My Time Trying Thai

Recipes on deck for tomorrow night - Thai coconut shrimp soup with spinach and Pad Thai (Mark Bittman). I am finding myself very fond of Mark Bittman's recipes.  He is able to make so many recipes accessible and non-intimidating to home cooks.  I would love a few pictures in his cookbooks but that really is my only negative feedback.  Hopefully I will remember to take some pictures. 

Pizza - mushroom, spinach, bacon, sundried tomato

Ok, today I spent the majority of the day preparing the ingredients for what was supposed to be an awesome-to-die-for pizza.  It was okay but not at all worth the amount of effort that was put into it.  It started at 10 o'clock a.m. - I put together the mostly whole wheat pizza crust recipe from Mark Bittman's Food Matters cookbook.  Next I needed to roast some garlic and precook the bacon.  I also sauteed mushrooms and had to reconstitute the dried tomatoes.  I made a version of Emeril Lagasse's white sauce for pizza minus the cayenne pepper adding the roasted garlic to the sauce.  The sauce seemed a little bland and the pizza dough should have been much thinner. I will try a different version!

The salad was a mixed greens salad with defrosted blueberries, granny smith apples, crumbled bacon, feta cheese with a blueberry dressing found at this website.  I also made Cinnamon Roasted Almonds to put on the salad and these were the best thing I made today. 

I also decided to cook a pot of brown rice to use for the rest of the week. 

Tomorrow I am planning on making Thai food and hope that it was worth the cost of the condiments.

Smoothie Fail

I thought I would try my hand at a very healthy smoothie today.

Recipe, although it does not and probably should not deserve a repeat unless to tweak it.

1 peeled beet, raw
2 apples
1 navel orange
2 blood oranges
1 inch cube peeled ginger
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup ice
2 tablespoons honey

The color is beautiful however when I drank this I noticed that it tasted somewhat like dirt and burned my throat. I chalked it up to me getting a cold but my almost 2 year old slowly sipped it and said "not liking the smoothie. Need a new smoothie." I knew that I wasn't alone in being terribly let down at the flavor.

I am not giving up on adding veggies to my smoothies but will perhaps follow a few recipes for guidance, it couldn't hurt.

Kicked up scrambled eggs

After receiving a generous amount of onions in my Bountiful Basket this week, I decided to try my hand at adding caramelized onions to scrambled eggs.  I always like to have extra veggies in my food, it is an easy way to sneak in nutrition and bulk up a dish. 

Olive oil
3 onions - sliced into thin half rings
1 bunch Swiss chard greens
Ham chunks
Swiss and Gruyere cheese
8 eggs
1/4 cup whole milk
Salt and Pepper
1 teaspoon herbs De Provence

I added a couple of turns of olive oil around the pan then added my sliced onions and allowed them to cook for 15 minutes or so until they were nicely caramelized.  I added about 1 1/2 cups cleaned chopped Swiss chard and 1/2 cup of ham chunks and cooked this until the chard became wilted.  I removed this from my pan and then added back 8 eggs scrambled with the whole milk and cooked slowly over low heat until almost set.  At this point I added back the other mixture and added the salt, pepper and herbs De Provence then sprinkled to top with cheese and set it in my oven which was preheated to 350 degrees.  I left in the oven until the cheese was completely melted.


Great addition to our Sunday brunch! 

Turkey Sausage, Potato and Kale Soup

Sourdough grilled bread

Mark Bittman's recipe from How To Cook Everything. Pg 227.


Sourdough Starter
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp. instant yeast
1 cup warm water

Stir together. Cover loosely, and let stand at room temperature. Stir every 8 to 12 hours. The mixture will become bubbly and eventually develop a sour smell. If your kitchen is warm, this may happen in 24 hours; usually it takes a couple of days.

To maintain the starter, add about 3/4 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of water to the remainder and stir well. Cover and refrigerate. [I usually leave it at room temperature until it bubbles, so I'm certain that it's still "alive."] Use within a week or add a little more flour and water to keep it going. If you always take half the starter and rejuvenate it this way, it will last forever.

I baked this on the Traeger grill. I preheated it in high with the pizza stone on the grill. To have steam, I added a pot of boiling water to the grill top. I used a pizza peel lined with parchment to transfer it to the stone and removed it after 5 minutes. I turned the heat down to 350 and cooked until the internal temperature was 190.

Homemade gyros

I decided to finally try my hand at making homemade pita bread. Once again, my King Arthur flour cookbook came to my rescue with a fantastic whole wheat recipe.


The pitas are delicious on their own. It will be hard to eat store bought pita bread again ever! 
We were initially going to have steak and salad for dinner but only had two small steaks which was not going to feed all of us. I thought pitas + steak = a gyro (sort of). We had a bunch of Greek yogurt, cucumbers and garlic so that made the perfect accompaniment along with my grilled onions and red peppers.



Allow dough to rise until doubled in bulk. http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/organic-wheat-pita-with-fruit-salsa-recipe - click for recipe for the pita dough



Roll out to 6" diameter

Bake on stone until it balloons, appx 3-4 min. then turn over and cook for 2-3 more minutes



http://greek.food.com/recipe/tzatziki-59336 - for recipe



Caramelized onions and peppers.

Grilled New York steaks.

Fun with pizza dough

I found a very easy homemade pizza dough recipe that you make and it lasts in the fridge for seven days. The dough will make 4-5 pizza crusts depending on the thickness. Since I have a pizza stone and the Traeger grill this has been all the motivation I have needed to experiment with new pizza toppings.

In the past few weeks we have had regular traditional pizza and pesto pizza, but I have also delved into cheeseburger pizza, barbecue chicken pizza and finally taco pizza.

I have already shared photos of the hamburger and barbecue chicken pizza on Facebook. This is a shot of the taco pizza. These have all been fun to try out on my family. I have.probably been the most skeptical when making it and they all have been surprisingly tasty.

More pizza adventures and pictures coming soon.

Pork Medallions with Cherry Sauce on the Food Network

Pork Medallions with Cherry Sauce on the Food Network

We made this with bone-in pork chops. Blaine and I enjoyed the cherries with the pork and wanted more, Jess, AJ and Aaron all opted out of the sauce and cherries.

I served it with stuffed mushroom caps, whole wheat rolls, sliced apples and baby carrots.

Morning Brunch

Today I hosted a small brunch with a couple of friends who were kind enough to be my guinea pigs.  I made a recipe from the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking Cookbook although I tweaked it a bit. The recipe is for Cranberry-Orange Spelt Muffins however, I did not have an orange but did have a Mineola Tangelo and used it in place of the orange and orange zest.  I had purchased the spelt flour a few weeks ago right after my cookbook arrived but the opportunity to use it had not presented itself until now. Items baked with Spelt flour need to be allowed to rest before baking for the flour to absorb the moisture from the batter.

Cranberry-Tangelo Spelt Muffins
Makes - 1 dozen
Bake at 400 degrees F
Bake for 20-25 minutes

Muffin Batter
1 Cup diced dried cranberries
1/2 cup fresh squeezed tangelo juice

1 1/4 cup whole spelt flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup honey
2 large eggs
1 T canola oil
1 T tangelo zest
1/2 c chopped pecans

Streusel Topping
3 T butter
1/2 c dark brown sugar
1/2 c all purpose flour
2 T wheat bran
1/2 c chopped pecans

The night before you want to bake - Heat juice in microwave for 30 seconds then pour over dried cranberries in small heatproof bowl and cover then set aside to cool.

Combine flours, baking powder and salt in mixing bowl, stir with whisk to combine.  In a separate bowl mix milk, honey, eggs and oil.  Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until there are no more dry clumps of flour - do not over mix, it will look soupy which is ok.  Fold in the tangelo zest, pecans, cranberries and juice.  Cover batter and refrigerate overnight.

Make the streusel while the batter is resting.  Combine all ingredients except pecans(works best with a pastry blender) until the mixture is crumbly.  Mix in the pecans.

To bake - remove batter from refrigerator, preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Prepare muffin tin by spraying with nonstick spray or use liners and spray with nonstick spray.

Spoon batter into the 12 muffin cups - they will be almost full.  Sprinkle streusel mixture over batter (I had a lot of streussel leftover and would consider putting a spoonful in the bottom of the muffins too for the next time).  Bake until golden brown and a cake test comes out clean (mine were slightly over baked).  Remove from the oven, cool in pan for 10 minutes then remove to cooling rack to finish.

Baked Egg Casserole

1 medium yellow squash
1/2 white onion
1 red pepper
3 cups frozen hash brown potatoes
4 slices bacon (cooked then crumbled)
1 cup grated queso fresco cheese
7 eggs
1/2 cup milk

1/2 palmful Emeril essence
1 T Worcestershire sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste

This is a prepare ahead dish that is pretty easy and delicious.  The first thing I did was cut up the veggies into large pieces so I could grill them for additional flavor.  I brushed the squash, onion and red pepper with olive oil and grilled it at 325 degrees for about 20-25 minutes turning occasionally.  I let this cool and rough chopped the veggies into pieces no larger than 1/2 inch. 

Mix eggs, milk, essence, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper until frothy. 

In a casserole dish sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, layer the potatoes, grilled chopped vegetables, crumbled bacon and cheese. Pour egg mixture evenly over other ingredients in casserole dish.  Cover and refrigerate overnight. 

In the morning when ready to bake - remove from fridge, preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Bake for 35-50 minutes - I checked and rotated mine every 12 minutes or so.  Eggs should set up.  Keep warm until ready to serve.  Serve with hot sauce or Tabasco. 

New dinner recipes

Tonight we made grilled marinated flank steak, fresh rolls, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, sauteed kale and fresh cut-up cantaloupe. The kale and the potatoes tasted fantastic if eaten together on the same forkful, Blaine finished off all of the kale.

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Rated: Submitted By: Kathleen Burton Photo By: Marlee Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 1 Hour Ready In: 1 Hour 10 Minutes Servings: 8

"Russet potatoes are blended with roasted garlic, butter and milk."

Ingredients:

1 medium head garlic 1 tablespoon olive oil 2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and quartered

4 tablespoons butter, softened 1/2 cup milk salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2.	Drizzle garlic with olive oil, then wrap in aluminum foil. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour.
3.	Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes, and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain, cool and chop. Stir in butter, milk, salt and pepper.
4.	Remove the garlic from the oven, and cut in half. Squeeze the softened cloves into the potatoes. Blend potatoes with an electric mixer until desired consistency is achieved.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2011 Allrecipes.com

Printed from Allrecipes.com 9/13/2011

Sauteed Kale

Bobby Flay

Rated 5 stars out of 5

Total Time: 15 min

Prep 5 min

Cook 10 min

Yield: 4 servings

Level: Easy

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds young kale, stems and leaves coarsely chopped
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
• 1/2 cup vegetable stock or water
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Directions

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook until soft, but not colored. Raise heat to high, add the stock and kale and toss to combine. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove cover and continue to cook, stirring until all the liquid has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper to taste and add vinegar.

Lemon Curd Pie

I created my own recipe for the crust on this pie using a formula I found in the Baking text book.  The recipe is as follows:

Crumb crust
1 cup Honey Nut Cheerios
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup toasted pecans
3 T butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place butter in pie dish and melt it in oven, make sure it does not burn.  Add Cheerios, brown sugar and toasted pecans in food processor and pulse until the mixture is a fine crumb.  Pour crumbs into the melted butter, mix completely and press into pie dish.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Cool.

Lemon Curd Filling
(recipe is prepared by weight except where noted)

4 fluid oz. of fresh lemon juice
6.5 oz. white sugar
2 tsp sugar
2 eggs
6 oz. unsalted butter at room temperature

• In a saucepan, bring to boil - lemon juice, 3 oz. of the sugar and the lemon zest.
• Mix eggs and remaining sugar in glass bowl.  Do not aerate.
• Temper egg mixture by adding 1/4 of boiling juice to egg mixture.  Then add remaining juice and return the whole mixture to the saucepan then return to stove.
• Whisking vigorously, bring mixture to boil.  Continue whisking and cook 1 minute.
• Remove from heat, leave in pan, chill over an ice bath until mixture cools to 120 degrees.
• Make 5 additions of the butter mixing thoroughly after each addition.
• Fill pie shell, cover and chill.
• Serve with whipped cream.

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I have been trying to find a decent chocolate chip cookie recipe other than just the one on the bag of chocolate chips.  I found this recipe in the cookbook The Culinary Institute of America's Gourmet Meals in Minutes and on the website Culinary Institute of America.

I love the idea of making up a batch of dough and freezing it so that whenever the occasion arises I can offer my friends and family freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.  It makes a small batch of cookies which is good because I think they tasted best when still slightly warm right alongside an ice cold glass of milk.

Although I didn't add any nuts since most of family doesn't care for them in baked goods, I think that these cookies would be fantastic with the addition of chopped and toasted walnuts or pecans.


Chocolate Chunk Cookies - yield 16 cookies

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks

• Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars on medium speed with the paddle attachment, scraping down the bowl periodically, until the mixture is smooth and light in color, about five minutes.
• Combine the eggs and vanilla. Add to the butter-sugar mixture and blend until fully incorporated, scraping down the bowl as needed. On low speed, mix in the sifted dry ingredients and the chocolate chunks until just incorporated.
• Shape the dough into one sixteen-inch log on a piece of waxed or parchment paper, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate or freeze until firm enough to slice into sixteen pieces. (Dough can alternatively be scaled into two-tablespoon portions and baked immediately.)
• Arrange the cookies on the parchment-lined baking sheets in even rows.
• Bake at 375 degrees F until golden brown around the edges, about twelve to fourteen minutes. Cool completely on cookie sheets.

Friday Afternoons = Baking time with my Grandma and Cousins

We made easy and delicious Applesauce-spice Cupcakes frosted with Brown-Sugar Cream-Cheese Frosting.  The recipes we tried came from the cookbook Martha Stewart's Cupcakes: 175 Inspired Ideas for Everyone's Favorite Treat.

I loved that the ingredients were things that I usually keep around so if  someday I decide to bake cupcakes this would be a great recipe to go to.



Applesauce-Spice Cupcakes - Makes 18

2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light-brown sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla (her recipe does not call for it, we added it)
1 can unsweetened applesauce
1 cup toasted and chopped pecans

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare muffin tins with liners.  
• Sift or whisk together dry ingredients
• Cream butter and sugars together with electric mixer on medium speed until mixture is pale and fluffy
• Add eggs one at a time, scraping down bowl as necessary
• Reduce speed to low adding applesauce then flour mixture until combined.
• Stir in pecans by hand
• Spoon mixture into cups, we were able to bake 20 although the recipe calls for 18.  
• Bake, rotating tins halfway through cooking to ensure even browning (we skipped this step) and toothpick comes out clean, takes appx. 20 minutes. 
• Cool completely on wire racks before frosting.
• Store frosted cupcakes in refrigerator and allow to warm to room temperature before serving

Brown-Sugar Cream-Cheese Frosting - 2 1/2 cups


1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
8 oz cream cheese room temperature
1 cup light-brown sugar

Place all ingredients in mixing bowl and mix on medium-high speed until mixture is smooth. Frost cupcakes.  Frosting can be store for 3 days in refrigerator, allow to warm to room temperature before serving.

Another use for crab meat

Some may say I am cheap but I prefer the term frugal, I don't like to waste money or throw food away.  I had left over English muffins and crab meat so the obvious choice was to make my own version of crab eggs Benedict.  If my memory serves me correctly, we have eaten something like this at Mimi's Cafe. 

I toasted and buttered the English Muffins, added a fresh spinach leaf (from our garden), slice of tomato, slice of red onion, poached egg, about a tablespoon of the crab meat and topped it with hollandaise sauce. 

The combination was quite tasty however, I will not repeat the hollandaise sauce recipe I used.  It was a blender hollandiase recipe and it was not the same as Emeril's recipe that we have made before.

Hollandaise Sauce- From the kitchen of Emeril Lagasse

4 egg yolks

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste

2 sticks unsalted butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon salt

Whisk the egg yolks, lemon juice, and cayenne in the top of a double boiler, or in a stainless steel bowl set over a pot of simmering water (being careful not to let the bowl touch the water). 2. As soon as the egg yolks have thickened, remove the pot from the water and slowly add the melted butter a bit at a time, whisking continuously. Add the salt and adjust the seasoning to taste.

A can of crab meat - $14.99

If you know where Utah is, then you know that it is no where close to the coast and that fresh seafood isn't so fresh. In spite of this fact, I wanted to make a recipe that I found in The Culinary Institute of America's Gourmet Meals in Minutes.  I decided to buy this book because I checked it out from the library and have kept it for the maximum time allowed. 

I made the recipe found on page 227, Crabmeat and Shrimp Sandwiches. They were good but I think they could have been better.  I am not sure if it had to do with the canned crab meat but I felt they were lacking some flavor. We added garlic Tabasco sauce and squeezed fresh lemon wedges over them. 

Crabmeat and Shrimp Sandwich - Serves 8

1/2 lb crabmeat - I used Jack's Catch
1/2 lb shrimp - I used salad shrimp
1/2 cup mayo -I used canola mayo
1/4 cup sour cream
1 T white wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp curry powder
Salt and pepper to taste
8 Pitas
1 thinly sliced tomato
1 thinly sliced red onion
1 thinly sliced avocado
Alfalfa sprouts

Mix crab and shrimp in mixing bowl.  In separate container, mix the mayo, sour cream, vinegar, garlic, mustard, curry powder, salt and pepper until combined then add it to the crab and shrimp mixture.  Build sandwiches by placing tomato, onion, avocado pita then filling with meat mixture and adding sprouts.

Ladle with Strainer

My husband and I did not get our ladle from Amazon.com but stumbled across it when we were walking around a Williams Sonoma Store. One of the only things that I consider my own recipe is my vegetable soup. I love it with tons of veggies, however, my husband prefers more broth. This ladle will satisfy us both! He can strain out the broth into his bowl and give me extra veggies in mine. Sometimes, it's the little things like this ladle that make a meal and a marriage that much better.

Lady Bug Pizzas

My daughter brought this treat back to us after she went to Girl Scouts summer camp.  It is so simple but don't let that fool you, it is quite a tasty little treat.

First take and toast your English muffins-

Next, lightly butter the muffins and place on a baking sheet covered with tinfoil.

Then, spread about a tablespoon of your favorite pesto over the muffins.  I use this prepared version that I found at Costco, no fuss, no muss.

Top this with grated mozzarella cheese and a slice of tomato and broil until the cheese is melted.

It can be served as a snack or a light lunch.  Enjoy!

Homemade Plain Yogurt

Ever since I purchased my blender and have been making smoothies regularly I wanted to make sure I was including fresh and healthy ingredients.  A lady at the beauty shop mentioned that she teaches a yogurt making class.  I thought who needs a class, I can find the information that I need online or in one of my cookbooks.  My go-to cookbook, "How To Cook Everything" of course, had the recipe included.

I have tweaked the recipe a little based on information that I found online.  It doesn't take much effort to make it, just some time.

3 3/4 cups milk (I used 1%) (Mark's recipe calls for 4 cups)
1 cup dried milk (Mark's recipe does not call for this at all - I added it to up the protein content and to make it thicker)
1/2 cup natural plain yogurt ("with active cultures")

Place milk and dried milk in sauce pan, heat to 180-185° but do not boil; turn off the heat and allow to cool to 110-115°, this takes about a half hour. 

Whisk milk and yogurt together.  Pour into a pre-warmed bowl.  You want to keep this mixture around 100° for the next 6-12 hours, I have used the proof feature in my oven and have tried using my slow cooker.  You have to turn the slow cooker on and off periodically so it doesn't overheat the milk mixture.  I have also seen that you can use a heating pad and a towel or blanket, or a warmed thermos wrapped in a towel.  It is not necessary to purchase a yogurt maker, you have other options.

After 6 hours check to see if the milk has turned to yogurt, if not, keep warm and check in another 6 hours.  Refrigerate for up to one week.  Use as a substitute for sour cream, or replace half of the mayonnaise that you would normally use with the plain yogurt. 

No thickeners, or mystery ingredients.  Good luck and healthy eating.

Blendtec - Total Blender

A decision to stop at Costco before going to dinner led us to the Blendtec roadshow and an excellent demonstrator and salesman. The blender is incredible and I use it daily to make delicious and healthy smoothies.  We got a package deal which included a cookbook, you can make soup, jam, fondue, shakes, baby food, ice cream, sherbets, yogurt; you are only limited by your imagination.

One of the fun things about the company is the"Will It Blend?" demonstration videos showing the power of the blender.  Have fun watching this one, will the I-pad blend?