Make This!!!

I found this recipe in the current issue of Kraft’s Food & Family Magazine. It is a winner! These bar cookies are perfect for a party or potluck and keep well for several days, if they last that long!

Gingerbread Caramel Bars
Serves: 36 bars

1pkg.  (2-layer size) spice cake mix

2tsp.  ground ginger

1/2cup  butter, melted

1 egg

35 KRAFT Caramels

1 can  (5 oz.) evaporated milk

1 pkg.  (4 oz.) BAKER’S White Chocolate, coarsely chopped, divided

 

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Line a 13×9-inch pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides; spray with cooking spray.  Beat cake mix, ginger, butter and egg with mixer until blended.  (Dough will be stiff.)  Press 2/3 of the dough onto bottom of prepared pan.

Bake for 10 to 12 min. or until lightly browned.  Meanwhile, microwave caramels and milk in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 3 to 3-1/2 min. or until caramels are completely melted and sauce is well blended, stirring after each minute.

Drizzle caramel sauce over baked layer in pan. Reserve 2 Tbsp. chopped chocolate; sprinkle remaining over caramel sauce. Crumble remaining gingerbread dough over dessert. Bake 25 to 30 min. or until center is almost set. Cool completely.

Microwave reserved chocolate in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 30 sec. to 1 min. or until completely melted, stirring every 30 sec.; drizzle over dessert.  Let stand until chocolate is firm.  Use foil handles to lift dessert from pan before cutting into bars.

Note: I will leave the white chocolate out next time and just keep it as a drizzle. I felt the taste of the chocolate competed with the caramel.
Update! I made these again last night and substituted pumpkin pie spice for the ginger. Wow! It made the cake so much spicier.☺

Make This!!!

Chili with Smoked Brisket

 

 

Omid smoked another brisket for our family this past week. When it was cool enough to slice, I made sure he saved me enough meat so I could make my tasty chili. 

The secret to this delicious recipe is of course, the brisket; but also the spice mix from a box of Carroll Shelby's Chili Kit.  This is a tip I gleaned from my friend Kris C. It has the perfect amount of cumin & chili powder. I don't use the salt, cayenne or masa mix - just the large bag of spices.

 

Here's my yummy recipe in case you want to try it out yourself.

 

Best Ever Brisket Chili

 

4+ cups of smoked brisket, cubed

1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 15 oz. can tomato sauce

1 15 oz. can kidney or black beans, rinsed & drained

1 onion, diced & sautéed

1 4 oz. can roasted & diced green chiles

1 package Carroll Shelby's chili spice mix

8 oz water (more if you like your chili soupy - we like it thick)

 

Saute onion in butter or olive oil until translucent. Place all ingredients in a crock pot and simmer on high for 5 hours, reduce to low for one hour.  Serve with sour cream, green onions & corn bread. Enjoy!

**For a heartier, more rib sticking chili: serve over cooked macaroni noodles.

 



Make This!!

 

Easy Chicken, Turkey or Tuna Turnovers

 

 

Basically, whatever leftover meat you need to use up, stick it in these easy and yummy turnovers. I used one cup of cubed turkey, as that is what I had on hand after making an early Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday evening.

Easy Turnovers
1 cup cooked tuna, chicken or turkey
1 cup shredded cheese
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
mayonnaise to moisten (about 1/4 cup)
salt & pepper
1 recipe biscuit dough

Preheat oven to 400*. Roll out prepared biscuit dough 1/4" thick and cut into 4 inch rounds or squares. Place about 2 1/2 T of filling on each. Fold over and seal. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Brush tops with melted butter. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
*I sprinked the tops of my turnovers with shredded parmesan cheese.

Dinner with Friends at Le Pigeon!

This past Saturday, our good friend Katie visited from Spokane. Lin, Tammie & I decided a few weeks ago that Katie's visit called for a trip to a 'fawncy' restaurant. Lin suggested Le Pigeon, we made the reservation and started our "countdown to Katie!"

 

Le Pigeon has been ranked the #1 restaurant in Portland for the past few years. The executive chef, Gabriel Rucker is a two time James Beard award winner. When I called to make the reservations six weeks ago, there were only two slots left for November 2nd. A 5:15 p.m. slot or a 10:00 p.m. slot. If you want to go, make your reservations early!!

 

 

Fun fact: Katie and I have been friends for 17 years!

I love these ladies!!♥

Once we arrived at Le Pigeon, I was surprised at how tiny it is. The restaurant fits about 45-50 diners, maybe. Tables are 'family style,' so you will sit with strangers. It's also a bit noisy inside. This is not the place if you want a quiet, romantic dinner for two. It is, however, out of this world delicious!!!

We all agreed to order the five course tasting menu. It was the best way to taste many things on the menu. One note: in order to try the tasting menu, everyone in your party must order it.

Our first course was deep fried rock shrimp with pickled mango, green onion and a tarragon greed goddess dressing. The dressing was the star of this course. So tangy.

First course

The second course was a pan fried sea bass, served with turnips and mushrooms.

Second course

The third course was Wagyu beef, pan fried foie gras and deep fried shallots. This was the first time I had ever tried foie gras. It was out of this world delicious!  The foie gras was the best part of this course.

 

Third course
 

The fourth course was venison with a bone marrow pumpkin pie and brussel sprout cole slaw. The bone marrow pumpkin pie was my favorite part of the fourth course. Sweet & savory.

Fourth course

At this point, we were so incredibly full, but there was one course left: dessert! Dessert was a cream puff filled with foie gras ice cream and served with salted caramel sauce. We also had a pumpkin pots du crème. It was 3/4 filled with the pumpkin mousse, 1/4 filled with whipping cream and topped with a crumbled gingersnap cookie. I wish I had one right now in front of me. It was just delectable.

Fifth course

After we thought we couldn't stuff another bite into our mouths, the waitress brought us camembert cheese filled chocolates. They were surprisingly good.

Our dinner took three hours from start to finish. Katie and I got the wine pairings with our dinner. I am so glad we did. I didn't recognize any of the wines on the menu at Le Pigeon (many being French). All of the wines were delicious.

Stuffed, happy mamas!

If you get a chance to dine at Le Pigeon, DO! It was a lot of fun and the food was amazing!

Netflix This!!

The Odd Life of Timothy Green

 

Such a darling movie! The boy who plays Timothy is adorable and the storyline is so sweet. It is family friendly too! Trust me: you WILL need tissues at the end of this movie.

Swoosh!

By 'swoosh', I mean NIKE!

 

We were lucky enough to be one of the 2000 WSU Cougar alumni to get a shopping pass to the Nike Employee Store yesterday. Once a year, Nike, invites WSU alumni to it's store. You have to respond within minutes via email. Yes, the passes go that fast! Last year, I was too slow and didn't get a pass. This year, I saw the email and responded within 60 seconds. We got the much coveted pass! That was on October 2nd. We had to wait until the 27th at 5:30 p.m. for our slot. Why are people so crazy to get a pass to the NES? Most of the shoes/merchandise is so new, they are only available at the NES!

 

After reading reviews on Yelp, Matty & I convinced Omid we needed to get to the store at 4:00 p.m. to stand in line. We got there at 4:00 p.m., but there was no line. It was such a beautiful day, we decided to walk around for a bit.

Killing time!

We were gone for 45 minutes and what do you know? A line had formed!! Instead of being first in line, we were now 90, 91 & 92 (Matty counted!).  It's a good thing we were only gone for 45 minutes! There are no photos allowed in the store, but Matty did capture this cute photo at the entrance for me.

GO COUGS!

We had a definite plan going in to the store. Another helpful tip I picked up via Yelp. That was great advice!  Matty & Omid ran back to men's shoes, I ran to WSU athletic gear. I got in, grabbed what I needed, and met the boys over in shoes. By the time I caught up with them, Matty's shopping cart was full of shoes and so was Omid's. We then went through the carts, decided which items to keep and headed to the checkout.  We spent exactly 45 minutes in the store and came out with 20 items, several of them gifts.

After dinner, we stopped at Benihana Japanese Steakhouse. This was our first time there. Here's a tip: you need a reservation! We didn't have one. As luck would have it, a party of three was a no show, so we got their seats; and only had to wait five minutes!☺ I didn't take any photos of the chef, but he was very entertaining and we had a great time. The food is delicious too!

Waiting for our food!

All in all, a great Sunday!☺
 

Make This!!!

It’s pumpkin season! Yay! My friend and fellow baker, Laurel, passed this recipe on to me via the Pinch of Yum blog. I believe this recipe is the best I have ever tasted for pumpkin muffins! The secret? The glaze! Just the right amount of maple & butter. Bake these muffins! They are over-the-top delicious!

Healthy Maple Glazed Pumpkin Muffins
Recipe Yield: about 18 medium sized muffins
Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1½ cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon each cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 cups pumpkin puree
½ cup olive oil
¼ cup real maple syrup
3 tablespoons milk
3 eggs

Glaze:
2 tablespoons butter
1¼ cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoons vanilla
1 tbs. maple syrup
1-2 tablespoons water

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Mix the dry ingredients (flours, baking soda, baking powder, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and sugar). In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients (pumpkin, oil, maple syrup, milk, and eggs).

Combine the dry and wet ingredients in a large mixing bowl, stirring until just combined. Fill each muffin tin almost to the top with a scoop of batter.
Bake for 20 minutes or until tops are puffy and spring back when you press them. Remove from the muffin pan and let cool before glazing.

For the glaze, melt butter in saucepan. Add powdered sugar and vanilla – it will be thick and sticky. Stir in maple syrup. Add water until desired consistency is reached. Dip the crowns of the muffins in the glaze and let dry on a wire cooling tray.

 **NOTE: I substituted coconut oil for the olive oil. If you do this, make sure to have your eggs at room temperature so the coconut oil doesn’t solidify in your batter. I also used Mrs. Butterworth’s brand of maple syrup as that is what I had on hand at home. It worked great and the glaze was still full of maple flavor.

Beautiful Brisket!

 

 

 

Mmmmmm, brisket.
I love the photo on the right! The bark is my favorite part.☺

There is never any shortage of meat at our house. We love it roasted, grilled and smoked! On Sunday, Omid was craving a brisket. He picked up a 17 pound Angus brisket at Cash & Carry. Why not Costco? Because Costco only sells center cut brisket & trims off all the fat. Not so good when the meat has to smoke for 16-18 hours!

Omid smoked this particular brisket for 18 hours. It was finished at 8:00 a.m. Monday morning. I sliced off a few sample pieces to share with a work buddy. She pronounced it delicious!☺

The best part of Omid smoking a brisket this size? Dinner is set for the week! On Monday we had brisket wrap sandwiches (tortilla with Boursin cheese, brisket & avocadoes), last night we had brisket with these yummy potatoes, and tonight we are having brisket chili. I can't wait to taste it! Tomorrow, we will probably have pulled brisket sandwiches (smothered in bbq sauce). The possibilities are endless when brisket is on the menu.

If you haven't purchased a Traeger smoker yet, DO! Costco is now carrying them and they are really the best way to smoke meat (poultry, pork, etc).

Fun with Friends!

Isn't nice when colleagues are also friends? Omid's colleague, Daniel, visited from Germany last week. He was kind enough to spend his entire weekend with us. What a time we had too!☺

 

Look at this photo of Remy & Daniel. Daniel brought gifts for all of us (too kind!), even Remy!

 Remy was so appreciative, he snuggled with Daniel for hours. This is true!!

 

Daniel has made it known to Omid that he doesn't care for fish & won't eat it.  Omid wanted Daniel to at least try a 'bite' of the salmon that he caught & smoked - just to see if it would change Daniel's mind. We had to get a photo to prove that Daniel actually ate the fish!

Daniel tries smoked salmon!

 

These two both have single malt collections.
Here they are doing a tasting. I'll stick to wine tasting, thank you very much!

 Omid's other friend & coworker, Cheryl was visiting all week from Singapore as well. Cheryl extended her stay in town, just so she could have dinner with us & spend the night at our home.

Fun fact: When we visited Cheryl in Singapore, she took us out for the best black pepper crab!

 

These two are such good sports!
Why? Well, we may have made them watch college football all day long.
GO COUGS!!!

 

Cheryl left early Sunday morning, but Daniel came back for dinner on Sunday night too. Omid took him to Costco (our favorite store!). They found this wine. It's a Costco best buy, people! Look for it. Not only is it affordably priced, it's also delicious!

 

Our week with Daniel concluded on Tuesday night. The HP team (& significant others!)  took him out for a farewell dinner at the new Harvest restaurant in Camas. Our group stayed way past closing time and the restaurant staff was very kind about it.  

 

 

Such a fun night!

 

 

Daniel: don't wait too long until your next visit!

We hope you had a great time visiting us in Washington.

Make This!!

 

 

Gingerbread Muffins!

 

 

Fall has officially arrived here in SW Washington. It hit us with a bang: wind, rain, and just plain cold.  It seemed more like early November weather than the beginning of fall. I already miss the gorgeous summer weather we had. Today's weather definitely called for something sweet & comforting like gingerbread.☺

The recipe I used was found on the Foodie Bride blog. Everything I have ever made from her blog is excellent! These muffins were more cake like than heavy & bready. They were simply divine. I am already planning to bake another batch on Wednesday. Instead of boring cupcake liners, I tried making liners out of parchment paper and I think they upped the cuteness factor by a lot.☺

Gingerbread Muffins by Confessions of a Foodie Bride

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 Tbsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

2 large eggs

3/4 cup molasses (I used Mother's brand)

3/4 cup fat-free Greek yogurt (I used full fat!)

Coarse sugar for garnish

 

Preheat oven to 375.

Line a muffin pan with paper liners or spray with non-stick spray.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
Cream the butter with brown sugar until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time until mixed well.  Add the molasses and mix until well blended. Add half of the dry ingredients, mixing on low until just incorporated and add the yogurt. Mix until the yogurt is well distributed and add the remaining dry ingredients. Mix on low only until the flour just disappears. Scoop into the prepared muffin pan and sprinkle coarse sugar over the tops of the muffin batter. Bake 5 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 350. Bake another ~15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool 5 minutes in the pan and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for 3-5 days. This batter makes about 15 muffins. Do not overfill the muffin liners, or the gingerbread will come out flat & sloppy looking.

Make This!!

Wafeltjes

aka: Belgian Waffle Cookies!

 I found this recipe on the blog, Jillian in Italy (via Pinterest). These cookies looked so delicious, I had to make them. Will I make them again? Probably not. They were extremely time consuming, since the batter made a lot and I didn't have the foresight to only make half a recipe. I ended up giving half the cookies away and we still had tons leftover. These cookies also have 3+ cubes of butter in them (yes, THREE!) and six eggs. Not the healthiest. :/

 

 Whip up half the recipe (trust me on this: only make half a recipe, unless you are feeding a crowd), heat up your waffle iron, cook, then eat!

Since this recipe is in grams, I used my handy kitchen scale & weighed the ingredients in grams. If you don't have a kitchen scale, you can type the grams into this website and it will convert the recipe into cups for you.

Wafeltjes by Jillian in Italy
500g pastry flour ( I used a 50/50 mix of cake flour & all purpose flour)
400g butter
300g sugar
6 eggs
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 vanilla bean (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
pinch of salt
1. Gently melt the butter (make sure it doesn’t color).
2. In the bowl of your mixer put in the flour and sugar.  Add the baking powder, salt  and the scraped out seeds of the vanilla bean (or the tsp of vanilla extract).
3. Mix on medium low speed and slowly add the eggs one at a time.  Let mix for one minute then slowly pour in melted butter.
4. Cover bowl and put in fridge for at least one hour.
5. After letting the dough sit in fridge heat up waffle iron.  Make small balls of dough and drop onto waffle iron. My batter was still slightly fluid like regular waffle batter & I was not able to make balls of dough.
6.Let bake until golden brown and remove from iron with wooden skewer onto a cooling rack.  Store in covered container.  Makes: a lot!

Make This!!

Persian Rose Water & Cantaloupe Smoothie!

 

 This is one of my favorite Persian drink recipes.

So cool, refreshing & sweet.

We currently have an overabundance of Costco cantaloupes in our house this week. I love cantaloupe, but felt I could not eat another cube without feeling sick. I am always up for a smoothie and decided to drink my cantaloupe this morning. So glad I did! 

 

Here's the recipe for one large or two small drinks.

 3 cups cubed & well chilled cantaloupe + 1/3 cup cold water.

 Add one capful of rose water and a handful of ice cubes.

Blend until smooth & voila!

You have Persian paloodeh talebi
(aka: cantaloupe smoothie).

 

 

Netflix This!!

 

Parental Guidance!!

 

I laughed my way through this movie. So funny, and so very cute! Billy Crystal is his usual hysterical self and there are some other funny characters as well. Be warned: the youngest of the grandchildren is a scene stealer & almost as funny as Billy Crystal. Netflix this movie!

Make This!!

 

Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches!

 

I love a good ice cream sandwich, but are full of processed ingredients I can no longer eat. Enter the King Arthur Flour blog with the perfect solution: easy homemade ice cream sandwiches.

I already had the ice cream, so I whipped up a batch of the chocolate cookies (15 mins from start to finish). I am not a chocolate fan at all, but these cookies were good. Matty & I nibbled on the extras with a cold glass of milk. The hardest part was waiting for the cookies to firm up after filling them with ice cream.☺

Make these! They are soooo tasty! Click this link to visit the KAF blog and find the recipe. They have many helpful step by step photos.

Make This!!!

Creamy Spaghetti Carbonara

 

 

This recipe for spaghetti carbonara is a favorite in our house any time of the year. It comes together in no time and since everyone in our family likes it: no leftovers!

We usually have this dish the exact way the recipe is written, but sometimes I add a pound of sautéed razor clams to mix it up a bit & to add some protein.

Make this dish for your family – they are sure to love it!

Creamy Spaghetti Carbonara adapted slightly from Food & Wine

1 pound bucatini or perciatelli pasta (found at New Seasons Market). You can also use plain spaghetti noodles.
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 Tbs olive oil
6 oz pancetta, cut into 1/8″ cubes
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
pinch of nutmeg
freshly ground pepper
zest of one lemon
1 cup chopped Italian parsley

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the pasta until just al dente. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water.

In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks & cream. In a large, deep skillet, heat the oil. Add the pancetta and cook over medium high heat, stirring until crisp. Add the garlic & cook until golden, about one minute.

Add the pasta to the skillet. Cook over low heat, tossing until coated. Slowly add the reserved pasta cooking water & beaten egg yolks. Toss until coated with the creamy sauce, about one minute.

Add the one cup of parmesan and nutmeg. Season with pepper. Add the lemon zest & fresh cut Italian parsley. Transfer to bowls and serve, adding extra parmesan to top it all off.

NOTE: If using razor clams, reserve 1/2 cup clam juice to use instead of the pasta cooking water to make the creamy sauce.