Kitchen Adventures 12.5

I'm back! After a long respite due to a very busy autumn, I am catching up on my very large backlog of recipes while on break. The perks of working at a university just keep going. :)

This first recipe is one I made for a work birthday party. I have had this recipe since my time at Pitt, about five years ago now. Time flies! I never had problems with this recipe while in Pitt, but for some reason every time I have made it in Norman the middle sinks down after baking. I don't know if I'm overmixing or using bad baking powder, but regardless people even like that part of it.

This coffee cake is great for dessert or breakfast. Chocolate chips and cinnamon are a great combination! And remember, if you run out of sour cream you can always substitute plain yogurt. It works just as well and no one will know the difference!

Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

Ingredients:

2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 stick butter at room temperature
2 eggs at room temperature
1 c. sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8"x8" square baking pan and set aside. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking p0wder, baking soda and salt. Combine 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.
2. Beat the butter and remaining 1 cup sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then beat in the sour cream and vanilla. Fold in the flour mixture until combined and pour half the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with half the cinnamon-sugar mixture and half the chocolate chips. Spoon the remaining batter into the pan and spread out, then top with the remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture and chocolate chips.
3. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean, about 30-35 mintues.

*From Every Day with Rachael Ray.

Kitchen Adventures 10.7

There is an abundance of recipes available for coating pork chops or chicken or fish with some type of bread crumb mixture or another and then baking said meat. I've used many of these recipes, and they always turn out good. I have not found many that use nuts for coating, though. I am a nut lover, and I'm particularly fond of pistachios. I even got a huge bag of them for Christmas from my parents, and I was very excited about this! When I saw a recipe using pistachios as a coating for pork chops, I had to try it.

I have made this recipe before, and both times it has turned out well. One piece of adv ice: line your baking sheet with foil. This will make your clean-up go so much quicker, because these suckers tend to stick to the pan. It's totally worth it, though!

This recipe is from Every Day with Rachael Ray.

Pistachio-Crusted Pork Chops

Ingredients:

1/2 c. shelled pistachios
1 clove garlic
1 tsp. grated lemon peel
Salt
1/4 c. breadcrumbs
Four 1-inch thick pork chops
1 large egg, beaten
1/4 c. olive oil, plus more for drizzling

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Using a food processor (I used a blender), grind up the pistachios, garlic, lemon peel, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Transfer this mixture to a shallow bowl and toss with the breadcrumbs.
2. Season the pork chops with salt and pepper. Dip each chop into the egg and then into the breadcrumb mixture. Transfer them to a foil-lined baking sheet.
3. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the chops and cook until golden, about 2 minutes on each side. Place the chops back on the baking sheet when done and drizzle with olive oil. Bake about 20 minutes

Kitchen Adventures 5.3

I don't feel like I did much cooking or baking in October, possibly because I was at home two weekends and running around like crazy the rest of the month. However, at the end of the month I had several baking opportunities, which made me happy. :)

The first opportunity was our monthly birthday party at work. Each month we celebrate everyone that has a birthday with one party.. We barely fit it in this month with craziness at the end of the month, but we did squeak it in. I try to ask our birthday honorees what they want each month since there is no point in me making something that they won't even like.

This month's contribution came from one of our best student workers. We had been talking about pumpkin custard from Rusty's and she said she had never had pumpkin pie before. She is from an Asian-American family, so even though they have turkey at Thanksgiving, most of the rest of the food is traditional Asian dishes. When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday item, she said pumpkin pie, so that's what I made.

After beginning the preparations for it, I realized that I had never actually made a pumpkin pie before, so I had a few worrisome moments while getting everything together, but it all turned out well in the end. The only flaw was the crust. I used a fancy pie shield to protect the crust from burning, which worked fine until I went to remove it 15 minutes prior to the end of baking time and it took off about one-quarter of the crust edge. So, it didn't look quite like it should, but it still tasted good, and I ate the crustless pieces since I don't like crust anyway!

This recipe came straight from the Libby's pumpkin can. I had a tough time finding pumpkin at the store, so I hope there is not a shortage like there was last year

Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
2 large eggs
1 can pumpkin
1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell (I used a refrigerated one)

Directions:
1. Mix sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.
2. Pour into pie crust.
3. Bake in preheated 425 degree oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake 40 to 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Top will begin to crack a little when close to done. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately after cooled or refrigerate.

Kitchen Adventures 1.3

Yesterday involved a couple baking projects with a girls' night thrown in the mix. As soon as I got home from work, I whipped up some chocolate chip cookie bars after catching up with my cousin for a bit. These will be for VBS snacks next week. I had to bake them and stick them in the freezer because I won't be home long enough next week to get them made! This recipe came from the good ol' Triple T Youth Group cookbook.


Chocolate Chip Bars

ingredients:
2 Eggs
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. oil
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. chopped nuts (optional)
1 c. chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat the first four ingredients until creamy. Sift the dry ingredients together and add to the sugar mixture. Stip in the nuts and chocolate chips, then pour into a 9x13 pan. Bake for 25 minutes.

Here's a picture:

While those were baking, I made the Gingersnap cookie dough. We are having a going-away party for our good friend, Andy Dale, next Monday since he is moving back to KC. We are really going to miss him and his awesome jokes, plus just having him here. I decided these would be something quick and easy to take. These cookies work best rolled, but I had to refrigerate the dough to get it firm enough. While it was in the fridge, I went out to dinner and did some shopping with my good friend and old roomie, Claire. We both needed some girl time, so nothing's better than food and shopping!

This is a recipe I contributed for our Carl Albert Center holiday cookie exchange cookbook a couple years ago.

Gingersnaps

Ingredients:
3/4 c. butter
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. molasses
1 egg
2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cloves

Directions:
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add molasses and egg and beat well. Mix dry ingredients and stir in. Roll in small balls and dip tops in sugar. Bake 0-12 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from oven, let stand a minutes, then cool on racks.

Here's a picture of some of them:

Kitchen Adventures 1.1

I decided to take my love of cooking and baking online. If you're my friend on Facebook you probably know that already. :) So, I've decided to share the recipes I'm making since I have several people ask for them. Here is the first installment of this experiment.

Peas and Cheese Tortellini

Ingredients:
1 pound frozen cheese tortellini
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
2 tablespoons butter
5 scallions, white and green parts thinly sliced separately
2 tablespoons flour
1 2/3 cups milk
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for sprinkling

Directions:
1. In a large saucepan of boiling salted water, cook the tortellini until al dente; drain.

2. Meanwhile, add the peas, butter, and scallion whites to another large saucepan and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes. Whisk in the flour and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in the milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Stir in the scallion greens and season with salt and pepper.

3. Stir the tortellini and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese into the sauce. Sprinkle with more cheese when serving.
--From "Every Day with Rachael Ray" magazine, May 2008 issue


Banana Cake with Nutella Whip

Ingredients:
Cake:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 T. baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour milk (buttermilk, or 1/2 cup fresh milk with 1 1/2 teaspoons vinegar also work)
2 cups mashed bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Nutella Whip:
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 cups Nutella

Directions:
For the cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Butter and flour 2 9” round cake pans.

Mix together oil and sugar. Beat in the eggs, sour milk, mashed banana, and vanilla.

Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir the flour mixture into banana mixture just until moistened. Stir in the chocolate chips. Bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a moist crumb, about 30 minutes.

Let cool on racks for 10 minutes, then remove from pans.

Cool completely.

For the icing:

Whip the cream until soft peaks form. Fold in the Nutella. Ice the cake .

Store the cake in the refrigerator.

Makes 1 two-layer 9” cake.

From MixingBowl.com

Here is a picture of the finished product:

Fabulous February

Oh my goodness, it's been so long since I posted! So much for that plan for posting once a week! :) Life just gets in the way sometimes, I suppose.

Well quite a bit happened in February. Work kept chugging along, same as always, except that our night staff assistant (and my roomie and friend) left for another job. So, we've been covering the night shift for the past month. Luckily, we hired two new GAs that started this week, so no more nights for us! But, my night was Thursday night, my normal blogging night. So that's my main excuse. :)

Lots of social activities happened in February. Lyndsee, Derek, and the kids came down for a firefighter test, so we got to go out to dinner with them that night. It was good to see some family! There was the Super Bowl, always a good time, and it was actually a good game! We split the time between the girls night gals at Lizzie's and bible study group at the Rhodes abode. The next weekend was full of good times--art walk in Norman, the one and only PBR, and Valentine's Day. I even got a three-day weekend by taking a comp day President's Day. Marcus and I watched the Daytona 500 at his mom's and then came to my place where I made pistachio-crusted pork chops. They were pretty good, but I've got to learn that he eats more than I do. :) The next day was relaxing. I stuck around the apt. and did a little cleaning and then went out for dinner at Pearl's in the city. It was delicious! Here's a pic or two from the PBR and my pretty Valentine's flowers.



The next weekend I went to the OU/KSU men's basketball game, which was a great game, then out to dinner with the girls. Of course, throughout the entire week I was glued to the TV watching the Olympics! It just sucked me in, I couldn't help it! It was so exciting cheering for the USA and for the underdogs and just watching all the sports that you only see once every four years or so. :) The Olympics were the highlight of the last weekend in February. Marcus and I spent time together watching them and hanging out, then we got together at Jordan's house Sunday with a couple other friends to watch the Canada vs. USA hockey game. What an awesome game! I'm not that into hockey, but it was flat-out a great game.

So that's pretty much life for the past month. I'm doing decent on some of my resolutions, but not all of them. I baked several new things this month, including a King's Cake for Mardi Gras and a milk chocolate cheesecake, which was quite the hit at the office. :) Playing piano has not been so good, though. I need something to make me practice. I work much better with a purpose. But, I should have my Thursday night back now, so that will give me time to do that. I've been working out at least twice a week, which is great. When I worked Thursday nights I got to go to zumba during the afternoon, which was lots of fun. I love znmba! And tone it up has been awesome, a great work out. It's one of those classes where you hate it and love it all at once.

So that's life in a very large nutshell. Lots of fun things to do in March as well, but hopefully it won't take this long to update. And I almost forgot one of the most exciting things--my little sister is getting married! So excited for Karen and Ryan! I get to go home in a couple weeks to go wedding dress shopping. I'm getting excited! :)