Cherry Almond Bars

Happy New Year's Eve! Have you made your resolutions yet for 2013? I haven't. Hopefully I come up with something before midnight tonight. Maybe it should be something along the lines of trying to eat better (considering the following recipe...), but isn't the whole "I WILL be healthier this year" a little overdone? I think so.

I made these Cherry Almond Bars as part of my Christmas cookie baking extravaganza this year. I had never made them before, and they turned out fabulously! I love all things containing almonds. So maybe that's why I'm partial to this particular dessert. But seriously, if you love chewy dessert squares or bars, these are definitely for you.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter (2 sticks) at room temperature
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 2 tsps baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp almond exctract
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups regular rolled oats
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 1 12 oz. jar of cherry preserves

How to:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Line a 13x9 inch pan with foil, extending the foil up over the sides of the dish. Grease the foil and set the pan aside.
• In a large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium/high speed for 30 seconds. 
• Add in brown sugar and baking powder, beating until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. 
• Beat in egg and almond extract until combined.
• Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in remaining flour, oats, and sliced almonds.
• Remove 1/2 cup of the dough and set it aside. Press the remaining dough evenly into the bottom of the greased foil-lined baking pan.
• Spread the preserves over the top of the pressed dough, and then crumble the reserved dough even over the preserves layer.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes or until lightly browned.
• Cool in pan on a wire rack. 
• Using the edges of the foil, lift the cookies out of the pan.
• Cut into bars.

I hope you all enjoy these bars as much as I did! I gave most of these away (along with the million other cookies I made for Christmas) as gifts. But I'm glad I saved a few for myself.

Anyway, happy new year! Enjoy!

Broccoli and Corn Chowder

In case you haven't noticed, I love soup. All kinds. Especially cream-based soups. Maybe that's because I grew up eating New England Clam Chowder. But I digress. 

On a whim, I decided to try another recipe from my go-to soup recipe book. Seriously, that's what it's called: Soup. The recipe in the book is called Vegetable & Corn Chowder, but I didn't have all the ingredients to make it an actual "Vegetable" & Corn Chowder. Alas, my recipe for Broccoli and Corn Chowder was born - I did have lots of broccoli on hand. Which is generally the case in this household.

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• 1 small onion (or half of a medium-sized onion), diced
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large potato, diced
• 2 Tbs flour
• 2 and 1/2 cups milk (I used 2 cups whole milk and 1/2 cup skim milk for no reason in particular)
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 2 1/2 cups broccoli florets
• 3 cups frozen corn
• 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
• salt and pepper

How to:

• Heat some olive oil in a heavy bottom pot. Add in onion, garlic, and potatoes and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until aromatic, for 2-3 minutes.
• Stir in the flour and cook, stirring for 30 seconds. Gradually stir in milk and vegetable stock. 
• Add in broccoli and corn. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Then, reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender. 
• Stir in 1/2 cup of the cheese until it melts. 
• Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Serve and garnish with remaining cheese, if desired.

I didn't have any cheddar cheese on hand, so I used a Mexican cheese blend instead, and my soup turned out great. I was really surprised at how creamy and rich the soup tasted, considering I didn't use heavy whipping cream and/or large quantities of butter and flour. SO, if you're in the mood for a corn chowder but don't feel like spending a ton of time making a cream-based soup, this recipe is a winner. 

Enjoy!

Cake Batter Truffles

Merry (early) Christmas! Jake and I are heading to a Christmas party tonight, and I figured I should bring a dessert of some sort. I found this recipe for easy cake batter truffles, and I thought it would festive of me to add red and green sprinkles to the batter. These are super easy to make, and don't involve turning on the oven at all. Win. 

Not to worry, even though these TASTE like cake batter, there are no raw eggs involved here, so these are perfectly safe to eat. And believe me, you'll be eating plenty.

Ingredients:

Truffle:

• 1/2 pound unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup yellow cake mix
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3-4 Tbs milk
• 2 Tbs sprinkles or nonpareils

Truffle Coating:

• 16 oz. almond bark
• 4 Tbs yellow cake mix
• more sprinkles

How to:

• To prepare 'dough', cream butter and sugar together with an electric mixer. Add in cake mix, flour, vanilla, and salt and mix thoroughly. 
• Add in 3 Tbs of milk to create dough. If necessary, add in another Tbs (4 Tbs worked perfectly for me).
• Mix in sprinkles by hand.
• Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place on a cookie sheet lined with Parchment paper. Chill in fridge for 15 minutes.
• While dough balls are chilling, prepare truffle coating by melting almond bark in the microwave in 30 second intervals until melted. Stir between intervals to make smooth.
• Once melted, quickly stir in yellow cake mix until completely incorporated.
• Using a fork, dip truffles into melted almond bark and shake off excess bark by tapping fork on side of bowl.
• Place coated truffle back on Parchment lined cookie sheet and top with sprinkles. 
• Refrigerate to set chocolate. Keep cool until ready to serve.

These were so easy to prepare! To keep the coating from smudging and looking messy, I found it helpful to actually 'scoop' the balls out of the almond bark with two forks, tap the forks against the bowl to get rid of the excess bark, and then transfer them to the parchment-lined cookie sheet. 

The original recipe can be found here. 

Merry Christmas!

Chicken Pot Pie Bundles

Chicken pot pie is one of my absolute favorite foods. I remember back when I was in high school, my mom would buy those Marie Calendar's individual chicken pot pies, and I'd eat one at least once a week when I would get home from soccer practice. It was like my 'pre-dinner' meal. That was then I could pretty much eat whatever I wanted. Sigh. 

The problem with chicken pot pie is that generally it's packed full of calories. Which, I suppose, is what makes it such a fabulous comfort food. I've tried my fair share of chicken pot pie recipes, and nothing has really done it for me. Until I came across the recipe I'm sharing with you today! This recipe for Chicken Pot Pie Bundles has all the savory taste of traditional chicken pot pie, but a fraction of the calories. These bundles are packed full of veggies, and they are perfectly portioned. And because each one of these fabulous bundles is so low in calories (approximately 180 each), feel free to have more than 1 - your secret is safe with me.

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 large carrot, peeled & diced into 1/4 inch pieces (about 1 cup)
• 1 small onion, diced into 1/4 inch pieces (about 1/2 cup)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp freshly chopped tarragon, or 1/2 tsp dried tarragon
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• pinch of ground pepper
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 4 tsp cornstarch
• 3/4 cup frozen petite peas
• 3/4 cup frozen corn kernels
• 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
• 12 egg roll wrappers (NOT wonton wrappers - get the big egg roll wrappers!)

How to:

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
• Heat some olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add carrots and onion to skillet, stir frequently and cook until softened - about 5 minutes.
• Add garlic, mix, and cook for an additional 1 minute, stirring frequently.
• Add in chicken, tarragon, salt, and pepper. Cook until the chicken is no longer pink - about 5 minutes.
• Add in peas and corn and heat until thawed, about 2 minutes.
• Whisk together chicken broth and cornstarch in a separate bowl. Add chicken broth to skillet and heat to a simmer. Cook until thickened, about 2 minutes, stirring gently to mix.
• Gently place an egg roll wrapper in each cup of a 12-cup muffin tin. Let the sides of the egg roll wrapper extend over the sides of each cup (see picture).
• Fill each cup with a generous 1/4 cup of skillet mixture.
• Top with Parmesan cheese.
• Gather the sides of each egg roll wrapper and press together to seal each bundle. It helps to wet your fingers with a small amount of water so the bundles seal better. 
• Brush the tops of each bundle with olive oil. 
• Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until bundles are browned.

I found it helpful to fully 'seal' the bundles after I brushed them with the olive oil. These individual pot pies took a some time to prepare  (mostly the prep work - cutting up raw chicken always takes me forever), but the end result was SO worth it. I've never cooked with tarragon before, so I wonder if this is where all the fabulous taste came from. As soon as I added the tarragon to the skillet, my kitchen began to smell amazing. I'm going to find a way to include this magical spice into a few more recipes. 

The original recipe I worked from can be found here.

Enjoy!

Baked Penne with Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

I have been wanting to try this recipe for weeks now. I've actually never cooked with sun-dried tomatoes, but I LOVE the taste of them. This recipe for Baked Penne with Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomatoes is incredibly savory - it's sure to be a crowd pleaser!

 Ingredients:

• 1/2 box (8 oz.) penne pasta
• 1 tsp olive oil (or bacon grease)
• 1 chicken breast, halved horizontally
• coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1/4 cup flour
• 3 Tbsp butter + extra for greasing dish
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 cups whole milk
• 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, drained (if packed in oil) and thinly sliced
• 3/4 cup shredded provolone cheese
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, divided

How to:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Butter a shallow 2-quart baking dish. 
• Cook pasta 3 minutes short of al dente, drain, and set aside.
• Heat olive oil over medium-high heat.
• Generously season chicken breast pieces with coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, both sides, and cook on each side for 3-5 minutes or until opaque throughout.
• Remove chicken from pan and slice into bite size pieces. Set aside.
• In a Dutch oven or heavy pot, melt butter over medium-low heat. Add flour and garlic, whisking constantly until smooth, about 1 minute.
• Slowly add milk while whisking and increase temperature to medium. Heat until simmering, whisking occasionally. 
• Add tomatoes and cook for an additional minute.
• Remove from heat and stir in provolone and 1/4 cup Parmesan until smooth. 
• Generously season sauce with salt and pepper to your liking.
• Add pasta and chicken to sauce and mix.
• Pour into buttered baking dish and top with remaining Parmesan cheese.
• Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes, or until sauce is bubbly. Before serving, let cool for 5 minutes.

I opted to use whole wheat pasta in this recipe, and I think it turned out really great. Others who have tried this recipe from Martha Stewart noted theirs turned out bland and was under salted. To prevent this from happening in my version, I actually cooked the chicken in bacon grease, rather than olive oil. In the future, I think I'll actually add cooked bacon pieces to my sauce, as well as more sun-dried tomatoes to make this recipe extra flavorful. I also heavily seasoned my sauce with freshly ground pepper and sea salt. Tasting along the way is key! My grocery store, doesn't carry shredded provolone so I ended up buying a provolone/mozzarella mix, which worked well. My recipe also has more garlic than the original, which kicks up the flavor a little bit.

I'd love to hear your experience with this recipe! Enjoy!

Crockpot Beef Stew

In theory, Crockpot recipes are great because you can throw a bunch of stuff into the pot, turn it on, leave it for 6-8 hours, and come back to a delicious hot meal. In reality, Crockpot recipes generally only work for me on the weekends. During the week,  I'm outta the house by 8:00am and rarely get home before 6:00pm. That's 10 hours. I feel like this is generally the norm for people who work 40 hours (or more...womp womp...) a week outside the home.

As I've mentioned numerous times, sometimes cooking a real meal is the absolute last thing I want to do when I get home after standing at a lab bench for 8+ hours. Jake and I probably eat more cereal and grilled cheese than we should. I came across this recipe for Crockpot Beef Stew and knew it would be the perfect thing to try on what I knew would be one of my crazier days in the lab. I prepped all of the ingredients the night before and kept them covered and in the fridge overnight. Then, before heading into work last Wednesday morning, I threw all of the ingredients in the crockpot, turned it on, and left for work. When I finally made it back to the house 11 and a half hours later (vomit), this perfect batch of Beef Stew was waiting for me.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into bite size pieces or 1 inch cubes
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 potatoes, diced
• 3 carrots, sliced
• 2 celery stalks, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 cups beef broth

How to:

• Mix together flour, salt, and pepper in a large Ziploc bag or bowl. Add meat and toss to coat.
• Place flour-coated meat in slow cooker and add all remaining ingredients. Stir to mix thoroughly.
• Cover and cook on low for 10-12 hours, or on high for 4-6 hours. 

After 11 and a half hours in the crockpot, the meat perfectly fell apart and tasted so flavorful. This really was one of those 'set it and forget it' meals, especially considering I prepped all of the ingredients the night before. 

My recipe is slightly modified from this one.

Spicy Marinara Sauce

A few Christmas's ago, Jake gave me some cookbooks. Honestly, I didn't know whether I should be offended (WTH Jake, am I a bad cook?) or super pumped (um, helloooo CLEARLY I love to cook). He assured me he got them for me because I love to cook. I decided to believe him. 

One of the recipe books he bought me was from good old Betty Crocker, entitled "Easy Italian." Because I love love LOVE all things spicy, I knew I wanted to try the recipe "Penne with Spicy Sauce." So that was one of my first endeavors. Here's my version of this delicious marinara sauce. 

Ingredients:

• 1 can (28 oz.) diced or plum (Roma) tomatoes with garlic, oregano, and basil, undrained
• olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
• 2 Tbs fresh chopped parsley
• 1 Tbs tomato paste
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

How to:

• Place tomatoes with juice in a food processor or blender and process until coarsely chopped. Set aside.
• In a 12-inch skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Cook garlic, red pepper, and parsley in oil about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until garlic begins to turn golden.
• Stir in tomatoes and tomato paste. Heat to boiling, then reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened.
• Add cheese and stir to mix. Cook an additional 3 minutes.

This recipe makes enough sauce for 1 package (16 oz) of pasta. In fact, the original recipe recommends cooking the box of pasta and then tossing it all together with the sauce until the pasta is evenly coated. When I don't make a double (or triple...) batch of this sauce, this is normally what I do. 

The original recipe calls for an entire tsp of crushed red pepper. Honestly, a little bit goes a long way, so I highly recommend only using 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper. I used a full 1 tsp of red pepper the first time I made this, and the sauce was almost impossible to eat. And that's saying a lot, because I seriously love me some spicy foodstuffs. Trust me, this sauce packs a lot of heat.

If you find this recipe is just a little too spicy for you, try mixing some goat cheese in with your sauce (see picture above - I love to top my pasta and Spicy Marinara Sauce with goat cheese!). Fun science fact for you: the casein protein in cheese (and all dairy, for that matter) interacts with the molecule that makes food spicy - capsaicin - and effectively 'washes it away.' Yep, I'm a nerd. 

Enjoy!

Chunky Vegetable Soup

Happy December! Jake and I went to pick out our Christmas tree today. It was pretty chilly, and all I could think about was having something warm when we got back to our place. After about 30 minutes of searching, we found the most glorious tree the nursery had to offer. And then it was time to head home, and make some delicious soup.

My recipe for Chunky Vegetable Soup is modified from a recipe I found in the book pictured above (which I purchased for $2.99 at Marshall's - bonus). If you're looking for a healthy bowl of soup that's packed with flavor, this is for you!

Ingredients:

• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 3 medium red potatoes, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano (14 oz)
• 4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 2-3 tsp italian seasoning
• 1/2 cup frozen or canned (drained) corn
• Salt and pepper, to taste

How to:

• In a pot, combine all ingredients except for corn and stir to mix.
• Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and let simmer for 25 minutes.
• Add the corn, and return to a boil. 
• Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for an additional 5 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. 
• Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Discard bay leaf.

Enjoy!