spinach and mushroom stuffed manicotti with vodka cream sauce

I got an invite to Erin's house for dinner, so naturally I ask what I can bring. I suggest that I bring over the box of 1/2 priced manicotti that I bought last week at the grocery store. The half price was $3.15. After I got off the phone with Erin, I decided I wanted to make vodka cream sauce. This is easy and I had almost all the stuff I needed.

Gather together:
vodka
2 tablespoons of butter
3 cloves of garlic--minced
1 small onion or 2 shallots--minced
1 large can of tomatoes- I pulsed a can of whole tomatoes in the blender
1 tablespoon of dried basil--if you have fresh basil, use it instead
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
salt & pepper
1 cup of heavy cream

Saute the garlic and shallots over medium heat until they are translucent. When those are done, add the vodka, tomatoes and stock. Allow this reduce down by at least half--this is going to take a while. Once that is reduced, add the seasonings and salt and pepper. Remove the sauce off the heat and slowly stir in the heavy cream. Add this to your favorite pasta or.....


Gather together:
1/2 lb of your favorite mushrooms:button, portabella, etc.--cleaned and sliced
1 frozen block of spinach--thawed and squeezed
2 cloves of minced garlic
1 tub of ricotta cheese
1 package of manicotti noodles
mozzarella cheese--shredded

Make the noodles according to the package. In another pan, add 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, then add the mushroom. When the mushrooms are 1/2 cooked, add the garlic and the spinach. Then the spinach is completely heated, remove the mixture from the pan in to a mixing bowl. Add the ricotta to the mushroom/spinach mixture. Start stuffing the mixture in to the noodles--it's best if you rinsed the noodles with cold water after they are cooked and sprinkle them with oil. Place the stuffed noodles in a casserole dish sprayed down with oil. Add the sauce and cover with cheese. Broil the pan until the cheese is brown and melty.



Serve this with awesome egg bread made by Erin.

Amazing Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yes, it's another chocolate chip cookie recipe. This recipe, however, is amazing and I must share. The secret is vanilla pudding. Who knew? These cookies are soft and chewy and everything I'd want in a chocolate chip cookie.

Amazing Chocolate Chip Cookies
(from allrecipes.com)

2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the flour and baking soda, set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.

Dump Cake

Don't let the name fool you, this cake is tasty. And it's so easy it's embarrassing.

Dump Cake
1 boxed cake mix (I used a yellow one)
1 stick of butter (I used salted butter because it's better)
2 cans of fruit (I used peaches)
Preheat oven to 350. Dump fruit onto bottom of 9x13 pan. Dump the cake mix on top of the fruit. Slice the butter and place it over the top of the cake mix. Make sure you cover most of the cake mix with butter so there are no dry spots. Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes or so.

I've also tried this with cherry pie filling and a chocolate cake. It's like a poor man's black forest cake and also tasty.

Peanut Butter Dog Treats

I was bored and decided to try making dog treats. There are loads of recipes out there on the internet, but this was the only one that I actually had all the ingredients. They were super simple. I tried the dough and they were pretty plain, but Sophie seemed to enjoy them.  

Peanut Butter Dog Treats

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup oil

1 egg

3 tbs peanut butter

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup flour

1/2 cup oats

Combine the wet ingredients. Throw in the dry ingredients and stir them around. You can add some more oats or flour if you think the dough needs it. Roll out the dough. You can cut them into cute shapes, but dogs don't care about that. I just cut mine with a pizza cutter into 1 inch squares. Put onto the baking sheet. Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Crab Cakes & Remoulade

In the few months I have been working at SAFE, I am used to feeding people that come to trainings or events. This week, I had a trainer bring in fresh crab that he had caught in Juneau. It was pretty cool and yet freaky to see all those crab legs just hanging out. He didn't just bring a few crab, he brought about 40lbs of crab in. It was nice and he donated it to SAFE and everyone in the training. I managed to snag a few and de-shell them before I went home. Then, I forgot I had it for about 2 days. (D'oh!) So, I am looking in the fridge and I see the cold crab just hanging out. I figured the best thing I can do with it is to make crab cakes.

Gather together:

• 1/2 pounds of de-shelled crab
• 2 cups of panco breadcrumbs
• 2 eggs
• Tabasco Sauce
• Worcestershire sauce
• parsley
• Cavenders Greek seasoning
• red pepper flakes
• 1 small onion--minced

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Shape in to patties. Pan fry these until golden brown on both sides. Make the sauce and enjoy. I know I did.



Remoulade:

• 2 cups mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons dill pickles minced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• a squirt of lemon juice
  
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley leaves
• Several dashes hot pepper sauce
• cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes
  
• pinch of dill

Pulse all this in the food processor until smooth. Check to make sure you like the taste, but I am pretty sure you will.

Greek Potato Salad

This salad reminds me of the salad I used to make at Whole Food Market. Obviously, I do not recall the Whole Food market recipe since it has been 5 years since I have worked there. I do remember that it is made with red potatoes and I think they used the Greek dressing made in their commissary. Since I don't have a huge kitchen that makes fancy dressings for me, I used the old oil and lemon juice recipe. This is relative easy to make.

Gather together:

• 1.5 lbs of red potatoes
• 1 medium red onion (I used yellow b/c it was all I had)--thinly sliced
• 1 jar pitted Kalamata olives--They were $11 in the DLG***
• Cherry Tomatoes (I didn't have any so no tomatoes in this salad)
• feta cheese
  
• juice from 2 lemons
  
• olive oil (or canola oil--once again, this is what I had on had)
• Cavenders Greek seasoning (Salt-Free)--BUY THIS STUFF, IT IS AWESOME!
• Parsley--chopped
  
• salt and pepper to taste

Boil or steam the potatoes until tender, about 10-15 minutes. While those are working, make the dressing. Add the seasoning to the lemon juice. Slowly whisk the oil until it thickens. This amount will very depending on the amount of lemon juice you have. Add the onions, olives, tomatoes and parsley. Drain the potatoes and allow to cool. I put mine in the freezer for about 10 minutes. (I am not so worried about the ice cream that is probably getting ruined by putting hot potatoes on it. Here is my confession, I don't really care for ice cream. It's sick I know.) Once the potatoes are cool, mix them in to the dressing. Crumble with feta cheese on top and add salt and pepper to taste. Allow to chill about a half hour before serving.


This salad is really flavorful and super easy to make. And if you haven't about some of this Greek seasoning, you really should. I put it on french fries, fried potatoes, fry bread, hamburgers, chicken and all other things good. You will love this stuff.

***I also wanted to note that the olives were not pitted and I had to do it by hand. The rest of the country can get pitted olives that are under $11 dollar, not here in DLG.

Cranberry Almond Chip Cookies

I jazzed up my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe because I was bored one day. I love almond and wished I would have put actual almonds in the cookie, rather than just extract. Learn from my mistake! Otherwise, these were pretty good. Something a little different but still tastes like a chocolate chip cookie.

Cranberry Almond Chip Cookie

1 cup butter

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extact

1 tsp baking soda (dissolved in 2 tsp hot water)

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups flour

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (or so)

1/2 cup cranberries (or so)

Preheat oven to 350. 

Cream butter and sugars until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time (not sure why this is important, but I always do it this way).  Stir in vanilla and almond extracts. Add baking soda (dissolved in water) and salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and cranberries. 

Put large spoonfuls on baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Rosemary Focaccia

I have a new super power. I make bread on my lunch break. It's pretty super. I took the recipe from the Betty Crocker cook book. I think I might try to make bread everyday for a week...Not this week. Maybe next. People around here do love their sourdough. Maybe I should make a starter... And while you wait here is the recipe for the Rosemary Focaccia.

Gather toogether:

• 1 cup warm water
  
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 1/2-3 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast
  
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup ground flax seed (optional)
  
• 1 tablespoon rosemary--crunched up
• 1tsp honey
  

Put the yeast in the warm water with the honey. Allow the yeast to bubble for about 5 minutes. In your kitchen aid mixer bowl (with the bread hook attached to the mixer) add 1 c. of the flour, salt, sugar, rosemary and olive oil. Once the yeast has done its thing then add that to the flour mixture and mix on medium for 3 minutes. Slowly add more flour and flax seed. Keep mixing until the dough pulls from the sides (that means makes one big lump). Pull the dough out and knead the dough for 6-8 minutes. You could let the dough hook do this, but I like the way warm dough feels. It's therapeutic. Put the kneaded dough in a greased bowl and allow to double. This takes about an hour maybe longer if your house is drafty.
(notice the pretty flax seed in the dough--pretty and healthy too!)

Once the dough has doubled punch it down and cut in to 2 pieces. Shape the dough on to 2 greased cookie sheets. Allow to double again--this time for about 30 minutes. Make indentations in the dough with your fingers about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top (or garlic powder) Bake for 15-20 minutes in a 400 degree oven. (Do not accidentally put the oven on broil--it will burn the bottom of the bread. This will make you sad. At least, it made me sad. )

Eat. Between Aaron, Saramay and myself we ate one whole loaf. It wasn't completely burned on the bottom, just crustier on the top. It was still pretty good.

Strawberry Cupcakes

I made these for Easter. This was a pretty simple recipe. It's not a hardcore homemade strawberry cake, as it has Jello in it, but I'm not going to judge it for that. The flavor was good and didn't taste incredibly artificial despite the Jello. The frosting was really the best part of this cupcake (isn't it always?). It's a cream cheese buttercream and oh so good.

Southern Style Strawberry Cupcakes (from Ezra Pound Cake) 

• 1 (18.25-ounce) box white cake mix (I used Funfetti because it was all I had. It was festive.)
• 1 (3-ounce) box strawberry-flavored instant gelatin
• 1 (15-ounce) package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed (I pureed a container of fresh strawberries. The cake was still plenty sweet without the syrup strawberries.)
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup water

Prehead the oven to 350. Line your muffin pans with cupcake papers. In a large bowl combine the cake mix and gelatin.  Add strawberries, oil, and water and beat until smooth. Divide the batter into the cups. Bake for roughly 20 minutes. 

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting (also from Ezra)

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup strawberry puree (Measure it from the leftover puree you made for the batter.)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Up to 7 cups confectioners’ sugar

Beat butter and cream cheese until creamy. Beat in the strawberry puree and vanilla until smooth. Start adding confectioners' sugar until you reach the desired consistency. 

Bread Pudding With Bourbon Sauce

The last of the Derby day feast is the bread pudding with bourbon sauce. (see I told you had other plans for that $65 bourbon) This stuff is pretty good. I think I would have liked more of the milk and egg mixture to make it more custardy. But the sauce, that sauce is awesome. I envision a world where in I can swim in this stuff. I wanna put it on pancakes, french toast and ice cream.

Here's is the recipe:
1 pound French style bread
3 1/4 cups milk
5 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup pecans--I didn't have any more of these :(
1/4 cup raisins ( I soaked mine in bourbon overnight)

Sauce:
1 cup granulated sugar
6 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp. bourbon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. white corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla

Tear bread into medium pieces. Add sugar and cinnamon. Mix milk, lightly beaten eggs and vanilla. Add to bread mixture. Place half of the mix in a casserole dish. Layer pecans and raisins, if used. Top with the rest of the mix. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

To make sauce, combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil for one minute. The baking soda will make it foam up, just watch it so it doesn't boil over. Serve warm with warm bread pudding.

Mint julep bourbon balls

The drink of choice at derby time is the Mint Julep. The candy of choice in Kentucky is the bourbon ball and thus enters the Mint julep bourbon balls. Being the person I am, I made a few changes. I rolled the balls in cocoa powder. Normally, bourbon balls are dipped in chocolate, but I lack chocolate chips. And did I mention that the bourbon was $65? Yes, that's right. That's the kind of prices that I have to deal with. You can imagine I don't buy this kind of stuff very often. I also have other plans for the bourbon, but I digress.

gather together

2 1/2 c Vanilla wafer crumbs
1 c Sifted powdered sugar
1 c Finely chopped pecans or
-walnuts
3 tb Light corn syrup
1/4 c Bourbon
1/4 c White creme de menthe

Makes 50 to 60 balls

Crush vanilla wafers until fine and mix with powdered sugar and nuts
in a large bowl. Add corn syrup, bourbon and creme de menthe. Mix
well and form into balls.

If desired, roll in additional powdered
sugar or cocoa powder. Let mellow at room temperature for 24 hours ( I have no idea what this means--I put them in the fridge to firm up a bit. Store in tightly in a closed container.

Margarita Cake with Tequlia Lime frosting

I have been wanting to make this for some time. Yes, it is a boxed cake mix. No, I do not feel bad. It smelled so good while I was baking it. You can find the cake recipe on Better Crocker.com

1 1/2	cups coarsely crushed pretzels
1/2	cup sugar
1/2	cup butter or margarine, melted
1	box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® white cake mix
1 1/4	cups bottled nonalcoholic margarita mix
1/3	cup vegetable oil
1	tablespoon grated lime peel
3	egg whites
	Additional grated lime peel, if desired

	Print these coupons...
	About Concordance™

.	Heat oven to 350°F (or 325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Grease bottom only of 13x9-inch pan with shortening and lightly flour (or spray bottom with baking spray with flour). In medium bowl, mix pretzels, sugar and butter. Sprinkle evenly on bottom of pan; press gently.
.	In large bowl, beat cake mix, margarita mix, oil, 1 tablespoon lime peel and the egg whites with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour batter over pretzel mixture.
	Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until light golden brown and top springs back when touched lightly in center. Cool completely, about 2 hours. The Tequila Lime Frosting Recipe 1/4 cup butter, softened 1 tbsp milk 3 tbsp lime juice 1 tbsp tequila 2+ cups confectioners' sugar Cream together butter, milk, lime juice, tequila, and 2 cups of confectioners' sugar. Add in more sugar as needed to make frosting stiff, but spreadable. In my cake, I omit the pretzel crust and just sprinkle the tequila frosting with pink sea salt.

Hot Brown--It's a Kentucky thing.

In honor of Derby I decided to make Hot Browns. Think of a warm open-faced turkey and bacon sandwich smothered in a cheese gravy and topped with a tomato. It is legended to have started at the Brown Hotel. It's not very good at the Brown Hotel. I think the Hot Brown at Lynn's Paradise Cafe (when it is on the menu--The Bourbon Ball Milkshake is stupid good too!) is better. I think the cheese sauce is better at Lynn's. But This is the recipe from The Courier-Journal. It's ok, but not super. I added cheddar cheese to the sauce to make it cheesier.

Gather together

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
3 to 3 1/2 cups milk
1 beaten egg
6 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese- shreaded
2 tablespoons whipped cream
Salt and pepper to taste
Slices of roast turkey
8 to 12 slices toast (trimmed of crusts--I used Texas toast, but feel free to use french bread)
8 to 12 slices cooked bacon

Melt butter and add flour, stirring with a whisk or spoon to make a thick roux.

Add milk gradually and whisk to blend completely before adding more. As the sauce thins you can add milk more quickly. Bring to a boil. Beat a little of the hot mixture with the egg. Remove sauce from heat and beat in the egg mixture. Add (in small batches) cheese and stir. Fold in whipped cream. Season to taste. For each Hot Brown, place 2 slices of toast on a flameproof dish. Cover with a liberal amount of turkey. Pour a generous amount of sauce over the turkey and broil about 6 inches from the heat until the cheese sauce begins to bubble. Sprinkle with additional Parmesan cheese.

Place dish under broiler until sauce is speckled brown and bubbly. Remove from broiler and top with a 2 pieces of bacon. Garnish with tomato slices, if desired. Serves 4 to 6.

This is goooood! And way easier than it sounds to make. It only took me about 15 minutes. I cooked the bacon in the microwave while I made the sauce. Then the broiling only take a few minutes. It this quick and easy. Give it a try.

Cookie Dough Cupcakes

I made these for Beaver Round-Up. I received third place for them in the cakes section of the contest, so I felt pretty good about it. I suggest not trying new recipes for bake-offs, however, because the whole process was nerve wracking and I had no idea how they tasted. I got the idea from Peabody's blog.

I used Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake recipe for the cake. This batter is extremely runny, which made putting the cookie dough (the cookie dough from the previous post) into the cupcake a little challenging. The cookie dough sank to the bottom, which was fine. Just not as pretty as I had wanted.

I then made a Brown Sugar Buttercream for the frosting. It was intense. Apparently, the judges liked it, though.

Brown Sugar Buttercream (from Peabody)

1 cup butter

2 cups brown sugar

4-6 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Cream together brown sugar, butter, milk, and vanilla until smooth. Add powdered sugar until reaching the desired consistency.

Sadly, this is the only picture I have of the cupcakes. They were especially a hit with the under 12 crowd.