Pimento cheesin'

Fairly recently I have gone from eating meat occasionally to full on vegetarian, all day everyday. Not sure how long this will last but I'm liking it and the way I feel and have no plans on relapsing into the meat world. Every now and then I have an intense craving for bacon (or today, prosciutto), but for the most part I don't miss meat in my diet.

However, I am having to get creative with meals, specifically lunch. Ironically, lately I've been craving sandwiches. I've never been a huge fan of sandwiches, but veggie sandwiches are my jam (was that a food pun?). While we were in Ruidoso I had two truly fantastic pimento cheese sandwiches and wanted to make that magic happen at home. This was my first attempt at pimento cheese and it's pretty dang good!

I used this recipe and am fairly satisfied with it. It's definitely not the deliciousness that I had in New Mexico, but it's good. It has a bit too much of a mayo flavor and not quite enough pimento for me. I will continue to experiment. But this is great as a sandwich filler and great as dip. And it makes quite a bit and it keeps for a while. Perfect to have on hand if you're a lazy constantly hungry snacker like me.

Also, check out this Pyrex we found the other day!

We haven't been on the Pyrex game as much as we used to, mostly because I have accumulated an INSANE amount of Pyrex, but we hit up our usual spots the other day for the first time in a while and hit the motherlode. This stuff is in great condition and the bottom two lighter ones with the gold (!) designs are patterns I've never seen before. Also, LIDS? So rare to find stuff with lids. But seriously, I have way too much Pyrex. In fact I have a few doubles of some things, including that brown baby up there. Anyone in Austin want some Pyrex? There's absolutely no reason for me to have more than one of the same dish... right?

Lasagna!

This recipe is too good not to share. Everyone should have this in their repertoire, so here you go and you're welcome. First and foremost, this is not my recipe. This is my mom's recipe, so of course it's amazing. Get with this.

Usually I make my spaghetti sauce base with ground beef, but as we're riding the veggie train these days, I just use whatever vegetables I have laying around. Usually mushrooms. I had some carrots that needed eating so I threw those in there too. I make the sauce the exact same way, just sub in chopped veggies for the ground beef. Mushrooms tend to soak up the butter and spices perfectly, as the meat would.

How to achieve this cheesy goodness:

1 batch of spaghetti sauce (this is my recipe)
1 box lasagna noodles (9 pieces)
1 8oz bag shredded Mozzarella cheese
1 8oz bag shredded Italian blend cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 15oz container Ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1/4 cup parsley
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 cup of water

Add your cup of water to your spaghetti sauce and heat to simmering. I usually start my spaghetti sauce a few hours earlier so it's hot and ready to roll when it's lasagna time, but you could totally make your sauce a day or so (or longer since it's freezable!) ahead of time. Heat your oven to 350 and spray a 13"x9" glass pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, mix together your Mozzarella, Ricotta, and Parmesan. I like to use my hands because it's fun. Add your eggs, parsley, salt and pepper. More mooshy hands!

Pour 1 1/2 cups of your spaghetti sauce into the bottom of your pan. And now we play the layer game. Add three dry noodles, another cup of sauce, and then half of your cheese mixture. I kind of pat the cheese down so it spreads evenly, the warm sauce helps. Three more noodles, another cup of sauce, and the rest of your cheese mix. Then guess what? Three more noodles! Then the rest of your sauce. Top with the Italian blend cheese, cover with foil, and bake for 45 minutes. Wipe up all your drool because your kitchen will smell divine. After your 45 minutes is up, take off the foil and bake for another 15, then remove from the oven and let it hang out on your counter for 10 minutes or so to cool. Good luck with that. Cut yourself a giant piece. You'll need it.

This is one of those meals that actually is better as leftovers, in my opinion. Leftover lasagna is my jam. It's most of the reason I make it. Something about how it solidifies in the fridge (how appetizing is that?) and the spices have more time to marinade together into wonderfulness. And this recipe makes SO MUCH. You could freeze half and still have leftovers, if there's just two of you.

So go make this. You can thank my momma later.

Butternut squash soup

By a couple requests via Instagram, here is the butternut squash soup recipe! I adapted it from Deb's Summer Squash Soup. I subbed quite a bit of ingredients out based on what I had on hand, but it's very similar to hers. I'd be nowhere without Deb.

soup:
6 tbs of butter
2-3 cloves of garlic (depending on your taste, how much do you love garlic?), chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1 decent sized butternut squash, peeled and cubed
2 carrots, chopped
4 cups chicken broth

pistou (drizzle sauce as I call it):
4 cloves of garlic (I LOVE GARLIC), chopped
handful of fresh basil leaves, I'd say like 10 or so good sized leaves, more if they're smaller, chopped
1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil
2 tbs of water
1/4 tsp salt

Throw your butter in a big ol' sauce pan and melt it up. Brown it for good measure because browning butter is always a good idea. Just as it's beginning to brown, toss in your garlic, cook for like 45 seconds and then add your chicken broth and veggies. Bring to a boil and cook partially covered until tender; took my veggies about 15 minutes.

While your veggies are boiling, make that drizzle sauce! Throw your garlic and basil leaves in your food processor and process (is that the correct verb?) until everything is of a fairly small and uniform size, and slightly like a paste. Add the olive oil and water little by little and continue processing until you've got something like a watery pesto.

Once your veggies are tender, set the pot to the side and let cool for 10 minutes or so. Then pour everything into a blender and puree, little by little. Return to your pot (by way of a bowl) and put that baby back on the stove. Add your salt and a little water if it's too thick, I added like 1/2 cup. Cook for a few minutes, then ladle that business into some bowls. Drizzle your pistou over it, as little or as much as you like (this business is garlicky, watch yo'self!). Serve it up with some toasted and buttered bread of any variety. It is unstoppable on buttered bread.

And that's it! Super easy, although peeling and chopping that butternut squash up is a tad labor intensive. Honestly, it's such a pain. But this soup is real good. And healthy! This vegetarian-esque lifestyle is forcing us (me) to get creative in the kitchen with veggies. Not all my experiments are successful, but this one definitely was!

Oh and HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY! I am proud to be an American and proud of the progress we're making in this country. Good things are happening and although they aren't happening easily, they are happening and that's what matters. Food to politics? Phewww! Go 'merica! Eat some squash soup!

52 weeks of baking: 8 - zucchini carrot cake

Have you ever had carrot cake? Who hasn't really? Aside from myself. I'm not sure if I have ever tried it. I think I've stayed away because I used to despise carrots and I'm still not a huge fan of them unless they're cooked to the point where they don't taste like carrots anymore. Soft and smooshy please! But the idea of carrot cake is interesting and appealing to me these days. A dessert with veggies in it? Two birds with one stone, y'all.

This is, as the title gives away, a zucchini and carrot cake. Double the veggies! I found the recipe in a cookbook my momma gave me a few years back, a 25 year collection of recipes from "Women of the Farm Bureau". It was first printed in 1981. Sooo, recipes from the 50's to the 80's? Cool! There are a gazillion recipes in there, most of them winners I'm sure.

The recipes are so simple, nothing fluffy or fancy. Just what you need. Kind of a breath of fresh air since my usual recipes are chock-full of side comments, pictures, and general fluff. Not that I mind, but it was just nice to get back to basics.

Definitely not the most appealing cake batter I've ever made. For once in my baking life I did not try (or pig out on) the batter. Raw carrots, bleh.

It came out pretty dang good! Didn't taste like carrots at all, phew! It's a little like banana bread, I blame that on the cinnamon and probably, the produce. The texture is great, it's nice and moist and still pretty fluffy. And it was a breeze to throw together. Basically a one bowl wonder. Oh and the cream cheese icing? It's awesome. I used butter instead of the margarine in the icing because, well, I don't cook with margarine. But it's good, y'all. I'm bookmarking that puppy.

The strangest thing about this recipe was the actual size of the cake. It called for a 9 inch square pan, something I did not have in my growing bake ware collection. But, after I quick search, I now do. I think this cake would probably be better in a 8 inch square. Or doubled into two 9 inch cakes and stacked. It's pretty thin, which is interesting and doesn't take away from the taste at all, but a little strange visually. Also, how do you store an 9 inch square cake? It was too big to fit in my cake domes, and I refuse to keep cakes in their pans and not ice the sides (that's basically baking blasphemy), so it is living on a cutting board covered with lots of extra glamorous foil. Cute. It's what's inside that counts, right?

Quiche on the fly

Do you ever have those days where you feel like you have NOTHING in your kitchen? Like zero food? But it's not at all true because they are cans of beans and cream of mushroom soup hanging out in your pantry. You just don't want creamed beans (how 'bout that phrase? YUM).

That was yesterday. I got home from work and was FAMISHED. Your girl works hard, y'all. I had plans to go grocery shopping with Mr. Hogan that evening (grocery shopping sucks and must be tag teamed) but he had a forgotten pharmacy school dinner to attend, so I was on my own. On my own and hungry without a whole lot of choices. I scoured the kitchen and deduced that there was no combination of food I deemed edible. I hit a low point when I had all the ingredients pulled out for homemade mac and cheese and realized I had no pasta. I almost gave up and ate that can of beans. But I took stock of what I had going on and got serious. I spied a frozen pie crust (don't judge, I swear I can make them from scratch!) and thought, BOOM. QUICHE.

And thus a quiche was born. It's the perfect throw-some-random-stuff-together-and-bake-meal, aka my favorite thing to cook. I had some frozen broccoli, garlic, eggs, and enough cheese to feed a small army laying around my slightly deserted pantry and fridge. So Martha and I teamed up and made this, except I used an obscene amount of garlic instead of onions.

Don't let that cute serving size fool you. I had a second piece.

Not bad for my first quiche. Actually it was really good and I was impressed with myself. Still am. It was fluffy and garlicky and the broccoli was just the right texture. Even my shady pie crust didn't taste the least bit freezer burnt, which is some sort of miracle because that pie crust had been in my freezer for a while.

Moral of the story, impromptu thrown together meal? Success. Quiches have been conquered. Now someone come eat all the leftovers.

52 weeks of baking: 6 - yellow cake

My favorite cake in the world used to be Duncan Hines golden yellow cake with chocolate icing. I haven't had it in years but I remember it being fluffy, simple, and delicious. So for this weeks baked goodie, I made a yellow cake with chocolate icing. And of course, I used a Smitten Kitchen recipe. This recipe.

One day, I'll have a big girl kitchen with counter space. One day.

This cake was good, don't get me wrong, but it fell a little short in the icing department. I was slgihtly intrigued by a sour cream icing, but I guess I just looked over the fact that it had two and a quarter cups of sour cream in it, so needless to say it was quite sour. Deb warns you in the recipe, and I've made her suggested alternative and I know it's delicious, but I was sucked in by the idea of an icing without butter or sugar. My sweet tooth should have known better. Butter and sugar always win.

Regardless, the actual cake is perfect and even though the icing is a tad sour, it is still pretty dang good all together. Just slightly off. I will no doubt recreate this bad boy at some point, with the alternative chocolate butter cream icing.

Can we just take a moment and talk about how much I love this baking every week project? It is so fun. I look forward to it every week. I love researching and planning and picking out a special recipe. I'm letting Brendon pick next week's, prepare yourselves. Taking photos is also so fun, I've really started to love taking pictures, and I just happen to love food too so it works out well.

Life has been crazy lately. My sunshine and rainbows have been a little hard to see, but baking my weekly treat has been a bright little ray of happiness. It's the little things that get you through the big things. And having dessert to munch on all week never hurts.

Burgundy Mushrooms

For Christmas my momma got me this awesome cookbook, the Pioneer Woman Cooks. It's yummy stuff, y'all. Delicious home cooked goodness. Recently we made the Burgundy Mushroom recipe. It was actually a long while in the making. I tried to make it one evening a couple weeks ago and upon closer inspection of the recipe I realized it takes NINE HOURS to cook. NINE! So you've got to start this baby early. I started ours at like 9am. And it made our apartment smell divine all day.

Now here's a bunch of shots of mushrooms:

Crazy how dark they get, huh? Aside from the length of time it takes to cook, it's a super easy recipe. You just throw it all together and let it do it's thing. And it's pretty dang good. We served it over egg noodles, the sauce is super rich and delicious. My only complaint was the mushrooms were pretty salty and I didn't even add "salt to taste" at the end. I blame it on the bouillon cubes, next time I'll cut that number in half. Also I had to improvise a bit; it calls for a LITER of red wine and I only had a 750mL bottle, so I made up the rest with... beer. Because that's how I roll. Beer in everything.

So if you've got 4 pounds of mushrooms, a big old bottle of red wine, and nine hours to spare, I highly recommend this recipe! Mushroom it up, y'all!

52 weeks of baking: 1, 2, and 3

A few of the blogs I follow are doing a treat or a cake a week, for the entirety of 2013. I started doing this as well on accident (I like dessert okay?), but I really like the idea so I'm continuing with it. Not necessarily always "baked" items, there are some yummy no bake pies and cookies out there, but just yummy things in general. Baking just tends to be my bread and butter. Pun slightly intended.

The first three things were baked on a whim before I decided to embark on this year of yummy-ness. First I made chocolate banana bread (because we had brown bananas hanging on our counter, this is the recipe I always use, I just add chocolate chips), then I made Betty Crocker Fudge Brownies (Ahem, it was a Christmas present. And before I got snotty and baked everything from scratch I swore by that little red box. Turns out my scratch brownies are better!), and this week (today) I made these Mini Morsel Shortbread Squares:

These things, y'all. SO easy. Like ridiculously easy. Just a few ingredients, one bowl, and one pan (and you don't even grease it). And they are GOOD. Eat them warm. And try to just eat one, betcha can't. I stumbled across the recipe on accident. I was planning on making chocolate chip cookies when I noticed I got mini-chocolate chips instead of regular, then I spied this recipe on the back of the bag-o-mini-chips and decided to try it. It was meant to be. Way to go Nestle, it's a winner.

I'm excited to keep up with this little weekly baking challenge. Documenting it all will be fun and now that I am aware of what I'm doing I can plan ahead and get creative! Usually when I bake something it's just thrown together out of whatever I have laying around because I'm craving dessert. This will obviously still make up the majority of the weeks, but I'll try to pull off some fancier things too. Honestly, it sounds pretty easy because well, I love to bake and eat yummy things do it a lot already. But 52 baked things is a lot. And I'm going to try not to do repeats. I welcome any recipes you recommend!

Wish me luck and happy baking! Hopefully I don't gain 200 pounds by the end of the year.

Apple pie

I've never made an apple pie before. I actually don't even like apple pie. But the Smitten Kitchen guru had a very promising pie crust recipe I wanted to try and I figured why not, I'll bust out an apple pie for the holidays.

I used this recipe for the filling and this recipe for the crust.

Like I said, I don't really like apple pie, I'm not a huge fan of cooked fruit, so I'm not sure if it was really good or not, but Smitten Kitchen is usually pretty infallible. I made it for our Christmas Eve dinner and my family said it was good, but they could have just said that because they're family. But that crust, y'all. Oh man, it was delicious. Seriously, the puffiest most perfect crust ever. And the hearts were a last minute addition, I thought they were cute!

Make some pies. Make use of this crust recipe!