A Life-Changing Discovery

A little while ago I had my first P. F. Chang experience, complete with chicken lettuce wraps.  I thoroughly enjoyed them.  Thus, when I was at the store earlier this week, I bought a head of lettuce, hoping to somehow concoct some sort of loose copycat of the chicken lettuce wraps.

However, when dinner time rolled around the other day, I wasn't in the mood for a big cooking adventure, so I immediately scrapped the idea of doing a copycat.  I was actually in more of a taco mood anyway.  But my tortillas had been hanging out in my fridge for a while, so that didn't sound very appetizing either.

Then it hit me.  Taco lettuce wraps.  So we loaded up lettuce leaves with taco meat and typical taco condiments (minus shredded lettuce, of course) and dug in.  Holy yum.  They're messy to eat, to be sure.  But so delicious.  Tortillas simply cannot compare to the crisp freshness of lettuce leaves.

I might have tacos like this for the rest of my life.

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

As I was preparing for my weekly grocery shopping trip last week, I was brainstorming a few meal ideas.  I asked my husband for ideas, and Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas were his first request.  Thus, I got on Pinterest to check on ingredients I needed to get and although my pin was still there, it no longer led to the recipe.  Apparently the blogger jumped ship and deleted her blog.  Who does that?

Fortunately I first discovered this recipe during the era in which we didn't have internet at our house, so I had copied the recipe down and put it in my recipe box.  Now that the source of my recipe is gone, I kind of feel obligated to share the recipe.  Naturally, I didn't think to take a picture of them until we'd eaten most of the pan, and that's not super visually appealing, so just envision some delicious enchiladas.

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

Marinade:
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup lime juice
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Other Ingredients:
1 lb cooked and shredded chicken (about 2 large breasts)
12 corn tortillas (or about 6 flour tortillas)
2 cups shredded cheese
1-14 oz. can green enchilada sauce
1/2 cup heavy cream

1.  Combine marinade ingredients and add to chicken.  Allow cooked/shredded chicken to marinate in the marinade for 30-60 minutes in the fridge.
2.  (I skip this step when I use flour tortillas) Heat large griddle until drop of water skitters across (about 350 degrees).  Spray with cooking spray and heat tortillas about 20 seconds on each side until warm and flexible.  Keep warmed tortillas between paper towels until ready to proceed to next step.
3.  Spray 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray and heat oven to 350 degrees.
4.  Combine cream and enchilada sauce, then pour half the cream sauce into the greased pan.
5.  Fill each tortilla with some marinaded chicken and a few pinches of cheese, then roll and arrange in pan.
6.  Combine any remaining marinade with the cream sauce, then pour over top of enchiladas.  Top with shredded cheese.
7.  Bake for 30-35 minutes

Tomato Soup

I haven't always been a tomato soup fan.  In fact, I tried tomato soup for the very first time about two years ago.  Seriously.  But in my defense I only acquired a taste for tomatoes in the past five years or so, had I tried tomato soup earlier I probably wouldn't have liked it.

Over the past year I've tried a couple of different recipes for tomato soup.  I liked some more than others, but honestly I always preferred good old Campbell's made with milk.  My husband scoffed at me.  I'm a child in the tomato soup world.

But yesterday I found a winner.  The texture is nice.  The flavor is nice.  And, most importantly, it's pretty easy and quick.  The original recipe came from this blog, but I made some changes.

(Once again, I apologize for the poor picture quality.  
I was so excited to eat that I only gave myself a moment to snap a shot with my Ipod.)

Tomato Soup

3 cloves garlic, minced
2 T olive oil
2-14 oz. cans crushed tomatoes
1-14 oz. can diced tomatoes
1-14 oz. can chicken broth
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp pepper
3 oz. cream (3/8 cup)
basil to taste
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Saute garlic in oil over medium heat for about 1 minute.  Be careful not to let it burn!  Add tomatoes, broth, salt, sugar, and pepper.  Bring it to a simmer, then simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Next throw it in the blender (about a third of the soup at a time) until it's fairly smooth.  Stir in the cream and basil, then serve topped with some Parmesan cheese.

Notes:

• You can use 3/8 tsp of garlic powder if you don't have garlic on hand.
•  I used the 28 oz. can of Kroger Value crushed tomatoes and it turned out awesome, so don't feel like you have to get fancy with the canned tomatoes.
• The original recipe called for a can of whole tomatoes instead of diced, but I decided to try diced instead.  You might could use whole or just more crushed tomatoes instead, but I'm not sure what it does to the texture.  I'll experiment and report back.
• I read somewhere that simmer is when it bubbles only every couple of seconds.  If it starts to bubble too much (boil), turn down the heat.
• When I blended the soup I ladled about a third of the soup in the blender, and the rest in a big bowl.  After I blended, I poured the soup back in the pot.
• The original called for 1/4 cup of cream, but I wanted it to be a little extra creamy so I increased it to 3 oz.
• We all know grilled cheese is the only thing to eat with tomato soup.

Buffalo Chicken Roll-Ups

When I saw this recipe on Pinterest, I was immediately intrigued.  It's super easy, but I'd never made anything like this before.  Thus, I knew I must try.  I made it a second time last night with a few adaptations, and loved it even more.

Here's what you'll need:

Chicken (cooked and shredded)
Frank's RedHot Original Sauce (or Buffalo Sauce)
Brown Sugar
Egg Roll Wrappers
Bagged Cole Slaw Mix (dry!)
Cheese of Preference
Cooking Spray
Olive Oil (optional)
Glass of Water
Blue Cheese Dressing (or Ranch)

First of all, whenever I have a recipe that calls for shredded chicken, I prefer to cook the chicken in the crockpot.  It's just easier for me that way.  No babysitting it as it boils or fries.  I just put it in the crockpot and ignore it for 3-4 hours on high (depending on the amount of chicken).  It makes for super tender, perfectly cooked chicken that shreds like a dream.

As for how much chicken, cook up as much as you think you'll need.  For feeding the two of us I cooked up 4 chicken tenderloins, and we had enough leftover to probably feed one more person.

After your chicken is shredded, add the hot sauce and brown sugar to taste.  You want at least enough hot sauce to make the chicken moist (that chicken will slurp it right up), and then add some brown sugar to temper the spiciness a little.  Taste as you go and stop when you think it tastes good.  The original Frank's sauce is pretty spicy (although the spiciness thermometer on the bottle puts it only in the middle), so if you're feeding kids I'd probably go with Frank's buffalo sauce--according to the thermometer on the bottle, it's less spicy.

Oh yes, and you should probably preheat your oven.  Look at the baking instructions on your egg roll wrappers and preheat to that temperature.  Mine was 400 degrees, so yours are probably fairly similar.  Also note the baking time on your wrappers.  You'll need that for later.  Also spray down a cookie sheet with some cooking spray.

Here's the fun part.  Lay out an egg roll wrapper on a plate.  By the way, these can be found in the produce refrigerated section by the tofu. 

Arrange your chicken, cheese, and shredded cabbage like so on your egg roll wrapper:

As a side note, the original recipe calls for blue cheese crumbles, which sounds really good.  However, I've never tried it with the blue cheese and have instead used shredded pepper jack cheese.  Cheese as you wish.

Now fold your wrapper up like so:

Now dip your finger in the glass of water and run it along the edges of the remaining unfolded corner.  This tiny bit of water will seal your roll up when you do the next step.

Next, carefully roll the body of the roll toward the final corner.  You should be left with a beautiful egg roll.  Ok, maybe it won't be beautiful.  It took me a while to get the hang of it.  But beautiful or not, it will taste delicious.

Repeat until you have as many rolls as you desire and arrange them on your greased cookie sheet.  We eat somewhere between 3 or 4 rolls each, so you can use that to gauge how many to make. 

Now, this next step is important!  This is what will make your rolls crispy.  You can either spray the tops of your rolls with some cooking spray--this is the quick way.  Or you can brush the tops of the rolls with olive oil.  I'll admit I've only done the quick way, but I'd imagine using olive oil would probably be even better.  Choose what you will.

Now bake your rolls according to your wrapper package directions.  The original recipe said 13-15 minutes, but my wrappers said only 10-12 and it ended up that they needed only about 11 minutes.  Your rolls should come out slightly browned and crispy.

You could probably eat these plain, but it's really good to dip them in dressing.  The original recipe calls for blue cheese dressing, which is what I used.  I figured if I used blue cheese dressing with chunks of blue cheese in the dressing, it wouldn't really matter that I didn't put blue cheese in the rolls.  I think I was right, because they really are delicious.  Blue cheese and buffalo make a good pair.  However, I think dipping them in ranch dressing would be good as well.

I'm not sure if leftover rolls heat up well--my husband took the leftovers to work today for lunch, so I'll have to ask.  I don't think they'd stay very crispy, though.  I'd say the safest bet is to bake only as many rolls as you'll eat and save leftover ingredients to bake at a later time.

{Moderately} Healthy Broccoli Alfredo

I have this thing for pasta.  And since I'm really not a fan of marinara sauce, my default favorite is Alfredo sauce.  However, I'm not a huge fan of store-bought Alfredo sauce.  Let's face it, it's nasty compared to home-made.  I have a delightful recipe for Alfredo sauce that I love (and I'll probably share sometime), but it calls for a lot of butter, cream, cream cheese, and Parmesan cheese.  Clog my arteries now.  Hence, it's more of a special occasion sauce than a bi-monthly sauce.  Sad story.

But then the clouds cleared and the Pinterest sun came out... Skinny Alfredo!  Also, I should apologize for the crappy quality of the above picture.  I used my ipod.  Enough said.  I've made a few modifications to this recipe.

Firstly, it called for roasted broccoli.  Whaaaaat?  Broccoli can be roasted?  However, she didn't share how to roast broccoli.  Thus, Rachael Ray came to the rescue.  Bless her heart.  Roasting it is so worth it.  A billion times better than steaming.

Secondly, the recipe called for Greek yogurt.  That stuff is super healthy and super not in my budget.  Too fancy for me.  I'd rather spend my splurge money on the Kroger knockoff of Nutella.  Thus, I found a slightly less healthy, but more affordable substitute:  sour cream.

Thirdly, the recipe calls for roughly half a can of chicken broth.  What the crap do I do with the other half of the can?  Drink it?  Sheesh.  So I doubled the sauce recipe.  More is better, right?  Put it in a Tupperware and take it to work!

Fourthly, to make up for the decrease in healthiness thanks to the sour cream, I decreased the Parmesan cheese.  I didn't really notice a difference in taste.

Fifthly, I'm just not coordinated enough to throw chicken into the mix.  I'm roasting some broccoli, stirring a sauce, trying to keep the noodles from boiling over, and you want me to grill some chicken too?  Not in my 81 degree house.

Lastly, I used garlic powder instead of minced garlic.  It's more cheap that way.  Not to mention easier.  Are you noting a pattern here?

Now, this sauce isn't as delightful as my fancy, fatty Alfredo sauce--not nearly as creamy--but it's still pretty dang good.  And much more healthy.  So without further ado, here is the recipe:

{Moderately} Healthy Broccoli Alfredo

Roasted Broccoli: (Serves 8)
4 cups broccoli florets, washed and cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 tsp garlic powder (or 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped)
6 Tbs (or 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs) olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a bowl combine all the ingredients and stir to evenly coat broccoli.  Spread out on a cookie sheet (or whatever you prefer) and bake for 15-20 minutes until it's crispy and the ends are slightly brown.

Sauce: (Serves 8)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup flour
1 (14 oz.) can fat-free, low sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 tsp pepper
1 dash ground nutmeg
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Heat oil and garlic powder on medium-low heat in a medium saucepan.  Whisk in flour until smooth, then gradually whisk in broth, sour cream, milk, pepper, and nutmeg.  Bring to a low boil, stirring constantly, then reduce heat and simmer until sauce thickens (approximately 3 minutes).  Stir in Parmesan cheese until melted.


Combine the sauce with the broccoli, and serve with an appropriate amount of the noodle of your choice.  Maybe 16 ounces of Fettuccine?  Choose your own adventure.  Also, if you're ambitious enough to add chicken, please feel free.  If you desire, garnish with a little extra Parmesan cheese.  Voila!  A quick, easy, and {moderately} healthy meal!

Peanut Butter Brownie Bites

The first thing my husband said when he tasted these was, "So, are you going to blog about these?"  You bet.

These were slightly experimental, but they turned out really good.  Think Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, but brownie-style.  Yum.  And it's really pretty easy.

First of all, mix up a regular 1 lb. batch of box brownies normally.  You know the drill:  water, oil, and eggs.  After you've got your batter good and mixed up, set it aside.

Now for the peanut butter filling.  I got the idea for peanut butter filling from this fabulous cupcake recipe.  However, the cupcakes require mixing and measuring so many different things.  Batter, filling, and frosting?  Oh dear.  Anyway, it's going to be a special occasion dessert.  These brownies bites, on the other hand, are much less work.

Back to the filling.  Combine the following:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup peanut butter
2  Tbs. butter at room temperature
1/4 tsp. vanilla

Now pull out your cupcake pans.  This recipe will make about 24 brownie bites, so two pans should do the trick.  Unless you're like me and only have one cupcake pan.  I'm sure it's even faster to make this with two pans, but I don't feel like having two at this juncture in my life.

Now, the roads can diverge here.  You can either use cupcake liners or vegetable spray the crap out of the pans so the brownies don't stick.  Your call.  I used cupcake liners.  Get out a regular table spoon (like the kind you eat with) and drop one spoonful of brownie batter into each cupcake nook.  I don't know what they're really called, but I'm going to call them nooks.

Now the filling.  Form some 1-inch balls with the filling.  Before placing a ball in each nook, squish it slightly to make a thick disk shape.  I feel like this distributes the peanut butter a little more evenly.  When you've got filling in each nook, top the nooks off with another (smaller) spoonful of batter on top.  You don't need much--mostly just cover the filling.

Now bake them at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes.  It's a little tricky to test if they're done with the filling, but if you poke a toothpick or knife most of the way in and it comes out clean, it's probably done.  When in doubt, put it in for a minute or two longer.

There you go.  Peanut butter brownie bites.  Delish.

Pudding Cookies

There are few things I love more than chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven.  I think I could love any chocolate chip cookie recipe.  That being said, I do prefer soft cookies.  We're talking baked-yesterday-and-still-soft chocolate chip cookies.

I have a couple recipes I like for soft chocolate chip cookies.  I've made this recipe several times and loved it.  What makes it soft is the corn starch.  Sounds weird but tastes like a normal chocolate chip cookie.  Except eternally soft.  They are soft even after leaving them out on the counter overnight.  Not that I've ever done that before (wink).  It's really pretty amazing.

Pudding cookies are another fantastic way to make a delicious soft chocolate chip cookie.  Basically it's adding a packet of pudding mix to the dough.  The fun part is that you can change the flavor of your dough.  Yeah.  Flavor change.  If you prefer the traditional chocolate chip cookie, use vanilla.  But if you're feeling adventurous, you can go with chocolate, butterscotch, pistachio, lemon, etc.  So many options!

For the above pictured cookies, I used chocolate fudge pudding mix and mint/chocolate chips.  They were delish.  It had a chocolate flavor, but it still tasted like classic chocolate chip cookies.  I love the classic cookie taste.

Pudding Cookies

1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
3/4 cup Butter or Margarine, softened
3/4 cup Shortening
1/2 cup Sugar
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
3 Eggs
1 Large Box Instant Pudding Mix
3 cups Flour
3 cups Chocolate Chips

Mix all the ingredients except the flour and chocolate chips.  Add the flour and mix just until incorporated.  Add chocolate chips.  Using a cookie scoop or spoon, scoop dough onto cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.

Super easy.

A few tips:

--Pull the butter/margarine out of the fridge and set it on the counter about 30 minutes before mixing up your ingredients.  That way it's softened, but not too soft.  Butter temperature plays a huge role in making the cookies look as good as they taste.

--When measuring the shortening, I line my measuring cup with a plastic sandwich bag first.  The shortening tends to come off the bag pretty easily, then you can throw the bag away.  No scraping shortening out of the measuring cup, and then little to no clean-up of the measuring cup (which is a big deal to those of us with no dishwasher).  Win.

--If I've mixed everything up and the dough seems too soft and sticky, I stick it in the fridge for 15 min. or so to let it set it up a little.

-- Seeing as there are only two of us at my house, baking an entire batch of cookies is not a good idea.  My impulse control with fresh cookies isn't great.  Thus, I usually bake a few cookies, let my dough sit in the fridge for a little while, then I use a cookie scoop to put the rest of the dough into a ziplock back.  Then I throw it in the freezer.  Having it frozen in individual cookie form makes it so easy to bake just one cookie.  Although I usually bake two or three.

--When I'm baking previously frozen dough, I put my dough balls in the microwave for 15 seconds, flipping them over halfway through.  The goal is to soften the dough up a little before baking, but not to make it too soft and gooey.

(Practically) Stuffed French Toast

I feel like my blog is depressing this month.  Well, I don't think it's depressing (I wasn't kidding when I said I'm super obsessive about preventing child abuse), but it's probably a bit much for normal people.  Thus, we're going to switch it up for this post and talk about something far less depressing:  stuffed French toast.

I came across this tutorial for stuffed French toast on Pinterest.  It was so delicious.  However, it was kind of a pain in the butt to make.  The directions said to get a loaf of French bread and cut it into X inch wide slices, then cut a X inch wide and deep slit into each slice, and then somehow shovel your fruity cream cheese into these slits without squishing or tearing the bread.  After much foot stomping and frustrated bread-hacking with my paring knife, I couldn't help but feel like there should be an easier way to make stuffed French toast.

I have good news.  There is an easier way!  A much easier way.  No cutting.  No slitting.  No stuffing.  How is it stuffed french toast without doing any stuffing?  You shall see.

As a side note, I'm also kind of grammar/punctuation/spelling Nazi, and I can't decide whether the "French" in "stuffed French toast" should be capitalized.  I think it looks weird, but I'm fairly sure the rule is that it should be capitalized.  Thus, I will begrudgingly capitalize.  Not that I have a problem with the French, but I just think it's a little unfair to "stuffed" and "toast" which are both very important parts of this recipe.  I would capitalize all of it, but that just seems excessive.  Oh, the dilemmas of the English language.

Here are your ingredients:
Bread (normal store-bought pre-sliced bread)
Eggs
Milk
Vanilla
Cinnamon
Vegetable Oil or Spray
Cream Cheese
Fresh Fruit or Jam (or both)
Powdered Sugar

First of all, make some normal French toast with normal bread.  My rule of thumb is that 1 egg will make two slices of French toast.  You need two slices of bread for one stuffed French toast masterpiece.  So you can use that to gauge how many eggs to use.  As for the milk, a splash will do.  The fewer the eggs, the smaller the splash.  If you're using more eggs, do a bigger splash.  Then do some drips of vanilla and sprinkles of cinnamon.  Maybe this is weird, but in my family we never measure our French toast ingredients.  I mean the eggs aren't really much to measure, but as far as the milk, vanilla, and cinnamon go, a splash or sprinkle works for me every time.  Some splashes and sprinkles are smaller or bigger than others, but it always tastes good.  French toast is very forgiving.  However, if you're nervous and need more structure, the above-mentioned frustrating stuffed French toast tutorial links to a more structured recipe.

(Now is a good time to assert that my photography is less than desirable, but it does the trick)

After you've got your egg-milk-cinnamon mixture all sufficiently mixed, get your frying pan or griddle heated up (at about medium heat) and pour/spray some vegetable oil on there.  I like to use a lot of oil because it makes it taste sooooo good.  Really, my French toast turns out kind of deep fried.  But hey, French toast really isn't all that healthy anyway, so you might as well make it freaking delicious while you're at it.  You can use a lesser degree of oil if you're trying to be more healthy.

(Note the obscene amount of oil)

Dip both sides of your bread in the egg mixture and get it frying right away.  Don't dip your bread unless you're going to put it directly on your hot pan.  Premature dipping leads to soggy gross French toast.  You don't want that.  Unless you like it that way.  Your call. 

 Fry up both sides until it's cooked through and pleasantly browned, and then turn the heat down to low-ish.

Here's where the stuffed part comes in.  Get out a butter knife and cut off a dab of cream cheese from the block.  Put the dab on a piece of cooked French toast.  Don't bother trying to spread it around; just put it on the toast.  Put some more dabs on your toast until you achieve a satisfactory level of cream cheese. 

After that, put some fruit or jam on the same slice of toast.  If you're using jam, don't worry too much about spreading it around.  As long as it's distributed somewhat evenly it'll taste wonderful.  If you choose to use fresh fruit (like strawberries, raspberries, or blueberries) I'd recommend stirring some granulated sugar into the washed (and cut, if necessary) fruit and then letting it sit for a few minutes to let the sugar dissolve and soak in.  Apply cream cheese and fruit on half of the cooked toasts.

Here's the final step.  Take a slice of plain cooked toast and put it on top of your cream cheese-y, fruity slice of toast.  All of the sudden it's magically stuffed without doing any stuffing!  How simple is that?  I like to leave it on the warm pan for a little while to let the cream cheese get soft and warm.

Sprinkle some powdered sugar on top, and garnish with more jam or fruit if you'd like, and you're ready to serve!  No syrup required--it's sweet enough without it.  This tastes exactly like the difficult version.  But it's infinitely easier and faster.  And I make it way too often.

The Quick and Cheap Asian Meal

A staple at our house is something we call Fried Noodles.  It's similar to Chinese fried rice, except it's more like a meal than a side dish.  Surprisingly, my husband endorses this meal.  He spent two years in South Korea serving a mission for the LDS church, and has very high standards for Asian food.  He avoids Panda Express because it isn't authentic enough.  That being said, you know this is fairly legit.  I think it's good too.  It certainly doesn't hurt that it's also incredibly easy, quick, and cheap. 

I had every intention of including pictures in this post, but this meal is so quick to make that I literally didn't have enough time to snap some pictures.  Fortunately, it's so simple that visuals really aren't necessary.

Here's what you'll need:
1 splash of Sesame Seed Oil
1 splash of Vegetable or Olive Oil
1 handful of Vegetables
1 portion of Meat
1 package of Top Ramen (the flavor doesn't matter--you'll throw that part away)
1 Egg
Soy Sauce (optional)

Yes, my measurements are vague, but there's really no point in measuring.  Put as much oil, vegetables, and meat in there as your heart desires.

First of all, put a splash of both oils in a large wok or frying pan and heat it on the low-ish side of medium.  As a side-note, you could probably make do without the sesame seed oil, but this is what makes it really Asian.  It will make your house smell like Asia.  That's what my husband says it smells like, anyway.  I've never been to Asia, but I trust my husband's judgement of Asian smells.

Once you've got your pan nice and hot, you're ready to throw in some stuff.  What stuff?  It depends.  This is a social worker's favorite answer.  It depends what you're working with.  The beautiful thing about this meal is that you can just use what you've got on hand.  As far as vegetables go, you can use fresh or frozen.  Anything goes with meat--chicken, beef, ham, Spam (yes, Spam--I never thought I would ever consume Spam, but it's pretty good fried), or you can just go meat-less.  The rule of thumb is that the first thing you put in the pan should be what you think will take longest to cook.  Add the vegetables accordingly.  If they're frozen, add them earlier, if fresh, add later.  Use your best judgement.

Here's an example of what I've done before:  I started by frying up some diced Spam.  It's already cooked (yay!  fast!), so after a few minutes I added some frozen mixed vegetables (this is a very inexpensive way to go).  At this point I covered the pan with the lid so I had some steaming action going on.  After the vegetables had cooked long enough that they were thawed (but not fully cooked) I added some fresh diced red bell pepper.  After everything was cooked I moved on to the next step.

Here's the next step.  When your meat and/or vegetables are a few minutes away from being done, get some water boiling in a pot.  Boil the Ramen for about a minute, keeping it in the block shape for easy transfer.  You will only need the noodles, so do what you want with the flavor packet.  You don't want to boil the noodles quite as long as you would for Ramen soup, or it'll end up really mushy.  Gross.  Actually, it tastes about the same, but the texture is weird.  When it's sufficiently boiled, use a slotted spoon (or the like) to transfer the noodles to your veggie and/or meat-filled pan.  Then crack an egg on top of your Ramen block and start stirring everything until the egg is well incorporated into your noodles and vegetables/meat.  You'll have to do this kind of quickly, as you don't want the egg to cook in one blob--it should be scrambled-esque.  It doesn't take very long to cook after this point, so watch closely.  It's fairly obvious to tell when it's done--when the noodles stop looking ooey-gooey, it's probably cooked.  We like to add a little splash of soy sauce before we eat it.  Neither of us are huge fans of soy sauce as a condiment, but we both agree that it adds that perfect little something to our noodles.

That's all!  How neat is that?!

Sour Cream Cinnamon Twists

My husband and I are in love with honey lime chicken enchiladas. They are blow your mind away delicious. But after I've made them, I always run into this dilemma: sour cream. No, I'm not talking about the sour cream you put on your baked potato or taco. We're talking cream gone bad. Well, not exactly bad, because it is good for something: Sour Cream Cinnamon Twists.



I always think of the "One Semester of Spanish Love Song" when I hear the words "cinnamon twist" even though there is nothing remotely Latino about this recipe. On the contrary, this recipe comes from my great grandma--a shepherd's wife. Her cow was a plentiful source of milk and cream, and the cream sometimes went sour (it happens to the best of us). Thus she made this delicious treat. They're way better than any cinnamon twist you buy in the doughnut section of the grocery store.

You'd think this would be a tricky and time consuming recipe. Nope! Piece of cake!

Sour Cream Cinnamon Twists
Ingredients:
1 C liquid sour cream (not the baked potato kind) (or you can use half and half with a bit of vinegar added to it)
2 T shortening
3 T sugar
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 egg, well beaten
1 pkg yeast (2 1/2 tsp)
3 C flour
Butter, cinnamon, sugar, and brown sugar--to taste
Powdered sugar and vanilla (for glaze)

Bring sour cream to a boil and remove from heat. Add shortening, sugar, salt, and soda. Stir. Let cool slightly before mixing in the egg and yeast (you don't want the yeast to die or the egg to instantly cook, but you want it to be warm still). Add 1/2 cup of flour. Once mixed, add remaining flour. I can never quite get the full 3 cups of flour kneaded in without creating a really tough dough, so I usually shoot for about 2.5 instead. Knead dough for 30 seconds, then cover and let rest for 15 minutes.

On a slightly floured surface, roll dough out to a 18"x6" rectangle (approximately). Spread melted butter over the dough (go with as much as you want, but don't be too skimpy). Sprinkle with ample amounts of sugar, cinnamon, and brown sugar (once again, as much as you want). Fold dough in half hotdog style (so now you'll have an 18"x3" rectangle). Cut into 1" strips (perpendicular to the fold). It will make about 18 strips. Simultaneously stretch and twist each strip (twist them as much as you can) and place on greased cookie sheet. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in warm place for about 1 hour. I put the cookie sheet on my stove top and turned the oven to warm while it was rising, and this seemed to work really well. There's a good chance your twists will untwist a little while rising.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Let cool, then drizzle with a light glaze. For the glaze, start with about a cup of powdered sugar and a little splash of vanilla, then add water until a drizzle-able consistency is reached. It really doesn't take much water, so be careful. If you melted a bit too much butter when you were doing the cinnamon/sugar thing, go ahead and add the extra to the glaze. Butter makes everything better.

Let the glaze dry, and then voila! Sour Cream Cinnamon Twists!


You can definitely vary the size of these twists. Rolling it out to 18"x6" makes pretty short twists, as you can see. You can roll it out to different dimensions to get longer twists if you'd like. Also keep in mind the more you stretch them while twisting, the skinnier they will be. Mine are a bit short and chubby, but when my mom makes these, they end up skinnier and longer. She must stretch hers out more. But these are all just superficial details--the bottom line is they are good no matter what they look like.

Margharita Toast

I have been really excited for my March theme. I've mentioned before that I have fallen in love with Pinterest. It really has been life-changing. In fact, I'm going to name my first-born child after Pinterest. If it's a girl I'll name her Pin-elope and if it's a boy he'll be named Pin-eus. Don't tell my husband. Anyway, I've never ventured down the food and craft avenue on my blog, but I've decided that this month I will. It is Pinterest Month!

I have to give a little background info before I begin. Last summer, every time we went to my in-law's house my husband's mom loaded us up with produce from her garden. It was amazing. One time we were given fresh basil, tomatoes, and a recipe for Margharita pizza.

It started with a pretty basic pizza dough recipe, but for some reason, I haven't had much luck with it. I have tried and loved this pizza dough recipe I found on Pinterest (of course). I'm sure my mother-in-law's dough recipe didn't turn out simply because of my pizza dough inexperience. I've become much more experienced with the rising dough family since, but I'm still reluctant to stray from the Pinterest recipe. If it works beautifully, why fix it?

Anyway, here is the rest of the Margharita pizza recipe she gave me:

3 cloves of garlic

1/2 cup olive oil

1 tsp oregano

Diced fresh tomatoes (I suppose drained canned might work... but I've never tried)

Sliced or grated mozzarella cheese

Fresh or dried basil (fresh is infinitely better, but dried works just fine)

Instructions: Crush garlic into oil, then add oregano. If you're like me and never keep garlic on hand, garlic powder works the same--it's 1/8 tsp per clove. So with this recipe it's 3/8 tsp garlic. Do what works for you. The nice thing about the garlic powder is you don't have to crush it. You just stir it in along with the oregano. You then spread this oil mixture on top of your rolled out and shaped pizza dough and top with cheese, tomatoes, and basil. Of course, you can put the toppings on in any order. Some folks prefer the cheese on top, while others like it on the bottom. Or you can get the best of both worlds and put some on top and bottom. Do what you like. Then follow your pizza crust's instructions as to how long and how hot to bake it.

This leads us to the main topic of my post. After we make the pizza, it is almost inevitable that we'll have some oil mixture and other toppings left over. But there is no leftover pizza dough. After going through the ordeal of making homemade pizza dough (which isn't that hard, but I always feel like I ran a marathon afterwards) I'm usually in the mood for cooking something simple. Super simple.

Now, I come from a family that thrives on cheese sandwiches. To mix things up, we have two varieties--the open face and the closed face. Closed face is just a normal cheese sandwich (I think 'closed face' is a term solely used by my immediate family). Open face is a slice of bread topped with cheese, then broiled in the oven until the cheese is nice and melty. When I considered my leftover toppings, it seemed as though I could make an mock-margharita open face cheese sandwich. We've made it frequently ever since and have affectionately dubbed it Margharita Toast. I've gotten in the habit of always having some of the oil mixture on hand even when I'm not planning on making pizza anytime soon.

It looks good, right? It is good. And so fast. Almost ridiculously fast. Faster than making a grilled cheese sandwich (closed face). I'll be honest--it's not as good as the real margharita pizza. But considering how long (or short) it takes to make it, it's pretty dang good.

To start, put a slice (or two) of bread on a pan or cookie sheet--just whatever fits best. Then spread some of the above oil mixture on the slice of bread. Put a pretty good amount. I keep my oil mixture in the fridge simply because it makes it a nice consistency to spread with a butter knife. Room temperature oil mixture you have to use a spoon, and depending on how spongey your bread is, it might just soak it up. Soggy bread just seems ick to me. The refrigerated oil stays on top, which just logistically seems better. But try it different ways to see what you like best.

Then top with your cheese, tomatoes, and basil. As you can see, I'm a cheese on bottom person. My husband sprinkles a little more on top at this point. I used dried basil (which is why it's so tiny), but if you use fresh go ahead and put whole leaves on that puppy. Don't go to the trouble of trying to cut the leaves up all tiny. When you are satisfied with the appearance of your Margy Toast, pop it into the top rack on the oven and turn it to broil. This way (as opposed to letting it preheat a bit) the cheese is starting to melt as the oven warms up. Otherwise the crusts brown up before the cheese melts. And I like evenly melted cheese and non-burned crusts. It's really no use setting a timer--you'll burn it if you do. The best thing to do is to check on it periodically. When the cheese is looking melty and the crusts are looking crispy, pull it out. It only takes a couple minutes, so watch it closely.

Now, if you want to double your pleasure, there's a slightly more time-consuming way to cook it. My biggest problem with the above super quick broiling method is that while the top gets nice and warm and melty, the bottom is a little lack-luster. There's no crispiness to it. Or warmness, really. It's just plain bread with a nice top. Thus, if you've got the time, you can turn the oven to pizza cooking temperature (450ish degrees) and let it cook for a little while to give the bottom a little umph, and THEN switch it to broil to put some crisp on top. If you do it this way, I'd recommend spraying a bit of cooking spray on the pan so it doesn't stick. I don't really know how long to cook it for. I've only done it like this a couple times, and I've never really kept track. I usually cook it until I'm tired of cooking it.

And that, my friends, is the Margharita Toast.