Oreos

Oreo (noun) Two crisp chocolate wafer cookies sandwiched together by vanilla cream.

Back in January, I visited Flour bakery in Boston where they offered homemade oreo cookies. Intrigued, I had to try one. Their cookies were similar to oreos, but the chocolate wafers tasted extremely buttery and much thicker, more like a shortbread. They were good, but not exact replicas of my favorite cookie. Taking matters into my own hands, I googled Oreo recipes as soon as I got home and decided I must try to make them myself. I've had this recipe sitting around for a few months now and I finally tried it today.

I usually tend to stay away from making complicated cookies, especially the ones calling for multiple steps (aka. make dough, bake cookies, make filling, build cookie, clean up giant mess)...ack. But working the night shift at the paper today left me with plenty of time to kill this morning.

These cookies proved they were worth the effort. The chocolate wafers were thin, but not brittle thin, and the buttercream filling was the perfect consistency. I am happy with the way these turned out! Who needs Nabisco??

Homemade Oreos

Cookies
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room- temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg

Vanilla-Cream Filling
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation
Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375 degrees.

In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.

Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately 2 inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.

To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2-3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.

To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream.

Makes 30 sandwich cookies.

Bridal shower cookies

With MLF in the UK, I was left on my own to bake and frost a batch of custom bridal shower sugar cookies. After 4+ hours in the kitchen, I emerged with these wedding cake and wedding dress cookies.... and a GIANT mess of a kitchen. With MLF's help, I probably could have finished decorating these cookies in a jiffy AND had a cleaned-up kitchen in no time. I miss him.

Superstars!!!!

Lemon cupcakes with lemon buttercream frosting. It's a yellow lemon theme, fyi. :)

Red velvetly goodness

Red velvet cake is one of my favorites. I can't say why. Maybe it's the shocking color. Or maybe it's the hard-to-put-your-finger-on-it flavor. The cake has cocoa powder in it which makes it taste slightly like a chocolate cake, though it don't really taste that chocolatey. It tastes smooth, sweet, and rich. Red velvet cake recipes differ widely in proportions of ingredients and secret ingredients, but they will always call for buttermilk, vinegar and of course, red food coloring!

The bright red batter is quite a fun change from the usual white or chocolate battered cakes.

This pic makes them look browner than they really were. In real life, they were actually pretty red!

Get Low, low, low, low, low, low, low

It's mid-July and here I am catching up on early month posts. Oops. Anyway...For the Fourth of July, MLF and I, along with a few friends, made trips to Charleston and Asheville. The cuisine of Charleston can be summerized in two words: low country or new South. Menus abounded with oversize biscuits, fancy egg benedicts with crab cake, stuffed french toast, fresh seafood, coconut cake, and the butteriest mac and cheese, all served with a large helping of Southern hospitality. When it comes to eating in the former British colony, it's hard to go wrong. The number of exceptional restaurants to pick from is amazing. The few we ate at were The Peninsula Grill, Poogan's Porch, Cru Cafe and Sermet's. We didn't have one complaint- and that's a big deal for us!

An oversized biscuit at Poogan's Porch.

MLF started off one day with a ridiculously large portion of peaches and cream-stuffed french toast with warm syrup at the Palmetto restaurant in the Charleston Place Hotel.

Beautifully prepared eggs benedict with Canadian ham.

THE best mac and cheese in the world. So rich it could have been dessert. Be sure to get this at the Cru Cafe, located on Motley St.

For father's day

For the biggest peanut/peanut brittle/peanut butter - loving person I know, my dad, I made some peanut butter chocolate chip cookies this morning. These cookies are a cross between chocolate chip cookies and classic peanut butter criscross cookies. The peanut butter adds a slightly sandy texture to these crunchy-crispy soft-in-the-middle cookies. A healthy dose of chocolate chips thrown into the batter gives these cookies some gooey goodness. I know they weren't made for me, but I ate some anyway. I love these!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

* 1/2 cup of butter (1 stick), softened
* 1/4 cup of brown sugar
* 1/4 cup of white sugar
* 1/2 cup of peanut butter (I used creamy)
* 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
* 1 egg
* 1 1/4 cup of flour
* 1/2 tsp baking soda
* 1/2 tsp baking powder
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. In a large mixer, cream butter, peanut putter, sugars and vanilla. Add the egg and mix until light & fluffy. In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt - mix thoroughly. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, stirring continuously. Add chocolate chips and combine. Drop spoonfuls of cookie dough on the baking sheet and press the center of the cookie with a fork. Bake for 10-11 minutes.

For a pic, see "For the Love of Cooking's" post of the same cookies at:
http://fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com/2008/05/peanut-butter-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

Zucchini-Pineapple Quick Bread

In the newest edition of Cooking Light, the "make-over" recipe featured is for Zucchini-Pineapple Quick Bread. The new and improved recipe cut down the amount of fat and calories significantly. Just reading the short blurb about the bread made me want to try it. Reviewers said that they liked the low-fat version better than the original. Could that really be true? Were they lying??

Well, I've made the recipe, and it's really good! I never tried the orignal, but I'd say that if someone served this to me, I would have no idea it was low fat because it tastes just that good. I give it a big thumbs up.

It's an easy recipe. Here are the players.

Just add the zucchini in with the rest of the batter.

Pre-oven bread. I halved the recipe to only make one loaf- the full recipe makes two.

Soooooooo moist and tasty. I think I love it more than banana bread.

Zucchini-Pineapple Quick Bread

3 cups sifted all-purpose flour (about 13 1/2 ounces)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini (about 1 1/2 medium zucchini)
2/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup egg substitute
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 (8-ounce) cans crushed pineapple in juice, drained
Baking spray with flour

1. Preheat oven to 325°.

2. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour, salt, and next 3 ingredients (through ground cinnamon) in a large bowl, stirring well with a whisk.

3. Beat eggs with a mixer at medium speed until foamy. Add sugar, zucchini, oil, egg substitute, and vanilla, beating until well blended. Add zucchini mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Fold in pineapple. Spoon batter into 2 (9 x 5-inch) loaf pans coated with baking spray. Bake at 325° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pans on a wire rack; remove from pans. Cool completely on wire rack.

Yield: 2 loaves, 14 servings per loaf (serving size: 1 slice)

CALORIES 167 (32% from fat); FAT 5.9g (sat 0.5g,mono 3.3g,poly 1.7g); PROTEIN 2.4g; CHOLESTEROL 15mg; CALCIUM 16mg; SODIUM 151mg; FIBER 0.7g; IRON 0.9mg; CARBOHYDRATE 26.5g

Cooking Light, JUNE 2008

MLF's Polenta Casserole

Polenta casserole with spicy Italian sausage, homemade tomato sauce and thick slices of mozzerella.

This is MLF's famed dish. He's been raving about it for months now. He claims it is one of his favorite foods in the world. Finally I was able to try it for myself last week when he decided to cook me dinner after my trip back from Chicago. It's pretty darn good (even though I made a very simliar recipe long ago), but I'd say this is even better because as you know, food always tastes better when others prepare it for you! And because this is SPECIAL polenta. By SPECIAL, I mean that this elusive polenta cornmeal was sought after for over 1.5 hours and at many groc stores. Poor MLF didn't realize that polenta was made with cornmeal! After scouring every grocery store shelf in Charlotte and enlisting the help of clueless store employees for this "polenta" stuff, he realized he could use cornmeal. Note that Harris Teeter employees!

Gingersnap Cookies

These cookies are crisp at the edges, chewy in the middle. A roll through some demerara gives them sparkle and crunch. I stashed a large chocolate chip at the center of some cookies as a surprise!

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups cups granulated sugar, plus 1/2 cup more for coating
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup molasses
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup crystallized ginger, finely chopped

Heat oven to 375° F. Cream the butter and 1 3/4 cups sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed. Lower to medium and add the eggs, molasses, vinegar, and vanilla. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and pepper. With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Beat until incorporated. Fold in the crystallized ginger. Divide the dough into 3 equal portions (it will be sticky). Place each portion on a sheet of plastic wrap and form into a 12-inch log, 2 inches in diameter. Wrap and chill for 1 hour. Slice each log into disks, 1/2 inch thick. Dredge in the remaining sugar. Place on a parchment- or foil-lined baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake until crinkly around the edges, about 14 minutes. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks.

Yield: Makes 6 dozenCALORIES 73 (18% from fat); FAT 1g (sat 1g); PROTEIN 1mg; CHOLESTEROL 9mg; CALCIUM 8mg; SODIUM 72mg; FIBER 0g; CARBOHYDRATE 14g; IRON 1mg

Real Simple, MAY 2005

Lemon Strawberry Layer Cake

Lemon Strawberry Layer Cake

Scrumptious! This cake is a modified version of 'Nathan's Lemon Cake' from Cooking Light. The original was supposed to make 16 servings, so I halved it and made the cake in 6'' ramekins. 4 of us managed to polish off the supposed 8 servings in about 10 minutes! The frosting is tangy and rich, matching perfectly with the lemony moist cake. I doubt that 16 servings would have posed much of a challenge--next time I'm making full-size.

Ingredients

object2="> Cake:
object2="> Cooking spray
object2=">2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
object2=">2 cups all-purpose flour (about 9 ounces)
object2=">1 teaspoon baking powder
object2=">1/2 teaspoon baking soda
object2=">1/2 teaspoon salt
object2=">1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
object2=">1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
object2=">3 large eggs
object2=">1 cup nonfat buttermilk
object2=">2 tablespoons finely grated lemon rind
object2=">2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. To prepare cake, coat 2 (8-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray; line bottoms of pans with wax paper. Coat wax paper with cooking spray. Dust pans with 2 tablespoons flour, and set aside.

3. Lightly spoon 2 cups flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine 2 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

4. Place granulated sugar and 1/2 cup butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 5 minutes). Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture and nonfat buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat in 2 tablespoons lemon rind and 2 tablespoons lemon juice.

5. Pour batter into prepared pans; sharply tap pans once on counter to remove air bubbles. Bake at 350° for 32 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pans. Cool completely on wire rack; remove wax paper from cake layers.

6. To prepare icing, combine powdered sugar and the remaining ingredients (except lemon rind strips) in a large bowl; stir with a whisk until smooth. Place 1 cake layer on a plate; spread half of icing on top of cake. Top with remaining cake layer. Spread remaining half of icing over top of cake. Garnish with lemon rind strips, if desired. Store cake loosely covered in the refrigerator.

Yield

16 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 317(27% from fat); FAT 9.5g (sat 5.6g,mono 2.6g,poly 0.5g); PROTEIN 3.6g; CHOLESTEROL 56mg; CALCIUM 52mg; SODIUM 165mg; FIBER 0.6g; IRON 1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 55.7g

Nathan Coulon , Cooking Light, MAY 2008

Pawts dee kreem

What's better together than chocolate and cream? Amy and I, of course!

Tonight we got together to make the NYT's recipe for Pots de Creme. PDC, which is pronunced: poh duh KREHM, is a creamy, custardy French dessert. Each portion is baked in an individual little ramekin. Basically anything and everything rich and creamy gets melted together and then baked in a water bath. This recipe calls for dark delicious bittersweet chocolate. I like my chocolate like I like my guys - dark and rich.

HA. Just kidding!! ... not.

We made the pots tonight and now they have to get their beauty rest in the refrigerator overnight before we can taste them tomorrow. I'm betting they'll be awesome!

Extra-Bittersweet Chocolate Pots de Crème

Time: 55 minutes, plus chilling

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup whole milk
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
4 egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
Crème fraîche or whipped cream, for serving.

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a heavy saucepan, bring cream and milk to a boil. Remove from heat; whisk in chopped chocolate until smooth.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the yolks, sugar and salt. Whisking constantly, slowly pour hot chocolate into yolks. Strain through a very fine mesh sieve into a large measuring cup or bowl.

3. Divide mixture among 2- to 4-ounce espresso cups or small ramekins. Set filled cups in a large roasting pan that has been positioned on center rack of oven. Add hot tap water to pan, halfway up sides of cups. Cover pan with foil; use a fork to prick holes in foil.

4. Bake until edges are lightly set (lifting foil to check) but center is still jiggly — it will set as it cools — 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer cups to a wire rack to cool completely. Refrigerate at least 3 hours before serving with crème fraîche or whipped cream.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

Triple Bean Salad

Beans, beans, the musical fruit...

This extremely easy recipe is from a issue of Better Homes and Garden. The recipe requires just a few ingredients and needs some marinating time. Apparently the author of this recipe won $200 or something for it. It's good...but not $$$ good! This cool and light salad makes a good side dish to summer's grilled meat entrees.

Ingredients:
2 cups frozen sween soybeans (edamame) [I used lima beans]
1 15-oz. can kidney beans
1 15-oz. can garbanzo beans
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp. finely shredded lime peel
1/4 cup lime juice

Direction:
Rinse and drain the canned beans. Combine with beans, edamame, onion and cilantro.
Whisk together oil, lime peel, lime juice and 1/2 tsp. salt. Pour over bean mixture and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate up to 24 hours. Stir will before serving.

Makes 10 servings.

Pastels

Ooooooooooo. A brand new box of pastels with 64 colors.

Bodhi pie in pastels.

Recipe to try!

Tsai sisters are back from foraging Taiwan for tasty treats. Pics to come soon. Not sure if Blogger can handle massive amount of food photos we have though...

In the meantime, here's a recipe that sounds very promising. I'm marking it as a recipe to try soon!

Dot's Blondies with Chocolate Chips

Start to finish: 7 minutes preparation, plus approximately 20 to 25 minutes baking time and 20 minutes cooling time

2 sticks unsalted butter (plus more for greasing the pan)
1 pound (2 cups firmly packed) light brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour (see Cook's note)
2 large eggs
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans, optional

Cook's note: To get the proper texture, do not use an electric mixer. You do not need to sift the flour, but spoon the flour into the measuring cup so as not to pack it down too much. Use the spoon handle to brush away extra flour and thereby "level" the top of the measuring cup.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 9-inch-by-12-inch baking pan well with butter. Set the pan aside.

Melt the 2 sticks of butter in a 2-quart microwave-safe bowl covered with a paper towel. Remove the bowl from the microwave, and add the brown sugar. Stir well. Add the baking powder, salt and vanilla extract, stirring until completely incorporated. Stir in the flour, again stirring until it is well mixed. The batter will be very stiff.

Crack the eggs into a small bowl, and beat them well with a fork or whisk. Add the eggs to the batter and stir with a spoon until they are completely incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips (and the nuts, if using).

Spread the batter in the greased pan. The batter will be stiff and sticky. You may have to spread it to the edges of the pan with the back of a spoon, but don't worry too much about getting it exactly even, as the batter will spread as it bakes.

Bake until the top begins to get golden brown and the blondies just begin to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 20 to 25 minutes. (Baking time will vary depending on your oven and the type of pan.) Do not overbake! Cool for at least 20 minutes, and cut into small squares. Store in an airtight container or cover well with plastic wrap. These bars freeze very well and improve in flavor after the first day.

Makes 2 dozen

Approximate values per blondie: 216 calories (41 percent from fat), 10 g fat (6 g saturated), 38 mg cholesterol, 2 g protein, 31 g carbohydrates, 1 g dietary fiber, 59 mg sodium

A Low Fat Cookie?!

Jessica convinced me to try a non-super-fatty recipe. I couldn't imagine a low fat oatmeal raisin cookie tasting good, but these cookies taste surprisingly good. They are soft and moist. Granola bar-ish I would say. I made them healthier by not using chocolate chips, subbing in some whole wheat flour, and adding some protein with walnuts.

Low Fat Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup all purpose flour (I subbed in 1/2 cup whole wheat flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (I added some extra spices for more flavor)
2 tbsp butter, room temperature
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup plain, unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup chocolate chips (I used raisins and walnuts)

Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugars. Beat in the egg, followed by the applesauce and the vanilla extract. Working by hand, stir in the flour mixture and the oats until just combined and no streaks of flour remain. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop tablespoonfuls of the dough onto the prepared baking sheet, flattening each cookie slightly.

Bake for about 10-12 min. Cookies will be light brown at the edges when done.

Let cool on sheet for 3 or 4 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container.
Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

So Fitting for a Bostonian...

You Are a Boston Creme Donut

You have a tough exterior. No one wants to mess with you. But on the inside, you're a total pushover and completely soft. You're a traditionalist, and you don't change easily. You're likely to eat the same doughnut every morning, and pout if it's sold out.

What Donut Are You?

-P.

Oatmeal Cookie pic

 

Here's the pic as promised!

Will Work for Cookies

While MLF (he hates that name, btw...."my little friend") installed my living room ceiling fan the other night, I felt like it'd be a nice thing to do if I offered to bake him up something sweet for all his grunting efforts up on the ladder. I told him to pick ANYTHING he wanted and I'd make it right then. He picked my oatmeal cookies, typically made with raisins and chocolate.

Impressively (and surprisingly), the ceiling fan was looking pretty good so far, so I decided that I'd reward MLF with some extra-special oatmeal cookies. No same ol' raisins and chocolate this time around. I broke out the good stuff - dried cranberries, toffee bits, and semi-sweet chocolate chips. I even made an ice cream sandwich with the cookies which was stuffed with caramel pecan ice cream.

The ice cream sandwich was eaten before I could snap a pic. I'll post pictures of the cookies later though!

I used a recipe from Martha Stewart, but made some tweaks. This is my favorite oatmeal cookie recipe ever. The cookies come out chewy and very crispy at the same time.


Prissy's Oatmeal Cookies full of toffee, crasins and chocolate!
Makes about 2 1/2 dozen

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups oats (I used a mix of quick-oats and old fashioned)
1 cup dried cranberries (use however much you want, i used a bit less)
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup toffee pieces

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. In a large bowl, sift together flour and baking soda.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and both sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice during mixing. Add the egg; mix on high speed to combine. Add the vanilla; mix to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

3. Add flour mixture to egg mixture, and mix on low speed until well combined. Add the oats, cherries, chocolate, and toffee pieces; mix to combine after each addition.

4. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of dough onto a lined baking sheet. Repeat, spacing 2 inches apart.

5. Bake cookies until golden brown, about 10 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container up to 2 days.

Ok, so maybe Rachel Ray isn't THAT bad

Thai Turkey Burgers with Warm Pineapple Salsa (*note: disregard the hugemongeous bun. The burger is actually good-sized, but the buns I bought are so big that they make the patty look teeny weeny.)

I have a love/hate relationship with Rachel Ray. I like watching her cooking show - I'll admit that I like grabbing a few ideas from her, but I mainly watch it because I like to critque her! It amazes me that someone can jabber on for 30 minutes non-stop talking to herself. And all those Rachel-isms. HOW LAME. And how many times can she possibly say "e.v.o.o" or "delish!" in one show (in her smoker-ish voice)? Come on.

But despite how annoying she is, she actually provided me with a tasty meal last night. In search of a simple recipe to make on a lazy Saturday evening, MLF and I dusted off my little-used Rachel Ray 30-minute Meal cookbook. After perusing the book for a mere 2 minutes, we settled on the Thai Turkey Burgers with Warm Pineapple Salsa. It seemed healthy, had strong exotic flavors, and involved minimal ingredients to buy. I tackled the burger portion of the recipe while MLF got to work on the salsa. The recipe was quick and delicious!! The burger patty is studded with garlic and scallions and flavored with curry powder and soy sauce. The sweet and spicy flavors of the salsa complemented it perfectly. This recipe is definitely a keeper. "Yum-o!" as Rachel Ray would say! *cringe!!!!!!!!!*

Thai Turkey Burgers

WARM PINEAPPLE SALSA

1 fresh, ripe, cored pineapple (I used a normal-sized can of sliced pineapple instead)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/4 red onion, finely chopped
2 Tbs dark brown sugar
10-15 fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips (I used dried basil)

BURGERS

1.3 lbs ground turkey breast
1 inch fresh gingerroot (or 2 pinches of ground ginger)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbs dark soy sauce
2 tsp curry powder
Coarse salt, to taste
2 scallions, finely chopped
4 cornmeal-topped rolls or 4 toasted sandwich-size English muffins, split
Bibb, Boston, or red leaf lettuce for topping

Drain pineapple and cut into pieces. Place in food processor and process to a coarse, chunky texture. Heat sesame oil and crushed red pepper flakes in a skillet over medium-high heat until oil smokes. Add bell pepper and onions and cook 1-2 minutes. Add pineapple and heat through. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cook 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and toss in basil. Let the salsa hang out in the warm pan while you cook burgers.

Heat a nonstick skillet or griddle pan over medium-high head. Combine turkey, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, curry powder, salt and scallions. From into 4 patties and cook on skillet, 4 minutes on each side. Serve on rolls with lots of pineapple salsa and lettuce, with a chunked vegetable salad and your favorite chips alongside.

FROM: Classic Rachel Ray 30-Minute Meals

Bridal shower wedding cake sugar cookies

My apprentice learns how to pipe icing.

Hot Cross Buns

"Hot Cross Buns" was the first song I learned to play in the piano. It wasn't until last year or the year before that I realized that the song was really about a food that exists in real life! I learned that this Easter food was first made by a German monk who was also a baker (convenient). He saw many families in poverty around his village and decided to make a rich sweet bun to give them so that they might better be able to celebrate Easter.

Maple Mustard Pork Tenderloin

Belated Posting #6: So easy! I did this in the toaster oven too!
Here is a link to the recipe: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/mustard_maple_pork.html

Caramel Pear Bread Pudding

Belated Posting #5: This is like pear tarte tatin except with a bread pudding bottom! I halved the recipe and made this in a medium sized ramekin. Further miniaturizing the procedure, I baked it in the toaster oven.

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/pear_bread_pudding.html

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Belated Posting #4: I got this recipe from "Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads"- it involves something called a soaker and biga (a mix of flour, liquids, a touch of yeast) that have to be prepared a night ahead of time, but the resulting bread is so moist, dense, and delicious that you will see whole wheat bread in a whole new light! This might possibly be the best loaf of bread I've baked...EVER.