Artichoke Dip (for non-mayonnaisers)

I love artichoke dip, but the only food I hate in this world is mayonnaise (it is nasty but I must admit it can enhance things sometimes). I played with a few until I found the perfect dip with minimal mayo! Its not very scientific, but I've gotten excellent reviews from friends-- and actually it's even better the next day with some crusty bread, YUM!


I found this recipe on the Food Network but tweaked it a bit and included my adjustments first:

First I doubled the recipe. I used a jar of artichoke hearts and quartered them instead of frozen artichokes. Oh, and after I cooked the spinach I spent a while making sure it was COMPLETELY drained because otherwise I think it would make it kind of soupy and gross otherwise (other people in the reviews complained it was soupy and I think that is why). Also I skipped the red pepper flakes, and used fresh crushed garlic instead of the powder. I topped with Parmesan which I really liked to do-- the more cheese the better, right?Oh and then I baked it on 375 somewhere between 10 and 20 minutes, not exactly sure (keep an eye on it, but long enough for cheese to look all delicious).

Ingredients

• 1 cup thawed, chopped frozen spinach
• 11/2 cups thawed, chopped frozen artichoke hearts (you can chop, but the chunks are the best part!)
  
• 6 ounces good cream cheese
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise (I probably used less, and only used it to cut the taste of the sour cream. I actually used low-fat too because I think its less offensive than the full fat stuff)
  
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan (I probably used like 3/4 c. instead, ha)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (omitted)
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (fresh crushed sub)
  

Directions

Boil spinach and artichokes in 1 cup of water until tender and drain. Discard liquid. Heat cream cheese in microwave for 1 minute or until hot and soft. Stir in rest of ingredients and serve hot.

Chicken Piccata (by the Barefoot Contessa)

In honor of my cute cousins coming to dinner tonight, I am making Chicken Piccata. Ambyr shared this recipe with me and it quickly became a favorite in our home. Enjoy.

Chicken Piccata

4 split (2 whole) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 extra large eggs
1 1/2 seasoned (or plain) dried breadcrumbs
good olive oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons), lemon halves reserved
1/2 cup dry white wine
sliced lemon, for serving (I don't do this...)
chopped fresh parsley, for serving (I do do this;)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Place each chicken breast between 2 sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap and pound it out to 1/4-inch thick. Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper.

Mix the flour, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper on a shallow plate. In a second plate, beat the eggs and 1 tablespoon water together. Place the bread crumbs on a third plate. Dip each chicken breast first in the flour, shake off the excess, and then dip in the egg and bread-crumb mixtures.
Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large saute pan over medium to medium-low heat. Add 2 chicken breasts and cook for 2 minutes on each side, until browned. Place them on the parchment paper covered sheet pan while you cook the rest of the chicken. Heat more olive oil in the saute pan and cook the second 2 chicken breasts. Place them on the same sheet pan and allow them to bake for 5-10 minutes while you make the sauce.

For the sauce, wipe out the saute pan with a dry paper towel. On medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter and then add the lemon juice, white wine, the reserved lemon halves, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Boil over high heat until reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Off the heat, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and swirl to combine. Discard the lemon halves. Serve one chicken breast on each plate, spoon on the sauce, and serve with sliced lemon and a sprinkling of fresh parsley.

Cooking/Baking tip

Read through your recipe once or twice before you begin to cook or bake. Sometimes recipes will say something like mix batter, making sure not to over mix. The cook or baker will stop at mix without reading on and then realize they may have over mixed.

A lesson in compromise

The other night, while trying to come up with yet another last minute dinner idea, Ben decided that he wanted waffles for dinner, but I was craving something more along the lines of a caramelized onion quiche. While flipping through my [many] cookbooks for the perfect waffle recipe, we both definitely found what we were looking for, albeit was somewhat unusual.

Husband's review: To review this recipe is like being asked to review what you thought about toilets and indoor plumbing when you were potty training; I was skeptical at first but I eventually came to love the wonder of seeing that water disappear to Neverland, or wherever it goes (just ask Luke, he knows what I'm talking about). I was hungry and I wanted my sweet, buttery, sugar filled waffles, and I wasn't going to hear it any other way. But, due to my kindness (and the fact that Allyson can beat me up), I allowed my wife a savory alternative. However, when she said onions and waffles in the same sentence, and kept a straight face, I thought I was going to bed hungry (Heather, stop laughing, sometimes I DON'T eat everything in sight). This being the case, you could imagine my surprise when she busts out with the most appetizing waffle I've ever seen without whipped cream, sugar or maple syrup af any kind. So, with that in mind, I challenge all of you to slap Aunt Jamima out of the way, cool your Canadian maple loving tendencies, and hold on to your butts as you try these savory grids of goodness. You're gonna like the way it tastes, I guarantee it. But you don't have to take my word for it, because now you know, and knowing is half the battle. Now you have a friend in the waffle business. (4 points if you can name all 4 of the sources of the quotes used)

I guess I should say that to me, cooking is more than a necessity or even a hobby. Cooking is a passion, I'm even tempted to say that to me, cooking is life. I think I scare Ben a little every once in a while, when I suggest something out of the ordinary. So, on top of my passion for cooking, I love cookbooks. Although I'm rather picky about which cookbooks I buy, I have cookbooks for anything and everything, from all over the world. Yes, in fact, I actually read them in my spare time. I'll attribute this recipe to possibly one of my favorite cookbooks, Michael Bauer's "The Secrets of Success Cookbook; Signature Recipes and Insider Tips from San Francisco's Best Restaurants"

So without further ado, here's the long awaited recipe for caramelized onion waffles and lemon cream. The perfect combination of savory with a hint of tang and even the slightest kick. Something unexpected, but combines to create a perfect symphony of flavors.

Caramelized Onion Waffles and Lemon Cream
Waffles
3 Tbsp butter
2 medium yellow onion, finely diced
2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c chopped fresh mixed herbs (such as parsley, thyme, chives, tarragon, and chervil) [I used 1 1/2 Tbsp mixed dried herbs - parsley, thyme, and tarragon]
1 Tbsp ground black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 c milk
2 eggs at room temperature
1/3 c melted butter
Vegetable oil for greasing
**optional, 1/4 pound thinly sliced smoked salmon or gravlax

- Melt the 3 Tbsp butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until golden and caramelized, about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

- In a large bowl, combine the flour, herbs, baking powder, pepper, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine the milk, eggs, and melted butter. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, being careful not to overmix. Fold in the caramelized onions. The batter should be thick and slightly lumpy.

- Heat a waffle iron according to the manufacturer's instructions and brush the grill lightly with vegetable oil. Cook the waffles until golden brown, about 3 to 5 minutes. Brush the grill with oil between each waffle. Serve, topped with lemon cream.

**Optional: Place a waffle in the center of each plate and drape salmon on the waffles around the edges. Drizzle with lemon cream.

Lemon Cream
1 c sour cream
1/4 c whole milk
Zest of one lemon
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

- Wisk the sour cream, milk, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a small bowl to blend. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Turkey and Spinach Lasagna

I have to admit, I have never really loved lasagna...sorry but it's true. I always knew it could be good. Well with this twist on the traditional dish I believe it is good. Forget ricotta and mozzarella. I want flavor! I have gotten nothing but rave reviews on this one. I promise you will fall in love with this recipe. It's easy and pretty quick.

Ingredients:
1 ½ lbs ground turkey
4 small 8 ounce cans tomato sauce (I use Hunts brand; two regular, two garlic flavored.)
8 ounces lasagna noodles
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
8 ounces sour cream
2 cups shredded extra sharp white cheddar
1 bag of spinach

Instruction:
Boil lasagna noodles and drain.
Saute spinach in olive oil. Drain excess juice and oil.
Brown turkey.

Combine spinach and turkey in a large bowl. Add tomato sauce and mix together.

In a separate bowl, combine cream cheese and sour cream.

Layer in 9x13 baking dish:
layer all of the noodles on the bottom of the casserole dish
½ turkey/spinach/tomato sauce mixture
cream cheese/sour cream mixture
½ turkey/spinach/tomato sauce mixture
sprinkle cheese on top

Bake uncovered at 350 degree for 30 minutes.

Let sit 5-10 minutes after removing from oven before serving.

Shower Food

I threw a fall themed shower for a dear friend of mine, Molly. She is due with her little guy, Griffin, October 25 and we all couldn't be more excited! To celebrate his arrival we threw a couples baby shower-- fall themed to usher in the seasonal excitement in the most festive way possible!

Food-wise I obviously thought about butternut squash-- what could be more fall-ish?! Initially I planned on doing a soup, but I actually figured with this crowd a salad would be even better-- it did not disappoint!

Butternut Squash Salad With Apple Cider Dressing

• 1 (1 1/2-pound) butternut squash, peeled and diced
• Good olive oil
• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup (real stuff!)
  
• salt
• handful of dried cranberries
• approximately 3/4 cup apple cider or apple juice
• approximately 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• approximately 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 4 ounces baby arugula, spring mix or whatever leafy greens, washed and spun dry
• 1/2 cup walnuts halves, toasted or glazed
• (I also think a handful of pomegranate seeds would be awesome)
  

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Place the butternut squash on a sheet pan and make sure chunks aren't too big. Toss with olive oil, the maple syrup, and salt. Roast the squash for 15 to 20 minutes, turning once, until tender. Add the cranberries to the pan for the last 5 minutes.

While the squash is roasting, combine the apple cider, vinegar, in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until the cider is reduced to about 1/4 cup. Off the heat, whisk in the mustard, olive oil, and salt. ** This is what the formal recipe calls for-- I just eyeballed and added apple juice, apple cider vinegar, dijon, salt, and olive oil, mixed it and tasted until I liked the flavor. No boiling or anything, turned out delicious.

Place the lettuce in a large salad bowl and spoon just enough vinaigrette over the salad to moisten and toss well. Add the roasted squash mixture, the walnuts, and the grated Parmesan (if desired). Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds if desired.

This turned out really well and was a perfect fall salad with a bunch of flavors that worked really well together!

Enjoy!

Gouda Mac N Cheese

A spin on the Barefoot Contessa classic. Mac and Cheese is a staple in my home-- but we don't use the blue box around here. Thats like saying a bad word. (And it really is easy to make-- it just seems like a long recipe, but really its just because I am long winded...)


I like to make my mac n cheese from scratch-- so much better and soooo worth it! Originally I started experimenting with it when I tried Ina Garten's gruyere and cheddar macaroni and cheese, but now I toss in different cheese and try out texture changes with different noodles. Its really fun to come up with concoctions that really seem to work. I just finished making a gouda and white sharp cheddar mac and cheese and I have never been more pleased with the outcome. The great thing is that most of this stuff you always have around the house, with the exception of the gouda. Bear with me as I usually do everything to taste (measuring just means more dishes)! Also, this recipe is how much I make for just Adam and I and maybe one guest, double it for a bigger crowd.

A few tablespoons of flour (maybe 2 or 3 )
A few tablespoons of butter (equal to the amount of flour plus another 1 or 2 for breadcrumbs)
about 1 c. hot milk
1 c. white sharp cheddar (thats a really rough guess-- just keep adding until it tastes amazing-- same with the gouda)
1/2 c. to 1 c. gouda (and if you aren't a gouda person, try something else like gruyere or just double the cheddar)
a few cups of noodles (often I do macaroni, but if we have guests I use cavatappi because its so pretty, but sometimes hard to find at the store-- but use what you like! Penne, rotini, whatever)
about 1 c. bread crumbs (can use panko or make your own in the food processor from white bread)
2 roma tomatoes (optional)
salt

Throw the noodles in a pot of boiling water and cook according to directions on box. While noodles are cooking I work on the cheese sauce:

I start by making a roux and which I turn into a bechamel. This sounds really exciting because its fun french cooking terms, but its pretty basic-- mix one part fat with one part thickening agent over heat= a roux, and once you add the hot milk its a bechamel sauce. I like to use a couple tablespoons of butter and a couple tablespoons of flour. Cook over heat for about a minute. You want them to mix together and still be a little loose-- if they clump together add a little more butter, if it's super runny add a little more flour. After the minute, add the hot milk. Keep stirring over heat until you see the very cool transformation of runny milk to a beautiful rich and creamy milk substance. At this point you can remove from the heat and throw in the grated cheeses. Mix them well-- the hot milky sauce should melt the cheese pretty easily. Salt to taste.

Drain noodles and immediately add them to the cheese sauce. For my lunch-- I usually just stop here and toss a couple sliced tomatoes on top and call it a day (I like mine gooey and cheesy but baking it, which Adam prefers, will firm that up a little). For guests, I put it in a baking dish. If I have tomato eaters, I slice a roma tomato really really thin and do a single layer of that over the top with a tiny bit more salt to bring out the flavor of the tomatoes--if not I skip it. I mix bread crumbs with enough melted butter to moisten them (1 or 2 tblspns) and then evenly distribute over the macaroni and tomatoes. I bake it on 400 for about 20 minutes or until the breadcrumbs get all golden and crunchy.

Make sure you eat it hot otherwise the breadcrumbs will turn from an awesome crunch to a soggy mess. This dish is a crowd pleaser for sure and I am loving the discovery of the gouda addition. You will never be sad about making this deliciousness.

Enjoy!

AMBYR CASSEROLE

INGREDIENTS

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1 pound broccoli florets, cooked
• 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 2 scoops of mayonnaise
• 1 squeeze of Lemon Juice
  
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350' degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Bake chicken until tender and shred into bite size pieces.
3. Steam broccoli until crisp but tender.
4. In a small bowl mix together the soup, mayonnaise, and one squeeze of lemon juice.
   
5. In a 9x13 inch baking dish layer the chicken, broccoli, soup mixture, and cheese.
6. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes.

Serve over rice!

Artichoke Dip

INGREDIENTS

• 2 (6.5 ounce) jars marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 (4 ounce) can diced green chile peppers, drained

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the artichoke hearts, mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese and chile peppers. Transfer the mixture to a 9x9 inch baking dish.
3. Bake in the preheated oven 20 to 25 minutes, or until lightly browned

Fried Ice Cream

I like to think that I can just randomly make things taste good regardless of how much of something I am supposed to add. Kind of dumb, but usually my results are pretty good anyway. The problem is I don't know how to recreate these inventions on a foodie blog.

This recipe was stolen from my friend Molly. Its good. I didn't pay attention to measurements-- but its dessert, people! Just add however much tastes delicious!

All you need is:
either Frosted Flakes or Corn Flakes
Cinnamon
Sugar
Vanilla Ice Cream (I guess you can actually do whatever you want, but its good with vanilla, especially with the chocolate sauce I will post next!)

sprinkle in plenty of cinnamon and sugar and toss in a bunch of Corn/Frosted Flakes in a medium mixing bowl. Mix and smash so the pieces of cereal are little and broken.

(get ready to get messy!) Take about a cup of Ice Cream (use a scoop, spoon, whatever, but your hands are going to get nasty anyway so you might as well use those-- and please make sure they are clean!) and mold it into a ball with your hands. Toss it into the cinnamon/sugar/cereal bowl and cover with yummy crunchy little flakes. Set on a piece of parchment/foil/Tupperware (anything you have will pretty much work, it doesn't really stick)
in the freezer until all the way frozen through again (about an hour).
6 people for dessert? Make 6 balls. Easy.

And I LOVE my new Anthro bowls-- they are the perfect size for this. Can't wait to have guests over to serve it in them (read: come over so I can make this again right now!!)
Enjoy!

Don't Be Appalled...

You'll love it--but you're not going to like it! Just ignore how many ridiculous ingredients you're putting in, and keep in mind it tastes so amazing because of what you're tossing in the pot. Plus this makes so much you'll make it once and have leftovers in your freezer for the next 27 years.

Chocolate Sauce
(perfect for over the fried ice cream, as fondue for girls night, or just with a spoon! Ha)

Melt Together:

12 oz bag of chocolate chips (I like the good stuff: Ghirardelli--but use whichever you like, and I would do a double boil so I don't burn the chocolate)

1 c margarine

add alternately:

2 2/3 cup evaporated milk (although we used sweetened condensed milk on accident-- still good!)

1 lb powdered sugar

Add:

2 tsp vanilla

1 (7oz) jar marshmallow creme

Bring all ingredients to a boil; stir constantly for about 5 minutes. Makes a ton. Lasts for about 3 to 4 weeks in refrigerator and freezes well.

I drizzle about 1 or 2 tablespoons of the stuff over the fried ice cream. YUM!

Cheese

This is just a quick tip:
Since relocating to Arizona I have noticed my cheese has been going bad faster than usual. Maybe the cheese in California is fresh and we import cheese in Arizona, which would limit the shelf life (my assumption). Our refrigerator is definitely cold enough; ask the frozen carrots and the slushy water, they’ll tell you. What I have been doing to prevent this unwanted mold is I keep my cheese in the freezer. Shredded cheese breaks apart very easily as does sliced cheddar. My cheese now keeps for a very long time and I don’t have to throw cheese away, which can get expensive.