The Feisty Foodie » Recipes

Glad to Give: Cookies for Kids’ Cancer

Feisty Foodie — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:15:51 +0000

Cancer sucks. There’s no other way to put it. Honestly, this is a food blog so I rarely if ever talk about it, but cancer is definitely one of those things that I just don’t understand – especially that, with all of our advances in medicine and science, how we still haven’t found the cure. Or at least a preventative. Or something!!! It’s so frustrating to know that we’re still not there yet.

With that in mind, I recently signed up for a Foodbuzz Tastemaker’s Program to help spread awareness about a really special program. From my email:

Did you know that you can turn your sweet tooth into a donation to help support pediatric cancer research? That’s the idea behind The GLAD Product Company’s Glad to Give^TM campaign, an effort that supports Cookies for Kids’ Cancer^TM, a non-profit organization founded by parents inspired by their young son’s ongoing fight against cancer. This holiday season, we’re inviting friends, family and people across the country to help us change the world, one cookie at a time!

You and your readers can help GLAD meet its goal of exchanging one million cookies this holiday season. We’re looking for a group of Tastemakers to host a Cookies for Kid’s Cancer Bake Sale or Cookie Exchange, blog about their favorite holiday baking recipes, and encourage blog readers to exchange virtual cookies at www.Facebook.com/Glad. GLAD will donate $.10 to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer for each cookie sold, exchanged or given this November and December 2011 – up to $100,000!

Today pediatric cancer is the number one cause of death by disease of children in the U.S., due in large part to the need for funding for research into new and improved therapies. That’s why we’ve selected you to participate in the GLAD Holiday Cookie Exchange.

Hey guys, you don’t have to do a single thing but click on some stuff, and you can help Glad donate lots of money to the cause. That’s not so bad right? Also, if you decide to host your own Cookie Exchange, be sure to register it at http://www.cookiesforkidscancer.org/ so more money can be donated to this excellent cause!

As for me – well, you know I’m not a strong baker, BUT I do make chocolate chip cookies fairly frequently. One year I made literally about 500 cookies to give away, and loved every minute of it! so I’m familiar with making choco chip cookies and don’t feel nervous, which may contribute to me messing up my baking. So I made the above cookies using a sugar cookie mix (sorry!) from Trader Joe’s, and then the chocolate chip cookie recipe comes from James at the Eaten Path. This has been my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe for the past two years now, since the first time I tried one of his cookies and just had to make them.

I discovered on this making, however, that when you accidentally buy self rising flour instead of all purpose, and use 2 cups of it, and bake the dough right away instead of aging it in the fridge as the recipe indicates… well, the cookies will spread very flat and very quickly, and with a baking time of about 12 – 14 minutes, will become very crisp on the edges and toffee-chewy in the centers. So my first batch was really ugly (they all ran together and became squares), but tasted fabulous. I love that chewy texture! Oh, that might also be a result of my refusal to use bourbon and instead doubling the vanilla… yum. So if you like flat, crisp edged, chewy centered cookies, you may want to try using my mistakes as your basic recipe…

I’ve participated in bake sales in the past (for Share Our Strength), and I’ve hosted cookie exchanges as well (and we’ll be doing one again this year!). I think this combines the best of all worlds – baking, cookies, sharing food, a great cause, helping children! – and everyone should take at least a minute to exchange a virtual cookie or 50 and help donate some money to the cause!

For ease of reading, I will include the adapted recipe below:

adapted from The Eaten Path’s Helpless Home Baker’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
2 cups self rising flour, packed but not sifted
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) sweet cream butter, unsalted (I used Breakstone)
3/8 cup granulated sugar
9/8 cup packed brown sugar
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
Chocolate morsels to your liking (I don’t like mine to be ALL CHOCOLATE CHIP, with a little dough binding, so I put less than some people might)

Mixing
Use a fork to combine flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Use that fork to beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla in a larger, separate bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating mixture slowly until each egg is completely distributed. Gradually add flour, folding it into the mixture. As soon as all of the flour has been mixed in, stir in the morsels and nuts. Be careful not to over-mix the cookie dough.

Baking
Preheat oven to 375° F. Spoon mounds of cookie dough onto a baking sheet using a tablespoon – note that the cookies will spread a bit, so do not use heaping spoonfuls and leave a decent amount of space between cookies. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until cookies start to gain a little color. Cool until cookies firm up a bit – they will be very soft initially.

Enjoy!!! And please do let me know if you try the above modified recipe as I never modify baking recipes (and this was entirely accidental!)… and if you do, what you think… and do sign up to exchange virtual cookies to help raise money!! Thank you!!!

Please note that as a part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker’s Program, I received baking supplies (including the above pictured Glad container for giving away cookies! maybe the people I’ve given cookies to will speak up and tell us how delicious the cookies are…) and a stipend to cover the cost of cookie ingredients.

Recipe Fridays: Chipotle Lime Crusted Chicken

Feisty Foodie — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 13:15:59 +0000

As I mentioned in my post about the Hellmann’s Chicken Challenge (and if you haven’t entered their contest yet, why not?), I made their recipe for chipotle lime encrusted chicken. This time, I remembered to take pictures so you can see what it looks like.

I started off with the Perdue perfect portions – 5 individually vacuum-sealed boneless-skinless chicken breasts.

When I picked up the chicken, I threw the whole package in the freezer immediately. So I took two out to defrost in the morning and by the time I was ready to cook, they were both fully defrosted and ready to go. Easy-peasy.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I just used this recipe, which required I use a bowl to mix mayo, ground chipotle, lime juice, and shredded cheese before slathering on top of the chicken breasts in a baking dish. Sprinkle some crushed tortilla chips on top, and voila.

And a jiffy spin in the oven later, cooked chicken ready to slice and put in a sandwich with Sargento’s pepperjack for Beer Boor, or eat by itself, or with some vegetables… whatever it was. Super easy, very tasty.

Overall, I love the Perdue’s Perfect Portions for the whole ease of having the chicken vacuum sealed. It’s not cheap – these were on sale for $6 and change for 1.5lbs of boneless skinless breasts (five), but the vacuum sealing is the key. I don’t have a vacuum sealer, and this prevents freezer burn from happening… because I totally used to go to Costco and buy huge packs of chicken, then put 1-2 pieces (depending on if I bought breasts or thighs or other) into sandwich bags, and freeze (after writing on them what it was, and the date). But that doesn’t prevent freezer burn, and you have to use them a little quicker than with vacuum-sealed packs… this does all of the work for you with the added bonus. Of course, depending on your own needs and lifestyle, it may be worth the extra cost to get these… or it may be worth it to you to just do it yourself. Everyone’s different.

Please note that I received the chicken free of charge when I posted this contest but I was under no obligation to post about it again. Opinions expressed herein are my own.

Arepas

Jenn — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 18:15:22 +0000

Last week, I mentioned working on a chocolate bread based off the banana nut bread recipe. I’m close. I’m really, really close, but not quite there yet with the recipe. So we will wait another week or two for that recipe. This week, we’re talking arepas. I mentioned in my first post, I’ll share my triumphs and my not-so greats. This recipe for arepas, from the Maseca website, sort of falls into both categories.

Several months ago, I purchased a bag of masa harina to make corn tortillas. It’s something I’ve wanted to try for a long time, and decided to finally give it a whirl. Having a big bag of this corn flour left, I decided to find another recipe to try. While not strictly baking, arepas are a dough so I’m sharing my attempt with you.

Like a corn tortilla, arepas seem fairly simple to mix up: flour, water, a pinch of salt. What could be simpler right? That’s the beauty of this recipe. It takes a knack. A special feel for figuring out when that dough is just right. I’m not sure I have that knack. In the meantime, let us put 18 ounces (4 cups) masa harina, 20 ounces (2.5 cups) water, and 1/2 tsp salt into a bowl.

As you stir, the masa harina just gobbles up the water. You go from a wet gloppy mess to a dry but moist mixture fairly quickly.

At this point, I tried kneading the mixture a bit to form a dough. Which worked. Not sure if that was quite the right thing to do, but it worked.

It left me with a nice lump of grainy dough that seemed moist enough to roll out. I am still wondering if I should have added a wee bit more water (like another tablespoon) to the mixture to make it a bit moister for rolling out.

The dough rolled out well, and I used a large biscuit cutter to form the arepas. The recipe called for 4-inch arepas, 3/4 inches thick. This biscuit cutter was 4-inches and the dough was rolled out to about 1/2 inch.

They looked pretty. All nice and round and ready for the hot dry skillet. Cast iron was the way to go.

Arepas were cooked on each side for about 4-5 minutes. Once cooked, I removed them from the skillet and let them cool a bit.

Slitting the arepa in half partially, I filled it with the mixture I use for Louisiana meat pies.

Verdict: Okay, so-so. The good news? I tried something new to me, and that’s a big component of my cooking life. Woot! Woot! Plus, the meat mixture was divine as usual. The bad news? I didn’t really like the arepa. It tasted too heavy, just too much. I keep wondering how to make this lighter, but this seems to be a basic arepa recipe. Right? Disappointment prevailed. Boooo. I keep thinking that they should probably be smaller, lighter, and a bit tastier (more salt needed!).

Then after trying these out, I saw this post by TT where he ate arepas. And I felt vindicated. They look smaller. And not so thickish and flat. The tops are slightly rounded which makes me think they puffed a bit while cooking. I wonder what would happen if I added a wee bit of baking powder and substituted a bit of milk for the water. And made them smaller. Yeah, stay tuned. I’ll be trying arepas again. With modification, and will report back.

Suggestions and feedback welcome.

Happy Baking, everyone! ~Jenn of Not Exactly Bento

Basic Arepa Dough, Attempt #1
Taken from the Maseca website

Ingredients:

18 ounces (4 cups) masa harina
20 ounces (2.5 cups) water
1/2 tsp salt into a bowl

The Method:

With a spatula, mix the three ingredients together in a mixing bowl until the masa harina absorbs the water. You’ll be left with a moist-ish mixture.
With your hands, knead the mixture a bit to form a dough.
Roll the dough out between 1/2 – 3/4 inches thick.
With a circular biscuit cutter (or kitchen glass), cut arepas 4 inches round.
In a dry skillet on high heat, cook arepas 4-5 minutes on each side.
Slit arepa open with a knife and fill with your choice of meat: loose ground meat, pulled pork, etc.

Banana Nut Bread

Jenn — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 18:15:50 +0000

I hate bananas. I don’t like to eat them. I don’t really like things flavored with them. However, there are two applications of banana that I crave: banana nut bread and banana spring rolls. I’ve wanted to tweak Ruhlman’s quick bread ratio to make a chocolate quick bread that has been bouncing around in my head. To familiarize myself with the ratio, I made a very straight forward banana bread found in the book. Next week, we’re going to make the chocolate creation.

For this recipe, we will need the following ingredients:

8 ounces unbleached white flour (about 1 and half cups)
4 ounces cane sugar (about 3/4 – 1 cup)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
8 ounces milk (about 1 cup)
4 ounces eggs (2 large eggs)
4 ounces butter (1 stick)
7.5 – 8 oz mashed banana (2 very ripe bananas that have been frozen then thawed)
2.25 – 2.5 oz chopped toasted walnuts (1/3 cup) – These are optional. Please obmit if you’re allergic.

Before you begin the recipe, do the following things:

Toast walnuts in a 200 degree oven for 10-15 minutes. Once toasted, chop and set aside.
Melt the stick of butter
Mash the bananas.

I really liked this banana bread. It was just the right consistency, not too sweet with great banana flavor. This is where the beauty of scale measuring comes in handy. Place a bowl on the scale and tare the weight to bring it back down to zero. This bowl should be the non-mixing bowl. We’re going to weigh our dry ingredients in this bowl: flour, sugar, salt, baking powder. Don’t add the walnuts. Those come last.

In your mixing bowl, add the wet ingredients: milk, eggs, melted butter, and banana. Mix them together on a low speed till things seem as one. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl, about 1/3 of the non-mixing bowl’s contents at a time.

The result will seem like a thick batter, as quick breads tend to be more like a cake or muffin batter than a true bread dough. At this point, add the walnuts and fold into the quick bread batter.

Grease your preferred loaf pan with non-stick spray and pour the batter into it. This bread will bake at 350 degrees F until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Mine took about 35-40 minutes. If you use mini loaf pans, they might take less time. If you use a regular size loaf pan, it could take more like 50 minutes.

Just watch for the loaf to turn a beautiful golden brown, then insert the tootpick (or bamboo skewer, which is what I typically use). Once done, remove to a wire rack and allow to cool.

Voila! Banana nut bread, one of the simplest things to make and bake. I like giving these as gifts to friends and family sometimes. With the holidays coming, that’s always a fun idea!

Happy Baking, everyone! ~Jenn of Not Exactly Bento

Banana Nut Bread

(from Ruhlman’s Ratio)

Ingredients:

8 ounces unbleached white flour (about 1 and half cups)
4 ounces cane sugar (about 3/4 – 1 cup)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
8 ounces milk (about 1 cup)
4 ounces eggs (2 large eggs)
4 ounces butter (1 stick)
7.5 – 8 oz mashed banana (2 very ripe bananas that have been frozen then thawed)
2.25 – 2.5 oz chopped toasted walnuts (1/3 cup) – These are optional. Please obmit if you’re allergic.

The Method:

To prep, do the following three things:
Toast walnuts in a 200 degree oven for 10-15 minutes. Chop once toasted.
Melt the stick of butter
Mash the bananas.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a bowl (the one you aren’t going to use for mixing), measure in all the dry ingredients (except the walnuts): flour, sugar, salt, baking powder.
In a second bowl (the on you’ll using for mixing), measure in the the wet ingredients: milk, eggs, melted butter, and banana.
On a low speed, mix together the wet ingredients till things seem as one.
Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl and mix into the wet ingredients. Keep adding until all of the dry ingredients are added to the mixture and incorporated with the wet ingredients. The result will seem like a thick batter
Fold the walnuts into the batter by using a spatula or wooden spoon.
Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan.
Bake the bread until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Baking time ranges from 30 – 50 minutes depending on the size loaf pan you use.

Hellmanns Chicken Challenge at Chicken Stadium

Feisty Foodie — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 13:15:16 +0000

Hellmann’s recently created “Chicken Stadium” to host a showdown of three of their top chicken recipes on their website. They invited a couple of big names to demonstrate the quick&easy recipes for us to watch, and live-streamed the event.

Our first ‘contestant’ was Mark Consuelos, with the #1 recipe on Hellmans’s website, parmesan crusted chicken.

Next was Chef Tim Love, with chipotle lime crusted chicken.

There was a third contestant, but because of where I was sitting, I was unable to get a clean shot of her. Sissy Biggers presented BBQ cheddar crusted chicken.

After the quick demos – each recipe only takes 10 minutes or less to prep (especially when there are only 4-6 ingredients in each one!) – samples were passed around for us to taste and vote for which was our favorites.

The votes were tallied, and the results came in: well, there’s a reason that the parmesan crusted chicken is constantly viewed on Hellmanns’ website. They won easily, while the other two tied for second place. Honestly, though, I voted for the chipotle recipe; maybe it’s because I have my own parm-crusted chicken recipe that is different and super tasty.

BBQ cheddar crusted chicken.

Chipotle lime crusted chicken.

Parmesan crusted chicken.

Funny enough, before I attended this event, I’d never thought of using mayo to cook or heating mayo for anything. I mean, I guess in casseroles, but the way it was done here – mostly, mixing the mayo with other things, then smearing onto raw chicken before roasting… I’d never thought to do that or heard of it really. But it sounded so easy, and they made it super easy for us – after the event ended, they set us loose in a giant pantry with bags to fill with whatever ingredients we wanted (shredded cheeses, citrus fruits, spices, bread crumbs, everything but the chicken, really), so I picked up a couple of things and wound up making the chipotle lime crusted chicken a few days later (using the Perdue Perfect Portions, actually). I totally forgot to take pictures unfortunately, but I loved the spice kick from the ground chipotle (and am now on a quest to find that to stock in my pantry), and the crunch from the tortillas. The mayo kept the chicken moist and juicy – I really enjoyed the overall taste. Actually, I made two chicken breasts, and put one in a sandwich for Beer Boor, so maybe he will speak up and share how he enjoyed or didn’t enjoy the sandwich? In any case, I definitely foresee myself making this again, as it was super easy, tasty, and quick.

One of the reasons that Hellmanns held this event was actually to promote their contest – each week, you can vote for a chicken recipe. When you vote, you’re entered to win a $250 gift card. What are you waiting for? Go vote now!

Thanks again to Hellmanns for hosting this lovely event, and for inviting me to be there. I had a great time and really enjoyed myself; while I received no monetary compensation, I did receive a good share of swag. I was under no obligation to post about this event, positively or negatively, but I figured I should share the wealth with y’all – so enter to win that contest. $250 is awesome!

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