Basil season!

This year, we actually decided to do something with the miniscule front "yard" that we have. I planted flowers, and, as an afterthought, some basil, a jalapeno plant (for the hubs), and some rosemary.

The jalapeno had cute little flowers, and now has 7-8 potential peppers already growing! The rosemary is growing well. The basil, however, has taken off. It is literally thigh-high on me. We have used it in spaghetti sauce, on pizza, and in caprese salads. I have also started to make pesto. Massive amounts of pesto (well, at least compared to the none I was making before).

I love this recipe from allrecipes.com. So easy - you just throw everything in a blender or food processor.

I made this recipe for dinner tonight and it was a hit!

Marinade for Chicken Recipe

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com. It's a simple marinade made with ingredients I usually have on hand. It's quick, delicious, and gets better the longer you marinade your meat. It's a winner!


Marinade for Chicken -from user jillypooh

Ingredients 

I halved the recipe to only make 2 cups marinade

• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon dry mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/2 teaspoons black pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon finely minced fresh parsley *I use freeze-dried from a jar

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, mix together oil, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, wine vinegar, and lemon juice. Stir in mustard powder, salt, pepper, and parsley. Use to marinate chicken before cooking as desired. The longer you marinate, the more flavor it will have.

New recipe - Gnocchi

When we lived in Australia, one of our favorite meals was fresh ricotta gnocchi. I traveled on the tram to the Prahran Market, to the fresh pasta shop. They had all sorts of delightful things there - noodles, filled pastas, and then this gnocchi. I think I bought some ravioli a few times, but my main love was their gnocchi. All you had to do after purchasing it was throw it in a skillet with some olive oil and panfry it til golden brown on the sides, dump on a little marinara sauce, and that's dinner!

Upon leaving Australia, I haven't had a gnocchi that could match the Prahran Market's. Until now. I had been wanting some for a while, and then finally this week I decided to try to make some on my own. I chose a recipe that looked fairly easy and didn't require any weird ingredients (a major deal-breaker for me because if it doesn't turn out well, who wants to be stuck with a million-dollar-per-ounce jar of urchin powder?). I skimmed the recipe, and the directions seemed fairly simple.


Sure, it did take about 45 minutes, but man, this stuff was good! CO begged me immediately to make more again soon, and did we have some left over so that he could take it to work? This recipe could easily be prepared a bit in advance, stored in an airtight container, and then sauteed hours (maybe days?) later.



Here's the recipe.

Ricotta Gnocchi - by Lillian Chou, as seen on Epicurious.com

 originally published in Gourmet  | April 2008 

Yield: Makes 4 servings
Active Time: 40 min
Total Time: 40 min

Ingredients:

2 cups whole-milk ricotta (1 pound)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (3 ounces), divided
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1 (2-inch) rosemary sprig (optional)

Preparation:

Stir together ricotta, eggs, 1 cup cheese, nutmeg, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Add flour, stirring to form a soft, wet dough.

Shape dough on a well-floured surface with lightly floured hands into 2 (1-inch-thick) ropes (I would do 1/2 inch thick ropes next time). Cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces with a lightly floured knife. Put in 1 layer on a lightly floured parchment-lined baking sheet.

Cook gnocchi in 2 batches in a pasta pot of boiling salted water (3 tablespoons salt for 6 quarts water), adding a few at a time to pot and stirring occasionally, until cooked through (cut one in half to check), 3 to 4 minutes per batch. Lift out with a slotted spoon and drain in colander.

Meanwhile, cook butter with rosemary in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-low heat until golden brown, about 5 minutes.

Toss gnocchi with brown butter in skillet and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Season with salt.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/printerfriendly/Ricotta-Gnocchi-242001#ixzz1C4SdZC7G

Julie's notes: I skipped the butter with rosemary step, instead I just tossed the gnocchi with plain butter (olive oil would work too) until it was brown on both sides (think the color of grilled cheese).

I served with Newman's Own Organic Marinara Sauce and hubby couldn't say enough good things about it. Apparently it makes good leftovers, but he snatched them away before I could eat them!

Mmmm Dinner

So, technically I'm posting this a day later, but I fully intended to actually post it on Nov. 3, so that's what we're going with!

We had chicken for dinner. I had spent a delightful afternoon at Borders with a friend, and came home a bit later than I had originally anticipated. CO wanted chicken for dinner and suggested that I marinate it. That's cool, I thought, until I realized I had no marinade in the house. I quick looked up a recipe on my go-to website, allrecipes.com, and found this recipe. I had most of the ingredients on hand (I substituted white vinegar for red wine vinegar and dried parsley for fresh). I cut down the recipe from 32 servings to 4 (allrecipes makes it easy with their nifty calculator), and that was perfect for one package of chicken tenders that I had. I would suggest using chicken breasts though! I marinated the chicken tenders for about 30 minutes, then baked them for about 30 minutes at 350.

Nervously, I served it to CO for dinner last night. He LOVED it. He said I could make it anytime again. The flavors were great, and we will definitely be making it sometime soon.

Chicken Marinade - from allrecipes.com, posted by user jillypooh

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil 3/4 cup soy sauce 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce 1/2 cup red wine vinegar 1/3 cup lemon juice

2 tablespoons dry mustard 1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon black pepper 1 1/2 teaspoons finely minced fresh parsley

Directions:

1.	In a medium bowl, mix together oil, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, wine vinegar, and lemon juice. Stir in mustard powder, salt, pepper, and parsley. Use to marinate chicken before cooking as desired. The longer you marinate, the more flavor it will have.

Banana Chocolate Bread Pudding

I made this the other day and it was delicious! I will definitely be making this again!

Chocolate Banana Bread Pudding -from allrecipes

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup white sugar (I used 2/3 cup and it was very sweet. Next time I'll try 1/2 cup.)
  
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups cubed French bread
• 2 bananas, sliced
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (next time I'll mix in 3/4 and then sprinkle 1/4 over the top)
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. I used my casserole dish that is smaller than a 9 x 13.
   
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix eggs, milk, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Stir in bread, bananas, and chocolate chips, and let rest 5 (to 10) minutes for bread to soak. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Line a roasting pan with a damp kitchen towel. Place loaf pan on towel inside roasting pan, and place roasting pan on oven rack. Fill roasting pan with boiling water to reach halfway up the sides of the loaf pan. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. It took me 1-1/2 hours.

I served it warm with ice cream and it was delicious!!

Recipes!

Thanks everyone for your recipes - keep them coming! I'm so excited to make them. Monica, I think I NEED that cheesecake recipe :)

I have another blog where I keep all of my recipes - it helped me organize them when we were abroad and while we were moving. As long as I had internet access (or could call my sister and have her look something up for me), I had access to my recipes without actually having them in paper form. I try to credit the appropriate people for recipes, if you see something that's yours, claim it!

The danger of making this other blog public is that these recipes are ALL I know how to make! So, chances are, if you come over for dinner, it'll be something from here! My recipe website is here - Mea 'ai 'ono

Some of our recent favorites are:
- Spaghetti Carbonara (surprisingly quick and easy)
- Mojo Corn and Black Bean Salsa (perfect for summer)
- Creamy Penne Pomodoro (I substitute half and half for heavy cream)
- Lemon Chicken with Capers (hubby loves capers!)
- Caprese Tarts - cute appetizers (and you can have fun with the shapes!)
- Blueberry Pound Cake - it's blueberry season!

In need of some inspiration...

What are some of your favorite recipes lately? I'll take whatever I can get - appetizer, main, dessert - whatever!!

Please help a girl out, we're stuck in our same eating rut...

Caprese Tarts

I made these tarts the other day as an appetizer. They were delicious! I tried to find something circular to use to cut them out, but all I could find was a cookie cutter in the shape of my fabulous home state. They turned out really well - yummy and cute! I guess you could just cut them into squares, or use another fun cookie cutter!





Caprese Tarts - as seen on Annies's Eats

Caprese Tarts
Ingredients:
2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Black pepper
Cherry tomatoes, sliced thinly
Fresh mozzarella cheese, diced
Fresh basil, minced

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Using a round biscuit cutter, cut rounds of puff pastry. Transfer them to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush the puff pastry rounds lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top each round with sliced tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden. Serve warm.

Source: Annie’s Eats

Thai anyone??

Now that we're in our new house and (kind of) settled in, I'm anxious to try making some Thai food. Anyone have any easy Thai recipes? Pad Thai or Pad See Eew? Lemongrass chicken?

My new favorite...

Buttered Linguine with Romano, Tomatoes, and Basil - from Confections of a FoodieBride

1/2 lb Linguine
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 Tbsp basil, chopped/chiffonade
3/4 cup Pecorino Romano, finely grated
Salt, to taste

Cook pasta 6-8 minutes, or until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water before draining.

Toss hot pasta in a large bowl with butter, pepper, tomatoes, basil, and cheese. Add 1/4 cup pasta water and toss to moisten. Add additional water if necessary. Salt to taste and serve immediately.

Yields: 3 servings (entree)
Source: Heavily revised from Everyday Pasta, 2007


Julie's notes:

• I used pre-grated Parmesan (the kind in a green "can") once in a pinch, and it worked ok, not great.
• I like to let the pasta cool just a little before adding the cheese. I found I got lumpy, stringy, melted cheese otherwise. I like sprinkling it on just before serving.
  

A boring old recipe...

I know recipes can be a little boring to read, but hey, this one is quickly becoming one of my favorites and I think it's well worth having stored in your google reader for a rainy day.

Roasted Sweet Potato Fries with Rosemary and Garlic - as seen on Pinch My Salt

1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 small clove of garlic, peeled
2 T. olive oil
2 medium sweet potatoes

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Using a mortar and pestle, mash together the garlic, salt, and rosemary to form a paste. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, put ingredients into a small bowl and mash the garlic, rosemary and salt against the side of the bowl with a fork. It takes a bit more effort, but you’ll be able to work it into a paste.
3. In a small bowl, combine the olive oil and garlic paste; set aside.
4. Scrub sweet potatoes and cut off any blemishes that you wouldn’t want to eat. Slice the sweet potatoes lengthwise into 1/2 inch pieces. Stacking two pieces together, cut potatoes into 1/2 inch strips. Do the same with remaining potato.
5. Put potato strips into a large bowl; Add oil mixture and toss well until all potatoes are well coated.
6. Spread potatoes out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (the parchment is optional, but makes for easier clean up!). If you don’t use parchment, make sure to grease the baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray or some extra olive oil.
7. Roast potatoes for 30-35 minutes, checking every ten minutes and rotating the pan for even browning. Every once in a while check to see if the potatoes are browning too much on the bottom. If that’s the case, turn them over. I didn’t have that problem, but you never know! Keep a careful watch towards the end and remove as soon as the smallest pieces just barely start to blacken on the ends.

yield: two servings

Recipe notes: Two medium sweet potatoes will serve 2-3 people as an appetizer. I think you could toss in one more potato without needing any more garlic paste or oil. But if you are cooking for a crowd, double all the ingredients and plan on using two baking sheets. Remember to keep the potatoes in one layer and don’t crowd them too much or they won’t brown evenly. These fries are best served right out of the oven!

Julie's notes: I never seem to have rosemary, so I add in whatever spices I seem to have in the house - namely my "mixed herbs" which are mainly oregano, parsley, and basil. And they're all dried. Also, I have substituted sea salt for kosher. I always end up using more oil as well, and then the oil ends up on the pan in the middle of baking and the fries end up soggy in one area. Lessons from that - use a pan with sides and use the right amount of oil!

Blueberry Pound Cake

Blueberry Pound Cake - Megan Heep


1 c. butter, softened
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 c. flour, divided
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 pint blueberries

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla. In a different bowl, sift 2 cups of flour, baking powder, and salt together. Add to creamed mixture and beat. Dredge blueberries in remaining flour. Fold blueberries into batter. Pour into a bundt pan that is buttered and coated with sugar. Bake at 325 for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

I'm not a very daring baker... but

On a website I frequent, there are some things that are very popular. Tuesdays with Dorie, where a whole bunch of people make a specific recipe from Dorie Greenspan and post their results to their blogs on Fridays (ha, just kidding) make that Tuesday. Daring Bakers is a monthly event, I believe, where everyone agrees to bake one specific recipe that month and then post about it. I don't usually do those challenges. Who has that time? Who wants to eat all of that goodness? I certainly would love to eat a cheesecake or layer cake each week, but I don't think my ever-expanding-waistline would. But anyway, I just glean the results from all of the challenges.

The most recent Daring Baker challenge was Cheesecake Pops. They're all the rage these days, as evidenced by Hostess With the Mostess blogging about them today (seriously cute - go check them out!). Anyway, I chose to go Chele's (from Sugar & Spice) approach. Instead of making pops, I decided to make bonbons. And they're fabulous!

Please look at Chele's pictures.
Her bonbons are pretty.
Mine are definitely function over form.

Cheesecake Pops
(Source: “Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey” by Jill O’Connor)

Makes 30 - 40 Pops (I halved it, and it worked well)

For the cheesecake:
5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
5 large eggs (I used three large eggs for the half recipe)
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ cup heavy cream (I used half and half)
Boiling water as needed

For the pops:
Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks

1 pound chocolate, finely chopped - you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionary coating or wafer chocolate - candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)

2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)

Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) - Optional

Directions:
Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil. In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.

Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.

Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 - 2 hours.

When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.

Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.

Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.

Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve (ha! If you can last that long...)

HWotD:
'ekolu - three
"eh-koe-lou"

Crazy cake

I've been making Martha's Crazy Cake for decades. I mean, literally, since I was in elementary school. I even got a blue ribbon for making this for a fair at my school. It's good stuff.

Unfortunately, I have no idea what the name of the book was that we got it from. I can tell you that the book was yellow, paperback, and not very thick (50 pages or less). If you can find it, please let me know and I will cite it properly. Apparently someone else got their baking inspiration from that cake too - you can find Jackie here.

So the story goes that "crazy cakes" were popular during the depression (or was it the war?) because they don't use eggs or butter in the batter (gasp! Don't worry. They make up for it in sugar.)

Here's the recipe.

Martha's Crazy Cake
1 1/2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
2 - 2 1/2 Tbsp. cocoa
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
5 Tbsp salad oil (I use vegetable)
2 tsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
1 c. cold water

Turn the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Put flour, sugar, cocoa, salt, and baking soda in the pan (I use an 8" by 8" square pan, but as long as the size is similar go for it). Stir with fork until well mixed. Use the fork to make 3 holes, or wells, in the flour mixture. Pour the oil into one hole. Pour the vinegar into the second hole (actually I save this for third because it fizzes!). Pour the vanilla into the third hole. Pour the water on top. Mix together with the fork, mix well. Bake for 20-25 minutes.*

* The time of baking is kind of tricky. I almost always end up with a soggy cake center. My new "test" is to jiggle the cake, and if the center doesn't wiggle back, it's done.

I made this today with the 5-year old girl I have started to babysit. She liked making it, and dh and I enjoyed eating it! Yay for kid-friendly recipes! (well, minus the sugar. She left by the time it kicked in ;) lol).

Mmmmm! Chocolate bread pudding.

I hadn't really tried bread pudding until this summer on our cruise. It was chocolate bread pudding with a heavenly cream sauce (creme fraiche or something). I craved it later. Last weekend at the cheer competition, we went out for lunch and they had chocolate bread pudding again. It was a sign.

Last night, I made my own chocolate bread pudding. I halved the recipe, and made some modifications, but it was still good! Oh, and we only have heart shaped ramekins... so don't think I was being particularly amorous...

chocolate bread pudding with walnuts and chocolate chips

Bon Appétit | January 2007

Carolynn Angle

4 cups 1-inch cubes egg bread with crust (about 6 ounces) - I just used french/italian bread
1 1/4 cups semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips, divided - I used both semi and bittersweet
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted, broken into 1/2-inch pieces - I don't like crunchy pudding, omitted

1 cup heavy whipping cream, divided - I didn't have whipping cream, I just used half & half
1 cup half and half, divided
5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
4 large eggs
1 large egg yolk - in halving this, I used a whole egg yolk. I can't split it in half.
1/2 cup sugar

Lightly sweetened whipped cream

Preparation

Toss bread cubes, 1/2 cup chocolate chips, and toasted walnuts in large bowl to blend.

Whisk 1/2 cup cream, 1/2 cup half and half, and cocoa in heavy medium saucepan to blend. Add remaining 3/4 cup chocolate chips; stir over low heat until melted and smooth. Gradually whisk in remaining 1/2 cup cream and 1/2 cup half and half. Whisk eggs, egg yolk, and sugar in medium bowl to blend. Whisk in chocolate-cream mixture. Stir into bread mixture. Let stand 1 hour for bread to absorb some of custard.

Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter six (1- to 1 1/4-cup) ramekins. Divide pudding mixture among ramekins. Bake puddings until set in centers, about 40 minutes. I think I overbaked it, but it still turned out well :)

Thank heaven it's Thursday.

So, today at school I got two compliments. Z sat on my lap and said that I smell nice. Thanks, Z. That, and a few boys today told me they like my Uggs. Yeah, the ones I talked about a month or so ago. And they liked them. One of them rubbed them for a while, I'm wondering if he was expecting a genie to pop out. Instead, he got me. And I didn't pop out of anything. But he did say that my boots were really soft. I think that's a compliment, right?


Question - anyone seen any good movies lately? I'm talking more the rentable/Netflixable kind. I saw Riding Giants and really liked it.


Here's what we had for dinner tonight - Rebekah's Fettuccine Alfredo. I'm not sure where she got it. It's not exactly good for you, but it's delicious!

REBEKAH'S FETTUCCINE ALFREDO

SERVES 2 - DH and I are stuffed.

- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

- 1 cup heavy cream I used half and half in attempts to make it "healthier"

- 2 eggs, beaten

- 1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated parmesan cheese We like just a little less

- 2 teaspoons minced garlic : You may like more or less I always love more garlic than most!

- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley We only have dried, but it's still good!

- 8 ounces fettuccini, cooked al dente and drained

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in the cream. Whisk the eggs and cheese in a bowl. Stir into the cream mixture gradually. Add the garlic and parsley. Cook until thickened bringing to a slight boil and then reduce heat to low, stirring constantly. Serve over the hot pasta. :) Enjoy!

I have Paczkis in my kitchen!

And, unfortunately, no elves made them for me. I used the recipe Erinn sent me from recipezaar.


Authentic Polish Paczki Recipe

1½ hours 30 min prep (yeah right, it took me like 4 hours)

Change to: paczki US Metric

12	egg yolks (or six whole eggs, see note) (I used 6 whole eggs, and it was still pretty eggy)
1	teaspoon salt
2 (1/4	ounce) packages active dry yeast
1/4	cup warm water
1/3	cup room temperature butter
1/2	cup sugar
4 1/2	cups flour
1/3	cup rum or brandy(I used rum - the light, clear kind)
1	cup scalded whipping cream (I heated it to almost boiling)
1 1/2	cups preserves or cooked prunes or apples or canned poppy seed filling (I used blackberry preserves)
	oil (for deep frying, The old-timers used lard, but vegetable oil will work(I use peanut oil.) I used normal vegetable oil. I think canola.

• Deep Fry Rolls/Biscuits
  
  
  
• Polish Rolls/Biscuits
  
  
  

1. Beat egg yolks with the salt in the small bowl of an electric mixer at high speed until the mixture is thick and piles softly, about 7 minutes.
2. Soften yeast in warm water.
3. Cream butter, add sugar to it gradually, beating until fluffy.
4. Slowly beat in the softened yeast.
5. Stir one fourth of the flour into the yeast mix.
6. Add rum/brandy and half of the cream.
7. Beat in another fourth of the flour.
8. Stir in remaining cream.
9. Beat in half of the remaining flour and then the egg yolk mixture.
10. Beat for 2 minutes.
11. Gradually beat in the remaining flour until the dough blisters. (I think I added another cup of flour - it was really sticky)
    
12. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. (I covered mine with a towel instead of plastic wrap)
    
13. Set in a warm place to rise. (I turned my oven to "warm" and let it rise in there)
    
14. When it has doubled in bulk, punch it down. (I think I added almost another cup of flour here because it was so sticky!)
    
15. Cover and let rise again until doubled.
16. Punch it down again.
17. Roll dough on a floured surface to about 3/4 inch thickness.
18. Cut out 3 inch rounds using a cookie cutter or glass.
19. Put 1 tablespoon of filling in the center of half the circles. (I skipped steps 19, 20, 21 & 22 - the next four steps - until "cover the paczki...")
    
20. Brush the edges with water. skipped
    
21. Top with the remaining rounds. skipped
    
22. Seal the edges very well. skipped
    
23. Cover the paczki on a floured surface.
24. Let rise about 20 minutes.
25. Deep fry in the hot fat until they are golden brown on both sides. (Just light brown- they'll continue to brown a little after you take them out)
    
26. Sprinkle with powdered sugar or drizzle with honey. (I forgot this step completely - oops!)
    
27. Put preserves in ziplock bag, and cut one edge on an angle to make a "piping bag"
28. Once cooled, make a small incision on the side of your paczki. Insert the piping bag and squeeze as much of the preserves as you desire (about a few TBSPs, or in my case, as much as you can fit in there!)
    

Oh how I love you, Polish doughnut ...

Image taken from SixDegreesofInspiration

Check them out for more... inspiration

Back in high school, for some sort of fundraiser, a few parents (aka Amie's mom) would sell paczki's on Fat Tuesday. What, you beg, is a paczki, besides impossible to spell? Well, a paczki (prounounced "poonch-key") is basically a jelly-filled doughnut. And it's delicious. Possibly so delicious because there's alcohol in the dough.

So, every Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras season, I start craving paczki's. And I can't ever find them. Not even in DC with my friend Ms. Kazimierczak's (born in Poland, life of the DC Polish community) help.

Thank heaven my friend Erinn found me a recipe online. If I'm brave enough, I just might try it!! She also said that paczkis are quite similar to German fastnacht, again, she provided the recipe. She was acute enough to point out "Fastnachts use mashed potatoes and paczkis use rum. Therefore, Polish cooking might be much cooler than German." And overall, because Erinn and I judge an entire country's cuisine by their doughnuts, I am in full agreement!

Oh, and Karl Rove, perhaps you should contact Dan and Amber to do some publicity for you. Check out this little ditty for Ron Paul... (thanks Joey for posting it)



HWotD:
ʻāina - land, earth, literally "the thing that nourishes, feeds" (ʻāi means food)
"aye (drawn out)-nah"

* As always, make sure you have all of the okinas(') and kahako's (-) they are very important!!

You had me at... the Thadmiral

I was planning not to watch the State of the Union (either with or without the game) but as I was sitting and eating my fabulous German Apple Pancake (orignially from my blogging soulmate, Swiss Ms.). I decided to turn on the tv and venture away from "Make Me a Supermodel." And who popped onto my screen, but Adm. Thad Allen, the Commandant of the Coast Guard. I knew I couldn't change the channel with the Thadmiral on the screen. After all, he did pose for a picture with me at GWU's graduation. He and the retired James M. Loy (how could I not after the Curse of Semper Paratus speech?) are my Coastie Heroes. And Adm. Allen has been a great Commandant who has had to deal with a ton of sticky issues and has come through amazingly.

I tuned in at the perfect time. Just the right amount of little sneaky, giddy, silly grins by the President. And just in time for the bit about "supporting military spouses" and something about helping them find jobs... I wish that I could have been there for the parts about international issues, but I think I'd rather read it.

Any comments on the SotU?

Is this cheating?

I've been playing with various recipes lately, I get a lot of ideas from the What's Cooking? discussion board on thenest.com (yes, I do realize that qualifies me as a dork). But anyway, I end up feeling remorse when I find a new recipe that I like that is in the same category as a "family recipe".

For example, my Mom made the same chocolate chip cookies for me throughout high school, bringing buckets of them (literally) to our cross-country meets. I feel great allegiance and loyalty to these cookies. Yet, I cheated on them. I tried the BBFCCC's and liked them. I felt the same way when I abandoned my grandmother's banana bread recipe for another allrecipes.com version. Like I had broken trust or been disloyal.

Anyway, if you need a new chocolate chip cookie recipe, and are willing to deal with the two-fold guilt of abandoning your ancestors and consuming calories after the new year, here is a great recipe.

I usually make a full batch of them, bake up a cookie sheet full, and then put the rest of the dough into a freezer bag and make small batches as I want. It's great to have on hand when DH invites people over 3 nights in a week... I'll tell that story later.

Best Big Fat Choc. Chip Cookies

(BBFCCCs)

from allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. (I usually put them in the fridge and wait at least an hour before baking. I find it works a lot better!) Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Today's Hawaiian word is:
I mua - to progress, go forward
"ee moo-ah"

Holo i mua - Move forward.