When the stars align....

My friend Danielle (of Make No Little Meals) and I are new to the blog challenge/event world, but we are both addicted already. When Danielle emailed me the link about a week and a half ago to Weekend Cookbook Challenge - I was excited instantly about this month's theme - dutch ovens, crockpots, and pressure cookers. I had to laugh at the timing because just the night before I had been flipping through my "Pressure Cooking for Everyone" cookbook.

My mother is a big pressure cooker fan - she cooks chicken in there, beef stew, boiled dinner, soups, pot roast, etc. When my husband and I set up our wedding registry I not only requested a pressure cooker, but I also requested the aforementioned cookbook.

It's been a little over 2 years since - 2 years of never having used a kitchen gadget or a cookbook (so not like me!). I want to clear the air and dispell the any notion you may have right now - the fact that I had not yet used my pressure cooker is not because I am afraid of it. I know many people have a fear of pressure cookers - afraid of getting burned by steam or losing an eye. I remember hearing the mumble of some concerned guests at my bridal shower when I opened it. I'm not afraid of a pressure cooker, I watched my mom use it for many a year, and there have been no injuries! So, I figured it's time for me to take the plunge. I resolved that I needed to use both the pressure cooker and the cookbook sooner rather than later.

If it wasn't ironic enough that I had resolved to use my pressure cooker in the very near future, and pressure cooking was one of the themes of the latest Weekend Cookbook Challenge, St. Patrick's Day was also approaching. When I was flipping through my "Pressure Cooking for Everyone" cookbook I had dog-eared the Corned Beef Boiled Dinner recipe which I tried out last night.

Being a pressure cooker virgin (ok, c'mon, I had to make the joke!) it was a little bit of an adventure for me which included a phone call to my parents' to ask some advice, and my husband lending me a hand with the process since I've been feeling a little under the weather (isn't he sweet?).

So, the recipe below is a reflection of stars aligning at the right place and the right time! I've completed the Weekend Cookbook Challenge, used my pressure cooker and cookbook (everything went well and I can't wait to use my pressure cooker again!), and cooked a celebratory St. Patrick's Day meal (which turned out great may I add, the corned beef was SO tender!)

Corned Beef Boiled Dinner
(from "Pressure Cooking for Everyone")
















One 3 pound corned beef brisket with pickling spice packet
2 cups water
One 12 oz bottle of lager beer
2 medium onions, peeled and cut in half lengthwise
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
4 medium red-skinned potatoes, scrubbed but unpeeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup baby carrots
1 small head green cabbage, cut into 6 wedges


Rinse corned beef but do not trim the fat. Tie the spices in a double thickness of cheese cloth.

Place the rack in a 5-7 quart pressure cooker. Add water, beer, onions, garlic, and spice sachet. Place corned beef in the pot (do not be concerned if corned beef touches sides of the pot as it will shrink as it cooks).

Lock lid in place. Bring to high pressure over high heat. Adjust the heat to maintain pressure. Cook for 1 hour, 10 minutes. Let the steam release naturally (about 15 minutes). Open the lid, tilting it away from you to block escaping steam.

Transfer meat to serving platter. Using a slotted spoon, transfer onions to large serving bowl. Cover with with aluminum foil to keep warm.

Place the potatoes and carrots in cooking liquid in pot. (The nitrates in the corned beef will have probably turned the liquid red, but don't be concerned). Place the cabbage on top, trying to submerge it in the broth as much as possible. Lock the lid in place. Bring to high pressure over high heat. Adjust the heat to maintain pressure and cook for 6 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer vegetables to the serving bowl.


And on that note...........
Enjoy your St. Patrick's Day!!!!

Everything is better wrapped up in some puff pastry!

I had about a half pound of steak, some leftover sliced mushrooms, and plenty of cheese. With these ingredients in mind, I was going to make regular Philly cheesesteak sandwiches on torpedo rolls, but then I remembered I had a sheet of puff pastry in the freezer. Just like the cartoons, a little animated lightbulb went on above my head. Ok, maybe it wasn't really like a cartoon...but it's more fun to imagine that that's how it happened.

Here's my version of a tasty twist on a regular steak & cheese. I didn't put onions and peppers in this because of my picky husband, but adding them would only make this sandwich that much better.

Admittedly, that's a pretty horrible picture I took of one of the pieces of the "sandwich." I promise you though that your tastebuds will thank you for making this. The photographer just stinks :-)

Mushroom Steak & Cheese Sandwich in Puff Pastry

1 sheet puff pastry, thawed according to package directions
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/3 cup sliced portabello mushrooms
Approximately 1/2 lb steak of your choice (I used top round) cut into slices
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons BBQ sauce
1 tablespoon Lite Soy Sauce
3/4 cup shredded cheese of your choice (I used a combination of 2 cheeses)


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet with cooking spray.

In a medium saute pan, add olive oil and mushrooms. Cook on low/medium heat until tender.

Add steak, pepper, salt, oregano, BBQ sauce, garlic and soy sauce to pan. Saute gently until steak is almost cooked through. Add additional salt and pepper if needed.

Lay puff pastry on lightly greased cookie sheet so that the sides of the puff pastry are over the edges of the pan. Spread half of the shredded cheese down the middle of the pastry, then top with steak mushroom mixture, then the remainder of the cheese.

With damp fingers, pull up edges of the puff pastry to meet in center and pinch closed. Pinch ends of pastry closed as well.

Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until pastry is puffed and golden. Slice to serve.

Taste & Create Event

"Hi, my name is Robin....and I'm a food blog challenge/event addict."

All it took was my first challenge, Master Baker, and I was in - hook, line, and sinker.

Now I'm on my 3rd challenge/event. I decided to participate in the Taste & Create Event this month where you are randomly paired with another food blogger and you have to pick one of the recipes in their blog to make yourself. I was paired with the ladies of Peanut Butter Etouffe and let me tell you, it was hard to pick. I'll likely be making something else out of their blog one of these days unrelated to the event just because there were so many recipes on there that made my mouth water.

I decided on these chocolate toffee treats (they were nameless in the post so I apologize that I am taking the privilege of giving them a title!) that just sounded like they were delectable and boy were they! I decided since I was baking this the night before a team meeting at work I'd bring in "the goods" for the meeting. After my co-workers ogled the results, the container was passed around and by 10am when the meeting ended, and all but about 4 small pieces were gone.

These were simple, easy, and incredibly tasty! As Doodles suggested in her blog entry, I will definitely try this recipe again perhaps switching up the type of chocolate, etc. This is one of those recipes that would be a lifesaver to make for a quick dessert/snack for unexpected company or for any gathering really - it's sure to be a hit!

Chocolate Toffee Treats

(from Peanut Butter Etouffe)

4 ounces saltine crackers
1 cup butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).

Line cookie sheet with saltine crackers in single layer.

In a saucepan combine the sugar and the butter. Bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes. Immediately pour over saltines and spread t cover crackers completely.

Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over the top. Let sit for 5 minutes. Spread melted chocolate and top with chopped nuts. Cool completely and break into pieces.

We love us some pork chops!

Really, we do, I don't cook a lot of red meat these days because it can be expensive but also because it isn't the healthiest for you. You gotta love "the other white meat." Thing is, I'm always looking for a new way to prepare it since my husband I have pork fairly often. Anotehr pork perk? It's versatile meat that can take on a lot of different flavors.

I tried this recipe tonight for Honey and Spice-Glazed Pork Chops from myrecipes.com, making just a minor change. They came out fab! I really loved the sweet flavor, but it wasn't overpowering either. I'm definitely adding this to my repetoire of pork recipes.

Honey and Spice-Glazed Pork Chops

1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Cooking spray
4 (4-ounce) boneless center-cut loin pork chops (about 1/2 inch thick)
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Combine first 5 ingredients in a bowl.

Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper; cook 2 minutes on each side or until browned. Reduce heat to medium-low; add honey mixture. Cook 10 minutes or until done, turning pork once.

Cheesecake Toffee Drops

A couple of months ago I caught a recipe on one of the blogs I like to read, Brooke's ...and a Cookie for Dessert. I knew eventually I would make them. I finally got around to making these last week and they came out great. I probably could have eaten just the batter it was so tasty, but then I figured I should actually try to bake them.

I love that this came from the Small Batch Baking cookbook - it's nice to have a recipe that doesn't make 4 dozen cookies, and instead makes "just enough." Thanks for sharing this great recipe, Brooke!

Cheesecake Toffee Drops

(from ...and a Cookie for Dessert & "Small Batch Baking")

1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon well-beaten egg or egg substitute
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup chopped chocolate-covered toffee bar (such as Heath or Skor)

Place rack in center of oven and preheat to 300 degrees. Set aside an ungreased baking sheet.

Place the flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and whisk to blend. Place the butter, brown sugar and cream cheese in a medium-size bowl and beat on medium speed until smooth. Add the beaten egg and vanilla, and beat on medium speed until dough is light in texture, about 20 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the flour mixture. Beat on low speed until the dry ingredients are blended in. Stir in the toffee with a wooden spoon.

Drop the cookie batter by rounded tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheet, spacing them 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart. Bake until the cookies appear dry and golden, 20-25 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and immediately transfer cookies to a wire rack, cool completely.

Makes 6 cookies

Thinking outside the box....

About a year ago, I found a recipe for Updated Shepherd's Pie in my Kraft Food & Family mag that I receive seasonally.

I was of course intrigued and made it right away. Since then I don't think I've ever looked at Shepherd's Pie the same way again. It is funny how narrowminded you can become over one staple - figuring it should be done one way and that's it and then you suddenly discover there's a whole new world to it! For example, I never would have thought to use mixed vegetables prior to seeing this recipe, I only thought of corn when I thought of Shepherd's pie.

Since making this version of Shepherd's pie, I've switched up my methods and ingredients more often than not, and let me tell you, as much as a traditional Shepherd's pie is a great comfort food, it is kind of fun to put a different twist on it now and then. This past weekend I used ground turkey cooked in some light soy sauce and it gave the dish, once again, different spin on taste.

I have no specific recipe to share except to tell you it was inspired by the one above and that we all should try to think outside the box, or should I say "cook outside the pot" now and then!

Choosey wives choose Jif ....

....when making baked goods for her husband's co-workers!

Once again my husband had to head off on business this weekend with a couple of his co-workers. Since I've started the trend, I now need to live up to the anticipation of what I will bake for them next. My husband has started to field inquisitions and special requests as to what I may make for them on their next trip.

This time I sent Greg off with a double batch of Rich Chewy Peanut Butter Bars from the Jif website and, per usual, he came home with an empty platter.


Rich Chewy Peanut Butter Bars
(from Jif.com)



No-Stick Cooking Spray
1 cup All Purpose Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Jif® Creamy Peanut Butter, or crunchy
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13x9x2 inch baking pan with no-stick cooking spray with flour.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt; set aside

Heat peanut butter and butter or margarine together until melted. Stir in sugar, eggs, and vanilla until well blended.

Add flour mixture and stir just until combined. Spread batter in prepared pan.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on wire rack and cut into bars.

Yield: 36 servings

I told you I like to blog-hop!

Speaking of "blog-hopping," on Sunday morning I was looking for a solution for what to do with some ripe bananas. A banana bread seemed too mundane. I used the food blog search engjne on the side of my page and eventually I landed on a banana scone recipe from Baking Bites. I love scones and since the recipe only made a small batch it was perfect for my needs.

I made a few modifications by adding more banana, a little cinnamon, and a tablespoon of half-n-half. I also subbed half of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour. They came out so yummy. I hadn't had a scone in a long, long time, so the timing was perfect.

Banana Scones

(from Baking Bites)

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 ½ tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground ginger
3 tablespoon butter, cold
4-5 tablespoon milk

1 tablespoon half-n-half
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup banana, diced (approx. half a medium banana)

Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and ginger. Cut butter into a few chunks and rub it into the flour mixture with your fingertips.

Mix milk, half-n-half, and vanilla in a small glass. Pour about 4 tablespoons into the flour mixture and stir until the mixture starts to come together. Add the banana chunks and continue to stir, adding more milk if necessary, until dough comes together.

Pat dough into a disk about 1 inch thick. Cut into four sections with a knife and place each on baking sheet.

Bake at 400F for 17-20 minutes, until light gold. Cool on wire rack or eat warm. These scones are best the day they are made.

Makes 4 scones.

Baked Greek Chicken

If you haven't figured it out yet, I do a lot of "blog-hopping" - in other words, I love to read other blogs for ideas and inspiration. I ran across Kate's Blog - Paved with Good Intentions. I loved it and quickly added her blog to my list of favorites.

The Baked Greek Chicken recipe she posted last week was just what I needed to jazz up two chicken breasts I had unthawing in the refrigerator, and better yet, I had all of the ingredients! To top it all off, it was even healthy, especially since I used a reduced fat feta cheese.

The only changes I made to the recipe was adding a little oregano (based on what I saw in Elly's reply) and cooking the chicken with the diced pepper right on top. I love the flavor of red pepper so I thought this was a great way to infuse that flavor into the dish while it baked, especially knowing that my hubby would pick them off when come serving time. He doesn't mind the flavor of onions and peppers, but he doesn't like to bite into them, so if he sees them he won't eat them (hence why I have started to grate onions into dishes and chop things super fine - for instance he had no problem with the peppers and onions in the salmon cakes I made the other night because he couldn't really see them). All in all though, I can't complain, he tries whatever I give him, he's my #1 guinea pig. I mean taste tester! He could be a much pickier eater than he is!

But, I digress....bottom line is that this was delicious. Thanks, Kate, for the easy, yummy, and healthy recipe (if you want nutrition facts for this, visit Kate's blog)!

Baked Greek Chicken

(from Paved with Good Intentions)

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 lemon, cut in half
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp oregano
1/2 cup feta cheese
1/2 red pepper, diced

Preheat oven to 350. Arrange chicken in oven safe baking dish. Drizzle chicken with juice from half of the lemon.

Season chicken with salt, pepper, and oregano. Top with feta cheese and diced red pepper. Drizzle with juice from remaining half of lemon.

Bake 35-40 minutes.

Butterscoth Spice Cookies

When I saw this recipe in my food website browsing I thought 2 things: 1) This is easy and 2) That's an interesting combination of flavors. So being the curious person that I am, I made these cookies this past week and they came out great. My husband ate 10 of them when they came out of the oven - and no - I'm not exaggerating, he really ate 10 of them! At least I was able to snap a picture of what was left.......

Butterscoth Spice Cookies

(from cdkitchen.com)

1 package spice cake mix
1/2 cup veg. oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 375. Combine cake mix, eggs, oil and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at low speed with electric mixer until well blended. Stir in buttercotch chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet. Remove to cooling racks. Cool completely.