Whole Wheat Pasta

When my husband used to make a lot of clay sculptures, he bought a pasta roller to roll out the clay. It came in handy when we decided to be adventurous tonight and make our own homemade pasta. We also went out on a limb by choosing to do whole wheat, which had the potential of turning us against all homemade pasta forever. Thankfully, it went very smoothly and we will definitely be making more in the future. As far as the whole wheat goes, I must warn you that it tastes "healthy" and is a little more dense than white flour pasta would be. This recipe comes from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.

2 1/2 cups flour (either whole wheat or white)
1/2 tsp salt
2 beaten eggs
1/3 cup water
1 tsp cooking oil or olive oil

In a large mixing bowl, stir together 2 cups of the flour and salt. Make a well in the center of of the dry mixture. In a small mixing bowl combine eggs, water, and oil. Add to dry mixture. mix well. Sprinkle kneading surface with the remaining flour (I used much less because the wheat flour was very dense). Knead till dough is smooth and elastic (8-10 minutes). Cover and let the dough rest for 10 minutes. Divide dough into 4 equal portions. On lightly floured surface, roll each portion into a 12-inch square about 1/16" thick (I used a pasta machine instead). Let stand, uncovered, 20 minutes.

I cut this into fettuccine by rolling up prepared dough and cutting into 1/4" wide strips. I then boiled it as I would with regular pasta - except that the boiling time was cut in half, or even less. The cookbook suggested 2 minutes. That was still a little too chewy for me so I left it in for about 4 minutes total. I think white pasta would cook faster, though.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

One of my college roommates, Angie, used to always make this type of cookie. They were amazing! Once, I tried to replicate them by using a peanut butter cookie recipe that I already had and just added chocolate chips and they turned out terrible. I gave up on making them for about 6 years, when just tonight I saw this recipe on the bag of Target brand chocolate chips and decided to take the risk of making them again. This must have been the recipe that Angie used to use because it was great. I'll have to call her tomorrow to thank her for those cookies that she used to make.

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups chocolate chips
granulated sugar

Heat oven to 375°
Beat butter, peanut butter, sugars, and vanilla on medium speed until creamy. Beat in egg until light and fluffy. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt on low speed until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Roll dough into balls and roll in sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake 9-12 minutes.

Tin Foil Dinners

This is only my third time making tin foil dinners. Apparently they are a very common dinner among many avid campers or hikers. I have also heard these dinners called "Hobos" although I find the term to be somewhat politically incorrect and would support changing the name to "Vagabonds." Although my family camped a lot when I was younger, somehow this tradition never made its way into our campsite. I was excited to find something so easy to cook over a fire (or embers). It definitely beats charred hot dogs. 

The best part about tin foil dinners is that you can use whatever combination of meat and vegetables that you have around your house. This time, our ingredient list was the following:

Potatoes, thinly sliced
Red peppers, chopped
Onions, chopped
Ground beef
Green onions, chopped
Mushrooms, sliced
Cream of mushroom soup
Seasoning salt
Black pepper

We piled the ingredients onto squares of tin foil, folded them up, taking care to add a second layer to avoid charring or spilling, and labeled them with our names (and titles...).

This is my husbands dinner. He chose to add barbecue sauce, which he prefers over pretty much any condiment or sauce, rather than cream of mushroom soup.

When we got to the place where we planned to have dinner, we built a fire and cooked them, hoping that using a grill would keep them from burning too much. That was somewhat of a "tin foil dinner fail" so we subsequently removed them from the heat and waited for the flames to die down. They cook much better over embers or coals.

Key Lime Pie

I was very surprised at how quick and easy it is to make key lime pie. I learned that this pie was first made in Florida, and that sweetened condensed milk was added to the recipe in 1856. Most people seem very adamant that this pie should never be made with anything but fresh squeezed key limes; I used the bottled juice and thought it still tasted great. Maybe next time I'll try doing a meringue topping rather than whipped cream so I can use all of those left over egg whites.

Graham cracker crust
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup lime juice
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 Tbsp grated lime zest
Heavy whipped topping

Preheat oven to 350°  In a mixing bowl, beat egg yolks with a whisk until it is a pale yellow. Slowly add sweetened condensed milk and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add lime juice and zest and mix. Pour lime mixture into graham cracker crust and bake approximately 12 minutes. Remove from oven and cool. Chill before serving and top with whipping cream.

 

Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich

Before making this sandwich I tried to do a lot of research to find the most "authentic" way to make one. I'm not sure that I was completely successful, but let me just say that this was a delicious dinner. In making this sandwich I learned that the meat department in most grocery stores will slice a cut of your choice to your specifications! That is a great thing to know. Next time, though, I'll have the meat sliced a lot more thinly.

Italian sandwich rolls
Steak, sliced very thinly
1 white onion, thinly sliced
1/2 large green pepper, chopped
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 lb sliced mushrooms
Salt and Pepper to taste
Sliced Provolone

Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and bell peppers, and cook until caramelized. Add the garlic, salt and pepper. Push to side of pan.
Add the meat to the hot pan and cook until almost all pink is gone. Mix in the sauteed vegetables. Top with cheese slices and melt. Place meat mixture on buns and serve.

Greek Salad

Now that I consider myself a "food blogger" I suddenly come up with lots of interesting combinations of food for dinners and salads. Sadly, I often find that someone else has already invented my great new dish; in this case, apparently it was the Greeks. According to my research, Avocado seems to be my only truly original addition, which I feel was a stroke of genius.

Salad:
Romaine lettuce
Green pepper, sliced
Red pepper, sliced
Fresh tomato, cut
Black Olives
Avocado, sliced
Feta cheese

Dressing:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp oregano

Combine salad ingredients in a large bowl. Mix olive oil, vinegar, and oregano. Pour over salad and toss. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Caramel Brownies

These brownies are a long standing family favorite. I don't know where the recipe came from originally; all I know is that my mom has made them for as long as I can remember. They are very simple to make and they taste amazing.

1 box German Chocolate cake
3/4 cup melted butter
1/3 can evaporated milk
1 14 oz. pkg. caramels
1/3 cup evaporated milk
12 oz. chocolate chips

Mix cake mix, butter, and milk together and pat half in bottom of 9x13 pan. Bake at 350° for about 10 minutes. Next, melt caramels and milk in a sauce pan and pour caramel mixture over baked mixture. Sprinkle chocolate chips over caramel mixture. pat second half of cake mixture on top and bake for another 15 minutes. Do not over bake.

Szechuan Chicken

After making those pot stickers I decided to widen my repertoire of Chinese dishes. Not really knowing anyone who could teach me, my first recourse was the internet. This recipe is a combination of a few that I found online. This one doesn't include green or red peppers (we didn't have any on the day that I made it) but next time, it will definitely have them. I always prefer to incorporate fresh vegetables into any main dish, especially because it often seems too much hassle to serve a lot of side dishes when I am only cooking for two.

3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed or cut into strips
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp sesame oil

Sauce:
3 cloves minced garlic
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1 Tbsp barbecue sauce
1-2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp ginger, minced
1/2 c. water

3 green onions, chopped
1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 green pepper, sliced
1/2 red pepper, sliced

Coat chicken in cornstarch. Fry in sesame oil with garlic until chicken is lightly browned. Stir in "sauce" ingredients. Cover and cook 3-5 minutes or until boiling. Stir in vegetables and cayenne pepper and cook, uncovered 2-4 minutes. Serve over rice.

Garden Salad

Although this salad is not complicated by any means, I decided to post it because the colors are so vivid that I couldn't resist. Also, it is one of the very few ways I know how to use cabbage. Now that I have researched its health benefits, I am on the lookout for new ways to incorporate it into our diet. Please let me know if you have a recipe that includes cabbage! I would love to try it.

Romain lettuce
Green leaf lettuce
Shredded carrots
Red cabbage, chopped
Grape tomatoes

Toss ingredients and eat with your favorite salad dressing and croutons.

Caramel Apple Pie

Over the past couple of weeks I have been working EXCESSIVELY and haven't been home enough to spend a lot of time cooking or blogging. But this apple pie is one that I definitely couldn't leave out of my blog. It became my husband's very favorite pie the first time he tried it. This pie has, in fact, caused us to consider having a birthday pie tradition rather than birthday cake. If you try making anything from my blog this might be the thing to try because it is so good.

Ingredients:
Pastry for a 2 crust pie
2 Tbsp butter

Filling:
6-8 apples, peeled and thinly sliced
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 C flour
3/4 C sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Caramel topping:

1/4 C butter
2 Tbsp evaporated milk
1/2 C brown sugar

Sprinkle apples with lemon juice. Combine flour, sugar, salt, and spices and then stir into apples. Place in a 10 inch pie plate lined with an unbaked pie pastry crust. Dot with 2 Tbsp butter. Top with pie crust pastry and seal edges. Bake at 400° for 40-45 min.

Combine 1/4 C butter, evaporated milk, and brown sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil - stirring constantly. Bring to soft ball stage, boiling about 2 min. Pour over hot pie. Place pie on a baking sheet or over tin foil (to catch overflowing sauce) and return to oven for an additional 3-4 minutes or until caramel bubbles. Best when served warm.