Happy Birthday, Robb!

My best friend of all time celebrated a significant birthday (rhymes with flirty) and I can only wish I was there to celebrate for the entire month. Here is to another XX years! Love you, Robbie! I dug up some gems you are sure to hate. 

 

Monday Night Spicy

I  recently became obsessed with this recipe, so I thought it a good idea to share. Can't remember where I found it online, but it is a quick and simple weeknight meal. So simple it will blow your mind.

Spicy Peanut Chicken Salad, serves 6

• 1 cup julienne red and yellow pepper
• 1 cup shredded or julienne carrots
• 1 cup shredded zucchini
• 1/2 cup finely chopped broccoli
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• 1 cup chopped or shredded cooked chicken breast
• 8 oz. cooked whole wheat spaghetti

Dressing:

• 5 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons almond butter
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger
• 1/2 tablespoon honey
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 to 2 minced small jalapeno(s)
• 1/3 cup peanuts for a garnish on top - I could take or leave this

1. Combine first seven ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Puree all remaining ingredients (except peanuts) in a food processor until smooth and creamy.  Add peanuts last and process until just finely chopped.  Pour over salad and toss well.
3. Top individual servings with fresh basil and cilantro!

Spring is here!

Spring has arrived, and while the winter was completely underwhelming and mild, it still feels good to see all the trees blossoming and the flowers burgeoning. I missed the second anniversary of Berger Bakes on March 14th, but I am glad she is still a kickin'. We are nearing another major life event in September and the countdown is on. Five months! More on that to come. 

For now, we will focus on Passover. We were invited to Passover this year (a first for me) and I was instructed to bring dessert [read: baking without flour]. The idea of baking for this special event didn't phase me until about three hours before we were supposed to leave; sorry Ian. I managed to get it together and whip up an espresso truffle torte from a book called,  "A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking." This was gifted to me by my soon-to-be in-laws, and I was so glad to have it on hand. The recipe is incredibly rich and indulgent - is there another kind? Looking back I would have given myself much more time to bake it. The torte rises using mostly eggs and while it baked for the full amount of time, it was still jiggly and a little underdone. I was terrified I was serving raw eggs to the group - Seder fail. As it turned out, the edge pieces were cooked perfectly, so those were served and happily eaten (yay!).

16 ounces of chocolate cut into large chunks and added into the mixture above of butter and coffee. What a tasty little pot of goodness.

And voila, here was the final product. With such a large group we cut it into tiny slivers, but with how decadent it was a little went a long way. 

All in all, baking without flour is no easy task, but I would love to give this another go when I have more time and I am not frantically running around the kitchen. This gives me another year to test some recipes before the next Passover baking endeavor of 2013.

Carrot Cake Pancakes

Keeping the pancake streak alive with some carrot cake pancakes. The recipe is fairly simple and I nixed the cream cheese topping due to Ian's fear of white things. The recipe comes from Smitten Kitchen and is a great breakfast item to keep in the books.

The batter consists of dry ingredients mixed with buttermilk, eggs and two cups of finely grated carrots. It looks a bit odd, but the end result is that of a regular pancake.

Here is the full recipe:
Pancakes
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (I used a smidge less)
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts (optional, I skipped them)
2 tablespoons golden raisins (optional, ditto)
1 large egg
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups finely grated carrots (from about a 3/4 pound bundle whole carrots)
3 tablespoons butter, for griddle

Cream cheese topping
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Dash of ground cinnamon

Place a rack in the upper third of your oven and preheat to 200°F. This will keep the pancakes warmed as they’re fried in batches.

To make the pancakes: In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and, if using, nuts and raisins. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, brown sugar, buttermilk and vanilla. Stir in carrots. Stir carrot mixture into dry ingredients, stirring until just incorporated. Let rest for five minutes while you make the cream cheese topping.

To make the cream cheese topping: In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese until fluffy and lump-free. Whisk in powdered sugar, two tablespoons milk, vanilla and cinnamon. If you’d like the mixture thinner, add the remaining tablespoon of milk (I did not).

Over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon butter in a cast-iron skillet or griddle pan. Spoon 2 tablespoons batter into the hot pan per pancake, flipping once, until pancakes are golden on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer finished pancakes to a serving dish or tray in the oven, to keep warm while you repeat the process with the remaining batter, adding more butter as needed.

Serve warm with cream cheese topping.

Turn This Ship Around Pot Pie

In an effort to take a healthy spin on notoriously terrible for you meals, I scoured the internet for a healthy chicken pot pie. It was snowing outside and I wanted something warm and delicious. Success! Here is an amazingly delicious version:

I made two little mini ones along with a larger pie. There is something satisfying about enjoying your own little contained pie. Either way, really happy with how it turned out. 


Ingredients
For the crust:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, plus more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
4 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons skim milk

For the Filling:
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
5 medium carrots, cut into large chunks
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/3 cup skim milk
3 stalks celery, sliced
3 cups shredded cooked chicken breasts
1/2 cup fat-free plain Greek yogurt
1 cup frozen peas
1 1/2 tablespoon chopped parsley, 1 tablespoon chopped chives and 1 1/2 teaspoon chopped thyme
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions
Prepare the crust: Pulse the flour, baking powder and salt in a food processor until combined. Add the butter, one piece at a time, pulsing until the mixture looks like coarse meal.  Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and gather into a ball. Flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill at least 1 hour.

Meanwhile, make the filling: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.Bring the chicken broth and carrots to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook 2 minutes; cover and keep warm. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft, about 8 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour and stir until lightly toasted, about 3 minutes. Add the milk, celery and the warm broth mixture and simmer until thickened, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the chicken, yogurt, peas and chopped herbs. Season with salt and pepper.

Transfer the filling to a 9" deep pie pan. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until about 1/2 inch thick and slightly larger than the dish. Press the dough against the sides of the dish. Place on a baking sheet and bake until the crust is golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.

Valentine's Day via iPhone

This year we celebrated our fifth anniversary on Valentine's Day (I know, I know). I blew it on the picture taking job, but here are some photos from our lovely day/week.

 

Heart shaped baked goods are always the right choice, so I couldn't help myself with themed brownies. Ian made a salted caramel, pear ice cream to go on top. Yowza! 

We decided to really do it up and went to the highly acclaimed Chicago restaurant, graham elliot. While each bite tasted so incredible, we probably had ten to twelve bites in total. Definitely not a place you want to go if you are looking for a filling meal.

The cauliflower course (apologies for the lighting) consisted of four florets and a flower garnish, which we definitely ate to keep the meal going.

Oatmeal Pancakes

First, what a great little puzzle. This was part of bigger puzzle that was given to Ian as a birthday gift. The Rogers' are very crafty.

This morning I woke up wanting oatmeal and pancakes. Not being able to decide I just combined the two. These are both delicious and not too terrible for you. The recipe is from Smitten Kitchen, and I added in blackberries to mix things up.

Here is the full recipe:

Oatmeal Pancakes

• 3/4 cup oat flour (you can make this by pulsing rolled oats into a food processor or spice grinder until finely ground; 1 cup of oats yielded 3/4 cup oat flour for me)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly (plus extra for the pan)
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 cup cooked oatmeal
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 large eggs

Whisk the dry ingredients (oat flour, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt) together in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk the butter, milk, cooked oatmeal, honey and eggs together until thoroughly combined. Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Using a light hand is important for tender pancakes; the batter should be slightly thick with a holey surface.

Heat a 10-inch cast-iron pan or griddle over medium heat until water sizzles when splashed onto the pan. Lower to medium-low. Rub the pan generously with butter; working quickly, dollop 1/4-cup mounds of batter onto the pan, 2 or 3 at a time. Once bubbles have begun to form on the top side of the pancake, flip the pancake and cook until the bottom is dark golden-brown, about 5 minutes total. Wipe the pan with a cloth before griddling the next pancake.

Continue with the rest of the batter.

Serve the pancakes hot, straight from the skillet or keep them warm in a low oven. We also found these to reheat surprisingly well the next morning, again in a low oven.