Spinach- Basil Pasta Dough

This pasta dough has become a staple in our house.  To keep it simple, after rolling it out, I hand cut the dough and dry it on a clothes drying rack.  When fully dry, I store the pasta in the fridge until I’m ready to top it with tomato sauce.

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Hurricanes for the Hurricane Party

In anticipation of Hurricane Irene smashing into Virginia Beach, we took in some refugees and invited some friends over to make the best of it.  Every good hurricane party serves Hurricanes!

Hurricane Cocktail

12 oz light rum

12 oz spiced rum

10 oz Rose's lime juice

10 oz grenadine

10 oz orange juice

Combine all ingredients in a large pitcher.  Serve over ice with a slice of orange.

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Birthday Whatchamacallits

Forrest requested homemade dark chocolate Whatchamacallits for his birthday.  A surprisingly simple combination of recipes, when I put all three together, they created what I like to call "Whatchamauglies" because they were not pretty!  While I wasn't a fan of the flavor of the bar, Forrest swears they taste just like the original, but with decadent dark chocolate.  He did concede that the recipe would be better with milk chocolate.  The peanut butter crispies were fantastic!


Birthday Whatchamacallits

Peanut Butter Crispies

1 cup organic sugar
1 cup organic brown rice syrup

1 3/4 cups smooth organic peanut butter
3 cups crispy brown rice cereal- Whole Foods makes an inexpensive organic version

Bring sugar and syrup to a full boil over medium- high heat. Boil for 1 minute.  Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter. Pour over crispy rice. Spread evenly on a sheet of parchment paper.  Cover with another sheet of parchment paper.  Using a rolling pin, flatten mixture to about 1 inch height.  Cool completely.

Dark Chocolate Ganache

Adapted from Dame Good Eats

2 12oz bag (about 3 cups) organic dark chocolate chips
1/2 tablespoon organic shortening

Over a double broiler, melt the chocolate chips and shortening, stirring constantly, until smooth.

Caramel Sauce

Adapted from BH&G New Cook Book

1/2 cup packed organic brown sugar

1 tbsp organic cornstarch

1/4 cup water

1/3 cup organic half and half

2 tbsp organic brown rice syrup

1 tbsp organic butter

1/2 tsp organic vanilla

In a small saucepan, combine brown sugar and cornstarch.  Stir in water, half and half, syrup, and butter.  Cook and stir over medium heat until bubbly.  Cook and stir 2 minutes more.  Remove from heat, stir in vanilla. 

Assembling the candy bars

Cut crispies into candy bar sized pieces.  I used a sharp pizza roller and a ruler, which worked perfectly.  Place bars onto a cooling rack with parchment below the rack.  Spread caramel over the top of each bar.  Coat bar with chocolate.  We decided the chocolate was so strong that halfway through the recipe, I only frosted the tops of the bars with chocolate.  Allow to set, enjoy!

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Garden Fresh Sunflower Sprout and Orange Pepper Salad

Tonight's was another random tasty dinner made with what we had on hand from the garden.  This salad was not only delicious, it was beautiful too.

Garden fresh orange peppers, sliced into strips
Fresh carrots, peeled and sliced into strips
Garden fresh sunflower sprouts
Garden fresh herbs- rosemary, sage, thyme, basil, and oregano
Crumbled Goat Cheese (I recently found organic at BJ's!)
EVOO

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and toss well.  Serve in a pretty bowl. 

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Herbed Olive Oil

We mow through quite a bit of olive oil and fresh herbs around here, whether it's dressing a salad, drizzled on veggies, or topping a roasting chicken.   So I figured we could really use a bottle of Herbed Olive Oil.

Herbed Olive Oil

1/2 cup each- fresh parsley & basil
1/4 cup rosemary needles
2 cups olive oil
3 branches rosemary

Shred herbs in a blender or food processor, slowly drizzling in olive oil.  Blend until smooth. 

Place rosemary branches in a clean bottle.  Pour herbed olive oil mixture into bottle. 

Use as desired!

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Sweet Potato Corn Bread

Y’all know how much I love to bake.  Quick breads are the baker’s savior.  You can whip them up quickly (duh!)  without having to wait for the yeast to activate, dough to rise, etc.  And, if you have a well stocked pantry, you’ll have most of the ingredients on hand. 

I made the mistake of over mixing the batter and ended up with a dense and doughy bread.  I can't complain too much, since Forrest thought this was so good he opted to have a third piece as dessert.

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Black-Eyed Pea and Quinoa Patties

I went through the pantry yesterday and made a list of all the “bulk” items that we had hoarded stored.  The list was LONG.  There are only 2 of us, why do we need 16 different kinds of grains and 11 varieties of beans?! 

So, I ventured into the blogosphere and founds this recipe for Black-Eyed Pea and Quinoa Croquettes.  I adapted the recipe to suit our tastes and came up with a delicious and healthy dinner! 

The patties were a little dry, so I served it with homemade tomato sauce.  Served next to a spinach salad and a piece of Sweet Potato Cornbread, this meal was complete!

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Peach Tart

I stumbled upon fresh organic peaches at BJ’s and just knew that I had to make something yummy with them.  I’m not a big cobbler fan, so I thought a tart would be the perfect dessert.  Although my first attempt at making a free form tart wasn’t exactly neat, it was delicious.  I topped the warm slices with Honey Vanilla Ice Cream and we were licking our plates clean.

Peach Tart
Adapted from BHG
 
Rich Tart Pastry, recipe follows
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups sliced, peeled peaches (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tbsp milk
Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling
Fresh nutmeg, for grating

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare pastry; set aside. Line a baking sheet with parchment; sprinkle lightly with flour. Roll pastry to 13-inch circle on prepared baking sheet.
In a large bowl, stir together sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Add peaches and lemon juice; toss gently until coated. Mound peach mixture in center of pastry, leaving a 2-inch border. Fold border up over peaches. Lightly brush top and sides of the crust with milk. Sprinkle edge of tart with turbinado sugar, lightly grate fresh nutmeg on top. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until crust is golden and filling is bubbly.
 
Rich Tart Pastry
Adapted from Williams Sonoma Essentials of Baking
 
6 1/2 oz all purpose flour
2 oz powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter cut into pieces, kept very cold
2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 tsp almond extract

Combine flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the dough blade. Pulse a few times to mix. Drop in butter pieces, one at time, pulsing until mixture forms pea size balls.
In a small bowl, lightly beat egg yolks, stir in heavy cream and almond extract. Slowly drizzle the egg mixture into the food processor and pulse until it just starts to form a ball.
On a work surface, shape the dough into a six inch disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 45 min.

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Honey Vanilla Ice Cream

This ice cream is the perfect topping for fruit desserts.

Honey Vanilla Ice Cream
Adapted from The Idiot’s Guide to Homemade Ice Cream

1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup whole milk
3/4 cup honey
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 cups half and half
1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Combine cornstarch and milk in a double boiler, cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture forms a smooth paste.  Set aside to cool.

Combine honey, cream, half and half, and vanilla.  Add cooled cornstarch mixture and chill in refrigerator. 

Place cold mixture into ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions.

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