The Cherry Chomper (and some chocolate chip panckes)

I love kitchen gadgets!

I saw this in the store one day...the same day I was buying fresh cherries...it was fate! Seriously, how cute is it? Probably made for kids, but that's ok. It was

Not exactly an efficient gadget, but it does give you the chance to bang out some frustrations. It's a little messy - or maybe that was the cook? - as the juicy evidence in this picture illustrates.

The freshly pitted cherries were served along side some whole wheat pancakes laced with some caramel-chocolate chips, and a few slices of bacon.

The pancakes are from a mix. Hodgson Mills makes a great whole wheat pancake mix. All you need is to stir in some milk and an egg and whatever fun stuff you want to add and you're good to go!

2009 Ficco 4th of July Party Desserts

I was in charge of making desserts for my family's annual 4th of July party. I picked a bunch of fun things to make and take with me...a little something for everyone!

The line up...

Zesty Lemon Sugar Cookies

(Source: Feeding My Enthusiasms)

1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
Mix the above ingredients together until creamy.
3 cups all-purpose flour (I ran out of regular flour, so I ended up using 2 C white flour and 1 C whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
zest from ½ a medium Meyer lemon (I used regular lemon)
Mix the flour, baking soda, salt and zest together. Combine with the butter mixture. If too dry, add mile, one tablespoon at a time until dough forms.
Roll the dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutters. Place unbaked cookies on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees F. until lightly browned, about 6-7 minutes. (If dough sticks while rolling, refrigerate briefly). Remove from oven when done, cool on baking sheet a minute, then cool on cake rack until fully cooled.
After cookies have cooled, can be frosted and decorated as desired.

Lemon Glaze
Zest from ½ a lemon
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
juice from Meyer lemon, heated for one minute in the microwave

Place zest and confectioners’ sugar in a bowl. Whisk in a little of the lemon juice. Add dribbles of the juice until a glaze is formed. If too thin, add a little more sugar; if too thick whisk in more lemon juice. Reserve left over juice for another use. Using small offset spatula, ice tops of each cookie. Set on cake rack to dry.

Oreo Rice Krispy Treats

Just your basic recipe, kicked up a notch....

4 T butter

10 oz mini marshmallows

6 C rice krispies

1 bag of mini Oreos

In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. Stir in cereal and oreos. Stir until well coated. Using buttered spatula or wax paper evenly press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Cool. Cut into 2-inch squares.

Mounds Angel Food Cupcakes (pic disappeared into the depths of my computer)

1 box of just-add-water angel food cake mix (prepare as directed on box EXCEPT replace 1 T of water with coconut extract)

1/3 C shredded coconut

1/3 C mini chocolate chips

3 T cocoa powder

Fill paper cupcake liners 1/2 full with batter. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes. Cool completely before icing.

Icing

In the interest of time, I mixed a tub of whipped vanilla icing with some coconut extract and shredded coconut. I put a dollop on top of each cupcake along with a few chocolate chips.

Red/White/Blue Birthday Cake

We celebrate the family's summer birthdays over the fourth of July. My 3 nieces are the lucky summer b-day girls! I let them help me decorate the cake.

Basically I used 2 boxes of plain white boxed cake mix (prepared with the directions on the box)...and stirred in a bottle of food coloring in each, and baked as directed. I iced the giant cake using an icing made of cool-whip and pudding mix (1 box of cheesecake flavored pudding mix, 1.5 cups cold water...mix well, fold in a container of cool whip).

Breaded Pork Cutlets with Gorgonzola Sauce

I kinda like when Norm goes to the grocery store. He randomly comes back with things that we can "use sometime". On this last trip, he brought back a package of pork cutlets and a package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs. I have made breaded pork cutlets before, but wanted something with some more taste. And a sauce. Nothing makes a meal like a good sauce!

I found this recipe on myrecipes.com and thought that the sage and thyme that is rubbed on the pork would complement the gorgonzola sauce that has become a staple in our house. It was really tasty...plus I had enough for leftovers to take for lunch the next day. We had it with some sauteed yellow squash, roasted garlic mashed potatoes and a salad on the side.

Breaded Pork Cutlets

(Source: myrecipes.com, originally from Cooking Light)

2 (1-ounce) slices white bread
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
8 (2-ounce) boneless pork chops (1/4 inch thick)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 large egg whites, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
Cooking spray
4 lemon wedges

Place bread slices in a food processor; pulse 10 times or until coarse crumbs measure 1 cup. Place breadcrumbs in a shallow dish.

Combine salt, pepper, sage, and thyme; sprinkle over both sides of pork. Place flour in a shallow dish; place egg whites in another shallow dish. Dredge pork in flour, dip in egg whites, and dredge in breadcrumbs. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork to pan. Cook 2 1/2 minutes or until lightly browned. Lightly coat surface of chops with cooking spray; turn chops over. Cook 2 1/2 minutes or until done. Serve with lemon wedges.

Sunday Breakfast - Scrambled Eggs with Herbed Goat Cheese

Norm was in charge of breakfast this am...and this is what he came up with. He even took the pic, lol. It was really delicious!

We had some herbed goat cheese in the fridge from Whole Foods that needed to be used up. So he diced that up, and mixed it into eggs and scrambled it. With a little smoked salmon topped with capers and a dish of fresh melon, it was a wonderful way to start the day!

What you need:

Eggs

goat cheese

milk

salt/pepper

smoked salmon

capers

Crack eggs into bowl, stir in diced goat cheese, salt & pepper and a little milk. Whisk until well combined. Heat frying pan over medium heat. Add egg mixture to pay and scramble until set.

Chorizo Sausage Gravy

I had a brilliant idea last night to use up a link of fabulously spicy chorizo sausage that Norm had taken out of the freezer the other day. I thought perhaps that even though it wasn't a traditional "breakfast" sausage, it might make for a good gravy for over biscuits and scrambled eggs for a change of pace from the same old stuff. Plus it used up some stuff that was hanging around in the fridge and freed up some space for more tasty goods = )

The gravy was based on a recipe from cooks.com (pretty easy...no need to go back to any packaged mix if you have staples on hand - flour & milk). The chorizo made the gravy a pretty orange-y color. We both went back for seconds.

BISCUITS AND SAUSAGE GRAVY
(Source: cooks.com)

8 buttermilk biscuits
3/4 pound of sausage (used 1 pretty large link of chorizo)
4 cups of milk (i used approximately 1 C skim milk)
4-6 tablespoons of flour (I used about 2 T of flour)
salt,pepper (not in the original recipe, but it needed it!)

Prepare biscuits as instructed on package. Brown sausage in skillet. As soon as sausage is completely brown, turn to medium heat. Add flour by the tablespoon, stirring constantly. Let the flour turn BROWN before adding another tablespoon (if you don't, your gravy will taste like flour). After you have added enough flour to make the gravy as thick as you like, add milk and stir with whisk.

Serve over biscuits.

Crab Stuffed Artichokes

I decided to make Norm stuffed artichokes....I hadn't had them in a long time, and he's never had them. Plus I had some extra time considering I was off all week. They are super easy, and you could probably stuff them with just about anything. They'd also be good with a dipping sauce of some sort - like an aioli or something.

Here's what you do. Trim the sharp little barbs off the top of each leaf and cut the stalk off the bottom as you'll want to stand them up to stuff and bake them.

Steam them for about 30 minutes - long enough so that the leaves are soft and you can pull them out a bit to stuff them. Stuff and bake for about 20-25 minutes until they are warmed thru.

Here's what I stuffed them with:
2 T melted butter
1/2 - 1 cup of bread crumbs
salt, pepper
parsley
italian seasoning
garlic salt
1 small can of crab meat

Mix all together until it's a moist stuffing. Spoon into artichokes and bake.

Cheesy Bacon and Egg Brunch Casserole

I made this for breakfast one more during my annual girl's weekend trip with my friends to Myrtle Beach. It was realllly good. I think next time, I'd use a different kind of bread like ciabatta or something (I just used a regular loaf of sliced wheat sandwich bread). And definitely more bacon...and maybe some mushrooms and peppers.

Cheesy Egg and Bacon Brunch Casserole
(Source: McCormick.com)
Serves 12

8 slices bacon
1 medium onion, chopped (1 cup)
1 loaf (8 ounces) Italian bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (5 cups) (used light whole wheat)
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese (used about 1 cup, reduced fat)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (used about 1 cup of swiss instead)
1 cup cottage cheese (used fat-free)
5 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk (used skim milk)
1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Mustard, Ground
1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Nutmeg, Ground
1/4 teaspoon McCormick® Black Pepper, Ground

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cook bacon in large skillet until crisp. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the drippings. Drain bacon on paper towels; crumble and set aside. Add onion to drippings in skillet; cook and stir 3 minutes or until softened.

Spread 1/2 of the bread cubes in 13x9-inch baking dish. Layer with 1/2 each of the onion, bacon, Cheddar cheese and mozzarella cheese. Spread evenly with cottage cheese. Top with remaining bread cubes, onion, bacon, Cheddar cheese and mozzarella cheese.

Beat eggs in medium bowl until foamy. Add milk, mustard, nutmeg and pepper; beat until blended. Pour evenly over top. Press bread cubes lightly into egg mixture until completely covered. Let stand 10 minutes.

Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until center is set and top is golden brown.

Make Ahead: Casserole can be assembled 1 day ahead. Prepare as directed, increasing milk to 2 cups. Cover and store in refrigerator. Remove cover and bake as directed.

NUTRITION INFORMATION per serving
Calories: 260
Fat: 16 g
Carbohydrates: 14 g
Cholesterol: 128 mg
Sodium: 492 mg
Fiber: 1 g
Protein: 15 g