See, I have great neighbors. I love them. Nick and Maria are older but act young, they are so much fun and have invited me over for the random dinner. Only problem is Nick is a great cook so cooking for him is intimidating. And then the next house over is Matt and Joe. They are the cutest couple and are great guys. They brought me over a bottle of wine and I told them they would have to drink it with me some night. I had thought of a simple lemon/garlic roasted chicken which tastes great and is super easy. Problem came up when Matt and Joe decided to make rotisserie chicken for Nick and Maria… Rotisserie chicken cannot be competed with so I realized I would have to make something entirely different. Oh, and Nick is Italian so I am basically not including anything that would have a tomato based sauce as that would be where he shines and where he would be most disappointed. So I have been going through recipe by recipe, wanting something simple but tasty where I could get the timing right, and everyone could enjoy dinner. Most of what I normally make for dinner are pretty informal or require a lot of stove top time. I wanted an oven recipe.

Then I fell on the Portobello Lasagna with Basil Cream recipe and realized it would be perfect it worked. I can put it together the day before and then just slide it in the oven 45 minutes before dinner and perfection! So I ran a test run tonight, because as I said, Nick is a great cook. So good! I had two servings and am forcing myself not to go back for the third. I will say this version is a little watery. I thought I drain all the juice from the mushroom/onion mixture before adding the basil cream, but once I started to stir it, there was a whole lot of juice still hiding there. I under estimated how much juice had been in that pan, do not do this. Later this week or after the holidays I’ll send out the invite to the neighbors and hopefully they’ll be able to make it. I plan to pair it with some Parmesan twists, and a little salad of cucumber, cherry tomatoes, onion or shallots, olive oil, and lemon juice. For dessert perhaps some poached pears with a zabglione on top.

Portobello Lasagna with Basil Cream

Ingredients:
5 tablespoons butter
¼ cup flour
3 cups milk, heated
4 cloves garlic—1 smashed, 3 finely chopped
Salt
½ lb. lasagna noodles
2 large onions, chopped
3 packages portobello mushroom, stemmed and sliced)
1 bunch basil, stems discarded
1 cup heavy cream
1 ¼ cups grated parmesan cheese

Preparation:
In a medium saucepan, melt 3 tablespoons butter over low heat. Stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in the hot milk, then the smashed garlic clove and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Bring the garlic sauce to a boil and cook, whisking, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Set aside.

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the lasagna noodles for 8 minutes. Drain and transfer to a bowl of cold water.

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375°. In a large skillet, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter over low heat. Add the onions and chopped garlic and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the mushrooms and cook until softened, about 7 minutes. Drain!

Using a food processor, puree the basil leaves with the cream. Set aside 1/2 cup basil cream. Stir the remaining basil cream and 1/2 cup parmesan into the mushroom mixture; season with salt and pepper.

Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and spread 1 cup reserved garlic sauce on the bottom. Drain the lasagna noodles and lay 3 in the baking dish. Top with half of the mushroom mixture, a layer of noodles, then the remaining mushroom mixture and noodles. Combine the remaining garlic sauce and basil cream; spoon on top. Sprinkle with the remaining 3/4 cup parmesan.

Bake until golden, 40 to 45 minutes. Let stand for 15 minutes.

This year for Christmas we had a Christmas Cookie exchange. I think next year I’ll add back in the ornament decorating, etc. But for this year it was just simply a gathering to give us a reason to bake our cookies, but not be stuck with dozens of one kind. Having been bored the weeks leading up I decided we should definitely be able to eat and drink something besides the cookies, after all the cookies should be able to be savored through the holiday season. Some recipes were loved, others crashed and barely cooked (friggin’ cheesecake).  It was a dreary day so my ambitions which had been pretty great at the beginning of the day waned along with my energy as the grey clouds failed to dissipate. Luckily I have fantastic friends and we had a good little gathering.

My favorite recipe that I used for the day, because I am in a chocolate mood, was the Chocolate Bouchon, aka muffin tin brownies. They were supposed to be bouchons but I am not one to have pans in my kitchen that only have one use and that could be interchanged with others. Sure, bouchons are cute little corks, but these were still cute. So instead they were basically invidually sized brownies. These would taste amazing with ice cream but were perfect with some spiked eggnog.

The other two recipes that were a hit were Cooking Light’s Cauliflower Caviar and Food Network’s Crustless Spinach & Feta pies, which I made into appetizers by baking them in a mini-muffin pan. (Finally had an excuse to buy one of these! I could not permit myself to buy it just for muffins.)

So here’s the recipe round up:

Cauliflower “Caviar” with Frizzled Prosciutto – Cooking Light – didn’t change anything, it seemed and tasted perfect as it was
Crustless Spinach & Feta Pies – Food Network – Cooked in the mini-muffin tin, I believe these took about 15 minutes
Chocolate Bouchons – Thomas Keller via The Kitchn  – I put them in muffin tins, took 20 minutes, love the idea of Souffle cups
Waissal Punch – The Kitchn – I liked this a lot, basically mulled cider with orange juice and lemon juice, so Autumn, I served it cold because it was easier and after taste testing still tasted good but would be better served warm (remember I said that grey day got to me? Yeah, the punch suffered as a result, next time I’ll bring out the slow cooker to keep it warm)
Spiked Eggnog – Bought Eggnog and added Bourbon – recipe done; tried the homemade stuff and decided it wasn’t worth the effort or cost unless following a very strictly cage-free diet; I’d like to be that ethical and committed, I’m just not

Also made the cranberry cheesecake from Cooking Light but it and I did not get along. I have an idea of what to do differently next time but will not post the changes until I sort it out. In the meantime:
Cranberry Swirl Cheesecake

Oh! And I can’t forget the cookies I made, Nutella Raviolis. They were good but I have plans to figure out how to make it work better in my kitchen. See the initial sugar cookie recipe is HUGE! I thought my mixer would be able to handle it but no way, only it was too late to turn back when I realized it. Then I thought maybe it had worked… but it was far too brittle. However! Do not try and cheat! The sugar cookie dough from the store is not made to be turned into raviolis. After my first batch was not up to my own personal standards, I thought I would go Sandra Lee on these cookies but that dough just spread out and became a mess. So here’s the current link. If you have a depend sugar cookie recipe that won’t just spread out, use it. If you do not then I would halve the Circus Cookie recipe:
Nutella Ravioli – Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

I have fantastic news! See those lights? I put them on the house all by myself! Sure, one story. Sure the house isn’t very big. But I still had to get on the roof to add the clips to the gable of the house. It was a little bit of drama, and I’m sure my neighbors were a little surprised to see me up there, they are more accustomed to my planting flowers after all. What matters is I did it, and all by myself!

So there guy at the airport who wondered why some man was getting my bad. So there guy who couldn’t believe a woman was allowed by her husband to get on the roof of his home to check for damages. (Yeah, I have no husband but if I did, he better be okay with my climbing roofs. I mean really.) So there anyone who may have thought I was too girly to get it done. I got it done and it looks just dandy to me.

Oh, but we may not want to tell my mother about my getting on the roof and putting the clips along the rake of the small gable. She kind of hates hearing about those sorts of things…

Growing up one of the things my mother would make is Zucchini bread. I don’t remember being in love with it but I did enjoy it and so when I see it I still picture the old home and that dark wood kitchen table I would sit at while eating a slice.

So now, when I see fresh zucchini I cannot resist grating it into bits and tossing it into a quick bread. Only I have found I much prefer throwing it into muffin tins. Only I have now been able to adjust the ingredients so that when I took a bite of the little brown muffin today I recalled what it means to love what you eat. It was seriously fantastic. I ate two right after another. I had intended on taking a few to a friend but I don’t think I can allow this treat to leave my house. I am going to freeze the extras so I can remember this taste of summer when that 40 degree weather hits in two weeks. (I know! Seriously!)

The recipe my mother gave me was a list of ingredients and a temperature with instructions to cook until brown and it was for a quick bread. It relied on cinnamon, pumpkin spice, and nuts for the additional flavors. So I went to my favorite site, Smitten Kitchen to see how she did her zucchini bread. I read through for the process but realized while the flavors were close they weren’t exactly what I was looking for. So I decided to change it up a bit. I added more nutmeg and reduced my mother’s pumpkin spice. I used good olive, and did 1/2 cup of smashed nuts and 1/4 cup cranberries. But what I feel was most important was the order of how things were put in, this is what kept the muffins light, and I do not believe in heavy muffins.

But the best thing I found out how to do with this recipe? How to get it together during commercials. Its all about thinking about which ingredients can be combined with which, and when.  The biggest thing is to not combine anything wet with the baking soda and powder until you are ready to pour them into muffin tins, mini loaf pans, or loaf pans.

Before I get to the recipe I should tell you, I still had half the monster zucchini left after this but no eggs. I had read recently that you could use vinegar instead of eggs. So I gave it a shot. But it said for each tablespoon of vinegar you should do an additional tsp of baking soda. This is so not true for this recipe. My muffin tins over flowed and the vinegar did not get rid of that baking soda taste. Next time I may just try what it would do with less making soda. I would love it if the Zucchini muffins were a little less fattening, ie fewer or no eggs. So I think I will try the vinegar thing again for more quick breads, once I figure it out, I’ll definitely let you know.

Zucchini Muffins:

1 cup cooking oil
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 tsp soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 tsp cinnamon
1/4  tsp pumpkin spice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3 eggs, beaten
2 cups zucchini, grated, unpeeled
1/2 cup nuts, chopped
1/2 cup craisins

Preparation:
Keep in mind oven will need to be preheated to 325 by the time you put the muffins in the oven.

During the first commercial break, measure the oil and vanilla into a large bowl. This is the bowl everything will go into. Then measure the flour through the nutmeg into its own bowl and combine. Break the three eggs into a custard cup. Then grate the zucchini into its own bowl. Why so many bowls? We are doing this during commercials and we still don’t know if its going to be a short or long break of course!

Now, once those are handled, make sure to beat the eggs, and then whisk them into the oil and vanilla until completely combined. I used a fork. Should be no signs of an oil ring along the outside. With that handled, I found the next step came out better using a fork for the first half and wooden spoon for the second. Pour dry ingredients a 1/4 at a time into the wet mixture, continuous stirring. Now I had to run back to see what Ellen was saying after this, so if the batter needs to sit a minute, it’ll be okay.  After I added the cranberries and smashed nuts. Then an ice cream scoop went towards each muffin. I actually made 12 muffins and put the rest towards mini loafs. The muffins took 25 minutes. The mini loafs 45 minutes. If you decided to make the typical quick bread instead it would take about 60 minutes.

With all that said, I found the best form of comfort when I walked into Whole Foods earlier this week. Last year a friend introduced me to the Honey Crisp Apple. Suddenly I was eating fruit that tasted like candy everyday. And considering I was one of those strange people who couldn’t care either way for apples previously, this was a huge change. So, the sight of a pile of these apples was a comfort. As I hurried over to claim a week’s worth I was soon joined by others. I think one of them was only there trying to figure out why we had such strange expressions on our faces as we gathered the fruit into our baskets. I know I had a smile that would not be wiped off. Finally I am a little more accepting of this change of seasons. Now, if only the weather would agree with me on this and chill out a bit I would be a really happy person. In warning, the ones I found for this week while good, are definitely picked a little early. They are delicious but they are not quite at peak season just yet and won’t be for a few more weeks. In the meantime, I still love them and will still be eating them.

Then I went up to Pennsylvania to see the relatives. My grandparents have reached a point where you are not allowed to leave them without thinking you have robbed them. My other grandmother sent me away with silver, glasses, dishes, a clock, cutting board, and anything else she could think of. If I dared to compliment it, it was mine. So by the time we got to my mother’s mother the Ford Explorer was already packed a little tightly. That was when I got the chest. (I also was given my grandmother’s wedding dress but I think my mom secretly wanted it as she has since decided to stow it at her house.) I should have taken some before photos as it had a large paint stain on its top. We brought it to my bored father and now it sits here in my favorite room, making that room even warmer. I love this room.

I will admit here that one of my favorite things about this room has to do with my little dog. To the left side is the door to the backyard. In the morning I open it up and she runs out. Since I’m still tired, I leave the door open and sink into that chair right by the door every now and then. There has been many a morning when the little rugrat will come running back into the house so fast that she will run right by me. In search of her food provider she will cross to the front of the house and within seconds she’ll come right back into the room, right past me, and run to the left into the master bedroom and hop onto the bed expecting I will be there. Of course, not the case. Her little furry head shifts back and forth in confusion before she hops off the bed and runs out the back door again thinking I must be there. Finally, I call out to her and she hurries in and pounces on me, gives me a kiss good morning whether I like it or not and then hurries off to the kitchen, knowing I will follow her and provide her with her morning dish of dog food.

Other than that, it is the most relaxing room. A perfect place to drink a glass of wine, or sip some tea/coffee while reading a book. I love this room, and I am so happy for its latest addition.

Then I was home for too short a time to think about the blog. This was followed by a tiny, half kitchen in Huntsville, where I could hardly fit my pans on the tiny stove so my meals were mainly salads consisting of spinach, sunflower seeds, and dried cranberries with either shrimp or chicken. I can be a repetitive eater when I am incredibly busy, and I was. Sure, I had my day off but with that tiny of a room I could hardly spend my time there!

But now I’m home. And I have plans for becoming a better cook. First and foremost I want to do a better job of sticking to what is seasonal and my meals will have meat but smaller portions of it. However, with this in mind I want to focus on America’s traditional dishes, in a healthy way. Instead of all-American potato salad. I want to make healthy, kind-of-sort-of all-American potato salad. That sort of thing. That’s my plan. But….

The other night was ladies’ potluck night and I wanted to do a dessert that included my new favorite fruit… Pluots! And I wanted something where you could really taste the pluot but wasn’t too heavy tasting. Sure it could be fattening but it shouldn’t sit too heavy on you. That’s when I found the recipe for yogurt panna cotta… See I have another new love, Atlanta Fresh yogurt. If you live in the Atl and have not tried it, you are seriously missing out. I highly suggest picking up their biggest container at the Farmer’s Market and combining it with honey and your favorite fruit. OR! Making this panna cotta. I’m sure this recipe on a regular day tastes good, but I could taste the nuances I’m used to from Atlanta Fresh’s yogurt and was so happy I had found a way to combine my two new loves. Oh, and if you aren’t near a farmer’s market, try Whole Foods, and if you’re not in Atlanta check out their website and they will show you whether you can get their product or not.

In the meantime, my first try ever at making a panna cotta turned out pretty darn good. Taste was impeccable but I need to oil the custard cups better next time so that they come out easier. It was pretty funny holding the little cups upside down, just willing the panna cotta to come out.

In other notes, if you end up here and I visited you for awhile and then was quiet, surprise! I’m home, and not working so I’m visiting again!

And to everyone else, if you want deliciousness by a pluot or some Atlanta Fresh yogurt. And if you want something truly divine, combine them for this panna cotta from Epicurious altered very, very slightly:

Panna cotta:
Canola oil
(or other tasteless oil)
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
(remember to get the zest off first so you can use it for the pluots)
2 1/2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
2 1/4 cups plain whole-milk Greek yogurt (preferably Atlanta Fresh Yogurt)
1 3/4 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
3/4 cup sugar

Pluots (or really any fruit you desire!):
6 small ripe plums, thinly sliced
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel

Preparation:
For panna cotta:
Lightly coat inside of 5-6 custard cups. Combine 2 tablespoons water and lemon juice in small bowl. Sprinkle over the gelatin; stir as you do to blend. Let stand until gelatin softens, about 15 minutes. Whisk yogurt and 3/4 cup cream in large bowl. Combine 1 cup cream and sugar in small saucepan; bring to simmer over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Add gelatin mixture to hot cream mixture; whisk until gelatin dissolves. Add cream-gelatin mixture to yogurt mixture; whisk to blend. Pour mixture into the cups. Chill uncovered until cold, then cover and keep refrigerated until panna cotta is set, at least 4 hours. But recipe is great for a dinner party as it can be made 2 days ahead! Keep refrigerated.

For pluots:
Combine pluots, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon peel in medium bowl; toss to coat. Let stand at room temperature until juices form, tossing occasionally, about 30 to 45 minutes. Again this can be made ahead but really this time you only want to do it about 8 hours ahead. Still perfect for a dinner party though, throw it together while you’re getting your lunch together or if its an early party, breakfast. Cover and refrigerate.

Using a small knife, cut around panna cotta to loosen edges. Fill large bowl with 1 inch of hot water. Dip bottom of custard cups into hot water to help loosen. Place dessert dishes (or bowls if you prefer) upside-down atop cups; invert panna cotta onto dishes. Carefully lift off cups and allow panna cotta to settle onto platter. Serve with pluot mixture.

(I know, I need to work on my lighting but this was the iPhone because my other camera is on the fritz! I’m not looking to become a professional, just better.)

I have flowers! I was so happy when I pulled in my driveway and saw these little blue flowers opened up for me. The only catch… the clover had tried to take over while I was gone! So I had a minivan (work vehicle) full of stuff and all I emptied it of was my refrigerated and frozen stuff before I delved into tearing out the weeds. I just could not stand the idea of the clover taking away from my beautiful flowers….

Since I have been home this past week it really has been all about the flowers. Oh, and grass. I have cleaned out all but one of my flower beds. Killed a lot of weeds, and with my fathers help revamped my mailbox area. I was just so tired of the bare spot and so tired of being worried that my mailbox would topple over. So when my dad came by Monday I told him what I wanted to do. It was all about a new post, new retaining wall, and flowers. At first I was willing to do the landscape ties but as I looked at them and thought of how grey they turned I looked up at him again, smiled and asked if we could do the pretty red bricks instead. And because my father is so great, he said yes! The only thing I still have to do is get the good from the numbers off the mailbox and then spray paint it. Oh and some brown preen mulch would be great since they ran out of it at Lowes and now only seem to half midnight black, bah. Oh well, I’m still really happy with how things turned out.

Before

After

I wanted to do it right away but Friday was all about looking like a girl again after 4 weeks of working outside. Then yesterday was all about recovering until I heard one of my girls was having a roller coaster day. I knew the perfect medicine, these brownies. And they were perfect. However, I have a problem with baking. Once I give the item away, I wish I had more for myself still. So I made it again today and I plan to freeze the extra and take some back with me to Virginia. They are so delicious. I do plan to play with the recipe in the future, possibly change out the vanilla for espresso, or add some orange zest.  Either way, if you want some great brownies check these out.

Now for the slaw. This too has a little story. See, had Thursday gone as a planned I may not have ever had the urge to make it. I was supposed to leave Dulles airport at 2:30 for Atlanta. I would get there with just enough time to read a bit of a book I needed to finish for my book club. Perfect. And then at 10;30 I got the call that my flight was canceled and they wanted me to be on a plane the next day at 6 am. Now, if this was me leaving Virginia for good that would have been fine. However, this was my weekend home so I had to call travel and get them to work out another plan. Well by 11:30 I was packing up the vehicle and heading to Reagan for the 3:00. By the time I got there the 3 was a 3:30 flight. By the time I got to the gate it was leaving at 4:20. By 2:30 it was leaving at 4:30. By 2:40 I had to go to another gate, and by 4 I had to go to another gate. All this time I had unassigned seat. Technically I was on the plane but was not yet on a cleared list. Sure, on the other flights I saw the cleared list go up before boarding started. Did that happen for me? Oh no, I had to stare at the screen and keep my fingers crossed that they weren’t going to bump me off the flight until the very last second. How does this relate to the slaw? Well, I had to pay attention enough to know when things would change so reading a book was off limits, instead I went into the news stand store and bought Bon Apettit. One of the very first recipes in there was this delicious Vegetable Slaw.

Its easy to make, just thinly slicing and then adding the dressing. I will say I did not follow their proportions. The proportions I am giving here are approximate, feel free to adjust how you like. The dressing I did by taste, but my rice vinegar is up in Virginia so I used white wine vinegar instead. It went perfect with the frozen tilapia. I cannot wait to try it with some Asian style pulled pork or maybe fish tacos! Now, I just need to figure out what to do with the left overs since I leave Tuesday…

Vegetable Slaw
adapted slightly from Bon Appétit | March 2010
Adapted from Loaves & Fishes in Sagaponack, New York

6 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 tablespoons safflower oil
1 tablespoon Asian sesame oil
2 cups thinly sliced green cabbage
2/3 thinly sliced head of radicchio
3ounces sugar snap peas, trimmed, thinly sliced lengthwise
1/2 thinly sliced red onion
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley