Apple, Bacon and Cheddar Breakfast Pudding

This was a very good and filling breakfast.  I got this recipe on bettycrocker.com.  We served it with Bloody Mary drinks.  You make this a day ahead and just bake it in the morning.   

Ingredients:

3T butter

3 medium apples, chopped (3 C)

3 T packed brown sugar

4 C cubed firm bread

1 # bacon, cooked and chopped

2 C shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (8oz)

2 ½ C milk

1 t ground mustard

2 t Worcestershire sauce

¼ t salt

1/8 t pepper

5 eggs

Directions:

1.       Grease a 2 qt. casserole.

2.       In a 10” skillet, cook the bacon.  Wipe it clean and add the butter. 

3.       Cook apples in butter 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender. 

4.       Stir in brown sugar; reduce the heat to low and cook an additional 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until apples are tender. 

5.       Layer half each of the bread, bacon, apples and cheese in casserole. 

6.       Repeat with the remaining bread, bacon, apples and cheese.

7.       Mix all the remaining ingredients; pour over cheese.  Cover tightly and refrigerate at least 2 hours but no longer that 24 hours. 

8.       Heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Bake uncovered 40-45 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. 

9.       Let stand 10 minutes before serving. 

Recipe says makes 12 servings.  Not when feeding the Marler boys.  It served 4 nicely. 

Turkey Burgers

Yesterday I made turkey burgers.  I used Williams Sonoma Hamburger seasoning in the ground turkey and they were the best turkey burgers I have ever made.  I melted truffle mozzarella cheese on top, yum.  I baked the remaining shoestring potatoes and managed not to turn them into chips, but McDonald’s are still better.  Simple salad and that was dinner.  We have started using Sandwich thins for buns and like it better. 

Caneton a l'Orange

What a pain in the butt this recipe was, but after dinner we tasted the orange sauce that came with the duck and said, worth it.  I have to get an oven thermometer and see about the ovens as I don’t think they are right, so that added to the drama.  I served shoestring potatoes with the dish, per Julia’s suggestion and I roasted asparagus.  Unfortunately the fries did not cook as directed and by the time I finished the sauce they were over crunchy.  I told Jim I am over trying to get fries right.  Next time, he will be running to McDonalds as dinner nears.  If everything is not perfect, I get upset.  Julia says never apologize, pretend it is perfect.  I can’t do that.  When I work for hours and it is not up to my standard, I almost can’t eat.  Maybe I am getting to old to do these really complicated recipes.  Another problem with this recipe is that she says a 5 1/2# duck serves 5-6 people.  Without an appetizer, Jim would have been starving.  I would say, one duck for 2 people max.  The best part of dinner was Chateau Gloria.  It is my favorite wine.  Our friend Jim brought us a bottle when he came after Thanksgiving.  It was as wonderful as I remembered.  I think, ever more wonderful. 

I am not going to put the recipe in the blog.  Between the stock recipe, the basic duck roasting recipe and the directions for the sauce we are looking at about 8 pages of instruction.  If you are at all serious about cooking you need to buy Mastering the Art of French Cooking VOL. 1.  You need to start at least one day before as you need duck stock.  I made the stock on Sunday.  This is made from the giblets, neck and wings of the duck.  A couple of problems that I encountered was the after roasting the duck and finishing the sauce.  The part of removing the fat in the roasting pan adding ½ C Madeira and reducing the liquid to 3 T.  It didn’t work for me.  I noticed that it was burning and it was way over 3 T.  I scraped 3 T off the top and threw the rest away.  I finished the sauce per the recipe. 

Julia wants you to put all the orange slices on the platter.  It looked gorgeous.  Jim threw a fit and I had to remove them while he was carving.  So that was Christmas dinner this year.  We had truffle pate for our appetizer.              

Christmas Eve Feast of Two Fishes

Christmas Eve dinner was very indulgent.  Jim keeps telling me that I was a complete invalid, sleeping in a hospital bed in the dining room last year.  Looking back, this complete invalid made Christmas dinner.  But, following that train of thought, I decided that instead of my usual 7 fishes feast, we would just have 2, caviar and lobster.  I love caviar; fine quality caviar is just the best taste in the world.  I bought Pepperidge Farm sandwich white and cut off the crust.  I toasted it, buttered it and sliced diagonally.  I hardboiled and chopped an egg.  I did not have crème fresh and I don’t like onion with it.  Jim served a wonderful champagne called Henriot Blanc Souverain. 

A while back I walked into Costco and found 4# of cooked lobster pieces.  After researching lobster bisque recipes, I went back to Costco and bought their lobster bisque.  I thawed 2# of the lobster pieces.  After making the following Lobster Puffs to accompany the bisque, I put the remaining pieces of lobster in the bisque as it was warming.  With the dinner we had a Gainey Vineyard Chardonnay.  The recipe for the puffs comes from a cookbook by Jean Pierre Tardy who runs a party venue in Newtown, PA.    

Ingredients: 

1 puff pastry sheet

½ C flour

1 C lobster meat

1 roasted red pepper; deseeded and chopped (I bought mine in a jar, already seeded)

1 t tarragon

1 T chives

1 T sage

½ t cayenne pepper

1 egg

1 egg yolk

½ T water

Non-stick cooking spray or parchment paper

Directions:

1.       Place the puff pastry sheet on flat surface.  Sprinkle flour on puff pastry and, using a rolling pin, roll sheet to twice its original size.  Cut into 6 pieces.  I rolled the puff pastry between two floured sheets of parchment paper.  Sticking was not a problem. 

2.       Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

3.       Combine lobster meat, roasted red pepper, tarragon, chives, sage, and cayenne pepper in a bowl to make lobster salad.

4.       Divide the lobster salad onto the middle of the six puff pastry squares. 

5.       Combine, egg, egg yolk, and water in a small bowl to make a glaze.  Brush the edges of the piece of puff pastry.

6.       Bring corners of each piece of puff pastry to center and seal to make a package.  Turn each puff over and brush tops with more glaze. 

7.       Place the puffs on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake for 10 minutes. 

Lobster bisque to me is a little bland and these added zip to the meal.  This whole meal while opulent in ingredients was a breeze to make.  We had a delightful evening enjoying each other’s company and opening gifts.      

Nutcracker Cupcakes

Today I made cupcakes from a Pillsbury mix called Funfetti.  But I saw an article on the internet that gave you hints as to how to make a box cake mix eatable.  They are as follows:

·         Substitute butter for oil

·         Double the butter

·         Use package pudding mix

·         Instead of water use coconut milk

·         Make your own frosting

·         Add an extra egg

As I am making them for Christmas Eve lunch, I did the following substitutes.  I used butter instead of oil and I used coconut milk instead of water.  I did not make my own icing, but added vanilla to the Funfetti icing.  I also used green food coloring in the vanilla icing for a more Christmas look and I sprinkled them with red and green sprinkles.  I had a kit from Williams Sonoma to turn the whole cupcake experience into the Nutcracker.  It came with red and green cup to insert into the cupcake pan and a total of 24 mice, soldiers, a ballerina and a Christmas tree.  I hope the results are tasty, but if nothing else they really say Merry Christmas.    

Kale and Bean Soup

I know I said that I had enough leftovers to last until Christmas, but one can get very tired of leftovers.  I have been making chicken grilled cheese sandwiches out of the leftover chicken and Jim has really liked them.  They are quite easy.  Use good quality whole wheat or tonight I made rye bread in the bread machine.  Place a slice of slice of pepper jack cheese on each slice of bread.  Cover one side with the cooked chicken.  Put the two slices together and butter the outside of the bread.  Grille until the cheese is melted and the outside the bread is toasted.  I was sorting tons of recipes today and came across this soup.  I had leftover kale from the quinoa and red rice casserole, so I made it tonight.  It was very good and filling.  This recipe came out of the Tennessean visiting home cooks. This home cook was Wallicia Smith.    

Ingredients:

EVOO

2 cloves of garlic, minced

8 oz. chopped kale

32 oz chicken broth

1 can of cannellini beans

1 C Parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper

Directions:

1.       Wash the kale.

2.       In a Dutch oven, pour enough EVOO to coat the pot and sauté the chopped garlic on medium heat.  Do not let it turn brown. 

3.       Add the kale and add another T of EVOO.

4.       Wilt the kale and add the chicken broth.  Let it cook covered for about 15 minutes. 

5.       Stir in the beans and turn the temperature down to medium. 

6.       Add the cheese and heat through. 

7.       Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Birthday Luncheon

Yesterday we had a birthday party for Jim’s cousin Jo.  Jo loves salmon, but her husband will not touch fish, so we had salmon and chicken.  The chicken was easy; I bought rotisserie chicken from Costco.  Here was our menu. 

Appetizers

Mushroom Turnovers

Goat cheese with spiced sour cherry spread

Mozzarella with Prosiutto and basil (Costco)

Shrimp with my special cocktail sauce

Lemon Garlic Olives

Blackberry Farm Preserved Tiny Tomatoes

First Course

Creamy Tomato Basil Soup

Entrée

Baked Salmon

Costco Rotisserie Chicken

Herbed Quinoa and Red Rice Stuffing with Kale and Pine Nuts

Parker House Rolls

Dessert

Carla Hall’s Pumpkin Chocolate Cake

The mushroom turnovers and the Parker house rolls were made at Thanksgiving time.  I knew there were way too many so I froze them.  I recently blogged about my Lemon Garlic Olives and they did not disappoint.  The tomatoes can be purchased at Williams Sonoma and I got the Sour Cherry Spread in a special Italian specialty store in Peddlers Village, PA.  My cocktail sauce is very easy.  I was taught this a long time ago by a high school friend.  It is equal parts orange marmalade, ginger marmalade and chili sauce.  You can make it in any quantity, just keep the measurements equal.  I could not find ginger marmalade in my local stores, so I ordered it through Amazon. 

The tomato soup was absolutely delicious.  I got this out of the Tennessean a few weeks ago.  It serves 12.

Ingredients: 

1 package Lipton Onion Soup mix

2 T dried basil

1- 16oz can diced tomatoes

3 cans Campbell’s tomato soup

3 cans water

2 C half and half

Directions:

1.       Bring soup mix, dried basil and diced tomatoes to a rolling boil. 

2.       Add the cans of soup plus three cans of water and let simmer. 

3.       Add the half and half.  Heat through and serve. 

I made this the day before and warmed up on the stove. 

The quinoa and red rice is a Williams Sonoma product and the recipe is available on their website.  It was light and just perfect with the salmon. 

The salmon recipe came from Good Eats on Food TV.  It was easy, delicious and looked amazing on the platter.

Ingredients:

1 side, skin-on sockeye salmon, 1 ½ -2#, pin bones removed.  (The best we can do in the seafood department here is Costco.  It did not have the skin on.)

1/3 C dark brown sugar

2 T lemon zest (2 lemons, I cut the lemons after zesting in very thin slices to decorate the platter)

1 ½ t kosher salt

½ t freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1.       Position a rack in the oven 3” from the broiler.

2.       Line a half sheet pan with aluminum foil and place the salmon on the pan.

3.       Place the sugar, zest, salt, and pepper into the bowl of a small food processor and process for 1 minute or until well combined.  Evenly spread the mixture onto the salmon and allow to sit for 45 minutes at room temperature.

4.       Turn the oven on to the high broiler setting for 2 minutes.

5.       After 2 minutes, place the salmon into the oven and broil for 6-8 minutes or until the thickest part of the fish reaches on internal temperature of 131 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer.  (In my case, until the smoke alarm went off.)

6.       Remove the salmon from the oven and allow to rest, uncovered for 8-10 minutes. 

7.       Serve immediately.  (Actually I held it is my oven on warm as Jim was still cutting up the chickens)

Finally, the birthday cake.  This recipe was brought to my attention by my sister-in-law.  She was watching The Chew on ABC and emailed me to find out how to get the recipe.  I will not watch The Chew as ABC chose to take All My Children off the air for this show.  I downloaded the recipe for her and made a copy for myself as I thought it looked good.  It was very good.

Ingredients for the Cake:

2 C sugar

1 C vegetable oil

4 large eggs

2 C all-purpose flour

2 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

3 t pumpkin pie spice

1 t salt

2 C pumpkin puree

Ingredients for the Mascarpone Filling:

4 C powdered sugar

1 t vanilla extract

1 T pumpkin pie spice

2 C mascarpone

1 C pumpkin puree

2 t salt

Ingredients for the Dark Chocolate Ganache:

3 T corn syrup

6 oz heavy cream

12 oz. dark chocolate (chopped into small bits)

½ t vanilla extract

Ginger snaps (crushed for garnish)

Directions for the Cake:

1.       Grease and flour 2-9” round layer cake pans.

2.       Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

3.       Combine sugar, vegetable oil, eggs in a large mixing bowl and mix well. 

4.       Whisk together dry ingredients in a separate bowl.

5.       Stir the dry into the wet ingredients until just combined.

6.       Fold in the pumpkin puree. 

7.       Divide batter between the two cake pans.

8.       Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.  (Mine took longer)

9.       Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then turn cakes out onto cooling racks. 

Directions for the Mascarpone Filling:

1.       Beat the mascarpone and pumpkin puree until blended. 

2.       Add the pumpkin spice, salt and powdered sugar.

3.       Mix at high speed until blended, about 1 minute.

4.       Once it’s fully combined add the vanilla and beat for 30 seconds.

Directions for the Dark Chocolate Ganache:

1.       Make the Ganache in a small saucepan. 

2.       Combine the corn syrup and heavy cream and bring to a simmer.

3.       Add the chocolate.

4.       Stir until smooth.

5.       Remove from the heat and add the vanilla.

Assembly Instructions:

1.       Cut the cooled cakes in half horizontally with a serrated knife.  There will now be 4 rounds of cake to work with. 

2.       Place the first layer of cake on your serving plate with parchment paper lined around the edges to keep the cake stand clean. 

3.       Divide the filling in thirds and spread evenly between the 3 layers.

4.       Pour the Ganache over the cake and garnish with crushed ginger snaps.

5.       When the Ganache is set remove the parchment. 

Serves 12. 

 

 

We have a lot of leftovers to eat up, so I probably won’t cook again until Christmas Eve.   

Mary's Chili

Mary, Jim loved your chili.  We had a lot to do today that involved being out most of the day.  My friend and reader from PA sent me her chili recipe.  I made it even easier and it turned out wonderful. 

Ingredients:

Good piece of top sirloin, cut into bite size cubes

1 pkg McCormick Chili mix, mild or spicy depending on your taste

1 large sweet onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 cans diced tomatoes with zesty peppers

2 cans Bush chili beans with jalapeno

1 small can of chopped chili peppers

Tortilla chips, we used blue corn

Shredded pepper jack cheese

Non-fat Greek yoghurt

Directions:

1.       I made the chili totally in my crock pot. 

2.       Place the chopped onion and garlic in the bottom of the pot.

3.       Add the cubed sirloin and top with the McCormick Chili mix.

4.       Place the diced tomatoes, chili beans and chili pepper on top of the meat.

5.       I put it on low for 7 hours.  It could have been done sooner, but we were not home. 

6.       Serve the chili with crushed tortilla chips, jack cheese and a dollop of the yoghurt. 

We have two meals remaining that are going in the freezer for the middle of the week when Jim will be providing dinners.  I have made very involved chili recipes and this was so easy and the best I have ever tasted.  I think Sandra Lee on FoodTV would call it Semi-Homemade. 

Spicy Rainbow Chard with Bacon and Polenta

I thought tonight’s dinner would be better.  It was ok, and easy. 

Ingredients: 

1 C Polenta

½ t kosher salt

4 slices of thick bacon (6 oz.)

2 t EVOO

2 large shallots, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 large bunches (1 ½ #) rainbow chard, ribs cut into ¼” pieces and leaves roughly chopped

¼-1/2 t red chile flakes

1 T unsalted butter

1/3 C grated parmesan cheese

2 t balsamic vinegar

Directions:

1.       Cook polenta with salt as package directs.  (This took the most time as the directions were in Italian and the measurements were metric.  Jim figured it out.)

2.       Stir butter and cheese into polenta and spoon into a bowl or 4 bowls if serving individually. 

3.       Cook the bacon in a large frying pan until crisp.  Transfer to paper towels or paper plate and chop.

4.       Discard the fat from the pan.  Heat EVOO over medium heat. 

5.       Cook shallots, garlic and the chard ribs until softened, 4 minutes. 

6.       Stir in chard leaves, chile flakes and 1/3 C water.  Cover; reduce heat to low, and cook until wilted.

7.       Toss chard with vinegar and spoon over polenta.  Top with the crumbled bacon.

Jim and I added salt.  I think it would have been better if the salt was added in the cooking phase.  This recipe comes from the latest Sunset magazine. 

Appetizer and Candy

I had a busy day cooking getting ready for events that are happening this week.  Luckily I had the left over bean soup for dinner as I was still taking cakes out of the oven at 6:30 PM.  I tested out an appetizer recipe to go with them that I had seen on the Barefoot Contessa show.  They were made by Mary Giuliani and if you go to the FoodTV network put in Mary’s Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Pepper Jack, Mango and Watercress.  There are three there if this interests you.  As they are really just up-graded grilled cheese sandwiches, I decided to try them and see what I thought of them as appetizers.  I thought they were a little heavy, but it could have been my choice of bread.

Ingredients:

2 slices soft white bread (I used whole wheat)

2 t unsalted butter, melted

2 T mango puree (made from store bought frozen mango concentrate which is then heated until reduced) (I had a sour cherry spread that I serve with cheese.  I used that)

2 T watercress

2 slices pepper jack cheese

Directions:

1.       Brush both sides of each slice of bread with the butter and spread the mango puree on both sides of each slice of bread.  (I just put my cherry spread on one side.) 

2.       Arrange the watercress over the top on one side of a slice of bread. 

3.       Place the cheese on top of the watercress and top with the second piece of bread. 

4.       Heat a griddle on top of the stove over medium-high heat. 

5.       Place the sandwiches on the griddle and grill for about 1 minute on each side or until the bread is golden brown and the cheese is melted. 

6.       Slice the sandwich into 8 small serving pieces. 

I made two candies to give as gifts today.  The first is also from FoodTV and is called Neely’s Chunky Chocolate Delight.  This is quite delicious and easy to make. 

Ingredients: 

6 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

6 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped

½ C heavy cream

2T corn syrup

2 T unsalted butter

¼ t salt

¼ t cayenne pepper

1 C dried tart cherries

1 C shelled pistachios

Edible gold leaf, for garnish (did not have)

Directions:

1.       Line a 13”x9” pan with foil, leaving 2 handles extended from the sides.

2.       Add the chocolate to a glass bowl set over simmering water.  Stir constantly to melt the chocolate.

3.       Add the heavy cream, corn syrup, butter, salt and cayenne.  Stir until smooth and remove from the heat. 

4.       Add the cherries and pistachios and stir to incorporate. 

5.       Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth out the mixture evenly with a rubber spatula.

6.       Sprinkle with edible gold leaf on top, if using.

7.       Refrigerate for at least 1 hour to firm up.

8.       Once the chocolate is firm, remove it from the pan, using the foil handles to lift it.  Remove the foil form the bottom and cut the chocolate into chunks on a plastic cutting board with a sharp knife. 

Mine is in the refrigerator and tomorrow I will cut it up and package it along with the next candy for my guests. 

This next recipe came out of Food and Wine Magazine.  The creator is a Chicago chef named Bryce Caron.  This recipe was a little tricky.  The cooking time is longer than stated, but the time is probably based on a professional kitchen stove.  It is called Spiced Cashew Brittle.   

Ingredients:

1 ½ C whole raw cashews

1 C sugar

½ C light corn syrup

1 stick unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons

¼ C water

½ t baking soda

¼ t cayenne pepper

Directions:

1.       Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

2.       Spread the cashews on a small baking sheet and toast for 10 minutes, stirring once.  Keep the cashews warm. 

3.       Line a rimmed bakeing sheet with buttered parchment paper.

4.       In a saucepan, bring the sugar, corn syrup, butter and water to a boil.

5.       Cook over moderately high heat, stirring until a deep amber toffee forms, about 10 minutes.  (Mine took almost double the time.)

6.       Remove from the heat.  Whisk in the baking soda and cayenne; it will bubble up. 

7.       Using a wooden spoon, stir in the warm cashews.

8.       Pour the hot candy onto the baking sheet and spread it as thinly as possible.  (Be very fast here)

9.       Let cool completely, then break unto pieces.