Nurturing my inner... small cookie, long name

Here's a quick Christmas "cookie" I whipped up this year for a last minute gathering at my house.  Ending 2011 on a sweet, and salty, note!

Caramel White Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzels

50ish mini pretzel knots
1 cup of Kraft caramel bits
1 8 oz bar of quality white chocolate
3 tbsps PB2 powdered peanut butter  (I know, weird, right?)

I really need a shorter name for these.  Before you get all caught up on the powdered peanut butter stuff you're suddenly super curious about, let's just start at the beginning.  This is a super simple way to make an easy treat that just looks hard.  It also happens to be all of my mother's favorite snack flavors in one location.  So I tailored these just for her.  (I know.  I proudly accept my daughter of the year award.)

There is a reason to buy the traditional pretzel knot.  I knew I needed some compartments.  Chambers to hold the next item.

Okay, so I happened to buy a really
huge bag, but they are a good
snack choice plain.

Not sure if they have these everywhere, but my mom had picked me up a bag.  Pea-sized caramel bits.  They are actually soft, if you tried to squish them between your finger and thumb.  (I did.  Just so I could tell you that.)

Good for tossing on top of brownies before
you cook them as well.

I suppose I could have bought the squares and diced them up, but this is what I had which inspired the idea anyway.

No chopping.

I put down a Silpat silicone mat on my baking sheet because I was afraid of the caramel sticking.  Into a 350 degree oven for about five minutes or until the caramels melt into the holes.

One bit per chamber. They fit perfectly.

As for the next part, buy high quality chocolate.  Do not attempt to use chocolate chips because they have a stabilizer added that changes how they melt and withstand heat.  (Hey, that's news, huh.)

It was on sale.

Use a sharp knife and shave up the chocolate for easy melting.

Smaller pieces melt faster.

Place a glass bowl on top of a pot of boiling water, but not touching the water.  The steam will heat the bowl and melt the chocolate.  Do not add any cream or you'll create a ganache that won't reharden.

Stir until all is soft.

Remove the pretzels from the oven.  Let cool for a few minutes so the caramel sets.

That was just long enough for the caramel to
adhere to the pretzel.

Okay, you've been so patient.  Now for the odd stuff.  Powdered peanut butter.  Yep, that's right.  It's peanut butter without the oil.  Which means it's 85% less fat.  Less fat = less you!  (Not that I don't like all of you, but if there was 5% less of you, I wouldn't miss it.  Unless it was the really awesome 5% of you.  Fat is not awesome.  So, I think we'll be fine.)

Comes in regular peanut and also chocolate
peanut. Makes for a fun gift too.

You can mix it into tons of things like smoothies, pancakes and even cereal. Or sprinkle on ice cream, yogurt, apple sauce or bananas. It tastes amazing and heck, you've saved yourself a lot of unnecessary fat grams without losing the nutty flavor.

Yep, looks just like cocoa or powdered sugar.

Once the pretzels with caramel have cooled a bit, take the melted chocolate and spread some on top with a small, flexible spatula.  Neatness does not count.  (At least not in my case.)  I suppose you could drizzle the chocolate as well.  You could also use more than one type of chocolate for even more contrasting flavors.  Then take a small sifter and with a spoon, quickly dust the peanut butter powder on top of the soft, warm chocolate.  So it has the best chance of adhering.

Assembly line. But don't do all the chocolate
at once or it will harden before you can get
the powder to stick.

I took the entire sheet and put it in the fridge to cool faster.  When the chocolate was set and I wasn't worried about them sticking to one another, they were ready to serve or stack in a container.

A lot going on in one little snack!
(I did try to choose the prettiest ones for you.)

My mom LOVED them.  Well, of course she did.  It was all her favorite sweet treats in one bite.  That is like toffee, pistachios and dark chocolate to me.  (Trader Joe's has that candy, BTW.  No need for me to brush up on toffee making skills quite yet.)

It's nice to get a custom made, everything you like, edible Christmas gift, no?  I have a feeling mom will be asking for these again next year.

Nurturing my inner... shake and quake

Such a busy, busy time of year.  Good busy.  But short for free time nonetheless.  Amidst all the cookie exchanges and holiday parties, who says you want to give up cooking dinner for yourself though.  (To be fair, maybe you. Yet, not me.)  So I found a great little helping hand from Wegmans.

Chicken Stuffed Peppers

2 large sweet peppers
1 premarinated chicken breast
1/2 a container of small button mushrooms, quartered
2 tbsps chopped onion (I have some in my freezer)
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 cup of cooked black rice
1 cup of pepper jack cheese, shredded
1 tbsp butter

Let's do this assembly line style and get everything prepped and ready so we just have to build them later.  First thing, slice and unseed (deseed? exseed? Just take the seeds out.) of the peppers.  Throw in some boiling water for about 20 minutes to par cook.

Yellow was what they had. But you can get
them in green, orange and red too.

Here's where it gets easy and this is one of my favorite new items from good, old reliable, Wegmans.  Individually, vacuum-packed marinated chicken breasts.  So handy.  I just throw them in the freezer as is and take one out as needed.  Today I used the mojo-flavored one.

I just slice down the middle of the package to
make individual portions.

Into a baking dish then a 400 degree oven for about 30 min. 

Stoneware is handy.

While you're baking up the chicken, you'll have plenty of time for your other tasks.  Like sauteing up some mushrooms and garlic with a bit of butter.

On medium until they become soft.

I also make lots of rice ahead of time and then freeze it in smaller containers, so I can pop it in the microwave and have it ready in minutes.  (Because it takes like 40 minutes to cook the first time!)  I love black rice, so I chose that for this dish.

Black is the new white this season. When
it comes to rice, that is.

Pop out the grater, 'cause you're gonna need some cheese.  Somethin' with a little kick!

Pepper jack in peppers. Irony? Perhaps.

Use the large shred side.  I'm not even sure if I've ever used the smaller side.  Well, maybe once for fresh Parmesan.

Piles of cheese are just the bestest.

And we're going to need some finishing flavors for when we plate it up shortly.

Topping

1/2 cup sour cream
2 tsps adobo sauce and chipotle
1/2 avocado, sliced

I really do love the chipotle pepper. I need a
tshirt that says that.

Into the blender go the sauce and the sour cream.  Give it a whirl.  Tip: Add less sauce to begin with, blend, taste and add more slowly to suit your own level of heat tolerance.  If you go all out at first, you may hurt yourself.  (I cannot be responsible for that.)

Hot and cold together. Balance.

Before I go any further, I must tell a quick tale.  I actually made this a few months back on August 23rd and just haven't posted until now.  It was during the time we had a freak earthquake here in DC.  About a 5.8.  Enough to shake our houses for about 90 seconds, but nothing broke at my place.  Well, nothing - until this freak occurrence...

How in the...

Back to the quake.  It was such an odd sensation.  I thought my above neighbors were having new furniture delivered, as is common to hear rumblings of that sort in condos because we're all attached.  But when I looked outside, there was only one other car.  Not theirs.  And the duration was much longer than any couch delivery should be, even when movers are slogging a sectional up four flights of stairs and into a living room.

Oh yes, at 1:51 pm that day, things in my place definitely shook, including me when I stood up, but nothing fell, nor broke.  Then later that day I go and make dinner and I hear a loud *bang*.  I realized it came form my oven.  I flung open the door and saw it.  A clean split of my baking dish!  Lucky for me, it was at the end of the cook time.  I pulled it out, removed the chicken immediately and looked at it totally in shock.  All I can think of, because these dishes can safely go up to much higher than 400 degrees, was that there must have been a weird flaw in the materials.  And when the heat agitated it, boom, the crack.  Somewhat like an earthquake.  On a very small scale.

Never to be deterred by a little natural disaster, inside or outside of my oven, I forged ahead.  I took the parboiled peppers and laid them in a different, and hopefully heartier, baking dish.  I had sliced up the chicken, that I rescued earlier, and placed a few pieces in the bottom of each pepper.

Pepper boats.

On top of that, a spoonful of the mushroom, onion and garlic mixture.

Gotta have a veggie. Mushrooms are packed
with such great flavor once cooked.

Next up, the rice.  Heat in microwave if frozen or use fresh while hot.  Hefty spoonfuls of that next.

Something about layers really makes a dish
turn into an adventure.

Seriously, you had to know I was going to top this with cheese.  Who wouldn't?!

I tried not to go overboard with the cheese. 
I was exercising a seldom used trait I
 do possess - self control.

Bake in the oven for 10 - 15 minutes covered with foil.  All the ingredients are already cooked and warm, so it won't take long.

Just until cheese is melted.

When hot, it's ready to plate.  That simple.

Gooey. That's a good word. But not unhealthy.

You could eat it just as is.  But it's more fun to dress it up a bit with a little sliced avocado and the chipotle sour cream we made earlier.  Makes you feel like you could have your own feature in Food Network Magazine.

Please.  Enough awesome flavors to punch you
in the face and knock you out!

I really have to thank the good practice of being prepared for this one.  Having precooked rice in my freezer (a fantastic time saver) and then Wegmans premarinated chicken breast made this SO super easy.  Baring the seismic activity of the day and the broken dish, things went rather smoothly.  Some people's earthquake kits include batteries and water.  I guess mine had chicken and rice.

Nurturing my inner... sparkle

When I tell you I'm not much of a soda drinker, you'll probably ask me why I'm writing about soda.  Well, heck, there are exceptions.

San Pellegrino Limonata is not just a soda.  In fact, it's not a soda at all.  It's is what happens when you take a lemon and add pure, Italian, age old, underground, natural sparkle.  (A little legend doesn't hurt it either.)

On my desk at work from
lunch. Saved for later.

This is what I have to say about it - I LOVE IT!  (And not just because it's from the Lombardy region of Italy.  That is coincidental and not how my last name is spelled anyway.)  The top of the can has a label over it.  To keep it clean and void of sticky yuckiness.  So if you need to just pop it open because you're dying of thirst and can't wait for a glass, you can feel confident that the fine people at San Pellegrino care about your protection from nasty germs and general traveling foulness.  (These are the people after all, who make the highest quality handbags, shoes and sports cars.  Of course they'd take a mere soda can to a new high-class level!)

I am utterly impressed by little things.
(Remember this when you're Christmas
shopping for me.)

Seeing as I saved my lunchtime soda for later, I had access to glassware.  And nice glassware at that.  I thought my lemon glass would be a great complement for my limonata soda.  (If you can ignore that the words on the glass are in French.  Eh, it's all European.  Good 'nuff.)

More special than you know.

Why do I like this sparkling beverage so much?  For starters, it's not just a common, syrupy soda.  It is a sparkling mineral water beverage.  Which means less sugar.  The taste is tart and clean.  As if you added freshly squeezed lemon juice directly to a glass of crisp, cold sparkling water.  Most refreshing.  And here's the back story on it: the type of water they use has naturally occurring carbonation.  It originates from deep below the surface and when it comes in contact with limestone and volcanic rock on the way up, key minerals are added which creates some of the bubbly reaction.  Rumor has it that in 1509, Leonardo da Vinci even went to the town of origin to sample this amazing, miraculous water.  Not sure if all that's really true, but that's a heck of a good story!

It also comes in aranciata (orange) as well.  In CT I can get it at the local grocery store.  (Thanks to all the eye-talians up there.)  So if you're interested, look there first.  Here, I haven't found it quite as readily yet.  I stumbled upon individual cans in a nearby deli and in the 6 oz bottles at Wegmans.  I'm on the hunt to find the six pack of cans still, but I have full confidence that someone sells it within a five mile radius of my condo.  I'll let you know when my treasure hunt is over.  (Or I'll just buy a bunch in CT and drive it over state lines!)

Nurturing my inner... tortilla de papas

Where did November go?  It's nearly over.  And I have not posted one thing for you.  (Some kind of lousy friend I am.)  You must be hungry.  Let's see if I can make up for my slackard ways with a great family recipe, from the Perez side, that I turned up the flavor volume on.  (To be honest, I think it's even better than my grandparent's version.  Shhhh.  Honor your elders.)

Spanish Tortilla

10 small red potatoes
1 medium leek, sliced
3 cloves are garlic, sliced
5 eggs, beaten
Fresh thyme
Olive oil
Butter
Salt
Munster cheese, sliced

Now, before you get mixed up, Spanish tortilla is different than a Mexican tortilla.  It's not something you use to wrap around other things.  It is the thing.  And the thing, is good.

My family sliced up raw potatoes and then fried them in vegetable oil.  I did it a little different.  So follow me.  Not them.  Focus on me...

Start by boiling 10 small red potatoes until fork tender.

Drained and dried.

Then, this is fun, you put the heel of your hand on them and smash them.

I didn't say pulverize. Just a light squish will do.

Place a little olive oil in the bottom of a pan on medium and add in the smashed potatoes.  (You don't need to drown them in oil.  Let 'em breathe!)

Can you hear that sizzle?

Flip when golden brown with a crispy exterior.  (My mom would use garlic powder at this point, but I prefer to add fresh ingredients instead.  That's coming up soon.)

Fried potatoes are yum even if you did nothing
more. But we're not done yet.

Take the potatoes out and set aside with a dusting of salt.  Put a little butter and olive oil into the bottom of the same pan and add the leeks and garlic.  Cook until soft.

Medium heat. Burnt garlic tastes awful,
so don't do it, man!

Add the fried potatoes back in to the pan in one layer on top of the leeks and garlic.  Throw in some fresh thyme.

Layer it up!

Pour in the beaten egg in over the potatoes and surround them all.

Get it all around the edges.

Cook it up until the edges are firm.  You'll want it solid enough for the next step... the flip!

Oh, we are getting there.

Place a flat dish on top of the pan.  A light in weight one, if you got it.  (My mom always used her Corning Corelle ware plate with mustard yellow butterfly pattern.  I need to get one just for this purpose.)  Flip the tortilla on to the dish, then slide it back into the pan to cook the other side.

Try not to slide it right onto the burners.
I've seen many a partial blunder in my life.

When the second side is also golden and the egg is cooked through, you're done!

Look at those tasty leeks. Nice pattern.
And crispy exterior!

The way we liked it as kids was to slice it into square pieces and serve on untoasted white bread with butter and American cheese - sandwich style.  (As if this needed more carbs.  But hey, kids can get away with that because of all the non stop running around like maniacs they do.)  I prefer to serve it in nice, fat wedges.

The perfect triangle.

My cheese of preference for this dish is Munster.  I put a not too thick slice on top and it melted perfectly.  Topped with a fresh bit of thyme and it becomes a portrait of a well-loved family member.

If my Papa had only thought to tell
my Nana to add leeks to the papas!

Such a simple dish.  Everyday, unpretentious food.  Can be breakfast, lunch or dinner!  Eat warm or cold.  Travels well.  Makes a great snack too.  You can change the herb or the cheese to add variety.

I'm glad I could share one of my childhood go to favorite foods with you.  I hope it becomes a new family favorite for you too.

Nurturing my inner... pork and beans

Mostly when I think about having pork for dinner, I prefer it barbecued.  Slow-roasted with a rich, smoky, sweet sauce.  Maybe a tenderloin with mashed potatoes.  Mom used to make pork chops fairly often, but they always seemed kind of dry to me.  So I was off to find a way to cook up some tasty, moist pork.  I took my cue from Tuscany.

BTW, I love a slow Sunday of cooking and catching up on home chores.  (Well, mostly the first part, not so much the second.)

Pork Chops & Tuscan Beans

2 thick cut pork chops with the bone
1 can cannellini beans, drained & rinsed
1/2 can diced tomatoes, drained
4 fresh sage leaves
2 fresh rosemary sprigs
2 dried bay leaves
2 tbsps olive oil
1/4 large onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, cut in big chunks
3 carrots, diced
2 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 cups of water
1/2 tsp salt

Go to a respectable butcher, if you got one.  Here in Virginia, they aren't stand alone like in Connecticut.  So I went to one of the best meat market sections of a local grocery store I know of - Wegmans!  I talked to the butcher and his advice was to go for the bone in, center cut chop.  He said the bone gives the meat more flavor and would work especially well with my plans.  A one pot meal.

Brown wrapper. So traditional.

I got them home and unwrapped them.  Wow, they were a couple of formidable hunks of pig.  Was I prepared to be in charge of this much meat?  Seeing as I meant this to be a two portion (or two person) meal, it felt a little less intimidating.  So I jumped right in to tackle this dish!

Seems like special dinner ingredients, but
they just make an ordinary day special.

In my ever trusty Le Creuset 5.5 French oven on medium heat, I added some olive oil and sauteed up the onions, garlic and carrots until just translucent and soft.  About five minutes.  I removed and placed in a bowl.

Some base flavor veggies to get started.

Back into the French oven on medium to medium-high heat went a little more olive oil and the two chops that I lightly salted and peppered on each side.

Lean meat.

I seared the chops on each side until golden brown.  Then removed them and put aside on a plate.

Nice crisp edge on exterior.

My pot was a thing of beauty.  Full of flavor bits.  I didn't want to lose those!



Future good stuff.


I was going to fill the pot up with lots of great things.  For one, some fresh and dried herbs to really add that Tuscan spin.  Woodsy, aromatic, strong.  A great compliment to pork which is not a rich meat.  It needs some help.  The beans will soak up the flavors as well.

Heady and powerful.

So into that gorgeous pot full of left over pork drippings went the lot of it.  Which is why this is a fabulous meal.  The carrot, onion and garlic mixture from earlier, broth, water, beans, tomatoes, herbs and salt.  Be sure to use a wooden spoon when you stir and loosen up all the bits on the bottom to flavor the liquid.

Ah, fall in a pot.

On top of that went the seared pork chops.  They will shrink a little as they cook, so jam them in there.

Pork submerged.

Lid on and into a 350 degree oven for approximately two hours and 15 minutes.  Enough time for me to tidy up my place, fold fresh laundry and pay bills.  (Who says you can't get several things done at the same time!)  I checked on it a couple times and scooped the broth over the top of the pork to keep it well juiced.

Liquid has reduced and thickened with
the beans.

After the low and slow cook, the pork became fork tender and stayed moist because of all the liquid.  There are different ways to serve it.  A couple of big ladles of the bean mixture in the bottom of a shallow bowl with a whole pork chop on top is how I would have done it if I was entertaining formally.  In this case, I was trying to make meals for the week for me and I wasn't sure I could finish up an entire monster chop that night, so I opted for flaking off large chunks of pork in the cooking pot with the beans and scooping it all up together.



Hearty, yet light.

A friend of mine was texting me as I was taking the pot out of the oven and I told her to drop on by.  Of course I had in mind to use her as a tester and I'm proud to report she said it was a keeper!  A little crusty bread to dip in the liquid and that's all you need.