Food goodness

I found these on Smitten Kitchen , but it looks like they maybe came from this book: Retro Desserts, Wayne Brachman I made these as a tester batch to see if they were good enough to serve on our wedding cookie bar. I took them to a Memorial Day BBQ, and someone I never met before said he would leave his wife and baby for these cookies. Well, I don't know about that, but these were darn good. Even my Foodie-with-a-capital-F supervisor said they were "perfect," which she does not dole out readily. At any rate, they ended up being the talk of the party, and I'm guessing I will be asked to make these again. Makes 25 to 30 sandwich cookies For the chocolate wafers: 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour ½ cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa 1 teaspoon baking soda ¼ teaspoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon salt 1 to 1 ½ cups sugar* ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 ¼ sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter 1 large egg For the filling: ¼ cup (½ stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter ¼ cup

I don't have any yucca (must rectify that problem for next time), but this chicken, cooked on the rotisserie on our gas grill, is pretty fantastic. I'm sure you could roast it and it'd be good, too. Ernie doubled the marinade today to make two chickens, so I'll have lots of leftovers for lunch this week! Source 2 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder 1 tablespoon ground cumin, plus 1 teaspoon ground cumin 4 tablespoons white vinegar 2 1/2 tablespoons paprika 2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper 3 tablespoons white wine 3 tablespoons canola oil 3/4 teaspoon salt 1 (3-4 lb) roasting chicken 1 lemon, juice of, and mixed with the water 1 quart water, cold In medium-size bowl, mix first eight ingredients. Wash chickens thoroughly with lemon water and remove excess fat from inside chickens. With a large carving fork, poke deep holes all over chicken, including under wings. Rub the marinade thoroughly inside and outside the chicken. Seal chicken

I cobbled this recipe together from a couple of different recipes (my friend Amy's and Emeril's recipe, found here ) into exactly what I was looking for. 1 small head cabbage, cored and sliced thinly 1 half vidalia onion, sliced thinly 1 red bell pepper, sliced thinly 1-2 c. shredded carrots (depends on how much you like carrots) 1/4 c. hot water 3/4 c. cider vinegar 1/3 c. oil not quite 1/2 c. sugar 1 tsp. ground mustard 1 tsp. celery seeds 1 tsp. kosher salt Put all the vegetables in a really large bowl. (I actually mixed it in my soup pot, then transferred into a bowl) In a separate bowl, mix the hot water and sugar until sugar is dissolved, then add the cider vinegar, oil, mustard, celery seeds and salt. Stir to combine. Pour the vinegar mixture over the vegetables, stir well to coat. Cover with plastic wrap (or the lid of the bowl) and refrigerate. Is best made 12-24 hours ahead of time, because flavors will meld. Will last up to a week in the fridge.

My friend Mollie makes this fairly often, so I've eaten it a bunch of times but never made it myself. I think she can actually make it from memory, just by remembering that all the spices in the dressing start with C (like cookie), so if you just use every C spice on your spice rack, you're good to go... Dressing: 1/2 C corn/veggie oil (I have found this to be a LITTLE much--especially if you cook the lentils a little too long, then they don't absorb as much, so I would use just UNDER 1/2 C) 1/4 C white wine vinegar 2 tsp salt 2 tsp pepper 1/4 tsp nutmeg 1/4 tsp cloves 1 tsp cumin 1/4 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp coriander 1/4 tsp curry 1/2 tsp cardamom Other: 1 lb dried red lentils (~ 2 C dry) 1 C currants 1 C finely chopped red onion (1) Whisk all dressing ingredients together (2) Wash lentils and cook for ~3-5 min until JUST tender. Rinse and drain. (3) Pour dressing over lentils and put in the fridge overnight, or at least 4-6 hrs. (4) Add onions an

I just finished off the last of this dip, which I made for my out-of-town guests this weekend. I think it went over well, despite my initial mishaps with the amount of curry, and the subsequent run to the store for more ingredients to right the wrongs of over-spicing. We ate this on pita chips and also on bagels. Yum. Maybe could also be a creative sandwich spread? I'm not sure what else would go with it..... It would probably also be a good veggie dip. 1 package (8 oz) of cream cheese (I used reduced fat) 1-2 tsp. curry powder *** 1-2 tsp. ground ginger 1 small can of crushed pineapple, mostly drained Mix all ingredients together. Let stand in the fridge for awhile to meld the flavors before serving. My notes: I started with 2 full teaspoons of sweet curry powder, and 2 tsp of ginger, and it was WAY too much curry. It was bad. I then had to go back and double all the other ingredients to "fix" it. So, I would suggest starting with 1 tsp of curry powder, and the

Original recipe found here . I altered it based on what I had in the house. 6 chicken thighs, with skin (original recipe called for boneless, skinless breasts) 6 cloves garlic, crushed 3 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves stripped from stems 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, eyeball it 1 lemon, zested and juiced 1 tablespoon coarse salt and black pepper 1/2 cup dry white wine or chicken broth Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Arrange chicken in a baking dish, 9 by 13-inch. Add garlic, rosemary, extra-virgin olive oil, lemon zest and grill seasoning or salt and pepper to the dish. Toss and coat the chicken with all ingredients, then place in oven. Roast 30-35 minutes. Add wine and lemon juice to the dish and combine with pan juices. Return to oven and turn oven off. Let stand 5 minutes longer then remove chicken from the oven. Place baking dish on trivet and serve, spooning pan juices over the chicken pieces. (I left the whole wine step out, because I didn't have an open bottle, and

You can find the original recipe here , at The Pioneer Woman Cooks. I altered it based on what I had in the house, and also to add a little more fiber (which I need these days) in them. I think they're pretty adaptable, so use whatever you've got. 1 1/2 cups flour (I used 1 c. white flour, 1/2 c. whole wheat flour) 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups oats 1 cup packed brown sugar 1 3/4 sticks (regular, salted) butter, cut into pieces 1 10-12 ounce jar Apricot Preserves (I used apple butter) Mix all ingredients except preserves. Press one half of the mixture into a buttered 8″ square (or small rectangular) pan. Spread with a 10-12 ounce jar of preserves. Sprinkle second half of mixture over the top and pat lightly. Bake at 350 for 30 - 40 minutes or until light brown. Let cool completely, then cut into squares.

from Cooking Light , May 2008, page 144 The crushed red pepper gave this dish a nice little kick, and the goat cheese lent a nice creaminess. Serves 6 2-1/2 cups uncooked whole wheat penne cooking spray 2 (4-ounce) links sweet turkey Italian sausage 1 cup finely chopped green bell pepper (we used red) 1-1/2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper 1/8 teaspoon black pepper 10 grape or cherry tomatoes, halved 1 garlic clove, minced dash of salt 1 (8-ounce) can garlic-and-herb tomato sauce (we used garlic and onion) 3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese 1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled goat cheese 1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese. 1. Preheat oven to 350. 2. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain and keep warm. 3. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Remove casings from sausage. Add sausage to pan; cook 2 minutes, stirring to crumble (we cooked it until it w

from Cooking Light , April 2008 Great combo of flavors, and really easy. 1 (16-oz) package vacuum-packed gnocchi 2 ounces pancetta, cut into thin strips (about 1/2 cup) 1/4 cup thinly sliced shallots 1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-1/2 inch pieces 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 1/8 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon black pepper 1/4 cup (1 ounce) shaved Parmesan cheese 1. Cook gnocchi according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain in a colander over a bowl, reserving 1/4 cup cooking liquid. Keep warm. 2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add pancetta; saute 3 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. 3. Add shallots and asparagus to pan; saute 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in garlic; saute 1 minute. Add gnocchi, pancetta, reserved cooking liquid, juice, salt, and pepper to pan; cook 1 minute. Serve with cheese. Yield: 4 servings

From: David Lebovitz A few months back when we were taste-testing wedding cakes, I found myself somewhat disappointed with the cakes we tried at the special bakery that I was convinced had the best cakes in the area. I had had them before. They were fantastic. The samples were good, but not fantastic. And then, on the way out, I bought myself a flourless chocolate cupcake. THAT was the cake that I must have had in the past, because it was every bit as good as I remembered. A few weeks ago I came across this recipe for a flourless chocolate cake, and I made it for an end-of-the-(academic) year going-away party for our interns last week. It is very rich and dense - just the way I like my cake! This may not be the cake for everyone, but I've never been a huge fan of traditional cake. For me, the darker the chocolate the better, and I prefer my cake to be more like a torte. This recipe fit the bill. Apparently the name comes from the idea that you'd have to be an idiot

I got a sudden craving for Becky's Cuban Chicken Pizzas tonight and then realised that we didn't have any tortillas in the house, so I decided to make some. I found this recipe at Homesick Texan and it's adapted from The Border Cookbook by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison. For some reason, I thought they were going to be difficult and time consuming to do, but they were so easy, and having fresh tortillas made the pizzas even more delicious. Ingredients: Two cups of all-purpose flour (can make them whole wheat by substituting one cup of whole-wheat flour for white flour) 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder 1 teaspoon of salt 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil 3/4 cups of warm milk Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and oil. Slowly add the warm milk. Stir until a loose, sticky ball is formed. Knead for two minutes on a floured surface. Dough should be firm and soft. Place dough in a bowl and cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap for 20 minutes. After the dough has