Vietnamese Iced Coffee

There's this Vietnamese place that Phillip likes to go to for lunch when he's working days.  It's in a former '50s themed restaurant and the Vietnamese folks never bothered changing the decor.  It's kind of bizarre to be eating my egg roll salad with rice vermicelli and fish sauce while listening to the Big Bopper, but it works.  Their Vietnamese iced coffee is so good that I've been making my own at home with a recipe from allrecipes.com.

Vietnamese Iced Coffee (original recipe found here)

4 cups water
1/2 cup ground coffee beans
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
ice

Just go ahead and add the sweetened condensed milk to the coffee pot and then brew your coffee right into it.  Give it a stir and let cool for a bit then pour over ice (it's okay if it's a little warm because the ice is meant to dilute it).

Black Bean Burgers

So I stopped cooking meat last November (except for bacon...bacon is its own food group you know) and it was really easy.  We eat a lot of beans, veggies, and pasta at home and the move certainly pushed me out of the unimaginative 'meat-vegetable-bread' dinner rut that I was in.  I found an easy recipe for homemade black bean burgers that is a perfect and delicious burger substitute.

Black Bean Burgers (original recipe can be found at  allrecipes.com.) 

1 (16 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 onion, diced
1 egg
1 TBS chili powder
1 TBS cumin
1 tsp chili sauce
2 slices sandwich bread, made into crumbs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Mash beans with a fork and add diced pepper and onion.  In a separate bowl, mix egg, spices, and chili sauce.  Add egg mixture to beans along with bread crumbs and stir together.  Divide into 6 patties.  Bake 8-10 minutes per side on a prepared baking sheet.  If grilling, be sure place patties on a sheet aluminum foil that has been sprayed with cooking oil and grill 6-8 minutes per side.


 

Good Gravy!

Sunday morning the Knights of Columbus were serving doughnuts and coffee after church.  It was a very tempting offer but I was craving biscuits and gravy.  Fortunately, I have plenty of bacon grease stored in the fridge just for this purpose. 

Gravy

1/4 cup bacon grease
1/4 cup flour
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Add grease to a skillet over medium high heat and when hot add flour.  Cook flour, stirring constantly, until brown.  Add milk, salt, and pepper; stir until there are no lumps and gravy has thickened.  You can always add a little more milk or water to thin it out some but I've been making this for years and it works for me. 

Wordless (Sort Of) Wednesday: Roasted Tomato Soup

(Inspired by chow.com's Doodle Your Favorite Meal contest)

Roasted Pepper Pasta

I was hanging up some laundry in my closet the other day and noticed my Food Network magazines stacked up against the wall. Staring up at me was a picture of this pasta dish. It was the cover recipe from an old issue--July/August of last year. It looked so good, I couldn't believe I hadn't tried it yet. I finished up the laundry, headed into town for the ingredients, made it for dinner that night and...

Wow.

I could've been eating this since last year?! Not fair! It was great but I did make a major change to the original recipe--I served it hot instead of cold. Delicious.

Roasted Pepper Pasta (original recipe here )

16 oz box rigatoni
3 bell peppers, halved, stemmed and seeded
6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1/2 cup almonds
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 lemon
8 oz bocconcini (small mozzarella balls)
1 bunch fresh basil, leaves torn
salt and pepper

Preheat broiler.
Cook rigatoni as directed.
Place garlic and peppers (cut side down) on a foil lined broiler pan or cookie sheet. Broil for 8 minutes or until peppers are charred. Put garlic and charred peppers into a container and cover for about 5 minutes.
Toast the almonds in a a dry skillet over medium high heat. When browned and fragrant remove from skillet, let cool then chop.
Peel roasted peppers and cut into strips. Squeeze garlic onto a cutting board and mash with 1/2 tsp salt.
Add peppers and garlic paste into a bowl with olive oil and lemon juice. Add bocconcini, almonds, basil, pasta and toss. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Apple Walnut Sticky Buns

It's been awhile since I posted a recipe--in March I posted my mom's recipe for oatmeal cookies. Today I have another sweet treat, this time from Sandra Lee. I know a lot of foodies give her a hard time by saying that opening a can of cinnamon rolls is NOT cooking but I'm happy to take help wherever I can get it. My only complaint is that she e-nun-ci-ates ev-uh-ry word. But even then I'll sit through her show just to get a great recipe like this...delicious apple walnut sticky buns.

Apple Walnut Sticky Buns (original recipe at foodnetwork.com )

butter, softened (for greasing muffin tin)
1 Granny Smith apple (peeled, cored, diced into bite size pieces)
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 (8 count) tube refrigerated cinnamon rolls
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Generously butter an 8 count muffin tin.
In a bowl, combine apples, walnuts and brown sugar. Spoon mixture evenly into the tin. Place cinnamon rolls on top of apple mixture.
Bake 12-14 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes then invert rolls onto a plate.
Mix icing with pumpkin pie spice and drizzle over sticky buns.

Oatmeal Cookies

I have a 9 year old!

My oldest turned 9 on March 6th and instead of making a birthday cake I made birthday cookies.

I love soft, chewy oatmeal cookies. Especially the ones my mom made when I was growing up. They were so good I thought it had to be a secret family recipe but I found out later that it was the recipe from the Quaker Oats box, ha!

So here's the recipe in all it's tried-and-true, memorable perfection...

Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
3 cups uncooked oats

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat together butter and sugars until creamy.
Add eggs and vanilla; mix well.
Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
Stir in oats.
Drop rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden.

Enjoyed by 9 year olds everywhere!

Funnel Cakes

There's nothing like a snow day that puts me in the mood to bake. But baking can sometimes be a messy process--a few mixing bowls, several measuring spoons, a couple baking sheets and a cookie scoop can add up to a sink full of dirty dishes. On a recent snow day I decided to keep it simple and still satisy my sweet tooth by making funnel cakes. Plus, it's a lot of fun to show the kids how this tasty carnival treat is made.

I've used this recipe for years and I'm not even sure where it came from but it's my favorite. Some recipes add sugar to the batter but the dusting of powdered sugar is enough sweetness for me.

Funnel Cakes

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
cooking oil

Mix egg and milk together. Add flour, baking powder and salt; stir. Heat about 1 inch of oil in a skillet. Pour batter into a funnel with one finger over the opening. Drizzle into hot oil. Cook until both sides are golden then place cakes onto paper towels. Top with powdered sugar.

Whoopie!

Being from Arkansas I have absolutely no business making whoopie pies but Robyn , one of my favorite bloggers (and native Mainer), has raved about the whoopie pie in the past and so I decided to give it a shot.

It all started with a recipe for Chocolate Malt Sandwiches I found in the Food Network magazine. I loved the idea of a cookie with a malt flavor so I tried it and it was a bust. It just didn't live up to what I thought it would taste like. Plus, the directions for the cookie part were rather involved. But I didn't want to give up on it so I decided to keep the recipe for the filling but look for a better cookie. That led me Robyn's recipe from Marjorie Standish's book Cooking Down East. I combined the two for a really great, non-traditional whoopie pie--a white chocolate malt whoopie pie!

White Chocolate Malt Whoopie Pie (adapted from Food Network Magazine and Marjorie Standish's recipe found here)

Cookie:

1/2 c shortening
1 c sugar
2 egg yolks
5 T cocoa
2 c flour
1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 c milk
1 t vanilla

Cream together shortening and sugar. Add yolks. Sift together cocoa, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and add alternately to creamed mixture with milk and vanilla. Using a cookie scoop, drop batter onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.

Filling:

8 oz white chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup malted milk powder
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup heavy cream

In a large bowl, mix together chocolate, malted milk powder, salt and vanilla. Heat cream over medium heat in a saucepan and then pour over chocolate mixture. Stir until smooth and chocolate is melted. Refrigerate until cold. Beat with a mixer for several minutes until fluffy. Assemble whoopie pies in sandwich fashion and wrap individually with plastic wrap.

I know you'll be tempted to try one but they really do taste much better after hanging out in the fridge for awhile.

Best Recipes Of 2010

Last year was a slow blogging year for me. In a perfect blogging world I would've posted 52 recipes but in reality it was more like 21. It was still hard to narrow down my Top 10 of the year, though.

Fudge This is the classic recipe from the back of Kraft's marshmallow creme jar. I'm picky when it comes to fudge--it must be soft and creamy and this recipe fits that bill.

Chicken Souvlaki Another winner from Cooking Light magazine.

Muffulettas We are a sandwich lovin' family and this is one of my husband's favorites. And surprise, surprise, it's another Cooking Light recipe.

Apple Pie Holy smokes, this is good. My sister used Granny Smith apples for her centerpieces at her wedding last year and I lobbied hard for all those apples to take home and make pies. I think I need to plant an apple tree this spring.

Baked Beans This is my sister's recipe but I've taken it over as my own. Much like I've taken over her Kitchen Aid stand mixer. She just moved into a house with a huge pantry and I'm sweatin' bullets thinking she's going to ask for her mixer back.

Blondies Smitten Kitchen provided this easy recipe for blondies that reminds me so much of Chili's Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie. Yum!

Pizza Dough From Cooking Light. Again. I love this dough. I've even learned how to toss the dough but my kids remain unimpressed--they just want to eat pizza!

Rice Pancakes Of all these recipes I think this one is the one I'm craving the most right now. Mmmmm.

Curried Carrot Soup Okay, not only are we a sandwich lovin' family but we are also a soup lovin' family. This is one of my favorites from Rachael Ray.

Granola Bars Sweetened condensed milk and butter. Oh, my. There's also some healthy stuff in there, too--oats, nuts and cranberries. Great for breakfast on the go. Thanks to Food Network Magazine for this one.

Celebrating the Epiphany

Happy Epiphany! Finally, it's the twelfth day of Christmas. The day when the Wise Men found Jesus in the manger. The day when Christ manifested Himself to the world. The day when we can finally take down our Christmas tree!

We celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany this past Sunday with a King's Cake. My youngest son--my sous chef--mixed food coloring with a basic vanilla cake batter to make the different colors of the cake; purple for justice, green for faith and gold for power. And in leiu of a plastic baby Jesus we settled on a plastic dinosaur to hide in the cake.

And all of his hard work paid off--his slice of cake had the baby Jesus/dinosaur in it and he was crowned King of the Day! He decided to declare an end to early bedtimes but it was overruled by the Queen--me:)

Cranberry Salad

This is my mom's cranberry salad that she makes every year for the holidays. I love it and she does, too. But that's about it. The rest of the family really isn't into cranberries--canned or otherwise. Last year she decided not to go to the trouble of fixing it for just 2 people so she picked up a pre-made cranberry salad at the grocery store. Big mistake. Nothing could top her version so this year it made it back on the table for Thanksgiving. And I can't wait for her to fix it again for Christmas.

Cranberry Salad

3 oz box raspberry jello

1 cup hot water

1/2 orange, ground (rind, too)

juice of 1 orange

1 cup sugar

1 pkg raw cranberries, ground

1 can crushed pineapple, drained

1/4 cup chopped nuts

Dissolve jello in hot water. Process 1/2 an orange and cranberries in a food processor. Add juice from 1 orange, sugar, pineapple, nuts and mix well. Add mixture to jello, stir, pour into serving bowl and chill.

Blondies. Fully Loaded.

Remember when Chili's used to serve their Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie in a sizzling skillet of melted butter? Mmm...those were the days. I miss that pool of cinnamon butter but yeah, I guess a scorching hunk of metal could pose some problems.

I've tried recreating my own using different copycat recipes but they were all too complicated. (Layers were involved. Sigh.) Then I found a basic blondie recipe while perusing Smitten Kitchen's vast and delicious archives. I added walnuts, chocolate chips and coconut and voila: Chili's Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie!

Blondies (recipe from Smitten Kitchen)

8 TBS salted butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, plus more for topping
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup coconut
vanilla ice cream
chocolate syrup
caramel syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare an 8 x 8 baking dish.
Combine melted butter and brown sugar until smooth. Mix in egg and vanilla. Stir in flour, then walnuts, chocolate chips and coconut.
Pour into baking dish and bake 20-25 minutes.
Cut into squares and top with ice cream,chocolate and caramel syrup and walnuts.

P.S. If you want to replicate Chili's CCPP, just add a TBS of cinnamon butter (1/2 cup butter, 3 TBS sugar, 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon) to a small, hot cast iron skillet.

Pumpkin Pie Cake

There's just too many great pumpkin desserts to pack into Thanksgiving day--pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin roll...

So I got an early start on enjoying the holiday treats and recently made this Pumpkin Pie Cake. It's a common recipe, sometimes called Pumpkin Dump Cake, that I clipped out of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette back in 2006. It's rich and delicious and like most 'dump' cakes you just can't beat how easy it is.

Pumpkin Pie Cake

1 (16 oz) can pumpkin
1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 TBS pumpkin pie spice
1 box yellow cake mix
3/4 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup margarine, melted

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
In a mixing bowl, combine pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar and pumpkin pie spice until well blended. Pour mixture into a greased 9-by-13 inch baking pan. Crumble dry cake mix and pecans over pumpkin mixture. Drizzle with melted margarine. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until top is golden brown.

Homemade Granola Bars

My youngest son loves going hiking. This summer we made several trips to a few different state parks so he could enjoy the trails. My oldest son wasn't too happy, though. Especially when we made him go with us to Mt. Magazine and when we finally got to the top he got stung by a wasp. "Why did you make me do this? This is the worst trip ever!" Yep. He's more of an indoor kid.

So I spent the whole summer looking for granola bar recipes. Granola is packed with protein and carbs which makes it a great snack for hiking. I came across a recipe in the Food Network magazine and after a few tweaks it's perfect--a little crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside.

Granola Bars (adapted from Food Network Magazine)

2 1/2 cups rolled or quick-cooking oats
1 cup dry-roasted peanuts
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup sunflower seeds
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 stick unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 325. Line a 9-by-13 baking pan with foil and coat with cooking spray.

Mix the oats, peanuts, cranberries, seeds, cinnamon, condensed milk and butter in a bowl. Spread evenly on the baking sheet and bake 40 minutes. Cool slightly, then lift off the baking sheet using the foil and invert onto a cutting board. Peel off the foil and cut into bars. Wrap individually in plastic wrap. Makes 12 bars.

Gina's Memphis Mud Pie

I've had a few Holy-Moly!-I've-got-to-try-that! moments while watching the Food Network.

One of them was when Sandra Lee tried to duplicate Butterbeer from the Harry Potter books. I can't tell you how much the idea of drinking sweetened condensed milk mixed with butter appealed to me. Seriously. So I made it and....blech. Aunt Sandy can keep this one. It's not for me.

And then one day I was watching Down Home with the Neely's and Gina Neely made this decadent, chocolatey mud pie and HOLY MOLY, I had to have it! So I made it and....yum! This one is a keeper.

One problem, though. I wasn't able to find premade deep dish chocolate crusts so I bought 2 regular size crusts. I wouldn't recommend that. Next time I'll just buy a deep dish tin and make my own crust because I think having all the filling in one pie crust is what gives it it's ooey-gooey chocolate muddiness.


Gina's Memphis Mud Pie (recipe from The Neelys)

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped, plus shaved chocolate, for garnish
1/2 cup unsalted butter
4 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped pecans, plus finely chopped pecans, for garnish
1 deep-dish, store-bought, chocolate cookie wafer crust
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Melt the chocolate and the butter in a double boiler. Stir continuously until combined and smooth.

Using a stand mixer, beat the eggs, sugar, corn syrup and salt on medium-high speed until it lightens and doubles in volume, about 2 to 3 minutes. Mix in the melted chocolate mixture and fold in the pecans. Pour into the chocolate wafer crust and bake until the filling is just set, about 35 to 40 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool. The pie will fall slightly. Once cool refrigerate until well chilled, roughly 1 1/2 hours.

In a medium bowl add the heavy cream, sugar and vanilla extract and beat until soft peaks form. Top the chilled pie with the whipped cream, makng a nice mound on top of the pie. Garnish the top with shaved chocolate and finely chopped pecans. Serve immediately

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza

This is by far my favorite homemade pizza. I always make sure I fix a plain ol' pepperoni for the boys but for me I have to have a chicken-bacon-ranch. I made this for my sister several weeks ago but I'm not sure if I gave her enough time to really enjoy it. I kept asking, "It's good right? The best pizza ever, right? Isn't this awesome?!" In between mouthfuls, she agreed with me.

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza

12 inch pizza crust (I like this recipe from Cooking Light)
1/2 cup ranch dressing
2 cups (8 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
1 chicken breast, cooked and diced
8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Top crust with ranch, cheese, chicken and bacon. Slide pizza onto a hot pizza stone in a preheated 500 degree oven for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and the crust is browned.

Italian White Bean, Pancetta and Tortellini Soup

A couple of months ago I loaded up the kids and headed to Little Rock to spend a week with my sister. It was a wonderful, delicious, calorie laden vacation. We're talking giant loaded potatoes, pizza, monkey bread and Krispy Kreme. It was great but when I got back home my stomach demanded something healthy. Something like Giada De Laurentiis' Italian White Bean, Pancetta and Tortellini Soup. With its antioxidant-rich kale, protein-packed beans, carrots full of vitamin A and a soothing, comforting broth, this soup was exactly what I needed.

Italian White Bean, Pancetta and Tortellini Soup (from Everyday Pasta)

3 tbsp olive oil
4 oz pancetta, chopped (I've used bacon and I've also left it out all together)
3 large shallots, chopped (an onion will work, too)
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 (15-oz.) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
4 cups chopped Swiss chard (1 bunch) (any green will do--I like kale)
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 (9-oz.) package cheese tortellini, fresh or frozen
¼ tsp freshly ground pepper

In a large, heavy soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the pancetta, shallots, carrot, and garlic and cook until the pancetta is crisp, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the beans, swiss chard and broth.

Bring the soup to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Add the tortellini and cook 5 minutes for fresh, 8 minutes for frozen, or just until tender. Season with pepper and serve.

Curried Carrot Soup

I'm so glad it's September. I can start posting soup recipes again! Both my husband and I love soup and we gladly have it during the heat of summer. I know some folks can't take that sort of craziness so I've been patiently waiting to post this recipe from Rachael Ray. A lot of Rachael's recipes have me shaking my head sometimes (remember when she cut up hot dogs and mixed it with ground beef and made burgers? Ewwww.) but this one is a keeper. It's so creamy and curry-y and perfect for anytime of the year if you ask me.

Curried Carrot Soup (adapted from Rachael Ray)

1 TBS extra virgin olive oil
2 TBS butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 lbs packaged baby carrots
6 cups chicken stock, divided use
1 1/2 TBS curry powder
1 tsp salt
1 can coconut milk
sour cream, optional

Preheat medium pot over medium high heat. Add olive oil, butter, onions and carrots and saute 5 minutes. Add 4 cups chicken stock, curry and salt to the pot. Bring to a boil, cover and cook until carrots are very tender, about 15 minutes. Add coconut milk and process the soup in a blender or food processor. Return the soup to the pot and heat through. Add more stock if you want a thinner consistency. Ladle into individual bowls and top with sour cream.

Rice Pancakes

Now this takes me back. This is something my mom would make whenever she had leftover rice from dinner. It's sweet, simple and soothing. Comfort food at it's best.

But you know what the problem is trying to get a recipe from your mom for a dish she's been making for 40 years? There is no exact recipe! She's all "start with some leftover rice" and "just add a little flour" and "you'll need a lot of sugar" and I'm all "I need measurements!"

So after a few experiments I think I've figured it out.


Rice Pancakes

3 cups cooked rice
1 egg
2 TBS flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 TBS butter

Mix together rice, egg, flour and sugar. Heat butter in a skillet over medium heat. Spoon rice mixture into hot skillet and brown each side for 3-4 minutes.