Two Of My Favorite Things!

I have found a new addiction. I love to cook, and I love to read, and now some authors have combined the two, in what I am calling "Food Lit". I love it! Not only do I get a story, but I also get recipes to try as well!
Stacey Ballis and her novel, "Good Enough To Eat" was the first book I read in this wonderful genre, and I loved it! Again, she combined two of my favorite things!
The recipe I want to share today if from "How to Bake a Perfect Life" by Barbara O'Neal. Another great book. The recipe's all revolve around bread products...which is one of my favorite things!

Hearty Berry Streusel Muffins
Makes 30-32

These are great, filling muffins. Because of the lack of fat, the have a heavier texture,but the flavor is outstanding! Plus, they are healthier for you!

1 1/2 cups white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oats
1 TBSP baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 cup honey
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
1 6 oz container raspberry or blueberry yogurt
1/2 cup milk
3 TBSP canola oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup each fresh blueberries and raspberries

Streusel
1/4 cup four
3 TBSP brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped, lightly toasted walnut, pecans or almonds
1 1/2 TBSP butter melted

Prepare muffin tines with paper or oil. Prepare streusel first and set aside.
For Muffins: Mix dry ingredients well. In a separate bowl, mix all wet ingredients except berries and beat together well. Pour wet ingredients into the dry mix and beat firmly and quickly just until thoroughly moistened. Add berried and fold in gently. Divide batter into muffin tins and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes in the pan to set the berries, remove from pan and cool on wire rack.



Reagan enjoying the fruits of my labor!

Side Dish Satisfaction

Imaginative side dishes tend to be my downfall. We tend to rotate through rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes and bread.
To me side dishes were more of an afterthought with most of my energy going toward the main dish, but I was getting bored,so I decided to shake things up.
I decided to do some simpler main dishes and become more "fun" with my sides.
The other night we had steak, and I simply cooked it, but paired it with "French Onion Mac n Cheese". I found the recipe in Food Network Magazine, but changed a few things to make it more "budget" friendly!

French Onion Mac n Cheese

1/2 box of ziti cooked according to the box instructions
4 TBSP butter
1 Onion, thinly sliced
2 TBSP flour
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
salt and pepper
2 cups whole milk
2 cups shredded swiss cheese.

Cook the pasta according to the package instructions, set aside.
In a saucepan melt 2 TBSP of butter. Add sliced onion and cook until carmelized (a golden brown). Once onions are carmelized add the remaining butter and flour, cook for about 3-5 minutes.
Add milk and cook on medium heat until thickened. Add nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste. Add the swiss cheese and stir until melted.
Add the ziti in and stir to combine.

(You can serve this immediately or place it in an oven safe dish and reheat covered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, then uncover and continue heating for another 15 minutes)

A Little Something Different

Every once in awhile I like to challenge myself to come up with a different way to serve a dinner.
Last night porkchops and sweet potatoes were on the menu. Usually I just fry up the porkchops with a little salt and pepper, and mash up the sweet potatoes and everyone is happy. Last night I decided to do a little something different. I used two recipes for inspiration, from both Jacques Pepin and Tyler Florence, here is what I came up with.

Stuffed Porkchops

2 TBSP Butter
1 onion, diced
1/4 cup sliced mushrooms
1 pkg chopped frozen spinach, thawed
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
salt
pepper
2 tsp lemon juice
4 pork chops, no bone

Saute onion and mushrooms in 1 TBSP butter until soft, add spinach and saute for about 5 more minutes. Take off heat and cool until room temperature. (I make this around lunchtime so it has time to cool)
Add breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, lemon juice and mix together. Set aside.
Cut pockets in each porkchop. Stuff the stuffing into the pockets.
Melt remaining butter in a saucepan and sear each side of the porkchops.
After searing bake in a 400 degree oven for about 25 minutes, or until cooked thru, temp. 160.

Sweet potatoes are another favorite in our house. This is a simple recipe that includes another one of my favorite, balsamic vinegar!

Balsamic Sweet Potatoes

2 large sweet potatoes
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup craisins
2 TBSP brown sugar

Peel and very thinly slice the sweet potatoes. Lay in a shallow baking pan, or even a cookie sheet would work well. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes.
While the potatoes are baking, put vinegar and brown sugar in a saucepan on the stove. Bring to a boil and then add the craisins. Turn down to low heat and let it reduce to about half.
Bring the potatoes out of the oven and drizzle with vinegar reduction.

A Citrus Twist

Last night roast chicken was on the menu. As I was looking around the house I noticed that we had a bunch of oranges/clementines on their last legs. So I decided to use them through out the dinner, and ended up with a very tasty concoction!

Roast Chicken

1 roasting chicken
2 onions cut into four pieces
2 cloves of garlic smashed
A total of 4 Tbsp minced ginger root
zest from 2 clementines
juice from 4 clementines
2 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp butter
salt/pepper

Take one onion, garlic and 2 Tbsp of ginger root and lay them in the bottom of the roasting pan.
Combine zest, juice and honey in a bowl and set aside. Slide the 2 Tbsp of butter under the skin of the chicken.
Rub zest, juice and honey mixture onto the chicken, sprinkle top with salt and pepper. Place chicken in pan and roast according to directions for your size chicken
(just a note, because of the honey the skin will look "burned" before the chicken is ready, don't worry, and just continue cooking until the chicken is done)

We still had more oranges left, so I decided to use some memories of my childhood to make a wonderful carrot dish. My mom got a recipe from my grandmother that included orange carrots, so I just kinda updated it!

Orange/Ginger Carrots

Juice and zest two oranges. Dice up about 1 Tbsp ginger root. Place in bottom of steamer. Add water to fill to proper level. Places baby carrots in pan and steam on medium heat for 45 minutes, or until tender.

To finish off the dinner I used one of my favorite Barefoot Contessa recipes for Cornbread Stuffing. I had leftover cornbread from the other night when we had chili, so it was perfect!

1 onion, diced
1 stick of butter
3 stalks of celery, chopped
3 Tbsp fresh parsley chopped
1/2 cup chicken broth
5 cups crumbled cornbread

Melt butter in large pot, add onion and cook for about 8 minutes, until onion is soft. Add celery, parsley, broth and cornbread. Mix until bread is moistened. Put in shallow baking dish and bake until heated through. ( I just put it in beside the chicken, and it works really well. It takes about 30-40 minutes to heat through)



It was a really great dinner, with alot of flavor!

My First Reveiw

As you know this blog has been all about my cooking so far. But this post is going to be a bit different.
Last night Andrew took my out for my birthday. Usually when we go out we go for sushi, but I wanted something different for my birthday. After exhaustive research I decided we should try, "Victoria's Gastro Pub" in Columbia, MD. The main reason for this decision.....they serve french fries fried in duck fat!
When we arrived I was surprised to see how busy they were for a Sunday night. Even so, we were seated at our table with in 10 minutes, which was the time the hostess gave us for the wait.
I immediately liked the decor. We were surrounded by dark wood and burgandy walls. The lighting fixtures reminded me of what you would expect to see in a castle, they were made of iron and had "pillar candles" surrounding the bulbs.
After looking over the wine list I decided on a Malbac. The description they provided was perfect for the wine. It was very drinkable and had a nice body to it.
We ordered to appetizers to start with , the duck fat fries and their meat platter.
The food arrived...and oh my goodness! They fries were everything we wanted them to be. The duck fat provided a gaminess that went perfectly with the earthiness of the potatoes. The aioli that came with them cut the richness of the dish quite nicely. They were 7.00 and totally worth every cent.
The meat plate had smoked duck, a patte' as well as a homemade prosciutto. To accompany the meat there was a wonderful grainy mustard that you could tell was made in house. There was also homemade bread and butter pickles, which Andrew and I "fought" over. Olives and grilled baguette were also included.
After we finished those we decided that we were too full to eat another thing! We ended our meal with coffee. Andrew had a cappuccino, while I decided to live a little and had what they called "Toffee Coffee". It was a wonderful concoction of coffee, hot chocolate, Kahlua and Bailey's topped with a healthy serving of real whipped cream.
It really was a wonderful experience, from the atmosphere, to the service, to the food, Victoria's Gastro Pub lived up to our expectations. Next time we hope to save some room to try some of the entrees.....

Ultimate Comfort

I spent a portion of the wee hours on Saturday morning in the ER with my son and the attack of the croup.
When I got home I was still riding high on adrenalin and caffeine so I decided to put together our dinner then, so all I had to do later was warm it up.
I decided to do stuffed shells. I didn't have the frozen spinach that I thought I had so I used some of my leftover spanakopita filling along with caramelized onions and ricotta cheese for the filling. For the sauce I sauteed some onions, garlic, carrots and celery. Then I added a jar of roasted red peppers, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. I let it simmer for about 30 minutes and then used my immersion blender to blend it all together. Topped with mozzarella cheese it was a wonderful comforting dinner.
I have been looking for an Italian bread recipe that has a very crusty crust with a wonderful chewy inside. I found one online and it was wonderful. Check out "cooklikeyourgrandmother.com". I plan on trying some other recipes I found on there really soon!
For dessert I made a lemon glazed pound cake. I used a recipe from my favorite baking cookbook "The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion". I would be lost without this book. Here is the recipe:
14 TBS butter
3 oz cream cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
5 eggs

Glaze
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a bundt style pan.
In a medium sized mixing bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese until soft and fluffy. Add salt, sugar, baking powder, vanilla, lemon and flour and beat for 5 minutes, batter will be stiff.
Add 1 egg beating until well combined. Continue to add the eggs, one at a time beating well and scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl after each addition.
When done the batter will be very fluffy. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake the cake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
Just before the cake is done, combine the lemon juice and sugar and heat over low heat until the sugar had dissolved, don't let the mixture boil.
Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Turn it out onto a wire rack or serving platter. Poke the top all over with a cake tester or toothpick and gradually drizzle the glaze over it, pausing occasionally to let it sink in. Let the cake cool for several hours before slicing.


Overall it was a wonderfully comforting dinner...and very delicious too!

The Magic of Leftovers

Because of a "lovely" stomach virus, not alot of people in our family were up to eating as much as they would like to on Christmas Eve. The result: lots of leftovers!!!
So last night I got creative with dinner with a very yummy outcome! The menu last night was porkchops and potatoes. Kinda boring right?
Well, I used the leftovers of my goat cheese crostini to make a really yummy dinner.

Take 1 1/2 cups of balsamic vinegar. Bring to a boil, and then lower the heat to medium low, reduce by half. Add 1/2 cup of brown sugar and the left over cherry relish (recipe for the relish is in the previous post). Continue cooking until the mixture becomes syrupy. Then set aside.
Season the pork chops with salt and pepper. Sear each side on high heat and then move to a 250 degree oven till cooked thru. At least 160 degrees.
To serve, top with the balsamic reduction.

To use the rest of the goat cheese, I simply cooked up some hashbrowns with onions, and then sprinkled the goat cheese on top, right before serving. (hint: par cook the potatoes in a dish of water covered in saran wrap for 5 minutes in the microwave before you begin to fry them up)

The tang of the cherry relish works wonderfully with the fattyness of the pork, and the goat cheese adds a wonderful depth of flavor to the hashbrowns.

(I can't include any pictures because I left my camera at my inlaws Christmas day, and haven't gotten it back yet!)