Bye Bye Grumpies

In a stressed grumpy mood?

Cabot Cheese and Sunflowers will fix it.

Mr. Lawyer always knows how to make me feel better.

Apple Pie Time!

Yaaaaaay Fall! I made an official "Fall Bucket List" for Mr. Lawyer and I to complete. I have always had an unofficial one that included the basics: pick apples at Beak & Skiff, eat the apples, drink lots of cider, consume some cider donuts, eat Grandma's apple pie with cheddar cheese. Beak & Skiff is this wonderful family owned orchard (since 1911!) in LaFayette, NY (just outside Syracuse). I have wonderful memories of going there almost every year with my grandparents. Grandpa Bruce and I would always split a hot dog and look at the beehive (you can see inside it!) while Grandma Nancy got her apples for pie. When I started going to school at SU I introduced my Beak & Skiff tradition to Mr. Lawyer and our friends.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the 1st trip. Nyk was pointing out the specific apples she wanted and Mr. Lawyer obliged. I think she wore footwear that wasn't conducive to ladder climbing. Beak & Skiff has some wonderful old and gnarly apple trees that are huge.

Mr. Lawyer knew that I missed this tradition and decided to surprise me with a trip to a New Jersey Orchard! Now I'm partial to my B&S but this orchard was very kid friendly and had a pumpkin patch! The trees seemed very young in comparison to what I am use to but the apples were still delicious. 

He's always in the trees doing the heavy lifting!

See what I mean about the little trees though? No ladder needed.

We managed to get quite the jump on our Fall Bucket List, including making an apple pie (bonus: with apples you picked yourself!). 

Confession: this is the first apple pie I've ever made. I mostly just eat Grandma's pie. 

A word about eating apple pie: It is essential that you eat the pie with sharp cheddar cheese. Mr. Lawyer asked me what the cheese was for when I pulled it out of the fridge. Adorable. I guess it's a NY/New England thing. It's delicious. Have a bite of pie, have a bite of cheese. Heaven.

I have this really cute kitchen towel that tells you how to make apple pie. It made the perfect backdrop.

Cheese time!

It's not Grandma's pie but it was pretty delicious for a first attempt.

Apple Pie

(from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:
1 pastry recipe for a 9 inch double crust (I used pre-made crusts)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon allspice
4 to 8 Granny Smith apples depending on size- peeled, cored, and sliced
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer. Add the spices and mix well.
2. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Toss apples in liquid and then place apples and most of the liquid into the pie pan. Cover with a top crust. Pour any remaining sugar and butter liquid over the crust.
3. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes until apples are soft.

BLT!

Why don't we have BLTs more often?! The response I received was "they don't fill me up". Sighs. In addition to his never full stomach, my toaster oven was relegated to a bottom cabinet when I received Reggie the KitchenAid. Not only is it a pain to dig it out but the toaster oven has developed a nasty habit of catching fire when used. Lovely. Luckily it seems to have corrected itself and our sourdough bread was perfectly toasted. We made it a tad more healthy with the substitution of turkey bacon.

Our BLT assembly line!

 Mr. Lawyer inhaled two (and picked out chocolate as his plate color!)

My personal favorite additions to a BLT? Cabot Hunter Cheddar and Creamy Horseradish Spread/Mayo.

To die for.

Grandslam Breakfast!

I love, love, love breakfast food which means I loooove breakfast for dinner. This was a semi-clean out the fridge meal and it came out beautifully. I had half a red onion and a getting soft tomato that I was going to add to the scrambled eggs. When I did a little research I found that it was a popular Venezuelan breakfast dish called Perico! This sounds much more sophisticated and worldly than "Onion and Tomato Scramble!" It was a delicious change up from plain scrambled eggs.

The other leftover that made itself useful was the bacon and brown sugar seasoning from the Sweet & Spicy Jalapeno Poppers. Essentially I made my Brown Sugar Glazed Bacon with the spicy sugar-creole mixture (I had about 1/4 cup leftover from the popper recipe). Man oh man was that a hit. The bacon started off nice and sweet and then the spicy smokey flavor finished it off. 

To round out our breakfast for dinner we had some buttermilk waffles (from some fancy mix we were gifted) topped with my precious Vermont maple syrup. We topped the eggs off with some Cabot Cheddar so it was a very Vermont themed meal! 

Venezuelan Perico

(Scrambled Eggs with Onion and Tomatoes)

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, chopped fine
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium tomato, chopped fine
1 green pepper, chopped fine (optional)
4-6 eggs
3 tablespoons cream or milk

Shredded cheddar cheese for topping
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Whisk eggs together with cream, salt and pepper. Set aside.
2. Melt butter with oil in a large nonstick skillet.
3. Sautéed chopped onions over medium heat until translucent.
4. Add tomatoes and peppers and cook over medium heat until soft, 8-10 minutes.
5. Pour eggs into skillet and cook gently, stirring them lightly and flipping them as they cook.
6. Cook to desired doneness, serve and top with cheese.

Spicy Quesadillas!

I cleaned out the fridge/freezer today so it was a leftover kind of meal. Out of some frozen corn, black beans and random cheese hunks we made some delicious quesadillas. I also ran down and purchased an avocado so we could have some guacamole with them. I downsized this recipe here. It's delicious. Plus there's enough for the boy to have for breakfast....and my fridge is clean. Win win.

Corn and Black Bean Quesadillas

(from my kitchen!)

Ingredients:

Quesadillas

Corn

Blackbeans

Red Onion

Jalapeno

Hunk of Seriously Sharp Cheddar

Hunk of Chipotle Cheddar

Olive Oil

Directions:

1. Combine all the veggies. Shred the cheese.

2. Assemble quesadillas on a baking sheet and spritz top with olive oil.

3. Back at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

Refrigerator Pizza

I had some random stuff in the fridge and a can of pizza dough so I took a page out of Grandpa Norm's book and made some refrigerator pizza (or flatbread since this is a classy establishment)! He always made refrigerator soup. I found a easy recipe for caramelized onions, sautéed some mushrooms and threw on the cheese! The cheese was a real experiment. I had a handful of blue cheese leftover from the Buffalo Chicken Rolls, enough to cover two pieces. I also had a couple of nubs of Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar and Chipotle which I shredded and mixed together (it was pretty even - half and half). I was worried the chipotle wouldn't go with the onion and mushrooms but you couldn't really taste it. We both preferred the cheddar pieces over the blue cheese.

Caramelized Onion and Mushroom Flatbread

(From the Kitchen of Jenni!)

Ingredients:
1 can of thin crust pizza dough
3 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon thyme
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
Salt and pepper to taste
2 red onions, sliced
1 package mushrooms
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Directions:
1. Heat 2 teaspoons olive oil over medium-high heat 1 minute. Add butter; melt. Add onions, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook 5 to 8 minutes without stirring. Reduce heat to medium; stir in honey and vinegar. Cook another 15 to 20 minutes or until onions are caramelized, stirring occasionally. Remove skillet from heat and let it cool slightly.

2. While onions are caramelizing saute mushrooms in remaining 1 teaspoon olive oil.

3. Pre-bake the crust according to package directions, mine was 5 minutes at 400 degrees. Take crust out and add cheese, onions, and mushrooms. Bake at 400 for 10 more minutes.

Devil's Mac & Cheese

I think I will rename this recipe from "Spicy Macaroni and Cheese" to "Devi's Mac & Cheese" for two reasons. First, it's completely unhealthy. When I served it I told Mr. Lawyer that it was a "Don't ask" recipe. It did manage to put a little dent in my Cabot stash. Secondly, it's spicy! And delicious. It was a big hit but very rich so proceed with caution!

I made some very smart alterations to the original recipe. For starters, and most importantly, I added the jalapeno topping! It was fabulous. It gets nice and broiled and is kind of sweet/kinda spicy. It was my favorite part. The original recipe called for 8 ounces of colby cheese which I swapped out for the 1/2 cup parm. Sure the colby would have made it more creamy but another block of cheese?! I find colby to be a bit lacking in the flavor department so I went with the parmesan and do not regret it!

Devil's Mac & Cheese

(adapted from Sunny Anderson, Food Network)

Ingredients:
2 cups shell pasta, cooked until almost al dente
8 ounces Cabot Cheddar, shredded
8 ounces Cabot Pepper Jack, shredded

1/2 cup parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
4 tablespoons sour cream
1 large egg, beaten
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup half-and-half
1/4 cup finely grated onions

1 jalapeno, minced
4 slices bread (or panko bread crumbs)
1 tablespoon butter
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, dry mustard, nutmeg. Add the sour cream, egg, heavy cream, half-and-half and onions. Mix in all the cheese!

3. Pour over the pasta and mix well. Bake in a 2 quart (or 8x8) dish. Sprinkle the jalapeno and a little extra parmesan on the top. Bake uncovered until the top is just beginning to brown, about 35 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, cut the bread into crouton-size squares. In a skillet over medium heat, melt the butter, add the bread cubes and toast until golden. Sprinkle the bread cubes (or panko crumbs) on top of the macaroni and cheese and bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes more.

Cheese Heaven!!

Let's talk about how excited I am right now.

My Cabot order came today!

Why yes, we do use our vegetable crisper as a beer and cheese drawer. Because that's what responsible adults do. And it's epic.

I bought the 8 cheese variety back and a 50 count box of Seriously Sharp Minis.

*Happy Dance*

30% off and free shipping. When compared to these silly city prices it was basically buy one get one free and I can't resist a good deal. The actual cheese drawer is a bit stuffed, double stacked!

I may or may not have just eaten cheese for dinner.

Truth.

Official Bun Toaster

My little brother has been in town for a few days so the Mother Unit decided to pop up this weekend to visit the two of us. It was the perfect excuse for a dinner party. Appetizers away! We went with the standard cheese and cracker set up (2 cheese, 1 meat): Cabot Cheddar, Cranberry Wensleydale, summer sausage, and various crackers. The Dork picked out some garlic hummus so I whipped up some of my delicious homemade pita chips. We had the Cranberry Wensleydale on New Years and it was delicious so when I saw it at the store I scooped some up. The boys decimated half of the dishes before I could get a (horrible) picture, there was a lot more to start with!

Bits of College

The problem with a vat of soup (and leftover caper noodles) is that you eat left overs alllllll week which makes for boring blog posts. While we're in the realm of soup: I basically lived off soup and grilled cheese or bagels for my entire college career. Oh, and Captain Crunch. It was a glorious day when the dining hall restocked with the captain. While Mr. Lawyer was away this past weekend I revisited my college eating habits...mostly because I was too lazy to go grocery shopping. The best thing ever was when the Mother Unit ordered me a box of 50 individually wrapped mini blocks of Cabot Cheddar during my sophomore year. Our mini fridge was overflowing with cheese. It was glorious. It also meant that we became super popular with everyone. I would sneak my mini cheeses in to the dining hall for my soups and bagels. No way I was going to top my food with their cheap unidentifiable shredded cheese!

Slice up some cabot cheese, put it on your bagel and pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds and you've got the best cheesy bread to accompany your soup!

No, I did not buy a giant box of Captain Crunch at BJs.

Lovely Leftovers

Today we ventured down to Reading Terminal for lunch and veggie shopping. We ended up splitting the Turkey/Stuffing/Cranberry on sourdough sandwich from Original Turkey. Delicious! And good eating preparation for Thanksgiving. Iovine Brothers has gorgeous looking fruits and veggies on the cheap so we grabbed a few things for tonight's dinner. I got some amazing corn and black bean salsa from Whole Foods to top it off (store brand so it was cheap!).

Steak Fajitas

(from our kitchen!)

Ingredients:
Leftover Steak, sliced up
2 peppers (any color), sliced long
1 red onion, sliced long
1 long hot pepper or jalapeno, minced
Cabot Cheddar, shredded
Corn and black bean salsa
Tortillas
Olive Oil
Directions:
1. Heat up 1-2 tablespoons oil on medium heat in a large frying pan.
2. Saute the onion and peppers to desired crisp/softness. We like them a bit on the crunchy side.
3. Add the steak to warm it up.
4. Wrap the tortillas in a damp paper towel and microwave for 30-60 seconds.
5. Assemble your fajita!

Chili Snow

And we've come full circle! Way back in December my first post after moving to Philly was on Turkey Chili and here it is again! We used my original chili recipe as a loose guide but Mr. Lawyer requested spicy so that's what we did! All served up with Cabot Cheddar (I found some Seriously Sharp out in the suburbs....it might last the weekend!) and cornbread. It was the perfect dish for the first snow of the year! It was all blustery, freezing and snowing outside and inside it was nice, toasty and a crockpot of chili was making the place smell heavenly. mmmmm. I love it.

Jenni's Turkey Chili

(from my kitchen!)

Ingredients:
1 pound ground turkey
½ cup chopped onion

3 cloves chopped garlic

2 jalapeno peppers, chopped
1 can kidney beans
2 cans of chili beans
1 can undrained diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon or so of chili powder

A few dashes of red pepper flakes

Cheddar cheese and cornbread for serving
Directions:
1. Saute up the onion, garlic, and peppers. Add in the turkey, sprinkle with chili pepper and pepper flakes and cook until browned.
2. Throw everything in the crockpot on low and go about your day smelling the deliciousness as you putter around your house.

3. Serve with cheese and bread

Leftovers freeze wonderfully for a chilly (chili!) day pick me up!

Fridge Leftovers

There was a ton of leftover chicken. There were peppers about to go soft. What's a girl to do? Make Chicken Stuffed Peppers of course! This was pretty good. Not sure if I would make it again although I love the stuffing (heck it's just chicken and cheese, what's not to love!). I guess maybe it was the sauce? Good but a lot of work and I wanted something spicy! Mr. Lawyer broke out some tabasco. But it smelled so delicious and winter-homey while it was simmering. Maybe I need some new chili powder. 

Things I changed: I used bell peppers because that's what I had. Our chicken was already cooked so I just tossed it with some taco seasoning. Of course I changed the cheese. Everyone knows that monterey jack is weakling of cheese, I amped it up with some Cabot Cheddar (no surprise there right?).

Chicken Stuffed Peppers with Enchilada Sauce

(adapted from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
1 cup water
4 large Anaheim chile peppers
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup diced onion
3 tablespoons chopped garlic
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons hot chili powder
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 (1 ounce) square bittersweet chocolate, chopped
8 ounces shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Directions:
1. Place the chicken, taco seasoning mix, and water into a resealable plastic zipper bag, seal, and massage the bag with your fingers to mix. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to marinate.
2. Cut the stem and top 1/2 inch from the top of each pepper, and carefully remove the seeds without cutting holes or breaking skin of the peppers. Bring a large pot of water to boil, and immerse the peppers in the boiling water for 3 minutes; cool immediately in a bowl of cold water. Drain the peppers and set aside.
3. Heat the vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium heat; cook and stir the onion until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, oregano, cumin, and cinnamon; cook for 3 minutes. Stir in the flour and chili powder, and cook for about 1 minute. Whisk in the chicken broth, and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low, and stir in the chocolate until it melts and blends into the sauce. Allow the sauce to gently simmer, stirring occasionally.
4. Drain the marinated chicken breasts, and place into a skillet over medium heat. Cook until the chicken is no longer pink inside, about 10 minutes; remove chicken to a bowl, and set aside to cool. When cool enough to handle, shred the chicken meat, and lightly mix in a bowl with Monterey Jack cheese, cream cheese, and cilantro. Stuff each pepper with 1/4 of the chicken mixture, and place on a baking sheet.
5. Preheat the oven's broiler and set the oven rack about 6 inches from the heat source.
6. Broil the stuffed peppers until blistered and hot, about 4 1/2 minutes per side. Serve with sauce.

Pre-sauce. Look at that golden cheddar. 

Meatless Monday!

Oh snap. It's both meatless monday and mexican monday rolled into one. I hope that's a good apology for being suck a slacker! There's been vacation, vacation detox, a trip to dc, and now new job stress. Now that we're back to our pre-vacation weight we've been cooking again. We're still trying to keep it healthy so Meatless Monday made it's way back into our life. I saw this recipe in my Penzeys Spices magazine and it looked yummy plus we had black beans in the cupboard so why not! I'm sure all that cheese decreases the healthiness but you don't have to add it all I suppose. I went all out of course and used Cabots. Are we surprised?
To start with, I was in a mood. It was my first day back in the classroom. The first thing I did when I got home was pour a glass of wine (good thing we hit up a winery that weekend!) and eat cheese (because cheese is my comfort food). It looked like this:

Okay in reality it was a white wine.

Oh and there was a roll involved.

Right so I was grumpy and distracted. I ended up burning some of the sweet potatoes which I believe is a flaw in the recipe. There is not enough liquid to sufficiently cook the potatoes before they absorb it all and they burn. Luckily I added a bit of water and only a couple of pieces were inedible (added bonus: the pan wasn't that hard to clean!). Due to my difficulties with the potatoes not all of them were completely cooked. I saw this as a negative but Mr Lawyer liked the slight firmness they added to the enchiladas. He even ate one for breakfast today. I also thought that the cider vinegar taste was a tad overpowering and would reduce the amount a bit. Moral of the story: I was a mess, I thought dinner was a mess but I guess it was okay.

Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas

(Penzeys Spices)

Ingredients:
8 large flour tortillas
2 large sweet potatoes
1/4 cup soy sauce
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar, divided
1 leek, thinly sliced (I used a bunch of green onions because it's cheaper!)
1 tsp. Penzey’s minced garlic
1 tsp. ground cumin
One 15 oz. can black beans
3 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese divided
Olive oil
Salsa, to taste
Sour cream, to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Wash and cut the sweet potatoes into bite-sized pieces. Put the potatoes, soy sauce, and 1/3 cup of the cider vinegar into a large pot and boil until the potatoes are soft and the liquid has been absorbed.
2. Saute the leek and garlic over medium-high heat in a small amount of oil with the cumin. Add the rest of the cider vinegar and the black beans.
3. Mash the potatoes (leaving it somewhat chunky), combine with the leek/bean mixture, add 1 cup of shredded cheese.
4. Fill the tortillas with roughly a handful of filling, roll and pack tightly into a greased 9×13 baking dish. Top with the remaining cheese and bake for 20 minutes. Serve with salsa/sour cream.

Bits and Pitas

A word about pitas: love. Fresh pitas are amazing for anything. Like homemade pita chips and delicious mini pizzas and let's not forget sandwiches! Which leads us to jalapenos. Have you ever added jalapenos to your tuna fish sandwich which just happens to be on a fresh out of the oven pita and layered with Cabot seriously sharp cheese? Heaven. 

Play like a Peterson!

"Hardcore....and a little dirty." 

A wonderful family motto. Next year Derek and I are making shirts.

Exciting things happened this weekend involving an epic family reunion eating fest, baking in Grandma's kitchen with legit baking equipment and yummy leftovers.

Nancy's Kitchen!

Complete with a stand-mixer older than me and a real double boiler for melting chocolate!

I was responsible for dessert and you never want to experiment in situations like this so I chose two rock solid recipes. Because it was a family reunion I opted for my Rum Cake (which was great with coffee on the dock the following morning) and Uncle Craig requested something chocolate so Double Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Cookies made an appearance. I woke up at the bright and cheery hour of 6 to begin my baking. Everything went well and came out tasting fine with the exception of my horribly burnt rum cake. Psh. Okay so it wasn't black burnt but it's darker than I like so I just threw in some more rum. Plus licking the rum batter bowl at 6:30 made dealing with a burnt cake a little easier (Salmonella be damned Grandma!).

Some lovely cookies and a disfigured rum cake.

And onto a real recipe! (sort of)

The great part about trips to any set of parental units is the fact that you always come home with leftovers. This trip we were lucky enough to score some of Melissa's delicious (and made on a whim!) veggie salsa and random bits of cheese/salami/olives. Because we had all of these random things and we weren't too hungry we decided on a munchie platter for dinner. My personal favorites included Cabot horseradish cheese spread and Wagner's Sled Dog Doppelbock Beer.

The spread.

Melissa's Veggie Salsa

(from the kitchen of Melissa)

Ingredients:

Corn

Zucchini

Yellow Squash

Red Onion

Black Beans

Jalapeno Pepper

Cilantro

Directions:

1. Prepare veggies and mix them all together.

Sidenotes: I'm not sure if there was any salt or pepper to taste or if it was dressed in anything lemon/lime juice or some sort of vinegar....I'll have to check. There was definitely some elbowing for the last couple of bites which I obviously won because I.....played like a Peterson!

Mexican Monday!

I was inspired today (odd for a Monday!) and surprised Mr. Lawyer with a full out Mexican and Spanish inspired meal. For appetizers we had salsa, homemade guacamole, pita chips and tortillas. The main dish was chicken quesadillas. It was all washed down with some sangria.

Mexican Monday Madness!

I have always been and shall always be madly in love with quesadillas. Melted cheese and an unlimited number of topping combinations? Yes please! In grad school Bradstreet made fun of me because quesadillas were all I ate for the entirety of summer session. But now I've learned a new trick! Baking them in the oven instead of in a frying pan (it never occurred to me!). I found the recipe online, decreased the amount (I'm not sure Mr. Lawyer is thrilled with my healthy portion control plans) and tweaked the ingredients based on what was in the kitchen.

Chicken Quesadillas 

(adapted from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:
1 boneless chicken breast, diced (only one for 2 quesadillas!? The horror!)
1 packet fajita seasoning
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 yellow pepper, diced
1/2 onion, chopped
2 large tortillas
Cabot Cheddar Cheese (the one and only!), shredded

Butter or olive oil
Directions:
1. Preheat the broiler. Grease a baking sheet.
2. Toss the chicken with the fajita seasoning, then spread onto the baking sheet. Place under the broiler and cook until the chicken pieces are no longer pink in the center, about 5 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
5. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the peppers and onion. Cook and stir until the vegetables have softened, about 10 minutes. Add in the chicken towards the end.
6. Brush the outside of each tortilla with butter or olive oil (this will make it crispy!). Layer half of each tortilla with the chicken and vegetable mixture, then sprinkle with the Cheddar cheese. Fold the tortillas in half and place onto a baking sheet.
7. Bake quesadillas in the preheated oven until the cheeses have melted, about 10 minutes.

I didn't have fajita seasoning on hand so I found a recipe which worked pretty well but next time I will add some more spice to it.
Fajita Seasoning

2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. salt
1 Tbsp. paprika
1 Tbsp. sugar
1-1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. cumin

Holy Cheesy Goodness!

I need to have a gathering ASAP so I can share these amazing Cheese Straws. This was my morning project, they were incredibly easy and there might not be any left by the time Kevin gets home tomorrow. I mean what's not good about cheese? Especially when that cheese is Cabot Cheddar? And we all know I have a major, major weakness for Cabot.
It called for half-and-half but I just used milk and they were fine. Add more or less red pepper flakes depending on how spicy you want them. They were amazing out of the oven and still amazing when they were cold.

Cheese Straws

(found this one on smittenkitchen. com, a wonderful site!)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups grated extra-sharp Cheddar cheese


4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened and cut into 4 pieces


3/4 cup flour, plus more for dusting


1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes


1 tablespoon half-and-half (I used milk)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In a food processor, combine the cheese, butter, flour, salt and red pepper in five 5-second pulses until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the half-and-half and process until the dough forms a ball, about 10 seconds.
3. On a lightly floured surface, using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough into an 8- by 10-inch rectangle that is 1/8-inch thick. With a sharp knife, cut the dough into thin 8-inch strips, each 1/4- to 1/3-inch wide. Gently transfer the strips to an ungreased cookie sheet leaving at least 1/4-inch between them.
4. Bake the straws on the middle rack for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the ends are barely browned. Remove from the oven and set the cookie sheet on a rack to cool.
5. Serve at room temperature. Cheese straws will keep in the refrigerator, in a sealed container, for two days.

Shameless Ommegang Advertising

Brown Sugar Glazed Bacon

I was trying to be healthy and have a salad for dinner but I always get carried away with toppings which negates the potential healthiness of my poor salad. I started with some romaine, a little bit of onion, a couple of carrots, dried cranberries and some sunflower seeds. Then came the hard boiled egg, Cabot Cheddar and the Brown Sugar Glazed Bacon (often known as candied bacon). All of this was topped off with some Hendrickson's Sweet Vinegar and Olive Oil dressing. But everything is better with bacon right? Like scallops. They're fine by themselves but so much better when they are wrapped in bacon.
I first had this wonderful bacon when Melissa made it at the Lawyer's graduation brunch. It's amazing and completely addicting. It's great by itself or on a salad or with waffles or with anything really. Best of all it's incredibly simple (or worst of all?....)

Brown Sugar Glazed Bacon

(Bon Appétit Magazine)

Ingredients:
1 pound applewood-smoked bacon slices or thick-cut bacon slices
1/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar

Directions:
Position 1 rack in top third of oven and preheat to 400°F. Line large rimmed baking sheet with foil. Place large rack on lined baking sheet. Arrange bacon slices in single layer on rack. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over. Bake until bacon is crisp and glazed, 15 to 18 minutes. Cool 5 minutes and serve.

Behold the mega-salad!

The Pizza that took over the kitchen...

Just give me a frozen Wegman's pizza. ALL I WANT IS A FROZEN WEGMAN'S PIZZA!!!! (You hear that my dear Syracuse readers?! Find a way to mail me one!!)
It would seem that Pizza is going to be my Kitchen Arch Nemesis for a while. If you recall I made a Margherita Pizza last month that came out so-so. It was not overly flavorful, I had problems with the yeast rising, and I didn't have a proper pizza pan so parts of the crust began to burn. Oh and it didn't look pretty at all. Well tonight I used my new pizza pan from the Mother Unit, the pizza tasted delicious, and I had absolutely no problem getting the dough to rise. None at all. In fact, my pizza dough exploded and took over my kitchen. Instead of a deep dish pizza we have a creation Mr. Lawyer dubbed "Cheesey Bread with  Sauce."

Before and After

(BOOM! Pizza take over!)

Chicago Deep Dish Pizza

(Food Network Magazine)

Dough Ingredients:
3 3/4 cups flour
1.5 teaspoons salt
1 1/3 cups warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons olive oil
Pizza Dough Directions:
Whisk 3 3/4 cups flour and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. In a bowl mix 1 1/3 cups warm water, 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 packet yeast. When foamy, mix in 3 tablespoons olive oil; add to flour and knead until smooth, 5 minutes. Brush with olive oil, cover in a bowl and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour 30 minutes. Divide into two 1-pound balls. Use 1 pound per recipe unless noted.
Directions for the Chicago Pizza:

1. Press one pound of dough into an oiled and cornmeal dusted 10-inch pizza or cake pan. (the original recipe called for two pounds of dough which I do not recommend)

2. Top with 2 cups each shredded mozzarella and tomato sauce, some cooked sausage and Italian seasoning.

3. Bake at 425 for 40 minutes.

I used some leftover spicy basil tomato sauce, a handful of leftover mozzarella mixed with a bunch of Cabot Cheddar (my life blood), and topped it with some roasted red peppers and artichoke hearts. It tasted amazing! The crust, while perfectly golden and crunchy due to the new ceramic pizza tray, was waaaay too big. It really was like dipping a loaf of bread into a saucy cheesy concoction. As a carb lover I throughly enjoyed this but poor Kevin felt it was a bit much.

That's not too much crust is it?!