Every Party needs a Nut Bar!

A nut bar is great for entertaining around the holidays.  You can stock it with all different recipes and varieties of nuts according to your guests' tastes (as well as yours!)  Something salty, something sweet, and a lot of crunch!  Nuts make a great snack throughout the day before your big meal!

Try these favorites of mine!

• Spicy Lemon Pistachios
• Cinnamon Walnut Brittle
• Spiced Almonds
• Old Bay Peanuts
• Smoky Almond Brittle

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Like I need another excuse to eat Mexican food...  In honor of my favorite Mexican holiday, we celebrated with slow cooked pork carnita tacos accompanied by avocado 3 ways.  I made my traditional guacamole, a roasted garlic and orange guacamole, and pomegranate and avocado salsa.  Yes, pomegranate salsa.  It's certainly not a salsa to be eaten with chips but went beautifully with the tacos.  The tangy pop of the pomegranate seeds was the perfect accent to the smoky pork and creamy avocado.  Thanks to our houseguest, we've been obsessed with all things pomegranate for the last month so I had to figure out a way to incorporate them. 

We gobbled up the tacos too fast to take any pics.  It's amazing that something that takes 8 hours to cook can be eaten up in a matter of minutes! 

Avocado 3 Ways

Traditional Guacamole

Ingredients

3 avocados
1 tomato, seeded and chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped
1 small red onion, diced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1 lime, juiced
1/2 tsp cumin
salt

Directions

1. Cut around each avocado lengthwise and twist halves apart. Stab pit with knife and dislodge. Scoop out flesh.

2. Combine all ingredients and coarsely mash together. Season to taste with salt.

Roasted Garlic and Orange Guacamole

Ingredients

6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
2 small oranges
1 jalapeno
1 small red onion, diced
3 ripe avocados, pitted, flesh scooped from the skin
3 tbsp mint, chopped
1 tbsp cilantro, chopped
1 lime, juiced
salt

Directions

1. Roast the garlic in a dry skillet over medium heat until it is soft and blackened in spots, 10 to 15 minutes. Squeeze out garlic and chop if necessary.

2. Supreme the oranges by cutting of the ends, standing orange up and cutting off all the rind and all of the bitter white pith.  Release segments by cutting along either side of each membrane.  Chop the oranges.

3. Cut around each avocado lengthwise and twist halves apart.  Stab pit with knife and dislodge.  Scoop out flesh. 

4. Combine all ingredients and coarsely mash together.  Season to taste with salt. 

Pomegranate and Avocado Salsa

Ingredients

2 avocados, peeled and diced
1 lime, juiced
1 pomegranate, seeded
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro
1 tbsp honey
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
salt

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients and season to taste with salt. 

Happy Birthday!!!

Around this house, there is one kind of cake that is always requested come birthday time, a plain vanilla cake...  I had yet to deliver until now.  I always want to experiment with a new technique, ingredient or a recipe that is a bit more exciting.  And he wants plain old boring vanilla cake?  Against my own desires, I decided to surprise him with this ongoing request.  It pains me to say it, but it was definitely the right decision.  There will always be an appeal to this simple dessert.  It was perfectly moist but firm and relatively easy to frost.   

The recipe is very easy and I used a Rachel Ray recipe for vanilla frosting, but feel free to use your favorite (suggestions are welcome!).  Since I can never get the icing perfectly smooth and beautiful, I went for a swirly messy look and I think it turned out great!

Simple Vanilla Cake

Ingredients

4 eggs, room temperature
2 cups sugar
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 C).  Thorougly grease 2 round cake pans. 

2. Beat sugar and eggs in a large mixing bowl for 1 minute until thickened.   Beat in flour, milk, oil, baking powder, and vanilla until thoroughy combined and creamy, but do not overbeat as this will cause a very 'heavy' cake.

3. Pour batter into greased cake pans and bake for about 30 minutes or until golden and cooked through.  Use the toothpick test, if it does not come out clean, put it back into the oven and check every 5 minutes. 

4. Cool for 5 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.  Frost  the top of the first layer, top with the second layer, and frost completely. 

Happy Birthday!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In the spirit of today's world renowned Irish holiday, I wanted to make a traditional Irish dish for dinner.  The first thing that came to mind was the obvious, corned beef and cabbage.  I had never made it before and it's fun to do something a bit different for holidays.  While I'm not eating meat during Lent, I did make an exception in the case, I don't exactly think vegetarian or seafood when I think of Irish cuisine.  Can someone say Dispensation?

Corned beef is not something I would usually cook, or even eat.  It's just not really the style of cuisine that I enjoy.  I did partake in the Irish feast and although it wasn't my favorite and I'll probably never make it any other day of the year, the final word was that is was a very good corned beef.  It's actually pretty easy to make.  Although it takes a few hours to cook, there's isn't much active time on your part.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Ingredients

2 1b. uncooked corned beef brisket

4 cups beef stock

1 bottle of beer

2 tsp black peppercorns

3 cloves of garlic, smashed

2 bay leaves

4 whole cloves

dash of nutmeg

3 sprigs thyme

3 sprigs parsley

2 carrots, cut into chunks

2 onions, quartered

2 potatoes, cubed

1/2 head of cabbage, cut into wedges

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. In large pot, add corned beef and all ingredients through parsley.  Cover with water and cover.  Bring to a boil then reduce to low and simmer for about 2 1/2 hours depending on the size of your corned beef until it is tender.

2. Add carrots, onions, and potatoes and cook for 15 minutes.

3. Add cabbage and cook for 15 more minutes. 

4. Remove corned beef and let it rest for 15 minutes.  Slice and serve with horseradish.

Happy New Year!

If anyone has noticed, I have been on a hiatus from blogging.  We just got back from an amazing trip ringing in the New Year on Seven Mile Beach in the Cayman Islands thanks to the hospitality of our good friends!  Not only is Grand Cayman incredibly beautifuly, but it is also known as the 'culinary capital of the caribbean.'  Does it get any better?

After dining at a few amazing restaurants, we know exactly where the reputation comes from!  The fresh seafood was to die for and every restaurant that we had the pleasure of dining at had it's own unique style and take on the Caribbean fare.

We started off the trip with a New Year's Eve celebration at the Ritz.  After throwing off our shoes before a champagne toast, we started our culinary journey - conch ceviche, goat cheese caprese salad, tuna sashimi, shrimp and crab claw cocktail, lobster with sweet corn mash, grilled wahoo, duck fois gras, venison over red wine orzo risotto, beef tenderloin... to name a few.  All of the dishes were small plates which we loved so we got to try nearly everything!  After polishing off a great bottle of wine, we hit the dessert and cheese tables.  Good thing we had a few hours of dancing in the sand to work off some of that dinner!  It was expensive, but well worth it!  We were having a bit too much fun to worry about pictures, but here are few shots of the buffet stations in the background.

 

This meal was incredible, but the the rest of trip did not disappoint!  If anyone is heading down there anytime soon, some of our favorite were Calypso Grille, The Lobster Pot, Agua, and you can't go wrong with the award winning restaurants at the Ritz!

 Looking forward to an exciting 2010!

Happy New Year!

Good things come to those that wait

And that's exactly what I did... for what felt like ALL DAY!  But it was well worth it!  There was a huge crowd to feed so I decided to contribute a very large Christmas ham.

There are many things to love about a Christmas ham; to name a few - it tastes great, doesn’t require many ingredients or much attention while cooking, and looks absolutely picturesque on your table.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Rinse your ham and pat dry.  Place on a rack in roasting pan. Insert meat thermometer reaching thickest point without touching the bone. Cover with foil.

Cooking times vary greatly depending on size so use a meat thermometer and cook until you have reached an internal temperature of 160 degrees F. You can take the ham out of the oven at 155 degrees F and it will continue to cook.

My future mother-in-law gave me a great meat thermometer as an early Christmas gift.  I highly recommend it!  It's a remote thermometer with a clip-on portable receiver to alert you when the meat is done.  Very convenient if you are trying get other things done.

You can score the ham before starting to cook or up until you add the glaze, about 30 minutes before it is done.  To score, slice ham through the fat layer only diagonally about an inch apart. Slice diagonally in the opposite direction creating diamonds and stud each one with a whole clove.

I made a glaze by reducing maple syrup, brown sugar, whole grain mustard, ground cinnamon, and grated nutmeg.

When the ham has about 30 minutes left, glaze and leave uncovered for the remainder of the cooking time.

When ham has reached 155 degrees F, remove from oven and let stand for 30 min to 2 hours before serving.

Do this ham justice and garnish a nice platter for serving.

 
Leftovers make great ham sandwiches or chop up and throw in an omelette for breakfast!

On the 12th Day of Christmas, the Recipe Diva made for me...

Crab & Asparagus Puffs

Merry Christmas!!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday!  It's been entertaining around here, gas lines accidentally turned off, no heat or hot water... etc.  Good times!  Everything is all fixed up now and the Christmas ham has about 15 degrees to go!  Can't wait to dig in!

Because I knew we'd be grazing on appetizers and treats all day, I wanted to make a nice Christmas breakfast but keep it light.  I saw a recipe a while back for some cheesy crab and artichoke breakfast puffs.  I decided to do my own spin - less cheese, more crab, asparagus, and few other additions.

Exactly what we needed to start the day!  They were light, fluffy, and the flavors worked perfectly together.  Can't wait to double, triple, or quadruple this recipe for a brunch with friends!

Ingredients

5 beaten eggs

1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

8 oz. cottage cheese

5 oz. crab meat - use the good stuff, it really pays off!

4 spears asparagus

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

S&P

Directions

1. Cook asparagus in boiling water until crisp tender.  Plunge in cold water and thinly slice

2. Combine all ingredients and pour into 6 buttered ramekins.  Bake 30 minute at 350 degrees F until golden. 

Like I said, we wanted to keep it light but these would be great served with hollandaise sauce.  They are very easy but taste quite gourmet.  Perfect for special occasions and entertaining when you want results without investing a lot of time! 

On the 11th Day of Christmas, the Recipe Diva made for me...

Gingerbread Men!

What is more festive than these cute little gingerbread men?!

Knowing that the pantry is pretty empty here and most cooking supplies last forever, I decided to stock up on all the basics.  I knew that I wanted to make a classic recipe like gingerbread men so I used Allrecipes's convenient Ingredient Search to find a recipe based on the ingredients that I did and did not have and found this highly rated recipe for Gingerbread Men.  

They were perfect, soft and flavorful!  I did not even have my usual urge to leave them in the oven too long!  Maybe I've rid myself of the bad habit!  I followed the recipe exactly and here are some tips that I think may be helpful!!

My sister gave me some prep bowls as an early christmas gift and they are GREAT!  You can get all of your ingredients measured out beforehand and whip your recipes up in no time!  None of that mid-step measuring, cleaning, etc.

Make sure to scrape the bowl with a spatula throughout preparation to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.

Flatten dough into a disk, wrap with saran wrap, and store in fridge atleast 4 hours so dough will lose stickiness making it easier to work with when cutting out your gingerbread men.

I purchased a nonstick mat but still found the dough easier to work with when I added a little bit of flour to the mat.  Make sure to flour the rolling pin as well. 

These nonstick cookie sheets are AWESOME!  The cookies just slide right off. 

If you are adding icing, make sure to wait until gingerbread have men have cooled so it doesn't melt and run.

Share with friends and family!

Merry Christmas!

On the 8th Day of Christmas the Recipe Diva made for me...

Deviled Eggs!!

My mom makes the BEST deviled eggs!  Some may disagree, but I sure haven't found any yet!  I have never seen a party end with one of these left on the platter.  And in the off chance that I did find one, I would take care of it immediately!

To put these tasty delights together, hard boil a dozen eggs, peel, and cut in half.  Arrange the whites on the platter.  Mix the yolks with 1/2 cup mayonaisse, 1/4 cup relish, 1 1/2 tablespoons yellow mustard, 1/2 tbsp dry mustard, 1/2 tsp paprika, and salt and pepper to taste.  I added 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper for extra kick. 

Spoon the mixture into a plastic bag and cut the corner - this makes life MUCH easier as I figured out half way through the process.  Squeeze egg mixture into the egg whites and sprinkle with paprika.  I meant to add some chopped chives for the festive green but forgot :(  They were still delicious!  Another easy and tasty entertaining recipe that cannot go wrong!

On the 7th Day of Christmas, the Recipe Diva made for me...

Snickerdoodles!

Nothing fancy here... I was digging through my mom's old christmas cookie recipes and found her recipe for Snickerdoodles.  The name alone gets you interested... 

Simple yet delicious.  They are so easy to make and you can whip them up in no time!!!!  I love biting into the sweet cinnamon crust!  I promise I will try to flex my baking skills a bit more in upcoming recipes, but knew I couldn't go wrong with these!

Ingredients

1 cup shortening

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 3/4 cups sifted flour

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Mix shortening, sugar and eggs thoroughly.  Blend flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt.  Stir into shortening mixture.  Shape into 1" balls.  Roll in mixture of 2 tbsp sugar and cinnamon.  Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet and bake 8-10 minutes.

I have a tendency to want to keep cookies in the oven longer than I should.  Once again, after the timer went off, I checked them and was tempted to just give them another minute to make sure they were done...  Most of them were pretty good, but some were a bit crispier than I would have liked.  Hopefully I will cure myself of this bad habit!!

On the 6th Day of Christmas, the Recipe Diva made for me...

Cranberry, Pear, and Ginger Chutney

If you aren't familiar with chutney, it's an accompaniment that is similar in consistency to a relish or jelly.  Almost always consistenting of fruit, sugar and vinegar, a chutney will fall into the category of sweet or hot... or both.  They work very well served with cheeses, meats such as ham and pork, and are very common in Indian cuisine. 

With all of the holiday parties this time of year, a jar of homemade chutney makes a perfect hostess gift.  In the spirit of the season, I chose to use cranberries and seasonal spices.  The combination of hot and sweet with the savory holiday spices worked perfectly. 

Ingredients

2 - 8 oz. bags of fresh cranberries
2 pears, peeled and cubed
1 large orange
1 onion, chopped
1 cup golden raisins
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
2 tbsp ginger, grated
1 cup water
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
   
Add all ingredients to large saucepan and bring to boil.  Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for about 30 minutes until cranberries have burst and chutney has thickened. 
 

The chutney will keep for 3 days, but to jar for gifts, pack the chutney into sterilized jars and process in hot-water bath for 10-15 minutes. If you are unfamiliar with the canning process, make sure to look up more detailed instructions. 

Does anyone have any suggestions for how to make these boring jars gift worthy? 

On the 5th Day of Christmas, the Recipe Diva made for me...

Tuna Steaks with Olive Tapenade, White Bean Puree and Roasted Tomatoes

This is my kind of meal, very characteristic of the food that I really really enjoy cooking (and eating!!) - fresh ingredients, full flavors, and it incorporates two of my favorite things, seafood and garlic!

As promised, every meal in my '12 Days of Christmas' includes a new technique or new ingredient.  In this case I went a bit gourmet and decided to purchase some truffle oil.  If you've ever tried truffles or truffle oil, you know that these ingredients can really take a dish to the next level.  They add so much complexity and depth of flavor.  They are quite pricey so you certainly won't be sauteeing in truffle oil; instead, save these delicacies for uses in which they can really shine. 

As I was sooooooooo disappointed that no one appreciated my witty (so I tell myself) red, green, and white appetizers, I went for it again!  (Hold the applause) Red: roasted tomatoes, Green: olive tapenade and greens, White: white bean puree and seared sides of the tuna steaks... use your imagination ;)

The meal turned out great, so I attempted to put the recipe together below.  As I usually don't measure when cooking, I am struggling to document accurately... but I dont think you can really go wrong here with slight variations, just taste as you go!

Ingredients

4 Fresh Tuna Steaks, comparable in thickness

12 oz package of cherry tomatoes on the vine
5 tbsp Olive Oil, divided
5 oz package of baby arugula (rocket in Aussie)
Juice of 1/2 lemon, use remainder for tapenade
S&P

Olive Tapenade:

1/2 cup Manzanilla or Spanish green olives, pitted
2 tsp Capers
1/2 tsp Parsley, chopped
1 Garlic clove, minced
Olive Oil
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
Pepper

White Bean Puree:
1/2 Oion, chopped
2 Garlic cloves, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
19 oz can Cannellini beans, drained
1 tbsp truffle oil, plus more for drizzling

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F and take out tuna steaks so they can get a bit closer to room temperature.  Toss cherry tomatoes with 2 tbsp olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Roast for 20 minutes or until tomatoes are about to burst.

2. For tapenade, chop or process olives and capers.  Combine with remaining ingredients and let sit for atleast 15 minutes. 

3. For white bean puree, sautee onions and garlic in olive oil over medium high heat until translucent.  Let cool, add to food processor with cannellini beans.  Process until smooth and add truffle oil at a steady stream while food processor is still running. 

4.  Season tuna steaks.  Add olive oil to hot pan over medium high heat.  Sear tuna for 1-2 minutes on each side depending on thickness.  (I prefer my tuna medium rare, but feel free to cook longer if you aren't comfortable with that).

5. Whisk together remaining tbsp of olive oil and lemon juice, season with salt and pepper and quickly toss with arugula. 

Being that I was using a gourmet ingredient, I decided to play around a bit with plating.  I piled greens in the center of the plate, placed on the tuna and topped with the tapenade.  Spread each side of the plate white bean puree - get artistic if you can :)  Place roast tomatoes on plate.

Last and most important, eat every bite!!