Thursday, May 6, 2010

pasta with tomato and blue cheese sauce.

Ingredients
  • 1-½ pound Pasta (angel Hair Or Thin Spaghetti)
  • 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
  • 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
  • 1 whole 28-ounce Can Diced Tomatoes, Drained
  • Dash Of Sugar
  • Salt And Freshly Ground Black Pepper, To Taste
  • Crushed Red Pepper Flakes, To Taste
  • ¾ cups Crumbled Blue Cheese
  • ¾ cups Heavy Cream
  • 4 cups Baby Spinach
  • Half And Half, For Thinning
  • Extra Blue Cheese Crumbles, For Garnish
Preparation Instructions
Cook pasta according to package instructions.
In a large skillet over medium heat, add olive oil. When hot, add minced garlic and cook for a minute. Pour in drained tomatoes. Add sugar, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper to taste. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Reduce heat to low. Stir in crumbled blue cheese. Add cream and stir, then a little splash of half-and-half if sauce is too thick. Cook for a minute or two, tasting and adding more seasonings as needed.
At the very, very, very last minute. toss in spinach. Immediately toss in the cooked and drained pasta. Serve immediately!

stuffed french toast.


Here’s a list of everything you need: a loaf of French or Italian bread, eggs, milk, butter, cream cheese, cinnamon, and jam or fresh fruit (if you’re like me, you’ll use both). I also added slivered almonds just for the fun of it, but you don’t have to … unless you want to. If you do, let me know when and where I can invite myself over for breakfast. Thanks.




Before you can invite me over for breakfast, you’ll need to know how to make this. Slice a loaf of bread in 2-inch pieces. You should get about six pieces all together, not including the end pieces. Using a paring knife, cut a deep slit across the top in the middle of each slice, approximately 4 inches long (as pictured above). This will form your “pocket.” Once you’re done, set the bread aside.




I decided to go with strawberries for the filling. They were almost too pretty to eat. You could use any fruit or no fruit at all, but I highly recommend strawberries.




Wash the strawberries, remove the stems, and cut slices in each one. Turn them a quarter turn and slice them again, adding them to a bowl.




Next, macerate the strawberries, which is fancy way of saying add a little sugar and mix it in. Set them aside and allow the sugar to release its magic.




Next, add jam to the cream cheese and mix both of them until well combined.




The cream cheese mixture now looks like strawberry yogurt. Yum!




Now comes the fun part! Grab a slice of bread and add about a tablespoon (or as much as you like) of cream cheese filling. Personally, I like about 2 tablespoons per slice. Do the same thing with the fresh fruit. Make sure to close the opening by gently pressing the bread together. This will make frying them easier and less messy. Set the filled slices aside.




Now it’s time to make the egg bath. Mix eggs, milk, and cinnamon together until well mixed. Turn the stove top on to medium-high to preheat the skillet. While your skillet is heating up, dip sliced bread in the egg wash for about 20 seconds on both sides. Only dip as many slices as you plan on frying. In other words, if your pan can only fry two pieces at a time, be sure to only coat two pieces of bread a time.




Add a little butter to the surface of skillet. This will help prevent the French toast from sticking. I heart butter.




Fry each slice for about 3 minutes per side or until golden brown. Remove from heat and serve.




If you’re interested in making your stuffed French toast a little more glamorous, sprinkle powdered sugar over the tops of the slices and garnish with fresh strawberries and almonds.

bacon and egg mcmuffins.

Here’s the lowdown….press your english muffin inside Texas Size Muffin cups, line inside with bacon, sprinkle inside with cheese, break an egg inside, season with salt and pepper, bake and woo hoo you are done!!  Mmmm!
How cute?!
Bacon and Cheese Egg McMuffin Cups
3 whole english muffins plus one half, split
6 slices ready cooked bacon, not microwaved, just right out of package
1/2 Cup shredded cheddar cheese
6 large eggs
Pinches of kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Press english muffins carefully into bottom of  a 6 cup Texas size muffin tin.  Form a little circle with the bacon and place around inside of muffin.  Sprinkle inside with cheese then top with a whole egg in each cup, keeping inside the bacon ring.  Sprinkle with pinches of kosher salt and pepper.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until egg is cooked through, not jiggly :)
2.  Remove and let cool for 5 minutes before removing from muffin tin.  Serve as is or with some of your favorite hot sauce and a side of fruit!!
6 servings

cinnamon sugar toasted mini pita fruit nachos.

Cinnamon and Sugar Toasted Mini Pita Fruit Nachos
1 package of mini pitas from Whole Foods, or 6 regular size pitas cut into triangles will work (if you use 6 regular size pitas, make sure you double the remaining recipe except the fruit :)
3 Tablespoons melted butter
3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
3 Tablespoons finely ground pecans
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pint strawberries, washed and chopped
2 Cups chopped fresh pineapple
1 pint raspberries, washed and dried
1 Cup finely chopped good quality chocolate, or chocolate chips
8 oz mascarpone cheese (you can substitute softened cream cheese here if you wish)
2 Tablespoons honey
1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Place mini pitas and melted butter into a large ziplock bag.  Shake around until all pitas are coated.  Immediately place buttered pitas into a second large ziplock with sugar, pecans and cinnamon.  Shake well until all pitas are coated.  Place coated pitas onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet.  Bake for 12-15 minutes or until pitas are crisp.
2.  Place chocolate over a double broiler, stirring until melted.  Drizzle over crisped pitas and transfer to cooling rack.  You can let chocolate harden or serve with it melted.  Place mascarpone cheese and honey into a mixing bowl; mix to combine.  With a small cookie scoop, scoop a dollop of honeyed mascarpone onto the centers of each pita.  Place all fruit into a large mixing bowl.  Spoon fruit over mascarpone and pita.  Serve immediately.
6 servings, 2 or so mini pitas per person

roasted banana cinnamon rolls







Roasted Banana Cinnamon Rolls
2 ripe bananas cut into 1/4 inch slices
2 Tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 roll Pillsbury French Bread Loaf
4 Tablespoons softened butter
1/2 Cup brown sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 Cup powdered sugar
3-4 Tablespoons heavy cream
1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Place banana slices and cut up pieces of butter into a small baking dish.  Sprinkle with brown sugar and bake for 25 minutes or until golden and bubbly.  Remove and let cool for 10 minutes.  Next, use a fork to smash roasted bananas until well combined.
2.  Reduce heat to 350 degrees F.  Unroll Pillsbury French Bread dough into rectangle.  Spread with softened butter and sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.  Place dollops of roasted banana mixture evenly over top.  Starting from long end, roll up into log shape.  Using a sharp knife, cut 1 inch slices and place onto a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until just turning golden brown.  Remove and let cool for 10 minutes.
3.  Whisk powdered sugar and heavy cream until combined; drizzle over top of warm rolls.
12 rolls