Brussels Sprouts With Pancetta…

November 7, 2014January 18, 2017youbetchcanmakethis 1 Comment

I’ve never been a big fan of brussels sprouts. Cooked cabbage of any kind doesn’t do anything for me. The meal I dread the most is corned beef and cabbage (sorry to any of my readers that love CB&C) – I could just gag. But my husband loves brussels sprouts and has often asked me not only to eat them but also make them. I now can empathize a little more with my mother who was not a great cook. She had a limited palate and she refused to make anything she didn’t like. I get it now. It’s hard to get excited about making something you don’t like. But if you know me, you know I like a good challenge. Was there a brussels sprouts recipe out there that could actually get me to eat and enjoy them? I had my doubts. And so my research began…

I looked at a wide variety of recipes and came across a couple of combinations that sounded interesting. One involved cranberries, feta cheese and nuts (and that will be a future blog) and one involved pancetta. Making brussels sprouts with pancetta is a little less involved so I thought I would try it. The results were quite interesting…

Recipe Rating: A – I even had to admit that the results, for me, were very palatable and for my husband, who is a brussels sprouts lover, it was phenomenal. The combination of the pancetta, garlic and chicken stock infused the brussels sprouts with flavor. I actually made this recipe twice (as I had a lot of brussels sprouts and extra pancetta) and enjoyed it. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t kid myself into thinking that brussels sprouts will now become my vegetable of choice, but at least I know there is a way to prepare them that I can live with and that brussels sprouts lovers truly enjoy!

Lesson Learned 1 – The difference between pancetta and bacon: Both pancetta and bacon are made from pork bellies. The difference is how they are prepared. Bacon is brined and smoked. Pancetta is seasoned with a lot of salt and pepper then rolled and wrapped in a casing to keep its shape. Pancetta is cured but not smoked. You can easily substitute bacon for pancetta in any recipe. I cut the pancetta into lardons just like I would bacon and added the brussels sprouts once the pancetta began to crisp. What I learned in making this recipe is, if you use pancetta, wait until the very end to add any salt to the sprouts. The nice thing about brussels sprouts is they highly absorb the flavors they are cooked with, and in this case they absorb the salt and pepper from the pancetta. I found it best to use unsalted chicken stock as well and to taste the sprouts at the very end to see if they needed any additional salt or pepper. I found that I needed very little salt at the end, much less than I would have added originally. So be careful. You can always add more salt, but you can’t take it away. You don’t want the brussels sprouts to be too salty.

Lesson Learned 2 – Boiling the sprouts before putting them in the skillet: You need to do this otherwise the sprouts will not cook all the way through in the time allotted for the recipe. I found putting them in boiling water and letting them cook for 5-7 minutes is the best way to get the desired end result. The remaining time they cook (approx. 25 minutes) in the skillet will then be sufficient to produce tender sprouts. Also it is important to try to make the sprouts of equal size. If some of them are too big, cut them in half or in quarters. That way they will all cook evenly.

This recipe is easy to prepare and if can be enjoyed by someone who is not the biggest fan of brussels sprouts, imagine how good it will be for someone who loves them. I can now say that I have eaten brussels sprouts and enjoyed them – something I thought would never have come out of my mouth!

Brussels Sprouts With Pancetta…

Servings: 2
Time: 35 Minutes
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

1/2 pound fresh brussels sprouts, trimmed

2 Tbs. olive oil (I used garlic infused olive oil)

2-3 ounces of very thinly sliced pancetta cut into lardons

2 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 cup unsalted chicken stock

DIRECTIONS:

Start a pot of water boiling on the stove (do not add any salt to the water at this time). Once the water comes to a boil put in the brussels sprouts and cook for 5-7 minutes. Drain the brussels sprouts and set aside.

Add olive oil to a hot pan. Add the pancetta and cook until the edges start to crisp. Add the garlic and cook for 30-60 seconds until the garlic becomes fragrant. Add the brussels sprouts to the pan and cook until they begin to brown. Turn them over and allow them to cook a little longer or until the second side begins to brown. Add the chicken stock, scrape any bits off the bottom of the pan and cook until the broth reduces to the point that it is just coating the sprouts. Serve immediately.

Cranberry Christmas Cake…

November 4, 2014November 30, 2016youbetchcanmakethis 5 Comments

I know we still have three weeks until Thanksgiving, but I am already testing some recipes for the holidays. I was intrigued by this one because it only has 6 ingredients and the most labor intensive part of making it is beating the eggs and sugar for 5-7 minutes. I can handle that. Plus the cake uses one of my all-time favorite holiday ingredients, cranberries. This recipe is perfect for the novice baker who may not have confidence in the kitchen but wants to make a lasting impression with his/her confection creating skills. You can’t fail with this one, trust me!

Recipe Rating: A+ This recipe is so easy to make and so delicious. It reminds me of a cranberry coffee cake. I actually was going to take the entire 9 x 13 pan with me to work, but my husband wouldn’t hear of it. He suggested that I only take such a small portion of it that I decided just to keep the whole cake at home. Needless to say, half of it was gone in the first day and I didn’t have one bite. It must have been those darn Christmas elves raiding the kitchen again!

The consistency of the sugar and eggs…

Lesson Learned 1- Beat the sugar and eggs for 5-7 minutes: Don’t skimp on the time – this step is very important. You will notice that there are no “traditional” leavening agents in the ingredients. In this recipe the eggs act as the leavening agent so it is important to beat them with the sugar for a long time. I actually thought I got the desired consistency at about 6 minutes but I let the mixer run for an additional minute just to make sure. The mixture should actually double in size and form ribbons when you lift the paddle out of it.

Lesson Learned 2 – Weighing the flour: One cup of flour is 125 grams. I have taken to weighing flour in my baking as I’ve found that I use too much when I don’t, even if I aerate it before I scoop it out. If you don’t have a kitchen scale just make sure you at least aerate the flour before you scoop it. Flour can compact when it settles and if you don’t weigh or aerate it you will wind up using far too much resulting in a tough cake. For this recipe I used the high altitude trick of adding two additional tablespoons of flour to the called-for amount. The batter baked perfectly. If you are not at high altitude, don’t add the additional flour.

The Finished Batter

Lesson Learned 3 – The batter will be thick: The consistency of the batter will be quite thick making it slightly challenging to spread evenly throughout the 9 x 13 pan. Once you’ve spread it, take the pan over a hard surface (I used my wooden butcher block for this – if you don’t have a wooden surface you should consider using a dishtowel over another hard surface to soften the impact so as not to crack your dish) and lift it up about a half inch (not any more – you don’t want to break the pan) and drop it. Do this a couple of times. This will help the batter settle and even out any areas that you may have missed.

Lesson Learned 4 – Dust the cranberries with a little bit of flour: Even though this cake isn’t very thick, you still want to dust the cranberries with a little bit of flour before putting them in the batter. Doing this helps the berries to distribute evenly in the baking process versus all of them falling to the very bottom. Just take about a tablespoon of flour and put it on top of the cranberries. Then with your hands mix the flour throughout. You will wind up with some flour on the bottom of the bowl. No need to add that into the cake. Just make sure all the cranberries have a light dusting. If you use frozen cranberries you can skip this step. Just don’t thaw them before adding them to the batter.

In my estimation this is the perfect holiday recipe. Not only does it exude the colors of the season it is so simple to make. You don’t even have to cut up the cranberries. The longest part of the preparation is beating the eggs and sugar. And with little effort you get a delightfully delicious cake. You can certainly make this any time during the year, but for me this one screams Christmas. ‘Tis the season! Enjoy.

Cranberry Christmas Cake

Servings: 24 Small Squares
Time: 60 Minutes Including Prep
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

3 large eggs, room temperature

2 cups of sugar (slightly less for high altitude)

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups (250 grams) of flour (plus 2 Tbs. for high altitude)

1 tsp. vanilla

1 12oz package of fresh cranberries (if using frozen cranberries do not thaw)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350. With a mixer beat the eggs and sugar for 5-7 minutes until slightly thickened and light in color. (the mixture should almost double in size). Add the butter and vanilla and mix for another 2 minutes. (It is important to try to get the butter to blend as smoothly as possible. There may be some very small lumps and that is ok but beat out the large ones (this is why it is so important to have the butter completely softened before doing this part of the process).

By hand, stir in the flour until just combined. Add the cranberries and stir until they are dispersed throughout the batter.

Spray a 9 x 13 pan with baking spray. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake is lightly browned. Cool completely before slicing.

Right Out Of The Oven…

Holiday Stove Top Potpourri…

October 29, 2014October 30, 2014youbetchcanmakethis 1 Comment

Whenever the holidays roll around I look to fill my house with the scents of the season. There is nothing like a candle filling a room with the aromatic scent of balsam or pine. I love scented candles but with a young cat in the house I worry about what might happen while he prowls the upper reaches of the cabinets and countertops. So until I can break him of his curiosity, no scented candles this holiday season. Bummer…

I began to research something I could do to create those holiday smells in a way that I was able to provide more controlled monitoring. Low and behold on Facebook, of all places, I found a “recipe” for holiday smells I could simmer on my stove while doing my many hours of holiday baking.

I tried this yesterday and with a few tweaks it worked like a charm. I used water in the mixture yesterday, but next time I will substitute apple cider for water. The “recipe” couldn’t be easier and provides hour upon hour of warm, inviting holiday smells. Enjoy this little trick for the upcoming season!

Holiday Stove Top Potpourri…

1 small pot

1 orange, cut up in chunks

1 cup fresh cranberries

1/8 cup cloves

3 large or six small sticks of cinnamon, broken in half

2 tsp. nutmeg

Cover ingredients with water or apple cider – liquid should cover the dry ingredients and be about 1 inch from the top of the pot

Simmer on stove for hours of wonderful holiday smells

Cranberry Orange Pecan Sweet Bread…

October 28, 2014January 21, 2017youbetchcanmakethis 4 Comments

It’s cranberry time of year again! I so love cranberries. Not only do I make a simple but killer homemade cranberry sauce for the holidays, but I enjoy baking with cranberries – they have a tartness that lend themselves well to making delicious breads, pies and cookies. So this past week when I saw my first bag of cranberries at the grocery store I just had to buy them and bake something.

Years ago I used to buy box mixes to make cranberry bread. No more. It is so easy to make it yourself and I like the fact that you control what goes into it. Box mixes have become a thing of the past for me. If I can’t make it fresh, I don’t make it.

This particular recipe I did not find on Pinterest. This time I did a Google search and looked at various cranberry sweet bread recipes and their ingredients. A couple of things intrigued me about the recipe I chose. First, it used buttermilk in the batter and I’ve found that buttermilk tends to give you moister cakes/breads. Second, you don’t need a mixer for this recipe so no need to drag out the heavy KitchenAid, and I was loving that. The original recipe called for the bread to be glazed. I did not glaze my bread but I will include the glaze recipe in case you want to try it.

Recipe Rating: A+ This recipe is easy to make, and the combination of ingredients brings out the full flavor of the cranberries, pecans and orange zest – a killer combo in my estimation.

Lesson Learned 1 – Weighing Ingredients: I’ve read so many recipes where the author spoke of the importance of weighing ingredients, specifically flour. I never thought much off it. Normally I make sure my flour is aerated in the canister (swirling a knife in it does the trick) and then scoop out what I need and level it off. This recipe calls for 2 cups of flour or 250g. I recently purchased a kitchen scale and thought I’d try measuring the flour instead. I was surprised at how much “extra” flour I had in my measuring cup when I weighed it. It was eye opening. If you can, invest in a kitchen scale and use it when a recipe lists grams. You’ll be amazed at how much extra you may be putting into your recipe.

I did not weigh the sugar because I know how to adjust that measurement for high altitude so the bread will not fall in on itself. I do that adjustment by sight, but I will include the grams measurement for the sugar and flour in the recipe for those who do not live in high altitude. Use those measurements when at all possible. It really does make a difference

Lesson Learned 2 – Mixing the streusel: I don’t know about you but I have a difficult making streusel even with a pastry cutter. The butter always seems to collect on my pastry cutter and not fall off. This time I cut the cold butter (and it needs to be cold) into small cubes and just mixed it with my hands. I pretty much got the desired consistency. Next time I think I will mix it in my small food processor and see how it turns out. I am including a picture of the consistency of the streusel that worked well on top of the cake.

I’ve made many different versions of cranberry nut breads over the years but I have to say that so far this one is my favorite. The tartness of the cranberries, the hint of orange from the zest combined with the pecans is heavenly. Next time I make this (and this will be made at least one time if not more this holiday season) I will try adding the glaze. But I can assure you, even without the glaze this is a fabulous sweet bread!

Cranberry Orange Pecan Sweet Bread…

Servings: 12
Time: 80 Minutes Including Prep
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

Streusel:

1/4 cup (31g) flour

2 Tbs. (30g) sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

3 Tbs. (45g) cold, unsalted butter

Bread:

2 cups (250g) flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup (110g) chopped fresh cranberries (you can also use unthawed frozen cranberries)

1/2 cup (65g) chopped pecans or walnuts (I used pecans)

1 large room temperature egg

1/2 cup (105g) light brown sugar (loosely packed for high altitude)

1/2 cup (100g) sugar (slightly less for high altitude)

1 cup (240ml) buttermilk (no substitutions)

1/3 cup (80ml) vegetable oil (or melted coconut oil – I used vegetable oil)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 Tbs. orange zest

Glaze:

1 cup (120g) confectioners sugar

1 -2 TBS orange juice

Orange zest to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350. Spray an 8×4 pan with cooking spray. (I use a professional grade non-stick pan and do not have to do this. Invest in one if you can – it’s worth it).

First make the streusel by tossing the flour, sugar and cinnamon together. Cut in the cold butter with a pastry cutter or food processor until you get a crumbly looking mixture. Set aside.

In a large bowl mix the flour, baking soda, salt cranberries and nuts together. Set aside. In another bowl whisk the egg and sugars until well combined with no lumps. Whisk in the buttermilk, oil, vanilla and orange zest.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Stir together until combined being careful not to over mix. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Add the streusel on top and press it gently into the batter.

Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes and then remove the bread from the pan.

This bread is great without the glaze. If you choose to glaze it, mix all of the glaze ingredients together and pour on top once the bread has completely cooled.

Apple Walnut Cake…

October 21, 2014youbetchcanmakethis Leave a comment

Well, apple season is just about over for me. By that I mean I am no longer getting bags and bags of apples from my neighbor. All in all it’s been a great season. During it I finally made a decent apple pie, ventured into making my first batch of homemade applesauce, and had fun experimenting with some different apple desserts.

My final apple recipe for the season is an apple walnut cake. I found a basic recipe that I edited for my tastes and wound up with a delightful loaf cake.

The batter…

Recipe rating: A- This is a very flavorful cake. I gave it a minus because I had to adjust the baking time to two times longer than what was called for in the original recipe. I read some of the reviews of the original recipe online and decided, as one person mentioned, to bake this in an 8×4 versus a 9×5 pan. There was no mention that doing this significantly changed the baking time. The person writing the review said she wanted a more compact loaf that would give taller slices. That’s what I wanted as well. The only other adjustments I made was adding some additional cinnamon and some walnuts. I was really surprised that it took so long to bake (an hour). Just keep that in mind if you decide to make this. Is it worth the baking time? Definitely, yes!

Lesson Learned 1- Cut the apples into small chunks: This recipe calls for only one apple so make sure you either get a decent sized one or you can use two small apples. I used a medium/large granny smith apple when making this recipe and I had more than enough. You want to cut the apple into small chunks so they will cook completely. I drizzled a little bit of lemon juice over my apple chunks to keep them from turning brown before I could add them to the cake batter.

Lesson Learned 2 – Get down and dirty when you swirl the batter: The process for making this recipe is similar to any boxed sweet bread you buy, that being you add half the mixture to the bottom of the pan, add the apples and brown sugar mixture, add the rest of the batter and put the remaining apple and brown sugar mixture on top. Then you’re supposed to either swirl the batter with a knife or your finger. Forget the knife – it will not do the trick. Stick your finger (clean of course) down deep into the batter and really swirl it around. The apples require a little elbow grease to move them. I have struggled with this swirling technique with many cakes and finally using my finger, going deep into the batter and using a little bit of strength I finally got the results I wanted. Don’t waste your time with a knife. Use your finger and don’t be afraid to really get down into the batter and swirl it.

Lesson Learned 3 – Don’t be afraid to adjust the amount of cinnamon: I really like the flavor of apples and cinnamon and I really like the cinnamon flavor to be pronounced. The original recipe called for 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. I used two and it tasted divine. You wind up swirling the cinnamon and brown sugar through the cake at the end. I just don’t think 1 teaspoon is enough to get a nice blend of cinnamon throughout the entire cake.

This is another great Fall apple recipe. It is very easy to mix – just be aware that it may take longer to bake then anticipated. As with any other cake, it is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Enjoy this one!

Apple Walnut Cake

Servings: 12
Time: 1 Hour 20 Minutes Including Prep
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

2 extra large room temperature eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups flour

1 3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup milk

1 large apple peeled and chopped

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 tsp. lemon juice

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour an 8 x 4 loaf pan. (If using a professional grade non-stick pan like I do there is no need to do this). Mix brown sugar and cinnamon and set aside. Peel and core the apple. Chop into small pieces. Drizzle pieces with a small amount of lemon juice and stir to make sure all pieces are coated. Set aside.

Beat sugar and butter together until creamy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat in vanilla extract.

Sift together flour and baking powder. Stir into butter mixture. Add the milk and mix until the batter is smooth. Stir in the chopped walnuts.

Pour half the batter into the prepared pan. Put half of the apple pieces on top and pat them into the batter. Sprinkle with half of the brown sugar mixture. Pour in the remaining batter and top with the rest of the apples and brown sugar mixture. Using your finger, swirl the apples and brown sugar mixture throughout the batter making sure to go deep into the pan.

Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

To Die For Honey Mustard Chicken…

October 6, 2014January 15, 2017youbetchcanmakethis Leave a comment

For those of you who have read my blog you know that chicken is my favorite. I cannot think of any way you can make chicken that I wouldn’t like. And since my husband is eating less and less red meat these days, my new recipes tend to center around chicken, turkey, fish, pasta and ground beef. You won’t hear me complain.

So I am always on the lookout for new chicken recipes and I found one on, yes you know, Pinterest and thought I’d try it. I’ve experimented with various honey mustard chicken recipes in the past but I liked this one because it suggested doing a honey mustard rub on the chicken as well as baking it in a honey mustard sauce. Needless to say, when my husband says “this one’s a keeper” I know this has been the best recipe yet.

Recipe Rating – A++ – this recipe is so flavorful and the sauce is just divine, great for crusty bread dipping. It isn’t difficult to make and is now one of my all time favorite ways of making chicken.

Lesson Learned 1 – Chicken thighs or breasts: The original recipe called for using chicken thighs. My husband is not a big fan of chicken thighs (I know, he’s probably the only one in the world). So I decided to make this with boneless breasts. It turned out perfectly. Most people shy away from cooking with chicken breasts. They think they are too dry. But the problem really is that most people cook chicken breasts far too long. I cooked mine at 375 for 25 minutes and they were moist and tender (I also kept the skin on the breasts). Chicken breasts lend themselves well to this recipe as the sauce gives them tremendous flavor. So don’t shy away from using chicken breasts – just be careful not to over cook them.

Lesson Learned 2: Buy chicken breasts with the rib meat attached and bone them yourself: I’ve found that I can save money buy purchasing chicken breasts with the ribs attached and bone them myself. It is a little bit of work but I think it’s worth it. Plus it’s getting harder and harder to find boneless chicken breasts with the skin still on them. I like to cook them with the skin on as I think that adds moistness and flavor. You don’t have to eat the skin, but I think it’s a great flavor enhancer in the cooking process. Just be careful when boning the breast. You want to finish with all of your fingers. The main thing is to use a very sharp boning knife. If you don’t have one then don’t do this. You’ll wind up either cutting yourself of getting frustrated because the process is taking to long. Sections of the ribs lie very close to the meat and you need to have a knife that can easily slice between the marrow and meat. Believe me, the only way to do this is with a high quality, very sharp boning knife.

Lesson Learned 3 – Let the meat marinate with the mustard rub on it for at least an hour: The skin and breast meet will be slippery so the rub will slide around on you. Get as much as you can on both sides and then cover it with plastic wrap and let it marinate in the refrigerator for at least an hour. As soon as you brown the meat the rub will come off. Don’t worry, it’s just more flavoring for the sauce.

Lesson Learned 4: The best sauce ever: I’ve made different versions of honey mustard sauces but I have to say I prefer this one. I like it because it has a nice balance of mustard and honey and also uses a little chicken stock. The stock tempers the sauce thickening process. A sauce made with honey that is not diluted in this manner can stick to the pan and cause a baked-on mess. This sauce is so good that you’ll want to eat it with a spoon or dunk your bread in it. I also recommend using a seasoned cast iron pan when making this for a variety of reasons. First, cast iron is one of the best conductors of even heat. It takes cast iron a little longer to heat up but it holds heat well and it provides even heat. Second, a well seasoned cast iron pan is even better than a non-stick pan and that’s a plus when cooking with a honey based sauce. Third, cast iron moves seamlessly from stove to oven and I really like that. Some people treasure their cast iron pans so much they hand them down through generations. Yes, the pans are heavy, but they are relatively inexpensive (unless you invest in enameled cast iron like Le Creuset) and are oh so worth it!

I know I will be making this recipe often, it’s that good. This time I served it with rice and a steamed vegetable medley, but this would also be great with a baked potato and a vegetable of your choice. I can’t wait to make this again. I really hope you try it!

To Die For Honey Mustard Chicken

Servings: 2
Time: 30 Minutes Cooking Time
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

2 boneless chicken breasts, skin on preferred (you can use chicken thighs)

3 Tbs. Dijon mustard

3 Tbs. whole grain mustard

3 Tbs. honey or more to taste

3 Tbs. chicken stock

1 Tbs. olive oil

2-3 rosemary sprigs

INGREDIENTS FOR THE RUB:

1 Tbs. olive oil

1 Tbs. whole grain mustard

salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Mix together ingredients for the rub. Rub both side of the chicken breast with the mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and let the chicken marinate in the refrigerator for at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl whisk together the mustards, honey and chicken stock. Add additional chicken stock to taste and until the sauce reaches the desired consistency. Set aside.

Heat a cast iron pan. Add oil and sear both sides of the chicken breast until golden brown, approximately 2-3 minutes per side. Add mustard sauce, sprinkle with rosemary. Place in oven and roast until the chicken is cooked through – approximately 25 – 30 minutes.

Spoon sauce over chicken when serving.

Ready To Go Into The Oven…

Fresh Out Of The Oven…

Succulent Chicken Breast With Honey Mustard Sauce…

Serving Suggestion” With Rice and Steamed Vegetables…

Italian Sausage Tortellini Bake…

October 1, 2014youbetchcanmakethis Leave a comment

When I start to feel that Fall nip in the air I tend to think casserole. There’s just something about taking a bunch of ingredients mixing them together, sprinkling them with cheese and baking them off until they’re golden brown and bubbly. That says Fall to me.

I’m fond of this particular casserole for a variety of reasons. It’s one that helps you empty out the refrigerator, it’s easy to prepare and it also makes great leftovers. It started out with a package of cheese tortellini that I needed to use and then I morphed it into a dish that added a sautéed vegetable trinity, mushrooms, Italian sausage and a variety of cheeses. Needless to say that for a refrigerator clearing recipe it turned out mighty fine. And as with any casserole, all the work is in the prep. Once you’ve got it all together the oven does the rest.

Recipe Rating: A – easy to make, tons of great flavor – a stick to your ribs kind of dish.

Lesson Learned 1 – The beauty of this recipe is its adaptability: The basis for this recipe is tortellini, spaghetti sauce, mozzarella and parmesan cheese. You can do a down and dirty quick casserole with just those ingredients. Cook the tortellini according the packaged instructions, combine with sauce, top with cheeses and bake at 375 for 30 minutes. That’s it. I had some celery, red pepper and mushrooms that I wanted to use. And I alway like to include onions and garlic whenever I can. To give the casserole more protein I added some italian sausage and I wound up with a “souped-up” casserole.

Lesson Learned 2 – The importance of deglazing: I prepped the ingredients for this casserole in the same pot in stages. I cooked the Italian sausage, browned the mushrooms, sautéed the onions, celery and pepper along with the garlic and at this point I had some lovely crusty bits on the bottom of the pan. I’ve learned over time that you never neglect those crusty bits. I’ll fill you in on a secret – that’s where all the flavor resides! I took a small amount of red wine (maybe one turn around the pan’s worth) and this nice cloud of smoke arose. After that I grabbed my trusty wooden spoon and voila – the crusty bits easily came off the bottom of the pan and combined with the other ingredients. Heaven!

Lesson Learned 3 – All ovens are not created equal: The cooking time in this recipe is based on my oven. When I researched similar recipes they said to bake this in the oven anywhere from 10 minutes to 30 minutes. I baked mine for 50 minutes and it turned out nicely browned, bubbly and hot all the way through. Get to know your oven and adjust the baking times accordingly. Since I live in high altitude I know that just about anything I cook in the oven will take longer than what is written in most recipes. So check your casserole at about 30 minutes and go from there.

This is a great fall supper. I served with with some roasted asparagus and crusty bread and it was a hit. Enjoy!

[recipe: title=”Sausage and Tortellini Bake…” servings=”6-8″ time=”1 1/2 Hrs. Including Prep” difficulty=”easy”]

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. ground Italian sausage, cooked – drained on paper towels

1 9 oz. package of tortellini, cooked according to packaged instructions and drained

1 medium sized onion chopped

3 medium sized celery stalks diced

1 sweet pepper, chopped

1-2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 8 oz. package baby bella mushrooms, sliced

1-2 cups shredded mozzarella (half queso mozzarella preferred)

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese or half parmesan, half romano

1 24 oz. jar of spaghetti sauce

Olive oil

1/8 cup dry red wine

Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375. Cook tortellini according to packaged instructions. While the water is coming to a boil for the tortellini, add 1 Tbs. of olive oil to a hot pan. Cook Italian sausage until there is hardly any pink left in the meat. Drain sausage on paper towels and set aside.

In the same pan saute the mushrooms until lightly golden. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels. In the same pan add a little more olive oil and sauté the onions, celery and garlic. Salt and pepper to taste. Once slightly soft and translucent, add the chopped garlic and cook until fragrant – about 1 minute or less. Add the red wine and deglaze the pan. Add back the Italian sausage and mushrooms and heat through.

Drain the tortellini. In a large bowl combine the tortellini and sausage mixture until well combined. Pour mixture into a 3 quart casserole dish. Top with mozzarella cheese and then with grated parmesan (I used a grated parmesan and romano mixture as I had both cheeses in the refrigerator) Bake at 375 for 50 minutes (depending on where you live you may want to start checking this at 30 minutes) or until casserole is browned and bubbly.

[/recipe]

Ready to pop into the oven…

Fresh out of the oven…

Easy Apple Pie…

September 25, 2014January 21, 2017youbetchcanmakethis Leave a comment

Over the years I haven’t had a lot of luck making apple pies. I’m not sure of the exact reason but I would wind up with a variety of issues such as a burnt crust, a gooey crust, hard uncooked apples, lack of flavor in the filling and on and on and on… So when my neighbor across the street gave us a whole bunch of apples from his backyard and after numerous hints from my husband saying, “What are you going to do with them – make a pie?” I thought I would take another stab at it.

I know there are certain apples that better lend themselves to being baked in a pie, but I had no idea what type of apples I was given. I even asked my neighbor if he knew but he didn’t. I washed one, cut a piece of it, ate it and thought it might do well in a pie. So I put my cooking ego aside and decided to once again give it the old college try.

I combed through a variety of recipes, reading different tips and techniques and looking at the various ingredients I could potentially use. I was surprised to find that some use heavy cream in the filling and others mixed the apples with some flour. After reading a bunch of different recipes I decided on one that I thought would give me a traditional apple pie, by that I mean one like my grandmother used to make. And from there my adventure began…

Recipe Rating A+++ – Color me surprised. It turned out great! I used a very basic recipe but added some ingredients and used different techniques I picked up looking at other recipes and the combination worked beautifully. I told my husband I thought that this was the best apple pie I ever made. He agreed!

Lesson Learned 1 – Invest in an apple corer: Since the apples I was using were smaller and had imperfections that I needed to work around I needed to peel and core a lot of them. When I made an apple cake recently I just used my knife to cut the core out of the apples. That took a lot of time. I invested in a simple apple corer and I was able to peel, core and cut up the apples a lot more quickly. And I also did not waste as much of the apple. It was well worth the money spent.

Lesson Learned 2 – Use lemon juice on your sliced apples to keep them from browning: I was working with some small to medium sized apples and had to use a lot of them. It took time to peel, core and slice them. If I did not sprinkle some fresh lemon juice on them periodically, some of the slices would have turned brown by the time I was ready to put them in the pie. Lemon juice prevents oxidation from occurring and that’s what turns peeled apples brown. By using lemon juice the apples looked gorgeous when I was ready to mix the filling and put them in the pie.

Lesson Learned 3 – Don’t slice the apples too thick and pile them high: If you slice the apples too thick they won’t cook. I sliced mine about a quarter of an inch thick and they cooked perfectly. Don’t be afraid the pile the apples into a big mound in the pie plate. They will shrink down in the cooking process and you want to make sure you still have a nicely rounded pie once it’s cooked.

Lesson Learned 4 – Prick the bottom layer of crust with a fork and sprinkle a little flour on it: One recipe that I read included this tip. What I liked about the tip was the blogger said her grandmother always did this technique and she had no idea why but since her grandmother did it, she does it too. Well, if it’s good enough for grandma, it’s good enough for me so I did the same thing. I think the trick actually helped to cook the bottom crust as this was the first time ever that I was pleased with how the bottom crust turned out. Thanks grandma!

Lesson Learned 5 – Never underestimate the power of packaged refrigerated pie crusts: As I mentioned earlier, to date I’ve not had a lot of success making apple pies. Because of that I decided to concentrate on the filling first before venturing into the realm of making a homemade pie crust. I used Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust dough in this recipe and the crust turned out amazingly well. The trick is to let the dough sit out and get to room temperature (and that takes only about 15 minutes – about the same amount of time it took to prepare the apples). That way it is much more malleable and less prone to cracking when you work with it. I brushed the top crust with an egg wash consisting of one egg yolk and a tiny splash of milk and it browned beautifully. I may venture into a homemade crust the next time, or if I want to have a great pie a little more quickly, I’ll use the prepackaged ones again. They are really surprisingly good.

Lesson Learned 6 – Taste the apple mixture and adjust spices if necessary: After I mixed the apples with the flour, sugars, cinnamon and nutmeg I tasted the apples and the nutmeg seemed to be the predominant spice. I wanted the nutmeg to enhance in the background but the cinnamon to be the dominant spice. I added an extra teaspoon of cinnamon and the filling was perfect. I am writing the recipe with 2 teaspoons of cinnamon instead of one, but if you are skeptical, try it with one teaspoon first and go from there.

Lesson Learned 7 – Adjusting your oven temperature during the pie baking process: When I made this pie I started the oven at 425 and baked it at that temperature for 15 minutes. Then I reduced the temperature to 350 and continue to bake it for another 45 minutes. I’d never done this before and I think this helped not only to cook the filling all the way through but also not burn the crust. I did not have to protect the edges of the crust at all during the entire baking process.

Lesson Learned 8 – Brush the crust with an egg wash to make it brown in the oven: All you need to do is to take one egg (I’ve seen it recommended as just the yolk or the entire egg – either way it works) whisk it with the smallest splash of milk and brush the mixture on top of the pie crust. You will have way more than you need so don’t put the whole amount on. Once it is lighted coated pop the pie in the oven and the rest is magic. You’re left with a beautifully browned crust.

Lesson Learned 8 – Put a baking sheet lined with foil on a rack below the pie to catch drippings: I thought about this just as I was putting the pie in the oven and immediately grabbed a baking pan, lined it with foil and put it on a rack below the pie. Even though you vent the pie and crimp the edges of the crust it always seems like some filling manages to leak out. I was so glad I did this. I did get some drippings on the foil but it was so much easier to clean up that way.

I could not be more pleased with this recipe. I always wanted to make an apple pie like my grandmother used to make and I finally figured out how to do it. We got another batch of apples from our neighbor yesterday and the first thing my husband said was, “Are you going to bake another pie?” I think I am going to try out an apple cake recipe that I found in the newspaper first, but I do think I’ll still have enough apples to make a pie. And now I’m not afraid to make one anymore. I just know you will enjoy this recipe. Try it and let me know how it turns out.

Easy Apple Pie...

Servings: 10-12
Time: 90 Minutes Including Prep
Difficulty: Medium
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INGREDIENTS

1 box refrigerated pie crust, Pillsbury pie crust recommended

8 cups of baking apples – peeled, cored and sliced – approx. 3 lbs. (Granny Smith, Cortland, Jonathan)

Lemon juice – approx. 2 Tbs., fresh or bottled

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup flour, plus a 1/2 teaspoon for dusting the lower crust

2 tsp. cinnamon – start with 1 tsp. and add from there if needed

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

2 Tbs. butter, cut in small cubes

1 egg yolk

Splash of milk

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Take box of pie crust dough out of the refrigerator and bring to room temperature. Core, peel and slice the apples. Sprinkle a small amount of lemon juice over the apples as you slice them. Stir to coat the apples with the lemon juice. (This process only needs to be repeated two or three times while slicing the apples or you can do a little more if you notice the apples are browning)

Combine flour, sugars and spices. Pour over the apples and stir to combine. Taste the mixture to ensure the correct amount of spices have been used. (don’t be afraid to add a little more cinnamon if necessary).

Line a 9 inch pie plate with one of the pie crusts. Prick the crust several times with a fork and dust with flour. Fill crust with the apple mixture. Dot the apple mixture with the butter cubes. Place the second crust on top of the pie filling. Seal the edges crimping by hand or using a fork. Cut a slit in the center of the pie to vent. Whisk together the egg and milk. Brush the top crust with the egg mixture.

Bake at 425 for 15 minutes. Lower the oven to 350 and bake for an additional 45 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbly.

Chicken Cutlets with Thyme Mustard Sauce…

September 19, 2014January 15, 2017youbetchcanmakethis Leave a comment

I’m always looking for a quick and easy dinner recipe and I’m always on the hunt for new ways with chicken. This particular recipe definitely fits the bill in both areas. I like this recipe for a variety of reasons but mostly because it’s so easy and so flavorful. If you’re a chicken fan like I am, this recipe will become one of your favorites.

Recipe Rating – A+: This recipe is so good and easy to prepare that even I was a little amazed. My husband, who normally just gives me either a thumbs up or thumbs down on a new dish, felt compelled to comment. He must have said at least three times, “this chicken is really good.” That in itself is super validation for this particular recipe.

Lessons Learned 1 – Never underestimated the power of having a glass of wine while preparing a new recipe: I just had to put this in here. Usually I am a little nervous when trying out a new dish. Those few sips while I’m cooking away make the experience pleasurable. Add a little music to the mix and I begin to feel like Julia Child’s got nothing on me. I know I’m being slightly tongue and cheek here, but the idea is to do whatever you can to make the experience a good one. Anything that helps you enjoy the process is worth it. Have fun in the kitchen. I know I do.

Lesson Learned 2 – Prepping ahead always makes it easier: A couple of years ago my husband got me a Christmas gift of some cooking classes. One of the things that really stuck with me from those classes was the importance of prepping all of your ingredients first. Cooking time should be cooking time and not prepping time. So mince your shallots, slice your mushrooms, chop your garlic and thyme, measure out any ingredients that you don’t feel comfortable eyeballing, such as the sour cream, wine and mustard, and have everything set and ready to go before you start the cooking process. You’ll find it will help keep your kitchen cleaner and more organized and that will also make the experience better.

Lesson Learned 3: Don’t be afraid to substitute herbs: I used thyme in this recipe because I have it growing in my garden, but fresh tarragon would also work very well. My only caution would be not to substitute dried herbs for fresh ones. I think using fresh thyme provided more depth of flavor, especially with the short cooking time in this recipe.

Lesson Learned 4 – Cooking with chicken cutlets can be tricky: By chicken cutlets I mean boneless skinless breasts that either have been cut or pounded to about 1/4 inch thick. I actually found them at my local grocery store so that made it even easier. Chicken cutlets take no time to cook at all and you can easily make them taste like leather if your overcook them. I cooked mine for 3 minutes on each side before taking them out of the pan and preparing the sauce. I kept them on the plate covered with foil which resulted in some minimal carry over cooking. Once the sauce was made I put them back in the pan and let them simmer in the sauce for no more than two minutes. They came out juicy and tender.

This is a great recipe for the burgeoning chef. The only area I would caution you on is to make sure not to overcook the cutlets. Because they are so thin they cook in no time flat. There is not a lot to prep for this recipe and within 20 minutes, including prep, this chicken is ready to plate. I served it with roasted butternut squash and balsamic roasted potato wedges and it was a big hit. Try this one. I know you will like it.

Chicken Cutlets with Thyme-Mustard Sauce…

Time: 20 Minutes Including Prep
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

2 TBS. extra virgin olive oil

1 pound chicken cutlets, 3-4 pieces

6 ounces baby bella mushrooms, optional

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper

1 medium size shallot

I clove garlic, minced

1 tsp. flour (for the sauce – additional needed to dust cutlets)

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/4 cup sour cream, light preferred

1 TBS. dijon mustard

2 TBS. chopped fresh thyme leaves

DIRECTIONS:

Do all prep work first. Chop the shallots, mince the garlic, chop the thyme and measure out any remaining ingredients that you do not feel comfortable eyeballing.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Dust cutlets lightly with some flour. Sprinkle cutlets on both sides with salt and pepper. Add oil to the pan. Place the cutlets in the oil and cook for 3 minutes on each side. Remove cutlets from pan to a plate and cover with foil.

Add some additional olive oil to the pan. Saute mushroom until lightly brown. Add shallots and cook for about 1 minute. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, approximately 30 seconds to 1 minute. Sprinkle flour over shallots and mushrooms and cook for an additional minute stirring constantly. Add wine and bring liquid to a boil. Stir with a spoon to loosen all the brown bits in the pan.

Lower heat. Add mustard, sour cream and thyme. Stir until combined. Add chicken back to the mixture and let simmer for a couple of minutes. Add some additional thyme as garnish when serving.

Serving Suggestion: Chicken with Roasted Butternut Squash and Balsamic Roasted Potato Wedges

Baked Ziti With Sausage and Pancetta…

September 14, 2014January 15, 2017youbetchcanmakethis Leave a comment

The weather is starting to turn. The temperatures are dropping and you can definitely feel Fall in the air. And for me Fall means cranking up the oven. I love grilling and I love dining al fresco but there is nothing like the smell of a pot roast slowing cooking in the oven. The aromas throughout the house make you want to curl up in front of the fire place with a glass of wine and just be glad you’re alive. I guess that’s why so many of these Fall dishes are called comfort food. They make you feel warm and cozy inside, even while they’re roasting away in the oven.

And this time of year I am also scrambling to figure out how to use my tomato crop. I never know from year to year how my tomato plants will fare but this year, due to the great growing conditions, I got a bumper crop. I was also fortunate this year. Just as the zucchini production began to wane the tomato production came into full force. And there are only so many salads you can make. So with all of these tomatoes I was on the hunt for a recipe that would not only warm the house but help me use a bunch of them. When I saw that this recipe called for 28 ounces of crushed tomatoes I thought to myself, heck – no need to buy a can, I can cut up what I have and that will do the trick. And did it ever. I got a delicious casserole and was able to use quite a few of my tomatoes in the bargain.

I will say I was a little surprised at how long it took to assemble this casserole. But I think the main reason was that I hand chopped all of the tomatoes and that took the bulk of the time. I was also able to use some of my remaining fresh basil so that was a plus. I substituted bacon for pancetta (our local grocery store was out of it) and that worked well too. So all in all, a flavorful recipe that helped me use some of my garden bounty. Here is my recipe rating and lessons learned:

Recipe Rating: A- Great comfort food recipe: This a such a good recipe on a variety of levels – not only does it taste great but being able to use garden tomatoes and basil was definitely a plus. If you don’t have the tomatoes or the time to chop them just use a 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes. That will work equally as well and will be much quicker.

Lesson Learned 1- You can substitute bacon for pancetta: You probably know already that when you don’t have or can’t find pancetta you can use bacon as a substitute. But did you know the difference between them? Both are made from pork belly and both are cured for a length of time. The major difference is that bacon is smoked after it’s cured and pancetta is not. So using bacon as a substitute will add a slightly smokier flavor to the dish. Needless to say, I used bacon and it turned out great. And I will definitely try this using pancetta to see if can discern a noticeable difference.

Lesson Learned 2 – How to perfectly align the stovetop cooking time: I found that if you start out by boiling the water for the ziti and then start the other ingredients right after you put the ziti into boiling water you can align the cooking times of all the ingredients. Keep in mind that this means that all the chopping and non-cooking prep is done prior to this, but once that’s done both the non-pasta and pasta ingredients cook within a similar timeframe. That allows you to do the final casserole assembly easily.

Lesson Learned 3 – The fresher the ingredients the better: Granted this is the first time I tried this recipe but I think the garden fresh tomatoes and basil made the flavor superb. I realize that having garden tomatoes in most areas is a once a year treat. If you have to use canned tomatoes I would recommend San Marzano tomatoes as they are known for their sweet flavor. At least don’t substitute dried basil for fresh basil in this recipe. If you don’t have basil in your garden buy some fresh at the grocery store. It will make a difference.

Lesson Learned 4 – The wonder of queso mozzarella: In the grocery store with the ethnic cheeses I found something called queso mozzarella. Using it I found it gives a creamier texture to recipes calling for mozzarella cheese. What I do is blend half queso and half regular shredded mozzarella when recipes calls for mozzarella. I think it melts better. And keep in mind, any prepackaged shredded cheese has an ingredient in it that keeps the shredded cheese from sticking together. That same ingredient also prevents it from melting as thoroughly as freshly shredded cheese. So the queso mozzarella helps to combat that. It’s very soft and takes no time whatsoever to grate.

Ready to pour into the casserole…

Lesson Learned 5 – Take the time to grate fresh parmesan: We all love the convenience of pre grated parmesan cheese. I’ve used it over and over again in recipes, that is until I discovered the difference between packaged and freshly grated parmesan cheese. Freshly grated parmesan melts better and is bolder in flavor. And it is very easy to do, especially if your have a mini-prep processor like I do. All you have to do is cut the parmesan into small pieces, put it in the mini-prep and process it until is is grated. If you haven’t tried it you really should. It makes a noticeable difference.

Lesson Learned 6 – Using a garnish: Garnishes are just that, something that dresses up the look of a dish but not essential to the recipe. I love Italian parsley for this purpose. I grew Italian parsley in a container on my deck this summer and it grew like a weed. I loved being able to go and snip off a bunch when I needed to. That way I could control the amount I had versus buying a big bunch at the grocery store and throwing half of it away. Italian parsley is great as a garnish. Simply chop a little and sprinkle it on top of a dish and voila, it looks like the work of a professional chef. Never underestimate the power of a garnish. It can make a dish look fancy with no effort at all!

Ready to pop into the oven…

If you’re like me and you like casseroles you will love this dish. It’s also reheats well and is great for leftovers. Warm your house up with this one. You won’t regret it!

Baked Ziti With Sausage and Pancetta

Servings: 6-8
Time: 1 Hour Including Prep
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

12 ounces of ziti pasta

4 ounces pancetta or bacon, diced

1 large onion, diced

2-3 cloves of garlic (to taste)

1 pound ground Italian sausage

1 cup dry red wine

1 can of diced tomatoes (28 ounces), or diced garden tomatoes

Generous handful of fresh basil (approx. 1/2 cup)

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 cup mozzarella cheese, divided (1/2 cup queso and 1/2 cup shredded preferred)

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

1 Tbs. Italian seasoning

Italian parsley for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Do all the prep work first: slice the bacon into lardons, chop the onion, mince the garlic, and grate the parmesan and mozzarella cheeses.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the ziti and cook according to the package directions. Meanwhile in a large pan cook the pancetta for about 3 minutes (you don’t want to crisp it). Add the onion and sauté for an additional 3 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant (30 seconds to 1 minute). Add the sausage and cook until the meat is no longer pink. Add the wine and cook for approximately 3 minutes. Use the wine to deglaze the pan. Stir in the tomatoes and basil. Reduce the heat and cook for only a couple of minutes.

Drain the pasta and add it to the pan. Stir in the ricotta and half of mozzarella. Put into a 9×13 baking dish. Sprinkle the top with the remaining mozzarella and parmesan. Sprinkle Italian seasoning on top of the cheese.

Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes or until the casserole is bubbly and the cheese is nicely browned.

Straight Out Of The Oven…

Baked Ziti With Sausage and Pancetta

Serving Suggestion: Baked Ziti with Garlic Bread…

Apple Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

September 10, 2014youbetchcanmakethis Leave a comment

The other day I opened my front door and lo and behold a bag of apples magically appeared on my porch. My neighbor across the street has apple trees in his backyard and was nice enough to share a bag of them with us. I had no idea what type of apples they were but when I tasted one I knew it would lend itself to baking. But what to make – applesauce, apple crisps, apple streusel – the possibilities were endless.

I decided to make an apple cake that is really a combination of two recipes that I found on Pinterest. One intrigued me because of the spices and the other because it included pecans. So why not just take the best out of both recipes and make a new one, right? Well, surprisingly it worked out even better than I thought it would.

RECIPE RATING: A+ The cake came out great. The apples were moist but not mushy and the spices complimented the apples perfectly. The next time I make this I may add a little more cinnamon but as written it is still a fabulous cake. I took most of it to work and it was gone in less than an hour. The cream cheese frosting was a great compliment to the cake.

It’s Fall, there are plenty of apples out there – so don’t wait – you’ve just got to try this one!

LESSON LEARNED 1- Don’t be afraid to experiment: I say this with a caveat. Remember that baking is not like cooking. The amounts need to be relatively exact for the end result to be good. Eyeballing it is simply not recommended for baking. You must measure your ingredients. Experiment wisely.

That being said, when I was searching for recipes I found two apple cake recipes that basically had the same proportions for the main ingredients (flour, sugar, oil) but had different spices. I decided to used the main ingredients from one (it used two eggs instead of three) and I also added the spices from the other (cinnamon and allspice). One of the recipes only had vanilla as a spice and I just could not imagine baking apples without cinnamon and allspice. So I borrowed the spices from one recipe and incorporated it into the other while eliminating the vanilla (although I imagine you could put that in as well). It worked like a charm.

LESSON LEARNED 2 – Cut the apples into small pieces: I learned this lesson the hard way a few years ago. If you cut the pieces too big they won’t cook and the cake won’t taste as good. Cut them into nice small pieces and they will cook beautifully, moist but not mushy, within the allotted time. Also, make sure you peel the apples. Tough apple peels in a cake just don’t cut it in my estimation.

LESSON LEARNED 3: Use lemon juice to keep your apples from turning brown: This recipe calls for three cups of diced apples which takes a little time to prepare. During that time if you don’t sprinkle them with some lemon juice they will begin to turn brown. In order to avoid that take either some fresh or bottled lemon juice and sprinkle it sparingly on top of the apples. Stir the apples so that the lemon juice is incorporated thoroughly. You may have to do this process a couple of times because of the amount of apples but you need just a little lemon juice to keep the apples from browning.

LESSON LEARNED 4: Keep your nuts fresh by putting them in the freezer: Let’s face it nuts are expensive. Rarely do I finish a package of nuts in a recipe. I used to keep the leftover package in my pantry until the next time I needed them and then wondered why they tasted funky when I went to use them. I found out along the way that nuts have oil in them and if you don’t freeze them they will become rancid. Freezing leftover nuts makes them last much longer. And because they are frozen you don’t have to be dust them with flour in order to incorporate them throughout the batter.

LESSON LEARNED 5 – The batter will be thick: I was actually surprised to see the thickness of this batter. You will need to spread it to fill a 9×13 pan. Make sure you spread it evenly and get it into all the corners.

This is a perfect Fall recipe. The cake is moist and flavorful and the cream cheese frosting is to die for. One of my co-workers said that he could just eat the frosting it was that good. If you try this one I’m sure it will become a Fall staple in your home.

A friend of mine also gave me a recipe for apple chips. I think I may try that as well. What is your favorite apple recipe?

[recipe: title=”Apple Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting” servings=”16-20″ time=”75 Minutes Including Prep” difficulty=”Easy”]

CAKE INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

2 cups sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

3 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. allspice

3 cups chopped apples

1 cup chopped pecans

1 tsp. vanilla (optional)

lemon juice to coat the diced apples

FROSTING:

1 package cream cheese

4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

1 tsp. vanilla

dash of heavy cream (you can substitute with milk)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13 pan (you can also use cooking spray). Peel and dice apples. Put a dash of lemon juice on them to prevent browning. Combine oil and sugar. Add eggs one at a time and mix thoroughly. Add vanilla if desired. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and allspice. Add dry ingredients incrementally into wet ingredients until combined.

Fold in pecans and apples. Spread in prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely before adding frosting. (about 2 hours).

For the frosting: Sift powdered sugar. Beat sugar and cream cheese until combined. Add dashes of heavy cream until you get your desired consistency. (I prefer heavy cream to milk and I feel it gives a thicker, more lush frosting). Spread on top of cake. Enjoy!

[/recipe]

Lemon Raspberry Loaf Cake

September 3, 2014January 21, 2017youbetchcanmakethis 2 Comments

August was quite a busy month with a lot of traveling and so I wasn’t able to make my goal of one new recipe a week last month. Now things have settled down a bit and I’m back in the saddle. This recipe I found on (you guessed it) Pinterest and it intrigued me especially since our local grocery store had quite the deal on fresh raspberries. The combination of lemon and raspberries is killer in my estimation and that made the choice even easier. So here is my recipe rating for a lemon raspberry loaf cake and lessons I learned while making it.

Recipe Rating – I’m conflicted so I will give it a range of B+ to A+. I know it’s a strange rating but I had to make this twice in order to get it right. The reason for the range is that I am just not sure whether the issue is how the recipe was written or the the challenges related to baking in high altitude. I will explain in my lessons learned.

Lesson Learned 1 – The flavor of this cake is awesome! The loaf fell in on me the first time I made it but I was determined to perfect the recipe because of the flavor. The cake is super delicious and I’m not kidding. If you love the flavors of raspberries and lemon you have to try this one. It is to die for!

The first try produced a caved in cake…

Lesson Learned 2 – Cooking with raspberries (and blueberries for that matter) is tricky: I’m not sure whether this is a high altitude or a berry thing but with this recipe (and also with my lemon blueberry pound cake recipe), when I used the amount of berries called for in the recipe my cake either became a mushy mess or sunk in in the middle. Both times I had to reduce the amount of berries in order for the cake to turn out perfectly. Both types of berries tend to get wetter and mushier when you bake them so I am thinking that the proportion of berry to batter is really important in order for the cake to hold its shape and not cave in. If any of my readers have any insights on this, I would certainly appreciate it. The first time I made this cake I used one cup of raspberries as called for in the recipe and the cake fell apart in the middle. The second time I used 3/4 cup and the cake did not cave in. Hmmm……

Lesson Learned 3 – Adding some additional flour: When I use box mixes (which has become less and less these days) I always add two tablespoons of flour to adjust the mixture for high altitude. I did the same for this recipe and I think that along with adding slightly less raspberries prevented the cake from falling in.

Lightly flour the raspberries to prevent them from all falling to the bottom

Lesson Learned 4 – Flouring the raspberries: Shame on the original recipe. It did not tell you that you have to slightly flour fresh raspberries in order for them to evenly distribute themselves in a batter. If you don’t they’ll all sink to the bottom. If you use frozen raspberries you don’t need to flour them, but it is a must with fresh berries. This was the only flaw in this recipe but the flavor of the cake more than made up for it.

Lesson Learned 5 – Adjusting batter for the size of the loaf pan: Maybe part of my problem was that I used my 8×4 loaf pan when the original recipe called for using a 9×5 pan. I googled the adjustments and it was suggested that the 8×4 pan only have 4 cups of batter put into it a opposed to 6 cups of batter for a 9×5 pan. This recipe makes 4 cups of batter so I’m not sure the amount of the batter was an issue in this case. I definitely had to bake the loaf longer, an additional 15 minutes to be exact. The additional baking time did not hurt it and produced a nicely browned top.

Lesson Learned 6 – The wonder of lemon zest: Zest is one of the best ways to add flavor to a recipe. Lemon zest happens to be my favorite. Not only does it produce a rich lemony flavor but also a great lemony smell. Just make sure you are careful not to zest the lemon down to the white part, the pith, as that will give you a sour zest. To avoid that just move your zester two or three times over an area of the rind and then move on to another yellow part of the rind. Continue until you zest the entire lemon. In this recipe lemon zest provides flavor not only to the cake but to the glaze as well.

Lesson Learned 7 – The technique of folding: This recipe calls for folding in the greek yogurt and then gently folding in the raspberries. Folding is a technique whereby you use a large spoon (I use a wooden spoon) and gently turn over the batter from the bottom to the top, continuing that process in a circular motion until you’ve combined the ingredient(s) you need to fold into the batter. The purpose of folding is to gently combine ingredients and in some cases not to deflate the air out of an ingredient (such as a whipped cream or meringue). If you are not gentle with the raspberries they will break apart and you will wind up having a pink cake versus a white cake dotted with raspberries. Be careful at this point not to break up the raspberries but make sure they are evenly distributed throughout the batter before pouring the batter into the baking pan.

Even though this recipe took me two tries I would highly recommend it. The combination of lemons and raspberries produces a fabulous flavor and the use of lemon zest in the glaze punctuates it. Just beware it may not turn out right the first time and be comfortable with that. I guarantee you, the flavor is worth getting it right. Let me know how yours turned out and any adjustments you needed to make to get it right. Enjoy!

Lemon Raspberry Loaf Cake

Servings: 8-10
Time: 75 Minutes Including Baking Time
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

Loaf Cake:

1 1/2 cup flour (plus two heaping TBS. for high altitude)

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder (reduce to 1 tsp for high altitude)

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cup sugar (reduce by 1/8 cup for high altitude)

1 1/2 sticks of butter, softened

2 eggs, room temperature

3 TBS. lemon juice (you will need 2-3 lemons for this recipe depending on size)

1 heaping TBS. lemon rind

1/2 cup greek yogurt

3/4 cup fresh raspberries

Glaze:

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted

3 TBS. lemon juice

1 tsp. lemon rind

A splash of heavy cream (you can use milk as a substitute)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease an 8×4 loaf pan and set aside.

In a bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar for at least 3-4 minutes. Add eggs one at a time and beat until fully incorporated. Mix in lemon rind and lemon juice.

By hand, mix in the dry ingredients (do not use the electric mixer for this). Once combined, fold in the greek yogurt. After that, gently fold in the raspberries.

Bake in the oven for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cake stand in pan for 15 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.

Combine powdered sugar, lemon rind, lemon juice, and heavy cream to make the glaze. Drizzle on top of cooled cake.

Lemon Raspberry Loaf Cake

Baked Salmon and Cremini Mushroom Duxelle En Croute…

August 4, 2014December 24, 2016youbetchcanmakethis 1 Comment

My husband and I have taken to eating more fish these days and so I’m experimenting with different ways of preparing it. I’ll admit it up front, fish can be tricky. You can’t eat it if it’s underdone and it tastes like the Sahara Desert if it’s overdone – and there is a very fine line of cooking time that separates fish from either one. But my job in this blog is to try to save you some of that uncertainty by my trial and error and not yours.

Duxelle Ingredients…

This fish recipe turned out very well the first time I made it, amazingly enough, and there is only one simple thing I would change from the original recipe and that would be the cooking time. The name of the dish sounds fancy but don’t let the terms en croute and duxelle frighten you. En croute simply means in a crust and a duxelle is merely mushrooms, shallots and herbs sautéed in butter and reduced to a paste. This particular duxelle also adds some vermouth and a tad of heavy cream to the paste just to make it extra decadent. As for the puff pastry, hardly anyone tries to make it from scratch anymore as the process is tedious and time consuming. Frozen puff pastry is just fine and adds to the mystique of the recipe with hardly any work on the part of the chef. The beauty of this recipe is that it really isn’t that hard to put together. So I’ll share my recipe rating and lessons learned in the hopes that you’ll give this one a try.

Recipe Rating- A-: The minus in the rating is really for the cooking time listed in the original recipe. I find it hard to believe that the salmon would be moist considering the amount of time the recipe suggested to cook it. But other than that, this recipe is very good and I think even someone who is not a big fan of mushrooms might like the flavor of the duxelle, which nicely compliments the flavor of the salmon.

Lesson Learned 1 – You can always put the fish back in the oven: I like to perfect fish recipes with just me and my husband as the guinea pigs before considering serving them to guests. That way I’m less worried about the presentation and more about perfecting the cooking time. So, if for some reason the fish is not done to your liking, just pop it back in the oven for a few more minutes (even if it is primarily encased in puff pastry). The original recipe called for baking the salmon at 400 degrees for 15 minutes and then lowering the temperature to 325 and baking it for an additional 15-20 minus. I simply could not imagine moist salmon being the end result of that process. My filets were 6 ounces each but only about 1/2 inch or slightly less thick. I am glad I followed my gut instinct and cooked them at 400 for 25 minutes. Even then the salmon was on the verge of being dried out but not bad (as a matter of fact those who like their salmon well done should bake it this way) – the next time I make it, I’ll bake the salmon at 400 degrees for 20 minutes and that should be perfect. You need the time and higher temps to cook the puff pastry so you need to be careful to bake a piece of salmon that is at least 6 ounces in order for it to withstand the cooking time. Any less than 20 minutes and I don’t think the puff pastry will bake to its full potential.

Finely chop the mushrooms for the duxelle…

Lesson Learned 2 – To make the mushroom paste you need to finely chop the mushrooms: The duxelle consistency will not be achieved if you do not finely chop the mushrooms. As a matter of fact I don’t even recommend chopping them by hand. I would put them into a food processor and pulse them until they are finely chopped. I used my mini food processor for this and got the desired results without having to drag out the large food processor. I imagine this would be quite labor intensive if you tried to do this by hand.

Lesson Learned 3 – Remove the skin from the fish: I purchased wild caught salmon for this dish and was surprised at how thick and tough the skin was when I was removing it. You don’t want to battle with that while you’re eating so my advice is to invest in a good boning knife and remove the skin from the fish before preparing it.

Lesson Learned 4 – Working with puff pastry: Don’t be intimated. Working with puff pastry can actually be quite simple if you know a few things. First you’ll want to thaw a sheet in the refrigerator for about 3 hours before working with it. Lightly dust your prep station with flour, carefully unfold the pastry sheet (it’s folded in thirds) and roll it out to form more of a square shape. (Don’t roll it out too thin and be careful when lifting it if you need to add a little more flour to the surface). Don’t be afraid to adjust the salmon (scrunching it a little) to fit neatly into a folded pocket of puff pastry. For two filets you should only need one sheet of puff pastry. There will be two sheets in the box when you buy it. Keep the other sheet frozen and use it at a later time.

Lesson Learned 5 – An egg wash is puff pastry’s best friend: In order to enhance the color of your puff pastry, beat an egg with just a splash of water in a dish and then brush it all over the top of the puff pastry. The egg wash will help produce a beautiful golden color on the pastry. Once you’ve applied it, make a one inch slit in the center of the pastry to allow steam to escape during the baking process.

I know this recipe may look a little intimidating but really it isn’t. These salmon pockets can actually be made a couple of hours ahead of time and left in the refrigerator until they’re ready to be baked off. The original recipe states that these can also be frozen and then baked frozen but additional cooking time is necessary (not sure what that means but if you’re adventurous, try it). I can assure you this tastes delicious and is worth the little bit of extra time to put together. Enjoy!

The duxelle paste…

Layer the duxelle and salmon on to the puff pastry…

Make the pastry pocket and crimp the sides with a fork…

Brush the pastry with an egg wash and cut a slit in the center to release steam

Baked Salmon and Cremini Mushroom Duxelle En Croute

Servings: 2
Time: 50 Minutes Including Prep
Difficulty: Medium
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INGREDIENTS:

2 six ounce salmon filets, skin removed

1/2 cup mushroom duxelle

1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed

1 egg 1 tsp. water

(FOR THE DUXELLE)

6 ounces cremini mushrooms

2 TBS. butter

1/4 cup finely chopped shallots

1 TBS. vermouth (or dry white wine)

1/4 – 1/2 tsp. fresh thyme

3 TBS. heavy cream

salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS: Thaw the puff pastry in the refrigerator for at least three hours. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Using a damp paper towel, wipe off any residue on the mushrooms. Don’t wash them directly under water as they can absorb too much moisture if you do that.

Put mushrooms in a food processor and pulse until they are finely minced. Mince the shallots and chop the thyme. Melt the butter and sauté the shallots until soft. Stir in the mushrooms and simmer for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally until their moisture evaporates. Add the wine, thyme and salt and pepper. Simmer for about another 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the whipping cream. Use immediately or refrigerate until ready to use.

Remove the skin from the salmon. On a lightly floured surface, open the puff pastry and gently roll it into the shape of a square. Cut the puff pastry into four equal squares to create an upper and lower portion of the pocket (I cut mine in half and just folded the pastry over the salmon – I had to scrunch the salmon a little to get it to fit in the pocket but it worked out just fine). Spread the duxelle on the puff pastry up to an inch from the edges of the pastry.

Place the salmon on top of the duxelle and fold over the pastry to create a pocket. Use a fork to crimp the edges shut. Beat egg with water and brush the top of the puff pastry pocket with the egg wash. Slit a hole in the center of the pastry pocket (about a inch) to allow steam to escape. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray lightly with non-stick spray. Place the salmon pockets on the baking dish and bake for 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Pastry Pocket Right Out Of The Oven…

Salmon and Cremini Mushroom Duxelle En Croute…

Cheesy Zucchini Mushroom Bake…

July 30, 2014July 30, 2014youbetchcanmakethis Leave a comment

I guess at this point you can probably tell that I’ve been a little fixated on zucchini recipes and with good reason. The zucchinis just keep coming and coming. Every day it seems I’m harvesting two to three new zucchinis. Last year my zucchini plant (I only have one as I have limited space in my garden) hardly produced anything. This year my plant is producing prolifically. Go figure. Mind you, I am not complaining. The challenge is to determine ways to use all this zucchini as I won’t let any go to waste. I know I can give them away if I need to, but most of my neighbors are looking to give their zucchini away as well. Some have even gone to the lengths of just leaving them on neighbor’s door steps. The whole neighborhood must be over run. So my challenge – how can I not only use my zucchini but also make it exciting when having it several times a week.

The latest recipe I tried was a side dish. Those are probably the easiest recipes to find. This recipe came off of a website that featured 35 different zucchini recipes and I always like to one stop shop. This one seemed relatively easy and so I thought I’d try it. The original recipe called for paring zucchini with yellow squash and I think that would have been perfectly fine, but I had so much zucchini that I wanted to use and so I just skipped the yellow squash. I did add some mushrooms that I had and that worked very well (I always seem to have mushrooms in my refrigerator). My point is that this recipe is adaptable and I am all for adaptable. Bottom line, this is an easy recipe to prepare and it’s actually quite good. I had some issues with how the recipe was written and I will share those in my lessons learned.

Recipe rating: B+ – most of my issues came from how the recipe was written as I am a stickler for detail and how to achieve success the first time you make something. In my experience even the best of recipes are seldom tried again if they can’t be done well the very first time. These days everyone is so busy that recipe success the first time around is just about a given for making a recipe again. This one had one critical piece of information missing that, in my estimation, made the dish look great as well as taste great.

Lesson Learned 1 – prepping ahead: The beauty of this recipe is that it can be prepped ahead and put into the oven when needed. I prepped all of the ingredients about an hour ahead of time and simply covered them in plastic wrap and put them into the refrigerator. The only other thing I did was to take it out of the fridge about 15 minutes before putting it into the oven to take the chill off. Right before putting it in the oven I topped it with some additional cheese. I am thinking this is something that can be prepped in the morning and then finished off when you get home from work – a nice little advantage especially for a busy day.

Lesson Learned 2 – use fresh herbs whenever possible: The original recipe called for 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme. I have thyme growing in my garden and I used that. You always need to add more of an herb if it is fresh, so I substituted 1 teaspoon of fresh thyme and I felt it gave the side dish a great flavor boost.

Ready to go into the oven

Lesson Learned 3 – you eat with your eyes first: How often have you heard someone say, “Oh that looks delicious!” When you think about it, it’s really a sort of oxymoron since something can only taste and not look delicious. But the truth of the matter is we eat with our eyes first. If something looks great, we automatically assume it will taste great. And this is probably my biggest bug-a-boo with the original recipe. That recipe called for baking the ingredients uncovered for 25-30 minutes then adding the remaining cheese and baking it for an additional 10-15 minutes. I would never have gotten the rich color on the cheese by doing that. What I wound up doing is putting the dish under the broiler for the last 5 minutes thereby getting those nice brown bits of color on the cheese. If I had not done that, the top would’ve just looked gooey white. Getting the browning from the broiler, in my estimation, makes the dish look much more inviting. Believe me, it did not look nearly as inviting when I followed the directions in the original version of the recipe. At 350 degrees you would have to cook the cheese much longer to get it to brown on top.

I realize that my rant about using the broiler may be very picky, and it probably is. Don’t let that deter you from trying this recipe. It’s a great way to use up some of that extra zucchini and I’m pretty sure it will be a family pleaser as well.

Right Out Of The Oven

Cheesy Zucchini Mushroom Bake

Servings: 6
Time: 1 Hour Including Prep
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

4 medium zucchini

4-6 ounces of baby portobella mushrooms sliced

3 Tbs. chopped fresh basil (this can be adjusted depending upon personal taste)

2 green onion spears thinly sliced (white and green parts)

1 tsp. fresh thyme chopped (1/2 tsp. dried thyme)

3/4 tsp. garlic powder

1 cup cheese, divided (I used a combination of mozzarella and pizza cheese – you can use more cheese if you like, I think I actually used 1 1/2 cups of these cheeses all total)

1/2 cup parmesan, divided

salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Wash and cut the zucchini into half moons. Slice the mushrooms into thick slices. Finely chop the basil. Thinly slice the green onions. Chop the fresh thyme.

Combine the sliced squash, mushrooms, basil, onion, thyme garlic powder and half of each of the cheeses. Stir carefully to combine all of the ingredients making sure that the cheese and herbs are well distributed. Season with salt and pepper. Put the mixture in an 8 x 8 baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray. (At this point I added a little more cheese on the top). Bake uncovered for 25 minutes.

Take the dish out of the oven and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Let bake for an additional 5 – 10 minutes then place casserole under the broiler for the last 5 minutes. Let stand for a few minutes and serve.

Cheesy Zucchini Mushroom Bake

Serving Suggestion: With Grilled Chicken Breast and Oven Baked Potato Chips

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Zucchini…

July 27, 2014June 24, 2016youbetchcanmakethis 9 Comments

I am in the midst of selling and buying a house so I have not had time in the kitchen to try out recipes. I should be back doing my regular schtick by the end of July. In the interim enjoy some of my reposts. See you soon!

[Note: A version of this post published a few years go has been my most successful blog to date. I get at least one hit on it every day and often more. I’m not sure if it’s the title or the content, but it’s had amazing success. I have updated it with some additional thoughts since I’ve made this recipe dozens of times since first posting it, have definitely perfected it and can provide some additional lessons learned. This is the ideal post for this time of year, especially if you’re like me and have tons of zucchini and are running out of ideas on how to use them. Of all my zucchini recipes, savory or sweet, this is by far my absolutely favorite!]

I love to grow vegetables in my garden. It’s not only fun it’s also very satisfying. And I’ve learned over the years, just like anything else in life, that less is more. So I’ve finally come to terms with having blank space in my garden knowing that as the summer progresses the vegetable plants will fill them in. They’re also much happier and produce more because now they have the room to grow and don’t have to compete with other plants for space and water. What a concept. I wish I’d figured that out a lot sooner.

Zucchini Flowers…

And for some reason my gardening prowess seems to be growing zucchini. Once the onslaught begins it never seems to end. I love grilled zucchini and I have a great recipe for Zucchini and Mushroom Gratin (thanks in part to Ina Garten) but I’ve struggled with using zucchini to make zucchini bread. The usual recipes seemed too dry and too bland to me. I was searching for the perfect recipe and happened to stumble upon it last year thanks to Pinterest and my friend Kelly Brown who originally pinned it. It is a recipe for double chocolate zucchini bread and I am not kidding when I say it is to die for! I can’t take credit for the original version of the recipe, it is from King Arthur’s Flour, but I love my version for several reasons. So let’s rate the recipe and talk about some lessons learned by making it several times over the past year.

Recipe Rating: A+ to the moon and back (my highest rating ever)! This is by far the best recipe recipe I’ve found to use zucchini, sweet or savory. It is easy to make and uniquely flavorful. I guarantee if you try this, it will become one of your staple recipes.

My very happy zucchini plant…

Lesson Learned 1 – You don’t need butter and white sugar to make a cake sweet: There is no butter or white sugar in this recipe. The substitutes for them are vegetable oil, honey and chocolate chips. This produces a cake/bread that tastes like a flourless chocolate cake with just the right amount of sweetness without being sickeningly sweet. We are so used to a lot of sugar in recipes that the first time I tasted this I wasn’t sure if I liked it. After a few bites I was hooked and now I prefer it to the sweeter versions of zucchini breads.

Lesson Learned 2 – Zucchini enhances the moistness of the bread: This recipe uses a good quantity of zucchini, two cups patted down (that translates into about two 8-9 inch long zucchinis). As with other types of zucchini breads, you really don’t taste the zucchini but it gives the bread a wonderful moistness. Plus it is a great way to use up a bumper crop of zucchini which I tend to get just about every year.

Lesson Learned 3 – Coffee enhances the flavor of chocolate: The original recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon espresso powder used as a flavor enhancer. I couldn’t find espresso powder at my local grocery store so I just used plain ole’ brewed coffee as a substitute, 2 tablespoons to be exact. It’s amazing how much more robust coffee makes the flavor of chocolate! Plus we make coffee everyday and don’t drink espresso so I didn’t have to spend money on something that would wind up taking up shelf space in the pantry and only used for a few recipes.

Lesson Learned 4 – Add frozen chocolate chips: When adding ingredients like fruit or baking chips you normally have to coat them in flour so they don’t all fall to the bottom of the bread. If you freeze your chips and then add them at the very end right before pouring the mixture into the pan, they will distribute evenly in the bread without having to flour them.

This recipe is simple to make and is so killer delicious you won’t believe what you are tasting. Try it and let me know what you think. Also, I am always on the lookout for zucchini recipes so please if you have a favorite, share it and I will try to make it. I am determined to use all of the zucchini my garden produces and so variety is key to getting that accomplished! Enjoy this one!

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Servings: 1 loaf
Time: 65 -75 minutes
Difficulty: easy
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INGREDIENTS:

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/3 cup honey

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 TBS. brewed coffee (or 1/2 tsp. espresso powder)

1/3 cup baking cocoa

1 2/3 cup flour

2 cups shredded unpeeled zucchini, gently pressed

1 cup frozen chocolate chips (I use dark chocolate chips)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, lightly grease an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan. Grate two 8-9 inch zucchinis. Set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, honey, oil, brown sugar, vanilla and coffee until smooth.

3. In a separate bowl combine the salt, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa and flour whisking until well combined. (if using espresso powder add it to the dry ingredients). Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Do not over mix.

4. Stir in the zucchini until combined. Add the frozen chocolate chips.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

6. Bake the bread for 65-75 minutes. Test for doneness (a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center will come out clean save for perhaps a light smear of chocolate from the melted chips).

7. Remove the bread from the oven and let it cool for 15 minutes before taking it out of the pan.

8. Cool completely before slicing (although slightly warm is delectable as well). Store well wrapped at room temperature.

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Serving suggestion: with strawberries and a dollop of whipped cream…

The Saga of the Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake…

July 22, 2014July 23, 2014youbetchcanmakethis 1 Comment

Let me start off by saying that even the most proficient of cooks isn’t always successful when trying new recipes. In this blog I prefer to post my recipe successes but there have been failures along the way, more than I can count I assure you. So I thought I’d dedicate this blog to a recent failure that eventually turned to triumph.

The nice thing about honing your skills as a cook is that your successes come more frequently. But every once in a while an attempt at making something is botched and you recognize it’s never good to get too smug about your culinary skills. Just this past week I botched a recipe – BIG TIME – and thought I would share that escapade with you. I call it the saga of the lemon pound cake.

It all began simply enough with my usual quest for that one new recipe I would make this week. Flipping through the various posts on (you guessed it) Pinterest I came across a recipe for lemon blueberry pound cake. I already have a recipe on this site for a lemon blueberry yogurt loaf but thought I’d try this one as I had never made a pound cake before. The recipe seemed simple enough, the only difference being that it was written to make two loafs instead of one. Great, I thought, I can have one loaf for home and give one as a gift to an unsuspecting neighbor. I liked that idea. I had to purchase some disposable foil pans as I don’t have two professional grade loaf pans. No biggie, they’re certainly cheap enough. This should be a no brainer. WRONG!!!

The blueberry disaster…

OMG – that’s all I can say. The end result was awful on so many levels. My husband suggested that I take a picture of the disaster and post it in the blog for all to see. So here it is to the left – can you even believe it? It looks like a blueberry explosion! Of course in the picture the cake is upside down, but right side up it was no prize either. The cake never fully cooked, the blueberries took over the entire cake and to add insult to injury they all congregated at the bottom. On top the cake had risen onto itself and created what I call a lap over effect on the edges as can be seen in the picture below . I’m not sure what causes that but I never get that effect when I use my good loaf pan. It must have something to do with the evenness of the temperature during the cooking process and the quality of the pan.

The distorted top with the cake folding over itself on the top and bottom edges

Needless to say, it was a total disaster. I haven’t had one this bad in a long time – just enough to keep me from getting too smug regarding my baking skills. I wound up having the throw both cakes away – they just were not salvageable. So why, you might ask, would I even try this recipe again? To be honest, although it looked bad and did not cook all the way through the part that did cook actually tasted pretty good. So I thought this actually could be a keeper recipe but it definitely needed an overhaul. I guess I wanted to see if I could fix what obviously was a broken mess. So the next day I put my delicate baking ego on the line and tried my hand at making the pound cake once again.

The second time I was successful but it took some manipulation of the recipe to achieve what was intended. In deference to the author of the recipe I will not mention the site where I found it. The recipe as originally written was horrific and, regardless of altitude considerations, I find it hard to believe that the proportions as written are correct (especially where the blueberries were concerned). What I decided to do was adjust the proportions to make one pound cake instead of two. I also significantly adjusted the amount of blueberries used in the loaf and the end result is I think what the author had intended when writing the recipe. So here are my lessons learned and recipe rating.

Recipe Rating: I have two ratings for this recipe, one for the original version and one for the version I created. The original version gets an F+. Although the overall flavor combinations were very good (meriting the + in the grade) there were far too many blueberries called for in the recipe. Blueberries expand and burst during the cooking process and the original amount created a blueberry nightmare (as can be seen in the picture above). My version created a cake that was nicely integrated with blueberries but was still primarily a cake and not a blueberry compote. My version gets an A.

Lesson Learned 1 – You only get what you pay for: My advice to anyone wanting to be successful in the kitchen is to use good kitchen equipment. From pots and pans to knives to baking sheets and loaf pans, I can tell you from experience you only get what you pay for. Professional grade equipment consistently produces professional results. My professional grade loaf pan cooks cake batter evenly, does not produce a batter layover effect and generally cooks in the allotted time or slightly less than the allotted time. I don’t have to use sprays or worry about greasing and flouring the pan, the cake always comes out cleanly after it has rested for 15 minutes. Do yourself a favor and invest in good kitchen equipment, it’s worth it!

Lesson Learned 2 – How to bake with blueberries: As I mentioned earlier, the original recipe for this pound cake called for way too many blueberries – 3 cups for two loafs to be exact. When I was measuring it I thought it was a lot, but I know that baking requires precision in order to be successful and so I followed the recipe as written. Big mistake. The cakes became 95% blueberries and 5% cake – the blueberries just took over.

And even though I dusted the blueberries with flour to keep them from sinking to the bottom of the cake, they still did. I think the amount of blueberries contributed to that. There simply was too many of them. Just keep in mind when baking with any fruit like blueberries, you need to coat them with flour so they evenly distribute themselves and don’t all sink the the bottom of the cake. I also read that if you use frozen blueberries (which in this case I did not) and incorporate them at the very end right out of the freezer they will evenly distribute as well without the use of flour. I’ll have to try that sometime and see if it works.

In this case, the smaller amount of blueberries dusted with flour before incorporating them into the batter did the trick. In my second attempt, the blueberries evenly distributed in the pound cake. The last tip with baking with blueberries or other fruit is to make sure you add them at the very end, right before putting the batter in the pan. Fold them in gently so that they don’t burst and create a blue cake. If you follow these simple tips you will be just fine.

Lesson Learned 3 – Creaming the butter and sugar – a common baking mistake: Most people do not cream the butter and sugar when baking, they simple combine them. Creaming takes a little more time than you would think and the end result is a mixture that is light in color and very soft and fluffy. Doing creaming correctly allows for all the added ingredients to incorporate themselves more completely and also creates a fluffier, moister cake. So next time spend an extra few minutes and do the creaming process correctly.

Creaming butter and sugar should produce this consistency…

Lesson Learned 4 – The glaze: I’m not a big fan of glazes. For some reason they just don’t do it for me. But I like the glaze in this recipe. It complimented the cake and did not overpower it. I also felt the use of lemon zest as well as lemon juice made the flavor richer.

Even though the initial attempt to make this cake was a disaster, the second version was a big hit. After a few days there was absolutely none left. So try my version and see what you think. You can always double it to make two loaves, but be I would be careful about doubling the amount of blueberries. I would err on the side of caution and use less instead of more. You certainly don’t want to be left with a blueberry explosion!

Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake

Servings: 10-12
Time: 55-65 Minutes
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

zest of half a lemon

1 extra large egg at room temperature

1/4 tsp. vanilla

1/3 cup buttermilk

3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

1 1/4 cup flour + 1 tsp. to dust the blueberries

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

LEMON GLAZE:

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

1 Tbs. lemon zest

1 Tbs. milk

1/4 tsp. vanilla

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl cream the butter, sugar and lemon zest. (3-5 minutes). Add egg and vanilla and beat an additional minute.

In a separate bowl whisk together all of the dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk to the butter mixture. Start and end with the dry ingredients and combine each addition thoroughly. Dust the blueberries with flour. Fold them into the batter until incorporated.

Grease and flour an 8 inch loaf pan if the pan is not non-stick. Pour in batter and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (there may be some blueberry moisture on the toothpick). Let the loaf cool for 15 minutes and then remove it from the pan. Cool completely before adding the glaze.

To make the glaze: whisk all ingredients together until smooth.

Right Out Of The Oven (notice no fold-overs)

Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake

Zucchini Mushroom Gratin…

July 16, 2014July 19, 2014youbetchcanmakethis 3 Comments

It’s that time of year again. I’ve already harvested five zucchinis from my one zucchini plant and by the looks of things there are plenty more to come. This is the time of year that I start scrambling to locate as many zucchini recipes as I can find so that I don’t waste one precious home-grown squash. And although I am always on the lookout for new recipes, I also have some tried and true ones that I look forward to making every year at this time as well.

A zucchini from my garden…

One of my all time favorites is a version of a recipe from Ina Garten. I’ve mentioned Ina several times in this blog. She is a cook that inspired me not only to make new and different things but to believe that I can and be successful at it.

I’d never heard the term gratin before I made this recipe and it’s a term that I found is not in most fledgling cooks’ vocabularies. A gratin originated in French cuisine and it simply means a dish that is topped with a browned crust achieved either through a baking or broiling process. You can make a gratin out of just about anything, potatoes, artichokes, cauliflower – you name it. I especially like to make a zucchini gratin since it is not only delicious but also another recipe in my arsenal to deal with the onslaught of zucchini I get at this time of year.

My very happy zucchini plant…

I saw Ina make her recipe on a Food Network episode and I’ve been making it ever since. I have amended it to appeal to my personal tastes but the basis of the recipe is Ina’s (if you want to see her recipe it is on the Food Network site). So I will rate her recipe and then include my version of it for you to try.

Recipe Rating: A++++++++ This is definitely one of the best recipes ever. It is easy to make and a great accompaniment to any meal. A hint of nutmeg gives wonderful flavor to this recipe. I highly recommend trying this one!

Saute the zucchini and mushrooms gently…

Lesson Learned 1- Sautee the zucchini and mushrooms gently: Ina’s recipe calls for cooking the zucchini covered for about 10 minutes before making the white sauce. In my experience, cooking the zucchini for that amount of time made it limp before you even put it in the oven. I cook my zucchini and mushrooms for five minutes just to take the “edge” off of them and let the oven do the rest. That way when you serve the gratin the vegetables still have some body.

Lesson Learned 2- Making a white sauce: This recipe includes making a simple white sauce for the zucchini and mushrooms to simmer in. The first step is to add flour to the zucchini/mushroom mixture. Make sure you cook that flour for at least a minute before you add the milk. It will create a whitish looking goo on the vegetables but don’t worry about that. Just keep stirring until it’s time to add the milk. The reason you cook it for a minute is to get rid of any floury taste. You certainly don’t want your white sauce to taste like flour. Once you add the milk the whitish goo will begin to disappear right before your eyes and you will wind up with a rich, thick white sauce.

Cook until the sauce becomes rich and thick…

Lesson Learned 3 – Bread crumbs versus croutons: Last week I made a hash brown casserole that called for a crushed crouton topping. I loved it so much on that recipe that I tried it on this one and it turned out perfectly. The original recipe stipulates to cover the top with bread crumbs mixed with grated Gruyere cheese. Maybe if you made home made bread crumbs the end result would be similar to that of using croutons, but I thought the croutons added a greater crunch and more flavor. You can try topping it either way but at this point I prefer the crushed croutons.

Lesson Learned 4 – A little nutmeg goes a long way: I’d never cooked with nutmeg before I made this recipe and I can tell you it adds a great depth to the gratin but you need to be careful when you use it. A little bit of nutmeg goes a long way and it can easily overpower a dish if you use too much. My advice is to use exactly what the recipe recommends. Then in subsequent bakings try to vary the proportion. My guess is that if you choose to vary it, it will be for a lesser rather than a greater amount.

Lesson Learned 5 – Oven times vary: This seems to be a regular “lesson learned” in my recent posts but rarely does a dish come out of my oven the way it is supposed to in the time written in a recipe. I assume that part of the issue is living in high altitude and the other is how my oven is calibrated. The original recipe says to bake the gratin in the oven for 20 minutes. In order for me to get a nice bubbly casserole I have to bake mine for 40-45 minutes. This is where it can get somewhat frustrating for the fledgling cook. But never fear, in time you will learn the ins and outs of your oven and be able to plan accordingly.

Place the croutons in a bag and crush with a rolling pin…

The beauty of this recipe is that it’s not difficult to make but tastes like you slaved all day in the kitchen. Over time, because the directions are so true to form, I’ve not gleaned a lot of lessons learned making it and I view that as the beauty of the recipe. It is the kind where you can be successful making it the first time and every time. If you’re like me at this time of year, desperately searching for various ways to cook my zucchini crop, this recipe is a must. Try it – I know you’ll like it as much as I do.

Zucchini Mushroom Gratin

Servings: 4-6
Time: 65 Minutes
Difficulty: Easy
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Brown and bubbly out of the oven…

INGREDIENTS:

3 Tbs. butter (plus some for on top of the crushed croutons)

1 medium size onion, diced

2-3 medium zucchini cut in to 1/4 inch rounds

4-6 ounces of portobella mushrooms cut in thick slices

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

2 Tbs. flour

1 cup warm milk

3/4 cup crushed croutons or bread crumbs

1 cup grated Gruyere cheese, divided

Salt and pepper to taste

Flat leaf parsley for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Pour the milk into a saucepan and warm under a very low heat (you don’t want the milk to boil, you just want to get the chill out of it). Grate the Gruyere, dice the onions and slice the zucchini and mushrooms and set aside. Put the croutons in a plastic bag, seal the bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Set the bag aside.

Melt the butter in a large sauté pan. Add the onions and cook under low to medium heat until translucent (about 5-7 minutes). Add the zucchini and mushrooms, cover the pan and cook for about 5 minutes (you do not want the zucchini to be limp). Uncover, salt and pepper to taste and add the nutmeg.

Stir in the flour. Cook for at least one minute. Add the warm milk and 1/4 cup grated Gruyere cheese and cook over a low heat until the sauce thickens. Pour the mixture into a 1 1/2 – 2 quart baking dish.

Combine the croutons (or bread crumbs) with the remaining Gruyere and sprinkle on top of the zucchini mixture. Dot with small amounts of butter and bake until bubbly and browned. (the original recipe called for the casserole to bake for 20 minutes, I had to bake mine for 40-45 minutes).

Let sit for 5 minutes, garnish with chopped flat leaf parsley and serve.

Ready to go into the oven…

Brown and bubbly out of the oven…

Serving Suggestion: garnish with flat leaf parsley…

Hashbrown Casserole…

July 10, 2014July 19, 2014youbetchcanmakethis Leave a comment

Pasta is ok, rice really does nothing for me but give me potatoes and I’m all over it. There is no way that you can cook a potato that I won’t like. Potatoes were a staple at just about every meal I had growing up and my so my love affair with this root (yes it is neither a fruit nor a vegetable but a root) has spanned my entire life. So when I find a potato recipe that intrigues me, I have to try it.

The original recipe from which I’ve based my version in this blog comes from a website called thefrugalgirls.com. I liked the recipe concept because it appeared easy to prepare and was a different way of making potatoes than the traditional ways of baking them, mashing them or grilling them. Coupled with the fact that I already had most of the ingredients plus I needed to fulfill my goal of one new recipe a week, this became no brainer – I had to make this casserole and blog about it. So without further adieu, here is my recipe rating, lessons learned and my version of the recipe.

Hash Brown Casserole Ingredients…

Rating A+ – not only is this very easy to make but it smells heavenly when it’s baking in the oven. Anything that combines flavorful potatoes and good kitchen smells is always a hit with me. You really have to try this one.

Lesson Learned 1 – This recipe adapts easily: The original recipe filled a 13 x 9 baking dish. Cutting it in half allowed me to put it in an 8 inch square dish which was just enough for me and my husband with leftovers for an additional meal. But if you have a large family to feed just double everything in the recipe and use the larger pan.

Lesson Learned 2 – Topping a casserole with crushed croutons: Recipes like this are quite often topped with bread crumbs. This recipe called for topping the casserole with crushed croutons. I LOVED IT! The croutons gave a perfect crispiness to the top of the hash browns, just as if the potatoes had been browned in a frying pan. I found the crushed croutons had a much crispier texture than bread crumbs. I am definitely going to try topping other casseroles with crushed croutons instead of bread crumbs. I think it made a big difference.

Lesson Learned 3 – Use fresh garlic: The original recipe called for 1/8 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon of garlic salt. I didn’t like the idea of adding that much salt so I substituted one minced garlic clove for the garlic salt. It was fabulous. I figured if the potatoes needed more salt you can always salt them at the table while you’re eating versus adding a lot in the recipe itself.

Lesson Learned 4 – Shred the cheese by hand: The recipe called for shredded cheddar cheese. I’ve recently learned that the shredded cheese bags you buy at the grocery store have an additive in them that is designed to prevent the cheese from clumping together. But that additive also prevents the cheese from melting smoothly. Plus it is an additive and the more you can eliminate additives from your life the better. So take the few extra minutes buy a hunk of good cheddar cheese and use a grater to shred it yourself. The result is so much better in the recipe and better for you as well.

Ready To Go Into The Oven

Lesson Learned 5 – Make caloric adjustments where you can: This is a very rich recipe so any places where you can make adjustments to lessen the fat or salt will still produce a great casserole that is full of flavor while also having less calories. I used light sour cream, fat free milk, low sodium soup and substituted fresh garlic for garlic salt. The recipe turned out perfectly.

Lesson Learned 6 – Use butter and not a butter substitute or margarine: I know this may seem to go against what I just said in the previous lesson learned, but just take a minute to look at the ingredients in butter and then compare them to the ingredients in margarine or any butter substitute. Tell me if you can pronounce some of the ingredients in the substitutes. It’s scary to think about what you might be eating. If you have to use a fat, use the one that has the purist of ingredients which in this case is none other than good old fashioned butter.

Lesson Learned 7 – Not all baking times are created equal: The original recipe called for baking the casserole at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes. My long standing experience with high altitude made me leery of not only the timeframe but also the temperature. I will include in the recipe below the original cooking instructions but will tell you that I had to crank my oven up to 375 and cook this for an hour and it turned out perfectly. What I’m basically saying here is you may have to adjust your cooking time based on your oven and where you live. Just be aware of that.

Lesson Learned 8 – The leftovers are fabulous: The leftovers are equally as good if not better than when it was fresh out of the oven. Just reheat them covered in foil in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes. The flavors have had some time to meld and the top and ends get even crispier. Can’t beat that!

Right Out Of The Oven

Once again, the real work in this recipe is preparing it. Once you get the mixture together, all you have to do is pop it in the oven and let it do the rest of the work for you. This is a great accompaniment to almost any meal so try it. I know you’ll like it!

Hasbrown Casserole

Servings: 4
Time: 75 Minutes Maximum
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

1/2 pkg. frozen shredded hasbrowns (package size usually 1 lb. 14 oz.)

8 oz. light sour cream

1/2 can cream of mushroom soup (low sodium preferred)

4 oz. shredded cheddar cheese (freshly grated not packaged preferred)

1/8 cup milk (fat free or low fat preferred)

1/2 small onion, chopped

1/2 stick of butter, melted

1/8 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup seasoned croutons crushed

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 375. (*The original recipe called for the oven to be set at 350 and to cook the casserole for 35-45 minutes. I live in high altitude so everything takes a little longer to cook and at a higher temperatures. Use what you think will fit your needs but I think keeping it in the oven a little longer gives it an even crispier crust). Thaw hashbrowns slightly for easier mixing. Crush the croutons (the easiest way to do this is to put them in a plastic bag and mash with a rolling pin or meat mallet). Set the croutons aside.

Combine the hashbrowns, soup, cheese, milk, onion, garlic, salt and half the melted butter. Grease a 8 x 8 pan with a very light coating of butter. Place the hashbrown mixture in the prepared dish. Spread croutons evenly over the top and drizzle them with the remaining butter.

Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour (*see notes at beginning of recipe). The casserole should be bubbly and the top should be golden and crisp. Let stand for a few minutes and serve.

Hashbrown Casserole

Broiled Salmon with Herb Mustard Glaze…

July 2, 2014July 2, 2014youbetchcanmakethis Leave a comment

I’ve always been a big fan of salmon. It’s a mild fish that can be prepared in a variety of ways and, in my estimation, easier to cook than other types of fish. So this past weekend when a new high-end grocery store opened in our area, I decided to try some of their fresh fish. The salmon looked superb, as you can see from the photos, and that prompted me to look for an easy but flavorful salmon recipe.

Herb Mustard Glaze Ingredients

I found a great recipe on, you guessed it…, The Food Network Site (thought I was going to say Pinterest didn’t you?) The basis for this is Giada’s recipe of the same name. I adapted it for my own needs and tastes. So here is my rating of the original recipe and lessons I learned when making it:

RECIPE RATING A. This is a very easy recipe, the glaze is easy to make and the flavors of the glaze provide a delightful compliment to the salmon. The only things I would have expounded on in the recipe is the reason why you put the glaze on after you’ve cooked the salmon for a couple of minutes and a more detailed reference to variations in cooking times for fish. I’ll explain in my lessons learned.

Lesson Learned 1 – Not all fish are created equal: This is true especially when it comes to cooking time. I am still trying to perfect the art of cooking fish to perfect doneness. The challenge is that fish can be expensive and you hate to pay good money for something and then ruin it. The beauty of salmon is that is can be prepared in various stages of doneness. Some like their salmon a little less done, sort of medium rare, will others like their salmon well done. It’s a little easier to work with salmon because of this. When I made this recipe I used two salmon filets that weighed between 6-8 ounces just as written in the recipe. Giada advised to cook the salmon for 7 minutes total. I cooked mine for 8 and my filet, as it was a little thicker, was medium rare to medium. My husband’s filet was thinner and his turned out medium. So just be aware that your forays into cooking fish may take several trials and also be aware that cooking time is so dependent on not only the weight but also the thickness of the fish. In my case, my filet was thicker than the one I served to my husband, ergo the difference in doneness. But don’t give up. Mastering the art of cooking fish will be something that, in the end, will provide you with some extraordinary meals.

Salmon Filets

Lesson Learned 2 – There is a reason you don’t glaze the fish before you put it under the broiler: This is where I wished the recipe would have been more specific. Granted I have become more adept in the kitchen but there are still some things that are not intuitive to me. The glaze will burn if you keep it on too long. If I had known that up front I probably would have applied the glaze at the three minute juncture instead of the two. As it was, I had a nicely browned glaze but I think I just made it before it started to burn. So keep that in mind. If you think you need more cooking time than the 7 minutes called for in the recipe, put your glaze on a little later.

Lesson Learned 3 – Remove the skin from the salmon: If there is skin on one side of the salmon filet remove it. The skin is tough and you won’t eat it. I find the filets cook more evenly with the skin removed. I use a very sharp knife, a Shun boning knife, and just run it up and down the edge of the skin until I can peel a little of it away. Then I hold the skin taught and keep moving the knife up and down close to where the skin meets the flesh, gently pulling on the skin as I go until all the skin as been removed. This will take a few minutes, but it’s worth it.

Herb Mustard Glaze

Lesson Learned 4 – The glaze is fabulous: I really liked the flavor of this glaze both on the fish and on its own. I imagine with a little bit of ingenuity it could be used on other things. The combination of the dijon and whole-grain mustard along with the herbs provides great depth of flavor and would probably taste good on chicken too.

I would highly recommend trying this recipe. Don’t be afraid to cook fish. If you’re concerned, err on the side of caution and take it out sooner rather than later. You can always throw it back on the cooking source but you can’t undo overcooking. Let me know what you think of this one.

Broiled Salmon with Herb Mustard Glaze

Servings: 4
Time: 20 Minutes Prep and Cooking
Difficulty: Medium
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Ingredients:

2 cloves of garlic

3/4 tsp. finely chopped fresh rosemary

3/4 tsp. finely chopped fresh thyme

1 Tbs. dry white wine

1 Tbs. olive oil

2 Tbs. dijon mustard

2 Tbs. whole grain mustard

4 (6-8 ounce) salmon filets, skin removed

Salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat the broiler (if you have an option of low or high, choose high). Place oven rack to be approximately 8-10 inches away from the broiler flame.

In a mini food processor combine garlic, rosemary, thyme, wine, oil, dijon mustard and 1 Tbs. of the whole grain mustard. Pulse until well combined. Transfer to a small bowl and stir in the remaining 1 Tbs. of whole grain mustard. Set aside.

Line a broiler pan with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Arrange the salmon on the broiler pan (I arrange them vertically so that they nest completely under the broiler flames). Salt and pepper to taste. Broil for 2-3 minutes (depending on the thickness of the filets). Remove broiler pan from oven and spread the mustard glaze on top of the salmon filets. Put pan back in oven and continue to broil for about 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

Serving Suggestion: Salmon with Mushroom Risotto and Steamed Vegetables

Salted Caramel Brownies…

June 25, 2014June 25, 2014youbetchcanmakethis 6 Comments

Doesn’t salted caramel seem to be all the rage right now? Maybe it’s just me but I’m seeing this flavor trend just about everywhere these days – salted caramel pretzels, salted caramel ice cream, salted caramel peanuts – it just seems to be “the thing.” So as I looked for my next new weekly recipe, it didn’t surprise me that I found one for salted caramel brownies.

Unsweetened chocolate and butter mixture…

I found a version of this recipe on a website called mybakingaddiction.com. I thought this would be great to make for my husband especially because he’s been in the doldrums since Haagen Dazs discontinued their test market salted caramel truffle ice cream. I thought this might make a good substitute for him, and I have to admit the recipe intrigued me.

I normally don’t do this but I made this particular recipe twice before blogging about it. I will explain why in my lessons learned.

Recipe Rating: B+ There are many reasons why I like this recipe and one very important reason why I think it still may need something. It’s easy to make, not overly sweet (which I like a lot) but the salted caramel taste was not as pronounced as I thought it should be. I’m not quite sure what can be done to enhance the salted caramel flavor. That being said, it’s still a great brownie and you should try it and see if you agree with me.

LESSON LEARNED 1 – Use the ingredients called for in the recipe: I know you’re probably saying, c’mon Jan everybody knows that! And that’s true. But when I first made the recipe I thought to myself, “I’ve got a bunch of walnuts in the freezer – I’ll just use those instead of the Planter’s Salted Caramel Peanuts called for in the recipe”. Then as I’m eating the brownies I’m wondering why I’m not getting more of a salted caramel flavor. Well, last time I checked walnuts did not have a natural salted caramel flavor all on their own. So you see, I told you I can be challenged in the kitchen. I even had to laugh at myself over this one.

Chocolate squares and peanuts layered in the center of the batter

And that’s why I made the recipe twice. I had to see how different the flavor of the brownies would be with the salted caramel peanuts. Lo and behold, to my surprise they really didn’t make a huge difference. But I knew I had to make it with the ingredients called for in the recipe before I could talk about the flavor of the brownies. I expected there to be a much stronger caramel flavor using both the Ghirardelli Chocolate and Sea Salt Caramel Squares and the salted caramel peanuts. Using the Planter’s Peanuts changed the flavor somewhat, but not to the degree that I expected. So if you don’t have them or can’t find them you can use any kind of nuts you have on hand. It won’t make that much difference. Personally I had a very difficult time finding them in our local grocery stores but I eventually prevailed. The peanuts had a very strong salted caramel flavor right out of the can. That flavor seemed to get lost a little in the chocolate during the baking process but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

LESSON LEARNED 2 – Unsweetened chocolate is really unsweetened: The recipe calls for melting in the microwave 4 ounces of unsweetened chocolate with 3/4 cup of unsalted butter. I’ve done this process before when making my triple chocolate brownie cookies but for some reason the chocolate looks so rich and good (as you can see by the picture near the beginning of the blog) that I’m always tempted to dip my finger in the chocolate and lick it. DON’T. Although it looks divine it does not taste good at all – so resist the temptation. You’ll be glad you did.

LESSON LEARNED 3 – Room temperature eggs: The reason cooks tell you to use room temperature eggs is they blend more thoroughly into a batter than cold eggs. The challenge is to remember to set them out so that they can become room temperature. Never fear – I have a neat little trick for you. Take whatever number of eggs called for in your recipe and put them in a container of warm water and let them sit for 5 minutes. Voila! you have room temperature eggs. No need to make the water overly hot, just warm feeling to the back of your hand will do. This is a great trick for people like me who never remember to take the eggs out ahead of time.

Brownie batter

LESSON LEARNED 4 – Cooking with eggs: Eggs can be tricky. They can be bad without you knowing it until you crack them open. That’s why I always crack my eggs individually in a small dish before adding them to a batter. That way if I have a bad egg I’m not ruining a perfectly good batter. It’s only one additional dish and can save you a lot of time if you happen to have a bad egg.

Also, I break my eggs up with a fork before adding them to a batter, especially if it is a batter that you mix by hand (which this recipe is). That way I’m not counting on a silicone whisk to break up the eggs. The job has already been done.

Lesson Learned 5 – Do not over mix: This is easier said than done but it is very important for achieving a cake or cookie that is not tough. With this recipe it’s relatively simple. The last thing you do is mix in the flour until just combined. Not seeing the white of the flour is very easy to eyeball in this recipe. Just make sure you stop as soon as the flour has been completely incorporated.

Lesson Learned 6 – Working with Ghirardelli filled chocolate squares: Be careful when handling the chocolate squares. If you break them the caramel will ooze out. The caramel center is not solid like the chocolate. You want the caramel to ooze out in the baking process and not all over your hands. If you break them you will wind up with a sticky mess.

Lesson Learned 7 – Adding coffee to the batter: I can’t take credit for this trick. I learned it from watching Ina Garten on the Food Network. If you want to enhance the flavor of chocolate in any recipe, just add some fresh brewed coffee. You don’t have to add a lot. For this recipe I added 2 teaspoons of coffee. If you try the same chocolate recipe both with and without the coffee you will be amazed at the difference. The original recipe did not call for adding coffee, but my version of the recipe does.

Lesson Learned 8 – Storing the brownies in the refrigerator: My husband came up with this trick. He wanted to give our garbage men a little treat during their route so he cut a couple of brownies and put them in the refrigerator until he saw the garbage truck. There was only one man in the truck this week so he had an extra cold brownie. He decided to eat it himself and he told me he liked how it tasted cold. I tried it and had to agree. The brownie had almost an ice-cream like consistency when it was cold. But room temperature or cold, either way this is a good brownie recipe. If you want to be even more decadent, you can frost the brownies and sprinkle the top with some additional nuts. That would definitely be a killer brownie!

I recommend that you try this recipe and tell me what you think. It is a very good basic brownie recipe and more and more as I become less willing to make things from a box, I look to these types of recipes to give me the ability to make baked goods with fresh ingredients. I’d be very interested to hear your impressions on this one. Enjoy!

Salted Caramel Brownies…

Servings: 12
Time: 50 Minutes Including Prep
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate coarsely chopped

3/4 cup unsalted butter cubed

1 cup sugar

3 large room temperature eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons brewed coffee

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

9 Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt Caramel Squares (1 package)

1/2 cup Planters Salted Caramel Peanuts, chopped

1 TBS. powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8×8 baking dish with foil and spray lightly with nonstick spray. Microwave unsweetened chocolate and butter for 2-3 minutes or until butter is melted at 50% power (I stopped at each minute interval and stirred the mixture). Stir until chocolate is fully melted. Whisk in eggs, vanilla, coffee and salt. Gradually add flour until just combined.

Spread half the batter into the prepared pan. Add a layer of the chocolate squares and sprinkle peanuts over the entire layer. Cover with the remaining batter.

Bake for 30-35 minutes – do not over bake. (It took me 35 minutes)

Cool for 15 minutes then remove brownies in the foil and set on a cooling rack. Let cool completely, remove the foil and dust with powdered sugar. Cut into squares and serve. (You could also serve these brownies with a dollop of caramel flavored whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice-cream).

Portabella Mushroom And Sweet Onion Risotto…

June 20, 2014June 20, 2014youbetchcanmakethis 3 Comments

The first time I ever heard the term risotto or saw it being made was on an episode of 30 Minute Meals with Rachel Ray on the Food Network. I remember distinctly her saying that many people think making risotto is difficult to master and labor intensive. I’d never tried making risotto and personally am not a big fan of rice to begin with, but it looked like a creamy style rice and I thought I could live with that. Plus my husband is a huge rice fan and I’m always looking for ways to satisfy his need for rice with something that I find palatable as well.

Sautee Onions In Butter And Olive Oil

After watching several episodes where she made different variations of risotto I thought I might give it a go. And over the past year after having made it several times I think I have the process down pat. The base recipe that I use is my own and I’ve found with a little ingenuity (and a need to use up various types of vegetables in my refrigerator) you can make just about any kind of risotto you’d like.

At first, the thought of making risotto was daunting, especially for a non-intuitive cook like me. I found out quickly that although Rachel Ray could seemingly make it in 30 minutes it takes much longer than that for me. Maybe living in high altitude has an affect on the cooking time, but after several attempts I know that it takes me 1 hour to get creamy rice. So that’s what I plan for now and it always turns out perfectly.

Since the recipe is mine, I’m not going to take the time to rate it. What I will say is that it did take several attempts before I got the risotto to its desired consistency. So let me share with you my lessons learned regarding making basic risotto and my recipe for portabella and sweet onion mushroom risotto.

Lesson Learned 1 – USE CHICKEN STOCK: Some recipes call for chicken broth, some for chicken stock, you can also use a combination of broth or stock and some wine, but my advice is always use chicken stock instead of chicken broth. Chicken stock is richer and adds more depth of flavor. There is no contest here – always use chicken stock. I find it takes me one full box of stock to make my risotto. (You can also use vegetable stock if you want to make this as a vegetarian dish).

Lesson Learned 2 – MAKE SURE THE CHICKEN STOCK IS WARM: A warm liquid helps the arborio rice (and that’s what risotto is, arborio rice) release more of its starches. Those starches are what creates the creaminess. About 5 minutes or so before I begin the process I put the stock in a pot on the stove and warm it under a very, very low flame. No need to boil or even simmer. I put my gas stove on its lowest possible setting where you can barely see a flame and keep it there the during the entire cooking process. It keeps the stock warm to the touch and that is really all you need.

Stir Regularly

Lesson Learned 3 – COOK THE RISOTTO SLOWLY UNDER A LOW FLAME: Face it, risotto takes time and there is no getting around that. The more you nurture it during the cooking process the better the end result. At any given point in time the risotto should barely bubble.

Lessons Learned 4 – SYSTEMATICALLY ADD WARM STOCK AND STIR: I think this may be the part where most people say forget it, I don’t have time for this. But it really isn’t that bad. I’ve gotten to the point where I check my risotto about every 5 minutes and if the stock has mostly cooked away I add another soup ladle full of stock, stir the risotto and then leave it for another 5 minutes. Remember stirring also helps the rice release its starches.

Lesson Learned 5 – IT MAY TAKE A FEW TRIES TO TIME IT RIGHT: As I mentioned earlier, when watching Rachel Ray cook risotto, it supposedly only took her 30 minutes. I’ve never even come close to that time. It takes me a full hour to get the risotto to its desired creaminess. Now I am not sure that high altitude has an effect on it, but I know that if I want to have risotto with a meal I need to start it an hour ahead of time. Depending upon where you live, the time may very. Unfortunately, this is something that you will need to discover on your own. But take my word for it – IT’S WORTH IT. I am not a big fan of rice but I love risotto.

Lesson Learned 6 – ADAPTABILITY: You can add just about anything you like to risotto and serve it either as a side dish or the main course. I like to add portabello mushrooms that have been sautéed in butter and garlic. But I’ve also added roasted butternut squash or asparagus. Just remember that whatever you add should be pre-cooked and added during the last 5 minute or so. Top it off with some chopped scallions or chives and you’ve got something very special.

Lesson Learned 7 – SIZE OF POT & THE AMOUNT OF RICE: My recipe calls for one cup of arborio rice. Don’t be fooled into thinking that is not enough. One cup of rice becomes three cups of risotto so depending on how many you will be serving this could well be enough for one meal and leftovers. And make sure to use a high sided pot when making risotto as it will grow right in front of your eyes. You’ll want to have a pot that can handle the end result.

Portabella Mushroom And Sweet Onion Risotto…

Servings: 4-6
Time: 1 Hour
Difficulty: Medium
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INGREDIENTS:

8 ounces of Portabella Mushrooms, sliced

1/2 cup sweet onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 box (32 oz.) low sodium chicken stock

3 TBS. butter

3 TBS. olive oil

1 cup arborio rice

DIRECTIONS:

Pour stock into a pot and heat on the stove under the lowest possible flame (just enough to keep it warm). In a sauté pan, heat 1TBS. oil and butter. Add garlic and cook until fragrant (30 seconds to 1 minute). Add mushrooms and sauté until slightly softened. Set aside.

In a high-sided pot under medium heat, heat 2 TBS. of butter and olive oil. Add onions and cook until translucent. Add arborio rice and cook with the onions for 1 minute. Turn heat to low and add a soup ladle full of chicken stock. Stir to combine. After approximately five minutes (or until you see the chicken stock has almost been completely incorporated) add another ladle full of stock and stir. Repeat this process until all of the chicken stock has been used and the rice is thick and creamy (for me, that was approximately 1 hour). DO NOT LET THE RICE MIXTURE DRY OUT DURING THE COOKING PROCESS. There should always be a little moisture left when adding the next ladle full of stock.

During the last five minutes of the cooking process, add the mushrooms to the mixture. Garnish with chives or scallions and serve.

Portabella Mushroom And Sweet Onion Risotto

Summer Pasta Salad

June 18, 2014June 18, 2014youbetchcanmakethis 2 Comments

I like a good pasta salad any time of year, but especially during the summer when dishes that are cool and crisp seem to meld well with the hot summer weather. I used to just get the boxed pasta salad mixes but as I become pickier about what I put in my mouth I tend to shy away from prepackaged foods with ingredients that I cannot pronounce. Plus chopping and dicing is very therapeutic for me and the end result is always better than something that came out of a box.

The pasta salad recipe I’m sharing today came from, where else, Pinterest and a website called barefeetinthekitchen.com. A colleague of mine pinned it and when I saw the pin it intrigued me. I decided to make it with a couple of changes from the original recipe (mostly based on what I already had in the house) and I’ll share my adaptation below.

Ingredients

RECIPE RATING: A – simple to make, very flavorful and adaptable. The only thing preventing me from giving it an A+ is I didn’t think the proportion of broccoli to pasta was substantive enough. The original recipe called for 8 ounces of pasta and a cup of tiny broccoli florets. I added about a 1/2 cup more of broccoli florets because as I was eyeballing it I thought there wasn’t enough. I would have liked an even better ratio in the salad than that, so I am recommending adding two cups of tiny broccoli florets.

LESSON LEARNED 1 – ANY PASTA WILL DO: The original recipe called for “salad macaroni”. The pasta pictured on the website looked like ditalini. I used a pasta called “radiatore” which, as you can see in the pictures, has wavy edges. I thought this pasta would hold the dressing better and it also creates an interesting look. So, knowing that we eat with our eyes even before we even put anything in our mouths, I opted for the radiatore. But in reality any small shaped pasta will do like small shells or even elbow macaroni.

LESSON LEARNED 2 – PARBOILING THE BROCCOLI FLORETS: This was a great tip in the recipe. You have to cook the florets slightly or else they will be too hard when in actuality you want them to be crisp tender. The original recipe called for putting the florets in with the pasta for the last 30 seconds of cooking time and then draining and rinsing both with cold water. I kept the florets in for 45 seconds and I think they came out perfectly. It is important to rinse them immediately in cold water to stop the cooking process. Let the cold water run for at least a minute and shake the colander every once in a while to make the cold water is reaching all of the pasta and the broccoli.

LESSON LEARNED 3 – USE WHAT YOU HAVE AT HOME: The original recipe called for black olives. I’m not a big fan of black olives but I love kalamata olives and I always have them on hand. I used them and that was just fine. The recipe also called for the mayo to be mixed with either 2 teaspoons of white wine or just plain vinegar. I split the difference and used 2 teaspoons of white wine vinegar and again, it turned out just fine.

Rinse the pasta and broccoli immediately in cold water

LESSON LEARNED 4 – SERVING TIPS: I decided not to add tomatoes to the mix because the pasta was already mixed with diced cucumber and I was afraid the pasta would get too watery. What I wound up doing is cutting up a couple of cherry tomatoes and adding them when I was serving the pasta. I also sprinkled the top of the pasta with bacon bits when I served it so the bacon would not get too mushy in the dressing. It was fabulous!

LESSON LEARNED 5: USING CUCUMBER IN PASTA SALAD: I’ve never used cucumber before in a pasta salad and I liked it. It’s not over powering and gives the salad a cool crispness that has you wondering what exactly that flavor is that is brightening up the salad. Before I diced up the cucumber I cut it in half lengthwise and removed the seeds. That way only the cucumber flesh was in the salad and the salad did not become soggy.

LESSON LEARNED 6 – SUGAR IN THE DRESSING: The dressing recipe called for 1/2 teaspoon of sugar. I’d never put sugar into a dressing and so I had my concerns. I can tell you now, don’t worry about it and use the sugar. It balances out the tartness of the vinegar perfectly.

LESSON LEARNED 7 – MAKE THIS AHEAD OF TIME: What I’ve found over the years with making pasta salads and potato salads is that they even taste better if they’ve had time to sit and let the ingredients get well acquainted. If at all possible, make this early in the day and then let it sit in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving. You’ll find that the flavors have become even more robust. But if you can’t, no worries, the pasta salad will still taste wonderful.

Once again, the greater amount of time spent making this recipe involves the chopping and dicing, which I love to do! This pasta salad has great flavor, is highly adaptable and I guarantee you that you can pronounce all of the ingredients used in the recipe. Try it and let me know what you think or how you adapted it.

Summer Pasta Salad…

Servings: 16-18
Time: 40 Minutes
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

8 ounces of a smaller type of pasta (I used radiatore)

2 cups tiny broccoli florets (use fresh if at all possible)

1/2 cup diced cucumber, peeled and seeded

1/2 cup finely diced red pepper

1/2 cup olives (I used kalamata olives, the original recipe called for black olives)

1/3 cup finely diced green onion

DRESSING INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 tsp. white wine or plain vinegar (I used white wine vinegar)

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1/2 tsp. sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Cook the pasta according to the package instructions, adding a generous pinch of salt to the boiling water before putting in the pasta. Just before the pasta is done cooking at the broccoli florets to the pot and boil for about 30-45 seconds. Drain the pot immediately into a colander and rinse well with cold water.

While the pasta is cooking, dice the cucumber, red pepper, olives and green onion and set aside. Mix together all of the dressing ingredients and set aside. In a large bowl pour in the dressing. Add the cooked pasta and broccoli to the bowl and stir well to coat. Add the remaining ingredients and stir again. Taste and adjust any seasonings as necessary (I found I need just a little more salt). Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Stir before serving. Garnish with cherry tomatoes and bacon bits if desired.

Meatloaf For Two…

June 12, 2014June 13, 2014youbetchcanmakethis Leave a comment

Just about every family has their version of how to make meatloaf. I think meatloaf may have been with us since the dawn of time. And although my vegetarian friends may cringe at the thought, I still enjoy eating meat every now and then but now I try to balance my diet so that I am not solely relying on red meat as my main protein. But every once in a while I need some good old comfort food and I turn to things like roast chicken, pot roast or some good old meatloaf.

As I’ve mentioned before, I grew up in a meat and potatoes household. So today’s blog takes me back to my childhood where meals like these were often the family faire for dinner. And if you’re not a beef fan, you can skip this recipe as my goal is to try a wide variety of recipes and I’m sure at some point I will post something that will pique your interest.

This is one of my husband’s favorite meals from when he was a child – meatloaf, mashed potatoes and peas. Meatloaf was something his mother didn’t totally annihilate in the oven and the art of scooping up a bunch of peas with a wad of mashed potatoes is a skill he has well honed over the years. As a matter of fact, no other vegetable will do for him in this meal – it has to be peas and of course there must also be mashed potatoes. My husband is one of those that does not like to combine his food and eats one thing on his plate till he’s finished with it and then moves on to something else. But for this meal the combination of meatloaf, mashed potatoes and peas compels him to break his habit and mix them all together. We all have our little idiosyncrasies don’t we?

This recipe comes from a book my husband got back in the 1970’s called The Complete Family Cook Book. It was a cook book that was offered by a chain grocery store to its customers. On your first visit to the store you got the recipe book binder and chapter 1. Every week after that, if you spent “x” amount of dollars you received an additional chapter. That continued every week until the book was complete. You could also purchase a chapter if your grocery bill was not large enough to warrant a free chapter. The book is so old now that the back of the binder is held together with duct tape, but it is an amazing book with so many recipes that we’ve used many times over the years. This one has to be our all time favorite from that book. I’ll share my rating and lessons learned over many, many years of making this recipe.

RATING: A+ what can I say, we’ve made this recipe for years and it continues to be our favorite. It’s simple, straightforward and very satisfying. You’ve simply got to try this one. And being it’s only recently that I’ve improved my cooking skills, I guarantee you this recipe can be made by even the worst cook and still turn out great. I can also tell you that from many years of experience!

Mini Loaf Pan

LESSON LEARNED 1: MAKING MEATLOAF FOR TWO – The recipe as I will share it makes a very big meatloaf that serves 6. Since it is only me and my husband I wanted to figure out a way to eliminate as much waste as possible and still enjoy this meatloaf recipe. A local grocery store used to sell meatloafs in mini loaf pans (3.25 W x 2″D x 5.75L). I got the idea of trying to see how this recipe might translate into filling mini loaf pans. Well, it worked beautifully – this recipe will make 3 complete mini meatloafs. So when I want meatloaf for dinner I make the recipe, fill the mini pans, freeze two of them for a later date and cook one of them that evening. There you have it – meatloaf for today and two others for future dinners. The mini pan gives you 3 good sized slices so you can each have one slice for dinner and if you don’t take seconds have a slice leftover to make a meatloaf sandwich the next day (remember those?).

LESSON LEARNED 2: FREEZING THE LOAFS – If you plan on having your loafs “live” in the freezer for a while I recommend first wrapping the loaf pan in plastic wrap and then wrapping them with aluminum foil. That tends to hold off freezer burn for quite some time. The mini loaf will thaw in a couple of hours so you can take it out of the freezer and put it in your refrigerator in the morning, take it out when you come home from work and just pop it in the oven. Take off the aluminum foil when you place it in the refrigerator from the freezer – the foil tends help maintain the cold and you want the loaf to thaw. I also recommend minimally letting the loaf stand on the counter at least while you preheat the oven. Any chill you can reduce will assist with the cooking time.

LESSON LEARND 3: MILK OR CANNED TOMATOES – The recipe says you can use 3/4 cup milk or 3/4 cup canned tomatoes. I’ve tried this recipe both ways and prefer making it with milk versus canned tomatoes. I think the flavor is richer and more full bodied with milk. I think the tomatoes tend to take over as the dominant flavor and I prefer the dominant flavor to be the meat itself.

LESSON LEARNED 4: PREPARING THE MEATLOAF – the recipe in itself is pretty self explanatory. The one thing I’ve learned over the years is to resist the urge to over mix. Mix all the ingredients until just combined and then STOP! Mixing a meatloaf is like mixing cake batter – the more you do it the tougher the end product. Be careful not to over mix.

LESSON LEARNED 5: BREAD CRUMBS – although the recipe calls for 3/4 cup of bread crumbs, I only add 1/2 cup to begin with and then add more if I think it’s needed. It just seems sometimes the mixture is drier than others and I would rather err on the side of caution and not add all the bread crumbs at the beginning to ensure getting a moister mixture than just dumping it in all at once and being stuck with what I’ve got. This was something learned over many years of practice.

LESSON LEARNED 6: DRAIN THE GREASE – Once you take the meatloaf out of the oven make sure you drain the grease before slicing and serving. I tend to use the leanest ground beef I can find and I still have grease in the pan. There’s nothing worse than serving a greasy slice of meatloaf.

LESSON LEARNED 7: MAKE IT IN YOUR TOASTER OVEN – With a mini loaf you don’t have to use your oven. Cook this in your toaster oven at 350 for 1 hour and voila, you’ll have meatloaf! And you can have meatloaf any time of year, including the summer, without heating up your house.

This is definitely not a difficult recipe to master. Give it a try and tell me what you think. This has been our go-to meatloaf recipe for a long time and I hope you will enjoy it. If you’ve got a family favorite meatloaf recipe – please share it. Would love to try it and compare the two. Enjoy this one!

Meatloaf For Two…

Servings: 2-6
Time: 1-1 1/2 hours
Difficulty: Easy
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(This recipe, with it’s noted adjustments can be made to serve two or serve 6)

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef

1/2 lb. ground pork

1/3 cup finely chopped onion

3 Tbs. celery (two small stalks)

3 Tbs. italian parsley (or you can chop the leaves from the celery stalk)

1-2 cloves minced garlic (personal preference)

3/4 cup bread crumbs

3/4 cup milk or canned tomatoes

1 beaten egg

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp poultry seasoning

DIRECTIONS:

Mix all ingredients together until fully blended. If making one loaf, shape in a 9×5 inch loaf pan and bake at 350 for 1 1/2 hours. If making mini loafs, divide mixture into 3 mini loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Take out of the oven and remove the grease from the pan. Cover with foil and let sit for 5 minutes. Serve with mashed potatoes and peas.

Artisan No-Knead Bread…

June 8, 2014January 8, 2016youbetchcanmakethis 5 Comments

Over a year ago I wrote a blog about making no-knead bread in an enameled cast iron pot. Although it is a great blog, I felt the “knead” to rewrite it because of a significant lesson I’ve learned since I initially published the blog.

The original recipe came from a website called simplysogood.com and although I basically use that recipe there are many others out there that have slightly different variations and still produce this wonderful, easy to make bread. The key to success in this recipe is not the mixing (that is by far the easy part) but rather the handling of the dough, getting it prepped and into a screaming hot enameled cast iron pot. So I am going to revisit this recipe, rate it and give you my lessons learned. Hopefully these lessons will help you get your desired result much quicker than I did.

What I use to bake the bread – a LeCreuset 6 quart dutch oven…

RECIPE RATING: A for the pictures and step-by-step instructions, C-for advice on how to prep the dough. If you go to the website and search for the recipe you will find wonderfully detailed pictures of the process for making the bread and I like that. The thing that I feel is misleading is the information on the dough prep right before putting it into the oven and I will address that in my lessons learned.

LESSON LEARNED 1 – MIXING THE DOUGH: In my mind there is nothing easier than the initial mixing of the dough in this recipe. It requires only 4 simple ingredients and time. By time I mean a minimum of 12 hours to let the dough cure and the longer the better, even up to 18 hours. As stated on the website, this recipe is very forgiving so if you make the bread after 11 hours of curing or even after 24 hours you will still get a great bread. From a mixing standpoint there is little if anything you can do to ruin the dough.

When the dough is mixed it is sticky…

LESSON LEARNED 2 – TO FLOUR OR NOT TO FLOUR: This is perhaps where I disagree the most with the original recipe. In that recipe it calls for you to “flour the heck” out of the surface that you place the dough on after initially removing it from the bowl. One thing is for sure, the dough is very, very sticky and you need something to help you manage it. But in my experience the dough is also much looser than what you see in the pictures and all the flour in the world does not get it to form as round of a ball as depicted on the website. What tends to happen as you try to get some shape to the dough is it rolls back over on itself trapping small pockets of flour on the bottom of the loaf and I can tell you from much experience that they do not magically disappear when the bread is baking. Your slices wind up having pockets of flour packed into the bottom crust. There were may times I had to cut off about a 1/4 inch off the bottom of the loaf just to remove those baked-in flour pockets.

Try as I may, whenever I tried to shape the dough on a floured surface (and I tried all amounts of flour to see what might be the right combination), it would roll over on itself and create the flour pockets. And because the dough is loose, it also is a challenge to transfer it from one surface to another without creating additional pockets. The original recipe states that after you’ve formed the loaf to let it rest covered in plastic wrap while the enameled cast iron pot is heating in the oven. Then you can either just put the dough in the heated enamel pot or line the pot with parchment paper and put the dough on the parchment paper and into the pot. Either way, once cooked the dough will not stick to either surface and the parchment paper will not burn. That is true. But trying to move the dough from one surface to another was almost an impossible task, especially when dealing with a cast iron pot that has been in the oven for a half hour at 450 degrees. Over and over I kept trying to make this recipe work as written until I realized I was flirting with the definition of insanity, that being doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I became very frustrated with the recipe and almost gave up on it but then I came up with an ingenious idea.

(upper left: dough after 18 hours – upper right: laying out the parchment paper mold – lower left: – dough resting in parchment paper – lower right: dough right out of the oven before removed from the pot)

Here is how I solved the flour dilemma. Before I heat the cast iron pot I measure the amount of parchment paper I need to line the inside of the pot and cut the mold. Then I place the parchment paper mold into a high rimmed bowl. I take the other bowl with the dough, use a spatula and systematically scrape the dough into a ball and move the ball toward the rim of the bowl. Once I have it near the rim of the bowl I scrape it into the bowl with the parchment paper mold and voila I have my rounded loaf resting in parchment paper. I cover that bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit for 30 minutes while the cast iron pot is preheating in the oven. When it comes time to put the dough into the prepared enameled cast iron pot I just pick up the dough up by the edges of the parchment paper and transfer it quickly and without drama into the cast iron pan. It couldn’t be easier and I did not have to use one bit of flour. I no longer have any flour pockets on the bottom of my baked artisan bread!

I highly encourage you to try this recipe. It really is easy and makes perfect bread every time. My challenge was simply to eliminate the flour pockets in my otherwise perfect bread. I will write the recipe with the original instructions and with my recommendations. Try it both ways and see what works for you. And if you have an answer to the flour dilemma other than mine, I’d love to hear it. Also if your dough is not as loose as mine please let me know how you achieved that. Most recipes for making artisan bread that I’ve researched do not vary greatly in the ingredients and instructions, and most say that the dough will be loose and sticky so I’m thinking the flour on the bottom of the dough will continue to be a challenge. Let me know your thoughts or suggestions – I’d love to hear them.

Artisan No-Knead Bread…

Servings: 8-10
Time: 12-18 Hours
Difficulty: Medium
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INGREDIENTS:

3 cups unbleached flour

1 3/4 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. rapid rise yeast

1 1/2 cup water

(You can add a variety of herbs and fruits to this basic recipe. See picture below of cranberry walnut artisan bread. Just add 1/3 cup dried cranberries and 1/3 cup walnuts when making the dough)

DIRECTIONS:

In a large bowl whisk together flour, salt and yeast. Add water and mix until combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 12-18 hours. (overnight is the best).

Heat oven to 450 degrees. While oven is preheating, line your enameled cast iron pot with parchment paper and press the down the center, sides and top to form a clear outline of the pot. Cut the parchment paper along the edges (so that when you eventually place it back in the pot it won’t be hanging over the sides) and place the paper mold into a bowl that has a circumference close to the desired shape of a nicely rounded loaf. The recipe is very forgiving so don’t spend too much time worrying about the size bowl to put it in. When the oven is heated, place your enameled cast iron pot with lid into the oven and heat for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile take the dough that has been curing overnight and scrape it into a loosely formed ball inside the bowl its in and then drop it into the other bowl with the parchment paper mold. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest until the enameled cast iron pot is done heating. (The original recipe calls for you to put the dough on a heavily floured surface, shape into a ball and cover it with plastic wrap to rest while the pot is warming in the oven. You can try it this way if you want, but I found that I get pockets of flour that get baked into the bottom of the bread when I do it that way).

Once the pot is heated, quickly transfer the dough into the pot, cover and put back in the oven. (If you use the parchment paper method, just grab the paper on opposite sides and drop into the pot. Just make sure to remember that the pot is very hot. (If you don’t use the parchment paper method just drop the dough into the pot, cover and put in the oven.) You do not need to prepare the pot in any way. The dough will not stick to the surface nor will it stick to the parchment paper.

Bake for 30 minutes. Then remove the lid from the pot and bake for 10-15 minutes more. (I find that 10 minutes gives me the nice golden color you see in the picture at the beginning of this blog). Remove the bread from the oven and place on a cooling rack to cool.

Artisan No-Knead Bread

Cranberry Walnut Artisan Bread

Easy Cheesy Stuffed Peppers…

June 3, 2014June 8, 2014youbetchcanmakethis Leave a comment

I’d never made stuffed peppers before. I always bought them either frozen or pre-prepared at the grocery store. But in my quest to do one new recipe a week I decided to try my hand at making stuffed peppers. As you can imagine there are so many variations of stuffed pepper recipes out there but I wanted to do something that was simple but also interesting.

I came across a recipe called “Make Me Stuffed Peppers” from the website genaw.com. It was quick, easy and in my mind adaptable to what I already had in the refrigerator and so I chose it over a plethora of others. Here is my rating and lessons learned.

Rating: B for the recipe, C for how the recipe was written. The recipe although good needed, in my estimation, a little something. It lacked depth of flavor. The next time I might try adding a little BBQ sauce or worcestershire sauce to the ground beef or maybe some red pepper flakes or smokehouse beef seasoning just for a little more kick. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad recipe. It just needs a little more substance to it. And if you like things a little more mellow don’t add anything. I think the beauty of this recipe is its adaptability to one’s personal tastes.

Lesson Learned 1: CHEESE. The recipe mentioned something that I never knew. It calls for cheese to be mixed with the ground beef and also for some cheese on the top. It specifically states not to use pre-shredded cheese as the powdery coating doesn’t allow it to melt properly. I never heard that before, but I have experience pre-shredded cheese not melting properly. Who knew? Good thing to remember for next time. The recipe called for using cheddar cheese both mixed in with the ground beef and on top. I mixed the ground beef with a cheese blend that contained three different types of cheeses mixed with cream cheese and that melted nicely. I also had some provolone slices and I used those to put on top of the stuffed pepper. That melted nicely as well. The beauty of this recipe is that you can use whatever cheese you have available – it doesn’t matter. The cheese blend gave the ground beef a nice silkiness and I liked that.

Lesson Learned 2: PARBOILING THE PEPPERS. It is important to cook your peppers in boiling water for 3 minutes before you cut them and fill them. Bring a pot of water to a boil, put in the peppers and cook for only 3 minutes. Take them out, let them cool slightly and then prepare them to be stuffed. If you don’t do this step they won’t cook properly. Don’t cook them any longer than 3 minutes or else you’ll have mush on your hands at the end of the process. Cooking them for 3 minutes gives them just enough of a head start to be done perfectly when they come out of the oven.

Lesson Learned 3: BROWN BUT DO NOT COOK THE GROUND BEEF. The ground beef will be in the oven for a half hour after you stuff the peppers. There is no need to cook the meat all the way through when preparing ground beef mixture. Cook it about three quarters through (so you still see a little bit of pink). The oven will take care of the rest. I also recommend using a fattier ground beef for this recipe. That way the meat will not dry out in the oven. Be sure to thoroughly drain off the grease after you brown the meat and before you stuff the peppers.

Lesson Learned 4: CUTTING THE PEPPERS. I recommend cutting the peppers in half as shown in the picture above versus hallowing out the pepper and trying to make it stand on end. If you cut the pepper lengthwise you don’t have to worry about the peppers falling over in the oven. You also are serving half a pepper per portion versus a full one. Personally I think that is a much more reasonable portion size.

My husband, my very own in-house recipe critic, liked this recipe but told me not to be afraid to jazz it up a bit. That was a very clear message that, yes it was good, but it needed just a little more umph! I’ll write the recipe as I made it and I encourage you to experiment with some additional things to add depth of flavor. This is definitely a recipe that, with your own personal tweaking, can be a staple in your recipe repertoire. I would love to hear of any adjustments you make and how it turned out. I always love to hear new ideas!

Easy Cheesy Stuffed Peppers

Servings: 4
Time: 45 Minutes
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

2 large sweet peppers halved lengthwise

1 pound ground beef

1 TBS butter

1/4 cup of onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 cup chopped fresh tomato

Salt and pepper to taste

4 ounces of cheese (to be mixed with the ground beef)

2 ounces of cheese for the topping

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once the water is boiling put in the peppers and cook for only three minutes. Immediately remove the peppers from the water and set aside to cool slightly for easy handling.

In a saute pan, melt the butter and cook the onions until they become translucent. Salt and pepper the onions during the cooking process. When onions become translucent add the garlic and cook until fragrant (between 30 seconds and one minute). Push onions and the garlic to the side of the pan and add the ground beef. Break up the ground beef and spoon the onions and garlic on top of it. Let cook over medium heat until browned (approximately 5 minute). Turn the meat over and cook for a few more minutes. It is ok if there is some pink in the meat, it will finish cooking in the oven. Add the tomatoes and cook only until warmed (no longer than a minute). Stir in the cheese, combine until the cheese is melted and take the mixture off the heat to cool slightly.

Cut the peppers in half lengthwise and remove seeds and any white pith. Fill the hallowed out peppers with the meat mixture. Top with cheese.

Place the stuffed peppers on a greased (or you can use nonstick spray) baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Serve immediately.

Easy Cheesy Stuffed Pepper

Sauteed Spinach With Almonds, Tomatoes and Onions…

May 30, 2014June 8, 2014youbetchcanmakethis Leave a comment

Our neighbors across the street were going out of town. Before they left they gave my husband of bag of lettuce from their garden so it wouldn’t go to waste. A little while later my husband said he also found a bag of spinach on his workbench in the garage. He came into the house with it and said, “What are we going to do with all this. I think you should just throw the spinach out.”

Ingredients

The spinach look gorgeous and I just couldn’t rationalize throwing out home-grown spinach. I put the bag in the refrigerator and began to think about how I could use it. Then it dawned on me, I could sauté it! I’d never sautéed spinach before, only having eaten it in salads, and so I thought this would be a great thing to blog about.

I found a recipe on the Food and Wine website for sautéed spinach with almonds and grapes. Although I did have red grapes on hand, I decided to use up the cherry tomatoes I had in the refrigerator instead. So here’s my rating of the original recipe, my lessons learned and my final version of the recipe.

Rating: A for flavor – C for how the recipe was written. The almonds definitely provided depth of flavor in this recipe but the directions were poor and I totally disagreed with the amount of oil the recipe recommended.

Lesson Learned 1 – AMOUNT OF OIL: Before I made the recipe I happened to mention to my husband what I was planning to do. He said he’d had a conversation with our neighbor about sautéing spinach and they discussed the fact of being very careful with the amount of oil you use as sautéed spinach can become too oily very quickly. The original recipe called for a quarter of a cup of olive oil. Now granted you are also sautéing the onions, almonds and garlic in the oil, but I still think a quarter of a cup is way too much. I started out by eyeballing it and put in just enough to put a very thin coat on the bottom of the pan. Then once the onions, almonds and garlic were sautéed it looked like I might need just a little more and so i added a couple of additional tablespoons. My advice is to be very careful with the amount of oil you use and err on the side of less versus more. You can always add more if you need it. All in all, I’d say I used about 4 tablespoons of oil total (a little more than 1/8 cup) and the spinach turned out beautifully.

Add Spinach By Handfulls

Lesson Learned 2 – COOKING ORDER: sauté the onions and almonds first. They take much more time. It takes about 4-5 minutes on medium heat for the onions to become translucent and the almonds to brown. I used shaved almonds and chopped them into smaller pieces. Slivered almonds would work as well. After the onions and almonds are done add the garlic and cook only until it becomes fragrant. I’ve found that normally takes a little more than 30 seconds. Once the garlic has become fragrant then add the spinach. At the very end add the tomatoes as you simply want to warm them and don’t want them to break down.

Lesson Learned 3 – COOKING SPINACH: spinach cooks fast, even faster than I thought. I planned for the spinach to cook down in about 5 minutes and it happened in about 3 minutes. So be prepared for how quick it goes once you add the spinach. I used a whole 10 ounce bag of spinach and it was just enough for two people. It was a great way to use up all of that home-grown spinach.

Add Tomatoes At The Very End

Lesson Learned 4 – ALMONDS: My advice is don’t eliminate the almonds. They provided a great contrast to the spinach and added a wonderful nutty flavor to the dish. As I was eating it I kept saying to myself what is that fabulous hint of flavor and then recognized it was the almonds.

My husband not only loved the recipe but was pleased I figured out a way to use the spinach. I will definitely make this recipe again. Most of the work entails chopping the onions, almonds and garlic. The rest is pretty straightforward and takes about 7 minutes to cook.

Sauteed Spinach With Almonds, Tomatoes and Onions…

Servings: 2
Time: 15 Minutes
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS

4 TBS Olive Oil (eyeball the olive oil making sure not to use too much, just lightly coat the pan)

1/4 cup almonds, chopped

1/4 finely chopped onion

1/4 cup cherry tomatoes diced

2 cloves of garlic minced

1 10 ounce package of spinach, large stems discarded

2 TBS dry white wine

Salt and Pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Chop onion, garlic, tomatoes, almonds and set aside. In a large skillet (preferably with high sides) heat 3 TBS of olive oil. Add the almonds and onions and cook over medium heat until onions become translucent and almonds become slightly golden. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant.

Add the spinach in handfuls and stir adding more spinach as the leaves begin to wilt. Add tomatoes when spinach is just about completely wilted and cook until warmed (less than a minute). Add the wine and toss altogether. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

Sauteed Spinach With Almonds, Tomatoes and Onions

Glazed Strawberry Bread…

May 27, 2014June 28, 2016youbetchcanmakethis 3 Comments

NOTE: Here’s my second in a series of re-blogs while I’m in the throws of selling/buying and moving. I hope to be back online with one new recipe a week starting at the end of July. Until then, let’s revisit some of my more popular recipes! You’ve gotta try this one. It is simply fabulous!

It’s been a little longer than usual since my last post. The month of May has many “things” happening like birthdays, anniversaries and of course Memorial Day. I got a little caught up in all of that but now am back to a more normal schedule regarding this blog.

Cut The Strawberries Into Small Pieces

I don’t know about you but this season it seems like the strawberries are more plentiful, sweeter and cheaper. I’ve mostly been eating a lot of strawberries combined with blueberries and raspberries and mixed with greek yoghurt as a special breakfast treat. But I was also interested in finding a good recipe for strawberry bread and I think I’ve found just about the best one yet on a website called sallysbakingaddiction.com.

I liked this recipe for a variety of reasons which I will talk about in my rating and lessons learned. That being said, make sure you make this one – you will not be disappointed.

Rating: A+ to the nth degree! This is the highest rating I have ever given a recipe because in my mind it is the perfect one – it was easy to make, turned out perfectly the first time and the recipe was well written. Yahoo! This one gets the highest honors to date!

Wet And Dry Ingredients and Chopped Strawberries

Lesson Learned 1: THE RECIPE. Read this recipe carefully because if you do it will turn out perfectly. In the original recipe, the author took great pains to include the little nuances that so many cooks consider basic knowledge and consequently omit. The recipe is very specific on what you should use not only to create a moist cake but to get it to brown to perfection. Bravo to this cook who took the time to include all of the information you need to know. The recipe I am writing below is my version which includes the original recipe and my adjustments for high altitude.

Lesson Learned 2: THE CORRECT SIZE LOAF PAN. The original recipe called for a 9×5 pan. I used an 8×4 and it worked out perfectly. As a matter of fact I would recommend using an 8×4 for this recipe as you get a taller bread by using the smaller pan.

Lesson Learned 3: OIL. The original recipe called for vegetable oil but I used coconut oil and it turned out beautifully. As a matter of fact, I would recommend using coconut oil if you have it. The cake turned out really moist.

Ready To Go Into The Oven

Lesson Learned 4: ROOM TEMPERATURE EGGS. What I absolutely loved in this recipe was a tip regarding using room temperature eggs. First of all, I’ve always heard you should use room temperature eggs in baking but I never knew why. I found out that room temperature eggs tend to mix more evenly than cold eggs, who knew? But here’s the greatest TIP: If you’re like me and never remember to take the eggs out before you start baking, just take your eggs, put them in a cup, cover them with warm water and let sit for 5 minutes. Voila! You have a room temperature eggs!

Lesson Learned 5: A KITCHEN SCALE. Baking is not like cooking. You need your measurements to be exact in order to get the best results. I’ve found that to be especially the case with flour. If a recipe (which this one does) includes the weight of flour in grams, use a scale and measure the flour that way. It is so much more precise. TIP: If you keep your flour in a canister, take a knife and stir the flour to eliminate any compaction that may have occurred while sitting in the canister. Then put your measuring cup in, scoop the flour out and level it off at the top with your knife. That is another trick to get a more accurate amount of flour in your recipe, although using a scale is the most accurate.

Fresh Out Of The Oven…

Lesson Learned 6: COVERING THE BREAD IN FOIL. The recipe calls for loosely covering the bread with foil after the first 30 minutes of baking so the bread will not get overly dark. Great tip! I covered the bread after thirty minutes, baked it for another 20 and it still was not done but uncovered it and baked it for 10 more minutes and it came out perfectly.

Lesson Learned 7: THE GLAZE. This is perhaps the best glaze I ever tasted and I think the reason is that it’s made with heavy cream instead of just milk or water. One place where the recipe differed from what I experienced was in the amount of heavy cream to use. The original recipe called for 2 Tablespoons of heavy cream, 1 cup of confectioners sugar and 1/2 tsp. of vanilla extract. That combination gave me a ball of paste. I wound up using about 6 TBS. of heavy cream and 1 TBS of vanilla extract in order to get the consistency you see in the pictures. It tasted better than any glaze I’ve ever made. Heavy cream is definitely the key to a great tasting glaze.

Lesson Learned 8: MIXING. The recipe cautions not to over mix the batter in order to have a moist cake. This is absolutely true. Pay attention when mixing and just when everything is combined, stop! I was very careful not to over mix and the cake was moist and delicious.

My husband almost ate the whole loaf all by himself, that’s how great this bread is. It is so easy to make and so flavorful. I know you will thoroughly enjoy this recipe! You must try it.

Serving Suggestion

Glazed Strawberry Bread…

Servings: 10-12
Time: 50-60 minutes baking
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

BREAD:

2 cups (250g) flour

1 tsp. baking soda (1/2 tsp for high altitude)

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 large egg, room temperature

3/4 sugar (2/3 cup high altitude)

1/4 cup brown sugar (50g) not firmly packed (high altitude leave an 1/8 inch visible around the rim of the measuring cup)

1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil (you can use melted coconut oil)

1 cup buttermilk (no substitutions)

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup fresh strawberries cut in small pieces

GLAZE:

1 cup (120g) confectioners sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

4-6 TBS heavy cream

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. (If you did not allow for a room temperature egg, place your egg in a container, cover it with warm water and let it sit for 5 minutes. If using coconut oil, put the oil in a pan, melt it and set aside to cool.) Spray a 8×4 loaf pan with nonstick spray and set aside.

In a large bowl whisk the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon until combined. In a medium bowl whisk together the egg, granulated and brown sugars. Whisk until there are no visible lumps. Whisk in the buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Stir until there are no lumps. Do not over mix.

Mix the strawberries with 1-2 TBS of flour (this will prevent the strawberries from only staying at the top of the bread). Carefully fold the strawberries into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth it out evenly.

Bake for 50 minute to 1 hour. Loosely cover the bread with foil after 30 minutes of baking. Remove foil for the last 10 minutes of baking. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Keep the bread in the pan for 15 minutes before removing it. Allow the bread to cook completely before glazing it.

Glazed Strawberry Bread

Cinnamon Crumb Banana Bread…

May 13, 2014May 13, 2014youbetchcanmakethis Leave a comment

Snowing on May 11, really? Just when you thought Spring had finally sprung here comes the frenetic rush to protect the rose bushes and the irises from the impending onslaught of freezing temperatures. Not much fun and I certainly hope we’ve seen the last of snow for a long while, but even so, when it snows and gets cold I’m conditioned to crank up the oven and bake something. I’m sure it comes from some childhood memories of how wonderful the house felt and smelled when the weather was cold and something was baking in the oven. So it’s ingrained in me whether it be December or May.

As the temperature dropped I decided to bake something but I wanted it to be easy while making the house smell divine. I found my answer on, you guessed it, Pinterest. Double bonus, I had all the ingredients already in the house so I didn’t even have to venture out in the cold. And once again I put my “self-proclaimed Pinterest recipe critic” hat on and started to make cinnamon crumb banana bread from a recipe I found on a website called littlebitsof.com.

Recipe Rating: A+++++ I recognize that unless stated recipes are not written to the specific needs of high altitude baking so I made some adjustments and it turned out beautifully. If I had to rate the recipe overall on how it was written I would not have given it as high of a mark and I’ll explain that in my lessons learned.

Lesson Learned 1: WRITING A RECIPE – As a non-intuitive cook I need to have things spelled out for me, at least for the first time I try a recipe. Once I get an initial “try” under my belt and am successful, then the rest is up to me. This recipe left out one very specific and important element that being the size of the pan to use. Loaf pans come in two traditional sizes, a 9 x 5 inch or an 8 x 4 inch. When using a recipe designed for a 9 x 5 inch pan in an 8 x 4 inch pan you can obviously encounter some potential differences – the two most typical being the loaf rising and spilling over the sides of the pan or the cooking time needing to be adjusted for the denser amount in the smaller pan. I will tell you up front, this recipe as written is probably for an 9 x 5 inch pan. I used an 8 x 4. I was lucky. The cake rose quite high but did not spill over but it took 15 minutes longer than what the recipe called for to bake. Please recipe writers, when writing your recipes be as specific as you can. How can you leave out the size of the pan in a recipe? I definitely was not happy about that. That being said, I thought the cake turned out pretty well, but had I been a cook just starting out I might not have been so lucky.

Also I’m not a big fan of recipes that don’t tell you how to do things systematically. For example, in my mind a recipe should indicate if an oven needs to be preheated right at the very beginning. I know it sounds picky but telling me at the very end that the loaf needs to go into a preheated 350 degree oven doesn’t cut it. If an oven needs to be ready once the batter is made, indicate that up front and not at the end.

The Crumb Topping

Lesson Learned 2: THE CRUMB TOPPING – this is perhaps the best crumb topping I have made on loafs to date. It was easy to make, combined into crumbs well and looked as good as it tasted. This is definitely a crumb topping to use on a wide variety of sweet breads.

Lesson Learned 3: THE LOAF PAN – before I start I have to give a disclaimer that I work for Crate and Barrel. But even so, I would not sing the praises of a piece of equipment just because Crate and Barrel carries it. So I am not kidding when I say that the Pro-Line cooking and baking line carried by the store is, in my estimation, second to none. I have both the loaf pan and the baking sheet and I can tell you unequivocally that they are superior products worth the investment. These pans are commercial grade with a texture weave technology that bakes things beautifully while being totally non-stick. At first I didn’t even believe it myself, but when you can pour cake batter into a pan without pretreating it in any way and the cake comes out of the pan without any trouble and is evenly baked you know you have a good kitchen utensil. From the pictures you can see how nicely browned the loaf is and after it cooled for 15 minutes it came out of the pan with no trouble. These are great products and worth the investment, just saying.

My Husband’s Infamous Corner Cut…

Lesson Learned 4: NUTS – I would add nuts to this recipe, maybe a half cup chopped pecans or walnuts, whatever you have on hand. I think it would compliment this recipe well.

My husband is usually my best critic for my recipe attempts and lately he has created a unique way of sampling my baked goods. Once I tell him that I’m satisfied with the pictures I’ve taken for the blog he meticulously cuts out a corner of the cake for his taste testing. He never does a slice, just a hallowed out corner. I can tell if a recipe is really good when he goes for more. He very quickly went for more on this one so I highly recommend it to you.

The recipe below reflects elements of how it was originally written with notes about adjustments for high altitude. Enjoy this one – it’s a keeper!

Cinnamon Crumb Banana Bread…

Time: 45-65 Minutes
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

1 extra large egg

1 cup sugar (make it a “light” cup for high altitude leaving an 1/8 inch visible at the rim)

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla (2 tsp. for high altitude)

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 large overripe bananas, mashed

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp baking soda (1/8 for high altitude)

1 tsp. baking powder (1/4 for high altitude)

1 heaping tsp. cinnamon

Crumb Topping:

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup all purpose flour

4 TBS. unsalted butter melted

1/2 heaping tsp. cinnamon

pinch of salt

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt the 4 TBS. of butter and combine with the sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt until it forms a course crumble. Set aside.

In a stand mixer using a paddle attachment beat sugar, egg and vanilla. Add the butter and beat until smooth and the butter is completely incorporated. Add the buttermilk and bananas and beat to combine.

Put the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon in a separate bowl and whisk together. Slowly add these dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until all of the flour mixture is incorporated. Spray a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray and pour in the batter. Crumble the crumb topping on top of the batter.

Bake for 45-50 minutes (high altitude may take as much as 65 minutes) or until a toothpick put in the center comes out clean.

Right Out Of The Oven

Cinnamon Crumb Banana Bread

Slow Cooker Jambalaya…

May 7, 2014youbetchcanmakethis 2 Comments

It was the very first recipe blog I wrote a couple of years ago, just something I wanted to share because I thought it was so good. I never thought it would morph into chronicling my journey about learning my way around a kitchen. I never imagined being adept in the kitchen as something that would interest me. I used to think is was too cliche. A few years later I recognize what an art cooking is and success can be tenuous. Like any well developed skill, it takes passion, time, practice and perseverance. For me, the passion came about rather quickly and my blog shares the lessons I’ve learned over time with practice and perseverance.

Jambalaya Ingredients

That being said, let me reintroduce this slow cooker jambalaya recipe since, in my estimation, it is one of the best slow cooker recipes ever! Last time I just posted a picture of the recipe. This time I will add pictures I took while making it, my rating and lessons learned as they are equally if not more important and a printable version of the recipe itself.

We’ve discussed before the benefits and challenges of cooking in a slow cooker. I guarantee you with this recipe the only challenge you’ll have will be fine tuning the cooking time for your particular slow cooker and your part of the country. More and more I realize that my high altitude challenge is not the norm for most, so I will talk about how to do this recipe from the perspective of what works for me. I don’t think altitude plays a factor in this one at all. What will play a factor is the default temperature settings of your slow cooker. That being said, this recipe holds up well to the slow cooking process, has some nice kick to it and makes great leftovers as well.

RATING: A++++++++++++ I cannot say enough about this recipe. It is so easy and really retains its flavor during the slow cooking process. Many times people complain about slow cooker recipes being bland and lacking flavor. Not this one. Try it – I just know it will become a go-to slow cooker recipe!

Cut Veggies Into Large Chunks

Lesson Learned 1: VEGETABLES IN A SLOW COOKER: You have to learn what vegetables hold up well during a lengthy cooking process and which ones should be added at a later time. I am still playing around with how do to this. When I made it I put in the onions, peppers, and celery at the very beginning. Next time I think I’ll just start off with the onions and celery. Let’s face it, the celery will not be crisp tender but I think it’s main function is to add flavor to the sauce. Onions, if you cut them large enough, will hold up and also add to the flavor during the longer cooking process. If you add peppers at the beginning, cut them in large chunks otherwise they will become mush. Next time I’m considering adding the peppers during the last hour of cooking to help them retain more body.

LESSON LEARNED 2: CUTTING THE MEAT – It’s important not to cut the meat too small or to large for this recipe. I use a German sausage in this recipe and I cut the links into two inch pieces. I use chicken thighs for this recipe (they tend not to dry out in a slow cooker) and cut them into large bite-size chunks.

Add Sausage and Chicken To The Veggies

LESSON LEARNED: COOKING TIME – The original recipe I used called for the traditional 6-8 hours on low and 4-6 hours on high. My advice is never ever cook this recipe for 8 hours regardless of altitude. Your vegetables will be soggy and your meat dry. Once I made that mistake I decided to change the cooking time to 6 hours on low. Even that produced dried out chicken. Now I cook it for 5 hours on low (the last half hour I raise the temperature to high) and that seems to work well. The sausage is cooked through and the chicken is not dried out. Again, this will depend on the type of slow cooker you have and its default settings for low and high.

LESSON LEARNED 4: SHRIMP – Only put in as much shrimp as you plan to serve immediately. If you save cooked shrimp in the leftovers, chances are they will get tough when you reheat them. It is better to add fresh shrimp during the last 10 minutes of the reheating process for your leftovers. That way the shrimp stays fresh and tender.

Add Okra and Shrimp During The Last Half Hour

LESSON LEARNED 5: ADDING THE OKRA AND SHRIMP – I add the frozen okra and shrimp during the last half hour of the cooking process and for that half hour I change the slow cooker setting to high. The okra comes out crisp tender and the shrimp is cooked perfectly.

Slow Cooker Jambalaya

Servings: 4-6
Time: 30 minutes prep-5 hours cooking
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

4-5 chicken thighs (depending on size)

8 oz. uncooked sausage (I prefer a German-style sausage)

1 large sweet pepper

2-3 stalks of celery (depending on size)

1/2 of a large onion

1- 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes

1 – 10 oz. can of diced tomatoes with green chiles (I use the mild version)

2 TBS. quick cooking tapioca

2 TBS. dried basil

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)

6 – 12 large shrimp (depending on many you will be serving – I usually plan on 3 per person)

2 cups of frozen cut okra

DIRECTIONS:

Prepare the vegetables cutting the onions and peppers into large chunks. The celery can be cut in thin slices. Cut the sausage into links of approximately 2 inches. Cut chicken thighs into large bite-sized chunks. Thaw shrimp if frozen. Keep cool in refrigerator once thawed.

Layer the vegetables in the bottom of the slow cooker. Add the sausage and chicken. Stir to combine.

Mix together both cans of diced tomatoes, tapioca, basil, and cayenne pepper. Pour on top of the vegetable and meat mixture.

During the last half hour of cooking time, add the okra and shrimp and stir. Change the slow cooker temperature to high and cook for additional half hour. Serve immediately.

Slow Cooker Jambalaya

Shepherds Pie Turkey Style…

May 2, 2014May 2, 2014youbetchcanmakethis 9 Comments

I’ve always liked the concept of Shepherds Pie, it’s a great way to use leftover pot roast – but what about using poultry as the main protein? A grocery store near my home often features fresh half turkey breasts on the bone and I love them. Because of their smaller size, it’s a great way to have turkey more often than just during the holidays, it’s easy to cook and you still get great turkey leftovers to boot. The only difference is that now I don’t have all of the other holiday side dishes to serve with the leftover turkey, and I wanted to try something a little different than just a turkey pot pie.

Spread The Turkey Over The Bottom of the Dish

I’m beginning to wonder what I would do without Pinterest. What great way to find recipes from sites I would probably never find otherwise. My blog now also links to my taste.com and there you can find a compilation of tons of recipes from a variety of different food blogs. I’ve just started connecting with that site and if you want to find my recipes (and there are only a few of them featured right now but there will be more to come) just type in “jan geden” in the search engine and my recipes will pop up.

But this time I found a recipe on Pinterest that I adapted and to my surprise it turned out great. I am now becoming a little more sure of myself in the kitchen with a better understanding of what will and will not work, especially in high altitude. And although this was adapted from a recipe called turkey potato casserole from all recipes.com, it is my version of it with several changes I made based on what I had in my refrigerator at the time. So, here are my lessons learned and recipe rating.

Saute the Veggies…

RATING: A+ – I wish I could give it a few more pluses but the only drawback was the casserole did not get as hot as I would have liked it even with the time I added on to the original recipe. Next time I will bake it longer and at a slightly higher temperature. Otherwise it was very flavorful and definitely a great way to use leftovers in a casserole.

Lesson Learned 1: COOKING TIME – and once again as I’ve stated several times before, things take longer to cook in high altitude. The original recipe called for the casserole to bake for 30-40 minutes at 350. 350 to me automatically means at least 365-375. I baked it for 50 minutes at 365 and it was warm, but this recipe needs to be served piping hot. Next time I will do 375 for an hour and I bet it will be perfect.

Layer The Veggies Over The Turkey

Lesson Learned 2: ADAPTABILITY – I love this recipe because it is easily adaptable. The original recipe called for adding only onion and frozen green beans. When I read the reviews, someone suggested that they used peas instead of the beans. I liked that idea better. I also had some mushrooms (don’t I always) and a lot of carrots in my refrigerator. I chopped the onions and carrots, sliced the mushrooms and sautéed them until the carrots were softened and added them to the mixture along with some frozen peas. The next time I might even add a little chopped celery. The vegetable medley really added to the flavor of the dish in my opinion.

Lesson Learned 3: PRE-MADE MASHED POTATOES – what a time saver they were. The pre- made mashed potatoes that you can get now in the grocery stores are really very good. I think I got a tub of Country Crock garlic mashed potatoes, but any brand will do. All I did was microwave them for about 3 minutes, stir them and spread them on top of the casserole. It worked out perfectly.

Spread Soup Mixture On Top Of Veggies

Lesson Learned 4: CHEESE – the recipe called for cheddar cheese to be mixed with the cream of mushroom soup and the mashed potatoes. I decided to get a three cheese blend and I only mixed it with the soup and not the mashed potatoes. That way you save a little on the calorie side and the cheese blend, in my opinion, melted better than just using cheddar cheese alone.

Lesson Learned 5: LEFTOVERS – this also makes great leftovers and warms up very nicely after a few minutes in the microwave.

On average I’ve found that although casseroles have the appeal of a one pot meal, they generally take some work to put them together. And although this version involves some chopping and sautéing, the finished product is well worth the time and effort. I plan on making this one often it was that good. Enjoy!

Fresh Out Of The Oven

Shepherds Pie Turkey Style…

Servings: 4-6
Time: 20 Minutes Prep - 40-60 minutes to cook
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

2 cups diced cooked turkey meat

1 onion chopped

1 large clove of garlic chopped

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup carrots diced small

4 ounces sliced baby bella mushrooms

1 can cream of mushroom soup

6 ounces shredded three cheese blend

3 TBS butter

1 tub (28 oz) pre-made mashed potatoes (or you can use leftover fresh mashed potatoes)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375. Dice turkey and put in the bottom of a 8×8 casserole dish. In a large pan, melt the butter and sauté the onions and carrots for a few minutes before adding the mushrooms. Continue to sauté until onions are translucent and carrots have started to soften. During the last minute of cooking add the garlic until the garlic becomes fragrant. Remove from heat and set aside.

Microwave the mashed potatoes for approximately 3 minutes. While potatoes are in the microwave, mix the cheese and the soup together in a small bowl. After 3 minutes, take the potatoes out of the microwave and stir to soften.

Put the vegetable mixture over the turkey and spread the soup and cheese mixture on top of it. Spoon the softened mashed potatoes over the soup mixture and spread out evenly to cover the entire casserole.

Bake in the oven for 40-60 minutes or until heated through. Serve immediately.

Shepherds Pie Turkey Style…

Blueberry Buckle…

April 28, 2014May 19, 2014youbetchcanmakethis Leave a comment

Just when I think I’m getting pretty knowledgeable in the culinary arts something comes along, be it a technique or a term, that makes me realize I’ve only scratched the surface of my so-called expertise. And so it was today as I was in the midst of my quest for my one new recipe per week goal. I’ve done a lot of main dishes lately and I thought I’d switch to the baking side for a couple of posts. So merrily I skipped off to Pinterest and started perusing pins. It was the title of the recipe that piqued my interest this time, a recipe for a blueberry buckle.

Wet and Dry Ingredients

Before today I thought a buckle was a part of a belt. Now I know it is actually a term for a popular dessert that originated in New England. The premiss of a “buckle” is simple, consisting of adding berries to a single layer of cake batter. During the baking process the berries sink to the bottom and the cake emerges with a buckled appearance. Who knew you can eat a buckle as well as wear one? Will wonders never cease!

The original recipe came from a website called mybakingaddiction.com. It seemed simple enough and this time I was smarter and adjusted the recipe for high altitude and guess what, the cake didn’t didn’t sink in! What a concept! So here are my lessons learned, recipe rating and my version of the recipe.

RECIPE RATING: A++++++ This is the best buckle I’ve ever eaten that’s for sure. The batter, the streusel topping and the blueberries all combine into one very delicious cake. Plus, you know me, I’m always a very happy camper when something turns out right the very first time you make it. I learned my lesson from not making the high altitude adjustments to my strawberry cream cheese coffee cake recipe. This time the adjustments were made and the cake turned out perfectly. I will outline the adjustments in the recipe below.

LESSON LEARNED 1: This time I made the streusel topping in a food processor versus trying to hand cut the cold butter into the other streusel ingredients. The mixture turned out much better. I simply pulsed the mixture until a greater portion of the mixture looked like very small pebbles. I will definitely make streusel that way from now on.

Ready To Go Into The Oven

LESSON LEARNED 2: The original recipe called for two cups of blueberries. Next time I may try to cut that back a little to a cup and a half. That was a lot of blueberries and I think I might try having the cake be a tad more prominent. But use two cups if you like. I want to see if I can better balance the ratio of blueberries to cake. But then again, maybe that’s the nature of a buckle. There was certainly nothing wrong with how the cake tasted with two cups of blueberries.

LESSON LEARNED 3: As on average in high altitude, things take longer to cook. The original recipe called for baking the buckle for 25-30 minutes at 375. I would up baking it for 40 minutes.

LESSON LEARNED 4: The original recipe called for 1/4 cup shortening. I’m not a big fan of shortening so I used butter and it was fine.

LESSON LEARNED 5: I like this recipe because it is a good size for two people. I made it in an 8 x 8 pan and that is a perfect size for two people who will be munching on it over the next couple of days.

I have nothing negative to say about this recipe. The original recipe was written clearly, suggested substitutions, and turned out perfectly the first time. The only word of caution is that you use a lot of dishes to prepare the cake, but take my word for it, it’s worth it!

Fresh Out Of The Oven

Blueberry Buckle

Servings: 8
Time: 1 Hour Including Prep
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder (high altitude adjust to 1/4 tsp)

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

3/4 cup sugar (high altitude make it a “light cup” – I left about 1/16 of an inch rim around the top)

1/4 room temperature butter, unsalted

1 large egg (high altitude use an extra large egg)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (high altitude 2 tsp vanilla extract)

1/2 cup of milk (high altitude add 1 TBS water to the milk)

2 cups fresh blueberries

STREUSEL TOPPING:

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1/3 packed light brown sugar (for high altitude do a soft pack)

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

3 TBS cold unsalted butter cut into cubes.

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and set aside. Put all of the streusel ingredients except the butter into a food processor and set aside.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, combine butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and combine thoroughly. Add the dry ingredients, alternating with a small portion of the milk. Start with the milk and end with the milk until the dry and wet ingredients are just combined. Fold in the blueberries.

Spray an 8 x 8 pan with cooking spray. Spoon batter into the pan and spread out evenly. Cut the cold butter into cubes and add to the food processor. Pulse until a greater portion of the mixture resembles small pebbles. Spoon over prepared batter.

Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes (high altitude can take as long as 40 minutes). Let cool for 20 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream.

Blueberry Buckle

Strawberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake…

April 22, 2014youbetchcanmakethis 1 Comment

Almost ready to go into the oven…

So I was bored and thought, gosh I haven’t baked in a while. Let’s see what I already have in the house and make something. I got a new spring form pan for Christmas and hadn’t christened it yet. What’s the matter with me? Time to figure out a baking project…

So I perused my pantry and refrigerator and went off seeking the help of my trusted friend Pinterest and voila, it was decided – I’m making a strawberry cream cheese coffee cake. I found a recipe from a blog called joansfoodwonderings on blogspot. I had everything to make the cake and so I proceeded on my baking adventure. Here are my lessons learned along with my recipe rating.

Rating: A – this is a great recipe, a little time consuming to make but well worth the effort. It is not overly sweet and yet very flavorful. The dough reminded me of chocolate chip cookie dough as I could had eaten raw by the spoonfuls. Great recipe, a must try.

A slice – obviously in need of adjustment for high altitude but still delish…

Lesson Learned 1: I have to get off my butt and get more proficient at high altitude baking. For some reasons some recipes I have mastered but when it comes to a few I just fail miserably. My failure on this one was not horrible – it’s just that I really need to get more proficient at adjusting these types of recipes for high altitude so my cakes don’t fall in. I know the basic rules namely decrease the leavening (baking powder), decrease the sugar (it weighs the mixture down, ergo the fall-in) and increase the liquid. I tried this recipe as is and it wound up falling in (as you can see from the picture to the right). Not sure why I didn’t try to adjust it but I’ve already decided that my next baking venture is going to be a cheesecake so I will definitely do some adjusting on that and see what happens. The challenge with high altitude baking is it can be such a guessing game from recipe to recipe and that gets a little frustrating. But it’s my reality. I will definitely try this one again with a few adjustments. Thank goodness it still tastes good – just not as pretty as I would like it to be. My goal is to adjust this recipe so it the cake continues to look the same way it does when it first comes out of the oven (see picture below). I know I can do it! The recipe I will give you is not adjusted for high altitude but provides some high altitude tips.

Lesson Learned 2: Make sure the strawberries you use are ripe. Mine were a little less ripe and I think that affects the overall sweetness the strawberries provide. You do add sugar to the strawberries when you cook them, but I think the sweetness of them would have been even richer had they been just a tad riper.

Lesson Learned 3: I seem to have a hard time creating a good crumb topping. I know you need to use cold butter and use either a pastry cutter or some other sharp utensil to cut the butter into the flour mixture until the mixture turns into course crumbs. For some reason I can’t seem to get the butter incorporated to the point that my mixture looks consistently like coarse crumbs. Some parts of it does, the other parts simply look like flour. I wound up not putting the entire mixture on top of the coffee cake, just the parts that resembled coarse crumbs. I’m glad I did. Otherwise the top of the cake would have had a large dusting of flour on it instead of a crumb topping. I have to figure out how to get better at this as well. Next time I think I’m going to try to do the combining in the food processor and see if that helps. If you have any tips, let me know as this has been a perennial issue for me.

Fresh Out Of The Oven

As you can see from the picture above, the finished product (if it doesn’t fall in) is really a site to behold. I like this recipe because it is not overly sweet. Be careful not to overcook. The recipe called for baking from 50-55 minutes. I did 55 and the cake part was slightly overdone – again not awful but next time I’ll do 50 minutes. This recipe requires a lot of dishes to put together, but in the end I think it is worth it.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Servings: 10-12
Time: 90 minutes including prep
Difficulty: Medium
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INGREDIENTS:

2 cups flour

1 cup + 3 tsp. sugar, divided (high altitude consider using a light measure – i.e., not all the way to the top of the measuring cup)

1 stick cold butter

1/2 tsp baking powder (reduce for high altitude to 1/8)

1/2 tsp baking soda (reduce for high altitude to 1/8)

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup full fat sour cream

2 extra large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

8 oz. room temperature cream cheese

2 cups fresh strawberries cut into pieces

3 tsp water for slurry (high altitude consider adding 2-3 TBS of water – 1 TBS to the cream cheese mixture and 2 TBS to the cake batter)

1 1/2 tsp cornstarch

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350. Begin by making the strawberry filling. Cut the strawberries into small pieces, put in a pot and add sugar. Cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes until strawberries release their juices. In the meantime combine 3 tsp. of water with the cornstarch and make a slurry (make sure you get the cornstarch completely combined with the water). Add to the strawberry mixture and continue to cook until the mixture thickens (a couple of minutes). Take off the stove to set aside and cool.

Next, make the cream cheese filling by first beating the cream cheese for about a minute until it becomes fluffy. Add 1/4 cup of sugar, egg, vanilla and 1 TBS water (only in high altitude). Beat until combined. Set aside.

To make the cake, combine the flour, 3/4 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup cold butter sliced into cubes. (I use a pastry cutter to initially slice the butter and it works very well). Cut the butter into the flour and sugar mixture (try using a food processor for this so that the mixture becomes more evenly combined) until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Take 3/4 cup of this mixture and set aside for the topping.

In a separate bowl beat the egg, sour cream and vanilla (and for high altitude add 2 Tbs. of water) until smooth. Using a spoon, combine the sour cream mixture with the remaining flour mixture until well combined. The batter will be thick and maybe slightly lumpy.

Line the bottom of a 8 inch springform pan with parchment paper. Spread the batter in the bottom of the pan and create a well by pushing the batter up 1/2 inch all around the edges of the pan. Pour the cream cheese mixture in the center of the well making sure that it does not go over the side of the batter edges. Spread the strawberry mixture on top of the cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle the remaining crumble over the top of the cake.

Bake for 50-55 minutes. Let cake cool for at least a half hour before removing from the pan. At that point the cheese center will still be warm. Let the cake set for at least another hour before serving or put in the refrigerator to chill.

Chicken Cutlets with Peppers, Mushrooms, Onions and Tomatoes For Two…

April 15, 2014youbetchcanmakethis 2 Comments

Recipe Ingredients…

You’ve probably figured out by now that I am a chicken girl. Anyway you make it, I love chicken and I love trying out new chicken recipes. Yesterday I was looking for something different and also something quick. I just got back from a consulting job and was still on east coast time so I was still pretty tired. I wanted to fulfill my goal of one new recipe a week but did not have a lot of energy to put into it. I found just what I was looking for in the most recent “Cooking Light” magazine entitled the “fast” issue. It was labeled as a fast chicken scaloppine with peperonata (don’t you just love it when they give these fancy words for sautéed vegetables?) and it looked intriguing and quick so I decided to try it. So here is my rating and lessons learned…

Recipe rating: A – this one is quick cooking and has great flavor. I’m not so sure it holds up to it’s 25 minute meal guarantee and I will address that in my lessons learned.

Pepper Mixture…

Lesson Learned 1: This recipe takes longer than 25 minutes if you add the prep time. I’m not sure they factored that in, but it definitely took me a good 15 minutes or more to mince the garlic and slice the peppers, onions, tomatoes (of course I added some baby bella mushrooms so I won’t fault them for that). It also takes some time, not a lot, to halve the chicken breast and pound them to 1/3 inch thickness and dredge them in flour. When you factor all the prep time, all in all for the everyday cook like myself this recipe takes about 45 minutes from start to finish. No worries, one of my favorite parts of any recipe is the chopping, slicing and dicing – I find it cathartic – but recognize this recipe is more time consuming than the magazine would lead you to believe.

Lesson Learned 2: I halved the recipe since I was only making it for two. That worked out very well. The only thing I would change is to use even less than half the balsamic vinegar than the recipe stipulated. You only need a little to give the flavor. If you add more I think it darkens the vegetables too much, which I thought was the case with mine when I made it. Next time I make it I’ll only add a little, probably 1/8 of a teaspoon or less.

Lesson Learned 3: You will need to make this in two frying pans – one for the veggies and one for the chicken. I think it best to try to time them so they both finish together. The veggies can get cold very quickly and you don’t want that to happen. Err on the side of less time for the veggies instead of more. I started them 15 minutes before I planned to serve and I could have done 10-12. I like crisp tender veggies and 15 minutes put them on the borderline of being overcooked. Definitely cook the peppers first as they will need the full amount of time. But after sautéing them for 3 minutes, add everything else (except the tomatoes and garlic) and they will cook down nicely all together.

Lesson Learned 4: I used a basil paste in the recipe as my grocery store did not have any fresh basil on hand. You can use this, but again use only a small amount. I find the paste to be much more concentrated and a little goes a long way. Use a 1/4 teaspoon at the most.

Lesson Learned 5: The recipe called for adding the garlic when you add the onion. That would mean the garlic would be cooking for about 7 minutes. Garlic burns when cooked for a long time. I added the garlic when I added the tomatoes (and that cooked for about a minute and was done right before serving). That way the garlic cooked, was fragrant and it did not burn.

Lesson Learned 6: The original recipe calls for prepping the chicken once you’ve started the pepper mixture on the stove. I would not do that as you will probably wind up cooking your vegetable mixture for too long of a period of time. Prep the chicken first and put it aside. It can sit for a few minutes without any harmful effects and I found that slightly taking the chill out of it makes for a truer cooking time. I also added some garlic powder to the dredging mixture to give some additional depth of flavor.

Cook the chicken breasts until golden and done. Be careful not to overcook…

Lesson Learned 7: It is tricky to cook a chicken cutlet and have it come out juicy. The original recipe called for it took cook for two minutes on each side or until golden and done. Boy, that gives you a lot of specifics doesn’t it. I cooked mine for 4 minutes on one side and 3 1/2 minutes on the second I could have cooked it a little less. Next time it will be 3 minutes on each side and I think that will be perfect. You get so used to cooking much thicker chicken breasts that sometimes it’s hard to imagine that the cutlets can get done so quickly. But they can and don’t be afraid of that. If you cook them too long they will dry out quickly. You don’t want that to happen.

I liked the recipe but felt I needed to make some adjustments to it based on past experience and in order to make it for two. Here is my version of the recipe.

Chicken Cutlets With Peppers, Mushrooms, Onions and Tomatoes For Two

Servings: 2
Time: 45 minutes including prep
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

2 TBS olive oil

1/2 red bell pepper sliced in strips

1/2 yellow bell pepper sliced in strips

1/2 large yellow onion sliced in strips

4 ounces (1/2 package) baby bella mushrooms sliced

1 large clove of garlic minced

8 grape tomatoes halved

1 TBS fresh chopped basil or 1/4 tsp. basil paste

1/8 tsp. balsamic vinegar

1 boneless skinless chicken breast cut in half horizontally and pounded to 1/3 inch thickness

1/4 tsp. garlic powder for dredging mixture

2 TBS butter

Flour for dredging (about 1/3 cup)

Salt and Pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Cut the chicken breast in half horizontally. Place between two pieces of wax paper and pound until the breast is approximately 1/3 of an inch thick. Place your mallet at the center of the breast and pound outward. Take a paper towel and pat the breast halves dry. Mix flour with garlic powder and some freshly cracked black pepper. Dredge cutlets in the flour mixture and shake off any excess flour. Place on a plate to rest for a couple of minutes.

Heat a large skillet and add the olive oil. Swirl the olive oil to completely coat the bottom of the pan. Add the peppers and sauté for approximately three minutes. Add the onions and mushrooms. Salt and pepper to taste. Continue to sauté for another 5-6 minutes.

After you add the mushrooms and onions to the vegetable mixture, in another frying pan over medium high heat, melt the butter. Add the chicken breasts and cook for 3 minutes on each side.

During the last minute of overall cooking time, add the garlic and tomatoes to the pepper mixture. Cook until tomatoes begin to wilt. Add the basil and balsamic vinegar at the very end of the cooking time.

Immediately serve the chicken with pepper mixture.

Chicken Cutlets with Peppers, Mushrooms, Onions and Tomatoes

All in all this is a simple and flavorful recipe. If you want to adhere to the 25 minutes or less time frame that the original recipe touts, I would do all of the prep work the night before. That way it actually will be a very quick and very good meal. Enjoy this one!

Chicken, Broccoli, Mushroom, Cheese and Rice Casserole…

April 4, 2014youbetchcanmakethis Leave a comment

Casserole Ingredients

Right out of the gate I will tell you that I had a love-hate relationship with this recipe. I loved the way it tasted and I will definitely make it again. My husband gave it a two thumbs up so I know it’s a keeper. What I hated was how the recipe was written and that is always a big sticking point with me. I try to be empathetic toward recipe authors as I understand I live in high altitude and that changes the rules somewhat. But even with that, I find it hard to believe this recipe (I amended it for you in this blog) as originally written would even work at sea level. So for my non-intuitive cooking friends out there, beware. I suggest you do the recipe the way I’ve written it and I think you will be successful on the first try.

This recipe came from the website http://www.keyingredient.com. From what I can tell, it appears that people submit recipes and they are published on this site. This particular recipe was intriguing to me as I had all of the ingredients already and I was looking to try something different. My goal is to try one new recipe a week and blog about it. So this recipe helped me on both fronts. So here is my rating and lessons learned along with my version of the recipe. You can always search for the original recipe on the key ingredients website.

RATING: A: for flavor and ease of preparation, F: for how the recipe was written. With a few simple adjustments this recipe could easily get an “A” on both counts. But in my estimation it was not well written.

Saute the Mushroom and Onions First

LESSON LEARNED 1: The original recipe called for either 3 cups of cooked rice or 1 cup of uncooked rice, with no differentiation in cooking time for either one. Even I know that there has to be some sort of a difference, right? You can’t expect uncooked rice to turn out the same as cooked rice without some adjustment to the cooking time. So adjust I did, and even with that the rice still turned out slightly crunchy. The original recipe called for a cooking time of 350 for 30 minutes. So for me, in high altitude, that normally means I set my oven to 365. But I just had a feeling that 30 minutes would not cut it, so I planned on a 45 minute timeframe. After 45 minutes I looked at the casserole and it still did not seem as hot and bubbly as I would like it so I cranked the temperature up to 375 and cooked it for another 15 minutes. And even with all that time, the rice was still not fluffy and in some instances slightly crunchy. Lesson learned for me: the next time I make this I will cook it at 375 for 1 hour using cooked rice. I will cover the casserole with foil for the first 45 minutes and leave it uncovered for the last 15 to get some good browning on top of it. If you choose to use uncooked rice remember to adjust your time. What that time might be I cannot tell you as I have no clue. All I can tell you is that after an hour it was not completely cooked through for me.

LESSON LEARNED 2: This is also a big bug-a-boo of mine. In a recipe be clear about whether a dish should be covered or uncovered in the oven. Don’t assume I know. This recipe calls for cheddar to be put in the sauce as well as sprinkled on top and did not indicate anything regarding whether the dish should be covered or not. In my experience, cheddar cheese left uncovered on casseroles for a long time tends to look burnt. I covered the casserole with foil for the first 45 minutes and then left it uncovered for the last 15. It worked out beautifully.

Blend the cheddar cheese with soup mixture until completely melted

LESSON LEARNED 3: The orignal recipe calls for sautéing the onions in margarine. Why margarine instead of butter? Butter is a much purer ingredient. I used butter instead.

LESSON LEARNED 4: I was surprised how long it took for the cheddar cheese to melt in the soup mixture. It took about 5 minutes and required constant stirring. So be patient, it will melt but it does take time. (This was probably the most labor intensive part of the process).

LESSON LEARNED 5: The original recipe called for 2 cups of frozen broccoli. Although frozen vegetables are of much higher quality than they used to be, why not use fresh? I used fresh broccoli chopped into bite size pieces. The broccoli turned out perfectly, crisp tender. So use fresh broccoli if you can. I think frozen broccoli might turn out mushy in this recipe.

The first layer of rice, broccoli and 1/3 of the soup mixture.

Don’t get me wrong, I really liked this recipe. It would have been tremendous if the rice was cooked properly. So give this one a try and try it the way I am writing it. I think you will be much more successful that way.

Chicken Broccoli Mushroom Cheese and Rice Casserole

Servings: 4-6
Time: 20 Minutes Prep - 1 Hour Cooking
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

3 cups cooked rice

3 cups cooked chicken (rotisserie chicken or any other type of precooked chicken, drained)

2 cups broccoli (fresh or frozen – no need to thaw) chopped into bite size pieces

1 can cream of chicken soup (low sodium preferred)

1 can cream of mushroom soup (low sodium preferred)

3 TBS. butter

1/2 cup chopped onion (more if desired)

1 clove garlic, minced (more if desired)

1 cup sliced portobello mushrooms

8 ounces of shredded cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 375. Cook 1 1/2 cups of rice (this should yield 3 cups of cooked rice) according to package directions. (Minute rice is not advised for this recipe). Cut chicken and broccoli into bite sized pieces. Slice mushrooms, chop the onion and mince the garlic clove. Melt butter and sauté the mushrooms for a couple of minutes. Add the onions and cook until slightly translucent. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add both cans of soup and stir until combined and hot. Add 6 ounces of the cheddar cheese and stir until melted (this could take about 5 minutes before the cheese is completely melted).

Grease or spray a 3 quart casserole dish. Spread rice evenly on the bottom. Put broccoli on top of rice. Pour about 1/3 of the soup mixture over the broccoli and rice. Add chicken and top with remaining sauce. Top with remaining two ounces of cheese.

Cover with with foil and cooked covered for the first 45 minutes. Remove foil and return to oven for an additional 15 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Ready to pop in the oven…

Fresh Out Of The Oven…

Chicken Broccoli Mushroom Cheese and Rice Casserole

Three Cheese Spinach Strata with Sundried Tomatoes and Peppers

March 18, 2014June 15, 2014youbetchcanmakethis 1 Comment

I was raised a meat and potatoes girl so I don’t often cook meatless meals, but I do enjoy them. So when I was tasked to make something for a meeting at work, knowing that some of the associates do not eat meat, I went to my tried and true friend Pinterest to get some inspiration. And, as always, I found a wide variety of options from which to choose.

Strata Ingredients

I was intrigued by this recipe for several reasons: 1.) I’d never made a strata, [and was always intrigued to make it especially after watching one of my favorite holiday movies “The Family Stone” with the strata being a “Morton family tradition – lovers of the film know what I mean]; 2.) I love the combination of ricotta, gruyere and parmesan and; 3.) the recipe appeared to be very adaptable even for a nonintuitive cook like me.

This recipe originated from a website called onecaketwocake.com and I can certainly understand why since the finished product is almost like an egg cake. I adapted it by adding sliced baby portobella mushrooms (one of my favorite add-on ingredients) and doubling it for a 9 x 13 pan. I also added more cheese than called for, used kosher salt instead of table salt and opted for frozen instead of fresh spinach, although fresh spinach would be very good as well.

I was a little nervous to bring something to a meeting that I never made before but I decided to take a risk and try it. So here are my lessons learned and recipe rating:

Rating: A++ I always LOVE it when you make something the first time and it turns out perfectly. This definitely did. All of the work is in the prep (and I’ll get to that in my lessons learned) but after that you just let it chill in the refrigerator overnight and bake it off in the morning. I will definitely make this for dinner sometime. You know it’s good when the whole pan disappears, which it did. It looks good and tastes good. This is definitely a keeper recipe.

Strata Filling

Lesson Learned 1: This takes a long time to prep, and I mean a LONG TIME especially if you grate the cheese yourself which I did. I had a slab of parmesan in the fridge as well as a slab of gruyere so I had to process both of them. I grated the parmesan in the food processor and the gruyere with my hand grater which added a lot to the time and extra clean up. There is also a lot of chopping, mincing and dicing from the onion to the garlic and the sun dried tomatoes, peppers and bread. I never realized how time consuming cutting the crust off a loaf of french bread can be. All in all this took me about an hour to prep and that surprised me. Was it worth it – DEFINITELY. Just be aware that this recipe has a lot a prep and set the time aside to do it.

Lesson Learned 2: Make sure you take the onion, garlic, spinach and roasted red pepper mixture (and in my case I also added mushrooms) off the stove and let it cool somewhat before building the strata. This is the only area where I thought the recipe directions could be clearer. Anytime you have anything warm to add to an egg mixture you either have to temper the egg mixture (slowly warm it) or let the warm ingredients cool somewhat so you don’t wind up with scrambled eggs. I found removing the veggie mixture from the pan and letting sit on a plate for just a few minutes got it to a point where it would not adversely affect the egg mixture.

Lesson Learned 3: Saute the mushrooms first for about 3-5 minutes then add the onions until they turn slightly translucent then add the spinach, tomatoes and peppers and cook until the pan is showing no moisture. The mushrooms give off a lot of moisture so you want to begin by sautéing them.

Strata Layers Before Adding The Cheeses

Lessons Learned 4: After the prep, the rest is a breeze. This dish could be a great holiday breakfast or simply a breakfast-for-dinner meal. You have to let the strata “cure” in the refrigerator overnight or at least for 8 hours so that the bread soaks up the egg mixture. Just cover it with foil once you’ve assembled it and forget about it. I love that part of it!

Lesson Learned 5: This recipe is very adaptable. I could see adding broccoli or asparagus or even zucchini to this. I think this might be a good clean out your vegetable bin recipe. Just be aware of the various cooking time of your vegetables and plan accordingly. For example, I might add asparagus uncooked or only slightly cooked into the mixture. Since the strata bakes for 50 minutes, it gives the more tender vegetables plenty of time to cook in that process. I may try that the next time and I’ll let you know whether it works or not. You could also add meat to this. I’m thinking breakfast sausage would be the best compliment. Just cook it three quarters of the way through, let it cool slightly and add it into the layers. Don’t worry, the sausage will cook through during the remaining 50 minutes in the oven. I do the same thing for my Ravioli Lasagna recipe and the meat turns out just fine.

Lesson Learned 6: If you want to make this for dinner, just prep it first thing in the morning and let it sit in the refrigerator all day. Plan to try to keep it in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours.

As you can see, I have very few lessons learned since the recipe is basically easy – it’s just the prep that’s time consuming. But what you’re left with is something that looks fancy, tastes delicious and comes out perfect the very first time you make it. Enjoy this one!

Three Cheese Strata With Mushroom, Tomatoes and Roasted Red Peppers

Servings: 8
Time: 1 Hour Prep - 50 Minutes Baking
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes

3 TBS butter

1 small onion, chopped

2 packages frozen spinach (6 ounces each), thawed

3/4 cup roasted red peppers (jarred or homemade), chopped

1 tsp kosher salt

I loaf french or italian bread (approximately 1 pound or 10 cups), remove the crust

10 large eggs

2 cups milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 TBS Dijon Mustard

Freshly ground black pepper

3/4 cup ricotta cheese

2 cups gruyere cheese

1 cup parmesan (or more if desired)

DIRECTIONS:

Thaw frozen spinach. Once spinach is thawed, place in a cloth towel and wring out several times until all excess water is removed. Chop spinach and set aside. Make sure sundried tomatoes are soft. If not, cover them with boiling water and let them seep for 15 minutes and then chop them and set aside.

Over medium heat melt half the butter and sauté the mushrooms for about 3-5 minutes. Add the onions and cook the mixture until the onions begin to look translucent. Add garlic and stir for about 30 seconds. Add remaining butter. Stir in the spinach and pepper. Salt and pepper to taste. Stir until mixture is dry. Remove mixture from the pan and set aside to cool.

Cut bread (remove the crust first) into large cubes and place half in the bottom of a buttered 9×13 dish. Spread half of the spinach mixture on top. Take half of the ricotta and place by spoonfuls on top of the mixture followed by half of the gruyere and parmesan. Repeat the layering.

In a medium bowl whisk together the eggs, cream, mustard and a half teaspoon of salt and pepper. Pour the mixture evenly over the ingredients in the casserole dish. Cover with foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate over night.

In the morning, take the casserole dish out of the refrigerator and let it stand while you heat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the casserole for 50 minutes or until lightly browned and cooked through.

Three Cheese Strata With Mushrooms, Tomatoes and Roasted Red Peppers

Slow Cooker Country Style Pork Ribs…

March 10, 2014March 1, 2017youbetchcanmakethis 2 Comments

I just love the slow cooker, don’t you? All the work is done up front and that allows you to be about your day knowing that you will still have a good meal for dinner with minimal work needed when you get home. But the slow cooker can also produce bland, mushy food. You need to know what adapts itself well to slow cooking and the correct cooking time for every recipe. I’ve found over the years that the biggest mistake I’ve made with a slow cooker is cooking something too long.

Layer the Vegetables On The Bottom of the Slow Cooker

The beauty of this recipe is that it truly takes 8 hours to cook. You often see slow cooker recipes that say to set the timer on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-6 hours. Don’t be fooled. Two extra hours can make a big difference. So I will warn you up front – be prepared to have a few slow cooker failures until you get the hang of your machine and the appropriate cooking time needed for a particular recipe. Unfortunately, it’s just a reality when using a slow cooker.

This recipe is another one of my favorite go-to slow cooker recipes. These fall off the bone ribs get their down-home flavor from vegetable juice, molasses and seasonings. It also takes very little prep to get this going and so it’s great for one of those crazy busy days. The basis of this recipe came from a Better Homes and Gardens magazine I purchased in 2005. I’ve adapted it over the years and am sharing my version of it. I’ve never had a failure with this recipe, even when I made it for the first time. So I feel pretty confident that you will have the same success I did. Enjoy!

Place the Ribs On Top of the Vegetables

RATING: A. This recipe is so easy and the sauce is very flavorful. You can serve this with just about anything. Quite often I will get some of the pre-made mashed potatoes, heat them in the microwave and serve them with the ribs and a steamed vegetable. The sauce makes a great gravy for the mashed potatoes. You can also serve this over rice as well. I’ve never made this with pasta. The recipe may be too robust for pasta but give it a try if you’re a pasta lover.

Lesson Learned 1: Make sure to set aside a cup of sauce at the beginning to serve over the ribs when they are done. You can use the sauce that is in the slow cooker if you forget but the reserved sauce gets much thicker when you heat it on the stove and has less grease. I think you’ll find that extra step more than worth it.

Lesson Learned 2: I love this recipe because it uses a whole can of tomato paste. I hate it when you are asked to put in a few tablespoons of tomato paste into a recipe and wind up having a half-used can sitting in your refrigerator until you throw it out. I know you can purchase tomato paste in a tube, but sometimes I have difficulty finding it in the store or they’re out of them. This way you have no worries, you use the entire can.

Cover With The Vegetable Juice Mixture

Lesson Learned 3: Vegetables can always be tricky in a slow cooker as they can disintegrate or become overly mushy if you don’t prepare them correctly. Make sure to cut the onion into large rings. I usually cut the rings almost an inch thick and then cut the rings in half length-wise before separating them. Onions should always be cut rather thick if you are putting them in a slow cooker. The same applies to the carrots. Cutting them into large logs helps them stand up better to the slow cooking process.

This also applies to the mushrooms. Since you are putting them in for only one half hour you don’t need to cut them overly thick. But only put them in for a half hour. That way your mushrooms will have a perfect consistency. If you put them in at the beginning they will become way too mushy.

Lesson Learned 4: Make sure you rub the thyme and rosemary into your palm to break up the dried seasonings and release some of the natural oils before you add them to the vegetable juice mixture. That will provide greater depth of flavor to the sauce.

Lesson Learned 5: You can use just about any type of vinegar you have on hand for this recipe. I normally use red wine vinegar, but plain white vinegar or any other type will work just as well.

Lesson Learned 6: Spray a measuring cup with cooking spray before you measure out the molasses. That way when you pour the molasses it will come out easily and quickly. (This is a great tip when using an ingredient like molasses or honey)

Lesson Learned 7: Never lift the lid during the cooking process. The only time the lid can be lifted is when you add the mushrooms. If you lift the lid during any other point, you will throw off the cooking time and will be faced with adding more time to the process.

Add The Mushrooms During the Last Half Hour

Slow Cooker Country Style Pork Ribs

Servings: 4
Time: 8 Hours Plus Prep
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

3 pounds pork country-style ribs (don’t use baby back ribs for this recipe)

1 large onion sliced into thick rings

4 large carrots cut into one 2 inch logs

3 cups of vegetable juice

1 can of tomato paste

1/2 cup of molasses

6 TB. vinegar (I use red wine vinegar for this)

2 tsp. dried mustard

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp. dried thyme

1/8 tsp. dried rosemary

8 oz. baby portobella mushrooms, sliced.

DIRECTIONS:

Slice onion into thick rings and separate. Peel and cut carrots into 2 inch logs. Place them in the slow cooker. Remove any excess fat from the ribs and place on top of the onions and carrots.

In a medium size bowl stir together vegetable juice, tomato paste, molasses, vinegar, dry mustard, salt, and pepper. Rub the seasonings in your hand to release the natural oils, add to the mixture and combine. Reserve one cup of the vegetable juice mixture for sauce, cover and refrigerate it. Pour remaining mixture over the ribs and onions covering completely.

Cover and cook on low for eight hours. During the last half hour of cooking, add the sliced mushrooms and stir mixture to combine. Meanwhile on the stove put the reserved sauce in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Once the mixture comes to a boil, lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Cover the ribs with the sauce when serving.

Serve with rice, mashed potatoes or pasta and the vegetable of your choice.

Serving Suggestion: Over Rice

Slow Cooker Red Wine Beef Stew…

February 23, 2014November 24, 2014youbetchcanmakethis Leave a comment

I’ve been making beef stew for years and have experimented making it in a variety of ways. I’ve tried low and slow on the stovetop, low and slow in the oven using enameled cast iron and low and slow in the slow cooker. After many years and many iterations I’ve finally decided on the process and the recipe. And the winner is (drum roll) slow cooker red wine beef stew.

The Basic Ingredients

The keys to success in this recipe, and virtually any recipe in a slow cooker, is having a good slow cooker (and understanding its temperature controls), knowing the appropriate cooking time and making sure that the ingredients can withstand the cooking process.

Where this recipe is concerned, I have finally figured out how to make it flavorful and tender but not mushy. So here is my rating and lessons learned:

Rating: A+++++ Believe me, those pluses have only been earned over time. I’ve had a variety of failures over the years, namely tough meat, mushy vegetables and bland flavor. Hopefully my recipe and lessons learned will help you avoid years of trial and error in making easy and delicious beef stew in your slow cooker.

Lesson Learned 1: To brown or not to brown the meat and veggies before putting them in the slow cooker, that is the question. I have done them both ways. I’ve come to the conclusion that pre-browning is not necessary for this recipe to be eye as well as palate appealing (as seen in the final picture below). So save some time and skip that part.

Cut the vegetables into large chunks…

Lesson Learned 2: Cutting the vegetables and potatoes to the appropriate size is important. Since you will cook this for 8 hours you need to cut the vegetables and potatoes in big chunks. I used one very large sweet onion cut in half and then into thirds separating the layers, the thickest carrots I could find, cutting them into two inch logs, and new red potatoes about two inches in diameter cut in half. If you’re not sure, err on cutting the pieces larger instead of smaller. All of these ingredients cut to large sizes will hold up nicely to this cooking process.

Lesson Learned 3: Buy a tough cut of meat like a chuck or eye of round roast and cut it into pieces yourself. If you purchase pre-cut “beef stew” meat, the pieces can vary in size and result in some being tough after cooking while others mushy. By cutting the meat yourself you save money and get evenly sized pieces. I usually cut the meat into 2 inch cubes. I find that to be the best for the 8 hour cooking process.

Red Wine Sauce Flecked with Instant Tapioca

Lesson Learned 4: Use red wine to flavor the cooking sauce. Not only will you have delightful smells in your house all day long but it goes a long way in adding flavor to the sauce. I used two cans of golden mushroom soup as the base and red wine is a perfect compliment to that. I normally fill one of the empty cans to the top with merlot and mix it with the undiluted soup. A little more or less won’t matter and it’s a great opportunity to take a sip yourself. After all, it’s five o’clock somewhere, right?

Lesson Learned 5: Here’s a great tip to use in all your slow cooker sauces. A perfect ingredient for thickening sauces in slow cookers is instant tapioca. I use two heaping tablespoons of it in the mixture and it yields a sauce that has body to it. This is a great trick to keep in your back pocket.

Lesson Learned 6: Not all vegetables are created equal. I used to think that I needed to put all the ingredients into the slow cooker at the beginning, and I happen to like mushrooms and peas in my beef stew. Well, if you add those at the beginning I guarantee you they will be mush by the end of 8 hours. Another trick I learned was to add these two ingredients 1/2 hour before the end of the cooking process. That way they will cook to just the right consistency.

Lesson Learned 7: This lesson I just learned when making the recipe the other day. I had some asparagus spears in my refrigerator that I needed to use. I also threw them in with the mushrooms and the peas and they turned out perfectly, crisp tender. So if you have any of the more delicate veggies that you want to use, just pop them in during the last half hour and they will be perfect. I also threw in some fresh thyme at the end and it stood up well.

I’ve gotten this recipe to the point that it is my favorite beef stew recipe and it could not be easier to make. The bulk of the time is in the prep and I don’t know about you but there is something very comforting to me about slicing, dicing, mincing and chopping. Serve this in a crock style bowl with some garlic bread and a salad and you have one of the all time great comfort food meals.

Slow Cooker Red Wine Beef Stew

Servings: 6-8
Time: 1/2 Hour Prep 8 Hours on Low
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

1 4 lb. chuck roast

8 large carrots

8 large baby red potatoes (2 inches in diameter)

1 large sweet onion

8 ounces baby portobella mushrooms

2 cans golden mushroom soup

1 cup frozen petite sweet peas

Additional vegetables as desired (cooking times may vary see below)

2 TBS of worcestershire sauce

1 cup dry red wine, preferably merlot

2 TBS. instant tapioca, heaping

2 TBS dried thyme

2 TBS fresh thyme

Salt and Pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Cut the roast into 2 inch square cubes, set aside. Peel and cut the onion in half and cut the halves into thirds. Separate the layers and put into the slow cooker. Peel carrots and cut into 2 inch lengths, place into slow cooker. Wash the potatoes and cut them into halves, place in slow cooker. Season this layer with salt, pepper and dried thyme.

Place meat on top of the vegetables. Season with salt, pepper and thyme.

Mix together two cans of golden mushroom soup, add 1 can (about one cup more or less, no need to be exact) of merlot and mix until combined and smooth. Add 1 TBS of dried thyme, the worcestershire sauce and tapioca. Mix until combined. Pour over the meat and vegetables making sure they are completely covered. Cover and set the slow cooker on low for 8 hours.

Slice the mushrooms into 1/2 inch thick slices. Remove the leaves from the fresh thyme and chop. (For this recipe I used some asparagus I had in the refrigerator. I simply chopped off the woody stems and added them with all of these ingredients). Remove the cover from the slow cooker and add the peas, mushrooms, (asparagus), and fresh thyme. Stir until combined. Cook for an additional half hour.

Serve in a crock style bowl with a green salad and garlic bread.

Slow Cooker Red Wine Beef Stew

Brandy Chicken With Mushrooms and Pearl Onions…

February 18, 2014June 20, 2014youbetchcanmakethis 4 Comments

After my post last week that featured one of my favorite go-to recipes, chicken roll ups, I thought I would be off of the chicken bandwagon for awhile. But lo and behold the very next day I got my copy of Cooking Light in the mail and what was this months feature but “12 ways for perfect chicken!” On the cover was an enticing picture of chicken smothered in mushrooms and pearl onions and I thought, I just gotta make this one. And so I did, last night.

I am always on the look out for a good chicken recipe and this issue features an abundance of them, but I was drawn to the recipe pictured on the cover. I’d never cooked with Brandy before and was a little fearful and skeptical. I looked online to see if there was a viable substitute for brandy, as I don’t drink it and would use it only for cooking, but the information I found stated there really was no substitute. Wine was mentioned as an alternative but it would not provide the same flavor. So off to the liquor store I went. I actually found a small bottle of Korbel brandy for $10 and so I figured I could live with that. Other than fresh thyme and pearl onions, all the other ingredients I already had in the house so this seemed like a no-brainer. So here is my rating and lessons I learned making the dish for the first time.

Rating: A- for the recipe B- for the instructions. As I’ve mentioned several times I am not an intuitive cook so I need for the directions to be explicit and correct. I tend to take things literally, but more and more I am beginning to trust my instincts. I enjoyed this recipe, would definitely make it again and maybe even experiment using wine instead of brandy. I’ll explain all that in my lessons learned.

Lightly Dust With Flour and Cook In Olive Oil Until Almost Done

Lesson Learned 1: The time of this recipe was overestimated in my opinion. The recipe calls for halving boneless skinless chicken breasts, thus making a “cutlet”. So how do you define cutlet? I’m thinking about a quarter of an inch thick, right? When I halved a breast I wound up with 2 pieces that were a half inch thick. I decided to use that thickness instead of pounding them out based on the cooking time for the recipe, 43 minutes (how they came up with 43 versus 42 or 44 gives me a chuckle), taking into consideration I was not making as many “cutlets” as called for in the recipe so I was cooking a lesser amount of meat but at a greater thickness. My pieces of chicken were probably double the size of what I assume a cutlet should be (and that’s another thing that aggravated me, the recipe never defined the thickness of the cutlet – you just can’t assume every knows). I found that using that time as a guide for the rest of my meal wound up giving me slightly overdone chicken. I think one of the common errors most cooks make is overdone boneless skinless chicken breasts. Next time I make this I’ll reduce the cooking time by 7-10 minutes. Because I planned the rest of my meal around that 43 minute timeframe, I wound up keeping the dish on a very low simmer until everything else was ready and I think that lent to having slightly overdone chicken breasts. Mind you, they were not bad, but I do know the difference between a chicken breast that is juicy and tender and one that is overdone. (OK, I’ll get off of my soap box now).

Lesson Learned 2: Cooking with brandy did not wow me. I’m not sure what I expected the flavor to be, but it really did not supply the depth of flavor I thought it would. The recipe calls for cooking the brandy down until it’s almost evaporated (which I did) but the chicken stock that I added next seemed to overpower it. Next time I might leave a little more brandy in the pan or try this with either red or white wine. Most of the information I looked at regarding a substitute for brandy recommended using white wine, but I think red wine (like a good merlot) could also make this recipe interesting.

Lesson Learned 3: You also have to be careful cooking with brandy as it can produce a large amount of flame coming out of your pan. The recipe states that you should take the pan off the heat add the brandy and then put it back on the heat. I would highlight something like that in a recipe and even do a warning that if you don’t you could produce a large flame and injure yourself. Again, not everyone is a seasoned chef and I think a pointed warning would be helpful.

Cook Mushrooms Until Browned and Onions are Slightly Caramelized

Lesson Learned 4: This recipe called for button mushrooms. I never use button mushrooms anymore now that baby portobello mushrooms are so easy to get. I think button mushrooms are virtually flavorless and baby bellas stand up to the cooking process better and have a much better texture. So I substituted baby portobello mushrooms for button mushrooms and I highly recommend it.

Lesson Learned 5: The original recipe cooked 8 cutlets and called for 1 teaspoon of fresh thyme leaves. One teaspoon was not enough even for my recipe for two people. I would recommend two teaspoons of fresh time for four servings. With one teaspoon I could barely see the thyme much less taste any flavor from it.

Lesson Learned 6: Adding the butter at the end gives a nice silkiness and shine to the sauce. Don’t skip that part.

Even with some of the issues, this recipe is a keeper and one I will continue to play with. What I also like about this recipe is the progressive cooking process allows you to do your clean up in stages, so by the time I served dinner the only prep dish that needed to be washed was the skillet. I liked that aspect a lot. So here is my version of that recipe:

Brandy Chicken With Mushrooms and Pearl Onions

Servings: 4
Time: 45 Minutes Including Prep
Difficulty: Medium
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INGREDIENTS:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts halved (ideally 1/2 inch thick)

1 jar of pearl onions or 1 box of frozen pearl onions (thawed and drained)

6 – 8 ounces of baby portobello mushrooms sliced

2/3 cup of brandy

1 cup of chicken stock

2 tsps. cornstarch

1 TBS butter

2 teaspoons of fresh thyme

1/4 cup all purpose flour

Olive oil

salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Halve the chicken breasts horizontally. Pat dry and season with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken breasts in flour and shake off the excess.

Heat skillet with just enough olive oil to lightly coat it. Cook chicken breast for 4 minutes on each side until almost cooked through. Remove them from the skillet and wrap them in foil to keep them warm.

Add some additional oil in the pan. Add mushrooms and cook for 2-3 minutes and then add the onions. Continue to cook until mushrooms are nicely browned and onions begin to caramelize. Remove from the pan and set aside.

TAKE THE PAN OFF THE HEAT AND ADD THE BRANDY (this is important so as not to produce a flame). Put the pan back on the heat and cook down the brandy by half. Whisk together the chicken stock and cornstarch until smooth and add it to the skillet. Continue to whisk the mixture for a couple of minutes until smooth and mixture begins to bubble.

Return chicken, mushrooms and onion to the pan, reduce heat and simmer for 3-5 minutes. Add salt, butter and thyme. Serve once the butter has melted.

Brandy Chicken with Mushrooms and Pearl Onions

Chicken Roll Ups…

February 14, 2014May 18, 2014youbetchcanmakethis 4 Comments

Chicken Roll Ups (right out of the oven)

I think I may be related to Ina Garten’s husband Jeffrey, at least in the love of chicken department. Like him, anyway you prepare it I just love chicken. Ina makes it for him every Friday. I have it at least once a week and sometimes more. Because of that fact I’m always looking for new chicken recipes and especially the ones that are easy to prepare and super delicious.

This recipe is one of my husband’s favorites. Every time I make it he always comments on how much he enjoys it. I love it for its combination of ingredients – boneless chicken breasts, genoa salami, provolone cheese, asparagus and pasta sauce. In my mind it doesn’t get much better than that.

But I have to admit there is a catch to this recipe. Like any recipe for a roll up, the challenge is rolling it up. It took me a few tries to perfect the technique but hopefully through my lessons learned it will be easier for you. There are a few recipes that I’ve posted so far on this blog that are my go-to favorites. I put this one right up there with one of my all time favorites, my ravioli lasagna recipe. Once you master the art of the roll up you will make this recipe often as it is so simple and yet very flavorful. So here’s my rating and lessons learned:

Rating A+ The only thing difficult about this recipe is mastering the roll up technique so that all of the ingredients are covered by the chicken breast. Once you’ve got that, the rest is a breeze. You’ve basically got your meat and vegetable all in one. Serve with a simple salad and some crusty bread and you’ll have a dinner that will become a staple in your household! I’ve learned a lot of lessons making this recipe and hopefully these will help you be successful the very first time you make it.

Lesson Learned 1: It is so important to make sure the chicken breast is the right thickness. If it’s too thick you’ll never get it to roll up, if too thin all the provolone will ooze out. I used to use one breast for each roll up but it seems like they are getting larger and larger and once you pound them out you are left with an enormous roll up. Now I take my boning knife and halve the chicken breast. From there I put them between two pieces of wax paper and pound each to a quarter of an inch thick. I found doing it this way makes for a much more reasonably sized portion and one breast now serves two.

Lesson Learned 2: Figuring out the art of the roll up took a few tries on my part before I perfected it. What I learned is if you put the cheese, meat and asparagus closer to where you begin rolling and leave a little more just plain meat toward the end the process seems to work. As you are rolling the meat and cheese tend to move a little along with you. If you leave some “wiggle room” at the end you can get all of the insides covered with the chicken breast.

Place ingredients more toward the bottom before you roll the chicken

Lesson Learned 3: I have yet to find a toothpick that will hold the roll up in place without breaking off. Now I use a turkey skewer (the kind you use on your holiday turkey to keep the stuffing in place) and that seems to work well. I use the skewer to secure a flap on the bottom (opposite the asparagus tips) so that cheese does not ooze out and then weave it through the chicken flesh to hold the rest of the roll up in place. Just make sure you remember to tell people that you used a skewer. With the pasta sauce it is not always easily visible and whoever is eating it could be sawing away wondering why they can’t completely cut through the roll up. If I can I remove it before serving. If I can’t remove it, I make sure the person eating it knows it’s there.

Lesson Learned 4: This is probably the biggest lesson I learned from making this – covering the asparagus tips with aluminum foil. You are baking this dish for 45-50 minutes at 350. If you don’t cover the asparagus tips they will turn to mush. If you do cover them they turn out beautifully as can be seen by the picture at the bottom of this blog.

Lesson Learned 5: Put about a quarter of a cup of sauce on the bottom of the pan before you put the roll ups in. That way the roll ups won’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

Put sauce on the bottom of the dish before adding the roll ups

Lesson Learned 5: This recipe is a version that came from a Bertoli pasta sauce add I clipped from the newspaper. The beauty of this recipe is that you can basically use any red sauce that you like and top with any cheeses that you like. The original recipe called for topping the roll ups with the sauce and shredded romano cheese. I like that and so that’s what I do, but you could use a combination of parmesan and romano and you could even top it with some mozzarella for the last ten minutes of the baking process.

Ready To Go Into The Oven

All the work in this recipe is up front. Once you get the prep work done it’s just a matter of baking and eating it. Serve this with a side salad and crusty bread and you have an easy, flavorful and fun meal.

Easy Chicken Roll Ups

Servings: 4
Time: 75 Minutes Including Prep
Difficulty: Medium
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INGREDIENTS:

2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (halved)

Genoa Salami (12 thin slices)

Provolone Cheese (4-8 slices)

12 Asparagus Spears

1 Jar Tomato-Based Pasta Sauce (15 oz. or larger)

Shredded Romano Cheese (at least 1 cup)

Italian Seasoning

DIRECTIONS:

Place your hand on the top of the chicken breast and using a boning knife start on one side and cut the breast in half (see pictures above). Place each breast between two pieces of wax paper and use a meat mallet or rolling pin and pound moving from the center out until the breast is 1/4 of an inch thick.

Beginning at the bottom of the breast, place one or two pieces of provolone cheese and three slices of salami on top of the cheese making sure to leave about an inch of just plain meat at the top of the breast (see picture above). Trim the woody bottoms off of the asparagus spears and place at the bottom of the breast. Roll the chicken breast so that the cheese, salami and asparagus (except for the tips) are all covered by the meat. Take a skewer and close off the flap a the bottom (the opposite end from the asparagus tips) and lace it through the roll up to secure it in place. Cover the asparagus tips with aluminum foil.

In a casserole dish, spread about 1/4 cup of the pasta sauce to cover the bottom. Place the roll ups in the casserole dish and cover with the remaining pasta sauce. Sprinkle with shredded romano cheese and italian seasoning.

Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes. Remove skewer from roll ups and serve.

A Chicken Roll Up

Oven Roasted Vegetables…

February 5, 2014November 7, 2014youbetchcanmakethis 2 Comments

For a long time I’ve been trying to perfect roasting vegetables in the oven. My last foray into oven roasting was making balsamic parmesan cauliflower which sounds heavenly but had its challenges as a recipe. So I am always on the lookout for new recipes. I found this one the other day on, and this will not surprise you, Pinterest and thought I would try it. It came from a website called foodservice.com and though it looked great I could tell before making it that it had issues from the get-go. Luckily I’m finally starting to trust my instincts and not take recipes verbatim. I adapted it and it turned out beautifully, but I don’t think it would have the way it was originally written. So I will rate how I made it and then describe lessons learned based on the original recipe. For the burgeoning chef who may not have good gut instincts, like myself, I get a little perturbed when I see recipes that I know simply will not work. I’ll include my adapted recipe for you to print.

The Vegetables Used In This Recipe

Rating A – the way I adapted the recipe produced tender crisp roasted vegetables, always a great accompaniment to any meal. I have to admit the original recipe provided a great trick that I will expound on in lessons learned.

Lesson Learned 1: In this recipe I used zucchini, yellow squash, thick asparagus spears, carrots cut in one inch size rounds and grape tomatoes. The original recipe also called for baby red potatoes and snow peas as well. So now I will get on my high horse for a minute. What I’ve learned over the years is the secret to successfully roasting vegetables starts out with veggies that have similar roasting times. If they don’t you will, and I guarantee it, overcook some and undercook others. Adding potatoes and snow peas to this recipe made absolutely no sense to me. Even baby red potatoes take a longer time to cook than most veggies and snow peas cook in nothing flat. And the original recipe called for roasting the veggies at 425 for 30 minutes covered and then uncovered for 15 minutes. That may well be the correct time allotment for cooking the potatoes, but I think the rest of the vegetables would have been annihilated. In defense of the recipe it does state to shorten the cooking time somewhat if you like your vegetables al dente, but 45 minutes at 425 would have, in my estimation, produced mush. I roasted the vegetables at 400 for 1/2 hour total, 20 minutes covered and ten minutes uncovered. You can see the results at the bottom of the blog. Next time I may even take 5 additional minutes off the cooking time as I like super al dente vegetables.

Vegetables Seasoned For Roasting

Lesson Learned 2: When slicing the squash, I cut them into 1 1/2 inch rounds and then cut them on the diameter both ways producing four pieces for each slice. That gave them sufficient “chunkiness” to withstand the cooking time.

Lesson Learned 3: You can see I used a thicker asparagus spear. When you buy asparagus quite often you can find it in various thicknesses. I bought the thickest one I could find so it was of sufficient “chunkiness” (I’m starting to like that word) to withstand the longer cooking time.

Lesson Learned 4: The original recipe called for baby carrots. I only had regular carrots so I took a couple that were about an inch in diameter and cut them into one inch rounds. You don’t want your carrots too big or they will remain hard.

Lessons Learned 5: I also looked for larger rather than smaller grape tomatoes for this recipe. I was most concerned about how the tomatoes would turn out but they were fine, nicely soft but not annihilated and that is ok.

Lesson Learned 6: The original recipe called for about 1/4 cup of EVOO – way too much, especially if you are adapting the recipe using smaller amounts of veggies! You want to make sure that your veggies are evenly coated but you don’t want them swimming in oil. You have to eyeball the EVOO and follow the rule of thumb that you can always add more if you need it. As long as they all have a nice shimmer of oil they will be fine and roast beautifully.

Lesson Learned 7: There is very little “exacting” to this recipe. I made this for my husband and myself and added amounts that I felt were appropriate for 2 people (and it could have probably served 3). I only cut up two rounds each of the squash, used 4 asparagus spears about 6 plum tomatoes and I think I was a little heavy handed on the carrots. There are no right or wrong amounts here. The key is to cut the veggies into sizes that will stand up nicely to the cooking time.

Lesson Learned 8: What I liked about the original recipe is the inclusion of steak seasoning. I never thought about using that on vegetables. I used Montreal Steak Seasoning and it really gave the vegetables depth of flavor. If you’ve never tried it, I recommend it. I was pleasantly surprised.

Lesson Learned 9: The recipe calls for dried rosemary, and even states that you might want to add more of it than the basil. I’m not a big fan of dried rosemary unless you really crush it. I’ve found that if you don’t you get these tasteless rosemary spears in your teeth. But you can certainly add your desired amount to the recipe below.

I would have rated the original recipe an “F” as I felt, as written, it would have been a failure. The ingredients were not well matched and the cooking time was outrageous. These types of recipes always get my goat since someone, like me, who is not an intuitive cook finds it sets you up for failure – and when you are learning in the kitchen you want easy successes to build your confidence. So, I am sharing my adaptation of the recipe. If you want to check out the original just go to the website I listed above and search for oven roasted vegetables. Good luck with that one. If you get it to work as written, let me know. I would like to hear how you accomplished that.

Oven Roasted Vegetables

Servings: Varied
Time: 35 Minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Print

INGREDIENTS:

Thick Asparagus

Yellow Squash

Zucchini

Carrots cut in one inch rounds or baby carrots

Grape Tomatoes

Olive Oil

Dried Rosemary

Dried Basil

Montreal Steak Seasoning

Garlic Salt

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In this recipe you will need to use amounts based on the number of servings you want. Cut the squash into 1 1/2 rounds and then into quarters. If you don’t use baby carrots, use carrots an inch in diameter and cut into one inch rounds. Make sure to snap the bottom of the asparagus to remove the woody part. If the remaining spear is large, cut it in half. If not, keep the spear whole.

Evenly coat the veggies with olive oil and add the herbs and steak seasoning so that the veggies are evenly covered and toss. Place in a deep casserole dish and sprinkle with garlic salt. Roast covered with foil for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and roast uncovered for the remaining 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Oven Rosted Vegetables

Tomato Potato Salad…

February 3, 2014May 29, 2014youbetchcanmakethis 5 Comments

This recipe came about by accident – it was one of those things that my mother made for years but morphed into my mother-in-law’s recipe. Talk about inter-family competition. Not really. Both my husband and I came from modest backgrounds and our mothers were faced with learning how to really stretch a dollar while still keeping hungry children satisfied. That meant very simple meals consisting mostly of overcooked meat, canned vegetables (frozen veggies were not as prolific or as good as they are today) and recipes designed to stick to your ribs, high in fat and carbs. And guess what, we survived. Those recipes, for the most part, are what we now call comfort food and are the types of things we make sparingly, often when we feel we need a good hug.

This is one of those recipes and yet it has an interesting twist, one that when I first heard about it I said yuck! My mom had a very basic potato salad recipe. My dad was not one for a lot of spices, he hated garlic (said it upset his stomach) and mostly enjoyed very bland-type meals. And considering this recipe does not have a lot of ingredients it is quite flavorful. The twist, thanks to my mother-in-law, was adding tomatoes to it. Yes, I said adding tomatoes. I’ve not seen many people, if any, add tomatoes to potato salad but if you’ve never tried it I think you might be in for a real treat. So here is my rating and lessons learned after many years of making Tomato Potato Salad.

Rating A – so easy to make, very colorful and flavorful. You will be amazed at how many people will be surprised by adding tomatoes but say it adds a wonderful flavor and consistency to potato salad.

Lesson Learned 1: Don’t be afraid to try it. I resisted doing it for many years and the idea of adding tomatoes was weird to me, but once I did I never looked back.

Lesson Learned 2: There is a trick to adding tomatoes. I always use roma tomatoes. I normally find that they are firmer with less seeds and more flesh and that is what you want. You need to scrape out the seeds and soft matter so that all you’re left with is the flesh. That way you get the tomato flavor but not the moisture. If you don’t do this you will wind up with watery potato salad, and you don’t want that.

Lesson Learned 3: Err on the side of more eggs than less. I usually use one large or extra large egg for every potato with 2 extra eggs to slice and add to the top. It depends on the size of the potatoes. Since there are so few ingredients in this recipe you need to make sure that you have enough eggs and green onions to provide the flavor.

Lesson Learned 4: Rinse the eggs for a long time under cold water after you boil them. I usually rinse them for 5 minutes and then I let them sit in an ice bath for about 5 minutes. If you do this the shells will easily come off. If you don’t you will struggle with removing the shells.

Proportion of Green Onions

Lesson Leaned 5: Err on the side of more green onions than less, at least when you are chopping them. This is truly a recipe of sight versus exact amount. For this particular recipe I chopped 6 green onions. I did not use all of them but I used most of them. I eyeballed it. When you mix it, if the color looks proportional and not too little or too much green – then you’ve got it. I’m sure some of you are rolling your eyes right now and saying this does little to help me understand the exact amount. Hopefully the pictures will give you and idea. Just remember you can always add more onions but you can’t take them away. And green onions have a much milder flavor so even if you add a little too much I don’t think it will hurt. Also chop and use the green as well as the white parts of the onion. Personally I think the green part has a better flavor.

Potatoes

Lesson Learned 6: Try to, if you can, boil potatoes that are the same size. Then the boiling time becomes more consistent. In the picture to the left you can see that two of my potatoes were much larger than the others. Because of that I had to watch to make sure I took the smaller potatoes out earlier. Otherwise I would have had mushy small potatoes and evenly cooked large ones. You don’t want that. It’s also important to let the potatoes cool to room temperature before you peel them. This is perhaps the most lengthy part of the process, but I found it is so much easier to remove the skin and cut them up if the potatoes are room temperature.

The recipe is deceptively simple but I guarantee you that, especially after you’ve eaten a lot of pre-prepared store bought potato salad, you will enjoy making this for its simplicity and you will definitely love its flavor. Enjoy!

Tomato Potato Salad

Servings: 10-12 people
Time: 1 Hour
Difficulty: Easy
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Serving Suggestion

INGREDIENTS:

5 medium to large red or yukon gold potatoes (if using yukon gold you don’t need to peel them)

7-8 large or extra large eggs, depending on the size of the potatoes (2 eggs are for garnish)

1 bunch of green onions (you will probably use 80% of them)

2 firm roma tomatoes

1/2 cup mayonnaise (again to taste – start with 1/2 cup and use more if you feel it is necessary, err on the side of less; reduced calorie mayo also works well)

1 TB dijon mustard (optional – I do not use it often, but it does provide some depth of flavor)

Salt and pepper – to taste

Paprika for garnish (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

Hard boil the eggs. (this usually takes me 15 minutes on my stove). Once cooked rinse thoroughly under cold water. Put the potatoes in a pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. (I usually keep the pot covered throughout most of this process). Cook until you can pierce them with a fork (this can take anywhere from 20 to 30+ minutes depending on the size of the potatoes). Be careful not to overcook, you do not want the potatoes mushy but firmly cooked. Put them in a strainer and let them cool to room temperature.

Chop up 5-6 green onions and set aside. Peel and chop all but two of the eggs. Slice the remaining two eggs and leave for garnish.

Peel the potatoes and slice into 1/4 inch square pieces. Add the chopped eggs, green onion, mayonnaise, dijon mustard and salt and pepper. Carefully mix together so as not to mash the potatoes. Add the slice eggs on top. Chill at least for 2-3 hours.

Tomato Potato Salad

Tomato Potato Salad With Egg Garnish

I know this sounds deceptively simple but it is amazingly flavorful. Try it and let me know what you think.

Slow Cooker Italian Chicken With A Twist…

January 31, 2014June 2, 2014youbetchcanmakethis 4 Comments

Every once in a while, a friend will email or text me and asks about a recipe or shares one of theirs. Such was the case the other day when a former student messaged me on Facebook and asked if I “crock pot.” Do I crock pot? Heck yes. I love my crock pot. As a matter of fact I am probably a crock pot snob because I tend to call it a slow cooker. But call it what you will, it is a tremendous tool in the kitchen for busy families. Set it and forget it – I like that mantra.

But the slow cooker can also be a challenge. For all it’s benefits it has its downsides, mostly based in producing flavorless overcooked meals for the sake of convenience. That’s why it’s important to know your slow cooker and to understand its low and high temperatures. Not all slow cookers are created equal and it seems that over the years, at least in my experience, the temperature for the low setting has gotten higher and higher to the point that in some slow cookers it actually boils food – and that produces disaster.

I have an All Clad 6.5 slow cooker with a ceramic insert. Good Housekeeping reviews tend to consistently rate it as one of their top choices, especially from the standpoint of not drying out food (which tends to be the result of too high temperatures combined with too long of a cooking time). I’ll warn you now, it is an expensive piece of equipment averaging about $180 but to me it was worth the investment. Rarely do I dry out food in my slow cooker unless I cook it too long. There are other more reasonably priced top rated slow cookers out there. I would suggest doing a little research and reading reviews to determine which one fits your lifestyle and budget.

Here’s the ultimate slow cooker challenge – figuring out the correct cooking time for a specific recipe. Don’t you just love recipes that say “cook on low for 6-8 hours.” Well, what is it, six hours, seven hours, eight hours? There is a big difference between cooking something for six or eight hours. But unfortunately more often than not that is for the cook to figure out.

I’ve also found that cooking chicken is probably the biggest challenge, especially white meat chicken as it has much less fat than dark meat and can dry out faster. I’ve learned over the years that less tends to mean more when it comes to cooking white meat chicken in the slow cooker. I never cook it for eight hours, NEVER. And depending on the size and thickness of the pieces it tends to be between 5-6 that I get my best results. Normally I have to try a recipe once and from there I make an educated estimate for the next try in the slow cooker.

And so it happened with the recipe that I’m sharing today. It came from my former student Jenny who I referenced earlier in this blog. It is a traditional slow cooker recipe that uses soup as the base for its liquid but the combination of ingredients gives a sauce that is to die for. This is definitely not a low calorie recipe, but a great go-to comfort food recipe to keep in your repertoire. Jenny’s sister Shelly joined in our recipe conversation the other day and made a few suggestions that I found helpful and that added depth to the recipe. I’m calling this recipe “Slow Cooker Italian Chicken with a Twist” as it does not look or taste like a traditional Italian dish that tends to be tomato based. There are no tomatoes in this recipe but it has huge flavor. So here’s my rating and lessons learned:

Rating: A – a great comfort food recipe and the sauce is to die for!

Lesson Learned 1: I cooked boneless skin-on breasts for 5 1/2 hours. Next time I will only cook them for 5. They were just on the borderline of being a little dry, but they were not dried out. If I had used dark meat 5 1/2 hours would have been fine.

Lesson Learned 2: Either spray or grease the crock for this recipe. The creaminess of the sauce can cause some browning especially around the edges. I used a slight brush of olive oil in my ceramic crock and it cleaned up beautifully. I’m not a big fan of cooking sprays but I am sure they work as well.

Lesson Learned 3: This is a lesson in progress as I haven’t figured it out yet. In the picture below you can see little flecks of the chive and onion cream cheese – I would have preferred it to be completely melted and am not sure why it didn’t. Maybe it was the fact that I used a reduced fat cream cheese, but I’m not sure. It certainly did not affect the flavor at all but I’m not sure why it didn’t melt completely. (we figured it out – the butter, cream cheese and soup need to be melted together in a pot over a low heat before combining with the wine and italian dressing mixture – thanks Shelly).

Lesson Learned 4: Shelly suggested serving this over rigatoni so that the creamy deliciousness of the sauce could permeate the inside and the outside of the pasta. I served it that way and I totally agree – use rigatoni.

Lesson Learned 5: I added some sliced baby portobello mushrooms during the last half hour of cooking. That way they cook but don’t disintegrate. I also served it with some sliced green onion on top for color, but you could use italian parsley as well. It needs a little color for serving.

ITALIAN CHICKEN WITH A TWIST RECIPE (courtesy of Jenny and Shelly)

Slow Cooker Italian Chicken With A Twist

Servings: 4-6
Time: 5 1/2 hrs
Difficulty: easy
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INGREDIENTS:

6 boneless chicken breasts

1 stick of butter at room temperature (I used a half stick and, in my opinion, it was more than enough)

2 packages of dry italian dressing mix

2 cans of GOLDEN mushroom soup

1 cup dry white wine

1 8 oz container of chive and onion cream cheese at room temperature

2 cups sliced baby portobello mushrooms

Cooked rigatoni pasta

Green onions or italian parsley for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

Mix together the wine and italian dressing mix. Combine butter, mushroom soup and cream cheese in a pot and heat slightly until melted. Add white wine and italian dressing mixture to soup mixture. Lightly grease with olive oil or spray the crock with cooking spray before adding ingredients. Place the chicken breasts in the crock and cover with prepared sauce. Cover and cook on low for 5 hours. Add mushrooms and cook for an additional 30 minutes. Serve over rigatoni. Garnish with green onion or italian parsley.

NOTE: It’s best to cook this according to your slow cooker and its temperatures. The next time I make this recipe I will only cook it for 5 hours total. Each slow cooker can be different. And as always, resist the temptation to lift the lid. When you do that it slows down the cooking process and you need to add extra time to make up for your curiosity.

Slow Cooker Italian Chicken With A Twist

Balsamic Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower

January 29, 2014January 29, 2014youbetchcanmakethis 1 Comment

As I’ve mentioned may times before, I am a big fan of Pinterest especially as it comes to finding recipes. What I like about the site is one’s ability through “pins” to access websites that might not come to the top of a Google search, so you’re basically connecting with little known sites that you may never have found otherwise. And I have found these sites to be great resources for information and new ideas for the kitchen.

So as I was browsing Pinterest the other day I came across the pin for a recipe called balsamic parmesan roasted cauliflower. It was pinned from the website http://www.kidneybuzz.com. Now doesn’t balsamic parmesan roasted cauliflower sound divine? And since I’m always looking for new ways to roast vegetables I just had to give the recipe a try.

When I evaluate recipes I look for a few simple things. First, are the directions clear – second, is it easy to prepare – third, can you be successful the very first time you make it, and fourth, did the recipe tell you everything you needed to know (as I find quite often recipes do not – especially where chefs-in-training are concerned). So here is my rating and lessons learned making this recipe:

Rating: C- with the potential for an A. I have never been so psyched to make a recipe and been so disappointed. I’m getting to the point though where I am starting to trust my own instincts versus just doing what is written. After some interesting lessons learned I would try this recipe again, as I do believe it has the potential to be an “A” rated recipe.

Balsamic Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower

Lesson Learned 1: This recipe called for cooking the cauliflower from 20-30 minutes at 450. I will tell you right now if you do that you will have limp overcooked cauliflower. I’ve roasted cauliflower before and never over 400. But I thought, ok, I’ll compromise. I’ll roast it at 425. Big mistake!! The cauliflower came limp and overdone. I like my roasted vegetables to have some crispness to them. If you like them limp then cook them longer. In my opinion (and I roasted rather large florets) 15 – 20 minutes max at 400 is my recommendation.

Lesson Learned 2: This recipe does not tell you how to roast with balsamic vinegar, and that can be tricky. The proportions are perfectly fine, but you need to make sure that the cauliflower is primarily coated and not the pan. Otherwise you will have a sticky, gooey hard to clean mess because (unless this is different in high altitude) balsamic vinegar doesn’t evaporate as the recipe suggests, it burns especially in any concentrated amounts. That’s why I say make sure the cauliflower is covered in it and you don’t leave a puddle of it in your pan. If you do, clean up will be a nightmare (and in my opinion they should tell you these things in a recipe). I would also either spray your pan with cooking spray or line it with foil so that any balsamic that does not “evaporate” can be easily cleaned.

Lesson Learned 3: Tossing the cauliflower half-way through the cooking process is a must. That way you will get an even caramelization and the cauliflower won’t looked burnt. So, toss half-way through and don’t add the vinegar and cheese until the last five minutes.

Lesson Learned 4: Obviously this was not a recipe that turned out well the first time making it. I overcooked it and wound up with a gooey mess in my pan. That being said, it still had an interesting flavor, almost sweet. So I am definitely going to try this again as I think it has great potential.

I hope my lessons learned help you have more success the first time you try this recipe. I plan to continue to play with it until I get it right. When I do I will either update this blog or post a new one referencing this. I am a big fan of roasted vegetable but you have to get the cooking time and temperature just right, otherwise you have a limp burnt mess.

Easy Orange Chicken…

January 24, 2014May 28, 2014youbetchcanmakethis Leave a comment

I will never forget that conversation. I was sitting at lunch with a colleague and she was telling me how she was a Food Network junkie. I laughed at her. I could not believe someone would actually enjoy watching a television program of someone cooking. So one Saturday morning, just for a lark, I decided to watch the Food Network. I’ve not been the same since.

What I liked about the Food Network, and especially the shows of a few years past, is that it educated me on various types of foods, taught me technique and challenged me to try new recipes and to experiment in the kitchen. The Food Network made me an accidental “foodie” and there’s not turning back now.

What the chicken skin looks like after the initial browning…

I used to really like Robin Miller’s show, but it’s no longer on the network. I’m a big fan of Ina and Giada and I also like Melissa D’Arabian. And it is my testing of one of Melissa’s recipes that is the subject of the blog today. She called the recipe “Crispy Chicken a l’Orange” and it is from her book Ten Dollar Dinners. I first saw the recipe on one of her shows, and it is listed on the Food Network website for free, so I’m pretty sure I’m not breaking any copyright laws by sharing this with you. I am always looking for different ways to make chicken and this recipe intrigued me, so I thought I’d try it. Here is my rating and lessons learned from making it.

Rating A- the main reason I give it a minus is that the sauce is tricky. By that I mean it is a combination of frozen orange juice concentrate and honey. The tricky part is cooking this in the oven and not getting a pan that has burnt-on honey all over it, making it a nightmare to clean. I haven’t quite figured out how to avoid that. I make this recipe in a well seasoned cast iron skillet and I still have a difficult time cleaning my pan. Maybe it’s my fault. The recipe calls to brown the meat in a skillet and then transfer it to a baking dish. By using the cast iron pan I tried to do this as a one-stop shop and brown the meat and cook it all in one pot. Maybe next time I’ll try what the recipe recommends and see if that makes a difference with the clean up.

Drizzle the chicken with the orange juice and honey mixture and put into the oven

Lesson Learned 1: Brown the chicken skin side down for at least five minutes. Resist the temptation to move it around. Just let it stay in one place. After 5 minutes on medium-high heat you should have nicely browned skin and will continue to brown in the oven. (see the picture above).

Lesson Learned 2: Make sure the chicken is patted very dry before you begin to brown it. If it is moist it won’t brown.

Lesson Learned 3: It is very important to let the chicken rest for at least 10 minutes after cooking as called for in the recipe. The chicken comes out very juicy if you do it that way. Other than that there are really no other tips I can give you about this recipe. It is relatively easy to make. You get great flavor without a lot of work. The only challenge for me so far is the clean up.

When I get a thumbs up from my husband I know a recipe is a keeper. This got two thumbs up on this one. I served this with parmesan oven roasted asparagus and my pesto orzo with roasted red peppers and olives (pictured at the bottom). So try it, I’m sure you’ll find this recipe to be a keeper as well.

CRISPY CHICKEN A L’ORANGE (EASY ORANGE CHICKEN)

Easy Orange Chicken

Time: 55 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

Skin on chicken breast (the recipe calls for bone-in but I did mine boneless and it was delicious)

1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1 TBS. vegetable oil

1/2 cup thawed orange juice concentrate

1/4 cup honey

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and seat the chicken skin side down until brown and beginning to crisp – about 5 minutes.

In a small saucepan bring the orange juice concentrate honey and a dash of salt and pepper to a boil. Cook until syrupy (about 3 minutes).

Transfer chicken skin side up to a baking dish and drizzle with half of the orange juice mixture. Bake for approximately 35 minutes or until the internal temperature is between 160 and 170. After the chicken has been in the oven for about 15 minutes, drizzle the remaining orange juice mixture on it. When cooked, remove the chicken from the oven and let rest for about 10 minutes.

Serving suggestion: parmesan roasted asparagus and pesto orzo with roasted red peppers and olives

Pesto Orzo With Roasted Red Peppers and Olives…

AsideJanuary 21, 2014July 22, 2015youbetchcanmakethis 1 Comment

Pesto Orzo Roasted Red Pepper Ingredients

I admit, I am not one for making up recipes – creativity in the kitchen is not yet one of my culinary skills. But this recipe is an invention of mine – totally made up on the spot (and I’m sure there is a similar recipe for this out there somewhere) and has now become a side dish staple in our house.

It really evolved from two things, that being a cooking class in which I learned the art of roasting a red pepper (no more store bought jars for me) and a huge crop of basil that forced me to figure out how to make pesto. From there the recipe took shape. So let’s talk a little bit about home-made roasted red peppers and pesto. Once you’ve made them yourself you will seldom, unless time dictates, go back to buying it pre-prepared at the grocery store.

Flame Roasting A Red Pepper

I first became aware of using roasted red peppers in recipes from watching the Food Network. It seemed that every chef I liked used them in a variety of different recipes but they mostly just got them out of a jar. Don’t get me wrong, the jarred roasted red peppers are great and are a real time saver, but if you want to control the flavor and minimize waste there is nothing like making it yourself. It’s so easy and I have to say rather fun as well.

The trick is you will need fire of some sort to do this, so a gas stove or other source of flame is necessary. All you do is put it on the fire and let it turn black, and I do mean black. Just keep an eye on it and when one side turns black rotate it until the entire pepper is black. That’s it. Then you put it in a container, cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit for at least 20 minutes. After that, you take a paring knife and scrape off the black matter and voila, you have a roasted red pepper! It can’t get simpler than that. I’ll put the complete recipe down below. Oil and herbs round out the flavor, but it is so easy and I like the fact that you control the amount you want to have versus buying a jar of peppers and having half of it sit in the refrigerator until you wind up throwing it out. This is easy and it has real cost savings as well.

The blackened pepper…

The next part is the pesto. The prime ingredient in pesto is fresh basil. I like to grow mine in containers on my deck. Once you figure out how to grow basil you will get it prolifically, trust me. The first year I grew it I was not aware of cutting it back before it began to flower. That resulted in a very small basil crop. The second year I did a little research, did the appropriate trimming and I wound up with basil coming out of my ears. Using your basil to make pesto is a great way to have it year-round. I make mine and freeze it in batches and when I want some I just scoop what I need out of the container and let it thaw. I hear some people freeze it in ice cube trays and just pop cubes of pesto out when they want them. I had way too much basil to even try that. My freezer would’ve become nothing more than a haven for ice cube trays! Pesto freezes very well and every summer I wind up freezing a supply that takes me through to the following summer. I’ve included the pesto recipe below.

Homemade Pesto

The rest is relatively simple, just a matter of cooking the pasta and combining the ingredients. My husband is a big rice fan and I’m not (being born and raised a potato girl) so I’m always looking for ways to either make a substitute for rice or jazzing up rice. Because of that I’ve become quite adept at risotto, my favorite form of rice, but that is for another blog. I found this recipe to be a great substitute for rice. As a matter of fact, my husband originally thought it was rice as orzo is a rice shaped pasta. Try this. I think you’ll really enjoy this one. Here is my recipe rating and lessons learned: Rating: A +++++ – now c’mon, you didn’t think I could rate a recipe made up by me any less than this, could you? But I bet if you try it you’ll agree. The combination of flavors is a perfect compliment to almost any dish. Lesson Learned 1: When I learned about roasting peppers on the stove I was told to let it sit covered for a minimum of 20 minutes before scraping off the burnt edges. I recommend waiting as long as you can. The longer you let it sit the easier it is to scrape it off. If you wait an hour or more it comes off in no time flat. Lesson Learned 2: When making the pesto recipe, initially add only half of the olive oil into the food processor. After that drizzle in the rest. You may find that adding all of the recommended amount may make the pesto too oily. I don’t like my pesto floating in oil, but some do. You can always add more olive oil but you can’t take it away once you’ve added it. Lesson Learned 3: The pesto recipe calls for a half of a clove of garlic. I like my garlicky and so I put in two cloves. Don’t throw them in whole. Just cut them in quarters – that way you will ensure they mix properly in the food processor. You don’t want to be chomping on raw garlic. Lesson Learned 4: The recipe calls for a 1/2 cup of cheese. You can add more to taste if you like. Lesson Learned 5: After you drain the pasta put it back in the pot you cooked it in and mix all the ingredients together under a very low flame. That way any residual liquid will evaporate so you won’t have a watery concoction.

Pesto Orzo With Roasted Red Peppers and Olives

Servings: 4-6
Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS: 1 1/2 cups uncooked orzo pasta i large red bell pepper 1/4 cup of pesto olive oil (1-2 tsp.) 1/4 cup of kalamata olives chopped 1 TBS garlic and herb bread dipper seasoning DIRECTIONS: Place red pepper over open flame and blacken on all sides. Place in a heat resistant bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let sit for at least 20 minutes. Remove pepper from bowl and scrape off all of the black matter. Cut open, remove the seeds and yellowish veins and cut into lardons (lardons are simply small rectangular slices – see picture below). Add seasoning and desired amount of olive oil. Mix together and set aside. Chop the kalamata olives into small bite size pieces.

Lardons of red pepper mixed with olive oil and seasonings.

In a 3-4 quart saucepan cook pasta according to package directions. Once cooked, drain the pasta and put it back in the pot under a very low heat. Add the pesto (recipe below), roasted red pepper and olives. Stir to combine. Serve immediately.

Basic Basil Pesto

Servings: 12
Time: 1/2
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS: 4 cups loosely packed basil leaves 2 cloves garlic 1 small shallot, cut into pieces 3 TBS. pine nuts 1/4 – 1/2 cup olive oil 1/2 cup grated romano or parmesan cheese salt, if desired DIRECTIONS: Wash basil leaves and remove excess water. Place the basil, shallot, pine nuts, cheese and 1/4 cup oil in a food processor. Process, stopping to scrape down the sides of the food processor at least once. Check the consistency of the pesto. If too thick, drizzle in more oil while processing until the pesto reaches the desired consistency. Use or freeze. If not using immediately, store in an airtight container in your refrigerator or freezer.

Mix all ingredients together under a low heat

Orzo Pasta with Roasted Red Pepper and Olives

Don’t Chicken Out On Roast Turkey…

January 14, 2014January 31, 2014youbetchcanmakethis 3 Comments

My husband and I went out to dinner this past Thanksgiving and I made a rib roast for Christmas so I knew eventually I would feel like I was cheated out of a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Luckily for me my local grocery store had a great manager’s special over the Christmas holiday pricing every single fresh turkey breast, regardless of weight, at $7.00. OK, I said to myself, I can’t afford to pass this up even though turkey was not on the Christmas menu. So into the freezer it went just waiting for the right time to resurrect Thanksgiving.

I used to be intimidated by cooking a turkey – I could never seem to get it right making it either over-done or, mostly in my experience, under-done. To me there is nothing worse than a dry turkey especially if you are just cooking an all-white meat turkey breast. Overcooking it means you eat sandpaper and when you spend that amount of time preparing a meal nothing can be more frustrating.

I can tell you right now, cooking a turkey is about trial-and-error, a firm resolve that it really is no big deal and a belief that you can actually be good at it. I’ve had numerous disasters over the years and only through the school of hard knocks have I become adept at roasting turkey. I very seldom cook a whole bird anymore as even a small one is way too much for me and my husband. But I find that with the right prep and know-how a turkey breast, whether half or whole, is equally as good and lends itself to being on the dinner menu more than once a year. At other times I don’t make all the traditional sides as the caloric intake is far too great, but this time I just had to opt for tradition – I mean you just gotta do it once a year, right?

Normally I critique recipes from Pinterest, Facebook or other foodie-type websites, but this is solely my recipe adapted from years of experience and variations of several recipes I’ve tried. So here are my lessons learned and rating.

7 pound turkey breast

Rating: Finally A+ – I say finally because this took a lot of practice on my part. For some reason the perfect roast turkey took a few years of trial and error. Thanks goodness I love turkey so much that failure did not weaken my resolve. What is great about when you master this is that you feel confident to make it any time of year. One of our local grocery stores often stocks fresh bone-in half breasts and that is plenty for my husband and me for a great meal and leftovers.

Lesson Learned 1: If the turkey is frozen, make sure it is completely thawed. This may sound rudimentary, but I can’t tell you how many times I thought the bird was thawed only to find out at the last minute that it was still frozen in the middle. The turkey breast in the picture above was a little over 7 pounds. I planned to make it on Sunday so I took it out of the freezer and put it in the fridge the Tuesday before. In my experience turkeys thaw very slowly in the fridge and I finally figured out that if I add a day on to what I think will be the right amount of time to get a perfectly thawed bird I tend to get it right. Even with putting the bird in the fridge on Tuesday I still took out frozen matter from the cavity on Sunday. But I did that very early in the day, cleaned and dried the turkey breast and put the bird back in the fridge after that so that when it was time to begin prepping it, it was completely thawed inside and out. This was perhaps the biggest difference in ensuring even cooking and determining the appropriate cooking time.

Lesson Learned 2: Prepare a butter rub and rub it under the skin as well as all over the outside of the bird. The nice brown color that you see in the picture is achieved by doing that. I normally make a mixture of butter, fresh thyme, salt and pepper. The darker pieces in the picture are not burned skin but darkened thyme. You can scrape that right off.

Lesson Learned 3: Forget about putting a bread stuffing in the cavity, instead stuff it with aromatics. With this particular bird I jammed a thyme bundle, large garlic clove, two sweet onion quarters and a half of a lemon into the cavity. You’ll be amazed at how this helps to flavor the meat. You can discard all of it before you start to carve it. It’s work is done by then.

Lesson Learned 4: Put some white wine in the bottom of the pan before you begin the roasting process. This provides a nice steam bath for the bird and enhances the juices that you can use to make homemade gravy. I never worry about having basting juices or a solid basis for my gravy anymore. This is a great trick. The gravy in the picture below was made from the wine and drippings mixture from the turkey breast.

Lesson Learned 5: Know your oven. I’ve said this in a few other recipes, but for turkey I think it is very important. I roast turkey at 350/twenty minutes per pound. Some recipes call to roast the bird at 325. I live in high altitude and so, on average, cooking times are longer and cooking temperatures need to be a little higher. After much trial and error I have found this to be the perfect roasting guideline for my circumstance. Also get a good meat thermometer and use it. That is the only way to ensure you meat is cooked to the desired doneness.

Lesson Learned 6: Let the turkey rest for at least 20 minutes to half-an-hour after roasting. The internal temperature should be 185. I normally take it out when it reaches between 175-180 as carry over cooking will occur while it is resting. Keep it covered in foil but make sure you let it rest. It will be much easier to carve that way and you will retain the natural juices in the meat.

Lesson Learned 7: Be prepared for failure, especially if you’re new to roasting turkey. It’s all part of the learning process and you can always make a turkey pot pie or turkey salad with the spoils.

So go ahead, jump into the deep end of the pool and make a roast turkey more often than just on Thanksgiving. Once you get the hang of it you’ll be surprised at exactly how easy it really is. I’m including for you my basic recipe for both a roast turkey and homemade cranberry sauce, also pictured below (forget store bought, this is sooo easy and sooo worth it).

Turkey and all the trimmings…

Perfect Roast Turkey With HomeMade Cranberry Sauce

Servings: Varied
Time: 20 minutes per pound
Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients:

I whole turkey or a whole or half turkey breast, 7-12 pounds (you may need to adjust the cavity ingredients for a larger bird)

6 TBS. salted butter

Fresh thyme (enough to chop and mix with the butter and to put a bundle in the turkey cavity); you can also use turkey fresh herb blends sold in the grocery store that usually include sage, thyme, and rosemary.

1 sweet onion

1 large garlic clove

1-2 small lemons

2 cups dry white wine

Salt and Pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Make sure the turkey is completely thawed to ensure even cooking. Remove the turkey from its packaging, clean anything out of the cavity, rinse with cold water and pat dry. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour. Bring butter to room temperature. Mince approximately 2-3 TBS. of fresh herbs and combine with softened butter, salt and pepper. One half hour before putting the turkey in the oven take it out of the refrigerator, rinse again with cold water and dry off completely with paper towels. Use your hands to create a pocket between the turkey meat and the skin. Massage some of the butter mixture under the skin. Use the remaining butter mixture and massage the entire outside of the bird. Pour 2 cups of dry white wine into the bottom of the roasting pan and place the bird on a roasting rack inside the pan. Salt and pepper the outside of the bird. Let stand for at least 15 minutes.

Roast uncovered at 350 degrees, 20 minutes per pound, basting occasionally. Halfway through the cooking process check on the color of the skin. Once the skin reaches the desired color, tent the bird with foil to prevent the skin from getting too dark. Near the end of your estimated time, check the internal temperature of the bird at the thickest part of the thigh or breast. Poultry should be cooked to 185 degrees. While the turkey is resting you can put the finishing touches on the other parts of your meal or make your homemade gravy.

THE BEST EVER HOMEMADE CRANBERRY SAUCE: (pictured on plate above)

Ingredients:

2/3 cup sugar

1 large or two small naval oranges (zest and 1/2 cup juice)

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. kosher salt

1 bag of fresh cranberries

DIRECTIONS:

Put the cranberries in a saucepan. Zest a large naval orange (or two small naval oranges) and juice the orange(s) – this should give you about 1/2 cup of fresh juice but if it does not just augment with bottled juice. Add sugar, zest, juice, cinnamon and salt. Stir until well mixed. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 15 minutes. Let cool and refrigerate. Make the day before serving to ensure all ingredients have sufficient time to meld. This is so easy and flavorful, you will never served canned cranberry sauce again.

Polar Vortex = Pot Roast

January 7, 2014January 31, 2014youbetchcanmakethis Leave a comment

A friend of mine on Facebook said it pretty clearly, when was the last time, if ever, that you heard of a polar vortex? This is the first time for me but these two little words connote a nasty large band of sub zero temperatures that is currently enveloping a large portion of the country. And although our temps in Colorado today will be in the 40’s my home town, Chicago, is experiencing arctic cold the likes of which have not been seen for years.

Outside my window about 5 inches of snow rests on my deck, the sun struggling but not succeeding to show its face. It’s one of those days that a hot cup of Jo, a good book and a nice thick down comforter beckons. And when it finally comes time to think of sustenance, the only fitting thing that comes to mind is pot roast.

Just about everyone has their own pot roast recipe, so I will share mine. I’ve been making pot roast for years – on the stove, in the slow cooker, in the oven – and I think I finally found the way that bests suits us and also produces the tenderest meat. Pot roast can be tricky. There is nothing more savory and delicious than a good pot roast and there is nothing worse than a tough, dry one. My mother, bless her soul, had the theory that you cooked meat until it begged for mercy. Our special Sunday meal would be a pork and beef roast cooked together in the same roasting pan. Of course it never worked, you’re talking two very different types of meat and two very different cooking times, but we didn’t know any better and we chomped on the dried-out hunks and enjoyed them as if they were filet of beef.

Now that I am older and have a more refined pallet, I could never imagine doing something like that but can appreciate the challenge for taking a tough cut of meat and making it tender. The cooking shows would make you think the process is simple – just throw it in a slow cooker or oven and cook for hours on a low temperature. Been there, done that. With my slow cooker, and I have one of the top-rated ones, if I am not careful I can still dry out the meat, especially if there is not enough liquid in the crock and I cook it too long. So I now opt for enameled cast iron and the oven to do the trick.

I prefer enameled cast iron because of its ability to hold a consistent temperature. It does take a little longer to heat up, but once you get to the desired temperature it maintains it evenly which, I think, is the key to a tender savory pot roast. I’ve basically given up on having a tender pot roast and crusty oven browned potatoes all in one pot – to achieve the latter you tend to dry out the former. So if crusty oven browned potatoes are what you want, I suggest cooking them separately. But for me, nothing is better than having the meat, potatoes, carrots and onions slowly simmering away all in one pot. The end result is fabulous. So here is how I achieve it, my rating and lessons learned.

Rating: A – if you do it correctly. Although it may seem easy, I think achieving a perfect pot roast takes trial and error. Figuring out the perfect temperature and roasting time is important and in my experience one size does not fit all. But make this meal a mission – once your perfect it, it’s more than worth it. I also have the challenge of living in high altitude and because the air is drier cooking times tend to be longer. If you are at sea level times can be shorter. It is something you will need to determine.

Lesson Learned 1: Brown the meat. Take the time, about 4-5 minutes per side and give the roast a good sear. Searing is important in trapping natural juices which is key to any type of tender meat especially the tough cuts.

Browned Chuck Roast

Lesson Learned 2: Use red wine in your braising liquid. I use a combination of both red wine and beef stock. It produces a much more flavorful gravy and creates a heavenly smell while the pot roast is cooking – and that is part of the joy of pot roast – the smells it produces in the kitchen. Make sure the liquid comes at least half way up the side of the roast for the best braising. Then pile on all the ingredients. Once that is done baste everything with the braising liquid.

Pot Roast Ingredients

Lesson Learned 3: Put the lid on and leave it alone. Resist the temptation to open the lid and constantly check on it. If you must, check on it once half way through the cooking time, but then take the roast and flip it over at that time. That way each side will have the benefit of being submerged in the braising liquid. This is not a necessary step but one I recommend if you have to take a peak at how it looks.

Lesson Learned 4: Relax and let it do its thing. The beauty of this type of meal, similar to my ravioli lasagna, is that most of the work goes into the prep. After that your oven does all of the heavy lifting.

Pot Roast and Vegetables

Lesson Learned 5: Use the braising liquid to make homemade gravy. It will be out of this world, I promise.

Pot Roast and Gravy

My recipe is a compilation from many sources so I guess this one is my own. I also serve this with a homemade horseradish sauce and that truly complements all the flavors. Try this – I am sure you will enjoy it as much as we do!

Jan's Pot Roast With Zesty Horseradish Sauce

Servings: 4-6 people
Time: 3 1/2 hours
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

1 4 pound chuck roast

All purpose flour for dusting and for the roux

3 TBS. extra virgin olive oil

I large onion, peeled

2-3 garlic cloves, peeled (optional)

3-4 large carrots, peeled

3-4 medium sized potatoes (I use red potatoes, but Yukon Gold potatoes are good as well – peeling them is optional)

1 cup dry red wine (whatever you drink is fine as long as it is a dry and not sweet wine)

1/2 – 1 cup beef broth

2 TBS worcestershire sauce

Thyme – you can use fresh twigs, bundle them and drop in braising liquid or 1/2 tsp. dried for braising liquid and 1/4 tsp. for flour mixture

2 bay leaves

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 300. (next time I make this, I may even try 275 and add a little extra time). Trim some of the excess fat off of the roast if necessary. Mix flour with salt, pepper and dried thyme. Dredge the roast in the flour mixture. Heat olive oil in a skillet and sear the roast, 4-5 minutes on each side. (I also take my tongs and sear the edges for about 20 seconds on each edge). Peel the onion, carrots and potatoes. Cut the onion into quarters and carrots and potatoes into large chunks.

Combine wine, beef broth and worcestershire sauce. Pour into cast iron pot and add the thyme and bay leaves. (You could even drop a couple of garlic cloves into the braising liquid if you desire). Rest the roast in the braising liquid. Place the carrots and potatoes around the roast and the onions on top. Baste the vegetables with the braising liquid.

Cook in the oven for 3 hours. Mid-way through the cooking process turn the roast over. (this is optional but do it if you are one of those who just has to take a peak at it).

Using a baster, syphon braising liquid out of the pan. Put the cover back over the roast and vegetables to keep them warm. In a large skillet under medium high heat make a roux (equal parts flour and water – I use two TBS. each). Cook for a minute whisking continuously so that the “floury” taste is removed. Add the liquid and continue whisk. Initially the mixture will be very “liquidy” but it will thicken as you continue to cook.

Once the gravy has thickened, carve the meat and serve with the carrots and potatoes and a loaf of crusty bread.

HORSERADISH SAUCE:

2-3 TBS. of prepared or fresh horseradish

1 cup sour cream

1 TBS. dijon mustard

Combine all ingredients. Let chill for several hours so the flavors can meld. Serve with the pot roast.

Ravioli Lasagna…

AsideDecember 31, 2013December 24, 2016youbetchcanmakethis 6 Comments

My part-time job at Crate and Barrel requires me to work longer than normal hours over the holidays. No worries, I love the hustle and bustle of the holidays and there’s no better place to experience that than working retail. The challenge for me is how to plan dinners that don’t consist of take-out, pizza or soup and sandwiches. That menu faire gets boring rather quickly. I found one solution in a Costco cookbook – that’s right a Costco cookbook!

Ingredients

If you are a Costco shopper you know that every year they give away a pretty substantive cookbook. The recipes in the book are designed to use the products they sell, but all in all there are some pretty decent recipes included. Over the years they’ve even featured recipes by prominent celebrity chefs such as Ina Garten, Sandra Lee, Ree Drummond and Michael Symon. What I like about the cookbook is that every recipe has a picture of the finished product. I am not a big fan of recipe books that don’t have pictures. I need something visual to help me understand what I am trying to achieve. The books provide a myriad of recipes from appetizers, main courses, celebrity chef favorites, desserts and beverages. And the fact that it is free is just icing on the cake. They usually give the books away at holiday time, so be on the look out for them. This year they started giving them away on Black Friday and continued as long as quantities lasted. I made my husband make a special trip to get ours as every year I have been able to glean a couple of family favorites from each of them.

The recipe I’m going to share comes from a book they produced three years ago. The title of the book is always the same, “Creative Cooking the Costco Way,” and this recipe is called Baked Ravioli (Lasagna Style). I like this recipe because it is simple, it can be adapted in a variety of ways, and it’s one that can be made a day ahead so it’s perfect for those nights when you want something more for dinner without a lot of thought or effort. I’ve been making a version of this for over three years now so I’ve got this one down pat. Here is my rating and lessons learned:

Rating: A – a great go to recipe, can be adapted in a variety of ways, easy to prepare and definitely something your better half can start while you’re still at work (with my husband I write the directions on a post-it and put it on the door of the microwave so it’s there in plain view for him to see).

Lesson learned 1: Don’t be afraid to play with this recipe. You can basically use any type of ravioli you like. I first started out using Bertoli four cheese ravioli and then branched off into some of the more gourmet-type blends. The ravioli used in the pictures in this blog were half-moon mushroom and cheese ravioli, but you can use any kind you want. This time I also added some additional left over mushrooms that I partially sauteed as well as some partially cooked italian sausage that I crumbled, cooked and put in the layers. No need to cook your additional ingredients completely through as the dish will bake in the oven for at least an hour. Depending on the ingredients you use, this dish can also be meatless.

Before baking…

Lesson Learned 2: If you are making it the day before, make sure you take it out of the refrigerator and let it sit on your counter for at least an hour and a half before baking it. If you don’t it will take much longer to bake and will not cook evenly.

Lesson Learned 3: I like to make sure that my oven is not only preheated but at the desired temperature for at least 10-15 minutes. That way I feel I have a true temperature. My oven takes about 15 minutes to get to 400 so I usually plan on a preheat time of 25 minutes.

Lesson Learned 4: Don’t forget to use a little bit of cooking oil and sauce to cover the bottom of the pan before doing the layering. If you don’t you won’t be able to get the finished product cleanly out of the pan.

Lesson Learned 5: I like to make sure that the ravioli is positioned tightly together, even with a slight overlap. That way you have a nice firm layer when it’s cooked.

Lesson Learned 6: Make sure to tent the foil over the dish for at least the first 50 minutes of the cooking process. After that, remove the foil so that the cheese can become golden brown.

You can make this recipe as simple or as intricate as you want. All of the work goes in to putting it together. Once that is done it’s simply a matter of popping it in the oven, baking it and enjoying it. Serve this with some garlic bread and a salad and you’ve got a delicious and easy meal. Try this one – I guarantee you will use this as a go-to recipe just like I do!

Ravioli Lasagna...

Servings: 4-6
Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
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THE INGREDIENTS:

Cooking oil (I use olive oil) – just enough to very lightly grease the bottom of your pan

1 – 29 ounce jar of a red sauce of your choice

1 large package of ravioli (again your choice, the ingredients and shape – square or half moon – do not matter)

Italian sausage or meatballs (again the amount your choice, depending on how much you want in the recipe. I normally take two sausage links, crumble and partially cook the meat, drain it on paper towels and then put it over the ravioli when I make the layers).

Other ingredients to taste – (I often add partially sauteed mushrooms or peppers. No need to cook them through, just give them a good start).

Mozzarella, Parmesan and Romano Cheeses

Italian seasoning

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease the bottom of your pan (for the two of us I use an 8 inch square pan) and spread a layer of sauce over the bottom. (You don’t need a lot, just enough to lightly coat it). Put down a layer of ravioli flat side up on the sauce. Position the ravioli close together, even with a slight overlap. Add any additional ingredients you have prepared (I did mushrooms and italian sausage on this one). Put another layer of sauce on top and then add a layer of mozzarella, romano and parmesan. Sprinkle with italian seasoning and pat the layer down lightly. Repeat the layering. Pat down again and cover with tented aluminum foil. (If you are making ahead, just cover with foil and put in the refrigerator. Just don’t forget to tent the foil before putting it in the oven as you don’t want all the cheese to stick to the foil).

Bake for one hour or until completely heated through. For the last 10 minutes of the baking process, remove the foil so that the cheese can brown. Let stand for five minutes before serving.

Ravioli Lasagna

Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies…

December 17, 2013November 29, 2018youbetchcanmakethis 2 Comments

Cranberry oatmeal cookies have been a staple in our family for the last five years. I was looking for something completely different from what I traditionally made for the holidays and found this recipe in the 2008 Taste of Home Best Loved Cookies and Bars holiday magazine. At the time the magazine cost me $9.99 and I thought that was pretty pricey. But I can now without hesitation say that it was the best money I ever spent. That magazine is my go to place for holiday cookie ideas and it has a wealth of cookie recipes, many that have become our holiday favorites and many still needing to be tried. The magazine is a compilation of recipes from different people around the country and the editors did an excellent job of choosing fabulous recipes.

Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Initially I made these cookies just because I liked the way the picture looked in the magazine. I was not prepared for how delicious they would be. A co-worker recently described their flavor as being close to a Starbuck’s cranberry orange scone with a bonus of white chocolate chips. I think she hit it on the head. Not only are they easy to make but they look colorful on a dessert tray. Here is my rating and lessons learned making these cookies.

Rating: A+++++ – once again this cookie is one of our all time holiday favorites. How could I rate it any less?

Lesson Learned 1: Use golden raisins in this recipe. The recipe does not specify what type of raisins to use but I found the dark raisins create a less colorful and vibrant looking cookie, and after all you eat first with your eyes, remember? Make sure the raisins are fresh. Don’t use the box that’s been sitting in your pantry for six months. As with any ingredient, the fresher the better but especially with raisins.

Lesson Learned 2: Put in a healthy tablespoonful of grated orange peel. I used the grated peel of two large oranges. Don’t skimp on this. The flavor of the orange peel so compliments the tartness of the cranberry and the sweetness of the white chocolate. Use more than less.

Lesson Learned 3: These cookies keep well both in the refrigerator and the freezer so these are great make ahead cookies.

I guarantee that you will love these cookies. They are easy to make, easy to store and add a nice colorful holiday flair to your cookie assortment.

Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Servings: 4 dozen
Time: 10-12 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

1 cup unsalted butter softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

2 cups quick cooking oats

1 cup raisins

1 cup coarsely chopped cranberries (you can you frozen ones but I prefer fresh)

1 TBS. grated orange peel

1 package (12 ounces) white chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 375.

In a mixing bowl cream butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time beating until well combined. Beat in the vanilla. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda; add to the creamed mixture. Stir in the oats, raisins, cranberries and orange peel. Add the white chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls (I use a cookie scoop) 2 inches apart onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool. Enjoy!

Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Iced Cinnamon Chip Cookies

December 17, 2013November 27, 2018youbetchcanmakethis 7 Comments

If you have been following my recent holiday cookie recipe posts you know by now that every year I try at least one new cookie recipe. This year I tried two, Salted Caramel Butter Bars and the one I am going to share in this post the Iced Cinnamon Chip Cookies. The Caramel Bars were a huge hit with my husband but my favorite was the cinnamon chip cookies.

First of all, did you even know that cinnamon chips existed? I didn’t until I saw the recipe and decided to do some hunting at the grocery store. Lo and behold, right next the semi-sweet chocolate morsels were the cinnamon chips. I had never seen them before but I guess I just wasn’t looking for them. They were there in plain sight.

Cinnamon Chip Cookies

At first I was a little hesitant about making this cookie – the recipe was very similar to a chocolate chip cookie recipe but I wanted to make an iced cookie this year and thought a hearty cookie like this would stand up well to icing. I found the recipe in my trusty 2008 Taste of Home Best Loved Cookies and Bars magazine (the magazine that has supplied quite a few a my holiday cookie recipes over the years). The one thing that I did not like about the recipe was the frosting ingredients (they seemed bland to me, just the usual milk and confectioners sugar combination) so I went online to research a cinnamon cream cheese frosting recipe. I found one that was part of a soft pumpkin cookie recipe and decided to try it. I’m so glad I did. I’m sure it complimented the cookie much better than the original frosting recipe. So now my recipe rating and lessons learned.

Rating: A++++++ I absolutely LOVE this cookie recipe. The cinnamon chips provide a delightful unique flavor and the frosting highly compliments the cookie and makes it an absolutely tasty delight. If you try any cookie this year, I would recommend this one. It is easy to make and soooooo good!

Lesson Learned 1: I am providing you the recipe as it is in the magazine. I had to adjust it for high altitude. Please note the adjustments in the recipe. If you are at high altitude it is important to make them, otherwise the cookies will not bake correctly and will be inedible.

Lesson Learned 2: Storing an iced cookie can be a challenge. I recommend making the icing, refrigerating it and putting it on the cookie before serving or giving away. That way the cookies are easier to store.

Lesson Learned 3: These cookies are so easy to make that there are no more words of wisdom I can depart regarding making them or storing them. Just make them and enjoy them.

Iced Cinnamon Chip Cookies

Servings: 4 dozen
Time: 10-12 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
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INGREDIENTS:

Cookies:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup packed brown sugar (2/3 cup high altitude)

3/4 cup sugar (2/3 cup high altitude)

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups flour (3 1/4 cups high altitude)

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 package (10 ounces) cinnamon baking chips

Frosting:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

4 TBS softened butter

2 1/4 cups powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large mixing bowl cream butter and sugars. Beat in eggs and add vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Fold in the cinnamon chips.

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls (I use a cookie scoop) 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire rack to cool.

Frosting: In a mixing bowl cream butter and cream cheese. Add powdered sugar and mix until combined. Add cinnamon and vanilla. Store in refrigerator until ready to use.