Basic Sugar Cookies

Sugar cookies are generally associated with the cooler holidays. I've probably decorated hundreds and hundreds of holiday cookies over the years.

I baked cookie bars last week for James to bring into work and his co-workers really enjoyed it and yesterday while we were grocery shopping I came across pumpkin cookie cutters in the seasonal isle. So I grabbed James' phone and looked up a recipe for sugar cookies, we had everything already at home, so we got the cookie cutter and now have 5 dozen sugar cookies!!!

Now I can not stress this enough PREP PREP PREP

if you don't you will regret it! 

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract *
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

*I use almond, you can use any flavor you'd like

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

For James to bring to work, i just put slices of parchment paper in between the layers of cookies.

• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 5 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• food coloring
• 
  

In a large bowl, cream together the confectioners' sugar and shortening until smooth. Gradually mix in the milk and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth and stiff, about 5 minutes. Color with food coloring if desired.

National Coffee Day

Happy National Coffee Day!!!

Stuffed Mushrooms

Funghi Ripieni

Stuffed Mushrooms

For 3 people 

Mushrooms are often stuffed with sausage, prosciutto, or ground meat in the Italian kitchen, but this classic vegetarian stuffing is very flavorful. In Italy porcini are used but this dish can be made with cultivated mushrooms, including cremini or protobellos.

12 fresh cultivated mushrooms at least 2 inches in diameter (about 3/4 pound total weight)

2 T extra virgin olive oil, plus addition for drizzling

2 green onions, including 1 inch of green tops, chopped

2 Large cloves garlic, finely chopped or passed through a garlic press

2 1/2 T chopped fresh Italian parsley 

1/4 cup fine dried bread crumbs

3 T freshly grated parmigiano 

1/2 t minced fresh oregano, or 1/4 t dried oregano

1/4 t salt

freshly milled black pepper

1 T dry white wine

Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F. Using a soft brush or clean kitchen towel, remove any dirt from the mushrooms. Do not wash them because water alters their texture. Trim off the tough bottom from each stem and discard; only the rest of the stem will be used. Separate the stems at the base of the caps of the 9 of the mushrooms. Chop all of the stems along with the 3 remaining whole mushrooms.

In a skillet over medium heat, warm the 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the onions, garlic, and parsley and saute gently until wilted, about 4 minutes. Add the chopped mushrooms and saute gently until softened, about 5 more minutes. Remove the mixture to a small bowl. Add the bread crumbs, parmigiano, oregano, salt, and pepper to taste to the mushroom mixture and mix well.

Fill each mushroom cap with an equal amount of the stuffing, using your hands to form the stuffing into a nice even mound and push it down to fill the underside of the caps. Place the filled mushrooms on a baking sheet. Sprinkle the wine evenly over the mushrooms, and then drizzle each mushroom very lightly with olive oil.

Cover loosely with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake until the mushrooms are bubbling and golden, an additional 10 to 15 minutes. Serve hot or warm.

AHEAD-OF-TIME-NOTE: The mushrooms can be stuffed up to a day in advance of serving, covered, and refrigerated until ready to bake. Sprinkle with wine and olive oil just before baking.

College food

I am such a bad blogger lately I know I know and i'm so sorry!

I hate to admit but I momentarily fell off the cooking wagon, I was under the weather for about a week and we just got into a slump and were living off hot pockets and pasta .. horrible I know.

BUT i'm back! Hopefully longer this time haha

I've rediscovered some great cook books!

PLUS we got a new dining room table! So no more eating off the kitchen counter! 

We still need to get 2 more chairs and theres a cute bench that goes with it.

And we'll be able to fit everywhere for Thanksgiving =)

Last night James made steak, and we made mashed potatoes and some mixed greens.

and of course you can't have steak and potatoes without and ice cold beer! 

Then for a treat I made Strawberries wrapped in melted chocolate, they were amazing.

On the menu tonight is :

Stuffed Mushrooms

Fish

Rizzotto

Mixed Greens Salad 

Spice up boring pancakes!

So who here isn't a morning person?

...

exactly ... and unless it's the weekend who wants to be up at 6am cooking a 3 course breakfast meal for your kids or husband or even yourself? With that said however we all know breakfast is in fact the most important meal of the day, so how can we make breakfast easy, but still good and not boring. 

one word PANCAKES

it's so simple! 

now you can be like me and just get a box and add water =) 

bad culinary kid I know but I cut corners in the morning what can I say

A great way to add a little something extra (plus extra nutrients) to pancakes is fruit.

The other morning I made blueberry pancakes for James and I, they were amazing!

other variations that would be great are strawberries, raspberries ... really any berry or fruit. you could also add cinnamon or a little nutmeg, which would be great for fall, for a different flavor. 

Now in addition to all of this pancakes are great to freeze, so you could even make them from scratch on Sunday cook 2 batches and freeze a batch and re-heat them for your kids or whomever throughout the week!

On a side note, the garden is doing AMAZING! the morning glories are everywhere! Which is to be expected and I've been picking 2 or 3 tomatoes a day! Yesterday we picked our first cucumber and there's a few more that are getting pretty big and now out of no where the strawberries are producing fruit.

Here's a shot I took of the kitchen window above the sink.

The coffee cup planter in the middle has a cactus or two that you can't really see. They are growing very very slowly and i'm not really sure what's going to come of them since I've never grown them before and can't seem to keep the cat out of them =) one of these days she'll learn! 

Perfect after a long day

Okay i'm sorry for the lack posts in the past two weeks, I got a sinus infection and haven't been making anything other than frozen pizza and chicken salad. But night before last I started craving real food. 

I love eating fruit, cheese and bread. It's a great snack.

So James and I went to Kroger and picked up some things to snack on.

I also picked up a bottle of Pino Grigio and added some sliced strawberries

I love Brie but don't like the rind and apparently you can get a container of Brie (no rind) for the same price as a small thing of Brie! We also had some Munster and Cheddar in the fridge. 

Then for the sliced baguette, strawberries and blueberries! 

Also! Minus the wine this makes a great breakfast for those of us who aren't morning people! 

Vegetable Omelet

For some unknown reason I was dying for breakfast yesterday ... usually breakfast for me consists of coffee .. then another cup of coffee.

So since I was actually hungry I figured id make it special

Vegetarian Omelet!

You can always substitute the eggs for an egg substitute. My beau's parents have a farm and we're lucky enough to get eggs and some veggies from them from time to time.

I used some broccoli, mushrooms, and tomatoes 

then added the eggs, i used 3 and had left overs for later

make sure you grease your pan well!! Using oil and butter will raise your smoking temperature so your omelet will be less likely to burn.

as an afterthought I added some Munster cheese

Use a spatula and pull at the sides of the omelet, this helps the egg cook thoroughly 

Flip to the side and enjoy!!

Breakfast for Dinner

So since i'm not a morning person AT ALL!!! I never make breakfast foods for breakfast, so last night I decided we should do breakfast for dinner. We made pancakes and homefries!
I also cut up some veggies to have on the side since it was dinner and pancakes don't exactly have the best nutrition value haha

We've been keeping veggies around that we can dip in ranch .... soooo yummy!

pancakes!!! 

Best homefries ever!!! 

Sliced red potatoes, onion, and garlic .. some s&p and herbs de province and you've got yourself some amazing fries! 

Yum!!!

Hearty Irish Lager Stew

Last night I was craving soup ... I have no idea why when it's about a trillion degrees outside but we crazy women can't help what we crave right haha (that's what James would say anyway) It was too late to start making soup (and i was too lazy to do it anyway) so I made a greek salad quick instead.

So tonight I'm going to make this, we've got some really good French bread I want to eat up before It goes bad and we all know bread is fantastic with soup <3 

This is the exact recipe from Vegetarian Times

which i'll use as a guideline ... i'm horrible about following recipes unless i'm baking 

can't wait to see how it turns out!!! 

Serves 8

• 1 Tbs. vegetable oil
• 8 oz. button or shiitake mushrooms, halved
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
• 1 medium leek, white part only, diced (1 cup)
• 3 small red potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes (1 1/2 cups)
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced (2 cups)
• 2 small parsnips, peeled and sliced (1 1/2 cups)
• 1 1/2 tsp. tomato paste
• 1 15-oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme, tied in bundle, plus 1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme, divided
• 1/2 cup lager beer
• 1 1/2 Tbs. quick-cooking tapioca
• 1 cup shredded cabbage
• 1 Tbs. white miso
• 2 Tbs. chopped parsley

1. Heat 1/2 Tbs. oil in large pot over medium heat. Add mushrooms and garlic; sauté 8 minutes, or until mushrooms are browned. Remove from pan. Add remaining 1/2 Tbs. oil to pot. Add leek, and cook 5 minutes. Add potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and tomato paste. Cook 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, broth, and thyme sprigs; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Add lager, tapioca, and mushrooms. Simmer 10 to 15 minutes, or until thickened, stirring often. Remove thyme sprigs, stir in cabbage and miso, and simmer 4 to 5 minutes, or until cabbage softens. Stir in chopped thyme and parsley, and season with salt and pepper, if desired.

Vegetable Quiche

So quiche is very simple and super versatile you can customize it however you want! 

So using the pie crusts we prepared yesterday I rolled it out and put it in the pie dish.
I docked the dough and put it in the oven (not necessary i just like crispy crust)

While the crust par cooked in the oven I cut up some veggies

We used, mushrooms, onion, broccoli and spinach and saute the vegetables 

Now in a separate bowl mix up some eggs and milk

I was lazy and didn't do anything fancy with my crust (this is all before i brewed coffee haha)
Put the vegetables in then add the egg mixture (we also added cheese)

and bake! 

Bake until the filling is set

It's ugly but it tastes sooo good!!! 

Not being a morning person I should have made this the night before but oh well. Next time

Basic White Bread

:Basic White Bread:

2 cups warm water

2/3 cup white sugar

1 1/2 T dry yeast (active)

1 1/2 t salt

1 1/4 c veg oil

6 c bread flour

Combine water yeast and sugar, mix well (I use my finger, it makes a slurry of sorts)

let proof 

mix flour and salt in separate bowl

Add veg oil to proofed yeast mixture

Combine flour mixture 1/2 cup or so at a time to the yeast mixture. Continue to add flour until dough forms.

Knead dough until gluten develops. The dough will become smooth.

When the dough has been kneaded enough cover in oil and place in the bowl you took it out of.

Cover with dishcloth

Let rise until doubled in size

Once risen "punch down" flip and let rise again 

Once risen the second time shape bread and let dough rise again

Bake at 350 (depending on your oven) 

Time depends on the loaf of your bread, if you tap on the bread and it sounds hollow it is done.

Flaky Pie Crust

Good morning!

We ended up going grocery shopping last night so I have a bunch of goodies for you all today!
The first on the list being my Flaky Pie Crust recipe 

*Note: I use vegetable shortening because it's more forgiving than butter but feel free to use butter if you're feeling courageous!! I usually save the butter crusts for winter when I know the butter wont melt as much.*

Flaky Pie Crust

Yield: 2 Shells

2 Cups pastry or all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar 

2/3 cup vegetable shortening

6-7 tablespoons ice cold water (I use about 6 1/2)

1. Mix the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.

2. Cut in the shortening with a pastry blender or fingertips until the pieces are the size of small peas.

         -At this point, if you wish, you may make what is called a "mealy" crust. In bakeries, mealy pie crust is used for the bottom crust in fruit pies. It is also used for custard or "soft" type pies. To make a mealy (fine) textured crust, cut the shortening into the flour until it is the size of coarse corn meal.

3. Make a well in the dry mixture, pour in the ice cold water and toss gently with a fork to form "baseball size" lumps of pie dough. Be careful to wet all dough, but do not over-work. Remove the ball of dough and set aside;  continue making balls of dough, using more ice water if necessary.

4. Wrap dough individually in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 20minutes. Each dough should be enough to make one shell layer.

This morning I made a double batch of this recipe. 

I am going to make a chicken pot pie tonight and a quiche at some point this weekend.

I try to make pie crust at least a few hours in advance I find that working with well chilled dough is the best.

And later this afternoon i'll get to use my new rolling pin for the first time <3 Hooray!! 

This weeks List

So this is the weeks grocery list, going grocery shopping tomorrow. Out of this list I have 7-8 meals I can make and with the lunches I do variations on all of them depending on what I have on hand. 

I will provide a new recipe every day starting tomorrow evening! 

 :-)

Grocery List

*Dry ingredients:

Rice

Canned chicken

Bread Flour

Whole Wheat flour

Tomatoe Paste

Vegetable Broth

Chicken gravy 

*Produce & Deli:

Carrots

Cucumbers

Broccoli 

Mushrooms

Salad greens

Red Potatoes 

Sandwich stuff

Mozzerella 

Parm

ranch dip

Mandarin Oranges

*Frozen Food

Corn

Mixed Veg

Other:

Pie pan

:::Things I can make from this list:::

Chicken salad

Quiche-breakfast quiche

Rice & Veg dinner

Veg pot pie

Irish Soup

Sandwiches for lunch

Salads for lunch

Veggies and Dip

I think breaking up the grocery list like this is extremely helpful, I do it by where things are found in our local grocery store basically. And having a specific detailed list I believe helps minimize buying things that aren't on the list that are usually junk food. IE: the cookies we bought last week...

Welcome Foodies!!!

Welcome!
This is the second blog I have going. My first being Buttons&YarnOHMY. In which I blog mostly about my crafty side of life, and life in general, but mostly things i'm doing with my Etsy shop.

Last night James and I were talking about eating healthy which is something we've been talking about forever and never do anything about or sometimes we will get on a good healthy kick for a week or so, but fall quickly into old habits. So with this blog my plan is to share recipes and coupons maybe if i can find them. 

I want to eat healthy without spending a fortune on healthy food because lets face it, pasta (main staple in our diet) is a lot less expensive than organic fruits and veg. Plus time.... but I have all the time in the world now so let us begin.

First with organization and a plan

dun dun dun 

This is usually my downfall ... laziness and hopefully by posting daily we can avoid that.

Since going to school for Culinary Arts and working in bookstores I have an abundance of cookbook, plus the lovely internet. 

*I have all of her books, I LOVE them and they are by far my most used*

In the next few days i'll be going through my books and trolling the internet and writing out recipes on recipe cards (eventually making a book) 

*Not this exact box but you get the idea*

To save money I want to find recipes where the ingredients are common enough that I can use the leftover ingredients for a different recipe. 

.............................................................................

So today I'm making a grocery list, based on recipes with similar ingredients,

 for tomorrow nights shopping trip.