Best Of 2009

Dearest Forlorn Reader:

You are not forgotten! December kicked my butt and I do apologize for disappearing just when you needed some holiday reinforcement. Never fear! I am back. Have reviewed all of my photos from the last year and compiled this batch of my favorite memories of 2009. A year of gigantic personal growth! Also my first year with my darling new Olympus E-420.

Oh, how I "heart" photography!

Enjoy, dear Reader. When next we visit, it will be to kick off 2010! A new year of incredible possibilities....what do you want from life this year? I have a challenge in mind--something daily, something joyful. Will explain on January One. XOXO

*Background info on all photos available on my flickr site: www.flickr.com/photos/talekinker

Molded Eggs Florentine (aka Ode to Mini Ramekins)

Molded Eggs Florentine
Originally uploaded by talekinker

All right, Reader. I think it's high time we added the ramekin to our arsenal of go-to kitchen accessories. You are gonna be delighted with all the dishes you can make with these little gems. Best of all--they are soooo easy to use! Go pick some up at your local Pier 1 Imports for $1 each.

Ramekins are my new favorite way to bake individual portions plus they're dishwasher safe. Use the mini ramekin to bake individual layer cakes, souffles or the fab Eggs Florentine recipe below. The medium size ($2.50 each, as of Nov. 2009) are great for baked french onion soup, chili, mac n' cheese, chicken pot pie and other hearty single-serve dishes. Go crazy and let me know what you come up with!

This super-easy version is my loose interpretation of Penny Farrell's delightful recipe showcased in her 'Brunches' cookbook.

Molded Eggs Florentine

1 bag fresh spinach, washed & stems removed
4 eggs
2 red peppers, roasted & thinly-sliced
1 teaspoon ground coriander seed
salt & pepper to taste

In 1-inch of water in a pan, add salt, pepper & coriander and spinach. Steam spinach until just wilted.
Remove from heat and drain thoroughly, pressing out any excess water.
Divide spinach into 4 portions and place in bottom of greased ramekins.
Place large skillet with 1-2 inches of water over medium heat until water begins to boil.
Using tongs, place ramekins in hot water bath.
Add one egg to each ramekin.
Add 4-5 strips of roasted red pepper to each ramekin.
Salt & pepper to taste.
Allow ramekins to cook in water bath until eggs are opaque or reach desired level of doneness (4-10 minutes). Covering the ramekins for a minute or two will help cook any stubborn eggs.
Using tongs, remove ramekins from water bath and cool just until serving can be loosened from ramekin. For pretty presentation, serve on toast.
Or, if you prefer, do what I did and serve the Eggs Florentine directly in the ramekin. Just as delicious and still piping hot when it gets to the table.

This dish makes a fabulous centerpiece at any brunch! Enjoy!

Olive Tapenade Puff Pastry Rolls

Olive Tapenade Puff Pastry Rolls
Originally uploaded by talekinker

Because I "heart" puff pastry & olive tapenade, I thought a cinnamon roll-esque combo of the two might add a little something extra to the Ladies' Brunch I held last weekend.

Looking through my copy of Penny Farrell's 'Brunches' cookbook, I found a recipe for Pesto Palmiers and Olive Tapenade Scones and decided to combine the two. The results were flaky fabulousness!

Olive Tapenade Puff Pastry Rolls

1 sheet puff pastry dough, thawed
1 can medium pitted black olives
2 teaspoons capers
4-5 sun-dried tomato strips
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter, melted
flour for rolling
1 clove fresh garlic, if desired

In food processor, chop olives, capers, sun-dried tomatoes, oil (& garlic) until tapenade is thoroughly blended & reaches uniform consistency. Cover & refrigerate for 1-2 hours to allow tapenade flavors to combine. Make this the night before, if you have time.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Lightly flour rolling surface & rolling pin, then gently roll out puff pastry into a square.
Spread a thin layer of tapenade over entire pastry.
If you want more tapenade at the center of your rolls, make the filling thicker on one side.
Beginning on the thicker side, roll the pastry up evenly into a log.
Slice the log into 1-inch thick rolls and place on greased cookie sheet.
Brush each roll with melted butter and bake for 10-15 minutes or until pastry is puffed and golden.
Serve immediately.
Serves 4. For the amount pictured, double the recipe.

Might be fun to sprinkle these with a little fresh Parmesan cheese when they come out of the oven too.....

Chevre-stuffed Dates with Basil & Prosciutto

Dates Stuffed with Herbed Goat Cheese & Wrapped in Basil & Prosciutto
Originally uploaded by talekinker

'Oh, these are Ambrosia!' --Aunt

Here it is, Reader. My Big Gun Appetizer Recipe. If you're scheduled to throw down with Bobby Flay, you'll want these little wonders in your culinary arsenal. Serve these at your next important event and prepare for fawning accolades. The culinary bar has been raised.

Chevre-Stuffed Dates with Basil & Prosciutto

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg. Medjool Dates (approximately 24 dates)

• 4 oz. Garlic & Herb Chevre

• 1/2 pound sliced Prosciutto (medium-thickness)

• 1 bunch fresh Basil leaves, washed with stems removed

• toothpicks (soaked in water overnight)

Procedure:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

• Slice each date partially in half lengthwise (so the halves are still attached but the date is easy to stuff). Remove pits and discard. 

• Stuff dates with Chevre.

• Cut prosciutto slices in half lengthwise.

• Wrap each date in 1 basil leaf and then in 1 strip of prosciutto & secure with a toothpick.

• Place dates in a single layer on a greased cookie sheet.

• Bake for 15-20 minutes or until chevre is warm and prosciutto is sizzling. Serve immediately.

Recipe serves 6-8.

Caveats....

• Find Medjool Dates in the grocery produce department with the dried fruits and nuts.


• If you can't find Medjool Dates, I suggest using Sunsweet Pitted Dates.

• Substitute Cranberry Cinnamon Chevre, other flavors or plain goat cheese for the Garlic & Herb, if you like. Aldi often has an inexpensive selection. 

• Note: I usually double the batch when I make these--they go fast!

Crazy good!

Got Gratitude?

Fall Bounty
Originally uploaded by diver227

'Saying thank you is more than good manners. It is good spirituality.'
--Alfred Painter

While Christmas is my favorite holiday in terms of sheer joy, Thanksgiving is my favorite on principle. An entire, federally-recognized holiday dedicated to saying thank you. What's not to love?

It's when I take the time to say thank you that God works miracles in my heart and in my life. Thanks to Himself for cooking fabulous dinners & tucking me into bed every night. Thanks to Mom for sacrificing so much to make sure Brother & I had amazing opportunities. Thanks to Aunts & Uncle for demonstrating how to live lovingly each day. Thanks to dear friends who enrich my life. And thanks to God for all these things and every other good thing in my life. Isn't it funny how your blessings multiply when you stop to count even a handful of them?

Gratitude may just be the best thing ever invented--a tonic for hurts, a way to diffuse anger, a practical way to live even mediocre days in joy. This November, as with other difficult years, I'm especially grateful. Or at least more mindful of how much worse things could be. I have a job where I get to make other people's homes pretty. My truck starts each morning and gets me home safely at night. We have a lovely, warm & dry place to live. My family is all healthy right now and somehow, even the cat is less crabby than usual (a minor miracle).

Reader, what are you thankful for this year? Sit with this question and really mull it over for a minute. Ask your spouse, kids and friends. Are you surprised by what comes to mind? Or, do you maybe feel a little out-of-shape in the gratitude department? If you don't already, take a few moments each day and think of 3 things you are truly grateful for. Try it first thing in the morning, or right before you fall asleep. On your lunch break works too. Moms & Dads: try it with the family around the dinner table. Do this for a week, or better yet, for a month. You'll be amazed at what starts to happen in your heart. You might also find it changes the people around you. Yep, even through something that small.

If my little musing makes you want to add a little more gratefulness to your own turkey & football holiday, here are a few of my favorite ways to infuse gratitude into your Thanksgiving meal:

• Ask your guests ahead of time to think of something they are grateful for & share those thoughts while gathered around the table.
  
• Instead of place cards at the table, make each person a fall-themed bookmark with a gratitude quote or pertinent bible verse written on one side and a quality you love about that person or reason you are grateful for them on the back. Have the person seated next to them read it out loud.
  
• Go around the table and re-cap each person's favorite memory from that year, or favorite childhood memory.
  
• During dinner, play a game with the kids: encourage them to rat out anybody who doesn't say thank -you while passing food around the table. Make that person name something they're grateful for.
  
• If you're a digital shutterbug, crop or edit copies of your recent family photos so that you have a 2"-3" black & white head shot of each guest. Or use a goofy photo they will have to explain. Cut them out and put one on each place setting. Or hole punch and tie them to each napkin as a place card.
  
  My rule of thumb is, use whatever you can think of to get a dialog going about experiences people are grateful for or remember fondly. If all else fails, google gratitude quotes or share a grateful bible verse during grace.
  
  Thank you, dear Reader. Hope your Thanksgiving is fabulous.
  

Ode to Oreo Truffles

Dear Reader,
If you haven't tried the edible nirvana known as Oreo Truffles--what the heck are you waiting for?

Oreo Truffles are the perfect dessert for any holiday. They make decadent gifts and leave even the most inept cook looking like a confectionery genius. Here is my go-to recipe for these ridiculously easy & supremely delicious little gems. Seriously. People will bow at your feet. They will squeal with delight, tear-up & hug you. They might even propose marriage.


Oreo Truffles
1 pkg. Double Stuf Oreos
1 8 oz. block Philadelphia 1/3 Reduced Fat Cream Cheese (room temperature)
2 containers Dolci Frutta Hard Chocolate Shell


Pulverize Oreos in food processor until consistency of black dirt (chunks won't absorb cream cheese properly). Using electric mixer, combine Oreo crumbs & softened cream cheese. Beat on low until both are thoroughly combined. Filling should be consistency of muddy dough. Cover filling and refrigerate a minimum of 2 hours or until all moisture is absorbed (leave them over night for super-velvetty consistency). Roll filling into 1 inch balls and place on wax paper-covered cookie sheet. Refrigerate balls 15 minutes to set shape. Microwave Dolci Frutta according to package directions. If chocolate shell is too thick, thin with vegetable oil in teaspoon-size increments until desired consistency is reached. Using a spoon, dip each truffle in chocolate shell, coat thoroughly and place back on wax paper to harden*. Refrigerate to expedite shell hardening. Makes approx. 32 truffles. Can be made a few days ahead and refrigerated or frozen.


Dressing them up:
*Before shell hardens: add chocolate shavings, nuts, colored sugar or candy sprinkles.

**After shell hardens: drizzle with white chocolate, dust with unsweetened cocoa, adorn with edible paint or double-dip in alternate color.**

A few caveats...

• Using Double Stuf vs. regular Oreos makes the truffles creamier.
  
• I use the 1/3 reduced fat cream cheese because it makes the filling much less greasy than regular Philly. I don't use fat-free because it alters the taste.
  
• Make sure truffles have absorbed all moisture before dipping in chocolate shell. If the filling is not done expanding, it may punch through the shell.
  
• I prefer Dolci Frutta to other dipping chocolates because it is creamier and the shell is a much softer consistency--more succulent to bite into.
  
• Adding mint flavoring or chocolate liqueur to the filling will spice up your truffles. Just be sure to add more Oreos to keep the filling from being too liquidy.
• I never make less than a double batch--they disappear too quickly!

Photo: My co-workers are still talking about this batch I made on Halloween.

In Praise of Pumpkin Soup

My Annual Pumpkin Pile Shot
Originally uploaded by Jim Frazier

I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion. -- Henry David Thoreau

I wait all summer for my toes to be cold.
Once those chilly October mornings arrive, requiring me to don fuzzy socks before getting out of bed, I know it's finally, really, truly Autumn and Pumpkin Soup Season.

Bringing up pumpkin soup usually draws one of two responses: either groans of delight from those who've had the pleasure or intrigued (if somewhat wary) looks from the uninitiated. Doesn't matter which--I tempt them all shamelessly, promising a velvety-orange and creamy deliciousness unlike anything they've tasted before.
"Trust me," I say, "You'll like it. People who don't even like pumpkin love this soup. It comes with references." I wheedle and cajole. I'm the used car salesman of soup.
P.S. It really does taste AMAZING, is darn easy to make and can be ready in 25 minutes.

This recipe is the original from Bon Apetit, Oct. 2001. As many of the reviews attest, it is rather bland. Over the years I have adjusted it as follows:

Ingredients

2 15-ounce cans pure pumpkin

4 cups water

1 cup half and half

2-3 garlic cloves, chopped

3/4 cup pure maple syrup, 1-2 tablespoons (set aside)

1 stick salted butter (softened), 2 tablespoons (set aside)

1 teaspoon (to begin with) Chinese five-spice powder (a blend of ground anise, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, and ginger available in the spice section of most supermarkets)

4 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, sliced

salt & pepper to taste

1 tub marscapone dessert cheese, room temperature

Preparation

Bring first 3 ingredients to simmer in large saucepan over medium-high heat, whisking often. Whisk in syrup, 1 stick of butter, and five-spice powder. Simmer soup 5-10 minutes, whisking often. Season with salt & pepper and more Chinese five-spice & maple syrup as needed. Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter in heavy medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms & garlic; sauté until tender, about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms & garlic to soup and simmer 10 minutes or until slightly thickened, whisking often. While soup is simmering, stir remaining maple syrup and a splash of half & half into marscapone cheese until thoroughly combined. Consistency should liquid enough to drizzle. Divide soup among 6 bowls. In a circular pattern, drizzle each bowl with marscapone; serve immediately.
(Soup can be made 1 day ahead. Chill until cold, then cover and keep chilled. Bring to simmer before serving.)

Ahhhhhh, heavenly! Let me know what you think!