Treats for a friend

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A friend of ours flew in today and wanted to know if I would make her something that was crunchy and chocolately. I sent her a list of options and got a quick responce back. I was happy with the selection as it was something i've never done before and wanted to! These crackers were very easy to work with and definetly make the repeat for gifts list. They have an intense chocolate flavor and have a quite a snap to them. Here they are wrapped up so we can give them away tomorrow (I did keep some this time for myself - they are very good!)

Chocolate Graham Crackers

Another two new dishes for dinner tonight. I was a little concerned after I started reading some reviews of this recipe that it was bland and that it didn't come out well. I'm not sure what happened when they made it but I'm very happy I stuck with it because this was quite good! I used fresh sweet corn and I think that made a big difference. I upped the spices a tad and would do so again.

Corn Pudding

The main dish tonight was a very tasty combination of couscous, chicken, dried cherries, fire roasted tomatoes and quite a few spices. The smokey cumin, spicey ground red pepper, woody flavor from the thyme and the interesting addition of all-spice and clove combine to make such a different yet captavating sauce.

Spiced Chicken with Couscous

Chocolate Graham Crackers(Adapated from KA Cookie Companion)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup dutch-process cocoa, sifted
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold butter
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons cold milk

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Cut two sheets of parchment as long as your baking sheets (I used 13 X 18 cookie sheets) and set aside.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. With a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour mixture until you achieve small lumps throughout. In a small bowl, combine the honey and milk, stirring until the honey dissolves. Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients and toss lightly with a fork until the dough starts to form. If it looks a little dry, add just a touch more milk.

Scrape the dough onto a well floured surface and fold it gently about 12 times, just until it turns smooth. Divide the dough in half. Working with one piece at a time while keeping the remaining dough covered.

Roll out one piece of dough on the cut parchment paper about a bit larger than a 10 X 14" rectangle. The dough should be about 1/16" thick. Trim the edges and prick the dough evenly with a fork.

Place the parchment paper onto your baking sheet and baking for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately with a sharp knife or pizza wheel cut into 16 rectangles. Cool on your pan for 10 minutes and then break along the lines and cool completely on a wire rack.

Corn Pudding(CL)

3 cups corn kernels (about 6 ears)
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups 1% low-fat milk
1/2 cup egg substitute
2 tablespoons 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine corn, chives, thyme, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl. Whisk together the milk, egg substitute, cream cheese, and egg in a medium bowl. Add the milk mixture to the corn mixture, and stir well to combine. Pour the corn mixture into an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for about 55 minutes or until top of pudding is golden brown.

Three new winners...

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Yesterday we put the solar cover back on the pool since the temperature has started to get chilly at night (if you can call 70 chilly...) and the water was slowly getting colder. I wanted to go for a swim tonight so I took the cover off and put my foot in the first couple inches and it was so warm! It registered around 90 degrees so I jumped in... wow was that a mistake. The bottom temperature was only around 75.. it felt so much colder! No fair!

It is Tuesday again so that means I had to find something to make for the co-workers tomorrow. I wanted to test another cookie recipe I've had set aside so I made sure to get all the ingredients this weekend. I made the dough early this morning so it had plenty of chilling time in the refrigerator to help in shaping. I formed the dough around a single rolo caramel candy and then dipped the tops in granulated sugar before baking. The cookie has a slight crispy edge while the center remains soft. I was afraid that inside filling would burst out and over the cookies but none of them did - not one leak! Yeah!

Caramel Filled Chocolate Cookies

I could not find any cranberries (fresh or frozen) for the side dish tonight. I guess I could of used dried but I decided to try and substitute tart cherries and I am very glad I did! I think this combination went together very well and would make that change again. I would love to make this how it was originally written just to see the difference when the cranberries are in season this fall. I like how the color from the juice and cherries turned the orzo a light purplish color.

Wild Rice and Cranberry(or cherry!) Salad(CL)

Dinner tonight was a pretty interesting combination. I had some leftover boneless pork in the freezer so I found a recipe in my files that looked tempting. The pork is flavored with a Jerk seasoning (I used Penzey's) and served with a fresh warm pineapple salsa. The chops are very juicy and have quite a spicy kick, but the sweet pineapple salsa has a nice cooling effect and evens everything beautifully.

Skillet Pork and Pineapple Salsa(CL)

Wild Rice and Cranberry Salad

Dressing:
3/4 cup chopped fresh cranberries
1/4 cup cranberry juice cocktail
1 tablespoon sugar
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Salad:
2 cups cooked wild rice (about 1/2 cup uncooked)
1 cup cooked orzo (about 1/2 cup uncooked rice-shaped pasta)
1/2 cup finely chopped yellow bell pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

For the dressing, combine first 4 ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in vinegar, oil, salt, and black pepper. Place in the refrigerator to chill slightly. To prepare salad, combine wild rice and remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Drizzle rice mixture with dressing, tossing to coat.

6 servings
Per serving - Calories 134 - Fat 3.8g - Protein 3.4g - Fiber 1.5g - Carbohydrate 22.9g

Happy Birthday Jeff!

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So that is where the brownies from yesterday went. Jeff and one of his co-workers have a birthday that is fairly close and they requested brownies to celebrate with their teams. They all went to work and none came home - Maybe I will have to make a half batch just so I can try some!

Being a big kid at heart he likes disney a lot (maybe that's an understatement...) so I was trying to figure out what kind of cake to make. I found the pan and decided to try and make a mickey face cake.
I'm not the best cake decorater so hopefully it came out ok. I didn't get the exact tint for the icing of the face but it's pretty close from the picture. The stars are hard to see with the black tinting, but it looks just like the other colors close up. I used Vanilla buttercream for all colors execpt black which I used a chocolate buttercream (so the black color would be attainable without bitterness from the coloring.)

The actual cake recipe was King Arthurs Elegant White Cake. This one bakes up beautifully and has a fine crumb while still quite moist. The cake is very white on the inside and the taste is pretty light.The dinner request was for BBQ chicken pizza - I made a whole wheat dough that I normally use. I thought I would use this one to play around with for future entertaining - that's why it is in the ring shape. I think we could use this in the future as a fun appetizer with a dip or something in the center. After laying the BBQ chicken mixture around in a circle you make 8 cuts in the center and pull each one towards the back crust and tuck under.

How much for that brownie in the window?

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After getting the recipes ready last night I made my list and we went off to the grocery store. Found everything I needed execpt fresh cranberries as they are not in season yet (do they even come frozen?)

I had a request that I needed to fill for tomorrow (check back tomorrow to find out why!) in which I ended up making these brownies today. I have done them before and they are so crazy rich and good. They are packed with pieces of oreos and are quite fudgy (my favorite kind....) so I like to refrigerate them for clean cutting.

Our DVD for tonight from netflix will be XXX: State of the Union. I've seen both good and bad reviews - last night's movie was pretty good. We did have a problem with the disc so we missed about 10 mins in the center and near the end. Oh well!

Keep checking back this week - it will be full of new recipes and a fair amount of baking! Stay tuned!

Outrageous Oreo Crunch Brownies (Adapted from Ina Garten)

4 sticks butter
1 pound semisweet chocolate chips
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
7 large eggs
2 tablespoons espresso, instant powder
2 tablespoons vanilla
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup plus 1/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups chopped Oreo cookies about 50 cookies

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Butter and flour an 12″ x 18″ x 1″ baking pan. I like to use foil for ease of getting them out. In a heatproof medium bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, heat butter, chocolate chips and unsweetened chocolate until melted and smooth. Allow to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, whisk eggs, coffee, vanilla and sugar. Blend chocolate mixture into egg mixture; cool to room temperature.

In a medium bowl, sift together one cup flour, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture to chocolate mixture. In a small bowl, stir Oreos and remaining 1/4 cup flour. Add Oreo mixture to chocolate mixture. Pour batter into baking pan and smooth top with a rubber spatula.

Bake 28-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted 3 inches from center comes out clean with some crumbs attached; do not overbake. Allow to cool. Refrigerate to get clean cuts.

Weekend Cat Blogging 15

Clare at Eat Stuff each weekend hosts an event called Weekend Cat Blogging where cat food bloggers share photos of their kitties! We introduced Miss Kitty a couple weekends ago. Every once in awhile we bring her outside so she can run around and explore the big world of the backyard. Instead, being her lazy self she decided to just sit down and watch the birds!

Weekend breakfast around here usually involves eggs and toast. This morning we went for simplicity with Mickey Eggs and Honey Wheat Black Bread with jam.

Dinner tonight will be the saturday night chicken salads as usual!

Next up from Netflix tonight will be the comedy Something's Gotta Give with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton. After the movie I'll be checking out some cookbooks and the stack of untried recipes looking for more new ones. Stay tuned to what we will be up to this week!

New favorite?

Awww - such a happy puppy dog. This was taken after he was done running around outside trying to find his little salamander buddies! He tries for hours to catch them but they are just too speedy for him!Didn't get a chance to bake anything new today. Although we did try a another new pasta dish and this one could easily become one of my favorites! It is very quick to throw together and I usually have all these ingredients on hand. This has a thick and chunky tomato sauce with just enough juice so the pasta is well coated. Next time I might add a few shakes of red pepper flakes but otherwise I wouldn't change a thing! Grated Asiago brings a nice finish on top and brings together the pasta and sauce.

Turkey Bolognese(CL)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
12 ounces ground turkey breast
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 (14.5-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (8-ounce) can no salt-added tomato sauce
4 cups hot cooked penne pasta
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Asiago cheese

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook 5 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently.

Increase heat to medium-high. Add turkey, and cook 4 minutes or until turkey is browned, stirring to crumble. Add oregano and next 7 ingredients (oregano through tomato sauce); bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in pasta; cook 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Sprinkle with cheese. Serves 4.

It's cool enough.. right?

We've been under 100 degrees all week! Although the future forcasts move us back over 100 for the weekend I decided it was cool enough (for me anyway) to make some soup! Even though this one has chicken and turkey sausage it is still light tasting with a hint of spice from the hot sausage. The added vegetables help to bulk up the soup along with a basmati and wild rice blend. I served some simple tortilla chips along side and called it a meal. We ended up with three nice sized servings so that leaves me with one for lunch tomorrow.

Chicken, Sausage, and Rice Soup(Adapted from CL)

4 ounces hot turkey Italian sausage
2 4oz chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
Cooking spray
1 1/2 cups frozen chopped onion
2 thyme sprigs
1/3 cup chopped celery
1/3 cup chopped carrot
2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 cups al dente cooked rice (about 7 mins short of being finished)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Remove casings from sausage. Combine sausage and chicken in a large saucepan coated with cooking spray over high heat; cook 2 minutes, stirring to crumble sausage. Add onion and thyme; cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add celery, carrot, and broth; bring to a boil.

Stir the pre-cooked rice into broth mixture. Cover, reduce heat to medium, and cook 7 minutes or until rice is tender. Discard thyme sprigs. Stir in parsley, salt, and pepper.

Too much zucchini

I had some leftover zucchini I wanted to use up today, so after going through some cookbooks I spotted a recipe that sounded good. These cookies are adapated from the KA Cookie Companion. Lemon-Zucchini Drops have a great texture as they are a little crunchy on the outside, but the inside is still very tender. The lemon zest in the cookie stands out quite well against the dried cranberries, cinnamon and zucchini. A simple lemon glaze is poured on over the top that hardens slightly.

Tonight for dinner we had a great pasta dish. Four-Cheese Stuffed Shells with Smoky Marinara(CL). The pasta shells are stuffed with ricotta, cottage cheese, asiago, parmesan and some chopped spinach. The marinara is fantastic with this combo. Fresh basil, fire roasted tomatoes, olive oil and garlic - how could that go wrong? This made 2 9X13 filled pans so you could freeze one unbaked and throw that one in the oven at a later date for a quick dinner!

Requested Recipe - Decadent peanut butter cups

Decadent peanut butter cups

440g Smooth Peanut Butter
225g Confectioners' Sugar
50g Brown Sugar
500g Good Quality Dark Chocolate
90g softened butter, divided (60g and 30g)

In a mixer place the peanut butter, both sugars and 60g of softened butter into the bowl. Mix on medium until well combined. This will be fairly soft and a little tacky.

Place between 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of the peanut butter mixture into shallow candy cups (you can use muffin papers if you couldnt find them). How much you place depends on how big your cups are. Try to fill them about 1/2 full and smooth the top with your finger.

After all papers are filled, melt the chocolate over a double boiler or in a microwave. If doing in the microwave try and use half power for 2-3 minutes - mixing every 30 seconds. When melted stir in the remaining butter (30g) and place in the microwave for 30 seconds or back over the double boiler until the butter starts to melt. Mix the two together well.

Spoon the chocolate evenly over each cup. If needed, very carefully smooth the chocolate with a knife or place a thin spatula underneath the paper and gently shake back and forth. Place the filled cups into the refrigerator until the chocolate is set. If you want a firmer peanut butter layer go ahead and place in the freezer.

Sophisticated Reese's

Being Tuesday, I needed something to make for Jeff to bring in for the Wednesday treat day so his coworkers can "test" what I've been making. This was a little labor intensive but I must say it was worth it. After my first bite I was in love! A decadent dark chocolate layer on top controls the sweetness of the creamy, but still firm peanut butter layer. You can still see the little pieces of brown sugar in the bottom layer that adds to the richness of these little gems. I'm not sure how many will actually make it to the office tomorrow, but I know one thing - I will be making these again! The second picture has a little glare from the light - sorry about that!



Why not keep the sweet theme going? Tonight was breakfast for dinner. Orange-Almond French Toast Casserole(adapted from CL) is very much like a giant sticky bun, execpt it is much better! We don't care for "soft/mushy" french toast and this is much the opposite! It is quite firm, but not quite crunchy. It does not have that soggy factor that sometimes happens. Flavor from the orange juice and zest makes this dish stand out from normal french toast. The orginial recipe called for pecans but I was out so I used sliced almonds and would do so again. I also used Golden Syrup instead of the corn syrup. This is crazy good - I served soft scrambled eggs on the side to offset the sweetness.



Orange-Almond French Toast Casserole (My adapted version from CL)

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons Lyle's Golden Syrup
Cooking spray
1/3 cup sliced almonds
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
1 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large egg whites
2 large eggs
12 (1-inch-thick) slices French bread

Combine brown sugar, butter, and golden syrup; pour into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle sliced almonds evenly over sugar mixture and gently press down.

Combine rind and next 7 ingredients (rind through eggs); stir with a whisk. Arrange bread slices over sliced almonds in dish; pour egg mixture over bread. Cover overnight.

Preheat oven to 350°

Uncover and let stand at room temperature 20 minutes. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes or until lightly browned.

Starting the week off right...

Two new recipes for dinner tonight. The first was Pecan-Crusted Tilapia(CL). The chopped pecans, even though the amount is small, gave this fish such a crunchy and toasted nutty flavor. Added hot sauce in the buttermilk has a slight spicy kick. I heard the comment of "You have to make this one again! Promise!" So I think this one is a winner.

I served Spicy Roasted Potatoes and White Asparagus(adapted from CL) along side. I noticed this asparagus for the first time at a local store and then had to find a recipe to use it! I find that this kind has a more mild flavor than its green counterpart. It seemed almost bitter, but not quite. The potatoes were the star here though - minced garlic and parmesan cheese with the right amount of spice were some of the best ones we've had yet from CL.

Fall is on its way...

It was so nice when I woke up this morning and saw it was only 73 degrees at 5am. Even though it still reached 100 fairly quickly, it's a small sign our fall is coming! I already notice the pool water coolin' down.

Quite the busy day so far. After getting the list together we headed out and got most of the groceries for the next few days. This upcoming week features lots of new recipes again for us with a couple new items we have not tried before. Even though the dishes for dinner so far sound exciting - I think i've got more important things on my mind... Like this

Dark chocolate and peanut butter - make sure you stick around and see what we make with this combo. I'm not sure I can even wait! Dinner tonight will be simple grilled turkey dogs with hot mustard and spicy soy/flaxseed tortilla chips.

Dvd from Netflix tonight will be Man of the House with Tommy Lee Jones. This looked like a good comedy - I hope the reviews hold up! Stay tuned for more of our food adventures everyday this week!

Time for refills

After going for a nice bike ride (except for the hilly parts!) it was time for a trip to one of my favorite stores!

I was running low on a couple of our most used spices so I figured we would go and stock up some. I've been to this store I think 4 times now since it opened - the intense aroma when you open the door is almost overwhelming! Our first stop no one was in the store, but this time they had quite a few people coming and going. Some of the items we got were Cocoa - Dutch process, Vietnamese Cinnamon, Ancho Chili powder, Hot Chili powder, and Jerk seasoning.

After we were done there we headed over to a newer Wild Oats Market and just wandered the store. We made sure to spend a few(!) minutes at the chocolate stand (Bulk Valrhona and Callebaut).
9 new recipes were made this week - will be spending sometime tonight going through the stacks to see what will be made this upcoming week. I usually have some ideas going but nothing yet! Dinner tonight is our Saturday Chicken Salads.

Netflix for tonight brings us Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Tomorrow brings shopping for groceries - hopefully I can get my list done early! Stay tuned and see what we will be up to this week!

Ressurecting an older kitchen toy

I had half a bag of Soba noodles left over from Trader Joe's that I wanted to get used up. Since we had a ton of chicken in the freezer I found a recipe that would them and use up some other leftover veggies too. The dressing makes these noodles come alive with the fresh grated ginger and toasted sesame oil. I grilled up the chicken in the griddler and topped this with coarsley chopped, roasted peanuts. A snap to prepare with a lot of flavor!

Cold Soba Noodles with Turkey(or chicken)CL
Rummaging through the cabinets today I found a fun kitchen item that I have not used for a few years. I love pizzelles and finding the iron gave me the notion to run and get my KA Cookie companion and sure enough they had a recipe! Scanned the list... Score! Happen to have everything on hand to make this one. I found the recipe I used to use but wanted to use a new one. I forgot how easy these were to make. Little fuss for these great tasting crisp italian cookies! Next time, I will have to shape some of them into bowls for ice cream!

Pizzelles

Requested Recipe - Chicken and Basmati Rice Pilau with Saffron, Spinach, and Cardamom

Chicken and Basmati Rice Pilau with Saffron, Spinach, and Cardamom(CL)

Serves 5

1 1/2 cups uncooked basmati rice
3/4 cup dried lentils
Cooking spray
10 skinless, boneless chicken thighs (about 1 1/4 pounds)
2 cups vertically sliced onion
2 teaspoons chopped peeled fresh ginger
1 cup shredded carrot
4 cardamom pods, lightly crushed
1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind
1/2 cup fresh orange juice (about 1 orange)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 1/2 cups warm fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/8 teaspoon saffron threads, crushed
1 (6-ounce) package fresh baby spinach, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon butter
1/2 cup blanched almonds

Cover rice with cold water. Let stand for 20 minutes. Drain and rinse the rice with cold water. Drain.

Sort and rinse lentils. Place lentils in a small saucepan; cover with water to 2 inches above lentils. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 20 minutes or until almost tender. Drain.

Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 4 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Remove chicken from pan. Add onion and ginger to pan; sauté 7 minutes or until tender. Add carrot and cardamom; sauté 2 minutes. Return chicken to pan. Add rice, lentils, rind, juice, salt, and pepper. Combine broth and saffron; stir until saffron is dissolved. Add saffron mixture to pan; bring to a simmer. Cover and cook 15 minutes or until rice is almost tender and liquid is absorbed. Stir in spinach. Remove from heat. Cover with a towel; place lid over towel. Let stand 10 minutes.

Melt butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Add almonds; cook 5 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring frequently. Sprinkle almonds over chicken mixture.

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 601(19% from fat); FAT 12.7g (sat 2.2g,mono 6.1g,poly 2.8g); PROTEIN 40.1g; CHOLESTEROL 96mg; CALCIUM 119mg; SODIUM 837mg; FIBER 14.5g; IRON 7.4mg; CARBOHYDRATE 85.8g

Recipe Request - Crustless Broccoli and Cheese Quiche

Crustless Broccoli and Cheese Quiche(CL)

2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 cup vertically sliced onion
1 garlic clove, minced
5 cups broccoli florets
Cooking spray
1 1/4 cups 1% low-fat milk
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded reduced-fat Swiss cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 large egg whites, lightly beaten
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350°.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; sauté 1 1/2 minutes. Add broccoli; sauté 1 minute. Spread broccoli mixture into a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. Combine milk and next 8 ingredients (milk through eggs) in a large bowl. Pour milk mixture over broccoli mixture; sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes or until top is golden and a knife inserted in center comes out clean; let stand 5 minutes.

Broccoli overload...

When I was out yesterday there was some great looking broccoli on sale so I had to grab a few. I love making anything with broccoli as it has so many health benefits. It's a great quick snack to have around raw too! I never ate any while growing up but as an adult have grown to enjoy it.

I had this recipe laying around since I think '03 in the stack - I thought it was about time to try it! The dish was filled to the brim (literally) with broccoli. I almost thought it was going to be too much but it worked out great. I used a sweet, silky, and buttery fontina cheese since it melds in so well. I did add a little cayenne for that extra kick! Freshly grated nutmeg, even only being 1/8 teaspoon, really helps build a great background flavor. With the broccoli not being fully submerged in the egg mixture, it has a chance to slightly caramelize the tender broccoli florets. A sprinkling of parmesan on top finished off the quiche.

Crustless Broccoli and Cheese Quiche(CL)

Caramel Frosted Chocolate Chip Zucchini Sheet Cake Recipe

Caramel Frosted Chocolate Chip Zucchini Sheet Cake (BBCL Val)

3/4 c butter -- softened
2 c packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
3 c flour
1 1/2 tsps baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups shredded zucchini
1/2 cup miniature chocolate chips (or more)
Caramel Frosting:
1/2 c butter
1 c brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted

Cream butter, brown sugar, vanilla and eggs in bowl. Stir together flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder in a separate bowl. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and stir until combined. Batter will be pretty thick. Fold in zucchini and chocolate chips. Spread in greased 15 x 10 inch jellly roll pan. Bake at 375° for 20 minutes.

For the frosting: Bring butter, brown sugar, and milk to a boil in saucepan. Boil for 3 minutes. Stir in confectioners' sugar. Spread over cake (this is the type of frosting that hardens, so you shouldn't take your time in the spreading step).

Cookie report...

The cookies went over very well today - and as I suspected the chocolate filled ones were preferred over the jam ones. I did like the jam ones, but the chocolate really won me over.

I went to a couple stores late this afternoon looking for some cardamom pods since I didn't have any luck on Sunday. Finally found some after the third store!

I needed to find them for the recipe tonight - I could have used ground cardamom, but wanted the flavor punch you can get from the encased seeds. This is the dish where we used the saffron. A mix of basmatic rice, red lentils, and fresh orange juice mixed very will and really gave the meal a refreshing taste. Carrots lent a nice sweetness with chicken being added in for some protein and spinach for additional flavor/color. The serving size was pretty generous for a CL recipe.

Chicken and Basmati Rice Pilau with Saffron, Spinach, and Cardamom

More heat please...

I made a recipe similar to tonight's dinner not too long ago - but that was more of a stir-fry with the same name. This one ends up more sauce and is served on top of a blend of rices that I frequently use. It called for 6 dried red chilies, but next time I think I would add a couple more as we like things on the spicy side. The orange flavor from the peel and grand marnier do come through more than the other dish.

Spicy Orange Beef(CL '04) Tuesday is my "bake something to bring into Jeff's office" day as I've said before so I thought I would use this time to test out some recipes for the upcoming holidays. I found this on Epicurious, but believe it's from Rose Levy Beranbaum. These have a very intense peanut butter flavor - half are filled with a dark chocolate/milk chocolate mixture that I hand piped in. The other half are filled with a smooth jam. The cookies have a classic sandy peanut butter cookie texture, but still remain very light. The chocolate/PB ones do remind me of bitting into a reeses! I had a quite a bit of chocolate leftover so I thought I would pipe out the remaining into stars and reserve them for future cookies (who am I kidding? for future eating!)

Peanut butter and Jelly Jewels

Have a sweet tooth?

Then this puts it to the test! This tasty dense cake has a surprise ingredient - zucchini! Caramel Frosted Chocolate Chip Zucchini Sheet Cake(BBCL Val) has the familiar taste of a chocolate chip cookie, but in cake form with this wicked fudge-like frosting. The zucchini adds moistness but you would never know it was there. The frosting does set up very fast and needs to be spread on quickly, otherwise it could get messy.


Since I had leftover wonton wrappers from last week, I found a recipe that used almost all of the ones we had left. Unfortunetly for me it meant filling, egg washing, and pinching another 20 of them. This is a before shot.

Wonton Soup(CL) was easy enough, after filling the wontons of course. These are filled with a mixture of spinach, cooked chicken, toasted sesame oil, ginger, garlic and soy sauce. After watching the little pouches float up we portioned them off and I finished working on the side dish. Wheat Berry Salad with Orange Vinaigrette(CL). Nice tang from the orange since the wheat berries have a pretty neutral flavor. I did sub dried cranberries for the currants as we didn't have any and were out of raisins.

Wonton Soup Recipe

Wonton Soup(CL)

4 cups spinach leaves
3/4 cup cooked dark-meat chicken (about 1/2 pound skinless, boneless thighs)
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 teaspoon chopped peeled fresh ginger
3/4 teaspoon dark sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon salt, divided
40 wonton wrappers
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons cornstarch
8 cups Chicken Stock
Crushed red pepper (optional)

Place the first 7 ingredients in a food processor and add 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Pulse until just coarsely chopped.

Working with 1 wonton wrapper at a time *keep the others covered so they don't dry out, spoon about 1 teaspoon chicken mixture into center of each wrapper. Moisten edges of wrapper with egg white; bring 2 opposite corners to center, pinching points to seal. Bring remaining 2 corners to center, pinching points to seal. Pinch 4 edges together to seal.

Place the wonton on a baking sheet sprinkled with cornstarch. Repeat procedure with remaining wrappers, chicken mixture, and egg white. Then refrigerate them for 20 minutes.

Bring stock to a simmer over medium heat; add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add wontons; cook 4 minutes or until wontons float to the top, stirring gently. Sprinkle with crushed red pepper.

What I will be using this week...

We got quite a bit of rain last night. It was nice since it cooled down some, but we pay for it today with high humidity. I finalized the menu for the week this morning and had to get quite a few groceries today. I was able to pick up a few fun ingredients - a couple of which are shown below. Stick around and see what we make from these!


Saffron



Netflix movie of the night is The Opposite of Sex starring Christinia Ricci and Lisa Kudrow. Another one I didn't hear of so who knows how this will turn out. It has Lyle Lovett in it so it could be awful!

Check us out tomorrow and find out what we created in the kitchen!

WCB 13 - Meet our kitty

Miss kitty decided she would like to be included in the Weekend Cat Blogging event that Clare over at Eat Stuff holds. She has been with us for 6 years after we rescued her from a shelter back in Minnesota. We never came up with a name for her and just called her "kitty!" This was taken after she had some fun playing in her catnip! She loves to harass the puppy dogs and can be frequently found taking naps in an old shoebox in the closet!

Lots of new recipes again this week. The total was right around 12 again. Dinner will be Chicken salads of course, as it is Saturday after all!

Tonight from Netflix we will be watching Election. No idea what this one is about - just that it is suppose to be a comedy. Looks like our big stack of untried recipes is slowly getting smaller, but don't get me wrong - it is still quite large! I'll be checking it out tonight and see what we can come up with for this week!

Spiced Edamame and Buttermilk muffin recipes

Buttermilk Chocolate Chip Muffins - Adapted from Epicurious
1 cup wheat bran
2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups low-fat buttermilk
1/2 cup raw sugar crystals
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 large egg
1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup Dark Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spray a 12 cup muffin muffin pan with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, whisk the bran, flours, baking soda, and salt until well combined. Set aside.In another medium bowl, using a handheld eletric mixer set at high speed, beat the buttermilk, sugar, applesauce, egg, oil and vanilla until frothy, about two minutes. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and pour in the buttermilk mixture. Using a spoon - gently stir until the flour is moistened. Do not overmix - gently fold in chocolate chips or other add ins of your choice.

Divide the batter equally among the prepared muffin cups. Bake unti the tops spring back when pressed gently in the center, about 17-20 minutes. Do not overbake. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing from the cups. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Roasted Chile-Spiced Edamame

(14-ounce) package frozen blanched shelled edamame (green soybeans), thawed
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon New Mexico red chile powder or chili powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper

Preheat oven to 350°.Arrange edamame in a single layer on a baking sheet, and coat with cooking spray. Combine chile powder and remaining ingredients. Sprinkle over edamame; toss to coat.Bake edamame at 350° for 60 to 90 minutes until crisp, stirring beans every 15 minutes.

Snow in phoenix!

*Looking for the Doughnut Cookie recipe? Scroll down just a little.

Well... snow-peas that is! Peanutty Noodles(CL) was our dinner tonight. Lots of snow peas, carrots, chicken and fettucini with a spicy peanut sauce is a definite repeater for us. This was suppose to be a side dish, but I added more veggies and the chicken to turn it into a main dish. Although the recipe ends up using a lot of dishes, I think it was well worth the effort to clean up.


Getting up early in the morning (usually at 4-5am... darn body alarm clock!) allows me to exercise and have some time in the kitchen to play around. I used that time today to make some more muffins. This time it was Buttermilk Chocolate Chip Bran Muffins (Adapated from Epicurious). I wanted to try this recipe because it is a good base for any type of mix-ins you would want to add. Dried fruits or nuts would be great to put in these. They are moist and very tender from the buttermilk. I decided to throw in some dark chocolate chips this time (hey, dark chocolate is good for you - right?!) The recipe called for using raw sugar crystals and I happened to buy some on a whim not too long ago. I really liked using the sugar and will use it more often!

Doughnut Cookie Recipe

Doughnut Cookie's - adapted from King Arthur Cookie Companion

Dough -

2 tbls canola oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs - room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
4 oz confectioners' sugar (1 cup)
10 1/2 oz all-purpose flour (2 1/2 cups)

Icing
4 oz confectioners' sugar (1 cup)
4 tsp milk
4 tsp light corn syrup
Your choice of food coloring

Directions - Dough

Beat oil, butter, eggs, vanilla, salt, baking powder, and sugar until smooth in a medium bowl. Add flour, beating until smooth. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Scoop the dough into 2 teaspoon sized balls. Roll the balls into ropes about 4 inches long and about 1/2 in diameter. Coil the ropes into round doughnut shapes, leaving a small hole in the middle.

Place the cookies on the baking sheets about 1 inch apart. Place in the oven and bake for about 18 minutes. They will have just a slight golden color on top - but will not be brown. Remove from the oven and transfer to a rack and cool completely before icing.

Directions - Icing

Place 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar into 4 tiny bowls. Add 1 tsp milk and 1 tsp corn syrup to each bowl. Stir until you have made a spreadable icing - add milk drop by drop until you reach the desired consistency. Tint the icing in each bowl a different color.

Dip the top of each cookie in one of the icings and place back on rack to let the frosting harden completely.

Yield: 42 cookies

New twist on Doughnuts

We will start off with dinner. Tonight was kind of a mis-match of appetizer recipes that i've had set aside for the longest time. I like to try them out before we use them for entertaining so we know what to expect.

So we just had these for dinner. The first recipe was Crispy Butternut Wontons with Spicy Tomato Sauce(CL). The only thing I didn't like about this was taking the time to fill each wonton wrapper. To help ease with the actual prep-time I baked off the butternut early in the morning to get that out of the way. The crunchy outside with the soft creamy inside really go well. The tomato sauce is a little different as it includes a strip of orange peel along with other herbs. The flavors meld well and I think you can do most of the prep work ahead of time so this is a winner.

Roasted Chile-Spiced Edamame(CL) was the second recipe. This was nice and easy as you just mix the spices with the edamame and roast for an hour or so. The chile spice mix has just the right kick to make these very addicting. The edamame are about half the size from how they started, but get pretty crunchy. Below both recipes are shown together.

The new twist on doughnuts is... Cookies! Doughnut Cookies(KACC) are fun bite sized cookies that were a little labor intensive but so worth it! The cookie itself reminds me of a cross between a thick butter cookie and a sugar cookie. It is dense but not overly dry. I enjoyed playing with the decorations and lots of ideas came forth to use for future holidays. I imagine these would ship well so they might make the christmas cookie list!