Potato Puffs

This is a recipe that's been in one of my files for YEARS (from Food Network Magazine, December 2013!) I finally made them. A little time consuming, though not difficult. Very similar to making choux pastry (pâte à choux); maybe somewhat healthier with the potatoes, but less so due to deep frying. Makes me wonder about trying to bake them instead -- like choux pastry. Maybe... It would be healthier (and easier just to pop them in the oven) and easier since the challenge is maintaing the oil temp so these cook all the way through (without soaking up much oil!) and are golden brown on the outside, not too dark. 

Ingredients
1 lb russest potatoes, peeled
¼ C whole milk
4 T butter
½ C flour
1 egg
3 egg yolks
salt
oil for deep frying

Directions - Food Network recipe & directions here
If I retry this recipe (or something close) and bake them...I'll update this post with directions of my own.

Thai Chicken Dipping Sauce

Inspired by a few different recipes (mostly Thai) for dipping sauces for chicken, this balances sweet, salty, umami, sour and spicy...  YUM!

(The photo is actually of Japanese Fried Chicken...)

Ingredients
3 T vinegar
3 T brown sugar
2 T shallots, minced
1 (sm) garlic clove, minced
2 T lime juice
¾ tsp fish sauce
1 Thai chili (birds eye chili), minced*
pinch white pepper

Directions
Combine everything in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stirring to make sure sugar dissolves. Simmer gently 3-5 minutes -- just to infuse the flavors from the shallot and garlic. Cool. If desired, puree.


* To be honest, the first time I made this (during Covid-19 quarantine), I did not have a Thai chili and wasn't about to rush out to the grocery store for this one item. I used a squirt of Sriracha to add a spicy kick.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

I was originally inspired to try a peanut butter cake after seeing a peanut butter & banana cupcake combination. That would probably be worth trying too, but I had chocolate ready to use up, so I went that direction this time.

I wasn't sure if these would have strong enough peanut butter flavor -- there's not that much peanut butter. The peanut oil helps bump up the flavor, and it does come through (though I might still like it stronger). I filled these with a little dark chocolate pudding, frosted them with a chocolate French buttercream, and rolled the edges in chopped peanuts.

Ingredients
½ C creamy peanut butter
1 C sugar (I use brown)
1 t vanilla
2 eggs
3 T peanut oil
¼ C applesauce
1½ C flour
2 t baking powder
¾ t baking soda
½ t salt
1 C buttermilk

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°.

Cream sugar and peanut butter. Add vanilla and eggs, mixing until light and fluffy. Stir in oil and applesauce.

Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add alternately with buttermilk until well combined.

Divide batter evenly in 24 muffin cups; do not overfill! Bake 15-18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Avgolemono (?) Greek lemon-egg soup...or Sauce

Hmmm...not sure how enthusiastic I am about lemon-egg soup. But...slightly thicker, as a sauce...it was good over broccoli! But I saw a avgolemono soup recipe presented as a sauce in a magazine (Cooking Light, if I remember correctly, but it was years ago), so I found a recipe, reduced it (I don't need a ton of it, used as a sauce), thickened it a bit and...here you go!

Ingredients
2/3 C chicken stock
1 egg
2 tsp lemon zest
2½ tsp lemon juice
pinch salt
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions
Heat the chicken stock in a saucepan to just simmering. Meanwhile, whisk together everything else except the olive oil until very light and frothy. Whisk, whisk, whisk!

Temper the egg mixture by slowly adding a little of the hot chicken broth at a time while continuing to whisk. Add about half the chicken broth this way, then slowly add the tempered egg mixture back into the saucepan, whisking continuously.

Reheat the mixture just until it thickens (don't boil it!). Remove from heat and whisk in the olive oil.

Royal Icing ...and... Rosemary Shortbread Cookies

These recipes need not be made in combination. I certainly didn't intend them to be perceived that way. I'm only posting them like this because (idiot that I was)...I completely forgot to snap a picture of the cookies before covering them with the icing!

The shortbread cookies are a pretty basic shortbread recipe...with finely chopped rosemary. I'd love to try other herbs that may make the crossover between sweet and savory, but this is where I started -- likely because my rosemary plant is the only one really flourising so far this spring.

The royal icing is also a recipe that's a combination of 3 different royal icing recipes I had - one I found in a baking & pastry textbook, one from this past year's Fall Conference for FCS educators, and one from Allrecipes.com. Trying to take the best of each and arrive at a balanced final product that tasted okay and was a good, workable consistency.

These cookies were my first attempts with royal icing -- usually I'm a buttercream girl! Piled on a plate (where I can hide my less than stellar first attempts on the bottom layer!) they look decent enough if you don't look too closely. At least they were a sweet, bright spot for Easter. (I realized I have no egg shaped cooking cutter!)

Royal Icing Ingredients
1 lb powdered sugar
2 T meringue powder
½ t cream of tartar
5 T water; additional water for 'flooding' consistency
1 T vanilla (or lemon juice)
gel food coloring (s)

Royal Icing Directions
Blend powdered sugar, meringue powder, and cream of tartar. (I throw in a dash of salt as well.) Mix vanilla with 4 T water; blend into powdered sugar mixture. For a good outlining consistency, the icing should run in thick ribbons from the mixing spoon into the bowl, disappearing into the surface in abouat 10 seconds. Add the remaining tablespoon of water if needed.

Divide the icing into smaller bowls before mixing with food coloring(s) for multiple colors. If you only have liquid food colors, just remember that they will thin your icing - especially if you go for brighter or darker colors and not pastels, so adjust the water content accordingly. Outline cookies or areas to be filled with each color using a piping bag with a small round tip (or...use a disposable plastic sandwich bag and snip a tiny corner off). Save some icings at piping/outlining consistency to add details over flooding (once set), if desired. Then...

Add additional water (a LITTLE at a time) to achieve flooding consistency. Fill outlined areas with thinned icing, spreading gently to fill out to edges as needed.

Rosemary Shortbread Cookie Ingredients
1 C butter, diced
½ C powdered sugar (granulated sugar works fine too)
1 T finely chopped rosemary
2 C flour
½ t salt
1 tsp vanilla

Shortbread Cookie Directions
Preheat oven to 300 F°.

Cream butter with sugar and rosemary; add salt and vanilla, blending until well incorporated. Add flower, mixing on low speed until dough just comes together.

Roll or press to  inch thick; slice into squares or cut with cookie cutters. Gently gather scraps, re-roll and cut...

Bake until bottoms are just beginning to brown (about 30 minutes).

Spicy-Lime Crispy Chickpeas

This is really a combo of two ideas...Cooking Light recently published a chili-lime roasted chickpea recipe. It sounded good, butI knew I already had a roasted, crispy chickpea recipe; so I didn't rip out or save CL's recipe, just used my own, but seasoned them with chili powder, sea salt and lime zest. Crispy-crunchy, spicy-zesty snack!

Ingredients
1 15-ounce cans chickpeas
1 Tbls olive oil
1 tsp  sea salt
1 tsp chili powder
2+ tsp lime zest

Directions
Preheat oven to 400˚F. Rinse and drain chickpeas; place on clean kitchen towel or several paper towels and pat dry. Lightly coat a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray. (Line it with parchment or foil for easy clean-up!)

In medium bowl, toss chickpeas with olive oil. Sprinkle with sea salt and chili powder; toss ot coat evenly. Spread in a single layer on coated baking sheet.

Bake 1 hour, shaking pan halfway through. Let cool thoroughly; chickpeas become crunchier as they cool. Sprinkle or toss with lime zest.

Enjoy!

Spiced Chicken with Shallots & Grapes

What I've fixed was significantly inspired by a recipe in Cooking Light.  I didn't have exactly the ingredients they indicated, and substituted a few things.  Also, the photo is my "reduced for one serving" prep of the recipe; the amounts below will feed at least 4, up to 6.

Ingredients
1-2 T olive oil
s & p
2 lb chicken pieces (about 1½ lb if boneless)
2 C seedless red grapes
1 C shallots, sliced
1 t cardamom
¼ t cumin
1/8  t cayenne
1 C chicken stock
2 T red wine vinegar
1 T butter
chopped parsley

Directions
Season chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large skillet; sear chicken until golden brown on both sides. Remove chicken from skillet; if needed, finish cooking chicken (to an internal temperature of 165°F) in the oven, covered.

Add shallots to hot skillet, stirring until soft and translucent. Add grapes; cook, stirring or shaking pan occasionally, until skins are somewhat charred and beginning to burst. Add cardamom, cumin, cayenne, stock and vinegar; cook until reduced by almost half. Add butter; season sauce to taste with salt and pepper.

Return chicken to skillet - presentation side up - to warm through. Garnish with chopped parsley just before serving.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread II

I already have a recipe for a honey-wheat bread, which is delicious. It has three different windows for rising and proofing. This version cuts it down to just two, one of which is only about half an hour. That may not be ideal for great textured bread, but working with students and classes that meet for little more than an hour a day...multiple rising and proofing steps present a challenge to fit into our schedule. So this will likely be the better option for that reason.

Ingredients:
1 T regular active dry yeast
¼ C warm water (105-115°F)
½ C honey
¼ C butter, softened
1 T salt
2½ C very warm water (120-130°F)
4½ C whole wheat flour
3 C AP flour

Directions
Dissolve yeast in ¼ C warm water (105-115°F). Let stand 5 minutes.

Blend in next 4 ingredients (honey, butter, salt, water). Add 3 cups whole wheat flour, stirring (or blending in electric mixer with dough hook attachment) until flour is thoroughly incorporated.

Add remaining whole wheat flour and AP flour a little at a time until dough pulls cleanly away from the sides of the bowl. Knead 5-10 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic. Grease a large bowl with non-stick spray or a bit of oil; turn dough in bowl to coat all sides. Cover; let rise in a warm place about 40 minutes, until doubled in size.

Coat 2 loaf pans with non-stick spray. Divide dough in half. Briefly knead to deflate, shaping dough into loaves. Place dough in pans; cover and let rise about 40 minutes again until doubled in size.

Heat oven to 375°F. Bake loaves 30 minutes. Reduce oven temp to 350°F; continue baking another 15 minutes or until loaves sound hollow when tapped. Remove from pans immediately to cooling racks.

Herbed Chevre Spread (or dip)

Depending on how much cream you add, this can be left as a thicker spread, or a looser dip. Suit yourself and your needs for the menu! (Note: the photo isn't mine - it's borrowed off the internet; I forgot to snap a picture when I last made this! Next time...)

Ingredients
3 - 6 T heavy cream
6 oz chevre, softened
3 - 4 T fresh herbs, finely chopped
     (rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, parsley, dill...*)
1 - 2 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
1 T lemon zest
s & p -- sea salt and freshly ground peppercorns recommended

* Any of these, and other, herbs will work, but maybe not all of them at once; too many and the flavors may get muddled.

Directions
In a small bowl, whip 3 T cream to soft peaks. Blend with chevre.  Stir in garlic, shallot, herbs and lemon zest. Season to taste with salt & pepper. If a looser dip is desired, thin with additional cream to desired consistency.

Serve with crackers, sliced vegetables, crostini...

Beef & Cheese Stuffed Manicotti

I can't imagine how this recipe hasn't gotten onto my blog earlier. Probably because it's easy to alter and adjust the stuffing with various ingredients, and I often make it without following any exact recipe. 

Ingredients
1 onion, diced
1 - 2 T olive oil
1 - 1½ lbs hamburger
s & p
½ green pepper, diced
½ red pepper, diced
3 - 5 garlic cloves, minced
32 oz ricotta cheese
8 oz grated parmesan (or cheddar, or other firm cheese)
8 oz sour cream
2 T Italian herbs - store bought mix, or your own favorites
64 oz spaghetti sauce
8-12 oz shredded mozzarella

Directions
Heat oil in skillet; add onions and cook until translucent. Add hamburger, cook until thoroughly browned. Salt and pepper to taste. (I often use garlic salt or onion salt for added flavor, and usually choose crushed red pepper flakes instead of black pepper.) Add garlic and diced peppers; heat through until very fragrant. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, combine ricotta, grated parmesan, sour cream and herbs.  Once beef and vegetables are cooled -- just enough so as not to melt cheeses -- combine them with ricotta mixture.

Pour a layer of spaghetti sauce on the bottom of a casserole dish. Stuff uncooked manicotti noodles, arranging them in the baking dish. Pour more spaghetti sauce over noodles; a second layer of stuffed manicotti may be added, or use a second casserole dish. Top with another layer of spaghetti sauce; sprinkle shredded mozzarella over tops.

Bake 1 hour at 325°F.
Casserole can also be frozen, and baked later.

Easy Soft Pretzels

These were always a fun favorite with my sister and brother and I when we were young. We weren't very good at twisting them into a traditional pretzel knot, but eagerly ate them up even if all we could manage were pretzel 'logs'.

Ingredients
1 pkg yeast
1 T sugar
1½ C warm water
4 C flour
2 t salt
1 egg, beaten
Optional: additional coarse salt for sprinkling

Directions
Mix yeast and sugar with warm water; let stand 5-10 minutes until bubbly. Add flour and salt, kneading until smooth and elastic. Shape on ungreased cookie sheet (lined with parchment for easy clean up!) Brush with beaten egg; sprinkle with coarse salt, if desired.

Let pretzel rest while oven preheats to 400°F. Bake 15 minutes (more or less depending on thickness of pretzel shapes) or until golden.

Serve with yellow mustard.

Zucchini Bread

Ingredients
3 eggs
2 C sugar
3 t vanilla
1 C oil
2 C zucchini, shredded
3 C flour
½ t baking powder
1 t salt
1 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
optional: 2 C chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly coat 2 loaf pans (9x5) with non-stick cooking spray; line with parchment paper if desired.

Beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar, vanilla and oil, blending well. Stir in zucchini.

In another bowl, combine dry ingredients; blend into zucchini-egg mixture. If desired, fold in chocolate chips.

Pour into prepared pans. Bake 1 hour.