Week 11: Red Beans & Rice

I used Alton Brown's recipe, courtesy of FoodNetwork.com. Click here to see it.

My Review:We wanted to tone this down a bit (I don't exactly have a high tolerance for spice) and we didn't have bell peppers, so we replaced the bell peppers, cayenne, and hot sauce with a can of chopped green chilies. Substition=success. I really liked this recipe, even though it took forever to make. My advice? Only make it if you have a lot of time and aren't hungry when you start. Because you get to smell its deliciousness for a full hour and a half before you can eat it--so if you are hungry, there is no way you are going to make it. Will I make it again? Definitely.

Week 10: Biscuits & Gravy (Catching up!)

Sausage Gravy:
1/2 lb. sausage (approximately)
3 Tbsp. flour
1 c. milk
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook sausage in a heavy skillet. Remove sausage with a slotted spoon; set aside for a later use
2. Remove all but 2 to 3 tablespoons of grease from the skillet.
3. Over medium heat, stir 3 tablespoons of flour into the grease. Stir constantly until browned, about 5 minutes.
4. Stirring constantly, pour in 1 cup of regular milk.
5. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Continue stirring until the gravy is thick. (Add more milk if gravy is too thick)
7. If desired, add some or all of the sausage back into the gravy.
8. Serve over split biscuits, grits, or mashed potatoes, or pour into a bowl or gravy boat and serve on the side.

Baking Powder Biscuits
2 c. flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1.4 c. shortening or butter
2/3-3/4 c. milk

1. In a medium sized bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. Cut shortening into flour.
3. Add milk. Stir quickly with fork until dough follows fork around bowl.
4. Knead gently 10-12 strokes on lightly floured surface.
5. Roll dough 1/2" thick. Use a cup to cut biscuits.
6. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 12-15 min. at 450* F.

Yield: 16 biscuits

My Review:
YUM! Oh how I love gravy. And biscuits. Especially when combined. Granted, this recipe isn't exactly healthy or diet-friendly, so should be made sparingly, but is delicious!

Week 9: S'more Brownies

1 package brownie mix
2 c. mini marshmallows
1 c. chocolate chips
5 (approx.) graham crackers, broken into quarters

1. Prepare and bake brownies according to recipe on box (or, if you are a more committed baker than I am, make brownies from scratch as you normally would.)
2. Upon removing brownies from the oven, immediately pour a layer of marshmallows a chocolate chips over the top of the warm brownies.
3. Return your pan to the oven for 2 more minutes.
4. Cover marshmallow layer with broken graham crackers.
5. Enjoy!!!

My Review:
I liked this recipe. I would have been a bigger fan if we had milk chocolate chips to put on top rather than dark chocolate chips (yuck...I hate dark chocolate), but despite the dark chocolate, it was good. If I was going to serve this to people beside my family (which I would), I would either take a lot of time arranging the graham crackers or break them into small pieces (instead of quarters) to sprinkle over the top. Overall, I think this recipe is a keeper--it's going into the recipe box :)

Week 8: Tomato Mozzarella Soup

I totally dropped the ball last week, so now tomato mozzarella soup is week eight instead of a bonus. Oops :)

1 can (26 oz) tomato puree
1 c. vegetable juice (such as V8)
1 c. chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 c. shredded fresh basil, plus 1 Tb. for serving
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 c. milk
Black pepper, to taste
1 c. shredded mozarella cheese

Place the tomato puree, vegetable juice, broth, 1/4 c. basil, and oregano in a medium-size saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes to let the flavors blend, stirring occasionally.

Add the milk to the soup and stir to combine. Continue simmering (don't boil) until heated through, 2 to 3 minutes. Season to taste with pepper. Pour the soup into bowls and top each with 1/4 c. cheese and a sprinkle of fresh basil.

My Review:
This recipe was okay. The tomato taste was a little too overwhelming for my liking. I'm not sure how to remedy that--add a little cream, perhaps? Ryan felt the same way. On the other hand, our picky 15-month old LOVED this soup. He gobbled it right down when I was sure he would turn his nose up at it.

And I couldn't find a small can of vegetable juice, so now have a huge tupperware full of it. What should I do with that???

Week 7: Favorite Muffins

Remember that Betty Crocker cookbook I mentioned? The one from 1973? Well here is another keeper from that cookbook...

1 egg
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Heat oven to 400*. Grease bottoms of 12 medium muffin cups. Beat egg; stir in milk and oil. Mix in remaining ingredients just until flour is moistened. Batter should be lumpy.

Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from pan.

Yield: 12 muffins

And because I have a sweet tooth, I went for one of the variations in the cookbook:
Apple Muffins: Stir in 1 cup grated apple with the oil and add 1/2 tsp. cinnamon with the flour.

My Review:
Yum! I didn't realize how easy it is to make muffins from scratch. I liked these muffins because they were not quite so sweet as the muffins you buy from the store or make from premixed packages. I would have loved a crumb topping....next time that will be a definite addition.

Week 6: Chicken Cordon Bleu Sandwiches

Our original plan was to make chicken cordon bleu. But when we pulled out our chicken, they were really small and would have been very problematic to roll up. So...we improvised and came up with something equally delicious but quite a bit easier (I think). So, without further ado, may I present....

Chicken Cordon Bleu Sandwiches
1 egg
1/2 c. seasoned bread crumbs
2 chicken breasts
4 slices sourdough bread (or any other bread that will hold up on a panini grill)
ham
swiss cheese
mustard
mayo
butter or margarine

Crack the egg into a flat dish (big enough to dip your bread in) and scramble it with a fork. Pour the bread crumbs into a separate flat dish. Dip the chicken first into the egg and then into the bread crumbs. Then place onto heated panini grill (you could also cook it in olive oil on the stove if you wanted to). Cook thoroughly. In the meantime, butter the backs of the slices of bread. Put mayo and mustard on the fronts of the slices of bread. Pile desired amount of ham and cheese onto one slice of bread. When chicken is done, place it atop ham and cheese and top with a second slice of bread. Place it onto the heated panini grill for approximately 2 minutes. Viola! You have a delicious sandwich.

My Review:
So I know that I am the person who made this recipe up, so it may seem a little presumptuous to give myself a good rating; but this sandwich was really good. I love sandwiches, so I really liked this interpretation of a classic chicken cordon bleu. I will definitely make it again!

Week 5 (aka the real week 1...makeup): Orange Cake

 

This recipe has a story attached, as many recipes do.

It was Saturday night. Ryan and I were watching "Burn Notice" on CastTV.com (we don't have cable) (but at least we have CastTV and Hulu). I got the sudden urge to bake. But I didn't want to bake just anything--chocolate chip cookies or brownies or anything normal wouldn't do. I wanted to make something different. Ryan somehow came up with the idea of an orange cake (and he didn't even know we had oranges!). After a little searching, we found a ridiculously awesome looking recipe in our Betty Crocker Cookbook--the one printed in 1973. The recipes in 1973 were so much yummier than the recipes today because there is actually fat and calories (and a lot of it) in the recipes. Anyway, I made a quick trip to the store and got started on my first ever cake made from scratch. I didn't start it until 9:00 p.m., so we didn't get to eat any until about 10:30 or 11:00; but it was worth the wait. Here is the recipe:

2 eggs, separated

1 1/2 c. sugar

2 1/4 c. cake flour

3 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/3 c. vegetable oil

Juice of one orange + enough milk to make one cup

Grated peal of one orange

Heat oven to 350*. Grease and flour baking pans (2 round layer pans). In small mixer bowl, beat egg whites until foamy (My note: Don't throw away the yolks! You need them later). Beat in 1/2 cup of the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time; continue beating until very stiff and glossy. Set meringue aside. (My note: You have to beat it for a long time! Don't worry if it is taking a while.)

Measure remaining sugar, the flour, baking powder, and salt into large mixer bowl. Add oil, orange juice + milk combo, and grated rind. Beat one minute on high speed, scraping bowl constantly. Add eggs yolks; beat 1 minute, scraping bowl occasionally. Fold in meringue. Pour into pan(s).

Bake 30-35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. (My note: my oven cooks very hot and fast, so it only took my cakes 23 minutes.) Split to make four layers. Fill layers with Orange filling (below). In chilled bowl, beat 1 cup chilled whipping cream until stiff. (My note: I definitely added powdered sugar and vanilla to my whipping cream--I like it sweet!) Frost side and top of cake.

Orange Filling:

Prepare 1 package (3 oz.) vanilla pudding and pie filling (My note: not instant pudding!) as directed on package except omit milk and add grated peel of 1 orange and juice of 1 orange plus enough water to measure 1 cup liquid. Cool. In chilled bowl, beat 1/2 c. chilled whipping cream until stiff. Fold in pudding.

My Review:

Oh. My. Goodness. Cake heaven. This cake was SO good. I think it is my favorite cake of all time and is definitely going to be my birthday cake this year. YUM. Ryan and I would have eaten it all on Saturday night, but decided that would be a bad plan so took it over to my parents' house to share on Sunday. YUM!!!

 

Go make an orange cake. You know you want to.