Pasta with Red Pepper Pesto

Today's post is for the HH6 May challenge:

We're all inspired by someone, whether we know them in real life or just from the tv. Tell us who inspires your cooking and share one of their recipes.


I had a certain something in mind for this post but circumstances made my initial idea impossible.  I am determined to make it possible in the future so I won't spoil it.  Anyway, despite that minor setback, I still have an excellent dish for you.  My inspiration here is my friend Stacey (whose food blog is down, else I'd link).  I met Stacey in the summer of 2008 through a third party who (without permission) invited us to her house for dinner.  Quite rude, but incredibly fortunate as it turned out - who else would I have backpacked the Grand Canyon with, after all?  Anyway, Stacey is an awesome cook and I was newly married and just beginning to experiment on the culinary front.  Seeing what she made really pushed me to be better in the kitchen.  Today I've made a dinner I had at her house last fall.  Salmon, roasted veggies, and pasta with red pepper pesto.

Now, not only is it delicious, but the pasta has the amazing ability to pass The Husband Test.  See, my husband pretty much refuses to eat pasta that doesn't have "red" sauce.  Guess what?  This sauce is red!  If I hadn't told him, he never would have known that he was eating peppers and pine nuts!  As an added benefit, it's delicious hot or cold - bring it to your next summer grill-out instead of the traditional pasta salad!

Side note:  I really dislike the place we are currently living.  There are a lot of reasons for this.  My current reason is that I had to drive an hour to get pine nuts.  I did not buy basil when in the city, figuring that basil, at least, I could obtain closer to home.  Yeah, not so much.  And my own garden basil is not large enough yet.  So I had to use dry.  SOB!

Ingredients

Penne pasta
1/3 c evoo
8 garlic cloves
1/3 c pine nuts
1/4 c Parmesean cheese, chunks or grated
1/4 c asiago, chunks or grated
1 c fresh basil
1 c roasted red peppers

Cook pasta as usual.  Drain and set aside.

Heat the oil in a skillet and saute the garlic.  Add the pine nuts and cook another minute or two.  Combine oil, garlic, nuts, basil, peppers, and 1/2 of the cheese in a food processor.  Process briefly until smooth.

Toss with pasta and top with grated remainder of cheese.

Sweet and Sourdough Muffins

I had an extra cup of sourdough starter hanging around and about 30 minutes in which to use it.  The solution?  Muffins!  Muffins are perfect.  Fast, simple, and you can have endless variety.  I went with cheesy muffins this time, but I was very close to doing a cranberry one.  Next week, maybe!

Ingredients

1 c sourdough starter
1 c bread flour
1/2 c sugar
dash salt
1 t baking soda
1 egg
1/4 c oil
1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese.  Or fruit.  Or nuts.  Or whatever your little heart desires!

Combine all ingredients.  Grease muffin tin and fill cups about 2/3s full (this made 9 muffins for me).  Bake at 430 for 20 minutes.

Chili Rellenos

I apologize for the long hiatus, but we spent all of December moving again.  We're still not all unpacked here at the new place, but I made the kitchen a priority.  It's the only room in the house that is 100% functional.  With that said, I'll kick off my return to blogging with this month's HH6 challenge (due to the holidays there was no December challenge so I didn't miss one)!

Prepare a dish that you have never made before but always wanted to try.  Tell us why you have taken quite some time to make this dish.

Back in August of 2009, just before school started (you know, the days the teachers are there working but the kids aren't), I remember going out to lunch with my co-workers.  We headed to Mexican place down the street.  I had the chili rellenos.  I'm not sure how the conversation ended up where it did, but I made some comment about how it was probably hard to make chili rellenos or something along those lines.  One of my friends then pointed out that I was no slouch in the kitchen and certainly I could make chili rellenos if I wanted to.  Huh, I thought to myself, I guess I could!  So I decided that I would learn to make chili rellenos by the end of the year.

Yeah, that never happened.

I did go and read up on how to make them and I think that intimidated me.  It seemed like a whole lot of steps, between roasting and skinning the chili and making the batter and the tendency of things to go horribly, horribly wrong when I have hot oil around... So the whole thing sort of fell to the wayside.  Until I got this challenge in my email, that is.  So I began researching once more and as soon as I had the kitchen put to rights, I whipped out the frying oil and dove right in.

Honestly, it wasn't all that difficult.  The batter got nice and crispy, the poblano was tender, the salsa perfectly spicy.  I think I'll continue questing for a different sauce, but other than that both The Husband and I enjoyed this dinner very much.

One of the big decisions in making a chili relleno is what to stuff them with.  Cheese is, of course, the standard.  But why be boring?  I happened to have some pulled pork on hand (the first thing I did when I got my Traeger back was smoke a pork butt!) so I mixed that up with some spinach and grated cheese to make the filling.  Be creative!

The basic recipe came from Macheesmo, whom I had never heard of before.  They're really awesome though - go check them out!

Ingredients

1 poblano pepper per person, plus one extra
1 head garlic, peeled
4 tomatoes
1 jalapeno, seeded and halved
1/2 onion, quartered
1 lime
1 c flour
1/2 c beer
4 eggs, separated
vegetable oil

Filling
handful pulled pork
grated mozzarella and cheddar
handful of spinach, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 450.  Spread the poblanos, garlic, tomatoes, jalapeno and onion out on a baking sheet and roast until tender, turning the poblanos every few minutes.  If some things are cooking faster than others, pull them out early.  It should take about 30-40 minutes.

Carefully place one poblano per person into a plastic or paper bag.  Fold up and set aside to steam.

Combine the remaining poblano with all the other roasted goodness in a food processor.  Squeeze in the lime juice and process briefly until you have salsa!  Set aside.

Combine your filling ingredients in a bowl.

Now, back to the poblanos.  This is a bit tricky, so be very careful with every step here!  Remove the poblanos from the bag.  Peel the skin off, but don't tear the pepper!  It's ok if there's a bit of skin left on there.  Then make a small slice along the side.  Reach in and cut/scoop out all of the seeds.

Time to make the batter!  Mix egg yolks, flour and beer together in a bowl.  In another bowl, whip your egg whites until frothy.  Carefully fold the whites into the flour mixture, keeping as many air bubbles as possible.

Stuff the peppers!  Gently fill each pepper with your stuffing mix.  Don't over fill!

Heat oil in a skillet.  You should have about 1/4 inch of oil in the bottom.  Once it is hot, carefully dip the stuffed peppers in the batter.  Lay in the skillet seam side down.  After 2-3 minutes, turn and fry the other side.

Drain on paper towels.  Serve with salsa spooned over top.

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

November's a pretty crazy month to do a food challenge, I think!  I managed it though, even while prepping for Thanksgiving (yes I will have more posts about that)!  November's theme for HH6 is "Coming from your part of the world, create/share your favorite comfort food."

I thought for a while about what to do for this challenge.  I considered biscuits and gravy, as we're moving to the south.  Or maybe apple fritters or fastnachts from my Pennsylvania Dutch heritage.  Or maybe something Mexican since we're currently in the southwest!  When you move around so much, "your part of the world" could mean anything!  As a result, I decided to focus more on the comfort side of the challenge and a few memories were quick to pop to mind.  This summer, when I was at our family's cabin in Pennsylvania, a smell suddenly caught my attention.  It was just spaghetti sauce, but it smelled like the most amazing thing ever and I bugged my aunt and uncle to let me have some of their spaghetti.  Then, when we backpacked the Grand Canyon, day three was our hardest day - from the bottom to the North rim and back down all in one day, nearly 14 miles.  What did we choose to pack for dinner that night?  Spaghetti!  And boy did we eat tons of it!

Spaghetti it was, then.  But how to create the most comforting sauce?  I have several sauces I use, from the fancy roasted garlic to my uncle's decadent baby back rib sauce.  None of them were quite right though.  So I warned my husband that we'd be eating a lot of spaghetti over the next few weeks and set to work.

My first attempt used sausage and roasted garlic.  It was good, but didn't have the flavor profile I was looking for.  My second attempt used beef instead of sausage.  Much closer, but it needed to be simpler.  The best comfort foods are simple, and here the third time  was the charm - a nice, thick, beefy sauce!  Yum!

Ingredients

1 T oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 head garlic, minced
1/2 lb ground beef
1 can tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
oregano
pepper
crushed red pepper

Saute the onion and garlic in the oil until the onion is translucent.  Add the beef and cook until browned.  Pour in sauce and tomatoes.  Season liberally with oregano and cautiously with pepper and red pepper.  Simmer until thickened, 40 minutes or so.  Top with grated parmesan or aged gouda.

Berrymisu

Who doesn't love tiramisu?  Well, my mom for one.  And many people who do not like the taste of espresso.  Now, I'm actually one of those espresso-haters, so I was a tiramisu-hater for the longest time.  Until my friend made tiramisu using the Best Recipe Ever.  Seriously, if you make tiramisu any other way... well, you shouldn't.

However, sometimes I'm in the mood for some mascarpone-cream goodness, but not for the traditional espresso and chocolate.  So I took tiramisu and gave it a fruity twist.  This is a great change for a hot summer and the sweet cream and tart raspberries complement each other perfectly.

Ingredients

1 c peach nectar or other sweet fruit juice

6 T brandy

6 large egg yolks

3/4 c granulated sugar

Pinch of table salt

1/2 c heavy cream

16 oz mascarpone cheese

6 oz raspberries

2 sleeves ladyfingers (more if you get the smaller kind)

Combine 2 T brandy with the fruit nectar in a shallow bowl.  Set aside.  Put egg yolks, sugar and salt in the mixer.  Beat at medium-high for four minutes.  Egg mixture should be pale yellow and frothy.  Add the cream, stirring well.  Hold bowl over a pot of simmering water.  Reduce heat and simmer, stirring constantly for five minutes or until the mixture reaches 160.  Pour into another bowl and cool to room temperature.  Back in the mixer, add the mascarpone and 1/4 c brandy to the egg and cream mixture.  Beat at medium or medium high for about 3-4 minutes, until smooth and thick.  Puree 4 oz of the raspberries and stir them into the mascarpone mixture gently.

Dip the ladyfingers one at a time into the fruit juice, rolling quickly (2 second total!).  Line the bottom of the pan with dipped cookies.  Spread 1/2 of the mascarpone mixture over top.  Sprinkle on the rest of the raspberries, pushing them gently down into the cream.  Repeat with another layer of ladyfingers and another layer of cream.

Cover and refrigerate.

Herbed Hen Pasta

The upcoming challenge involves using only what is currently in our pantries, so here's my proof of what I have at the moment.

More later!

Update:

September's Challenge: We all need to be prepared in the event of a disaster.  You have stuff in your pantry and fridge/freezer.  If a disaster should strike today and you have no access to going to a grocery store but your stove/grill is still working, what would you make with what you have on hand?


For this one, I went with a one-pot meal, easy to do even if we can only use our little camp stove.  I feel a bit uncreative using pasta, but hey, it works and it's easy.  This is a nice simple dish that's pretty as well as flavorful, and different every time depending on what spices you use.


Ingredients

1 game hen (or chicken)
2 cloves garlic, diced
1/4 onion, diced
Your favorite herbs and spices
water
1 T olive oil
1 box pasta
1 can diced tomatoes
4 T pesto
grated parmesean

Take the olive oil and gently brown the onions and garlic in a saucepan.  Add in the herbs and spices, the hen, and about 1/2 c water.  Cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes or until bird is cooked through, adding more water as needed.  Remove hen and set aside to cool.  Once it has cooled sufficiently, shred the meat.

Meanwhile, cook and drain the pasta.  Stir in the shredded hen, tomatoes, and pesto.  Top with grated cheese.

Burrito Skins

I dearly love Mexican food.  One thing that is not bad about living in Mos Eisely is that there is actual, authentic Mexican here.  Yum!  Of course, we've been eating out a lot, so I'm trying to do more at home with Mexican flavors.  Cilantro in particular - I've only really had it dried before and fresh is soooo much better!

This here is a play on potato skins.  Use any pepper or chili you'd like for the base.  The Husband is a bit of a wimp so I used pasillas.  The meat can also be swapped out for anything.  In fact, the whole thing is pretty customizable!

Ingredients

2-4 pasilla peppers, cut in half lengthwise, seeds removed
1 can pinto beans, drained
2 c brown rice, cooked
1 c carnitas, pulled pork, etc
1/4 c salsa (home made is best, of course)
fresh cilantro
shredded cheese

Roast the peppers at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  Meanwhile, combine the other ingredients (except cheese) in a skillet, stirring together until well blended and warmed.  Stuff each pepper half with as much filling as it will hold.  Top with shredded cheese and more cilantro.  Bake an additional 30 minutes.

Crab Cake Pizza

A few weeks ago, The Husband and I were down on the Kenai looking for bears.  Long story short, we were unsuccessful, but we did find ourselves spending a night in Seward, one of our favorite towns.  I really wanted to spend some time there before we PCSed, so I was pretty excited.  After heading down to Lowell Point to look for sea otters (they obliged!) we wandered through town debating where to eat for dinner.  We finally settled on a particular place based on the fact that they had halibut cheeks on their menu.  If you've never had halibut cheeks, you are Missing Out.  It is, without a doubt, the best part of the fish, deliciously tender.  Of course, each fish only has two, and we'd eaten our last for Christmas.  Since it's nearly impossible to get cheeks outside of the state, I wanted some!

Anyway, we choose poorly.  I hadn't realized it was POSSIBLE to ruin halibut cheeks, but they did, and it made me very sad!  They also ruined the seafood salad we had.

Fortunately, I'd splurged and ordered an appetizer of king crab cakes.  Unlike the rest of our meal, they were fantastic!  So good that I fantasized about them all the way home.

Then, it occurred to me.  This month's HH6 challenge was to make a pizza without tomato sauce.

Crab cake.  Pizza.  The two terms sounded strange together, but I KNEW they would be delicious.

I was right.

Ingredients

Pizza Dough (Peter Reinhart's version, or use your own)

4 1/2 c flour
1 3/4 t salt
1 t yeast
1/4 c olive oil
1 3/4 c ice cold water

Blend ingredients into a smooth dough (5-7 minutes with dough hook).  Divide into 6 pieces and refrigerate overnight.  You can also freeze the dough at this point.  On the day you make the pizza, pull out the dough at least two hours before.  Pat it into a rough oval, cover, and rest for two hours.


Roasted Red Pepper Aioli

1 red pepper
1/4 c mayo
1 clove garlic
dash onion powder
dash cayenne
1 T lemon juice

Roast the pepper, either in the oven or on the grill.  Peel off skin and discard seeds.  Place pepper in food processor with other ingredients until sauce forms.


Topping

1 leg king crab (or equivelant of other crab, but red king is best! ...I love Alaska!)
1/4 c diced celery
1/4 c mayo
1 T Dijon mustard
dash onion powder
dash hot sauce
1/4-1/2 c panko crumbs
1/8 c shredded Parmesan or asiago cheese

Place pizza stone in oven and preheat to 550 or as high as it will go.

Gently stir first six ingredients together.  Fold in about half of the bread crumbs.

Roll pizza dough out to the desired size.  Spread a thin layer of aioli across.  Top with crab mixture and sprinkle with the remaining panko and cheese.  Transfer to pizza stone and bake 5-8 minutes or until golden brown.

Sausage Rolls

 One summer during college, we took a family vacation to Ireland.  Actually, now that I think about it, that was our last real family vacation, since shortly after graduation I moved out, got married, and moved across the country.  Anyway, one morning we were wandering around Dublin and stopped in a bakery for breakfast.  Everyone else got some sort of sweet pastry, but I prefer savory food and opted for the sausage roll.

This sausage roll was a piece of heaven in hand-held form.

The bread was flaky and sweet, the sausage perfectly spicy, with a little bit of cheese.  Since bread, meat and cheese are my favorite food groups, this was perfect!

In 2009, I was working my way through the Bread Bakers Apprentice challenge (I've stalled out on the sourdoughs but I really do intend to finish!) and came across Peter Reinhart's Casiatello.  As soon as I took a bite, it called to mind that Irish sausage roll - but it wasn't quite right.  I was onto something, though!  I planned to go back and make some changes to the recipe to make it more like that tasty little roll, but never got around to it.

This months HH6 challenge, however, is to recreate a dish from another country, and it got me up off my butt and working on my sausage roll.

I used Peter Reinhart's recipe as a base, but I have made some definite changes to make it more like my memory of Ireland.  This bread is fairly simple to make, and quite quick as far as bread is concerned.  It takes about 5 hours from start to finish, with several nicely placed breaks to allow for running errands.

 

Regarding cheese and salami:  These will make or break your bread - I made a special trip to the artisan cheese and salami shop just for this bread (twist my arm, why don't you?).  You want a cheese that will melt nicely, but has a good flavor as well.  Good flavor, but not necessarily strong.  The salami will do that.  I blended about 20% emmenthaler with 80% Wagon Wheel from Cowgirl Creamery.  The Wagon Wheel worked wonders, and if you have access to it, use it!  For the salami, I used half Da Vino, which is a red-wine salami, and half Finocchiona, which is - get this - curry salami.  Don't be shy with the salami either.  4oz will seem like a lot, but you need it all!

Ingredients

1/2 hot water
1 T yeast
1/2 c flour
3/4 c milk

3 1/2 c flour
1 t salt
1 T sugar
2 eggs
3/4 c butter

4 oz salami, chopped and lightly sauteed
1 c cheese, coarsely chopped or shredded

1 package Lil' Smokies

 (The Husband got me a kitchen aid for my birthday!  Isn't he the best?)

Sponge
Mix the hot water and yeast together.  Set aside for five minutes or until frothy.  In a small bowl, stir together 1/2 c flour, milk, and yeast mix.  Cover with plastic wrap and rest for one hour.

Dough
In your kitchenaid (or a medium bowl), combine the 3 1/2 c flour, salt and sugar.  Stir in the eggs and the sponge until the dough forms a coarse ball.  Rest for 10 minutes.

Cut the butter into four pieces.  Begin to work them into the dough one at a time, either stirring or mixing with the paddle attachment at medium speed (this is where a kitchenaid ROCKS!).  The butter MUST be completely blended.  This is important!

Once all of the butter is completely blended, begin kneading the bread.  If using a mixer, use the paddle for four minutes, then switch to the dough hook for another 5-8.

Once the dough has smoothed out and isn't quite so sticky, stir or mix in the chopped salami and cheese until evenly distributed.

Oil a large bowl and transfer the dough.  Cover with plastic wrap and rest 90 minutes.

Now, to shape the dough.  Use any of the following: muffin pan, mini-cheesecake pan, or a round pie pan.  Whichever you use, grease the pan!

Divide the dough into SMALL pieces and carefully wrap around one lil' smokie.  If using muffin or mini cheesecake pans, place one bundle in each well.  If using a pie pan, cluster the rolls so they are not quite touching.

Mist the tops of the dough with oil and cover with plastic wrap.  Let rest 60 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350.

Bake for 20 minutes.  Turn pans and continue baking another 10-20 minutes, or until rolls are nicely browned and cheese is bubbling out the top.  Cool before eating...if you can resist!

Salmon Salad

A few months ago, we were wandering through New Sagaya and were offered samples of their crab salad.  It was, not to put too fine a point on it, one of the most delicious things I've ever tasted.  Since then, I've had a hole in my heart and tried to fill it with this.  Now, this isn't QUITE as good as the crab salad (but really, when does salmon compare to king crab?), but it's still a great little snack, hors d'oevre, or even sandwich!

Be sure to make this the day before serving - it benefits immensely from having a day for the flavors to meld.  Additionally, do not neglect the tomato!  This is one of those magical combinations where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts!  The proportions are easily adjustable.  The amount below made two meals for me.

Ingredients

1/4 salmon fillet

Season salt, ground pepper, garlic, cayenne

1/4 granny smith apple, diced

1/2 stick celery, diced

1/8 c grated asiago (substitute fresh Parmesan if you'd like)

2-4 T mayo

pepper, cayenne, cajun seasoning

1 tomato, sliced

Rub the salmon fillet with the salt, pepper, garlic, and cayenne.  Grill until flaky.

Shred the salmon with a fork and mix with apple, celery and cheese.  Stir in the mayo a little at a time until the salad reaches the right consistency.  Blend in further seasonings to taste.  Serve on sliced tomato.

Pecan Pie Cookies and Bananas Foster Pastry

 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, each month the HH6 club puts out a cooking challenge.  The challenge for March was to come up with a concept dish for an MRE.  For those of you who do not hail from the military world, an MRE (meal ready to eat) is a box of portable, lightweight rations designed to support military members in locations where chow halls aren't readily available. 

MREs are not (despite some misconceptions) dehydrated or freeze dried.  They are actually preserved using a variation on the canning technique.  The pouch containing the food is not plastic, but more thin layers of aluminum which can be sealed airtight and processed the same way you would process canned fruits or veggies.  While this yields a significantly heavier ration (due to water content) than dehydrated or freeze-dried food, it is quicker to prepare and can even be eaten with no preparation at all if time is an issue (and in combat, it certainly could be!).

Since MREs are more canned food than backpacking food, there are actually a lot fewer restrictions in the food composition than you might otherwise have.  For example, you can have larger pieces of meat than if you were dehydrating the food first.  Still, canning tends to work best with "saucy" type things.  Rice is notoriously difficult, though apparently the military has figured that one out already!

MREs used to be, to put it plainly, awful.  In recent years as the preservative technology has advanced, they've become quite edible - though the menu choices are still fairly boring.  Click here to see the 2011 entree list.

See why we want to spice it up?

Here's a picture of the contents of a Beef Ravioli MRE.

Included:

Beef Ravioli
Beef Snack Stick
Vegetable Crackers
Jalapeno Cheese Spread
Toffee Cookies
Chocolate Chip Toaster Pastry
Orange Flavored Electrolyte drink mix
Acessory Pack
          o Xylitol chewing gum
          o Water-resistant matchbook
          o Napkin / toilet paper
          o Moist towelette
          o Seasonings, including salt, pepper, sugar, creamer, and/or Tabasco sauce

A common complaint about MREs stems from a very significant lack of fiber.  Most MREs are lucky to contain less than half the fiber that they ought to.  I plan to address this with my concept MRE.

Concept MRE: Mardi Gras Edition!

Chicken Etouffe
Whole-grain Cajun Rice
Wheat Crackers with Maple Pepper
Hard Aged Cheddar slices
Pecan Pie Cookies
Bananas Foster Pastry
Hurricane Flavored Electrolyte drink mix

Yes, we're going with the Mardi Gras theme here!  Let's break it down a bit.

Chicken Etouffe

I already blogged this recipe here.  It's fantastic and flavorful (unlike most MREs!), but not overly spicy.  I don't know anyone who doesn't like etouffe!  Traditionally you would see shrimp etouffe.  Apart from my undying hatred of shrimp, I went with chicken because eating canned meat is moderately less pleasant than eating fresh meat, but eating canned seafood is just plain nasty.


Whole-grain Cajun Rice

It's not etouffe if you aren't eating it over rice.  Plus, it's a great way to sneak a few veggies in, not to mention the fiber from whole grains.  I mentioned earlier that canning rice is very difficult, but since the MRE gods have already figured this one out, I'll leave the logistics to them.


Wheat Crackers with Maple Pepper

MREs already feature crackers quite regularly.  Seems like it would be pretty easy to just use wheat instead of white (with more fiber to boot!), and maple pepper sounds odd but is to die for on crackers.  See a fancier version here.


Hard Aged Cheddar Slices

Away with that nasty faux-cheese spread!  Dairy products are not recommended for canning by the FDA, but a good hard cheddar can (and is!) aged for years in parafin.  It'll last as long as the MRE will, and will just get better as time goes by.

Pecan Pie Cookies:

These tasty little treats are hand-held, durable versions of the traditional southern dessert.  A little chocolate brings out the flavor and you'll never notice the wheat flour - but you'll get the fiber!  Hat-tip to allrecipes for the base.

Ingredients (makes 6-8 cookies)

Cookie

3/4 c flour
1/4 c wheat flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 c brown sugar
6 T butter
1/2 egg
1 t vanilla

Filling

2 T butter
1/4 c powdered sugar
1 1/2 T honey
1/2 t vanilla
1 t dark rum
1 t cocoa powder
1/4 c chopped pecans

Melt the butter.  Stir in the sugar, honey, vanilla, rum, and cocoa.  Once all the ingredients are blended, mix in the pecans.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350.

Whip the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla, then slowly beat in the flours and baking powder until dough forms.

Spoon dough into cupcake tins.  Use your fingers to form the dough into a "cup" running about 1/4 to 1/2 inch up the walls of the tin.  Fill each cup with 1 t filling.  Bake 13 minutes.

Bananas Foster Pastry
This recipe is the only one that would need to be significantly altered before being incorporated into an MRE.  However, since they already include various flavors of toaster pastry, it should be easy for them to make a bananas foster version.

Ingredients (makes 3)

1 sheet puff pastry
2 bananas
1/4 c butter
1 c brown sugar
1 t cinnamon
1/4 c tuaca or other fruit-flavored liquor
1/4 c dark rum

Cut the pastry sheet into nine squares.  Preheat oven to 350.

Melt the butter in a saucepan.  Add the brown sugar and cinnamon, stirring until well dissolved.  Add the liquor and carefully flambee until the alcohol is burned off.  Add in the bananas and cook for 5-10 minutes.  Remove bananas and slice thinly.

Grease a sheet pan.  Lay out three squares of puff pastry.  Place 3-5 (depending on thickness) slices on each sheet of puff pastry.  Spoon over some sauce, then cover each with another sheet of pastry.  Add bananas and sauce again, then cover with the final slices of puff pastry.

Bake for 20-30 minutes.  You may have to turn the tray to ensure even browning.

Serve with icecream, drizzle with any remaining sauce.

Hurricane Flavored Electrolyte drink mix

Come on, if they can make orange and lime flavors, they can make hurricane flavors!  Heck, I'm pretty sure Jello had a hurricane flavored mix a few years back.

Foodie Fun

Yes, that is a half bottle of 1964 port that I bought for The Husband's birthday.  1964!  Barrel aged for 40 years, bottle aged for almost 10!  Further, the year 1964 has a certain significance to any Alaskan.  Commence drooling. 

Additionally, that is a half round of O'banon goat cheese wrapped in grape leaves that have been soaked in bourbon.  I finally made it to Fromagio's, the relatively new cheese store in south Anchorage.  It's super awesome!  The staff are friendly and knowledgeable, happy to help you out and answer questions.  I didn't know what I wanted and the selection was overwhelming, but all I had to do was mention a few other cheeses I enjoy and they whipped out a selection of samples for me.  I came home with some nice cheddar too, but the goat cheese was the clear winner.

More drooling.

Anyway, the point of this post (that's a lie, I just wanted to brag about the port and cheese) is a bit of an update.  You may have noticed that the blog got a little face lift.  The most important part of this face lift is just below the title.  Yes, I have tabs now!  My kick in the butt for finally getting tabs was joining the HH6 cooking club.  Basically, once a month I will be doing a cooking challenge along with the other fine ladies of the HH6.  If you want to know more, click the tab!  We get our first challenge Monday.

ps. The moose is just there for cuteness.  My mom made it!

Pizza Roulade and ABTs

It's not the Superbowl without Manfood - meat, cheese, and smoke!

ABTs

Ingredients

Jalapenos
Cream cheese
Lil' smokies
bacon
seasonings of your choice

Slice jalapenos in half lengthwise.  Remove seeds.  Season the cream cheese and spread it in each half of jalapeno.  Lay a lil' smoky on top, then wrap the whole thing in bacon.  Smoke at 250 until the pepper is soft and the bacon crispy.

Pizza Roulade

Ingredients

1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
1/2 tube of ground sausage
1/2 bag pepperoni
1/2 bag shredded mozzarella
1 roma tomato, diced
1 egg white
garlic
oregano
crushed red pepper
Parmesan cheese

Brown the sausage with garlic and oregano.  Drain and place in a bowl to cool.  Meanwhile, roll out the puff pastry until it has doubled in size.  Into the ground sausage, stir pepperoni, tomato and mozzarella with additional oregano and garlic.  Place this mixture on the bottom third of the puff pastry and carefully roll it up, sealing the edges.  Lay seam down on pan.

Mix the egg white with some garlic, oregano, and crushed red pepper.  Brush over the roulade.  Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top.

Smoke at 250 until browned and crispy.

Alternate Roulade: "Women Food"

Instead of the meat and mozzarella stuffing, try this for your next luncheon!  Puree 1/2 bag of baby spinach with a bit of oil, pepper, oregano and garlic.  Stir in some crumbled feta and shredded chicken.  Mix in one egg to bind, and continue with the roulade.  It's a guaranteed hit at your next luncheon!

White Wine and Cheddar Shells

Sometimes my randomly thrown-together meals work out even better than my well-thought out, planned experiments. This is one such. Last night I just pulled whatever I had out of the pantry and came up with this beauty. It's not hard and it's relatively quick to make. I don't have specific measurements - adjust the proportions according to how many servings you need.

Ingredients

Pasta shells
1 T butter
1 T flour
Pino Grigio or Chardonnay
grated rosemary cheddar (or regular cheddar)
diced ham
baby spinach, coarsely chopped
garlic and wine seasoning

Preheat the oven to 350. Boil the pasta until just al dente - drain and set aside in an oven-safe pan. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small saucepan. Once it is frothy, stir in the flour. After the mixture blends smoothly, add a small amount of wine. Melt about 1/2 the cheddar into the wine mixture, adding more wine if needed to produce a thick but still liquid and silky texture. Pour the sauce over the pasta, adding the ham and spinach and stir to thoroughly coat the pasta. Sprinkle the remaining cheese and the garlic and wine seasoning on top. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until cheese browns and bubbles.

Cheesy Halibut Spread

I'm still trying to work my way through the 48lbs of halibut my friend and I came home with last summer. I think I've come far enough that the fish is (almost) confined to one shelf in the freezer! Of course, that means I still have over 20lbs to go. Anyway, I got the bones of this recipe from Kasilof Seafoods. This would make a nice little appetizer, served on baguette rounds. I had mine on the marbled rye I made for the BBA challenge.

Ingredients

1/4 lb cooked, shredded halibut
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1 pearl onion, diced
1 handful baby spinach, diced
1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese
2-3 T mayonnaise
Several small pieces of sliced bread
garlic, salt, pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Mix the halibut, pepper, onion and spinach together with half the cheese. Stir in just enough mayo to reach your preferred consistency. Add seasoning to taste. Spoon the spread onto the bread, topping with the remaining cheese. Bake until the cheese is melted and browned. Serve warm.

Mini Cheesecakes

During my retail therapy expedition to the kitchen store, I also picked up a mini cheesecake pan that I've been drooling over for some time. Basically, it looks like a muffin tin with 12 wells, but the bottom of each is removable - making for painless extraction of the little cheesecakes. Since Civic Orchestra is having a little dessert social tonight, I set out on the cheesecake quest. I made two kinds, cookies and cream and blackberry. Both recipes are here, with thanks to Bake or Break for the first.

PS: Don't worry if you don't have a nifty little pan like mine - use a regular muffin tin with liners.

Cookies and Cream Cheesecake

Ingredients

8oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 c sugar
1/2 t vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 c sour cream
pinch salt
6 oreos, crushed
12 oreos, whole

Preheat oven to 325. Beat the cream cheese with a mixer until smooth, then blend in the sugar. Still mixing, add in the vanilla, eggs, sour cream and salt. Stir in the crushed oreos. Place a whole oreo in the bottom of each well of the cheesecake pan. Spoon in cheesecake mixture nearly to the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Chill before removing from pan.

Blackberry Cheesecake

Ingredients

8oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 c sugar
1/2 t vanilla
1 eggs
pinch salt
1 T blackberry jam
12 nilla wafers

Preheat oven to 325. Beat the cream cheese with a mixer until smooth, then blend in the sugar. Still mixing, add in the vanilla, egg, salt and jam. Place a nilla wafer in the bottom of each well of the cheesecake pan. Spoon in cheesecake mixture nearly to the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Chill before removing from pan.

Tiramisu Cheesecake

I've recently discovered the deliciousness of cheesecake. So this weekend, with the craving full on me, I decided to make one. A few weeks ago we'd had a fantastic mascarpone cheesecake at Crush. Since I have such a love affair with mascarpone anyway, I decided to go that route. This recipe isn't quite perfect, I've still got a few kinks to work out. Despite that, it's quite tasty!

Ingredients

8 oz mascarpone
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
2 T brandy

12 ladyfingers, crushed
2 T melted butter
1 T espresso
2 T sugar
2 T cocoa powder

Chocolate shavings

Take the cheeses out of the fridge so that the can warm to room temperature. Meanwhile, mix the ladyfingers with the butter, espresso, sugar, and cocoa powder. Take this mixture and press it firmly into the bottom of a 6-inch springform pan. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes and cool thoroughly.

Meanwhile, whip the cheeses and sugar together until smooth. Add in the port and egg yolks, reserving the whites. Whip the egg whites and fold into the cheese mixture. Pour into the pan and bake at 350 until done, roughly 1 hour. Turn off the oven and open the door slightly. Allow the cheesecake to cool in the oven for another hour. Once it has cooled, top with shaved chocolate and refrigerate at least overnight.

Ebelskivers

For Christmas, I got an ebelskiver pan. Ebelskivers are basically just filled pancakes. For those who know me, pancakes are my weakness. I never get them right! In the evelskiver though, I hoped to find a pancake I could make. Now, the awesome thing about them is that you can fill them with just about anything! The pan has seven holes. You put a little batter in the bottom, then a little filling, then top with the batter. Turning them took a little getting used to, but I'm already better at it than I am at flipping normal pancakes.

The ones pictured here are the pizza ebelskivers. They came out quite beautiful, with the pepperoni peeking through. I've also made cheesesteak ebelskivers and cinnamon apple ebelskivers.

Ingredients

Pancake batter
Italian seasoning
Pepperonis
Marinated mozarella balls
Marinara sauce

Season the pancake batter with Italian seasoning instead of sugar. Grease the pan and heat over medium low heat. Place a pepperoni in the bottom of each well. When the pan is hot, add one spoon of batter to each well. Working quickly, place a mozarella ball in the center of each, then top with another spoon of batter. Once the batter is bubbling in the center, flip and cook another 2-3 minutes. Serve with marinara for dipping.

Note: if you don't have marinated mozarella balls, you can marinate them yourself with olive oil and italian herbs.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

I have never before in my life made cheesecake. Of course, this is probably because I despised cheesecake up until about a month ago. Now I am of mixed feelings, but willing to experiment with it. I found this recipe at Pinch My Salt and decided that it would be a great way to use up some of my vast amounts of pumpkin and to welcome The Husband home next week. However, I had heard from friends that cheesecake can be tricksy, so I decided to do a test run yesterday. I don't have a mini cheesecake pan, but I did recently acquire a small springform pan, so off I went on the cheesecake attempt!

Ingredients

1 c graham cracker crumbs
2 T brown sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
1/8 t nutmeg
2 T melted butter
1 T maple syrup

4 oz cream cheese
4 oz mascarpone
1/2 c canned pumpkin
1 egg plus 1 egg white, slightly beaten
1/4 c packed brown sugar
2 T maple syrup
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t ground ginger
1/8 t ground nutmeg
1/8 t of ground cloves

1 c heavy cream
3 T powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 t cloves

Preheat the oven to 375. In a shallow bowl, blend the graham cracker, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg together. Using your fingers (I know, messy!) stir in the butter and syrup. Press this mixture firmly into the bottom of your pan.

In a larger bowl, mix the next 10 ingredients. Do not over mix - stop once everything is blended together. Pour this into the pan and bake for 30-45 minutes. Cheesecake is done when the center still jiggles.

Cool 20 minutes, then chill overnight.

Before serving, whip the remaining ingredients together for a delicious topping.

Pizza, pizza!

So, after seeing my friend's delicious pictures of her pizza posted all over facebook, I hopped over and borrowed her dough recipe from her blog over at Magnifico! and made myself some pizza and cheese sticks. I really need to restrain myself when it comes to the cheese, and endeavor to get a thinner crust, but it came out quite nicely. Now I need to convince the husband to buy me a pizza stone or two!

Pizza Dough
Ingredients
3/4 c warm water
1 t active dry yeast
1 c whole wheat flour
3/4 c bread flour
1/2 t salt
1 T olive oil
1 T honey
dash of oregano

Mix the water and yeast in a small cup - set aside for 5 minutes to proof. In a bowl, blend together the flours, oregano and salt. Stir in oil, honey, and the yeast mixture. A dough should form, sticky but not damp. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead for a few minutes. Form the dough into a ball and place it seam-side down in a clean bowl. Cover and set in a dry, warm place to rise approximately 1 hour.

Turn back onto floured surface and knead for about 30 seconds. If you want two smaller pizzas, pull the dough in half and form two balls; otherwise just form one. Leave on the board and cover. Allow the dough to rise again for 1 hour and 30 minutes.

After the first 30 minutes, preheat the oven to 500.

Once the dough has risen, gently stretch to the desired shape and thickness. Add sauce and toppings and bake for 10 minutes.

Sauce
Ingredients
4 parts tomato sauce
1 part pesto

Blend the two together and spice to taste.


Toppings
Let yourself go crazy! I used some roasted chicken and five different kinds of cheese.