A Good Appetite: December 2009

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Best of 2009

We've truly enjoyed spending 2009 sharing recipes & cooking experiments with all of you! Here's a little overview of the 10 most popular items to come out of the Good Appetite kitchen this year.

1.

Making Mozzarella at Home
There seems to be a lot of interest in making your own cheese this year as shown by this post being our far & away most popular this year.

2.

Oatmeal Stout and Heath Bar Ice Cream
A challenge from the members of Matt's TC Makers group led to this very popular ice cream flavor. Surprisingly good!

3.

Crockpot Shredded Beef
Just looking at that picture makes me want one of those sandwiches now.

4.

Homemade Ricotta & Lemon Ricotta Pancakes
More homemade cheesemaking, this time it was the much easier ricotta.

5.

Smoked Turkey Breast
Seems like a lot of people were looking for an alternative to the typical roast turkey this year.

6.

Crockpot Ribs
Who knew you could create such delicious ribs in the crock pot?!

7.

Salted Chocolate Covered Caramel Cookies
The most popular of this year's 8 Weeks of Cookies & deservedly so.

8.

Curried Lentil Soup
This one surprised me showing up on the list but I guess everyone is looking for a good hearty soup.

9.

A Midsummer MN Feast with Bacon Chipotle Sauce
It's hard to resist the wonderful food of midsummer in Minnesota especially when its topped with Bacon Chipotle Sauce.

10.

Cheesy Cauliflower Pancakes
The lowly cauliflower is transformed into a cheesy, tasty sidedish

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted.
© 2007-2009 Kathy Lewinski

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

New Year's Kiss Cocktail

This year we decided to create a cocktail to serve on New Year's Eve which meant Matt & I had to do some "testing" ahead of time, darn!

This cocktail is as sweet as a kiss at midnight. But don't worry that sweetness is cut by just a little cranberry tartness.

New Year's Kiss

3 fresh cranberries
1/2 oz cranberry vodka
1 oz elderflower liquor (we used St. Germain)
prosecco
cranberry to garnish

Muddle the 3 fresh cranberries with the cranberry vodka. Strain into a champagne flute. Top with the elderflower liquor then fill the flute with prosecco. Garnish with a cranberry.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Black Bean and Rice Soup

Originally when I thought of this soup my idea was to get the flavor of the Miami Black Bean Soup mix that my mom had bought me a couple times in the past. I knew there was lime & a smokey flavor to it but beyond that I was just kind of winging it.

This really didn't come out at all like the soup I was trying to replicate, the biggest issue was I started out with too few beans in comparison to the other ingredients, but I did end up with a really great winter soup anyway. I love the fresh tang the lime juice added at the end gives it.

We used a ham bone that was in the freezer left over from Easter but you could easily use a shank or ham hock for this as well. Be careful when adding the liquid smoke, it can get to be an overwhelming flavor pretty quickly.

Black Bean and Rice Soup

1 c black beans, soaked
1 T olive oil
5 oz red onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
4 oz celeriac, chopped
1/2 a red pepper, seeded & chopped
1 Anaheim pepper, seeded & chopped
1 meaty ham bone
3 c water
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t oregano
1/4 t chipotle powder
1 t white wine vinegar
4 dashed liquid smoke
1/2 c rice
juice of 2 limes
salt

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic & peppers then sauté for about 7 minutes. Add the beans, ham bone, water, cumin, oregano, vinegar and liquid smoke. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1 1/2 - 2 hours until the beans are tender & the meat is starting to fall off the bone.

Remove the ham bone from the soup & take any remaining meat off of it. Return the meat to the pot. Add the rice. Cover & simmer for another 30 minutes until the rice is cooked. Add the lime juice & season to taste. If the soup seems a little thick add more water.

4 - 5 servings

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Winter CSA Barley Soup

Here's a hearty vegetable soup that makes great use of the bounty that is a winter CSA box in the upper Midwest.

Matt put together this tasty concoction of carrots, celeriac, parsnips & cabbage to have as our lunch last week. All the vegetables together with the seasonings made it flavorful enough that it didn't need to even be made with stock. The barley adds body & texture to this filling & very healthy soup.

Winter CSA Barley Soup

2 T olive oil
2 c onion, chopped
1 1/2 c carrot, sliced
1/2 c celeriac root, chopped
1 c parsnip, sliced
2 c cabbage, chopped
1 c barley
8 c water
2 bay leaves
1 clove garlic, crushed
salt & pepper to taste
dash worcestershire sauce
2 T tomato paste

In a large soup pot heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion & cook until tender about 3 minutes. Add the carrots, celeriac and parsnip then cook another 3 minutes. Add all remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover & simmer for 60 minutes. Taste for seasoning & add salt & pepper if needed.

8 - 10 servings

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Merry Christmas!

To you and your families. May it be happy, safe & full of good things to eat!

Kat & Matt

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Daring Baker's Gingerbread Houses

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

At first I thought I was way too busy to do this challenge but then I kind of got excited by it & in the end Matt & I had so much fun making our little houses that I'm really glad we did it. I decided to do a village of small houses which for some reason seemed more managable to me than one big house. Then I spread the project out over 3 days which also made it not seem so big. Day 1, I made the dough & let it refrigerate overnight. Day 2, using templates for 2" x 3" house that I found here & here.

I just cut the templates out of paper & laid them on the dough then cut around them with a sharp knife. Here are some things I learned. 1. Flour your template. 2. Press the knife down to cut the dough don't drag it or your dough will pull. 3. Remove the template right away or the dough will stick to it & ruin your piece. I also cut out a few small trees to add to my village. I used different cake decorating tips to make textures on the roof pieces before baking. I didn't have much trouble with the dough shrinking while cooking though it did puff up in some places. I let the cooked gingerbread pieces sit overnight on the counter to get really dry.
Day 3, was all about decorating & assembly. I good stiff royal icing is really key to getting the houses to build easily. With thinned it out with water as needed for different types of decorating. I used meringue powder in my icing which worked really well.

We did some of the piping work for windows & doors before putting the houses together. We figured it would be easier to do with the pieces lying flat. I made a base for the village from a piece of cardboard covered in tin foil. Then we piped a line of icing for each side of the houses to help secure them. After all four sides were up we let the icing dry before putting on the roofs. Then came the fun part of adding all the other decorations.

We thinned the icing out with a little water to coat the trees & make the dripping snow on the roof. Thick icing made great smoke from the chimney.

The next week I got invited to my cousin Lucas' first grade class to help make a gingerbread house as well. We went a little easier route by attaching graham crackers to milk cartons with frosting but the results were just as cute!

This post is dedicated to my $7 Target hand beater that met an untimely death while making royal frosting.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Holiday Traditions - Breakfast Casserole

Most people have foods that our traditional to have at Christmas. For my family there is a traditional breakfast. It basically must include two items, Sara Lee coffee cake & this breakfast casserole.

The casserole is prepared ahead of time, usually on Christmas Eve, & is ready to pop in the oven Christmas morning. We get up, coffee is made & the casserole is put in the oven. Then we open our stocking gifts. When the stockings are empty its time for this hearty, hot breakfast before tackling the gifts under the tree.

This casserole is dead simple to make, basically is a bread pudding with sausage in it, but it just tastes so good. Make a big pan of it because everyone will be going back for "just one more slice."

Breakfast Casserole

1 lb bulk sausage
6 eggs
2 c milk
1 t salt
1 t dry mustard
6 slices bread, broken
1 1/2 c grated cheddar
4 oz mushrooms, sliced (optional, my brother won't eat them so we always leave them out)

Brown the sausage, drain any fat & cool.

Beat eggs & milk. Add the salt & mustard & beat again. Add the bread and stir until it softens. Stir in cheese, mushrooms & sausage. Pour into a greased 9" x 13" pan. Refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Bake the casserole for 40 - 45 minutes until golden brown & set.

Serves 6 - 8

Monday, December 21, 2009

8 Weeks of Cookies - Cayenne Chocolate Dipped Pfeffernusse

No weekly menu this week since we'll be at Matt's family's for the holidays with a different Christmas celebration everyday. Fingers crossed for no lake effect snow for our journeys. So, today we'll finish off this year's 8 Weeks of Cookies instead.

The last cookie for our cookie tray this year is actually a repeat from last year. It was definitely the most popular cookie from last year so I had to make sure we had it again this year. This little bite-sized cookie is full of the flavors of molasses, allspice, cardamom & cinnamon then we dip it in chocolate that is spiced up with a little cayenne. This recipe makes 240 cookies, which seems like a lot but they are only 1/2-inch pieces & totally addictive!

Cayenne Chocolate Dipped Pfeffernusse

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
7 - 8 oz chocolate, melted (we used dark chocolate)
1/2 t cayenne pepper or more to taste

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. Cool completely

Mix the cayenne into the melted chocolate. 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.

Makes 240 cookies
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8 Weeks of Cookies 2009

Chocolate Chunk & Hazelnut Biscotti

Salted Chocolate Covered Caramel Cookies

Chocolate & Peppermint Covered Shortbread

Hazelnut Cinnamon Crescents

Browned Butter Sugar Cookies

Pecan & Cherry Shortbread

Spicy Double Chocolate Biscotti

8 Weeks of Cookies 2008 (somehow I ended up with 9 weeks)

Anise Mandelbrot

Candy Cane Cookies

Apricot Foldover Cookies
Swedish Peppernut Cookies

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies
Chocolate Truffle Cookies

Pfeffernusse & Chocolate Covered Pfeffernusse
Dulce de Leche Sandwich Cookies

Sacher Bites

Friday, December 18, 2009

8 Weeks of Cookies - Spicy Double Chocolate Biscotti

I was originally going to make a salted chocolate & cherry cookie this week, similar to one Matt had at Common Roots last week. But it seemed a little to much like the salted chocolate covered caramel cookies so, those will wait for another time. Then, Matt came up with the idea for this biscotti.

I think you could call this cookie a fusion of cuisines. Biscotti is Italian but the addition of chipotle & cinnamon is definitely Mexican influenced. Then to top it off I added some southern pecans. Though these maybe a mix of cultures, they certainly all went together well for a tasty cookie. This is a very crunchy biscotti, perfect for dipping in coffee or hot chocolate. The heat from the chipotle is a surprising back of the throat heat that just warms you up a little.

Spicy Double Chocolate Biscotti

3 eggs
1 t vanilla
1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c sugar
1/3 c cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special Dark)
1 T instant espresso
1 t baking soda
3/4 t chipotle powder
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 c nuts, chopped (I used half almonds & half pecans because that's what I had on hand)
1/4 c mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 300 F.

In a small bowl beat the eggs & vanilla together.

In a large bowl stir the flour sugar, cocoa, espresso, baking soda, chipotle & cinnamon together. Add the egg mixture in & stir until well mixed. (I found using my hands was the best way to do this.) Mix in the nuts & chocolate chips. The dough will be very dense & sticky.

Split the dough in two and form into logs about 12" long by 1 1/2" wide on a prepared baking sheet (either greased & floured or covered with parchment or a silicon pad). Bake for 50 minutes. Carefully remove the logs to a rack & let cool for 5 minutes. Turn oven heat down to 275 F. Using a serrated knife cut the logs into 1/2" slices on a 45 degree angle. Put the slices back on the baking sheet with one cut side down. Bake for 10 minutes then flip to the other cut side & bake for 10 more minutes. Cool on a rack.

Makes about 30 cookies
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8 Weeks of Cookies 2009

Chocolate Chunk & Hazelnut Biscotti

Salted Chocolate Covered Caramel Cookies

Chocolate & Peppermint Covered Shortbread

Hazelnut Cinnamon Crescents

Browned Butter Sugar Cookies

Pecan & Cherry Shortbread

8 Weeks of Cookies 2008 (somehow I ended up with 9 weeks)

Anise Mandelbrot

Candy Cane Cookies

Apricot Foldover Cookies
Swedish Peppernut Cookies

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies
Chocolate Truffle Cookies

Pfeffernusse & Chocolate Covered Pfeffernusse
Dulce de Leche Sandwich Cookies

Sacher Bites

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Packaging Beautiful Gifts From The Garden

If you've been following us at all through this summer you know we've done an awful lot of canning. Much of it we will eat ourselves but we also planned on giving a lot of it away as gifts for the holidays.

(this is just part of what we canned!)

Home canned jams, relishes & salsas make great gifts but we wanted to make them look as good as they tasted so, Matt came up with these beautiful labels.

They were really quite easy to make. The labels were created in Pages (you could use Word as well). First draw a circle that is 2.1" in diameter. Then chose image fill & pick the image of your choice to fill the circles, Matt found the ones we used online. Next create a text box & type information for what is in the jars & center the box in the circles. Matt changed the color of the fonts to match the background. Finally group the circle & text box, then copy & paste it to make multiple copies on a page.

The circles were then printed out on full sheet label paper. We got an extra large circle punch from Fiskars which is the perfect size to cut the circles out. Once punched the labels are just the right size to go on top off the jars. (Getting the back off the labels was the hardest part of this whole project.)

For some items like First Frost Green Tomato Jam & Port Wine Jelly we wanted to give ideas on how to use them so we created little labels to tie on to the jars. We use the same method of designing the circles & printed them on card stock. We punched a small hole in them & then tied them on with this two colored twine from IKEA.

(I put bunnies on the tag because we always have them in our yard.)

Finally, we packed everything in these pretty paper bags we found at Michael's (13 for $6.99, what a deal!) & then put a Merry Christmas sticker made the same way on the bags.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Pumpkin and Mushroom Pasta with Gorgonzola

This dish was one of Matt's choices for dinner last week. He figured it would be a great use of the roast pumpkin we had in the freezer plus I think he was attracted to the gorgonzola in it.

Pumpkin & Mushroom Pasta with Gorgonzola

I had planned on following the recipe exactly as it was written just substituting the pumpkin puree with our roasted pumpkin but ended up having to make some other changes. First we used less pasta than originally called for since we try to stay around 3 ounces per serving. Then we found that the sauce was really dry & needed quite a bit of the pasta water to thin it out, I'm not sure if this was because we didn't use pumpkin puree. We found the dish needed something at the end to brighten the flavors a bit. Matt though perhaps our gorgonzola was a little mild. He added some grated Parmesan to his while I just added a little extra salt. In the end it was really tasty & I thought very pretty with the green of the sage against the yellow sauce.

Pumpkin & Mushroom Pasta with Gorgonzola
(adapted from Closet Cooking)

1/2 T olive oil
1 small onion, sliced thin
4 oz mushrooms, sliced
6 oz orecchiette pasta
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 T fresh sage, chopped
1/4 t red pepper flakes
pinch of nutmeg
1 c roasted pumpkin
2 T heavy cream
2 oz gorgonzola, crumbled
salt & pepper
1 T butter
handful of fresh sage leaves
Parmesan, grated (optional)

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions & mushrooms then cook until caramelized, about 20 minutes, stirring from time to time.

Cook the pasta according the the package. Drain, reserving the cooking liquid, & set aside.

Add the garlic, chopped sage, red pepper flakes & nutmeg to the onions & mushrooms. Sauté for about a minute.

Put the roast pumpkin & cream in a food processor & purée. Add to the skillet along with the gorgonzola. Add enough cooking water to get a sauce-like consistency (we had to add about 1 cup of water). Add the drained pasta to the skillet & heat through. Salt & pepper to taste.

While the pasta is heating melt the butter in a small skillet. Add the sage leaves & fry until crisp.

Plate the pasta & sprinkle the sage leaves & Parmesan, if using, on top.

2 servings

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Lamb Stew

There is nothing fancy at all about this dish, it's really just a plain good stew.

I like using lamb in stew from time to time for a change from beef. I find its flavor pairs really well with root vegetables & this stew is heavy on the vegetables. I used to be one of those people who insist they don't like turnips & rutabagas but in the last couple years I've really come around to them & its dishes like this one that have done it.

Lamb Stew

1 T olive oil
4 oz onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz lamb stew meat
2 T flour
9 oz russet potato, peeled & cut into 1/2-inch cubes
7 oz turnip, peeled & cut into 1/2-inch cubes
12 oz rutabaga, peeled & cut into 1/2-inch cubes
5 oz carrots, peeled & sliced
1/2 t dried oregano
1/2 t dried thyme
1/4 t dried rosemary
1/4 t dried marjoram
2 c chicken stock

Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion & garlic & sauté until tender. Add the lamb & cook until cooked through. Sprinkle flour over the meat & cook while stirring for 1 minute. Stir in the potato, turnip, rutabaga, carrots, oregano, thyme, rosemary & marjoram. Add the stock (you can add a little water too if you think it needs it). Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat & simmer until the vegetables are tender about 1 hour. Remove lid & simmer until gravy reaches desired consistency.

2 - 3 servings

Monday, December 14, 2009

Weekly Menu 12/14 - 12/19/09

Scenes from the last week...

We got our Christmas tree. When they are frozen like this you have to just hope the one you picked out is a good shape!

The first "blizzard" of the season snowed us in for a day & left some beautiful art on our windows.

But that gave me plenty of time to work on some new mittens. I think I might just be getting this colorwork thing down.

On to Menu Planning Monday...

Chicken Saagwala - We never got to this last week so it's been pushed to this week.

Hamburgers & Sweet Potato Fries

Brisket & Roast Sunchokes

Thai Basil Chicken

Pizza with Roast Beet, Brisket & Blue Cheese

Swedish Meatballs - I have some IKEA meatballs in the freezer to finish up so I just make a quick gravy & serve them over egg noodles.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Gifts to Eat

Who wouldn't want to get something good to eat or cook with this holiday season?

Rancho Gordo Beans - seriously the best beans you'll ever cook with & heirloom varieties you can't find anywhere else. Plus the have hominy, quinoa and Mexican oregano. Their cookbook is on our wish list too.

Howling Wolf Barbecue Sauce - We were given some Howling Wolf barbecue sauce as a gift & were sold right away by their unusual flavor combinations. Plus it's all natural & made in small batches. They also make dry rubs which make great seasoning for dips too.

Cowgirl Chocolates - We were lucky enough last year to get a free sampler of Cowgirl's amazing confections & liked them enough that we bought some to give as gifts right away. We are especially fond of the caramels spiced with chipotle & habanero. (Well, the habaneros were way too hot for me but Matt loved them.)

Boulder Hot Sauce - Matt tried their Harry's Habanero Sauce at Birchwood Cafe & had to find some to have at home. We are really enjoying the Smoky Serrano Sauce in soups & chili.

Gourmet Drinking Chocolate - Caribou Coffee started using real dark, milk & white chocolate in the drinks this winter & now I've been spoiled forever, no other mocha will do. Now I can get some to make my drinks at home too.

Wee Willy's Barbecue Sauce - Yes, barbecue sauce from Minnesota that's good enough for Bon Appetit rated it as one of the best. This is our go-to basic sauce.

Nueske's Bacon - When we say use a good bacon in our recipes this is the bacon we are talking about. This Wisconsin applewood smoked bacon is to die for! And really what says happy holiday like a box of pork?!

Singing Dog Vanilla - There is nothing like the flavor you get from using real vanilla beans. Often the ones we get at the store are dried up & useless so we were thrilled when Singing Dog sent us some of their gourmet vanilla beans. They were soft & plump & full of flavor. What a great stocking stuffer for someone who love to bake or make ice cream. I know my dad wants to try their vanilla coffee.