Tasty Kitchen Blog » EatLiveRun

Chocolate Zucchini Cookies

EatLiveRun — Mon, 17 Aug 2015 10:00:59 +0000

It’s back-to-school season, and zucchini season too! Take care of both with this blast from the past: chocolate zucchini cookies. They’re a hit with kids, and adults will love you for them too.

Are you looking for a delicious way to use up the rest of your zucchini harvest? Or do you just like sticking vegetables in cookies so that you can call them “healthy” and, thus, eat them for breakfast? I fall into the latter group.

These rich Chocolate Zucchini Cookies are both perfectly fudgy and fluffy, with lots of added chocolate chips and walnuts. You’ll never believe the secret ingredient is grated zucchini! Neither will your kids … or your husband … or any other picky cookie eaters that you serve these to—I promise! The recipe comes to us from Julia of The Roasted Root and I think you’re going to love it as much as I love it!

To start, you’ll need to grab flour, baking soda, white sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, butter, salt, cinnamon, cocoa, zucchini (I used two, grated!), chocolate chips, walnuts and an egg.

Begin by mixing together your dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cocoa powder. I always like to sift my cocoa powder before using so it’s not as clumpy!

Whisk dry ingredients together well, getting rid of all cocoa and baking soda clumps. Set aside.

In another bowl, beat your butter, white sugar, brown sugar and vanilla together until creamy. I used my stand mixer for this, but you could also work your arm muscles by beating with a wooden spoon!

Add the egg and grated zucchini to the wet ingredients and beat until just incorporated.

Now, carefully add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix. You can do this a little bit at a time, but be careful not to over-mix.

Dump in the chocolate chips and walnuts and mix again! The dough should be pretty wet and sticky.

Go ahead now and preheat your oven to 350ºF and get a couple baking sheets ready with either parchment paper or Silpats.

The recipe says you can roll the dough in powdered sugar before baking, so that’s what I did! I’m a sucker for anything rolled in powdered sugar.

Stick your little powdered sugar-covered cookie dough balls on your lined sheet tray and bake for 15 minutes.

When they’re done, they’ll be all puffy and the tops will be crackly from the powdered sugar. Yum!

Here’s an inside peak at a cookie just out of my oven to tempt you a little more. They appear fudgy from all the chocolate, but they are quite light and puffy! Like I said earlier, the perfect balance between fudgy and fluffy. And you can’t even almost taste the zucchini in them.

Have you seen Julia’s blog The Roasted Root? She has an awesome tagline: “Eat well, eat often.” Thank you, Julia, for this delicious recipe! Cookies for breakfast!

Printable Recipe

Chocolate Zucchini Cookies

by Julia {The Roasted Root} on August 14, 2012 in Cookies, Desserts

See post on Julia {The Roasted Root}’s site!

4.80 Mitt(s) 5 Rating(s)

Description

Double chocolate cookies with zucchini and a whole lot of deliciousness!

Ingredients

1-¼ cup Whole Wheat Flour Or All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
½ cups Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
5 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, Softened
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
½ cups Brown Sugar
½ cups White Cane Sugar
1 whole Egg
1 cup Shredded Zucchini
½ cups Walnuts, Chopped
1 cup Semi-sweet (or Dark!) Chocolate Chips
⅓ cups Confectioners Sugar, For Rolling The Dough In (optional)

Preparation Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

In a bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cocoa powder and whisk or sift to combine. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl combine the butter, vanilla extract and sugars. Use a stand or hand mixer to mix until creamy. Add the egg and shredded zucchini and mix just until combined. Pour in the flour mixture (I typically do this in thirds) and mix just until combined. Add the chopped walnuts and chocolate chips, mix to integrate into dough.

If desired, sprinkle confectioner’s (powdered) sugar on a plate so you can roll the balls of cookie dough in the sugar. Roll the dough into balls and roll them in the sugar if desired. Space cookie dough evenly on a parchment-lined or lightly oiled cookie sheet. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes.

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Jenna is a food writer who has worked as a pastry chef and bread baker. Her blog Eat, Live, Run has great recipes, travel stories, and the perfect slogan: “Celebrating life, one crumb at a time.”

Tiramisu Sandwich Cookies

EatLiveRun — Fri, 28 Mar 2014 14:33:22 +0000

Tiramisu is our favorite dessert to order out at a restaurant. Whenever we see it on a menu, we always have to get it! No self-control there. I rarely make it at home because it’s pretty time consuming and, let’s be honest, a little complicated. That being said, when I saw these mouth-watering Tiramisu Sandwich Cookies from Tanya, I knew I had to make them as soon as possible. What a fun treat! Two super fudgy double chocolate cookies sandwiched with creamy tiramisu filling? Sign me up.

I was so happy with the way these sandwich cookies turned out and know I’ll make them over and over again for special occasions. The cookies were soft and cake-like and the filling was just sweet enough, with a hint of Kahlua. My husband went absolutely crazy over them and already requested that I make them again so he can share with his office. I took that to be a very good sign!

Here’s what you need to get started! These are just the ingredients for the cookies. As you can see, lots of chocolate goes into these bad boys! Not that I’m complaining! We’ve got semisweet, unsweetened and mini chocolate chips. Amen to that.

And here are the ingredients for the creamy tiramisu filling. All the good stuff right here. Marscapone cheese, cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, and let’s not forget the Kahlua. It really puts these over the edge!

First things first: let’s melt that chocolate. Combine the semisweet chocolate, the unsweetened chocolate and the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Be sure to keep stirring this once it starts to melt so that the chocolate doesn’t burn. Is there anything better than the scent of chocolate melting on your stove? I think not, friends. I think not.

After about six minutes, you’ll have something that looks like this. Make sure there are no little lumps remaining! Just smooth, creamy melted chocolate. Heavens.

Now is the time to prep the rest of your ingredients. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and instant espresso. Set this aside.

Beat the eggs with the sugar and vanilla until thick and pale in color. I used an electric mixer for this but you don’t have to—a good old fashioned wooden spoon would be just fine here. Keep beating or mixing until the mixture is pretty thick. When you pull up the spoon or whisk attachment, “ribbons” of batter should fall back into the bowl.

Once you’ve got that going, drizzle in the melted chocolate from before.

I like to use a rubber spatula here to really get everything from the bottom of the bowl. Plus, a rubber spatula makes it easy to fold the batter as opposed to mixing it, which results in flatter cookies. No one likes flat cookies!

You can add the dry ingredients now.

Fold them in like we just talked about. The batter will thicken up a lot!

Finally, my favorite part: the mini chocolate chips. Yum. Just look at how cute they are! Fold those in as well then let the batter sit for about 10 minutes while you preheat the oven and prep your cookie sheets with either a Silpat or parchment paper.

Drop big ol’ spoonfuls of cookie dough onto your prepared sheets about two inches apart. Resist the urge to lick the spoon here!

Bake the cookies at 375ºF for just eight minutes. When done, the center of the cookies should still feel slightly soft but the edges should be set. Let ‘em cool while you make the yummy filling!

To make the filling, beat together the marscapone cheese and the cream cheese. Then, add the powdered sugar and keep beating until smooth. Sort of like cream cheese frosting without the butter!

Then, add the special ingredient. Just two tablespoons of the good stuff. It goes a long way. Also add the vanilla extract here and continue beating until smooth. Drool.

 
Sandwich the cooled cookies together with the filling and voila! You’re done. These are great freshly made, but I found that I liked them even better after a few hours in the fridge—if you can wait that long, that is. Seriously delicious!

Thank you Tanya for providing the recipe for this treat! We thoroughly enjoyed every last crumb and I can’t wait to make them again soon. Visit her blog Lemons for Lulu for more of her creations!

Printable Recipe

Tiramisu Sandwich Cookies

by Tanya Schroeder @lemonsforlulu on December 4, 2013 in Cookies, Desserts

See post on Tanya Schroeder @lemonsforlulu’s site!

0.00 Mitt(s) 0 Rating(s)

Description

Espresso chocolate cookies hugging a creamy Kahlua and mascarpone filling.

Ingredients

FOR THE COOKIES:
5 ounces, weight Semi-sweet Chocolate, Chopped
2 ounces, weight Unsweetened Chocolate, Chopped
2 Tablespoons Butter
¼ cups Flour
¼ teaspoons Baking Powder
¼ teaspoons Salt
¼ teaspoons Espresso Powder
2 whole Eggs
⅔ cups Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla
¾ cups Mini Chocolate Chips
FOR THE FILLING:
8 ounces, weight Mascarpone Cheese Softened
2 ounces, weight Cream Cheese, Softened
¼ cups Powdered Sugar
½ teaspoons Vanilla
2 Tablespoons Kahlua Liqueur

Preparation Instructions

For the cookies:
In a small saucepan, combine chocolates and butter. Heat over low heat until both have melted. Stir until smooth then remove from heat and set aside.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and espresso powder. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat together eggs, sugar and vanilla until mixture begins to thicken. Stir in cooled chocolate mixture followed by flour mixture. Beat until combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Let batter stand for 10 minutes in order to thicken up.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Drop dough by the tablespoon full onto a parchment paper- or Silpat-lined baking sheet, keeping each cookie about 2 inches apart.

Bake for 8 minutes or until edges are set and cookies are slightly cracked. Remove pan from oven and set it on a rack. Let cookies cool for 1 minute before removing them from the pan to a cooling rack.

For the filling:
In a medium sized bowl beat together mascarpone and cream cheese. Add in powdered sugar, vanilla and liqueur and mix until combined.

Spread a healthy tablespoon of filling on the flat side of one cookie then top with another cookie. Repeat until you’ve used all of the cookies.

Makes 12 sandwich cookies. Store assembled cookies in an airtight container.

Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens.

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Sugar Cookie Butter (Gluten-Free!)

EatLiveRun — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 11:00:04 +0000

This yummy (and surprisingly healthy!) homemade cookie butter combines the two great loves of my life: cookie dough and nut butter.

I’ll be honest and tell you guys that whenever I bake cookies, which is quite often given my job, I never wash my bowl out until after I’ve swiped my finger through it at least half a dozen times. Sometimes more, depending on the day. Don’t act like you have no idea what I’m talking about!

So when I found Rachel’s recipe for a spreadable cookie dough that contains no raw eggs, I leapt for joy! As a bonus, it’s even gluten-free. This incredibly addicting Sugar Cookie Butter tastes just like sugar cookie dough and is simple to make, as long as you have a food processor or high speed blender.

Let’s get started!

Here’s all the ingredients you need: raw cashews, banana chips, baking soda, cream of tartar, vanilla extract, honey and coconut oil.

First, combine the cashews and banana chips in your food processor and process until a crumbly nut butter consistency is reached. For me, this took almost eight minutes and I stopped the food processor a few times to scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula (and taste test!).

If you’re not sure, keep going! It’s impossible to over-process this.

After your banana chips and cashews are combined and relatively smooth, add your honey.

Note that I added double the amount of honey that was listed in the original recipe. What can I say? I like my cookie butter sweet.

After adding the honey, add the vanilla extract with the motor running …

Followed by the cream of tartar …

And the baking soda! Scrape down the sides of your bowl and run the motor on low until all ingredients are completely combined.

The last ingredient to add is the coconut oil. Mine was extra soft because it had been sitting on my counter in the sunshine for a little while. I added four teaspoons of this.

Give it another whirl and then taste. I think it tastes just like cookie dough with a hint of banana. I couldn’t get enough!

I like to serve my cookie butter spread on (what else?) cookies! Cookies on cookies on cookies. It’s my dream come true. I also thought the rainbow sprinkles made for a pretty touch.

This would be a great afternoon snack for little ones. The cookie butter would also be delicious on top of oatmeal or with sliced apples. You really can’t go wrong; it’s so good!

Thanks, Rachel, for the recipe. Go visit her blog Studio Cuisine for more of her incredible creations!

Printable Recipe

Sugar Cookie Butter

by Rachel {Studio Cuisine} on July 24, 2012 in Gluten-Free, Special Dietary Needs

See post on Rachel {Studio Cuisine}’s site!

5.00 Mitt(s) 1 Rating(s)

Description

A creamy cashew butter that tastes just like sugar cookie dough! You won’t believe it’s healthy!

Ingredients

1-½ cup Raw, Unsalted Cashews
⅓ cups Banana Chips
1 teaspoon Honey
⅓ teaspoons Vanilla Extract
¼ teaspoons Cream Of Tartar
¼ teaspoons Baking Soda
4 teaspoons Coconut Oil

Preparation Instructions

Combine cashews and banana chips in food processor for 8-10 minutes until nut butter consistency is reached, scraping down the sides as necessary.

Add in honey, vanilla extract, cream of tartar, and baking soda and process until combined.

Add in coconut oil, 1 teaspoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached. I added in about 4 teaspoons. This amount got me a thicker nut butter that had a cookie dough-like consistency, but feel free to add more.

Yields about a cup of sugar cookie butter. Lasts for up to 1 week at room temperature in an airtight container.

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Linguine and Clam Sauce

EatLiveRun — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 11:00:53 +0000

Hello friends! I’m here today to share a recipe out of my new book, White Jacket Required. It feels a bit odd to say “my new book”, as if I ever had an old book (I did not!). I’m still getting used to this whole author thing — so far, it’s pretty cool! The book is a memoir about my time at culinary school, and it includes about thirty of my very favorite family recipes. I’m really excited to share one of them with y’all today, and that is Linguine and Clam Sauce.

I LOVE linguine and clam sauce. It’s been my absolute favorite meal since about the time I was six years old (what six year old loves clams?) and it’s the one I most often request when I go home to visit my parents. My mom can make a mean clam sauce! My version is very simple … and very delicious! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Here are all the ingredients you’ll need, minus extra virgin olive oil and parsley for serving. So grab your linguine, lemon, red pepper flakes, three cans of clams, shallot and Parmesan cheese. No need to get fancy clams from the seafood counter at the store—I actually prefer using canned clams here!

First, you’ll want to drain your clams and reserve about a half cup of clam juice for the sauce. I usually just toss all my drained clams in a small bowl for easy access later.

Now, mince your shallot. (I almost chopped my finger off thirty seconds before taking this photo. Don’t follow my lead! Pay attention to what you’re doing; your fingers depend on it.)

Heat up a tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet and add your minced shallots.

I absolutely love using my shiny red Le Creuset cast iron skillet for this—and anything, for that matter! It was a gift when I was going through culinary school and the first “nice” piece of cookware I ever owned. I love it so.

Sauté the shallots for about five minutes till soft, then add the clams. Continue cooking for another couple minutes here.

Then, pour in the reserved clam juice …

Add a squeeze of lemon …

And, finally, a sprinkle of red pepper flakes. You can adjust the amount of red pepper flakes according to how spicy you’d like your sauce to be. Personally, I’m a huge fan of spice so I love to add more hot pepper flakes here!

Bring sauce to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for three minutes. Then, add your hot cooked linguine to the pan and toss well.

Divide linguine and clam sauce amongst four plates and top with the freshly grated Parmesan cheese and minced parsley. The parsley is optional but oh so pretty!

Enjoy! I entered the recipe in my Tasty Kitchen recipe box so you can print it out and enjoy your own delicious linguine and clam sauce at home soon. And speaking of making it at home, check back here tomorrow for a chance to win little special something that’ll help you do just that. I promise I won’t reveal more than that.

P.S. It’s red. (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.)

Printable Recipe

Linguine and Clam Sauce

by EatLiveRun on September 20, 2012 in Main Courses, Pasta

0.00 Mitt(s) 0 Rating(s)

Description

Delicious and nutritious linguine and clams!

Ingredients

8 ounces, weight Dry Linguine Pasta
1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 whole Large Shallot, Minced
3 cans (6.5 Oz. Size) Clams, Drained With 1/2 Cup Juice Reserved
1 whole Lemon, Juiced
¼ teaspoons Red Pepper Flakes
½ cups Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
Minced Parsley, For Garnish

Preparation Instructions

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. When hot, add the minced shallots and saute for about 5 minutes, until very soft. Add the drained clams and continue cooking for another 4-5 minutes.

Add the 1/2 cup reserved clam juice, lemon juice and red pepper flakes to the skillet. Bring mixture to a boil, then simmer for 3 minutes.

Add hot cooked linguine to the pan and toss well with the sauce. Divide amongst plates and top each dish with Parmesan cheese and minced parsley (optional).

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English Muffin Toastable Bread

EatLiveRun — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 11:58:53 +0000

I don’t know about you but I love English muffins in the morning. My favorite way to eat them is toasted with butter and raspberry jam. They are the perfect accompaniment to scrambled eggs. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it!  When I found this recipe for English Muffin Toastable Bread by my friend and fellow TK member Rebecca, I knew I had to try it! We used to bake delicious English muffin bread at the bakery I worked at, and I miss it dearly. It’s so fun to watch this loaf rise up super high in the oven and, I promise, it tastes JUST LIKE English muffins! For real!

The ingredients are pretty basic for this one—just flour (I used regular, all-purpose), water, salt, sugar and yeast. You’ll also need some cornmeal for dusting, three loaf pans, plastic wrap and nonstick cooking spray.

Before we go any further though, I want to make sure you guys get the right yeast. For this recipe, you’ll need instant (or bread machine or “rapid rise” yeast). I want to be sure you guys get it because I searched for about two weeks prior to making this recipe for “instant yeast” and couldn’t find it anywhere! I was getting very discouraged and contemplated ordering online. Finally, I realized that rapid rise yeast was the same thing as instant yeast. It’s different than regular dry active, as you don’t need water to activate it; you can literally just dump it into your dry ingredients and mix!

(End public service announcement.)

First, make the dough. Mix together your warm water, flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a large mixing bowl. You can use a KitchenAid mixer here or a wooden spoon.

It should look like this after mixing— very wet, sticky and shaggy!

Now spray a piece of plastic wrap with cooking spray and drape it over the bowl. Set in a warm place to rise for one hour.

Ta-dah! It rose! I cut the recipe in half when making this, so if you make the full recipe, your dough will rise higher than mine. Be sure to spray your plastic wrap or else it could stick.

Prepare your loaf pans by sprinkling in some cornmeal then knock the pans against the counter so that all sides have a generous sprinkle. Shake off the excess in the sink or trashcan.

Divide your dough evenly into your loaf pans and cover pans with more plastic wrap that has been generously sprayed with cooking spray. You want to fill the loaf pans no more than halfway full of dough.

Let the bread rise again in a warm spot until it peaks up above the rim of the loaf pans. This took me a little over an hour. Rebecca warned in the original recipe that this bread could possibly over-proof (rise for too long), which would then cause it to crumple when baking. Because of this, you want to make sure you preheat the oven to 350ºF while the loaves are rising so that you don’t have to worry about it once they are ready to be baked.

Bake the loaves for 30 minutes, brush with melted butter, then bake for an additional 10-20 minutes until the tops are golden brown.

I know it’s best to wait for bread to cool before slicing, but I just couldn’t help myself! I immediately tore into this and slathered it with soft butter and jam. It was amazing and the extra loaf made a lovely gift to a neighbor who will be cat-sitting for me next month.

Thank you, Rebecca! I know what’s for breakfast tomorrow morning. And I know you guys are going to love this bread that tastes just like a big, warm English muffin! Go check out Rebecca’s blog, Foodie with Family. It’s so packed with recipe after recipe of incredible stuff, it’s not even funny.

Printable Recipe

English Muffin Toastable Bread

by Rebecca on February 23, 2012 in Breads

See post on Rebecca’s site!

4.92 Mitt(s) 39 Rating(s)

Description

This gorgeous, simple, golden brown bread has the crags, the holes, the moistness, the crunchy, toasty bits of cornmeal that transfer to your fingers and the incomparable ability to carry sinful amounts of butter and jam, or sauce and cheese, or egg and hot sauce just like its namesake muffins. This recipe is suitable for novice bakers and is easy on the wallet, to boot!

Ingredients

5-½ cups Warm (not Hot) Water
2 Tablespoons Kosher Salt
2 Tablespoons Sugar
3 packages (1/4 Oz. Packet) Instant Yeast
11-½ cups All Purpose Or Bread Flour (I Like To Do A Half And Half Blend Most Times.)
Melted Butter For Brushing The Bread Midway Through Cooking And Then Again After They're Done Cooking

Preparation Instructions

Note: you will also need nonstick cooking spray, plastic wrap, and cornmeal.

To prepare the dough:

Stir water, salt, sugar, yeast, and flour together by hand in a large mixing bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle) just until combined. The dough will be shaggy and very sticky.

Spray a piece of plastic wrap with nonstick cooking spray and lay it loosely over the mixing bowl. Let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free place for about 1 hour or until it looks bubbly and puffy.

Spray 3 standard loaf pans (8.5″ x 9.5″) with non-stick cooking spray and sprinkle in a fistful of cornmeal. Tilt the pans, tapping gently, until the interiors are coated with a thin layer of cornmeal. Tap out any excess cornmeal.

Spray your hands with nonstick cooking spray and use them to divide the dough evenly between the pans. The pans should be no more than halfway full. If you need to, spray and cornmeal an additional loaf pan for any excess.

Spray more pieces of plastic wrap with nonstick cooking spray and lay them loosely over each loaf pan. Let rise in a warm, draft-free place until the dough looks bubbly and puffy again, and has risen with the top of the dough dome just peeking above the edge of the pan.

While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 350°F. It is possible to let this dough rise too long, so be sure the oven is waiting for you rather than you waiting for the oven.

Evenly space the loaf pans in the oven and set the timer for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, take out one bread pan at a time and brush the tops of the loaves with melted butter. When you place the bread pans back in the oven, rotate their positions from front to back. Bake for an additional 10 minutes or until they are just lightly golden brown.

Immediately turn the loaves out onto a cooling rack and brush again with melted butter. Cool completely before slicing.

The bread can be stored, tightly wrapped, at room temperature for up to a week. If you do not think you can eat it in that time, wrap the cooled, unsliced loaves with two layers of plastic wrap and cover that with one layer of foil before storing in the freezer for up to 3 months. They can be thawed or simply sliced from their frozen state before toasting.

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Tomato, Roasted Pepper and Arugula Pasta

EatLiveRun — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 10:00:50 +0000

I love a good pasta dish, and this Smoky Tomato, Roasted Red Pepper and Arugula Pasta by Cassie (Tasty Kitchen member BakeYourDay) is just perfect for a delicious late-summer meal!

It contains pretty much all my favorite things (besides chocolate). I seriously cannot get enough of this pasta! After you try it, you too, will understand it’s magical addictive properties. After making it the first time, I ate it for three meals straight and I have to say, it tastes almost better the next day!

Followed by some chocolate, of course.

Here are the ingredients. You probably have a few of these things on hand already. Get ready to grab your pasta (I used small shells), olive oil, cherry tomatoes, roasted red peppers, fresh arugula, fresh basil, smoked paprika, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, a shallot, a clove of garlic, fresh mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese. The next time I make this (and there will a next time very soon, trust me), I’m going to add some spicy chicken sausage!

First, cook your pasta in boiling salted water and save a little of the cooking water for later. (Don’t fret if you forget to save some pasta water. I did and my pasta still came out perfect!) Set drained pasta aside.

 Heat some olive oil over medium heat and add the garlic and shallot. Saute until the shallot is soft, about four minutes.

Then add the cherry tomatoes, a little bit of the fresh basil, smoked paprika, red pepper flakes, roasted red peppers and a pinch of salt. Cook over medium heat for five minutes.

Add the arugula to the pan! Arugula is such a nice addition here; I really love its peppery bite.

You’ll want to keep cooking until the arugula wilts. This won’t take long!

After the arugula wilts, toss in the fresh mozzarella. This is my favorite part! I adore fresh mozzarella so much, especially when it gets all melted and creamy. Mmm.

Stir in the pasta (and cooking water, if using). Season with a little additional salt and some pepper here.

Serve the pasta with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and you’re set! Dinner is DONE.

Trust me guys, you don’t want to miss out on this one. It’s fabulous.

Thanks again, Cassie, for sharing this recipe! Don’t forget to visit her blog, Bake Your Day for more of her amazing recipes.

Enjoy!

Printable Recipe

Smoky Tomato, Roasted Red Pepper & Arugula Pasta

by BakeYourDay on July 18, 2012 in Main Courses, Pasta

See post on BakeYourDay’s site!

5.00 Mitt(s) 1 Rating(s)

Description

Fresh veggies and pasta with smoky seasonings and fresh mozzarella.

Ingredients

8 ounces, weight Pasta
2 teaspoons Olive Oil, Divided
1 whole Shallot, Minced
1 clove Garlic, Minced
1 cup Grape Tomatoes, Halved
½ cups Roasted Red Peppers, Chopped
¼ cups Fresh Basil, Chopped, Divided
1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
½ teaspoons Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
½ teaspoons Salt
¼ teaspoons Black Pepper
2 cups Fresh Arugula
2 ounces, weight Fresh Mozzarella Cheese, Diced
¼ cups Parmesan Cheese

Preparation Instructions

Cook pasta according to package directions, reserving 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water.

While the pasta cooks, heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the shallot and garlic and cook until soft and fragrant, about 6 minutes. Add the tomatoes, roasted red peppers, half of the basil, smoked paprika, crushed red pepper flakes, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Let the mixture cook for another 5-6 minutes until the tomatoes begin to soften.

Add the arugula to the pan and drizzle the remaining 1 teaspoon olive oil over the arugula. Stir it to combine and cook until the arugula wilts. Turn the heat to low and stir in the mozzarella cheese. Add the cooked pasta and the pasta water and stir until combined. Top with Parmesan cheese.

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Apricot Strudel

EatLiveRun — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 13:35:22 +0000

Holy strudel! The moment I saw Heather Christo’s mouth-watering recipe for Apricot Strudel, I knew I had to make it as soon as possible. Apricots are in season now, and these sweet little gems are just flooding the farmers market. I hadn’t made a strudel in years (and never an apricot one!), and was looking forward to playing with some fillo dough. Heather’s strudel turned out a little prettier than mine (I credit her fillo dough handling abilities to the fact that she married a Greek), but wow, was it ever delicious! The apricots could have easily been mistaken for peaches in this flaky strudel, and it was the perfect summer dessert. But don’t believe me—try it yourself! I guarantee it will make an apricot fan out of you for life.

Here’s what you need! Actually, you need all this plus all-purpose flour. I realized I forgot the flour right after I uploaded this photo.

Simple ingredients, really. Just make sure you leave yourself enough time to defrost your fillo dough before starting! Fillo dough defrosts at room temperature in about two hours and trust me, you don’t want to attempt working with this stuff until it has defrosted—-these tissue paper-thin pastry sheets tear easily.

First, melt a stick of butter. You’ll need every bit of this stick for brushing on the fillo dough. This is what will make your strudel so perfectly crisp and golden. After your butter has melted, set it aside.

Slice your apricots and toss them into a bowl with 1/4 cup of granulated sugar.

Then add two tablespoons of flour and a pinch of cinnamon. It should look all delicious and juicy—just like a pie filling.

Now here is where things could get a little complicated … but not really. You’ll see! Open your box of defrosted fillo dough and place ONE super-thin sheet on a parchment paper (or Silpat-lined) baking sheet. Brush that sheet well with the melted butter.

A great tip here is to cover the fillo dough with a wet paper towel while you work. This will prevent it from drying out and cracking.

After you have brushed the butter on your sheet of fillo, carefully grab two more sheets from the package (remember to cover the remaining up with the wet paper towel!). Place these two sheets on top of the buttery sheet, the opposite way.

Proceed to drench in butter.

Repeat this process (laying one sheet down, brushing with butter, then topping with two sheets going the opposite way) until you have eight buttery fillo layers, or until you use up your box of fillo. I did the latter.

Pour the sugary apricots down the center of the fillo dough in as skinny of a line as you can make.

Then, fold the outer “wings” of dough in and start rolling up your strudel like you would roll up an egg roll. You want the ends of the strudel to be as tucked in as you can get so none of that beautiful apricot filling escapes. (See Heather’s blog post for photos of how she did hers!)

Brush your strudel with the remaining melted butter then stick her in a 400ºF oven for half an hour.

And there ya go! She’s a beauty all right, and you can’t even (really) tell that I tore some of the fillo dough accidently.

Serve this warm with powdered sugar dusted on top of with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Thank you, Heather, for this lovely recipe! It’s a keeper, for sure. Check out her blog, Heather Christo Cooks, for more of her great recipes. (You can find the strudel recipe below for printing, so you don’t splatter that melted butter on your laptop like I just did. Oops.)

Printable Recipe

Apricot Strudel

by Heather Christo on June 27, 2012 in Desserts, Fruit Desserts

See post on Heather Christo’s site!

0.00 Mitt(s) 0 Rating(s)

Description

Tender, sweet and tart apricots wrapped in buttery, flaky filo dough make a fast and easy strudel!

Ingredients

1 stick Butter
8 Apricots, Sliced
¼ cups Sugar
2 Tablespoons Flour
1 pinch Cinnamon
½ packages (16 Oz. Size) Filo Dough

Preparation Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Prepare a sheet pan with a Silpat or parchment paper.
2. In a small pan, melt the butter over low heat. Set aside.
3. Slice the apricots into thin wedges and set them in a bowl.
4. Sprinkle the apricots with sugar, flour and cinnamon. Gently toss everything to coat.
5. Lay a single sheet of filo down in the pan. Brush the sheet with butter.
6. Then lay 2 sheets of filo dough in the opposite direction, overlapping. Brush them with butter.
7. Continue this process of 1 sheet followed by 2 sheets until you have 8 layers of filo dough.
8. Spread the apricots out on the filo dough in a line.
9. Pull the filo dough up and over the apricots and then roll it like a spring roll until the edge of the filo dough is tucked under the strudel.
10. Tuck the ends under. Brush the whole outside of the streudel generously with the rest of the melted butter.
11. Bake the strudel at 400ºF for 30 minutes or until the fruit is soft and the pastry is golden brown.

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Fresh Ginger Dressing

EatLiveRun — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 12:24:41 +0000

I love homemade salad dressing, but for some odd reason, never make it! Then, after having dinner at a friend’s house a few weeks ago where I tasted the most delicious homemade dressing that she just whipped up a few minutes before the meal, I got inspired. I was ready.

Good salad dressing really does “make” the salad, plus it’s super easy! I mean, it only takes five minutes, if that! In the time it would take you to find good bottled dressing in the grocery store and make it through the check-out lane, you could have your own homemade dressing already on the table.

So, after eating at my friend’s house, I came home and searched Tasty Kitchen for simple, homemade salad dressings. This Fresh Ginger Dressing by afarmgirlsdabbles immediately caught my eye! It’s absolutely addictive and turns regular ol’ salads into something magical. Try it and taste for yourself!

I told you it’s super easy! All you need to make this dressing is vegetable oil, rice vinegar, salt, pepper, honey and fresh ginger, of course.

If you don’t like using fresh ginger because it’s a pain to peel, allow me to share with you this little secret a chef I used to work with taught me, and that is using a spoon to peel the ginger! Just lightly scrape the thin skin off with the edge of a spoon and it comes right off. It makes all those crevices much easier to peel. Once you do the spoon trick, you’ll never go back. Trust me on this.

To make the dressing, just put all the ingredients together in a pint-sized jar and shake, shake, shake!

Keep. On. Shaking!

Now you have your own sweet and spicy ginger dressing. It tastes just like the kind from my favorite Thai restaurant in Florida.

 The recipe says that this dressing will stay fresh in your fridge for a week in a Mason jar. I’ll definitely be making this all summer long! Thanks for the lovely recipe, Brenda (who shared it from her grandma’s recipe box!). Have you visited her blog A Farm Girl’s Dabbles yet? You must. You simply must.

Printable Recipe

Fresh Ginger Dressing

by afarmgirlsdabbles on May 7, 2012 in Salad Dressings, Salads

See post on afarmgirlsdabbles’s site!

3.67 Mitt(s) 3 Rating(s)

Description

Sweet and full of zing, this fresh and easy ginger dressing promises to be your go-to salad topper of the summer!

Ingredients

½ cups Vegetable Oil
½ cups Rice Vinegar (or Regular White Vinegar)
⅓ cups Honey
1 Tablespoon Grated Fresh Ginger
Pinch Of Kosher Salt
⅛ teaspoons Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Preparation Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a pint jar and shake vigorously. That’s it! Serve with your favorite fresh greens. Keeps well in the refrigerator for 1 week.

Adapted from my Grandma Renelt’s recipe box, one of my favorite recipes in all the world.

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Spicy Tequila Lime Chicken Marinade

EatLiveRun — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:51:03 +0000

I don’t know about you, but I’m always on the lookout for a new chicken marinade recipe. It seems like throwing a marinade together would be easy, but for some reason the idea of creating my own stresses me out. Which is why I was so excited when I found this recipe for Spicy Tequila-Lime Marinated Chicken from EatsSweetsTreats!

I love spicy food and this sure fits the bill. I’m sure it would be fabulous in a burrito, but we enjoyed our grilled marinated chicken with a side of Cuban black beans, rice, guacamole and margaritas. Extra salt, please!

Let’s be honest, I really just wanted a reason to bust out the tequila.

All I ask is can you not make a margarita while making this recipe?! Like I said, this marinade produces some pretty spicy chicken. To cut down on the spice, use a jalapeno pepper instead of a serrano and/or remove the seeds first.

To make the marinade, just process all ingredients (except the chicken, of course!) in either a food processor or high-speed blender.

Then just pour the marinade over the chicken breasts, cover and stick in the fridge for a couple hours. You’ll want to turn the chicken over halfway through to ensure even marination.

After your chicken is done marinating, you can either sear it in a cast iron skillet on the stove, grill it outside or do what I did and use your handy dandy grill pan! I love my grill pan.

And there ya have it! So easy, delicious and perfect for slicing up and stuffing in burritos, tacos, you name it. After cooking, I squeezed a little more lime on my chicken and sprinkled some sea salt on top—it was spicy perfection!

Thank you Kimberly for such an easy recipe to kick off grilling season, and just in time for Cinco de Mayo. Visit the blog Eats, Sweets, and Treats! for more recipes and Texas restaurant write-ups.

Printable Recipe

Spicy Tequila-Lime Marinated Chicken

by Kimberly's Treats on April 3, 2012 in Main Courses, Poultry

See post on Kimberly's Treats’s site!

4.50 Mitt(s) 2 Rating(s)

Description

Perfect topping for homemade corn tortillas! Quick and easy for a weeknight meal.

Ingredients

½ cups Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice (for 1/2 Cup You'll Need About 2 Limes)
¼ cups Tequila
1 ounce, fluid Triple Sec
½ Tablespoons Olive Oil
¼ teaspoons Cumin
½ teaspoons Chili Powder
2 cloves Garlic
1 Serrano Pepper, Stem (and Seeds, Optional) Removed
1 whole Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast

Preparation Instructions

Combine all ingredients listed (except chicken) in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until all ingredients are finely chopped and mixture is smooth.

Pour marinade into a shallow dish and place chicken in dish to marinate for 1-2 hours. Flip the chicken breasts once about halfway through the marinade time.

Place a pan over medium high heat and sear the chicken breasts on each side. It should take about 4-5 minutes per side. Reserve excess marinade.

After both sides are golden brown, reduce heat to medium low and remove chicken from pan. Put chicken onto a cutting board and slice chicken into strips, about 1/2 inch thick.

Return chicken to pan and add the excess marinade. Stir everything to combine and let simmer for another 3-4 minutes, or until chicken is cooked all the way through.

Remove from heat and use chicken anyway you see fit! My favorite way is to use the chicken for tacos and top with caramelized onions, guacamole, chopped tomatoes, and lettuce!

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Birthday Cake Batter Popcorn

EatLiveRun — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 10:00:22 +0000

When I was saw this recipe by Mrs. Schwatz a few weeks ago, I knew I had to stop everything and make it immediately. Birthday Cake Batter Popcorn? Yes, please. As a lover of anything salty and sweet, I knew it would be a winner. Plus, it involved rainbow sprinkles. Enough said.

I made this the day before going on vacation, and had grand plans to take it with me in little plastic baggies for the flight.

Let’s just say it never made it that far.

Between munching all day while I worked and going back for “just one more kernel”, all I had left to fill my plastic baggies were popcorn seeds. Oops.

Here’s what ya need!

Simple yellow cake mix, some popcorn (I just popped one bag in the microwave), vegetable shortening, white chocolate chips and sprinkles. Five ingredients—it doesn’t get better than that!

The first step is melting your white chocolate. I just zapped this in the microwave in short thirty-second intervals until it was all melted. I think it took a minute and a half total.

Then, stir in your vegetable shortening to the melted white chocolate …

And add cake mix! How fun is that? I would never in a million years think to add dry cake mix to melted chocolate. The recipe says to add 1 – 1 ½ cups cake mix, but I would err on the lesser side because it makes the chocolate mixture really, really thick.

Add this to the popcorn and use your hands to toss everything together—watch out, it’s gonna get messy! Don’t worry if you don’t get all the white chocolate cake batter clumps perfectly mixed in with the popcorn. It will harden anyway and work out just fine.

Now comes my favorite part: sprinkles! I love rainbow sprinkles and add them to anything and everything.

Let the popcorn cool and set to harden up a bit—if you can stand it to wait, that is.

Ta-dah! How fun and festive is that?

I love taking a perfectly healthy snack like natural popcorn and dumping chocolate and cake mix on it, don’t you?

If you want to be sneaky, you can put this in a bag, hide it in the bottom of your largest purse and hit up the movies with your girlfriends. You didn’t hear that from me though.

Thank you, Mrs. Schwartz, for such a fun easy recipe! Head over to her blog Mrs. Schwartz’s Kitchen to find more of her recipes.

Printable Recipe

Birthday Cake Batter Popcorn

by Krysten Schwartz on February 17, 2012 in Desserts, Special Occasion

See post on Krysten Schwartz ’s site!

4.56 Mitt(s) 9 Rating(s)

Description

Salty, sweet, crunchy and colorful! What else would you want in a snack or dessert?

Ingredients

1-½ cup Melted Almond Bark Or White Chocolate
¼ cups Vegetable Shortening
1-½ cup White Or Yellow Cake Mix
6 cups Popcorn (popped)
¼ cups Sprinkles

Preparation Instructions

Melt the almond bark/chocolate in the microwave. I put it in the microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring between each 30 seconds until it is fully melted.

Add the vegetable shortening to the almond bark/chocolate and stir until it is melted. I usually don’t have to put it back in the microwave to completely melt it but you can if you have to.

Then add the cake mix to the almond bark/chocolate.

Pour the coating onto the popcorn and coat evenly. I use 2 spoons and toss it almost like a salad.

Pour the popcorn out onto cookie sheets to cool/harden. Sprinkle immediately with your choice of sprinkles.

Wait until fully hardened (if you can) and enjoy!

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Tasty Kitchen Blog » EatLiveRun

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