Lemon Poundcake

Stole this from my college roomie's blog. She is a ninja with the baked-good.

Cake
16 Tbs (8 oz) unsalted butter, plus 1 tbs, softened, for pan
1 ½ c (6 oz) cake flour, plus 1 tbs for pan
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 ¼ c (8 ¾ oz) sugar
2 tbs zest plus 2 tsp juice from 2 lemons
4 eggs
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

Glaze
½ c (3 ½ oz) sugar
¼ c fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350F.

Spray 9x5” loaf pan with Pam with Flour.

In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

Melt butter

In food processor, process sugar and zest until combined. Add lemon juice, eggs, and vanilla; process until combined. With machine running, add melted butter through feed tube in steady stream. Transfer mixture to large bowl. Sift flour mixture over eggs in three steps, whisking gently after each addition until just combined.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 15 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 325F and bake until deep golden brown and skewer inserted in center comes out clean, about 35 minutes.

Combine lemon juice and sugar in small saucepan, bring to boil stirring occasionally, simmer until thickened slightly, about 2 minutes.

Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn onto wire rack, poke all over with skewer, then brush on glaze

Butternut squash lasagna

When we were being inundated with autumn squash this past fall, I needed to find creative ways to prep it. I don't remember where I heard of this idea or how I came up with it, but I made it last week and decided it was blog-worth.

Ingredients

Sauce

1 medium butternut squash - pealed, seeded, and cubed

milk

salt

pepper

Filling

Part skim ricotta (1 medium container)

1 egg

bacon - chopped, cooked, and drained

1 teaspoon rubbed dried sage

salt and pepper to taste

Nuts and bolts

No boil lasagna noodles

Smoked gouda cheese-shredded

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 F

2. Prep sauce: Steam squash until soft - about 15 minutes, whir in blender with milk, salt and pepper adding enough milk to make smooth

3. Fry bacon, drain

4. Mix ricotta, bacon, egg, salt, pepper, and sage

5. Construct lasagna in large baking dish: sauce, no boil noodles, then ricotta, repeat

6. Top with shredded gouda

7. Bake until bubbly - about 45 minutes

Couscous stuffed peppers

Source: SELF

This is so good, and used several items from last week's CSA box. The stuffing recipe made way more than 4 pepper-worth, so we just ate the rest as a side.

Ingredients

• Vegetable-oil cooking spray
• 1 1/4 cups fat-free chicken or vegetable broth
• 2/3 cup couscous
• 4 large bell peppers, mixed colors
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 6 oz zucchini, quartered lengthwise then sliced across thinly
• 6 oz yellow squash, quartered lengthwise then sliced across thinly
• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 15 oz canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 4 oz crumbled feta cheese (about 1 cup)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350, and spray baking dish with cooking spray.

2. Boil broth, add couscous, remove from heat and cover

3. Cut the tops off peppers, and remove seeds and membranes. Boil peppers in a large pot for 5 minutes. Drain upside down. Place in baking dish.

4. Saute onions and squash with salt, oregano, and fennel seeds over medium heat until soft.

5. Remove onion / squash mixture from heat and stir in tomatoes, chickpeas, couscous, and feta cheese.

6. Fill peppers will couscous mixture, bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Zucchini Fritters

Source: Nigella Lawson, Cookstr

Sorry, no pics. Ate these too fast.

I substituted smoked gooda cheese for the feta. I know, smoked gooda doesn't resemble feta at all, but I love it and I had a huge chunk of it from Sam's club so I was going to use it, damn it! It was delicious and I make no apologies. This is a great use for zucchini and summer squash while it is in over-abbundance. BTW, these would make an awesome little appetizer if made bite-sized.

Ingredients

• 4 zucchini (approx. 1½ pounds)
• 5–6 scallions, finely chopped
• 9 ounces feta cheese
• small bunch fresh parsley, chopped
• small bunch fresh mint, chopped, plus extra to sprinkle over at the end
• 1 tablespoon dried mint
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• scant 1 cup all-purpose flour
• salt and pepper
• 3 eggs, beaten
• olive oil for frying

Instructions

1. Grate the zucchini and spread out on paper towell to drain about 20 minutes

2. Mix herbs and cheese, add flour

3. Add egg to flour / herb / cheese mixture, and then mix in zucchini

4. Heat oil in pan, plop in zucchini mixture, and fry until golden brown

Veggie burritoes

Made these last night with some CSA produce and cilantro from my back porch. Yummy!

Filling ingredients

4 medium yellow squash, chopped

1 large white onion, chopped

1 tomato, chopped

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed well

1 teaspoon cumin

salt to taste

Rice

1 cup long grain rice

salt

zest from one lime

Filling instructions

1. Saute squash and onion until just soft over medium heat

2. Add tomato, cumin and salt and cook about 2 or 3 minutes

3. Add black beans and heat through

Rice instructions

1. Cook according to instructions on package

2. After cooking, stir in lime zest

Assemble burrito on flour tortilla with rice, veggies, and top with guacamole and grated cheese.

Easy Guacamole

So I haven't posted in like, what? 6 months? It's alright. I lost my blogging mojo, but I imagine I'll come back from time to time at the very least to post a recipe.

I love guacamole as a topper to all things, and B who "didn't like avacados" when I met him is now obsessed with guacamole. I know, right? What kind of Mexican is he?

Anyway, this is easy, fast, and healthy. I like my guac chunky, so no purree-ing, just mixing.

Ingredients

2 ripe Haas avacadoes, chopped

1 tomatoe, chopped

1/4th red onion, diced fine

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

juice from one lime

salt to taste

Instructions

Mix and eat, silly

How to eat?

Chips, atop chicken or steak, in quesadillas or burritos

Grandma Bea's Nut Bread

One of the Christmas traditions on my mom's side of the family was the making of the nutbreads.  I don't know how many batches she makes in any given year, but she usually wraps them up and hands them out as gifts.  This year, I decided it was time for me to partake in this tradition.

I THINK this recipe was written, or at least adapted by my Grandmother.  It's not trivial, but it makes 8 loaves, so the work goes a long way.  One could serve these with dinner, as a dessert option, or for breakfast.  YUM.

Ingredients

Bread

6 EGG YOLKS (SAVE EGG WHITES FOR NUT FILLING)

1 WHOLE EGG

1 CUP (2 STICKS) MELTED UNSALTED  BUTTER

1 TABLESPOON MELTED SHORTENING

8 OZ. SOUR CREAM

3 PKG. DRY YEAST

1 CUP WARM MILK

1 CUP SUGAR

1 TEASPOON BAKING POWDER

6 TO 8 CUPS FLOUR

0.5 tsp salt

Filling

2 LB. GROUND WALNUTS

6 EGG WHITES

1/4 CUP HONEY

1 CUP SUGAR

1 CUP (2 STICKS) MELTED BUTTER

2 TEASPOON VANILLA

2 TEASPOON CINNAMON

0.25 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1.  Soften the yeast in the cup of warm milk.  Mix in cup of sugar

2.  Wisk together flour, baking powder, and salt

3.  Beat eggs

4.  Mix sour cream, melted butter, and shortening into eggs

5.  Mix yeast mixture into egg mixture

6.  Slowly encorporate dry ingredients into wet ingredients

7.  Allow dough to rise until doubled for about 1 hour

8.  Preheat oven to 350

9.  Grind nuts in food processor

10.  Mix filling ingredients in order listed

11.  Punch down dough

12.  divide dough into 8 portions

13.  Roll out each portion dough into 10 in. x 10 in. square

14.  Spread one eight filling over portion of dough

15.  Roll up like a jelly rolld

16.  Place rolls close together (not touching) on a greased baking sheet

17.  Poke holes in top of rolls with fork

18.  Bake 30 minutes at 350

Leek Asparagus Frittata

Fast.  Easy.  Relatively healthy.  Versatile.

Source:  Bon Apetite

Ingredients

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
1 cup chopped leeks (white and pale green parts only)
1 12-ounce bunch thin asparagus, trimmed, cut on diagonal into 1-inch pieces (about 2 1/2 cups)
1 cup sliced stemmed shiitake mushrooms
8 large omega-3 eggs
1 cup diced Fontina cheese, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Preheat broiler

Melt butter in heavy broilerproof 10-inch-diameter nonstick skillet over medium heat.

Add leeks and sauté 4 minutes

Add asparagus and shiitake mushrooms, sprinkle lightly with salt, and sauté until tender, about 6 minutes. Whisk eggs, 3/4 cup Fontina cheese, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in medium bowl

Add egg mixture to skillet; fold gently to combine. Cook until almost set. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup Fontina cheese and Parmesan cheese over

Broil until frittata is puffed and cheese begins to turn golden, about 3 minutes. 

Cut into wedges and serve

Sage rubbed pork chops with cinnamon apples and stir-fried grated sweet potatoes

I know, it's been two months since I've had an entry.  Bad Natalie.  Fall was a whirlwind.  My busy September and October took their toll on my waistline and wallet.  I'm pretty sure that I put on 3 or 4 pounds, but refuse to step on a scale.  Additionally, Christmas with all of its expenses is quickly approaching which includes two plane tickets to Mexico City to visit the in-laws plus a live in house-sitter to take care of our two kujos and our 20 lb. attack-cat.  Cha-ching.  I promise to take lots of food pics and report from Mey-heee-koe.  And if any of you have any suggestions about where to eat in Mexico City, drop me a line. 

So, my point is that the next six weeks I vow to be cooking at home.  More specifically I vow to be making relatively healthy meals so that I don't look like a Baluga next to my beautiful, older, skinny, sisters-in-law.  

On the the recipes!

Pork Chop with Cinnamoin Apples

Source - Cooking Light

Now stop that internet!  Don't gag at the mention of cooking light.  True, some of their recipes are aweful, but there are some goodies in there.  

Ingredients

Dry Rubbed sage

salt

pepper

4 boneless pork loin chops

1 tsp butter

4 peeled sliced apples

1 Tblsp brown sugar

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

0.5 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

1.  Season pork chops with salt and pepper, coat with sage

2.  Cook pork chops in large skillet

3.  Melt butter in skillet

4.  Add apples, brown sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, and a dash of salt

5.  Saute until just soft

6.  Serve apples atop pork chops

Grated stir-fried sweet potatoes

Source:  The Minimalist, NY Times

So I saw this idea for stir fried sweet potatoes one of Bittman's articles.  Love that guy.  This is my new favorite way to prep sweet potatoes.  I changed the seasoning because I didn't want to add more butter to my meal, and because I didn't want to over-do it with the sage (see recipe above).  So, I took his suggestion and just sprinkled with a bit of soy sauce.....SOOOOO GOOOOD.  The taters were all carmelized, and savory, and a little sweet.  Can't wait for my leftovers tonight.

My ingredients

4 sweet potatoes, peeled and grated

1 Tbsp olive oil

salt

1 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce

Instruction

1.  Heat oil in large skillet

2.  Toss in taters, sprinkles with salt and soy sauce

3.  Stir occaisionally until done (maybe 5 minutes)

Zucchini pizza with bacon and tallegio

Source: Jaimie Oliver

I totally dig Jaimie Oliver, the tv chef personality, and yet I don't think I've ever made any of his food before. I don't remember where I saw him do this pizza, but he has at least one show dedicated to pizza making, and this version was one quarter of his "pizza four ways". Truth be told, we just really needed to use up some CSA zucchini, and the thought of grilled zucchini, stir fried zucchini, soup with zucchini, or zucchini bread kind of made me want to stick a knife in my hand. So I remembered his pizza; add bread, tomato sauce, expensive cheese, and bacon to anything and it will make you want to lick the hot pizza stone (warning, you just might do that when you've come to the end of your pizza and you think, oh crap it's all gone).

Ingredients
1 premade whole wheat pizza crust (or make your own if you're not like me and aren't making this after work while you're already famished)
a couple of tablespoons of tomato sauce
1 large zucchini, sliced extremely thin (I use a vegetable peeler)
1-2 pinches chile flakes
3 slices of bacon, cut into small pieces
a bunch of tallegio cheese (fontina if you can't find tallegio)
olive oil for drizzling

Instruction
Preheat oven to 475
Build pizza on pizza stone or baking pan in this order: crust, sauce, zucchini, bacon, chile flakes, cheese
Drizzle with olive oil
Bake until cheese begins to brown (10-12 minutes, but will depend on your crust situation)

Vegetable Casserole

Please, do not judge me before reading the recipe.  I know what "casserole" conjures in you head. Something mushy, salty, and flavorless in a pfaltzgraff baking dish.  Something laden with cream of mushroom soup with crunchy fried canned onions on top.  But alas, this is nothing like that so take your pre-conceived notions elsewhere.  And, AND, it's got an Italian name, Tortiere di Verdure al Forno, so see?  This would not be consumed aside jello salad with marshmallow fluff.

This dinner was inspired by a recipe from Mary Ann Esposito, who used to (maybe still does, not sure) have a cooking show on PBS when I was a kid.  Her cooking is very homey and comforting.

This casserole is a snap to put together, is great as a light main course or as a side, and must must must be eaten with some quality bread for dunking in the cheesy wine sauce that sits at the bottom of the pan that is reminiscent of fondue.

Ingredients

1 T butter

2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into thin slices (Russet)
2 onions, peeled and thinly sliced
1 pound plum tomatoes, thinly sliced

2 medium yellow squash, sliced thin
1 cup grated Pecorino cheese (or combo of cheeses, such as a nice cheddar or gruyere)
2 tablespoons dried oregano (I used Herbs de Provence)
Salt to taste
1/2 cup white wine (or more)

Instructions

1.  Preheat oven to 375 F.

2.  Butter baking pan

3.  Layer potatoes, onions, tomatoes, and squash sprinkling with salt, herbs, and cheese as you go

4.  Pour wine into one end of pan

5.  Bake covered with foil 30 minutes

6.  Bake uncovered until cheese is bubbley

Red wine risotto with peas

Source: Giada DeLaurentis

I can't believe I haven't posted this recipe yet. We make it all the time. I guess I probably haven't posted it yet because risotto is just one of those dishes that you really don't need a recipe for. You kind of just toss in what you got and what you like. But I really do like this particular combo of red wine, which gives the dish a beautiful rich hue and the bright green peas. And I know that Giada is just a food tv personality, but I've got to say that I genuinely enjoy many of her recipes. Most of the time her recipes are light without much, if any butter and cream and they are almost always incredibly easy. And to top it off, not in this recipe, but in many of her other recipes she is very heavy handed with the lemon. Any gal that uses a lot of acid in her cooking is a gal after my own tastebuds.

Note, once you learn the basic risotto method, you can make up your own versions. The gist is this: soften your onions / garlic in fat, add the rice and toast, add some wine until absorbed, then add hot liquid about 1/2 - 1 cup at a time, only adding more when the previously added hot liquid has been absorbed. This slow addition of liquid will allow the rice to release its starches and your texture will be velvety smooth.

Mmmmm....risotto.....so yummy....so versatile.

Ingredients
3 1/2 cups chicken broth,preferably homemade but can substitue low-sodium boxed or flavorful veggie broth to make vegetarian
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup finely chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup arborio rice, or medium-grain white rice
1/2 cup dry red wine
1/3 cup frozen peas, defrosted
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
1/2 cup grated Parmesan, plus additional for garnish (I always add more)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions
1. Heat your broth in a sauce pan, keep it warm and covered.
2. Melt butter in a separate large pan over medium heat, sweat onions until transluscent, add garlic, saute 1 minute.
3. Stir in rice until transluscent, about 1 minute.
4. Add red wine, stir until absorbed, about 1 minute.
5. Add 3/4 cup hot broth, reduce heat to low to the point that the broth and rice are just simmering. Allow liquid to be absorbed, stirring occaisionally (about 5-8 minutes).
6. Repeat addition of broth until broth is gone and risotto is nice texture.
7. Stir in peas and parsley. Season to taste.
8. Garnish with parmesan and serve hot.

Corn Fritters with sriracha dipping sauce

I'm pretty sure that one of the reasons I like our local Asian-fusion restaurant, PM, is their heavy use of the spicy Thai chile sauce, sriracha and their tendency to prepare many foods tempura style. I do not deep fry, ever. It is less of a health conscious decision and more of a I am clumsy and copious amounts of hot oil is a bad bad bad idea for me. So today, I had some corn to use up before my next CSA delivery, and as I've noted previously, I don't love corn on the cob. Cooked by me, it is generally alright, nothing special. Cooked by other people, I find it inedible because it seems like most folks are trying to create creamed corn on the cob and way way way over cook the stuff.

Anyway, I was thinking corn and I was thinking sriracha. A few google searches later, thanks to this guy, I decided on corn fritters. I pulled up a basic corn fritter recipe from Allrecipes.com and used a dipping sauce similar to engineering dude, but with some honey added in. Let me tell you, the sweet / spicy / savory combo never ever fails. Usage of sriracha is not for the faint of heart, but I like my food spicy. So if you can take the heat, I recommend you start dipping everything and your mother in this sauce.

Ingredients Fritters
6 ears fresh corn
4 eggs
0.5 cups all-purpose flour
0.5 teaspoon salt
canola oil for frying

Dipping sauce
equal parts low sodium soy sauce and sriracha
honey to taste

Instructions
1. Cut corn kernels from cobs
2. Mix corn, beaten eggs, flour, and salt
3. Drop batter into pre-heated oil (about 1 inch deep in cast iron skillet)
4. Cook to brown on each side

Dipping sauce
Mix

Note: the chicken in this pic was quite unremarkable. I was trying to go for something akin to this recipe by Michael Simon. But, duh, of course it didn't because there was no frying and no butter. But the spice "marinade" which I used as a rub was decent. The star of dinner, though were the fritters. B said "I could eat a million of these things". Poor poor fried-food deprived man.

Update: Note to all, this dipping sauce was even a little too spicy for me. I recommend starting with soy sauce and adding the sriracha to taste.

Zucchini / mushroom tacos with our without chorizo

Source: Rick Bayless

This recipe goes out to all of you ladies (or men...I shouldn't be presumptuous) who might enjoy some sausage in your tacos. Or, for those of you who do not enjoy sausage in your tacos, you may omit and it'll still be delish. Who am I to judge? Spanish and Mexican chorizo differ significantly. Spanish sausage is firm (eh hem) and pre-cooked. Mexican sausage is more similar to Italian sausage and is not pre-cooked. This is a nice way to use late summer squashes in an unexpected way.

Ingredients
4-6 oz. chorizo
1 medium white onion, sliced
4 oz. mushrooms of your choice
1 canned chipotle in adobo (not 1 whole can...one individual pepper)
1 T adobo sauce
1 15 oz. can diced fire roasted tomatoes
2-3 medium zucchini or late summer squash (I used zephyr because I had it)
salt to taste
fresh corn tortillas
queso fresco

Instruction
1. Remove casings from sausage, brown over medium-high heat
2. If necessary, drain fat from pain leaving sausage
3. Add onions, saute until translucent
4. Add mushrooms, saute until almost cooked through
5. While mushrooms cook, blend together tomatoes (drained) with chipotles and adobo
6. Add to pan, stir, cook 3 or 4 minutes
7. Add zucchini, cook until just tender
8. Salt to taste

Serve atop warm fresh tortillas with crumbled queso fresco

Okra!

I haven't uploaded pics of dinner from last night, but it was a southern produce feast. I was raised a Yankee, so the world of Southern produce is still new to me. One of the items on the menu last night, Okra. I like okra. I like it fried, in gumbo, and pickled however I was not prepared or in the mood for any of those preparations. So after a bit of internet searching, I discovered that many folks really like it roasted. Who knew, roasted okra? Roasting is just about my favorite way to prepare most veggies, so I thought this was right up my ally. And, since there is no cutting involved you can avoid the gross okra slime, which somehow disappears during roasting. AND, since the veg has a nice built-in handle, they make a great finger food.

Ingredients
Okra
Olive oil
course salt (kosher or sea)
Any other seasoning you like (curry powder, cayenne, etc)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350
Wash and pat dry whole fresh okra
Toss to coat in olive oil
Sprinkle generously with salt and seasoning
Roast 20-25 minutes

Corn Soup

Source: Bon Appetit August 2008
Here's a confession; I don't really love corn on the cob. I like it if it is REALLY excellent corn, but only one delivery of my super awesome CSA met my straight up corn standards. I think it is years of braces that did it for me. That said, I love the flavor of fresh corn and this recipe captures it in a soup. Unfortunately, I made it as a main course, and it is really more of an appetizer. After straining it, it is really smooth and velvety but not hearty enough to stand alone. But the lightness of the texture with the sweet corn flavors makes it an EXCELLENT summer appetizer. OR, it would be a nice side to a good salad. Make this with the last of your summer corn.

Ingredients
Soup:
3 cups whole milk
3 ears of fresh corn, kernels cut from cobs, cobs broken in half and reserved
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 large carrot, peeled, thinly sliced
1 celery stalk, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, pressed
2 cups water
2 large fresh thyme sprigs
2 fresh rosemary sprigs
1 bay leaf
Ground white pepper

Garnish:
2 thick bacon slices, diced
1/3 cup fresh corn kernels cut from about 1/2 ear of corn
1 green onion, thinly sliced
Pinch of cayenne pepper Crème fraîche,* stirred to loosen

Instructions

1. Cut kernels off cob, set kernels aside. Bring milk to a boil with cobs, remove from heat, cover, and let steep while you cook veggies.

2. Sweat onion in butter until translucent, add corn kernels, carrot, celery, garlic and cook until soft. Salt veggies.

3. Add 2 cups water, herb sprigs, bay leaf, and

milk with corncobs. Increase heat and bringto boil. Cover partially, reduce heat to low,and simmer 20 minutes to blend flavors.

Discard corncobs, herb sprigs, and bay

leaf. Cool soup slightly. Working in batches,puree soup in blender until very smooth.Strain into large bowl, pressing on solids toextract as much liquid as possible. Seasonsoup to taste with salt and white pepper.DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead.Cover and chill.

For garnish:

Cook bacon in small skilletover medium heat until crisp. Using slottedspoon, transfer to paper towels to drain.Transfer to small bowl. Mix in corn, greenonion, and pinch of cayenne. DO AHEAD:Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.

Rewarm soup over medium heat.

Divide among bowls. Sprinkle garnish over,drizzle with crème fraîche, and serve.

* Sold at some supermarkets and at specialty

foods stores.

milk with corncobs. Increase heat and bringto boil. Cover partially, reduce heat to low,and simmer 20 minutes to blend flavors.

4. Discard corncobs, herb sprigs, and bayleaf. Cool soup slightly. Working in batches,puree soup in blender until very smooth. I used a hand immersion blender. Strain into large bowl, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible. It would help if you had one of those cone shaped sauce strainers, which I do not.

5. Season soup (liberally) to taste with salt and white pepper

For garnish:

Cook bacon and drain. Mix in corn, greenonion, and pinch of cayenne. Divide among bowls. Sprinkle garnish over,drizzle with crème fraîche, and serve.

Bailey's Chocolate Cheesecake

Source: My friend Betsy....don't know where she got it

My former coworker, Betsy is wonderful in many many ways. I think of her as wise in most of the ways of life and I forsee in my future that I will be emailing her with all child-care related questions. She is also a very good baker and would make all of the birthday cakes. This made frequent appearances as it was often requested. It is an incredibly rich, delicious cheesecake. It will spoil you and you will never be able to eat restaurant cheesecake again.

Ingredients
Crust
1-2 C chocolate crumbs
1/4 C melted butter
1/2 t cinnamon
Mix and press into 9-10 inch springform pan

Filling
3 - 8oz packages of cream cheese softened
1 C sugar
1 - 8oz of sour cream
8 oz semisweet choc chips melted
3 eggs
1/3-1/2 C Baileys Irish Cream
2 t vanilla

Instructions
Cream the cream cheese and sugar and then add eggs. Beat well then
add sour cream, choc chips, Bailey's and vanilla. Pour over crust.

Bake 325 for 50-60 minutes

Neglect officially over and Carrabbas

July and the first part of August was a whirlwind. Between traveling for work, deadlines for work, and a beach vacation, I just had to let this site slide a bit. But I'm back and will be posting recipes regularly again now.

I took our busy schedules + a defunct kitchen due to new counter top installations to use a gift certificate we had lying around. Like my fellow Nashville food blogger, Lannae, Carrabba's offered me a $50 gift card to go, try their restaurant, and write about it. When I got their email, I was rather hesitant, because I felt like maybe I was "selling out" but B knocked some sense into me reminding me that we are poor scientists and who were we to pass up free food. Touche.

So off we went deep into suburbia (Cool Springs location) to Carrabbas. What I knew about Carrabbas previously was that it was a chain Italian restaurant and that they sponsor a 10K in Raleigh every year, to which I say yeah to them. Funny thing is, I am REALLY anti-chain, so I thought it was sort of funny that they sent me, of all people, this gift card. We arrived late-ish (for me) around 7:30, and had about a 10-15 minute wait. I was surprised that it was so crowded on a Tuesday night, especially considering the place is huge.

So onto the food, we started with calamari, which was actually solid. It wasn't chewy, and it wasn't greasy, so kudos to them on their frying skills. I thought it was under-seasoned, B thought it was over-seasoned, so we came to the conclusion that the seasoning was unequally distributed. And, the portion was kind of ridiculous...not an appetizer for two people, probably intended for more like 4-6 people. We each had a salad. I had a house salad, which was a major disappointment: not very good romain lettuce, canned black olives, some under-ripe tomatoes, some dried cheese sprinkles, and bottled dressing. Bleh. B had a Ceasar salad, which was unremarkable. Then onto main courses. Due to the size of the appetizer, we feared the size of our entres, which proved to be more reasonable. I had manicotti, which was decent, but not spectacular. But then again, it's cheese, it's noodles, it's tomato sauce. How can you go wrong. B had a baked pasta florentine, which was similar to manicotti, but stuffed with chicken, spinach, and cheese. He preferred my dish.

In conclusion, Carrabbas was pretty much what I expected. It was decent, but unspectacular food that was not extraordinarily expensive, but not a bargain either. The service was good and the ambiance contrived, but fun for little ones. B and I would not spend our own money there. BUT, the restaurant was decent, and seems like it would be kid friendly, so if that is your stage in life, then it wouldn't be a bad choice.

Delicious summer veggie soup

Another Tuesday, the night before Wednesday CSA delivery equals empty out fridge. this week, we made soup and it was deeeelightful, I am sure never to be replicated. Of course, if I were you, I wouldn't really follow this recipe. I'd just toss what you got in a pot. I hope your bounty is as super sweet as mine.

Ingredients
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 shallots, chopped
2 carrots cut into chunks
2 zephyr squash, cubed
1 pint pear shaped teeny-tiny tomatoes
2 small green heirloom tomatoes, cubed
1 bag dried tortellini
1 can canelli beans, rinsed
4 cups homemade chicken stock
1 cup wax beans

Instructions
Heat oil over medium high heat
Sautee shallots and carrots in olive oil until shallots are translucent, add pinch of salt and pepper
Toss in squash, salt the squash, saute 2-3 minutes
Toss in tomatoes, salt, saute another 2-3 minutes
Add chicken broth and bring to a biol
Add in tortellini, bring back to a boil,
Add canelli beans and wax beans, reduce heat to low-medium, simmer gently about 10 minutes until tortellini is done
Add salt
Garnish with fresh basil if you have some

Creme Fraiche and Redemption

I made a chicken dish this weekend that I found via the Wednesday Chef blog with a lemon and creme fraiche sauce. Basically, you sear the chicken and then finish cooking it in the oven. Then make a sauce by de-glazing the pan with lemon juice and lots of creme fraiche. And I've got to say, that while I love creme fraiche as an accent ingredient, I just didn't love the sauce. It was just a little bit too much and too rich for my taste. Just personal taste I guess.

I also successfully made a basic chocolate mousse recipe, which I topped with beautiful berries from the Nashville farmer's market. Not a big deal you say? Everyone can make chocolate mousse. I was recently reminded by my mother that my childhood best friend and I attempted to make chocolate mousse several times for our French class as young teenagers quite unsuccessfully. I believe we finally settled on mixing chocolate pudding with cool whip. But a failure I am no more. TAKE THAT FRENCH KARMA! Whose your bitch now?

PS: The chocolate mousse recipe was a bit boring....not really sure what it was missing....maybe some cinnamon would do the trick. Or maybe my displeasure with most foods this weekend had everything to do with the heat. The only thing that tasted DELICIOUS to me were the gorgeous heirloom tomatoes I picked up at the farmer's market....sliced with a little salt and olive oil. It doesn't get better than that in July.