Graham Cracker Bars

I think I'm finally done cleaning out my pantry and if I'm not it's either getting tossed or going to keep sitting in there 'cause there's other stuff I want to cook without being boxed in by my leftovers.  Did that sound grumpy?  Sorry, I'm not actually grumpy, it's been pretty fun finding ways to use up all this stuff but I'm ready to move on.

Despite my complaining these little bars were quite a hit.  I was actually totally surprised when I made them.  I thought they were going to be more like a graham cracker blondie but that was not the case at all.  They were more like pecan pies with a graham cracker crust.  I wouldn't have been so surprised if I had really read the recipe beforehand.  I was far too focused on finding a recipe that used as many graham cracker crumbs as possible to actually pay attention to what I was making.

The crust is a pretty typical graham cracker crust... butter, sugar and crumbs.  If I'm being 100% honest, I was a little short on crumbs so instead of using 1 1/2 cups crumbs, I used 1 cup crumbs and 1/2 cup oatmeal that I ground up in my food processor.  It worked just fine.

The topping is very similar to a standard pecan pie filling; lots of brown sugar, eggs and pecans with a few graham cracker crumbs mixed in for good measure.

Much to my surprise CA loved these bars.  He ate at least four of them and told me that these were the "crackiest" treats I'd ever made.  I thought they were pretty awesome too.  I also ate four of them but that's nothing unusual.  They really are like pecan pie bars with that graham cracker flavor.  I will definitely make these again... maybe around Thanksgiving.


Pecan Graham Cracker Bars
adapted from Key Ingredient
Ingredients

For the Crust
1 1/2 cups Graham Cracker Crumbs (or combo of crumbs and ground oats)
6 T Butter, at room temperature
2 T Sugar
1 T All Purpose Flour

For the Topping
1 1/4 cups Brown Sugar (I used dark, but light would be fine)
2 Eggs
1/3 cup Graham Cracker Crumbs (or combo of crumbs and ground oats)
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1 cup Chopped Pecans

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

For the Crust: Spray a 8x8 inch baking pan with cooking spray.  Using an electric mixer, beat the graham cracker crumbs, butter, sugar and flour in a large bowl until moist and well blended. Press the mixture firmly the prepared pan. Bake until the crust is golden brown, about 10 minutes.

For the Topping: Whisk the brown sugar and eggs in a large bowl to blend. Add the graham cracker crumbs, vanilla, salt and baking powder and stir until well blended. Stir in the pecans. Pour the mixture over the baked crust and bake until the filling is dark golden and moves slightly when the pan is shaken – 18-20 minutes.

Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and cool completely.  Cut into squares and serve.

Enjoy!
Julie

Brown Sugar - Raisin Bread

It is a well documented blog fact that I don't like raisins.  CA on the other hand loves raisins in breakfast breads (which is weird because he's not a big sweets for breakfast guy, he'd prefer a breakfast burrito or an omelet over some french toast or a muffin any day).  He's a huge fan of cinnamon raisin bagels which I've made for him before and he's also a fan of the raisin bread from the store.  (I'd tell you what the brand is but I don't know; I ignore its existence enitrely).

I thought I'd earn some wife points today and make him some raisin bread.  Luckily, my trusty Williams Sonoma Bread cookbook had a recipe AND I already had all the ingredients I needed in the house.

The dough comes together really easily.  You get the yeast going in a bowl of warm water with a bit of sugar and then pretty much throw everything in a bowl and mix it up.  Not hard which I appreciated today.  The dough hook of my stand mixer did all the work and then I just let it hang out for an hour or so to rise.

The dough has a mixture of golden and dark raisins in it.  Maybe people care about that, I don't.  They're both just as bad in my book.  What I did care about is that I was able to use up every single raisin the house.  I love it when that happens.

There are two things I really like about this bread.

#1 - it is filled with a mixture of cinnamon and brown sugar.  Do I need to explain why this is good?

#2 - the second rise of the dough takes place in the loaf pan.  I'm not good at moving dough from one place to another.  It typically gets all cockeyed and hideous which makes me grumpy.  This one rises right in the pan which gets put straight into the oven.  No Very little chance of me screwing it up.

If only I had just left out the raisins I think this bread would be just my kind of thing.  But that would defeat the purpose of making raisin bread for CA.

Plus, now there are no extraneous raisins sitting in my pantry which is cool.  I love it when I use up something in the pantry that's not a staple and I just have to buy again.  It's like finding space which it at a premium around here.

The verdict?

CA is a big fan.  He's been eating up a couple of toasted slices for breakfast each day.  The recipe makes two loaves so I sliced up both of them and put one of them in the freezer.  That way it will keep for a while and CA can just pop them into the toaster in the morning when he doesn't want to eat his usual cereal.

The bread isn't actually sweet - the cinnamon swirl is sweet but the bread itself is not.  The combo is really perfect for a breakfast when you're not looking for a total sugar bomb.

I actually don't hate this bread.  It tastes really good when you pick out all the raisins.

Brown Sugar - Raisin Bread
from Williams Sonoma

Ingredients
1 T active dry Yeast
3 T Sugar
1 1/4 cups warm Water (105°F - 115°F)
 1 cup warm Milk (105°F - 115°F)
3 T Butter, melted
1 T Salt
1 Egg, lightly beaten
6 - 6 1/4 cups Bread Flour
3/4 cup Golden Raisins
3/4 cup Dark Raisins
2/3 cup Light Brown Sugar, packed
4 1/2 tsp Cinnamon

Instructions
In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast and a pinch of the sugar over 1⁄2 cup of the water.  Stir to dissolve and let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the remaining 3/4 cup water, the milk, butter, the remaining sugar, salt, egg and 2 cups of the flour. Beat on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add the yeast mixture and 1⁄2 cup of the flour and beat for 1 minute. Add the raisins, then beat in the remaining flour, 1⁄2 cup at a time, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Switch to the dough hook. Knead on medium-low speed, adding flour 1 Tbs. at a time if the dough sticks, until smooth and elastic, about 4 minutes. Transfer the dough to a greased deep bowl and turn to coat it. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1⁄2 hours.

Lightly grease two loaf pans.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board. Divide the dough in half and roll or pat each half into an 8-by-12-inch rectangle. Lightly sprinkle each rectangle with half of the filling, leaving a 1-inch border on all sides. Beginning at a narrow end, tightly roll up each rectangle into a compact log. Pinch the ends and the long seam to seal in the filling. Place each log, seam side down, in a prepared pan. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until the dough is about 1 inch above the rim of each pan, 1 to 1 1⁄2 hours.

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Bake until the loaves are golden brown and pull away from the sides of the pan, 35 to 40 minutes. Turn the loaves out onto wire racks and let cool completely.

Enjoy!
Julie

Baking Bouchon - Recipe 39: Better Nutters

I haven't been a huge fan of the cookies in this cookbook up to this point.  They've all been crispy cookies and I just don't care about crispy cookies.  I like puffy, soft, chewy cookies.

missing the oatmeal.... oops!

But these Better Nutters (a.k.a. Nutter Butters - but I imagine that name is copyrighted so they can't call them that) are absolutely my favorite cookies in this book so far.

The batter comes together pretty easily with butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, eggs and flour... basic peanut butter cookie stuff.  There are 2 unique things in here, oats and toasted peanuts.  I like the texture the oats bring to the cookie and the toasted peanuts definitely up the ante with the peanut flavor.  When I first read that I had to toast peanuts, chop them and mix them into the batter I wondered why I couldn't just use crunchy peanut butter and save myself the extra step.  I'm sure it would work fine but toasting the nuts separately definitely gives it a great, roasted flavor.

The hardest part of these cookies was cutting them out.  The dough softens up SO quickly.  Seriously, I refrigerated the dough for overnight so it was super chilled and by the time I rolled it out and cut out a few circles the dough was so soft I could barely lift it.  I had to stick it in the freezer 3 times during the rolling/cutting process.  It was weird.


The filling for these cookies is reminiscent of the peanut butter, marshmallow mousse I made to fill the strawberry cupcakes.  That stuff was way easier to make than this... not that I had any trouble.  I'm not saying that to be cocky, I'm saying it because you all should be SO surprised and SUPER proud of me.  I made something that required cooking sugar and I didn't screw it up or burn it or burn myself.

The filling is a mix of the basic buttercream recipe in the cookbook combined with peanut butter and a little salt.  To make the buttercream you cook sugar and water to "soft ball" stage (soft ball refers to the state the sugar will be in when it cools so if you cooked sugar to soft ball stage and cooled it down it would still be soft, like a gummy bear as opposed to hard crack which would be like a lollipop).  The cooked sugar gets whipped into egg whites and that mixture gets whipped with butter.  It makes a super yummy frosting that it a bit lighter than a traditional American buttercream which made by whipping butter and powdered sugar together.

So, yeah, I did all that and didn't mess up.  Yeah me!

The cookies are so yummy!  They have a great roasty, peanuty flavor.  They are also pretty crispy but I don't mind.  They also aren't very sweet which is good since you've got all that sweet, yummy filling in it.

The filling is sweet and salty and the perfect addition to the cookie.

As much as I like these cookies, CA LOVED them.  He kept going back into the kitchen and grabbing another one, taking a bite and saying "Mmmm".  He didn't even have any random suggestions for improvement which is pretty impressive.  I think he was a little sad that I took all the leftovers to work.  He expressed his disappointment by dipping into the open box of Oreos and while grumbling that I'm trying to make him fat.  (Seriously, if I don't have another Oreo in my house for the next year I'll be happy.  I'm tired of looking at them.)  He's got the whole thing backwards, if I was trying to make him fat I'd keep all the good stuff in the house.  I think he might be confused that these cookies were somehow healthier than Oreos.  They may have less fake crap in them but healthy they are not.

Later kids!
Julie

Nilla Wafer Banana Bread

I wasn't looking for a new banana bread recipe.  I've been using this recipe for years and I love it (although I don't slice the bananas like it says to, I mash them up).  It is super moist which comes from the sour cream that gets folded in.  I never really had any intention of every making another banana bread.

Then I had this box of Nilla Wafers sitting in my pantry leftover from making bourbon balls and it needed to go away.  It was just taking up room and if you could see my pantry you would know that random stuff taking up space is unacceptable (it's miniature!)  So, I did what I always do when I have something to get rid of... I looked up recipes on Pinterest.  I found a plethera of banana puddings which was very tempting because I LOVE banana pudding... mostly just the Nilla wafers that have been touching the pudding and not the pudding or the bananas themselves.  However, banana pudding, or anything else that requires refrigeration, is not conducive to taking to work since putting it in the fridge means people forget about it and don't eat it and leaving it out means everyone to dies from food poisoning.  So banana pudding was out as was banana cream pie and all other cold layered banana desserts which apparently is THE thing to do with Nilla wafers.
 

By the way, I'm having an awfully hard time calling these things Nilla wafers because I'm pretty sure that my whole life I've called them Vanilla Wafers.  Just like my sister and her serenaded knife.

Anyway, I stumbled across this Banana Bread recipe with ground Nilla wafers in it and was highly intrigued.  Since the Nilla wafer and the banana are documented BFF's I figured it was worth a try even if I wasn't in the market for a new banana bread.

I made some adjustments to the original recipe based on necessity.  I didn't quite have enough cookies or nuts and I had zero milk so I cut back the cookies and nuts a bit and substituted buttermilk for the regular milk (which, of course means you have to adjust the levener). 

I have to say that I'm a big fan of this banana bread.  It was super moist and you really can taste the cookies in here.  I made this in both loaf and muffin form... the loaf was for me and CA to enjoy and the muffins I took to work where they quickly disappeared.  Unfortunately, I only had enough nuts for my loaf so my coworkers got their sans nuts.  Either way, they were delicious and, while I'm not throwing away my other banana bread recipe, if I ever have a box of Nilla wafers lying around I'll definitely be making this again.

Nilla Wafer Banana Bread
Adapted from Colie's Kitchen

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
3/4 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
2 medium or 1 1/2 large Bananas, mashed
1/2 cup Buttermilk

1 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour 

30 Nilla Wafers, finely crushed

2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1/3 cup Pecan Pieces

  
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a loaf pan or 12 cup muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl ix flour, wafer crumbs, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add the eggs and mix on low speed until just incorporated (the mixture will look broken, but that's OK).  Add the bananas and mix on low speed until just incorporated.  Add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the milk.  Mix on low speed until combined.

Scoop or pour the batter into the prepared pan.  Sprinkle the top with the pecan pieces.

Bake until a toothpick stuck into the center comes out clean; about 20 minutes for muffins and 1 hour for a loaf.

Enjoy!
Julie

Grilled Vegetable, Bean and Avocado Salad

I had a craving.  Not for one thing but for, like, eight things.  All at the same time.  I literally walked around the grocery store and put everything I saw that made me go "mmmmm" in my cart.  Luckily, they were all healthy things.

Don't you love it when you get exactly the thing you were craving and it's freakin' delicious?  Isn't it the worst when you get what you're craving and it stinks?  What a waste!  It's actually worse than not getting it at all.  Craving french fries and getting cold, soggy fries or no dipping sauce.  Craving macaroni and cheese and getting it with not enough salt or not enough cheese.  Craving cookies and getting a stale, crispy, crumbly one.  Craving a margarita and getting a crappy one with not enough lime or (the horror) not enough tequila.  Craving ice cream and... well, you get the picture.

Luckily, that did NOT happen to me today.  I bought exactly what I was craving and made it into a salad that was awesome and exactly what I wanted.  The bonus was that I bought all these with absolutely no regard to what CA would like to eat for dinner and he liked it too.  Sometimes being selfish works for others too.

So, what was I craving?  Beans, corn, roasted red peppers, grilled onions, green beans, hearts of palm, tomatoes, basil, avocado and feta cheese.  Why?  Heck if I know.  Maybe because it's almost summer and I love summer veggies.  Maybe because I haven't been cooking for a few days and these things were bright and colorful and shiny in the store.  I'm often attracted to shiny things.

I wanted to add a bit more flavor to the salad so I opted to grill the green beans, corn, peppers and onion and I'm glad I did.  I didn't grill them so much that they fell apart, I still wanted the salad to have some crunch, but grilling the veggies brought out more of their natural sweetness which meant I didn't have to add sweetener to the dressing.  Plus, grilling definitely mellows out the onion so it doesn't overpower the mixture.

The addition of the beans and hearts of palm are a little random but I can't tell my cravings what to do.  Plus, I love hearts of palm and I never quite know what to do with them... except eat them straight out of the can.  They add a little bit of a salty element here which is a nice balance.  I bet artichokes would work well too.

The avocado is really interesting because it makes the salad seem like it's creamy without there being anything creamy (besides avocado) in it.

I don't think I've told you all about my basil plant yet.  It's weird basil.  I planted a few herbs in pots (mint, dill and basil) that are flourishing in the backyard despite my black thumb.  Most things I try to grow die... quickly.  Unlike my Grandma who can throw seeds out a window and grow small farm.  I'm not sure how she does it but the one thing I do know is that she cuts everything back... everything.  I remember watching her in the garden as a kid while she practically murdered plants which proceeded to grow back bigger.  I did not inherit this gene.

This basil doesn't look like basil.  It's actually boxwood basil which is what you buy when you procrastinate about going to the store to buy herb plants and they're out of regular basil.  The leaves are miniature... the size of thyme leaves... but they smell and taste exactly like basil.  I kind of like it because sometimes I don't even have to chop it.

I am so pleased with how this salad came out!  It was absolutely perfect for dinner and again the next day for lunch.  CA suggested that maybe I could have put some mint it.  I don't know why he would say such a thing because, as I already mentioned, this salad is perfect.  I gave him a nasty look for that comment.  I think he just feels guilty because we have a lot of mint and he hasn't made a Mint Julep or a Mojito in days.  Slacker.

Grilled Vegetable, Bean and Avocado Salad
Serves 6-8

Ingredients
1/2 lb Green Beans, trimmed into 2" pieces
2 ears of Corn
2 Red, Yellow or Orange Peppers
1/2 Red Onion
3/4 lb Tomatoes, seeds removed
1 Avocado
1 can Hearts of Palm
1 can Beans, drained and rinsed (I used mixed beans but any white bean will work)
2 oz. Feta Cheese
2 T Red Wine Vinegar
juice of 1/2 a Lemon (about 1 T)
1 1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper

Instructions
Bring a medium pot full of water to a boil.  Add the corn and boil for 7 minutes.  Add the green beans and boil 3 more minutes.  Have a bowl of ice water ready.  Once the corn and beans are done (you want them slightly cooked, but still pretty crisp) drop them into the ice water to stop the cooking process.

Place a cast iron skillet on the grill and heat on high heat.  Put the green beans in the skillet and the corn, peppers and onion directly on the grill.  Grill the beans for 10-12 minutes until they start to get some color to them.  Grill the onions, corn and pepper 10 more minutes (total 20 min.) or until they get some nice color on them.  (You're not trying to cook them completely or they'll be mushy - you're just trying to get some good grill flavor).

Rub any really black skin off the peppers (some left is good), remove the seeds and chop to a 1/2 inch dice.  Cut the corn off the cob.  Dice the onions, tomatoes, hearts of palm and avocado to a 1/2 inch dice.  Put all the vegetables and beans in a large bowl.  Add the basil, feta, vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper and mix well.  Refrigerate until cold (at least 1 hour).

Enjoy!
Julie

Oreo Biscotti

Remember when I told you that you could mix just about anything into that biscotti recipe I gave you?  Well, it's true.

It's also true that I am still trying to get these darn Oreo Cookies out of my house... and I still haven't succeeded.  The worst part is that I now have half of an OPEN package of Oreo Cookies in my house.  Are you tired of me baking with Oreos yet?  I am.  Oreo Cupcakes, Oreo Frosting, Oreo Rice Krispie Treats... they're all good, but I'm bored.  Maybe CA will just have to take one for the team and eat these cookies straight.

Anyway, back to the biscotti... I promised you that you could do whatever you want with that base recipe and I have proven myself right.  I was inspired by this recipe by The Crafty Hostess, but I wanted to test my assertion that my biscotti recipe was incredibly versatile (oh yeah, did I forget to mention that sometimes I tell you all things that I think are true but might not be?  This just got awkward.)

My biggest worry in making this biscotti was that it would be too sweet.  I mean, it's a cookie mixed into a cookie.  Surprisingly, it wasn't.  Yes, it's sweet but not so sweet that you wouldn't want to dunk it in your coffee and convince yourself OK to eat cookies for breakfast. Personally, I just want to dunk it in a big, cold glass of milk.

Oreo Biscotti
Adapted from Williams Sonoma

Ingredients

1/2 cup Unsalted Butter (at room temperature)
3/4 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 3/4 cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
18 Oreo Cookies, coarsely chopped (1/2 a package)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with a silpat or parchment paper or spray with non-stick cooking spray.

Cream butter and sugar together until it is fluffy and pale yellow.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating on low speed until incorporated.  Add the vanilla and mix until combined.

Add the dry ingredients in three additions, mixing until just combined.  Add all the chopped Oreo Cookies and mix until just combined.

Divide the dough in half (it will be quite soft and sticky so use flour on your hands as necessary) and form each half into a log on your cookie sheet.  Each log should be approximately 12 inches long and 2 inches wide.

Bake for 30 minutes or until firm and lightly golden.  Remove the pan from the oven and let the logs cool for 10 minutes.  Transfer each log to a cutting board and use a serrated knife to cut the logs on the diagonal into 3/4 inch slices.  Carefully transfer each slice back to the cookie sheet and lay them on their sides.  Return the cookie sheet to the oven and bake an additional 15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.


Enjoy!
Julie

Strawberry Nutella Muffins

I'm to the point where I've gotten rid of most of the leftover ingredients in my house.  Some of the last are frozen strawberries (from strawberry cupcakes) and Nutella (from the Nutella Rice Krispie balls).  I do still have some graham crackers and Nilla wafers lingering in the cupboard and need to figure out what to do with those, but I haven't been inspired to figure that out yet.  I'm pretty sure it will have to do with s'mores and banana pudding but not at the same time.

I figured that strawberries and Nutella would go really well together and I'm not alone.  The internet is full of recipes that combine the two (I was particularly intrigued by Strawberry Nutella Pie but decided against it... although I can't remember why because it sounds so good)  My biggest problem was that most of the recipes use fresh strawberries. 

I decided that breakfast was the way to go - it had been a while since I brought breakfast food to work and I figured my coworkers might enjoy a dessert break.

By the way, am I the only person who thinks it's funny that muffins and cake are pretty much the same thing?  I realize muffins don't usually have frosting, but they do sometimes have glaze.  Let's just stop pretending.  Not because I don't think you should eat muffins for breakfast but because I don't think we should be ashamed to eat cake for breakfast.

These muffins are pretty good.  Not great, but pretty good.  The flavor combo of the strawberry and Nutella is spot on.  My biggest concern is that the strawberries disintegrated a bit inside the muffins and seem kind of wet.  To be honest, I've had this problem with all the strawberry muffins I've ever made whether it be with fresh or frozen berries.  Definitely make sure you drain the berries thoroughly.  I found these were better if I baked them a little longer and ate them the next day once they had a chance to set up.

Strawberry Nutella Muffins
adapted from Food and Wine and Two Peas and their Pod
Yields 20-22 muffins

Ingredients
1 lb Frozen Strawberries, defrosted, drained and quartered
1/2 cup Sugar
2 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 1/4 cup Buttermilk
3/4 cup Vegetable Oil
2 eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2/3 cup Nutella
Coarse sugar for sprinkling (I used Demerara)

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Line two 12 cup muffin tins with cupcake liners.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment mix together the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla.  Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined.  Fold in the strawberries by hand until just combined.

Fill each muffin cup 1/3 full with batter.  Spoon 1 tsp of Nutella into each cup.  Top with remaining muffin batter.  Sprinkle the top of each muffin with sugar.  Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown.

Enjoy!
Julie

Turkey Spinach Meatloaf

It's been over a month since I gave you something savory to enjoy.  Sorry about that....

Actually, I'm not sorry.  Sorry.

We eat a lot of ground turkey around here.  I rarely buy ground beef anymore.  Unless we're doing burgers, I substitute ground turkey in just about everything... tacos, stuffed peppers, pasta with meat sauce and meatloaf.  Some people don't like meatloaf and I can't figure out why.  Sure, it looks like dog food but that doesn't stop me from eating no bake cookies or that delicious, sweet cereal puppy chow stuff.

I happen to like meatloaf.  I think it has to do with the fact that I can put ketchup on it.  I have a genetic love for ketchup, it was unavoidable growing up in my house.  Every once in a while, particularly if my dad was out of town, we'd eat french fries for dinner.  We had a grand pappy (you know, the bigger version of the fry daddy) and us girls would fill it up to the brim and eat ketchup french fries for dinner.  It was amazing but it had little to do with the french fries.  It could have been tater tots or any other ketchup vehicle and we all would have been just as happy.

I also have distinct memories of eating breakfast potatoes at my grandparents house and getting scolded by my Granddad for putting ketchup on them because I was "ruinin' the taters".  Granddad didn't prescribe to the "potatoes are an excuse to eat ketchup" way of life.  CA doesn't get it either.  He puts mayonnaise on his french fries.  I think he thinks he's European.

That was quite a ketchup tangent....

This meatloaf is totally healthy for you.  Why?  Because it has lean ground turkey and spinach in it.  The spinach not only adds lots of vitamins but keeps the meatloaf nice and moist.  There is also a secret hiding in here... jelly.  Weird, right?  But it's not.  I almost always put jelly in my turkey meatloaf.  I don't put in enough that it really adds any flavor but it adds moisture and helps the loaf stay together better because the small amount of sugar helps create a crust.  It makes absolutely no difference what kind of jelly you put in... grape, strawberry, raspberry, apricot... whatever.  Actually, my favorite thing to put in turkey meatloaf is mango chutney.  It does the same thing as the jelly but it's spicy too.  I made up for the lack of spicy in this version by serving it with ketchup mixed with sriracha.  Winner!

Turkey Spinach Meatloaf
4 Servings

Ingredients
1 1/4 lb Ground Turkey
8 oz frozen Spinach, thawed and drained
1 Egg
1/4 cup Bread Crumbs
1/2 Onion, finely chopped
1 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
2 T Jelly (I used Blackberry, but use whatever flavor you have/choose)

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Spray a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Mix all the ingredients together in a medium bowl (I find it easiest to use my hands).  Put the mixture into the loaf pan and spread evenly.

Bake for 45 minutes, until cooked through.  Turn the oven to broil and broil for 5 minutes to brown the top.  Cut into quarters and serve... preferably with some type of ketchup concoction :)


Enjoy!
Julie

Balsamic Strawberry Shortcake

You can hardly beat strawberry shortcake for a delicious summer dessert.  It's truly a classic.  Fortunately, I'm not very good at leaving well enough alone.

The best thing about this particular strawberry shortcake is the balsamic vinegar that the strawberries are macerated in.  I know it sounds a little strange, but I promise you it is not.  Years ago I had a strawberry daiquiri that had balsamic vinegar in it and I still think about it.  There's something about the balsamic that just adds a touch of spice.  When you're eating it, you think to yourself "this is different, good different, and I'm not sure why".

I am fully aware that there is fierce debate out there about what the base of strawberry shortcake should consist of.  There are those firmly in the angel food cake camp and those staunchly in the biscuit camp.  I do love angel food cake, but for this particular application, I am convinced that the biscuit is the way to go.  Why?  Because the focus of this baby is the sweet, strawberry, balsamicy syrup that comes off the berries and soaks into the base.  I really think that the syrup would just overwhelm a delicate angel food cake.  You need the dense biscuit to soak up all that tangy goodness.  Plus, the cake would be too sweet.  Trust me.

Please prepare yourself for my biscuit rant....

The worst possible thing you can do to a biscuit is touch it.  Don't stir it, don't beat it, don't even look at it... OK, that's impossible but I'm completely serious when I tell you that the less you mess with a biscuit, the better it is.  I am adamant when making biscuit dough you should stir it as little as possible.  When you're done stirring it you should think that you need to stir it more.  It should be shaggy and have dry spots... on purpose.  You also shouldn't use a rolling pin on it.  Just don't.  Pat the dough out and fold it.  Then pat it and fold it a few more times.  That's how you get a flaky biscuit that you can pull apart and put butter on (or in this case whipped cream and strawberries).  If you mess with the biscuit dough too much you just end up with a hockey puck

I'm also a big advocate of fresh whipped cream.  I don't understand why people think whipped cream is so hard.  It's 2 ingredients... cream and sugar... then you whip it.  There's nothing hard about it.  I guess you could buy that stuff in the can that makes a funny noise when you dispense it.  I agree that it's pretty fun to squirt it directly into your mouth but homemade whipped cream tastes so much better.

Of course, that doesn't stop me from eating frozen cool whip out of the container with a spoon but that's another topic all together.

CA recently bought us one of those cream charger things that uses N2O cartridges to make whipped cream but I haven't used it yet.  I should use it because it would give me the taste benefits of fresh whipped cream and the fun benefits of squirting it into my mouth.  CA has used it with the CO2 chargers to make foams for some of his crazy cocktails but to tell you the truth the thing scares me.  I'm 100% sure that N2O has to do with science and science and I are not friends.  It scares me.  I think it's going to explode if I do something wrong and then I'll be dead and that would be bad.

So, we've got strawberries, biscuits and whipped cream.  Yep, that's all we need.

These are the perfect summer dessert and I promise you that you will love the balsamic.  It really elevates the dessert and makes it feel and taste so much more special.

Balsamic Strawberry Shortcake
6 servings

Ingredients
16 oz. Strawberries, hulled and sliced
1 T Sugar
2 T Balsamic Vinegar

1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 cup Cake Flour
1 1/2 T Sugar
1 tsp Cream of Tartar
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
2 T Shortening
1 T cold Butter
1/3 cup Buttermilk

1 pint Heavy Cream
2 T Sugar

Instructions
Combine the strawberries, 1 T of sugar and the balsamic vinegar in a small bowl.  Refrigerate for at least 1 hour but not more than 3 hours.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flours, sugar, cream of tartar, soda, powder and salt.   Cut in the shortening and butter until the mixture resembles course crumbs.  Add the buttermilk and stir with a wooden spoon until the dough just comes together.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface.  Pat it into a round and fold it in half.  Repeat patting and folding 7 times.  Pat the dough to 1/2" thickness and cut into six 2 1/2" - 3" rounds.  Put each round on the prepared pan and bake for 12-13 minutes or until light golden brown.  Allow the biscuits to cool completely.

Add the heavy cream and 2 T of sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Whip on medium-high speed until the mixture holds stiff peaks.

Split each biscuit in half.  Set aside the biscuit tops.  Divide the whipped cream evenly among the 6 biscuit bottoms.  Top each with 1/6 of the berries.  Spoon leftover berry liquid evenly on top of each shortcake.  Place the tops of the biscuits on top of the berries.

Enjoy!
Julie