Secret Recipe Club: Grandma Pizza

Today is the very last Secret Recipe Club post.  I've been a member of the group for 2 1/2 years, but the organizers decided to end it.  Very sad.  It was fun while it lasted.

 

My blog for this month was Karen's Kitchen Stories.  Unsurprisingly, it's written by a lady named Karen, and Karen has been blogging since 2012.  She's a member of multiple online cooking groups and really likes to bake bread!  Her blog has many tempting recipes.  I chose Grandma Pizza, but Yukon Gold Potato Wedges, Peanut Butter Whirligigs, Buffalo Chicken Baked Mac & Cheese, and Rosemary, Cayenne, and Brown Sugar Cashews all called out to me.  My original plan was actually to make the buffalo mac and cheese, but I had to change plans.  I will still make it sometime soon, along with the cashews for Christmas.

 

So, Grandma Pizza.  I had never heard of it, but it sure looked and sounded good.  It's a rather rustic looking style of pizza, always rectangular or square, that has just recently become popular in restaurants in some areas, seemingly in the northeastern part of the US.  This particular version has a make ahead pizza crust (convenient!).  No fancy toppings for this one, just fresh basil.  My pizza didn't get the basil because I was headed out of town the next day and wouldn't have been able to use up the rest of the package of basil before I left.  No regrets over choosing this for my last SRC, it was great and I'll make it again for sure! 

 

Grandma Pizza

 

1 tsp instant yeast (this is a specific kind!)

3 C bread flour

1 tsp kosher salt

1 1/4 C lukewarm water

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 C crushed tomatoes

4 oz sliced or grated mozzarella

sliced fresh basil to taste

 

Mix first 4 ingredients in a large bowl (I used my stand mixer) until it comes together.  It will look shaggy and ugly, that's okay.  Pour the oil into a gallon Ziploc bag and swirl it around to coat the inside.  Put the dough wad into the bag and seal it.  Refrigerate overnight or for 2 days (I did 2 days).

 

Preheat oven to 375 and plop the dough wad, complete with olive oil, onto a 9 by 13 rimmed metal baking pan.  Squish the dough into a rectangle with your fingers.  The dough may be stubborn since it's cold, but just keep trying.  sprinkle the tomatoes over the dough, leaving a 1/2 inch edge, then sprinkle the cheese over top.  Sprinkle the basil over the cheese.

 

Bake the pizza until the cheese is bubbly and a bit browned and the bottom is crisp, about 30 minutes.

An InLinkz Link-up

Secret Recipe Club: Lemon Vanilla Salad Dressing

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned the blog Shockingly Delicious.  Shockingly Delicious is written by a woman named Dorothy who is a writer, long time cook, and mom.  Dorothy has so many amazing looking recipes on her blog!  I had such a hard time choosing one because the recipes look so interesting.  I considered Vegetarian Chard Soup, Slow Cooker Hawaiian Kalua Pork, Hot Gooey Caramel Pie, and Rustic Herbed Stuffing with Greens.  I'll probably make the stuffing recipe for Thanksgiving because it looks so good.  We don't even normally have stuffing at Thanksgiving because my family can take it or leave it, but that one looks too interesting not to try.

 

Anyway, I chose Lemon Vanilla Salad Dressing.  What unique ingredients, I've never seen vanilla in dressing before.  Though I was a little suspicious of how it would turn out, I'm happy to say it's quite good.  Unique and tasty, the flavors totally work!  My husband liked it, too, and he has pretty traditional tastes when it comes to salad and dressings.  I'm having flashbacks to his horror when I served a kale salad with chopped apples, walnuts, and dried cranberries topped with an avocado lemon dressing.  Usually he loves what I make, but he still talks about how bad that was.  I liked it...  Point is, even he enjoyed this dressing, unique and dare I say "girly" as it may be.

I served the dressing over plain bagged salad from the grocery store, but added some of the last of my baby tomatoes and peppers from my garden.  I meant to give the salad a sprinkle of dried cranberries, too, but forgot.  Oops!  What I can say for sure is that I'll definitely make this dressing again.  It would be great in the summer since the flavors are so light, or in the dead of winter to perk things up a bit.  Thanks for the awesomeness, Dorothy!

 

One last thing: I received a sad e-mail saying that November would be the last month of Secret Recipe Club because they're closing up shop.  I remember how excited I was to join 2 1/2 years ago.  The rules were that you had to have 100 recipe posts WITH pictures, and a recipe index, so I spent quite a while building up my collection of recipes with photos (it isn't second nature of me to take a picture of what I cook!) and making the index before I applied.  How disappointing for it to be over.  

  

I'll still lurk around some of my favorite blogs that I found through SRC, like Making Memories with your Kids, Chef in Disguise, Mother Would Know, The Pajama Chef, and BCMom's Kitchen, but it won't be the same.  All of the blogs I've been assigned to have been great though.  Many of the SRC recipes I've made are ones I still make, and I've tried a lot of recipes that I never would have tried. and I've thoroughly enjoyed the past two and a half years of Secret Recipe Club.  Does anyone know of other cooking blog groups like this?

   

  

  Lemon Vanilla Salad Dressing

 

4 Tbsp olive oil

3 Tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla bean paste (I used Nielsen-Massey brand, yum!)

pinch salt

 

Place all ingredients in a bowl and blend with an immersion blender for about 30 seconds or until all ingredients are combined and the dressing has thickened slightly.  Alternatively, you can mix it up in a blender.

 

Yield: 1/2 C dressing
   

An InLinkz Link-up

Secret Recipe Club: Chocolate Apricot Marshmallow Crunch

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned the blog Mother Would Know, which is written by a wonderful woman named Laura.  Laura is the mother to two grown children, but is ready and willing to be the fill-in mom for anyone who needs cooking advice!  Her blog has great recipes, lots and lots of tips, and is incredibly welcoming.  I really enjoyed poking around on the blog.

 

There were plenty of very appealing recipes to pick from.  I strongly considered Overnight Holiday Dinner Buns, Moist Almond Bread, and Tuna Stuffed Tomatoes, and will probably make all three very soon.  The recipe I ended up choosing was Chocolate Apricot Marshmallow Crunch: Rice Krispie treats topped with mini marshmallows and diced up dried apricots.  Why have I never thought of putting apricots on Rice Krispie Treats?  The combo just sounded amazing, and I was already looking for a dessert recipe to try, so the choice was simple.

 

How did they turn out?  Every bit as good as I hoped!  My husband and I were happy I made a double batch.  I'm also grateful for the trick I learned from Laura- use parchment paper to press down the cereal mixture and the topping!  It won't stick and works much better than a spoon or hands.  Why didn't I think of that before?  The funniest part is that a few hours before I made these treats, my own mom called and in the course of the conversation, she mentioned that parchment paper was awesome for pressing sticky Rice Krispie Treats into the pan.  So, thank you to both Mother Would Know and my actual mother!

  

My tiny changes were to not soak the apricots in juice because the chewy texture of the plain apricots appealed to me, and I added vanilla extract, because why not?  Regardless, what a fun and slightly different dessert choice for any time of year, but especially autumn/Halloween because of the colors.  I actually chose them in part because of the colors.  We live in Alaska and I love it here, but the end of summer is always sad and a tiny bit panic inducing as we gear up for another 6+ months of nonstop snow and cold.  I make a real effort to to try to get excited about autumn: wintry foods, Halloween movies, fall decorations, etc.  These Rice Krispie Treats fit in perfectly.  Thank you, Laura, both for the great recipe and for helping ease the transition into fall!

 

  

Chocolate Apricot Marshmallow Crunch

 

1/2 C finely diced dried apricots

1/3 C mini chocolate chips

3 Tbsp butter

8 oz mini marshmallows (by weight)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

5 C Rice Krispies cereal

 

Cut two long strips of parchment paper to fit the inside of an 8 by 8 baking dish with a few inches of overhang on each end.  Overlap the strips so they make a + sign in the dish.  Set aside.

 

Melt butter in a large pot over medium-low heat, then add marshmallows and cook, stirring constantly, just until marshmallows are melted.  Immediately remove the pot from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract, then the cereal.  

  

Once the cereal is completely coated, dump it into the prepared baking dish and press it in evenly with the back of a spoon.  You can use the parchment paper ends to press the mixture down, too.  Sprinkle the apricot pieces and mini chocolate chips evenly over the cereal mixture.  Use the long ends of parchment paper to firmly press the topping down.  

  

Let set for a couple of hours until cutting into pieces to serve- you can use the parchment paper overhang to lift the Rice Krispie Treats out of the dish and then cut them into serving pieces.

An InLinkz Link-up

SRC: Cheesy Rigatoni Bake

I think this month's Secret Recipe Club was just about my quickest turnaround between getting my blog assignment and making the recipe!  I was assigned the blog Crazed Mom, which is written by a mom of 5 (and grandma of 1!) named Nicole.  Nicole is a very prolific blogger and has a ton of recipes to pick from.  I'll probably make more of her recipes this month (specifically looking at Ranch Mac & Cheese, Weeknight Philly Cheesesteaks, Tuna Stuffed Tomatoes, and the very intriguing Buffalo Chicken Spring Rolls), but the first one I made turned out so well, that I'm choosing it for SRC.

 

The recipe I made is Cheesy Rigatoni Bake.  I chose it because my husband and I love cheesy tomato noodle type casseroles, and I hadn't made one in months and months.  This one looked interesting because it has two types of sauces, neither of which are stirred into the rigatoni, and I liked that it didn't have nearly as much cheese as most similar recipes.  My husband loves cheese, but can't have a ton of it.

 

The casserole was really good.  As expected, the sauces did seep down into the rigatoni some (in a very delicious way!), but the two types didn't completely blend together.  Between the white sauce and the cheese, the top got perfectly bubbly and golden and irresistible.  The casserole cut into pieces better than most because of the eggs that help bind the pasta together.  I added pepperoni to the top of half of the casserole since there's no meat in the recipe and the layering kind of reminded me of pizza anyway.  We thought the pepperoni was really nice and I'll probably top the entire thing with pepperoni next time.  This is a definite repeat recipe!

 

Pardon the especially bad photo, my camera broke and I had to use my iPad.
 

  

Cheesy Rigatoni Bake

 

1 lb rigatoni pasta

4 eggs

1 tsp salt, divided

16 oz can Four Cheese Hunt's spaghetti sauce (or another flavor)

4 Tbsp butter

4 Tbsp flour

2 1/4 C milk

2 C grated mozzarella

sliced pepperoni (optional)

1/3 C grated fresh parmesan 

 

Preheat oven to 375 and grease a 9 by 13 baking dish.

 

Cook the rigatoni in lightly salted water until al dente.  You want it to be a little less cooked than you'd prefer because it will cook longer in the oven and the noodles will get softer.  Drain noodles and set aside to cool for a few minutes so the eggs won't cook on contact.

 

Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium-high heat and whisk in flour.  Whisk constantly for about a minute, then whisk in about 1/4 C milk until completely smooth.  Add milk in 1/4 C additions, being sure to whisk between additions until the sauce is completely smooth.  Once all the milk has been added, bring sauce to a simmer while whisking constantly, and cook for about a minute.  Stir in 1/2 tsp salt.  Remove from heat and set aside.

 

Whisk eggs in a small bowl, then add to rigatoni with 1/2 tsp salt.  Stir until pasta is coated, then pour into prepared baking dish.  Spread spaghetti sauce evenly over top.  Sprinkle with mozzarella.  Spread white sauce over the cheese, then top with the pepperoni, if you're using it.  Sprinkle with the parmesan.  

 

Bake casserole until bubbly all over and the top is golden, about 40 minutes.  Let sit for 15 minutes before serving so it can set up some.

  

Yield: 8 servings

An InLinkz Link-up

Secret Recipe Club: Oreo Brownie Trifle

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned Making Memories with your Kids.  The blog is written by Erin, who is a school counselor and mom of two super cute kids.  I'm very fond of Erin's blog and have been visiting it since I was first assigned it a couple of years ago and made Pop Tart Cookies.  Since then, I've made her Coconut Macaroons and Snickerdoodles, plus a couple others.  I actually made a recipe she made for a past SRC tonight for dinner, and made a casserole of hers last week, which I'll post about soon.  Erin's blog is very playful, for lack of a better term, and she makes all kinds of incredibly delicious looking and at times off the wall recipes that really appeal to my off the wall self.

 

So, my original plan was to make Slug Candy.  It's just too hilarious.  I will still make it sometime, but decided now wasn't ideal for a number of reasons too boring to go into.  My next plan was to post about the Chicken Broccoli Casserole I made last week, but my camera up and died on me.  Since I don't have a cell phone (weird, I know), I had no way to photograph it.  That meant I was forced (forced!) to make another recipe for Secret Recipe Club since the post had to have a picture.  Lucky for me, I managed to scrounge up a cell phone to photograph SRC Take 2, which is Oreo Brownie Trifle.  It's a terrible picture, but better than the MS Paint rendition I would have had to make if I didn't have the cell phone, so I'm happy.

 

I had my husband pick between this, Snickers Brownie Trifle, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cup S'mores.  He loves Oreos, so chose this trifle, surprising no one.  I'm definitely going to make those PB S'mores soon, though!  You really should take a stroll through the dessert section on Erin's blog, it's quite the treasure trove.

 

The trifle turned out well.  It's very sweet and a little goes a long way!  I did have to change the recipe a little, sorry, Erin.  My husband is lactose intolerant and can't have sweetened condensed milk, so I left that out and used lactose free milk instead.  I also sorta halved the recipe because the full batch would have been a LOT of trifle for two people.  The recipe is still essentially the same, though!  It's sure to please kids and Oreo lovers everywhere.  I will definitely make it again when I want something over the top and fun.

  

Quick Note:  You can use vanilla or cheesecake pudding mix if you can't find Oreo. 

 

 

Oreo Brownie Trifle

 

1 box brownie mix that makes an 8 by 8 pan, plus ingredients on box

about 15 Oreos

4 serving size box of instant Oreo pudding mix

1 1/2 C milk

8 oz tub Cool Whip, divided

 

Prepare and bake brownies according to directions on box, set aside and cool completely.  Cut into small cubes.

 

Whisk together box of pudding mix and milk.  After it sets, fold in half of the Cool Whip.

 

Layer 1/3rd of the brownie cubes in a trifle dish.  Top with 1/3rd of the pudding mixture, then dollops of 1/3rd of the Cool Whip.  Sprinkle with 5 crushed Oreos.  Repeat layers twice more, starting with brownies and ending with Oreos.  

 

Cover trifle and refrigerate for a few hours before serving.

 

Yield: 10 servings
   

An InLinkz Link-up

Secret Recipe Club: Mac & Cheese Bites

For Secret Recipe Club this month, I was assigned the blog Lori's Culinary Creations.  The author, Lori, lives in Utah with her husband and their parrot, kitties, and dogs.  They like to ride around on their Harley in their spare time!  Lori sounds like a pretty interesting lady to me, and as a fellow animal lover, I'd like to meet her and her pets.

   

Lori's blog is packed with tastiness.  I was particularly drawn to Jalapeno Popper Burgers (which I did actually make already, yum), Seven Layer Salad (which I plan to make soon), and the one I made for this post, Creamy Muffin Tin Mac & Cheese Bites.  About time I finally make mac and cheese for Secret Recipe Club!  This was a complete impulse recipe for me because I happened to have all of the ingredients on hand.  I did have to use egg noodles instead of macaroni because it's all I had, I used milk instead of wine (personal preference), and baked the mac and cheese in mini muffin tins instead of normal sized ones.  They turned out really well.  My husband prefers his mac and cheese unbaked and had his straight from the pot, he really liked it and gave it a score of 9/10.  He is very picky about mac and cheese, so that's a great rating!  He did admit to liking the muffin bites as well.  

  

I don't know that I'll go out of my way to make the bites just for us again, but I can definitely see myself making them for an appetizer to bring to someone's house (they're very good room temperature) or as a lunch for kids.  We will definitely have the base mac and cheese recipe again though because it was really good.  Thanks, Lori!

   

 

Mac & Cheese Bites

  

10 oz macaroni by weight

3 Tbsp butter

1 clove garlic, minced

4 Tbsp flour

2 1/2 C milk

1 Tbsp dijon mustard

salt and pepper to taste

4 oz grated swiss cheese

8 oz grated cheddar cheese

small amount extra cheddar for garnish

paprika, for garnish

  

Preheat oven to 425 and grease a 24 cup mini muffin tin.

 

Boil macaroni until al dente in a pot of salted water.  Drain and return to the pot.

 

Make the sauce while the macaroni cooks.  Melt butter in a sauce pan over medium-high and add garlic, cook until it just starts to turn golden.  Add flour and cook and stir for a minute, until flour is smooth.  Whisk in milk 1/4 C at a time  for the first cup and a half, making sure the sauce is smooth between additions, then add the rest.  Stir constantly until sauce comes to a simmer, then continue to simmer while stirring for a minute or two.  Remove from heat, whisk in mustard and salt, then stir in cheese until smooth.  Stir sauce unto cooked macaroni.  Spoon mac and cheese into greased mini muffin tin (you will have extra), sprinkle with a little extra cheddar and paprika, and bake at 425 until golden on top, about 12 minutes.  Remove muffin tin from oven and let them sit for 10 minutes or so before carefully removing them, blotting off any excess grease with paper towels, and serving.

 

Yield: 24 mac and cheese bites, plus a bowl or two extra to have for lunch!

An InLinkz Link-up

<!-- end InLinkz script —>

Secret Recipe Club: Cheesy Mashed Potatoes

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned Susan's blog, The Wimpy Vegetarian.  Susan is the leader of the subgroup I'm in, so I must admit I was rather nervous!  Thankfully, Susan is very nice.  She's also very creative in the kitchen and has all kinds of fantastic looking recipes on her blog!  She has formal culinary school training, which I think is pretty awesome.  She also gets to live in nice, warm California, says the lady trapped in the dead of an Alaskan winter.  Can I come visit you, Susan?

 

Anyway, like I said, Susan has lots of great recipes.  I was particularly drawn to Figgy Cardamom Snickerdoodles (how amazing do those look?), Lemony Three Bean Salad, and Warm Brussels Sprouts Salad with Caramelized Onions.  As tasty as those looked, I ended up choosing Cheesy Mashed Potatoes because I'd only ever used russet potatoes for mashed potatoes and haven't really ever added cheese to them.

 

The mashed potatoes turned out really well and seemed rather fancy, especially considering how easy they were to make.  I couldn't find the the Frieda's Butter Babies potatoes that the recipe called for, but thought they looked rather like Yukon Gold, so went with those.  The mashed potatoes were so soft and tender, and had a rather sweet quality to them because of the Yukon Golds.  We liked them for sure and I will make them again, but think I'll use either good ol' russets, or try baby red potatoes instead because we prefer the sweetness of Yukon Gold potatoes on their own.  I served the potatoes with baked salmon and roasted green beans, it was a great meal.

 

Thank you, Susan!
  

 

Cheesy Mashed Potatoes

 

2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes

2 1/2 Tbsp butter

1/3 C half and half

1 tsp salt, or to taste

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 tsp dried parsley or 2 Tbsp fresh minced parsley

1 C smoothly melting cheese (I used cheddar)

 

Wash potatoes, then cook until soft using whatever method you like.  I used my pressure cooker.  Place potatoes in a large bowl and mash with a potato masher.  Melt butter in the microwave, then add milk and heat 30 more seconds, until warm.  Add to potatoes along with seasonings, and continue to mash.  Stir in cheese.  Cover with foil if you aren't going to serve within a minute or two.

 

Yield:  About 6 servings

An InLinkz Link-up

<!-- end InLinkz script —>

Secret Recipe Club: Coconut Oatmeal Cake

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned the blog A Taste of Madness.  It's written by a Canadian woman named Cathleen.  Cathleen is a math teacher (how cool!) and enjoys doing yoga and traveling, in addition to making- and eating- desserts.  Sounds like we have a lot in common!

I'm not sure I'd seen A Taste of Madness before, but believe me, I'll be back frequently to try new recipes.  There were about 25 looking awesome ones that I bookmarked, and I didn't even go through her whole blog.  I actually made two recipes of hers this month, the Cottage Cheese Pancakes (which I added a smidge of vanilla to, they were amazing), and Coconut Oatmeal Cake.  My husband and I both really wanted to make her crumpet recipe but ran out of time, it's one we plan to make soon, though!  Cathleen is originally from the UK, so we figure she would know a good crumpet recipe!

This Coconut Oatmeal Cake was great.  I've seen recipes that called for a broiled coconut-pecan topping and always wanted to try it. I brought it to a friend's get together where we got to paint, and it got rave reviews from everyone.  It's so moist and the topping is delightfully sweet, crunchy, and a little chewy from the caramelization.  This is a perfect cake for winter because of the spices, oats, and rich topping!  I can picture it perfectly on a Thanksgiving or Christmas table.

My only change was to decrease the salt in the cake (I worried it would be too salty with 1 1/2 tsp), and for the topping, there was a difference between the types of sugar mentioned in the ingredients list and the recipe itself.  I decided to go with what the ingredient list said, and it turned out wonderfully!

Coconut Oatmeal Cake

for cake:
1 1/4 C boiling water
1 C quick cooking oats
1 1/3 C flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 stick salted butter, softened
1 C sugar
1 C packed dark brown sugar
2 eggs

for topping:
1/4 C milk
1/2 C salted butter
1/4 C packed dark brown sugar
1 C sweetened coconut flakes
1 C shopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9 by 13 pan.

In a heat safe bowl, pour boiling water over oats and stir to combine.  Set aside to cool while you prepare the rest of the batter.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon.

Cream together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar, then stir in eggs until smooth.  Mix in the dry ingredients a little at a time, until smooth.  The mixture will be thick.  Mix in cooked oats.

Spread batter evenly in prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 35 minutes.

When cake is almost done baking, prepare the topping.  Place the milk, butter, and brown sugar into a medium sauce pan and cook over medium until everything is melted and well combined.  Remove from heat and stir in coconut and pecans.

When the cake comes out of the oven, immediately top with the topping mixture.  Spread the topping as smoothly as possible so no bits of coconut or pecan sticks up, this will help prevent burning.

Place an oven rack at the highest setting, turn the oven to broil, and place the cake on the top rack.  Watch it very carefully (don't walk away!) and remove the cake immediately when the topping turns golden.  This will only take about 2 minutes.

Let cake cool, and serve.  It's great both warm and at room temperature.

Yield:  about 10 servings

An InLinkz Link-up

<!-- end InLinkz script —>

Secret Recipe Club: Pannukakku

For this month's SRC, I was assigned the blog Cook Lisa Cook.  Lisa lives in New England with her husband and her adorable little girl, Maisie.  Maisie has some food sensitivities that her mom lovingly accommodates, so this is a great blog to check out if you need to do some wheat, egg, and dairy free cooking.

Lisa has lots of tempting recipes.  I'm actually planning to make her Slow Cooker Ranch Mushrooms later this week to go with meatloaf.  My husband really loves oven pancakes, though, so I decided to try her Finnish oven pancake, called Pannukakku.  It has a very high ratio of milk and eggs to flour, so I knew it would turn out differently from our other favorite oven pancakes.  It was very good and the pancake turned out with an almost creamy texture.  My husband and I polished off almost the entire pancake between the two of us, but he took the rest for lunch at work the next day and said it reheated very nicely.  I didn't know that I needed three different oven pancake recipes, but apparently I do, because this is definitely one I'll hold onto and make again many times.  Thanks, Lisa!
 

 
Pannukakku

8 Tbsp butter, divided
4 eggs
4 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
2 C milk
1 scant C flour (halfway between 3/4 C and 1 C)

Put 1/2 of the butter into a 9 by 13 baking dish and place the dish in a cold oven.  Turn oven to 425 and let the butter melt while you prepare the batter.

To make the batter, melt the remaining 4 Tbsp butter in a small bowl in the microwave and set it aside.  Place eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt, milk, and flour in a large blender.  Add the melted, microwaved butter.  Blend until batter is smooth.

By now, the butter in the oven should be melted.  Remove the dish from the oven, tilt it a bit so the butter evenly coats the bottom, and pour in the batter.  Bake until puffy (it will rise a lot!), browned, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.  You can cover it with foil if it starts browning too much.

When the pancake has finished cooking, let it cool for a couple of minutes, then serve.  It will deflate while cooling.  Cut pancake into individual pieces and serve with powdered sugar and lemon juice, fruit jam, syrup, or whatever you would like.

An InLinkz Link-up

Secret Recipe Club: Almond Apple Crisp

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned the blog My Hobbie Lobbie.  It's written by a lady named Claire who sounds pretty similar to me, because she loves baking, crafting (especially crochet), and traveling!  I get the feeling we would get along well.

Claire has lots of yummy looking recipes on her blog, and I chose one called Almond Apple Crisp.  I made it about 3 weeks ago on a rather chilly August day.  My husband loved it so much that I had one serving that night, and by the next afternoon, he had completely polished off the entire dish.  Now he does have a sweet tooth, but that's extreme, even for him!  He says I definitely have to make this recipe again.  My only changes would be to increase the amount of cornstarch from 1/2 tsp to 1 Tbsp because the filling was very, very runny, and I'd leave the salt out of the topping because it tasted salty to me.  I made those changes in my version of the recipe below.
 
Thank you, Claire!  I'm planning to make your Spicy Tuna Pasta here in the next couple of weeks.

Almond Apple Crisp

3 lbs apples, peeled, cored, and cut into slices (I used 4 large Fujis)
2/3 C white sugar
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 tsp lemon juice

for the topping:
3/4 C flour
3/4 C brown sugar (I used dark)
1/2 C sliced or slivered almonds
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 stick cold butter, cut into small cubes

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 2 quart baking dish.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together white sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon, then add apples and lemon juice.  Stir until the apples are evenly coated.  Spoon the apples and any remaining sugar mixture into the prepared baking dish and set aside.

Now make the topping.  Stir together the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon, then cut in the cold butter cubes (I did all of this in my stand mixer with the paddle attachment) until the mixture looks like wet sand.  Stir in almonds.  Sprinkle mixture evenly over the apples.

Bake the crisp until the apple slices in the center are tender (use a fork), which will take about 60-90 minutes (mine took 90).  You can cover the top of the crisp with aluminum foil, shiny side out, if the topping and almonds get too brown.

An InLinkz Link-up

<!-- end InLinkz script —>

Secret Recipe Club: Basic Granola & Raw Raspberry Jam

This month, I was assigned a beautiful blog called The Smoothie Lover.  It's written by a young Danish girl named Josefine.  In addition to making very creative and mostly very nutritious recipes, Josefine takes absolutely gorgeous photos.  This is her first month doing Secret Recipe Club and I hope she had fun!

In the course of choosing a recipe to make from Josefine's blog, I actually looked at all the recipes she posted and settled on two: Basic Granola and Raw Raspberry Jam.  I made both to go with homemade Greek yogurt.  Both turned out really well.  My husband is the granola eater around here (he eats fruit and granola with lunch every day), and I am happy to have a recipe that contains much less sugar than most.  The jam is perfect in yogurt, I just stirred it into the plain yogurt and didn't need to add any other sweetener.  It's also great on toasted English muffins!  Raspberries are probably my favorite fruit, but I'd like to experiment with peaches or strawberries, too. (Update: In the month since I first made the raw jam, I have also made raw peach, grape, and strawberry jam, with great results each time!)

Basic Granola

1 1/2 C oats
2 Tbsp applesauce
1/2 C chopped raw nuts (I used cashews)
1/2 C seeds (I used sunflower and sesame)
1 Tbsp melted coconut oil (you can do this in a measuring cup in the microwave)
1/4 C water
3 Tbsp honey or maple syrup (I used honey)
1/2 C dried fruit (I used dried cherries, blueberries, and cranberries)

Preheat oven to 350 and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together oats and applesauce until evenly coated.  Stir in nuts and seeds.  In a small bowl, stir together melted coconut oil, water, and honey or maple syrup.  Pour evenly over granola mixture and stir to coat.

Evenly spread granola on parchment paper and bake, stirring every 15 minutes, until granola is golden and dry.  If you're not sure whether it's dried yet, you can remove a little from the oven and let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes, it will quickly harden if it's ready.

Let granola cool completely, then pour into a container, add dried fruit, and shake to combine.

Yield:  About 8 servings

Raw Raspberry Jam

2 C raspberries (I used a 12 oz bag of thawed, frozen raspberries)
3 Tbsp honey
3 Tbsp chia seeds

Puree raspberries with a food processor or immersion blender, then stir in  honey and chia seeds.  Store covered in the refrigerator overnight so the chia seeds can expand and thicken the jam.

Yield:  About 2 cups

An InLinkz Link-up

Secret Recipe Club: Arroz con Pollo

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned the fabulous blog, Kitchen Trial and Error!  It's written by the lovely Kate, who lives in Rochester, NY with her family.  She's a busy lady but still cooks all kinds of great looking recipes.  I had a very difficult time choosing one this month and seriously had about 20 set aside to pick from.  Tempting recipes included Pumpkin Sheet Cake with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting, Tomato & Meatball Soup, Apple Chicken Chili, and Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken.  Her recipe for baked ziti looks fantastic as well, but it's basically the same as my recipe since it's from the same source!
    

The recipe I ended up going with was Arroz con Pollo.  I've always wanted to try this dish and for whatever reason, it's the one my mind kept migrating back to.  My minor changes were to use bacon grease instead of olive oil (I followed the recipe back to its source on another blog and it said to use bacon), my bell pepper was a different color, I used a full 4 C of chicken broth, and I only simmered the rice for 20 minutes since that's how long my rice usually takes to cook and I didn't want it to get mushy.  Next time I would wait to add the chicken back to the pan until I add the rice to prevent it from being overcooked, but that's the only change.
     

Small tinkerings aside, this was a good recipe.  My husband loved it and gave the chicken a 9 and the rice a 10, which surprised me.  He doesn't even like peas, but liked them here.  We actually made this together and it was a lot of fun.  We had an insane amount of rice leftover (no surprise since it uses 3 1/2 cups!), but I'm going to freeze the leftovers to serve with tacos and the like, which will be fun.  In the future, I will use another pound of chicken.

Update:  I have tinkered with the recipe a bit more over subsequent times making it and have updated the recipe to match how I make it now.  We really enjoy it.

Arroz con Pollo

2 Tbsp bacon grease
3 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cleaned and cut in half
1 onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
12 oz beer
4 C chicken broth
8 oz tomato sauce
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 tsp salt, plus more to sprinkle on chicken
1/4 tsp pepper, plus more to sprinkle on chicken
2 tsp cumin, plus more to sprinkle on chicken
2 tsp dried oregano (I used Mexican oregano)
3 1/2 C white rice
1 C frozen peas

In a dutch oven, melt bacon grease over medium high heat.  Sprinkle chicken with salt, pepper, and cumin, then brown on both sides in bacon grease.  Remove to a plate.  Add onion and bell pepper to dutch oven and saute until they turn translucent, then add garlic and saute another minute or so until it turns golden.  Stir in beer, chicken broth, tomato sauce, bay leaf, oregano, salt, and cumin.  Simmer on low for 10 minutes, then stir in rice.  Top with reserved chicken.  Bring to a boil, cover the dutch oven, and reduce the heat to low.  Let cook without lifting the lid for 20 minutes, then remove the dutch oven from the heat and stir in the peas.  Replace the lid and let it sit for a minute so the peas can thaw.

Yield:  12 servings

An InLinkz Link-up

<!-- end InLinkz script —>

Secret Recipe Club: 30 Minute Dinner Rolls

This month's SRC recipe comes from the blog Hun... What's for Dinner?, which is written by a very nice sounding young stay-at-home mom of two adorable children.  She is a very busy cook and makes all kinds of things!  I really want to try her Stuffed Savory Ham and Cheese French Toast and Old Fashioned Tomato Noodle Soup (I feel these two would be really good paired together), but ended up choosing her 30 Minute Dinner Rolls.  The idea of rolls in 30 minutes really intrigued me and the picture she posted looked really good, so I gave it a go.

Lucky I did, too, because the rolls are so good!  They're quick, yes, but believe me when I say the quality does not suffer.  They're soft, puffy, and very, very tasty.  I have no idea how they're so good when they take so little effort, but you won't hear me complaining!  The main advantage to these I think is that without all of the kneading and rising, the guesswork of how long it will take to make the rolls is completely gone.  You can't really rush rising dough and it doesn't always cooperate with the other things you're trying to get on the table, but that's not really a problem with this recipe since the times are so predictable.

30 Minute Dinner Rolls

1/4 C sugar
1/3 C vegetable oil
1 C plus 2 Tbsp warm water
2 Tbsp yeast
4 C flour, divided
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg

In the bowl of a stand mixer, stir together sugar, oil, water, and yeast until yeast dissolves.  Let sit for 15 minutes.  The yeast should look creamy and have grown some.

Add 2 C of the flour, the salt, and the egg, then stir it in.  Stir in additional flour in 1/2 C increments until it's too difficult, then attach the dough hook and knead until the dough comes together and looks uniform.  It's okay if it's sticky and don't worry about kneading it past when the dough comes together.

Grease a 9 by 13 baking dish, grease your hands, and then form the dough into 12 equal sized balls and arrange them evenly in the dish.  Place the dish in the oven and let the rolls rise for 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes have passed, turn the oven to 400.  Set your timer for 10 minutes once the oven finishes preheating.  The rolls are done baking when they're golden brown.

Yield: 12 large rolls

An InLinkz Link-up

Secret Recipe Club: Peanut Slaw

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned the amazing blog, Cupcake Muffin!  I knew I'd find a lot to like here because I'm sort of cupcake and muffin crazy.  Sara's blog did not disappoint!  She has all kinds of super yummy looking recipes on her blog, and let me tell ya, it was hard to pick.  When I first pulled up her blog, Giant Cheddar-Cornmeal Biscuit was the most recent recipe she'd posted, and it's an instant winner in my book.  I didn't end up actually making it, but plan to soon.  Other wonderful looking choices include Enchilada Pasta, Snow Day Marble Cake, Korean Chicken Lettuce Wraps, and Frenchie Mac.  I will for sure try the Enchilada Pasta and Snow Day Marble Cake!

When push came to shove, I ended up choosing Sara's Peanut Slaw.  My husband and I were having an impromptu dinner of turkey sandwiches (with good bread and deli turkey, yum!) and fruit salad, and I thought coleslaw would go with it really well.  I was right!  Usually I prefer mayo based coleslaw dressings, but the peanut version is really good.  I think it would go really well with a main dish that has an Asian flair, I guess peanuts in savory dishes make me think of Thai food.  Seems like a perfect side dish with all the grilling I hope to do this summer.
 
My only changes were to toast the chopped nuts, I left out the onion (don't like raw onion), and used a package of pre-shredded cabbage and carrots because shredding cabbage myself makes me want to gouge my eyeballs out.

 
Peanut Slaw
 
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp peanut butter
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
2-3 Tbsp boiling water
1 lb bag pre-shredded cabbage and carrots that's packaged for coleslaw
1/2 C chopped peanuts

In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, peanut butter, garlic, vinegar, and salt until smooth.  Whisk in boiling water, using enough to make a salad dressing consistency (I used the full 3 Tbsp).  Place shredded cabbage and carrots in a large bowl and pour dressing over top, toss gently to combine.  Cover the bowl and refrigerate for a couple of hours.

Place chopped peanuts in a small skillet and toast over medium-low heat until they turn golden, about 3-5 minutes.  Stir constantly so they don't burn and then immediately pour the toasted nuts into a bowl so they don't burn in the skillet while it cools down.

When you're ready to serve the coleslaw, toss it again and stir in the toasted peanuts.

Yield:  About 6 servings

An InLinkz Link-up

Secret Recipe Club: Deviled Ham Spread

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned the blog Sid's Sea Palm Cooking! Sid cooks up a variety of really interesting recipes, and hosts a tapas night every month. That sounds like an awesome idea and I wish I was organized enough (and social enough) to do that! Besides, who doesn't love tapas?
 
My recipe choice was Deviled Ham Spread. I picked it mostly because I've never had or made anything like it, and it isn't really something I'd usually make. This recipe club seemed like a good opportunity to make it! I also considered Light and Airy Biscuits for a Crowd, and Tijuana Tilly Cheese Enchiladas. In the end, I went with the ham spread because I could prepare it quickly and didn't have to actually heat anything up, which is great if you may be faced with frequent interruptions. Why am I facing interruptions? We got a puppy :D She's beautiful, sweet, and adorable, but she also has a teeny tiny bladder and requires a lot of my undivided attention and frequent spur of the moment trips outside! She's actually pitching a fit in her pen right now because Mama's paying attention to the computer instead of playing with her. I think I chose the right recipe!  Needless to say, very little cooking has been happening since we got her two weeks ago.
 
I did make two little changes to the recipe. First, I used mayo instead of sour cream because sour cream in large amounts upsets my husband's stomach and I knew he would end up having the ham spread on sandwiches for lunch during the week. I also used onion powder instead of shallots, but that's only because I remembered the shallots as we were driving out of the grocery store parking lot. Oops! No harm done, but I'd like to try the shallots next time.
 
Verdict? Yummy, and unlike anything either of us have had before! I'm glad I tried it. Next time I make it, I'll do the shallots instead of onion powder like the recipe says, and I may actually halve the amount of cream cheese so the ham is a bit more prominent. No complaints though, this is a solid recipe and makes a lot!
  

   
Deviled Ham Spread

2 C cubed ham
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 C mayo
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 1/2 tsp yellow mustard
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 clove garlic, minced
salt to taste

Place ham in the bowl of a food processor and process until fine.  Stir together all other ingredients in a medium mixing bowl, then stir in ham.  Add salt to taste.  Cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours, then serve with crackers, pretzels, veggies, or as a sandwich spread.
 

An InLinkz Link-up

Secret Recipe Club: Buffalo Chicken Pizza

My Secret Recipe Club assignment for this month is Sarah's blog, Things I Make (for Dinner)!  Sarah lives in Canada, is married, and has been blogging since 2012. 

  

I considered making her Rustic Plum Tart, Baked Egg Boats, Hot Cheese Sandwiches, Volcano Sandwiches, or Spaghetti Carbonara, but I couldn't resist her Buffalo Chicken Pizza.  Believe me when I say this is one yummy pizza!  We love homemade pizza (this was the 4th weekend in a row I've made pizza), but in spite of loving buffalo chicken, I've neither had nor made buffalo chicken pizza before.  How could I resist it when I found a recipe on Sarah's blog?  No regrets, either, because it's delicious!  My husband really enjoyed it, too.  It's definitely one I'll make again and I'd like to use the sauce for other pizzas.

  
You can really make this pizza your own.  The type of pizza crust you use (store bought, homemade thin, pan, whatever) and even the size of the pizza is up to you.  The recipe makes a cup of sauce and it was nice and rather thin (but still delicious!) on my large pizza, but you could make a smaller pizza if you want and just have a thicker layer of the amazing sauce.  You can also use however much hot sauce, cheese, and green onions you want.

  

  

 Buffalo Chicken Pizza

 for sauce:

1 Tbsp butter

1 clove garlic, minced

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 C milk

1/4 tsp salt
 

for pizza:

pizza dough (2/3 of this recipe works great, just freeze the other 1/3 for later)

2 C shredded or chopped cooked chicken

1/3 C Frank's Red Hot Sauce or other hot sauce of choice (can use more to taste)

shredded mozzarella or crumbled blue cheese

shredded cheddar

green onions, sliced

 

for sauce:

melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Add garlic and saute until golden.  Add cream cheese, milk, and salt, and whisk until smooth.

 

for pizza:

Preheat oven to 450 and grease a large baking pam (I use butter).  Press or roll dough out to fit pan and prick all over with a fork.  Spread sauce over crust, then top evenly with the chicken, cheese, and green onions.  Bake until crust is lightly browned and cheese is melted and bubbly, about 12-20 minutes.

An InLinkz Link-up

Secret Recipe Club: Thai Peanut Noodles

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned Jess's blog, Inquiring Chef!  I was really excited to get her blog because I'd already poked around on it a bit.  Her blog is just chock full of amazing looking recipes.  I couldn't sleep the day we got our SRC assignments and actually read her entire blog that night, all the way back to when she started it in late 2010!
 

Jess's blog is really interesting, and not just because of the recipes she posts.  She's lived in Thailand with her husband for the past several years.  I absolutely love travel and am fascinated with different cultures, so her blog is a good read!  Jess and her husband also have a pair of pretty much the cutest identical twin baby girls, Molly and Clara.  I even love their names!
 

Anyway, to the recipes.  I marked a good 20 of them as possibilities to make for this blog post.  A couple of weeks ago, I actually made her Parmesan Rosemary Oven Fries, but realized after I made them that she originally adapted the recipe for an SRC post a couple years ago, so I had to pick a different recipe for my post.  No problem, like I said, she has lots of yummy looking recipes.  The ones I considered the most were Chicken and Orzo with Lemon and Olives, Chicken Stew with Rosemary Parmesan Dumplings (any recipe with rosemary catches my eye!), Crispy Scallion Pancakes, Baked Crab Rangoon, Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps, Chocolate Pots de Creme, Light and Fluffy Whole Wheat Pancakes, Apple Rubies in Coconut Milk, and her very simple looking 5 Minute Baked Ziti.  I fully intend on making the ziti, whole wheat pancakes, chicken with orzo, and apple rubies very soon!
 

In the end, I chose Thai Peanut Noodles.  I've made recipes for peanut noodles a few times in the past, and they've ranged from okay to pretty good.  None of them were good enough for me to make again or post on my blog, though.  I'm happy to say that Jess's recipe makes the cut to qualify for its own blog post, even if I didn't have to post about it!

My only changes were to sprinkle the crushed peanuts on top as a garnish instead of mixing them in, and I used canned Chaokoh coconut milk instead of the lighter kind you drink because I didn't catch that I was supposed to use the drinking kind until after I'd purchased a can.  No regrets, though, because the noodles turned out amazing!  Very creamy and delicious with great peanut, coconut, and curry flavor.  Absolutely no complaints, and I intend to make the recipe with the canned coconut milk in the future.  Next time I'll use another half teaspoon of red curry paste (I used Thai Kitchen brand, turns out it's pretty mild) and spaghetti noodles instead of bucatini, but that's it for alterations.

Just want to note, I served these noodles with Salt & Pepper Tofu Triangles and thinly sliced cucumber tossed with seasoned rice vinegar.  Very satisfying dinner!  I can also confirm that leftover noodles are delicious both cold and reheated.
 

Thai Peanut Noodles
 

8 oz spaghetti noodles

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp red curry paste (or more if you want more spice)

1/4 C peanut butter (the typical kind like Jif or Skippy that has a bit of sugar in it)

1/4 C water

1/2 C coconut milk

1 tsp salt
 

for garnish:
finely chopped peanuts

sliced green onion

Cook pasta in lightly salted water and drain.

While pasta cooks, heat oil over medium in a large nonstick skillet.  Add curry paste and peanut butter, and cook until both are melted and mixed together.  Don't cook at too high a temperature or the peanut butter can separate (I had to throw away my first go at it)!

Stir in water, coconut milk, and salt, and cook until sauce is very smooth and slightly thickened, about 2-3 minutes.  Add cooked, drained pasta and toss to coat.  Divide among plates to serve and garnish with chopped peanuts and green onion.

Yield: About 3-4 servings
 

An InLinkz Link-up