Category: Recipes
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Tuesday, March 26
Cocoa Syrup (aka Homemade Chocolate Syrup)
Friends. I have quite a find for you today. A delicious, chocolatey find that I should have discovered long before now.
Years ago Nate and I were addicted to the show Good Eats, something I believe I have confessed before. One of the episodes I clearly remember was about making your own chocolate syrup. I wasn’t interested. I don’t really like chocolate syrup. I’ve never really liked it in chocolate milk (Nate disagrees with me on this count, for the record). I also had no desire to put it on ice cream. I’m a hot fudge girl! So, yeah, I didn’t think much about the recipe.
But the last few years I’ve been finding that sometimes I do wish I had a bottle of chocolate syrup in the fridge. It just comes in handy sometimes. But I want GOOD chocolate syrup, not the regular stuff you get at the store. I don’t actually hate the regular syrup, but, honestly, I’d just rather go without. To me, the taste isn’t worth the calories.
WELLLLL…Anna wanted me to figure out how to make a Starbucks drink that she’s obsessed with (recipe to come later this week!) and it involves chocolate syrup. So, remembering that Good Eats episode from long ago, I dug up the recipe and gave the syrup a try.
I compared a few recipes and decided Alton’s looked the best, so I just followed it verbatim. Heavens, this stuff is good. And the name cocoa syrup is much more fitting than simply chocolate syrup. It is rich and has a depth of flavor you don’t get with the usual “chocolate flavor” syrups out there. The cocoa syrup also has the exact same texture as a regular syrup, so it can serve all of your ‘syruppy’ needs. I have decided we will always have a bottle or two of this delectable stuff in the fridge. It, quite simply, is worth the calories.
So far we’ve used the syrup in milk and on ice cream. It was delicious both ways. A quick squeeze on the finger ain’t too bad, either.
When you make your chocolate milk, don’t be stingy with the syrup! The more the better. The chocolate milk reminded me a lot of the Cow Girl Creamery chocolate milk in San Francisco. Yep, it’s that good.
A note about the cocoa I use: For the last several years I have been using high-quality cocoa powder for baking. Scharffen Berger and Guittard have both been wonderful. Yes, it costs more. But it is WORTH IT. Trust me. I made the same exact chocolate cake for both Owen’s and Cate’s birthdays. Owen’s cake was made with the expensive cocoa while Cate’s used the regular cocoa you get at the store (I had to use it in a pinch). I kid you not, they tasted like I used a different recipe, and I have witnesses to back me up. Owen’s cake was amazing. Cate’s was good but nothing special. It was all about the cocoa.
Cocoa Syrup (aka Homemade Chocolate Syrup)
From Alton Brown, Good Eats
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 3 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 cups Dutch-processed cocoa
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrupIn a medium pot, stir together water and sugar and bring to a boil over high heat. Whisk in cocoa, vanilla, salt, and corn syrup. (Jane note: I had everything measured and ready to go so I could whisk it all in at once.) Whisk until all of the solids have dissolved. Reduce heat but make sure it’s still simmering and cook sauce until slightly thickened, 5-10 minutes, stirring regularly.
Cool to room temperature and pour into squeeze bottles. (Jane note: I bought Wilton squeeze bottles at Michaels, which work well. This recipe fills two of those bottles. HOWEVER…the opening is a bit small, so I’m going to be on the lookout for bottles with a larger hole, like you get for ketchup or mustard. I would just cut the ones I have, but then the caps won’t stay on.)
Refrigerate to store. Makes 24 ounces.
Posted by Jane Maynard at 1:06 pm 18 Comments
Categories: featured recipes, Recipes, sweet things, Way Gourmet
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Tuesday, March 19
Ginger Candied Vegetables {and a giveaway from Libby’s with another chance at some Le Creuset!}
This giveaway is now closed, but there is other good stuff in this post, so keep reading…the glaze on these veggies is yum!
Today’s post is chockfull of great stuff. A recipe, helpful resources AND a giveaway. Are you ready? Let’s go!
I cannot believe that Passover and Easter are NEXT WEEK. Where does the time go? I blame the Daylight Savings Fairy.
Libby’s® Fruits & Vegetables recently contacted me about creating a side dish recipe for Easter and/or Passover that uses carrots, peas and corn. I thought and thought and decided candied vegetables would taste pretty darn good, especially with a little ginger thrown into the mix. So Little Chef Anna and I hit the kitchen and started creating. She looked into the big container of brown sugar and exclaimed in disbelief, “Brown sugar and salt and pepper?!?!” I assured her it would be delicious. Once she took a bite, she agreed!
The glaze for these veggies would be delicious on a host of vegetables, not just carrots, peas and corn, although carrots lend themselves very nicely to this treatment. Feel free to experiment with your veggies! I like the salty sweet flavor and the ginger adds a nice layer of flavor. This side dish would be a nice complement to all kinds of Easter feasts!
Libby’s, the company sponsoring today’s giveaway, has two new fabulous resources for you that help make the meal planning process easier and more inspiring. We wanted to share them with you today!
- Libby’s Digital Recipe Box: The Digital Recipe Box application just launched on Facebook. It houses more than 100 recipes and allows users to share, like and print recipes to their heart’s content. The app also allows you to plan meals by dish, ingredient or type of gathering. You will also find the recipes featured on the…wait for it…
- Libby’s Pinterest Page: The Pinterest page is also brand-spakin’ new, featuring recipes, family activity ideas, nutrition tips and more!
Now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for! Giveaway time! And we have MORE Le Creuset to share with you!
One lucky, randomly-selected winner will receive a variety of Libby’s® Fruits & Vegetables product as well as a Le Creuset 10.5″ Oblong Grill Pan in Ink. Oh how I LOVE Le Creuset’s Ink.
Here’s how to enter!Leave a comment on this post. That’s it!Additional entry: Follow Libby’s on PinterestAdditional entry: Like Libby’s on Facebook
Be sure to leave separate comments for each additional entry. All comments must be posted by Midnight PT on Monday, March 25. (Prize must be shipped to a U.S. address.)Good luck with the giveaway! Big thank to Libby’s! And, without further ado, today’s recipe!
Ginger Candied Vegetables
From Jane Maynard, This Week for Dinner
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 2 15-ounce cans Libby’s Gourmet Baby Carrots, drained
- 1 15-ounce can Libby’s whole corn, drained
- 1 15-ounce can Libby’s all-natural peas, drained
- (This glaze would be good on other types of veggies, too. Shoot for 3-4 pounds total of vegetables if you mix things up. Blanched or steamed vegetables would work very well.)Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Once butter is melted, add brown sugar, ginger, salt and pepper. Stir and cook for a few minutes, until sugar crystals are mostly dissolved (about 3 or 4 minutes total). Add veggies, stir and cook until vegetables are heated through. Serve immediately. Makes about 10-15 servings.
This post was sponsored by Libby’s – payment was received for services rendered.
Posted by Jane Maynard at 11:17 am 175 Comments
Categories: featured recipes, Giveaways, Recipes, side dishes, simple side dishes, the goods
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Friday, March 15
Pork Chop Experiment
Today’s post is fraught with diversions and side notes. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
Pork chops. There is such a fine line between good pork chops and terrible pork chops that I just usually avoid cooking them altogether. (On a related note, this recipe for pork loin is the best pork I’ve ever cooked or eaten. The recipe is super reliable and beyond delicious. Side note #1 is now complete.) The other day I was thinking about pork chops and thought to myself that the AMAZING technique I discovered from America’s Test Kitchen for cooking steak could perhaps be applied to pork chops. (Side note #2: If you haven’t yet made the perfect steak, what are you waiting for? Seriously, you’ll never cook a steak on the grill again.) The technique involves baking the meat before searing and using a thermoeter. When you follow this technique, the steak cooks very evenly and comes out perfectly every time.
Okay, so back to pork chops. When I toured America’s Test Kitchen in Boston last summer, I got to meet a few of the chefs. As I was ruminating over pork chops this week, I
pesteredemailed Chef Dan to ask his opinion. He said he thought it would work and gave me some advice, including target temperatures for the pork chops when cooking.SOOOOO…I tried it last night and…it worked! I used the garden variety 3/4″ – 1″ thick boneless pork chops at the grocery store because that’s all they had that day. The pork chops came out not dry (woohoo!) and had great flavor. It’s still pork, so, you know, it’s no filet mignon. But the pork chops were simple and yummy and Anna and Owen could not stop eating them!
I am going to try the technique again another time with a different kind of chop and see what happens. But for now, here’s what I did if you want to give it a try yourself! The recipe is nice and simple!
Thanks for the advice, Dan of the Test Kitchens! For the record, if anyone cooks this and something goes wrong, blame me and not Dan! Unlike ATK, where they test recipes literally hundreds of times, the recipe below has been tested ONCE by yours truly. That’s what I call thorough recipe development.
Simple Pork Chops
- 3/4″ – 1″ thick pork chops
- Rock salt (or a nice coarse salt if you don’t have the rock salt)
- Pepper
- A bit of olive oilPreheat oven to 275 degrees F.
Let pork chops sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes. Pat dry then sprinkle with rock salt and pepper on both sides, pushing the salt into the surface of the meat with your fingers.
Line a baking sheet with foil then place a wire rack on the lined cookie sheet (I also put a bit of foil over the wire rack for easier clean-up). Place the pork chops on the rack and insert an instant read, oven-proof thermometer into the center of one of the chops. Place in oven and cook until temperature reaches 115 degrees F (this took about 30 minutes).
When the temperature hits 110 degrees, begin preheating a skillet at medium heat. Drizzle 1-2 tablespoons of oil on the pan while heating and spread it around by tipping the pan. Sear the pork chops (that have reached 115 degrees), about 5 minutes per side, until they reach 135 degrees. Don’t cook them longer than that! Quickly sear the edges just to brown them up and make them look prettier.
Let meat sit for 5 minutes then serve.
Posted by Jane Maynard at 2:08 pm 9 Comments
Categories: featured recipes, main dishes, Recipes
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Wednesday, March 13
Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie…Mmmmmm…
I am LOVING all the great cast iron skillet recipe suggestions everyone is sharing on last week’s post. I am super excited to start using my cast iron skillet regularly! Many people mentioned making giant chocolate chip cookies in their skillet, so of course I had to give that a try ASAP. And the experiment was beyond successful.
Here’s what I love most about making a giant skillet cookie: you only dirty one dish! All the mixing and baking happens right in the skillet. Oh, and I also love that it is DELICIOUS.
I found the recipe on Tasty Kitchen, but if you have your own skillet cookie recipe or tips, please share! I want to perfect this delectable goodie!
Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie
Adapted slightly from Tasty Kitchen
- 8 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chipsPreheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Melt butter in 8-inch cast iron skillet over low heat. When butter is melted, stir in sugars with a spatula until well mixed. Remove from heat and let cool 5 minutes.
Stir in egg and vanilla with a fork. Mix well. (I was worried the pan and dough would be too hot for the egg, but they weren’t – no scrambled eggs to be seen!)
Using the spatula, stir in baking soda and salt, then stir in flour until well mixed.
Spread batter over surface of the skillet then sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the top. Fold chocolate chips into batter. By spreading the batter first you minimize chocolate chips hitting the pan and melting. It’s okay if a bit of this happens, but it does help to sprinkle the chocolate over the spread out dough and then mix the chips in.
Bake for about 20 minutes, until edges and top start to brown and center is set. (Took my oven 22 minutes.)
Best served warm and with ice cream!
Posted by Jane Maynard at 2:06 pm 13 Comments
Categories: featured recipes, Recipes, sweet things
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Friday, March 8
Cast Iron Skillet ‘Call for Recipes’ {and a fabulous giveaway involving butter, Le Creuset and Anthropologie!}
This giveaway is now closed, but please make sure you read through the comments for all the great cast iron skillet recipes!
People who use cast iron skillets swear by them. I know these skillets are supposed to be awesome, but here’s my “true confession” of the week: we received one as a wedding gift and then used it all of ONE time. Then it ended up buried in a box for a few years. And then I found it during this move all covered in rust and looking sad and ruined. Poor, neglected iron skillet that never got to live up to its potential!
I just received a brand, spanking new, rust-free Le Creuset cast iron skillet, compliments of Land O’Lakes®. I have decided to turn over a new leaf. I am going to use my BEAUTIFUL skillet and I am going to let it do its job of making delicious food! But I need your help…hence today’s Call for Recipes! Please share your favorite recipes that use a cast iron skillet! I’m ready to get cookin’!
And now for the giveaway portion of our program!So, why is Land O’Lakes giving me a skillet? I recently participated in a webinar with Land O’Lakes and a lovely group of fellow food blogging friends, including Ree and Maria. The topic was food trends, including meatballs and popcorn! As a thank you for participating, Land O’Lakes sent me a beautiful gift package, which we are also giving away to one of you lovely people (see below)!
Land O’Lakes also shared with us two of their new products, Sauté Express® Sauté Starters and butter Half Sticks. I have yet to try the Sauté Express (I was planning to for this post, but time got away from me! Ree said it was delicious and her boys gobbled it up). But I CAN tell you that I love the butter half sticks. They are so handy and have already been useful in my kitchen!
Giveaway time! One lucky, randomly-selected winner will receive one each of the following:- Full-value coupon for any Land O’Lakes Butter Half Sticks
- Full-value coupon for Sauté Express Sauté Starter
- Le Creuset Cast Iron Skillet (WOOHOO!)
- Completely adorable Anthropologie kitchen goodies, including the atom art serving bowl, half-stick painted amaryllis butter dish and pop-print measuring spoons
To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment on this post by Midnight PT on Thursday, March 14. Winner will be announced on March 15. Prize must be shipped to a U.S. address.
Please share your favorite cast iron skillet recipes! Thank you!
Posted by Jane Maynard at 10:37 am 313 Comments
Categories: call for recipes, Giveaways, Recipes, the goods
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Tuesday, March 5
Rolling Mat…and the Biscuit Quest Has Begun!
The other day on Facebook I asked if anyone had a biscuit recipe to share. Responses came POURING in (click here to read them). I now have more “this is the best biscuit recipe” biscuit recipes than I can shake a rolling pin at! I’ve already made two batches of biscuits. I’ll just keep it up and let you know what ends up being my favorite recipe!
So, anyway, as I was making all these biscuits, I realized I should do a post about my Tupperware rolling mat a.k.a. pastry sheet a.k.a. pastry mat. My Grandma Blomquist gave me this rolling mat when I got married. I grew up watching both she and my mom use the exact same mat. And, I have to be honest, I didn’t really use mine much until recently.
I think I always just used the countertop or one of my cutting boards when I was rolling stuff out or working with dough. But I’m discovering that the rolling mat is actually pretty awesome. Here are the various reasons that I am fast falling in love:
- The rolling mat is easier to clean up than a messy countertop, especially if you have tile counters.
- It’s bigger than a cutting board, so you have a larger working area. The surface is also textured perfectly for working with dough.
- It has measured circles and a ruler along the bottom. This is incredibly handy!
- If you own a rolling pin, it won’t take up any extra storage space – just roll it up around your rolling pin for storage.
- Every time I look at it I think of my grandma. (Okay, maybe this isn’t as helpful for you, but you can think of me thinking of my grandma and that might make you smile, right?)
There you have it. Rolling mats a.k.a. pastry sheets a.k.a. pastry mats are great!
You can search for rolling mats on Amazon or head on over to Tupperware to get one.
Oh, and this biscuit recipe from Homesick Texan was pretty darn yummy! More biscuit love to come…
Posted by Jane Maynard at 12:04 pm 14 Comments
Categories: fab faves, Kitchen Tips, Recipes, side dishes, the goods
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Tuesday, February 26
Lasagna-Baked Ziti
Growing up in New Jersey, I was surrounded by Italians. Literally surrounded. Three Catholic churches in our small town, 4 or 5 Italian restaurants in a 1/4-mile distance (keep in mind, there is just one traffic light downtown!) and last names like Pagnani and Martorana galore! Living around so many Italians meant lots of Italian food at community and school parties, specifically baked ziti. Baked ziti is to New Jersey as funeral potatoes are to Utah.
Needless to say, I ate some really delicious baked ziti growing up. Which makes it all the more disappointing that almost every time I’ve tried to make it, it just isn’t up to snuff. Well, I tried a recipe from my Real Simple | Best Recipes cookbook and I’ve finally found my winning ziti recipe! Woohoo! Move over, Italian mamas from New Jersey.
In case you are wondering, the recipe is also really easy to make. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Lasagna-Style Baked Ziti
From Real Simple | Best Recipes with my notes
- 12 ounces ziti, cooked to package directions (for some reason my grocery store did not have ziti, so I used penne)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/3 onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped or pushed through garlic press
- 1/2 pound lean ground beef or italian sausage
- salt and pepper
- 1 26-ounce jar marinara sauce (I had a bunch of No-Cook Pizza Sauce left over and that made up the bulk of my sauce, with some leftover jarred sauce to make up the difference. The sauce was delicious!)
- 1 bunch or 1 small bag spinach, thick stems removed (about 4 cups)
- 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese (I did more than 1 cup…probably about 1 1/2 or so)Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Drain cooked pasta and add it back to the pot.
Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Cook onion until soft and clear (4-5 minutes), then add garlic and cook about 1 minute more. Add the beef, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook, breaking up the meat, until the meat is cooked through.
Pour meat mixture into large pot of drained pasta. Add sauce, spinach, ricotta and 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese. Transfer to a 9×13 casserole dish. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Bake until ziti is hot all the way through and cheese is melted, about 15 minutes.
Posted by Jane Maynard at 11:00 am 13 Comments
Categories: featured recipes, main dishes, Recipes
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Thursday, February 21
Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos {Sweet Potato Day with ONE}
Before we get into the heart of today’s post, I need to whet your appetite. You do not want to miss today’s recipe. It comes from my sister-in-law Cora and is amazing. Appetite whetted? Good.
Way back in the day, I was an International Relations major at Boston University, with a focus on developing countries. When I met the folks at ONE about a year ago, I was super excited to get involved and help support their work, especially since one of their main focuses is world hunger. My food blogging and international relations lives were coming together in a very cool way. The folks at ONE have been amazing to work with, too. Win, win, win!
Today is Sweet Potato Day, a special day coordinated with ONE where a big group of loving, talented bloggers are all writing about sweet potatoes to raise awareness on the issue of hunger. Why the sweet potato, you ask? We are trying to make the sweet potato famous! It is nutritional and hearty and is saving lives in Africa, making it a worthy mascot for the cause! (Click here to read the Sweet Potato Day kick-off post I wrote for the ONE website.)
As part of the big day, I am sharing a keeper of a recipe with you below. It is so so so so good. These Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos come from my culinarily-talented sister-in-law, Cora. The first night she made them, she called me simply to tell me how delicious her dinner was. I knew I would have to make it myself pronto! Each element of this “recipe” is great on its own: the black beans are deliciously sweet, the sweet potatoes are simple and flavorful with a hint of spice, and the slaw is fresh and has bite. When you put them all together, you get something really special.
To support Sweet Potato Day, I hope that you will visit ONE’s website and see how you can get involved. There are two main issues I would love for you to check out. First, the budget. You can learn more on the budget issue and send a letter to your Congressperson on this page. Second, food. ONE has oodles of great info on food and hunger on this page, where you can also sign a petition to encourage world leaders to make hunger and food a top priority. We really can make a difference. I am blessed with abundance and want to do my part to help share the love. I hope you’ll join me!
Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burritos
From Cora Wallin
- Roasted Sweet Potatoes (see recipe below)
- Aunt Kathy’s Black Beans (see recipe below)
- Jalapeño Slaw (see recipe below)
- Shredded cheese
- Sour Cream
- Flour tortillasStuff all the good food above into your flour tortillas, eat, and enjoy!
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
From Cora Wallin
- 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- Chili powder
- Oregano
- CuminSpread cubed sweet potatoes on a large baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil over sweet potatoes evenly, to coat. Sprinkle sweet potatoes with salt, pepper, chili powder, oregano and cumin. Mix and move sweet potatoes around on the sheet to coat with spices. Roast in a 350 degree F oven while you prepare the beans. Cook until soft then remove from oven, 10-20 minutes.
Aunt Kathy’s Black Beans
From Cora Wallin, slightly modified by me
- 2 (16oz) cans black beans, mostly drained
- 1/2 cup water
- 2/3 cup olive oil
- 1/8 cup vinegar
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 bay leaves
- 2 T fresh, minced garlic
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1/3 onion, choppedSautee onions. Combine all ingredients, including sauteed onions, in a large saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 20 minutes.
Jalapeño Slaw
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher or coarse salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 16-ounce package cabbage and carrot coleslaw
- 1 jalapeño, sliced thin and chopped (add more if you want it hotter)Mix all the ingredients except the coleslaw together in a large bowl. Add coleslaw and toss to coat.
Be sure to visit the other blogs taking part in Sweet Potato Day! I have listed them all below. There is a lot of love and deliciousness in these posts. You will be well fed.
Sweet Potato & Black Bean Burritos from This Week for Dinner
Truffle Sweet Potato Frites from Savory Sweet Life
Sweet Potato & Chicken Sausage Stew from Chefdruck
Honey Sweet Potato Biscuits from Food for My Family
Sweet Potato Burgers from Cutie Booty Cakes
What’s Gaby Cooking and Sweet Potato Day
The MIssion List and Sweet Potato Day
World Moms Blog and Sweet Potato Day
Go Graham Go and Sweet Potato Day
Cranberry Sweet Potato Crumb Cake from Barbara Bakes
Bourbon and Marshmallow Sweet Potatoes from Boston Mamas
Documama and Sweet Potato Day
Sweet Potato Bread Pudding from Eat the Love
Lamb Shanks with Sweet Potatoes and Sausage from Kitchen Gadget Girl
Sweet Potato Love To Help End World Hunger from Love That Max
Celebrating Sweet Potato Day with Mom Trends
Sweet Potato Chili from Righteous Bacon
Cooking Sweet Potatoes for Picky Eaters from Rookie Moms
Sweet Potatoes and Global Health from Third Eye Mom
Indian Spiced Sweet Potato Kielbasa ONE Skillet Bake from Tickled Red
Sweet, Dude, Sweet Potato Breakfast Hash from Helen Jane
Oh My Sweet Potato Apple Bake from Bowl Licker
Sweet Potato and Peanut Gratin from Non-Reactive Pan
Sweet Potato Fries from When You Wake Up a Mother (also found on Million Moms Challenge)Posted by Jane Maynard at 5:00 am 27 Comments
Categories: eat less meat, Eat Well. Heal the Planet., featured recipes, main dishes, ONE, Recipes, side dishes
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Thursday, February 14
My New Favorite Cake Pan AND Brownie Recipe
Happy Valentine’s Day! You know I couldn’t let this day go buy without a little chocolate, right?
Before we get to the chocolate, though, I have a question. Why has no one ever told me how great cake pans with super square edges are? My sister Anne’s 8×8-inch baking pan has those super right-angled edges. Cate’s giraffe birthday cake this year was cut from an 8-inch square cake. I borrowed Anne’s cake pan knowing the squared-off edges would work better for cutting the pieces for the cake. Well, the pan worked fabulously for the cake…and then, last week, I used it for brownies and loved it! I had to return the pan, but you can bet your bottom dollar I will be buying one of my own, in the 8″x8″ and 9″x13″ sizes!
On to the chocolate. I tried Ruth Reichl’s “A Better Brownie” recipe last week. Awesome recipe, people. Nate, who does not have a sweet tooth, said to me that night, “Jane, these brownies are dangerous.” If you’ve got Nate jonesing for a dessert item, you know it’s good. They are super chocolatey and moist but still light in weight and texture. Such a great combination of qualities that you rarely find in a brownie. (PS…Ruth has lots of “How To Make a Better XXX” recipes on the Gilt Taste website. Definitely a good read!)
I’m putting the recipe here because in the past when I’ve simply linked to recipes, I’ve run the risk of the links disappearing for various reasons and forever losing recipes I love. Not that Ruth Reichl is going anywhere anytime soon…but who knows what those pesky links will do! I didn’t change anything about the recipe and I have absolutely nothing to add. Except that the recipe works beautifully as written.
Ruth Reichl’s “A Better Brownie”
From Ruth Reichl on Gilt Taste
- 2/3 cup (5 ounces) unsalted high-fat butter (like European or European-style butters)
- 5 ounces unsweetened excellent chocolate
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons best-quality vanilla extract
- 4 farm fresh organic eggs (Jane note: my eggs were not farm fresh, everything was fine!)
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup all-purpose white flour, sifted (Jane note: I just now realized I forgot to sift the flour – whoops!)Butter a 9×9 square pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Butter the bottom again and lightly dust the pan with cocoa powder.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Melt the chocolate and the butter in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until the mixture is smooth and glossy. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.
Beat the eggs and salt in a stand mixer. Add the sugar and beat on high for about 10 minutes, until the mixture has turned quite white. Add the chocolate mixture to the eggs, beating on low until just mixed.
Gently stir in the flour until it just disappears.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, place in the middle of the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 350 degrees. Bake for 40 minutes; the brownies will be quite fudgy and a toothpick should come out not quite clean. Cool on a rack.
Invert the pan, remove the parchment paper and invert again onto a cutting surface. Cut into squares.
Posted by Jane Maynard at 9:59 am 14 Comments
Categories: fab faves, featured recipes, Recipes, sweet things, the goods
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Tuesday, February 12
Love Your Heart with Sodium Girl: Roasted Garlic and Fingerling Potatoes
I’ve met some amazing people through this whole blogging thing. Jess Goldman Foung is one of those people. She is the embodiment of sunshine and I am so grateful to know her.
Jess has a food blog called Sodium Girl, not because she eats sodium but because she doesn’t! Due to health reasons years ago, Jess had to cut salt from her diet and reduce her sodium intake significantly. Instead of moping she embraced the challenge and is now a low-sodium genius. Jess just published her first cookbook, Sodium Girl’s Limitless Low-Sodium Cookbook. It is beautiful, full of great food, well-designed and organized, easy to ready, informational and fun. It is a fabulous resource if you want to learn how to reduce or cut out sodium.
To celebrate the book launch, Jess has organized a Love Your Heart Recipe Rally, where a group of food bloggers re-create a favorite recipe without using salt. Be sure to click through to Jess’s rally post to read more facts about sodium and see the other featured recipes!
Jess is also hosting a giveaway. You could win a Vitamix. You know how I love super, duper, powerful, knock-your-socks-off blenders. You need one, so you should totally enter the giveaway! (See the Rafflecopter entry form at the bottom of this post to enter.)
So, on to my recipe makeover. Let me begin with this: I love salt. A lot. (I blame my low blood pressure rather than weak will power.
) But I also love Jess a lot, so when she invited me to be a part of the rally, I had to accept. But, I must admit, the idea of taking a deliciously-salty dish and figuring out how to make it salt-free was intimidating.
I thought long and hard and decided I need to try to make a potato dish with no salt. One of the reasons I make such good potatoes of all kinds is due to my liberal use of salt. I honestly did not believe I could eliminate this crucial ingredient and still make a good potato dish. This was my chance to try!
Here was my thought process:
- I decided to do roasted potatoes because I normally I just use salt and pepper. No salt would certainly be a challenge!
- I chose to use fingerling potatoes. Since they are smaller, I thought the ratio of potato to flavorings on the skin would be well-balanced. We’re looking to maximize flavor, here!
- Roasted garlic is magical. Tons of flavor but {surprisingly} not over-powering. I decided if roasted garlic smeared on bread is good all by itself, then it would probably be good smeared on potatoes, too.
- Balsamic vinegar packs a big flavor punch and goes great with garlic.
- Olive oil is heart healthy, flavorful and complements garlic and balsamic vinegar well.
The potatoes ended up being delicious! Great texture and flavor. Cate and Owen kept going back for seconds, which means success in my book. I must admit that I sprinkled a smidge of salt on a few of mine, because I just couldn’t help myself. Of course it tasted mighty fine with the salt, but honestly, the salt wasn’t necessary.
Here is the recipe!
Roasted Garlic and Fingerling Potatoes
From Jane Maynard, This Week for Dinner
- About 20-30 fingerling potatoes
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 10-15 garlic cloves, skins removed
- 8 teaspoons balsamic vinegar (read the label to check for sodium content!)
- Parsley (dried or fresh chopped)
- PepperPreheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Place 4-5 of the garlic cloves in olive oil in a small, oven-proof dish. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until cloves are soft. Remove from oven and raise oven temperature to 400 degrees F. Smash up garlic cloves in the oil and let cool. Whisk in balsamic vinegar until oil and vinegar are well mixed.
Toss potatoes along with the rest of the garlic cloves in the oil and vinegar mixture. Spread evenly on a foil-lined pan and cook in the 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes, until you can pierce the potatoes with a knife.
Remove potatoes and whole garlic cloves from the pan and discard the foil (the vinegar/oil/garlic mixture will get all dark and sticky and gooey and sorta burned in places on the pan – that’s okay, but you don’t need it anymore at this point). Toss the cooked potatoes and whole garlic cloves with a bit more balsamic vinegar, parsley and pepper to taste.
If you would like to enter the Vitamix giveaway (and you should!), use the entry form below! (Giveaway begins at 9:00 am PT Tuesday, 2/12 and runs through 12:00 am PT Monday, 2/18. Giveaway rules can be found at the bottom of Jess’s Recipe Rally post.)
Many congratulations to Jess on her beautiful book! So happy for you, Jess, and excited for you to share your healthy message with the world!
Posted by Jane Maynard at 8:41 am 12 Comments
Categories: featured recipes, Giveaways, Healthy Eats, Recipes, side dishes, the goods
Hello! My name is Jane Maynard and you've landed yourself on my blog, This Week for Dinner™. Every Sunday I share a weekly menu...and then count on you to share your own! You'll also find other deliciousness that I hope you'll enjoy!
