Pizza tonight!!!

I made a Chicago-style deep dish pizza for dinner tonight.  Very yummy!  Recipe is posted here:  http://smkellenrecipes.blogspot.com/2010/09/chicago-style-deep-dish-pizza.html

New Recipes

I posted some new recipes I found on Yahoo Shine.  They look good!  Especially the crock pot Asian Tomato Beef thing...

What's Cookin'?  My Favorite Recipes!

 Time to go make dinner.  :)

Blender Bearnaise Sauce

Ingredients:

• 3 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 dash red pepper
• 2/3 cup butter -- melted
• 2 tablespoons white wine
• 1 tablespoon tarragon vinegar
• 2 teaspoons shallots -- minced
• 1 teaspoon dried whole tarragon
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

 

Combine egg yolks, lemon juice, salt and red pepper in container of electric blender; set on high speed and process 3 seconds. Turn blender to low speed; add butter to yolk mixture in a slow, steady stream. Turn blender to high speed and process until thick.

 

Combine wine, vinegar, shallots,tarragon and pepper in a small saucepan; cook over high heat until almost all liquid evaporates. Add to mixture in blender and process at high speed 4 seconds. Serve over meat, seafood.

 

My preference is for clarified butter.

 

This recipe from CDKitchen for Blender Bearnaise Sauce serves/makes 4

Apple French Toast

• 1/2 loaf (16-ounce) French bread
• 5 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 3 Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced

1.  Cut bread into 3/4-inch thick slices.  Place slices in a single layer in a lightly greased 13-x-9-inch baking dish.

2.  Whisk together eggs, milk and vanilla; pour mixture over bread.  Cover and chill until all liquid is absorbed by the bread, up to 8 hours.

3.  Remove bread from dish.  Wipe dish clean, and coat with vegetable cooking spray.

4.  Cook brown sugar, butter and syrup in a saucepan over low heat, stirring often, until mixture is smooth.  Pour into baking dish.  Top with apple; arrange bread over apple.

5.  Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  Loosen with a knife, invert onto a serving platter. 

Yield:  8 servings.

I have put together the bread/egg/milk part the night before, and also the morning of baking this wonderful French toast.  It takes about 2-3 hours for the bread to absorb all the liquid.

Shrimp with Basil and Fresh Tomatoes

• 12 ounces fresh or frozen peeled and deveined medium shrimp
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 1 large onion, chopped (1 cup)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups chopped, plum or common tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons snipped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
• 1 tablespoon drained capers (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 8 ounces spaghetti or other pasta, cooked and drained
• 1/4 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese
• Fresh basil leaves (optional)

 

Directions
1.  Thaw shrimp, if frozen. Set aside.

 

2.  Pour cooking oil into a wok or large skillet. (Add more oil as necessary during cooking.) Preheat over medium-high heat. Stir-fry onion and garlic in hot oil for 2 minutes or until onions are crisp-tender. Remove onion mixture from the wok.

 

3.  Add shrimp to the hot wok. Stir-fry for 2 to 3 minutes or until shrimp turn opaque.

 

4.  Return onion mixture to the wok. Add tomatoes, basil, capers (if desired), salt, and pepper. Stir all ingredients together. Cook and stir for 1 minute more or until heated through. Serve immediately over hot cooked spaghetti or other pasta. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Garnish with fresh basil leaves, if desired. Makes 4 servings.

Sounds good - Spinach/Artichoke dip in a crock pot

Slow Cooker Recipe: Spinach-Artichoke Heart Dip


You can make this dip ahead of time, keep it covered in the refrigerator and then, about an hour before the party, spread it into a slow cooker crock and heat on HIGH until bubbly.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon minced or chopped garlic
1/4 cup chopped green onions
10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and gently squeezed of excess water
1 14-ounce can artichoke hearts (water packed), drained and chopped
1 recipe Alfredo Sauce (see below)
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/3 tablespoons shredded or grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation:
Coat the inside of the crock of the slow cooker with canola cooking spray.

Add garlic, green onions, spinach, artichoke hearts, Alfredo sauce, mozzarella cheese, and Parmesan cheese to a large mixing bowl and stir to blend.

Spread mixture into the bottom of the prepared slow cooker crock and heat on HIGH until bubbly (about an hour). Serve warm with slices of wheat baguette bread, reduced fat-tortilla chips, or reduced-fat whole grain crackers.

Alfredo Sauce
1 tablespoon whipped butter or stick butter
2 cups fat-free half-and-half (or substitute whole or low-fat milk)
4 tablespoons Wondra quick-mixing flour
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
4 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese

Melt butter in medium, nonstick saucepan. Stir in 1/3 cup of the fat-free half-and-half, 4 tablespoons Wondra flour, and nutmeg and pepper. Slowly stir in remaining half-and-half. Bring mixture to a gentle boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue to gently boil, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens (about 4 minutes). Stir in 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese.

Yield: 16 servings

Nutrition Information: Per serving (just the dip): 75 calories, 6 g protein, 5 g carbohydrate, 3.5 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 11 mg cholesterol, 2 g fiber, 150 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 42%.

Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie Recipe

I used a store-bought pie shell; omitted the cardamom (don't like that smell in my pumpkin pie!); and skipped the lemon zest because I don't have any.  The pie is in the oven right now and it smells wonderful!  Oh, and yes, I did use a sugar pumpkin instead of canned puree.  Pictures later...

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of pumpkin pulp purée from a sugar pumpkin* or from canned pumpkin purée
• 1 1/2 cup heavy cream or 1 12 oz. can of evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs plus the yolk of a third egg
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon
• 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest
• 1 good crust

To make pumpkin purée from a sugar pumpkin: start with a small-medium sugar pumpkin, cut out the stem and scrape out the insides, discard (save the seeds, of course). Cut into sections and steam in a saucepan with a couple inches of water at the bottom, until soft. Scoop out the pulp from the skin. Or you can bake whole or halved in a 350°F oven until fork tender. Optional - put pulp through a food mill or chinois to make extra smooth.

Method:
1.  Preheat oven to 425°F.


2.  Mix sugars, salt, and spices, and lemon zest in a large bowl. Beat the eggs and add to the bowl. Stir in the pumpkin purée. Stir in cream. Whisk all together until well incorporated.


3.  Pour into pie shell and bake at 425°F for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes reduce the temperature to 350°F. Bake 40-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.


4.  Cool on a wire rack for 2 hours.


Serve with whipped cream. Serves 8.

Snow - blah!

Well we got the first snow flakes of the season tonight. It's supposed to snow some more overnight. I REALLY hope there is no snow on my car when I leave for work tomorrow!!!

I made some really good food for dinner tonight. Here's a link to the recipe:

Chicken Florentine

It was sooooo good. I also made Susan's bread. She has a recipe for low-fat french bread with sesame seeds on the top. I'll have to post that recipe soon too.

Well it's almost bedtime for me. Gotta get up and go out early tomorrow... I have so much to do at work.

Sunday dinner

   Salmon, rice and Brussels sprouts. Turned out really good!

There was something going on at Holy Hill today. When I drove by, there was a loooong line of traffic both into and out of the place. So I kept on driving. I didn't want to spend Sunday afternoon in gridlocked traffic. If there's still a lot of leaves and color out there next weekend, I'll try it again.