Twice Baked Potatoes

Twice-Baked potatoes are one of those foods that sound delicious and comforting but also seem to be a lot of work. People only seem to make them for holidays!  We decided to change all people's ever traditions and make them on a regular Saturday night!  These potatoes weren't actually as hard as expected. So maybe the reason people save them for holidays is actually because they aren't very healthy! The only snags we had were keeping the potato shells together, but nothing a little edge of the pan couldn't help with!

If you are interested in wowing your friends and family with a fun side then you should make these twice baked potatoes!

My father in law raved about these potatoes and said they wer one of the best he'd had in years. Why were these particular potatoes so good? We think it has to do with the 5-year aged sharp cheddar we used which helped make the potatoes not just cheesy but instead cheesy and flavorful.  So when you make these, use at least in part a really sharp cheddar.

This recipe serves 4 with a large half of cheesy yummy goodness. If you are serving to kids or other people with smaller appetites, you could easily have them share a single half.

Original Recipe, quartered.

Ingredients
2 large baking potatoes, scrubbed and dried
4 T butter, cut into pats
6 oz sharp cheddar cheese, grated, separated
1/4 C light sour cream
1/2 t salt
black pepper to taste
1/4 C crispy bacon bits
1 green onion, sliced
1 T canola oil + more salt, preferably kosher
1/8 C milk (you may not need this)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Rub the cleaned potatoes with oil and salt and poke all over with a fork. Place potatoes directly on the oven rack with a tray on the next shelf to catch drippings. Bake for 1 hour or slightly longer until potato is soft inside and outside is crispy.
3. Let sit until they are cool enough to handle.
4. Meanwhile, add butter, sour cream and bacon to a bowl.  Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop out potato pulp leaving a small rim for stability. Add potato to the bowl.  Smash together with a potato masher or a fork.
5. Add 1/4 C cheese, green onions, salt & pepper and stir together. If your mixture is too stiff add up to 1/8 C milk
6. Scoop potato insides back into the potato shells and top with cheese
7. Place potatoes on a baking sheet and return to the oven. Bake 15-20 minutes until warmed through and cheese is melted. Serve warm.

Sauteed Chicken Sausage and Apples

I bet I have 15 different similar recipes on this blog of sauteed chicken sausage & apples because it is one of the fastest and most satisfying recipes in my repertoire and it is never exactly the same.  Today we took a field trip to Trader Joe's - a store we don't love as much as everyone else.  After browsing the rather crowded store (that they were stocking at the worst possible time!) we were still at a loss for dinner. I grabbed some sweet chicken & apple sausages and an apple and called it a day.

Ingredients
2 apple chicken sausages, sliced into coins
1 large apple, thinly sliced (the thinner you slice them the less time it takes)
1/8 t cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
1 T olive oil
1/4 C apple cider

Directions
1. Heat oil over medium-high heat. Add sausages and brown 2-3 minutes per side. Remove to plate.
2. Toss apples with cinnamon and nutmeg and add to the hot pan. Pour over cider (it may pop and splatter!)
3. Cook apples 10 minutes or until soft. Add sausage back in and toss together. Serve with bread on the side.

Fastest Pumpkin Soup

Joey & I made his famous pumpkin cranberry scones again last weekend and we were again left with half a can of pumpkin.  What do you even do with leftover pumpkin? You certainly don't eat it by the spoonful, yuck!  So I searched the web and stumbled upon this list of 50 things to do with canned pumpkin on the Food Network!

Pumpkin soup seemed like a good idea, so I gave it my own twist and now I have soup for lunch and it took 5-10 minutes tops!

Ingredients:
1 generous C canned pumpkin
3/4 C chicken broth
1/4 C apple cider + extra if needed
1/4 C cream
1/8 t cinnamon
1/8 t ginger
1/8 t nutmeg
dash of ground cloves
dash of salt

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients in a small pot and whisk on the medium-high heat for 5 minutes.
2. Let simmer 10 minutes
3. Serve.

Roasted Rack of Pork

At Sprouts on Saturday, I was intrigued by French cut rack of pork! I've never cooked French cut of anything but this seemed like the time to try it!  This roast was only $5 and was obviously enough for two so I bought it.  Roasting this was a breeze just like roasting always is and the result looks fancy, good for a crowd with a larger roast of course!

I didn't use fresh herbs because I didn't have them but I think that a nice herb-garlic paste would be delicious on this. Think chimichurri with rosemary, sage and oregano.  Next time that's what I'll do. This time I put some dried herbs and garlic on it and the flavor was nice but the stabs of rosemary into my gums was not.

I served this with roasted black grapes and asparagus. A new flavor profile? Maybe so.  Also this is a 5-ingredient recipe.

Ingredients
1 2-lb rack of pork
1 clove garlic
1 onion
salt, pepper and herbs of your choice

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Meanwhile cut some slits into the fat of the pork and push in slices of garlic
3. Try making a paste of herbs with garlic and salt. Salt and pepper the roast and then spread with your paste.
4. Roast 1 1/2 hours or until roast reaches 160
5. Let sit 5 minutes

Roasted Grapes & Asparagus:
1. Toss asparagus and a scant bit of olive oil and salt. Lay flat in a small pan
2. Slice grapes in half, or don't.
3. Place grapes & asparagus in the oven for 15-20 minutes

Mini Caramel Apples

 This past Sunday my parents were in town and we decided to visit the Hollywood Farmer's Market. This market is four streets large plus a spice alley and is always an adventure.  While there, I spotted some tiny apples and I just knew I had to get them. After tasting them--slightly tart, crispy, still sweet, I bought the bag.  I already knew I wanted to make mini caramel apples with them, I just had to navigate the timing of the day.

These caramel apples took no time at all! When looking for recipes lots of people complained that caramel takes too long to make from scratch. But do you know what takes a long time? Unwrapping those caramel candies!  I hate those wrappers anyway, the grating sound of them, gross.  But what is really easy is making caramel! And the flavor difference is night and day.  My sister used to make caramels to give to people for gifts and this recipe was definitely the same (although I didn't know it at the time). This caramel just melts in your mouth and has that buttery touch of deliciousness.  I made 12 tiny caramel apples and halved the original recipe.

Original recipe, mine halved below. I had a little extra caramel but we weren't sad to eat it ;)

Ingredients:
12 mini apples
3/8 + 1/8 cup heavy cream (divided)
3/8 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter (I used salted)
1/2 t vanilla
chopped peanuts, optional
Special Equipment: Candy Thermometer, skewers or popsicle sticks

Directions
1. Wash and completely dry the apples. Chop nuts and place them in a flat bowl.
2. Poke sticks (I used these cake pop variety) into the top part of the apple near the stem. Push hard to make sure it is sturdy
3. Prepare a sheet pan lined with wax paper or parchment paper or a silicon mat.
4. In a heavy bottomed small pot (actually I just used a small pot), attach a candy themometer to the edge and combine butter, syrup, sugar and 3/8 C heavy cream over high heat.
5. Boil until temperature reaches 246 degrees, firm ball stage and remove from heat. Caramel will be golden, don't step away this hardly takes any time at all.
6. Stir in remaining 1/8 C heavy cream and vanilla. This will spurt and splatter, protect yourself!
7. Carefully dip apples and spoon caramel over. Let excess drip off, swirl into nuts if using and then place in the prepared pan. Work quickly because the caramel will start to get more solid and be harder to use.
8. Refrigerate and the caramel will harden so that it is easier to get it off the pan. Serve.

Apple Dutch Baby

For weeks I have been craving a dutch baby pancake. The crazy thing is that I'm not sure I've ever had a dutch baby before. It's just that one of my favorite bloggers posted one months ago (a year?!) and I've been thinking of it ever since.

Then, pouring salt in my wounds, my sister-in-law described a dutch baby she made just two weeks ago! I knew it was fate and I must make this pancake.  As luck would have it, we went apple picking yesterday so I have a plethora of apples in which to use for this.

The other lucky thing is that the dutch baby doesn't call for anything special, just eggs, flour, sugar, milk--no fancy buttermilk, no special sugars, not too hard, ready quickly.  A perfect breakfast!

The only thing I changed from this recipe of Spinach Tiger was using Penskey's Baking spice instead of cinnamon.  Why ruin something simple with more spices than just cinnamon you ask? Well...we're out of cinnamon, obviously we have to fix that situation before we do any more with our apples but on this early morning I wasn't about to go to the store first!  I'm glad to report that the baking spice was also delicious and the warming smells of baked apples filled the house as expected.

The results were a bit eggy--custardy but eggy. I think this means I maybe should havve cooked it a bit more but then again, it was golden...the best part was the caramelized edges and I think I could have thrown in one more apple at the beginning.

Recipe from Spinach Tiger

Ingredients:
2 apples
4 T butter
2 t baking spice or cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
4 eggs
1 C flour
1 C milk
1/4 C brown sugar
1 t vanilla
Powdered sugar for serving

Apple Dutch Baby
1. Preheat the oven to 450
2. Peel and thinly slice two apples
3. In an oven-proof frying pan melt 4 T butter (woah) over medium heat
4. Add cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar. Melt and Add apples.
5. Saute 5 minutes or until apples are soft
6. Stash the pan in the oven until the batter is ready
7. Stir together eggs & flour until smooth. Add milk & vanilla. The mixture will be very runny.
8. Remove frying pan from the oven, pour batter on top of the apples, place back in the oven and bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown
9. Sprinkle with some powdered sugar and serve

S'mores Ice Cream

Earlier this summer, I found a recipe for s'mores ice cream and I knew I had to make it. I immediately went out and bought all the ingredients. And then summer happened. And this weekend, when it was reaching over 107, I decided it was time to turn on the broiler and make some ice cream.

The original recipe is not that informative. It gives measurements but is a bit vague about the instructions. If you don't make egg-based custards all the time you might not know how to follow this recipe. Also, the measurements for the mix-ins were way off for me (we have so many extras!)

I haven't tasted the ice cream yet, but I've eaten the mix-ins dipped in the churned melty leftovers and it's fantastic! I can't wait to eat the ice cream when it's frozen and fully mixed.


Ingredients:
6 graham cracker sheets
3 C mini mashmallows
6 oz semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate
4 egg yolks
1 1/2 C half & half
1 1/2 C heavy cream
1/2 t vanilla
1/4 t salt

Directions:
1. Whisk together egg yolks and half and half until combined, set aside
1A. Prepare an ice bath, take a really big bowl and fill it with ice and water, but not too high, you will be adding another bowl or your pan on top and you don't want it to overflow all over your counter (trust me.)
2. Turn on the broiler. Place 2 cups of marshmallows in one layer in an oven-safe saute or frying pan with slightly higher sides.
3. Broil 1-2 minutes or until golden brown. DO NOT WALK AWAY OR YOU WILL START A FIRE. Watch the marshmallows occasionally opening the oven to see how brown they are. It's okay for a few to get burned but most should be mid-to dark brown
4. Remove from the broiler, turn off the broiler, add heavy cream to the marshmallows and whisk over medium-high heat until all the marshmallows are melted. Do not let it boil, if it starts to look like it's going to boil turn down the heat.
5. Pour a little of the hat marsrhmallow cream into the egg mixture. Whisk vigorously! Pour a little more hot marshmallow cream in. Whisk vigorously!!
6. Pour all the tempered egg mixture into the pan with the hot marshmallow cream. Whisk vigorously! Whisk 3-4 minutes or until you dip a wooden spoon into the custard and then you run your finger over the spoon and a line stays in the custard.
7. Remove the pot from heat and place in the ice bath. If it's too big, transfer custard to another bowl and place into the ice bath.  Whisk until cool, or let cool to room temperature without excessive mixing.
8. Once cool, stir in vanilla and then pour into a tupperware and refrigerate several hours or overnight
9. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Place 3 graham crackers on the sheet. Cover with 1 cup of mini marshmallows.
10. Melt chocolate in the microwave 1-1 1/2 minutes on half power. Stir and microwave 30 more seconds on half power until fully melted
11. Turn on the broiler. Broil 1-2 minutes until marshmallows are golden, DO NOT WALK AWAY OR YOU WILL START A FIRE. Open the oven occasionally to watch.
12. Remove the pan from the broiler, turn off the broiler. Immediately top marshmallows with 3 remaining graham cracker sheets. Spread melted chocolate over the top. Freeze on the cookie sheet until set.
13. Chop frozen s'mores into 1 inch or smaller pieces, eat some, freeze in a ziploc bag.
14. Later, churn your ice cream according to manufacturers instructions. Pour churned ice cream into ice cream container and mix with frozen s'mores pieces. Freeze until set.

Note. The frozen s'mores pieces are really tasty. If you happen to make a little too many, don't feel sad. This could be your favorite new summer snack!

Note 2: We think that some graham cracker crumbs and chocolate shavings might be delicious in addition to the larger pieces of s'mores--but this is before tasting it.  Can't wait to taste it!

Note 3: We tasted it, and it's good but rich. I might consider using classic milk chocolate for this recipe and having smaller bits. Still delicious though. And rich.