Cook. Craft. Enjoy.

Pretty Easy and Delicious

One of my favorite recipes that I don't make very often is stromboli.  Meat, cheese, roasted peppers, sauteed mushrooms and onions all wrapped up in a dough and baked.

This is a recipe that I've had for several years now and even blogged about before but I thought it deserves a repeat.  Really it's a little time consuming, but the end result is worth it.  (And it really is easy to make).  This last time I made it I forgot the cheese inside so that's why I put some cheese on the top of the dough.  I'd really NOT recommend forgetting the cheese -- the cheese does a good job melting the inside ingredients together and helping it stay together to eat as finger food.

See, doesn't that look good?  :-)

Breadsticks

Yesterday was Don's birthday so I told him to decide what he wanted me to cook for dinner.  For me if someone asked I'd probably come up with something exotic and out of the ordinary but he just wanted spaghetti and sausage.  To make it seem I did a little more work then just throw that together I opted to make some homemade breadsticks to go with it.

The unfortunate part?  I thought they'd like the harder kind of breadsticks to dip into their spaghetti sauce but it was received as a "eh, don't do that again".  I'm sure by today they'll be fine (I put them into a zipper top bag to soften up) but last night, while they were eaten, they weren't inhaled.

Up and Running Again

Yeah!  My iMac seems to be back to working again (after replacement of its logic board and hard drive).  All I can say is thank goodness for backups.  Luckily we kept a drive specifically for backups (and it backed up daily) so I didn't lose anything.  And the best part?  I can start blogging again!

This first post back I'm going to share with you what we had for dinner oh, about a week and a half ago.  When my brother comes for dinner I try to do something a little out of the ordinary and that night I decided to tackle coconut shrimp.

There are many, many, many recipes for coconut shrimp out there.  Originally I was going to use the one in my Fried and True cookbook (written by Rick Rodgers) but finally opted to go with one from Emeril on the Food Network site:  Coconut Shrimp with Pineapple Habanero Chutney (it was the habaneros that won me over).

How was it?  Good.  Well, very good.  The chutney had just enough zing to it to spice up the shrimp and the shrimp fried up nice and crispy.  The only change I would make next time is to not mix in the coconut with the batter -- I think it would be better served by dipping it into the batter and then rolling it in the coconut before frying.  Not something I'll make again soon (not healthy at all!), but it would be great for appetizers at a party (as long as I get a bigger deep fryer).

Not for the Health Conscious

Yesterday I was planning on blogging dinner but lo and behold, Adrienne woke up with 103.2 fever and we ended up back at the doctor.  Her strep throat is back and she's now on a stronger antibiotic.  Hopefully this will take care of it and our household can get back to its normal healthy status.  (Yes, I'm DONE with sick kids!)

As some of you know, my latest obsession is WoW (World of Warcraft).  Sometimes when we're not questing, the guild I belong to has a habit of discussing whatever it is that we're eating.  This past week, one of the members has been talking about the cheesesticks his wife makes him.  And not just once -- several times.  So, I decided we were going to have cheesesticks this weekend.  Then yesterday he was talking about eating sliders -- those little mini cheeseburgers -- and that's how this menu was born.

I was informed that he eats the cheesesticks with hot sauce mixed with vodka (weird, huh?) but I just served them with some Cajun hot sauce.  (In all fairness, I was going to add some vodka to just see what it would taste like, but we are out of vodka and didn't think rum would give it the same effect.)

The sliders were just ground beef patties grilled topped with American cheese - simple but effective.  The recipe for the cheesesticks comes from All Recipes and they were fantastic.  I think if I had made more Travis would have kept eating them until he popped.  :-)

Stamp Camp Yummies

While I'll post the fun cards we did tonight at stamp camp in tomorrow's post, I thought I'd share with you 2 new recipes I tried for our "eats".  The first is from Nigella Lawson's newest book (I think it's her newest at least),  Nigella Express:  Banana Butterscotch Muffins.  The combination of banana and butterscotch was great and the outside had a really nice crispy crust to it.  No more thrown away bananas in this house -- this recipe is the answer.

The second recipe I tried tonight was a chili cheese dip.  I usually try to have some type of warm crockpot dip and fall back to Buffalo Chicken dip or an artichoke spinach dip.  Tonight I wanted to try something different and really it was a mistake.  It tasted very institutionalized (does that make sense?) and didn't get eaten much.   Back to the old standby next time.

(Just so you don't think we had all junk food I also put out a tray of fresh veggies and fruit -- that's usually what gets eaten first.)

Weekend Cooking

What did you think about the game yesterday?  It was such a nasty weather day yesterday that we stayed home and goofed off with the game in the background.  I was amazed (along with everyone else I'm sure) at what a low scoring game it was -- and happy to see the Giants win.  (Gotta love the underdog.)

Travis wanted "junk" food for munching on during the game so we had some chips and salsa and I made some sausage stuffed jalapenos.  (The recipe for that can be found here.)

They came out so good -- I got probably 2 of them and the rest Don and Travis ate in record time.

My other cooking project for this weekend was a recreation of Outback Steakhouse's bread.  A couple of weeks ago we went there for dinner and Liam just loved it.  He's been bugging us to go back for their steak and their bread (2 of his favorite foods).  My problem with that is if/when we do go back we have to get him an adult meal -- the kids steak was much too small for his appetite -- and I have objection to spending $20 on a meal for a 6 year old.  Luckily I came across this recipe on Recipezaar.

The only change I made in the recipe was to omit the food coloring -- I figure we really didn't need to add artificial anything to it.  It really is a great recipe and Liam declared it just as good as Outback's (though he did ask why it wasn't darker in color).  I can see this on our menu again soon.

Salsa

Friday when I was at Costco I ran across a cute package of long thin hot peppers.  I can't pass up chiles when they are so cute but I honestly had no clue what I was going to do with them.  I thought about pickling them, but since I didn't want to run to the store for more vinegar I opted for something easy:  salsa.

I don't know why I don't make salsa more often.  It's so much tastier than store-bought and you can really control what good stuff goes in.  I didn't have much in the refrigerator so opted for the 4 ingredient Rick Bayless version.  Delicious!

First, you split the peppers in half and broil them with some garlic cloves.  When they're slightly charred, stick them in your food processor with a little salt and lime juice:

Blend it all together until mostly smooth:

And serve anyway you'd like (hey, where's my tortilla chips?):

Pickled Jalapenos

I was reading Glenna's blog A Fridge Full of Food ... and Nothing to Eat this morning and she has some great photos of corn over there.  Yum, corn.  She wrote that she likes pouring pickled jalapeno juice over the cooked corn on the cob (which, btw, sounds awesome) and I realized I hadn't posted these pictures and recipe yet.

I made these jalapenos to top some burgers we had and then used them to decorate my seven layer dip I served at stamp camp two weeks ago.  The recipe comes from the Bobby Flay book I mentioned earlier ...  Bobby Flay's Grilling for Life.   They were really, really good but it's really true that each jalapeno has it's own flavor and heat level to it.  We had a couple in the batch that we so hot they brought tears to my eyes (and I love hot food).  His recipe keeps them whole but I liked how they came out cut.  Some I sliced into strips and some I sliced into rings.  Next time I'll slice the rings a little thinner -- especially in advance of getting some of those fiery hot ones.

The 7-layer dip was a success too.  Never made it before?  It's simple.  In order, layer a can of refried beans, guacamole, sour cream mixed with some taco seasoning, salsa, shredded cheddar cheese, tomatoes, green onions, sliced olives, and jalapenos.  I guess with the jalapenos it makes it an 9 layer dip.   Whatever!

On the 'fridge note, it's FIXED!!  Now I can actually cook again.... yeah!

Yummy Onion Dip

This is the dip I made for last night's stamp camp.  The only thing I did differently was to finely julienne the onion instead of leaving them in the long pieces -- I figured it would be easier to eat that way.  The caramelizing took about 40 minutes, but the end results were definitely worth it.

Pan-Fried Onion Dip
(courtesy of Ina Garten)

• 2 large yellow onions
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup good mayonnaise

1. Cut the onions in half and then slice them into 1/8-inch thick half-rounds. (You will have about 3 cups of onions.) Heat the butter and oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the onions, cayenne, salt, and pepper and saute for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 more minutes until the onions are browned and caramelized. Allow the onions to cool.
2. Place the cream cheese, sour cream and mayonnaise in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until smooth. Add the onions and mix well. Taste for seasonings. Serve at room temperature.

Recipes Galore

Today we had a friend over for dinner with her two kids ... her husband is out of town and I thought it would be nice to let her get out of the house and have a meal she didn't have to cook.  I made Cajun Chicken Pasta and a salad with Absolutely Fabulous Greek/House Dressing and she brought some yummy bread from Panera Bread.  We had a really great time visiting (and watching her 1 1/2 year old act goofy) and I'm hoping we can do it again sometime (this time with her husband too). 

This morning I did quite a lot of cooking.  I had taken out some spinach to make some deviled eggs but decided instead to take a clue from Claire over at Cooking is Medicine and make Sweetnick's Mom's Spinach Cheese Squares.  I had to half the recipe for the amount of spinach I had but they turned out fabulous!  They'll be on my breakfast table for a couple of days.  My next recipe was for deviled eggs -- but not just any deviled eggs, Greek Eggs.  Those were definitely different, but I like them and they'll be a good snack.  And finally, I made Banana Pudding Squares.  Yum, yum, yum.  A perfect end to a heavier meal.

Spinach Cheese Squares
(courtesy of Sweetnick's, my half measurements in italics)

2 tablespoons butter (1 tablespoon)
3 eggs (1 egg, 1 egg white)
1 cup all-purpose flour (1/2 cup)
1 cup milk (1/2 cup)
1 teaspoon baking powder (1/2 teaspoon)
1 pound shredded Cheddar cheese (1 1/2 cups)
2 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach (1 package)
1 tablespoon minced onion (1/2 teaspoon onion powder)

Preheat oven to 350F. Place butter or margarine in a 9x13 inch (8 inch) baking dish and melt butter in oven. Remove when melted, approximately 3 minutes. In large mixing bowl, beat eggs well. Mix in flour, milk and baking powder. When the dough is well combined, mix in cheese, spinach, and onion. Spoon mixture into the baking dish with melted butter. Bake for 35 (20)minutes. Let cool 45 minutes then cut into bite-size squares.

Greek Eggs
(courtesy of Deviled Eggs by Debbie Moose)

• 6 hard-cooked eggs, peeled, cut in half, and yolks mashed in a bowl
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 6 large Kalamata or ripe olives, pitted and chopped (about 1/4 cup)
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• Lemon slivers, olive slices, or fresh oregano sprigs for garnish

1. Combine the thoroughly mashed yolks with the feta, olives and mayonnaise.  Taste, then season with salt and pepper.
2. Fill the whites evenly with the mixture and garnish each egg with a lemon sliver, olive slice, or sprig of oregano.

Banana Pudding Squares
(courtesy of Kraft Foods)

• 35 Reduced Fat NILLA Wafers, finely crushed
• 1/4 cup margarine, melted
• 1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Neufchatel Cheese, 1/3 Less Fat than Cream Cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP FREE Whipped Topping, thawed, divided
• 3 medium ripe bananas
• 3 cups fat free milk
• 2 pkg. (4-serving size each) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Fat Free Sugar Free Instant Reduced Calorie Pudding & Pie Filling
• 1/2 square BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, grated

1. COMBINE wafers and margarine; press firmly onto bottom of 13x9-inch dish.
2. MIX Neufchatel cheese and powdered sugar until well blended. Stir in 1-1/2 cups of the whipped topping. Spread evenly over crust; set aside. Cut bananas in half crosswise; cut each piece lengthwise in half. Arrange over Neufchatel cheese mixture.
3. POUR milk into large bowl. Add dry pudding mixes. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. Spoon over bananas. Spread with remaining whipped topping. Sprinkle evenly with chocolate. Refrigerate at least 3 hours before serving. Store leftover dessert in refrigerator.