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Hello [Tasty] World!
Welcome to my poor excuse for a cooking blog, complete with recipes
and pictures!
I participate in a weekly email/blog called Iron Chef Blogger Challenge with a group of girls. Every week, one girl chooses an ingredient and everyone has to cook/bake with that ingredient and post a blog about it. I joined as an excuse to make myself cook more, and I've gotten pretty into it! I haven't missed too many weeks (grapefruit and like radishes or something got overlooked...) and will be posting future concoctions here. I am still working on re-posting my old blog entries below.
This recipe was adapted (halved, with the topping portions manipulated) for Iron Chef Blogger Challenge's nutmeg week. These muffins were amazing -- I ate two immediately out of the oven, they were so good! Probably not low-calorie, though, so I recommend sharing!
Mix together dry ingredients and set aside: 1.75 cups flour, 1.5 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon allspice, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Whisk together 2 eggs, 1.5 cups light brown
sugar.
Add 1/2 stick melted butter.
Stir in 1 cup sour cream.
Mix in dry ingredients, gradually.
Stir in 1 cup of chopped pecans.
Dice 2 small apples or 1.5 "regular" (based on your grocery's
standards) apples (I used red delicious) into small pieces and stir
into the mixture.
Pour into muffin cups in a muffin tin, 3/4 full.
For the Streusel Topping, mix together: 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 2 tablespoons softened butter, 1 tablespoon flour, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon allspice, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg. Drizzle on each muffin before baking. You may need to double this to have enough for each muffin...or I may have gone overboard, but they were delicious!
Bake for 20 minutes at 400F
Cool on a rack before removing muffins from
baking tin.
Store in an airtight container, and refrigerate after 1 day.
Your muffins will be more attractive, with a nicely cracked top, than my first batch (pictured above) because the first half of steusel I made, I only used 1.5 tablespoons of butter and it was not drizzly and I ended up needing to spread it on with a knife, so it went on really thick. Delicious, though!
Trim the spikes(?)
from sides of your asperagus such that the stems are about
equal-thickness from top to bottom. Saute with garlic, salt, and
almond slivers. Bacon salt is a nice touch, as well!
This is a tasty side to go with garlic mashed
potatoes and a meat dish of your choice.
This biscuits are a heart-attack waiting to happen. You smell breakfast before you even bite into them!
Start by cooking one 12 oz package of bacon (recommendation: low sodium!), cut into 1/2 inch pieces, in a frying pan. Pat dry on paper towels to rid of excess grease.
Whisk together 3.5 cups flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Cut in two sticks of butter (1/2 cup) until the mixture forms small pea-sized balls.
Stir in bacon, followed by 1/4 cup + 2 tablepsoons of maple syrup, and 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of buttermilk. Mix together until the dough comes together (still clumpy). I suggest using flour to help with this process (I used my hands).
Roll out the dough to 1-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Cut into 2-inch rounds (tip: if you do not have a 2-inch cookie cutter, use a 1/4 measuring cup!). This makes about 24 biscuits. You may have to re- gather and roll out the dough.
Chill in the fridge for 10 minutes. While chilling, whisk together egg wash: 1 egg, 1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream.
Brush the egg wash on each biscuit and then sprinkle with 1 pinch of coarse sea salt (note: I did not have coarse sea salt, so that is not pictured...I fail, I know).
Place biscuits 2 inches apart on parchment- or tinfoil-lined cookie sheet(s), and bake for 25 minutes at 350F.
Drizzle 1 teaspoon of maple syrup on each biscuit (note: I think using maple syrup here is important. I used regular pancake syrup from Ralph's, and my biscuits came out VERY sticky. They still tasted good, but I think they could have been greatly improved with better quality syrup). Bake for ~3 minutes more.
Fry 4 slices of bacon. Pat off
the excess grease with a paper towel.
While the bacon is sizzling, prepare the mushrooms: 6 medium-sized mushrooms (washed and dried!). Remove the stems from the caps -- twist and pull.
Crumble the bacon into a bowl. Finely chop green onions (2-3 tablespoons). Add to the bowl. Finely grate mozzarella cheese (2-3 tablespoons). Add to the bowl.
Brush olive oil on the mushroom caps and place on a broiling pan.
Stuff the bacon-onion-cheese mixture into the mushroom caps. Really stuff it in there! Pretend you are at Mongolian BBQ at the mall and want to fit as much frozen meat in as you can so you still have room for plenty of noodles! But...be gentle -- the mushroom caps can split.
Broil for 3-5 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
Cut up 1 head of bok choy,
about 1 inch apart, and set aside.
Cut up 1 bunch of green onions and set aside.
Saute the following in 2 tablespoons of canola
oil:
- 1/2 cup sesame seeds
- 1 cup cashews
- 1 cup slivered almonds
- the chopped green onion
Stir the sauted mixture in with your bok choy.
For the dressing, throughly mix:
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
Drizzle the dressing on the salad and mix in well.
This one is really easy, but the melted brie gets everywhere -- be careful!
For two quesadillas, you will need: 2 large (whole grain) tortillas; 1/2 pound of brie (cut away from the rind so less than that); 1 roma tomato, diced; 1/2 avocado; 3 green onions, chopped.
Melt the brie in the tortillas, folded. Once it is melted, sprinkle the veggie mix in each. Reseal, serve, and enjoy!
Cut 2 square slices
of swiss cheese, and 2 slices of ham, in half diagonally. Make two
stacks with the swiss cheese and wrap each with ham. Cut the rolls in
half so that you have four ham-cheese wraps. Wrap a thin chicken
breast around each ham-cheese wrap, and secure closed as best as you
can with toothpicks, such that you have four meat purses, as shown.
For the breading, set up 3 bowls:
(1) Flour
(2) Egg Wash: 1 egg + 1/4 cup water, whisked together
(3)Seasoned Bread crumbs
First flour, then dip in the egg wash, then coat in the bread crumbs.
Note: In the adjacent picture, it is breaded with finely crumbled
toast, because I neglected to buy bread crumbs. It looks pretty neat,
but it is not very comfortable to eat. I do not recommend it! The
picture on the bottom right I made later with proper bread crumbs.
Place your breaded meat purses on a parchment-
or tinfoil-lined cookie sheet, toothpick-side-up so that the
melted-cheese-leaking is minimal.
Bake for 25 minutes at 350F.
I recommend serving over rice pilaf.
Enjoy!
My mom passed this
recipe on to me, one my aunt taught her. It is full of flavor and
incredibly delicious. It takes a lot of steps of prep, but it is so
worth it in the end!
Recipe coming soon!
Chicken Marsala with Mushrooms
This is a favorite
dish of Kevin's, so we've made it a few times. We've typically had it
with fettucine alfredo and white wine. Pictured is a wine that his
uncle makes(?) in the Philippines with grapes imported from Italy. I
recommend the Merlot of the same label.
Recipe coming soon!
Chipotle-Marinated Steak Tacos
This snack/meal was the product of an
adventure to find chipotle chiles (the Iron Chef Blogger Challenge
ingredient of the week), which resulted in the purchse of chipotle
salsa.
In sandwich bags, mix together: 1 cup chipotle salsa from Trader Joe's + 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. Add thin steaks, zip closed. Marinate in the fridge for 1 hour.
Sear the steak and cook for a few minutes in
the marinate on a frying pan. Slice into small chunks to fill the
tacos.
Cut 1 onion and grill/saute/caramelize.
Toast small corn tortillas on a frying pan to warm them.
Fill the tortillas with the marinated steak chunks, grilled onions, and grated cheese (Mexican blend!). Garnish with cilantro.
Recommended beverage: stawberry margaritas!
The best kind of
crust for cheesecake is a graham cracker crust. However, when I made
the cheesecake pictured below, I only had a regular flour pie crust
that I was trying to use up before it went bad. It doesn't look as
nice or taste as decadent, but the filling is so rich and tangy that
you don't really mind!
Blend together two 8 oz. packages of cream cheese with 2/3 cup of sugar. It is best to soften the cream cheese first, especially if you don't have a mixer (like me), but I recommend using a mixer if you have one.
Stir in 2 or 3 eggs (2/3 of 5 eggs -- you
decide!).
Stir in 2/3 cup sour cream.
Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla.
Stir in 3/8 cup freshly squeezed lime juice and the zest of one lime.
Pour into a pie shell.
Bake for 45 minutes at 350F.
Let cool, then cover and refrigerate over night.
Peanut Butter Brownie Cupcakes
I originally wanted to make
peanut butter patties (the Girl Scout cookie) for Iron Chef Blogger
Challenge's peanut butter week, but I think these were more fun. They
are very rich -- sure to inspure a "Got Milk?" commercial moment!
First, prepare your favorite brownix mix -- I used Ghirardelli Double Chocolate mix, which had chocolate chips mixed in. It called for 1 egg, 1/3 cup water, and 1/3 cup vegetable oil. I also mixed in 1/2 to 1 cup of Reese's Pieces (peanut butter chips would be better, if you can find them at your supermarket).
Pour the mix into cupcake liners in a muffin tin and bake at 350F for about 20 minutes. Do a toothpick test -- if it comes out clean, they are done!
While the brownie cupcakes are baking, prepare the frosting. Note: an electric mixer will work best here. Mix 1/2 cup of butter with 1 cup of peanut butter. Gradually add in 2 cups of confectioner's (powdered) sugar. Add in 3 or 4 tablespoons (or as needed) of milk 1 tablespoon at a time, and beat for 3 minutes to get the frosting nice and fluffy. I added too much milk, I think, and it started to separate from the peanut butter (I used all-natural, which has oil separation, so that might be the real problem) the longer it sat, but I found that refrigerating the cupcakes/frosting prevents this.
Let your cupcakes cool before frosting. Use a star tip if you are feeling fancy (I didn't have a frosting bag, just a ziplock, so I failed at that task).
Serve immediately or Refrigerate. I recommend
serving warm -- it will melt the chocolate chips and Reese's Pieces,
making your brownies gooey and rich, as well as soften the frosting.
Heat 2 tablespoons of canola oil in a large skillet. Add 2 tablespoons of curry powder and cook for 2 minutes.
Add 1.5 lbs raw shrimp + 1 lb sugar snap peas, trimmed (about 2 cups). Cook for 5 minutes.
Add 1 cup coconut milk, 1/4 cup lemon juice, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil and cook for about 2 minutes.
This would be good with rice. When I prepared this, I had just recently learned how to make chicken risotto, so I modified that recipe to make mushroom risotto. Recipe coming soon!
Last Updated: 02-21-2010
Copyright © 2010 by Sara Adkins