Asparagus stuffed chicken with a pistachio crust

Tonight I decided to go a little fancy. I have no real reason for making this dish other than I had asparagus in the fridge and wanted to use it in a main dish instead of as a vegetable side. These chicken breasts are very easy to make but look fancy so serve them when you need to impress someone...a date maybe or the dreaded in-laws? These can be made ahead of time and placed in the fridge so long as you do not add the pistachio crust, do that right before cooking.

Asparagus stuffed chicken

4 chicken breasts

12 thin asparagus spears

1/2 cup cottage cheese

2 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp dried basil

1 tbs dried parsley

1 egg

fresh ground pepper

1 egg white

Pistachio Crust

1/3 cup crushed shelled pistachios

3 tbs grated parmesan cheese

In a mixing bowl, combine cheeses, spices and egg, stir until incorporated and set aside. Butterfly each chicken breast. Place cut side up, cover with saran wrap and lightly pound each breast with a rollingpin or meat pounder to about 1/4 inch thickness. Place 3 spears of asparagus at one end of the breast. Add 1/4 cheese mixture and roll up. Place on a foil lined baking sheet seam side down. Brush each chicken breast with lightly beaten egg white and cover with the pistachio crust, pressing gently to ensure it sticks to the chicken. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. You can check doneness by inserting a meat thermometer into the thick side of the chicken breast.

As always, recipes are suggestions. You can use ricotta or goat cheese instead of cottage cheese, and freshly grated parmesan cheese(filling only) all of which will make the filling much richer. You can use fresh basil and parsley instead of dried. The general rule of thumb is twice as much fresh as dried. I firmly believe that you should make each recipe your own. If you are not comfortable messing around with the recipe then make it once as directed then the next time you make it put your own spin on it. Next time I make it myself I will probably make a lightly flavored mustard sauce to put on top.

Strawberry Shortcake

Well it's strawberry season here in Oregon and my garden is exploding with hundreds of berries! The frustrating thing thing is that I only get 20-40 per day which makes it hard to serve a large dish with the berries. However, what I can do is strawberry shortcake for two!

Everyone has a different idea on the proper 'shortcake' for this classic dessert. There are those yellow spongecake bowl thingies from the grocery store, pound cake, angel food cake, or the traditional shortcake. Personally I prefer mine made with pound cake but that would have taken to long and I wanted it NOW. So I scoured the Internet for a good shortcake recipe. Success! I found one. http://allrecipes.com/recipe/strawberry-lemon-shortcake/detail.aspx

As usual, I changed the recipe up to make it my own and I truly believe that had I followed the recipe exactly then I would probably not have enjoyed it as much. The really nice thing about this recipe however is that the portion is for 2 people which is perfect for me, especially since Matt is low carbing it and I had to eat it all myself. So here it is, my improved version version mentioned previously. This recipe is the best true shortcake that I have fully enjoyed.

Shortcake biscuits

1 cup flour

2 tbs sugar

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

2 tbs cold butter

3 tbs buttermilk

1 egg yolk, beaten

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a separate bowl, combine the milk and egg yolk, pour into the crumb mixture, mix until a soft dough forms (I recommend using your hands) Knead until flour is fully incorporated.

Separate the dough into two halves and roll into a ball. Form into a disk approximately 3/4 inch thick. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-13 minutes. Remove to a wire rack and let cool 15 minutes.

Sweetened strawberries


1 1/2 cup strawberries, halved
2 tbs sugar

Combine, cover, and let rest for at least 30 minutes to allow juices to 'bleed'  You can add more sugar if you want it sweeter

Whipped cream

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla flavoring

Combine all ingredients and beat until stiff peaks form.  Whipping cream can be made many different ways, by hand with a whisk, in a stand mixer with whisk attachment or hand blender.  For small batches I make it by hand.  You can always adjust the sugar and vanilla to your liking.  I like extra vanilla in mine.

To serve and assemble, cut the shortcakes in half, spread a small amount of lemon butter (mix lemon zest with softened butter) on both sides of the shortcake (by adding a thin layer of butter you help prevent the shortcake from getting soggy).  Pile a bunch of berries on the shortcake, add a healthy dollop of whipped cream, replace the top piece of the shortcake and add another dollop of whipped cream.  Garnish with a whole berry and a sprig of mint.

Taddaa!

Attack of the low carb diet!

So if you have been wondering why there hasn't been any posts for a bit, it is due to extreme dieting, which I do NOT recommend to anyone.  When Josh and I first started seeing each other a few years back, we both could have stood to loose 20-30lbs.  During our first few years, we hadn't quite found our groove when it came to cooking and eating healthy, so we put on a few more pounds.  When we finally decided to change the way we ate, and start cooking things from scratch, we had a lot of weight to take off.

Josh is a few years younger than me, and he originally embraced the changes in diet more than I did.  He also started to add exercise to his routine, which is something that I am still struggling to do regularly.  So while the changes to healthy cooking and eating worked great for Josh to drop the pounds, the weight has been slower to go down for me.  So after hitting a plateau since November, and only loosing about 2 lbs from November till May, I decided to throw a huge curve ball to my body.

I decided to start doing Atkins again.     I had done this diet twice before in my life.  The first time, I lost a ton of weight, and it worked great.  The second time I did it, was after all the fake "Low Carb" processed food came out.  Can you guess how much weight I lost that time?  So I decided to actually do Atkins again, but to en-corporate our desire to eat real food, and to keep the processed and artificial foods out of the diet.  Well, it appears to be working.

All of the processed foods morph things that are in no way food into something they say you are supposed to eat.  Most of them try to mimic a carb, or starchy type food. Most of them are not very good, and even though they are officially low carb, some people actually process more of the net carbs than the package claims.  Also, a bag of low carb crackers, or breads still has a ton of calories, which will pack on the pounds if you include them regularly.  Your body thinks you are eating bread, so you don't think twice about eating a few slices.  Try eating massive quantities of eggs, or other protein rich foods.  It isn't that easy.

My take on the diet, is that you never are really that hungry, as you never get a spike in blood sugar, or insulin, which results in you eating less.  Also as I said above, while it might be easy to sit down and eat a bag of Doritos on the couch, you can only eat so much meat before you feel really ill.

It has been fun learning different ways of cooking things, and trying to make decent meals under this diet.  Josh has learned that sometimes, he will just have to have a separate meal, if he wants good food.  Two hotdogs with mustard, and no buns is not all that interesting of a meal.  It is weird have a two cheeseburgers with no buns on my plate as weight loss food, while not being able to eat the fresh strawberries from the garden.

So some of my next posts might be low carb versions of traditional dishes, or just meals that are naturally low carb without trying to be a substitute food.  Either way, we are still cooking and eating, but it is definitely not the good food that we were eating before.

Thai Curry chicken kebabs

 It has been a long, wet winter this year and I've been itching to get out the grill. Now that I've brought out and de-winterized the grill I can't help myself but using it as much as possible. I have a ton of favorite foods to cook on the grill and I am excited to share them with you.  Last night I decided to make kebabs.  They take a little bit more time to prep than other foods but the cook time is greatly reduced due to the small size of the ingredients.  Kebabs are great for entertaining because you can easily prepare them ahead of time. I also love the versatility of kebabs.  There are so many veggies that can be added and the possibilities are only as limited as your imagination...or produce drawer.

 Something I often times do is make up a new recipe and try it out on unsuspecting dinner guests, but this time I decided to just make Matt suffer with my creations instead.  For this recipe I pretty much adapted a basic curry recipe into a marinade for the kebabs.  I only marinaded the chicken for about 20 minutes because I was busy baking my birthday cake but they still turned out wonderfully.  Coconut milk was the base of the marinade which added a lot of richness and depth to the chicken.  I also chose to use chicken thighs instead of breasts even tho they are harder to put on the kebabs. I prefer thighs as they are much richer in flavor and wont dry out as quickly if you happen to get a little side tracked.

The vegetable selection on these skewers was my own personal choices and based upon what I already had in the fridge.  Do not limit yourself to these choices. Also, I used sweet potato rounds, next time I will not do that because they did not cook properly and turned out a little crispy.  I still enjoyed them but I need to make the pieces smaller and flatter so they have more surface area on the grill itself.

Thai Curry chicken kebabs


2 lbs chicken thighs, cut into strips
1/2 can coconut milk
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tbs chopped parsley
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp fish sauce
2 tsp Thai curry paste
Freshly ground black pepper
Pinch Garlic salt
1 tbs sugar*

Add all ingredients, marinate for 30 minutes to overnight.

*Note-  I did not put sugar in my marinade however I STRONGLY recommend it.

My vegetable selection

Red onion
Sweet potatoes
Bell pepper
Portobello Mushroom

To make the kebabs, soak bamboo skewers in water for at least 30 minutes.  Alternate chicken and vegetables on each skewer.  Grill for 4-6 minutes per side or as long as is needed to cook the firmest vegetable.

Dipping Sauce


1/2 can Coconut milk
1 tsp Thai Curry Paste
1 tsp Lemon Juice
2 tsp Samal Oelek
Ground black pepper

Add all ingredients, bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer.  Cook until about 1/3 - 1/2 volume or desired thickness.

 Don't Burn the Skewers!  How to prevent your skewers from burning on the grill.

Pork Roast, it's whats for dinner

Everyone needs a good basic Pork roast recipe. Roasts have that nostalgic taste of home. They are classic and timeless. There are so many variations and styles out there but sometimes its good to go back to an old fashioned style roast like mother used to make

A good roast should be flavorful and moist with a nice crust on the outside and should taste like you've spent forever in the kitchen. Cooking a roast in the oven often turns out to dry and you have to pay more attention to it while cooking so instead I use my trusty crock pot. Making it in the crock pot does not establish quite as nice of a crust on the outside as dry cooking but I'm willing to sacrifice that for a no hassle meal.

Pork Roast in the slow cooker

1-2 lb pork roast

2 bay leaves

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp chopped fresh sage

1 tbs kosher salt

1 tbs rosemary

7 whole cloves garlic

1/2 onion sliced onion

Fresh ground pepper

Place the roast in the bottom of the crock pot. Add the chicken broth, then add all the spices onto the top of the roast and rub it in slightly to fully cover the top of the roast. Add the bay leaves, onions and garlic. Place on low for 6 hours.

Custard style pudding and strawberry parfait

So with all the amazing food we've posted over the last month I think its only fair I show you one of my beautiful flops. I bought some fresh strawberries and have been itching to do a custard style pudding. I pulled a recipe out of the FoodDay paper that I so love. Well..I don't know if it was the recipe or if I messed it up but the custard came out WAY to thick and semi gelatinous and grainy. Granted, it still tasted wonderful but it was not everything I hoped and dreamed it would be. Oh, and second mistake, this one 100% mine...I served to much. Ugh, I felt ill for hours because it was just to rich and heavy. I am not going to share the recipe for this one until I get it right. If nothing else.....it sure looks pretty!

PF Changs who? Lettuce wraps at home

Who doesn't love the lettuce wraps at PF Changs restaurants? What do I not love? The $8.00 price tag. So, since I'm not willing to pay that price as many times as I would like to eat the lettuce wraps I concluded that I need to make them myself. Personally I find these just as satisfying as the ones at PF Changs especially since I don't like mushrooms and there is no way to order it without mushrooms and its very difficult to pick them out. Lettuce wraps are also incredibly easy to make yourself, so lets have a go!

Chicken lettuce wraps

3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1/2 cup diced onion

2 stalks celery, diced

1 can waterchesnuts, diced

*1/2 cup diced mushrooms

Sauce

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp freshly grated ginger *see note

4 tbs soy sauce

2 tsp corn starch

2 tbs cooking sherry
1/2 tsp Sriracha

2 tbs water

1 tbs sugar

Oil for frying

Dice the chicken, onion, celery, waterchesnuts and mushrooms if using. In a wok over medium high heat, add enough oil to just coat the bottom of the wok. When the oil is hot add the diced ingredients and cook until the outside is cooked. Add the sauce and cook until thickened and chicken is cooked all the way through. Because the pieces are so small it will only take about 5-7 minutes to cook fully. If there is not enough liquid then you can add water 1 tbs at a time.

To prepare the lettuce, leaves chop the head in half through the stem. Remove the stem piece by cutting diagonally on each side of the stem to create a V shape. To separate the leaves, start from the stem side and gently remove each layer one at a time.

I serve the wraps with a basic pot sticker type sauce, I haven't perfected the one they use at PF Changs mainly because I rarely go. The sauce I use is 1 part rice vinegar to 2 parts soy sauce and Sambal Oelek to taste.

*Note on ginger

Grating fresh ginger can be a chore because it is so fiberous but is an easier way! First, take a piece of fresh ginger and using the back of a butter knife, gently scrape off the thin skin. Place the ginger in a freezer bag and freeze until needed. The ginger will keep for several months in the freezer. When you are ready to use the ginger, pull it out and grate it with a microplane while it is still frozen. Ice crystals form inside the ginger when frozen so when grating it creates a powdery substance much like fluffy snow. The initial volume is deceptive. As the ginger thaws it will shrink down by about half, so you need to grate about twice as much as the recipe calls for in order for it to be correct.

Summertime Favorite - Corn on the grill

The weather is getting nicer which means its time to de-winterize the grill. One of my favorite things to grill is corn on the cob. The big reason for doing this is to lightly caramelize the sugars in the corn to enhance the sweetness without turning it to mush. There are 3 main ways of grilling corn and it really depends on personal preferances.

Cooing method 1 - Tin foil

Husk the corn, removing as much silk as possible and break off the stalk. Take a length of tin foil, place the corn in it and season with butter, salt and freshly ground pepper if desired. Roll the corn up in the foil and twist the ends, this will allow the corn to steam in the foil. Place over low direct heat for 15-20 minutes rotating every 5 minutes to prevent burning on any one side. The major advantages of this method is that the corn comes out seasoned and ready for people to unwrap and eat. It is easy to prepare in advance and does not require pre-soaking. Some people feel that cooking in the tin foil adds a slight metalic taste to the corn which may be unpleasant to some.

Cooking method 2 - In the husk

This method uses the actual husk of the corn to steam instead of foil. Also cooking directly in the husk adds a little smoky flavor from the husk cooking.

Pull the husk back slightly to remove as much silk as possible. Soak the ears in water for 15 minutes. Place the corn on direct heat rotating every 5 minutes to prevent burning on any one side. The husk will start to brown and potentially burn a little as well but that's just flavor being imparted to the corn. Cook for 15-20 minutes.

Cooking method 3 - Naked!

This method is best for really fresh corn, or for people who like the corn very lightly cooked. Pull the husk all the way back without removing it and place over direct heat rotating to prevent burning. This method will add the most caramelization to the corn and runs the greatest risk of burning. You can use the pulled back husk to turn the corn on the grill and it just looks cool sitting on the grill that way.

Personally I like to cook in the husk for a bit then placing on direct heat for caramelization. I like my corn nice and tender with a little char. Its hard to tell you how long to cook your corn. I do about 10-15 minutes in the husk and about 5 minutes out of the husk, I find this to be the best combination.

The mighty Leftovers - Pork carnitas

Finding something to do with leftovers can be a daunting task. Often times we just re-make the original meal. Something we still struggle with is being inventive with our leftovers. Well on the Sunday after making the pork carnitas, I was watching Cooking with Daisy on PBS and she was making a pork sandwich. Well Daisy, I just happen to have some left over pork so why don't I follow your idea here and make one myself.

As I've already mentioned, we like to make things from scratch if we can, so Matt baked up a loaf of French bread for our sandwich. To construct it I did a layer of mayonnaise in order to prevent the bread from getting to soggy. I topped that with the shredded pork which I squeezed out as much residual moisture as I could. Topped that with more of the marinated onion relish, and finally top with cheese, we used cheddar. Now the fun part, take the sandwich and wrap it tightly in foil. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Place the foil wrapped sandwich on a baking sheet, place another baking sheet on top of it then place a weight on the top of that sheet, we used my cast iron skillet. By doing this you have pretty much created a large panini press which helps make a nice crust and holds the sandwich together when cutting into pieces. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the cheese is melted. We actually enjoyed this almost more than the original meal to start with.

This is a very versatile concept and can be used with almost any combination of toppings. Use this to create a pizza sandwich, or a baked meatball sub with the marinara on the side for dipping. The possibilities are endless and gives a whole new spin to the standard boring sandwich.

Daisy's sandwich was Mayo, pork roast, bread and butter pickles and swiss cheese. This layer combination seems to work well.

P.S Sorry this post is so untimely

Cinco De Mayo 2011

Matt and I are total suckers for Mexican food and Cinco De Mayo is a great excuse to cook up some Mexican food. Generally we would make tamales, but this year I decided to do some slow cooker Pork Carnitas. I flipped through my Mexican cookbook and used the recipe there as my foundation. I had also been looking online to find recipes and kind of combined them, which is what I am notorious for. The cook book did have a delicious marinated onion salsa for the carnitas, so I whipped that together. To top off the meal I made Mexican red rice, fried up some fresh tortilla chips, Avocado slices and opened a can of refried beans (hangs head in shame). Speaking of the refried beans, that is something we still have not mastered. So here is the pork and marinated onion salsa. 


Slow cooker Pork Carnitas
 2-3lb pork roast
 1 orange
 1 lime
 1 tsp marjoram
 1 tsp thyme
 1 tsp cumin
 1/2 tsp chili powder
 1 tsp salt
 2 dried bay leaves
 7 whole cloves of garlic
 1 small onion, quartered
 1/2 cup water or chicken broth
 Corn tortillas to serve

 Place pork roast in the crock pot. Squeeze the juice from the lime and the orange, then quarter the body of the orange and add it to the pot. Add all remaining ingredients. Cook on low for 10 hours. Remove the pork from the crock-pot, let sit for 5-10 minutes, remove the bone and any excess fat then shred the roast. If you want to crisp the meat up a little bit you can. Just take a large heavy skillet heat up enough oil to just cover the bottom. Add the shredded pork and fry the pork until it crisps a little. To serve, take a griddle or a large skillet on medium high heat and warm each corn tortilla until they are soft and pliable. Fill with the shredded pork and top with marinated onions.


Marinated onion relish  
1 medium white onion
 8-10 pickled jalapeño chile slices plus 1 bs of the juice
 3 tbs freshly squeezed orange juice
 juice from 1 lime
 1/4 cup loosely packed cilantro or to taste
 Freshly ground pepper

 Dice the onion, jalapenos and cilantro if desired, place in a bowl. Add remaining ingredients and let marinade at least 2 hours to overnight.

Bacon+Maple syrup+Cake = Heaven

Here in Portland we have a doughnut place called Voodoo Doughnuts. They are famous for their bizzare combinations such as one covered in fruit loops, or a chocolate glazed with Oreo pieces and peanut butter sauce. There are 3 in particular that make them famous however. Their Voodoo doll, the Cock and Balls doughnut, and their Bacon maple bar. They have even been featured on man vs food. The bacon maple bar was the inspiration for my bacon maple cake.

I had actually been talking to my co-workers about wanting to make this, and they more or less forced me into it. They decided they were going to have an all bacon potluck, so everything had to contain bacon. I was told to bring the cake, but the problem was..the potluck was the next day, how in the world can I bake a cake and let it cool in time for work tomorrow. Luckily Matt works from home sometimes, so I had him make the cake. I did cheat here, we used a yellow cake mix, mainly because we already had it in the pantry. When I got home I just had to do the rest of the work.

There isn't so much a recipe here so much as a line of concepts and steps taken. I do plan on working on this to develop an actual scratch recipe. I started by taking a mixing bowl, placed all of the bacon in the bowl, poured in about 1/4 cup maple syrup and 2 tbs brown sugar. I mixed this fully then layed out the bacon on a foil lined cookie sheet, covered it with another layer of foil, and placed another baking sheet on top of that in order to keep the bacon from curling up. In the meantime, I took some walnuts, mixed them with a little maple syrup, 1 tsp coarse salt, and a couple tablespoons of melted butter and spread this out on the top cookie sheet and baked the entire thing at 375 for roughly 30 minutes or until the bacon was fully cooked. If the walnuts start to burn, pull them out of the oven and continue to cook the bacon. Lay out the strips of bacon on a cooling rack and let cool to room temperature. Take some of the pieces of bacon and chop it up into bacon bits, also chop up the walnuts and mix the two together.

Next I did a basic buttercream frosting and added some maple flavoring and about 1/4 cup maple syrup for some additional color and flavor.

To make the cake, trim the tops of the cake. On the top of the first cake, spread about 1/4 of the frosting starting in the middle and moving out towards the edge. Then sprinkle on some bacon bits made from the candied bacon. Place the other cake, top down on the first one. Create a crumb layer by thinly frosting the cake. If you refrigerate the cake at this point then the final frosting is easier. Finish frosting the cake. Take the candied walnut and bacon bit mixture and press into the side of the cake. Then lay out the remaining strips of bacon on the top of the cake.

This is only how I decorated the cake so it is just a recommendation.

Peeps!

Tuesday morning is an especially exciting morning for me. It would in fact be my favorite day of the week, if I didn't have to go to work. See, the Oregonian newspaper has a special section called the Food Day every Tuesday and I look forward to it every week. The section focuses on something different each week, such as a special ingredient or ethnic theme. The Food Day contains recipes, food news, classes and workshops, equipment recommendations, and local produce. The week before Easter this year contained multiple dinner recipes such as lamb and scalloped potatoes, but the one that caught my eye was for homemade peeps.

I have only made candy one time before, and that was this past Christmas, in fact I actually made eggnog marshmallows. This marshmallow recipe contained fewer ingredients and had a completely different consistency. Which I assume is due to it being piped instead of just poured into a mold.

I am no expert with a piping bag, so this was going to be quite the adventure. The recipe warns you that you will get very sticky doing this and trust me I did. Also, I don't actually own a piping bag. I used a Ziplock bag with the end cut off. Something that I do not recommend for this. The first 3 peeps I made didn't really look like anything, but the next few started to take the proper shape. That only lasted for about 5 peeps and then the marshmallow got too thick to be able to pipe. So the directions say to microwave for a second then whip it again. I don't know how they expected me to do that. You want me to pipe out the rest, move it into a plastic container, microwave, whip, and then try to get it BACK in the piping bag? Yeah right. So instead I just threw the whole thing in the microwave for a second. This breaks down the structure of the marshmallow, so it needs to cool a little bit before using and still doesn't hold its shape quite as well.

So without further delay, I unveil my peeps!

Ingredients

1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup cold water (divided)

1 packet unflavored gelatin (2 1/2 teaspoons)

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla, or extract of your choosing

1 cup colored sugar for dusting (see note)

A few melted chocolate chips

Instructions

In the bowl of a mixer (or a large mixing bowl, if you're using a hand-held egg beater), place 1/3 cup water and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Set aside for the gelatin to soften.

In a small saucepan, combine the remaining 1/4 cup water and granulated sugar. Stir over a medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves. When dissolved, raise the heat to high and bring the syrup to a boil. Continue to boil until the sugar reaches 238 degrees on a candy thermometer (if you don't have a candy thermometer, set up a small dish of cold water and add a drop of the syrup: it's ready when it forms a cohesive but still soft and mold-able ball).

When the syrup is hot enough, pour it into the gelatin mixture. Stir to combine and allow to cool for a few minutes, stirring by hand. Add the extract. Using the whisk attachment of an electric mixer, beat the mixture at a high speed until it forms soft peaks and holds a shape, about 8 to 10 minutes. While the mixture is beating, sprinkle a few plates or tray with a thin layer of the colored sugar.

Transfer the mixture to a pastry bag with a large round opening (or, of you don't have one, a plastic freezer bag with the end snipped off or taped tube of parchment paper). To form the chicks, pipe a small blob of marshmallow onto the colored sugar, drawing the tip of the bag upwards as you release pressure to form the tail. Position the bag on the other side of the chick to form the head, squeezing out a round blob, and pulling outwards as you release pressure to form the beak. If the marshmallow begins to cool off and becomes difficult to shape, place it into a bowl and toss it back in the microwave for half a minute or less, until it warms slightly. Re-beat for another minute and place back in the pastry bag.

Sprinkle the finished chicks with the remaining colored sugar. Let dry and set for a few hours.

To form the eyes, melt a couple of chocolate chips in the microwave of in a pan. Dab on chocolate eyes using a toothpick or the tip of a skewer or just use food coloring on a toothpick. Let dry. Store in an airtight container, or devour immediately.

Note: To make colored sugar, place sugar in a jar with a tight lid and squirt in a few drops food coloring. Immediately screw on the lid before the sugar has a chance to dissolve, and shake shake shake until evenly dispersed. If you'd like the color to be darker, repeat the process.

Crab Puffs, and Herb Goat Cheese Puffs

So it was the night before Easter, and we had just got home from a day early Easter gathering at Josh's parents house.  We were invited to my aunt's house for Easter dinner the following afternoon, and we were supposed to be bringing an appetizer.  Now was the moment of truth.  We had to figure out what to bring.  The only problem with people knowing that you like to cook, is that you can't show up with a store bought dish, and so we started to brainstorm on options.


We had received a Cookie Press for Christmas from Josh's family, and I thought it would be fun to make something with it, so I pulled it out of the closet.  We had never used it before, and didn't know how it was going to work, but thought it might be fun to make something with it.  We were actually thinking of making Spritz crackers, and were going through the recipe book that came with the cookie press.  We came across a Savory Cream Puff recipe, and knew that was what we wanted to make.  With neither of us ever making them before, it would be fun to make, and another thing that we could say we have made before.


So the basic cream puff recipe seems to be pretty much the same everywhere that I looked.  They all have little changes depending on the type of cream puffs that you are making.  This one is call "Gougeres (Basil Cream Puffs)".  We liked the way that they looked and tasted.  We used the star tip to make both the puffs, and the filling look interesting.


We decided to make a double batch and do two different types of filling.  We did a batch with a crab filling, and a batch with a herbed cheese spread.  The crab spread was a little lighter, and the cheese spread was rich and creamy.  Both were wonderful, and were a hit.  These ended up looking as good as they tasted, and we will definitely make these again.

Gougeres (Basil Cream Puffs)
1 cup water
6 tbsp butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup all purpose flour
4 eggs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp basil


Preheat oven to 400°F.  Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.


Place water, butter and salt in medium saucepan, bring to a boil.  Lower heat, add flour all at once.  Continue to cook, stirring constantly until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan and forms ball.  Remove from heat.
(The first batch I made, the following step was made by hand with a bowl and a wooden spoon.  The second batch, I got out the Kitchenaid mixer, as I didn't like doing it by hand on the first batch.  You can choose which way you do it, based on if you have a Kitchenaid, or not.  Both work fine.  If you use the mixer,place the dough ball in the mixer bowl, and let sit for a few minutes to let the dough cool slightly before proceeding.)
Add eggs one at a time, making sure each egg is well blended before adding the next egg.  Stir in Parmesan cheese, garlic powder and basil.  Fill your cookie press, or pastry bag with the dough, and put on the star tip.  Pipe the mixture on prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 20 minutes (ours took 23 minutes) or until puffed and golden brown.  Makes 2 dozen mini gougeres.

Crab Filling:
8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
8 ounces fresh imitation crab or shrimp
Fresh ground black pepper to taste


Add all ingredients to a bowl.  Because we were going to pipe the filling on the cream puffs, we used an immersion hand blender to mix all the ingredients together.  If you don't have an immersion blender, a food processor or finely mincing the crab and onion should also work. 
Mix crab filling a day ahead, cover and refrigerate.  


Herbed Cheese Spread

8 oz package cream cheese
1 (4oz) package goat cheese
1 tbsp fresh chopped chives (or 1 tsp dried chives)
1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley (or 1 tsp dried parsley flakes)
1/4 tsp garlic powder


Place all ingredients in food processor, or in our case we used an immersion hand blender, blend until smooth. 


Filling the Gougeres
Cut the Gougeres approximately in half.  You can use pictures for reference.


Put the filling in a cookie press, or piping bag with a star tip.  Pipe the filling out onto each of the mini gougeres.  You can make it look as pretty as you want, but if you don't want to pipe the filling onto them, you could also just spoon it on.  

Enchilada Sauce

So we are huge fans of Mexican food and are often trying to create authentic, restaurant quality food at home. Sometimes we succeed, sometimes we come short. Well the other night we decided to make Enchiladas; corn tortillas? check, ground beef? check, cheese? check, sauce... umm nope. Well, I guess the reason we didn't have any sauce is because we don't much care for the canned stuff anyway, but that's besides the point. What we do always have on hand are dried California Chili pods, we get them in the bulk section of our local store, however you can find them at most grocery stores in the Hispanic isle, or at specialty stores. We keep these around to make Tamales or enchilada sauce on the fly. Want to see one of the reasons why we make the sauce ourselves, aside from it tasting better? The ingredients in our sauce are as follows: dried California chili pods (or New Mexico chili pods), dried arbol peppers (or cayanne peppers), water, salt, garlic, dried oregano, cumin, and vegetable oil.

Here is the ingredients list for Old El Paso sauce,Water, Tomato Puree (Water, Tomato Paste), Modified Corn Starch, Dried Red Chilies, Soybean Oil, Sugar, Salt, Citric Acid, Onion Powder, Mono sodium Glutamate, Spice, Garlic Powder, Red Pepper, Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (Corn, Soy And Wheat), Autolyzed Yeast Extract. Contains Wheat And Soy Ingredients.... wait, what?? Wheat and soy ingredients? Since when do chili peppers contain soy or wheat...oh wait, they don't. Anyway, getting off track here.

In making our own sauce we have a lot more flexibility. We can make it spicier (just add some more dried Cayenne peppers in with the California peppers), add some tomato body, runnier, thicker etc etc...the possibilities are endless. So with one base recipe and a few ingredients we are able to make this an incredibly versatile sauce in our kitchen.

Ingredients list:

8 dried California chili pods (or New Mexico chili pods)

6 dried arbol peppers (or cayanne peppers)

4 cups water

1tsp salt

1 clove garlic pressed

1tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 cup vegetable oil.

The Process is easy. Take 8 California chile pods, cut off the stems and remove all the seeds. Cut into a few smaller pieces. Take 6 Arbol peppers (more or less depending on how spicy you want it), cut off the stems and remove all the seeds. Put in in a medium saucepan and cover with 4 cups of water. Heat water to boil, cover and remove from heat. Let pot sit for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, pour the water and peppers in a blender. Add 1/4 cup oil to blender. Add in the salt, oregano, cumin, and pressed garlic. Blend well.

There you go, mix it in with whatever meat you are making and reduce, and if making enchiladas, pour some of the sauce over the prepared tortillas and bake. Enjoy.

Traditional German Pumpernickel Bread

So Josh asked if I wanted to make some rye bread for St. Patrick's Day, which got me thinking of Marble rye, which got me to thinking of Pumpernickel.  I had been wanting to make this unique bread since I started bread baking a few years back, but had yet to find one that I wanted to make.  Most of the recipes that I found were for the Americanized version of the bread.  Which for the most part was sourdough bread with coffee, cocoa, and molasses to make dark.  This is not at all what I wanted to make.

So my search for a traditional German Pumpernickel recipe started.  What I learned in my research is that the color of the bread, should not come from adding things to the bread, but more from the actual cooking process.  So, any recipe that I found that had cocoa, or coffee was immediately disregarded.   What I found out is that the reason for all of those shortcuts, is that making actual traditional German pumpernickel is very, very time consuming.  So if you start this today, you should be able to eat it 3-4 days from now.

The first thing I noticed when starting this, was the lack of ingredients, especially yeast.  I remembered from my sourdough trials and learning that rye flour is often used to make a starter, as it is high in natural yeast.  So to start, I had to gather some of the ingredients, because I don't usually have an extra supply of bulgur wheat sitting around the house.  So off to the bulk bins at my local grocery store.  Many of the flours can be quite expensive if you buy them pre-packaged, so try to find them in bulk if you can. Bob's Red Mill Flour Dark Rye Organinc, 22-Ounce (Pack of 4) Cracked Wheat no.2 Bulgur, 32oz  The actual mixing of the ingredients was fairly easy, as this is a no knead dough, so you just mix them on in a large bowl.  You end up with a really thick, heavy, batter like dough.  Grease two bread pans, and divide the dough/batter between the two pans.  Smoothing out the dough was a little tough, as it was really sticky and wet.  Once done though, grease up some plastic wrap, and prepare to wait for a bit.

Once I prepared the bread pans, I put them out to rise, and develop.  Well, 24 hours later, they looked the same as when I started.  It was a big, heavy, lifeless looking pan.  I wasn't sure if it was actually going to turn out.  Then as I was going to bed on day 2, about 30 hours from making loaves, I looked at the pans once more.  I thought that they looked a tiny bit bigger, and that there was a little movement in the dough, but it was very slight, so it was hard to tell.  I wasn't sure if it was just wishful thinking.

When I woke up on day 3 I couldn't wait to see if there was any progress overnight.  Well, the dough had actually rose all the way up, and was touching the greased plastic wrap.  So I want to emphasize the importance of greasing the plastic wrap, as it was vital to preventing the bread from sticking to it when it was done rising.

Now it was time to bake the bread!  In order to get the water in the pan hot enough to be steaming, I turned the oven way up for about 15 minutes, as I forgot to put (boiling) water in the pan.  Then just opened the oven for a few minutes to get the temp back down to only 225.  I removed the plastic wrap, which made the dough make some interesting noises, as the dough was crackling and popping, and greased and tightly re-wrapped the pans with foil.  Now it was time to actually start the baking.

2 hours into the baking, I noticed the foil was rising a bit.  It was very hard not to want to look.  I just let it do its thing though.  At 3 hours, the house was becoming more fragrant.  So at 4 hours, it was time for stage 2 in the baking.  I finally got to look at it.  I was able to remove the foil, and it was interesting to say the least. I turned the oven up to 325 and once the temp on the oven got there, I put the loaves back in the oven for another 40 minutes of baking.

So after 3 days of steps to get to this point, I was surely hoping that all this effort was worth it.  I wanted to have a slice, but yet, I had to wait another 24 hours for it to "cure".  So I wrapped it up once it was fully cooled.  Below is a picture of the bread at about 15 hours of curing.  I have never had to wait so long for something that I am baking.

The moment of Truth!  I just sliced the bread, and had it with some cheese.  It is a very heavy and dense bread.  So make sure not to make the slices to wide.  I sliced them about half the width of typical sliced bread.  The bulgur made for a nutty texture, and the flavor was definitely natural.  The strongest flavors were near the edges, and it didn't matter which edge; top, bottom, or sides.  I do have to admit that this will end up being more of a novelty than a staple, as I prefer many other types of bread for my standard sandwiches, along with the 4 day cook time of this bread.  But if you are serving this to guests, and you want a great story to go along with it, then I think you have found a great bread.

Traditional German Pumpernickel Bread

Taken from The Practical Encyclopedia of Baking

4 C. rye flour

2 C. whole-wheat flour

2/3 C. bulgur wheat

2 t. salt

2 T. molasses

3 ½ C. warm water

1 T. vegetable oil

Lightly grease two loaf pans and set aside.  Combine the rye flour, whole-wheat flour, bulgur wheat and salt in a large bowl.

Mix molasses with the warm water and vegetable oil.  Add liquids to the flour mixture and combine to form a dense dough.  (You do not need to need this bread at all, just mix with a spoon.)

Divide dough between the two prepared pans, pressing it into the corners and leveling the top.  Cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place for 18-24 hours (the longer the better).

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 225 F.  Remove the plastic wrap from the pans and then cover them tightly with aluminum foil.  Fill a roasting pan or other large baking dish three-quarters full with boiling water and carefully place on the lower rack of your oven.  Place covered loaf pans on the top rack directly above the pan of water.  Bake the loaves for 4 hours.

Raise the oven temperature to 325 F.  Uncover the loaves and add more water to the pan below them if needed.  Bake for another 40-45 minutes or until the loaves are firm and the tops crusty.

Let cool in the pans for a few minutes before turning out onto a rack or towel to cool completely.  Wrap tightly in plastic and let “cure” at room temperature for 24 hours.  Serve sliced thinly, topped with cold cuts or  pate.

(makes 2 loaves)

Limoncello Pt 1

Quite a few months ago I received a free copy of MIX magazine, a publication here in Portland,OR. The magazine covers food, culture and nightlife in Portland. In this particular copy there was a recipe for Limoncello which has been growing in popularity in the upscale bars and restaurants in the Pearl district, which is a hip, young, urbanite district in what was the old warehouse district. Limoncello a very sweet, almost syrupy and strongly flavored lemon liqueur popular in Italy served after meals as a digestivo.

I have been interested in infused oils and vinegars and to then see this recipe for infused alcohol, well I couldn't resist! The process is agonizingly slow and I am fairly impatient so we will see how this goes. Tonight I zested the lemons, added the alcohol and dated. Now I get to sit here for the next 40 days waiting...and waiting...and waiting.

Limoncello Recipe pt 1

7-8 Lemon's, zested

1/2 bottle vodka

In a clean, sterilized 2 qt mason jar add the lemon zest and vodka. Cover, place in a dark place for 40 days.

When zesting the lemons do not use a grater zester. The peel should be taken off in large strips so the liqueur will be easier to strain later. At first I figured I would use my excellent skills with a paring knife to zest the lemon but it only took 1 lemon to figure out that i'm not as skilled as I thought I was. I was getting to much of the white stuff, called the pith, which creates a bitter taste, so I switched over to the highly versatile potato peeler. Zesting the rest of the lemons was a breeze and left almost no pith. Now I have to figure out to do with 8 lemons... dilemmas.

Welcome to our blog

A couple years ago my partner Josh and I decided to take a serious look at how we eat.  We were the typical family.  Our cooking consisted of opening cans and boxes, jars of prepared sauces, frozen vegetables with sauce included and just-add-chicken frozen meals. We would then sit down in front of the TV and mindlessly eat what Kraft had made for dinner. We gained upwards of 50lbs, felt tired and lethargic most of the time and were ill on a regular basis. This was no way to live life so a change was in order.

Both of us already enjoyed cooking, so it was fairly easy to start the process of preparing food ourselves and it soon became our passion.  We started experimenting with all sorts of foods. Our theory being that if we can make it from scratch, then we will at least try it once.  We always try to find authentic recipes, like the ones that your grandma used to make.  We are especially interested in ethnic cooking, which can sometimes be a challenge to find authentic recipes of since those are generally passed down in the family.  

  

We have had many successes and even more failures which we are happy to share. Our goal is to make cooking accessible to anyone, and that even with no professional training, anyone can make a great meal in their own kitchen.  We will share what has worked for us and what hasn't, kitchen fundamentals, equipment in the kitchen, recipes, gardening, and about our many adventures in the kitchen.  

Hope you enjoy the postings.  Again, if there is something that you would like covered, we are always open to suggestions.  Please help us to spread the word.  Click the Follow button to become a follower of the blog.  Click the share button for Facebook, and Twitter, for both the blog, and the posts.  Thanks for visiting!