I've been cooking again...

This time it was no-bake cookies. I (of course) adapted it mostly because the recipe called for milk and butter, of which I cannot eat. But, I also added more chocolate and peanut butter.

CHOCOLATE OATMEAL NO-BAKE COOKIES

2 cups sugar
2/3 cup cocoa
1/2 cup butter flavored Crisco (Yes, I know how bad it is for you but when you can't have butter, you do what you have to do.)
1/2 cup almond milk
1 tbsp vanilla
3 cups quick-cooking oatmeal
3/4 cup peanut butter

Combine sugar, cocoa, butter and milk in a saucepan. On medium heat, bring to a boil for one full minute.
Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter (optional), vanilla and oatmeal.

Drop by spoonful onto wax paper. Let cool for at least 30 minutes.

They turned out great, satisfied my craving to cook them (because, yes, I was craving the cooking part) and bonus!! I stumbled upon a dessert that my husband actually likes!! Ha!!

No Fail French Bread

I tried (and tweaked) this recipe yesterday. It make really good bread and is SUPER easy. The best part? I started it at 4:30 and IT WAS DONE BY 6:00!! Well, a few minutes after 6:00, but still!! Fresh homemade YEAST bread in an hour and half!?
UNHEARD OF!! At least by me. Until now. So, here is the recipe:

In a large bowl (I use my Kitchen Aid) mix:

2 cups very hot water

2 T honey

1 T salt

1/3 cup oil


In a small bowl mix:

½ c warm water

1 T honey

2 T yeast


Add 3 cups flour to large bowl (or your Kitchen Aid) and mix well. Add small bowl and 3 to 4 more cups flour. Mix until smooth and you have a cohesive ball of dough. Leave the dough in the Kitchen Aid (if you are using one) and mix every 10 minutes for an hour or knead every 10 minutes for 1 hour. Divide and shape into loaves. (You don't need to let it rise again!) Bake at 350’ for 35 minutes.

Try not to eat all of it at once. ;)

Possibly the BEST Icing EVER.

This is a recipe for Italian Buttercream. Got it from the "Baking at Home With the Culinary Institute of America" cookbook.

It. Is. Divine.

Really. The next time you make a cake you NEED to frost it with this icing. You can thank me later.

Ingredients:

1 recipe Italian Meringue (Recipe to follow.)
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter (Hey, I didn't say low fat, just worth it.) diced, at room temp.
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Just before you are ready to make the butter cream, prepare the Italian meringue. To do that you will need the recipe. Here it is:

Ingredients:

Cooking spray for greasing
3/4 cup sugar (divided use)
1/4 cup water
5 large egg whites

Grease a heat proof glass measuring cup. Combine 1/2 cup of the sugar with the water in a heavy saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat without stirring until the mixture reaches 230 degrees F. At that time, place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and whip on medium speed until frothy. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and beat the meringue to medium peaks. When the sugar mixture reaches soft ball stage, 240 degrees F, pour it into the measuring cup, then into the meringue in a slow steady stream on low speed. Increase the speed to high and whip until the meringue cools to room temperature and has the desired peak.

Ok. Now on to the main event!

Once the meringue cools to room temperature and reaches stiff peaks, add the butter a few pieces at a time while continuing to whip on high speed. Once all the butter has been incorporated and the butter cream is thick and very smooth, blend int the vanilla extract. The butter cream is ready to use now, or store covered in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Let the buttercream soften at room temperature before beating it on low speed with the paddle attachment to make it warm and soft enough to spread. (IF you refrigerated it.)

Now. It is AWESOME as is, but if you care to increase it's awesomeness 10 fold, do this:
make it chocolate.

Melt 1/3 cup chopped bittersweet chocolate, let it cool to room temperature, and add to the buttercream just after the vanilla extract has been added by stirring about 1 cup of the buttercream into the chocolate to lighten it, then adding the lightened chocolate to the remaining buttercream.

I am telling you. It. Is. The. Best. Icing. Ever.

Enjoy. :)

Fabulous French Cookies with a Mexican Twist

MMMMM. I made pommiers (you say that palm-EE-es; love the French, just wish they could spell! Haha.) But I put a Mexican spin on it. I wanted them to taste similar to churros. (We were going to a dinner party. She made Mexican Food.)

Don't let the french name scare you. They are SOOO simple and quick to make.

Ingredients:


1 puff pastry sheet thawed
1-2 cups sugar
cinnamon to taste
1 egg white

Pre-heat the oven to 375. Mix the sugar and cinnamon. Liberally dust your counter top with the cinnamon and sugar. Unfold the puff pastry, place on counter top and coat top with cinnamon and sugar. Roll out the puff pastry to around 17" by 13" (Or about the size of a cookie sheet.) Roll in both sides of the short ends until they meet in the middle. (It will look like a scroll.) Cut the scroll in to 1/4 inch pieces and lay on a cookie sheet. Brush each cookie with the egg white and put them in the oven for 12-15 min. Watch them closely! You want them to brown and have the sugar caramelize but, with all the sugar in them they can go from perfect to over done quickly.

Enjoy!

More Simple Pasta

Ingredients:

12ish oz spaghetti
3ish cups rough chopped tomatoes
1/4ish cup minced garlic
1ish cup fresh chopped mushrooms (I used cremini)
1/4ish cup parsley (or carrot tops...)
1 stick butter
1-2 tbsp dried basil
1-2 tsp red chili flakes
Salt to taste
Parmesan Cheese to taste

Boil a large pan of water, salt it WELL and drop your pasta. Melt the butter and saute the garlic on low heat for 3-4 minutes. Do not let it brown, you just want the flavor to really come out. Add the mushrooms, salt them and saute for 5ish minutes. Add the tomatoes, basil, and chili flakes. Cook until the tomatoes soften and give off their juices. Drain the pasta and mix with the sauce. Grate in the Parmesan mixing it in with the pasta often to create a nice cheesy layer over all the pasta. Add in the parsley and salt to taste. Transfer to your serving dish and top with with more Parmesan and parsley if desired.

QUICK and EASY Spicy Shrimp, Sausage and Tomato Pasta

So I didn't get started on any projects yesterday. We had a dinner party instead! It was kind of impromptu. But I think the pasta dish and ice cream I made turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. The pasta was an exercise in what-do -I-have-on-hand-that-I-can-serve-company. The ice cream came about because it was hot and I thought homemade ice cream would be a good way to cool off.

The pasta was SOOO easy. And easily adapted or copied. AND FAST!!! Love those kind of meals.

Ingredients:
5 Italian Hot Sausages (You can use mild or sweet if you like... but the extra kick was nice.)
1 stick butter
8ish cloves minced garlic or ~ 1/2 cup
1 lbish de-shelled and de-veined shrimp
1 1/2ish cups rough chopped tomatoes
1/2ish cup minced parsley (or carrot tops like I used... they taste the same!)
1/2 cup shredded or ribboned Parmesan cheese
enough pasta for 6 people... I used a package and a half (~ 27 oz) of spaghetti
1 cupish reserved pasta water

As you can tell from my ingredients list I'm a "little bit of this and a little bit of that chief"... I measure NOTHING! Except of course when I'm baking. Measuring is a given when baking. No choice really. But! Feel free to adapt this recipe in anyway you like. That's what recipes are for in my opinion. Adaption.

Boil a large pan of water, salt it WELL and drop your pasta. Half the sausages, remove their casing and cut into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces. Put in a hot pan with the butter. Cook until almost done. Add the garlic, shrimp and tomatoes. Cook until the shrimp are almost done then add the drained pasta and most of the parsley (or carrot tops! :) ) Mix the pasta in with the "sauce" and add the reserved pasta water to loosen the sauce and coat all the pasta.

Transfer to your serving dish and top with the remainder parsley and Parmesan. To make the ribbons: use your potato peeler and "peel" off ribbons of the parm!

That's it! You're done!

This dish really only takes as long as the pasta takes to cook. So 15 minutes or less! Woohoo! And it's so pretty done- it really is company worthy.
Enjoy!

O!! p.s.: My mod podged picture frame from the other day? It unbubbled it's self as it dried. YAY!