Nurturing my inner... grown up snack cup

I saw Rachel Ray make this and then I tweaked it a little.  Some days you just gotta take a little help from someone who has already done it.  (No need to reinvent the dessert wheel from scratch.)  Due credit is given, so let's not dilly-dally.

Easy Tiramisu (Or I just came up with "Tira-made-simple")

1-2 pkgs of lady fingers (sponge cakes)
8 oz espresso (or 1 heaping tsp instant decaf espresso powder to 8 oz water)
1-2 shots Kaluha coffee-flavored liquor
2 pkgs mascarpone cheese (Wegmans carries it!)
½ cup confectionery sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp Fra Angelico hazelnut-flavored liquor (or other options below)
Unsweetened cocoa powder

You can make this in one dish, but I like to make it in four smaller containers for individual portions.

A bunch of cool stuff.

Let's start with the espresso.  I use decaf for this, because dessert is mostly at night for me and I don't want to be up until 3:00 am.  (This is how I know this little fact: a friend once accidentally served three friends and me all caffeinated coffee and didn't want to tell us after she realized.  That night everyone was up until the wee hours of the morning.  When we all got together the next time, each person mentioned how they were up all night that night.  That's when she came clean!  Busted!  We would have popped her one, but we were all laughing so hard about it, we nearly fell on the floor.)

Having some instant espresso around makes
it fast and easy.

Eight ounces of room temp water with espresso powder, Kaluha and mix.  A shallow bowl works best.

Brewing it is easy too. I make stove top
espresso every week. Seven minutes.

It's wise to prepare all the elements first, then you're ready to assemble quickly.  To make the cream, add the mascarpone cheese, confectionery sugar, vanilla and Fra Angelica.  (You could add any number of flavored liquors instead.  Chambord for raspberry, Cointreau for orange, Godiva for chocolate.)

There really is no substitute for mascarpone.
So splurge!

Beat until creamy with a hand mixer.

Reminds me of tangy cream cheese frosting,
only lighter.

Take the lady fingers and dip quickly into the espresso.  Just a couple/few seconds on both sides.

Don't leave them in too long or they will get
soggy and fall apart in your hands.

The container I used this time was square because it fit well, but I've manged to use round cup-sized ones and break some lady fingers in half to fit the shape.  They are very forgiving once doused.

Three worked perfectly.

Add an eighth of the cream mixture to the top of each set of lady fingers in each of the four containers.

First layer.

Smooth out the first layer of cream with a small spatula.  Delicately.  The lady fingers get soft quickly.

Don't press too hard.

Repeat by placing the next layer of soaked lady fingers in the opposite direction.  On top of that, add another eighth of the cream on each to finish.

Lucky I had any left. I wanted to eat the
sweetened mascarpone mixture right out
of the bowl!

Finish off by dusting with unsweetened cocoa powder.  I have a tiny sifter I send it through, so no lumps.  Refrigerate for a couple hours or more.  (You could make some homemade whipped cream and add that as a layer before the cocoa powder if you wanted a little more fluff.)

Just enough to add a hint of chocolate flavor.

Real tiramisu is heavenly, but more involved and uses raw egg yolks.  I had first tried this recipe when I was making Italian for some friends, suddenly decided I should make dessert, and was headed over to their house in just a few hours, so I had to travel with it.  I was able to get it done fast and the individual containers worked so well.  Gave us all a good stopping point.  Plus, who doesn't like their very own individual serving size of dessert!

Nurturing my inner... dinner for dad

Father's Day is always kind of sad for me.  My father has been gone for some time now.  Nearly half my life.  I often wonder as an adult woman what it would be like to have your daddy around.  To have worked past those obnoxious late teen/early twenties battles and move into a less argumentative, less combative stage.  To be able to go out to lunch, just the two of us, and speak more as equals.  Have substantial conversation.  Appreciate each other as friends.  Ask him for advice.  My father unfortunately passed away at a regretful, highly-charged time in my young adult life.  When I was working, very unglamorously hard, at growing up, but not having actually grown up quite yet.  Transitioning from newly graduating from college to being completely on my own with my very first corporate job.  A far cry from the old days.

Note my round, chubs belly that made it
easy for my father to grasp me like a
basketball and ensure I didn't roll anywhere.

To remember my dad, I made a hearty, meat-centric meal.  My mom used to make this now and then.  So I decided to take my own stab at it.  My father wasn't flashy, so I kept it simple.

Beef Stroganoff

1 lb beef cubed, then sliced
1 can of beef broth
1 package onion soup mix
1 package sliced mushrooms

For roux

2 tbsps butter
2 tbsps flour

To finish at the end

2 heaping tbsps sour cream

It's nice that you can buy a package of stew beef mostly ready for you right out of the package.

Comes in large cubes.

I sliced each cube into about three strips.

More bite-sized and cooks faster.

Then I browned it in a saute pan.  Just to sear it.

Until the juices ran clear.

Though I do feel I can attribute more of my adventurous tastes to my patriarchal side than the other, I do know that my dad was still a pretty basic guy.  So just a few ingredients would do the trick.

Stroganoff doesn't have to be super
complicated. Good family food.

Simple flavors are made exponentially better by one thing: cooking low and slow.  A slow cooker really is the way to go when desiring deeply-infused, well-favored meat that is incredibly tender.  I put the meat in, then added the broth, onion soup mix and mushrooms right on top.

Easy as 1, 2, 3.

A quick stir, cover and set aside for 3 1/2 to 4 hours.

You should stir occasionally. It will make
you feel like you actually did some work.

After ample hours have passed and you've had time to vacuum the entire house, reorganize your sock drawer, write a letter to your favorite aunt, and your beef is fork tender, then it's time for a couple finishing touches.

First, to thicken the mixture and make a gravy, into a saute pan goes a little butter and flour.

Fast way to thicken a sauce.

The butter will melt quickly and the mixture should be lightly toasted until the flour is slightly brown.

Such a simple and magical concoction.
It transforms in mere moments!!!!

That gets added right into the crock pot and stirred around until it's fully incorporated.  Give it a minute or so and watch how a fast the brothy liquid begins to get thicker and creamy.

Looks good as is, but one more thing for
extra pizazz.

It wouldn't be beef stroganoff though without a couple of dollops of sour cream to create that unmistakable tang we all know and love.

Watch the dark brown change...

The sour cream makes it just that much more decadent.  And it doesn't take much.

... to a lighter tan.

Don't forget, this lovely mixture has to go on top of something.  I'm a big fan of egg noodles.  And I got these wonderful crimped bow ties up in CT from Durante's.  Fresh, dried, homemade egg noodles.  Can't be beat.

And only like $2.50 a pack.

Boiled about six/seven minutes so I kept them aldente.

Nontraditional shaped pasta for this dish, but
I know my dad would have been okay with
me adding my own personal spin.

A pile of bow ties, then a scoop of stroganoff with mushrooms and gravy on top.  No skimping on this serving.  A hearty father-sized plateful in honor of dad.

Classic cooking at its simple best.

I know that some people who read my blog still have their fathers.  And some do not.  I encourage those who do to spend some time with their dads on random days other than Father's Day, really getting to know them as people and not just parents.  For every encounter will one day be remembered as precious.  And for those whose dads aren't here with them, I hope you have been comforted by sweet memories between the tears and that you are cared for at times by other fatherly men in your lives.

Nurturing my inner... trail remix

If you don't want a new temptation to wrestle over, do not read this entry.*

*Unofficial official legal disclaimer that protects the writer from any new bad habits you form from this potentially addictive snack treat.

A friend invited me on a hike with some of her friends this weekend, yet sadly we got thunderstormed out.  Safety first!  (And taking into account my uncanny ability to attract worst case scenarios, I needent mess with potential bolts of energy thrust downward from darkened skies.)  But not before I had already purchased ample hiking rations and woke up at 5:15 am to get ready.  Eh, you can't mess with fierce forces of nature.  (No, I wasn't referring to me, the major crankypants who woke up WAY before the sun all for naught.)

It would stand to reason that seeing as I didn't hike, I had no need to consume trail mix.  There is not much of a rugged pathway from my kitchen to my living room.  But I just could NOT wait to bust this open.  S'mores blend trail mix.  With a peek-a-boo window to beckon me closer to the tasty treasure within.  (Who could possibly have the wherewithal to resist?)

Portion control was a huge struggle
after I took my first bite.

So what's inside?  Crunchy graham cracker nuggets, crispy mini marshmallows, honey roasted peanuts, milk chocolate candies, shaved coconut bits and these incredibly unique cocoa roasted whole almonds.  Are you even serious?  Help me, I didn't stand a chance.

The key is to get the perfect mouthful each time.
With a little bit of each item.

If trail mixes have gotten this incredibly gourmet and absolutely irresistible, I could be talked into a hike on any 90 degree, 100% humidity day!  It was such a crunchy, salty, sweet, satisfying reward for all my athletic efforts.  And I hadn't even left my couch.  Imagine how good it would have been if I had actually scaled a mountain!  Well, maybe next weekend?

Nurturing my inner... group coupon

The whole group coupon craze that's going on is wonderful.  I bought one recently for a local wine bar and invited my friend along to check it out with me.  Parallel Wine Bistro in Ashburn, VA.

I feel weird taking pictures of interiors sometimes.  (Or waiters look at me weird, so then I feel weird.)  To be more low key, I put my camera inconspicuously on the table and gave you a worm's view.

From a high table looking toward the bar.
Nice interior.

The coupon was great because it included both food and wine.  Many of these group coupons don't include alcohol if you read the fine print.  (P.S. Always read the fine print!  Some of them even say you can only go on Mondays - Thursdays.)

We got there early, on purpose, so we could enjoy the lower happy hour prices.  We began with some $3.00 and $4.00 glasses of wine.  And this place has some great, quality happy hour wine.  Some other places will only offer lower quality wine for the early evening specials, but not this place.  You get the good stuff up front.  I had a glass of red zinfandel and a pinot noir that were both lovely.  But, we did need some food too.

First up, the cheese board.  Three cheeses (brie, goat and cheddar), red grapes, apple butter, apple slices, dried apricots in honey with sliced almonds and water crackers.  This alone with the wine could have me satisfied for an evening.  (In theory.)

A generous portion for $10.

Like many places now, they have wine tasting machines.  Bottles are lined up with tubes in them.  You buy a card with whatever amount of money you want on them and you can get 1, 3 and 5 ounce pours that are automatically dispensed.  The prices are all listed above each bottle of wine, along with some notes, so you can make an informed decision.  This is a great way to taste many kinds of wine and not commit to just one bottle.

I have done this at another place
and it's a fun thing to do.

Next delivered to our table were the other three appetizers.  (Remember, this is research.  So we have to go all out!)  Might I note that the portions were very generous.  There is another wine bar we like and the food is out of this world, but the portions are quite small for their happy hour's reduced pricing.  (Less money, less food appears to be their motto.)  So you really get your money's worth at Parallel.

1. Spring Lettuce Chicken Wraps - Iceberg lettuce cups filled with Asian style braised chicken mixed with mango & red peppers, topped with sweet thai-chili sauce & peanuts.
2. Parallel Bruschetta - Mozzarella cheese with sherry vinegar, tomato, garlic, kalamata olives and mushrooms, shallots & basil.
3. Baked Brie - Warmed brie served with fresh apple butter and apricot with toasted almond honey compote.

All $5.00 each. You won't go home hungry.

The sun set by the time we got around to dessert, so the flash had to come on.  I don't have a fancy camera, so please bear with the brightness bouncing off the white.

Dark chocolate torte - Served with cassis & cream sauce.  (Fresh berries underneath.)

Rich and dense, but well balanced with
fruit and creme.

And one more, Apple Strudel - Fresh gala apples baked in filo dough with walnuts, raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg & brown sugar.

 

I gravitate to any sort of apple and
pastry desserts.

The food was good.  It wasn't quite as knock out amazing as another place we like to go, but it was still tasty, the presentation was terrific and portion wise, for the happy hour pricing, it can't be beat.  The wine was fantastic and I appreciate that they don't try to do the cheap stuff switcharoo on ya.  That alone made it worth the trip.  Plus, the interior was quite cozy.  I'd go again.  Which is a good thing, considering I have another coupon.

Nurturing my inner... honey i shrunk the quiche

I'm back!  Not that you knew I was gone, but I was on vacation.  Which means I do have posts on restaurants coming up soon.  But first, a little home cooking.

When I was a kid, I was fascinated with tiny things.  I never had a dollhouse, but I had a few dollhouse furniture pieces from my cousins.  One was a cupboard with all these little vegetable cans in it.  I loved that!  As an adult (I do realize that may be up for debate given this conversation), I remain in awe of anything that we know of as large normally, but has been shrunken down to minuscule.  Small just equals cute!

Speaking of downsizing, with the housing market as it is, small is the new cool thing.  I've heard of people selling their larger single family homes and moving into townhouses.  And it's not limited to just people.  This bird feeder community I pass on one of my runs used to have three houses last summer and now they are down to two!

You know things are tough when bird housing
has been reduced. No one is safe.

And check these out - someone had brought teeny lollipops into the office one day.  (Yes, I did take two!  I mean, come on!  Have you ever seen a more adorable pop?)

Next to a pen for your visual reference.

Playing off of that tiny theme I've set the stage for, I made a baby version of a favorite brunch food.

Mini Ham & Cheese and Asparagus/Mushroom & Cheese Quiches

1/3 cup of chopped ham
1/3 cup mushrooms (sauteed and chopped) and asparagus (steamed, use the more tender top 2/3rds of each stalk, cut into small pieces)
½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 tbsps heavy or light cream
2 heaping tbsps cream cheese (I use whipped)
4 large eggs
1 premade pie crust

2 mini muffin pans (12 cups in each, makes 24)

This is for two sets of quiches.  So the ingredients are halved.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Roll out the pie crust and use a biscuit cutter (mine was the fourth from the smallest) to cut circles.

Flour your surface so it doesn't stick.

I normally get about 20-22 at first pass and then have to patch together the dough to get the rest.  When it bakes together, you won't even notice the Frankenstein ones.

Make sure dough stays cool.

Mini muffin trays are so great.  You can use them for so many things.  I sprayed two of them with nonstick spray.

You could do this with regular muffin tins, but
darn it if small isn't more appealing.

Line each cup with one of the dough circles.  Make sure to pat out the air so the dough stays flat on the bottom.

You could probably pierce with a fork to make
sure they stay flat as well.

Now for the filling.  All quiche begin with eggs.  Take two bowls and in each put two eggs.  (This is for making two different kinds.)

The base.

I normally use heavy cream, but had light at home that day.  Turns out that light works just as well and has less fat.  So either will work.

Milk products add a lovely creaminess.

I beat the eggs and then add in the cream and cream cheese.  1 tbsp cream and 1 heaping tbsp cream cheese into each bowl.

Very few ingredients make a wonderful dish.

You can mix that with a hand mixer to get it super blended, I have done this in the past, but this day I just mixed it with a fork.  The cream cheese ends up in little bits which melt nicely in the quiche.  Then add in 1/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese into each bowl as well.

In this case, don't be afraid of lumps!
They'll melt.

Now that you have two identical bowls of base quiche mixture, it's time to differentiate and flavor each.  1/3 cup of chopped ham into one.  And then 1/3 cup combined fine chopped sauteed mushrooms and steamed asparagus cut into small pieces in the other.  Other variations I like are sausage (brown and drain fat) with onion (saute) and broccoli cheddar.  But any meat, veggie and cheese combo will work.  Feta is great, spinach, sundried tomatoes, basil, goat cheese, chives.  Whatever flavor combinations you like.

Meat and vegetable. Something for everyone.

Spoon some mixture into each cup.  You can fill just to the rim.  Make sure the dough is covered all around.  (Tip: I try to fish out some of each solid ingredient to make sure things are evenly distributed into every cup, then I go back and add the liquid.)

One entire muffin tin for each type.

Ham and cheese is very traditional and never disappoints.  (Tip: If you forget to add the cheddar inside the mixture as I have one time, you can always put a little on top of each one at the end and they'll turn out just fine.)

Sauteed onion would be good to add to this
as well. But not today!

Into the oven for 11 - 13 minutes.  Or until the edges are just slightly brown and the center is solid.  When they bake, they do puff up.  But they won't spill out.  (At least this is my repeatable experience.)

The pastry crust makes it smell extra buttery.

This is why you can fill them up to the top, they expand upward when they bake, but that will be short lived.

You'll want to eat one hot right out of the
pan! But don't or you'll burn your mouth
something fierce.

Run a knife around the rim of each to make sure they are loosened, then pop them all out and cool on a rack.



Love the cheese. Let's you know you're
going to be getting into something good.


Note how they deflate when they cool, as promised.  You can see bits of mushroom and asparagus, so you know exactly what's in there.

Little works of art.

These two biters are easy to pick up and perfect for potluck brunches.  (They freeze well too!)  The small size makes them especially delicious.  That may just be mental and not fact, but I think you'll agree with me.  You won't compromise taste or satisfaction with the reduced size, but maybe you won't feel quite as guilty when you eat four of them!