Chi-Town Cooking Creations

Award Winning Pumpkin Chai Blondies

2010-11-12T05:52:00.001-08:00

That's right folks, these pumpkin treats won me first prize and the title "Best Baker" in my company's annual Chili Cook-off/Bake-off. Here I am with my trophy:

I saw this on Kelsey's blog about a month ago and her description sold me that these would be a winner. The one part of the recipe that I was nervous about was the crystallized ginger - I've never had it before and was worried it may be too strong a taste on top of the blondies. When Joe tried one though and said that he liked it (he never likes anything strange) I knew that it was fine!

The only change I made from Kelsey's recipe was to add pecans on top of mine along with the ginger. These would be a great contribution to a Thanksgiving dinner!

Pumpkin Chai Blondies
Source: Apple A Day

Ingredients:

For the blondies:

1 c. unsalted butter, softened

1 c. granulated sugar

3/4 c. dark brown sugar

4 large eggs

1 1/4 c. pumpkin puree

1 TBSP pure vanilla extract

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 tsp. ground cardamom

1/2 tsp. freshly-grated nutmeg

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 tsp. salt

1 c. toasted chopped pecans

1/4 c. crystallized ginger, finely chopped

For the frosting:

6 oz. cream cheese, softened

4 TBSP unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 c. confectioner's sugar

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground cardamom

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13x9-inch baking pan (preferably with square corners) with foil or parchment so you have an overhang on all four sides. Spray with baking spray.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about three minutes.

3. Decrease speed to medium and add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add pumpkin and vanilla, beating until combined.

4. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.

5. Add dry mixture to butter mixture, mixing only until combined. (Batter will be quite thick.) Stir in pecans.

6. Spoon batter into prepared baking pan and smooth with a spatula. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean. (The bars should be fulled cooked on the bottom and have a slightly undercooked texture near the top.) Place on top of a wire rack and allow to cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then lift out of pan and allow to cool completely.

7. To make the frosting, combine all ingredients in a bowl and beat on high speed until fluffy, about two minutes.

8. Frost blondies when they are completely cooled and top with crystallized ginger. Cut into 20-30 bars, depending on desired portion size. Store in a airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two days.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

2010-10-19T06:05:00.000-07:00

Jean jackets, sweaters, crockpotting, football, foilage, haunted houses, anything pumpkin (see previous post). You can now add these little devils to my long list of reasons why fall is my favorite season.

Ever since I made the Snicker's cupcakes, I had been wanting to make the caramel buttercream frosting again. This frosting is so addicting, both times I've made it I've ended up eating WAY to much frosting straight out of the bowl. It is that good.

I got the idea to make a caramel apple cupcake and went on the hunt for an apple cake recipe. I didn't have to look to far, as Every Day with Rachael Ray had one this month (theirs called for the caramel drizzled straight on top, which I'm sure would have been amazing as well).

I had so much fun making these and especially decorating them - I think they turned out so cute! I coated the apple slices in lemon juice and they actually held up and didn't brown or shrivel for about 24 hours, so this would work well if you were making them for a party ahead of time.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

makes 24 cupcakes

Cupcakes

adapted from Every Day with Rachael Ray

2 1/2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 apples (about 1 pound), peeled and shredded- I used Golden Delicious, you can really use whatever your preference is + 1 extra apple if you are going to garnish (with slices coated in lemon juice)

Preheat to 350° and line 2 cupcake pans with baking liners. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, brown sugar and granulated sugar until smooth. Whisk in the oil and vanilla. Stir into the flour mixture until just combined; stir in the apples. Spoon the batter into the pans until almost full. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Caramel Sauce & Frosting

adapted from Annie's Eat's

Caramel Sauce:

8 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup heavy cream
¼ tsp. vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

To make the caramel sauce, melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Add the sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar begins to foam a bit. It will look and smell like it’s on the verge of burning. Remove from the heat and add the heavy cream. Stir until the sauce is smooth (you may need to return it to the heat to smooth it out), then mix in the vanilla and salt. Let cool.

Caramel Buttercream Frosting:

16 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 lb. confectioners’ sugar
1½ tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup caramel sauce
Pinch of coarse salt
2 tbsp. heavy cream

To make the frosting, add the butter to the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium-high speed 1 minute until smooth. Blend in the confectioners’ sugar until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Mix in the vanilla, caramel sauce and salt until incorporated. (Note: the caramel sauce should be just warm enough that it is workable, but not warm enough to melt the butter in the frosting.) Add the heavy cream and whip on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.

Decorate the cupcakes as you'd like, I piped the caramel butter cream, added the apple slices and drizzled the rest of the caramel sauce over.

Pumpkin Risotto - Take 2

2010-10-12T20:57:00.000-07:00

Hello readers! I'm back from another blogging drought, sorry about that! Had another trip to London for work, and then a mini-vacation with Joe to go visit my sister in Houston, and a couple of nights at a golf/spa resort in San Antonio to celebrate our 2 year anniversary!

As much fun as I had in Texas, I was SO EXCITED to come home today. Besides a 5 hour stop in Chicago on Friday between London and TX, it feels like I haven't been home in forever. I can't wait to stay put for the next two weekends (besides a quick drive up to Milwaukee this Saturday for our friends' 30th bday party - but after all that Milwaukee is nothing!).

One of the reasons I'm looking forward to staying at home is to do some fall baking with the cans of pumpkin I've been stockpiling in fear of another shortage! Now, while I haven't done any baking yet - I did recreate the pumpkin risotto I made this time last year. I'm sharing it with you again because 1) I have more followers than I did this time last year 2) I've gotten better at taking photos, and this dish deserves a better picture - and - 3) It's just that good!

I did mix up the format a bit from when I made it previously, mainly by omitting the shrimp (just didn't feel like it) and switching from pancetta to bacon (just because that's what I had on hand). I also started the dish with the bacon and left it in while cooking, rather than adding it crispy at the end. I think this really added to the depth of the flavor and helped balance the sweetness from the pumpkin and the spices.

This is a fabulous, rich and hearty fall recipe!

Pumpkin Risotto

1 cup arrabrio rice

olive oil

1 white onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

salt

pepper

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1 cup white wine

4 cups chicken stock

15 oz. can pumpkin puree

4 strips bacon (chopped)

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Heat the olive oil in heavy bottomed pan and saute the onion and garlic about 5 - 10 minutes over medium heat with salt and pepper to season. Add the bacon and allow to cook until slightly browned.

Add the rice, cinnamon and cloves and allow rice to brown slightly. Reduce the heat to low and add the wine and let simmer until all the liquid is gone. Then add one cup of the chicken stock, one cup at a time, cooking until the liquid is absorbed before adding the next cup (about 30 - 40 minutes total). Once the last cup of stock is almost absorbed, add the pumpkin and cheese and mix to combine.

Snicker's cupcakes - a tasty two-fer

2010-09-14T05:49:00.000-07:00

I think the photos and the title can speak for itself. These cupcakes are insanely delicious. But why are they a two-fer? Well I was making cupcakes for co-worker's birthday, and when I asked her what she wanted, she said red velvet. Since I made her red velvet last year and I've already blogged about them, I told her to pick something else so I could blog about it too - you know, so it could be a two-fer (I'm so selfless, I know : ) - but hey I'm a busy girl and I have to be efficient!). Then she said how about a Snicker's cupcake?

I was all set to come up with my own method of making these, when I saw this recipe pop up on Annie's blog last week! I knew Annie's recipe would be great so it took all the guesswork out of it for me.

I brought these cupcakes into work yesterday, and let me tell you - these were met with some RAVE reviews. One co-worker even told me they were probably the best cupcakes he's ever had.

The caramel buttercream frosting on this is AMAZING. I can't wait to try this frosting on another cupcake and I'm already brainstorming ideas of different cupcakes to try this on.

I followed Annie's recipe to the tee, except I used a food processor to chop my snickers bars. I also skipped the caramel drizzle on top (for no other reason than I was just tired by the time these were coming together!).

Also, next time I make these I will probably use a different chocolate cake recipe. The cake recipe she has is great, however the step of dirtying up a sauce pan to melt the butter for the cake batter is probably not worth the effort for an already complex recipe.

Snicker's Cupcakes

Source: Annie's Eats

Yield: 20 cupcakes
For the cupcakes:
½ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
½ cup hot water
2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. coarse salt
16 tbsp. unsalted butter
1½ cups sugar
2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1¾ tsp. vanilla extract
2/3 cup sour cream, at room temperature

For the caramel sauce:
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
¼ tsp. vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

For the filling:
24 fun-size Snickers bars, chopped

For the frosting:
16 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 lb. confectioners’ sugar
1½ tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup caramel sauce
Pinch of coarse salt
2 tbsp. heavy cream

For garnish:
8 fun-size Snickers bars, chopped

Directions:
To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line standard cupcake pans with paper liners. In a small bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder and hot water until smooth. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a medium saucepan, combine the butter and the sugar over medium heat. Heat, stirring occasionally to combine, until the butter is melted. Remove the mixture from the heat and transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium-low speed, 4-5 minutes, until the mixture is cooled. Mix in the eggs and egg yolk, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed and beating well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla and then the cocoa mixture and beat until incorporated. With the mixer on low speed add in the dry ingredients in two batches, alternating with the sour cream, beating just until combined.

Divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners, filling them about ¾ of the way full. Bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, rotating the pans halfway through baking. Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To fill the cupcakes, cut a cone out of the center of each cupcake with a paring knife.

To make the filling, combine the chopped Snickers bars in a bowl with 1/3-½ cup of the caramel sauce, and mix to coat.

Drop a spoonful of the filling mixture into each cupcake.

Transfer the frosting to a pastry bag fitted with a decorative tip. Drizzle the frosted cupcakes with additional caramel sauce and garnish with chopped Snickers bars.

Cranberry orange & walnut whole wheat muffins

2010-08-30T06:09:00.001-07:00

I actually dreamt these muffins into existence. The other night, I had a dream about making these muffins in great detail, from the orange zest to the cranberries and walnuts. Funny thing is though - I have no idea what prompted my dream. I started looking for a recipe and was having a hard time finding one that had all the criteria I wanted - mainly the whole wheat flour component.

Finally, I hopped on Katie's blog, and of course the very first muffin recipe that comes up under her tag is for the exact muffin I've been searching for! Now she posted this back in January, so maybe its been hiding out in the recesses of my mind just waiting to surface in a dream so that I would make it! Either way, I'm glad I did, this is an extremely healthy and very tasty recipe.

I made a few variations/substitutions to Katie's recipe:

* Used walnuts instead of pecans

* Omitted the flax seed (I couldn't find it and didn't feel like searching too hard)

* Since cranberries aren't in season I used dried cranberries and plumped them up in water prior to mixing into the batter

Cranberry Orange Walnut Whole Wheat Muffins

Adapted from Good Things Catered

Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup oat flour - Just throw some oats into your food processor to make this yourself!
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
zest of 1 large orange
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup apple sauce
1/2 cup skim milk
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 Tbsp honey
1 large egg white
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup fresh cranberries (or frozen, or dried plumped up in water)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin tins
-In a large bowl, add sugars and applesauce and mix until very well combined.
-Mixing while incorporating, add milk, juice, honey, egg, and vanilla.
-Mix to combine well.
-Sift flours into large bowl.
-Add baking powder, cinnamon, salt and orange zest.
-Fold dry ingredients into wet.
-Fold dry ingredients in until half way combined, about 6 full strokes.
-Add cranberries and walnuts and fold in. (Batter should be just barely combined)
-Spoon batter into muffin tins
-Place into oven and bake until toothpick inserted into center of muffins comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes.

My version of an Aarti Paarti (Indian inspired shrimp, naan pizza, fig martinis and a lesson in Geography)

2010-08-30T06:00:00.001-07:00

Whew! Now that you've gotten through the longest post title ever - let me explain!

If you've followed my blog for awhile, you know that I love to have "theme" parties, as evidenced, here, here and here. Well, I couldn't have been more thrilled when Aarti Sequeira won The Next Foodnetwork Star this year. I've watched it for the last 3 or 4 seasons, and knew from the first episode that they haven't had talent like hers competing on that show for a long time. Thankfully they chose the right person (I feel like viewers were owed this after sitting through an entire season and having Aaron McCargo Jr. win a couples seasons ago).

I've really been wanting to expand my cooking horizons into different types of cuisines, and Aarti makes Indian food more approachable. Even more important - she embraces entertaining and an Aarti Paarti is such a fun way to entertain. To clarify, I suppose the definition would be having your girlfriends over and making some Aarti recipes, but I guess its a flexible definition - this is just what I did.

My friends (well, some of them) can be somewhat skeptical of my theme parties from time to time (my first Mamma Mia party confused people when they saw what it was all about) - so I just invited some friends over for a girls night, and didn't tell anyone what it was about. I also didn't want people to be skeptical of trying Indian food. The night was a success, the food was delicious, and I will definitely be throwing more Aarti Paartis!

First up, my only non-Aarti recipe, was a fig martini. I've been wanting to try this since I had one in London. But figs are used a lot in Indian cooking (right?) - so I figured - close enough....

I don't have the exact measurements so here is how I made them (this should give you 2 martinis):

2 spoonfuls fig puree
Shot of vanilla vodka
Ice
Cranberry juice (top off the rest of your cocktail mixer with this)

These were delicious and pretty close to the ones I had in London. A great way to kick off our party.

Next up was Aarti's "Friday night shrimp" which won oodles of praise during the Iron Chef challenge. These did not disappoint and were incredibly delicious and flavorful. This was really my first time cooking with Indian flavors so I was nervous I wouldn't like the tumeric and coriander - no need to worry - this will be one of my go-to party appetizers for some time!

Recipe - Foodnetwork.com

A word of warning - wear gloves when you are working with tumeric - at least if you have white nail polish on like I did - it will turn your nails yellow : )

Next up was the Naan Pizza Aarti made in her pilot episode. This was equally as delicious - the mango chutney used in the sauce really gives this pizza an interesting flavor. It was so easy to make, I used Trader Joe's frozen naan as the recipe suggested, and substituted queso fresco for paneer, as a lot of the FN reviewers suggested if you can't find it.

Recipe - Foodnetwork.com

All in all, my friends and I had a blast and enjoyed Aarti's recipes, I can't wait to try more of hers - I'm already planning on making the chicken and bread budding recipe from her lastest episode!

Oh yeah, and the geography lesson I mentioned - as we were discussing Indian cuisine, turns out some of my friends (and myself) were a little unclear on where India really is located. Thus ensued a ridiculous conversation about world geography that involved me pulling out a globe.

Even worse? I had invited a new friend over who is a colleague over from my company's London office. She grew up in Australia and is quite the world traveler so helpfully educated us on world geography. We wonder why Americans get the stereotype we do! How embarrassing.

Chicken roll-ups with Asparagus, prosciutto, basil and mozzarella

2010-08-23T18:41:00.001-07:00

I got the inspiration for this dish when I found super-skinny asparagus in the store, and remembered that I fresh mozzarella leftover from another recipe. I had made a version of this before following a Rachael Ray recipe, but don't think I blogged about it (which probably had way more to do with the photo I took than how good the recipe was!).

This is an extremely easy, quick and tasty week night meal. My favorite part is that your veggies and protein are combined into one dish!

Chicken roll-ups with Asparagus, prosciutto, basil and mozzarella
Source: Adapted from Racheal Ray

Ingredients:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
12 skinny asparagus spears (about half if your spears are normal size - also if they are normal size I'd recommend blanching them first)
2 slices prosciutto
1/3 cup fresh mozzarella, shredded
6 fresh basil leaves
salt
pepper
olive oil
Italian seasoning

* Pound out the chicken breasts extremely thinly using a ziploc bag and mallet

* Heat up some olive oil (just enough to coat the pan) in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.

* Lay out your two chicken breasts on a clean surface. On top of each one, layer one slice of prosciutto on each, followed by basil leaves, followed by the mozzarella, then finally place the asparagus spears in the middle.

* Roll up the chicken breasts around the asparagus

* Season the outside of the breasts with salt (go very lightly on this since the prosciutto is salty), pepper, and Italian seasonings.

* Place the roll-ups into the pan, seam side down. Let cook on each side (turning 4 times each) cooking about 5 minutes on each side. This should cook your breasts through, but depending on how thin you were able to get them - check for doneness. If not done, stick a lid on your pan and cook until done.

Fabulous Fruit Tart (free of fruit glue!)

2010-08-23T18:37:00.001-07:00

I've been dying to make a beautiful fruit tart ever since we got a new two-story Whole Foods in Chicago this past fall. For those who don't live in Chicago, let me tell you - you haven't lived until you've spent some quality time in this Whole Foods. From the minute you glide down the escalator into what is the most beautiful, bountiful produce section you've ever seen - having a glass of wine in the wine bar - to spending over 30 minutes sampling soups and cheeses - its easy to forget you're even in a grocery store.

My favorite thing about this Whole Foods though is the amazingly beautiful pastry cases where the fruit tarts usually steal the show. Before I ventured out and tried making my own - I wanted to try one of these guys that I've been eying from Whole Foods.

Well my friends, I have to say when I finally did - I was disappointed. It wasn't that the crust wasn't perfect, that the cream wasn't rich and that the fruit wasn't fresh - no it was the mysteriously clear, gel-like substance holding the fruit on top of this beautiful tart together that put me off. I have no idea what this stuff was, I assume its some type of common adhesive used in the pastry world, but really Whole Foods? Doesn't your name alone imply the absence of mysteriously clear gel-like substances on your food? Even if it helps your tarts look more beautiful?

Shortly after this gag-inducing experience, I saw Kelsey post a Fresh Fruit Tart recipe from her engagement dinner (Congratulations Kelsey!). Its an Ina Garten recipe and contained no mysterious gels so I ran right out and bought myself a tart pan!

The timing worked out perfectly because my Dad was in Chicago for a few days for work. I was so excited to have a Sunday dinner with him, Joe and my brother. That's one of the things I miss most about living away from my parents so I really wanted to make it a special dinner. We had flank steak, spinach salad and orzo pasta for dinner, followed by this for dessert.

The tart came out perfectly from the crust to the cream, to the fruit that was just placed on rather than held together. I was quite proud of myself, this being my first tart experience and plan on making many more!

And I can't close the post without mentioning that I had nothing to do with the fruit placement, that was all my brother (well, I may have a rearranged a few berries at the end, but for the most part he did it all by himself).

Fresh Fruit Tart

(Source: Apple A Day, from Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook)

Ingredients:

For the tart shell:

3/4 c. unsalted butter at room temperature

1/2 c. granulated sugar (I used vanilla sugar)

1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour

pinch of salt

For the pastry cream (makes enough for two nine or ten-inch tarts):

6 extra-large egg yolks at room temperature

3/4 c. granulated sugar (I used vanilla sugar)

3 TBSP cornstarch

2 c. whole milk

2 TBSP unsalted butter

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

2 TBSP heavy cream (I used half and half)

1 TBSP Cognac or brandy

For the topping, you may use any fresh fruit you like.

Directions:

To make the tart shell, mixer the butter and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until they are just combined. Add the vanilla extract.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add to the butter mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together.

Generously dust your working surface with flour and turn the dough out onto the surface. Using a rolling pin also dusted with flour, shape your dough into a circle large enough to cover a 10-inch round tart pan. Press the dough into the tart pan and trim the edges so they are even. Chill the dough in the pan until firm.

When ready to bake the shell, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit. Butter or spray one side of a piece of foil and place it, buttered side down, on the tart shell. Fill with dry beans, rice, and pie weights and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and beans and prick the tart shell several times with a fork. Bake again for 18-25 minutes, or until lightly browned. Allow to cool to room temperature.

To make the pastry cream, beat the egg yolks and sugar on medium-high speed for about three minutes in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. The mixture should become light yellow and fall back into the bowl in a ribbon. On low speed, beat in the cornstarch.

Bring the milk to a bowl in a large saucepan and, with the mixer on low, slowly pour it into the egg mixture. Once all of the milk is incorporated, return the mixture to the saucepan.

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a whisk or wooden spoon, until the mixture is thick, about ten minutes. (Don't worry if the mixture looks clumpy for a couple of minutes. If you're whisking or stirring consistently, it will relax.) Bring to a boil and cook on low heat two to three minutes more. Taste to be sure the cornstarch is cooked.

Remove from the heat, mix in the vanilla, butter, cream, and Cognac or brandy, and strain into a bowl. Place plastic wrap directly on the custard and refrigerate until cold.

To assemble the tart, spread the chilled pastry cream even over the interior surface of the cooled tart shell. Arrange the fruit to your liking. Ina recommends assembling the tart no more than a few hours before serving, as a baked shell or finished tart should not be refrigerated.

Mado - Bday Dinnner II

2010-08-17T05:59:00.000-07:00

This is the last of my "I've been too busy to cook or bake let along blog about it updates". I've actually been cooking and baking quite a bit over the last couple of weeks, so let's get this out of the way so I can share it with you - mmmkay?

So for my other birthday dinner with my girlfriends, we went to Mado, another Mediterranean inspired restaurant that uses local ingredients (sound familiar!?). I have to say that I enjoyed dinner at Mado as much as our dinner at the Girl and the Goat - without all the hype!

My friend sent me a list of restaurants to choose from a few weeks back and I chose Mado based on the description, without doing a lot of research on yelp reviews, etc. I was shocked when I went on Yelp afterward to find that Mado only has 3.5 stars. Maybe we went on a good night, but I found little to complain about with this restaurant.

The atmosphere in the restaurant is great for such a small place, low lights and candles in a brick, lofty space. We also had no complaints about the service, however that seemed to be a big contribution to negative reviews on yelp, so maybe we just got lucky.

So actually the only negative thing I have to say about the place was our starter course - we ordered the citrus cured lake perch, while it was beautiful and the flavors were there - the texture of the fish was very tough and rubbery - not at all appetizing.

We were concerned that the rest of the dinner would be a disappointment, but our fears quickly went away when we saw our entrees!

We actually decided to share entrees since we couldn't decide on what we wanted. We got:

Spit roasted chicken with marinara and chick peas

Penne with arugula and pistachio pesto

Roasted Rainbow trout

All three of these dishes were unbelievably delicious! Our favorites were split between the pesto pasta and the chicken (not to diminish the trout which so very tasty as well).

The pesto was so creamy and rich, unlike any other pesto I've had before. I have made arugula pesto and love how arugula gives it a peppery bite - but I think it must have been the pistachios that put this over the top for me. I am definitely trying this one at home soon!

The chicken - oh my god, the marinara sauce was sooo delicious, we couldn't get enough. While the chicken was very juicy and tasty, we loved the beans with the sauce on them just as much.

So all in all, this dinner was a great start to our night out and I am shocked by any less than stellar reviews I saw on this place. Maybe they just went through a pretentious stage and they're over it now!

The Girl and the Goat - Restauarant Review

2010-08-11T05:51:00.000-07:00

So for my birthday dinner last week, my wonderful husband managed to snag us a reservation at (Top Chef Season 4 winner) Stephanie Izard's new restaurant, The Girl and the Goat. It's been open for less than a month and next to Lady Gaga crowd surfing practically naked at Semi-Precious Weapons during Lollapalooza - its all Chicagoans are talking about.

For such a highly hyped restaurant, you really wouldn't guess it from the ambiance or the service. The decor is very open and welcoming - which as a matter of fact, pretty much describes the service as well. I think I would even venture to say that this was probably the best service I've ever experienced in Chicago, from the valets to the hostesses to the waitress to the sommelier, to the bus boy. Everyone came off as genuine, eager to please and overly excited to talk to you about their favorite dishes (although they were all quick to point out that everything on the menu was delicious).

So the focus of the restaurant is small plates with Mediterranean flavors and organic, locally sourced ingredients. Right up my alley. Not really up Joe's, but that's okay because it was my birthday. Again, along with the service, I really didn't find the food to pretentious at all, just good food, prepared skillfully and packed with flavor.

I should preface before going on that just because Joe didn't like a dish, doesn't mean it wasn't delicious. As you know, he's just a meat and potatoes kind of guy and can be a bit resistant towards anything that is even a little bit "out there".

We started off with fried okra stuffed with homemade sausage.

As you can see I snapped the pic after we started eating it, (00ps!), but rest assured - it was delicious. In fact, a lot of the dishes were not what I would call beautiful but I think that's part of the charm of her food.

Next we had the hiramasa crudo, with pork belly and caper berries. This was probably the prettiest of the dishes, but my 2nd least favorite (but I liked this about 100 times more than what my least favorite dish was).

While it was a very tasty dish, my only complaint was it did seem a bit salty between the fish, the sauce and the caper berries. By the way I had never seen a caper berry before - they look like fruit but taste like capers (as the name suggests!).

Next, we had the soft shell crab, over sweet corn with lime and chili aioli. OH. MY. GOD. This was DELICIOUS. Between the texture of the fried crab with the crunchy corn and the amount of flavor she managed to pack into the corn - this was definitely my favorite of the night, and probably up there with Top 10 things I've ever tasted.

Next they brought out the green beans we had ordered, which were delicious, probably the tastiest green beans I've ever had (they were served with a fish sauce vinaigrette and cashews) - but my only complaint was they were the second to last dish we received. I would have liked to have had them earlier in the meal so we could have snacked on them throughout. That didn't stop me from eating close to all of them (Joe of course didn't like them).

Okay, so this next dish is very difficult for me to talk about. And its been almost two weeks.

So - I'll just come out with it. It was pig face. Yes, dear readers, pig face. I'm not sure what to say about this, other than - I really don't know what we were thinking. All I know is Joe seemed intrigued by it, the server recommended it, and I can be somewhat of an adventurous eater. Since Joe rarely is, I seized the opportunity.

I wish I hadn't.

They pull all the fat off the face and roll it up into some type of a sausage, served with shoestring fries and an egg.

I'm sure there are more adventurous eaters out there than me who liked this - but the whole thing just came off as overly greasy to me and just unappetizing. My stomach also did not feel right the next morning, which could have more to do with the fact that I was probably more mentally grossed out by this - but let's just say I won't be trying pig face again anytime soon.

And I've been steering clear of pork since then. I'm sure I'll get over at some point.

So at least we didn't completely end the night on that note - we ordered a delicious dessert, called the fudgesicle, which was essentially frozen fudge covered in coarse salt, topped with an olive oil gelato. This was a delicious and much more pleasant way to end our night!

One thing to add is that for such an outstanding and hyped up restaurant, the prices are very reasonable for Chicago. We had plenty to eat, along with a bottle of prosecco, and I think our bill was around $125.

So all in all, I really very much enjoyed the Girl and the Goat and will definitely be returning, next time though probably with girl friends - and I will not be ordering the pig face.

Macarons from Vanille Patisserie in Chicago

2010-08-10T05:51:00.001-07:00

So unless you've been hiding under a rock, you know that macarons are the hottest thing since - well, cupcakes. I've seen them all over the blogosphere lately and apparently Facebook has figured out that they'd be right up my alley since they are always advertising them to me.

While I'm really excited to try making them at home, my life has been a bit too crazy lately for any real baking challenges. That and - despite the fact that I've been craving them every time I see a picture of these adorable little cookies - I hadn't actually tried them yet!

I figured out the perfect excuse to try them when some friends and I went up to Ravinia Park (outdoor concert venue in a Chicago suburb) to see an Abba cover band (yes, we know we're huge dorks, as evidenced by our love for Abba here). I started researching where the best place to buy macarons in Chicago was and decided on Vanille Pastisserie, a french bakery in Lincoln Park. I was all set to take an alternate route home on the El the night before we left to pick some up - when I realized that they have a location in the French market right by the train station we were leaving from the next day to go to the concert - perfect! I love when the universe aligns for me like that....

So what did I think of these tasty little devils?

(Please excuse the chipped nail polish, I told you, its been a busy month!)

Well they were exactly what I imagined they would be - light, sweet, meringuey. We got a variety of flavors and while they were all delicious I think I liked the raspberry, pistachio and lavender ones the best. It will be tough to decide which kind to make first when I do try making them.

A change of pace for a bit....

2010-08-09T05:59:00.000-07:00

Hello out there! So the last few weeks of my life have been crazy, just like summer tends to get for most people.

Besides the fact that I'm now traveling to London once a month for work, I've just had a lot going on the last few weeks, but since its all dying down now, I thought I'd share with you what I've been eating, since I haven't done that much cooking or baking lately (well, nothing blog worthy that is).

My birthday was last week, and since I'm one of those people that likes to drag out the celebration as long as possible, a lot of it involves eating out. So my next few posts are going to be of restaurants and such around Chicago.

Speaking of my birthday - do you like my new apron?

My friend April flew in from Denver this weekend and gave me this fabulous apron from Anthropologie. My favorite color is purple, so this was obviously a hit with me (and if you look closely you can see another birthday present from Joe - hint: it tells time and contains diamonds!!!).

I love the apron so much that I was determined I could wear it as a dress (although that may have been the wine talking). What do you think?

And speaking of April, we went to see Lady Gaga at Lollapalooza on Friday - AMAZING.

Here she is with a chocolate espresso tart we I ate before the show.

Who buys a huge chocolate tart and drinks it with their Bud Light at Lollapalooza? This birthday girl. And it was delicious.

Stay tuned - for more updates soon - including macarons (that I bought, not made) and pics from my birthday dinner at Stephanie Izard's new restaurant - The Girl and the Goat.

Sorry Dear...(Margarita Cupcakes)

2010-07-14T18:25:00.001-07:00

Joe had to go out of town for work this past week and while I missed him terribly (and still do since I'm in London now - terrible timing!), I enjoyed a week full of Joe-free food (lots of feta cheese, whole grains and veggies and hardly any meat - and I might have had popcorn for dinner one night). All kinds of stuff that he wouldn't feel jealous in the slightest about missing.

Except for these cupcakes that is.

Some friends and I had plans to go to Movies in the Park (if you don't live in Chicago its something they do in the summer with a free movie playing on a jumbo screen in a park - basically an excuse to have a picnic in the city) one night and I had been dying to try this recipe.

So while my friends (and co-workers) happily devoured them, poor Joe didn't get a single one. I guess I'll just have to make them again : )

I got this recipe on Annie's Eats and knew I would love it when I saw the frosting was a swiss buttercream. These cakes are seriously delicious and have a good kick to them. I opted for a green sugar garnish to mimic decorative rim salt, but as Annie noted, a sprinkling of coarse salt would actually work too - I just wasn't brave enough!

Margarita Cupcakes

For the cupcakes:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
3 limes, zested and juiced
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

For the frosting:
2 cups sugar
8 large egg whites
Pinch fleur de sel (coarse salt)
1½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2½ tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
2-4 tbsp. tequila

Source: Annie's Eat's

Directions:
To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 325˚ F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir with a fork to blend. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Blend in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the lime zest, lime juice and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat each addition just until incorporated.

Divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners, filling each about ¾ full. Bake 20-24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. If desired, brush the cooled cakes with tequila to emphasize the true margarita flavor.

To make the frosting, combine the sugar, egg whites, and salt in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Heat, whisking frequently, until the mixture reaches 160° F and the sugar has dissolved.

Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form and the mixture has cooled to room temperature, about 8 minutes.

Reduce the speed to medium and add the butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, adding more once each addition has been incorporated. If the frosting looks soupy or curdled, continue to beat on medium-high speed until thick and smooth again, about 3-5 minutes more (don’t worry, it will come together, though it may take a long time!) Stir in the lime juice and tequila and mix until fully incorporated and smooth.

Keep buttercream at room temperature if using the same day, or transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 1 month. Before using, bring to room temperature and beat with paddle attachment on low speed until smooth again, about 5 minutes.

Frost the cooled cupcakes with the buttercream and garnish as desired.

Cupcake

Flank Steak with Chimichurri (and my 5 year anniversary)

2010-07-01T05:51:00.001-07:00

So this was not my wedding anniversary, not a blog anniversary, or even work. Somehow, out of the blue on my way home from work Tuesday night, it popped into my head that it was 5 years to the date that I had moved to Chicago. I got a little nostalgic and called my good friend April who moved out to Chicago with me (and sadly lives in Denver now) to reminisce about our move, or our "escape" from Ohio as we liked to call it. 5 years ago I moved with all my possessions in a U-Haul (btw, I highly recommend that all single women drive their own U-Haul at least once in your life, it makes you feel like a new woman), having 1 friend and 1 brother in the city, anxious and a little nervous about what laid ahead.

Now, I'm so fortunate to have a great group of friends, a job that I ~~love~~ like a lot, and most importantly, my best friend and husband Joe. So just as I was thinking about going out and celebrating, I remembered I had this flank steak marinating in the fridge and a hungry husband at home. Joe and I had a celebratory beer on the balcony and then cooked dinner and found a Criminal Minds rerun on TV that we hadn't seen before - a perfect evening : )

I've been meaning to try chimichurri sauce, which is the easiest and most delicious thing in the world. Seriously, you can put this stuff on anything; fries, any type of grilled meat, over avocado (as I did with my meal), mixed in with your cilantro, lime and black bean rice (as I also did with my meal).

I decided to put it over marinated, grilled flank steak, which was soooo delicious - I'll be making this stuff again soon!

Flank Steak Marinade

Ingredients:

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds flank steak

Mix the oil, soy sauce, vinegar, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, garlic, and ground black pepper in bowl, and pour the marinade over the steak - I did mine in a large Ziploc bag, but you could use a bowl or a shallow glass dish. Marinade for 6 - 24 hours.

Preheat the grill to medium/high heat, oil the grate and grill for about 5 minutes on each side.

Source: Allrecipes.com

Chimichurri Sauce

Ingredients:

1 large garlic clove
1 1/2 cups fresh cilantro
1 1/2 cups fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Add garlic, cilantro, parsley, vinegar, oil, red pepper flakes, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to a food processor then pulse until herbs are finely chopped.

Source: Adapted from What's on My Plate (Gourmet 2001)

Long overdue recap of Londontown....

2010-06-22T06:06:00.000-07:00

Hello! So I'm back from London (have been for a few weeks now, sorry!) with a recap of my trip, and of course what I ate. I apologize in advance for some of the poor photo quality. I (of course) forgot my camera charger and had to take pictures of the entire trip on my blackberry - this is partly why it took me so long to post them.

I've been to London a few times before for work, but being there for a whole month really gave me plenty of time on the weekends to get out and see quite a bit of the city and its restaurants (and bars ; ). I think its funny how much people equate England with terrible food. Yes, the traditional English fare can be quite disgusting (see "traditional English breakfast" below), however London has some of the most amazing restaurants - especially ethnic food.

The first weekend I was there, I went on a tour to see Leeds Castle & Canterbury Cathedral.

Leeds Castle

Canterbury Cathedral

Cloisters at Canterbury

I love love love medieval history and learning more about plus getting see it in person is just the coolest thing. I booked my tour through Evans Evans and would highly recommend using them. You get to see so much in a day that it would be impossible to do it on your own for the same price in a day. I ended up booking another tour through them later on that month and both tour guides were amazing.

On the tour I met a lovely couple, Barbara and Richard from New Jersey. They took me under their wing and after chatting with them all day and realizing how much we had in common, they invited me out to dinner that night with them. Since my plans consisted of the couch in my company flat, a dinner of bread, olive and wine, and whatever I could find on British television, I happily rescheduled those plans for the next night : )

Pasha

They took me to Pasha, a Morroccan restaurant on Gloucester Road. Richard and Barbara had been telling me about the fig martini there all day long so I was extremely excited to try it - and let's just say it lived up to the hype. I am kicking myself for not getting a photo of it (and Google images yields nothing like what I had) - but please my take my word for it - it is AMAZING. Barbara and I managed to get the recipe from the bartender, so as I soon as I try it I will post it here.

The next weekend I did a few more touristy things around the city, including going to the Tate Modern. I can't necessarily say that I'm a huge fan of modern art, but the Tate definitely has one of the best, if not the best modern art collections in the world. It wasn't far from where I was staying and the price was right (free) so I was really glad I went. Even if you're not huge on modern art, you won't be disappointed, pretty much every piece you see is interesting and discussion worthy (if not head-scratching).

Andy Warhol room at the Tate

A Monet painting, that ironically, my sister and I had bed sheets based on this painting growing up. I sent her a pic from the museum and she recognized it right away : )

And then....finally....after 2.5 long weeks....Joe came to visit! This was by far the longest we've ever gone without seeing each other (and hopefully never will again). He was just over for a long weekend, but we had so much fun - and ate a lot. One thing that I wanted to do while he was here was take him for a "traditional English breakfast". Joe is a huge fan of breakfast, and basically judges every hotel, city, and country we visit on the quality of their breakfast.

Traditional English breakfast my friends, is...well...its disgusting. See for yourself:

In case you're wondering what the greasy brown blob in the upper right hand corner is - those are mushrooms. Underneath them are baked beans. And yes those are french fries. And ham. And sausage. And a fried tomato. Accompanying this was coffee about the consistency of tar (which I had false high hopes for since it was actually brewed and not instant like most Brits drink their coffee). After 2 weeks of cooking for myself (lots of whole grain pasta, veggies and hardly any meat) - my body pretty much went into shock after eating this meal. While I thought this would be right up Joe's ally, he wasn't overly impressed by it either. Oh well, scratch that one off the life list and move on.

We went on that day to the Tower of London, which was probably my favorite touristy thing I did while I was there. The history is just so amazing, not to mention the Crown Jewels (unfortunately they won't let you take pictures of them). The other really cool thing was an exhibit on royal armour.

Henry VIII's armour (and his horse's). Up close, you could see the initials "H" and "C" engraved along the bottom for that scoundrel and his first wife. Very very cool.

After doing a "pub lunch" that day (which I learned does not actually consist of food), I left Joe for an hour to take a shower and come back, and found he had made a best friend in the form of a very nice old man named Ross:

He has a tendency to do this type of thing wherever we go.

That night, we headed into Central London and stopped for drinks before dinner.

And an appetizer of crab risotto and salmon roe. Which I forgot to photograph until we were done eating it.

It was delicious.

We made our way to Shanghai Blue for dinner and had a blast, as well as a delicious meal. What's interesting about ethnic cuisine in London is it feels a tad more authentic than what we get in the States (even in cities like Chicago). Maybe its because London is more of a global city, but whatever it is it works.

Actually its funny that I say that about a Chinese Restaurant that has live blues music during dinner, but I mean the food is more authentic Chinese : ) The atmosphere was really cool and we enjoyed our dinner and drinks. I ordered a honeydew melon martini, which AGAIN I forgot to take a photo of! Joe ordered a Shanghai Mule, which consisted of ginger beer and sake, along with lychee. Neither of us had ever had lychee before, and Joe (very maturely) made an inappropriate comparison of it to a part of a bull's anatomy (why a bull?) before biting into it.

Joe, biting into lychee

As part of our meal, we ordered steamed salmon dumplings with gold flakes. Gold flakes are cool and all, but you can't really taste them. The dumplings were delicious though.

The next day we did another Evans Evans tour of Windsor Castle, Bath and Stonehenge.

Me in front of Windsor Castle

St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle (Henry VIII's remains are in there)

Roman Bath at Bath

Joe and I at Stonehenge

Stonehenge was probably my favorite part of that tour, it is just unreal seeing it in person. And - we're lucky because the exhibit is being closed this summer for 10 years to do repairs.

After the tour we were exhausted, and Joe had an early flight the next day. So we did what any good Americans would do. We stayed in and ordered pizza. Not just any pizza....

That's right folks, we ordered Papa Johns. In London. Joe loves Papa Johns pizza and we have no Papa Johns in Chicago (I'm well aware of the fact that we are lucky to have access to pizza in Chicago that is far superior to Papa Johns - but hey he wants what he wants). So when we walked past one I relented and we ordered it. It wasn't very good.

The last noteworthy thing I did was getting drinks with some co-workers the last night I was there. We went to a restaurant/bar, Sketch which was unbelievably cool. Words can not describe walking through this place - other than its a bit like Alice in Wonderland. It definitely has an ultra-hip, fairly pretentious vibe to it and drinks were crazy expensive (we didn't eat there). Totally worth the experience though and I definitely want to go back next time I'm in London (I'll be sure to wear a trendier outfit than I did the first time too : ).

Herb martini at sketch, made with rosemary, mint, basil and lemon vodka. Delicious.

Toilets at Sketch, shaped like eggs (the blue lights in the background were the boy's side). I'm told that when you close the door to one of the eggs on the boy's side there is an audio track of a woman laughing at you.

So all in all, I had a great time and enjoyed the food and the cocktails. In fact, I'd say this trip opened my eyes to cocktails a bit. I'm always a go-to wine drinker when I'm out at dinner and for some reason never consider cocktails. Its not like there aren't options here in Chicago so I'm excited to try more interesting combinations (and make the fig martinis at home). I actually convinced a friend of this the other night while we were at a byob sushi place and we both tried different asian-inspired martinis instead of drinking wine. While they were delicious, she subtly reminded me that a $10 martini for one person is significantly less economical than the corkage fee on a $10 bottle of wine that you can share : )

Happy 30th Joe - and a lesson in Fondant!

2010-04-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

When I asked Joe about a month ago what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday, I was secretly wishing that he would say something easy - last year's German Chocolate Cake, while delicious, was pretty labor intensive. But since I've had another year of baking under my belt AND because its his 30th (!) birthday, I was prepared for whatever he would throw at me.

So when his answer was "I want one of those cakes with the really smooth frosting", I replied "Really, fondant? You know it tastes like crap right?" Oh no, he says, "I like the way it tastes". After a few minutes of silence, he then tells me "If you're going to make it yourself, you should probably make a practice cake before you do it for my birthday."

At this point, I'm convinced he's just trying to make my life difficult. No one actually likes eating fondant! And while I know I could have just ordered the cake (as he reminded me multiple times), that's just not my style. And - he was right, I did need to practice, so I did that with an egg cake for Easter. I don't have any photos and while I was reasonably pleased with the results, I am glad I practiced.

Now, what I couldn't have predicted when I took on the cake and planned a party for 30+ people, was that I would be leaving the country for a month for work - THE NEXT DAY.

That's right, as soon as I finish this post (and a piece of leftover cake), I need to pack enough clothes to take with me to London for the whole month of May and head to the airport.

All this week, I've gotten many different reactions from people when I told them what I was up to this weekend, ranging from "Why don't you just cater the party?" to "You are certifiable and need to be admitted to a mental hospital."

Well, a sure fire way to get me to do something is to tell me that I can't. And I really wanted to do something special for Joe's 30th. It was totally worth it to see his face when he saw the cake.

Luckily, a good friend insisted on coming over to help me, and Joe and one his friends pitched in right before the party to get everything ready.

The party was a success (of course, what else would it have been?!) - we had over 30 people here and NO BROKEN WINEGLASSES. This is a first for us, maybe its a sign that as Joe is turning 30, we are more responsible? I didn't get any pictures of the food, but had a great spread with lots of food involving bacon.

Oh - and I don't think I will be updating my blog for the next month - I don't think the Tesco Express meals I'll be heating up for myself while I'm gone will be all that blog-worthy : )

The fondant recipe and idea for the cake came from Annie's Eats. I made a basic white cake recipe with a strawberry and buttercream filling - YUM! The fondant recipe is a marshmallow fondant and definitely tastes better than most fondant I've had.

Marshmallow Fondant
Ingredients:
Vegetable shortening, for greasing bowls
16 oz. bag plain marshmallows, regular sized
2 tbsp. water
1-2 tsp. clear flavoring
2 lbs. confectioners’ sugar, divided
Pinch of salt

Directions:
Using the shortening, grease a large microwave-safe bowl, the bowl of the stand mixer, a spoon/spatula (or two), and the dough hook.

Add the marshmallows and water to the prepared microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 60 seconds. Stir with the greased spatula/spoon. If not all the marshmallows have melted, microwave for 30 more seconds. Stir in the flavoring.

Reserve 1 cup of the confectioners’ sugar and add the rest to the bowl of the stand mixer, along with the salt. Create a well in the center. Pour the marshmallow mixture into the well and turn the mixer on to the lowest setting. When the mixer sounds strained, turn the speed up one setting. Turn off the mixer once all the sugar has been incorporated. If the fondant is sticky, add the reserved sugar 1/4 cup at a time until it is no longer sticky.

Turn the fondant out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Rub a bit of shortening on the outside of the ball. Wrap tightly with the plastic wrap, place it in a Ziploc bag and let rest for at least 2-3 hours. Keep the unused portions covered when not in use. If the fondant becomes stiff, microwave for 20 seconds at a time until it becomes pliable.

Source: Annie's Eat's & Confections of a Foodie Bride

Close up of "Joe", made by my friend Katherine - thanks for the help Kat! (Somewhere along the line someone came up with the genius idea of putting a little cigarette in little Joe's mouth).

Joe, posing with his likeness.

Italian Wedding Soup

2010-03-24T20:05:00.001-07:00

Sometimes you get pictures that match how delicious your food is. Sometimes you don't. With my lack of a professional grade camera and natural light when I made this, sadly, I couldn't capture just how delicious this soup was - but I hope you take my word for it when I tell you that it was SIMPLY AMAZING.

I've actually never been a huge fan of Italian Wedding soup - grayish meatballs don't really appeal to me, and I'm pretty sure I've only ever had it out of a can, or something similarly processed from a restaurant. We had Italian Wedding soup at our wedding though, and Joe LOVED it (being Italian and all) and has been asking to make it ever since.

Well like a lot of brides, I really can't say I remember much about the dinner at my wedding (although I distinctly remember the 5 bacon wrapped scallops that my sister continually provided me with during the cocktail hour at my ~~demand~~ request) so really had no recollection of the soup, or its being good - but I finally gave in to Joe's repeated requests that I try making it.

This is probably my new favorite soup recipe - just in time for summer : (. It was one of those meals that you can't stop thinking about after eating it. I have no idea if this is really a traditional recipe or not - although it is a Giada recipe, I made a change to it by browning the meatballs first and then starting the soup in the pot to use all that flavor. Traditional or not, it made for a delicious soup and TONS of leftovers.

Italian Wedding Soup
Adapted from Giada DeLaurentiis

Ingredients:

1 small onion, grated
1/3 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 large egg
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
8 ounces ground beef
8 ounces ground pork
Freshly ground black pepper
12 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 pound chopped spinach (I used fresh but you could easily use frozen as well)
2 large eggs
2 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for garnish
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Make the meatballs combining the first six ingredients in a bowl, then adding the cheese, beef and pork. Form the meatballs into 1-inch diameter balls.

Add some olive oil to a large dutch oven (or other large pot) and heat for frying. Add the meatballs and brown until even on all sides (they don't need to cook all the way through just yet). Remove the meatballs and any excess oil from the pot.

Add the broth to the pot, scraping up the brown bits from the meatballs and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and spinach and simmer until the meatballs are cooked through and the spinach is tender, about 5 minutes. Whisk the eggs and cheese in a medium bowl to blend. Stir the soup in a circular motion. Gradually drizzle the egg mixture into the moving broth, stirring gently with a fork to form thin stands of egg, about 1 minute. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper.

Ladle the soup into bowls and serve. Finish soup with parmesan cheese if desired.

Mamma Mia Reprise Party

2010-03-24T19:57:00.001-07:00

So it appears that the Mamma Mia Sing-A-Long party may become an annual event for me. Ever since my party last year, my friends (who were reluctant at first) and I have been known to turn a regular evening into a night filled with ABBA songs, much to Joe (and my neighbor's) chagrin. This was easily solved by making sure Joe was far far away, and inviting said neighbor, who responded, 'if you can't beat em, join em'.

I was in London for work in January and got to see Mamma Mia (with some of the original cast!) at the Prince of Wales Theater. I went by myself, sat front row center and am not even kidding when I say this was one of the BEST experiences of my life! I was singing ABBA songs for weeks after seeing it and decided it was time for a reprise - hence the 2nd annual party.

This year, I timed it for when my sister was visiting me from Houston while the school she teaches at was on spring break. As you can see, she had a wonderful time (except for the part where she got out of the cab coming in from the airport and had to wait on the sidewalk outside my condo with her luggage and wait for Dancing Queen to be over so I could hear my phone ring - oops: )

As far as the menu went this year, since I had the party on a Friday and my friends specifically requested I make baklava again, I was a little constrained in terms of taking on any extra challenges. The one thing I really wanted to incorporate this year though was lamb, and I found an easy way to do it in the form of lamb meatballs (don't worry Mom and Dad, we didn't eat them until midnight since it was a Friday during Lent, I swear : )

Menu:

Olives & Feta

Pita with Tztatziki & Melitzanosalata

Lamb Meatballs

Spanakopita

Baklava

Last year, I had way too much food, so this year's smaller menu worked out perfectly. With a little pre-planning and the help of a friend, this was a totally stress free event to pull off.

I made the tztatziki and melitzanosalata on the Wednesday night before the party, and my friend Melissa came over to help with the baklava and meatballs on Thursday night. That actually translated to me rolling the meatballs (which took all of 20 minutes), then drinking wine and watching - I mean 'supervising' Melissa make the baklava for the next hour and a half. Worked for me, and while it tasted every bit as good as last year's, her final product was much prettier than mine. So hopefully that becomes an annual thing too....

I'll repost any recipes that I made again here this year.

Tztatziki
adapted from elly says opa

Ingredients:

1 16 oz low fat Greek Yogurt
1 seedless cucumber
4 cloves garlic
1-2 tsp white wine vinegar
salt and pepper
1 lemon

Peel & seed the cucumber. Using a box grater, shred cucumber and squeeze out all the excess moisture (I used a towel, which Elly also suggests) - you really want to get it as dry as possible.

Mix together the yogur with the cucumber and grate the garlic over the mixture using a micro-plane (or you could make a garlic paste). Mix in the vinegar and lemon juice, then salt & pepper to taste.

Like I said, I made mine a couple days in advance, but Elly recommends letting it sit at least a half hour in the fridge to let the flavors marry.

Melitzanosalata
source: About.com

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
4 teaspoons of wine vinegar
3 cloves of garlic, minced
sea salt
freshly ground pepper

Pierce the eggplant with a fork and broil for 10-15 minutes until the eggplant turns black and is very soft. Set to cool and drain on a rack with paper towels underneath.

As soon as it can be handled, peel by hand (the skin will come off easily), and transfer to a bowl. Chop the pulp into small pieces with a knife, and mash with a fork. With a wooden spoon, stir in oil and vinegar slowly, alternating between them, until well blended. Stir in garlic, salt, and pepper.

Serve chilled or at room temperature, with pita wedges.

Spiced Lamb Meatballs
source: elly says opa

These little devils were heavenly - the cinammon and spices really makes for a rich flavor, I've been craving them ever since I made them!

1 lb. ground lamb
1/2 small onion, grated or finely minced
1 clove garlic, finely minced or pressed
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 tsp. ground allspice
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
fresh ground pepper
olive oil for pan frying

I prepped these the night before, mixing all the ingredients together for the meatballs (except the olive oil) and formed the meatball, letting them sit in the fridge until I was ready to fry them the next day.

Using a dutch oven or heavy pan, heat up the oil for frying, and brown the meatballs until cooked through.

I served mine with the tztatziki.

Baklava:
source: Elly's recipe on bakespace.com

1 package phyllo dough (16 oz.)
1 cup butter, melted
1 lb. chopped toasted walnuts
1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves

Syrup:
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 cup honey
2 tsp. lemon juice

Remember to thaw your phyllo before working with it! Your best bet is to put it in the fridge the night before.

Preheat oven to 350, and grease a 9x13 pan. Mix walnuts,cinnamon and cloves, and set aside.

Layer 1 sheet of phyllo on the bottom of the prepared pan, keeping a moist towel over the phyllo that you are not working with.

Brush melted butter over it and top with a second sheet. Continue this until you have layered 8-10 phyllo sheets.

Sprinkle 1/3 of the nut mixture over the phyllo and then repeat the layering 2 times, ending with layers of phyllo. I cut mine into square inches. Bake for 45 minutes.

For the syryp, heat sugar, honey, water, lemon and cinnamon in a saucepan.

Bring to a boil to thicken slightly, and then remove from heat. Allow to cool before pouring it over baklava.

Until next year Dancing Queens.....

Chocolate & Peanut Butter Chip Pancakes with Cinnamon Honey Syrup

2010-03-06T12:19:00.000-08:00

I'm typically not a pancake lover but the other morning I got a craving out of the blue for chocolate chip pancakes and found some peanut butter chips in the pantry as well. Peanut butter and chocolate is never a bad idea, so I knew it would be a great addition to these pancakes.

Since I've never made pancakes before, I found a highly rated recipe on allrecipes.com. I'm glad I found it - the pancakes themselves were super fluffy so I'll definitely use it again with other variations. The syrup was delicious and super easy, I think the next time I make these, I'll make blueberry pancakes and add some lemon to the syrup.

Chocolate & Peanut Butter Pancakes

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup chocolate chips

1/3 peanut butter chips

* Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

* In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, milk and oil, then add it to the dry ingredients and mix well with a whisk.

* Stir in the chips.

* Using a 1/4 cup measuring spoon, spoon the pancakes one at a time onto a lightly greased hot griddle. Turn when bubbles start to form on top and cook until both sides are golden brown.

Cinnamon Honey Syrup:

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup butter

1 tsp ground cinnamon

* Combine all ingredients in a microwave safe bowl and microwave about 60 seconds, allowing the butter to melt and syrup to heat. Stir and serve with pancakes.

Minestrone Soup and my new purple Le Crueset

2010-02-20T10:18:00.000-08:00

So I got this beauty for Christmas and have been using it to make all kinds of soups and stews like this delicious Minestrone soup recipe - and I realized I haven't even given her a proper debut on my blog yet! (A purple Le Crueset would be female, right?)

Purple is my favorite color and when I decided I wanted one, I knew it had to be purple. Not easy since they only sell the purple ones in Europe but I was able to find this one on ebay (and just went ahead and ordered it making Christmas shopping easier for my mother : ).

I am really enjoying looking for new recipes to make with at, as well as making some old ones even more delicious (bolognese made in this thing is heavenly!). And it looks gorgeous sitting on my stove when I'm not using it.

This particular recipe actually called for it to be made in a slow cooker, but since I was working from home the day I made it I was able to watch it all day so used this instead.

I found this while looking for healthy soup recipes on Food Network and this one was very highly reviewed. I did add sausage which I realize makes it less healthy - but so flavorful. I enjoyed leftovers for a week!

Minestrone Soup

Adapted from foodnetwork.com, Robin Miller

Ingredients

3 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (15-ounce) can white (cannellini or navy) beans, drained
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 cup onion, chopped
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
2 bay leaves
Salt and ground black pepper
2 cups pasta (I used shells)
2 cups coarsely chopped fresh or frozen spinach, defrosted
4 tablespoons grated Parmesan
1/4 lb italian sausage

Directions

In a slow cooker or dutch oven, combine broth, tomatoes, beans, carrots, celery, onion, thyme, sage, bay leaves, and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and black pepper. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours or on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours.

Thirty minutes before the soup is done cooking, add pasta and spinach. Cover and cook 30 more minutes. Also at this time, brown sausage, drain fat from it and add to the soup.

Remove bay leaves and season, to taste, with salt and black pepper. Ladle soup into bowls and sprinkle parmesan cheese over top.

Not your Mama's Salmon Patties

2010-01-18T14:57:00.000-08:00

Growing up Salmon Patties were always one of those groan inducing meals (as in - eww Mom, really Salmon Patties?). Well looking back, salmon patties really weren't all that bad, they were just easy to pick on, kind of like meatloaf.

Turns out Joe had them growing up too, and similar to my family, they were made using canned salmon. He wasn't thrilled when I told him what we were having for dinner, especially when I told him it was a healthy recipe too. Turned out he loved them - it does help that there is no canned salmon involved in the dish : ) So much so that as I am posting these a week later and he saw the photo on the computer he reiterated how much he liked them!

I loved this recipe not only because it was delicious, but yes it was healthy as well AND a great way to stretch your dollar! Because the base of the patties are potatoes, 1 serving of salmon is more than enough for two people.

Salmon and Potato Cakes with Mixed Greens

***Recipe note - I reduced the amount of oil used in the original recipe and substituted 2% milk for the heavy cream.***

Original recipe - from myrecipes.com

Ingredients

1 tablespoons vegetable oil (for frying)
2 russet potatoes, peeled and sliced thin
salt
1/2 onion, grated
.5 pound skinless salmon fillets
pepper
3/4 cups water
1/4 cup milk
2 scallions, white bulbs only, chopped
2 tablespoons dill
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon red- or white-wine vinegar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 pound mixed salad greens (about 4 quarts)
1 lemon, cut into wedges (optional)

Preparation

1. Brush the bottom of a large deep frying pan with 1 tablespoon of the oil. Put the potatoes in the pan and sprinkle with salt. Top with the onion and then the salmon. Sprinkle with another layer of salt and pepper over the salmon. Add the water to the pan, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the salmon and potatoes are done, about 15 minutes.

2. Remove the salmon and flake. Drain the potatoes well and put in a medium bowl. Add the milk and mash, leaving the potatoes fairly chunky. Add the salmon, more pepper to taste, the scallions, and half of the dill. Form the mixture into four cakes.

3. Wipe out the frying pan. Add 1 tablespoon of the oil and heat over moderately high heat. Add half the salmon cakes to the pan and brown well on both sides, about 5 minutes in all. Drain on paper towels and repeat with another tablespoon oil and the remaining salmon cakes.

4. In a medium glass or stainless-steel bowl, whisk together the mustard, vinegar, and the remaining dill and salt and pepper to taste. Add the olive oil slowly, whisking. Add the greens, toss, and put on plates. Top each salad with two salmon cakes and a lemon wedge.

Butternut Squash and Spinach Stuffed Shells with Brown Butter Sage Sauce

2009-11-29T17:37:00.000-08:00

I know I've declared my love for brown butter sage sauce before...but if I could just take this moment to reiterate HOW MUCH I LOVE IT. Okay moving on, I realize it is not the healthiest of options, but hey, we're in that magical month between Thanksgiving and Christmas where you can eat whatever you want, right (or am I the only one that subscribes to this philosophy)?

I saw these guys on Lime in the Cocunut, who originally saw them on the Proud Italian Cook. Sadly, neither of their delicious looking posts had recipes with measurements, and you can see that my shells came out looking a bit different than theirs.

From the looks of it, it seems I added a bit less parmesan (oh - and now I just realized I didn't add the egg from PIC's recipe either!) than they did, although I must say, these were still incredibly delicious and I have no regrets!

Adapted from Proud Italian Cook

Ingredients

8 pasta shells
1/2 butternut squash
1/2 bag fresh spinach
1 garlic clove (minced)
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1/4 cup ricotta
pinch nutmeg
salt
pepper
olive oil
1/2 stick butter
6 - 8 sage leaves

*Dice the butternut squash and roast at 425 for 15 - 20 minutes or until tender, tossed in olive oil, salt & pepper

*Cook the shells to al dente

*Meanwhile, saute the fresh spinach with olive oil, garlic and salt & pepper until cooked down.

*In a bowl, combine butternut squash and spinach and blend using an immersion blender

*Mix in the parmesan and ricotta cheese

*Spoon the mixture onto the cooked shells and put back into the oven (no need to adjust temp) for about 15 minutes, until heated through.

*While shells are cooking, make the brown butter sage sauch (melt the butter in a pan with the sage, allow butter to brown and sage to get crispy)

*Spoon the sauce over the cooked shells and serve.

Broken LG Dishwasher : (

2009-11-14T16:30:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile - but its been rather difficult to maneuver in our kitchen lately due to our dishwasher acting up.

After several repair calls, we've come to the conclusion that our (not even two year old LG model LDFL7811ST) is definitely terminal. Instead of pumping any more money into repairs - we've decided to buy a new one...any recommendation (NOT and LG!)???

Cheesy, Bacony Potato Soup

2009-11-02T19:45:00.001-08:00

As the weather starts getting colder, nothing beats making a big pot of soup and letting it simmer on the stove all day.

In our house, I can never go wrong with cheese, bacon and potato combinations : )

And while I wouldn't dare call this soup healthy, this method of cooking it is a nice way to get a thick, velvety texture without the traditional method of making a rue. I suppose if you forgo the bacon and cheese topping you could call it healthy, but I'm not sure its worth it.

Potato Soup

Soup:
4 russet potatoes
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup milk or cream
1 tsp garlic powder
salt, pepper (season to taste)

Toppings
4 - 6 strips bacon, chopped and cooked till crispy
Shredded cheddar cheese
3 - 4 scallions, chopped

* Cube the potatoes, and add to a pan with the chicken stock. The chicken stock should completely cover them, if it does not add water. Add a dash of salt, pepper and garlic powder and bring to a boil.

* Turn down to medium-low heat and simmer until the potatoes are cooked thoroughly. Turn off heat.

* With an immersion blender (if you do not have one, you can transfer this to a regular blender) blend the soup until the potatoes are thoroughly incorporated and you a smooth consistency

* Add the milk and heat till simmering

* Serve and top with cheese, bacon and scallions

Pumpkin Bread & I discovered the macro setting on my camera!!!

2009-11-02T19:43:00.000-08:00

So this time of year, there are no shortage of pumpkin bread posts - but I just had to share this one because it was while I was taking the photos that I finally discovered the macro setting on my camera. I'm really not sure why it took me this long, every photo tutorial I read for food photography says to use it. I think I just assumed that I already was or my camera didn't have it.

Regardless, I am really jazzed about being able to actually show you my food up close (however I have some very blurry pictures of our friends tailgating the next day, I'll have to show Joe how to switch it back to people mode : ). The last few entries I have used it, but I felt like this was a really good example of how you can see the detail of the bread.

Although this bread was super delicious, this is a very bittersweet post for me, as our Jack Russell Terrier was the one who really got to enjoy it. After Joe and I were able to enjoy a slice each, Molly jumped on the counter and treated herself to the rest of it.

I highly recommend making this bread, and keeping it away from your dog!

Pumpkin Nut Loaf
Source: Good things Catered

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/3 c. milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
4 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 c. granulated sugar
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 c. pumpkin puree
1 c. chopped walnuts, plus more for topping

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare loaf pan (or mini loaf pans)
-In medium bowl, combine flour, soda, powder, salt, spices and whisk to combine.
-In large bowl of mixer beat oil, butter and sugars until creamy until lightened in color and texture, about 3 minutes.
-Beat in eggs one at a time.
-Add pumpkin puree and beat until combined; scrape down sides of bowl.
-Add milk and vanilla and beat until combined; scrape down sides of bowl.
-With mixer on lowest setting, add flour mixture just until barely combined.
-Remove bowl from mixer and fold in 1 c. walnuts.
-Scrape batter into pan(s) and spread evenly.
-Top with extra chopped walnuts and place into oven.
-Bake about until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour for regular loaf and 35-40 minutes for mini loaf.
-Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 20 minutes.
-Turn out onto wire rack and let cool completely.

Beer Bread

2009-10-24T13:18:00.000-07:00

While I've been getting more confident with baking since I started my blog, bread has always been something that's intimidated me. The other day though, I got a craving out of nowhere for beer bread. My (irish) Grammy used to make it when we were growing up.

I found a recipe online with lots of good reviews and sounded pretty simple - it actually was super easy, I was surprised! This bread was so delicious, moist and sweet.

I did add cheese in the bread as you can kind of see from the pictures. Actually a question for all you bread bakers out there - I wanted to add the cheese on top of the bread but didn't think that I could put it on top right away because I thought with an hour of baking time it might burn.

I went to add it halfway through but the top was already too crusted to make the cheese stick. Joe helped me do some surgery and sliced through the top layer of bread and put the cheese in the middle. It actually worked out fine but I would have preferred to put it on top.

So - is it okay to put the cheese on top for the whole baking processes?

Beer Bread

Recipezaar.com

Ingredients
3 cups flour (sifted)
3 teaspoons baking powder (omit if using Self-Rising Flour)
1 teaspoon salt (omit if using Self-Rising Flour)
1/4 cup sugar
1 (12 ounce) can beer
1/2 cup melted butter (1/4 cup will do just fine)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Mix dry ingredients and beer.
Pour into a greased loaf pan.
Pour melted butter over mixture.
Bake 1 hour, remove from pan and cool for at least 15 minutes

Pumpkin Risotto with Shrimp and Pancetta

2009-10-18T14:29:00.001-07:00

In case you didn't know - there is a pumpkin shortage this fall. If you want a little hint on where to find it, higher end stores like Whole Foods seemed to be pretty well stocked on organic canned pumpkin. You'll pay a little more for it, but hey what's fall without pumpkin?

Pumpkin in hand, I wanted to make a savory dish and found this risotto recipe via Tastespotter.

I really just used that recipe for inspiration and decided to do shrimp instead of crab and add pancetta. The pancetta was a great addition, the saltiness of it was a great contrast with the sweetness of the cinnamon in the pumpkin.

This was a delicious, one dish meal that I will definitely be making again!

Pumpkin Risotto with Shrimp and Pancetta

1 cup arrabrio rice

olive oil

1 white onion, chopped

salt

pepper

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1 cup white wine

4 cups chicken stock

15 oz. can pumpkin puree

8 - 12 pieces shrimp

4 strips pancetta

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Heat the olive oil in heavy bottomed pan and saute the onion about 5 - 10 minutes over medium heat with salt and pepper to season.

Add the rice, cinnamon and cloves and allow rice to brown slightly. Reduce the heat to low and add the wine and let simmer until all the liquid is gone. Then add one cup of the chicken stock, one cup at a time, cooking until the liquid is absorbed before adding the next cup (about 30 - 40 minutes total). While the risotto is cooking, brown the pancetta in a separate pan and set aside, reserving the grease in the pan.

Cook the shrimp (seasoned with salt and pepper) in the same pan as the pancetta, about 3 minutes on each side. If not enough grease in the pan add a bit of olive oil. Once the last cup of stock is almost absorbed, add the pumpkin, shrimp and cheese and mix to combine. Top with the pancetta and serve.

Marathon/Anniversary Party

2009-10-12T10:29:00.001-07:00

This weekend, we had a lot to celebrate. Sunday was our first anniversary and after heading back from Cleveland where we celebrated my cousin's wedding, we had a post marathon party for two good friends who ran the Chicago marathon on Sunday .

Since my friend Melissa put off her marathon plans for a whole year in order to attend our wedding, I figured it was the least I could do to support her. When I asked her what she would want to eat post - race, her immediate reply was "Cheeseburger, fries and a milkshake."

Not wanting to disappoint, I planned a menu around her request (apologies in advance for the lack of "recipes" in this post, but its pretty basic stuff and kind of self explanatory) :

Sliders

Italian Sliders: Fried pancetta, mozzarella cheese, tomato, basil and pesto

Americana Sliders: American cheese, tomato and onion

Swiss Sliders: Swiss cheese, sauteed onions and mushrooms & truffle aioli

French Fries with Dipping sauces

Honey Mustard: Equal parts honey and whole grain dijon mustard

Truffle Aioli: Mayo, a tiny bit of truffle oil, lemon juice (about 1 tsp), dijon mustard (about 1 tbsp), whisked together with olive oil drizzled in until desired consistency

Rosemary Garlic Ai0li: Similar method as above, mayo, dijon mustard, lemon juice, rosemary, garlic (minced very fine) and olive oil drizzled in while whisking

Pesto: Basic pesto recipe

Fries: Russet potatoes cut into slices, tossed in olive oil and seasonings. Baked at 400 degrees until cooked through and then broiled until crispy.

(Again, I did not really measure as I was making the sauces but just keep tasting till you get it right)

Milkshake Martinis

Made with mint chocolate chip ice cream and vanilla vodka!

Joe helped out by making one of his famous cheese balls, and (reluctantly) allowing our friends to share the top layer of our wedding cake.

Congrats Melissa & Lindsey on finishing the race!!! I'm going to go ahead and pat myself on the back for being a super spectator and making it to five different spots along the race - I'm exhausted : )

German Chocolate "Thank You" Cupcakes

2009-10-05T06:09:00.000-07:00

I've previously made this in cake form, and have been visualizing these cupcakes in my mind ever since just waiting for the opportunity to make them.

Luckily, someone did Joe and I a HUGE favor, so of course we owed them baked goods. Once I confirmed that said person was a fan of German chocolate cake, I got down to business.

I made these using the same recipe as the cake (omitting the syrup), baked the cakes for 20 minutes and decorated just like you would the cake.

These were slightly less time consuming than the cake but not much. I was really pleased with the way they came out, this is a fun, more portable way of making one of the most delicious cakes ever!

Spicy Pumpkin Soup

2009-09-13T18:31:00.000-07:00

My friend Melissa told me about this recipe from Hungry Girl last year and I've been waiting for cooler weather to make it. Well its not quite cool, but it is September, I wore a jean jacket today and footballs on, so as far as I'm concerned, its time for pumpkin stuff. I think I'm in good company too, since I've seen quite a bit of pumpkin popping up on blogs the last week or two. This is likely to be the first of many pumpkin recipes over the next month on here.

I haven't tried pumpkin much in savory dishes, but this recipe did not disappoint. It actually was surprisingly similar to chili, but with the rich pumpkin flavor it was so delicious. Pumpkin is a fantastic way to make a soup rich and creamy without adding a lot of fat.

I altered the recipe slightly from Hungry Girl, namely adding double the amount of pumpkin to the soup. I think this really contributed to the rich creamy texture so I recommend making the same change.

Also, the original recipe called for a tablespoon of chili powder for a serving of 4. I like my food spicy, but that seemed like a ridiculous amount so I only added a teaspoon and thought it was well flavored.

I will definitely make this again, and the only other thing I would change would be to try it with a pinch of cinnamon in it.

Spicy Pumpkin Soup

Adapted from Hungry Girl

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil

pinch salt

pinch pepper
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
4 cups Fat Free broth (chicken or vegetable)
28 oz. can pure pumpkin
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup corn
3/4 cup salsa
Optional toppings: shredded reduced-fat or fat-free cheese, and reduced-fat or fat free sour cream

Directions:
Heat olive oil in soup pan. Add garlic, salt and pepper and saute for a few minutes. Then add chili powder and cumin, and stir for one minute. Add broth to the spices, and bring to a simmer. Add pumpkin and mix well. Add the remaining ingredients and bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. This soup can be served with a sprinkle of cheese and a little fat free sour cream on top. Serves 6

Mango & Jalapeno Shrimp Kebabs

2009-09-01T18:58:00.000-07:00

As the summer is winding down (er...actually we are finally getting the weather we should have been getting in July...but technically its not summer anymore), I feel like I've exhausted mango salsa in our little household. I just have a really hard time NOT buying mango from the grocery store though because they are ONLY $1!!!

So I was trying to think of a different way to use it and decided to do kebabs. I love the taste of grilled pineapple so thought that grilling the mango along with jalapeno marinated shrimp would be a great combination (Jalapeno compliments of our herb garden!).

I served it over a bed of rice with black beans, cilantro and lime. The creaminess of the rice and sweetness of the mango were a great compliment to the spicy shrimp.

Mango & Jalapeno Shrimp Kebabs

12 shrimp
1/2 jalapeno (finely diced)
1 mango
1 lime
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt
pepper

*Combine the juice of the lime with olive oil in bowl. Add the jalapeno, and a pinch of salt and pepper.

*Toss the shrimp in the mixture and let marinate 30 minutes.

*Skewer the mango an shrimp, alternating.

*Grill on a hot grill, about 4 minutes on each side.

*Serve over a bed of rice. For the rice I just followed basic rice cooking directions, and added 1/2 can of black beans, cilantro and lime juice at the end.

Very tasty and healthy meal - enjoy!

Spaghetti with Chicken, Grape Tomatoes, Basil and Parmesan

2009-09-01T18:57:00.000-07:00

I found this recipe on a Weight Watchers blog that I just discovered. I don't actually do Weight Watchers, but am always looking for healthy delicious recipes. This blog is chock full of them.

This also looked like a great way to use up some of my basil plant, other than making pesto. Our tiny city balcony doubles as an herb garden in the summer and has been very good to us - especially the basil plant.

So sad to think that this same amount of basil will cost me $3.99 in the winter.

Onto the recipe though, this was such a light and refreshing summer time meal. Also, I didn't tell Joe until AFTER that it was a Weight Watchers recipe : )

I followed the recipe from Gina's blog closely, however it is a possibility that I added a tiny bit more olive oil than this called for ; )

Almond Crusted Salmon with Lemon Leek Sauce

2009-09-01T18:55:00.000-07:00

Salmon is one of my routine pick ups from the grocery store each week. While it is so versatile and I love experimenting with new receipes for it, it is easy to end up thinking of salmon the same way you do as chicken. You have it so much that you feel like you've exhausted every possible way of making it.

Enter, a new recipe and new ingredients. I would never think of combining salmon and leeks in a dish, but I found this fabulous recipe on Good Things Catered.

I have made this recipe twice now and been pleased with the outcome both times.

I did make two healthier substitutions to the recipe; 1) Used olive oil instead of butter (for the sauce and the crust) and 2) used 1% milk instead of heavy cream.

Still delicious!

DIY Sushi

2009-08-20T18:34:00.000-07:00

Mmmm....sushi.

So during my blogging hiatus, my brother made sushi for my mom one weekend while she was in town. I started taking pictures and convinced him to do a guest spot on my blog.

I finally got the slacker to come over and do it.

Here he is!

Hello! Thanks to the Melonhead for giving me a guest spot here.

If you're anything like me you know what it is like to be addicted to raw fish, especially salmon. You'll get a sushi craving one day and absolutely nothing else will do for dinner. The only problem being that it's an easy $20/person + tip for delivery to get your 'fix'. I was eventually fed up with spending that type of money on a regular basis and decided it was time to learn to make it for myself. As a disclaimer I have never taken an actual sushi class but have just picked up on how to make it from the friendly staff at my fish store. My method is what amounts to a very serviceable way of making sushi for yourself and is by no means the final word on the craft.

Let's get started...

The most important thing about sushi is the fish. Duh. But really, you need to get fish that is very fresh. Grocery store fish is not going to cut it. You'll have to scout out your area to find a fish market that gets daily deliveries and hopefully is fanatical about their trade. For those of you in the Chi I can recommend Dirk's, on Clybourn in between Fullerton and Armitage. They get fresh deliveries 6 days a week. These are also the aforementioned friendly staff that helped me get started.

The Rice:
Use some type of fancy rice here. Actual sushi rice is obviously great. I like to use Jasmine rice. Before cooking it rinse the rice a few times with water to get rid of residual white stuff. Bring to a boil 2 cups of water for every 1 cup of rice. Simmer for 15 minutes. Don't take the lid off once you start simmering. Some rice will stick to the pan but that's what we want here, that being said make a little extra to account for what will be lost.

Get a pan going on the side with 1/3 cup rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 teaspoons salt for every cup of rice. Bring this concoction to a slow boil and stir until everything is dissolved in. Turn off the burner and cool. Once the rice is done, continue to simmer until it has absolutely soaked up all the water, dump into a large wooden bowl. Stir in the rice vinegar concoction. ***You do not have to add all the vinegar mix, do this step according to taste*** I personally do not use the full amount recommended. 1/3 cup is kind of the minimal amount of vinegar you need to coat the bottom of a pan. It's also the recipe I got online but like I said I think it's too much for 1 cup of rice, too vinegary. Spread the rice out on wax paper to cool.

Prep:

While the rice is cooking start prepping the fish. Cut that salmon all delicious looking like in the picture above. I guess two and a half inches by one inch is a good estimate for our nigiri pieces. For rolls we're cutting cubes, maybe 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch and as long as possible. Tuna is another staple of sushi and I recommend some nigiri pieces of that as well. Fresh yellowfin tuna will have a nice rich, dark red color to it. You will need to skin the salmon and you'll need a sharp knife to do so. If you ask nicely perhaps your fish market will do it for you. If you're doing this at home be patient. Flip the salmon over, skin side up, and start working the knife under the layer of skin. Keep peeling back the skin as you go. You will want to get rid of the skin and the pink to reddish layer in between the skin and the orange salmon meat.

This would be a good time to say that you want a large, sharp knife for this ordeal. I give my knife a good sharpening every time right before making sushi. It helps to peel the fish, cut it cleanly and to cut the rolls at the end without squishing them down.

You can prep your fixings for the rolls at this time as well. Avocado and seedless cucumber are a must. Cut the avocado into long cubes. Skin the seedless cucumber and cut into long strips. A good spicy mayo is important. Dirk's makes their own and sells squeeze bottles so I'm not much help at the moment but there are plenty of recipes online to make your own. I also have some Hichimi Togarashi on-hand which is a blend of hot spices commonly used in making spicy sushi rolls. If your fish store caters to the do-it-yourself sushi crowd they will likely sell this as well. These basic ingredients have been enough for me so far.

Rolling:
Take your sheet of Nori (seaweed) and spread the cooled (still somewhat warm is a good thing, just not hot anymore) rice out on it with a spoon. This step will likely try your patience the most. You need to be careful not to rip the seaweed as you spread this sticky rice out onto it. I recommend prepping a few sheets at once and keeping them to the side so that you can make your rolls all at once without this time consuming step in between each one. For your first time I recommend cutting the nori in half for rolls that are easier to roll up as they are only half as long. The picture above uses this approach.

For the next step cheat. Take a piece of cling wrap and cover your bamboo mat with it. Hold it together on the backside with a piece of tape. This will really help avoid any disasters if you decide to give the inside-out roll a try (rice on the outside).

Lay your ingredients along the length of the roll. Cube-like lengths of fish, cube-like lengths of avocado, strips of seedless cucumber, whatever else you want. Add any spices or spicy mayo. I usually do a basic spicy tuna roll with the spice mix, spicy mayo, the seedless cucumber and an absurd amount of tuna. I always make the basic Alaskan roll as well, avocado and salmon. Again with lots of salmon, way more than you'd get in a restaurant, this is one of the reasons we are doing this at home. From there feel free to mix it up with whatever combinations of fish and fixings you want. I like to mix in yellow tail fish with tuna, avocado, cucumber and spicy mayo for a roll. Another good one is salmon, avocado, the spice mix and cubes of mango. The hot/sweet mix along with the salmon is becoming a new favorite roll of mine.

Now, carefully make the all important first turn. You don't need to get all the ingredients inside that first flip but they should all be rolled up after two full turns. You only get about 2 and a half or three full turns before the roll is complete.

Wrap the bamboo mat around the completed roll and give it some gentle pressure to firm it up. Remove to a cutting board and gently slice it up. Slide the knife underneath the sliced roll and transfer to a serving plate.

Nigiri pieces are easy, you just need to be okay with having your hands covered in sticky rice. Simply take some of the sticky rice and work it around in your palms to create a little ball of rice, smaller than the strips of fish you are about to lay on top of it. Place the fish on top and yep, it's that easy.

Serving:

Chop sticks are optional but soy sauce is a must. Serve a small dish/bowl on the side for everyone. Dip your nigiri pieces and individual roll slices into the soy sauce. Edamame makes a great appetizer or side. You can pick up a bag of this in the frozen food aisle. Ability to work a microwave is all that is required to make it. You may also garnish your rolls and nigiri with pickled ginger and wasabi if you're into that sort of stuff. Pickled ginger is bought as is and wasabi is bought as a powder that you add water to. You end up with a paste that basically amounts to green horseradish. Some people like to add a little bit to every bite to kick up the spiciness.

So there you have it! Pour a glass of wine, sharpen that knife and bring your patience with you. I have found making sushi to be an enjoyable experience. You are guaranteed big, fat rolls with tons of fresh fish at a price that is less than that of any restaurant. Start small, making it for one or two and after practice you'll feel good about making sushi for a small crowd.

Finally, I've never liked that standard recipe format where they list all the ingredients at the beginning. It makes the recipe seem more like work and less like fun to me. So, I've highlighted as I've gone along all the ingredients and materials that I covered here. They are listed below for your reference:

Bamboo mat

Cling wrap

Tape

Sharp, large knife

Salmon

Yellowfin Tuna

Yellowtail

Nori (seaweed)

Avocado

Seedless Cucumber

Mango

Spicy mayo

Hichimi togarashi spice mix

Rice, fancy rice

Rice vinegar

Sugar

Salt

Soy sauce

Pickled ginger

Wasabi

Edamame

Lemon Rosemary Chicken & Tomato, Basil and Mozeralla Risotto

2009-08-20T18:33:00.001-07:00

This was a "clean plate club" kind of meal. Growing up with 4 siblings, we were always in a contest to be the first one to join the "clean plate club". Come to think of it, I'm not sure why we cared so much, since we rarely had dessert, I don't think there was any real incentive to clean our plates. I'm always amazed looking back at how my parents managed to keep all five of us in line.

But I digress...I had my brother over for dinner the other night, and this meal was soooo delicious, it was one of those where you literally leave no trace of the meal on your plate.

The inspiration for the chicken came from Annie's Eat's Lemon Thyme Chicken. I thought this looked soooo good, but decided to use rosemary instead, since we have a bunch of it growing on our tiny balcony urban herb garden.

While I used all the same ingredients from Annie's recipe, I didn't follow the exact process, since Joe was messing around with our internet connection while I was trying to make dinner, I couldn't access the recipe.

So here was my version (pretty much the same as Annie's, except I took the chicken out of the pan once cooked and kept warm while I made the sauce. I also added the rosemary to the flour. Oh and I used chicken stock. Never mind, more different than I thought):

Rosemary Chicken
Adapted from Annie's Eat's

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
3/4 cup flour
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 tsp. fresh rosemary, chopped
2/3 cup dry white wine
Juice of ½ a large lemon (or the juice of 1 whole lemon, if desired)
2-3 tablespoons butter
1 cup of chicken stock

* Heat up the oil in a pan

* Add the rosemary, salt and pepper to the flour. Dredge the chicken breasts in the flour and add to the pan.

* Cook the chicken until done, about 5 minutes on each side. Set aside to keep warm

* To the pan, add the garlic and saute for a couple of minutes.

* Add the wine & lemon juice and cook a few minutes till reduced. Add the chicken stock and let reduce and thicken. Add the butter to finish the sauce.

Tomato, Basil & Mozzarella Risotto

Basic Risotto recipe

Use white wine & chicken broth as liquids

Add halved cherry tomatoes, basil & mozerella about 5 minutes before the risotto is done.

That's it!

Clean plate club!

Cilantro & Lime Grilled Shrimp Tacos with Mango Salsa

2009-08-18T18:46:00.000-07:00

One thing I've been making a lot of this summer is mango salsa. I love how well it goes with chicken and really any type of seafood. Usually I make it with avocado, but switched things up tonight since 1) the avocado I had was not ripe enough and 2) our jalapeno plant has finally produced!

I was worried that it would be too spicy and powerful, but the balance with the mango was perfect.

Lime and Cilantro Grilled Shrimp

12 pieces shrimp

1 lime

1 tbsp olive oil

1 handful cilantro leaves - chopped

salt

pepper

Whisk together the juice from the lime, olive oil, cilantro, salt and pepper.

Add the shrimp and let marinade up to a half hour.

Grill shrimp for 2-3 minutes on each side.

Mango Salsa

1 mango - chopped

1/2 jalapeno - diced finely

10 cherry tomatoes - chopped

1 scallion - chopped

1 handful cilantro leaves - chopped

1 lime

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp cumin

salt

Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl, squeezing the lime juice over.

Let chill in the fridge for at least a half hour to allow to the flavors to marry.

Assemble the tacos, adding ingredients as desired. I added black beans and a little bit of cheese.

Very, very healthy and tasty summer meal - enjoy!

Mediterranean Grilled Tuna Steaks & Sicilian Potato Salad - Oh, and I'm back!

2009-08-16T18:19:00.000-07:00

Okay no more excuses...poor little neglected blog. Work has been back to normal for some time, summer is winding down. I'm back and promise to have more updates soon!

This dinner was soooo good I couldn't put off blogging for one more day!

I've had this recipe marked in an Every Day with Rachael Ray since last summer - I should have tried it sooner. These flavors are right up my alley and such a refreshing summer time meal.

I followed the original recipe closely, omitting the capers and anchovy paste - Joe wouldn't go near it with either of those ingredients. The potato salad still had an abundance of flavor, and the lemon was so refreshing.

I also added some minced garlic to the rosemary before rubbing on the tuna steaks.

Mediterranean Grilled Tuna Steaks & Sicilian Potato Salad

Every Day with Rachael Ray

2 pounds small red potatoes, sliced 1/2 inch thick

Salt

1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), plus more for drizzling

Four tuna steaks (6 ounces each)

2 tablespoons finely chopped rosemary

Juice of 1 lemon, plus 2 teaspoons grated peel

Pepper

2 teaspoons anchovy paste

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1/2 red onion, chopped

3 ribs celery, finely chopped

1/2 cup large green olives, pitted and chopped

3 tablespoons capers

1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped

In a large saucepan, add the potatoes and cold water to cover. Bring to a boil, add salt and cook the potatoes until just tender, 12-15 minutes. Drain and return to the saucepan.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, ladle potato cooking water over the sun-dried tomatoes. Let soak for 10 minutes; drain and thinly slice.

Pre-heat a grill or grill pan to medium-high. Drizzle EVOO over the tuna, sprinkle with the rosemary and lemon peel and season with salt and pepper. In a large bowl, whisk together the 1/3 cup EVOO, lemon juice, anchovy paste and garlic. Toss with the potatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, red onion, celery, olives, capers and parsley.

Grill the tuna for 3 minutes on each side for medium-rare. Serve with the potato salad.

Belated German Chocolate Birthday Cake

2009-05-03T18:18:00.001-07:00

Dear Blog,

I'm soo sorry I haven't written in awhile. Its just that work has been so crazy, and while I am still cooking a lot, I just haven't had time to upload photos and stuff like that.

I promise...I'll never go this long again.

Love,

Mel

Ahem....okay now that I have that out of the way. I really have been working non-stop, and while my wonderful husband is cooking dinner for us tonight, I am taking advantage by uploading pictures of the German Chocolate Cake I made him for his birthday last week.

Okay, the post is belated, the cake was not. I haven't been that busy!

So when I asked Joe what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday he said he wanted German Chocolate cake and I happily agreed. Umm...this is kind of a difficult cake to make I had no idea. Difficult in that there are a lot of different steps and very time consuming (it took me 3 solid hours from beginning to end).

That aside - it is SO WORTH the effort. This cake is so rich, moist and delicious.

I used this recipe from David Lebovitz's blog. His recipe was fantastic - the only change I would make the next time is to the icing. It didn't thicken up like it should have. I'm not sure if I did something wrong, but I would probably use the chocolate ganache recipe from Smitten Kitchen that I used for my Irish Car Bomb cupcakes, since I didn't have any problems with that recipe.

I ended up adding powdered sugar to get it to thicken.

Still, everything was fantastic and I can't wait to make this again.

Actually, maybe I'll ask Joe to make it for my birthday : )

Easter baking: Egg Shaped Cakes and Pretty Pastel cupcakes

2009-04-12T19:49:00.001-07:00

Help!!!!! I've started baking and I can't stop!!!!!

Okay, if you follow my blog, you know that baking is a relatively new concept for me. I get so much inspiration from other blogs though, it has really encouraged me to do more of it.

Since Joe and I stayed in the city for Easter and didn't have a lot planned, I found myself baking on multiple occasions this weekend!

It started on Friday night, I decided to whip up some cupcakes and make a bunch of different pastel colors for the frosting.

I used the much raved about Hershey Chocolate Cupcake recipe (let me tell you, this is my go-to chocolate cake recipe now!) and just a standard buttercream frosting.

Since it was just Joe and I, logically I only made a dozen cupcakes. Uh yeah, I was seriously regretting that decision 24 hours later, after we had an impromptu dinner party (Joe got his Omaha steak order on Friday and we had to share!) but only had one cupcake left! Yeah, you do the math, but the two of us took down quite a few cupcakes.

Anyway, Joe caught me sneaking the last cupcake into the bedroom while our friends were still over because I was "too tired" to play another game of Yahtzee. Bad host!

So because we didn't get enough sweets, I decided to make these egg shaped cakes for us on Sunday.

I found this via Tastespotting.com on The Kitchen. This was such an easy process to follow, thanks to the step-by-step pics on the Kitchen.

I was pretty impressed with my novice carving technique!

So I took the author's suggestion on recipes and used Lemon Poundcake from Gale Gand and Swiss Buttercream from Smitten Kitchen for the egg coating and a basic buttercream for the decorations.

OH. MY. GOD. SWISS BUTTERCREAM.

This stuff is amazing! I re-read SK's post a few times before deciding I was brave enough to attempt this. It really was not that difficult, her tutorial is very helpful, and this was just delicous.

I am a big frosting fan and when I tasted this I realized it was my favorite frosting, I just never knew what it was called! If you don't like super sweet, immediately feel like you need to brush your teeth frostings, you have to try this, it is truly amazing.

Decorating these was so much fun and I was quite pleased with the result.

Happy Easter!

Chicken with Carmelized Onions and Gruyere Cheese

2009-04-07T18:30:00.000-07:00

Sooo...I saw this on Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations a couple of months ago, and have been meaning to make it ever since. I love Mary Ellen's blog because her cooking style is very similar to mind (LOTS of pasta and risotto, not a lot of baking).

OH. MY. GOD. This was so good. If I had known how good it was, I would not have waited 2 months to make it!

This is definitely a great meal for a cold night, good thing since we are having some especially cold weather in Chicago for the first week of April.

I followed Mary Ellen's recipe with a few modifications:

I used sage instead of thyme (Not buying an $8 jar of dried thyme in this economy!) and dredged the chicken in flour and sage.
No cheese on the inside of the chicken ( I was lazy)
Again, had to add a carb. Joe is quick to notice if one of the food groups in missing from the meal. Actually the mashed potatoes I think really made the meal.

I whole-heartedly agree with Mary Ellen though; spinach, gruyere cheese and carmelized onions are a fantastic combination!

Ingredients

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts; trimmed and pounded out a bit
2 onions, sliced
Salt and pepper
Pinch of thyme
Pinch of sugar
Paprika
Approx 3 tbsp flour
Olive oil
1 tbsp butter
Approx 1/3 c white wine
6 slices Gruyere cheese
Fresh spinach
Directions

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large pan over medium heat

Add onions, pinch each of salt, pepper, sugar, and thyme. Let cook, stirring often, for approximately 30 minutes until the onions are brown and caramelized. Remove from pan.

Add another tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter to pan

Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt, pepper, and paprika. Dredge in flour, shake off excess.
Place chicken in the pan; cook approximately 4 minutes on each side.

When the chicken is done, top each piece with 2 slices Gruyere cheese.

Place under the broiler in your oven for 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Top each chicken breast with some of the caramelized onions, and place under the broiler for another 2 minutes.

Serve over sauteed spinach (saute spinach in olive oil with salt and pepper for 3-4 minutes, until just wilted).

Parmesan Breaded Pork Chops, Spinach and Tomato salad, and my new backsplash!

2009-04-05T17:07:00.000-07:00

Another weekend, another renovation project. While our master bath is at a standstill until the professionals can help with important things like plumbing, Joe couldn't let the weekend go by without another project, this time it was the kitchen backsplash.

While my mom asked the obvious question - "Why are you starting another project when you're not done with the first?" (we are sooo alike sometimes) - what can I say? The man is in a tiling mood.

So while the project was relatively easy, it wasn't until Sunday night that I actually got my kitchen back - and I love my new backsplash! Since Joe's been working so hard, I indulged him by combining his two favorite foods: cheese and pork.

I got this recipe from the Food Network, and was surprised because Nigella Lawson has never been one of my go to girls like Ray Ray or Giada, I may have to start trying her recipes more often.

This was very tasty and I'll definitely be making it again. The salad is very light and fresh, a great compliment to the heavy pork chop.

Source: Nigella Lawson, Food Network

Ingredients

Pork chops:
2 pork chops, approximately 8 ounces each
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup bread crumbs
1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan
1 cup ground nut oil or similar, for frying

Garlicky spinach and tomato salad:
3 medium tomatoes
1/2 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
4 cups baby spinach leaves
Salt and pepper

Directions

Trim the thick white fat off the pork chops, cutting carefully around the outside edge. Lay the chops between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and, using a mallet or a rolling pin beat them until the meaty part of the chop is half as thick. You will need to beat around the bone, so turn them over once as you go.

Beat the egg in a shallow wide bowl with the mustard, oregano, and salt and pepper. On a large plate or platter, combine the breadcrumbs with the Parmesan.

Press each of the chops into the egg mixture, coating either side. Then dip the eggy chops into the bread crumbs, covering them evenly. Let them lie on a cooling rack to dry slightly while you heat the oil in a large frying pan. When a small cube of bread sizzles if dropped into the oil, then the oil is hot enough. Cook the chops until they are a deep golden color, about 5 to 7 minutes a side (depending on how thin you've managed to get them and how cold they were before going in the oil).

Meanwhile, quarter the tomatoes and take out the seeds, then cut the shells into strips and dice them. You can take off the skins, too, if you prefer, by steeping the tomatoes first into a bowl of just boiled water for 3 to 5 minutes. Combine the diced tomato, minced or grated garlic, oil, and lemon juice in a bowl, and season well with salt and pepper.

When the chops are ready, toss the spinach in the tomato mixture until well coated and divide the salad between 2 large plates, putting each chop alongside.

***I followed her recipe closely, but of course had to add a carb, and also when breading the pork chop, I dredged in flour before the egg.

Lemon Cupcakes and Bathroom Renovation

2009-03-29T19:02:00.000-07:00

So Joe and I have been in the midst of a (1.5) DIY bathroom renovation for the last few weeks, so things have been a little messy around our place lately. This weekend, Joe's brother and his family (his wife and 3 kids) came up so he could help Joe tile the shower.

That means there were 4 adults and 3 kids in our 2 bedroom condo with no shower!

So what do you do to entertain kids when your place looks like this?

Make cupcakes!

I was all set to make some good old chocolate cupcakes when 6 year old Noah politely said "Um, Aunt Mel, I really like lemons. Do you think you could make lemon cupcakes?" Luckily, I had lemons, and really, how could I say no? Plus, I've seen them on a few blogs lately and have been wanting to try them.

So I found a couple of recipes online, I used a cake recipe from epicurious, and found a non-cream cheese (since I didn't have any) lemon frosting recipe here.

I doubled the cake recipe (since it only made 4 cupcakes!) and omitted the cream part.

Joe, who was initially upset that he lost out to a 6 year old and was not getting chocolate cupcakes, said they were the best cupcakes ever, even better than the Irish Car Bomb cupcakes I recently made. I don't know about that....but they were pretty darn good, and very light and fresh tasting for cupcakes.

Me with my helpers, note we did not have a working shower so please excuse the greasy hair : )

So - here's some pics of the bathroom status so far.

The master bathroom is not yet done, and I also didn't think to start taking before pictures until after we had taken out the hideous green tile and ripped out the toilet.

Pseudo-before shots:

I came home early from work one day and was surprised to see our shower ripped down to the studs. Joe didn't want me to see it : ) Poor guy is a little afraid of me during this project.

But the original owner put regular drywall in and it was all moldy, so of course we had no other choice so Joe had to re-drywall with cement drywall.

Finished shower and floor tile and toilet:

LOVE the new shower tile.....

So, we've still got some more projects in the master, new countertops, sinks and shower door but its coming along.

Onto the guest bathroom, formerly known as Joe's man-room (when you live in the city your options are limited, one day we'll have a basement and he can put all his crap up again).

Before shots:

UGLY countertop

Sports jerseys, memorabilia, etc.

Jackalope, dogs playing poker, must haves for every man room.

I was out of town for work this week and when I got back on Friday, Joe surprised me with a finished guest bathroom!

Notice no dogs playing poker in the reflection? We need to get some gender neutral art now....

Aren't I lucky to have such a handy husband?

Speaking of renovations....like the template change? I think the white background looks much cleaner.

Greek Feast - Mamma Mia Style

2009-03-22T15:27:00.000-07:00

So....first a few facts about to me to explain this madness:

1. I love 80's music
2. I love musicals
3. I love Meryl Streep

Every year at Christmas, my family gets one movie that we become obsessed with and watch it all week long - this year it was Mamma Mia.

Two of my brothers (who have a healthy appreciation for musicals), my sister, a reluctant Joe and I spent 4 days straight watching Mamma Mia over and over, while eating olives and feta (much to the chagrin of my mother when she went to make her Greek salad for a family Christmas party) and drinking wine.

Somewhere along the line, the idea was born for me to throw a Mamma Mia party back in Chicago and make a whole bunch of Greek food and force my friends and my brother who lives in Chicago to sing along with me! They were reluctant.....but it worked:

This was probably our 10th rendition in a row of "Winner Takes it All"

So as for the food, a BIG THANK YOU to Elly, of elly says opa. Elly's blog is chock full of authentic greek recipes, many of them handed down for generations - so if you want to make some legit Greek food, this is a good place to start. I asked Elly for help in planning my menu and she had so many great ideas. Most of the recipes I used came from her blog too.

Menu:

Olive Tapenade, Hummus, Melitzanosalata with Pita and Veggies

Olive Mix

Spanakopita

Tomata/feta/cucumber skewers

Chicken Gyros with Tzatziki

Baklava

Tomato/cucumber/feta skewers

Pretty self explanatory, just drizzle on a little e.v.o.o., red wine vinegar and oregano.

Olive Tapenade, Hummus and Melitzanosalata with Pita and Veggies

Tapenade

Ingredients:

20 pitted Kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
1 Tbsp rinsed, drained, and chopped capers
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp anchovy paste (optional)
Fresh cracked black pepper

Just mix everything together in a food processor or blender.

Source: About.com

Melitzanosalata

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
4 teaspoons of wine vinegar
3 cloves of garlic, minced
sea salt
freshly ground pepper

Preparation:

Pierce the eggplant with a fork and char on the grill, or over an open flame (alternatively, broil for 10-15 minutes) until the eggplant turns black and is very soft. Set to cool and drain on a rack with paper towels underneath.

Source: About.com

Hummus

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas/garbanzo beans (15 oz.)
2 tablespoons roasted garlic
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon oregano

Preparation:

In a food processor, process beans, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and oregano until desired consistency. If hummus is too thick, simply add olive oil in small increments(i/2 teaspoon) until desired consistency.

Source: About.com

Spanakopita

From Elly's blog. I love this "cheater" recipe that uses puff pastry rather than phyllo dough. After making baklava, I was happy not to have to use phyllo again!

These were a hit, and are for sure going to be one of my "go to" appetizers.

Chicken Gyros:

Also from elly says opa!

These were so delicous and easy, I just set up a little "gyro bar" for everyone to make their own!

Baklava:

From Elly, on bakespace.com.

So, yeah, this was a little difficult, but I expected as much. I've worked with phyllo before, but due to some poor planning on my part (regarding defrosting the phyllo) it was more difficult to work with than I've experienced before.

I ended up with one less layer than Elly's recipe calls for, but it still turned out delicious!

Thanks to my dancing queen friends, and my brother for being a good sport. We'll get Chiquitita out of our heads at some point....

Brown Sugar Glazed Salmon

2009-03-19T06:54:00.000-07:00

I wanted to do something a little different with salmon the other night and found this recipe on allrecipes.com. Usually we cook salmon with cajun seasoning or other very savory flavors, so this brown sugar glaze was definitely something different.

So, this was extremely delicious for the first few bites (Joe thought so too), but after about 5 bites, I think the glaze was just way too sweet to eat for a whole meal, we were dousing our plates with salt!

I'll definitely make it again, but with a few changes:

1) Add about a tsp of salt to the glaze

2) Add more lemon (and maybe some white wine too?)

3) Make a little bit less of the glaze - Joe commented that there was so much glaze it overpowered the whole dish - and made it sticky!

INGREDIENTS

6 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
4 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 1/4 teaspoons dried dill weed
3/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 pound salmon fillets, with skin
lemon pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, and mix in the brown sugar, lemon juice, dill, and cayenne pepper. Cook and stir until the brown sugar is dissolved. Reduce heat and simmer until ready to brush onto the salmon.
Season salmon with lemon pepper, and place directly on the grill grate, skin side down. Brushing frequently with the butter and brown sugar glaze, cook the salmon 20 minutes, or until easily flaked with a fork. Reserve some of the glaze for serving.

Happy St Patricks Day! And Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes....

2009-03-17T06:40:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. Its March 17th and this is my first March post! I have excuses of course! I was in Mexico the first week of March and last week, well last week was just crazy getting caught up.

So I'm done being a blog slacker and making excuses though so let's move on.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY! I did all my celebrating on Saturday at my brother's party, where my contribution was these Irish Car Bomb cupcakes.

I saw these on Smitten Kitchen a few months ago and knew I had to make them for my favorite holiday. These were, needless to say a huge hit. I actually doubled the recipe (gasp!) because I knew I'd want to bring some to work today too. I brought about 30 cupcakes to my brother's party (which started at 7 AM) and they were gone by noon, if that gives you any indication.

I froze the rest of the batch and frosted them last night to bring to work today, I'm hoping they will help me motivate some software developers!

These little devils consist of a chocolate cake with Guinness in the batter, chocolate ganache center with Irish whiskey, and a rich buttercream frosting with Bailey's.

Since I followed the recipe exactly, here is the link to the original from SK's blog. The only change I would make, as also noted in Cooking This and That, I would add more whiskey to the filling next time, because these cupcakes just don't have enough booze in them! Seriously though, delicious as it was, it was hard to taste the whiskey so I'd add a little more.

Also, as noted on CTT, a paring knife worked just fine to get the centers out for the filling.

All in all, these were a huge success, and a pretty big accomplishment for me since I'm new to baking. I don't think I'll be able to wait a year to make them again either!

Cheesy Beef & Shells Bake

2009-02-26T08:53:00.000-08:00

Yum num yumm......Really can you go wrong with pasta, cheese, tomatoes and beef? Especially when you get the cheese really toasty under the broiler.

The inspiration for this came from the cinnamon in the Pasta al Forno I made recently, and the fact that I had leftover shells from the Venetian Mac & Cheese.

Ingredients:

1 pound medium shell pasta
1 pound ground beef
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 can, crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 pinches ground cinnamon
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
Italian seasonings

- Brown beef over medium heat for about 10 minutes, add garlic about halfway through with salt and pepper.

- Pour in tomatoes and seasonings (Italian and cinnamon) and let simmer for about 10 minutes.

- Meanwhile, cook the shells to al dente

- Pour in the milk or cream to the sauce and stir, let simmer for about 5 more minutes.

- Pour pasta and sauce into a greased casserole dish and top with cheese. Broil for about 3 - 5 minutes until the cheese gets toasty.

Lemon Garlic Shrimp and Risotto with Spring Vegetables

2009-02-24T10:57:00.000-08:00

Yum, yum, yum, I LOVE this flavor combination! I found these two (separate) recipes in my William Sanoma Essentials of Italian cookbook when I first got it, and now I make them together and combine into one dish.

Its a great warm weather dish because of the flavors and the fact that you can grill the shrimp for added fantastic flavor, but also great in the dead of winter (made on a grill pan) when you are dreaming of warmer weather!

The recipes are adapted from WS, I have made it so many times I'm sure I am not following it exactly.

Shrimp

Ingredients:

Raw shrimp, peeled and deveined - about 12 pieces for 2 ppl
1 lemon
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup of parsley, chopped
salt
pepper

- Whisk together the lemon juice, wine, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and parsley.

- Add the shrimp and let marinate about 15 minutes.

- Grill the shrimp on a grill pan or directly on the grill

Risotto

For the risotto, just use a basic risotto recipe, using white wine and chicken broth as your liquids.

For the vegetables, add in whatever fresh spring vegetables you can find. All I had this time were green beans, but I've used peas and asparagus before too.

If using green beans or asparagus, blanch for about 4 minutes and shock in an ice bath while the risotto is cooking. Then add at the last minute, with parsley and parmesan cheese.

Cheesy Spinach Stuffed, Bacon-wrapped Chicken

2009-02-22T15:38:00.001-08:00

If you've read this blog before, you know that Joe is a fan of anything stuffed with cheese or wrapped in bacon. When I can both of those things into one dish, its a no-brainer - and healthy too. I kid...I kid!

This was inspired by Racheal Rays Florentine Prosciutto wrapped chicken.

I didn't actually use the recipe though, I just remembered seeing it on TV, so I used what I had on hand, which was bacon, spinach and shredded mozeralla.

I just pounded out the chicken breasts, spread the spinach on, sprinkled with the cheese, rolled em up and wrapped them in bacon! Cooked at 350 for about 25 minutes. I turned on the broiler for the last few minutes to crisp up the bacon.

Creamy Mushroom Leek Pasta

2009-02-22T15:36:00.001-08:00

Mmm... this was so yummy. I came up with this recipe on my own, I'm sure I've seen the combination somewhere before but I can't remember!

This is a great side dish, but you could also add chicken for a whole meal.

Could be a soup too!

Ingredients:

Pasta noodles
3 portabello mushrooms
1 clove garlic, minced
2 leeks
2 tbl spoons olive oil
1/2 cup wine
1/2 cup milk or cream
2 tbl spoons flour
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
salt
pepper
parsley (optional garnish)

- Start by cleaning the leeks if you haven't already. Chop them and throw into a large bowl of water. Stir them up with your hands a bit and let soak about 10 minutes, all the dirt will sink to the bottom.

- Begin boiling the water for the pasta

- Heat up the olive oil in a large pan and add the leeks and mushrooms with some salt and pepper, let saute for about 5 minutes and add the garlic, let saute another 5 - 10 minutes until the mushrooms are soft.

- Start cooking the pasta once the water boils

- Add the wine and let cook down.

- Sprinkle in the flour slowly, working into the mixture as you go.

- Then pour the milk or cream in slowly and let thicken up with the flour.

- Let this simmer about 5 minutes and add the cheese. Mix in the drained pasta, garnish with parsley.

Pot Roast - Tyler Florence style

2009-02-22T15:11:00.000-08:00

I'll start by saying that I've never been a big fan of pot roast. We had it a lot growing up and its just never been one of my favorites, maybe because I usually gravitate towards fresher tasting foods than dishes that cook all day.

So when Joe requested it the other night (is it just me or do guys like pot roast way more than girls?), I reluctantly agreed and found a Tyler Florence recipe online. I really like his recipes from Tyler's Ultimate for classic dishes.

Well, it turned out really good and Joe loved it. I liked it too, but I think I still feel the same way about pot roast! Just not my favorite thing in the world.

I followed this pretty closely but did let it simmer for about a half hour longer than it said. It actually could have cooked longer so the meat fell apart more. After reading FN reviews (which I should have done before!), other reviewers said the same thing. I'll probably let it go for 5 hours the next time Joe requests it.

I served mine over mashed potatoes.

Poor veggies - about to get the sh*t cooked out of them

Source: Food Network, Tyler Florence.

Ingredients

1 (3 to 4 pound) piece beef chuck roast, trimmed of excess fat
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 cup water
2 yellow onion, halved
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 bunch baby carrots
2 celery stalks, sliced
1 cup button mushrooms, stems removed and sliced in half
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves

Directions

Season all sides of the beef with a fair amount of salt and pepper. In a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot that has a tight cover; heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over moderately high heat. Brown the meat on all sides, taking the time to get a nice crust on the outside. Pour in the tomatoes and the water. Scatter the vegetables and herbs around the pot roast, season with salt and pepper; and drizzle with the remaining tablespoon of oil. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to low. Braise for about 3 hours, basting every 30 minutes with the pan juices, until the beef is fork tender.

Slice the pot roast and arrange on platter surrounded by the vegetables. Serve with the pot juices.

Venetian Mac 'n' Cheese with Radicchio and Shrimp

2009-02-15T10:47:00.000-08:00

Oh my gosh, this was sooo yummy, the picture really does not do it justice. The cheese sauce on this was just delicious, there is a pinch of nutmeg in it and the flavors worked very well with the shrimp.

I got the recipe from Everyday with Rachel Ray. The next time I make it, I will make a few changes though. The shells are cool and all, but kind of a pain to eat, in my opinion. Also, I wasn't a huge fan of the radicchio in this dish. I cooked it even longer than the recipe did to let it wilt more, but it was still kind of tough. Also, the flavor was a bit too bitter for my liking.

So next time, I think I'll use a smaller pasta and maybe use spinach instead of radicchio.

Ingredients

Salt
1 pound medium shell pasta
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups half-and-half or whole milk
1 cup chicken broth
Pepper
Pinch Nutmeg
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
3 cloves garlic, grated or finely chopped
1 teaspoon anchovy paste (optional) - I did not use this

Preparation

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt it, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain.

In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute,then whisk in the half-and-half and chicken broth. Season the sauce with salt, pepper and the nutmeg and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, 6-7 minutes.

In a large skillet, heat the EVOO, 2 turns of the pan, over medium heat. Add the garlic and anchovy paste, if using, and cook for 1 minute. Add the shrimp and radicchio, increase the heat and cook, stirring, until the shrimp is pink and the radicchio is tender, 3-4 minutes.

Pre-heat the broiler. Stir the Parmigiano Reggiano into the white sauce. Add the pasta, shrimp and radicchio and toss. Pour into a buttered casserole and sprinkle the asiago on top. Broil until the cheese is melted, about 3 minutes; serve hot.

Red Velvet Obama Cupcakes

2009-02-15T09:20:00.000-08:00

Right....so what does Obama have to do with Red Velvet cupcakes? Not much, but bear with me, this is not a shameless attempt to attach the Obama name to my cupcakes just to attract attention...maybe.

Okay, so yesterday, Valentine's Day, was also tax day for me and Joe, our first year doing our taxes as newlyweds (exciting stuff). Something about Joe is that he's one of those guys who has "a guy" for everything; realtors, mortgage guys, accountants, contractors, etc. Well for his taxes his "guy" is actually a very nice woman, who works in Hyde Park (our President's previous home), which is in the south side of Chicago.

So at 9 am, yesterday morning, we were headed down to the south side to get our taxes done. Over time, I've grown to be more skeptical of Joe's "guys". Add the fact that I had to wake up early on Saturday morning and drive to the south side, let's just say I was not a happy camper. We get there and the tax lady is late for our appointment, we're told she'll be there in an hour.

Now I'm even more annoyed - I tell Joe I just want to go home and go the H&R block that is in our neighborhood. He convinces me to wait for her and now we have an hour to kill, and suggests that we find a grocery store to buy the ingredients for my cupcakes. Fine, whatever.

We start driving and immediately realize that getting around is not going to be easy, since Obama was back this weekend - there are police barricades all over the place. Turns out we were just a block away from his house.

Now, I'm just really laying into poor Joe about the whole thing. We get around the barricades and find a grocery store and Joe tries to turn things around by saying "I bet Michelle Obama used to shop here Mel, this was probably their grocery store! Your cupcakes are going to be special Obama cupcakes."

Whatever....he was trying, and I finally came around. The tax lady was fabulous and so were the cupcakes!

I found this recipe on The Way the Cookie Crumbles, Bridget had this amazing red velvet recipe comparison, so I followed her advice and chose the recipe from Apple a Day.

I followed the recipe exactly except:

1) I added a tbl spoon of baking soda instead of a tea spoon - on accident of course. The cakes puffed a bit more but otherwise this didn't have a big effect.

2) Instead of buying cake flour, I substituted with all purpose after doing some research, removed 2 tbl spoons per cup of the flour and added 2 tbl spoons corn starch. I'm not sure I'll do this again, because I could taste corn flavor in the final product.

3) Original recipe, below, is for a whole cake, so it needs less baking time, probably 15 - 20 minutes.

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (from Apple a Day, who adapted it from www.saveur.com)

For the cake:
2½ cups cake flour
1½ cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1½ cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons (1 oz.) red food coloring
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar

For the frosting:
12 ounces cream cheese, softened
12 ounces butter, softened
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1½ cups chopped pecans (optional)

1. For the cake: Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa, and salt into a medium bowl.

3. Beat eggs, oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla, and vinegar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until well combined. Add dry ingredients and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.

4. Divide batter evenly between 3 greased and floured 8″ round cake pans.

5. Bake cakes, rotating halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean, 25-30 minutes. Let cakes cool 5 minutes, then invert each onto a plate, then invert again onto a cooling rack. Let cakes cool completely.

6. For the frosting: Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla together in a large bowl with an electric mixer until combined. Add sugar and beat until frosting is light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes.

4. Put 1 cake layer on a cake plate, level off with a serrated knife, and spread one-quarter of the frosting on top. Set another layer on top, level, and repeat frosting. Set remaining layer on top, level, and frost top and sides with the remaining frosting. Press pecans into the sides of the cake, if desired. **Tip: after leveling cake, turn it upside down to reduce numbers of crumbs. I also did a crumb coat on the outside, let it set for ten minutes, then finished with remaining frosting.

5. Chill for 2 hours to set frosting.

Restaurant Review: Rick's Cafe

2009-02-12T10:45:00.000-08:00

So, I decided the other night, while out with some friends, that I would start doing restaurant reviews on my blog. One of my favorite things about living in Chicago is the fact that there are SO MANY amazing restaurants, most of them small, mom & pop owned, ethnic and BYOB (at least the ones I like).

Since my friends and I love trying new restaurants, I figured it would be a great idea to start incorporating reviews into my blog. So Chicago readers, be on the lookout for more to come. Non-Chicago readers, now you'll know where to go on your next visit!

*please excuse the obnoxious picture. In the future I will try to get pictures of actual food, but had just decided to do this, and already consumed a bottle of wine at this point.

Rick's Cafe
www.rickscafechicago.com
Lakeview
3915 N Sheridan Rd

Joe and I moved about a half a block from here almost a year ago, but had never tried Ricks. There are a lot of great restaurants on this block, Pizza Rustica, TAC Quick and Fornello Trattoria just to name a few, and we overlooked Rick's.

The other night, my friends and I were planning on going out to dinner at one of our favorite BYOBs in Lakeview, Andalous. Andalous has amazing Morrocan cuisine and is one of those places that you can count on for delicous food, decent service and a great value. Well, up until now you could also count on getting seated right away. Not anymore, as we found out when we called ahead and were told there was a 2 hour wait!

So....we sulked for a bit...and then decided we needed to find our next fabulous BYOB that no one else knows about. I thought of Rick's, since I have been meaning to try it, and received recommendations from 2 different people. Online reviews were not consistent, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

IT. WAS. SO. GOOD. Oh my god - you know when you get an insanely delicious dish from a restaurant and its all you can think about the next day? Or is that just me? Okay - here's how I rate Rick's by category.

Food - Amazing. Rick's cuisine ranges from French to Morrocan, so the menu has some interesting flavor combinations. I got the Fricassée de poulet ã la crême, a chicken dish cooked in morel juice, and finished with creme fraiche and honey. Soooo delicous. The sweetness of the honey definitely made this dish memorable.

My friends ordered Penne Primavollo, Pasta with Shrimp and tomatoes, and Artichoke Raviolis. We all tried each others, and everyone's food was fantastic. The penne primavollo was probably my second favorite.

Value - Good, on target for the neighborhood and quality of food. Entrees ranged from $15 - $20. Corkage fees were $2 per person. A lot of people complained about this in the reviews I read, I really don't think its that big of a deal for a BYOB in Lakeview. Some restaurants charge by the bottle, and since the 4 of us usually go through at least 3 bottles when we go out, this worked for us!

Ambiance - Not great, to be honest. I'm not sure if it was the lighting, or the layout of the restaurant, but you definitely feel like you're just sitting in a little room with a bunch of other people, there is nothing to seclude the tables from each other. The restroom requires a trip through the kitchen, but this just always makes me laugh, since a lot of restaurants in Chicago are like this. Usually by that time I've had enough wine to say hi to the chef on my way through!

Service - Not bad, not great. Honestly, I've learned to lower my expectations on service since moving to Chicago. If a restaurant can get the food and value right, I'm a happy camper!

We will definitely be back to Rick's - hopefully this one has a couple more years before it turns into 2 hour waits!

Joe's Stuffed Peppers

2009-02-12T09:36:00.000-08:00

While I do the majority of the cooking in our little household, it is not an indication that my cooking abilities are superior, by any means. So once in awhile, when Joe offers to cook, I gladly step back.

One of his specialties are stuffed peppers, and being Italian, it should be! I once tried making a healthier, greek version that included ground lamb, spinach and feta. I thought they were delicious, but Joe was disgusted by them, and therefore, I am never allowed to make stuffed peppers again.

His version is not as healthy, but incredibly tasty!

Ingredients (you'll have to guess at the exact amounts):

2 green peppers
mild italian sausage
2 cups beef broth
1 cup abbrio rice
1 can diced tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup shredded mozeralla

- Brown sausage

- Add 2 cups of beef broth and 1 cup of risotto. Slow cook for 20 minutes

- Add chopped garlic and 1 can of diced tomatoes

- Simmer and add 1/2 cup of parm

- Wash green peppers and cut a round whole on the top. Gut out all the seeds

- Cut the bottom of the pepper to make sure it stands upright while cooking

- Stuff the pepper and top with cheese

- Cook on 375 for 15 minute of until top is golden brown

I made Cookies! They turned out normal!

2009-02-05T10:03:00.000-08:00

Ahem....this is a pretty big deal for me. Since learning how to cook, I've definitely been one of those "no-bake" type of cooks. I attribute this to my lack of patience and attention to detail, something about exact measurements, remembering to set the butter out and all that mixing just didn't interest me.

So there have been a few factors that have recently encouraged me to give baking a shot.

1) My Kitchen Aid mixer

2) My aunt got me "cookie kit" for one of my showers, complete with this amazing cookie cookbook, Taste of Home Ultimate Cookie Collection. Joe has taken to reading it and dog-earing the pages.

3) My friend Amy is an AMAZING baker and always makes extras for Joe. Unfortunately, she moved back home to Minneapolis recently, so Joe has been deprived of baked goods for a few months.

After a few attempts, these cookies are the first thing I've baked that I was really excited about. Joe actually asked me, "Are you sure you made these?"

Heath Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

2/3 cup shortening
1 - 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 - 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
4 oz chopped candy bars (recipe called for Snickers, I used Heath)
1/2 cup quick cooking oats

-Mix shortening and brown sugar until creamed. Beat in egg and vanilla.

- In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinammon and salt. Gradually add to creamed mixture.

- Stir in chopped candy bars and oats

- Drop by spoonful, 2 inches apart onto greased cookie sheet. Bake 350 for 10-12 minutes.

Source: Taste of Home Ultimate Cookie Collection.

Parmesan Crusted Chicken Piccata

2009-02-04T10:40:00.000-08:00

I was going through some cooking magazines to find recipe inspiration on Sunday, and came across this recipe from the March 08 issue of Every Day with Rachel Ray. I know there are some haters out there but as I've said before, I love her recipes for weeknight meals because, of course, they are so quick and easy!

Joe was so excited when he saw the picture in the magazine and realized that is what I was making (he has been known to gnaw on blocks of parmesan cheese). I think mine came out looking just as good as it did and the mag and tasted amazing.

I followed the recipe closely, only omitted capers (because Joe doesn't like them and I couldn't find the green olives I bought to substitute for the life of me!).

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Not your Mama's Salmon Patties

Ingredients

Preparation

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Ingredients

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degreesMix dry ingredients and beer.Pour into a greased loaf pan.Pour melted butter over mixture.Bake 1 hour, remove from pan and cool for at least 15 minutes

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Tapenade

Ingredients:

Melitzanosalata

Ingredients:

Preparation:

Hummus

Ingredients:

Preparation:

Brown Sugar Glazed Salmon

INGREDIENTS

DIRECTIONS

Happy St Patricks Day! And Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes....

Cheesy Beef & Shells Bake

Lemon Garlic Shrimp and Risotto with Spring Vegetables

Cheesy Spinach Stuffed, Bacon-wrapped Chicken

Creamy Mushroom Leek Pasta

Pot Roast - Tyler Florence style

Ingredients

Directions

Venetian Mac 'n' Cheese with Radicchio and Shrimp

Preparation

Red Velvet Obama Cupcakes

Restaurant Review: Rick's Cafe

Joe's Stuffed Peppers

I made Cookies! They turned out normal!

Parmesan Crusted Chicken Piccata

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Mix dry ingredients and beer.
Pour into a greased loaf pan.
Pour melted butter over mixture.
Bake 1 hour, remove from pan and cool for at least 15 minutes