Rainy Day Cookies

Rainy weather for a couple of days had me feeling blue. Naturally, I thought baking would perk me up and help pass the rainy afternoon with Keagan. I decided on some oatmeal cookies from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. First I had to check my plain oats supply, and measured out exactly the 2 cups the recipe called for- whew! Once again I used "white whole wheat" flour because it is what I have been baking with most of the time now and I have been happy with the results. What I liked about the recipe in particular, was the use of not only cinnamon but ground cloves to spice up the cookies. I'm a fan of spices is many baked goods, and I would have perhaps thought of allspice or nutmeg to go with cinnamon, but the ground cloves added a very poignant note. Of course I opted to add some craisins to half the dough and chocolate chips to the other half- I mean, come on, plain oatmeal cookies? I was very pleased with how they turned out, even with some toddler measuring skills going on (I still have to get the dust pan out to sweep up the spilled sugar). They definitely perked me up on this gloomy day, and I even wrapped up one of each kind in a cellophane bag for each of Keagan's playgroup moms and plan to deliver them tomorrow in the hopes of bringing some smiles to friends' faces. (Don't you wish you lived in my neighborhood now?)

Loaded

I love potatoes. Aside from under cooking or whipping until they are glue, there are very few things that can be done to potatoes to make me not want to eat them. I saw these gorgeous, perfectly shaped russets at the store and immediately thought "loaded baked potato." These also would have made fantastic twice baked potatoes- but I wasn't feeling quite that motivated. Actually, I ended up cheating the cooking time a bit by microwaving the potatoes for about 6 minutes before putting them in the oven just because the afternoon got away from me and potatoes this size could easily take almost an hour to cook in a 350-375 oven. The microwaving works wonders and as long as they are finished in the oven- you can't really tell the difference. If you cook them all the way through in the microwave sometimes they can come out a little more mushy and translucent rather than fluffy and white. (Have you ever had a baked potato at Wendy's? Kind of like that!) One thing I always do though is prick them a bit to let some steam out, and I put some olive oil and a good sprinkling of kosher salt on them as well to add some flavor and I think it crisps up the skins a bit more.
To prepare the toppings, I chopped up some bacon and cooked it in a pan until crisp. Chopping it first makes it cook faster and you don't get any under cooked fatty pieces from shrinking strips that form those wave shapes that are hard to cook evenly (If I want bacon in strips I cook it in the oven, not a pan, but that's another post ;)). Then I just washed and chopped up some scallions. Some people may be a fan of chives, but I prefer the added texture of scallions. This time around I went with sour cream for the dairy, but I have been known to put both butter AND sour cream on if I'm feeling particularly unhealthy ;) A bit of additional salt (just table salt this time, not Kosher) and these taters were good to go! They were practically a meal on their own.

I want my baby back, baby back, baby back...

Well, actually, these were St. Louis style ribs, not baby back. I usually buy St. Louis because there is more meat on them and they are cheaper. Perhaps not quite as tender at baby back, and with a bit more fat on them, but still my preferred cut. I learned the technique for making them from Alton Brown. You start by making a dry rub and coating the ribs with that and letting them rest in the fridge for a couple hours- on some aluminum foil with another sheet on top crinkled at the sides to make a packet (you will be adding liquid to this packet to cook them). I erred with the dry rub a couple times until I realized the recipe said "this makes several batches of rub." Using all the rub makes VERY salty ribs and sauce, so don't do that! I have, however, substituted some of the spices for others in his rub and have had good results. The rub is all about the ratio of salt to sugar to spices, not necessarily which spices you're doing. Once on vacation, I wanted to make these for Erik but didn't have the recipe with us and I messed up the ratio of salt to sugar- which is 8 tablespoons sugar to 3 tablespoons salt. I reversed it. Again- WAY too salty, don't do it! It may have been the one meal I've made for Erik that he didn't actually eat.
Once you're ready for the oven, you make a braising liquid for the ribs. This has white wine, vinegar, chopped garlic, honey and Worcestershire sauce in it. You pour the liquid into your aluminum foil packet and bake at 250 for 2 1/2- 3 hours. When the time is up, take the ribs out and pour the liquid into a sauce pan to reduce it. Mr. Brown just uses this sauce as is (once reduced) for glazing the ribs and dipping later. I decided I wanted a bit more body to it this time around and made a more traditional BBQ sauce by adding molasses, more honey and tomato paste. It was fantastic! The sauce gets brushed on the ribs and they are finished off under the broiler till a nice crust forms. Beware: this usually smokes a bit, as the aluminum foil has bits of juices, etc on it that burn quickly. In the summer- finishing them off on the grill is fantastic too. This technique always yields flavorful, tender ribs. Next time you see racks on sale, I highly recommend trying it!

Tacos Grande

Ground beef (80/20) was on sale this week and in 1lb packages, not the deals where you have to buy 4-5lbs of meat for the sale price. Suddenly, images of hot, crispy tacos entered my head and I was sold! When I browsed the taco shell section, I was struck by a memory of a TV ad for shells with a flat bottom for standing them up while stuffing, so I bought that kind to try it out. Dang advertising! In practice, they were really just like roomier taco shells, once you start eating one, you don't really put it back down to stand up on its own again, so I am not sure if the flat bottom is a "breakthrough" for tacos everywhere (although it did make it very easy to pose my taco for a pic!).
For stuffing my tacos, I like to saute some onions to go into the meat. I used a McCormick taco seasoning packet, but after studying what was in it, I think I can go it alone next time. I used to use their chili packets as well, but now have a stocked spice shelf for such endeavors and the taco seasoning really isn't too much different. For toppings I had some shredded cheese, iceberg lettuce and sour cream. Sometimes we also do some salsa or just chopped tomatoes, and if I'm getting really crazy I also do some refried beans. To me, the cheese, lettuce and sour cream are essential though. You need the crisp, fresh iceberg and the dairy to balance out the spicy, hot meat filling.
Sadly, my pregnancy-related heartburn was NOT pleased with this meal... sigh... but that's what Tums are for!

This could be good... or terrible

Sometimes I like to use a recipe as a guideline and then experiment off of it- who doesn't?! That's what cooking is all about right? Usually when I do this I warn Erik "this could be good, or terrible, I have no idea."
This week it was a recipe for a creamy chicken dish that was finished off with mushrooms. As stated before, mushrooms aren't my favorite, and I didn't have any, but I did have two small zucchini that needed to be cooked. The original recipe didn't put the mushrooms in the casserole dish for baking, but sauteed them separately and just put them on top at the end... where's the fun in that? The beauty of a casserole is to mix up a bunch of stuff, put it in the dish and bake it off! Dinner done! I do, however, wish I had sauteed the zucchini just a bit before adding it to the casserole to give it a bit of color and some caramelized edges- that will be for next time. (I also make notes on recipes when I change things and how to do it again.) The original recipe also called for poaching the chicken (boneless, skinless breasts) to cook it through before adding it to the casserole... not my style. Why not get that lovely browning from cooking it in a pan beforehand? It's also easy to add some seasoning to it when you do it that way, rather than just bland boiled chicken. I should mention, the original recipe was a "healthy" cookbook, which may explain the poaching (no added oil to a pan). After the chicken was mostly cooked, I added chopped onion and diced garlic to the pan to cook down and add flavor to the chicken. When the chicken was cooked through, I removed it from the pan to a cutting board and let it cool just enough to handle. Back in the pan I added some flour (to make a roux for thickening), then whisked in some white wine and milk, cooking until it thickened a bit. Then the recipe added Parmesan cheese (no objections here!), some thyme and salt and pepper. I cut the chicken into bite sized chunks and added it to the casserole dish. Before adding the cream sauce, there was one more intriguing ingredient- a can of artichoke hearts, roughly chopped. After the chicken, zucchini and artichokes were together in the dish I poured the sauce over and baked with a glass lid on at 350 until bubbly. I served it over some rice pilaf.
It was definitely not terrible ;) I loved the tanginess of the wine and artichoke mixing with the creamy, cheesy sauce. The zucchini still had some bite, almost crunch, to it, which I like- I hate mushy zucchini- and since the rest of the ingredients are rather soft, it was a necessary texture enhancer. There is something so satisfying about casseroles in the Winter. It's definitely one of my top five comfort foods. As long as it's not too warm outside to turn on the oven, I'm happy with a good casserole.

Ahhhh... lunch

One of the (many) perks of being home during the day is the ability to make a nice lunch for myself when I have a whim to do so. (Mostly, I opt for leftovers from dinner the night before.) I had bought a large "family" pack of chicken breasts the other day and rather than freeze a bunch of them, decided to whip out my table top grill (a knock-off George Forman type) and grill up a couple breasts. If I'm going to make the effort, I figured I might as well do more than just the one for this lunch- that way I'll have tomorrow's lunch (or even dinner) mostly done! To prep the chicken I sprinkled both sides with salt and a Mrs. Dash garlic and herb mix that I really enjoy. I stay away from fresh cracked pepper on the grill because it tends to burn. The nice thing about these grills is that they work on both sides at once, so a chicken breast cooks in just a couple minutes. I also use a bit of cooking spray made for grilling (i.e. to withstand high temps) on the grill surface. It is a "non-stick" grill, and for something like steak I don't bother with this, but chicken is so lean and occasionally decides to lose an edge to sticking.
I had a lovely bag of mesclun greens in the fridge so I made up a salad with that, pea pods, carrots and some frozen (and briefly cooked in the microwave) corn. It was a beautiful salad with the warm (can you see the steam in the picture?) chicken on top, and made a very scrumptious lunch.

Fondue Part 2

With the leftovers from fondue night, I made a cheesy casserole. The ingredients were just so perfect for it, I couldn't resist. I had kielbasa, broccoli, cauliflower and potatoes. I started it much like the fondue- making a rue, adding some wine and then some milk until thick and smooth. Then I added some Swiss, cheddar and American cheeses. I poured this into the dish with the leftovers in it and then topped with some Parmesan cheese. Everything was already cooked, so I just put it in a 350 oven until warm and bubbly. Erik said to Keagan "Look, Mommy sneezed and there's a casserole."

Family Birthday Dinner

The last two weeks in February is basically like a second Christmas in my family because my mother, father, sister and niece all have their birthdays. I had them all up at our house last night for a celebratory dinner. Inspired by the fun fondue night we had on vacation I decided to give it a whirl myself. I figured it is pleasing to everyone (my sister being a vegetarian, it's easy to have meat and meatless dipping options) and doesn't involve a ton of cooking while your guests are there, leaving me more time to visit with my family.
I've only made chocolate fondue on my own before, so I scoured the internet for recipes. I found a very simple recipe that called for Emmenthal (a Swiss), Gruyere and cheddar cheeses. It also called for white wine, and a some flour and butter to make a rue. I know traditionally, fondues often call for Kirsch (a cherry liquor), but since I didn't have a bottle, and wasn't psyched to go spend the money for one that I probably wouldn't crack open again for years, I was happy to have a recipe without it. Other traditions with fondue include a pinch of nutmeg (which I did include) and rubbing the bottom of the pot with garlic before putting the cheese in (which I didn't do, but would try next time because I think this recipe could have used a bit more pizazz).
Having decided on my main course, I went searching for appetizer ideas. I wanted to do some fun things that were knew to my family. I found two simple, crowd-pleasing recipes in Paula Deen's Cookbook "The Lady and Sons." I highly recommend picking up a copy because she has some fantastic, easy recipes with ingredients that are not hard to come by. My first choice was spinach and feta stuffed mushrooms. The second was hot crab canape. To round off my appetizer table, I went with a (store bought) hummus and pita. This assured everyone would find something they liked (and other than a couple tablespoons of the canape, there was nothing left when my family was done).
I had never made stuffed mushrooms before. Mushrooms are not really my favorite- there is something about their spongy texture that wigs me out when I bite into them. When they are cut up and cooked down in things- like a pasta sauce, I don't mind. But they are not something I willingly put on things like pizza and salad. I tried to keep an open mind though, and knew my family would enjoy the offering. I hand-picked crimini mushrooms (also known as "baby bellos" as they are actually immature portabello mushrooms) from a bin at my favorite produce shop so that they would all be of relatively equal size. The brown crimini mushrooms have more depth of flavor than white button mushrooms. To prep the mushrooms I took the stems out, and used a small pairing knife when necessary to make sure the cavity inside the mushroom had plenty of room for stuffing. Then I wiped all the dirt off the caps with a damp paper towel. Mushrooms will soak up water like sponges if left to soak, so you don't want to do that for washing them, however, Alton Brown proved on Good Eats that a quick dunk, or a quick dash under running water doesn't give them enough time to soak up a significant amount of water, so you can go that route instead of the wet cloth wipe. The filling was super easy- a package defrosted frozen spinach, well drained, a couple ounces of cream cheese, a few ounces of feta cheese, some chopped scallions and salt and pepper. Just stuff and bake for about 15-20 minutes at 350. I have to admit, even with the texture of mushrooms not being my favorite, the filling was so delicious I couldn't resist having a couple ;)
The hot crab canape was also easy to put together. It involved a package of cream cheese, some crab meat, mayonnaise, chopped onion, horseradish and seasonings. The recipe said to bake it in a shallow baking dish, but didn't offer a size. I looked at the amount of mixture in the bowl and thought my best option would actually be a glass pie plate. The round shape wouldn't make overdone corners of dip and it was a nice shallow vessel. When it came out of the oven the top had browned just slightly and it was just started to bubble a bit on the sides. It was delicious. Paula, I salute you.
For our fondue adventure I steamed some broccoli and cauliflower, cut up two kinds of kielbasa- one turkey, one traditional beef and pork and put them in the microwave for a few seconds to warm, boiled some small red bliss and yukon gold potatoes, and cut up two loaves of crusty bread- one sourdough and one Italian. The nice thing about the dipping options is the don't have to be kept really hot, since the fondue with re-warm them a bit, which means you don't have to rush or time things perfectly. Potatoes also hold their heat for quite awhile, so you can put them out first if you need the room on your stove for others. To make the fondue, I first made a rue, then added the wine and cooked that until it was on a low boil. This gave it a chance to thicken from the rue, and also cooked off much of the alcohol. Then I slowly added the cheeses (shredded) a handful at a time and stirred until smooth. As Papa reminded me- you don't want to stir too rigorously as you can make it a bit "gluey". The result was slightly stringy, but not unwieldy and quite tasty, although I think it could have used a bit more "punch"... perhaps from some garlic next time. In any event, it makes for a very fun and social dinner with everyone gathering around the pot. Fondue may go in and out of style in the culinary world, but it will always be vogue in my house!