Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Panko Breaded Portobello Mushroom Spears with Garlic Aioli

(borrowed this pic from Food Network, mine don't last long enough to take a picture of!)

Yes, if I could eat these for every meal, I would. I am not kidding. Thanks to my sis-in-law Heather for the recipe.

Ingredients:

Portobello Mushrooms washed and cut into 3/4 inch wedges
Panko Japanese Style bread crumbs
2 eggs, beaten
flour
Lawry's seasoning salt

Dredge wedges in flour then dip in egg and then roll till covered in Panko. Fry in 1/2 inch oil till lightly browned, turn and cook until other side is browned and drain on paper towels. Dip in aioli, eat, and die a happy woman.


Aioli Sauce:
mayonnaise
fresh garlic chopped fine

Add as much garlic as you like and mix with mayo. It's good to do this in advance (several hours, even a day) and let the flavors combine.

Lemon Crinkle Cookies


recipe from Lauren Brennan

Made this for our after school snack on the first day of school and they might just be my new favorite cookies! YUUUUUMMMMMMM!
Ingredients:
½ cups butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 whole egg
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoons baking powder
⅛ teaspoons baking soda
1-½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cups powdered sugar
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease light colored baking sheets with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and juice. Scrape sides and mix again. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte {not melty or shiny}. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

*If using a non-stick darker baking tray, reduce baking time by about 2 minutes. Makes 2-3 dozen (closer to 2)

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Southwest Stuffed Peppers

Found these on Our Best Bites and made them last night, kids and parents LOVED them. A new family favorite and while they may look/seem time consuming they weren't.


4 very large or 6 medium sweet peppers (red, yellow, or orange)
1 Tbs salt
1/2 C white rice (or brown if you want to take the time to cook it), quinoa also works
2 Tbs olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 – 1 jalapeno, minced (or you could sub a small 3oz can of mild green chilies)
1 14oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen corn kernels
2 green onions, sliced
1/2-1 tsp chipotle chili powder (you can start with 1/2 and add more to taste) *Emily's note: I used regular chili powder*
1 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/4 black pepper, plus more to taste
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, preferably fire roasted
1 1/4 C jack or pepperjack cheese, divided
3-4 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro
tortilla chips, just a handful and more for serving if desired.

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare peppers by washing, slicing tops off, and removing insides. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil and add 1 tablespoon salt. Boil whole peppers for about 3-4 minutes, until they begin to soften. Remove from water with tongs and place on paper towels to drain.

Add rice to boiling water and cook until tender, about 13 minutes. Drain thoroughly.

Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, garlic, and jalapeno (or chilies) and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add corn, beans, green onions, chipotle chili powder, kosher salt, and pepper. Stir until corn and beans are heated through, about 5 minutes. Place peppers in a baking dish. Remove skillet from heat and add rice, tomatoes, 1 cup cheese, and cilantro. Stir to combine well and give it a taste. Add additional salt, pepper, and chipotle powder to your liking. Then evenly divide mixture between peppers.

Top peppers with remaining 1/4 cup cheese (or more if you can fit it on there :) and crushed tortilla chips.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

Raspberry Cream Filled Cupcakes


Made these for Easter. Yum! The recipe said to fill with the raspberry filling and frost with a vanilla or cream cheese frosting, but truth be told I LOVE the raspberry creme and needed some of it in every bite so I frosted some of them with it and those were my favorite, so you'll just have to decide for yourself. I'm also tempted to try this as a big cake with the filling between the layers and the outside frosted with a vanilla buttercream?

Cupcakes:
1 box cake mix of choice (I used white)

Raspberry Filling:
1 block cream cheese (softened)
1 to 2 cups powdered sugar
fresh or unthawed raspberries (I used about 7 or 8 oz of frozen)
1 small box vanilla pudding (just dump in the powder)
milk to thin

Frosting:
1 can frosting of choice or homemade

Directions:
Prepare and bake cupcakes of choice. Let cool. Mix above ingredients and inject cupcakes with a cake decorating tip!!! I first used the bottom of a 3/4 inch funnel to punch out a small hole of cake and then injected it with the filling. Then frost cupcakes with frosting of choice to hide injection hole. Keep refrigerated.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Toffee Apple Dip


1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2-1 (11oz) pkg Heath milk chocolate toffee bits

Beat cream cheese, sugars and vanilla together until fluffy. Stir in toffee chips. Serve with sliced Granny Smith or Honeycrisp apples. YUM!