White Pizza
Pizza dough
12 ounces ricotta cheese
8 ounces mozzarella cheese
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
parsley flakes
oregano
2 cups spinach leaf, whole
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No pictures, but I have forced myself to actually cook two Mondays in a row (last week was penne alla vodka). At some point a couple years ago, in the midst of one of my (ongoing?) bouts of depression, I lost all interest in cooking. I could manage baking, mostly, but cooking? Not so much. So we’ve been going out to eat or living on prepared foods Michael could easily make.

But I want to start cooking again, so this is a small start.

Dinner was squash and spinach over spinach linguini, and dessert was cannoli cream with fresh strawberries.

Squash and Spinach Pasta

1/4 cup onion, minced
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon regular olive oil or canola oil
2 large garlic cloves, minced fine
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon peppercorn, ground
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon parsley, freeze-dried
1/2 medium zucchini squash, chopped
1/2 medium yellow squash, chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped
1/4 cup white wine
2 cups spinach leaf
Fresh grated Parmesan cheese

Heat the past water.

Do all your mis en place, and press the garlic into the tablespoon extra virgin olive oil.

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add table spoon oil, then saute onions. Add garlic and spices and saute briefly. Add in squash and ignore for several minutes while squash sears/cooks.

Start pasta (assuming ~12 minute cooking time).

When squash looks about halfway cooked, add tomato.

As tomato cooks, add more spices as desired. Carefully pour white wine (it may have been closer to half a cup) into pan, and carefully stir. Right before pasta is finished, add fresh spinach.

Serve over pasta with Parmesan cheese.

~450 calories including pasta and cheese.

Cannoli Cream with Fresh Fruit
15 ounces ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons whipping cream or milk
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
(1 tablespoon lemon or orange zest)

Put everything into the food processor.

Process until smooth.

Refrigerate for at least an hour. Serve over fresh fruit.

1/4 cup cream is 140 calories.

Feel free to commence drooling.

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Biscuits
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup butter, unsalted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup buttermilk

2 quarts strawberries, sliced
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar or lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar

Whipped cream
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This has absolutely no redeeming nutritional value. And I don’t think I care in the slightest. The original receipe called for peanuts, but I never have peanuts on hand. Plus, I really like walnuts. They also called for semi-sweet chocolate chips, but I only have bittersweet chips. Plus, I like bittersweet chocolate. It also wanted me to melt the caramel candies with water, but I’m too lazy for that, so I used caramel sauce (not caramel “flavored” sauce!)

Crust
16 Oreos
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Filling
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
7 oz marshmallow creme
4 ounces neufchatel cheese, softened
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon caramel topping
6 ounces caramel topping
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

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Made vanilla pudding yesterday, and I have to say that for me, this recipe was a failure. Flavor was good, but it was WAAAAY to thick.

Here’s the base recipe I ended up with, after making substitutions for what was in the fridge.

Vanilla Pudding
2 cups whipping cream
1/4 cup 1% low-fat milk
6 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large egg yolk
2 tablespoons butter, unsalted
1/2 vanilla bean
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

I used a hand mixer instead of a food processor to incorporate air throughout the process, but it was still too think for me to enjoy it.

I wonder if leaving out the egg yolks entirely would help…

This week, I made butterscotch pudding. Except, I used bourbon instead of scotch, because bourbon is what I have in the house.

Butterscotch Pudding

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons cornstarch
8 egg yolks
pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon bourbon or scotch

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Last week’s, but still, yummy.

Panna Cotta
2 1/2 tablespoons gelatin (I’m going to use less next time)
1 cup whole milk
3 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean
1/8 teaspoon salt

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Yeah, I needed oreos. I know I haven’t made a new tasty Tuesday post in ages. But this is what you get.

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In addition to new cookie varieties, this year I decided to try to make eggnog. I did a bit of research, and combined several recipes (one recipe called for three dozen eggs–and served eighty). Here is the end result–pretty good!

4 pasteurized eggs (nothing is cooked, so this is important to avoid food poisoning)
1/2 cup sugar
2 – 4 tsp vanilla extract
2 oz brandy
2 oz bourbon
1-3 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
4 cups milk (I used 2%)
1/2 pint heavy cream, whipped (if you’re using whole milk, you can probably skip this)

Separate the eggs. In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks until lighter yellow. Add the sugar, and beat until the sugar is dissolved.

Add in the vanilla, brandy, bourbon, and nutmeg, then add the milk.

Unless you have multiple mixing bowls, put the egg nog into a cold container and put in the fridge for now.

Whisk the egg whites until they are firm. (I totally forgot how long this takes, as I’ve only been whisking whipped cream recently. This takes a long time. Be patient.)

Slowly whisk the milk mixture into the egg whites. Put the egg nog back into the cold container, and put back in the fridge for now.

Whip the cream with a dash of sugar.

Once the cream is whipped, slowly add in the egg and milk mixture.

Put the completed mixture back unto the container (I’m using a glass milk jug, which is perfect) and refrigerate until chilled.

When you’re ready to serve, whisk or shake the mixture, pour into glasses, and if you’re feeling fancy, grate fresh nutmeg over each serving.

Very yummy!

This holiday also had a trip to VA, where my all of my cousins were in for Christmas. At the instigation of Ben, we made the Lithuanian cookie Krusties (pronounced, at least by my family, christies)

The recipe is fairly simple:

Krusties
1/2 tsp baking powder
6 whole eggs
6 egg yolks
2 sticks butter
6 cups flour
1 shot whiskey/rum
pinch cardamom

1 large can crisco, for frying

Mix together all the ingredients in a mixer. Wrap in waxed paper or place in a plastic bag, and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to make, heat solid fat (Crisco or lard) in large frying pan. You’ll need an inch or two of hot oil.

You’ll also want to line most of your work areas with newspaper, or used wrapping paper, or anything else that absorbs oil and sugar, and makes clean up easier.

Find aprons for everyone–this can get messy! We rolled out our batches of dough on floured waxed paper.

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Oh yes, I will be making English Muffins again.

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