It's That Time Again!

Time for another Royal Foodie Joust! As I've said in the past, Jenn the Leftover Queen (who has recently become a Mrs!! Congrats!) hosts the monthly Royal Foodie Joust over at the Leftover Queen Forum. Last month's winner, Elle, chose Raspberries, Lime and Almonds for us to play around with for this month's challenge. I thought long and hard about what I wanted to make, and since one of my favorite co-workers is leaving soon (his going-away party was today) I figured I'd make him something yummy for work tomorrow.

I decided on Raspberry and Lime Muffins with Almond & Cardamom Streusel, and boy, am I glad I did! These muffins made my house smell divine, I'm tellin' ya. Here's the recipe:

For the Muffins:

-2 cups all-purpose flour

-1 cup sugar

-1 tbsp baking powder

-1/2 tsp salt

-2 eggs

-1 cup of milk

-1/2 cup vegetable oil (I actually used olive oil, since we were out of veggie oil, and there's hardly a noticeable difference in taste)

-1 tsp lemon extract

-Juice of 1 lime

-1 cup fresh or frozen unsweetened raspberries

For the Streusel:

-2 tbsp flour

-5 tbsp sugar

-1/2 tsp cardamom

-2 tbsp softened butter

-1/4 cup sliced almonds

Directions: Preheat oven to 400F. Line or grease muffin cups. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. In another bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients, with the exception of the raspberries. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just moistened. Gently fold in the rasperries. In a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the streusel. Fill each muffin cup 2/3 full with the muffin batter, then spoon modest amounts of the streusel mixture on top. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack, serve warm.

I sampled these babies, and boy, are they good! The streusel adds a nice crunch to the top layer, and the muffins are tender with a nice crumb. I like that they're not overly sweet, since the streusel does contain quite a bit of sweetness already. And the cardamom adds an interestin depth that isn't overpowering, but is still present. All in all, a pretty delicious muffin that's good... well, anytime!

~Mehgan~

That's Like Summer In A Bowl!

I love that quote from "Friends!" Interesting fact about me: I love "Friends"! If I had my way, I'd have one of those multi-DVD player things that hold 5 or 6 discs, I could put an entire season of Friends in there and let it play all day long. But, alas, my hubby thinks I'm weird and therefore, I don't do that (except on days that I have off and he has to work, tee hee!)

My dear friend's birthday was coming up, and I had absolutely NO time to prepare dessert for his birthday BBQ. It was finally sunny outside, which put me in a stellar mood, so I hopped on over to the grocery store for inspiration. Immediately upon entering the produce section, the sweet smells of berries started to crash over me like waves of deliciousness. I grabbed a bunch of different berries, some kiwis, a package of cream cheese, plus some other miscellaneous items, and rushed home to make this beautiful tart for my friend on his special day.

I found the recipe on FoodNetwork.com a while ago, and always fall back on it, depending on what's in season, whenever I need a quick & easy recipe that will impress whoever I'm cooking for. I actually featured a picture of it in my very first blog posting almost a year ago! Here's the link to Paula Deen's Fresh Fruit Tart http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_32767,00.html

And the recipe:


Crust:
-1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
-1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
-1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened and sliced

Filling:
-1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
-1/2 cup granulated sugar
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Topping:
Fresh strawberries, kiwi slices, blueberries, raspberries

Glaze:
-1 (6-ounce) can frozen limeade concentrate, thawed
-1 tablespoon cornstarch
-1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
-1/4 cup granulated sugar
Whipped cream, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
For the crust: In a food processor, combine the confectioners' sugar, flour, and butter, and process until the mixture forms a ball. With your fingers, press the dough into a 12-inch tart pan with a removable bottom, taking care to push the crust into the indentations in the sides. Pat until the crust is even. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until very lightly browned. Set aside to cool.

For the filling and topping: Beat the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla together until smooth. Spread over the cooled crust. Cut the strawberries into 1/4-inch slices and arrange around the edge of the crust. For the next circle, use kiwi slices. Add another circle of strawberries, filling in any spaces with blueberries. Cluster the raspberries in the center of the tart.

For the glaze: Combine the limeade, cornstarch, lime juice, and sugar in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until clear and thick, about 2 minutes. Let cool. With a pastry brush, glaze the entire tart. You will not use all of the glaze.
Keep the tart in the refrigerator. Remove about 15 minutes before serving. Slice into 8 wedges and serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

My thoughts: the crust is so delicious, I could eat it alone with a glass of milk. And the filling is just so yummy, especially if you're a cream cheese lover, like me. And you can't go wrong with fresh berries! I was half-tempted to melt down some milk chocolate to spread over the crust prior to filling, but thought that would be a bit much, especially since I was making this for a guy's birthday party. But, maybe for my next girl friend's birthday I'll make one with chocolate inside!
~Mehgan~

Daring Bakers Get A Little Cheesy!

Greetings! It's time for yet another Daring Bakers Challenge! This month we've got the yummy and super-delicious Cheesecake Pops!! Deb from Taste and Tell and Elle from Feeding My Enthusiasms were the lovely hostesses for this month, and God bless them, they picked such a mouth-watering choice, perfect for my mom & sister's Breast Cancer 3-Day bake sale.

These turned out so well, I loved how much freedom we were given as far as decorating and stuff goes. So much fun!! Here's the recipe:

Cheesecake Pops
Makes 30 – 40 Pops
-5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature
-2 cups sugar
-¼ cup all-purpose flour
-¼ teaspoon salt
-5 large eggs
-2 egg yolks
-2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
-¼ cup heavy cream
-Boiling water as needed
-Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks
-1 pound chocolate, finely chopped – you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionary coating or wafer chocolate – candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)
-2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)
Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) - Optional
Instructions: Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream. Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes. Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight. When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours. When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety. Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth. Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed. Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

My thoughts: The cheesecake recipe is AMAZING! So smooth and delicious, I fully plan on using it in the future for whenever I need to make a cheesecake (I'll probably halve the recipe, as this makes a lot of batter). However, I doubt I'll make the pops themselves again, because it's just too much of a pain the ass to roll them and dip them. I had to freeze the cheesecake, then roll the balls, after that I had to re-freeze the balls in order to get them hard enough to dip. I also went through 2 packages of white chocolate, and three packages of semi-sweet chocolate in order to coat all 46 of the pops that I had. Maybe if I had chosen to use the wafer chocolate or something, I don't know, maybe it would have streched a bit further. Oh well, they still turned out really well, very nice presentation and they sold really well at the bake sale. This recipe didn't take me nearly as long as I had expected (this IS a Daring Bakers Challenge, of course), but they certainly tasted like they took a long time!

~Mehgan~

An Awesome Long Weekend!

So, the hubby and I decided to take a four-day weekend to visit his family before we move to Alaska, and it was so much fun!! I knew we'd be eating and eating and eating tons of good food while we were gone, so in preparation, I decided to make a healthier dinner of baked salmon with sauteed asparagus, zucchini & squash, with some quinoa. Super-easy, and super-yummy.
Now, my husband's best friend from high school is living with the sous chef and the head pastry chef from one of the nicest restaurants in Walla Walla, Whitehouse Crawford. I actually got to go bowling with the head pastry chef, can you believe that?! It was like a foodie celebrity sighting, lol!

On Friday night, we popped by the restaurant for dessert, and he recommended the creme brulee for me. It was DIVINE!! The sugar crust cracked puuuuuuuuurfectly when I got it, it made me giggle! I scarfed this badboy down in a most unladylike manner, but I didn't care, I was in creme brulee heaven!!

He recommended the puff pastry atop lemon meringue drizzled with blackberry sauce for my husband, and boy, it was impressive!! So many different flavors to taste. We shared with each other, of course!

So, if you're ever in the area of Walla Walla, definitely make a trip to the Whitehouse Crawford, even if it's just for drinks and dessert. They serve tons of local wines (there are over 100 wineries in Walla Walla) and they staff there is really friendly. Two thumbs WAY up!

~Mehgan~

It's Royal Foodie Joust Time!

Hello, once again! Here we are, ready and rarin' for another Royal Foodie Jous!! Last month Michelle of USVFood won, and she was ingenius in picking mango, cardamom and brown sugar as her three ingredients for this Joust.

Naturally, about 84,000 recipes went flying through my mind!! Should I go sweet or savory? (I almost did both!!). I decided to go sweet this time. Here's my entry!

Mango, Cardamom & Brown Sugar Mascarpone Phyllo Tarts:

Ingredients:
- 3 to 5 sheets of phyllo pastry
- 1, 6 oz raspberry yogurt
- Two mangoes, peeled and sliced into bite-size pieces
- 4 to 6 oz mascarpone cheese (depending on how thick you want the consistency)
- 1/2 tsp cardamom
- 1/2 tsp brown sugar
- chocolate shavings for the top

Instructions: Heat oven to 350F. Cut the phyllo sheets into circles about 4 inches in diameter. Lightly grease a muffin tin, then place each phyllo pastry round into the muffin cups, to form the tart cups. Bake for about 8-10 minutes until light golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. In a bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients, with the exception of the chocolate, until well combined. Spoon mixture into the cooled tart cups carefully, then shave some of the chocolate on top (I used some of the yummy Vosges chocolate I got in my Blogging By Mail package!!). Serve immediately, otherwise they'll get soggy. Adapted from this recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_34630,00.html

I've been making this recipe for about a year now, and I love it because it's fairly inexpensive, I can make it in a snap, and it always goes over really well. I only wish they had photographed better, because they looked so amazing! My friend Terry ate six in a row, one right after the other! I guess they really were that good!

~Mehgan~