Real men Do SO eat Quiche!

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Asparagus Canadian bacon Quiche

The Italian Quiche

I know this for a fact because every time I tie my husband to a chair and force bites of quiche into his mouth he eats it. So there! That theory shout outta the water. I’m pretty sure the threats and the rubber chicken I smack him with have nothing to do with it. He LIKES it. He really likes it!

I have never figured out how quiche got a reputation for being a food only women like. I mean really? It has meat and cheese and eggs in it. I know of no men who don’t like all of those in any combination as frequently as they can manage to eat them.

Quiche can be one of those meals that either turns out fantastic and you find yourself saying that you really need to eat it more often. Or it can be something that you eat and say “ehhh; not sure what all the fuss is about”.  I can’t help but feel that part of the problem is that it can tend towards bland. Take some swiss cheese, take a little bacon, throw it in a crust with eggs and milk or cream and call it done. Hello?! Can we say borrrrringgggggg?

That’s not to say that a nice Swiss cheesy bacony quiche can’t be good but it can always be helped along. Or better yet, just use different filling ingredients. Nothing says you have to use bacon or at least not ONLY bacon. When I make quiche, I make two of them and I make the fillings a little more exciting. I save the Swiss and bacon for the French Onion Bread Pudding I make. That recipe will probably go up come Autumn.

Today I made one with Asparagus, Canadian Bacon, various herbs and spices as well as a ton of Swiss cheese. The other has Italian Sausage, Sun Dried Tomatoes, Pepperoni, Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese and spices.

One tip before I get to the recipes. It is very easy to overfill pie pans when you make quiche. You see it and think it needs more cheese. Or it needs more meat. Well, don’t do it. All you will end up with is a mess. If you want to do that and I have done it before, just make extra filling base (the egg/milk/cream mixture) and put it into a 3 quart baking dish with no crust and call it a Frittata. 😛 Also, make sure you put a baking pan under each quiche just in case of overflow.

REAL MANS QUICHE

AKA

SUN DRIED TOMATO ITALIAN QUICHE

&

ASPARAGUS & CANADIAN BACON QUICHE

Think I had a long enough title there?

  • 2 ready made 9 inch deep dish pie crusts (sure you can make your own but…ummm…why?)
  • For the Italian Quiche-
  • 2 Italian sausage links, cooked and coarsely chopped
  • 1/2 cup pepperoni, chopped
  • 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella
  • 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon Mrs. Dash Italian Medley
  • 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh Basil
  • For the Asparagus & Canadian Bacon Quiche-
  • 1/4 lb asparagus, chopped and 6 stalks cut in half to garnish
  • Half of a 6 ounce package Canadian bacon, chopped
  • 1 cup Swiss cheese, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon dill weed
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • For the quiche base–
  • 5 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 1/2 cups milk (preferably whole)
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2) Layer your filling ingredients in the pie shells, ending with the cheeses and herbs and spices in each shell. Like This: *points down

3) In a large bowl, mix together your eggs, milk , cream, sour cream, salt and pepper.

4) Carefully ladle the mixture evenly over the filling ingredients.

5) Garnish the Asparagus quiche with the reserved Asparagus.

6) Bake both at 350 degrees until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Check after 35 minutes because ovens are different and annoying.

Italian Quiche

Asparagus Canadian bacon Quiche

I Want A Cow Named Herman

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Or maybe I can name him Stanley. Or Shakespeare. Or I could just name him Dinner and be honest about it.

One of my many pipe dreams is to own a good amount of land and be self sufficient. Live off the grid so to speak. I want a solar paneled house, generators just in case, a large (I mean like half an acre or more) garden, many many fruit and nut trees (and vines and bushes), a clean well, a fully stocked pond and animals. Many many animals. I want pigs (yes I would name them too… possibly Wilbur. Or Lunch.) chickens, ducks, geese, goats and cows. Also cats, dogs, hamsters and monkeys. Many monkeys.

Why you ask? Because our economy is sinking ever downwards for one and I like to plan ahead but also because, even though I know it would be hard work, I have always loved the idea of having a working farm. One that enables us to be utterly NOT dependent on anyone but ourselves. That and because meat is so darn expensive!

I know myself and my family though. Here is what would really happen. We would cultivate the land, have many many fruits and veggies. We would care for these named animules (sorry, they are animules. My dad always used that as the word and I continue it in his name 😀 ). They would grow and be healthy and happy. Joshie would ride on their backs and pet them. Jordan would lovingly brush them. Zachie would have to be stopped from putting saddles on them to prove to the world that he is macho and capable of riding a two ton bull named Don Corleone.

They would then take over the house because not a one of us would ever be able to kill them and eat them. They would sleep in our beds, hogging the covers and turning the heat too high, steal the remote for the TV and only watch The Simpsons and Animal Planet. They would eat my Twinkies and Cheetos which I’m pretty sure is a mortal sin, burp a lot, wear wife beaters around the house and tell me to go make them a sammich. Within a year, we would be the ones sleeping in the barn waiting for the final execution date and our lives would be a vivid remix and remake of both Soylent Green with a large gun toting cow playing Charlton Hestons part and Planet of the Apes with us in old Charlies role of running from the animals so that they didn’t cage us. Hmmm, did you ever notice that Charlton Heston played in some really strange depressing movies?

In the meantime however, I will continue to get my meat from the grocery store wrapped in plastic on a nice Styrofoam tray. I will do my best to NOT name my fried chicken and steaks just as I didn’t name the pot roast I made. Somehow, it’s ok to eat it if I didn’t cuddle it and name it first and scoot over on the couch so that it could watch The Simpsons..

This isn’t a quick dish here. The way I make it it takes two days because I partially cook it then refrigerate it to let the grease harden then scoop that off. If you’re not as grease averse as I am however (makes me sick as can be) you can forgo the refrigerating step and go straight to the transferring from the stove top to the oven stage. It’s still not a dish to plan on making when you get home from work however. This is a great weekend “I’m actually able to get the whole family to the table” type of dinner. This is homey and comforting and perfect for a Winters night or just a cool rainy night any time of the year.

  • Red Wine Braised Pot Roast
  • 1 3 to 5 pound chuck roast (usually will have a label on it saying “good for braising or pot roasts”. Get any roast that says that.)
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 cans beef broth
  • 2 cups dry red wine (I used a Pinot Noir)
  • 2 large onions, each cut into 8 wedges
  • 3 cloves chopped garlic
  • 2 shallots, sliced thin
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons dried Rosemary
  • 1 teaspoon dried Thyme
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1/2 teaspoon celery salt or celery seed
  • 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 pounds small red (or Yukon gold) potatoes
  • 1 pound carrots, topped and cut into three pieces (two if it’s a particularly small carrot)
  1. In a large pan (I use a 12 inch deep chicken frying pan), add your olive oil. Heat for about 90 seconds over medium high heat then carefully add your roast. Cover the pan and let sear until nicely browned, about five minutes. Turn to the other side and repeat.
  2. When it is browned, take it out and set aside. Add the onions, garlic and shallots to the pan. Cook until they are soft and the onions are lightly browned. Add the red wine and deglaze the pan, scraping to get up all the little browned bits.  Add in the herbs, celery seed and Worcestershire sauce.
  3. Add the roast back to the pan. Add the 2 cans of beef broth. Cover tightly and turn the heat down to a simmer (about 3 on an electric stove)
  4. Let cook for 90 minutes, keeping it covered.
  5. Turn off heat. Transfer the roast to a large foil lined baking pan or LARGE Dutch Oven. You need room for the veggies you’ll be putting in there. Add in the carrots and potatoes around the roast. CAREFULLY pour the hot braising liquid all over the meat and vegetables.
  6. Now you can either let this cool enough to be easy to carry with no fear of burning the crap out of yourself and refrigerate it until the next day or continue with the oven cooking. If you want to put it in the fridge, cover it tightly with foil, then the next day, uncover it, scoop off any hardened grease and discard that.
  7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  8. Cover tightly with foil again and cook at 350 for about 2 hours. By then the meat will be falling apart tender and the vegetables fully cooked and nicely flavored with the pan juices.
  9. If you want to make a gravy out of this (I usually just serve it with the pan sauces as is) strain out the pan juices through a mesh strainer into a medium pot. Put those onions back in that pan with the other veggies though. They are by this time practically melted down to nothing and very sweet and taste delicious. Don’t waste them! 😛
  10. Take the strained liquid and heat to boiling. Take 1/3 cup flour and slowly (do it quickly and you will have more lumps than you can ever get out) add 1 cup of the liquid to it to make a soupy paste. Slowly pour this back into the pot of boiling liquid, whisking all the time. Turn the heat down to about 4 or 5 and stirring constantly, cook until nice and thickened. Season this to taste with salt and pepper.

Herman The Cannibal Cow waiting for his share. He's NOT getting mine.

 

 

Sweets For The Sweet

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I’ve mentioned my kids before. I have six. Five boys and one girl. My three oldest are grown and married and have given me five grandchildren. Honest, they started young. I’m really only 29. Honest and truly. Sigh. Not falling for it are you? Moving on… I still have two teens (16 and 14) and a two year old at home. Nice age spacing huh? 😛 It was something in the water. It must have been. By the time my youngest gets out of high school, I won’t be too far away from social security. I think I’ll stop thinking about that though and go look for wrinkles for a few minutes.

Ok, back. Wrinkles glared at menacingly. They’re still there. I don’t think they were impressed.

My teen boys are almost done with the school year. Next Friday is it. Zach will be graduating eighth grade; with honors no less. He’s an awesome kid. Jordan will be finishing his freshman year of high school. Once upon a time, I wasn’t sure if he would even make it TO high school, much less finish a year. Not because of anything due to him, but due to the things he has to deal with on a daily basis. Both Jordan and Zach have grown so much this year in so many ways.

When Jordan was born, he had a Strep B infection and Pneumonia.  He came very close to death and was in the hospital for almost 2 weeks. We started noticing developmental delays when he was about 3. To make a long story short, Jordan has mild M.R., is Autistic, has one hellacious case of ADHD, minor OCD and has had many schizophrenic/psychotic episodes and these have increased as he has gotten older which is fairly typical. He has had more inpatient stays in the hospital for aggression and psychosis than any one boy should have to deal with. Through it all, though he’s not perfect, he stays the sweetest child one could ever hope to know. He would give the shirt off of his back (literally) just to have a friend. He has a warped sense of humor (I have no idea where he got that) and loves his family and his God with all his heart. He can’t decide if he wants to be a forklift driver, work at Starbucks, drive a semi or become a chef. Personally, I think he can be anything. We are hoping he will be able to enter into a live in vocational school here in the state after high school. He will learn to be as self sufficient as he is able to be, learn skills for work and learn things like working with money and social skills. He is sixteen going on eight going on forty and will always be a child in many ways and I hope he knows how much I love him

Zachary was my youngest for a long time. Eleven years almost. Sometimes that shows in the way he acts lol.  However, he has also had to be older than his years so many times due to having a brother with disabilities. You can’t be part of a family with someone who is challenged without it changing you in some way. Except for his first few years of life, he never got to be the baby brother to Jordan and now he is older than him, just not biologically. It hurts me for him at times to think of that. So many times he gets shoved to the side because of his older brothers needs and now his younger brothers needs. But he still laughs, still jokes, still loves to play practical jokes on everyone who breathes near him and has a sense of responsibility, that while he pushes it aside at times because…well, he IS fourteen after all, that would put many adults to shame. He is a gifted student who is always on the honor roll. He can’t decide whether to join the military, be a chef, a writer, an artist, an architect, a lawyer or so many other things that change according to his moods. Personally, I think he can be anything. He is fourteen going on forty and sometimes going on three lol. I hope that he too knows how much I love him.

I wanted to make them a treat today and well, you can never go wrong with cookies. They are typical boys. The second they saw the cookies on the cooling racks, they were beggin for them. I let them beg for a minute…or 15… because I’m cruel that way 😛

I also made a double batch because I know that between them and Russell, that’s the only way I’ll get more than one.

These are wonderful cookies. They are stuffed full of dried cherries, milk, semi sweet and white chocolate chips. They have a subtle almond flavor, a nice chewy bite with a crisp edge and the tartness of the cherries is offset wonderfully by the sweetness of the various chips. You can also add nuts to these but I don’t like nuts in cookies other than white chocolate macadamias so I didn’t. Nuts are good in fudge and sometimes in brownies but they have to stay away from my cookies. 🙂

Cherry Chunk Cookies

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
  • 3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
  • 3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
  • 1 5 ounce package dried cherries
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add extracts and egg and beat thoroughly
  3. In a small bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda. Add to the butter mixture and mix well. Add in the cherries, chips and nut (if using).
  4. Drop or scoop by rounded spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 until golden brown, about 14 minutes.
  5. Cool on pan for a minute then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
  6. Eat about 6 of these and vow yet again never to look at sweets. Wait until the kids are in bed and eat more. Rinse; repeat.

Remember That Meringue?

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You know the one I mean. The one I made the other day that was chock full of cocoa and heath bars and whipped cream. THIS one . Well, making a meringue of that size leaves you with some left over egg yolks.  Then there was the yummy Chicken Curry from yesterday.
This one here . Well, I made too much rice when I made that. My refrigerator isn’t the neatest place in the world at the best of times (translate- looking for something in there requires detective skills and hand grenades) but adding in a container filled with egg yolks precariously balanced on top of various Fage yogurts and a container of Brussell Sprouts and something that growled at me that I left alone and a bowl filled with cold rice makes for a dangerous situation, especially when you have kids and a husband for whom being careful is a mysterious thing women do.

So I decided to make rice pudding. Albeit, a very rich rice pudding with six egg yolks in it but a rice pudding nonetheless. But as much as I love rice pudding, I wanted to do something different with it. Well, I love tea. Just about any type of tea though I have never really been able to get on the “green tea tastes better and is better for you” bandwagon. And I really love spiced Chai. On a side note, it drives me nuts when people say they want some Chai Tea. Chai is the word for tea, just not in English 😛 So when they say they want Chai tea, they are saying they want tea tea hehe.

Asssss I was saying, I love chai. All the spices in it, the heavenly smell… it just some good stuff. So I decided to make a Chai spiced Rice Pudding. But that’s not all folks! Nope, buy one now and we’ll include a second for free!!! Erhmmm… sorry. Been watching too much TV. I decided to make the chai spiced rice pudding but also make it bruleed. It certainly has enough egg yolks and cream in it to qualify for a brulee topping 😀

I mentioned on the facebook fan page for the blog that it would probably be a good idea to make sure you actually READ your spice bottle instead of just grabbing one that begins with the letter C assuming it is the Cardamom you want. Because if you don’t read, you may just end up doing what I did and using Coriander in your rice pudding instead. Not smart. Thank God something told me to only use a sprinkle and then look at the bottle. Coriander spiced rice pudding just doesn’t sound good to me.

CHAI SPICED BRULEED RICE PUDDING

  • 3 cups leftover cold rice
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon allspice
  • 1/2 teaspoon cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon cardamom (NOT Coriander 😛 )
  • 1/2 cup raisins (optional. Doesn’t really go with the Chai idea but I just love raisins in my rice pudding)
  • 1 cup brown sugar mixed with 1/4 cup white sugar

Note- If you just want a regular rice pudding use the cinnamon but omit the other spices

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 3 quart baking dish.
  2. In a large pot, mix your cold rice with the milk, cream, vanilla, sugar and spices, making sure to break up any lumps. Add the raisins if using. Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it comes to a simmer.
  3. Meanwhile, beat your egg yolks and one egg together. When the milk mixture comes to a simmer, take 1/2 cup of it and SLOWLY drizzle it into your eggs to bring up the temp of the eggs so that they don’t just scramble when added to the milk. When the 1/2 cup milk and the eggs are mixed, slowly drizzle this into the hot milk/rice mix, whisking the whole time.
  4. Cook over low heat for five minutes, stirring constantly.
  5. Carefully pour the pudding into the buttered baking pan. Cook at 325 until a knife inserted in the center comes out almost clean. It’s ok if there is a little soft rice or liquid on the knife. You just don’t want it to come out dripping. It will finish cooking from it’s own residual heat if the knife is mostly clean.
  6. Sprinkle the mixed brown and white sugar over the top of the pudding. Using a kitchen torch (I love playing with fire) carefully caramelize the sugar.
  7. Serve warm, cold or at room temp; however you prefer it. Is yummy served warm (the sugar on top hardens up) with a scoop of vanilla ice cream melting over it. Or like I had it; with a small puddle of heavy cream poured onto it. YUM!

Curry Is Brain Food

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No. Really. It is. If you eat curry based foods, you will gain 75 IQ points. You’ll also lose copious amounts of weight. Unless you need to gain weight in which you’ll gain exactly what you need. Your sex life will improve, your skin will be brighter and clearer. Your husband will start complimenting everything you do, your kids will hang on your every word and be instantly obedient and your dog will stop peeing on the carpet. You’ll also win the lottery. Oh, the miracle that is curry.

If none of that happens though, I can at least promise you that your tongue will be happy. Wait… that sounds bad. Oh well. It will! It will it will it will!!! You HAVE to believe me! *Falls on the floor and has a temper tantrum worthy of a two year old* And I know my two years olds. I have one after all.

Ok, now that I have gotten all of that out of my system, I’ll just say that curry really does make your tongue happy. And your belly. And your toes. And your… ok, I’ll stop now.

I first started using curry powder and curry paste in my cooking about ten years ago. That was when I started slowly branching out in my food tastes from the chicken and dumpling type life I had been living before then. I was a sad sad woman food wise up until that point. Well, other than the Twinkie and Ho-Ho addiction. I will always get teary eyed and remember those days fondly.

I won’t tell you that the chicken curry I make is akin to what one will find in your favorite Indian restaurant. Yes, it is slightly Americanized and yes, it is personalized into how I like it. But isn’t that what cooking is all about really? Someone makes something, tells someone else, who then makes it their way, gives it to someone else who loves it but they also change it some to fit their personal tastes and so on and so forth.

I can however tell you that everyone who has tried chicken curry that I have made has loved it. I have converted people who thought they didn’t like spicy or even spiced (as in highly flavored) foods with this curry. I make mine fairly spicy but if you prefer a milder curry, just cut down on the Thai Chili Sauce or the red pepper flakes. If you actually like it spicier, just increase the red pepper flakes or use a hot curry powder rather than a mild one. Like I said, we try foods and then make them our own. That’s what makes cooking fun.

CHICKEN CURRY

  • 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 1 small package boneless skinless chicken thighs (the thighs add moisture. Just using breasts is fine but the end product may be a bit dryer.)
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves chopped garlic
  • 1/4 cup Pataks  (I have only used this brand because I loved it from day one. So I can’t vouch for other ones) mild (or medium) red curry paste
  • 2 tablespoons curry powder (yes, along with the paste. It adds another layer of flavor)
  • 1 teaspoon Garam Masala
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
  • 1/4 cup Thai Chili Sauce
  • 2 cans Thai Kitchen coconut milk
  • 2 cans chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • juice and zest from one lime
  • For serving-  Basmati or Jasmine rice, Mango (or Cranberry) Chutney (will post my recipe for Mango Chutney at some point in time) and lime wedges
  1. In a large pot, brown your chicken breasts and thighs in batches. As with browning any meat, don’t overcrowd the pot or they will steam rather than brown. Put aside as you brown. When all are browned, drain off all but a little bit of the grease. Add the onion and garlic and cook until softened.
  2. Add your curry paste, curry powder, masala and cinnamon to the pot. When spices are used dry, some can have a bitter edge, especially true for curry. Cooking it a little before adding the rest of the ingredients  leaches the bitterness, brings out flavors and also smells amazing. Stir and cook for about three minutes.
  3. Add the chicken back to the pot along with both cans of broth, one can of coconut milk, the red pepper flakes and the chili sauce. Put your other can of coconut milk in the fridge while you cook. Trust me on this. Also add the raisins & brown sugar. Cover and simmer until chicken is tender, about 90 minutes. Take chicken out and let cool until you can handle it without leaving blisters on your fingers. Leave pot of sauce cooking on low while the chicken cools. Cut chicken into bite sized pieces and add back to pot. Open your other can of coconut milk and skim off and add to the pot only the solids, leaving behind the thin liquid. Simmer for two to three minutes; just long enough to heat the coconut milk up. Add in the lime juice and zest.
  4. Serve over Basmati rice with chutney and lime wedges.

Sometimes You Just Have To Be Bad

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Normally, we all know that I run a very health conscious blog. I am a strong advocate of eating lots of Tofu, running five miles a day, staying away from sugar and drinking only water and being sure that when you eat meat,  it’s is a good source of protein and iron like liver. Plus taking many vitamin and herbal supplements every day, living a clean healthy lifestyle, abstaining from alcohol and meditating twice a day.

Awwww, heck, who am I kidding? None of you and all I can do is sit here and laugh until tears run down my face at the thought of all of that. I am a strong advocate of Twinkies and Cheetos, I hate liver, had Tofu once many years ago and run from it now, I like my wine, eat far too much fatty foods, post recipes that are sinfully bad for you and probably have arteries that are so clogged that I need a bottle of extra strength Drano to cut through the grease.

Seriously though, I do try to be at least semi smart on what I eat. Believe it or not, the bulk of the things I post here get given away just so that I can’t overindulge and so that my husband and kids don’t get too heavy and have to be rolled out the door when we go places. I like sweets but having had a father who was diabetic and a husband who is now, I know the consequences of too much fat, carbs and sugar and don’t want it happening to me or being a party to my husbands health getting worse.

But…. and it’s a big but (no not mine though it’s a big butt too), I do love to cook the things that are bad for you. I love a good Spinach salad which is my current food fetish and I could eat fish (not always fried either 😛 ) until it was coming out of my ears. But they don’t seem to carry the same thrill when it comes to cooking as things like todays post. If you combine cream, Heath bars,  a crispy meringue, cocoa and sugar together, it becomes a treat that, while it makes your body scream in agonizing self defense, makes your mouth go “Oh.My.God. Can I have another 14 inch hunk of this please?”

And that’s ok. There is nothing wrong with having the “bad” stuff sometimes. As is said, it’s all a matter of moderation. Though…erhmmm… being moderate with this is difficult. Your brain will just be telling you to lean down and bury your face in it up to your ears and inhale. I don’t advise it though and am hereby freeing myself from any future lawsuits based on chopped up Heath bars caught in your sinus passages. You’ve been warned.

So if you (and ten or so other people) want to indulge, make this. You won’t be sorry and neither will the ten other people. Unless you eat it all before they get any.

CHOCOLATE TOFFEE CLOUD

MERINGUE-

  • 6 egg whites
  • 1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter
  • 2 cups sugar

FILLING AND TOPPING-

  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
  • 3 king size heath bars, coarsely crushed
  1. Heat oven to 275 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  2. In a large bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tarter until foamy. Add sugar gradually, beating until stiff and glossy. Do not underbeat this.
  3. Spread half the mixture into about an 8 inch circle on each cookie sheet.
  4. Bake at 275 for 50 to 60 minutes or until crisp and a very light golden brown around the edges. Rotate your sheets halfway through if you cooked them on different oven racks.
  5. Turn oven off and leave the meringues in the closed oven for 2 hours. Remove form oven and let cool completely on the cookie sheets.
  6. In a medium bowl, combine the heavy cream, powdered sugar and cocoa. Beat on high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold in two of the crushed king sized Heath bars.
  7. Place one meringue layer on a serving plate. Top with half the filling. Top that with the other meringue layer and then spread the rest of the filling on top. Sprinkle with the last crushed Heath bar.
  8. Refrigerate this for several hours before serving to give the meringues and the candy time to soften up a bit. Stick your face in the plate up to your ears. Wait… no! I did NOT advise that. Nope, not me.

 

 

You say Potato I Say…Well, Potato

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I’ve always thought it was interesting that every culture has variations of many of the same foods. Tacos using ground beef for Mexico, meat sauce in Italy, Picadillo in Cuba. Pork is loved as pulled pork here in the states, schnitzel in Germany, Korea has Bulgogi. Here we love our chicken fried country style, in other countries they have chicken Marsala or chicken curry (I love curry. I’ve only told you that 376 times but it bore repeating.)  They all have different ways with chocolate, cabbage, rice and so many more. One of my favorites is all the different cultural uses for potatoes. Yep. Simple homey bumpy potatoes. They have saved people in many countries from starvation and made others wayyyyy too fat for their own good :-P. They can be fried, boiled, mashed, mixed with a gazillion other ingredients and pretty much no matter what you do (unless you add liver to them. ICK! No, I know of no liver and potato recipes but I had to throw in my hatred for liver.) they taste wonderful.

One of my favorite ways is dumplings. Dumplings are another thing that each ethnicity seems to have its own way of cooking. I am torn between German Potato Dumplings and Gnocchi for favored way of eating them. Tonight I played around with Gnocchi. While I love them just slathered with four sticks of butter (WHAT?!) and 3 pounds of cheese, I went a different route tonight. I probably could have used another package of Gnocchi because the final plateful has more other things than it does the dumplings :-p It’s chock full of fresh Asparagus, Portabello mushrooms, Shallots, garlic and chopped ham. It would make either a nice side dish or a fairly hearty meal on its own.It’s simple to make and delicious to eat. I would say though that if you’re really wanting the Gnocchi to be the focal point, either cut down on the other ingredients or double the Gnocchi. personally, as much as I love Gnocchi, I enjoyed it with the full helping of the Spring like Asparagus and the mushrooms and ham. YUM!

GNOCCHI WITH HAM, PORTOBELLOS, SHALLOTS & ASPARAGUS

  • 1 16 ounce package potato gnocchi, cooked, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking water
  • 1 lb fresh Asparagus, woody ends cut off and the rest cut into bite sized lengths
  • 1 8 ounce package portobello mushrooms, sliced
  • 8 ounces chopped ham
  • 1 shallot, diced
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  1. Cook Gnocchi as directed on package. Cover and set aside while you make the veggie/ham part of the dish.
  2. In large pan melt the butter. Add in the asparagus, mushrooms, garlic, ham and shallot. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the asparagus is crisp tender.
  3. Pour this mixture in with the gnocchi. Add the 1/4 cup of reserved cooking water and the Parmesan cheese and mix well.

When You Don’t Have Time To Make Lasagna…

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…this makes a good substitute. It’s not a gorgeous five star restaurant dish but oh my is it tasty. It’s homey and cheesy (and really? Need I say more if I’ve said cheese?) and comforting and appeals to adults and kids alike. Which is always a plus when you have kids and don’t feel like listening to “Ewwwww… what is this?! It’s…it’s…it’s GREEN!”

When I was a kid, I loved the canned Chef Boyardee cheese ravioli. Yes, I admit it. I even admit to having a liking for it now. Sometimes. As well as the mac and cheese. Ok, I admit it again!!!! I just like canned pasta of any sort! I also like Spam, Vienna sausages and canned chicken and dumplings. Hello, my name is Janet and I am a “preservative-holic” Sigh. I can kiss my followers goodbye can’t I? But really, there is something comforting about the mild taste and childish appeal of them. The canned pasta that is. Also, they have so many preservatives in them, that if you eat enough, you’ll be like Dick Clark and never age. I have it on good authority (as they say in the Enquirer, “we heard this from a close friend of the family”) that this is how Dick keeps his eerily youthful appearance. Canned pasta, Twinkies and Cheetos and Botox. Lots of Botox.

As I got older though, I discovered frozen and homemade ravioli. Homemade ravioli is saved for that one day a year or so when I’m feeling really ambitious. If I had a pasta machine, maybe it would be three or four days. but without one, hand rolling pasta is a bitch and a half. Seriously. Though I do love me some homemade egg noodles. So frozen ravioli comes in handy. Again, especially when you have kids. open the bag, toss it into a pot of boiling water and a few minutes later, you have what is actually quite good ravioli. So it was only natural for me, with my fetish love for cheese, that I combined cheese ravioli and cheese… massive amounts of cheese, covered in more cheese and served with a side dish of cheese. I suppose you could use beef ravioli in this, but…why would you WANT to? Just sayin’.

This goes together so easy it’s scary and again, it may not be the fanciest dish in the world but one of the things I promised when I started this blog was to help you with the basics too. this is pretty basic. if you can open jars and boil water without burning the house down, you can make this. So make it. Enjoy the cheesy goodness. 😀 This can be easily cut in half if you’re not feeding an army. You can also add a pound of cooked and sliced Italian Sausage or some cooked ground beef to this to make it meaty.

MASSIVELY CHEESY RAVIOLI CASSEROLE

AKA LASAGNA WANNA BE

  • 2 25 ounce bags frozen cheese (or Beef I suppose) ravioli
  • 1 jar spaghetti sauce (just use your favorite and don’t even try to tell me you only use homemade sauce and have never used jarred. 😛 )
  • 1 15 ounce can fire roasted tomatoes
  • 1 6 ounce can tomato paste
  • 1/4 cup chopped basil (or half a tube of the squeeze tube kind.)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder (yes, you can use fresh for both the onion & garlic, but that defeats the “I want something fast & easy” idea)
  • 1 1/2 pounds shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Cook the ravioli as directed on the bag.
  3. Drain and set aside. In the same pot (why dirty more dishes right?) mix all your other ingredients, except for one cup of the mozzarella cheese and all of the Parmesan. Add the ravioli to the sauce mix and stir gently. You don’t want to mash up the ravioli just mix it with the sauce. Top with the reserved cheeses.
  4. Pour it all into a lightly greased (or better yet, foil lined because of that “why do more dishes” thing) 3 quart baking pan. As I always say, try to use glass because glass doesn’t pick up off tastes like metal can. and bake at 350 until golden brown and bubbly, about 30 to 40 minutes. Eat. Enjoy. Buy more cheese. Repeat.

 

Nobody Knows The Truffles I’ve Seen

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The Truffle Towers? Maybe The Leaning Tower Of Truffles? 😀

*Watches in horror as all my readers groan and block my site*

Uh oh. I’m in truffle now! 😛

Ok, ok, I’m done. But if you’ve been reading me for a while, you know it won’t last. I’m always causing truffle. Hehehe. I’m glad I amuse myself because I can see all the eye rolling going on even through the internet. 😀

I’ve never understood why the candy truffle is named after the ultra expensive fungus Truffle. Beyond the fact that both tend to be outrageously expensive (I paid $14.00 for a small bottle of Truffle oil. Fourteen dollars! I keep waiting for that stuff to spew out recipes using it, cook them and then clean the kitchen for that price!) I don’t care what anyone says, they look nothing alike.

Here are Black Truffles.-

Here are dark chocolate candy truffles-

Nope, nope nope, not the same. The first I might use to make an elegant Risotto. The second I would hide in a box marked with the words “Old Underwear”. It would go under my bed and only be brought out late at night when all the males in my household were snoring.

Since we haven’t won the lottery yet, I have had to learn how to make homemade truffles (the candy, not the fungus though if I had the fungus nearby, I could sell it and buy the candy 😛 ). For the most part, they are far simpler to make than people realize. They can a bit more complex if you go to the trouble of dipping them into a liquid chocolate coating but for “let’s make these bad boys quickly because I want to eat them NOW” pleasure, rolling them in cocoa does the trick. I made one change from the typical though. I don’t care for the taste of unsweetened cocoa on its own, so I mix my cocoa with some powdered sugar to cut the bitterness.

People tend to think of making truffles only around the holidays to add to gift baskets or cookie trays but in all seriousness, they are a perfect sweet to make any old time. They are so easy, can be made with so many variations to fit what you’re craving at any given moment and last a long time if wrapped tightly and kept in the fridge. Not that they WILL last because you’ll be sneaking them every five minutes, but the potential for long term storage is there. 🙂

This recipe makes a LOT, so feel free to cut it in half. I make a lot because I tend to give some away and this way, I can placate my teen boys if they walk in while I’m making them by putting some in the fridge for them…. and hiding the bulk of them. Yes, yes, I’m evil that way.

One tip- make sure your truffle mixture stays COLD. When it starts to warm up, any shaping you try to do is going to end up all over your hands and while that can be tasty, it IS messy. So work fast and put it back in the fridge as needed to get cold again. I made Chocolate Raspberry truffles because that is one of my favorite flavor combos, but you could sub any flavor of jam you prefer or even leave it out altogether. If you leave it out though, add an extra 2 tablespoons of cream to prevent your mixture from being too stiff to work with.

CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY TRUFFLES

These aren’t the prettiest candies in the world, but I promise you; you won’t care.

  • 1/2 cup Heavy cream
  • 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (you can also use bittersweet or milk or a mix of types. I used an equal mix of semi sweet and milk)
  • 1/4 cup butter, cut into bits and softened
  • 1/2 cup raspberry jam, preferably seedless
  • 2 tablespoons raspberry liquor or 1/2 teaspoon raspberry extract (optional)
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar
  1. In a medium saucepan bring to the cream just to a boil over medium heat.
  2. Remove from heat.
  3. Add chocolate, stirring until smooth.
  4. Let cool slightly and add butter, bit by bit, stirring until smooth.
  5. Stir in jam, Chambord and a pinch of salt and transfer to a bowl.
  6. Chill, covered, for 4 hours, or until firm.
  7. Form mixture by heaping teaspoons into balls and roll in cocoa powder. A melon baller works wonderfully for this step. If the mixture has softened up too much to roll easily by the time you finish scooping it, chill the balls for about an hour, then continue with the rolling them in cocoa step.
  8. Chill on a baking sheet lined with wax paper for 1 hour, or until firm.
  9. Keep in an airtight container, chilled, for up to 2 weeks. Or that container marked Liver that I’ve talked about before works well too. 😀 You HAVE made your “Secret Stash Liver Container” haven’t you? Right? Right?

 

Say Grrrr With Me!

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I think that anyone who cooks has certain things that either drive them batty as they do them or that they are just scared to even attempt. Normally, there isn’t much I won’t attempt to cook but I have to admit, working with puff pastry has always terrified me. I’m not sure why. I mean, I know what it is and I even know how it’s made. But the delicate flakiness of things made with it has always scared me away. I just knew I would mess up. Well, guess what? I was right. :-P  Weren’t expecting that were you? You thought I was going to say that I no longer had any fear and that I had mastered working with the buttery devil named puff pastry. Nope. But… maybe.

I can’t say I have mastered it. I have tried to make a tart shell three times and all I end up with is one hell of a puff pastry balloon. Yes, I prick it all over, but it still rises and in no way resembles a shell. A flaky doughnut maybe, but not a shell. Mind you, the doughnut thing had me half tempted to fill it with a thick cream and call it a puff pastry doughnut and I may still do that, but you can’t use that as a tart shell. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong but I will not be defeated!!! They may take my puff pastry but they won’t take my freeeeedommmmmmmm!!!!

Erhmmmm. Sorry. As usual I got a bit carried away. Plus, now I want to break out the DVD of Braveheart and watch it. All except for the one scene where Mel Gibsons girlfriend gets her throat slashed. I always close my eyes for that one. I’m a violence wimp.

Back to puff pastry. So I gave up on the tart shell idea… for now; JUST for now and I decided to make Napoleons. I know…. first grade puff pastry work but it still tastes fantastic. Add in some juicy lime scented berries and a white chocolate pastry cream and this is heavenly. Also approximately 70000 calories but if you drink a diet coke while you’re eating it, it negates all the fat and calories 😀 So don’t be a timid wuss like me.  Break out the puff pastry and make this. And…ummm… if you figure out how to make a tart shell that doesn’t look like you need to attach a string to it and give it to a small child, let me know 😛

Napoleons With White Chocolate Pastry Cream & Lime Scented Berries

White Chocolate Pastry Cream-

  • 1  cup milk
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise or one teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 10 to 12 ounce bag white chocolate pieces (I used Ghirardellis)

 

  1. Place the milk, half the sugar and the vanilla bean in a saucepan over medium heat.
  2. Combine the egg yolks and the remaining sugar in a bowl and whisk until light in color. Add in the flour and the salt, mix to combine.
  3. When the milk just begins to boil, remove from heat and remove vanilla bean. Very slowly dribble the hot milk into the yolk mixture, stirring all the time. When about half of the milk has been added, place all of the yolk mixture into the saucepan over medium heat. Using a spatula or a whisk, mix the pastry cream as it heats, making sure to reach all of the corners of the pan when you stir. Bring the mixture to a boil. Let boil for about 1 minute, stirring constantly. The mixture will be thick.
  4. Remove from heat and add the butter and white chocolate. Stir until the white chocolate melts. This can take a few minutes. Strain if you wish for a smoother cream. Place into a bowl and cover directly with plastic wrap to stop a skin from forming on the cream. Chill and use within a few days.

Puff Pastry Squares

  • 17 ounce package frozen puff pastry, thawed
  • coarse sugar for sprinkling
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease 2 13×9 baking sheets
  2. Lightly flour a board or counter. Unfold one of the pastry pieces onto the floured board. Cut in half lengthwise down the middle then cut each half in thirds (the fold lines help in that). Place the six pieces onto one of the greased pans and sprinkle liberally with the sugar. Do the same with the other piece of pastry. If you can, place both sheets on the same shelf in the preheated oven. If not, halfway through cooking, rotate the pans so one isn’t closer to the heating element for the whole time. Cook until golden brown, about 20 minutes.
  • Lime Scented Berries-
  1. 1 16 ounce container fresh strawberries
  2. 1 six ounce container fresh raspberries
  3. 1 six ounce container fresh blueberries
  4. 1/3 cup sugar
  5. juice and zest from one small lime
  • Cap and slice your strawberries. Mix them and your other berries in a large, preferably glass, bowl. Add the sugar, lime juice and zest and let sit for at least one hour to give the flavors time to blend.

Putting it all together-

  • Get out some pretty dessert plates. You heard me. This deserves better than your old chipped corelle plates. Believe me, I know. The one I plated on the pretty plate tasted better than the one I put on..well… the old chipped corelle plate. It was”The Pretty Factor” at work 😛 I am giving the direction for normal people here not the directions for the dessert in the bottom photo which was made for a 14 year old boy who actually asked if I could just dump the whole bowl of fruit and some pastry cream in my 2 quart plastic bowl for his share. God help me.
  • Take a pastry square and carefully slice it in half. Put the bottom half on your (pretty) plate. Top with some pastry cream and berries, Lay the other half of the square on top and top with more pastry cream and berries. See how easy this all was? Seriously though, the hardest part of all this is making the pastry cream because it takes watching. Otherwise, this tastes impressive, looks delicious but isn’t difficult at all.

This is the "Made for a teenage boy" version.