Cooking With Carey

Cheese of the month-Gorgonzola

2009-07-31T08:23:00.000-07:00

This months Cheese of the month was Gorgonzola. My husband really likes cheeses, so I sent him on a hunt for a recipe. He came up with Steak Carrera with Gorgonzola Sauce. The recipe is from Robert Irvine from Food Network. I didnt have the 2 spices he used, so I substituted garlic powder, pepper and salt. It turned out wonderful!! We both really enjoyed it.
RECIPE
Beef:

* 1 1/2 to 2 pound beef shoulder
* 2 tablespoons Irvine Spices Smokey Rotisserie Seasoning
* 2 tablespoons Irvine Spices Garlic Pepper
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 1 onion, diced
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
Sauce:

* 1 cup water
* 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
* 1/4 cup instant flour (recommended: Wondra)
* 4 ounces Gorgonzola, cut into small cubes
* Pepper and salt, if needed

Directions

Rinse beef shoulder to remove any residue, pat dry with paper towels and place on a utility platter. In a small bowl, make the rub for the beef by combining Smokey Rotisserie Seasoning and Garlic Pepper. Rub the seasonings into all surfaces of the beef, cover with a sheet of plastic wrap and set aside for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours at room temperature. (The seasonings will actually begin to "cure" the meat.)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

In an oven proof skillet heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over high heat, add onion and garlic and cook until they begin to soften. Add beef and sear it on all sides. Cover pan (with lid or foil) and transfer to oven to finish beef, bringing to an internal temperature of 115 degrees F for medium rare (about 30 minutes). Remove from oven, transfer to a utility platter, and let rest for 10 minutes. (Make the sauce as directed below while the beef is resting.)

For the sauce: To the pan in which the beef was roasting (use an oven mitt on the hot handle), add 1 cup water and balsamic vinegar over medium high heat and whisk in instant flour. Allow to cook for about 5 minutes to "cook out" the flour. Strain into a bowl and whisk in gorgonzola cheese, allowing it to melt. Season with pepper, to taste, and salt only if needed (as the cheese will lend saltiness).

Memas Salsa

2009-07-28T20:15:00.000-07:00

This is a great recipe that my grandma used to make. I never knew how to make it until my aunts church put together a cookbook and my aunt added it. The recipe makes quite a bit of salsa. It also uses quite a few peppers

1 gallon canned whole tomatoes, peeled
1 chopped onion
4 large garlic cloves
1 handful cilantro
4-5 jalapeno peppers (I only use 1)
1 lime
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp pepper and salt

In a blender (on grind) add drained tomatoes. Pulse blender. Add chopped onions, garlic and peppers. Squeeze in lime juice. Add brown sugar, salt and pepper. I then pulse again. Let sit 2-3 hrs; keep refrigerated. Stir occasionally.

Without Meat Wednesdays

2009-07-28T20:10:00.000-07:00

On Wednesdays I am going to talk about a recipe that is vegetarian, so I am calling it Without Meat Wednesdays. This week I made a mushroom pizza. It was inspired by a portobello mushroom dinner that my husband and I enjoy. The dinner is a portobello mushroom that marinates in balsamic vinegar and oil. Then you grill it, add tomatoes, cheese and serve on toast. So for this pizza I made a homemade crust and added mushrooms and cheese (I forgot and we were out of tomatoes) It turned out pretty good, but would have been better with the tomatoes.

TWD-Vanilla Ice Cream

2009-07-28T19:38:00.000-07:00

This weeks recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie was Vanilla ice cream. I love homemade ice cream, so I had to make this. It is a very custardy ice cream. I will be trying this recipe again and adding some other flavors to it. I am really looking forward to the mint chocolate chip.
I did have some issues with this ice cream, but I think it was my ice cream maker. It has been having issues lately and it took about 6 hrs after I took the ice cream out for it to be a consistancy for me to scoop it.

I would like to thank Lynne of Cafe LynnyLu for choosing this recipe. Please check out the TWD blogroll to see what others did with this recipe

Ideas to use and preserve your summer produce bounty

2009-07-28T05:57:00.000-07:00

I was just reading this blog post that Amanda made about preserving your summer veggies. I dont have a lot out of my garden this year...it was our first try at it and I am only growing things in pots. I will be doing it larger scale next year since I have had luck. This is a great post (and even includes a video of her mom demonstrating)
We tend to get a lot of produce at the farmers market, so i will have to try out this with some of them. I am also planning on lactofermenting some cucumbers and cabbage.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

2009-07-27T15:01:00.000-07:00

My kids love chocolate chip muffins and for some strange reason I kept buying a mix that made them. I knew there had to be an easy way to make them myself. I saw a recipe at Recipezaar.com and knew I had to try them. These were WONDERFUL and very easy to make. My picky son even commented on how they were better than the box mix. I did not use the nuts because Emma is allergic and I only had half a bag of chocolate chips, but they were still very full of chocolate chips

Chocolate Chip Muffins
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/3 cup light-brown sugar, packed
* 1/3 cup sugar
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2/3 cup milk
* 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
* 2 eggs, lightly beaten
* 1 teaspoon vanilla

* 1 (11 1/2 ounce) package milk chocolate chips
* 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped
directions
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Grease twelve muffin cups.
In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugars, baking powder, and salt.
In another bowl, stir together milk, eggs, butter, and vanilla until blended.
Make a well in center of dry ingredients.
Add milk mixture and stir just to combine.
Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.
Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
Now bake for 15-20 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in center of one muffin comes out clean.
Remove muffin tin to wire rack.
Cool for 5 minutes.
Remove from tins to finish cooling.
Serve warm or completely cool.
These muffins freeze well.

The Daring Bakers-Milan cookies

2009-07-27T14:43:00.000-07:00

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

I chose to make the milan cookies because those are my favorite cookies EVER!!! I actually had a little trouble with my recipe. They REALLY spread when they were cooking which made them HUGE. They still taste good, but were not near the texture that I am used to with the store bought kind. They had way more of a lemony taste than the store bought ones too, so I think I will only do half the lemon extract when I try them again

Milan Cookies
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website
Prep Time: 20 min
Inactive Prep Time: 0 min
Cook Time: 1 hr 0 min
Serves: about 3 dozen cookies
• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups (312.5 grams/ 11.02 oz) powdered sugar
• 7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons lemon extract
• 1 1/2 cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) all purpose flour
• Cookie filling, recipe follows

Cookie filling:
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 orange, zested

1. In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar.
2. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
3. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.
4. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.
5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.
6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream.
7. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well.
8. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).
9. Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top.
10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.

Rebuild from depression give away

2009-07-25T13:29:00.000-07:00

Amanda Rose is a mom who suffered with postpartum depression with her first child. She then went on to learn from her experience and write a book about how your diet can affect you. In her book Rebuild from Depression, her website and her blog she discusses how important your diet can be. Please check out her web info and buy the book to learn what you can to help yourself and other women in your life.
This week she is having a give away on her blog with some of the things that can improve your diet. She is giving away one jumbo pack of Omega 3s, B vitamins, and magnesium and one for a desiccated liver product. You can check her blog here to see what you have to do to enter.

Throwback Thursday-TWD-Katherine Hepburn Brownies

2009-07-23T15:24:00.000-07:00

On Thursdays I am going to do a feature called Throwback Thursdays. It will be baking/cooking challenges that I was unable to do at the assigned time, so now I am doing them. This recipe, Tribute to Katherine Hepburn Brownies, was from Tuesdays with Dorie

This was an ok recipe. I dont know if it was because I made some substitutions or just the recipe. It turned out really gooey on the inside. The taste was good. I liked the chocolate with the coffee flavor. I had to leave out the cup of nuts because we have an allergy in the house. I dont know if this helped it become gooey or not.

I would like to thank Lisa of Surviving Oz for choosing this recipe. You can check the TWD blogroll to see what others did with this recipe

TWD-Blueberry Banc-Manger

2009-07-21T17:23:00.000-07:00

This weeks recipe was Raspberry Blanc-Manger with the option to have the sauce-Raspberry Coulis. I couldnt use the raspberries because our grocery store was out when I went, so I went with blueberries instead.
I was a little worried about this recipe for 2 reasons-I had never worked with gelatin before, and I had to find a substitute for the ground almonds because my daughter is allergic. The gelatin happened to be very easy to use in this recipe. However the substituting for the almonds was not as easy. I tried to think of what the ground almonds are used for...was it as a binder or for flavor? First I tried flour to see if it would be best as a binder. This did not work. The flour clumped up too much. So I tried to think of something that would be the same texture as ground almonds to replace it. The only thing I had was wheat germ. It seemed to work ok.
This was not one of my favorite recipes from TWD, but it was ok. I would like to thank Susan from Sticky Gooey Creamy Chewy for choosing this recipe. You can also check out the TWD blogroll to see what others did with this recipe.

If you cant take the heat....

2009-06-26T18:02:00.001-07:00

You know the phrase....you need to stay out of the kitchen. Well that is my least favorite part of summer. This is the blog assignment for the week at The Dressing Room.
In the winter I can spend the whole day in the kitchen baking. However, in the summer I hate cooking because it heats up the kitchen so much. I can barely stand to have the oven on for more than 30 minutes. That greatly reduces the things that you can bake. I love to make fresh bread....but that is out of the question because it breaks the over 30 minutes in the oven rule. I cant wait until fall when I can do some daily (or sometimes more) baking

My favorite part of Summer!!!

2009-06-26T17:57:00.001-07:00

A online group that Im part of, The Dressing Room, has a weekly assignment for our blogs. Last week it was discussing your favorite part of summer. Because we were on vacation, Im a little late but needed to post anyway.
My favorite part of summer is FARMERS MARKETS!!! I love going and getting fresh vegetables from the farmers themselves. They are always fresh because they are local. They are usually always at a very reasonable price too!!!

blog update

2009-06-17T10:07:00.000-07:00

sorry I have not been posting much lately. We have been having issues with our oven, so I havent been able to bake anything. I need to have this handy repair man come visit. We are going on vacation this week so when we get back I am going to be making up for those recipes that I have missed doing

TWD: Fresh Mango Bread

2009-05-19T19:47:00.000-07:00

Its in the oven right now...I will post pics tomorrow morning when we eat it

Thanks to Kelly of Baking with the Boys for choosing this recipe, which you can find on her blog. Also, check out the blogroll to see what the others did with this recipe

Daring Baker's Challenge: Cheesecake

2009-04-27T17:43:00.000-07:00

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

I have never made cheesecake before, so I was excited to get the opportunity to try it. Jenny gave us the option of making some creative flavors of cheesecake, but because this is my first attempt, I decided not to do anything fancy and just make a plain cheesecake. Before serving I added some chocolate sauce over the top.
This recipe was very easy to make, but it was time consuming because you had to let it cook for almost an hour and then sit in the oven with the heat turned off for another hour. In the end, it was well worth the wait. It was GREAT!!! We are having company this coming weekend, so I am going to try one of the different flavors.
I also use the suggestion in the recipe and used a disposable 9X9 casserole pan because then it wouldnt leak when the pan was placed in the water bath. Here is a pic of the pan after coming out of the oven.

Thanks to Jenny for picking this recipe. Please check out her blog for the recipe. Also, check out the Daring Bakers blogroll to see what others have done with this recipe

TWD Chocolate Bread Pudding

2009-04-22T06:13:00.000-07:00

I was a little unsure about this weeks Tuesdays with Dorie. I am not a fan of bread pudding, however I love chocolate. I thought that the chocolate might turn it into something I like. Unfortunately I was wrong. It was an ok recipe, but I only ate one piece. The kids didnt really enjoy it that much either, even the girls who love chocolate too.Thanks to Lauren of A BAKING BLOG aka upper east side chronicle
for choosing this recipe. Also, check out the TWD blogroll to see what others have done with this recipe

No TWD this week

2009-04-14T12:04:00.000-07:00

I am opting out of this weeks TWD.
You can check the blogroll to see what others have done. The recipe this week was 15 Minute Magic Chocolate Amaretti Torte, chosen by Holly of Phe/MOM/enon.

TWD: Corn Muffins

2009-01-13T15:41:00.000-08:00

This is my first time with the Tuesdays with Dorie challenge. The original challenge was for savory corn and pepper muffins chosen by Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake.
I chose however to do the plain corn muffin version because there is no way I could get my kids to eat the version with peppers in them (although they sounded really good with the peppers) You can check out how other bakers did by clicking on their blogs here
I have never made homemade corn muffins before and these were very good, especially right out of the oven and covered in butter. YUMMY! They were also very easy to make. We are getting ready to have them with dinner so I will check back with how the rest of the family liked them.

January Cheese Challenge-Ricotta

2009-01-26T18:46:00.000-08:00

For the January Cheese of the month challenge, our cheese was Ricotta. I LOVE ricotta and it made me think of a recipe I had seen my mom make, but I had never done it. It is a CopyKat recipe that tries to copy Olive Garden's 5 cheese lasagna. It is so YUMMY!! By the way my mom talked about it, I was sure that I had my work cut out for me but it was really easy. This lasagna is different than any other lasagna I have ever made because there is no tomato sauce in the lasagna, but you pour some over the top before serving. Also, this would have been a taller lasagna, but I split it between 2 pans so I could cook one and freeze the other.

Ingredients
CREAM SAUCE:

1/4 C. Butter
1/4 C. Flour
2 C. Milk

CHEESE FILLING:

1/4 C. Sun-dried tomatoes -- oil Packed -- minced
1 tablespoon Fresh garlic -- minced
3 1/2 C. Ricotta cheese
3 Eggs
1 C. Grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 C. Grated Romano cheese
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Black pepper

OTHER:

4 C. Mozzarella cheese -- shredded
1 C. Spinach lasagna noodles or Regular if unavailable
Marinara sauce -- as desired
Extra Parmesan cheese
Freshly grated

Methods/steps
To make sauce melt butter with medium heat in heavy, 1 quart saucepan. Add flour and stir until well blended; cook until frothy. Add milk, stirring constantly with wire whisk as mixture comes to a simmer. Cook and stir until thickened (3-4 minutes). Chill while mixing other ingredients. Drain and mince tomatoes and garlic. Place other cheese filling ingredients in 3-quart mixing bowl with tomatoes and garlic. Add 1-1/2 cups of cooled cream sauce and mix until well blended. Refrigerate, reserving 1/2-cup for later use.

Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions. Cool under cold water and drain. Place 3 lasagna noodles in a 9x13x2 lightly oiled baking dish, overlapping slightly. Spread 1-1/2 cups cheese filling over noodles; sprinkle with one cup mozzarella and 1/4-cup fontina cheese. Repeat pasta and cheese layering three more times; top with remaining three lasagna noodles. Spread 1/2-cup of reserved cream sauce over top and cover lightly with foil. Preheat oven to 350~ and bake for 1 hour. Remove from oven and keep warm at least 30 minutes before serving.

Serve topped with hot marinara and Parmesan cheese. (Can be refrigerated a day before baking if desired.)

Rachael Ray Veggie Chili

2009-01-26T18:56:00.000-08:00

This next recipe is not a new one for me, but it is one of my favorites, especially now that it is freezing outside. I got the recipe from Veggie Meals: Rachael Rays's 30 Minute Meals
Even though this chili is without meat, I have served it to many meat lovers (including my husband) who thinks it is better than any chili they have ever had with meat.

Recipe:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 med onion chopped
1 med bell pepper seeded and chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup veggie broth or beer
1 can cruched tomatoes (32 oz)
1 can (14 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (14 oz) red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1-1 1/2 tbsp ground cumin
1-1 1/2 tbsp ground chili powder
6 dashes tabasco sauce
few pinches salt
1 cup refried beans (although I just throw in the whole can)

heat oil add onions, peppers and saute stirring frequently (about 3-4 min) add garlic and cook one more minute. add beer or broth and scrape good stuff off the bottom of pan. reduce liquid by half cooking down 2-3 min. Add tomatoes, beans and seasonings. Thicken by adding refried beans

TWD: Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread

2009-01-27T11:37:00.000-08:00

I was a little worried about this weeks challenge. I am not that big a fan of ginger, so I wasnt sure if I would like these or not. However there is quite a bit of chocolate in them (so who wouldnt love that?) I think the chocolate helps mellow out the ginger quite a bit and I really did enjoy them. My favorite part of the whole thing is the chocolate icing that is on top of them. It is very rich and YUMMY!!

I would like to thank Heather of Sherry Trifle for choosing this recipe because I dont think it is one I would have picked myself. Check out the Tuesdays With Dorie blogroll to see what others have done with this recipe

yummy breakfast cookies

2009-01-28T12:41:00.000-08:00

My kids really love Quaker Oats oatmeal and chocolate chip breakfast cookies. However I hate spending over $4 for a box of 6. So this sent me on my quest to figure out how to make them myself. I came across a recipe from the Taste of Home message board that is very similar to the Quaker Oats version, but I can make 12 for probably less than $4. When I make them I substitute 2/3 cup chocolate chips for the raisins and walnuts. I think they turned out pretty good and more importantly my kids enjoyed them.

Breakfast Cookies

Copyright 2007 Ellie Krieger, All rights reserved
Show:	Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger
Episode:	Family Way

3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup (1 small jar) strained carrot baby food
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup bran cereal flakes
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup walnut pieces, lightly toasted in a dry skillet for 2 minutes, until fragrant and chopped
Place rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Whisk together flours, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Combine butter, oil and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on high speed, scraping down sides if necessary, until sugars have dissolved and mixture is light in color, about 1 minute. Add egg, carrot puree and vanilla and beat an additional 30 seconds. Add flour mixture and beat an additional 30 seconds. Add oats, flakes, raisins and walnuts and mix over low speed just until incorporated. Dough will be slightly sticky and less cohesive than traditional cookie dough. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. Using between 3 to 4 tablespoons of batter, form a ball and place on cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining batter, leaving about 3 inches between cookies. Wet hands and use palm of hand to flatten cookies until about 1/4-inch thick. Bake for 12 minutes, until cookies are fragrant but still soft. Let cookies cool slightly, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Mema's homemade rolls

2009-01-29T06:29:00.000-08:00

This recipe is a family recipe that I know goes back far enough that my grandmas grandma used it. I remember this recipe as the one that my Mema made for all holiday family celebrations. I had never made it before and my mom just gave me the recipe this past Christmas.

Recipe:
2 Pkg yeast
2 cups lukewarm water
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup crisco (the original recipe called for lard, but I always knew Mema to use crisco, so thats what I used)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Flour-ranges from 7 1/2 cups to 8 cups. I think I only needed 7 though

Dissolve yeast in water. Mix in sugar, crisco and salt. Add flour until you get a good dough that isnt too sticky. Let it rise 2 times, punching down after each rise. Make into roll shapes by hand (grease hands so it doesnt stick) Now let rolls rise again. Bake 400 degrees for 10-15 min

the rolls before I left them to rise

After they were done baking...YUMMY!!

Daring Baker's Challenge: Tuiles

2009-01-29T06:39:00.000-08:00

This is my first month as a Daring Baker and I couldn't be more excited!! This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux. Tuile in French means "tile" and they are called tuiles because the classic shape resembles a roof tile. Tuiles can be made into pretty much any shape. I have seen many creative things on the blogroll-bowls, flowers, butterflies and palm trees. Make sure you check out the blogroll to see what other Daring Bakers have done.
Essentially we could make our tuiles any way we wanted as long as it met the criteria listed
The challenge in a nutshell:
- use one of the batters given,
- shape it either prior (using a stencil) or right after baking and
- pair it with something light; fruit, sorbet, a mousse, or maybe even a fruit soup, think glazes or dips…..
Bend it, shape it, anyway you want it!

I decided to pair mine with a dark chocolate and raspberry mousse. The recipe can be found here. My original plans for my tuiles didn't work out. I had visioned shaping the tuile into a cone shape and then filling with the chocolate mousse and then drizzling the raspberry over the top. However, when trying to shape them, they wouldn't hold. So plan B was shaping them over my rolling pin. I then put the mousse in a glass to eat with the tuiles. It worked out ok and both tasted great!! I cant wait to try making tuiles again!!

You can barely see the raspberry glaze that is on the bottom of the glass, but it tasted wonderful with the chocolate
The recipe that I chose was the one from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink.

Tuiles

Yields: 20 small butterflies/6 large (butterflies are just an example)

¼ cup softened butter

½ cup sifted confectioner’s sugar

1 sachet vanilla sugar or substitute with a dash of vanilla extract

2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork)

1/2 cup sifted all purpose flour

1 table poon cocoa powder/or food coloring of choice

Preheat oven to 350.

Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste. Be careful to not overmix.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with either butter/spray and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template such as the butterfly.

Press the stencil on the baking sheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter. Leave some room in between your shapes. Mix a small part of the batter with the cocoa and a few drops of warm water until evenly colored. Use this colored batter in a paper piping bag and proceed to pipe decorations on the wings and body of the butterfly.

Bake butterflies in a preheated oven for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Immediately release from bakingsheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape. These cookies have to be shaped when still warm, you might want to bake a small amount at a time or maybe put them in the oven to warm them up again. Or place a baking sheet toward the front of the warm oven, leaving the door half open. The warmth will keep the cookies malleable.

If you don’t want to do stencil shapes, you might want to transfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip. Pipe the desired shapes and bake. Shape immediately after baking using for instance a rolling pin, a broom handle, cups, cones….

February cheese challenge: FETA!!

2009-02-02T07:52:00.000-08:00

I thought I would get a jump start on this month by doing the February cheese challenge. February 1st is my husbands birthday and he loves cheeses like feta. He also really likes mussels. So I did a search for mussels and feta and came up with this recipe from Big Oven.
The mussels turned out really good...which I worried about because I have never tried cooking them before. I wasnt really that big a fan of the big chunks of tomato in the sauce, but that is just me. My husband really enjoyed his birthday meal.

Steamed Mussels with Tomato Sauce and Feta Ingredients

1 tb Olive oil	Tomatoes, undrained
1 c Finely chopped onion	1 c Water
1 md Clove garlic, peeled and	1 lb Mussels, washed, beards
Minced	Removed
3/4 c Dry white wine	2 c Rotelli pasta (8 oz)
1 ts Dried oregano, crushed	1/2 c Finely chopped parsley
1/4 ts Crushed red pepper flakes	3/4 c Crumbled feta cheese
1/4 ts Salt	Freshly ground black pepper
1 28-oz can peeled and diced	To taste

Instructions for Steamed Mussels with Tomato Sauce and Feta

1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic; saute 5 minutes. Add the wine, oregano, crushed pepper flakes and salt; simmer 5 minutes. Stir in the undrained tomatoes and water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer 15 minutes. 2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta. 3. Prepare the mussels. Place on steamer rack and place over pot. (The sauce should be cooking at a high simmer.) Cover and steam 20 to 25 minutes, or until mussel shells open (discard any that do not open). 4. Cook the pasta in the boiling water according to package directions; drain. Remove the mussels from the steamer. Put the pasta into the sauce with the parsley, adding pepper to taste. Transfer to plates or large shallow bowls and sprinkle with feta cheese. Put mussels on top and serve.