Caprese Mac and Cheese

Summer is here! You know what that means... fresh tomatoes... fresh basil... this calls for "caprese-ing" everything! I've made caprese risotto, caprese orzo pasta salad, caprese bruschetta... adding tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella to everything is what it's all about. This time, I made Caprese Mac and Cheese.  I seriously love this recipe.  It's so easy, but looks fancy.  You can serve it with anything on the grill and it's not as "boring" as regular mac and cheese.  Serve it to your guests and you will blow them away... or just make it for a quick and easy dinner! We served it with BBQ chicken sandwiches and it was a huge hit for our 11 month old.  I seriously have never seen him eat that much for dinner in his little life.  I'm adding it to his "favorite meals" list so we can make this more often.  Enjoy!

Caprese Mac and Cheese

Serves: 10-12 as a side dish

Ingredients:

1 16 oz package of elbow noodles (rice noodles for gluten free)

2 Tbsp. butter

2 Tbsp. flour (use rice flour for gluten free)

1-2 cups of milk (I used whole, but use what you have on hand)

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1 pint of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

10-12 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a medium sauce pot, boil noodles according to package instructions (7-10 minutes, don't overcook as they will continue to cook in the sauce) Strain and set aside until needed.

Meanwhile, make a roux in a large sauce pot.  Melt the butter and add the flour. Whisk butter and flour for 2 minutes on low heat and then add 1 cup of milk.  Turn heat to medium high and whisk until there are no more flour clump.  Turn to low and let thicken gradually whisking as you go.  Add the shredded cheese and whisk until melted, adding milk if needed.  

Pour the noodles into the sauce and stir. Add more milk to make creamier.  At the very end, add tomatoes and basil and give a quick stir.  Salt and pepper to taste. 

That's it!

Homemade Bagels with Cinnamon Cream Cheese

I've been making a lot of bread items lately because... well they are just so much better than store bought anything!  I love love love bagels, but am finding that the store bought ones are just tasting fake to me. I know, I'm a bread snob.  But you just can't get home made fresh awesomeness in the store.  

These were terrific!  Exactly what I needed to get my fix.  And the cinnamon cream cheese was just an added bonus, I just happened to have cream cheese on hand.  These would be awesome and easy to make ahead and serve to overnight guests with some fruit and a cup of coffee! Oh man, I think I might have to make these again this weekend!  

Baby is up from his nap so I'll stop yackin and let you get to baking!

Enjoy!

Bagels
Makes: 6

Ingredients:

Dough
1 Tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup lukewarm water
3 1/2 cups unbleached organic flour

Poaching Liquid
2-3 quarts water
1 1/2 tablespoons honey (optional)
1 Tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt


Directions: 
To make the dough, stir the honey, yeast and water into a large mixing bowl or bowl of your stand mixer.  Let sit for 5-10 minutes until it becomes foamy.  Add the flour and salt to the mixer and mix with the dough hook on lowest speed for 3 minutes, until well blended.  The dough should form a stiff ball, but should be plenty hydrated.  If it isn't add water. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes. 

Resume mixing with dough hook on low for another 3 minutes, or transfer to a floured work surface and knead by hand for 3 minutes. The dough should be stiff, but barely tacky feeling.  If it seems too soft or tacky, add flour. 

Place the dough in a clean, lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap or wet towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour. 

To shape the bagels, prepare a sheet pan with parchment paper or silicone mat, then lightly coat it with oil. Divide the dough into 6-8 equal pieces.  Form each piece into a lose ball.  Roll the ball into an 8 inch rope.  Hold one end of the rope in your hand and wrap around hand, overlap the two ends by 2 inches and press the ends together to seal.  You can then play with it to even out the thickness. 

Place each shaped bagel on the prepared sheet pan and mist with a light coating of oil. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night. (I made these once refrigerating the and once without and there wasn't a huge difference, they are better refrigerated, but it's not going to ruin them if you don't have the time.)

Remove bagels from the refrigerator 60-90 minutes before you plan to bake them and let them rest.  About 30 minutes before baking, preheat oven to 500 F.  

To make the poaching liquid, fill a large pot with 2-3 quarts of water, making sure the water is at least 4 inches deep.  Cover and bring to a boil, then lower heat to maintain a simmer.  Stir in the honey, baking soda and salt. 

Gently lower each bagel into the poaching liquid, making sure not to overcrowd the pot. They should float to the surface within 15 seconds.  After 1 minute, use a slotted spoon to turn each bagel over.  Poach or another 30-60 seconds, then use a slotted spoon to transfer it back to the baking pan. 

When all bagels are poached, transfer the pan of bagels to the over, then lower heat to 450F.

Bake for 8 minutes, then rotate pan and bake for another 8 minutes, until bagels are golden brown. 

Cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes before slicing. 

Serve with cinnamon cream cheese spread. 

Cinnamon Cream Cheese

Ingredients: 
4 oz softened cream cheese
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
Cream all ingredients together until smooth.  Serve over bagels.  Store in refrigerator. 

Fondue Chocolate Truffles

Welcome back to me! It has been a while.  Not that I haven't been cooking and even taking photos of my food, I just started a new website and wanted to incorporate my food blog into that. Turns out, my indecisiveness and lack of time will prevent me from doing said task.  Meanwhile, I have plenty of recipes to post!  I wanted to start with my favorite (or the one I could find a pic to... I'm not very organized these days).  I know it's not fondue season (september-march), but I made these after my Oscars fondue party (back in february) and they were amazing!

I love having fondue parties!  They are quite simple as long as you don't go overboard (and you don't need to), but they seem very fancy and fun!  I always start with cheese, then meats and finally end with chocolate for dessert.  Sadly, sometimes we indulge so much on the cheese and meats that the poor chocolate barely gets dipped in to.  Shocker... I know. I had a ton of chocolate left over from this last fondue extravaganza and I didn't want to waste it... but I also didn't want to reheat it the next day for just the two of us.  So I decided to make truffles. Boy were they amazing!! It was kind of one of those "well if they don't turn out, they were going to go to waste anyway" sort of recipes and, for once, they didn't become a disaster!  I loved them so much! They were gone within a day in our house. Now that I think about it... that was a lot of chocolate for us to eat in a short amount of time... oh well, that was February.  

Enjoy!

Fondue Chocolate Truffles
Makes: a couple dozen depending on how much chocolate you have left over

Ingredients:
Left over fondue chocolate (see fondue chocolate recipe below)
Dippers (Chopped nuts, sprinkles, cocoa powder etc.)

Directions:
Place chocolate in a container and refrigerate over night to harden.  Once hardened, take a spoon or melon baller, scoop out by the tablespoon and roll into balls.  Roll into various dippers like crushed nuts or cocoa.  You will have to work fast with these as they tend to melt quickly.  I stored mine in the refrigerator.  You'll also want to eat within a day or the nuts will become soggy. 

Fondue Chocolate Recipe:
1 lb good quality chocolate chips (I use Simple Truth Organic, they are amazing)
2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla

Add 2 cups of cream to the fondue pot. Gradually stir in 1 lb of chocolate chips until melted and add vanilla at the end.  Serve with strawberries, marshmallows, banana, pineapple, cookies, brownies, rice crispy treats... whatever is good dipped in chocolate!! 

Gluten and Refined Sugar Free Chocolate Chip PB Cookies

My aunt gave me this chocolate chip cookie peanut butter oat recipe a while ago and it's by far my favorite cookie.  They taste the best on a road trip.  Don't know why that is, but now I have to make them for every road trip we take.  Guess what? We have a road trip coming up!  Over the years, I have tried making these cookies to suit those with certain diet restrictions.  I originally made them gluten free and they were just as delicious! And for some reason, you feel like you can eat more because they are gluten free.  This time, I made them gluten and refined sugar free.  Guess what? They turned out great! They are a little less sweet than the original recipe (you're taking out a cup of white sugar and a cup of brown sugar and replacing it with 1/2 cup honey), but they are soooo good! Great for road trips because they aren't completely terrible for you and they are pretty filling.  I'm so excited for our road trip just so I can eat more of these cookies! 

P.S. I totally wasn't planning on using this photo, but it's the only one I had... as you can tell, my silicon baking mat is loved. 

Gluten and Refined Sugar Free Chocolate Chip PB Cookies
Makes: 48 cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter   
1/4 cup coconut oil 
1/2 cup raw honey

1 cup organic creamy peanut butter (make sure there is no added sugar)

2 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups oat flour (I just grind up gluten free oats in a blender until powdery)

1 cup gluten free oats

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups homemade refined sugar free chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the oat flour, oats, baking soda and salt.  Set aside. 

In another large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, honey, peanut butter, vanilla and eggs. Add in the dry ingredients and mix until blended. Add in the chocolate chips and mix until everything comes together. 

Blob by the tablespoonful onto a baking sheet and flatten.  Bake at 350 for 8-11 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet.  Move to a cooling rack to harden. (may take longer to harden because of the honey) Enjoy!

Refined Sugar Free Chocolate Chips

Chocolate chip cookies need to be a staple in every child's diet regardless of food allergies or sensitivities.  My mission... to create a chocolate chip cookie using only natural/healthy sweeteners, no refined sugars.  In the past, I'd just take a cookie recipe and search the grocery store for chocolate chips with no refined sugars.  Being that I normally do my grocery shopping with a 5 month old... reading every label in the store was not an option.  Plus, I had no luck with the research that I did do... so I decided to make my own using limited natural ingredients with no preservatives.  

These chocolate chips are absolutely delicious.  I swear I chowed down on at least a half cup while making them.  Super addicting, but make sure to save some for the cookies!

Chocolate Chips

Makes: 2 cups (depending on how much chocolate you eat while cooling)

Ingredients:

4 oz organic unsweetened baking chocolate (if you don't have organic in your store, the regular is fine)

1/4 cup raw honey (this will make similar to a semi-sweet chocolate... add more to make sweeter)

3 Tablespoons organic coconut oil

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 tsp pure vanilla

Directions:

Break the chocolate into smaller 1/2 oz pieces.  In a double boiler over medium heat, melt the chocolate until smooth.  Remove from heat and let cool for 5-10 minutes.  Add honey, coconut oil, sea salt and vanilla and stir until smooth.  

Let sit out in a cool place for a few hours until hardened, somewhat like the consistency of peanut butter.  To speed the process, move to fridge, but don't forget it or it'll get hard and you'll have to start over melting it.  

Meanwhile, cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet.  Stick in freezer for 15 minutes. (or hours if you forget it)

When the chocolate is the right consistency, spoon into a piping bag with a larger round tip or a zip lock bag.  If using a zip lock bag, snip the corner of the bag to make a nice tip to pipe the chocolate out of.  Pipe small chocolate chips onto the frozen baking sheet.  When finished, place baking sheet in freezer for another hour to completely harden the chocolate chips.  

Scrape the chocolate chips off the pan with a spatula into a storage container and store in the freezer until ready to use.  

These are very soft chocolate chips so if using in a cookie recipe, make sure you add them right at the end with minimal stirring so they don't melt in the dough or just add them to the top of a cookie at the end of baking.  When I made my cookies, I added them right at the end and stirred only to combine and they were fine.  Store in freezer.

French Bread

I have been making my own bread now for about 3+ years, but have been so intimidated to venture outside of the loaf... until today.  This French Bread is so delicious and quite easy!  I made it with a non-napping four month old around to help.  When it came out of the oven, I admit, I had three slices.   It was so good and fluffy on the inside and crisp on the outside.  This will be so good to make sub sandwiches out of and garlic toast and I can think of a million more things.  I'm so excited I found this recipe!  Enjoy

French Bread

Makes: 1 loaf

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 pkg (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1 cup warm water

Directions:

In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine 1.5 cups flour with the salt, sugar, and yeast. Add water and beat for 3 minutes. Beat in additional flour until a sticky dough forms.  Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, until smooth and elastic.  

Place in an oiled bowl, covered with a wet dish cloth, in a warm spot fro 45 minutes to an hour until it doubles in size. 

Punch down dough and roll out into a rectangle.  Roll up the short ways and place seam side down on a cookie sheet.  Let rise in a warm spot again for 45 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Use a sharp knife to make 4 diagonal slices on the top of the loaf.  Place loaf in oven for 15-20 minutes, until nice and browned on the top.  Cool on wire rack. 

Delicious and Easy Graham Crackers

I was in the baking mood today, but wanted to make something with the limited ingredients I had on hand ... rewind ... I was craving something sweet today and didn't have chocolate chips on hand... so I decided to make these graham crackers since I've been in a graham crakery mood lately, since there is no chocolate around. 

Anyway, these were so delicious and made from normal pantry ingredients. No eggs, no butter, no refined sugar! I just happened to have a stash of coconut sugar in my pantry, but you could totally use brown or white sugar in these and it would taste just as good.  I like the coconut sugar because it has a nice, kind of, molassey flavor. (I keep ending everything in Y and spell check is getting mad at me).  You could absolutely sub butter for the coconut oil, but coconut oil is healthier... so if you're going for the health factor than coconut oil it is.  Also, to make gluten free, you could easily sub a gluten free all purpose flour.  Enjoy! These were so delicious!

Graham Crackers
Makes: 8 large crackers (depending on the thickness you make them)

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all purpose organic flour (may sub whole wheat or gluten free)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
5 Tablespoons coconut palm sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
4 Tablespoons warm water

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.  In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl combine the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold with a spatula until the mixture begins to clump together. Fold the dough with hands until all is evenly combined and forms a ball. Sprinkle some flour on a flat table surface and use a rolling pin to flatten the dough down to the thickness of a typical graham cracker. Cut into rectangles and place on a baking sheet. You can use a skewer, chopstick or fork to poke holes so it resembles a store bought graham cracker. Bake for 15 minutes, until crispy.  This may vary depending on the thickness of the cracker.  Keep an eye on them so they don't brown too much. 

adapted from organic authority