Life 2.1

I have been trying to figure out what to blog lately and honestly, I don’t know what I’ve been doing with my time. As in, how it is possible to have more time and not do anything of substance (read: I’ve done nothing the internet would be excited to read about). Except for adventures in the kitchen, which can be comical. Like the time I tried to make tomato soup and my food processor broke, sending tomato soup all over the kitchen and me. That was solid. Dave asked if I was turning my blog into a cooking blog the other day. I told him not intentionally, but since I like food, I could see why he’d ask that.

The busy season behind us, he and I have time to cook now (or rather, he likes to cook and I like to eat. Grin) so most evenings we can be found making dinner together (I’m an excellent sous chef). Usually at least one night a week, I’ll take the lead in the kitchen but he does such a good job, I’d rather just sit on the counter and watch with a glass of wine in my hand help him.

My parents came over for dinner last weekend. Dave rustled up a roasted chicken and some rosemary potatoes (because I assured him it wasn’t a balanced meal without a carb-licious side starch) and a lovely green salad with pomegranate seeds, pine nuts and a vinaigrette. We had persimmon cookies for dessert.

I handle the baking.

The night before that, we tried our hands at recreating pizzas from Pizzeria Azzurro in Napa. I made the dough the night before (thankyouverymuch Sunset cookbook, for providing the recipe for Delfina’s Pizza Dough) and we got 4 different kinds of delicious cheeses (mozzarella and parm were the obvious choices but we also added in ricotta and chevre, in an effort to recreate Azzurro’s “Formaggio” pizza). We couldn’t remember if the pizza we’d ordered one night had sauce or not (it must have had something besides dough and cheese but we couldn’t remember), so we improvised and in our travels to Whole Foods found a white pasta sauce with porcini mushrooms, so we had a pizza bake-off. Yes. It IS as delicious as it sounds.

Rolling out the dough

Only half of the cheese we used

We made one pizza with the sauce and one without (since I had 3 pizza dough balls to mess with and that was after I had halved the Delfino’s recipe). The sauced pie was the clear winner. The other one, though also tasty, was merely a way to consume massive amounts of cheese. The sauced pizza was a meal. And a delicious one at that. We opted to use the third pizza dough ball to make appetizers for my parents the next night and they were fans too so we knew we had a winning recipe.

And it was pretty easy, as long as you didn’t get the idea to make pizza five minutes before wanting to eat said pizza. The dough can be made the day/night before, which is what we did. Here’s the dough recipe here. I also have the Sunset cookbook, which is what I was thumbing through when the pizza brainstorm came to us but for the purpose of sharing, this works too.

Pizza (pre-baking)

For the pizza, we just pre-baked the pan in a 550-degree oven, because that’s as high as it would go, for 20-30 minutes or so, then got to pizza creating. We sauced them, cheese-ed them and baked them for about 5 minutes before enjoying all that cheesey-dough goodness.

Like an idiot, I didn’t take a photo of them out of the oven, because clearly they looked delicious and I was too distracted by them to remember. But trust me. Yum.

No Comments | In: Delicious-flavored foods | tags: baking, cooking, pizza, recipes. | #

We always do two Thanksgivings in my family. One on the actual Thursday with my dad’s side and the other on what is dubbed Thanksgiving Saturday, which finds us celebrating with my mom’s side. I was off the hook for cooking on Thursday, as my uncle had it all buttoned up in the kitchen. Dave and I donated wine to the cause, because that is always useful.

Saturday, however, I volunteered some desserts. So Friday was spent baking tasty recipes I had seen online or in my travels. I made Pumpkin-Chocolate Bars (saw that one one the TODAY Show one morning before work) and they were festive for the season but I really wanted a chocolate pie.

So I did what I always do when I need a recipe: I opened a google search window.

That’s when I stumbled upon a gem of a recipe for “Gundy’s Chocolate Pie” only, I wanted an oreo crust. Luckily for me, Katie, of Chaos in the Kitchen had a recipe for that too:
Oreo Cookie Pie Crust
Yield: one 9-inch pie crust
prep 10 min, cook 10 min

• 24 Oreo cookies
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Place Oreos in a large plastic zip top bag and smash the heck out of them. A flat mallet or rolling pin works great. You could probably also use a food processor (yep, that’s what I did–worked well, too). Try to get Oreos to a consistent crumby mush. The filling should resemble moist crumbs (if you do this by hand there will be a few larger pieces in the mix, this is fine). Empty crumbs into a mixing bowl and stir in melted butter until well combined. Pat wet crumbs all over and up sides of pie dish, making an even surface. Bake crust for 8-10 minutes or until hardened. Cool before filling.

So, I had my pie crust (chilling in the freezer after baking, actually) and I began working on the chocolate pie.
(adapted from Chaos in the Kitchen)

prep 5 min, cook 15 min

• 1 pie shell prepared and baked (see above)
• 2 cups milk, any kind, but 1% worked well
• 3 egg yolks, beaten
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 5 tbsp flour
• 3 tbsp cocoa
• 2 tbsp butter, chopped
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Combine milk, egg yolks, sugar, salt, flour, and cocoa in a cold saucepan (literally put it in the freezer for a bit). Stir thoroughly to combine. Turn heat to medium, stir constantly until thick but do not boil. Once thick, remove from heat, stir in butter and vanilla. Let mixture cool slightly and pour into baked pie shell. Chill.

So. simply enough, right? Yea. Not so much if you’re impatient like me. See that part above where it says “once thick”? Yea. Get it thick. If you don’t and you’re too impatient, your pie will look like this:

Chocolate Pie Soup

Which is problematic when you have to be somewhere that afternoon with said pie. On the plus side, the crust was tasty (which is why the right side is hacked off…I didn’t screw that part up, thankfully!)

So I went around again for round 2, with Dave running to the store for more eggs for me. The second time around (after many calls to Dave to come look at it and tell me what he thinks of the consistency) we had a winning pie:

Edible Thanksgiving Chocolate Pie

I whipped up some whipped cream (literally) and put it in a tupperware to take with us and thus, the Thanksgiving pie was saved.

No Comments | In: Delicious-flavored foods | tags: baking, chocolate, cooking, pie. | #

It is clearly the busy season in my world. I know this because yesterday was supposed to be my day off this week and I still felt like I needed to get things done so I put in an appearance for a few hours in the morning before coming home to nap, falling asleep with Food Network in the background.

The lobsters lost this battle…and they were delicious.

To that end, I have tried to make time to improve my meals so that they are no longer spent hovering over a sink at 10pm, stuffing my face with whatever is available and needs no cooking. There seriously was a time in the not so distance past that triscuits and pepper jack cheese served as dinner because I was just too damn tired to make anything. Even a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

A few nights ago (I can’t tell you which, because in truth, I don’t even know what today is) I had a craving for lobster macaroni and cheese. I know, right? I couldn’t just crave something normal like spaghetti or a burger.

So I took my recipe from Market Restaurant in St. Helena (a lovely parting gift received when I moved to New Orleans) and added some lobster…with the help of someone who does crustaceans way better than I do. I can’t really get past the idea that they are alive, trying desperately to get out of the stainless steel kitchen sink that is pretty much the equivalent to a slippery ice rink for them. I know they aren’t gonna get out but live creatures with pinchers in my sink y’all.

So.much.food.

So I handled the mac and cheese and my crustacean keeper dealt with the two lobsters that tried (unsuccessfully) to avoid their large stock pot fate.

It wasn’t half bad but it was so decadent and I maybe enjoyed too many pita chips and roasted red pepper hummus while I was cooking it to truly enjoy it. Luckily I have no idea about portions in cooking and we made enough to last us multiple nights of lunches and dinners. And you may note that, according to the picture, we ate at what is known in my family as “Jean Ray time,” mostly because my great aunt would have us for holiday dinners and tell us to arrive at a ridiculously early time but not serve dinner until closer to 8pm. 5 hours of Chex mix later, I would have a beautifully prepared meal that I wasn’t much hungry for. Kinda like this night.

Success!

The mac and cheese turned out pretty well, although it was a lot of rich things in one pot….fiscallini cheddar cheese, lobster, all in a rich sauce. I will say it held up for lunches and dinners in the coming evenings so score one there since I’m fairly picky about what leftovers I will eat. I may have actually OD’ed a bit on it, as the craving was sufficiently satisfied and there was still some left in the fridge, but honestly, I might turn into a bowl of mac and cheese if I eat anymore.

I kept within the genre of cooking massive portions of comfort food last night with tomato bisque (that started out as soup) and grilled cheese but the tomato soup bisque debacle is worth telling in a post of its own, mostly because it ends with me needing a new food processor. I’m sure more kitchen disasters will pop up from time to time and Gordon Ramsey would probably be appalled by some of my methods but at least they make for decent blog posts. I hope to get around to telling it before the week is out. We’ll see how that works out for me.

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For those of you living under a rock, Sunday was the Super Bowl and I decided it was a fine time to break in my new television. Best Buy was having a sale and I had Christmas money and gift cards burning a hole in my pocket so I’m the proud owner of a 60-inch man tv. Yep, 60 inches of high-def glory. It’s spectacular, not gonna lie.

My brother and my parentals hadn’t met G²‘s mom yet so we all converged on my house to watch the game. There was a pool (Mom won 3 of 4 quarters, including the final she isn’t invited back next year) and lots of food. I may have overcooked. Possibly. Just a little bit.

Come to find out, I ♥ crock pots. I used two on SBS: one for chili and one for chicken nachos (recipes to follow below) and I also enjoy football food that’s odd, outta me.

Our menu consisted of the following:

• Slow-Cooker Chili
• Chicken Nachos (made in the crock pot and looking like they might turn into fine leftover enchiladas)
• Spinach & Artichoke dip
• Loaded Potato Skins
• Peanut Butter & Chocolate Crunch Bars
• Assorted meats and cheese
• Fried chicken (*disclaimer: I didn’t make this on Sunday morning. Rather, I had made a ridiculous amount of thighs and drumsticks for dinner on Friday night and they really needed to go to a good home so I busted the chicken out too.)

It was a solid line up of eats, if I do say so myself.

The game was fun and truly, all I asked was that the game wasn’t a blowout so I appreciate the Packers and the Steelers making it interesting. I have tons of leftovers (as does my brother, who took a lot home) especially since it was near 80 degrees on Sunday so hearty chili wasn’t exactly a hit, although I tasted it and was pleased with the recipe, but I think next time I will add more beans.

Here’s the recipe round up for my SBS Party:

Slow-Cooker Chili
Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. ground chuck
• 1 cup of chopped yellow onion
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 2-3 ribs of celery, finely chopped
• 1 large (28-ounce) can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 8-ounce can of tomato sauce
• 3 cans of kidney beans, drained
• 2 tsp. of black pepper
• 4 tsp. chili powder
• 2 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp. garlic salt

Preparation:
In a large skillet, brown the ground chuck and drain the fat. Combine all the ingredients in a crock pot on LOW and let the magic happen. In approximately 7 hours, you will have deliciousness. This recipe has some kick on the back end, so I recommend mixing in the shredded cheese and sour cream when serving. The sour cream will cool the kick without sacrificing the flavor.

Southwestern Chicken Nachos (we used this more as a dip but heap this on top of chips and it could be delish!)
Ingredients

• 1 small bag of frozen corn
• 3 large, frozen boneless/skinless chicken breasts
• 1 16-ounce jar of medium salsa (for those of you who aren’t into spice, trust me when I say medium salsa. Mild just isn’t enough flavor.)
• 1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 8-ounce package of cream cheese
• tortilla chips
• Additional toppings, such as: cilantro, shredded cheeses, sour cream, sliced olives, etc.

Preparation:
Empty the bag of frozen corn onto the bottom of the crock pot. Place the frozen chicken on top of the corn, then cover the chicken with the salsa and black beans. Cook on HIGH for one hour, then reduce the setting to LOW for 4 more hours. Shred the chicken with forks, then mix in the cream cheese until creamy. Now’s the time when you can pile up a platter of tortilla chips then top them with the nachos and additional toppings, but we just ate it as dip with the chips and it worked well. It’s currently being enjoyed on its own in a bowl, in a very cereal-like method of consumption.

Spinach-Artichoke Dip
Ingredients

• 1 14-ounce can of artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• 1 10-ounce package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
• 1 8-ounce container of fat free plain yogurt or, if you’re me, 2 single-serve (6-ounce) yogurts that are on sale 10-for-$5 and just eat the other four ounces
• 1 1/2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup of chopped green onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp of cayenne pepper, plus a sprinkle for the top
• tortilla chips or crackers for serving
• sour cream and salsa (optional, but since we had them on the table anyway…)

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients, saving 1/2 cup of cheese for use later, in a mixing bowl. Pour mixture into a 9-inch pie plate or quiche casserole dish. Sprinkle the top with a little cayenne and top that with the remaining mozzarella. Bake for 20-25 minutes and serve with tortilla chips or crackers.

Loaded Potato Skins
The only thing I hate about potato skins is that good potato I had to basically get rid of to get at the skins. As a big fan of carbs in general, this seems like such a waste! Sigh.
Ingredients:

• Small Russet potatoes
• Bacon
• Shredded Extra Sharp Cheese
• Sour Cream

Preparation:
Preheat the over to 400. Wash the potatoes and with a very sharp knife, cut them in half, long ways (or, hot-dog way, if you prefer). Scoop out the potato (I didn’t do this very precisely, again, because it seemed like such a waste of perfectly good potato insides!) and place on a foil-lined baking sheet, skin-side down until soft (in my oven it was about 30-40 minutes). While the potatoes are baking, begin frying the bacon. Be sure to fry extra bacon in case one of your guests likes to “sample” bacon every chance he gets. When the bacon is done, transfer it to a paper towel-lined plate and save the bacon grease. Crumble the bacon to bits. When the potatoes are done, I fried the skins in the bacon drippings to add a little more bacon flavor. Remove from the frying pan and return to the baking sheet. Top with bacon bits and cheese and bake again for another 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese melts. Serve with sour cream.

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Crunch Bars
Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups of peanut butter
• 3/4 cup of butter,melted
• 2 cups of powdered sugar
• 1 package from a box of graham crackers, crumbled in a ziploc bag to smithereens (I opted for honey grahams, but I suppose cinnamon could be used)
• 2 packages of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preparation:
Beat HALF of the peanut butter and butter until creamy. Gradually add in 1 cup of the powdered sugar. With a wooden spoon, mix in the graham cracker crumbs, 1 package of chocolate chips, followed by the remaining powdered sugar. Spread evenly into a greased 13×9 pan. Melt the remaining peanut butter and other bag of chocolate chips in a saucepan on LOW until melted together and creamy. Spread over the top of the mixture in the pan and refrigerate for at least one hour (unless it’s a freakishly warm, 80-degree day, then keep them chilled for as long as possible so as not to melt in your house in February).

So that was my big Super Bowl Sunday cook-a-thon. I really like cooking. I like it even more when there are people around for whom to cook.

No Comments | In: Delicious-flavored foods, Sports, because, have you met me? | tags: food, football, recipe, Super Bowl Sunday. | #

A new recipe I whipped up, making its debut at the BCS National Championship viewing party I had. Nevermind that the guest list consisted of simply my mom & dad; I’d like to think the recipe was a hit with both of my guests.
Ham & Gruyere Cheese Paninis with Roasted Red Bell Pepper Ailoi

And since they are super easy to make, I’m sharing the recipe in case anyone needs a quick weeknight meal.

Ingredients:
Roasted Red Bell Pepper Ailoi

• 1/3 cup of jarred roasted bell peppers (I like to use Mezzetta)
• 2 cloves of minced garlic
• 1/4 cup of mayo
• 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1/8 tsp. of salt
• 1/4 tsp. of pepper

Sandwiches

• 1/4 cup of butter
• 1/4 cup of fresh Parmesan cheese, finely grated
• sliced sourdough bread
• 1 cup of grated gruyere cheese
• 12 slices of ham*

*I bought a 2 lb boneless ham half; the remainder is good for lunches later on in the week, but this recipe is perfect for leftover ham from dinner too.

Preheat the panini press to med-high.

To make the aioli, dry the bell peppers with a paper towel. The drier, the better, as the liquid from the jarred bell peppers will make the consistency of the aioli runnier. Combine the bell peppers, garlic, mayo and olive oil in a food processor. Blend until smooth. Add the salt and pepper (plus or minus some, to your own taste).

Meanwhile, soften the butter in a small bowl and blend in Parmesan cheese. I used a basting brush to spread the butter and cheese mixture onto the outsides of the sourdough slices. Place 6 of the slices, butter/cheese side down, on the panini press.

Add the shredded gruyere, followed by the ham slices. Take the remaining 6 sourdough slices and spread the aioli on the inside of the bread and place on top of the ham, aioli-side down. Top the other side of the bread with the butter and parm mixture and grill until the bread is a golden brown color. I flipped it after about 2 minutes because I feel like the bottom plate of my panini press runs hotter than the top, but either way, it came out delicious!

I served with sweet potato fries (from my grocer’s freezer section…I couldn’t be trapped in the kitchen the WHOLE game!) with Emeril’s Dipping Sauce (a sour cream/lime-juice/cumin concoction that was quite lovely–if I do say so myself!)

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