Easy Cheese Danish

After thinking about it for a good month or more, I finally got off the fence and made the Barefoot Contessa Easy Cheese Danishes. They were pretty good and certainly easy to make.

First, you cream together cream cheese and sugar...then add in a bit of salt, vanilla, and in my case, a teeny tiny bit of almond extract. The recipe calls for ricotto and lemon. I didn't have ricotta on hand and didn't want to buy a whole tub just for 2 tbsp. And those who know me know my hatred of lemon in places where it doesn't belong - like danishes and cheesecakes.

Then two egg yolks...

Which leave you with a more yellowy filling. Ok, filling done (I said it was easy)


I took two sheets of defrosted puff pastry and rolled them out a bit - mainly enough to get rid of the fold creases. Cut each sheet into four large squares, put a heaping tablespoon blob of filling in the middle, then fold over the corners, sealing with egg wash. Then I brushed the whole top with egg wash.


20 minutes in a 400 degree oven later, voila.


These were quite tasty. Things I might change in the future - add a dusting of powdered sugar to the top or a very simply plain white sweet glaze. I may also add in a tbsp or two of sour cream to bump up the "tangy" factor. But regardless, this was a terrifically easy recipe with tasty results.

Back with a Bang

For those of you who have ever watched an episode on TLC or Discovery channel featuring The Duggar Family of Arkansas, you will know the importance of tater tot casserole. I've been wondering what it would taste like since I saw my first Duggar special several years ago....so last night, I embarked on a mission to find out.

First, I browned off a pound of ground beef and one small onion.


Meanwhile, I got a large bag of tots cooked in the oven - most recipes don't call for this step, but I wanted to attempt to have a wee bit of crunch to the tots - I got them v. brown.


After cooking, the tots were loaded into my casserole dish

Then the meat/onion topping was poured over


Then the creamy casserole goodness - 2 cans of cream of mushroom (the healthy variety), 3/4 c sour cream, a handful of french-fried onions, and some shredded cheese


After an hour in a 350 degree oven, the creamy topping had slightly browned in the oven, but the meat/tot mixture was bubbling beneath.


And here we go - part of a balanced dinner with the ubiquitous pea side dish.

I have to say it was pretty good. I mean, casseroles are rarely the meals you dream about - but after only really experiencing rice or pasta based casseroles, this tot-based variety was kind of tasty. Something to keep in the back pocket of the Midwestern chef is all I'm saying...

Baking day

I had an urge to bake bread this weekend, so I flipped through my Barefoot Contessa at Home cookbook, thinking that I'd seen a recipe in there, and lo and behold, a Honey White Bread recipe came up. It was very exciting.

First, I heated up milk, butter, and honey


Meanwhile, the yeast bloomed in warm water with some sugar


2 egg yolks await their turn in the mixer


Along with the flour and salt - I try to use Gold Medal whenever financial possible (if you've not heard the story why and care, let me know)



All ingredients aboard...



Sigh - this page of my book takes it first baking battle wound


More flour is added and the dough hook is a-whirrin'


I kneaded for a few minutes by hand until I had a smooth, even dough




One hour of rising in a warm spot, we have a larger blob of dough


Then an hour rise in their respective pans


40 minutes later, golden brown and ready for eating!


This was pretty good bread - I didn't get as much lift as I expected - so it was still a fairly dense bread - but it is good for toast and would make excellent croutons I imagine. For a sandwich, unless sliced PAPER thin, it would probably be too dense. I may try this, or a similar recipe again, and rely significantly less on the Kitchenaid's dough hook and more on my own hand kneading, but we'll see. It was fun regardless!

Channeling my inner Latina...

Hahaha...that's a laugh. I'm about as Latina as Tony Blair. Anyways. Mr. R requested that we make Cuban sandwiches, so that we did (with store bought mac salad on the side - v. fancy).


First, we fail to turn our picture around AND put mustard on some hoagie rolls


Then Swiss cheese


Then some grilled pork - well, only on his - I didn't really feel like pork.



Then ham (HAM!)


Then slices of dill pickle


Then onto the panini press


And served so daintily sliced with the mac salad


I really like these sandwiches - I know the mustard will horrify some (you know who you are) - plus the pickle and what not. But I think they are kind of tartly refreshing.

Channeling my inner eastern European...

Mrs. Elle and I embarked upon an afternoon of pierogi making on Monday. Perhaps to celebrate the presidential inaugural or perhaps because we like to kill our backs. Either way...we made some pierogi(s).

First, Mrs. Elle models her fashionable apron as we begin to make the pasta dough in the lovely Kitchenaid.


Here is said dough - flour, water, eggs, margarine. Fairly straight forward. This blob made about 8 dozen (ish) pierogi. Now it rests.


Meanwhile, we played with the potato filling - 5 lbs of potatoes, 2 bricks of cream cheese, a stick of margarine, salt, and pepper. Very simple. V. not low fat.

I skipped about a billion pics at this point - we had a pasta roller to roll out the dough, which was KEY. Here is Mrs. Elle stuffing the sauerkraut pierogi. They were tart.



Here are some of our creations awaiting their turn in the boiling water.



Post boiling water - dribbling yucky innards onto Elle's kitchen table.


We had to try one - Elle availed herself of melted butter as a dipping sauce. Kind of like lobster I guess.


Meanwhile, back home at my casa (notice the Kroger root beer?), I pan fried some of these puppies up - here are some kraut ones (segregated from Mr. R's portion because he is afraid of the kraut)


And some of the less perfect looking potato pierogi -having been flipped in the frying pan, are now coasting to a light crispy state.


These were pretty good - the kraut, as I said, were a bit tart. Mrs. Elle also made cheese filled pierogi (cottage cheese, egg, onion, salt, pepper) and they weren't my thing as compared to the potato which are the ultimate in pierogi goodness in my book. It was a fun day (apart from the back killing) and I hope the recipients of the pierogi are pleased with our efforts.

Leftover stir fry

Ok, apparently R and I can't handle a 3 lb roast so there was a lot of leftover beef. I decided to make a stir fry with it, as I heart the vegetables, I do.

First, the sauce - soy, chicken broth, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, garlic (obviously), black pepper, red pepper flakes, a tiny bit of pineapple juice, and some brown sugar.


I wanted to use mushrooms, but sometimes their flavor gets a bit lost in the stir fry, so I roasted them first - single layer on a sheet pan, 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees.


Chopped up the meat...


And got 2 small onions and a bell pepper sizzling in the pan...


Jumping ahead, adding in the meat, about 1/2 c of pineapple tidbits, frozen snap peas, frozen green beans, and for me, broccoli


Sorry about this pan - must add the color changing sauce...

Served with rice - it was really tasty! I liked the cheesy additional of pineapple - not v. classy, but tasty! I did not add an insane amount of broccoli, it just all hung out on the top of my dish for some reason.


A lovely new year meal.

New Year's Dinner

I decided we needed a mildly flashy New Year's dinner, and since I'm a beef kick, we had a roast beef. I've made this before and have surely blogged about it, so suffer through it again!

First, I lay a nest for the beef - garlic, onion, carrot. I'm using my cast iron skillet because I'm trying to be better about using it.


And then, the 3 lb eye of round roast can be nestled on its nest.


That baked at 325 degrees for about an hour and a half - I pulled it out when it hit 130 degrees. I drained the pan, taking out the veg and random herbs, and put the pan juices back in. I added a hefty pat of butter.


Meanwhile, the beef rests. Hello there Mr. Beef.


I added flour to the fat in the pan, and got a roux working, then added in some beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. Oh, and a tiny dab of Dijon, because I thought the gravy tasted too fatty.


Then I sliced that beef and served it up with some potatoes, roasted asparagus, and a roll. Because we're fancy like that.

It was quite tasty and Miss Daisy enjoyed licking a lot of pots!