A Taste of Sweetness Saturday

You know how, in the Fall, you just want to bake and bake and bake to your hearts content?

I LOVE THAT!

Well, I was reading through a Fall magazine and saw an ad for McCormick's vanilla.  I'm not going to say I use their vanilla, but I definitely used their recipe!!  I was super impressed with this one because it really brought out that melt-in-your-mouth buttery/vanilla richness that accentuates the Ghirardelli's semi-sweet chocolate chips and a HUGE glass of ice cold milk.  AMAZING!!

Okay, enough capital letters and exclamation points.  Here's an incredible recipe for highly addicting chocolate chip cookies that you're going to be sad to run out of when you're done...

Vanilla Rich Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

3 ¼ C flour

1 t baking soda

¾ t salt

1 1/3 C butter, softened

1 ¼ C granulated sugar

1 C firmly baked light brown sugar

2 eggs

4 t vanilla

12 oz. (1 pkg) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 C coarsely chopped walnuts

Sorry for the blurriness!

Preheat oven to 375*.

In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt.  Beat butter and both sugars in large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and vanilla, and mix well.  Gradually beat in flour mixture on low until well mixed.  Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.

Drop rounded tables spoons 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake 8-10 minutes until the edges are lightly browned.

Cool on baking sheets for a minute, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes 5 dozen.

* * * * *

Okay, so you know that I didn't add the walnuts, but I'm sure if you're a nutty person you'd love these even more.  Also, as you can see, I'm not good on "equal" rounded tablespoonfuls of dough.  Didn't matter.  I honest-to-goodness made exactly 5 dozen cookies.  I shared some, but these were hard to share, even with my darling husband.  He gave them the thumbs up, too, though, so when that fall weather makes you nostalgic and you want to bake, these are an easy crowd pleaser!!

Trio of Tapenades

So, for a work party, I decided to make a trio of tapenades.  The new Fall/Winter Pampered Chef Season's best has a focus around tapenades, and I figured they would be perfect for our "Member Mixer."  Now, the problem with these is that I can't find the recipes anywhere online, so please forgive me as I include them here!

By the way - these recipes are awesome even if you don't like olives (like me) or capers.   You can't really taste them.  I actually had to convince a woman that they were in there.  Who knew?!

Spinach and Olive Tapenade

Ingredients:

6 oz (1 pkg) fresh baby spinach leaves

1 lemon

1 oz Parmesan cheese

¼ red bell pepper

2 garlic cloves (peeled)

2 T drained capers

¾ C pitted green olives

¼ C olive oil

¼ t salt

Microwave spinach covered, 2-3 minutes, or until wilted.  Press spinach to the side to “drain,” and blot excess moisture with paper towels and set aside.

Meanwhile, juice lemon to measure 1 T.  Grate cheese, and cut bell pepper into 1” pieces.

Place garlic, capers, bell pepper, and olives into a food processor.  Process until coarsely chopped.  Add cheese, basil, cheese, oil, lemon juice, and salt.  Process to desired consistency.

Roasted Red Pepper & Sun-dried Tomato Tapenade

Ingredients:

½ C sun-dried tomatoes in oil

½ C loosely packed fresh parsley

1 garlic clove (peeled)

1/3 C pitted Kalamata olives, drained

¼ C walnut halves, toasted

2 T olive oil

1 t balsamic vinegar

1 C jarred roasted red peppers, drained and patted dry

Drain tomatoes and microwave 15-20 seconds or until slightly softened.

Combine parsley, garlic, olives, and walnuts in food processor.  Process until coarsely chopped.  Add tomatoes, oil, and vinegar and coarsely chop.  Add peppers and process until desired consistency.

These were the last ones I threw in the oven.  And forgot!!

Artichoke Tapenade

Ingredients:

1 lemon

1 can (14 oz) artichoke hearts in water

¼ C loosely packed fresh parsley

1 garlic clove (peeled)

½ C pitted green olives

1 T drained capers

5 T olive oil

Zest lemon to measure ½ t.  Juice lemon to measure 1 T.  Drain artichokes and pat dry with paper towels.

Combine parsley, garlic, lemon zest, juice, artichokes, olives, capers, and oil in food processor.  Process to desired consistency.

* * * *

I made some crustinis (french bread and olive oil), and grilled some Naan to serve with the tapenades.  I also put out some crackers to round out the starches.  A little bit of something for everyone.  Yummy!

Artichoke, Red Pepper, and Spinach, accordingly

A Taste of Sweetness Saturday

Okay, so we all know it's the end of summer, right?

Well, the end of summer doesn't really exist in Southern California.  So, while all of my friends back home are making chili, soup, and fresh baked breads, I'm still in my 70* temperatures.  Rough life, right?

Add on to that the Santa Anas that make our October hotter than our July, plus a couple of wild fires, and you'd be ready for ice cream, too!!

Peach and Pecan Ice Cream Recipe

So once again, first we cook it out the stove top.

Okay, so I read through the recipe.

kind of


I seemed to have missed the section where this has to be in the fridge for 8-24 hours before you can even process it.

This is even worse than the last recipe!!!


So, we processed it and forgot about it until after work the next day...

Now, my local Fresh and easy didn't have pecans for me to toast, so I just used a package of candied pecans. Not as many as the recipe called for, but it still was an easy add that got the flavor going.

It worked well for this recipe, even though Thomas protested not having a chocolate ice cream again.

I thought two chocolates in a row would be overkill.

He disagreed.  I stand corrected.

Still yummy, just not chocolate.

Pan Roasted Chicken and Veg

Time for something a little more healthy, eh?

For starters, here's the recipe.  I'd hate to forget the springboard that might have inspired this dish.

So then, start with a veritable ton of vegetables.  These are a bunch from my garden, plus some store bought, to really fill you up.  I didn't have a big enough bowl to stir them all in, so I decided to mix them up in the wok.

While I waka-ed it up like Fozzie Bear, I connived convinced Thomas to cut, season, and bread the chicken.  He understands that I HATE (yes, really, HATE) touching raw meat, and to speed up the process, it was much easier for him to do it.  Otherwise, it would be me, with my two pinching finger (on only one hand) "ew"ing and "gross"ing the whole time.  MUCH quicker this way.

We used a combo of Panko and Italian seasoned bread crumbs for the chicken.  Thomas also used paprika, s & p, and probably other spices we had in the house as well.

Back to the vegetables....

Once they're all cut, (roughly the same size), you're supposed to layer them in your stoneware pan.  I did.

Three times!

Okay, maybe I really wanted more vegetables than I had room for.  Thomas swore it would be okay...

Then he had about three times as much chicken, and layered that almost twice on the vegetables!

It's time for a bigger pan, me-thinks!

So, now we have five layers of veg and meat and we're still trying to stick to the directions on the recipe as much as possible.

Didn't work.  Should have just wok-ed the veg and baked the chicken.  It took way too long, and by the time we ate, I didn't even want it any more!  :(

However, it was healthy, and pretty, and a very filling meal!

Cream Cheese Filled Pumpkin Muffins!

 Okay.  Fall and I had a face off and I lost.  We were doing so well with sunny, warm days, that I lived in denial of where it might all be going.  Then, for the past two days, it's been chilly for about 22 hours of the day, then gorgeous for two, late in the afternoon.  Made me feel like a sweatshirt.


And pumpkin muffins.


I have an awesome friend back home, Kara, who makes pumpkin muffins with a cream cheese frosting - to die for!

I have a friend out here, Megan, who just posted this idea for cream cheese filled muffins, and I thought that might be just what I was craving!


I turned to Google, and food.com gave me this recipe.  Sounded good, but I didn't want to make the muffins from scratch, so I grabbed the Pillsbury box and followed the muffin recipe.

Then I made the filling.  SO EASY!!

 Egg yolk, bar of cream cheese, and 2T of sugar.

Beat until it looks amazing.  Like this!!

It's a very firm filling, so it's easy to scoop up a teaspoonful and drop it into the center of your muffins.

(yes, I used way to much Pam, but the cannister was nearly empty, so it was very hit or miss!!)

Now, this is where I'd stray from the recipe a bit.

If it had been up to me, I would have filled it half way, placed the spoonful of stuffing (don't let it touch the paper), then put more pumpkin on top.

I did push it down a bit, and it did bake up around it, but when it was warm, the cream cheese fell and left little divots in the tops of my muffins.

Ugh. More on that later!

So, once everything looks all pretty, you make the crumble topping.  Use 2T of softened butter, 4T of flour, 4T of sugar, and 1/2 t of cinnamon. 

Then just use a fork (or knife) to cut the butter until it's well mixed.

Just sprinkle on the goodness, completely covering the muffins, and bake according to the box directions.  (About 18 minutes at 400).



Turned out amazing, although you can kind of see where the cream cheese is sinking in.

That's the money shot!

A Taste of (Chocolate-y) Sweetness Saturday!

Ta-daa!!  My mama apparently loves us quite a bit.  This awesome Cuisinart ice cream maker arrived in the mail last month, and Thomas and I have been chomping at the bit to use it.  It came in two pieces - first the freezer containers and then the actual machine.  By the time the machine came, we were more than ready to go!!

Since Thomas is a baptized confirmed choc-o-holic, of course the first recipe I would look for would be a Very Chocolate Ice Cream recipe!!

One of the oddest things I found out about ice cream recipes?  If you want it to be a creamy, custard like texture, you need to cook it.

Which means it gets hot.

Which means you have to cool it off.

For hours.

BEFORE you can start to process it as ice cream.

This is, like, the worst idea since Greedo shooting first!  You can't tell me to make ice cream and then I have to wait FOR HOURS before I can even actually make the ice cream, where I have to wait any way before I can even eat the ice cream.  Ridiculous!

Okay, so you wait, it gets cold, then you can process it in the actual machine.  This is about the time when your choco-crazed loving husband comes home and has bright ideas, like adding Nutella.  And not so bright ideas, like adding almost a whole bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips.  I just left my chips to the side in my bowl, but the Nutella is a definite add in.  Just add it in just before the ice cream is firm enough to take out of the machine and into your freezer safe bowls.  It's completely worth it!!

jealous?!

Pasta?!? My triumphant return!!

I know it's been a month.  I'm so sorry, but I've left the teaching profession, started a new job as a Recreation Director for a  home owners association.  This means (occasionally) weird hours and (always) longer days, plus I'm still tutoring after work.  This basically equates to me cooking about once a month, Thomas cooking all the time, or lots more take out.  Sad, but true.  However, my garden is still producing, and I've had this recipe that I've been wanting to try, and what better way to jump back into blogging than pasta!

My Orecchiette with Spinach, Sausage & Tomatoes was my way back in, and by that point, Thomas was so excited to have me make dinner, ANY dinner, that he would gladly put up with the tomato based pasta sauce.

Now, my biggest objection to this recipe was the sausage.  I used half hot and half mild, but I had to take the casing off.  Yes, I know there are places where you can buy the sausage just ground without casing (it looks like ground beef), but I wasn't at one of those stores, so I had to get off de-case as soon as possible!

Thomas recommended that I cut off one end and squeeze it out like a tube of toothpaste.  Gross?  Definitely!  I lasted one link, and then decided to just make a slit up the side and let it drop out.  Much easier, much quicker, and a lot less...toothpaste-y. 

I was a bit worried about all the juice in here.  I didn't use any water, although I did use a veggie broth that we had in the house.  I also kept all of the tomato juice from the cans to add.  I'm sure I also used a bunch of Italian seasoning, too.  I didn't want my triumphant comeback to be bland.

Turns out the juice was enough, and I actually could have probably used a little more.  Everything cooked down nicely, and if I was more patient, it would have done even more so, but I didn't want the orechiette to get mushy.  Turned out amazing, and even better? The leftovers lasted all week and were equally delicious.  I was sad to run out of this, and my co-workers were all super jealous every time I ate it.  On a scale of ponies to unicorns, I'd give this recipe a solid pink elephant.

AMAZING!!  Oh, and I promise I have many more posts in the pipeline, I just have to find the time to post them.  Welcome back to the Pampered Jes, and dig in while you can!!