Homemade Graham Crackers...

One of our favorite snacks is a plateful of graham crackers, a spoonful of fluff and a scoop of peanut butter. I was going to pick up some more grahams this weekend while we were at the market, but when I remembered that we had been saving a recipe for a homemade batch, I waited and decided to set some time aside today to make them instead!

We had almost everything already on hand to make these Graham Crackers, but I was missing one ingredient - graham flour! While basically whole wheat flour, what makes this flour different is that the parts of the wheat kernel, the bran, germ, and endosperm, are actually ground separately, rather than in one fell swoop for a more coarse texture. You might be able to find this in your regular grocery store, probably near the natural/organic section, but you'll definitely be able to find it at a local co-op or health food store.

Conveniently done in the food processor, the dough for these sweet crackers came together in a snap - you'll notice that we used dark brown sugar and while you could use light, the molasses-rich dark sugar makes these a bit more special. When the dry ingredients were whirled around the food processor with chunks of cold butter, resulting in a cornmeal-like texture, the ingredients were moistened with molasses, sticky golden syrup, milk and vanilla. We used the golden syrup (Lyle's) to bring in a slight burnt sugar/caramel note into these crackers, but using all molasses would be appropriate for a more robust background. If you don't happen to have a food processor by the way, whisk up the dry ingredients, find that trusty pastry blender and cut the butter in that way.

The dough isn't too sticky, but to roll the dough thin enough without having to cover it in additional flour, we used sheets of parchment paper under the dough as well as on top. You'll want to cut the crackers to whatever size you desire using a pizza cutter to speed the process along... however, don't try and separate them apart - just leave them all on the parchment paper and slide the whole shebang right onto the baking sheet. To keep these crackers smooth and flat, don't forget to take a fork and prick the top of the dough all over to give the air someplace to escape as these bake.

Because the dough is fairly dark already, doneness can be tough to spot - they are ready to come out when the edges have started to darken and the crackers are set. Since you already cut them to size, once baked and cooled, you will be able to effortlessly snap them apart. Crisp, just sweet enough and you exactly what ingredients went into them, I think it may be tough to go back to store bought crackers after this. Want a more substantial graham cracker? Just roll them a bit thicker and bake them a few minutes longer. While not as easy as running to the store, Jeff and I both thought that it was definitely worth the minimal effort it took to prepare these.

I know rolling out dough can be problematic sometimes, especially trying to get it to the right thickness, but Jeff got me these rolling pin bands a few years ago and it takes the guesswork right out of it. They do somewhat limit how wide you can let the dough get, but in the rare times that has come up, I'd just divide the dough in half and work with it in two parts. Peanut butter and fluff will make an appearance with these, but you can bet they will be sandwiched with a couple hunks of dark chocolate and a marshmallow for a decadent s'more?!

Recipes

Graham Crackers

Pumpkin polenta, sausage and fennel...

When Jeff came home this evening and saw a bowl of coarse cornmeal sitting on the kitchen island, this silly grin came across his face and he said "I hope you are going to tell me we're having polenta for dinner!". We were, in fact, but I knew what would make him even more happy was the fact we'd be working in some sausage too!

The original recipe did call for using instant polenta, which you certainly can, but as I've mentioned before, we enjoy the longer process and resulting flavor that is allowed to develop when you use a coarser cornmeal that takes awhile to prepare. So, the first thing we needed to do for this Pumpkin Polenta With Italian Sausage and Fennel was to get busy with that!

Instead of using water, the recipe uses a combination of chicken stock and mashed pumpkin to cook the cornmeal - once you have gradually whisked in the cornmeal, don't forget to hit it with a couple pinches of salt. Polenta craves salt like crazy and even though you are using stock, you'll want to add a little in the beginning to ensure it will be well seasoned. Since the cornmeal we use is more coarse, it will need a good 40 to 50 minutes to cook - when it is ready, it should be fairly thick and the graininess should be gone. If you seem to go through the liquid a bit fast and it seems to dry, you can definitely add water to loosen it back up - if you add too much, don't fret, just cook it a bit longer until it is thick again. Once done, the mixture is spiked with nutmeg and fresh thyme, then given a shower of fresh grated Pecorino Romano cheese.

Before the polenta was ready, I started browning and crumbling a pound of sweet Italian turkey sausage. After scooping the meat out, a thinly sliced onion and a big ol' bulb of licorice-y fennel were thrown in and allowed to cook until they were very tender, but had not taken on any color. A glug of wine was added for acidity, followed by the cooked sausage to warm back up, and once the liquid had evaporated, we were good to go!

With a creamy pool of the polenta on the plates, we topped each with a heaping mound of the tender vegetable and meat duo to serve. I didn't know if I was going to like the nutmeg in the polenta, but it made for a good transition to reinforce the mild pumpkin flavor. I mentioned a little earlier, but check for seasonings with the polenta as you go - if not seasoned enough, it may seem a little lackluster and a bit flat. While excited for the polenta and sausage, Jeff was quietly concerned with the volume of fennel, but in the end, he was pleased by the light and clean element it brought to the dish.

Recipes
Pumpkin Polenta With Italian Sausage and Fennel

Crazy layered shortbread...

Being that we've come to another Tuesday already, you can be sure I got the baking done for the Weekly Wednesday Treat Day! Jeff asked for a nuttier dish and once I checked out what kinds we had in the freezer, I decided on this Chocolate Caramel Hazelnut Shortbread to make.

It may sound fancy and does involve a candy thermometer, but don't let that scare you away - you'll want to make this! On the bottom of this treat is a thick base of a basic shortbread cookie - all this entails is mixing flour, softened butter and enough flour to bind the dough together. Pressed into a square baking pan, you'll want to bake the shortbread until it has cooked through, but is just barely golden for the best texture.

While the crust was cooling, we got down and dirty with the caramel filling. Don't worry if you have had trouble making caramel before as this recipe simplifies the process - all you need to do is bring sweetened condensed milk, brown sugar, butter and a couple tablespoons of golden syrup to a boil and let it bubble until it reaches the "soft ball stage" (around 237 degrees). Golden syrup is not always the easiest to find I realize, so if this isn't an ingredient you keep in the pantry (try and get yourself some though... it is outrageous over pancakes or toast!), dark corn syrup would also be fine. This viscous mixture is poured all over the crust, then topped with a couple cups worth of toasted hazelnuts.

Since we're using whole hazelnuts and it is a rarity to find them already skinned, we needed to remove that slightly bitter coating before adding them. This is done simply by toasting the nuts as you normally would, tossing the hot nuts into a sturdy towel and letting them sit, covered, for about 5 minutes. You can then vigorously rub them together inside the towel and most of the skins should come off. You most likely won't get all of it off though, so don't drive yourself crazy - a little skin left behind will not hurt the dish.

Almost done! The next layer is generous pool of melted bittersweet chocolate that is poured all over that nut-covered filling. For a little flare and contrast, melted white chocolate is then drizzled all over the top as a finishing touch. Cut into tidy portions, the caramel layer is just firm enough so it doesn't ooze out all over the place, but is still soft enough with a melt-in-your-mouth quality. Using the base of that tender and buttery shortbread crust was a fantastic way to offset the sweetness on top - I loved how sliding my teeth through the smooth layers and hitting that crunch of the rich hazelnuts revealed such an explosive combination for my taste buds. I'm sure you could use other nuts, but using those one-of-a-kind hazelnuts and bittersweet chocolate would make any Nutella fan weak in the knees!

Phew! I guess we should get going onto our meal tonight! Since I had to buy more broccoli than I needed for last night's dinner, I made sure to pick out a recipe that would use up the rest and this Pasta Salad with Broccoli and Peanuts did just that!

You won't be wasting much of the broccoli in trimmings for this dish - instead of tossing the stalks from the heads of the vegetable, they are peeled to remove the tougher green skin, leaving you with the more tender insides. The key to ensuring the stalks will be tender enough is to slice it fairly thin into discs. After heating a skillet with a touch of oil, crushed red pepper flakes, water and the sliced broccoli stems, along with the bite-sized floret pieces, are tossed in and covered to cook until they begin to become tender. The cover is removed to allow the water to evaporate, leaving the oil behind to finish off the broccoli.

To coat this salad, olive oil and mild rice vinegar are whisked together with salty soy sauce and creamy peanut butter. We tossed twisted pasta that we had cooked and cooled down, the crisp-tender broccoli, scallions and a scoop of chopped peanuts into the dressing and gave it a good mix to thoroughly coat. The peanut butter made for an alluring kick, but I felt it could have used another small scoop or so as the vinegar seemed to stand out a little more than I would have preferred. I also thought maybe a little fresh ginger might have been a nice bit to add into the oil to warm up before the broccoli was added. Nevertheless, Jeff and I both agreed it was still good and I'm sure we'll try it again with a couple tweaks as a cool salad to enjoy on one of those upcoming warm summer nights (which could not come soon enough!).

Recipes

Chocolate Caramel Hazelnut Shortbread
Pasta Salad with Broccoli and Peanuts

Mashed potato bowls...

Tonight's dinner, Chicken and Vegetable Mashed Potato Bowls, takes the filling of a pot pie, makes it a bit lighter and twists it around to be served inside of a bowl of mashed potatoes!

Since the potatoes take a bit of time to cook, we got the Yukon golds chunked up and into the pot of cool water before we started on the filling. Because we wanted the potatoes to be scented with garlic, but not overpowered, we added of couple smashed cloves into the pot as well - doing this now will make them soft and tender enough to melt into the potatoes when you mash them, but also takes that harshness of the raw cloves.

Once those were workin', we cooked up a couple chicken breasts simply seasoned with salt and fresh ground black pepper - once done and given a chance to slightly cool, we shredded them into bite-sized pieces. If you want a richer flavor, by all means use thighs instead. In the same skillet we cooked the chicken, we tossed a handful of finely chopped onion, carrots and a sprinkling of dried thyme - after letting the onion soften, broth is added to pull up any of the tasty bits left behind in the bottom of the pan. Here's where the rest of the vegetables come in - peas and florets of broccoli are stirred into the mix and bubble in the seasoned broth for just a minute or two. It is quite liquid-y at this point, so to tighten up the broth to form a sauce, cornstarch is whisked with a little extra broth and added to the skillet full of vegetables. You'll notice the broth will begin to tighten up in a snap - when it had thickened enough, we tossed the chicken back in, along with a spoonful of mustard to bring a little tang into the mix.

As I said, the filling is pretty light and not as creamy as you might expect to find - if you wanted to add some depth, swap out some of the broth for milk instead. By now, the potatoes were tender - once drained, we added some of the starchy water they cooked in, along with a couple pats of butter, to smash them with our trusty potato masher. Again, the potatoes are not as decadent since we used the cooking liquid, but you could certainly use warmed milk if you like - you could also swap out the butter for olive oil too. After divvying the potatoes onto the plates, we pushed the center of them out to form a ring of smashed potatoes and scooped the veggie and chicken filling in.

Refreshing in the sense that it wasn't heavy or gut-busting, we did find it was plenty filling and still comforting without all the richness. The clearness of the sauce was a little odd if you think in terms of a pot pie, but I got over it quickly! While Jeff typically prefers his food separate and in their own little spots (bonus point if they don't touch...!), I was happy to see he gladly finished his plate and didn't mind the potato bowl!

Recipes
Chicken and Vegetable Mashed Potato Bowls

Chickpea "Gnocchi"...

While having a slightly crazy week, we still managed to come up with 6 new recipes... however, I did make a couple for dinner on Tuesday and Wednesday, but we just didn't get a chance to talk about them. I'll try and fit them in soon! Our favorites this week was that crazy Chocolate Ripple Coffee Cake, Braided Pepperoni Pizza Bread and the Fried Rice with Peas and Tofu dish.

While Gnocchi is typically prepared with some type of potato, we found an intriguing method for a "version" of them when I was flipping through one of our newer cookbooks the other night. Instead of using potatoes, these Chickpea "Gnocchi" use garbanzo beans, otherwise known as chickpeas, instead!

Whether you use beans you cooked yourself or if you prefer to use canned, be sure that they are well-dried before you begin this recipe. You'll need about 3 cups worth, which we tossed into our food processor and blitzed them until they were well-mashed. This may take a few minutes, but just keep scraping down the sides and get them as smooth as possible. If you happen to be lucky enough and have a food mill, this would be a perfect reason to haul it out and run them through that instead!

To add a luscious quality, ricotta cheese is used to moisten and hold the chickpeas together, along with a healthy pinch of fresh grated nutmeg to bring a little unexpected note. Flour is worked into the chickpea mixture a little at a time - you want to end up with a dough that is workable, but just barely - it shouldn't be sticky, but you don't want it dry either. Start out with a quarter cup or so, then add just enough extra to get to that point - the flour is there to let the gnocchi hold their shape when they hit the boiling water. When you think the dough is ready, pinch off a small amount and test it in the water - if it holds its shape, you've added enough flour, if it disintegrates, work a bit more in.

When you go to form the gnocchi, you'll want to quarter the dough first to make it easier to handle. Roll each hunk into a long log and then slice each log into one inch chunky pieces. Because these are slightly more delicate than potato gnocchi, be sure to use a gentle hand and handle them as little as possible. Traditionally one would roll each piece down the back of a fork or a fancy gnocchi paddle to form grooves, but you don't need to do that with these.

After they were boiled, we tossed them into a skillet with a combo of butter and olive oil - we let them toast in the pan long enough to get a golden crust to the outside, while still keeping their creamy, tender interiors. All that was needed for us was a dusting of fresh grated Asiago cheese on top and we happily cleaned our plates. While they are not as pillow-like as potato gnocchi, these were not too dense or tough either - they just had a more hearty nature to them. Good as we served them, you could certainly treat them like regular gnocchi and toss them with sauce, a mild pesto, bake them into a casserole-style dish or even toss them into a slim pool of warmed butter to keep it simple!

Recipes
Chickpea "Gnocchi"

Pumpkin-Raisin Muffins...

It's muffin time again! I was updating the inventory list for the freezer(s) we have and ran across the cupfuls of frozen mashed pumpkin we still have languishing in there. Remembering a recipe that I had been wanting to make, I threw together these Pumpkin-Raisin Muffins to snack on.

I played around with the dry ingredients, adding whole wheat pastry flour and a bit of fresh ground flaxseed into the mix for a nutritional boost. If you don't keep these ingredients handy, replace them measure for measure with regular all-purpose flour. For an aromatic jackpot in the spice department, we whisked a combination of cardamom, cinnamon (using our favorite Vietnamese cinnamon), cloves and pungent ginger into the flour mixture.

Along with the burnt-orange mashed pumpkin, a little buttermilk is used for tenderness and mild tang in the background. Because the pumpkin is already lending its moist properties, you won't need a ton of oil - we used just a bare two tablespoons to ensure these muffins have a nice texture without being rubbery. To advance these up another dimension, we tossed chopped golden raisins into the muffin batter just before portioning them out into the muffin tin. They do add sweetness, but if you wanted a slightly tarter bite, you could, of course, change those out for dried cranberries instead. Looking for a little crunch? Add some chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts or pecans would go well) on top once the muffin wells have been filled with the batter.

With muffins, we tend to not use liners in the muffin tin as we like them to have more of a crusty exterior, unless they have some sort of sticky ingredient that would make them impossible to pop out. If that isn't relevant to you, feel free to use liners for easier clean up - you may want to give them a light spritz with cooking spray so you don't pull away parts of the muffin when you remove them. As with most muffins or cupcakes, we use a couple methods to check for doneness - when pressed lightly in the center, the muffin top should spring back right away. You can also check by sliding a toothpick into the center - when pulled out, it should be fairly clean with a few moist crumbs attached.

With the warm spices used, these didn't necessarily scream pumpkin, but it was definitely whispering its sweet subtleness across my tongue. I tried these both warm a few minutes after being taken from oven and later on at room temperature - the spices had a chance to mature after sitting around a few hours, but right out of the oven they were still quite delicious. If you'd like to save these for another day, wrap them up well and stash in the freezer - they will thaw quickly and taste just as good. Yearning for that warm-from-the-oven feeling? Heat them in the microwave for just a few seconds to give the center of the thawed muffin a little fever.

Recipes
Pumpkin-Raisin Muffins

Braided Pepperoni Pizza Bread...

Since we still had some pepperoni left over from the calzones we made for last week's Friday Night Pizza, I wanted to finish the rest in tonight's pizza before we ended up snacking on it all. Instead of your basic flat pizza, we got a little crazy tonight and prepared this fun Braided Pepperoni Pizza Bread.

Rather than maneuvering our favorite whole-wheat pizza dough into a typical circle, for this recipe, you'll want to stretch the dough into a long rectangle. Once it is a big enough rectangle, picture the dough divided into thirds, the long way - pick out the center third and that will be your landing strip for the toppings. First up was a smear of a garlic and herb cheese spread - I opted to use those creamy swiss-based Laughing Cow cheese wedges since we already had some in the refrigerator, but you could use a flavored cream cheese spread or certainly a product like Boursin.

Pepperoni rounds were then layered on top, followed by shreds of mozzarella cheese and a light scattering of salty Parmesan. To form the unique appearance on top, slits are cut down the long unfilled sides of the dough about 1" apart and then stretched down at an angle over the filling to the other side, alternating side to side. For a glossy shine and an enriched golden color, an egg yolk is whisked together with a few drops of water, then is used to bathe the dough all over, taking care to brush all the nooks and crannies. We sprinkled the filled braid with black sesame seeds, but regular sesame seeds or even poppy seeds would be good additions.

If you have a big enough pizza stone, feel free to slide this onto it instead to bake - I was tempted to try with ours, but glad I decided against it as one end would have flopped over the edge... not good! Because the cheese inside will be quite hot and molten, give it a good 5 or 10 minute rest before you slide your knife through to cut the portions out. While it looks like it took a lot of effort, it was really a snap to assemble and a lively way to perk up pizza night. That thin layer of herb cheese was a snazzy way to impart extra flavor like a sauce would, but makes for a much cleaner presentation. Instead of trying to stuff the sauce inside, just fill up a dish on the side for dunking! I'm thinking a couple batches of this would be a good finger food to lay out and serve as an appetizer or on a buffet - everything is encased in its whole wheat pizza shell and at room temperature, the cheese won't ooze out everywhere!

Recipes
Braided Pepperoni Pizza Bread

Eggs, pesto and prosciutto...

I had planned on another dish for dinner, but after a fairly hectic day, I wasn't in the mood to do a lot of work to get it done. I have a separate pile of recipes that I keep handy when I need a dish that would be a snap to throw together and doesn't require many ingredients. I took advantage of that this evening and pulled out these Pesto and Prosciutto Egg Sandwiches to make instead.

The eggs for these sandwiches are poached - you can certainly feel free to choose whichever method you like to accomplish this, but we went a slightly simpler route this time. Instead of dropping the eggs right into barely simmering water (typically spiked with vinegar), we broke them into a ramekins and then lowered the ramekins down into the water to cook the eggs. This keeps the eggs neat, tidy and mimics the shape of the English muffins we used, making for a clean presentation.

Before we put the eggs on those lightly toasted muffins, we drizzled each with a prepared pesto (frozen from the batches we made this summer!) that we thinned with a touch of mild vegetable broth. Water would be acceptable here, but broth just adds more to the flavor base. For a salty component, we added a couple strips of thinly sliced prosciutto (don't skip this!) to the bottom of the sandwiches before gliding the eggs on top.

It was almost a shame to have to cover those beautiful just-set eggs with the muffin tops, but that alluring pesto concoction was reason enough. I do recommend not letting the English muffins get too crunchy when toasting - giving them just a light crispness, while still keeping them somewhat soft, will allow you not to worry about the eggs squishing out as you bite down. While pleasing enough for our dinner, I can easily see preparing these on a lazy Sunday morning for an outstanding way to start the day.

Recipes

Pesto and Prosciutto Egg Sandwiches

Chocolate Ripple Coffee Cake

Well now... if you've been looking for a smashing coffee cake to make for snacking on, for a work event or even a bake-sale, I think we've struck gold with this Chocolate Ripple Coffee Cake that we made for this week's Wednesday Treat Day!

There are quite a few steps that take this striking cake to a new level, so we better delve right in. Combining melted butter with flour, toasted pecans, a duo of sugars and cinnamon creates extravagant, moist clumps of a buttery streusel which we will add near the end of the assembly. Before we got started on the batter, we needed to work on preparing the chocolate-y filling. Using another dose of toasted pecans, the filling is made by pulsing those nuts with a generous scoop of chopped bittersweet chocolate, granulated sugar, brown sugar and just a few tablespoons of Dutch-process cocoa power in a food processor. While the bittersweet chocolate adds enough punch, the smoothness of the Dutch cocoa ends up adding another enhancing layer to make those of us who are chocolate fiends swoon.

To give a soft, tender crumb to this cake, the batter calls for using cake flour - while all-purpose flour can work as a substitute, I would suggest grabbing a box of cake flour for this recipe. If you are resistant and still want to make this, remove 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour for every cup called for and add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch in its place. Cake flour is lower in protein, which yields the lovely light texture this has. For a subtle tang, while also working its magic on the tenderness of the cake, the batter is finished off by alternating the dry ingredients into the buttery batter with a couple cups worth of sour cream. This recipe calls for superfine sugar, also called "Baker's Sugar" or "castor sugar", which incorporates more easily and produces a finer texture - if you want to make your own, you can process the more coarse granulated sugar in a food processor until it is as fine as sand.

The layering process of this cake is what makes for such a dazzling appearance - you will end up with four layers of the fluffy batter and three layers of the double chocolate-pecan filling. For a little funky character, a knife is plunged into the batter and swirled around the pan just two times - don't be tempted to go all crazy and mix it up... just two times around will do fine. Those clumpy bits of cinnamon-laced streusel are strewn over the last layer of batter, followed by a little of the leftover filling so you have a hint of what's to come.

This cake gave us one of those moments when you roll your eyes into the back of your head when we took our first forkful. With a superior moist crumb on the inside, it was hard for both of us to stop at our "quality control" slices and not dive right back into the rich cake for one more piece. If we were not having to give this cake away, I would have probably picked at that obscene streusel on top all day! Was it quite laborious to prepare? Yes, however you will find that it is worth every ounce of effort that you put into this coffee cake!

Recipes
Chocolate Ripple Coffee Cake

Fried Rice with Peas and Tofu

Years ago, I can remember the first time I tried to introduce tofu into our diet. Jeff took one look at it and he pretty much vetoed the idea on the spot. However, he very quickly warmed up to it and we've been using it ever since. If you are afraid to try it yourself, maybe this Fried Rice with Peas and Tofu could be your starting off point?

To give the tofu a little stiffer texture, I like to cut it into the shape we need for the recipe and then weigh the pieces down inside a few paper towels to let some of the extra liquid inside squeeze out. I've also heard freezing the tofu first, then thawing, will give it a chewier texture, but I still have not bothered to try that yet as this works well enough for us. You can use white or brown rice for this, but I opted for brown basmati for a fragrant, nutty boost to this dish - I used the no-fuss method as it is such a snazzy way to get the rice cooked without having to deal with water measurements, timing or getting the heat just right. I did prepare the rice this morning and left it in the fridge to chill so it was one less thing to do tonight.

After we lightly browned the base vegetables, we scooped them into a bowl and added all the cubes of tofu - don't toss these around once they are in the pan. You'll want to let these go until the sides are well browned - if the pan ends up being too dry, don't be afraid to dribble in a little more oil to give the cubes a little fat to work with. The toasty cubes are added to the vegetables, peas are tossed in their place and given just a minute to groove around the pan until they have warmed through. Toasting fresh garlic and ginger were next, followed by the gradual addition of the rice to get the grains coated in oil. At this point, if you want bits of egg in your fried rice (we didn't this time), make a well in the center of the rice and then let them cook and scramble for a minute or two before incorporating them into the rice.

The tofu and veggies are added back in to the party, followed by a heavy shot of Shaoxing wine (Chinese rice wine). If you don't have this, switch it out with dry sherry, white wine or even vegetable stock for some moisture. Soy sauce for salt and color, along with toasted sesame oil for a rich depth, are stirred into the mix - to add a little complexity with Thai influence, we did drop in a spoonful of red curry paste. While we both agreed this was quite a worthwhile addition in this speedy dish, I wouldn't run out to market for just a heaping teaspoon if you already have everything else. With a scattering of cilantro on top (green onions would have been a nice touch too!), it didn't take us long to finish our plates of this tasty dish! Even though the tofu was not marinated, there were plenty of other lingering flavors in the pan for the cubes to soak up, so we didn't find them bland at all. If you would rather not go the tofu route, you could certainly chop up some chicken and cook them through at the same point you would have added the tofu.

Recipes
Fried Rice with Peas and Tofu

Wheat berry salad...

We ran through 6 new recipes this week and looking back, I think our favorites this time were that fun Goat Cheese Quiche with Hash-Brown Crust, the espresso-laced Cappuccino Squares and those Two-Cheese Pepperoni Calzones.

I think the dinner we prepared tonight, Wheat Berry Salad with Goat Cheese and Golden Raisins, will have to be made again this summer as it would be a good veggie meal to take on a picnic.

If you've never cooked with wheat berries before, do note that they will take about an hour to cook in simmering salted water. Full of nutrition, once these very affordable reddish-brown whole grain kernels are cooked, they will be chewy, yet tender, and have a dynamite nutty background.

To bulk up this salad, we added about three cups worth of chickpeas, a chopped bulb of fennel, plump golden raisins, green onions and a few coarsely chopped green olives. Up to this point, you could stash this mixture into the refrigerator for two to three days if you wanted to get some of the work done ahead of time. To moisten this salad with a sweet, yet tangy dressing, we combined a very simple mixture of balsamic vinegar and sticky honey.

To serve, we tossed a little of that dressing with tender leaves of baby spinach for a green base. The rest of the dressing is poured into the wheat berry mixture, tossed around and then mounded on top. For an inviting topping, we sprinkled over a handful of chopped toasted pistachios for a little crunch, then dropped soft, creamy crumbles of goat cheese for a bit of tang. Light and refreshing, if you wanted to add a peppery bite to this intriguing salad, swap out the baby spinach for arugula - if you would like to bring this along for a picnic, just toss the undressed spinach, nuts and cheese into the same container as the salad and keep the dressing separate in a container. Just before serving, toss it all together and dig in!

Recipes
Wheat Berry Salad with Goat Cheese and Golden Raisins

Using a new toy....

Usually on Saturdays we post about a sweet treat that we made to snack on. While I do have something for you today, there really isn't much of a recipe for it, however, it gives me a chance to show off one of the a new toys I got for Christmas!

I had been wanting a food dehydrator for awhile now and thanks to my parents, we got one! I was afraid that I'd use it once and then forget about it, but over the past couple of weeks, we have certainly put it to work!

The first way I had to use it was to make dried apples. We used to buy them occasionally and they never lasted long enough because we kept picking at the bag in the pantry! I asked Jeff what kind of apple he wanted to try first and since we both like Granny Smith's, he thought those would be a good way to start. I used the food processor to make short work of slicing them down, but I think I'll use a mandolin next time as they were a bit thin. To aid them from turning very dark as they sat in the circulating hot air, we gave them a five minute dunk in a mixture of water and Ball's Fruit Fresh, which is basically ascorbic acid (vitamin C). The mixture (sans water) also works well to keep guacamole bright green if it needs to sit out.

I filled up the trays and they were done in just about 4 to 5 hours! I think the next batch will get a dusting of cinnamon and I'll also cut them thicker to give 'em a little more chew. I can't wait until it is apple picking time again and take a trip out to the orchards like we did last year for fresh apples.

Since we finished off the four trays I made (mental note... need to buy more trays!), the next way we used it was to make banana chips!

I found these took longer to dry out - probably closer to 6 or 7 hours, depending on how thick the slices ended up. Now, these will not end up being the same as those crisp banana chips you find in the market - those have actually been fried! While you could probably achieve crispness if you left them in longer, you'd end up loosing a lot of the good things found in bananas. Sweet and chewy, these are good enough by themselves, but we found them outrageously good slathered with a layer of homemade peanut or cashew butter! We are actually on our 4th batch as of this morning - I didn't realize how much we would end up liking these. Now that we've done these a few times, I've found it takes about 9 large bananas to fill up all the trays and they are best sliced about 1/4" thick.

So, what's on tap next? I'm excited to try making our own raisins, fruit leather (especially using strawberries picked from that fantastic farm we found last year), dried tomatoes when they strike late this summer, maybe some dried cranberries and even homemade jerky! Do you have a dehydrator? What else do you like to use yours for?

Two-Cheese Pepperoni Calzones...

We wrapped up another cheesy filling for tonight's Friday Night Pizza with these Two-Cheese Pepperoni Calzones.

This time for the dough needed to encase the filling, I used the pound version of our manageable whole-wheat pizza dough. Thanks to the use of the food processor, it was done in a snap, leaving me a little extra play time with Gus before having to go back into the kitchen!

After giving the yeast some alone time with the flour in the warmth of the cabinet above the refrigerator (good place for dough I've found!), I took my handy dough scraper and plunged it though the wheat-y mass to form four equal pieces. Once each was hand stretched into a rough round, I mixed together a two-cheese filling consisting of shredded mozzarella, ricotta, diced pepperoni, crushed red pepper flakes and a spoonful of cornstarch to control some of the excess moisture. Use your favorite pepperoni, but I do tend to use turkey pepperoni because it doesn't ooze nearly as much grease as it bakes like regular pepperoni does.

To give a jolt of tomato inside, I spooned a little marinara sauce over the filling - but don't go too wild with this, just a tablespoon or two is good. Stuffed pretty full with a fair amount of moisture, you'll want to be sure to cut a slit or two on the top of each assembled calzone to give the steam somewhere to vent, otherwise the pressure might lead to a messy blowout! If you want a shiny coat, drizzle each with a little olive oil right before sliding the calzones into the oven. A few minutes before they were done, I did notice that the sauce and cheese had just started to bubble through from the vent we cut in... so it did its job, but also gave Gus and I something riveting to watch as they baked!

The duo of mozzarella and ricotta made for a filling that brought a wonderful textural contrast between the creaminess inside and the crisp, yet tender golden crust. With its zesty punch, the pepperoni bits were a welcomed addition, without making the filling seem too rich or heavy (especially using the turkey variety). Serve with a little extra marinara on the side for dunking to tie in with the dose inside - but do yourself a favor and warm it up first!

Recipes
Two-Cheese Pepperoni Calzones

Peanut butter pasta dish...

We've gotten a few notes wondering what happened to the posts on Wednesday. The reason we haven't been posting for the past few weeks on that day is we've either been eating leftovers or just making a quick sandwich. Why? Well, Gus has actually been in Puppy Kindergarten! We didn't do any training when we got Max and have regretted it, so we figured we would at least learn the basics with Gus!

You know... train the people while the pups play around and socialize! Wednesday nights were the only time we could go and it totally ruined dinner plans, but it was worth it. We're officially done now and Gus has graduated with fly colors! Hot Dog! He even got a fancy bone and a diploma... though I think he was a little sad he didn't get a little cap to show off to his friends.

We are thinking about advancing to an agility class, but will probably wait until it gets closer to spring when it is a little warmer outside.

We will most likely go back to Wednesday postings within the next couple of weeks since we'll be making a new recipe then again, though a one-day-a-week break was kind of refreshing!

On to tonight's dinner... Jeff had been asking for a shrimp dish the last few weeks, but I kept forgetting about fitting one in during menu planning. This previous Saturday while picking out recipes, he brought it up again, so I made to to dive into the seafood pile to see what we could come up with.

I came upon a recipe for Peanut Fettuccine with Shrimp, Carrots, and Snow Peas. After checking the ingredient list, I found I would only end up needing to buy snow peas... score! Once we dropped the fettuccine and took it out a couple minutes before it was technically ready, I took some of the starchy liquid we cooked it in and whisked it into a bowl of creamy peanut butter. Doing this right away allows the hot water to soften the peanut butter and is incorporates in a few short strokes.

While that was happening, I tossed a mountain of trimmed snow peas and cut carrots into a skillet with a slick of peanut oil covering the bottom. After a couple minutes of being zipped around the skillet, a dose of fresh ginger and sliced cloves of garlic were added to let the heat disperse their flashy flavors. Broth is added to keep the veggies loose, then everything is sloshed into a bowl and set aside. In the same skillet (less dishes!), a little more oil is heated to begin cooking a pound of peeled shrimp. You won't want to step away at this point, so be sure you can stick around for the short 2 minutes they take to pink up.

While those were thrown into the bowl with the veggies, that same skillet is not quite done with its job yet. Remember that thinned peanut butter? We souped it up with broth, a scoop of sugar, soy sauce and chili garlic sauce. Added to the skillet, the sauce is simmered for a couple minutes to reduce it slightly. The almost-cooked pasta is brought back into the picture - while it will be stuck together as it has sat alone, as soon as the pasta is added in, the strands will release their hold and become single again. Once coated in the thick sauce, we stirred the shrimp and veggies back in just to nudge their temperature back up.

With just enough oomph from the chili garlic sauce to give this a bare tingle of heat as it went down, we quite enjoyed the nutty background from the peanut sauce paired with the fresh vegetables and shrimp. A little salty from the soy sauce, balanced well with the sweetness in the sugar, we found this dish to have a very satisfying savory tone, leaving us with full, but content bellies! If you're not in love with shrimp, I wouldn't pass this up for that reason alone - try using shredded, cooked chicken if you have some leftover or even just sautéing up a pound of chunked chicken instead of the shrimp!

Recipes
Peanut Fettuccine with Shrimp, Carrots and Snow Peas

Cappuccino Squares...

I left Jeff in charge this weekend to scour through recipes and pick out one for me to make for the Weekly Wednesday Treat Day that we do for his co-workers. He thumbed through a couple of my cookbooks, peeked into my stash of sweet recipes (and quickly decided that was a bit overwhelming), searched a bit of his own on-line and the finally returned to a different book I set out for him. It took him no less than 2 minutes to zero in on these Cappuccino Squares and deemed it "the one" to make.

The original recipe was supposed to be heavier on the essence of cinnamon than one of espresso, but Jeff wanted me to go with a suggested alternative and heighten the coffee note. To accomplish this, we added a scoop of instant espresso powder to the milk used in the recipe and heated the two together to bloom the espresso - just be sure to do this first so the milk has plenty of time to cool back down. If you want a more subtle espresso taste that mildly lingers in the background, skip this step entirely.

Once the golden batter for the cake was ready, we spooned half of it into the baking pan, deluged the top with finely chopped bittersweet chocolate, dusted that with a mixture of cinnamon, sugar and espresso powder, then poured the remaining batter over the top. Once baked and cooled, we took this cake to another level by smearing on copious amounst of frosting made simply by heating bittersweet chocolate with a few pats of butter.

I thought the frosting was a bit heavy going on at first, but decided to throw caution to the wind and keep it all on. When you do frost the cake, give it some character and pizazz my making swoops, dips and swirls - while a smooth look is fine, this cake deserve some spunk!

With the ribbon of chocolate, cinnamon and espresso running through the center of this extremely moist cake, Jeff was quite pleased with how much espresso really came through. However, don't count out the cinnamon as its fragrant nature was still up front. The cake alone I thought was a little on the sweet side, but using the bittersweet chocolate was a brilliant way to tame the sweetness, along with adding a little flare and temptation. A perfect mid-morning pick-me-up for sure!

While we were anxiously waiting to sample those squares, I kept myself occupied by making these Toasted Barley Breakfast Bowls for tonight's dinner.

To amplify the nuttiness already found in the pearl barley used in this dish, we first toasted the grains in a dry saucepan. While this certainly isn't a requirement for a successful result, those minimal extra minutes used is worth the added layer of depth. To infuse the most amount of flavor, we then poured in chicken broth for the barley to simmer in. If you're using a canned broth that only has a scant two cups in it, you don't have to open another can to meet the liquids needed - just replace the remaining amount called for with water.

When the barley had almost finished drinking those flavors in, we started browning a few links worth of hot Italian turkey sausage with a chopped onion along side. When crumbled and cooked, the barley is stirred into the mix along with a smattering of parsley for a kiss of freshness. While everything is already cooked at this point, we have one more ingredient to add for that breakfast-y feeling... an egg! We spooned the barley mixture into ramekins, cracked an egg onto the top of each one and slide them into the oven to cook that final addition. If you would rather serve this family style, I imagine you could leave everything in the skillet you browned the sausage in, make little divots in four corners and nestle the eggs in each area to finish them off in the oven.

I actually thought they looked a little skimpy in the amount for each serving at first ,but boy did these filled ramekins end up being quite hearty and filling! The chewy, yet tender, texture of cooked barley gave my mouth a pleasurable workout, while the lean Italian turkey sausage imparted enough seasoning to hold our attention. The smart inclusion of the eggs on top rounded this dish out with a gratifying punch and lent a visual attracting against the ordinary appearance of the barley hash underneath.

Recipes
Cappuccino Squares
Toasted Barley Breakfast Bowls

Turkey Con Queso Bake...

Pull out your best cheese grater (or be speedy and use a food processor) as you are going to need it if you want to make this Turkey Con Queso Bake dish we had for dinner tonight.

You'll need one of those, so you can grate up a mountain of sharp white cheddar to create the cheesy sauce. To thicken the sauce, after softening a chopped onion and a couple cloves of garlic, a couple tablespoons of flour are tossed in and woven into the vegetables to cook out its raw taste. Since the cheese will provide ample richness, the sauce is lightened up by using a combination of chicken broth and milk for the liquids needed. Once the sauce began to bubble and thicken from the heat below, it is taken off that heat so we could gradually stir in the generous shreds of cheese, adding to its sumptuous texture.

A portion of that sharp sauce is stirred into a filling consisting of diced pieces of cooked turkey, diced tomatoes, briny green olives, a few green onions, fresh cilantro and a chopped jalapeño for a dash of heat. If you wanted a more fiery kick, leave the seeds in, if not, go ahead and remove the seeds and thin membrane so you get a little heat, allowing more of the pepper's flavor to come through. While the majority of this is stuffed into flour tortillas, a scant cup is spread over the bottom of the baking dish, making for a chunky bed to lay the filled tortillas on. You will notice that there is still a lavish amount of the cheese sauce left - don't be shy, just close your eyes and drench the entire pan so each naked tortilla is given a piquant coat to protect it from the heat of the oven.

As these bake, the sauce will continue to thicken, be absorbed by the tortillas and leave you with just enough extra left behind in the bottom of the pan to give each serving a posh spoonful over the top. I thought I may have read the recipe wrong when it had you spoon the same ingredients you used in the filling into the bottom of the pan, rather than just using the sauce alone, but we both commented that it was an extra flavor bonus to have those bits added on top. The tortillas held up quite well - they were soft enough to easily use a fork to cut your bites out, yet retained their integrity, so they pulled out of the pan well and were not mushy in the least.

Recipes
Turkey Con Queso Bake

Quiche with Hash-Brown Crust...

With a total of 7 new recipes coming out of our kitchen this week, our tops this round were the Caramel Cashew Cookies, that Farfalle with Cauliflower and Turkey Sausage dish and those Fig-Pecan Macaroons.

While I can certainly appreciate a flaky, buttery crust holding its own against an eggy quiche, there are times where you just want something a bit different... be it a crustless version or one with a rice crust. However, with this quiche we made tonight, we picked out a recipe that incorporated one of our favorite ingredients into the crust... potatoes!

For this Goat Cheese Quiche with Hash-Brown Crust, we took a pound of thawed, frozen shredded potatoes and squeezed as much of the excess liquid out as possible. Giving the potatoes a big squeeze now will help the crust crisp and firm up while baking, without having them turning to mush from steaming instead. The dry shreds are then tossed with a couple pats of softened butter and an egg to bind them all together. Dumped into a springform pan, the potato mixture is then press over the bottom and up the sides of the pan - if you find it wanting to stick to your fingers during this, moisten the bottom of a measuring up and use that to help spread the potatoes evenly.


You'll want to give the potatoes a head start to give them a little crust and create a seal to hold the upcoming egg mixture in. While the crust was busy in the oven, we started that egg filling by whisking together a cluster of eggs that we cut with a few egg whites. If you would rather skip the whites, replace the 6 egg whites is 3 whole eggs. To those, we added a few generous dollops of sour cream and soft goat cheese, along with the obligatory additions of salt and fresh ground black pepper. Poured into the unique potato crust, the filling is given a mild onion boost by scattering the top with shower of thinly sliced scallions.

Now, as you'll see in the recipe, to help unmold the quiche with a clean edge, we lined the sides of the springform pan with parchment paper - you don't have to do this, but it did make for an effortless release of the quiche. While I had faith in my crust that it was good to go, I would recommend placing the springform pan (which isn't water tight!) on a rimmed baking sheet just in case. Because the filling is fairly liquid-y, I know I'd be annoyed to find out that the springform pan started to leak and create a mess in the oven!

While both of us personally loved the tangy song this quiche exuded from the sour cream and most notably, the goat cheese, I do realize that it won't appeal to everyone. If you wanted a more welcoming-to-everyone type of dish, I wouldn't hesitate to delete the goat cheese in favor of an equal amount of a more mellow cream cheese. Soft in texture, but firm enough to hold clean slices, the pairing of the luscious filling and golden potato crust was quite enjoyable. Perfect to serve at warm or room temperature for a brunch, or as an attractive dish for a buffet, Jeff happened to mention while chowing down that he thought sneaking in some chopped ham or crispy bacon (especially if you opt for cream cheese) would be another way to add some personality and pizazz to this already tempting dish.

Recipes

Goat Cheese Quiche with Hash-Brown Crust