Special Waffles

Homemade Waffles! Delicious and yum! I've made homemade waffles several times since the sous chef and I have been married, and I decided to make them again this Saturday since he was playing in a Golf Tournament that day.

For recipes like these, I often turn to one of my older cookbooks, which is the Fannie Farmer Cookbook. This time, I decided to make the Special Waffles.
Recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, separated
1 1/4 cups milk
4 tablespoons melted butter
3 tablespoons sugar

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl beat the egg yolks well, and add the milk and butter. Combine the flour and yolk mixture and beat until smooth. Beat the egg whites until stuff, but not dry. Slowly add the sugar, beating constantly. Mix a third of the beaten whites gently into the batter, then fold in the remaining whites very carefully. Spread 1/2 cup of waffle batter in the hot waffle iron. Bake until golden. Serve with syrup, butter, or whatever toppings you prefer!
Now, I know many people probably have an excess of waffles after a Sunday morning breakfast. We ate 4 and had 5 or 6 left over. What am I to do with that many extra waffles? Freeze them! How do you freeze them properly? Do as follows. Layer the waffles between wax paper as show below.

Then, light tuck the excess wax paper on the sides away and wrap all of the waffles in wax paper into a foil pouch. Tuck them away into the freezer. Remove waffles one at a time as needed. The wax paper will help you pull them away easily.

Enjoy!

Grilled Flank Steak

Every time I'm craving steak or red meat, I think this is ultimately what I'm craving. Delicious, think, crusty but tender on the inside, flavorful flank steak! For those of you not into red meat, this probably isn't your favorite post. Trust me, the 16 year old in me is looking at the current day me in disgust, I promise. Around that time I was taking medicine that totally averted me to red meat, but, as you can tell, time had turned me back around :)

As I began to browse for a recipe for a marinade for this steak, I quickly realized I was not willing to wait 3-8 hours on this steak to marinate! What was I to do?!

Enter the FoodNetwork.com :) I found a recipe that provided some inspiration. In addition to this recipe, I had recently bought some Chipotle Chile Pepper, and I thought this would be the perfect time to use it.

Wow, when I opened up this spice, talk about a sensory overload. This stuff smells AMAZING! I took it over to my sous chef and made him smell it, too, because it was that incredible.

Back to prepping the flank steak. I laid the flank steak on a cutting board, cut a few slits against the grain of the meat, seasoned it with salt and fresh cracked pepper, rubbed in E.V.O.O. on one side, sprinkled Oregano on the E.V.O.O. rubbed side, and then finished it off with a good sprinkle of the Chipotle Chili Pepper. I let that sit for about 30 minutes.

Using our handy dandy All-Clad Grill Pan (thanks Brandon and Gradee!), I was able to fit this whole flank steak into the pan and get it grilled :)

Yes, ideally this would be grilled outdoors, but that's not possible for us right now.

Nonetheless, for a good flank steak, you should get a good crust on the outside and cook this to medium or medium well. Having a pink center on this lovely piece of meat is what makes it so tasty, in my opinion.

How pretty does that look?! Don't worry, I'll tell you about those potatoes in the foil boat in a later post :)

Lemon Curd Pound Cake

Yum!

Ok, so, I know 'curd' doesn't sound all that appetizing, but if you like Lemon Bars, it's the SAME thing, I promise. Very tasty! I'm not one that loves pound cake, but something about this recipe caught my eye. It might have something to do with the fact that I had most of the ingredients ;)

My best friend (and adopt-a-sister ;) ), Kelly, gave me this cookbook for my birthday. I'm finally getting to making something from it, and this is the first recipe I chose!

Wait to prepare the Lemon Curd until the cake comes out of the oven so it will still be warm when spread over the cake.

Makes 10 to 12 servings

Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract

Beat butter and shortening at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until the yellow yolk disappears.
Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; add to butter mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat batter at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla and lemon extracts. Pour batter into a greased and floured 12-cup tube pan.
Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from pan; carefully brush Lemon Curd over top and sides of cake. Cool completely on wire rack.

Lemon Curd

2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Stir together first 4 ingredients in a small, heavy saucepan; add egg, stirring until blended.
Cook mixture, stirring constantly, over low heat, 10 to 12 minutes or until mixture thickens slightly (cooked mixture will have a thickness similar to unwhipped whipping cream) and begins to bubble around the edges. Remove from heat. (The curd should be brushed immediately over cake, as mixture will continue to thicken as it cools.)

Doesn't this look delicious?! Grab a glass of milk and dive in :)

I had some additional batter that I made some mini-bundts with :)

If you'd like, you can follow along with the recipe here.

Spaghetti with Sauteed Chicken and Grape Tomatoes

Yesterday, I wanted to make something with items we had on hand. As I browsed some of my favorite blogs, I noticed that Gina had recently made this delicious and fresh spaghetti, and you can see her recipe here. The only thing that I was missing was some fresh basil, so I made an adjustment. I also divided the recipe in half since it was just the sous chef and I. Here's what I did:

Spaghetti with Sauteed Chicken and Grape Tomatoes

Servings: 2-3

1 skinless chicken breast half, diced in 1 inch cubes
cooking spray
1/4 tsp each of dried oregano and dried basil
kosher salt and fresh pepper
4 oz spaghetti (high fiber or low carb)
1 cups grape tomatoes, halved
3 cloves garlic, smashed and coarsely chopped
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp dried basil

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Season chicken generously with salt, pepper, oregano and basil. Heat a large skillet on high heat. When hot, spray with oil and add chicken. Cook about 3-4 minutes, until no longer pink. Remove chicken and set aside. Add pasta and cook according to package directions. Reserve about 1/2 cup pasta water before draining.

While pasta cooks, add olive oil to skillet on high heat. Add garlic and sauté until golden brown (do not burn). Add tomatoes, salt and pepper and reduce heat to medium-low. Sauté about 4-5 minutes.

When pasta is drained, add pasta to tomatoes and toss well. If pasta seems too dry, add some of the reserved pasta water. Add fresh basil and chicken and toss well. Serve and top with good grated cheese.

I love the way grape tomatoes taste once they've been sauted and cook. They become even sweeter! The sous chef and I really enjoyed this fresh and light spaghetti. Thanks Gina for sharing!

Julie & Juila

Oh my goodness, what can I say? This movie was fantastic! I'd been wanting to see this movie as soon as I heard it was coming out. I'm sure every food blogger did. That said, it was beyond my expectations. I've not read the book or ever seen Julia Child's cookbook (yes, I know, that's terrible), but this movie felt like my life on screen.

This scene specifically felt like the story of my life!!! You have dinner with your girlfriends, you look forward to it, but something is not quite right. Each of them seems to have this ...belief, er, attitude that you really don't know what you want in life or that you don't know what you are talking about. They don't give you their full attention, but you you keep asking questions wanting to know more about them. Oh my goodness. I felt like that was me on that screen! It was one of the first few scenes, and I looked at my husband (sous chef) as soon as it changed to the next scene. "Hunny, that's me!" Before I could finish, I could see it in his eyes. He knew what I was going to say, and he was thinking it, too.

Thus, this movie was one that I could really identify with. What's more important though was watching Julia learn to really cook and watch Julie learn Julia's techniques and recipes. I just wanted to be in the kitchen with them and joining in on the fun!

First, when Julie says she wants to write a food blog and wants to know what her husband thinks, it was like a scene in our household. Haha! She thinks it's a wonderful idea, he is like, "Sure, whatever you want." He's listening, but just thinking ...that's kinda weird. Haha! That's sort of of how it went in our household. Granted, I wasn't exactly coming up with a NEW idea though.

Seeing Julia always wanting to cook for friends and have them over was also a familiar scene in our household. I know our friends Kevin and Melissa could attest. We are frequently calling them over to have meals that I'm sure sound a little foreign! Haha! I love cooking for others.

I'm sure I could go on and on with the similarities, but I'm just glad I finally have a favorite movie. I've never had one! Until now, when people asked me my favorite movie, I'd sort of just name one off that came to my head that I liked; nothing I was really passionate about. Now....OMG, this is absolutely my favorite.

With all of this cooking excitement, I'm off to make something, head to grocery store for more ingredients, and then cook some more! OH...here's some links you might also enjoy :)

Julie Powell's Current Blog

Julie Powell's Blog that started it all

The first day of Julie Powell's blog :) After seeing this movie, it's exciting to read it.

The Book

Bon Appetit! Oh, and did you see it? What did you think?!

Chicken Saltimbocca

If you like salty foods, this is for you! I mean, hello...salt is in the name of the dish! After a family dinner to Maggiano's Little Italy recently, I decided that I had to try this dish on my own. While this recipe that I made was not the same as Maggiano's, it's still tasty. This is also a very easy recipe to make! Any food preparation, like chopping or slicing, was easily done while another part of the recipe was cooking. This is one of the easier recipes that I've made.

2 Tbsp. Fresh sage, chopped
2 oz. Prosciutto, thinly sliced (4 slices)
4 oz. chicken breasts, pounded
½ cup Seasoned breadcrumbs
1 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese
½ tsp. Kosher salt
¼ tsp. Black pepper (freshly ground)
½ oz. and as needed Olive oil, divided use
4 slices Provolone cheese
4 oz. White onion, ¾-in. dice (I just used one large onion)
1 oz. White wine

4 oz. Chicken stock
1 oz. Unsalted butter

1. Distribute ½ Tbsp. sage evenly over each chicken breast; place ½ oz. prosciutto over each chicken breast.

2. In small bowl, combine breadcrumbs, parmesan, salt and pepper. Lightly bread each breast with mixture on both sides.

3. Coat sauté pan with olive oil; heat over medium-high flame. Add chicken to pan; sauté until browned well, about for 3 minutes. Turn; continue cooking until browned and cooked through.

4. Add provolone cheese; cook until melted. Place on serving plate.

5. Wipe pan with paper towel. Add ½ oz. olive oil and onions to pan; cook until brown and caramelized, about 8 minutes.

6. Add wine; reduce by ¾. Add chicken stock; reduce by ½. Finish with butter.
7. Pour onion and sauce around chicken; serve immediately.

Crock Pot Sante Fe Chicken

This is a winner! Both the sous chef and I were loving this recipe, and we thank Gina for her recipe. As you might recall, Gina's blog is all about Weight Watchers recipes, so it was nice to have a healthy yet filling meal when I made this.

The chicken is very flavorful, the vegetables and bean add a freshness, and topping this chicken on Chipotle's Rice makes the dish heaven! For the finishing touch, top the rice and chicken with some shredded cheddar cheese, chopped green onions, a dollop of fat free sour cream, and devour. This is one of our top rated dishes, for sure. See my link to Gina's recipe for this fabulous dish above as well as the link to the rice that I made to accompany the chicken.

Ingredients

24 oz (1 1/2) lbs chicken breast
14.4 oz can diced tomatoes with mild green chilies
15 oz can black beans
8 oz frozen corn
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
14.4 oz can fat free and gluten free chicken broth
3 scallions, chopped
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper (to taste)
salt to taste

Directions

Combine chicken broth, beans, corn, tomatoes, cilantro, scallions, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, cayenne pepper and salt in the crock pot. Season chicken breast with salt and lay on top. Cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 6 hours. Half hour before serving, remove chicken and shred. Return chicken to slow cooker and stir in. Adjust salt and seasoning. Serve over rice (extra pts).

All-Clad Stainless Steel Measuring Cups and Spoons

I buy these magnificent little cooks' tools for everyone I can, especially girls having bridal showers and about to start their own kitchen with their new husband! My sous chef and I registered for these fabulous tools when we registered, and I use them each and every time I cook.

I'm a big fan of the odd-size ones above. You can find these at Williams Sonoma!

Chipotle Rice

I don't know how many of you have made the trip to Chipotle to taste their fabulous food, but I always love their rice! Of course, this is no shot to the ever so tasty Freebird's. Nonetheless, I did a little search online to find the recipe for Chipotle's rice and found this recipe on ChipotleFan.com. You can also find the recipe here.

I didn't use the Basmati rice as it requests because we already had normal white rice on hand that I needed to us. That said, it still had that tasty lime and cilantro taste that is so delicious. I'm sure it would taste better if you used that kind of rice. I found it in our grocery store, and I think it was around $3.00 for a decent sized bag.

Grab these ingredients for your next meal needing rice as an accompaniment. It's amazing!

Pico de Gallo Salsa

Ok, as promised: here is the perfect salsa to accompany those fried plantains I told you about yesterday! This salsa comes from Gina's Weight Watcher's Recipe Blog, and it is absolutely delicious. For those who count their points, it's 0 points! We loved the fresh and authentic taste that this recipe has, and I'm sure it would be great for any Mexican dish that you have as well. It's like a good chunky salsa.


Servings: 4 servings
Points: 0 ww points

4 medium ripe tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped white onion
2 chile peppers, mild or hot, seeded and finely chopped
2 tbsp chopped bell pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves (no stems)
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
salt and pepper, to taste

In a bowl combine all ingredients.


That's it! That's all there is to it. My Pampered Chef Hold N' Slice made it very easy to slice and dice these tomatoes, that's for sure. I'm terrible at slicing up tomatoes without it.

Ok, so make your fried plantains and whip up this salsa for a tasty appetizer to your next meal!

Fried Plantains

The sous chef and I first discovered this tasty treat at Cuba Libre in Dallas, TX when we had dinner with friends from college. We couldn't believe that this chip, resembling a banana, was actually used to dip in salsa?!?! No way. Could this really be? From then on, my sous chef and I have loved to find restaurants that would serve these lovely delights at a restaurant near us.

Well, last weak, I was preparing a seriously light meal from Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes (more to come on that), and, because it was so light, I decided to surprise my sous chef with his favorite salsa accompaniment. Since one of his best buds, Kevin, was joining us for dinner, I knew that might make him stand a little taller that his wife made him something special and he would be able to share something new with someone. So, I picked up 2 plantains at the grocery store. I found this recipe on the Food Network website and thought it was fairly simply to try, and it was. However, I didn't like the thickness that the recipe called to slice the plantains into.

Here's the recipe from the site:

Ingredients
2 cups water
3 cloves garlic, smashed
2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning
1 1/2 cups vegetable or canola oil
2 green plantains

Directions
Combine water, garlic and salt in medium size glass bowl and set aside.
In a large (12-inch) saute pan, heat oil to 325 degrees F. Peel plantains and slice crosswise into 1-inch pieces. Carefully add plantains to oil and fry until golden yellow in color, about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes per side. (The oil should come halfway up the side of the plantain).

With a spider or slotted spoon, remove the plantains from the pan and place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, standing them on their ends. With the back of a wide, wooden spatula, press each piece of plantain down to half its original size.

Then place the plantains in the water and let soak for 1 minute. Remove and pat dry with a tea towel to remove excess water.


Bring oil back up to 325 degrees F and return plantains to pan and cook until golden brown, approximately 2 to 4 minutes per side. Remove to a dish lined with paper towels, and sprinkle with salt, if desired. Serve immediately.

I personally think the plantains should be sliced much thinner than this recipe suggested. For those that were sliced thick, they did not taste bad, but it's just nicer when they are crispier, therefore thinner. Watch yourself when you take the plantains out of the garlic and salt bath and place them back into the skillet; they fry a lot and splatter all over the place. I'd suggest a splatter screen for sure if you have one.


Make these soon! Wait for the salsa recipe that I'll post soon though; it compliments these well :)


By the way, this is filed under both fruit and vegetable because people differ on decifering which category it belongs to.

Caramel de Lite (Samoa) Bars

Ok, so, you like Girl Scout Cookies, right? If you don't...what's wrong?! Haha! I sold Girl Scout Cookies for like 8 years, so I definitely know how yummy these tasty cookies are, but I never thought about being able to make them on my own! Well, this recipe isn't making the cookie persay, but it is making a bar that is very much like the cookie. It's mimicing the Caarmel de Lite (aka Samoa) Girl Scout Cookies. Erin from Dinner and Dessert originally posted this recipe, and I decide to give it a whirl for a co-worker's birthday. Now you can make these an enjoy a Girl Scout treat while they aren't being sold!

Here's the ingredients and instructions as taken from Dinner and Dessert:

Homemade Samoas Bars
Cookie Base

1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

First, make the crust. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan, or line with parchment paper. In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter, until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Working at a low speed, gradually beat in flour and salt until mixture is crumbly, like wet sand. The dough does not need to come together. Pour crumbly dough into prepared pan and press into an even layer.Bake for 20-25 minutes, until base is set and edges are lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack before topping. (I, as did Erin, thought this crust was too thick. Perhaps use a pan with more surface area or decrease this recipe a bit. The cookie crust definitely needs to be thinner.)Topping
3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
12 ounces good-quality chewy caramels (Krista Kooks used these Caramel Bits)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons milk
10 ounces dark or semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips are ok)
Preheat oven to 300. Spread coconut evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet (preferably one with sides) and toast 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden. Cool on baking sheet, stirring occasionally. Set aside.Unwrap the caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt. When smooth, fold in toasted coconut with a spatula. Put dollops of the topping all over the shortbread base. Using the spatula, spread topping into an even layer. Let topping set until cooled. When cooled, cut into 30 bars with a large knife or a pizza cutter (it’s easy to get it through the topping). Once bars are cut, melt chocolate in a small bowl. Heat on high in the microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. Dip the base of each bar into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment or wax paper. Transfer all remaining chocolate (or melt a bit of additional chocolate, if necessary) into a piping bag or a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle bars with chocolate to finish. Let chocolate set completely before storing in an airtight container.

Makes 30 bar cookies.

Note: You can simply drizzle chocolate on top of the bars before slicing them up if you’re looking for yet an easier way to finish these off. You won’t need quite as much chocolate as noted above, and you won’t quite get the Samoas look, but the results will still be tasty.
These bars are extremely tasty and a wonderful after dinner treat. Make these ASAP! You won't regret it :)

Chicken Quesadillas

As I've mentioned in a previous post, my sous chef and I are trying to be a little more frugal in our grocery shopping lately, so our meals are slightly more simply lately. Thus, as I browsed through Dinner & Dessert again the other day, I found these yummy Chicken Quesadillas!

I have agree with Erin that the rub that goes on this chicken before cooking it and then placing it in the quesadillas really adds a ton of flavor to these quesadillas compared to other chicken quesadillas I've made before in the past on my own.

Here's the recipe as taken from Dinner & Dessert:

Chicken Quesadillas
2 chicken breasts, pounded thin (I think it's very important to pound chicken before cooking it no matter what the recipe.)
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon oregano (I used dried oregano leaves)
Olive oil (enough to coat the pan)
4 tortilla shells
Mexican cheese (use as much as you prefer)
1 can black beans

Mix together cumin and chili powder. Lightly rub over chicken. Sprinkle oregano over chicken. Pan fry in olive oil until done. Let cool. Cut in small pieces.

Coat a large frying pan (as big or slightly bigger than the tortilla shell) with cooking spray. Add tortilla, cover the whole shell with cheese (use as much as you like), then add chicken and black beans on one side. Cook on medium or medium-low heat until tortilla bottom is brown and cheese is melted.

Fold over, cut into wedges, and serve. Now, each time you go to Taco Bell, you end up with all that extra sauce, right? Want to know what to do with it? Use it on your chicken quesadillas!!!