So You Don't Think I've Gone Completely Off The Grid...

  I thought I'd share some recent Pinterest successes. If you still don't know yet what the Pinterest craze is all about, check it out. You'll be so happy (and sorry) that you did. I have found some really incredible recipes and ideas through the pins my friends and family members have posted. The web address links go directly to each recipe. Hope you enjoy as much as our family has!

Click the button above to follow me as I discover lot's of new and incredible things!

                                                             

Chicken Salad French Bread Sandwich-cucinafamiglia.com

This is a spectacular warm sandwich!

Spring Asparagus Pancetta Hash-smittenkitchen.com

Delicious!

 Spicy Honey Chicken-ourbestbites.com

I've made this a few times since finding it and it "WOWs" us every time!

 Bacon Wrapped Smokies with Brown Sugar and Butter-tastykitchen.com

Mind-blowingly good!

 Hawaiian Lava Flow-thecoterieblog.com

Heaven in a cup!

sixsistersstuff.com

A delicious portable version of one of our favorite cakes!

 Homemade Nutter Butter Cookies-cookiesandcups.com

These were a home run! 

  A few notes: Because of the altitude difference, I had to add about 1/2 cup more flour. Also, I put quite a bit of frosting in between the cookies and still had enough for a double-batch of cookies. So if you want to make only one batch of cookies, cut the frosting recipe in half.

Sopapilla Bars-cucinafamiglia.com

These are crazy-good and highly addictive!

  We decided the filling would be perfect with 1 3/4 bars cream cheese.

Cashew-Caramel Cookies-marthastewart.com

Used homemade caramel...delicious!









  There are many, many, many more recipes we have tried that I could share, but thought I would start you off with just a few. Try them out, then come back and let me know what your family thought of them.

  I know I have not been very diligent in my posts lately. I attended a convention a couple weeks ago given by Shelf Reliance, a company for which I am an Independent Consultant. Check out my THRIVEwiththebasics blog if you'd like to learn more.

  I got past convention and was trying to get things back in order at home just in time to have my tonsils out. So, it may still be a while before you notice things happening here again because really, who wants to spend time cooking up something wonderful when they can't even eat it!
  Thanks for bearing with me.

Naan

  I decided to make one of our family favorites last night, Chicken Makhani. We love Indian food and that dish is a particular favorite. 

  When you visit an Indian food restaurant Naan (pronounce nahwn) is a must. There's nothing better than mopping up the delicious sauces than with a fantastic piece of flatbread. Traditional naan is slapped on the inside walls of a tandoor (clay) oven. The dough puffs and bubbles into a soft, chewy bread with a crispy exterior. Delicious!

  Since I do not own, nor do I plan to own a tandoor oven in the near future, I choose to bake my naan on a pizza stone. The results are incredibly close.

Naan

4-6 c. flour

1 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. baking powder

1 Tbsp. salt

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 1/4 c. whole milk

1/3 c. whole milk plain yogurt

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 large egg, lightly beaten

4 Tbsp. salted butter, melted

  Combine 4 cups flour and remaining dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add milk, yogurt, oil and egg and knead 10 minutes, adding flour as needed. It is important to have a smooth, non-sticky dough.

  Preheat pizza stone in oven to 500 degrees.

  Place dough on a floured surface and allow to rest 10 minutes. Divide into 4-8 portions, depending on how big you want your naan (I like to make 4 large naan for the table to share). Roll one piece of dough into an oval about 1/3" thick. Brush the excess flour from the dough with a pastry brush. Place dough on hot pizza stone and bake 2 minutes or just until dough bubbles. Flip dough and bake 2 minutes more. Remove naan to a serving plate and brush both sides with melted butter. Serve warm.

Two New Treats

  I tried two new recipes recently; one I had reason to make and one I made for absolutely no reason at all, except that I wanted to...and that was reason enough!

   The first is a recipe for Lemon Pineapple Sherbet. We had family joining us from Arizona Sunday. Because there were a lot of us getting together, we decided we would have a turkey dinner (utilizing a turkey I had saved in the freezer from last November). Since we were having such a hearty dinner I thought it would be nice to have something light for dessert. This sherbet was an absolute hit! A note about the recipe-puree the pineapple in the blender first. The finer pieces of pineapple were much more pleasing in the sherbet. I will definitely be making this again, but maybe try orange-pineapple next time for a change; or maybe even orange-strawberry. The possibilities are endless!

  The second recipe I want to share is for the "Baked Brownie". This is a brownie from the Baked bakeshop in Brooklyn and is famous for being a rich, decadent brownie. There are a ton of blogs touting this recipe and I must agree with the conclusions-this is a delicious brownie. Give it a shot, tell me what you think.



  I'm going to let you in on a little secret. If you cut brownies with a plastic knife, you'll have zero tearing. The brownies will not clump on the knife and make a mess everywhere. You'll end up with beautiful, perfectly cut brownies.

Triple-Chocolate Cake Pops

  If you've been following my blog for long, you know I found encountered an obsession last year. That obsession is with cake pops. I have experimented with lot's of flavor combinations over the last several months and have only not posted them here because they never quite last long enough for a photo session, or I'm headed out the door to an event with them, or my camera is broken (the excuses go on and on). I made an excuse to make them last week and was diligent in taking photos, so I am finally posting again about cake pops!

  Here's a secret to making cake pops-when you bake a layer cake and have to cut the tops of in order to have a flat cake, place the cake tops in a gallon-size ziploc bag and place it in the freezer. As you accumulate cake tops of similar flavors keep adding them to the bag. When you're ready to make cake pops simply whip up a batch of your favorite frosting (or buy the pre-made stuff at the supermarket) and go to town! 

  Another secret to making cake pops-homemade frosting is worth the effort! Store-bought frosting tends to give the cake pop a really dense, soggy consistency. Homemade frosting leaves the interior sort of a cake-truffle consistency. Very delicious, and well worth the time.

  Crumble the cake into a large bowl. Add just enough frosting for the cake to hold together without crumbling. Too much frosting and your centers with be a gooey mess.

  Refrigerate 30 minutes.

  Line a baking sheet with foil or use a Silpat. Using a cookie scoop, scoop mounds onto the baking sheet. Roll the mounds into round balls. 

  When all the cake balls have been formed, cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap and place in the freezer for at least 3 hours or over-night.

  Dip sucker sticks in a small amount of melted chocolate (I buy dipping chocolate, but you can use chocolate chips and add shortening to it to thin it enough to use for dipping-about 1 Tbsp. shortening/2 cups chips). Push the stick about 2/3 of the way into the cake ball. Dip cake balls in chocolate and immediately into toppings (if using). Note: You can buy nifty little cake pop holders that hold them upright while they set, or you can go the cheap route and cover styro-foam blocks with foil (to catch the drips).

  My most recent attempt at cake pops last week led to chocolate cake with homemade chocolate fudge frosting. I dipped 1/3 of the pops in crushed Oreos (in honor of Oreos 100th b-day), 1/3 the pops in crushed Girl's Scout Thin Mint cookies and the last third in Heath pieces. YUM!!!


  Completely assembled cake pops store great in the freezer. Simply bag each pop (you can buy sucker bags at Walmart and most craft stores) and place the bagged pops in a gallon-size freezer bag.

Tried Something New

  Pinterest is all the craze. If you haven't yet discovered "pins" and "boards" and the obsession that comes with it all, and you're a hopeless food geek (as my husband affectionately calls me), check it out.

  One "pin" circulating right now is for Cream Cheese Pancakes. This recipe is intended for those on a low or no-carb diet. Of course I couldn't just follow the directions on the recipe because as I read through the comments on her blog post there were tons of fantastic variation ideas. I decided to go with one particular idea of separating the egg yolks and whites and whipping the whites to full volume. I was rewarded for my efforts with a fantastic, fluffy pancake that was sort of a cross between a crepe and a dutch baby. The munchins and I had these as a treat last night (my bribe for being good while dad was gone) with powdered sugar, strawberries and whipped cream on top. Delicious!

Cream Cheese Pancakes

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 tsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. vanilla

3 eggs, divided

  In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Beat in sugar and vanilla. Add one egg yolk and beat until completely smooth, scraping the sides. Add remaining yolks and beat smooth.

  In a small mixing bowl beat egg whites to full volume. Fold whites into cream cheese mixture.

  Heat a small skillet over medium-low heat; spray with cooking spray (it is very important to spray the pan with cooking spray prior to cooking each pancake). Scoop about 1/3 cup mixture onto skillet and smooth out with an off-set spatula. Cook 1-2 minutes, until pancake is soft-set then flip and cook an additional 30-45 seconds.

   Serve warm. Yields about 8-10 6" pancakes.

  Of course, my pancakes were certainly not low-carb, but they were fantastic. If you or someone you know is on a no or low-carb diet or even a gluten-free diet, these are perfect!

Pizza Night

  Over the last couple years my home has turned into a regular pizzeria. My family loves pizza (who doesn't?) and especially loves homemade pizza (can you blame us?)

  My sister introduced us to a new recipe from Annie's Eats for Shaved Asparagus Pizza, which became the featured pizza for last week's pizza night. I made three adjustments to this recipe- I used my own pizza dough recipe, added sliced mushrooms to the pizza and created a cream cheese mixture to replace the Boursin Cheese (something you can't find in my hometown). The results: Heavenly Deliciousness!

  Tuesday night I was in the mood to try another new-to-our-home pizza recipe (No, we don't typically have pizza every week. Weekly pizza night...not a bad idea though!) There is a restaurant just 25 minutes from our home that my husband and I love. They feature wood-oven pizzas on their menu and our absolute favorite is the "Hawaii Five-O" pizza. Let me start by saying, I don't like Hawaiian pizza. Pineapple on a pizza? Yuck! However, this one is to die for! Seriously!! Let me tell you why:

-Start with a pizza crust (my traditional recipe or your own family favorite

-Brush the entire thing with Extra Virgin Olive Oil

-Pile on the mozzarella cheese

-Top with Canadian Bacon (my favorite is "Land O Lakes" because it's nice big slices)

-Top with grilled, fresh pineapple (see my recipe for grilling pineapple here, except omit the brown sugar and grill the fruit plain) that you've diced small

-Top with crispy cooked and crumbled bacon (my addition to the original)

-Top with caramelized onions (Here's a great how-to, except replace the oil with butter. Trust me!)

-Top with crushed macadamia nuts (Unless you have some horrible macadamia nut allergy, trust me on this one and just go with it.)

-Drizzle with Teriyaki Sauce (I found this fantastic Teriyaki Glaze recipe. I doubled the brown sugar though, and cut the recipe by half.)

  I have to brag now and say how incredibly impressed I was with my ability to re-create this delicious pizza. My husband is now requesting it for our next pizza night!

Pizza/Breadstick Dough

2 c. warm Water (101-105 degrees)        2 Tbsp. Oil

2 Tbsp. Yeast                                         2 tsp. Salt

4 Tbsp. Sugar                                         4-6 c. Flour

Proof water, yeast, and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add oil and salt and slowly add flour until dough pulls away from sides and no longer sticks to the bottom of the bowl; knead smooth (about 4-6 minutes). Makes 2 14-16” pizzas.

  To use as a breadstick dough simply divide dough into equal balls and shape into breadsticks. Place breadsticks on baking sheets and brush with egg wash (1 egg & 1 Tbsp. water beaten together). Bake immediately at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Brush breadsticks with melted butter and sprinkle with garlic salt; bake until golden (about 3-6 minutes more).

Cream Cheese Blend (To replace Boursin)

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1-2 Tbsp. milk

1/2-3/4 tsp. Italian seasoning (or combination of basil, oregano, parsley, thyme, rosemary and sage)

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 tsp. coarse salt

1/4 tsp. fresh-ground black pepper

Blend all ingredients until smooth. You want a light consistency without it being runny.