A Good Appetite: December 2008

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies
Chocolate Truffle Cookies

Pfeffernusse & Chocolate Covered Pfeffernusse
Dulce de Leche Sandwich Cookies

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Classic Chex Mix

In my family we always have a bowl of Chex mix out around Thanksgiving & Christmas. I told my sister I would bring it this year. Now if you look at the Chex box they have all different versions but as far as I'm concerned the classic is the way to go. We think this mix is better if its sat for a day.

Classic Chex Mix

6 T unsalted butter
4 t Worcestershire sauce
1 t seasoned salt
1 c rice Chex
1 c wheat Chex
1 c Cherrios
1 c pretzel sticks
1 c salted peanuts

Preheat oven to 250 F.

In a large roasting pan melt butter over low heat. Stir in Worcestershire sauce & seasoned salt. Stir in remaining ingredients until everything is coated.

Put pan in the oven & bake for 45 minutes stirring every 15 minutes.

Makes 5 cups.

Two notes from my mom. She adds 1 teaspoon of garlic powder & 1 teaspoon onion powder with the to the melted butter as well as the other seasonings. She melts her butter with the seasonings in the microwave & then pours is over the mix in the roasting pan before putting it into the oven.

Monday, December 22, 2008

What we did with CSA box #16 & what's in box #17

We don't have much to show from what we did with CSA box #16. We were in the California for one week right after the box came. THe nice thing is a lot of this type of produce stores for awhile so we are keeping it fresh & cool in our basement root cellar.

1. Mac & Cheese with Squash 2. Matt's Vegetable Soup
On to box #17. This is our last regular season box (yes, this late in MN). We have two extended season boxed coming in January & then we're done until May. Luckily there is a winter farmer's market once a month a Local D'Lish so we can still get some good local produce through the tough months.

Sunchokes - We'll roast these & serve them with pork.

Carrots - Yes, more carrots. I think I'll make some Morning Glory Muffins while my parents are here.

Red Cabbage - This will be turned into a warn cabbage salad for Christmas Eve to be served with Swedish Meatballs.

Red Potatoes

Festival Squash - I'll steam these in the oven with butter.

Celeriac

Parsnips - We love them in soups, stew & roasted though I'm thinking a parsnip mash might be called for.

Red & Gold Turnips - We used some already in beef stew. It think we may roast some.

More Radish

Parsley Root - Gotta figure this one out.

Red Beets - I love roasted beets & have a hard time doing anything else with them.

Weekly Menu 12/22 - 12/27

Kind of a crazy week, my parents arrived from Memphis yesterday & Wednesday we'll all head up to Duluth for Christmas. Let's hope the weather gods are with us!

On to Menu Planning Monday...

Roast Pork & Vegetables - never got around to making this last week so it'll be Monday's dinner with my parents

Chicken Chili - One of Matt's creations

We'll be at my sister's Christmas Eve & will have Swedish Meatballs & Red Cabbage.

Christmas Day will start with the traditional breakfast casserole & Sara Lee coffee cake. I'll be bring my Creamy Chicken Wild Rice Soup for lunch. Dinner will be at my sister's in-laws & I'm not sure what is on the menu though they always make something fantastic.

The day after Christmas we'll go to my brother's so once again no cooking here.

Saturday when we are back to our house I'll be making some Sausage & Spinach Lasagna.

I have one more cookie to bake before Christmas as well as a big batch of Chex Mix.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Meatball Sandwiches

It seems over the past week or so we've really been craving homey comforting meals. I'm not sure if its because we're busy getting ready for Christmas or because its so cold & snowy here in Minneapolis. In that vein, the other night Matt made us some fabulous meatball sandwiches.

(Yeah they are a little charred on the edges from a second too long in the broiler but that didn't effect the taste at all.)

What made these sandwiches so good was the tender, flavorful meatballs Matt started with. He decided using the same sort of recipe he would for meatloaf would give him a great meatball & he was right. I especially liked the way he left the pieces of onion rather large in the meatballs.

We got 52 meatballs from this recipe which is much more than we needed for sandwiches but we froze the excess & now have them for more sandwiches or spaghetti.

Meatballs

1 3/4 lbs mixed ground meat (we used a mix of beef, pork & veal)
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 T dried oregano
1/2 t dried thyme
3 eggs
1/3 c ketchup
1 oz grated Parmesan
1 c bread crumbs

Put all ingredients in a bowl & knead with your hands until everything is well blended but do not overwork. Roll into 1-inch balls. (If you wish to freeze some of the meatballs do so now by freezing them on a cookie sheet. once frozen place in an airtight container & back into the freezer.)

Heat 1 T of olive oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs & cook until browned on all sides.

Add enough tomato sauce (we used Muir Glen pizza sauce thinned with a little water) cover at least 3/4 of the meatballs. Simmer for about 20 minutes until the meatballs are cooked.

To make sandwiches:
Split soft hoagie rolls in half & place on a baking sheet. Top with 5 or 6 meatballs & a little sauce. Lay slices of provolone on over the meatballs. Broil until the cheese is melted.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Eggnog Cupcakes

Last night we had a baked goods exchange with our Cookin' Minnesota group. Matt took a variety of the cookies I've been baking the last couple of weeks but I decided to go another route. I've been wanting to make an eggnog flavored cupcake every since Matt had one from Sprinkles that didn't taste like eggnog at all & this was the perfect opportunity.

I looked at a few different eggnog recipes & came to the decision that the two ingredients I needed to get the flavor right were rum & nutmeg. I used eggnog in the cake batter instead of milk to up the flavor even more. The cupcake itself came out really tasty with a great texture but its really the frosting that makes this taste & smell like eggnog to me. These are quite rich so I'm glad I made mini cupcakes this time around, just the perfect little bite. They certainly seemed to be a big hit last night.

Eggnog Cupcakes

1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/3 c + 3 T sugar
2 t rum
1/8 t vanilla
1 1/3 t baking powder
2/3 t salt
2 c all-purpose flour
2/3 c eggnog
5 egg whites

Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare 48 mini cupcake tins or 18 regular.

In a mixing bowl cream the butter & 1 1/3 cups of sugar together until light & fluffy. Beat in the rum & vanilla. Add the baking powder, salt & 2/3 cup flour, beat until combined. Beat in 1/3 cup eggnog. Then beat in another 2/3 cup flour, followed by the rest of the eggnog & then the rest of the flour.

In another bowl beat the egg whites until foamy. Add in the remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar. Beat on high speed until stiff peaks form. Gently fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter until completely combined then fold in the remaining egg whites.

Divide the batter between the cupcake tins, filling each one 2/3 full. Bake 15 minutes for mini cupcakes or 22 for regular. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.

Cool completely on a rack.

Spiced Rum Buttercream

1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 c powdered sugar
pinch of salt
1/8 t cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
1 T rum

In a mixing bowl beat the butter until soft & creamy. Add in the powdered sugar a little at a time until all the sugar is absorbed. Beat in the salt, cinnamon, nutmeg & rum. Frost cupcakes & sprinkle with more nutmeg.

Makes 48 mini cupcakes or 18 regular

You can substitute run extract for the rum but I think it has a stronger flavor.

Update 12/28/08: There was originally a typo in this recipe & I wrote baking soda instead of powder. Powder is correct. Thanks to Danya for catching it.

I also had the wrong amount of sugar (I must have been drinking the rum when I wrote this!). Its correct now.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

8 Weeks of Cookies - Dulce de Leche Sandwich Cookies

This cookies was not originally on my list to make for Christmas but I ended up with half a can of leftover sweetened condensed milk. What else to do but make dulce de leche. I like to just stir a little in my coffee but since I'm on a cookie making kick these days I thought I'd create a cookie with it instead.

I know dulce de leche pairs really well with cinnamon so I decided to make sandwich cookies using my favorite cutout cookie recipe which has a really strong cinnamon flavor. These cinnamon cookies are super tasty & I like them on their own but adding the dulce de leche just makes them that much better. I thought it would be good to change things up a little so I made half of the dough chocolate cinnamon by adding some cocoa powder.

I made my own dulce de leche but you can also buy it in a can in the hispanic section of the grocery store. If you do make it from scratch let it cook until its nice & thick.

Dulce de Leche Sandwich Cookies

1 c unsalted butter
2/3 c sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla
2 1/2 c flour
1/2 t salt
1 T cinnamon
1 can dulce de leche

In a mixing bowl cream the butter & sugar together until light & fluffy. Beat in the egg & vanilla. Add the flour, salt & cinnamon & mix until well combined. Wrap in plastic wrap & chill for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

On a floured board roll the dough out to 1/8-inch thick. Cut into 2-inch circles. Place on a greased baking sheet or use a silicone pad. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes until the edges are just starting to brown. Allow to cool completely on a rack.

Spread some dulce de leche on one cookie & top with another. Chill to set if desired.

Makes 3 dozen sandwiches.

To make chocolate cinnamon cookies add 2 T cocoa powder with the flour to the dough.
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8 Weeks of Cookies

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies
Chocolate Truffle Cookies

Pfeffernusse & Chocolate Covered Pfeffernusse

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Mac & Cheese with Butternut Squash

This mac & cheese recipe is the standard one around our house. Usually we add cherry tomatoes to it but since we are in the middle of the tundra right now tomatoes are not really at their best. We do though have a lot of squash right now so I thought that roasted it would add a nice sweetness that the tomatoes usually do.

It really was a nice addition to the mac & cheese. Its not quite as sweet as the tomatoes but it is a richer sweetness. The creamy texture blends in really well with the pasta & cheese sauce as well.

Mac & Cheese with Butternut Squash

1 1/2 c butternut squash, peeled & cut into 1/2-inch cubes
olive oil
3/4 lb penne pasta
1 medium onion
1 Tbs butter
1/8 C flour
1 C milk
1/2 C heavy cream
1 1/2 C grated cheddar cheese
3/4 C grated gryere
dry mustard
salt
pepper
panko

Put the squash in a small roasting pan & coat with a little olive oil. Roast at 400 F for 30 - 45 minutes until soft & starting to brown. Set aside.

Cook pasta according to directions drain and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 F

Heat a small skillet over low heat. Slice onion very thin. Add onion to skillet and saute slowly until brown and carmelized. Mix into pasta.

In a small saucepan melt butter over med-low heat. Add flour an stir constantly for 1 minute. Do not allow to brown. Slowly whisk in milk and cream. Stir until hot and smooth and slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Turn heat to low and add cheese. Whisk until melted. Add a pinch of dry mustard and salt and pepper to taste.

Butter a glass casserole dish. Add pasta, onions, butternut squash and cheese sauce. Mix well until cheese sauce covers everything. Sprinkle panko over the top.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Serves 4

Cowgirl Chocolates

We recently joined the Tastemaker program on Foodbuzz which gives us the opportunity to try out some different products on the market. What a treat when we received our first product, Cowgirl Chocolates. Matt & I are big fans of good chocolate so we really enjoyed this.

The chocolate came beautifully packaged, wrapped in red paper then in a ribbon tied box with a silver charm.

Inside were 9 shiny wrapped chocolates & one caramel plus a flavor card. Apparently, Cowgirl is into adding peppers like cayenne & habanero to their chocolates which made Matt exclaim they were all for him. Luckily for me there were also 4 non-spicy varieties.

We tried the Spicy Raspberry Dark Chocolate first, oh was it good. The raspberry filling was very berry but not too sweet & the chocolate was great. The spice hits you towards the end of eating the chocolate with a warming sensation but was no where near hot enough to bother me at all which was perfect.

Next Matt went for the Habanero Caramel. The caramel was amazingly good but woah, did it hit you with some heat at the end. Definitely shows you the difference between cayenne & habanero. Matt loved these & said he could sit & eat a whole box if he had them.

We've eaten our way through most of the chocolates in two days & they have all been wonderful. I've found in the past that spicy candies sometimes skimp on the other flavors & what I liked about these is the spice is there but so is the quality of the rest of the ingredients. I'm tempted to try a few other things off of their site now like the Cayenne Caramels & the Roasted Hazelnut Toffee.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

8 Weeks of Cookies - Pfeffernusse & Chocolate Covered Pfeffernusse

The baking for the Christmas cookie tray continued in earnest today with these little bite-sized treats.

I had never had pfeffernusse before (ok, I've had the Swedish peppernut but it's quite different from these) but they are traditional for Matt's family. Apparently, they are originally Dutch but many other countries have versions of this crunchy, spiced cookie but all include a small bit of pepper in the recipe. To me, they tasted a a lot like gingerbread cookies without the ginger. Matt's mom said she usually adds more pepper or even cayenne than called for but Matt asked me not to for this batch. Then after he tasted them he decided a little cayenne would have actually added a tasty extra kick.

Pfeffernusse & chocolate covered pfeffernusse

I thought they were a little plain looking & decided to dip half of them in chocolate. Matt said if I was going to do that I might as well add some cayenne to the chocolate too. So, we ended up with three different versions of pfeffernusse; plain, chocolate covered & cayenne chocolate covered. They are all good but I think the cayenne chocolate covered are the best.

Pfeffernusse (three ways)

1/3 c molasses
1/4 c unsalted butter
1 egg
1/4 c packed brown sugar
3/4 t cinnamon
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t cardamon
1/4 t allspice
1/8 t pepper
2 c flour
6 - 7 oz chocolate, melted (optional)(we used leftover Hershey's Special Dark candy bars from Halloween)
1/2 t cayenne pepper or more to taste (optional)

Put the molasses & butter into a saucepan & heat over low heat until the butter is melted. Pour into a large bowl & let cool to room temperature.

Beat the egg into the cooled molasses & butter. Stir in the brown sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, cardamon, allspice & pepper. Add the flour 1/2 cup at a time, incorporating each addition completely before adding the next. Cover the bowl & chill the dough for an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Divide the dough into 12 even pieces. Roll the piece each out into 10-inch lengths. Cut each length into twenty 1/2-inch pieces. Place the pieces 1/2 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 -12 minutes until the sides of the cookies are firm & the bottoms lightly brown.

Chocolate covered pfeffernusse:
Dipped the cooled cookies into the melted chocolate coating about 1/2 of the cookie. Place on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper. Chill in the refrigerator until the chocolate hardens.

Cayenne chocolate covered pfeffernusse:
Do the same as above but mix the cayenne pepper into the melted chocolate.

Makes 240 cookies
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8 Weeks of Cookies

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies
Chocolate Truffle Cookies

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Weekly Menu 12/15 - 12/20

We spent last week in San Francisco & now were back home in Minneapolis where the high today is supposed to be -2 F! We have a wind chill alert warning of windchills between -25 & -35 F. I love the fact that the National Weather Service cations in their alert that if you must go out wear a hat & gloves. Luckily we don't have to leave the house today & have plenty of warm satisfying meals on the menu for the rest of the week.

I seem to have caught a bug while in traveling but luckily Matt made me a big pot of homemade vegetable soup last night. Just the thing with a few crackers & some ginger ale.

Matt's Vegetable Rice Soup

1 T olive oil

1 c diced onion

20 oz whole canned tomatoes, drained

3 c vegetable stock

1 turnip, peeled & diced

2 medium yukon gold potatoes, peeled & diced

4 medium carrots, peeled & sliced

1 c cabbage, chopped

2/3 c rice

1 bay leaf

1/8 t dried thyme

salt & pepper

In a large soup pot heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions & sauté for about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes & smash a little with your spoon then cook for 5 more minutes. Add the vegetable stock & use immersion blender to process until smooth. Add remaining ingredients & bring to a boil. Cover & turn heat to low. Simmer for 45 - 60 minutes until rice is cooked & vegetables are tender.

Serves 4

On to Menu Planning Monday....

Mac & Cheese with Butternut Squash

Chile - Always a spur of the moment creation by Matt & always good

Roast Pork Tenderloin & Vegetables

Meatball Sandwiches

Twice Baked & Stuffed Potatoes

Thai Coconut Curry Chicken Soup - We've made this soup from from Culinary Adventures of a New Wife before & its so good!

Saturday, December 13, 2008

8 Weeks of Cookies - Chocolate Truffle Cookies

This is another cookie recipe from Matt's mom & a request from Matt for our Christmas cookie tray.

These cookies are all about the chocolate. The original recipe called for semisweet chocolate chips but I decided to us bittersweet instead since we like the flavor better. Another change I made was to use 2 squares of unsweetened chocolate & 2 of bittersweet chocolate instead of all unsweetened because I made a mistake while shopping. I figured that since I was using bittersweet chocolate it would be ok & the cookies wouldn't turn out too sweet.

These cookies are so rich & chocolaty, they do taste a lot like a truffle. They stay soft & moist even once cooled & remind me a lot of a brownie. I can see adding flavors to them like espresso or chile though they are pretty perfect just the way they are.

Chocolate Truffle Cookies

4 oz unsweetened chocolate squares (or mix it up like I did half bittersweet & half unsweetened)

2 cups chocolate chips (I used bittersweet)

1/3 c butter

3 eggs

1 c sugar

1 1/2 t vanilla

1/2 c flour

2 T baking cocoa (I used Hershey's Special Dark)

1/4 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

powdered sugar

Melt the chocolate, 1 cup chocolate chips & butter together. Set aside & let cool for about 10 minutes.

Beat the eggs & sugar together until light about 2 minutes. Add the vanilla & melted chocolate mixture, beat until blended. Beat in the flour, cocoa, baking powder & salt until well combined. Stir in the remaining cup of chocolate chips. (The dough will seem very runny) Cover the mixing bowl & chill the dough for at least 3 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Working with a small amount of the dough at a time, roll it into 1-inch balls. Place the balls on an ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes until puffed up & set. Allow to cool for a couple minutes on the cookies sheet before moving to a rack to completely cool. Dust with powdered sugar.

Makes about 4 dozen (we got 51)

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8 Weeks of Cookies