Garlic Slathered Stretch Bread......

Its no secret that I'm a huge fan of Marcy Goldman. I love, love, love her Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking book and I'm equally in love with her latest book " A Passion for Baking".

My friend Di also has this book and she reccomended this Garlic Slathered Stretch Bread. Once I read the recipe, I knew Robin would love this. She is always begging me to make " cheesy garlic bread" and this recipe is exactly that times 10. You start by making a simple flatbread dough. I love that the majority of Marcy's recipes use Bread flour. I think it gives great texture and chew. I made the dough in the KA using the hook and it came together in a snap. While its rising, you make a spread with mayo, garlic( I reduced the cloves to 4 instead of 6 and it was very garlicky) parmesean, some italian seasoning and evoo. This is spread over the bread with mozzarella. Once the second shorter rise is complete, its a short bake in the oven. As you can see, 4 cups of flour made a huge amount of bread. I have a big catering job coming up and I plan on serving this with their lasagna.

If enough people want the recipe, I can ask Marcy if I can post it. Or, you can always go buy the book. If you're like me, you'll want to bake every single recipe in it.

Beer Can Chicken( CI).......

I seem to be one of those folks who's always behind on the latest cooking fads. Can you believe I've never even made the No Knead Bread??? It took me awhile to try beer can chicken and I'm really sorry I waited so long. I have this irrational fear of running out of propane in the middle of grilling. Thus, I never want to grill things that take hours and hours. I knew we were going to my MIL's for dinner on Sunday, so I decided to make this over there. My MIL has a direct gas hookup to her bbq( I'm smacking myself for not doing that when we did all our renovations). This seems like a fussy recipe, but its really very simple. I used the recipe and technique( loosely) from Cook's Illustrated. I bought 2 whole fryer's at Meijer in Port Huron, MI for .69lb( so cheap!!). I made a simple rub of parprika, salt, pepper, celery seed and thyme( I left out the cayenne). Instead of beer cans, I used two empty soup cans because they were sturdier. You fill those with beer and crumbled bay leaves( you can also use lemondae of ginger ale or whatever). I also used mesquite chips that I soaked for an hour. Those went right on the coals in a disposable pie plate( CI says make a foil packet, but I used the plate). We did have to flip the birds around a few times since they cook on indirect heat. The end result was a moist very tasty bird. I only had the breast meat and it was really good. This is something I'll defintely make again.

Rhubarb raspberry pie.......

Its no secret that I'm a cake kinda girl. Plain, frosted, layer, sheet, bundt, I'm sure you get the picture. Its not often that I'll turn down a piece of cake. My Mother-in-law however, is a pie gal. She loves pie( as do most of the older folks around these parts). Since yesterday was Mother's Day, Robin and I whipped her mom up a nice pie. I've always been afraid of lattice, but I wanted to do it this time because I knew it would showcase all the ruby red fruit. I used my go to pie dough recipe for pate brise. I love the taste of an all butter crust even though my MIL prefers lard( egad!!). The filling is simply 4 cups of chopped rhubarb, a cup of raspberries, a cup of sugar( I used vanilla sugar) and 1/4c. of minute tapioca. I've made lots of pies since moving to Ontario and I have to say that as a pie thickener, I prefer the tapioca over flour or cornstarch.

Robin did the lattice using the really simple intructions we found over on simply recipes. I eggwashed the top and sprinkled some turbinado sugar over the whole lot.

Now, if we can just get the hang of this new camera, we'd be set.

Mimi's carrot walnut raisin bread......

I'm pretty much an "anti chain" restaurant type of person, especially in Florida. There are so many fabulous independent restaurant choices that I dont understand why someone would visit an Olive Garden or a Red Lobster. Thats not to say that I dont eat at any chains. When I go to Port Huron, I basically have no choice as almost all the restaurants there are chains. Jimmy John's sandwiches just opened up there and I'm not ashamed to say that I really like the #12.

My ex's mom used to take us to Mimi's cafe in Phoenix when we'd go back for a visit. I loved, loved, loved the carrot raisin walnut bread. Mimi's would always give you one small slice in their breadbasket. It would be the first peice I'd pick up. I found this copycat recipe( Top Secret Recipes) and I'm happy to report that the taste is very similar. I did make a few substitutions as I had pecans instead of walnuts. I also had a breakfast blend of dried fruits so I used that. Next time I make this, I'll reduce the oil to 3/4 cup(from 1 cup). I found it to be slightly greasy. Its dead simple to make and the recipe makes 2 loaves.

Spinach Lasagna( CI)........

Yummy!! This lasagna rocks. Here we have another winner from Cook's Illustrated. I've made this a few other times, but couldnt remember if I'd blogged about it. Its a bechamel based sauce with 1 cottage cheese layer. I've never been a fan of CC in my lasagna, I much prefer ricotta, but you puree the cheese in a food processor and it really works well. This lasagna is pretty much so you only need a small slice. Thats a good thing because I made a German Chocolate Cake for dessert that was amazing!!

Cowgirl chicken casserole and Shrimp Etouffee.....

One day last year I was surfing through the zillions of foodblogs and found a recipe for a chocolate peanut butter pie. The recipe came from Emeril's book called PotLuck kicked up comfort food with attitude. The book was less than 1.00 used so I bought it. We were invited to a bday party potluck on Friday so I pulled out the book and found these two recipes. I REALLY wanted to make the shrimp etouffee because shrimp was on sale ( 31-40) for a really low price of 3.99 a bag. Robin nixed that idea saying a lot of people don't really like shellfish so I made it for us instead. It was super easy to make and really tasty. Etouffee means smothered and thats basically what it was. You start by making a light roux and then you add the famous cajun trinity. Bell peppers, onions and celery. Shrimp stock is added next( I used Better than Boullion lobster stock and it worked fine) and this mixture simmers for awhile. Shrimp is added in last and its served over rice. I had some white rice leftover from a Chinese food meal we had so it was a snap to reheat.

We decided on this cowboy( I renamed it cowgirl) chicken casserole for the Friday Potluck. I did a lot of the prep on Thursday night so it came together fast. Emerils recipes include a lot of steps, but the flavor really comes thru. This dish consists of diced or shredded chicken( you poach it in a flavorful broth) over crushed crunchy tortilla chips. Next you make a mushroom bechamel( no canned soup here!!) and pour that over. Diced onions, peppers, cheese and spices round out the next layer. Oh and lots of shredded cheese. Canned chopped tomatoes and green chilies finish it off. It bakes for 40 min and voila!! It was very tasty and as you can see, it make a huge dish.

ps: The blogger upload picture thing wasnt working so I had to use a cut and paste from snapfish. The pics are big, sorry for that.

Big super nutty peanut butter cookies(CI)......

We all know by now that Robin is a peanut butter freak, a title she wears happily. My friend J is also a lover of all things peanut butter. I'm off to Ann Arbor to visit J and her partner for a few days so I thought I'd whip these up. The recipe came to me in the America's Test Kitchen newsletter and as per usual, Cook's Illustrated didnt dissapoint. These were very peanutty, thanks to a dose of chopped nuts. I actually halved the recipe but while mixing I realized I added the full amount of peanut butter. I didnt have another full stick of butter softened, but I did have 2 tbls so I used that and proceeded with the recipe( but I did use only half the amount of chopped nuts). They're still really good, next time I make them I'll use the correct amount of butter. I used the ridged side of my meat pounder to make the marks( spray it with pam first).



Big, Super-Nutty Peanut Butter Cookies Add to Favorites Shopping List
Bringing the butter, peanut butter, and eggs to room temperature makes it easier to blend the ingredients. Be sure to grind the peanuts, since whole, and even chopped peanuts tend to slip out of the dough. If using unsalted butter, increase salt to 1 teaspoon. Keep finished cookies refrigerated in airtight container. To restore just-baked chewiness, wrap a cookie in a sheet of paper towel and microwave for approximately 25 seconds. Cool before serving.
Makes approximately 3 dozen cookies
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 pound butter (2 sticks), salted
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup extra-crunchy peanut butter , preferably Jif
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup roasted salted peanuts , ground in food processor to resemble bread crumbs, about 14 pulses (about 1 cup, packed)




1. Adjust oven rack to low center position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl.

2. In bowl of electric mixer or by hand, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars; beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes with electric mixer, stopping to scrape down bowl as necessary. Beat in peanut butter until fully incorporated, then eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Gently stir dry ingredients into peanut butter mixture. Add ground peanuts; stir gently until just incorporated.

3. Working with 2 tablespoons dough at a time (see illustration 1 below), roll into large balls, placing them 2 inches apart on a parchment-covered cookie sheet. Following illustration 2, press each dough ball with back of dinner fork dipped in cold water to make crisscross design. Bake until cookies are puffed and slightly brown along edges, but not top, 10 to 12 minutes (they will not look fully baked). Cool cookies on cookie sheet until set, about 4 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Cookies will keep, refrigerated in an airtight container, up to 7 days.