Trying Out New Recipes

There are so many recipes I want to share with you, but there are also so many new recipes I want to try. I don't know about you but I'm always on the lookout for something new to add to my repetoire that my family will love and that I won't have to spend hours preparing. So rather than making & photographing my own recipes, I've been trying out lots of new recipes. Here are just a few of the recipes I have tried out so far.

I've recently become addicted to watching Nigella Lawson on the Cooking Channel. I especially enjoy Nigella Express and on one of my trips to the library at the first of the year (I spend a lot of time at my local library) I found the cookbook of the same name. It's absolutely packed with recipes I want to try, so I sticky noted (yes, I really said "sticky noted", no I don't suspect that's an actual word) some of them to try right away. I really love Nigella's approach to cooking - very simple techniques, lots of one pot dishes, very quickly put together, and filled with fresh, quality ingredients that won't break the bank. So Tuesday night we tried out her Sweetcorn Chowder with Toasted Tortillas. It was so simple and so delicious. I don't have a food processer so I used my blender and some of the broth to get the consistency right, but it was, as I said so delicious!

Another Nigella Lawson recipe I tried recently is her and, to be perfectly honest, am already addicted to them. I have made so many batches already they're practically a staple in our pantry now. Amanda pointed out to me that we're out several weeks agot now so I really need to make some more.

Back in January or so, I listened to an audiobook of a favorite book series of mine - the Hannah Swensen Mysteries - maybe you've heard of them? The herione owns a cookie and coffee shop and the books are absolutely filled with recipes - and all the recipes I've tried so far have been absolute winners. Joanne Fluke is the author and I understand all the recipes that go into the book are thoroughly tested. Anyway, I was listening to Key Lime Pie Murder and a cookie called "Chippers" was included in the story. These cookies have potato chips in them - being a "crunchy/salty snacker" myself, I was intrigued, but since I didn't have a hard-copy of the book, I didn't try to copy the recipe. Then, I was reading one of my favorite blogs the other day - Smitten Kitchen - lo and behold, she posted a recipe for Potato Chip Cookies! Of course, I had to try them. They are buttery, shortbready (is that even a word?), cookies with toasted pecans as well as crushed up potato chips. You should hop on over to the Smitten Kitchen, grab the recipe and give it a test drive yourself! I have since wrangled a hard-copy of Key Lime Pie Murder and tried those out too. I have to admit, I like Joanne Fluke's recipe even better. Hers recipe calls for a couple of egg yolks in the dough - so they came together a bit better. In both cases the cookies come out crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside. I did use the Smitten Ktichen's method of rolling the whole dough ball in sugar before flattening - I like them that way very much. You end up with a lovely combination of sweet/salty/crunchy/chewy. Hard to believe, right!? But I am SOLD and wholly addicted to these gems!

Our 15 year old, Arynn, was cast in the production of Les Miserables at her high school this year. She had rehearsals 4 days a week until 6 or 7:00pm - which spells L-A-T-E D-I-N-N-E-R for us. So, one day, after making not just the Potato Chip cookies but also another batch of my signature cookies (I promise, I will post this recipe - someday) for a friend of the family, I decided we'd go with a simple dinner of pasta tossed in butter and parmigiano reggiano and that I'd use my bread machine to make some bread to go along with the pasta. I have a bread machine cookbook and so far the recipes I've tried from it have been pretty good so I decided to try a new recipe from that and chose the Italian Scallion and Herb Bread. It starts with chopped scallions, dried basil, thyme and rosemary sauteed in butter then added to the other ingredients in the bread machine. The photo in the book of this particular bread showed it cut into slender pieces and toasted - so we did the same and it made for a crusty, savory accompaniment to our pasta.

I have also finally gotten around to trying out some recipes I found on Pinterest, but I'll save those for separate posts - FOP (Found On Pinterest) - that I'll try to start posting on some sort of regular schedule TBD later. I'm sure there's more I should be sharing with you but I'll call it good for now and try to get some more posts up (and add photos) in the near future! Until then, Ciao!

FOP#1: Lemon-Blueberry Yogurt Loaf

April 4th our "niece-daughter" Arynn turned 16. We totally surprised her with a trip to the mall with 4 of her close friends, followed by an overnight at our house. Arynn doesn't like pancakes *gasp*, shocking right? She's also not a fan of cake in general so we made home-made ice cream sandwiches instead of birthday cake, but I was a bit stumped on breakfast. My original plan was to do a cereal bar with a few kinds of cereal, set out cut up fruit, milk, maybe some yogurt plus juice, etc., but it turned out one of the guests has to limit her gluten intake. Said guest suggested bacon & scrambled eggs for breakfast with pancakes - but there's that whole Arynn not liking pancakes thing. So I also considered waffles, but my waffle maker only makes 2 at a time - and is in dire need of replacing. So I decide I'd make a coffee cake or something along those lines that could bake in the oven while I worked on everything else.

So to introduce a new post theme I'm going to be working on (on an as-yet-undetermined schedule) Found On Pinterest aka: FOP, I'm kicking of entry #1 with this tantalizing recipe for Lemon-Blueberry-Yogurt Loaf. This recipe has been very popular on Pinterest. When I pinned it I had just been experimenting with blueberry coffee cake and thought I wanted to add lemon to my recipe - the photo was just so pretty and the idea of lemon and blueberry together sounded amazing. Sooooo, I decided to make it for the birthday breakfast. Mine didn't come out as pretty as the photo and as I read through the comments on the Sweet Peas Kitchen blog today I noticed that she said she always thaws the berries thoroughly, then pats them dry with paper towels. I, however, broke the cardinal rule of cooking/baking and failed to read through the recipe so the berries weren't thawed. I measured them out, then left them sitting in a sieve while I mixed up the batter, then decided not to worry about thawing or rinsing them - so long story short, the "bled" all over the batter. Regardless, the bread was delicious and was a hit with all the kids (even the picky 8 year old cousin who happened to be staying with us this past week too)! It was gobbled up so quickly I didn't have a chance to take any photos. I'm really looking forward to making this again (following the instructions properly this time) and when I do, I'll be sure to take some photos and post them here.

Ready to try to recipe yourself? Hop on over to Sweet Peas Kitchen for the recipe and that photo that caught the attention of so many pinners!

Herbed Skillet Bread

Just a quick post tonight. I've been thinking about starting a regular post of recipe reviews from recipes I've collected from Pinterest, the Food Network, the Food Channel and the many cookbooks occupying my kitchen and since I decided to make this for dinner tonight, I thought it would be as good a place as any to start.

This is a recipe I'm trying out for the first time from "The Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook", written by Sharon Kramis & Julie Kramis Hearne. It's a great cookbook filled with recipes for your cast iron cookware. I first heard about it from a Girl Scout Leader I trained with and so far, I've enjoyed every recipe I've made or had from it. I'm also testing "rub with love" Steak Rub I recieved from my mom (along with a salmon rub and a poultry rub) at Christmas time on some nice steaks I thawed out this morning. Hopefully, the daylight will hold out long enough to get a good photo or two to share with you as well.

I threw all the ingredients in my bread machine and set it to "dough" this afternoon, just before the kids got home from school. I didn't make any changes this time around as the ingredients remind me of my favorite foaccacia recipe (besides, I generally do try to follow a new recipe the first time I make it), but I might play with it next time.

Ooooohhhh, this bread was so good! The cast iron skillet gave the bread a wonderful, crisp exterior but it was moist and spongy inside. So delicious! Incidentally, it was VERY much like the foccacia I usually make (a Frugal Gourmet recipe from back in the day), but it makes just one loaf - perfect for a family dinner.

Herbed Skillet Bread

1 tbls sugar
1 cup warm water (105 degrees F), divided
1 pkg active dry yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp bulk yeast)
2 1/4 C all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
2 tsp sea salt, divided (I actually used Kosher, so I guess I did change something)
1/4 cup plus 2 tbls olive oil, divided, plus more for drizzling
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped

In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in 1/2 cup of the warm water. Sprinkle yeast on top and let it sit for 5 minutes. Add the remaining 1/2 cup water, the flour, 1/2 tsp of the salt, and 1/4 cup of the olive oil. Stir until well blended and the mixture forms a soft dough.

Turn the dough out onto a well-floured board and knead until smooth, about 10 minutes. Add additional flour as necessary to prevent sticking.

Form the dough into a ball and place in a large, lightly oiled bowl. Turn to coat with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise 45 minutes.

Coat the bottom and sides of a 10-inch cast iron skillet (or cast iron dutch oven) with 1 tbls olive oil. Place dough in skillet and press to bottom of pan. With a sharp knife, score the top lightly in a crisscross pattern. Brush with remaining olive oil and sprinkle with garlice, rosemary and remaining 1 1/2 tsp salt. Let rise for 20 minutes.

While bread is rising, position rack in center of oven and preheat to 400 degrees.

Place skillet in hot oven and bake 20-25 minutes until crust is a light golden color. Remove from pan right away and place on wire rack to retain crisp crust. Drizzle a little olive oil over the top, slice into wedges and serve warm.

Want to use your bread machine to mix the dough? Here are the dough ingredients broken out from the topping to make it easier:

1 Cup warm water (105 degrees)
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
2 1/4 Cup Flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 TBLS Sugar
1 pkg yeast

Topping:
2 cloves garlic, thinly slices
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped
1 1/2 tsp salt (I actually just liberally sprinkled the top with salt - I didn't measure)

Chicken Enchiladas - AKA: What to Feed Hungry Teens

I know, I know, it's been too long! Life has been busy here with our oldest in the school production of Les Miserable (which finally ended this past weekend), weekly snowstorms, homework, baking cookies and to top it all off, I've been battling a cold for over a week now!

So this week we finally had to cross a bridge with our very soon to be 16 year old. She was asked to "hang out" by a young man who she met while working on the musical. New territory can often be hard to navigate and our cautious, somewhat conservative young lady wasn't sure how comfortable she was going to a boy's house (frankly, I KNEW I wasn't comfortable with it) so she invited him here along with a couple of her girl friends so she'd have a nice, comfortable group to keep it all on the DL.

So, at this very moment, I have a group of 6 young people aging from 12-17 in my family room loudly playing video games while I share with you.

Of course, I need to feed them. I did the June Cleaver thing and had a fresh batch of twisted chocolate chip cookies (there is only one cookie left on the plate) , still warm and melty, for them when they came in, but dinner was the big question. Or at least it was up until about 3pm as I was driving home from work and came up with what I believe to be the perfect solution. Of course I could have gone with hot dogs, burgers, spaghetti or something along those lines, but my kids are always bragging about my cooking "skills" and I thought I should make something that would please them but still be easy to make and serve so I could monitor what's going on in the family room from the relative safety of my kitchen. I kept circling around tacos, but it just wasn't workin for me. Finally, I started thinking about enchiladas and after contemplating making them with pork filling I decided to make chicken enchiladas instead since I already had chicken thighs in the freezer that I thought would work perfectly.

They're in the oven now, and they are just starting to fill the room with a lovley aroma!

Chicken Enchiladas

2.5 lbs chicken, poached and shredded
1/4 large onion, chopped
1 small can (2oz?) cohopped, green chilis
1 tbls ground cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp dried cilantro (more if you use fresh)
1/2 tsp dried oregano
salt & pepper to taste
1 cup queso quesadilla cheese
1 cup manchego cheese

1 large can (15oz) green chili enchilada sauce
tortillas, warmed

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick spray. Pour about 1/4 of the enchilada sauce into the bottom of the baking dish. In a medium bowl, mix together chicken, onion, green chilis and spices. Add enough enchilada sauce to help it hold together and to keep mixture moist. Add 3/4 cup of each of the cheeses and mix well (Monterey Jack would be fine too). If it's a bit dry, add a bit more enchilada sauce.

Put about 2 forkfuls of filling on each tortilla, roll up tight and place seam side down in the baking dish. Continue until all filling has been used. Pour enchilada sauce over the center of the enchiladas, and pour any remaining sauce around the edges of the baking dish. Top with remaining cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes or until sauce is bubbly and cheese is melted. Serve with sour cream or any other "taco" topping you like.

Makes 8-10 enchiladas depending on size of tortillas and how much filling you put in them.

Savory Nut Mix

This has been a week of celebrating anniversaries. On St. Patrick's day, we got together with family for dinner at a local bar and grill, then all attended the final performance of Les Miserables at the local high school. That was our "house" anniversary celebration. 7 years ago on March 20, 3 great-nieces and 1 great-nephew moved in with us and became "our" kids. 14 years ago on March 21, my wonderful husband and I were married. Since the kids just happened to move in the day before our wedding anniversary, we have started doing something together as a family to celebrate - last year we also went to see the musical at the high school and I think the year before that we went to see Alice in Wonderland together.

Anyway, since Tuesday and Wednesday were the actual dates involved, I tried to have a little something special to nibble on each night. I kept the meals simple since I'm still battling a nasty cold, but I did make savory nuts to munch as an appetizer on Tuesday and a Queso Fundido to have for an appetizer last night (my husband and I were then too full to really eat dinner, but that was ok).

So I thought I'd share the nut mix since it's a family favorite (although in truth I never make it exactly the same way twice).

Savory Nut Mix

3-4 cups nuts, or nuts and seeds
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp cumin seed
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp fresh cracked pepper
parmesan cheese to taste

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spread nuts and seeds in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Melt butter in a small saucepan. Turn off heat and add spices. Pour over nuts and stir well to evenly coat nuts. Bake until nuts are golden brown. Grate parmesan cheese over top of nuts and bake a few minutes more. Allow nuts to cool. Store in an airtight jar - if they last that long!