Cincinnati Five-Way Chili...

Thankfully, Jeff has come to appreciate having an open mind when it comes to dinners we prepare around here now. If I would have told him the details about tonight's dinner a few years ago, I would have been vetoed quickly and would be faced with choosing another recipe. It is not like tonight's Cincinnati Five-Way Chili is completely outrageous or anything, but he would have balked at the combination of spices, beans and pasta.

To lighten up the chili, we used a combination of lean ground sirloin and ground turkey - since I grind my own turkey, I used about 8 ounces of white meat to 4 ounces of dark to impart a bit more flavor. Once the meat started to brown, we tossed in one of those fist-sized onions that we chopped - after enough time for the onion pieces to soften, we stirred a couple cloves worth of minced garlic into the pot.

Here is where this chili really gets down and dirty - a mess of spices are added to season up the pot, including chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, allspice and coriander. For a touch of sweetness, brown sugar is added, along with spicy barbecue sauce and a splash or two of vinegar to add a zesty punch. Now, to add a dark depth to this intriguing mixture, can you guess what we else was put in? Bitter, unsweetened chocolate! I know this is nothing new or earth shattering as we've added cocoa before to other savory recipes, but it always gets me how much of an impact that extra special ingredient gives. The chili would be pretty dry at this point, so to keep it moovin' and groovin', tomato puree and water are also stirred in with the spices.

Plenty of time is given to this chili to bubble way, allowing its unique character to develop and flourish. The end texture was a little loose, but it still had a thickness to it - kind of like a very meaty marinara sauce, but the taste will say otherwise. To serve, the hearty chili is ladled over cooked whole-wheat spaghetti and topped with a smattering of raw onions, shredded sharp cheddar and warmed kidney beans. We tried to keep the stats in check by not going crazy with the cheese and using whole-wheat spaghetti, but don't let that stop you from piling on the cheese and using whatever spaghetti you've got!

It is not something we normally have around the house, so we didn't add any, but if you don't think the toppings are enough as is, a scattering of oyster crackers on top would be an appropriate finishing touch. I've never had chili in Cincinnati (or even been to the city), so I won't be one to claim that this is how chili is properly served there, but nonetheless, it was a fun and tasty way to change it up!

Recipes
Cincinnati Five-Way Chili

Three-Cheese Chicken Penne Pasta Bake...

With the end of the year fast approaching, I've been busy swimming in recipes trying to figure out what we will be making for the big baking spree coming up. I love this time of the year - the house is always filled with fantastic and indulgent treats, along with their seductive aromas. We did most of the shopping this weekend... and I suppose it's time to show our annual supply of butter we will end up going through!

Crazy, no? I'm sure Paula would be proud.

Let's try to forget about all that outrageous amount of butter for the moment and move on to the recap - 8 new recipes swept through the kitchen this week - our favorites this round where those deceptive Sweet Miniature Sliders, Roasted Garlic Pizza and that Peanut Butter Chocolate Pudding.

Cozy, warm and comforting... that is exactly what popped into my mind while we filled up our bellies tonight with this Three-Cheese Chicken Penne Pasta Bake I made for dinner.

We started this dish by plunging a heaping scoop of whole-wheat penne into boiling salted water and letting it dance around the pot while we made the sauce to coat the pasta with. We lightly browned chunky pieces of lean chicken breast in just enough oil to keep them from sticking. To season those nuggets, and subsequently the sauce later on, we sprinkled in dried basil, oregano, garlic and a hefty pinch of crushed red pepper flakes. Once the pieces gained a little color, we added marinara sauce and a can of drained fire-roasted diced tomatoes. Left to bubble until the chicken had finished cooking through, we tossed in a few cubes of cream cheese to smooth out the sauce and add a little richness.

A minute before the pasta was ready, we added a hefty amount of fresh spinach leaves - be sure to use a large pot, even though the pasta amount is fairly small, so all that spinach will fit in. The two are drained, added to the feisty tomato sauce along with a couple ounces of shredded mozzarella cheese. Scooped into its baking dish, this casserole is cooked until the sauce is hot, bubbling and the pasta soaks in some of the excess liquid. While it is fully cooked now, the dish is removed and a bit more mozzarella is scattered on top, along with a shower of sharp Parmesan cheese. Slid back in the oven for a just a couple extra minutes, the heat from the oven will turn those threads of cheese into a delicious gooey topping.

While it is always nice to pull out tidy squares for dishes like macaroni and cheese or lasagna, we quite enjoyed this being a little on the saucy side with a bit of flow to it. Since we added a bunch of spices, you could probably get away with blitzing some extra tomatoes and seasoning to taste instead of hauling out the marinara sauce... but the depth from that cooked down sauce added an inviting homey feeling.

Recipes
Three-Cheese Chicken Penne Pasta Bake

Chocolate Tart with Hazelnut Shortbread Crust...

I knew I was going to have a bit of extra free time on my hands today, so I made sure I had everything on hand to keep myself busy making this Chocolate Tart with Hazelnut Shortbread Crust today.

It is not that it took a ton of time to complete, but there were quite a few steps and I knew I would need plenty of time to clean up afterwards (darn dishes!). The crust for this tart is decidedly unfussy - the only thing I recommend doing is toasting the hazelnuts and rubbing some of their skins off beforehand. While it probably wouldn't ruin the recipe if you didn't do this, sometimes those skins can be pretty bitter and I didn't want to take the chance. I'd also recommend seeking out a jar of hazelnut oil to reinforce that nutty layer, but don't let that stop you from making this - canola oil would be fine. After a few buzzes in a food processor to create the crumbly mixture, the crust is formed by pressing it into a tart pan. Since the filling is unbaked, you'll need to fully bake this crust and let it cool before filling it.

While it was cooling, I started working on the chocolate filling. You'll be making a smooth, but light and airy custard for this tart. The custard is pretty typical - it is thickened by egg yolks, but because you'll want the unbaked tart to slice into tidy pieces and hold its shape, bloomed gelatin is added. Using unsweetened chocolate makes for a rich, dark filling, but a bit of granulated sugar makes sure it is just sweet enough. Be sure to finely chop the very hard chocolate - this will help it melt quickly into the warm custard and ensure a smooth texture. To give this custard a lingering hint of coffee, I did add a shot of Kahlua, but this is purely optional - it is mainly used to reinforce the chocolate flavor.

Now, I'm sure the next part will be a little controversial because I used raw egg whites, but I'll state now that you certainly have the option to use either pasteurized eggs or reconstituted dried egg whites. If I was serving to guests or someone who had an immune deficiency, I'd probably go the other route, but it is just us eating this and I trust our fresh egg source.

At this point, the custard is pretty thick and dense - to breathe some life into it and make it billowy, we beat a couple egg whites, with a little cream of tartar to act as a stabilizer, until they had just begun to form soft, floppy peaks. With a bit of granulated sugar added, the egg whites continued to beat, increasing in volume, until we could flip the beater over and the egg whites stood at attention with a stiff peak. The custard is folded in and the milk chocolate colored filling is poured into its sturdy shell and stashed into the refrigerator until it cools down and firms up.

The swanky crust, with its rich nutty backbone, was a fantastic backdrop to encase the wallop of silky chocolate filling. While I could have downed this in the blink of an eye, I caught both of us taking our time to savor each forkful. Elegant enough to be served after a special dinner, but delicious enough to make for no other reason than to satisfy a chocolate craving, we thought this was well worth the effort (and clean up!) to make.

Recipes
Chocolate Tart with Hazelnut Shortbread Crust

Roasted Garlic Pizza...

We've prepared a few unusual (for us at least) pizzas as of late, so this time we kept it on the simplistic side with a Roasted Garlic Pizza for our weekly Friday Night Pizza.

If you have yet to try out our favorite whole-wheat pizza dough, I don't know what else I could say or do to convince you to give it a go - it has really made this weekly pizza night come to life for us! While you don't have to a have a food processor to make it, it does make it a breeze to prepare in just a couple minutes worth of time.

Have you roasted your own garlic before? If not, I urge you to let this pizza be your first foray into the process. It is dead simple - remove the excess papery skin from your head of garlic (enough so you can see the cloves, but leave each one encased in their own skin), cut off the tips of the garlic to expose the cloves (the opposite side from the roots) and drizzle the cut side with olive oil. Enclose the head in a piece of foil, place it in the heated oven and let it roast, giving you a whole new garlic experience to enjoy.

As it roasts, the harsh, firm and raw garlic transforms into soft, sweet and tender cloves that can be used in so many ways. For our purposes tonight, we squeezed the mellow cloves out from the head and mashed them all together. This makes it a snap to spread the enticing paste across your stretched out piece of dough. On top of the smeared garlic, we rubbed a bit of dried sage and then deluged the top with shredded mozzarella and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheeses. For a touch of spice, a hefty pinch or two of crushed red pepper finished off the top.

After I glided the pizza from the peel to the fiery hot stone in the oven, I don't think Jeff took his eyes off the glass door for a minute. Thanks to the handy oven light, he was raptured by the pizza as the crust turned from tan to golden and the cheeses ran into each other, bubbling and oozing into a sheet of melted gratification. You can certainly change up the cheeses to your choice - provolone, Gruyère, Fontina or Asiago would be pleasing... or go crazy and create a blend! Crispy thin crust, lots of cheese and that smooth layer of garlic hiding underneath - you can bet that we stuffed ourselves silly with this pizza. Leftovers? Ha... I doubt it will happen - one of us will finish off the last couple pieces before the night is out!

Recipes

Roasted Garlic Pizza

Bread and soup...

We were going to be having soup for dinner tonight, so rather than just having a bowl of chips or a salad to go with it, I thought this Beer-Cheese Bread might be a nice change of pace!

This is a basic quick bread, but instead of being of the sweet variety, this decidedly savory version uses beer and cheese to take it to a new level. With onions and garlic being added, pulsing their savory nature throughout this bread, we first needed to soften them and let the onions caramelize a bit to deepen their flavor. They are then added, along with a mound of shredded Monterey Jack cheese and a bottle of lager-style beer into a bowl of dry ingredients to be combined.

After scooping the viscous mixture into the baking pan, a tablespoon of golden love, a.k.a melted butter, is drizzled over the raw batter. Just over halfway through baking, the partially-baked loaf is quickly whisked out of the oven, another tablespoon of melted butter is poured on top and it goes back in to finish cooking and ensure a delicious dark brown crust to the bread. Unlike softer and sweet quick breads, the crust is more sturdy on this loaf, so you'll need to poke it with a wooden skewer or long toothpick to make sure the center has cooked through before pulling it out. With a faint bitterness from the beer, this bread, with its cheesy pockets, was a snap to throw together, moist, easy to slice and while good warm, it was even better toasted with a thin pat of butter oozing around on top.

As mentioned, we were having soup as the main portion of dinner. This Turkey and Potato Soup with Canadian Bacon caught my eye because I found some extra Canadian bacon in the freezer this weekend that was hiding behind the corn we froze from this summer. Sneaky!

The original recipe called for "mashed cooked baking potatoes", so I took that to mean potatoes that you cook and simply mash. It might have meant prepared mashed potatoes, but I figured they would have said that if it is what they intended... I could be wrong though! So while I then waited for the russets we chunked up and boiled to finish, I started softening a generous amount of vegetables - onions, celery and carrots to get the soup going. The bacon was also added along with them.

After jostling the vegetables around for a few minutes, we added chicken broth, shredded cooked turkey (your choice of meat - we used a combination of light and dark), the potatoes we mashed, fresh sage and a pinch of crushed red pepper. After simmering to let the soup blend, it had thickened well from the potatoes, but I thought it didn't look as creamy as one might imagine. I scooped up a spoonful for a taste, asking Jeff to come over to try it too, and we both thought it tasted good, so I left well enough alone. However, thinking about it now, a bit of milk or half-and-half might have been a nice addition to give this speedy soup a better texture. I'd also think about smashing in a few cloves of roasted garlic or maybe even baking the potatoes first, instead of boiling them. If you want a cleaner-looking soup, by all means skin the potatoes before mashing, but we quite like those nutritious peels, even if they muddle the appearance.

Recipes
Beer-Cheese Bread
Turkey and Potato Soup with Canadian Bacon

Sweet Miniature Sliders...

For this Weekly Wednesday Treat Day item, we decided to take a rest from the ordinary bars, cakes or cookies. Instead, we thought we would throw in a little whimsy this week with these Sweet Miniature Sliders!

To create these individual guys, we emptied a big box of vanilla wafers and picked out 48 of the best looking ones to act as the buns. We scooped up all of the remaining wafers and crumbs, put them into a sturdy zip-loc bag and smashed them to bits with a heavy rolling pin. To sweeten the crumbs up and to act as a little binder, we tossed them with confectioners' sugar along with a pinch of salt to cut the sweetness.

Into those sweetened crumbs, we added a mixture of bittersweet chocolate and milk that we heated until the chocolate was melted and smooth. After a few strokes with a sturdy wooden spoon, those tan crumbs turned dark and stuck together, creating a sturdy fudge-like mixture. It will seem pretty sticky at first, but letting the chocolate cool for a few minutes will firm the decadent concoction up enough that you can scoop out portions, roll them into balls and squish into a patty shape. This forms the meat portion of the burgers - to create lettuce, we tinted sweetened coconut green and added it on top. Ketchup and mustard come in the form of gel icing - I left off "the cheese", but if you fancy a cheeseburger, use an apricot-flavored fruit leather and cut it into small squares.

The patty and fixin's were then sandwiched in the vanilla wafers that you set aside. We are sesame bun people, so with the help of a little melted butter for glue, we sprinkled a few seeds on top of each assembled burger. These treats were such a blast to make... and I imagine they will certainly start a conversation when served! They were a bit sweet, but even so, they were still tasty little bites and fun to eat!

We have it fairly often around here, but Jeff is always happy to find out when we have a breakfast-for-dinner night. We made pumpkin pancakes last time, but since we had some extra-ripe bananas handy, I decided on these Banana-Oat Pancakes.

With these pancakes, we gave them a heartier texture by increasing the ratio of chewy old-fashioned rolled oats to the flours we used. To add a little tang, we changed up the liquids by using half milk and creamy vanilla yogurt. You'll want to mash the bananas before adding them to the liquid ingredients, but don't seek out to puree them smooth - a little extra texture is a good thing. Once the wet ingredients were stirred into the dry (be sure to keep a light hand and just mix until combined - lumps are good!), we set the batter aside to rest for 10 minutes before dolloping the batter on the griddle. This gives those thick oats a chance to absorb some of the liquid and soften.

After they hit the griddle (or your cooking vessel of choice), leave them be until the tops of the pancakes are covered in bubbles and the very edges look matte instead of the glossy nature of the wet center. Once turned, they should only need an extra minute or so to finish cooking off that raw batter. Since there is just a little brown sugar added, these pancakes would not be very sweet, but using especially ripe bananas, these golden rounds had just enough sweetness that you could forgo a syrup on top. Saying that, it is always hard to resist warm pure maple syrup with pancakes, so we of course drizzled some on top before diving in. Not dense, but not necessarily light as air either, these pancakes had a slight chew from the oats, a mild banana essence and were very filling... good for a chilly weekend morning to keep you going until lunch!

Recipes

Sweet Miniature Sliders
Banana-Oat Pancakes

Lighter Chicken Enchiladas...

To cook the chicken for the Lighter Chicken Enchiladas I made for dinner tonight, we used a combination of poaching and steaming.

Instead of covering them entirely with water (or broth) and letting the chicken breasts simmer until done, the method tonight first slides the meat into a pan with just an inch of boiling salted water. The temperature is immediately turned down to maintain a simmer with a lid on top, sealing in the moisture. After a short five minutes, the skillet is removed from the heat and the chicken finishes cooking through from the steaming water.

While we waited for the chicken, we created the sauce that will do double duty in these enchiladas. Instead of a green or red sauce, this recipe has you create a sauce simply made from chicken broth that is seasoned with garlic, smoky cumin and spicy chipotles in adobo. Also added during this time is a quarter cup of flour to help thicken and give the sauce some body. Part of this light mixture is tossed with the tender chicken that we shredded into bite-sized pieces after it had a chance to cool down a bit.

The chicken is then divided up between warmed white corn tortillas and rolled up into tight little cigars. We placed the filled tortillas onto a bed of the same sauce that the chicken was coated with in a regular 8" square baking dish and while the tortillas are supposed to be snug, we had to really squish them together to fit, with the last two barely making it in. Maybe a 9" pan would give them just a little wiggle room? Just as they lay on the bed of that sauce, the remaining generous amount is poured over the top, ensuring the tortillas have enough moisture to prevent them from drying out in the oven. Since the sauce is fairly spicy from the chipotles, a couple ounces of mild Monterey Jack was the cheese of choice to shred on top.

Now, I really don't think I could tell a difference in this dish with the method used to pre-cook the chicken vs standard poaching, but the chicken did stay tender and juicy as advertised. I liked how light the sauce was, yet it still had plenty of zip from the smoky chipotles and cumin. I asked Jeff if he thought it would have been better with some sort of tomatoes in the sauce, but he commented that it was tasty as is. It definitely got bonus points for being petty simple and taking less than an hour from start to finish!

Recipes
Lighter Chicken Enchiladas

Dogs in the snow... plus pudding!

Max was feeling a little left out since Gus got time on the blog a couple days ago... so to make him feel better, he want you to know he was also romping around outside in the snow!

Though, I'm sure he'll be pouting as soon as he realizes that we took a video of Gus out in his first big snow! This isn't the best video since it was taken with our camera and we don't have much in the way of video editing software, but it'll have to do (it make take a few seconds to load)! You can also watch it a little larger if you click on the movie itself.


Another week went speeding by my radar and with Thanksgiving and Christmas right around the corner, I expect the next few weeks will be a blur as well! We prepared 7 new recipes this week with the stand outs for us being the Ham and Pineapple Pizza, Butterscotch Finger Cakes and that Pancetta, French Lentil and Spinach Risotto.

Jeff's sweet tooth was being especially loud today (!), so to try and quell the noise, I thought a batch of this Peanut Butter Chocolate Pudding would fit the bill. You've heard me talk about our fascination with the outrageous duo of chocolate and peanut butter, so it is any surprise that I just had to give this recipe a go?

The base for this pudding begins by heating together butter and creamy smooth peanut butter. Once those two rich ingredients had mingled and became one, a combination of chopped semi-sweet and dark chocolate were stirred in to melt. Milk is then added and left to heat up enough so bubbles begin to form where the milk hits the sides of the pan. While waiting for that to happen, a couple golden egg yolks are whisked together with granulated sugar to sweeten the pudding and cornstarch to thicken.

Rather than risking a pot of curdled eggs, a portion of the now chocolate-y milk is slowly whisked into the egg mixture to gently bring it up to temperature. This tempers them enough so you can pour them back into the pot without the worry of making scrambled eggs. Stirring constantly, the pot is placed back over the heat and allowed to cook for just a minute or two, until it thickens to a pudding-like consistency. I'm not one for warm pudding, so after pouring the pudding into ramekins, we slid the dishes into the refrigerator to chill out. I'll also confess to not grooving on that thick skin that can manifest on top, so I also cover them and press the plastic wrap onto the surface. However, if you do, leave them uncovered for awhile to let the skin form.

Because we had some leftover from Halloween and simply because we love them, we chopped up a couple peanut butter cups and added a piece or two on top before diving our spoons in. Smooth and creamy, we found there was enough power behind the peanut butter to still come through the rich chocolate flavor. We found that we really enjoyed how this pudding wasn't excessively sweet, but had just enough to enhance both the peanut butter and chocolate. While the chunks of peanut butter cups were not necessary and sent the cups of pudding over-the-top, you better believe we would do that again (and recommend you do the same!).

Recipes
Peanut Butter Chocolate Pudding

If you could only smell the way this Cinnamon-Apple Cake perfumed our house...

There has been a recipe in my to-try pile since I started it a few years ago. I would often come across it and say to myself "I really need to make this...", but then I'd find something else that caught my eye. However, with that overflowing bushel of apples we picked a few weeks ago, I figured it was just the right time to finally make this Cinnamon-Apple Cake.

The batter for this cake is quite a decadent combination of softened cream cheese, butter, granulated sugar and sweet vanilla. As with most cakes, once we had beaten the eggs in, the dry ingredients were tossed in and mixed until the flour had just disappeared into the creamed mixture. If you fear over-beating, stop just short of flour being completely combined and finish mixing it by hand.

To the batter, we added a healthy amount of chunky chopped apples that we first tossed with vanilla sugar and our favorite aromatic Vietnamese cinnamon. If you don't have a jar of vanilla sugar brewin' in your pantry (which you should start if you don't have one!), regular granulated sugar would be fine. Since we didn't use all of that cinnamon and vanilla sugar combo on those apples, once we scooped the batter into the baking pan, we showered the top with those sparkling cinnamon-dusted crystals.

Testing for doneness of this cake may be a little tricky with all those bits of apples stuck inside - you'll be looking for the edges of the cake to begin pulling away from the side and the top should spring back when lightly pressed near the center. If you can find a clear spot for a toothpick, it should have a few moist crumbs attached when you take it out. Exceptionally moist, your best bet to cut into this cake when completely cooled is with a serrated knife - this will help saw through the tender apples inside without not tear them out and crack that crisp sugary crust on the outside. If you fancy a taller cake than what we have, throw the batter into an 8" springform pan instead and increase the baking time by about 5 minutes. If you happen to be looking for an exquisite cake that bellows with fall flavors, I'd suggest you run and get the ingredients to make this soon!

Recipes

Cinnamon-Apple Cake

Ham and Pineapple Pizza... plus a surprise build up of snow!

Hmm... what happened to "a slim chance of flurries?" Look what we woke up to!

So, we thought Gus wouldn't like being a snow pup from his reaction to the very light dusting we had last time, but we were so wrong! He absolutely loved pouncing around in this mess. I even got a video of it, so we'll try and get that together in a couple days so you can see too! He could barely contain himself... look how excited he is!

For this week's Friday Night Pizza, I asked Jeff while we were eating the pizza last week what kind he thought would be good next time. He perked up and said let's go tropical with pineapple! This time it was my turn to give the "umm... do we have too?" look. Pineapple, ham and cheese never really sounded like a killer combination to me, but what did I have to loose?

This Ham and Pineapple Pizza is not too involved, but I didn't want to venture too far before finding out if I would even enjoy the combination. I used the same whole-wheat pizza dough as normal, but once I got it all stretched out, I gave it a quick bake since the original recipe called for using those pre-baked pizza shells.

Once the crust began to set up, we slid it from the stone, flipped it over and set it on cutting board so what was the bottom becomes the top. Any sauce will do, but we smeared a good half cup of that homemade spicy pizza sauce both of us quite enjoy. Before we added the other toppings, I sprinkled on just about half of the shredded cheese. Next came thin strips of cooked ham and chunky bits of fresh, sweet pineapple. I didn't want to deal with a bunch of pineapple tonight, so I just grabbed a few hunks from the salad bar at the market - you could also use canned, but be sure to drain it well. The rest of the mozzarella is scattered on top, followed by crushed red pepper flakes to balance the sweetness with some heat.

I used the twelve-ounce version of the dough as we were looking for a thin, crisp crust, but if you wanted something a bit more chewy and substantial, go ahead and use a pound worth of dough. Now, seriously... why have I been so silly to think this wouldn't taste good? Geez... maybe I'm crazy, but I think I've really been missing out! I thought the salty, savory nature of the ham would clash with the golden diced pineapple, but who knew it would work so well? Not me, apparently. While the pizza sauce was good, I think I'd love to try another version of this with barbecue sauce instead! With all that snow outside, it was sure nice to warm up inside with this tropical dinner - I even tried to close my eyes and feel like I was in Hawaii. Didn't work, but maybe I'll be dreaming about it tonight instead!

Recipes

Ham and Pineapple Pizza

A different look at Mac 'N Cheese...

Tonight for dinner we had an interesting take on mac and cheese. I should start out by saying though, that if you really enjoy regular mac and cheese that doesn't have any intriguing add-ins, you may want to just think of this South Indian-Style Macaroni and Cheese as a pasta casserole instead!

What sets this dish apart is the spices used to infuse an array of flavors into the creamy milk sauce. Once a couple cloves worth of minced garlic and a bit of fresh grated ginger were perked up in melted butter, deep red paprika, piquant garam masala, fiery cayenne pepper and a dash of turmeric are stirred in to gently toast in the hot fat. Besides lending its warm properties, turmeric also dyes the sauce a rich yellowish tone. A sprinkle of flour is stirred into the intensely aromatic pot of spices and once given a minute to cook out its rawness, a few cups of milk is whisked in.

The flour will begin to activate as the milk bubbles and then you'll notice the liquid beginning to tighten up slightly - it won't be as loose as it once was, but you are not looking for it to get too thick either. At that point, half a pound of shredded sharp cheddar is stirred in to melt, adding to its luscious body. Cooked whole-wheat macaroni, that we drained over frozen peas to take its chill off, are added to the cheesy mixture and the coated pasta is poured into a casserole dish.

I know some can find this next part a little distracting, but we both love a crunchy top to our macaroni and cheese. We used featherlight fresh breadcrumbs, thanks to a couple slices of leftover soft French bread, that we tossed with fresh grated Asiago cheese and a healthy pinch of paprika. To nudge that topping in the right direction and crisp up while in the oven, we lightly coated the crumbs with cooking spray once we scattered them on top.

What I loved most about this dish was while it looked like your ordinary macaroni and cheese (well... if you put peas in it!), upon first bite you know you are about to give your taste buds a reason to get up and dance. A little racy, a bit sophisticated and definitely cheesy, without feeling greasy, this mac remained quite creamy even after the stint in the oven. Taking that into account, we made sure to give it about 10 minutes to cool in the baking dish before portioning it out. We were then able to pull out tidy pieces that held their shape, but just barely thanks to that velvety sauce. With a quarter teaspoon of cayenne pepper, I wouldn't classify this dish as hot, but it did leave a charming tingle that may be too much for some... if that is you, just halve the amount so you still get a little kick.

Recipes
South Indian-Style Macaroni and Cheese

Root Vegetable Stew with Herbed Dumplings...

Guess what? We get to cross another vegetable off the list that we had never tried before! Woo! In this Root Vegetable Stew with Herbed Dumplings that I made for dinner tonight, the recipe didn't call for what specific vegetables to use - it just gave a few suggestions of what you could pick from. We started with carrots and parsnips since we've had both of them before, but then we went out a on limb and decided to try beets for the first time!

This stew starts out by browning off a couple raw links of sausage - we used hot Italian turkey sausage, but you could use sweet as well. If you don't groove on turkey sausage, swap those links out for their pork counterpart. The links are cooked first like this so you they can be sliced into coins and added back in later. If you don't want to bother with that, you could remove the sausage's casing and then just leave the crumbled sausage in the pot when you start the rest of the stew.

Diced onions are then tossed into the pot to begin softening - once almost done, a couple pounds worth of peeled and diced root vegetables are stirred in. As mentioned, we used carrots, parsnips and beets - you could also use rutabaga, turnips or even that gnarly looking celeriac if you want to impart a celery-esque flavor. One note on the parsnips - if they are particularly large, there might be a core that is quite fibrous that you'll want to remove before chopping the rest of it up. After a few minutes of cooking, four generous cloves of minced garlic and a sprinkling of fresh rosemary are tossed in. Broth is added and the pot is left alone until the liquid begins to bubble. At this point, the sausage coins and a bunch of greens are stirred in. Use whatever dark greens you like - turnip, carrot, kale or collards. Since we were already using beets and the beets we bought came with their own greens attached, we went ahead and just used those!

While waiting for soup to come back up to temperature, the dumpling batter is made and to tie in the flavor of the stew, we also added some chopped fresh rosemary to the mixture. Somewhat stiff, we scooped out tablespoons worth of the batter and drop them into the pot to puff and expand. There is one thing I really didn't take into account when we decided to add the beets in... that the soup would go from clear to deep red! The dumplings were stained a bit as they cooked - oops! This isn't necessarily a problem, other than aesthetics, but I think Jeff was a bit taken aback by the color... hee hee!

We thought the dumplings tasted well and were not heavy, but they were not as light as one might expect - a bit more firm and almost cake-y. Even though there wasn't a ton of sausage to go around for 6 servings, the hot Italian sausage we used had enough power to season each bowl well. Earthy and mildly sweet, the vegetables were tender, yet still had enough of a bite to them that Jeff deemed them worthy and not mushy (the texture he despises most!). While this didn't make us fall in love with beets, the good news is that we didn't dislike them either. It's a start at least - now, where to try them next?

Recipes
Root Vegetable Stew with Herbed Dumplings

Butterscotch Finger Cakes...

Today was an interesting day... I had to be sedated early this morning to have an endoscopy and biopsy of my esophagus/stomach area done. Nothing like starting out your day by having a tube go down your throat! And, just for future reference, those sedation drugs are pretty powerful! I can't even remember how I got dressed or down to the car to be driven home... geez!

As you know, Tuesday is the day I bake for the Weekly Wednesday Treat Day at Jeff's office. I was going to wait until tomorrow to make this week's treat, but I felt well enough this afternoon, so I went ahead and prepared these Butterscotch Finger Cakes. I probably should have just rested, but I'm really not one who can just sit down and do absolutely nothing all day... always on the move!

I don't think I've seen them here in Minnesota, but when we lived back in Maryland, Tastykake goodies seemed to be the go-to grocery market snack item. I never did get a chance to try them, but Jeff had before and did agree that these finger cakes were a pretty close clone!

Thanks to the additions of cake flour, plenty of butter, brown sugar and eggs, the thick, pale yellow batter for this cake baked up tender, soft and moist with a fine tidy crumb. After being baked and cooled slightly, the cake is turned out onto a piece of parchment paper and left to finish cooling, upside down. In doing this, the bottom will now become the top, so you'll have a very level playing surface to frost.

Because I couldn't wait, I did take a small divot from the cake to make sure it tasted well... it certainly didn't disappoint! The combination of vanilla and almond extract added a complex, yet light flavor that played on the mild caramel-esque notes from the rich brown sugar. While the cake was just fine plain, butterscotch is in the title after all and that came smashing in with a delicious frosting.

The layer of frosting on top of this cake is a mixture of melted butter and butterscotch chips that were beaten together with powdery confectioners' sugar and a bit more softened butter for a smooth finish. If for some reason it looks too thick to spread well, add a few dribbles of milk to thin it out. Just for fun, once the frosting was smeared on, we took one of those fancy cake combs to the frosting to create a wavy appearance on top. Cut them into squares if you want, but we did the more classic snack-cake style and cut them the cake into strips. Jeff noted that the frosting was a bit more firm than the fluffy frosting on those purchased cakes, but nonetheless it fit the bill and the taste was very good.

Recipes
Butterscotch Finger Cakes

Apricot marmalade, pork chops and noodles...

I ended up with quite a mess in the kitchen tonight after making this Apricot-Sesame Pork Chops with Teriyaki Whole-Wheat Noodles dish for dinner. Mess meaning lots of pans to clean up afterwards... but, at least the work ended up being worth it!

Into a slick of shimmering oil, we slid seasoned pork chops to cook through - time for doneness will vary depending on how thick your pieces are. We used roughly 4 ounce pieces, so ours didn't take too long - if yours are more meaty, you will need to add a couple extra minutes. Once done, the pork is transferred to a plate to keep warm while a couple dollops of apricot marmalade, a few glugs of teriyaki sauce, vegetable broth and just a dribble of pungent sesame oil took its place in the skillet. If you are not a fan of apricots, orange marmalade would be an appropriate choice!

Now, we have to back up a few minutes - while we waited on the pork to cook through, I also had another skillet on the stove busy stir-frying a mess of thinly chopped scallions and a handful of edamame (green soybeans). Cooked whole-wheat spaghetti is then added to this skillet (go multitasking!), and the filled skillet is sauced up with additional salty teriyaki sauce.

We sliced still-warm pork into strips, spooned the sweet sticky sauce on top and served the hearty noodle mixture on the side with a sprinkling of black sesame seeds. That sauce, with its glaze-like consistency, really turned the volume up on those moist, yet somewhat plain, pieces of pork. The rich nuttiness from that touch of sesame oil added just enough punch, but not so much that it distracted from the sweet apricot jam. As much as we love mashed potatoes(!) with a protein served like this, we quite enjoyed having the noodles on the side - the pop of flavor from the edamame and teriyaki tied the two together, while those fun black sesame seeds notched up the visual appeal. If you don't have those dark seeds handy, toasted sesame seeds would do the job!

Recipes
Apricot-Sesame Pork Chops with Teriyaki Whole-Wheat Noodles

Reforming a so-called "lentil hater"...

8 new recipes came blowing through the kitchen this week - our favorites this round were those Crispy Turkey Tostadas, the Cowboy Cookies and that Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Grape Sauce.

We've never really cooked much with lentils - we have worked with them a couple times and the recipes we used were good. However, whenever I mention them, I get an eye roll and that "ugh... do we have too?" look from Jeff. I'm not sure what his aversion is, but for some reason they fall into the category of ingredients he says he doesn't like, but really does. Color me puzzled...

Anyway, this time I didn't bother to tell him what those petite legumes were in this Pancetta, French Lentil and Spinach Risotto that I made for our dinner tonight. Sneaky? Maybe, but then I get the pleasure of letting him know afterwards what he ate... hee hee!

To control the texture of the lentils, they are actually cooked separately and then stirred in at the end. French lentils, green in color, have a sturdier texture and work well in a dish like this or in salads where you need them to hold their shape. They do, however, take a few minutes extra to cook than other varieties.

Cooking chopped pancetta was on tap first to begin this risotto - once the pieces had a chance to crisp up and release their flavorful drippings, a trio of onions was stirred in. Once the chopped onion, leeks and shallots had softened, a mess of minced garlic was added and stirred around until their pungent aroma lifted from the skillet. A heavy handful of short grain Arborio rice is added and once the edges just begin to turn clear, the traditional dose of dry white wine is poured in. No different than most risottos, this one is prepared by stirring in warmed broth, a half cup or so at a time, over the course of several minutes, until the grains have cooked through enough that they are tender, yet still retain a bit of a bite to the center. You may or may not need the entire amount of the broth, but don't feel required to use it all - just keep checking for doneness when the rice is almost ready regardless of how much you have added.

Leaves of baby spinach are stirred in and after just a minute, the warmth from the pan wilts the tender pieces. Once taken off the heat, a healthy dose of sharp Parmigiano-Reggiano is stirred in, adding to the lush nature surrounding the individual grains. That creamy liquid will tighten up fairly quick, so be sure to serve this as soon as the cheese melts in for the best experience. I quite enjoyed the mildly sweet layers the trio of onions gave this dish - while I can't say that the lentils added any explosions of flavor, they rooted themselves in with an earthy background, along side their pleasant firm texture.

Recipes
Pancetta, French Lentil and Spinach Risotto

Ranglin' up some Cowboy Cookies...

I feel like I should be swinging around a lasso right now... why? Well, as we certainly don't live on a farm (much to Jeff's dismay), we'll blame it on these oat-y Cowboy Cookies I made to snack on today. Why are they called that? *shrug* I really have no idea, but I'm just going with the flow.

There isn't anything too unusual about the dough for these - to give them a bit more thickness and crispness, but still retain a buttery flavor, I used a combination of softened butter and shortening. You can use all butter though, if you prefer. Using an even ratio of brown sugar to granulated sugar, the cookies are not really crispy or soft - they land in the middle where the edges are just crisp and the closer you get to the center, the chewier the cookies get. Using a generous amount of old-fashioned rolled oats also add to their chewy quality.

Hunks of bittersweet chocolate, nuggets of pecans and tiny shreds of unsweetened coconut are the mix-ins for these golden rounds. I tend to refrigerate cookie dough before baking, usually to control the end thickness, but I typically test out a few cookies to see how they do first. Since the test ones baked well and didn't melt into flat cookies, I went ahead and baked the the rest. If you do need or want to chill the dough first, I suggest flattening the scooped balls slightly, before baking, so they bake into round cookies instead of mounds. These cookies were hearty, had plenty of depth to them and while they didn't scream "I have coconut in me!", they added an intriguing texture and flavor that had you guessing just what made these so good. Don't let all of the cookies cool completely before gnawing on them though... have one (ok, make that three) to enjoy the gooey rapture of melted "chocolate goodness" (as Jeff likes to say) in each bite.

Recipes

Cowboy Cookies

Happy Halloween 2008!

I heard yesterday that a couple (or a few!) of Jeff's co-workers were wondering if we were going to make those tempting Butterfinger Eyeballs that we made for a treat day last year. I hadn't planned on it, but after sifting through the pantry, I found I had enough of everything to make a half batch. After we got done with dinner last night, I set out to get them done. I managed to get them all dipped last night, but waited until this morning to add those funky bloodshot markings - hopefully they were a nice surprise for them today!

Now, because of the special nature of this evening, I figured it would be appropriate to have a little fun with our Friday Night Pizza!

There really is no wrong or right way to prepare this Pumpkin-Shaped Pepperoni Pizza, but here is how we decided to assemble it. Once we had tossed together that snazzy whole-wheat pizza dough that we always use and had given the yeast a chance to do its thing, we pressed the squishy dough out into a large oval shape. I then pressed some of the dough that felt a bit thick in places up the top center location - I pushed it up to create a base for the stem.

We slathered the top with our favorite homemade spicy pizza sauce we've been using lately, but your favorite kind will do fine. We then scattered rounds and trimmings (we'll get to that in a minute) of pepperoni on top. To give the pumpkin color a bit of depth, we used a combination of sharp yellow and mozzarella cheese - if you only like mozzarella, then just make a white pumpkin! If you do want that, I'd suggest you pre-bake the naked crust a bit so the cheese doesn't take on too much color while waiting on the crust to crisp up.

So Jeff could stay busy and keep his fingers out of the candy bowl while we waited for the doorbell, he created the eyes, nose and mouth by trimming the round pepperoni into triangles. While we snacked on a few of the trimmings, most of them went underneath the cheese (I think he intentionally sliced some pepperoni wrong, just so he had an excuse for extra pieces!). To give the pumpkin some dimension on top, we arranged thinly slice strips of green bell pepper in rows - I also trimmed a few extra and closely added them on top for the stem.

If you fancy other types of flavor and textures for your pizza, other than pepperoni, feel free to add them - just make sure they will all fit underneath the cheesy layer.

Recipes
Pumpkin-Shaped Pepperoni Pizza

Crispy Turkey Tostadas...

Tonight's dinner, Crispy Turkey Tostadas, would be an excellent recipe to have handy when you are deluged by tons (literally it feels some years) of leftover Thanksgiving turkey!

To sauce up a few cups of shredded turkey meat (you could always use chicken here too), fire-roasted diced tomatoes with green chilies are cooked in a saucepan, along with a sliced onion, until the juices have a chance to concentrate down and the onion softens. If you don't groove on spicy foods, opt for tomatoes that don't have chilies included.

While the above was simmering away, we lightly coated rounds of white corn tortillas with olive oil spray, sprinkled each with a few grains of salt and tossed them into the oven until golden and crisp. We then smashed an avocado together with salsa, sour cream and fresh cilantro to create a sauce to spread on top of those now-crisp tortillas. You can control the heat level here too - since we were using somewhat spicy tomatoes, we went with a medium salsa - however, go mild if you want just an inkling of spice or go crazy and use those diablo XXX salas's and clear your sinus's!

When that combination of chunky tomatoes and onion was done simmering, the shredded turkey was added in to heat through - the mixture is then piled on top of a light bed of shredded romaine that covered the creamy avocado spread. With a sprinkling of mild Monterey Jack cheese on top of each assembled tostada, Jeff had almost finished off one mound before I even sat down - I knew that was a good sign! Besides adding a burst of bright flavor, that slick layer of mashed avocado and salsa worked well as an anchor to keep the rest of the ingredients from sliding off. Our tomatoes had softened enough that they broke down while stirring, with the help of a sturdy wooden spoon, but if your mixture is still fairly chunky, you may want to either blitz it a couple times with an immersion blender or use petite diced tomatoes if you can find them - this will allow the turkey to blend in better.

Recipes
Crispy Turkey Tostadas

Roasting grapes for a savory dinner...

While we love potatoes in most every form, I think our favorite has to be the always comforting mashed potatoes. For the side to tonight's meal, these Smashed Potatoes with Goat Cheese and Chives ramped up ordinary potatoes with a creamy tang.

As usual, chunky pieces of potatoes, Yukon gold in this case, are boiled in salted water until the pieces can easily be pierced by a knife. Once drained, the potatoes are added back into the pot and left to sit over low heat, with a few stirs, for a minute or so - this step evaporates any of the liquid that clung to the potatoes or didn't drain away. Softened butter, along with a generous dose of salt and fresh ground black pepper are blended into the fluffy potatoes by smashing them with a potato masher.

They will look very dry and stiff now - the first step to smooth them out is a handful of tangy goat cheese. Still over low heat, half-and-half is stirred in, and the potatoes transform into luscious, creamy potatoes that still have some texture to them. We enjoy potato skins, so I didn't peel our potatoes first, but don't let me stop you if that isn't your thing. Right before serving, we added a fresh note by stirring in the last bits from our chive plants that I clipped Monday night... thankfully I did that then because the last two nights have been wicked cold (19 degrees early Tuesday morning!). You could certainly even make these ahead of time - just stir in some warmed chicken broth, or milk, before serving to loosen them up.

Have a need to use up a mess of grapes? Then you'll have to try out this Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Grape Sauce that I served as the main dish tonight.

Making efficient use of the oven, a few cups worth of grapes are roasted on the bottom rack until the juices begin to flow and their skins shrivel. I had red grapes on hand, but a mix of red and green would make a lovely presentation. While those were working, we browned one side of the lean tenderloin in a skillet, gave it a flip, and then slide it on a rack over the grapes to finish cooking through. Once the pork had tested done, we moved it onto a cutting board and started the next step of the sauce by adding a couple finely chopped shallots into the fiery hot skillet (don't forget the handle will not be quite h-o-t! - put a towel or potholder over the handle to remind you). To inject a mellow sweetness, a half cup of Madeira is poured into the shallots and allowed to reduce. If you don't happen to have that fortified wine on hand, white wine would be acceptable - if you absolutely don't want to cook with alcohol, extra broth would also be ok, but you'll loose some sharpness.

For volume, a bit of broth, along with pungent Dijon and thyme is stirred in - to add body and thicken the sauce, a slurry of cornstarch and water are the next ingredients. The caramelized grapes are swirled in to finish the sauce. The tender pork, with a juicy pink hue in the center, is sliced and served over the unique sauce. We both thought the intensified sweetness in the grapes was a brilliant pair with the more savory pork. While the grapes did loose their fullness in the roasting process, they still had enough zest to pop while eating, giving some extra satisfaction. Jeff thought it may end up being a bit too sweet with the wine and grapes, but the zing from the Dijon seemed to keep it in check.

Recipes
Smashed Potatoes with Goat Cheese and Chives
Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Grape Sauce