THE Baked Beans

Today is the first post in a line of posts in which I stink at taking pictures.  Apparently, when I had a bunch of house guests I completely lost track of what I'd taken photos of and what I hadn't while doing all this cooking.  Oops.  Today you get ingredients and before pictures but you will receive no after pictures.  Sorry guys... if I could fix it, I would.  I, however, will not be remaking everything just to take after pictures.  I like you all, but not that much.

My family calls these THE baked beans.  They're not just any beans, they're special.  We've been making them for years and I have no idea where the recipe came from.  There's a lot going on in these beans - but I think there are two things that make them extra special.

#1 - Sausage: because on a day where someone came and roasted a 60 pound pig in my yard, we needed to eat more pork

#2 - Rotel Tomatoes: the chilis in the tomatoes add some extra zing but not too much heat that they're not palatable for the masses

There's also green onions, BBQ sauce, brown sugar and mustard in case you need more reasons to love these beans.

Generally, I find baked beans to be pretty boring.  I'd pick another side dish 90% of the time but these are the exception.  They are quite exceptional if beans can be called exceptional.  I know one thing for sure, despite this recipe making an aggressive amount of beans there were very few leftovers which is always a good sign.

THE Baked Beans
feeds at least 30 people

Ingredients
84 oz. Baked Beans, partially drained
2 lb. Breakfast Sausage, cooked, crumbled & drained (1 hot and 1 regular)
1 bunch green onions, diced
2 cans Rotel Tomatoes, drained
1 1/2 cups BBQ Sauce
1/4 cup Yellow Mustard
1/2 cup Brown Sugar

Instructions
Mix all the ingredients together and baked in a 13"x9" pan at 375 degrees for 1 - 1 1/3 hours. 

Enjoy!
Julie

Black Bean, Corn & Feta Dip

I have a friend who used to make this dip and I became quite obsessed with it.  It's just about the easiest thing in the world to make, plus it's cheap.  I know I'm not supposed to say that, but it's true.

I suppose you could make it more complicated or expensive by shucking your own corn off the cob or buying the organic black beans, but I don't really bother.  Frozen corn and pesticide ridden black beans are fine by me. (The thing that would probably make the biggest difference here is really good feta cheese, because good cheese really does matter. - I however, bought regular grocery store cheese and I'm not ashamed).

People love this dip and so do I.  There are a lot of variations of this dip roaming around the Internet and they all have their merits, but this is my favorite combination.

You can absolutely make this ahead of time and keep it in the fridge until you're ready to serve it.  In fact, I recommend it to give the flavors some time to meld.  I like to serve this with tortilla chips - the salty chip is a great accompaniment but pita chips work great too.

Black Bean, Corn & Feta Dip
Yields a really big batch good for 30+ people

Ingredients
4 cans Black Beans, drained and rinsed
28 oz. frozen Corn, thawed (you could use canned or fresh as well)
12 oz. Feta Cheese, crumbled
1 bunch Green Onions, thinly sliced
2 T Olive Oil
4 T Red Wine Vinegar
3/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
1 T Sugar
Tortilla Chips for serving

Instructions
Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl until combined.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.


Enjoy!
Julie

Layered Greek Dip

I love this dip.  This is probably my favorite cold dip and I have made it at least ten times.  Every time I make it, people ask me for the recipe.  I'm happy to share it but I wouldn't call it a recipe.  It's more like a test of your chopping stamina.  I doubled the recipe this time and I was awfully close to having a blister on my hand by the time it was ready.

 All the chopping is definitely worth it, sometimes you have to earn your food and all the compliments you'll get from your guests.

Once you get everything chopped, the rest is easy - you just layer everything into a serving dish.  I prefer to serve this in a glass bowl so you can see all the pretty layers.  It's so colorful!

I like to serve this with pita chips.  I think it goes with the whole Greek theme.  Some people disagree with me and want tortilla chips.  I'm happy to oblige, especially when all it means is that I have to open another bag of chips.


My one piece of advice is not to make this too far ahead of time - a couple of hours is OK - but any longer and the cucumbers release a bunch of water and then you've got soggy dip.  Of course if that happens, you can just tip it sideways and drain off the water.  Unfortunately, that also ruins all the pretty layers you built so don't do that.

Layered Greek Dip



Ingredients
2 16 oz. tubs Hummus
1/2 English Cucumber, finely diced
1 Red Peppers, finely diced
1/2 jar Kalamata Olives, finely diced
6 oz. Feta Cheese, crumbled
2 T finely chopped Dill 
Pita or Tortilla Chips for serving




Instructions
Spread the Hummus in the bottom of a serving dish.  Evenly sprinkle the cucumbers on top of the hummus.  Sprinkle the red peppers on top followed by the olives and the cheese.  Sprinkle the chopped dill on top.  Serve with pita or tortilla chips.

Enjoy!
Julie

Bourbon Sangria

I eluded to this Sangria back in July when I returned from a beach vacation where I made it a couple of times for the family.  However, I really think I nailed it for the latest party we hosted.

Don't be scared by the bladders of wine.  Boxed wine is not the devil, it's not terrible or disgusting or the worst wine you've ever had.  It's probably not the best wine you've ever had either but for Sangria, it will do just fine.  By the time you add in all the other stuff, as long as the wine's not horrific, it doesn't really matter.

For this party, we had two alcoholic drink options, Sangria & Beer.  Not only are these two perfect for an outdoor, summery gathering, they also make serving easy.  People can serve themselves and I don't have to worry about having a variety of liquors and mixers on hand.

As far as I'm concerned, the key to Sangria is the fruit.  The fruit must soak for a couple of hours and you must eat the fruit.  This fruit tastes like bourbon.  That is a good thing.

I'm also of the opinion that Sangria should not be too sweet.  I've had a lot of Sangrias that just taste like alcoholic fruit juice which is a bad thing.  It's bad because by the time you finish a glass you're practically in a sugar coma and you don't want to drink anymore of it.  A drink that makes you want to stop at just one is not the drink for me.

This Sangria is pretty perfect.  It's strong (thanks to the bourbon), not too sweet and you can drink it for hours.  I certainly did.

Bourbon Sangria
A lot - cut it in half for a regular party

Ingredients
2 boxes of Red Wine (or 8 bottles) - I used Black Box Shiraz
1 bottle of Bourbon (4 cups)
4 cups Orange Juice
1 1/3 cups Orange Liqueur
1 cup Simple Syrup (or more if you want it a bit sweeter)
2 pints Strawberries, halved
3 Oranges, sliced into half moons
4 Apples, cored and sliced into half moons
Ice for serving

Instructions
In a beverage dispenser or several large pitchers, mix together the wine, bourbon, orange juice, orange liqueur and simple syrup.  Add the sliced fruit, refrigerate and let soak for at least 2 hours.

Serve over ice with several pieces of soaked fruit for garnish.


Enjoy!
Julie

Party, Party, Party... and a pig!!!

Wow - it's been a long time since I've done some blogging.  I apologize for my absence but it's been crazy around here!  We've had house guests for weeks, which I love, but it doesn't leave me much time to write.  What it does mean is that I've been making a ton of delicious things that I can't wait to share with you.  I spent four hours yesterday sorting and editing food pictures from the last couple of weeks to discover that I have 20 posts to write.  Seriously... 20 things to share with all of you.  Most of them are really delicious and some of them are just weird.

But first, let's talk about the ginormous party we threw.

It was exactly ginormous... there were about 30 people there but it was really fun to plan and decorate for and cook for.

The party was for our very own Captain America.  It wasn't his birthday but he was celebrated anyway.  Why?  I can't tell you because he doesn't want me talking about him on the internet.

The theme for the party was Shades of Green which meant that I decorated everything with green stuff which, surprisingly, didn't look like a St. Patrick's Day party.  It was a quasi-military theme, but I didn't want all camouflage and guns.  Just a few touches here and there.

Probably my favorite decoration was the balloons.  I intended to hang them from the ceiling of the tent but when I got out the ladder, I was too scared to extend it all the way up and risk falling, breaking a rib and puncturing my lung.  Trust me, that can happen.

Instead of hanging them from the ceiling, I tied them vertically from the center pole of the tent which made an awesome centerpiece to the decorations.

The extent of the military touches were little plastic soldier which I bought in the dollar bin at Target, camouflage bandanas which I bought at Michaels (and which I really should have ironed) and a few toy grenades which my sister contributed.  It was just enough.  The table runners on all the other tables were green burlap I bought at JoAnn Fabrics.  My mom and sister were lovely enough to cut them into strips and fray the edges which resulted in a big mess, a vacuum and a lint roller.

The highlight of the meal was the pig.  We had the guys from Green Pig Bistro in Arlington, VA come out and do a pig roast right in our backyard and it was AMAZING!!  I highly recommend them - they were organized, professional and the pig was FREAKING DELICIOUS.  We had plenty for the partygoers and for leftovers.

Some people were a little freaked out by the whole pig... not me or CA.  Not even when its whole butt fell out into the roaster.  That actually made me even more excited to eat it.



BTW, don't feel sorry for the dog who is making a sad face in the photo above (can you see him?  he's the one staring longingly at people who are holding plates of pork).  He managed to get a few nibbles of crispy skin and I wouldn't be surprised if his Granddad snuck him some other bites too.

The rest of this week and some of next week we'll be talking about the party food and drink.  Here's the lowdown on the complete menu.

• Pig Roast - courtesy of Green Pig Bistro
• Marinated Vegetable Salad, Cucumber Tomato Salad and Macaroni & Cheese - courtesy of Bittersweet Catering
• BEER - the Optimal Wit and the Downright Pilsner courtesy of Port City Brewing

 Stuff I made which you'll get to read about over the next few days...

• Bourbon Sangria
• Layered Greek Dip
• Black Bean, Corn & Feta Dip
• Baked Beans
• S'More Bar

Can you believe that I actually didn't make all the food for the party?  CA wouldn't let me.  He says I get too stressed out and it makes him stressed out.  He's totally right but normally I wouldn't listen to him and would make everything myself anyway.  However, not only did we have this party going on, but we had another reception to host and house guests all over the joint.  For those reasons, I listened to CA and didn't make all the food.  I totally could have done it... except the pig... I'll leave that to the professionals.

Enjoy!
Julie

Oatmeal Cream Pies

I pinned this recipe over a year ago.  I was interested in it because I really love to make traditionally store bought desserts from scratch.  I thought that I'd make these for my brother in law who LOVES Oatmeal Cream Pies.  They were the premier item in many a care package that I've sent to him when he was away from home.

I didn't actually make these for my BIL.  Not that I'm not willing to, but he's not here.  Maybe if he comes to visit me, I'll make them for him.  That's not a bribe.

I made these for CA's bake sale (along with the Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Popcorn Bars we talked about yesterday).

The cookie part is made from butter, brown sugar, regular sugar, molasses, vanilla, eggs, flour, cinnamon and oatmeal.  You know... regular old oatmeal cookie stuff.

What I like about the cookie is that it's nice and thin but it stays perfectly chewy when it's baked and you know I'm partial to chewy cookies.

The filling is made up of a powdered sugar, vanilla, a little salt water, marshmallow fluff (YUM) and shortening (YUCK).  I hate shortening.  It tastes like absolutely nothing but it leaves a disgusting film in your mouth.  I'll be perfectly honest that this filling tastes nasty by itself.  To me it just tastes like shortening.  However, pair this filling with a couple of cookies and it tastes EXACTLY like an oatmeal cream pie.

Despite the filling that you shouldn't eat solo (which makes me sad because I love eating some filling solo), these are pretty awesome and compete with the small Deborah's.

You can find the recipe over at Craving Chronicles.  I followed it exactly and so should you.

Enjoy!
Julie

PS ~ I'll be taking a break for a few days because I'll be having house guests for the next couple of weeks.  It means that I'll be cooking and baking more than usual, but it also means that I won't have time to write.  I promise there will be some awesome stuff coming your way once my hostessing duties are over.

Chocolate Chip and Peanut Butter Popcorn Bars

CA had a bake sale at work and he signed me up to contribute.  I don't know what the sale was for, I didn't ask any questions.  I'll take any opportunity to bake something.  I would have preferred if the bake sale didn't fall during the worst work week ever but I can't control timing.  Therefore, you get pictures that are horribly lit because I was baking at 10:00 pm.  It couldn't be helped.

I like these bars in theory.

The base is a chocolate chip cookie.

The 2nd layer is marshmallows.

The 3rd layer is peanut butter popcorn.

The 4th and final layer is chocolate drizzle.

These should be awesome.

They're OK.

I have no issues with the base layer.  The chocolate chip cookie recipe is standard... butter, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, baking powder, chocolate chips...  the usual.

On top of the cookie goes marshmallows which get put in the oven until puffed and melty, but not brown.  I don't know why I couldn't brown them but the instructions were pretty clear and, miraculously, I followed them.  At this point, I still have no issues with this recipe.

What I have issues with is the part of the bar that I thought I would like the most, the peanut butter popcorn.  That should be super delicious, right?

You melt butter, corn syrup and peanut butter together and mix it with popped popcorn.  The result is chewy.  I expected something like caramel corn, just peanut buttery, where the popcorn would still be crunchy but this results in popcorn that was wet and chewy.  I really wanted it to be better.

On top of the popcorn goes melted chocolate.  I have no issues with melted chocolate.

All of that cools for a while until it's set up enough to cut it into bars.

It's too bad... this recipe has promise but I can't get over chewy popcorn.  It reminds me of pre-made sandwiches and soggy bread which activates my gag reflex.

I just reconfirmed with CA his opinion of these bars.  He says they're tasty.  He doesn't know what else to say.

Me either.

Enjoy!
Julie

PS - here's the recipe just in case.

Baking Bouchon - Recipe 45: Paris - New York

The name of this recipe is weird.  I don't like it when I can't tell what something is by the name of it because then when I tell other people what I made I have to make something up.  I ended up calling these peanut butter cream filled pastries which is boring. 

There is nothing boring about these.  In fact, they're freaking amazing.

Apparently this name is a play on a famous French pastry, Paris-Brest, which commemorates a  famous bike race in Paris.  The pastry dough is piped in the shape of a circle which is supposed to represent the tire of a bicycle.  Typically, it's filled with praline pastry cream but this recipe puts a twist on that and is filled with peanut butter pastry cream... hence the reference to New York because peanut butter comes from New York (which is totally not true but maybe Parisians think that's true because they don't know of anywhere else in the United States where peanuts actually come from like Alabama where I used to work in the nuthouse... aka peanut processing facility, but that's a story for another day).

They start with pate a choux - which is what cream puffs are made of.  I've made this dough before and it was still pretty easy.  Flour, sugar, water and butter get cooked together, then eggs are whipped in until the dough is smooth and sticky.  The whole things gets refrigerated, then piped into circles/tires.

This version also gets sprinkled with salted peanuts before it's baked which looks beautiful in the picture in the cookbook.  In reality, they all fall off when you slice the pastries in half to fill them.

Let's talk for a few minutes about the peanut butter pastry cream that fills the pastries.

If dreams were made of peanut butter, they would taste like this.

OK, that was dramatic but if you think I loved diplomat cream, this stuff is diplomat cream on steroids.

To make this heavenly concoction, you make diplomat cream (which is pastry cream lightened with whipped cream), add creamy peanut butter, a little salt and buttercream frosting. 

See?  I told you.

I really wish I could feed this stuff to you via the Internet.  Once they figure out how to do that, you all are going to love this blog a lot more.

So, we've got a light and puffy little ring of pastry.  It's sliced in half, filled with peanut butter deliciousness, sprinkled with salted peanuts, topped with the lid of the pastry and sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Now, please enjoy an unnecessary number of pictures of these round delights...

Did you notice my new cake stand?  My mom got it for me for my birthday, I love it!

You should know that I took these to work and was told that they are the best treats I've ever brought in.  I agree that these are in the top 5 and worth as much work, if not more, than it took to make them.  CA was a big fan as well.  So everyone is happy and I'm in a peanut butter coma because I ate all the leftover cream by squirting it out of the pastry bag directly into my mouth, and I don't regret one single bite.

Enjoy!
Julie

Baking Bouchon - Recipe 44: Chocolate Glazed Diplomats

I do my best to photograph the ingredients of all the recipes I make for you.  Generally, they look like this...

But before that happens, there's this...

I generally just throw everything on the counter, then organize it for you to fool you into thinking that I'm organized while I'm baking.  You've probably seen through this rouse by now considering I get distracted and burn things at least 25% of the time.

Anyway, I made doughnuts again.  Actually, I made doughnuts, diplomat cream and chocolate glaze again.  There was really nothing new in this recipe so you can just click here and here and here and we'll call it a day.

Bye.

I kid.

Link #2 will remind you of my love affair with diplomat cream (essentially pastry cream lightened with whipped cream) and I remain steadfastly loyal to my beloved diplomat cream (at least for today, tomorrow holds untold joys of peanut butter  and pastry cream which you're going to have to wait to discover).

So, the doughnut dough came together well again this time... no issues, which was cool.  Because these doughnuts were destined to be filled, they are fried up sans holes.  I made them a little smaller than the directions called for so I'd have more to share at work.

I'm still not 100% comfortable with frying and I definitely burned the first batch of doughnuts but I eventually got the hang of the timing (which was far less than the cookbook said - so I blame Thomas Keller for the first burnt batch) and the subsequent batches came out much better.

You can see the progression from cripsy and too dark to golden fried in the photo.  You can also spot the doughnuts that I rerolled in an effort to have as many doughnuts as possible... they're not perfectly round, but they taste just the same.

Once the doughnuts cool they get stuffed with diplomat cream.  I may have been a little aggressive with the amount of cream I piped into each doughnut (do I have to remind you how good this stuff is?).  There were some small explosions including one that resulted in diplomat cream launching itself into my hair.  Don't worry, I picked it out and ate it.  I'm aware that that's gross, but I did it.

After stuffing comes glazing and I still can't make Thomas Keller's chocolate glaze recipe because I can't find Neutral Glaze... honestly I can't figure out what it is so I've ignored it and continue with the Alton Brown Chocolate Glaze recipe which I'm very pleased with.

So these little jokers are tasty and I don't even really care about doughnuts.  As much as I adore diplomat cream, I think I like the sugared doughnuts better.  Call me boring.


CA liked them too as did my coworkers and his coworkers.  Unfortunately I made them on the same day I made another treat which was pretty darn amazing and I think these guys got overshadowed by those guys but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to hear about that.  Have patience (I don't, but you should).

Enjoy!
Julie

Baking Bouchon: Recipe 43 - Gingerbread

CA doesn't like gingerbread, or so he says.  What he actually doesn't like are gingerbread cookies.

I love gingerbread cookies - especially the soft ones that are shaped like chunky people with royal icing and buttons made out of red hots.

I love red hots... and hot tamales... and all cinnamon flavored candy

I don't think either of us have ever actually had gingerbread (the cake) and we were both pleasantly surprised.

The recipe makes two loaves of gingerbread.  As much ginger as is in the cake (over a tablespoon) there is an unexpectedly aggressive amount of molasses in here (over a cup).  There is also a ton of dark brown sugar which is just sugar with molasses which is extra aggressive.

This is one of the easiest cake recipes I've made so far in this cookbook.  There weren't any crazy instructions and I didn't even have to refrigerate the batter overnight so there was instant gratification which I'm a big fan of.  CA tells me at least once a day that I have no patience and he's right.

The other thing I liked about this recipe is the addition of lemon zest.  I tasted the batter before and after adding the zest (are you surprised?) and I really liked the way it made the flavors just a little bit brighter.

I should really invest in matching loaf pans.  I have no idea why I have two sizes but it bothers me that they don't match when I make more than one loaf of something.  Not just because they don't match, but because I have to bake them for different lengths of time.  I don't need another thing to keep track of when I'm baking considering I'm usually multitasking.

CA actually liked the gingerbread which was very surprising.  He doesn't only dislike gingerbread cookies but just about every baked good with warm spices in it... like spice cake.  This is kind of like spice cake so I'm still confused about why he doesn't hate it.

I also got a lot of compliments on this when I brought it to work.

I liked it too except that I have an issue with how it looks.  There's nothing wrong with the way it looks except that it looks like chocolate cake and when you eat something that looks like chocolate cake and doesn't taste like chocolate cake it's very confusing.

It also looks like pumpernickel but it doesn't taste like that either.

Enjoy!
Julie