Cooking After Baby

On July 7th, 2009 I delivered our daughter Kate. WOW! Has life changed. I still LOVE to cook, but haven't had much time to do it now that Kate has arrived.

Being a mother takes a lot of time and energy. I did manage to cook up my first meal (besides peanut butter and jelly sandwiches) this last week. Alex and I make this dish a lot with many variations. It has become a quick and easy favorite.

Pasta with Spicy Italian Sausage and Peppers:

1 pound Pasta - any kind that suits your fancy

1 pound precooked Spicy Italian Sausage

2 Red Peppers, sliced lengthwise

1/2 White Onion

2 Cloves Garlic, minced

1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese

2 tablespoons Olive Oil for cooking

Cook pasta according to instructions on package. Cut precooked spicy Italian sausage into 1/2 inch wedges and set aside. Heat olive oil in pan and add onion. Cook until onion is still white, but on the verge of turning translucent. Add garlic and red peppers. I wait to add the garlic until this point because I am the QUEEN of burning garlic in dishes like this. Cook until peppers are soft, but not falling apart. Add sausage wedges and cook until they are warmed through. Prior to serving, add Parmesan cheese to the sausage/pepper mix. Serve hot over cooked pasta.

There are seriously a ton of different ways you can do this. You can add the past to the sausage/pepper mix with a 1/2 cup of the cooking water to create a little bit of a sauce. You can also use beef stock instead of the pasta water or you can leave out the water all together like we did this time. This is a really EASY and fast dish for those lazy cooking nights.

Salmon and Couscous...who knew?

When I was growing up my dad got on a couscous kick and it totally creeped me out. It looked so grainy. No part of it appealed to me. As I got older and saw it more in cafes and restaurants I always remembered my dad eating it by the pan load. UG!

A month or two ago Alex brought some couscous home and told me we had to try it. I was pretty reluctant, but agreed. Surprise, surprise it was pretty dang good. Tonight we were wrangling for ideas of what to make. I wanted to BBQ and Alex wanted couscous. So we compromised. I got online and searched Salmon and Couscous and picked the first recipe that came up...it so happened to be a Food Network recipe by Bobby Deen of all people. Yes, his mother is Paula Deen, who is hell bent on giving everyone heart disease. Who would have thought he would be capable or allowed to create such a healthy recipe.

Salmon and Couscous:
Olive oil
4 (4-ounce) pieces salmon
Lime

The recipe calls to bake the salmon at 350F putting the lime juice and olive oil on top, but we grilled it and drizzled the lime juice over the top after it was done cooking.

Couscous:
2 1/4 cups water or chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons butter
10 ounces couscous
1 cup diced tomatoes - we used canned tomatoes rather than fresh
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup green onions

Combine water or chicken stock, salt and butter in a saucepan, over medium heat and bring to a boil. Stir in couscous. Add diced tomatoes, crumbled feta, and green onions. Remove from heat, cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Uncover, fluff with a fork, and serve hot or cold.

We also added pitted kalamata olives to the couscous and it was FABULOUS!

Alex wasn't so keen on the idea of the feta so I left it out until I was plating up my meal....so one picture is with feta and the other is without. :)

This is a GREAT light recipe. The additional ingredients in the couscous add some serious flavor to this dish. I usually like my salmon with a little tarter sauce....and even went as far to make some up...but didn't use it with this dish because the couscous was so AWESOME! Take the leap...try it out!

Thai Mango Rice!!!

Alex and I had dinner with some friends at a FABULOUS Thai restaurant called Sawadee in downtown Salt Lake. Our friends, Tom and Kortney introduced us to this place and consequently introduced us to the dish in this post. Each couple decided order the Thai Mango Sticky Rice to go. Alex and I didn't get around to eating our desert for two days. By that point the rice had sucked up all the 'Sweetness' but we decided we LOVED the desert!

I decided to search out a recipe online so we could have Thai Mango Rice any time. I found a GREAT recipe for Thai Mango Sticky Rice on About.com (http://thaifood.about.com/od/thaidesserts/r/thaidessert.htm). Alex didn't want to make a special trip to the Thai food store down the street so we made it with regular minute rice. NOT BAD AT ALL!!!! If you want to find the original recipe, check out the link. This is the recipe I made.

Thai Mango Rice:
2 cups Minute Rice
1 3/4 cups water
1-2 ripe mangoes, cut into bite-size pieces

1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 can good-quality coconut milk
1/4 tsp. + pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. cornstarch or arrowroot powder dissolved in 2 Tbsp. water

Make the Minute rice as directed on the box, but instead of using two cups of water with the 2 cups of rice use 1 3/4 cup water and 1/4 cup of coconut milk and add 1 Tbsp. brown sugar.

Warm the rest of the can of coconut milk with 1/4 cup sugar, a pinch of salt, and 1 tsp. vanilla flavoring over medium heat (5 minutes).

Add cornstarch (dissolved in the water) to the sauce and stir to thicken it slightly. As it thickens, turn down heat to low. When thickened, remove from heat. Be careful not to boil the coconut milk.

The original recipe has two suggestions for serving this rice, but I mixed the sauce with the rice and stirred them together until completely mixed. I topped the rice with fresh mangoes cut into small bite sized pieces.

This recipe KICKS ASS and totally resembles the flavor of the Thai Mango Sticky Rice we ordered at Sawadee. Using the minute rice didn't change the dish much...but I can't call it 'Sticky Rice' as a result. :)

I hope you make this over and over again like Alex and I will be doing!!!!!

MINI Corn Dogs

Oh yeah! I don't care who you are....you secretly think corn dogs are the bomb! I LOVE corn dogs, but they pack on the fat like nobody's business. I scored a TOTALLY sweet recipe for Bakes Mini Corn Dogs from this month's issue of Food Network Magazine. I wasn't sure what to expect from these babies, but did they deliver! AND they are cute and small...well, the picture in the magazine makes them look cute and small. Mine turned out bulky and huge...but it was my first time and they tasted FABULOUS...so who cares what they looked like, right?

Baked Mini Corn Dogs:
1 cup reduced-fat milk
1 package active dry yeast
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1 cup fine yellow cornmeal
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting and kneading
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
9 reduced fat hot dogs, halved crosswise - I used 3 brats and cut them into 3-4 small pieces
1 large egg, beaten - I omitted this part
1 tablespoon black sesame seeds (optional) - I omitted this too

Warm the milk to about 100 F in a sauce pan; pour into a medium bowl. Spring in the yeast and left soften for about 2 minutes. Stir in the olive oil, brown sugar and corn meal with a wooden spoon. Add the flour, salt, baking soda and cayenne pepper; stir to make a sticky dough.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead, adding more flour if needed, until smooth but still slightly tacky, about 5 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball, place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Meanwhile, insert a wooden stick or small skewer into each hot dog half about 1 inch deep; set aside. Preheat the oven to 450 F and lightly oil a large backing sheet. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface; divide into 18 pieces. With our palms, roll each piece into a 10-inch length. Wrap each piece around a hot dog half, tucking and pressing the edges to seal; place on the baking sheet. Brush the dough-wrapped dogs with the beaten egg; sprinkle with sesame seeds, if desired. Bake until golden brown, 15 minutes.

The Food Network magazine also had a suggestion for spicing up your condiments. I added wasabi paste to the mustard to give a FABULOUS kick. Try it out!

Kolaches

I was playing around online this weekend and saw a recipe for Kolaches. I was curious about them because I had seen a recipe for Kolaches in Rebecca Rather's, The Pastry Queen cook book The first comment on the blogger's site mentioned The Pastry Queen cook book and I took this to mean I HAD to make these babies for breakfast Saturday morning. So at 10pm Friday night I got started making the dough.

When I told Alex I was making this recipe he told me it was a Polish recipe his family used to make when he was a kid. I told him the recipe said it was a Czech recipe so we agreed to call it an Eastern European recipe. It is fun to find family history in food!

The original recipe says it yield 16 to 18 buns, but I have found these recipes make nearly double what the recipe says it does so I halved the recipe. I have included the full recipe...but I am warning you in advance!

Kolaches:

Dough:

2 cups milk

1 (1/4 ounce) package active dry yeast

1/2 cup luke warm water (110 to 115 degrees F)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

2 large eggs

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 teaspoons salt

8 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Peach Filling:

2 cups pitted, chopped peaches

1 cup good quality peach jam - we used my spiced peach jam

Streusel Topping:

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

To make the dough: Warm the milk in a medium saucepan set over medium heat until it begins to steam and form a skin; do not boil. cool for 10 to 15 minutes until it registers 110 to 115 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Dissolve the yeast in the luke warm water and let sit until foamy, about 5 minutes. Melt the butter. Let cool for 5 minutes.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, salt, and melted butter. Add the cooled milk and yeast mixture. Gradually add the flour to the batter, 2 cups at a time. User your hands or a wooden spoon to mix the flour with the wet ingredients. Keep adding the flour until it is completely incorporated and the dough begins to hold together. use a light touch; don't pound or overwork the dough or you'll get tough kolaches. The dough will be sticky, moist, and light.

Lightly grease a large bowl with vegetable oil. Transfer the dough to the bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let it rise in a warm, draft free place until doubled in size, 1 or 2 hours (a dent should remain when the dough is touched lightly). Leaving the dough in the bowl, punch it down until it deflates. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

I am not a born baker and I am a VERY slow learner. See this picture. This is what my dough looked like the next morning. It didn't rise at all for me in the 1 1/2 I let it rise in a warm oven. I was worried I destroyed the recipe because I am not friendly with yeast...but the recipe is VERY forgiving. Thank goodness!!!

For the peach filling: combine 2 cups pitted, chopped peaches with 1 cup good quality peach jam in a medium bowl.

Grease a 12 by 17 inch baking sheet with butter or cooking spray. With lightly oiled fingertips, shape the dough into 2 1/2 inch-diameter balls, about the size of small limes. arrange the balls evenly on the baking pan.

To fill the kolaches, user your thumb or finger to make a generous indentation in the middle of each dough ball. mount about 1 heaping teaspoonful of peach filling in the indentation. Cover the rolls with a clean tea towel and let the rolls rise in a warm, draft free place until almost doubled in size. About 1 hour. THIS is where the recipe was forgiving of me. I put the kolaches in a warm oven and the DID double in size.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

To make the streusel topping: user your hands or a food processor to mix the flour, sugar, and butter until crumbly. Scatter the topping over the kolaches just before baking.

Bake the kolaches until lightly browned on top 25 to 30 minutesCook the Kolaches for 20 minutes before serving.

Rebecca Rather includes several variations to this recipe at the end of the recipe. Once of those variations is for cheese-filled Kolaches. I used a combination of the cheese and peach filling for my Kolaches.

For cheese-filled Kolaches: combine 1 14-ounce carton dry-curd cottage cheese (I used cream cheese) with 1/4 cup sugar, the grated zest of 1 lemon, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and 2 egg yolks.

This recipe was pretty dang good. I liked it because it sounds pretty decadent, but it turned out to be a great combination of sweet and bread. Alex LOVED these babies!!!!

Love of Cookbooks

I tell you Goodcook.com is the BEST website! I have scored something like 7-10 cookbooks on this site for 50% off the sale price when all is said and done. My most recent purchase was Crescent City Cooking by Susan Spicer. This is a fun Cajun cookbook by a chef from New Orleans. I found a pretty sweet recipe for Caribbean Crab Pilaf with Coconut Milk.

The flavors in this dish sounded awesome together. I'd like to say it was everything I thought it would be, but the flavors weren't as strong as I would have liked them to be and it was DEFINITELY better the next day after the flavors had an opportunity to meld together.

Caribbean Crab Pilaf with Coconut Milk:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon butter

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 medium carrot, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon curry powder

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

2 cups medium- or long-grain rice

1 large tomato, peeled, seeded and diced - we didn't peel it...that's too much work

1 pound lump crab meat, picked free of shells

1 1/2 cups canned unsweetened coconut milk

1 teaspoon Angostura bitters

1 tablespoon lime juice

1 teaspoon salt

Hot sauce

1 /4 cup finely sliced scallions

1/4 cup each chopped fresh basil and/or cilantro, optional

Heat the oil and butter in a 2-quart saucepan over medium-high heat and add the onion, carrot, and garlic. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes, then add the curry powder and pepper and cook 2-3 minutes longer. Add the rice and saute for another 2 minutes. Add the tomato, crabmeat, coconut milk, 1 1/2 cups water, bitters, lime juice, and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and cook for 15-20 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed. Remove the pan from the heat and let it stand covered for an additional 10 minutes. Stir the rice and season it with the salt and hot sauce. Serve garnished with scallions and herbs.

O.K. here are the pointers you REALLY should not miss out on. 1 teaspoon of salt is no where near enough to make this flavorful. I took leftovers to work the day after we made this and I had to steal salt from the nasty restaurant downstairs. :) Also, the recipe says the basil or cilantro garnish is optional...it is NOT optional. Next time I am going to use chicken stock instead of water for some added flavor.

I definitely think you should try this out. It has a great mesh of flavors.

Empanaditas

I love to collect cook books. Every time I travel I like to pick up a new cook book that will remind me of the area. Six ago I visited San Francisco with some friends and spent a day in Sonoma wine tasting, of course. At one of the winery's I found by dream cook book. 'Potatoes, from mash to fries.' I LOVE potatoes! The funny thing is I have only ever made this recipe from the book.

This recipe is AWESOME! It reminds me of living on my own because it was cheap to make and really yummy. I used to make this with nutritional yeast when I was vegan. :) This recipe has a lot of memories for me and I hope it it creates memories for you too.

Empanaditas:

1 medium potatoes, cut in 1/4 inch dice

3 scallions

3/4 cups canned corn kernels, drained

1 or 2 green chilies, seeded and finely chopped

3 oz. queso fresco

2 teaspoons dried marjoram

1/2 teaspoon paprika

Cuban Chorizo diced - this isn't a part of the original recipe, but you can add anything you want!

Pastry:

See recipe

I don't like the recipe the book has for pastry dough because if you have been reading my blog you know I sucked at making pastry dough until I scored a sweet recipe from my friend Jen.

Parboil the potatoes in a saucepan of lightly salted boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Drain well, and let cool. Combine the remaining filling ingredients in a bowl, stir in the potatoes, season with salt and pepper, and set aside.

Follow instructions for the pastry.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/8-inch think, the cut out 16 rounds, 5 inches in diameter, using a small saucer as a guide. Knead and re-roll any trimmings. Place 1 tablespoon filling on each round a little off center. I made mine a little bigger and use more filling.

Dampen the edges of the pastry with a little water and fold in half over the filling. Using the tines of a fork, press the edges together to seal them.

The recipe calls to fry these babies in a deep pan filled 1/2 way up with oil at 375 for about 3-5 minutes until brown. That is too much oil for me so I bake these at 375 for about 20-25 minutes until lightly browned.

These make great snacks or a yummy meal.

I never used up all the filling so I used the leftovers to make a breakfast burrito with them. YUM!!!!!!