Chimichurri Chimichurri Chim Chim Churri!

What is the purpose of food? In a world full of diverse diets, questions of quality, and preferences of flavor, texture and beauty it is difficult at times to not obsessed over food. Food is meant to nourish and fuel our bodies. That's it. It is important to most people that mealtime be a pleasant experience, but obsessing over complexity and originality is really unnecessary (unless centering your life around food is really what you want to do with your life). 
Every now and then I discover a new recipe that changes my attitude toward food. This recipe has reminded me that simple nutritious meals are often the best and there is no shame in them. A simple sauce can heighten a meal from hum-drum to Yum-nom. This sauce is a variation of the Chimichurri Sauce from Diana's The Humble Kitchen. I hope you enjoy it!

Chimichurri Sauce

1/4-1/3 Red Onion, quartered
1 large clove Garlic
A large handful of Flat Leaf Italian Parsley
1/3 Cup Butter, melted
1/3 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice

Combine all ingredients in food processor and process until it has an even consistency. Use to garnish pan-fried or grilled meats, grilled vegetables, or tortilla chips.

Breakfast Apple Biscuits

I got this idea from Joy the Baker, but this is my own recipe, and it's delicious if I do say so myself. They make a great to-go breakfast or snack (these would even be great as a dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream..maybe some syrupy strawberries on top...Mmm strawberries.), and one can whip them up in about 30 minutes, doing the dishes and all.
When I found the idea on Joy's baking boot camp series, I immediately was reminded of the fried apples and biscuits my momma used to make for breakfast-sooo yummy. She made big fluffy biscuits and a pan full of buttery sticky cinnamon apples, so I thought of coarse bake them together, why didn't I think of that myself! Today I whipped these up without even looking at a recipe, and therefore I am now recording the recipe for you and me. (Disclosure: I have a Betty Crocker recipe for biscuits memorized so I can easily adapt it for whatever I'm making be it dumplings, cinnamon rolls, cobbler, or biscuits!)

Fried Apple Biscuits

2 cups Flour
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
1 Tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
1/4 cup Coconut Oil, solid
3/4 cup Milk or Water

Mix dry ingredients. Cut in coconut oil. After apples are made, stir in the milk or water pat together into a ball and set on a floured surface. Roll dough out into a large rectangle, pour fried apples (recipe below) onto one half, careful to leave an inch uncovered around the edges. Flatten and distribute apples as desired. Pull other half of the dough rectangle over the apples and pinch the edges closed and reshape the now smaller dough rectangle with the outside edges of your hands. Feel free to " be the boss", as Joy says. You can pat, squish, even carefully pick up and reposition the dough. 

When  you're happy with the thickness and shape, cut into 12 small squares, three length cuts and four width cuts. Position an inch apart on a parchment covered cookie sheet and bake in a preheated 450 degree oven for 12 minutes. At least that how hot and how long it bakes where I live.

Fried Apples

1 large or two small organic Braeburn Apples (Golden Delicious work well here too)

2 Tbsp Butter

1 Tbsp Honey

Pinch of Salt

A couple good shakes of Cinnamon (about 1/4 tsp) I don't like too much cinnamon in stuff

In an 8" skillet, melt butter, add cored and somewhat thinly sliced apples, salt, honey and cinnamon. Simmer apples stirring and flipping a few times until fork tender. Keep in mind they will cook a bit more during baking and we don't want them mushy, so a little crispness is ok.

Now, you can make the biscuits and apples separately and just pull a biscuit apart slather with butter ladle the apples over and drizzle with more honey like we did when I was a kid. In fact I highly recommend it! But, I like them this way too for a more hands on consuming situation. For example, toddlers can enjoy them a bit easier without the mess of separate elements.

 Just a thought, why not try different fruit fillings like strawberries, peaches, pears or plums, even savory with cheese in the middle, herbs added to dough, marinara sauce for pizza bites, so many possibilities! Enjoy!

Bread

I'm starting out the new year as a real baker! I have finally learned how to bake bread! For Thanksgiving I volunteered to make rolls so I could get in some more practice; and I baked my very first successful batch of dinner rolls, they were delicious. I went on to bake my very first loaf of bread successfully. There are some very important elements I had to learn to finally produce a great loaf of bread.

First of all it is important to add the right amount of water, depending on the weather and humidity of your location the amount of water you'll need varies. Second, you have to kneed bread until it is soft and smooth, enough to activate the glutten and aerate the dough. Third, you must not let the bread raise too much during the first sitting; otherwise, the yeast will eat up all the sugar and you won't have enough left for the second raise.

What really helped me to learn all of these key components; and how to make bread, was good ol' King Arthur Flour and the recipe for Soft White Dinner Rolls. These dinner rolls are wonderful tasty and simple to make, and I do make them from time to time.

Amazing how some simple understanding can make all the difference! Knowledge really is power! Now I have homemade bread in my own home whenever I feel like baking. What a blessing it is!

Innovative Inspiration for my Kitchen

Last month I became a Pampered Chef consultant and I bet you can't guess the reason.. ;) Yep, now I get to talk about food and kitchen tools to lots of people in person! In addition, I get to grow my own kitchen supplies and try out even more new recipes and techniques. If I make any money at it, that's just bonus, I really just want the opportunity to talk with other people about cooking!
I have been really enjoying my new Season's Best cookbook and New Consultant recipe cards. I made Strawberry Amaretto Pastries, Mini Chocolate Tiramisu Cakes (with Coffee substituted), Taffy Apple Tartlets, Caramel-Banana Ravioli and Three-Cheese Garden Pizza so far. All sounds delectable and fattening doesn't it? I love that these recipes are made in small portions and when I make them I get to share them with a group of people. I've also found that I can freeze a few and they keep just great until I need a treat to serve some other day!
Another thing I've really enjoyed is that the Pampered Chef recipes are so versitale they are great for putting my own twist on. For example, after making the Three-Cheese Garden Pizza I thought, "Gee, that pizza would probably be great with chicken on it." One thought led to another and I ended up making a delicious Barbeque Chicken Pizza for dinner the next week!
Here's how I did it; first I oiled my baking stone, rolled out some homemade pizza crust, basted it with a mixture of oil and fresh pressed garlic, and smoothed on a somewhat generous helping of my favorite barbeque sauce to the edges of the dough. Over the sauce, I spread some chicken I had pan fried in coconut oil and chopped into bite size squares, and topped it with some shedded mozzerella cheese and crumbled 3-4 fresh crisp bacon strips on top.(Not too crisp because the baking will make it even crunchier.) Baked at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. It was delicious with a great big helping of garden salad and ranch dressing! Are you hungry yet? Good! Make it, it's easy and you'll love it! ;)

How about some Chocolate Cake!

My sister-in-law's birthday was last month and I volunteered to make her cake. She loves chocolate so I tried making Julia's Le Marquis (Chocolate Spongecake.) It was not the best chocolate cake I ever had so I ended up buying and making a chocoalate cake mix last minute. The ganache from Julia's Kitchen Wisdom is super dark chocolate, and I over overcooked the spongecake so it was too dry and tuff. *sigh* It's probably a good cake when someone makes it right. Oh well, you win some, you loose some. The Betty Crocker Chocolate cake mix turned out moist and soft and decadent with Pillsbury Fudge Frosting on it. A ready mix saved the night!
Pity my Le Marquis was literally a bitter disappointment; although, it does look pretty don't you think?
The chocolate spongecake is levened with egg whites so I imagine if made right this cake would be light and fluffy. I will have to try again!

Junior's Cheesecake

My husband is a New York Style Cheesecake buff. If we go to the cheesecake factory he will only order the plain cheesecake every time. I have made a fair amount of cheesecake being the amateur cook I am, some have been excellent and some have been a bitter disappointment.

In January my husband watched a segment on the food network and then advised me to buy a Junior's Cheesecake Cookbook. After researching it a bit I discovered I would need an 8-9" Spring form pan to make the cheesecake that had been featured and caught my husband's interest. I ordered the pan and cookbook online and they arrived about a week before Valentines Day. Guess what I made my husband for Valentine's Day. The best cheesecake there has ever been! Junior's Cheesecake is smooth and light and rich and beyond delicious. It was by far the best cheesecake I have ever had the pleasure of eating and it needed no topping. There is a slightly lemony sponge cake for a crust instead of graham crackers and the cheesecake is wrapped in foil and steamed in the oven and then cools overnight. I cut the cake and froze half of it, because I knew we'd either eat the whole thing, or we would leave most of it to go to waste and neither scenario would be healthy. We ate half of that cheesecake in 2-3 days and then defrosted the other half (which kept perfectly when I followed the storing directions given in the book.) about two weeks later and finished it off.

Thank you Junior's Cheesecake for sharing your delectable secrets!

Dear Reader, if you ever by any cookbook in your life, buy this book and make this cheesecake yourself, it's worth every penny and all the effort! You will be the new Cheesecake Queen my friend!

Poached Fish and Hollandaise

I finally had the chance to make a hollandaise sauce! Last month I decided to poach some fish and serve it with hollandaise sauce and vegetables for dinner one night. It was my first time poaching fish as well as making the sauce.
I don't like to cook with wine because I don't drink it, and what will I do with it after I've used what I needed to cook with! So I substituted white grape juice for white wine in the poached fish recipe. First I caramelized shallots in butter in a oven proof skillet. After arranging the sole evenly over the onions, I poured on the sparkling white grape juice, let it simmer a while then covered it all with buttered parchment paper and set it in the oven to finish cooking. I have to say I loved the poached fish part but the Dover sole I had chosen for the project was pretty bitter and I think I'd choose a real "sole" next time or an entirely different kind of fish.
The hollandaise sauce was shockingly a cinch to make! I have no idea why I should have been so intimidated by it before. It requires a lot of stirring and I think I would be more stingy with the lemon juice next time I make it. For the purpose of the fish I made the hollandaise into a Sauce Chantilly (made with whipped cream.) and enjoyed every bite except for the bitter after-taste the chosen fish emitted. As a whole I consider the experience a success and thank Julia Child for showing me how easy it is to make Hollandaise Sauce and how delicious poached fish can be. I am looking forward to learning to make an omelet her way and grace it with another batch of hollandaise. Mmm.