Parsnip Bread Pudding

Parsnip bread pudding might sound weird, but it's quite tasty.  It's a creamy, warm, savory bread pudding, with nice yeasty bread and roasted parsnips.  I'm not going to lie, I originally got this recipe from Martha Stewart.  I just made it a little less complicated.


Recipe:
1 pound parsnips, peeled and sliced
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 onion, chopped
1/3 cup white wine
2 cups heavy cream
5 eggs
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 loaf bread, cut into 1-2 inch cubes


Preheat oven to 425°.
Drizzle parsnips with oil, and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Arrange on a rimmed baking sheet.  Roast, shaking occasionally, until caramelized and tender, about 25 minutes. Let cool. Reduce heat to 375°.
Heat 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat in a medium saute pan until melted. Add onion, and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes.  Add wine, and simmer until reduced, 1 minute.  Season as desired (thyme, Italian herbs, etc.).  Stir in roasted parsnips.  Set aside.
Whisk together melted butter, heavy cream, eggs, and 3/4 cup Parmesan in a large bowl.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add onion-parsnip mixture, then fold in bread.
Butter a 2-quart baking dish, and pour parsnip mixture into dish.  Cover loosely with parchment, then foil, and bake until golden brown, about 50 minutes.  Remove parchment and foil.  Sprinkle with remaining parmesan, and return to oven.  Bake for 10. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

This was my contribution to Christmas dinner this year.  I've made it a couple of times and I love it - it's rich, buttery, and parsnips are one of my favorite root vegetables.  It's a delicious and unique side dish, and a great alternative to stuffing.  It's also a fairly substantial vegetarian side dish, which is something to consider for a large group meal.


As far as the bread goes, the original recipe calls for brioche.  I usually use a French or sourdough bread, since a) brioche is hard to find, b) it's just bread pudding, and c) I'm not Martha Stewart.  I think any good quality bakery bread will work for this.  I look for something with some crust, a good flavor, and a little more body, so it holds up in the pudding.

Eggnog Sugar Cookies

Nutmeg is one of my favorite spices.  For me, it's one of those delicious comfort food flavors, and one that I always associate with winter.  So these cookies are super festive for me, and I love them because they have a more complex flavor than the average sugar cookie.

Recipe:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/3 cup eggnog

Preheat oven to 350°.
Stir together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.  Set aside.
Mix together butter and sugar until creamy.  Add egg, vanilla, and eggnog and mix well.  Gradually add the flour mixture and mix until combined.
If dough is too soft to roll out, refrigerate for 1 hour.
On a floured surface, roll dough out to 1/8 inch thick.  Cut out with cookie cutters, place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 8-12 minutes, until the edges are golden brown.  Cool and frost with eggnog cream cheese frosting.

Frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
6 ounces butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup eggnog
3-4 cups powdered sugar

Mix cream cheese and butter together until creamy.
Beat in vanilla and 1/4 cup of eggnogg.  Gradually mix in 1 1/2 - 2 cups of powdered sugar.
Add remaining eggnog.  Mix in remaining powdered sugar until it is a good spreading consistency.  If it gets too stiff, add a little eggnog.


These cookies are so good!  I love the slightly custardy flavor and the spiciness.  They're perfectly festive, and fun to make.

Pot Roast

This started with the traditional pot roast recipe in Nourishing Traditions, but after the first few steps I took it in my own direction, since it was mostly seasoning-related.  This takes some planning, since it really needs a couple of days, but it is totally worth it.

Recipe:
3-4 pound pot roast
2 cups buttermilk (or Saco buttermilk powder and water)

1 bottle Guinness
1-2 bulbs garlic
1 onion, sliced
Salt
Black pepper
Seasoning such as English Prime Rib Rub, celery seed, thyme, rosemary

Place the pot roast in a 9" x 13" baking pan, pour the buttermilk over it, cover and  refridgerate it for 2 days, turning at least 3 times.

Heat oven to 350°.  Pour the buttermilk out of the pan, season the roast as desired, cover with garlic and onions, pour Guinness over it, and bake, uncovered, for 1 hour.  Baste with pan juices.

Continue to bake the roast at 250° for another 5 hours.  Check and baste it every 45-60 minutes.  When the meat starts to brown, cover it (for me this was into the second hour of cooking).

About 1 hour before serving, add vegetables to the pan and continue baking.

For gravy: remove the roast and vegetables to a serving dish.  Pour the pan juices into a sauce pan and bring to a low simmer.

Place 1/2 cup of juices and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch in a lidded container and shake until cornstarch is dissolved.  Add to pan of juices, and stir until slightly thickened.  Add seasoning as desired.


Obviously I only had carrots.

This came out so good.  At one point I was basting the roast and I poked it with the spoon to see how it was coming along and it started to fall apart.  A spoon!  So yeah, this was melt-in-your-mouth tender.  The flavor was great too, the earthiness of Guinness really compliments the beef's natural flavor, and herbs like thyme and rosemary are really fantastic with it.  If you need comfort food, here it is.

Cinnamon Roasted Almonds

So, as promised here's the second recipe for roasted almonds (the first being cocoa roasted almonds).

These are more traditional cinnamon roasted almonds, like the delicious smelling ones they make at the mall around Christmas.

Recipe:
2-3 pounds raw almonds
1/2 stick (4 Tbsp.) butter
1 Tbsp. vanilla
2 tsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 cup sugar

Spread almonds in shallow baking pans or rimmed cookie sheets.  Place in the oven, then turn heat to 350° (don't pre-heat) and bake 5 minutes.  Stir almonds and bake an additional 8 minutes.  Remove from oven.

Melt butter, stir in vanilla and 2 teaspoons sugar.  Pour over almonds and stir until coated.

Mix together cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and 1/4 cup sugar.  Sprinkle over the almonds 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring after each addition.

Spread almonds on parchment paper or foil and cool 1 hour.

These are nice and spicy, I used mostly Penzey's Vietnamese Extra Fancy Cinnamon, which is a very bold and spicy cinnamon.  The ginger and nutmeg help round out the flavor, giving these a very warm, comforting spiciness, like pumpkin pie or ginger snaps.




And, again, I'm packing these up into decorative gift bags:

So festive, and a fairly easy homemade gift.  I figure that each of these cost under $4 to make, counting the almonds, other ingredients, bags, decorative paper, et cetera.  So really, these are great gifts - homemade, festive, economical, and edible!

Cocoa Roasted Almonds

I love roasted almonds.  You know around Christmas when they put that almond roasting booth up in the mall?  I can't get enough of that.  It just seems so festive and I'm not entirely sure why.  There's absolutely no reason to only have roasted almonds around Christmas.

A few years ago I came across a recipe for roasted almond and it was great, but these days I don't feel inclined to boiling almonds in honey and then coating them in sugar.  I've been experimenting in small batches and here is the first of two recipes for roasted almonds.

Recipe:
2-3 pounds raw almonds
1 stick (1/4 pound) butter
2 ounces dark chocolate
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup sugar

Spread almonds in shallow baking pans or rimmed cookie sheets.  Put them in the oven, then turn heat to 350° (don't pre-heat) and bake for 5 minutes.  Stir and return them to the oven and bake for an additional 8 minutes.  Remove from oven.

Melt butter and chocolate.  Pour over almonds and stir to coat.

Stir cocoa powder and sugar together and sprinkle it over the almonds 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring well after each addition.

Spread almonds out on foil or parchment paper and cool for 1 hour.

Pour the almonds into a large bowl, sprinkle with 1 additional tablespoon each of cocoa powder and sugar, and stir to coat.

Mmmm...toasty chocolatey almonds!

The combination of dark chocolate and cocoa powder gives them a nice chocolate truffle sort of flavor.  You could easily modify this to suit your own tastes, for example using milk chocolate instead of dark, adding cinnamon or other spices, or adding more or less sugar.

And of course homemade treats like this make lovely gifts:

All you need is a quantity of coffee tin tie bags (which is what they're called, you're welcome), decorative scrap booking paper, an attractive paper punch, a glue stick, and labels with an ingredient list.

And of course the time to punch out decorative shapes, glue them on bags, roast the almonds, and fill the bags.

Voila!  Thoughtful, attractive homemade gifts!

Baked Apple Custard

For Thanksgiving I wanted to make something special, that would still be in keeping with my diet.  I've been enjoying baked apples as sweet treats, and thought something along those lines would be perfect.

Recipe:

3 apples
1 tablespoon butter
4 eggs
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar (or 2 tablespoons stevia)
2 teaspoons vanilla
3-4 teaspoons spices (apple pie spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger)
2 tablespoons ground almonds

Preheat oven to 350°.
Butter a 2 quart baking dish, sprinkle with ground almonds and shake to coat.
Core apples and cut into thin slices.
Melt butter and pour over apple slices.  Stir to coat.  Arrange apple slices in baking dish.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs.  Add milk and sugar or stevia and mix well.  Add vanilla and spices.
Pour custard over apples.  Place the baking dish in a 9x13 inch pan and fill with hot water. The hot water should come at least 1 inch up the side of the baking dish.
Bake for 1.5 to 2 hours or until a sharp knife inserted into the custard comes out clean.

Lovely!  It may not be entirely diet friendly, but it's not completely diet unfriendly, especially since I used stevia instead of sugar.

The ground almonds on the outside add a nice texture and nutty flavor, but they're totally optional.

It went together very easily, and I think it's quite tasty.

Cranberry Orange Relish

Cranberry orange relish is one of my family's traditional dishes.  It's made around this time of year, and divided into lots of containers, one for Thanksgiving, one for Christmas, a few in the freezer to last through the year.  It's sweet, tangy, and will always remind me of holidays.

Recipe:

2 oranges
1 - 1.5 pounds fresh cranberries
2 medium apples
1 - 2 cups sugar (or 3 tablespoons stevia)

Remove the orange peel with a vegetable peeler.  Core the apples and chop into large pieces.
In a food processor, grind orange peel, cranberries, and apples.  Add sugar or stevia and mix well.
Cover and refrigerate.  Can be frozen.

So delicious and festive!

The recipe above is half of what we usually make, but it's still plenty.

Also, to my eternal frustration, fresh cranberries are now sold in 12 ounce packages instead of 1 pound packages.  I ended up using 2 12 ounce packages, and it was fine, but it's still annoying.  What recipe ever calls for 12 ounces of cranberries?

Quick and Dirty Chicken Paprikas

I've been in the mood for comfort food lately.  I think it's the weather - it's chilly out and that makes me want to curl up with a cup of tea and a plate of something familiar and delicious.  Chicken Paprikas (Paprikas Csirke) is an old Hungarian family favorite, so I improvised a single-serving version that's quick and diet friendly.

Recipe:

1 chicken breast
3-4 cloves garlic
3-4 teaspoons paprika (I like Penzey's smoked paprika)
1-2 ounces yogurt
Sea salt

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a skillet, add 1 teaspoon of paprika to water.  Pierce chicken breast in several places and insert garlic cloves into the chicken.  Rub chicken with paprika.
Simmer chicken breast for 10-15 minutes, turning occasionally.  When chicken is done, remove from heat, and take the chicken out of the pan.  There should be 1/2 - 1 cup of liquid left in the skillet, if not, add a little water or chicken broth.  Add yogurt to cooking liquid and stir until smooth, add more paprika if desired, and salt to taste.
Pour the sauce over the chicken and serve.

Delicious!

Salsa with Roasted Jalapenos

Today I decided to throw together some salsa.  I can mix vegetables now on this phase of the hCG Diet, which is exciting, and I've been wanting some kind of sauce or topping to put with things, but store bought stuff usually has sugar, which I'm still avoiding.  So, homemade pico de gallo style salsa!

Recipe:

3-4 Tomatoes, seeded and diced
2 Jalapeno peppers (I roasted mine, see below)
1/2 Onion, diced
3-4 coves Garlic, minced
Cilantro or parsley
Lime juice
Salt

Dice tomatoes.  Carefully seed jalapenos (I wore gloves until I was totally done handling the peppers) and dice.  Dice onion and garlic.  Mix tomatoes, jalapenos, onion and garlic.
Stir in 1-2 tablespoons cilantro or parsley, juice from 1/2 lime, and salt to taste.

This makes about 1 pint of salsa.

Voila!  Yummy fresh salsa.

This ended up being about medium-hot to my taste, which is fine with me.  For milder salsa I would either add more tomato or less jalapeno.  And this ended up being nice and garlic-y with only a hint of onion, which is about as much raw onion as I like.

And it pairs quite nicely with thin sliced beef.



















About the jalapenos:

I roasted my jalapenos, using my handy kitchen torch (in a skillet, because I didn't want to set my cutting board on fire).  You can also use a broiler or an open flame on a gas stove.  Basically, you want to get them evenly blackened.

Then, while it's hot, put it in a plastic bag and seal it up.  The bag will quickly fog up with steam from the pepper.  Let it sit for 10-15 minutes.

Take the pepper out of the bag and use a paper towel to scrub off the blackened outside.  You should be left with a nice, roasty smelling, skinned pepper.  Take the seeds out and you're ready for anything!  Well anything you'd want to do with a jalapeno.

Be careful when handling the peppers.  I wore gloves until I had washed the knife and cutting board, because getting pepper juice in your eye is one of the worst things ever.

Fish Soup

So this is a retry of this subpar fish soup and it is, of course, vastly better.  The recipe is mostly the same, but I used really good fish, and I'm now of phase 3 of the hCG Diet, which means I can mix vegetables and eat a small amount of good fat (cheese, avocado, olive oil, etc.)


Recipe:
1 Tomato, peeled and seeded (or 1 can of diced tomatoes)
2 cups Water
6-8 oz. Halibut
3 oz. Cabbage, shredded
Sea salt and seasoning


In a medium saucepan, bring water and tomato to a boil.  Using a blender (immersion or otherwise) puree the tomato and water.  Return to heat and season to taste.

Place the fish in the broth and simmer for a few minutes.  Remove fish from soup and flake it apart.  Return fish to broth, add cabbage, simmer 8-10 minutes and serve.

I used leftover fish from a night or two ago, so for seasoning I used what I initially used on the fish (which was Greek).  I also added a little pepper and smoked paprika.


This totally looks like food from the Old Country.  It's delicious and comfort food-y.

Crab Cakes

This is another hCG Diet version of a dish.  This is tasty, easy, and only took a few minutes to throw together.

Recipe:
3 oz. Crab Meat
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1-2 teaspoons Lemon Zest
2-3 teaspoons Parsley and other seasoning (an Italian mix or other herb blend is good)
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350°.  Combine crab, garlic, lemon zest, and seasoning.  Carefully form two patties and place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake 15-18 minutes, until lightly golden on top.  Sprinkle with parsley and lemon juice and serve.

Forming the patties was a little tricky, since there's nothing to really hold them together.  But once they were formed they held up really well.

These were very good, and really felt like a treat!

Coleslaw

So here's another hCG Diet friendly version of a classic side dish.  This is a great refreshing salad and pairs very well with hot and spicy things.

Recipe:
6-8 oz. Cabbage
Juice of 1/2 a Lemon
Salt, pepper, and seasoning

Slice or shred the cabbage.  Add lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste.  Toss to coat.  Add any desired seasonings (I like to add a little of Penzey's Mural of Flavor or Fox Point seasoning).  I also like to add a little stevia.

Yum!  This makes a nice change from lettuce salad, and it pairs very well with spicier things since it's cooler and a little bit sweet.

Pulled Chicken Soup

So I made last night's pulled chicken into soup tonight.  It's almost a chicken chili, but with more of a smoky barbecue flavor.

Recipe:
1 cup Chicken Broth
1 Tomato, peeled and seeded
1 teaspoon Barbecue Seasoning (same as used on the chicken)
2-3 teaspoons Cilantro or Parsley
3 oz. Pulled Chicken

Heat the chicken broth over medium heat.  Chop the peeled tomato and add it to the chicken broth.  Add seasoning.  Cook 5-7 minutes.  Puree with immersion blender.

Add chicken and simmer for 8-10 minutes.  Serve.

Like I said, it's kind of a chicken barbecue chili.  Very flavorful and spicy, perfect on a cold and rainy day like today.

Pulled Chicken

Here's another dish that I recently modified to be hCG diet friendly.

Recipe:
2 Chicken Breasts
2 tablespoons Barbecue seasoning (I use Penzey's BBQ 3000)
1 tablespoon Chili or Taco seasoning (I use Penzey's Chili 9000)
1 cup Water
3/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
Sea Salt

Season chicken breasts liberally, and grill or pan fry until done (I use a little electric grill).
Transfer chicken to a cutting board.  Using two forks, shred the chicken into small pieces.
In a shallow pan, bring water and apple cider vinegar to a boil.  Add shredded chicken.  Add more barbecue seasoning if desired.  Salt to taste, if necessary.  Simmer for 8-10 minutes and serve.

Delicious!  I eat mine in a lettuce wrap, but it would also be good in a sandwich or taco.  It's very flavorful and juicy, you'd never guess that it has no sugar and no added fat!

Waldorf Salad

This recipe is pretty much out of the booklet I got when I started the hCG diet.  It's quick, easy, and pretty tasty.

Recipe:

2 ounces Chicken (cooked)
1 stalk Celery
1/2 Apple
Sea salt, lemon juice, and seasoning.

Chop the chicken into small pieces.  Dice the celery.  Chop the apple.  Combine the chicken, celery, and apple together, sprinkle with sea salt and lemon juice, season as desired.  Mix until well combined and serve.

Tasty!  And a good way to use up chicken leftovers.  I have a container that I put all of my little extra bits of chicken in when I'm measuring out my mealtime portion, so I had chicken from 2 or 3 different occasions in there.  But, chopped up fine and mixed with other things, it wasn't really noticeable.

And again, for mixing, I just put everything into a lidded bowl and shook it, so this took less than 5 minutes to throw together.

Fish Chowder

I recently made the mistake of buying some frozen cod fillets.  Now, I love fish.  I love all kinds of fish and I love fish prepared all kinds of ways.  I even like cod, which isn't the most flavorful or interesting of fish.  But these were just...subpar to say the least.

Instead of being flaky, tender, and flavorful these came out tough, dry, and bland.  There were 3 of these things and they always came out bad, no matter what I did to them.  So with the final one I made soup, and it's actually not bad and I'd like to try it again with higher quality fish.

Recipe:

1 Tomato (or 1 can of diced tomatoes, do not drain)
1 cup Chicken Broth (omit if using canned tomatoes)
1 fillet of Cod (or other white fish)
Sea salt and seasoning

In a medium saucepan, bring chicken broth (or canned tomatoes) to a boil.  (If using a fresh tomato) Peel and seed tomato, chop roughly, and add to hot chicken broth.

Using a blender (immersion or otherwise) puree the tomato and chicken broth.  Return to heat and season to taste.

Place the fish in the broth and simmer for a few minutes.  Remove fish from soup and flake it apart.  Return fish to broth, simmer 5 minutes and serve.

Considering the poor quality of the fish I had to use, this was actually pretty good.  The cod gave a good flavor to the broth, and the fish itself didn't really detract from the soup, although there were a couple of larger pieces and those were tough and dry (in soup even!).

Again, this was good in general, and I'll try it again when I get some better fish.  And I'm sticking to fresh.

Celery & Shrimp Salad

Here's something I made for myself for lunch recently.  It's super easy, especially if you have precooked shrimp around.

Recipe:

3.5 oz. (approximately 9) Shrimp (I used precooked)
2 oz. (1 large stalk) Celery
1 teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
1 teaspoon Lemon Juice
Sea salt
Herbs/seasonings (I used Mural of Flavor)

Dice celery.  Add apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, sea salt and desired seasonings.  Toss to coat.
Chop shrimp, add to celery and toss to coat.

I have a set of lidded prep bowls so I just threw everything in one of those and shook it, so this whole thing took about 5 minutes.  For those not on the hCG diet, this would make a nice refreshing side salad.

I really enjoyed this, it has a nice mix of textures with the shrimp and raw celery, and as far as the flavor you can pretty much do whatever you want with this.  I decided I wanted something citrusy and sweet, which is why I went for the lemon juice and an herb blend.

So, a tasty lunch in less than 5 minutes and under 100 calories.  Woo!

Grilled Tomatoes

There are going to be some changes around here.  For the past 2 weeks, I've been detoxing, and now I'm starting the very low calorie phase of the hCG diet.  It's a change that I'm feeling really good about, and as far as food goes, I'm sticking to the diet and being very strict with myself.  I packed up all my olive oils and balsamic vinegars and put them in a box in the basement, cleaned out the fridge, and stashed away anything not on the diet that I might use inadvertently.

So what does this mean for the blog?  Well, I'm not turning this into a diet blog, and I really don't intend to write about the diet very often.  The agenda is still the same: to share food and recipes.  It'll just have a different focus for awhile.

And here I am on day 2 of the low calorie diet, and I find myself thinking more about seasoning (not that I didn't before), and texture (again, I've always been big on texture), and I'm thinking more creatively about vegetables.  So tonight I decided to have a tomato as my dinner vegetable and I was just going to slice it up and sprinkle it with salt, but then I remembered the grilled tomatoes that are usually part of an Irish breakfast and decided to try something like that.

Recipe:

1 fresh Tomato
Sea Salt
Fresh Basil, chopped
Pepper

Heat a frying pan over high heat.
Slice tomato in half.  Rub sliced side with sea salt and chopped basil.  When the pan is very hot, place both halves, sliced side down, in the frying pan.  Reduce heat to medium.  Cook for 5-8 minutes.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve.

These were so good!  The acidity of the tomatoes paired very well with the fish, which is halibut pan seared with Tuscan Sunset seasoning.  They're still quite firm, but they're warm all the way through and have a nice herb-y/saltiness and the fresh pepper at the end adds a little kick.

Carrot Ginger Soup

So finally, it's starting to feel like fall!  Fall is my favorite season - I love the cooler weather, the changing colors, the smells...and of course the food.  So here's one of my favorite cold weather soups to kick off the season!

Recipe:
1 large Onion, chopped
6-8 large Carrots, cut into large slices
Garlic, to taste
2 handfuls Cashews
1-2 inch piece of fresh Ginger, chopped
Sea Salt
Butter
Water

Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a large pan.  Add chopped onions and cook until transparent.  Add carrots, garlic, and ginger, cover with water and cook until the carrots are tender.

In a small fry pan, melt 1 tablespoon of butter and add cashews.  Cook, stirring frequently until lightly toasted.  Add to carrot mixture.

Puree soup, adding water as needed, until smooth.  Return it to the pot and add salt to taste.

Serve with sour cream or plain yogurt (I prefer Greek yogurt).

Here I sprinkled some chopped fresh cilantro into it and that was pretty good.  This is a nice spicy soup, it's not an immediate hot-and-spicy, but the ginger packs some heat that kind of builds up slowly.  The spicy ginger and the sweet carrots are great together and the cashews add a nice earthiness.

This soup also gets surprisingly creamy, even if you don't add sour cream or yogurt to it.

Like I said, this is a great cool weather soup - it's warming, easy to make, and look at how cheerful that color is!

Beef Stroganoff Soup

This is my first attempt at making something like the amazing beef stroganoff soup at Uncle Cheetah's Soup Shop.  It's not perfect, but it's still pretty tasty.  And soon I'll be on my own again and I won't be able to just pop down to the soup shop and get delicious foodies.

Recipe:
Olive Oil, Water
1/2 pound Stew Beef or Ground Beef
3-4 cloves Garlic, chopped
1 cup Guinness or other dark beer
1/2 pound Crimini or Portobella Mushrooms, chopped
Salt, Pepper, Seasoning
1/2 cup Half & Half
Noodles

Heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil, add garlic and cook about 5 minutes on medium heat. Add beef, add salt and pepper to taste, and cook until brown.  Add beer and desired herbs or seasonings (I used fresh sage, basil, and a Bavarian herb blend from Penzey's).  Add enough water to just cover the meat, bring to a simmer and cook 15 minutes.  Add mushrooms and cook another 15-20 minutes, stirring frequently.
Meanwhile, cook the noodles of your choice.  Something a little heavier such as egg noodles or bow ties are better.
Reduce heat to low and slowly add about 1/2 cup of half and half.  Simmer until soup is somewhat thickened.
Serve over noodles.

I'm pretty happy with how this came out, I think it's be better with a little sour cream stirred in, but I didn't have that on hand.  But it's still delicious!  Nice and earthy and herby.  Very comfort food-y.

Blueberry Sauce

This is a quick and easy (and delicious) way to use fresh fruit and berries.  It's versatile and not too sweet, so it's great on lots of things.

Recipe:
1 cup Water
1/2 cup Sugar
1-2 pints Berries

Bring water to a boil, add sugar and simmer for about 5 minutes.
Add berries and stir to coat.  Simmer for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes.  Puree with an immersion blender or regular blender until smooth.

I flavored my blueberry sauce with vanilla and balsamic vinegar, which I added along with the berries.  I think fresh herbs would also be a good (and seasonal) addition.  It's nice and summery, and a great way to use up fresh produce.

And of course it's good on ice cream.

Orange Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

This is birthday cupcake recipe #2.  I thought I ought to make something, well, less boozy.  And I wanted something light and summery, which these certainly turned out to be.

Recipe:

Cupcakes
1 stick Butter, softened
1 cup Sugar
2 Eggs, separated
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 3/4 cups Cake Flour (or 1 2/3 flour and 2 tablespoons cornstarch)
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 tablespoon Baking Powder
1/2 cup Orange Juice

Preheat oven to 350°.  Place cupcake papers in cupcake/muffin tin.  This recipe makes about 18 cupcakes.
Cream together butter, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, stir together flour, salt, and baking powder.  Add dry ingredients to the creamed ingredients, alternating with portions of the orange juice.
Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into batter.
Spoon batter into cupcake papers, fill about 1/2 full.
Bake 15-18 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.  Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting
2 sticks Butter, softened
1 tablespoon Vanilla
3-4 cups Powdered Sugar
1-2 tablespoons Whipping Cream

Cream butter until fluffy.  Add vanilla and mix well.  Gradually add 2 cups of the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.  Gradually add remaining sugar and cream until the frosting is a good consistency for spreading.

These came out well.  Nice and summery!  The flavors are Orange Creamsicle-like, which is what I was going for.  The juice gives the cake a great orange flavor without increasing the sweetness.

Yum!

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Irish Whiskey Filling and Bailey's Buttercream

This is birthday cupcake recipe #1.  I was feeling kind of meh about what to make for my birthday this year and then I found this recipe over on Serious Eats and I knew it was The One.

Recipe:

Cake
1 cup Stout (Guinness)
1 cup Butter
3/4 cup Cocoa Powder
2 cups Flour
2 cups Sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda
3/4 teaspoon Salt
2 Eggs
2/3 cup Sour Cream

Pre-heat oven to 350°.  Place cupcake papers in a cupcake/muffin tin.  This recipe makes about 24 cupcakes.
In a medium saucepan, melt butter and add Guinness.  Bring to a simmer and whisk in cocoa powder, stirring until smooth.  Remove from heat.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
In a mixing bowl, cream together eggs and sour cream.  Add chocolate stout mixture.  On slow speed, gradually mix in the dry ingredients.
Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full (these don't rise too much).  Bake until tester comes out clean, about 20-22 minutes.  Cool completely.

Filling
8 ounces Bittersweet Chocolate (60-70% cocoa)
2 tablespoons Butter
1/3 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1/3 cup Bailey's Irish Cream
1 tablespoon Irish Whiskey (Jameson, Bushmills, etc.)

Break chocolate into chunks and place in a heat proof bowl.  Add butter.  Heat cream to a simmer and pour over butter and chocolate.  Let sit for a minute or so, until the cream melts the chocolate (I made the filling while the cupcakes were baking, so I set the bowl on the oven and this helped melt the chocolate).  Stir until smooth.  Add the Irish cream and whiskey and stir until smooth.
Chill the filling until it is firm, but still workable.  It's going into the cupcakes, so you don't want it to be liquid.  I found that kind of a cream cheese firmness was good.  And if it's too firm, let it sit for a few minutes.

Frosting
1 stick Butter, softened
3-4 cups Powdered Sugar
3-4 tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream

Beat butter until fluffy.  Gradually add about 2 cups of the sugar.  Add some of the Bailey's and beat well.  Add remaining sugar and Bailey's until the frosting is a good consistency for spreading.

Okay, now that all the components are ready, it's time to assemble the cupcakes:

Make a space for the filling in the cupcakes.  I used a small, sharp knife to cut a circle out of the top, and bore a hole in the cake.  Only go about 2/3 of the way down.
Fill the cupcakes.  I used a spoon to scoop out filling and then used a knife to press a glob of filling in, and then make it smooth and level with the top of the cupcake (just like spackling!).  You could also use a pastry bag to pipe filling into the cupcakes.
Frost the cupcakes!

So cute!  And here's a cross section:

The cake is good, not super intense, but a really good chocolate cake, and then the filling is fudgy and delicious, and the icing is buttery and Irish creamy.  They're super good together and this is maybe my favorite cupcake.  Certainly the best cupcake I've made.

Happy birthday to me.

And overall it wasn't a difficult recipe.  There's a lot of steps, but I was expecting to struggle with carving the hole out of the cake and filling it, but it went together pretty quickly, and hassle free.

Oh, and I should add that you don't really taste the alcohol in the cake, filling, or frosting. I mean, you taste it, but I don't think you could get drunk off the cupcakes.

Tuna Steak

I love tuna steak.  It's like a magical combination of fish and red meat -- two things I love.  It has an amazing texture, and it's very easy to do well.  I threw this dish together in under 15 minutes, and it came out fantastically, if I do say so myself.

Recipe:

Tuna Steak (The one used here is about 4 ounces)
8-10 Crimini (Baby Portobella) Mushrooms
2-3 tablespoons Malt Vinegar
1 cup Red Wine
Salt and Pepper (to taste)
Olive Oil

Stir together malt vinegar, wine, and seasoning.  Slice mushrooms and add to wine mixture. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet, and add mushrooms and all of the wine mixture.  Bring to a boil, and simmer 5-7 minutes until the wine is reduced.  Remove the mushrooms and reduction to a separate bowl.  Set aside.
Return the skillet to heat and add 1 tablespoon olive oil.  Add tuna steak and cook on medium heat for 3-4 minutes.  Flip the tuna steak, turn the burner off after 1 minute, and remove steak from pan after 2 more minutes.
Serve tuna steak and mushrooms.

I had this over udon noodles that I tossed with basil infused olive oil and sea salt.  The earthiness of the mushrooms and the meatiness of the fish worked very well with the sour tang of the malt vinegar and red wine, and the noodles with basil olive oil provided some needed sweetness.

If you don't like rare meat or fish, cook the steak a little longer.  I like mine rare to medium rare, and the time I used in this recipe will get you this:

Mmmmmm...perfect.

Carrot Cake and Cream Cheese Frosting

I found this recipe on Serious Eats.  I love carrot cake, plus I had a bag of beardy looking carrots that I needed to use up, so what better way to do that than with cake?  I modified their recipe a bit, mostly by cutting back on sugar and putting in more carrots and spices.

Recipe:

2 1/2 cups Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 tablespoon Cinnamon
3/4 cup packed Brown Sugar
3/4 cup Sugar
1 1/2 (3 sticks) Butter, softened
3 Eggs
2 teaspoons Vanilla
4 cups freshly grated Carrots
1 inch piece fresh Ginger, grated (or 2 teaspoons powdered ginger)
1 cup Golden Raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°, grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, brown sugar, and white sugar.
Beat the butter into the flour mixture until well combined, add eggs one at a time and beat until fluffy.  Add vanilla.  Stir in carrots, ginger, and raisins.
Pour batter into greased baking pan.  Bake 40-50 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 ounces Cream Cheese
1 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar
1/4 cup Butter, softened
1 teaspoon Vanilla

Cream together butter and cream cheese, add powdered sugar and vanilla.  Beat until smooth.

This cake was surprisingly light, considering how dense the batter looked when I was putting it in the pan.  I also had some misgivings about the recipe because I was adding the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, which is usually the opposite of what one does, but it came out really good.

Instead of using all white flour, I used 2 cups regular flour, 1/4 cup whole wheat flour and 1/4 cup flax seed meal.  Also, since I don't have a box grater or a grater attachment for my Kitchenaid, I used the food processor to shred the carrots and fresh ginger and it worked great!

This cake was very flavorful, light, and not too sweet.

Peanut Butter Popcorn Balls

I'll be honest -- I'm not a fan of popcorn.  I don't especially dislike it, but I don't choose to eat it often.  Usually, at the movies, if I have a taste for popcorn, I'll just snag a handful of someone else's (that I'm with, of course) and that satisfies my popcorn craving.  Well this afternoon I was at a movie, I had a taste for popcorn but was by myself, so I actually ordered a thing of it.  And ate less than a quarter of it before I was totally over my craving for popcorn.

Being thrifty, I brought it home thinking that I'd just eat it later, but then I realized it would be totally gross by the time I felt like eating it.  So I hit the internet, hoping to find a way to use up a giant bag of movie popcorn, and found this.

Recipe:

4 cups Popcorn
1/4 cup Honey
2 tablespoons Sugar
1/4 cup Peanut Butter
1 teaspoon Vanilla

Measure the popcorn into a large bowl.
Melt honey and sugar in a medium saucepan.  Bring to a boil and simmer 2-3 minutes.  Stir in the vanilla and peanut butter.  Mix until smooth.
Pour over the popcorn.  Stir to coat the popcorn.
Form into small balls while still warm, and store in an airtight container.

Now, I wore a pair of surgical gloves while forming the popcorn balls and this served two purposes.  First, it provided some protection from the hot peanut butter mixture, and second, I was able to form the balls without getting my hands all messy.

Quick, easy, and delicious!  And yes, apparently I'm also the kind of person who has surgical gloves around.

Sweet, salty, buttery, peanuty...yum!

And I had enough popcorn left to make a double batch.  Yes, 8 cups of popcorn.  Because my local theater has psychotic servings.  Seriously, a small drink is 32 oz.  Ridiculous!

Parmesan Custard

This is one of my favorite things from Nourishing Traditions.  This is a savory custard, and is especially delicious as a side dish to meat and veggies.

Recipe:

4 Egg Yolks
1 1/2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese
Cayenne pepper or paprika

Whisk egg yolks and gradually add whipping cream.  Stir in parmesan cheese and pour custard into individual ramekins (4-6).  Sprinkle with cayenne or paprika.
Bake at 350° for 45 minutes.  Cool 5 minutes before serving.

It's so creamy and cheesy!

This one is actually made with Romano instead of Parmesan.  You really need to use a cheese that's hard and aged, so it isn't greasy when it's melted (I once tried it with cheddar and it didn't turn out well).

Cheeseburger Eggsplosion

I saw this the other day over on Serious Eats, and it was just about the best thing I'd ever seen.

I love egg-in-a-basket, and I love burgers, plus I haven't been eating meat for lent (and it hasn't swayed me to the vegetarian side, the last few days I've practically started drooling at the sight of meat).  So, this seemed like the perfect thing to break the fast with.

I'm not going to reiterate the recipe here, since it's pretty straightforward, and if you haven't been to Serious Eats, you should remedy that.  But, here's my pictures:

An ordinary cheeseburger?

Hardly!  There's an egg fried into the center of the patty, and how fantastic is that?  It's pretty fantastic.

Happy Easter!

Paas egg coloring kit + brown eggs = these awesome colors.  Except for you, blue and purple, you don't do so well with brown eggs.

Open Faced Cheese Cakes

So, this is what I did with my homemade cheese.  This recipe is from my family's Hungarian cookbook.

Recipe:

1/2 lb. (2 sticks) Butter
2 (8 oz.) packages Cream Cheese
2 cups Flour
2 tablespoons Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking Powder

Cream together butter and cream cheese, add remaining ingredients.  Roll out dough about 1/4 inch thick, cut out rounds, top with filling.  Bake for about 20 minutes at 350° until lightly browned.

Filling:

1 cup dry Cottage Cheese
2 Egg Yolks
1 tablespoon Butter, melted
1/2 cup Sugar
1 tablespoon Lemon zest
2 teaspoons Vanilla

Mix together all ingredients and place a spoonful on each round of dough.

These are the ones I made with my cheese.

 These are made with regular cottage cheese.  Other than a slight difference in texture, the taste was basically the same.

These aren't very sweet, but they're very rich.  And addictive!

Cheese

That's right, I made cheese.

This wasn't exactly planned.  I opened my milk yesterday and found that it was well on it's way to being curds and whey.  Now, this was almost a full half gallon of organic milk, less than a week old, and only one day past the sell by date.  So I was positively cringing at the idea of tossing it.

So, I consulted the internet and gave it a whirl, figuring that if nothing else, I'd be entertained for the morning.


Step 1: Curds and Whey


I heated the milk, which was chunky to begin with, until it separated completely.  Appetizing, I know.

Curds and Whey

Straining

Step 2: Straining

I got one of my mixing bowls, put the colander in it, lined the colander with cheesecloth, and secured the cheesecloth with clothes pins (because, apparently, I'm the kind of person who has cheesecloth and clothespins on hand).  Then, I poured the curds and whey into the cheesecloth, where the whey drained from the curds.

I let this sit for about an hour, so the whey could drain.

Step 3: Whatever You Call This

Whatever You Call This

Basically, I gathered up the edges of the cheesecloth and tied it around a wooden spoon and let it sit for about 2 hours.  Then when it wasn't dripping whey anymore...

Step 4: Unveiling

Voila!

Voila!  Fresh cheese.  The texture is kind of like dry ricotta.  It's very mild and smells amazing, but has an acidic whey aftertaste that I find unpleasant.  It's not great for eating on it's own, but just fine for cooking!

The half gallon of milk ended up making about 1 cup of cheese, which I used to make Hungarian Open Faced Cheese Cakes.

Hummus

Hummus is so easy to make, and it's good on so many things.  Since I figured out how I like my hummus, I've been eating it with crackers, with veggies, and on sandwiches.  This recipe is basically a combination of a few different ones, plus I adjust the seasonings depending on what I'm in the mood for.

Recipe:
1 can Garbanzo Beans, drained
1/4 - 1/3 cup Olive Oil
1/4 - 1/3 cup Tahini
2 - 3 cloves Garlic
2 - 3 teaspoons Lemon Juice
Sea Salt

In a food processor, combine garbanzo beans, olive oil, and garlic.  Add tahini and lemon juice.  Remove mixture from food processor and stir in sea salt to taste.

Here it is with feta cheese and parsley.  If I have fresh parsley on hand I like to add some to the hummus itself (usually with the tahini).  It's also good with a little Greek seasoning, oregano, or cilantro.

Beet Soup

I love beets!  I think they have a great flavor, and they're versatile.  They're good raw, roasted, fried, baked, steamed...any way you cook a vegetable is a good way to cook a beet.  This is one of my favorite ways to cook beets, and it's from Nourishing Traditions, which is an amazing book.

Recipe:

4-5 Beets
1/2 cup (1 stick) Butter
Salt, Pepper
Water

Melt butter in large saucepan.  Peel and roughly chop beets, add to butter and stir to coat.  Add about 1 cup of water and cook beets until tender, 20-30 minutes.  Add enough water to just cover the beets and bring to a boil.
Remove from heat and puree soup with an immersion blender (or regular blender).  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with sour cream or plain yogurt.

This is great, it really showcases the flavor of the beets, and look how awesome that color is!

I just season this with a little bit of salt and pepper, sometimes some Penzey's Krakow Nights (Polish style seasoning), but mostly I like the beets to speak for themselves.  Any seasoning should just enhance the natural, amazing beet flavor, not cover or compete with it.

Burrito Soup

This started with a recipe that I found online, but then when I actually started cooking I totally ignored that recipe.  This is really a versatile soup now, basically whatever you like in or on Mexican food can go in or on this.

Recipe:
Olive oil
1 Onion, chopped
Garlic (to taste)
2-3 stalks Celery, chopped
2 cans Black Beans, drained and rinsed
Broth (vegetable or chicken)
1-2 cups Salsa
Chili powder

Heat 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan.  Add onions, garlic and celery and cook until onions are transparent.  Add black beans, salsa, and enough broth to cover them, bring to boil.  Remove from heat and puree with an immersion blender (or regular blender). Return to heat, add more salsa and season to taste.

You can also add browned ground beef to the soup (after it's pureed). It's good topped with sour cream or cheese, and I love it with Fritos.  And Guinness.

Oat Macaroons

I was looking for a new oatmeal cookie recipe to try out for oatmeal cookie day, and came across this one in Good Housekeepings Book of Menus, Recipes, and Household Discoveries.

Recipe:
2 Eggs
3/4 cup Sugar
1 tablespoon melted Butter
2 cups Rolled Oats
1 cup Coconut
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Vanilla
3 tablespoons Cornstarch
1 teaspoon Baking Powder

Preheat oven to 350°
Beat together eggs and sugar, add melted butter.  Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
Drop spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Makes about 18 cookies.

These are great!  A little crunchy, a little chewy, and not too sweet.  They're also flour-less and have a pretty minimal amount of fat.  Happy oatmeal cookie day!

Crackers

Crackers probably seem like a weird thing to make at home, but I love these!  They're easy, if a little time consuming, and so delicious.

Recipe:

2 cups of plain flour

¼ teaspoon sea salt

2 tablespoons softened butter

3/4 cup of water

2 tablespoons Saco buttermilk powder (optional)

2 tablespoons spices or seasoning blend (optional)

Preheat oven to 325'F.

Add the salt and buttermilk powder to the flour, and in a mixing bowl or food processor, cut the butter in until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.  Slowly mix in enough water to form a soft, but not sticky, dough.

Divide the dough into two portions, knead seasoning into dough, and roll out one at a time, until paper thin. You can do this on a lightly floured surface, or you can roll it out onto a large, ungreased cookie sheet. This recipe makes enough for two 10" x 15" trays.

Prick the surface of the dough with a fork.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until lightly browned.  Remove from the oven and cut into crackers.  Reduce heat to 300, and bake on top rack until crisp, 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool on the tray, then store in an airtight container.

I cut mine with scissors, for a couple of reasons -- first, it doesn't scratch up my one and only cookie sheet, and second, my kitchen scissors are very sharp, and washable.  However you choose to get your crackers into cracker shape, it's important to bake them for awhile first.  If you cut the freshly rolled out dough into squares, the sides will pull up, and the crackers won't be thin and crispy, they'll be thick and tough.

And here they are!  I added Greek seasoning and sesame seeds to this batch, and they're delicious with hummus and feta cheese.

I've tried a lot of different spices and seasoning blends in crackers, I've also added sesame seeds, flax seeds, and parmesan cheese, and these are all really good.  I add them with the seasoning (if it's sprinkled on top it just kind of falls off after baking).

Here are some successful cracker flavors:

Sage and parmesan cheese

Italian herb

Rosemary and flax seed

Oregano

Krakow Nights (Polish style seasoning)

Tandoori

Paprika and sesame seed