Sissy's Guacamole

I love guacamole. I mean, I really, really love guacamole. I will order things at Mexican restaurants just because they are served with guacamole. And I have a friend who hates it, but doesn't ask them not put it on his order just so he can give it to me. I LOVE guacamole.

Because of my love for that creamy green goodness, it only made sense that I learn to make it. It took a few tries, and I still make it by taste because I think it's one of those dishes that can change every time you make it. I don't pretend to have come up with some secret ingredient or technique, but I do make a pretty decent guacamole--it's even request on occasion.

Guacamole:
avocados
red onion (you can use white or yellow, but I like red in this for the flavor and color)
garlic, peeled
jalapeno pepper, seeded (I usually leave a few seeds because I don't mind a little heat)
tomato (I use whatever tomato I happen to have on hand
cilantro
lime
salt and pepper to taste

Give onion, garlic, and jalapeno a course chop then put in food processor. Pulse. Chop tomatoes and add to food processor. Add cilantro to mixture. Pulse until tomatoes are chopped, but not to small and not enough to let off too much moisture. Add a little salt and pepper; you can add more later as needed.

Cut open avocados and discard seed. Spoon meat into bowl and mash (I find a potato masher works really well for this). Add fresh squeezed lime juice (not too much so that guac is not too watery). Add pico mixture. Taste and add more salt, pepper, or cilantro as needed.

Sissy's Variations:
I like my pico de gallo mixture chopped pretty small, but if you like chunkier pieces, just leave it at a course chop. Avocados can also be left chunkier if desired.

Steak and Potatoes

So, we love a good steak in our house. Bill actually cooks the steaks quite a bit. Three years ago, for Valentine's Day, he decided that he would cook dinner for me. He looked up some recipes, went to the store and bought ingredients, and cooked all by himself. He picked a steak dish with a cream sauce/dressing over salad. It was really good. He also "discovered" a new way to cook steaks at home. I grew up on steak cooked on a grill, so it never really occurred to me to cook them any other way.

So, in our house, steaks are seared on the stovetop, in a pan, then transferred to stove to finish cooking under the broiler. We also love to eat steaks at Outback Steakhouse, and their method is searing before cooking, so I suppose it makes sense that's how we'd cook them.

So for tonight's menu, I chose steaks, twice baked potatoes, and green beans. (I meant to make garlic bread, but I never got around to it.) All of these "recipes" are ingredients I sort of threw together and that can be adjusted to taste/dietary restrictions.

Steak Marinade:
garlic, finely chopped
shallot, finely chopped
onion, finely chopped
parsley, chopped
red wine vinegar
olive oil
Worcestershire sauce
salt substitute
fresh ground pepper
salt free steak seasoning
cayenne pepper

Mix all ingredients in large plastic bag. Marinate steaks for at least one hour.

Heat pan over medium high heat with a little olive oil or cooking spray. Make sure you use an oven-proof pan. Turn oven to broil. Sear steaks for about 30 seconds on each side. You want them just browned on the outside. Transfer pan to oven and cook to desired doneness. We like medium to medium rare, so about five minutes each side. I don't have a pan large enough to cook both steaks at once (they were pretty big sirloins), so I transferred the first steak to a baking sheet and covered tightly with foil, then cooked the second.

Twice Baked Potatoes:
two large baking potatoes, scrubbed and rinsed
garlic cloves (I used four)
butter (I used a little Smart Balance butter and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray)
sour cream (light sour cream)
bacon (low sodium, cooked in microwave)
Parmesan/Fontina/Asiago/Romano cheese blend
sharp cheddar cheese (I used light)

Pre-heat oven to 400. Poke holes in and spray potatoes with cooking spray and wrap with foil. Place garlic gloves on sheet of aluminum and toss with a little olive oil; wrap. Place potatoes and garlic on baking sheet. Garlic was done in about 30 minutes. The potatoes took about an hour. Allow the potatoes to cool just enough to handle. Cut slit in top and spoon out the insides, leaving just the skin. To the potatoes add the roasted garlic and next four ingredients (amount is purely based on taste) and loosely mash together with fork. Spoon mixture back into potato skin and top with cheddar cheese. Put potatoes back in oven and bake until cheese is melted.

Green Beans:
frozen green beans, thawed
olive oil and olive oil cooking spray
garlic, chopped
onion, chopped
fresh ground black pepper
vinegar
butter

Heat pan over medium heat with a little olive oil and cooking spray. Saute onions and garlic until slightly tender. Add green beans to pan and coat with a little more cooking spray. Saute green beans until almost cooked through. Add vinegar and pepper and reduce heat. Just before serving, add a little butter or spray butter (I used spray).

Sissy's Variations:
For the steak, I think I will sear just a little longer next time. I don't think mine turned out as well because I didn't sear as long. And I'll probably use less vinegar next time.
For the potatoes, I think more roasted garlic, but they were just about perfect. Oh, and I'll make sure I'm not out of green onions next time.
For the green beans, I want to try them with fresh next time and maybe add a little Parmesan cheese at the end.

Overall, the steaks tasted good, although Bill's wasn't a very good cut. The potatoes were awesome. Bill said it was the best potato he'd ever had. Bill didn't like the green beans and I thought they were just okay. But, still, an all-around good dinner, which is good because I burned myself again on the stupid pan that came out of the oven!

Dinner Divas: Chicken Cobb Burger

So, I frequent the What's Cooking (or What's for Dinner) message board on The Nest. A couple of girls started a cooking blog group called Dinner Divas. Deal is, each month we are given a choice of four recipes and we will make at least two a month. One of my favorite parts is that we can make the recipe exactly as is or we can make our own variations. If you haven't noticed, I like variations.

Anyway, the first dish was the the Chicken Cobb Burger from Bobby Flay. The original looked good, but for taste, calories, and just because reasons, I make a few changes.

Original Recipe:

Ingredients
For the burgers:
8 (1/2- thick) strips bacon
1 1/2 pounds ground chicken, 90 percent lean
2 tablespoons canola oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
4 burger buns, split
1 large ripe beefsteak tomato, cut into 4 slices
1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and cut into 8 slices

For the vinaigrette:
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup finely shredded romaine lettuce

For the burgers:
Heat the grill to medium.
Place the strips of bacon on the grill (lay them across the grate so they don't fall through) and grill for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, until golden brown and slightly crispy. Remove the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels. Increase the heat of the grill to high.
Form the meat into 4 (8-ounce) burgers, brush with the oil and season with salt and pepper on both sides. Grill the burgers until golden brown on both sides and cooked completely through, about 5 minutes per side. Top the burgers with the blue cheese, close the cover, and continue cooking until the cheese begins to melt, about 1 minute longer.
Place the burgers on the bottom half of each bun and top with a slice of tomato, 2 slices of avocado, 2 slices of bacon and some of the dressed romaine. Cover each burger with the bun tops and serve.

For the vinaigrette:
Whisk together the vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, Worcestershire, garlic, sugar, salt, pepper and oil in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before using to allow the flavors to meld.
Just before assembling the burgers, place the romaine in a medium bowl and toss with the vinaigrette.

Sissy's Variation:
Bill used the ground chicken for something earlier this week and the store I went to today didn't have any, so I had to go with ground turkey (1 pound).

For calorie purposes, I went with only 4 slices of bacon (low sodium, to boot!) and 1/4 c. of blue cheese. I also went with less blue cheese to see how well we would like it since it is kind of strong. I also decided to try these two ingredients IN the burger, so I ran them through the food processor and mixed them into the patties, which also had garlic powder, salt substitute, and pepper. I made three burgers.
Since Bill prefers pan fried burgers to grilled, I cooked the bacon in the microwave and the burgers in a pan.


When I looked at the add ons to burger (tomato and avocado) and the ingredients for the vinaigrette, somehow I saw guacamole, which I happen to love and love on a burger.
With the rest of the vinaigrette ingredients, I decided to make a spread for the burgers.

Guacamole:
avocado
tomato
red onion
jalepeno
garlic
cilantro
lime juice (which I actually forgot!)

I just throw all the ingredients except the avocado into the food processor until I get a pico de gallo-like consistency and add as much as desired to mashed avocado. Salt and pepper to taste.

Dijon Spread:
prepared dijon mustard
red wine vinegar
Worcestershire sauce
mayo

Wisk all ingredients together and spread on toasted bun.



Honestly, we both really liked the outcome. I think I will probably go a little stronger on the blue cheese next time. I served with homemade oven fries (sliced thin and cooked in cooking spray).

Sissy's Shrimp and Pasta

Bill really likes a shrimp dish that I used to make and while it wasn't unhealthy, it was not the lightest dish I could make. But we both really like shrimp, so I thought I'd play around with some ingredients, and used some inspirations from some of the other WC Nestie blogs, I came up with this shrimp and pasta dish. It was REALLY good and the only thing I will do differently next time is a little less heat. While it was perfectly edible and still really good, it had a bit too much of a kick for us.

This not going to be an exact recipe. I will list what I used, but I didn't measure and all ingredients can be adjusted based on taste, health, etc. I am tagging this under light because I used very little oil and a healthy pasta. Oh, and it is practically almost 100% sodium free.


Ingredients:
one pound peeled, deveined shrimp
olive oil
olive oil cooking spray
crushed red pepper flakes
fresh group black pepper
Tony Chachere's Salt Free Seasoning
McCormick Roasted Garlic & Red Bell Pepper seasoning (maybe a tsp., the only source of added sodium)
garlic, finely chopped
onion, finely chopped
shallot, finely chopped
(previous three ingredients will be divided between the shrimp and the pasta)
wine
pasta of choice (I used Ronzoni Smart Taste angel hair)

Cook pasta according to package directions.


In a dish, place olive oil (I barely added a tbsp), crushed red pepper flakes, and McCormick seasoning. Pat shrimp dry and pepper and "salt" (using salt free seasoning). Add shrimp to dish and toss to coat.


In a pan, add a small amount of olive oil and spray liberally. Allow to heat. Add a small amount of garlic, onion, and shallot. Add shrimp and spray with a little more spray. Cook until desired doneness. (Bill likes his shrimp a little on the crispy side, which might be a little overdone for some, so you be the judge.) Remove shrimp, set aside, and cover to keep warm.

Add wine (I didn't have any wine in the house, so I used cooking sherry) to pan and deglaze. Once wine is almost reduced, add a touch more olive oil and remaining garlic, onion, and shallot. Cook until tender. Add pasta to pan and toss.

Serve shrimp over pasta.

Sissy's Variations:
Even though this is my made up dish, I still have a few variations. I intended to add parmasean cheese to the pasta, but forgot. I added it on top of the shrimp once it was plated. Still good, but next time I will add to pasta.

A blonde and brunette walk into a bar . . .

Every time I say or type blondies and brownies, I feel like I'm starting a joke. Yeah, I know, I'm weird.

So, for week two of my "I'm back in the baking game" thing, I wanted to try something new and something I've made so many times before. I've never made blondies and since I wanted to make something my manager could eat (she can't eat chocolate), they sounded perfect. I also wanted to make a different brownie from my old Betty Crocker brownies that I've made a million times before. The girls on What's Cooking message board (from The Nest) came through with some awesome recipes.


Blondies
(Basic Blondie Recipe, from Bakingblonde's Weblog)




6-7 TBS butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder (optional, creates lighter blondie texture)

Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8×8 pan with foil and lightly spray with PAM. In a large microwave safe mixing bowl melt the butter. Allow to cool for 5 mintues. Mix the brown sugar with the melted butter and beat until smooth. Beat in egg and then vanilla. Add salt, stir in flour and baking powder (if using). Mix in any additions (some ideas below).


Pour into prepared pan and use a greased spatula to evenly spread mixture in pan and level the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until set in the middle. Cool on rack before cutting.



Add in ideas:
1/2 to 1 cup chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, white chocolate or butterscotch chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans, walnuts, almonds
1/2 cup M&M candies
1/2 chopped Reese’s PB cups
1/4 cup toffee pieces
1/2 tsp mint extract in addition to, or in the place of vanilla extract

Sissy's Variations:
For my add ins, I used little caramel pieces (about 1/2 c.) in one batch and chocolate chunks (about 1/2 c.) in the other.
I used right at 6 1/2 tbsp. butter.
I used the baking powder in the caramel blondies, and I think I liked the texture better on those.
Mine were done right at 20 minutes.



Brownies
(Deep-Dish Brownies, from Lauren's Kitchen)





3/4 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8 inch square pan.

In a large bowl, blend melted butter, sugar and vanilla. Beat in eggs one at a time. Combine the flour, cocoa powder and salt in a separate bowl. Gradually blend dry mixture into the egg mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.


Bake in preheated oven for 40-45 minutes, or until brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Let brownies cool, then cut into squares. Enjoy!


Sissy's Variations:
I used chocolate chunks in one batch and the caramel pieces in the other (about 1/2 c. each).
Mine cooked in about 30 minutes. That may have been because the the oven was already hot.

Ashley's Crack Cookies

So, I make these really basic chocolate chip cookies. Really simple, from my good old Betty Crocker cookbook. But for some reason, they are the best cookies ever. Seriously. So good that they have become known in my circles as Crack Cookies.

A couple of years ago, I decided to make gift baskets as Christmas gifts for friends and family. Since I already knew that a lot of people loved my chocolate chip cookies, I decided to include those in the baskets. B (oh, that would be my soon-to-be-hubby, Bill; see our blog to your left) and I have these friends, Jamey and Kelly, who happen to be sisters. Both received these gift baskets from us. So, Jamey and Kelly are talking about how they have each already eaten their cookies and wondering what I put in them that makes them SOOOO good. Kelly says I must put crack in them because they are addicting. And so they became known in our little circle of friends as Crack Cookies. Now, I had already made these cookies and taken them to work on numerous occassions. When I relayed the Crack Cookie story there, the name stuck and now it's official.

Betty's Recipe:

3/4 c. granulated sugar
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 c. butter or stick margarine, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
1 large egg
2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. coarsely chopped nuts (I skip these because I don't like nuts in my cookies.)
1 bag (12oz) semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups)--Sometimes I use milk chocolate chips

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Beat sugars, butter, vanilla, and egg in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon. Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt (dough will be stiff). Stir in nuts and chocolate chips.

3. Drop by the rounded teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.

4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown (centers will be soft). Cool 1 to 2 minutes; remove to wire sheet rack.

Sissy's Variations:

Now, a couple of things that we have determined recently that may be the cause of these being deemed "crack cookies." I use salted butter instead of unsalted butter and I do not omit the other salt from the recipe. I also add a splash more vanilla than the recipe calls for (did it by accident the first time and they were so good I kept doing it). And, in my opinion, the most important part is taking them out of the oven before they appear to be fully cooked. They actually almost look underdone, but once they sit out for a minute, the harden nicely on the outside, but are still nice and gooey on the inside.

I'll try to remember pictures next time!

Sissy's Cooking Blog

So, I'm a self-described foodie, wannabe full-time kitchen diva. For now, I'm a full-time copy editor, so I try to spend my evenings and weekends doing what I love: cooking and baking. Food blogging seems to be the "in" thing, so I'm giving it a try. I promise to share successes and disasters alike, and maybe inspire some readers in the process!