Cresida

This is one of my very favorite Thanksgiving recipes from my new cookbook, and if I could eat it for breakfast right now, I could. It’s meant to be a play on the familiar, blessed broccoli rice casserole, which uses the bright orange cheese and cream of mushroom soup…but this one’s a little more rustic, contains wild rice instead of white, has no cheese, and is made entirely from scratch.

But other than that, it’s exactly the same!

Ha.

You will love this casserole, my friends. It’s beautiful, it’s tasty…and it really is a cinch to make.

 
 
First, take your very disturbing looking hand and throw a bunch of broccoli into a pot of boiling water.

 
 
 
Bawl it—I mean boil it—for about a minute or so, then remove it with a slotted spoon…

 
 
 
And plunge it into ice water to stop the cooking process. This is known as blanching, which reminds me of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” which reminds me of Vivien Leigh, which reminds me that Gone with the Wind will be on TV all day next Wednesday, which means I have something hugely exciting to look forward to while I prepare the ingredients for this Broccoli Wild Rice Casserole.

And with that, everything just came full circle.

I love it when that happens!

 
 
 
You also need to cook some wild rice, and I mean the real stuff! I wanted to use wild rice for this casserole because it’s hearty and slightly chewy and holds up really well…and because I love the color of wild rice. It’s just so…so…

Brown. Actually, a nice dark taupe.

 
 
 
Wild rice takes awhile to cook, so just be sure to read the package directions! This was about 35-40 minutes in, and the rice had just started bursting open. You can let it go longer, but since it’s going to continue cooking in the oven, I wanted to give it a little breathing room.

 
 
 
Next, start on the luscious liquid mixture, which is sort of a play on cream of mushroom soup, which is used in all manner of broccoli rice casseroles. Cut up some mushrooms…

 
 
 
And keep going until they’re pretty finely chopped.

 
 
 
Heat a large pot over medium-high heat, then melt 6 tablespoons of the butter. Add the mushrooms along with some chopped onions…

 
 
 
And cook the mushrooms, stirring them occasionally, for 3 to 4 minutes, until a lot of the liquid is reduced.

 
 
 
Then add finely diced carrots and celery…

 
 
 
And cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until the vegetables are soft and the mixture begins to turn darker in color.

 
 
 
Sprinkle the flour on the vegetables and stir it until it’s all mixed together…

 
 
 
And cook it for another minute or so.

 
 
 
Then pour in zee broth…

 
 
 
And stir it to combine. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil and allow it to thicken, about 3 minutes.

 
 
 
After that time, pour in a little heavy cream, stirring to combine.

 
 
 
Then just let it cook until it’s a nice thick soup consistency! You don’t want it to be overly thick like a gravy…just slightly thick but still nice and liquidy.

 
 
 
Now, you could just mix the rice, broccoli, and sauce all together and put it in a casserole, but I wanted to keep the elements somewhat separate so every bite was different. So layer half the rice in the bottom of a buttered pan…

 
 
 
Then layer on half the broccoli…then do another layer of both.

 
 
 
Then, using a ladle…

 
 
 
Pour that beautiful sauce all over the top.

 
 
 
Keep going until all the sauce is in there!

 
 
 
Next, mix some panko breadcrumbs with a little melted butter in a bowl…

 
 
 
Toss them till they’re coated…

 
 
 
And sprinkle them all over the top of the casserole.

 
 
 
Cover the casserole with foil and pop it in the oven and bake it at 375 for about 20 minutes…

 
 
 
Then remove the foil and bake it for another 15 minutes until the top is nice and golden. Then sprinkle on some minced parsley…

 
 
 
And plop it on your Thanksgiving table with all the other delights you’ve prepared while watching Gone with the Wind and The Godfather!

 
 
 
This…is…tremendously delicious. Lots of texture, lots of color, lots of goodness. Hope you love it!

Here’s the handy dandy printable.

(P.S. Thanksgiving is next week! Raise your hand if you’re excited.)

Recipe

Broccoli Wild Rice Casserole

Prep Time:

20 Minutes

Cook Time:

1 Hour15 Minutes

Difficulty:

Easy

Servings:

12

Print Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups Uncooked Wild Rice
• 8 cups Low-sodium Chicken Broth, More If Needed For Thinning
• 3 heads Broccoli, Cut Into Small Florets
• 1 pound White Button Or Crimini Mushrooms, Finely Chopped
• 1/2 cup (1 Stick) Butter
• 1 whole Medium Onion, Finely Diced
• 2 whole Carrots, Peeled And Finely Diced
• 2 stalks Celery, Finely Diced
• 4 Tablespoons All-purpose Flour
• 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
• 1 teaspoon Salt, More To Taste
• 1 teaspoon Black Pepper
• 1 cup Panko Breadcrumbs

Preparation Instructions

Add the wild rice into a medium saucepan with 5 cups of the chicken broth. Bring it to a boil over medium high heat, then reduce the heat to low and cover the pan. Cook the rice until it has just started to break open and is slightly tender, about 35 to 40 minutes Set it aside.

Meanwhile, blanch the broccoli by throwing the florets into boiling water for 1½ to 2 minutes, until bright green and still slightly crisp. Immediately drain the broccoli and plunge it into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. Remove it from the ice water and set it aside.

Heat a large pot over medium-high heat, then melt 6 tablespoons of the butter. Add the onions and the mushrooms and cook, stirring them occasionally, for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the liquid begins to evaporate. Add the carrots and celery and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until the vegetables are soft and the mixture begins to turn darker in color.

Sprinkle the flour on the vegetables and stir to incorporate it, then cook for about a minute. Pour in the remaining 3 cups of broth and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil and allow it to thicken, about 3 minutes. Pour in the heavy cream, stirring to combine. Let the mixture cook until it thickens. Season with the salt and pepper, then taste and adjust the seasonings as needed.

Add half the cooked rice to the bottom of a 2-quart baking dish, then lay on half the broccoli. (You can do one layer of each or two layers of each. Using a ladle, scoop out the vegetable/broth mixture and spoon it evenly all over the top. Continue with the rest of the sauce, totally covering the surface with vegetables.

Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, then pour it into a separate bowl with the panko breadcrumbs. Toss the mixture together to coat the breadcrumbs in butter, then sprinkle the breadcrumbs all over the top.

Cover with foil and bake the casserole for 20 minutes, then remove the foil and continue baking for 15 minutes or until golden brown on top. Sprinkle on the parsley after you remove it from the oven.

Posted by Ree on November 20 2013

Just in time for your Thanksgiving Pies it’s Pie-One-One Time again.

Pumpkin Pie made with Coconut Milk (Photo Credit: Stephen Gross)

Here are a few links to my recipes, videos, tips, tricks, and technique.

Flour, Salt, Fat and Water (a pie-dough tutorial on the original Art of the Pie Dough)

About Bowls, Pans, Pins, Cups, Aprons, Fruit, Filling, Dough, Vents and Baking. 

Art of the Pie Dough Recipe

Gluten-Free Flour Mix & Pie Dough #1

Gluten Free Flour Mix #2

Gluten-Free/Vegan Pie Dough

Leaf Lard (what it is and how to render it)

Making a Lattice Crust (scroll down in the entry for the link to a quick video that lots of folks have viewed and had success with!

Rolling Pins (a variety of options)

A Pin That Rolls Merrily Along

Tips & Tricks for Making Pie in Hot Weather

What’s your favorite Thanksgiving Day Pie? Does it have a family history? Pass on those stories. We’d all love to hear them!

And, I’ll be talking pie on Twitter tomorrow morning 11/22/13 at 7AM EST/10AM PST with pie greats Nancie McDermott, Emily Hilliard, Julia Collin Davison, Paula Haney, Jan Moon, and Tiffany MacIsaac sponsored by American Food Roots. Use the hashtag #TGpiechat. We’ll share our tips and answer your questions in time for the Thanksgiving pie-athon!

I’ve been wanting to take the chocolate sheet cake recipe I’ve made for my entire married life—the same sheet cake recipe my mother-in-law handed me when I became engaged to her son, the same sheet cake that has gotten me through some wild ups and downs in life, the same sheet cake recipe that should be canonized it’s so delicious and perfect, if a recipe could even be canonized, which it couldn’t, but that’s how good it is—and turn it into a peanut butter version, but for some unknown reason, I never have done it.

Until yesterday.

And I’ll just say it: Yesterday was my very favorite day ever.

Come along! I’ll show you why!

 
Here’s what you need for the cake: Flour, sugar, salt, butter, peanut butter, baking soda, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla.

Amen.

 
 
 
Start with just under 2 sticks of butter. I actually tried it with 2 full sticks, but wound up deciding it needed a little less because I wanted to add more peanut butter and I didn’t want the cake to be too oily.

Boy, that was a long explanation.

 
 
 
When the butter melts…

 
 
 
Grab some peanut butter…

 
 
 
And measure half a cup.

(Note: I used a 1/3 cup measure here, heaped it in there, then wound up wanting more peanut butter flavor in the case. Hence the half cup measure.)

(Boy, that was a long explanation.)

 
 
 
Plop the peanut butter into the pan with the butter…

 
 
 
And stir it till it’s smooth.

And this right here is pretty much the only difference between the chocolate sheet cake and this peanut butter version: Instead of adding cocoa at this stage, I added peanut butter. A simple change that completely alters the entire cake.

Just like that bottle of Sun-In completely altered my entire head of hair in the summer of 1985.

But that’s another story for another time.

 
 
 
Pour in the boiling water…

 
 
 
Then let the mixture bubble up for about 10 seconds or so before turning off the heat and setting it aside.

 
 
 
Now make the buttermilk mixture! Add 2 eggs to the buttermilk…

 
 
 
Along with baking soda…

 
 
 
And vanilla.

 
 
 
Whisk it around and set it aside.

 
 
 
For the dry ingredients, mix 2 cups flour…

 
 
 
With 2 cups sugar…

 
 
 
And 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

 
 
 
Stir it around…

 
 
 
Then pour in the peanut butter mixture…

 
 
 
And stir it until it’s halfway combined.

 
 
 
Next, pour the buttermilk mixture into the peanut butter…

 
 
 
And gently fold it together…

 
 
 
Until it’s all combined.

 
 
 
Now, pour the luscious batter into a half-sheet pan, also known as a sheet cake pan, also known as a sheet pan, also known as an 18 x 12-inch pan you can get at restaurant supply stores or kitchen stores, also known as I have an addiction to these and use them for everything.

 
 
 
And speaking of everything…this batter is everything.

 
 
 
Smooth it all out so the surface is even, then violently place it into a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

 
 
 
While the cake was baking, I made the icing so that I could get it on the warm cake right out of the oven. But rather than make a matching peanut butter frosting, which I was afraid would be too overwhelming, I stuck with the regular chocolate icing that goes with the chocolate sheet cake.

You know why?

Because…”Two great tastes that taste great together!”

If you can name the product that goes with that jingle, you watched way too much TV in the early eighties.

Like me.

 
 
 
Place just under 2 sticks of butter in the same saucepan, which you just washed because you didn’t want to dirty another pan because your sink’s already full of enough dirty dishes.

Boy, that was a long explanation.

 
 
 
Melt the butter…

 
 
 
Then add 4 heaping tablespoons of cocoa.

 
 
 
Whisk it together…

 
 
 
Then add 6 tablespoons of milk. I put my milk in this little cow creamer, because it absolutely cracks me up to watch milk pour out of the cow’s mouth.

I’m easily entertained.

And here’s where my being married to a cattle rancher messes with me. I think to myself, milk would never come out of a cow’s mouth. Cows don’t drink milk. Cows eat grass. Now, calves drink milk. Calves drink milk a lot, as long as they’re still nursing. So really, these should be CALF creamers, not COW creamers. But even then, milk would be going INTO a calf’s mouth, not out. If milk were coming out of a calf’s mouth, the calf would probably be sick. Which makes me want to stop talking about it and get out there and doctor the sick calf.

Even though the sick calf only exists in my mind.

Goodbye.

 
 
 
Sift in the powdered sugar…

 
 
 
Add the vanilla…

 
 
 
And whisk it all together.

 
 
 
Meanwhile…the cake is ready!

 
 
 
Mmmm. You can’t imagine how delicious this smells. It filled my house with peanut buttery goodness heaven bliss wonderment.

 
 
 
Right when the cake comes out of the oven, drizzle the warm icing on top.

 
 
 
Luscious, luscious, luscious!

 
 
 
Luscious!

Oh, and don’t worry if you see little powdered sugar lumps. The world is an imperfect place. Be part of that beautiful imperfection!

 
 
 
Smear the icing all over the surface…

 
 
 
And here’s where you can start to get excited.

And I mean excited.

 
 
 
Hello, love-muffin!

 
 
 
It’s best if you eat this warm.

 
 
 
Here’s where you can start to get excited. Again.

Wow.

 
 
 
Look how pretty and moist!

 
 
 
So basically…we inhaled this. All six of us.

Nine of us, if you count seconds.

 
 
 
This is delightful! Make it the next time you need a comforting cake to go with your big glass of cold milk.

In other words: Make it today.

Here’s the handy dandy printable, both for the peanut butter cake and for the original chocolate sheet cake.

Be good! (Ha.)

Recipe

Peanut Butter Cake with Chocolate Icing

Prep Time:

10 Minutes

Cook Time:

30 Minutes

Difficulty:

Easy

Servings:

16

Print Recipe

Ingredients

• Cake
• 2 cups All-purpose Flour
• 2 cups Sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 cup Buttermilk
• 2 whole Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1-3/4 stick Butter
• 1/2 cup Peanut Butter
• 1 cup Boiling Water
• Icing
• 1-3/4 stick Butter
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa Powder
• 6 Tablespoons Milk
• 1 pound Powdered Sugar, Sifted
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, and salt. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, melt 1 3/4 sticks butter. Stir in peanut butter until smooth. Add boiling water, let the mixture bubble up for about 10 seconds, then remove from heat.

Pour the peanut butter mixture over the flour/sugar mixture and stir until halfway combined. Pour in the buttermilk mixture and stir gently until the batter is smooth. Pour the batter into a sheet pan or jelly roll pan and smooth the surface. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove it from the oven.

While the cake is baking, make the icing: Melt 1 3/4 sticks butter. Stir in the cocoa powder, then the milk. Remove from heat and add vanilla and powdered sugar and stir until smooth. Add more powdered sugar if you want it a little thicker.

Pour the icing over the warm cake right out of the oven and smooth the surface. Allow to sit for 10 minutes before cutting into squares and serving warm.

Posted by Ree on November 4 2013

Recipe

The Best Chocolate Sheet Cake. Ever.

Prep Time:

20 Minutes

Cook Time:

20 Minutes

Difficulty:

Easy

Servings:

24

Print Recipe

Ingredients

• FOR THE CAKE:
• 2 cups Flour
• 2 cups Sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
• 2 sticks Butter
• 1 cup Boiling Water
• 1/2 cup Buttermilk
• 2 whole Beaten Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• _____
• FOR FROSTING:
• 1/2 cup Finely Chopped Pecans
• 1-3/4 stick Butter
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
• 6 Tablespoons Milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 pound (minus 1/2 Cup) Powdered Sugar

Preparation Instructions

Note: I use an 18x13 sheet cake pan.

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.

In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together.
Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.

While cake is baking, make the icing. Chop pecans finely. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Add the pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake.

Cut into squares, eat, and totally wig out over the fact that you’ve just made the best chocolate sheet cake. Ever.

Posted by Ree on November 4 2013

• What are you leaving out? 
• What feels separate, set aside? 
• What do you “have to make time for”? 
• What “should” you be doing? 
• How do you live in the “real world”?

The corporate world – when it bothers to pay attention – speaks of “life/work balance.” As if life and work were two separate and opposing forces. They are not. Just the phrase is a problem. We do it with many things: “sacred and mundane”. “Magical life and real life.” We speak in these binaries as though magical life cannot be real, or as though work is not a healthy part of life.

We are tearing ourselves apart for no reason.

What sort of life would you like to lead?

What sort of life would remind you that every part of life is important, magical, and sacred?

What things can you let go?

For me, my life includes rest, reading, exercise, clients, writing, students, activism, good food, work, music, sitting under trees, bicycling, sex, friends, spiritual practice…Every day includes a healthy measure of most, and every week includes the remainder. All the parts of my self need to be fed. All the parts of myself need reminders that they are important facets of the whole. Exercise is just as important as spiritual practice is just as important as meeting with spiritual direction clients. I spend different amounts of time on each of these, but they all weave into the whole.

It took me a long time and some reframing to get here. I still work a lot, but there is a more useful sense of flow among all the aspects of my life, less of a sense of separation.

What feels important to you? What would feel healthy and nourishing to include? What would it feel liberating to let go of? 

What sort of life do you lead and what life are you hoping to craft?

Stop thinking of life balance and start pondering life integration.

Manifestation will follow.

——————————

If you can use a sounding board or some guidance around navigating your own integration, I have just adjusted my spiritual direction rates to open up more spaces for those struggling in our current economic times.

Addendum: I also write about manifesting desire in Make Magic of Your Life. Some people are finding it helpful.

Funny, the more yoga I do, the less I have to say about it. More accurately, what comes out of my mouth and my head/heart gets simpler as my practice matures.

I am less concerned than ever about where I place my mat in class, what I'm wearing, whether or not I'll ever do a handstand without a wall (OK, I still dream about this one), and whether home practice is better than class. I have cared deeply about every one of these, but they're receding in the rear view mirror, if you know what I mean.

What I do contemplate now, on and off the mat, are things like this:

Open is better than closed. Open body, open mind, open heart. Not always easier, but always preferable.

Discomfort goes away when I don't meet it with resistance. (Tight hips are one thing. "Oh my god, these hips are killing me, why won't they let go, I'll never be able to do a stinking King Pigeon" is resistance.)

My body knows what it wants. This is more important than any outside advice.

Pushing doesn't work. Google Sisyphus.

Accepting what is grants me immediate freedom. All of a sudden my head is 90 percent quieter.

Judging me or anyone else is a colossal misuse of energy and erodes everything I love about myself and my life.

Courage and trust are the best companions ever. Feed them well.

Joy makes me healthy.

And as always, love wins.

Is it getting simpler for you? Or more complex? I'd love to hear.

Thanks to yoga for keeping it simple. Thanks very much to you for the conversation,

kristin

Dr. Kristin Shepherd is a chiropractor, actor, and speaker (About All Things Wonderful) in North Bay, Ontario.  Join her on the web, on Facebook, on Twitter, and on iTunes.

This is me…a happy pie maker! (Photo Credit: Kelly Cline)

This may totally be my 15 minutes of fame and I’m still kind of in shock, but today I was in the New York Times!

I mean, I’m a self-taught baker and a self-taught pie-maker. For that matter, pretty much everything that I’ve done in my life has been self-taught. My mom did always tell me that the only way I learned ANYTHING was to do it myself…and many times that turned out to be the hard way. Is that true for you, too?

So, I was interviewed by NYT’s travel writer, Elaine Glusac, recently and the thing that I like the most today is my quote that she chose for the article:

“The key is to keep all your ingredients chilled…Actually, I always say keep everything chilled, especially yourself.”

And that’s the truth!

The biggest challenges that folks who come to make pie with me have are:

• fear of dough and rolling (think about something else like a beautiful flower when making or rolling dough and just keep going.)
• the weather is hot and the fat melts while making dough (bake early in the morning, pop the dough in the fridge to chill it back up, double bowl it with some ice below the top bowl, turn the air-conditioning on.)
• hot hands that melt the fat (hold onto ice-cubes for instant pastry maker hands.)

I’ve written about these things over the years in my blog and talk about them ALL the time at my workshops and camps.

Fear is really what keeps us from doing and succeeding. What’s the worse thing that can happen?

• Will life as we know it end if the pie dough is not rolled out in a perfectly round circle?
• Will cracks in the middle or the sides cause an earthquake?
• If it falls a part when it goes into the pan, or burns in the oven will the sky fall down?

Absolutely NOT!

And, if you stop and think about it, maybe that’s how grunts, buckles, crisps and slumps were invented!

Ok, so I’ll chill now because that’s not really what I meant to write about.

May I share with you the link? Oh please say, yes, because here it is…

Extra! Extra! Read All About It! 
Art of the Pie in the New York Times!

P.S. I’ve added some new workshop dates at Pie Cottage. I hope you’ll come to make pie with me. We chill a lot.

I made these incredibly easy and exceedingly cute desserts on my Food Network show on Saturday. They’re little cherry cheesecake shooters—mini desserts that use a quick cream cheese filling and (wait for it) canned pie filling.

They seriously take 15 minutes to make.

Maybe 16.

 
 
 
Now, I made the same dessert for my new cookbook coming out this fall—only instead of pie filling, I used a cooked cherry and whiskey topping.

Both options are delicious, and I have the two printable recipes below.

Here’s how I make the second version. The first version is identical—just use pie filling instead!

(Note: The recipe below makes a bunch of shooters—you can easily halve it.)

 
To make the topping, I combined frozen cherries and honey in a saucepan…

 
 
 
Stir it around and cook it over medium heat for a few minutes, until it’s hot and bubbly.

 
 
 
This is totally optional: Grab the whiskey from your bedside table and splash in a little! If you’re using an open flame, be careful (you can temporarily turn it off while you pour it in.)

You can totally leave out the whiskey if you’re not feeling it.

*Hiccup!*

 
 
 
Let it cook for another couple of minutes…

 
 
 
Add some butter to the pan and let it melt…

(Note: I adjusted the recipe to call for half this amount of butter. I got a little overzealous!)

 
 
 
Then whisk together some cornstarch and lemon juice…

 
 
 
And pour it in.

 
 
 
Cook it for another couple of minutes, until it thickens up…

 
 
 
Then add a little bit of almond extract.

 
 
 
Next, pour it into a bowl, let it cool to room temp, cover it and refrigerate it for a few hours, until it’s nice and thick and luscious.

 
 
 
Now, when you want to assemble the little babies, make the creamy cheesecake filling! For these, I used two packages of cream cheese…

 
 
 
And a can of sweetened condensed milk. For the show, I used one and one, which makes the filling more of a pudding-like texture.

 
 
 
This is a thicker texture.

Either is delicious!

 
 
 
Next, crush up some graham crackers in a Ziploc: Just pound away until they’re all broken up!

 
 
 
To assemble them, spoon some crumbs into the bottom of a glass. I used mini wine glasses (you can get them at lots of department stores or kitchen supply stores; cute!) but you can also use demitasse cups, small mason jars…any small glass will do.

Here’s a link to the ones I have. They’re $20 for 12 glasses, and you can use them for so many cool things.

Cute Little Wine Glasses

Amen.

 
 
 
Put the filling into a pastry bag or Ziploc, then snip off the end and squeeze in some of the filling. (This is much, much easier than trying to spoon it!)

 
 
 
Next comes the cherry topping (or pie filling)…

 
 
 
And a sprinkling of sliced almonds.

 
 
 
Darling!

 
 
 
And…wow.

These are super fun, super adorable, super easy…and (most important) super good.

Great for parties or fun get-togethers!

Recipe

Cherry Cheesecake Shooters

Prep Time:

20 Minutes

Cook Time:

Difficulty:

Easy

Servings:

12

Print Recipe

Ingredients

• 12 whole Graham Crackers (the 4-section Rectangles)
• 2 packages 8 Ounce Cream Cheese
• 1 can Sweetened, Condensed Milk
• 1 can Cherry Pie Filling
• 1/4 cup Slivered Almonds

Preparation Instructions


Put the graham crackers into a ziplock bag and smash them with a rolling pin until they're fine crumbs.

Spoon graham cracker crumbs into the bottom of mini wine glasses.

Add cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk to bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip them together until fluffy.

Fill a pastry bag or zipper bag with the filing. Snip off the end and pipe a big helping over the crumbs in each of the glasses.


Top with a big spoonful of cherry pie filling.


Top with chopped almond flakes.

(Note: Mix 2 tablespoons melted butter into the crumbs if you'd like them to be a little more moist.)

(Use whatever kind of pie filling you'd like!)

(Note: 1 package of cream cheese makes for a more pudding-like texture; 2 packages makes for a thicker texture.)

Posted by Ree on July 8 2013

Recipe

Cherry Cheesecake Shooters (Version 2!)

Prep Time:

3 Hours

Cook Time:

15 Minutes

Difficulty:

Easy

Servings:

18

Print Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 bags (12 Ounce) Frozen Sweet Cherries
• 1/4 cup Honey
• 1/4 cup Whiskey (optional)
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• Juice Of Half A Lemon
• 1 teaspoon Cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon Almond Extract
• 2 packages 8 Ounce Cream Cheese
• 1 can (14 Ounce) Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 12 whole Graham Crackers (the 4-section Rectangles)
• 1/4 cup Sliced Almonds

Preparation Instructions

Combine the cherries and honey in a medium saucepan and cook it over medium heat until hot and bubbly. Pour in the whiskey and stir to combine, then let it cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the butter until it melts.

Mix together the lemon juice with the cornstarch, then pour it in. Continue cooking for 2-3 minute until thicker. Add the almond extract.

Pour into a bowl and allow to cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours, or until chilled.

Crush the graham crackers and spoon into the bottom of mini wine glasses.

Add cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk to bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip them together until fluffy.

Fill a pastry bag or zipper bag with the filing. Snip off the end and pipe a big helping over the crumbs in each of the glasses.


Top with a big spoonful of the cherry topping.


Top with sliced almonds.

(Note: Mix 2 tablespoons melted butter into the crumbs if you’d like them to be a little more moist.)

(Note: 1 package of cream cheese makes for a more pudding-like texture; 2 packages makes for a thicker texture.)

Posted by Ree on July 8 2013

On tomorrow’s Food Network show, I list a bunch of “Bests” in my world: Everything from the Best Grilled Cheese to the Best Scrambled Eggs…and a few non-food bests, too (Best Horse, anyone?) I think you’ll love the show, as I picked my favorite recipes in a handful of categories. (Best Grilled Cheese makes an appearance!)

As I did last week before the Freezer Cooking show aired, I’m going to share a whole bunch of “Bests” here, too. These are my tried-and-true favorites…I hope you find some new favorites, too!

(Click on the photos or links to see the step-by-step for each recipe below.)

Best Main Dish Salad

Chipotle Steak Salad. I could eat this morning, noon, and night. Medium rare steak sliced and draped over greens with a smoky, spicy, creamy dressing. Simply too good for words.

Best 16-Minute Meal

Of all my 16-Minute Meals, this Beef with Snow Peas is absolutely, positively my favorite. The flavor is just incredible and it couldn’t be easier. My girls inhale this!

Best Pancakes

Edna Mae’s Sour Cream Pancakes. So light, so sweet and delicious. These are the pancakes I make when I want my kids to love me.

Best Pasta

Okay, so it’s basic. But that’s what makes this so delicious! Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce is my favorite category of pasta, and you can add grilled chicken, shrimp, wine, herbs—anything to dress it up however you’d like. It’s to die for.

Best Cake

It’s unconventional. It’s weird. And it’s the most delicious cake you’ll ever eat in your life. It’s Tres Leches Cake, and I insist that you try it! You’ll absolutely die from bliss.

Best Soup

I have a lot of soups on this website o’ mine. So I hope it makes an impression on you to read that this Potato Soup is absolutely my favorite soup around. It makes my skirt fly up. Like, way over my head. I’m sorry if that disturbs you.

Best Circular Bread Item

If there were such a category, these Cinnamon Rolls, which I’ve eaten since I was in my mother’s womb, would definitely take the prize. Start gearing up for the holidays! Deliver these to everyone you love.

Best Quesadilla

I’ve more than established that I am a quesadilla lover beyond any quesadilla lover in North America. I crave them when I’m pregnant. I mean…I craved them when I WAS pregnant. I mean…never mind. Just be sure you make these Grilled Chicken & Pineapple Quesadillas sometime before you leave this earth.

Best Adult Beverage

Mango Margaritas. They are out of this world delicious, and you really have to sip slowly or…well, things happen. You start telling people you love them whether you know them or not.

Best Sandwich

I want to marry this Barbecue Chicken Sandwich. Between the soft, slow-cooked garlic cloves, the tender chicken, and the crunchy cilantro slaw…it’s pretty much got everything in life that I look for.

Best Chocolate Dessert

Choosing my favorite chocolate dessert is like choosing my favorite child…but I am love this Chocolate Strawberry Nutella Cake right now. What I love is how versatile it is: you can make one layer or four, depending on how outrageous you want to be. And it’s just so good.

Best Appetizer

There’s not much I love more than Bruschetta. It’s so fresh, so herby, so divine. I want some right now! Will you make me some right now?

Best Pie

Okay, so it’s not made with Key limes. But this Key Lime Pie is still divine. So easy…so luscious.

Best Pizza

I never met a pizza I didn’t like. And I’ve always loved this BBQ Chicken Pizza, inspired by my old 80′s experiences at California Pizza Kitchen. The chicken is yummy, the red onions give it color and flavor, and the cilantro at the end totally makes it.

Best Use of Canned Biscuits

Have you made this Orange Vanilla Monkey Bread yet? If not, you haven’t lived. I’m not kidding. You have not been alive! Okay, thanks.

Best Cookies

I came very close to choosing these cookies instead, but I wound up going with these Citrus Butter Cookies just because they’re irresistible and pretty.

Best Comfort Food

Nothing says “comfort food” to me like these Chicken and Noodles. My mom made it. My grandmother made it. I make it. Everyone loves it.

Best Noodles

Sesame Noodles. Eat them alone or with cold steak sliced over the top. Just eat them. One bite and you’ll see what I mean.

Best Vegetable

I’m on a kale kick these days and this panfried version makes my heart go pitter-pat. I love it!

Okay, that’s all the “Bests” for now!

Hope you enjoy the show this weekend, guys. It was a fun one to make.

Love,
P-Widdle Diddle

These are the facts of the case and they are undisputed: Sometimes we humans can’t spend four hours making dinner. In fact, sometimes we humans can’t spend two hours making dinner. Along those lines, sometimes we humans can’t spend one hour making dinner.

Especially if we humans have a houseful of kids and dogs, soccer practice (yes, it has already begun), football meetings (yes, they have already begun), and a million and four things going on.

Last night was one of those nights. So I made French Bread Pizzas!

And all the problems of the world were solved.

 
The thing about these French Bread Pizzas is…I didn’t even use French bread! I used these good ol’ deli rolls, because that’s what I have available in my smalltown grocery store, Maynard. If you can find small baguettes or crusty sandwich rolls, those would be good.

 
 
 
But these work just fine, too!

And I’m sorry I called you Maynard.

 
 
 
Then I just grabbed a whole bunch of stuff from my fridge and pantry! Some I wound up not using, other things (not pictured) I brought in at the last minute. Variety is the spice of life with these babies.

 
 
 
The first thing I got started were some caramelized onions: I violently threw some butter in a skillet over medium heat…

 
 
 
Then I angrily sliced up an onion and threw it in…

 
 
 
And cooked ‘em…

 
 
 
Until they were nice and golden brown.

Caramelized onions are my love language.

 
 
 
I also done fried up some of that there sausage stuff.

You can use Italian sausage if you want to be cool.

But you can use this breakfast sausage stuff if you want to be like me.

Go ahead and brown the stuff, but if you really, really want to be like me, don’t take a photo of the browned sausage in the pan, okay? Because that would be way too linear and logical and my brain doesn’t work that way.

 
 
 
I also was moved deep in my spirit to cut up a pineapple.

 
 
 
So that’s what I did!

 
 
 
Thin slices. Eat one. Then eat another one. Then save the rest for the pizza.

 
 
 
Once you’ve got all your toppings together, grate up a whole bunch of mozzarella cheese. You can use the good, fresh stuff if you have it…or just the stuff in the supermarket.

 
 
 
Split the rolls in half and lay them all on a baking sheet…then grab the pizza sauce, which is nothing more than jarred marinara, man.

 
 
 
Spread it over half of the roll halves….

 
 
 
Then pile on the cheese…

 
 
 
And whatever toppings you’d like! There’s pepperoni for the dudes in my house…

 
 
 
Cooked sausage, too!

 
 
 
If you haven’t eaten them all yet, do a caramelized onion version.

Divine!

 
 
 
And guess what? You can use jarred pesto as the pizza “sauce.”

It’s a world gone mad.

 
 
 
All it needs is cheese and tomatoes!

 
 
 
Raise your hand if you like Canadian bacon and pineapple!

 
 
 
*Raising hand*

 
 
 
If I’d had green bell peppers, I would’ve sliced ‘em thin and threw a couple of rings on here.

 
 
 
Here, I did a four-cheese version. Only I didn’t use four cheeses. I used two. Which I guess makes it a two-cheese version. But I’ve never heard of a two-cheese pizza. So I guess what I made here was a cheese pizza. But I’m still going to call it a four-cheese pizza. Cool with you?

Thank you for indulging me.

 
 
 
So that’s basically the story: I just built and built. Caramelized onions…

 
 
 
Sausage…

 
 
 
Pepperoni…

 
 
 
Canadian Bacon/Pineapple…

 
 
 
Black Olive…

 
 
 
Four Cheese, which is actually Two Cheese, which is actually Cheese, which I’m actually going to call Four Cheese anyway. And here, because I had no parsley in my garden (it’s really inconvenient) I chopped up some basil and threw it on, which is going to turn black as soon as it hits the oven, but I tried…

 
 
 
Tomato Basil…

 
 
 
Oh! And strips of Roasted Red Pepper on a pesto base.

 
 
 
Sausage, Olive, and Caramelized Onion on the same pizza. Scandal!

 
 
 
And there you go! A nice colorful assortment. Now just throw ‘em in the oven! I put them on the lowest rack in a 375 degree oven at first, because I wanted to give the bread a chance to get a little crisp without cooking the toppings too much. After about 8-10 minutes, I cranked up the heat and moved them to the top rack for a couple of minutes.

 
 
 
And here they are! A little something for everyone.

(I threw some basil leaves over the Four Cheese Two Cheese Cheese Four Cheese version after it came out of the oven to cover up the black flecks. Always have whole basil leaves around; they cover a multitude of sins.)

 
 
 
I probably could have gone a little longer to get the cheese a little more brown…but I was hungry, man.

 
 
 
Can’t beat good ol’ pepperoni. This is where Marlboro Man lives.

 
 
 
I live anywhere caramelized onions reside. They are not only my love language, they’re also my life, my purpose, and my heart.

 
 
 
But sausage pizza? Mmmmm. There’s something about it.

 
 
 
Enjoy these, guys! Nothing simpler in the world, and they’re perfect for a slumber party, football gathering, or just any weeknight when you don’t have a ton of time.

Here’s the handy dandy printable.

Recipe

French Bread Pizzas

Prep Time:

30 Minutes

Cook Time:

12 Minutes

Difficulty:

Easy

Servings:

12

Print Recipe

Ingredients

• 6 whole Deli Rolls Or Crusty Italian Rolls
• Jarred Marinara Sauce Or Pizza Sauce
• Jarred Or Refrigerated Pesto
• 2 pounds Mozzarella Cheese, Grated
• Grated Parmesan Cheese To Taste
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 whole Onion, Sliced
• 1/2 pound Sausage (regular Breakfast Sausage Or Italian Sausage)
• Pepperoni Slices
• Canadian Bacon Slices
• Pineapple Chunks, Fresh Or Canned
• Roma Tomatoes, Sliced
• Sliced Black Olives
• Optional Ingredients: Goat Cheese, Sliced Bell Peppers, Various Cheeses, Pepperoncinis, Jalapeno Slices, Diced Red Onion, Any Other Pizza Topping You'd Like!

Preparation Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Slice rolls in half and lay them, cut side up, on a large baking sheet.

Top each half with a generous portion of either marinara or pesto. Next, top with a generous amount of grated mozzarella and Parmesan, if you'd like.

Add whatever toppings you'd like on top of the cheese!

Once all assembled, put the pan in the oven on the lowest rack for 8 to 10 minutes. Crank up the heat to 425 and put it on the highest rack until the cheese starts to bubble a bit and turn golden.

Remove and serve immediately! You can cut the pizzas in half right across the middle so there are mini-French Bread Pizzas for everyone.

Posted by Ree on July 31 2013

Lately I’ve been thinking about what single thing I’ve learned in the past few years has had the most impact on my cooking and eating life. I didn’t have to think long—hands down, it’s the ability to poach an egg.

Baking sourdough bread is a close second, but let’s face it—the process takes two to three days and not everyone is going to sign up for that. Even I don’t do it that often.

Poaching eggs is something I do at least weekly. And just five years ago I was scared of it. I remember when I moved to Seattle and had Molly and Brandon over for lunch the first time, I made Brandon poach the eggs for us. I was too scared to do it myself.

One of you recently mentioned a fear of egg poaching and I realized I should share the method I figured out to get me over my own fear. Clearly it worked because I am a poaching convert. Now, a waffle or a bowl of thick soup or a toasted piece of bread topped by an egg where the whites are set and the yolk oozes out all golden and glorious is one of my favorite things. Especially when you’re cooking quick (or vegetarian) and you want to add some easy protein to a meal, a poached egg cannot be beat.

I am sure fear of poaching comes in different categories, but for me I was scared of getting my hands close to a vat of simmering, steaming water. And you have to get close to crack an egg into it. Some people will tell you to crack you egg into a tea cup and use that to slip it into the water, but for me it was still getting my hands too close to the hot pot—because to slip something as fragile a raw egg in without breaking the yolk, you need to get pretty intimate with near-boiling water. I didn’t want to go there.

So I devised a solution. If I didn’t want to use a tea cup, what could I try that would keep my hands protected and still do the job? Voila: a ladle. I could crack the egg into the bowl and use the long handle to stay safely away from the steam and potential splatter. I felt like a genius.

The trick is getting the egg into the ladle, and here I found a two-cup Pyrex measuring cup does the job—the handle of the ladle fits into the spout of the cup and keeps it steady.

Once you have the egg in the bowl of the ladle you can use the long handle and slip the egg into the steaming water.

But here is an important point: you must make sure to do it quickly with a speedy twist of the wrist. If you slowly lower the ladle (or tea cup, if you want to try that) into the hot water, the metal (or porcelain) heats up and will begin to cook the egg and it won’t slip out easily. It may take a time or two (or three) to get the hang of the quick release, but I am sure you’ll be on your way soon.

The other thing we need to talk about is water. If you’ve ever tried to poach and egg and had the white go wispy on you and end up all over the pot, then you know the particular heartbreak that we are trying to avoid. To do this many people use vinegar. It’s a little unclear to me why acid helps the egg whites hold together (cursory research turns up several theories), but at this point I’m okay with knowing just that it does.

I use vinegar: one tablespoon to about two cups of water (I don’t bother to measure any longer but that is the ratio). I recommend an inexpensive distilled white vinegar, though in a pinch I have used both red wine and rice vinegar (the red wine can tinge things a bit pink); please do not use Balsamic or any flavored vinegars. Pour it in and bring the water to a simmer.

Now comes the next important key: how hot should your water be?

Here’s where we get to dissect the nature of the simmer. I usually poach my eggs in a small pot but I’m using a wok here with a silver-colored lining so we can take a close look at what is going on. You want bubbles on the bottom, you want the water to be on the verge of dancing, but nothing yet to break the surface. It’s all potential energy at this point, about to break loose but not quite there.

To be honest, I usually just bring the water to a boil and then turn it down, which is easier than watching the pot as it slowly increases in temperature. Whatever works for you. Once you get the water where you want it—hot, about to simmer—quickly slip the egg in (remember to add the vinegar first, of course) and you’re off to the races.

Of course, this is egg poaching—things could still go wrong. If egg poaching were a smooth sail we wouldn’t have an array of devices trying to assure us flawlessly poached eggs (Poaching Pods, anyone?).

Your whites could go slightly wispy, though the vinegar does a good job of keeping them together. Mostly the risk at this point is that your egg might stick to the bottom of the pot (a higher risk if you are poaching in not enough water). If this happens, let the egg firm at least two minutes, then take a spoon or rubber spatula and gently slide it under and in one smooth motion nudge the egg from the pot (scrape might be the better word). You may pierce the yolk while you are doing this, you may end up with an uglier egg, but the path of life does not always run smooth. About one out of every ten eggs I poach sticks to the bottom, it’s not the end of the world.

Next let’s talk about what you use to turn and remove your egg from the simmering water. I use the skimmer you see above—which I bought at an Asian kitchen supply store in San Francisco for less than two dollars and think everyone should have (great for skimming jam and chicken stock). Most people use a slotted spoon, which does a perfect job (maybe better, even) and just recently I was reading Elissa Altman’s new book, Poor Man’s Feast, in which she mentioned her wife uses a wooden spoon. So basically, you don’t need special equipment here.

You will, however, need to turn your egg. This can get a little scary too at first.

I poach my eggs about four minutes, and I turn them after two and a half, maybe three minutes. This allows the white to firm enough so the egg stays together and you just basically roll it, gently and with one smooth motion. It feels intimidating at first, but you’ll soon get the hang of it and not think twice.

I cook it another minute to a minute and a half on the other side. Sometimes I lift it up in the skimmer and see how it jiggles or poke the yoke a bit to make sure it’s set the way I like it, but I’ve pretty much got the routine down (poaching weekly will do that for you). When I have it where I want it, I lift out and voila: a poached egg. See, that wasn’t too hard, was it?

At this point I hear some people like to gently rinse off the water so any lingering vinegar tang is removed, but I never bother (perhaps for company I would). I also hear that you can poach your eggs ahead of time and keep them in room-temp water until you’re ready to serve the meal and just reheat by re-immersing in simmering water, but I’ve never done that either.

One thing I will mention, is that it always seems like the second egg I poach in the same water is never quite as good. Oh it’s fine, but poaching eggs seems to run the opposite of pancake-making. There the first pancake is always the worst. With egg poaching it seems the first is always the best and they go downhill from there. Which all goes to say that if you are poaching a number of eggs you might want to change the water and start over.

Can you poach more than one egg in a pot? Yes, but use a large pot and make sure you’ve perfected your technique first.

Also, there are other methods out there! Deb swirls her water and doesn’t turn them (this may result in a more attractive-looking egg, but perhaps a little scary at first). Amanda strains the egg and gets rid of the looser part of the white (I feel like this might be a restaurant/chef trick), resulting in a very attractive egg, but a bit of loss on the food front. I haven’t tried either of these methods, but I might experiment, especially if I want to make poached eggs for company.

My eggs run the gamut: sometimes they are pretty, sometimes—like here—they are just okay. But I wanted to show you an average egg, not a cover girl version, because this is more likely what yours will look like, at least in the beginning. Okay in the looks department, but tasting delicious.

And you’ll get better the more you make them. These days I no longer use the ladle—I actually crack the eggs straight into the water with my hands (how bold, how brave!). It took me about a year to get there, but now I am an avid and fearless egg-poacher.

So, if you want to learn how to poach eggs, grab a ladle (a large metal spoon might work as well, though harder to crack the eggs into). I think the ladle and measuring cup are an awfully good set of training wheels to help you get there.

And if you try this method I’d love to hear how it works for you (you could even post a photo to the Facebook page, link in the comments here, or email it to me directly; that would make my day).

How do you feel about poached eggs? Do you like them? Do you make them? Do you fear them? I’d love to hear.

—Tara

This might be one of my favorite recipes I’ve ever made! I can’t take all the credit – one of my friends shared the technique on our mom’s group Facebook page. I knew upon her description that I had to take my own stab at it!

The best part about this “casserole” layered with beans, veggies and chicken is its versatility. You can put any vegetable or bean under the chicken and it will turn out delicious every time. As the chicken cooks it drips flavor and seasons everything down under. Moreover, you can assemble this in the morning and bake it off when the baby is crawling underfoot and you just want dinner to be ready already!

Start by choosing the beans you’d like to use. I used navy and garbanzo, but you could try black beans, great northerns, pintos, giant beans, lima beans – anything. You can use canned or about 3 cups of freshly cooked too.

Herb options are also completely up to you. I chose oregano and basil from our garden, but rosemary would have been nice too!

Mix beans, herbs and spices together in the casserole dish

Plus green beans. I had frozen on hand, but you can also use fresh – or any other veggies you like.

Add your chicken on top. We had boneless/skinless, but bone-in and skin-on will work – as will breasts. (Check doneness with a meat thermometer if you use thicker pieces like bone-in breasts)

Season with more salt and pepper

And rub with olive oil. I added some optional Garlic Gold nuggets on top too.

Ready to go in!

45 minutes later Matt and I couldn’t wait to dig in

We served this with Spinach Feta rolls on the side.

I can’t wait to make another twist on this soon: Sun-dried tomatoes? Olives? Peas? Kale? Dill and lemon? Endless options for customization!

My neighbor Kate is the coolest mom. Her kids are in elementary school and are shining stars – so friendly and full of life. Among other more serious qualities, Kate is a cool mom because she has a cookie jar in her kitchen. Matt and I were over visiting one day and she offered me a cookie – straight from the jar. The cookie I savored was one of the best I’ve had – chewy, buttery, seedy. And it was one of those cookies that tasted deliciously healthy.

Kate shared the recipe with me, and while these cookies do contain their share of sugar and butter, they are packed with good-for-you ingredients as well: whole wheat flour, ground flax, coconut oil, chia seeds, pecans, oats and dark chocolate.

I gathered my ingredients on the porch one rainy day during naptime and set to work.

I halved Kate’s original recipe and used whole wheat pastry flour instead of spelt flour. My cookies turned out a bit thinner than hers, but they have the same wonderful chew and flavor.

‘Nothin’ like the smell of vanilla!

The recipe is super simple once you have all of the ingredients set up – just sift your dry, mix your wet, dump dry into wet and stir by hand. Add your mixins and form into cookies. Bake.

The chia seeds really are the stars here – itsy bitsy crunch!

But then again…the chocolate…

Because this is a beast of a recipe, Kate often makes her dough in bulk and then freezes it to bake off for her hungry kiddos as needed.

I formed mine into balls and gave them a slight smash

Outta the oven 12 minutes later!

These are the type of cookies you have to let cool or they’ll crumble into your hands. It was a long wait!

Mazen was very excited about the cookie jar when naptime ended even though he’s not quite old enough for cookie eatin’

I thought having a cookie jar would be super fun and I was right – it IS super fun! Meaning I’ve eaten way too many of these delicious cookies this week. Alas, I don’t think I’m going to make this a regular thing – until I have troops of kids coming through my house looking for an after school snack to eat them before I can!

Friday is a dangerous day.

Friday afternoon, after a long week of words and dishes and more dishes and words… I feel very deserving.

I feel like I deserve a double cheeseburger with short ribs.  I feel like I deserve a negroni or several.  I feel like I should see how many Oreo cookies I can fit in my mouth… just so I know… in case anyone ever asks.

Maybe I am deserving of such indulgence.  Maybe though… maybe I’m just eating my feelings a little bit.  Real life.  I’m just being honest.

Here we are staring Monday in the face.  I’m ready for something green… and something a little less short rib-y.

A few months ago we talked about juicing.  It’s totally a thing.

Takes some fruits and vegetables, mash them through a grind-y thing, drink the juice and hope it tastes good.

Today’s Apple Cucumber Celery Kale Ginger Juice definitely tasted great!  Not like short ribs… but that’s good, right?

Let’s talk green, and you don’t even need a juicer to do it!

Spinach Kiwi and Chia Seed Smoothie.  Spinach is totally drinkable, even without a juicer.  Spinach grinds into a smoothie like a dream.  Hidden greens.  Not so hidden.

Kale Spinach and Pear Smoothie.  Doubling the greens means super-hero status.  

Super Spinach Smoothie  is packed with greens and Amazing Grass Green Powder.  Powerhouse!

A few weeks ago, a friend asked me what I thought was a totally ridiculous question.  She said, ‘How do you feed yourself?’.

Um… With a fork.  Sometimes chopsticks.  Occasionally my hands.  Usually a shovel.

What she meant was… how do you feed your creativity?  My initial answer was bewilderment.  What?  Don’t people just work and work until they can’t work anymore and then collapse on the couch and watch reruns of The Voice?   Not everyone does that?  Oh…

My friend was right.  Creativity is such a bountiful blessing but it does take some tending to.  Creativity can be exhausted.  I reach that point in my brain often and it leaves me wondering exactly what else I can smash butter and bacon into (I’m sorry/not sorry that I do that).

Work is awesome and I’m a total fiend for it, but it’s not a creativity feeder.  Couch-time is just like turning my brain to stand-by mode… welcome but not a creativity feeder.  Pasta is a belly and creativity feeder.  Ok!  We’ve got one on the list so far.

Bike rides are also a creativity feeder.  Seeing how the sun makes shapes in the world, watching people live this life, and daydreaming about the lives of my neighbors… these things totally get my brain working. Yes!  Two things on our list!  Now we’re cookin’.

Let’s go on a creativity-feeding, pasta-heavy adventure.  I hope this inspires you get out and see your neighborhood in a new light.  You don’t necessarily need a fancy bike or mason, a pair of loafers and a granola bar will do for a nice stroll.  Get out there and find what feeds you (I hope there’s pasta involved).

Before we head out the door, we must assemble our snack!

Orecchiette is my favorite cold pasta shape.  The little ear shape holds all sorts of pesto and pistachio goodness.

I tossed warm pasta with a pre-made basil pesto.  If you’d like to make your own pesto… it’s super easy!  I love this Spinach Cashew Pesto.

Cherry tomatoes and fresh mozzarella chunks stud this pasta.  I also added salty green olives and lots of chopped pistachios.  Green-themed.

Pasta is jarred and ready for our adventure.

We’ll need a beverage treat as well!

Strawberry, lime, and basil seem like wonderful things to smash together.

Our drink is slightly sweet (from the strawberries), has fragrant herby notes, and a little punch from lime.  It’s super refreshing.

If it is your inclination to add gin… I totally feel ya… but there’s no drinking and biking.  Not so safe.

Adventure supplies include:

- an old painting tarp for use as a solo picnic blanket.

- an old map ripped from the Thomas Guide I used to look through in the back seat of my parents’ Jeep Cherokee.

- a canvas napkin and silver fork… because I’m worth the real-deal.

- sunglasses:  designer or otherwise. (Mine are totally from Target.)

- bike gear including flashing lights and a helmet (to keep your hard head hard)

- reading inspiration.  I chose the deconstructed food magazine Middlewest.

- a notebook and pencil for random bursts of creativity.

- adventure lunch and strawberry-smash drink!

- (not pictured) my Canon Rebel T5i camera… because i’m using it to shoot (duh!)

With my bag packed and my bike tires pumped, it’s time to take off!

This might sound strange.  A majority of the things I say here sound strange… but, I love front doors.

I love how differently people choose to display the door that welcomes people into their space.  It’s sort of like looking at everyone’s shoes.

I can be guilty of not stopping to smell the roses, or appreciate the bouganvilla, or take in the craaazy looking ivy.

Taking these little pieces of nature in makes me think I should take out my watercolor paints, right!?

I love how late afternoon light creates these bold shadows.

I played with my Canon Rebel T5i‘s Sport Mode while watching these kids at the skate park.  Even just playing with a new camera mode can help me kick the walls out of the box I’m in.

I love when shadows help create new shapes in a photograph.  I’m usually at home shooting food on a tiny butcher block, trying to avoid direct light and too many bright brights or dark shadows.  When I’m out in the world, I want the let the brights and shadows play.

Also… just so we’re clear.  The kid with the blue ball is trying to hit the other two kids in the head.  Totally normal.

Also… Let’s be models.

I love Venice Beach.

Bright skies and rippled house shadows.

In the Venice Canals, Los Angeles.

Every day-explorer need a little rest and snack time.

Every day-explorer also needs a giant cone of ice cream.

Los Angeles adopts a dusty pink haze as the sun starts to set.

I love the energy around sunset at the beach.  It feels like everyone slows to appreciate the sincerity of the moment.

Ugh… why don’t I just take my dang shoes off?

As the sun goes down, I like to shoot into the light, letting the sun create gorgeous silhouettes of the shapes in front of me.

Palm trees, a shuttered life guard stand, the Santa Monica Pier.  It all just feels so pink and dusty and full of anticipation.  Is it the kind of thing that makes you want to marry the night… or is that just me?

I hope you’re inspired to take some time, strap on your bike helmet, grab your camera, pack up your pasta, and go for a little day adventure of your own.  It really doesn’t take much.  Just some eyes wide open to what the world wants to show you.  That sounds so hippie-dippy, but it’s totally just true.  Feed yo’self!

Sponsored by Canon

All images captured on the Canon RebelT5i.

You know what’s weird?  Getting older.  I think it must be weird for everyone.

I’m celebrating a birthday this weekend.  The big 32.  That just sounds strange.  I was just getting used to 30, but I feel like I’m 26.  Somewhere.  Somehow.  The numbers feel off.

I’m not the kind of person who has life goals set for each year of life.  I don’t feel behind in the marriage game.  I can barely handle babysitting.  I’m not trying to reach the top of the baking ladder… that just sounds sticky.  I subscribe to the idea that working really hard and loving people better every day will get me where I want to be each day, week, month and year.  Too loose a plan?  I dunno.  It feels right.  It requires a lot of ever-changing lists…but it feels right.

Oh, also!

I don’t make myself a birthday cake and blog about it.  Birthday cake doesn’t taste as good if you make it for yourself.  It’s a thing.  This year I’m going to eat as many doughnuts as my heart desires.  This will probably fall in the 2 to 8.5 range… I’ll let you know where I land.  Ps.  My dream birthday cake is this Angel Food Cake with Vanilla Strawberries.  Hint (Dad, do you still read my blog?) Hint.

Every year I make a list of things I’ve gained perspective on, and a list of things that I’m still stubbornly trying to figure out.  The list is as shallow as selfies and as deep as God… because that’s exactly how life is.  On the real.  On the reg.

This Is That:  a list

(by ‘you’ I mean ‘me’, always.)

ONE: Have honest friendships.  You really can’t afford to be friends with someone who will let you have spinach in your teeth all night.  You’re not that graceful.

TWO: Take as many selfies as it takes for everyone to look good in the picture.  Come on… common courtesy.

THREE:  You only need one good purse… and it doesn’t have to be this season’s super expensive impossible bag.  Come on… a vintage Coach bag that you’ve brought back to life with leather polish is totally IT!

FOUR:  Upon entering ‘the club’ where people are drinking and dancing and acting a fool (and it’s so much fun), be aware of the fact that you look like you’re in your 30′s… because you are. You’re not fooling anyone. The 25 year old guy that yells in your ear that you look 28… he’s being nice and he’s a liar.  You look 32. It’s ok. Dazzle him with your awkward dance moves. He’s 25… who cares (not you!).

FIVE:  You glorify being busy …but you don’t know how to stop.  Maybe admitting it helps?  Realtalk:  You know what you should be glorifying.  It has nothing to do with you and everything to do with God.

SIX:  Any tiny annoyance you have before two martinis will be a big yell-y ISSUE after two martinis.  Think/Re-think those martinis.

SEVEN:  CAPS LOCK LIVING!  Think about it.

EIGHT:  You’re actually really cool. Not because anyone else thinks you are, but because you think you are.  The secret to being cool:  just think it true.  Others will follow suit.

NINE:  Rappers rap about some stooooopid stuff that you, as a classy lady, do not need to be/concern yourself with.  Pfffft.  In their dreams.  Can ladies start rapping about men with passion, integrity, a job, and nice shoes?  Yea…. it’s like that.

TEN:  Ask yourself ‘just who the heck do you think you are?’ in a very non-rhetorical way every once in a while.  The answer is important.

ELEVEN:  It doesn’t matter what size the clothing label says, it only matters that it feels good and falls well on your body.  AKA… you’re not that size anymore, kick it up a notch, it’s cool, love your thighs. GEEZ!

TWELVE:  When in doubt (which is often):  confetti and champagne.

THIRTEEN:  Go on a roller coaster at least once a year because they make you laugh-scream like nothing else on the planet.

FOURTEEN:  Tell your parents that you’re glad they’re your parents.  They’ll be like ‘Whaaaat!?  That’s a crazy thing to say!’, but they’ll feel it in their hearts and probably buy you lunch.  Do it because you mean it… not for the free lunch.

FIFTEEN:  Chill out. Halle Barry is pregnant.

SIXTEEN:  It’s ok to say things like ‘I don’t know.’.  It’s waaaay better than arguing a point when you’re not on solid ground.

SEVENTEEN:  What does it look like to dig deep every day?  It looks exhausting, and kinda terrifying, and kinda like the best days that ever happened day after day after day.

EIGHTEEN:  Get good at a thing and never apologize for being good at that thing.  It’s all yours.

NINETEEN:  Never trust someone who refers to themselves a ‘tastemaker’.  Don’t be fooled.  You won’t be bossed.

TWENTY:  Give more, even when you think you have nothing to give… you do!  Sidenote: I bought myself a Giving Key and I’m sponsoring another child with Compassion for my birthday.  Yes… selfie birthday presents.

TWENTY ONE:  You have a story to tell.  Everyone does!  Tell it proud!

Happy Birthday to Us!  We all have one, and I’m glad that we do!

Other times I wrote words:

On Turning TwentyOne   + What It’s Really Like  + I Accidentally Saw a Picture of You + Thirty Years of Learning 

sprinkle image credit Paola Parsons 

diva joy next to a bike image credit Whitney Adams

Let’s just get this humble-brag out of the way now:  I’m REALLY good at making sandwiches.  It’s mostly just about piling delicious things onto fresh bread.  It’s not really rocket surgery.

Making a sandwich for someone is dang important.  A good sandwich can’t be faked. Avocado must be ripe.  Bacon must be crisp.  Produce must be fresh and cheese must be perfectly melty.

It’s a science… but it’s not a science at all.  It’s just a sandwich, but it’s important.

Can we just talk about sandwiches?  K. Thanks.

I call this sandwich The Ultimate Club because it’s totally top-shelf.

We’ve got crisp Black Forest Bacon, whole grain mustard, ripe tomatoes, baby spinach, roasted turkey, and ripe avocado.  Wait.. did I mention melty Brie Cheese!?  Yea… it’s serious.

Mustard is smeared.  Brie and turkey are piled generously.

Flavor layering, featuring BACON!

Bacon should probably be on every sandwich ever, including this Peanut Butter Pickle Sandwich.  Yea… I went there.

Only two things could make this sandwich better:  avocado and grilling.  We’re going to make both happen.  Duh!

By now you may know that I have a serious obsession with outrageous sandwiches.  I’ve made Spinach and Artichoke Grilled Cheese, , French Onion Soup Sandwiches, and Pepper Jack Spicy Grilled Cheese.   Seriously delicious.  like whoa.

This Ultimate Club is easily one of my new favorites.  It has everything a good lunch sandwich should have and it feels like a total treat!  Served with fresh cherries, potato chips, and a Dr. Pepper… come on.  Get in my life, for real.

I haven’t been feeling at home lately.  I don’t think it’s an issue of physical location… I spend a hearty amount of time sitting at my desk.  I think this might be more of a brain-space problem… my brain is everywhere but in my head doing its job.

I’m not certain how to coax my brain back into the world of now.  I’ve been busying my poor brain with future work, future deadlines, and future anxieties.  The now is certainly suffering in a way that feels annoyingly paralyzing.

Making these cookies came to mind more as a meditation than a treat.  The act of melting butter down into a fragrant amber-colored fat, and creaming it with brown sugar feels like it could lead me home.  Toasted pecans and dark chocolate chunks stud the path.  The smell that fills the kitchen?… Yep, I think it’s working.  I’m finding my way home.

Thank you for being here with me.  Here is home, right?

Editor’s Note (it’s just me, Joy):

-  There’s no way I could mention chocolate chip cookies without mentioning the dad who taught me how to make cookies:  Dad the Baker.  Father’s Day is right around the corner, which makes this week a wonderful time the reminisce about Dad Lessons.  Oh how I need these every single day.

-  If you follow me on Instagram (and I’m super glad that you do!) you may be have seen that this weekend I’m part of a Pop-Up Bake Sale and Shop in Los Angeles.  Just sayin’.  Stay in the know!  

Here is a collection of ingredients I feel at home in.  Butter is browned and nutty.  Brown sugar is sticky and moist.  Chocolate is dark.  Pecans are chopped.  I live in this space.  Home, Sweet (literally) Home.

This cookie dough is creative with butter.  We use softened unsalted butter like traditional cookie dough… but we also use melted and browned butter.  Yea… brown butter is the magic ingredient to everything delicious.  That’s not an exaggeration.

Proof:  Brown Butter Strawberry Banana Bread

Now would be a good time to grab a spoon.

I’m at home, but sometimes it takes the smell of baking cooking to actually make me feel at home with everything around me.

Cookie dough is patient and kind.

Cookie dough burrito.

(I’m a poet.)

Cookie dough is scooped and, because I have a salt-tooth, I like to top these cookies with a pinch of smoked sea salt.

I mean…

Yea!

You can taste the butter from here, can’t you?

Brown butter + chocolate + pecans.

Chewy, crisp, and buttery.  There’s not much more to say.  We’re all  the way home.

My summer love language is pink and fruity.  All I want to do this weekend is put Van Morrison in my headphones, tool down the bike path at the beach, people-watch, seagull-watch, and express my affections in strawberries and raspberries.

 Good, right?  What more do we really need?  (If your answer to that rhetorical question was: CRISP OAT TOPPING!!!… then you’ve totally come to the right place.)

We don’t even need a bowl for our mellow summer baking.  This crisp topping can come together on a clean counter or a plain ol’ baking sheet.

Pile together flour, oats, sugar, and spice and work in cold butter and walnuts.

This is totally relaxed summer baking.  Embrace it!

Flour, sugar, oats and spice.  Gather it all with your fingers.  It’s totally cool.

Quickly break cold butter into the dry ingredients.  It’s like we’re making pie crust but much more mellow and spiced.

Gather in the walnuts and we’re all the way in the game!

Combine fresh raspberries and big strawberry bites.  Add a big dose of crumble.  We’re going to stir it together.

We’re adding flavor and coating the fruit in a bit of flour and oats.  The fruit juices will bake and thicken beautifully.

The rest of the crisp topping is piled atop the fruit.

It’s a lot of topping.  It’s serious.

Baked and golden.  The more golden the crust, the more crisp the bites.  Yes!

This crisp is elegant in its comfort and simplicity.  The raspberries bake down into a jammy consistency and the strawberries become slight and tender, but still hold their shape.  The amount of oat topping rivals the amount of fruit, making this crisp extra toothsome, extra crunchy, extra delicious.

Breakfast?  Yes.  Afternoon snack?  Sure?  Dinner?  You know I’ve done it.

This is an anytime, summertime crisp.  Do it up!

Good morning.

This is for those in need of a last minute Mother’s Day brunch recipe! This breakfast bread that tastes exactly like a giant blueberry muffin. And who doesn’t like a giant muffin?! No one. It’s so good slathered with salted butter that I can’t even stand it.

Happy early Mother’s Day to all the mamas out there! This has been the longest I’ve ever gone in my life without seeing my mom and I’m so excited to see her soon at the wedding!!

You can get this recipe over at PBS Food. Enjoy!

Well, you guys. It’s finally time. I can finally say that I’m getting married next week. That’s NUTS.

That being said, you can probably imagine what this week is like for me. I’m scrambling. I’m packing for our wedding + honeymoon {we won’t be back until mid-June}, finishing up all the wedding details and all my work so I can take a real vacation for a few weeks. I’m also doing all that bridal prep stuff like getting my hair highlighted and getting my nails done because once our plane touches down in Austin, it’s go time. First with my bachelorette party, then rehearsal dinner, then wedding! Like I said…nuts. I’m so excited! If you’re wondering what will happen to this blog while I’m on my honeymoon, the answer is nothing. I’m going to be quiet for a few weeks and just soak it all in. I vowed not to be attached to my laptop while I’m on my honeymoon and I think it’s going to be really good for me! There will probably be a travel update here and there {keep up with us on Instagram!}, but no real posts until I return in June.

However, today calls for cookies!! And not just any cookies — double chocolate fudge cookies made with Fair Trade ingredients!

I told you guys a few weeks ago that I was doing some work with my friends over at Fair Trade and this is one of the recipes I came up with using the fun ingredients they sent me! I’m in love with this alter eco organic mascobado cane sugar! It has a pretty strong vanilla and caramel taste to it, which I can’t get enough of. If you’re lucky enough to get your paws on some of this sugar, it’s a real treat.

This cookies are for the serious chocolate lover…aka yours truly! Especially during stressful wedding planning moments. I like to say my pre-wedding diet has consisted of chocolate and avocados. I should really market that idea, huh?

They are chocolatey, ooey and gooey. Let’s just say you’ll need a glass of milk to wash these bad boys down.

If you’re passionate about Fair Trade like me, you maaaaaaaaay want to check back here tomorrow. There might be a little surprise. Just sayin’!

Double Chocolate Fudge Cookies

Print this Recipe!

yields 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/3 cup Fair Trade organic cane sugar

2 eggs

½ tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup cocoa powder

2 ¼ cups all purpose flour

1 12-oz bag Fair Trade semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one by one, beating after each addition.

In another bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Add to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Add the chocolate chips and mix until just combined.

Drop dough by the spoonful onto prepared sheet tray. Press down gently to slightly flatten each cookie dough mound then bake for 12-13 minutes.

Let cookies cool on a wire rack then enjoy!

Time:

30 minutes

I am in love with these cupcakes.

You see, the other day I was having a major moment of Sonic nostalgia. Memories of going through the drive-through with my girlfriends and slurping on a deliciously fizzy cherry limeade with the crunchy ice. Remember the crunchy ice?! You know what I’m talking about. Well, out here in San Francisco there are unfortunately no Sonics to be found. It’s a sad fact but true. There’s also no Cracker Barrels here. Don’t even get me started on that one. I don’t even know how to take a proper road trip without Cracker Barrel brunch and cherry limeade from Sonic. Ahhhh the memories of my youth.

So what’s a girl to do when a cherry limeade craving strikes? Bake up a batch of these zesty lime cupcakes topped with fluffy fresh cherry frosting! You’re going to love them — I promise!

When I was working on this recipe, it was important to me to make them “all natural”. This means I used real butter, sugar, limes and fresh cherries instead of maraschino. No artificial colors or flavors. I wanted the natural flavors of the fruit to really pop so I used really fresh ingredients! Just look how gorgeous this fluffy pink cherry frosting is! It has big chunks of sweet cherries in it.

I love baking by myself at home because no one {but Dexter} can see just how much frosting I “sample”. You know, for recipe development purposed…of course.

Mmmmmm just seeing these photos makes me want to bake another batch. I took these to our community group last Thursday night and everyone went crazy over them. I might need to bake another batch to take with us to Tahoe later this week. They go fast, people, watch out!

My favorite part is the cherry on top. It reminds me of an old fashioned ice cream sundae.

Hope you guys love these as much as we did! They definitely quelled my Sonic craving for at least another few weeks. Happy Monday, friends!

Fresh Cherry Limeade Cupcakes

makes 1 dozen cupcakes

Print this Recipe!

Ingredients:

for the cupcakes -

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

zest of 1 lime

juice of 1.5 limes {about 2 tbsp juice}

1/2 cup buttermilk

for the frosting -

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup pitted sweet cherries

1 lb powdered sugar

additional cherries for garnish

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake tin with paper liners and lightly spray the liners with nonstick cooking spray.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and continue beating until well combined. Add the lime juice and mix well.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and lime zest. Add the butter and sugar, then drizzle in the buttermilk. Keep beating until batter is smooth.

Scoop out batter into prepared cupcake tins. Fill each tin 3/4″ of the way full then bake for 30 minutes until cupcakes are golden. Remove cupcakes from the oven and let cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting, beat the butter in a stand mixer until it softens. Add the pitted cherries (these can be roughly chopped or just halved) and the powdered sugar and keep beating for another 6-8 minutes until very fluffy. The cherries will naturally break up during this process.

Frost cupcakes and top each with a whole cherry.

Time:

total time: 2 hours

active time: 30 minutes

*cupcakes can be made a day ahead of time and stored, covered, at room temperature

Recipe: Carrot Cake Oatmeal

Yield: about 6 servings

Ingredients:

Directions:

Source

I made this for a quick dinner last night, so I thought I’d share it with you this morning. It’s almost identical to a recipe I posted here back in ancient times, also known as 2009, but it’s much quicker, easier, and will leave more time for you and your husband to catch up on old Season 3 episodes of 24, which have recently been playing on some cable channel without commercial interruptions.

Along those lines, I would like to say that I don’t think my central nervous system will make it to Season 4. I just don’t.

Anyway, in the old, ancient version of this pasta, I took the time to roast the red peppers myself over the stovetop burner, and I added toasted pine nuts, which added a nutty flavor and a little crunch. But last night, I had no time for roasting. I had no time for nutty crunch. I just had time to whip up a quick, easy pasta. And I just had time for Jack Bauer.

 
I love, love, love these things. You can find lots of different brands, lots of different sizes of jars. But jarred roasted red peppers are absolutely, positively something you should stock in your pantry or fridge if you don’t already. They’re just smashing in sauces like this one, but they’re also perfect cut into strips on a sandwich, chopped and spooned over a block of cream cheese with crackers, or just eaten on a plate for lunch with a pile of cottage cheese.

 
 
 
Start by grabbing any pasta you want. I got this in the big city, and it’s part of my Different Pasta Shapes collection, which I would someday bequeath to a museum if I didn’t have big ol’ plans to eat it all.

Pasta. It is everything.

 
 
 
Throw it into salted boiling water and cook it till it’s al dente.

 
 
 
Then chop up an onion…

 
 
 
And mince up some garlic.

 
 
 
Then pile some roasted red peppers onto the cutting board…

 
 
 
And give ‘em a rough chop.

 
 
 
Next, grab a couple of tablespoons of glorious, flavorful butter…

 
 
 
Then throw in the onions and garlic.

 
 
 
Saute them until they’re soft, about 3 to 4 minutes or so.

 
 
 
Next, throw in the chopped red peppers…

 
 
 
And cook them around for a couple of minutes, just until they’re heated through.

 
 
 
Transfer the mixture…

 
 
 
To a food processor or blender…

 
 
 
Then puree it until it’s all…well, pureed!

 
 
 
Mmmm. This is divine right here. And even though it’s totally pureed, it’ll still have a great texture to it. Yum!

 
 
 
Now, back to the skillet: Heat another couple tablespoons of butter…

 
 
 
Then pour the pureed pepper right in.

 
 
 
Turn on the heat and start to heat up the puree…

 
 
 
Then pour in some vegetable or chicken broth to thin it a bit.

 
 
 
Then stir it all around.

 
 
 
Add some salt and pepper…

 
 
 
Then, my favorite part: Add in some heavy cream.

 
 
 
Stir it around and see what it looks like, then you can always splash in a little more cream if you want it even richer.

 
 
 
Next, mince up some herbs. I only had parsley, but if I’d had basil I would have gone crazy with it.

 
 
 
Throw it right into the sauce…

 
 
 
And stir it around.

 
 
 
Then taste the sauce and add more salt and pepper if it needs it.

 
 
 
Drain the pasta and throw it into the sauce…

 
 
 
Then in goes the Parmesan…

 
 
 
A little more parsley…

 
 
 
Then toss it all together, sprinkling in more Parmesan and/or parsley as you go!

 
 
 
Holy…help me Rhonda.

 
 
 
One of my favorite things on earth. And takes no time at all! And you can serve it with a grilled chicken breast or slice the chicken and mix it in with the sauce.

 
 
 
Positively scrumptious!

Here’s the handy dandy printable.

Recipe

Quick and Easy Roasted Red Pepper Pasta

Prep Time:

5 Minutes

Cook Time:

10 Minutes

Difficulty:

Easy

Servings:

8

Print Recipe

Ingredients

• 12 ounces, weight Pasta Of Your Choice (I Prefer Short Ones Like Rigatoni, Penne, Etc.)
• 4 Tablespoons Butter
• 1/2 whole Large Onion, Finely Diced
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 jar (15.5 Ounces) Roasted Red Peppers, Drained And Roughly Chopped
• 1 cup Vegetable Or Chicken Broth
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt, More To Taste
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 1/2 cup Heavy Cream (more To Taste)
• 1/2 cup Parmesan Shavings (more For Serving)
• Finely Minced Parsley
• Chopped Fresh Basil (if You Have It!)

Preparation Instructions

Cook pasta in salted water according to package directions.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and garlic and saute for 2 to 3 minutes or until starting to soften. Add the chopped red peppers and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until hot.

Remove the skillet from the heat. Carefully transfer the contents of the skillet to a food processor or blender. Place on the lid and puree the pepper mixture until totally blended (there will still be some texture to the peppers.)

Heat the other 2 tablespoon butter back to the skillet over medium heat. Pour the pepper puree back into the skillet. Add the broth, salt, and pepper, and stir until heated. Splash in the cream and stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings if you need to.

Drain the pasta and add it to the skillet. Add Parmesan and parsley/basil, then stir it together to coat the pasta.

Serve in bowls with extra Parmesan and a sprinkling of parsley on top.

Posted by Ree on May 1 2013