Margherita Grilled Cheese

It hit me the other day that we tend to throw out a lot of food.  I tend to forget what's in the fridge, or sometimes I just have a little bit of a lot of things and don't really know what to do with them.  Then, I start to get the waste not/want not guilties.  I've made a pledge to myself to try and use up what we have before I buy more.

Tonight, I had some shredded mozzarella and basil left over from making Cheesy Ravioli Bake a few days ago.  I also had a couple of tomatoes and a loaf of french bread.  I decided to combine my favorite Italian flavor profile, tomato and basil (margherita), with the American classic, grilled cheese sandwich.  I brushed the bottom of the bread with melted butter, sprinkled on the shredded mozzarella, chopped tomatoes (seeded), and chopped basil, topped it all with another buttered slice of bread, and fried it up in a pan.  You know, standard grilled cheese procedure.  It was really good.  I may have to make sure to have left-over cheese, tomatoes, and basil on hand at all times!  Next time, though, I will sprinkle the filling with a little bit of salt to amp up the flavors a bit.

Coffee Cake Muffins

I am fortunate to have a handful of friends who are willing to help me out at the drop of a hat.  About a month ago, I needed someone to pick Sweetpea up from school for a few days.  One of my trusty mom friends came to my rescue and asked for nothing in return.  I decided that I wanted to bake her a little something sweet as my way of saying, "Thanks".  I had bookmarked this delectable recipe in The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book and figured this was a good time to try it.  I'm so glad that I did!

Coffee Cake Muffins

1.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin.

2.  Pulse 1 cup (7 ounces) sugar, 1/2 cup (2 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour, and 1/4 cup dark brown sugar in a food processor to combine.  Transfer 3/4 cup of the sugar mixture to a medium bowl and whisk in another 1/4 cup dark brown sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon to make the streusel filling.  Leave the remaining sugar mixture in the processor.

3.  Add 1 cup (5 ounces) flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda to the processor and pulse 5 times to combine.  Scatter 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) chilled, unsalted butter (cut into 1-inch cubes) into the processor and pulse until the mixture breaks down into small pebbly pieces; about 10 pulses.  Add 3 large eggs and 1/2 cup sour cream and pulse 8 times until the batter is combined and thick.

4.  Scoop a rounded tablespoon of batter into each muffin cup, then sprinkle 1 1/2 tablespoons streusel mixture into each cup.  Divide the remaining batter evenly among the cups.  Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few crumbs attached, about 20 to 24 minutes.  Rotate the muffin tin half-way through.

5.  Let the muffins cool in the tin for 5 minutes.  Remove them from the tin* and cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

* When I first tried removing my muffins from the tin, the tops separated from the bottoms at the filling.  I ran a thin spatula around the edges and used it to help lift the muffins out of the cups; this worked well.  I reassembled the ones that had come apart, and they stuck together fine when cooled.

Long Time, No See

Well, I haven't been blogging lately for a number of reasons:

1.  The end of the kids' school year had me crazy busy.
2.  I seem to have been making mostly the same stuff I've already blogged about.
3.  Some of the new recipes that I've tried have not been blog-worthy.
4.  Hubby has been taking an online continuing-ed class which has been eating into MY computer time.

And lastly,

5.  I've been too lazy to copy down recipes.

I promise to get off my duff and post some new things soon.  (Or, I guess that means that I still need to sit on my duff, just in front of the computer.)

Chocolate Shakes

I found this recipe a couple of months ago, but it was during Lent and as I had given up dessert for six weeks, I put this on the back-burner.  Last night, though, hubby and I had a hankerin' for something chocolate so I thought it was the perfect time to try out this little number.

The recipe is from my fave magazine, Cook's Country.  It is from the June/July 2007 issue.  They call it the Ultimate Chocolate Milkshake, and I think that is an accurate description.  It is rich and thick and yummy and I might be craving these again very soon.

Ultimate Chocolate Milkshake

Combine 3 cups vanilla ice cream (softened and cut into large chunks), 1 1/2 cups chocolate sorbet* (softened and cut into large chunks), 1/2 cup whole milk and 2 tablespoons room-temp hot fudge sauce in a blender and puree until smooth**.  Pour into chilled glasses and serve.

*I was able to find chocolate sorbet at Trader Joe's.

**I had to help the blender a bit in the beginning, stirring with a spoon once in a while to loosen up the ice cream.

"Popcorn" Cupcakes

For SweetPea's 10th birthday party, we decided to go with a "Dinner and a Movie" theme.  I found some cute popcorn-box shaped invitations and they inspired me to try my hand at some faux-popcorn cupcakes I had seen in the book "Hello, Cupcake".  In the book, they top mini-cupcakes with marshmallow "popcorn" and stack them in a popcorn box.  You can find a lot of different versions on the internet for these (a particularly cute one is here at FamilyFun) and following is how I made mine.

To transform the plain white wrappers, I searched for "popcorn clipart" on Yahoo and chose one with lettering that I liked.  I resized the image so the words would fit on my cupcakes, printed out a bunch and cut them to fit.  I ran them through my Xyron sticker maker only to find out they wouldn't stick to the wrappers.  I ended up using a light layer of frosting as "glue" and it worked surprisingly well.

For the popcorn, I used light yellow and white marshmallows, two for each piece of popcorn.  Cut the first piece into thirds, lengthwise.  Arrange the pieces in a clover shape.  Snip the second piece half-way through the top and twist the pieces slightly.  Use a dab of frosting to attach the top piece to the bottom bits.  I needed 10 to 12 popcorns for each cupcake.  I used my favorite buttercream recipe to ice the cakes.

I think that the birthday girl was happy.  Hopefully her wish will come true.

Mama Mia!

We've had a wave of illness wash over our home this past week, so I haven't been doing much cooking as of late.  I'm trying to get back in the groove of blogging, and have been wanting to post this new recipe for Cheesy Baked Ravioli for a while now, so I guess that's a good place to start!  A few weeks ago, I was going through some of my old Cook's Country magazines (my fave!) and started bookmarking new recipes to try out.  All the way back to the Ocotober/November 2005 issue is where I found this winner.  It was easy to make, had my favorite Italian flavors of tomato and basil, and the family loved it (minus Sugarbear, that is.  He only likes hamburgers.) so I will be making it again, once we're all well and good.

Cheesy Ravioli Bake

1.  Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot for cooking pasta.  Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to the center position and heat oven to 450-degrees.  Grease a shallow, 2-quart baking dish with 1 tablespoon butter.

2.  Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add 2 minced garlic cloves and cook until fragrant but not brown, about 30 seconds.  Add a 28-ounce can diced tomatoes and increase the heat to high.  Cook until thickened and almost dry, about 10 minutes.  Stir in 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh basil and 1/3 cup heavy cream and simmer until sauce thickens, about 2 minutes.  Season with salt to taste.

3.  Add 1 tablespoon salt and 2 8-ounce packages fresh cheese ravioli to the boiling water and cook until al dente.  Add 1 6-ounce bag baby spinach to the pot with the pasta and stir until wilted, about 30 seconds.  Drain pasta and spinach, return to pot, and stir in tomato sauce.  Transfer mixture to baking dish and sprinkle with 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese.  Bake until top is golden, about 10 minutes.  Cool 5 minutes before serving.

Oh, so gooey and yummy, but surprisingly light and fresh.

Lemon Chicken and Rice Soup

We had some chilly weather last week and it gave me a hankering to try some new soup recipes.  This one, for Lemon Chicken and Rice Soup, was at the top of the list.  It is actually a version of the Greek soup, Avgolemono.  I found the recipe in an America's Test Kitchen recipe card collection that was published in 2007.  This soup is substantial without being heavy.  The added lemon juice and parsley give it a nice, vibrant flavor.  Best of all, it comes together quickly, which makes it perfect for a busy weekday meal.


Lemon Chicken and Rice Soup

1.  Bring 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth to boil in a large saucepan over high heat.  Cover and set aside.    Pat 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper.  Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking.  Cook chicken until lightly browned on both sides and transfer to a plate.  Lower heat to medium-low, add 1 minced medium onion, and cook until lightly browned, 3 to 5 minutes.  Stir in hot broth, using wooden spoon to scrape browned bits from pan.  Add 2 carrots that have been peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch rounds, 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme, 3/4 cup long grain rice and chicken breasts.  Cover and simmer over low heat until chicken is cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes.

2.  Transfer chicken to a cutting board and continue simmering soup, covered, until rice is tender, about 10 minutes more.  Cut chicken into bite-size pieces.  Off heat, stir in the chicken along with 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley. 

3.  Whisk 3 tablespoons lemon juice with 4 large egg yolks in a bowl.  Whisking constantly, gradually ladle 1 cup hot soup into egg mixture, then stir egg mixture back into soup.  Reheat over low heat for 1 minute.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve.


This actually re-heated well for lunch the next day.  It was a little thick, more like a stew, so I added extra chicken broth when I made it the next day.  I also sprinkled some fresh parsley on top.