Our Best Bites

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Emily

Our Best Bites by Sara Wells & Kate Jones is the first cookbook by this popular blogging duo. Meeting my number one requirement for cookbooks, this one features great photos of every dish. Recipes are clearly written and offer brief descriptions. Chapters include: Appetizers and Drinks; Breads; Condiments, Spreads, and Garnishes; Breakfast and Brunch; Salads; Soups and Chilis; Meats; Pizza and Pasta; Side Dishes; and Desserts. A nice feature of the book is its index of rollover ingredients, which will help keep you from wasting some of those less common ingredients such as blue cheese, buttermilk, and sour cream. I’ve tried several recipes from this cookbook, but particularly enjoyed my dinner of Chili-Lime Steak and Stuffed Blue Cheese Potatoes. Our Best Bites fans should check out Sara and Kate’s recently released sophomore effort, Savoring the Seasons with Our Best Bites.

Chili-Lime Steak

1-2 pounds boneless steak (The authors suggest flak steak; I used fillets.)
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 lime, juiced
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

For the rub, combine spices in a small bowl. Add lime juice and olive oil and stir to combine. Place the steak in a shallow dish. Pour the spice mixture over the steak and then rub it in with your hands. Allow the steak to stand for 15 minutes. While the meat is standing, preheat your grill. Place the steak on the grill over medium-high heat and cook for 5-7 minutes per side or until desired doneness is reached. Remove from grill and allow to stand for 5 minutes before slicing.

Stuffed Blue Cheese Potatoes

4 medium russet potatoes
1-2 tablespoons shortening or vegetable oil
1/4 cup real butter, cut into chunks
1/2 cup sour cream
1 ounce (1/4 cup) crumbled blue cheese
1/4 cup milk or buttermilk
3/4 teaspoon salt
dash of pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
8 pieces bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat over to 400F. Wash and dry potatoes. Rub them lightly with a bit of shortening or vegetable oil and place directly on oven rack. Bake for one hour. Remove potatoes and allow them to cool for 5-10 minutes. Cut each potato in half to make 8 servings. Scoop out the insides and place in a bowl. Mash, and add butter, sour cream, blue cheese, milk, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Beat with a hand mixer until fluffy. Carefully spoon mixture back into potato shells. Place in a baking dish. Return the potatoes to the hot oven and bake for 12-15 minutes. Remove, sprinkle bacon and cheddar cheese over each potato, and bake an additional 3-5 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Making Cookies Lighter

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Pat S

The holidays are just around the corner. This time of year makes it hard to stick to a healthy diet. Cookies, cakes, cheese balls galore!! On the Taste of Home website I found an article on how to make your cookies lighter. I hope these suggestions help with your holiday eating.

There are simple ways to make your favorite cookies, brownies and bars healthier.

Here are some tips:

Adding an extra egg white gives crunch to a low-fat cookie. In recipes that call for several eggs, substitute two egg whites for one of the eggs.
Light cookies do not brown like their higher-sugar counterparts. Adding a little baking soda (in addition to any other leavening in the recipe) will promote browning.
A little corn syrup will produce a browner cookie…with a crisp surface and soft interior. Substitute the corn syrup for the same amount of sugar called for in the recipe.
Use cocoa instead of melted or grated chocolate to help reduce fat. Three tablespoons cocoa plus 1 tablespoon water or other liquid equals 1 square or 1 ounce of melted baking chocolate. Mix the cocoa with the dry ingredients and the liquid with the wet or creamed ingredients.
using butter or a high-fat content margarine. Reduced-fat butters or margarines contain water and air and will not produce a quality cookie.

For the compete article click on the link: Lighter Cookies Are Delicious

Chili con Carne

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Pat S

This hearty chili has just the right level of spice to keep you warm on a cold winter day.

Chili Con Carne

1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef

1 large onion, chopped (1 cup)

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tablespoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1 teaspoon unsweetened baking cocoa

1/2 teaspoon red pepper sauce

2 cups diced tomatoes (from 28-oz can), undrained

1 can (19 oz) red kidney beans, undrained

1 In 3-quart saucepan, cook beef, onion and garlic over medium-high heat about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is brown; drain.
2 Stir in remaining ingredients except beans. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
3 Stir in beans. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low; simmer uncovered about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until desired thickness.

Serves – 4

Cobweb Cupcake Frosting

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Cindy

Here is a cute decorating idea to haunt your Halloween this year! Make a batch of your favorite cupcakes or cookies. Then, follow this fun technique for creating cobwebs with two different colors of frosting.

Place the egg whites in a bowl. Using an electric mixer set on high speed; beat until soft peaks form. Add the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, and orange juice and continue to beat until thick and shiny. The icing should spread easily. If too thick, add more orange juice. If too thin, add more confectioners’ sugar.

Transfer one-third of the icing to a small bowl and color with black or dark brown food coloring. Spoon this dark icing into a pastry bag fitted with a tip, or pour it into a plastic squeeze bottle.

Now, ice the cupcakes and make the cobwebs: Spoon the white icing into the center of the cupcake and spread with a small spatula or butter knife. Starting at the center of a cupcake, pipe a spiral of the dark icing from the center to the outer edge. Then, drag a sharp knife point from the center of the spiral to the edge of the cupcake. Wipe the knife clean, move about a 1/2 inch to the left or right and drag the knife in the opposite direction from the outer edge to the middle of the cupcake. Continue in this way until you have worked your way around the cupcake and formed the cobweb. Repeat with the remaining cupcakes.

Make the Bread, Buy the Butter

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Emily

When professional journalist Jennifer Reese lost her job, she felt inspired to begin economizing and turned her eye to food. Which items are cheaper to buy and which are cheaper to make? When is the homemade version of a food healthier and tastier than the store bought version? Is a store bought product ever superior to a homemade one? Soon Reese’s curiosity morphed into a series of large scale undertakings, attempting new recipes and making forays into animal husbandry. After a few years of experimentation, Reese was able to write Make the Bread, Buy the Butter: What You Should and Shouldn’t Cook from Scratch – Over 120 Recipes for the Best Homemade Foods.

Make the Bread, Buy the Butter is a fun read, even if you have no desire to make your own peanut butter, marshmallows, pastrami, or ginger ale. Reese’s humor shines through as she describes her efforts to raise chickens, keep bees, and make cheese. When analyzing each “make it yourself” endeavor, Reese gives a recommendation on whether she thinks the item is better to make or buy, indicates how much hassle is involved in the production process, and does a cost comparison taking in both the outlay of supplies and time.

Not sure you’re up for any of these projects? Don’t worry about feeling guilty! Reese is never preachy and fully recognizes that making your own food staples is not going to solve anyone’s financial problems. In her introduction, she states that these projects are best left to people who enjoy “messing around in the kitchen.” If that’s you, or if you wish that was you, you’ll likely find Make the Bread, Buy the Butter to be an amusing, enlightening read.

Halloween Cat Cookies

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Pat S

What do candy corn and red hots have in common?

Well, when you strategically placed them on a brown cookie they become a scary Halloween cat cookie!

Black Cat Cookies Recipe

Halloween Cat Cookie

Spooky Goodness

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup baking cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
24 wooden craft or Popsicle sticks
48 candy corn candies
24 red-hot candies

Directions

In a bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Roll dough into 1-1/2-in. balls. Place 3 in. apart on lightly greased baking sheets.
Insert a wooden stick into each cookie. Flatten with a glass dipped in sugar. Pinch top of cookie to form ears. For whiskers, press a fork twice into each cookie. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are set. Remove from the oven; immediately press on candy corn for eyes and red-hots for noses. Remove to wire racks to cool. Yield: 2 dozen.

ENJOY!

Yeast-Free Pizza Dough & Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Mary

pizza cookbooks When you get that craving for pizza, what do you do? Most of us usually give in and toss a frozen pizza in the oven, or order delivery from the place down the street. One of the problems with those options is that we don’t have as much control over what goes in our pizza. For those looking to cut calories and carbohydrates, pizza is a dietary minefield.

And as for making our own pizza crust– who has the time? I don’t know about you, but when I want pizza, I don’t want to have to wait overnight for for three-plus hours for the dough to finish rising; I want pizza in 45 minutes or less. Pizza is serious business, and requires serious solutions.

I found two solutions that are relatively quick and healthy. The first is a quick, yeast-free dough that can be completed within 10 minutes. The other is a low-carb solution to getting your kids to eat those pesky vegetables.

Yeast-Free Pizza Dough

Ingredients:

2 cups flour (all-purpose)
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
2/3 cup water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 Tbsp. Seasonings (your choice! I use an Italian blend, but use your imagination! Garlic cloves, chili powder, saffron, gold leaf, whatever’s your fancy)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder, seasonings, and water. Knead on a floured counter until workable and spreadable–about 2 minutes.

Put the dough circle on a pizza pan or cookie sheet. With your fingers or a brush, spread the vegetable oil on both sides of the crust. This helps keep the tomato sauce from soaking into the crust. From there, add your pizza sauce and whatever other pizza toppings you want. Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Note: I’ve also used this to make calzones. Just add toppings (sans pizza sauce) to half of the dough circle and fold the other half over. Either way you make it, it’s a quick and tasty fix to the eternal question of “what do you want for dinner?”.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked, riced cauliflower
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (can be halved to reduce fat content)
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. dried Oregano
1 tsp. crushed garlic
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
Olive Oil (optional)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. To rice your cauliflower, take 1 large head of cauliflower, remove the stems and leaves, and chop the florets into chunks. Add them to a food processor and pulse until it looks like rice. You can also grate the cauliflower with a cheese grater.

Place the riced cauliflower into a microwave-safe bowl, add 1/4 cup water, and microwave for 6-8 minutes. Stir it halfway through.

In a medium bowl, combine the cauliflower, mozzarella cheese and egg together and stir until all ingredients are blended well. Add the oregano, garlic, and garlic salt, and whatever other seasonings or spices you want.

Spray a pizza pan or cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Transfer the cauliflower dough mixture onto the pan and shape it into a 9-inch circle. Brush the crust with olive oil; this will help to brown the crust.

Bake the crust at 450 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until the crust is browned and cooked through the middle. Remove the crust from the oven and add the sauce and toppings of your choice. Place under the broiler at 400 degrees until the cheese becomes melted and bubbly– about 3-4 minutes.

Allow the pizza to cool, then cut into slices and serve.

For more delectable pizza recipes, take a look at what we offer on our shelves.

Angel Biscuits

Posted on September 15, 2012 by Pat S

Did you know that September is National Biscuit Month? Don’t feel bad, I didn’t either until I was searching the internet for ideas to blog about.

My mother has a recipe that she swears by: Angel Biscuits. I found the recipe on the Taste of Home website. I hope you enjoy them as much as my mother does.

Angel Biscuits Recipe

Prep: 20 min. + rising Bake: 10 min.

Ingredients

2 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water (110° – 115°)

2 cups warm buttermilk (110° – 115°)

5 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup shortening

Melted butter

Directions:

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand 5 minutes. Stir in the buttermilk; set aside. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and soda. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in yeast mixture.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface; knead lightly 3-4 times. Roll into a 1/2-in. thickness. Cut with a 2-1/2-in. biscuit cutter. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise in a warm place about 1-1/2 hours.

Bake at 450° for 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Lightly brush tops with melted butter. Serve warm.

Yield: 30 Servings

Additional notes from my mother: You mix everything together. Place the biscuit dough in the refrigerator (stores up to 2 weeks). When you’re ready to make some biscuits, take out what you want and leave the rest in the refrigerator; roll out and shape into biscuits.

Bake at 375 for about 15 to 20 minutes (or until browned on top).

~~~~~~

To make them “light as angels”, cover the unbaked biscuits and let them rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes or until puffy. Bake as directed.

Enjoy!!

Better Breakfast Month

Posted on September 1, 2012 by Pat S

September is Better Breakfast Month. I have always heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It makes sense, after fasting all night, breakfast can kick-start your energy level. This breakfast burrito is easy and filling. Try experimenting with different ingredients for a whole new culinary breakfast experience. ENJOY!

Breakfast Burrito

Vegetable spray

1 medium red bell pepper – seeded and diced

4 medium button mushrooms – sliced

2 scallions — chopped

1/2 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen and thawed

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs beaten

1/4 cup shredded low-fat provolone or Swiss cheese

2 10 inch flour tortillas

Heat a lightly sprayed nonstick skillet. Add the pepper, mushrooms, and

scallions and saute for 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the corn and seasonings

and cook for 2 to 3 minutes more. Whisk in the eggs and cook over medium

heat, stirring frequently. When the eggs are completely cooked (fluffy,

not brown), remove from the heat and fold in the cheese.

Warm the tortillas over a burner or pan and then place on 2 plates. Spoon

the egg mixture into the center of each tortilla, forming logs. Roll the

tortilla around the mixture and serve with salsa!

Makes 2 servings

Peachy Keen Bars

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Pat S

While perusing the internet for something yummy to bake, I came across the website Just A Pinch and found a recipe for Peachy Keen Bars. This makes a light, refreshing dessert; perfect for hot days.

Peachy Keen Bars

1 pkg	dry cake mix-white, yellow or french vanilla
1/3 c	butter, room temperature
2 lg	eggs, divided
29 oz	can light peach slices, drained
8 oz	cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 c	sugar
1 tsp	pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a 9×13” pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In a large bowl combine cake mix, butter and 1 egg; mix with fork just until crumbly.

Set aside 1 ½ c. crumbs for topping.

3. Press the remaining crumbs on bottom of prepared pan; Bake 10 minutes

4. Cut peach slices into 1” pieces; Spoon onto partially-baked crust.

5. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, 1 egg and vanilla extract; beat with

mixer until creamy.

Spread over top of peaches.

6. Sprinkle with reserved crumbs; Bake 30 minutes.

7. Chill at least 30 minutes before serving.

Store leftovers in refrigerator.

Serves 12.