Spinach Salad with Toasted Almonds, Apple and Vermouth Vinaigrette

I've mentioned before that I have a hard time with salads. I have no idea why. A little lettuce, some mix-ins and it should be that simple. When I need to make one, I freeze. I must have a recipe. I'm not the type that follows recipes to the T, but I need a framework and the general idea of the salad.

In this case though, I followed her recipe to the T. I was a giant copycat because we had back-to-back parties and my brain power was nil. I needed a lunch salad, something fast and easy, to go with both a meat pasta and vegetarian red sauce pasta. This salad worked out great.


Buy pre-washed, bagged spinach greens and you're practically home free. I have summer dreams of making this salad with fresh garden spinach, but we'll see if I can make that into reality. My garden space isn't very big, yet I have some grandios plans.

The salad dressing mixes well and you probably have all the ingredients, minus the vermouth, in your pantry. I found vermouth next to the vinegars at my grocery store. The hint of curry powder was a nice twist and I thought it elevated the salad to party material.

A go-to easy salad that's very guest-worthy. Two thumbs up!

Spinach Salad with Toasted Almonds, Apple and Vermouth Vinaigrette
from White on Rice Couple

Salad:
Bag of fresh spinach leaves (1-1 1/4 lb)
1 apple, cored and sliced
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Dressing:
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon vermouth
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1/3 cup salad oil

Combine all dressing ingredients into a jar and shake well. Pour into the bottom of a salad bowl.

Wash and dry spinach. Remove any tough stems. Tear leaves into bite sized pieces and put in salad bowl on top of dressing, do not toss. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Toss well, just before serving, including any garnishes (apple and almonds).

Additional garnishes to consider: 1/4 cup golden raisins, 1 bunch scallions (thinly sliced), 1 tablespoon sesame seeds (toasted), 1/3 cup dry-roasted spanish peanuts

Guten appetit!

Pesto, Pasta & Peas

Did you have a nice St. Patrick's Day? I really like the holiday, although I can't say I do much for it these days. There were years I went out and reveled in green beer, but those have long since passed. Especially when St. Patty's Day falls on a Wednesday. Go out on a weeknight?! Are you kidding?!

However, I have an extra special reason to love the green day - it's my brother's birthday. He's 33 this year. I love him, and even loved him and told friends how lucky I was to have him through the tough teenage 'annoy your sibling' years. He's smart, funny, genuine and a friend to all.

In honor of him and his birthday, here's a scrumptious green dinner that will have you and your whole family begging to celebrate St. Patrick's day all over again!

Just look at that green deliciousness...

Unfortunately, my batch was eaten before I remembered to take a picture.
So this picture is compliments of my sister and her blog post of the recipe.
I love the recipes you introduce me to, C!

If you need some more convincing to make this recipe, here are a few reasons:
1. I served this at a party and it was raved about and most people had second helpings.
2. One runner at our party said she had the best run/time ever the morning after eating it and asked me for the recipe. It's going to be her night before a race meal!
3. Makes EXCELLENT leftovers.
4. It includes spinach, which you can't taste. So if you need to slip some of the green veggie to non-spinach lovers (like my husband), they will never know. Wa, ha, ha (evil laughs are so fun).
5. This makes an excellent party dish, as you can make the pesto dressing hours before and the pasta a half hour before guests arrive. Since it's served at room temperature, toss everything together and have it ready to go before you start to greet your guests. Leaves you free to have fun!
6. Because I said so.

It's a new family favorite for us, so I hope you have the chance to serve it soon. Let me know what you and your family have to say!

Pesto, Pasta and Peas
from Ina Garten, via my sister's blog

Note: I made 1.5x the recipe to have enough for 12 adults. I served it with a tomato salad and bread. We had about 5 servings left, which made excellent leftover lunches.

3/4 pound Fusilli Pasta
3/4 pound Bow Tie Pasta
1/4 cup EVOO
1 1/2 cups Pesto (see below for a home-made Pesto recipe)
1 (10 oz.) package frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
3 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 1/4 cup Mayonnaise
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1 1/2 cups frozen peas, defrosted
1/3 cup Pine Nuts
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon black pepper

Cook the fusilli and bow ties separately in a large pot of boiling salted water. Drain and toss into a bowl with the Olive Oil. Cool to room temperature.

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, puree the pesto, spinach, and lemon juice. Add the mayonnaise and puree.

Add the pesto mixture to the cooled pasta and then add the Parmesan, peas, pine nuts, salt and pepper. Serve.

Guten appetit!

Disaster: Rolls

Hmm, note to self: Follow ones gut

Do you follow the Pioneer Woman's blog? I do. I probably read it a couple times a week, mostly the cooking section.

She's highlighted some rosemary rolls on her blog multiple times that looked divine! They were posted and talked about so often (she must like them, and they really, really look good) that I couldn't help but want them.

Pioneer Woman's Rosemary Rolls - Photo by Ree Drummond

However, I ran into a snafu. My regular grocery store only had refrigerated 'biscuit' dough OR 'crescent roll' dough. Needing dinner rolls, I went with the crescent roll dough. A roll is a roll, right? A roll is definitely NOT a biscuit.

Per the recipe, I greased my new cast iron skillet (love it! just imagine the corn bread I'll be making - yum!), rolled my dough into balls and left them to rise over a few hours. A few hours later, nothing. Crescent rolls do not rise. They are not dinner rolls. I knew this, I saw the picture on the package, but yet... they were the only 'rolls' at the market. So I caved and bought them.

I'll be off to check another store this week and let you know how attempt #2 goes. Meanwhile, we'll be eating crescent rolls this week until they're coming out our ears since I bought 4 packages (it was for a party).

Trust your gut.

Sugar Cookies

Sugar cookies... don't they sound delicious? Kind of simple, but you get an occasional craving for one. Then you eat one and think, "hmm, that wasn't anything fantastic". But by the time you're done with the first one, you've already started to reach for a second, because hey, why eat just one cookie? And, they're actually quite good. As you are close to finishing off your second cookie, you realize it's actually your fourth and you absentmindedly kept reaching for another, unable to stop yourself from eating more, more, more!

They should rename these 'sugar crack'. The addiction sneaks up on you and then you're hooked until they are all gone.

Thank goodness these were for the Chef's Helper's birthday party and I had a worthy cause to champion my hand away from the cookies.

Here's one bundled up to take home. I forgot to snap a pre-bagging picture - it was a busy day!

Even without frosting, these are quite tasty. In the future, I'll even feel pretty good about feeding them to the Chef's Helper and his friends (occasionally). They have sugar of course, but they don't taste overly sweet... Until you get to the frosting - there's no way to get around that one. But how fun is it to decorate cookies with little kids?! You can't leave out the frosting. I can't wait.

If you're looking for a sugar cookie, this is definitely a quality recipe. Try them plain with sprinkles too!

Sugar Cookies
from Dine & Dish

¾ cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ¾ cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
Icing (recipe follows)

In a mixing bowl, cream butter & sugar. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until light and fluffy. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Chill for 1 hour or until firm.

Preheat oven to 375.

On a generously floured surface, roll a 1/3 of dough to ¼ inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutter. Place on lightly greased baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Laura's notes: Work quickly! Once the dough warms up, it's a mess trying to maintain your shape while you transfer to the cookie sheet. If you're only using one cookie sheet at a time, I also recommend you keep the remaining dough in the refrigerator until you are ready to work with it.

Repeat with remaining dough. Frost.

Yield: 2 dozen large cookies.

Icing
from Allrecipes

Because the icing associated with the above cookies needed to be refrigerated AND was soft (i.e. smoosh in the gift bags), I had to go with something a little sturdier. This icing was great with the coloring, dried FAST and glossy, and there was no sticky-smooshing to the bag. Perfect.

1 cup confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)
2 teaspoons milk
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
assorted food coloring

In a small bowl, mix together all wet ingredients. Add powdered sugar incrementally while stirring. Only add enough sugar to get the consistency you are looking for. It should be smooth and glossy.

Divide into separate bowls, and add food colorings to each to desired intensity. Dip cookies, or paint them with a brush (I used one of my food basting brushes - I wasn't going for detail).

Guten appetit!

Millie's White Wedding Cake

I wish I knew Millie, and I wish I'd taken her baking class with Kristen (from Dine & Dish) where Kristen learned how to make Millie's White Wedding Cake because if this is any example of Millie's baking skills, the woman had a lot to teach! It was light, sweet but not too sweet, and moist. Just as a cake should be. It's a great go-to white cake.

Our cup-cakes, pre-frosting

I felt like the Chefs Helper's 1st birthday party was a big success, and this cake helped add even more sweetness to the day. It's hard to believe he's a year old. On one hand, he's grown and changed so much and it feels like the year has flown by. On the other, it seems like he's always been with us. He is such a sweet, happy baby. We couldn't have asked for a better son or legacy.

His 'cake' was a cupcake design mimicking Eric Carle's Very Hungry Caterpillar book cover (not my idea! see below).

Our little man is a book lover, so it seemed like a fun and appropriate theme. Fingers crossed that his love for books continues. (He must get it from his daddy, since when his mama was younger, she refused to read books in lieu of watching TV - even when bribed with money! yikes)

The green color was MUCH darker than the photo looks

My final design couldn't hold a candle to the original, but no one but me knew that. I couldn't find the right candy for the eyes, and ran out of time, so our caterpillar had no eyes. He was meant to be eaten, not see the world, so I was OK with it.

I thought this was really fun to create AND easy! I simply spread the cupcake icing with a knife and sort of swirled it around using two different green tones - bonus points for super easy. Came together in a snap. Here was my attack plan:

Day before the party: Bake cupcakes, then pre-measure anything I could for the icing and put all non-perishable ingredients on the counter next to the measuring cups/spoons I would need.

Day-of the party, which was at 3pm: Make icing, ice cupcakes, assemble on cake board with extra pieces (feet, eyes, etc). Done!

This was probably the most prepared I have ever been for a party. Kudos to my awesome husband for cleaning, running out for the balloons, and all the other things he does (party days and everyday).

Happy birthday, sweet sweet boy. We hope you enjoyed your party, and cake!

* Here's where the cake design came from.

Millie’s White Wedding Cake
from Dine & Dish

2 (18 ounce) boxes white cake mix (Betty Crocker or Pillsbury)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 2/3 cups water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons real vanilla
2 teaspoons almond extract
2 cups sour cream
8 large egg whites

Place all ingredients into a large mixing bowl and beat on medium speed for 3 minutes, until fully incorporated.

Pour into greased and floured cake pans or cupcake liners, filling each slightly over half full.

Lightly tap cake pans on counter to bring air bubbles to top.

Bake in preheated 325° F oven until cake tests done.

Baking time varies according to the size and depth of pans being used.

For cupcakes, Kristen says she bakes them approximately 18 minutes. Mine took between 28-30 minutes. I waited until the cupcakes started to turn light brown on top. My cakes were done in less time and I knew to check them when the sides started to turn brown. Test with a toothpick to know when yours are done.

Guten appetit!

White Frosting and a Sneak Peak

Here's a sneak peak at the Chefs Helper's 1st birthday party cake:

We all had a great time celebrating a whole year of wonderful.

Unfortunately, I can not recommend this icing. Ick. I should have known though. Any icing that only uses crisco can't be good.

A couple years ago, I made a very tasty icing for a friends son's birthday party, and I will return to that icing next time. It was so good, we were eating the icing out of the mixer with graham crackers.

Why did I deviate? Hmmm, I like to try new things and... I don't know. My bad.

Stay tuned for the full cake picture and review (great cake) next Friday.

Guten appetit!

Roasted Vegetable Linguine with Torn Fresh Basil

This is my first recipe attempt from my Vegetarian Times subscription - yay! I always read the magazine (think I've received it 4 times since ordering it), and have big dreams of the delicious food I will make.

For my first recipe, I couldn't have picked better. The roasted vegetables made the house smell divine! This recipe is listed in their Valentines Dinner article for specific reasons... apparently asparagus spears have a lot of vitamin E, which boosts fertility and stamina (Hmm, never heard that. Myth?). They also say basil is known by the Italians as "kiss-me Nicholas". What I would like to know is, who's Nicholas?! The Italian Romeo? Wait, wasn't Romeo Italian? Forget it.

This dish is delicious, with or without it's sex boosting skills, or the basil (which I had washed, set aside for later, and then forgot to add! Drats). Although, I also think the basil would have been delicious.


Both Tim and I gave it two thumbs up. The sauce is really light but with deep flavors from the reduction. Will be great to make with fresh tomatoes in summer, for just ourselves or when we have friends over. Definitely guest worthy.

Roasted Vegetable Linguine with Torn Fresh Basil
from Vegetarian Times, Feb 2010

* I roughly halved the recipe (meaning, I halved most of the ingredients, but added a bit more of the things I knew I would really like - such as the sauce and tomatoes) which made enough for 2 people.

2 cups sliced shiitake mushrooms (Laura's note: I used button mushrooms, which were great)
1/2 lb. fresh or frozen asparagus, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
1 small onion, coarsely chopped (approx. 1 cup)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced (approx. 2 teaspoons)
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 cups cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 13.25 oz. package whole-wheat or white linguine (Laura's note: I used a half package and it only fed 2 hungry adults as a main course)
1/2 cup torn fresh basil leaves

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Toss together mushrooms, asparagus, onion, oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes in large roasting pan (I did this first in a bowl, then spread them out on my pan). Roast 20 minutes (only took me 14 minutes!), or until mushrooms and onions begin to brown, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

Start your pasta water, if you haven't already.

Add tomatoes to pan, and roast 7-10 minutes more, or until tomatoes shrivel and soften. Transfer vegetables to bowl.

Add wine to roasting pan, stirring to scrape off any stuck-on bits from bottom of pan. Place roasting pan on burner over medium heat, and simmer 2-3 minutes, or until wine has evaporated by half; OR return roasting pan to oven 5 minutes, and let wine cook off (this is what I did, very easy!).

Meanwhile, prepare pasta according to package directions. Drain pasta, and reserve 1/2 cup cooking water. Stir reserved cooking water into reduced wine in roasting pan.

Return pasta to pot. Add wine mixture and vegetables, and toss over medium-low heat until heated through. Season with salt and pepper, if desired. Stir in torn fresh basil leaves, and serve immediately.

Cooking note: I don't have a roasting pan, so I used a cookie sheet with a lip. I plan to buy a roasting pan, as it wasn't the best idea, but it worked. The wine reduction, which I did in the oven for 5 minutes, helped take off a lot of the burned bits. Just took a bit of elbow grease to get the rest off.

Guten appetit!