Happy (belated) New Year!

Where has the time gone? We are already one week into the new year, and I must say December was filled with much excitement for me!  I FINISHED my Associates degree and I'm excited for what this year holds!

Before I start my January blog, let me stop and show off one of my most fav December recipe finds for 2015. It's a dairy free chocolate pudding recipe and it is lip-smacking delicious!!!  The best part, it uses coconut sugar! Coconut sugar, unlike granulated sugar, has trace amounts of vitamic C, potassium, phosphorous, magnesium, calcium, zinc, iron and copper...plus it ranks lower on the glycemic index!

It's such a FAST pudding to make also!  I have made this on my stovetop, but I also thought "will microwaving work"? Well there was only one way to figure that out, and so I decided to give it a whirl (pun intended).

I started my pudding out on three minutes, stopping at every 1 minute interval to stir it up. The verdict?  The pudding thickened wonderfully!!!  I dressed my pudding up with whipped cream and chocolate chips, but this pudding is equally yummy without it!   I have made this pudding around 10 times now, and I have no guilt about eating it either!

Word of warning...it only serves two people, or one (if you're being greedy!).

Marching forward

Is it March already?!?! Where has the time gone?! Well for me, it has been insanely busy! Completing Fall Semester of college, Starting Spring Semester of College, traveling to Parris Island #IslandofMarines hehehehe OH and my home state of Florida!

Crazy for Coffee!!!

Who doesn't love cake, and who doesn't love coffee?  *Raises hand* I am not the typical sweets lover, but I will admit that the cake pops which have been the latest rage are the perfect size for non-sweet eaters, and those who have a sweet tooth!

Ode to Cherries and Cream cheese!

Cherries have always been a favourite of mine.  What's not to like?  Well they do have pits, but other than that they are super yum! 

So vanilla

The word "vanilla" has come into new meaning in recent years, but in my case I'm talking about a homemade vanilla ice cream that has a distinctive vanilla flavour.

How sweet it is!

Simple & Crisp I:
When most people think of sweets they often envision cakes, pies, cookies, brownies, cheesecake, and all the other calorie laden desserts out there.

Reflections on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a holiday that is largely centred around food, but sometimes amidst the rush of the upcoming holiday season it's easy to forget that Thanksgiving should be a time to remember the blessings that have been given to us.

Taste the flavour!

When I think of summer time food I automatically think of grilling, and kicking back with a refreshing glass of lemonade. 

 Mango spiced steak skewers  were a fabulous find, paired with Lemon Thyme rice, and steamed veggies were truly representative of a great summer time meal!  The best part - you can have dinner finished in under 30 minutes!!!

To complete the meal I served a lemonade made with Meyer lemons, and of course dinner wouldn't be complete without a slice of lemon pie!  

Let's do dessert!

A couple of days ago I was texting w/ a Marine who mentioned he likes to cook and then asked me if I knew how to make crème brûlée.  That simple question set off a craving, and you don't have to lead me into temptation b/c I can find the way myself!  I knew I had the ingredients to make it, but the question was, could I resist making it.  You can guess by now that since I'm blogging, that I didn't resist and I made some crème brûlée!

Now my method w/ making Crème brûlée is NOT the traditional method, and that's fine b/c it still turns out silky smooth, and it's ready faster than the oven method. 

You'll need:

3 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 pint (1 cup) heavy whipping cream
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Superfine sugar

Directions:

Beat egg yolks in medium bowl with electric mixer on high speed, 5 minutes or until thick and light yellow. Gradually beat in sugar.

In a double boiler heat cream over medium heat until just hot to the touch. Stir half of the warmed cream into the egg mixture a little at a time, so the eggs do not curdle.

Stir the egg yolk and cream mixture into the remaining cream in the double boiler. Cook, stirring continuously, over medium heat, 8-10 minutes, until mixture thickens; do NOT boil. Pour custard into 4 small ramekins refrigerate 2 to 24 hours.

Before serving, sprinkle each crème brûlée with superfine sugar and place under preheated oven broiler, or use a kitchen torch to melt sugar. Dessert is served!

 

So now that dessert has been served onto the main course!  I'm a firm believer in good food FAST -especially if I'm busy!  Naturally I live in Florida, and have access to fresh seafood and thus I eat a lot of fish.

 

I can't say that these measurments are accurate (I cook by sight/taste...you know the mindset that a great chef is a great taster philosophy!) but they're pretty close.

 

Pecan crusted trout:

 

 

2 fish fillets

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs, divided

1/3 cup pecans

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp italian seasoning

1/2 tsp McCormick montreal steak seasoning

1/4 cup butter, melted.

 

Place 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs, and the pecans in a blender**.  Blend on high until pecans are finally ground. Remove mixture to a small bowl, add remaining panko bread crumbs and the seasonings.  Brush the fish fillets liberally w/ the melted butter.  Take the pecan breading mixture, and sprinkle over the fish fillets.

Bake at 400° for about 20 minutes or until fish flakes easily w/ a fork. Garnish fish w/ a few pieces of pecans.

 

**I use a vitamix blender which is restaurant/industrial quality - you can try a food processor if you don't have a blender.

 

Last but not least...homemade biscuits!

 

I love homemade biscuits.  They're extremely versatile.  You can make biscuits and gravy, you can top the biscuits w/ a cooked sausage patty, scrambled egg and cheese, you can use the biscuits as a chicken pot pie topping, you can add a little bit of garlic powder, parsley and cheese to the dough and recreate those biscuits from an overly priced seafood restaurant, you can even sweeten the dough a litle bit for an old fashioned strawberry shortcake...the ideas are only limited by your imagination. 

Some recipes call for shortening, some call for butter, some combine the two.  The best I can suggest is don't handle the dough too much b/c if you do, you'll have tough biscuits instead of tender flaky biscuits.

2 cups all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons (1 Tbsp + 1 tsp) baking powder

2 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup butter flavoured shortening

1 egg

2/3 cup milk

Directions:

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Cut in shortening & butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Beat egg with milk; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

Turn onto a well-floured surface; knead 8 times. Roll to 3/4-in. thickness; cut with a floured 2-1/2-in. biscuit cutter. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees F for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Savour the Flavour of Fall

This month as an Allrecipes brand ambassador, one of the assignments was to host a dinner party and cook a Barber Foods product.  I am not saying anything new, but I am a self-avowed food snob.  When I first found out about the assignment I'll admit I inwardly cringed as my friends know me for my cooking.  I had never even heard of Barber Foods prior to this assignment.  I went to the store and I wasn't sure which product to even try.  I did the next best thing and asked a lady what she would enjoy if she were going to purchase a product of Barber Foods.  My shopping trip completed I let the product rest in my deep freeze until party day. 

The day of the party arrived and I cooked three different varieties of the Seasoned Select stuffed chicken breasts.  I knew that I wanted my menu to reflect the flavours of fall, and I chose the Southern comfort sweet potato casserole from Allrecipes.com that I had previously tried. 

I also made my families Broccoli Cheese Casserole. My momma has been making this casserole for as long as I can remember, and it's always been a favourite of mine.  It's one of the very few recipes that I've never made any changes to due to its simple goodness - it's also one of the few recipes where the salt & pepper are the right seasonings. I've been able to convert broccoli haters into broccoli lovers with this casserole.  It's always a Thanksgiving staple at my parents house, and my relatives always ask my momma to bring it for family get togethers also.

Broccoli Cheese Casserole

10 ounces frozen, chopped broccoli - thawed

16 ounces cottage cheese

4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese

3 eggs

3 Tbsp flour

1/4 cup butter, melted

salt & pepper to taste

In a bowl, mix the above ingredients together making sure the eggs get well incorporated.  Grease a 8"x8" casserole dish. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.  This is almost "quiche" like - and it would be low carb friendly for those who are watching their carb intake.  If you try this recipe, please leave me feedback w/ your thoughts. 

I also made a Tri-color orzo salad to go with the main meal. I chose to use romaine lettuce as opposed to the arugula, and feta cheese as opposed to the ricotta salata.

Even tho this was a fall themed meal, I also wanted to incorporate a bit of Halloween into the party.  I chose to make a black punch that I would effectively call Black Zombie Witch brew. 

To make this punch you will need the following:

1 packet orange koolaid 

1 packet grape koolaid

12 cups (3 quarts) water

2 cups sugar

2 litre bottle of Sprite

4 ounces Chambord Liqueur (to your preference)

4 ounces Passionfruit Rum (to your preference)

1 container Lime Sherbet

* Frozen hand

Dissolve sugar into water, add the koolaid packets.  Chill in fridge for at least 8 hours or overnight.  Chill Sprite in fridge.  To assemble:  Pour koolaid mixture into a punch bowl, add the Sprite, and alcohol.  Add the sherbet by scoopfuls into the punch bowl. Float the frozen hand on top.

Frozen Hand:

1 sterile non-latex, non-powdered glove

16 ounces Sprite

2 ounce Grenadine

Rinse glove.  Add the Sprite and grenadine.  Try to remove as much air bubbles as possible, twist glove at the top opening, Secure w/ a rubberband - freeze overnight.  To remove from glove quickly rinse under warm water to loosen (OR) alternatively, use a sharp knife and cut the glove away.

For dessert I made a Pumpkin cake roll w/ cream cheese filling  I had never made a rolled cake before and was concerned about messing it up.  This recipe came through w/ flying colours and it was both quick, and easy to prepare. 

During the fall season, nothing is better than the company of good friends.  The night was a success and I turned into a "Barber believer"  I never imagined a frozen food product would turn out this delicious, tender and tasty!

 

Thank you to my guests for making the evening a success - you are wonderful friends and I treasure your friendship!  

Sweet tooth

Sometimes the easiest desserts are the best desserts, and this recipe for Cranberry-macadamia bars that I turned into a dessert pizza is no joke!

Changing it into a pizza was really quite simple.  Prepare the sugar cookie dough as instructed.  Instead of using a glass casserole dish, use a tart pan w/ a removeable bottom - I lightly sprayed the bottom pan, and then baked for about 10 minutes.  In order to get the indention, I took a glass quiche dish and lightly pressed it into the par baked dough and then spread the cranberry mixture on it and then added the macadamia nuts and continued baking.  A quick drizzle of melted white chocolate and dessert was done.  Overall this was a quick dessert to make - I'm not too sure I like the pairing of the macadamia nut w/ the cranberries tho.  If I were to pair any nut w/ the cranberries I would choose pecans, perhaps cashews but I didn't really think the macadamia nuts were the best choice. 

In line at the buffet

This will be a buffet style blog post, mainly for the fact that the last week has been crazy busy!  So that being said...I'm gonna break tradition and skip right to DESSERT!!!!  It's always a good thing, right?!

Note: I do NOT need anyone lecturing me on the fact that I cook w/ beer, wine, liquor, or liqueurs.  I know some prefer to abstain from doing so, and that's your right...however I'm not you, and you're not me - that being said if you're going to be THAT stringent, I highly recommend that you never eat out EVER again as most restaurants DO use wine in their recipes. 

Dessert:  Diana's Guinness chocolate cake w/ guinness chocolate icing

Oh come to momma!  Chocolate: Check, Beer: Check, Frosting: Check, Beer: Double Check!   Hello love and oh mama mia if you try this recipe, you are going to LOVE it!!! I cheated a bit and I made cupcakes :)  Cupcakes are a good thing, b/c you actually get to control the portion size - and share, and sharing is always a nice thing to do!

Thoughts:  The recipe originally was converted from a UK recipe, not that it should matter, but the frosting    -I'm convinced- hated me from the start it was way to thin to hold up to piping, even after I added MORE confectioner sugar, and another brick of cream cheese, but that's okay b/c I morphed the frosting into a filling!  I then made a new frosting to top off the freshly filled cupcakes.  I ended up w/ a total of 24 cupcakes, and shared 8 of them - one of my friends said that 4 days later they were still moist.

Onto dinner:  Pecan Crusted Orange Roughy,  Creamy corn couscous and brittany blend of mixed veggies

The beauty of fried fish is simply that you really do NOT have to use measurements for the breading - you just sorta eye ball it. 

Ingredients:
Orange roughy
Flour
Egg
Milk
Breadcrumbs (plain)
Panko
Pecans - finely chopped (I pulsed mine in my blender)
Granulated Garlic
Seasoning Salt
Thyme

Assembly line
Shallow bowl 1 contains: flour
Shallow bowl 2 contains:  1 egg, beaten w/ 1 Tbsp milk (eyeball it)
Shallow bowl 3 contains: Mixture of regular breadcrumbs and panko, pecans, garlic powder, seasoning salt and thyme. 

I dipped the fillets in flour, then in a mixture of egg & milk, followed by the panko pecan breading, I did a quick fry, and followed w/ broiling it.  Perfect QUICK dinner!

Couscous:

That recipe really lived up to the name! The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the instruction for cooking the couscous. I knew that it would also need some more flavour - so I added 1/2 tsp dried thyme, and 1/4 tsp granulated garlic. I will definately use this recipe again, but plan on adding some roasted red bell pepper for a pop of colour. I used a ring mold for the presentation. This is restaurant worthy w/ the right seasonings!

~~

Onto a quick dessert:  Chocolate chip ice cream cookie-wiches yum yum! 

These are SO simple to make too!  Feel free to cheat like I did.  A package of store bought chocolate chip cookies (from the bakery of your fav grocer) and a container of vanilla ice cream, plus mini chocolate chips.

Simply take a scoop of ice cream, sandwich it between the two cookies, and roll in the mini choclate chips...simple right?!  Oh and tasty too!!!

Dinner 2:

Hazelnut chicken, wild rice, and mixed veggies

 

OMG can I say gourmet!!!  A more appropriate name would be Hazelnut crusted chicken w/ a Frangelico Brandy Sauce!  As per my Allrecipes review of this recipe, there was no way that I would be able to fry the chicken breasts in so little butter, so I did a mix of 1/2 butter and 1/2 grapeseed oil. I used panko breadcrumbs instead of regular breadcrumbs and also ran the filberts (hazelnuts) throught the blender. I added 1/4 tsp EACH thyme, oregano, and garlic powder to the panko breading. I butterflied the chicken breast and lightly pounded them thinner. This is a great recipe for special dinners or for company.

Oh and the Frangelico Brandy Sauce was amazing!!! It gave the crusting a hint of buttery sweetness it was SO delicious!!!  Simply serve w/ a side of wild rice, and mixed veggies (I'm a sucker for the Green Giant Steamer mixed veggies)

 

Dinner 3: Seared Lemon-Pepper Tilapia with Creamy Pumpkin Seed Vinaigrette Salad topped with Pomegranate Seeds w/ pearled barley, snow peas and carrots, served w/ a couple slices of 5 grain bread

 

This was a unique twist combining some amazing flavours!!!   I didn't make any changes to this dish. I was able to find the pumpkin seeds already toasted which cut down on my prep time. Word of warning give yourself some wiggle room on the price of pumpkin seed oil, especially if you're on a budget! It's something you will want to use - but it's NOT cheap! The pearled barley "cake" is actually another freezer pleaser from Green Giant, it's one of their steamer things, and I smooshed it to where it became a fancy little cake :)  A side of toasted bread, and dinner was complete in under 20 minutes!

 

~~

 

Dinner 4:

 

Oh yay!!  Dessert is back on the menu!!!  Now don't wrinkle up your nose when you hear Southern possum pie

 

I'm gonna show it step by step - handy tip, make it personal by making the pie miniature :)  I used a disposable pastry bag and piped the cream cheese mixture into the graham cracker pie crusts.

 

 

 

Getting a little nutty...

 

time for CHOCOLATE!!! ....

 

 

 

All dolled up...and hey it said possum pie, so I added a special touch ;)

Looks like a bloody mess huh?! Well not quite...oh and let me say that from start to finish I finished mine in about 3 minutes.  It was good but I'm thinking the vanilla pudding gets drowned out by the chocolate, so unless you're going for a layered look (which isn't instructed) it's pointless to use two different puddings. I cheated and used Reddi whip, instead of making my own whipped cream.  I think next time I drizzle some chocolate and caramel sauce on it and will make it messier :D

Oooh and I nearly forgot Dinner...Pepper steak packet  w/ Jasmine rice

So I cheated and used a 90 second package of Jasmine rice by Uncle Ben...but hey on hump day, I need all the free time I can get!  For something SO simple this has amazing flavour! I love that you can easily change up the veggies. I added in some broccoli, and baby carrots. I chose to cook this in the oven at 450° for 40 minutes. before doing so I seared the sirloin steak strips in a mixture of grapeseed oil seasoned w/ granulated garlic, and black pepper. I served this w/ jasmine rice b/c it made me think of being a stir fry.

 

Dessert by mistake

Odd title huh?  Only I could make dessert by mistake.  It's true tho!  A couple days ago I made up a sugar pastry to use in a macadamia nut tart (that will have to wait) at the same time I was in the process of making cowgirl cookies, but had not put the white chocolate chips or pecans in the cookie dough. 

So how did I end up making a dessert by mistake?  Well I ended up pressing my cookie dough into a tart pan and baked it, and before I realised my mistake, I had a giant tart cookie baking.  I really couldn't do much w/ it at that point, except to take it out.  Then I had a moment of inspiration hit.  I had some leftover apple pie filling sitting in my refrigerator, so at this point I took a flat metaled measuring cup and made a bit of an indentation in the cookie dough.  I took the pie filling and spread it out over the crust, and returned it to the oven to finish baking. 

It turned out rather good! 

So how to make it...

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp EACH baking powder, baking soda, and salt

3/4 cups rolled oats

1 can apple pie filling

1/2 tsp cinnamon

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until smooth. Stir in the egg and vanilla. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, stir into the creamed mixture. Finally, stir in the rolled oats.  Press onto the bottom & up the sides of a lightly greased tart pan.

Bake at 325° for about 15 minutes.  Remove and form an indentation into the inner cookie area (about 1" away from the edge.  Spread the apple cinnamon mixture onto the cookie, and return to oven and bake about 15-20 minutes.  Serve w/ ice cream if desired