Snickerdoodles

I made these to mail to some friends...

The recipe:
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon

In a large mixing bowl cream at medium speed butter, sugar and eggs until light and fluffy. Scraping sides of bowl occasionally. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture until well blended. Refrigerate dough 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine the sugar and cinnamon. form dough into balls (walnut sized) and roll in sugar-cinnamon mixture. Place 2" apart on baking sheet. Bake about 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and cool on rack. Snickerdoodles will puff up at first and then flatten out during baking.

Chicken...in a Rut...

I took some boneless chicken breasts out and thought what will I make with these. You know I get stuck in that rut of doing the same things with them always. All day I rolled several ideas around but nothing really sounded like "yes that is it!"

So right before really needing to start dinner, I looked into the fridge and saw I had sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, basil, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, thin sliced ham so I took all those things chopped and mixed together. I pounded the chicken breasts and then spread it with the mixture and rolled them up. I then coated it a whole wheat bread crumbs.

Here is how they turned out....




They had amazing flavor. And looked really beautiful on the plate. It is something I would cook for a dinner party.

Bran Muffins

My Mom used to make bran muffins for us a lot when we were kids. I know this is not her recipe as hers was the kind you could leave the batter in the fridge for a month and just keep scooping out of it. For some reason that bothers me although nothing bad ever happened to us eating these muffins as a kid and my Mom is a cook so she knows what she is doing. Anyway, I loved them so much so...even now biting into one I bake brings me right back home to being a little girl.


Bran Muffins

* 1 1/2 cups wheat bran
* 1 cup buttermilk
* 1/3 cup vegetable oil
* 1 egg
* 2/3 cup brown sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 cup all-purpose flour (sometimes I do 1/2 cup all-purpose and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour)
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.

Mix together wheat bran and buttermilk; let stand for 10 minutes.

Beat together oil, egg, sugar and vanilla and add to buttermilk/bran mixture. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir flour mixture into buttermilk mixture, until just blended. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Good Healthy Appetizer/Snack

I made this dip today for Michael to enjoy during the football games. There would be a picture but every time I went to take a picture of course it turned out fuzzy because it didn't know where to focus. The dip was pretty good but really for me needed more flavor. While mixing it up I did a taste test and it was a little bland, so I ended up adding some garlic to it. And that helped a lot.

I don't know where I got the original recipes as it was just saved on my hard drive as a recipe to try someday.

Bean Dip
1 can (16 oz.) chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
1-1/2 cups Shredded Colby & Monetary Jack Cheese, divided
4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) low fat cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup light sour cream
1/4 tsp. ground red pepper (cayenne)
2 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup chopped tomato
Snack Crackers (I served with some toasted pita triangles)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place beans, 1 cup of the cheese, cream cheese, sour cream and ground red pepper in blender or food processor container; cover. Blend until smooth. Stir in green onions.

Spread into 9-inch pie plate.

Bake 20 min. or until lightly golden brown. Top with remaining 1/2 cup cheese and tomato. Serve with crackers.

edit: adding in this one picture that was the least fuzzy out of all 3 I took..dip with pita triangles

BIO

I have always disliked introducing myself in school or someplace new where they had you go around the room and stand up and say...I am....now I need to figure out how to do this in blog form.

So without further ado...

All about me....
I am expressive, diplomatic, open-minded, kind-hearted, understanding, passionate and loyal. I can be introverted but other times I am very extroverted. I am a mixed media artist. I throw myself into my art and usually emerge with some of the art on me....smeared in charcoal or paint. I am a foodie wannabe and amateur cook. I enjoy wine, tea with cream, reading, chocolate, mail love, music, stationary, art, fresh pineapple, Asian food, cookbooks, typography, mary janes, coloring books and crayons, anything handmade, and the endless possibilities of life. I like Paulo Coelho books, Pre-Raphaelites paintings, and Joss Whedon shows (ie: Firefly). I am constantly learning and growing in my spirituality. I find my inner cool and calm through Buddhism. I love and adore my partner, Michael completely, openly and deeply. I love my family and friends very much and appreciate all their support and kindness.

On Cooking...
My Mom, her Mom and her Mom before her all cooked and are known for being great cooks. And now I cook. You would think with a line of wonderful cooks in my family that I pretty much would have been cooking as a child but I do have to say my Mom's kitchen is HER kitchen. And I don't think I just ever got "it" -- how enjoyable food was until I was an adult so I never asked to learn. I just kind of fell into cooking. As an adult I started cooking and really I was not horrible but I wasn't great either. Baking really is what got me hooked on cooking. I enjoyed baking, sharing and seeing people enjoy the sweet treats. Up until then I was scared of the kitchen. Scared of messing up. Then one day I got over that and just started creating, testing, and enjoying the process. It was much like art for me - textures, colors, now add in smell and taste....all coming together to form a work and creating an exeperience for not only me but others.

I created this blog in order to share some of the things I cook. I will share recipes and photos. I live in Colorado so there is altitude element that plays into my baking. Often my cupcakes, muffins, and cookies aren't poofy like the pictures in cookbooks. I have lived here 3 years and am still experimenting with that element. I have finally mastered bread so that it doesn't fall (really it was almost test to my patience). I cook everything from gourmet food, comfort food, quick meals, food of my childhood and whatever else inspires me.

Adventures in Emergency Cupcakes

So a while back I started reading The Adventures of Superwife and she posted this recipe for Emergency Cupcakes. They looked so good that I bookmarked it to come back to and make someday. Well it had been the first time I read her and it was during one of my insomnia cycles - so what I am saying it was LATE and I forgot about them and her blog. I know shame on me!

One day probably a month or even 2 later on the Food Network (can't even remember which show it was at the moment) the host was making yes....cupcakes. And all of a sudden I had the vague memory of reading a blog with amazing cupcakes that sounded so easy too. So I went to my favorites and looked for the link. Nope not there. So, not remembering the name of the blog or the name of the cupcakes...I started the endless google searches which lead me to another link I have listed....Cupcake Bakeshop (which of course made me bookmark a BUNCH of recipes I wanted to try there too.) But I still couldn't find one I really wanted because you know at this point it was a MISSION! I NEEDED to find the blog again! Really it took a couple weeks of googling on and off and I have no idea what words I put in but one precious evening...The Adventures of Superwife appeared. I rejoiced as any other baker would do...I made the cupcakes RIGHT AWAY!

So Emergency Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting....
















The recipes:
Chocolate Cupcakes
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup Dutch processed cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup water
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat Oven to 350

Whisk all your dry ingredients in one and all your wet ingredients in another. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Line cupcake tins with paper liners - spray lightly with cooking spray. And then fill liners 3/4 full and bake for 14 to 18 minutes.

Quick Buttercream Frosting
I used Williams-Sonoma's recipe but cut in half and omitting the salt.

3 cups powdered sugar
1 stick butter
2 tblsp milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

Melt butter and then mix together all ingredients until fluffy and creamy but with so it keeps its peaks. If too stiff add a little more milk.

Chicken Pasta Salad

I made chicken pasta salad last week. It has chicken that I grilled with lemon pepper, red wine vinegar and olive oil marinade. I chopped that up. And then added cooked whole wheat rotini pasta, chopped fresh tomatoes, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, chopped roasted yellow, green and red peppers, grated mozzarella cheese and then all of it was tossed with a little bit of fat free half and half, basil,and Italian dressing.

Balsamic Chicken and White Beans with Pancetta and Sage

Dinner one night this summer...

Balsamic Chicken
4 pieces boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar, enough to coat chicken
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 stems rosemary, leaves stripped and chopped, about 2 tablespoons
Salt and coarse black pepper

Coat chicken in balsamic vinegar, then olive oil. Let stand for 10 minutes. Season chicken with rosemary, salt and pepper.

Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken breasts to the pan. Cook chicken 12 minutes, or until juices run clear, turning occasionally. The balsamic vinegar will produce a deep brown, sweet finish on the chicken as it cooks. Remove chicken from skillet when cooked through. Serve.




White Beans with Pancetta and Sage
1/2 pound large dried white beans -- corona beans (have used lima beans too...whatever larger white bean I can find)
2 bay leaves
3 garlic cloves
1/2 cup all-purpose flour - for dredging
salt and ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 pound thinly sliced pancetta (when I have not been able to find it as I live in a smaller town I by just regular bacon or some prosciutto)
4 sage leaves - chopped

Prepare beans - put the dried beans in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Soak the beans overnight in the refrigerator.

Drain the soaked beans, place them in a large pot and cover with fresh cold water. Put the beans over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Toss in the bay leaves and garlic (I also added some of the sage this time and it really added a good flavor to the beans and extra pop of flavor). Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 1 1/2 hours until tender. Drain the cooked beans and spread them out on a sheet pan to cool slightly and dry off a little.

Put about 1/2 cup of flour in a shallow platter and season it with salt and pepper; mix with a fork to distribute evenly. Toss the beans in the seasoned flour to coat completely.

Place a large skillet over medium-high heat and coat with the oil. When the oil is hot, add the pancetta, fry for a couple of minutes to crisp it up. Toss in the sage leaves and fry for about 1 minute. Remove the pancetta and sage to some paper towels; now you have a flavor base. Shake off excess flour from the beans and put them in the pan in a single layer. Fry the beans for a good 10 minutes to form a golden crust on the outside of the beans, tossing to cook both sides.

Return the pancetta and fried sage to the pan, stir everything together, and serve.

Calzones

I made calzones tonight for dinner...
A whole wheat crust stuffed with ricotta cheese, roasted chopped peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, ground sweet Italian turkey sausage, mozzarella cheese. Topped with some tomato sauce.


Oh yes...I have a bread machine and I love it and use it often. This recipe I use the bread machine on the dough setting.

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust
1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons basil
2 teaspoons oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast

Place all ingredients in the bread machine in order used by machine. Run on dough cycle.

Calzones

When done, divide dough into 4/6 balls depending how big of calzones you want to make. All to rise for 10 to 20 minutes. Roll out dough balls on a lightly floured surface to 6 to 9 inch circles (depending on the size you want for your calzones).

Layer your favorite pizza ingredients on half of each dough round. Fold dough over filling and pinch edges of dough firmly together to seal. Move dough to baking sheets and pierce in several places. Bake calzones 15 at 350 degrees and then turn and bake another 15 minutes or until tops are golden brown.

For the above calzones I used roasted mixed peppers, sundried tomatoes, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese and browned ground Italian turkey sausage. Topping each calzone with tomato sauce after they are baked.