Ratatouille Movie Night

Every Wednesday at Chez Bowden it’s Pizza Movie Night.  Sometimes we have pizza, sometimes we have rotisserie chicken and potato salad, sometimes we have Subway, but it’s “Pizza Movie Night”.  Well, this week I asked my kids what they wanted to do on Wednesday and they requested…nay…demanded ratatouille movie night – to both watch and eat ratatouille.  I won’t even start on how awesome my kids are because they’ll eat ANYTHING, I’ll just finish my story.

When I met Casey, he would just throw stuff in a pot and call it dinner.  He was the master of doctoring up a boxed mix.  He used to make this version of ratatouille that was just a bunch of sliced up squash and tomatoes and stuff, sautéed in a little bit of salad dressing, then baked off in the oven with cheese.  The other day when the kids requested ratatouille I decided to do a little research because other than Casey’s ratatouille, I had never had it.  Turns out he wasn’t that far off.  According to Mark Bittman, you take a bunch of vegetables (usually involving some sort of squash and/or eggplant, sometimes with potatoes and mushrooms, usually including onions and tomatoes) and some herbs and seasonings, layer them in a dish, and bake them until they’re nice and soft.  I took that method and added a little sauce and voila!  Awesome.  The kids couldn’t get enough.

Ingredients

Various vegetables, sliced into similarly thick slices.

(I used:

2 smallish-medium summer squash

2 smallish-medium zucchini

1 small red onion

4 medium tomatoes)

Sauce:

¼ cup Balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp dried minced garlic

1 tsp dried basil

½ tsp dried oregano

½ tsp dried parsley

¼ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese

Wash and dry your vegetables.  Slice into approx ¼ inch slices (slice tomatoes a bit thicker because they don’t hold up to the roasting time otherwise).  Using a 9X9 inch baking dish that has been lightly sprayed with nonstick cooking spray (or 4-6 individual sized baking dishes), layer the veggies, lightly seasoning every other layer with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. 

In a medium bowl, combine ingredients for your sauce and whisk until well mixed.  Spoon the sauce over the top of the veggies – don’t worry about it only being on the top layer because there is a pretty significant amount of sauce for the vegetables and it will run down to the lower layers.  Set your baking dish(es) on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for an hour to an hour and a half(closer to an hour if you’re doing individual sized dishes or if your vegetables are pretty soft – longer if you have more vegetables or if you are cooking potatoes). During the last 15 minutes of cooking, remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle with each of your cheeses.  Return pan to the oven and continue baking until the cheese is golden and bubbly.

Strawberry Layer Cake

A few weeks ago, my sister-in-law, Janette had a princess party at my house for her two girls.  She asked me if I’d help her make this cake.  This cake is so simple yet so decadent and oh so very tasty.   So simple, in fact, that she sent me the instructions in their entirety (ingredient list included) in a single text message. 

The cake was good – so good that my 5-year-old changed her mind from wanting a Tinkerbell cake to wanting this same cake, “only with chocolate for the cake part on it”. 

I think the most important element in making this cake spectacular is KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid!).  For my 5-year-old I decided I’d fancy it up by making homemade whipped cream, cake from scratch, etc.  BIG mistake.  The frosting was drippy and the cake didn’t hold up as well as the Betty Crocker variety.  I think the success of this cake lies in the pre-packaged ingredients.  I’m sure it has to do with the stabilization of pre-packaged ingredients.  Follow the instructions.  They’re idiot-proof and you will totally impress your friends.

Strawberry Layer Cake

(recipe from Janette Nussbaumer, who says this is a Louisiana staple)

1 cake mix – we used both yellow and devil’s food and both were very tasty (prepared according to the directions)

1 12-oz container Original Cool Whip

1 16-18-oz container buttercream or cream cheese frosting

2 pints strawberries, sliced

Prepare cake mix according to package directions and bake in 2 8- or 9-inch pans. Cool.  When cakes are cooled completely, slice each round horizontally into two pieces (thereby creating 4 even layers).  Place the first layer on a platter and slather a good amount of frosting, leaving a ½-1 inch border (the frosting squishes thinner with the weight of the additional layers).  Repeat with each layer, then frost the sides after all four layers are together.  Garnish with a couple of sliced strawberries (or with chopped/shaved chocolate if you choose devil’s food, which is also delicious).

(The cake was so awesome that we forgot to take a picture once we cut into it...so this picture was totally an afterthought.  The cake mix was dyed pink with a few drops of red food coloring.)

Lime Kisses

What is it with summer and citrus?  I know that citrus fruits aren’t typically in season in the summer, but summer seems to be when I want lemon, orange, and lime flavored things – from sorbet to beverages to bars, etc. 

I found this recipe on Our Best Bites for “Orange-Kissed Cookies”, and although I love a good orange flavored dessert, I’m cuckoo for lime.  I took everything orange-related in this recipe and made it limey (and doubled the recipe…with 5 kids you kind of have to double every recipe).  I will admit I haven’t actually tried the original recipe.  I’d like to, but I may never actually get around to it.

As an aside, my kids had their little friend from across the street over yesterday and since I had a bazillion of these I sent a plateful home with her.  Today her dad came by and told me something to the effect of she’s only allowed to play over here if I promise to send her home with more cookies (which he totally thought were too good to be homemade). 

Recipe adapted from Our Best Bites, who adapted it from AllRecipes.com

Cookie –  

2 cups white sugar

1 cup margarine
2 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

5 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

6 oz (½ of a 12 oz can) limeade concentrate

1 tbsp lime zest (zest of 2 limes)

Frosting –

Zest of 1 lime

6 oz (½ of a 12 oz can) limeade concentrate

1 cup softened butter (I use salted.  If you don’t, add ½ - 1 tsp salt)

½ tsp vanilla extract

6 cups (maybe a cup shy of 2 lbs) powdered sugar

Green food coloring

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine.  Set aside.  In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the sugar and shortening until light and fluffy.  Add the sour cream and eggs and mix until everything is well incorporated.  Add the vanilla, limeade concentrate, and lime zest and mix again.  Add the flour mixture half at a time and mix until just combined.  Scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure all ingredients are incorporated and if needed, mix again until combined.

Your dough will be looser than a normal cookie dough.  Using a cookie scoop (or a tablespoon), drop rounded scoops onto a cookie sheet, spacing them appropriately (my cookie scoop fits about ¼ cup capacity, so I space them so I fit 12 to a sheet).  Bake 9-11 minutes or until the edges are beginning to turn golden and the cookies are set.  Allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 min then transfer to a wire cooling rack.

Sorry.  Just had to throw that in there because he's cute.

While your cookies are cooling, combine the wet ingredients for the frosting into your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Add 4 cups of powdered sugar and combine.  Keep adding flour ½ cup at a time until a desired consistency is reached.  Add green food coloring until you reach the color you want.  After cookies have cooled, pipe or frost your cookies.  My kids decorated the ones shown with green frosting and sprinkles.

This recipe yields 50-75 cookies, depending on the size.  If you give them away, people will like you.

Update:  my friend Roxanne is having a party for her baby girl, and we were talking about strawberry flavored desserts.  I was in Las Vegas last weekend and while there was helping my mom make 1200 cookies for this seminar thingy she's in charge of.  When I went to the store to get ingredients to make these cookies, I saw next to the frozen limeade concentrate STRAWBERRY DAQUIRI CONCENTRATE! I had a lightbulb moment and decided to transform these little lovelies into strawberry daquiri kisses and pina colada kisses.  So I did. 

What you do is sub the limeade concentrate for either pina colada or strawberry daquiri concentrate.  These concentrates come in 10 oz cans rather than 12 oz cans.  With the strawberry, add 6 oz to the cookie and only 4 oz to the frosting; otherwise you will have an overpowering strawberry frosting.  With the pina colada, split the concentrate equally (5 oz in the cookie and 5 oz in the frosting).  I also topped the pina colada with toasted coconut.  For the toasted coconut, put 1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded or flaked coconut on a foil lined baking sheet into a 350 degree oven for about 5-7 minutes.  Cool the coconut completely before topping the cookies.  You'll want to top the cookies when the frosting is still fresh in order for the coconut to stick.

Strawberry Lemonade Pancakes with Lemon Butter Dream Sauce

I love this summer.  I love this summer, if for no other reason, I have more opportunities to cook breakfast.  I have never really liked pancakes (which is ironic, because my other blog is called Let’s Go Get Pancakes).  About a year ago I traded in my career to become a housewife, and I decided that much like every other job I have ever had, I was going to master housewifery.  As everyone knows, homemade food is key in any house of a domestic goddess. 

The inspiration for these pancakes came from here.  Have I said that I love Joy the Baker?  Because I do.  She made me a pancake lover.  The syrup is a story in and of itself.  A girl my sister grew up with (I grew up with her older sister) posted something on instagram (photo sharing app for iPhone) about “fat sauce”.  Intrigued by the name, I asked what fat sauce was.  It is so simple and so decadent…and I’m including the recipe below.  To make it sound more appealing (and so my kids wouldn’t tell their real mom I feed them fat sauce all the time), I changed the name to Butter Dream Sauce.

Strawberry Lemonade Pancakes with Lemon Butter Dream Sauce

Pancakes adapted from Joy the Baker  and the Joy of Baking, Sauce adapted from Brittany Benson Seager

Pancakes

4 tbsp butter – melted and slightly cooled

2 cups buttermilk

½ tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 tbsp  lemon zest (zest of approx 2 lemons)

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

4 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

Topping

1 pint strawberries

1 tbsp sugar

Sauce

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup sugar

8 tbsp (1 stick) butter

1 tbsp lemon juice (just juice one of the lemons you zested for the pancake)  (to make regular Butter Dream Sauce for non-citrus pancakes, simply omit the lemon juice)

Rinse and dry the berries.  Cut the end off and cut into pieces.  Place them in a medium sized bowl and sprinkle with sugar.  Lightly mash and stir the berries.  Set aside.

In a small saucepan, combine the heavy cream, sugar and stick of butter.  Let this mixture sit over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves.  (I like to do this step while the pancake batter is resting and the griddle is warming up.)  Turn off the heat and whisk in the lemon juice. 

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt.  In another bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients in the center.  Stir until just combined.  Your batter will be lumpy and that’s okay.  Let the batter rest (about 10 min) while you heat your griddle to medium-high (about 350 degrees). 

Lightly spray the griddle with non-stick spray.  Using a ladle or scoop (I use my cookie baller), scoop about ¼ cup batter onto the hot pan, spacing your scoops of batter a few inches apart.  Let the batter cook 2-3 minutes until bubbles form on the top surface of the pancake.  Flip and continue cooking until the pancakes are golden brown on the other side (another 2 minutes or so).  Keep the pancakes that are done on a sheet pan in a 200 degree oven until all the pancakes are cooked.

This recipe makes enough pancakes to comfortably feed 6 people.  Serve the pancakes with 2 tbsp strawberries and a generous drizzle of the Butter Dream Sauce.  Enjoy!

Baked Mac and Cheese

I’ve made homemade macaroni and cheese a few times, and it was always good but I never followed a “recipe”.  My friend Amiee (from my college days) also has a blog and posted this.  This recipe has been slightly adapted to suit my family and the ingredients I usually have on hand. It is way tastier than any of the concoctions I’ve made in the past, and I get consistently awesome results. 

Baked Mac and Cheese
Adapted from Amiee @ rollmeouttahere.blogspot.com

Ingredients:

8 oz large elbow macaroni

2/3 lb Cheddar/Colby Jack/whatever your preference, shredded

4 oz cream cheese, cut into ½ inch cubes

2 cans evaporated milk

6-8 slices of American cheese, unwrapped

1 egg, slightly beaten

1/3 stick of butter, sliced

1 Tbsp butter, melted

1 ½ cup bread crumbs (I always make fresh – just put 2-3 slices of bread into the food processor and pulse into crumbs)

Tony Chachere’s seasoning

Boil pasta in a large pot, according to package directions. Drain. Pour noodles back into the same pot. Toss in butter slices. Mix until melted. Pour in all the evaporated milk. Then add the shredded cheese. Add seasoning and taste your mixture until it tastes salted enough. Once you think you've got that part right, add the beaten egg. Mix well. Pour half your mixture into a small casserole dish (8x8 or equivalent).  Randomly scatter half of your cream cheese cubes and press them down.  Then top with your American cheese slices – you may only need 4 of them. Add the rest of your pasta mixture and top with the rest of your cream cheese cubes.  Mix the melted tablespoon of butter and the bread crumbs.  Sprinkle over the top of your Mac and Cheese. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until sides are nice and bubbly and the bread crumbs are golden brown. Let it sit for a few minutes before serving.

This is the perfect amount of food to use as a side dish for 6-8 people. I’ve heard it reheats well, but we’ve never had leftovers.  Since this is a very rich dish, I usually serve it with something light like grilled chicken and a salad.  I’m sure it could also be fancied up by using stronger regional cheeses, adding broccoli to your pot of boiling pasta (then making it the same way), or by adding cubed turkey, chicken or ham.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Banana Muffins

Confession:  I love muffins.  I especially love muffins that are made with banana, pumpkin, zucchini, or anything else that will make for a dense, moist texture.  These are the muffins that stay good for days on the counter top or months in the freezer.  Add chocolate to any of those muffins and I'm sold.  I also love google.  I had some spare bananas and wanted to bake a new twist on an old favorite.  Google lead me here.  Having failed miserably almost every time I've tried to make a quick bread, I now adapt all the quick breads I make into muffins.

Chocolate Banana Muffins
Adapted from joyofbaking.com

Ingredients:
3 ripe bananas, mashed (approx 1 lb)
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips (pick your favorite sweetness-I almost exclusively choose semi-sweet/dark)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a muffin tin with paper liners.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 

In a medium-sized bowl combine the mashed bananas, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla. With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, lightly fold the wet ingredients (banana mixture) into the dry ingredients until just combined and batter is thick and chunky. Fold in the chocolate chips.  Spoon batter into prepared tins until ½ full. Bake until muffins have risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18-22 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool and then remove the muffins from the tin. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Yield approx 15 muffins.  These muffins freeze beautifully!

Birthdays and Cupcakes and Brownies, oh my!

For special occasions, I’ve recently started making my friends food instead of buying gifts.  Food tastes good.  Food always fits.  You don’t have to worry about a gift receipt when you give someone food.  Also, I don’t like the pressure of an occasion gift. If I see something *perfect* for you in August, I’ll buy it and give it to you just because I like you…I won’t wait till Christmas.  On the flip side, you probably won’t get a Christmas gift from me unless I happened to find that gem during the month of December.  As an added bonus, when you give someone food, they almost always share it with you. 

I have lots of friends with springtime birthdays.  I did a lot of baking in May.  For two of my friends, the inspiration (read: entire recipe) came from here and here.  (Thanks, Joy the Baker!) 

(I also made these cupcakes in their full-size glory for Cinco de Mayo – what can I say…when you’re a housewife you have to make your own party sometimes – and they were literally the best cupcakes I’ve ever made!)

Jodi turned 30, so I made her 30 mini cupcakes for her 30^th birthday.  I took them with me when I went to get my hair cut and colored (before we became friends she was my stylist).  She shared them with all her co-workers, and of course (coupled with the fact that I brought this guy) I was the most popular girl there.

Dulce de Leche Cupcakes

makes about 2 dozen cupcakes

Borrowed from Joy the Baker who adapted it from The Gourmet Cookbook

For the Cupcakes:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cup buttermilk

For the Frosting:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup dulce de leche, plus more for drizzling

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 to 3 cups powdered sugar

Place racks in the center and upper third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.  Line two cupcake pans with paper or foil liners.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add butter and sugars.  Beat on medium speed until fluffy and pale brown, about 3 minutes.   Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add one egg.  Beat on medium for one minute.  Add the remaining eggs, one at a time, beating for one minute between each addition.  Stop the bowl and scrape down the sides as necessary. Beat in vanilla extract.

Add half of the flour mixture to the egg and butter mixture.  Beat on low speed and slowly drizzle in the buttermilk.  Beat until just incorporated.  Stop the mixer, scrape down the bowl and add the rest of the dry ingredients.  Beat on low speed until just incorporated.  Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and finish incorporating with a spatula.  Try not to over mix the mixture.

Divide the batter between the prepared cupcake pans, filling each liner about two thirds full.  Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center of one of the cakes comes out clean.  Let rest in the cupcake pans before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.  Cupcakes should be completely cooled before frosting.

To make the frosting:

Place cream cheese in the bowl of an electric stand mixer.  Beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds, until very soft and pliable.  Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the butter and dulce de leche.  Beat on medium speed until well incorporated.  Stop the mixer and add the salt and powdered sugar.  Beat on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until fluffy and lighter in color.  Generously spoon frosting on top of cupcakes, or use a large frosting tip to pipe on frosting.

For garnish, I heated a few spoonfuls of dulce de leche of a low flame until just pourable.  Then I drizzled it over the cupcakes and topped with a few sprinkles.  Add a few sprinkles of fine sea salt if you're feeling fancy.  I stored the cupcakes in the fridge for an hour to chill the frosting slightly.  

I like to enjoy my cupcakes within two days of preparing them.  Feel free to wrap and refrigerate them because of the cream cheese in the frosting.  Let come close to room temperature before serving.

*The first time I made the frosting I needed about 6 cups of powdered sugar (it was hot and kind of humid outside) to make it pipable.  The second time I only needed the 2-3 cups. 

I decided to make brownies for Steph for her birthday last week.  I decided she should get one moist, delicious brownie for every year we’ve been friends.  That’s a significant amount of years.  We’ve seen each other through some significant stuff.  And these were some significant brownies.

S’mores Brownies

Borrowed from Joy the Baker who adapted it from Bon Appetit, October 1991

1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

5 large eggs

1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup graham cracker, roughly crushed with your hands

12 big marshmallows  (I also diced 6 additional marshmallows and stirred them into the batter. These marshmallows dissolve when baked, so you can leave them out, or throw them in.  Up to you!)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 9x13-inch baking pan with 2-inch-high sides. Combine first 3 ingredients in small bowl. Stir butter and chocolate in a medium sized bowl over a  heavy  saucepan of simmering water.  Stir chocolate and butter in this double boiler until melted and smooth.

Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla in large bowl to blend. Stir in warm chocolate mixture, then dry ingredients. Fold in graham crackers.  Pour batter into prepared pan. Dot with 12 large marshmallows.  Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 30- 40 minutes minutes.

Marshmallows will be browned and puffy but will deflate as the brownies cool.  Cool for at least 20 minutes than slice with a sharp knife, cleaning the knife with hot water if it gets too messy and sticky.  Serve or wrap individually in wax paper for storing.

*The only alteration I would make to this recipe is instead of broken graham crackers in the brownie, I would break off large chunks and put them on top (kind of slide them in under the gooey marshmallow) when there's about 5 minutes of baking time left.  The grahams inside the brownie went soft, and I would like to see them add some crunch.

Happy baking!