angel food cake

i've always wanted to try angel food cake and since i had an opportunity to make a dessert yesterday and happened to have enough eggs, i decided to go for it. i was a little worried when i pulled it out of the oven and it didn't seem to have risen very much. but when we tasted it i couldn't have been happier. it was angel food cake with substance--light, but not airy and tasteless. and super, duper moist. yum. thanks better homes and gardens!

Ingredients
1-1/2 cups egg whites (10 to 12 large)
1-1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 cup sifted cake flour or sifted all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup granulated sugar
Directions
1. Place egg whites in a very large mixing bowl; let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, sift powdered sugar and flour together 3 times. Beat egg whites, cream of tarter, and vanilla with an electric mixer on medium to high speed until soft peaks form (tips curl). Gradually add granulated sugar, about 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until stiff peaks form (tips stand straight).

3. Sift about one-fourth of the flour mixture over beaten egg whites; fold in gently. Repeat sifting and folding in the remaining flour mixture three more times, using one-fourth of the flour mixture each time.

4. Pour into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan. Gently cut through batter with a knife or a narrow metal spatula.

5. Bake on the lowest rack in a 350 degree F oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched. (The crust of the cake will be golden and slightly cracked.) Immediately invert the cake in the pan, standing the tube pan on its legs or resting the center tube over a tall-necked bottle. Cool cake thoroughly. Loosen the sides of cake from pan; remove cake from pan. To serve, use a serrated knife to slice the cake into wedges. Makes 12 servings.

Squash Curry Soup

After surfing the net for a recipe for an extra spaghetti squash I had lying around, I ended up melding several recipes to make this tasty soup. I'm sure the kind of curry powder you use makes a big difference. I buy mine at the Indian market and find it much better than the kind at a traditional grocery store. The only sad part was that there were no leftovers.

Squash Curry Soup

Saute in butter, in a medium pot:

1 small onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped (or 1 teaspoon celery seeds)
1 carrot, chopped very small
1 peeled potato, chopped very small

When onions are soft, stir in:

2 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons bouillon or base
½ teaspoon dill
¼ teaspoon curry powder
dash ground cayenne pepper

Gradually add:

2 cups chicken broth
1-2 cups milk or cream or yogurt

Boil 4 minutes. Add:
3 cups precooked squash (acorn or spaghetti)
salt and pepper

Put in blender or use immersion blender. Top with bacon if you want.

Pre-cooking squash: After slicing my finger cutting a squash, I learned that you don't actually have to cut them before cooking. I now bake them whole (with a few punctures) at 350 degrees for about an hour. Then I scrape out the good stuff and store it for later.

chicken chow mein

i happened to see fresh soba at costco and had to try it....and i have to say this recipe nails it. just like the real thing. even better than the real thing? the recipe comes from the food network.

i adjusted accordingly with the following:
i had fresh noodles so i obviously skipped the cooking the noodles part
i had canned shittake so i skipped all that prep
i don't like water chestnuts so i used canned bamboo shoots instead
i didn't have mung bean sprouts on hand so i left them out

p.s. the recipe says to fry the noodles for 8 minutes, turning once. in my pan i cut the time in half and some were nearly burned. in short-watch them closely!

Ingredients

• 3 ounces dried chuka soba noodles, or other Chinese egg noodles
• 1/4 cup, plus 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• Kosher salt
• 1/2 cup chicken broth, homemade or low-sodium canned
• 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce, plus more for the table
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 6 ounces), cut into thin 2-inch-long strips
• 1 teaspoon dark Asian sesame oil
• 1 heaping tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 scallion, white and green minced
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 1 stalk celery, thinly sliced on the diagonal
• 10 dried shittake mushrooms, rehydrated, drained, and thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup thinly sliced canned water chestnuts
• 6 ounces fresh mung bean sprouts
• 3 cups cooked white rice, hot

Directions

Boil the noodles according to package instructions. Drain in a colander in the sink and rinse under cold running water. Shake the colander to drain off excess water and pat the noodles dry with a towel.

Heat 1/4 cup of the peanut oil in a large seasoned or non-stick skillet over high heat. Add the noodles, spreading them out to evenly cover the skillet, and fry, turning once, until golden brown and crispy, about 8 minutes. (Break the noodles up, by stirring, near the end of the cooking). Transfer noodles to a paper towel-lined plate and season with salt to taste. Set aside. Discard any excess oil and wipe out the pan.

Whisk together the chicken broth, oyster sauce, soy sauce, cornstarch, and sugar in a small bowl, and set aside. Season the chicken with the dark sesame oil, salt, and pepper, and set aside.

Heat the skillet over high heat. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons peanut oil until very hot. Add the ginger, garlic, and scallion and stir-fry, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the chicken and stir-fry, until lightly browned, about 1 1/2 minutes. Add the onion, celery, and mushrooms and stir-fry, until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Add the water chestnuts and spread the ingredients to the outside of the pan to form a well in the center. Pour the chicken broth mixture into the well, bring to a boil, and stir to coat the chow mein mixture. Stir in the bean sprouts and remove from the heat. Season generously to taste with pepper.

Transfer chicken chow mein to a warm platter and top with the fried noodles. Serve immediately with rice. Pass more soy sauce at the table.

Creamy Orzo with Chicken, Mushrooms and Red Peppers

this recipe comes from: www.melskitchencafe.com, which is one of my favorite recipe sites...you may want to check it out. enjoy!

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 average-sized chicken breasts (about 1 to 1 ½ pounds), cut into chunks
2 red bell peppers, cut into ½-inch pieces
8 ounces white button mushrooms, quartered
1 teaspoon dried thyme
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 pound orzo pasta
8 ounces cream cheese, softened (can use 1/3 less fat cream cheese)
1 cup reserved pasta water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon)

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the orzo and cook according to package directions until tender. When the orzo is ready, reserve 1 cup of the pasta water (ladling it into a small bowl is my method) and then drain the orzo and set aside.

While the orzo cooks, in a large nonstick skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Add the chicken to the hot oil and brown on all sides. When nicely browned (but not all the way cooked through), add the peppers, mushrooms and thyme. Stir and let cook for about 5 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the mushrooms and peppers have softened and browned and most of the liquid has evaporated. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute.

In the skillet over medium heat, add the softened cream cheese (if you forgot to let the cream cheese soften at room temperature, no worries! Pop it in the microwave for one minute on 40% power) in bite sized chunks and stir so that the cream cheese melts and coats the chicken and vegetables. Add the reserved pasta water and bring to a simmer. Add ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Stir. Add the orzo, Parmesan, lemon juice and fresh parsley. Stir to combine and heat through. Garnish with additional Parmesan and parsley.

Serve immediately for creamiest pasta.

bagels from scratch

bagels are one of those things i've shied away from making because i've always assumed they were just too hard or too time consuming to be worth it. i wish i would have tried them sooner! they are super easy to make and not any more time consuming than bread or rolls. they may not be perfectly symmetrical, but they are tasty. i stop buying bagels today.

i used the ingredients from allrecipes.com and the instructions for preparing and baking from cdkitchen.com

ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1 1/4 cups warm milk (110 to 115 degrees F)
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg yolk
• 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

*for whole wheat bagels, substitute some of the flour for 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour and 1 cup of oats and then you can substitute honey for the sugar.

optional toppings

Sesame seeds
Poppy seeds
Minced fresh garlic
Minced fresh onion
Caraway seeds
Coarse salt

directions:

In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add the butter, sugar, salt and egg yolk; mix well. Stir in enough flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch dough down. Shape into 8 balls. Roll into 6in logs, bring together and pinch. Cover and let rise 20-30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450. In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil. Drop bagels, one at a time, into boiling water. When bagels float to the surface (about 30 seconds), remove with a slotted spoon and place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets generously sprinkled with cornmeal.

Bake bagels plain or sprinkle with a topping of your choice. Place in the hot oven, immediately reduce heat to 425 degrees F, and bake about 17 to 25 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

poppy seed chicken

my mother-in-law introduced me to this recipe. it's a crowd-pleaser and works well to make ahead. one special note--it's definitely better to crush the crackers some other way than in a food processor. you want them slightly more chunky, not a dusty powder. i usually serve this over baked potatoes and with broccoli. in fact, you could probably mix the broccoli in, although i haven't tried that yet....

ingredients:

3 C cooked chicken breast, cubed (you can saute some onions along with it if you want)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 C sour cream
a handful of cheddar cheese, shredded
1 package ritz crackers, crushed
1 cube butter (no one said it was healthy)
2 T poppy seeds (or just however much looks good to you--i use more)

directions:

mix the first four ingredients together and spread into a 8 x 8 pan. sprinkle the crackers on top and drizzle with the butter. poppy seeds next. bake @ 400 til golden and bubbly, about 20 minutes.

roasted root vegetables

rutabagas were the cheapest vegetable at the store this week and i happened to still have some parsnips from my fall harvest, so this was the perfect recipe to use them both! this recipe is inspired by one i found on epicurious.com. p.s. blanching is the key to perfect roasted potatoes, but you probably knew that already. we've also tried a variety of vegetables, adding and omitting per the situation. asparagus and brussel sprouts are nice additions.

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 4 large beets, peeled, quartered
  
• 2 Yukon Gold or new potatoes, quartered
• 2 carrots, peeled, cut diagonally into 2-inch-long pieces
• 2 parsnips, peeled, cut diagonally into 2-inch-long pieces
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 rutabaga, peeled, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces (again, i used 2)
• 1 large onion, peeled, quartered
• 3 pinches thyme or fresh thyme to taste
• salt and pepper to taste

preheat oven to 400. bring all veggies except the onions to a boil and boil for five minutes in salted water. drain and mix in onions, olive oil, syrup and thyme. spread evenly on a cookie sheet lined with foil (spray it with cooking spray first). be generous with the salt and pepper. roast for 20 minutes, then toss, then roast for another 20 minutes. yum!