Hi All,
I've been eyeballing this cake recipe for some time now so I thought I'd have a go at it. It was a really nice and light apple cake which would be ideal for breakfast or an afternoon snack (perfect with coffee or tea). I got the recipe from Pete Bakes and you can find it here.
Spinach and Feta Turnovers
1/2 onion, chopped
1 T. butter
2 small cloves of garlic, chopped
1 package frozen chopped spinach, drained and squeezed dry
4 oz. crumbled feta cheese
1 egg, slightly beaten
dash of fresh-grated nutmeg
freshly ground black pepper
pinch of salt
20 sheets store-bought phyllo dough
1/2 C. butter, melted
1. In a small skillet, saute onion in butter over medium heat until soft. Add garlic, cook for 30 seconds and then remove from heat.
2. In a medium bowl, combine spinach, feta, egg, onion and garlic, nutmeg, pepper and salt. Stir until well combined. Set aside.
3. Remove one sheet of phyllo from stack (cover the remaining sheets with a damp cloth to keep from drying out) and lay it on a work surface. Brush entire sheet with a thin layer of melted butter. Place another sheet on top, brush with butter and repeat two more times (you will have four sheets stacked with a layer of butter on the top sheet). Cut this stack in half lenghwise with a knife.
4. You now have two long rectangles of phyllo in front of you. Place about 2 Tablespoonfuls of filling on the bottom right side of one of the rectangles. Fold the bottom left corner up and over the filling so that the bottom edge is now even with the right side. Continue folding up and over until you end up with a triangle. Brush triangle with melted butter and place on a baking sheet.
5. Repeat this procedure with the other phyllo rectangle.
6. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you have 10 triangles on your baking sheet.
7. Place baking sheet in preheated 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Cool on wire rack and eat either warm or at room temperature.
9. Enjoy!
Yield: 10 turnovers
Note: These can also be made as bite-size appetizers. Proceed with the recipe as directed except instead of cutting the stacks of phyllo in half lengthwise, cut them crosswise into 4 equal pieces. Use only one spoonful of filling for each strip and roll up just as directed for the larger ones.
Chocolate Custard 2 cups milk
3.5 oz dark chocolate
6 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
boiling water, for water bath
Preheat oven to 300F. Place six 8-oz. ramekins in a baking dish with high sides (keeping in mind the water to be added in later).
In a pan, heat the milk until a slight steam starts to rise, and then mix in the dark chocolate until melted and smooth. Remove it from the heat.
Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a large bowl until smooth. Be sure not to do this too early, as when eggs and sugar are mixed and sit for too long, hard lumps will start to form. Slowly add the chocolate mixture while constantly mixing, being sure to not add to quickly, or your eggs will literally be scrambled. Strain the mixture, and divide between six ramekins.
Put the ramekins in your baking dish and add boiling water to the dish until the water is halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
Bake for 30 minutes or until set, and only slightly jiggly when tappe.
Carefully remove the ramekins from the water bath, cool at room temperature, and chill in the fridge for 1-2 hours before serving.
Grapefruit Lemon Bars on Brown Butter Shortbread
Crust
1/2 cup Confectioners Sugar
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
Filling
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup grapefruit juice
2 tbsp lemon juice
Zest from 1 lemon
6 large whole eggs
1 large egg yolk
pinch of salt
Butter a 9 b 13 inch baking pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make the crust. Mix flour and confectioners' sugar in a bowl. Place in a mixer with a paddle attachment and add butter. Mix until a smooth dough forms. Transfer dough to prepared pan and press evenly. Bake the crust until an even brown color forms over entire crust. About 25 to 35 minutes. Make filling. Mix flour and sugar in a bowl. Add grapefruit , lemon juice, and zest. Whisk to dissolve the sugar. In a separate bowl mix eggs with salt. Add the eggs to the grapefruit juice mixture and whisk until well blended.
When crust is ready, pull out of oven and pour egg/grapefruit mixture directly into hot crust. Return to oven and lower temparature to 300 degrees and bake until center of the custard is no longer wobbly...about 40 minutes. Let cool completely and then place in refrigerator until well chilled.
Hi All,
Holy smokes did my boys get creamed today. The Pats defense is ABYSMAL. And the frigging Bills won. Marvelous. To wash off the blowout I took my little buddy out to the dock for a little "us" time. There was a little bit of a drizzle which actually made it kind of nice. The two of us usually go out there first thing in the morning and once again toward the end of the day. I love it and so does he.
I've been cooking up a storm in the kitchen these days. I saw a nifty little breakfast recipe that I wanted to try -
Egg & Bacon Cups. Basically you mould a slice of bread into the cup of a muffin tin, toast it in the oven, then add bacon and an egg to the cup and bake for awhile. I modified mine to make it a little more health conscious (butter spray instead of butter, turkey sausage instead of bacon. I was pleased with the result. I also substituted Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for gruyeure (the Parmigiano-Reggiano was on hand) and I realized that you have to add a lot of it.
I saw a bran muffin recipe that I thought looked good so I gave that a whirl. I've never made muffins before so I couldn't tell if these were going to be the cupcakey, moist type of bran muffin or the drop an A-bomb on your colon kind. Luckily, it was the latter (I prefer those). They were terrific. I'm going to attempt a sugar free version over the next few days. Hope it works out.
Alright... enough jibber jabber. Time for some quick hits. 1) CBS is going to run another MMA event on October 4th. SIGN ME UP! I watched the last one when that poor bugger's ear exploded and super hotness Gina Carano beat the snot out of some poor unsuspecting girl. Watching MMA is a ball, believe me. This time it's Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock (that should be enough right there), Gina again, and a few undercard fights.
2) Protesters against Scientology pitched up for Katie Holmes' Broadway debut. The protest signs pleaded for her release (but also noted that the Scientologists could keep Tom - NICE). I like Katie Holmes - she had a budding film career before all of this cult bidnezz came about. I hope ol' Joey finds her way out of there. I have no idea how she would, but I imagine it would go something like this.
3) Here's an article featuring 20 different ways to tweak Windows Vista. Some good stuff in there.
4) The hippie in me came across this site - PickYourOwn.com features different places across the US/Canada where you can pick your own fruit and vegetables. This is actually really appealing if you cook a lot like I do.
5) Top 10 Best Fake American Accents. I have a finely tuned ear for bad American accents in films and I'll tell you who has, bar none, the best fake American accent in movies and television today - Simon Baker.
6) 8 things that need to happen to save the Spiderman franchise (#3 was just awful).
7) Here's a list of all the free games available at Windows Marketplace.
8) Half-Naked Celebrity PETA Ads (NSFW). I'm not a big PETA guy, but I do like women's bare bottoms.
9) Shakespeare's Hamlet as told through as series of Facebook status updates.
That's it for now, party people. Time to figure out what to make for dins and then get ready for Cowboys/Packers. Here's There He Goes from the Coal Miner's Daughter Soundtrack (sung by Sissy Spacek).
AB
Bacon Flavored Dog Biscuit Treats
Homemade dog treats are fun to make and healthier than many of the store-bought versions.
I N G R E D I E N T S
Yield: 40 dog biscuits
5 cups Whole wheat flour
1 cup Milk
2 Eggs
10 tablespoon Vegetable oil or bacon fat
1 pinch Onion or garlic powder
1 teaspoon Salt
1/2 cup Cold water
1 tablespoon Vegetable oil to grease pan
I N S T R U C T I O N S
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Grease cookie sheets.
Mix all ingredients well. Pinch off pieces of the dough and roll them into two-inch balls. Bake biscuits at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. Let them cool, then store in an airtight container.
Good morning, all
Not much to report. I made a rustic plum crostata last night and it was great. My first attempt at pastry and it went fairly well although there is certainly room for improvement. The pic is on the left (according to the recipe all of that bubbling over is normal).
I checked out the French film Them and it was a nice little horror. Practically gore free and with a running time of only about 105 minutes, it's a classic home invasion type horror. Good stuff. Mildly Recommended. Here are some Friday quick hits.
1) Apple rocks out, announces new iPods, iTunes 8.
2) 6 Real-Life Vigilantes Crazier Than Batman.
3) Recipes from out of print cookbooks.
4) 10 Xbox 360 Tricks Microsoft Doesn't Tell You.
5) I am completely in support of this new trend: celebrity photobombing.
6) God explains Week 1 in the NFL.
7) Are you a Law & Order fan? Be careful... it may turn you into a fatty.
8) Forbes presents: Hollywood's Most Overpaid Movie Stars.
9) Dr. Z's Week 2 NFL Rankings (look where Indy is!!!).
10) The First City in the U.S. to Make Natural Gas from Our Poop.
11) The Top 10 Most Embarrassing First Major Film Roles.
12) Stephen Colbert Finally Makes it Big - Charlene in RockBand!
13) Here's a blog that lists (daily) everything that iTunes is offering for free.
14) Here are the movies opening this weekend (a bunch of dawgs if you ask me).
Righteous Kill
The Family that Preys
The Women
Forgiveness
That's it for now. Have a pleasant weekend folks, and make sure to move your boogie body.
