Chicken and Basil Calzones...

Another Friday brings us to yet another pizza night! I'm enjoying the challenge of finding new ideas to try out - thankfully, there are endless ways to enjoy pizza.

The filling for these Chicken and Basil Calzones is a combination of cooked crumbles of chicken, a couple cloves worth of minced garlic, pizza sauce, a pinch of crushed red pepper for kick and chopped fresh basil. Be sure to hold back on adding the basil to this mixture until you remove the saucy filling from the heat so you keep that freshness alive.

Rather than stretching out our favorite whole-wheat pizza dough into a scruffy circle, we quartered it to create individual servings for these calzones. Each quarter is stretched out to a rectangle with a layer of the sauced chicken and a sprinkling of mozzarella cheese on top. The calzones are enclosed by stretching half of the dough back over the top, then pinching the seams together to keep all the filling inside.

I used the 12 ounce version of our dough as we like thinner crusts, but if you want a calzone that is a little heftier, upgrade to the 16 ounce version. Before sliding them onto the pizza stone, I sliced a couple slits on top of each to prevent any blowouts as the assembled calzones were stuffed pretty full. Baked until golden and the filling was hot and bubbly, be sure to let them cool off for at least a few minutes before digging in.

Upon taking a big first bite, I found the freshness the basil brought to these was bouncing all around my mouth - while it was quite prominent, neither of us found it overpowering. Being just saucy enough to keep them moist, but not so much they were dripping, we were easily able to eat these out of hand without making a complete mess. Which, I think, would make these a fantastic choice for an on-the-go lunch! If you don't fancy chicken, ground sirloin or even those convenient soy crumbles would be fine as substitutions!

Recipes
Chicken and Basil Calzones

Surprise Pepperoni Bread...

I forgot to mention, this past Monday morning, Jeff told me that a potluck was happening at work on Tuesday and asked if there was anything I could make that he could take along. Short notice (thanks to someone's forgetful memory!) I know, but after looking through the pantry and refrigerator, I asked if he thought a batch of that Pepperoni Bread we made last year over Christmas would work? His smile got real wide and it didn't take him two seconds to say "I like that!". Because we made the dough by hand, I had to stay up a little later than usual to get it done, but I got it finished and he was able to bring it in to share!

With all the holiday baking happening, the house is getting filled with tempting delights (we'll get to our wrap up soon of what we made - if all goes well, we might top last year in the number of goodies made!)... and since we both end up sampling a little too much, now is probably a good time to get an extra dose of vegetables in during dinner!

If you're looking for a side dish that can be prepped ahead of time and just takes a few minutes to throw together once you need it, you should give this Gratin of Cauliflower with Gruyère a try!

For this dish, a whole head of creamy white cauliflower is broken down into florets and roasted in the oven until they are almost tender. Time depends on the size of your pieces, but don't let them get too soft - take this veggie out when a knife almost slides through easily, but you still get some resistance in the middle... just short of crisp-tender. While that rests, a lightly thickened milk sauce, flavored with onion and garlic, is prepared - once combined, nutty Gruyère is stirred in, along with parsley and a pinch of fresh grated nutmeg to give the sauce a more rounded feel. Good as is I'm sure, I wouldn't think of skipping the final part - the crunchy topping! Crisp panko breadcrumbs, that we tossed with a pats worth of melted butter, were then perked up with more shreds from our block of Gruyère. Sprinkled over the coated cauliflower, all that is left to do is throw them under the broiler just long enough that the sauce bubbles back up to temperature and the top takes on a wonderful golden shade.

As you can see, I opted to divide this out into single serving dishes before that last step for individual portions - however, a regular baking dish would work just as well for a more family-style approach. If you are making this a day or so ahead of time, go ahead and do all of the steps, but keep them separate - wait to toss the cauliflower with the sauce and top with the crumbs right before you want to finish this off. Flavorful and filling, I did add a bit more cheese than called for in the original recipe, however, Jeff and I thought another handful or so of cheese would have been welcome, without losing the cauliflower's essence.

Recipes

Gratin of Cauliflower with Gruyère

Amped up Cream Cheese Brownies...

While I'm sure people are being inundated with Christmas cookies (certainly nothing wrong with that!), I thought we'd go in a different direction for this week's Wednesday Treat Day. Before I start with these Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies with Heath Bars and Pecans though, I'd like to send a note of thanks to Jeff's co-workers.

Jeff came home with a surprise for me to open up last Friday - it contained a lovely card with a couple very generous gift cards. It is such a pleasure taking the time to bake and share a treat each week with them - in fact, I look forward to every Tuesday! I am touched that they took the time to sign and send that card along! So, if you are reading this, thank you!

On to the treats! Before I started with the brownie base, I prepared the cream cheese topping by simply combining cream cheese with just a touch of granulated sugar, an egg and a couple spoonfuls of flour.

Once that was smooth, the rich base started by melting together chunks of butter with bitter unsweetened chocolate. You can do this in the microwave, but I just tossed the two into a saucepan and it only took a couple minutes over low heat. When combined, you'll want to let the mixture rest for at least 5 or so minutes - while it isn't super hot by any means, you don't want to take the chance of cooking the eggs when you add them! To the slightly cooled mess of dark goo, a shower of sugar is stirred in, followed by a few room temperature eggs, a dribble of milk and a shot of your best vanilla. The dry ingredients are stirred in and when just combined, a scoop of toasted, chopped pecans are folded in, along with a handful of a chopped chocolate-covered toffee bars. We used Heath bars, but there are at least a couple brands out there to choose from. While we only needed a portion here, you'll need about 2 chopped bars (roughly 1 1/2 ounces each) worth for the entire recipe.

To get the marbled effect on top, most of the brownie batter is spread into a smooth layer inside the baking pan, with dollops of that cream cheese mixture we prepared first randomly dropped over. Spoonfuls of the remaining brownie batter are then dropped in between the cream cheese dollops. This way, you only need to swirl the top layer together, leaving most of the brownie base underneath alone. Another scoop of toasted, chopped pecans is sprinkled over, along with the remaining bits from the chopped toffee bars - to encourage these additions to stick after baking, be sure to give them a gentle press into the top layer.

Doneness for brownies can always be tricky, but for the best texture with these, you'll want to take them out when a toothpick placed near the center comes out with moist crumbs attached - this doesn't mean raw batter though, it just doesn't need to come out clean. Don't be afraid to check a couple minutes early either, especially if your nose tells you they are ready!

My swirls on top looked spiffy and all before putting the extra dose of nuts and toffee, but once those were added, the effect was kind of lost - so I wouldn't put too much effort into that next time. The texture of the brownie base landed somewhere between fudgy and cake-y - a little chewy, pretty moist and not too dense. While these brownies call for quite a bit of sugar, using the very bitter chocolate explains the need for the extra. Fairly sweet, yes, but not cloyingly so, especially with the smooth cream cheese layer on top. Neither of us are the biggest fan of nuts in brownies, but we both thought they worked well here to cut through the chocolate-y richness. Oh, and please do us both a favor, don't forget to toast those nuts first - that extra nutty depth is always welcome. Besides adding little crunchy nuggets throughout, the caramel tone from the toffee bits were also a special treat!

Recipes
Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies with Heath Bars and Pecans

Savory Carrot and Tarragon Tart...

I picked up some carrots when we went out to the market this last weekend and I apparently overlooked the bunch we already had hiding behind some grapes in the refrigerator. While I had intended another recipe for tonight, I changed things around so I could make this Savory Carrot and Tarragon Tart instead to use up some of those extra orange roots.

A wheat-y crust, threaded with leaves of fresh licorice-flavored tarragon leaves, is prepared and pressed into one of those handy tart pans with a removable bottom. A food processor makes this crust a snap to prepare and the best part, no rolling! This is one of the crumbly doughs that you just need to scatter into the pan and use your fingers to smooth it across the bottom and up the sides.

While the naked crust goes into the oven for a few minutes to set, the filling we eventually pour on top is started by softening thin slices of red onion in a pool of heated extra-virgin olive oil. When the onion was limp and soft, a hearty mound of grated carrots is stirred in along with a shot of dry sherry. If you don't keep sherry on hand, swap that out for an equal amount of rice vinegar for this tart.

Before arranging the shredded filling onto the crust, we smeared a thin layer of Dijon mustard over the bottom of the crust for a tangy bite. A sprinkling of white Cheddar is added next, followed by scattering over the generous carrot mixture. To bind all of those ingredients together, a combination of milk, plain yogurt, a couple eggs, another shot of sherry and a bit more fresh tarragon (to tie in with the flavoring lingering in crust) are whisked together and drizzled all over the top. While the yogurt added some body, the mixture was still thin enough that it wiggled its way down through the web of carrots, spreading itself out evenly. We baked this just long enough so the edges of the filling were lightly golden and the center was firm - a thin knife inserted in the center should come out mostly clean. You'll want to set this aside and let it rest for at least 15 minutes before slicing into the tart so the filling can finish setting up.

Serve warm, or if desired, make this tart ahead of time and serve it chilled - allowing it to sit around in the refrigerator would definitely allow the character to develop even more. I loved the contrast between the crumbly, but tender crust, and the soft-set filling - it had a delicate sweetness from the carrots and onions, while the eggs and tarragon marched their savory tunes throughout the filling. I'm also wondering if this would work well prepared in a square pan and cut into little rectangles or punched into circles with a biscuit cutter to pass around as a bite-sized appetizer!

Recipes
Savory Carrot and Tarragon Tart

Eat your veggies... roasted style!

8 new recipes came out of the kitchen this week... Jeff chose the favorites this week and they where the Beef and Spinach Pizza, White Chocolate-Raspberry Cheesecake Bars and that Broccoli, Ham, Mac and Cheese Soup.

With lots of havoc planned for the kitchen this upcoming week, I'm not sure how much I'll be able to update the site for the next few days. We are in the middle of the Holiday Baking Spree we do every year and I have a number of treats to get made and ready to ship out. I'll do my best to keep this site flowin' though!

Last week, I made this Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower with Lemon and Garlic as a side to serve along side a simple baked protein dish. However, time got away from me (imagine that!) and I didn't get a chance to talk about it!

Both of us love roasted vegetables, however we don't make them nearly as much as we should. While there really isn't much work involved with this, I did need to do a bit of prep work to get the vegetables ready. To get the most of the broccoli, we broke down the large green head into florets, then peeled the stalks to remove the tough coating. This reveals the tender flesh underneath that can be thinly sliced and tossed into the mix, rather than tossing it away (which is what I used to do years ago before I knew better!).

Once that was done and we tackled the cauliflower, we tossed them with a mess of thinly sliced cloves of garlic and rounds of fresh lemon. After we drizzled the mass with a bit of oil and seasoned with salt and fresh ground black pepper, we divided the mixture between two baking sheets so the vegetables had some room to breath since there is quite a bit of food here. Halfway through roasting, be sure to toss the vegetables around and rotate the pans to ensure they are evenly cooked and browned.

Tender, but not mushy (which as you know Jeff detests!), I thought the kiss of lemon those fresh rounds added to the vegetables was really quite lovely. The slices of garlic turned golden and slightly crisp, which mellowed out their harsh rawness and let the sweetness shine through. If you've never had a chance to try roasting vegetables, you must give it a try - while concentrating their flavors, the veggies caramelize as their natural sugars release, creating such a complex dimension that you might be a little sad when you realize what you have been missing out on! Now, you could probably get around four good servings out of this, but between Jeff and I, we kept going back for a few extra pieces and we only ended up with maybe half of a serving leftover!

Recipes
Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower with Lemon and Garlic

Festive Cheesecake Bars

Looking for a festive dessert to serve this holiday season? I might have just the ticket for you with these White Chocolate-Raspberry Cheesecake Bars.

I was actually going to wait and try these bars out when we had company, but I had some extra time today and decided to give it a go... besides, Jeff and I had been talking about bringing a treat over to the neighbors as a thank you.

On the bottom of these bars is a sweet base consisting simply of ground Oreo cookies and melted butter to hold those cookie crumbs together. To keep the base from turning soggy, we slid the crust into the oven and let it bake for a few minutes to give it a head start.

To create the cheesecake filling, a basic mixture of softened cream cheese, granulated sugar and a splash of vanilla is mixed together - you want to be sure to use cream cheese that is quite soft so the batter is velvety smooth without any lumps. Depending on the temperature of the house, I usually like to take the bricks out at least 3 or 4 hours before I'm going to use them. Where does the white chocolate come in? Well, that would be now! We poured in a couple ounces of creamy white chocolate that we melted and let cool slightly. Now, as soon as you drop the eggs into the filling, let the mixture work just until the eggs have been incorporated - you don't want to work a bunch of extra air into the filling. Poured into the partially-baked crust, the cheesecake is baked until the sides are just firm, while the center still has a little jiggle to it if you touch the pan.

To add some pizazz to the top, we poured over a layer of warmed raspberry preserves on the cheesecake a few minutes after it came out from the oven. I really warmed the mixture because I wanted to strain out most of the seeds, but that isn't required if they don't bug you. However, it will spread over the cheesecake with ease if the preserves are warmed rather than cold from the refrigerator. To tie in with the filling, we again melted a bit more white chocolate and drizzled it over the ruby topping. As with most cheesecakes, I do suggest you let this hang out in the refrigerator for at least a few hours before you serve it - overnight would be best! Besides firming the filling for clean cuts, it gives some time for those little delicate notes to flourish and come out of their shell.

With a striking contrast of color, these decadent treats are fairly rich and sweet, so a small square or rectangle will suffice, but they won't leave you with a feeling that you'll be heading towards a sugar coma once finished. When I watched my fork glide through the gilded top, into the soft milky-white filling and hit the dark crust, I don't think I even blinked before I was swirling the bite around my tongue and my fork was full again ready for the next piece. I wonder if these will make it to the neighbors? That's the goal, but we'll see if they even get out of the house!

Recipes
White Chocolate-Raspberry Cheesecake Bars

Beef and Spinach Pizza...

After a fairly hectic week, it was nice to slow down into comfort with our weekly Friday Night Pizza! We went the hearty route this time with a Beef and Spinach Pizza.

While we were waiting for our favorite whole-wheat pizza dough to do its thing, we tossed a pound of lean ground sirloin into a skillet and let it begin to brown. Sliced onions are stirred in, along with a couple cloves of minced garlic, basil and a couple dribbles from our jar of cayenne pepper sauce. When the onions had softened enough, shredded leaves of spinach and a healthy dose of marinara were added and sloshed around the skillet until the spinach began to wilt.

As the beefy mixture cooled off, I pushed and prodded the puffy pizza dough into a rough circle, scooted it over to the pizza peel and made a lip to hold in the filling by crimping a small portion around the outer edge. The generous topping is spooned on top of the dough, followed by a shower of shredded mozzarella cheese and creamy crumbles of goat cheese. The original recipe did call for salty feta, which apparently disappeared from the refrigerator (hmm!)... so goat cheese it was!

Juicy, meaty and very filling, this knife and fork pizza definitively hit the spot tonight. Knife and fork you say? For pizza? Well, that topping is quite heavy and it will get pretty messy if you try to pick up a slice (and yeah, Jeff's shirt is currently soaking in detergent as we speak...). With all the sauce used, the crust didn't get as cracker-like crisp as we usually prefer, but we both thought the softness suited this type of pizza. If you would like a crispier crust though, I would suggest you give the stretched out dough a quick stint in the oven before adding the saucy topping. Jeff was a little wary of the goat cheese, but he was glad (and was I) we went ahead with it as the added tang seemed to marry well with this snazzy pizza.

Recipes
Beef and Spinach Pizza

Chewy Chocolate-Cherry Cookies...

The cookie monster has stuck again... yes, more cookies! Could there ever be too many? To keep our bellies busy since I have started to bake treats for gifts this year, I made a batch of these Chewy Chocolate-Cherry Cookies for us to snack on.

Quite dark, thanks to the addition of Dutch-process cocoa powder, the dough for these cookies didn't take more than a few minutes to toss together... once the butter had softened enough! Do you have to use that kind of cocoa? No, these would still work well if you only had natural cocoa powder. However, I'm more likely to have Dutch-process on hand in the pantry and we enjoy the smoother punch.

Once the slightly sticky dough had been combined, we perked the mass up with a couple fun additions of dried tart cherries and chopped chunks of bittersweet chocolate. If bittersweet is too dark for you with the cocoa, feel free to use semi-sweet chocolate instead. Scooped out with a handy tablespoon cookie scoop, you'll want to bake these cookies just until the centers are set for the best chew. The cookies will still be quite soft when you take them out, so they'll need to cool for at least 5 minutes on the baking sheet to firm back up - this also aids in their chewy quality.

After they have cooled completely, they do have a mild crispness to the outside, but if you rather prefer your cookies to be more crisp, you might try leaving them in an extra minute or so. I know dried cherries can be a bit of an expense, but I do suggest seeking them out for these cookies as their tart bite combined with the chocolate was, quite simply put, so good!

I knew I wasn't going to have much time to mess around with prep for dinner, so when I was planning out the menu this week, I chose these Peanutty Baked Chicken Breasts to make tonight.

The pieces of chicken I was going to be using were fairly thick, so I took a few extra minutes this morning to pound them between a couple sheets of plastic wrap to get that part out of the way. If you don't want to bother with that, just pick up a few chicken cutlets at the market instead.

Encasing the chicken is a combination of ground peanuts and coarse panko breadcrumbs. Rather than doing a dunk in flour and egg to help the nutty coating stick, we made a homemade honey mustard and brushed each piece with the sticky mixture. After dragging the chicken breasts back and forth a couple times, the coating grabbed onto the meat with ease and that was it! While you could pan fry these, we went with the less messy way of lightly coating each piece with olive oil spray and stashing them into a hot oven for a few minutes to cook through.

A hint of sweetness, a little tangy and a bit salty, this turned out to be a pleasant way to change up ordinary chicken breasts in a speedy fashion. Cooking them quickly in the oven left the chicken tender and still plenty moist - while the coating does end up with a bit of crunch, don't expect it to be extra crisp since they were not drenched in oil. We had them as is, but I bet after slicing them into strips, they would make an excellent topping for a salad as well!

Recipes
Chewy Chocolate-Cherry Cookies
Peanutty Baked Chicken Breasts

Cinnamon-Sugar Sticks...

I wanted to test out one of the new goodies we are thinking about putting in our holiday gift boxes that we send out after our annual baking spree... and what better way than to bake them for the Weekly Wednesday Treat Day at Jeff's office?

Besides having a festive appearance, I couldn't help but try out these Cinnamon-Sugar Sticks for the simple fact of the intriguing use of Red Hots! You know, those radical little red dots that have an intense burst of cinnamon?

While they are reminiscent of biscotti, these sticks are much more tender and not as dry. However, they still have that classic shape and the dough is rich with ground almonds. When you go to grind the almonds, you'll want to sneak a couple tablespoons away from the cupful of sugar called for in the recipe and toss them in with the cooled almonds. This will give you a little added protection to keep the almonds from turning into a paste or even almond butter while grinding - the almonds don't need to be powder-y fine, but should be finely ground.

I found the cinnamon-laced dough to be quite workable - in fact, I didn't even bother to haul out the rolling pin. I just pressed the dough into the large rectangle shape without much effort. To get the sticks, the dough is sliced in half, lengthwise, with each half of dough then sliced into sticks. Once the cookies had cooled from being baked until they were firm to the touch and golden around the edges, I eagerly dipped the sticks into a shallow dish of melted white chocolate and then into a combination of those crushed cinnamon candies and coarse sugar for added sparkle.

With two doses of cinnamon coming from those candies on the outside and the ground spice on the inside, these cookies will certainly get your attention once you sink your teeth in. I thought that Red Hots might be a little overwhelming, but the sweetness in the cookie and those coarse sugar crystals tamed the intensity and made these quite enjoyable. I am probably a little biased, since I love cinnamon, but I think these would easily please anyone and make a nice addition to a holiday cookie tray (or in our case, into a bunch of gift boxes!). I think these would also make nice Valentine's Day treats!

Well, it didn't take me long to dig into those Thanksgiving leftovers in the freezer - I used a couple of them tonight so I could prepare these Turkey Potato Patties for dinner.

To a cup of mashed potatoes, I added a couple handfuls of both dark and white turkey meat that I diced into cubes. To help bind the patties together, we tossed an egg in, along with a smattering of dried breadcrumbs. To freshen up the flavor, a bit of chopped parsley and green onion were stirred into the mix with a dollop of Dijon mustard for tang. To tie those savory flavors together, sage and thyme season up the patties to bring the essence of Thanksgiving back in.

The mixture held together fine, but it was still kind of loose since you are not adding a ton of binder - kind of like a homemade crab cake. I suggest you treat them as such and use a light hand while working with them. To help the potato patties firm up, place them into the refrigerator, covered, for about a half hour. You could also do this a few (up to 8 or so) hours ahead of time to get the assembly portion out of the way. All you need to do to finish these off is cook both sides in a bit of oil until the center has warmed through and the outside has a lovely golden crust.

We had these with a helping of salsa, but a couple of them would make an outrageous breakfast with a poached egg or two perched on top. If you don't already happen to have cooked turkey, chicken would work equally well! The contrast between the hot, moist inside and that crust on the outside was divine - using both dark and white meat did give the patties a luscious depth, but one or the other would be just fine too.

Recipes
Cinnamon-Sugar Sticks
Turkey Potato Patties

Broccoli, Ham, Mac and Cheese Soup

For those who commented about text-size, does this center section read better for you? Let us know!

I have quite a bit of cooked turkey in the freezer now as we've had our fill over the last few days. I am sure I have enough for a few recipes, so we'll try and get to them over the next couple of weeks!

So, instead of something turkey related, I made this Broccoli, Ham, Mac and Cheese Soup for our dinner tonight.

For the pasta in the soup, we used medium shells - when they were a minute or two from being ready, I dropped in a few chopped broccoli florets to quickly cook so we'd have one less dish to clean. As that was happening, the base of the cheesy soup started by melting a couple pats of butter. When the butter began to sizzle, an equal amount of flour was sprinkled over the top along with a spoonful of tangy Dijon mustard.

After a minute of chasing the mixture around the saucepan to cook out the flour, we poured in the liquids. I used a combination of chicken broth, half-and-half for richness and a bit of milk. If you have enough half-and-half, feel free to use it for the milk too, but I just used what we had leftover from the Thanksgiving meal. So the flour can do its duty, the liquids were brought to a boil, then the heat was reduce to keep it warm. We then gradually stirred in generous amounts of sharp white cheddar cheese - be sure to do this in stages so the cheese can melt properly. Diced ham is then added, along with the cooked shells and broccoli to bring them back up to temperature.

With just a few shakes of salt and fresh ground specs of black pepper, this swift soup was good to go! While we both liked the sharpness in the cheese, you could use a more mild cheese if you needed to dial that down. Kind of like a "soupy" mac 'n cheese, for lack of a better word, Jeff mentioned he would like this again and maybe use cauliflower to change it up! I also quite liked how using the broth lightened it up, while the duo of half-and-half with milk lent enough richness and mouth-feel to keep us happy.

Recipes
Broccoli, Ham, Mac and Cheese Soup

Zucchini Nut Muffins... and a new look!

As you can see, we are testing out some changes to the website. All seems to be smooth for now, but if you happen to see any issues, please don't hesitate to send us a note! We hope you enjoy the new look!

We bring this holiday week to a close with 12 recipes, 9 of them being new - sticking with the new ones, our favorites this time were the Spice-Brined Turkey with Cider Pan Gravy, Chocolate Cherry Brownie Bites and that Turkey Alfredo Pizza.

With all of the leftovers from Thanksgiving, I felt the urge to get the oven goin' again for a snack... hey, I can't help it! Jeff made a passing comment earlier in the week that is had been awhile since we've made muffins... so I made a mental note and decided to try these Zucchini Nut Muffins today.

Filled with shreds of juicy zucchini, these healthy muffins are decidedly moist with a well-developed flavor thanks to a variety of ingredients. I used our usual combo of all-purpose and whole-wheat pastry flour, but you could use completely all-purpose or switch the pastry flour with white whole-wheat flour if you happen to have it on hand.

For a nutty richness, toasted chopped walnuts are thrown into the mix, along with chewy pieces of dried cherries for a sweet-tart bite. Always bringing an intoxicating aroma, we also added a few shakes from our favorite Vietnamese cinnamon to ratchet up the flavor. Rather than using white granulated sugar, we sweetened these muffins with complex pure maple syrup as part of the wet ingredients. While we did add a bit of canola oil to give the muffins a pleasant texture and mouth feel, we did use a larger amount of applesauce to keep the fat down - this duo also played into their moistness.

Since these muffins didn't have any eggs in them, I found the texture to be a little on the heavier side. The baking powder did do its job, giving them some lift and rise, but they didn't seem to be as light as muffins we normally make.

Even so, the taste made that a moot point for us and we didn't mind. Since we used soy milk in these, I believe the muffins can be considered vegan, but I'm not an expert on that. If you don't have or like soy milk though, don't let that deter you... regular milk would work just fine.

Recipes
Zucchini Nut Muffins

Freshing up the site...

Pardon the dust! We are trying to freshen up the blog a bit. If you come across any problems, please let us know!

Use up those turkey leftovers in pizza!

You got a sneak peek of our dessert last night... did you figure it out? Infusing a little Caribbean flare into pumpkin pie, we made this Pumpkin Coconut Tart for us to nosh on!

Besides reading like we would enjoy it, one of the other reasons I chose to make this was the make-ahead factor. I actually got the crust out of the way on Wednesday, so the oven would have one less thing to try and do on the big day.

No need to fear this tart crust - all you need to do is dump a bunch of flour, a few toasted almonds and a hearty pinch of sugar into a food processor and let it do all the work. When the almonds were finely ground, cubes of cold butter are tossed in, followed up a four dollops of cream cheese. No icy water or extra liquid necessary! It won't (and shouldn't) come together in a ball - it will be fairly crumbly... but if you squeeze it together in your hand, it'll stick together. Scooped into a tart pan, the mixture is firmly pressed over the bottom and up the sides. Since this crust will be in the oven twice, the first time in you'll want to leave it just long enough to set it and before it gains any color. Once cooled completely, you can keep it, well wrapped, in the refrigerator for up to three days before continuing on.

Now, instead of using regular or evaporated milk in this pumpkin filling, we used coconut milk for a tropical note. What goes well with coconut? Rum, of course! So, a glug or two is added, along with eggs to bind and aromatic cinnamon, ginger and cloves to spice it up. Take it out when the edges are firm, but the center is still somewhat soft - it will continue to firm up as it cools. You can serve this either at room temperature or chilled, depending on your preference. To match up with the coconut, we dropped toasted coconut chips around the edge - this isn't necessary, but it helps people know what this is not your ordinary pumpkin dessert. If you can't find the chips, flaked coconut would work just as well.

The nutty crust was light, yet firm enough that you could pick up a slice without it falling apart. Dark orange in color, the filling was so soft and velvety as it rolled around on my tongue - it almost seemed like it shouldn't hold its shape being so creamy, but we got very clean slices! If you use homemade mashed pumpkin, be sure to give it a whirl in the food processor so it is ultra smooth before using it. I was happy to find it didn't scream "I'm made with coconut milk!", but what the milk did was give the filling extra body that sighed with subtle coconut in each bite.

Jeff suggested that turkey sandwiches would be fine for dinner tonight, rather than our Friday Pizza Night, but I figured a pizza would be a great vehicle for the leftover turkey!

Since it just takes a quick whirl in the food processor, I threw together our favorite whole-wheat pizza dough to make this Turkey Alfredo Pizza! However, if you are still tired from Thanksgiving or you'd rather not mess with dough, you could certainly use one of those thin pre-baked crusts from the market.

Once the crust was all stretched out, I did give it a head start in the oven for just a few minutes. To add a whisper of garlic to the crust, as soon as I slid it off the stone and flipped it over, I rubbed a halved clove of garlic all over the top. We then smeared a good dose of Alfredo sauce over the partially-baked garlic rubbed crust, followed by a mixture of shredded turkey, thawed frozen spinach and bright lemon juice. Nutty fontina was the cheese of choice and we finished it off with a couple pinches of crushed red pepper for a tingly kick.

What a way to start using up those leftovers! We both thought this was fantastic, especially with the thin crust. The layer of that rich sauce underneath was a crazy good base for that meaty topping. If you want to use a heartier green, you could swap out the spinach for collards instead.

Recipes
Pumpkin Coconut Tart
Turkey Alfredo Pizza

Happy Thanksgiving 2008!

Happy Thanksgiving 2008!

We hope everyone is enjoying their day today! We were planning on going down to the farm, but as you heard Gus had a trip to the vet yesterday and we thought we should just have a quiet day around here. Gus is still kind of tired, but he is keeping an eagle eye on the giant turkey!

So, let's get to the food!

One of the side dishes that Jeff just can't keep his paws off of is those soft Roasted Garlic and Fresh Rosemary Cloverleaf Rolls that I've been making for the past few Thanksgivings. Homemade fresh bread, studded with flecks of fresh fragrant rosemary, oozing with roasted garlic and brushed with melted butter... these tender rolls never last long and I always end up making another batch later in the day just so we have some for leftovers.

We made a big 'ol batch of mashed taters too - we riced them last year, but we went rustic this time and just smashed up a mess of buttery Yukon Golds and creamy red potatoes. Warmed milk, a few pats of butter and generous amount of fresh ground black pepper later, we had a mile-high mountain of carb heaven!

Stuffing? I tried to push a new recipe, but Jeff wouldn't have it - he pleaded to have that Sausage, Apple, and Fennel Corn Bread Dressing we've made for the last two years. While a new recipe would have been nice, I'm really not complaining as it was quite tasty - especially made as individual muffins!

On to the turkey... we usually do a smaller version like a whole turkey breast or whatnot, but this year we went all out and prepared our first very large 13 pound whole turkey! Maybe crazy since it is just us two (and well, you know, the pups will be having a small share), but we love leftovers and I've already got plenty of ideas to use up the extra meat. We wanted something a bit different, so we opted to make this Spice-Brined Turkey with Cider Pan Gravy.

I loved how the swift brine pushed such an sweet aromatic fragrance throughout the kitchen while we were preparing it. Other than water and salt, the brine is infused with slices of fresh ginger, cloves, cardamom, allspice and cracked black peppercorns. Brought to a boil to dissolve the salt, you'll need to let it cool completely before dunking the turkey in and letting it sit for a day.

You'll want to pull the turkey out of the brine, let it drain and pat away the excess liquid about an hour before you want to roast it. To prevent any of the drippings that come off from burning during the first roasting period, a cup of broth is added to the bottom of the pan. You'll want to turn on the light and peek through the door to make sure that there is a slight layer on the bottom while it cooks - if it ever looks too dry, just add a bit more broth.

When the turkey was golden and cooked through, we set it aside to let the juices flow back into the meat. This gave us enough time to work on the cider gravy! The crusty bits on the bottom of the roasting pan were scraped up, with a bit of the leftover fat from the cooked turkey being added in, along with a sprinkling of flour. The drippings, sans fat, were poured in with a bit more broth and the tangy apple cider. After just a couple minutes of bubbling, it thickened up well and all that was needed were a few grains of black pepper. A little sweet, but quite savory and rich, Jeff kept himself busy "taste-testing" it just to make sure it was good... he was quite happy with the results! Score 1 for delicious smooth gravy!

After what felt like forever for the turkey to rest, we anxiously sliced into the bird to see what was hiding underneath. I hastily peeled off a piece of the white meat (which came off without effort) to see how well we did. We found it to be extraordinarily juicy, tender and very well-seasoned! Jeff admitted he was a little worried it might end up being too salty, but after his bite, he couldn't believe the magic the brine did! Instead of being inundated with the strong spices that the turkey bathed in overnight, they left behind a simply pleasant, faint and sweet character that lifted up the meat's natural flavor. I probably nibbled on more than I would usually put on my plate before I even started getting it filled up!

And as we are sweet fiends, we of course did not forget about dessert. However, I haven't had a chance (so full!) to dig into it yet. Here's a little sneak peek for now and we will talk about what exactly this pumpkin treat was tomorrow!

Recipes
Roasted Garlic and Fresh Rosemary Cloverleaf Rolls
Sausage, Apple, and Fennel Corn Bread Dressing

Spice-Brined Turkey with Cider Pan Gravy

Chicken Ragu with Polenta for dinner...

Gus is not a very happy pup today... see, he was whisked away for a little trip to the vet this morning. It was time he went in for his "snip snip" and when we picked him up, he used those big beautiful blue eyes of his (yes, what you see below is his natural eye color!) to let us know exactly what he thought about his little procedure! I have a feeling he's not going to let us forget about this for awhile and guilt us into several pup treats.

I decided to keep myself busy from his wide-eyed stares and got to work on this Chicken Ragu with Polenta that I made for our dinner tonight.

For the polenta, I much prefer using coarse yellow cornmeal as I find the flavor is more defined and developed this way. It does take awhile, anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour depending on how slow you cook it, but if you don't have time for that, you can use instant polenta instead. If you haven't tried it the slow way though, I implore you to give it a try when you have some extra time so you can see for yourself - it is worth it. When the polenta was done, we dropped in a couple knobs of butter, a hefty shower of fresh grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and a handful of chopped parsley to freshen up the golden mass.

While the polenta was workin' away, I got started with the chicken ragu portion. I coarsely ground a combo of chicken breast and thigh meat to use in this dish - you could use strictly either, but we like a mix to lighten it up. I tossed the ground meat into a pot with a hot layer of olive oil and butter waiting to brown the bits up. To season, we added the obligatory salt and fresh ground black pepper, along with a spoonful or two of poultry seasoning. Once cooked through, we stirred in chopped fresh rosemary, a couple cloves worth of minced garlic, chopped onion, celery, bright shredded carrots and a bay leaf.

Cooked until the onion is soft, a few tablespoons of tomato paste are added - be sure to stir this around in the pot for at least a minute to allow the rich flavor of the paste to develop. For a punch of acidity, red wine is poured in, followed by chicken stock and fire-roasted whole tomatoes. While this bubbles away and reduces, you'll want to break up the tomatoes so they are well-distributed... you can do this with a sturdy wooden spoon, but I find using a potato masher makes this job much easier.

Once the sauce had reduced down, we spooned it over a flowing round of the creamy, soft polenta and added a few extra shreds of the sharp cheese on top. I ran out of time, so I probably didn't let the ragu thicken as much as it should have, but the extra juice that pooled around the edges wiggled its way into the polenta, adding extra flavor. The original recipe actually called for 2 pounds of meat with a serving size of only 4 - that is pretty darn excessive, at least for us. Even after reducing the meat to one and a half pounds, we had plenty enough for 6 good-sized servings! I'm also thinking if you have a bunch of turkey leftover from Thanksgiving, you could shred up the extra meat and toss it in here instead of using the chicken!

Recipes

Chicken Ragu with Polenta

Chocolate Cherry Brownie Bites...

Another edition of baking for the Weekly Wednesday Treat Day has come upon us! Sometimes it can be hard to nail down a recipe, but when we saw these Chocolate Cherry Brownie Bites in one of the new holiday baking magazines, I knew it wouldn't be long before I made them!

A basic brownie batter forms these chocolate-y bites - to infuse the cherries in, we folded in finely chopped maraschino cherries once the dark batter was combined. While they do bring plenty of flavor on their own, a shot of the juice they come packed in is also added to push it a little higher. The chocolate comes from using a little cocoa powder - thrown in your favorite, be it Dutch-process or natural... natural will be a touch more bitter while Dutch is smoother and delicate.

Once baked and cooled, these little moist buttons are sliced in half to make room for a layer of speckled filling. Made simply by heating cream and sweet white chocolate until melted and smooth, the filling will need to hang out in the refrigerator for just under an hour. This allows it to firm up enough to be whipped, making a light, creamy ganache-like frosting. To tie in with the brownies, an additional tablespoon of the chopped ruby cherries is folded in right before slathering it between the now halved miniature treats - kind of like a small whoopie pie.

If that wasn't enough already, we made another take on the filling, except this time using bold bittersweet chocolate, and letting the mixture chill just long enough so it had some staying power, but was still glossy and slightly runny. This is spooned over each bite-sized gem, allowing it to slowly drip down the sides, creating an irresistible visual treat. So you know exactly what you are getting, thin slices of the cherries are then laid over the pool of chocolate on top.

One or (if you're lucky) two-bite treats, I think these miniature cherry brownies would make a enchanting addition to any holiday tray. Since they are small, you don't need to feel guilty having one (or 3...), but they are also robust enough that one would certainly dampen any sweet craving.

I know I just talked about serving potatoes with pasta... and go figure, I did it again tonight! It is not necessarily a requirement for this Hungarian Gulyas dish, but it screamed, at least to us, to be served over buttered egg noodles.

I should start by saying that this is another one of those recipes I can't say if it ends up being very authentic or not - either tomatoes are always added or it is sacrilege if they are put in, depending on where you are. Here's how we made it though!

After starting out with a mountain of chopped onions that we softened in olive oil, we tossed in chunky cubes of lean beef stew meat. After turning the pieces, giving all the sides contact with the fiery hot bottom of the Dutch oven, we tossed in a couple cloves worth of chopped garlic and a healthy spoonful of earthy sweet Hungarian paprika. You'll probably have caramelized bits stuck to the bottom of your pan now, so to make sure those that flavor isn't lost, warm water is poured in to drag those pieces back into the stew. To give the beef some liquid to stew in, broth, along with distinct caraway seeds (you know, those seeds that are commonly found in rye bread), are stirred in and the mixture is left to simmer until the meat is decidedly tender.

We then tossed in chopped plum tomatoes, red bell peppers and quartered new potatoes - depending on the size of your potatoes, you'll need to continue cooking this mixture until the potatoes become tender, so it could be a little more or a little less time than what we wrote down. A few minutes before the stew was done, I dropped whole-wheat egg noodles into a pot of boiling salted water, let them cook, drained them and tossed the noodles back into the pot with a pat or two of butter. I served this dish by scooping the hearty stew over the slippery noodles - I know it doesn't look all that liquid-y in the picture, but that is a little deceiving as much of it is hiding underneath those noodles!

This stew is a complete "warm you up from the inside out" kind of dish. For a little richness, we did add a dollop of sour cream on top, but it really isn't necessary (I'd do it again though!). Meaty, filling and one recipe I know I'll have on the stove when we drag ourselves in from shoveling the loads of snow I'm sure are just waiting to fall in Minnesota.

Recipes
Chocolate Cherry Brownie Bites
Hungarian Gulyas