amyBITES

Red Onion, Potato, and Goat Cheese Pizza

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:27:00 -0500

I made this pizza about a week ago and didn’t take pictures of it. I guess I just wasn’t in the mood. However, after tasting it, I knew that it was too delicious to not share with my loyal readers.

This was in the November issue of Cooking Light and when I first saw it, I thought it looked absolutely repulsive. Then, I broke it down. I thought, “I like potatoes. I like cheese. I like red onions. And I like pizza.” So, obviously, I changed my mind and had to make it.

Thus, I made it again today with Pranas standing by to document the process, and now I would like to impart this knowledge to you. Go forth and make pizza.

NOTE: I chose not to sautee the onions this time. I did the first time I made this and I didn’t particularly like the result, so I decided to leave them raw, and I liked it much better this time. I’m going to be posting the original instructions below, but you won’t see the sauteeing in the photos. Do whatever you wish with your onions!

INGREDIENTS

7 ounces fingerling potatoes (about 5 potatoes)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 medium red onion, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
1 (13.8-ounce) can refrigerated pizza crust dough
2 tablespoons cornmeal
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
3/4 cup (3 ounces) crumbled goat cheese
1 garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 450°.

2. Place potatoes in a saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil. Cook 10 minutes or until just tender; drain. Cool slightly; cut potatoes crosswise into 1/4-inch slices.

3. Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion to pan, and sauté 8 minutes or until tender.

4. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface to a 14 x 10–inch rectangle. Sprinkle cornmeal over a large baking sheet; place dough on baking sheet. Sprinkle mozzarella evenly over dough. Arrange potatoes and onion over mozzarella; top evenly with goat cheese and garlic. Bake in lower third of oven at 450° for 15 minutes or until browned. Sprinkle with thyme; cut into 12 pieces.

Your cast of characters. So few ingredients, I love it! Notice three changes: 1) I used fat-free mozzarella cheese instead of part skim, 2) I used garlic powder instead of fresh garlic (didn’t have any on hand), 3) There’s no thyme. I didn’t have thyme, couldn’t find it fresh, and I don’t particularly care for it anyway. So THERE!

First, put some water on the stove to boil and set your oven to 450. In the meantime, skin your potatoes. You don’t have to skin them if you don’t want—but if you don’t, make sure you clean them thoroughly.

Cook your potatoes. This should take about 10 minutes.

While the potatoes cook, chop your onions. Since I wasn’t going to sautee them, I cut them very thinly instead of the 1/2 inch recommended in the recipe. Also, since I was only covering half the pizza (Pranas hates onions), I used less than half the onion.

Now, open your pizza dough and roll it out. You can do it on a floured surface but because of the lack of space in my kitchen and the lack of motivation to do even more dishes, I just did it right on the baking sheet. I spread out some cornmeal on the baking sheet first.

Try to shape it into something vaguely rectangular. It might be a little difficult, so you’re probably going to have to shape it with your hands. I did a lot of stretching of the edges with my fingers because the dough is so elastic. A short rest period may also help this problem.

Your potatoes should be done by now, so take them off the heat and drain them. Then slice them—mine were about 1/4” thick. They should be pretty tender and easy to slice. If they’re not, you haven’t cooked them long enough!

Sprinkle your mozzarella cheese down over your crust. Then, arrange the potato slices on top. You can do it randomly but I’m a little OCD so I arranged them all neatly in rows like so.

Sprinkle your goat cheese crumbles on top. You can buy the goat cheese pre-crumbled (in fact, that’s the only way they sell it at my grocery store), so it saves you a step.

Don’t be afraid of the goat cheese. It’s extremely creamy and has a bit of a sharp tang to it. It’s really delicious with the tender, starchy potatoes and the creaminess of the mozzarella—plus it balances out the slight sweetness of the crust and onions perfectly.

Place your sauteed (or raw) onion slices on top…and only on half of the pizza if you have a picky eater in the house. At this point I also sprinkled on the garlic powder since I didn’t have fresh garlic.

Bake for 15 minutes in the bottom third of the oven at 450 and it’ll come out looking like this. Amazing.

I can’t even describe to you the deliciousness of this pizza. The combination of ingredients is so unexpected and perfect. You must try it. An added bonus is the fact that this recipe is super easy, I promise. It only takes about 30 minutes total and it’s completely worth it.

It’s also really pretty. :)

Pumpkin Cake (Light!)

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:59:00 -0500

Sorry for the hiatus—I’ve been very busy with school and work and have not been taking the time to document my cooking. Winter break is very soon though (thank goodness) and there will be many posts to come in that time. Hooray!

So I’m doing this thing lately where I’m taking recipes and making ingredient swaps to make them healthier. This recipe came from the November issue of Cooking Light, so it was pretty light to begin with, but I made a few swaps to trim a little more fat/calories/carbs/whathaveyou. I’m going to post the original recipe below, with my ingredient swaps in bold.

This is a great fall recipe. Anything with pumpkin is, right? I’m not a huge fan of pumpkin but this cake is delicious. The cream cheese frosting doesn’t hurt either. :) This cake would be great for any kind of holiday get-together.

Before I go on, big ups to my boyfriend, Pranas, for being the official amyBITES photographer for the day. It allowed me to focus exclusively on the baking and therefore the photos are much better than usual. Thanks Pranas! Now onto the goodies!

Cake:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (white whole wheat flour)

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened (Blue Bonnet Light)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs (1/2 cup egg substitute)

1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree

Cooking spray

Frosting:

2 tablespoons butter, softened (Blue Bonnet Light)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 (8-ounce) package 1/3-less-fat cream cheese

2 cups sifted powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. To prepare cake, weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk.

3. Combine brown sugar, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well combined. Add eggs, 1 at a time, to sugar mixture; beat well after each addition. Add pumpkin; mix well. Fold in flour mixture. Spread batter into a 13 x 9-inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

4. To prepare the frosting, combine 2 tablespoons butter, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and cream cheese in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until combined. Gradually add the powdered sugar, beating until well combined. Spread frosting evenly over top of cake.

Your cast of characters. You can’t see the brown sugar, but it’s behind the mixer.

Put all your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt) in a bowl. As you can see, I used white whole wheat flour. This is milder in taste and appearance than whole wheat flour, but has all the same health benefits (high fiber, fewer carbs, etc.). I’ve been really pleased with it and it’s an easy swap. King Arthur Flour makes it so it should be on your grocery shelves.

Whisk the dry ingredients together so there aren’t any clumps and everything’s even.

Now set that aside and move on to your wet ingredients. Cream together your brown sugar and softened butter (or margarine).

Then, add your eggs one at a time (or your egg substitute, in two parts). Mix until thoroughly combined.

It’ll look something like this…a.k.a. wet sand. Delicious. Well, not so much yet, but it will be.

Now it’s time for the star of the show: the pumpkin! I like Libby’s but you can use whatever brand you choose.

Add it allllll in, baby. All 15 ounces. Then mix until combined.

It’ll look something like this. Like…wet, orange sand. Still kinda gross. Don’t worry though. Things will turn around when we add in the dry ingredients.

Add in your dry ingredients about a 1/2 cup at a time. Don’t add the next batch until the previous one is pretty well incorporated. It’ll end up looking like the picture above. It’s a pretty thick batter so you might have a little trouble if you’re using a flimsy mixer. If that’s the case, you can just fold the dry ingredients in with your spatula/spoon.

Now spread the batter out in your 13x9” baking dish. Make sure to coat it well with cooking or baking spray! Try to make it nice and even.

Like so. Now put the cake in your preheated oven and bake for approximately 25 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean).

Let it cool. While you wait, you can go ahead and make your frosting.

Frosting ingredients. Pretty simple.

Cream together your butter/margarine and cream cheese until well combined.

Add your powdered sugar about a 1/2 cup at a time. Note: At this point, you might want to put the frosting the fridge for a little while. It’s pretty humid here so the frosting was pretty gooey at this point. Which tastes delicious just the same but turned out to be a bit messy. So it’s up to you!

Frost the cake!

Cut into 24 pieces and serve! I dusted the top with some ground cinnamon for kicks. This cake is delicious. It’s super moist and you really can’t go wrong with cream cheese frosting!

For those of you interested, here are the nutrition facts of this cake:

Original Recipe (per serving, 1 piece)

Calories: 178
Fat: 5.5g (sat 3.3g)
Protein: 3g
Carbohydrate: 30g
Fiber: 0.9g
Cholesterol: 32mg
Iron: 1.2mg
Sodium: 135mg
Calcium: 62mg

With amyBITES’ substitutions (per serving, 1 piece)

Calories: 156
Fat: 3.6g (sat 1.6g)
Protein: 3g
Carbohydrate: 26.8g
Fiber: 1.7g
Cholesterol: 7.3mg
Iron: 1.2mg
Sodium: 138.8mg
Calcium: 62mg

Chocolate Brownie Cookies

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 21:03:41 -0400

First of all, I’d like to apologize for the exceptionally bad photography to follow. It was especially dark in the kitchen on this day and my hands were especially shaky. Maybe it was the excitement of what was to come—these cookies.

I got this recipe from Joy the Baker, though I had to leave the espresso powder out because I didn’t have any, so mine are not EXACTLY true to the original recipe, posted below. These cookies turned out fabulously so even though the photos are awful I had to share with you anyway.

From Joy the Baker

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (chopped or in chips)
3 Tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) butter
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon espresso powder (did not have, did not use)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoons salt
1 cup chocolate chips (optional) (did not use)

In a double boiler, or in the microwave, gently melt together the chocolate and butter. To avoid heating the chocolate too much and possibly burning it, the best method is to heat till the butter is melted and the chocolate has partially melted, then remove from the heat. Stir till all the chocolate melts.

In a separate bowl, beat together the sugar and eggs till they’re thoroughly combined. Add the hot melted chocolate, then stir in the remaining ingredients, including the chocolate chips, if you’re using them. Refrigerate the batter like dough for 1 hour, to make it easier to handle. (Totally missed this step, go me! Mine was definitely batter, not dough…really runny. But it didn’t really make a difference in the final product.)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Drop the cookie dough by the tablespoonfuls onto a baking sheet. A tablespoon cookie scoop makes this task extremely simple. Leave about 2″ between the dough balls, as they’ll spread as they bake.

Bake the cookies for 11 to 12 minutes, until their tops are shiny and cracked. They won’t crack until the very end, so keep a close eye on them; when they’re cracked all the way across the top surface, they’re done. The point is, you want these baked all the way through, but just barely; additional baking makes them more crisp rather than chewy. Remove the cookies from the oven. Wait 5 minutes then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.

I just stuck this in the microwave for about a minute, then started stirring it all together. The heat of the butter (which will be almost fully melted after a minute) will melt the chocolate, which won’t be melted yet. This way you won’t burn the chocolate by heating it too long.

Mmm, delicious. Don’t eat this with a spoon despite the temptation. There’s more!

Eggs and sugar. What I did is add a little bit of the hot chocolate mixture into this egg mixture and stir it together just to heat up the egg mixture a little. That way, when I stirred both mixtures together, the eggs wouldn’t cook from the heat of the chocolate.

And this is the finished batter. If I had read the instructions carefully, I would’ve refrigerated this for an hour. But I didn’t, so it’s pretty runny. The only effect the non-refrigeration might’ve had was that it was pretty messy and the cookies may have turned out a little flatter than they would have otherwise.

Baking! I was really fascinated by the baking process of these cookies. I just watched them the whole time and it’s not like they suddenly start cracking—it’s a really subtle, gradual process. Make sure you pay attention towards the end so you don’t overbake them.

This is how they look after they’ve cooled. See, mine turned out pretty flat, but refrigerating the dough may help with that, so do what I say, not as I do.

Look at the beautiful crackly surface! Love it.

These are super moist and rich, and they really are just like brownies in cookie form. They’re super easy to throw together too, and you probably have everything to make them in your kitchen right now. I love recipes like that. Enjoy!

Healthy Baked Mac N' Cheese

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:06:00 -0400

Well, healthier. It’s true! I got this recipe from my mom, but I don’t know where she got it. Mom, if you know, comment and let the good people know the source of the cheesy goodness in this post.

Anyway, I am kind of obsessed with mac n’ cheese. I posted a decidedly not-so-healthy version a while back (but oh man, was it good…) but this is a much lighter version that weighs in at only 356 calories per serving (divided into 6 servings total). And that’s opposed to…probably about twice that (at least) for most other versions of baked mac n’ cheese. So it’s a nice alternative, and it actually tastes good! Imagine that! No seriously, it’s really good. Onto the recipe!

4 cups cooked elbow macaroni or other pasta (about 2 cups uncooked)
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup 1% low-fat cottage cheese
3/4 nonfat or lowfat sour cream
1/2 cup skim milk
2 tablespoons grated fresh onion
1-1/2 teaspoons reduced-calorie stick margarine, melted
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
Vegetable cooking spray
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon reduced calorie stick margarine, melted
1/4 teaspoon paprika

Combine first 10 ingredients; stir well, and spoon into a 2 quart casserole (I only had a 3-quart dish…it did no harm) coated with cooking spray. Combine breadcrumbs and next 2 ingredients; stir well. Sprinkle over casserole. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Uncover; bake 5 minutes or until set. (I actually broiled it for the last few minutes just to get a nice bubbly crust on top).

Easy, right? It really is! It only takes a few minutes to put together. Here’s the proof:

Your cast of characters. Not shown: sour cream. It was behind the cheese and I forgot to move it. :( I just grated my onion with the large-holed side of my box grater. It only took about an eighth of the onion to get 2 tablespoons. Please don’t leave the onion out even if you’re not a huge fan of onion. I served this to two boys who don’t like onion and they both loved it. The onion is really important to the overall flavor and if you grate it, there won’t be big chunks and onion-haters won’t even notice!

The first order of business is to cook your pasta. Start this before you start anything else, and everything should be ready to put together at about the same time.

While the pasta’s going, prepare and combine your first 10 ingredients (cheddar through egg). You can stir this together now or wait for the pasta to come to the party.

Stir everything together when your pasta is done (al dente, this is very important as your pasta will continue to cook a little in the oven, and you don’t want it to be all gross and soggy, do you? I usually don’t even just do it al dente, I leave it slightly undercooked. I hate overcooked pasta! It’s the worst of all food sins!).

Pour the mixture into your cooking-spray’d casserole dish. Then mix up your topping (I used my fingers to mush the breadcrumbs with the butter—otherwise it would’ve been quite clumpy).

Sprinkle the topping over everything, then cover it with aluminum foil and put it into your 350 degree oven.

It’ll eventually come out looking like this. Yummm.

There’s a weird tint to this picture, but please ignore it and focus on the cheesy goodness.

And that’s it! Super easy, no? What could be bad about a healthier version of a dish that everybody loves? Nothing!

Vegan Cookies n' Cream Cupcakes

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 22:01:58 -0400

So a couple of our friends moved in across the street from us, and as a welcome gift-type thing, I decided to make them some cupcakes. However, they are vegan. So the cupcakes, in turn, became vegan. I found the recipe at CHOW and they turned out amazing. In fact, believe it or not, I’ve made quite a few different vegan cupcake recipes in my time, and these are by far the best I’ve ever had. They may be the best cupcakes I’ve ever had, period.

Why, you ask? What is my rating system for cupcakes? Well, let me explain. The reason these are so awesome is because 1) the frosting is incredibly light and fluffy. I am ridiculously picky about frosting, and I hate cupcakes overloaded with rich, sugary, dense frosting. I like to actually taste/enjoy the cake. This frosting is light, airy, and doesn’t overwhelm the cupcake, even with a pretty good amount on top. 2) The cake tastes really great by itself and doesn’t rely on the frosting for flavor. 3) There’s an awesome variety of textures in these from the cake, the frosting, the chunks of cookie in the batter, the fine grains of cookie in the frosting, and the cookie on top. It’s tasty. 4) Additionally, many vegan cupcakes can turn out flat, dense, and even brick-like. These don’t. They’re just as moist and fluffy as regular cupcakes.

Ok, enough of my jabber. Onto the cupcakes! I know you all want to make them, and by golly, you should.

NOTE: This recipe makes 12 cupcakes.

INGREDIENTS - CUPCAKES

1 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract, chocolate extract, or more vanilla extract (I just used more vanilla because that’s all I had)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder, Dutch-processed or regular
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup wheat-free, dairy free Newman-O’s (or other vegan Oreo-like cookies), coarsely chopped (approximately 10 cookies—chop and then measure)

INSTRUCTIONS - CUPCAKES

Preheat oven to 350°F and line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners.
Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and other extract, if using, to the soy milk mixture and beat until foamy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add in two batches to wet ingredients and beat until no large lumps remain (a few tiny lumps are OK).
Add in your chopped cookies (the pieces should be about pea-sized, they don’t have to be perfect) and stir in.
Pour into liners, filling 3/4 of the way. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.
Frost and top each cupcake with half a cookie, as you’ll see in the pictures below.

INGREDIENTS - FROSTING
NOTE: This recipe made way more frosting than I used. I don’t like a lot of frosting on cupcakes, and I used way more than I’d usually use, and I still had about half of it left. I would definitely half this recipe next time, but don’t if you like copious amounts of frosting on your cupcakes.

1/2 cup nonhydrogenated shortening
1/2 cup nonhydrogenated margarine, like Earth Balance
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted if clumpy
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup plain soy milk or soy creamer
1/2 cup wheat-free, dairy free Newman-O’s (or other vegan Oreo-like cookies), finely mashed (approximately 5 cookies—mash and then measure)

INSTRUCTIONS - FROSTING

Beat the shortening and margarine together until well combined and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat for about 3 more minutes.
Add the vanilla, soy milk, and your mashed cookies, and beat for another 5 to 7 minutes until fluffy.

Your cast of characters, minus the shortening. Pretend it’s there.
This is the soy milk and the vinegar curdling. I took a picture so you’d know what to look for. It should be quite bubbly. That is all.
Your dry ingredients. If you don’t have a sifter (or just a really crappy one, like me), then you can just use a whisk to combine them and get out all the clumps. Works just as well!
The soy milk mixture, the sugar, and the vanilla. With some stray cocoa. Shh, don’t tell anyone.
Beat that until it’s foamy, like so. Don’t be afraid of the high speed on your mixer.
Aaand this is what your finished batter looks like after you add the dry ingredients, beat them together, and stir in the chopped cookies. The lumps are the cookies, so in this case, lumps are awesome!
If you fill your liners this full, you’ll have exactly enough for 12 cupcakes.
Mmmm, fresh out of the oven. And cooling on a wire rack, just because they’re pretty. Don’t try to frost hot cupcakes. It’s not going to be awesome. Trust me on this, I have done it before. Just wait.
Frosting time! This is your vegan margarine and shortening, and this is where the magic happens. This is why this frosting is so good. The combination of these two ingredients is so much lighter and fluffier in texture than regular old butter. At least in my opinion.
After the sugar, vanilla, and soy milk, and before the cookies. I almost forgot to add them! You can add these all at the same time if you like, or do like I did and wait to add the cookies until the very end. Delicious. You can’t tell from the picture, but the texture is so creamy and amazing. I promise.
And then, chop 6 cookies in half to have half a cookie with which to top each cupcake. It looks so cute! And it’s an extra treat. You could be really fancy and use a pastry bag to frost these, but I am not fancy enough for that. If you are, go for it.

Here, have another picture because these cupcakes are so awesome. Surprise your animal-friendly friends with some; they’ll love you forever. Heck, even surprise your carnivorous friends with some—they’ll never know they’re vegan. Enjoy!

Potstickers

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 02:23:47 -0400

Hi there. Long time no see. I’ve had a busy summer and I really haven’t been cooking as much as I should. I stopped blogging when everything involved in the process became too time-consuming and stressful, but I have not forgotten about it. I’ve decided to start again, but I don’t think I’ll be doing a set schedule (i.e. every Thursday). Rather, I’ll probably just do it whenever I have the time and the itch to blog. I think that will take off some of the stress and I’ll probably end up doing it more often than I would if I tried to stick to a stringent schedule. I know I have a lot of loyal readers (although none of you like to comment, *cough* hint *cough*) and I can see that many of you still check every day, so I will do my best to try to update regularly.

Anywho, onto the eats! Raise your hand if you have a food crush on Alton Brown (or just a plain old crush). I definitely admit that I do. I watch Good Eats obsessively. I love Good Eats more than any other show on the Food Network because it’s so darn informative. I learn so much about food and cooking every time I watch it, and though his recipes are certainly not quick-fix type recipes, he is so good at explaining that I’m not intimidated by any of the dishes he makes.

This past week and a half I was back home in Denver visiting, and I was ridiculously sick the whole time. It wasn’t fun. However, one afternoon I was stuck at home watching TV, and a Good Eats episode entitled “Wanton Ways” came on. Alton made several different dishes using wonton wrappers, but I was absolutely drooling when he made Potstickers. I’d actually never had potstickers despite how much Asian food I eat, because I never really knew what they were. After watching the episode, I knew I had to make Alton’s Potstickers as soon as I got back to Savannah. So I did. And guess what?

They were awesome.

Like, really awesome. Holy crap. And though a little time-consuming, it was not difficult at all. Let’s do this.

Ingredients

1/2 pound ground pork
1/4 cup finely chopped scallions
2 tablespoons finely chopped red bell pepper (note: I did not include this because I don’t like peppers, so you will not see it in the below photos)
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons ketchup
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
35 to 40 small wonton wrappers
Water, for sealing wontons
3 to 4 tablespoons vegetable oil, for frying
1 1/3 cups chicken stock, divided

Directions

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.

Combine the first 11 ingredients in a medium-size mixing bowl (pork through cayenne). Set aside.

To form the dumplings, remove 1 wonton wrapper from the package, covering the others with a damp cloth. Brush 2 of the edges of the wrapper lightly with water. Place 1/2 rounded teaspoon of the pork mixture in the center of the wrapper. Fold over, seal edges, and shape as desired. Set on a sheet pan and cover with a damp cloth. Repeat procedure until all of the filling is gone.

Heat a 12-inch saute pan over medium heat. Brush with vegetable oil once hot. Add 8 to 10 potstickers at a time to the pan and cook for 2 minutes, without touching. Once the 2 minutes are up, gently add 1/3 cup chicken stock to the pan, turn the heat down to low, cover, and cook for another 2 minutes. Remove wontons to a heatproof platter and place in the warm oven. Clean the pan in between batches by pouring in water and allowing the pan to deglaze. Repeat until all the wontons are cooked. Serve immediately.

Your cast of characters. Note the lack of red bell pepper.

All your filling ingredients go into a bowl. To mix, use a wooden spoon, or better yet, just get in there with your hands. It really works much better. Just make sure to wash your hands before and after, of course.

All mixed up. Appetizing, no? It smells amazing already at this point though.

So. Making the wontons. It’s pretty simple. If you need help, you should watch the actual episode of Good Eats from which this recipe originated. Just make sure not to overfill them, and don’t use too much water to seal. I did them all on a cookie sheet and covered with a damp paper towel. They don’t have to be perfect, they just have to be able to close completely. Try to get most of the air out when you seal it.

The perfect amount of filling. Don’t overdo it, please. Oh, also, I’m using round wonton wrappers because that’s all my Kroger had, but feel free to use square ones! Remember, you only need to brush the outside of one half of the circle/square to seal.

This is right after I’ve brushed the pan with oil (I used canola because that’s what I had). Do not overcrowd the pan! If you’re using a smaller pan, don’t put so many in at a time. At this point, you do not touch them for 2 full minutes! Resist the urge!

After two minutes, pour 1/3 cup-ish of chicken stock over them and quickly clamp on the lid.

Now let them sit undisturbed for another 2 minutes. I got my nails done professionally for the first time a few days ago. They’ll never look this good again, so enjoy it. Back to the food…

After two minutes, take off the lid and remove your potstickers one by one. They will probably stick a little. This is the point. Don’t worry—just be gentle with your tongs.

Move them directly into your preheated oven so they don’t get cold while you cook the rest. I just put them on a pizza pan. It worked out pretty well.

Rinse and repeat—literally! Between each batch, deglaze your pan with some water. You don’t have to scrape everything up though—I found the more tenacious residuals actually helped crisp up the later batches. Dump it out and brush the pan with oil again. Make sure you let the pan reheat properly after each de-glazing.

Now, cook up the rest and serve any way you like! Appetizers, dim sum, whatever. We ate them with rice and sweet and sour sauce for dipping. It was beyond delicious.

This recipe would probably feed at least four hungry adults (and that’s if you’re having them as a main course like we did). But we have leftovers, which is never a problem! :)

There is so much flavor and texture in these tiny little packages! Definitely try out this recipe. It’s pretty fun to assemble the wontons, too—an excellent task to delegate to kids or significant others while you start cookin’. ;)

Special thanks to my significant other, Pranas, for taking the action shots and helping assemble the mass amounts of wontons!

Peanut Butter Oreo Pie

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:35:27 -0400

Guys, I failed at posting last week. I totally planned to, and then I just…forgot. I have been very engrossed in/distracted by my other blog, and I have been neglecting this one. I’m so sorry! I’ll be better, I promise. On that note, please enjoy today’s extra-yummy recipe.

Those of you who follow me on Twitter may have noticed this the other day:

I was talking about this pie. I saw it on the Pioneer Woman Cooks and it looked too delicious not to make. It’s right up my alley! I love peanut butter, and I love dipping Oreos in peanut butter (though I don’t usually like plain Oreos…). Also, it required so few ingredients and looked so simple that I couldn’t resist.

A forewarning—this is probably the messiest recipe I’ve ever made. This is because I don’t have a food processor and had to use a blender to crush my Oreos. It worked for the most part, but it took soooo long and Oreos got EVERYWHERE no matter what I did. So, if you’re a neat freak without a food processor, probably don’t make this recipe. Also, peanut butter recipes are always messy no matter what.

Also—this is a rich pie. There’s no problem with using “light” and “low-fat” versions of the ingredients. I only had low-fat cream cheese and margarine instead of butter, but if I had them, I would have used low-fat peanut butter and Cool Whip Free too. It’s perfectly fine, and I promise your pie will be just fine either way.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

Crust:
25 Oreos
4 tablespoons butter, melted

Crush the Oreos until they’re fine crumbs. Pour melted butter over the top and stir with a fork to combine. Press into pie pan and bake at 350 degrees for 5 to 7 minutes, or until set.

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Filling:

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 8-ounce package softened cream cheese
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 8-ounce package Cool Whip, thawed

Beat the peanut butter with the cream cheese until smooth. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add in the thawed Cool Whip and beat mixture until smooth, scraping the sides as needed.

Pour filling into crust, evening out the top with a knife or spatula. Chill for at least an hour before serving (I’d recommend at least two or three…I waited an hour and a half and it wasn’t set yet).

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Here’s what you’ll need. So few ingredients, I love it! The only thing not pictured is margarine, of which you’ll need half a stick.

This is where the trouble started. Notice the nice, clean table top.

Now notice all the Oreo crumbs (though I cropped this photo so most of the mess was hidden). And notice my lumpy crust. If you do use a blender (or smash them with a rolling pin or whatever) you’re going to have lumps in your crust. Don’t freak out—it really doesn’t make any difference at all in the final product. I promise. This is after the margarine has been mixed in and everything’s been pressed down. Not super pretty, but who cares? Then it goes in the oven to set.

Peanut butter and cream cheese. It helps if both your cream cheese and your peanut butter are super soft. It was hot and muggy yesterday here in Savannah, so I had no problem with that. Now beat the heck out of it!

Now add your powdered sugar and beat the heck out of that, too.

Lastly, add the whole tub of Cool Whip and incorporate it fully so it’s nice and creamy.

If your crust is cool at this point, go ahead and put the filling in the pie. If not, stick the filling in the fridge until your crust is cool. This is important!

This is a thing of beauty. Now, chill it for quite some time in the fridge. At least a few hours for it to set. Otherwise it will be a mess to cut. Actually, it most likely will anyway. This picture is from the next day, and I still couldn’t get a perfect slice:

Again, though, who cares? It’s still ridiculously delicious and it wouldn’t matter if it was just a big pile of mush in a bowl, I would still eat it with gusto.

Guys, make this. I am totally serious. It is so delicious. And it takes no time at all! So hop to!

Breaded Chicken Parmesan

Thu, 28 May 2009 21:08:49 -0400

I’ve been cooking dinner for my friend Andy once a week in exchange for him driving me places, and this past week he requested chicken parmesan. I didn’t really use a recipe for this—I just kind of made it up as I went along, but it turned out to be delicious. Thus, the measurements below are approximate, so feel free to experiment with them as you go through the recipe.

Breaded Chicken Parmesan

3 medium boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
1 cup Italian-seasoned bread crumbs
2 eggs, beaten
Marinara sauce (to taste)
Sliced or shredded mozzarella cheese (to taste)
Shredded or grated parmesan cheese (to taste)
Pasta of your choice (optional)

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Pour your bread crumbs onto a plate or a shallow dish. Dip your chicken breasts in your beaten egg and then dredge each breast thoroughly in the bread crumbs.

3. Place your breaded chicken in a glass baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes.

4. Take out your chicken, cover in mozzarella slices, marinara, and shredded parmesan, then put back in the oven for another 10 minutes.

5. This is a good time to make your pasta, so get to it!

6. Serve chicken over pasta and enjoy!

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Your cast of characters:

Beat your eggs thoroughly. You could also use another coating, such as dijon mustard—the egg’s purpose is just so the bread crumbs stick.

Make sure you coat the chicken thoroughly. Don’t try to shake the excess off.

Time to go into the oven!

And here’s what they’ll look like after 20 minutes in the oven. They’re starting to get crispy at the edges.

Slice your mozzarella cheese and arrange the slices on top of your chicken, or if you’re using shredded cheese, just go ahead and sprinkle it right on top.

Add your sauce, covering everything well, and then sprinkle some parmesan on top.

Pasta is an excellent part of a satisfying Italian meal, so I highly recommend it. I used spaghetti, but you can really use any pasta you like.

Mmm, cheesy. Perfect.

Delicious. This was a big hit. Almost everyone loves chicken parmesan, right? And it’s so easy too! Enjoy!

Pasta Carbonara

Fri, 22 May 2009 00:39:07 -0400

I found this recipe via the Pioneer Woman while browsing for a quick, easy pasta recipe that wouldn’t require an hour-long trip to the store. This recipe did the trick. It’s quite tasty—though next time I make it I would reduce the amount of bacon by about half. It was just too much for me to handle! But overall, this was really yummy and really easy to make. The below recipe makes four servings—I halved it, so don’t get confused by the amounts in the pictures!

Pasta Carbonara

1 lb. pasta (I used spaghetti, but you could also use linguini or any pasta, really)
4 eggs
1 lb. bacon or pancetta (I used turkey bacon because it’s all I had on hand, but I wouldn’t recommend it for this recipe)
1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese
8-12 cloves of garlic
1 large onion
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup white wine (or substitute another cup of stock, which I did)
1/2 stick butter
1 handful of parsley
1-2 tablespoons black pepper

Slice up your bacon into 1-inch-wide pieces. Cook on your stovetop until nicely browned and crisp. Meanwhile, cook your pasta until al dente. Then, chop your onion (a rough dice is fine) and slice your garlic into thin slices.

When the bacon is done cooking, scoop it out with a slotted spoon and set it aside on a paper towel or plate. Reserve the bacon grease. Throw the diced onions in over medium-high heat for a couple minutes, then throw in your garlic and cook for another couple minutes. Remove the mixture from the pan with a slotted spoon, or drain it—either way, just get rid of the grease.

Put your empty pan back on high heat until it starts to smoke a little, then pour in your white wine, or 1 cup of your stock. Whisk thoroughly until the pan is deglazed. Then add 1 cup of stock. Return the bacon, onion, and garlic to the pan. Let simmer over medium heat.

Crack your eggs into a large bowl. Add most of the Parmesan cheese and rough chop the parsley, adding that as well. Leave a little Parmesan and parsley out for garnish. Mix it all together with a fork.

Add your still very hot cooked pasta (this is important—the pasta will essentially cook the egg, so it’s imperative that the pasta is super hot) to the egg mixture, then add the bacon/onion/garlic mixture. Then add 1/2 stick of butter and mix everything together. Sprinkle black pepper (to taste) on top. Garnish with parmesan and parsley.

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Remember before you look at the pictures: I halved the recipe! I also don’t have pictures of every single step—sorry!

Don’t ask me why there are three eggs there…I have no idea. There should be two. The third egg is useless.

Cooking the lovely faux-bacon. This didn’t work super well because turkey bacon has so much less fat than real bacon, and therefore kind of messed with everything else. But it was probably a lot healthier! Use real bacon if you have it.

Deglazing the pan.

I can never find Italian flat-leaf parsley, and I always have such trouble chopping regular parsley into small pieces. I think I need better knives. The large pieces of parsley didn’t bother me at all in this recipe, though.

This is the point where you take your tongs and mix it all together. The butter will melt really quickly and the cheese will melt and it will all become instantly delicious.

Mmm, so good. Again, I’d suggest cutting out some of the bacon—unless you’re a big fan of bacon. Otherwise, this pasta was really delicious, filling, and a quick dinner fix that impresses. Enjoy!

Triple Chocolate Brownies

Thu, 14 May 2009 19:54:00 -0400

I realized the other day when my friend Andy was bugging me to make brownies that I’ve never posted a real brownie recipe on here…which is strange, because I love brownies. There are so many brownie recipes out there that yield such different results, so I don’t have one on file that I automatically rely on.

I found this recipe via the Food Network (where else?) from Nigella Lawson, one of my favorite FN chefs. She really knows how to make sweets simple and delicious. I was really pleased with this recipe because it’s pretty easy, but it yields some fantastic results. It’s a classic, rich, moist, decadent brownie in no time at all. These brownies were a huge crowd-pleaser!

Triple Chocolate Brownies

3 sticks plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
12 ounces best-quality bittersweet chocolate
6 eggs
1 3/4 cups superfine sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white chocolate buttons, chips, or morsels
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate buttons, chips or morsels
Approximately 2 teaspoons confectioners’ sugar, for garnish
Special equipment: Baking tin (approximately 11 1/4 inches by 9 inches by 2 inches), sides and base lined with baking parchment.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Melt the butter and dark chocolate together in a large heavy based pan over a low heat.

In a bowl or large measuring jug, beat the eggs together with the superfine sugar and vanilla extract.

Allow the chocolate mixture to cool a little, then add the egg and sugar mixture and beat well. Fold in the flour and salt. Then stir in the white chocolate buttons or chips, and the semisweet chocolate buttons or chips. Beat to combine then scrape and pour the brownie mixture into the prepared tin.

Bake for about 25 minutes. You can see when the brownies are ready because the top dries to a slightly paler brown speckle, while the middle remains dark, dense and gooey. Even with such a big batch you do need to keep checking on it: the difference between gooey brownies and dry ones is only a few minutes. Remember, too, that they will continue to cook as they cool.

Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar to serve.

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Your cast of characters:

Start melting your chocolate. Use very low heat and stir often. You can start the other steps while doing this. When it’s smooth and pretty lump-free, take it off the heat.

Eggs, sugar, and vanilla, beaten together thoroughly.

Definitely make sure your chocolate is cooled at least a little before adding it to the egg mixture or it will cook your eggs, and you don’t want that.

Add your flour and salt and fold it all together. Then stir in your chips and you’re good to go.

Pour it in your baking dish and bake for approximately 25 minutes. I used a different sized baking dish than what is mentioned, so I needed about 35-40 minutes.

Cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar, and serve. Yum!

These are really fantastic. They’re super moist and rich, and pretty darn easy to make. If you like, add some walnuts or other nuts. I definitely would have added walnuts if I didn’t have some very picky boys (who refuse to eat brownies with nuts in them) waiting to devour these. This will definitely be my go-to brownie recipe from now on! Unless, of course, I magically find a better one. Any recommendations?

Lasagna

Fri, 08 May 2009 01:50:38 -0400

Again, I failed to post last week. I have a good excuse, I promise. I was moving. It’s all very exciting. Our new place has beautiful new appliances and a much awesomer and more manageable kitchen than the last one, and the whole situation is much better. I vowed that I would make this week’s post extra-awesome due to my failure to post anything last week, so I guarantee that this is one of the best real food (i.e., not baked goods) recipes I have posted to date.

Lasagna! Everyone loves it, right? Actually, I don’t. I’m really not a huge fan of most lasagnas because I’m very picky about what I want in a lasagna. I honestly only made this because I promised my friend Andy (a big lasagna fan) that I’d make it for him. A lasagna has to be heavily cheese-based for me to enjoy it. I’m a cheese fiend. Especially when it comes to Italian cheeses like parmesan, mozarella, and ricotta—all of which this recipe uses in full force. So if you like a good, cheesy lasagna—and yes, there is beef in there too—you’ve come to the right place.

I generally look to the Food Network when I’m looking for a good recipe, and I found one via the Neelys on FoodNetwork.com. It was pretty simple (important for a first-time lasagna-maker) and didn’t use a ton of expensive ingredients (important for a cash-poor college student). However, there were some elements of which I was not a fan. They used cottage cheese instead of ricotta (WHAT?! No thank you!) and cheddar cheese (again, WHAT?!). So, I made some modifications and pressed on. It came out wonderfully and I am now officially a lasagna lover. Well, a lover of this lasagna anyway.

I’m trying this new thing where I post the recipe in full first, then the step-by-step pictures. I figure it will make the recipes easier to print out without all the filler text and photos I add in. Bear with me.

Lasagna
Based on the Neelys’ “Mama’s Lasagna” recipe and modified

1 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for pan
1 pound ground beef or turkey (I’m sure you could also use sausage for more kick)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (14.5-ounce) can stewed tomatoes, chopped
1 (8-ounce) jar tomato sauce
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1 (8-ounce) box no-boil lasagna noodles
2 large eggs
2 cups ricotta cheese (low-fat is totally fine, that’s what I used)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
2 teaspoons freshly chopped parsley leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon seasoning salt
1 (8-ounce) bag shredded mozzarella
1 (8-ounce) bag shredded Parmesan

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly oil the bottom of a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking dish.

In a large saute pan, over medium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon oil and saute meat, onion, and garlic until meat is browned, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon. Drain pan of fat and add stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, then mix in ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, parsley, salt, pepper, and seasoning salt.

Spread a little of the meat sauce in the bottom of the prepared pan. Lay half the noodles in the bottom of the baking dish, overlapping by 1/2-inch. Spread half the egg and ricotta cheese mixture evenly on top. Sprinkle half the mozzarella and shredded Parmesan evenly over the ricotta cheese mixture. Pour half the meat sauce on top. Repeat layering in same order. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup grated Parmesan on top. Bake in center of oven 30 to 35 minutes until sauce is bubbling around the edges. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

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Your cast of characters:

Your meat mixture should look about like this before you drain it:

Mmm, saucy!

Your ricotta/parmesan/egg/parsley mixture. This is totally the best part of the lasagna. In my humble opinion, anyway.

I didn’t take a photo of every step of the assembly, but it’s pretty self-explanatory. It’s fun building a lasagna, no? This is layer 4. It goes sauce, noodles, ricotta mixture, shredded cheeses. Repeat.

And this is what it should look like before it goes in the oven.

…aaand after it comes out. Perfect!

Definitely let it sit for those 10 minutes, they are crucial. I used that time to heat up some frozen garlic bread. If you’re feeling ambitious, a Caesar salad would be a nice addition.

Not a great picture (I was in a hurry to eat), but you get the idea. This lasagna is awesome. It’s super cheesy but not overwhelmingly so, and all the other flavors are readily apparent as well. It’s a great first-timer’s lasagna, so if you’ve never made it before (like me), don’t be intimidated. This recipe is super simple and totally worth it. You’ll have yummy leftovers for days!

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Brownies

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 23:44:38 -0400

This is another recipe from the wonderful Smitten Kitchen. This was one of those recipes where, when I first saw it, I thought, “Why are these not in my oven RIGHT NOW?!” If you’ve ever read this blog before, you know that I am kind of obsessed with the combination of peanut butter and chocolate. Naturally, I had to make these.

Peanut Butter Brownies

For brownies
2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 large eggs plus 1 large yolk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (9 ounces)

For ganache
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (9 ounces)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

Make brownies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F with rack in middle. Butter a 13- by 9- by 2-inch baking pan, then line bottom of pan with parchment paper and butter parchment.

Beat together butter and sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until mixture is light and fluffy, then add peanut butter and beat until incorporated. Beat in whole eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla. Reduce mixer sped to low, then mix in flour until just combined.

Mix in chocolate chips (1 1/2 cups) then spread batter in baking pan, smoothing top. (It will be thick, almost like cookie batter.)

Bake until brownies are deep golden, puffed on top and a wooden pick inserted in center come out with some crumbs adhering, 40 to 45 minutes. NOTE: Make sure to watch these. I put mine in for 40 minutes and ran upstairs to get some things done before the brownies were finished cooking. When the timer went off, they were way too close to being burned for my taste—still fine, but just darker than I’d like. If your oven isn’t the greatest (like mine), don’t leave them unattended for the last 10-15 minutes or so.

Cool completely in pan on a rack, about 1 1/2 hours.

Make ganache: Put chocolate chips (1 1/2 cups) in a heatproof bowl.

Bring cream to a boil in a small saucepan, then pour over chocolate chips and let mixture stand for one minute.

Gently whisk in butter until it is incorporated, chocolate is melted, and a smooth mixture forms.

Spread ganache on cooled brownies and let stand until set, about 15 minutes.

I apologize for not having photos of this process, but it all happens rather quickly. It’s ridiculously easy though, so don’t worry.

I waited 15 minutes and my ganache wasn’t set yet (it’s pretty hot and humid here today, so that probably had something to do with it) but I had to slice them and dig in anyway.

Oh man, these were tasty! I wish the peanut butter flavor was more apparent, though. That’s one thing I would have changed if I had known ahead of time. Also, this isn’t exactly a Weight Watchers recipe, so feel free to substitute margarine instead of butter and low-fat peanut butter instead of full-fat, like I did. Every little bit helps, right? There’s no subsitute for heavy cream though, so just grin and bear it. Just don’t drink a gallon of it, though. :)

These are basically slightly peanut-buttery blonde brownies with ganache topping, and they’re fantastic. If you prefer a stronger peanut butter flavor (like me), feel free to experiment and play around with it! They’ll be delicious, I promise.

Thai Chicken

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 19:49:54 -0400

This recipe is from She Simmers via The Crepes of Wrath. I’ve been really busy with school and overall just burnt out lately, so cooking is more of a nuisance than a treat for me. Therefore, I’ve been eating poorly and surviving on Lean Pockets and cereal, which is not good at all. When I read this recipe, I realized I had all the ingredients already and it was so simple that I pretty much had no excuse not to make it. So I did—and it was good!

Khao Na Gai or Thai Chicken in Brown Sauce Over Rice

2 6-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 tablespoons oyster sauce
4 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons Chinese rice wine
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1/2 cup water
ground black pepper, to taste
2 cups cooked rice, for serving

1. Mix all the ingredients, except the chicken and vegetable oil, together in a bowl. Begin to cook your rice according to instructions.

This is everything but the water. Looks tasty, right? Haha. It will be, I promise!

All mixed up and ready to go!

2. Heat the vegetable oil over medium heat in a medium nonstick pan or wok. Saute the chicken until almost cooked through.

Pour the sauce mixture into the skillet and stir. Continue to cook until the chicken is completely cooked and the sauce has thickened. If the sauce is too thick, add a little more water, a tablespoon at a time.

3. Pour the warm chicken and its sauce over steamed rice.

This is a really hearty, savory dish with a nice garlicky kick. It’s super filling, too! I wouldn’t suggest going out and buying all the ingredients (if you don’t already have them) unless you intend to do a lot of Asian-inspired cuisine, but if you love Oriental dishes, go for it! This dish was super easy to make and really satisfying. Enjoy!

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Spreads

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:13:32 -0400

I’ve had a busy week. It’s been nonstop homework for the past seven days, and today I just wanted to make something quick, tasty, and sweet to start off my weekend. It’s also been raining nonstop all day and for me, rainy days are perfect days for baking. I was browsing The Pioneer Woman Cooks a long while back and bookmarked this recipe, but didn’t remember it until now. And ohhh man, I’m glad I did.

These “cookies”—which are probably more accurately described as cookie bars—are just stupid easy. You probably couldn’t mess them up if you tried. Probably the best thing about this recipe is it requires one bowl. You don’t even need a mixer! How amazing is that?! Also, they’re just plain yummy.

Now, the topping on these cookies is made from semi-sweet chocolate chips in the recipe. Halfway through baking, I realized I didn’t have any chocolate chips (I always have chocolate chips!). So, I improvised, and I think my solution tasted better than just straight chocolate chips (if I do say so myself).

I used about a cup of whipped chocolate frosting mixed with about 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter. I love the combination of chocolate and peanut butter, so it tastes heavenly! You could also use 6 oz. of chocolate chips and 2 oz. of peanut butter chips, or any combination of chocolate and peanut butter. Posted below is my modified recipe.

Chocolate & Peanut Butter Spreads

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup margarine
1 egg
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup whipped chocolate frosting
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
(OR 6 to 8 ounces chocolate chips to make the original version)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together brown sugar and margarine.

Make sure it’s nice and soft or you won’t be able to mix it with the brown sugar.

Add egg and mix together.

Add flour, salt, and vanilla, and mix together well.

Spread dough onto cookie sheet to a thickness of 1/4 to 1/2-inch.

Make it look like something vaguely rectangular. I won’t lie, this step was super fun.

It should be about that thickness, and as even as possible.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until slightly brown.

For my version, mix your frosting and peanut butter together with a fork, then just spread it on evenly. Make sure you do this when it’s right out of the oven, it makes it get all soft and melty and easy to spread.

(Chocolate chip instructions: Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the top. Return to oven for 1 minute. Remove and spread melted chips over the top.)

Cut into squares with a knife or pizza cutter and enjoy!

These are the easiest, fastest, most delicious cookies ever. They taste like a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie, but in a soft, moist bar form. The crunchier edges are great too—more like an actual cookie. You probably have all the ingredients already, so go make these!

Cheesy Baked Tortellini

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:10:00 -0400

Today, while eating lunch before class, I turned on the Food Network. “Everyday Italian” was on, and Giada was making this amazing-looking baked pasta dish. I only caught the tail end, but I had to know what she was making. I went to FoodNetwork.com and searched for it, and lo and behold, I found this recipe for Cheesy Baked Tortellini.

I stopped by the store after class to get the ingredients and it was so worth it. Do be aware that this isn’t a cheap recipe—good cheese is pricy, and this recipe uses quite a bit of good cheese. So maybe this is a special-occasion-type recipe. No matter what, though, it’s incredibly delicious and it’s pretty easy too. I will definitely be making this again, especially since I have a lot of leftover cheese!

Cheesy Baked Tortellini

Olive oil
2 cups marinara sauce
1/3 cup mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley leaves
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 pound purchased cheese tortellini
2 ounces thinly sliced smoked mozzarella
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil an 8 by 8 by 2-inch baking dish.

Whisk the sauce, mascarpone cheese, parsley and thyme in a large bowl to blend.

Mascarpone comes in a little tub like this—it’s a really great creamy cheese, sort of like ricotta but a lot creamier and with a little sweetness. It’s also great for using in Italian cheesecake.

Pretty, right? I couldn’t find fresh thyme and I didn’t feel like buying ground thyme when I know I would barely use it, so I used oregano, which I love. Oregano is a great substitute for thyme if you aren’t a fan of it. When using dried, ground herbs instead of fresh ones, use a little less because the flavor is more concentrated. I only used about a teaspoon of oregano. Use fresh herbs if you got ‘em though!

Whisk to combine as much as you can, but don’t worry about those little chunks of mascarpone cheese. They’ll melt when you add in the hot tortellini.

Cook the tortellini in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, about 2 minutes. Drain. Add the tortellini to the sauce and toss to coat.

In case you’re completely grocery-store-layout-inept like me, you can find these things in the refrigerated section by the milk and cheese (it’s right with the ricotta cheese). There, I just saved you 10 minutes of searching…10 minutes that I can’t get back… :( Also, these came in 9-oz. packages, but there are 16 oz. in a pound (the recipe amount)…so I just took a scant handful out of one package, put it in a Ziploc baggie, and saved it for later.

Transfer the tortellini mixture to the prepared baking dish. Top the mixture with the smoked mozzarella (cut into thin slices) and Parmesan.

The smoked mozarrella may require a little searching. It was buried in my grocery store’s GIANT cheese island, and it was the last package of the stuff they had. It really makes the dish though, so definitely don’t substitute regular mozzarella! I loved the smoky flavor it had while still maintaining the creaminess of regular mozarrella.

Don’t be skimpy with the cheese. You paid good money for it, after all. The smoked mozzarella slices should be a little less than a quarter-inch thick, I’d say. They create a delicious, melty, smoky crust on top. Mmm.

Cover and bake until the sauce bubbles and the cheeses on top melt, about 30 minutes.

Top with some grated parmesan and serve!

The great thing about this dish is that it’s versatile. You can use whatever kind of stuffed pasta you want, really. If you’re a meat fan, used some sausage-stuffed tortellini. You can use some spinach-stuffed tortellini, ravioli, whatever. You can also use your favorite tomato sauce—if you want to use a meat-based one, go for it. If you want to make your own, go for it. You can change up the herbs, the cheeses, anything—go crazy!

Let me tell you, people—this stuff was so freakin’ good. With the four college kids in our house, it was gone within minutes. Double the recipe for some great leftovers! Enjoy!

Ice Cream Sandwich Cookies

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:40:25 -0400

I found this recipe on Smitten Kitchen while I was looking for a recipe to make today. She calls them brownie roll-out cookies, but mentions in passing that they’d be good for ice cream sandwiches. As soon as I read that, there was no stopping me. I had to make them! Surprise—I did. And they are awesome.

Ice Cream Sandwich Cookies

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup margarine or butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Whisk dry flour, salt and baking powder in bowl and set aside.

Mix butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and cocoa in mixer.

Gradually add flour mixture, and mix until smooth. NOTE: My mixer isn’t the best for heavy doughs, so I had to incorporate the last bit of the flour mixture by hand. Use wet or floured hands if you do this. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least one hour.

Roll out cookie dough on floured surface. Cut into desired shapes, brushing extra deposits of flour off the top. NOTE: Use larger cookie cutters! Small ones will make your cookies tiny and crunchy, and that’s no fun. Mine were probably 3.5ish inches in diameter. Use any shapes you like. Also, don’t worry if your dough’s surface is a little floury going into the oven, because it will most likely bake off. I found that I didn’t need a whole lot of flour though—but I was rolling on a cloth surface.

This is about the thickness you want—between 1/8 and 1/4 inch. It’ll make for really yummy, chewy cookies. If you want crunchy cookies, go thinner.

At this point, I also sprinkled the tops with granulated sugar just for kicks. You could also do this with turbinado sugar if you have some to make them really pretty.

Bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 8 to 11 minutes (the former for 1/8-inch thick cookies, the latter for 1/4-inch cookies) until the edges are firm and the centers are slightly soft and puffed. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

These cookies are awesome. Soft, chewy, and chocolatey. They’re perfect all on their own.

But you know what makes them even better?

Ice cream! But isn’t that true of most things? Use a cookie scoop to put a dollop of vanilla ice cream on the underside of one cookie, then smush it down with a knife and top it with the other cookie. They don’t have to be perfect, because it won’t be sitting on your plate for more than a few seconds before you gobble it up!

Make sure your ice cream isn’t rock hard before doing this! Mine was, so I heated it up in the microwave for about five seconds. But then I lollygagged for too long and it got melty, but that was just fine by me. Still delicious.

If you want to make these in advance for a party or guests, just make the cookies and put them aside. When you’re ready to serve, top with ice cream. So simple and so good!

Enjoy!

Irish Cream Cake

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:47:00 -0400

Happy St. Patty’s Day, everyone! Yesterday, I made a cake to celebrate the occasion. It’s a Bailey’s Irish Cream cake. It came out wonderfully and it was and continues to be delicious. Thing is—my battery in my good camera wasn’t charged, and I had to take pictures with my less-awesome camera…which is fine, but that camera has some serious issues with dim lighting and does not offer you the option to change the settings to remedy that. To make a long story short, the pictures came out horribly, so I won’t be posting them.

However, I don’t want you guys to miss out on this awesome cake. Therefore, I’m directing you to this post at Noble Pig, a wonderful food blog which you should already be reading anyway. When I saw the recipe posted there the other day, I just had to make it. Also, she has some fantastic pictures of the process and finished product for you to enjoy. So head on over!

About the cake: The Bailey’s flavor is subtle, but just right. I pretty much hate the taste of alcohol and therefore avoid using it in recipes, but I had a feeling I would love this cake, and I did. The pecans aren’t a make-or-break deal, so don’t add them if you don’t like ‘em or if you’re allergic or whatever. However, they add a beautiful toasty, crunchy contrast to the sweet cake, and I’d highly recommend adding them if possible. The cake is really simple to put together (it uses a cake mix and boxed Jell-O!), but it looks really impressive, so it’s a great dessert for guests and such. Now go get bakin’!

P.S. I will also try to make a post at the regular time, on Thursday, with adequate pictures. I just had to share this cake with you on St. Patrick’s Day!

Baked Mac N' Cheese

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:04:00 -0400

I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who doesn’t like mac n’ cheese. Whether it’s from a box or a casserole dish, it always hits the spot—at least for me. I am kind of a cheese fanatic. The strange thing is, I realized the other day that I’ve never made mac n’ cheese from scratch. I love baked mac n’ cheese but I’ve never made it myself. Huh. So, I scoured all my favorite cooking blogs for the best-looking recipe I could find, and I happened upon it at Smitten Kitchen (one of my favorite blogs EVER). It’s Martha Stewart’s recipe, and it just looked and sounded so amazing that I just had to make it. And oh man, was it worth it.

Before you get all excited, you should probably know that this is kind of a pricy recipe to make (for mac n’ cheese, anyway). You’ll probably spend at least $10 on the cheese alone (gruyere and sharp white cheddar), depending on the quality of the cheese. So, if you’re broke or a poor college student, you’d probably better stick to Kraft for now and spend your money on your gas bill so you can continue to use the stove.

With that said, if you’ve got some spare cash and you want some really, really good comfort food, make this recipe.

I halved the recipe below because there’s only 2 of us, and we’ll still have enough for at least one more serving each. I also used margarine and 2% milk and it turned out just fine, so don’t be afraid to try to make this recipe a smidgen healthier…but this ain’t no Weight Watchers recipe.

Baked Mac N’ Cheese
From The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook via Smitten Kitchen

Serves 12

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for casserole
6 slices white bread, crusts removed, torn into 1/4- to l/2-inch pieces
5 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons coarse salt, plus more for water
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 1/2 cups (about 18 ounces) grated sharp white cheddar cheese
2 cups (about 8 ounces) grated Gruyere or 1 1/4 cups (about 5 ounces) grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1 pound elbow macaroni

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter a 3-quart casserole dish; set aside. Place the bread in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Pour the melted butter into the bowl with the bread, and toss. Set the breadcrumbs aside.

2. Warm the milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Melt the remaining 6 tablespoons butter in a high-sided skillet over medium heat. When the butter bubbles, add the flour. Cook, stirring, 1 minute.

3. While whisking, slowly pour in the hot milk a little at a time to keep mixture smooth. Continue cooking, whisking constantly, until the mixture bubbles and becomes thick, 8 to 12 minutes.

4. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in salt, nutmeg, black pepper, cayenne pepper, 3 cups cheddar cheese, and 1 1/2 cups Gruyere (or 1 cup Pecorino Romano); set the cheese sauce aside.

5. Cover a large pot of salted water, and bring to a boil. Cook the macaroni until the outside of pasta is cooked and the inside is underdone, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the macaroni to a colander, rinse under cold running water, and drain well. Stir the macaroni into the reserved cheese sauce.

6. Pour the mixture into the prepared dish. Sprinkle the remaining 1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, 1/2 cup Gruyere (or 1/4 cup Pecorino Romano), and the breadcrumbs over the top. Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes (though we needed a bit more time to get it brown, but your oven may vary). Transfer the dish to a wire rack for 5 minutes; serve.

This stuff is so delicious. I wanted mine really browned on top, so the bread crumbs are a little too crispy, but it tasted just fine. Also they looked a lot less crispy in real life. I will definitely make this again sometime in the future, but I have to work on digesting the first round first. ;)

Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cookies

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:17:46 -0500

I found this recipe on The Adventures of SuperWife (which is a great blog and you should all read it) and she got it from somewhere else from somewhere else and so on. These cookies were really yummy. SuperWife used a vegan recipe, and while I’m all for veganism, I did not have the vegan ingredients on hand, so I substituted regular ingredients (margarine and eggs instead of Earth Balance and egg substitute). Shame on me, I know. But I had such a hankerin’ for these cookies the moment I saw them, I had to make them right away and a trip to the store was NOT in the cards!

As you may have deduced, I love chocolate and I love peanut butter, and I really love chocolate and peanut butter together. Thus, these cookies are a godsend!

Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cookies

Cookie Dough:

1-1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup margarine or Earth Balance, softened
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Eggs or egg replacer equal to two eggs

Cookie Filling:

3/4 cup peanut butter
3/4 confectioners sugar

In a small bowl combine flour, cocoa, and baking soda; blend well.

In large bowl, beat sugar, brown sugar, margarine, and 1/4 cup peanut butter until light and fluffy. Add vanilla extract and eggs; beat well.

Stir in flour mixture until blended and set aside.

In a small bowl, combine filling ingredients and blend well. Roll into one-inch balls.

NOTE: As you can see below, my peanut butter filling turned out rather crumbly. I don’t know whether it was because I was using reduced-fat peanut butter or if it was the fault of my mixer—you’d probably be better off just using a wooden spoon and your hands to mix. Even though mine came out crumbly, it came together really nicely in ball form. Didn’t spread at ALL in the oven though, which is a shame but doesn’t harm anything except the appearance of the cookies.

For each cookie, with floured hands, shape about 1 tablespoon cookie dough around one peanut butter ball, covering completely. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Try to flatten each cookie slightly with the flat bottom of a glass, but not too much! Bake at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes or until set and slightly cracked. Cool on wire racks.

For aesthetic purposes, my hand is not floured in this photo. Immediately after I felt how sticky the dough was, though, I dunked my hand in a bag o’ flour. Without it, I would have made SUCH a mess. As you’ll see below, some of your cookies may get a floury appearance. That is just fine, and it won’t show after you bake them!

I had enough peanut butter filling for 16 cookies, and enough chocolate batter for about 18. I was pretty generous with the chocolate batter around each peanut butter ball, and pretty stingy with the peanut butter balls themselves, too. Next time I make these I might make about 1/4 cup more peanut butter filling. I made 16 fairly big cookies.

Warning: You WILL need a glass of milk with these.

Crispy Mini Quesadillas

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 18:12:07 -0500

So Pranas showed me how he makes quesadillas a while ago, and they were so delicious that we made them again the other night. He usually makes them with only cheese, but I put my own spin on mine, and you can put your own spin on yours—add your favorite fillings and go crazy. The crispy tortilla shell and the soft, cheesy filling make an awesome combination, and they’re super easy and quick too!

Crispy Mini-Quesadillas
Servings: Up to you—make however many you want! I was filled up after about 2 and a half quesadillas. The amounts below make six quesadillas.

Essentials:

6 mini flour tortillas
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into strips
1/2 cup refried beans (as much or as little as you want—that’s just a ballpark)
1/2 cup shredded cheese, we used 2% Mexican blend (as much or as little as you want)

Other Toppings:

Whatever your little heart desires. You could use beef instead of chicken, or make them meatless. I added sliced green onions to mine, and Pranas likes hot sauce on his. Use your favorite toppings or whatever you have lying around the kitchen!

1) Season your raw chicken with salt and pepper, then saute’ your chicken slices with some nonstick cooking spray or a little bit of vegetable or canola oil until they’re nice and brown and cooked through.

2) While your chicken cooks, prepare your quesadillas. Spread a thin (or thick, depending on your tastes) layer of refried beans on all or half of each mini tortilla.

3) When your chicken is done, distribute it evenly among your quesadillas. Then add the other toppings of your choice and fold in half. Don’t make them too stuffed or you’ll have a mess in your frying pan later! It’s easiest to only put your toppings on half of the tortilla to make for easy folding.

4) Heat your vegetable oil in a large skillet for about 30 seconds, then add a few of your quesadillas to the pan. Use tongs to peek on the underside until you determine they’re brown enough, then flip them over with the tongs and let the other side brown until done. Make ‘em as crispy as you want! Tip: Hold the tongs on the open end of the quesadilla, otherwise your tortillas may spill their guts.

5) Repeat with your remaining quesadillas. If there’s excess oil on them when you take them out of the pan, pat them down with a paper towel, then serve with all your standards—sour cream, salsa, guacamole, whatever you like or have lying around!

These are super tasty and super easy, and the best part is how customizable they are. You can make them exactly to your taste and experiment every time you make them. Enjoy!