Endive with Blue Cheese and Caramelized Pears

This is a great "guest-worthy" appetizer.  My mother-in-law was visiting over the weekend and I felt like I sort of failed on being a great hostess.  It's usually my thing ... having guests ...hosting, making people feel comfortable, etc.  This weekend though, not so much.  First of all I didn't think she'd be arriving until noon on Sunday so first thing that morning I headed to the grocery store for lunch & dinner supplies only to return home at 10:30 and find her waiting on the hot patio outside of my locked house (oops).  I made lunch, we went to the pool and afterwards my husband grilled steaks for dinner.  Then after dinner, knowing mother-in-law and daughter were safe in bed, we headed to a neighborhood party where we had a few cocktails ... well, not a few, so many that I don't remember walking back to my house (another oops).  And the next morning when I was supposed to wake up and make breakfast for my weekend guest I was so hungover I stayed in bed until after 10, ugh (oops yet again!).  I did manage to make it downstairs for a bit holding back the night before's meal until my mother-in-law headed home.  I was so happy to be sick (truly, truly, alcohol-induced sick) in peace.  My only redeeming grace from the entire weekend was the appetizer I prepared Sunday evening ... the Endive with Blue Cheese & Caramelized Pears.  It's a crowd pleaser and my hope/wish is that's the only thing my husband's mom remembers, lol.  It's delicious!!!!  Reminds me of something from a fine-dining restaurant.

Here's the recipe:
INGREDIENTS:
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons sugar
2 pears, peeled & diced
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
25 endive spears (about two heads)
1/2 cup pecans, chopped & toasted

DIRECTIONS:
In a large saute pan over medium heat add butter & sugar.  Add the diced pears and cook until well caramelized, about 8 minutes.  (keep stirring and make sure this does not burn).

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the garlic, vinegar, salt, pepper and olive oil.  Add this mixture to the blue cheese.  Spread each endive spear with the cheese mixture and then top with the caramelized pears and finally top with the pecans.  Arrange on a plate in a floral pattern.  Enjoy!  Makes about 25 servings.  (My picture shows 1/2 of the recipe since I was only serving 3 people.)

Recipe adapted from: FoodNetwork.com

Happy Birthday KathCooks / Chocolate Covered Pretzel Rods

I started this blog a year ago today ...happy 1st birthday KathCooks!!  My little corner of the "inter web" had over 2500 views over the past year (wow!).  I blogged a total of 50 recipes, some of which were more popular than others.  The three recipes with the most views were:  Soft Pretzels, One Minute Flourless Cupcakes, and Salsa Chicken.  Recipes with the least amount of views: Tuscan White Bean & Sausage Stew, Baked Oatmeal, and Biscotti.

I'm proud of myself for sticking with this for a year and hope to keep it going. I think this will be a nice collection of recipes for my daughter to read someday.  Thanks to everyone who has been reading my blog!  I appreciate the views & feedback!

I find it fitting that my blog is celebrating a birthday at the very same time I happen to be volunteering to bake for a local farm's birthday ...their 200th birthday to be exact.  199 years older than my silly blog.  Blue Hound Farm is celebrating their 200th birthday this weekend with a party and the proceeds benefit PAWoundedWarriors.org.  If you don't have anything planned for Saturday you should check it out and make sure to stop by the bake sale to sample some of my goodies!  More information/details can be found here: Blue Hound Farm Barn Bash.

I baked a lot of stuff for the bake sale ... cookies, whoopie pies, brownies, rice krispie treats, chocolate covered pretzels, and Salted Caramel Corn.  189 individually wrapped items so far with more baking to do tomorrow.  I truly enjoyed making everything and it felt good to volunteer my time.  One of my favorite items I made was the chocolate covered pretzels I think because they turned out so pretty.  If you ever need to volunteer for a bake sale these will look great on the table!  Enjoy!!

Chocolate Covered Pretzel Rods
1 package of pretzel rods
1 package of chocolate chips (milk chocolate, semi-sweet, or white)
Sprinkles (optional)

Melt 1 cup of chocolate chips in the microwave at 50% power for 30 seconds (one cup at a time seems to work really well). Stir the chips with a rubber scraper until completely melted.  Use the rubber scraper to "paint" the chocolate onto the pretzel rods coating all sides and leaving an inch or two at the bottom empty.  You can top with sprinkles if you'd like. Place coated pretzels on wax paper-lined cookie sheet and refrigerate for 20 minutes or until chocolate is set. Place pretzel rods in pretzel bags (sold at craft stores).  One package of chocolate chips coats about 25 pretzel rods.  You can also melt additional chocolate chips and make a drizzle over top of the pretzels instead of using sprinkles. I melted about 1/4 cup of white chocolate for about 20 seconds at 50% power and scooped it into a plastic bag, cut one corner of the bag and drizzled over the milk chocolate coated pretzels.

all the baked goods wrapped & ready for the sale

Italian Wedding Soup

The term "wedding soup" is a mistranslation of the Italian language phrase "minestra maritata ("married soup")," which is a reference to the fact that green vegetables and meats go well together.  And all these years I thought it was a soup served at Italian weddings!  Regardless, I never would have guessed I would be blogging a soup recipe the last week of April, but it's 47'F here and rainy so a soup recipe just feels right for today.

I tried a few different Italian Wedding Soup recipes before I found this one which is far better than the others (in my opinion).  Directions in some recipes tell you to add the meatballs to the soup raw and cook them in the broth ...this recipe the meatballs are baked in the oven.  The taste is similar but I find the browned coloring more appetizing vs the ones cooked in the broth which look sort of gray.  Also, this recipe uses a small amount of white wine and it gives the broth a rich flavor that sets it apart from the other recipes.  Plus the bonus of getting to finish the rest of the bottle of wine!

Get your BIG pot out, this makes a lot of soup!!  I used an 8 quart pot and it was almost filled. I like to divide the leftovers into several containers and freeze it for another day.  Makes about 20 servings.

INGREDIENTS

MEATBALLS
1 pound ground turkey
3/4 pound turkey sausage, casings removed
3/4 cup white bread crumbs
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

SOUP
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup yellow onion, finely chopped
1 cup diced carrots (about 3 medium)
1 cup diced celery (about 2 large stalks)
4 boxes chicken broth (32 oz each)
1 1/2 - 2 cups dry white wine
1 cup small pasta (acini de pepe or ditalini)
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 bag baby spinach (8-9 oz), remove stems
Salt & Pepper to taste
extra freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

DIRECTIONS

1.  Preheat oven to 350'F

2.  Prepare the meatballs:  Place ground meats, bread crumbs, garlic, Parmesan, milk, eggs, salt & pepper in a bowl and combine gently with a fork.  With a teaspoon, drop 1-inch meatballs (or smaller depending on your preference) onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.  Bake for 30 minutes, until cooked through and lightly browned.  Set aside.

meatballs ready for the oven

3.  Prepare soup:  Heat olive oil over medium-low heat in a large stock pot.  Add onion, carrots, and celery and saute until softened, 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the chicken broth and wine and bring to a boil.  Add pasta to the simmering broth and cook an additional 6-8 minutes, until the pasta is tender.  Add the fresh parsley and then the meatballs to the soup and simmer for 1 minute.  Add salt & pepper to taste.  Stir in spinach and cook for 1 minute, until spinach is just wilted.  Serve soup with extra freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

LOTS of leftovers ready for the freezer

Recipe adapted from:  RecipeGirl.com (check out her site, she has some great photos paired with the recipe)

Frozen Frappucino

Sometimes when I am out shopping I like to treat myself to an ice coffee or frozen frappucino.  I say "treat" because I don't do this often and secondly I think they're over-priced for coffee & ice.

I'm home today preparing a peanut butter cup cheesecake for Easter, cleaning the house, doing laundry, watching my daughter and exercising.  It was time for a little break and I started thinking about "treating" myself to a frozen frappucino but I didn't feel like driving anywhere and I remembered I haven't blogged anything this week. Ugh, its too late now to blog an Easter recipe!

I start by looking up recipes for frozen frappucinos on Google (there's a ton).  Most of these recipes begin with brewing double strength coffee...well, there's two problems with this 1) I have a Keurig coffee maker and if double strength K-cups even exist I don't have any on hand and 2) I want this frozen drink NOW vs brewing a cup of coffee and waiting for it to chill.  So I find a recipe that uses instant coffee which I just so happen to have in my pantry leftover from a cappuccino brownie recipe (lucky me).

I read the recipe and I'm thinking to myself this might be a possible disaster because it calls for powdered creamer which I'm thinking might not dissolve completely in a cold beverage but its worth a try.  Concerns like this is where I rely on recipe reviews but the reviews of this particular recipe were filled with a bunch of weirdos arguing over the use of splenda...seriously??? If someone wants to use a sugar substitute so be it, they don't need to be harassed by health freaks and ruin the review section for people like me who actually want to know if the recipe turns out good or not.

Moving on, I dig out my smoothie pro which hasn't seen the light of day in years.  My husband and I use to make frozen mango & rum smoothies in the summer when we were dating and calorie consumption was of no concern, lol. If you don't have a smoothie machine you could use a blender.  I was pleasantly surprised by the results.  It tasted pretty darn close to Starbucks so give it a try!  And if you really want to treat yourself try topping it off with some whipped cream and caramel or chocolate syrup.  Enjoy!!!!

INGREDIENTS: 

This makes one frozen frappucino...

2 tablespoons instant coffee (regular or decaf)

2 tablespoons vanilla flavored powdered creamer (I used vanilla caramel flavor)

1/2 cup milk 

8-10 ice cubes 

1-2 teaspoons of your preferred* sweetener (optional)  I used 2 packets of Stevia.  

DIRECTIONS:

Blend the first three ingredients until smooth.  Add ice and blend until smooth.  Stir in sweetener (optional).  Takes about 2 minutes total to make.  

*I'm saying "preferred"so I don't end up with any of those crazy reviews.  

SOURCE:  DIY Light Frappucino

Salted Caramel Cupcakes

I had more views on the one minute cupcake than any other post on this blog to date.  I'm not sure if that's because they were low carb & gluten free or maybe people were just curious if they really could make a cupcake in one minute??  Either way, these next cupcakes are neither low carb or gluten free but they are sinfully delicious.

I have been making batches and batches of the homemade cracker jacks mix and can't stop eating it...its the combination of the sweet and salt that keeps me coming back for more.  Then a salted caramel ice cream flavor caught my eye...

wow, Giant, you have out done yourself with this one!! And so my salted caramel addiction grows!

A few weeks ago we went out to dinner with some friends and the dessert menu listed salted caramel cupcakes (I could almost hear them calling my name). I couldn't wait to get to the end of our meal but then when dinner was finally over no one wanted dessert (my cupcake dreams were crushed) so I sadly returned home only to wonder what those cupcakes tasted like.  When my girlfriend asked me to meet her out for dinner this week I picked the same restaurant with the sole purpose of getting a second chance to try the salted caramel cupcake (ha, at this point I sound pretty food obsessed/pathetic!). Oh my, it was just as I imagined...sweet, salty, savory.  And then of course after I ate it I was on a mission to recreate this little masterpiece.  I searched and read a bunch of recipes online none of which sounded exactly like the one at the restaurant so this is what I came up with on my own.  Hope you enjoy!!  Makes 24 cupcakes.

INGREDIENTS
1 box white cake mix (yellow & chocolate would also work or your favorite "from scratch" recipe)
3/4 cup caramel topping, divided
1 cup butter or margarine
8 oz cream cheese
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp coarse salt plus extra for topping

DIRECTIONS
Prepare the cake mix as directed following the instructions for cupcakes. When the cupcakes are cooling poke a few holes in the top of each cupcake with a toothpick and brush with caramel sauce (1/4 cup of caramel is plenty for the 24 cupcakes).  Let cool completely.

For the frosting, beat butter and cream cheese for 5 minutes on medium speed.  Add 1/2 cup caramel, 1/2 tsp of salt and powdered sugar. Mix an additional 3 minutes.  This makes plenty of frosting to pile high on the cupcakes so don't be shy when topping them.  Garnish by drizzling extra caramel on top and dust with a small amount of the course salt.  I think mini rolos would be a good topper too.  I actually ended up with some leftover frosting ...it makes a great dip for strawberries and pretzels!

One Minute Flourless Chocolate Cupcake

Are any of you watching your weight?  Reducing calories?  Counting carbs?  Trying gluten free?  Have you heard of mug cakes?  They're starting to become popular.  Little cakes you can make in a mug in the microwave in less than one minute.  Wow, how convenient you say!  I don't have to make 24 cupcakes and don't even have to turn on my oven.  However, these little mug cakes pack a big punch in calories.  Traditional cupcakes average 160-200 calories (without frosting).  Some mug cake mixes out there are over 350 calories.  The cupcakes in this recipe ... drumroll please ... are only 30 calories! AND they're low carb and gluten free.

I was trying to lower my carbs this week and stumbled across this cupcake recipe.  It uses just 4 ingredients which most people already have in their kitchen.  I used Stevia for the sweetener but if you don't like zero calorie sweeteners you can also try honey or real sugar (add the calories to the total if you substitute a different sweetener).   The recipe makes 3 cupcakes (30 calories each) or 1 mug cake (90 calories).  You can top them with cool whip, peanut butter, yogurt, fresh fruit, sugar free pudding or eat them plain.  Any toppings of course add calories.

this cupcake is topped with lite cool whip

Honest review/opinion:  These cupcakes certainly aren't the real deal but if you're looking for something to curb your chocolate cravings while watching calories they're perfect.  And its pretty darn cool that you can make them in less than a minute.  I was amazed!

INGREDIENTS
1 egg

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tablespoon zero calorie sweetener (I used Stevia and about 7 packets makes 1 tablespoon)

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

DIRECTIONS

Line 3 ramekins (or other small microwaveable containers) with cupcake papers.  Crack the egg into a small bowl and mix with a whisk or fork until smooth.  Add the cocoa powder and sweetener and keep stirring until this looks like the consistency of cake batter. Stir in the baking soda.  Pour this mixture evenly into the 3 cupcake papers.  It doesn't look like much but it will rise to the full size of the cupcake paper.  Microwave all 3 cupcakes at the same time for 45-60 seconds (mine only took 45 seconds).  Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

before baking

after baking

Recipe adapted from: DitchTheWheat.com

Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies

Do you like peanut butter?  Do you like chocolate?  Do you like peanut butter & chocolate together??  If you answered yes to all of these questions then these are the brownies for you!!  They are fabulous!!!  They remind me of tandy cakes except with a brownie bottom.  Oh, and they are super easy to make.  Try them, you won't be disappointed.  WARNING:  these little brownies are dangerously addicting.

1)  Brownie Base
Buy a box of brownie mix for a 13 x 9 pan.  Line your pan with parchment paper.  Follow the instructions on the box and let cool for one hour.

2) Peanut Butter Filling
Make the peanut butter filling by mixing the following until smooth.

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup butter or margarine (room temperature)
1 1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons milk

Spread this peanut butter filling over the brownies.

3) Chocolate Top Layer

1 1/4 cup chocolate chips (semi-sweet or milk chocolate)
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

Melt together in a microwave safe bowl at 50% power for 30 seconds.  Stir & repeat until smooth.  Spread on top of the peanut butter filling.

4)  Cool in refrigerator for 1 hour.

5)  Remove brownies from pan by lifting the parchment paper and place on a cutting board.  Cut into small squares & serve.

Makes 24-28 brownies.

Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker.com