Ravioli with Fontina Walnut Sauce

This recipe is from the glorious days when I had a free subscription to Real Simple.  You can see the recipe on their website here.  I always start out by saying I followed this recipe exactly exceeeeeeeeppppttt...... so of course the same goes for this recipe.  I used scallions instead of chives, I had them leftover from my rice salad (have you still not made it!? what are you waiting for!?).

The ingredient line up.  I might have snuck in a bit of extra fontina and mascarpone, but no one was watching.

To go alongside I made Giada's herb focaccia bread.  It's incredibly simple, just add plain selter, let rise, bake.  I could not believe how delicious this was.

I'm heading to Target asap to get more boxes of this gem and you should too.  Dazzle guests with homemade focaccia, do it!

This is not a light meal by any means, but it sure is tasty, and easy too!

Lemon Herb Rice Salad

I'm sure that title has you intrigued.  Intrigued probably isn't the right word.  Maybe you are thinking gross or  huh? or how is this bad for me? But I assure you this is the best side dish you will eat this month.

What's it got in it?  Cucumbers, scallions, carrots, red onion, cilantro, and PEANUTS! Amaaaazing!

The recipe can be found here, they call for a few more herbs that I didn't have on hand and watercress that I couldn't be bothered with.

I used Basmati rice, I'm sure you can use whatever rice you have on hand.

I served the rice with alongside a spinach feta turkey burger.  I'll let you know I intentionally didn't eat my entire burger so I had room for more rice salad.  I know it sounds weird, but trust me.  Get yourself of rice salad, you can thank me later.

PS They call for 2 cups of rice.  I took this to mean 2 cups of uncooked rice which is a serious pot of rice.  I suggest you dial it back a bit if you decide to make this recipe.

New York City Walkabout

Sorry I haven't cooked anything in a while, I promise the second half of my vacation will be spent in front of the stove.

Here's what I have been up to...

On Tuesday I went on an incredible adventure around New York City.  We started down in Battery Park.

After a depressing stroll over to the World Trade Center site, we took a serious walk, 2 miles, to The Meatball Shop.  I got a spicy pork hero with pesto sauce.

 Chris got 3 sliders: classic with tomato sauce, pork with mushroom, and jerk chicken with pesto.  We were both very pleased with our choices.  I highly recommend this joint. Hop to it.

Next we headed over to the Highline which is a lovely park/walkway made from old elevated railroad tracks.  If you haven't been, I recommend it.  It was my favorite part of this adventure.

We hopped off the Highline at 23rd street where we stumbled upon the Doughnut Plant. I got a coconut cream which was unbelievably delicious.  Chris got banana pecan which I refused to taste despite his comment that you really can't taste the banana in it.

Our final foodie stop was Eataly.  Here you can purchase mushrooms for $250 a pound, pig shaped cheese, and balsamic vinegar that is so expensive they keep it locked behind glass.  I'd love to check out their roof-top bar some day.

All in all we walked from Battery Park to 53rd Street which is about 10 miles.  When we got home I was exhausted, full, and definitely had no desire to cook a damn thing.

Homemade Gnocchi with Preserved Lemons and Chicken

I'm sure that title makes you think two things:

1. Homemade gnocchi? KTC first it's homemade mozzarella, now gnocchi! You are simply amazing.

2. Preserved lemons? What the heck are those?

The preserved lemons were given to us as a Christmas gift.  This is a recipe for how they are made, but you can purchase them at some swanky food store, I'm sure.  They are pretty much just pickled lemons.  And I will tell you they are quite delicious.

First let's get into the creation of the gnocchi.  We baked the potatoes, well microwaved them because we were impatient.  Then we peeled them and grated them with cheese grater.  The grated potatoes get mixed with egg, flour, and salt.

Then you roll it out into logs, cut into 1 inch pieces, and roll over a fork to give it lines.

Ta, da! about 100 hand rolled gnocchi!

These babies cook up in about a minute or 2. We then added chicken that we sauteed with preserved lemons, olive oil, and a myriad of seasonings.

And that was my amazing Saturday night.  Holler.

Espresso Fudge

I can't say I'm usually a fudge lover, but this recipe made me reconsider.  I used this Sandra Lee recipe for espresso toffee fudge, I just didn't use the toffee.

Below is the ingredient line-up, minus the entire stick of butter.

The part of the recipe where you boil the butter, sugar, evaporated milk, and espresso powder for 10 minutes was a wild ride.  I do really love having to stir something for an excess of time, but a giant pot of boiling sugar, that was terrifying!  Luckily there were no injuries.

I didn't have toffee chips, they don't seem to be available at smaller supermarkets, so I used mini-chocolate chips and some festive sprinkles.

As I eat the last piece tonight I am both saddened that it has to end and delighted that I got the last one.

300th Post- Homemade Mozzarella!!!

Yea, you read that title correctly.  I made my own mozzarella.  Like really made it, from milk. Serious stuff. Be amazed.  I sure as hell was!

To be quite honest with you, it wasn't even that difficult.  I used these directions from The Kitchn.

This is the ingredient line-up.  The strange ingredients (citric acid and rennet) were given to me as a Christmas present for this purpose, I believe you can easily order them on Amazon.

After you mix the citric acid and rennent and let it set for a few minutes the curds start to form.

Then you strain the curds from the whey and get ready to start microwaving it for 30 seconds at a time.

After just a minute in the microwave, a few fun turns folding the curds (fyi its 135 degrees as I'm folding it with my hands) it turns into real cheese! Amazing!!

Now as if that wasn't enough to dazzle you.  Guess what I did with this fresh mozzarella? Stuffed it inside burger!

I put a nice hunk of mozzarella between two beef patties and grilled it along with some balsamic glazed tomatoes and Texas toast garlic bread. Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa it was incredible.

Drool all over your keyboard.  It's OK, no one is watching.

Thanks for sticking with me through 300 posts everyone!  I appreciate everyone one of your likes, clicks, and comments!

Eggplant Parmesan Pizza

I wasn't really sure what to title this.  It's a french bread "pizza" but really it seems more like an open faced eggplant parm sandwich.  That title seemed too wordy and less tasty, so let's go with eggplant parm pizza.

I got this recipe from Martha Stewart, you can view it here.  She baked her breaded eggplant, I fried it.  I'm sure either way would be lovely.

Below you can see my egging and breading station.

Might I just toot my own horn when I say that that was a spectacular photo.

I spared no expense with the cheese here.

Served up with a salad and disappeared almost instantly.  Delicious simple dinner.

Carrot Cake

Remember my last post where there were I made cupcakes with just 2 ingredients.  Well, this cake is just the opposite.  Seriously, the entire kitchen counter was covered in ingredients.  I was a bit overwhelmed because I waited too long to make the cake so I don't have any prep photos.

But I made a carrot cake from scratch! How cool is that!?

Below is the already baked cake.

For the frosting I did sort of a mish mosh of things: cream cheese, whipped cream, and canned frosting.

I got excited about decorating this cake.

FYI: One eater claimed "this may very well be the best thing you've ever made. ever." He said it twice btdubbs.

Yea, it's that good.

PS I have so much leftover, who wants a slice?