Cogito Ergo Consume

My Mama's Cookies

2014-08-22T15:30:00.000-04:00

Have you ever just had one of those days? Or maybe one of those weeks? A bunch of small-ish things just tick you off - bats, tendinitis, the summer finally deciding to get ridiculously hot - and man, by Friday you are just a grumpy bumble. (Excuse my strong language.) Well, I happen to find baking very therapeutic, and my mama's cookies were some of my favorite things growing up, so today I decided to whip up a double batch of my mama's chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.

Now, I need you to realize something. I like these cookies so much that when I went off to college I brought this recipe with me. I wrote it down. On paper. No digital shenanigans. That's how good they are.

You need flour, baking soda, salt, shortening, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, eggs, chocolate chips, and oatmeal.

The recipe says sift flour, baking soda, and salt together, but I don't have time for that. I threw them into the mixer and used the whisk for a minute. It seemed to work just fine.

Ooh, mixy.

Next (put the dry ingredients aside really quick) add shortening,

white sugar,

brown sugar,

vanilla and water to the mixer. Put the paddle attachment on. Mix that baby up.

So creamy. So delightful.

Stop the mixer, scrape the sides, and then beat in the eggs.

The dough gets much wetter now, but that's exactly how it's supposed to be.

Stop and scrape the sides again.

Next, add in the flour mixture. I mix about 1/3rd of the flour mixture in at a time.

It should be dry enough to cling to the paddle, but not completely. I took a couple minutes to scrape the sides again, and tried to get as much dough off the paddle as I could.

Add in the oatmeal and the chocolate chips. The original recipe calls for the whole 12 oz package, but that's always seemed a little crazy to me. I usually add 1/4 to 1/2 of a package, and I haven't been disappointed yet.

Well now this is where I realized that I don't have nearly the amount of oatmeal that I would typically add. The recipe usually calls for 2-3 cups, and I only had about one. That changes the overall look, but they still taste amazing. Don't be scared if you're short on oatmeal.

Mix all that goodness together until the chocolate chips and oatmeal are thoroughly incorporated.

At this point, do not eat the dough. Eating raw cookie dough has never, ever helped someone's crabby day.

Just kidding!

I will not tell you to eat raw cookie dough as it has uncooked eggs in it. I will tell you, however, that I did. And it was delicious. If you choose to eat raw cookie dough, do so at your own risk.

Po was helping.

Kira wanted to help, but it was too hot.

Because I didn't know how these would bake with as little oatmeal as was in them, I lined my pan with parchment paper. Greasing the pan or using parchment paper will ensure that your cookies don't stick while baking.

I tend to roll my cookie dough balls by hand, but it was very hot, and the dough was stickier than normal. To save myself some time, I just used two spoons to plot the dough onto the pan and then to shape the dough into a cookie-ish shape.

Bake at 325 degrees for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges of the cookie start to turn golden brown.

Again, because of my lack of oatmeal, these cookies spread out waaaaay more than they typically would. I clearly put the dough too close together this time.

These ones are a slightly better shape. Who really cares about shape though? They're delicious. That's what matters. Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for a minute or two. When they're firm enough to take off without falling apart, transfer them to a cooling rack until they are the desired nomming temperature.

Oh my goodness.

These cookies.

You do not have to dunk your cookie into milk. You also don't love to like happiness. It's your choice.

I can feel my day getting better already.

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Prep Time: 30-45 Minutes | Cook Time: 10-12 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 2.5 Dozen

Ingredients (Note: the pictures above represent a doubled batch)

2 1/4 cups Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1 cup Shortening
3/4 cup Sugar
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp Water
2 Eggs
12 oz package Chocolate Chips
2-3 cups Oatmeal

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325°F
Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt.
Cream together shortening, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and water.
Beat two eggs into the shortening mixture.
Add flour mixture, about 1/3rd of the mixture at a time. Mix well.
Mix in chocolate chips and oatmeal.
Spoon dough into cookie shaped blobs into a cookie sheet. It can be greased or lined with parchment paper.
Bake 10-12 minutes, until the edges are golden brown.
Allow cookies to cool for a minute before transferring to cooling rack.
Om nom nom.

Applesauce Raspberry Orange Muffins

2014-03-08T11:30:00.001-05:00

This week I've been thinking muffins. We've been really lucky with the oranges we've been buying from the store lately, so I really wanted to do something that incorporated orange zest. We've also been trying to eat healthy lately, so I wanted to do something that used applesauce as a sweetener, rather than cups and cups of sugar. Finally, I had some of those raspberry preserves leftover, and I thought that would be tasty.

I found a recipe here that seemed easy enough to start with, and not difficult to alter. However, when I started making these I didn't realize that I didn't exactly have all the ingredients.

In theory, these are all the ingredients you need. It really helps to check how much applesauce you actually have. The original recipe calls for a cup and a half of applesauce, and I could just barely scrape out a whole cup. Other ingredients you may realize you really should add are brown sugar, powdered sugar, and milk.

Combine egg, applesauce, and oil. Whisk lightly until combined.

Realize that this would be a really good time to add the raspberry preserves. Add them too.

Realize that you've forgotten the orange zest, and add that too.

Mix up white powders, and be in awe of obligatory white-powder photo.

Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients.

Realize that, whoa, maybe that extra half cup of applesauce would have made a big difference because, man, that batter is way too dry. Frantically squeeze the juice of the orange that you zested into the batter. Breathe a sigh of relief as the batter starts to act more like muffin batters you've seen before. Taste a little of the batter. Realize that the juice from the orange has made the batter tangy, but also a little bitter.

Come to terms with the fact that, yes, a tablespoon of brown sugar would really make the whole thing taste better.

Spoon the batter into muffin pan. Realize you forgot to preheat the oven to 375. Turn the oven on and bake the muffins for about 20-25 minutes.

Give the muffins a minute to cool down, and taste a piece. Realize that, yes, these taste healthy, and if you wanted muffins that taste healthy then these are perfect for you. But oh my goodness, you're just not in the mood for healthy tasting muffins right now. Whip up a quick glaze with about a quarter cup of powdered sugar and a splash of milk. Dunk the tops of the muffins in the glaze, and think happy thoughts.

Oh, now really, doesn't that look better?

These are pretty good while they're still warm, so don't hesitate to eat while they're still a little steamy.

Goodness knows I didn't.

Recipe: Applesauce Raspberry Orange Muffins
Prep Time: 30-45 Minutes | Cook Time: 20-25 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 6

Ingredients

Muffins:

1 Egg
1 cup Applesauce
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
3 1/2 tbsp Raspberry Preserves
Zest of 1 Orange
Juice of 1 Orange
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 cups Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
3/4 tsp Baking Soda

Glaze:

1/4 cup Powered Sugar
1 tsp (a splash) Milk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375°F, and grease your muffin pan. (Or use muffin cups.)
Whisk together egg, applesauce, oil, preserves, zest, juice, and brown sugar.
Add mixture of flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
Spoon batter into muffin pan.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until cake tester comes out clean. Cool muffins on a rack until cool enough to pick up. (Less than five minutes.)
Mix powdered sugar and milk for glaze. Dunk muffins into glaze and allow a minute for glaze to set.
Eat while still warm. Or don't. I can't make you.

Baked Raspberry Nutella Swirl Doughnuts

2014-02-08T11:00:00.006-05:00

Kristin here again! With Valentine's Day coming up, I've been giving a lot of thought about trying new fruit and chocolate pairings. With it being another Saturday morning, I was also giving a lot of thought to doughnuts. These Raspberry Nutella doughnuts are the results. Well, they were. Before we ate them. The nice thing about these doughnuts is that even though there are a number of ingredients, they're all things that are commonly already in the pantry, and this is pretty much a mix-and-bake recipe.

For the doughnuts you need flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, a little salt, butter, an egg, milk, preserves, and Nutella. I decided to use raspberry preserves because raspberries and chocolate make me happy, but I bet these would be great with almost any fruit. The glaze needs powdered sugar, vanilla, a dash of salt, milk, and I threw some leftover preserves in there too.

First things first, the obligatory mixed powders shot. Whisk all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

Once it's fairly homogenous, create a well in the middle of the powder.

Put the milk, egg, and melted butter in the well.

Mix until all ingredients are incorporated. The dough will be sticky.

Now it's time for the preserves. I started with a couple tablespoons, mixed it up, and then decided that I wanted a little more of the flavor. It's not an exact science so just add more until you like how it tastes.

Once it's all mixed in the dough will be considerably wetter, but that's okay.

Now here's a step where I tried getting a little fancy. I've tried just using a spoon to fill up the doughnut pan, and it makes a gigantic mess. It can also make it really difficult to fill the pan evenly. Piping is definitely the way to go. Because I wanted ribbons of Nutella swirled throughout the doughnuts, I didn't just mix it into the dough. Instead what I did was smear two spoonfuls of Nutella along the side seem of my Ziplock/piping bag.

Then I filled the rest of the bag with the dough. When you cut off the corner and start piping, the dough pulls a ribbon of Nutella out with it and creates beautiful swirls. Before you start piping, make sure you grease your doughnut pan!

Although some of them looked more like beautiful globs.

I filled my pan all the way the top, and it was enough dough for six fairly large doughnuts. You could fill them less full and make more doughnuts that are smaller.

Because the consistency of the dough and the consistency of the Nutella are so different, it came out of the piping bag a little unevenly. When I saw this, I thought I'd give my tasty ribbons a little swirly help by running a toothpick around center of the doughnut. While this step is probably unnecessary, it certainly made the swirl a lot more pronounced, and it seemed to help distribute the Nutella throughout the entire doughnut.

These doughnuts are post toothpick-swirl.

Isn't that pretty? Now these are ready for the oven! Oh, did I mention that you should preheat the oven to 425 degrees? If you haven't done that yet, go do that now. They bake quickly, so they should be done in just about 8 to 10 minutes.

While the doughnuts are baking, you can whip up the glaze. Just mix the powdered sugar, vanilla, salt, and milk with the whisk. Because I felt daring I threw in a couple teaspoons of the raspberry preserves, and it really worked.

The edges of the doughnuts are light brown, and the tops of the doughnuts are springy to the touch. Time to take them out of the oven and let them cool. You should be able to get the doughnuts out of the pan just by turning the pan over above the cooling rack. If a little Nutella got stuck on the bottom of the pan they might require a little more convincing.

After about five minutes, dunk the doughnut into the glaze and then return to the cooling rack so the glaze can set.

It is a beautiful sight.

I will be honest with you. These doughnuts didn't last long enough for the glaze to set. That meant that they were very sticky but oh, so worth it.

Beautiful swirl action.

The raspberry added to the glaze is delicious and it adds a nice pop of color.

Po was really hoping for a recipe that involved pork. Or beef. Or chicken. Or bacon.

I hope you enjoy these as much as we did!

Recipe: Baked Raspberry Nutella Swirl Doughnuts
Prep Time: 45-60 Minutes | Cook Time: 8-10 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 2-3

Ingredients

Doughnuts:

1 cup Flour
1/3 cup Sugar
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Salt
1/3 cup Milk
1 Egg
1 tbsp melted Butter
3-4 tbsp Raspberry Preserves
3 tbsp Nutella

Glaze:

2 cups Powered Sugar
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Vanilla
1/3 cup Milk
Optional: 1-2 tbsp Raspberry Preserves

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425°F, and grease your doughnut pan.
Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Create a well in the middle of the mixture.
Add milk, egg, and butter to the well and mix into the dry ingredients. Mix in 3-4 tablespoons of raspberry preserves, depending on how you want it to taste.
Smear two spoonfuls of Nutella on the inside of a pastry bag. (I used a Ziplock bag.) Fill the rest of the bag with dough. Cut the corner off the bag and pipe the dough into the doughnut pan.
Optional Step: Swirl the Nutella in the dough with a toothpick.
Bake doughnuts for 8-10 minutes, until the doughnuts spring back when you touch them. Allow to cool on a rack for about five minutes.
To make the glaze combine powdered sugar, salt, vanilla, milk, and raspberry preserves. When doughnuts had cooled, dunk them in the glaze. Put the doughnuts back on the rack to let the glaze set.
Devour. Be happy.

Apple Nut Pull-Apart Loaf

2014-02-01T11:35:00.000-05:00

Kristin here. That's right. I'm taking over. Now take a seat, say good-bye to your extra calories, and get ready for one of the tastiest (and easiest) breakfasts in existence.

When I was very little, I wanted to help out in the kitchen. Unfortunately I was terrified of the oven, the stove, and knives. This was one of the first meals that my mom ever taught me that I was able to help with. Eventually I grew out of my fear and realized that this breakfast is so easy that I could sneak downstairs and make it for holidays like Mother's Day and Father's Day. This morning, I made it for the holiday commonly known as Saturday. Note: This is not the exact recipe my mom sent me. There was a pan that we had that was specifically for this recipe that Alex and I don't own. That, and I have a really hard time baking without brown sugar, so I just had to throw that in.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees, and grease your bundt pan.

Here are your ingredients.

You see those apples? You see that I have three- count them - three apples? You do NOT need three apples. Even if they're kind of on the smallish side. You might be in the produce section, looking at the apples, thinking to yourself, "I could totally fit three apples into this." You can't. You won't. You will end up eating at least one, perhaps one and a half of the apples. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but you definitely don't need three for this recipe.

What you do need is a can of biscuits, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, butter or margarine, apples, raisins, and nuts. And probably a cup of coffee. It's early, and you deserve it.

Take the biscuits out of their package (this recipe becomes very difficult if you skip this step) and tear them in half. Don't worry about cutting them perfectly, just use your hands and eyeball it.

Then roll the biscuit halves into balls.

I started with eight biscuits, so now I have sixteen dough balls.

Melt two tablespoons on butter or margarine. I used margarine today, but they both work well. Then mix the sugars and cinnamon.

The original recipe calls for six tablespoons of white sugar, but I have a really hard time baking something without brown sugar. I only used three tablespoons of white sugar and then I threw in three tablespoons of brown sugar. Because I'm a rebel like that. Also, a teaspoon and a half of cinnamon gets mixed in there.

Roll the dough balls in the melted butter or margarine.

Then roll them in the sugars and cinnamon. Previously when I made this, I would get a lot of cinnamon and sugar into the butter because it gets all over your hands. Today I realized that if I only buttered with my right hand, and only sugared with my left hand, the butter didn't get sugared. I'm pretty sure it doesn't make a difference, but I felt better about myself. That's what's important, right? Important note: Save the leftover sugar and cinnamon!!

Put the lovely little dough ball into your greased bundt pan. Oh, but he's lonely. Let's get him some friends.

What a lovely ring of dough balls! Now they are all friends, nice and cozy in your pan.

Glamor shot. They look like you could just eat them now, but don't. Raw biscuit dough is gross.

After peeling and coring my apples, I pulled out my faux-mandoline. Apparently it isn't a real mandoline because it doesn't juilienne, but I still love it.

My knife skills are very weak, so it's really nice to have a gadget that helps me get such nice, consistent slices. The slices should be a little on the thin side so that they can get nice and tender while they bake, but not so thin that they just disintegrate.

In the original recipe, it calls for apples between each biscuit and along the outside of the pan. What you see here is a result of me having too many apples. Honestly though, if you have a space where an apple slice can go, put an apple slice there. You won't regret it later.

Remember that cinnamon and sugar that you saved earlier? Now you get to mix it up with the two tablespoons of raisins and three tablespoons of chopped nuts. I used to be able to find mixed chopped nuts and that was delicious, but we couldn't find that at the store. I went with chopped walnuts and it worked well. Pick your favorite, be adventurous, it will probably work out. Attempt to resist just sitting down and eating this with a spoon. Please believe me when I say that it will be worth it.

Sprinkle the nuts and raisin mixture over the dough and apples.

It's just. So. Beautiful. Now pop that beauty in the oven for about 25-30 minutes.

Remember that cup of coffee? If you have a chance to photograph it artfully in front of the gently falling snow, it will really add a richness to the flavor. If you can't, well, you'll just have to make do.

After only fifteen minutes your kitchen will smell amazing, but it won't even be close to done! Now close your oven and let it get back to baking.

The final result! I called it done after about 28 minutes. The apples on the outside looked a little overdone, but they were beautifully caramelized and very tasty. The most important thing was that the dough was cooked through.

I will admit it, it's not the prettiest looking thing.

It's probably not going to win any beauty awards.

But I still maintain that it's one of the tastiest breakfasts that you could make. And besides, if it's easy enough for a ten year old with, essentially, a fear of kitchen, then it's easy enough for anyone.

Fun fact: When you don't blog in almost a year, the light box gets very wrinkly. Also, kitties think that it's a box for them to play in.

Posey was pretty sure the wrinkles were there to attack.

Kitties be crazy.

So anyway. back to breakfast. This is what Alex's plate looked like about thirty seconds after I asked him to taste test it for me.

Easy to make, wonderful to eat, I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!

Recipe: Apple Nut Pull-Apart Loaf
Prep Time: 45-60 Minutes | Cook Time: 25-30 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 4-6

Ingredients

1 can Refrigerated Buttermilk Biscuits
3 tbsp Sugar
3 tbsp Brown Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
2 tbsp Butter or Margarine, melted
2 small Apples or 1 medium Apple, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
3 tbsp Chopped Nuts
2 tbsp Raisins

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400°F. Separate biscuits in half and roll into balls.
Mix sugars and cinnamon.
Dip dough balls into butter, then roll in sugar and cinnamon mixture.
Arrange sugared biscuit balls into bundt pan.
Place an apple slice between each biscuit ball, and around the outer and inner edges of the pan.
Mix nuts, raisins, and leftover sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle over the biscuits and apples.
Bake 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown.

Cauliflower Puree with Sauteed Zucchini

2013-02-03T13:37:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted, and a lot has happened in the meantime. We've been pretty busy - Kristin and I have packed up and moved to Wisconsin to start a pair of new jobs. That's meant a new home, new schedules, and a new kitchen. As we're settling back into the routine, I'm happy to find more time to think about blogging again.

Kristin and I have few fundamental disagreements when it comes to food. One thing we just can't see eye to eye on, though, is potatoes. She - like the rest of the world - loves them. I - the weird one - hate them. Since I do most of our cooking, this leaves Kristin tragically craving potatoes. We may finally have found a good compromise, since this cauliflower puree seems to scratch that itch for her without resulting to the scourge of potatoes.

Here's what you'll need: cauliflower, zucchini, sour cream, some soft melting cheese (I used Neufchatel, and have also used goat cheese here to great effect), a bit of butter, a splash of milk, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

Feel free to vary the ingredients here to taste - much like potatoes, this puree will take to all sorts of flavors, so add, remove, or adjust seasonings to fit your particular meal.

Start by chopping down the cauliflower. There's really no need to turn it into pretty florettes - you're going to puree it, after all. The goal here is just to break it down into manageable pieces with a fair amount of surface area for easy cooking.

Throw the chopping cauliflower into a pot of lightly-salted water, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes or so until the cauliflower is tender, but not mushy.

If you really want to be a purist, you could stick to just some tasty pureed cauliflower, but I decided to top this dish with some chopped, sauteed zucchini to offer some additional flavor and textural contrast.

While the cauliflower is simmering away, dice your zucchini into nice, small pieces.

Saute the diced zucchini with a bit of butter, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. It should only take a couple of minutes - take it off the heat when the zucchini still has some bite to it, otherwise you'll end up with a much more boring soft-on-soft texture with the finished product.

When the cauliflower is tender, drain it well in a colander. You don't want watery puree, so drain it really, really well - shake it around, leave it for a minute or two, shake some more, and even consider pressing some water out.

When your cauliflower is well drained, throw it into a blender or large food processor along with a dollop of sour cream, the cheese, and a generous quantity of salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Don't add any milk yet.

This process could also benefit a great deal from an immersion blender if you have one - if so, combine everything in the pot you used to simmer the cauliflower instead and just take the immersion blender to it.

Once everything is in the blender, give it a whir. If it's being stubborn, add a splash of milk to help it mix - otherwise, there's no need. Keep blending until you hit a texture you're happy with - just a few pulses for a thicker texture, or longer for a smoother, thinner texture. Try a bit and adjust the seasonings to your taste.

Serve hot with plenty of sauteed zucchini on top.

Recipe: Cauliflower Puree with Sauteed Zucchini
Prep Time: 5 Minutes | Cook Time: 20-30 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 6-8

Ingredients

2 large heads Cauliflower
2 large Zucchini
4 oz Neufchatel Cheese
2 tbsp Sour Cream
2 tbsp Butter
1 tbsp Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
Optional: Milk as needed to blend

Instructions

Chop cauliflower down into small pieces.
Add cauliflower to a pot of lightly salted water. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer 15-20 minutes until tender.
Finely dice zucchini.
Saute zucchini until just tender in a skillet over medium-high heat with butter, salt, pepper, and a dash of garlic powder.
When cauliflower is tender, drain well to remove as much water as possible.
In a blender or large food processor, combine drained cauliflower, sour cream, neufchatel cheese, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Blend cauliflower mixture to desired texture, adding milk as needed.
Serve cauliflower puree hot topped with sauteed zucchini.

Chocolate Tangerine Waffles

2012-11-04T10:18:00.000-05:00

Most weekends, Kristin and I make ourselves something interesting for breakfast on one morning or the other. We alternate between pancakes, waffles, and French toast, and often try to improvise new ways to add to or alter the basic recipes and keep things interesting. This recipe was one such attempt - we had some incredibly juicy tangerines sitting around, so we decided to see what we could do with them, and the results were pretty tasty!

You don't need much for these waffles: Bisquick mix, some tangerines to juice (or just some orange juice), a bit of vegetable oil, some baking cocoa, and an egg. You may also want a bit of brown sugar to sweeten things up.

Start by juicing the tangerines. Make sure to spill plenty of juice all over the counter.

Throw everything else together in a large mixing bowl, then add the juice. Make sure not to let any seeds sneak in there!

Action shot! Give the batter a thorough mixing - but don't worry too much if it stays a touch lumpy.

There are lots of waffle makers out there in the world, so check the manual (you saved that, right?) for yours to see how much batter it wants per waffle. Ours uses a half cup each. Whatever yours takes, add that much and let it cook.

When your waffle is just a little crispy, pull it on out. Repeat the process until you're out of batter.

Serve up the finished waffles with your favorite syrup and a side of OJ.

Recipe: Chocolate Tangerine Waffles
Prep Time: 5 Minutes | Cook Time: 10 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 8-10 Waffles

Ingredients

2 cups Bisquick mix
1 2/3 cups Tangerine Juice (juice of 4-5 tangerines)
2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 egg
1/2 cup Baking Cocoa
Optional: 1/4 cup Brown Sugar

Instructions

Squeeze juice from tangerines over a sieve or strainer to catch seeds.
Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix well. Batter may be slightly lumpy.
Add batter to heated waffle iron according to instruction manual. Close iron and cook until slightly crispy.
Serve hot with syrup and orange juice.

Crock Pot Italian Beef

2012-10-21T10:31:00.001-04:00

If you're not from Chicagoland, you probably don't have easy access to good Italian Beef sandwiches. In Chicago and the suburbs, I would bet you're never further than a 5 minute drive from a good Italian Beef. Out here in Ohio, sadly, things are not the same. All is not lost, however - it's easy to make a good beef sandwich in the crock pot at home.

Italian Beef sandwiches are traditionally wet-roasted to medium rare, then shaved thin on a deli slicer and finished in "the juice," then served on dense, chewy bread and topped with sweet peppers, hot peppers, or giardiniera (or some combination of the three). I don't have a deli slicer handy, so my own version is shredded rather than sliced, but the result is much the same. This recipe is an easy, delicious way to feed a large group - but make plenty, they may want seconds.

Here's what you'll need: 3-4 pounds of cheap beef (sirloin butt, top round, or bottom round), a couple of sweet onions, a couple of bell peppers, some beef broth, worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.

Start by chopping the peppers and onions into large pieces. Too small, and they'll either end up mushy or disintegrate altogether after cooking all day - and that just won't do.

Cover the bottom of the crock pot with a little more than half of the chopped veggies. The rest will go on top in a minute.

Next, nestle the star player into the pot on top of the veggies, and cover that enormous hunk of beef with the rest of the chopped vegetables. My cut of beef was a little bigger than I usually use, so it just barely fits in the pot - it took a while longer to cook, but it still turned out just fine.

With the beef and vegetables in place, it's time to add the cooking liquid and the seasoning - add the Worcestershire sauce, beef broth, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt, and pepper to the pot. Be sure to lift up the beef a bit to make sure that the liquid gets all the way down to the bottom of the pot.

With your liquid and seasoning in place, your beef is ready to cook. Set the crock pot to low and cook 6-10 hours - the amount of time can vary quite a lot depending on the particular cut of beef you get. The good news is that it's pretty tough to drastically overcook this beef, so if it goes an "extra" hour or two, no big deal.

You'll know the beef is done when it shreds very, very easily with a fork. If it's at all tough to get apart, put it back in the pot and try again in an hour. Once the beef is tender, shred it with a couple of forks until it's in nice, bite-sized pieces.

To assemble a sandwich, pile plenty of beef onto a good, chewy sandwich roll. Drizzle with extra juice and/or serve with a cup of juice on the side. Top the sandwich with roasted sweet peppers, giardiniera, hot peppers, or any combination thereof. This time around, we used these Pickled Hot Peppers to great effect.

While this sandwich may never entirely stave off my craving for a Portillo's sandwich, this recipe is a nice approximation of the Chicago classic. Enjoy!

Recipe: Crock Pot Italian Beef

Prep Time: 10 Minutes | Cook Time: 6-10 Hours in Crock Pot | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 12-16

Ingredients

3-4 lbs Beef (sirloin butt, top round, bottom round)
2 large Sweet Onions
2 large green Bell Peppers
4 cups low-sodium Beef Broth
3 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
2 tbsp Italian Seasoning
1 tbsp Garlic Powder
1 tbsp Salt
2 tsp Black Pepper

Instructions

Chop onions and peppers into large pieces.
Line bottom of crock pot with half of chopped vegetables. Set beef atop vegetables, then cover with the other half of the onions and peppers.
Add Worcestershire sauce, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt, and pepper to crock pot. Add enough beef broth to cover all of the ingredients.
Cook in crock pot 6-10 hours on Low until a fork can easily pull the beef apart.
Shred beef into small pieces with two forks.
To assemble sandwiches, pile beef atop chewy sandwich rolls. Drizzle with additional juice and/or serve with a side cup of juice. Top with sweet peppers, giardiniera, and/or hot peppers. Serve hot.

Pickled Hot Peppers

2012-10-01T19:26:00.000-04:00

Pickling is pretty cool. You take some food, throw it in something nice and acidic, and after a while the taste is transformed and your food will last way longer. Neat! I'm not the hugest fan of traditional pickles, but you can pickle lots of things, and pickled peppers are particularly tasty. Kristin and I have eaten these peppers on Italian beef and hamburgers recently, and both have been really fantastic. We've got half of a batch still in the fridge right now, and they'll likely go on some nachos later in the week. If you haven't already, try some pickling.

Here's what I used for this batch of pickles: jalapeno peppers, poblano peppers, anaheim peppers, hungarian peppers, shallots, garlic, thyme, cider vinegar, salt, and sugar. You can vary the peppers and veggies as you see fit - I went for a nice mix of milder and hotter peppers and it made for a nice heat level that's definitely noticeable, but doesn't take over the whole dish. If you want things milder, you can include some regular belle peppers. If you like it spicier, add some hotter peppers - the sky is the limit.

Start by chopping all of the vegetables. I like to chop things fairly rough so that the finished product has a nice, firm texture with plenty of bite.

Once things are chopped, combine the vinegar, salt, sugar, and thyme in a saucepan. Bring the contents to a boil, stir well to make sure that all of the sugar is absorbed, and remove your pan from the heat.

Once the brine in the saucepan has cooled a bit, add the chopped vegetables. Let this sit until the whole mixture is room temperature.

When everything is cool, transfer the vegetables and brine into jars or your storage medium of choice. Kristin and I intend to go through these fairly quickly, so we're not bothering with a long-term canning process. If you want to make larger batches or save these longer, be sure to use safe and sterile processes. For our purposes, we just re-used some well-scrubbed pasta sauce jars and plan to eat the pickles expediently.

Throw your jars into the fridge for at least 6 hours, then open them up and invent as many ways to eat these as possible.

These really may be my new favorite condiment. We've made a couple of batches already as we keep on thinking of new ways to use them - I imagine there will only be more variations and more applications to come. If you make these or something like them, leave a comment and let me know how it went and how you used them!

Recipe: Pickled Hot Peppers
Prep Time: 15 Minutes Hands-On + 6 Hours Refrigeration | Cook Time: 5 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

5 Jalapeno Peppers
3 Anaheim Peppers
3 Poblano Peppers
3 Hungarian Peppers
2 Shallots,
3 cloves Garlic
1/2 cup White Sugar
2 cups Apple Cider Vinegar
2 tsp Thyme
2 tsp Salt

Instructions

Chop peppers and shallots and mince garlic.
In a medium saucepan, combine vinegar, thyme, salt, and sugar. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and stir to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat and let cool several minutes.
Add chopped vegetables to saucepan and rest until completely cooled.
Transfer vegetables and brine to glass jars. Seal lids and refrigerate at least 6 hours. Use sterile canning processes if storing pickles longer than 10 days.

Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower

2012-09-16T09:37:00.000-04:00

Roasting can be an unsung hero among cooking methods. It's not flashy or noisy, it's simple. It's not fiddly or complex, it's easy. All you need is plenty of heat and plenty of time. This week I roasted some broccoli and cauliflower, veggies that I would usually just steam. Roasting took longer, but the flavors and texture were leaps and bounds more interesting than my usual methods. This makes for a side that can stand up to just about anything, but without becoming too heavy or overpowering itself.

The ingredients this week are simple and inexpensive. Here's what you'll need: broccoli, cauliflower, a lemon, a few cloves of garlic, some olive oil, salt and pepper, and a bit of Parmesan to sprinkle on top if you're so inclined.

There's lots of chopping to do. Break down the broccoli and cauliflower into florettes, leaving a couple of inches of stalk. Also mince the garlic and zest the lemon.

Throw everything you just chopped and zested into a large bowl. Drizzle the mixture with olive oil and the juice from the lemon, then sprinkle with salt and black pepper. Stir it around a bit and let it sit for 10 or 15 minutes. Pre-heat the oven to 425 while you wait.

After you've waited 10 or 15 minutes, give the veggie mixture another good stir, then pour it out into a single layer on a greased sheet pan.

Roast in the oven at 425 degrees for 25-35 minutes, turning halfway, until the vegetables are nicely brown and tender enough to pierce easily with a fork. These actually went back in a little longer after this shot, because I like mine quite crispy. Don't fret if you end up with some really, really dark pieces - they may look burnt, but they're probably the tastiest ones.

Serve hot with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese if you so desire.

Recipe: Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower
Prep Time: 5 Minutes | Cook Time: 25-35 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 4-6

Ingredients

1-2 pounds fresh Broccoli
1 head fresh Cauliflower
1 lemon
3-4 tbsp Olive Oil
4 cloves Garlic
Salt and Pepper to taste
Optional: Grated Parmesan Cheese

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.
Chop broccoli and cauliflower into florettes with 1-2 inches of stalk.
Mince garlic and zest lemon. Add to large mixing bowl with broccoli and cauliflower.
Drizzle olive oil over contents of bowl. Add lemon juice, salt, and pepper and stir to mix. Let sit 10-15 minutes.
Arrange vegetable mixture in a single layer on a greased baking sheet.
Roast vegetables 25-35 minutes, turning halfway, until well-browned and tender enough to pierce easily with a fork.
Serve hot with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese if desired.

Moo Shu Pork

2012-09-09T09:14:00.002-04:00

Here are some things that are delicious:

Pork
Sauteed vegetables
Mushrooms
Eggs
Hoi sin sauce

Conveniently enough, the items on this list can be combined to become something even more than the sum of its parts: Moo Shu Pork. It's one of my dad's favorite dishes when we go for Chinese food, and for good reason. When you take that pork mixture and wrap it up in a pancake with plenty of sweet-spicy Hoi Sin sauce...oh man. Good things happen. My Moo Shu may never quite stand up to the stuff we got from our favorite Chinese place growing up, but it's a pretty tasty alternative to make at home.

Here's what you'll need: pork tenderloin, shredded cabbage, bean sprouts, shiitake mushrooms, green onions, eggs, hoi sin sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce, cornstarch, garlic, sake or rice wine vinegar, and some pancakes.

Your local grocery store may or may not have exactly what you would like - in my case, my pancakes are just flour tortillas, but many stores do sell pancakes specifically meant for moo shu and peking duck in the Asian food section. It's also perfectly effective to shred cabbage yourself rather than grabbing cole-slaw mix, but I was in a weeknight hurry and the shredded stuff worked just fine.

First, chop the tenderloin into small strips. Throw it in a bowl or ziploc bag with some soy sauce, sesame oil, a bit of sake or rice wine vinegar, and some corn starch. Give it a good mixing, and let it sit for at least a half-hour.

While the pork is marinating, you can start in on the other components. First, heat up a bit of oil and add your lightly-beaten eggs to the pan once it's hot. Let the eggs set over medium heat, then flip the whole sheet and cook for just another minute or so. Pull the eggs out of the pan, chop the sheet into small pieces, and set the eggs aside for later.

Add a bit more oil to your pan, then add your minced garlic and chopped green onions. Saute just for a minute or so - be careful not to overcook - then add the shredded cabbage and bean sprouts. At this point, it should be clear why I'm using a dutch oven rather than just a skillet: I'm making a whole lot of moo shu, and all that cabbage takes up lots of space.

Throw in a bit of sake or rice wine vinegar, since cabbage loves a touch of acid. Let the veggies cook over medium heat, stirring often, until they're slightly wilted but still plenty crunchy. The volume in the pan should reduce by about half. Pull out the veggies and set them aside for later.

Add a bit more oil to the pan and bring the heat back up to medium-high. Chop up your mushrooms, and saute them with the pork, marinade and all, until the pork is just barely cooked. Do this in batches to make sure that the pan isn't too overcrowded.

Once your last batch of pork is done, the bottom of your pan will be covered in deep brown, flavorful porky goodness. Don't let it go to waste! Deglaze with some sake and soy sauce, scraping the bottom of the pan to mix in the porky goodness. This will have the pleasant side effect of smelling divine. Inhale deeply.

When you've got the pan nicely deglazed, bring back all of the elements that have been sitting and waiting so patiently on the side - the eggs, the veggies, and the pork mixture. Mix well, and sample to see what flavors need adjusting. Add more soy, sesame, or salt as you see fit. Don't forget, this mixture doesn't need to do all of the heavy flavor-lifting - there's delicious hoi sin sauce to come, as well.

When you're ready to assemble, smear the center of a pancake with a generous amount of hoi sin, then spoon on plenty of the filling. The filling retains a lot of liquid, so be careful, these can get messy fast - it wouldn't hurt to assemble using a slotted spoon. Fold up your moo shu like a burrito, and you're ready to eat!

After writing this post, so am I. Good thing we still have plenty of moo shu leftovers in the fridge.

Recipe: Moo Shu Pork

Prep Time: 30 Minutes | Cook Time: 30 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 12-16

Ingredients

2-3 pounds Pork Tenderloin
1 large bag (14 oz) Cole Slaw mix
1 bag (8 oz) shredded Red Cabbage
8 oz. Shiitake Mushrooms
3 Eggs, lightly beaten
1 bunch Green Onions
1/4 cup Soy Sauce
2 tsp Sesame Oil
3 tsp Cornstarch
1 cup Sake wine
4 cloves Garlic, minced
1 jar Hoi Sin sauce
Moo Shu pancakes (or tortillas)

Instructions

Cut pork into thin strips. Add to large bowl or ziploc bag with 2-3 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil, a splash of Sake, and 2 tsp cornstarch. Mix well and let sit at least 30 minutes.
In a large pan or dutch oven over medium heat, cook lightly beaten eggs in a small amount of oil until barely set. Flip and cook an additional minute. Remove from pan and slice into small pieces. Set aside.
Saute minced garlic and chopped green onions in a tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat for about one minute. Add cole slaw mix, red cabbage, bean sprouts, and sake. Cook over medium heat until vegetables are slightly wilted but still crispy. Volume will reduce by about half. Remove vegetables and set aside.
Saute pork and chopped mushrooms in small batches with marinade over medium-high heat until pork is just cooked.
After last batch of pork is finished, deglaze pan with sake and soy sauce.
Return all ingredients set aside to the pan and mix well. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary.
To assemble, spread a generous amount of hoi sin sauce onto a pancake, then add several spoonfuls of Moo Shu filling. Roll burrito-style and serve warm.

Rice Cooker Jambalaya

2012-08-19T10:21:00.000-04:00

I received a rice cooker as a birthday gift several weeks ago - a gadget I'd been wanting for a while. Not only will it make cooking rice much easier, but most rice cookers now also double as steamers and can cook a whole range of things. I got my first use out of my new toy this week, making a big pot of jambalaya.

I searched around for recipes, and a few suggested that one could just dump all of the ingredients into the pot, hit "cook," and call it a day. I wasn't quite that brave, so I did some pan cooking to prep the ingredients, but the rice cooker did the great share of the work - and did so admirably. This meal ended up great - rich and meaty and flavorful and spicy. It was a great use for a new gadget and a meal I'll definitely make again.

Here's what I used: medium-grain rice, shrimp, kielbasa sausage (not pictured - oops!), sweet onion, green peppers, garlic, chicken broth, crushed tomatoes, worcestershire sauce, cajun seasoning, salt, and pepper.

You can use just about any protein you like - I used shrimp and kielbasa, but you could use just one or the other. Chicken and andouille sausage are also fairly common in jambalaya and worth considering.

First, chop up the vegetables. I like a fairly large, rough chop on the onion and bell pepper to make sure that they maintain just a bit of crunch in the mixture.

Many jambalaya recipes also involve celery. Kristin and I aren't celery fans, but if you are, feel free to chop some up and add it into the mix.

Saute the onion, bell pepper, and garlic over medium heat until they're just a bit tender and the onions are starting to get translucent. Don't overcook them, as they'll cook a bit more in with the rice.

In the rice cooker, combine the rice, crushed tomatoes, chicken broth, worcestershire sauce, the sauted vegetables, plenty of cajun seasoning, and some salt and pepper. Turn it on to cook and it will let you know when it's done. You may need to add some more liquid and set it back to cook a bit longer after the first time the cooker stops cooking - taste and make sure the texture is to your liking.

While the rice cooker does its magic, give the shrimp and sausage a quick chop, then throw them into a pan together with a dash of seasoning and saute just until the shrimp are evenly pink - don't overcook the shrimp or they'll get tough.

When the rice cooker is finished, stir in the shrimp and sausage, taste to check and adjust the seasoning, and serve up some hot jambalaya!

Recipe: Rice Cooker Jambalaya
Prep Time: 10 Minutes | Cook Time: 1 Hour | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 10-12

Ingredients

3 cups medium grain White Rice
1 pound Shrimp
1-2 pounds Kielbasa Sausage
1 large Sweet Onion
2-3 medium Green Bell Peppers
2-4 cloves Garlic
1 large can (28 oz) Crushed Tomatoes
2 cans low-sodium Chicken Broth
2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
3 tbsp Cajun Seasoning
Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

Chop onion and bell pepper into large pieces. Mince garlic. Saute over medium heat until just tender.
In rice cooker, combine rice, chicken broth, crushed tomatoes, sauteed vegetables, worcestershire sauce, cajun seasoning, salt, and pepper. Set to cook.
Shell shrimp if necessary. Roughly chop shrimp and sausage. Saute over medium-high heat until shrimp are pink. Do not overcook.
When rice cooker is finished (check doneness and add liquid if necessary), stir in shrimp and sausage. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.
Serve hot.

Broccoli Ramen Salad

2012-08-12T10:56:00.001-04:00

Summertime demands some fresh, light, flavorful side dishes. It can be tough to make cold food interesting, and especially to make raw food interesting, but this little salad really does the trick. It's lightning fast to put together, super flavorful, and not at all heavy - we were so happy to have it when the temperature soared over 100 degrees for so much of this summer.

I'm no fan of prepackaged ramen noodles, but they really add life to this salad. They soften just a bit in the tangy dressing, making for a nice textural counterpoint to the crunchy nuts and crisp vegetables, but they never end up too soft. This recipe is also immensely easy to customize - a dash of soy sauce and ginger lend it an Asian flair, or some lime and cilantro make it an easy complement for Mexican food. Whenever you need something tasty, cool, and easy in the heat, give this salad a try.

Here's what you'll need: A large package a broccoli slaw, two packages of chicken flavored ramen, a bunch of green onions, unsalted roasted peanuts and sunflower seeds, apple cider vinegar, vegetable oil, and a bit of white sugar.

First, make the dressing by whisking together vegetable oil, cider vinegar, sugar, and one ramen seasoning packet (just one, otherwise things get too salty and gross).

Next, chop down the green onions and crush up the ramen noodles into small pieces. Don't worry about keeping things too uniform.

This process can sometimes involve tiny noodle pieces flying all around the kitchen. This is immensely entertaining to the cat, but maybe less so to whoever has to clean it up - consider crushing the noodles in a bag or a bowl to minimize projectiles.

Now mix everything but the peanuts and sunflower seeds together in a large bowl, add the dressing, and give it a good stir. You can serve right away if necessary, but the flavors really improve with an hour or two in the fridge.

Serve the salad up cold, and garnish with peanuts and sunflower seeds right when it's time to eat. If you're bringing the salad elsewhere, like to a pot luck, it's fine to add the nuts before you leave - they can make it several hours before getting soggy. If you expect leftovers or are just eating at home, though, you'll want to add nuts to individual portions.

Recipe: Broccoli Ramen Salad

Prep Time: 10 Minutes | Cook Time: None | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 10-12

Ingredients

1 large (16-20 oz) package Broccoli Slaw
2 packages chicken flavored Ramen Noodles
1 bunch Green Onions, chopped
1/2 cup Unsalted Roasted Peanuts
1/2 cup Unsalted Roasted Sunflower Seeds
1/4 cup White Sugar
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
1/3 cup Cider Vinegar

Instructions

Whisk together vegetable oil, cider vinegar, sugar, and one ramen seasoning packet to create dressing.
Finely chop green onions and break down ramen noodles into small pieces.
In a large bowl, combine broccoli slaw, green onions, and broken ramen noodles. Pour dressing over mixture and toss to coat.
Refrigerate to chill - ideally 1-2 hours to enhance flavor.
Top with peanuts and sunflower seeds just before serving. Serve cold.

Pineapple Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

2012-08-05T12:17:00.000-04:00

Kristin and I are up in Vermont again this year, and it seems that we're developing a trend for baking with zucchini while we're here. Last year, we made Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins. They were fantastic. So tasty, in fact, that Kristin agreed to marry me. We can't exactly repeat the proposal, but this year my birthday was one of our first days in the cabin, so we decided to make some zucchini cake.

I started off searching for a recipe for chocolate zucchini sheet cake, but found a recipe for a pineapple zucchini cake, instead, and decided to shake things up. We made a number of changes to that recipe, but the end result was killer - a super-moist, flavorful cake with sweet and tangy icing that everybody loved both on the night of my birthday and over coffee as breakfast the next day.

Here's what you'll need for the cake portion (the icing will come later): flour, sugar, vegetable oil, zucchini, crushed pineapple, sweetened coconut, eggs, baking soda, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt.

Start by combining the flour, sugar, coconut, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl. Give them a good stir.

In another, somewhat smaller mixing bowl, beat the eggs, then add the oil and vanilla and mix well.

Stir the wet stuff into the dry stuff, then add the grated zucchini and the all but a couple of tablespoons of juice from the can of crushed pineapple. The batter will be wet and thick.

Pour the cake batter into a well-greased 9x13" pan and bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. It's done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the edges have just started to pull awy from the edges of the pan.

Let it cool completely before you frost the cake - this will take a surprisingly long time. The cake is quite dense, so it will hold its heat for ages. It wouldn't hurt to refrigerate it - we actually liked it cold quite a lot.

While the cake is baking - or even while it's cooling - you'll need to make the frosting. We forgot to take an ingredients picture (oops!), but here what you'll need: softened butter, a package of cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, the couple of tablespoons of pineapple juice you saved from the can, and maybe just a splash of orange juice, too.

First, combine the softened butter and cream cheese in a large mixing bowl and beat until smooth. This would be much easier with a mixer - we don't have one up here, but a large fork and some elbow grease did the job, too.

Finish the frosting by adding the powdered sugar, vanilla, pineapple juice, and orange juice (if you want some). Mix again until it's smooth and at the texture you like - a bit more sugar makes a firmer frosting, a bit less leaves it relatively thin. We kept it a bit on the thinner side to make for easy spreading.

When the cake is finally cool, spread the icing over the top. We refrigerated the iced cake afterward to help everything set up a bit, and it ended up very tasty that way, especially on a hot summer day.

Serve generous slices of cake, and give some real consideration to some coffee on the side - the earthiness of the zucchini really matches well with a good, dark-roast coffee.

This cake made for a very happy birthday, and we just might have to make it again before another year is up.

Recipe: Pineapple Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Prep Time: 10 Minutes | Cook Time: 40 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 12 Large or 16 Medium Slices

Ingredients

Cake:

2 1/3 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 1/3 cups White Sugar
1/2 cup Sweetened Coconut
2 large Eggs, beaten
2 cups Grated Zucchini
1 (20 oz) can Crushed Pineapple, undrained
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
3 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
1 tsp Vanilla

Frosting:

2 cups Powdered Sugar
1 (8 oz) package Cream Cheese
2 tbsp Butter
2 tsp Vanilla
2 tbsp reserved Pineapple Juice
(Optional): 1-2 tbsp Orange Juice

Instructions

Cake:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, coconut, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.
In a medium bowl, beat eggs, then add oil and vanilla. Stir to combine.
Add wet ingredients into dry ingredients, followed by grated zucchini and crushed pineapple. Reserve approximately 2 tbsp pineapple juice in the can for the frosting. Mix well to combine. Batter will be thick and wet.
Pour batter into a greased 9x13" pan. Bake 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees until a toothpick comes out clean and the edges have just started to pull away from the pan.
Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:

In a large bowl, combine butter and cream cheese. Mix well until smooth.
Add powdered sugar, vanilla, pineapple juice, and orange juice if desired. Mix again until smooth.
Add additional powdered sugar as necessary to achieve desired texture, mixing well.
Spread frosting over cake once cooled completely. Refrigerate frosted cake to set up frosting. Serve cold.

Sweet and Spicy Plum Chutney

2012-07-22T11:31:00.000-04:00

My mother is a very talented cook, so it's hardly fair to say that I ever really "discovered" food. I grew up eating flavorful, healthy meals cooked from quality ingredients, and that's a lot of the reason that I enjoy food and cooking as much as I do today. Still, I think everyone - myself included - has moments as they grow up where food takes them by surprise.

One of my first surprising moments with food was on a family vacation to Hawaii. We were going kayaking down a river, and stopped at a roadside stand to get some sandwiches to bring along for lunch. Until that point, I had never been all that adventurous with sandwiches - that changed with this food stand. I don't even remember everything that was on the sandwich - I think it was tuna. What took me by surprise were the side-elements - bean sprouts and a mango chutney. I'm not sure I had ever had a sprout or a mango before, so I wasn't too sure what I was getting into. My worries were very quickly allayed. Somewhere on the shore of a small Hawaiian river, it occurred to me that sandwiches - and their condiments - can be awesome.

More than a decade later, my family still talks about that mango chutney. I'm tempted to try to recreate it, but I worry that doing so could never do justice to that first taste. I tried something related, though - a plum chutney. It's spicy and tangy and sweet and earthy all at once, and has made a great condiment for everything that I've put it on so far. Best of all, I still have a bunch of it left, so I can look forward to grilling up something else and coating it with spicy plum goodness.

For a somewhat exotic recipe, the ingredients are pretty close to home - most are pantry staples. Here's what I used: half a dozen ripe plums, one red onion, some brown sugar, some white sugar, apple cider vinegar, cayenne pepper, ginger root, garlic, whole mustard seeds, salt, and pepper. Many chutney recipes also feature currants or golden raisins - I opted against for this attempt, but feel free to toss them in if that takes your fancy.

First, chop up all the fresh stuff: the garlic, the red onion, and the plums. A coarse chop is all you need - everything will reduce in size pretty considerably, so don't worry about big chunks.

If you prefer your ginger minced, peel and chop it at this point, too. I grated it right into the pot later on with a microplane, and that worked just fine for me.

The cooking process starts by combining the vinegar, brown sugar, and white sugar in a small saucepan. Whisk together and bring to a quick boil to make sure all of the sugar is dissolved.

Next, keep the heat on, and add everything else to the pot - the chopped plums, garlic, and red onions, the mustard seeds, the cayenne, some grated ginger, and a generous hit of salt and pepper. It will look like egregiously too much for the little bit of liquid at the bottom, but don't fear - the plums will release plenty of liquid quite quickly as everything comes back to a boil. As soon as the pan is boiling again, reduce the heat to a steady simmer.

Simmer 30-45 minutes until everything is reduced by 1/3 to 1/2 and has a sticky, syrupy texture.

And that's it! Serve it up as you see fit - this chutney is surprisingly versatile. It makes a great condiment for sandwiches, a fantastic glaze for grilled meats, and even a top-notch hot dog topping. Heck, I'd even be tempted to use it like cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving. Give it a try, and let me know where it works.

Recipe: Sweet and Spicy Plum Chutney

Prep Time: 10 Minutes | Cook Time: 45 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 3-4 Cups

Ingredients

6 Ripe Plums
1 medium Red Onion
3/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 cup (packed) Brown Sugar
1/3 cup White Sugar
4 cloves Garlic
2 tsp whole Mustard Seeds
2 tsp Grated Ginger
1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

Coarsely chop red onion, plums, and garlic.
In a small saucepan, combine cider vinegar, brown sugar, and white sugar. Whisk together and bring to a boil.
Add all other ingredients to saucepan and return to a rapid boil.
Reduce heat to a steady simmer, stirring often, 30-45 minutes until mixture has reduced by 1/3 and texture is syrupy.
Store up to 3 weeks refrigerated or preserve by canning.

Parmesan Zucchini Fries

2012-07-15T12:00:00.002-04:00

Since Kristin and I live in a second-floor apartment, we don't get much of a chance to grow our own food. In fact, even the poor herbs that I try to grow in the window only have about a 50% survival rate. Kristin's family has a great garden, though, and they even like us enough that they sometimes share their home-grown veggies. Thankfully, that means we don't miss out entirely on the fresher-than-fresh summer harvest. This week, Kristin's mom shared a couple of beautiful, gargantuan zucchini with us. I really don't think I've ever seen larger. She mentioned that she was going to make Zucchini Parmesan out of the ones that she kept, and that sounded awfully good.

This week, I made something like a side-dish version of Zucchini Parmesan: zucchini fries. They're lightly breaded in crumbs and Parmesan, seasoned with classic Italian flavors, and served with marinara sauce. These fries made an awesome accompaniment to our dinner, or could serve as an easy appetizer or party food. If you find yourself saddled with a couple of giant zucchini (or some boring, regular-sized ones), give these fries a try.

Here's the cast of characters: a couple of enormous zucchini, some panko bread crumbs, some Parmesan cheese, an egg or two, a bit of milk, oregano, basil, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

If you haven't been blessed with a giant zucchini, don't be too glum - just use a few more standard sized ones.

Start by cutting your zucchini down into 3-4 inch long sticks. If you want your fries to be more crisp, err on the thinner side for the sticks. I enjoyed getting a little more meaty zucchini bite, so left the sticks fairly thick.

Next, set up a breading station. Make an egg wash by whisking the egg into the milk in a bowl large enough to submerge your zucchini sticks. On a plate, combine the breadcrumbs, all of the seasonings, and plenty of grated Parmesan. Don't be shy with salt and pepper - these fries will be a bit bland without a significant amount.

Cover a baking sheet with some parchment paper, or just grease it if you don't have parchment handy.

Your breading process is simple - dip each zucchini stick in the egg wash, roll in the breadcrumb mixture until it's lightly coated, and place the finished product on the baking sheet.

Don't worry about getting each and every piece 100% covered in crumbs, especially if you're using a larger crumb like panko and Parmesan that doesn't come from a green tube. It just won't stick completely, but that's fine - you get plenty of crunch and flavor from this "rustic" breading.

Bake your fries for 25-30 minutes in a 425 degree oven until they're crispy and golden brown.

Serve immediately with marinara for dipping.

Recipe: Parmesan Zucchini Fries
Prep Time: 15 Minutes | Cook Time: 30 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 4-6 as Side Dish

Ingredients

4 Large Zucchini (Or 2 Gargantuan Zucchini)
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Milk
1 cup Panko Breadcrumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
1 tbsp Oregano
1 tbsp Basil
1/2 tbsp Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. Grease or cover baking sheets with parchment paper.
Cut zucchini down into 3-4 inch long sticks.
In bowl large enough to submerge zucchini sticks, whisk eggs into milk to create egg wash.
On a large plate, combine panko breadcrumbs, grated Parmesan, oregano, basil, garlic powder, and plenty of salt and pepper.
Dip each zucchini stick in egg wash, then roll in breadcrumb mixture to coat. Place on prepared baking sheets.
Bake 25-30 minutes at 425 degrees until fries are golden-brown and crispy.
Serve immediately with marinara sauce for dipping.

Guacamole

2012-07-08T10:04:00.000-04:00

It's hot. Unbearably hot. Unspeakably hot. Much too hot to heat up the kitchen unless life depends on it. So what better time to use an ingredient that doesn't need heating - the avocado? In part to beat the heat and in part because it's just delicious, we made a nice big batch of guacamole this week. It's fresh and creamy and, maybe most important of all this week, cool.

Here's what I used: three avocados, two jalapeno peppers, the juice from two limes, a sweet onion, a bunch of cilantro, some cayenne pepper, cumin, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper.

These ingredients form a solid "base" guacamole, which can then be jazzed up as you see fit. If you like yours with pico de gallo or salsa or anything else mixed in, just mix in after the last step.

Start by opening up the avocados, scooping out the meat, and giving it a thorough mashing.

Next, chop up the onion, jalapeno, and cilantro. I only used about half of the onion and it was plenty - and of course you can use red onion in place of sweet onion if you prefer. As always, if you want more heat, leave the veins and seeds in the peppers.

Here's the last step: mix everything together. Dump the chopped vegetables into the mashed avocado and mix them in, then add the seasonings and lime juice and keep stirring and adjusting until it's perfect. Every avocado is a little different, so every batch of guacamole will need a somewhat different balance of seasonings.

Note that using plenty of smoked paprika can darken the color of the guacamole and even make it look a bit like it's browning prematurely - don't worry too much if this happens. I love the smokiness of the flavor enough to overlook the color change.

And that's it! Give it an hour or so in the fridge to let the flavors marry, then serve with plenty of chips, preferably along with some cold beers and/or sangria.

Recipe: Guacamole
Prep Time: 5-10 Minutes | Cook Time: None | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 6 Cups

Ingredients

3 Ripe Avocados
2 Jalapeno Peppers
Juice of 2 Limes
1/2 large Sweet Onion (or Red Onion)
1/4 cup Cilantro, chopped
1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
2 tsp Ground Cumin
2 tsp Smoked Paprika
Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

Slice open avocados, scoop out flesh into a bowl, and mash thoroughly until few lumps remain.
Chop onion, jalapeno, and cilantro. Add to mashed avocado and mix.
Add lime juice and seasonings, mix well, and adjust to taste.
Refrigerate 1 hour before serving.

Teriyaki Chicken Kabobs

2012-07-02T20:29:00.002-04:00

It is an undeniable truth in life that food on a stick is great. Meat on a stick? Great. Vegetables on a stick? Great. Dessert on a stick? Great. Food and sticks just go so well together. I took advantage of that fact for one of this week's meals - I made some really fantastic teriyaki chicken kabobs. The same ingredients could have gone into a stir fry and been tasty, sure -- but really, why not put it on a stick?

Kabobs are so tasty that Blogger's spell-check really wants to correct their name to "Kaboom!" The high-heat cooking method gives a great char to the vegetables that's hard to get from a pan while keeping the chicken tender and flavorful. What are you waiting for? Put some food on a stick!

Here's what I used: chicken breast, bell peppers, sweet onion, pineapple, fresh mushrooms, teriyaki sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, lime juice, and a bit of salt and pepper.

First, go ahead and chop the vegetables down to an appropriate bite-or-two size that will fit on your skewers. I went ahead and left my mushrooms whole, but if yours are bigger feel free to chop them down, too.

Chop the chicken down into similar, bite-or-two sized pieces fit for skewering. My chicken wasn't quite done thawing when I chopped it, but that actually worked to my advantage -- slightly frozen chicken is very, very easy to chop into just the right shape and size you're looking for.

The key to a good kabob is a good marinade. I spiced up my bottle teriyaki sauce with some lime juice, rice vinegar, and sesame sesame oil to make sure that the chicken and vegetables would all be really packed with flavor.

I went ahead and marinated both the chicken and the vegetables (in separate bags) overnight - basically, everything but the pineapple. Be especially certain not to leave pineapple in a marinade with meats for longer than an hour or so, as pineapple juice will break down meats and make them quite soft and unpleasant if they're in contact too long.

Give the chicken and vegetables plenty of time to marinate -- overnight if at all possible.

When it's time to cook, don't forget to chop your last ingredient - the pineapple! Before you start chopping, get your skewers in to soak -- soak at least 30 minutes, lest they catch on fire.

Once your skewers have soaked at least a half-hour, assemble your kabobs. I didn't really have a set pattern for my skewering - I just grabbed whatever seemed right to go next, and tried to make sure that each skewer got at least a few pieces of everything. Pre-heat your grill or broiler while you assemble and it should be ready to go by the time you're done.

Broil the kebabs for 4-5 minutes per side, turning once, until the vegetables are slightly charred and the chicken is cooked through. If you have some marinade leftover from the vegetables, feel free to give them an extra basting as you turn halfway through.

Serve hot over rice or your starch of choice.

Recipe: Teriyaki Chicken Kabobs

Prep Time: 15 Minutes (Plus Marinade Time) | Cook Time: 10 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 6-8

Ingredients

2 lbs Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
1 whole Pineapple
1 large Sweet Onion
2 large Green Bell Peppers
12 oz. Fresh Mushrooms
1 cup Teriyaki Sauce
2 tablespoons Lime Juice
1/4 cup Rice Vinegar
2 tsp Sesame Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
Bamboo Skewers

Instructions

Chop chicken and vegetables into bite-sized pieces large enough to easily skewer.
Combine teriyaki sauce, rice vinegar, and lime juice. Separate into two portions and marinate chicken and vegetables in separate containers overnight.
Soak bamboo skewers at least 30 minutes before assembling kabobs.
Chop pineapple into bite-sized pieces large enough to easily skewer.
Assemble kabobs by alternating all ingredients on bamboo skewers.
Broil kabobs 4-5 minutes per side until vegetables are lightly charred and chicken is cooked through.
Serve warm over rice or other starch.

Strawberry-Banana Muffins

2012-06-24T10:27:00.000-04:00

In the past week, Kristin and I had a great problem: too many strawberries. We'd bought some at the grocery store, and then Kristin's mom gave us a whole ton of them from a local fruit farm. Even the grocery store ones were great, but the local berries were just fantastic - juicy and sweet and just slightly tart. The trouble was that we just had altogether too many of them.

We decided we ought to bake something, and went out in search of interesting recipes. We found a couple of strawberry-banana things - a bread and some muffins, in particular. Neither recipe seemed quite ideal, though. So finally, we decided to stick with what we know is good. We adapted my family's trusty Banana Bread and it turned out so, so well. The muffins were soft, moist, and wonderfully flavorful. Now I can't wait 'til we have too many strawberries again so we can make another batch.

Here's what we used: flour, sugar, strawberries, bananas, baking powder, baking soda, eggs, margarine, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt.

First, you'll need to create the ever-photogenic bowl of white powder. Mix together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl.

In a second, larger bowl, combine the margarine, egg whites, sugar, bananas, and vanilla. Mash up the bananas with a large spoon, potato masher, or other weapon of choice until they're pretty well distributed through the rest, but still chunky. The mashing and smashing should do pretty well at mixing the rest, but give it an extra stir to be sure.

Pour the dry bowl into the wet and mix well to combine.

Chop your strawberries down into nice small pieces. We ended up using somewhere between 1 1/2 and 2 cups of chopped berries, all told, and even a tad more could still have worked fine.

Gently fold the strawberries into the batter, and you're ready to go.

Fill greased, un-lined muffin tins about 2/3 full with batter. We initially used the muffin tins un-lined because we (mistakenly) thought we were out of muffin cups. It ended up that we weren't, but I think this is still the best way to go, here. The muffins are so moist that I think they would really stick to muffin cups and you would pull off a lot of the outside when removing the wrapper. This way, you get maximum muffin.

Bake the muffins for 16-20 minutes at 350 degrees. 18 minutes on the nose did it for us.

Let them cool for 5-10 minutes before you take them out of the muffin tins, then devour promptly.

Recipe: Strawberry-Banana Muffins
Prep Time: 10 Minutes | Cook Time: 20 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 18 Muffins

Ingredients

2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Salt
3 Egg Whites
1/2 cup Margarine, melted
1 cup Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
3-4 ripe Bananas
2 cups fresh Strawberries, diced

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tins.
Mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl.
In a large bowl, sugar, margarine, egg whites, vanilla, and bananas. Mash bananas with a potato masher or heavy spoon until thoroughly mixed.
Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix well.
Dice strawberries and gently fold into batter until well distributed.
Fill greased muffin tins 2/3 full with batter.
Bake 16-20 minutes until brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Cool 5-10 minutes in muffin tins before serving.

"Broccoli and Friends" Salad

2012-06-17T09:31:00.000-04:00

This salad has many names -- most of them lame. You can find it behind the deli at most grocery stores in one form or another, and it's often called something like "Broccoli Salad." At really adventurous places, you might see "Broccoli Grape Salad." Names like that convey and ingredient or two, but they don't capture how tasty this little salad actually is.

Leave it to Kristin's family to come up with a better name. I had only ever had the supermarket version of this salad a few times before, so I didn't know what was going on or what I should be excited about when I heard Kristin's older sister exclaim "Broccoli and Friends!" I've become good friends with "Broccoli and Friends" since -- it's a quick, easy, flavorful side that pairs with almost anything, especially in the summer.

Just a few ingredients for this one. The role of "Broccoli" will be played by broccoli. The role of "Friends" will be played by red onion, bacon, sliced or slivered almonds, grades, mayonnaise, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

First, toast up the almonds in a skillet with just a dash of salt. Don't get them too dark, you just want plenty of crunch. If you don't have almonds on hand, pine nuts or sunflower seeds could fill in nicely.

While the almonds are toasting, chop the broccoli into florettes, halve the grapes, and finely dice the red onion. Combine the broccoli, grapes, onion, and toasted almonds in a large bowl and give them a good mix.

Mmm, bacon. Chop up and fry the bacon to your desired level of crispyness. I like it fairly soft for this recipe, but I could see the appeal in another source of crispy crunch, too. Try both ways for science!

Mix the bacon into the rest of the ingredients.

Finally, whisk together the mayonnaise and lemon juice, then season with a dash of salt and a good amount of cracked black pepper. Pour it over the bowl and stir well to make sure everything is coated.

If you're in a hurry, you can serve the salad right away. It's better if it can sit in the fridge for at least an hour or two, though - it's best nice and cold, and the flavors like a little bit of time to meld. Either way you do it, offer hearty portions and enjoy!

Recipe: Broccoli and Friends
Prep Time: 10 Minutes | Cook Time: 10 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 8-10

Ingredients

2-3 pounds Broccoli
1/2 pound Bacon
2 cups Grapes
1 cup Slivered Almonds
1 medium Red Onion
1 1/2 cups Mayonnaise
1/3 cup Lemon Juice
Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

Toast almonds with a pinch of salt until crisp and golden brown.
Chop broccoli into florettes, dice red onion, and halve grapes. Mix together with almonds in a large bowl.
Chop bacon into small pieces and saute until desired level of crispyness. Mix bacon into large bowl.
Whisk together mayonnaise and lemon juice in a small bowl. Add a dash of salt and plenty of black pepper to taste.
Pour mayonnaise mixture into large bowl and stir well to coat all ingredients.
Refrigerate 1-2 hours before serving.

Salsa

2012-06-10T08:01:00.000-04:00

I have a weakness for salsa. I think it may run in my family. I think it may run in humanity. And, really, I'm okay with that. I like all sorts of salsa, but there's always something about the stuff that you get before a meal at a real Mexican restaurant. It's not specially flavored, it's not "extra chunky," it's just delicious. This recipe is a lot like that. Salsa from a jar may have more "stuff" in it, but this is straightforward, clean, and altogether addictive.

The nice thing about salsa is that the ingredients are eminently variable, so if you don't have or don't like something, you can probably work around it. Here's what I used, but adjust as you see fit: one large can whole peeled tomatoes, two cans original Ro-Tel tomatoes and green chilies, one bunch cilantro, a couple of small Jalapeno peppers, one large green bell pepper, the juice of two limes, one large sweet onion, a couple of cloves of garlic, a bit of sugar, plenty of cumin, some smoked paprika (not pictured - oops!) and some salt.

This recipe is very, very easy, and this first step is most of the work. Start by chopping up all of the fresh vegetables: the onion, bell pepper, jalapeno, and garlic. The blender will finish the job, so don't worry too much about the size or uniformity of the chop.

I like to make my salsa in the blender in stages so I can get the flavor balance just right. Start by adding all of the chopped vegetables above to the blender along with the large can of tomatoes, sugar, cumin, paprika, salt, lime juice, and salt. Basically, that's everything but the Ro-Tel and the Cilantro. I do this so it's easy to adjust the spice level - the spice of jalapenos can vary, especially depending on how many seeds you have (assuming you left them in). The spice from the Ro-Tel chilies is more or less consistent, so it's easy to add bit by bit to achieve the level of spice you're looking for. I generally end up content after two cans - you may want anywhere from none to several.

Give everything a few pulses in the blender until it's fairly well-mixed, then taste and see how you're doing so far. If you're like me, it won't be nearly spicy enough yet, and you may also have underguessed on how much cumin or paprika you want in there, as well. Adjust the seasonings and start to add Ro-Tel about a half can at a time, pulsing the blender in between to mix. Stop when you've reached your desired level of spice.

Once things are appropriately spicy, add plenty of cilantro and give it a couple of last pulses to chop and mix through. The cilantro can't survive much time in the blender, so we add it last to keep it relatively intact. Taste again and add anything you want more of, then you're ready to serve.

This recipe makes a lot of salsa, so it's easy to serve it in a variety of ways. It's great on chips, in tacos, or in any recipe that calls for salsa as an ingredient. Store leftovers in a sealed container in the refrigerator - but don't expect them to last long. If you have anything like my salsa addiction, you'll pull those leftovers out to finish off in no time.

Recipe: Salsa
Prep Time: 10 Minutes | Cook Time: None | Difficulty: Easy | Yield: Approx. 2 Quarts

Ingredients

1 large can (28 oz) whole tomatoes.
2 medium (14.5 oz) cans Original Ro-Tel Tomatoes and Green Chilies
1 bunch Cilantro
2 small Jalapeno Peppers
1 large Green Bell Pepper
1 large Sweet Onion
2 clove Garlic
Juice of two Limes
1 tbsp White Sugar
1 tbsp Cumin
2 tsp Smoked Paprika
2 tsp Salt

Instructions

Dice bell pepper, sweet onion, garlic, and Jalapeno peppers.
Add diced vegetables to blender along with all other ingredients except Ro-Tel and Cilantro. Pulse several times to blend.
Taste and adjust seasonings. Add a half can of Ro-Tel at a time and pulse to blend. Taste and stop adding Ro-Tel when desired spice level is reached.
Chop cilantro and add to blender. Pulse to mix through.
Serve immediately or refrigerate to preserve freshness.

Blueberry-Apple Cream Cheese Braid

2012-06-03T11:00:00.000-04:00

My fiancee is a genius. It's (part of) the reason I'm marrying her. I'd known this all along, of course, but she proved it again this past week. We were thinking about interesting things to cook, and she suggested we combine two previous creations: Simple Cinnamon Apples and our Strawberry Cream-Cheese Danish. The result was a super-pastry unlike my belly has ever experienced, which only confirmed that I'm marrying the right girl.

Like we did with the Danish a while back, we'll make this recipe in stages to keep everything simple and straightforward. It's easiest to start by making the cinnamon apples. This is the same process I used here -- so feel free to check out that whole post for more details.

For the apples, you'll need some apples, some brown sugar, a bit of butter, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, and a pinch of salt. The six apples shown in the picture are about twice what you need - you can easily get away with 3 or 4 small-medium apples. Who doesn't like leftover cinnamon apples, though?

Peel and chop the apples down into small slices, then season them well with the cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt. Give them a good stir and make sure they're thoroughly coated.

Melt about a tablespoon of butter in a skillet, then add the apples and slowly saute over medium heat for 10-12 minutes until they're tender, but not yet mushy. Err a little on the firm side with these for use in the Braid, as you want the apples to have some texture after they're baked into the pastry.

Set the apples aside while we make the rest of the components.

It's time to make the dough for the pastry itself. For the dough, you'll need all-purpose flour, some milk, baking powder, butter, and a bit of almond extract for flavor.

The dough is super simple to make - just combine all of the above ingredients in a large bowl and mix well, then press it together by hand into a large ball.

Next, roll the dough out between two sheets of wax paper until it's about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick and about a foot wide by 16-18 inches long. We'll come back to the dough once we make something to fill it with.

Here's everything that goes into the center of the braid. You'll need blueberry preserves, cream cheese, more vanilla, an egg, and some white sugar.

You'll see that we ended up with "spreadable soft" cream cheese - this was a mistake on my part, and the texture of the filling suffered a little bit as a result. Whatever process makes the cream cheese "spreadable soft" made the filling a little runnier than usual, so stick to a plain old brick of Philadelphia if possible.

Add the cream cheese, vanilla, sugar, and egg to a large bowl and mix well with an electric hand-mixer until smooth-ish. You'll never quite get all the lumps out, but don't worry about it.

Mark the dough out into thirds, and spread a thin layer of the cream-cheese mixture across the middle third. Top the cream cheese with a generous portion of blueberry preserves right in the middle.

Next, add a layer of the cinnamon apples right over the top of the blueberry preserves. If you're feeling saucy, you can add more blueberry and/or more cream-cheese over the top of the apples. We added a little more cream-cheese and it was fantastic.

Slice the outer thirds of the dough into roughly inch-wide strips, and fold them over one-another across the center, alternating sides to form a "braid" structure.

Bake for 12-15 minutes at 425 degrees until the crust is just starting to brown. If it gets much darker the bottom might burn, so err on the light side.

While the braid bakes, we'll put together a little topping. We'll make a "frosting" out of powdered sugar, vanilla extract, almond extract, and milk, and top everything off with some toasted almonds. This bit is totally optional, but adds a nice extra nutty note to everything.

Toast the almonds with a pinch of salt in a skillet, and whisk together the sugar, vanilla, almond extract, and milk in a small bowl.

While the braid is still warm, drizzle lightly with the frosting, then sprinkle with plenty of toasted almonds.

At last, it's ready to eat! Serve up inch-wide slices (it's rich!) and enjoy either warm from the oven or cold the next day - it's very tasty either way.

Recipe: Blueberry-Apple Cream Cheese Braid
Prep Time: 25-30 Minutes | Cook Time: 20-25 Minutes | Difficulty: Medium | Servings: 10-12 Slices

Ingredients

Pastry

2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup Unsalted Butter
1/2 cup Milk
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Almond Extract
1/2 tsp Salt

Apples

4 medium Apples
1/3 cup (packed) Brown Sugar
2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tbsp Butter

Filling

1/2 cup Blueberry Preserves
4 ounces Cream Cheese
1/4 cup White Sugar
1 Egg
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Frosting

1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
1 tbsp Milk
1/8 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/8 tsp Almond Extract
1/4 cup Sliced Almonds

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.

Peel apples and cut down into thin slices. Toss with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla to coat. Saute with butter 10-12 minutes over medium heat until tender. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add softened butter, milk, and almond extract, and mix well. Press together by hand until a loose dough is formed. The texture will be rough.

In another mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar, egg, and vanilla and beat until combined and creamy.

Press dough between two sheets of wax paper and roll into a large rectangle, roughly 12 by 18 inches. Discard wax paper and place dough on a greased baking sheet.

Mark the dough out by thirds lengthwise. Add cream cheese mixture to the middle third, then cover cream cheese mixture with preserves. Arrange a layer of apples atop preserves. If desired, add additional preserves or cream-cheese on top of apples.

Cut the outer thirds of the dough into strips roughly 1-inch wide. Alternate folding strips from opposite sides over one-another across the center to form a "braid."

Bake at 425° 12-15 minutes until pastry is golden-brown. Toast almonds while braid bakes.

In a small mixing bowl, combine 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1 tbsp milk, 1/8 tsp vanilla and almond extracts and whisk together with a fork to create frosting.

Drizzle frosting over braid while still warm and cover with toasted almonds. Serve warm or cold.

Pork Chops a la Nicole

2012-05-27T11:08:00.001-04:00

One day, probably about a month or so, my cousin Nicole sent me a message on Facebook asking for a recipe suggestion. It felt a little bit like Chopped - she had a few ingredients she wanted to use for a dinner, and wasn't sure what to do with all of them. Thankfully, unlike Chopped, the ingredients all fit together nicely, so it was a fun set to try to think into a coherent recipe.

Here's Nicole with her husband Adam and their (bloody adorable) son Logan.

Nicole had pork chops, diced potatoes, and zucchini to work with, and was leaning toward doing it all on the grill. Pork chops and the grill get along great, so that was no problem. When it comes to diced potatoes, my first thought was a hash, and I figured the zucchini could fit in there just fine, too. I suggested a marinade for the pork and a method for putting together a hash, and Nicole said it went great.

I could hardly suggest a recipe without then trying to make it myself, now could I? I ended up making a few changes to my original suggestions based on Nicole's feedback, but my end result made or a seriously tasty dinner.

Here's what you'll need: pork chops, a bit of bacon, sweet potatoes, zucchini, a sweet onion, some olive oil, some vinegar (white or cider), garlic or garlic powder, basil, oregano, thyme, mustard, salt, and pepper.

First, combine a bit of oil, vinegar, mustard, and lots of the spices into a nice marinade for the pork. It's best to let it marinate overnight, but if you're in a hurry an hour or two will do the trick. Let it marinate in the fridge and come back when it's time to cook.

Once the chops have had plenty of time to marinade, grill them up. For thin chops like I used, 2-3 minutes per side was plenty. Do your best to time it so that your pork will be done and rested more or less at the same time as the hash, which will take 15-20 minutes to make from chopping to finish.

When you're ready to get started, peel and chop the sweet potatoes, and also chop the zucchini and sweet onion into small, bite-sized pieces.

Give the bacon a rough chop and get it rendering in a pan. Take care not to overcook it - it'll go back into the pan with the rest of the hash later on. When it's well rendered, but not yet crispy, pull it out and set it aside.

Drain off most of the excess grease, but leave a few tablespoons in which to saute the diced sweet potatoes. Cook them, stirring often, until they're starting to brown on the outside. Try a bite - careful, they'll be hot - and when they're reasonably tender, it's time to add more stuff to the mix.

When the sweet potatoes feel pretty tender, add the zucchini, onion, and bacon, as well as a generous helping of the seasonings - basil, oregano, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper. Continue to saute, stirring often, until the zucchini and onion are nice and tender, then taste and adjust the seasonings. I added just a quick dash of vinegar in the last 30 seconds or so of cooking to brighten the flavors up, and it really helped a lot.

Serve your grilled chops atop a generous portion of hash, and be ready to offer seconds.

Recipe: Pork Chops a la Nicole

Prep Time: 5 Minutes (+2-24 hour marinade) | Cook Time: 15-20 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 6

Ingredients

6 thin Pork Chops
4 medium Sweet Potatoes
4 medium Zucchini
1 large Sweet Onion
8 oz Bacon
3 tbsp Olive Oil
3 tbsp Vinegar (white or cider)
3 tbsp Dijon Mustard
2 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Thyme
1 tsp Basil
1 tsp Oregano
Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

Combine olive oil, vinegar, mustard in a large resealable bag. Add seasonings to taste. Marinade pork minimum 2 hours.
Grill pork chops 2-3 minutes per side until done. Rest under foil until ready to serve.
Peel sweet potatoes. Chop sweet potatoes, zucchini, and onion into small, bite-sized pieces.
Chop bacon down into bite-sized pieces and render in a pan over medium heat until tender. Set aside.
Drain away all but 2-3 tablespoons of grease. Saute sweet potatoes in bacon grease until golden brown and tender.
Add zucchini, onion, and bacon to skillet with sweet potatoes, season with garlic powder, thyme, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper, and continue to saute until all vegetables are tender.
Optional: Add 1-2 tablespoons cider vinegar to hash in last minute of cooking and stir well.
Serve grilled chops hot atop a generous portion of hash.

Dave and Gill's Wedding!

2012-05-20T11:32:00.000-04:00

I didn't get to do much cooking this week. I was off in Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C., where I was lucky enough to stand up in the wedding of two great friends from Denison. Dave and Gillian tied the knot in a great ceremony, outside in perfect weather, and the week featured some really fantastic food. I may not have made it myself, and I'm deeply sorry not to have the recipes for some of it, but it was delicious none the less.

Ohhh the rehearsal dinner. I had the salad, the steak, and the profiteroles, and each were a slam dunk. The salad was a classic Caesar with great, punchy flavor from the Parmesan and pepper.

The steak was just stunning. It was a long, thin cut, grilled quickly to medium and topped with an amazing, herbal compound butter. Try though I might, I couldn't figure out what all herbs went into the butter - it amazingly complex, and I so wish I had a recipe. Many undignified sounds were made around the table as we all had our first bites, and the plates were soon very, very clean.

A lot of folks came into the dinner asking "What's a Profiterole?" and left with a new favorite dessert. Soft, lush ice-cream in nutty, flaky pastry topped with rich chocolate - what's not to like? All in all, it was a fantastic, fantastic meal.

The dinner at the reception was no slouch, either. As so often happens on the wedding day, we had little time to eat while preparing, so the groomsmen had subsisted largely on goldfish crackers and oreos up until dinner time. The starting salad was tasty - totally different from the Caesar of the night before. It was a great mix of greens with candied nuts, a delicate dressing, and a potent, cheesy crouton. It didn't last long.

Once again, I went for steak for the main course, though this steak and the rehearsal steak were very different. The steak at the reception was a whole lot of meat - a manly, thick cut over mashed potatoes and plenty of vegetables. The peppercorn brandy jus was killer - again, something I'll attempt to recreate in the near future.

And then there was cake. Dave looks to have gotten a little stabby with the server here as he and Gill made the first cut.

Gill got revenge on behalf of the cake.

There were a couple of cakes hidden in there - both a red velvet and a chocolate/raspberry. I had a piece of the chocolate/raspberry, and it was everything one could hope for in a wedding cake. Rich chocolate, tangy raspberry, and just the right amount of frosting. I meant to go back for some red velvet later on, but was too busy dancing, drinking, and chatting to ever do so.

All in all, it was a great few days away with good friends and fantastic food. I couldn't be happier for Dave and Gill, and now I'm all the more excited for my own wedding with Kristin next summer.

I'll be back with a new recipe next week!

Creamy Ranch Pasta Salad

2012-05-13T10:37:00.000-04:00

Pasta salad deserves better. Sure, it's a delicious side, but why leave it there? Every grocery store deli will happily sell you some gloppy macaroni salad, but come on, we can do better than that. Why not make pasta salad a main course? Why not add enough great ingredients that it can stand on its own? Most importantly -- why not bacon?

As you can see, my board is fuller than usual. A lot of stuff goes into this pasta salad, but there's not a lot of prep for most of it. You'll need some pasta, of course. Go for an interesting shape - I used Cavatappi to great success this time around.

We'll feature a pair of proteins, both chicken and bacon. For the veggies, I use broccoli, cucumber, carrots, and bell pepper - but you can add or change as you see fit. A lot of people are into tomatoes - raw ones make me sad, but you can go crazy with them if that's your thing. I also love some cheese in my pasta salad, so I added a block of extra-sharp cheddar.

Finally, the supporting cast is made up of Greek yogurt, a bit of mayonnaise and sour cream, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a packet of ranch dressing mix.

We'll start with the chicken. If it's warm enough outside and you have easy access, you can always just grill it. Since we don't own a grill, though (alas!), I like to use this method to simulate grilling in the oven while adding a ton of flavor.

First, rinse the chicken and pat it dry. Season it well with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, then give dip it in the Greek yogurt to coat. The yogurt dip will keep the chicken super moist while it cooks, even while you get a nice, slightly-blackened exterior.

Lay the yogurt-dipped chicken out on a wire rack atop a baking sheet -- this should let hot air circulate around the whole chicken breast at once and keep the bottom from getting soggy. You may even want to line the baking sheet with foil to catch the drips and make clean-up simpler.

Broil the chicken 6 inches away from the broiler about 5 minutes per side until it's nicely blackened on the outside and the inside is up to temperature. Set it aside for later.

While the chicken is cooking, fry up the bacon. Try not to eat too much of it before it ever gets into the pasta salad. Dry the finished product on papers towels and set aside for later.

Don't forget that we need some pasta, too! Cook it up according to the package directions, leaving it on the al-dente side. Drain well and set it aside to cool once it's done.

Now for all of that other stuff. Chop the broccoli, cucumber, bell pepper, carrots, and cheese into bite-sized pieces. I like to quickly blanch the broccoli for 30 seconds or so in boiling water to soften it just a touch before I chop it, but that's up to you.

The chicken and bacon should be cool enough to handle by now, so give those a good chopping, too.

Finally, it's time to put it all together. You'll probably need a couple of large bowls for this - this recipe filled up the two largest bowls in my kitchen handily. Combine everything, preferably leaving a little extra room at the top of the bowl so that you can stir the dressing in easily.

Speaking of dressing, we'd better make some. Combine the mayonnaise, sour cream, and ranch dressing mix and stir well. Give it a taste and adjust as you see fit - I added a little more garlic and some dried herbs.

Add your preferred amount of dressing to the salad and stir well to mix. I like it fairly lightly dressed - there's enough good stuff in these bowls to be tasty all by itself.

Throw it in the fridge to fully chill and let the flavors marry a bit, and you're ready to serve. This is a fantastic, summery main course, and so easy to prepare well in advance. Enjoy!

Recipe: Creamy Ranch Pasta Salad
Prep Time: 10 Minutes | Cook Time: 20 Minutes | Chill Time: 1-2 Hours | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 12-15
Ingredients

16 oz Cavatappi Pasta
1-2 pounds Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
1 pound Bacon
3 heads Broccoli
1 large Cucumber
2 large Green Bell Peppers
8 ounces Baby Carrots
8 ounces Extra-Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 1/2 cups Mayonnaise
1/2 cup Sour Cream
16 ounces Greek Yogurt
1 packet Ranch Dressing Mix
2 teaspoons Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

Cook pasta according to directions on package. Drain well and set aside to cool.
Rinse chicken and pat dry. Season well with salt, pepper, and garlic powder then coat completely with Greek yogurt.
Place yogurt-covered chicken on a wire rack atop a baking pan and broil approx. 5 minutes per side until blackened on the outside and done in the middle. Set aside to cool.
Fry bacon in a heavy skillet. Dry well with papers towels and set aside.
(Optional): Blanch broccoli 30 seconds in boiling water.
Chop all vegetables and cheese into small, bite-sized pieces.
Once chicken and bacon have cooled, chop into small, bite-sized pieces.
Combine pasta, chicken, bacon, cheese, and vegetables in large bowl(s).
In a small mixing bowl, combine mayonnaise, sour cream, and ranch dressing mix. Adjust seasoning to taste and stir to mix.
Add dressing to pasta mixture to taste and stir well to combine.
Chill at least 1-2 hours before serving. Serve cold.

Greek Zucchini Orzo

2012-05-06T09:57:00.000-04:00

Kristin and I have been a bit bored by conventional vegetable-delivery methods, lately. We needed a side for our Roasted Chicken and nothing quite seemed right. I wanted to do something a little more interesting than a pile of steamed or roasted vegetables, and of course a little starch never goes amiss. I decided to make something up, and my Orzo and zucchini invention worked out pretty well.

Zucchini was on sale, so we started there. I chose Orzo as a starch because I think it's a really great textural element for a side dish, sitting right between pasta and rice and somehow capturing the best of both. The chicken had some Greek flavors - particularly oregano and lemon - so I decided to do the Orzo with a similar palette. Ultimately, we ended up with a great, flavorful side dish that I'll definitely make again.

You'll need some orzo, obviously, and some zucchini. The bulk of the flavor comes from lemon, garlic, oregano, thyme, salt, and pepper. It's all held together by a little butter and some white wine.

Take a look at this wine bottle. How cool is that? The portrait is on the inside of the back label. I am more than happy to judge a wine by its bottle, and this one won me over immediately. It was a good pick, too - a mix of Argentinian Torrontes grapes with just a bit of Sauvignon Blanc. Yum.

Okay, back to food. Dice the onion, mince your garlic, and chop down your zucchini into bite-sized pieces.

Cook your Orzo to al-dente according to the directions on the box, and we'll finish it off with the rest of the ingredients.

Add all of the vegetable matter you just chopped up to a large skillet over medium heat with a little butter or olive oil, and saute until things start to get tender. Add plenty of spices - the oregano, thyme, salt, and pepper.

When the vegetables are tender, add the Orzo into the skillet along with the juice of a lemon (a few tablespoons, if you're using pre-packaged juice) and half a cup or so of the white wine (stock works fine if you want to avoid alcohol). Give it a good stir and let it burble away. The al-dente Orzo and the Zucchini should absorb all sorts of flavor from the liquids.

When the liquid looks like it's mostly either cooked off or been absorbed, check your seasonings and adjust as necessary, then you're ready to serve.

Serve warm, topped with some extra herbs and/or a little Parmesan Cheese. Enjoy!

Recipe: Greek Zucchini Orzo

Prep Time: 5 Minutes | Cook Time: 15-20 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 8-10

Ingredients

12 oz Orzo Pasta
4 medium Zucchini
Juice of one Lemon
1 medium Sweet Onion
1/2 cup White Wine
3 cloves Garlic
1 tbsp Oregano
1 tsp Thyme
1 tbsp Butter
Salt and Pepper to taste
Optional: Parmesan Cheese to garnish

Instructions

Cook Orzo to al-dente according to directions on package.
Dice onion, mince garlic, and chop zucchini down to bite-sized pieces.
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and zucchini. Season with oregano, thyme, salt, and pepper. Saute over medium heat until vegetables are tender.
Add cooked Orzo to skillet along with lemon juice and wine. Simmer gently until liquid has evaporated or absorbed.
Check and adjust seasoning as necessary.
Serve warm, garnished with additional herbs and/or shaved Parmesan Cheese.