Henry Dinner

So all I have to say this summer is thank goodness for Henry for keeping me sane! These are recipes from one of the dinners we had together.
Dinner:
Tilapia with mango salsa
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 (6 ounce) tilapia fillets
1 large ripe mango, peeled, pitted and diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
2 tablespoons minced red onion
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon lemon juice

1. Whisk together the extra-virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, parsley, garlic, basil, 1 teaspoon pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl and pour into a resealable plastic bag. Add the tilapia fillets, coat with the marinade, squeeze out excess air, and seal the bag. Marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
2. Prepare the mango salsa by combining the mango, red bell pepper, red onion, cilantro, and jalapeno pepper in a bowl. Add the lime juice and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and toss well. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
3. Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat, and lightly oil grate.
4. Remove the tilapia from the marinade, and shake off excess. Discard the remaining marinade. Grill the fillets until the fish is no longer translucent in the center, and flakes easily with a fork, 3 to 4 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of the fillets. Serve the tilapia topped with mango salsa.

We paired it with green beans and broccoli steamed. And this delicious new wine...Root 1...mmmm












For dessert, we made Henry's oatmeal bars.
1/2 c packed light brown sugar
1 c flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 c rolled oats (not instant)
1/2 c butter, softened
3/4 c blackberry preserves

preheat oven to 350 degrees. grease 8x8 pan
combine brown sugar, baking soda, salt, and rolled oats with hands. put 2 cups of mixture in prepared pan
spread jam over top
add the remaining crumb to top and lightly press into jam
bake for 35-40 minutes
allow to cool before cutting
Paired with Yellow Tail vino

Guest Appearance by Mark and Dinah

So summer has begun, and Dinah just finished her boards. We decided to make some dinner and watch some movies :D
Mark came up with this AWESOME chicken recipe and we made veggie foil packs! Dinah came up with the secret to passing the boards...cake in a mug.

Chicken with 40 cloves of Garlic:
40 cloves of garlic
Whole chicken cut up
Olive Oil
Thyme, Oregano, or basil
salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel the cloves of garlic. Salt and pepper the chicken. Brown the outside of the chicken in a pan with 2 tbsp of olive oil. Put the chicken in a pyrex pan, add the cloves of garlic and 1/2 a cup of olive oil. Add a sprinkle of whatever herb you like best.

























Cake in a Mug
This is the coolest thing I have ever seen!
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons milk
splash of vanilla
1 coffee mug
Frosting and sprinkles
Mix all well in a mug. Cook for 3 minutes in the microwave. (Watch it cook...soo cool!!)
Ice and add sprinkles. enjoy!

Brinner...again

This Brinner was before bowling again! Love traditions :D
I made monkey bread and sausage souffle. Two really easy things to make...but sooo delicious. Sausage souffle is grandma's recipe, but we had a few vegetarians in the group this day, so I had to make a big modification (but no one even noticed). Enjoy the monkeys showing why the monkey bread is so named :D

Sausage Souffle:
1 lb morningstar farms vegetarian ground sausage
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
6 eggs
1 tsp salt
2 cups milk
6 slices white bread, cubed
1 tsp dried mustard
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
Defrost the ground sausage (and if you are doing in with normal sausage, cook it first) and mix in a HUGE bowl with other ingredients. Pour into a casserole dish. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.










Monkey Bread:
I think everyone knows how to make this super easy recipe, but I just posted it so I don't always have to look it up when I want to indulge.
4 cans refrigerated biscuits
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut biscuits into fourths. Mix sugar and cinnamon in a medium bag with the biscuit pieces. Arrange the pieces in a pan. Melt the butter with the brown sugar and boil for 1 minute. Pour over biscuits. Bake for 45 minutes.

Breakfast with Mom

So this is cheating..but mom came to Akron for some work and I stayed in her hotel room. This is what was delivered to us in the morning....that's right. Everyone be jealous!!
:) love you mama!

Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies

These are so amazing, and beautiful for Christmas with the coordinating colors!

1 1/4 c all purpose flour

1/3 c sugar

2 tbsps unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 c butter, cut up

1 tbsp red food coloring

3 oz white chocolate (coarsely chopped)

1 1/2 tsp shortening

Finely chopped pistachios

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a food processor, combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Cover an dprocess wiht o/off turns until combined. Add butter and red food coloring. Process with on/off turns until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Process until mixture formes a ball.

On a lightly floured surface, knead dough lightly until nearly smooth. Roll or pat dough to 1/2 inch thick. Using a floured 1 1/2 inch round cutter, cut out dough. Place cutouts 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press scraps together and re-roll.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until centers are set. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool.

In a heavy small saucepan, melt white chocolate and shortening over low heat, stirring constantly. Dip half of each cookie into melted chocolate. If desired, sprinkle with pistachios. Let stand on waxed paper until set. Makes about 24 cookies.

Lemon Poppy Seed Biscotti

1/4 c butter, softened

1/2 c sugar

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1 egg white

2 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla

2 c all-purpse flour

2 tbsps poppy seeds

1 tbsp finely shredded lemon peel

Coarse sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a large cookie sheet; set aside. In a large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat until combined. Beat in the egg, the egg white, lemon juice, and vanilla until combined. Beat or stir in flour, poppy seeds, and lemon peel

Divide dough in half. Shape each portion into a 7x2 inch log. sprinkle with coarse sugar. Place logs aobut 3 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean. Cool on cookie sheet on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

Reduce oven temp to 325 degrees. Transfer baked loaves to a cutting board. Using a serrated knife, cut each loaf diagonally into 1/2 inch thick slices. Place slices, sides down, on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes. Turn slices over; bake 10-12 minutes more or until dry and crisp. Transfer cookies to wire rack; let cool.

Salted Peanut Bars

So, I have to apologize for the lack of posts...life has been sooo crazy in the new year. Ash in Med school, Amy applying for and getting in to med school...phew. I am updating some posts...try whatever you wanna!!

Salted Peanut Bars -- A thick, gooey layer of carmel goodness breathes new life into the salted nut candy bar!!!

1/2 c butter, softened

2/3 c packed brown sugar

2 egg yolks

2 tsp vanilla

1 c all-purpose flour

1/2 c crushed pretzels

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 7-oz jar marshmallow creme

1/2 c creamy peanut butter

1/4 c powdered sugar

1 c salted coctail peanuts

1 14-oz pkg vanilla carmels, unwrapped

3 tbsp milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13x9x2 inch baking pan with heavy foil, extending foil over the edges of the pan; set pan aside. In a large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar, egg yolks, and vinalla. Beat until combined, scraping bowl occasionally. In a small bowl, combine flour, pretxels, baking powder and baking soda. Beat in as much of the flour mixture as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden sppon, stir any remaining flour mixture. Press mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned. Meanwhile, in a medium microwave-safe bowl, combine marshmallow creme and peanut butter. Microwave on 100% high power for 1 minute or until softened, and slightly melted. Stir in powdered sugar. Spread mixture over crust. Sprinkle with salted peanuts.

In a heavy large saucepan, combine unwrapped carmels and milk. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until carmels are melted and mixture is smooth. Pour caramel mixture evenly over peanut layer. Cool in pan on wire rack. Using the foil, lift the uncut bars out of the pan. Cut into bars. Makes 48 bars.

Under the Tuscan Sun

Well, Natalie, Melissa, and I decided to go to a cooking class. Miami Dade Kendall Campus offers great classes (ie. sushi, italian cooking, cooking on a dime, etc). I highly recommend going! We went to the Tuscan Cooking class. We arrived, and were definitely the youngest cookers there by a long shot, so everyone told us what to do, but overall it was a fun time! Go out and take a cooking class! (or host one yourself!)

The first thing we made was VEAL SCALLOPINI. This was a fun adventure. It might be easier to cook them in some sort of muffin cup, because the melted cheese made it fall apart a bit.

Veal Scallopini Recipe:

First Layer --> Egg Plant

You will need 2 medium eggplants. Remove the stem from the eggplant and discard. Cut the eggplant horizontally into 1/4 inch slices. Sprinkle liberally with sea salt to remove the bitterness in the eggplant (do this on both sides!) Let the eggplant stand for 30 minutes, then rinse off the salt, dry the slices. Brush both sides with butter or olive oil, and broil for 1 minute on each side.

Second Layer --> Veal Cutlets

You will need 12 4-5 oz cutlets for this recipe. Melt 4 tbsp. butter and add 4 tbsp. olive oil. While this is heating, pound the veal to be very thin. Dredge veal in sifted flour with salt and pepper (could be delicious to add some italian seasoning, orgeano, parsley, etc to this flour dredge), and sautee for 1 minute on each side.

Third Layer --> Mozzarella cheese

You will need 12 1/4" slices for this recipe

Fourth Layer --> Proscuitto Ham

You will need 12 thinly sliced pieces of this meat. Sautee lightly for 30 seconds on each side, just until crispy

Fifth Layer --> Mushroom Caps

We cut designs into the caps, but when we cooked this, the mushrooms were not cooked. We recommend sauteeing the caps first, so they are cooked, and then top the scallopini.

Sixth Layer --> Sauce

Melt 6 tbsp. butter in a skillet, and add 2/3 c minced shallots. Sautee for 3-5 minutes. Pour in 2/3 c dry white wine, 2/3 c beef stock, 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tbsp minced parcley, and 1/4 tsp black pepper. Stir and simmer for 5 minutes. Sprinkle 1 1/2 tbsp sifted flour over sauce and stir sauce until sauce thickens slightly.

Structure --> Assemble all the ingredients in the order provided. Pour sauce over top of the structures, and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

This was delicious, but a little salty, so do not add salt to anything. The proscuitto will add enough salt flavor for the entire dish!

We also made a great PESTO SAUCE that we put on top of toasted italian bread. Everyone was grabbing spoons, and eating this out of the food processor. It would be amazing to make and freeze and just use when you needed something fast!

Pesto Recipe:

6 cloves garlic, chopped

3/4 c roasted pine nuts

1 c grated parmigiano cheese

3 c sweet basil leaves, chopped

1 c oregano leaves, chopped

1 tbsp. rosemary leaves

2 c flat leaf parsley

1 c olive oil

1 tsp. pepper

Blend all ingredients in a food processor while slowly adding the olive oil in as you process. So yummy! We put this on pasta too, to go with the entree.

Lastly, we made a fruit salad. This went so fast that we didn't get a picture of it, but it was sooooooo good! I dare you to try it!

Macedonia Di Frutta

1 canteloupe

1 honeydue

3 apples

4 bananas

1 pineapple

1 pint of strawberries

1 cup sugar

1 1/3 c orange juice

2 tbsp. lemon juice

1 c Kirsch Liquor

Cut everything relatively the same size. Let marinate for about an hour, so everything tastes yummy!

Playing with Pumpkin

So Ashley's Pumpkin Pie inspired me, so I made whoopee pies!! I didn't have one, because everyone at work ate them all, so I assume they were delicious!

Pumpkin Whoopee Pies

Pies:

3 c all purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tbsp. cinnamon

1 tbsp. ground ginger

1 tbsp. ground cloves

1 c veggie oil

2 c packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

3 c chilled pumpkin puree

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. In a seporate bowl, whisk the brown sugar and oil together. Add pumpkin until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla until smooth. Add flour mix to wet mix, and whisk until smooth. Drop scoops of mix on the cookie sheet. These do not spread too much, so they don't have to be seporated too much. Cook for 10-12 minutes.

Cream Cheese Filling:

3 c confectioner's sugar

1/2 c butter (room temp)

8 oz cream cheese (room temp)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Cream all ingredients together. Once the pies are completely cool, spread about a tablespoon of cream filling and top with another pie. Sooo good!

punkin pie ;)

MMM....pumpkin pie! its that time of year!






















I cheated big time on this one...i just followed the directions on the can of pumpkin...i know one person that enjoyed it!! :) and it looks pretty

New Brinner Bowling Tradition

So NEOUCOM has a wonderful tradition of Tuesday night bowling. I got recruited to bowl on a team with my roommie and our two buddies Ryan and Kyle. The first night of bowling, Ryan had us all over for some eggs, bacon and pancakes. MMM....so I thought it was only fair to return the favor. This past week we made little egg cups and pancakes. Delicious!!

The egg cups I think I saw one day on the food network, and said how hard can that be!

Line a muffin cup with turkey (i think any thinly sliced meat will do though)

Brown some hashbrowns and I threw in some spinach at the last minute.

let the hashbrowns cool so that they can be put into the muffin tins.

top with some grated cheese (cheddar)

crack an egg on top of the muffin tins (on per cup)

Top with some bacon, becuase nothing could be bad with bacon!

Bake for like 20 minutes, until the eggs are cooked to your liking.

Curry, Squash, and Girl Talk

Thursday night Jess, Jess, and I had big plans to make extravagant food. When we finally met up, we were all sleepy from the day, and very hungry! So we decided to make quick food, so we had more time to relax and chat! The dinner menu became acorn squash with chile lime sauce, yam curry with bananas, bruschetta, and OREOS! Mike hung out with us too, he can't pass up good food.

The acorn squash recipe was taken from the smitten kitchen site. Thanks Deb!

2 acorn squash

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp salt

6 tbsp olive oil

1 garlic clove (Jessica used more because she is afraid of vampires ;) haha)

1 1/2 tbsp fresh lime juice

2 tsp finely chopped fresh hot red chile, include seeds (we all inhaled this and had to go outside to recover)

2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Put oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 450 degrees. Halve the squash lengthwise, then cut off and discard stem ends. Scoop out seeds, and cut squash lengthwise into 3/4 inch wedges. Toss squash with black pepper, 3/4 tsp salt, 2 tbsp olive oil in a bowl. Then arrange in 2 large shallow baking pans, with the cut sides down. Roast squash, switching position of pans halfway through roasting, until squash is tender and undersides are golden brown (25-35 minutes).

While the squash roasts, mince the garlic, and mash into a paste using the rest of the salt. Transfre paste into a small bowl and whisk with lime juice, chile, cilantro, and 1/4 c olive oil. Drizzle over roasted squash.

The sweet and savory of this dish was to die for!

You will have to talk to Mrs. Silver for the curry recipe, because she was fully in charge of this delicious creation!

Careful, the curry jumps on people, and stains shirts!

The bruschetta was just 4 tomatoes, 2 cloves of garlic, basil, salt, pepper. Needed onions we thought, but we didnt have any. We then rubbed bread with garlic, toasted the bread, and enjoyed!
We were too tired for dessert, so we went to the store looking for the halloween oreos, but they didn't have any. So we disappointingly settled for the plain ones. :)

the raspberry cupcake contest

Ok, sorry this took so long to post, but I had to hunt down the pics!

I made these for Sydnee's birthday, and they were a hit. Kales and her mom were going around the house trying to find things to dip in the frosting, because it was soo delicious!

The Recipe:

CUPCAKES:

9 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 c cake flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 stick unsalted butter, room temp

1 1/2 c sugar

2 eggs

1/2 c strong coffee

1/2 c milk

Preheat oven to 350. Sift together cocoa powder, cake flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl. In another bowl, beat butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs one at a time until smooth. Mix milk and coffee together. Stir in 1/2 dry ingredients, add coffee/milk mixture, add other 1/2 dry ingredients. Pour in muffin cups and bake for 20 minutes. Cool completely before frosting

FROSTING:

1 c unsalted butter

5 cups powdered sugar

1/2 c seedless raspberry jam

Place butter and jam into mixing bowl and cream until well incorportated. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time until desired consistency.

Frost and roll edge in chocolate sprinkles and top with a raspberry!

I win!