dark chocolate-peppermint stove-top popcorn

i discovered the best stuff at whole foods during the holidays.

indiana dark fudge peppermint kettlecorn

it is delicious and addictive. so of course, i had to figure out if i could make it myself.

first, though, for those of us without microwaves, the fail-safe way of getting perfect popcorn every time.

1. heat three tablespoons of neutral, high-smoke point oil (not olive oil. i use canola) in a pot over medium-high heat.

2. add three or four kernels.

4. when they pop, remove pan from heat. add between a teaspoon and a tablespoon of salt (depending on your preference) and 1/3 cup corn kernels.

5. count to 30 seconds.

6. shake, and put back on heat. listen for the pops, and when it stop/die down, you’re done!

perfect popcorn every time. [credit to simply recipes.]

for the topping, i laid them out on a lined jellyroll pan (a cookie sheet with edges) and drizzled with melted chocolate. then i sprinkled on crushed candy canes and tossed with my hands.

it didn’t come quite right, because the original is not tossed but just drizzled heavily. i, however, didn’t have enough chocolate for a full drizzle, so tossing coated more pieces. i also used a mixture of bittersweet chocolate and semi-sweet, but all semi-sweet would be better.

next time, i will be better prepared.

let cool until hard. gobble up.

overnight oatmeal in a crockpot

this was for yet another fundraiser at work. ’tis the season.

the theme was breakfast bake sale, and instead of doing one more (unhealthy) baked good, i decided to do an oatmeal bar.

that is, bowls of oatmeal with lots of yummy top-your-own toppings.

my first plan was to wake up super early, cook multiple pots of old fashioned oats, and transport them in a crockpot to keep warm throughout the sale.

but you know me… i don’t ever want to get out of bed one half-second earlier than i absolutely have to, so when i remembered that you can make steel-cut oatmeal in a crockpot overnight, i was sold.

this makes twelve servings, but don’t hesitate to make more or less using the same proportions:

3 cups steel-cut oats
12 cups water
1 1/2 cups milk
2 teaspoons salt

stir well. set crockpot on low. cook for 4 hours. turn down to warm, cook for 3 more hours. (** see note!)

after reading some horror stories on the internet, i was absolutely petrified that it would dry out too fast and stick and burn and ruin the pot. but it didn’t! (and i didn’t even spray it with cooking spray like some websites said.)

it did need a good stir, though, when it was done. the top got a little dry, but once it was stirred in, it was fine.

NOTE! so here’s the thing: every crockpot is different, right? and their settings are all different, too. i originally planned on having it cook for 8-9 hours on low. but i freaked out in the middle of the night, woke up, stirred it, and decided to turn it down because i thought it was dehydrating too quickly.

and by the time it was done, it had been only been on for 7 hours.

if you don’t want to wake up in the middle of the night, i’d set it on warm the whole time. or if your pot doesn’t have a warm setting, go with low, but for less time. unless it’s an older pot which, according to the internet, affects things, too.

i guess what i’m saying is that i can’t give you precise directions. sorry. you have to keep an eye on it, which… kind of defeats the “overnight” part.

anyway, in this case, luckily for me, it turned out great.

for toppings, i provided cinnamon, butter, brown sugar, granola with nuts (for crunch!), mixed dried fruit (brown and golden raisins, currants, cranberries), chocolate chips, and two kinds of milk – regular and almond.

i wish i had taken a picture of the final set up, but i was too busy raising money!

cookies-for-one baking mix

i have to pat myself on the back for this pretty freakin clever idea.

the day before our arts and crafts fundraiser at work, i was going through my possible options for things to donate… not being super crafty, i was initially confounded when they told me i couldn’t bake anything. what to do?

so you know how people put the dry ingredients for a batch of chocolate chip cookies in a mason jar as a holiday gift?

i combined that idea with a recipe i saw for just two chocolate chip cookies. as in – if you are craving cookies and don’t want to make a whole batch, make two!

so i made tiny packets of two batches each of dry mix for two chocolate chip cookies. i put the mix in zip lock bags, and packaged them two at a time in chinese take out-style containers.

just add a teaspoon of butter, a teaspoon of applesauce, 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla, and a teaspoon of milk!

i was pretty tickled with the idea.

and the cute labels.

autumn vegetable bisque

this one is ridiculously easy, and i ate it for lunch every day one week.

start by cubing any variety of root vegetables you fancy. i used one small butternut squash and one large potato, but that’s because they were what i had around. you could also use sweet potato, parsnip, other squashes, turnip… whatever.

throw them in a large cake pan or baking sheet with salt, pepper, several garlic cloves (peeled but they don’t need to be chopped) and a light drizzle of oil. if you have any autumn-y herbs like thyme or rosemary around (dried or fresh) you can add some of those, too.

cover in tin foil and roast at 350ish degrees for about an hour, or however long it takes for the veggies to get mushable. (test with the back of a spoon or fork.)

if you put in herbs with stems, remove the stems (you can leave any leaves that fall off) and dump everything else into a pot. add three or so cups of water* and immersion blend until you have creamy soup.

no immersion blender? use a regular blender or food processor.

* you could also use chicken broth instead of water; or half milk, half water depending on how creamy you want it. you could also use more or less water, depending on how soupy you want it.

taste for seasoning and add more salt and/or pepper if needed.

that was easy!

pumpkin seed brittle

i had this crazy idea to top pumpkin cupcakes with brittle made from the seeds of the pumpkin i roasted for the cupcakes themselves. so meta.

people liked the cupcakes, but the brittle was really the star.

start by coating your pumpkin seeds with a tiny bit of oil, salt, cinnamon, ginger, clove, and allspice. i didn’t go overboard on seasonings because i knew they’d be in the brittle, but i wanted a little bit of their own flavor.

roast on a cookie sheet at 350 until golden brown, tossing occasionally, and let cool. that’s the easy part.

i have to say, i was a little nervous about making the candy itself.

working with sugar is tricky and can be dangerous. as my mom used to say, nothing is hotter than boiling sugar (or something to that effect). and if it boils over and gets on your skin, it’s not only hot as the devil, but it’s also stuck to you.

that’s the dangerous part. the tricky part involves melting it to just the right temperature, which corresponds to the texture the final candy will be. for “brittle” texture, you need to get it to 300 degrees.

so in this pot, i have 1 cup sugar, half a cup water, half a stick of butter, and about 1/6 cup light corn syrup.

hotter…

hotter… and starting to get brown. stir occasionally, and very carefully.

as soon as it hits 300 degrees, stir in pumpkin seeds, a 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, and spices. i used 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon chipotle chile powder (yes, chile powder!) and 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger.

i turned off the burner, but left the pot sitting there to keep it warm while i worked. because as soon as you take it off the heat, it’s going to start hardening.

so working quickly, i spread it on an un-oiled cookie sheet.

i was going for as thin and even as possible, but it’s not easy.

after it cools, you can break into shards and pop directly into your mouth, or top a cupcake, or bag up for gifts, or whatever.

keeps in an air-tight container for at least a week.

lobstertail stuffed pizza

that’s what i’m calling this dinner for its resemblance to the famous lobstertail pastry found in boston’s north end.

i started by cooking up the filling – mushrooms, kale, and garlic (and onion, if i had had any!). of course, you can use whatever fillings you like. i was trying for something healthy so i didn’t feel bad about eating lots of crust!

next, cut the dough like so:

make sure you roll it pretty thin because if the bottom is too thick it might not cook all the way through.

i started stuffing it with a thin layer of mozzarella cheese, some sun-dried tomatoes, and cubes of tofu.

after that, on went the cooked topping and a little more mozz.

then start from the top and fold the pieces in like your braiding them. if they don’t stick together, use a toothpick. you could shake some parmesan over the top, too, if you’d like. also note how i tucked the top and bottom pieces in to keep the filling from falling out.

i baked it at 450 degrees for 10 or 12 minutes… until it’s brown on top and bubbling a little. (don’t forget to remove the toothpicks before serving!)

pizza baking tip: have i mentioned this before? since i don’t have a pizza stone, i approximate it by preheating a cookie sheet in the oven. i form the pizza itself on a silpat, and do a fancy maneuver to slide the silpat (and pizza) on to the hot cookie sheet before it goes in the oven. this helps make the bottom crust super crunchy.

my grilled cheese sandwich

if you ask me, there’s really nothing better than a great grilled cheese sandwich.

everybody makes their’s a little differently, but here are ten tips for my perfect grilled cheese.

1. swiss cheese, and only, ever swiss cheese. cut into thin slices so it melts nicely.

2. a nice hearty wheat or whole-grain or oatmeal bread that comes in a traditional sandwich loaf shape. trying to fit your cheese on an irregular-seized piece of bread means you risk some dripping out!

3. mayonaise. just a little shmear on the inside of both pieces of bread. preferably hellmann’s.

4. relish! i absolutely could not eat a grilled cheese sandwich without relish. preferably heinz. the relish should go between two thin layers of cheese.

5. make sure your frying pan in on medium-low heat so that it melts the cheese inside before getting the outside too brown.

6. my mom used to butter the outsides of the bread, but during my (short-lived) vegan phase, i decided i liked using a thin layer of olive oil in the pan instead. it really fries up the outside nicely and makes it super crispy. mm! make sure you add a little more when you flip the sandwich, because the first side probably soaked it all up.

7. use the back of a spatula to press the sandwich a little as the two layers of cheese melt together through the layer of relish.

8. making more than one? place the done one on a cooling rack on a cookie sheet in a 200 degree oven to stay warm and melty while you cook the others. no one wants a cold sandwich…

9. a grilled cheese sandwich must always be cut diagonally.

10. ideally, the perfect grilled cheese sandwich is served with one or more of the following: tomato soup, a glass of milk, carrot sticks, apple slices, cornichons.

as you see in the top picture, for the meat-eater in my house, i added some pieces of prosciutto and used grainy mustard instead of mayo/relish. we all make compromises for the ones we love.

what’s in your perfect grilled cheese sandwich?

frozen cookie dough

here’s the best idea ever: make a whole bunch of cookie dough, freeze it in cookie-sized portions, and bake off one or two when you have a craving, instead of eating a whole batch at one sitting.

here’s the second best idea: thick, chewy oatmeal raisin cookies.

so i did it – i made the dough and used a small ice cream scoop to portion-out several dozen cookies. then i froze them, and stored them in an air-tight container in the back of the freezer.

then one night when freshly baked cookies were necessary, i preheated the oven to 350 degrees, and baked six. they took just under 15 minutes, obviously longer than dough at room temperature.

now, as you’ll see, they came out a little uneven, color-wise.

(and they weren’t quite as thick as the originals. i wonder why?)

but, having baked some fresh as well, i have to say that there was absolutely no loss of quality or flavor. if anything, the pre-frozen may have even had a better, chewier texture.

i’m a fan.

grilled lettuce

during the summer, all i want for dinner are fresh, local ingredients that have been grilled and are eaten outside.

so when i was home visiting mama, we made grilled squid salad, grilled mixed veggies, and my new favorite thing: grilled lettuce.

who would have thought that this would a) work and b) be so incredibly good??

cut a romaine heart in half after removing some of the biggest, darkest leaves on the outside. brush the cut side with olive oil, and grill on both sides for just a minute or two.

you want some leaves to char and the rest to stay crispy.

after you take it off the grill, brush with more olive oil, drizzle with lots of lemon juice, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and freshly grated parmesan.

we ended up making it two nights in a row because it was that damn good.

gazpacho, another way

i have made gazpacho here at icf before, but this time i wanted to try something a little different.

i had a delicious, super-smooth, tangy, vinegary gazpacho while visiting new york city, so that’s what i was going for. if you like your gazpacho chunky, check out this recipe.

first, some stale bread, torn into pieces (it came out of the depths of my freezer. i think from christmas.)

then soak it in v8, or the whole woods equivalent, while you’re cutting up the rest of your veggies.

i like to add fresh tomatoes, onions, green pepper, usually cucumber (but here a zucchini because that’s what i had around), and some garlic.

(i don’t even want to mention that you could add celery if you wanted, too. because then we couldn’t be friends. or at least i’ll never come over for gazpacho.)

in the old version, i blended half the veggies and chopped the other half. here, i blended it all with an immersion blender. you could use a blender or food processor, too.

and added some champagne vinegar, salt, pepper, and olive oil.

WOW. it’s so good. so refreshing. so healthy.

serve with some chopped green onions and a drizzle of olive oil on top.