Fresh Summer Salad May 31, 2008

The first official day of Summer is not until June 20 this year, but it sure is finally starting to feel like summer, so why not start making summer dishes.  If you remember way back in February I hosted a Lost Season Premier party at my house and made Slow-Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup.  Well, this past Thursday was the Lost Season Finale, so why not have another party?  I didn’t host, but offered to bring something.  We decided to go healthy because swimsuit weather is just about here, (and no, that is not a pictures of me…), but that flopped when someone showed up with a gigantic frosted cookie and another with bars that didn’t exactly turn out.  I made this Fresh Summer Salad I found at Elle’s blog.  I thought it was pretty tasty but next time I will make sure I have good ripe tomatoes, I made the mistake of buying them the day I wanted to cut them up.  I served the salad with a sliced baguette which I didn’t make, but it reminded me a little of Julia’s bread I made here.   

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Fresh Summer Salad

(Recipe from:  Elle)

4 cucumbers, peeled and cut into chunks

4 tomatoes, seeded and cut into chunks

1/2 cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

3-4 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp coarsley ground pepper

Toss all ingredients together and serve. 

 

***Pretty simple, and like I tell my husband, when making something like this or cooking, you don’t necessarily need to measure the ingredients to a T.  When baking, almost always measuring is the key to it turning out right.  That’s my opinion, anyone disagree?***

And here is my first attempt at growing tomatoes. 

A Taste of Light: Opéra Cake – - May’s Daring Baker’s Challenge May 28, 2008

I first want to apologize for the formatting of this post.   WordPress is driving me nuts and I have no more patience or time to keep screwing around with the formatting.  Formatting is a big pet peeve for me, so it’s not easy going public with a post that looks like this!  Hopefully next post will go better.

Thanks to the Daring Baker’s founders Lis and Ivonne for hosting this month’s challenge along with Fran and Shea, new members who agreed to co-host.  I will have to say, if I never joined this group of bakers, I would have never attempted the Oprea Cake. 

For the full recipe click here. 

This cake is made up of five elements:

Joconde:  The base of an Opéra Cake is a thin sponge cake that is made using nut meal, traditionally almond meal (finely ground blanched almonds).

Syrup:  The joconde is flavoured with a sugar syrup that can be flavoured to suit your tastes.

Buttercream:  The first two layers of the joconde are covered in a rich buttercream. This particular buttercream is made with a syrup, eggs and butter.

Ganache/Mousse (optional):  In some recipes, the final layer of the joconde is covered in a ganache or mousse. While not hard to make, this makes the recipe quite involved. We are giving Daring Bakers the option of either using the buttercream to cover the final layer or, if they’re feeling up to it, to go ahead and make the ganache/mousse.

Glaze:  The final step to an Opéra Cake is the glaze that gives the cake a very finished and elegant appearance.

 

Here are the flavors I used for my five different elements:

Joconde:  Ground Oatmeal (I was not about to spend $13 for a small bag of almond meal at the store and didn’t have time to make my own.)

Syrup:  Vanilla

Buttercream:  Caramel (I used the recipe from the Perfect Party Cake but used brown sugar instead of white and added caramel ice cream topping.)

Ganache/Mousse:  Irish Cream

Glaze:  I stuck with the recipe, white chocolate

 

I really enjoyed making and eating this cake.  It was nice to be able to make each different part ahead of time and then putting it all together a different day (which didn’t take long at all!).  I would make this cake again, but of course trying new flavors. 

I would say my 4th Daring Baker’s Challenge has been a success!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicken, Chicken and more Chicken May 19, 2008

I recently made a few chicken dishes that I really enjoyed and wanted to share.  I didn’t have enough patience to take my own pictures, so I’m posting pictures that I found from websites (since my favpart about blogging is seeing pictures, although I don’t think any of these pictures do the dishes justice!)  Out of these three, Chicken Marsala was my favorite.

Chicken Parmesan Pasta

Serves 2

(Recipe & picture from:  Kraftfoods.com)

2-3 chicken boneless skinless chicken breast

1 egg white beaten (I use milk)

1/2 cup Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs

1 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce

3/4 cup mozzarella cheese (shredded)

1/2 tsp oregano

3 oz spaghetti noodles (I like to use whole wheat spirals)

Dip chicken in egg (or milk) and dredge in bread crumbs to coat both sides.  Place in a 8×8 inch pan.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through topping with cheese the last 5 minutes.  In the meantime, cook the noodles, drain, place back in pan and mix in the sauce until heated through.  Serve the chicken over the pasta. 

Very simple and extremely tasty!

 

Chicken Marsala

Serves 2-4

(Recipe & picture from Olivegarden.com)

2-4 chicken boneless skinless chicken breast

1/4 cup cake flour (1/2 Tbsp corn starch + enough AP flour to fill 1/4 cup)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp Oregano

4 Tbsp oil

4 Tbsp butter

1/2 tsp Pepper

1 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced

1/2 cup Marsala wine

Combine flour, salt, pepper, and oregano and blend well (I just tossed it all together).  Heat the oil and butter in a skillet until bubbling lightly.  Dredge the chicken in the flour and shake off the excess.  Cook the chicken on medium heat for about 2 minutes on the first side, until lightly brown.  As you turn the breasts to the second side to cook, add the mushrooms around the chicken pieces.  Cook about 2 more minutes, until lightly browned on the second side.  Stir in the mushrooms.  When the second side is lightly browned, add the wine around the pieces, cover the pan and simmer for about 10 minutes. 

That’s it!  I’ve tried Rachael Ray’s Chicken Marsala which included a number of ingred. I didn’t have on hand and at least another 45 minutes to an hour longer than this.  I wasn’t happy with the result, but this recipe turned out really good!

 

Bruschetta n’ Cheese-Stuffed Chicken Breasts/Bruschetta Chicken Bake

Serves 6-8

(Recipe and pictures from Kraftfoods.com)

These two recipes I got from Kraft Foods.  I thought both recipes turned out really good.  They both use pretty much the exact same ingredients but for the stuffed chicken, the meat needs to be pounded and for the chicken bake the chicken needs to be in bite-size pieces.  So it really depends on what your up for doing that night, pounding or cutting.  Like I said both turned out great and another very easy recipe.  Here is where you can go for both recipes:

Bruschetta n’ Cheese-Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Bruschetta Chicken Bake

 

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chunk Blondies May 14, 2008

I grew up on a Blondie recipe that my sister and I begged my mom to make all the time, it’s the one with the chocolate chips thrown on top of the batter, after the batter is spread in the pan.  (I’ll have to post on that one next time I make them.)  There are so many other Blondie recipes out there that seem like they are worth trying.  I found this recipe on The Kitchen Sink by Kristin.  This Blondie has quite a bit going on in them:  pb, coconut, chopped peanuts, chocolate.  They all added good flavor and texture to the Blondie.  I will be holding onto this recipe but it may not be my go-to for the Blondie.  Obviously, if you are not a coconut or peanut fan, your taste buds may not be so fond of this recipe.  I look forward to continue trying different Blondie recipes that I find. 

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chunk Blondies

(Recipe from The Kitchen Sink by Kristin)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup all-natural peanut butter
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup unsalted peanuts, finely chopped
1/2 cup flaked coconut

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter and flour a 9-inch square pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk or sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the butter and peanut butter until fluffy. Add the sugar and mix until combined. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined.

Using a spatula or wooden spoon, fold in the chocolate, peanuts and coconut. Bake the blondies in the center of the pre-heated oven for 30 minutes, or until the blondies have just begun to brown around the edges.

Allow the blondies to cool completely in the pan before cutting.

Back to reality for me! May 13, 2008

We had a really good trip to the Bahamas.  We did a lot of laying by the beach doing nothing, but also played golf, snorkeled, and ate lots of food!  It was definitely a nice and relaxing vacation and I was not looking forward to coming back!  Here is a picture of an appetizer (shrimp) we ordered.  I liked the presentation on this one.  I hope to get back posting in the next couple of days! 

Cannoli Cake May 2, 2008

I got this cake recipe from Cream Puffs in Venice.  I unfortunately didn’t have the Grand Marnier or Frangelico (and didn’t want to run out and buy them just for this recipe) to add to the filling which I’m sure would have made this cake even better, but it still turned out very good and was a nice change from the same old vanilla or chocolate cake.  This is a fairly simple cake to make and it was nice to just sprinkle a little powdered sugar over the top instead of taking time to decorate.

Just to let my blog fans know, this is my last post for at least a week as I’ll be heading out on vacation.  Before I leave I want to thank all of you who visit my blog frequently for taking interest and for all your comments and for those of you who may be checkin’ out my blog for the first time, welcome!

Cannoli Cake
(Recipe from:  Cream Puffs in Venice)

Ingredients for cake:

6 large eggs, separated
1 large egg yolk
pinch of salt
1 cup plus 1/3 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. almond extract
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. cold water
finely grated zest of one orange (I omitted this also)

Ingredients for filling:

125 g. cream cheese, softened (4 oz)
225 g. ricotta cheese (7.5 oz)
2 tbsp. Nutella
1 tsp. Grand Marnier (optional)
1 tsp. Frangelico (optional)
1 cup icing sugar (pwd sugar)
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
icing sugar for dusting (pwd sugar)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. and grease and flour a 9 or 10-inch springform pan.

Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer and add the pinch of salt. Beat whites until foamy. Increase mixer speed to medium and continue beating the whites while gradually adding 1 cup of the sugar. You want the whites to beat into soft peaks (don’t overbeat). Set aside.

In a clean bowl, beat the egg yolks with remaining 1/3 cup sugar, the flour, the baking powder, the vanilla and almond extracts and the cold water until smooth. Add the orange zest. The mixture might appear stiff or very thick but don’t worry.

Gently fold in the egg whites until you have a well mixed batter.

Spoon the batter into the springform pan and bake in the middle of the oven for about 35 minutes. The top of the cake will be golden and it will spring back when pressed.

Remove the cake to a wire rack and cool completely before releasing the cake from the springform pan.

To make the filling, beat the cream cheese, the ricotta, the Nutella, the Grand Marnier and Frangelico (if using), until smooth. Gradually add the icing sugar and then stir in the chocolate chips. Set aside.

Carefully divide the cake into two equal layers. Set the bottom layer on your cake tray or serving plate. Spread the filling over the cake bottom. If it’s a bit loose, refrigerate the cake bottom for about 10 minutes to firm up the filing. Top the filling with the second layer of the cake and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Just before serving, dust the cake with icing sugar.