Magazine/Cookbook Monday: Orzo Alfredo with Bacon and Peas

Happy Monday! This is going to be a quick post as I am writing from my hotel room and have to be up VERY soon to catch my flight. I got the basis of this alfredo recipe from an old Food & Wine magazine I found at my doctor's office (don't worry I asked before tearing it out!) I neglected, however, to write down the issue month or year. The original recipe is for Fettuccine Alfredo with Asparagus. I didn't have any fettuccine noodles or asparagus so I subbed orzo for the fettuccine and threw in some peas and bacon to transform it into a complete meal. The sauce turned out perfect; rich, creamy and cheesy. It may seem strange to combine orzo with a fettuccine sauce, but I LOVED how it turned out. Orzo is a hearty pasta and can hold its own with this sauce, which is pretty thick as far as alfredo sauces go. The peas and bacon added great texture. I will definitely be making this dish again, I bet it would be equally satisfying with chicken, or a different combination of seasonal veggies. Hope you all enjoy it and have a great week!

Orzo Alfredo with Bacon and Peas

Sauce recipe: Food & Wine Magazine

Ingredients

3 main dish servings

(Note, in the picture, I photographed nutmeg and garlic which I ended up leaving out)

1/2 pound orzo

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 1/4 cup peas

2 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

5 slices of bacon (cooked and crumbled)

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper

Cook orzo according to directions on box.

In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, mix cream, peas, butter, Parmesan, and bacon. Heat over medium low heat, whisking constantly until Parmesan and butter have melted.

Combine with orzo, season with salt and pepper and serve topped with additional Parmesan cheese.

Happy whisking,

Whisked Away Wednesday: Caramel Apple Cake

Happy Wednesday! Keeping with the theme of fall flavors, I whisked up a caramel apple cake! I have to admit, I don't much like regular caramel apples. I like my apples dipped in fudge, white chocolate, m&ms, anything other than just plain caramel. It's not that I don't like the flavor of caramel apples, I love it! I guess what I don't like is the texture of biting into something so sticky.... I dunno, I'm weird I guess! BUT that being said, this cake takes all the GREAT flavor of caramel apples that I do like and removes the whole texture issue. When you bite through the cake's caramelized crust, you get a mouthful of plump, juicy apples and creamy gooey caramel melted together in a heavenly whirl of cinnamon and brown sugar. I know on Monday I posted about the best oatmeal cookies I ever ate, and I don't want to overdo the use of "the best..." but honestly, this cake takes the cake! (sorry that was a little corny... but ya know.. it's good cake!)

Adapted from Caramel Apple Muffins (Taste of Home)

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

2-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 cup milk (I used almond milk)

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 - 1 cup chopped peeled tart apple (I used one large pink lady apple)

12 caramels, chopped (into fourths) - this took a bit of time and was kinda sticky but believe me it is sooo worth it!

Topping Ingredients

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup quick-cooking oats

6 tablespoons butter, melted

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, whisk the egg, milk, butter and vanilla.

Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in apple and caramels.

Make sure the caramels aren't stuck together when you add them in. I sprinkled them in a few at a time, separating them by hand.

No clumps!

Cut out a circle of parchment paper to fit the bottom of your spring form pan.

Place parchment paper in pan. Spray pan and paper with nonstick spray (or you could butter it).

Pour batter into pan.

In a separate bowl, combine topping ingredients.

Sprinkle topping over batter, making sure the topping covers the batter (I guess you don't have to cover the whole thing with topping, but I highly recommend it for that great caramelized crunch when you bite into the cake!).

Place cake in preheated oven. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Remove from oven, allow to cool, remove springform rim and savor the goodness!

What have YOU been whisking up lately?

Tuna Melt Wraps with Avocado

I love a good tuna melt, I also love a good quesadilla, so how bout we combine the two in a wrap? Ok! This began as a way for me to use up some leftovers from my fridge, half a bag of cheese, some tortillas, a tomato, mushrooms, and an avocado. First I mixed the avocado with tuna and a bit of mayo. Then I slapped on the veggies, gave it all a good sprinkle of cheese and broiled it in the oven for a few minutes. The results were simple, delicious, and healthy to boot!

Tuna Melt Wraps

Ingredients

Makes 2 asombroso (amazing) wraps

1 Ripe avocado

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms

1-2 Tablespoons light mayo (according to taste)

1/2 tomato, sliced

1 can light tuna packed in water

1/2 - 3/4 cups cheese

2 tortillas

Mash together avocado, mayo, and tuna. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Take one tortilla, smear with tuna mixture,

layer on some mushrooms

and tomato slices and sprinkle the whole thing with cheese.

Repeat with remaining tortilla. Place on a baking sheet in the oven and broil for about two minutes or until cheese has melted (watch CLOSELY, oven heats vary and these can burn quite quickly).

When cheese is melty, pull out of the oven and wrap tortilla, securing with a toothpick if it wont stay. Cut each wrap in half and serve.

¿Quieres uno? ¿Yo? SI!!

¡Que Delicioso!

Have a beautiful day!

Squash Blossom Quesadillas

Happy Thursday! Today I am going to share one of my favorite Mexican recipes. It is so simple but the flavors are AMAZING. If you have never tried squash blossoms or fresh made tortillas, prepare to have your taste buds do a little dance! Homemade tortillas are so easy and taste a thousand times better than store bought. All you need for flour tortillas is white flour (or whole wheat), some type of fat (olive oil, butter, shortening), baking powder, salt, and water. You don't even need a tortilla press, just use a rolling pin! I have experimented with all kinds of fats to make the masa (dough) for tortillas, this time I was inspired by a recipe in Martha Stewart's Everyday Food to try olive oil. The tortillas turned out great, light and fluffy, just like flour tortillas should be! The squash blossoms imparted a beautiful delicate flavor that perfectly accentuates the slight saltiness of Mexican cheese.

These quesadillas will change the way you think of quesadillas. The typical American quesadillas stuffed with yellow cheese and oozing grease do not even compare to these. In Mexico, you don't see yellow cheese quesadillas, they always use white cheese such as Queso Oaxaca (my favorite, kind of similar to mozzarella) or Queso Fresco (slightly salty and crumbly).

Squash blossoms are just coming in to season and can be found at farmers markets and local Mexican grocery stores. If you grow squash (or pumpkins) in your garden you can pick the blossoms and use them. To prepare them, take off the spiny green outer calyxes, clean blossoms by swishing them around in a bowl of water then shake them dry. You can use the whole blossom! Some people remove the inner stamen (long yellow pointy part) I just chop it up along with the blossoms and use it as I see no difference in flavor with or without stamen. Squash blossoms do not keep long so pick them or buy them the same day you plan to use them. I served my quesadillas with a side of simple corn and black bean salad and some avocado slices. Enjoy and get ready to never buy store bought tortillas again!

Tortillas

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons olive oil

2/3 cup water

Mix dry ingredients together. In a small bowl, mix oil and water, gradually add to dry ingredients, mixing with your hands.At this point the dough shouldn't be too wet (sticky) but not crumbly either. If it feels too sticky or wet, add a bit more flour. Too dry? Add a bit more water. This is a learning process, practice makes perfect!

Knead dough and allow to sit for one hour (I sometimes skip this step and they still turn out okay).

After dough has rested, seperate into about 10 small balls. Cover with a damp towel and allow to rest for 10 minutes to half an hour.

On a non-stick surface sprinkled with flour, roll out tortillas, using a floured rolling pin, to about 10 inches in diameter. If the dough is sticking to everything, sprinkle on more flour. I usually roll one ball out, cook it, then do another one. Just easier for me...

Heat up a griddle over medium high heat, add a bit of butter so the tortillas don't stick and put a tortilla on the HOT griddle, cooking about one minute on each side until it starts to puff up and you see little brown spots forming. Remove from heat and wrap in a thick towel or put in a tortilla warmer.

*Hint - if you are going to use these right away to make quesadillas I would recommend not letting them get very brown because they will continue to cook as you cook the quesadillas, make sense?

Now on to the quesadillas...

Squash Blossom Quesadillas

Adapted from Food Network recipe

Ingredients

Olive oil, for cooking

1/2 medium onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

15 individual fresh squash blossoms rinsed and cut in half

1/2 cup chicken stock

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 (10-inch) flour tortillas

1/4 pound white Mexican cheese (queso oaxaca or queso fresco work well), grated or shredded

Directions

Heat a large saute pan with a little oil and saute the onion, and garlic for 5 minutes, until the onions have become translucent. Then, add the squash blossoms and simmer with chicken stock until flowers have wilted and stock is pretty much evaporated. Season with salt and pepper, and set aside to cool.

To compose the quesadilla lay the 2 of the tortillas on a flat surface. Distribute the cheese equally on both tortillas. I like LOTS of cheese! Then, spread 1/2 of the squash blossom filling over the cheese. Cover with more cheese and the other tortilla, place on heated griddle on nonstick saute pan with a little oil, and cook for about 2 minutes on each side. Try not to flip until cheese has melted a bit or they tend to come apart .When nice and golden brown on each side and cheese has melted, remove and cut into quarters.

These are sooo good! With the extra tortillas I made quesedillas with sliced avocados in between and quesedillas with corn in between. Also delicious!

¡Buen Provecho!

(Bon apetit in Spanish)

Mozzarella Stuffed Tomato Basil Turkey Burger Sliders

Happy Monday! This beautiful weather has been doing wonderful things for my little basil plant! It has been growing like crazy. So that means it's time to start cooking! I don't want any of those tasty leaves to go to waste.

One of my favorite combos is basil, tomato, and mozzarella. So, when I looked in my freezer and saw the turkey burger, inspiration struck me. Why not make mozzarella stuffed turkey burgers and top them off with fresh basil and vine ripened tomatoes? So fresh and easy! They turned out delicious! I used mozzarella cheese balls that I got at Whole Foods but I bet the same great flavor could be achieved using shredded mozzarella. The combination of flavors in these little burgers perfectly typifies summer and it is an easy healthy meal to throw together when you don't feel like slaving over a hot stove. I served mine up with some garlic fries but they would also go great with a salad or grilled veggies (for less carbs). Hope you have a wonderful day and enjoy these little sliders!

Mozzarella Stuffed Tomato Basil Sliders

Ingredients

1 lb Ground Turkey

1 package mozzarella cheese balls or 1 package shredded mozzarella cheese

Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1 cup bread crumbs

8 small hamburger buns

16 small basil leaves

8 slices fresh tomato

Divide turkey into 8 pieces. Mix each piece with 1 to 2 tblsp breadcrumbs, season with salt and pepper and divide each piece into two equally sized patties (you should now have 16 small patties).

Put 8 of the patties onto a foil lined baking sheet, top each with mozzarella cheese.

Top with other patty, pressing gently around the edges to seal the cheese in. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Place tray in oven about 6 inches from the broiler. Broil for about 7 minutes or until cooked through. When cooked, remove patties from oven, place on bun, top with 2 small basil leaves and a slice of tomato and serve!