Beef Stir Fry with Peanuts

Yes, another stir-fry recipe--so fast and easy, can't help it!  This recipe comes from a magazine/book called "Make It Tonight" from the publishers of Fine Cooking magazine.  I haven't made very many things from it and got it quite some time ago; you can find it on clearance here:
http://www.tauntonstore.com/make-it-tonight-052025.html

As usual, I have modified it to suit my needs and taste :)  This recipe is approximately double the sauce amount suggested in the original, as I like it saucy!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. flank steak, thinly sliced on the diagonal against the grain
• 3 T. soy sauce
• 3 tsp. fish sauce
• 3/8 tsp. kosher salt
• 2 1/2 T. fresh lime juice
• 1 1/2 T. brown sugar
• 3/8 c. lightly salted peanuts (cocktail or dry roasted)
• 1 large shallot
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• 3 T. canola or peanut oil
• 1/2 tsp. basil

Instructions:

1. Toss the steak with 1 1 /2 T. soy sauce, 1 1/2 tsp. fish sauce, and 1/4 tsp. kosher salt: 
   
2. Combine remaining soy sauce and fish sauce with 1 1/2 T. of the lime juice and the brown sugar; set aside: 
   
3. Pulse peanuts, shallots, and cayenne pepper in food processor until finely chopped: 
   
4. In large skillet or wok, heat 1 1/2 T. of the oil over med-high heat.
5. When the oil shimmers, add the beef and cook approx. 2 min. (mostly browned but not all pink gone): 
   
6. Transfer meat to plate and add remaining oil to pan.
7. Add shallot/peanut mixture to pan and cook approx. 2 min.
8. Return beef and any accumulated juices back to pan. Stir sauce mixture and add to pan, cook 1 min: 
   
9. Add remaining lime juice and basil to pan and cook 1 more min: 
   
10. Serve alone or with rice and enjoy!  
    

White Mexican Cheese Dip (Attempt #1)

Back where I used to live (not Mexico lol), nearly every Mexican restaurant has this on the menu as an appetizer.  This area, however, seems to have never heard of the dish, thus I am left to gorge on it every time I go where I can find it.  I get cravings for it more often than I can get away to have it, though, so I thought perhaps I should attempt making it.  While this recipe does yield a very tasty dip, it's unfortunately not the one to satisfy my craving, so I'll have to search and make more attempts in the future :)
Here is the link for the original recipe:
http://eatingonadime.com/mexican-white-cheese-dip/

I followed this recipe pretty closely, with only slight changes.

Ingredients:
1/2 lb. white American cheese (I bought sliced from deli counter)
1/4 c. milk (I used skim)
1 T. butter
1/2 of a 4oz. can green chiles
around 1 tsp. cumin
around 1 tsp. garlic salt
pinch of cayenne pepper

Instructions:
1. Prepare double boiler with water in bottom pan, bring to simmer.  If you don't have a double boiler, a saucepan will do, but be careful with the heat.
2. Melt cheese and butter together, stirring often.  (I added about half the cheese at first and after that melted, added more and more at a time):

3. Add milk gradually, stirring until melted/combined after each addition:

4. Add green chiles and spices, stir until well combined.  (I only used half the can of chiles, as that already seemed like a lot to me. Note--you do not drain the chiles before adding):

5. If desired, add more milk to achieve thinner consistency.  Serve immediately with chips and enjoy!

Additional note: I did end up adding a tiny bit more milk, and since I don't have a snazzy little dip-warmer, I had to reheat a few times while enjoying.

Amazing Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars

The name of this recipe doesn't lie--these really are amazing because they are quite simple to make and most likely you will already have all the ingredients on hand for them.
Original recipe can be found here:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/amazing-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-bars/
My version contains only two slight modifications:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. butter flavored Crisco (I often substitute this for butter when baking--but not always! Be sure 'pack' it in the cup when measuring to get the air bubbles out.)
1 c. light brown sugar (packed)
1/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 small (3.5 oz) package instant vanilla pudding mix
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 3/4 c. quick oats
2 c. semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Lightly grease a 9x13 baking pan.  Note: I used cooking spray and a glass pan.
2. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.
3. Beat butter and sugars together until light and fluffy:

4. Beat in eggs until smooth:

5. Mix in pudding mix and vanilla extract.
6. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients from the bowl set aside at beginning of instructions:

7. Stir in quick oats by hand until combined:

8. Stir in chocolate chips by hand until combined:

9. Press dough into pan until evenly spread:

Note: when I made this, I experimented with adding part of the chocolate chips on top as seen in this picture.  This didn't really have the effect I desired, thus I will not do it this way in the future.  It is best to just add all the chips in step 8.

10. Bake for 25 minutes, until lightly browned.
11.  Cool in pan and enjoy!

(I will add a picture the next time I make these--can't find the one I took of finished product this time!)

Crockpot Short Ribs

This is another recipe that I have created based on reading several others and ones that I have made.  When I made it this last time, I used a combination of English-cut (big chunks) and flanken-style (flat strips), but that is not what I typically do.  I prefer the English cut ones, as the additional marrow gives a deeper flavor.  However, either/both will work in the recipe--just not boneless.  I also normally serve with egg noodles; this time, I tried with mezzi rigatoni pasta and again, wasn't quite as nice.  I recommend medium egg noodles as the accompaniment :)

Ingredients:

about 2 T olive oil

3.5 to 4 lbs short ribs

salt, pepper

3 stalks of celery, chopped

2 large carrots, peeled and chopped

2 shallots, finely chopped/minced

about ½ T minced (bottled) garlic

about 2 T. tomato paste

2 ½ c cabernet sauvignon (Red Diamond if possible)

1 ½ c. beef broth

big splash of balsamic vinegar

2 sprigs thyme

Instructions:

1. Heat oil in ceramic dutch oven over med high heat.  Add short ribs and salt/pepper in the pan.  Brown on all sides:

2. Remove from pan and place in crock pot, set on high:

3. Use rendered fat and remaining oil to cook celery for a couple minutes, then add the carrots and cook a couple more minutes:

4. Add shallots and cook another minute, then add garlic and tomato paste, stirring until red sauce forms:

5. Add wine, cook for a minute:

6. Remove from heat and pour over the ribs in the crock pot. Add the beef broth, splash of balsamic vinegar, and the 2 sprigs of thyme:

7. Cook on hi for at least 7 hours:

8. Serve with egg noodles (or other side) and enjoy!  (forgot to get serving pic--will add next time I make!)

Melt-In-Your-Mouth Buttermilk Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cookies!  Oh yes, I do love cookies.  I could make cookies for a living, I think!  Then again the Keebler Elves might come after me, so perhaps it's best to keep it at the hobby level lol.
Anyway, this is a recipe I love to do when I have leftover buttermilk.  The cookies are best on the day they are made and must be kept in an airtight jar after that in order to stay chewy at all.

Here is the blog with the recipe:
http://bakingbites.com/2010/07/melt-in-your-mouth-buttermilk-chocolate-cookies/

Since I actually follow the recipe exactly, these parts (ingredients & instructions) are simply copied from the original.  The pictures with the instructions are mine:

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.
3. Melt the butter in a small, microwave safe bowl.
4. In a large bowl, combine the melted butter (still warm) with cocoa powder and whisk until very smooth. Whisk in sugar, vanilla extract and buttermilk.  Here are the two bowls (dry mixture and butter mixture):

5. Gradually stir in the flour mixture until no streaks of flour remain. Stir in the chocolate chips:

6. Drop dough in 1-inch balls into prepared baking sheet, leaving about two inches between cookies to allow for spread:

7. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until cookies are set around the edges.
8. Cool for 2-3 minutes on a baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack with a spatula to cool completely.
9. Enjoy!!

Pistachio Vanilla Butter Bundt Cake

I've been on a mission lately to use up stuff in my pantry (it tends to get overstocked somehow, especially with baking items...); combine this with desire to make a cake and use up some leftover buttermilk, I landed on this recipe on another person's (Melina) baking blog.
Here is the link to the blog/original recipe:
http://www.sugaryandbuttery.com/2014/04/pistachio-vanilla-butter-bundt-cake.html

As with nearly everything I try, I ended up with a few modifications--and one of them was not intentional (will explain that when I get to it in the preparation steps).

Ingredients:

Vanilla batter--
3 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp, baking soda
pinch of salt
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter (room temp)
3 large eggs (room temp)
Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean:

1 c. buttermilk

Pistachio batter--
1 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 stick of unsalted butter (room temp)
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 1/4 c. finely ground pistachios

Drizzle frosting--
2 T. melted butter
2 c. powdered sugar
3 T. milk (more if thinner consistency desired)
splash of vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Spray a Bundt pan with non-stick spray (I do this and then use paper towel to rub it around/coat evenly).
2. For the vanilla batter, start with whisking the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl.
3. In the mixer bowl, cream sugar, butter, and the vanilla bean seeds (beat until light and fluffy).
4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Add 1/3 of dry ingredients, mix, add 1/3 of buttermilk, mix--repeat process until all of both are added in and just combined (do not overmix):

6. For the pistachio batter, the process is the same as the vanilla frosting, only the pistachios go in where the vanilla bean is in that one.  You may also notice there is no egg listed in this one; the original recipe lists 1 egg in the ingredients for this part, but the instructions did not, so I ended up omitting it.  Since the cake still turned out great, it may not be entirely necessary.  I'll have to try making it with the egg next time and write a follow-up (this will be sometime far in the future, am guessing, as I have many, many things I want to make before I repeat!).  The batter for this turned out thicker, given it was missing the egg:

7. The original recipe called for the pistachio batter to be layered in-between the vanilla.  I opted to treat it like a marble cake, thus I put the vanilla batter in first and spooned the pistachio out over the top of it:

8. I then swirled the batter into the vanilla with an icing spatula:

9. Baked it for 1 hour, came out looking like this:

10.  Allow it to cool for about 15-20 minutes before turning out on a cooling rack to cool completely.
11.  Once it is cooled, prepare the drizzle icing.  This part is only in my version of the recipe/my modification; in the original, it appears she topped the cake only with a dusting of powdered sugar (no instruction to do so at the end of recipe, just see it in the pictures).  I like a nice drizzle frosting for a Bundt cake, personally, but I think a canned vanilla frosting could go well on this, too, if you prefer.

Drizzle icing instructions:
Melt butter in a medium sized bowl.  Whisk in a little powdered sugar and then a little milk, alternating between each until all have been added.  Whisk in splash of vanilla extract at the end.

12. Drizzle the icing all over the cake; it will drip down over the sides if you simply aim for the middle part of the cake top as you go around it.  Finished product should look something like this:

13. Cut a slice out and enjoy!

Panang Curry Beef with Basil

Mmm Thai food!  I don't make it nearly as often as I crave it, only for the sake of variety.  This was my first time making this recipe and it was wonderful! Original post date was Feb 2015.

Update in Feb 2024: Not sure how many times I made this after the original posting--rather certain I haven't made it is many years at any rate. This time, hubby declared this was incredible, top-notch fave for him! So, yes, I shall be making this more often going forward for sure :)

Link to my YouTube "making of the recipe" video: https://youtu.be/IuOOWbFzBQU

The original recipe was from Fine Cooking's website, which, sadly, no longer exists. I'm sure it's in one of their cookbooks that you can find at a library, though.

Recipe below contains my modifications.

Ingredients:

1 13.5 oz. can unsweetened coconut milk (do not stir; Aroy-D brand worked very well)
2 heaping T. panang or red curry paste (made with panang in the video)

2 T. extra crunchy peanut butter (used Skippy Super Crunch in the video)
5 tsp. fish sauce (Thai style)
1/4 c. water

4 tsp. dark brown sugar (packed)

1 small onion, very thinly sliced (I do half-rounds)
1/2 of a red bell pepper, sliced in thin strips

1 lb. flank steak, sliced in thin, short strips, across the grain
1 1/2 T. fresh lime juice

1 T. dried basil

Directions:

• 1. Heat wok over medium heat.  Spoon some of the thick coconut cream from the top of the can into the wok.  Add curry paste and cook, stirring until fragrant and beginning to dry (about 1-2 minutes):

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• 2.. Stir in the remaining coconut milk, peanut butter, fish sauce, and water; bring to a simmer:
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• 3. Stir in the brown sugar.
• 4. Add the red pepper and onion, stir to coat. Cover and let cook for 3 minutes.
• 5. Add the sliced beef, lime juice, and basil: 
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  6. Cook, uncovered, stirring to turn the beef often, until it loses raw appearance (about 3 minutes):
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  7. . Serve with rice (I like Basmati, but any variety will do) and enjoy!
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Chocolate Malts

Growing up, my brother and I used to have these fairly often.  This recipe is based on how my late father made them :)  Yet another recipe where exact measures cannot really be given; hopefully the visuals will help!

Ingredients:
Vanilla ice cream (amount depends on how thick you want it to be)
Malted chocolate milk powder (is typically found near chocolate syrup and other ice cream toppings)
Chocolate syrup
Milk

Directions:
1. Fill blender with desired amount of ice cream:

2. Add chocolate malted milk powder and chocolate syrup.  I used 4 heaping spoonfuls (large dinner soup spoon) of the powder and about 3 of chocolate syrup:

3. Pour in milk until it has covered the ice cream.  The ice cream may rise before you can get it all in, so try to get the milk around the same level it was when you first added the ice cream.  Be careful not to overfill, as you will need room for it to blend:

4. Put top on and use a middle speed (on low settings range if yours has both low and high options).  As mine was on the full side, I held the top on just to be careful while it was blending:

Blend until appearance is smooth texture and most of the syrup has blended in.
5. Pour into glasses and enjoy!

Kielbasa Pesto Pasta with Mushrooms

First off, I'll admit, this recipe is far from healthy--I honestly don't want to know how many calories are in it, because that would spoil the delicious factor for me a bit!  Instead, I shall just hit the gym extra hard the next few (hundred) times :)
Anyhow, every so often, I get a craving for Kielbasa, yet when I have searched for recipes, they are mainly for grilling it and adding sides or something along those lines.  I have a couple recipes (including another I came up with that I will make and blog about next time I have this craving!), but wanted to create something new this time.  Some time back, I came across some recipes for Kielbasa with pesto--had never had that and definitely wanted to try.  When I went back to the ones I'd bookmarked back then, none of them were quite what I seemed to be craving at the moment.  I got the idea to perhaps include some cream and make a pasta dish.  Yes, I found some recipes for that--with lots of butter and lots of cream and cheese and photos that made me think I'd have to live at the gym if I ate a serving of the suggested item.  What to do?!?!  Alas, I then decided to take some inspiration from a dish I've made many times (with pasta and a little bit of cream) and combine it with what I was craving to end up with this:

Only caveat is, like my Cheese Fondue recipe, not a lot of measuring occurred during the creation, thus the amounts here are based on my best guess of what I used.  Without further ado, here is the "recipe" (which made enough for 2 generous servings):

Ingredients
linguine pasta (I used approx. 2 servings' worth)
1/4 c. pasta water (reserved before/while draining)
1 T. butter (you may need more if using cookware that is not non-stick)
6 oz. fresh white/button mushrooms, sliced
1 Kielbasa sausage (I used one from Eckridge brand where they come in a 2-pack), sliced in rounds
1/2 tsp. bottled minced garlic
3 T. dry sherry
1/4 c. romano and asiago shredded cheese blend, plus more to garnish for serving
1/4 c. heavy cream
1 1/2 to 2 T. bottled pesto sauce
salt and pepper (to taste)

Instructions
1. Cook linguine according to package directions.  Just prior to draining (or place bowl under colander while draining), reserve at least 1/4 c. of the water used to cook the pasta; set aside.

2. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add mushrooms and Kielbasa to pan:

Stir together and cook about 3 minutes.  Add garlic to pan, then cook until Kielbasa starts to brown a little (ok, a little hard to tell in this picture due to the steam!):

3. Add dry sherry to pan, stir, and cook until sherry has nearly (but not completely) evaporated.
4. Add linguine, reserved pasta water, cheese, heavy cream, and pesto to pan and stir to combine well.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Cook approximately 2 minutes:

5. Serve topped with additional cheese blend and enjoy!