Cheddar-Polenta Puff

Ok, so they can’t all be winners, right? Basically this is a cheese souffle. I really should not have attempted this recipe, since I had an needy toddler running around, and the recipe was on my laptop, which was across the kitchen, and I would have to read out the recipe to myself a sentence at a time. Whew! This “puff” did not rise all the way to the top of the dish like it should have. I think I may have overmixed it while adding the egg whites. In any case, it TASTED good. This one bad experience will not ruin souffles for me in the future. I will bounce back from this and give them another try.

rating: 6

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/grains/cheddar-polenta-puff/
Ingredients

* 4  egg whites
* 1-1/2  cups fat-free milk (I used Silk plain soy milk)
* 2  tablespoons finely chopped red sweet pepper
* 1  tablespoon thinly sliced green onion (I omitted)
* 1/4  teaspoon salt
* 1/8  teaspoon ground red pepper
* 1/3  cup cornmeal
* 1  egg yolk, slightly beaten
* 1/4  cup grated Parmesan cheese
* 1/4  cup shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese (1 ounce)*
*   Nonstick spray coating

Directions

Allow egg whites to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large heavy saucepan combine milk, sweet pepper, green onion, salt, and red pepper. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture just begins to bubble. Slowly add cornmeal, stirring constantly. Cook and stir over medium heat about 5 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken. Remove from heat. Stir half of the cornmeal mixture into the egg yolk. Return mixture to the saucepan. Stir in Parmesan cheese and cheddar cheese until melted.

Lightly spray a 1-1/2-quart soufflé dish with nonstick coating; set aside. In a large mixing bowl beat egg whites with an electric mixer on medium to high speed until stiff peaks form (tips stand straight). Gently fold about half of the beaten egg whites into the cheese mixture. Gradually pour cheese mixture over remaining beaten egg whites, folding to combine. Pour into prepared soufflé dish.

Bake in a 375 degree F oven about 25 minutes or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean and top is golden brown. Serve immediately. Makes 4 servings.

Banana Banana Bread

Last Friday I noticed that I had 4 sad-looking bananas on my counter. They were too far gone for me to eat them in cereal, so I thought, YES, I have an excuse to make banana bread! So I looked online for a recipe, and found one pretty quickly that even used stuff I already had in my pantry! Score! This recipe is pretty fool-proof. I did add a teaspoon of vanilla and some chopped-up walnuts and pecans. This bread is so moist and flavorful. I had 2 slices (what?) and then cut the loaf in half to give to two neighbors. I can’t have food like this in my house- too dangerous. This will be my go-to recipe for banana bread from now on.

rating: 9

Banana Banana Bread

(from www.allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

 

Mushroom Not-Potpies with Cheesy Parmesan Crust

I’ve always been scared to work with puff pastry. It’s intimidating! But not anymore. I’ve had a box of puff pastry in my freezer for wayyyy too long, and I finally got up the nerve to cook with it. Let me just start out by saying that THIS RECIPE IS AWESOME. I mean, really, how can you go wrong with heavy cream, brie, and puff pastry? Some substitutions I made: instead of parmigiano-reggiano cheese, I used plain old Parmesan. Instead of cremini mushrooms, I used baby bellas, since Wegmans was out of the cremini. For the cooking wine, I used cooking sherry. This dish, although it might not look it, is relatively quick to prepare (under a half hour). I bet if you didn’t want to shell out the $ for the brie you could use another soft cheese (or you know, it actually tasted really good even before I added the brie). Toby really liked this, and said that it was “really good” and it’s “something different”.

rating: 9.5

Mushroom Not-Potpies with Cheesy Parmesan Crust
(from the magazine Everyday with Rachael Ray)

* 1 sheet puff pastry (9-inch square), thawed but cold
* 1 egg, beaten with a little water
* 1/2 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese (I used plain Parmesan)
* 2 baking potatoes (1-1/2 pounds), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
* Salt
* 4 cups chopped kale or Swiss chard (I used kale)
* 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 2-1/2 pounds cremini mushrooms, halved (I used baby bellas)
* 3 cloves garlic, chopped
* 7 sprigs sage, thinly sliced
* Pepper
* 1/2 cup Marsala or cooking wine (I used sherry)
* 1 cup heavy cream
* 8 ounces ripe brie cheese, rind discarded, cut into small pieces

1.Preheat the oven to 425°. Roll out the puff pastry into a 12-inch square. Set aside four 2-cup bowls; invert 1 bowl onto the pastry and cut out 4 rounds. Place on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet and brush with the egg. Sprinkle with half of the parmigiano-reggiano cheese. Bake until golden, 12 minutes. Let cool.
2.In a large saucepan, add the potatoes and enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, salt the water and cook until tender, 7 minutes. Add the kale and cook for 2 minutes; drain.
3.In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons EVOO and the butter over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 12 minutes. Add the garlic and sage; season with salt and pepper. Cook until the garlic is slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Add the wine and cook until slightly reduced, about 1 minute. Add the cream and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and fold in the brie and remaining parmigiano-reggiano until melted. Stir in the potatoes and greens. Fill the bowls with the mushroom mixture and top with the crust.

Kale-Goat Cheese Frittata

I tell ya, I am loving all of these frittatas I am making. Why did I ever shy away from them before? They really couldn’t be easier. This one, I thought, might not have alot of flavor, since the only cheese in it are the dollups (or crumbles) of goat cheese near the end. But wow! This was REALLY good! I couldn’t believe how much flavor this had! Toby really likes it too, although his one piece of wisdom for next time was “maybe 15% less kale next time.” Ok.

rating: 8.5

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/eggs/kale-goat-cheese-frittata/

Mushroom Frittata

I love frittatas. They are just so darn easy! And I think that they just look like you spent so much time making them, when you really didn’t. This recipe is from Cooking Light magazine, and they don’t taste light at all! Toby and I each had 2 wedges, and it was so good we could have eaten more. I couldn’t find any Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese that was vegetarian, so I just used some shredded Parmesan that we had in the fridge, and that totally worked. I will make this one again! I served this with a green salad.

rating: 9

Mushroom Frittata
(from the Oct. 2009 issue of Cooking Light magazine)

1 8-ounce package exotic mushroom blend
1/2 cup shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh Thyme
3 large egg whites
2 large eggs
freshly ground black pepper
salt

Preheat broiler. Heat an 8″ ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add mushrooms to pan; saute 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Place mushrooms in a medium bowl; cool slightly. Wipe pan clean with paper towels. Combine mushrooms, cheese, thyme, 1.4 tsp freshly ground black pepper, 1/8 tsp salt, egg whites and eggs in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Heat pan over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add mushroom mixture; cook, covered, for 3 minutes or until almost set. Broil 3 minutes or until egg is set. Cut into 4 wedges. Yield- 4 servings.

Rustic Potato Tart

Back in August I posted the recipe for “Rustic Mushroom Tart” (and if you haven’t tried it, you are really missing out!). I decided to modify it a bit and see if potatoes would work as the filling instead of mushrooms. Well, they do! I pretty much followed the same recipe, except instead of mushrooms I used a mixture of French fingerling potatoes and red new potatoes. I got the French fingerlings because they looked pretty. I parboiled the potatoes first, and then sauteed them in butter and rosemary. I tell ya, that was pretty much heaven right there! This turned out really pretty, and the only critique Toby and I had was that it was a teensy bit dry. Next time I might add some more cheese. Also, I used a different brand of pie crust, so I am not sure if that made a difference. SO good.

rating: 9

Rustic Potato Tart
(from Southern Living magazine)

*note: this recipe is actually for a Vidalia Onion Tart, and I subbed potatoes for the onions

2 tbsp butter
4 medium-sized Vidalia onions, thinly-sliced, about 6 1/2 cups (I used about 6 French fingerling potatoes and about 8 red new potatoes)
1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 package refrigerated pie crusts (15 ounces)
parchment paper
1 egg white, lightly beaten
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded Gruyere cheese

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Wash potatoes and cut into halves or quarters, depending on the size. Parboil for about 15 minutes. Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; add onion (potatoes) and next 3 ingredients. Cook, stirring occasionally, 8 minutes or until tender.
2. Unroll pie crust onto a lightly-floured surface. Pat or roll into a 12″ circle. Place pie crust on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Brush with egg white. Sprinkle 1/2 cup cheese in center of crust. Spoon onion (potato) mixture over cheese, leaving a 2 1/2″ border. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup cheese over onion (potato). Fold pie crust border up and over onion (potato), pleating as you go and leaving a 4″ wide opening in center. Brush crust with egg white.
3. Bake at 425 degrees F on bottom oven rack 17-19 minutes or until crust is golden. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Rosemary Tomato Artichoke Tart

So today I think I made my first tart crust. Like, from scratch. It was scary! But kind of neat. This was almost too much for my little food processor to handle, but it pulled through. It was tough rolling out the dough big enough for the tart pan. It didn’t look too pretty, but boy, was it good! Toby said “wow, this is really good”, like, three times I think. That means it’s good, people! The hardest part is the dough, but if you can make a tart crust like this, you can do just about anything.

rating: 9.3

Rosemary Tomato Artichoke Tart
(from Tracy on www.tastykitchen.com)

* ¼ cups Fresh Rosemary
* 1 clove Garlic
* 1 teaspoon Salt
* 1 cup Unbleached All-purpose Flour
* 1 stick Butter
* 4 Tablespoons Ice Water
* ½ cups Feta Cheese
* 12 ounces, weight Mozzarella Cheese, Shredded
* 7 ounces, weight Artichokes, In Brine, Sliced
* 2 whole Tomatoes, Sliced

First, remove the leaves from the rosemary sprigs. You’ll only need two or three.

Put the rosemary leaves and garlic into your food processor and chop. Add the flour and salt, and chop again to combine. Cut the butter into pieces and add it in. Pulse until the mixture consists of large crumbs.

Add in the water 1 Tbsp at a time and pulsing after each addition. After 4 Tbsp have been added, pulse to see if the mixture will form a ball. If not, add another Tbsp of water. Otherwise, remove the dough from the food processor.

Place the ball of dough in a small resealable bag and flatten it a bit. Refrigerate it for an hour. You can also freeze it at this point if you’d like.

Next, roll out the dough on a well-floured surface into a circle big enough for an 11″ tart pan. Press the dough into the tart pan and trim it to fit.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Sprinkle the bottom of the tart shell with mozzarella and feta cheese. Sprinkle the artichokes over the cheese, and then set some of the tomato slices on top. Add a second layer of the cheeses, artichokes, and tomatoes. Cover with mozzarella cheese.

Bake until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is golden and bubbly, about 40 minutes. Cool on a rack for 10-15 minutes before slicing.

Marian’s Savory Vegetable Bread Pudding

This recipe was on the same page as the Buttermilk- Garlic dressing, so I actually served them together. This recipe was pretty straight-forward, no surprises. Toby really liked it, as did I. There’s just something about bread pudding that I love. I think it’s the bread. This recipe is good for when you’ve got some bread you need to use up, and you can also switch the veggies around to use up what you have in your fridge.

rating: 8.5

Marian’s Savory Vegetable Bread Pudding
(from the Sept. 2009 issue of Southern Living magazine)

1 bunch Swiss chard (about 1 pound)
6 large eggs
1 cup milk (I used Silk lite plain)
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp pepper
3 cups cubed Ciabatta bread (about 1″ cubes)
1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 8-ounce package sliced fresh mushrooms
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tbsp olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove and discard ribs from Swiss chard. Rinse with cold water; drain and coarsely chop.
2. Whisk together eggs and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl; stir in bread and half of cheese.
3. Saute mushrooms and next 3 ingredients in hot oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat 8 minutes. Stir in Swiss chard, and saute 2 minutes. Fold vegetable mixture into egg mixture. Pour into a lightly greased 11 x 7″ baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.
4. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until center is set. Let stand 5 minutes.

Spinach-mushroom Quiche

This is one of those recipe “re-do’s”…the kind where they take a high-fat recipe and make it lower-fat. Yeah. I thought this one would be interesting to try because of the crust- this crust is made of shredded potatoes! It sounds good in theory, but I didn’t love it. Toby said it was ok. He liked it more than I did. I didn’t throw any of it away and ate the leftovers for lunch, but still. Yeah.

rating: 5

Spinach-mushroom Quiche
(from the latest issue of Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine)

2 tbsp plus 1 tsp EVOO
4 yellow-fleshed potatoes, such as yukon gold (about 12 ounces)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 tbsp cornstarch
salt and pepper
two 5-ounce containers baby spinach
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
3 ounces Swiss cheese, shredded
2 large eggs plus 2 large egg whites
2/3 cup milk (I used Silk lite plain soy milk)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.. Grease a 9″ glass pie dish with 1 tsp olive oil. Using a food processor fitted with a shredding attachment, shred the potatoes; transfer to a large bowl and stir in the onion, cornstarch, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.
2. In a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Add the potato mixture, flattening it into a 10″ layer, and cook until the bottom is golden, about 10 minutes. Loosen, then invert onto the pie dish and mold into a crust. Bake about 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, preheat the skillet over high heat. Add the spinach and 1/4 cup water and cook, stirring, until wilted; drain. Squeeze out any excess water. Chop the spinach.
4. In the same skillet, heat the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 6 minutes. Add the spinach; season with salt. Spoon half of the spinach mixture into the crust, add the cheese, then top with the remaining spinach mixture.
5. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg whites, milk, 1/4 tsp salt and 1.4 tsp pepper. Pour into the pie dish and bake until set, 20-25 minutes.

Rustic Mushroom Tart

My other MIL made this for us on our last visit to NC, and I had to have the recipe. The recipe is really for a Vidalia Onion Tart, and she said that is good, too, but that she had made it so much that they got sick of it. She made it for us with the mushrooms, hoping it would turn out, and it certainly did! Mmmm!All she changed in the recipe is leaving out the onions and adding mushrooms. I didn’t even ask her what kind she used, but I used a mixture of button mushrooms and baby bellas, and this was great. It’s surprisingly easy, but it looks like you spent alot of time in the kitchen! I asked Toby what he would change, and he said “well, there’s alot of ways you could change it up, but I liked it just fine the way it is. ” There ya go! With this we enjoyed a green salad. Try it with the onions, if you like, or go for the mushrooms. Wonder what else would be good in it? Potatoes? Spinach?

rating: 9.5

Rustic Mushroom Tart
(from Southern Living magazine)

*note: this recipe is actually for a Vidalia Onion Tart, and I subbed mushrooms for the onions

2 tbsp butter
4 medium-sized Vidalia onions, thinly-sliced, about 6 1/2 cups (I used a container of pre-sliced button mushrooms and a container of pre-sliced baby bellas)
1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 package refrigerated pie crusts (15 ounces)
parchment paper
1 egg white, lightly beaten
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded Gruyere cheese

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; add onion (mushrooms) and next 3 ingredients. Cook, stirring occasionally, 8 minutes or until tender.
2. Unroll pie crust onto a lightly-floured surface. Pat or roll into a 12″ circle. Place pie crust on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Brush with egg white. Sprinkle 1/2 cup cheese in center of crust. Spoon onion (mushroom) mixture over cheese, leaving a 2 1/2″ border. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup cheese over onion (mushroom). Fold pie crust border up and over onion (mushroom), pleating as you go and leaving a 4″ wide opening in center. Brush crust with egg white.
3. Bake at 425 degrees F on bottom oven rack 17-19 minutes or until crust is golden. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.