Sweet Bitch

I will admit it. I am a sucker for advertising gimmicks. I am who falls for the gimmicks–the pinot grigo wine in a fish shaped wine bottle. Yes, I bought that. Wine–just okay, I think it was $2.00 wine in a $10.00 bottle. I’ve also tried Mommy’s Time Out–yeah not worth it. But, while visiting Andy’s parents in St. Cloud a few months ago, I stumbled across what has now become my most favorite wine ever–Sweet Bitch Pinot Grigo. One thing that helped–it was on sale. Turns out our liqour store here carries it for only $7.50. If you like Pinot Grigo, this is in one you need to try. This wine seems to have a taste that no other Pinot Grigo seems to. I think it might be the almond flavor, even though I am not a fan of almonds–I think. As I have said before, the $7.50 price tag doesn’t hurt either!

Posted in Cooking/Cuisine | No Comments »

Winter Squash Puree

Andy and I had always talked about making baby food and we actually decided to start this weekend with butternut squash since Gabe seems to go nuts with the squash. First you take a butternut squash about 1 and 1/4 pounds to make 2 1/2 cups.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. With a heavy sharp knife, cut the squash in half. Scrape out the seeds and strings to discard.

Put squash, cut side down, in a baking pan. Pour water into the pan to come 1/4 inch up the sides of the squash. Roast until tender when pierced with fork–about 45 minutes.

Scoop out flush and puree in food processor (such as a Babycook–which Andy’s mother bought us for Xmas) until smooth.

Store in refrigerator for up to 3 days or 3 months in the freezer.

Posted in Cooking/Cuisine | No Comments »

Four Foods on Friday #82

It’s been awhile since I’ve done this meme, but I’m back!

#1. Lynne’s question. Do you cook items besides meat on the bbq grill, and, do you prefer gas or charcoal grills? We cook yellow squash, zuchinni, corn on the cob and peppers on the grill. Charcoal is better, but when I am hungry, I make Andy use the gas.
#2. Name a food that begins with A. Asparagus–my favorite vegetable.
#3. Name a drink that begins with A. Alabama Slammer–haven’t had one of those in over a year.
#4. Share a recipe for something that calls for American Cheese. Grilled Cheese sandwich–2 slices of wheat bread, butter or margarine spread on outward sides, 2 slices American cheese between bread and put in sandwich maker for about 5 minutes. Very cheesy and good.  Serve with tomato soup or ravoli.

If you would like to join the meme, please visit the meme Four Foods on Friday

Posted in Cooking/Cuisine | 1 Comment »

Chicken Cacciatore

Since I am home during the day, Andy expects dinner to be on the table when he gets home. I laugh at that thought–but I do try. It all depends on what kind of day Gabe and I are having. I have been searching for easy recipes which I can put together during Gabe’s naps. Here is a simple one for Chicken Cacciatore that I found.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 can (15 oz) whole tomatoes drained, chopped
6 oz fresh mushrooms sliced
1 1/2 cups pasta sauce
1/2 cup chopped onion (medium)
1/2 cup red bell pepper
1/2 cup green bell pepper
6 cups cooked pasta

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly cagt a 2 1/2 quart baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add chicken; dook, stirring frequently, until browned on all sides.
3. Combine tomatoes, mushrooms, pasta sauce, onion, red and green peppers in a large bowl; mix well. Stir in cooked chicken. Spread into prepared dish.
4. Bake until bubbly 35-40 minutes. Serve with pasta.

This was a really easy meal to make. It would have been a lot easier if we would have had frozen cooked chicken. I was able to put it all together while Gabe napped and then put it in the oven about 40 mnutes until Andy was expected home. It was pretty good.

Posted in Cooking/Cuisine | 1 Comment »

Layered Beef-Noodle Bake

This meal was okay–it is one that we think we need to change one ingredient to see how we like it–we want to change the cream cheese to cottage cheese because the consistancy just was a little strange. But this had spinach and since I found out I like spinach, I will try anything that has spinach. This meal takes about 25 minuts prep time and is ready in 1 hour.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups uncooked mafalada noodles
1 pound (at least 80%) ground beef
1 14 oz jar of pasta sauce
1 8 oz chives and onions cream cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons milk
9 oz of spinach
1/4 cup shreed or grated Parmesan cheese

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 quart glass baking dish with cooking spray. Cook noodles according to package. Drain and rinse with hot water.

2. In 10 inch skillet, cook meat on medium high heat for 7 minutes stirring occasionally, until cooked. Drain. Stir in pasta sauce and cooked noodles.

3. In medium bowl, mix cream cheese, sour cream, and milk until smooth.

4. Spoon half the noodle mixture into prepared baking dish. Top evenly with cheese mixture. Spoon spinach over cheese mixture. Top with remaining noodle mixture. Cover with foil.

5. Bake 35 minutes; uncover and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake 5 minutes longer.

Posted in Cooking/Cuisine | No Comments »

Chocolate Malted Milk Cheesecake

5 packages (8oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup malted milk powder
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1 container (8oz) sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 eggs
1 cup whipping cream

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line botttom only of 13 x 9 inch pan with foil w/cooking spray. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.

2. In medium bowl, mix sugar, malted milk powder and cocoa. Add to cream cheese, beat on low speed until combined. Bet on medium speed until smooth. Beat in sour cream, vanilla and salt. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating just until combined after each addition. Pour batter into pan.

3. Place pan in larger shallow pan in oven. Add hot water to shallow pan unil half full. Bake 50 to 55 minutes.

4. Remove cheesecake from water bath; place on wire rack. Cool until lukewarm, about ah hour. Invert cheesecake (really difficult to do alone) onto cookie sheet. Remove foil. Refridgerate 3 hours.

We used lowfat cream cheese (to make it healthier–hehe). Hopefully if we eat this a lot, we won’t ever have to a nuphedra review. This is an okay cheesecake–chocolatly, but you taste the cream cheese a lot. But if you like the taste it is worth a try. The hardest part is flipping it over. And then trying to store it because one you invert it, make sure the cookie sheet fits in your fridge!

Posted in Cooking/Cuisine | No Comments »

Grapples

One of my newfound loves since being pregnant is apples. Before being pregnant, I ate maybe a slice of apple, but never really had a taste for it. Always have loved apple juice, though. But I am strange. But now, we are eating apples left and right–golden delicious are my favorites. While at the grocery store last week, we found a new kind of apple we couldn’t pass up called “Grapple.” Basically its an apple with natural grape flavoring added to it. For me this was a great combination because I love grapes too. So it combined two of my favorite fruits and I was being healthy. Go me!

Posted in Cooking/Cuisine | No Comments »

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Growing up these were my favorite cookies. Now I have found a recipe that really matches the way my mom makes the cookies. The problem with one of my mom’s recipes is she doesn’t really measure. So when she gives me the recipe, its hard for me to guess how much to put in. But I am proud of these cookies because they were from scratch as so easy to make.
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups margarune, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 eggs
4 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 bags (12 oz each) semiswwet chocolate chips

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees Farenheit. In large bowl w/electric mixer, beat granulate sugar, brown sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and eggs until well blended. Beat in flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in choclate chips.

2. On ungreased cookie sheets, drop dough the size you want.

3 Bake 8-10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks.

Our recipe made 56. It all depends on how big you like your cookies.

Posted in Cooking/Cuisine | No Comments »

Hot Chocolate Fudge Cakes

Oh my gosh–this is my new favorite dessert. It may be not the healthiest thing to eat, but its by far the yummiest(is that a word). Plus we actually got to use the ramekins that Andy got for Xmas last year–second time. I would suggest making this dessert for a dinner party because you can prepare them up to 2 days ahead of time and just leave them in the fridge until your ready for dessert and pop them in the oven for about 20 minutes.

First here is a picture of the yummiest dessert: -

Ingredients: 

3.4 ounces all-purpose flour (3/4 cup)

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa (we used Hershey Cocoa)

5 teaspoons espresso coffee powder (we couldnt find espresso powder so we used instant coffee) 

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup unsalted butter, (we used margarine), softened

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup egg subsitute

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 2.6 ounce bar dark (71% cocoa) chocolate ( we could only find 70%) finely chopped (we used a electric chopper–easier than doing it by hand)

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1.  Sift together flour, cocoa, espresso powder, bakin powder and salt.

2.  Place butter in large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed 1 minute.  Add granulate and brown sugars, beating until well blended (5 min).  Add egg substitute and vanilla, again beating until well blended.  Fold flour mixutre into the sugar mixture; fold in chocolate.  Divide batter evenly between 10 ramekins; arrange on jelly roll pan.  Cover and refrigerate 4 hours up to 2 days.

3.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

4.  Let ramekins stand at room temp for 10 minutes.  Uncover and bake for 21 minutes or until cakes are puffy and slightly crusty on the top.  Spinkle with as much powedered sugar as you want.  Serve immediately.

Posted in Cooking/Cuisine | No Comments »

China Palace

We learned something this weekend. When you a good Chinese place, do not try new ones. Andy had thought he had heard about a new Chinese place that was good. I’d really like to talk to this person because we were severly disappointed. If you are ever in the Green Bay area, stay away from China Palace on Washington Street. We ordered what we normally do–Singapore rice noodles, seasame chicken and 2 eggs rolls. We always like to have left-overs. The egg rolls were okay–until Andy bit into one and squirted some kind of juice across the room. The chicken was like all cartilage and the sauce was horrible. It was very liquidy and tasteless. The Singapore rice noodles were spicy–but other than the spice, there was no taste. We will not try this place ever again and will go back to our favorite–Mayflower.

Posted in Cooking/Cuisine | No Comments »