Pretzel Chicken

I have a hard time making the same thing with any frequency. For one thing, I really try to cook with what is in season, looks good, and is at the right price point. Also, I have such a huge file of recipes to try, it’s hard to resist picking new ones each week. But most of all, I just get tired of having the same thing over and over again. Whenever J is asked what his favorite meal is, he always replies, “I couldn’t say! Whenever we have something I like, we never have it again, so I can’t choose favorites.” So I do try to make things I know he likes as often as I can. Some are already posted here, like our favorite butter beans and banana bread. Pretzel chicken is another. The pickles totally make this recipe – the sour with the salt from the pretzels is such a great combination. Being a Rachael Ray recipe, it’s pretty quick, about 30 minutes from start to finish. And it tastes good without the cheese sauce, which J avoids. I’ve seen him eat it plain, with ketchup, or even with barbecue sauce. Enjoy!

Back to Baking and Blogging

Hi everyone! We returned mid-week from our fabulous “mini-moon” in Asheville. The wedding was more beautiful than I could have imagined and went off without a hitch. Well… if there were any, I didn’t know about them, which is the way it should be, right? Both Jeff and I were probably most touched by how many of our lovely friends and family members traveled such long distances to be with us in our somewhat remote location. We hope you had as much fun as we did! We’ve gotten a few photos sent to us by friends and family. Here’s one of my favorites. Note the flowers. Killer, huh?

Now, on to the matter at hand. Today is Daring Bakers day! I made the challenge recipe the weekend before the wedding, so I was a little bit rushed and therefore not all that creative. This month we were challenged to make a vegan and/or gluten-free version of lavash crackers with whatever kind of dip we wanted, as long as it was vegan and gluten-free. This was the first challenge designed to accommodate those the group fondly refers to as “alternative bakers” and was hosted by Natalie of Gluten a Go Go and Shel of Musings From the Fishbowl. I knew from the beginning I’d make my crackers whole-wheat and therefore sacrifice the gluten-free aspect while still remaining within the rules by keeping it vegan. I’ll admit that it took me a little while to think of a dip that didn’t involve cheese of some kind, but finally I realized I could use my other favorite ingredient, olives, to make a tapenade, which needs no wheat or dairy products to shine.

A Cream Sauce Without the Cream

This summer I was thrown a wonderful bridal shower, at which I was given recipes by all the guests. Do they know me or what? Unfortunately, it’s been taking me a while to cook through them, but I hope to cook them all soon and will post about the ones for which I have permission… one friend’s recipe was a super-top secret family recipe. I don’t think she would appreciate me plastering it all over blogosphere for everyone to see!

J’s aunt gave me a Cooking Light recipe for chicken with a pecan cream sauce. At the top she wrote: “A cream sauce without the cream… thought it would be a good one for J.” It basically calls for making your own pecan butter, which you use as the base for the sauce. The intro at the top says that you can use prepared almond butter in place of the pecan cream. I love pecans and am always looking for ways to use my new food processor (seriously… I don’t know how I lived so long without it). But in a pinch, I’m sure any kind of nut butter would work well. 

Here’s the finished pecan cream:

We enjoyed this meal, though it’s still a little summery outside for this kind of hearty-tasting meal. It came together very quickly, probably in about 20 minutes start to finish. Similar to beef stroganoff, it did taste creamy without the cream! The color just isn’t that appetizing, so excuse the pictures. 

 

Eclair Update

Oh I am so sorry I’ve been absent for so long! Life has been a little bit ok, really crazy… our wedding is only 6 days away! 

I have been cooking and baking here and there though. I made some absolutely amazing raspberry breakfast bars I saw on smitten kitchen. I strongly urge you to make them before raspberry season is over. After I packed him one as a snack on Monday, J requested that I wrap up two for him the next day. And the next. And the next…

I also tried the espresso pastry cream I spoke about in my first Daring Bakers post. It worked out really well for us because it was mostly dairy-free, so I didn’t have to make a separate version for J. It had an extremely strong coffee flavor which paired really well with the dark chocolate glaze. It was a bit runnier than the other two pastry creams I made, probably due to the lack of, well, cream, but it was thick enough to fill with. If, like me, you still have frozen pate a choux in your freezer and are a coffee lover, try it out! 

Oh yeah –  I successfully halved it and it made enough for about 12 small eclairs. 

Coffee Pastry Cream

2 cups water
1 cup finely ground full-flavored coffee beans (such as French roast)
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
5 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 large egg yolks
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, diced

Brew 2 cups water and coffee in standard coffeemaker. Pour 1 cup brewed coffee into heavy medium saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean, then cream. Bring mixture to boil.
Whisk sugar and cornstarch in medium bowl, then whisk in yolks. Gradually whisk hot coffee mixture into yolk mixture. Return to same saucepan and cook until cream thickens and boils, whisking constantly, about 3 minutes. Add butter; whisk to melt. Transfer cream to small bowl. Press plastic wrap directly onto surface; chill until very cold, at least 3 hours and up to 2 days.

From Bon Appetit

Farmer’s Market Salad

This was another salad recipe from Real Simple that piqued my interest. I made lots of additions using various goodies from the market. We used some baby yukon gold potatoes, added mixed yellow and green beans, barely steamed, and tossed in some mixed cherry tomatoes that had been halved. I subbed red wine vinegar for the white because I was out of white wine vinegar. It made a great lunch several days last week. 

And yet another shout-out to Brinkley Farms. We bought some of their pork kielbasa at the market on Saturday and grilled it this weekend with some mixed vegetables. It was super tender and flavorful – not even the same species as grocery store fare! 

Now back to the salad…