Recipe Book: Wine Truffles

Steve and I went to a How to Host a Murder birthday party yesterday.  (It was this one.)  I played a reporter, Mary Kohn Trairie, and Steve played a gangster, Mal Conntint (ha, ha).

Oliver was a gangster-in-training.

(Complete with Comic-Con loot Fringe hat.)

Since my friend is a big fan of wine, I decided to make wine-infused truffles to take along.  I made two different kinds, original recipes from here and here.

White Chocolate Moscato Truffles

12 ounces white chocolate (chips, or otherwise broken up into small pieces)
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup Moscato or another sweet white wine
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Place chocolate into a medium bowl.  Bring heavy whipping cream to a boil in a small sauce pan.  As soon as it is boiling, pour over chocolate.  Stir until all chocolate is melted.  (You may have to pop it in the microwave for a few seconds, or into a double boiler, if it doesn't all melt.)  Stir in Moscato.  Refrigerate 3 hours or until firm.

Once firm, scoop or roll into balls and place on a baking pan with parchment paper.  Place in the freezer for 20 minutes.  Roll balls in chopped nuts.  (I didn't have enough pecans, so we did about 2/3 in pecans and 1/3 in walnuts.)


Dark Chocolate Red Wine Truffles

10 ounces dark chocolate (chips, or otherwise broken up into small pieces)
1/2 cup red wine (I used Cupcake's Red Velvet, because it looked interesting.)
10 ounces semi-sweet chocolate

Place dark chocolate into a medium bowl.  Bring red wine to a boil in a small sauce pan.  As soon as it is boiling, pour over chocolate.  Stir until all chocolate is melted.  (Again, you may have to pop it in the microwave or a double boiler if it doesn't all melt.)  Refrigerate for 3 hours.  This will come out firmer than the white chocolate.  Once firm, roll into balls and place on a baking pan with parchment paper.  Place in the freezer for 20 minutes.

Pour the semi-sweet chocolate into a glass, ceramic, or metal bowl and place over a saucepan of boiling water to melt.  (You may not need all 10 ounces, so if you don't want leftover melted chocolate, you can do part at a time.)

Dip the frozen dark chocolate balls into the melted semi-sweet chocolate to coat.  Place on parchment paper.  Refrigerate until outer chocolate has hardened.  (I didn't check how long it took, but I'd say maybe 30 minutes?)

I was a little proud of the boxes, too.  One was for the birthday party, and the other was for a going-away party we went to afterwards.  (Unfortunately, I'd intended to stop home in between so I left the second box in the fridge... the birthday party ran late and we ended up skipping the stop, and not bringing the chocolates to the second party.  Sad!)

They were mini pizza boxes I picked up at a carry-out pizza place.  I covered the top with wrapping paper (mostly so that it didn't say PizzaRev on it!), and put ribbon around.  I think they're pretty cute myself.

We have lots of leftover truffles around here.  Partly because I'd kept some for us after all that work, and partly because that second box never made it to its destination.  Ha.  I might take it with me to work on Wednesday.  A good-will move for my first day back?  (Sniff.)

All in all, the chocolates were really delicious, and the parties were lots of fun.

Yoshi, No Dye

We had some friends come over yesterday for one last post-graduation (they all just finished their PhD's), pre-move (P&L are moving up north, Y is still looking for a job, but it won't be here) video game-playing hurrah.

To cap (no pun intended) off the day, Steve wanted to make a cake: a graduation Yoshi.  And he wanted to make the frosting with no food dye.

So Steve and I took to the internet for ideas and recipes.  Steve made the cake and a traditional white buttercream frosting to use as the base, and I was in charge of the color-making.  (For the record, red, yellow, and blue were all made using the buttercream frosting.  The greens were a separate recipe.)

Red: Beets.  I cut up a beet and boiled it in a small amount of water, intending to use the water as food coloring.  That yielded a pretty pink color, but we were going for red.  So I tossed the frosting and some beet chunks into the blender, and came up with a much deeper color.

Light Green (not pictured): Avocado.  I used this recipe, minus the lemon extract, because I didn't have any and I didn't want to buy it for half a teaspoon.

Yellow: Turmeric.  I dissolved turmeric in water and mixed just a bit into the frosting.  I had to add some more powdered sugar to thicken it up.  I probably could have added the turmeric directly to the frosting for a bolder color, but that was the first one I did, and I didn't think of it.

Dark Green: Spinach.  Again, I boiled down spinach intending to use the water, but it was too pale a green.  So I tossed some of the avocado frosting into the blender with the boiled spinach leaves, and came up with that nice, rich green.

Blue: Blueberries-plus.  Blue was the most fun.  I'd read about using blueberries or purple spinach.  Blueberries seemed more delicious, so I went that route.  The recommendation with the spinach was to add baking soda to turn the color from purple to blue, so when the blueberries ended up more purple than we were going for, I tried the baking soda.  It was still too purple, so I added some of the avocado frosting, which turned it grey-ish, so in went a piece of beet.  And all together, we ended up with a kind of deep purple-blue, which was acceptable.

And... voila!

The cake was delicious.  Each frosting had a different flavor, some more mild than others, but all tasty.  It did take a good chunk of the morning to figure everything out, but now that I've got these colors down, I'd do it again.  And it was a lot of fun experimenting!

The game-playing, although I didn't actually participate in that part, was also super-fun.  Steve had a dual-screen set-up for maximum gaming enjoyment.

It was a great Sunday of food, friends, and art projects (for me... that will be in another post).  We're really going to miss being able to do this!  Good luck, friends!

Recipe Book: Oatmeal, Banana, and Oatmeal-Banana Pancakes

I was having a smoothie every morning for breakfast, and I got burnt out.  And I was a little bit afraid that my (very loud) blender would wake Oliver up, although it might fall into the same category as coffee grinder or plane engine or bagpipes, which don't wake Oliver up, instead of ice clinking against your glass or fork dropping into the sink, which do.

I'm also now officially back on Weight Watchers, and I have a deadline (before I have to start paying again, if I don't meet my goal) of September 3rd to lose the leftover 24 pounds that just won't go.  I lost about 20 pounds in the first week or so after Oliver was born, and that's it.  "They" say breastfeeding is supposed to help with weight loss; I guess I'd be afraid to see what was happening if I wasn't breastfeeding!

Which brings me to my latest Weight Watchers-friendly breakfasts.  The first two recipes (if you can call them that, they're so simple) are ones I came across, and the third is a combination I think works.


Oatmeal Pancakes

• 3 Tbsp egg whites or 1 egg
• 1/4 cup dry oatmeal
• 1 packet Splenda or stevia
• a shake of cinnamon

Combine ingredients.  Makes one pancake.  Cook on the stovetop... as you would a pancake.  3 WW PointsPlus with egg whites, 4 with the whole egg.

That's it.  I like to make a week's worth on Sunday and reheat them each morning.  I also prefer to make them one at a time instead of in a whole batch so that I know each one has the same amount of oatmeal and egg, but that might be a little obsessive. 


Banana Pancakes

• 1 banana, mashed
• 2 eggs (you could probably use 6 Tbsp egg whites, but I haven't tried that)

Combine ingredients and mix well.  Makes about four pancakes.  Cook on the stovetop.  4 points for the whole batch, 2 if you're using egg whites.

These come out more crepe-like, I think.  I was calling them banana omelets; they taste much more egg-y than the oatmeal pancakes.  And they're fragile. I don't think I could make a week's worth in advance.


Oatmeal-Banana Pancakes

• 1/4 cup dry oatmeal
• 3 Tbsp egg whites
• 1 Tbsp mashed banana
• Cinnamon

Mash a banana and add cinnamon to taste.  Combine egg whites, oats, and 1 Tbsp of the banana.   Makes one pancake.  3 points.

I find these to be a nice middle ground between the two recipes.  The banana is sweet so it doesn't need added sweetener.  It also gives the oatmeal a slightly more pancake-y texture; the oatmeal alone makes a fairly dense pancake.  I made a week's worth of these last night (or, six days' worth for two people).  I mashed three smallish bananas with cinnamon, which went into 12 pancakes. 

Recipe Book: Lactation Cookies

I remember hearing about lactation cookies before I was pregnant, and then someone mentioned them at my PEP meeting a few weeks ago.  I was on a mission!  I tried three different recipes before I found one I liked... and then I tweaked it a little.

One just happened to come out heart-shaped!

Chocolate Chip-Coconut-Oatmeal Lactation Cookies

• 2 tablespoons flaxseed meal
• 4 tablespoons water
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 tablespoons brewers yeast
• 1 cup coconut oil (or butter or margarine)
• 1 ¼ cups packed brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups oats
• ¾ cup chocolate chips
• ¾ cup unsweetened coconut flakes

Preheat oven to 350°

Mix flaxseed meal and water, set aside.

Combine flour, salt, baking soda, and brewers yeast; set aside.

Cream coconut oil and sugar.  Add eggs one at a time, mix well. Add flaxseed meal and vanilla. Gradually mix in flour mixture.  Stir in oats, chocolate chips, and coconut flakes.

Bake 9-11 minutes.


I had some in a container on the counter when friends came over for a barbeque a few weekends ago.  I was amused that the women were absolutely disgusted by the idea of lactation cookies (I think they originally may have thought the cookies had breastmilk in them, and couldn't get past the idea?), but the guys tried and enjoyed them.

And I think they're delicious.  Steve agrees.  I can't really say how much they increase my milk supply, but I like to think they're doing their thing.  Deliciously.

Won't you be mine?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Steve found a recipe for salted caramel brownies.  Homemade caramel, homemade brownies.  Oh. My. Gosh.  They're... amazing.  About 7 WW points each, the way we cut them, but worth every single calorie.  He made them early so we could enjoy them the rest of the week. ♥

World Vegetarian Day: My Day in Food

Yesterday, October 1st, was World Vegetarian Day.  Lately, I've been eating very little meat, mostly in the form of ground turkey with dinner.  So it wasn't a stretch to eat like a vegetarian.

Every day, I have Greek yogurt with a cut-up apple and honey for breakfast, cottage cheese with pineapple and/or a banana for my mid-morning snack, cucumbers in a sweet/spicy vinegar sauce and a piece of fruit (along with some kind of sandwich/leftovers) with lunch, and carrots and a second piece of fruit as my mid-afternoon snack.  Dinner is the big variable.

I decided to switch up my usual breakfast and have a spinach-banana smoothie.  1/2 cup light vanilla soy milk, a big handful of spinach, one frozen banana, and two tablespoons of Weight Watchers coconut smoothie protein mix.

spinach-banana-coconut

It was so delicious, I might have another one this morning.

For the last week or two, I've been on an avocado-and-tomato sandwich kick for lunch.

This picture was taken in 2007, but it's the same idea.

I've gotten better at making this sandwich pretty, but I didn't have my camera with me at lunch, so have a picture from my 2007 Photo-a-Day.

And dinner!

Veggie Bowl

A rice bowl with 1/2 an avocado, grilled green peppers and onions, corn, and black beans topped with salsa and sour cream.  Pretty tasty.  Admittedly, a lot of avocado for one day.

Last but not least, I was playing Draw Something with Steve (as you do) and I had to draw a s'more.  Which sounded really, really yummy.  And we totally had all the ingredients.

Pre-sandwiched s'more

All in all, a fairly successful Vegetarian Day.  If I was going to do this more frequently, I think I'd have to get a bit more creative than avocado and more avocado though...

Recipe Book: Honey-Nut Granola

A few weeks ago, I stumbled across 100 Days of Real Food.  The idea intrigued me.  I bought the book that started Lisa on her Real Food journey, In Defense of Food.  (I started reading it, and then I found out we're pregnant and switched to pregnancy-related books, instead.)  I think we're pretty good at eating well, although I will admit to the occasional sugar-free (usually sweetened with Splenda or similar) and more-frequent fat-free food item gracing my refrigerator or pantry shelves.

I've been reading the blog a few mornings a week and thinking about switching to all real foods.  Thinking it is half the battle, right?

This weekend, I tried my first official Real Food recipe: Granola.

I had to tweak her recipe a bit because, for some reason, pumpkin seeds and raw not-almonds were three-strikes-and-you're-out ingredients (Trader Joe's, Lassens, and Vons, you disappoint me).  This is how I ended up making it.

Honey-Nut Granola

• 3 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 2 cups raw sliced almonds
• 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup honey
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 200° F*.  Cover a rectangular baking sheet in parchment paper. Mix together all dry ingredients (oats, nuts, seeds, coconut, and spices) in a large bowl. Heat the butter and honey together in a small saucepan over low heat.  When the butter is melted, stir in vanilla.  Pour the mixture over the dry ingredients and mix until well coated.  Spread onto the parchment paper/pan and bake for 75 minutes.  As it cools, the granola will harden.  Crumble in a large plastic bag.

* The recipe called for 250°, and my first go at this recipe over the weekend yielded really burned granola.  Steve tried to salvage it, but it was too far gone even for him.  It's possible my oven cooks a bit hot, but lowering the temperature to 200° did the trick.

Breakfast: Greek yogurt with apple slices and granola

To balance out completely negate this Real Food snack, I made a Rice Krispy Treat bunny-shaped cake to take to Elaina's for Easter.  It was so delicious, I kind of want to make another batch to have here at home.

So while I obviously have not committed fully to an entirely Real Food diet, I am incorporating it bit by bit. 

Recipe Book: Chocolate for Dinner

Steve bought Adventures with Chocolate recently, which I originally thought was a book about making your own chocolate.  (It's not; further research on chocolate-making revealed a fairly complicated process requiring some really specific equipment, and I think I'm resigned to buying my chocolate.)

But the book is full of fascinating information.  It's beautifully photographed, and covers recipes for things you'd expect, like truffles, to the less-typical savory chocolate sauces for chicken, for example.  I intend to read it cover-to-cover when I'm not using all my available reading time devouring the Hunger Games trilogy.  (I could barely tear myself away from the third book long enough to write this post.)

Have you ever wanted to just eat chocolate for dinner?  Here's your chance to do it legitimately.

Honey-Cured Bacon, Stilton, and Chocolate Sandwich

• Crusty bread - we used a rustic/artisan (I forget) loaf from Trader Joe's
• Soft butter for spreading
• 2 ounces dark chocolate (the book recommends Venezuelan 72% dark chocolate; we bought the only 72% dark we found at Trader Joe's, which was not Venezuelan, but still delicious)
• Honey-cured bacon (ours was honey-smoked--which I'm not sure is the same as honey-cured--turkey bacon with a little honey drizzled on for cooking)
• 3 ounces Stilton cheese

The recipe in the book is very specific on the cooking instructions.  Here's what we did.

I cooked the bacon (with honey) on the stove-top while Steve grated the chocolate.  I was pre-heating the toaster oven on the hottest setting while this was happening.  I toasted and then buttered the bread.  Steve covered half of the bread with grated chocolate, and I stuck it back in the toaster oven until the chocolate melted, which was really about 10 seconds.  In fact, I think it would have just melted onto the toasted bread without intervention.  Out of the oven, add a slice of bacon and some crumbled Stilton, top with the other half of bread, and voila!  Chocolate sandwich for dinner.

As an added bonus, you can use up your leftover bread, cheese, and bacon in the morning with a fried egg in place of the chocolate.

YUM.

Recipe Book: Green Pepper Pizzas & Mini Cheesecakes

These recipes are from a few weeks ago.  I needed to type up the cheesecake recipe, so the post has been sitting in drafts ever since.  Since I'm very seriously procrastinating anything truly productive this morning, I figured I'd get this one finished.

Green Pepper Pizzas 

• 1 green pepper per person, halved (0 points)
• 3/4 cup (low-fat) cheese per person (6 points)
• 1/2 cup (or a little less) tomato sauce of choice per person (2 points)
• Toppings of choice (varies)

Because green peppers tend to be slippery when cooked, I sprinkled 1/4 cup of the cheese over both halves of the pepper.  Then about half the tomato sauce (I used Pesto Artichoke) in each pepper half, 1/4 cup of cheese on top of that, and the toppings.  I used a Morningstar meatless sausage patty (2 points) crumbled over one half of my green pepper, and four slices of turkey pepperoni on the other (17 slices are 2 points, so...).

Total WW PointsPlus as prepared: 10 

*~*~*

Mini Cheesecakes 

• 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 2 Tbsp light butter, melted (this may not be enough...)
• 2/3 cup low-fat cream cheese
• 6 Tbsp fat-free cream cheese
• 3 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup light cherry pie filling*

Place 12 cupcake liners in a cupcake pan.  Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a small bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs and butter; mix well.  Spoon 1 tablespoon of crumb mixture into bottom of each liner and press down gently; refrigerate until ready to use.  In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat both types of cream cheese together until fluffy.  Add lemon juice, egg whites, vanilla extract, and sugar; beat until smooth.  Spoon cream cheese mixture evenly into liners; bake until set, about 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.  Top each cheesecake with 1 tablespoon cherry pie filling*.  

* I am not a fan of cherry pie, so cherry pie filling as a topping did not sound delicious to me.  Slimy cherries in gel?  Ew.  So I took frozen raspberries (which is what I happened to have in my freezer), microwaved them, added a little sugar, and mashed them with a fork.  Voila!  Fruit topping.

WW PointsPlus: 3 

This recipe came straight out of Weight Watchers Weekly from 2/5/12.  

Recipe Book: Curry Roasted Cauliflower & Onion Balsamic Chicken

This post is for my sister.  I was telling her about this ridiculously easy-peasy chicken recipe the other night, and she wanted the details. 

I have to apologize in advance for the impreciseness of these recipes.  The chicken recipe was given to me like this, and the cauliflower is one I make all the time (seriously, we have it with dinner at least once most weeks, sometimes more) and just eyeball at this point.

Another note:  For the first time ever, we used purple cauliflower.  Did you know there was a such thing as purple cauliflower?  I had NO IDEA!  It kind of blew my mind.  Tasted the same, just... purple. 

Please excuse the purple cauliflower...

Onion Balsamic Chicken

• Chicken - about 2 pounds
• 1 package Dry Onion Soup mix
• Balsamic Vinegar to taste

Cover chicken with onion soup mix, and then cover the entire thing with balsamic vinegar.  You might consider covering your baking pan with foil first, as the vinegar baked into a difficult-to-remove layer on my Pyrex dish that took soaking and some good, hearty scrubbing to remove.  Anyway!  Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes, until chicken is cooked through.

WW: 4 points for 4 oz of chicken. 


Curry Roasted Cauliflower

• Cauliflower - about half a large head or one small head, cut up
• ~1 tsp Curry (or to taste)
• ~1 tsp Olive Oil 
• ~1 tsp Salt (or to taste)
• ~1 Tbsp Minced Garlic (I like a lot of garlic... say it with me, "or to taste")

In a large bag or bowl, mix cauliflower with curry, olive oil, and salt.  Spray your baking pan with cooking spray, spread out cauliflower.  Bake at 450° for 15 minutes, taking the cauliflower out at the halfway point to turn it over and mix it up a bit. (I do 8 minutes, stir, 7 minutes...)  Stir in garlic, bake 5 more minutes.

WW: 1 point

No and Low

This is for Em and Ginger* as they jump back in to Weight Watchers.  I told Ginger on the phone last night about some of these, so I thought I'd gather all my no- and low-point foods in one place, and add to the list as I think of or discover more.  That's the plan.


+ Sweet & Spicy Pickles.  Soak cucumber slices in rice vinegar and lemon juice.  Add Splenda and a few drops of Sriracha sauce.  0 points.

+ Pineapple Pudding.  Mix one can crushed pineapple in its own juice with one box fat free, sugar free vanilla pudding.  Makes five 4-ounce servings.  0 points per serving.

+ Better than Peanut Butter Ice Cream.  Mix 1/2 cup sugar free vanilla ice cream (2 points) with 1 tablespoon Better than Peanut Butter (Trader Joe's, 1 point).  3 points.

+ Cottage Cheese with Pineapple.  1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese with pineapple in its own juice.  2 points.

+ Eggplant Hummus.  Buy at Trader Joe's.  1 point per serving.  Delicious with carrot sticks.

+ Chipotle Turkey Wrap.  Small low-carb tortilla with 2 ounces deli turkey, one slice of low-fat Swiss cheese, a teaspoon of chipotle mayo, and crisp Romaine lettuce.  5-6 points, depending on cheese.

+ Pumpkin Spice Muffins.  1 small (15 oz) can pumpkin, one box of spice cake mix.  (I've heard you can also use chocolate, but I haven't tried it.)  Mix the two together (no eggs, oil, or water) and bake according to the package.  Makes 24 cupcakes.  (You can also melt a marshmallow on top of each about 3 minutes before they're done for another half-point.)  2 points.

+ Diet Soda Cake.  Same as above, one box cake mix, one can diet soda.  No other ingredients.  Bake according to the box.  2 points per serving (without frosting).

+ Light Vanilla Soy Milk.  Delicious in coffee instead of creamer.  1/2 cup is 1 point.

+ Greek Yogurt Parfait.  Mix 6 oz plain, fat-free Greek yogurt with Splenda.  Add one small apple cut up into bite-size pieces and 10 almonds cut into thirds.  Drizzle with a little bit of honey.  4 points.

+ Apple Slices with Lemon Juice.  Easy to throw in your lunch, 0 points.


What are your go-to low-point foods?

*Name changed by Em.

Making All the Cookies

I had two invitations to be social this weekend.  When given the option of going out dancing at a club or baking Christmas cookies, I am probably going to choose Christmas cookies every single time.

(My only disappointment was that the cookie-making was at a friend's house, and I couldn't bring my shiny new stand mixer to the occasion.  I did bring my trusty old hand mixer, and he performed admirably.) 

We baked from noon until about eight in the evening and made five different kinds of cookies: snowballs, gingersnap men with lemon zest frosting, orange drop cookies with orange zest frosting, dark chocolate with sea salt easy fudge, and cranberry-and-walnut roll-ups.

Grandma Peggy would be proud.  Snowballs were unanimously voted the favorite cookie, and have been declared a new holiday tradition by several friends.  They were the cookies most often nabbed slyly off the cooling rack by passers-by, too.

The gingersnap "men" were the most fun.  We had traditional people-shapes and teddy bears and Christmas trees and stars and X-Wing fighters and a Millennium Falcon.  Some of the teddy bears got nerd glasses and ties, and there were people-shaped Mario and Luigi.  I love my friends.

There is so much photographic evidence of our baking extravaganza, but I had forgotten my camera, so I'm waiting for the pictures to be emailed or posted to Facebook. 

We had so many cookies, I delivered plates to three of our neighbors.  It felt so Storybook Christmas to me!  I'm not sure I've given Christmas cookies to neighbors before.

Because it was my contribution to the cookie-making:


Grandma Peggy's Snowballs

1/2 lb unsalted butter
1/2 C sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 C pecans, ground (measure before grinding)
2 C pastry flour (alternately, 1 C regular flour and 1 C cake flour)
1 lb powdered sugar

Cream butter and sugar.  Add vanilla, nuts and flour.  Mix.  Shape into balls the size of a large marble.  Bake in a slow (300°) oven for 25-30 minutes.  While cookies are still hot, put them in a 9x13 pan with powdered sugar.  Turn the cookies gently "every so often".  These are best if left in the sugar until they are cold.

* This recipe is from Grandma Peggy and Grandpa Jim's first cookbook, purchased at Marshall Fields in July 1947.  It was then taken verbatim from recipes Grandma and Grandpa printed out and stuck between the pages of the cookie cookbook they gave me as a wedding shower gift.

There's Always Room for Dessert

I've been wanting a stand mixer for ages.  We registered for one for the wedding, but didn't get it.  We did get gift cards, and it was my intention to go in and buy the mixer with gift cards.  I just didn't get around to it.

On Cyber Monday, Amazon had the leveled up version of the mixer I wanted, and for $100 cheaper.  On top of that, there was a $50 rebate.  I didn't wait until I got home from work so I could use my gift cards; I bought the mixer right then and there before it sold out!

My shiny, new stand mixer arrived today, and the first thing I did was make a batch of "caramel" cookies.  (Quotes present because I'm not sure what about them is actually caramel, but that's what they're called in the recipe book.)

Mixed up a batch of cookies!

The kitchen smelled awesome.  Then I baked the second half of the dough on a dark pan and promptly burned them, a full minute before their 8-10 minute window even started.  Sigh.  I've become a decent enough cook, I think, but I'm afraid I don't have much baking mojo.

The burned cookies are ever-so-slightly improved when dipped in the delicious pumpkin mousse I also whipped up tonight, though!

With pumpkin mousse.

Recipes for future reference:


Caramel Cookies

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
2/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla extract.  Add remaining ingredients and bake thoroughly. 

Scrape dough out of bowl and onto a large piece of plastic wrap.  Roll dough into a log, about 2 1/2 inches wide; completely wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate until firm at least 20 minutes or up to overnight.  (I would recommend longer rather than shorter; I stuck mine in the freezer for about 40 minutes and that was not enough... the dough got really sticky about 3/4 of the way through.)

Cut dough into 1/8-inch-thich slices and arrange on several large ungreased cookie sheets about 1 inch apart.  Bake until lightly browned around the edges, about 8-10 minutes. 

Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheet for about 1 minute and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

1 Weight Watchers Points Plus per cookie.  (From WW Weekly, 11/27)


Pumpkin Mousse

1 cup fat free milk
1 package butterscotch pudding
15 oz pumpkin
1 container cool whip
pumpkin pie spice


Mix everything but cool whip, then fold cool whip into mixture.  8 servings, about 3 WWPP per serving when made with fat free/sugar free ingredients.  Delicious with cinnamon graham crackers dipped into it, or the above caramel cookies.  Or just with a spoon!

Like Burning

My friend Aarti is an excellent cook.  (She comes by it honestly--in college, her mom used to send us her food, and I'd always try to finagle my way into sharing it.)  She's been making her signature dishes long enough, though, that there's really no recipe.  So when I ask her for one, it's full of measurements like a few and to taste and some.

Is a few two?  Or three?

Last night, I made a recipe of Aarti's (for the first time) that called for "a few green chillies".  I wasn't sure if "green chillies" were jalapenos or serranos (the two options my local Von's had--I should have hit up Valley Produce instead), but I went with serranos, and I went with three.


Was I supposed to remove the seeds?  I removed some of them.  I'd cut my finger earlier, so in favor of not getting spice in the cut, I wasn't thorough.

Now, I like spicy food.  But I think I like medium-spicy food.  I guess I should know that; I always order things "medium-spicy" in restaurants.  This?  Was spicy-spicy.  It was delicious, but my nose was dripping by the end of the meal.

And then!  Even after three hand-washings, I still had spice under my nails.  And after a fourth hand-washing this morning, when I put my contacts in my eyes, they BURNED from the spice still on my fingers.  Oy.  I had to take my contacts out and shower blind, while scrubbing under my nails at every opportunity. 

Lesson learned.


The recipe, in case you're interested:

Aarti's Keenan

1 medium Onion diced/chopped
2-3 cloves of Garlic, crushed/finnely chopped
Ginger to taste, finely chopped (I sometimes skip it)
2-3 medium Tomatoes diced/chopped
1 Bell pepper chopped (optional, tastes good with yellow or red)
1/2 a bunch of Cilantro (to taste)
Green chillies finely chopped (to taste, I tend to put a few)
1lb Ground turkey/chicken
1/2 cup of plain yogurt

Spices:
Cumin seeds
Garam masala
Turmeric powder (I'm not sure if this is 100% necessary...I just always add it to most foods)
Salt

In a large skillet, heat some oil. When its hot, add cumin seeds. Once they start to crackle, add chillies, garlic, and ginger and cook over medium heat. Let brown. Add onions and cook until they are lightly browned. Once its all browned, add tomatoes and bell peppers. Let them cook until they soften. Push mix of browned ingredients to the side. if you are not using a non-stick pan, you'll want to pour a little oil on the side of the skillet without veggies and heat it. Throw in the ground meat and let cook on one side. Once its cooked for a few minutes, flip it all over and let it cook for a few more. After that, use your spatula to start breaking the cooking meat into smaller chunks. Eventually the meat should be small little pieces, similar to Taco/spaghetti sauce meat. After that, start mixing your browned/cooked veggies back in. As you stir, add in your spices to taste.  Finally, add the yogurt and stir so its all mixed together. And then add the chopped up Cilantro. Llet cook until you are sure the meat is cooked and the cilantro has wilted a bit.

Serve on top of a salad, inside taco shells or burritos, steamed inside wonton wrappers...etc. very versatile dish.  Also, leave the ginger out if you want a flavor closer to mexican food.


I wonder how it would be with chickpeas instead of ground meat.  Would it approximate channa masala?  Maybe without the yogurt.  Channa masala isn't creamy, is it?  Or maybe it is.  I had a recipe for it, once upon a time, but it went missing sometime in the midst of two moves.  I suppose the internet could help me...