toasted orzo chicken soup

after eating four cupcakes in the last 24 hours, i decided it was time for some vegetables. and since it's been so cold up here (and to get jason reacclimated to february in new york) it was time for a quick chicken soup. so i got to chopping...



i don't really mind chopping, it's just that sometimes more than half the time to cook is chopping. but i can't bring myself to buy pre-chopped vegetables. and really, who wants to eat a pre-chopped onion anyway. sounds like nothing but sog to me.

(and yes, that is a zucchini. i had to break down and buy one. ironic, i know.)

all in all, the soup took me about 45 minutes to make. still not too bad. and it was good enough we ate all but one snack size bowl for dinner.



what worked

1. jason really liked the peas. i really liked the carrots.
2. shredding the chicken (instead of cutting it) is the way to go.

what didn't

1. next time, more vegetables. corn, maybe. yellow squash too.
2. i'm not sure what toasting the orzo did, if anything. the orzo was good but didn't have a crazy strong presence. swap it out for another small noodle, if you like.
3. i didn't have parsley or lemon zest to finish, but i'm betting it'd be good.

similar to the stir fry earlier this week, this is a simple base for a chicken & pasta soup. add whatever small pasta and vegetables you like. just make sure the vegetables can stand up to the boiling water and you avoid anything that would turn to mush.



toasted orzo chicken soup
from everyday with rachel ray, december/january 2010

32-oz (4 cups) chicken stock
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast pieces or tenders
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup orzo pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small zucchini, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1/2 small red bell pepper, finely chopped (i used green)
2 shallots or 1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel

1. In a medium pot, bring the chicken stock and chicken to a simmer. Lower the heat and poach the chicken for 12 minutes.

2. Heat a dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat. Add the butter to melt. Add the orzo and cook, stirring, until deeply toasted, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

3. Add the olive oil, 2 turns of the pan, to the dutch oven. Add the zucchini, carrot, bell pepper, shallots and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened, 7 to 8 minutes. Return the orzo to the pot.

4. Remove the chicken from the stock. Skim and discard the fat from the stock; transfer the stock to the dutch oven. Chop, dice or shred the chicken and add to the soup with 2 cups water. Bring the soup to a boil and cook until the orzo is just tender, 5 minutes. Add the peas during the last minute of cooking. Turn off the heat; stir in the parsley and lemon peel. Serve immediately.

try-to-top cupcakes and chocolate frosting

this is the best cupcake - no, the best cake - i've ever had in my life. ever. no joke. this is serious. not messing around.

i've got to be honest, i've had some trouble with martha. i got her cupcake cookbook for christmas this year and have made a handful already. but they've been relatively dry. and really don't last longer than the day they're made. which is a big bummer since there's no way the two of us will go through 12 cupcakes in 1 day.



anyway...i was asked to bring something in for a coworkers birthday today. all i wanted was a simple yellow cupcake with chocolate frosting. so the search was on.

i went through at least six cookbooks looking for a basic cupcake recipe. and only came up with one, from "Martha Stewart's Cooking School." did i really want to give martha another try? i figured i didn't have much to lose and went with it.



i looked through those same cookbooks for chocolate frosting recipes. again, nothing...except Alton Brown's in "I'm Just Here for More Food." i thought the method was odd - melting chocolate, butter, and heavy cream together and then beating it in an ice bath until cool and it holds it's shape - but hey, i've seen alton's work. the man's good. so i had the recipe for the perfect cupcake. and man, it is.

the cake is so unbelievably moist and buttery, it's crazy. and the frosting! don't even get me started on the frosting. everyone at work raved - "i don't really like frosting, but this is the best chocolate frosting i've ever had in my whole life" - this is a no joke cupcake.

just be careful when you make them. it's impossible to only eat one.



the only thing that threw me slightly off was the frosting. butter, semisweet chocolate, and heavy cream are melted together in a saucepan on the stove. while still warm, the confectioner's sugar is added, the pan is set into an ice bath, and mixed with a hand blender until it thickens, holds it shape, and is lighter in color. (just make sure when it's done, you take the pan out of the ice bath. if you leave it there for a couple minutes while you do a few dishes, you'll come back to frozen buttercream. and then it's just a pain to mix it back in.)

martha's redemption cupcakes (yellow butter cake)
from Martha Stewart's Cooking School
makes 42 (i made a 1/2 batch and ended up with 24)

chocolate frosting
from Alton Brown's "Im Just Here for More Food"
makes 3.5 cups
UPDATE: find the recipe at this post

sizzling beef

since we both worked late tonight, i had somewhat of a dilemma. i needed something quick, but also something that seems too difficult for jason to make. (he's always afraid i'm going to ask him to cook on the night when something 'hard' is planned.) so an easy stir fry it was.

what worked

1. the recipe called for red bell pepper, but since they cost twice as much as green, i went with the green. easy replacement.
2. definitely easy. definitely quick. probably took me 40 minutes start to serving.

what didn't

1. i forgot to buy ginger at the store, so i skipped it. i'm not a huge ginger fan so i didn't miss it much.
2. my saute pan was too small. had i read the recipe all the way through before starting, i would have realized the rice was mixed with the meat and veg. oh well. lesson learned.
3. a little more soy sauce would do it for me. the 2T is a little dry...maybe one or two additional tablespoons added to the veg before mixing with the rice.

the meal is really really easy to make. no crazy chopping. no constant stirring or pot watching. the only thing to watch is the vegetables - the peppers and scallions should still have a slight crunch to them. no one likes soggy vegetables in their stir fry.

the recipe can really be used as a base for any kind of fried rice. pick your protein - beef, chicken, pork - slice it thin and add vegetables. i'm thinking carrots, maybe some water chestnuts. and garlic, a little minced garlic. hmmm...maybe i'll have to try this sometime with sliced chicken breast too (or maybe jason can take a stab at it.)

sizzling beef and scallions
from everyday with rachel ray, december/january 2010

8 oz london broil sliced into short thin strips
2T soy sauce
1/4c + 2T vegetable oil
10 scallions, greens and whites sliced, separately
2/3c chopped red pepper (i used half a green pepper)
1T finely chopped fresh ginger
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2t sugar
4c cooked white rice, cooled

1. toss the beef with 1T soy suace. in a large (remember, everything will end up in this pan at the end) nonstick skillet, heat 2T oil over medium-high heat. add the beef until cooked through. the original recipe says 2 min, it took me closer to 8. transfer the cooked beef to a bowl.
2. add 1T oil to the skillet and cook the scallion whites, pepper, and ginger for about 2 minutes, until slightly brown on the edges and starting to soften. stir in the peas.
3. push the vegetables to one side of the pan and add the eggs to the empty side.
4. stir the eggs until they set and mix in with the vegetables. stir the mixture until the eggs are thoroughly cooked. add the egg-vegetable mixture to the beef and stir in the sugar and 1T soy sauce.
5. heat 2T oil in the skillet over medium-high heat and cook the rice until heated through. break up the clumps as much as you can. stir in the beef mixture and the scallion greens.

peanut butter swirled chocolate cupcakes

i love cupcakes. what's not to love? small, little, bite sized, sugar coated, butter laden goodness. what's (almost) better than a peanut butter cup? chocolate and peanut butter swirled together in cupcake form. that's what.

what worked

1. the peanut butter filling is amazing. heaven. just don't think you'll have a small taste of the peanut butter when they come out of the oven. the peanut butter is hot hot. and sticks to your fingers like crazy (i burned the tips of three.)
2. wooden skewer worked well to swirl the peanut butter.

what didn't

1. i don't know what it is with martha, but all her cupcakes seem to come out dry. i'm thinking if a little of the butter was replaced with veg oil in this, the chocolate wouldn't be so dry.
2. next time, instead of layering chocolate, peanut butter, chocolate, peanut butter, i'm either going to start with peanut butter or just have one middle layer of the stuff. it all kinda came to the top half of the cupcake instead of swirling throughout.

peanut butter swirled chocolate cupcakes
from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

start to finish: ~1 hr 15 min, makes 12 cupcakes

2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
4 ounces semisweet chocolate ( i used chocolate chips)
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

peanut butter filling:
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar (as long as you whisk it, you don't have to sift it)
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
stir together all ingredients until smooth

1. preheat your oven to 325 degrees. line a standard muffin tin with paper liners.
2. melt chocolate and butter together over a double boiler. you could nuke it too, if you want, just make sure the chocolate doesn't burn.
3. whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. whisk the sugar into the chocolate mixture. make sure it's slightly cooled and add the eggs (if the chocolate's too hot, they'll scramble). add vanilla. whisk until smooth.
5. whisk the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture and make sure it's well incorporated.
6. spoon ~1 tablespoon of the chocolate batter into each cup. follow it up with a little less than 1 tablespoon of the peanut butter mixture, another scoop of chocolate, and another of peanut butter. (like i said, i think next time i'll add the peanut butter first or only one peanut butter layer instead of two). the cups will be really full, but they shouldn't overflow when baking.
7. swirl the top of the cupcakes with a wooden skewer, a fork, a knife, or any other pointy tool.
8. bake for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
9. transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before removing. if you try to remove them from the pan before they're cool, you'll burn your fingers on the peanut butter on top. it doesn't like to stay together with the chocolate cake, so not only will the cupcake stay in the pan, but the top will also crumble into a mess. either way, it's no good.
10. they can be kept a couple days tightly sealed, but they're definitely best the day made.

mushroom stuffed shells

after my lasagna making last week, i was still in the mood for something similar today, but not quite identical. so mushroom stuffed shells it was. amazingly easy and i didn't even miss the meat.

what worked

1. stuffing the shells with a tablespoon of the mushrooms, pinch of mozzarella, pinch of parm, and putting in the pan. when the pan was full of shells, i drizzled the bechamel into the shell opening of each.
2. the bechamel was the perfect amount. perfect smooth, creamy, cheeziness.

what didn't

1. surprisingly, i didn't have enough mushrooms to fill all ~20 shells. next time i'll go with a full two pounds. or reduce the shells by half or a third.

i love love love bechamel. what? you think it's weird to use it here? no way, it melts with the mozzarella and the parmesan and makes this creamy cheesy goodness. no reason for dry ricotta at all.

oh, you're intimidated by bechamel. super easy. the main thing to remember: always whisk. don't stop whisking. it doesn't have to be crazy fast, but keep the whisk moving. so the milk doesn't scorch or boil over. no one wants flecks of burnt milk in their sauce. and you can scale up or down the recipe as you need (the original scale i use is 2T butter, 4t flour, 1.5 cups milk).
(shortcut) mushroom stuffed shells
1.5 jars of whatever pasta sauce you like (i used tomato basil)
12oz box jumbo shells pasta
1 small onion, minced
24 ounces mushrooms, whatever kind you like, cut at least in quarters to fit in the shells
couple cloves of minced garlic (depending on how garlicky you want it, i used 4)
olive oil
bechamel sauce
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2T + 2t flour
2 1/2 cups milk (2% worked fine for me, use whole if you like, but skip skim)
salt & pepper
pinch of nutmeg

time start to finish: ~ 2hours, 6 hearty servings

1. cook the shells according to the package directions. i turned on the water for the shells when i put the mushrooms in the pan. the shells were done about the same time as the mushrooms.
2. saute the onions and garlic in olive oil over medium-low heat for a couple minutes until they start to soften.
3. add the mushrooms. keep the heat medium-low. it'll take a good 20 minutes for the mushrooms to cook.
4. when the mushrooms are to the consistency you like, add ~1/2 jar of pasta sauce. (i kept the mushroom sauce mixture on low on the stove while i made the bechamel and the shells boiled).
5. make the bechamel. melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. add the flour and whisk about 3 minutes until the flour cooks (turns light brown. if you skip this step, the bechamel will taste like flour - no good!). whisk in the milk. make sure you continuously whisk, or the milk will scorch on the bottom of the pan. turn up the heat to medium-high. simmer for about three minutes, until it thickens, and whisk the whole time. once thickened, remove from heat, season with salt and pepper and a pinch (or two) of nutmeg.
6. preheat your oven to 350F.
7. drain the shells and rinse with cold water so you don't burn your hands.
8. add a thin layer of pasta sauce to the bottom of a 9x13 pan. i used a glass pyrex dish.
9. pop open a shell and hold it in your palm. add a tablespoon of mushroom filling and generous pinches of mozzarella and parmesan cheeses. place seam side up in the pan.
10. fill the rest of the shells. try not to squeeze the shells too close together.
11. once full, drizzle the bechamel sauce over the seams of each shell, adding about a teaspoon to each.
12. drizzle the remaining pasta sauce over the shells.
13. cover with foil & bake for 30 minutes. uncover and bake another 15minutes. scoop and let sit on your plate for at least 5 minutes or risk your mouth full of hot cheesy lava.

2014.09.01 this was cooking mimi's pick for the secret recipe club!

short cut cinnamon roll cake

i needed something easy. not too many ingredients. simple but sinful. something to hit all the right sweet notes i had been craving for a week.

luckily, a southern grace had just posted this super simple, but sinfully delicious recipe for cinnamon roll cake.

what worked

1. it took no time at all to put together. and tasted great.

what didn't

1. i used a 9x9 glass pyrex pan and there was almost too much topping, it needed to be mixed in better. next time i'll try layering the cake batter and the topping - batter, topping, batter, topping - and then swirling it before it bakes. and i bet it would be good with a nice white cake mix too.

peanut butter buttercream

the real star of this show is the buttercream. the cupcakes are a basic chocolate cupcake, that honestly, came out a bit dry. so i'm not even going to talk about the cake. nope, not worth it. not when we have peanut butter buttercream to discuss.

well, really, it's my mom's buttercream. so she gets all the credit. but i digress.

today's my birthday. so when i walked across campus for a meeting, i stopped and spent $2 for a chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting. it looked gorgeous. and it was my birthday. $2 for one cupcake was justified, right?!

you can imagine my disappointment when i bit into it. the cake itself was dry and crumbly. but the worst - the buttercream was flavorless. didn't really taste like butter or peanuts. weird. so i came home and created my own much better version.



the frosting is to die for. it's great on cupcakes, cake, and warm brownies. you could use chumky peanut butter, but i always use smooth. i always add the milk last. if i add it first and the frosting is too runny, then i end up adding more sugar, which dilutes the peanut butter a bit.

mom's peanut butter frosting

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons soft butter

mix all together with a hand mixer or whisk.