Lemon Curd

We love lemon curd in our family. If you haven't tried it, you're missing out. =) It's basically a condiment you can use on toast....or as a sauce on cake or ice cream. Basically, you can use it anywhere you can use jams or syrups. It's yum, yum, yummy--especially if you're a lemon fan. MMMMM. This is the best recipe I've found.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
zest of 2 lemons
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
6T. butter

Directions:

Whisk together juice, zest, sugar, and eggs in a 2-quart heavy saucepan. Stir in butter and cook over moderately low heat, whisking frequently, until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk and first bubble appears on surface, about 6 minutes.

Strain lemon curd through a fine sieve into a container and chill, its surface covered with plastic wrap, until cold, at least 1 hour.

Original recipe from Epicurious.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

This is the Williams-Sonoma recipe--right out of their cookbook called "Baking."

We made it tonight and it was DELICIOUS. We topped it with strawberries.

Ingredients:
10 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used chocolate chips...)
3/4 c. butter, cut into pieces
2 t. vanilla
5 large eggs
1 c. white sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9" springform pan, and line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease the paper and dust with flour.

2. In a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, combine chocolate and butter. Heat, stirring until mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat and let cool. Whisk in vanilla.

3. In a large bowl, combine the eggs and sugar. Using an electric mixer set on medium-high speed, beat until the mixture lightens in color and triples in volume, about six minutes. Pour the chocolate mixture over the egg mixture. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold them together. Pour and scrap the batter into prepared pan.

4. Bake until the top forms a crust and cracks and a toothpick inserted in the center come out with some wet batter attached, about 45 minutes. transfer to a wire wrack. Immediately run a knife around the pan sides to loosen the cake; it will fall in the center. Press down on the edges to even the top. Let cool.

5. Release the pan sides and remove them. Trim off any crumbly edges. Invert a flat plate over the cake and then invert them together. Lift off the pan bottom and peel off the parchment paper. Frost if desire.

6. Refrigerate about 1 hour. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Request: Cooked Ham Recipes

Ok ladies. I've got left-over Easter ham. Buckets of it. My in-laws bought a HUGE ham and then left before they even made a dent in it. So, I've already done my two standard cooked ham recipes. What've you got? :)

Oh. And I should say-for those of you who don't know me, which I recognize is most of you, I need something simple right now. Your most gourmet cooked ham recipes won't do for me at the moment. I just had a baby and I've got 2 other kiddos, so something simple and family pleasing would be superb.

Thanks in advance! :)

Bread Maker Wheat Bread

Basically, I took this recipe and halved it (with some minor changes), but it came out GREAT in my bread machine.  YUM.

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups warm-to-hot water
3/4 T. yeast
3 T oil
1/4 cup honey
1 t. salt
1 T. gluten
1.5 cups white flour
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

Directions: 

- Put in bread machine.

- Set timer.

- Wake up to the best smell ever.

- Eat more than you should.

- Repeat as needed.

Whole Wheat Snickerdoodles

Adapted from AllRecipes.

Ingredients:
1 cup butter

1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:

- Cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy.

- Add eggs and vanilla.  Beat well.

- Add dry ingredients, except sugar and cinnamon.

- Mix sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl.

- Shape dough into small balls and roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture.

- Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.

- Bake at 375F for 8-10 minutes.

Two Reviews

I'd like to give two enthusiastic thumb-ups to both Canneloni and Chicken Gyros.  Both were excellent and will be added to our rotations!  The canneloni was quite possibly the easiest thing I have ever made, and the yogurt sauce that goes with the gyros is my new favorite dip.  YUM.

Thanks!

Chicken Sesame Pasta Salad

I had this at a baby shower last weekend and everyone there agreed that it was fantastic.

1 1/2 c. chicken, cooked and cut up
1 12-oz. bag pasta, cooked and drained (bowtie pasta is great)
1 bag baby spinach
1 green pepper, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
1/2 c. sliced almonds
3 T. sugar

Melt sugar over medium heat and add almonds. Stir until almonds are fully coated and sugar begins to crystallize. Combine all other ingredients in large bowl. Add almonds and dressing just prior to serving. Serves about 8.

Dressing
1/2 c. oil
1/3 c. soy sauce
1/3 c. red wine vinegar
1/4 c. toasted sesame seeds
1/4 c. fresh parsley
2 T. sugar
salt and pepper

Traditional Pizza Dough

Pizza (and breadsticks) Dough
1 1/2 C very warm water
1 packet yeast
1 t sugar
4 C flour
3 T olive oil
1 t salt

Combine warm water, yeast and sugar. Let stand for 5 min or until yeast foams. Gradually add flour. Add oil and salt. Knead for 5 min. Let rise for 30 min. Roll out dough. For breadsticks: After rolling out dough, prick with fork several times. Cook in 450 degree oven for 8 min. For pizza: After rolling out dough, top with sauce, cheese, and desired toppings. Cook in 450 degree oven for 10 - 12 min.

Two Reviews

Three enthusiastic thumbs up for Chicken Gyros and Honey Curry Chicken.

My three year-old ate both of them voraciously, as did my husband. They'll definitely be added to our dinner rotations!!!!

Thanks for posting!

"Classic Brownies"

I got this recipe from a Cook's Illustrated magazine that came in the mail one day. Have you ever seen America's Test Kitchen on PBS? The magazine is by those people. Anyway, this recipe is supposedly the ideal brownie, a "brownie to please everyone" -- "neither cakey nor fudgey." There's a whole article that preceedes the recipe about how the author achieved brownie perfection, but I'll just give you the recipe. For quite a while we were working our way through a stash of Betty Crocker box brownies, but once we ran out I decided to see if this recipe was all it claimed to be. This was the first time I'd ever made brownies with real baking chocolate, and I liked how they turned out. Sometime I'll try the cocoa powder+shortening substitution and see if it makes a difference. Anyway, this recipe is definitely more work than brownies from a box, but not tons more, and I decided after making them twice that they really are quite good. Now I wonder what others think (since my husband likes most anything).

Be sure to test for doneness before removing the brownies form the oven. If underbaked (the toothpick has batter clinging to it), the texture of the brownies will be dense and gummy; if overbaked (the toothpick comes out completely clean), the brownies will be dry and cakey. (This is their disclaimer, by the way.)

1 cup (4 oz.) pecans or walnuts, chopped medium (optional)
1 1/4 cups (5 oz.) cake flour (but I did an all-purpose conversion: 1 c. + 1 1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour. You're welcome.)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
6 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped fine (next time I make these I'm going to try them with less chocolate, just to see)
12 Tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into six 1-inch pieces
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 325 degrees. Cut 18-inch length foil and fold lengthwise to 8-inch width. Fit foil into length of 13 by 9-inch baking dish, pushing it into corners and up sides of pan; allow excess to overhang pan edges. Cut 14-inch length of foil and, if using extra-wide foil, fold lengthwise to 12-inch width; fit into width of baking pan in same manner, perpendicular to first sheet. (Okay, this didn't make any sense to me (I needed a picture to understand what they were talking about) so I just line the pan with foil. I think that's all they're going for.) Spray foil-lined pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. If using nuts, spread nuts evenly on rimmed baking sheet and toast in oven until fragrant, 5 to 8 minutes. Set aside to cool.
3. Whisk to combine flour, salt, and baking powder in medium bowl; set aside.
4. Melt chocolate and butter in large heatproof bowl set over saucepan of almost-simmering water, stirring occasionally, until smooth. (Alternatively, in microwave, heat butter and chocolate in large microwave-safe bowl on high for 45 seconds, then stir and heat for 30 seconds more. Stir again, and, if necessary, repeat in 15-second increments; do not let chocolate burn.) When cocolate mixture is completely smooth, remove bowl from saucepan and gradually whisk in sugar. Add eggs one at a time, whisking after each addition until thoroughly combined. Whisk in vanilla. Add flour mixture in three additions, folding with rubber spatula until batter is completely smooth and homogeneous.
5. Transfer batter to prepared pan; using spatula, spread batter into corners of pan and smooth surface. Sprinkle toasted nuts (if using) evenly over batter and bake until toothpick or wooden skewer inserted into center of brownies comes out with few moist crumbs attached, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool on wire rack to room temperature, about 2 hours, then remove brownies from pan by lifting foil overhang. Cut brownies tin 2-inch squares and serve. (Store leftovers in airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.)