Category Archives: extras

One Hour Cast Iron Focaccia

Posted in extras, side dishes, things we like to eat by

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When I found this recipe the other day, I was a little skeptical- a delicious bread that can be made from start to finish in an hour? I’ve had a few, *ahem*, interesting experiences with rolling out dough, so that didn’t add to my optimism. I decided to give it a go though, and boy, was it worth it!

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The recipe really was incredibly simple, it only take an hour, and it couldn’t have been any easier to roll out. And the bread was so delicious! The texture was so good- soft inside and a bit crisp on top. I modified the original recipe by adding garlic powder and garlic sea salt- the garlic got a bit crunchy and added a really yummy flavor.

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Cast Iron Focaccia

Slight alterations to Crunchy Creamy Sweet’s recipe

Ingredients for the dough:

3/4 cup warm water

1/2 tsp. sugar

1 1/2 tsp. yeast (Active Dry Yeast)

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 cups flour (divided in half)

1/2 tsp. salt

For the melted butter mixture:

3 Tbsp. butter, melted

1 Tbsp. grated parmesan

1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. garlic sea salt

Instructions:

Place warm water and sugar in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, and stir until sugar dissolves. Sprinkle the yeast over the top of the water and stir a few times. Let stand for about 5 minutes, or until foamy.

Turn the mixer onto low and add one cup of the flour and the salt, and mix until combined. Add olive oil and mix well. With the mixer on low, add flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl- I used a bit more than 3/4 of a cup, but it may need anywhere from 3/4 cup to a full cup.

At this point, preheat the oven to 220* and turn it off once it has preheated. Keep the door closed.

Grease the skillet well. Place dough onto a floured surface and fold the dough a few times until it’s no longer sticky. Shape into a ball. Roll out the dough until it’s about the size of your skillet. Place the rolled out dough into the skillet and stretch it up the sides. Cover the skillet with a kitchen towel and place in the oven for 20 minutes to rise.

Take the skillet out of the oven and preheat the oven to 400*. Make indentations in the dough with your fingers. Mix melted butter, parmesan and seasoning in a small bowl. Brush the dough with half the butter.

Place skillet in the preheated oven and bake 16-18 minutes, or until golden brown. Brush with remaining butter. Slice into wedges or squares and serve.

Jordan

New Year’s Eve Party Appetizer

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new year's eve appetizer 1

These appetizers are amazing! We made them for Thanksgiving and they were a hit! I actually got the recipe from my friend Laura, but I have no idea where she got it. We make ours with Cambozola cheese, which is a flavorful soft cheese. Apparently it is a combination of French soft-ripened triple cream cheese and Italian Gorgonzola. But it’s made by a German cheese company. Go figure.

It sort of reminds me of Brie, but with a much stronger flavor. We normally buy Cambozola at Costco and we also found it at Safeway, but for a lot more money per pound. It is quite expensive, however you don’t need huge quantities of the ingredients since they are so flavorful. The appetizers are best served immediately. They are just so pretty, aren’t they?

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New Year’s Eve Party Appetizer

1 loaf of crusty French bread, cut into rounds

1 8 oz. container of raspberries

About 1/2 a pound of Cambozola, sliced into small wedges with a sharp knife. Cut straight out of the fridge (the rind on the outside is totally edible by the way).

A small handful of fresh basil, thinly sliced

Honey for drizzling

 

Place sliced cheese on top of pieces of bread and place in the toaster oven, or regular oven until melty. Watch it carefully- it should only take 2 or 3 minutes. Smoosh raspberries on top of melted cheese and then sprinkle a few slivers of fresh basil on each appetizer. Drizzle a small amount of honey over the top of each.

Cindy & Jordan

Treat of the Month- Christmas Edition

Posted in extras, sweets, things we like to eat by

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You might have noticed that I didn’t post a Treat of the Month for November. I was late, but I finally made Danae apple crisp, which was super yummy. But I never got around to posting the recipe- sorry!

To make up for it, here’s the yummy December Treat of the Month recipe. These are so delicious and simple! A perfect treat to wrap up and give instead of Christmas cookies.

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White Chocolate Dipped Pretzels

1 bag of pretzel rods

1 bag of meltable white chocolate pieces

sprinkles

Melt chocolate on low heat in microwave- I heated it for 30 seconds at a time and stirred in between- it took a bit, but I felt like it was easier than doing it on the stove-top.

Once chocolate is completely smooth, dip individual pretzels and sprinkle with sprinkles. Place on wax paper lined cookie sheet and refrigerate until chocolate hardens.

Jordan

Christmas Decorations & Homemade Hot Chocolate

Posted in extras, the important stuff, things we like to eat by

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We finally put up Christmas decorations and lights a couple of days ago- it feels like Christmas around here!

christmas decorations collage

1./ Yes. It’s true. We put up a airplane themed Christmas tree. In our defense, it’s a really tiny tree.  2./You can’t really see it in this picture, but we have a silver guest bathroom. My dad just doesn’t get it- he says it looks like the inside of a tin can. 3./Isn’t this wreath unusual? It’s a boxwood wreath from Trader Joe’s.

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This is “skinny Santa”- he’s one of our favorite Christmas decorations. This year he’s stationed on our living room coffee table.

And now in the spirit of Christmas, here’s my new favorite recipe- homemade hot chocolate- it’s so delicious. I highly modified the recipe on the back of the Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa powder box until I liked it.

The recipe below calls for two cups of milk, but it’s easily rich enough to add a bit more milk. So if you wanted to stretch it into two servings, that would totally work.

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Homemade Hot Chocolate

(makes one very large serving)

2 cups of milk

2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 Tablespoons sugar

1/8 tsp. of cinnamon (scant)

1/2 tsp. of vanilla

1/8 tsp. of peppermint extract (optional)

 

Heat two cups of milk in small saucepan. While it heats, mix cocoa powder, sugar and cinnamon in small bowl and whisk into the milk. Add vanilla and peppermint extract (if desired), and heat mixture until hot, but not boiling. Pour into a mug and add marshmallows if you’d like.

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^^^My favorite big blue mug. It’s huge and holds the full two cups called for in the recipe.

Jordan

Candied Pecans + The Most Delicious Salad Ever!

Posted in extras, salads, things we like to eat by

candied pecan and salad collage

We just got back yesterday from our annual Thanksgiving trip to Northern California. There was a lot of hunting and eating (in my mom’s words, “it’s a feeding frenzy”), so in short, the traditional festivities. It’s always such a fun trip spent celebrating with family.

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^^^The gorgeous Thanksgiving dinner table

The salad in the picture above was based on a salad that my mom had recently and loved. We looked for the required candied pecans at the store, but couldn’t find them- so we decided to make our own. We had absolutely no idea that they would be so simple and they turned out absolutely delicious!

Candied Pecans

1 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup of white sugar

Place both ingredients into a skillet and mix well.

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Heat on medium heat, stirring frequently until sugar caramelizes and the pecans get sort of crunchy. This should take about 10 minutes- but watch carefully! The sugar heats quickly and burns quickly.

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These were so yummy that we were eating them straight out of the bag.

Thanksgiving Salad

Mixed Greens- large box- I think it was about 16 ounces

finely sliced red onion, we used half

1 sliced pear

1 container of raspberries

1/2 cup of candied pecans

4 ounces of Gorgonzola cheese

1 bottle of balsamic vinaigrette- we make our own using Good Seasons Italian Mix, with balsamic vinegar and olive oil

In a large bowl, toss mixed greens with the dressing. Plate and layer on the remaining ingredients. Serve immediately.

Cindy & Jordan