New Cookbook, again!!!

I couldn't help myself. I'll get rid of some of my old cookbooks, I swear! I was at Costco, and saw Jamie's Food Revolution, and had to have it. I have a few of his early "naked chef" books, and he had some great stuff, even then. I think he's come a long way, and I'm impressed by his dedication to a cause that needs attention right now. The recipes look great, Picky saw several pictures that she loved (don't get too excited, it doesn't mean she'll actually try it if I cook it...). I even passed up the new cookbook by Alice Waters, although I may pick it up eventually. 

I love Jamie's premise for the book: he invites you (or challenges you) to learn a few recipes from each chapter and then pass them on to one or two others. That's practically an invitation to blog his recipes! Although, really, I'd be preaching to the choir: it's not likely that someone who is uninterested in cooking would be looking at a food blog. Still...

I'm excited to try a few new recipes (and see if I can get Picky to try a bite or two), and I'm excited to follow what Jamie Oliver is doing with his "revolution", and where this all goes! Happy Cooking! :)

The sandwich maker returns: chicken in puff pastry

Someone stop me!! Ever since I found out that I could make things besides sandwiches in my sandwich maker, (like pancakes...), I've been going crazy experimenting with the thing! I've made cornbread, omelets, and chicken in puff pastry. The puff pastry experiment was probably the best one - neat little triangles of pastry dough filled with chicken, broccoli, pesto, and cream cheese. Of course, you could do any filling - I had some left-overs from making calzones a few nights before. So, I thought: if it's good in a calzone... Of course, puff pastry dough is not exactly a health food (disclaimer!!) - but...















I mean, don't those look tasty?? Who knew I could do that in a sandwich maker? Of course, I could also do it in the oven, but would they come out looking so perfect? I used this recipe as a starting point, although I used a different filling, obviously. And I sprayed the thing with nonstick oil instead of using margarine. You could totally do turnovers! I'm getting goofy with this now - dh and I were joking about having a sandwich press Thanksgiving this year - we could have 5 or 6 of them running simultaneously - you wouldn't be able to tell what you're eating except by the color - you could walk around with your wine in one hand and a triangle in the other. 


Anyway, I'd love to tell you about the omelet experiment, but I'm too tired, so it'll have to wait. I'll just give you this picture to ponder:

Chocolate Ricotta Muffins

All right, I know I said I was going to do more healthy food...but, you know, ricotta is full of protein, and if you use whole wheat pastry flour in this recipe...well, no - I guess I can't make this into a health food. But it is one of my most requested recipes, and I've been meaning to put it on the blog for awhile!

This one is from Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Cafe - one of my favorite cookbooks, and one of two that I have that are specifically breakfast recipes. These muffins freeze and re-heat very well - I often make a batch and freeze them, and then pull out one or two for a special treat/snack. Although I wouldn't really call them "healthy", I feel better giving these to Picky than a cookie, which is much higher in fat and sugar, and lower in protein. Plus the muffins fill you up much better. I also make these to bring as gifts or as a potluck dessert. I made them for a New Year's brunch - I tried to mix it up a bit by adding white chocolate chips instead of regular, mostly because I thought they would look cool, but actually it didn't look or taste as good as the regular semi-sweet chips do, so I wouldn't advise that. You could probably do chocolate chunks instead of chips, though - hmmm, I may have to try that, although it may have to wait until after I've dropped the extra holiday pounds...

Chocolate Ricotta Muffins

• Nonstick spray
• 2 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I usually use whole wheat pastry flour)
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 6-8 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa (use something really good...this makes the recipe...)
  
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (or chunks?...)
• 1 cup ricotta cheese (she recommends whole milk ricotta, but I've used low fat with good results...)
• 2 large eggs (curious about egg sizes, or need to convert? click here.)
  
• 1 1/3 cups milk (again, I usually use 1% here, but I think anything would work...)
  
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted (I do this in the microwave - be careful not to blow it up, though! It works better if you put a piece of wax paper or butter wrapper over the dish, and start with 35-45 seconds. The time will vary a bit depending on your microwave. Or you could get all old-fashioned and melt it in a little sauce pan on the stove...)
  

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly spray 12 standard muffin cups with nonstick spray. (I always end up with more, because my muffin tins are smaller - I think I usually get about 20, and I knock a few minutes off of the time...)
2. Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, cocoa, sugar, and chocolate chips in a medium-sized bowl.
3. Place the ricotta in a second medium-sized bowl, and add the eggs one at a time, beating well with a medium-sized whisk after each addition. Add the milk and vanilla, and whisk until thoroughly blended.
4. Pour the ricotta mixture, along with the melted butter, into the dry ingredients. Using a spoon or a rubber spatula, stir from the bottom of the bowl until the dry ingredients are all moistened. Don't overmix; a few lumps are okay.
5. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. For smaller muffins, fill the cups about 4/5ths full. For larger muffins, fill them up to the top. If you have extra batter, spray one or two additional muffin cups with non-stick spray and fill the remaining batter. (tip - If I have empty muffin tins, I fill them 1/3 with water. I'm not sure where I heard this, but it's supposed to be better for the pan somehow. You do have to be a bit careful taking it out of the oven, though, lest you slop the hot water on yourself or the other muffins...) 
6.  Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until lightly browned on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the pan from the oven, then remove the muffins from the pan and place them on a rack to cool. Wait at least 30 minutes before serving. (yeah, right! Well, at least try them before giving one to your child, because the chocolate chips get really, really hot!! I don't think I've ever waited 30 minutes, though - that's asking too much!)

Ok friends, I've done my duty and shared our favorite muffin recipe! I'd like to now say that after this it will be all healthy recipes, but I haven't posted my recipe for zucchini bread yet...wait, isn't zucchini bread healthy? It's got vegetables in it... 
 

Caught on camera!

One of the foods I try to always have on hand is "Martian Soup" - a pureed spinach and potato soup that Picky eats regularly with lots of cheese on top. I make large batches of the soup and freeze portions so that I always have it on hand for lunches and the occasional dinner. Although it's not time-consuming or difficult to make, I've gotten in the habit of making the batches at night while watching shows on DVD (tonight it was "Weeds"). Sometimes I do this in a tiara.

Plum crazy!

I've been swimming in plums! When I saw the plum trees in my friends back yard over-burdened with plums, I decided I had to do something to take advantage of the abundance - I started out with loads of plum crumbles - I think we were eating plum crumble almost every day for several weeks! When I saw that I wasn't making a dent in the plum population, I tried my hand at canning for the first time. I have to say, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, although I know I did plenty wrong (like put the plums through a food mill - I guess that's just for apples? You're supposed to leave the skin on the plums - a pectin thing?). Despite that, I have to say that the jam came out really good - just the right texture (at least I think so, although some would like it chunkier...) and sweetness. I think I'll get a book for next year - I had up 6 different websites to walk me through the canning process...many of them were blogs that had their own experiences and recipes. The site that helped me with the technical aspect of sealing the jars in a water bath was this one. I have to say that it is somehow very satisfying to turn a big bag of plums into a neat little row of jam jars...I think I'll have to do the same thing for my apples when they ripen - that is, if the squirrels don't eat them all...
Anyway, I won't embarrass myself by putting up a recipe - I mean, it was plums, sugar, lemon juice, and pectin - plus, It's not like I'm an old hand at canning or anything...but I have to say, I think I'm hooked! And now that the plums are sealed up in little jars, I won't feel the need to stuff myself with them - I can enjoy reasonable amounts of plum jam all year long! :)