Coffee Cake, Broccoli Fish Bake, Cilantro Rice

Blueberry-Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
from my brain

Crumb Topping
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/6 cup light brown sugar, packed
3 Tbs butter, melted
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir in melted butter and combine with your fingers until the mixture is coarse crumbs. Let sit for 30-45 minutes before using.

Cake
1/2 cup AP flour
1/2 cup Whole Wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 cup blueberries, rinsed and drained (thawed, if frozen)

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a small bowl. Set aside.

Cream butter and cream cheese until well blended and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla. Mix well. Add sugar; mix well. Add milk alternately with the flour mixture, mixing well after each addition.

Butter an 8x8 pan very well. Scrape the batter into the pan and spread evenly. Tap lightly on the counter to release any air bubbles. Scatter the blueberries over the batter. Scatter the crumb mixture over top the blueberries.

Bake for 35-40 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a wire rack to room temperature. Cut into squares and serve with fresh whipped cream.

Nom nom nom! I don't mean to brag but this was gooood! Plus, I'm getting pretty awesome at whipped cream. I've certainly perfected my skills in that area lately :)

I was looking through my Weight Watcher's cookbook (surprise surprise! lol) looking for broccoli recipes after getting a massive amount of broccoli on sale and then running out of things to make with it. I found a recipe for cream of broccoli soup...and a while back I had gotten an e-mail from Campbell's with some Broccoli Fish Bake that called for cream of broccoli so I decided to give it a shot.

Cream of Broccoli Soup (makes approx 1 3/4 cups)
from Weight Watcher's New and Complete Cookbook

1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 medium garlic clove, minced
1 pound broccoli, tough ends removed, stems and florets chopped
2 cups fat-free chicken broth, or vegetable broth
1 cup fat-free milk
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp table salt, or to taste
1/4 tsp black pepper, or to taste

*I also had carrots and celery in my fridge that I chopped up and through in there as well :)

Saute the carrots, celery, onions and garlic in a tsp of olive oil.

Add everything else (EXCEPT THE MILK!) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for about 20 minutes.

Transfer mixture to a blender and puree until smooth. It says to do this in batches but I was able to do it all at once. Be careful and be sure to use the lid - it's HOT!

Transfer the puree back to the pan and add the milk. Stir well and bring slowly to a simmer and let it simmer for 4-5 minutes.

Broccoli Fish Bake (serves 2)
from Campbell's Meal Mail

1 package (about 10 ounces) frozen broccoli spears, cooked and drained
2 fresh or thawed frozen firm white fish fillets (cod, haddock or halibut) (--I used tilapia!)
WW Cream of Broccoli soup (or you can use a can of Campbell's COB soup and a 1/3 cup milk)
1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
2 Tbs dry bread crumbs (--I used crumbs from my corn muffins!)
1 tsp butter, melted
1/8 tsp paprika

Preheat over to 450° F. Lay the broccoli in the bottom of a 2 qt dish (be sure to cook it first!!). Top with the fish fillets. Pour the soup over the fish. (If using canned, combine the soup and milk before doing this.) Top with cheese. Combine butter, crumbs and paprika in a bowl and sprinkle on top. I added some extra broccoli on top because I loove the way that broccoli roasts! Cook for 20 minutes and serve!

My favorite thing about this dish? That it doesn't have an overwhelming broccoli flavor! Seems impossible, doesn't it? But, trust me...it doesn't! It was fabulous. I think it had to do with the fact that there were three "layers" of broccoli that were prepared different ways. The broccoli in the soup was chopped and boiled with seasoning and chicken broth, the broccoli in the middle of the dish was steamed and then baked while the broccoli on top was steamed and then roasted. It brought three different broccoli flavors to the party. It's very AB, if you ask me :)

Cilantro Rice (serves 3-4)
from Aida Mollenkamp

1 3/4 cups packed cilantro leaves (about 1.5 ounces)
2 medium garlic cloves
1 medium serrano chile, halved lengthwise and seeded (-- had none, used chili powder instead)
1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 tsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup minced yellow onion
1 cup long-grain white rice
1/2 Tbs kosher salt

I used my scale to measure out the cilantro and it was a little shy of the 1.5 oz but I think it worked fine. For reference sake, I used the whole big bunch I got at Publix (in the fresh herbs section, not packaged) for a buck.

Put cilantro, 1 cup broth, garlic and chile (or chili powder!) in a blender. Pulse until smooth. I didn't do this long enough and had to fish out the garlic pieces later on so pulse, pulse, pulse!!

Heat oil in a frying pan. Add and cook onion until it is translucent. Add rice and salt and cook until the rice becomes opaque, about 2 minutes.

Carefully pour in the cilantro mixture and the remaining 3/4 cup broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and let simmer for 15 minutes.

Turn off heat and let rice rest for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. I served mine with pork chops with leftover guac and black beans.

I HIGHLY recommend putting black beans into the rice. The rice was good before but the black beans were just a perfect addition!

Does anyone else notice how I use my kitchen appliances in batches? I won't touch it for months and then twice in two weeks I use it! Last post, it was the food processor. This post, the blender. What will it be for my next post?? The mandolin slicer, perhaps? It's very underused in its box.... :D

Boozy Bars, Corn Muffins, Scones, Coq Au Vin and Pudding Pie!

Irish Cream-Coffee Bars (I like "Boozy Bars" better! lol)
from Betty Crocker's Christmas Cookies book

• 1 pouch (1 lb. 1.5 oz) sugar cookie mix
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup cold butter or margarine
• 1 egg
• 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
• 2 Tb Irish cream liquer (I used the mint chocolate variety - YUM!)
• 1 tsp instant coffee granules or crystals

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray bottom and sides of a 8-in square pan with cooking spray. In large bowl, place cookie mix and pecans. Cut in butter, using pastry blender or fork (I use a food processor...pulse about 10 times) until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. With fork, stir in egg. Press 1/2 of the cookie mixture in the bottom of the pan. Bake 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Reserve remaining cookie mixture.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir milk, 2 Tb liquer and the coffee granules until well blended. Pour mixture evenly over warm crust. Sprinkle reserved cookie mixture over top. Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 30 minutes at room temperature. Refrigerate 1 hour to cool completely. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting into bars (5 rows by 5 rows). Store bars covered at room temperature.

• 1 cup whipping cream
• 3 Tb packed brown sugar
• 1 Tb Irish cream liquer
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Just before serving, make whipped cream. This step is easier and faster if the bowl and beaters are chilled first. Beat whipping cream, brown sugar, liquer and the vanilla with the electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form. Top each bar with dollop of whipped cream; sprinkle with cinnamon.

Mine were not that pretty. (Reading the reviews, neither were most people's!) And I didn't refrigerate before eating. I gave them about 20-30 minutes to cool down and then made the cream and ate them. I think the liquer in the cream was a little much. It would've been fine with regular cream. But the bars themselves, may not have looked that pretty - but they were FABULOUS! One of the best desserts I've ever made. Yumm.

Jalepeno-Cheesy Corn Muffins (makes 8 muffins, 24 "bites" or an 8x8 pan bread)
from ME! This is my first original recipe with no inspiration from anywhere but me! :)

• 1 box Jiffy Corn Muffin mix
• 1 small jalepeno, seeded and diced
• 1/4 cup mexican cheese blend
• 1/4 cup corn kernels (I used a can for the stew and just took some from there)
• 1 1/2 tsp honey
• 1 tb. cornmeal
• 1 egg
•  1/3 cup milk
• 1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Saute corn kernels and jalepeno until kernels are bright and glossy and jalepeno begins to roast, about 2-3 minutes. Let cool.

In a large bowl, combine the muffin mix, cheese, corn meal and cayenne pepper. In a small bowl, whisk egg and honey together. Slowly whisk in the milk. Pour milk mixture onto dry mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in corn and jalepeno. Mix will be lumpy. Let sit 3-4 minutes to set.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease muffin tins (or 8x8 pan) with shortening or butter (I prefer not to use liners for these). Fill muffin cups about 2/3 full, mini muffin cups to the brim. Fill unused cups about 1/2 full with water. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes and clean and they've reached your desired browness. (For muffins: 15-20 minutes, for "bites": 9-11 minutes, for bread: "18-22 minutes.)
 

 
CUTE! These were adorable!! But now that I've tried all three forms...I have to say that my favorite is the bread version. Both muffin types are good but the bread just keeps so moist. 
 
Cheese Scones
from Weight Watcher's New Complete Cookbook

• 1 1/2 cups AP flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 Tb. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp dry mustard
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 cup shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup + 2 Tb. milk

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray. (I used my new professional baking mat! Woohoo!) In a large bowl, combine the AP flour, WW flour, baking powder, mustard and salt.  With a pastry blender, cut inthe butter until the mixture is crumbly (used a food processor - about 8-10 pulses).

Add 3/4 cup cheese and stir with a fork. Add the milk and stir with a fork until the dry ingredients are just moistened.

Gather the mixture into a ball. On a lightly floured surface, roll lightly into a 7-8 inch circle.

Cut out circles with a round cookie cutter, dipped in flour between each cut (I made mine small so I used about an inch and a half round). Lightly reroll and cut until all dough is used.

Place the circles on the baking sheet; sprinkle with cheese. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 12 minutes. Transfer the scones to a rack to cool, about 2-3 minutes. Serve warm or completely cooled.

 
To continue in my cooking craze, I had half a bottle of wine in the fridge that was too far gone to drink with but still fine for cooking purposes. So...I made Coq Au Vin! This isn't the 8-hour Alton Brown version, by any means! But it's an easier version for weeknights and having been to a French restaurant and tasted the real thing, it's pretty dang close!
 

 
Weeknight Coq Au Vin (serves 2)
adapted from Cooking Light

• 1 Tb. olive oil
• 8 oz chicken (it asked for leg quarters but I used breasts since that's what I had)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp peppe
• 1 tb. dried parsley
• 3/4 sliced mushrooms (specifies cremini but I live in Athens, so white and portabello are about the only choices...)
• 3/4 cup dry red wine (I used 1 cup of Zinfandel because we like more sauce)
• 1/2 cup carrots, chopped
• 1/4 cup shallots, chopped
• 1/4 cup chicken broth (used 1/2 cup for more sauce)
• 1/2 Tb. brandy (had no brandy - used 1/2 tb apple juice with a splash of vanilla)
• 1 tsp tomato paste
• 1/2 garlic clove, minced

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in heavy bottomed pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook about 2 minutes, turning to brown all sides.

Be sure to chop all your veggies and prep your ingredients since they all go in at the same time.

Stir in parsley, mushrooms, carrots and shallots.

Pour in wine, chicken broth and brandy. Add tomato paste and garlic. Cover and reduce heat. Simmer about 25 minutes or until chicken is done. Now would be the time to decide and prepare what you are going to serve it over. The most common are egg noodles and mashed potatoes. After the chicken is done, remove with a slotted spoon and tent with foil to keep warm. Bring cooking liquid to a boil and cook until reducedto approx 1 1/2 cups (about 3-4 minutes). Return chicken to pan and reheat if necessary.

FABULOUS.

A pudding pie is so easy that I normally wouldn't share the "recipe" but this one had a crust that was to die for and such a simple ingredient to add!

Graham Cracker Crust
from Weight Watcher's New Complete Cookbook

• 32 low-fat honey graham crackers (8 full sheets)
• 2 Tb. sugar
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg (surprise! and it fits PERFECTLY!)
• 2 1/2 Tb unsalted butter, melted
• 1 Tb water

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. In the bowl of a food processor, place the graham crackers and pulse into crumbs, about 1 minute. Transfer to a medium bowl and add the sugar and nutmeg, mix well. (My food processor has seen alot of action lately! lol)

Add the butter and water and mix until the crumbs are moist and hold together when pressed. Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie pan.

Bake until golden, 8-10 minutes. Cool on a rack 20 minutes before filling. To make filling: prepare chocolate pudding according to the instructions on the side of the box for pie filling, not regular pudding!

Pour the pudding mixture into the pan. Mixture will be thin. Let set in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

After setting, top with cool whip and garnish with shaved chocolate.

If you handn't noticed (how could you not!), I'm in looove with my new Weight Watcher's cookbook. I paid full price and it was worth every penny. It has healthier recipes for anything you could ever want to make! And they're gooood! That's what I love about WW recipes...they focus on being healthy overall rather than under 300 calories. Who can live like that?? Anyway, I HIGHLY recommend it...and it's on sale on Amazon! I paid $29.95 for it so this is a steal!!

Pecan-Boysenberry Linzer Cookies

Christmas goodies nestled, snug in their tins. :) 

Pecan-Boysenberry Linzer Cookies
from Aida Mollenkamp's recipe (dying to try the Chocolate-Hazelnut ones but that's another day!)

• 1 cup toasted pecans
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp table salt
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 Tb. orange zest, from 1 large orange (her recipe says 2 Tb but I thought that was a bit much - this amount was perrrfect!)
• 1/2 cup seedless boysenberry jam (her's calls for blackberry but I just love boysenberry jam!)

Add the nuts to the bowl of a food processor, fitted with a blade, and pulse until finely ground (it should be powdery and not a paste) about 15 pulses. Set aside. **Mine was a little wetter than what I would call powdery but it still worked fine - just don't get all the way to the paste stage.**

Whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl until evenly combined and set aside.

Put the butter and sugars in a large bowl and mix with a mixer (paddle attachment if stand mixer) on medium speed until creamy and light, about 2 to 3 minutes. Turn off the mixer, scrape down sides of bowl and add egg yolks and vanilla. Mix until well incorporated. (I always add yolks one at a time and mix until you can longer see the color.) Mix in the orang zest, ground pecan powder into the flour mixture until just incorporated. Divide the dough into 2 even pieces. Pat each into a thin disk, enclose in plastic wrap, and let rest in the refrigerator at least 1 hour and up to 12 hours. (Mine were in there for 4 hours and this worked well.)

Choose your cookie cutters to use. I used a big star and a little star that could fit inside. My holes are much bigger than most but I didn't mind. They make linzer cookie cutters that come with a 2 inch round and a 3/4 inch round. Whatever you want/have will probably work. Just make sure the top isn't too thin (even mine was pushing it) or it'll break while makin the sandwiches or even while preparing the dough.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and arrange racks in the upper and lower third of the oven. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature until pliable enough to roll. Roll out half of the dough on a piece of lightly floured parchment or wax paper to 1/4 inch thickness. Use the large cookie cutter and cut out shapes of dough. Using the smaller cookie cutter, cut out the center of half of the shapes. Transfer the shapes to the freezer to set up for 5 minutes before continuing. Gather the dough scraps and chill.

Here's a tip I learned from the one and only Alton Brown. If transfering a round, take a small spatula (the pancake turner kind), flour it, slide it under the dough and move it. If transfering a cut-out round, leave the cut-out middle there while transfering, take it out while the dough is on the spatula and then drop the cut-out round. MUCH easier.

She says to transfer the chilled dough to parchment lined baking sheets to bake...but I was lazy and left them on the same tray to bake. *gasp* I actually think it prevented the cookies from burning so I would do it this way again. But it depends on what you want to do.

Bake 2 sheets of cookies at a time until the undersides are golden, switching sheets halfway through, about 12-15 minutes total. (I think I did one at a time with no switching but I'm not sure.) Cool 5 minutes on sheets, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat until all dough is used.

The first batch or two was pretty sloppy looking. But as I did it, I got much better and by the end, they looked perfect! To assemble cookies, wait until ALL cookies are COMPLETELY cooled. If you don't they will break. Spread about 1/2 tsp jam on the bottom side of each solid cookie and then top with a cut-out cookie. Mine had more jam than that but I think that's because they're bigger so just use your judgement on that.

GORGEOUS. Simple, impressive cookies. They tasted great too! Some of the best dough I've ever tasted!