home cookin' fun friday

Today on What's Cookin':

Homemade Pretzels

Finally, things have calmed down around here (aka holiday shopping 90% done) and I had some time to myself while Lillian napped today.  I've been wanting to try out this recipe for a while now and I have to say these are the BEST thing that has come out of my kitchen in months.  They are already almost gone and I can't wait to make them again.

See recipe for exact measurements:

Here's what you're going to need.  This actually calls for 2/3 CUP of baking soda, so make sure you have enough on hand before you start.   

Chef's Note: Take your water's temperature.  It has to be warm enough to activate the yeast.  (between 105 and 115)

Place the water, sugar and salt in to the bowl of the mixer and combine.  

Then sprinkle the yeast on top and let it sit for 5 minutes.  

The mixture will begin to foam. Apologies for terrible light in my kitchen

Add 2T melted butter and 4.5 cups flour to the bowl.  Mix on low until combined.

- Chef's Note:  Fluff your flour before you measure it.  Never pack flour into a measuring cup or you'll have the incorrect amount.  Fluff the flour, then spoon it into the cup and level with a knife

At this point you can go ahead and thank your lucky stars for the invention of an electric mixer.  Set to mixer on medium speed to knead the dough for 5 minutes. 

Chef's Note: Do NOT leave your electric stand mixer unattended while it kneads the dough.  Mine literally almost jumped itself right off the counter.  That would not have been good for the kitchen floor. Or the mixer.

Go ahead, have some ice cream while you wait.  I did.

Once the dough is smooth, take it out the bowl.  Clean the bowl and oil it.  I got right in there with my hand to make sure there was oil everywhere. 

Cover with saran wrap and leave somewhere warm for the next 50 minutes. 

Now run (RUN!) to the couch and watch something trashy while the dough rises and your kid(s) are still sleeping. 

Once the dough is finished rising, dump it out onto a lightly oiled surface and cut into smaller pieces. The recipe suggests only 8, but that would make for some huge pretzels. I ended up with about 20 pieces.  Preheat oven.  Also, start boiling 10 cups of water with 2/3 cup of baking soda.  Also, make your egg wash.  (One egg yolk mixed with a little water).  Also, get your salt ready ( use the big and crunchy kind ).  Also, roll up your sleeves.  The next 15 minutes are going to be intense.

Make your pretzels:

Drop pretzels, one at a time, into boiling water for 30 seconds.  This is a bet of a frenzied assembly line.  Once I got into a rhythm, it was OK, but it might have been nice to have help at this point.

Brush egg wash on pretzels and sprinkle with salt.

We like a lot of salt around here:

Place in oven for 12-14 minutes until golden brown.

If at all possible, have everyone gather 'round to eat these as soon as they come out the oven.  Ten times better than when they are cold.


Buy some fancy mustard to serve on the side.  SO GOOD.

hmm is this considered serving alcohol to a minor?

the search is over...

...for the perfect sugar cookie with decorative icing.  I've been looking for a long time and finally found something that is easy and tastes good.  and the icing doesn't require egg whites.

here is the cookie:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/the-best-rolled-sugar-cookies/detail.aspx
This makes a lot so you can stick some in the fridge and use later.

and here is the icing:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/sugar-cookie-icing/detail.aspx
this does not make a lot.  i had to double the recipe just to frost about 20 cookies.


It won't let you down. I promise!


Chef's tips:
1.  a good stance is essential for making cut out cookies

2.  this dough gets sticky fast once you take it out of the fridge.  work quickly, don't touch it too much, use enough flour to roll it out and don't roll it out too thin or you won't be able to pick up your cookies

3.  decorate with wild abandon.  icing hardens up if exposed to air for too long so place a damp paper towel over your icing bowl when not in use.

4.  share cookies with friends!  these have a lot of butter in them! your derriere will thank you!

enchiladas: busy mama style

Welcome to my latest edition of What's Cookin'!  I wish I had more time to do these recipe posts, because they are fun, but kind of time consuming.  This is my version of Busy Mama's Enchiladas.  It's quick, easy, sorta healthy (contains beans!) and delicious.  My secret ingredient is cream cheese.  Even if you don't like cream cheese, I bet you like these.

First, empty all the cabinets so the kids have something to do.  This is going to take you about 30 minutes to prep.

Second, find a good sous chef. Someone who's ready to really work hard for you in the kitchen....

Here's what you need, plus an onion that didn't make it in the picture. I used a whole pound of turkey and a whole can of refried beans which makes a lot.  Easily 6 big servings.  You could use whatever you like.  Ground beef.. black beans.. etc.

First dice and saute the onion until soft.  Then add the garlic and cook until fragrant

Add the ground turkey and cook until brown.

Add the refried beans, 4oz of cream cheese, a handful of shredded cheese, and a dash of enchilada sauce to a bowl.  If you think of it, set your ingredients out ahead of time so they are room temperature. That really makes it a lot easier to stir.

I had some scallions laying around so I chopped those and put them in.  Quick chef's tip, swish your scallions in water to rinse off any dirt. Then gently squeeze the water out before adding to your recipe.

Cover the bottom of your casserole dish with a thin layer of enchilada sauce.  Add the cooked turkey and onion to your bowl and mix everything together until combined.

You'll know you did it right if it sort of looks like your cat threw up.

Now, the fun part!  Stuff your corn tortillas. The kids could potentially help here, if they're getting unruly.
It's important to use corn tortillas because they become a nice flaky texture when they bake.  Unlike flour tortillas that just become a slippery mess.

Roll like this:

Place seam down in the dish.

Keep adding tortillas until your mixture is gone.  I used about 12.

No need to be careful or neat. It's all going to end up melting together anyway.  Some people say you have to fry your tortillas first so they don't crack like mine did.  NOT necessary, IMO, but I'm not Mexican either. What do I know.


Pour the rest of your enchilada sauce over the top. I tried the Trader Joe's brand.  It's think it's a little too spicy, but I'm kind of a wuss.  I actually like the Old El Paso brand better.

Add your favorite shredded Mexican cheese blend.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Add sour cream, guacamole, tortilla chips, margaritas and serve!!

face of summer

we switched up the popsicle recipe this weekend to something like this:

Watermelon Lemonade Popsicles
2c. watermelon pureed
1c lemonade
1 Tbsp sugar
Stir together, pour in
Freeze for at least 4 hours

I don't see why you couldn't add vodka to these.  And hide them from the kids, of course.
Maybe they wouldn't freeze?

Summer on a Plate

Giada's Baked Caprese Salad. The perfect almost-no-cook-hot-summer-day-meal.  I used the toaster oven to keep the preheat time to a minimum and the kitchen temperature down.  yum!  

a little tikka

a Fun Friday is...making everyone's favorite Indian takeout dish at home.

I love cooking shows.  Top Chef, Next Food Network Star, Iron Chef... really any show on the Food Network will do.  But one of my favorites is Aarti Party.  Who doesn't want to learn how to make Indian food at home?  She's adorable and funny and really entertaining to watch.  She has a recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala that everyone raves about online.  I had to see for myself.

I always think it might be fun to be a food blogger, but really, it's a lot of work.  It's hard to stop and take photos of every step, make those photos look good, and oh yea don't burn the children circling your feet while you're cooking.  Maybe when the kids are grown up a bit I'll make exquisite dishes and photograph them.

So here goes. You can find the recipe here, so I'm not going to repost it.

This is what you'll need: (this is my favorite part of food blogs, btw)

Make your ginger garlic paste.  Aarti suggests making a bunch and sticking it in the fridge. I did that once and I ended up using it once, forgetting about it and throwing the jar away a few weeks later. I just don't cook enough Indian food to be keeping a vat of paste in the fridge.  I made enough for just this recipe.  Use a small food processor if you have one. The ingredients will just get lost in a large one and won't get pureed properly.

Do your chopping.  This is the part where I make a plug for the Knife Skills class at the Cambridge Culinary Institute.  Totally worth every penny. It is SO nice to know the proper way to cut things. I'm so much more efficent in the kitchen now and that is priceless when starving whiny kids are waiting for dinner.

Marinate your chicken in yogurt and garlic/ginger paste.

Now, put the chicken in the fridge and go take a break for a couple of hours.  The above steps took me exactly 15 minutes. I timed myself because I like recipes that don't take too long to prepare.  I'd say this recipe falls into the medium prep time category.

About 30 minutes before you're ready to eat, pull the chicken out the fridge. In my experience, meat always cooks better when it's close to room temperature.  That way you don't end up with a charred outside and raw middle.

Saute your peppers in butter and oil for a couple of minutes

Add your spices.  If you want to be all fancy pants when you have guests over for dinner this is called blooming your spices - (cooking them in oil/bringing out flavor)

Add your tomatoes and water.

Bring to a boil and then turn heat down to simmer for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook your chicken on a HOT grill pan.  Rub oil on the pan before you cook.

Blend your sauce ( an immersion blender is probably one of my favorite kitchen tools. So much easier than transferring to a blender)

Add your chicken. Simmer 10 minutes more to finish cooking the chicken.  Make rice.  Stir cream in to sauce at the very end.

Add chopped cilantro on top and serve!

ugh i'm so not a food stylist or food photographer.  this looks like doody, in my opinion. like one of the photos you see on a cheesy cheap chinese food restaurant menu!!

In summary:
1.  I made it too spicy. left the seeds in with the peppers.  I'm a wuss - I just don't like it that spicy. I think it really overwhelms the rest of the flavor in the dish. Next time: no seeds.

2.  Despite overwhelmingly positive reviews on the food network website, I didn't think it tasted as good as Bukara's in JP.

3.  I did, however, think it looked just like Bukara's and it also tasted better the second day so maybe the flavors just needed to marry a bit.

4. I used chicken thighs, as suggested by Aarti, but they seemed too fatty.  I'm going to try breasts next time.

5. I will make it again. You should try it, too!