Breakfast on a Lazy Saturday

D worked last night, so I got up at 7 and picked him up from the fuels branch. I then came home and promptly went back to sleep. At some point, he came in and went to bed. He'll be out till 4 or 5 this afternoon. I got up around 10, took Diesel for a walk, and then came home and stared in my fridge for a while, trying to decide what to eat. I grabbed the dough with the spanish wrapper that I could only hope was puff pastry, a half empty tub of ricotta cheese, and some cherries. I unrolled the dough, cut it into squares, and let it start to come to room temp. I mixed the ricotta with some powdered sugar, lemon juice and zest and a dash of salt. I then sliced and pitted the cherries. Spooning the ricotta into the squares of pastry, and adding a couple of cherry halves, I pinched them up into little packets, and threw them in the oven at 400 for what eventually turned into something between 20 and 30 minutes. They were so much tastier than I could've hoped! I enjoyed them with a cup of coffee and some milk.

Speeding the No Knead Bread

From my Mom, who got it from Press Democrat

Makes 1 big loaf

Time: About 1 hour, plus 4½ hours' resting

3 cups bread flour

1 packet (¼ ounce) instant yeast

1½ teaspoons salt

-- Oil as needed

1. Combine flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Add 1½ cups water and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest about 4 hours at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Lightly oil a work surface and place dough on it; fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest 30 minutes more.

3. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under dough and put it into pot, seam side up. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes.

4. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Clean Out the Fridge Pasta

Well, my friends mutantly ginormous Zucchini yielded 2 dozen muffins and 2 loaves of bread, and there was still more left over (I shredded it all, remember, because I actually DON'T like zucchini). Well, always looking for creative ways to clean out the fridge, I settled on pasta sauce.

So here is my Clean out the Fridge Pasta

I boiled Whole Wheat Penne.

In a pan, heat some EVOO, and saute some minced garlic. Add as much shredded zucchini as you want. Saute that, too. Dump in whatever you have got. I used a can of diced tomatoes, a scoop of trader Joe's sun dried tomato bruschetta, and some artichoke hearts. Then I just let it bubble away for a while. When the pasta was ready, I dumped it on top.

A side note: I heard that Michael Phelps eats 10,000 calories a day to maintain his body weight, including a pound of pasta for lunch and another pound for dinner. In an effort to understand the sheer quantity of food he eats, I decided to boil the entire pound of penne.

I will be eating it all week long. It is no less than SIX ENTIRE MEALS for me.

Kitchen notes

I have made both of the following recipes in the last 24 hours, and both are excellent.

Zucchini-Chocolate Chip Muffins

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup shredded zucchini
• 1/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS

1. In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Combine the egg, oil, milk, lemon juice and vanilla; mix well. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in zucchini, chocolate chips and walnuts. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until muffins test done.

FIVE MINUTE ICE-CREAM

INGREDIENTS

• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen sliced strawberries
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup heavy cream

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine the frozen strawberries and sugar in a food processor or blender. Process until the fruit is roughly chopped. With the processor running, slowly pour in the heavy cream until fully incorporated. Serve immediately, or freeze for up to one week.

Weeknight Paella

I cut this recipe out of our local free paper, The Link. I haven't had a chance to make it yet, but in honor of my quickly approaching move to Spain, here it is:

Ingredients:
3 C Quick Cooking brown rice
1 C frozen Peas
1 tbsp EVOO
2 chicken breasts, diced
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 oz. cooked smoked turkey sausage, sliced
1 (15 oz) can crushed tomatoes
1/4 tsp each of saffron threads, paprika, turmeric (i don't even know what that IS), and hot sauce (optional)
8 oz (1/2 lb) medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

Instructions
1- Prepare rice according to directions. When removed from heat, stir in peas, and let stand for 5 minutes
2- Heat oil in non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook, stirring frequently, until done. Remove and set aside. Add onion and garlic and cook until tender. Add sausage and heat through.
3- Stir in tomatoes, spices and seasonings. Bring to a simmer, add shrimp. Cover and cook until Shrimp is done. Stir in Chicken and brown rice, and serve with pita triangles, crusty bread, etc.

Mini Margarita Pies

1 pkg Refrigerated Sugar Cookie Dough (Pillsbury or Nestle break and bake 20 count)
1 pkg cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
1 or 2 limes
8 oz container of cool whip
Pretzels (optional)
Strawberries (Optional for garnish)

Cut each of the dough cookies in half. Roll into a ball and place in Mini Muffin Pan. Press with floured Mini Tart Shaper (or something that will form them into little pie crusts). Bake cookies at 375 for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool for about 1 minute, then REPRESS because they will start to collapse.
Remove from Pan to Cooling Rack. Meanwhile, combined softened cream cheese with powdered sugar. Zest lime. Cut lime in half and press with Citrus Press. (Add both limes if you prefer lots of lime flavor!) Mix it all together. Add in Cool Whip. Pipe filling into cups however you can get it in there. If desired, add chopped pretzels to cup before filling (to add a bit of salty flavor), OR stick a pretzel stick into each cup. Garnish with strawberry slice if desired

Tirmimousse

(another TJ's recipe)
(also, I don't HAVE my cookbook, so I'm going to try to remember the recipe but it might change after I get it back from my friend)

You will need:
1/2 tub mascarpone cheese
2 tbs Marsala wine
Approx 14 oz of DARK chocolate (I used 71% cocoa)
Instant coffee
2 TBS hot water
1 pint heavy whipping creme

I *think* that is everything. Use the water to turn the instant coffee into coffee. Blend together everything except the chocolate in a blender or food processor. Melt the chocolate. I put the chocolate in a glass bowl, and put the bowl in a pot of hot/boiling water. When the cocoa is melted, dump it into the mixture and stir it until everything is a melty gooodness. Dump it into glasses and refridgerate for 2+ hours. If you would like, garnish with a strawberry or a chocolate truffle from Trader joes!

Brownie Pudding Cake

THIS IS THE REAL ENTRY!!!! This recipe is quite deceitful as there is no pudding involved in the process. Hm.... This cake was eaten during an "The Office" marathon with my radical friends. The general consensus was that it's divine when warm, and not as good when cooled down. A quick and easy recipe. Unlike the cream puffs which were terribly hard.

Heat Oven to 350*F.
1/2 Cup all purpose flour
1/4 Cup sugar
3 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 Teaspoon baking powder
1/4 Cup milk
1 TBS cooking oil
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla
1/4 Cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 Cup boiling water

In a bowl add flour, baking powder, 1/4 Cup sugar, and ONE TABLESPOON of cocoa powder. Add milk, oil, and vanilla. Stir till smooth and put in a small baking casserole dishy thing.

Add the remaining TWO TABLESPOONS of cocoa powder and the 1/3 Cup sugar. Gradually add the boiling water.

Pour this mixture over the batter evenly. Bake for 30 minutes at 350F or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.

Eat warm with some vanilla ice cream or sweet cream of some sort.

ENJOY...it's bomb.

ALERT! ALERT! ALLISON!

This recipe is in my "Cooking w/ TJ's" Cookbook:

Perfectly Paired Gorgonzola Quesadillas
4 Tortillas
1 (8 oz) Pkg Crumbled Gorgonzola Cheese (or maybe bleu, for the Obsessed?)
1 Pear, thinly sliced (fresh or jarred [preserved, not impacted])
1 Tbsp Butter
1 C Pear Sauce (i guess available at TJs?)
1/4 C Candied Walnuts

(from here there are a lot of instructions, but what they boil down to is this)
1. Assemble Quesadilla
2. Cook quesadilla (preferably in a cast iron skillet)

Make it and tell me how it is. K, thx.

Tasty Bruschetta Bread

More love from the Trader Joe's Cookbook!

You will need all of two ingredients:
1 bag of Trader Joe's Pizza Dough
1 jar of Trader Joe's Bruschetta (I like the sun dried tomato, others prefer the olive or the veggie)

Preheat to 425. On a floured surface, roll or man-handle your dough into a rectangle approx 6x15 inches (or whatever will fit on your pizza stone/cookie sheet). Spoon about a 1/2 cup of bruschetta down the middle of the dough. As a crowd pleaser, I usually make half olive, half sun dried tomato. Pull up and pinch the sides of the dough to make a long loaf-like thingie. Pinch well, every single one I've made so far has unpinched itself. Lay it on pizza stone (or cookie sheet) seam-side down. The recipe says to bake for 30-35 minutes, I say start checking in the 20 minute range. Pull it out when the loaf looks browny/done. Let it cool for a few, slice into sections and enjoy.

Haiku:
Like the Winter Frost
This Bread has something hidden
Just below the crust.

::::CHALLENGE::::
I think this recipe would be an EXCELLENT dessert if you swapped the bruschetta for a peanut butter/nutella mix. If someone beats me to the punch on this one, PLEASE POST IT. I have one bag of dough left, and peanut butter, but no nutella.

Blue Cheese, Pear & Carmelized Onion Pizza

This pizza was so good that between two of us we ate the whole thing before it had time to get cold. Goes great with beer and movies on the couch on yet another windy and rainy winter evening.

You will need:

1 recipe pizza dough - I cheat and use Trader Joe's pizza-dough, and for this recipe I used whole wheat - makes a medium pizza

1 pear, sliced into thin wedges - I can't imagine any variety of pear that wouldn't work, I had an asian pear which, sliced into smaller wedges, baked up sweet but still firm and juicy.

as much mozarella as you like, shredded - I ended up using one of those individually packaged balls

at least 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or crushed

1/4 cup blue cheese, crumbled - I had a delicious Danish Blue on hand, and as this is the first time I have cooked/baked with blue cheese, I wanted to be sure the flavor would not overwhelm the sweetness of the onions and pear. The general consenseus was that the pizza needed a little more blue cheese, but not by much!

1 medium onion, carmelized - slice, cook in 1 tbls butter and 2 tbls olive oil over very-low-heat for about an hour (stirring/flipping occasionally), then cook over medium-high heat (stirring often) until golden brown

***optional*** about 1/2 cup broccoli, chopped small - I wanted a little extra filler but not too much flavor

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

If dough is refrigerated, leave out at room temperature for 1/2 an hour.

Mix in a bowl about two-thirds of the shredded mozarella with the chopped broccoli, add half of crushed/chopped garlic, mix, set aside.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface - as often as I try for a nice circular shape, I usually end up with a rustic rectangle, which fits better on my lightly oiled cookie-sheet anyhow. Once desired geometry is achieved, transfer dough to cookie-sheet, rub surface lightly with olive oil.

Spread all of the mozarella-broccoli mixture first. Then pears, onions, blue cheese. Top with the last of the mozarella and garlic.

Bake for about 10 minutes

Kimberly's Entry

For the competition: Orzo Salad Soup
Desert to follow this: Chocolate Come Volcano Cake

Weather in Tacoma: Grey, cloudy and constant rain

Box of Orzo Pasta
Halved Slepdido Tomatoes
**Cut up Hearts of Palm- never used ingredient
Artichoke Hearts quartered
Perlini Mozzarella Cheese
Chopped Garlic
Cut Scallions
Olives- as many & as small as you want
Olive Oil- enough to keep the pasta loose
Cut up Sun Dried Tomatoes
Diagonally cut Carrots
Veggie Broth
Butternut Squash Soup
Last bit of pasta sauce at the bottom of the jar

Cook the Orzo in water, the bit of pasta sauce, and a bit of veggie broth. Have a large pot of Veggie broth, butternut squash soup (like half a cup, or as much as you like) and combine all the ingredients and mix. Serve warm with preferred kind of bread for dipping.

This will feed you, and another person for about four meals. You can add and subtract what ingredients you prefer. Jack added some Parmesan cheese on top of his. You can also save some of the mixture from the broth and have just Orzo pasta, if your weather is hot.

Come Cake Brownie Explosion

Box of Brownie Mix
Shredded Coconut
**Coconut Milk—never used ingredient
Powered Sugar

Add your preferred amount of shredded coconut to the brownie batter, and include a dash of coconut milk as well. Bake brownie batter in small bunt cake molds.

When brownies are done baking, let them cool for 15-20 minutes before removing from the mold.
Once removed sprinkle brownies with the powered sugar, follow with the shredded coconut. Fill the center of each brownie with the coconut milk- wala! You have make Come Cake Brownie Explosion! To make more indulgent pour warmed chocolate sauce over the top. Enjoy!!

Holy Hotness!

So, here is my recipe for the Challenge!

Wicked Hot Pasta from Some like it Hot

1 7oz can of Chipotle Peppers in Adobo (I have never cooked with this before)
1/2 C Dry Red Wine
1 Tbsp Tomato Paste
1 1/2 Tbsp Pine Nuts

Cooked Spaghetti
Chunks of cooked chicken (optional)

Chop up the Chipotles. Put the chopped peppers, adobo sauce, wine, tomato paste and pine nuts into a sauce pan over medium heat until warmed through. Add to the pasta. Dump a bunch of cheese on top.

OH MY GOD. It's delicious. And roughly the hottest thing ever made! Review to follow!

Hotter than Hades,
the Cheese doesn't help to cut
Though the searing pain

Best Cookbook EVER

This is an incredible and fantastic cookbook. You want it.

Super Easy Yummy Food - Orzo Salad

Check it out-

Boil about 8 oz of Orzo till its al dente. Remove from heat, add some frozen peas to the hot water. While the Peas are warming, in a bowl dump 1/3 c. Olive Oil and Vinegar salad dressing, a package of crumbled feta (i used garlic herb), and if you so desire, fresh mint/garbanzo beans/tuna/whatever turns you on.

Drain the Orzo and Peas, dump into the bowl, mix well and serve.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good, soooooooooooo easy.

Keeping on with the Black Bean theme...

I got this recipe for Corn and Black Bean Salsa from a friend, and I'm addicted.

1 can of FiestaCorn, or whatever its called
1 can black beans
Juice of Lime
some chopped cilantro
some chopped green onion

Dump everything in a bowl. I suggest rinsing the black beans of their goopy liquid. Stick in fridge to allow flavors to "marry, rather than simply co-habitate".

You can eat this alone, although I have had it on grilled shrimp tacos, and let me tell you, it's amazing.

My Corn and Black Bean Salsa Haiku:

Black bean corn salsa,
Tiny hills of yellow, black.
Flavors of summer.

Ow

While making a spicy Thai Tuna salad last night...

(1 can tuna, 3 tablespoons fish sauce, 1 tablespoon sugar, 3 tablespoons lime or lemon juice, 2 chopped green onions, 1 teaspoon minced fresh chili pepper, 1 small chopped shallot, chopped fresh cilantro, 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger, mix well, serve with crackers, or wrap in lettuce)

...I managed to rub my eyes with fingers saturated in serrano chili pepper oils. Good news: I didn't go blind. Bad news: my eyeballs were on fire for a few hours. Next time, gloves. Or get someone else to chop the peppers.

Tater Tot Tastic

So I had to go to a potluck on Saturday. I was also house-sitting and was crunched for time. My friend suggested her recipe of TaterTot Casserole, she said she had the ingredients and said I could cook it there. Problem solved! Everyone loved it, except the veggetarians who didn't eat it.

Rebecca's TaterTot Casserole

1 lb ground beef

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 bag of frozen tatertots

shredded cheese

salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion flakes to taste.


Preheat oven 400 degrees.
Cook the beef. Season it until you're happy. Put in the bottom of a pyrex bowl, or casserole dish. Mix in the can of cream of chicken soup and some shredded cheese. Cover with TaterTots until you're satisfied that it's successfully totted. Cover tots with cheese and bake for 35-40 minutes.

Enjoy......... it's good.

Leftover Salmon and veggies

Toast two slices dark, hearty bread. Mash up leftover salmon with mayo and pepper, spread on one slice of bread. A dollop of mayo smeared on the other slice of bread, then layer roasted veggies. Add fresh herbage as you like (I went for garlic chives) and eat furtively so that no one else can ask for a bite. This is not a meal I ever want to share. :p

Least dirty dishes possible

So let's say every last dish you own is dirty in the sink, and you're not in the mood. But you're dying for a warm, comforting, nutritious meal.

Put some water on to boil (tea pot works just fine), take the last bowl out of the cupboard. Rinse and rip to bite-size pieces some baby bok choy, or other leafy greens (chard, spinach, anything in the family of foliage that is good cooked). Put greens in bottom of bowl, cover in boiling water. Stir with chopsticks for a minute or two. Pour in packet of miso soup, stir, enjoy.