbler recipe I found on the Food Network website. A perfect summer dessert!

Peach Cobbler
Food Network
Recipe courtesy Kristina Williamson, Schooner Ellida, Rockland, Maine

Cobbler filling:
4 cups peeled and sliced fresh peaches (blanch in boiling water for 30 seconds to remove the skins)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon flour

Cobbler crust:
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon brown sugar, for topping
Whipped cream
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Generously butter a 1 1/2-quart shallow baking dish. Place the sliced peaches in the dish and sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and flour. Mix gently and spread evenly again. Bake for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile combine all dry ingredients for cobbler crust in a bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or your fingers, to make the texture like coarse crumbs. Add buttermilk and stir to form a soft dough.

Remove fruit from oven and drop rounded spoonfuls of dough on top. Sprinkle with last tablespoon of brown sugar and return to oven. Bake until fruit is bubbly and crust topping is golden brown, about 20 minutes. Serve warm with whipped cream.

Almond Poppyseed Muffins

2008-06-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

I had a hankering for something almond this weekend, and after seeing many posts about delicious lemon-poppyseed muffins, I decided to search for a muffin recipe that was adaptable to almond flavoring. I found this recipe at Nook & Pantry and decided to try it out. These muffins are a little lighter than some of the other recipes I found (contain less butter & sugar), and the buttermilk keeps them nice and moist. I am also really happy they turned out well, because this was the first time I made muffins without using muffin-tin liners. (Hooray for using less paper/being environmentally conscious!) I like having a base muffin recipe that's adaptable to different add-ins, and I am excited to try other combinations of fruits/nuts next time.

Almond Poppy Seed Muffins

Buttermilk Base Recipe
2 C flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 C sugar
4 Tbsp melted butter
1 1/4 C buttermilk

Almond Poppy Seed
1 1/2 Tbsp poppy seeds
1 tsp of almond extract

Preheat the oven to 350ºF, adjust a rack to the middle position. Spray a 12 cup regular size muffin tin with some nonstick spray.

Whisk flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and poppy seeds in a large mixing bowl and set aside. Whisk egg, sugar, and almond extract together until combined, then whisk in the buttermilk and melted butter.

Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour and fold to combine. There should be not large pockets of flour but small streaks may remain. Do not over mix. The batter will be fairly thick.

Divide the batter evenly into the tin. Bake for about 20 – 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Flip the muffins out of the tin and cool them right side up on a cooling rack.

Strawberry Scones

2008-05-26T13:06:00.000-07:00

I got this recipe off of Katie's blog, Good Things Catered. They are pretty much the best scones ever, with fresh, juicy strawberries and a hint of orange. I made these for a nice brunch with my husband this Memorial Day, and luckily I had enough left over to freeze a few for breakfast later this week!

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Draney Photography

Juicy Strawberry Scones

Ingredients:
2 1/4 - 2 1/2 c. all purpose flour (depends on how ripe your strawberries are)
1/4 c. granulated sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick (8 Tbsp) butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1 egg
1/4 c. yogurt
1/4 c. milk
2 tsp orange zest
1 c. fresh strawberries, diced

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment
-In small bowl, combine egg, yogurt, milk, zest, whisk to combine thoroughly and set aside.
-In large bowl combine flour, sugar, powder, salt, and whisk to combine.
-Using pastry cutter or two knives, cut butter into flour until all pieces are smaller than pea-sized.
-Add strawberries, and toss to coat.
-Add wet ingredients to dry and mix in lightly with fork until dough just comes together.
-Turn dough out onto well floured work surface and pat into large ball.
-Cut dough in half.
-Shape half of dough into flat disk shape and cut into 8 slices.
-Place on baking sheet and repeat with other half of dough.
-Sprinkle tops of scones with sugar and place in the oven.
-Bake until turn slightly brown, about 25 minutes.
-Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes.
-Transfer to a wire rack and let cool (or eat right away!)

Garlic & Rosemary Cornish Game Hen

2008-05-19T09:32:00.000-07:00

I had a couple of Cornish game hens sitting in the freezer, and decided to make a nice Sunday night dinner for Nick and myself. Our families both have a tradition of having a big dinner together on Sundays, so being that we are so far away, I thought it would be nice to carry on the tradition in our home here in California. I served this with steamed broccoli and freshly baked French bread.

Garlic & Rosemary Cornish Game Hen
Allrecipes

Ingredients

2 Cornish game hens
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 lemon, quartered
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 tablespoonsolive oil
12 cloves garlic
1/3 cup white wine
1/3 cup low-sodium chicken broth
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, for garnish

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
Rub hens with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Lightly season hens with salt and pepper. Place 1 lemon wedge and 1 sprig rosemary in cavity of each hen. Arrange in a large, heavy roasting pan, and arrange garlic cloves around hens. Roast in preheated oven for 25 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a mixing bowl, whisk together wine, chicken broth, and remaining 2 tablespoons of oil; pour over hens. Continue roasting about 25 minutes longer, or until hens are golden brown and juices run clear. Baste with pan juices every 10 minutes.
Transfer hens to a platter, pouring any cavity juices into the roasting pan. Tent hens with aluminum foil to keep warm. Transfer pan juices and garlic cloves to a medium saucepan and boil until liquids reduce to a sauce consistency, about 6 minutes. Cut hens in half lengthwise and arrange on plates. Spoon sauce and garlic around hens. Garnish with rosemary sprigs, and serve.

Kolachkies

2008-05-18T20:24:00.000-07:00

I finally had a chance to make these tasty Polish cookies this weekend, recipe courtesy of my mom. I used a cherry filling, since I have been feeling cherries a lot lately, especially with all the fresh ones I've been eating :)

Kolachkies

1/2 lb. butter, slightly softened
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, slightly softened
2 cups flour
1 container cherry, raspberry, apricot filling (I used Solo brand)
confectioner's sugar

Blend the 1st three ingredients together, form into a ball and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 375.
Cut off a section of dough that is about a third of the ball. Roll the dough out until it is 1/4 inch thick, and using a 2 1/2 inch cookie cutter, cut out forms. Make a slight indentation in the center of each cookie, dropping about a teaspoon of pie filling in the center of each cutout. Place cutouts on parchment-lined cookie sheet.

Bake in 375 degree oven about 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown. Repeat with remaining dough and filling.

Cool on wire racks. Dust with confectioners' sugar.

Cookie Madness! The Sequel

2008-05-11T17:01:00.000-07:00

I made the scaled down version batch of cookies (the original said it made 40!), but I only ended up with 8 small cookies, even though it said it made 10. Next time I think I would just cut the original recipe in half and get bigger cookies.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
Cookie Madness

1 large egg
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon Mexican vanilla
1/3 cup chopped peanuts, to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a mixing bowl, beat together egg, sugar, baking soda and vanilla. I use an electric mixer for this, but you can do it with a whisk. Beat in the peanut butter and stir in the peanuts.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Cookies will look puffy and soft when the come out of the oven, but they sink and firm up as they cool.

Makes about 40 cookies.

Small Batch: Use about a tablespoon of beaten egg, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 cup peanut butter, a little dash of vanilla and a tablespoon of chopped peanuts.

Cookie Madness!

2008-05-11T15:46:00.000-07:00

It is finals week up at my school, so I thought I would make some cookies for the students I work with. I found a ton of recipes on the Cookie Madness site, and decided to go with almond chocolate chip & peanut butter. I especially liked the chocolate chip, the Corn Flakes & shredded coconut gave it an awesome flavor.

Crispy Crunchy Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cookie Madness

1/2 cup whole almonds, unsalted
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 tablespoons lightly beaten egg (doesn’t have to be precise)
1 cup all purpose, fluffed up and very lightly spooned and swept (4 1/4 oz)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 generous teaspoon salt
1 cups Corn Flakes cereal
6 oz dark chocolate, cut into chunks or 1 cup semisweet chips
2/3 cup loosely packed shredded sweetened coconut (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place almonds on a paper towel and microwave on high for 2 minutes, stopping halfway through the shuffle them around. Allow them to cool. Alternatively, you may toast them in the oven.**
In a mixing bowl, using high speed of electric mixer, cream butter, both sugars, both extracts and the
1 ½ tablespoons egg.

In a separate bowl, thoroughly stir together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir flour mixture into sugar mixture.

Transfer cooled almonds and coconut (if using) to a food processor and pulse until almonds are finely chopped. Add Corn Flakes and pulse 5 more times to crush cereal – don’t pulverize it, just break the flakes a bit.

Dump almond/cereal mixture into cookie batter and stir until batter comes together. It should be pretty dry.

Shape dough into balls of about 1 1/4 inch and place on cookie sheets about 2 ½ inches apart. Bake one sheet at a time on center rack for 13-15 minutes. Let cool for about 3 minutes on cookie sheet, then transfer to wire rack to cool.

Makes about 18 cookies.
** To toast almonds in oven, lay flat on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 8 minutes or until almonds start to crack.

Mango Chicken

2008-05-04T18:31:00.001-07:00

I got this recipe a long time ago from my mom; it is a knock-off of a dish served at Thaifoon, an Asian-fusion restaurant back in Salt Lake. The mango offsets the spiciness of the chili garlic sauce for a delicious asian dish.

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Draney Photography

Mango Chicken

2 Tbsp. canola oil
2 boneless/skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
2 fresh mango, skinned, pitted & cut into 3/4" - 1" cubes
1 Tbsp. basil
1 1/2 cups mango sauce (recipe follows)

Mango Sauce ingredients:
1/4 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1-2 Tbsp. chili garlic sauce (depending on how spicy you want it to be)
1 bottle (7.5 oz) sweet chili sauce - I use Sun Luck
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbs. fresh lime juice

Combine and blend together all the sauce ingredients. Heat wok/saute pan and add canola oil. Add and stir fry chicken until cooked. Add mango pieces, tossing to incorporate and warm the mango.

Add sauce and basil. Toss and reduce until sauce lightly coats the chicken and mango.

Serve with steamed jasmine rice.

Are you going to Scarborough Fair...

2008-05-04T18:29:00.001-07:00

....parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme. This bread contains all four of these herbs from the famous Simon & Garfunkel song. The flavors all complement one another very nicely, making a very tasty bread.

Scarborough Fair Herb Bread
Source: Salt Lake Tribune, courtesy of Melanie Wilhelmsen, Ogden as published in American Profile Magazine

6 cups all-purpose flour, divided (I used King Arthur Bread Flour instead)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups warm (120 to 130 degrees) water
3 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 to 2 teaspoons finely chopped sage (I used 2 teaspoons of each - sage, rosemary & thyme)
1 to 2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary
1 to 2 teaspoons finely chopped thyme
1 tablespoon melted butter

Grease two (9-by-5-inch) loaf pans. In a large bowl, combine four cups flour, sugar, salt, yeast, and 2 1/2 cups warm water. Add herbs and stir until well blended. (I let my KitchenAid do the work.) Cover and let rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes. Stir dough for 25 strokes. Divide between pans. Cover and let rise until doubled in size, 30 to 45 minutes.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Bake loaves 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees, and bake 15 minutes longer or until bread sounds hollow when tapped. If necessary, cover loosely with foil during the last 10 minutes of baking time to prevent over-browning. Remove from pans immediately and brush with melted butter. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 2 loaves.

Photos courtesy of Nicholas Draney Photography

Opah Teriyaki

2008-05-03T09:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we made a trip out to one of our favorite specialty grocery stores in the area, Bristol Farms. They have an amazing selection of fresh meats, seafood, cheeses, produce....I could go on and on about my love of this store. I picked up a 6 oz. opah steak, while my husband went with ahi. Opah fillets are a nice pink color, turning white once cooked. I first tried this delicious Hawaiian fish at Duke's in Malibu, and loved the light, flaky texture. It is not as dense as say, swordfish, and does well with marinades. If you ever happen to have the opportunity to pick some up, definitely try it - you won't be disappointed!

I found this recipe and gave it a whirl. It was the perfect preparation for the opah.

Opah Teriyaki

1 opah steak (6 oz.)
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon teriyaki sauce*
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

In skillet set at 250 or medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon butter; add garlic, saute until tender. Remove from heat. Stir in teriyaki, lemon juice, honey and sesame seeds. Pour over fish, marinate 30 minutes. Heat 1 tablespoon butter in skillet. Set at medium heat. Add Opah, saute 4-5 minutes on each side, basting with marinade. Do not overcook.

*I also didn't have any teriyaki sauce on hand, so I made my own from this recipe on Recipezaar:

Teriyaki Sauce (makes 1 cup)
1/8 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
fresh grated ginger (about 1 Tbs. or to your liking)
1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 minced garlic clove
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water

Combine 1/2 cup water, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, and ginger in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

Dissolve cornstarch in 1/4 cup cold water and add to sauce. Stir constantly to allow the sauce to thicken. If the sauce is too thick, add a little water or soy sauce to thin.

Whole-Grain Blackberry Spice Muffins

2008-04-30T08:42:00.000-07:00

I had been wanting to make some berry muffins lately, and I had been holding on to this recipe for sometime now, so I decided to make these last night. I will definitely not make the mistake of using fresh in place of frozen next time (I had a TON of fresh blackberries I wanted to use up), since my batter turned slightly gray in color. Oops. Although they aren't the greatest-looking muffins, they are quite tasty.

Whole Grain Blackberry Spice Muffins
Cooking Light

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour (about 9 ounces)
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon apple-pie spice
1 cup fat-free milk
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups frozen blackberries, coarsely chopped
Cooking spray
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 6 ingredients (through apple-pie spice) in a large bowl. Make a well in center of mixture. Combine milk, butter, vanilla, and egg in a small bowl; add to flour mixture, stirring until just moist. Gently stir in blackberries.

Spoon 1/4 cup batter into each of 17 paper-lined muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 16 minutes. Sprinkle muffins evenly with granulated sugar; bake 3 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Cool in pans 10 minutes on wire racks.

Yield

17 muffins (serving size: 1 muffin)

Out with the old, in with the new

2008-04-28T08:58:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, we had to say goodbye to our dinnerware we loved so dearly. We had registered for the Kita dinnerware setting from Crate & Barrel, and after about a month of use, we found that the crackled glaze we loved so much was starting to stain. We tried everything to get it out (and this is not only from coffee and tea stains, but things as basic as tomato sauce & sriracha.) But no dice. We tried living with it. And continued to get upset every time one of the pieces would stain.

So yesterday, we finally bit the bullet and took them back. (Thank you Crate & Barrel returns department.)
RIP Kita dishes. We loved you.

Fortunately, there is a happy ending here. We were able to find another place setting we liked ALMOST as much.

Introducing, Staccato. Welcome to our humble abode.

Ginger Honey Cookies

2008-04-17T20:08:00.000-07:00

These cookies are nice and soft in the middle, with a crisp edge. Next time I think I will try a little more ginger, or possibly even try out almond extract...they were just a little bland but they definitely have potential to be a great cookie.

Ginger Honey Cookies
Gourmet

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 45 min
Servings: Makes 14 cookies

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger (I didn't have any on hand so I used 1/4 teaspoon ground; I definitely think this cookie needed more kick and this is probably where I went wrong.)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar (I used dark brown sugar instead)
1 large egg
1/4 cup mild honey

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F with racks in upper and lower thirds.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, ginger, and salt in a bowl.

Beat together butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg and honey until combined. Reduce speed to low, then mix in flour mixture.

Drop 14 heaping tablespoons of dough 2 inches apart onto 2 ungreased baking sheets.

Bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until golden, 10 to 14 minutes total (cookies will spread flat). Cool completely on sheets on racks.

Cooks' note: Cookies keep in an airtight container at room temperature 3 days.

Ciabatta

2008-04-06T18:55:00.000-07:00

Surprise, surprise...another post about bread. I actually wasn't planning on making this bread this weekend, but was missing one of the ingredients for the other bread my husband was begging...er...asking me to make (the Honey Wheat bread I made several posts back - it was a smashing hit!) But I was secretly thrilled because I had the opportunity to try yet another recipe on my list. I found this Ciabatta recipe on Williams-Sonoma's website. I have learned to be very careful when scanning recipes, particularly for bread - they can be very time-consuming, and I find it is best to plan my baking carefully around my schedule. This bread is made over the course of 2 days, but is actually really easy to make. It just involves a little bit of babysitting. I was pleased with the texture and taste of the end result - I will definitely make this again.

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Draney Photography

Ciabatta

The Italian word ciabatta, or "slipper," describes the shape of this loaf, which is like a flat slipper or old shoe. The dough is so wet that it is easiest to mix by machine. It is made with an Italian-style starter called a biga, which is firm like a bread dough rather than soft like a sponge. The biga must rest overnight, so plan to make this bread over the course of 2 days. The chewy loaf is dimpled with big, uneven holes, known as occhi, or "eyes."

The bread is baked on a baking stone, also called a pizza stone or a baking tile. These are available in large rounds and rectangles. Made of high-fired unglazed clay stoneware, they retain and distribute heat evenly, producing a more uniformly baked loaf and nicely browned crusts. To be effective, the stone must be preheated in the oven for at least 30 minutes before the bread is placed on it. Wipe the cooled stone clean after use; do not use soap and water.

Ingredients:

For the biga starter:
1 1/3 cups water, at room temperature
2 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose or bread flour
3/4 tsp. active dry yeast

3 Tbs. warm water (105° to 115°F)
3/4 cup warm milk (105° to 115°F)
2 tsp. active dry yeast
2 to 2 1/3 cups bread flour, plus more as needed
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. olive oil, plus more for greasing

Directions:

To make the starter, in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the water, 1 cup of the all-purpose flour and the yeast. Mix on low speed for 1 minute. Add the remaining 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour and mix until smooth and soft, about 1 minute. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until almost tripled in bulk, 4 to 6 hours. The starter will smell yeasty. Refrigerate for 8 to 12 hours or for up to 3 days. When ready to make the dough, remove the starter from the refrigerator and let stand for 1 to 2 hours.

To make the dough, fit the mixer again with the paddle attachment. Add the warm water and milk and the yeast to the starter and mix on low speed, making a souplike mixture. Add 1 1⁄2 cups of the bread flour, the salt and the 2 Tbs. olive oil. Mix on low speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add only as much of the remaining bread flour as needed to form a very soft, moist dough, and mix on low speed for 5 minutes, occasionally scraping the dough off the bowl sides and paddle. The dough should be very soft and sticky, pulling away from the sides of the bowl but sticking to the bottom.

Cover the bowl with oiled plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled or tripled in bulk, about 2 hours. The top will be smooth, but the dough will be sticky under the surface. Line a large, heavy baking sheet with aluminum foil and sprinkle generously with bread flour. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board (it will deflate), sprinkle lightly with flour, and pat with your fingers into a 14-by-5-inch rectangle. Fold the rectangle like a letter, overlapping the 2 short sides in the middle to make 3 layers. Turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat the sprinkling and folding, letting the dough rest for 10 minutes if it seems too springy to fold. Cut the dough crosswise into 2 equal rectangles and place each half on the prepared baking sheet. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest for 20 minutes. Sprinkle the tops generously with flour. Holding your fingers in an open, splayed position, press, push and stretch each dough rectangle, making an irregular rectangle about 11 inches long and the width of your hand. Your fingers will press the dough unevenly, producing the characteristic dimpled texture in the baked loaf. Cover again loosely with plastic wrap and let rest until tripled in bulk, about 1 1⁄2 hours. Press the dough to accentuate the dimpling 2 more times during this rise. The loaves will remain relatively flat.

Place a baking stone on the lower rack of an oven and preheat to 425°F.

Sprinkle the tops of the loaves with flour and place the baking sheet on the stone. Bake until the loaves are deep golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet. Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes 2 large loaves.

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Collection Series, Bread, by Beth Hensperger (Simon & Schuster, 2002 ).

Fresh Berry Buckle

2008-04-06T18:38:00.000-07:00

I discovered this recipe on the Pioneer Woman's blog, and it looked so amazing. She calls it Blackberry Cobbler, but after reading through all of the comments on her post, it seems the appropriate term for this concoction is "buckle." Hmmm. Anyway, no matter what you call it, it is awesome. You can pretty much use any fruit you like with it - peaches, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries....mmmm. I used a combination of blackberries and raspberries. Just add a dollop of whipped cream on the side...I imagine ice cream would be even better. I will have to make sure to pick some up the next time I make this yummy dessert.

Fresh Berry Buckle

1 1/4 cups sugar (I used 1 cup Splenda to bake with, and used real sugar to sprinkle over the berries.)
1 cup self-rising flour
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 - 3 cups berries (can be fresh or frozen; I used fresh blackberries and raspberries.)
Cooking spray

Place 1/2 cup butter (1 stick) in a microwaveable dish. Melt the butter. In a mixing bowl, whisk together 1 cup sugar (Splenda) and 1 cup self-rising flour. Whisk in 1 cup milk, mixing together well. Take melted butter and pour into bowl; whisk together. Coat baking dish with cooking spray; I used a 9" round dish. Pour batter into greased dish. Sprinkle the 2 - 3 cups of berries over the top of the batter, trying to distribute them evenly.

Sprinkle 1/4 cup sugar evenly over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until golden and bubbly.

All photos courtesy of Nicholas Draney Photography

Chicken Enchiladas

2008-03-31T18:07:00.000-07:00

This recipe comes from my mom, and it is always a hit in my household. Sometimes I will just make the Jalapeno Chicken in my crockpot, and we will eat it in tacos instead - a little lighter, and also equally delicious!

Chicken Enchiladas

Jalapeno Chicken (recipe below)
Enchilada Sauce (recipe below)
1 package Mexican cheese (I use a three-cheese blend)
6 - 8 flour tortillas

Jalapeno Chicken
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 small can chopped jalapeno chiles
1 can chicken broth
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon cilantro
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon cumin

Put all ingredients with chicken breasts in crockpot; cook for 4-5 hours. Shred chicken once cooked; set aside.

Enchilada Sauce
1 small can tomato paste
water (as needed)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon cilantro
1 teaspoon ground red pepper, or to taste (I usually end up using about 1 1/2 teaspoons)

In a medium saucepan, heat tomato paste over medium. Add water, as needed, to thin paste to consistency you like. Stir in garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, and cilantro. Gradually season with red pepper, until you reach desired level of spiciness. Reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325°. Spoon ¼ cup sauce in bottom of an 8-inch square baking dish. Set aside. Make enchiladas - fill each tortilla with a heaping ¼ cup shredded chicken and about 2 tablespoons cheese; tightly roll up. Arrange enchiladas, seam side down, in baking dish. Top with remaining sauce; sprinkle with cheese. Cover with aluminum foil; bake until hot and bubbly, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

(They may not be the prettiest enchiladas, but believe me, they taste fantastic! And luckily my husband takes amazing pictures of my food for me. Thanks sweetie!)

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Draney Photography

Peanut Butter Dog Bones

2008-03-30T17:56:00.001-07:00

I have been in the kitchen a lot lately, and have been baking so many different treats for my husband and myself. I thought it was only fair to make some dog treats for our pup, Taos. This recipe was super easy, with only four ingredients, and Taos gobbled two of them up as soon as they had cooled. A nice treat for your pet!

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Draney Photography

Peanut Butter Dog Bones
From All Recipes

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup unsalted natural peanut butter
1 cup skim milk
Butter (I just used cooking spray)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray cookie sheets with cooking spray. Stir together the flour and baking powder; set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix together the peanut butter and milk. Stir in the flour mixture until well blended. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness, and cut into shapes using cookie cutters. Place 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly brown. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.

Yields about 18 cookies.

Butterscotch-Chocolate Chip Bars

2008-03-30T17:44:00.001-07:00

I have seen many recipes lately that I want to try, and these were on my list for today. I was craving chocolate, though, so I used only half as many butterscotch chips and added in some chocolate chips. With the Splenda I used in place of the sugar, these are just barely over 100 calories each - just enough to satisfy that craving for sweets (and chocolate, of course.) I think next time I would add the butterscotch & chocolate chips into the mix, rather than sprinkling them on top - it got a little messy while I was cutting them to serve.

Butterscotch Bars
Cooking Light

1/2 cup granulated sugar (I used Splenda)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter or stick margarine, softened
2 large egg whites
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Cooking spray
1/2 cup butterscotch morsels (I used 1/4 cup butterscotch chips & 1/4 cup chocolate chips instead)

Preheat oven to 350.

Beat sugars and butter at medium speed with mixer until well-blended (about 4 minutes). Add egg whites and vanilla; beat well. Lightly spoon the flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; stir well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture; beat at low speed just until blended.

Spread batter evenly into an 8-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray; sprinkle evenly with morsels. Bake at 350 for 28 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack.

Yields 16 servings.

French-Style Country Bread

2008-03-29T18:49:00.000-07:00

After last weekend's success with the honey wheat bread, as well as the Easter sweet bread, I decided to find a recipe for some really delicious French bread. I found this recipe on the King Arthur Flour website, and it was everything I was looking for. Crusty on the outside, light and airy on the inside. I was a little worried about how it would turn out, but it came out amazing. I will definitely be making this one again...and soon!

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Draney Photography

French-Style Country Bread
King Arthur Flour

This bread uses the sponge, or poolish, method: sort of a poor man's or woman's sourdough starter -- no feedings, little pre-planning, lots of flexibility and superb bread. I usually make this dough, sponge starter and all, in the bread machine, but you can do it by hand, processor, or stand mixer. After barbecue season, bake this bread in the conventional oven but atomize it with water to get that crisp crust. If you've always wanted crusty, hole-ridden, French-style bread, this is the ticket.

Sponge Starter (Begin 2 to 16 hours ahead)
1 cup (8 ounces) cool to lukewarm water, preferably spring water (90 to 100°F)
1/2 teaspoon active dry or instant yeast
1 1/4 cups (6 3/8 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
1/4 cup (1 ounce) King Arthur White Whole Wheat or Traditional Whole Wheat Flour

Dough
All of the sponge starter (above)
1 cup (8 ounces) lukewarm water, preferably spring water (l00 to 115°F)
3/4 teaspoon active dry or 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
3 3/4 to 4 cups (1 pound to 1 pound 1 ounce) King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

To Make The Sponge: Stir all of the sponge ingredients together to make a thick, pudding-like mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and leave on a counter overnight or for at least 2 to 4 hours. If you're making this in a bread machine, place the sponge ingredients inside, and turn the machine on for just a few seconds to mix the ingredients together. Turn the machine off and close the cover. Let the sponge rest for 4 hours or overnight (anywhere between 2 and 16 hours is fine, the longer the better).

To Make The Dough: Stir down the sponge with a spoon and add the water, yeast, sugar, most of the flour (hold back about 1/2 cup to use if required), and salt. Knead the dough, adding more flour as necessary, to make a soft dough, 10 to 12 minutes.

Note: You may also do this in your bread machine, using the Dough or Manual setting. After the dough has finished kneading, place it in a lightly greased bowl, and continue as directed below.

Big Tip: Mix ingredients together using up to 80% of the flour called for: it will be a loose, messy mass. Let the dough rest for 12 minutes, and you'll see it change in texture, to be come much smoother. Continue, kneading and adding additional flour as required. Overall, the dough handles better once its had time for the flour to absorb the water while resting and relaxing. By using this method, you'll tend to add less flour, and have much bigger holes in your finished bread.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl or plastic container, cover with lightly greased plastic wrap and a damp towel, and let it rise until almost doubled (depending on the weather, this could be l to 2 hours). If you're going out, or if you prefer, let the dough rise slowly in the fridge. If your dough has been refrigerated, allow it to come to room temperature; it'll warm up and rise at the same time. After its first rise, deflate the dough gently, but don't knock out all the air; this will create those "holes" so important to French bread. Form the dough into a round ball. Place two cookie sheets atop one another, and place a semolina- or cornmeal-dusted piece of parchment paper on top. Gently place the ball of dough on the cookie sheets, seam-side down. Cover it lightly with a tea towel, and let it rise the second time until it's puffy and about 40% to 50% larger, anywhere from 45 to 90 minutes (depending on the weather, luck, and magic). Slash or cross-hatch the bread with a sharp knife or lame. Dust it with a little flour.

Preheat the oven to 475°F. Slash the bread, spritz water into the oven with a clean plant mister, and place the bread in the oven. Reduce the heat to 425°F and spritz with water every few minutes for the first 15 minutes of baking. Bake the bread for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until it tests done.

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Draney Photography

Yield: 1 large round bread or two medium breads, 10 to 12 servings.

Crumb-topped Banana Muffins

2008-03-27T21:53:00.001-07:00

I had a bunch of bananas that were going bad, so I figured banana-nut muffins were the way to go to use them up. I found this recipe on Recipezaar, with a ton of rave reviews. They did not disappoint! The topping is sweet and crunchy, and the muffins are so light and moist. Very, very good - I doubt they will last long in our house!

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Draney Photography

Crumb-topped Banana Muffins
(makes 12 muffins)

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted

Topping
1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon flour
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon, to taste
1 tablespoon cold butter
1/4 cup chopped nuts (optional) - I used chopped pecans

Directions

Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients; set aside. Mix bananas, sugar, egg, and butter. Stir into dry mixture just until moistened. Pour mixture into muffin cups, about 3/4 full.

Combine first three topping ingredients. Cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle evenly over the muffins. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, or until muffins test done. Cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Lemon Squares

2008-03-25T09:22:00.000-07:00

I wanted to prepare a light dessert to serve after our Easter dinner. I found this quick and easy recipe for lemon bars on Cooking Light, and they were the perfect finish to our feast. I changed the crust up a little, using graham crackers instead - very tasty.

Easy Lemon Squares
adapted from Cooking Light

Crust:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons butter or stick margarine, softened
1 cup graham cracker crumbs

Topping:
3 large eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare the crust, beat 1/4 cup granulated sugar and the butter at medium speed of a mixer until creamy. Add 1 cup graham cracker crumbs to sugar mixture, beating at low speed until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Gently press mixture into bottom of an 8-inch square baking pan. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes; cool on a wire rack.

To prepare topping, beat eggs at medium speed until foamy. Add 3/4 cup granulated sugar and next 5 ingredients (3/4 cup granulated sugar through salt), and beat until well-blended. Pour mixture over partially baked crust. Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes or until set. Cool on wire rack. Sift powdered sugar evenly over top.

Yields 16 servings

Tulips & Easter Bread

2008-03-24T11:52:00.000-07:00

My mom sent us some tulips for Easter; they were so beautiful I thought they deserved a post of their own. They were the perfect spring addition to our brunch on Sunday. Thanks Mom!

So I decided to go all out for Easter this year. (So I was a little overambitious.) We had a really yummy brunch on Sunday morning with coffee-nut scones, fresh berries, coffee & o.j. (and mimosas for Nick.) We rarely get time to sit down to breakfast together, so it was a really nice departure from our normal coffee-&-cereal-bars grab & go breakfast.

Then came the Easter Bread.

After my success with the honey wheat bread, I decided to try my hand at this recipe for Greek Easter Bread that I found on Cooking Light. The photo of the buttery, golden, braided bread on the website was a bit intimidating, but I was confident I could pull it off. And I did! It was slightly sweet, with a little spice...delicious with a little honey and butter.

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Draney Photography

Greek Easter Bread
from Cooking Light

1 teaspoon whole allspice
1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick
1 cup warm water (100 - 110 degrees)
Dash of salt
Dash of sugar
2 packages dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons each)
4 3/4 cups bread flour, divided
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon water
1 large egg yolk

Place allspice and cinnamon in a spice or coffee grinder, and process until finely ground. Set aside.

Combine water, dash of salt, dash of sugar, and yeast in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Let stand for 5 minutes. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Add 1 cup flour to yeast mixture, stirring until well combined. Let stand 20 minutes.

Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in allspice mixture. Add yeast mixture to butter mixture; stir with a whisk until well combined. Stir in 1 teaspoon salt. Add 3 1/2 cups flour, about 1 cup at a time, stirring until a soft dough forms. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 8 minutes); add enough remaining flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands (dough will feel tacky.)

Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85 degrees), free from drafts, 1 hour or until doubled in size. (Gently press 2 fingers into dough. If indentation remains, dough has risen enough.)

Divide dough into 3 equal portions, shaping each portion into a 14-inch-long rope. Place ropes lengthwise on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray (do not stretch); pinch ends together at one end to seal. Braid ropes; pinch loose ends to seal. Lightly coat dough with cooking spray. Cover and let rise 45 minutes or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine 1 tablespoon water and egg yolk, stirring with a whisk. Brush half of yolk mixture over loaf. Let stand for 5 minutes. Repeat procedure with the remaining yolk mixture. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or until loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes.

Yields 20 servings.

Honey Wheat Bread

2008-03-23T18:45:00.000-07:00

I have always been a tiny bit afraid of yeast breads. Quick breads, no problem. But I had never attempted a recipe for yeast bread. I am happy to say that after this weekend, I have conquered my fear of yeast and now have a whole slew of new recipes I want to try. I am a total carbaholic (and I suspect my husband is too), as we devoured an entire loaf of this in a day. It was a great recipe for my foray into bread-making, as the instructions were very clear and easy to follow. A great beginner bread, and the end result was delicious!

I used butter in place of the shortening, and it came out beautifully. I used my Kitchenaid mixer to help with the kneading, but I also found some great tips on kneading and shaping bread here.

Honey Wheat Bread

from All Recipes

Prep time: 25 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes
Ready in: 2 hours 30 minutes

Yields: 24 servings

1 (.25 ounce) package rapid rise yeast

1 teaspoon white sugar

1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F - it took about 30 seconds in my microwave to reach this temperature)

1 (12 fluid oz.) can evaporated milk

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup melted butter

1/4 cup honey

2 teaspoons salt

2 cups whole wheat flour

3 cups bread flour

2 tablespoons butter

Dissolve yeast and sugar in 1/2 cup warm water.

Combine milk, 1/4 cup water, butter, honey, salt, and wheat flour in food processor or bowl (I used my mixer with the dough hook attachment.) Mix in yeast mixture, and let rest 15 minutes. Add white flour, and process until dough forms a ball. Knead dough in mixer for an additional 80 seconds, or mix and knead by hand 10 minutes. Place the dough in a buttered bowl, and turn to coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rise for 45 minutes, or until almost doubled.

Punch down, and divide the dough in half. Roll out each half, and pound out the bubbles. Form into loaves (see site listed above for hints on shaping your bread), and place in buttered 9 x 5 inch bread pans. Butter the tops of the dough, and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm area* until doubled; second rise should take about 30 minutes.

Place a small pan of water on the bottom shelf of the oven. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until tops are dark golden brown. Butter crusts while warm. Slice when cool.

*I searched for recommendations for places in my home where I could find a "warm area", or a place that is about 85 degrees and draft-free. One site recommends using an electric heating pad set on medium; to test the temperature of your heating pad, place the container you plan to let your dough rise in on the pad for 15 minutes with an oven thermometer in the bottom, and adjust heat levels accordingly. I also found a site that suggested turning on the oven for 30 seconds - mine is gas - and testing the temperature with an oven thermometer. This method worked best for me - a quick and easy way to control the environment for your bread to rise in.

Snickerdoodles

2008-03-18T18:49:00.000-07:00

This past week has been crazy, between my husband's Ireland documentary show openings, his birthday on the 12th, and visits from both of our families, so unfortunately I haven't found much time to myself lately. But I got home from work a little early tonight, and Nick is working late, so I thought I would make myself a little treat. I was not about to make another trip to the store, so I searched for a recipe that would work with the items I had on hand. I finally decided I would make some snickerdoodles. I am pretty sure I have never actually even had one of these, but I can't figure out why - they are awesome!

Snickerdoodles

From Cooking Light

3/4 cup granulated sugar (I used Splenda)

2/3 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1/2 cup whole wheat flour because I ran out of AP flour)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup granulated sugar (again, I used Splenda)

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400.

Combine 3/4 cup granulated sugar (Splenda), brown sugar, and butter in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and egg.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and salt, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to butter mixture; beat just until combined. Shape dough into 30 balls (I only was able to get 24 out of this recipe, despite making them somewhat small.)

Combine 1/3 cup granulated sugar (Splenda) and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon in a small shallow dish. Roll balls in sugar mixture, and place 2 inches apart on baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400 for 8 minutes or until tops crack. Cool on pans for 1 minute. Remove from pans; cool on a wire rack.

This is just for you, Nick ;) Happy Birthday!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

2008-03-02T19:55:00.000-08:00

So this was the first time I've ever made soup at home. Neither my husband nor I eat (drink?) soup very often, but this recipe caught my eye and I had to try it out. I made this soup in my crockpot and it turned out really well. I paired it with some freshly baked cornbread. This was a nice warm meal to come home to after a chilly, late-afternoon walk on the beach.

Chicken Tortilla Soup
adapted from Cooking Light

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups shredded, cooked chicken breast
1 cup frozen whole-kernel corn
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon chopped seeded jalapeno pepper (I used 1 Tbsp. canned diced jalapeno)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
2 (14 1/4-ounce) cans no-salt-added chicken broth
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced peeled tomatoes (such as Del Monte Fresh Cut), undrained
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed reduced-fat reduced-sodium tomato soup (such as Campbell's Healthy Request), undiluted
1 1/4 cups baked tortilla chips, crushed
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream (I omitted this and instead used 1/2 cup Mexican cheese)

Preparation
Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; saute 2 minutes. Add chicken to crockpot; add sauteed onion & garlic, and next 9 ingredients (corn through tomato soup) and cook on high for 4 -5 hours. Ladle soup into bowls; top with tortilla chips and sour cream (cheese).

Trader Joe's Cornbread

1 package cornbread mix
1 egg
1/2 cup oil (I used applesauce instead, which made it deliciously sweet and moist, and as an added bonus, lowered the fat/calorie content.)
3/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease 8 x 8 baking pan. Mix egg, applesauce, and milk until combined. Add cornbread mix and mix until combined - do not overmix. Pour mixture into baking pan and bake for 35 - 40 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

Shrimp Fra Diavolo

2008-02-25T20:01:00.000-08:00

I am always on the lookout for a new yummy shrimp dish, and when I stumbled upon this recipe from Giada De Laurentiis from the Food Network, I knew it would be a winner in our house. Spicy + light sauce = delicious. We paired the Shrimp Fra Diavolo with penne pasta.

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Draney Photography

Shrimp Fra Diavolo
From Giada De Laurentiis at the Food Network

1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 teaspoon salt, plus additional as needed
1 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons olive oil, plus 1 to 2 teaspoons
1 medium onion, sliced
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 cup dry white wine
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (I omitted because I didn't have this on hand)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves

Toss the shrimp in a medium bowl with 1 teapoon of salt and red pepper flakes. Heat the 3 tablespoons oil in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp and saute for about a minute, toss, and continue cooking until just cooked through, about 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer the shrimp to a large plate; set aside. Add the onion to the same skillet, adding 1 to 2 teaspoons of olive oil to the pan, if necessary, and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes with their juices, wine, garlic, and oregano. Simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, about 10 minutes. Return the shrimp and any accumulated juices to the tomato mixture; toss to coat, and cook for about a minute so the flavors meld together. Stir in the parsley and basil.

We served our shrimp with penne pasta & a sprinkling of parmesan cheese on top.

Rice Krispies Treats

2008-02-23T19:33:00.001-08:00

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Draney Photography

Who doesn't love Rice Krispies Treats? Such a quick and easy snack to make to satisfy your sweet tooth. I used the recipe right off the side of the cereal box.

Kellogg's Rice Krispies Treats

3 Tbs. margarine or butter
1 package (10 oz., about 40) regular marshmallows
6 cups Rice Krispies cereal

Melt butter in large saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. Add Rice Krispies cereal. Stir until well coated.

Using a buttered spatula, press mixture evenly into a 13 x 9 pan coated with cooking spray. Cut into 2-inch squares when cool.

Makes 24 squares.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps with Peanut Sauce

2008-02-22T20:12:00.001-08:00

I love these lettuce wraps; they are healthy, delicious and super easy to make. I use butter lettuce for the wraps because it tends to hold together best as you eat it.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Head of butter lettuce
Garlic-Soy Chicken, recipe below
Peanut sauce, recipe below

Slow Cooker Garlic-Soy Chicken
From The Busy Mom's Slow Cooker Cookbook

1 small onion, sliced
2 tsp. garlic powder
3/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup vinegar
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Combine onion, garlic powder, soy sauce, and vinegar in small bowl and mix well. Place chicken breasts in slow cooker and pour soy mixture over chicken. Cover and cook on low heat for 6 - 8 hours.

Remove chicken and shred. Drain onions and serve on the side as topping for your wraps.

Peanut Sauce
From Cooking Light

1/4 cup lime juice
3 Tbs. peanut butter
3 Tbs. soy sauce
3 Tbs. honey (I only used 2)
1 Tbs. chili paste with garlic
4 garlic cloves, minced

Combine ingredients in small bowl and stir well with a whisk. Can be used as a dipping sauce, or poured over the contents of your wrap.

Yields 1/2 cup sauce.

Photo courtesy of Nicholas Draney Photography

New Toys

2008-02-21T11:38:00.000-08:00

I really love getting new kitchen gadgets, tools, and bakeware, so I thought it would be fun to post some of my recent acquisitions.

Microplane - from Williams-Sonoma

Capresso Stainless Steel Burr Grinder - from Sur La Table

We are both big coffee-drinkers - we have both a french press as well as a Bialetti® Espresso Maker, so we really needed something that would make both coarse and fine grounds. I used it this morning and it was really efficient and made some great coffee!

Le Creuset rectangular baker - from Sur La Table

I have only gotten to use this once so far, but I love it! I made chicken enchiladas in it a couple of weeks ago, and they came out perfectly. I absolutely love Le Creuset and would love to buy more of it.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2008-02-18T09:27:00.000-08:00

So, my husband really loves a soft, chewy cookie. I decided to bake some chocolate chip cookies this weekend and happened upon this recipe on All Recipes. Oh.my.god. These are some of the best cookies, with tons of chocolate chips in each bite. Delicious! Some hail this recipe as the Holy Grail of chocolate chip cookies, and it is easy to see why.

Best Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar (I substituted Splenda)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325. Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar (Splenda) until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.

Bake for 15 - 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely. Yields ~ 18 cookies.

Classic Banana Bread

2008-02-16T13:45:00.000-08:00

I wanted to make some sort of baked goods for breakfast this weekend, and had a hankering for some banana bread. This recipe is from Cooking Light, and came out really moist and tasty.

(Photo courtesy of Nicholas Draney Photography)

Classic Banana Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar (I substituted Splenda)
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (I used 3 bananas)
1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Place sugar and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, yogurt, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Spoon batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 1 hour, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.

Pizza Night

2008-02-12T09:06:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to make a pizza at home for awhile now, and my recent purchase of this pizza stone from Crate and Barrel gave me the perfect opportunity. It is such a quick and easy way to make a fresh pizza at home, and allows you complete control of the amounts and types of ingredients you want.

For this pizza, I used a premade pizza crust from the store, but I plan to start making my own crusts next time. I have also heard Trader Joe's pizza crusts are terrific, and come in a variety of flavors.

1 thin pizza crust (premade)
1/2 cup tomato sauce (I used Classico Spicy Tomato & Basil)
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella
toppings - I used chopped onion, oregano, and fresh basil, plus salami & roma tomatoes on Nick's half

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Place pizza stone in the middle of the oven to preheat; it needs about 15 - 20 minutes to heat up enough to make your pizza nice and crispy. Sprinkle stone with cornmeal

Bake pizza at 450 for about 8 - 10 minutes until crust is browned and cheese is bubbly. Remove pizza from stone to cut and serve

*note about cleaning your pizza stone: never use soap on your stone to clean; it is like a sponge and will suck all liquids right up. The manufacturer recommends submerging your baking stone in warm, clear, plain water for 15-20 minutes. This should thoroughly saturate the stone with clean water and dilute the soap residue. Next, remove the stone from the water and place it on a cooling rack on your kitchen counter. Allow the stone to dry completely overnight.

Cheater Brownies

2008-02-11T10:47:00.000-08:00

I call these my cheater brownies because they come from a box. The mix comes from Trader Joe's and is called No Pudge Fudge. They are only about 100 calories per brownie, and only need one additional ingredient: vanilla yogurt.

No Pudge Fudge

1 package brownie mix
2/3 cup non-fat vanilla yogurt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 8x8 baking pan and set aside. Add mix to mixing bowl, and add 2/3 cup vanilla yogurt. Mix until batter becomes shiny; it will be very thick. Pour batter into baking pan and bake for 34 minutes.

If you are looking for a more cake-like brownie, you can add an egg white and reduce the yogurt to 1/2 cup, then bake as directed.

Baked Tortilla Chips

2008-02-11T09:36:00.000-08:00

I wanted to make a snack on Sunday afternoon, but I wasn't sure what sounded good. I had always wanted to make my own tortilla chips, so I figured this was a good time to try them out. I used sea salt & chili powder to season them, but next I would love to try cinnamon & sugar for a sweet treat. I used flour tortillas for these, but intend on trying out corn tortillas next time for a more "authentic" tortilla chip. Super quick and easy, just make sure to watch them to make sure they don't start to burn!

Baked Tortilla Chips

4-6 flour tortillas
cooking spray
sea salt
chili powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray both sides of each tortilla with cooking spray. Stack the tortillas one on top of the other, and cut them down the middle. Next, take the halves and cut them in half again. Cut remaining pieces into triangles. Arrange triangles on cookie sheet and season with salt & chili powder. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes.

Oh, Kitchen Aid, how I love thee

2008-02-10T17:41:00.001-08:00

Photo from Williams-Sonoma website

I have wanted one of these puppies for a really long time. I was so happy when I received this from my mom & dad (in Empire Red, of course) for Christmas 2007. It is freaking amazing. How did I ever live without one?

Spicy Orange Chicken

2008-02-10T17:26:00.000-08:00

This is adapted from a WW recipe I found on Recipezaar, so it is fairly heathly and low in calories & fat. I substituted chicken for beef, as we are not big on red meat (I don't eat it at all.) This is a yummy, quick meal that would be easy to put together on a busy weeknight.

Spicy Orange Chicken
(sorry, no picture)

2 chicken breasts
2 Tbsp cornstarch
2 tsp grated orange rind
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup orange juice
2 Tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp chili garlic sauce (I added an extra tsp 1/2 since we tend to like our dishes spicy)
4 tsp canola oil
1/2 Tbsp ground ginger
1 cup stir fry veggies (broccoli, carrots & snap peas)

Combine chicken, 1 Tbsp cornstarch, and orange rind in medium bowl; toss well to coat, and set aside. Combine remaining 1 Tbsp cornstarch, chicken broth, orange juice, soy sauce, sugar, and chili garlic sauce in small bowl; set aside.

Heat non-stick wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 tsp of oil, then add chicken. Stir fry until cooked, about 2 - 3 minutes; transfer to plate. Add remaining 2 tsp of oil, then add ginger. Stir fry until fragrant, about 10 seconds. Add broccoli, carrots & peas. Stir fry until crisp and tender, about 2 - 3 minutes. Add broth mixture and cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture boils and thickens, about one minute. Add chicken and cook until heated through, about one minute.

Serve with brown or white rice.

My first time

2008-02-10T17:15:00.000-08:00

Well, with my first entry, I officially enter the world of blogging. I mostly mean to keep this blog to keep track of recipes I try and enjoy, as I continue my foray into the world of cooking and baking. I was never much of a cook growing up (definitely not living up to my namesake), but ever since Nick and I were married, I have had an itch to cook up new & delicious things in our tiny apartment kitchen. Enjoy!