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.

Lunch

Belated Posting #3: Who knew that brussels sprouts could be so yummy?? Pan-seared with salt, pepper, and a sprinkle of parmesan, these little guys were crunchy, nutty, soft, and satisfying. Nashoba Brook Bakery makes a great sourdough bread on which slather asparagus pesto and pile mounds of chicken salad (yogurt, dijon, mixed with chicken, almonds, grapes, celery, and craisins).

Jiao Zi

Belated Posting #2: One cold and stormy Friday in February, small icy flakes began to fall from the sky. It snowed and snowed, until about 10 inches had fallen by morning. Despite all of our shoveling and the plows on the road, we were firmly housebound on Saturday. Needing no other excuses, we happily set about making leek and pork filled dumplings, complete with handrolled skins. Fried to golden perfection, these sizzling morsels warmed up a winter day.

cranberry pecan rolls

Belated posting #1: I love the King Arthur's Whole Grain Baking book! These whole wheat rolls were soft and fluffy.

Happy Easter

Hummingbird Cake

The cake looks pretty, but the taste is to be determined... This Hummingbird Cake is similar to a carrot cake, except minus the carrot part. The similarity is in the texture and flavor. It has a little spice in it, some crushed pineapple for moistness, AND it has cream cheese frosting. Oops, did I mention the key ingredient is bananas??

I didn't include the nuts as the recipe called for because I didn't feel like spending $9.99 on pecans at the rip-off groc store. I subbed applesauce in the place of most of the 1 cup of oil, so I hope this cake doesn't taste too "healthy." Shhh...don't tell. We'll see how it tastes tomorrow!

Cake:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 can (8oz) crushed pineapple, well drained
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 2 cups chopped firm ripe banana

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 16 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 2 pounds confectioners' sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 to 1 cup chopped pecans

PREPARATION:

Preheat oven to 350°. Sift flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and cinnamon together into mixing bowl several times. Add eggs and salad oil to the dry ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon until ingredients are moistened. Stir in vanilla, pineapple and 1 cup pecans. Stir in the bananas. Spoon the batter into 3 well-greased and floured 9-inch round cake pans. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes,or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn onto cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
Combine cream cheese and butter; cream until smooth. Add powdered sugar, beating with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla.

Frost the tops of all 3 layers, stack and then frost sides. Sprinkle top evenly with the 1/2 to 1 cup chopped pecans.

Blondies Have More Fun

Butterscotch and chocolate chip blondie bites

These blondies are easy as pie! I got this recipe from the Smitten Kitchen. All it takes is just ONE bowl. I love it - less cleaning up to do later, more time to eat! The recipe provides you with a blank canvas of plain blondie batter and you can toss in whatever you want. Here I used some butterscotch chips and some chocolate chips. Next time I might use heath chips and chocolate. The texture on the inside isn't like that of a faux blondie/cookie bar. These are more "unbaked" than cookie bars. The insides are a teeny bit gooey and but not overly uncooked. They taste caramely and butterscotchy.

Blondies

8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla or 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Pinch salt
1 cup all-purpose flour

1. Butter an 8×8 pan
2. Mix melted butter with brown sugar - beat until smooth. Beat in egg and then vanilla.
3. Add salt, stir in flour. Mix in any additions (below).
4. Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 350°F 20-25 minutes, or until set in the middle. I always err on the side of caution with baking times — nobody ever complained about a gooey-middled cookie. Cool on rack before cutting them

Bad to the Scone!

Cream Scones

Get it? Bad to the bone.... bad to the scone?? These scones are ANYTHING but bad!! they are DELICIOUS! I'm hosting the ladies for brunch tomorrow and I figured in addition to buttermilk pancakes, we'd need something else to munch on too. This is another Dorie recipe - Cream Scones. They have the texture of a tender scone and the flavor of a buttery biscuit. The recipe called for currants, but I used some crasins too. Try slathering these suckers with some jam and whipped cream, that'd make YOU bad to the bone!

Saturday Dinner

Pecan crusted salmon

Caramelized onion smothered baguette

We started out dinner with a little appetizer of caramelized onion smothered baguette. Long, long ago, this little tasty morsel started as a plain ol' french bread loaf. Before long, some butter found its way onto its halved slices. Caramelized onions piled on high and some chopped green olives decided to jump on board too. The whole mess of goodies was then doused with olive oil and baked for 15 minutes. Freshly grated parmesan cheese and a dash of balsamic vinegar was the final touch. (See Cream Puffs in Venice's blog for the recipe here.)

For the main dish, we had some salmon covered in a honey mustard glaze, then encrusted in chopped pecans, breadcrumbs and parsley. Super easy, very good. The whole thing takes about 20 minutes!

Dorie's Mocha-Walnut Marbled Bundt Cake

Here's Dorie Greenspan's wonderful bundt cake. I think I jacked up the marbling because my chocolate and vanilla layers didn't look as pretty as the book. Therefore, no picture of the insides! ha! The cake was delicious. My little friend found it quite addicting. I brought 2/3 of the cake to work and left 1/3 at home for ourselves. MLF made like a grape and let out a little whine when he found out the news of the cake being taken to work the next day.