Sesame seed & Seaweed cookies - by Vonne VI

It's Cookies not Cupcake
Sesame seed & Seaweed cookies
(Cookies in cupcake style )
~EGGLESS
~suitable for VEGETARIAN

Ingredients
90g unsalted butter
50g caster sugar
25ml milk
120g plain flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/3 tsp baking powder
1 piece toasted seaweeds(3g) ~ shredded
1tsp white sesame seed
1tsp black sesame seed
( some mixed sesame for topping)~optional
Direction
1)In a bowl beat the butter and sugar untill creamy.Add in the milk and beat another 1-2 minutes.
2) Sieve in the flour,baking powder,baking soda and mixed untill combined with spatula. Add in the sesame seed and shredded seaweed and mixed untill combined.
3) Spoon 1/2 or 1 tsp mixture into the mini cupcake mould, sprinkle some mixed sesame seed on top and bake at 170°C for 20 minutes
4) Take out from oven and leave it cool before keep in air tight container
Done😀

Secret Recipe Club: Thai Peanut Noodles

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned Jess's blog, Inquiring Chef!  I was really excited to get her blog because I'd already poked around on it a bit.  Her blog is just chock full of amazing looking recipes.  I couldn't sleep the day we got our SRC assignments and actually read her entire blog that night, all the way back to when she started it in late 2010!
 

Jess's blog is really interesting, and not just because of the recipes she posts.  She's lived in Thailand with her husband for the past several years.  I absolutely love travel and am fascinated with different cultures, so her blog is a good read!  Jess and her husband also have a pair of pretty much the cutest identical twin baby girls, Molly and Clara.  I even love their names!
 

Anyway, to the recipes.  I marked a good 20 of them as possibilities to make for this blog post.  A couple of weeks ago, I actually made her Parmesan Rosemary Oven Fries, but realized after I made them that she originally adapted the recipe for an SRC post a couple years ago, so I had to pick a different recipe for my post.  No problem, like I said, she has lots of yummy looking recipes.  The ones I considered the most were Chicken and Orzo with Lemon and Olives, Chicken Stew with Rosemary Parmesan Dumplings (any recipe with rosemary catches my eye!), Crispy Scallion Pancakes, Baked Crab Rangoon, Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps, Chocolate Pots de Creme, Light and Fluffy Whole Wheat Pancakes, Apple Rubies in Coconut Milk, and her very simple looking 5 Minute Baked Ziti.  I fully intend on making the ziti, whole wheat pancakes, chicken with orzo, and apple rubies very soon!
 

In the end, I chose Thai Peanut Noodles.  I've made recipes for peanut noodles a few times in the past, and they've ranged from okay to pretty good.  None of them were good enough for me to make again or post on my blog, though.  I'm happy to say that Jess's recipe makes the cut to qualify for its own blog post, even if I didn't have to post about it!

My only changes were to sprinkle the crushed peanuts on top as a garnish instead of mixing them in, and I used canned Chaokoh coconut milk instead of the lighter kind you drink because I didn't catch that I was supposed to use the drinking kind until after I'd purchased a can.  No regrets, though, because the noodles turned out amazing!  Very creamy and delicious with great peanut, coconut, and curry flavor.  Absolutely no complaints, and I intend to make the recipe with the canned coconut milk in the future.  Next time I'll use another half teaspoon of red curry paste (I used Thai Kitchen brand, turns out it's pretty mild) and spaghetti noodles instead of bucatini, but that's it for alterations.

Just want to note, I served these noodles with Salt & Pepper Tofu Triangles and thinly sliced cucumber tossed with seasoned rice vinegar.  Very satisfying dinner!  I can also confirm that leftover noodles are delicious both cold and reheated.
 

Thai Peanut Noodles
 

8 oz spaghetti noodles

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp red curry paste (or more if you want more spice)

1/4 C peanut butter (the typical kind like Jif or Skippy that has a bit of sugar in it)

1/4 C water

1/2 C coconut milk

1 tsp salt
 

for garnish:
finely chopped peanuts

sliced green onion

Cook pasta in lightly salted water and drain.

While pasta cooks, heat oil over medium in a large nonstick skillet.  Add curry paste and peanut butter, and cook until both are melted and mixed together.  Don't cook at too high a temperature or the peanut butter can separate (I had to throw away my first go at it)!

Stir in water, coconut milk, and salt, and cook until sauce is very smooth and slightly thickened, about 2-3 minutes.  Add cooked, drained pasta and toss to coat.  Divide among plates to serve and garnish with chopped peanuts and green onion.

Yield: About 3-4 servings
 

An InLinkz Link-up

Baked Lemon Pasta

This recipe is from the Pioneer Woman blog.  As usual, I changed it a bit, but nothing too drastic.  I have another lemon spaghetti recipe that we love, but this one is different enough to have earned its own tiny spot in my pasta loving heart because it is AMAZING.  I can't even properly describe it, but it's creamy, savory, full of great parmesan flavor, and the lemon is perfect: light and mild within the baked pasta, but with occasional bites that have extra punch because of the additional juice drizzled on top at the end.  This is definitely a new favorite!  I'm even considering preparing just the sauce part and seeing how it tastes spooned over asparagus and other veggies.

I made a half recipe because my husband wasn't going to be eating it for dinner (he had several nights of leftover pizza to work on) and I wanted to try something I didn't think he'd enjoy.  He seriously dislikes angel hair pasta for some reason, is easily overwhelmed with lemon in savory dishes, and has some lactose intolerance issues that are especially bothered by sour cream.  Regardless, he tried a tiny bowl of this and really liked it, too.
 

One last thing- the pasta reheats great in the microwave.  It's a bit firmer, but the sauce part doesn't curdle or do anything weird. 

 

 

 

Baked Lemon Pasta

 
8 oz angel hair pasta

2 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1 C sour cream

salt to taste (I used 1 tsp total)

1/4 tsp pepper

1 lemon, zested and juiced

about 4 oz grated parmesan by weight, divided

about 1/2 C cilantro or parsley, minced
 

Preheat oven to 375 and grease a 1 quart baking dish.  Cook angel hair pasta in lightly salted water, drain, and return to pot. 

While the noodles cook, place the butter, olive oil, and garlic in a microwaveable bowl or cup and heat until garlic is light golden, about 90 seconds.  Stay close by and check on it every 30 seconds to make sure the garlic doesn't burn!  Stir sour cream, 1/4 tsp salt, pepper, the lemon zest, half of the lemon juice, and half of the parmesan into the butter-garlic mixture.  Taste and add more salt if needed.
 

Stir sour cream mixture into the cooked pasta and spoon into the prepared dish.  Bake until some of the noodles are a little golden, about 25 minutes.  Remove from oven, sprinkle with remaining lemon juice, then the remaining parmesan.  Return to oven until parmesan is melted, about 5 more minutes.  To serve,  you can either sprinkle the entire dish with the cilantro, or sprinkle it on individual plates of pasta.

Yield: about 3-4 servings

Mrs Jones' Baked Macaroni & Cheese

As my blog name hints, I am a huge mac and cheese lover and always have been.  I've probably tried more mac and cheese recipes than any other type!  At the same time, I'm pretty particular about my mac and cheese.  A recipe has to be just right to get two thumbs up from me.  Maybe 1 in 8 mac and cheese recipes I try are ones I deem tasty enough to make it to my blog.  Those include the magnificent Creamy Baked Mac and Cheese (my husband's favorite), Beer Mac and Cheese, and Stove Top Mac and Cheese.  I also made Ina Garten's Mac and Cheese for Ina Fridays and enjoyed it, but wouldn't have posted it on the blog if I hadn't made it specifically for that recipe group.

So what I'm getting at here is that I'm always trolling for more mac and cheese recipes, and when I do make one, it has to be freaking fantastic if it's going to join my little mac and cheese recipe family.  Ladies and gentlemen, I'm happy to say there's a new cheesy, noodley member of the family!  The recipe is called Mrs Jones' Baked Macaroni and Cheese and I found it on a blog called Chick in the Kitchen.  I honestly have no recollection of how I came upon the recipe, I just know it was a couple of months ago.  We moved recently and with all the craziness of buying a house, packing, moving, and not being able to use the kitchen for several weeks, I had in the back of my mind the idea that I would make this mac and cheese recipe once I made my way back into the kitchen.  That happy day finally occurred recently, so of course this is one of the first things I made!  Oh and for those wondering, apparently Mrs Jones was the preschool teacher of the cousin of the blog author, Dara, some number of years ago, and the recipe has been in her family ever since. I altered it a smidgen (increased the Worcestershire sauce and added some salt), but my version is pretty true to the original.

Okay, on to what people may actually care about: a description of the recipe.  This is NOT a creamy, saucy mac and cheese.  There's actually no sauce to speak of.  Instead, the cheese, eggs, and milk make a rich, custard-like binder for the noodles.  It's not dry at all, either, and that's coming from someone who loves lots of sauce!  The mac and cheese also has awesome flavor from all of the sharp cheddar and the dried mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and cayenne pepper in the sauce.  All the flavors really work together perfectly.  Even my husband really liked this mac and cheese, and he's a guy who groans whenever I make any recipe other than Creamy Baked Mac and Cheese because he loves that one.  This recipe is definitely a keeper and one I'll still be making 50 years from now!  Thank you, Dara, Dara's aunt, and Mrs Jones!

Mrs Jones' Baked Macaroni & Cheese

1 lb regular or whole wheat small pasta shells (I used Barilla White Fiber)

2 Tbsp butter

1 lb shredded sharp cheddar cheese

2 eggs

12 oz can evaporated (NOT condensed) milk

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground mustard

1 pinch cayenne pepper

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9 by 13 casserole dish.  Boil shells in salted water, drain, and return to pot.  Add butter and stir until it's melted, then let the pasta cool for a few minutes so it won't melt the cheese.  Stir it occasionally so it will cool faster.

While the shells cool, whisk the eggs in a small bowl until smooth.  Whisk in evaporated milk, salt, ground mustard, cayenne pepper, and Worcestershire sauce.

When pasta has cooled a bit, stir in the grated cheese until it's evenly distributed.  Spoon pasta into the prepared baking dish and pack it down lightly with the back of a spoon.  Pour the egg mixture evenly over top.

Bake, uncovered, until the edges are bubbly and the top is golden, about 30 minutes.

Yield: 8-10 main dish servings or twice as many side servings.  Mac and cheese is ALWAYS a main dish at my house!

Ina Fridays: Mac & Cheese

*First of all, please forgive me if the spacing in this post and recent posts is crazy.  Blogger seems to be spazzing out and keeps changing my spacing in already published posts.  How I have it right now looks fine in Firefox and Internet Explorer on my computer, but I'm not sure how it looks on others*

I've joined a new cooking group!  This is a small group that prepares an Ina Garten recipe once a month.  There are guidelines for the type of recipe each month (such as main dish or appetizer), but other than that, we're free to pick whatever recipe we want.  I'm quite fond of Ina Garten's recipes and a couple of them I've been making for half my life (like Rosemary Roasted Carrots and Parker's Split Pea Soup), so am excited at the prospect of trying a new one of my choice each month.  The fact that I can choose which recipe to make is very nice since I can either choose something that fits my dietary requirements, or else pick something to make as a special treat. 

This month's assignment was a main dish recipe.  It only took about 3 minutes of digging through recipes on the Food Network website to find Ina Garten's recipe for macaroni and cheese.  What better first recipe to make for a mac and cheese devotee like myself?  I haven't cooked a pasta dish since September, so was pretty excited to make this! 

  
The recipe was quite easy to make, not any more complicated than other baked mac and cheeses.  I'd never used gruyere, tomatoes, or fresh bread crumbs in mac and cheese and was curious to try them out.  The only thing I changed about the recipe was to cut it in half so we wouldn't have tons of leftovers.  It ended up making a good amount anyway! 

The recipe came together very well and looked great, but I was a bit nervous when I tasted it before sticking it in the oven.  I have an extremely low tolerance for processed cheese/Velveeta, and to my surprise, the sauce had a processed cheese taste and texture.  It gave me the "Velveeta shudder", never good! 

Luckily, it was much better after the stint in the oven, and I ended up enjoying the mac and cheese pretty well.  I think my gruyere was to blame.  There were two varieties to pick from at the store, one was $10 a pound and the other $20.  I really didn't want to spend $10 on a little hunk of cheese, so picked the less expensive one, which was softer.  When I tasted it before grating it, it actually tasted like American cheese to me rather than gruyere!  Now I really want to make it again with the firmer, pricier gruyere in spite of the cost, because I'm sure it will taste better.

The verdict:  Cheese issues aside, this was a really nice mac and cheese, creamy with good flavor.  I didn't need to adjust the seasonings or amount of milk or cheese at all.  The sauce was pretty darn thick, but I wonder how it would be with the better gruyere.  I personally enjoyed the tomatoes on top and the fresh, buttered bread crumbs were really nice.  My husband picked off his tomatoes but thought the bread crumbs were fine, which is a first for him- he usually does not like bread crumbs on pasta.  He rated it 6 stars out of 10, but was raving over it as he ate and had two servings.  I think he'd actually give it a higher rating except that he's extremely devoted to my "signature" mac and cheese recipe (the one the blog was named after, and that he rates "9,000" stars) and was stubbornly opposed to me even making this one.

All in all, this is definitely a mac and cheese worth making if you want something a little different!  My one suggestion would be to buy good gruyere.

Ina Garten's Mac & Cheese

8 oz cavatappi or macaroni

4 T butter, divided

1/4 C flour

2 C milk

1/2 Tbsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp nutmeg

8 oz gruyere (by weight), grated

4 oz cheddar (by weight), grated

1-2 small tomatoes, halved and sliced thinly

2-3 slices bread, crust removed and made into crumbs in the food processor

Preheat oven to 375 and grease a 2 quart baking dish.  Boil pasta in lightly salted water until tender, and drain.  Make the sauce while the pasta cooks.  Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat, then whisk in the flour until smooth.  Cook and whisk for another minute or so, then whisk in the milk in small additions of about 1/4 cup each, making sure sauce is completely smooth before you add more milk.  Cook sauce, whisking frequently, until thickened, then about a minute more.  Remove pan from heat (this is important so the cheese doesn't get gritty), and whisk in the salt, pepper, and nutmeg, then whisk in the cheese a handful at a time until smooth. 

Stir the sauce into the cooked pasta and spoon into the greased baking dish.  Top with the sliced tomatoes.  Melt remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and mix it with the bread crumbs, then sprinkle it evenly over the pasta and tomatoes.  Bake until the crumbs are golden and the sauce is bubbling around the edges, about 20 minutes.

Yield:  About 6 main dish servings (I halved the recipe which supposedly would make 3 servings, but those would be truly gigantic servings!)

Here's a list of the other bloggers that participate in Ina Fridays!

•   Alyce @ More Time at the Table
•   Ansh @  Spice Roots 
•   Barbara @ Moveable Feasts  
•   Bhavna @ Just a Girl From AAmchi Mumbai..
•   Chaya @  Bizzy Bakes
•   Linda,  @ Tumbleweed Contessa
•   Mary @ The Egg Farm
•   Minnie @ The Lady 8 Home
•   Mireya @ My Healthy Eating Habits
•   Patti @ Comfy Cuisine
•   Peggy@ Pantry Revisited
•   Rocky Mountain Woman @ Rocky Mountain Woman
•   Veronica @ My Catholic Kitchen

Chaya at Bizzy Bakes sadly lost her daughter recently.  Chaya, my heart goes out to you and your family!

Carrot & Cashew Moqueca Soup

Our consultant Anne Hales' award winning soup

Serves 6

1 tbsp. My Secret Kitchen Oak Smoked Rapeseed Oil
1 large onion, diced
750g carrots, peeled and diced
3 tbsp. (1/2 jar) My Secret Kitchen Moqueca Curry Paste
3 tsp My Secret Kitchen Bombay Onion Cheese Ball Mix
150g red lentils, washed
80g cashew nuts, unsalted
1.5 litres vegetable or chicken stock
25g fresh coriander, chopped

Heat the Oak Smoked Rapeseed Oil in a large saucepan and gently sauté the onion until soft. Add the carrots and sauté for a further 2-3 minutes. Add the Moqueca Curry Paste and the Bombay Onion Cheese Ball Mix and stir until combined with the carrots and onion. Add the lentils and cashews. Stir in the stock and simmer gently for 20 - 25 minutes until the lentils are cooked through. Add the coriander and leave to cool slightly before blending in batches until smooth. Serve garnished with chives and a sprinkling of Bombay Onion Cheese Ball Mix.

Recipe Ideas: TAPENADE WITH SMOKED GARLIC

Our rich tapenade with roasted aubergines, sun-dried tomatoes and pine nuts.

• Make a bruschetta topping with fresh buffalo mozzarella, or add to tomato purée as a pizza topping or tartlet filling.

• Use to top fish, sprinkle with grated cheese and oven bake.

• Serve over vegetables, especially warm, sliced new potatoes or buttered green beans.

• Slice a whole Brie or Camembert in half horizontally, sandwich with tapenade and bake until warm and gooey.

Slow Roasted Tomatoes

1 lb tomatoes - variety of your choice but not too ripe - cut into quarters
5 cloves garlic, unpeeled (optional)
3 tbsp My Secret Kitchen Oak Smoked Rapeseed Oil
3 tsp My Secret Kitchen Lemon & Chipotle Spiced Sea Salt

Preheat oven 200C
Place the tomatoes in a roasting tray and drizzle the oil over and add the sea salt.  Mix together until well coated and roast for 15 - 20 minutes or until the tomatoes are softened and turning brown at the edges. If using garlic, now peel each clove and add back the the tomatoes. Serve hot with grilled meats or cold with salads. The tomatoes can be kept in a jar for 1 week with added vegetable oil to cover and consider adding fresh herbs such as rosemary, thyme or basil.

Slow Roasted Tomatoes served with breaded Red Pepper Cheese Balls

Dreamy Baked Ziti

I've tried several recipes for Baked Ziti in the past and none have been remarkable.  Not bad by any means- how can pasta, tomato sauce, and cheese be bad?- but forgettable.  Until tonight!  Last week I came upon this recipe at Mel's Kitchen Cafe (it's originally from Cook's Illustrated Magazine) and I just knew we would love it.  Turns out I was absolutely right!  It's nice and creamy (but not too creamy) and the herbed tomato sauce goes with it perfectly.  The melted, golden cheese on top is the crowning glory.  If you are like us and love the pasta, tomato sauce, and cheese combo, definitely give this recipe a try!  And just as nice is the fact that this recipe is pretty quick and easy to get going, only about half an hour of prep time before it slides into the oven.  My search for a fantastic Baked Ziti recipe is definitely over and I can't wait to make this for my in-laws when they visit next!

Quick note: I've both tweaked and simplified this recipe a bit.  Basically, I commit the cardinal sin among parmesan cheese and just use a container of shaved parmesan.  Also, instead of cooking the cream with the cornstarch to thicken it, I just stir both ingredients in with the cottage cheese mixture and it ends up thickening perfectly in the oven.  Saves time and dishes!  Oh and if you're leery of the cottage cheese, don't be- it's very good in this dish and apparently Cook's Illustrated baked a version with ricotta but discovered that the ricotta dried it out.

Dreamy Baked Ziti

1 lb ziti or rigatoni
2 T olive oil
5 cloves minced garlic
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
15 oz tomato sauce
1 t dried oregano
1 T dried basil
1/2 t black pepper
1 t sugar
1 t salt (or to taste)
1 lb cottage cheese
2 eggs
1 C cream
6 oz oz grated or shaved parmesan, divided
8 oz cubed mozzarella cheese, divided
1 t cornstarch
1 t salt
1 t dried parsley

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9 by 13 pan and a piece of aluminum foil.  Cook pasta in salted water until almost tender.  It will continue cooking in the oven.  While pasta cooks, heat olive oil over medium and saute garlic until golden.  Stir in tomatoes, oregano, basil, pepper, and sugar, reduce heat, and simmer about 10 minutes.  Add salt to taste.  While pasta and sauce cooks, stir together all other ingredients except for half of the parmesan and half of the mozzarella cubes.  When pasta has finished cooking, drain and then stir in cottage cheese mixture and about 1 cup of the tomato sauce.  Spread pasta mixture in baking dish and top with remaining tomato sauce, spread to cover.  Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cubes and parmesan and cover with aluminum foil.  Bake 30 minutes, remove foil, and bake 30 minutes longer or until nicely golden and bubbly.


Yield: About 10 servings

Moqueca Mushroom Curry

Mild and creamy with chick peas & roasted cashew nuts.

Serves 6

25g unsalted butter

200g cashew nuts

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 medium onions, diced

3 sticks celery, finely sliced

1kg mushrooms, wiped and cut in half

240g can chick peas, washed and drained

3 tbsp My Secret Kitchen Moqueca Curry Paste

2 tbsp My Secret Kitchen White Wine & Porcini Finishing Sauce

1 tsp My Secret Kitchen Secret Wild Garlic Spices

300ml double cream

In a heavy based saucepan melt the butter and roast the cashews until golden brown being careful not to burn the butter. Put the cashews to one side and add the oil to the butter. Add the onions and caramelise for 10 – 15 minutes before add the celery and continue to cook for a few minutes.  Add the mushrooms and stir until starting to reduce in volume. Add the chick peas and return the cashews back to the pan.  Stir in the Moqueca Curry Paste, White Wine & Porcini Finishing Sauce and Wild Garlic Spices. Cook gently for 10  minutes stirring occasionally before adding the cream. Serve simply with paratha or a green salad.

Tip: If preparing this dish to freeze, slightly under cook the vegetables. Also works great as a side dish – cut the mushrooms slightly smaller.
You can add some My Secret Kitchen Secret Firecracker Chilli Spices if you like a hotter curry.

Black Bean, Corn, and Potato Burritos

This burrito filling is something I just tossed together for dinner using ingredients in the fridge and pantry that I'm trying to use up in preparation for all the Thanksgiving leftovers.  It's very simple and may sound boring, but it's surprisingly good!  My husband declared them to be magical because the ingredients on their own are kind of plain, but they combine to make something really tasty.  This is also a VERY cheap vegetarian or vegan meal, especially if you serve them with homemade tortillas and go easy on the array of burrito toppings.  I think it would also actually be good served as a sort of hash by leaving the mixture in the skillet, pressing in some indentations, cracking eggs into the indentations, replacing the lid, and cooking until the egg is set.  Yummy!

Quick note: You can easily use diced onion and garlic instead of the powders, I just didn't have any.  Add the onion about halfway through the cooking time of the potatoes and add the garlic when the potatoes only have a couple of minutes left.  Also, don't add any cheese if you want the burritos to be vegan!

Behold, my burrito with monterey jack cheese and salsa verde:

Black Bean, Corn, and Potato Burritos

2 medium-large baking potatoes (each about 12 oz)
2-3 T butter (can use olive oil to make it vegan)
16 oz can black beans, drained
2 C frozen corn
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 t chili powder
1/4 t cumin
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t garlic powder
tortillas and your favorite burrito toppings

Wash potatoes and cut into small cubes, each about 1/3 inches wide.  Melt butter in a large skillet over medium, add the potatoes, and toss to coat.  Cover pan and cook, tossing every couple of minutes, for about 10 minutes or until the potatoes begin to soften.  Remove lid and cook about 5 minutes more or until cooked through and nicely golden.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Add drained beans, corn, and spices, and cook through.  Taste and add more salt if necessary.  Serve in tortillas with your favorite toppings.

Yield: about 6 servings

Creamy Herb and Tomato Shell Casserole

 Do you love cheese and noodles?  That's probably a "yes" since you ended up at this blog!  If you do, you would probably really like this recipe.  It has tender shell noodles that curl around each other, and lots of creamy, cheesy, herby sauce studded with the occasional tomato chunk.  If I may say, this is a restaurant quality pasta dish and is even prettier than the average casserole (not that you can tell from my photos!).  It's funny because before I baked it, I wasn't sure how great it was going to be.  The sauce mixed with the pasta tasted fine, but not amazing.  Something magical happened in the oven, though.  The flavors combined and mellowed- and ended up being something wonderful!

 This is a recipe I kinda sorta thought up a couple of weeks ago and finally made last night.  I say "kinda sorta" made it up because it was inspired by this Baked Macaroni and Cheese recipe from Food.com.  If you take a peek at the original you can see that it is VERY different from what I actually made and I've basically made it unrecognizable!  That's just what I do :oD  I think it's different enough that I can call it my own recipe!

Quick note:  The shells I used for this were bigger than normal.  Certainly not as big as the kind you use for stuffed shells, but bigger than the ones I normally see.  If you can find those, buy 'em, because they're perfect for holding all the yummy sauce!

Creamy Herb and Tomato Shell Casserole

1 lb shell pasta
4 T butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
 1 t salt, plus more
1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes
2 t dried basil
1 t dried oregano
4 C milk, divided
4 T cornstarch
8 oz freshly grated parmesan, divided
8 oz grated monterey jack cheese (or mozzarella), divided
16 oz can Italian stewed tomatoes with some of the juice drained off

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9 by 13 baking dish.  In a large pot of lightly salted water, boil pasta until just before al dente.  It will continue cooking in the oven.  Drain, return to pot, and cover.

While pasta cooks, melt butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat and saute garlic until golden.  Add seasonings and cook a few seconds.  Add 3 1/2 C milk and heat almost to a simmer.  In a measuring cup, stir together remaining 1/2 C milk and cornstarch until smooth.  Stir into sauce and stir constantly until sauce thickens, then continue cooking and stirring for another minute.  Remove from heat and stir in all but 1/2 cup of the parmesan until melted.

Add sauce to pasta and stir to coat.  Taste and add more salt if if needs it (I ended up adding another teaspoon).  Pour half of the pasta into the baking dish and top evenly with the stewed tomatoes and 1 cup of the monterey jack cheese.  Top with remaining pasta, the rest of the parmesan, and the rest of the monterey jack.

Bake until lightly golden and bubbly, about 40 minutes.  Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Yield: About 10 servings

Tuesdays with Dorie: Cranberry Pumpkin Loaf

Okay, so this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is for Cranberry WALNUT Pumpkin Loaf: a beautiful yeast bread with a hint of spice and full of pumpkin, cranberries and golden raisins.  I left out the walnuts because there is only 1 kind of bread that I have ever enjoyed with nuts in it.  The recipe also called for fresh cranberries but our store didn't have any, so I used dried cranberries.  I also halved the amount of nutmeg because I'm not the biggest fan of it, and I used allspice to make up the difference.

Must admit this is not a recipe I would usually make, but that is the entire reason I joined this baking group: to broaden my baking horizons.  While I like pumpkin bread okay, I already have a favorite recipe.  Also, neither of us care for dried fruit in our baked goods, especially not yeast breads.  However, the concept of a pumpkin yeast bread was intriguing, so I decided to go for it.

Anyway, to the actual recipe, which you can check out over at the blog This Bountiful Backyard.  This was another easy bread recipe, but definitely time consuming.  After you make the dough, it has to rise at room temperature for a couple of hours, then go into the fridge overnight, then sit out at room temperature for four more hours, then rise for another two hours after being shaped into loaves.  A number of TWD participants just skipped the fridge time and next time I make it (there will be a next time!), I will skip it as well.  I'd also like to try forming the dough into balls and baking them all in a 9 by 13 pan as rolls.  They would be the perfect addition to the Thanksgiving or Christmas table!

The verdict:  This bread is very nice.  The bit of spice is great and surprisingly, we both really like the dried fruit.  Good texture, too, and perfect when cut into thick slices.  I was expecting a dense bread, but it really isn't very dense.  The loaf in my picture looks like it didn't rise much, but it actually rose like a champ- the recipe calls for the bread to be baked in 3 tiny pans but I used 2 big pans so my bread is small.  I love how it looks- the orange bread with the yellow and red fruit is just beautiful, and it smelled wonderful both while the dough was being made and while it baked.  Just like autumn! 

Oh and funny side story- we adopted a stray cat from the local animal shelter last week and named him Declan.  He is a very friendly, laid back guy and spent 5 hours sleeping on the couch this evening, with us periodically nudging him and rolling him over to make space for ourselves.  At one point when the cat was kind of awake, my husband tried to get him to stand by lifting his side up.  As soon as he let go, Declan flopped back onto his side :D  Anyway, the thing that finally woke up the cat was the smell of this bread when we sat down on the couch with our slices!  And boy, was he awake FAST and trying to get his fair share!

Two minutes after we ate our bread, he was back to sleeping, but the next day he yoinked a discarded heel of Cranberry Pumpkin Loaf out of the trash can!

Beer Mac and Cheese

Alright, time to play catch up with my backlog of recipes that need to be posted!  This one is for Beer Mac and Cheese.  One of our favorite restaurants has an amazing beer cheese soup on the menu, and we love the Welsh Rabbit I make for Easter every year, so my mac and cheese loving brain logically made the leap between those dishes and mac and cheese.  I pretty much winged the recipe and the sauce was based on the one from Welsh Rabbit.  Got the idea for the pretzel topping from this recipe on AllRecipes.

The resulting mac and cheese was divine.  The amount of beer flavor was perfect, and it was nice and cheesy.  And the pretzel topping?  Also great!  By only broiling individual servings with the pretzels, the mac and cheese stayed nice and saucy without getting gritty, and leftovers didn't suffer from mushy topping since.  I just reheated it in the microwave, stirred in a little milk to keep it creamy, then sprinkled the individual bowls with a bit more cheddar and the pretzel topping before tossing the bowls under the broiler with the topping.  What could be better?

Beer Mac and Cheese

12 oz macaroni
3 T butter
2 T flour
1 1/4 C milk
3/4 C wheat beer (I used Pyramid Hefeweizen)
2 t Worcestershire sauce
2 t dijon mustard
3/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/4 t paprika
3 C grated sharp cheddar

Topping:
extra grated cheddar

1/2 C roughly crushed pretzels
2 T melted butter
1/4 C parmesan cheese
1/4 t dried parsley

 Boil macaroni in a large pot of lightly salted water.  Drain, return to the pot, cover the pot so the macaroni stays warm, and set it aside. While the macaroni cooks, make the sauce.  Melt the butter in a medium saucepan and add flour.  Whisk until golden, about 1 minute.  Add the milk, about 1/4 C at a time, whisking until smooth after each addition.  When all the milk has been added, pour in the beer all at once and whisk until smooth.  Whisk in the Worcestershire sauce, dijon mustard, salt, pepper, and paprika.  Bring sauce to a simmer and cook about 2 minutes until thickened, whisking the whole time.  Remove sauce from heat (this is important!) and stir in the grated cheese until melted.  Add the sauce to the pot with the drained pasta and stir to combine.

Preheat the broiler and move the oven rack to the highest position.  To make the topping, just toss together everything but the extra grated cheddar in a small bowl.  Spoon macaroni and cheese into either individual broiler safe dishes or into 1 larger dish.  Sprinkle with a bit of cheddar, then the topping.  Place under broiler and broil until golden brown, being sure not to walk away or it could burn!  This should only take a couple of minutes.

Enjoy!  This is great with Cucumber Dill Salad.

Yield:  About 8 servings.

Green Goddess Dressing

Serves 8

For the dressing:
2 tbsp My Secret Kitchen Artichoke Pesto
1 tsp My Secret Kitchen Secret Spices: Wild Garlic
100ml buttermilk
200ml mayonnaise

8 Little Gem lettuces
My Secret Kitchen Lemon & Chipotle Spiced Sea Salt to garnish
Fresh basil leaves to garnish


Mix together all the ingredients for the dressing, then refrigerate. 

Quarter the Little Gem lettuces and arrange on a platter. 

When ready to serve, pour the dressing across the lettuces and garnish with the seasoned salt and basil leaves.

For an added touch, scatter crumbled crispy bacon over the top.

Quick Garlic Aioli

Yes, yes.  I am aware that real aioli is made with raw egg yolks instead of mayonnaise.  I would have made a more authentic recipe, too, if the idea of raw eggs didn't skeeve me out.  Food poisoning is something I have happily avoided for the past 27 years (though my parents did get terrible food poisoning after eating celebratory soft serve ice cream when they found out my mom was pregnant with me) and I don't care to experience it any time soon.  I also don't care to experience purchasing super expensive pasteurized eggs.  So mayo it is.  I honestly just threw the ingredients together (measured everything though!) and it isn't based on any recipe, but after I made it I looked on AllRecipes and this one is pretty similar.  The garlic aioli was originally made to go along with my awesome portobello mushroom burgers, but I decided it deserved its own post because it's SO good and SO versatile!  It was perfect on the burgers, but also great on the fries I baked to go along with the burgers, would be good on sandwiches, and odd as it sounds, it's really good on steamed broccoli.  Just put a little bitty puddle of it on your plate, fork a broccoli floret, and dunk it (just a little bit!) in the aioli.  A little goes a long way!  I think it would also be great on artichokes or salmon cakes or pretty much anything else.

Quick Garlic Aioli

1/3 C mayonnaise
1 clove minced garlic
1 1/2 t lemon juice (can do more if you want it lemony, I held back for once in my life)
1/8 t pepper
1/8 t salt

Mix together all the ingredients in a little bitty bowl.  It's fine if served immediately, but even better if you let it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours.  It keeps for several days in the refrigerator.

Grandma's Baked Garlic Mashed Potatoes

 This fantastic recipe comes not from my grandma, but from the grandma of Kristen, who writes the blog called Forkful of Comfort .  When I saw the recipe I knew I had to try it and I made it a few nights ago.  The result is some of the best mashed potatoes we have ever had!  Creamy, rich, a bit tangy, garlicky, with a delicate crust on top.  We loved them so, so much that after instead of following my original plan to make gnocchi with some of the leftovers, we ate them as is because they were so good.  Just as great is the fact that the mashed potatoes are baked, so you're free to finish up the rest of your cooking while they bake and you can hold them in the oven for a while to stay warm if necessary.  Kristen wrote that she never got to meet her grandma, but if these potatoes are any indication, she was one heck of a cook!

Quick note:  I don't have garlic salt so I made a mixture of 1 part garlic powder to 2 parts salt and used that.  Works just as well and undoubtedly cheaper!

Grandma's Baked Garlic Mashed Potatoes

3 1/2 lbs potatoes
1 t salt for cooking water
1/2 C butter, 2 tablespoons set aside for top
4 oz cream cheese
8 oz sour cream
2 t garlic salt, plus a bit more for top
1/2 t garlic powder (optional, taste it first- I didn't need it)
dried parsley for top
paprika for top

Wash and peel the potatoes.  Cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks and place in a large pot.  Top with water and add 1 t salt.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat slightly and cook until potatoes can be easily pierced with a fork.  Drain water and return to pot.  Mash with a potato masher, then add butter, cream cheese, and sour cream, mashing until smooth.  Stir in garlic salt to taste- you may not want to start with the full amount in case yours has a higher ratio of salt to garlic.  I used the full amount.  Add the optional additional garlic powder if you think it needs more garlic- I did not need to add it.  Preheat oven and grease a 2 quart baking dish.  Spread potatoes in dish.  Cut remaining 2 T butter into little pieces and arrange evenly over top.  Sprinkle with a little garlic salt, parsley, and paprika.  Bake in preheated oven 30 minutes.  If the top is not browned at all, you can crank up the broiler, but be sure not to walk away!  Let potatoes set for 10 minutes before serving.

Yield: About 10 servings

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

On the weekends I like to make a nice breakfast.  Recently I ran across a recipe for cinnamon roll pancakes and HAD to try them ASAP, so I decided to surprise my husband with them for breakfast this morning because he loves cinnamon rolls just as much as I do.  They are more complicated than regular pancakes and I honestly only recommend you try them if you have experience with making and flipping regular pancakes, but they are so worth it!  I burned the heck out of my pinkie when wiping out the pan between pancakes and I still think they were worth it.  My husband declared them to be the best pancakes he's ever eaten and I must agree.  They are everything wonderful about cinnamon rolls and pancakes, all in one delicious, fluffy package.  I think they would make a superb breakfast on Christmas morning because they're truly special, but quicker and less labor intensive than regular cinnamon rolls.

This recipe is originally from the Recipe Girl blog.  She has great photos to help you out as you make the pancakes!  It's kind of amusing, I first came across the recipe on a different blog.  That blogger had changed the recipe a fair amount and left some important things out (like wiping the pan out between pancakes).  As I went along, there were a few things I needed to tweak, but after I typed up this recipe and found the original on the Recipe Girl blog, I realized that most of my changes mirrored exactly what was in the original, though I did make a few other small ones.

Sorry my pancakes aren't so pretty.  The one you see is the first one I made.  I burned my finger while wiping out the pan after the very first one so it was hard to control the cinnamon swirl on the others and they look even worse!  Still taste great though.

Update: I've since made these pancakes without the cinnamon swirl and they're perfect!  Thick, fluffy, and yummy. This is now my default pancake recipe, and that's saying a lot because I've tried many pancake recipes.

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

For Cinnamon Swirl:
4 T butter
6 T brown sugar
1/2 T cinnamon

For Pancake Batter:
1 C flour
2 T sugar
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 C milk
1 egg
1 T vegetable oil
butter to grease the skillet

For Icing:
2 oz cream cheese
4 T butter
1 t vanilla extract
about 3/4 C powdered sugar

Make the cinnamon swirl first.  Melt the butter and stir in the brown sugar and cinnamon until smooth.  Spoon into a plastic Ziploc bag and set aside to cool.  You want the cinnamon swirl to be fairly thick and can run the bag under cold water to help cool it down faster.  Cut the very tip off one of the corners of the bag.  Line a bowl with a paper towel and cut the very tip off one of the corners of the bag of cinnamon swirl, then place it, cut tip up, in the bowl so it won't leak.

Make the batter next.  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add milk, egg, and vegetable oil, and whisk until smooth.

To make the pancakes, turn your oven to 200 degrees and place an oven safe plate in the oven.  You will put your pancakes in the oven as you make them so they stay warm.  Melt a small amount of butter in a nonstick (this is very important!!) 6 inch skillet over medium heat.  Spoon in 1/3 C batter, then grab your bag of cinnamon swirl and pipe it on in a spiral, starting in the center.  Cook the pancake until the edges are dry and there are bubbles on the surface.  Carefully flip the pancake using a wide spatula and cook for another 45 seconds or so until set.  The pancake will not feel as firm as a regular pancake, but the second side never needs as much time!  Don't over cook or the sugar will burn.  To get the pancake out of the pan, I suggest pulling the oven rack out with a pot holder and flipping the pan upside down right over the plate so you don't get cinnamon sugar goo all over the spatula.  After you've removed the pancake, wipe the pan out with a folded paper towel, and for the love of all that is holy, be CAREFUL because molten cinnamon sugar is extremely painful!  Make sure to get all the sugar mixture or it will burn onto the next pancake.  Proceed in the same way with all the other pancakes.

Once all the pancakes have been made, make the icing.  Place the cream cheese and butter in a microwave safe bowl and microwave until butter has melted.  Whisk until smooth, then whisk in the vanilla extract.  Whisk in the powdered sugar a little at a time until it's as thick as you would like.  Drizzle the icing over the pancakes to serve.

Yield: Six 5 inch pancakes

Chocolate Chip Muffins

There are two kinds of muffins: the healthy, not too sweet kind (like the wonderful bran muffins I made recently), and the kind that are basically cupcakes without frosting.  Paul loves muffins and he tends to prefer those of the cupcake variety.  Several days ago I got it into my head that I should make chocolate chip muffins.  Found a recipe on AllRecipes, whipped it up, and ta da!  Delicious muffins, and definitely the "dessert for breakfast" type that Paul likes so much.  Paul and I both really enjoyed them while they lasted, which sadly wasn't that long since the batch only makes 9.  The original recipe says to make mini muffins and I think those would be really good and cute too, but last time I sent Paul to work with cute food (the manatee cookies!) he kind of belly ached about it.  No complaining happened with these muffins though because they're really good and I suppose the size is adequately mannish.  They're packed with chocolate chips, as you can see, and they have a flavor like chocolate chip cookies which isn't surprising since the ingredients are the same.  They are a tad denser than your standard muffin and I doubt the batter would be particularly tasty sans chips, but it stands up nicely to the chocolate and, well, no complaints here!

Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 C flour
1/2 C sugar
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
2/3 C mini chocolate chips
1/4 C butter
1/2 C milk
1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a muffin tin.  In a glass measuring cup, melt butter in microwave.  Set aside to cool while you mix up the batter.  In a medium bowl, stir together dry ingredients, including mini chocolate chips.  Pour in slightly cooled butter (cooled so it doesn't melt the chocolate chips), then use the same measuring cup to measure the milk.  Pour that in, then crack the egg into the measuring cup and beat it until mostly smooth.  Pour into bowl with the rest of the ingredients.  Stir batter just until everything comes together, being careful not to over mix.  Spoon batter into muffin tin.  Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes.  Good warm or room temperature.  The muffins stay nice for a few days but are best served within a day or two.

Yield: 9 muffins (or approximately 18 mini muffins according to the original recipe)

Creamy Garlic Tomato Soup

 The ingredient list for this soup may not look very impressive, but trust me.  It.  Is.  GOOD.  Really good.  It's kind of creamy since it's roux based and has milk, but is not too bad for you.  The flavor is great and the garlic stands out.  It also takes less than 10 minutes to cook!  Perfect to whip up on a busy night with salad and bread or a good ol' grilled cheese sandwich, which is how I served it tonight, using the rosemary wheat bread I made earlier today.

Credit for this recipe goes to Inge, the mother of the wonderful family I stayed with when I lived in Austria.  Inge was a fantastic cook and could make anything taste good.  She often made a variation of this soup using whatever tomato products she had on hand.  The best version used tomato puree she canned from her own tomatoes every summer instead of the broth, tomato sauce, and tomato paste.  She also used a little cream instead of milk and a bit of beef bouillon, but it was essentially the same!  I've fiddled with the recipe a bit since I sadly do not have the home canned tomato puree, and this is the best version I've come up with.  Enjoy!

Creamy Garlic Tomato Soup

3 T butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 T flour
2 C chicken or vegetable broth
1 C milk
16 oz can tomato sauce
6 oz can tomato paste

In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium high heat.  Add garlic and saute until lightly golden, then whisk in flour.  Whisk and cook until roux is light golden, about 2 minutes.  Whisk in broth, 1/4 C at a time, making sure mixture is smooth before adding more.  Whisk in milk, tomato sauce, and tomato paste until smooth.  Cook until soup comes to a boil and simmer for two minutes, stirring constantly.  Add salt if necessary, but taste it first because it should be salty enough from the broth and tomato products.

Yield: 4 servings