No Name Pasta Dish

I don't usually name things, I usually leave that up to the people eating it so I'm open to suggestions. :) How about Italian sausage, tomato, spinach, pasta thingy? :p

1 lb Italian sausage out of casing (2-3 links)
1 c grape tomatoes sliced in half
2 c spinach (fresh)
2 Tbspn olive oil
1 Tbspn Italian seasoning
salt & pepper to taste
1 lb pasta (I used whole wheat which blends nicely with the strong flavors in the dish)

To start, get your pasta water boiling since that takes a while on most stoves.

Put your olive oil in a 12" frying pan over medium high heat and add the sausage. Break up the sausage as it cooks leaving small lumps for texture. Once browned, add the slices tomatoes and Italian seasoning. Let cook for 5 minutes until the tomatoes cook down a bit and release their juices - see pic.




Add the spinach, yes, it looks like a lot but it cooks down to near nothing as seen in the pics below. Turn your heat down to low or simmer and cook for 2-3 minutes or until reduced. Taste and season with salt and pepper.





Drain your pasta and dump into the frying pan with the sausage mixture and mix to combine. Plate and top with parmesan or romano cheese.




Enjoy!

Cinnamon Rolls!

I have been famous around friends for making these cinnamon rolls and yet, I hadn't made these in over a year. Why on earth was I depriving myself?! :p These cinnamon rolls won me a perfect 10 at an Iron Chef competition between Chemie Grad Students a few years ago, so they must be good. ;)

I added some optional additional ingredients if you want something a little different. I say, give the orange a try sometime, it's really good - but so's the basic roll. ;)

Dough:
* 1/4-ounce package yeast (I use the double acting stuff)
* 1/2 cup warm water (not more than 120F)
* 1/2 cup scalded milk (again, not more than 120F)
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 1/3 cup melted butter
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 egg
* 3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour

Filling
* 1/2 cup softened butter or margarine, plus more for pan
* 1/4 cup sugar (your choice, brown, white, or raw)
* 2-3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
Optional for filling
* 1/2 cup raisins, walnuts, or pecans (I don't, but to each their own)

Icing
* 1/2 cup softened butter or margarine
* 1/2 cup softened cream cheese
* 1-2 cups powdered sugar
* 1 tspn vanilla extract
Optional for icing
* 1 tspn orange juice
* 1/4 tspn orange zest


In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside to proof. In a large bowl mix milk, sugar, melted butter, salt and egg. Add 2 cups of flour and mix until smooth. Add yeast mixture. Mix in remaining flour until dough is easy to handle. Knead dough on lightly floured surface for 5 to 10 minutes. Place in well-greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size, usually 1/2 to 1 hour - depends on your yeast and how warm your kitchen is. (I heat my oven to 150 and let it rise in there since my house is freezing.)

When doubled in size, punch down dough. Roll out on a floured surface or stretch with your hands into a 15" by 10" rectangle. Spread softened melted butter all over dough. Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over buttered dough. Sprinkle with walnuts, pecans, or raisins if desired. Beginning at the 15-inch side, role up dough and pinch edge together to seal. Cut into 2-2.5" slices.

Butter a 9x12" dish with leftover butter and place rolls cut side down into dish leaving a little space in between. Let them sit covered in a warm place for 30 minutes to rise again. (I, again, use my oven.)

Preheat your oven to 375F and bake rolls for 20-30 minutes until lightly golden brown. Make up icing while they back, just dump it all in a bowl and stir like crazy until spreadable consistency, adding more sugar to thicken if needed.

I ice my rolls directly when removed form the oven so that the icing melts on them and sticks to the roll better. Cover leftover rolls in pan with plastic wrap and stash in the fridge. They last up to a week in the fridge. To reheat, place in microwave for 15-25 seconds. Gooey and yummy!!

Oatmeal Banana Cookies

A nice break from banana bread. :)

I saw this on Allrecipes.com and thought, hmmm, how bad could it be?
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Banana-Oatmeal-Cookie/Detail.aspx

I altered the recipe, of course, and I think it came out really well. I copied the recipe and edited in my changes below.

* 1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 3/4 cup shortening
* 3/4 cup white sugar
* 1 egg
* 1 cup mashed bananas (3-4 medium bananas)
* 1 3/4 cups quick cooking oats
DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.
3. Cream together the shortening and sugar; beat until light and fluffy. Add egg, banana and oatmeal. Mix well.
4. Add dry ingredients, mix well and drop by the teaspoon on a max paper coated cookie sheet.
5. Bake at 375 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 15-20 minutes or until edges turn lightly brown. Cool on wire rack. I froze half in a large freezer bag and kept the rest for snacks during the week. They are great with a glass of milk, lactose free of course. ;)


I know the pic is dark but it's all rainy and tornado-ey outside so my kitchen is dark.

Why I made changes:
I lowered the temperature because I made my first batch at 400 and the bottoms were burnt :( at 375 then were nicely brown on the bottom but were moist on top. I reduced the sugar because I don't like things too sweet but feel free to mess with it. I thought about leaving it out all together and using honey as a sweetener but haven't done that yet.

Also, for you peanut butter lovers, I could see this working well with a 1/2 cup peanut butter if you add 2 tablespoons or water or milk to then think it back out.

Mushroom Ravioli Sunday

When Sabine, my mother in law, came to visit, she made raviolis with me using won-ton wrappers from the vegetable section of grocery stores. We made raviolis with pesto and ricotta in them but I couldn't resit the urge to make mushroom stuffed ones.

1 package won-ton wrappers
1 15 oz carton riccotta cheese
8-10 small mushrooms, preferably a non-button mushroom for more flavor (I used creminis)
salt
pepper
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water



Won-ton wrappers!

Chop the mushrooms super fine with a sharp knife as seen here.

Blend them into the ricotta and add salt and pepper to taste. I know, it doesn't look like a lot of filling but you don't need much for each ravioli.

Lay out the wont-tons on the counter and add a 1/2 teaspoon of filling in the center of each sheet. Brush egg was on 2 of the 4 sides, two sides that meet at a "T". This is important to make the wrapper stick and egg wash doesn't stick to egg wash so only do two sides that will touch plain wrapper. Press the ravioli closed from the center point outward making sure to remove any air that may be inside.



Place them on a cookie sheet and freeze for an hour or until firm. Then transfer to plastic bags.



To cook, place in boiling water* and watch them closely. It should only take a few minutes, maybe 3 for them to be done (they should turn translucent and taste just barley gummy). *Make sure that water is at a rolling boil before you put them in, since they are frozen and they will lower the temperature of the water.

Serve them with whatever sauce you like or plain. You can float them in broth as a soup if you use a filling that suits that too.

Other filling suggestions
ricotta and pesto (mix 1/4 cup pesto into ricotta cheese) - Sabine
Italian sausage and parmesan cheese - Samantha
shrimp or crab and cream cheese - Chinese restaurants
spinach and cheese (make sure the spinach is cooked but drained dry)
anything you can think of...as long as it's dry, holds shape, and tastes good to you :)

They can also make dessert raviolis with a fruit, cream cheese, or chocolate filling when fried and topped with powdered sugar.

Cincinnati Chili

So, this isn't your typical chili. This chili was made famous in Cincinnati, as the name suggests, and has a Moroccan flavor to it. It's a unique blend of spices and you might really like it, even if you don't like chili. If you want to lighten it up, you can substitute the ground meat with ground chicken, ground turkey, or just use kidney beans or pinto beans in place of meat. It is traditionally served over pasta, which works really well but you could use rice or any grain that you wanted or eat it as a stew.

Note: traditionally this chili has chocolate in it but I left it out for obvious reasons...plus I think it's weird.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 small onion chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 pounds ground beef (chicken, turkey, or beans okay too)
1/4 cup chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 bay leaf
1 cup or small 10 oz can beef broth
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (optional, for heat)
shredded Cheddar cheese
cooked spaghetti for each serving

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring frequently, until tender, about 6 minutes. Add beef and cook, breaking up with a spoon, until browned. Then add chili powder, cinnamon, cumin, allspice, cloves, bay leaf, beef broth, tomato sauce, and red pepper. Stir to mix well. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 1/2-1 hour stirring occasionally.

It is the best if you now refrigerate overnight to develop the flavors but with the smell in the house, I can't wait! Remove the bay leaf. Reheat gently over medium heat. Serve over hot, drained spaghetti. Top with shredded cheddar cheese and raw onion if desired (I don't but I could see it).

No pictures because it was too yummy to stop and take a pic!

Special thanks to Kevin for introducing me to the idea and thanks to allrecipes.com for giving me a start on the recipe for which I adapted.

Yummy Almond Pastry Dessert

I came up with this as an excuse to use up a sheet of puff pastry in my freezer as well as a good reason to eat almonds. :)

1 sheet puff pastry
1/2 c sliced almonds
1/2 c sugar
1 egg beaten (egg wash)
1 tspn vanilla
1 c whipping cream

powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat your oven to 375F.

Place the puff pastry on a sheet of wax paper cut to fit your baking sheet. Cut the puff pastry into any shape you prefer but keep them to under 3"x3". I did rectangles of approximately 2"x3". Brush with egg wash and sprinkle on almonds, making sure to cover each one and making sure that they are flat (only 1 layer of almonds). Sprinkle tops lightly with sugar. This will make them candy coated when they are done. Put into preheated oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown and sugar has melted to the almonds. Meanwhile, beat up whipping cream with whisk until soft peaks form. Add in rest of sugar to the cream and vanilla. Beat until stiff peaks.

Let the almond pastry cool completely. This will harden the sugar on the almonds and allow for the cream not to melt.

Place an almond pastry on a plate and top with a heaping spoonful of whipped cream. Enjoy!

Me making the pastries

Pastries!

Olivier's dessert

My dessert

Check this out!

I found this website that lists just about every food blog. It's worth a browse and you never know, you may find a new favorite! One of mine is on there: La Tartine Gourmande.

http://www.foodblogblog.com/

Also, I found this site that has recipes from around the world on it and so far the ones I checked with people, check out as authentic.

http://www.recipehound.com/

Special Apple Crisp

I think all of us recognize an apple crisp, sliced apples covered with a crumbly topping and typically served with ice cream or whipped cream. I wanted to make a similar dish that is still a crisp but much prettier for presentation at a party. So, I called on my good friend, puff pastry. :)

1/2 packet, 1 sheet of Puff Pastry (thawed)
5-6 apples peeled and sliced (I used Fugi apples)
2-3 Tablespoons sugar + more for sprinkling
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 375F.

Put the sliced apples into a 9x11 baking dish or a 9x13 or 9x9 would work too, depending on the size of your apples. Toss the apples with hands in the sugar, cinnamon, and cornstarch then added the water and stirred around with a spoon (I didn't want to get cornstarch on my hands). I placed my puff pastry on the counter and sliced it into 8-12 even slices, depending on the size pan you chose (mine needed 9). If you're using a 9x9, just make sure you have an even number since it's a square. ;) Weave the slices to cover the apples. So, lay out the horizontals first across your pan and then alternate lifting every other slice and lay down a vertical slice. Repeat until pretty lattice is made. Trim any edges that are sticking out because they will only stick out further once they puff. Sprinkle with some white sugar to make it sparkly when it's cooked and cinnamon if you like. Place in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, again, depending on what pan you chose and how your oven keeps heat. Pull it out and check that the apples are softened, they sit in a bubbly gooey sauce, and the pastry is a light golden brown. Let cool to near room temperature, or as long as you can wait to dig in. Serve plain or with your favorite dairy accompaniment. :p


Here's the crisp before it bakes up.

After baking, see the gooey sauce. :)

Top view of lattice.


Warning! The smells during cooking are intoxicating so be ready to invite the neighbors if the windows are open!

Silly Doggies

These pictures were taken over the period of a week or two and just showcase the silly girls that I have. :)


Abbey tried to get on the recliner and I think it'll be the last time, it opened when she laid down and scared her.

Mya was laying on the couch and Abbey decided that she wanted on too. Somehow, this was where Abbey chose to sit. :p

In this one, Abbey was sleeping and Mya decided that she needed to snuggle, as Mya generally does, and laid right next to Abbey on the couch and then smushed her. Abbey was not amused but stayed there for hours.

Paprika Steak and Sweet potato/spinach mash

I made this tonight for dinner. It was inspired by two people, 1 Sabine who made me paprika steak once a LONG time ago and Shelley who made a similar sweet potato dish inspired by Wegmans. :) If you don't like sweet potato dishes because they're always loaded with sugar, give this one a try! Also, if you don't eat steak, you could do this same dish with thin sliced chicken breasts (or tenders) or firm tofu for those vegetarians.

1 eye of round steak think cut (if you can afford better, please do!)
1 large sweet potato (or two small)
2 cups of spinach
1/2 yellow onion
2-3 Tablespoons paprika
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon basil (if fresh tablespoon)
olive oil
butter
salt
pepper

Heat up water to boil the sweet potatoes while peeling then slicing them into 1" chunks. Salt the water and put those babies in to boil until more than fork tender ~ 20 minutes (the sweet potatoes will start to rise during cooking). Chop up an onion and toss into a medium heat frying pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil in it. Let onions sweat and start to become translucent. Stir in a teaspoon of salt, pinch of pepper, garlic, and basil. Add the spinach, it may seem like a lot now but just wait a few minutes. :) When the spinach is all wilted, remove from heat and place in a large bowl for mashing later on.

Put the paprika on a plate, in a baggy, or small bowl (whatever your preferred coating method is) and coat the steak with paprika until it's covered all over. Put the same frying pan form the onions (empty now) back on the heat with a tablespoon of butter. Add the steak and cook for 1 minute on each side. Remove from heat and keep warm.

Strain sweet potatoes and add to mashing bowl. If you timed the potatoes right, you shouldn't need a big strong man to smash them. ;) I like mine chunky so I don't smash too much, just until most of them are mashed and then stir with a spoon. Taste them...do they need salt? If so, add it, if not then you're done!

Enjoy!



PS: I put this one down as a meal because I feel they go well together...should I do that or always list separately??