Spring is in the air...

I am trying to be more seasonal in the desserts I am making now, so I pulled out all my recipes with fresh fruits and berries (peaches, blackberries, blue berries and strawberries).

This Free-form strawberry Cheesecake was super easy, tasty and refreshing. I had never used the ready-to-eat cheesecake filling and it was very good!

I also made these White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal cookies. I only baked a few and froze the rest of the dough for anytime, fresh from the oven cookies! They are very good and with the oatmeal and pecans, I think some what healthy!

French Apple Tarts

I made this French Apple Tart this weekend and it was very tasty. And my mom thought it looked pretty with the apples, though I was a bit hasty and did not arrange them as pretty as I could have. I also did not make individual tarts, but just covered the entire pastry with apples. I used 3 tbs butter and some of the dough stayed too "doughy". Next time I will start with 1 tbs as you only need enough to wet the apples so the sugar sticks. I used 3 tbs because I thought it was a flavoring, or made the crust flakier, but now I realize its function.

Also, I recommend following the directions where it says to use a pan with sides. If you do not, butter will drip to the bottom of the oven, which may or may not catch on fire when you increase the oven temperature to 500 degrees in an attempt to "burn" off the butter. Then you may or may not have a heart attack while you wonder if you are about to catch your house on fire. Fortunately, I did not catch anything other than the butter on fire.

t'afia

We celebrated on March 26, 2010 at t'afia for our special dinner that normally takes place in December. All attended, except for Mary.

When I arrived, wondering if I would see famous chef Monica Pope, I was pleasantly surprised to see Monica taking part in what looked like a photo shoot for The Houston Press. I will keep a look out for her in a future publication!

I started out with a ratafia with strawberries. Very yummy. I also had an endive salad (which was so good!), pistachio crusted salmon with an orange drizzle and the best spinach I have ever had and creme brulee for dessert. Janet also had the salmon, Tonya and Teresa had scallops with a chile sauce and quinoa and Carol had the veal. I think between the 5 of us we had every dessert and all were tasty. Carol liked my creme brulee the best, but I thought the chocolate brownies and mouse were very good.

Pineapple Pie

My dad loves pineapple pie, so I decided to find a recipe for him. I found an awesome one off The Pioneer Woman's new cooking site, Tasty Kitchen. These are real recipes, submitted by real people with real feedback. How can you go wrong?

The pie was excellent. Creamy with very little fat and quite simple. I did not even scramble the eggs while heating up the filling! Grandma Inez's Pineapple Pie will be made again!

January at Carol's

After a brief hiatus due to a baby shower, cookies and the holidays, we regrouped at Carol's for our most recent dinner. Everyone was able to make it, including our newest honorary member, Eliana!

Carol's dining room was decorated in a winter theme, all in silver and white. Very elegant!




Janet started us off with a polenta, mushroom and cheese appetizer. (Janet, please e-mail me the recipe when you get a chance, and I'll post it.) I now consider Janet the group's polenta expert.

Mary prepared a black-eyed pea salad. Hmm, I don't have the recipe for this one either! Mary felt it turned out more like a side dish than a salad. Either way, it was delicious!

Carol shared a family favorite with us, Chicken with Creamy Mushrooms. She passed along a cost-saving tip to use mostly button mushrooms; just a few ounces of the more expensive mushrooms (shitake, porcini, etc.) can add plenty of flavor.

Angie brought our side dish, Elegant Orzo with Wilted Spinach and Pine Nuts (see below for the recipe with Angie's modifications.) We all regret that pine nuts are so expensive, but they were perfect in this dish.

Tonya brought bread, mixed in the bread machine and then formed into baguettes for baking, Jo's Rosemary Bread.






Finally, Carol provided THREE desserts. I for one am very glad she was indecisive. At the table she displayed miniature Rasberry White Chocolate Cakes, each in its own domed pedestal. She sent home miniature chocolate pecan tarts with each of us. And fresh from the oven, we ate Meyer Lemon Pudding Cake, which miraculously separates into a moist cake and a creamy custard.






Elegant Orzo with Wilted Spinach and Pine Nuts

Ingredients:

1 (16 ounce) package uncooked orzo 2 tablespoon olive oil 1 tablespoon butter 4 cloves minced garlic 2 diced shallots 1/2 teaspoon dried basil 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or to taste)

1 cup pine nuts 12 oz baby spinach 1/8 cup balsamic vinegar 4 ounces crumbled feta cheese 3 tablespoons sundried tomato pesto chopped fresh parsley salt to taste

Directions:

1.	Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes. (Firm or slightly undercooked orzo works best for this dish.) Drain, transfer to a mixing bowl, and set aside.
2.	Heat olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium high heat, stirring to blend. Stir in garlic,shallots, basil, and red pepper flakes, and reduce heat to medium. Stir in pine nuts and cook until lightly browned. Add spinach, cover, and cook on low heat for 5 minutes, or until spinach is wilted.
3.	Toss spinach mixture with orzo pasta, balsamic vinegar, crumbled feta cheese, pesto, parsley and salt to taste. Enjoy!

Mexican Food!

I had some time this weekend, and wanted to try some new recipes, so Teresa, Charlie and Betty were my guinea pigs! I made Chicken Enchiladas with Salsa Verde and Spanish Rice.

For the chicken enchiladas, I used my immersion blender for the first step (rather than a blender). Really, I think you could finely chop everything and mix with the bottled salsa and it would be just fine. I used cheddar for the cheese and did not sprinkle on the chili powder since I thought they were spicy enough. I made a batch for me and left it uncooked in the fridge overnight and baked it the next day and it was very good!

I loved the Spanish Rice. I used half water and half chicken broth and then cut the salt by about a third since the chicken broth is salty.

Carol's Holiday Baking

Chocolate Pecan Tart

Lemon Cake (same cake Angie made a few months ago...)

Dark Chocolate Chunk Cherry Cake

Prep: 20 minutes Cook 1 hr. 4 min. Other 18 min.

Unsweetened cocoa
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix with pudding
1/2 c sugar
1 (3.8 ounce) pkg. devil's food instant pudding mix
4 large eggs
3/4 c vegetable oil
1/2 c water
1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
1 T vanilla extract
5 ( 3 - ounce) dark chocolate bars, divided (we tested Ghiradelli)
1/2 c coarsely chopped dried cherries
1 T butter
1/3 c heavy whipping cream

Grease a 12 cup Bundt pan, and dust with cocoa, set aside. Combine cake mix, sugar, and pudding mix in a large mixing bowl.

Beat eggs and next 4 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended. Gradually add oil mixture to dry ingredients; beat 2 minutes. Coarsely chop 3 chocolate bars; fold cherries and chopped chocolate into batter. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Coarsely chop 1 chocolate bar. Place chopped chocolate bar and butter in a small bowl and set aside.

Bring whipping cream to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium - high heat. Remove from heat, and immediately pour over chocolate and butter. Whisk gently until smooth. Cool glaze 3 minutes or until slightly thickened. Drizzle glaze over cake.

Coarsely chop remaining chocolate bar; sprinkle chopped chocolate over cake. Yield: 12 servings