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Mashed Carrots

I love a cooked carrot and a mashed root vegetable. These mashed carrots are savory, sweet, buttery, and delicious. I am a big fan of serving them along side some chicken or pork. This recipe makes a lot, but they go fast and with some added stock they could make a decent soup. If you are looking for a healthier option sub plain yogurt for the butter.

Mashed Carrots

4 lbs carrots, cut into 2 inch chunks
1 medium onion, quartered
1/4 cup chicken Stock
2 Tablespoons butter
salt and pepper

Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Add carrots and onions and continue to boil until carrots are cooked through and soft. In batches if necessary, put carrots and onions in food processor with butter, stock and blend until smooth. Return to pot and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Ginger and Grapefruit Pitcher

I love a summer cocktail and I love grapefruit and ginger. Here's a tasty drink you can make a pitcher to avoid spending so much time bar tending.

Ginger and Grapefruit Pitcher

2 grapefruits, quartered
4 ounces Ginger Simple Syrup, recipe follows
2 limes, juiced
1 lime, for garnish
5 ounces tequila
Ginger ale
 
In a large pitcher or bowl add grapefruit, ginger simple syrup and limes juice. Muddle, add tequila and ice. Fill container with ginger ale. Garnish with lime wedges 

Ginger simple syrup:

1 cup water
3-inch piece peeled and sliced ginger
or 2 Tablespoons ginger puree
2 cups sugar

Add water, ginger and the sugar to a saucepan and bring to boil. Stir until sugar is dissolve. Strain. Let cool and store in the refrigerator in an air tight container.

BH's Favorite Spinach, Egg, and Bacon Pizza

This is my new favorite pizza. I love salty bacon mixed with spinach, Parmesan, and a runny egg yolk. It really makes all other pizza it's bitch. Forget everything you thought you knew about good homemade pizza and make this recipe.

BH's Favorite Spinach, Egg, and Bacon Pizza

Premade pizza dough for 1 crust
2 cups tomato sauce
2 cups thawed frozen chopped spinach
2 cups grated Parmesan and/or Pecorino Romano
6 slices bacon, cooked until crispy and roughly chopped
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spread the dough out with a rolling pin or just by using your hands onto  a pizza pan. Top with the sauce, spinach, cheese, and bacon and bake for approximately 15 minutes until crispy. Crack 2 eggs in the center of the pizza and place in the oven for an additional 6 minutes until egg is just cooked. To serve, cut slice and serve while hot and egg is runny.

Spinach Garlic Bread

This garlic bread recipe from Rachael Ray is the best garlic bread I have ever had. It's buttery, garlicy, and cheesy without making you feel sick. If there is a spaghetti supper at my funeral, I want them to serve this bread.

Spinach Garlic Bread

4 cups spinach leaves, stemmed
4 cloves garlic, cracked from skin
1 stick softened butter
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
1 loaf good quality Italian bread

Preheat broiler or oven to 375 degrees. Place the spinach in a food processor with garlic, butter, salt, freshly ground black pepper and cheese, and process until smooth. Cut the bread in half lengthwise and slather it with the spinach butter. Bake the toast until crispy, about 7-10 minutes in the hot oven.

Easy Pecan Monkey Bread

Over New Year's weekend, Popmuse and I rented a house with some friends for a 3 day food and movie marathon. We had this for breakfast one morning and was my favorite thing I ate all weekend. It was buttery, sweet, and fun to pick apart. It's also very easy to make and a big crowd pleaser. 

Easy Pecan Monkey Bread

3 (7.5 ounce) packages refrigerated biscuit dough
1/3 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease Bundt pan. In a small bowl, stir together the white sugar and cinnamon. Set aside. Use scissors or a knife to cut each of the biscuits into various sizes. Each one can be cut into anywhere from 2 to 5 pieces. Sprinkle about half of the pecans amongst the 6 prepared pans. Roll pieces of biscuit in the cinnamon-sugar, and place them into the pans, distributing evenly. Sprinkle any remaining cinnamon-sugar over the dough balls. Mix together the brown sugar and melted butter. Stir in the remaining pecans. Distribute evenly over the pans of dough balls. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the biscuits are toasted and cooked through. Remove from the oven, and invert pan onto serving plates while still hot.

Pastry Wrapped Spinach Stuffed Meatloaf

I am in love with pastry and want to wrap all of my food in it and bake it. I made up this recipe as a small town nod to Beef Wellington (sans mushrooms and pate). This is an Italian style spinach stuffed meatloaf baked and wrapped in a quick sour cream pastry and baked again to golden brown.

Pastry Wrapped Spinach Stuffed Meatloaf

Meatloaf:
1 1/4 lbs ground turkey
2 eggs
1/2 cup spaghetti sauce
1-2 handfuls shredded mozzarella
aluminum foil
10 oz frozen chopped spinach thawed/drained
1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped onion

Preheat oven to 350. Mix the turkey, eggs, and spaghetti sauce together in a large mixing bowl. Line a cookie sheet with a generous amount of foil. Pat out the meatloaf so that it completely covers the cookie sheet evenly. Layer the spinach and cheese in a line lengthwise in the center of the meatloaf. Use the foil to help fold the edges over the spinach and cheese, shaping tightly into a loaf. Make sure the loaf is smooth and sealed. Bend the foil over loaf and seal tightly. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Wrap with pastry and continue to bake as directed below.

Crust:
2 1/2 cups flour
2 sticks butter
1 egg
1/2 c. sour cream

With hands or food processor, combine flour and butter to form a crumbly texture. Add egg and sour cream and combine into dough. Turn dough out onto generously floured surface and roll into a rectangle roughly the size of the cookie sheet. Place the cooked meatloaf in the center of the sheet of dough.  Wrap the dough around the loaf.  Dampen the edges at the seams so they will seal well. Place the pastry-wrapped loaf in a greased shallow pan (you may have yet more fat cook out) with the seam down. Bake at 375 degrees F until the crust is golden brown, usually 25 to 30 min. Serve hot or at room temperature.  Cut slices across the loaf to show the layers. 

Vanilla Bean Cake with Fudgy Caramel Pan Frosting and Salted Pecans

I spent months on my birthday cake recipe this year and was very close to finalizing a Champagne Pear Cupcake with Salted Caramel Cream and & 7 Minute Marshmallow Frosting recipe before I scrapped the whole project. This cake is based on the birthday cake my grandmother made me every year for my birthday through my childhood. It’s rustic and country and has been my favorite birthday cake for over 20 years now. I added vanilla bean this year as a shout out to my food snob friends and buttered and salted pecans to help balance out the rich sweetness in the frosting.

Vanilla Bean Cake with Fudgy Caramel Pan Frosting and Salted Pecans

Vanilla Bean White Cake

1 pkg white cake mix
1 cup whole milk
1 stick butter (melted)
3 large eggs
2 vanillla beans

Slice vanilla beans in half lengthwise. Put bean and milk in a small saucepan and heat to a slight boil. Remove from heat to cool. Using a small knife, scrape all vanilla bean specs from the bean pods into the milk. Discard remaining pod. Mix milk and remaining ingredients together until well blended. Divide batter into 2 round cake pans. Bake @ 350 for 25-29 minutes (until cake bounces back when pressed).

Butter and Salt Roasted Pecans

10oz pecan halves or pieces
3 Tbsp butter
Salt

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium-sized skillet melt butter. Toss and coat pecans in butter. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet and salt generously to taste. Bake for 7-10 minutes. Remove and let cool.

Grandma's Caramel Frosting

2 sticks butter
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup whole milk
4 cups powder sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
a handful of pecan pieces (optional)

Melt butter with brown sugar and boil for 2 minutes. Stir in milk and bring to boil. Sift in powder sugar, add vanilla and stir until smooth. Immediately pour and spead over cake. Sprinkle pecan pieces over each layer as you go. If it begins to harden, return to heat and add small amounts of milk. Sprinkle pecan more pieces gererously over top.

Drunken Cheesy Bread

I made this recipe on our trip to Lake Arrowhead from a Real Simple magazine. It is quick, easy, and amazing. I fully recommend trying it. How can you go wrong with wine, cheese, ham, and onion?

Drunken Cheesy Bread

Butter, for the pan
1 baguette, cut into 2 inch slices
1 small yellow onion, very thinly sliced
1/4 lb thinly sliced cooked ham
1 1/2 cups white wine
1 teaspoon black pepper
3 cups (12oz) grated Gruyere

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place the bread in a buttered ovenproof skillet, baking dish, or casserole dish. Scatter the onion and ham over the bread. Pour wine over the onion and ham and sprinkle with black pepper and Gruyere. Bake until the cheese has melted and begins to brown at the edges, about 20 minutes. Spoon onto plates.

Bloghungry's Turkey and Gravy

So it's time to start posting Thanksgiving recipes again and I decided to start with my turkey. I posted this same recipe last year, but it was so moist and full of flavor that I decided to make it again this year. The brine can be a little frightening your first time, but it's actually very simple and is completely worth the process.

Bay and Lemon Brined Turkey

1 (12 to 15-pound) turkey

For the brine:
2 gallons water
1 cup sugar
1 cup kosher salt
2 lemons, sliced in 1/2
4 bay leaves
3 cinnamon sticks
Small handful cloves
Combine all brine ingredients in a container or pot large enough to hold the turkey. Make sure all the sugar and salt have been fully dissolved. Add the turkey and refrigerate about 6 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Remove turkey from brine and transfer to a roasting pan with a rack. Stuff turkey with the lemon halves, bay leaves, and cinnamon sticks used in the brine. Cook turkey for about 3 1/2 hours, basting every 40 minutes or so. If any part of the turkey gets too brown towards the end of cooking, shield with pieces of tin foil. When the turkey is done, juices should run clear from the breast and the legs should pull away from the bird easily. Remove from the heat and let rest for 15 to 20 minutes before carving.

Easy Turkey Gravy

1 Tbsp. turkey drippings
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 cups turkey or chicken broth (boxed)
salt and freshly ground pepper

Heat the tablespoon of turkey fat in a saucepan. Using a wooden spoon, mix in flour, which will gather into a soft ball with the fat. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat until mixture is fluffy and looks moist, about 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in 1/4 cup broth/purée until mixture is smooth. Add remaining purée. Bring gravy to a boil, then immediately remove from heat. Season gravy with salt and pepper to taste. Pour gravy into a gravy boat.

Sherry Roasted Tomatoes

I cooked these up as part of our bad movie night dinner presentation of Totally Awesome and Mission Impossible 3. The movies were disappointments all around, but I throughly enjoyed the tomatoes. They are a sweet and rich compliment to a hearty main course.

Sherry Roasted Tomatoes

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
3 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 pint cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons sherry wine
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Preheat a skillet over medium high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil, garlic and onions. Sweat them out 2 to 3 minutes then add cherry tomatoes. Turn tomatoes to coat in fat. Add sherry vinegar or sherry, sugar, pepper flakes and salt. Toss to coat tomatoes and roast for 18 to 20 minutes.