 Anyone else ever come up with an alternative dinner plan before you even start to make a new recipe because you aren't at all confident that it's going to turn out? That is so me. Ben walked through the kitchen one day last week and commented on how good the house smelled and asked what I was making. I told him it was a new Spaghetti Squash Lasagna recipe which was quickly followed by a new recipe disclaimer. "If this doesn't work out the way I think it should - we'll have to go out to dinner tonight." Clearly Ben has way more faith in my new recipes experiments that I do because he didn't look at all concerned that I may have been in the process of creating a dinner disaster. Fortunately, for me (And Ben) - this new recipe turned out amazing. It was so good in fact that we stuffed ourselves with way more Spaghetti Squash Lasagna than we probably should have.
Spaghetti Squash Lasagna 1 spaghetti squash 2 teaspoon olive oil 2 garlic cloves, minced 1/2 cup fresh spinach 1/4 cup ricotta cheese 1/8 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese 1/2 pound ground turkey 3/4 cup marinara sauce 2 Tablespoons parmesan cheese
Bake 20 minutes at 425. Place under broiler until cheese browns.  I've never been a big fan of squash and marinara sauce (hense my apprehension about this recipe) but this was REALLY good. I cooked one squash so we could each eat a half and it was way more food than we could eat in one meal. Ben ended up taking the leftovers for dinner the next day. I think you will agree - this recipe is a keeper.  Ciao!
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 What's a Fall loving girl to do when temperatures spike into the 90s in the middle of October? Turn down the air conditioner, make some hearty soup and pretend like it's cool outside. That's what.  I love soup weather but I'm not about wait any longer for the thermostat to cooperate. I've launched into full blown Fall soup mode - despite the ridiculously warm temperatures. This Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Soup is a great way kick off my Fall soup season. It's warm and hearty and delicious.  Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Soup 1 tablespoon olive oil 8 ounces chicken thighs Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 3 cloves garlic, minced 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced 1 onion, diced 3 carrots, peeled and sliced 2 stalks celery, diced 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 4 cups chicken stock 1 bay leaf 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves 1/2 cup half and half 1 sprig rosemary
Garnish with rosemary and parsley.  Serve with toasted whole grain bread or crackers.   In case you're wondering what happened to the half and half that was listed in the ingredients but not in the recipe - I left it out for the pictures. I did actually add a little to the soup AFTER the pictures however. The choice is yours really - enjoy the soup without the half and half or stir some in at the last minute for a creamier version of the delicious soup. As for me, I thought the soup was plenty flavorful without the extra fat and calories but I wanted to taste it both ways. It was super tasty with the added half and half too. Try it both ways and decide for yourself.
Ciao!
 Baked Salmon with Herbed Parmesan Crust 1 salmon filet, about 2 pounds, left whole 2 cloves garlic, finely minced ¼ cup chopped parsley ½ cup chopped Parmesan cheese
Return to oven and bake until fish temperature reaches 135. Remove from oven and let rest 5 minutes before serving. 
 Really fresh salmon is so good that it doesn't take a whole lot of work to turn it into something extraordinary. A dash of lemon and pepper, a scattering of fresh herbs, or in this case a sprinkling of parmesan and parsley is all it takes to make a terrific salmon filet. My family thought I was a rock star when I served this dinner - I'll never tell them that it only took me 15 minutes to throw together. That'll just be our little secret.
Ciao!  I feel like I am finally getting things back to "normal" at home after our Thanksgiving trip to Boston. I am so not complaining about having to play catch up though because the trip was TOTALLY worth it. We had a GREAT time visiting with my brother and my niece and my parents while we toured the fabulous city of Boston.  It was a little rainy and chilly (at least for the southerners) but that didn't stop us from making our way through the streets of Boston.
And since we did all that walking ... we got pretty hungry so we ate ... and ate, and ate, and ate
There was certainly no lack of good food in Boston. (It's good to be on vacation.) We were not about to leave town without sampling the Boston cream pie as well.  Which brings me to the recipe of the day ... Boston cream pie cupcakes. I guess it's not hard to figure out where the inspiration for this yummy dessert cupcake came from. (Oh and Annieeats.com helped out with the recipe too.)  Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes Yield: about 30 cupcakes Ingredients For the pastry cream: 4 large egg yolks ½ cup sugar ¼ cup cornstarch Pinch of salt 2 cups milk 1¼ tsp. vanilla extract For the cupcakes: 9 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing pans 2¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans 2¼ tsp. baking powder ¾ tsp. salt ¾ cup milk 4 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk 1½ cups sugar 1½ tsp. vanilla extract For the ganache: 9 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped 1 cup heavy cream 1½ tbsp. light corn syrup
Gradually add the milk in a steady stream and cook until the mixture thickens and starts to bubble, about 5 minutes.
Cover with plastic wrap pressed directly onto the surface of the cream to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled and firm, at least 2 hours and up to 2 days. 
Bake, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 15 minutes total. Transfer the pans to a cooling rack and let stand for 10 minutes. Run a small offset spatula or knife around the edges of each cake to loosen. Turn the cakes out onto the cooling rack and let cool completely.
Gently whisk the mixture until the chocolate is totally melted and a smooth ganache forms.  To assemble the cupcakes, cut a hole in the center of each cupcake with a serrated knife.  Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the pastry cream into each cupcake.
Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the chocolate glaze over each cupcake. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving. 
Since I made these in December, I dressed mine up with dark chocolate Christmas trees.
If I can't be in Boston, I can have the next best thing.
Ciao!  There is nothing better than walking into a cupcake shop and filling up a bakery box with decadent looking cupcakes from the case. I like to sample different flavors and it's not always practical to make 2 cupcakes of each flavor at home. At Christmas time I did make boxes of assorted Christmas cupcakes to pass out to friends.  I baked a dozen cupcakes in a dozen different flavors and ended up with a dozen boxes of assorted cupcakes. It was a lot of fun but I rarely get orders that large. I have had to learn to cut down my cupcake recipes to make fewer out of each batch. Another trick that I've learned is to make more than one type of cupcake out of a single batter. I recently made a batch of vanilla-lemon cupcakes and a batch of blueberry cupcakes out of a simple vanilla batter. I found this recipe for blueberry cupcakes on foodnetwork.com. You will be able to see where I changed the recipe to make a second cupcake batter. Blueberry Cupcakes Cupcakes: 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 sticks butter 2 cups sugar 3 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Zest of 1 lemon 2 cups sour cream 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries Frosting: 2 sticks butter 8 ounces cream cheese 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Juice and zest of 1 lemon 10 to 12 cups powdered sugar
The vanilla-lemon cupcakes were absolutely delicious. I was a little nervous about the blueberry cupcakes but it turns out - just as delicious.  I was afraid that the blueberries would all sink to the bottom of the cupcake so I split one in half to see how the berries were distributed.  Turns out, they were perfectly distributed throughout the cupcake so there was a blueberry in every delicious bite.
Frost the cooled cupcakes with the cream cheese frosting. I forgot to take a picture of the finished, frosted blueberry cupcakes. I guess I got hungry and ate it before I snapped a picture. Sorry. Ciao! |
