Let’s talk leftovers

lunch, supper 7 Comments

Not just reheat-and-eat night, but let’s talk getting creative with leftovers. What have you come up with? Anything great? This is my new favorite: Italian steak pasta!

Sunday night was steak night. Monday night was spaghetti. So Tuesday night I sliced up the remaining steak, mixed it in with pasta and some Italian dressing (Ken’s, specifically, because I love it) , and topped it all with parmesan cheese. This was SO good!

Your turn! What have you come up with?

Deviled eggs

lunch 8 Comments

I kind of feel like summoning Sam I Am, just to tell him I do like deviled eggs. If you had asked me a week ago I would have said absolutely not, no way, no how do I like deviled eggs. Not in a boat, not on a train… you get the picture.

The eggs The Kiddo dyed watched The Yankee and me dye for Easter were super-yummy farm fresh eggs given to us by a friend of The Yankee. And it sure seemed a waste to just chuck them, especially since I’d tried a new boiling method for them while under tornado warning — setting timers and hiding in coat closets at the same time. Multi-tasking, no? So I figured I just HAD to try them. And whaddaya know? Pretty stinking good!

I read somewhere (naturally, I can’t find it now) that this was Julia Child’s method for hard-boiling eggs. Who am I to question Julia Child? Nobody, that’s who. It goes like so:

  1. Put your eggs in a pan and add enough water to come one inch over the eggs
  2. Set the pan on high heat and bring just to a boil
  3. Remove the pan from the heat, cover, and let it sit covered for exactly 17 minutes
  4. After 17 minutes, transfer the eggs to a bowl of ice water with plenty of ice cubes in it.
  5. Put the pan back on the burner on high heat and return to a boil while the eggs chill for two minutes (apparently this shrinks the body of the egg away from the shell)
  6. Put the eggs back in the boiling water, bring to a boil once again if need be, and let the eggs boil for ten seconds (this expands the shell away from the egg)
  7. Remove eggs and place them back into the ice water; leave them there for at least 20 minutes

After eggs are properly chilled, let your two year old thwack the eggs into a basket with absolutely no regard for gentleness or fragility. Repeat three times for most thorough cracking of eggs.

Now make deviled eggs! I based mine on Joelen‘s yummy method.

You will need:

  • Hard boiled eggs
  • Yellow mustard
  • Mayonnaise (the real stuff here, people)
  • Lemon juice
  • Croutons
  • Salt and pepper
  • Paprika
  1. I started by slicing the eggs in half, and admired the straight edges my toddler managed to impart onto an egg. But see how nice the color is? No dark line. That Julia Child should write a book
  2. In a food processor, pulverize some croutons – I used homemade from no-knead bread– down to crumbs
  3. Scoop out all the yolk and toss it in the food processor along with a healthy squirt of mustard and just enough mayo to hold the mix together — I wanted more egg than mayo flavor
  4. Squirt in about a tsp or so of lemon juice and season the whole mix with salt and pepper
  5. Process till mostly smooth, but the crumbs in the croutons will keep it from being absolutely smooth, of course, and that’s fine
  6. Pipe or scoop the filling back into the egg yolks and season it all with paprika

Pretty yummy, right? The farm eggs had a fantastic yellow color that made these just gorgeous. And SO GOOD to eat! Who knew?

For the record, I still reserve the right to run screaming from any deviled eggs (or anything else) that have been anywhere near a pickle.  ::shudder::

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

baking, breakfast 16 Comments

This. Is. Heavenly. This is without a doubt the softest, best-tasting bread that has ever come out of my oven. And part of it is whole wheat! I was a little intimidated by the recipe, never having attempted such a thing, but it came out great. I’ve been having this with my coffee every morning, and I can’t WAIT to make french toast with it! This is adapted just a bit from the King Arthur flour recipe.

You will need for the bread:

  • 2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
  • 7-9 ounces lukewarm water (use more or less depending on humidity where you are)
  • 4 ounces KAF white whole wheat flour
  • 8 3/4 ounces KAF all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 1/4 ounces sugar
  • 3 ounces butter at room temperature
  • 5/8 ounce dry milk
  • 1 1/2 ounces instant mashed potato flakes

You will need for the filing:

  • 1 3/4 ounces sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons AP flour
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tablespoon water

Now put it all together:

  1. If you’re using anything other than instant yeast, dissolve the yeast with a pinch of sugar in 2 Tbsp. of your lukewarm water; I use instant yeast, so I skip this step
  2. Mix instant yeast (or dissolved yeast) with the rest of the bread ingredients. Knead everything together until dough is smooth. I plop it all in the bread machine set to the dough cycle. Easy! If you knead with a stand mixer, knead for about seven minutes on the second speed; it’s okay if it sticks at the bottom of the bowl a bit. We don’t want dry bread!
  3. If you’re using a bread machine, let the dough cycle run all the way through the first rise. If you’re hand- or mixer-kneading, put the dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover it with a tea towel. Let the dough rise at room temperature till it’s almost doubled in bulk — about an hour, but may take longer if you hand-kneaded
  4. While the dough is rising, use a fork to mix together the sugar, cinnamon and flour for the filling mix
  5. After it’s risen till it’s nice and puffy, move the dough to a lightly greased work surface or a silicone mat and pat the dough into a 6″ x 20″ rectangle
  6. Beat together the egg and water, and brush it onto the rectangle
  7. Sprinkle the cinnamon/flour/sugar mix evenly over the dough
  8. Starting with a short end, roll the dough into a log, and pinch to seal at the ends and along the seam
  9. Put the bread, seam-down, into a greased loaf pan and cover with greased plastic wrap
  10. Let it rise till it’s just above the rim of the pan while you’re preheating your oven to 350F
  11. Bake the bread for 15 minutes, then tent lightly with aluminum foil
  12. Bake for an additional 30 minutes or so, until inside of loaf reads 190 degrees
  13. Loosen sides of pan with a knife if needed, and turn bread onto a rack. Brush the top of the loaf with butter and let that soak in while the bread cools. Then slice and enjoy!

Chicken Pot Pie

slow cooker, supper 7 Comments

This is one of my top three comfort food meals — the other two being chicken and dumplings and macaroni and cheese. Mmmmm…. Anyway, this cooks up beautifully, travels well, freezes well and reheats well. What more could you ask?

There are three main parts to this dish: the chicken, the pie crust, and the sauce.

Let’s start with the chicken.

You will need:

  • Three boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • A few stalks of celery if they’re just lying around
  • Salt, pepper, onion or onion powder

I do this part in a slow cooker the night before; you can also just boil the chicken the same day if you’re in more of a hurry.

  1. The night before you’re going to to eat half a chicken pot pie serve this for supper, put the chicken breasts in the crock pot with a few stalks of celery, some salt and pepper, an onion if you have it (or onion powder on the chicken) and fill it up with water.  Let it cook on low overnight
  2. The next morning, put the chicken on a plate and let it cool, then refrigerate
  3. Strain the chicken broth that’s now filling your crockpot and save one cup of it for this recipe. Refrigerate or freeze the rest

Now the pie crust (modified from Alton Brown’s recipe). You will need:

  • 6 Tbsp. butter, chilled
  • 2 Tbsp. shortening or lard, chilled
  • 1 cup AP flour + more for dusting
  • 1 Tbsp. water
  • 1-2 Tbsp. vodka (yes, really; here‘s why)

In a perfect world, you’ll also have this nifty pie crust bag, which makes everything a little easier. Now:

  1. Chop butter and shortening or lard into little pieces, and put them in two separate bowls in the freezer for 15 minutes
  2. Measure out 1 cup (or 6 oz.) flour and put it in the freezer too
  3. When everything is chilled, put the flour and 1/2 tsp table salt into the food processor and pulse three or four times to combine
  4. Add butter and pulse till texture looks mealy; this took me about 6 or 7 pulses
  5. Add lard and pulse another 4 or 5 times
  6. Slowly drizzle in one tablespoon of water, dispersing as much as possible, and pulse 5 times
  7. Slowly drizzle in one tablespoon of vodka and pulse again
  8. Check it at this point. If you squeeze the  mixture together does it hold? If not, add more vodka. If so, it’s ready. It will not immediately look like pie crust, even when it’s ready; it will look like this:

Now put it in your nifty pie crust bag or a zip-top bag, squeeze it all together in a ball, then press into a rounded disk. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

While that’s chilling, we’ll work on the white sauce. You will need:

  • 3 Tbsp. butter
  • 6 Tbsp flour
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup chicken broth (which you ever so prudently reserved from your earlier chicken cooking)

To make sauce:

  1. Melt butter in a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat
  2. Whisk in flour and keep whisking until your sauce is smooth and bubbling
  3. Remove the pan from heat and slowly pour in the chicken broth and milk, a little at a time, whisking like a crazy person to keep it smooth
  4. Return the pan to the burner and bring to a simmer
  5. Cook, stirring insanely often, until it thickens up. Add salt and pepper to taste (plenty of it for this, I think)
  6. Once it’s nice and thick, set it back off the burner

Now assemble your pie!

  1. In a food processor or by hand, shred or chop your cold chicken breasts into pretty small pieces
  2. In a large bowl, stir together your white sauce, your chopped chicken and one bag of frozen mixed vegetables (still frozen — easy!)
  3. Remove pie dough from refrigerator and roll out two crusts (see Alton’s recipe for lots of technique info, but we’re not blind baking ours)
  4. Put one crust in an ungreased pie plate and spread in your sauce/chicken/veggie mixture. See how pretty it is?
  5. Put on your top crust. I actually don’t put it all the way to the edges because I like it to have lots of steaming room. Also cut vents in the top of your crust, like so:
  6. Just in case, put your pie plate on a foil-lined cookie sheet. Foil is easier to clean than the bottom of your oven
  7. Bake at 375 until top is browned — remember everything in it is cooked, so you’re just heating. Let sit for a good 15 minutes to cool before you cut into it. Then go nuts!

Your total ingredient list for this pie:

  • Three boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • Celery, onion (optional)
  • Salt, pepper, onion powder
  • 6 Tbsp. + 3 Tbsp. butter, chilled
  • 2 Tbsp. shortening or lard, chilled
  • 1 cup AP flour + 6 Tbsp + more for dusting
  • 1 Tbsp. water
  • 1-2 Tbsp. vodka
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 1 bag frozen, mixed veggies

Ways to shortcut this recipe:

  • Buy a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and shred the meat from there
  • Use rolled, refrigerated pie crust
  • Use two cans of cream of chicken soup instead of the white sauce

Guinness Cupcakes

baking, dessert, tools 7 Comments

You know this is going to be good, don’t you?

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen and LovesToEat.

You will need:

  • 1 cup Guinness beer
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2/3 cup sour cream

Now:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F
  2. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners
  3. In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, melt 1 cup of butter and pour in 1 cup  Guinness; bring to a simmer then whisk in cocoa powder till smooth. Set pan off the burner
  4. Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in large bowl to blend
  5. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl
  6. Add slightly-cooled stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture a little bit at a time and beat just to combine
  7. Add flour mixture and beat on slow speed for about one minute
  8. Using rubber spatula, scrape down bowl and fold batter until completely combined
  9. Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way
  10. Bake until toothpick inserted into center of cupcake comes out clean — this took me about 20 minutes, but check after 15 just to be sure
  11. Put cupcakes on a rack until completely cooled

Now is a good time to revisit my previously mentioned lesson: Know Your Bakeware. I cooked 12 of these in my silicone Kitchenaid muffin pan; it was a wedding present and has never failed me. I also cooked 12 of these in my heart shaped stand-alone silicone muffin cups from Wilton. Although these worked beautifully for the cherry limeade cupcakes, something went horribly wrong here. See?

Lovely, right? I honestly have no idea what happened here. I used a scoop, so they were all filled with the same amount of batter. Any ideas? The only thing I did differently this time was to put paper liners in the silicone cups. Anyway, the good news is that all but four of them were salvageable with a little cleanup and a good cover of icing.

Speaking of icing! I used Wilton’s buttercream icing.

You will need:

  • 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine softened
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract (I don’t use the Wilton-recommended clear, just the regular stuff)
  • 4 cups sifted* powdered sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
  • 2 tablespoons milk

*A note on sifting: I hate sifting. So I don’t do it. A few seconds whirring around in the food processor breaks up any clumps, aerates the sugar and doesn’t make me want to spork my eyeballs out the way a sifter does.

To mix it up:

  1. In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer
  2. Add vanilla and mix again
  3. Gradually add sugar, about 1/4 cup at a time, beating well on medium speed — adding it gradually helps incorporate it really well and keep it from being at all grainy when you’re done
  4. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often (unless you have a cool Beater Blade. Which I don’t. Humph.)
  5. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.

Now ice away to your heart’s content! I used disposable icing bags from Wilton, and a fantastic giant star tip I ordered on Etsy from Bake It Pretty. And it is giant. Here it is next to a 1-cup measuring cup:

So, the finished product:

I set aside a few of these (including the four Fail Cupcakes) for us to enjoy at home, and the rest I took to The Yankee at work today in my awesome carrier from Costco:

And that’s it! Go bake, people! Oh, unless you have a brilliant theory as to what caused Cupcake Fail, in which case please leave me a comment and then go bake.