Make Your Own Peanut Butter (or any other nut butter)

Making your own peanut butter is super easy.  You can buy bulk peanuts at a grocery store or Costco (I buy them in the bulk bins at the Giant Eagle Market District at Settler's Ridge - love those bulk bins!).  I buy the XL roasted peanuts without salt.  Just dump them in the food processor and turn it on high and stand back and watch the magic!  Process until it is as smooth as you want.

That's it!  Add salt to taste.  You can add honey, cinnamon or whatever else takes your fancy.  You can do the exact same thing with almonds, cashews, and sunflower seeds or whatever you like.

Zuppa Toscana

This is a copy of Olive Garden's soup. Yum!
(can't remember where I got it - sorry!)

Ingredients
1 lb Italian sausage
1 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 large diced white onion
4 Tbsp bacon pieces
2 tsp garlic puree
10 c water
5 cubes chicken bouillon
1 c heavy cream
1 lb sliced Russet potatoes
1/4 of a bunch of kale

Directions:

Saute sausage and red pepper and drain off excess fat.

In the same pan, saute bacon, onions and garlic over low to medium heat for approx 15 minutes or until the onions are soft.

Heat boullion and water until boiling.

Add sliced potatoes and cook until soft, about half an hour.

Pour in heavy cream and cook until thoroughly heated.

Stir in sausage and kale, heat thoroughly and serve.

The red pepper can make it a bit hot, so use less if you don't want a lot of heat. I usually add quite a bit of kale because I like it and its the good-for-you part!

Thimbleanna posted a similar recipe the other day that has kielbasa instead of sausage and doesn't have the cream added. Sounds good to me as well - its on my to-try list. I'm all about soups right now, and I probably shouldn't be eating cream anyway, since I still need to lose weight and the baby doesn't much like my eating dairy yet.

Sorry that there's no photo - the little one is teething and he was tired and fussing when we made this the other night. I was too lazy to get a photo of it. My table isn't clean anyway. Ha!

Soup for Fall

I found this recipe for butternut squash soup last fall when Mom gave me some squash and I had no idea what to do with it. The soup smells heavenly while cooking - onions & garlic and then cinnamon, ginger, cloves and cayenne pepper. Mmm. Its a bit sweet, but it has a nice bite to it. I'd consider it more of an appetizer or side rather than main course, but its nice and even The Man likes it.

I didn't take a picture because I didn't have a chance, and well, its orange soup. Use your imagination.

Creamy Butternut Squash with Cinnamon Soup

INGREDIENTS

* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 1/2 pounds peeled and seeded butternut squash , cut into 1-inch chunks
* 1 large onion, cut into large dice
* 1 tablespoon butter
* 1 pinch sugar
* 3 large garlic cloves, thickly sliced
* 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
* 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 3 cups chicken broth, homemade or from a carton or can
* 1 1/2 cups half-and-half (or whole milk)
* Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Garnish: store-bought apple chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large, deep saute pan until shimmering.

2. Add butternut squash, then onion; saute, stirring very little at first, then more frequently, until squash start to turn golden brown, 7 to 8 minutes.

3. Reduce heat to low and add butter, sugar and garlic; continue cooking until all vegetables are a rich spotty caramel color, about 10 minutes longer.

4. Add cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and cayenne pepper; continue to saute until fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 minute longer.

5. Add broth; bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, partially covered, until squash is tender, about 10 minutes.

6. Using an immersion blender or traditional blender, puree until very smooth, 30 seconds to 1 minute. (If using a traditional blender, vent it either by removing the lid's pop-out center or by lifting one edge of the lid. Drape the blender canister with a kitchen towel. To 'clean' the canister, pour in a little half-and-half, blend briefly, then add to the soup.)

7. Return to pan (or a soup pot); add enough half-and-half so the mixture is souplike, yet thick enough to float garnish. Taste, and add salt and pepper if needed. Heat through, ladle into bowls, garnish and serve.

Original recipe located here.

Small Cake

I recently bought some small, but deep cake pans because I have some sort of fascination with wanting to make tall layered cakes. I can hardly make large cakes with more layers (too much cake tempting me), so I bought these cake pans. They are 6" pans that are 3" deep.

Our anniversary was, well, last month (I'm way behind on things) and that gave me an excuse to make a cake. I made the fabulous chocolate cake and frosting that I used for The Man's birthday.

I am in love with the frosting. Not too sweet and its perfectly light smooth. Ack. I'd make the frosting just to eat it with a spoon. The cakes are the perfect size to sit on my littlest cake stands. Cute. The Man helped me frost it, since I've still got trouble having both hands available for very long. . .

HERSHEY'S "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. 10 to 12 servings.

Old Fashioned Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients

Makes about 3 cups

• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• Pinch of salt
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
• 2/3 cup sour cream

Directions

1. Sift sugar, cocoa powder, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside.
2. Put butter and cream cheese into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high until fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Gradually add sugar mixture. Mix in chocolate and sour cream. Use immediately.

Pasta with Goat Cheese and Roasted Asparagus

photo from Martha Stewart.com

Tried this recently and discovered goat cheese. I had never had it before and I think its really good. Its got a nice tang to it. The roasted asparagus is really good too; I was eating it with my fingers before putting it in the pasta. I think it has more flavor than steaming it. Try it.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 2 bunches asparagus (2 pounds total), tough ends removed
• 4 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
• 12 ounces cavatappi or other short pasta
• 1 small log soft goat cheese (5 ounces), crumbled
• 2 to 3 tablespoons snipped fresh chives, for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to a boil for pasta. Place asparagus on a large rimmed baking sheet; dot with 1 tablespoon butter, and season with salt and pepper. Roast until tender, tossing occasionally, 10 to 15 minutes; cut into 2-inch lengths.
2. While asparagus is roasting, generously salt boiling water. Add pasta, and cook until al dente, according to package instructions. Set aside 1 1/2 cups pasta water; drain pasta and return to pot.
3. In a medium bowl, combine goat cheese, remaining 3 tablespoons butter, and 1/2 cup pasta water. Season with salt and pepper, and whisk until smooth. Add goat-cheese mixture and asparagus to pasta; toss to combine, adding more pasta water if necessary for sauce to coat pasta. Serve pasta garnished with chives.

Original Recipe from Everyday Food here.

Happy Birthday to My One and Only

I love you, babe.

Unfortunately, he's gone off to work and left me all alone with this cake until morning. That's dangerous. The only thing holding me back from inhaling it all is that I've apparently reached a stage where everything that goes in my mouth appears to be sticking around for the long haul. Suck. Yummy cake and yummy frosting.

Popovers Revisited

My Mom was down here last week and we went shopping, of course, because that's what we do! We had to stop in to Target and make sure there was nothing there that we must have, and lo and behold, we found some things.


I found this popover pan. Yay! Why didn't I think to look there before? So we had to make popovers. It worked well.

I think that the popovers are probably twice as big as they are when using a regular muffin pan, just by virtue of having that much deeper wells to fill. I think they should probably have been baked longer to keep their shape after cooling, but we were too impatient.

Yum.

S'more Cupcakes

I finally tried the S'More Cupcakes from Martha Stewart

Ingredients
Makes 2 dozen
2 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (from about 20 squares)
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 standard muffin tins with cupcake liners; set aside.


Sift 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together into the bowl of an electric mixer. Using the paddle attachment, mix ingredients together on low speed.

In a large bowl, mix together eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Add to flour mixture and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl and continue mixing on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add boiling water and stir to combine; set cake batter aside.

Place graham cracker crumbs, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and melted butter in a large bowl; stir until well combined.

Place 1 tablespoon graham cracker mixture into the bottom of each prepared muffin cup. Use the bottom of a small glass to pack crumbs into the bottom of each cupcake liner. Reserve remaining graham cracker mixture for topping.

Place 2 teaspoons chocolate in each muffin cup. Transfer muffin tins to oven and bake until the edges of the graham cracker mixture is golden, about 5 minutes.

Remove from oven and fill each muffin cup three-quarters full with cake batter. Sprinkle each with remaining chocolate and graham cracker mixture. Return to oven and bake, rotating pans halfway through baking, until tops are firm and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes.

Transfer muffin tins to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and let cool completely.


Transfer frosting to a large pastry bag fitted with a large plain round or French tip (such as Ateco #867 or Ateco #809). Pipe frosting in a spiral motion on each cupcake.

Transfer cupcakes to a baking sheet. Using a kitchen torch, lightly brown the frosting, taking care not to burn the cupcake liners. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container, up to 2 days.



Marshmallow Frosting

Ingredients
Makes enough for 2 dozen cupcakes
8 large egg whites
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract


Directions
Place egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer. Set over a saucepan with simmering water. Whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved and whites are warm to the touch, 3 to 4 minutes.


Transfer bowl to electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and beat, starting on low speed, gradually increasing to high, until stiff, glossy peaks form, 5 to 7 minutes. Add vanilla, and mix until combined. Use immediately.

They were really good. I'm more of a vanilla or fruit kinda girl, rather than chocolate, but they turned out really moist and the Man is a chocolate person and he liked them. The graham cracker part starts to get soggy after the first day or so, but still good. I'd make them again, only if I have somewhere to take them, because cupcakes are waaaaay too tempting at our house!

Ciabatta Bread

I found a bread recipe that I did like. I made this one yesterday and The Man devoured the first loaf. This one you also leave sitting on your counter for 12 hours or so.

Ciabatta Bread
by Lisa Pizza at RecipeZaar

For Sponge:

• 1/8 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons water (105-115 F)
• 1/3 cup room-temp water
• 1 cup bread flour

For Bread:

• 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons warm milk (105-115 F)
• 2/3 cup room-temp water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cups bread flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Directions

1. Make sponge: Stir together, warm water and yeast.
2. Let stand 5 minutes, until creamy.
3. Transfer yeast mixture to another bowl and add room-temp water and flour.
4. Stir for 4 minutes.
5. Cover bowl with plastic wrap.
6. Let stand at cool room temp at least 12 hours and up to 1 day.
7. Make bread: Stir together yeast and milk in small bowl and let stand 5 minutes, until creamy.
8. In bowl of standing electric mixer, with dough hook, blend together milk mixture, sponge, water, oil and flour at low speed until flour is moistened.
9. Beat on medium for 3 minutes.
10. Add salt and beat for 4 more minutes.
11. Scrape dough into oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap, until doubled- about 1 1/2 hours.
12. Note: Dough will be VERY sticky and full of bubbles.
13. Cut two pieces of parchment paper, approx 12 inches by 6 inches.
14. Place on baking sheet and flour well.
15. Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface and cut in half.
16. Transfer each half to paper and form irregular ovals approx 9 inches long.
17. Dip fingers in flour and dimple loaves.
18. Dust tops with flour.
19. Cover with dampened kitchen towel and let rise 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until almost doubled.
20. At least 45 minutes before baking bread, pre-heat pizza stone on lowest oven rack position at 425°F.
21. Transfer 1 loaf, along with parchment paper, onto stone and bake for 20 minutes or until pale golden.
22. Remove to cooling racks and repeat with second loaf.

The bread turned out very soft and tender. I have another batched started and sitting on the counter again so tomorrow I can try to make some rolls out of it. I had a chicken sandwich at Sonic the other day with a ciabatta bun and the bun was actually quite good. Isn't that sad? I'm trying to duplicate something at a fast food place! But whatever.

No Knead Bread

So this has been going around all over the place for awhile now, but I decided to try this bread again and honestly, I'm kinda egh about it. Its not bad and its easy, but it is bread after all. It won't change your life or anything. Am I alone on this?

No Knead Bread

published by The New York Times and adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery

Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting

¼ teaspoon instant yeast

1¼ teaspoons salt

Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

Perhaps I'll practice some more and see what I think. I'd rather have a more traditional bread loaf shape, but I'm not sure what to cover it with besides just foil. Have to try that and see. I also used some whole wheat flour in mine and maybe I'll try it without. Either way, it is easy to make!

There's a demonstration video as well.

Popovers

The Man left for work before I got up and won't be home until tonight. 13 1/2 hour day, anyone? No, thank you. I'm going to spend the day enjoying myself at home, as usual. Today I shall attempt to sew a shirt. Given the results of previous attempts, I don't really have high hopes. I'm having trouble cutting out the dumb thing. But enough of that.

To start my morning right, I made popovers. I guess I've been thinking about Maine lately, and that has put me in the mood for them. If you've never been to Maine, I'm guessing you don't get the connection. Its Jordan Pond.

The mountains in the background are known as the Bubbles.

The path around Jordan Pond

They say that it is tradition to have tea and popovers with strawberry jam at the Jordan Pond House. We had never done it before our most recent trip to Maine, simply because its not exactly cheap and its always packed to the gills with people. You sometimes have to drive around the parking lot a few times to get in. But once you do, you can sit out on the lawn and gaze down towards the Pond and the Bubbles and eat your popovers.

Anyway, this is where we were last year around this time and I'm wishing we could go back.

I have been thinking about buying a popover pan, and haven't done it, although you can get them here or here or even here. I tried a recipe the other day that didn't work that well. Can't remember exactly where I got it, but it was either AllRecipes or some Google search that turned up a recipe that supposedly came from the Jordan Pond House cookbook. They just didn't puff very much.

Today I located the recipe that I've used before with success in my muffin pan. Its from Williams-Sonoma.


Popovers

4 c milk
8 eggs
3 2/3 c flour
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt

Put your popover pan (I used a muffin pan) in the oven and preheat to 375 degrees (make sure that the rack gives your popovers plenty of room to expand!) while you make the batter.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat the milk until just warm to the touch (about 125 degrees). (Or if you're me, put it in a glass measuring cup and pop it in the microwave)

In a large bowl, mix the ingredients just until blended, and then beat for 1 minute. Pass it through a sieve to remove any lumps (I didn't bother, of course).

Remove pan from the oven and spray with nonstick cooking spray (its probably a good idea to spray the top of the pan too, if you're using a muffin pan, because it will run over a bit). Pour the batter into the cups and bake until the popovers are puffed and golden, 40 to 45 minutes.

Serve hot.

Makes 12 regular popovers (if you use a muffin pan, I'd say it makes about 24, so I halved it).

The Williamsville Inn, West Stockbridge, Massachusetts

Christmas Goodies

This is what I spent my Christmas Eve and Christmas doing. My husband had to work both nights, so I baked my little heart out.

First, a couple batches of cream puffs filled with a mixture of whipping cream and pastry cream and peppermint.
Then, I made a couple batches of cinnamon rolls - one for him to take to work with him and another to take to my parents (we went up on Tuesday).

Last, I made one batch of lady locks but that makes a million of the little buggers.

Then, I made myself some Orange/Pineapple/Banana Slush and had some shrimp.

That, I can share with you. You mix up a can each of frozen OJ and frozen pineapple juice and blend in 3 bananas and freeze. When you're ready to serve, you let it thaw for awhile. I scrape it with an ice cream scoop and put it into big glasses and mix it up with 7-Up Plus (the kind with only 8 calories or something). Yum yum.

As you can imagine, I've stuffed myself silly for about a week with all the baking and then the family get-togethers. I'm in detox now that I'm home and I'm warily eyeing my treadmill. I'll will have to make better friends with it soon.

At the risk of becoming a foodie blog

Here's another one:
Actually its just a link. This was my version and it was good.

Recipe Exchange

Anyone interested in participating in a recipe exchange? Just post your recipe in the comments section.

Here's one to start.

Spiced Carrot Muffins
Makes 12

2 1/4 c flour
3/4 c sugar
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 c plain low-fat yogurt
4 Tbsp butter, melted
1 egg
2 1/2 c shredded carrots (about 5 medium)

In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside. In another bowl, whisk together yogurt, butter & eggs. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add yogurt mixture. Stir until just combined. Fold in carrots. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes.