Eating Our Way Through Med School

Pesto Stuffed Pork Chops

2011-08-15T22:22:00.002-05:00

This past Saturday we were lucky enough to be graced with the presence of my lovely mama. Besides having a wonderful visit, we also got upon request a BEAUTIFUL basil plant!! I have been dreaming of having my very own basil plant for quite a while. When we searched for one around here and the only one we found was yellow and had about three leaves Joel said I was not allowed to buy it.

I knew Trader Joe's carried them so when I found out my mom was coming I beseeched my request upon her...and low and behold...this beautiful plant came to live with us:

Thanks mom :)

For now the plant gets to live on one of my ceramics pieces from college.

Anyway, with this lovely fresh basil plant I decided to make pesto stuffed rolled pork chops...I didn't know if that was a real thing when I started so I just went with it. We had it with mashed potatoes and balsamic corn. It was a pretty lovely combination.

Here is the recipe for the pork - it is only for 2 servings.

Pesto Stuffed Pork Chops

Ingredients:

* 2 thin pork chops

* 1/2 c. fresh basil

* 1/8 c. almonds - this was approx 13

* 2 cloves garlic

* 1/4 c. parmesan or italian cheese blend - I used the latter

* 3 tsp olive oil

* 1/4 tsp salt

* garlic powder & black pepper to taste

Method:

Chop almonds.

Add almonds, basil, garlic, cheese, olive oil, and salt to food processor. Blend, making sure to scrape sides with spatula to bring pesto to proper consistency. Add garlic powder & black pepper to taste, then blend.

When finished blending you will have about 1/3 cup of pesto.

Preheat oven to 350°

Take pork chops (thawed, if from frozen), remove excess fat (if desired) and pound or use meat tenderizer.

Take prepared pork chops and spread with pesto. Then roll pork chops, making sure to leave the seam side down.

Carefully move rolled pork chops to a greased baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt & pepper.

Place in oven and bake for 45 minutes or until cooked through - this will vary depending on thickness of your chops.

I served the stuffed chops with garlic/green onion mashed potatoes and balsamic corn. The flavors all blended together quite nicely.

Enjoy!

Homemade (refrigerator) Dill Pickles!

2011-08-11T20:37:00.001-05:00

I love pickles.

That was an understatement. I LOVE pickles.

When I was a baby and teething, my mom would give me a cold pickle to chew on. I think that may be where my association with pickles as a comfort food came from.

Living in an apartment, and not being quite adventurous enough to try canning (yet anyway) I got it into my head I would try to make refrigerator pickles. BUT I didn't want them to be sweet or at least not too sweet, as I am very loyal to my baby dill pickles.

After much searching and much dismay over finding recipes that called for WAY too much sugar and ingredients I didn't have, I came up with my own recipe. After the 24 hour waiting period we tried them and were oh so pleasantly surprised. They are crunchy, and delicious, and while there is a hint of sweetness it is not in anyway overpowering. Joel said they remind him of the pickles at Erbs & Gerbs which we love, so I think it was a success.

Besides the waiting period these were really easy to make and I read that refrigerator pickles can keep for up to three weeks, although I highly doubt this small batch I made will even last a week ;)

Homemade (refrigerator) Dill Pickles

(small batch)

* 3 small cucumbers

* 2 tsp dry dill

* 1 tsp garlic powder

* 1 tsp 21 Seasoning Salute (I used this as the "pickling spices")

- If you don't have a Trader Joe's to get 21 Seasoning Salute from some of the flavors it lends are: onion, black pepper, celery seed, cayenne pepper, parsley, basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, cumin, etc. - We don't have a Trader Joe's here but stock up on goodies every time we are near one!!

* 2 tsp kosher salt

* 2 tsp sugar

* 1-2 tsp minced garlic (we looove our garlic!)

* 1 bay leaf

* 1/2 c. white balsamic (I think apple cider vinegar would work well too)

* 1/2 c. white vinegar

* 3 c. water

Method:

Slice cucumbers in spears and place in dish - I used a small glass Pyrex bowl since we don't have any jars :)

In pan combine dill, 21 seasoning salut, garlic (powder & minced), sugar, salt and bay leaf.

Add water and vinegars, stir and bring to a boil. Allowing mixture to boil at least 2 minutes or until sugar and salt have dissolved.

Pour mixture over cucumber spears.

Allow mixture to rest until it becomes room temperature.

While it was cooling I put spoons on top to keep all cucumbers submerged - haha I don't know if that was really necessary.

Cover and allow them to marinate at room temperature for about 5 hours.

- I realize in this picture they are not covered :P

Place tightly sealed dish in the refrigerator for 24 hours - or if you are like me and impatient 24 hours from when you poured the liquid on the cucumbers :)

When they are ready they will not be as brilliant of green and less firm than when you first sliced the cucumbers. (and to my excitement...they looked like real pickles!)

Now...ENJOY!!

I couldn't even wait to take a bite before the above picture. haha

Bitten pickle now replaced with a fresh one...which also was eaten :)

We enjoyed our pickles with sloppy joe's on homemade wheat bread & sweet potato fries.

YUM!

French Onion Soup

2011-08-09T19:12:00.001-05:00

Well, after about an 8 month hiatus from posting I thought it was about time I start again. Or at least Joel thought it was about time I should...so I am.

After my stint as a nanny I took the summer off with Joel - an opportunity we probably won't have again for a very long time. We were able to see family and friends. We were able to relax and have fun. We were able to (for the most part) be carefree. As with many things though, that time has come to an end. Joel started school yesterday, and I am back to job searching...and as it were...food blogging.

Anyway, on to the good stuff! FOOD!

This was my (our) first attempt at French Onion Soup, and we loved it! Which actually says a lot for me because I don't even like onions. Seriously.

This recipe started from a Better Homes & Gardens recipe, but ended up with a few more ingredients and a LOT more time - the recipe said it would only take 30 minutes start to finish! And perhaps whoever made it didn't care if the onions were caramelized or perhaps they have a special magic caramelizing machine...but that part alone took over 30 minutes. So, be patient (a thing which I am no good at whatsoever) and ENJOY!

French Onion Soup

Ingredients:

* 3 yellow onions

* 4 tbs butter

* 1 tbs minced garlic

* 5 cups beef broth (I used beef bouillon)

* 1/3 cup white wine (I used some left over Riesling)

* 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce

* Black Pepper (to taste)

* Thyme (to taste approx 1 tsp)

For Bread Croutons:

* French Bread

* Italian Cheese Blend

* Olive Oil

Method:

Peal, slice and ring onions.

Melt butter with minced garlic.

Add onions to pot, stir to coat in melted butter. Simmer covered until caramelized, making sure to stir regularly. (You will see the onions greatly reduce in mass).

While the onions are cooking prepare beef broth (if using bouillon) - 5 bouillon cubes & 5 cups of water.

The onions will be a beautiful golden brown when ready.

Add thyme, black pepper & Worcestershire sauce. Stir.

Add wine. This adds a nice hint of sweetness to the soup.

Pour in broth and bring to a boil. Simmer, covered for 30 minutes.

While the soup is finishing toast bread in the oven with olive oil. Top with cheese and stick under the broiler for a few minutes (until cheese is lightly browned).

While the food is cooking it is perfectly acceptable to sip a little of the extra wine ;)

Top soup with toasted bread...and enjoy!

YUM! Yum, yummy, yum!

The next day with our leftover soup we had French Onion Soup Burgers & used the soup as an au jus!

Happy eating :)

Sweet Treats

2010-12-05T17:31:00.001-06:00

Besides our regular meals, on occasion I make treats as well. This post is the treats I have made over the past month. Some of which, only a few have stayed at home because Joel needed a treat to bring to school for one reason or another.

For a farewell party he attended for the dean of the medical school I made mini peanut butter pies:

They were pretty yummy, and we kept some of them in the freezer for ourselves (although they didn't last too long...)

He decided that the little sign I made so people would know what they were was a little too much, so it it didn't get used...other than for the cute picture above.

Another time, as the weekly captain for his small group he was required to bring breakfast. So, along with some fruit, juice, and yogurt, I made pumpkin muffins with cream cheese frosting for him to take along. Mmmm.

I even piped the frosting to make them a little cuter :) Two of those managed to stay home so the next day (a Saturday) we had a very darling little breakfast:

Now for some treats I will share the recipe for:

Banana Bread (made with yogurt!) and Cookies made with semi-sweet chocolate chips and mini peanut butter cups...yum!

The banana bread came about because we had 2 sad bananas and a car trip to Bismarck for Thanksgiving (in a snow storm) planned, so I thought we could use a snack for the car.

Here's what I did:

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

* 2 bananas
* 2 c. flour
* 3/4 c. brown sugar
* 1 tsp baking soda
* 2 tbsp vegetable oil
* 1 (6 oz) apple turnover yogurt (you can use any flavor you want)
* 1 tsp vanilla
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 2 eggs

Method:

Preheat oven to 350˚

Combine bananas, eggs, yogurt, vanilla and vegetable oil.

Mash mixture to break down bananas.

Stir mixture to fully combine.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking soda and salt.

Fold in banana/yogurt/egg mixture.

Stir mixture until well combined. Pour into greased bread pan.

Bake at 350˚ for 40-50 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Remove bread from oven, and allow to cool on rack before slicing.

Yum, yum!!! Moist banana bread :) - And made without butter!

Next, is cookies!!! Yesterday we had a hankering for some cookies so cookies are what we had!

Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chip/Mini Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

(this made 24 cookies)

Ingredients:

* 1 c. flour

* 1/4 tsp baking soda
* 1/4 tsp salt

* 3/4 stick butter (6 tbsp)

* 1/2cup brown sugar, packed
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 1 large egg
* 1 tsp vanilla extract
* 1/2 cup mini peanut butter cups (these are tiny and from Trader Joe's)

* 1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Method:

Preheat oven to 325˚

In mixer, combine butter and both sugars.

Add in egg and vanilla, and mix until blended.

In a separate bowl mix together flour, baking soda and salt.

Once combined pour in mixer and beat until well mixed dough forms.

Chop (just slightly) mini peanut butter cups and chocolate chips.

Mix in peanut butter cups/chocolate chips with cookie dough.

Roll into balls and place on cookie sheet. Bake for 11-13 minutes.

Allow to cool on rack.

Cookies!!

Yum, yum!

Don't forget your milk ;)

A Very Beachey Thanksgiving

2010-11-30T11:52:00.000-06:00

For my first official Thanksgiving as a Beachey, we spent the holiday with the Beacheys. I am very lucky to have married into such a wonderful family. It makes it a million times easier when you have to be grown up and big and not spend every holiday with your own family - because, you realize, you are with family. This enables you to miss your loved ones in a happy, nostalgic, "I will be so happy the next time I get to see them" way - rather than a sad, lonely way.

Anyway, I love my whole family so very much, but I don't need to gush about them, because this blog is, after all, about food ;) So rather than writing about how I miss my mom (which I do) and how I love my husband and in-laws (which I also do), I will instead share pictures of the food we enjoyed on Thanksgiving.

Since I was not the one cooking, I had fun documenting the dishes, as well as setting a festive table with Joel. I even looked up how to fold napkins that ended up looking somewhat like a turkey :)

The table we set - although, the lantern from our wedding with the pretty fall leaves was already there...it just brought inspiration into how we should tie things together :)

The napkins I folded that look turkey-esk.

These were the REAL turkeys that wondered into the backyard while dinner was being prepared - I guess they decided it must be safe since we already had a turkey (from the store) cooking inside. There were at least five of them wandering around at a time.

Another guy.

I think these two had an argument. Haha.

Ok, last picture of a live turkey I promise...I thought they were pretty, but I don't want to seem morbid.

In keeping with such, I will not have turkey be the first picture of food I show ;)

Some lovely wine and sparkling catawba we enjoyed with dinner.

Garlic stuffed olives. These are a favorite of Joel's.

Stuffing, but not the traditional kind. It was made with squash and cilantro to name a few things. It was light, and flavorful.

Mashed potatoes, a Thanksgiving staple of course.

Gravy, with just a peak of the meat behind it.

And....the turkey!

Also, in this picture you see the asparagus and cranberry salad we had :)

Oh, but we can't forget the 3 pie options:

Pecan, which I don't know if I ever actually got to try.

Cherry, which I definitely did have.

And...pumpkin of course! Yum! This one had a hint of mystery given to it by a secret spice ;)

We also had other delicious meals, but rather than taking obsessive pictures of everything (like I often do) I just enjoyed the meals and the conversations :)

I did make some rosemary bread while we were there, and Joel and I made some really yummy hot cider for us to have while watching Christmas movies:

We heated the cider with spices and oranges and apples. Soo yummy!

We put a cinnamon stick in the mugs, and although we didn't include the fruit in the drinks, Joel and I did eat the spiced fruit later...and it was very good.

Yum, yum, yum.

This time of year is filled with so many happy things :)

Spaghetti (with homemade sauce & meatballs)

2010-11-22T23:16:00.000-06:00

What does one do when they have made homemade buns, but they don't want to eat burgers more than once?

Make meatballs with your leftover bun(s)!

With 3 buns left, and a little creative thinking, spaghetti with homemade sauce & meatballs was made. With a side of sliced and oven toasted bread (or leftover bun) to dip in the sauce. Yum yum.

These are super simple and quick to make (and we had some yummy leftover meatballs which I made into a salad -I'll show that in the end). Since we don't really have red meat very often these are (as with most of our ground meat dishes) made with ground turkey, but they were mmm mmm good.

Baked Turkey Meatballs

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground turkey (or ground beef)

1 bun (or if using thin sandwich bread approx. 3 pieces)

1/4 to 1/2 c. milk (I use skim)

garlic powder

parmesan cheese

italian herbs (or use whatever seasoning you like!)

salt & pepper (to taste)

Method:

Preheat oven to 400˚

Take bun and rip into small pieces. Place in bowl and add 1/4 to 1/2 cup milk in to soft bread - make sure not to over saturate...you want to soften it but not drown bread.

Bread will be soft, but there will not be excess liquid.

Add in parmesan, garlic powder, and Italian herbs. Mix together well.

Add in ground turkey. Mix together with bread crumbs.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Be sure to mix all ingredients well, so meatballs are consistently flavored.

Roll mixture into balls and place on grease cookie sheet or tin foil. Place in oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through. Be sure to check that they aren't getting stuck to the pan as they cook.

Meatballs!! I made twenty with this recipe.

Spaghetti and meatballs!!! YUM!

With our leftover meatballs for lunch the next day I made salad! I quartered them and sauted them a bit in a frying pan then made a balsamic rosemary dressing.

Num, num. Good, yet different leftovers :)

Turkey Burgers (with homemade buns)

2010-11-20T15:53:00.002-06:00

With our hankering for hamburgers (or turkey burgers) but no buns at home, and the knowledge that I could probably make some decent ones myself, dinner was off to a start.

Not just any burgers though, cheddar cheese stuffed ones. With some bleu cheese on top for Joel.

We also needed sweet potato fries with this meal...and just to be a little healthier, some cut up baby cucumbers as well.

The buns turned out great, so here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

* 2 1/2 c all purpose flour

* 1 c whole wheat flour

* 1 c warm water

* 3 tbsp warm milk

* 2 tbsp yeast

* 2 1/2 tbsp sugar

* 1 egg

* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

* 2 1/2 tbsp butter, softened

(optional)

* garlic powder

* italian herbs

* parmesan cheese

Method:

In a bowl or measuring cup combine warm water, milk, sugar and yeast. Set aside and allow yeast to activate.

Beat egg.

In a large bowl combine both flours, salt, and if using, garlic powder, Italian herbs, and Parmesan cheese. Mix well.

Add in softened butter.

Mix in with pastry blender or fingers to make what looks like crumbs.

By the time you are done with the egg and flour your yeast should be nice and bubbly! You can see how much foam there is in the measuring cup.

To the flour add egg, then yeast mixture. Stirring well (or using hands to form dough).

Turn dough out on floured surface, and knead until smooth. Form into ball.

Place dough in lightly oiled bowl, turning ball several times to coat dough.

Cover bowl and allow dough to double. (This will take somewhere around an hour depending how warm it is where you are letting the dough rise).

After dough has doubled, give it a good punch to deflate it a little.

Divide into 8 pieces and roll into balls.

Place dough balls on cookie sheet (I greased it a little with butter).

Cover and allow to rise for an additional half hour.

Preheat oven to 400˚

Brush tops of buns with melted butter/garlic powder. Place in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden on top.

Voila! Buns! There are only seven on the plate rather than the eight I made because we may have tested one a little before it had a chance to make it into the picture. Oops :)

For the burgers I just used turkey burger patties we have and filled the (thawed) patty with cheddar cheese. Then grilled it on our panini press/griddler. You do have to be careful not to squish down too hard or the cheese can come flowing out - it may even be easier to cook these in a pan or in the oven.

Joel's dinner (with bleu cheese)

Mine sans bleu cheese, but remember they both have cheese hiding in the middle :)

Yum!

Oh, and these really did taste pretty good on those homemade buns...mmm.

So much food so little time...

2010-11-15T22:50:00.000-06:00

It has been a few days since my last post...and I have made enough different food I couldn't decide what to put on here.

So, I thought rather than trying to pick one thing to post a recipe for I would just post a few pictures of some of the things we have been eating:

Next time more recipes - or if you see something you want to make let me know ;)

This was some rosemary bread I made....we liked it so much we literally ate both loaves in one night...oops...at least they weren't large loaves :)

Num. Num.

It was very yummy dipped in olive oil/balsamic/parmesan.

This was a lovely homemade alfredo that Joel made (yum!) and some bruschetta on homemade garlic whole wheat bread that I made.

I had a few left over wanton wrappers so I made some homemade pizza rolls.

YUUUUUMMMY!!!

Finally, tonight I made chicken vegetable soup. We also finished the rest of the garlic wheat bread I had made (lightly toasted in the oven with some cheese). It was great for dipping in our soup!

Mmmm...food.

Baked Mini Chicken Egg Rolls

2010-11-11T16:27:00.002-06:00

As I mentioned in my last post, and has probably been obvious in other posts as well...I, on occasion, take on a little too much in the kitchen.

The other day, I decided I would make mini egg rolls.

Not just that, but I would bake them (that whole hot oil flying in the face fear again...). I also decided I would make my own wanton wrappers. This was...a little more work than I knew I was getting myself into.

They turned out well....but it was quite a bit of arm work to get to the final product. I am going to post the recipe and process for both the wanton wrappers and the egg rolls - however, I would suggest unless you have some time on your hands that you buy the wanton wrappers (this is an admission that everyone is not as crazy as I am).

Anyway, here you go:

Homemade Wanton Wrappers

Ingredients:

* 2 c. flour

* 1/3 c. to 2/3 c. water

* 1 egg

* 1 tsp salt

Method:

Crack egg in bowl. Beat with fork. Pour in 1/3 cup water. Beat until egg and water are blended.

In a separate bowl, mix together flour and salt. Form a well in the mixture and pour in egg/water. Blend into a dough, adding additional water as needed.

Knead the dough for about 5 minutes. Divide in half. Cover in damp paper towels and allow to sit for at least 10 minutes. Then divide in four parts.

Roll out dough VERY thin, keeping sections not being rolled covered. Use cookie cutter or knife to slice wrappers. Place cut wrappers in zip lock until ready to use.

Baked Mini Chicken Egg Rolls

Ingredients:

* wanton wrappers

* chicken (I used 3 breast tenders equaling about 1 regular breast)

* carrots

* green onions

* 2 cloves garlic

* soy sauce, brown sugar, lime juice, ginger (powder), garlic powder - these are all to taste

Method:

Preheat oven to 425º

Dice chicken, cook (with diced garlic cloves), then shred.

Shred carrots. (I did it with the food processor.)

Cook carrots with soy sauce, ginger, garlic powder, lime juice and brown sugar -making sure not to add too much liquid as you don't want there to be excess when making the egg rolls.

Add in chicken.

Then add in green onions, stir together then place mixture in bowl.

Set up egg roll station with filling and wanton wrappers. (Have greased cookie sheet for egg rolls to bake on as well).

Add about a tsp of filling to wrappers, folding as above. Sealing edges with (finger dipped in) water if needed.

Place egg rolls seam-side down on greased (I used butter) cookie sheet.

I also made a few cream cheese ones:

Place cream cheese in wanton wrapper and fold as above. Again sealing edges with water if needed.

Place cream cheese wantons seam-side up on greased (again I used butter) pan.

Brush tops of egg rolls and cream cheese wantons with butter. Place in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until edges are turning golden. (The longer they are in the crunchier they will be).

Allow to sit for several minutes before eating.

Num!

These turned out pretty good, however if you are looking for the fried kind they may not be exactly what you are looking for. But, you can follow the same steps for the filling and just fry them instead :)

I also made some homemade sweet chili sauce to dip the egg rolls and cream cheese wantons in. Mmmm.

A peek inside one of the little guys.

Yum, yum. These also tasted good later even when they weren't fresh out of the oven anymore.

Garlic Basil Sweet Potato Fries

2010-11-09T19:20:00.001-06:00

I finally worked up the courage to try making sweet potato fries. You would think with some of the other crazy things I get myself into (you'll see in my next post) that making sweet potato fries wouldn't be a big deal. The problem is I am not a big fan of frying things. Don't get me wrong - I like the way fried things taste, I just don't like the idea of hot oil flying at my face.

Another problem is that many places now serve sweet potato fries so I have gotten used to having ones that are delicious tasting...and I don't want to fall short. BUT, I put on my big girl pants, sucked it up and just tried it....

....and I'm glad I did!

These oven baked sweet potato fries were almost as easy as the frozen ones, and oh so yummy.

With the tiniest bit of effort these can be produced and devoured.

So here's what to do:

Garlic Basil Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients:

1 large peeled sweet potato (this made a whole pan of fries)

olive oil (just enough to coat), garlic powder, basil & salt - all to taste **salt could even be omitted**

Method:

Preheat oven to 450°

Cut (peeled) sweet potato into fry shaped rectangles. - Approx. 2" long and 1/4" thick.

Place cut up sweet potato in zip lock bag. Pour in small amount of olive oil and shake - you only want enough oil to coat them not a lot extra. Pour in garlic powder (to taste) and shake again. Next pour in dried basil (again to taste) and shake. Lastly if you are using salt do as you did with the other seasonings.

Place seasoned fries on cookie sheet lined with tin foil or parchment paper - making sure you aren't putting extra oil than the amount coating the fries on the pan. Bake for 17-20 minutes (stirring occasionally) until fries are slightly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

YUM!!

We accompanied these fries with garlic/basil/balsamic salmon (sprinkled with feta) on top of a balsamic carrot cucumber salad. The salmon really complimented the carrots and cucumbers well.

A healthy and delicious meal! With two dipping sauces for the fries of course :)

Cupcakes for Courtney :)

2010-11-07T20:10:00.003-06:00

My ever so lovely friend (& once upon a time roommate) Courtney recently posted links to a variety of tasty looking cupcakes and challenged me to make them all. While I LOVE cupcakes...Joel and I certainly can't regularly eat 24 cupcakes on our own...

This weekend however, with a visit to this lovely lady planned, it seemed high time to test out one of the recipes - and bring her the results of course :)

The cupcakes can all be found on http://mingmakescupcakes.yolasite.com/ after a mysterious text only asking for a flavor choice I decided upon Cupcake 24 : Coffee Chocolate Cupcakes with Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting. Under the orders of my husband I strictly stuck to the recipe (mostly, haha).

So here is what I did and how I did it following the recipe from the above link:

Cupcake 24 : Coffee Chocolate Cupcakes with Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting

Ingredients:

For cupcakes:

* 1/2 tsp baking soda

* 1/4 cup buttermilk

* 3 (heaping) tbsp cocoa

* 1 stick butter

* 1/2 c. coffee

* 1 c. sugar

* 1 c. flour

* 1/4 tsp salt

* 1 egg

* 1/2 tsp vanilla

For frosting:

* 1 stick butter

* 4 cups confectioners' (powdered) sugar

* 1/4 c. Bailey's Irish Cream

* 1 tsp vanilla

* 1 tbsp milk

* 2 tbsp coffee

Method:

Preheat oven to 350°

In a small bowl dissolve baking soda in room temperature milk. Set aside.

In a sauce pan melt butter at a low temperature and add in cocoa powder.

Stir butter and cocoa until smooth.

Once smooth, add in coffee.

Stir coffee/cocoa/butter mixture continuously.

Once mixture is smooth, turn off heat.

Combine sugar, flour and salt.

Mix together well.

Mix in coffee/cocoa/butter mixture and egg at low speed.

Beat until smooth.

Once smooth add in buttermilk mixture and vanilla.

Beat together until smooth.

Pour batter into 24 cupcake wrappers.

Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Remove cupcakes from oven and place on cooling rack.

For frosting:

Combine softened butter, powder sugar, coffee, vanilla, milk and Bailey's.

Beat together until smooth.

Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

Try not to eat too much frosting before you put it on the cupcakes...this could cause a stomach ache....I speak from experience ;)

Frost cooled cupcakes!

**This was the point were I really couldn't handle not doing a little something extra for these already delicious cupcakes**

And....I decided to make a semi-sweet chocolate drizzle and put a chocolate covered coffee bean on top. YES, these last two things were the perfect touch...both for the appearance of the cupcakes (way cuter) as well as the flavor. It added just a little something :)

YUUUM!

Again...

I probably took too many pictures...

Have I mentioned I LOVE cupcakes???

Hi little cupcake!

Packed and ready to go to Courtney! (Ok, ok...I kept some at home...)

The lovely lady tasting her surprise treat...I think she approved ;)

YAY CUPCAKES!

Wednesday's Tomato Soup & Tuesday's Meatloaf

2010-11-04T22:38:00.004-05:00

With November has come much cooler weather...and when I say cooler I mean cold. It has been in the 20s over night at around 34° when Joel heads to school in the morning. The nice thing about cold weather is enjoying soups, and heavier foods without the dumpy feeling that can accompany them in warmer times.

This also opens up a whole new array of foods we weren't eating as much (or at all) during the summer months. Not that we have the tendency to repeat meals all the often anyway...

Tuesday, with limited groceries left at home and no desire to make a trip to the store I decided I would attempt a Turkey Meatloaf. Having never made meatloaf before I wasn't sure how it would go, however the result was quite delicious, and having used ground turkey instead of beef, a little lighter . The secret ingredient to this particular loaf was a sweet potato!

Sounds odd right??

Well, not odd at all once cooked in. You don't notice it at all and it just helps give it a little more flavor :)

Wednesday night Joel wanted Tomato Soup...and having actually made it to the grocery store I was able to oblige. Much like with the meatloaf I had never made tomato soup before, but my wonderful mom pointed me in the way of a recipe on America's Test Kitchen.

Being my mother's daughter, and the person I am in general...I of course did not follow the recipe exactly and didn't even have everything it called for, but just as she said the recipe gave me the foundation for a soup with a great consistency.

Thanks mom :)

The consistency, wasn't the only good part though, the flavor was quite delightful - even for me, someone whole doesn't usually enjoy tomato soup (unless made by my mom or Panera of course, but with neither of those around I was left to my own abilities). It is a good thing I like cooking!

So here follows first the recipe for the soup and then the meatloaf:

Creamy Tomato Soup

(2-4 servings)

Ingredients:

1 c. chicken broth

2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes - I used one can plain, and one can basil/garlic/oregano flavored

3 cloves garlic

2 tbsp brown sugar

5 green onions

3 slices of bread (if you want soup thinner use 1-2 pieces)

1 bay leaf

3 tbsp olive oil

Optional (but they make it much more flavorful and yummy!):

* salt & pepper (to taste)

* garlic powder (to taste)

* basil (to taste)

* 2 tbsp sour cream

* parmesan cheese (to taste)

Method:

Saute chopped green onions, minced garlic and bay leaf in 2 tbsp olive oil.

**I did this in our dutch oven**

After a few minutes (when garlic is fragrant) add in tomatoes - and accompanying juice from can.

With potato masher, mash tomatoes to reduce the size of large chunks.

Cut the crust off of your bread and discard. Tear bread into pieces.

Place bread pieces, and 2 tbsp brown sugar in pot. Stir.

Allow mixture to come to a boil, and reduce heat to about medium. Continue cooking until your bread has become saturated with the liquid.

Remove mixture from heat. **IMPORTANT** take out bay leaf!!! and THEN place in food processor. (Rinse your pot).

Add in 1 tbsp olive oil and blend mixture until smooth. (If you want it extra smooth put through a wire strainer - I left it as it was from the processor since we don't have a wire strainer and it was still good).

Return soup to pot, add in chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add in optional ingredients to taste (garlic, basil, sour cream, parmesan, etc.). Reduce heat to low until ready to serve.

I made some cheddar biscuits to go along with this...it is a great dipping soup!

Just remember to be creative and make it how you like it! Enjoy!!

Ok...now for the meatloaf:

Turkey Meatloaf

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey

1 sweet potato

2 cloves garlic

2 green onions

cilantro (leaves from a few stems - this should only be a subtle not overwhelming flavor - can be omitted).

1 egg

1/3 c. ketchup

1 tbsp dijon mustard

salt & pepper to taste

3 pieces of bread

Method:

Preheat oven to 350°. Pierce sweet potato and cook in microwave for 4 minutes or until soft. Remove skin.

Mash sweet potato into ground turkey.

After potato is mashed in, add egg and blend into mixture.

Add in chopped green onions, minced garlic, ketchup, dijon, and cilantro. Stir into meat.

Tear bread into small crumbs.

Stir bread into meat (or squish in with hands!)

Place mixture in lightly greased pan.

Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until cooked through.

We ate some pretty healthy sides of corn and apple with this meatloaf.

**This isn't going to be a thick meatloaf, but it is packed with flavor!!!**

We don't have leftovers too often since I try to make portions that we can eat in one meal, but from these two days we did have a bit leftover and they made us a great lunch of mini biscuit meatloaf sandwiches dipped in the tomato soup. Yum!

Finally here is the end to another VERY long post...

Happy eating!

Broccoli Stuffed Salmon with Honey Mustard Sauce

2010-11-02T16:37:00.002-05:00

Last night's dinner was flavorful and not too complicated. I knew the basic ingredients I wanted to use were salmon, broccoli and rice....

...but how to make them tasty...

I decided I would stuff the salmon with lightly flavored broccoli and top it with a honey mustard sauce since that is one of Joel's favorites. I didn't truly stuff the salmon since the broccoli wasn't all on the inside, but you'll see in the recipe what I did.

Anyway, the combination of the honey mustard/broccoli stuffed salmon with green onion & garlic butter rice was delightful :) So here is what I came up with and did:

Broccoli Stuffed Salmon with Honey Mustard Sauce

Ingredients:

2 salmon fillets (these were frozen so I thawed them)

1 c. broccoli (this was frozen so I thawed, if fresh cook)

1 clove garlic

Feta crumbled (you can go from generous to completely omitting)

1 tbsp butter for broccoli, 1 small pat for each salmon

2 tbsp dijon mustard

honey to taste

1 tsp lemon

1 ounce softened cream cheese

parmesan cheese blend to taste (optional)

For rice:

1/2 c. rice

2 green onions

1 clove garlic

butter (to saute green onions and garlic in)

Method:

Preheat oven to 400°

Mix together (thawed/cooked) broccoli, tbsp melted butter, minced garlic & feta. Set aside.

In tin foil lined glass dish make slit down center of each salmon fillet and stretch.

Stuff each slit with broccoli mixture (it will be mounded a little on top as well).

Mix together dijon, honey, softened cream cheese, lemon and parmesan. Spoon mixture over salmon/broccoli. Place in the oven for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes remove from oven and place pat of butter on each fillet. Place back in oven and bake for an additional 10 minutes. (Note: once the butter has melted brush it back on the honey mustard to help keep it smooth.)

For rice (while salmon is cooking):

Boil 1/2 c. rice in 1 c. water (this will make 1-2 servings) once rice begins to boil cook for approx. 15 min or until rice is tender.

Saute green onions and minced garlic clove in butter until fragrant.

Spoon garlic/onion/butter mixture over cooked rice and stir in.

Serve stuffed salmon over rice.

Yum! Enjoy!!

Halloween Fun! (and foods)

2010-11-01T16:02:00.002-05:00

The past week was filled with scary movies and Halloween inspired food and fun. On the actual Halloween (yesterday) we enjoyed the night at our apartment with homemade pepperoni & cheese stuffed whole wheat crust pizza.

In the shape of a pumpkin of course!

I will share the recipe for this crust as well as the method for it, but first here is a peek at some of our other Halloween fun:

About a week ago Joel indulged me in my childish obsession with making gingerbread houses. As they sell kits at Target for pretty much any holiday to make a gingerbread house we got a spooky Halloween house kit as carving pumpkins and somehow trying to keep them from rotting in our apartment seemed like a bad idea (and I still wanted something Halloween like and fun).

So here is our house:

Pretty cute, right?! It even has a sprinkle sidewalk!

It lives on our movie shelf with our plastic mr. pumpkin head my mom so kindly allowed me to bring with us here so I could still have some form of jack-o-lantern.

Haha, this is what it would look like if you were really small and walking up to the gingerbread house...

On Saturday morning as a good way to start off a spooky weekend we had homemade pumpkin spice frappuccinos. Mmmm. They were very yummy, and made with real pumpkin...well from a can.

Saturday night we went to a Halloween party at a night club here that was put on for/by the medical school. Joel and I dressed as a devil and an angel - or a conscience :)

So here are some pictures of little angel Erin and the little devil Joel:

Me as an angel.

My little devil :)

We're your conscience.

These two pictures show some of my handy work for my costume. I hand made my wings - sewing each feather on individually after forming a cloth & wire structure. Also, my halo and a harp design sewn onto a purse :)

Before we headed out for the festivities we had to eat something of course so we had deep fried green beans (like the ones at Friday's only frozen and from Target), and monster chicken nuggets. Ok, so I may have made that name up...but they were like the chicken fingers I have previously posted only with different ingredients including multi-colored flax seed chips for a coating that gave them a nice Halloween color and breading (they don't look as colorful in the picture):

Ok, enough of the other good stuff here is how to make the stuffed crust whole wheat pizza dough (it is almost the same as the bread stick recipe only with some whole wheat flour and some different steps):

Whole Wheat Stuffed Crust Pizza

Ingredients:

1 tbsp yeast

1 tsp sugar

1 c. warm wather

2 tsp kosher salt

2 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 c. white all-purpose flour

1 c. whole wheat flour

Method:

Combine sugar, yeast, and water, allow yeast to activate.

Add in olive oil, salt and both white and whole wheat flours and knead into a soft dough. Place in oiled bowl and roll dough ball around to coat lightly.

Cover loosely and allow to rise for 40 min to an hour.

By this time the dough will have increased in size and elasticity.

Preheat oven to approx. 425°

Roll out your dough. It will stretch pretty far, and you will want it to be larger than your desired pizza size so the edges can fold over your stuffed toppings.

Place on greased cookie sheet. (it takes up the whole space)

Line the outer edge with pepperoni - or this could be done with just cheese, I have seen many recipes that simply call for string cheese.

Top pepperoni with cheese - again I made it hard on myself by using shredded cheese.

Fold edges around toppings (I sort of rolled the pepperonis to to this).

Pinch edges VERY tightly. The less of a seam you can see the better. Here is also where I shaped it into a pumpkin.

Top with pizza sauce - this is also really simple and tasty to make at home.

For this pizza, so it could have a face, I put the pepperonis under the cheese. Normally I would reverse these steps.

Top with cheese and make a face...or just put your favorite ingredients on :)

Bake for 15-20 minutes until crust is done and cheese is melted and golden.

Slice and enjoy!

You can see the yummy hidden pepperoni and cheese.

Num! NUM!

Happy eating!

Pumpkin Sandwich Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

2010-10-26T22:48:00.003-05:00

With the gloomy weather yesterday and some canned pumpkin sitting on the shelf. I decided it was time to make some cookies I have been dreaming about: pumpkin sandwich cookies with cream cheese frosting.

I am not sure what made me crave them, but the result was a wonderful, cake-like cookie with a very tasty frosting center.

I also thought on a gloomy day it would be a nice surprise for my husband when he got home from a long day of class.

Here is what I did:

Pumpkin Sandwich Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

For Cookies:

2 c. flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp vanilla

1 c. firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 c. milk

1/2 c. butter

1 egg

1 c. canned pumpkin

For Frosting:

4 oz cream cheese

1 tsp vanilla

3 tbsp butter

cinnamon to taste

2 c. powder sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 350°

Cookies:

Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt in bowl and set aside.

Beat together brown sugar and softened butter.

I used our mixture, but it can be done by hand.

Beat the sugar and butter until smoothly blended.

Add in pumpkin, egg, milk, and vanilla.

Beat until well blended.

Add flour mixture slowly into bowl and beat slowly until smooth. Consistency will be creamy and fluffy somewhat like cake batter.

Drop batter/dough by heaping teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 9-10 minutes (I checked after 9 and put in for an additional minute). Allow to cool for 2 minutes on cookie sheet and transfer to cooling rack.

**These cookies did not flatten or spread out so a flat edge cookie sheet worked fine.**

Frosting:

Combine cream cheese, vanilla, butter and cinnamon(to taste).

Beat until smooth.

Add powder sugar to cream cheese mixture.

Beat powder sugar and cream cheese mixture together until creamy.

**Add a pinch of salt if needed**

Cookie Assemblage:

Allow cookies to cool completely.

Frost bottom of one cookie and place another cookie bottom towards frosting on top.

If desired sprinkle cookie sandwiches with powder sugar.

Here is where I got just a little carried away taking pictures of the cookies...it was a good way of stopping myself from eating them all before Joel got home...

COOKIES!!!

Yum! These cake like cookies are a great fall treat and perfect with a glass of milk.

Enjoy!!

Shrimp & Sweet Potato Cakes (Think Crab Cakes)

2010-10-25T18:22:00.000-05:00

With sweet potatoes at home I wanted to find another way to use them besides sweet potato fries (I am afraid I will be very disappointed should I attempt them as they will probably taste nothing like the Trader Joe's ones). Last night I did a little searching and found the idea of shrimp & sweet potato cakes. I altered several different recipes I found, catering them to both our taste in food and what I had on hand.

The result of this food experiment, was a delicious little cake that is very reminiscent of a crab cake, but also differently flavored. We topped them on spinach and baby cucumbers that were lightly seasoned with white balsamic vinegar.

If not obvious already...I LOVE balsamic.

These little guys would be great on there own as well though...or dipped in a garlic butter sauce. Mmmm butter. We went a little healthier than that option with our salad though.

So here's how to do it:

Shrimp & Sweet Potato Cakes

Ingredients:

shrimp (about 8 ounces)

2 sweet potatoes

1 clove garlic

cilantro (leaves from 5-10 stems - or to taste)

3 green onions

1tsp coriander seeds, black pepper (to taste), 1 tsp salt, 2 tsp sugar, 1 tsp cumin

1/2 c. cracker or bread crumbs

Method:

Thaw shrimp if frozen, remove tails and coarsely chop.

Pierce sweet potatoes and microwave for 5 minutes or until soft. Remove skins and mash in bowl.

Saute minced garlic until fragrant with cilantro, then mash in with potatoes.

Crush coriander seeds and saute until fragrant with pepper and cumin. Add spices to sugar and salt and mix with crumbs.

Combine spices/crumbs, green onions, and shrimp with potato mixture.

Preheat oven to 375°

Form mixture into patties (I made 8 approx 2" patties)

Lightly coat patties in flour.

Heat 3 tbsp oil in pan and brown each patty for about 2 minutes per side.

Add additional oil if needed. Patties will be golden on each side.

Place on cookie sheet. If desired sprinkle with course salt. Bake for approximately 10-15 minutes.

Allow to cool slightly before serving. Num!

Again we paired it with a spinach salad and balsamic, but they would be great alone too :)

Rustic Cheese Bread Sticks

2010-10-24T16:04:00.003-05:00

In combination with our whole wheat penne and homemade spaghetti sauce last night we had bread sticks. I decided it was time to try using yeast in something. It isn't that I have a fear of using yeast really, it is just that with the fantastic homemade bread my mom makes I feared the result of even trying to use yeast would leave what I made only tasting sub par.

However, my desire for homemade bread sticks was stronger than that fear last night. So, using what we had at home, I came up with these rustic cheese filled bread sticks. Now, they certainly could have been more perfect looking and the cheese could have been completely concealed...but I left the seam facing up so there would be a little peak into that cheese filled core. Mmmm.

So here is what I did:

Rustic Cheese Bread Sticks

Ingredients:

2 1/2 c. flour

1 c. warm water (plus additional if needed)

1 tbsp yeast

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp kosher salt

2 tbsp olive oil

cheese

garlic powder

3 tbsp butter

Method:

Combine water, sugar and yeast. Let yeast become active.

Almost there...

There we go.

I waited until there was a film across the whole top. All nice and bubbly. Add in flour, olive oil and salt. Knead into a soft dough, adding additional water if mixture seems too dry - be careful to add in slowly so as not to make too sticky.

Let dough sit for about 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450°

Roll out dough into long strip and cut in two.

Place cheese in center of each rolled out slab. (I used shredded, pieces may have been easier).

Pull sides up and pinch tightly.

The better you seal it the less they will pop apart - however, even if you want some cheese exposed make sure you are still pinching fairly tight.

Cut into bread sticks and pinch ends closed tightly. I made 8...they were pretty big bread sticks - 12 thinner bread sticks could probably be produced from this recipe.

Melt butter and add garlic. Brush on bread sticks. (Remember I put the seam facing up, but you could also put it towards the pan if you want them more tightly sealed.)

Allow fully formed bread sticks to sit for a few minutes. Place bread sticks in the oven once all of them have been coated with butter. Bake for 12 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before enjoying. Brush with additional butter if desired.

Yum!

We had some of these left over since they were so big, but they also reheated really well :)

Besides our bread sticks and pasta we also had some pumpkin martinis that Joel made:

They tasted like liquid pumpkin pie.

Mmmm.

I love fall :)

Southwest Omelette

2010-10-23T14:15:00.003-05:00

After my lovely husband returned this morning from working as a greeter at a Health Fair, he was very deserving of an actual breakfast. Even if it was only for two hours, it really didn't seem right that he should have to be out the door even earlier than during the week for his 8am class.

So, when he said he would like an omelette (although I have never actually made an omelette before) I thought sure, I can do this. I have made many a scrambled egg so I figured it shouldn't be much different. With A few quick internet searches for technique, I found that really it just seemed that you need a little butter (or oil) in the pan, some patience (eep! my mom could tell you how well I did with that when she tried to show me how to make pancakes...), and to continually lift the edge and let the top run under without actually flipping.

Here is what I came up with:

Southwest Omelette

Ingredients:

4 eggs

a bit of butter (just enough to melt in the pan - oil would work too)

cheese - this will vary...depending on how much you like cheese :D

cilantro (pull the leaves off several stems)

1 tomato

1 tsp sour cream (plus additional for dollop on top)

salt, pepper, garlic powder, and chili powder to taste

Method:

Dice tomatoes and chop or tear cilantro.

Place eggs, cheese, cilantro, sour cream, salt, pepper, garlic powder & chili powder in a bowl and whisk or blend with fork.

Once mixture is well blended, set aside.

Melt butter in pan, making sure it covers the entire bottom. Add egg mixture, and when the bottom becomes more stable (it looks like a film is forming around the liquid egg mixture) slowly lift edges allowing liquid to flow under. Continue this lifting all edges around the pan until the top is fluffy looking and no liquid runs when you tilt the pan.

Add tomatoes and additional cheese (if desired) to top, after about a minute use spatula to fold in half and flip several times until cheese is all melted.

Garnish with sour cream, cilantro and tomatoes...and enjoy! We also had some pineapple salsa on the side.

This was a pretty successful venture for my first real omelette :)

Happy Saturday!

Maple Glazed Salmon and Spinach Salad with Homemade Vinaigrette

2010-10-22T15:04:00.000-05:00

Last night when questioned, "what should we have for dinner?", my dear husband said, "maple glazed salmon." With such a specific request rather than the usual, "oh, I don't care.", I figured I should oblige. Although, I can't actually recall if I have ever had maple glazed salmon before, I knew I could figure something out. With the glaze on the salmon I decided it would be good to accompany it with a spinach salad with a homemade vinaigrette to cut the sweet a little.

So here follows the recipe I came up with:

Maple Glazed Salmon and Apples

Ingredients:

Salmon (I just used one piece for the two of us. - We usually have some frozen salmon fillets in the freezer.)

1 apple

1/4 c. maple syrup

1 clove garlic

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp lemon juice

pinch of pepper

Method:

Preheat oven to 400°

If using frozen salmon fillet thaw.

Thinly slice apple. In a separate bowl mix together maple syrup, soy sauce, minced garlic, lemon juice and pepper.

Place salmon in tin foil lined glass dish, add in apple slices and pour sauce mixture over top, making sure to thoroughly coat salmon. (I had already removed the skin from the bottom, but if you leave it on put skin on bottom side touching foil).

Bake for 20 minutes or until salmon flakes easily with a fork, brushing the salmon with the glaze after 10 minutes.

I didn't write down precise measurements for the vinaigrette, but they aren't too difficult to make. And the tang of the vinegar does a good job of complimenting the sweet of the maple glaze.

Sour Cream & Green Onion Chicken and Mashed Potatoes

2010-10-20T23:58:00.006-05:00

As with what seems just about everyone else, we feel like we are on the verge of coming down with something. Whether it is the change of weather, or an actual illness, warm comforting food to ensure our bodies are as well taken care of as possible, is an essential (not to mention the obvious fact that we also like to eat...).

With that, tonight's dinner was chicken baked in a sour cream and green onion sauce (and shredded), mashed potatoes, and corn. I realize in my last post from the day before yesterday we also had a potato mash, but the sweet potato mash is such a different flavor from regular mashed potatoes I figured it wasn't really like we were eating the same food again two nights later.

Here follows the recipe for the chicken and mashed potatoes, both very simple, and very satisfying :)

Sour Cream and Green Onion Shredded Chicken:

(top it on the potatoes like you would gravy)

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinnless chicken breasts

1/2 c. sour cream

3 green onions

garlic powder to taste

1 tsp worcestershire sauce (this could be omitted, but does give a nice punctuation to the sauce)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350°

Thaw chicken.

For more tender chicken pound with meat mallet or meat tenderizer. (As we are back at our apartment and meat mallet-less I used our above pictured meat tenderizer.)

Stir together sour cream, worcestershire sauce, and garlic powder. Cut green onion and stir into sour cream.

Put sour cream mixture in glass baking dish and place chicken on top.

Cover chicken with mixture. Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes, stirring sour cream mixture several times and flipping chicken after 15 minutes.

After about 30 minutes chicken should be cooked through (depending on size and thickness of your meat), at this time remove from oven, shred with forks and place back in the oven reducing the temperature to 250° and bake for an additional 15 minutes, remembering to stir occasionally.

Ingredients for mashed potatoes:

4 potatoes (this made 2-3 servings, and these potatoes were not very large).

1/4 c. milk

1 tbls butter

1 (heaping) tsp of sour cream

salt to taste

Method:

Peel potatoes and slice, place in pot and fill with water just covering potatoes. Cover with lid and boil until tender.

When potatoes are tender, drain, then mash. After mashing potatoes to desired smoothness add in milk, butter, and sour cream. Mash in ingredients. Add salt to taste.

When complete I placed mashed potatoes in a glass oven dish and placed them in the oven during the last 10 minutes the chicken was cooking with a bit of butter on top.

Take it all out of the oven, place chicken on potatoes, and....

.... poof! Dinner :)

Mashed Balsamic Sweet Potatoes, Chicken Baguette and Broccoli

2010-10-19T16:10:00.001-05:00

With the ability to stock up a little on goodies from Trader Joe's I have a few more ingredients to work with. One being sweet potatoes. While my affinity for them comes from the sweet potato fry, I figured I would try making something else we would enjoy eating with them.

Here enters mashed sweet potatoes.

We both love regular mashed potatoes, so I figured I would try my hand at making some good, and differently flavored, mashed potatoes with the sweet potatoes. I knew I would have to give them a little different flavor to compliment their already sweet taste so I decided to try a little balsamic, and to top them with feta.

The result was a smooth, savory dish, which we both really enjoyed. It went well with the basil/garlic/balsamic chicken on a parmesan garlic baguette and steamed broccoli on the side.

The following is the recipe for the chicken baguette and sweet potato mash:

Ingredients for chicken:

1 Chicken Breast

Basil, Balsamic Vinegar, and Garlic Powder (to taste) Olive Oil for bread.

Mediterranean Feta for sprinkling

Method:

Preheat oven to 400°

Slice bread, and brush with olive oil. When oven is ready, toast bread olive oil side down for about 5 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside. Leave oven on.

Slice thawed chicken thinly and cook with basil, and garlic powder. Add in balsamic when chicken is done.

Top toasted baguette with chicken and sprinkle with feta. Bake for approx. 10-15 minutes. Add additional balsamic after baking if needed.

Ingredients for sweet potato mash:

2 sweet potatoes (this is just for 2 servings)

1/4 c. sour cream

1 tbls Balsamic Vinegar

Salt and Garlic Powder to taste

Mediterranean Feta for sprinkling

Method:

Pierce sweet potatoes and cook in microwave for approx. 6 minutes, checking for tenderness after 4. Let cool slightly, then peel off skin and cut into pieces.

Add to food processor and blend until smooth. After blending potatoes add in sour cream and balsamic. Lastly add in salt and garlic powder to taste. Add into oven safe dish and sprinkle with feta. Bake for 10 minutes or until peaks of potato are just starting to brown.

Remove from oven and enjoy!

Family and food :)

2010-10-18T15:40:00.004-05:00

It has been a few days since I last posted, but I assure you we of course continued to eat. This past weekend we had the opportunity to spend time with both sets of family. (The above picture is from the table at my mom's house). With Joel's first block of medical school successfully completed we were able to take the time to go see my mom, and were lucky enough it was a weekend when his parents were able to be in town as well.

While we have come to love our apartment, it is always a welcome break to step away for a weekend. Especially since we have both been blessed with incredibly wonderful families who seem to think we aren't so bad either :)

This trip began with a late night of laundry on Wednesday to prepare for our travels. As we waited up into the wee hours of the morning for our clothes to dry, I decided we might need a snack for the 6ish hour car ride home.

This is when...at approximately 1am I decided it would be the best option to make homemade bread so I could make us bruschetta for the car ride. (Again, as usual I understand how crazy this seems.)

Without yeast at home, and with the idea we needed a sturdier bread I decided to make an Irish Soda Baguette of sorts - no this is not a real thing...but at 1am I decided it could be. The result was this loaf:

While much more dense than a real french baguette, it was actually perfect for a road trip bruschetta because it was not so crumbly. The resulting chicken bruschetta made with our last 3 tomatoes I needed to use up was this:

I sprinkled it with sharp cheddar before I put it in the oven as a tasty way to seal down the toppings for the car. I also threw it in the fridge over night so it would be ready to take with when we left.

Now, I do realize chicken bruschetta is not the normal car snack...but eating that and some fruit on the way left us feeling less dumpy than if we had stopped for something quick along the way - and eliminated the need for stopping.

While we were gone we had the opportunity to share some wonderful meals out with our very generous parents, which besides being able to enjoy their company was also a treat for us since we don't eat out much.

I did however cook a little while I was home....and I will share that recipe with you.

For lunch on Saturday we had homemade chicken fingers with sweet potato fries and homemade honey mustard sauce:

Ingredients for the chicken fingers:

Crackers

(I used these from Gorgonzola crackers from Trader Joe's because we were lucky enough to have them around at my mom's house - but with the lack of TJ's at home I usually use wheat thins or flavored bread crumbs.)

Boneless skinnless chicken breasts

(As many as you need/want - I used 2 for all of us to eat)

1 egg

(I got to use a lovely brown egg at my mom's, but any will do - and if you don't have eggs you can also use butter or sour cream to dip the chicken in)

A splash of worcestershire sauce in with egg

(A tsp or less just for some flavor)

A splash of TJ's parmesan ranch in with egg

(Again a tsp or less just for some flavor - you could also add some parmasan with your crackers instead as I have often done with the lack of such a lovely product as this)

Method:

Preheat oven to 425°

Place crackers in ziplock and crush with rolling pin - you could also do this in a food processor, but I prefer the slight variation of crumbs/less clean up that comes from crushing them this way.

For more tender chicken fingers pound thawed chicken breasts with a meat mallet or use a meat tenderizer (I got to use my mom's wonderful meat mallet - at our apartment we have a meat tenderizer that you push into the meat and many small sharp blades break the meat down. I do prefer this meat mallet however...)

Slice pounded chicken breasts into desired length and width. Set aside.

Crack egg into bowl and whip with fork. Stir in worchestshire and ranch sauces.

Set up a chicken dipping station. Have your egg mixture, cracker crumbs, chicken pieces and a lightly greased pan ready. Dipping first in the egg mixture then rolling in the crumbs.

Place prepared chicken in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink on the inside.

Chicken fingers will be lightly golden brown, delicately flavored, and ready to dip in your favorite sauce.

I just used frozen sweet potato fries from Trader Joe's...which are awesome.

For the honey mustard:

1/4 c. mayo, 1 tsp stone ground mustard, 1 tsp honey & splash of lime juice. - Adjust quantities for larger amount.

Voila! Homemade honey mustard.

While at my mom's house we were able to enjoy her home cooking..

...including...

...chocolate chip zucchini bread with brown butter cream cheese frosting...

YUM!!!

I do not have the recipe for this...which may be a good thing because in the course of a few days Joel and I managed to devour an entire loaf. Sooooo good.

The following are just a few pictures I took of things around my mom's house that made it seem very much like I was home.

Fresh grown tomatoes :)

Assorted pumpkins and gourds by the apothecary jars/rocks from our wedding :)

Limes! I always love being home and having fresh limes waiting for water or iced tea. They are also just so pretty.

Lastly in this absurdly long post I will show you the breakfast my mom made the last morning we were there:

Homemade french toast with syrup, berries and whip cream.

If anyone were to wonder...this is where I get the cooking from :)

Nectarine Crisp!

2010-10-13T01:26:00.009-05:00

For some reason at our local Super Target we are able to procure (even still in October) really inexpensive - and good - nectarines. As I like to make sure we are eating plenty of fruits and veggies ... unlike my posts may suggest ... it is always nice to give ourselves a little variety in those fruits and vegetables. So, nectarines it was.

Now, we have eaten several of them cut up as sides to our meals and I thought it would be a nice night to have a crisp of some sort. With my lack of apples, and strong desire to use what I have at home between grocery store trips ... I thought, why not make a nectarine crisp.

While the title of this dish does not flow easily from your mouth (it sounds sort of strange really) the crisp itself is sweet/tart, and very delectable.

Now, with that said, I decided the crisp would be even more delicious with a side of ice cream.

We of course had none.

I thought about running to the store to get some...but really why should I do that when I have plenty of ingredients at home, the internet to search for recipes...and what is at times, an overpowering obsession to prove to myself that I can, in fact, make anything from scratch.

And so, after making dinner, then crisp, I made ice cream.

Yes, I know I sound insane.

Here are the results:

Now, I realize that this picture is not as bright and beautiful as the nectarines themselves were...but hours had passed and the sun had stopped waiting up for me to finish all this cooking so I was forced to take a picture in our dark apartment. BUT the end product of both was wonderful, so it was well worth the effort. Here is a closer look at that ice cream:

I am not going to give an exact recipe for the ice cream because I only made a very small batch - just enough to eat with this crisp, but I will share the ingredients I used:

sour cream (yes I know that sounds odd), sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, water

I know that looking at those it does NOT seem like ice cream would come forth...but, with the right method, a little patience, and of course some love, ice cream with a very nice consistency is produced. My very shocked husband can attest to this...I think he thought I was going off the deep end when he asked what I was doing in the kitchen again and I replied, "making ice cream..."

Anyway...I am going to share what I came up with as far as the nectarine crisp goes - this is a small crisp which only contains about 4 servings. I made it in a small round glass pyrex dish.

Ingredients:

For the inside (or underbelly really):

Two Nectarines

(a third could easily be added)

1/4 c. sugar

2 tsp vanilla (you could go with one if it is real)

For the top (the crisp!):

1/2 c. flour

3 tbsp butter (I use salted butter)

1/4 cup brown sugar

A sprinkle of in both layers:

cinnamon!

*** I also added a pinch of salt to the top***

Method:

Thinly slice nectarines. Stir in (white) sugar and vanilla.

In a separate bowl combine flour and brown sugar. When blended, cut in butter until mixture is a consistent, yet lumpy texture.

Pour on nectarines and bake in 350°oven for approx 30-40 minutes, or until topping is golden and nectarines are tender.

The topping worked out better when I tested the nectarines several times allowing some of the juices to mix in and moisten the flour/brown sugar layer.

Besides dessert, earlier in the evening we had biscuits and gravy (utilizing leftover heart shaped biscuits) and cheesy hash browns:

I had quite the fun with potatoes while making the hash browns from scratch...but that is another story, and this post is looong enough already.

Maybe we'll have something simple to eat tomorrow...

...maybe...

Spinach Flatbread Tacos

2010-10-12T00:16:00.001-05:00

Oh my do we have some full tummies.

Tonight for dinner we had tacos on spinach flatbread. We used ground turkey as a leaner alternative to beef, and had sharp cheddar, tomatoes, peppers, & Joel's yummy salsa ranch.

MmmmmMmmmm!

My mom always taught me the thing that makes food taste best is love. This is very true. You can definitely taste the difference in a meal that is filled with a grumpy attitude. Since I love my husband and I love to cook for us, things generally turn out pretty well.

I thought I would try sharing the recipe I made up for this flatbread...as I make up or alter most of the foods we eat it is hard for me to do actual precise measurements...so bare with me.

Here goes...

Ingredients:

3 tbls olive oil

1 clove garlic

bunch of spinach

1 1/4 c. flour (plus extra for hands/dusting cutting board)

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of baking soda

2 tsp salt (I used kosher salt, you could probably reduce this with regular)

1/2 c. water

Method:

Preheat oven to 400°

Place olive oil in frying pan and add minced garlic clove. Saute until fragrant.

Add spinach and stir in until wilted. Set mixture aside.

In a large mixing bowl mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add in spinach mixture and stir thoroughly. Add in water slowly until dough forms.

Place dough on well floured cutting board, and knead for several minutes until flour is worked in and dough is less sticky.

Divide dough in 6 pieces (4 if you want larger flatbreads).

Work each ball into a flat thin disc, and place on lightly greased cookie sheet.

Bake for 6-8 minutes and flip, baking for an additional 5 minutes. (You might just have to watch them as cooking times with our crappy oven may be different).

And there you go! Lightly flavored spinach flatbread! Add seasoned meat, your favorite toppings and you have a nice homemade flatbread taco :)

Nothing says love like a heart shaped biscuit.

2010-10-11T14:27:00.003-05:00

Ok, so maybe there are a lot better ways to show love than a biscuit in the shape of a heart. But, it is still fun and cute right?

Even more important than the shape of the biscuit is how it tastes of course. These biscuits are fluffy on the inside and lightly golden brown on the outside.

Perfect with butter and blackberry jam. Also the right biscuits for some gravy.

All around these little guys make a nice side to many a meal.

Mmmm...carbs.