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Archive for October, 2011

Shrimp and Feta Cheese Quiche

This recipe is from an old Everyday magazine. I had made this quiche a couple of times and my guests always loved it. It’s the kind of quiche that dissappears from the pie dish in no time at all. Then I lost the magazine and I tried to recreate it from memory but something was missing. I looked everywhere for that magazine, or so I thought, until one day recently I was cleaning out a closet and found a stack of old food magazines. What a find! To me old food magazines are like new food magazines and so I started reading them again and sure enough I found the long lost Shrimp and Fata Cheese Quiche recipe. I absolutely have to share this recipe with you because I know that you’ll love it. The feta cheese gives the quiche a wonderful slight tartness and the combination of shrimp, roasted red pepper and chives is just fantastic. I hope you enjoy this quiche as much as I do. I wonder what else is in that closet?

Ingredients:

1 sheet store-bought refrigerated pie dough, at room temperature

1 tbsp unsalted butter

8 oz large shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 extra large eggs

1/2 cup half-and-half 

1 tbsp minced chives

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 cup jarred roasted red pepper, diced

3 oz crumbled feta cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Press the dough into a 9 inch pie or tart dish. Pierce the bottom of dough with a fork. Place tart dish on a baking sheet and line inside of pie dough with foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove foil and weights and reduce heat to 375 degrees F. Continue to bake dough until golden, about 12 minutes. Let tart shell cool on a wire rack.

Melt butter in a pan over medium heat. Add shrimp to pan and cook for 2 minutes just until opaque, flipping shrimp half-way through. Remove shrimp from pan and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, half-and-half, chives, salt and pepper. Arrange the shrimp, red pepper and feta cheese in pie shell and cover with the egg mixture.

Bake quiche in the 375 degrees oven for 25 minutes or until a knife inserted into the middle of the pie comes out clean. Cool quiche for 10 minutes and serve. Enjoy.

Shrimp and Feta Cheese Quiche

Source: slightly adapted from Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine

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Ghost Pretzels

Halloween is almost here and I wanted to sneak in one more Halloween themed post. These Ghost Pretzels are fun and very easy to make and they bring a smile to the faces of children and adults alike. I brought these with me to my husbands Blacksmith demo in Driver, Virginia and they were all gobbled down by the hungry Blacksmiths.

Driver Days

Driver Days is a Fall festival in Suffolk, Virginia and it’s an event which I look forward to each year. Driver is a wonderful, quaint little town which manages to put on a great event every October. There’s good music, arts and crafts for sale, fun activities for the kids, a classic car show, cute Blacksmiths which smile at you (ok, so that’s my husband smiling at me) and lots of good food and baked goods.

Back to the Ghost Pretzels. Of couse there is no real recipe for making the Ghost Pretzels so I feel a little silly posting one. But that’s what foodies do, they photograph and post recipes for everything, so here goes.

Ingredients:

1 bag of pretzel rods

14 oz bag of Vanilla flavored Candy Wafers (or white chocolate morsels)

edible ink marker

Directions:

Melt white chocolate over a warm water bath or in the microwave. Pour melted chocolate into a tall thin glass and dip pretzel rods into chocolate. Place pretzel rods onto parchment paper or stand up in a cup to allow white chocolate to dry. Once chocolate has hardened draw faces using an edible ink marker (which can be found at local craft and baking stores as well as online).

Source: Savory Sweet Life, originally from PBS Parents

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Pumpkin Smoothie

Pumpkin Smoothie

Fall is filled with beautiful colors, cool air, baked goods and lots of pumpkins. And so here is another pumpkin recipe that I wanted to share with you. It’s a wonderful Pumpkin Smoothie and it can be made with either vanilla yogurt or milk for a thinner version, either way it’s super delicious. If your making it with yogurt I would recommend using a regular yogurt instead of a greek yogurt to avoid that sometimes “dry after-taste” you notice with greek yogurt.

I hope you are enjoying this beautiful season as much as I am. 🙂

Pumpkin Smoothie

Ingredients:

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

6 oz vanilla yogurt or 3/4 cup milk

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp light brown sugar

4 ice cubes

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Pour smoothie into a tall glass and decorate with a dollop of vanilla yogurt or chipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Enjoy!

Source: slightly adapted from familyfun.go.com

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Whoopie Pumpkien Pies

Whoopie Pumpkien Pies

Fall is quickly approaching and I am starting to see pumpkins and Halloween decorations all over the place. If you follow my blog then you know that I am a huge pumpkin fan. I love everything pumpkin…pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies and now…Whoopie Pumpkin Pies. I found these little babies in Food Network Magazine and the recipe moved straight to the top of my very long “to do” list. (Do you notice how these “to do” lists never get any shorter) Anyway, these Whoopie pies are wonderful!

When I was making the cookie batter I got a little worried because, after I added the buttermilk, it looked like the batter was starting to separate. But once I started adding the dry ingredients everything came together beautifully, so no need to worry. Also, the flavor of the filling slowly intensifies so these can easily be made a day in advance. I wrapped each cookie in plastic wrap to keep them fresh and to prevent them from sticking together, then in a large Tupperware container and into the refrigerator. I also took half of the finished cookies and stuck them in the freezer. It turns out that they freeze really well, just let them thaw in the refrigerator. I hope you enjoy these babies as much as we have.

Whoopie Pumpkin Pies

Whoopie Pumpkin Pies

Ingredients:

For the cookies:

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

Pinch of kosher salt

For the filling:

4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature

4 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup confectioners sugar

1/4 cup canned pure pumpkin

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Pinch of kosher salt

Directions:

Line three baking sheets with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

To make the cookies: In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt, set aside. Using a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then the buttermilk and vanilla. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing just until combined.

Drop 2 tablespoons of batter for each cookies to be made, onto prepared baking sheet, spacing batter 3 inches apart. Bake until edges are set but the cookies are still soft, about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer cookies to a baking rack and cool completely.

To make the filling: Beat cream cheese and butter with a mixer until smooth. Slowly beat in the confectioners sugar. Add the pumpkin, cinnamon and salt and beat until smooth.

To assemble the cookies, spread a heaping tablespoon filling onto the flat side of one cookie and sandwich with another cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies. Enjoy.

Source: Food Network Magazine, The Neelys’

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Easy Cheese Danish

Easy Cheese Danish

I saw Ina make these cheese Danish on Barefoot Contessa. They are easy, quick and very delicious. What’s not to like? They are wonderful served warm as well as the following day at room temperature. After the pastries are filled and folded, Ina tells you to refrigerate the pastries for 15 minutes before baking…which I failed to do. 😦 So the first four pastries I baked opened up during baking, not a pretty site (still tasted fantastic though). The next four I put in the refrigerator, as instructed, and these pastries stayed folded after baking. So I can only guess that the refrigeration of the pastries is an important step to keep the folded pastries closed during baking. I’ll remember this for next time 🙂

Ingredients:

2 sheets puff pastry (1 box)

8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature

1/3 cup sugar

2 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature

2 tbsp ricotta cheese

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/4 tsp kosher salt

zest from 1 small lemon

1 egg, beaten, for egg wash

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line two baking pans with parchment paper.

Mix together cream cheese and sugar with an electrical mixer on low-speed. With the mixer still on low, add egg yolks, ricotta cheese, vanilla, salt and lemon zest, mix just until smooth. Place in refrigerator for 1 hour.

Unfold 1 sheet of puff pastry onto a lightly floured surface. If needed, roll it to a 10 x 10 inch square. Cut pastry into 4 smaller squares. Brush borders of each square with egg wash and then place a heaping tablespoon of cream cheese filling in the centers. Fold one corner gently over the filling, brush this corner with egg wash. Fold the opposing second corner over the first corner allowing the egg wash to seal the two corners together. Finish brushing the top of pastry with egg wash. Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry. Makes a total of 8 pastries.

Using a spatula, place pastries on baking pans and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Then bake pastries for about 20 minutes until golden brown. Enjoy!

Cheese Danish

Source: Barefoot Contessa

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