Bellies, Beer, and Baking, Oh My!

Orchard Cooler

2011-10-08T14:24:00.018-05:00

This is a drink which is an invention born of Mother Necessity. Last weekend, our family met up with my best friend's family and my brother in-law's family for an afternoon of fun at the local apple orchard. One thing led to another, and we decided to all make the trek back to our place for pizza and beer. Alas, our beer supply was pitifully low... so I went about trying to find a drink to fill in if necessary. The Orchard Cooler was born. First try. Yes, I'm impressed too. There are precious few ingredients in this drink, so they NEED to be top quality. The pear brandy I used was a souvenir from our vacation to Portland, two summers ago. It was distilled here. (On a side note, Edgefield is pretty much the most amazing destination we've ever been to... our 9 year old is still talking about it weekly, over a year later.) The cider is pressed at a local MN orchard. You do NOT want the completely clear, tasteless cider that you will find on the store shelves. This time of year, you should be able to find good cider in the produce or refrigerated section at your grocery store. Better yet, if you're able -- buy directly from the orchard that presses the cider.

Ingredients:

1.5 oz high quality pear brandy

3 dashes cinnamon

small pinch nutmeg

about 8 oz. fresh apple cider

In a coctail shaker, combine all ingredients. Shake well until well mixed and foamy. Pour into pub glass filled with ice. Garnish with a cinnamon stick, if desired/available.

We just drank these straight up, but I bet they would be amazing with homemade pretzels, or buttered popcorn.

Thai Rice Pudding

2011-04-19T16:23:00.004-05:00

This is a very loosely adapted (so loosely that I don't even need to reference it) recipe from an old cookbook of mine. It was one of those "bargain" cookbooks from the cheap section at Barnes and Noble, and I soon discovered why... major misprints and omissions. Such as omitting the temperature at which their version of coconut rice pudding should be cooked. But it got me thinking -- what about making it in the slow cooker? The original recipe was finicky in that you had to watch it bake in the oven for 3+ hrs, stirring every once in a while and making sure it wouldn't burn. The slow cooker method takes that out of the equation. I played with the ingredients and switched a bunch of things around, and this is what I got... it's a combination of three of my favorite things: rice, coconut, and lime; all wrapped up into one happy bowl of comfort food.

Ingredients:

1 cup arborio rice

2 cans coconut milk (not reduced fat)

2 cups milk*

1/2 cup brown sugar*

zest of 1/2 lime

1/4 tsp salt

toasted coconut

lime wedges (optional)

In a slow cooker, mix the following: rice, coconut milk, milk, brown sugar, and lime zest. Cook on medium for about 2 hrs, or until the rice has fully plumped up and the sauce has thickened considerably.

Serve warm with a generous heap of toasted coconut on top, and garnish with lime wedge if desired.

*for my vegan friends: substitute soy or almond milk for dairy, and you could use any vegan sweetener of your choice (turbinado sugar, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, etc.).

Creme Brulee

2011-02-06T16:12:00.005-06:00

A dessert usually seen on restaurant menus, and less often on the home cook's kitchen table... creme brulee is an unjustifiably feared dish to prepare. This recipe makes an intimidating dessert very easy. Not only that, but it is also one of the best version of creme brulee I've had. Often, creme brulee is too firm, eggy, sweet, and/or runny. This recipe makes a rich, velvety custard. The recipe I use is adapted from the one found in "Coffee: The Essential Guide to the Essential Bean". It can be found on Amazon at http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=2319726022275432975&postID=3837846282989312386

Ingredients:

9 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

pinch of salt

1 tsp real vanilla extract

1 cup of half and half

3 cups of cream

sugar for caramelizing

Oven: 325 F

In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks along with sugar, salt and vanilla until slightly lightened in color and sugar is well incorporated. At the same time: in a large saucepan, heat cream and half and half over medium heat until a skin forms on top. Remove from heat. Add about 1/3 of the hot cream to the egg yolk mixture, whisking continually. Once well incorporated, add yolk/cream mixture back into hot cream -- again, whisking the whole time. Once well blended, pour mixture through a wire mesh strainer back into the original bowl. Place 6 Pyrex custard cups in a 9x13 cake pan. Fill custard cups with the creme brulee mixture, nearly to the top but leave enough room to move the pan without spilling the custard. Place on oven rack of preheated oven. Pour hot or boiling water into the pan around the custard cups until it comes about 1/2 of the way up the sides of the cups. Cook for 40-60 minutes until edges look set but the center (size of a quarter to half dollar) is still wobbly. Remove from oven. Take custard cups out of water bath and place on a rack to cool to room temperature. Cover each cup with a square of plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold.

For serving: sprinkle a teaspoon or so of sugar on the top of each custard. Using either a dessert torch or small propane torch, gently melt the sugar on the tops of the custard until is is a deep brown and no sugar crystals remain. This part takes a bit of practice, but the mistakes are tasty. I use a standard handyman's propane torch... it cost me all of $12 at the hardware store. I find it works better than the small butane culinary torches and costs about 1/4 of the price. Not to mention the propane torch is useful for other things than just melting sugar. Let the desserts sit for about a minute to let the sugar harden, then serve immediately with a cup of freshly made strong coffee, or perhaps a dark porter or stout beer to cut the richness.

Curried Chickpeas

2010-06-23T19:19:00.010-05:00

Indian (of the subcontinent, not Native American) food is probably our favorite cuisine to cook at home. Part of it is out of sheer necessity; neither St. Cloud nor our prior city of residence, La Crosse, has a single Indian restaurant. I've had to learn some basic techniques of Indian cooking. This has come from a few great cookbooks, and a heck of a lot of experimentation. There have been pots of curry gone wrong... very wrong. But overall, I think I've gotten pretty consistent with turning out decent, sometimes even excellent, Indian meals. This is an example of a dish that came out of simple trial and error.

CURRIED CHICKPEAS

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

large onion, diced very small

3 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed

1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and shredded

2 teaspoon honey

2 tablespoon curry powder

zest of one lemon

2 cups chicken stock

2 cans chickpeas, drained

3/4 cup plain, unsweetened yogurt

palmful of cilantro, chopped

salt, if needed

In dutch oven or deep large saucepan over medium heat, brown onion in oil until golden brown. Add grated ginger and minced garlic and stir for about 1 minute. Add curry powder, honey, and lemon zest and stir for another 1 minute. Add chicken stock and chickpeas. Bring to a boil. Cook at a low boil for about 20 - 30 minutes until liquid has reduced to at least half the volume or less and starts to thicken a bit. Remove from heat. Add yogurt, a little bit at a time, stirring constantly to try to avoid curdling. (if the yogurt curdles, the dish isn't ruined... it just won't look as pretty) Add chopped cilantro. Adjust seasoning by adding a little salt if needed. You can increase spiciness by adding cayenne pepper or using a spicy curry mix. Serve over basmati rice. Serves 4-5. It's easy to make this vegetarian by substituting water or vegetable stock for the chicken stock.

"French Toast and Bacon" Cupcakes

2010-05-01T13:03:00.003-05:00

Simply put, these are the best cupcakes I’ve ever made and probably the best cupcakes I’ve ever eaten. Yes, I know, a bold statment. Bacon in desserts is a big trend, and I’m certainly not the first to put bacon on a cupcake. Regardless, I’m thrilled that this recipe turned out so well on the first try. These treats taste exactly like French toast with butter, maple syrup and a side of bacon. It’s a great excuse to eat cake for breakfast (as if we really needed an excuse?).

Ingredients:

Glazed walnuts:
24 walnut halves
¼ cup real maple syrup
Pinch of salt

French toast cupcakes:
1 package of Duncan Hines yellow cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 1/3 cup water
1 tsp cinnamon

Maple buttercream:
½ cup butter (salted), room temp
½ cup butter flavor Crisco
1 lb. confectioners sugar
¼ cup milk
2 tsp imitation maple flavor extract

Bacon bits:
1 lb. high quality bacon

Start cooking bacon while you prepare the glazed walnuts. I bake my bacon on a foil-covered jelly roll pan in the oven at 375 F. You want to cook the bacon long enough that it is VERY dark brown and completely crispy. You definitely don’t want any soft fat left. I let mine go to a dark brown, just a few minutes shy of almost burning it. It was perfect. Let cool and break into small shards about the size of your pinky nail.

To make the walnuts, place the nuts, salt and syrup in a small sautee pan over low-medium heat. Stir constantly. Syrup will start to bubble, and in several minutes it will start to thicken. Cook the nuts until the syrup gets so thick that it completely coats the nuts and starts to lose some of its sheen. Make sure not to let the syrup/nut mixture burn. Pour the nuts onto parchment paper or foil, separate the nuts and let them cool.
For the cupcakes, blend the cake mix along with the oil, eggs, water and cinnamon on low with a hand mixer for 2 minutes. Pour into lined muffin tins and bake at 350 degrees for 18-22 mins just until a toothpick inserted comes out with a few crumbs clinging to it. Remove from pan and let cupcakes cool completely on a wire rack.

For the maple buttercream, blend the butter and Crisco together in a large bowl with a hand mixer until well combined and softened. Add the confectioners sugar and blend into the fat mixture – icing will be very dry at this point. Add milk and maple flavoring, whip on medium to high for 1-2 minutes until frosting is light and fluffy and has increased in volume. If frosting is not a spreadable consistency, add more milk about 1 TBS at a time to achieve the thickness you want.

Assembly: Take a cooled cupcake, and frost with a generous dollop of maple buttercream. Place one glazed walnut half into top of icing for garnish. Sprinkle some of the bacon bits over the top of the cupcake, gently pressing if needed for bacon to adhere to the icing.

Beer-Cheese Spread

2010-02-07T14:48:00.006-06:00

BEER-CHEESE SPREAD

This dip is a quick, easy, and delicious party dish. You can literally whip it up in about 5 minutes. It is wonderful with crusty bread, pretzels, or crackers. My friend Jen also used it as a spread on grilled smoked turkey sandwiches, as well as tossed into some mashed potatoes and said it was "super yummy". If you don't like beer, I'd imagine that you could substitute 6 oz. of white wine in place of the beer. Then again, if you don't like beer, what on earth are you doing reading this blog??? :) The cheeses you use in this could be substituted with almost any variety; however, I've found that the sharper the better (although I'd stay away from using blue-veined cheeses, I suspect those would be TOO intense). The beer should actually be something light in color and flavor... a basic American pilsner *gasp* will do fine.

Ingredients:

1 clove garlic
1 stick of butter, room temp/softened
8 oz of extra sharp cheddar, room temperature
8 oz of Monterey Jack, room temperature

about 1/3 to 1/2 bottle of beer
few pinches of salt, to taste (if needed)

In the bowl of a food processor, chop garlic clove until minced finely. Chop cheese into roughly 1" cubes and toss into food processor with butter and the 1/3 bottle of beer. Puree until everything comes together in a smooth paste; this may take a few minutes, as the cheese will have to incorporate fully into the mixture (this is why the cheese should be room temp). If the spread seems too thick, add a little more beer to get a nice rich but spreadable/dipable consistency. Keep in mind that the spread will firm up a bit in the fridge because of the cheese and butter. Add a pinch or two of salt if needed, blend (whether or not you'll need salt and how much depends on how salty your cheese is to start with). Transfer to a lidded bowl and refrigerate at least 1 hr. Will keep a few days in a covered container in the refrigerator.

Brown Butter Cookies

2009-12-01T08:47:00.008-06:00

There has been a surge of brown butter recipes as of late on the web... largely inspired by a recent article in the now-retired Gourmet Magazine. Brown butter is an amazing ingredient -- it's the result of cooking butter in a saucepan over medium heat until it starts to foam and turn a caramel brown. This results in caramelization of the milk solids and alters the flavor of the butter to an amazing nutty, toffee-like taste. I've seen it used in everything from pasta sauce to cakes and cookies.

With Nathan deployed for a year, baking and shipping cookies has been fairly high on my priority list. I wanted to come up with a brown butter cookie recipe of my own, and after some trial and error, invented one I really love. It is a salty-sweet cookie with a sparkling sugar coat and would be perfect for your holiday gift baskets. Or just to eat by the fistful with a big glass of milk. Whatever floats your boat. ;)

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup of butter, browned and cooled to room temp. (You can do this part up to 1 day ahead. The butter won't firm up after it cools, it will be semi-liquid and grainy. Don't worry, it will whip up beautifully when the eggs are added to the batter. )

1.5 cups white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2.5 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup sugar for coating

In a large mixing bowl, combine browned butter and sugar. Mix until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla and whip until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Sift flour, salt, soda, and baking powder together into wet mixture. Mix just until well blended. Form into 1" balls (I used a small cookie scoop which worked great), and roll in additional sugar until coated. Place about 3 inches apart on a cookie sheet. I line mine with parchment paper -- well worth a few bucks for the roll. When the cookies come out of the oven, i just pull the whole sheet of parchement off, cookies and all, and cool that way. No mess, no crumbs, no cookies falling through wire racks. Bake at 400 F for about 8-10 minutes. You want the cookies to take on a sandy brown color but not cook so long they dry out. Experiment a little to see what doneness you prefer. Less time = chewier cookie. I like mine on the crisp side, so 10 mins was about right. They still had some chew in the center but the outer edges were crisp and wonderful.

Roasted Pepper and Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons

2009-11-02T06:37:00.002-06:00

It is the end of autumn in Minnesota, which means... it's soup weather. There is nothing on a cold, blustery day to warm you from the inside out like a bowl of hot, homemade soup or stew. This soup is a grown-up version of tomato soup and grilled cheese. It's sweet and salty and the roastiness from the peppers makes it a lot more interesting than tomato soup from a can.

Soup Ingredients:

2 TBS olive oil

1 medium to large onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 small jars of roasted red peppers

2 15 oz cans of plain tomato sauce (I really like Hunts or Trader Joe's brand)

2 TBS sugar

several grinds of black pepper

1/2 cup heavy cream (optional)

"Crouton" Ingredients:

sliced white bread

butter

cheese of choice

grated or finely shredded parmesan cheese

In large pot, brown onions in the olive oil until they start to caramelize a little. Add garlic and stir just until the garlic begins to get a little toasty colored. Add tomato sauce and roasted red peppers (include the juice from the peppers; this adds flavor and also helps thin the soup out a bit). Stir well. Bring to simmer and let gently boil for about 5-10 minutes. Blend soup in blender or food processor (I use a stick/immersion blender... well worth the money) until pureed. Add sugar and black pepper to taste. Soup probably won't need extra salt unless your tomato sauce isn't very salty, but you may need to add a little depending on your ingredients. If desired, you can finish off the soup with 1/2 cup cream or half and half. It doesn't need it, but it does add a nice silky finish to the soup. I usually don't use it.

For croutons, basically assemble one to two grilled cheese sandwiches (one sandwich will make croutons for two people). Butter the outsides liberally. Dip sandwiches in grated parmesan, and grill over medium heat in a frying pan as you would any grilled cheese. When done, cut into cubes with a knife and sprinkle over the top of the soup.

Chicken Cheddar Apple Salad

2009-04-06T18:24:00.007-05:00

This may be the shortest recipe I ever post on this blog. I whipped this up for dinner in literally 10 minutes. It's healthy, tasty, and way more interesting (not to mention cheaper) than takeout. It's made completely of convenience items from the grocery store, but isn't full of junk like most "grab and go" dinners. Ingredients can definitely be substituted or omitted depending on taste, but it's a great combo of textures and tastes.

Ingredients:

1 box of mixed salad greens (Earthbound Farms, etc.)
breast meat from 1 rotisserie chicken, shredded
4 oz of white cheddar, cut into matchstick-sized pieces
1 green apple, cut into matchstick-sized pieces
1/4 cup of chopped walnuts
Newman's Own Light Mustard Vinegrette

Mix greens, cheddar, walnuts, and apple. Add chicken to top of salad, and drizzle with dressing (or let everyone dress their own).

New York Strip with Gorgonzola Butter

2009-03-10T18:46:00.005-05:00

Save yourself about $40 and give yourself a steakhouse-quality dinner at home...

Ingredients

2 NY Strip Steaks (or any cut you prefer)

freshly ground black pepper

salt

1 TBS butter, room temperature

2 ounces gorgonzola cheese, room temperature

3 grinds freshly ground black pepper

For the gorgonzola butter -- mash cheese, pepper and butter together until well blended. Cover and refrigerate.

Generously coat both sides of steaks with liberal amounts of black pepper and salt. Grill or pan-fry (I sauteed mine in olive oil and butter, since there was a blizzard outside... ) steaks to preferred doneness. Place a heaping tablespoon or so of gorgonzola butter on the top of each steak. I served mine with a crisp green salad and homemade bread. The sharpness of the cheese and pepper marry so beautifully with the richness of the butter and the meat itself.

Homebrew Review: Patersbier

2009-03-02T13:56:00.005-06:00

Right now I have two brews that are ready to go and drinkable. This Patersbier, and my English Pale Ale (review to follow at some point). When I told people I was brewing a Patersbier, most of them (even seasoned brewers) said "a WHATersbier?". This is a little-known brew, but basically is a traditional Belgian beer similar to a dubbel or tripel -- with the exception that it's a much lower gravity beer. In other words, it's a Belgian session beer.

Appearance: Beer pours a nice deep straw yellow color. Fairly clear, just a touch of haze. Nice creamy white/cream-colored head, decent retention (thanks to my Munton's carb tabs!).

Aroma: Complex combination of malt and the spicy, fruity esters which are a result of the abbey-style yeast used in this beer. No real hop aroma.

Taste: This is a classic Belgian brew, complete with phenolic and spicy character. No alcohol warming, however, as you'd find in higher-ABV beers. The sweetness of the malt mingles well with the undeniable belgian yeast. There is a bit more of a hop bite to this beer than I've found in a lot of other Belgians, but it actually is really nice here... because the body and alcohol are lighter in this than in, say, a dubbel -- the hops gives a little more structure to this beer. Finishes a bit sweet but the hops help round that out, and I find that in this beer there is not as much sour tang lasting in the aftertaste as I find with some Belgians.

Mouthfeel: Moderately light body. High carbonation, which is a nice cut to the complex yeast flavors.

Drinkability: High! Usually Belgians are sipping beers for me -- one, then done. I can easily drink a couple of pints of this. I attribute that to less alcohol and no cloying sweetness in aftertaste.

All in all, I'm thrilled with this beer. I can't wait to see how it fares at our upcoming homebrew competition; I have low expectations simply because one of our homebrew members is an expert at Belgians and his brews are phenomenal. I'm sure I'll learn a lot from the judge's notes, however, and one never knows how the competition will play out.

Brown Butter Quinoa With Pine Nuts

2009-02-22T09:08:00.005-06:00

Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-WAH) is an amazing grain that is versatile, delicious, and really healthful. It is very high in protein (for a grain, anyway), and is therefore the perfect addition to the vegetarian diet.

An important thing to note about quinoa: it needs to be rinsed extremely well under running water before cooking it. The grain is covered in a soapy/bitter-tasting substance called a "saponin". It tastes HORRIBLE. I once forgot the rinsing step and the quinoa was inedible. I just rinse mine in a fine-meshed colander under a steady spray of water for about a minute, and that does the trick.

Quinoa is very flexible; one of my favorite ways to eat it is just with a little butter and parmesan, with fried egg on top. You can also eat it sweet, almost like oatmeal, with a little brown sugar and milk. You can substitute cooked quinoa for cous cous for a punch of nutrition and flavor.

I normally use this flavor combo for pasta, and it is amazing. I wanted, however, to make the dish a little more nutritious so I decided to substitute cooked quinoa for the cooked pasta... and was thrilled with the results. This could suffice as a main dish for a veg-head (especially if you tossed in some steamed or roasted vegetables), but would be equally at home alongside a roasted chicken or piece of fish.

*ingredient note: please use real parmesan. A block of imported parmesano reggiano is best (should have "parmesano reggiano" printed in dots on the rind), but you can use the american "parmesan" as long as it's not the sawdust-in-a-green can stuff. Asiago also is a good stand-in cheese.

Ingredients

1 cup of quinoa (dry), rinsed and cooked according to package directions (2 parts water to 1 part quinoa, usually)

2 TBS butter

1/4 cup pine nuts

pinch of salt

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese*, plus a little extra for garnish

Cook quinoa. I actually do this in a steamer, but on the stovetop is fine. Just read the package. It should take about half an hour. You can do that step way ahead if you need/want to. In a saucepan, heat butter and pine nuts over medium heat until the butter starts to foam and brown a little. You need to stir/toss the nuts often so they don't burn on one side. As the butter browns, the pine nuts will toast nicely in the sauce. Be really careful not to let the butter burn, or it will ruin the entire dish. Just past the foamy stage is about right -- you will notice a toffee/nutty scent to the butter as it starts to turn a golden brown color. Remove from heat. Toss in the cooked quinoa, a pinch of salt, and the grated parmesan. Stir to mix. Season with more salt if needed. Sprinkle a little extra grated parmesan on top.

This will make 2 main dish servings or 4 side dish servings. Can easily be doubled.

Indian Wedding Soup

2009-02-17T18:50:00.004-06:00

This post is more one of cooking philosophy than an actual recipe... the reason there's no recipe is because this dish took so much tweaking that I couldn't keep track of all of the amounts of everything. Indian food (when it's done right) is such a balance of sweet, savory, sour and salty. There are times when I think a pot of curry is absolutely ruined, but then I add a pinch of sugar and an extra squeeze of lemon and the entire dish is saved.

This soup was an exercise in re-interpretation of the original version of a dish. Italian wedding soup, for those of you who've never had it, is a chicken broth based soup with small meatballs, spinach, and acini de pepe pasta. Instead of italian meatballs, I used the lamb-burger recipe ( http://belliesbeerbaking.blogspot.com/2008/12/greek-lamb-burgers-with-feta-sauce.html ) that I posted in December to make little tiny meatballs. I broiled them to avoid having to turn little tiny meatballs with little tiny tongs. I browned some onion, then added chicken stock and Indian spices. Rounded it out with some lemon, cilantro, and a little honey. I then added the meatballs to the soup, and threw in a large handful of Israeli cous cous. Simmered for about 15 more minutes, then served it with some crisply baked naan (thanks, Trader Joe's).

This is a great example of how you can take a traditional dish and keep the spirit of the original while completely experimenting with the flavors. I challenge you to take one of your favorite meals and try to re-interpret it... you might just find that you have a new favorite.

Cider-Roasted Pork Loin

2009-02-10T18:33:00.000-06:00

This is basically an adaptation of the beef roast recipe I posted a few weeks ago. Instead of using a beef roast, it uses pork loin. Hard cider stands in for the beer. It would be great alongside some sauteed cabbage or roasted potatoes.

Ingredients:

2 pork loins (you could use just one if you don't want leftovers)

2 TBS olive oil

1 TBS butter

1 medium onion, sliced

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground preferred

1 bay leaf

1 12 oz. bottle of hard cider - the dryer (less sweet) the better

zest from one orange

In oven-proof sautee pan or dutch oven, brown pork loin(s) in the olive oil over med-high heat until nicely browned. Remove from pan. Add onions and butter, sautee until onions start to brown. Add bay leaf, salt, pepper, and cider. Stir to deglaze pan. Add pork, cover, and bake in a 325 degree oven for about 2.5 hrs or until pork is tender. Remove pork to serving platter, cover with foil to keep warm. Strain cooking liquid, add orange zest, and reduce over med-high heat by about half. Pour over pork. Serve.

I plan on tossing the leftovers with some barbecue sauce for pulled pork sandwiches. Oh, and regular apple cider could of course be used as a replacement for the hard cider.

Everything That's Wrong With the American Diet: Chili-Cheesedog Dip

2009-02-01T16:04:00.001-06:00

There are no photos because frankly (no pun intended), this looks like crap in a crockpot. It tastes, however, EXACTLY like a chili dog with cheese. So if you're into that, try this out. If not, my apologies for appearing to have the absolute worst diet on the face of the planet.

Ingredients:

2 cans of Hormel Chili with beans
1/2 lb (half of the small box) Velveeta
1 tsp yellow mustard
1 tsp Frank's Hot Sauce
10 hot dogs (Hebrew National are my personal favorite), grilled or pan-fried until dark
1 onion, chopped finely and sauteed in butter until brown

In saucepan, mix first 4 ingredients over low-medium heat until cheese is melted all the way. Chop cooked hot dogs into small rounds and add along with onions to the dip mixture. Stir until combined. Put into crock pot over low to keep warm. Serve with Fritos. Watch your rear end expand before your very eyes.

Coffee Pecan Shortbreads

2009-01-21T22:09:00.000-06:00

This is a recipe that I adapted from one I found on allrecipes.com for brown sugar shortbread. I've taken enough liberties that I don't feel bad about posting my version here. The original is simply butter, brown sugar, and flour. You can find it at: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Brown-Sugar-Shortbread/Detail.aspx

I'm not sure where the idea to add ground coffee and pecans to the dough came from , but it really raises this to another level. The pecans add texture more than anything, and lend richness to the final cookie. The coffee is subtle but definitely recognizeable; the aroma when these cook is amazing. They smell of baking butter cookies and brewing coffee.

This is a fairly heavy, dense cookie. Would be great served with a steaming cup of strong coffee, or a dish of simple vanilla or coffee ice cream.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 cup pecans, ground very finely

1 Tablespoon ground high quality coffee (ground into a powder in coffee grinder if possible)

2 1/4 cup flour

With mixer, blend butter and sugar until fluffy. Mix in salt, pecans, and coffee. Stir in flour. Turn out onto counter and knead gently until dough comes together and is smooth. Roll into rectangle that is about 1/4" thick or so. Can go thinner if you like, just watch your cooking time. Cut into 2x3" rectangles. Prick each with a fork. Bake at 300 for about 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack.

Beer Braised Beef Roast

2009-01-17T07:09:00.000-06:00

This is my go-to winter comfort food. I came up with the recipe last year and it really does blow all of my other pot roast attempts out of the water. The meat is tender and flavorful, but the reason I love this dish so much is because of the sauce it makes while it cooks. It thickens beautifully for gravy,but my absolutely favorite thing to do is make drop dumplings into the cooking liquid right before serving. For those of you who are not big beer fans, please try this anyway... the finished dish really tastes nothing like beer. The dark roasted malt of the porter (or stout) just adds a deep, earthy, savory note that I haven't been able to replicate any other way. The alcohol cooks out during the long braising process, so no need to worry about serving this to the kiddos.

Ingredients:

2-3 Tbs olive oil

1 large onion, sliced

5 cloves of garlic

Fresh ground black pepper

1 lean beef roast, about 3 lbs

2 cups chicken stock

1 bottle of **dark beer (porter or stout)

In a large oven-safe roasting pan (I use my porcelain-coated cast iron dutch oven, and it's perfect for this), heat olive oil over medium high heat. Liberally pepper the roast, and brown well on all sides in the oil. Remove from pan. Add onions to oil, and stir/cook the onions until they, too, pick up some nice dark color. Add garlic and stir to brown slightly. Add roast back to pan. Pour chicken stock and beer over roast, cover tightly, and place in 350 degree oven. Cook for about 3 hours, or until roast is fork tender. If you can, try to turn and baste the roast every half hour or so. If not, it's really not a big deal.

Like I said, I typically like to make dumplings with this dish. If you don't use the sauce for dumplings, then strain it and serve alongside the roast. Last time I served it with oven-roasted cauliflower. Another option would be to thicken the sauce to make gravy and serve with mashed potatoes.

**Beer note: It's really REALLY important to use a dark beer for this recipe. A lighter beer just won't contribute much in this dish.

Long Time No Blog

2009-01-04T11:03:00.000-06:00

It has been a whirlwind of head colds and strep throat in our household, so I've not had much time nor energy to blog lately. Oh yeah, and there was that thing called "the holidays" that happened in there, too. I got to celebrate Christmas Day alone and in bed with a 101 degree fever. Fun!

Today's post really isn't recipe, so much as it is just a few pics. This is some homemade bread I made last weekend. I discovered the book "Artisan Bread in Just 5 Minutes a Day" ( http://www.amazon.com/Artisan-Bread-Five-Minutes-Revolutionizes/dp/0312362919 azon.com/Artisan-Bread-Five-Minutes-Revolutionizes/dp/0312362919 ) last winter and it has really improved my breadmaking. It is a no-knead technique that allows you to make up a big batch of dough and store it in the refrigerator for up to two weeks at a time. It makes great-tasting bread with the thick, crackling crust I've come to love in artisan bread. This is a link to a video of the technique: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMxJgIpe38Q om/watch?v=zMxJgIpe38Q

So anyway, enjoy the pics and I'll try to get a bonafide recipe up soon. This particular loaf was their basic white crusty loaf; I served it with wine, roasted garlic, and a wheel of baked brie.

Homebrew... Minnesota Style

2008-12-22T20:33:00.000-06:00

So, last summer for my birthday Nathan got me a propane burner and a wort chiller. I was in heaven... what would normally take me 3 hours at least (due to a very inefficient electric stove) indoors was easily cut down to 2 or less. I would sit in my lawn chair, homebrew in hand, just listening to the birds and soaking up a little sun while I watched my wort bubble away. Fall came, and I even did a batch on a crisp November afternoon. Fingers got a little chilly, but it was fun to watch the leaves fall and enjoy the last gasp of autumn. Fast forward to late December. Temps in the minus teens (and that's WITHOUT wind chill), air so cold that it sucks the air right from your lungs. Saturday night at a neighborhood holiday party I realize that if I'm going to have beer ready for my homebrew club's March competition, I'd better get my act together and get something thrown together fast. The next few weekend were totally out due to Christmas plans, so I in my barley-induced mania decided that Sunday was going to be it. I had a Patersbier and English Pale Ale planned out and damn it... they were going to get brewed. My neighbor Bryan has wanted to find out what this brewing thing was all about for some time now, and also happened to have an extra burner and pot so we comitted to a 1 pm brew date. A few things I learned yesterday:

1. What seems like a good idea when one is tipsy may NOT be such a good idea the next day. Yes, I'm surprised too that it took me this long to learn that lesson.

2. If you're going to brew after a major snowfall, clear the snow before setting out your brewing supplies. Needle in a haystack, hydrometer in a snowbank... it's all the same thing.

3. I need new brewing boots.

4. Snow is not nearly as good a cooling mechanism as one might think. I forgot that it's mostly made of air and does a better job of insulating the hot wort than of chilling it.

5. Subzero temps aparently aren't very good for thermometers. I really should start buying those suckers by the dozen. *sigh*

All kidding aside, it was a fun brew session and it was also great to "pay it forward" and teach someone new to brew. I think he's a convert.

I'll keep you posted on the brews; have never done either type of beer so I'm excited to see the results. I'm particularly excited to see how the Patersbier turns out. It's a simple concoction of pilsen malt, hops, a little carapils grain, and some trappist yeast but it's supposed to come out with a really delicate and complex flavor profile. We'll see... both batches are bubbling away under their towels in the guest room. Stay tuned, in 6 weeks or so I'll have a review or two.

The Way to This Girl's Heart...

2008-12-10T08:29:00.000-06:00

Once upon a time there lived a homebrewing, songwriting, recipe-inventing midwife. Last Christmas she wrong a song about beer and sent it to her homebrewing buddies as an electronic Christmas gift. Laughter ensued. The following year (that being THIS year), said midwife recieved a number of requests for another song.

This: http://www.upload-mp3.com/public/viewset/36092 was the result.

I'm not quite sure how I'm going to keep this up from year to year. If I run out of song ideas, does that mean I have to move??

Oh, and in case you never heard the song that started it all, you can listen to that here: http://www.upload-mp3.com/public/viewset/36093

Greek Lamb Burgers with Feta Sauce

2008-12-03T07:13:00.000-06:00

Ok, so I've made a smaller version of these lamb patties as a component of other dishes before, but this is the first time I've made them this large and hamburger-style. I was going to make a traditional tzatziki sauce (yogurt and shredded cucumber -- the stuff you get on a gyro) for them but my husband hates cucumbers, so I omitted the cucumber, added a few spices and some sour cream, and finished it off with some feta. Bam, hit that one out of the park... it tastes great and I like it even better than tzatziki. I have a ton of leftover sauce and don't know what to do with it, but it would be great tossed with sliced cucumber as a cold side dish. Could even use it in place of traditional blue cheese dressing on a green salad. Another idea would be to make up chicken wings with a curry sauce instead and use this as a dipping sauce.

Because this recipe makes up two pounds of meat, I did not use all of it in one meal. I used about half for the burgers, and made the rest into little meatballs. I froze these and plan on using them either in spaghetti sauce or in a curry. They'd also be great browned up and dropped into a pot of peanut chickpea soup or something like that. Guess I'll have to post that recipe sometime, too. ;)

Ingredients:

Sauce:
1/3 cup of sour cream
1/3 cup of plain yogurt (greek style if you can get it, but any kind is ok)
1 4 oz. package of feta crumbles
pinch of salt
juice from 1/4 of a lemon
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/8 cup of minced fresh cilantro

Burgers:
1 lb ground lamb
1 lb extra lean ground beef (93% lean or more)
1 medium onion, diced very finely
2 TBS olive oil
20 grinds of fresh black pepper, or 1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
handful of fresh cilantro, minced

Directions:

A few hours ahead of time, mix up the sauce. You can do this right beforehand, but the sauce really does improve in flavor after sitting in the fridge all day. In a small bowl, mash the feta and lemon juice together until the feta breaks down a bit. You still want some lumps, just smaller lumps. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend well. Taste, season as needed. May need more salt or lemon juice. Cover and refrigerate.

For burgers, first sautee the minced onion in olive oil until medium to dark brown. In a large bowl, gently mix the cooked onion with the rest of the burger ingredients. Shape into hamburger sized/shaped patties. Fry on medium heat on a lightly oiled grill until nicely browned and cooked all the way through. Mine took about 20 min total. Place on kaiser roll and top with a good-sized dollop of the feta sauce.

I served these with a pickled cucumber salad that I mixed up from sliced cucumbers and red onion, lemon juice, water, a bit of sugar and salt.

Nathan rated these as the best burgers I've ever made. They were flavorful and extremely moist because of the fat content in the ground lamb. The ground beef cuts the lamb flavor a bit, so even if you're a little timid about eating lamb, give these a try.

Homebrew Review: Vanilla Coffee Porter

2008-12-01T20:38:00.001-06:00

This beer was my first attempt at a porter, and overall I'm really pleased with it. It was done as a partial mash, starting with a porter extract kit and some specialty grains. I made my own vanilla extract by steeping vanilla beans in vodka and added them to the secondary fermenter. Also added to the secondary was 2 cups of very strong french-pressed coffee (I used about 4 oz. of high quality fair trade beans). It aged in the secondary for a mere two weeks before packaging. I bottled a few for sharing, and kegged the rest. This review is that of the kegged version; if the bottles taste any different, I'll let you all know.

Appearance: Pours a mahogany brown, with slight deep caramel tones along the edges when held up to the light. Slightly cloudy. Tan-colored head, fair retention (I seem to always have issues with head retention unless I've made a wheat beer, but for a porter a mild head retention is acceptable).

Aroma: The overwhelming note here is dark chocolate/cocoa. I think this is actually an odd symbiotic aromatic dance between the vanilla and the coffee... or perhaps it's simply coming out from the chocolatey notes in the dark malt. Regardless, this beer smells a whole lot more like chocolate than coffee. In fact, I get little else here in the aroma other than a hint of malt and a very mild sweet floral note (the vanilla?). No hop aroma.

Taste: At first the chocolate aroma carries over into the taste of this beer. Soon however you get the rich maltiness and toastiness of the porter itself. There is a slight tartness to this beer -- I'm almost positive that it's from the vanilla. I noted a definite sour quality when I tasted the vanilla before adding it to the secondary. The finish is where the coffee shines; the bitterness of the coffee actually seems to take the place of what minor hop presence there would be in this beer, and lingers. The finish leaves a nice coffee aftertaste in the mouth.

This beer improves drastically as it sits out and warms up, I definitely need to turn down the keg fridge. The flavors blend much better as the beer loses its chill.

Mouthfeel: Added carapils insures that this isn't a watery beer, but it's definitely on the lighter-bodied side for a porter. The carbonation seems just about right for a porter -- it comes in on the finish rather than being up front. The last thing I wanted was a "spritzy" beer. I've had a tendency to overcarbonate my brews in the past, so I tried to be very careful with my keg temps and CO2 pressures this time.

Drinkability: I'm pleased with the drinkability of this beer. The body and alcohol content is light enough to make downing more than a pint of this beer absolutely doable. The coffee is dominant in the flavor but not so overwhelming that the tastebuds get overloaded.

So yeah. Stop on by, have yourself a pint, and tell me if you agree. :)

MySpace Archives #3: Taco Meatloaf

2008-11-21T19:56:00.001-06:00

TACO MEATLOAF WITH CHIPOTLE KETCHUP

Meatloaf ingredients:
1.5 lbs ground beef (I used 93% lean ground sirloin)
1 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 small can chopped green chiles
1 packet taco seasoning ( I prefer La Preferida... how ironic)
1/4 cup plain oatmeal
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Ketchup ingredients:
4 Tbs. ketchup
2 canned chipotle peppers in adobo, chopped finely
1 tsp. brown sugar

For ketchup: mix all ingredients well and refrigerate. Add more ketchup or use less chipotle if this is too spicy for you.

For meatloaf: Sautee onions in olive oil until they just start to brown. Add garlic and cook until garlic just starts to take on color. Set aside to cool.

Mix rest of ingredients EXCEPT FOR CHEESE together until well combined. Place into loaf pan. Bake at 350 for one hour. Pull meatloaf out, drain off excess fat and juices (there will be a fair amount of liquid you'll pour off -- this is ok, your meatloaf will still be very moist), sprinkle cheese over top of meatloaf and return to oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, slice, and serve witih chipotle ketchup.

I served this with soft polenta and garlic-sauteed green beans. The polenta went great with the flavoring of the meatloaf, almost like the corn taco shell flavor of an actual taco. Just a hint: whenever I make polenta, I always add a little salt, a little sugar, and a knob of butter at the end to bring out the full flavor of the corn.

I'm thinking that leftovers warmed up and wrapped in a flour or corn tortilla with some hot sauce would be pretty darned yummy. Or put a small slab on a corn muffin for a little Mexican sandwich.

Lemon Roasted Baby Reds

2008-11-18T18:35:00.000-06:00

Potatoes that is.

This is a side dish that is surprisingly easy, but takes a little planning because it takes an hour to cook. Prep time is literally about 5 minutes, though, so give these a try.

Ingredients:

2 lbs baby red potatoes (the smaller the better, about the same size)

Olive oil

Salt

Black pepper

Seasonings of choice (garlic powder, onion powder, dried herbs, etc...)

1 lemon, cut into wedges

Take the potatoes, and in each cut several narrow slices about halfway to 2/3 of the way down into the potato without going all the way through. Toss the potatoes in a large bowl with a generous drizzle of olive oil. Sprinkle very liberally with salt, pepper, and your seasonings of choice (honestly, anything goes here... any combo of garlic and onion powders along with various herbs such as dried rosemary, oregano, thyme, etc. will work). You will need to use more seasoning than seems reasonable, because a lot will fall off the potatoes when they cook. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet, and put into a preheated oven at 400 F for about one hour. Yes, this seems like a long time. No, they won't burn. The onion/garlic powder will blacken, but believe it or not they won't be bitter. Take out of the oven, and squeeze about 1/4 to 1/2 of the lemon wedges over the cut tops of the potatoes. Serve along with a roast chicken or any other main dish. The outside of the potatoes gets crispy, while the insides stay nice and creamy. The lemon adds a little punch at the end.

Grownup Oatmeal Cream Pies

2008-11-16T14:31:00.000-06:00

Ok, since the word "baking" is in the title of my blog, I figured it was high time I actually included a baking recipe here. I made this recipe up today as a welcome home for hubby, who's been out of town for four days. These should remind you of the old lunchbox favorites, but with a little bit more sophistication from the dried fruit. Nuts would also go great in these.

Ingredients:

Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1.5 cups brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1.5 c flour

3 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cup dried cherries, 1/2 cup dried blueberries

Filling
1 jar (7 oz.) marshmallow fluff

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup butter

For filling, blend together all three ingredients with a hand mixer and mix until well blended and light and fluffy. Set aside.

For cookie batter, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla, blend. Sift flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together. Add to wet ingredients, blend. Stir in oats and fruit.

Drop dough onto cookie sheet in about 1/2 TBS portions. I used a very small cookie scoop which made cookies the perfect size. You really don't want these too large, or else your finished sandwich cookies will be way too big. Bake at 375 for about 8 min or until brown and done. Cool on a rack until completely cool.

Use a piping bag, ziplock bag (with corner cut off), or simply a knife to place a little filling on the underside of one cookie, and top with another cookie to make a sandwich.

Eat.

I'm thinking a strong cup of coffee would go wonderfully with these, becawsue they are very very sweet. Not that I'm complaining.

You could play with the add-ins on this one very easily. I think dried apricot and walnut would be lovely. Or perhaps orange zest, pecans, and cardamom in the cookie dough? The possibilities are endless.

Beer Update: Coffee Vanilla Porter and Blueberry Ale

2008-11-10T13:16:00.000-06:00

I spent a good hour or so yesterday transferring two batches of beer from their primary fermenters to secondary fermenters (this two-stage fermentation allows the beer to clear a bit before bottling/kegging). My initial fermenters are plastic buckets, and the sendary ones are big 5-gallon glass bottles called carboys.

One is a blueberry ale that I'm making with a friend of mine... the base beer, a cream ale, turned out really nice. I'm a little worried how it'll taste after the addition of two cans of blueberry puree -- the smell isn't phenomenal and the color is nothing short of weird. I don't think we're going to get what we wanted from it... but if it's drinkable, I'll be happy. We wanted an intensely blueberry-flavored beer, so our general attitude was "no guts, no glory". If anything, we'll just age the hell out of it until the fruit mellows.

The second beer is a porter (a dark, toasty beer), to which I added freshly brewed coffee and homemade vanilla extract at the time of racking to the secondary. I have to say I am really excited about this beer. The vanilla seems to have gotten lost in such a deep beer (bummer), but the coffee aroma comes through beautifully. Hopefully it still will when I keg it in two weeks. Maybe the vanilla will still show up in the flavor profile. I could always add more, but I really don't want to overdo it. I thought about throwing a few split vanilla beans into the secondary but I don't wanna fish those babies out, seeing as the carboy has a very narrow neck. I imagine it akin to trying to get my pick out of my guitar when it happens to fall through the hole. :)

So, stay tuned. When the beers are done, I'll post some pics and a review of how they taste.

MySpace Archives #2: Green Chile Fritatta

2008-11-08T10:23:00.000-06:00

Ok, folks... here's another recipe from my old MySpace blog. I figure it's timely in times of growing grocery bills. You can throw this together for literally a couple of dollars. It's very easy to play with the ingredients in this, too. You can leave out the chiles if you don't like them and substitute any sauteed veggies (beware of raw vegetables -- they will give off water when they cook and wreck the fritatta), and use any cheese you like. You could also add meat if you are so inclined -- I bet an italian sausage and sharp cheddar fritatta would be pretty darned awesome on a Sunday brunch lineup.

GREEN CHILE FRITTATA
Ingredients:
8 large eggs
1/4 cup milk or cream
1 can fire roasted green chiles
1/4 tsp salt
several grinds of black pepper
4 oz. monterey jack cheese, shredded and split into two portions

In large bowl, beat eggs and milk. Stir in rest of ingredients, but reserve 2 oz. of the cheese for the top of the frittata (later in recipe).

Over medium heat, take an OVEN PROOF skillet and heat 2 TBS of olive oil until hot. Add egg mixture. Stir slowly occasionally to break up the part of the egg that's starting to cook, until you have a mass of what look like undercooked scrambled eggs. The top at this point should still look moist, but you don't want big pools of undercooked egg. Distribute into one even layer, add reserved cheese, and put into the oven on the middle rack. Broil for a few minutes until cheese melts and the top of the frittata starts to brown. The frittata may puff up (even getting one or more very large air bubbles) during cooking, but it will settle substantially after if comes out of the oven.

Allow frittata to cool for a minute or so, then cut into wedges and serve. I served mine with a green salad and corn muffins.

Orange-Walnut Israeli Couscous

2008-11-04T16:06:00.000-06:00

Despite this having nothing to do with the dishes that my husband and I ate growing up, this recipe has quickly transported itself into the "comfort food" category in our family. It is quick, inexpensive, and filling. The flavor combination was inspired by traditional Moroccan and Indian flavors, and I was lucky in that I nailed what I was going for on the first try. The only ingredient that you'll have to hunt for is the Iraeli couscous -- it's quite a bit larger than regular couscous. The larger grain gives it a wonderful al dente chewiness. We've found it at some natural food stores in the Twin Cities, but you can also find it online here: http://www.amazon.com/Israeli-Couscous-8-8-Ounce-igourmet-com/dp/B000OCTJLK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=gourmet-food&qid=1225836326&sr=8-2 . Trader Joes also carries it, but their own brand is a smaller bag and you have to adjust the cooking liquid down by about 1/4 cup, otherwise it works great.

Ingredients:

1 8.8 oz bag of Iraeli Couscous

2 TBS olive oil
1 TBS butter

1 medium to large onion, diced very small

Zest and juice from one large orange

2 cups of chicken stock (don't use reduced sodium)

1 tsp garam masala (special Indian spice mixture, most grocery stores carry this)

1/4 cup of chopped walnuts, toasted

Instructions:

In large, deep saucepan warm butter and olive oil over medium high heat until just frothy. Add onion and fry until the onion is deep golden brown. If you don't think you've nearly burned the onion, you haven't cooked it long enough. I've made this dish and not let the onion go as far, and the depth of flavor in the finished product just isn't as good. Add the dry couscous and cook until some of the pasta takes on a golden color as well. It should look like this:

Add the garam masala and stir for a minute to "bloom" the spice. Add orange juice, orange zest, and chicken stock. Stir. Cover, turn heat to very low and cook at a simmer for about 10-12 minutes or until the couscous is cooked through and the cooking liquid is absorbed. You may have to add a little extra stock or orange juice if the liquid all disappears before the pasta is done completely. Stir well, remove from heat, and add the toasted walnuts. Serve.

This dish is wonderful on it's own with a crisp green salad or roasted cauliflower, or as a side dish alongside roasted meats. You could also make it vegetarian/vegan by substituting vegetable broth for the chicken broth, if you want. It would also look great with a little chopped parsely or cilantro thrown in, but the garam masala is a very delicate flavor so I opt to leave it as is.

Homemade Pizza

2008-10-31T10:27:00.000-05:00

I apologize in advance for not having a better recipe to post with these pics, but pizza is something I do by feel and look more than by measurement (Eventually I will stop apologizing for this, because this tends to be the way I cook nearly everything). Homemade pizza, now that I know the trick to making it WELL, has ruined delivery pizza for me forever.

First, the crust:

This recipe http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/001199.html is my go-to recipe for pizza crust. It's delicious and cooks up with the crispy-chewy combo that's vitally important to a good neopolitan-style crust. Another option if you don't want to make your own crust is to pick up a ball of dough from your favorite local pizza place. Many will sell this to you for a few dollars at most.

The sauce:

I'm a purist in this regard. I like plain canned tomato sauce (Hunts or Muir Glenn are good) stirred with a little sugar and maybe some fresh garlic at most. The sauce shouldn't compete with the other ingredients.

The cheese:

Go with whole milk mozarella here, folks. It's a must. Slice into thin rounds or chop into little squares for sprinkling on top.

The toppings:

Here's where you can let your imagination go wild. That being said, I do think simple is best here as well. You could do some caramelized onion and a few slices of fresh pear, or maybe just sliced tomato and fresh basil for a pizza margherita. I love a drizzle of pesto with a sprinkling of pine nuts. Be creative!

The cooking method:

Preheat a pizza stone or baking stone in your oven on the highest temp setting available (This is usually about 550 or so), in about the middle of the oven or a tad higher. This preheating will take quite a while, maybe even 30-40 minutes. In the meanwhile, you can prepare your pie.

You want to stretch/toss/roll (whatever works best for you) the dough into about a 12" circle, with the edges being a bit thicker than the rest of the dough. Place onto a pizza peel or unrimmed cookie sheet that has been sprinkled with either cornmeal or semolina flour. These are better than regular flour because they will allow the dough to slide off onto the stone more easily. Spread with a scant amount of pizza sauce -- you want some for flavor but not so much that your cheese and toppings slide off the crust. Top with cheese and toppings. Give the pizza a wiggle to make sure it's loose enough to slide onto the pizza stone. When the oven is ready to go, slide your pizza onto the stone (good luck... this takes some practice). Using a forward and back rapid motion with your hand is the best way to get the pizza to slide off the pizza peel without sticking. If it sticks, you can try using a spatula to loosen the areas that are sticking. Your pizza will NOT be perfectly round. That's ok. We're going for rustic here.

Bake your pizza until the edges are blistered and the cheese is bubbly. This may be as quickly as 5-7 minutes, but it depends on a variety of factors (crust thickness, oven temp, distance from top of oven, etc.) Remove, let sit for about 3-4 minutes, then slice and eat.

From the MySpace Archives: Chicken Potstickers

2008-10-18T17:13:00.001-05:00

This is a post ripped from the archives of my old MySpace "blog"... I just don't have the patience for that site anymore, but I have a lot of posts there that I'd like to preserve. I figure I can give some of them new life here on blogger... this is one of my very favorite meals. It is VERY labor intensive, but it's worth it.

CHICKEN POTSTICKERS
Ok, this is my first foray into the world of Asian dumplings... and they turned out amazingly good. I can't take credit for the recipe, though. Alton Brown gets the kudos for that. The only thing I really changed is that I used minced chicken breast instead of ground pork, and used pablano peppers instead of red. The flavor was still excellent. Might try the pork next time. I'm also toying with trying to come up with a beef potsticker with a peanut satay sauce... Below is a pic of how they turned out, as well as Alton's original recipe.

Ingredients
1/2 pound ground pork
1/4 cup finely chopped scallions
2 tablespoons finely chopped red bell pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons ketchup
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
35 to 40 small wonton wrappers
Water, for sealing wontons
3 to 4 tablespoons vegetable oil, for frying
1 1/3 cups chicken stock, divided

Directions

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.
Combine the first 11 ingredients in a medium-size mixing bowl (pork through cayenne). Set aside.

To form the dumplings, remove 1 wonton wrapper from the package, covering the others with a damp cloth. Brush 2 of the edges of the wrapper lightly with water. Place 1/2 rounded teaspoon of the pork mixture in the center of the wrapper. Fold over, seal edges, and shape as desired. Set on a sheet pan and cover with a damp cloth. Repeat procedure until all of the filling is gone.
Heat a 12-inch saute pan over medium heat. Brush with vegetable oil once hot. Add 8 to 10 potstickers at a time to the pan and cook for 2 minutes, without touching. Once the 2 minutes are up, gently add 1/3 cup chicken stock to the pan, turn the heat down to low, cover, and cook for another 2 minutes. Remove wontons to a heatproof platter and place in the warm oven. Clean the pan in between batches by pouring in water and allowing the pan to deglaze. Repeat until all the wontons are cooked. Serve immediately.

Sweet Garlic Lasagna

2008-10-16T21:56:00.000-05:00

Lasagna is one of those foods that I've always been a little "meh" about. It just never did much for me. It was heavy and full of meat and I dunno... kind of dull. A few months back Nathan asked me to make lasagna. I'd made it once before, but it was never on my dinner roation for the aforementioned reasons. So I figured I'd make MY kind of lasagna. Something lighter, brighter, fresher, and sans meat. Hubby was skeptical. I'd go so far as to say nervous. "What, no meat? No sausage? Not even a little hamburger?" Nope. No meat. Suck it up and eat it. And guess what? He did! And not only did he eat three large helpings, he took LEFTOVERS. *faint* And he proceeded to actually buy all of the ingredients (ok, most of the ingredients... he is a man, remember) a couple of weeks later so I'd make it again. This dish is now a monthly routine for us; Nathan makes a Trader Joe's stop on his way home from Naval Reserve drill, and I lovingly craft the lasagna on the following Tuesday (my weekday off). It's inadvertently become a little family tradition.

Ingredients:

2-3 TBS olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
1 large can of tomato sauce (16 oz.)
1 TBS sugar
1/2 (or so) box of no-boil lasagna noodles
1 lb whole milk mozzarella cheese- sliced into thin rounds/slices (a piece of string works best for slicing)
1 12 oz. carton of cottage cheese
1 egg

For sauce, lightly brown garlic in hot olive oil. Add tomato sauce and sugar. Simmer for about 10 minutes, set aside.

Blend cottage cheese and egg together in blender or food processor, set aside

In a 8x8 inch pan, start your layers. They should go like this (after an initial layer of sauce on the bottom) -- pasta, sauce, mozzarella, THIN layer of cottage cheese mixture. Repeat. Build lasagna until it's about 1/2" from the top, and finish with a layer of sauce and mozzarella. I always use up all of the sauce and all of the mozzarella but have about half of the noodles and half of the cottage cheese stuff leftover.

Bake in 375 degree oven for about 45 minutes, uncovered until bubbly and browned on top. Take out and let sit for 10-15 min before slicing.

This is great in the summertime with fresh basil leaves placed every other layer, too. Try to avoid the temptation to spice up the tomato sauce with a bunch of dried herbs; I really think the beauty of this dish is the brightness of the simple sweet tomato sauce. Serve with a crisp green salad and bottle of wine, and you're on for a li'l Italia in the midwest. :)

Aparently 3:58 minutes wasn't enough

2008-10-16T13:37:00.000-05:00

This http://www.sctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081016/ENT/110160053/1005 was in the paper today. Really nice article by St. Cloud entertainment writer Adam Hammer...

Needless to say, the staff at my clinic are all having a field day over this. Sorry, guys. I'm not autographing a speculum for you.

My 3:58 Minutes of Fame

2008-10-09T07:24:00.000-05:00

Aparently the rough-looking dude at open mic on Tuesday wasn't taking pictures.... he was taking video. And aparently he uploaded to YouTube. And aparently one can post someone's ORIGINAL song on a national web site without the original artist's permission.

Oh well. *shrug* I'll just exploit my own exploitation. Does that make it... meta-exploitation?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clVWXhfhmDg

Garlic Lemon Hummus

2008-10-06T20:13:00.001-05:00

This is my go-to "recipe" for busy worknights. It's fast, easy, healthy, and I have 90% of the ingredients on hand at any given time. I put recipe in quotations because to be honest, I make this (like many of my recipes) more by taste than by measure. You may want to play with the amounts listed here to suit your own tastes.

A few notes: you really need to use FRESH lemon juice and good olive oil. **Now for my olive oil soapbox lecture** Many olive oils that you find in the typical grocery section are not of quality. They will have a bitter, almost rancid flavor. If you've never tasted truly excellent olive oil, you may not realize how great the "good" stuff is. In town here I've found that Byerly's has some excellent varieties for about $12/bottle. Also check out the local CoOp. Olive oil in hummus shouldn't be merely an ingredient, but should actually be a flavoring agent -- so for this recipe, spend a little extra. I promise it's worth it.

Garlic Lemon Hummus

1 large clove of garlic
1 can chickpeas, drained
1 heaping tablespoon of tahini (can substitute peanut butter in a pinch)
about 1/2 teaspoon of salt (may need to be adjusted to taste)
juice from one lemon
1/4 cup olive oil

In a food processor, chop garlic clove. Add chickpeas, tahini, some of the salt (reserve some just in case it's too much... you can always add more later), and lemon juice. Process until smooth. Drizzle in olive oil and process again. Add more salt and/or lemon juice to taste. Garnish with more olive oil and fresh chopped parsley or cilantro, if desired. Serve with crusty bread, veggies, olives, etc. Also thickens up in the fridge and makes a great sandwich or wrap spread.

Possible additions/substitutions: green chiles and a pinch of cayenne for a southwest twist, add some fried onions and curry for Indian-inspired hummus, or try a different citrus than lemon (lime and cilantro go great together).

B, B, & B #1

2008-10-05T19:10:00.001-05:00

Ok, updates (is it really an update if it's my first post on the subject??) on the "Big Three":

Bellies:

Had a really great week at work, for some reason... nothing specific happened, but I just really connected with my patients. There's something amazing about sending someone off from an appointment with a big smile on their face. I mean, come on... the annual exam is not something that most of us gals look forward to. I know that no one is going to enjoy that yearly visit with me, but my goal is to always try to make my patients feel as if they were listened to and respected. Sounds like a small thing, but I'm finding that it's not. Every patient who says, "Hey, thanks... you really made this comfortable" or "I like you... can I start seeing you every time?" warms my heart and helps to confirm to me that I made the right choice to become a midwife. And that's pretty damn priceless.

Beer:

On tap -- American Apricot Wheat. It's going too slowly, so I'm having my second "Kill the Keg" party on Friday with some of the gals from work. The last one ended up with a Playstation and two six-year-olds yelling at a group of grown women to "shut the heck up". Hrm. Maybe we can kick it up a notch this time and get in trouble with people who are old enough to not have a scheduled bedtime.

In the carboy -- nothing. yeah, I know... in homebrewer circles, that's a sacrilege.

Up next -- I think I'm going to make a "Irish Coffee Porter"; basically a dark porter with some irish whiskey and coffee beans for added flavor. Might work, might not. Might simply keep me up all night. Also planning on my first buddy-brew -- a blueberry ale with my pal Lars. Just need to knock out a recipe and plan a brew date.

Baking: We attended the annual Cloudytown Brewers' (my homebrew club) Oktoberfest party last night, and I baked for the occasion. Made a basic apple pie, and then threw a twist into my pecan pie. I added a splash of bourbon (as usual), and threw in a handful of dark chocolate chips. It was a hit, especially when the beer munchies set in later on in the evening. With apple season in full swing here in MN, I'm sure there will be crisps and pies and sauces galore. I forgot to take pics of the pie, hence why my first post is without any visuals.

And with that, I'm off to the basement to work off the damn cod nuggets I just ate. Damn Schwanns. You bastards. *shakes fist*

Cheers,

Jen

2008-10-05T19:06:00.000-05:00

This is my blog.

Welcome.

Stay awhile, comment, try out a recipe or two... if people like them, let 'em know where you got them. If they don't, then uh... tell them it was one of those dusty old Lutheran basement cookbooks that you inherited from your great Aunt Bev.

Cheers,

Jen