*Gasp!* An update!

My lonely blog finally has an update. After 3 long weeks of absolutely no new entries I am, indeed, back - hopefully!

This Sunday I planned on making the recipe below - on the grill of course as the directions suggest. The meteorologists in the area predicted some rain, but scattered, I figured we'd make do with the possible rain forecast and still be able to use the grill. So I unthawed the pork, got the marinade going earlier in the day, and figured all would be well.

Yeah. It pretty much rained all day - and there was thunder, and lightning. It was really quite a joy. The grill option was definitely out. I mean my husband might as well just stand out there with a neon sign that says "Go ahead...strike me!" if he was going to go outside to cook on a stainless steel grill.

What was plan B? The oven, on my broiling rack - I cooked at 375 for about 10 minutes then turned the broiler on and cooked for about another 10 (which was probably a little too long) but I was desperate to try to get some fake grill marks on those suckers with my broiling rack so I turned them during the broiling process about 1/2 way through. By the way, my fake grilling mark goal didn't really work anyway!

Either way the final product was yummy and something out of the ordinary for us which was a nice change. Unfortunately I only had onions to thread on these skewers since I was too lazy to go get peppers and oh, my husband doesn't eat them anyway (he doesn't eat onions either, but that's ok because it means they were all for me!). I left out a few other items and obviously had to adapt the cooking instructions, but otherwise I really kept to this recipe pretty closely. Now I just can't wait to try it on the grill one day!

Speaking of the grill, don't forget about installment #3 of Recipe Remix - which is all about grilled favorites!

Thai Pork Satay
(from AllRecipes.com)






1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon ground coriander (I omitted)
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 pound pork tenderloin, cubed
1 (8 ounce) can water chestnuts, drained (I omitted)
1 medium green bell pepper, cut into 2 inch pieces
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into 2 inch pieces
1 small sweet onion, chopped


In a medium bowl, mix peanut butter, green onions, soy sauce, lemon juice, brown sugar, garlic, coriander, and cayenne pepper; add pork, and stir to coat. Cover, and marinate in the refrigerator at least 30 minutes.

Preheat grill for high heat. Thread marinated pork, water chestnuts, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, and sweet onion alternately onto skewers. Transfer remaining marinade to a small saucepan, bring to a boil, and cook for several minutes.

Lightly oil grate. Cook skewers for 10 minutes, or to desired doneness. Turn skewers while grilling to cook evenly, and brush with boiled marinade during last few minutes.

Sad, sad, lonely blog...

My poor, sad, lonely blog which I have not updated is nearly 3 weeks. I am so sorry that I have done this to you, but as you know there are several factors that play into this:

1) Your author took a weeklong vacation to Walt Disney World
2) Your author has taken up a small side job on Saturday mornings
3) Your author did not feel well last week
4) Your author has not had one free weekend yet this month; nevermind not a whole lot of free weeknights either


So I apologize to you sad, lonely blog and doubly apologize for missing your first anniversary one week ago on July 23rd.

So happy anniversary, and I promise to be back soon!

Signed,
Your neglectant author

Another wayward, pictureless recipe....

I think I may be losing my mind. I forgot to take a picture for one of the muffins in the previous entry and forgot to take a picture of the Strawberry Bread I made as well. I've decided to share the recipe nonetheless because it was tasty - not too sweet but just enough, and it was sure as heck easy to make. One of these (since the recipe makes 2 breads) made its way to my local nest board "secret baker" recipient as well.

Strawberry Bread
(from BettyCrocker.com)

1 bag (16 oz) frozen whole strawberries, thawed, drained
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
4 eggs
3 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt


Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottoms only of two 9x5- or 8x4-inch loaf pans with shortening; lightly flour.

Slightly mash strawberries; set aside. In large bowl, mix sugar and oil. Stir in eggs until well blended. Stir in strawberries until well mixed. Stir in remaining ingredients except nuts just until moistened. Stir in nuts. Pour into pans.

Bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans to wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days.

Muffin Mania

There is no question there's been a lot of muffin making in my kitchen as of late. I've made 2 different batches in less than a week's time - unfortunately the muffin baking frenzy started almost 2 weeks ago so I am behind on this. Anywho, both batches I made in my jumbo muffin baking pan. Because we all know....there is nothing better than a big ole muffin.

Due to my negligence, there is no picture for the 2nd recipe - Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins from Baking Bites, so just use your imagination a little for what mine look like, and check out the originator's pictures instead! I sent those out as part of the Secret Baker exchange my local nest board is doing. I didn't actually get to try them but my recipient said they were good. My husband was jealous he didn't get to have one of them himself. He did, however, greatly benefit from the first recipe - Dorie Greenspan's Coffee Break Muffins - because he pretty much ate every single one with the exception of me eating the tops of one of them.

Which brings me to the age old question of:

Why are the tops of muffins the best part of a muffin????


Coffee Break Muffins
(from "Baking from My Home to Yours" by Dorie Greenspan)

2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder (I actually subbed this with 3/4 tablespoon coffee syrup, which is local to New England and may not be found everywhere)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 cup strong coffee, cooled
1 stick unsalted butter melted & cooled
1 large egg
1/3 teaspoon vanilla extract


Center rack in oven and preheat to 400 degrees F. Butter and spray 12 molds in regular siz muffin pan or fit with paper cups (I instead sprayed a 6 cup jumbo muffin pan). Place the muffin pan on baking sheet.

In large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, espresso powder, baking powder, cinnamon, & salt. Stir in brown sugar, making certain there are no lumps. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk coffee, melted butter, egg, and vanilla extract together until well combined. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don't worry about being thorough, a few lumps are better than overmixing the batter. Divide evenly among muffin cups.

Bake for about 20 minutes (about 24 minutes for me in my jumbo pan) or until a thin knive inserted in center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack & cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.



Peanut Butter & Milk Chocolate Chip Muffins
(from Baking Bites)

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup brown sugar
6 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter (or smooth)
2 large eggs
1 cup milk (low fat or skim is fine)
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and brown sugar.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter, peanut butter, eggs and milk until smooth. Pour into flour mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Divide batter into your paper-lined muffin tin. Each cup should be filled to the top, not just half way up, to ensure you get a nice dome on the muffin.

Bake for 17-20 minutes, until a tester comes out clean and the top of the muffin springs back when lightly pressed. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 12. (***Note: This made 6 jumbo muffins which I sprayed to prepare pan; baking time was about 24 minutes at the same temperature indicated above)

Grill + Salmon = Love!

Another week's gone by since I've made a blog entry. Free time right now is a hot commodity and one I can't seem to get my hands on. So here I am, catching up on things.

This past week we made some salmon on the grill, the reason we had salmon is actually a little humorous. I bribed my husband to come pick me up from work because I didn't feel like taking the bus home. Mind you, I only live 10 minutes from where I work but sometimes a little extra movitation to have him come pick me up doesn't hurt. Case in point, I promised him that if he did come get me we'd stop at the store and pick up some salmon to make for dinner. I was already prepared with a quick, easy grill recipe I found on myrecipes.com, yes, I'm a planner at heart.

My husband was excited he got to use the new jumbo turner I got him from Pampered Chef - it's perfect for fish. Me, I was excited to have some fish for dinner because let's face it, despite my "bribe" - I was really the one in the mood for salmon that night!

All in all, I was really happy with how this came out, the rub did not overpower the salmon at all and instead only enhanced its flavor. I served it along some couscous tossed in some olive oil, and some steamed carrots. This recipe is definitely a keeper!

Brown Sugar Grilled Salmon

(from myrecipes.com)

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup paprika

1/4 cup kosher salt

2 tablespoons dried thyme

1 (2-pound) salmon fillet, cut into portions

Combine first 4 ingredients. Rub spice mixture over all sides of salmon; let stand 10 minutes.
Grill salmon over medium-high heat 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness.

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Beer-soaked beef

On my local nest board, a lovely lady by the name of Gail recently shared this recipe with all of us. A few of us have already made and WOW...all I can say is that this is one tasty steak! I actually just used a London Broil cut (it was on sale) and it still came out super tender. DH grilled this so we followed the instructions at the end of this recipe. YUM! This marinaded for about 8 hours in my fridge and just came out perfect. Thanks, Gail!

Beer Soaked Beef

12 Ounce(s) beer (I used what we had on hand, which happend to be Miller Light)
2 Tablespoon(s) olive oil
1 Clove(s) peeled and smashed garlic
2 Tablespoon(s) fresh lemon juice
1 Tablespoon(s) dark brown sugar
1 Teaspoon(s) salt
1/8 Teaspoon(s) whole cloves
1 1/2 Pound(s) washed patted dry, 1" thick beef flank steak :

In a 9"X13" glass baking dish, combine beer, oil, garlic, lemon juice, sugar, salt and cloves; add steak. Cover dish and marinate in refrigerator, turning once or twice, at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours (I did 24 hours the first time I made it).

Place a grill pan in broiler; preheat broiler to high. Remove meat from marinade and broil about 3 1/2 minutes per side for medium rare, or longer until desired doneness.* Remove meat from broiler and place meat on a plate; loosely cover with aluminum foil and let stand for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, place grill pan on stovetop over high heat; carefully pour marinade onto grill pan. Bring to a boil (beer will foam) and cook until all alcohol burns off, about 5-7 minutes.

Slice steak thinly and serve with sauce. Yields about 4 ounces of steak per serving.

Notes
*You can also cook this recipe on the grill and reduce the sauce in a saucepan on the stove.

TWD: Mixed Berry Cobbler

It's Tuesdays with Dorie time again! After a sad, 2 week hiatus I am back with avengance! Life just was too busy for me to make the attempt for the last two recipes - between showers, graduation parties, and upcoming weddings that I am in this summer (3 to be exact), I've just been flat out but I found time for this week's Mixed Berry Cobbler chosen by Beth of Our Sweet Life.

A lot of the P&Q's for this recipe said the biscuit topping was a bit bland. So, since I reduced the recipe a bit, I kept the same amount of sugar, added some cinnamon (about 1 tsp), and a little nutmet (about 1/4 tsp). I also baked this in an 8 inch casserole dish instead of a pie dish.

I was a bit surprised when I cut into the cobbler the next morning to bring some into work for my friend Denice who I was pretty sure would love it, and pretty sure her twins-to-be would too. (side note: My husband and I are not huge berry fans except for strawberries, of course Dorie warned not to use too many so this recipe wasn't 100% up our alley so I decided to share!) and I still found it to be watery despite not using many strawberries (I just used 2 frozen bags of mixed berries - including blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries). It seemed tasty to me though (the one bite I had) and I got rave reviews from my boss and my friend Denice. Actually Denice gave it "5 stars."

So, I think I would make this again if I were expecting company who would like such a dessert - and just nix the strawberries altogether. I am curious to see what other TWDers did about the biscuit crust!

To see the entire recipe, check it out here.

Pork Chops & Asparagus

Wayyyyyyy back, last July, I made my first post on this blog, complete with a picture of me holding a giant pork loin I'd gotten at the market. Sometimes these things are too good of a deal to pass up so I buy them every once in awhile and I'm stocked with pork in the freezer for quite some time. I "butcher" it myself at home - making chops, chunks for kabobs, etc.

Last night, I made stuffed pork chops courtesy of my latest giant pork loin purchase. I had cut 3 extra thick chops for just that purpose. I know typically a stuffed pork chop is a pork chop on the bone, but I figured a thick boneless chop would also do the trick.

I used Alton Brown's grilled pork chop brine recipe but made up my own stuffing - an apple and sausage combination. If you've ever watched Good Eats, you know Alton is a huge brine fan. I saw the particular episode where he made this brine and immediately saved it to my "recipe box" on foodnetwork.com. I'm so glad I finally got around to using it because my husband grilled these up and they came out great - moist, tender, and flavorful - which is sometimes difficult to do with pork, especially on the grill.

To accompany the stuffed chops I made asparagus "rafts" for the grill that are a Paula Deen recipe. My husband loves asparagus, I don't love it, but I do buy it to make for him sometimes. These were tasty, even for a non-lover of asparagus, but they were a bit troublesome to skewer! I'd seen the grilled asparagus raft concept in a few places but never really realized what pain-in-the-you-know-what spearing those suckers really are. I think next time I'll pass on skewering them and just have my husband throw them directly on the grill!

Stuffed Grilled Pork Chops
(from FoodNetwork.com)

4 double thick bone-in loin end pork chops
1 cup salt
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 tablespoon mustard powder
2 cups cider vinegar, heated
1 pound ice cubes

In a plastic container put the salt, sugar, peppercorns, and mustard powder. Add the hot vinegar and swirl to dissolve. Let mixture sit for 5 to 10 minutes to develop flavor. Add ice cubes and shake to melt most of the ice. Add chops and cover with brine. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Remove chops from container and rinse. Cut horizontal pockets in each pork chop for stuffing (below). Stuff chops and secure closed with 2 to 3 toothpicks. Grill the chops on medium high heat for 6 minutes on each side.

Sausage & Apple Stuffing for Pork Chops

(from Me!)

3 sweet Italian sausages, casings removed

1 Granny Smith Apple, cored, peeled, and diced into small pieces

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon Italian Seasoning

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard

Combine all ingredients in small saute pan. Be sure to continually crumble sausage as it cooks with spatula. Cook until sausage is browned. Cool to room temperature before stuffing chops and securing them closed with toothpicks.

Grilled Asparagus with Lemon and Garlic

(from FoodNetwork.com)

1 pound asparagus
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon paprika
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Trim asparagus. In a small bowl, combine oil, garlic, zest and paprika and stir with a fork. Lay asparagus side by side and pierce on 2 wooden skewers to form a raft. Place rafts on the grill and brush with oil mixture. Cook to desired tenderness and season with salt and pepper.

What lurks in the back of the cabinet....

The other day I found a bag of butterscotch chips sitting in the back of my cabinet. I'm pretty good at knowing what I do and do not have in my cabinets, freezer, fridge, and pantry but every once in awhile I get a surprise.

I decided I wanted to make use of them before I forgot about them once again. I went right to Nestle's baking site - verybestbaking.com - since you can search for recipes by product. I found a recipe for CARNATION Famous Fudge. The original recipe is for chocolate fudge but they also offere peanut butter and butterscotch substitutes. Since I haven't made fudge in ages, I chose to go this route over a cookie of some sort.

This recipe came out pretty good, and it was so easy. My fudge pieces are a little thin because I used a 9x9 pan by accident - oops! Oh well! As you can also see I cut it in various sized pieces for easier snacking!

CARNATION Famous Fudge

(from verybestbaking.com)

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup (5 fl.-oz. can) NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Evaporated Milk
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 1/2 cups (9 oz.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Line 8-inch-square baking pan with foil.

Combine sugar, evaporated milk, butter and salt in medium, heavy-duty saucepan. Bring to a full rolling boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil, stirring constantly, for 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Stire in marshmallows, morsels, nuts and vanilla extract. Stir vigorously for 1 minute or until marshmallows are melted. Pour into prepared baking pan; refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm. Lift from pan; remove foil. Cut into 48 pieces.

FOR MILK CHOCOLATE FUDGE:
SUBSTITUTE 1 3/4 cups (11.5-oz. pkg.) NESTLE® TOLL HOUSE® Milk Chocolate Morsels for Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels.

FOR BUTTERSCOTCH FUDGE:
SUBSTITUTE 1 2/3 cups (11-oz. pkg.) NESTLE® TOLL HOUSE® Butterscotch Flavored Morsels for Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels.

FOR PEANUTTY CHOCOLATE FUDGE:
SUBSTITUTE 1 2/3 cups (11-oz. pkg.) NESTLE® TOLL HOUSE® Peanut Butter & Milk Chocolate Morsels for Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels and 1/2 cup chopped peanuts for pecans or walnuts.

Recipe Remix III

The third installment of Recipe Remix has kicked off today. Check it out here for more details! We hope you can join us for some remixing of grilled/cookout favorites!