Do You Love A Good Competition?

I am a huge Food Network Nighttime fan. I watched The Next Food Network Star and was happy to see Amy had won :) Now they are advertising for contestants to be in season 4's NFNS. Is anybody going to enter? I don't have what it takes, but I would love to see someone in the blogging world make it. Here 's the link for more info.

Also, I got an email for a cranberry contest. All you do is use Ocean Spray products - cranberry juice, dried cranberries, cranberry sauce, etc. You could win $25,000. I want to enter, but I'm not that creative in making my own recipes. Maybe I'll get creative and work on something.

Presenting the Foodie Blogroll

What is the Foodie Blogroll? It is a list of various food blogs, set up by the lovely Left Over Queen. You send her an email, and she'll reply with a code. All you do is copy and paste. This idea is great not only in bringing people to your blog but also gives you another opportunity for web surfing (especially if you work in an office ;) ). The Foodie Blogroll can be found in my side menu towards the bottom.

Click this link for more information.

Waiter, There's Something In My Sauce

Pastitsio is a Greek pasta dish that is served as a main course. I made this dish a few years ago and decided to make it again. Normally you would use a tube pasta, such as ziti, but elbow pasta works fine. The original recipe calls for jarred Alfredo sauce. Since I didn't want to buy jarred sauce and this month's Waiter, There's Something In My... challenge is sauces, I decided to make my own. I haven't made homemade Alfredo sauce since high school, so I was hoping everything would work, and it did. If you don't want the sauce to be as dry, cut back on the parmesan cheese. Also, the cinnamon and nutmeg may sound weird in this dish, but trust me you need to add them.


Pastitsio




8 oz. elbow or tube pasta
1/2 lb. ground beef
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 cup green pepper, chopped
1 tsp cinnamon

Alfredo Sauce
1/2 cup butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1 egg yolk, beaten
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp water

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Spray casserole dish non-stick cooking spray. Boil pasta in water for 10 minutes; drain. Run under cold water so the pasta won't cook any further.

2. Meanwhile, brown beef in skillet. Drain grease; remove beef to separate plate. Wipe any remaining grease from skillet. Return beef; add tomatoes, onion, garlic, peppers, and cinnamon. Cook for 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Drain any remaining tomato juice.

3. Spread half the pasta into casserole dish. Add meat mixture on top. Cover with remaining pasta.

4. In saucepan over medium-high heat, melt butter and cream, stirring constantly. If you don't stir constantly, a milk skin will form on top. Whisk in cheese, egg yolk, lemon juice, and nutmeg. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from heat; add water.

5. Pour sauce over pasta dish. Bake for 30 minutes. Casserole should be bubbly and golden brown.

Source: Dish from Family Circle Sept. 2001, p. 136; Sauce from high school cooking class

The Next Browniebabe

I've been waiting for Myriam to start another round of Browniebabe of the Month. For my entry, I decided to bake Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies. Very successful but very rich. I had 2 brownies, and now I feel sick. Maybe next time I wouldn't use a stick of butter in the cookie dough. I like this recipe because there's no egg in the cookie dough so it's perfectly safe to eat. It overpowered the brownie, so although you get the texture of the brownie, you can't really taste it. Next time, I'm going to try baking the cookie dough on top for a few minutes. I think it might not be as rich than just chilling it on top in the fridge.

Now I know what you're thinking. If I had changes to make, why am I entering this into the round up? I don't expect to win. I enter challenges to try new recipes and to share recipes I find successful or recipes I tried and suggest ways to improve them. I would make these brownies again but with the changes listed above.

I got this recipe from Cookie Madness but I changed the ingredients a good bit.


Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies



Brownie
1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup flour

Cookie Dough
1 stick butter
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablepsoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 8x8 inch pan with parchment.

2. Melt butter over medium heat. Stir in sugar and cook, stirring constantly, until sugar melts. Add cocoa and stir until smooth. Remove from heat and pour mixture into a bowl. Let cool for about 5 minutes. Stir in baking powder. Stir in the eggs, one by one, then add vanilla and flour. Pour in pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until brownies are set. Let cool for 30 minutes.

3. Beat together butter, both sugars, milk and vanilla. Add flour and chocolate chips and stir. Spread this mixture over cooled brownies and place in refrigerator for about 30 minutes until firm.

Source: Cookie Madness



*Wink*

Happy Halloween!

I was in the mood for cupcakes Friday night, so my best friend and I baked pink lemonade cupcakes. I accidentally put in 2 eggs instead of 2 egg whites. I believe it made the batter heavier but still tasty. We paired it up with a cream cheese frosting, but the pairing is iffy. Some say it goes together; others don't agree. I think next time I will just go with a basic buttercream frosting. The recipe calls for a few drops of red food coloring. I would go with it just because they look like vanilla cupcakes. If I had pink sprinkles, I would've used those, but I didn't. Happy Halloween!! haha


Pink Lemonade Cupcakes




Recipe came from Bake Space.

Also I received an email about the Great American Bake Sale. It is "a national campaign that mobilizes Americans to help end
childhood hunger by having a bake sale in their community. Now in its
fourth year, over 1 million people have participated in the campaign to
aid the 12 million children in America who are at risk of hunger." It runs through August 31. For more information, please visit the Great American Bake Sale website.

Final note: Vote for Amy to be the Next Food Network Star!!. I love Rory's personality, but I think Amy would make a better star.

I Did It Again...

I bought zucchinis from a farmer yesterday, so I decided today after an early work shift (9:15 - 3), I would cook dinner. This recipe was very easy to make. I adjusted all of the ingredients, so I guess you can say I made up another recipe. My dad put leftover cucumber sauce on top, and it tasted great. This makes an excellent dinner for vegetarians or for those who just don't want to eat meat.


Stuffed Zucchini




3 zucchinis
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
1 cup tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup black olives, chopped
2 Tbsp butter
1 tsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp garlic, minced
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup cucumber, peeled and diced
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dillweed
1 Tbsp lemon juice

1. Cook zucchini in boiling water for 3 minutes; drain. This will soften the zucchinis so it'll be easy to cut and scoop. Once they are cool enough to touch, cut each one in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds; discard seeds. Place zucchini boats into 2 13x9 pans (cookie sheets would work too). Preheat oven to 350F

2. Toss together mushrooms, tomatoes, and olives. Place evenly into each boat.

3. Melt butter in microwave. Add garlic and sesame seeds. Spoon evenly on top of each boat. Bake for 35 minutes. Zucchini should fall easily off a fork.

4. While the boats are baking, combine yogurt, cucumbers, garlic powder, dillweed, and lemon juice. Let chill. Serve on top of warm zucchini boats.

Source: Me, but recipe idea came from "Favorite Italian Brand Name Recipes" 1983 p.53

Weekend Cookbook Challenge 18

What do you do when you can't find the recipe you're looking for? Make it up. That's right. I made my own recipe!! I had 1 lemon that I needed to use up. When my dad was going through the cupboard above the stove, he pointed out that I had jumbo shells I needed to use (they were up there probably at least a year). What does lemon juice + shells equal? Greek stuffed shells, of course. I googled for recipes, but I got nothing. So I took the typical Greek ingredients and replaced the Italian ingredients with these. I also decided to enter this into the Weekend Cookbook Challenge 18 - Red and White due to the tomatoes and cucumber sauce.

EDIT - Round up is now posted.


Greek Stuffed Shells




12 jumbo shells
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup cucumber, peeled and diced
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dillweed
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped
1 egg, beaten
5 black olives, chopped

1. Boil water. Cook shells for 10 minutes. Drain; run under cold water to stop any further cooking.

2. For the sauce, combine yogurt, cucumbers, garlic powder, 1/2 tsp dillweed, and 1 Tbsp lemon juice. Cover and let chill in the refrigerator.

3. Combine cheese, 1/2 tsp dill, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, tomatoes, egg, and olives.

4. Preheat oven to 350F. Spread the bottom of 13x9 pan with some of the sauce. Place shells on top. Stuff with the cheese mixture. Pour remaining sauce on top. Cover with foil. Bake for 35 minutes.

Source: Sauce from Recipe Zaar, Shell recipe by me


Nectarine Crisp




I also made dessert. This has nothing to do with Greek cuisine but still delicious nonetheless. I used this recipe from Recipe Zaar. I left out the blueberries and wheat germ. Next time, I will try it with raspberries.

It's A Tart, Not A Pie!

Happy birthday America!

According to my dear pal Wikipedia, a tart is an open-faced pie. Since it is a type of pie, my family (me included) kept calling it a pie rather than a tart. Whatever you want to call it, it's delicious. I made it for my family's mini 4th of July picnic. If you really wanted it to be patriotic, you could sub strawberries and blueberries for the peaches. I also made a variation of macaroni salad, but I suggest making your own cheese sauce because the packaged mac and cheese has a high sodium level. Next time, I'm going to make Amish macaroni salad.

EDIT: This is a galette, not a tart.


Peach Galette




1 prepared pie crust
4 oz cream cheese, softened
3 peaches, sliced
1/4 sugar
2 Tbsp flour
3/4 tsp sugar + 1/4 tsp cinnamon
8 oz whipped topping

1. Preheat oven to 450F. Grease 10-inch pie plate. Place pie crust into plate. Spread cream cheese on top of crust.

2. Toss sliced peaches with sugar and flour. Spoon over cream cheese layer. Fold edges of pie crust over peaches, leaving a big circle in the middle. Sprinkle cinnamon + sugar over peaches and crust. Bake 25 minutes. Crust should be golden brown and juices should be bubbly. Serve warm with whipped topping.

Source: Kraft "Food & Family" magazine, Summer 2007, p.16


Macaroni and Cheese Salad




1 pkg (14 oz) macaroni and cheese
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup each red, green, and yellow peppers, chopped
4 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1/4 cup onions, chopped

1. Prepare macaroni and cheese as directed.

2. Meanwhile, chop peppers, eggs, and onion. Toss with prepared macaroni and cheese. Add milk and mayo; mix well. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

Source: Kraft "Food & Family" magazine, Summer 2007, p.5

My First Cookie

Chocolate chip cookies were the first cookies I baked. Originally, I wasn't going to post this easy and common recipe, but I learned when I studied in Ireland that not everyone is familiar with this great cookie. When I baked these before work, I didn't realized I added 1/3 cup shortening instead of 1/2 cup until I was cleaning the cups! LOL! There was no taste difference, so I did something healthy :)


Chocolate Chip Cookies




1/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips

Mix shortening, both sugars, egg, and vanilla until creamy. Add flour and soda. Stir in chocolate chips. Bake at 375F for 8-10 minutes (mine took 13 minutes).

Source: 8th grade cooking class