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Entries from October 2008

I Have a Secret….

October 30, 2008 · Leave a Comment

I have a secret dream to someday own my own catering company that specializes in desserts. Hmmm…not to secret now, eh?

Anyway, I thought I would start out small, kind of get my feet wet. I decided to make Fridays “Fresh Fridays” by sending freshly baked goods to work with my hubby and see if he can sell them.

Week One: I sent Cinnamon Bun Cookies, Brown Sugar Blondies and Chocolate Chocolate Chip & Hazelnut Cookies

Week Two: Peanut Butter Cookies and Brownies

Week Three is this week. I have made Chocolate Chip Cookies and Spooky (Sugar) Cookie Cut-Outs.

The first two weeks, I made a total of $16.65.

Sounded pretty pathetic to me, until I thought about a few things. My husband works at a company with a staff of 16 people, including himself. I priced the items from .50 to .65 mainly, with a few .25 items and a few 1.00 items. Suddenly, that total seemed not so lame.

I also have been completely intimidated by decorating, i.e. icning on sugar cookies. I could never figure out the icing or how to make them “pretty”. But, since this “Fresh Friday” is Halloween, I decided to take the plunge – after all, doesn’t everyone enjoy a good scare on Halloween??

The verdict? :

Not so scary now, HUH?? I am actually rather proud at my first attempt and eagerly look forward to trying again at Christmas!

Along with my adjusted thoughts, I also had a possible lead – a co-worker of my husband’s has a friend who is getting married next spring and they might be inetersted in having me do some desserts for them! How exciting! I plan to create an informal brochure for her by year’s end to take to her friend, and we’ll see what happens!

I’ll post from time to time on the evolution of my dream. Who knows? Maybe by the time we move to Savannah, this fantasy will become a reality.

Categories: baking

Pumpkin & Sausage Baked Pasta

October 27, 2008 · Leave a Comment

I have been hearing different stories about pasta, sausage and pumpkin and have been so intrigued. I did find one recipe that I was about to try, when I was channel surfing over the weekend and was skimming past Paula’s Party on the Food Network, when I saw it was a Halloween show, and decided to check it out. Paula Deen was also making a pumpkin pasta recipe that sounded a little better to my taste buds, so I decided to throw cation to the wind and give it a whirl.

I did make a few modifications to it – I used fat free half and half instead of heavy cream, and I used a bit more chicken broth, and adjusted the spices to better suit my family.

It rocked. Just enough kick, and was still lighter and fresher than tomato-based sauces. We will be having this again.

Pumpkin & Sausage Baked Pasta

adapted from Paula’s Party Recipe, Food Network

1 pound Italian sausage
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 (15-ounces) can pumpkin puree
1 1/4 cup chicken stock
2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage leaves
pinch salt
1/3 cup fat free half and half
1 pound farfalle pasta, cooked
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
3/4 cup grated Parmesan

Cook sausage in a large, deep skillet over medium heat until fat is rendered about 8 minutes.

Remove from skillet with a slotted spoon, drain on paper towels and set aside. Discard any fat from the skillet in excess of 2 tablespoons.

Add onion, garlic, crushed red pepper flakes and oil to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally until soft; about 3 minutes. Stir in pumpkin puree, chicken stock and sage. Mix together and add salt. Bring to a boil then lower the heat and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in h & h and sausage. Simmer until the sauce comes together and is thickened slightly.

Add cooked pasta and parsley to the skillet and gently toss all the ingredients together to coat. Place in greased casserole dish and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and bake for 35 minutes at 350 until the top is golden brown.

Categories: Cooking · Food · Recipe Listing · Uncategorized
Tagged: pasta, pumkin

Tuesdays With Dorie: Pumpkin Muffins!

October 20, 2008 · 1 Comment

Yay! I am back with the in-crowd!

Over the summer, domestic issues caused me to become more or less invisible to nearly everyone in my real life, and my cyber world. Now that the past is the past, and cooler temps allow for more comfortable baking experiences, I have returned! I am so excited I’m posting a day early!

This week’s choice was from Kelly of Sounding My Barbaric Gulp who chose Pumpkin muffins – how perfect for this time of year?!?!?!?!??

The only things I changed in the recipe was I didn’t use raisins – that would be a cardinal sin for my hubby – he is NOT a fan – I used 1/2 a bag of milk chocolate chips I had leftover from baking a batch of Brown Sugar Blondies for hubby’s work on Friday, and I used salted roasted sunflower seeds – its all I had.

I left 4 of them bald on top, but after eating one with the seeds, I wished I had seeded them all!

The chips just added a hint of sweetness, and the salty topping was awesome with them!

Thank you for welcoming back and thanks for such a great recipe to start me off again!

Categories: Food · Recipe Listing · baking · muffins · pumpkin
Tagged: muffins, pumpkin, Tuesdays With Dorie

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Cookies

October 16, 2008 · 1 Comment

I bought some Hazelnuts at the Farmer’s Market over the weekend and was itching to try them in something. I ran across a chocolate cookie recipe, decided to put my own spin on it and came up with something that I was proud enough of to make a batch to send with my husband to work.

They turned out very moist, very chocolaty, but not very sweet. Once I added the white chocolate drizzle on the top, it not only added just the touch of sweetness they needed, but added an attractive finish to them.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Cookies

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts
2 squares white baking chocolate
1 teaspoon canola oil

In large bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir into the butter mixture until well blended. Mix in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto un-greased cookie sheets.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or just until set. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
Chop baking chocolate and add oil and microwave until melted and stir until smooth. Drizzle over cookies, allow time for chocolate to set.

Categories: Recipe Listing · baking
Tagged: chocolate, cookies, Hazelnuts

Sweet and Sour Pork Chops & Italian Potato Casserole

October 8, 2008 · Leave a Comment

I got a new cookbook in the mail two days ago: The Big Book of Casseroles: 250 Recipes for Serious Comfort Food by Maryana Vollstedt.

There are so many wonderful recipes in it I didn’t even know which to choose the first time out.

I chose two : Sweet and Sour Pork Chops (in the book this was called Pork Chops and Red Cabbage Dinner, I used green cabbage and half red wine vinegar and half white vinegar, so I altered the name as well), and Italian Potato Casserole.

The pork chops were wonderful – so full of flavor, moist and tender. Randall loved them. I make a similar recipe with apples and onions, but it can se a bit sweet to me – I don’t enjoy sweet meat. The vinegar and cabbage balanced the sweet with sour and made it dyanmite!

Sweet and Sour Pork Chops

adapted from Big Book of Casseroles

1/4 tsp salt, plus more to taste

freshly ground pepper to taste

1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil (I used olive oil)

6 bone in pork chops (I used two)

1 C. sliced yellow onion

1 small head red cabbage, cored and shredded (I used 1/2 head of green cabbage)

2 red delicious apples, cored and sliced, but not peeled

1/4 c. dry white wine or water (I used water)

1/4 c. red wine vinegar (I used 1/2 RW vinegar and 1/2 white vinegar)

3 tbsp firmly packed brown sugar

season chops with salt and pepper, brown in oil in skillet
transfer to plate and use same skillet to saute remaining ingredients until cabbage begins to wilt
place mixture in a casserole dish and place chops on top
cover and make at 350 for 40-50 minutes

The potatoes were awesome – I didn’t use enough cheese because I didn’t have the right kind on hand. Next time, I will have mozzarella on hand and I can’t wait to try them again!

Italian Potato Casserole

from The Big Book of Casseroles

6 large baking potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch slices

1 yellow onion, sliced

3 tomatoes, seeded, sliced and drained

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp dried basil

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 c. grated mozzarella

1/2 c. grated parmesan

3 tbsp butter or margarine, cut into bits

in a 2 1/2 quart casserole that has been sprayed with cooking spray, layer 1/2 potatoes, 1/2 onions, 1/2 tomatoes
season with salt, pepper, oregano and basil
sprinkle with 1/2 cheese
repeat layers and dot with butter
cover, bake at 350 for 30 minutes, uncover and bake for 30-45 minutes, until golden and potatoes are tender

Categories: Cooking · Food · baking
Tagged: cabbage, casseroles, pork chops, potatoes, Recipe Listing

Turkey Florentine

October 7, 2008 · Leave a Comment

Between the weather and my child, who has been getting sick on and off for the last few months, this blog as been seriously neglected. I so hope I can become a regular poster again!

My Mom has a cookbook: The Complete Family Cookbook. Its old, its tattered, and full of fond memories for me.

I remember her getting this book out countless times, as far back as I can remember, cooking from it. She has told me the story of its origin – a local gas station was selling it, a section at a time, each week, with a tank fill-up. From the publishing date, I was apparently a baby when she was gathering this treasure.