Favorite Framed Cooks Recipes of 2011!

One of the things I always try and do at the end of the year is make sense of the towering pile of recipes for things I have made over the past year.  Many of them get filed into my gigantic binders, some of them get tossed out, and there are a handful that I put aside into yet another pile because they were so scrumptious that I have to make them again, and SOON.  And while I was being all organized about this, I thought I would pick my very favorites from the past year to share with you...one in each of the major food categories.

So, drum roll please...here are my very very favorites.  All of these have links back to the original post...just click the recipe title and off you go.  ( One quick note for my wonderful readers who have already bookmarked or pinned these recipes...my blog is going through some re-formatting, so if you could re-bookmark or re-pin, that would be terrific!)

 And so here we go, starting with:

Favorite Appetizer: Mini Bacon Herb Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

This super-easy appetizer is one of those savory cupcake deals that gets me every time.  They have a teeny bit of herb in them, and of course...bacon!  That and the cream cheese frosting...oh yes.  Make more than you think you will need, because you will need that many.

Favorite Pasta: The Best Tomato Sauce in the World!

Okay, so this is technically a sauce recipe, but it goes over pasta, and I've made it at every possible opportunity over the past year...it's THAT good and THAT  easy.  You need to make this...you'll never even consider opening a jar of pasta sauce ever again.  Promise.

Favorite Chicken: Stacked Chicken Enchiladas

It's hard to get excited about chicken, I know...but add a few tortillas, some cheese and assorted other Tex-Mex flavors and my heart starts to beat faster.  This is a hearty meal, so be prepared to share with a friend.  Or friends.

Favorite Beef: Brisket Slow-Cooked in Coffee and Brown Sugar

I've never been a coffee drinker, and I've always been afraid of beef brisket.  So I don't know what possessed me to make this recipe...maybe it was the brown sugar.  Boy am I glad I did.

Favorite Seafood: Lemon Shrimp Scampi with Linguine

Shrimp is pretty much my seafood of choice...it's easy, reliable, relatively affordable (especially if you buy them at Costco, which has AMAZING seafood).  And when you pair it up with lemon and garlic and linguine - oh yeah.

Favorite Soup: Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

Soup, glorious soup!  This one has a nice little kick to it, and it also cooks in the slow cooker, which is extra added bonus points for any recipe, as far as I am concerned.

Favorite Veggie: Pan Roasted Baby Artichokes

This is so much more than a veggie recipe, because while you CAN make them as a side dish (and oh, I have!) you can also pour the artichokes and the delicious olive oil they cook in over pasta and you have an instant dinner.  Don't be afraid of the artichokes - use the baby ones and it's a snap.

Favorite Sandwich: Brie Croque Monsieur Sandwiches

Maybe the best sandwich I have ever made/photographed/eaten/dreamed about in my entire life.  Oh, this sandwich.

Favorite Dessert: Butterscotch Pudding

Butterscotch pudding is the Southern husband's fave, and I made him suffer through many, many, many duds before I finally hit the jackpot with this recipe.  Silky smooth butterscotch wonderfulness!

Favorite Bacon!: Cornmeal and Brown Sugar Crusted Bacon

You didn't think I was going to end this post without giving you my favorite bacon recipe, did you???  This is not only my favorite of 2011, it's my favorite of FOREVER.  Happy bacon sigh.

See you next year!

Creamy Slow Cooker Chicken with Biscuits

Is there anything better than warm, wonderful, comforting chicken with biscuits?

Yes!  Super-duper-easy chicken with biscuits cooked in the slow cooker and then finished with a little bit of cream and some baby peas so that it is tender and creamy and perfect.  In this recipe, you cook up a batch of biscuits right before you are ready to serve the chicken, split them in half, and put the bottom half of each biscuit in each bowl.  Ladle the chicken over the top, and then top with the biscuit top.  I like to break it into a few pieces to spread the biscuit merriment around.  

A few words about biscuits, since we are on the subject.  You can take the easiest route and just buy some at the supermarket ready-made...they will be just fine if you heat 'em up in the microwave.  You can take the second easiest route and make the kind in the tube.  Let's face it - we all love those.  You can make super-easy drop biscuits out of Bisquick.  The recipe is on the box, and they are always great.

Or, you can finally rise to the challenge that the Southern husband has been tossing down in front of you for years, and make true Southern biscuits like his mama did.  For this, you have to hunt down one particular type of flour that is only available in the South.  This works out much better for a Yankee like me if you have a teenager going to college in South Carolina (go you Clemson Tigers!  Orange Bowl!  Woot!)  

And that is White Lily flour.  I got me some.

If you don't live down South, you can find it by clicking here.  And I do have to say, they did turn into lovely light golden biscuits.  Yum, yum.  So start those slow cookers, because now that we are heading into the heart of winter, it's definitely chicken and biscuit season.  Mmmmmm.

• 
  
• 
  
• Creamy Slow Cooker Chicken with Biscuits, adapted from Real Simple
• 
  
• 3/4 pound carrots (about 4), cut into 1-inch lengths
• 2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 8)
• 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 6 biscuits, split
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 
  

1. In a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker, toss together the carrots, celery, onion, and flour. Place the chicken on top and season with the poultry seasoning, 1 teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Add the wine and broth.
2. Cover and cook until the chicken and vegetables are tender, on low for 5 to 6 hours or on high for 2 1⁄2 to 3 hours (this will shorten total cooking time).
3. Thirty minutes before serving, prepare the biscuits.
4. Ten minutes before serving, remove the chicken and shred into bite sized pieces.  Return chicken to slow cooker and add the peas, cream, and ½ teaspoon salt and stir to combine. Cover and cook until heated through, 5 to 10 minutes more.
5. To serve, place the bottom halves of the biscuits in shallow bowls, then top with the chicken mixture and the remaining biscuit halves.

Print this!

We Now Pause To Say Thank You!

It's Christmas! and so instead of my usual recipe, I wanted to take this particular post and devote it to one thing and one thing only, which is to say thank you.  It's been an amazing year for Framed Cooks, and it's because of all the incredible love and support I've gotten.

Thank you to all you wonderful readers out there who take the time to read my blog, leave me comments and send me emails.  You have no idea how much all your sweet notes and suggestions mean to me.

Thank you to everyone who has shared my posts on Pinterest and StumbleUpon and all those other places you visit.  I've found so many other fantastic recipes and cooks and writers from following you all to the places where you share my posts, and it's been a heck of a lot of fun.

Thank you to everyone who has visited me on the FramedCooks Facebook and Tumblr pages and said all those great things you say.  I read and love every single comment and post and question.  Keep 'em coming, please!

Framed Cooks has been such an adventure for me...partly because of the chance to share my photography and cooking adventures, but mainly because of how many people I have met, both in person and via your comments and emails, who have kept me going post after post after post.  I'm a lucky girl, and so one more time...thank you.  

Hope your holidays are merry ones, and here's to a delicious New Year...I'm looking forward to sharing it with you!  Let's start by eating cookies!!

Aglio e Olio

Okay, we are in the eye of the Holiday Hurricane, and it's a whirlwind of eggnog, roast beast, champagne, peppermint bark, canapes, and mountains and mountains of cookies.  From party to party, wrapping and unwrapping, and sending whatever licensed driver happens to be nearby to the supermarket for just one more thing.

Can you drive yet?  No?  Are you sure?  Okay, I'll have to find someone else.



Not you.

Anyway, I promise you that in the midst of all this merriment, there WILL be a meal or two where you aren't supposed to be cooking fancy stuff for a crowd, or being part of the crowd for whom fancy stuff is being cooked.  And much as we love all of that, the lulls in between are a little bit of a relief, and that's when you need something easy and delicious and simple.  Something for which you probably have all the stuff in your pantry, so you don't have to brave the supermarket.

That's where this pretty much perfect pasta dish called Aglio e Olio comes in.  (Or Aglio y Olio, depending on where you look.  Once again, I am an Irish-American girl venturing out onto shaky ground here.)  What I  can tell you with complete confidence is that if you have a chance in all the hustle and bustle to have a simple comforting dish of something simple for supper, this has your name on it.  It's a quick concoction of garlic cooked in olive oil, tossed with a whole lot of fresh chopped parsley and grated parmesan cheese.  It's ready in about 20 minutes, and after you have a bowl of this I think you might agree with me that there's nothing else in the world that is quite this relaxing.

Maybe taking a nap with your dog in your Christmas socks is more relaxing than aglio e olio.  But that's it.

Merry happy ho-ho-ho!!!

Aglio e Olio, from Ina Garten's HOW EASY IS THAT

Kosher salt
1 lb  spaghetti
1/3 cup good olive oil
8 large garlic cloves, cut into thin slivers
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add 2 tablespoons of salt and the pasta and cook according to the directions on the package.  Set aside 1 1/2 cups of the pasta cooking water before you drain the pasta.

2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a pot large enough to hold the pasta, such as a 12-inch saute pan or a large, shallow pot.  Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until it just begins to turn golden on the edges – don’t overcook it!  Add the red pepper flakes and cook for 30 seconds more.  Carefully add the reserved pasta-cooking water to the garlic and oil and bring to a boil.  Lower the heat, add 1 teaspoon of salt and simmer for about 5 minutes, until the liquid is reduced by about a third.

3. Add the drained pasta to the garlic sauce and toss.  Off the heat, add the parsley and Parmesan cheese and toss well.  Allow the pasta to rest off the heat for 5 minutes for the sauce to be absorbed.  Taste for seasoning and serve warm with extra Parmesan on the side.

Print this!

Reindeer Crunch!

Okay, so if you are still looking around for one more holiday treat to make, this might be it.  The title of this recipe is Reindeer Crunch, and when I mentioned that I would be making it, one of my vigilant Facebook readers asked if I would be using real reindeer.

Nope.  No reindeer were harmed in the making of this recipe.  No deer of ANY kind were involved in the making of this recipe, even though I have flocks of them living in my yard.  (Flocks?  Herds?  Gaggles?  Whatever the right phrase is for lots and lots of deer...that's what I've got.  It's gotten so that they will now pose for the camera.)

Anyway, I'm guessing reindeer might like to actually crunch some of this stuff, because it is made with popcorn and mixed nuts that have been coated in a brown sugar glaze, baked, and then drizzled with melted chocolate.

I now have to go on a brief rant about melting chocolate.  I seem to be completely incapable of melting chocolate without having it seize up (which means, having it melt and then instantaneously transform into a totally unusable clod of solid, grainy chocolate mess).  I've tried everything...the microwave at the defrost setting, melting it carefully over a double boiler...for some reason, it just won't work for me.  So thank goodness for candy melts, which are somehow made in a way that is especially designed for melting.  You can get them in bags of all different colors at Michael's craft stores, or you can find them by clicking here.  I always keep a bag of them on hand just for moments like this when I NEED to make things like reindeer crunch.  But if you are good at melting chocolate, go ahead and use regular chocolate chips, and please tell me your secret.

Anyway, that's my Reindeer Crunch tale...be careful with this stuff.  It's impossible to take just one bite!

Reindeer Crunch, from CHRISTMAS WITH SOUTHERN LIVING 2011

• 12 cups plain popped popcorn
• 1 1/2 cups salted mixed nuts
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 12 ounces chocolate chips or chocolate candy melts

1. Preheat over to 250.
2. Combine popcorn and nuts in large bowl
3. Melt butter in medium heavy saucepan.  Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup and salt and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.  Boil for 5 minutes, stirring now and then.  Stir in vanilla.
4. Working quickly and carefully (sugar mixture is super-hot!), pour sugar mixture over popcorn and nuts.  Stir with a wooden spoon until coated.
5. Spread mixture in a single layer on  two lightly greased two baking pans.  Bake at 250 for 30 minutes, stirring once.
6. Cool in pans on wire racks for 15 minutes and break into chunks.
7. Melt chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave (if you use the microwave, melt on 50% power for 30 second increments, stirring after each 30 seconds until melted).  Drizzle melted chocolate over popcorn.
8. Cool until chocolate hardens (this goes faster in the fridge.)  Store in airtight container.

Print this!

Crostini with Roast Beef and Pomegranate

Okay, so right about now my frame of mind is as follows.

I still love and adore the holidays.  The Christmas tree, the holiday music on the radio, the daily cards that the mailman brings, the annual viewing of Love Actually, etc etc etc.  I love anything that has to do with the holidays that I either don't have to do myself, or is already DONE.  Second to that I like anything that I still have to do that is easy.  In last place are the one million things I still have to do that seemed like a great and festive idea back in November, but that are long and complicated. 

This particular appetizer recipe falls into Category Two - you still have to do it (unless you can recruit someone, which is always a beautiful thing), but it is pretty much as easy as it comes, and is currently tied for first place with the fig and cheese bites as my current favorite nibble before the main event.   If you have a supermarket that sells pomegranate seeds that are already taken out of the pomegranate for you (thank you Fairway!) you are looking at about 10 minutes to assemble this thing.  If you have to seed your own pomegranate you will need another 10 minutes or so, but this is an activity that can definitely be done while watching Love Actually, which will make things go very fast, believe me.

Here's the scoop: slice a nice thin baguette into thin pieces, brush them with a little olive oil and pop them in the oven until they are nice and golden - about 10 minutes.  Once they are out and cool, top them with a little bit of thin sliced roast beef from the deli counter, a dollop of sour cream, a few pomegranate seeds and a couple of sliced scallion bits.  If you are feeling really crazy you can grind a little fresh pepper on top.

That's it.  You are done.

Now, how many other things on your holiday list can you say THAT about?

Crostini with Roast Beef and Pomegranate, from Real Simple

• 24 thin slices baguette (from 1 small loaf)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 ounces thinly sliced roast beef
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
• 1 scallion, thinly sliced
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 
  
• Heat oven to 400° F. Place the baguette slices on a baking sheet and brush both sides of the bread with the oil. Bake until golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes per side.
• 
  
• Dividing evenly, top the toasted baguette slices with the roast beef, sour cream, pomegranate seeds, and scallion; season with ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper.
• 
  

Print this!

Fettuccine with Sweet Potatoes, Bacon and Rosemary

Okay, so today is my birthday.  It's a birthday that ends in a zero.  Which was wildly exciting when I turned ten, but let's just say I'm not turning ten.  And so I need bacon.  Not want.  NEED.   And pasta.   And I need you to eat some with me, and so here we go.

For this one you will need a sweet potato, and this seems like a good time to ask, does anyone REALLY know the difference between a sweet potato and a yam?  I've now reached the ripe old age of ?0, and I'm not really sure what the difference is...but I do know that when I made this baby I used a sweet potato and it turned out pretty delectably, and that's what matters most to me.

Anyway, peel up a sweet potato and dice it up into nice small pieces.  Smash up a couple of cloves of garlic, and cook the potato and the garlic in some olive oil until they are nice and tender.  Meanwhile, boil up a pot of your favorite pasta...I went for a nice wide fettuccine.  Make sure you scoop out a cup-ful of the pasta water before you dump it out, because it is going to help you make a nice easy sauce.

While your pasta and potatoes are cooking away on the stove, pop a few pieces of bacon on a baking pan and cook them in the oven until they are nice and crispy, and when they are done, drain them on some paper towels and crumble them into pieces.  If it's your birthday, cook up an extra slice or two, just for extra bacon fun...you only go around once.

Now it's time to put the whole thing together.  Toss the potatoes and garlic into the pot of drained pasta, and add in a good amount of grated parmesan cheese.  Mix it all up together over low heat, pouring in a little of the reserved pasta water to make a nice light sauce.  Once it is all nice and saucy, add in the bacon and a little chopped rosemary, give it one more good toss, and divide it among plates.  Sprinkle a little more grated parmesan on top, grind on some fresh pepper, and dig in.

If you added enough bacon, it's almost enough to make you feel ten again.  :)

Fettuccine with Sweet Potatoes, Bacon and Rosemary

• Two sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
• Two cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
• Three tablespoons olive oil
• 12 ounces fettuccine
• 6 slices bacon
• 1 cup freshly grated parmesan, plus extra for garnish
• 1/4 cup freshly chopped rosemary
• Fresh ground pepper

1. Preheat over to 425 and cook bacon on a baking sheet until crisp, about 10 minutes.

2. Cook pasta in salted boiling water until done.  Reserve one cup pasta water before draining.

3. Heat olive oil in skillet over medium high heat.  Add sweet potato and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until potato is tender.

4. Add potato mixture and cheese to pot of drained pasta and cook over medium-low heat, adding pasta water in small increments, until cheese is melted and the sauce is a nice light consistency.  Only use as much water as you need.

5. Add bacon and rosemary (saving back a little rosemary for garnish) and toss again.

6. Divide among four plates and sprinkle some more cheese and rosemary on top, and grind some fresh black pepper on top.  Serve at once.

Print this!

Creamy Roquefort and Warm Bacon Dressing

I don't know about you, but the salad course of any fancy dinner always tends to stump me.  So since we are right in the midst of fancy dinner season, I thought I would share one of my tried and true ones.  It never lets me down, for two important reasons.

1. Fabulous and easy blue cheese dressing.

2. BACON.

As far as I'm concerned, many of the world's problems can be easily solved by adding bacon, but that's just me.  Meanwhile, aside from the wonderfulness of the bacon, the dressing is one of best I've come across in a long while.  It calls for a good amount of blue cheese (and please get the good stuff.  Go to the cheese section of your favorite deli and ask them for their favorite Roquefort.  They'll probably even give you a sample piece to try - bonus points!!)

But it also calls for a bunch of other wonderful stuff, like mustard, and garlic, and creme fraiche (and if you can't find creme fraiche, sour cream will work just fine.)  

Now once you have your dressing all mixed up, prep your lettuce however you like it.  The classic way is to take a head of romaine and cut it into wedges (if you do it this way, cut off the top inch or two of the leaves as they can tend to be a little bitter).  In the photo above, I just went ahead and ripped the lettuce into bite-sized pieces.  I'm not sure why...I might just have been in a rip the lettuce to shreds mood.  

Anyway, here comes the best part.  Right before you are ready to serve the salad, take a few pieces of thick-cut bacon and cut it into pieces, and cook it up until it is just the right amount of crispy.  Drain it for just a minute, and while you are doing that, put the lettuce on the plate and drizzle the dressing over it.  Now sprinkle it with warm bacon pieces.  Yep.  Warm. Bacon. Pieces.  I'm drooling as I type, just from the memory of it all.  Now sprinkle a little crumbled blue cheese over the top, and you are ready to serve it.

You might not even have to bother with that pesky main course after all.

Creamy Roquefort and Warm Bacon Dressing, from Ile de France

* 2 Tbsp. rice wine or white wine vinegar
* 2 tsp. sugar
* 1 tsp. dry mustard
* 8 oz. Roquefort, crumbled (about 2 cups), divided
* 1 small clove garlic, crushed
* 7 oz. créme fraîche (about 1 cup)
* 1/2 cup mayonnaise
* 4 slices thick-cut bacon, sliced crosswise into 1/2" pieces
* 4 large romaine lettuce hearts, halved lengthwise

* In a medium bowl, stir together vinegar, sugar and mustard until dissolved. Add 1/2 cup Roquefort, mashing and blending into mixture until almost smooth.

* Stir in garlic, crème fraîche and mayonnaise until well blended, then stir in one cup Roquefort.

* In a medium skillet, cook bacon until crisp; remove and drain. Spoon dressing over romaine hearts, then top with bacon and remaining 1/2 cup Roquefort.

Print this!

Rosemary Apple Butter Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Mmmmm, grilled cheese sandwiches.  I love 'em.  Everything from the old classic American on white to my highest achievement in grilled cheese sandwich-dom, the Brie Croque Monsieur.  Oh, what a sandwich that was.  I still have dreams about it.

Anyway, I ran across this recipe on the very wonderful blog The Professional Palate, and not only did it look scrumptious, it called for apple butter.  For some reason, people tend to give me a lot of apple butter.  Which is perfectly fine, because I do like me some apple butter, but because of that I always have some in the house.  At this particular moment, the jar of apple butter I had in my pantry was this guy.

It reminded me of the Southern husband, so I decided this was a sign that I should make us these sandwiches for lunch last weekend.  That and the fact that I had all other ingredients hanging around.  That always has a big impact on what we have for lunch.  Dinner I plan ahead for...lunch, not so much.

It also calls for fresh rosemary, which I also have.  It's migrated inside now that it is chilly out at night, but here's the pretty picture I took of it last summer.

Bread, cheddar cheese, butter...ready to roll.  The original recipe calls for several kinds of cheese, and if I ever manage to be organized about lunch and plan ahead, I'm sure it is even better that way.  But I had my usual hunk of fabulous Cabot sharp cheddar in my fridge, so that's what we had.

Butter the bread on one side, and spread apple butter on the other.  Go easy on the apple butter, otherwise it will taste like an apple butter sandwich.  Put your cheese slices and fresh rosemary on the apple butter side, and pop them in a nonstick pan over medium to medium high heat.  Cook them slowly and lovingly until they are a beautiful golden brown, flip them over and repeat.  Let them rest a minute or so, so that you can cut them in half without all the cheese oozing out onto the plate, and there you go - perfect and different grilled cheese sandwich.  

Have I mentioned that I love grilled cheese?

Rosemary Apple Butter Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, adapted from The Professional Palate

2 slices of your favorite bread
One teaspoon butter, softened
1 tablespoon apple butter
One teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves
Thinly sliced extra-sharp Cheddar cheese 

Smooth butter over one side of each bread slice; top other sides evenly with apple butter. Sprinkle rosemary over the side of the bread that is coated with apple butter. Top with sliced cheese and remaining bread slice, buttered side up.  

Heat nonstick griddle over medium-high heat. When hot, turn down heat to medium and grill sandwich 5 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

Print this!

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Tis the season of cookie baking!  And this time of year, the bigger and grander and merrier, the better.  This cookie recipe is a ridiculously good mash-up of a few of my favorite things: caramel, chocolate (and chocolate in CHUNKS, thank you very much), with a teeny bit of sea salt sprinkled on top to give them that sweet and slightly salty thing that drives me out of my mind.  In a good way.  Not in a how on earth am I going to get everything done before Christmas Eve way.

Anyway, this recipe comes from the Picky Palate site, which is always my first stop when I get a craving  for over-the-top desserts of any kind, and these were no exception.  The original recipe calls for making them in muffin top pans (yes, these are BIG cookies), but even with all the mountains of stuff I have in my kitchen, I didn't have a muffin top pan.  But did I let that stop me?  Goodness, no.  I just scooped them out onto cookie sheets in the vague shape of muffin tops, and they baked up just fine.

So, since we are in the season of holiday parties and cookie swaps and general chocolate-covered mayhem, if you are looking for a serious cookie, give these babies a try.  

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chunk Cookies, from Picky Palate

2 sticks softened butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 Tablespoons pure vanilla

1/4 cup caramel sauce

3 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

12 oz bag mini chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups chocolate chunks or chunk-size chopped good quality chocolate
Sea salt

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In a stand or electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars until well combined.  Beat in the eggs and vanilla following the caramel sauce until well combined.

2.  Place the flour, salt and baking soda into a large bowl; mix.  Slowly add to wet ingredients then add the mini chocolate chips.   

3.  Place 1/4 cup of cookie dough on a cookie sheet.  Press down then sprinkle with a pinch or two of sea salt then press chocolate chunks over top.  Bake for 12-15 minutes or until just golden around edges.  Remove and let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Print this!

Tomato Soup with Poached Eggs

I don't know about you, but I pretty much think that there are very few things out there that can't be made better by adding a poached egg to them.  Poached eggs on top of mashed potatoes? Poached eggs on top of pasta with a little parmesan cheese?  A poached egg on top of...wait for it...a nice steaming hot bowl of Cream of Wheat?  Yes please, and thank you!

Until I made this recipe, I think one of the few things on earth I hadn't put a poached egg into or onto was soup.  And I'm not sure why, because what that lets you do is actually poach the egg IN the soup.  So not only are you getting a poached egg in your soup, you are getting a poached egg that has absorbed a little of the delicious garlicky tomato soup as it is being poached.  It's just plain perfect, right?

And if all that wasn't enough, this recipe calls for toasting up a nice big piece of garlic bread and putting it in the soup bowl first, and then ladling the tomato soup with poached egg over it.  Drizzle a little good olive oil over the whole thing, toss a few basil leaves in if you've got 'em, and all is right with the world. You break into that nice poached egg with your spoon, and the creamy egg mixes with the soup and the soft garlicky bread and, well, you get the idea.  Poached eggs...they make everything wonderful!

Tomato Soup with Poached Eggs, from Whole Living

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for toast and drizzling
• 3 to 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced, plus one clove for toast
• Pinch hot red pepper flakes
• 1 28 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes, coarsely chopped, with juice
• 3 cups water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4 large eggs
• 4 slices rustic bread
• Shredded basil, for garnish (optional)
• 
  

1. In a straight-sided skillet over medium heat, cook the oil, garlic, and pepper flakes until garlic is just beginning to turn golden, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes,water, salt, and pepper.
2. Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer covered for 10 minutes.
3. Crack one egg into a small bowl. Carefully lower edge of bowl into simmering liquid,allowing egg to slip into pot. Repeat with remaining eggs. Cover pot and cook until whites are cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, brush bread with oil and broil until golden; rub with garlic. Place one slice in each of four shallow bowls; sprinkle with basil. Spoon soup and poached eggs over toast, drizzle with a little more
   oil, and serve immediately.
   
   
   

   Print this!

Cucumber Feta Toasts

   

In the midst of the holiday season it feels sometimes like we are going from party to party to party, eating all the way.  This is further complicated by the fact that my birthday is in the middle of December.  So is the teenager's.  So is our anniversary.  Thank goodness the Southern husband was born in May, because one more celebratory dessert might just push us all over the edge.

On those handful of days where we DON'T have somewhere festive to go, I always like slipping in a dinner that is a little bit lighter than usual, in a feeble effort to balance things out, and this is one of my favorites.  Not only is it nice and light, but it's ready in a jiffy.  All you do is take a nice thin french baguette and split it in half length-wise.  Brush it with a little olive oil and pop it in a hot oven or a toaster until it is golden brown.

While your baguette is toasting, mash up some nice feta cheese with a little lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper (being careful with the salt, depending on how salty your feta cheese is).  Now spread the feta mixture on the bread, top it with thin cut cucumber slices, drizzle it with some nice olive oil and grind some pepper on top.  Cut it into sections and voila!  Perfect light and tasty supper.  

We now return you to your whirl of holiday parties!

Cucumber Feta Toasts, from Everyday Food

• • 1/2 baguette
  • 2 teaspoons plus 4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3 ounces feta
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  • Coarse salt and ground pepper
  • 1 small English cucumber, thinly sliced crosswise

1. Preheat oven or toaster oven to 450 degrees. Split baguette lengthwise and lightly brush cut sides with 2 teaspoons olive oil. Bake until golden around edges, 5 minutes. 
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mash together feta, 4 teaspoons oil, and lemon juice with a fork. Season with salt and pepper. Spread feta mixture evenly over toasted baguette and top with cucumber. 
3. Season with salt, pepper, lemon juice, and a drizzle of oil. Cut into pieces to serve.

Print this!

Fettuccine Alfredo Without All The Guilt

I do love a good heaping plate of fettuccine alfredo.   Alfredo, for those of you who don't already know, basically includes three ingredients.  Parmesan cheese.  Heavy cream.  And butter.  Lots of parmesan cheese, lots of heavy cream, lots of butter.  Over wide ribbons of pasta.  Listen, there's a reason it tastes so dang good...you could drench yesterday's newspaper in parmesan cheese and cream and butter and it would be delicious.

However, there is a price to pay for all this succulence, and that price will come back to haunt you when you try and button your favorite Levis if you have the classic fettuccine alfredo too often.  And since life is just too short to go for long without regular doses of fettuccine alfredo, we need a work-around.  When I came across this recipe for a lightened up version, I knew things were looking up.  The only issue was that it was a little TOO lightened up.  I've included the original link with the recipe, but let's just say that it went from heavy cream all the way over to skim milk, among other things.  I'm all for lightening, but I figured there was a happy medium somewhere in between heavy cream and milk that looks, well, blue.  (It does!  Take a good long look at some skim milk in the light...it's got a definite blue tinge.  That's just not okay.)

Anyway.  Part of the lightening up here is that we are taking out some of the pasta and tossing in some nice crunchy broccoli instead.  You don't HAVE to do this part, but it's actually pretty great tasting.  The significant lightening, however, comes in the reworked sauce.  The parmesan cheese is still there, but the  nice thick and creamy buttery sauce comes not from heavy cream, but from a mixture of lowfat milk that has been thickened up with a little flour and about one millionth the amount of butter that alfredo usually calls for.

Does it taste like classic alfredo?  Are we making whomever invented fettuccine alfredo spin in their grave?  Not exactly, and absolutely.  But it IS nicely creamy and cheesy and scrumptious, and if you make this one most of the time when you get that fettuccine alfredo jones, you are allowed to make the real one every tenth time or so.  This way both you and YOUR Levis are happy.

• Fetteccine Alfredo Without All The Guilt, adapted from Real Simple
• 
  
• 12 ounces fettuccine
• 1 head broccoli, cut into florets, stalk peeled and sliced
• 1 1/2 cups 1 percent milk
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
• kosher salt

1. Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain.

2. Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the broccoli until tender, 3 minutes. Drain.

3. Heat the milk and butter in a large saucepan over low heat and slowly whisk in the flour. Simmer until slightly thickened, whisking constantly, 1 to 2 minutes.

4. Remove from heat and stir in the Parmesan and ½ teaspoon salt. Add the pasta and broccoli and cook, stirring, over low heat until heated through.

5. Top each serving with extra Parmesan.

Print this!