Mmmm…we were recently introduced to canned orange rolls. I had never bought them before, but recently succumbed (if you hadn’t noticed, I am an absolutely sucker for anything orange…) and tried some. They were tooth-achingly sweet and delicious and filled with tender, creamy saturated fat goodness. They were pretty amazing, but not something that I am likely to EVER buy again; they were just a jumping-off point, an inspiration; I knew that I could do better, so I went searching for recipes and came across this one that looked promising.
Mmmm…pretty darned good. I think that it would be impossible to get the canned-roll texture (sort of a combination of white bread and marshmallow fluff?), but the flavor of these was fantastic. I will DEFINITELY be making these again. They were, of course, more trouble to make than the canned version, but not too bad. I made them a day ahead, because of all of the rising time, etc, and then reheated them in the morning. I think that they would be better fresh out of the oven, but I’m not willing to wake up early enough to have them that way.
Panuchos Yucatecos, sort of…
We love making tostadas around here. We always seem to have some extra lettuce, tomato, onion, cilantro and maybe a bit of leftover grilled chicken or taco-seasoned meat and some refried beans and cheese. All you have to do is fry some corn tortillas until they’re crisp and then augment them with your choice of the above toppings (the kids love any opportunity to “build” their own dinner, buffet-style). If you have a little sliced avocado or sour cream, you’re golden. So, when I saw this recipe for Panuchos Yucatecos on Serious Eats, it looked so good, I knew we needed to try it. I mean, really, the beans INSIDE the tortilla? how cool is that? Then you’d have the top completely free to add all kinds of things.
The problem is, though, that when I fried the tortillas, they didn’t puff up and create a “cavity” like the ones in the panuchos recipe, so we ended up pretty much just having our standard tostadas (or chalupas, or whatever you call them in your neck of the woods…) Still tasty, but not exactly the original plan. Contributing further to the failure of this experiment, I made up the pickled onions in advance, but forgot to get them out to serve with the dinner…they were very tasty, but we got about as far away from this original recipe as possible (even though what we did make was quite good), so will definitely have to try again. I’m wondering if the tortillas that I had weren’t fresh enough and if maybe some fresher ones might puff better? I’ll keep you all posted…
Baked Blueberry French Toast
This is a recipe that I came up with when I had some leftover French bread on hand and wanted to use it up. It turned out pretty well as it was, but I will probably adapt it the next time that I make it to make it a little more flavorful. I also wasn’t super crazy about the texture, so I will probably lightly toast the bread cubes before mixing them with the custard next time. All in all, though, a pretty good recipe and definitely something that I will try again.
Baked Blueberry French Toast
1/2 pound French bread, cut into into bite-sized cubes
(I buy the “French Sticks” from HEB frequently and each “stick” is about 1/2 pound)
4 oz cream cheese (half of a “brick”), cut into small dice (about 20 pieces)
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup half and half (or an additional 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup heavy cream)
1/4 tsp Cinnamon Spice Blend
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp sugar
Cinnamon Sugar (Cinnamon Spice Blend mixed with sugar)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a medium-sized (7″ by 11″ inches?) baking pan with cooking spray. Layer half of the bread cubes into the pan, then sprinkle with half of the cream cheese and half of the blueberries. Repeat layers: bread, cream cheese, blueberries. Whisk together the remaining ingredients (except the cinnamon sugar) and pour over the bread, cheese and fruit. Sprinkle the top generously with the cinnamon sugar. Bake until a knife inserted into the casserole comes out clean (eggs are cooked through) and the top is lightly golden browned (start with 20 minutes and then just watch it; I don’t remember exactly how long it took to cook). If the top starts to burn, cover it lightly with foil.
Enchilada Casserole
Enchilada Casserole from Cooking Light magazine, recipe here.
Meh. This was OK. Just OK. Hubby actually liked it, but it was a little “cafeteria” for my taste. Probably won’t make again, but I might try to adapt it into something else and try again. It is as easy do-ahead and can be made in the Crock-Pot, which I suppose can be helpful and it’s meatless (so it’s healthy and environmentally friendly), but I think there are other recipes that are probably faster and better. There are some other Crock Pot ideas in this article that might be better options.
The Greatest Waffle Recipe Ever?
Click here for recipe.
When I saw this recipe billed on Serious Eats as the “Greatest Waffle Recipe Ever,” I knew that I had to give it a try. There are quite a few steps to preparing the batter, and I wasn’t crazy about having to dirty three mixing bowls to make it (one for the wet ingredients, one for the dry and one for the egg whites,) but you really can’t argue with results; they were delicious. They were rich, but light, crisp and tasty, the perfect foil for your choice of syrup and/or topping (powdered sugar for Girl, birch syrup for Boy, boysenberry syrup for me and maple syrup for Hubby.)
I added a bit (1/4 to 1/2 tsp?) of McCormick’s Vanilla, Butter & Nut extract and a shake or two of Cinnamon Spice Blend to the batter, just to punch up the flavor a little. If that’s not your style, then a tiny bit of plain vanilla would still be nice, I think. The batter is VERY thick and must be evenly spooned onto the waffle iron; it will NOT pour. At all. In fact, you almost have to spread it a little to get it on over the whole thing. Worth the effort, though.
Pork Souvlaki with Tzatziki
Yummy, yummy…
Another great recipe from my new favorite food website, Serious Eats. Click here for the recipe.
I used my ow (VERY garlicky-spicy) tzatziki recipe, instead, but, otherwise, made this recipe as-is and it was wonderful. Definitely will be a repeat, and it was very easy, too.
Cara Cara cocktail
I know, I know…Step AWAY from the Cara Caras, Lara…but we LOVE them and they’re just so yummy. I had a bit of extra juice the other day leftover from making sherbet and decided to throw this together. It’s basically just a screwdriver (OJ and vodka), made with Cara Cara juice, but it was delicious and isn’t it pretty?
Chicken Breasts with Orzo, Carrots, Dill, and Avgolemono Sauce
Chicken Breasts with Orzo, Carrots, Dill and Avgolemono Sauce from Food & Wine magazine
(click here for recipe)
Another dinner that I brought to my brother and sister-in-law, who have a brand new cutie patootie baby.
I actually tripled the recipe that night and also brought dinner to my friend, S., and her family, as S. has been ill. We also had it for dinner at our house. I was looking for something that would be kid-friendly and fairly universally appealing (nothing too strange, unfamiliar or exotic), since I was making it for so many different people. It was a big job (cooking for 12 people!), but this recipe was actually simpler than it seems.
The only modification that I made was to toast the orzo (in a large skillet, over medium-high heat with a TINY bit of olive oil, just until golden-toasty brown, stirring frequently so that it browns evenly) before cooking it. Doing this adds a wonderful, nutty flavor to the finished dish. I really can’t imagine why the instructions skipped this step, because I always do that when I cook orzo. In my mind, it’s not optional. Oh, and I also cut the carrots into “coins,” rather than matchsticks. Here’s a photo of the orzo, pre and post-toasting:
This dinner was quite yummy and definitely something that I will make again. It was a hit for all of the recipients, as well. The avgolemono (basically, just Greek lemon sauce, thickened with egg) sauce was delicious and would be good over asparagus, too. My only issue with the recipe is that because the chicken is simmered for a while in a covered pot, it was a bit difficult to judge when it was done. I have a digital thermometer with a probe that can be attached that will beep to alert you when your food has reached the desired pre-set temperature and it was very helpful in cooking the chicken. When I make this again, however, I might brown the chicken in the pan and then finish it in the oven (again, with the assistance of the thermometer,) just to be sure that the chicken doesn’t overcook and get tough or stringy.
Dorie Greenspan’s Ricotta-Berry Muffins
These muffins are absolutely delectable. They are a tiny bit “fussier” than regular muffin recipes (some very specific batter-mixing instructions, no liquid, such as milk), but the tops are crusty and buttery, while the insides are moist and tender. They have delicious, rich flavor and are a great way to use up the rest of a container of ricotta that you might hve on hand from something else. Yum. I will definitely be making these again. I used lemon zest, instead of lemon, because was what I had on hand at the time and I also sprinkled about 1/4 tsp of coarse sanding sugar on top of each muffin before baking, to add a little extra sweetness and crunch. The batter, at least for me, turned out VERY thick (almost crumbly), so I just sort of packed it into the muffin tins and hoped for the best, but they turned out great.
Martinez Cocktail
I gave this cocktail a try recently. It looked appealing, because I am developing an unhealthy fascination with really like gin. The maraschino (I used Luxardo brand) liqueur was a little difficult to find, but I eventually found it at Spec’s. This was okay, but it didn’t dazzle me, in fact, I didn’t even finish it. I’m discovering that, for me, gin isn’t meant to be sweet. I like it with really good quality olives as a salty, savory drink and haven’t really found a sweet gin cocktail that I like yet. This cocktail may be enough to finally convince me to stop trying. If, however, you like gin and you like sweet drinks, this might be just the thing for you. I did find the history of the drink interesting (click recipe link to read it); it’s hard to imagine this drink as a martini precursor/namesake (since, in my opinion, the martini is vastly superior), but interesting, nonetheless.