Recipes: Then to Now

I realized just recently that my 'recipes that worked' section was extremely difficult to read. So I thought that, in future, I'd post each new recipe I found / loved as its own post. Here's a catchup of the ones I've come to love thus far:

Hot Spinach Dip
The recipe (at this link) is extremely reliable and yummy!
My personal alterations: extra mozzarella, add parmesan, take out the Worchestershire sauce, replace hot suace with chili powder

Creamy Mushrooms
The mushrooms are originally from this recipe by Martha Stewart - but I don't like the full meal (tried it!)
You Need:
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 pound of cremini mushrooms, trimmed, sliced 1/4 inch thick
- 3/4 cup vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream

To Make:
- brown the mushrooms in the vegetable oil on medium-high in the pan (5 minutes)
- add vegetable broth and simmer until reduced by half (5 minutes)
- add cream and simmer (2 minutes)

Brussel Sprouts
Brussel sprouts have a bad reputation, but this recipe is delicious. I make them almost every week now! They look excellent, so they're great for entertaining. My only personal touch is tossing them in vegetable seasonings.

Sweet Potato Fries
- 2 sweet potatoes
- olive oil
- pepper
- sea salt
- rosemary
- chili powder
- italian seasoning

Preheat oven to 400. Scrub and peel potatoes, cut into slices (matchsticks). Line a baking sheet with tinfoil. Toss slices in olive oil and seasonings. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes, tossing every 10 minutes to ensure even cooking. In the last 5 minutes, turn on the broiler to crisp the fries (watch them carefully, turn often). Take out of oven, dry with paper towel, and add extra seasoning if needed.

Green Bean Casserole
This is a really fun recipe to make! My brother Andrew and I whipped it up for Thanksgiving 2010. It didn't work out to look like the picture, but it tasted great.

Apple Chestnut Stuffing
This is my personal altered version of a recipe I found. It's so delicious. Total baking time is 40 minutes, but it does require a bit of prep work.
- 1 cup of hazelnuts
- 1 cup of walnuts
- 8 pieces of dried bread
- 2 cups of cranberries
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1 finely chopped large red onion
- 2 celery stalks, 1/4 inch dice
- 2 apples, cored, diced
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 3 tbsp sage / other spices you like
- salt and pepper

Leave bread out overnight to harden.
Roast hazelnuts and walnuts in oven at 425 for 10 minutes. Break up the dried bread into small pieces (bite sized, less than 1 inch) to make bread crumbs.
Boil cranberries and apple cider in a small saucepan for 20 minutes. Stir in sugar when finished.
In a large frying pan over med-high, melt butter, add the nuts, onion, half of the celery, and half of the apples. Fry until the onion is see-through.
In a separate bowl, mix bread crumbs, cranberry mixture, nut mixture, the rest of the celery and apples, as well as the cream, eggs and spices.

Butter a baking dish and bake, covered by tinfoil, at 350 for 30 minutes, and uncover and bake for another 10 minutes.

Roast Carrots
- 1 carrot per person (approximately)
- olive oil
- thyme
- rosemary
- salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with tinfoil.
Cut the head and tail off of the carrot, and slice them slightly larger than matchsticks (don't peel them). Toss in olive oil, thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper. Line on the baking sheet, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Apple Pie
I followed the recipe nearly to a tee. My only note is that the dough covering in the picture doesn't match the explanation in the recipe (leaves). My brothers, John and I spent quite some time cutting out dinosaurs instead of leaves - it was great!

I found that the first time around, the pie crust was a little too doughy for me. So the second time, I changed how I baked it: on the lowest rack at 425 for 10 minutes; 250 for another 10 minutes; 350 until done. The dinosaurs came out nice and toasty.

Pumpkin Pie from Scratch
I found this recipe in Chatelaine magazine and it's definitely a keeper. My brother Patrick and I laboured over it over the course of two days and we had so much fun doing it! The pie was a total hit for Thanksgiving 2010, even from the non-pumpkin lovers. The recipe below makes enough for 2 pies and then some - John and I used the leftovers for pumpkin milkshakes, mmm. Give yourself 2 days to make this pie right.

• Dough

• • 2 1/2 cups flour (all purpose)
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup butter (it says cold, unsalted, cubed - I used margarine. Worked just fine.)
  • 1/4 to 1/3 cup ice water (get some ice & put it in water.)
• Filling
  • Appx 2 sugar pie pumpkins (expect to have a lot of leftovers)
  • 6 eggs
  • 1 cup whipping cream (35%)
  • 2/3 cup brown sugar
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp nutmeg
  • 12 tsp ginger
  • 1/4 tsp allspice
• stir together flour, sugar & salt in a large bowl. using your hands, cut in butter until coarse crumbs form. that's right, get your hands dirty. using a fork, stir in ice water to create a soft dough that can be formed into a ball. if needed, add more ice water, 1 tbsp at a time. dough shhouldn't be sticky. divide in half, shape each portion into a disc, wrap each with plastic wrap & refridgerate for 1 hour to overnight
• preheat oven to 400. cut each pumpkin into quarters. scoop out seeds (and save them for later to roast and season them! John did that with our seeds.. mmm..). Roast the pieces in a large baking dish, covered with foil in the centre of oven for about 1 hour (until fork-tender). remove from oven & peel off skins when cool enough to handle. whirl in food processor until smooth, and measure out 3.5 cups (I didn't measure out the 3.5 cups, I just added all of the ingredients.. oops.. oh well, it worked out!). Whirl the 3.5 cups of puree in food processor with eggs, cream, sugars & spices until evenly mixed.
• preheat oven to 400, and roll out 1 disc of pastry on lightly floured surface into a 13 inch circle. loosely roll up around rolling pin & unroll over a 9 or 10 inch pie plate. press dough over bottom & sides of plate, and prick dough all over with a fork. trim pastry, leaving a 1 inch overhang, and tuck overhang under and crimp together using index finger and thumb / fork. Repeat with 2nd disc & other pie plate.
• line pastry in each pie plate with parchment paper. fill each with pie weights (we used rice instead, who owns pie weights?) to hold pastry in place while it makes. bake in centre of oven for 10 mins, and reduce oven to 350. remove parchment and beans. bake shells until lightly golden, about 10 mins. 
• pour pumpkin filling into hot pie shells. bake in centre of oven until filling is slightly jiggly (like our butts after we eat this) in the centre, 45 to 50 mins. let cool completley, about 2 hours & serve with whipped cream (we just used the remainder of the whipping cream) :). enjoi.