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

Cookie Exchange 2009

We had 8 cookies and 6 people... one could not make it, but brought cookies anyway, and dear Carol made two cookies to represent her and Teresa. Yippee! The picture above shows Michelle's Angel Wings, Angelica's Festive Cranberry Crunch Bark, Janet's Gingerdoodles, Carol's Brownies and Sand Tarts and part of Adriana's Krinkle Cookies.

For some reason, the official Cookie Exchange photographer did not take a picture of ALL the cookies, including mine, Toffee Caramel Squares.

My cookies won best tasting at my office's cookie exchange, which brings my reign to two years. They are easy and very tasty!

Tonya's Buttermilk Pralines (also not photographed.. must get new photographer...) won for best tasting and they were delicious! They melt in your mouth without being too sweet.

Carol's Barefoot Contessa's Outrageous Brownies were voted prettiest. Carol iced and decorated five different ways. The coffee powder is a perfect addition to all the chocolate and really adds a nice flavor.




Here is Angelica, me, Tonya, Carol, Janet (with sleek, straight 'do!) and Michelle. Oh! And there are my cookies in the bottom right corner.




I wanted to serve savory appetizers to keep us all from going in to sugar comas. I made a double batch of my mom's famous vegetable dip:


1 packet Zesty Italian seasonings packet
8 oz cream cheese (can use low fat)
4 oz sour cream (can use low fat)

Mix all with a hand mixer and then use some milk to change to the thickness you like. You can also add more garlic salt or other herbs (I added some fresh rosemary).


I also served Florentine Artichoke Dip . As suggested by a reviewer, I made the following adjustments: used 1 jar of marinated artichoke hearts (cut up) and only 1 block of cream cheese. I think this was every one's favorite appetizer!


For drinks I had Hot Apple Cider, and a fruit punch with cranberry, pineapple and orange juices and ginger ale. I realized later I neglected to add the ginger ale to the punch. Oops. I also added a small jar of cherries and floated frozen orange slices to keep it cool.


Rounding out the menu was the cheese log I had at Teresa's shower, mixed nuts, cheese, sausage, fruit and crackers.


Here we are again at another angle... we pose so nicely.

Pancakes

While I do not think cooking through my new favorite cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks, is akin to cooking through Julia Childs, I am going to do it anyway. Even if it does not make me rich and famous!

I love pancakes. I will eat them for any meal. Lately I have wanted to make them from scratch. And scratch does not include Bisquick! Or maybe it does.... anyway, I was looking through my refrigerator, trying to decide what to do with that half used container of sour cream, when egad! Pioneer Woman has a recipe called "Edna Mae's Sour Cream Pancakes". They were so easy! And soft and golden brown. Plus, the recipe calls for cooking them in an iron skillet. I NOW HAVE AN IRON SKILLET! And sour cream! This recipe is begging me to make it.

The recipe says it makes twelve, 4-inch pancakes. I made 5. Yes. Ok.. so one was like 6 inches, some were 5 and I guess that explains it. I ate the remainder tonight, after heating them in the oven, and they were just as delicious as last night!

Edna Mae's Sour Cream Pancakes
by The Pioneer Woman

1 cup sour cream
7 tbs flour
1 tbs sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla

Place iron skillet or griddle over medium-low heat to get it hot.

In a medium bowl put in sour cream, flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Stir together gently, and stop short of completely combining.

Whisk together the eggs and vanilla in a small bowl.

Pour the eggs into the sour cream/flour mixture and stir together gently. Do not worry about completely combining.

Melt a tablespoon of butter in the skillet and pour in some batter. Cook a couple minutes each side, until golden brown and done in the middle.

Serve with butter, syrup, or however you like to do it!

YUM!

What I have been cooking....

I love buying bananas. If I don't eat them, they become a fabulous banana creation. I have a core group of friends at the office and they love helping me out by eating my goodies. Thursday night I made banana muffins. These had a great struessel topping and were very moist. I was able to make 12, unlike the recipe which says only 10.

I recently bought a lodge iron skillet. It is enamel coated and other than it being blue when I wanted red, it is perfect! And it was on sale, which is why it is blue when I wanted red. I made this corn bread recipe tonight and it was wonderful! I feared it would be too sweet, but not at all. The pan cleaned easily with some hot water and a dish towel. Next I want to make an apple pie in it, or maybe a cake. Whatever the pioneers would make in their skillets.

The corn bread was served with mashed potatoes, asparagus, cranberry sauce and TURKEY. HEB had a special where if you buy a pre-cooked turkey you get all kinds of other items for free. The turkey was very good and I will be eating on it the rest of the week. Which is fine, because I will be in Mexico for Thanksgiving and most likely eating fish tacos rather than poultry.


My mom joined us for our pre-Thanksgiving feast and she brought the dessert. It was chocolate mousse torte made with nilla wafers. It was very good and very pretty.

Chocolate Mousse Torte

Nilla Wafers
4 squares Baker's semi sweet chocolate, divided
2 packages (3.9 oz) jello chocolate instant pudding
2 cups plus 2 tbs cold milk, divided
1 tub (8 oz) cool whip, divided
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
raspberries for garnish

Line wafers on the bottom and up sides of a 9-inch pie pan.

Melt 3 squares of chocolate.

Beat pudding mixes and 2 cups of milk with whisk for 2 minutes. Stir in melted chocolate and 1 cup of cool whip. Poor into prepared pan.

Beat cream cheese, sugar and remaining milk with mixer until blended. Stir in 1 cup of the remaining cool whip. Spread over pudding.

Garnish with raspberries and chocolate curls from remaining square of chocolate. Refrigerate at least 3 hours before serving.

Teresa’s baby shower, November 7, 2009

For our November gathering, we hosted Teresa’s baby shower at Carol’s house. Tonya had this thoughtful idea and we were able to showcase our skills!

We had a full spread, masterfully displayed by Carol. (Imagine pickles and olives on the empty tray).

On the menu:

Fresh fruit with Cream Cheese Fruit Dip

Cream Cheese Fruit Dip

8 oz. cream cheese (room temperature)
1 7 oz. jar marshmallow cream
Zest of 1 orange
Juice from orange

Mix together the cream cheese and marshmallow cream.
Add zest. Add orange juice to get desired consistency. (smooth and creamy)

Crudites with Cilantro Dip

Crudites is the word of the day.

cru⋅di⋅tés  / kroo-di-tey; Fr.

–noun (used with a singular or plural verb) French Cookery. an appetizer consisting of a variety of raw vegetables, usually cut into strips or bite-size pieces, and served with a dip.

Gazpacho Salad Pasta
(Serves 10-12)

1 - 16 oz box Bowtie pasta
1 large cucumber, chopped
1 - 4 oz can sliced black olives, drained
2 tsp garlic salt
½ cup sliced salad olives
1 cup cilantro, chopped
6 green onions finely chopped (green and white ends)
1 – 8 oz bottle Ranch dressing
1 - 10 oz can Rotel tomatoes
3 fresh tomatoes, chopped


In a large pot, bring water to boil. Add pasta and cook according to directions on package. Drain immediately and rinse with cold water. Combine pasta with the remaining ingredients (except cheese). Mix. Chill overnight to let flavors marry. Just before serving, top with shredded cheese if desired.

Maple Nut Cheese Log

Also served were:

Mary’s Chicken Salad Croissants

Cream Cheese with Cranberry Pepper Jelly

Yellow Cupcakes with Butter cream Icing. These were beautifully decorated by Tonya with green leaves and pink, blue and purple flowers. The icing was so light and very delicious.

Watermelon Buggy with fruit. Carol is gifted and so creative!

Fruit Punch (which mixed really well with white wine)

Congratulations, Teresa and Charlie! We can't wait to meet your little girl (who I hope comes on January 25, 2009, weighs 6 pounds and is 22 inches long).