Strawberry Ruby Red Preserves

My apologies to Margo who selected this wonderful recipe as I'm sooooo very late posting... I almost skipped this recipe because we had gone to the beach the weekend we were supposed to make it, but the flavor combination sounded so intriguing I had to give it a go. I've made a lot of jelly/jam/preserves in the past. My dad always made them during the summer and my sister and I loved to help. The best part was eating the foam he skimmed off before canning the jam (if you've made jam or jelly with Sure-Jell or liquid pectin before, you know what I'm talking about). I do normally use the Sure-Jell when making jam, so I was especially interested to see how this recipe would turn out since it uses apples as a source of pectin.

Aside from having all the ingredients on hand at one time, this recipe was really easy to make. I bought strawberries and grapefruit before reading the recipe all the way through and when I went to make it the first time, I realized I had no apples. By the time I was able to get the apples, I had to break down and let my daughter eat the strawberries I bought. You just can't say no to a kid when they ask for fruit as a snack! One more trip to the store did the trick...

I absolutely loved the flavor of the preserves- strawberry preserves can be a little too sweet sometimes, but the grapefruit counteracted the sweetness quite nicely. I really wanted to make lemon scones so I could try the preserves on something, but I have been so busy lately. That is the one nice thing about preserves- they keep for a long time! I did give a small jar to my mom and dad and my mom said she really enjoyed them. I may have to add this to my list of preserves to make every year!

You can check out the recipe on Margo's blog. Be sure to check out the latest pictures of her adorable dog as well!

Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

This week's SMS recipe was chosen by Stephanie of Ice Cream before dinner. Peanut butter cookies... they hold a special place in my heart. For one, I LOVE peanut butter. I grew up on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches- I literally had one almost every day from kindergatden through high school. And it was a saving grace when I was pregnant with my first daughter- I had gestational diabetes and it was one of the few things I really enjoy that I was able to eat without too much concern (even fruit was a no-no). Peanut butter cookies are a staple Christmas cookie in my house as well, so they always remind me of the holidays.

This recipe is very similar to the one I grew up with except we always rolled them in sugar and topped with Hershey's kisses. Funny enough, I always used to pick off the chocolate kiss and eat the cookie when I was little! I didn't develop an appreciation for chocolate until I was older. They are super easy to make, especially considering you skip the sugar rolling step. The only change I made to the recipe was the kind of flour I used. Believe it or not, I had run out of white flour and I had already run the to the store about three times this week and it was raining all day so I decided I had to make due with what I had on hand. After debating between whole wheat flour, graham flour, and oat flour, I went with the graham flour. I figured I love peanut butter and graham crackers so it couldn't be that bad!

I think the cookies turned out well, except they were a little flatter than what I anticipated and I kind of lost the cross-hatch effect in baking. I wonder if this had to do with the graham flour- the texture was definitely a little heavier than regular flour. But the flavor was great and they had a nice chewy texture. My husband loves soft cookies so I think he really appreciated them! The recipe is a definite do-over. I really liked the flavor of the cookie with the graham flour, but I'm curious to see if they would bake differently using a different flour.

Be sure to check out the recipe on Stephanie's blog and to see what the other SMS bakers thought of this week's recipe.

NYT Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've read a lot about the NYT chocolate chip cookie since I started Sweet Melissa Sundays, so I had to see what all the buzz was about. I fell in love with Melissa Murphy's recipe when we made it a few weeks back, and decided it was going to be pretty hard to beat. Since we were going to the beach this past weekend, I thought it was the perfect time to make them as they would be a nice treat after lunch on the beach.

The recipe is a little more complicated than the cookie recipes I have made in the past. It calls for two different kinds of flours and you are supposed to sift all the dry ingredients together. Honestly, I normally skip sifting together dry ingredients unless its for a cake, but I wanted to follow the recipe exactly as written to see what all the hub-bub was about. The only thing I changed was I used Ghiradelli chocolate chips instead of the favres that the recipe calls for. I had never even heard of them until I read the recipe and I knew our grocery store wouldn't have them. When I read about the recipe on Eliana's (of A Chica Bakes) blog, she mentioned it was definitely worth it to splurge on the chocolate. When we were out last weekend, I saw a bag of Guittard chips, but much to my dismay they were butterscotch chips, not chocolate. So I picked up the Ghiradelli instead.

It wasn't until the last step before baking that I realized why these cookies are so good. You are supposed to sprinkle the tops with sea salt. Brilliant- its like crack to any woman that is in the least bit hormonal. Sweet, salty, and chocolate all in one cookie! Its like eating potato chips and M&M's... The sea salt is a flavor explosion in your mouth that lingers after the cookie is gone.

This recipe really is a great one, but I still like the Melissa Murphy one as well. I asked my husband which he liked better and he said he would have to taste them both at the same time, so maybe there will be a bake-off sometime in the near future! You can find the recipe from the New York Times here.

Anadama Bread

There is another baking group out there following the Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart and the recipes looked really interesting, so I decided to buy the book last week. I'm really quite behind where everyone else is, but I would still like to make my way through the book. And let me tell you, if you are interested in baking breads, this book is way more than just a cookbook. There are so many interesting things in it about the science of baking bread- it was definitely worth the money.

The first receipe in the book is for Anadama bread. Evidently, this is a classic New England bread that came to fruition after a man's wife walked out on him and left him with nothing to eat. He threw the cornmeal mush that was left together with some molasses and flour and said "Anna damn her", hense the name. When I read about the bread on Tracey's Culinary Adventures, she mentioned she had lived in New England her entire life and had never heard of this bread. So I called my friend who has lived in Boston her whole life and she said the same thing. Interesting...

The bread starts with a cornmeal soaker. I had never made a bread that involved a soaker so this step was entirely new to me. The rest of the recipe comes together fairly simply. It suggested using golden molasses for a milder flavor, but all I had was blackstrap molasses- the complete opposite of what I was supposed to use! I had picked it up last weekend because its very hard to find around here and the recipe we use at Christmas to make molasses cookies calls for it. Oh well...

The dough rose beautifully and baked to a nice brown color unlike the golden loaf in the picture- probably because of the darker molasses. It smelled wonderful when it was in the oven. There is nothing like the smell of yeast bread baking! And I loved the texture of this bread. There was a nice crust on the outside and it was soft but kind of dense on the inside. I NEVER had white bread when I was growing up (I kid you not- I don't think I had white bread until I was in college) so I like a denser bread. It was very tasty and I think it will make a wonderful sandwich, but you could definitely taste the molasses. Next time I make it, I am going to try to find the golden molasses so there is a more subtle molasses flavor.

Even though the recipe is a little time intensive, it is definitely worth the effort! Per the request of the group, the recipes for the breads in the BBA book won't be posted on my blog, but you can check out the book on Amazon. Like I said, it is well worth the money and there are some really interesting recipes!

Skirt Steak Tostadas

My dad made this recipe a few weeks ago and I absolutely loved it! I am not a huge steak person- if I am going to eat a steak it has to be a really good one. But this recipe is really flavorful and I love the salsa that is served with it.

The recipe was featured in USA Weekend a couple weeks ago. Evidently they sponsored an episode of The Next Food Network star and this was the winning recipe. Skirt steak (or flank steak as it was labeled when I bought it) is one of those things I have seen in the grocery store but I never know what to do with it. Its really a shame people don't buy this cut more often as its very tender and less expensive than something like a strip steak. The recipe calls to marinate it in a soy and honey based marinade and to serve it with a mango salsa. It suggests serving it with a tostada and black beans, but we've been trying to lighten things up a little around here so I bypassed the tostada and served with salad greens. The juice from the salsa made a wonderful dressing.

This recipe is great for a weeknight dinner. You can make the marinade the night before, throw the meat in a plastic bag with the marinade in the morning, and throw it on the grill that night. And leftovers make a great salad topper for lunch (mmm... I can't wait until lunch tomorrow). We will definitely be making this one again!

Skirt Steak Tostadas

from USA Weekend July 3-5, 2009

Marinade:

1/2 Cup Soy Sauce

1/2 Cup Olive Oil

Juice of 3 Lemons

1/2 Cup Honey

1 Cup Finely Chopped Onion

1 Habanero Chili Seeded and Finely Chopped

Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper

2 Pound Skirt Steak

Mango Salsa:

1 Red Onion Finely Chopped

1 Mango Finely Chopped

1/4 Cup Cilantro Leaves Chopped

1 Poblano Chile Seeded and Minced

1/4 Cup Honey

Juice of 3 Limes

Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper

In large shallow bowl, whisk together the marinade ingredients. Add the meat, cover and refrigerate at least one hour (I just threw everything in a ziploc). It is best to marinate for several hours.

Combine all salsa ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Preheat a grill pan to medium high heat. Remove meat from dish and discard marinade. Place steak on grill for about 4 to 6 minutes for medium rare to medium, turning once. Remove from the grill and let the meat rest for five minutes. Thinly slice on the diagonal into strips.

You can serve as is or as suggested by the recipe... Place tostada on individual plate. Spoon black beans (see below) over tostada and then top with steak and salsa. Garnish with sour cream and cheese if desired.

Black Beans:

1 16 oz can Black Beans

1/2 Cup Olive Oil

1/2 Cup Red Wine

1 Jalepeno Seeded and Chopped

Simmer ingredients in a saucepan for 20 minutes.

Whole Orange Poppy Seed Cake

This week's Sweet Melissa Sunday's recipe was chosen by Melissa of Lulu the Baker- a whole orange poppy seed cake. I almost sat this week out- I had a really busy week at work and my littlest one has the start of a chest cold, but I really enjoy Melissa's blog and wanted to bake along in support. When I saw how easy the recipe was, I decided to give it a go.

I have one other recipe in my collection that uses the entire orange- orange flax muffins. My mom found the recipe when we were running a "health week" at work. She came across it on a breast cancer awareness website. It was amazing how the bitterness of the orange peel dissipate d after baking the muffins. This recipe was super easy to throw together. I didn't even have to pull out my stand mixer this week! I decided to bake them in my mini bundt cake pan my sister gave me for Christmas a few years ago. I haven't had much luck using it in the past as it is a really dark nonstick pan and everything has a tendency to come out burnt. But I decreased the baking temperature to 325 degrees and kept a very close eye on it.

I ended up pulling the cakes out after about 25 minutes. The texture of the tops looked a little funny- not smooth like I'm used to with recipes like these. But they weren't burnt so I was happy. But then I went to take them out of the pan and evidently I didn't grease them enough. The first one broke when I took it out and I had to ease the rest of them out with a spoon. You can see from the picture that the cakes definitely stuck to the pan.

So the verdict... I really wanted to like these little cakes and I'm not sure if I was discouraged by yet another disappointing experience with my mini bundt pan, but I have to admit, this isn't amongst my favorites from the book. I found the texture to be a little off which I suspect may be due to lowering the baking temperature. I also did not have time to make the glaze for it as we were out all day so I would like to try the recipe one more time before I make a final decision.

Be sure to check out what the other Sweet Melissa Bakers thought of the recipe. You can find the recipe on Melissa's blog.

And here are some pictures from the gardens we visited this afternoon. They are a little more pleasing to the eye than my cake!

I love this orange lilly- the flower was so interesting!

And some beautiful yellow daisies- my favorite color!

Eggplant Rolatini

Did you ever have one of those recipes that you really, really wanted to try, but you weren't sure if it was ever going to happen? My husband and I used to like to get take-out from this Italian restaurant we lived close to. They had a dish called eggplant rollatini that I absolutely loved and its the only place I have ever seen it. It is basically eggplant that has been sliced lengthwise, breaded and fried, and then rolled up with a ricotta and spinach filling. We moved two years ago, and although we are still relatively close, not close enough to go back for take-out. So I decided to try to make the dish myself.

I had made the creamy pesto that Tracey of Tracey's Culinary Adventure had posted on her blog a couple weeks ago and I had quite a bit of leftover ricotta so I thought it was the perfect time to try the recipe out. I bought an eggplant at the store on Sunday and as I was putting it away I noticed two small holes in it. I thought I could just cut around it, but to my dismay, when I began to slice it on Monday evening, the entire thing was wormed through and there was a very hungry caterpillar inside (I kid you not- it looked exactly like the very hungry caterpillar). So Tuesday afternoon after I left work and picked up my girls from daycare, I made my way over to the local produce shop figuring it was easier to go there than the grocery store. No eggplant. So I headed over to the butcher shop next door because they have a produce section as well. No eggplant. There was no way I was driving all the way to the grocery store, and navigating the parking lot and store aisles in four inch heels and two kids in tow so I resigned myself to the fact I was going to have to wait ONE more day.

The next day at work, my mom said she was running out to the store and asked me if I needed anything (yes, I work with my mom- how lucky am I!). I jumped at the chance and she picked up a beautiful eggplant for me. When I got home, I quickly sliced it down and threw it on the grill. The original dish has breaded eggplant, but I was trying to make a healthier version and the idea of grilled eggplant sounded appealing anyway. I had already mixed up the filling so once the eggplant finished cooking, I filled them, popped them in the oven with a little sauce, and about 45 minutes later I had my eggplant rollatini!

They were delicious. I loved the filling and I think I actually liked the dish better with the grilled eggplant. This recipe was super easy to make and tastes wonderful. I'll definitely be making it again!

Eggplant Rollatini

1 Medium Eggplant Sliced Lengthwise (about 1/4 inch thick)

15 oz. Ricotta Cheese (I used part skim)

8 oz. Fresh Mozzarella

1/4 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

1 Egg

1/2 Package Frozen Spinach

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Sauce

Slice the eggplant lengthwise and baste with olive oil before grilling. Grill on each side for about five minutes. The eggplant should be tender and easily rolled but not falling apart.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grate half of the fresh mozerrella and combine with the ricotta, egg, spinach, parmesan, salt, and pepper. Slice the rest of the mozerrella (about ten slices)

Take the first slice of eggplant and spoon about 1/4 cup of the filling onto the center of the slice. Roll the slice up. Repeat with the remaining slices.

Spoon a small amount of the sauce into a 9x13 baking dish and put rolled up eggplant pieces into the dish. Spoon a little more sauce over the top of the eggplant. Bake for about 30 minutes or until you notice the sauce beginning to bubble along the edges. Place the mozerrella slices over the eggplant and bake for another ten minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest for about five minutes before serving.

A medium eggplant yielded about ten eggplant slices. The total recipe yielded about five servings with two rolls per serving.