Chicken Francese - ATK

Chicken Francese on page 304 of ATK's complete cookbook 2013.

Although my boyfriend loved the dish I thought it was way too lemony, he wolfed it down. I served with spaghetti and roasted brussel sprouts pg 794, which almost burned, so I still need to figure out my oven.

Here is the recipe on another website, since I'm not sure I have permission to publish these I'll refrain from doing so, but the only difference was that I used my leftover tenderloins instead of breasts, which made it extra tender.

Smile

Strawberrry Cream Cake - ATK

This was by far the best cake I've ever made. 

   It was the best birthday cake ever. 

 Soooo very yummy!

 Next time it will be much prettier. 

There is another recipe, so we'll have to compare, it's pretty similar Strawberry Cream Cake- Genoise and Cream filling

Pork Medallions - ATK Recipe

These pork medallions with maple mustard sauce, so good, we paired them with glazed carrots and roasted asparagus. It was so good, all three recipes were delicious, the only thing I would do different is to make the carrots slightly less sweet. This wasn't the fastest recipe but definitely one of the best.

Rachael Ray- Satay Sliders

I love Rachael Ray, there I said it, some people hate her voice and her recipes, but I can't get enough. I try to catch her every day on her talk show, am subscribed to her magazine and have recently started checking out her cookbooks. So although I read her magazine cover to cover multiple times I haven't really taken the time to try out her recipes. I decided to start flipping through some old issues and came across satay sliders. Here is the original recipe Satay Sliders.

The only difference was that I pickled some carrots in a little bit of warm vinegar and sugar to use as a topping. We got some tiny dinner rolls and toasted them up, it was so very delicious. They reheated very well with a little water and they stayed moist. The best part of the recipe was how quick and how flavorful it was, definitely will make me try out many of her other recipes.

Pretzels

Obviously whenever there's a potluck for the boy I always need to make something complicated, you know prove my worth. So this time I decided why not make some pretzels with a cheddar and beer sauce. Having made pretzels many times I'd never really have been satisfied with any recipes. I figured why not make them bite sized. Being the insane person that I am I decided I would make two recipes back to back, the first this one and the second a Martha Stewart. Although Martha's recipe was a perfectly decent soft pretzel I wasn't impressed. I won't post the cheese sauce either because I felt it was grainy and didn't make the cut. Thankfully everyone seemed to have enjoyed the treats and there were no leftovers.

The trick in this recipe is to let them sit in the fridge, it really made a big difference in the crust. I also used baking soda, not lye.

Homemade German Pretzels by Amanda from Amanda's Cookin' and Astrid from La Cerise

Ingredients:
4 cups all-purpose flour ( I use King Arthur)
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup lukewarm water
5 1/2 tsp of active dry yeast
3 tbsp unsalted butter softened

1/2 cup baking soda
2 quarts water

Coarse salt for sprinkling- used kosher

1. Dissolve yeast in the lukewarm water. Mix flour and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Form a well
in the flour mixture then add the sugar to the center of the well. Pour the yeast/water mixture into the
well. Let it rest for 15 minutes before mixing.
2. Add the softened butter to the mixing bowl and knead everything to a smooth dough. I used the
dough hook on my Kitchenaid for about 6 minutes on #2.  Remove the dough hook and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
3. Cut the dough up into manageable portions, the important part is that when rolled they're all the same thickness. Chop them up into tiny bite size portions. I use a pastry cutter.
4. Place the pretzels without covering them in the fridge for about an hour. This helps build a skin that
will absorb the dipping solution better and make a beautiful shiny crust.
5. Preheat the oven to 400 F.
6. Fill large stock or pasta pot 3/4 full and bring the water to a boil. Carefully and slowly add the baking
soda to the boiling water. There will be a reaction when the baking soda hits the water and it will
bubble furiously for a moment and then relax.  Using a slotted spoon, gently drop each pretzel into the bath for 10 seconds, then turn over for another 10. I placed them on a drying rack.
8. Score the dough once like for a baguette with a razor blade or sharp knife.
9. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake the pretzels on your middle rack for about 15 to 20 minutes, depending on how dark you like them

I didn't get to snap a picture, but I figure I'll post an earlier attempt. I think this batch was the recipe on the back of a bag of pillsbury flour.

Trader Joe's

Since moving to NOVA we've been able to do all sorts of other things we never had a chance to experience while in Florida, such as shopping at a Trader Joes, although apparently that is about  to change. As I test these products out I'll try to make an effort and give you a short review. 

Of the products that we tried, I loved the pomegranate limeade. Definitely tart, and I loved it served with ice, my boyfriend on the other hand felt that it need a little spike of alcohol but being a big fan of tart thing this was right up my alley. I strongly suggest you try it out.

Since we had just moved to the area and were still waiting on our things to be delivered we needed some quick bites, one of them was the wrap shown below. I was very disappointed, it was very bland and the sauce that came along was oddly gelatinous, definitely not what I was expecting from Trader Joe's. 

 Although I do not have a picture of it, so far none of the frozen food has impressed either, minus the ice cream treats (dairy free and regular). We tried some taquitos and chicken pot pie. Neither of which were very memorable.

We did enjoy the snacks, sweet potato chips, which were eaten so quickly I couldn't even snap a picture, and the dried coconut chips.

Thanksgiving 2013

This is our first thanksgiving together, as a couple. Kind of crazy to think about since we're reaching the 4.5 years of being together. Although thanksgiving isn't a big deal at my house since we're Canadian, I knew the boy would love to have his traditional dishes. So I started perusing America's Test Kitchen cookbook for some good ideas. Obviously we're only the two of us, so we decided on just a breast. We ended up with way too much food just like the rest of America. I will report that he did tell me that the turkey was the most tender one he's ever had. (Score a million for me!!!) Nothing makes me happier than knowing that I can make people happy eating my food (I'm horrible and love hearing that my meals are better than his dad's), although ironically I don't think I'm ever really satisfied with my creations. I always find something that I would fix, or usually find that's it's not to my liking.

Here's the whole menu:

• Slow roasted Turkey breast
• Green beans skillet casserole
• My own homemade stuffing/ATK's base
• Brussels sprout lemon salad with apples, cheddar and hazelnuts
• Make ahead mashed potatoes- sooo easy
• Homemade cranberry sauce
• Gravy

The one flop was the butterscotch pudding, it was sickeningly sweet, we couldn't eat it, even with a heavy dose of whipped cream on top.

Potato, leek, and bacon quiche/cake

Trying to figure out what on earth to make using what leftover ingredients we have left in our fridge. I found some potato, bacon, egg, so I used this recipe as a base for our meal
Extra Virgin- Leek and Potato Cake.

Start this recipe with the pastry crust, then while making the quiche filling boil 3 small potatoes, have them cook about halfway and cut them into thin slices to top the quiche. Set the oven to 425 F.

Pastry crust:
1 1/4 cup of flower
1 tablespoon of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt

3 tbs of shortening cut in pieces
5 tbs of butter cut in pieces
4-6 tbs of ice water

Mix the flower, sugar and salt together, add the shortening and butter, mix until butter/shortening is in small pea pieces. Add 4 tbs of water to the flour mix and mix together into a ball. If needed add more water to make into a ball. Wrap dough with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least an hour, when ready roll it out into mini quiche molds, use a fork to poke holes at the bottom.

Quiche filling:
6 strips of thick cut bacon cut in 1/4 inch strips
4 leeks cut in 3/4 inch strips
splash of chicken broth
1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup of half and half
3 eggs
Salt
Pepper

I cooked 6 strips of thick cut bacon in my skillet on medium, (probably more like 3 strips after I took off the huge chunks of fat. Once cooked and crispy take out the bacon pieces and add the leek pieces in, do not brown simply cook down until soft and mushy, I added a dash of chicken broth and a pinch of kosher salt to the pan and let it cook down. Once the leeks are soft turn off the heat and let them cool. In a bowl mix the eggs, half and half, mozarella, bacon, and cooled leeks. Pour the filling into the molds, it made five 4.5 inch quiches.

Bake at 425 F for 45 minutes.

They were so delicious, hot or cold, and my boyfriend gobbled them up.