Oh my!

I thought I was one week late but it appears we have been on a several week hiatus. No excuses... life has just gotten real busy with the end of school and beginning of a new job and all. I hear that my sweet sister may be headed to the Magical Kingdom soon so check our site out when you can and we will get back on track as we can.
So, today I am going to replicate a salad I had recently in New York. It was so very yummy and I had to do some research to find the key component. I am not a salad lover but I ate every last drop of this one. Enjoy!!
Here are the ingredients for the base:
 4 Ounces goat cheese
1/2 cup Whipping cream
2 Tbsp. Milk
1 pinch of Salt

Ok, so if you hate goat cheese you are out already. I love goat cheese and this was the bomb!
Whip the cream until it looks like, well.. whipped cream.

Place the milk and the cheese in a bowl and break the cheese down into a soft paste.

Fold the cheese/milk mixture into the whipped cream. I think this could easily make four salads. 

You make a small smear of the goat mousse on the plate.

I know, I know goat cheese AND beets??

Well trust me on this... it was soon good. You just plate up your favorite greens (I used spinach) and then lay beets on top. I will leave mine in bigger strips next time. I also added a bit of bacon to add a third dimension to the salad. A nut would also be nice but you don't want to add too much, the deliciousness is in the simplicity of the dish. 

I make pretty salads and I cannot lie...

The simple joys of......

Cookies!!

We recently had several food opportunities at my workplace and I signed up to bring cookies. I did one semi-home made and one from scratch. I took this opportunity to make PQ's Triple Threat Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Lets get to the semi homemade first shall we?? I took two of those bag of cookie mixes in the sugar cookie variety and mixed them up as directed. A friend had given us a big ole bag of macadamia nuts so I added about a cup of those, a half bag of high quality white chocolate chips and a cup of coconut and made these babies. I ALWAYS have parchment paper on hand and use it religiously but for some reason this is the time I ran out. Never fear, Google assured me to uhhhh read the directions. Some cookies need to be on a greased pan and some not so much. These went straight onto the foil and came off easy peasy. 

Now onto the Rebecca Rather (the Pastry Queen) and her Triple Threat Chocolate Chip Cookies. 

I chopped the chocolate as directed. I could have done this in an electric chopper but I feel like it is rough on it-the chocolate is so dense. I also made the mistake of getting 8 ounces of unsweetened and 3 ounces of bittersweet (the opposite of the directions) so I added additional sugar to the recipe. The lesson here being don't freak out.

Toast the chopped nuts. 

You will mix the chocolate with all of the other ingredients. 

Then the chocolate chips and nuts go in. 

 

Just as the other folks have said who made these have said, I put them in the fridge/freezer before baking. Not for long but they will stay nice and formed if they are nice and cold. I loved these cookies and will definitely make them again. 

Good job Pastry Queen!!

Secrets revealed!!

One of the great things about any hobby is sharing it with friends. Although we all have to eat, I am aware that not everyone likes to eat or cook as much as I do. I am not to obsession level but I would definitely call it a hobby (umm hello I am writing about it and taking photos so, yeah). Anywhoo, I love to share recipes and little tricks that can make life easier.

There are certain foods that are just many friendly and ribs is on that list. I often recommend this recipe to those who are just starting took cook for their husband or family because it is impressive and so very very easy.

Ribs are a financial investment. This is a ta-da mean. You expect them to loooooove them or it is not worth the $$. Go to the store and pick up some ribs. You can get any kind. My peeps love pork so I get those but this recipe works for beef as well.

You will cook these the evening before you want to serve them. *** This is important***

I bought two vacuum packed racks of ribs. You will open them up and cut the rack in half following the space in between two bones. This is messy-I often cook in PJs and an apron-the best. Before you begin this butchery, you will want to lay out about four long strips of foil. Lay one half of a rack on one piece of foil and go to town laying down some flavor town with spices. My hubby has a friend with his own pork rub he gives us for Christmas. If you don't have one just use the spices that you like and have on hand (salt, pepper, chili powder, brown sugar-whatever). Do not put a liquid barbecue sauce on them-this will just run right off and is wasted-trust me on this. Once both sides are covered, you will wrap that half rack up in the foil. Once you have done all four racks you can find a pot you can put them in, in the oven. We use a magnalite pan but you can use a throw away aluminum pan, a cake pan or anything you want. I often have to take one of the oven racks out since this pan is a bit clunky. Turn the oven on 200 degrees and put the pan in. The ideal time to do this is between 8 and 10 pm just before you go to bed. The first time you make them do it on a Friday night. The next morning you will wake up and say mmmm what smells like meat??? This is not always a smell you want to smell when you wake but the secret to ribs is slow and low. If you did not listen and tried to cook these in a few hours during the day fuggetaboutit. Take the ribs out of the oven and turn the oven off. Let the ribs cool. You can put them in the fridge until about one hour before you are ready to eat them. Once you begin to prepare the other items you are serving with the ribs, unwrap them from their foil. This is a great job for a child or spouse. This is the barbecue sauce moment. Grab your favorite and pour it all on. I rub them down like they are getting a massage. Then back into the oven to heat back up. They WILL be fall off the bone good and someone will tell you need to make more the next time. No one has to know how easy it was.....

Raw ribs bathed in spice.

Cooked ribs bathed in sauce, ready to be reheated. 

 

I tried to get a photo of the ribs or the ribs being eaten but they went too fast. What can I say....

Chicken ala Trey and Whiskey Carrots

Chicken ala Trey

This is a family favorite - so much so that we changed the name.  I'm really not sure what the original name was, but Trey asked for this chicken every time he got a choice.  The main thing that I love about it is that it is so adaptable.  Here are the main ingredients:

I use chicken tenderloins, because they cook quickly and are easy to coat.  You will also need one tube of Ritz crackers, a stick of butter, some parmesan cheese and whatever seasoning you prefer.  

Put the Ritz crackers in a bag and crush them, then add the cheese and seasoning.  In a separate bowl, melt the butter.  Take a rinsed chicken tenderloin, put it in the butter, then into the cracker mix and then onto a cookie sheet or 13x9 casserole dish.  This next part is very important and the reason that that it tastes SO good.  When you have coated all of the chicken, pour the remaining butter and crackers over the chicken pieces.  I have been so lazy that I just put the chicken in the pan, then poured all of the butter and crackers on top.  It tastes good that way, but coating each piece is so much better.

Bake on 350* for 30-45 minutes.  Serve with a mixture of cream of chicken soup and sour cream as a dipping sauce.  It was so good that I wish there was some more in the fridge, but we ate it ALL.

Whiskey Carrots

Kati is always a fan of carrots with brown sugar and butter, so I knew this would be a good one.  I got it from Pioneer Woman's new cookbook.  Here are the ingredients:

After I put the chicken in the oven, I put the 1/2 stick of butter and 1/4 cup of whiskey in a skillet.  After it was melted and slightly reduced, I added the brown sugar and carrots.  The recipe said to cook for 10 minutes, but we like our veggies very soft and I had time so I let it simmer until the chicken was ready.   They were delicious!

Battle of the beak!

So after my first over achieving attempts at the Pastry Queen's recipes, I decided to slow my roll. I was a little more selective in choosing recipes... How many ingredients?? How many steps?? How much sanity??

We buy a roasted chicken pretty much each week. I could probably come up with 100 uses for a roasted chicken without even thinking hard. I am most pleased with myself when I get two uses from one chicken. When I am feeling uninspired I chop up half of the chicken, add some mayo and have chicken salad. While making this one weekend, my sweet husband commented how much he loved chicken salad but how much he hated the fat and calories from the mayonnaise.

Later that evening, while looking through the cookbook, I saw Rebecca Rather's recipe for chicken salad. At least once a day I look on Pinterest. That evening I found myself looking for avocado and greek yogurt chicken salads. Today's adventure is the great chicken salad battle of the beak!

I bought two chickens and deboned them. I used half for one salad and half for the other. Here are the cast of characters for the first one.

I had never made mayonnaise from scratch but thanks to my food processor, I made it in a jiffy! The recipe says use a blender and I see now why. The processor left it a bit liquidy but I was not feeling in the mood to get out and clean up multiple appliances. Below is a picture of the chicken and mayo plus apples on the bottom. The bowl next to it is all of the veggies my son and I will not eat. I mixed it up sans veg and took some out. Then I mixed in the veg. Yes, I am that kind of girl!

Then came the avocado recipe. This is easy to find on pinterest (or pin-tear-est if you are funny). 

Chopped chicken, greek yogurt (I did a half cup instead of 1/4 yogurt and 1/4 mayo), two avocados (The recipe said one), fresh garlic, cilantro, salt and pepper. 

Seriously, what kid gets food this pretty on a week night??!!

The winner? The Pastry Queen. I think over time he will slap some hot sauce on that avocado one and go to town. 

Fancy bisquits or ...scones!

Well Happy Monday To Ya!
The second recipe that I made from the Pastry Queen was these cheddar scones.

It was a pretty straightforward recipe. There are some steps so it is good to prep one night, make one night and bake one morning (as if it was al effortless and you just happened to have scone dough laying about!). 

I cooked and chopped the bacon as well as grating the cheese one night. You could buy both pre-bagged but really if you are doing that, just buy pre-made scones. The next day I prepped the onions and then got out my handy food processor. She made this super smooth. I then rolled it out onto a floured surface and cut it into 8 slices. If I were to do this again, I would probably make two circles and then cut them into smaller triangles. Maybe freeze half? You tend to eat what you make and I would like to have just one to two per person and then have some for the next weekend. 

My sweet husband warned me he really did not like scones the entire time I was making them. Guess who loved them the best?! 

Enjoy-worth making when you have visitors coming or just want something special for breakfast. 

Apple-Smoked Bacon and Cheddar Sconessource: Rebecca Rather, The Pastry Queen

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 stick well-chilled unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 1/2 cups grated Cheddar cheese
4 green onions, thinly sliced
10 slices bacon, cooked and chopped into 1 inch pieces
3/4 to 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 large egg
2 tsp water

Preheat oven to 400.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and black pepper in a large bowl on low speed. With mixer running, gradually add cubes of butter until the mixture is crumbly and studded with flour – butter bits about the size of small peas. Add grated cheese and mix just until blended. (This can also be done by hand: In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper. Gradually cut in butter with a pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles small peas. Stir in cheese.)

Add green onions, bacon and 3/4 cup of the buttermilk to flour and cheese mixture. Mix by hand just until all ingredients are incorporated. If dough is too dry to hold together, use remaining buttermilk, adding 1 tablespoon at a time, until dough is pliable and can be formed into a ball. Stir as lightly and as little as possible to ensure a lighter-textured scone. Remove dough from bowl and place it on a lightly floured flat surface. Pat dough into a ball. Using a well-floured rolling pin, flatten dough into a circle about 10 inches wide and 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough into 8 to 12 equal wedges, depending on size scone you prefer.

Whisk egg and water in a small mixing bowl to combine. Brush each wedge with egg wash. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until golden brown and no longer sticky in the middle. Serve warm.

PQ New Orleans Red Potatoes

This recipe is a delicious, yet easy to create and modify.  You start by rinsing a bag of red potatoes (about 2 pounds).  Put the potatoes in a big pot and cover with water.  Once the potatoes are boiling, set the timer for 20 minutes.

After they become soft enough to stick a fork into them, drain the water and break them apart.  This is the great part of the recipe.  They are not mashed or cubed, they are just broken apart.  From my experience, that makes it taste like potato salad with some mashed potatoes mixed in.  I took a large, plastic spoon and broke them apart one at a time in the bowl.  When I had a new layer completed, I would sprinkle them with cajun seasoning.  At the very end, I poured 2 sticks of unsalted butter over the top and stirred once more.  I know that sounds like a lot of butter, but the potatoes seem to soak it up and it did not feel overwhelming.

They made a great side dish for Trey's spicy nuggets (something a little hot and something mild)

One of the main things I liked about the recipe is that it is almost endlessly adaptable.  Some of the ideas we came up with were:

• loaded potatoes by adding sour cream, bacon and cheese
• seafood potatoes with crab boil as the flavoring
• ranch potatoes with ranch mix and sour cream

They were delicious and we had a very good meal that night!