Eat My Charlotte

This recipe No Boil Classic Lasagne comes from the back of a box of Mueller’s lasagne noodles. Surprisingly the recipe doesn’t call for the special “no boil” noodles though the recipe itself is no boil (as in, you don’t have to pre-boil the lasagne noodles prior to assembly and baking).

Hm. Do I like crusty non-cooked pasta bits? Dry lasagna? Eh… I wasn’t sure about this recipe after reading it.

But you know what? It was actually pretty good. Not having to boil the noodles rocks! No more burning my fingertips handling hot noodles, and it saved me from having to wash an extra pot and colander.

The recipe calls for either 1 pound of ground beef or Italian sausage. I used both – a half pound each. I think the sausage lends some nice flavors to the dish, so I’d recommend you use some sausage as opposed to all ground beef.

Also, if you are counting calories, feel free to sub in fat free ricotta cheese. You really can’t tell the difference.

No Boil Classic Lasagne
Prep time: 20 min.
Cook time: 1 hour
Serves: 8019

8 oz Mueller’s Lasagne, uncooked
15 oz ricotta cheese or cottage cheese
2 cups Mozzarella cheese, divided
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 eggs, lightly beaten
6-1/2 cups any pasta sauce
1 lb ground beef or Italian sausage, cooked and drained
1 tsp parsley Flakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In medium bowl, combine Ricotta cheese, 1 cup of Mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, and eggs; mix well.

In separate bowl, add browned meat to pasta sauce; mix well.

Spread 1 cup of meat-sauce mixture in 9″x13″ pan.

Place 1/3 of the uncooked Lasagne noodles over sauce. Spread 1/2 of the cheese mixture over noodles, top with 1/3 of meat-sauce mixture.

Repeat layering. Top with remaining noodles and meat-sauce mixture.

Cover with foil. Bake 55 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with reserved Mozzarella cheese and parsley flakes.

Bake an additional 5 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting and serving.

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Red velvet cakes always draw comments. Comments about the shocking red color, the indescribable flavor, and the delicious cream cheese frosting that always accompanies it.

Though recipes for this cake vary, red velvet is always characterized by three things: buttermilk, cocoa, and the red color. Though it contains cocoa, the flavor can’t really be described as “chocolate,” nor can it be characterized as just a “vanilla white cake.” Some say it’s just a Devil’s food cake with red coloring. You’ll have to try it to know.

Making red velvet cupcakes from scratch requires a whole bottle or two of red food coloring. And you know what that means… red-stained clothing and stained fingers. I always manage to get it somewhere on myself.

Having learned my lesson, this time I just “doctored” a pre-boxed red velvet cake mix. (I know this is totally cheating, but please forgive me!) To add some weight and flavor to the mix, I used buttermilk instead of water and an extra egg.

Contrasted with luscious white cream cheese frosting on top, these dramatic red cupcakes really take the cake.

Red Velvet Cupcakes
Makes 24

1 box red velvet cake mix
1 cup buttermilk
3 eggs

Follow instructions on the back of the box, except use 1 cup buttermilk where they ask for water (the amount of buttermilk will be less than the amount of water asked for in recipe), and mix in 3 eggs rather than however many eggs asked for.

Bake according to box directions.

Top with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting
Enough for 24 cupcakes

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
8 oz (half a stick of butter) unsalted butter, room temperature
6-8 cups powdered sugar
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped OR 2 teaspoon vanilla extract (the vanilla extract will color the frosting so it loses it’s pure white color)

In bowl, cream together cream cheese and butter, until uniformly combined. Add vanilla extract/vanilla bean and mix. Add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time until desired pipeable or spreadable texture is met.

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My mom nicknamed my sister and me her “bread machines” because every time we go home for a visit, she always puts us to work making homemade dinner bread rolls, wheat rolls, raisin bread, challah, or some other bread.

Making bread is a labor of love. You’ve got to deal with live yeast, kneading dough, resting the dough, waiting for the dough to rise, punching it down, more kneading, forming, more rising, baking, and cooling. And you’ve got to have a large chunk of time on your hands since the entire process can take hours. Hence, that’s what my mom gets my sister and/or me to do it.

Here’s my favorite challah recipe. The recipe makes two beautiful loaves and is totally worth the time and effort. Keep one and give one away, or keep both! (The leftovers make great French toast.)

Challah
Yield: 2 loaves.

4 1/2 to 5 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 Tbs sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 package of Fleischmann’s dry yeast
1/2 cup margarine softened
1 cup very warm tap water (120-130 degree)
4 eggs room temperature
1 tsp cold water
Poppy Seeds and/or Sesame Seeds, optional

Add yeast, water, sugar, margarine, salt, and 1 1/2 cups flour; blend well. Stir in 3 eggs, 1 egg white (reserve 1 yolk), and enough remaining flour to make soft dough. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 6 to 8 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 40 to 60 minutes.

Punch dough down. Remove dough to lightly floured surface; divide in half. Set aside 1 half. Divide remaining half into 2 pieces, one about 2/3 of the dough and the other about 1/3 of the dough. Divide larger piece into 3 equal pieces; roll to 12-inch ropes. Place ropes on greased baking sheet; braid. Pinch ends to seal. Divide remaining piece into 3 equal pieces. Roll to 10-inch ropes; braid. Place small braid on large braid. Pinch ends firmly to seal and secure to large braid. Repeat with remaining dough to make second loaf. Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 40 to 60 minutes.

Beat reserved egg yolk with 1 teaspoon water; brush over loaves. Sprinkle with poppy or sesame seed, if desired. Bake at 400 F for 20 to 25 minutes or until done, switching positions of sheets in oven halfway through baking time. Remove from sheets; let cool on wire racks.

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Here’s my tried and true weekday recipe: Shrimp Fra Diavolo.

It’s got a lotta shrimp, a lotta garlic, and a little wine. The recipe is from little Food Network’s resident bobble-head Giada De Laurentiis. Seriously, she’s got the biggest head ever, right? Or maybe her body is exceptionally small…

Anyway, this dish is easy enough to cook for one, yet fancy enough to be served to guests. Served with Lemon Spaghetti, it’s delicious. It’s been a staple in my cooking repertoire and I’ve been making it regularly for at least 4 years now. (Which says a lot because I rarely make a dish more than once.)

I hope you like it as much as I do.

Shrimp Fra Diavolo

1 pound large shrimp, peeled, deveined
1 teaspoon salt, plus additional as needed
1 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons olive oil, plus 1 to 2 tablespoons
1 medium onion, sliced
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 cup dry white wine
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
3 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
3 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves

Toss the shrimp in a medium bowl with 1 teaspoon of salt and red pepper flakes.

Heat the 3 tablespoons oil in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp and saute for about a minute, toss, and continue cooking until just cooked through, about 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer the shrimp to a large plate; set aside.

Add the onion to the same skillet, adding 1 to 2 teaspoons of olive oil to the pan, if necessary, and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes with their juices, wine, garlic, and oregano. Simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, about 10 minutes.

Return the shrimp and any accumulated juices to the tomato mixture; toss to coat, and cook for about a minute so the flavors meld together. Stir in the parsley and basil. Season with more salt, to taste, and serve. (Serve with Lemon Spaghetti)

Lemon Spaghetti

1 pound spaghetti
2/3 cup olive oil
2/3 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk the oil, Parmesan, and lemon juice in a large bowl to blend.Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Toss the pasta with the lemon sauce, and the reserved cooking liquid, adding 1/4 cup at a time as needed to moisten. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with lemon zest and chopped basil.

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When cream cheese goes on sale at the Teeter, I can’t help but buy four blocks. Why four? Four is the necessary amount blocks to make a big, honkin’, at least 10-pound cheesecake.

For me, a good cheesecake is defined by a crushed cookie or cracker crust, a creamy baked middle, and THICK tall slices – no puny slices allowed. And none of that no-bake stuff either. If you are gonna make cheesecake, might as well go big or go home.

Cheesecakes are finicky things. One of the challenges of making a cheesecake is getting a smooth top. In the baking and cooling process, cheesecakes tend to split down the middle like the Grand Canyon, leaving it to you to come up with a creative idea to hide the crack. Also, it’s tough to achieve a creamy silky cake – sometimes they come out thick and dry. Some recipes require water baths, leaving the cake sitting in the oven for hours, sour cream topping, pre-baking the crust, etc. Blech, who has time for that?

Well, here is a simple, straight-forward recipe that yields a tall, creamy cake that comes out crack-free.

This plain vanilla cheesecake has a gingersnap crust and a blueberry lemon topping. Strangely, it’s the easiest cheesecake recipe I’ve made and the results are the best yet. For a more traditional cake, feel free to substitute in graham crackers for the crust or to use canned cherry topping.

Perfect New York Cheesecake

Ingredients:
2 cups crushed gingersnap cookies
2 tablespoons butter, melted

4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese (room temperature)
1 1/2 cups white sugar

3/4 cup milk
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9 inch springform pan.

2. In a medium bowl, mix cookie crumbs with melted butter. Press onto bottom and sides of springform pan. (Tip: Use the bottom of a glass to press and flatten the crumbs in tight.)

3. In a large bowl, mix cream cheese with sugar until smooth. (Tip: I use the paddle attachment on my Kitchen-Aid, not the wire beater. Also, don’t mix too furiously. Beating in too much air contributes to collapsing, cracking, and a ruins the dense texture you are trying to achieve.) Blend in milk, and then mix in the eggs one at a time, mixing just enough to incorporate. Mix in sour cream, vanilla and flour until smooth. Pour filling into prepared crust.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. Turn the oven off, and let cake cool in oven with the door closed for 1 to 2 hours; this prevents cracking. Chill in refrigerator until serving. Top with blueberry topping if desired.

Blueberry Lemon Topping

1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries
1/4 sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in a few tablespoons cold water

Boil blueberries, sugar and water until blueberries soften. Add in enough of the cornstarch mixture to thicken topping to desired consistency.

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After I took advantage of the BOGO (buy-one-get-one free, for those who don’t know grocery speak) pork tenderloin sale at Bi-Lo, I ended up with 20 pounds of pork. What’s a girl to do? Well, make porky dishes, obviously.

For this Chile Pork dish, you just throw it in the oven and forget about it. After 45 minutes of marinating, you slow bake the pork for 1.5 hours at a low temperature. What you get is crispy, seasoned bite-sized pieces of pork perfect for making some tacos with.

Crisp up some corn tortillas for your tacos in a pan on the stove-top, then layer on re-fried beans, chopped pork, sour cream, pineapple salsa, a little Mexican rice, cilantro and cheese … or whatever else you’d like, mis amigos.

Chile Pork

Ingredients:
3 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro

2 pounds pork tenderloin, cubed
1 dash ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Mix together: chili powder, salt, cumin, garlic cilantro and pepper. Coat pork cubes with mixture and let sit for 45 minutes in refrigerator.
2. Preheat oven to 225 degrees F (107 degrees C).
3. Bake 1 hr 30 min to 1 hr 40 min, or until crispy.

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The Indian dish Tandoori Chicken is named after the special tandoor oven in which it is cooked. The tandoor is a cylindrical clay oven used for cooking and baking. Known for reaching temperatures around 900°F, the oven exposes the food to both live-fire, radiant heat cooking, and hot-air, convection cooking. Cooking Tandoori Chicken in such an oven results in juicy, slightly charred chicken.

So how do you cook it without the tandoor oven? I’ll show you!

This recipe is from Cook’s Illustrated magazine. The results were delish. My friend exclaimed, “This is the best f***ing chicken ever!”

The process isn’t so difficult, just slightly more time consuming than your average mix and bake recipes. You have to make a marinade, massage the chicken, coat the chicken in sauce, bake it, then broil it.

Totally worth the effort though. I served the Tandoori Chicken with some mango chutney (Major Grey’s) on the side and saffron yellow rice.

See that full-fat plain yogurt in the picture above? (I got the kind with “Cream Top”… extra rich.) That is very important. Make sure not to get the low-fat or fat-free plain yogurt.

Tandoori Chicken

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
5 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through garlic press (2 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon garam masala
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
4 tablespoons juice from 2 limes, plus 1 lime, cut into wedges
2 teaspoons table salt
3 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken parts, skin removed and trimmed of excess fat

1.  Heat oil in small skillet over medium heat until shimmering.  Add garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add garam masala, cumin, and chili powder; continue to cook until fragrant, 30 to 60 seconds longer.  Transfer half of garlic-spice mixture to medium bowl; stir in yogurt and 2 tablespoons lime juice and set aside.

2.  In large bowl, combine remaining garlic-spice mixture, remaining 2 tablespoons lime juice, and salt.  Using sharp knife, lightly score skinned side of each piece of chicken, making 2 or 3 shallow cuts about 1 inch apart and about 1/8 inch deep; transfer to bowl.  Using hands, gently massage salt-spice mixture into chicken until all pieces are evenly coated; let stand at room temperate 30 minutes.

3.  Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position (about 6 inches from heating element) and heat oven to 325 degrees.  Pour yogurt mixture over chicken and toss until chicken is evenly coated with thick layer.  Arrange chicken pieces, scored-side down, on wire rack set in foil-lined, rimmed baking sheet or broiler pan.  Discard excess yogurt mixture. Bake chicken until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of chicken registers 125 degrees for breasts and 130 for legs and thighs, 15 to 25 minutes.  (Smaller pieces may cook faster than larger pieces. Transfer chicken from pieces to plate as they reach correct temperature.)

4.  After removing chicken from oven, turn oven to broil and heat 10 minutes.  Once broiler is heated, flip chicken pieces over and broil until chicken is lightly charred in spots and instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of chicken registers 165 degrees for breasts and 15 for legs and thighs, 8 to 15 minutes.  Transfer chicken to large plate, tent loosely with foil, and rest 5 minutes.  Serve with chutney or relish, passing lime wedges separately.

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Feeling hefty after Thanksgiving feasting? Got leftover cranberries?

Make these light Cranberry Lemon Muffins. I originally found a recipe for Cranberry Lemon Muffins online, but it called for a whole lot of oil, sugar and unhealthy white flour. Unable to justify making these muffins for a healthy post-Thanksgiving breakfast, I tweaked the recipe to make them healthier and tastier.

In place of the 2 cups of white flour, I replaced one of those cups with whole wheat pastry flour. Instead of using a full 1/2 cup vegetable oil, I filled the 1/2 cup measuring cup mostly with applesauce and topped it off with oil. And because the applesauce provided a lot of natural sweetness, I was able to cut down the 1 cup of sugar too. The original recipe called for lemon extract, but to amp up the flavor, I subbed in a tablespoon of fresh lemon zest. I also added an extra handful of cranberries for good measure. And to add a final touch, I made a mixture of lemon zest and sugar to sprinkle on the tops of the muffins.

The results were so fantastic, my family asked me to make another double batch the next day.

Cranberry Lemon Muffins

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup, minus about 4 or 5 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs

1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil and applesauce (fill up measuring cup mostly with applesauce and then top off last tablespoon or so with oil)
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 1/4 cup fresh cranberries, halved

For topping:
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 tablespoons sugar

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In another bowl, beat the eggs, milk, oil/applesauce and lemon zest. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in cranberries.

2. Mix together topping ingredients in a small bowl.

2. Fill paper-lined muffin cups almost full; sprinkle with topping. Bake at 400 degrees F for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

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I had never heard of Chicken and Dumplings until I moved down south a few years ago. Boy, was I missing out. The creamy stew of chicken, veggies, and broth topped with hearty fluffy biscuits made of cream and flour is the ultimate comfort food for a cold winter day.

This recipe takes only one hour and you get great results. Though you don’t make your own chicken broth here, this is the real deal, no short-cuts like using cans of globby cream of chicken. There’s no need to cheat by using canned biscuits either – these drop biscuits are easy to put together. You can even use shredded leftover Thanksgiving turkey in place of the chicken (just skip to step 2).

Chicken and Dumplings

Stew:
5 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed
5 Tbs unsalted butter
4 carrots, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 large onion, chopped fine
1 tsp salt
3 garlic cloves
6 Tbs all-purpose flour
3/4 cup dry sherry
1/3 cup heavy cream

Dumplings:
2 cups flour
1 Tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/3 cups heavy cream

Directions for the stew
1. Bring broth to a simmer in Dutch oven over high heat. Add chicken and return to simmer. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until chicken is just cooked through (about 10 min). Transfer chicken to a plate and tent with aluminum foil. Transfer broth into large bowl.

2. Return empty Dutch oven to medium-high heat and melt butter. Add carrots, onion, and salt and cook until softened, about 7 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook 30 seconds. Stir in four and cook, stirring frequently, for 1 minute. Stir in sherry, scraping up browned bits. Stir in reserved broth, cream, thyme, bay leaves, and pepper and bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer until stew thickens, about 20 minutes.

Directions for dumplings
Stir flour, baking powder, and salt in large bowl. Stir in cream until incorporated (dough will be very thick and shaggy).

To finish
Discard bay leaves and return stew to rapid simmer. Shred reserved chicken and add to stew along with any accumulated juices, peas, 3 tablespoons parsley. Using 2 large soup spoons or small ice cream scoop, drop golf ball-sized dumpling onto stew about 1/4 inch apart (you should have 16 – 18 dumplings). Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until dumplings have doubled in size, 15 – 18 minutes. Garnish with remaining parsley. Serve.

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Now that it’s cooler outside, my ice cream maker is working so much better. It has finally decided to cooperate. During the hot summer months, I could churn and churn without results because the frozen canister would defrost so quickly in the 80 degree weather. Now, it works like a charm – I can get ice cream in 20 minutes. Luckily, I appreciate ice cream year ’round, so eating massive amounts of ice cream now makes me just as happy as eating it during the summer.

So now I’ve started churning out batch after batch of ice cream. The most current flavor is pumpkin pie ice cream with molasses cookie crumbles.

As you can see, this ice cream makes for great ginger molasses and pumpkin pie ice cream sandwiches. For the cookies, follow this recipe.

Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream
Ingredients:
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
4 egg yolks
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 splash bourbon
A handful of gingersnap crumbs or ginger molasses cookie crumbs.

Directions:
1. Heat the cream, milk, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves in a sauce pan until it almost boils, about 5 minutes.
2. Reduce the heat to low.
3. Add one tablespoon of the cream mixture to the egg to temper it.
4. Add the egg to the sauce pan.
5. Cook at low heat without boiling, until it is slightly thickened and coats the back of a spoon.
6. Strain mixture with a sieve to remove clumps.
7. Add pumpkin puree and stir.
8. Chill the mixture in the fridge.
9. Freeze according to the instructions for your ice cream machine. (Add crumbs when the ice cream begins to become the texture of soft serve.)

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