Herbed Balsamic Chicken with Blue Cheese

My husband had long wanted a grill even before moving into our grill-friendly house over a year ago. He finally got an outdoor gas grill the Christmas before we moved into the house and less than a month later he had it set up in our new backyard. Ever since, he has loved to grill.

So I'm always looking for fun, easy recipes for him. Usually I prepare the food in the kitchen and he takes it outside to cook. We have grilled everything from kebabs, corn on the cob, salmon, steak, chicken. And it's all been delicious. Something about grilling over an open flame really adds flavor to whatever you're cooking.

And, just in case you were wondering, here's another fun fact about us: We absolutely love, adore and cherish balsamic vinegar. In everything. So when I found this recipe in an old issue of Bon Appetit, I knew it would just be a matter of time before we were making it.

The balsamic marinade gave this chicken amazing flavor and the blue cheese added a tangyness that just put it over the top. My only critique would be the addition of the dried herbs. Frankly, they got even drier and slightly burnt on the grill and only added a bitter flavor and paper-y texture to the chicken. I ended up scraping the herbs off and enjoying the chicken much more without them. If you have fresh herbs to add, I might suggest that or adding the dried herbs to the marinade. But the dried herbs directly on top of the chicken just didn't work on the grill.

Herbed Balsamic Chicken With Blue Cheese
(Recipe adapted from Bon Appetit, June 2009)

6 skinless boneless chicken breast halves (5 to 6 ounces each)
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, divided
2 teaspoons herbes de Provence or Italian seasoning blend
1 3-to 4-ounce wedge blue cheese, cut into 6 slices

Place chicken in large resealable plastic bag. Whisk vinegar, 3 tablespoons oil, 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper in small bowl. Add to chicken; seal bag. Chill 2 hours, turning bag occasionally.

Prepare grill (medium-high heat). Brush grill rack generously with oil. Arrange chicken on grill. Sprinkle with herbes de Provence, 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. (Note: I didn't use herbes de Provence because I didn't have any. Instead I substituted Italian seasoning, which was fine.) Grill chicken until cooked through, about 6 minutes per side. Transfer to plates; top each with slice of cheese.

Enjoy!
~Layne

Chicken in Puff Pastry

This is such a simple and tasty meal. It started when I went to one of my (still) favorite lunch places in college. It's called the Wine and Cheese Gallery and it's in Gainvesille, FL. It's a great wine shop and they only serve food for lunch but everyday they have the most amazing salads, sandwiches, quiches, etc.

One day they had a special. It was chicken, cheese and herbs in puff pastry served with a spinach salad. It was wonderful and had me hooked! From then on I always looked at their specials first to see if their puff pastry special was being offered that day. If it was there, my lunch choice was made! They also served it with shrimp which was also amazing.

A while after we moved to Orlando, I bought puff pastry for something else I was making. Since puff pastry comes in packages of 2 at a time, I had to think of something to do with the unused sheet. I remembered the amazing dish at Wine and Cheese and decided to attempt to recreate it!

The original dish used fresh herbs but I didn't have any so I threw in pesto instead. It was absolutely delicious! If you have fresh thyme, basil, oregano or parsely, throw those in because they would work well with this. Otherwise, feel free to use store-bought pesto. I also decided to saute some mushrooms and throw those in for more flavor. (Also, since Brad isn't a huge fan of veggies, I try to throw them in wherever I can!)

For the most part, I just threw this together based on my memory of the dish. I didn't really measure as I went along and just added what sounded good to me. I tried to estimate as best I could for the recipe below. Be warned, the recipe below makes quite a bit of filling. If you don't think you'll use it all, cut back on the cream cheese and the rest of the ingredients to reduce the amount of the filling. Or just refrigerate the leftover filling and make these again for dinner later in the week!

Chicken in Puff Pastry
(Original recipe, inspired by Wine and Cheese Gallery)

1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
3/4 cup sliced mushroom
8 oz. cream Cheese, softened
1 cup shredded or diced cooked chicken (NOTE: Can be pre-packaged fully-cooked chicken like this or leftover grilled or rotisserie chicken)
1 Tbsp Dijon-style mustard
2 Tbsp tore-bought pesto (This is my favorite brand.)
Salt and pepper, to taste

1 sheet of puff pastry
1 egg
1 tablespoon water

Preheat oven to 400 F. Thaw puff pastry sheet at room temperature for 30 minutes. Beat egg and water together in a small dish and set aside.

Add onion and garlic to a medium saute pan over medium-high heat and cook until onion starts to soften and turn translucent. Add mushrooms and cook until tender. Remove from heat and strain. Combine cream cheese, chicken, mushroom mixture, mustard, and pesto. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir gently to combine. Refrigerate 30 minutes to an hour to allow the mixture to firm up. (Note: This is optional but I found that making the pastries was easier when the stuffing was less runny and more firm.)

Unfold on puff pastry on a lightly floured surface and roll out slightly to create a 14" rectangle. Cut pastry in 4 squares and lay each square of pastry onto a baking sheet sprayed with nonstick spray.

Fill the center of each square about 1/4 to 1/3 full of cream cheese mixture. Brush the sides of the pastry squares with the egg wash and fold in half diagonally to create a triangle shape. Crimp the edges with a fork to seal. Once all of the pastries are finished, brush the tops with more egg wash and use a sharp knife to cut 2-3 slits in the top of the pastry to allow the steam to vent. Place in oven and bake for approximately 20 minutes or until the pastry has puffed and is golden brown.

I served this dinner with a side salad dressed with a vinaigrette. While these little pastries taste amazing, they can me quite heavy and are almost a meal to themselves!

Enjoy!
~Layne

Homemade Bread

I have been absolutely dying to try baking bread. My husband and I love bread plus we are carb-a-holics and the thought of warm, home-cooked bread right out of the oven for dinner sounded amazing to me. The only thing holding me back was the fact that I had a minor fear of working with yeast. Or more specifically screwing it up. I also worried that baking bread would be time-consuming and something that you would have to plan way in advance and then stick to a strict time table if you wanted to enjoy it. But I had heard rave reviews about the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking. I've read about it on several blogs and I thought it would be a great book to try out getting started with yeast. The recipes in this book are very user friendly and allow you to make the dough and bake bread in as soon as 2 hours or up to 2 weeks later! I was hoping to get for Christmas but I didn't. But I did get gift cards so I ordered it right away! Should be here Monday!

However, I was too excited to wait and the master recipe from the book is available all over the internet. It's called a boule, which is just the French word for "ball" and is a traditional rustic loaf shape. I tried this for dinner recently and we were both blown away by how great it was! Please try it! It's amazing and so simple to do.

Simple Crusty Bread
(Recipe adapted from “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, published by NY Times)
Yield = Four 1-pound loaves.
Recipe can be easily doubled or halved.

3 cups lukewarm water (a little warmer than body temperature, about 100º F)
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (or 2 packets)
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher or other coarse salt
6 1/2 cups unsifted, unbleached, all-purpose white flour, measured with the scoop-and-sweep method
Cornmeal for the pizza peel.

1. In a 5-quart bowl, mix the yeast, water and salt. Add all the flour, then use a wooden spoon to mix until all ingredients are uniformly moist. It is not necessary to knead or continue mixing once the ingredients are uniformly moist. This will produce a loose and very wet dough. (Note: You’re finished when everything is uniformly moist, without dry patches of flour. Dough will be wet and loose enough to conform to the shape of the container.)

2.Cover with a lid (not airtight). Allow the mixture to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse, about 2 hours, but no more than 5 hours. After rising, the dough can be baked immediately, or covered (non completely airtight) and refrigerated up to 14 days. (Note: The dough will be less sticky and easier to work with after at least 3 hours refrigeration.)

3. Before baking, prepare a pizza peel by sprinkling it liberally with cornmeal to prevent the bread from sticking when you transfer it to the oven. Uncover the dough and sprinkle the surface liberally with flour. Pull up and cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-size) piece of dough (serrated knives are best). Store the remaining dough in the bowl and refrigerate for baking at another time.

4. Hold the mass of dough in your hands and add a little more flour as needed so it won't stick. Create a smooth ball of dough by gently pulling the sides down around to the bottom, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. The bottom of the loaf may appear to be a collection of bunched ends, but it will flatten out during resting and baking. (Note: The entire process should take no more than 30 to 60 seconds.)

5.Place the dough on the pizza peel. (Note: If you aren’t planning on baking the bread on a pizza stone, just let the dough rest on a cornmeal-covered cutting board.) Allow the loaf to rest for about 40 minutes. It does not need to be covered. The bread may not rise much during this time.

6. Twenty minutes before baking, preheat oven to 450 F. If using a pizza stone, place on the center rack of the oven. Remove any upper racks. Place a broiler pan on a rack below the pizza stone or on the floor of the oven. When the dough has rested for 40 minutes, dust the top liberally with flour, then use a serrated knife to slash a 1/4-inch-deep cross or tic-tac-toe pattern into the top.

7. Slide the loaf off the peel and onto the baking stone with a quick jerking motion. (Alternatively, butter a Pyrex dish or baking pan and place the bread in the pan.) Quickly but carefully pour 1 cup of hot water into the broiler tray and close the oven door. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the crust is nicely browned and firm to the touch. Allow the bread to cool completely, preferably on a wire cooling rack.

One final note! As a result of the baking frenzy this holiday season, I was starting to run very low on all-purpose flour. So about 1/4 of the flour I used for this recipe was whole wheat flour, rather than all purpose. The bread was still amazing but I have a feeling it was slightly denser than if I had used all AP flour . . . which I will do next time since I have finally replenished my stock. Oh, and yes, there will definitely be a next time!

Enjoy!
~Layne

Peanut Butter Pie

Consider the fact that my husband isn't really a fruit person and combine that with the fact that he really doesn't want fruit "messing up" his dessert, you may be able to understand why this is the only pie that Brad eats. And it really is pretty darn tasty. Kristen actually introduced this pie to us years ago and Brad loved it, so I knew I had to keep it in my arsenal. It's yummy and simple so it works for any occasion but you could spruce it up with some whipped cream or ganache drizzle if fancy is what you are going for.

The biggest con to this dessert is that it is a frozen pie and starts to lose it's texture if exposed to room temperature for too long. Also, you need to give this several hours in the freezer before it is firm enough to serve, so it doesn't lend itself to any last minute applications. That being said, it's definitely a people-pleaser. It's very light but the peanut butter flavor definitely stands out. I've served it to adults and kids and they all loved it!

Peanut Butter Pie**
(Original recipe by Hold the Tomato)

1 cup milk
8 oz cream cheese
2/3 cup peanut butter
2 cups powdered sugar
12 oz Cool Whip
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 9-inch graham cracker pie crusts

Combine first 3 ingredients in a bowl and beat together. Once combined, stir in last 3 ingredients. Pour mixture into the two prepared crusts and freeze for several hours or overnight. Remove from freezer a few minutes before serving and garnish with whipped cream, chocolate drizzle, etc.

**This recipe is for two pies but can be easily halved. In fact, I rarely make the full recipe.

Enjoy!
~Layne

Homemade Marshmallows

This is one of those recipes that I never thought I'd be able or willing to tackle. I know that I can make my own marshmallows at home and I know how wonderful they are but I also know enough to know that they are a huge pain in the rear! In other words, I hadn't convinced myself that they were really worth it. Plus I'm a huge mess-a-phobe and that even extends to the kitchen and I was worried that there was no way that I could make these without creating a disaster area in my kitchen.

Kristen had the guts to tackle these lovelies a couple of Christmases ago and, of course, they were little pillows of heaven. (Especially yummy in hot chocolate.) And she even brought her own horror stories back about mixing madness, crazy-sore arms and sticky gunk, oh my! And I was still content to let her do all the work once a year and partake in the yummy afterward.

Well, no longer! We had a baking day recently and this is one of the recipes she had on her list. Since I was participating I got a chance to see exactly how bad this stuff really was. The truth? Not too terrible! Sure, there are hurdles in this recipe and you have to be smart enough to know how to maneuver around them. But Kristen has done a pretty good job of finding the annoyances in the process and sidestepping (or outsmarting them) them as much as possible. So I am a convert and am no longer afraid of homemade marshmallows. I'm sure I'll be tackling these again next holiday season . . . or sooner if the craving hits! ;-)

So here is the recipe and I've included our notes to help you through the process. It can be done with minimal frustration and mess, just take a breath and follow along!

Homemade Marshmallows
(Original recipe by Alton Brown)

3 packages unflavored gelatin
1 cup ice cold water, divided
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
Nonstick spray

Combine the gelatin and 1/2 cup of water into the bowl of your stand mixer. Attach the whisk attachment and let gelatin solution stand. In a small saucepan, combine remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium high heat and bring to a boil, allowing to cook for several minutes until the mixture reaches 240 F. (Note: AB's recipe says this will take 7-8 minutes but ours took longer.)

Using a candy thermometer is the easiest way to monitor this, but we didn't have one so we used the "cold water test" to determine which stage our sugar solution was at. You want your solution at the soft-ball stage. For a great description of each sugar stage and how to determine when you've reached the soft-ball stage, go here.

Once your sugar solution has reached this stage, remove from the heat and turn your mixer (with the gelatin solution in it) on low. Slowly add the sugar solution to the mixer while running. Once the syrup is all added, increase the mixer speed to high and continue to mix for 12-15 minutes. The mixture will turn white and become very thick, very sticky, and increase in volume significantly. During the last minute of mixing add the vanilla (or any other flavorings you want) to the marshmallows.

During this time, combine powdered sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Spray a 13 x 9 inch baking pan with nonstick spray and coat the bottom and sides with powdered sugar and cornstarch mixture.

NOTE: Up until now, the process will have run relatively smoothly. But this next step is where things can get very messy. The best advice I can give you during this whole process is to avoid touching the marshmallow mixture at all costs, unless absolutely necessary.

Once the mixture is ready, tilt the head of the mixer back (with the whisk still attached) and let the mixture attached to the whisk drip off. It will fall, very slowly, back into the bowl. Do not be tempted to scrap the whisk clean. If you try to battle this stuff or hurry it up . . . you will lose. After a minute or so, most of the mixture should have dripped off the whisk. Invert the mixing bowl over your coated pan and again use gravity to dump most of the mixture into the pan. Then use a lightly oiled spatula to get the rest.

NOTE: If you are an obsessive bowl-scraper, like I am, please understand that you will have to let that go on this recipe. There will be a good size mass of goo on the sides of the bowl that you will not be able to scrape down. Just do your best and walk away!

Alright, you're almost done now! Once the mixture is into the pan, use moist hands to flatten out the marshmallows into a sheet. If the marshmallows start sticking to your hands, just re-wet them a bit and continue smoothing the mixture out. Dust more of the cornstarch mixture over the top and let stand for 4 hours to overnight to allow the marshmallows to cool and set.

To cut, use a pizza cutter to slice the marshmallows into squares. Once cut, toss once again in the cornstarch mixture to lightly coat the remaining sides. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks!

One last thing. While I am not a fan of mint, Kristen wanted to try adding some different flavorants to the marshmallows. So after mixing, she separated a small batch and added some peppermint extract, mixed well and then added a drop or two of red food coloring and folded that once or twice into the mixture to give it a roughly swirled pattern. From what I hear, they were great . . . but I will take her word for it!

OH! And one of the most important notes I can give you, from one mess-a-phobe to another, it this: the clean up on this is actually NOT BAD!! Just make sure to soak your sticky dishes in warm, soapy water and all that sticky goo will just dissolve away! Just make sure the water is warm and cleanup should be a breeze!!

Enjoy!
~Layne

Saltine Toffee Candy

This is one of those recipes that seems to be everywhere in the food blogosphere. And with good reason . . . because it's fan-freakin-tastic and ridiculously easy. Only right that we should include it here also.

I first saw this particular version on Peabody's blog where she said she preferred butter crackers but after a little bit more searching, it seems like the larger preference is saltines. And who am I to mess with popular opinion? Kristen and I first made this last Christmas and we were skeptical, at best. But, lo and behold, it was amazing. It was such a simple idea. Use saltines as a base for homemade toffee, melt and spread chocolate on the top, cool and break into pieces. The result is a wonderful "bark"-like candy that is an absolute winner!

This year I had some white chocolate chips laying around so we got the idea to experiment with the topping. On half, we repeated last years version, which was milk chocolate with sliced almonds. On the other half we used white chocolate with red and green sugar crystals to add color and in the middle we swirled the white and milk chocolates together. They were all amazing but we all decided that the milk chocolate and almond combo is still the best.

Saltine Toffee Candy
(Recipe adapted from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody)

1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 cup brown sugar
Enough crackers to make a layer on a cookie sheet
1 cup chocolate chips (or white chocolate chips)
Sliced almonds, sprinkles, toffee pieces, etc (for topping)

Pre-heat the oven to 350 F. Line a cookie sheet with foil (very helpful lator on when you are trying to break the candy). Put a single layer of saltines on the cookie sheet, close together. Bring the butter and brown sugar to a boil in a saucepan and simmer it for about 5 minutes. Pour the brown sugar mixture over the crackers and bake for about 6-10 minutes at 350F.

Remove and immediately pour the chocolate chips over the crackers, evenly distributing them. The following are Peabody's instructions and I really think she has nailed doing this the easy way:

• "The recipe will tell you to spread immediately…I don’t. I let it sit for about 30 seconds. Then with the back of a spatula I move the chocolate chips just a little bit. I wait another 30 seconds and repeat. I start to slowly move the chocolate around being careful not to move the crackers. I let is sit for another 30 seconds and at this point it pretty much spreads like frosting."

At this point, top the candy with whatever you like. Like I mentioned above, we've tried different types of chocolate with colored sugar and nuts. I'm not a fan of mint so we obviously went another direction, but crushed candy canes would look very nice and festive for the holidays. Use your imagination! Cool the candy in the refrigerator until hard and then break into bite-sized pieces and serve!

Enjoy!
~Layne

PS: I hope everyone is having a wonderfully Merry Christmas today!!!

Too. Much. Sugar!

Yes, this is actually how many sweets are currently residing in my fridge. It's scary really. SIX CONTAINERS worth!?! Two containers are from cookie baking adventures that I had with my mom last week. We made Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies, Chocolate Crack Cookies and Bourbon Balls. Toward the end my mother started losing it (baking is not her forte) and we got into some Lucy-and-Ethel type troubles. Think forgetting ingredients and mistaking flour for powdered sugar. The Bourban Balls bore the brunt of the badness but (surprisingly) still turned out very tasty!

Another two containers are from the much-less-exciting but still very, very tasty cooking adventures of Kristen and I earlier this week. We made more Crack Cookies, this time Coconut Crack Cookies, half rolled in powdered sugar, the other half rolled in flaked coconut. (Oh. My. God. YUM!) Also, on our list was Saltine Toffee Candy and Homemade Marshmallows. All turned out amazing and more to come on those. . .

The pretty round tin was my "cut" from Kristen's family's baking ventures. Too many yummy sweets in there to name but all great! And, finally, for some strange reason, I was in the mood to bake this last weekend and made whole wheat chocolate chip muffins with an oatmeal, brown sugar crumb topping. Of course, the recipe made 12 muffins and Brad and I only ate them for breakfast this weekend. We have been slowly whittling away at the rest of the batch since then.

The next couple of posts are a few recipes that Kristen and I made for the holidays. Obviously many many cookies, candies, pies, etc. . . were made for the holidays by the both of us but these recipes were the ones we made together. Oh! And there are amazing. So we thought we'd share.

Enjoy!
~Layne

PS: Merry Christmas Eve!!