Pear and Prosciutto Pizza...

With a fair amount of digging around the past few days, we finally found the pizza stone and other goodies that were stashed away in a box located deep in the garage. It was marked kitchen, but for some reason it didn't quite make it that far! Happy to see it, I was tempted to throw together a pizza that night, but after a long day of cleaning, sorting and box opening, we thought a couple fluffernutters sounded just fine.

After all that, I did make a pizza tonight, but it wasn't a new recipe... Jeff requested we do that Avocado and Canadian Bacon Pizza we first made last year.

However, when I was going through my files on the computer, I found a few snaps of this Pear and Prosciutto Pizza we made before we jetted out of Minneapolis - apparently I forgot about it during all the hubbub with the move!

Rather than spreading a red sauce over the piece of pizza dough we had stretched out, this recipe called for cooking down a couple cups of sliced onions, bringing their inherent sweetness to the surface, and allow them to turn a rich golden brown. Strewn over almost every naked inch, we then covered the top in smooth provolone and thin slices cut from a crisp pear. For a pungent hint of salt, strips of prosciutto covered the pears, followed by a light shower of fresh ground black pepper for a pleasant bite.

We don't usually have a problem assembling and moving our pizzas using a light layer of cornmeal on top of our trusty pizza peel, but there is an easy fix if you happen to be working with an extra sticky dough or don't like the extra crunch the cornmeal adds. You can form and top the pizza dough right onto a piece of parchment and then use that as an aid to easily glide the whole shebang onto the stone (parchment included). After just a few minutes (3 or 4 is usually enough), the dough will have cooked enough that you can slide it off the parchment, giving the crust direct contact with the hot stone. Do you have to take the parchment out? Not always, but if the oven is heated especially hot, it will darken quite quickly and besides, I think the direct contact makes for a slightly crisper crust.

Slid onto our heated stone to bake, as soon as the crust had browned and the cheese melted into a bubbly pool under the pears, we moved the pizza onto a cooling rack and sprinkled over nutty toasted walnuts for crunch.

While I'm sure you could serve this as is and be satisfied, for a touch of freshness, we dressed a bowl of peppery arugula with tangy sherry vinegar and scattered it over the top of the warm pizza to serve. With a combination of ingredients and textures that are anything but ordinary, I hope they don't scare you away - I'm sure you'll love this as much as we did if you give it a go!

Recipes

Pear and Prosciutto Pizza

Whole-Grain Waffles with Cherry Sauce...

I can't remember the last time we had a "breakfast-for-dinner" night, so I made sure to schedule one into the menu this week. After a bit of frantic searching this afternoon to find the darn waffle maker (someone hid it in a closet upstairs and forgot!), we used it to make these Whole-Grain Waffles with Cherry Sauce.

Instead of waiting until the waffles were done to create the sauce, the deeply red syrup replacement controlled the stove for the first few minutes. I didn't want to wait until fresh cherries flood the market to make this, which means I turned to the frozen department to get my fix - if you do the same, there is no need to thaw them first. If you do have fresh cherries available, just pop out their pits and use the same amount called for.

Combined with water, sticky honey, lemon juice and cornstarch, the sauce needs to come to a boil and cook for about a minute, activating the starch's thickening power, and it's good to go. For good measure, just after we took the pot off the heat, a splash of vanilla was added for a special floral note - almond extract might be nice as well, though not in the same amount since it is quite potent - add a few dribbles and taste.

The dry ingredients don't vary too much from your everyday waffle recipe, except using white-whole wheat flour (whole-wheat pastry flour would work here too) for a bump in nutrition instead of all-purpose, along with a scoop of fine cornmeal for a hint of crunch. You won't need too much sugar to sweeten the waffles either as the sauce will add plenty as soon as it's poured on, but a bit of brown sugar goes a long way for texture and lending a mild molasses depth.

Unless you have six waffle irons lined up, you'll most likely be making them in batches. To keep the first waffles warm and crisp, turn your oven to a low two hundred degrees before you start these. As soon as each waffle is ready, either lay (don't stack!) them on a wire rack placed in the oven or set them right on the oven racks so air can circulate around. Once the last of the batter is dropped onto the iron to cook, slide the pan with the cherry sauce back over low heat just to warm through.

A shallow, American-style waffle maker will work with these, but we went with a thicker Belgian-style, giving us deep pockets for the glistening sauce to wander and settle into. Using buttermilk gave these waffles a bit of fluff to the interior, while at the same time providing a delightful tangy finish. We had a bit leftover, which will work in my favor to make for a speedy breakfast sometime since waffles freeze quite well (keeping the sauce separate) - all we'll need to do to reheat the waffles is stick them in the toaster oven for a few minutes to take the chill off and re-crisp the outside, bringing them very close to a just-cooked feel.

Recipes
Whole-Grain Waffles with Cherry Sauce

Shortbread Rhubarb Sandwich Cookies...

When I went to pick the Weekly Wednesday Treat Day recipe this week, Shortbread Rhubarb Sandwich Cookies, I was a little sad that I wouldn't be able to run out the back door to pull a few stalks off the ever-growing patch we had in the backyard. We planted it almost 3 years ago and it had really taken off - we'll just have to start over with new plants! I was hopeful we would find some at the local farmers' market and thankfully we ran into the only vendor who had them before they sold out.

We chopped those thick stalks down and tossed them into a pot with a scoop of sugar, a pinch of salt (don't forget this!) and a healthy splash of freshly squeezed lemon juice. Cooked down until the rhubarb had softened, the jam was ready when it had begun to thicken and the tart pieces began to break down. If you don't trust your judgment on if the mixture has cooked enough, you can spoon a bit onto a plate and put it in the refrigerator - if it has thickened to a jam-like consistency when it is cold, you've got it. If it is still quite runny, let it cook for a couple more minutes. To keep the jam from continuing to cook, we plunged the bottom of the pot into a bowl of icy water to quickly cool down before stashing it away in the refrigerator (I did this on Monday to get it out of the way).

The cookies were prepared using a classic shortbread base, made with 5 simple ingredients - creamy butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla, flour and salt. Because the dough is on the softer side, you'll need to chill it at least a couple hours before rolling it out - feel free to make it a day ahead of time just like the jam, but you'll want to take it out 5 to 10 minutes before trying to work with it.

Using a round, scalloped-edge cookie cutter to stamp out the dough, we set all of them onto parchment-lined baking sheets, then stashed them into the freezer to firm back up. You'll have scraps leftover, which can be re-chilled and rolled again to maximize your yield. Before we started baking the cookies, we took a small cutter and pulled out small heart shapes from half of the cookies, then re-chilled those to ensure they keep their shape. When baking, the cookies will be done when their edges just barely begin to brown.

I went ahead and baked off those hearts we pulled out too, sprinkling them with a bit of sparkly vanilla sugar first - you could just add them back into the scraps to re-roll, but I thought these would be a fun bonus!

These elegant sandwiches are brought together by smearing a bit of the homemade jam on top of a whole cookie, then setting one of the punched out cookies over, making for an attractive tease as to what's between the two. The cookies themselves are crisp, yet quite buttery that they easily melt away in your mouth. While the jam was sweet, the rhubarb shined through with its contrasting tartness, creating an irresistible combination that I had a hard time keeping my spoon out of!

Jeff did comment on how much he loved the whisper of clean brightness the lemon juice added - not so much that it would interfere with the pureness of rhubarb, but enough to do its job. My jam wasn't as candy-apple red as pictured in the original recipe, however, the natural blush color didn't bother me at all. I guess you could add a few drops of red coloring, but neither of us thought it was necessary.

To keep the integrity (crispness!) of the cookies, I just assembled enough for us to test and photograph tonight - I'll be up early putting the rest together!

Recipes

Shortbread Rhubarb Sandwich Cookies

Toasted Orzo Chicken Soup...

Fridays are usually reserved for pizza nights and as much as I was hoping to make our first in this house this evening, I haven't located the box with the pizza stone yet, along with the box that contained my yeast and whole-wheat flour (and who knows why this wasn't packed with my other baking ingredients to begin with!). We did, however, make a new recipe last night that we'll be enjoying as leftovers tonight.

While we end up eating our fill of soups and stews during the chilly wintertime, we still yearn for a bowl now and then when the weather begins to heat up or we need a bit of comfort in the form of food (like last night!). They don't tend to be as heavy or rich though, just like the Toasted Orzo Chicken Soup we prepared.

You'll need cooked chicken to toss into the bubbling pot later, which you could do by picking up a rotisserie bird from the market, but we followed along with the recipe and poached a pound of chicken breasts right in the broth we would be using later on in the soup. Not only does this gently cook the chicken, keeping it tender and moist, but it amplifies the liquid (whether it be broth or stock, whichever you have on hand), adding another layer of "chicken-ness", for lack of a better word.

As to not waste time, while the chicken was working away, we took the ozro (rice-shaped pasta, which incidentally we've seen come in whole-wheat now!) and tossed it around in a sizzling puddle of melted butter. When the pasta turned a deep golden brown, intensifying its nuttiness, we scooped the slender pieces out onto a plate, allowing us to use the same pot to start the vegetables in. With a heavy drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil to get us started, chopped carrot, vibrant red bell pepper and a couple finely chopped shallots were stirred in to begin softening.

We held back on the next two ingredients, shredded zucchini and minced garlic, because they don't take as long to cook. If you happen to prefer the texture of chopped zucchini, rather than shredded, feel free to make that swap - just remember to throw it in when you add the other vegetables. By this point, the chicken should be cooked through - remove the breasts from the poaching liquid and let it cool while you skim any foam or excess fat away from the enhanced broth. You don't have to be super diligent here, but the more impurities you remove, the cleaner the soup will be. When you can handle the chicken, shred it using your hands or two forks - you can also run your knife through the meat, but shredded makes it feel more homey to us.

The toasted orzo was brought back into the mix as soon as the vegetables were ready, along with the chicken, boosted broth and a couple cups of water. Just before the orzo was cooked through, we added another shot of color by stirring in a handful of peas, which take just a minute to come up to temperature. Before I added the last two pieces to this puzzle, I wanted to give the soup a taste to see what they would add - it tasted fine as is, if a bit flat and "routine".

Fresh parsley and the oil-y zest from a lemon was what I was holding back and once the two were stirred in, they made all the difference. That was all this soup needed to go from "ho-hum ordinary" to "zing! I've got your attention now". Light, refreshing and full of eye-popping color, this soup was just as filling to us as those rich, hearty soups or stews we jump for in the colder months, without leaving us in a sleepy coma afterwards. We got about four well-portioned servings, but I imagine you could stretch this to six or so by bumping up the vegetables a bit.

Recipes
Toasted Orzo Chicken Soup

Revival of treat day...

We have been making headway on turning the new house here in Charlotte into our home, unpacking a good amount of those boxes the movers delivered last Saturday. The kitchen is, in no uncertain terms, a disaster area at the moment - I think I found all the boxes and emptied them, but all the goods are strategically strewn (well, maybe not so much, but it sounded good) over the counter tops and kitchen table, waiting for me to figure out where their new home will be. My plan is to attack that mess after I get this post finished!

I've gotten a few e-mails on when we're going to start up the Wednesday Treat Day and I didn't want to push it off any longer, so I carved out an area on the island this morning to whip up this weeks' goodie. Besides, it gave me a chance to test out the oven! Jeff saw me going through recipes to figure out what to make and he suggested we ease in and just re-make a favorite cookie of his that we've done before, but not for this group of co-workers. Sounded good to me and we decided on those whimsical Root Beer Float Cookies!

I did touch up the recipe from the last time we posted about them, changing the wording some, while also adding a splash of vanilla (not sure why we didn't think to add that before, always good in my book!).

My plan is to get back with new recipes, hopefully at least one or two within the next few days, and get back into our normal cooking routine by next week or so... we just need to get out and restock our cooking/baking supplies! Speaking of, I'm all ears if you have any suggestions about favorite markets or food shopping places if you're in the area!

Recipes
Root Beer Float Cookies

We made it!

After a wild couple of days, closing on the new house and moving out of the hotel, we're finally in!

The trailer with all our goods isn't expected to arrive until Saturday (boo!), but we trucked a u-haul behind the car with the more important items to keep us (barely) sane until then. Even though it has only been a few days since we left, I've definitely been missing out on being able to do anything in the kitchen. We'll get back to some sort of a regular posting schedule shortly, we just need boxes here to unpack!

We're almost outta here!

This should speak volumes...

The big truck was loaded today and has taken off - we're staying here one more night and will start our trek to Charlotte early Saturday morning with a small u-haul in tow. This will be the first moving experience for Gus (Jeff calls it his "initiation") and he didn't look too thrilled - this is how he spent most of his day!

I bet he'll perk right up when he see his new, expansive flat(!) backyard. We are going to be off-line for a few day until we put ourselves back together in our new home - will update as soon as we can.

Roasted Red Pepper Pizzas with Arugula...

You know we usually reserve our pizza nights for Friday evenings, but I shifted it to tonight as tomorrow is bound to be a wacky day with the moving truck being loaded and us getting ready to leave for Charlotte Saturday morning. I figured the simpler the better with this pie and when Jeff brought home a bunch of gorgeous arugula he saw at the farmers' market, I knew exactly what I was going to make - Roasted Red Pepper Pizzas with Arugula.

With our favorite, no nonsense whole-wheat pizza dough making up the crusty base (I went the 12 ounce route this time, but for extra thickness you could bump it up to the pound recipe), we split the bubbly risen dough in half, then stretched each out as thin as we could. Rather than using a tomato-based sauce, these pizzas are smeared with an unpretentious purée of roasted red peppers, modestly seasoned with salt and fresh ground black pepper. Roast your own bell peppers if you like, but I went the convenience route and used a jarred pepper that we drained well and seeded.

On top of each blushing red slick, we piled on thin slices of fresh mozzarella and since these were going to be quite clean, we then drizzled over a touch of fruity extra-virgin olive oil. I do recommend leaving a solid border around the edge, free from any sauce or cheese while assembling - as the pepper purée heats and the cheese melts, they will both expand and if you have that edge, you won't need to worry about messy spillovers.

I baked these pizzas one at a time, taking full advantage of the fiery hot baking stone we keep in the oven, but you could certainly transfer both to a large baking sheet and bake them at the same time. As the first came off the stone, we topped the gooey cheese with torn fresh basil leaves and the peppery arugula we found at the market. We didn't add the arugula on its own though as we dressed it with oil, salt and pepper first, then served the pizza wedges with a slice of lemon to squirt over the top for an acidic bite.

I did add the basil to the hot second pizza, but left the arugula for this one undressed and in a separate container. We plan to tear into the second tomorrow for lunch, adding the arugula when serving to keep its freshness.

Recipes
Roasted Red Pepper Pizzas with Arugula

Smothered Chicken and Barley...

If you hear a few clucks the next time you visit us, don't be shocked.... with all of the chicken we've been downing lately, we may just start growing feathers! Thankfully, there isn't too much left and at least we have been able to come up with a variety of ways to work through it all. I had to snatch out a pound and a half worth of thighs (almost out! woo!) for tonight's dish, Smothered Chicken and Barley.

An intriguing combination of spices were blended together, consisting of smoky cumin, chili powder, cinnamon, dried mint, salt, garlic powder and for a hint of heat, a few sprinkles of cayenne pepper to be used in two spots. You'll need to get your hands dirty for the first use as half of it is rubbed all over the thigh meat - I used boneless, skinless because that's what we had, but you can amp up the flavor by using bone-in thighs. I'd still remove the skin though!

With the chicken seasoned, we took the meat and seared it off in a hot skillet until both sides gain a golden color. This takes just a minute or two as you're not trying to cook the thighs through at all - just caramelizing the outside, intensifying their natural essence. Scooting the meat out, the same skillet, riddled with tasty browned bits on the bottom, can then be used to soften a chopped onion and red bell pepper. To push in a bit of salt along with those two vegetables, a quick splash of soy sauce went in, which also adds the liquid needed to help release those browned bits.

A clove of fresh garlic is added, which when heated through is followed by pearl barley, fire-roasted tomatoes, the remaining spice mixture and a few cups of chicken broth. The browned chicken is then cozily nestled into the skillet, making for a bubbly warm bed to cook the ingredients through. With this type of barely, the time needed will be at least a good forty-five minutes, but luckily, this is all downtime as you won't need to mess with it at all. This should leave you with time to clean up, sit down and relax, with drink in hand if you like.

As the mixture simmered while I was taking a break, I soon noticed an aromatic fist lifting from the skillet, aiming to shoot my nostrils with the smell of pure comfort. Unfortunately though, as I sat there un-patiently salivating at the thought of eating, the dish still needed to sit and rest for fifteen minutes off heat. Give in to this time as the flavors will blend and meld.

With the thighs almost absurdly tender, Jeff and I tore through plates of this in nearly (shamefully) record time! Complex, yet completely relatable at the same time, I was a little surprised with how much we enjoyed the cinnamon and mint in this - subtle, yet they were notable and well received. The barley, suspended in the juices the chicken and tomatoes exuded, were plump and tender, yet still retained their classic chewy texture to bulk up each serving. While I'd give this bonus points for the gratification it gave alone, the fact that this was completely made all in one skillet, making for easy clean up, certainly deserves recognition on its own!

Recipes
Smothered Chicken and Barley

Lime Angel Food Cake...

Packing has intensified around here with the moving truck set to arrive on Friday, but there are a few items I haven't surrounded with beige paper and sealed in a box, namely our stand mixer! The mixer is being left out as long as possible since I would like to make a repeat cookie or three next week as thank you gifts, but I also had a more selfish reason - I wanted cake! More specifically, this Lime Angel Food Cake with Lime Glaze and Pistachios!

Angel food cake can seem fairly ambitious, but it doesn't have to be as long as you have a bit of confidence and vigor! A few tips also don't hurt... one of the best I can give has to do with the whites - they should be at room temperature before you start whipping them as they will beat up quicker with a bit more volume if the whites are not chilled, but they separate from the yolks easier when they are cold. If you are using eggs right from the refrigerator, separate the yolks and then leave the whites in your mixing bowl, covered, for at least a half hour to warm up.

An aside... Whenever I separate eggs to use their yolks, I don't like to just toss out the whites - I usually add them to a container that I keep in the deep freeze. They often times end up in frosting (like the seven-minute or Swiss meringue type), homemade marshmallows or some type of meringue cookie - however, when I get enough, I love to make angel food cake (or cupcakes!).

Lime zest and juice will be used with the cake, but only the zest is used inside the cake - the tiny shreds are beaten in while the whites are whirling around the bowl. As soon as you've gotten the whites to a stiff peak stage (making sure to use a bowl and beaters that are free from any oil or grease), you'll be folding in the dry ingredients in three stages. This is where a light hand works best - when you sprinkle the flour mixture into the bowl, gently fold the whites from the bottom up and stop when you see the dry ingredients have disappeared.

A tube pan with a removable bottom works best for angel food cake for one simple reason - it takes away the pain and fear of unmolding the cake as the pan won't be greased first! That's right, keep the butter, spray or shortening away as the fluffy batter needs traction to climb and rise up the pan as it bakes. The next nifty quirk about these types of cakes? You'll be cooling the cake upside down once they have finished baking! Some tube pans have three or four "feet" along the top edge so can just turn the pan over and air can still circulate through - if your pan doesn't have that, just align the tube onto a skinny-necked heat-safe bottle. Because of how delicate the cake is, the weight of it can be enough to partially collapse the crumb. Turning it upside down relieves any pressure, ensuring the cake says tall and light.

While you could eat this just as it is out of the pan, there are a couple more steps to add a definite wow factor to the cake. We took the juice from the limes we zested and heated it with a scoop of sugar to make a thick, tangy syrup. Lavishly brushed all over the cake, we then immediately took finely chopped pistachios and went to town, scattering them all over the top and sides of the cake. Since the syrup is sticky while warm, the nuts will grab a hold no problem. After the syrup cools on the cake, it creates a wicked sugar-y lime crust that I frankly couldn't get enough of.

I used a food processor to get a fairly fine chop on the nuts, but when I did that, I also added a pinch of sea salt as the nuts I used were unsalted. Besides adding a lovely green pop of color (helping with the lime theme), the textural contrast between the nuts and soft cake was divine, while the salt was welcome counter to the sweetness of the syrup. For one final touch, we stirred the rest of the fresh juice we had into a bowl of confectioners' sugar, making a bright glaze to gingerly drizzle over the top. Screaming springtime with its airy texture and vibrant use of limes, I eagerly licked every nugget and crumb found on my plate - Jeff and I both agree that this cake ranks right up near the top of our all-time favorite desserts we've made yet!

Recipes
Lime Angel Food Cake with Lime Glaze and Pistachios

Kale and Roasted-Potato Salad...

While there is plenty of excitement around this whole moving deal, I'm a little sad we won't be able to put in a garden this season like we did last year. Between buying a house, trying to get the goods from MN moved and all the jazz that goes with this process, we have been way too busy to try and tend to a garden (let alone one we'd be leaving before being able to reap any of the benefits!).

We had planned on adding to the berry beds and expanding upon the space where we placed our vegetables, especially to make room for more greens like Swiss chard and kale. Plenty of access to farmers' markets (thankfully, in both locations!) will just have to be the ticket for us this year, which is just where we went to pick up the greens we needed for this Kale and Roasted-Potato Salad we had recently.

We'll get to what we did with the fresh kale in a minute, but the potatoes needed a bit of time and attention to prepare them. Using a handful of smaller potatoes, which need to be thinly sliced, along with a red onion while you have a knife and cutting board handy, we tossed them with enough extra-virgin olive oil to coat, along with plenty of salt and fresh ground black pepper. We used fingerling potatoes because we love how well they roast, but red bliss (or any type of "new potato") will do the job.

To give the potato and onion slices plenty of surface space, we divided the mixture between two baking sheets and just made sure to rotate them halfway through the time called for. You might be able to finagle the pieces enough to fit on a single sheet, but it would be very snug with some probable overlapping. Giving them that real estate on the pan allows them to caramelize, burnishing them with a golden brush and adding a bit of crispness.

With those two taken care of, we turned toward the bunch of kale we had, trimming the tougher stems away, then slicing the leaves into manageable pieces and giving them a good rinse. You'll want let most of the water you rinse them in drain away, but you don't need to run them through a salad spinner. In fact, you want to leave a bit of water clinging to the leaves which will help them cook through. Before adding the kale to the heated skillet, a large clove worth of thinly sliced garlic was slid into a drizzle of oil and left for a couple of minutes to crisp and turn golden. With the kale added and allowed to wilt down, a pucker-y dressing made from tart lemon juice, zest from said lemon we robbed the juice from and a small dollop of Dijon mustard was poured over and heated through.

This salad was brought together by tossing the potato mixture with the kale, forming rather hefty servings once portioned out onto our plates. I liked how the potatoes were a little crisp on the outside, yet not hard like a potato chip - the insides were still moist and a bit fluffy. Mixing them with the heartier, but tender greens, coated in that tangy dressing, was a nice way to round out the dish, adding splashes of color, a decidedly bright contrast of flavor and a hint of natural sweetness. Simple, clean and a fantastic way to get in those fresh farmers' market finds!

Recipes
Kale and Roasted-Potato Salad

Black-Bottom Cupcakes...

What happens when you marry a rich chocolate cake with a creamy, bittersweet chocolate chunk-studded cheesecake and downsize it into a hand held treat? That would make these crazy good Black-Bottom Cupcakes! I made them today in honor of our final Weekly Wednesday Treat Day for Jeff's former co-workers in Minnesota (this will be his last week in the office here).

Smooth cream cheese, granulated sugar and a single egg form the magical filling to these cupcakes, along with a healthy handful of coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate. You wouldn't necessarily have to add the extra chocolate if you wanted them a bit lighter, but it's like gravy on mashed potatoes - why not go for broke?

With that set aside for later, the loose cupcake batter comes together in a snap, with the benefit of not needing a mixer! Yes, this devil's food-like cupcake is made much like a muffin, meaning there is no creaming involved - just a "stir-and-go" deal. While natural cocoa powder is used for a slightly bitter bite, I did throw a touch of espresso powder into the mix to bump up the chocolate feel. Not so much that you'd think "Err, should I be drinking this?", but enough that it's like someone took a highlighter to the chocolate, emphasizing its more subtle notes.

I would have expected white sugar to be used in the batter, but this recipe happens to call for brown sugar, which we found to bring extra moisture and depth to the cupcakes. As soon as I started filling the baking tin, I had one of those "oh crap" moments, thinking this is going to get messy. I thought the wells of the pan were already full after the chocolate batter was added, but as soon as the cheesecake filling was dolloped on, it quite frankly looked as if the batter was going to flow right out of the wells. Not that I could do anything now to fix it, so I decided I might as well throw caution out the window and whatever happens, happens.

Much to my surprise, halfway through baking, I turned the oven light on to take a peek and let out an audible sigh of relief as I saw the batter perked right up and took shape, rather than oozing out all over. To make sure they have cooked through, a quick press on the dark cake-y part to see if it springs back will do - for added insurance though, you can slide a toothpick into the same area and look for it to come out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs attached.

You would usually find a swirly mound of frosting on cupcakes, but there is definitely none needed here - with that snazzy cheesecake filling pulling its own weight, frosting would throw these out of balance and leave your sweet tooth begging for mercy. Also, with no frosting, transporting them will be a breeze!

Recipes
Black-Bottom Cupcakes

Jerk-Spiced Shrimp...

With the deadline fast approaching to get ourselves out to Charlotte full-time, I've been trying to be diligent on making sure nothing in the freezer goes to waste. I've used up most of the proteins I had stored, but I did find a heavy sack of shrimp that I had to find a use for.

Since I've collected a fair amount of shrimp recipes over the years, I had plenty of choices to choose from, but it tends to get a bit overwhelming. Searching through the pile, many times I end up closing my eyes and randomly picking one instead. Which is exactly how I decided on making this dish of Jerk-Spiced Shrimp for dinner tonight!

Equal amounts of granulated sugar and brick-red paprika are stirred together, along with salt, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, thyme and allspice, forming a homemade jerk-like seasoning used to coat the shrimp. Before tossing the shrimp with the medley of spices, we first drenched them in a few healthy glugs of olive oil for not only an extra boost of flavor, but this extra fat moistens the spices, allowing them to fall in all the nooks and crannies.

As we were going to fire these on the grill, once we had them well coated with the seasoning, we threaded them onto long wooden skewers. You can soak the skewers first if you like, but I didn't bother since they weren't going to be over the heat very long. If you don't have an outside grill, a grill pan would work well, or even sliding them under the broiler to cook them through - just keep a close watch on them because they take minutes to cook.

With a half teaspoon of cayenne, I was wondering just how much of a spicy bite they would have. They do have a definite punch of heat, but not so much it would clean out your sinuses - in fact, I'm sure Jeff would have liked a bit more power as it's usually not hot enough unless some tears start to form! Jeff requested that we serve these charred, juicy shrimp over a simple plate of fragrant brown jasmine rice, but if you wanted to go a bit lighter, a refreshing fruit salad, perhaps loaded with plump chunks of tangy pineapple, would be the way to go (and have a beneficial cooling effect to boot!).

Recipes
Jerk-Spiced Shrimp

Broccoli Rabe and Sausage Bread Pizzas

You know how fond I've become of our precious whole-wheat pizza dough, so much so that I've almost stopped looking for other recipes to try (almost! I'm open to others!). As easy as it is to prepare, for this weeks Friday Night Pizza, we didn't haul out our food processor to make it, instead opting for a rustic, hole-y loaf of ciabatta bread we picked up from a local shop!

Even though we gained a bit of time by skipping out on making pizza dough, it was definitely eaten up with the preparation for these lavish Broccoli Rabe and Sausage Bread Pizzas. I don't mean to sound like it took all evening to make this, but there are a fair amount of steps and dirty dishes for a pizza!

Broccoli rabe (which may also be called rapini in your market) tends to have a bitter quality to it that some people dig, but for us, it hasn't quite won us over. To draw a good amount of that out, we took our large bundle of greens, trimmed away the tougher stems and gave it a short three minute stint in a pot of salted (be generous!) boiling water. Drain away the water and once the greens have cooled a bit, press out any excess liquid so it doesn't leech out and sog the ciabatta.

Even though these bread pizzas are baked once all the toppings are added, you'll want to give it a head start for a couple of reasons - the pieces will hold those additions better and it will keep a crunchier texture. This is done by taking the halved and split loaf, arranging the pieces on a rack set over a baking sheet and placed under the broiler. Don't walk away once you put this in as you can go from lovely toasted slices to blackened rocks in a manner of seconds! The rack may seem fussy, but this allows the air to flow all around the bread, keeping the bottoms crisp as well.

For an extra dose of spice, I used about three links worth of hot Italian turkey sausage, which we browned and crumbled in a hot skillet, though sweet Italian would work just as well. To make use of the same skillet, we scooped out the cooked sausage, added a drizzle of oil and tossed in scandalas amounts of minced garlic (okay, so that may be a bit dramatic, but it sounded good!) to heat through. One hefty pinch of crushed red pepper is sprinkled into the garlic, making the pan ready to spice up those now not-as-bitter pieces of broccoli rabe. To give the greens a fancy note that makes you go "hmm, I can't quite pin point whatever that is, but I like it!", we took a little nugget of nutmeg and added a few fresh grates of it in.

Instead of slathering a red sauce on the bread, we thinned a cup of ricotta cheese with enough milk to give it a sauce-like consistency, then seasoned it with a few dribbles from our bottle of extra-virgin olive oil, lively fresh thyme, a touch of salt and plenty of fresh ground black pepper. With that as a canvas on each quarter of bread, we divided the garlicky broccoli rabe over the portions, followed by the crumbled sausage and cheese of choice, shredded provolone! It takes just a couple more minutes under the broiler to melt the cheese and we were ready to dig in!

With a crusty outside, this could just as well be a knife-and-fork pizza, but since the bread wasn't baked for any length of the time, the inside retains some softness, making it just as easy to pick up and munch on. Our loaf was on the larger side to begin with, giving us four monstrous servings, and we were plenty stuffed by the time we finished our quarters, but darn it all if I can't get the thought of attacking the leftovers tomorrow for lunch out of my mind!

Recipes
Broccoli Rabe and Sausage Bread Pizzas

Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles...

With our trips back and forth to Charlotte, baking has sadly been on the back burner and I've definitely been missing it. We have just about three weeks left before we physically pack up the household goods and permanently move out there - since Jeff still needs to head downtown to the same office for workspace, I figure there will be at least two (if not three!) more Wednesday Treat Days that I get to bake for!

In these beautiful gems that we chose to make, Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles, lies a couple surprises that one might not guess at first glance. The dough is not only ridiculously simple, but only requires a couple bowls, a whisk, a sturdy wooden spoon and a few measuring devices to complete.

Our cookies are fairly dark thanks to the use of Dutch process cocoa powder - you could use natural cocoa, but we've come to prefer the former as it tends to lend a more complex chocolate background with a smooth finish. The recipe did call for using chocolate extract in the wet ingredients, but that's one ingredient I didn't have in the pantry and wasn't about to buy a bottle for a teaspoon. If you do happen to have one though, replace one teaspoon of the vanilla with it.

When combined, the dough was firm, yet pliable, and was not crumbly nor sticky in the least. Rolled into walnut-sized lumps, you can divide the dough out in a few ways to get the 24 cookie yield. You could divided the big ball of dough in half, then divide each in half again, leaving you with four pieces. Divide each fourth in half once more, then you'll just need to evenly break each lump into three pieces. If you'd rather go the route of the trusty cookie scoop, a tablespoon size worked well, packing it tightly without leveling it off. If you want to go crazy, break out the scale and divide the weight of the dough by 24 - our dough balls ended up being about 30 grams each.

Flattening each ball of dough into a thick disc, we pressed the tops of each into a dish filled with sparkling cinnamon sugar. Baked until the cookies are just set and have developed those attractive cracks and crevices over the top, resist the urge to try and remove them from the hot baking sheet. Right out of the oven the cookies are on the delicate side, but letting them sit for five minutes gives them time to firm up and make for an easy transition to the cooling rack.

Now, back to the surprises I mentioned earlier... when Jeff got home and took a look at the cookies he said "Oh, chocolate cookies! I need to try one now... please!" Before I even had a chance to say go ahead he took a big bite and went "Oooh, fancy, a cinnamon twist!". Then, his eyes opened wide and I said "Let me guess, you found the secret... hee hee!". After you roll the cookie over your tongue and swallow, you'll feel a slow, but pleasant, burn start to crawl up your throat from the dose of spicy cayenne pepper. Between the granulated sugar and maple syrup in the dough, the sweetness definitely tempers the heat, but there is just enough bite left to notice. The cookies do have a somewhat crunchy feel to the outside from the crisp sugar-y crust, but they are actually on the softer side with an addicting chewy quality to them.

The final surprise? The cookies are vegan - yup, no eggs or dairy products (as long as you use soy or almond milk)! The granulated sugar does pose a question as to them being truly vegan (depending how one defines), but as long as you use beet sugar, your fine. If you are using cane sugar (or frankly, just don't know because it isn't always labeled), during the refining process, this sugar is filtered through activated carbon, which could likely be charcoal from animal bones. However, I believe that none of that will actually reside in the final sugar product, hence the quandary for some vegans! Beet sugar doesn't need to go through that process, along with several other types of less or unrefined sugars that you could try to use.

Recipes
Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles

Egyptian-Spiced Chicken...

I tend to buy two or three of those giant packs of chicken breasts from Costco and spend a morning breaking them down into individual smaller pieces (that is, when we're not getting ready to move!) - part of it I grind with dark meat and freeze into one pound discs, with the rest being divvied up into four and six ounce portions. I like to freeze those by themselves first, then pack them together and pull out just what I need without having extra to worry about.

Being pulled out in singles allows them to thaw in a snap and makes for speedy dinners without much pre-planning, which is just what I needed after having tonight's dinner plans change and switching the main protein to this Egyptian-Spiced Chicken instead.

The title "Egyptian-Spiced" comes from the blend used to coat the chicken called dukka (or dukkah), which typically contains some sort of nut, cumin and sesame seeds, along with an assortment of other spices. This mix uses sliced almonds for the nut, with coriander seeds, fresh thyme and black peppercorns standing in for the other spices. To bring out the natural richness in a few of the ingredients, we first toasted the almonds, sesame seeds, cumin and coriander in a dry skillet until lightly golden. Being fairly chunky, the mixture does need to be broken down to coat the chicken evenly - we accomplished this with a small coffee grinder we keep just for spices, but a plain old mortar and pestle, with a little muscle, would work too. Just be sure to let it cool slightly first either way.

If you just sprinkled the mixture over the chicken, certainly some of it would adhere, but a fair amount is likely to fall off to the side. To allow it to grab hold and give the chicken a deep crust, we dunked each in a beaten egg, seasoned it with salt and then ran each piece through the almond mixture. The salt is added here, rather than blended in the spice mixture, giving you the control on just how much you want to add to each chicken breast. You don't need a lot, just a sprinkle to pop the robust nature of the nutty coating.

To cook the chicken, we quickly seared it in a skillet to brown both sides, then slid the pan right in a moderate oven to finish the pieces through with a gentle hand. Ours were done in just about ten minutes, but it could be slightly less or more depending on how much heat the skillet had and your oven - it's best to use a meat thermometer so you can pull them out just as they are done (I'll usually pull breast meat out around 160 to 165 degrees as the temperature continues to rise slightly as they rest).

Moist and tender, Jeff and I both thought this was an interesting result - while it wasn't like a thunderous explosion of flavor, we enjoyed how well the spices, nuts and seeds worked in a cohesive manner with each other, yet we could still pick out the individual ingredients. The almonds were nice, but fairly subtle in the end - I'd love to try this again using a more poignant nut... perhaps hazelnuts or even pistachios.

Recipes
Egyptian-Spiced Chicken

Falling into place...

We're now back in Minneapolis, once again, after a 23 1/2 hour drive over the past two days (which is why we've been quiet on the website!). With that, we finally have some news to share! Thanks to our brilliant agents, Lori in Minnesota and Melissa in North Carolina, we have accepted an offer on our house here, and have also had an offer accepted on a house in Charlotte! This all happened within roughly a 24 hour time period, which is amazing timing. We have about three weeks to get things wrapped up in Minnesota before we will be moving full time to Charlotte.

It's going to be a jam-packed three weeks for sure, but we'll do our best to keep the recipes flowing as often as we can because we need to eat too!

Sweet and salty haystacks...

*Quick note - did you see we now offer clean, print-friendly recipes? If you haven't had a chance to check out the post with details, click here!

I was telling Jeff the other week about a no-bake "cookie" that my Mom used to make when us kids were growing up - I think they were called haystacks. They were basically those crunchy chow mein noodles mixed with plenty of melted chocolate, butterscotch chips, sometimes peanut butter and I think there might have been some sort of nut thrown in there, but it's been forever since I've had them. I couldn't get them out of my mind and figured we'd give them a try, but with a bit of a makeover and we ended up with these Chocolate and Peanut Butter Pretzel Haystacks.

To retain the crunch and bulk of the chow mein noodles, without actually using them, a combination of whole-grain puffed cereal (bulk) and broken pretzels (crunch) (sticks or twists work best) were tossed together, along with shredded coconut for sweetness and chopped toasted almonds. Since I was looking to play around with the flavorings, once that mishmash of ingredients was merged, we divided them evenly between two bowls.

For the first set, we melted about a cups worth of chopped bittersweet chocolate, then stirred in natural almond butter (homemade!) and zapped it for a few more seconds in the microwave to meld the two together. The chocolate mixture was smooth and pourable, which made it a breeze to mix in with the puffed cereal concoction. Two tablespoons worked well to divvy the mixture out onto a baking sheet if you want to keep your hands clean, but I ended up using one spoon after the first two or three - a little messier, yes, but then I got to lick my chocolate-y fingers clean when I was done!

For the next batch, I went the peanut butter route, using peanut butter chips and natural peanut butter. These chips don't tend to melt as nicely as chopped chocolate, but as soon as we added the peanut butter and gave it another jolt of heat, I found the added fat from the nut butter helped smooth it out. It was a bit stiffer than the chocolate version and I found I had to work a little harder to get all the cereal and pretzels coated with it, but it worked together in the end. If you want to up the peanut quotient, you could swap out the almonds in the dry ingredients of this combo for chopped peanuts, but I didn't think that far ahead. I imagine butterscotch chips would work just as well as the peanut butter chips here, using either the almond or peanut butter.

To firm up the cookies, a quick rest in the refrigerator did the trick - I found the coating stayed set at a cool room temperature, but if your kitchen runs especially warm, you may want to keep these in the refrigerator or even the freezer. Both of us were wondering how the coconut would end up working in these - happily, we found it added more of a textural chew with a very subtle coconut note. If you would like the coconut to be more pronounced, you could try toasting the shreds first. I quite liked both versions, but found myself reaching for the peanut butter mounds while Jeff ran towards the chocolate/almond (no surprise there!). Both of us, however, loved the war between the sweet and salty notes in these, a top flavor contrast for us!

Recipes
Chocolate and Peanut Butter Pretzel Haystacks

Print-friendly recipes...

I was about to post another new recipe, but we'll push that off until tomorrow as I have some long-coming news to share! I think we've finally nailed the code (thanks GreenLava!) to produce print-friendly recipe pages without having to re-direct you to another website or change the individual posts over to PDF files. There may be a tweak or two left to do, but the changes are now live!

Now, when you go directly to a recipe post, you'll be able to print the text of the recipe (minus any website formatting, sidebars or pictures) without having to copy and paste the information to another program. If you want to see what will print before you try it out, just select print preview and give it a look! I know you've been asking for this for quite some time now - thank you for being patient! Please send us a note if you find any issues with the process.

Pork Meatball Banh Mi...

I don't know how we lucked out, but the weather for this Charlotte trip has been exceptional, if not a bit on the warm (hot!) side. Today was close, if not over, 90 degrees, but boy did it feel good with a strong breeze! I've been completely taking advantage of this while Jeff is at work, walking Gus around all sorts of groovy trails and shaded walkways. We have plans to go through a few houses this weekend, while also keeping an eye out for some sort of temporary furnished housing when we come out (close to permantely! ack!) next time. This past weekend, Jeff and I took Gus around a lovely area called Freedom Park.

Don't let that fool you as we found a lull in the action to grab the shot... the park was pretty darn packed! Gus was sniffin' all over, meeting plenty of pups his size and several that towered over him like a massive building. Here he is taking a breather on a shaded bench...

Now, while you're here, I do have food to share that we made after we arrived back home from the last trip. Do yourself a favor and make this one, soon.

Pork Meatball Banh Mi - doesn't the name alone just sound exotic and intriguing? Maybe it doesn't to you, but it did to me! I mean... meatballs - what's not to like? And pork... come on! Banh Mi did have me stumped though, but this is what I gathered after looking around - think a hearty Vietnamese baguette (which if you were staying true, the bread would be made with both wheat and rice flours) sandwich that can either be made using specific unique ingredients or tossed together using leftovers languishing in the refrigerator - aka a kitchen sink sandwich.

I didn't make many changes to the ingredients for this sandwich, but if you compare it to the original recipe, it may look fairly different. I thought it was written a little haphazardly and out of order; hopefully the way I posted works out a bit better for you. I made this from start to finish the night we had it for dinner, but you could get a head start on some of the components a day or so head of time - I'll let you know what parts when we get there.

Sandwiches usually have some sort of spread for not only flavor, but moisture and to help hold the ingredients together - in this case, an snappy combination of mayonnaise, a couple green onions and one of our all time favorite ingredients, sriracha (hot chili sauce). You'll want to make this first, giving it time to hang out in the refrigerator to settle as you prepare the rest of the sandwich - feel free to knock this out of the way a day or two ahead of time.

Next up for this sandwich is a quick batch of pickled vegetables - carrots and daikon in this case. If you absolutely can't find daikon (a milder white radish) you could try using regular red radishes (though they have a bit more bite). If you are not keen on any type of radish, think about using a crisp cucumber instead. After grating the vegetables, they were tossed with the pickling mixture mixture made from rice vinegar, sugar and salt, then left to sit for an hour while you get your hands dirty with the homemade meatballs. For the best texture, I would suggest waiting and doing this before serving if possible - we weren't as fond of it the next day as we thought the vegetables got a bit too soft.

Lean ground pork, vibrant fresh basil, ample amounts of fresh garlic, pungent fish sauce, more of that fiery sriracha, a small scoop of sugar, cornstarch, salt and fresh ground black pepper form the meatball mixture. Rolled into trim tablespoon-sized balls, we cooked the entire batch in one of our largest skillets heated with a dose of brawny toasted sesame oil. You could ditch the skillet and bake them through in the oven if you don't want to deal with that, but I think I'd miss the rich crust the skillet gave them. You can take advantage of making these ahead of time - just keep the raw meatballs in the refrigerator, covered, for a day or so and cook them just before you're ready to eat.

With a few crusty rolls in hand to use as the vessel to bring all those ingredients together, I do suggest scooping out some of the fluffier insides to make plenty of room to stuff the fillings in. With a bit of fresh cilantro to finish the assembled sandwiches, the juices in my mouth were flowing in anticipation of taking my first giant bite! The juicy meatballs themselves were crazy addicting, along with that zesty mayo that challenged our heat-tolerance. I loved the sweet-tanginess of the pickled vegetables - the one thing I wish I would have done differently was how they were prepared. Next time, I think I would cut them in matchstick-sized pieces rather than grating them. They weren't mushy by any means , but we would have liked the firmer contrast with a thicker cut.

Recipes
Pork Meatball Banh Mi