Everyday Mom

Yummy Life Meatballs

2012-03-05T12:00:00.000-05:00

I love having a batch of meatballs waiting in the freezer. They are easy to make and are very versatile. I make them often, but I rarely follow a recipe. I use the same basic seasoning - basil, onion powder, garlic, ect. - each time, but the quantities often vary. The liquids also vary from batch to batch. Usually a little milk, sometimes I add some wine, other times a little beer. One thing I have never added is buttermilk and that is why I chose to make Monica's Classic Italian Meatballs for this month's Secret Recipe Club.

Over at the Yummy Life Monica not only offers a wonderful assortment of recipes, but she also has some great gift ideas and suggestions for around the house. Her dry rub and taco seasoning look wonderful and might make an appearance under many trees come Christmas.

I really liked the meatballs with the buttermilk. It enhanced the flavors and kept them super moist - there is nothing worse than a dry meatball. The other thing I really liked about Monica's recipe that I had never done before is mix everything together prior to adding the meat. She creates a wonderful "sludge" of the buttermilk, water, eggs and seasoning. This ensures the flavors are mixed in without overworking the meat. The only change I made to Monica's recipe was omitting the pork. Combining beef and pork makes for a much more flavorful meatball, unfortunately my husband is allergic to pork so we all sacrifice with meatballs that are not quite as flavorful as we would like.

We got many meals out of this recipe and still have some left for one more dinner. We enjoyed meatball subs the first night, a couple of nights later a few made an appearance on a wonderful meatball pizza and a few more popped up in some Ziti. The rest are waiting in the freezer, and I am sure will be consumed very soon.

Here is Monica's recipe, she has great step-by-step pictures so go check out her site, Yummy Life, as well.

Monica’s Classic Italian Meatballs
Printer Ready

4 eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 cup water
1 cup buttermilk
1-1/2 cup unseasoned bread crumbs
4 teaspoons minced garlic
1 medium onion, finely minced or grated
1 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon dried leaf oregano
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
4 lbs. ground beef

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine eggs, water, buttermilk, and breadcrumbs in a bowl; let rest for 10 minutes. The mixture will thicken as the bread crumbs absorb the liquid. To this thickened mixture, add garlic, onion, parsley, cheese, oregano, salt, and pepper; stir until combined. In separate large bowl, combine ground pork and beef. Mix meats with fingers or a large fork using a light touch until 2 meats are combined throughout. Add bread crumb mixture to meats. Mix these together, again using a light touch with fingers or large fork. Combine ingredients well, but do not overmix. Form meatballs with hands, or use a scoop. For larger meatballs, use 1/4 cup meat per meatball or use a generous 2" scoop. For mini meatballs, use 1 to 1-1/2 tablespoons per meatball or a generous 1-1/4" scoop. Place meatballs on baking sheets. Bake large meatballs for 30 minutes and mini meatballs for 15 minutes, until no longer pink in center.

As always there are lots of great recipes in this month's SRC.

Last Minute Valentine's

2012-02-14T12:49:00.000-05:00

Valentine's Day is one of those days I have big plans for, but never actually execute them. Last night at 8:00 I realized all I had were some red and white gumdrops, and the only reason I had those was because they called my name earlier in the week when I ran into the drugstore to pick-up a few odds and ends. So, last night after the kids went to bed I rummaged through the kitchen and came up with some stale marshmallows, chocolate chips and decorating sugar. Twenty minutes later the kids Valentine's were done and I was on the couch ready to veg out to The Voice.

The kids loved their treat and I was able to send three kids off to school all sugared up. And my Valentine's treat is the kids being returned non-sugary. The girls' school has a no candy policy for Valentine's Day and Will's class is celebrating the 100th day of school instead of Valentine's Day - that is the best way the teachers can show their love.

Sushi and Lego

2012-02-11T08:52:00.001-05:00

We just finished a wonderful 7th birthday celebration and like last year the birthday boy requested a sushi and lego birthday.

This year the Lego aspect was fulfilled by a trip to the Lego store. My boy loves Lego. He plays with it constantly and has many sets on his wish list, but in his opinion no set compares with the wall of bricks and the create a guy station. He can spend a crazy amount of time selecting just the right pieces to fill up a huge cup and even more time creating the perfect guys. I find Lego an absolutely fascinating toy and I love hearing all the different approaches with which it is used. There is the buy a set, put it together and leave it together to play with approach. There is the Lego as a puzzle approach where all the pieces to a set are kept together and built over and over. And then there is the throw all the pieces together and build new creations each time approach. I think it would be very interesting to study how Lego is used and personality types, but that is a study for another day, for now lets just study some of the yummy birthday treats.

As I said sushi was the other aspect of the birthday celebration and this year Will decided to have lunch at Wasabi rather than a birthday party. Yes my boy chose eating out over a party with friends and presents. But, the restaurant he chose wasn't just a regular old sushi place. Wasabi is in the middle of a mall and the food is served on a conveyor belt and really how can you say no to food served in this style.

This is Bolt, the mascot for Will's class, he came home for the weekend to help celebrate.

The birthday cake was simple this year. The girls helped me decorate the cake and while I had envisioned a simple finish with just a few sprinkles this is what we ended up with. I was fine with this final product as I love sprinkles and this cake reminded me of my favorite summer treat - a soft twist sprinkles, oh how I love soft serve ice cream.

For the school treat we continued the sushi theme with Rice Krispie sushi treats. I love krispie treats and don't usually like messing around with their simple perfection, but the addition of a Swedish fish is pretty yummy. The Fruit by the Foot and Gummy Worms were too much for me, but the kids loved them and that's what's important.

Nigiri Krispies
Printer Ready

¼ cup butter
32 large marshmallows (or 4 cups mini marshmallows)
6 cup crispie rice cereal
½ cup white chocolate chips
1 bag Swedish Fish

Butter 9x13 sheet pan.

In a 2 quart saucepan, over medium heat melt butter. Once butter has melted add marshmallows and stir until smooth. Remove from heat, add cereal and stir until combined. Pour mixture into prepared pan, lightly butter hands and press mixture to evenly distribute. Let cool for 5-10 minutes.

While treats are cooling melt chocolate. Fill bottom half of double boiler with water, bring to a simmer. Put chocolate in top of boiler pan and place over simmering water. Gently stir chocolate until smooth.

Cut the krispies into 2"x1” pieces. Dip the top of each piece into chocolate, top with Swedish Fish

Family Fun has a great tutorial on the rolls and the kids had a great time making these.

Making Myself at Home

2012-02-06T12:43:00.000-05:00

As always it was a tough decision when trying to to decide on just one recipe for this month's Secret Recipe Club. Catherine of Make Myself at Home has a wonderful blog filled with delicious looking recipes and a cute little munchkin who gets to enjoy all the wonderful treats Catherine makes.

I finally decided on the Oatmeal Breakfast Bars. We needed some lunch box treats and this sounded like the perfect option. I did make a couple of changes to the recipe, but only to the add-ins. Catherine used Craisins, chocolate chips and walnuts. I substituted with my current favorite combination of dried blueberries, white chocolate chips and almonds. Either option would be great and that is what I love about this type of treat you can easily customize it with your family's favorite flavors.

Oatmeal Breakfast Bars
Printer Ready

3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
6 oz. fat-free yogurt
2 egg whites
2 Tbsp. milk
2 Tbsp. Applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
3 cups oats
1/2 cup dried blueberries
1/2 cup whit chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped almonds

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9×13 pan.
In a large bowl combine sugars & wet ingredients. Add flours, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, stir until combined. Mix in oats, fruit, chips, & nuts. Spread dough into bottom of prepared pan. Bake 22-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool before cutting.

This is a wonderful recipe to add to your collection. It is super easy to make, with very little clean-up and can be done when you need a last minute treat. It has a light sweetness and of course a wonderful nut and oat flavor. The bars are soft, but hold together well making them a great lunchbox snack or an afternoon treat in the car between activities.

I had hoped to make it with my youngest, but a nap was more important, but this is also a terrific recipe to make with young children. The measurements are easy, it is done all in one bowl and the ingredients are all familiar and many can be snacked on while cooking, or while waiting for the final result to come out of the oven. I think I might try it the next time I am helping in the girl's school and if I do I will let you know how it goes.

In the mean time check out the rest of the Secret Recipe Club and all the goodies that were baked and cooked this month.

Potato Soup

2012-02-05T15:24:00.000-05:00

It has been a while since I have gotten Will in the kitchen with me. With school and extracurricular activities there isn't as much time available and when the choice is between cooking and Wii, Wii will always win. He says cooking is his favorite thing to do and he wants to be a chef when he grows up, but it is still hard to get him in the kitchen.

To help get him and the girls, in the kitchen a little more often I have started having a sous chef of the week. Each week one of the kids is the special assistant. They get to help plan the menu and the two of us go shopping together. Going to the grocery store may not sound very special, but when it is just the two of us and they get to choose a special item to cook with it is a lot more enjoyable than being dragged to the store with your siblings and a grumpy mom. The sous chef has to help prepare one meal and can make a fun treat. By being the assistant every three weeks they get to help and have additional responsibilities, but it is not so much that they get bored or feel like it is a chore.

For our inaugural week, Will was the sous chef and not surprisingly he chose to make soup for his meal. Since he first started in the kitchen with me my boy has loved making soups and salads. He wasn't sure what kind of soup he wanted, so I suggested potato soup - mainly because I had potatoes that needed to be used up before a garden began growing in the pantry.

Soups are a great meal for beginner chefs and for kids who are a little more experienced and want to try to prepare a meal by himself. They provide lots of practice chopping and are a great way to introduce a variety of different ingredients. Granted potato soup doesn't introduce a lot different ingredients, but it is great for working on those cutting skills. And potatoes are good for kids who have had some practice cutting and are ready to move to a sharper knife and beyond super soft foods. Will is very comfortable using a knife, but I still make sure I cut the item, making a flat surface before he begins cutting it up.

I also like soups because they are good for those little cooks who start off super interested, then become distracted, then become super interested. Will got 2 potatoes diced then lost interest, but rejoined once the immersion blender came out, who can resist the immersion blender. We did learn a valuable lesson - pulling the blender out, while on causes the soup to fly, which is cool to see, unless it lands on skin, then it burns, which isn't so cool. So, if you do use the blender with kids remind them to be careful.

I had Will write his recipe when we were done and this will be added to our sous chef cookbook. He thoughtfully didn't add bacon since his dad is allergic to pork, but potato soup really is much better with a little bacon fat.

Potato Soup

Printer Ready

4 tablespoons butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 rib celery, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup whole milk
1 (12-ounce) bottle light-bodied beer
2 large russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 cups grated extra-sharp Cheddar (about 8 ounces)

In large pot melt butter. Add onion, carrots, celery and garlic, saute until vegetables are soft. Add flour to vegetables and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Slowly whisk in chicken stock, then add milk and beer. Add potatoes, bring liquids to a boil, once at a boil reduce heat and simmer until potatoes become soft.

Remove from heat. Using an immersion blender puree until smooth. Return to soup to stove, over low heat slowly stir in the cheese until melted. To serve top with sour cream, bacon, chives, additional grated cheese, or your favorite topping.

Kids Cupcakes

2012-01-29T20:09:00.000-05:00

The cookbook Flour is absolutely beautiful. Joanne Chang has filled the book with mouthwatering recipes that make me want to plan a trip to Boston just so I can visit the bakery. The book sits on my baking shelf with many recipes bookmarked. I have been so excited to make something that I have been waiting for just the right occasion. Which means the the book has been sitting on the shelf for over six months, untouched, not a single recipe made. Until this week when I decided that Tuesday was special enough - we had made it through Monday so we might as well celebrate, with some lovely chocolate cupcakes.

Joanne explains that one of the things she likes about this recipe is that everything is dumped together and the result is a wonderfully moist super chocolaty cake. Sugar and butter and water are combined until the butter melts and the sugar dissolved. This is then poured over chopped chocolate and cocoa powder, everything is stirred together until silky smooth. Some milk and egg are added and then some flour to bring it all together. Then comes the part I really liked and have never done before the batter is left to rest before baking. This gives the batter time to absorb the liquid and thicken up. This little rest period is also good for little ones who might be easily distracted and become more focused on making-up their own recipes than finishing the one they had started.

My favorite thing about this recipe, besides it's amazing taste and textures is that it a great recipe to do with kids. There are opportunities to practice cutting, and scooping plus there are a variety of measurements - great for practicing math skills.

But the best part is it doesn't require the use of a mixer. It is fun to use the mixer and it is great for kids to watch it go around and observe how the ingredients combine. But, I think it is even better when they are the ones in control of mixing the ingredients together. It is so much more fun to crack an egg, break the yolk open, slowly stir it around and watch it blend with the other ingredients until it has completely disappeared. When doing it by hand beginner cooks get a much better sense of what the ingredients feel like and how they they work. It can be a messy process, but there is nothing cooler than watching an egg drip slowly off the end of a spoon or play with sugar just as it is becoming moist. Playing with sticky flour is also pretty cool.

Grab your favorite little person, a copy of Flour if you have it, or your favorite recipes and mix it together the "old fashioned" way. When you're done go ahead and let them lick the bowl, having their name written on the forehead is optional.

Pesto

2012-01-19T10:04:00.000-05:00

I am not a huge fan of cooking with greens. I use them in soup, but other than that I don't know what to do with them and therefore end up not cooking with them very often. Usually if I have some in the fridge chances are pretty good that a portion of them will end up in the garbage, and I thought that was the fate of the half bunch of Collard Greens I had leftover from our New Years Day celebration. Then I saw Sunny Anderson making a collard green pesto and I now have one more way of using up those greens.

This is a wonderfully garlicky and nutty pesto. Without any bitterness that is sometimes found in greens. The recipe by Sunny Anderson uses kalamata olives. I didn't include them because I thought the brine flavor of the olives would be too much for the kids, but after reading reviews of similar recipes I am definitely going to add the olives next time I make this pesto.

Besides the wonderful flavor and numerous ways this pesto can be used, it is a a great recipe to make with kids. There is something kids of all ages can do. Older kids can do all of the steps, with the exception of cooking the greens. Younger ones they can get lots of practice cutting by rough cutting the greens and garlic before adding them to the food processor. And the really little ones always love pressing the buttons and watching the food go around in the food processor.

I got two meals out of this recipes. I used it one night on pasta and another night used it as a sauce for turkey meatball subs. Both dishes were simple, super flavorful and enjoyed by the big and little people of the house, which recently hasn't been happening very often.

Collard Green Pesto
Printer Ready

1 lb Collard greens (stems removed)
½ cup Almonds lightly toasted
2 cloves Garlic
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup Olive Oil

Directions:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add greens and blanch for about 1 minute, or until bright green. Drain and shock in ice water bath. Remove from ice water and pat dry with paper towels. Roughly chop greens

Add greens, almonds, garlic and cheese to food processor. Process until ingredients become finely chopped, with processor running begin adding olive oil until a paste is formed and pesto comes together.

Salmon Cakes

2012-01-13T13:58:00.001-05:00

Well, I'm not sure where December went to and January is quickly disappearing as well. I have started various posts about all the goodies we enjoyed over the holidays, but like many of you I am over the holidays and already back in the rhythm of regular days.

While my days have gotten back to normal, I haven't found my blogging rhythm yet, so to get me started I thought I would share our meal from January 2nd. All of our company had left. We were tired of vacation and tired of what felt like constant eating. We wanted something light, simple and comforting, that would begin working our way through leftovers. The answer - salmon cakes.

I remember eating salmon cakes as a kid and loving and hating them. My mom made them using canned salmon, which is a fine option, but canned salmon doesn't always contain the best cuts of the fish. The result is salmon cakes with a funny texture. Some bites are wonderfully smooth a great blend of flaky fish and flavorful filler, other bites though, are a little crunchy as those pieces that maybe should have gone on the processing room floor somehow wound up in the can. It is one of those things that it is best not to give too much thought to. My taste buds loved the flavor of salmon cakes, but my brain did not like those random crunchy bites.

Now when I make salmon cakes I use the second cuts of the fish, but I make sure it is fish we have cut. I love getting a whole salmon at COSTCO and cutting it up, or more accurately having Mike cut it up. The upper cuts are used for grilling and lower cuts by the tail are poached, flaked and used to make this super simple dinner. Apparently the tails are also great for playing with. Making the tail dance is optional and not an important part of the recipe or filleting a fish.

Salmon Cakes

Printer Ready

1 lbs. Poached Salmon flaked
½ cup Finely chopped red (or green) pepper
2 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning
½ cup Dried Breadcrumbs
⅓ cup chopped parsley
¼ cup Mayonnaise
¼ cup Dijon mustard
2 Eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°
Put all ingredients in large mixing bowl. Gently mix together until thoroughly combined and moistened. Form mixture into 5-6 equal sized patties. Place patties on lightly oiled baking sheet.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

I love serving these on a soft roll that has been covered with a creamy red pepper or lemon dill sauce.

Reindeer Cookies

2011-12-26T16:41:00.000-05:00

As we were going through the cookie cutters to make our cookies for Santa Will came across the giant lobster cutter. I have never had an excuse to make lobster cookies and now that I see them as silly reindeer I might never make them.

This is my favorite sugar cookie recipe. The cookies are nice and soft and are sweet without being too sweet. I like to double the recipe and break it into 4 portions, so there is always some in the freezer ready to bake off.

Sugar Cookies
(from Martha Stewart) - Printer Ready

Ingredients:
4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions:
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.

Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Gradually mix in flour mixture. Divide dough in half; flatten each half into a disk. Wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or overnight.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees with racks in upper and lower thirds. Let one disk of dough stand at room temperature just until soft enough to roll, about 10 minutes. Roll out dough between two pieces of plastic wrap to 1/4 inch thick. Remove top layer of plastic wrap. Cut out cookies with a 4-inch one-piece-shaped cookie cutter. Place on parchment lined baking sheets, put in freezer until very firm, about 15 minutes. Bake until edges turn golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.

Roll out scraps, and repeat. Repeat with remaining disk of dough.

The cookies the kids made for Santa.
Merry Christmas!

Check out more wonderful cookies at the Secret Recipe Club Cookie swap:

Buche de Noel Trifle

2011-12-19T12:30:00.000-05:00

This cake was just not meant to be. I think my excitement at having my Mom's birthday cake ready by the time she came down for a visit and the fact that I would finally be posting my Cake Slice cake on time jinxed the whole process.

I should have known to step away from this cake when I broke a half dozen eggs, but no I just went to the store and bought more. Over baking the cake should have been another sign, or when the cake broke apart while rolling it, but no I just carried on. By the time I messed up the filling it was too late to turn back.

So instead of a Chocolate Hazelnut Buche de Noel birthday cake my Mom received a Chocolate Cherry trifle. While it wasn't the look I was going for it was very tasty.

This ended up not resembling Tish Boyle's Chocolate Hazelnut cake in the least bit. I used her cake and buttercream recipes, but that was it. The trifle consisted of chocolate sponge cake, with a rum glaze and chocolate fudge cream layered between buttercream sprinkled with dried cherries and almonds. .

To see what this month's cake slice bakers cake was supposed to look like, check out the other bakers.

Cookie Swap

2011-12-12T11:18:00.001-05:00

I love cookies swaps. We had great cookie swap parties at the office where I use to work, but it has been a couple of year since I have been to a really good one. The last one I went to most of the cookies were purchased at local bakeries which I found very disappointing.

This year I participated in The Great Food Blogger Cookie Exchange, and knew I wouldn't be disappointed. It was hosted by Lindsay and Julie and over 600 bloggers participated each sending a dozen cookies to 3 other bloggers.

My family quickly devoured the cookies. It was as if they had planned their mailings as we had just finished one batch when the next arrived.

Our first batch came from Jessica -My Kitchen Adventures - she sent one of her family's favorites - "Melting Moments" and some wonderful peppermint Fudge.

Next, from Sofie - The German Foodie, we received "Mami's Hazelnut Shortbread" which is an amazing cookie made from an old German recipe.

Then came a batch of delicious Peppermint Mocha Chocolate Chip cookies from Brookie at Baking with Basil.

All of the cookies were delicious and as I said quickly devoured, which is why I have no pictures of them.

On my end I made Black Forest Crinkle Cookies, which went to The Dainty Chef, Greens and Chocolate, and Kudos Kitchen .

These are a super simple chocolate cookie and since there you don't need to use a mixer are great to make with kids. Edy worked with me on this project and actually taught me that to get the best results you need to really coat the cookies in powdered sugar. When I roll cookies in sugar I do a quick roll, when a two year old does it, it is a much more thorough process and yields much better results. So if you don't have the pleasure of having a two year old assist you, just think like a two year - more is better.

Black Forest Crinkle Cookies
(recipe from Cuisine at Home)

Printer Ready

Ingredients:
¾ cup All-purpose Flour
¾ cup Sugar
¾ tsp. Baking Powder
¼ tsp. Salt
4 Tbsp. Butter
⅓ cup Cocoa Powder (not Dutch process)
1 Egg
2 Tbsp. Coffee (or 1 tsp instant coffee granules mixed w/ 2 Tbsp. hot water)
⅓ cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips
⅓ cup Dried Tart Cherries
¾ cup Powdered Sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°, line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a large mixing bowl, set aside. In a small bowl melt butter in microwave. Once melted add cocoa powder to butter and whisk until combined. Add egg, coffee and vanilla, mix until combined. Add butter mixture to flour, mixing until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips and dried cherries.

Shape into 2” balls. Roll balls in powdered sugar, place on to prepared baking sheets, spacing cookies about 2” apart. Bake for 12-14 minutes, cookies will be cracked and soft - do not over bake. Let cookies cool 5 minutes on tray, then transfer to cooling racking.

Not sure how it happened, but the cookies got out of the house before I got a picture of the finished product. Guess I will have to make them again!

Ginger Scones

2011-12-06T20:40:00.001-05:00

I was talking about this recipe last night and had such a craving for it that I decided to make it this morning, with the help of my youngest chef. I first had these a couple of years ago while visiting my brother and sister-in-law, She makes some of the best scones, in fact I didn't make these for a long time because I didn't want to ruin my memory of how good they were.

These are a basic scone recipe, so if you aren't a ginger lover you can easily substitute the crystal ginger with your favorite filling - blueberry, cranberry, chocolate chips the options are endless.

Ginger Scones

Printer Ready

5 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cold
2 cups All purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup heavy cream
½ cup chopped crystallized ginger
½ cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven 425°
Cut butter into ¼” cubes, or smaller, place in freezer while preparing rest of ingredients.

Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

In large bowl combine flour, baking powder and sugar. Toss to combine. Using a pastry cutter, or your hands, gently combine the dry ingredients and flour until the mixture resembles a coarse sand. Add heavy cream and mix until the dough begins to form. Pour mixture out onto lightly floured work surface and knead until mixture forms a sticky ball. Pat into a flat circle, sprinkle ginger on top, fold in half and pat back into circle. Cut into 8 wedges and place on baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until tops are a light brown. Cool completely.

In microwave melt chocolate chips. Dip ends of scones in chocolate or drizzle chocolate on top.

SRC - Pear Spice Bread

2011-12-05T11:00:00.000-05:00

It is Secret Recipe Club time again and this month I would like to introduce you to Sara at Cupcake Muffin. Her site is filled with wonderful recipes and it was hard to pick one recipe. To make the decision making process easier I decided I would make whatever she was she made this time last year. Even narrowing it down to one month's worth or recipes it was still a hard choice. She had one of my favorite things, "everything in the fridge soup", it sounded tempting, but I decided to go with her Pear Pecan Spice Bread

I love quick breads they are easy to make and are a wonderful gift. I often make a few batches to give as gifts at Thanksgiving time and had planned on doing that again this year. When I came across Sara's recipe I still hadn't decided what to make this year so I was thrilled to be able to give this recipe a try. I didn't get around to making the bread until the day before we were leaving for Thanksgiving. I had a lot of baking to do that day and this was the last thing I made. Unfortunately my final product showed that I was tired and unfocused when I made this.

As I was pouring the bread into the pans it didn't look right I thought it was because I had used whole wheat flour and for some reason I don't always get good results when cooking with whole wheat. I had also added more pear and pecan than called for and thought that might be effecting the batter as well. I decided to sample the bread before wrapping it up and presenting it as a gift. And, good things I did, as it turns out what made the batter look funny was the fact I had forgotten to add the sugar.

The bread was still super flavorful and I could tell if the sugar had been added the loaves would have been gobbled up. We still managed to eat one loaf, by toasting the slices and covering them in butter and cinnamon sugar. This was super yummy, but the bread still needed a little sweetness. The remaining loaves I stuck in the freezer and will use at Christmas to make stuffing. I am very excited about this as I didn't get to make any stuffing for Thanksgiving.

Here is Sara's recipe for the Pear Pecan bread, give it a try. I recommend adding the sugar, but if you forget it it is still super flavorful.

Pear-Pecan Spice Bread
Printer Ready

(from Cupcake Muffin)

Makes 1 loaf, or 4 small

1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted

1/2 cup canola oil

1/4 cup buttermilk

1 egg

1 egg white

1 cup sugar

1 cup peeled, grated very, very ripe pear

1 teaspoon pure vanilla

1 cup peeled, diced pear

Note: You'll need 2-3 large pears for the grated and diced pear combined.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a loaf pan with oil.

2. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and cardamom. Add the pecans and toss to combine.

3. In another large bowl, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, egg, egg white, sugar, grated pear, and vanilla. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Fold in the diced pears, again until just combined.

4. Scrape the batter into the oiled pan and bake for about 1 hour, until a tester comes out clean.

Gluten Free

2011-11-29T15:00:00.001-05:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Schar for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
It has been a couple of years, but we are planning on hosting an open house after New Year's. We have decided to keep the fare simple and instead of lots of little appetizers do a soup and sandwich buffet. In preparation for the gathering I am on a quest for a few perfect soups.
Since we aren't offering a lot of different food options I want to make sure there are a variety of soups, so for the next few weeks I am going to be trying at least one new soup each week. This week's soup a classic Vegetable Minestrone. This is probably my favorite type of soup to make as it can be made with whatever is handy.

I had planned on writing down the recipe as I made it, but got distracted. The basic recipe is "dig through your fridge and find whatever vegetables are on hand and need to be used up." I will try and come up with something a little more specific and maybe even write down a recipe next time.

And, as everyone knows you can't have soup without bread. So the other part of my mission for the next few weeks will be to test a variety of breads. I am going to make some, but I also want to try some of the gluten free breads. We have some friends who have recently gone gluten free and it would be great to have options for them. My family is far from gluten free and Schar must have known this. I recently received an e-mail from them announcing they have just re-launched their gluten free heat and serve items. While I haven't had a chance to try the products I am definitely going to look for them next time I head to the grocery store. I am sure their Ciabatta bread would be wonderful with a bowl of hot soup.

I spent a lot of time checking out the Schar web-site which offers a wealth of information. I was amazed by the variety of products they offer, in addition to the ready to serve breads they also offer pastas, breadcrumbs and a variety of mixes. The site also provides information on Celiac disease and gluten free diets, which is great for those of us who aren't very knowledgeable on the subject. If that weren't enough the site is also a great resource for gluten free recipes. I marked a couple of them, and along with Ciabatta bread I am going to pick up some of the classic white bread mix so I can make the Italian Christmas cake. I would think this time of year would be especially hard for those who are gluten intolerant and it would be wonderful to be to be able to offer a special treat that everyone can enjoy.
Whether you are gluten free or just trying to incorporate an occasional item in your diet the Schar site is great. When you sign up for Schar Club you gain access to hundreds of gluten free meal options in the recipe database, connect with gluten-free experts provide and recieve updates on new products. If you are interested in checking them out you can request Schar free sample . I am going to give it a try and will let you know!

Getting Ready

2011-11-22T06:42:00.001-05:00

The Thanksgiving preparations began yesterday with lots of baking. My favorite 2 year old assisted as we made pumpkin cheesecake, gingerbread muffins, pear spice bread and some sugar cookie dough.

Pumpkin cheesecake, this is the Cake Slice bakers recipe of the month. I can't wait to try it.

For the second time in two weeks - gingerbread muffins, this time without the glaze. These were the snack for Maggie's preschool class and I didn't get one, I was rather sad.

Everything was a success except for the pear spice bread and that was only a fail because I forgot to add the sugar. I am thinking it might be a nice addition to the stuffing, so it won't be a total loss. I will share recipes and more pictures after Thanksgiving.

Biscotti

2011-11-18T14:30:00.001-05:00

Seven or eight years I ago I was obsessed with Biscotti. I made tons of it in every imaginable flavor. I gave it as gifts and ate pounds of it myself. I loved the stuff, to the point where I became sick of it. For the first time in about six years I just made it again and I am afraid I may become obsessed again.

It comes together so easily. There are so many flavor combinations, and even better you can often make two different flavors in one batch. It is a wonderful snack, morning, noon or night. It is great with coffee and gets even better when dunked in coffee.

Oh yummy Biscotti!

Cranberry Orange Biscotti
Printer Ready

½ cup dried cranberries
½ cup boiling water
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
4 Tbsp. butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. Almond extract
Zest from 1 orange
½ cup almonds, chopped
Sprinkling sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven 375. Line large baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside

In small bowl pour boiling water over cranberries. Let set for 15 minutes or until plump, then drain water.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.

In mixing bowl cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, Add 3 eggs, one at a time, beating each egg until fully incorporated (reserve last egg for egg wash).   Mix in almond extract. Slowly add sifted dry ingredients. Mix until just incorporated. Add cranberries and chopped almonds.

Turn dough out onto floured surface. Divide into two equal pieces. Roll each piece into a log about 16x2. Place on prepared baking sheet. Gently flatten logs slightly.   Lightly beat last egg and brush each log. Sprinkle generously with sugar.

Bake for 25 minutes or until firm to the touch. Transfer logs on parchment paper to wire rack. Allow to cool for 20 minutes.   Reduce oven temperature to 300

On cutting board, using serrated knife, cut logs crosswise on the diagonal into ½ inch thick slices. Arrange slices on parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, flip each piece, bake for an additional 15 minutes.

enjoy!

Gingerbread Muffins

2011-11-13T09:36:00.001-05:00

I love gingerbread. It is one of those foods that not only tastes good, but also makes me feel good. There are so many special times, places and people I associate with gingerbread that when I have it, it not only fills my belly, but it also fills my heart.

My first memory of making gingerbread is from 4-H. I was in 4th grade and can clearly remember being at the teachers house making a gingerbread cake with a lemon glaze. The kitchen was warm and sunny and the smell and texture of the cake were amazing. This memory is made even more special as I eventually became very close friends with the teacher's son. Todd was a wonderful kid who unfortunately had his life taken from him way too young. I had the 4-H recipe for many years, and even though I only made this cake with Todd once -before we were good friends, I always associated this recipe with him. I never made that recipe after he died and unfortunately I haven't seen the paper with the recipe on it for a few years, but I am sure it is still around somewhere. Not sure I would make it even if I found it, I think I want to leave that recipe memory alone.

Even though I won't make Todd's recipe it doesn't mean I am giving up on gingerbread all together, it is too yummy! So each year I look for and make new recipes. This year I opted for gingerbread muffins, these are the perfect afternoon snack, or breakfast (just make sure the kids are gone so you don' have to share). We ate most of the muffins before I made the glaze. The lemon in the glaze adds a nice flavor, but these muffins are just as yummy without.

Gingerbread Muffins
Printer Ready

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
1 cup molasses
2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup hot water

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 2 muffin pans with baking spray.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, on medium high speed, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Beat in the egg until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix in the molasses until incorporated.
With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the batter, scraping down sides of the bowl as necessary. Stir in the hot water.
Pour batter into muffin tins, filling each cup about 2/3 of the way full.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, there may be a few crumbs.
Allow to cool in the tins on a wire rack until completely cool.

Everybody Soup

2011-11-08T17:18:00.000-05:00

Why is it when I have nothing going on that I find myself scrambling to pull dinner together?

Yesterday the kids were out of school for a teacher work day. I didn't schedule anything for us to do and left it up to them to decide. Their decision, a jammie and TV day. While they got bored with TV after a while, much to my surprise and happiness, they had no desire to get dressed. They were all dressed by noon and we went outside to play for a while, but other than that we didn't leave the house. We happily worked on other projects and had a lazy day.

One would think with all this down time I would make some bread and prepare a nice dinner, but no. At 5:00 the kids started fighting, which signaled it was time to think about feeding the little animals. Had I thought about dinner earlier I would have remembered I had not been to the grocery store in a week, so the pickings for dinner were a little thin. And thin pickings mean one thing, soup.

I pulled a variety of ingredients out of the pantry, fridge and freezer and everybody got to choose one or two ingredients to add. The result was a tasty soup that we named "Everybody Soup." This time our soup included: diced tomatoes, tomato puree, spinach, white beans, leftover pot roast, carrots, and corn. Served with some corn bread it was a quick and wonderful meal to end our very lazy day.

What is your favorite last minute meal? How do you get everybody involved to make the process go faster and help calm the craziness?

Portobello Sausage Risotto

2011-11-07T07:00:00.000-05:00

When I first received my assignment for this months Secret Recipe Club I knew I would not have a problem finding a recipe. I knew it would be a tough choice, but I had the feeling that whatever I chose would be wonderful. Erin of Dinners, Dishes and Desserts has a wonderful site filled with great recipes that she has made for her son and husband. Even as she prepares to move to Colorado her blog is constantly being updated with new recipes, which makes deciding on a recipe very challenge.

Since Erin had so many great recipes to choose from I decided to let my refrigerator to the deciding for me. I checked the refrigerator to see what I had, then checked Erin's site and the winner was Sausage and Mushroom Risotto.

I didn't have mushrooms, but I did have Aidells Chicken and Portobello Sausage, which I think worked as a wonderful substitute. This is a wonderful creamy risotto, filled with flavor. It is great as a date night meal, as Erin prepared it, or as a family meal with three crazy kids running around.

I made a couple of slight adjustment to Erin's recipe. The sausage, as I mentioned above and also the liquids. I didn't have enough rice so I eliminated the use of beef stock. My adjusted recipe is listed below, but be sure to check out Erin's site for her recipe.

Sausage and Mushroom Risotto

Printer Ready

3 cups chicken stock
2 Tbls olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ tsp thyme
1 lb Adiellas Chicken and Portobello Sausage
1 Tbls butter
Salt and pepper
1 cup Arborio Rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese

In saucepan over low heat, warm chicken stock..

In a large deep sided skillet brown the sausage. Once brown add thyme. Cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, then remove from pan and set aside.

In skillet heat 2 Tbls oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic. Sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and coat well with the oil. Lightly toast the rice, about 2 minutes. Stir in wine, and cook until it is almost evaporated. Ladle about 1 cup of warm stock into the rice and stir. Once it is mostly absorbed add in more stock (1 ladle full each time). Continue this process until the rice is cooked through and nice and creamy. You might have a little stock left over, but not much.

Once cooked through, add sausage to the pan. Stir in the Parmesan Cheese and butter. Top with additional cheese if desired.

As always be sure to check out the Secret Recipe Club it continues to grow and there are new recipe reveals each week.

Halloween Wrap-up

2011-11-03T06:18:00.000-04:00

A few of our Halloween baking endeavors. Nothing turned out great, but they were all fun to make and we will probably recreate them again next year.

Our neighborhood has a Halloween party every year. In addition to lots of games there is a chili cook off and a cake walk. My husband enters the chili cook off and has come in 2nd place every year so if you have an award winning recipe please send it! I usually do a cake for the cake walk. I had been planning on doing one again this year, but the kids decided they wanted to do something and I didn't have enough time to do two cakes. So I baked up some cupcakes for the kids, bought lots of fun candy and let them go at it. The results were candy loaded cupcake monsters.

I had seen a great idea on Pintrest - talk about evil and scary, that site just sucks time away from me - for a meatloaf hand. I have been excited all month to make it. I don't cook meals for the family on the weekend so the meatloaf hand became Mike's job. They looked great going into the oven, but they broke apart during baking. He formed the hand by making the main part and then attaching the fingers. Next year we will make it by forming one mass of meat into a hand shape and hopefully it will stay together. Although, the kids did find it very entertaining to eat the fingers, or the toes as they called them.

We went trick-or-treating on Monday so we needed a quick meal between school, homework and heading out. Which could mean only one thing - mummy dogs!

Now that Halloween is over, I guess it is time to start preparing for Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Pizza Possibilities

2011-10-31T06:48:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago I received a wonderful package in the mail from Johnsonville Sausage. It contained all sorts of goodies for a make your own pizza night. As it happens, make your own pizza is one of my kids' favorite activities, you probably could have guessed this based on the number of times I have written about it. They never tire of it and always ask to have tons of different ingredients put out even though they make the same type - plain old cheese - every time.

To take full advantage of the wonderful goodies from Johnsonville we gathered some friends together for a make your own pizza party. I gathered a bunch of different toppings and put the kids to work making an assortment of pizzas. The pizza selection included:

Pizza Margherita
Pizza Cucina
Sausage Florentine
Chicken Sausage with sauteed onions
Plain Cheese

We didn't take an official vote for favorite pizza, but they were all devoured, my favorite was the Florentine, but I always go for spinach pizza. The recipes for the Margherita, Cucina and Florentine pizzas came from the Johnsonville site, they have a lot of great recipes so be sure to stop by and check them out.

The chicken sausage pizza was a white pizza and was created for my husband. He is allergic to pork, so I was thrilled to find that Johnsonville has come out with a flavorful chicken sausage. We used the apple chicken sausage, but they offer three other flavors that we also plan on trying.

Chicken Sausage Pizza

Printer Ready

Your favorite Pizza dough
2 links Johnsonville Apple Chicken Sausage, thinly sliced
1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
1 c. shredded Gouda cheese
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 and heat pizza stone

Heat large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add sausage, cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Remove from pan. Add 1 tablespoon oil to pan. Once oil is heated add onion slices. Cook slowly until tender and brown, about 10 minutes.

While onion is cooking roll out pizza dough. Brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place on hot pizza stone and bake for 5-7 minutes or until crust is lightly baked. Remove from oven. Top with sausage, onions and cheese. Return to oven for an additional 7-10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Apple Cake with Maple Frosting

2011-10-28T10:43:00.000-04:00

This month the Cake Slice bakers began baking with our new book. This year we are baking our way through "The Cake Book" by Trish Boyle. I have had the book for about two months and I think I have read every recipe. It looks likes a great book with lots of yummy cakes. Despite my lateness in posting I have been very excited to begin baking. I actually baked this cake two weeks ago and had hoped to bake it again to, because it was so yummy, and to get better pictures. Hopefully not all of my posts will be as late as this one.

This cake is described as "a moist, unpretentious cake, perfect as a simple fall dessert or snack." and this really is the perfected description. Simple yet yummy. A wonderful treat in the afternoon with a cup of tea, or as I enjoyed it as an unhealthy, yet really yummy, breakfast with a cup of coffee. The spice mixture on this cake was wonderful, the perfect blend of cinnamon, cloves and ginger, it just screamed of Fall. To top things off this cake is finished with a wonderful maple cream cheese icing. I could have eaten the entire bowl on its own. I didn't have maple flavoring, but I did have something even better, maple cream. If you have never had maple cream you need to go find some now, it is absolutely magnificent. I added the maple cream to the butter and cream cheese and creamed all the ingredients together, it was hard to not just spread this mixture on a piece of toast and eat the entire bowl.

Apple Cake with Maple Frosting
from “The Cake Book” by Trish Boyle
Printer Ready

1 ½ c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground cloves
¼ tsp. ground ginger
¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
½ c. unsalted butter, softened
1 c. firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
⅔ c. buttermilk
2 c. peeled and chopped Granny Smith apples (about 2 apples) *
½ c. coarsely chopped apples

*I used Honeycrisp

Directions:
Preheat oven 350. Grease bottom and sides of 9” cake pan, line bottom with parchment paper.

In medium bowl whisk dry ingredients together, set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer beat butter until creamy. Gradually add the sugar and beat at medium-high speed for about two minutes until light and creamy. Add the vanilla and eggs, one at a time. Beat well after each addition, scrapping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with buttermilk, in two additions. With each addition blend until just incorporated. Remove bowl from mixer and stir in chopped apples and walnuts.
Pour mixture into poured pan, smooth top. Bake cake for 25-30 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool cake completely, then top with frosting.

Maple Cream Cheese Spice Frosting

Printer Ready

6 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
2 Tbsp. maple cream
½ tsp. vanilla extract
⅛ tsp. ground cinnamnon
⅛ tsp. ground ginger
1 c. confectioners sugar, sifted

In bowl of electric mixer, at medium speed, beat cream cheese, butter and maple cream together until smooth and fluffy. Beat in vanilla, cinnamon and ginger. Reduce speed to low and add confections sugar, beat until blended. Raise speed to high and beat until light and creamy, about 2 minutes.

Stuffed Squash

2011-10-23T07:40:00.001-04:00

This week was one of those weeks where I had an odd assortment of food leftover at the end of the week. There wasn't enough of any one item to make a meal for all of us. There was leftover soup, about a pound of ground turkey, 3 small acorn squash, 1/2 a bag of green beans and a small bit of frozen spinach. The resulting dinner - stuffed squash with a cup of soup.

The stuffed squash was wonderful. I usually think of squash as just a side dish, but this made the perfect fall meal, plus it was quick and easy. This is one of those fillings that is easily adjustable based on what you have available. I had spinach on hand that I wanted to use up, but I also debated using apples which I think would be super yummy as well and give it even more Fall flavor.

Stuffed Squash
Printer Ready

3 Acorn Squash
¼ c. Brown Sugar
1 small Onion, diced
1 lb. Ground Turkey
10 oz. Chopped frozen Spinach, thawed
1 Tbs. Curry Powder
¼ c. Flour
¼ c. Milk
Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven 350 degrees.

Cut squash in half remove seeds, place in baking dish and season with salt and pepper. Evenly divide brown sugar between squash halves. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until tender.

While squash is cooking prepare filling. Over medium heat saute onion in olive oil until opaque. Add ground turkey, cook until brown and cooked through. Add curry powder, salt and pepper and chopped spinach. Cook 3-5 minutes or until spinach is combined with turkey. Sprinkle mixture with flour, cook for another 5 minutes, stirring to combine. Slowly add milk, cook mixture thickens.

Remove squash from oven. Divide turkey mixture between squash halves. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Return to oven bake for 10 minutes.

Cereal and Star Wars

2011-10-13T10:04:00.001-04:00

This summer General Mills sent me a variety of cereals to sample. Some of the cereals we received where types I normally wouldn't purchase, like Lucky Charms and Trix. Other samples, like Cheerios and Chex are household favorites. Ever since I received these samples I have been thinking about and noticing cereals more often and I have come to the conclusion my family eats a lot of cereal.

We don't just eat cereal for breakfast. I throw it in the kids lunch, there is often a baggie full of cereal in my bag for snacks, sometimes there is even a box of it floating around the car. Plus I love cooking with it, it has become one of my favorite breading items. You can really change up a boring piece of chicken just by varying you cereal choice.

I know our cereal uses aren't unusual but I never realized just how much cereal we use and for some reason I am fascinated by this. I think General Mills somehow secretly sensed this fascination and decided to mess with me even more by sending me yet another amazing package. This time they sent full sized boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Lucky Charms. That alone would have been great - they are all great snacking and cooking cereal - but it got better when the three boxes are put together you get this.

Again this was great I was happy with the cereal my kids had a great time with the boxes, but they also included a $25 gift card to Walmart, which will be used not for something practical, but to buy the full Star Wars collection. Our discs are very scratched up and no longer watchable. My Star Wars obessessed children find this very frustrating and will be very happy on Christmas morning when they find the new collection under the tree. Now if Santa will just bring us a Blue-ray player to go with it we will all be happy.

General Mills and MyBlogSpark have generously offered to send one of my readers this same prize pack. You will receive:

One box of each of the following cereals to form their own Star Wars panoramic poster:

Honey Nut Cheerios
Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Lucky Charms

$25 Walmart gift card

Leave a comment letting me know your favorite way to enjoy cereal or your favorite Star Wars character. On October 27th I will pick a winner.

SRC - Simply Cooked

2011-10-10T06:57:00.000-04:00

Chicken and peanut butter is one of my favorite combinations. I could eat it every day and never grow tired of it, so when I saw Sarah over at Simply Cooked had a recipe for Bang Bang Chicken I new what I would be trying this month for the Secret Recipe Club.

As always the SRC club introduced me to another wonderful site. Sarah has a great assortment of recipes, a lot of the recipes are vegetarian, but there are options for the carnivore lover as well. In addition to her recipes Sarah also has some fabulous book reviews from her Kitchen Reader book club. I spent just as much time reading these posts as I did her recipes, so not only did my recipes to make list grow, but so did my books to read list.

Sarah's recipe for Bang Bang Chicken is wonderfully simple. It is a great dish to have in your repertoire as it can be prepared ahead of time and is just as yummy cold as hot. I actually prefer to it cold, the flavors are much more enhanced.

I followed Sarah's recipe pretty much exactly, but did add some carrots for a little added crunch.

Bang Bang Chicken
Printer Friendly

Recipe from Simply Cooked and adapted from A Little Taste of China

Make this with leftover roasted or poached chicken. Or poach the chicken at the beginning of the recipe, then use the same cooking water for the noodles.

1 1/2 cucumbers
1 t salt
30 g Rice vermicelli
1 t toasted sesame oil
2 c. Cooked chicken, shredded
2 scallions (spring onions), sliced

for the dressing:
1/4 c (peanut butter
1 t soy sauce
4 t sugar
3 T rice wine vinegar
1 T toasted sesame oil
1 scallion (spring onion), sliced
1 T minced ginger
1 t chilli paste
1/4 c (60 ml) chicken stock or water

Slice the cucumbers into sticks. Toss with the salt and set aside in a bowl for 20 minutes.

Make the dressing by whisking together all the dressing ingredients.

Cook the noodles according to the packet directions; this will only take a few minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water so they cool to room temperature.
Combine the cucumbers, noodles, sesame oil, and chicken. Pour the dressing over and toss to combine. Sprinkle with the scallions.

As always there are lots of great recipes to check out with this month's SRC. You can check them out here and be sure to visit the Secret Recipe Club site throughout the month for more recipe reveals.