Tuesday, September 4, 2012

{ End Of Summer } Brownies

I am so sad that summer is coming to an end. I remember back in June, I had my long list of things to do and places to go this summer. I think I did about five of those fifty things, of well I still have fall! Our Girl Scout troop is having their end of the summer party and I thought that these wonderful brownies would be loved by all. I think I should have tripled this recipe and made two trays because the whole house smelled so amazing and I didn't think they would make it to the car! Well half of them did and the Girl Scouts were very pleased! I think they will be your favorite too!
 
I added semi sweet chocolate chips on top of the brownies as they were cooling, just an extra bite of sweetness!
{ End Of Summer } Brownies
Ingredients
  • 3 oz. unsweetened chocolate
  • 6 tbsp. butter
  • 1 1/2 c. sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 3/4 c. flour
  • 3/4 c. nuts (if desired)
Method
  1. Butter 9 x 13 inch cake pan. 
  2. Melt chocolate and butter. Stir until smooth. 
  3. Remove from heat and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well. 
  4. I double this recipe. 
  5. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until dry on top and firm to touch. This post has been linked up to these fabulous blogs! NettieWeekend Potluck LinkyChocolate, Chocolate and more
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{ Off to College} Chocolate Oats Cookies

Going off to college is so exciting and wonderful! But going off to college can be scary and entering the unknown. Our good friend is going off to college so I baked her a batch of these delicious Chocolate Oats cookies to help her with the transition, I know it would help me! I used my Kitchen Aid to make these cookies, love my Kitchen Aid, it makes baking so easy.

{ Off to College } Chocolate Oats Cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups quick-cooking oats
  • 1 cup chopped pecans
  • 1 cup Ghiradelli's Double Chocolate Bittersweet chocolate chips

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
  2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the quick oats, walnuts, and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.( I use Silpat's on top of my baking sheets)
  3. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
  4. Makes 3 dozen cookies. This post has been linked up to these fabulous blogs!
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Israeli Salad

One of my first jobs was working in an Israeli Restaurant in the Valley. I learned a lot that summer. Not only did I waitress, but I cooked and learned how to prepare so many amazing Israeli dishes. This was a Mom and Pop restaurant and Mom and Pop didn't speak very much English. So we did a lot of communicating through our love of food. One of my favorite dishes that I ate every day was Israeli Salad. It is such an easy delicious addition to any meal. All you need are tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, preferably red, lemon juice, Olive Oil and I added grilled corn for fun. I am so lucky to have so many nice friends who are growing abundant amounts of veggies in their garden, I am able to make my favorite Israeli Salad.
 
Dice Cucumbers
Dice Tomatoes
Dice onions
 
Squeeze the juice from 1/2 lemon

Israeli Salad

Ingredients

  • 6 cucumbers, diced
  • 4 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced
  • 1/2 red onion, diced
  • Grilled Corn on the Cob (corn cut off cob)
  • 1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 2 tablespoons fresh Lemon Juice
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

  1. Toss the cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and corn together in a bowl. Drizzle the olive oil and lemon juice over the salad and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper to serve.I have linked up with these fabulous recipes!
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Chicken Saltimbocca with Pasta


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When we lived in New Jersey, we frequented a great restaurant called Hook Line and Sinker. I always ordered the Chicken Saltimbocca with Pasta. It was so delicious and enough for a family of four! Don’t you just love those restaurants that do take out and when you order a meal it’s enough for a family of four? I do. My kids were small at the time, but still! I tried recreating the dish, this is super close. I forgot to add mushrooms, but will next time. I would also add more chicken broth next time too, when I added the pasta to the sauce it soaked it all up. But other wise I think this is a fabulous dish, my family ate it all like it was nobody’s business. Meanwhile I was still walking down Memory Tasting Lane.

Chicken Saltimbocca With Pasta
Serves 8

Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts, cut into chunks or strips
5 slices of prosciutto di Parma, sliced into strips
4 cloves garlic, sliced
1 cup Marsala Wine
1 cup all purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper
fresh sage
4-5 tablespoons butter (can be adjusted or substituted with Olive Oil)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 pound Rigatoni pasta or any short tubular pasta will do
1 box frozen spinach, drained or one bag of fresh spinach

Method:

1. Season all purpose flour with salt and pepper and stir to combine. Lightly dredge chicken into flour shaking off excess. Melt 2 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon oil into a large hot pan. Sauté chicken over medium high heat until nicely browned, remove from pan and set aside for later.

2. In the same pan sauté 4 cloves garlic adding more butter or oil if the pan is dry. After a minute or so add the prosciutto slices and let them crisp up. Add a few torn leaves of fresh sage. Toss garlic and prosciutto together and then add Marsala Wine and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any brown bits in the pan. Let liquid reduce to about half. Add chicken broth and cook for about 10 minutes until reduced a bit. At this point you can add some more sage to infuse the flavor into the liquid. Sprinkle in flour a little at a time and stir after each addition until you get the the thickness you like. You want the sauce to coat the back of a spoon. Once desired consistency is reached add cooked chicken and any accumulated juices into the sauce and spinach.

3. Meantime cook pasta in boiling salted water until al dente.  Drain pasta and add in with the sauce and toss.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

{ Sunday’s with Joy } Apple Crostata


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Hands down, apple pie is hubs all time favorite pie. If I were to make an apple pie every week for the rest of his life, he would be a very, very, happy man. But I don’t, why? Because variety is the spice of life and because I like to try new recipes all of the time! Get this, if I am happy, he is happy and when I make an Apple Crostata, he is way happy, no way, yes way! So when I came upon this new recipe from Joy the Baker, I thought to myself, self, hubs is going to be a happy guy. He actually said that this was better than apple pie…. I know, can you believe it? I can’t! Why is it better than apple pie? Because it’s your own personal apple pie, that no one can deny…. oh yeah! Sounds like a song…anyway, I made Joy the Baker's Apple Crostata, eight Crostata’s to be exact and I think hubs ate six~ I can’t keep an eye on him all of time for goodness sake, he is a grown man and this is better than pie! Look out! Do yourself an incredible favor and if you haven’t already, get ye to a bookstore and get ye this wonderful cookbook, ye will be so happy that ye did. Ye Got It?? GREAT!Nettie

This post has been linked up to these fabulous blogs! Mommys Sweet Confessions


What to

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Blueberry Skillet Cake

I am so lucky to be living in the land of bountiful wild blueberries. I decided to make a cake that is very similar to the very popular Pineapple Upside Down Cake. Instead of pineapple, I used Blueberries. This is a very simple cake recipe with blueberries and almonds. The cake is very moist and the blueberries are sweet and tender, an easy recipe perfect for a Sunday Brunch or for a light dessert.
Perfectly picked Blueberries.
Melt butter in an iron skillet.
Add brown sugar.
Stir over low heat.
Add orange juice.
Remove from heat.
Layer one cup of Blueberries on top.
In a pot, melt butter.
Remove from heat.
Add milk to melted butter.
Add one egg.
Whisk, butter, milk and egg until blended.
In a large bowl, add dry ingredients, set aside.
Add egg mixture to dry ingredients.
Blend cake batter well until lumps are smooth.
Add toasted almonds to blueberries.
Pour cake batter over blueberries and almonds.
Bake in oven until cake is brown and blueberries are bubbly, about 20 minutes.
Blueberry Skillet Cake
Ingredients:


  • 12 tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup orange juice
  • 1 cup blueberries
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup toasted almonds
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Method:


  1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
  2. Melt 4 Tbsp butter in an ovenproof skillet ( or an 8-9 inch cake pan). I used and old fashioned black iron skillet. 
  3. Stir in brown sugar and continue to stir over low heat until it dissolves. 
  4. Remove from the heat and add orange juice. 
  5. Layer one cup of blueberries on top, then add the almonds on top of the blueberries. Set aside.
  6. In another pot, melt the remaining 8 tbsp of butter. 
  7. Remove from the heat and stir in milk and egg, beating well.
  8. In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, and granulated sugar. 
  9. Add the milk-egg mixture and beat until smooth, add 1/2 tsp almond extract. 
  10. Pour cake batter over blueberries and bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean in the center of the cake. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes. 
  11. Turn over on to a plate, berries side up. Serve with whipped cream if you wish. I have linked up to these fabulous blogs!
    This recipe has been featured on these blogs! Weekend Potluck Featured
    GBPRecipeRoundUp
    The ArtsyGirl Connection

    Lemon Sugar
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