A Chocolate Cake

With fondant roses. Simple but pretty.

Lasagna Roll-Ups

I like this tasty recipe as part of our meatless meals plans - it's filling and hearty without meat or beans. Taken from an original recipe in Cooks Country, I made a few changes that I think punch things up a little bit (though the changes probably knock it out of the 30 minute meal category into a 45 minute meal).

8-10 no boil lasagna noodles
15 oz. container ricotta
1 block mozzarella, shredded 8 or 10 oz. (approx 2 cups?)
1.5 cups grated parmesan cheese
1 cup cheddar, shredded
1 large egg
1/2 cup chopped basil (or 1/4 dried basil)
1/2 tsp salt
1 can, 20 oz, crushed tomatoes
2 onions, chopped
3 tsbp olive oil
2 tbsp minced garlic

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place the noodles in a microwave safe dish with hot tap water, enough to cover noodles. Microwave until noodles are softened, 3 to 6 minutes. Discard water. Dry noodles on clean towel.
2. Combine ricotta, 1 cup mozzarella, 1 cup cheddar, 1 cup parmesan, egg, salt, and half the basil in a bowl.
3. Saute onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until onion is soft. Remove from heat, add crushed tomatoes and remaining basil. Spread half the tomato sauce in a 9x13 dish, set the other half aside.
4. With the short side facing you, dollop 1/4 cup of the ricotta mixture on each noodle, roll up. Arrange seam side down in the dish. Pour the remaining tomato sauce over all.
5. Sprinkle remaining cheese over top the rolls, cover with foil and bake until heated through, 10-12 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 5 additional minutes, or until cheese is browned. Let stand 5 minutes and serve.

This makes a pretty hefty portion...but it freezes and reheats well, and makes great leftovers for lunches.

Creamy Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

This was a post-Thanksgiving recipe, but I just tried it out now - I made the stock from just the carcass of a turkey breast I had roasted, rather than doing a whole turkey (a breast is like 1/20th of the work!) and the stock came out just fine. For 2 or 3 people I cut the recipe in half...anything more than that and go for the full recipe. It reheats well. :-)

Turkey Broth 2 tbsp butter 2 chopped onions 1 celery rib 1 leftover turkey carcass, chopped into 4 pieces 3 cups white wine 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth

Soup 1 cup wild rice 4 carrots, peeled and chopped 2 celery ribs, chopped 1/2 tsp dried thyme 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/4 c all purpose flour 1 cup heavy cream 3 cups chopped cooked turkey salt and pepper

1. For the broth - melt butter in a large dutch oven over med high heat. Cook onions, celery, and carcass until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add wine and broth and simmer over low heat for 1 hour. Strain broth, discard solids.
2. For the soup - wipe out the dutch oven (or if you have 2, lucky you!) and toast the rice over medium heat until it begins to pop, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in turkey broth, carrots, celery, thyme, and baking soda, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until rice is tender, about 1 hour.
3. Whisk flour and cream in a bowl until smooth. Slowly whisk flour mixture into the soup. Add turkey and simmer until slightly thickened, 10 mintues. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

If you find it easier to make in two steps - broth first, refrigerate, then soup the next day - that works too.

Warm Black Bean and Corn Salad (with Honey-Lime Salmon)

This is a tasty, sweet and spicy, soft and crunchy warm salad. I'm not a huge fan of salmon but this would be excellent alongside chicken made in the same honey-lime marinade....someone pointed me to this recipe in a Rachael Ray cookbook, and I am always up for new salads and sides.

The red pepper in this recipe kicks it up quite a few notches - if you don't like spicy things cut the red pepper flakes in half, or omit all together. If you like spice, then flame away!

• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (divided use)

• 1 medium red onion, chopped

• 2 large garlic cloves, chopped

• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

• 1 teaspoon ground cumin (1/3 palmful)

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

• Juice of 2 limes

• 3 tablespoons honey (3 gobs)

• 1 teaspoon chili powder (1/3 palmful)

• 4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets

• 1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped

• 1 (10-ounce) box frozen corn kernels, defrosted

• 1/2 cup chicken stock or broth

• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained

• 2 to 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

• 6 cups baby spinach

1. Preheat a medium skillet over medium heat with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil (twice around the pan). Add the onions, garlic, red pepper flakes, cumin, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes. (this will be your salad skillet)
   

2. While the onions are cooking, preheat a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

3. In a shallow dish, combine the juice of 1 lime, honey, chili powder, and salt and pepper to taste. Add the salmon fillets to the lime-honey mixture and toss to coat thoroughly. Add the seasoned salmon to the hot skillet and cook until just cooked through, about 3 to 4 minutes on each side. (if you are not for salmon, use the marinade to cook chicken or other fish - shrimp would be good too- however you like)
   

4. To the cooked onions, add the bell pepper and corn kernels and cook for 1 minute.

5. Add the chicken (I use vegetable) stock and continue to cook for another 2 minutes.

6. Add the black beans and cook until the beans are just heated through.

7. Remove the skillet from the heat and add the juice of the second lime, the cilantro and the spinach. Toss to wilt the spinach and then taste and adjust the seasoning.

8. Serve the lime-and-honey-glazed salmon on top of the warm black bean and corn salad.

Authentic Beef Enchiladas

This is an excellent recipe that I pulled from the October Issue of Cook's Country. It's not a quick-n-easy dinner - the beef must simmer for an hour and a half and putting the whole thing together I'd estimate it takes 2.5 hours or so in total - but on a Sunday evening when you have the free time, it's just delicious - mexican restaurant quality enchiladas in a smoky, flavorful sauce. Despite the magazine recommendation for blade steak, I used a thin chuck steak and had just as excellent results. If you use chuck steak, the key is to have small pieces. Both steaks are inexpensive. If you like your enchiladas on the mild side, don't use the full 1/4 cup of jalapenos, I also love black beans and I threw about 1/2 cup into the beef mixture before filling the tortillas. Without traipsing down to Mexico, the beef in this recipe is as authentic as you can get!

3 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbsp chili powder
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 tsp sugar
Salt
1 to 1.25 lbs blade or chuck steaks, trimmed to small pieces
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
½ cup water
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack or mild cheddar
¼ cup chopped cilantro
¼ cup canned japapenos, chopped fine
12 (6-inch) corn tortillas, white or yellow

1. Combine garlic, chili powder, coriander, cumin, sugar, and 1 tsp salt in a small bowl. Pat the meat dry and sprinkle with salt. Heat oil in a dutch oven (or I used just a deep saucepan) over med high heat. Cook meat until browned on both sides. Transfer the meat to a plate. Add chopped onions to the pot and cook over medium heat until golden, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic mixture and cook till fragrent, about 1 minute. Add tomato sauce and water, bring to a boil. Return meat and juices to the pot, cover, reduce heat to low, and gently simmer till meat is tender and can br broken apart with a wooden spoon or fork, about 1 ½ hours.

2. Adjust oven rack t the middle position and heat oven to 350. Strain the beef mixture over a medium bowl, breaking meat into small pieces, reserve the sauce. Transfer meat to a bowl and mix with the cilantro, jalapenos, and 1 cup of cheese.

3. Spread ¾ cup of sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Microwave tortillas 6 at a time until soft, 1 minute. Spread 1/3 cup beef mixture down the center of each tortilla, roll the tortillas tightly, and set in the baking dish seam side down. Repeat with remaining tortillas and beef, you may have to fit a few down the sides of the pan. Pour the remaining sauce over enchiladas and spread to coat evenly. Sprinkle remaining cheese over, wrap with foil, and baked until heated through, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking till cheese browns slightly, 5 minutes. Serve with yellow rice, refried beans, and sour cream!

Herbed Roasted Potatoes

One of the easiest (though with the baking time not necessarily the quickest) side dishes one can come up with is roasted potatoes. Particularly if you use new potatoes, or small creamers - they usually have few eyes and imperfections and not a lot of dirt to be scrubbed, so they can just be chopped in half quickly. But they are simple and tasty and always a hit with the meat-and-potatoes crowed (namely, my husband).

If you don't have these herbs or spices handy, improvise and make your own. Just be sure that you are generous with the salt and the cracked pepper.

Herbed Roasted Potatoes

2-3 lbs of red or gold new potatoes, creamers, or small yukon golds
1/4 to 1/3 cup olive oil
2 generous tablespoons of parsley - dried, or chopped fresh
1 tbsp NaCl
several peppermill twists of cracked pepper - probably equaling 2 tbsp or so
pinch or two of dried rosemary
sprinkle of garlic salt or 1/2 tsp minced garlic

Rinse (or wash if they are super dirty) the potatoes and dig out any eyes and peel out any bad spots, leaving as much skin intact as possible.

For smaller potatoes, cut them in half - for larger new potatoes (larger meaning length of more than 2 inches or so) cut them into quarters. Put the cut potatoes in a large mixing bowl and toss with the olive oil and spices until evenly coated. Spread the coated potatoes evenly on a dark baking sheet and bake in the oven at 400 for 40-45 minutes, or until done.

If you have so many potatoes that a single layer on the baking sheet isn't possible, use two sheets! In the photo below I am obviously heavy on the parsley (because I like it), so if yours don't look quite so "herbed" that is just fine. You can serve them straight out of the oven, or top with a pat of butter if you like. Leftovers are great in the morning alongside scrambled eggs!

Hobby Night Cakes

Every year our church has a hobby night - where people can set up tables and showcase their hobbies. So I thought this year to have a table for cake! Since it is a hobby and all. I had a few different kinds of cakes brought in and gave them away to people who asked, and some mini cakes for children to try their hand at decorating. The 3 tiered stack was a little heavy, but still looked ok.