Pie In A Bag

{image via The Elegant Farmer}

Have you ever heard of The Elegant Farmer?    This Milwaukee bakery is famous for baking the most delicious apple pies...in a bag.  They actually bake them in the brown paper bag, and the result is pure poetry.  As someone who does not typically enjoy pie (I don't like the texture of crust), I was skeptical when a co-worker brought one in.  It is truly the most delicious pie ever, with a sweet sugar cookie crust and piles of tart, tender apples inside.

On Sunday I decided to try and recreate this perfect pie using a number of copycat recipes from the internet.  After conquering the fear of putting a brown paper bag in a hot oven (several frantic phone calls to friends and family ensued), I ended up with a decent pie, though it didn't look or taste much like The Elegant Farmer's pie perfection.  Some say the secret is tapioca pearls to thicken the filling, or rice flour for a crunchy crust.  I tried both, but mine did not have the Elegant Farmer's magic formula.  There's always next time.

Recipe: Skillet Cookie

A few weeks ago, we had an impromptu visit from friends, and I found myself without a planned meal or dessert.   Dinner was simple enough to pull together, but I'm not a particularly talented baker, so the prospect of a quick and easy dessert was slightly more daunting.  Rummaging through the cupboards and fridge, I found some chocolate chips, heavy cream and not much else.  From those meager beginnings, the skillet cookie was born.

Recipe:  Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie

adapted from the Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 large egg

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp vanilla

Pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips or chunks (I like milk chocolate, but semi-sweet work well also)

Method:

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

-Combine flour, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

-Combine butter and both sugars. Add in egg and vanilla and blend in an electric mixer or using a hand mixer.

-Slowly add in flour until mixture is combined. 

-Stir in chocolate chips.

-Press dough into iron skillet (8 or 10" skillet will work).

-Bake 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.

-Serve in slices with whipped cream.

Rice Cooker Oatmeal

Oatmeal is one of my favorite breakfast foods.  I'm not talking about the mushy, drippy, done in thirty seconds oatmeal.  Steel cut, slow cooking, ridiculously chewy oats please. Unfortunately, what makes slow cooking oats taste good is a little something I can't seem to find enough of...time.  Until, that is, a friend suggested I put them in my rice cooker.
So I did.  And...voila!

Rice Cooker Oatmeal (serves 4)
Ingredients:
2 cups steel cut Irish oats (I prefer McCann's)
4 cups water

Method:
Put oats and water in your rice cooker.  I put mine in the night before and let everything soak.  The next morning, I press "cook"and walk away for about 30 minutes.  Rice cooker will switch to "warm" setting when done.  Seriously, could it be any easier?  No crazy stirring or waiting involved.

Serve with your choice of toppings, including brown sugar, nuts and dried or fresh fruit.
I like to portion the oats in small Tupperware containers and save them for a week of breakfasts. I also like to serve them with a fresh bouquet of peonies on the table, courtesy of my garden.  But that part is totally optional. Enjoy!

Pork and Greens

This recipe is one of my favorite weeknight go-to dinners.  It's an extremely simple dish, not even a dish so much as a few ingredients thrown together after everyone else has been fed.  Loosely adapted from the traditional Szechuan dish "Ants in a Tree", I give you the cleverly named "pork and greens".

Ingredients:

1/2 lb ground pork

3 cups bok choy (dark green portion)

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp sesame oil

2 tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp grated ginger

2 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 small yellow onion, diced

2 cups rice

sriracha (optional)

Method:

• Stir cornstarch into pork until the pork is lightly coated.  Stir in soy sauce and sugar.  Set aside.
• Heat wok on high, adding half the vegetable oil and half the grated ginger.  When wok is smoking, add pork.  Stir fry the seasoned pork until it is completely cooked through and there is no pink remaining.  Some bits will have a crispy brown edge.  Remove from wok and set aside.
• Add the remaining vegetable oil and grated ginger to the wok.  Wok should already be warm and therefore heat quickly. Add diced yellow onion to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes until fragrant.  Add the greens and let them cook down in the pan.  Stir to coat with oil.  Add the sesame oil and stir. 
• Once the greens have cooked down and are dark in color, return the pork to the pan.  Stir the pork mixture into the greens until combined. 
• Serve over a bed of rice (I prefer Thai sticky rice, but Jasmine will work nicely too).  Dot with Sriracha for a bit of heat.  Serve and enjoy.

Greek Salad Skewers

I love a greek salad.  The cool, refreshing taste of cucumber and tomatoes mixed with pungent feta cheese, rich black olives...I could go on and on.  And I am consistently intrigued by the array of food one can serve on a stick (probably stems from my childhood years spent attending various midwest county and state fairs).  So you can imagine my excitement when I stumbled onto this awesome appetizer idea from Yumsugar.  Greek salad bites.  How completed inspired.  Wish I would have thought of it.

{image via}

I will be serving these at my next party.  In fact, I may need to throw a party just so I can make them.  Consider yourselves invited.

The Intimidating Ingredient

I consider myself a pretty good cook considering my complete lack of formal training.  I'm usually willing to try anything once, and don't have a problem tackling strange ingredients or recipes (usually those of the Asian variety).

But there's one food that leaves me shivering at the very thought of preparing.  No, it's not tripe.  Nope, not blowfish.  Not even the dreaded Macaron.

It's this cute and unassuming little artichoke.   I'm afraid of the thorns!  I'm scared of the choke!  I'm terrified of being afraid of a vegetable!  Okay, I'll stop.  This weekend, I'm overcoming my fear and preparing artichokes using this handy step by step guide.

Wish me luck.  I'll let you know how it goes.

image via

Sushi for Kids

I am in a serious cooking rut.  Lately I have felt like a robot, serving the same meals to the kids over and over.  Pasta, chicken, pasta, turkey, and a little more pasta.  Did I mention my children have a deep love for noodles?  It brings back memories of my childhood, where my mom would say "If you keep eating that, you're going to turn into a (insert foodstuff here)."  I'm having nightmares of driving cavatappi and rotini to school.  Scary stuff, I know. In an effort to get help, I've been navigating the web in search of kid-friendly food ideas NOT involving noodles.  And voila....

Check out this clever idea from the folks over at The Kitchn.

{image via The Kitchn}

Fruit and peanut butter sushi.  Looks totally yummy, healthy, and non-noodley.  I am adding this little recipe into the dinner rotation.  

What are your go-to kid dinners?

Kebabs, Rice and Chopped Salad Recipe

With my husband back at work and enjoying every type of artery-clogging fast food during his lunch hour, we’ve tried to make dinners as healthy and easy as possible.  This meal totally fits the bill.  Don’t let the long list of ingredients scare you away; any of the recipes can be modified to include whatever meat, seafood, veggies and type of rice you have in your fridge or pantry.

METHOD:
All recipes serve 4

Napa Chopped Salad
napa cabbage
red cabbage
jicama
red pepper
edamame
carrots
green onion
daikon radish

The salad is a breeze to prepare as long as you have a sharp knife and a little bit of patience. Finely chop all ingredients in amounts and ratios of your liking. My personal preference is to for everything to be chopped finely or julienned, but it is really up to you. Drizzle with the soy vinaigrette and enjoy as a starter or side.

Soy Vinaigrette (chopped salad dressing and kebab marinade)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/8 cup sesame oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 clove chopped garlic
salt and pepper to taste

In a bowl, whisk together all ingredients except the oils.  While whisking, slowly add oils until the dressing is emulsified.  If you like your dressing a little sweeter, you can use sugar instead of honey.

Kebabs
1 pound top sirloin
½ pound sea scallops
1 Bell pepper (color of your choice)
1 yellow onion
1 cup cubed fresh pineapple
2 zucchinis
cherry tomatoes

Step 1:
Cut the top sirloin into 1.5” x 1.5” pieces and marinate them for at least 2 hours but up to 24 hours in the soy vinaigrette. Make sure to set ¼ cup aside to dress your salad.

Step 2:
Wash and dry the scallops well, and season with salt, pepper and a pinch of white sugar.

Step 3:
Cut all remaining ingredients in roughly 1” x 1” squares.

Step 4:
Skewer the meats and veggies, alternating approximately one piece of meat to three fruits or veggies. I usually have 3-4 pieces of meat or fish on a skewer and serve two skewers to each person.  If you're using wood skewers, make sure to pre-soak them to avoid any splinters.  Ouch!

Step 5:
Grill to desired doneness. Serve with rice and salad. 

Yellow Rice
2 cups long grain rice
1 tbsp turmeric
¼ cup chopped onion
1 clove chopped garlic
3 cups chicken stock
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Pinch of salt

Step 1:
Place rice in the rice cooker or make according to package instructions, substituting chicken stock for water.

Step 2:
Heat vegetable oil in a pan and fry onion and garlic until fragrant. Add rice and mix in turmeric with a couple tablespoons of chicken stock.

Step 3:
Cook for a few minutes until the rice starts to develop a crispy layer on the bottom. Stir and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with kebabs.

Nueske's Bacon Fried Rice

At the risk of sounding passé, I adore bacon.  Specifically Nueske's bacon. Yes, I know bacon was sooooo last year's food trend, but it's still my absolute favorite pork product.  Whenever I cook Nueske's, it immediately conjures up memories of the Sunday morning breakfasts of my childhood.  My dad would cook us each an egg over easy, two slices of crispy, liberally buttered toast, and a slice or two of smoky, delicious Nueske's bacon.

As an adult, I found myself searching for clever ways to incorporate bacon into some of my typical recipes, which is where I came up with bacon fried rice. 

This recipe seems to change each time I make it, as I substitute various veggies that I have in my crisper.  The one constant is the bacon, and I highly recommend using the Nueske's brand for the perfect smoky flavor.

METHOD:

I like to start every recipe by preparing all of my ingredients, particularly if they involve a substantial amount of chopping and cutting as this recipe does.

-1/2 peeled and coarsely chopped carrots

-1 small yellow or white onion chopped

-3 green onions chopped

-5 slices bacon - cut into lardons

-3/4 cup frozen peas

-2 eggs - beaten

-4 cups pre-cooked, chilled short grain rice

-2 tbsp soy sauce

-2 tbsp oyster sauce

Once you've prepped your ingredients, scramble the two eggs first.  This way won't discolor from the soy sauce you'll be adding later.  Once the eggs are scrambled in small pieces, set aside.

Next, you'll fry your bacon.  Pop it into the heated wok and let the lardons fry until they are crispy. The bacon grease will also serve as your oil when frying the vegetables and rice. 

When the bacon is crispy, add your carrots and yellow onion and fry for a few minutes until both are softened.  It's very important to let the bacon cook completely before adding the veggies, as the moisture in the vegetables will prevent undercooked bacon from properly crisping.  Add the peas a couple of minutes later -- they basically have to steam.

Once the veggies are cooked, you'll add approximately four cups of cold, precooked, short grain rice.  I like to cook my rice in a rice cooker the day before and let it sit in the refrigerator and harden a bit, making it much easier to cook and less likely to get mushy when fried.

You'll need to break up the clumps and stir the rice until it mixes with the vegetables and bacon and begins to brown.   Once everything is combined, leave it alone and let it cook for a couple of minutes before turning it.  Be very careful not to overstir your rice. 

Next, add two tablespoons of oyster sauce and two tablespoons of soy sauce.   I like to start with those amounts, gradually adding more soy sauce until the rice reaches the light brown color I am looking for.  Keep in mind, it is easy to add more sauce, but adding too much will result in a super salty and not very tasty dish.

Now that the sauce has been added, stir it in completely and let the rice continue to fry for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Turn off the heat and mix in the eggs that you scrambled earlier.  Garnish with green onion.  Enjoy!