Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Well, lovely blog readers, the time has come. Please excuse the lack of comments and possibly posting for a bit, as I am packing up the last of my stuff at home and moving out to my new apartment in Beantown this week! I'm not sure when I'll have internet access again, so until then i bid you adieu :)

Have a great week!

Mediterranean Rice Casserole

FYI: the fall colors in central NY are pretty spectacular right now! (hmm, it looked better in person... o well) I went to visit a couple of my aunts, and what did I come home with? Bounty from a friends' farm (thanks guys ;-))!! "How about some swiss chard?" left me with this:


Yeah, just a little. :) The red chard is just GORGEOUS! I had tried swiss chard last year, but couldn't for the life of me remember what I had done with them... enter: a rice and greens casserole I had seen over at Diet, Dessert and Dogs. I haven't had too many dolmades, so I have no basis for comparison, but I really enjoyed the combination of flavors in this dish! Another winner, Ricki, thanks for sharing!!

Mediterranean Rice Casserole

Stuff It... Stuff It Real Good

:) while the rest of that tune is going in my head, I wanted to post about this amazing stuffed salmon. So delicious and easy, perfect for entertaining!! My aunt first made this for me a couple of years ago, it this is surely a keeper. This was actually my first time making it (although I've eaten it many times), so I didn't do quite the best job slicing into the gorgeous piece of salmon, but it all worked out in the end! A montage, to illustrate what I might not be able to describe well...


Stuffed Salmon
Recipe from Aunt Lorraine


1 salmon fillet, rinsed and patted dry
~10oz spinach (fresh or frozen works)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
EVOO
3-4oz goat cheese
hot sauce (I used Franks' buffalo sauce)

Preheat the oven to 350deg. In large nonstick skillet, heat ~1T EVOO over medium-low heat. Add garlic and saute 1-2min, then add washed spinach and cook until wilted. (If you're using frozen, be sure to squeeze all the water out of the defrosted spinach, and just cook it with the garlic until the chill is off) Remove from heat and let mixture cool.

In a baking dish (I think I used a 9x13 pan here), add some hot sauce and then the salmon. Do your best and try to cut through the middle of the thickest part of the fillet (there's usually a hump that's thicker than the rest, this is where you want to make a pocket). No worries, I did an aweful job at this and no one noticed :)

Add your cooked spinach to the larger part of the salmon, as evenly (or unevenly) as you'd like, then crumble up the goat cheese. Fold over the flap of salmon you cut to encase the stuffing. Pour some more hot sauce on top of the salmon. If any guests don't want the added flava, you can also squeeze some lemon juice on top (the lemon slices were more to distinguish which portion lacked hot sauce, I don't think she actually ate them). Bake for 20-30min, depending on the size of your fillet. Voila!


So so good. The goat cheese melts and the flavor combination is fantastic. Never would've put the hot sauce there, but it really works. I'm sure this would also be good with spinach, feta, and pine nuts as the stuffing... i'm just partial to goat cheese :) Who wouldn't be impressed being served this for dinner? ok, well, you might want to transfer it to a nice serving plate...

English Muffin Pizzas

So finally after all the times I have mentioned pizza in my blog I am finally posting about it! Friday night is pizza night (99% of the time) and it's usually ordered out. Our order is exactly the same each week, we get a black olive pie delivered from Saporito's Pizzeria in Denville. We love their pizza it's the best we found since we've moved here and believe me, we've tried a lot of places, but sometimes it's nice to make pizza yourself. So I didn't make the dough and maybe this is considered cheating but I did make my own sauce and it was definitely a very nice change.

If you don't toast the english muffins first or if your sauce is too hot, they will turn out soggy.

English Muffin Pizzas

Pizzas:

1 package of english muffins
1 package of shredded mozzarella
handful of grated cheese, we like locatelli romano

Sauce:

1 can 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
1 tsp dried italian seasoning
salt and pepper
4 cloves garlic, minced
fresh basil
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp crushed red pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions:

Saute garlic, italian seasoning and crushed red pepper in oil. Add tomatoes, fresh basil, salt and pepper.

Let cook for 30-40 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

Let sauce cool.

Open english muffins and place on a cookie sheet. Bake dry at 400 for about 10 minutes and tops are lightly browned and crisp.

Add sauce, sprinkle of cheese and mozzarella to each muffin. Bake until cheese melts and gets light brown.

Enjoy!






Steve Approves!

Raspberry Clafouti

Yup, more raspberries! I told you we bought them at Sam's... :) (If you're not familiar, it's a wholesale club, like BJ's and Costco). Finished them off in a delightful, light dessert choc-full of these delicious red rubies--Raspberry Clafouti. I've tried various clafouti recipes, and have liked them all... you'd think I'd just pick one base and vary the fruit, but I'm *slightly* addicted to food blogs and bookmarking tasty recipes!


Raspberry Clafouti
adapted from Sunset


~8oz raspberries
2t cornstarch
1 egg
1/3c egg whites
1c skim milk
2/3c whole wheat pastry flour
1/4c sugar
1 1/2t vanilla extract
1/4t salt

Preheat oven to 350deg. Spray a 2qt baking dish with nonstick spray. Toss berries with cornstarch to coat and place in dish. In a blender (this is a large amount, dangerous to use in your hand blender... not that I know or anything ;) ), mix egg and egg whites, flour, sugar, vanilla and salt for 15 seconds. Pour over berries in baking dish. Bake until puffed and golden brown in the center, ~50min. Cool, then dust with powdered sugar to serve.

a little slice of berry heaven :)

Taco Dip

The first time I dipped my chip into this dip I was hooked! Now I or someone else makes it for every get together. It doesn't get any easier than this so grab your chip, scoop or whatever you prefer and dig in!

A special thanks to Steve's Mom, Lyn who shared this recipe with me!


Taco Dip

1 pkg. cream cheese or sour cream (I use 8 oz sour cream)
1 can chili with or without beans
1 jar salsa
1 pkg. taco blend cheese
2 lg. tomatoes, chopped
4 scallions, sliced
1 can sliced back olives

Layer ingredients in the order above in a nonstick rectangular pan.
Bake for 20 minutes at 350˚

I Like to Ate Ate Ate...

Who's singing with me? hehe Fall =APPLES!!! Well, changing leaves, too, but I don't think I'd want to cook with those... I have been enjoying 2 apples a day since I first picked them up from the farm around the corner :) So I wanted to mix it up a little. Plus, this week's ingredient is Apples, so I'm submitting these to Erin and Andrea over at Care to Eat. Check out the details there... there's even a chance to get some of the prized bread Erin's been raving about!!

First, some Pumpkin Apple Butter, from Enlightened Cooking. Mine didn't look as smooth as Camilla's, but still tasted pretty darn good :) I followed the recipe, only reducing the honey just a bit, so I'll point you to back to the original post for the recipe. I'm looking forward to using this on toast, waffles, english muffins... ooh, I bet it would be tasty on pancakes too!


I decided to make 1/2 batch of two quickbreads and make them into mini-loaves so I could share! Friends of my parents are taking me kayaking, so I thought this would be a nice way to say thanks :)

Banana Apple Bread

First was a Banana Apple Bread, which I had seen over in Sunita's World. As I had only written the ingredients, I prepared it more like a quick bread (and didn't sprinkle the nuts on top), so it looks a bit different, but it still tasted delicious!!! Next time I'd use the apple in chunks instead of shredded so the apple taste doesn't get lost (the predominate flavor was banana), and maybe add more oatmeal.

Pumpkin Apple Bread

Before I had decided to do the pumpkin apple butter, I had wanted to combine apple and pumpkin somewhow, so I adapted a recipe seen over at eat me, delicious.

Mini Pumpkin Apple Loaves
adapted from eat me, delicious, who adapted it from The Garden of Vegan
Yield 3-4 mini loaves


1/2c white whole wheat flour
1/2c whole wheat pastry flour
1t baking powder
1/4t baking soda
1T cane sugar
3/8c unsweetened apple juice (plus some if batter's dry)
1/6c unsweetened applesauce
1/2c pumpkin
1/2 large apple, diced
~1/4c chopped walnuts, if desired

Preheat oven to 350deg. Spray mini loaf pan (or other desired shape) with nonstick spray.

Combine flours, baking powder and baking sugar in medium bowl.

In small bowl, combine apple juice, applesauce, and pumpkin. Mix wet into dry until just combined, adding a little more apple juice if needed. Fold in apples and nuts (if using), then add to prepared pans.

Bake for 25-30min, until it's done (I did the touch "test", and waited until my finger didn't sink in... very scientific!)


Alrighty, well if you haven't already, GO GET SOME APPLES!!! :) I can't believe my month is just about over, and I move to Boston next wednesday!! Crazy...