fiddlehead pasta

Growing up we ate fiddleheads pretty often.  They are a spring treat, a sign that spring has come to stay for another year.  They are a pretty simple veggie, just the furled frond of a fern. They taste similar to asparagus (at least to me) They are free, if you are willing to find them and pick them.  They are packed with vitamins, minerals, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.  All in all a super food.  Now the only way I had ever had them is steamed, served with apple cider vinegar and salt and pepper.  Not to shabby.  But, it gets a little old.  So I went in search of another recipe.  I found the following recipe on foodnetwork.com.

Fiddlehead Ferns and angel hair pasta
*if you can't find fiddleheads, try aparagus!!
Yeild: 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 pound fiddlehead

1 pound angel hair pasta

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 green onions, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon worscheshire sauce

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Grated Parmesan, for garnish

*Essence, recipe follows, for garnish

 

In a large pot of boiling salted water, blanch the fiddleheads until they are crisp-tender, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the fiddleheads from the water and shock them in a bowl of ice water (unless you are going to use them immediately).  You can use frozen fiddleheads if you have them.  Either thaw them and blanch them or put them in the boiling water and cook about 2-3 minutes more.

Drop angel hair pasta into the same pot of boiling water used for fiddleheads. Boil for 3 to 5 minutes or until al dente.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat olive oil. Saute fiddlehead ferns, green onions, and red pepper flakes for 2 minutes. Drain pasta and add to skillet. Toss with truffle oil and salt and pepper. Divide pasta among 4 plates and garnish with grated cheese. Sprinkle with Essence and serve.

*The Essence is a particular part of Emeril's recipe.  It's not strictly necessary but is really delicious if you decide to use it.  The recipe for Essence is as follows.

2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme
Combine all ingredients thoroughly. Store in a small jar or a ziplock.

If you decide to use asparagus, just cut it into bite sized pieces and then blanch it. 

Make your own: Brown Sugar

Friday I was getting our family ready to travel.  We headed to MA for Easter weekend to stay with family.  It was one of those days that you just feel like you don't stop, can't stop even because if you do, you'll be so far behind you won't recover.  My contribution to dinner was to be appetizer(s) and bread.   For a yummy appetizer, I went with my standby recipe, baked asparagus dip it is so easy to make and simply delicious.  For bread I was a little less decided but in the end went with Shredded Wheat Bread.  I started to make it.....and ooops! I found that I didn't have enough brown sugar.  Now normally it is easy enough to run to the store, but I just didnt have the time, and less then zero desire to do that....so I googled "how to make your own brown sugar" turns out its EASY.  I mean after realizing how easy it is, I might never buy it again!! 

Mix together: 2 Cups Granulated Sugar and 3 Tablespoons of mollases.

mix it really well.....so ok in this picture it wasn't mixed really well....but my kitchen aid was being occupied by bread and so i used the hand mixer....with less perfect results.  The more you beat the better.  If you want darker brown sugar, add more mollasses.  I used this brown sugar for my bread and it was great, I can't tell the difference...can you??

Ingredients:
2 Cups granulated sugar
3 Tablespoons of mollasses (more for darker brown sugar)

mix very well. If there are still some clumps of mollasses, as in my picture above, they will absorb into the sugar as it rests.

Store in air tight container or zipper bag with the air pushed out.

Sinful Snickers Ice Cream Cake

Do you need a super easy yet very decadent and delicious dessert to make for your family or for a potluck??  Try this recipe!  Its Snickers Ice Cream Cake. 


What you need:
14 ice cream sandwiches (size: 8x13)
Hershey's fudge sauce
caramel ice cream topping, I used Smuckers
chocolate syrup, I used Hershey's
crushed peanuts

Start by layering the bottom of your 9x13 pan with ice cream bars, I cut two bars in half lengthwise to fill in at the top and sides of the pan.

Then spread the fudge sauce across the top of the bars, swirl the caramel sauce on top of that and add crushed peanuts.The next layer is another layer of ice cream bars, again cut to fit the pan nicely.

Top with Cool Whip, and finally give the top a nice drizzle of chocolate syrup, caramel sauce and more crushed peanuts.  Freeze this for about 3 hours before serving.*

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

 

14 ice cream sandwiches

chocolate fudge sauce

caramel ice cream topping

cool whip

crushed peanuts

 



Instructions

1. Place a layer of ice cream sandwiches in the bottom of the dish.
2. Spread on a layer of fudge.
3. Sprinkle with peanuts and drizzle with caramel topping.
4. Add on another layer of ice cream sandwiches
5. Spread on a layer of fudge.
6. Top with cool whip
7. Sprinkle with peanuts
8. Drizzle on caramel and chocolate syrup.
9. Freeze for 3 hours.
10. Slice into squares and serve!

 

*I am not responsible for the extra hours on the treadmill required after eating this delicious dessert :)



A little DIY project, served with a side of cleaning

We have a fireplace.  We have never used it, I doubt we ever will.  The previous owners covered the living room's slate floor with cream colored carpet and there isn't a hearth stone or room for a hearth stone.  Now, said carpet is definately NOT so cream colored now but still....there are likely no fireplace fires in our future.  In the meantime I had brass fireplace doors that I wasn't crazy about.  Yuck.  I looked at Lowes and found a set that I liked.....for the cool price of $380.  That was just the cheapest price in the finish I wanted, the ones I liked were more to the tune of $500+ Not happening.  So, one day, while perusing pinterest I came across a pin about redoing brass light fixtures using Rustoleum Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint....and that got me thinking.  I headed off to Walmart and bought my can of paint, I think it was about $7.  Then it got too cold for me to spray paint.  Bummer.  Yesterday it was a lovely day and luckily, plenty warm enough for a project.  I got Matt to haul those doors ourside and I set to work.  Now in theory, spray painting is easy.  I find that theory and reality are a bit far apart.  You really need to stay about 3-5 inches away and spray in a sweeping motion.  I started off great.  It was going super.  I had one coat done.  And then I got picky.  The pickier I got the more mistakes I made. UGH.  I ended up making a lot more work for myself but I kept at it...(ahem, no choice) and I am pleased with the finished product.  My once Brassy doors are now a nice oil rubbed bronze. It cost over $370 bucks LESS than new doors and it looks wayyyy better....even with a few mistakes :)

This morning when I went to warm up my coffee....for the second time, I glanced up with my barely open eyes and was grossed out by my microwave.  I don't use it alot, Matt tends to use it more and Im guessing he probably doesn't cover his food?? I should pay more attention.  Anyhow.  I hate cleaning, I hate the smell of cleaning products from the store and I hate how they make my throat burn.  There are hardly any IF any of those type cleaners left in my house.  But how to clean the microwave easily?  Pinterest.  Again.  I took about 2 cups of water, sliced a lemon and added a cup of vinegar and microwaved it for 10 minutes (the site suggested 5 but my microwave was gross) You should be able to see the grime in the top two pictures....yuck!  BUT after I took the dish out, I just wiped down the doors and inside and with a few exceptionally stubborn stains it DID wipe out!  For those other spots I just (carefully) dipped my cloth in the water lemon mixture and scrubbed those spots right off.  I was so pleased with the results I just had to share...cause who LIKES scrubbing?? not. me.!

Parmesan Garlic Butter spread

Luckily I was able to snap a few shots...literally two....of this delicious garlic bread before the crew inhaled it!! It was so easy to make this spread and you can buy frozen or fresh french bread at the grocery store to spread it on (go ahead, take a page our of Sandra Lee's Semi Homemade book!!)

Parmesan Garlic Butter Spread

for Homemade Garlic Bread

1 Stick of real, unsalted butter, softened

1/4 C Shredded parmesan cheese

1 T minced garlic

Mix all ingredients well. Split your bread lengthwise down the middle and spread butter on both sides. Bake at 375 for about 10 minutes, keep an eye on it, you want it to be golden brown!

I was thinking about adding a teaspoon of italian seasoning to it next time....or maybe even a little rosemary! Enjoy!

French Bread, you can do it!

Homemade French Bread.  Three years ago this was so far off my radar that I probably had forgotten that bread could be made at home period.  If I wanted bread I'd head to the grocery store....our local Hannaford chain has decent bread in their bakery.  Good enough, and it IS good enough...the thing is though, is that it's not that hard to make your own bread IF you have the time.  Today is Thursday, family dinner night.  We have all been sick around here and are finally feeling better so we are able to go...but just in case I offered to bring bread.  My mom gave me this great magazine called Homemade Bread.  She got it Tractor Supply Co. of all places.  It's my go to bread book.

With in these wonderful carb-loving pages I found a pretty easy recipe for French Bread {pg 18}.  It made up like my other bread recipes...once you get a few basics down you can totally do this.

 

French Bread





2 Cups warm water ( 105-115F)
2 packages yeast (4 1/2 t)
1 1/2 t salt
1 T sugar*
5 1/2 C- 6C all purpose flour
1 egg white, lightly beaten (for tops of loaves)

Combine 1/2 Cup of warm water with yeast and set aside for about ten minutes or until yeast is foamy.

In a large bowl (I use my kitchen aid stand mixer) combine the reamining warm water, (1 1/2C) salt and sugar.  add the yeast mixture and stir until combined. 
Add 2 cups of the flour, and mix well.  continue to beat the mixture for one or two minutes, you are looking for a smooth and creamy mixture.  Add additional flour in 1/2 cup incremments, stirring well after each addition, until the dough becomes stiff and starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl

If you like kneading your dough by hand, turn the dough onto a generously floured work surface.  I switched to my dough hook attachment and kneaded it in the mixer for about 4 minutes.  Add flour in Tablespoon increments.

Lightly grease a large bowl with a small amount of oil. place the dough in the bowl and turn the dough over to coat the surface.  Cover the bowl with a clean cotton towel or plastic wrap and let rise for about an hour.  It should double in size.

Divide the dough in half.  To make the standard "torpedo shape" loaf that french bread usually comes in, press the dough into a rectangle.  Make the rectangles as long as you would like your loaves to be, then tightly roll up each rectangle from the long edge and pinch the seam to seal.

Place your loaves seam side down on a baking sheet lightly dusted with cornmeal (I used my non-stick mat) you want your loaves about 3 inches apart or they will "grow together' Set aside to let rise until doubled,  about 30  minutes.  Preheat oven to 375 F while loves rise.

Just before baking brush tops and sides of loaves with the beaten egg white.  Using a sharp serrated knife, make diagonal slashes 1/4- 1/2 inch deep across the top of each loaf.  Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the laoves are deep golden brown and sound hollow when tapped. Allow the loaves to cool or serve warm.  Enjoy!

*I don't care for the sugar in my bread so I simply feed the yeast with a pinch of it when Im proofing it (letting it get foamy) and then omit it in the recipe.  Feel free to do what works best for you.

 

 

**If all goes well, tomorrow I'll post pictures and the recipe for Parmesan garlic butter spread to make your own garlic bread! (fingers crossed)

Crab Rangoons

Sometimes there is just nothing better then yummy Chinese food takeout.  However it does seem that good chinese takeout is a little hard to find, even in Southern Maine where just about everything you'd want is at your finger tips.  So what to do??  Make your own of course!  Crab Rangoons are surprisingly easy to make.  folding them and frying them takes a little extra time but really, the results are worth it! I got my recipe from pinterest. 

 

I had fully intended to take lots of pictures of this process, turns out that isn't as easy when your kids are at your feet.  Maybe next time? I can only hope.

Things to consider.
Pre made and cut Wonton wrappers can be found at most grocery stores in the produce section, usually in the vicinity of the tofu and other vegetarian/vegan fresh products

These could be baked instead of fryed.  Brush the tops of the sealed crab rangoons with olive oil and bake at 400 until golden brown and crispy.

Crab Rangoons

Yield: Approximately 50 rangoons

Ingredients

• 8 oz cream cheese softened
• 4 oz imitation crab meat
• 1 bunch green onion, chopped
• 50 wonton wrappers
• oil for frying, I used Coconut oil, it worked beautifully

Instructions

• Combine cream cheese, & “crab”  in a food processor and pulse until combined. You want a bit of texture but not big chunks. Place the wonton wrappers on a flat surface 10 at a time and put about 1 teaspoon of filling on each. Don’t overfill or they will ooze out during frying. Put some water in a cup and using your finger dip it in and then wet the edges of the wonton wrapper. Fold half and press the edges closed, then press the opposite edges closed, it makes a star shape, try not to leave large air bubbles or they will expand and rupture during frying.
• Fry in about 2 inches of hot oil about 1 minute per side or until golden. Drain on paper towels and try to wait at least a few seconds before eating or you WILL burn your mouth on the filling. You can serve them with duck sauce

Notes

As a side tip, if making these for a party (they go like hotcakes and are cheap to make so I highly recommend it!) then you can fry them lightly, drain and then place on a cookie sheet a couple hours before (don’t refrigerate) and then blast in the oven for a couple of minutes (450 degrees for about 10 - 15 minutes should do it)