March Winner – Chocolate Obsession Wednesdays

It is very hard to select a winner of the chocolate of the month from the links we got on Chocolate Obsession Wednesdays.  After much, going back and forth from one fabulous recipe to another, it seemed clear, we have a winner.

And that winner is Easy to be Gluten Free with her mouthwatering Chocolate Mousse Cake.

Please check out her recipe and let her know what you think.

Congratulations.

Flourless Brownies

Flourless Brownies

6 eggs

2 2/3 cups sugar (My husband commented, these were not sweet. He did not know how much sugar was in the brownies but he is right. They were just right, no cloying aftertaste.)

1 1/2 cups potato starch

3/4 cup cocoa

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

I  spread chocolate chips on top and put the brownies back in the oven for a minute. I then spread the chips over the brownie pudding, not the brownies. Hubby likes them without frosting.

BROWNIES

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).

Place the eggs, sugar, potato starch, cocoa, oil and vanilla into a large bowl.

Mix it all together until it is smooth.

Add chopped walnuts.

Line a 9 x 13 inch pan with parchment paper and pour the batter into the pan.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the brownies’s center comes out mostly clean, and the top is light brown and crispy.

Do not overbake.

When you remove the pan from the oven, allow it to cool completely.

Allow it to set for a few minutes and then slice.

CAPTION CONTEST

What am I thinking? Enter your best caption for a chance to win a delicious prize.
It’s CONTEST TIME. The kind folks over at MarxFoods have invited Joanne from Eats Well with Others to host a contest over at their blog. You should go check out the post with the details. But basically it’s a caption contest, judged by Joanne. The deadline is this coming Monday, 4/19 and the winner will receive an AWESOME prize. So get yourself over there ASAP, write a witty caption to win her heart and go post it!
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TASTE & CREATE ~ No Reason Needed & CHICKEN POT PIE

Taste and Create was started as a food event by Nicole from For the Love of Food. This is the 2nd time I’ve participated in Taste and Create and I don’t plan on stopping soon. I enjoy meeting new bloggers, especially foodies.

The whole purpose of Taste and Create was, and has been, and continues to be to create a community of bloggers who test each others’ recipes and share links. The participants of the event are paired together and try a new recipe from one another’s blog.


My partner this month is Carol from NO REASON NEEDED. I spent yesterday, a rainy Sunday afternoon perusing her recipes and was intrigued by her unusual recipe titles like elephant ear cookies, zippy slow cooker chili, pizza stuffed pretzels and super easy strawberry and lime ice cream when I zeroed in on a comfort favorite of mine chicken pot pie. So that was tonight’s dinner.

When I was a child, Swanson frozen pot pies were a favorite of my mom’s to serve in a pinch. I have to admit that as a child I loved them, but as my taste buds matured I started searching for a replacement recipe, a HOMEMADE replacement recipe.

I love my chicken pot pie recipe, but am always looking for new and better or even just different recipe so thought I’d try hers. On a bonus note that I didn’t at first notice, Carol made this recipe last October 2009 as a part of Taste & Create when she was partnered with Natalie, from What`s for Supper? So LOL I guess we’re doubling trying this recipe.


CHICKEN POT PIE
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves – cubed
1 cup sliced carrots
1 potato cut into cubes (as per Natalie’s suggestion)
1 cup frozen green peas (I used FRESH)
1/2 cup sliced celery 1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt (CAROL omitted, but I left it in)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper (Carol omitted, but I used white pepper)
1/4 teaspoon celery seed (Carol used celery salt and I omitted)
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
2/3 cup milk
2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts (I used my own HOMEMADE recipe and only the top crust)

  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees
  • In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery. Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.
  • In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent.
  • Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed.
  • Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.
  • Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust.
  • Pour hot liquid mixture over.
  • Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough.
  • Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape. (I also like to decorate the tops – have to use those pricey Pampered Chef tools somewhere!)
  • Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes (Carol cooked hers for 50 minutes and I made mine as small individuals so was able to use Natalie’s timeframe), or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Carol mentions that Natalie mentioned:

  • brushing the top of the pie with egg to make it golden brown
  • making two pies (allowing you to eat one and freeze one for later) “….I just plop the uncooked pie in the freezer and wrap it well in plastic and tin foil. When I am ready to cook it, I just take it from the freezer to the preheated oven and possibly cook it a little longer than I normally would!”

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Lemon Meringue Pie – Save Room for Dessert!

I’m not afraid to say it:

I’m a total dork for citrus at this time of year. Well, this or any other time, really. But especially now when so many recipes lend themselves to that lovely freshness that citrus offers. It’s like eating sunshine.

Or maybe I’m just reading too much into the situation. I don’t know.

Either way, my husband challenged me to make a lemon meringue pie after he saw me devour a slice at a diner a couple of weeks ago. Never one to back down from a challenge, I squinted my eyes and squared my shoulders and accepted. Even though I’d never dealt with meringue before and was a bit wary of it.

But all worry was for naught!

Start with 2 large lemons, or if they’re small like mine, use 4. Juice the heck out of them.

In a medium saucepan, combine 1 1/4 cups of sugar, 2 tablespoons of flour, 3 tablespoons of cornstarch and a pinch of salt. Add the lemon juice and 1 1/2 cups of water, then on to the heat it goes. This will come to a boil and needs to be stirred frequently.

After you’ve reached a boil, add two tablespoons of butter and melt them into the lemony goodness. Mmm…

While your lemon filling is bubbling away in the hopes of getting nice and thick (which it will!), separate 4 egg yolks and whites into separate bowls. Set the yolks aside, you’ll be using them for meringue in a little while.

Beat the yolks a bit, then pour approximately 1/2 cup of your hot filling into the bowl with the yolks, WHISKING CONTINUOUSLY AND RAPIDLY. Why did I just virtually scream those words at you? Well, because if you let the eggs sit still they will scramble. You want to keep them moving in order that they may mix with the filling and cook without little tough bits of egg getting in the way. Then, pour the egg/filling mixture into the pan on the stove, which you are whisking as you pour. Get the message? Whisk whisk whisk!

Once the filling is nice and thick and yummy looking, set it aside to cool.

Now it’s time for the crust. I used a Pillsbury crust, the kind you just unroll and bake. Ever so much easier and really very good and flaky.

Line your pie plate, flute the edges of the crust, prick all over with a fork and set it in a 450 degree oven for 10 minutes.

In that time, you can work on your meringue.

Remember those 4 egg whites you set aside a little while ago? Beat them with your mixer until they start to get foamy.

Then add 1/2 tsp of cream of tartar, 1/2 tsp of vanilla and 6 tbs of sugar. And whip them all up until stiff peaks form.

Finally time to assemble! Pour your filling into your baked crust and spread the meringue on top of that.

Into a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes, and you get…

THIS!

And after an hour in the fridge you get THIS!

It really is heavenly, and well worth the effort. So give it a try and let me know how it works for you!

Lemon Meringue Pie

Crust
1 Pillsbury crust

Filling
2 large or 4 small lemons, juiced
1 1/4 cup white sugar
2 tbs cornstarch
3 tbs flour
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups water
2 tbs butter
4 egg yolks

Combine dry ingredients in medium saucepan, stirring well to incorporate flour and cornstarch. Whisk in lemon juice and water, making sure flour and cornstarch are broken down. Heat to boiling over medium high heat, then add 2 tbs butter and stir until melted.

Whisk egg yolks together in separate bowl, then slowly add 1/2 cup of hot filling to the eggs, all the while whisking to ensure that yolks do not cook. Once eggs and filling are incorporated, add this to the rest of filling in saucepan. Allow to boil until thickened, stirring continuously, then set aside off-heat.

Unroll crust into pie plate. Flute edges and prick crust all over with a fork to prevent swelling and bubbling while baking. Bake crust for 10 minutes in a 350 degree oven. In the meantime prepare meringue.

Meringue
4 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
6 tbs white sugar

Beat egg whites until they start to foam. Add other ingredients and beat until stiff peaks form.

Fill crust with cooled lemon filling and top with meringue, spreading meringue over filling until it touches the crust all the way around.

Bake pie for 10 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Allow to cool sufficiently once out of oven, then place in fridge for at least an hour for filling to set up.

Enjoy!

Oh, and when you get a chance, hop on over to my blog and drop me a line! There’s lots of food-centric adventures under the Cooking tab, and I’d love to hear from you on anything you see there!

FLUFFY BUTTERMILK PANCAKES

As my good friend Martha over at Menagerie tells me, storm days are perfect “CAVE” days. Days to just snuggle in and do nothing or better yet ONLY what you WANT to do! Today is one of those days as we batten down the hatches for what they tell us will be a “significant late season storm“. The temperature has dropped almost 20 degrees and the wind is blowing almost 60 miles an hour so I decided brunch was in order – a comfort brunch that is. Hot, fluffy buttermilk pancakes! Hubby likes to top them with molasses, but I love my homemade maple syrup.

The key to fluffy pancakes is not to over mix the batter.
Do NOT beat it smooth. You should have some small lumps.

FLUFFY BUTTERMILK PANCAKES
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

  • Heat griddle to 375 degrees.
  • Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar into a medium bowl.
  • Add eggs, buttermilk, and 4 tablespoons butter; whisk to combine. Batter should have small to medium lumps.
  • Using a 1/2 cup measure, pour pancake batter about 2 inches away from each other.
  • When pancakes have bubbles on top and are slightly dry around edges, about 2 1/2 minutes, flip over.
  • Cook until golden on bottom, about 1 minute.
  • Repeat with remaining batter, keeping finished pancakes warm.
  • Serve with homemade maple syrup.

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STRAWBERRY KIWI HOMEMADE BUTTERMILK SHORTCAKE

This is even better when you take the time to make fresh whipped cream or homemade vanilla ice cream to go with it.

GLAZE
2 baskets fresh strawberries, sliced
2 kiwis, chopped
1 cup pureed strawberries*
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons KARO light corn syrup
3 tablespoons cornstarch
½ cup water

*I use the less than pretty berries for the puree.

Mix together sugar, corn syrup, cornstarch and water in a 2 quart sauce pan, cover and bring to a slow boil.

When you reach a boil remove the lid. Add the 1 cup pureed strawberries and boil a few minutes more and then chill 10 minutes.

After chilled pour over sliced berries and toss gently.

BUTTERMILK SHORTCAKE
2 cups flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
dash of salt
4 tablespoons sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup butter, softened, but not melted
¾ cup buttermilk**

Sift the dry ingredients together. Add the milk and butter and mix well into a soft dough. DO NOT over knead – it will become tough.

Grease an 8 inch pie pan really well. Gently arrange dough into an even mound and pre-cut into your serving portions before baking.

Bake at 400° for 15 to 20 minutes or until toothpick done and golden brown.

Slice each shortcake open, bot with a thin layer of honey, arrange on plate and top with a scoop of strawberry kiwi glaze and vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

**As a substitute, Buttermilk can be made by adding 2 tablespoons of vinegar to regular milk.

AND MY REVIEW FOR LE CRUSET:

I was recently made aware that there is a wonderful online shopping experience available right from your desk top. Whether you are looking for tv stands, dining room furniture or cookware, they have it all.


Remember all these wish list posts I did about all the wonderful quality kitchen dreams and wishes I have? Well, all the items I’m dreaming about to complete my dream kitchen are available from these sites from CSN stores.

CSN stores sent me this awesome LeCruset Baker to review. I have dreamed of owning one for sooooooo long. I decided in order to review it properly I had to makes lots of great recipes like THE ULTIMATE COMFORT MAC & CHEESE, POT ROAST & ROASTED VEGGIES and RITZY CARROT & BROCCOLI CASSEROLE.


My conclusion: VERY FAVORABLE! Everything cooked up beautifully and the clean up was so easy! This is a beautiful quality piece of cookware. I can’t wait to buy more pieces from CSN stores – their shipping and customer service are well above the norm.

SNUGGLE TIME!

There’s a storm brewing here for tomorrow. I plan on snuggling in and reading!
“A smile is the light in the window of your face
that tells people you’re at home.”

Author unknown…
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SLOW COOKED MEAT BALLS

On the weekends when we are going to be home all day, I LOVE the smell of something scrumptious cooking and this recipe is one of my favorites. The great thing about this recipe though is that it’s great for working moms during the week too.

SLOW COOKED MEAT BALLS
1 1/2 pounds ground beef*
4 slices stale sourdough bread made into crumbs
1 JUMBO egg, beaten
1 medium Vidalia onion, finely chopped
1 can cream of golden mushroom soup
1 1/2 cups beef broth
1 can diced tomatoes with garlic and herbs
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon basil

  • With your hands mix together the ground beef, bread crumbs, egg, onion and half the seasonings.
  • Spray the bottom of the slow cooker lightly with PURE.
  • Gently lay the meatballs in the bottom of the slow cooker.
  • Mix together the soup, broth and tomatoes.
  • Pour over meatballs.
  • Cover and cook 7-9 hours on low.
*I like to make my own when brisket is on sale. It makes for a richer tasting beef flavor!
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MEXICAN BEEF TORTILLA CASSEROLE



BEFORE BAKING~~~~~AFTER BAKING

MEXICAN BEEF TORTILLA CASSEROLE
1 pound ground beef
1 large onion, diced
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
4 ounce can diced green chiles, drained
1 cup milk
1 can cream of celery soup
2 cups grated jack and cheddar cheese mix
Tortilla chips

  • Saute’ beef and onion until well browned. Drain off fat.
  • In a saucepan over a medium heat combine soup, chiles, tomatoes, cheese and milk until well blended, cheese is melted and mixture starts to bubble.
  • Spray a 9×9 baking dish with PURE.
  • Loosely layer tortilla chips in bottom of casserole.
  • Top with meat mixture.
  • Pour cheese mixture over meat mixture.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

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