Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Orzo Super Salad


One of hungry hungry Jacob's favorite blogs, mish + mash homemade baby food just posted this recipe.  I decided to try it tonight, and it was an instant hit. 

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups uncooked orzo pasta
1 cup grape tomatoes
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh baby spinach
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ tablespoon Chia Seeds (optional, can be found at wholefoods)
2 tablespoons olive oil 
1 cup shredded chicken (optional - I used left overs from the previous nights dinner)
salt & pepper to taste

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain. 

2. Whisk together lemon juice and olive oil. Place all ingredients into a large bowl and toss with the dressing. Season with salt & pepper to taste.


Jacob approved!

Fig Spread

I realized after I made the fresh fig puree for Jake's fig and cream cheese sandwich, it was good, but it wasn't exactly what I was trying to go for.  I wanted a fresh fig spread that tasted like the inside of a fig newton.  After some research on the internet I realized I needed to use dried figs and cook them to get a sweet fig spread.  This fig spread turned out perfect and will keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. 

Ingredients 
1 package (10 ounces) dried Calimyrna figs

3 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 cups water

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice


1. Stem dried figs and cut into 1/4-inch pieces (about 1 3/4 cups)


2. In a medium saucepan, combine figs with sugar and 1 1/2 cups water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, covered for 15 minutes.  Remove lid and simmer until most of liquid has evaporated and figs are easily pierced with the tip of a sharp paring knife, about 15 - 20 minutes.




3. Transfer mixture to a food processor; add lemon juice. Puree until smooth. Store in refrigerator for up to 1 month.

Possible Ideas for uses for Fig Spread:

Fig & Cream Cheese Sandwich
Fig & Goat Cheese Sandwich
Spread on Toast, English Muffin or Waffle
Crackers and Cheddar Cheese

Sunday, September 26, 2010

New England Apple Pie


I love apple pie. Just love it.  I have made this recipe about 30 times total, and not even exaggerating.  My cousin Colleen gave me the cookbook,  The New England Cookbook: 350 Recipies from Town and Country, Land and Sea, Hearth and Home maybe 5 - 6 years ago, and we have only really tried the apple pie.  I've made it so many times that the cook book automatically opens up to page 599, for the only apple pie recipe you'll ever need, Apple Pie with Cheddar-Brown Sugar Crumb Crust.  Its really like a little piece of New England in your mouth ... apples, cheddar, apples .... mmmm, amazing.

I did learn a very good lesson over the past week.  Last weekend Jacob and I went to our local apple orchard, Bolton Spring Farm for two bushels of apples, and of course a half dozen apple cider donuts.  Side note, apple cider donuts are little gifts from God, they bring a tear of happiness to my eyes (and Jacob's too ... he was quite the fan!)    I went strictly off of memory on how to make the pie, and thought it called for 6 lbs of apples.  The pie was undercooked, watery and all around gross.  (A gross apple pie? Yes, in deed ... it was horrible and went uneaten in our refrigerator until our Sunday afternoon clean-out).  After I refused to admit defeat, I went to make the pie again this weekend trying to figure out what I did wrong.  The recipe actually calls for 6 cups of apples, CUPS, which equals to about 2 lbs of apples.  Big oops, on my part.  But 'old faithful pulled through and we enjoyed a yummy apple pie just as we have 29 other times in the past. 


I use the Cooks Illustrated Vodka pie crust to make my pies.  After getting frustrated with working with pie crusts that would be dry, bland and would crack when trying to roll it out, we tried the Vodka crust.  It only takes 2 tablespoons of Vodka (which cooks out and has no flavor), this crust is the easiest pie crust you'll ever work with.  The crust tends to sometimes be to wet, so you'll use up to 1/4 cup flour when rolling out the crust.

Pie Crust
Ingredients 
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (6 1/4 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 tablespoon sugar
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (3/4 stick), cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/4 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening , cut into 2 pieces
2 tablespoons vodka , cold
2 tablespoons cold water

Instructions

  1. Process 3/4 cups flour, salt, and sugar together in food processor until combined, about 2 one-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until homogenous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 10 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds with some very small pieces of butter remaining, but there should be no uncoated flour). Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining 1/2 cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl.
  2. Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Flatten dough into 4-inch disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.
  3. Remove dough from refrigerator and roll out on generously floured (up to ¼ cup) work surface to 12-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick. Roll dough loosely around rolling pin and unroll into pie plate, leaving at least 1-inch overhang on each side. Trim overhang to ½ inch beyond lip of pie plate. Fold overhang under itself; folded edge should be flush with edge of pie plate. Flute dough or press the tines of a fork against dough to flatten it against rim of pie plate. Freeze dough-lined plate until firm, about 30 minutes. I typically put this in the freezer when I'm preparing the apples. 
Apple Pie
For the crumbs
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoon cold unsalted butter, cut in 1/2-inch pieces
1/3 shredded sharp cheddar cheese (use real cheddar cheese here, that you shred yourself)

For the filling
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, preferable freshly grated
3 cups peeled, cored and thinly sliced tart crisp apples, such as Granny Smith (about 1 lb)
3 cups peeled, cored and thinly sliced sweet apples, such as McIntosh (about 1 lb)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1. To make the crumbs, pulse the flour and brown sugar in a food processor until no large lumps of sugar remain.  Add the butter and pulse until it is the size of small peas.  Add the cheese and pulse briefly, just until the entire mixture is the texture of rolled oats.  Refridgerate in a covered container for up to 3 days

2. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

3. Bake the frozen pie shell until pale golden brown, 14 minutes.  If the pastry starts to puff up, press the bottom gently with a large spoon or oven-mittened hand to flatten.  Cool on a rack for at least 15 minutes.  (The crust can be baked 1 day ahead.  Cover and store at room temperature).  Reduce the oven temerature to 375 degrees.

4. To make the filling, whisk together the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl.  Add the apples and lemon juice, toss to combine, and let the mixture stand for 15 minutes, until the apples begin to soften.

5. Spoon the apples into the prebaked pie shell.  Sprinkle with the crumb mixture, making sure to cover the apples thoroughly and filling up and gaps and holes where the apples have sunk.  Bake until the crust is golden brown and the filling is soft and bubbly, 50 to 60 minutes.  Coll on a wire rack for at least 1 hour. 

6. Serve warm or at room temperature.
 

Friday, September 24, 2010

Blueberry Sourcream Muffins

Do you want your house to smell amazing?? Then you need to make these muffins.  I made these blueberry muffins in hungry hungry jacob sized servings (mini-muffin tin).  These are perfectly sweet, a bit tangy, light and all around delicious muffins!




adapted from Cooks Illustrated Classic Blueberry Muffins


2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10 ounces)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 large egg
1 cup granulated sugar (7 ounces) + more for dusting at end
4 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted and cooled slightly
1 1/4 cups sour cream (10 ounces)
1cups fresh blueberries (frozen can be substituted if fresh aren't in season, just don't defrost them)

Instructions

  1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick vegetable cooking spray.  I use Pam for baking.
  2. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl until combined. Whisk egg in second medium bowl until well-combined and light-colored, about 20 seconds. Add sugar and whisk vigorously until thick and homogenous, about 30 seconds; add melted butter in 2 or 3 steps, whisking to combine after each addition. Add sour cream in 2 steps, whisking just to combine.
  3. Add berries to dry ingredients and gently toss to combine. Add sour cream mixture and fold with rubber spatula until batter comes together and berries are evenly distributed, 25 to 30 seconds (small spots of flour may remain and batter will be thick). Do not overmix.  Sprinkle sugar over each muffin (light dusting).
  4. Use two spoons to drop batter into greased muffin tin. Bake until light golden brown and toothpick or skewer inserted into center of muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating pan from front to back halfway through baking time. Invert muffins onto wire rack, stand muffins upright, and cool 5 minutes.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Fig & Cream Cheese Sandwich

One of my favorite toddler food blogs weelicious posted a recipe of a fig and goat cheese sandwich.  I thought the idea was interesting and have been wanting to try with with Jake.  After finally finding ripe figs at Whole Foods tonight, I decided to whip it up.  I also tried to go off of my memory to buy all the ingredients, but bought cream cheese instead of goat cheese .... which really wasn't an issue since it was still quite yummy and hungry hungry Jacob seemed to like it just fine.

Ingredients
3 tablespoon Fig Puree (see below for recipe)
1 tablespoon cream cheese
2 slices whole wheat bread (I used Jason's famous Light Whole Wheat)

1. Wash, steam and place figs in food processor.  Puree until smooth.



2. Spread one slice of bread with fig puree and spread other slice of bread with cream cheese (or you can use goat cheese as the original recipe calls for).






While whipping up the fig puree took all of 5 minutes to do, hungry hungry Jacob got mighty hungry (and very quiet too, so I knew he was up to no good!), I turned around to find this:



He craftily got down the Cheerios box and helped himself to a snack before dinner.  He's a smart one!

And Jake did LOVE the sandwich ....

Accompanying the sandwich was a side of cheddar cheese and pea puree.  Pea puree you ask? Yes.  Jacob has turned his nose up to anything green.  ANYTHING green.  He will shutter in disgust if a whole pea so much touches his plate (and believe me, I try at almost every meal to offer him something green).  Jacob however did love peas when he was eating purees and I put a tablespoon or so of his baby cereal in it (I used Organic Happy Bellies cereal for him).  So I've figured why not just revert back to purees, but just left Jake feed them to himself? It worked!! I really worked!! Jake's been shoveling spoonfuls of pureed peas with cereal into his mouth as fast as possible  I'm happy because he finally eats something green.  I don't care if I have to send him pureed peas when he's a freshman in college just to get him to eat his veggies, believe me, I'll do it.


And while I'm at it posting pictures .... you have to check out Jakes new shoes.  Whomever said dressing a little boy isn't as fun as a little girl if crazy.  Look at these things, I just love them!


One last picture for the night .... this is how much Jake loves pureed peas .... he tries to lick them out of the container.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Penne Rigate with Chicken Sausage


After making the Spinach Ricotta Bites this weekend, we were left with over half a container of ricotta left.  My Italian senses started tingling and told me to make a pasta dish out of the remaining ricotta (a good Italian girl will never let ricotta go to waste!).  I whipped this up last night for dinner while Jake played in his pay room, it was easy to put together for a week night option and leaves our family of 3 leftovers for tonight too.  This dish was highly approved by Jacob, it was one of those dishes where he just puts his head down powers through it by shoving it in his mouth as fast as possible only to look back up when finished.  Jake ate at least a cup of it.  I’m pretty sure when it comes to pasta dinners, he stores it in his hollow leg because I’m amazed at how much he can actually eat.  This dish is highly toddler approved (and again, mommy and daddy approved too!)


Ingredients List
1 28oz can whole tomatoes, we use Muir Glen Organic Whole Peeled Tomatoes
3 tablespoon Olive Oil (2 tablespoon for pasta, 1 tablespoon for sausage)
1 small yellow onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, put through garlic press, or minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4  teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1/2  teaspoon oregano or pasta sprinkle
3 Mild Italian Chicken Sausage, removed from casing.   We used Nature’s Promise Chicken Sausage
1 cup Ricotta (low fat or full fat)

1.  Heat 2 tablespoon olive oil in a large sauce pan until warm, add the onion and cook 5 -6 minutes on medium heat until the onions start to become translucent.  Once the onions are done cooking, add the garlic and stir for 30 seconds until fragrant.  Add the whole tomatoes, salt, pepper, pepper flakes (if using) and oregano.  Breakup the tomatoes by using a potato masher and press the tomatoes.  Keep doing this frequently during the cooking process to break up the large tomato pieces.  Simmer uncovered for 30 – 45 minutes. 

2. While the tomatoes cook, place additional 1 tablespoon olive oil in pan until hot, then add chicken sausage.  The sausage will be sticky at the beginning, so  let it brown a little bit before staring to break it up and crumble the sausage.  While the sausage cooks, continually smash it with a wooden spoon to break it into small pieces.  Once the sausage is done cooking thoroughly, add it directly to the tomatoes sauce.  The chicken sausage rendered little to no fat, so there was no need to drain it before adding it to the tomato sauce. 

3. Once the sausage is added to the tomato sauce, bring water to a boil and cook pasta until al dente.

4. About 2 minutes before the pasta is done, take the tomato sauce off the heat and stir in the ricotta.  Keep the sauce off the heat.

5. When pasta is done cooking, drain then stir in all of the tomato sauce.  Serve immediately. 


Enjoy!!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Broccoli Cheddar Nuggets

I have made a vow not to serve Jacob chicken nuggets, ever.  No processed miscellaneous chicken meat will ever enter our kitchen.  I found this recipe from wholesomebabyfood.com and knew I wanted to try it as a nugget alternative.  These were amazing, simply amazing.  Jake gobbled them up, and Jason and I did too.

I put the leftovers in the freezer to take out for lunches or dinner.

Hope you enjoy them ... we did!

adapted from:

1 16-oz Package frozen broccoli, cooked, drained, and chopped fine
1 cup bread crumbs 
1 ½ cups Shredded cheddar cheese (use real cheddar cheese that you shred yourself)
3 Large eggs 
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

1. Pre-Heat oven to 375

2. Lightly coat a baking sheet with olive oil and set aside.

3. Combine all ingredients and mix well.



 
4. Shape mixture into nuggets or fun shapes such as squares or squigglies etc..and place on baking tray. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, turn nuggets over after 15 minutes. 


5. Serve warm 


Spinach Ricotta Bites

I've been looking forward to making this recipe ever since it was posted on weelicious a month ago.  I even ran out to buy a mini-muffin tin just for these (well a toddler mom should have one in the house anyways). 

These were delicious! Jason and I made lunch out of these too, and Jake ... well he liked them so much he clapped after each bite.  I think they're a hit in this family.  The leftovers will be going to daycare with Jake this week and the rest are frozen for future lunches as well.  


Spinach Ricotta Bites (makes 16 - 20 bites)

2 Tbsp Butter
1 Small Yellow Onion, chopped
1 Garlic Clove, minced
2 Large Eggs, Beaten
1 Cup Ricotta Cheese (low or full fat ricotta will work)
1/2 Cup Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese, Grated
1 10 Oz Pkg Frozen Chopped Spinach, defrosted, drained WELL (I use my hands to squeeze as much liquid out of the spinach as possible), and chopped
1/4 Tsp Salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat and cook the onions for 4 minutes until tender.

Jason came into the kitchen to assist with this recipe
3. Add the garlic and cook an additional minute then set aside to cool.

4. Whisk eggs in a bowl and stir in ricotta, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses.



5. Once combined, stir in spinach, salt and cooled onion and garlic mixture.


6. Pour the mixture into lightly greased mini muffin cups.

7. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the filling is set and golden on top.

8. Serve.

the clap of approval
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