 I love peppermint bark and after making several unsuccessful attempts at homemade bark, I decided to turn to my blog followers to seek your advice. This seems like such an easy process and it frustrates me that I can't seem to get it right.
I let the bark cool overnight. I removed the bark from the pan by picking up the paper.
I used a chef's knife to cut the bark into pieces. 
OK blog friends, I am turning to you for advice. If you have suggestions on how to keep my peppermint bark together, send me a comment. Thank you.
Ciao!
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 Coconut is one of those ingredients that people are passionate about. People either love it or they hate it - and I love it. It goes without saying that my love of coconut translates to a love of macaroons. Last week I made about 6 dozen of these delicious - fat free cookies. My recipe is very basic and super simple to put together.
Shape into mounds using a medium sized cookie scoop and place on a silpat lined cookie sheet.
Bake 20 minutes at 350 until toasted on top.  Each batch of dough will make about 14 medium sized macaroons. Sometimes I drizzle semisweet chocolate over the cooled macaroons for an extra special treat. It's dangerous for me to make those because I want to eat them all. If you love coconut - you will love these macaroons.
Ciao! I eat a lot of soup this time of year but I rarely eat bisque soups because they are typically made with cream and are higher in fat and calories than broth based soups. At Christmas I make an exception and I like to indulge in a bowl of Shrimp Bisque. It's creamy and rich and oh so delicious. I can't remember where I first found this recipe but I have been making it a long time. I made a double batch to serve at my Christmas party this year.  Shrimp Bisque 3 Tablespoons butter 4 plum tomatoes, diced 1 onion 4 cups chicken stock 1 carrot, sliced ½ cup bread crumbs 2 cloves garlic ½ cup heavy cream 2 pounds shrimp 2 Tablespoons sherry 2 Tablespoons parsley cayenne pepper salt
Saute 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and broth and cook 7 minutes.
Strain through sieve. Use a wooden spoon to get all of the liquid out of the vegetables in the strainer. I do this in small batches and pour the strained soup into pitchers.
My kids love it when I hand the camera over to them. They went a little crazy with pictures of me but it did help to show the process. If your looking for a great way to start your Christmas dinner - try my shrimp bisque - it's pretty terrific.
Ciao!  Last spring as we made our way through Italy, Ben made it his mission to taste the tiramisu in every city (and restaurant) that we visited. He claimed he was on a search for the "best" tiramisu - really it was all about the sampling. We had a lot of really good tiramisu but it was served differently than it is served in most restaurants in the United States. A couple of times, we were served small cups of the creamy custard with ladyfingers lining the edge of the cup. I don't remember if we ever determined a winner of the tiramisu taste test - it was all pretty delicious.  This week, I made my version of tiramisu. I decided to make a more traditional (American) version of this irresistible dessert because it's easier to store than the Italian version. There are a lot of tiramisu recipes that contain raw eggs but I prefer to use a recipe that does not contain raw eggs. (I don't like to serve anything that could potentially contain bacteria that could cause illness.)  Tiramisu 2 1/2 cups strong coffee 1 1/2 Tablespoons instant expresso 9 Tablespoons grand marnier 6 egg yolks 2/3 cup sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 pounds Marscapone 3/4 cup heavy cream 42-60 ladyfingers, dried 3 1/2 Tablespoons cocoa 1/4 bittersweet chocolate 1/3 cup cream
Remove from heat, stir in 4 T. grand marnier and marscarpone and beat 1 minute with whisk attachment.
Dried ladyfingers work much better than the fresh varieties. I buy mine at World Market.
I love tiramisu and there is nothing like eating the creamy, sweet dessert while sitting at an outdoor cafe in Florence but I think this might just be the next best thing. I have a lot more cooking to do before Christmas but this is one dessert that is already crossed off my "to do" list. Delicious foods that I can make ahead and freeze are a lifesaver.
Ciao!  If I had to name just one job in the kitchen that I really don't enjoy - it would be mixing raw meat with my hands. I know that the best way to combine ingredients in meatloaf or meatballs is with my hands but I really don't like the job of touching raw meat. I have tried getting the job done with a spoon and I've even tried wearing gloves - neither one of those really solved the problem. Lucky for me, my child who loves meat also loves to mix it with her hands. I usually wait until she is available to do any "hands on" meat mixing. I enlisted her help a couple of weeks ago to make these meatloaf cupcakes and she did a great job. I ended up making 1/2 of the recipe into cupcakes and I shaped the other half of the meat into a traditional meatloaf. Meatloaf Cupcakes 1 pound ground beef 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning 6 ounce package stuffing mix ¾ cup spaghetti sauce 1 cup water ¾ cup mozzarella cheese
Top with shredded cheese.
If you prefer a more traditional meatloaf shape, you can use the same recipe.
I took this meatloaf to my father in-law to eat while my mother in law was in the hospital. It's fully cooked so all he had to do was reheat it and eat. My family ate the meatloaf cupcakes and we all really enjoyed them. What's your style - loaf or cupcakes?
Ciao! |
