Inside My Kitchen

But it’s not the kind of vacation where you lay in the sun by the beach and read captivating books and sleep in. Nope. It’s a vacation from cooking, since hey! I just kind of had a baby. We adopted Josh, who was born February 19th in another state. We found out about him on…February 19th. Life since has been a crazy, wonderful whirlwind. You can see pictures of our newly enlarged family here, or you can just wait until my blurry, sleep-deprived eyes can make out the words in a cookbook and I return to this blog.

Won’t be long!

This got 3 of 4 stars, is definately in the “do again” category. It was almost a little too sweet, probably because of the sweet yellow peppers we used in place of red, and because of the sour cream we used (the fat free kind that has the cow spots on it). A little salt added on the table fixed that for the most part. It tasted like spring, and was pretty - which is a bonus, because I like pretty food. Even a better bonus - from start to eat in 20 minutes or less. Again, this came from Betty’s Healthy New Choices.

Rotini and Vegetables with Blue Cheese Sauce
2 2/3 cups uncooked rotini pasta (8 oz)
3 medium zucchini, thinly sliced (4 cups)
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped (1 cup)
1 cup skim milk
2 T all-purpose flour
1 t salt
1 t dried basil
1 1/2 cups reduced-fat sour cream
1 ounce finely crumbled blue cheese or gorgonzola

Cook pasta as directed on package, adding zucchini and bell pepper for the last 3 minutes of cooking.

While pasta and veggies are cooking, mix milk, flour, salt and basil in 1 quart saucepan. Heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Stir in sour cream; heat through.

Drain pasta and veggies; stir in cheese. Pour sour cream sauce over pasta; toss.

6 servings; each with 275 calories, 6 g fat and 3 g fiber
5.5 Weight Watcher Points

I saw this on PBS’ Everyday Food. Unfortunately, they don’t have many recipes on their web site, which is actually pretty lousy. I took notes while pausing (thank you, Tivo), and tried it out Sunday, as an appetizer before our delicious Tri Tip dinner.

1 sheet puff pastry
2 cups gruyere (can substitue with emmenthaler, swiss, or fontina)
1 # asparagus
1 T extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 400. Roll puff pastry into a 16″ X 10″ rectangle. Use dusted flour on top to roll out pastry, but brush extra off before cooking. Transfer pastry to a pan. Using a paring knife, cut a border around the dough, but don’t cut through. Using a fork, prick the middle part of the tart all over. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes. It should look like this (but bigger, since I used just 1/2 a sheet of puff pastry):

Spread the 2 cups of shredded cheese on the middle part of the tart. Sit the asparagus on top of the cheese. Mine was small, so I put the tops all going the same way. If yours is larger, you’ll probably want to put half the asparagus “top up” and half of them “top down”, so that, if you cut the tart in half horiontally, everyone gets some of the tops. Drizzle 1 T olive oil over asparagus. I also sprinkled some kosher salt on top.

Return the tart to the 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes longer.

So good. So easy. We gave it 3.75/4 stars. Came from the book Betty Crocker’s Healthy New Choices, my most used cookbook as of late. Here’s the recipe, but with some of my own notes:

1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms (4 oz)
2 medium stalks celery, sliced (1 cup)
1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth (or 1 3/4 cup if you make your own)
3/4 cups fat-free half and half (or milk)
1/2 teaspoon red pepper sauce (I used some chili powder)
1 lb imitation crabmeat chunks
1 cup soft bread crumbs (about 1 1/2 slices of bread)

Heat oven to 400. Lightly spray 11X7X1 1/2 inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Spray 3 quart saucepan with spray; cook celery and mushrooms about 4 minutes, stirring constantly, until celery is tender. Stir in broth. Heat to boiling; reduce heat.

Beat half-and-half, flour and pepper sauce with whisk until smooth; stir into vegetable mixture. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Stir in crabmeat.

Spoon mixture into baking dish. Top with bread crumbs. Bake uncovered about 15 minutes or until heated through.

4 servings, each with 200 calories, 2 g fat, and 1 g fiber; 4 Weight Watcher points.

Got the recipe here. And I actually followed it to a “T”. Shocking, huh? It was really good. I’ve got it in the freezer right now, to see what it’s like really firm and frozen - I’m guessing it’ll be even better.

8 servings at 4.5 Weight Watcher points each (205 calories, 3 grams fat and .5 grams fiber)

Edit: it was awesome frozen. Just take out of the freezer 15 minutes before you plan to serve.

I got the recipe here, and altered it. Surprise! or not.

The revised recipe:

Each muffin is 3 Weight Watcher points.

Wow, or maybe I’m just super sleep deprived since Jacob woke up THREE times last night (thanks, Jake).

Nic had a recipe not long ago for Chewy Cheesecake Cookies. They looked too good to this cheesecake lover to just print out the recipe and stick in “the file”. You can follow the link to the recipe.

After reading the comments, I decided to try the original recipe along with several of the suggested alterations. I baked 1/3 of them as directed, to 1/3 of them, I added lemon juice (had no zest as suggested), and rolled 1/3 of them in sugar before baking.

The originals were fantastic. They’re a soft, delicate cookie that’s very pretty. The 1/3 I added lemon juice to were yummy, also. At first, I took a bite and couldn’t detect the lemon, but it came through nicely after I’d chewed for a bit. Something about the lemon detracted a bit from the cheesecake flavor. I think it tasted more like a sugar cookie - and hey! there’s some lemon here, too. I wouldn’t suggest covering the cookies in sugar. They didn’t come out as pretty at all, and I wouldn’t say they were fantastic. It wasn’t bad, I just won’t mess up a good thing and try it again.

These were so easy, didn’t take too long and reminded me of Wetzels. Yipee!

This recipe came from the book knead, by Carol Tennant, and is retyped exactly how it appears in the book. A book review will soon follow.

Pretzels
3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup strong white bread flour
2 1/2 tsp instant yeast
2 T soft light brown sugar
1 heaped tsp salt, 2 T kosher sea salt - divided
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 T baking soda
vegetable oil, an oil mister is preferable

This makes 12 large, soft pretzels. Eat them on the day they are baked.

1. Mix together the flours, yeast sugar and 1 heaped tsp salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the water and mix to a soft dough. Knead for about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. Shape into a neat ball and put into an oiled bowl. Lightly oil the surface of the dough and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Leave to rise 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.

2. Cover 2 large cookie sheets with waxed paper and set aside. Preheat the oven to 450.

3. Cut the dough into 12 equal pieces. Take the first piece and roll it using the palms of your hands into a long thin rope, about as thin as a pencil. Shape into a pretzel by crossing over the ends, twisting them, then folding them up over the loop. Set aside on a floured surface. Shape all the pretzels.

4. Mix the baking soda with about 2 cups hand-hot water until dissolved. Dip the pretzels, one at a time, into the solution then transfer to the prepared cookie sheets, leaving them well-spaced. Sprinkle with the kosher salt. Leave to rise, 15-20 minutes until just puffed up. Bake 8-10 minutes until golden. Serve warm or cold.

Like I said, easy and delicious. BUT, let me emphasize what it said above - eat them on the day they are baked. Within 24 hours, the pretzels looked liked wrinkled nastiness and got tough instead of soft and chewy.

Other stuff:
*Read all the directions first, carefully - I actually re-wrote the part of the recipe. In the original, she lists salt twice, and in direction #1, just says “salt” not which salt she was talking about.
*With half the pretzels, I brushed with melted butter, then sprinkled generously with cinnamon sugar instead of using the kosher salt. They were good, but not as much of the sugar mix stuck as I was hoping would. They weren’t whatcha buy in the store, but not bad.
*Rolling the pretzels takes work. A lot of work. It’s a very elastic dough, and I had to use a lot of pressure while rolling between my hands to get them thin enough. I had tired arms!

A lot of simple situations at my house turn into full fledged experiences. And so it was with the kiwi jam.

Most of the recipes I found were pretty similar. The one I used went a little something like this:

3 cups chopped kiwi fruit
1 packet powdered pectin
1 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
4 cups granulated sugar

Combine kiwi, pectin and pineapple juice in a large pot. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Return to a rolling boil. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Ladle into hot jars, leaving 1/4″ head space. Adjust lids. Process 10 minutes in boiling water canner.

Yields 8 jelly jars or 4 half-pints.

Simple enough, right? It would be, unless your stove top burner had something on it left over from the previous cooking encounter. It would be simple enough, unless that something on the burner would not quit smoking. The recipe would have been simple enough, if both smoke alarms in my house did not keep beeping at a kajillion decibels each. And, oh yea, Jacob the wonder kid was sitting at the table absolutely distraught at the loud sounds, which doesn’t make too much sense since he makes enough loud sounds of his own.

So, my point is this: I’m pretty sure that recipe would’ve worked just fine, IF I was able to stick to the boiling/stirring/boiling/stirring instructions. Instead, I was running around the house with a stool and a towel and a screwdriver trying to swat away the smoke from one smoke alarm with the towel, then running back to the other to try to unscrew it from the ceiling to make it Shut! Up! so I can get back to the dang JAM! And running back. And forth. And back. And you probably get the idea by now.

Here’s how the jam turned out: it’s delicious, but it doesn’t have the emerald color I was hoping it would. Also, it didn’t gel correctly. We have a very thick syrup type consistency in a bunch of jars.

Serving suggestion: use the jam to top cream cheese covered wheat thins. Absolutely delicious. My friend suggested pouring the jam over filo-covered, baked brie. That sounds pretty darn yummy, as well.

Bottom line: the husband loved it, I loved it, and next time we make it (I will definately make it again) I’ll probably make sure the oven burners are clean first.

*Where mediocre always refers to the review (and hopefully not the book) TM

I hope you read this review of Lori Longbotham’s Luscious Chocolate Desserts in time for Valentines Day, being that February is the month-o-chocolate-goodness. I hope you not only read this review, but that you get your hands on this cookbook. I’ve owned this book since September or October of 2004, and have been thinking about it a lot lately. I might be itching to crack it open and try a new recipe out of here.

The pictures are great, the set up of the book is nice. The chapters are divided into cakes; pies, tarts and a cheesecake; chocolate special favorites; puddings, custards and a souffle; cookies; frozen chocolate desserts; confections and a drink; and sauces. I enjoyed the section just before the recipes, which gave a history of chocolate, talked about the forms chocolate comes in, the best way to taste chocolate, basics of baking with chocolate, and more. It was informative and fun to read.

The mini-gripe I have about the recipe section: many recipes that are 2 pages (the book is a small 7 X 8 1/2 inches) are set up so that you must turn a page mid-cooking. Lots of white space (that’s not white, but you get the point) is used in this book, and it’s a pain to cook while turning pages when it’s a problem that could’ve been easily averted.

Only one recipe that I’ve tried (so far) has been a miss - the Chocolatiest Crinkles on page 105. I much prefer the recipe I’ve been using for chocolate crinkles that to this new one. The recipe in the book wasn’t even fair.

The hit of the book is a grand slam, and now one of my standby desserts for company. The Killer Chocolate Cheesecake is thick and rich and smooth and divine. It is easy to make and quite impressive, as well. The text by the book says that “gorgeous and tall, this is a beautiful, bountiful, and glamorous dessert.” I agree.

Killer Chocolate Cheesecake

Crust
one 9 ounce package chocolate wafers, broken into large pieces
6 T unsalted butter, melted

Filling
1 lb bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 T unsweetened cocoa powder
three 8 ounce packages cream cheese, room temp
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups sour cream, room temp
2 t pure vanilla extract

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350. Butter a 9 inch springform pan and wrap the outside tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Have a roasting pan ready, and put a kettle of water on to boil for the water bath.

To make the crust: pulse the chocolate wafers in a food processor until finally ground. With the motor running, slowly add the butter, and process just until blended. Press the mixture onto the bottom of the pan.

Bake the crust for 8 to 10 minutes, until set. Let it cool on a wire rack.

To make the filling: Melt the chocolate with teh butter in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of about 1 1/2 inches of nearly simmering water, whisking until smooth. Whisk in the cocoa powder. Remove the bowl fromthe heat and let the mixture cool to room temp.

Beat the cream cheese and sugar with an electic mixer, beginning on low speed and increasing to medium-high, in a medium deep bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the salt. Beat in the chocolate mixture just until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl again.

Transfer the filling to the springform pan. Set the pan in the roasting pan, place it in the oven, and carefully pour in enough boiling water to reach halfway up the sides of the springform pan. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the center is almost set but still slightly jiggly; do not overbake - the cheesecake will firm as it cools. Remove the roasting pan from the oven and let the cheesecake cool in the water bath for 15 minutes.

Remove the springform pan from the water bath and let cool completely on a wire rack, then remove the foil and refrigerate the cheesecake, loosely covered, until thoroughly chilled, at least 12 hours, or overnight.

To serve, let the cheesecake stand at room temperature for 20 minutes. Remove the pan sides, smooth the sides of the cheesecake with a table knfe, and cut into wedges.