The Gingered Whisk

Creamy Baked Asiago Thyme Pasta

2012-01-31T06:00:00.000-05:00

Last week at one of my MOPS meeting (I totally double dip and go to two different meetings, but hey, I need all the socialization I can get!) we made a cute craft. It's a tiny little book, perfect for tucking in your purse or onto your nightstand. On the cover is stamped "One Line A Day". The purpose, if you haven't already guessed, is to write one line a day, everyday. Your one line can be anything from "AHHHHH", to "Must drink more coffee", or something a little more sophisticated. Then at the end of the year you can look back through and see everything you wrote.

I think this is a cute idea, but, honestly, I will never ever use it. I am the worst journal keeper ever. Ever. I used to try and keep diaries when I was younger. I'd start out really good, reflecting on my day every evening (or just transcribing my entire day, if I got to see that cute boy I liked that had no idea I was alive, what I ate, etc). Then I would forget to write for a few days. Then the next entry would be a few weeks later. Soon it was months and months in between each entry. Then I would get a new journal and swear I would do better this time, only to repeat the whole thing over again. Finally I just learned. I'm not a journal keeper. What about you, can you keep a journal, or are you more like me?

This is a delicious, slightly adult version of macaroni and cheese. The flavors are a bit more refined, but not so much that the kiddos won't like it, either. It is really creamy, and I love the combination of Asiago and Thyme here. It is also very quick to throw together, making it a great meal for during the week!

Creamy Baked Asiago Thyme Pasta (slightly adapted from Giada de Laurentiis)

1 pound pasta of your choice
2 1/4 cups grated Asiago cheese
8 ounces cream cheese
8 ounces sour cream
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 TBSP freshly chopped thyme leaves
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Butter a 9x13 baking dish.
Bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat.
Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8-10 minutes.
Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup of the pasta cooking liquid.
In a large bowl combine 2 cups of the Asiago cheese, sour cream, cream cheese, Parmesan, thyme, salt pepper, cooked pasta and the pasta cooking liquid.
Gently toss to combine all the ingredients.
Place the pasta in the buttered baking dish and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup Asiago cheese.
Bake until golden on top, about 25 minutes.
Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
Enjoy!

Apple Cranberry Stuffing

2012-01-29T06:00:00.000-05:00

You might think the time for stuffing has long since passed us. You might think that any stuffing not from a box is just too fancy for everyday use, but I beg to differ. Why can't homemade stuffing be a weekend thing, too? Why do we reserve making something so delicious for twice a year? This stuffing is easy to prepare and it tastes amazing. It is too delicious to keep until next Thanksgiving, it really does deserve to be eaten more often. I made mine on a Wednesday, and I think you should make it on a "normal" day, too. Don't wait a whole year to enjoy it!

I made a half batch for my little family, and it worked perfectly for dinner and leftover lunch the next day. I think it was even tastier at lunch. Stuffing is one of my favorite side dishes, and this one is perhaps my absolute favorite I have ever had (Sorry, Grandma...). It's special, but not so special and complicated that it can't be enjoyed all throughout the cold months!

Apple Cranberry Stuffing (Sweet Basil)

6 TBSP Unsalted Butter, plus more for baking dish
1 medium onion, minced
2 TBSP minced, fresh parsley
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
1/2 tsp Marjoram
1 small apple, peeled and diced
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 loaf white bread, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 cups chicken broth
1/4-1/2 cup apple juice
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp pepper

Adjust the oven rack to the center position and preheat the oven to 300 F.
Spread the bread cubes on a cookie sheet and place in the oven to 30 minutes to an hour to dry them out (do not let them get brown).
Let the bread cool completely. Alternatively, you could let your bread dry out the night before and skip this step.
Preheat the oven to 400 F.
Heat the butter in a 12 inch skillet over medium-high heat.
Add the onion and saute, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 10 minutes.
Stir in the parsley, sage, thyme, and marjoram, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add the apple and cranberries and cook until the cranberries plump slightly and apple is slightly softn.
Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
Add the bread crumbs, stock, eggs, and pepper to the onion/apple mixture.
Toss gently to distribute the dry and wet ingredients evenly.
Put the mixture in a buttered 9x13 baking dish, cover with foil and bake 25 minutes.
Remove the foil and continue to bake for an additional 30 minutes longer, until golden.
Cool 10 minutes before serving.

The Daring Bakers Make Biscuits!

2012-01-27T06:30:00.000-05:00

Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!

Yes!!! I've been really needing to master the biscuit! I've tried a few times, but honestly, I can't produce anything great without Bisquick. Without it all I can manage are probably the world's best interpretation of Lembus Bread (you know, from Lord of the Rings?) So when I saw this months challenge I was really excited! I was not going to let this one get by me!

The first biscuit I tried was a herbed biscuit, and it was really straightforward to put together. They baked up really well, but they never got that beautiful golden like I wanted. They were nice and flaky inside, though, and tasted great. The second biscuits I tried were freaking amazing. Brown Sugared Bacon Biscuits. OH YEAH! They turned out perfectly and tasted amazing. We made fried egg sandwiches out of them, and we had to go back for seconds (and Joel even went back for a THIRD). Make these. Now.

I know this is going to sound crazy, but to us, Hardees has the best biscuits ever, and so we used that as our "gold standard" for testing. I tried out a few different recipes, and learned SO MUCH! I'll give you the recipes first, and if you want further reading on what makes a good biscuit, scroll down to below the recipes for some great info! I am so glad that we did this challenge this month, I now LOVE baking light and fluffy biscuits!

Brown Sugar Bacon Biscuits (Joy the Baker)
For the Bacon:
6 slices bacon
1 TBSP brown sugar
black pepper

For the Biscuits:
3 cups flour
2 TBSP brown sugar
2 TBSP granulated sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into small cubes and frozen
1 large egg
3/4 cup buttermilk

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper and spread bacon across baking sheet in a single layer.
Sprinkle with brown sugar and black pepper.
Bake until crisp and cooked through, about 13 to 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and carefully use tongs to place the hot bacon on a cutting board. Don’t put the bacon on paper towels or they might stick.
Allow to cool until you’re able to handle the slices and chop into medium chunks. Set aside.
Increase oven temperature to 425 degrees F. Line another baking sheet with parchment paper or foil, and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, sift together flour, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and black pepper.
Add cold butter and use your hands to quickly break the butter into the flour until mixture resembles coarse meal.
In another bowl, combine egg and buttermilk and beat lightly with a fork.
Add the milk/egg to the flour mixture all at once, stirring to incorporate.
Once batter is nearly incorporated, add bacon and just barely mix in.
Dump the shaggy biscuit mixture onto a lightly floured board to knead together a few times. Don’t overwork the dough and melt the butter, just make sure it comes together.
Roll or pat dough into a 1-inch thickness. Cut into 2-inch rounds using a biscuit cutter or cut into 2×2-inch squares. Reshape and roll dough to create more biscuits with excess scraps.
Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees F for 12-15 minutes.
Serve biscuits warm with jam or a fried egg.
I love these biscuits the day they are made. They can be kept in the fridge and will last for two days. The shaped, uncooked biscuit can also be frozen. Thaw in the fridge overnight and bake up in the morning.

Herbed Biscuits

Servings: about eight 2-inch (5 cm) scones or five 3-inch (7½ cm) scones

Ingredients:

1 cup (240 ml) (140 gm/5 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
2 teaspoons (10 ml) (10 gm) (⅓ oz) fresh baking powder
¼ teaspoon (1¼ ml) (1½ gm) salt
2 tablespoons (30 gm/1 oz) frozen grated butter (or a combination of lard and butter)
approximately ½ cup (120 ml) cold milk
optional 1 tablespoon milk, for glazing the tops of the scones

3 TBSP finely chopped herbs of choice (I used 3 tsp of dried herbs, in a combination of thyme, oregano, basil, and parsley)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to very hot 475°F/240°C/gas mark 9.
2. Triple sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. (If your room temperature is very hot refrigerate the sifted ingredients until cold.)
3. Rub the frozen grated butter (or combination of fats) into the dry ingredients until it resembles very coarse bread crumbs with some pea-sized pieces if you want flaky scones or until it resembles coarse beach sand if you want tender scones.
4. Add nearly all of the liquid at once into the rubbed-in flour/fat mixture and mix until it just forms a sticky dough (add the remaining liquid if needed). The wetter the dough the lighter the scones (biscuits) will be!
5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board, lightly flour the top of the dough. To achieve an even homogeneous crumb to your scones knead very gently about 4 or 5 times (do not press too firmly) the dough until it is smooth. To achieve a layered effect in your scones knead very gently once (do not press too firmly) then fold and turn the kneaded dough about 3 or 4 times until the dough has formed a smooth texture. (Use a floured plastic scraper to help you knead and/or fold and turn the dough if you wish.)
6. Pat or roll out the dough into a 6 inch by 4 inch rectangle by about ¾ inch thick (15¼ cm by 10 cm by 2 cm thick). Using a well-floured 2-inch (5 cm) scone cutter (biscuit cutter), stamp out without twisting six 2-inch (5 cm) rounds, gently reform the scraps into another ¾ inch (2 cm) layer and cut two more scones (these two scones will not raise as well as the others since the extra handling will slightly toughen the dough). Or use a well-floured sharp knife to form squares or wedges as you desire.
7. Place the rounds just touching on a baking dish if you wish to have soft-sided scones or place the rounds spaced widely apart on the baking dish if you wish to have crisp-sided scones. Glaze the tops with milk if you want a golden colour on your scones or lightly flour if you want a more traditional look to your scones.
8. Bake in the preheated very hot oven for about 10 minutes (check at 8 minutes since home ovens at these high temperatures are very unreliable) until the scones are well risen and are lightly coloured on the tops. The scones are ready when the sides are set.
9. Immediately place onto cooling rack to stop the cooking process, serve while still warm.

Notes on how to make an awesome biscuit:

The Ingredients –
Flour – lower gluten (i.e. soft) flours (about 9% or less protein) produce taller and lighter scones than normal plain (all-purpose) flour (about 10%+ protein). But to be honest it wasn't that great a difference so long you sifted the dry ingredients thoroughly at least three times. That is always triple sift the dry ingredients this will ensure that the flour is well aerated and the raising agents are evenly distributed so resulting in light scones. I found that finely milled soft “OO” flour gave the best results but don't worry you can get excellent results with sifted plain (all-purpose) flour. You can use self-raising flour if you wish (remember to leave out the raising agents and salt) in the recipe below it is important to triple sift the self-raising flour as well I like to add about ½ teaspoon of extra fresh baking powder per cup of self-raising flour to ensure a good lift in my scones.
Fat – unsalted butter gives the best flavour while lard gives the flakiest texture since it has a much higher melting point than butter so promoting a flaky texture in the final scones. The best compromise is to use a combination of the two in equal measure. I usually use all (unsalted) butter for flavour and health reasons. In most recipes the fat is rubbed into the flour using fingers or a pastry cutter (don't use two knives or forks since it takes too long to cut in the fat using this method). It is best to grate the butter using the coarse side of a box-grater and then freeze it until you need it. Freezing the butter prevents the fat from melting into the flour. The idea is to coat the fat particles with the flour. You are looking for a fat/flour combination that looks like very coarse bread crumbs with a few pieces of butter about the size of peas, the finer you make your fat pieces the more tender the crumb of your final scones. If you want very flaky scones then make the fat pieces large like Lima beans and only lightly coat them in the flour. If your kitchen is very hot you can refrigerate your flour so helping to keep the fat from melting. Don't freeze your flour as this will make it too difficult to rub the fat into the flour. (Typical usage about 1 to 8 tablespoons of fat per cup of flour).
Chemical raising agents – always use fresh raising agents, baking powder deteriorates within two months once the jar is opened, the recommended dose is about 2 teaspoons per cup of flour. Baking powder nowadays is double action – there is an initial release of gas once the dry and wet ingredients are combined and there is another release of gas from the high heat of the oven. If you are using acidic ingredients (such as buttermilk, soured milk, cream, honey, cheese, tomato sauce etc) then use an additional ¼ teaspoon of baking soda per cup of liquid to help neutralise the acid and make the final baked product raise correctly. Baking soda is four times stronger in raising power than baking powder. You can make you own single action baking powder by triple sifting together one part baking soda and two parts cream of tartar store in an airtight container.
Liquid – you can use milk, buttermilk, soured milk, half-and-half, cream, soda water, even lemon-flavoured soda pop (soft drink) or a combination of these as the liquid in your scones. You can sour regular milk with a tablespoon of cider vinegar or lemon juice for every cup. Just stir it in and let it sit for 10 minutes or so to curdle. Use about ½ cup of liquid per cup of flour.
Salt – a small amount of salt (about ¼ teaspoon per cup of flour) helps improve the action of the raising agents and enhances the flavour of the scones.

The Equipment
Baking pans – use dark coloured heavy weight baking pans as these have the best heat distribution and really give a great raise to your baked goods. Many people like to use cast iron skillets for best results.
Measuring cups and spoons – try to accurately measure all ingredients especially if this is your first attempt at making scones (biscuits) remember to scoop the ingredient into the measure and level with a knife. If you can weigh the flour using scales even better.
Scone (biscuit) cutters – use a cutter that is made of sharp thin metal with straight sides and is open at both ends this ensures that the scone will raise straight and evenly and ensures the cut scone is easy to remove from the cutter without compressing the dough. Try to avoid using cutters with wavy sides, thick walled cups, glasses, metal lids, small jars or any cutter with only one opening since it is difficult to remove the cut scones from these without compressing the dough therefore leading to 'tougher' scones. If you cannot get a good cutter you can cut out squares or wedges etc using a sharp knife if you wish.
Rolling pins – most scone doughs are very soft (and wet) so can be easily patted out using your fingers. For a large amount of dough you can use a rolling pin remember to use light pressure from the centre outwards to form an even thickness of dough ready to be cut into scones. Avoid rolling back and forth over the same area as this can overwork the dough.

The Techniques
Triple sift the dry ingredients – sift your dry ingredients from a height this permits plenty of air to be incorporated into the mixture which allows for maximum lightness in your scones and ensures even distribution of all the raising agents and other ingredients.
Rubbing in the fat – this is the stage where you can control how tender or flaky your final scone crumb will be. The more you coat your fat with flour and the smaller the particles of the final mixture, the more tender the end product because you’re retarding gluten formation in the flour (unfortunately the price you pay for this tenderness is that the final dough will be soft and might not raise very well since the gluten isn't developed enough to form a stable structure to trap the gases that are released when the dough is baked). Conversely the larger you leave the pieces of fat (the infamous "pea-sized" direction you always see in scone/biscuit recipes), the flakier the final scones will be (that is the gluten in this case is more developed but you might find that the final baked product is dry and the mouth feel of crumb could be too firm i.e. tough). So summarising the tenderness/flakiness of your scone is achieved in this stage by manipulating the size of the fat particles and how much of the flour is used to coat the fat (the more flour used to coat the fat promotes more tenderness while larger fat pieces promote more flakiness). Either way quickly rub in the grated frozen fat into the dry ingredients using
1)your finger tips – as you lightly rub and pinch the fat into the flour, lift it up high and let it fall back down into the bowl, this means that air is being incorporated all the time, and air is what makes scones light, continue this until you have the desired sized flour/fat particles in the mixture, or
2)a cold pastry cutter – begin by rocking the pastry cutter into the fat and flour mixture continue rocking until all the fat is coated in flour and the desired sized flour/fat particles are obtained.
Moistening and bringing the dough together - add nearly all of the liquid at once to the rubbed-in dry ingredients. When mixing the dough (I use a soft plastic spatula), stir with some vigour from the bottom to the top and mix just until the dough is well-moistened and begins to just come together it will be wet (and sticky). And remember the old saying – the wetter the dough the lighter the scones (biscuits)! Then turn the dough onto a lightly floured board.
Handling the dough – as most people know it is important not to overwork the dough but what isn't appreciated is that under-working is almost as common a mistake as overworking. Look at my first attempt (the first photo in this article) at making the challenge recipe it is crumbly and a bit leaden and the crumb isn't flaky at all this is due to under-working the dough and making the flour/fat particles too small, it took me about six batches to understand this and not be afraid to handle the dough so the scone (biscuit) would raise correctly. Under-working causes as many problems as overworking. Overworking leads to tough, dry and heavy scones while under-working leads to crumbly leaden ones. If you are not happy with your baked goods look carefully at your final scones (biscuits) and decide if you have under- or over-worked your dough.
Kneading or folding/turning the dough – this is the stage where you can control whether or not your scone has distinct layers by 1) only kneading the dough (for no layering effect) or 2) only turning and folding the dough (for a layering effect). As mentioned above given the same amounts of flour and fat, leaving larger pieces of fat equals more gluten formation and, therefore, flakiness. Leaving smaller pieces of fat equals less gluten formation and, therefore, tenderness. Your dough at this stage of the recipe will be a mixture of different gluten strengths since it is almost impossible to make a totally homogeneous dough at home. The major idea at this stage of the process is to exploit these gluten differences to achieve a desired degree of lamination (layering) in the final baked good. That is at this stage your dough (after you have added the liquid and mixed it until it just holds together), will have different layers of relatively gluten-rich (tougher) dough (the more floury parts of the dough), and layers of relatively gluten-free (tender-er) dough with small pieces of fat (the more fatty parts of the dough). So at this point if we only lightly knead the dough these layers will become less distinct which means the dough will become more homogeneous so producing a more even and more tender crumb when baked. But if at this stage you only fold and turn the dough (as shown below in pictures) over itself, these different layers will remain intact but will get thinner and thinner with each fold and turn, so when the fat melts and the liquid turns to steam in the oven, this steam pushes the tougher layers apart, leading to an overall flakiness and a layering effect in the scone crumb (see picture of the buttermilk biscuit above). So if you want an even more tender crumb just lightly knead (much like you would knead bread but with a very very light touch) the turned-out dough a few times until it looks smooth. If you want to form layers (laminations) in your final baked goods do a few folds and turns until it looks smooth. Always do at least one light knead to make the final dough structurally strong enough to raise and hold its shape whether you are aiming for a smooth tender crumb or a flaky layered crumb.
Pat or roll out the dough – since most scone (biscuit) doughs are soft (and sticky) it is best to use your fingers to gently pat out the dough once it has been kneaded or folded and turned. Use a very light touch with little pressure while forming the dough rectangle to be cut into rounds for the scones. If you want tall scones then pat out the dough tall, about 3/4 inch to 1 inch (2 cm to 2½ cm) thick is about right.
Cutting out your scones – use a well-floured scone (biscuit) cutter for each round that you stamp out from the dough. That is dip your cleaned cutter into fresh plain flour before each separate cut. Do not twist the cutter while stamping out the scone, push down firmly until you can feel the board then lift the cutter the round should stay inside the cutter then gently remove it from the cutter and place the round onto the baking dish. You can use a sharp knife to cut out other shapes if you wish from the dough, also the knife should be floured before each cut as well.
Baking your scones – always preheat your oven when baking scones. Place each scone almost touching onto the baking dish this encourages the scones to raise and also keeps the sides soft and moist. If you want crisp sides widely space your scones on the baking dish.
Extra comments about resting the dough – I found in my researches that a number of respected sources mentioned resting the dough in various stages in the recipe. Surprisingly this advice is sound. I found that if you rested the just mixed dough (in the fridge) for 20 minutes there was a huge improvement in the dough's handling qualities and the final scones height, lightness and crumb were outstanding. Also I found that if you rest your patted out dough covered in plastic for 10 minutes in the fridge that the rounds are easier to stamp out and the final baked goods raise higher and have a better crumb. Also you can rest your stamped out rounds in the fridge for a couple of hours without harm so you can make your scones place them into the fridge and then at your leisure bake them later great for dinner parties etc. This is possible because modern baking powder is double action, i.e. there is another release of gas when you bake the rounds in the heat of the oven.

The Daring Bakers Make Tamales!

2012-01-24T06:00:00.000-05:00

Better extremely ridiculously late than ever!

Maranda of Jolts & Jollies was our January 2012 Daring Cooks hostess with the mostess! Maranda challenged us to make traditional Mexican Tamales as our first challenge of the year!

Geez, Jenni, what a way to start the new year! But, to be honest, this month has been something of a tidal wave. What with spending every waking moment I could getting the Recipe Index up and going (have you looked at it yet? What do you think?), both of our cars went to the mechanic this past week (that was super fun, let me tell you!) and things have been just all around crazy here.

Add to that the I tried, really tried to do this challenge early! But I couldn't find corn husks or masa harina anywhere, there aren't any Mexican specialty shops in the area. I even went to the one Mexican restaurant that we have and begged them to let me buy some ingredients off of them - they just pretended like they didn't speak English.

I was all set to have to toss in the towel and not complete this challenge, but luckily my good friend Shelley from C Mom Cook came to my rescue!! She bought way more ingredients than she needed and was sooooo nice to mail me her extras! (Everyone go over to her blog and tell her how awesome and wonderful she is!!!). I then had to wait for a day when I could get some extra help in the kitchen, and when my friend Rachael came over, we put on some Rodrigo Y Gabriela and spent the afternoon rolling and steaming.

This is what a photo shoot looks like at my house. Plus a dog nose on each elbow.

There was only one minor set-back when the steam created too much moisture in the crazy steaming contraption that we built. The colander we had precariously positioned above a pot of boiling water FELL into the pot, splashing my entire kitchen in corn-husky scented boiling water. Luckily we were all playing in the living room when it happened and no one got hurt. A few extra minutes were needed to clean everything up, re-position our contraption and steam our tamales just a tiny bit more and we were good to go! I had never had a tamale before now, but I really liked it! They were fun to make and very tasty!

Preparation time:
Soaking the corn husks: 3 hours or up to 1 day

Green Chile Chicken Tamales:
For the filling: 1 ½ hours
For the masa: 10 minutes
Preparation and cooking: 2 hours (depending on how quickly you become at pressing and rolling the dough)

Green Chile Chicken Tamales:

Servings: About 24 tamales

Ingredients
1 – 8 ounce (225 gram) package dried corn husks (If you cannot find corn husks, you can use parchment paper or plastic wrap.)

For filling:
1 pound (455 gram) tomatillos (can sub mild green chilies – canned or fresh)
4 – 3 inch (7½ cm) serrano chiles, stemmed and chopped (can sub jalapeno)
4 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 ½ tablespoons (22½ ml) Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 cups (480 ml) low sodium chicken broth
4 cups (960 ml) (400 gm/14 oz) cooked and shredded chicken
2/3 cup (160 ml) (30 gm/1 oz) roughly chopped fresh cilantro (also known as coriander)

For the masa dough:
1 1/3 cups (320 ml) (265 gm/9⅓ oz) lard or vegetable shortening
1 ½ teaspoons (7½ ml) (10 gm/1/3 oz) salt (omit if already in masa mixture)
1 ½ teaspoons (7½ ml) (8 gm/¼ oz) baking powder (omit if already in masa mixture)
4 cups (960 ml) (480 gm/17 oz) masa harina (corn tortilla mix), I used instant masa mix
1 ½-2 cups (360 ml – 480 ml) low sodium chicken broth

Directions:

1. Place the dried corn husks in a large pot and cover with water.

2. Place a heavy plate or a smaller pot full of water on top of husks to keep them in the water. Let soak for 3 hours or up to 1 day, flipping occasionally until husks are softened.

3. Once husks are softened, boil chicken about 20 minutes or until fully cooked.

4. Immediately place hot chicken into the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment. Turn mixer on high to shred chicken (this takes about 3-5 seconds).

5. Place an oven rack on the top setting. Turn the oven on broil. Peel and rinse the tomatillos.

6. Line a heavy baking sheet with foil. Place tomatillos on baking sheet and place under broiler.

7. Broil (grill) until black spots form on tomatillos, then flip and broil (grill) other side. This takes about 5-10 minutes per side depending on the strength of the broiler.

8. Place roasted tomatillos and juices from the pan into a food processor and allow to cool about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and chopped Serrano chiles and process until smooth.

9. Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat.

10. Add the tomatillo puree and boil, stirring continuously, for 5 minutes (it should turn thick like a paste).

11. Add in the chicken broth, stir to mix well. Reduce heat to medium low and allow to simmer, stirring occasionally until mixture coats the back of a spoon and is reduced to about a cup (240 ml).

12. Stir in the chicken and cilantro. Salt to taste.

13. Prepare the dough. In the bowl of an electric mixer, on medium high heat, cream together the lard or vegetable shortening, baking powder and salt.

Mix in the masa harina, one cup (240 ml) at a time.

14. Reduce the mixer speed to low, gradually add in 1 ½ cups (360 ml) of the chicken broth.

15. If the mixture seems too thick (you can taste it for moistness) add up to ½ cup (120 ml) more of the broth 2 tablespoons (30 ml) at a time. (The dough should be a cookie dough like texture).

16. Take 3 large corn husks and tear them into ¼ inch (6 mm) strips. (I would suggest you put these back in the water until use because they dry out and start breaking when you try to work with them.

17. Take a large pot with a steamer attachment. Pour about 2 inches (5 cm) of water into the bottom of the pot, or enough to touch the bottom of the steamer. Line the bottom of the steamer with corn husks.

18. Unfold 2 corn husks onto a work surface. Take ¼ cup (60 ml) of dough and, starting near the top of the husk, press it out into a 4 inch (10 cm) square, leaving 2-3 inches (5 -7½ cm) at the bottom of the husk. Place a heaping tablespoon (15 ml) of the filling in a line down the center of the dough square.

19. Fold the dough into the corn husk.

20. And wrap the husk around the dough.

21. Fold up the skinny bottom part of the husk.

22. And secure it with one of the corn husk ties.

23. Stand them up in the steamer. If there aren’t enough tamales to tightly pack the steamer, place crumpled aluminum foil in the excess space.

24. Steam the tamales for about 40 minutes or until the dough deepens in color and easily pulls away from the husk.

Sourdough Challah

2012-01-22T06:00:00.000-05:00

I've been wanting to try a challah recipe for a while now. I'd never actually eaten a challah before, but I honestly think it is one of the most beautiful loaves of bread I have ever seen. But I have heard they were difficult and complicated to do, and so I always kept it on the "someday I'll make this but not quite yet" list.

This loaf was beautiful, too, and totally erased my "challah fear". This bread is no more complicated than any other bread I've made, it was not hard at all! The most difficult part for me was my momentary freak out when I couldn't remember how to do a four stranded braid, haha. The finished loaf is a gorgeous thing, I almost didn't want to cut into it. When I finally persuaded myself to break out the bread knife, I was rewarded with a super soft and rich slice. I will definitely be making this again, and again!

Sourdough Challah (Maggie Glezer, A Blessing of Bread, recipe found via The Fresh Loaf)
Levain:
2 TBSP (35 grams) very active, fully fermented sourdough starter, 50% hydration
1/3 cup (80 grams) warm water
1 cup (135 grams) bread flour

Final Dough:
1/4 cup (60 grams) warm water
3 large eggs, plus 1 for glazing
1 1/2 tsp (8 grams) salt
1/4 cup (55 grams) vegetable oil
3 TBSP (65 grams) mild honey OR 1/3 cup (60 grams) sugar
about 3 cups (400 grams) bread flour
fully fermented sourdough starter

The night before baking:
Mix the starter into the water until it is partially dissolved, then stir in the flour.
Knead this firm dough until it is smooth.
Remove 1 cup (200 grams) of the starter to use in the final dough and place in a sealed container at least four times its volume. Let the starter ferment until it has tripled in size, about 8-12 hours.

Baking Day:
In a large bowl, beat together the water, 3 eggs, salt, oil, and honey (or sugar) until the salt had dissolved and the mixture if fairly well combined.
With your hands or a wooden spoon, mix the bread flour in all at once.
When the mixture is a shaggy ball, scrape it out onto your work surface, add the starter, and knead until the dough is smooth (no more than ten minutes). The dough will be very firm and should feel almost like modeling clay. If the dough is too firm to knead easily, add a TBSP or two of water to it, if it seems too wet, add a few TBSP of flour.
Place the dough in a clean bowl and cover it with plastic wrap.
Let the dough ferment for about 2 hours - it will probably rise not much, if at all.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Divide the dough into four even balls.
Roll each ball out into a long thin strip (the dough is very elastic, I found it best to roll it out, fold in half, roll it out, and repeat until I got the length I wanted).

Place the strips on the baking sheet and braid as desired.

Cover well with plastic wrap and let it proof until tripled in size, about 5 hours.
Meanwhile, 30 minutes before baking time, arrange the oven racks in the upper third position and remove any racks above it.
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Beat the remaining egg with a pinch of salt for glazing the bread.
Brush the loaf with the egg glaze.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until well browned.
After the first 20 minutes of baking, rotate the loaf around so it bakes evenly. IF the loaf is browning too fast, tent with foil.
When bread is done, remove from pan and let it cool on a rack.

It's Here!!!! An All New Recipe Box!

2012-01-19T06:00:00.000-05:00

I feel like a kid Christmas morning! I am so excited to share with you guys something that I have been working on for a while now. The Gingered Whisk now has a totally sweet new Recipe Box! You can now find all my recipes in one easy place. And not only that, you can search, print, email, and share them, too! Want a tour? Good, cuz you are so getting one!

The first thing you will see when you click on the new "Recipe Box" tab is this:

It will show you a slideshow of featured recipes. Right now, to celebrate, I am showcasing my absolute favorite recipes that I have made. I can change this feature however often I want, say if I want to feature soups and stews on a cold day, or cookies for Christmas, that kind of thing.

The next thing you will see are thumbnails to the last four recipes that I have posted.

There is also a new handy-dandy search feature, where you can type in any ingredient or keyword that you want and search through all the recipes I have posted.

You can also browse by category, if you aren't sure what you want. Browse by course, dietary considerations, ingredients, seasons, or special occasions.

Or, if you want to take the scenic route, you can browse through all the recipes alphabetically.

And lastly, (this is totally my favorite part!!) when you decide to check out a particular recipe, a cool new page will open up that gives you a nice print out of the recipe, including a picture, and the ability to email, text it, pin it, tweet it, or share it on facebook!

I hope you guys love this as much as I do!! Please let me know if you find any glaring mistakes (like if I wrote a recipe makes 1200 dozen cookies, or if I couldn't even spell my name right, haha.

And for all you bloggers out there, I highly recommend you check out Recipages! It's totally free, and totally awesome!!

Soft Gingersnap Cookies with White Chocolate Chips

2012-01-16T12:50:00.001-05:00

I swear I had a better photo of these, but I cannot for the life of me find it!

I know, I'm posting a cookie recipe in the middle of January. Most of you probably don't think you are ready for another batch of cookies, what with your diets, light meals, and super healthy smoothie breakfasts. But I hope you are remembering to diet and exercise with a little bit of moderation, and that means indulging just a little bit. And I think these cookies are special enough for you to make right now. They are super soft, with just the right amount of spice, and the white chocolate chips are the perfect addition.

Cooking with toddlers can be messy! Lesson learned:
Keep an eye on all ingredients, and maybe push them back a little further!

These cookies are also fairly easy to make. Which is important since I have decided that Ladybug is old enough to start helping me just a tiny bit in the kitchen. She's been making the sign for cookie non-stop since Christmas (I still can't get her to actually say cookie, she just shakes her head "no" when I ask her to use her words. brat.), and its so cute that I have to indulge her just a tiny bit. We have been using our Learning Tower a ton these days, and Ladybug's new favorite thing is to help cook. These cookies were the first ever that she has helped me bake. She got to help measure, pour, mix, roll, and of course eat! It was totally a messy experience, but it was so full of smiles, laughter, joy and proudness (on both our parts) that it was entirely worth the clean-up. And you can see the all the cookies are lumpy and mis-shappen and odd sizes, but I love them and the chubby little fingers that made them!

Soft Gingersnap Cookies with White Chocolate Chips (Two Peas and their Pod)

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
2 TBSP canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 1/4 tsp ground ginger
2 large eggs
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
1 cup sugar for rolling the balls

Preheat your oven to 350 F.
Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or a Sil-Pat and set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy.
Beat in the molasses, canola oil, vanilla, baking soda, salt, and the spices, mixing until well combined.
Add the eggs one at a time, and beat until smooth.
Slowly add in the flour.
Stir in the white chocolate chunks.
Scoop the dough into balls and roll in the sugar to coat.
Place on the lined baking sheets, about two inches apart.
Bake for 10 minutes (the cookies will still be soft).
Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for five minutes.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool the rest of the way.

Stovetop Chicken Lasagna Stew

2012-01-10T20:02:00.002-05:00

If it were up to me, I would never ever watch what I ate. Not that I would sit in front of the TV all night and consume an entire container of cheesy puffs, but I just don't want to think about what I am eating. I want to eat fresh, healthy, delicious meals without having to worry about calories, fat content, carbohydrates and sodium levels. I just want to eat and enjoy it.

And now-a-days its hard to know what to eat. One minute eggs are bad for you, the next they are good for you. Dark chocolate is good for you, but only if you eat one tiny piece every day. Over-processed foods are bad and full of chemicals, but raw foods can be tainted with germs! Whole milk clogs your arteries and skim milk actually makes you fat. And worst of all, think about how many sticks of butter you actually ate over the holiday season!!!

AHH!! Just stop already! I've decided what my New Years Resolution is going to be. It isn't going to be to diet, and it isn't going to be to not-diet, either. From now on, I am going to eat what I want, when I want. If I go to a party and snack all night, I'm not going to feel bad about it. And I'm not going to eat salads the whole next day, either. I'm going to eat as many fresh and unprocessed foods as I can and not worry about the rest of it. And I'll take a second cupcake, thank you very much.

This meal is perfect for me, and I think you will like it, too. It comes from the American Heart Association Low-Calorie Cookbook, and its filled with fresh vegetables and guess what? Not only is it low calorie, low sodium, low-fat, and only 9 Weight Watchers Plus Points, but it has cheese! Like, lots of cheese! You honestly cannot tell that this creamy, cheesy, pasta-y bowl of deliciousness is actually good for you!

Stovetop Chicken Lasagna Stew (American Heart Association Low- Calorie Cookbook, 2003. page 122.)

Yield: 4 servings - 1.5 cups per serving. Each serving is 9 Weight Watchers Points Plus

1 lb Boneless, skinless chicken breast or turkey breast
1 tsp vegetable oil
8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 cups shredded carrots
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
3 cups water
14.5 ounce can of no-salt added tomatoes, undrained
8-ounce can of no-salt added tomato sauce
1 tsp salt free Italian seasoning
1 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/8 tsp black pepper
4 dried lasagna noodes or 6 dried no-boil lasagna noodles, broken into 1" pieces
3/4 cu[ fat free ricotta cheese
1/4 cup + 2 TBSP shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
1 TBSP + 1 tsp grated Parmesan cheese

Cut the chicken into 3/4" cubes.
Heat a non-stick dutch oven over medium-high heat, add the oil and swirl the pan to coat the bottom.
Cook the chicken 3-4 minutes, or until browned and almost cooked through, stirring occasionally.
Stir in the mushrooms, carrots, onion, and garlic.
Cook for 4-5 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.
Stir in the water, tomatoes, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, basil, salt, red pepper flakes and pepper.
Simmer for 5 minutes.
Stir in the pasta.
Simmer for about 20 minutes, uncovered, or until the noodles are tender, stirring occasionally.
To serve, spoon the stew into a shallow bowl. Top each portion with 3 TBSP ricotta, 2 TBSP mozzarella, and 1 tsp Parmesan.
Enjoy!

Cheesy Potato Casserole

2012-01-06T13:39:00.000-05:00

Has the New Year's Cleaning/Organizing bug bit you as bad as it bit me? I can't seem to stop! All I want to do is move stuff around, re-decorate, re-shift, and down-size. It doesn't help that in addition to wanting to make things both look and feel cleaner, I am really ready to move already!

Isn't that horrible? I mean, we have been here only 7 months and I am already wanting to look for someplace new. Yes, where we live is beautiful, and it has tons of natural lighting (when the sun is out!) and we have good friends who live in the same building/complex as us. But walking the dogs in the winter SUCKS! It's really cold out there. And I am not a fan of bundling not only myself up, but Ladybug as well just to take Peanut outside so he can sniff the air for five minutes and then decide he doesn't really have to go after-all. Please insert backyard here!!

We still have 4 months left on this lease before we can move out, but I am definitely going to start looking around. Especially since finding a place to rent the first time was such a debacle. So for now I'm entertaining myself with reorganizing every room and cabinet that I can. Don't tell Joel, but I already spent the better part of this morning completely rearranging the kitchen! He hates when I do that (it might happen more often than you think...) because he can never find anything! But I didn't move anything he uses! The forks, plates, and cups are exactly where he left them. It's all the other stuff - the pie plates, the covered baking dishes, the cookie cutters. All that stuff, all my stuff, is in a new area! I have a lot more counter space now!

Speaking of New Year's bugs, I hope you weren't really planning on sticking to that diet. I have a whole slew of awesome things that I should have posted before Christmas - cookies and casseroles and awesome dishes that you probably would have enjoyed for Christmas. It just didn't happen that way, so you get all of this deliciousness now! This is my Aunt Sharon's Cheesy Potato Casserole, and it is a staple at holiday meals. Easter, Christmas, or any fancy dinner in between, we always feature this dish whenever we can. It is creamy, cheesy, and so delicious!

Cheesy Potato Casserole (Aunt Sharon)
2 lb. frozen hashbrowns (the square kind)
1/2 cup white onion, chopped
1 can cream of chicken soup
2+ cups shredded cheddar cheese
8 ounces sour cream
4 tablespoons butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients (except butter) together until well combined.
Pour the casserole into the dish and spread evenly in the pan.
Dot the top of the casserole with pads of butter.
Bake for 35 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.
Enjoy!

Mega Chocolate Sourdough Brownies

2012-01-02T19:55:00.004-05:00

I hope you haven't noticed that I haven't been as active as I usually am. I've been hoping that you haven't really noticed, but I've become obsessed with something lately, and it seems to have taken up every second of my free time lately. I wasn't going to say anything and just surprise you with it (yeah, its just for you!) but I realized its going to take quite a bit more time than I thought it would. So things might slow down a little bit here. Not for lack of recipes, because truthfully they are piling up over here. But I can only do so much work at a computer each day, and I'm sooo excited for what's coming!!! (Two weeks. I think it might take me two weeks. Unless I had an intern, who would be willing to do some mundane data entry for a batch of these brownies. Any takers? :) ) And I totally just gave you a clue!

These brownies hit me like a tidal wave. They have been in the background of my mind since I first saw them a few months ago, but suddenly I had to make them this very second. And oooooh buddy, you need to make them this very second, too. First of all, they are probably the best brownies I have ever eaten. In fact, it might not be a good idea for me to be home alone with this whole pan tonight... Joel took one bite and backed away, waving a white flag. He said if he ate any more he would eat the whole pan right there.

These brownies are rich, super fudgey, and melt in your mouth delicious. They are also made with your sourdough starter, which in my mind instantly makes anything that much cooler. The sourdough doesn't lend its typical sour tang here, but instead helps to cut the sweetness while upping the richness. If you have been debating whether to get off your but and make a starter, let this be your inspiration!

Mega Chocolate Sourdough Brownies (Wild Yeast)

300 g bittersweet chocolate, chopped
226 grams unsalted butter, cut into pieces (that's pretty much 2 sticks)
200 grams sugar
6 grams (1 tsp) salt
8.4 grams (2 tsp) vanilla extract
3 whole eggs, room temperature
40 grams cocoa powder
220 grams mature 100% hydration sourdough starter

Preheat oven to 325 F
Line a metal 9x13 pan with parchment paper and coat the paper in butter (if you leave some hanging over the long 13" edges, it makes it really easy to lift the brownies out of the pan!).
In a double broiler, saucepan, or the microwave, melt the chocolate and butter. Stir it often so it does not burn.
Pour the melted chocolate/butter into a large bowl.
Whisk in the sugar, salt and vanilla.
Add the eggs one at a time, whisking to combine each addition.
Sift the cocoa powder over the chocolate and stir to combine.
Add the starter and stir gently until it is completely incorporated.
Turn the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool in the pan 20 minutes (this is the hardest part), lift the parchment paper out and allow to cool the rest of the way on a wire rack.
When cool completely, cut into squares and enjoy!

2011 - A Year in Review

2011-12-29T19:36:00.001-05:00

I thought it would be fun to review the top posts from 2011, in pictures! So here goes!

January -

Cassoulet

Honey Mustard Pretzel-Coated Chicken Tenders

February -

Baked Chicken with Sun Dried Tomato Sauce!

Spiced Pork Chops with Pineapple Salsa

March -

The Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls.

Dijo n Roasted Potatoes

April -

Butterbeer Cake!

Monster Cookies

May -

baby food!

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

June -

Chipotle Pork Tacos

Chicken Salad

July -

Jaeger Shnitzel and Spaetzle

World Peace Chocolate Cookies

August -

Coconut Quinoa Pancakes

Plum Torte

September

Croissants

Chicken with Tomato-Herb Pan Sauce and Polenta

October -

Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars

Povitica -

November -

Sourdough Cookies

Cranberry Orange Muffins

December -

Breaded Pork Tenderloin

Earl Grey Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream

It's been such a great year this year! There have been so many changes, not only in my personal life, but here on the Gingered Whisk as well! And next year promises to be even better - I already have a few awesome things cooking up for you!!

The Daring Bakers Make Sourdough!!

2011-12-27T06:30:00.000-05:00

Our Daring Bakers Host for December 2011 was Jessica of My Recipe Project and she showed us how fun it is to create Sour Dough bread in our own kitchens! She provided us with Sour Dough recipes from Bread Matters by AndrewWhitley as well as delicious recipes to use our Sour Dough bread in from Tonia George’s Things on Toast and Canteen’s Great British Food!

When I saw this month's challenge I laughed with glee! Yay, I love sourdough!! But the more I thought about it, the more I felt like this wasn't going to be a huge challenge for me - I already have my starter, and baking a loaf of bread isn't a big challenge for me anymore. I gave it a lot of thought and decided that I wanted to keep to the spirit of the sourdough challenge, but I needed to make it a challenge for me.

What I decided to do was to convert my 100% hydration starter into a 50% hydration starter (YAY MATH!) and to bake something that would actually be a challenge for me. A sourdough based biscotti!

I've been wanting to try my hand at biscotti for a while, now, and I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity. See, sourdough by nature is a very "wet" dough, which is what helps to give it that chewy and air filled texture. Biscotti, on the other hand, needs to be a dry dough - if its too wet, it won't dry out the way biscotti needs to.

I decided to use Susan's (from Wild Yeast) recipe for Ginger Pecan Sourdough Biscotti, but I changed the flavors from ginger and pecan to cherry and almond instead. I really liked how this biscotti turned out! The flavors were great, and there was the perfect balance between chewy and crunchy! I will definitely be making these again, and I hope you make them, too!

How to Change a Liquid (100%) Starter to a Stiff (50%) Starter:
For a stiff starter you need a starter:flour: water ratio of 1:2:1. Meaning, you need to add twice as much flour as you have water and starter.

It became known on the Daring Bakers forums that everyone had named their starters. I can't believe I hadn't thought of this! Everything else in my house is named! Our GPS is Lola, my mixer is Julia, our flashlight is Igor. So, I would like to introduce you to Felix, my starter!

The best way to do this is to start with a very small amount of your liquid starter, 10 grams to be exact!
To this, add 20 grams of flour and 10 grams of water.
Loosely cover and allow to sit on your counter.
Every 12 hours, feed it the new ratio of 2 parts flour and 1 part water.
After a few days your new stiff starter will be ready to go!

(this math is brought to you by Susan from Wild Yeast, who is a sourdough GODDESS.

I really hope that my fellow Daring Bakers (and non-Daring Bakers) decide to keep their sourdough starter for at least a little while longer. There are so many things that you can do with a starter besides bread! Check out the Wild Yeast blog and Fresh Loaf for some inspiration, and while you are at it, check out what I have done, too!

Cherry Almond Sourdough Biscotti (adapted from Wild Yeast)

Yield: 16 biscotti

180 grams flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground cardamom
3/4 tsp salt
zest from 1 small lemon
135 grams of 50% hydration sourdough starter
2 large eggs
2 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
150 grams brown sugar
57 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
125 grams almond slivers, chopped
125 grams dried cherries, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the flour, cinnamon, cardamom, lemon zest, starter, eggs, and vanilla.
Mix on low speed until the ingredients are well combined. The dough will be very stiff at this point.
Continue mixing on low speed until the gluten is beginning to develop, about 4 minutes.
Add the sugar, in 4 or 5 increments, mixing for about 2 minutes after each addition. The dough is going to become considerably looser as you add the sugar.
Add the butter and mix until it is completely incorporated.
Add the cherries and almonds, and mix on low speed until they are incorporated.
Form the dough into a "log" about 10-12 inches long and as compact in width as you can make it (the dough will spread).
Bake for about 35 minutes, or until the dough is firm but not hard.
Remove the bread to a cutting board and slice into 3/4" slices.
Turn the oven down to 250F.
Stand the biscotti up on the parchment paper-lined baking sheet and return to the oven for an additional 40-50 minutes, or until the biscotti is dry.
Cool on a wire rack.

I am submitting this biscotti for Yeastspotting, an amazing resource and catalog of all things baked with yeast!

Breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwich

2011-12-26T07:00:00.000-05:00

Hello my dear friends! I hope you all had a beautiful Christmas yesterday with family and friends, that you laughed until your heart was full and you ate until your stomach was.

Today is Secret Recipe Club day and I am so excited to reveal the blog that I was assigned - la bella vita. This is a beautiful blog by a beautiful woman with a beautiful soul, who shares her life through beautiful photos, recipes, and stories. If you can't tell, I truly enjoyed having this blog this month - the pages of this blog are filled with so much inspiration, as well as tales from traveling and gardening. One of the things I took away from her blog is the reminder to stop "doing" things and instead "see" and "experience" them. I try to remember this every day in my life, to remember that every day itself is a gift that we have been given, and what is important at the end of the day is not the money we made, or the things crossed off our "to-do" list, but the memories. Roz also said that one of her goals in life is to live life more fully, passionately, soulfully, purposefully, and with a stronger connection to and in celebration of the riches of life (she said the Italian way of life, but I think it fits everyone). I think we all need to remember to do this in our lives! I hope that you all take a moment to go over and visit Roz and her beautiful blog!

When I found out that Roz was Italian, and had a plethora of amazing and authentic Italian recipes, I knew I really wanted to do something to pay homage to that. That's not what happened, though. You see, as I continued to read and delve deeper into Roz's blog, I found IT. THE sandwich of my childhood, the one that I constantly crave, and always remember so fondly - the breaded pork tenderloin.

I remember eating this sandwich as a child, most notably at the Iowa State Fair, where they served the most delicious breaded pork tenderloin I have ever had - piping hot, super thin, and bigger than your whole head. My Grandfather often teased me that a girl as tiny as I was would never be able to finish a sandwich that large. And he was right, of course, but that never stopped me from doing my best to try. So when I saw this sandwich, I knew instantly that this was what I would be making this month!

As Roz states, there are three hard and fast cardinal rules about the breaded pork tenderloin sandwich:
1. It must HUGE, at least twice the size of the bun.
2. It must be a super thin and tenderized portion of tenderloin, no other cut of meat will do!
3. Pickles and Mustard. That's it.

I'm kind of sad to say that I broke ALL THREE of these rules! I know, I can't believe it either! I am pretty sure my "Iowa" card is going to be revoked now. But I have excuses, does that make it better? Rules #1 and #2 were broken because the only pork tenderloin I could find here were in small bags and pre-marinated in lemon pepper sauce. That would not do at all, so I decided to buy some thick pork chops and tenderized the CRAP out of them! I got them pretty thin, but they weren't nearly half as big as they should have been. Rule #3 was broken because I really detest mustard. But I did eat it with a pickle!!

This recipe is so easy to prepare, and SO DELCIOUS!!! I hope that you make this soon (as soon as you have recovered from all the Christmas cookies, fudge, and egg nog you have consumed this week). This recipe made 4 sandwiches, but again they were made with the wrong cuts of meat, so it stretched it a bit further.

THE Breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwich (la bella vita)

Wet Batter:
1 cup whole milk
2 eggs
garlic powder to taste (just sprinkle some in there)
a few shakes of paprika

Breading:
1 cup panko
1 cup super-fine crushed saltine crackers
1 cup flour

Prepare the wet batter and pour into a glass 9x13 baking dish (with a lid).
Tenderize the pork tenderloins (beat the crap out of them, you want them super thin!).
Place the pork chops into the batter, turning to coat, and place in the fridge to marinate for AT LEAST 8 hours (and up to overnight). Do not short change it here!

The next day, combine the breading in a cake pan or pasta dish.
Remove each tenderloin from the marinade and place in the dry breading, lightly pressing the coating into it.
Dip the tenderloin back into the marinade and turn to coat.
Coat the tenderloin with another coating of breading.

Place a large dutch oven or cast iron skillet on the stovetop and cover the bottom with canola oil.
Heat until 350 degrees (the oil needs to be HOT).
Fry for three minutes on each side, or until nice and golden brown.
Place on a bun with pickle and mustard and ENJOY!!

Here is what else the Secret Recipe Club made this month!

Fresh Cranberry and Candied Ginger Scones

2011-12-20T08:42:00.000-05:00

The countdown has begun!! Christmas is, literally, just around the corner! Are your presents all wrapped (and bought?), cookies being made, stockings hung and meals being planned? This is such a busy time of the year, even if you don't have a ton of parties to go to, or even host. It seems like every time I check one thing off of my "To Do" list, I think of about three more things I need to add on there!

I am glad to say that all our presents are wrapped and under the tree. I have started making cookies (recipes to come, probably in the New Year). I really want to make these awesome double chocolate candy cane cookies I found at Love from the Oven, but wouldn't you know it that every time I go to the store these last few days (which, admittedly, has been every day) I keep forgetting to buy candy canes! Dang it! I'm sure I will go to the store again, so hopefully I can remember to get everything next time!

I think the inside of a cranberry is the coolest and weirdest thing I have seen in a long time! They look like little hearts, don't they? An anatomical heart, not a Valentine.

What are your plans for Christmas this year? Are you having a big family get together or keeping it small? I am happy to say that my In-laws are coming into town in on Friday, and we are eagerly anticipating getting to spend some time with family! I think I might be going a little over board on the food (and baking more cookies than 4.5 people could possibly eat), but I am just so excited!!

These scones would be perfect for right now. The juicy cranberries and spicy candied ginger are not only wonderfully seasonal, but they pair perfectly together. They are also fairly easy to put together (I always seem to have trouble with scones for some reason), and I think you would be very happy if you could find time to make them this week! Either as a relaxing treat for you (sit down with a scone and a cup of tea for a little bit!) or even as a special breakfast for family this week.

Fresh Cranberry and Candied Ginger Scones (Joy the Baker)
Yield: 6 scones

2 cups flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into cubes and chilled
1 heaping cup of coarsely chopped cranberries
1/2 cup coarsley chopped candied ginger
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy cream, cold
extra cream and sugar for sprinkling on top

Preheat your oven to 375.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
Add the cold butter and quickly work the butter into the flour mixture until the butter is about the size of peas.
Toss in the cranberries and ginger and set the bowl in the fridge for a minute.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the cream, egg, and vanilla extract.
Add the cream mixture all at once to the flour/butter mixture and stir as quickly as you can with as few strokes as you can to fully incorporate everything together.
Dump the shaggy mass out onto a floured surface and work together, kneading lightly, into a 1 1/2 inch thick disk.
Cut the disk into 6 wedges.
Place the wedges 2 inches apart on the baking sheet, brush with a bit of cream and sprinkle some sugar on top.
Bake for 15 minutes until just cooked through.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before serving warm.

These are best the day they are baked, but can be stored for 3 days if well wrapped.

Tuscan Garlic Chicken

2011-12-18T06:00:00.000-05:00

There has been an epic battle at my house these last few weeks. I know, it's terrible! With Santa watching and everything! But it can't be helped. Lines have been drawn. Blood has been shed (ok, not really, but there has been screaming and fighting involved). What am I talking about, you wonder?

This little guy right here, is causing massive problems. See, this was Ladybug's teddy. But Teddy has now been claimed. Teddy is now Peanut's property, and Ladybug is not happy about it. But there is nothing that can be done. Once claimed, there can't be any un-claiming.

Really, he is just too cute. Peanut takes his Teddy everywhere with him. And I mean everywhere. He takes a nap with teddy, he walks around the house with Teddy, he even lets Teddy have his fair share of dinner. It's just too cute.

To console dear Ladybug on the loss of her Teddy (no fear, we have plenty of replacements) we made this delicious Tuscan Garlic Chicken - we all really enjoyed it! It might just be me, but the making of this recipe completely destroyed my kitchen. It was probably just me. And the "help" of a 17 month old, two dogs chasing her through the kitchen trying to take the ball from her, a sleepy husband coming and standing in the middle of the kitchen in his robe, and the fact that I dropped like 6 saucy spoons all over the place. Bah. However, the taste was completely redeeming, the garlic, the red pepprers, the spinach, and the creamy cheesy sauce!

Tuscan Garlic Chicken (Slightly Modified from Fried Ice and Donut Holes)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1 lb boneless skineless chicken breasts
3 Tbsp olive oil, divided
5-7 garlic cloves, minced
1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
6 ounces fresh spinach
1 1/2 cups half and half
4 tsp cornstarch
1 cup milk
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 lb spaghetti, fettuccini or linguine

Preheat your oven to 350.
In a shallow dish or pie plate, mix together the flour, salt, pepper, basil, and prgano.
Coat each chicken breast in the flour mixture until both sides are wlel coated.

In a large skillet, heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil over medium-high heat.
Cook each chicken breasts 2-3 minutes per side, until slightly golden brown but not cooed through.
Remove the chicken from the skillet and place on a baking sheet lined with foil.
Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until the chicken is done.

While the chicken is cooking, set a large pot of water on to boil, and cook your pasta.

Wipe out the skillet you used to cook the chicken.
Return the pan to medium heat and add the remaining 1 TBSP of olive oil/
When the oil is hot, sautee the garlic and bell pepper for 2-3 minutes, stirring ocassionally.
Stir in 1 TBSP of flour into the pan and stir constantly for 1 minute.
Add the chicken broth to the pan and bring the mixture to a low simmer, whisking constantly, until slightly thickened - about 3-4 minutes.
In a small liquid measuring cup, whisk together the cornstarch and cream.
Add the cream, milk, and spinach to the skillet.
Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the spinach is wilted and the sauce is slightly thickened, about 2-4 minutes.
Stir in the parmesan cheese.

When the pasta has finished cooking, drain and return it to the pot.
Toss the pasta with half of the cheese sauce.
Place some of the pasta on each plate, top with the chicken breasts and spoon some of the sauce over top.
Enjoy!

Broccoli Cheese Soup

2011-12-16T06:30:00.000-05:00

I've never really had any interest in broccoli cheese soup before. To me it just looked like hunks of over-blanched broccoli swimming in artery clogging melted cheese. It just did not seem appetizing to me. But one night a few weeks back Joel came home from work with a request - his supervisor wanted a good, mostly healthy broccoli cheese soup.

At first, I didn't really think much of it. And, to be honest, I wasn't really going to search too hard for one, either. But then a thought came to me...If I can give her a good soup recipe, maybe one night Joel can come home in time for dinner, in time to actually see his daughter that day?

So I started searching, and searching, and getting really dishearted. Either the recipes were sooo not healthy, or they included things like Lite Velveeta Cheese Product (which, what even is that, anyway? Not going in my grocery cart, that's for sure!). I got disheartened. I kind of gave up. It couldn't be done.

And then one day I was "organizing" my massive pile of magazine clippings and scraps of paper with recipes written on them and LO AND BEHOLD! Guess what I found?! A Healthy Broccoli Cheese Soup! The recipe was made by Cook's Illustrated, with a whole story on how they perfected it - not too much cheese, lots of great flavor, high impact color!

And it's official, I've become a convert! This soup was great - it had a lovely flavor, with just the perfect amount of cheese! And the color! Oh man, green pops on your plate (its a secret ingredient! Guess? Give up? Spinach!!) Oh, and in case you are wondering - yes, I know the soup is thick. You don't have to make yours this thick, but remember, I'm teaching a toddler to eat soup. With a spoon. It's hard work, and messy, and we need as thick a soup as possible!

Broccoli Cheese Soup (Cook's Illustrated, March/April 2011)

2 TBSP unsalted butter
2 pounds broccoli, florets roughly chopped into 1" pieces, stems trimmed, peeled and cut into 1/4" pieces
1 medium onion, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tsp dry mustard
pinch cayenne pepper
3-4 cups wanter
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
2 ounces baby spinach (2 cups loosely packed)
3 ounces sharp cheddar cheese (about 3/4 cup)
1 1/2 ounces Parmesan cheese (about 3/4 cup) plus extra for serving
salt and pepper, to taste

In a large dutch oven, melt the butter over medium-high heat.
Sautee the broccoli, onion, garlic, dry mustard, cayenne, and 1 tsp salt, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, about 6 minutes.
Add 1 cup of water and the baking soda.
Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook until the broccoli is very soft, about 20 minutes, stirring only once!
Add the broth and 2 cups of water and increase the heat to medium-high.
When the mixture begins to simmer, stir in the spinach and cook until wilted, about 1 minute.
Transfer half of the soup to a blender, add the cheddar and parmesan cheese, and blend until smooth.
Transfer the soup in the blender to a bowl, and blend the remaining soup.
Transfer all of the soup back to the dutch-oven and simmer over medium-high heat.
Adjust the consistency of the soup by adding up to 1 cup of water, depending on what you like.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Enjoy!

The Daring Cooks Make Char Sui and Char Sui Bao

2011-12-14T06:30:00.000-05:00

Our Daring Cooks’ December 2011 hostess is Sara from Belly Rumbles! Sara chose awesome Char Sui Bao as our challenge, where we made the buns, Char Sui, and filling from scratch – delicious!

Today's post is going to be short and sweet. To be honest, I don't think this cold is ever going to go away. I'm so tired of coughing. But that's not why this post is going to be short. No, you see, the reason I'm not going to ramble on today is this - Ladybug is in bed. My DVR is empty. Facebook has been sufficiently stalked. I'm taking this evening as mine, and I'm going to take a shower!! And then curl up in bed and read a book!

I was excited when I saw this month's challenge. I had never heard of either Char Sui or Char Sui Bao. Both dishes were very easy to prepare, and turned out really great! After a day of marinading, you just bake the pork and get it all nice and chared (you can also BBQ it, if you happen to be cool enough to have a grill). I was really surprised and pleased with the taste - slightly spicy and slightly sweet! We loved it! The next day we used the leftovers for the Char Sui Bao. At first I wasn't so sure about the dough, it didn't seem to be coming together as smoothly as I wanted it to. But after a nice rest in the laundry room (the only warm spot in the house) the little buns came together beautifully! Overall, I am really pleased with this meal (both of them, actually!) They were fairly easy to prepare and we all really enjoyed them!

Char Sui (Cantonese BBQ Pork)

Ingredients

1 teaspoon (6 gm) salt
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon (3 gm) ground white pepper
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons (30 gm/1 oz) sugar
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon shaoxing cooking wine
1 teaspoon (3 gm) five spice
(1 tablespoon=15 ml, 1 teaspoon=5 ml)

Directions:

Trim the pork loin to remove fat and tendon and slice lengthways so you have two long pieces, then cut in half. Place in container that you will be marinating them in.
Combine all the other ingredients in a bowl and mix well to combine.
Cover pork well with ⅔ of the marinade mixture. Marinate for a minimum of 4 hours, I find it is best left to marinate overnight. Place the reserved ⅓ portion of the marinade covered in the fridge. You will use this as a baste when cooking the pork.
Pre-heat oven to moderate 180˚C/350°F/gas mark 4.
Cover a baking tray with foil or baking paper. Place on top of this a rack on which to cook the pork.
Place pork in a hot frying pan or wok. Sear it quickly so it is well browned
Remove from pan/wok and place pork on the rack and place in oven.
Bake for approximately 15 minutes, basting and turning until cooked through.

Baked Char Sui Bao (Cantonese BBQ Pork Bun) Servings: 12

Filling Ingredients

350 gm (12 oz) char sui (finely diced)
2 green onions/spring onions (finely sliced)
1 tablespoon hoisin
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
¼ cup (60 ml) chicken stock
1 teaspoon (2 gm) cornflour
½ tablespoon vegetable oil
(1 tablespoon=15 ml, 1 teaspoon=5 ml)

Dough Ingredients

2½ teaspoons (8 gm/1 satchel) of dried yeast
¼ cup (55 gm/2 oz) sugar
½ cup warm water
2 cups (280 gm/10 oz) plain flour
1 egg (medium size - slightly beaten)
3 tablespoons oil
½ teaspoon (3 gm) salt
Egg wash: 1 egg beaten with a dash of water
(1 cup=240 ml, 1 tablespoon=15 ml, 1 teaspoon=5 ml)

Filling Directions:

Heat the vegetable oil in a wok or pan.
Add diced char sui to the wok/pan and stir then add spring onions, cook for 1 minute.
Add hoisin, dark soy sauce and sesame oil to the pork mixture, stir fry for one minute.
Mix cornflour and stock together and then add to the pork mixture.
Stir well and keep cooking until the mixture thickens, 1 or 2 minutes.
Remove mixture from wok/pan and place in a bowl to cool. Set aside until ready to use.

Bun Directions:

Place the sugar and warm water in a bowl, mix until the sugar has dissolved. Add yeast and leave it for 10 - 15 minutes until it becomes all frothy.
Sift flour in to a large bowl.
Add yeast mixture, egg, oil and salt and stir. Bring the flour mixture together with your hands.
Place dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for approximately 10 minutes. The dough should be smooth and slightly elastic.
Place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Leave to rise until it is double in size. This will take from 1 - 2 hours depending on weather conditions.
Once dough has doubled in size knock back and divide in to 12 portions and shape in to round balls.
Use a rolling pin to roll out to approximately 5cm (2 inches) in diameter. Then pick the piece of dough up and gently pull the edges to enlarge to about 8cm (3 inches) in diameter.By doing this it keeps the dough slightly thicker in the centre. This means when your buns are cooking they won't split on the tops.
Place a good sized tablespoon of filling on the dough circle. Then gather the edges and seal your bun.
Place the bun seal side down on your baking tray. Continue with rest of dough.
Once all buns are complete brush surface with egg wash.
Place in a preheated oven of 200º C/392º F for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Storage & Freezing Instructions/Tips:

The baked char sui bao freezes very well. All you need to do is take them out of the freezer and place in the over to warm. The steamed ones should freeze okay as well. To warm them place in microwave for about 30 seconds until warm and defrosted.

Sourdough Banana Bread and Giving Gifts

2011-12-11T06:00:00.000-05:00

This post started out entirely different than what it has turned into. At first, I began compiling a list of awesome gifts for you to ask for or give to those you love - everything from the best cookie sheets and spatulas to fun sprinkles and herb mixes. I was going to have links and pictures and all kinds of goodies. But then I was reminded of something more important.

We really tend to get caught up in "stuff", especially this time of year. Making your list and checking it twice - what do I want, what am I going to get my brother, I have to find the cutest wrapping paper and the best deals! But when it comes down to it, this is meaningless. Yes, you will like your gifts and your mom will love that necklace you bought her, but these are still just things.

This is the season for giving gifts, but we often forget what the real gift should be. This season is about love, people. God loved us so much that he sacrificed his only child for us (can you imagine that?! Your ONLY child! Take a second to think about how you would feel if you gave up your child?! I'm heart-wrenched just thinking about it!). In turn, Jesus himself loved us so much that he willingly sacrificed himself, he died, for us! Those are big gifts. That's bigger than any Barbie Penthouse that Mattel can make.

Even if you don't believe in God, or you aren't sure about the whole "religion thing", you should believe in love, because love is true. I'm not just talking about finding your soul mate here. Think of your Mom, your sister, your cousins and aunts, your BFF from first grade, your dog. The lady down the street who always smiles at you, the mailman who always takes the extra second to bring that box to your door. Love is real, and it surrounds you everyday. Are you willing to give the gift of love?

There are so many people who are in need, and not just this time of year. So please, instead of focusing on going to the mall and getting that perfect present, think about what gift you can truly give this year?

Heifer International is a wonderful organization that helps people around the world who struggle to feed their families. By giving the gift of a chicken, rabbits, a goat, or even a cow, you will give a family the ability change the future of their lives. It's simple. You give $20 and buy a family a flock of ducks. The family learns to care for the ducks, gains vital protein into their diets, they can also begin to sell feathers, meat and eggs, their ducks help to fertilize and remove bugs from their crops. You could change a family's entire way of life.
World Vision is another great organization where you can buy gifts that include livestock, clothing, food, water and shelter for children and families around the world. Is your mom a teacher? Why don't you outfit an entire classroom in Africa in her name? Is your uncle a businessman? Why not help to fund a microloan so someone with a dream can become an entrepreneur and feed his family?
Help someone in need right in your neighborhood. Maybe they just need a meal, or a gallon of milk, or a pack of diapers. Ask your local pastor, your neighbor. One way or another, you will find a family in need.
Help out your own child's school. Ask your son's art, music, or science teacher what new materials they could use for their classroom. Donate some new toys or books to your daycare, or better yet, a daycare in a lower income area.
Have your kids help you buy presents for babies and children that are homeless. Or who are very sick, maybe even dying, at the hospital. And while you are there, ask any parents you see if you can bring them some lunch, a cup of coffee, anything they might need.

If you can't afford to really give something away, think about where you can give the gift of your time, your presence.

Go to a homeless shelter or food bank and help cook dinner. Then sit and eat and talk with the people who are spending the night there.
Go to a holiday party at a home for mentally handicapped adults. Many of these people have been abandoned by their own families, because they are different and require extra attention. But some of the most beautiful souls I have ever met have been mentally handicapped. Personally, I think they are a gift from God, because they get to keep their child-like innosence. They are love.
Volunteer at an animal shelter. Cuddle, walk, play, and brush. Maybe bring someone home with you. Animals have feelings, too, and if they are in a shelter I can guarantee they are lost and scared, and need a reassuring pat. In fact, I challenge you to seek out the ugliest, dirtiest, most hyper one you can find, because I bet that is the one no one else is paying any attention to.
Spend a few hours at a nursing home, play some cards, listen to some stories, hold someone's hand. Help feed someone. Nursing homes are often understaffed, and I know that growing old can be scary, but imagine if that were you, wheeled into the hallway to sit all day, by yourself? What if you no longer had the ability to feed yourself and had to wait for hours before it was your turn to have a nurse feed you?
Offer to babysit for a friend (for free) so they can go shopping by themselves, and maybe even take a shower (you have no idea how big of a gift that could be!).
Bake some cookies for someone, maybe for someone you don't even know.

The need is there. Do you have enough love to give?

This delicious sourdough banana bread is a new favorite. Not quite as cake like as some other banana breads can be, with also a bit more spice due to the lemon zest and ginger, its makes a great winter breakfast - especially warmed and slathered with butter!

Sourdough Banana Bread (Wild Yeast)

Yield: 2 Loaves

85 grams olive oil
85 grams butter, melted
300 grams brown sugar or honey
4 whole eggs, at room temperature
12 grams (1 Tablespoon) vanilla extract
grated lemon zest from 1 medium lemon
280 grams whole wheat flour
6 grams (1 teaspoon) salt
2.3 grams (1/2 teaspoon) baking soda
10.4 grams (1 Tablespoon) baking powder
3.8 grams (2 teaspoons) ground cinnamon
1.7 grams (1 teaspoon) ground ginger
475 grams mature 100% hydration sourdough starter
480 grams very ripe mashed bananas (about 4 medium bananas)
3/4 cup toasted chopped walnuts (I forgot to weigh this, sorry!)

Preheat your oven to 350.
Buter two metal loaf pans.
In the bowl of an electric mixer (paddle attachment), beat the oil, butter, and sugar (or honey) until smooth and combined.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each.
Add the vanilla and lemon zest and continue to beat on medium-high speed until the mixture lightens in color.
Add the sourdough starter and mix on low speed until it is almost fully incorporated, but there are still a few streaks left.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the whole wheat flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and ginger.
Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the mixer and mix until just barely combined.
Add half of the smashed banana and mix.
Repeat with the remaining dry ingredients and banana, alternating and mixing gently after each addition and end with the last of the flour.
Stir in the walnuts.
Pour into the prepared loaf pans and bake for 1 hour, or until a tester in the center comes out clean.
Cool for 30 minutes in the pan before taking the loaf out to cool in a wire rack.

Pumpkin Pie, from Scratch: A Tutorial

2011-12-10T06:30:00.000-05:00

I am so excited! Today I have my first ever guest post! One of my dearest friends Amy makes an incredible pumpkin pie from scratch, and I ~~asked~~, ~~begged~~, told her she had to share the recipe with you! She worked her tail off to write a super informative post for you guys! So, without further ado, here she is! (Everyone please leave her some comment love and let her know what an awesome job she did!)

- - - - -

Hi, my name is Amy, and Jenni is one of my very best friends. When we're together we are usually cooking, or eating, or talking about what food we want to eat next.

Okay, so most of my cooking doesn't use real specific measurements of ingredients but involves tasting and throwing in what ever I have on hand. Baking is a little different animal, and it changes with things like humidity levels and altitudes, but tends to follow instructions a little closer. When my amazing friend, Jenni, asked me to share my pumpkin pie from scratch recipe, I decided I'd have to wait til I made my pies this year so I could write down what I did. I usually tackle this project on two different days, one day to get the pumpkin ready and another day later that week to make it into pie. It's a fairly time consuming and messy process, so block a few hours out, grab your apron, and let's get started.

The Pumpkin

The first step is picking out your pumpkin, which you'll probably need to get around Halloween because they tend to disappear after that. I like to get the little pie pumpkins, but a large one will work too. One pie pumpkin gives you 2-3 cups of cooked pumpkin, and it freezes well. The big pumpkins make a lot more, depending on how big you get. It'll be easier to manage and fit in your oven to get several smaller pumpkins than to pick out Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin. I get more than I need so I can freeze some to make other things later, like bread and muffins.

Some folks like to cut their pumpkin up (after removing the seeds) and boil it until it can be mashed. I've made it that way, and it adds a LOT of water to your pumpkin pulp that you have to drain, and squeeze out, and drain again. I like to bake mine in the oven on cookie sheets. The little pie pumpkins are so tough they're almost impossible to cut when they aren't baked, so we'll bake them whole.

Adjust your oven racks and pre heat to 350°. Wash your pumpkin really well, and snap off its stem if you can. If you can't, it's okay.

While its still wet sit it on your cookie sheet and sprinkle salt on the out side. Two pumpkins can share a rimmed cookie sheet if they fit. Add 1/2 cup water to the bottom of it and pop them in the oven. If you have a big pumpkin, cut it in half and take out the seeds, then rub the outside with salt and sit it face down on a baking sheet. Add a half a cup of water to the bottom of it and put it in the oven.

Check on them after an hour, and poke a fork through the outer skin, when it goes in easily and comes out clean they're done.

Now out is time to cut your little pumpkin in half so it can cool and you can work on it. If you got a big one just turn it face up to cool. You can probably hear its juices boiling inside of it, and be very careful when you open it because that hot steam will escape and try to burn you. Cut it straight in half and let it sit facing up to cool.

Once it has cooled enough that you won't burn yourself, get a spoon and gently scrape out the seeds and stringy parts.

With that same spoon, scoop the pumpkin flesh out of its skin and put it in a mixing bowl. You'll be left with the outside shell to discard.

Use your potato masher to smash the pumpkin into shapeless pulp, and I usually measure it into 2 cups per zip lock bag to store or freeze. It'll keep in the fridge for about a week or in the freezer for about four months.

See pumpkin pie, part two The Crust, for the next step.

The Crust
Pie crusts are temperamental on the best of days, and can end in horrific disaster on the worse days. So I won't tell a soul if you buy one and move on to the filling stage. But if you're feeling adventurous, cinch on that apron and clear some counter space and off we'll go.

Ingredients:
2 cups of flour
1 tsp of salt
2/3 cup plus 2 Tbsp of crisco
and a few tbsp of ice water, enough to roll out your dough.

This will make 2 pie crusts. I put the flour, salt, and shortening in a mixing bowl, and using a fork and butter knife, cut into it until it looks crumbly, and you can kind of stick those crumbles together. If its too sticky add a few tbsp of flour.

You'll want to get it into a ball, and may need to add a tbsp of ice water at a time to get it sticky enough to do it. Divide the dough in half.
You'll roll it out on a floured surface, and I've actually found if you tape wax paper to your table, then flour and work over that you can transfer your crust more easily to the pie pan.

Roll your crust into a big circle, and you can hold your pie pan over it to make sure its big enough, even it out if you need to.

Now for the difficult part, transferring it into the pie pan. If I don't use the wax paper method, I flour a pancake flipper and work under the crust to get it free. I fold it in half, and in half again, lift it off the table and into its dish, and then unfold and pat it in place. It sounds much easier than it is, and it usually tears. Just squish and pat it together again until the bottom and sides of the dish are covered.
If you used wax paper, slide one hand under the wax paper crust and place your pie pan over your crust, and carefully lift up and flip it over. Then peel the paper off, and pat your crust into place. If you have a tear that won't stick back together, dip your finger in the ice water and glue it back in place, just like magic.

Then I trim the extra around the top away if there is any and pinch around the top edge of the crust to make it look like a ruffle.

Stick your crust in the fridge while we move onto the filling.

The Filling
Ingredients: (makes 1 pie)
2 cups of cooked pumpkin
3/4 cups white sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 can evaporated milk
1/4 cup 2% milk

I have a kitchen aide mixer, and I love it very much. You can also use a hand mixer for the filling.
Pre heat your oven to 375°.
Mix your pumpkin, sugar, spices, and salt together until well blended.
Add the eggs and mix them in but don't fluff.
Then add the canned and regular milk. It'll get kind of soupy, but that's okay.

Pour the mixture into your pie crust.

Very carefully sit your pie on the center rack in the oven, being especially careful not to slosh it over the sides of the crust.
Tear off a big square of foil and lay it over your pie.
Cook for 25 minutes, and then remove the foil.
After your pie has been in the oven an hour, reach in with your oven mitt and jiggle the pie pan a little. Is it still real wiggly? Check back in 10 minutes. If its firmer, closer to what you see around the edge of the pie, poke a sharp knife in the middle. If it comes put clean, that pie is done!

Cool it on a rack and I put mine in the fridge after its cool as it helps it set up quicker. It goes well with whipped cream!

Whipped cream
1 cup whipping cream
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp rum or vanilla extract
In a chilled mixing bowl, beat whipping cream, sugar, and extract with an electric mixer on med high speed until soft peaks form. Cover and chill until serving time.

Enjoy!

Cranberry Orange Cookies

2011-12-09T06:30:00.000-05:00

These cookies really need to be on your cookie tray this Christmas! Technically, I posted these last year, but I accidentally ate them all before I could take one photo. Opps...

So, it was only completely necessary that I make them again this year, and early to boot, so I could share them with you - and with pictures this time! I love how sandy and crumbly these cookies are. Plus orange + cranberry is always a win in my book!

We're still trying to survive the mega 3 week cold of nastiness over here. And with Joel still working nights (only one more week...onlyonemoreweek) and Ladybug still really wanting to run through the house screaming, and the fact that it is still raining...well, we needed some cookies.

Don't ask about that thing in my daughter's mouth.
I swear, we were so close to getting rid of it, and now she constantly has it!

What cookies are you planning on making for Christmas this year?

Cranberry Orange Cookies

1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped
3/4 cup butter
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 TBSP orange zest

1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp orange zest

Preheat oven to 350.
In a small bowl, combine 1/3 cup of sugar and 1 tsp orange zest. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
In a large bowl beat the remaining sugar, butter and egg until creamy.
Slowly add in the dry ingredients, until just barely combined.
Add in the cranberries and orange zest and mix.
Shape the dough into 1" balls, roll in the orange-sugar, and place on cookie sheet.
Use a glass to just barely flatten.
Bake 7-11 minutes, until just barely done.
Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and allow the cookies to sit on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before removing them - this allow them to be properly baked without getting too dark.

White Russian Cupcakes

2011-12-08T06:30:00.001-05:00

I have been wanting to make these cupcakes for a while now, but just hadn't found the proper occasion to make them yet (I know, you don't really need an occasion to make cupcakes, right?!) You might remember that my best friends Amy and Abby flew 800 miles to come and spend 24 hours with me a few weeks back. I decided that my perfect reason was here!

Little did I know that alcohol is hard to find here. Except for the cheap beer, you can't buy alcohol at the grocery store, so I had to look up a specialty store to find Vodka and Kahlua. But when I got to the store the prices were huge for these little tiny bottles. I decided to get a bottle of the pre-mixed White Russians, since I could get more booze for the buck that way.

These cupcakes were ah-maze-ing! They were tender and sweet, and the frosting...oh man, the frosting was awesome (in fact, I might have eaten some if it straight out of the bowl)!!! Before we knew it, the four of us has eaten all 12 cupcakes. In 24 hours. That means that we ate 3 cupcakes a piece. And factor in that I didn't serve these until after dinner, plus 8 hours of sleeping time, and that means that we ate these pretty much non-stop. And as soon as they were gone, we wanted more. In fact, not even a day after my friends had returned home I got a text message "I can't get those cupcakes out of my head!!" Me either, Abby. Me either.

Is that for me?

White Russian Cupcakes (Baked Perfection)
Yield: 12 cupcakes

1 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
6 TBSP butter, room temperature
1 egg + 1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1/8 cup Vodka
1/4 cup Kahlua, divided

**You can also substitute the pre-mixed White Russian for the same amount of Vodka and Kahlua)

Preheat oven to 350.
Prepare a cupcake pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
In a separate bowl, or a stand mixer, beat together the sugar and butter until fluffy.
Add the egg and egg white, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Add in the vanilla, the Vodka, and 1/8 cup of the Kahlua.
Gradually add the flour in three additions, alternating with the milk in two additions.
Fill the cupcake wells 2/3 full.
Bake 17-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.
While the cupcakes are still warm, brush the tops with the remaining 1/8 cup of Kahlua
Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

Kahlua Buttercream (Baked Perfection)

1 stick butter, room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt
3-4 TBSP Kahlua

Beat the butter until creamy.
Add the salt.
Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, beating until well combined.
Add the Kahlua 1 TBSP at a time, until you have reached the desired consistency (I found this frosting to be very thick, so I added a splash of milk as well to get it to the consistency that I wanted).

Teal Lake Wild Rice Soup

2011-12-06T06:00:00.000-05:00

I received this recipe from one of the most wonderful women that I know. She belongs to my parent's church, and she is one of those ladies that always makes you feel warm and fuzzy. She always has a beautiful smile on her face and you can see the love just radiate out of her. And she is one of the most wonderful mother to three bright and beautiful girls, too - patient, engaging, and loving, she is teaching her daughters to learn about the world with such enthusiasm and enjoyment. I hope that I can do the same for my daughter!

I was only able to snap one quick photo of this soup, unfortunately. I served this deliciously creamy soup for dinner on a night when Joel wasn't home for dinner (he is still on night shift, by the way, which sucks. For all of you out there that work nights on a regular basis, you have my sympathy). I also, in a rather "I'm not thinking straight" move, served applesauce for dinner that night. Let me tell you that soup + applesauce + toddler = DISASTER. Oh man, there was appley-soup everywhere. In her hair, on the walls, all over the floor, on the table, on me, on the other side of the kitchen...and of course, the dogs, who normally reman laying down in the living room while we eat could not pass up the opportunity to snap some flying soupy-sauce out of the air, so they were covered, too. Bathtime for everyone!

Teal Lake Wild Rice Soup (Skyla Mann)
Yield: 12 Servings

2 cups Long Grain Wild Rice (I had to add about 1/4 cup of long grain white rice to this)
1 cup chopped onion
2 Tbsp butter
1 2up carrot, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 cup shredded chicken or diced ham (depending on what you got)
6 cups chicken stock
5 cups water
1/4 cup flour
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp pepper

In a large stock pot, combine the rice and water.
Allow to just barely simmer for 1 hour.
In a small sauté pan, melt the butter.
Add the onion to the butter and saute until soft and golden.
Add the onion to the rice and allow to sweat for 15 minutes.
Add the carrot, celery, and chicken/ham and the stock and simmer very gently for 1 hour.
If needed, thicken the soup with the flour (I didn't need to).
Add the cream and season with salt and pepper to your tastes (go easy on the salt as the stock and ham will probably both be salted already).
Make this either the day before or in the morning so that the flavors of the soup can marry. Refrigerate until serving and then re-heat.
Enjoy!

Sourdough Pizza Dough

2011-12-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

It seems like pizza has become a Sunday tradition. We go to the grocery store to stock up on supplies for the week, and it always seems to be just about dinner time when we are heading out of the store. And dang it if there isn't a Little Ceaser's next door! Their $5 Hot and Ready pizza and Crazy Bread is really hard to turn down. Especially since all the Little Ceasar's closed down at home, but here in WV, they are everywhere and we love it! But we've been going a little out of control lately. Getting pizza, breadsticks, and wings every week isn't the best thing for our wallets or our waistlines. Someone whined a lot when I said "NO Pizza" this week (can you guess who that was?) so I conceded by making our own. Its definitely cheaper, and a tiny bit healthier. Right?

I know what you are thinking. I'm one of those people, you know the ones - who like pineapple on their pizza. Hey, I am who I am, and I just gotta be me! Have you tried it?!

I really liked this pizza dough! It was easy to make, easy to work with, and tasted a million times better than any pizza dough I have ever had before! This is definitely going to be my "Go To" recipe from now on! Seriously! This was probably the best pizza I have ever eaten! I hope you make it soon, and let me know if you like it!

Sourdough Pizza Dough (My Italian Smorgasbord)

2 cups sourdough starter
3 cups bread flour
1/2 cup water, room temperature
1 tsp kosher salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
cornmeal for dusting

Add the starter and water to the bowl of an electric mixer, and using a wooden spoon, stir together until combined.
Add the flour, salt and olive oil and mix until combined.
Using the dough hook of your mixer, knead by machine for 5 minutes.
Seperate the dough into four balls.
Flatten each ball a bit and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Sprinkle with cornmeal and top with saran wrap.
Let rest at room temperature (around 70-75) for 1 hour 30 minutes.
Roll each ball out to the desired shape/size and top with sauce and toppings.
Bake in a preheated 450 degree oven for 15-20 minutes.
Enjoy!

Flawless Fudge

2011-12-02T06:30:00.000-05:00

For me, Fudge is a food only to be consumed during the Holiday Season. I don't know why, but its just the way it has always been. My grandmother used to make this fudge and bring it to our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. And when I was old enough to help, my mother taught me to make this as well.

It is a simple fudge, and easy to make. I know there are more complicated recipes out there, ones that require the use of thermometers and a vast assortment of ingredients. But with all the other hustle and bustle that goes on at this time of year, do you really need to add any more stress? That is why I like this recipe. It is simple, and it turns out perfectly every time.

Flawless Fudge
1 can sweetened condensed milk
9 cups chocolate chips (this is almost 2 whole bags. I usually use half milk and half semi-sweet)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Line a 9x9 pan with waxed paper.
In a double broiler or a saucepan, melt the chocolate chips and condensed milk together.
Stir constantly so the chocolate does not burn!!
As soon as the chocolate is melted and smooth, remove from the heat, and stir in the vanilla and nuts.
Pour into the prepared pan and smooth the top down.
Place in the refrigerator and allow to chill for at least two hours, until set.
Remove the wax paper from the pan and place the fudge on the counter, where you can cut it into bite sized pieces.
Store the fudge in the refrigerator, covered, until you have eaten it all! :)
Enjoy!

Earl Grey Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream

2011-11-30T06:30:00.000-05:00

I was inspired to make these cupcakes when I saw the Daring Cooks November Challenge, to cook with tea. Well, actually, I’ve been wanting to make them for a while now, but the challenge motivated me to actually make them! I was having a hard time thinking of something to cook with tea, because of course the only things I could think of were to bake with tea.

Earl Grey tea has to be one of my all time favorite teas. And one of my favorites is a variety of Earl Grey from a shop called Teavana. They have an Earl Grey blend that I am head over heels in love with. The traditional bergamont oil is smoothed out by adding vanilla, and it also has these beautiful blue dried cornflower petals in it. It makes for a really smooth cup of tea! This cupcake did not disappoint, either. It was soft, but not overly moist, with just the right amount of earl grey to neither overpower you or be too weak. And the fresh lemon butter cream was the perfect frosting! Its a lovely bespeckled (Is that a word? I kinda like it. Bespeckled.) cupcake that I am sure you will love eating!

This recipe only makes 12 cupcakes, and I definitely wish that I had made more now! This last week has been rough, my friends! Joel started working nights - from 6:30 at night to about 8:30 in the morning. He comes home, exhausted, and goes straight to bed. Then I am left with the task of trying to keep Ladybug quiet all day while he sleeps, when really all she wants to do is run through the house screaming at the top of her lungs. Plus we are both sick, and its raining, so we can't even go out to play. Thank goodness for nap time!!

Earl Grey Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream (adapted from Edible Moments)

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 ½ cup flour

2 ¼ tsp baking powder

¾ tsp salt

½ cup milk

3 Tbsp loose Earl Grey tea, divided, or 2 teabags (although loose leaf will give you much better flavor! But use what you have.)

Preheat your oven to 350.

Prepare 12 cupcake cups, either by greasing them or using liners.

With a mortar and pestle, or a food processor, grind your tea (take it out of the bags if you are using pre-bagged tea) until you get smaller pieces, but not quite powder. You don't want to chew your cupcake, but you do want to be able to see little speckles of the tea.

In a small saucepan, place one tea bag (or 1 tbsp loose leaf tea) into the milk and warm slightly.

Remove the saucepan from the heat before the milk simmers, and allow it to steep, and the milk to cool.

In your mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each one.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and tea.

Add half of the dry mixture to your batter.

Add the milk (with the tea bag removed or the loose leaf tea strained out) and then add the remaining dry ingredients.

Stir until just combined, but do not overstir!!!

Divide the batter evenly amongst the pan, so that each well is about 2/3 full.

Bake 20 minutes.

Allow to cook completely before frosting

Lemon Buttercream Frosting (Group Recipes)

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 Tbsp lemon juice

2 Tbsp lemon zest

In a large bowl, mix together the butter, lemon zest, and vanilla until all the lumps are gone.

Add the milk and mix until incorporated.

Slowly, about 1/2 cup at a time, mix in the powdered sugar.

Once all the sugar is in, cream on high for 2 minutes (with your electric mixer, or a super powered arm muscle)

Mix in the lemon juice.

Frost!

Enjoy!