Rosemary Bread

Katie thought up this delicious twist on Matt's bread recipe and recommended it to me. Today I tried it and just the smell of it baking made me think of Spain for some reason. The flavor is awesome.

Lemon Zucchini Cupcakes

 I found this on a cool cooking blog...can't remember the website though. This is just a copy and paste. Non of the words below are mine. But I LOVED this recipe!!

I have been on a lemon kick lately and last weekend I decided to make these FABULOUS cupcakes!  I found the recipe on Grouprecipes.com and absolutely love it.  These are super SIMPLE and QUICK to make.  Don't let the zucchini scare you at all!  It actually takes the place of the oil and water you would typically add to any cake mix recipe and provides ALL of the moisture and even a bit of color.  

Now this is actually a cake recipe, but since I have a smaller family, I prefer to make cupcakes so I can freeze any leftovers.  First, I place the leftover frosted cupcakes on a cookie sheet. Then I put them in the freezer for the next couple of hours.  Once frozen, I place them all in a container or Ziploc bag.  That way when we feel like something sweet, we just pull out a cupcake and allow it to sit out for about 15 minutes.  It tastes just as FRESH and MOIST as it did the day you made it!  

Lemon Zucchini Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 box lemon cake mix

1 (4oz) pkg instant lemon pudding

4 eggs, slightly beaten

2 C zucchini, peeled and grated

1-2 t grated lemon zest (depending on your taste)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix all cake ingredients for about 3 minutes.

Pour into muffin cups.

Bake for 25-30 minutes (depending on oven), or until tops are light brown.

Remove cupcakes and allow to completely cool.

Once cooled, frost with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

4 T butter, room temperature

4 oz cream cheese, softened

2 C powdered sugar (more or less)

1-2 t grated lemon zest (depending on taste)

1-2 t fresh lemon juice (depending on taste)

*A little milk

Directions:

Cream together butter and cream cheese.

Add powdered sugar, lemon zest and juice and mix well.

*Depending on your preference when it comes to the consistency of the frosting, you may want to add about 1-2 T of milk to the frosting.

Melt Away Cookies

I found this recipe on a blog of a girl that I have never met, she had some great stuff on her blog! I picked this recipe because it only had 4 ingredients!! YAY!! And I'm pretty sure that almost everyone has these ingredients most of the time!!
I told Scott that I was going to make them and he sounded unamused. He flat out said that he didn't think he would like them. When they were done I put one in his mouth and he loved it!! He said "I have never had anything like that!! It is cool!"
Hint: The first batch I made too big, even though they were still pretty small cookies. They are REALLY rich and heavy. So the last couple batches I made them TINY, like the size of my thumbnail, and when they came out they were perfect.
Melt Aways

1/2 lb butter (softenend)
1/3 c. powdered sugar
3/4 c. corn starch
1 c. flour

Mix all ingredients on low speed until the dough comes together. Use a small cookie scooper and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 8-10 min, don't let them brown, just cook until the cookies set and you see small cracks.

Top with your favorite frosting. In the recipe that I followed the girl said to buy cream cheese frosting and add almond extract. I did and it was superb!! YUMMY!

Sauerkraut Chowder

Sauerkraut Chowder

This one sounded interesting! I got it from food.com. I don't usually like sauerkraut, but this chowder got such good reviews I had to make it!
Another easy one with products that are easy to find in the store! That is what I like!

• 3-4 large russet potatoes
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 (15 oz) can sauerkraut
• 1 (10 oz) can evaporated milk
• 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 lb package kielbasa, diced
• water
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Cut potatoes into bite size pieces. Place in pot and cover with water. Add onions and boil until cooked through fork tender.
2. Add sauerkraut, evaporated milk, and cream cheese. Stir until cream cheese is completely blended.
3. Add Kielbasa
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Cover and cook at a low simmer for 30 minutes.

Curry Chicken

1 can coconut milk

A glug-glug of regular milk

Potatoes, carrots, garlic, onion,

chicken and cashews.

Lots and lots of curry

Lots of chicken bouillon paste

Stir-fry veggies and chicken, add soup mixture and cook.  Toss in cashews last thing.  Serve over rice.  Be as generous as you like with the curry and bouillon.  That's what gives this stuff it's goodness!  If you're adventurous and dig spicy, SPICY curry, try a red curry paste instead of the yellow curry powder and add pineapple.  It's a real kick!

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Thick American-Style Pizza

Tonight's hand-tossed pizza.

Okay, I think and talk about pizza a lot.  And, I have already covered the topic of at-home pizza making before (although in an offensive way).  I should probably just stop.

I can't.  The pizza I made tonight was satisfactory to even the most delicate foreign palette.  My wife told our Korean friends that I used to work at a pizza joint. They excitedly asked if I hand toss my dough, to which I replied in the affirmative, and before I knew it my wife had volunteered me to demonstrate the process for them to watch.  Talk about pressure, I have never had to toss in front of a camera before (I'll include the video here if they ever send it to me).  Luckily I didn't tear the dough or smack it against the ceiling.  Here's the recipe.

Dough
1 c warm water
2 tsp active dry yeast
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs olive oil
2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups flour

Mix the yeast with warm water and let sit long enough for the yeast to dissolve completely.  Mix in all the other ingredients before adding any flour.  Add the flour while mixing 1/2 cup at a time until the dough gets close to being able to clean the bowl, then add it a spoonful at a time.  You want the down to not be sticking to the bowl, and be able to be pulled into a window - but still be as wet as possible.

Oil a bowl and your hands.  Shape the dough into a ball by holding it with both hands and pushing up into the dough with your fingers several times.  Don't do this so much that the dough gets all ripped up, just enough so that the surface feels tight.  Place the dough in the bowl, cover, and let rise for 30 minutes.  Punch the dough down, fold, and let rise another 15 minutes or so.  Place the dough ball on a floured surface and slap it flat with your hand into a circle.  You can stretch the circle larger by holding an edge and letting gravity do the work by moving your hands around the circumference, or you can put the circle on the BACK of your hands and toss in the air with a spin.  Both work.  Put the dough on your cooking surface (I prefer a screen) and work around the edges until it fits just right.

A good pizza starts with good ingredients.  I recommend spicy cappacola, marinated kalamata olives, fresh romano tomatoes, basil, and fresh shredded romano cheese.

I basted the crust of this pizza with butter, then sprinkled it with a small amount of garlic salt and oregano.  Pour your sauce (I like Chef Boyardee) in the center of the pie and spread with the back side of a large spoon.

Okay now for the toppings.  I am picky about these.  I always start with a thin layer of shredded romano, then maybe a small amount of cheddar or mozzarella.  By thin layer, I mean lightly sprinkled so that you can still see the sauce.  Next, on one half I put spicy cappacola, chardonnay marinated kalamata olives, and creamy havarti.  The other half was fresh basil, tomatoes, and the havarti.  Gut the tomatoes first.

The assembled pie ready for the blazing hot oven.

Bake your pizza as hot as you can for your cooking surface and pizza thickness.  On a cookie sheet this is probably 425 F, on a screen 500-600 F, on a stone you can go up to around 800 F.  Since the dough on this pizza was thick, I cooked it at about 550 F for about 10 minutes.  Commercial pizza ovens cook pizza for about 6 minutes at 600-650, a really good brick oven pizza will cook in about 90 seconds.

For the first 5 minutes, include a pan of boiling water on the bottom of your oven.  This helps the crust and dough be chewier, and gives a browner color.  Remove the water after 5 minutes so that crust will be crispy on the outside.

I am the baker, I bake the cakes.  Make no mistake, I like to bake.

Homemade Oreos...Boo Yeah!

 Kara the Kookie lover here!
This is a GREAT recipe!!! LOVE IT!!! 

The Chocolate wafers:
Makes about 40 Oreo average sized Oreo cookies. It's hard for me to say exactly since I made a variety of sizes.

• 1 1/4 C all-purpose flour
• 1/2 C unsweetened cocoa
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/4 t baking powder
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 C sugar
• 1/2 C plus 2 T butter, room temperature
• 1 large egg

1. In a medium-sized bowl, mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar.
2. Beat in the butter and the egg. Continue mixing until dough comes together in a mass.
3. Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately 2 inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. (I found that while the dough wasn't sticky enough to roll, I could press it flat with my hands like the recipe said and then use cookie cutters to cut perfect circles. If you just care about the taste, then there is no need for the cookie cutters. Also, remember this is a chance to get creative and use all kinds of cookie cutters.)
4. Bake for 9 minutes at 375 F. Set on a rack to cool.

The Filling

• 1/4 cup room-temperature, unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
• 2 cups sifted powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I used vanilla bean paste instead.)

1. Place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla.
2. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2-3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.
3. To make a cookie, pipe teaspoon-sized blobs of cream into the center of a cookie using a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch round tip. (If you don't have a pastry bag, you could easily just spread the filling with a knife or use a Ziplock with the corner cut off as a pastry bag. I had a pastry bag, but I only had a star tip. The tip doesn't matter much.)
4. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream. (If you do this really fast, it will look like you are spinning records. See above.)
5. Eat the cookies using whatever method you prefer. I like the take apart, lick the cream, then eat the cookie method. Be sure to save some to make oreo cupcakes!