SRC: Mushroom & Goat Cheese Bread Pudding

Can you believe its time for another SRC post already? I am so excited about the blog I was assigned this month!!! I honestly had such a hard time deciding what to make and will be making more recipes in the future. I was assigned the blog Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body which is written by Julia from California. Julia seems to be a girl after my own heart because she bakes so many delectable looking desserts (you have to check out her s'more aniversary cake - I can't wait to make it!!!), and she also LOVES goat cheese... so much that she even made goat cheese frozen yogurt! Who woulda thought - it actually looked delicious and I was super tempted to try it out... but I settled for making a savory bread pudding - mushroom and goat cheese bread pudding to be exact.

And it was delish!! What a great recipe - I would definitely make it again, but not before I try out some other recipes from Julia's blog. It was so hard not to join as a follower this month and give myself away! Thanks Julia for posting such amazing recipes and thanks to Amanda & co. at the SRC for hosting this awesome group each month.

On to the recipe!

Mushroom & Goat Cheese Bread Pudding

Minimally adapted from Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups stale bread slices, cut into cubes


• 1 egg


• 1/2 cup milk


• 1 cup chopped mushrooms


• 2 cloves garlic, minced


• 1 tbsp minced fresh herbs (I used rosemary and chives)


• 2 ounces goat cheese


• salt and pepper


• proscuitto and additional goat cheese for garnish

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.


2. In a medium bowl whisk together egg, milk, garlic, fresh herbs, salt and pepper.


3. Add bread cubes, mushrooms and goat cheese to egg mixture. Stir gently just to incorporate. Pour into two ramekins and let stand for 15 minutes.


4. Meanwhile, pan fry a couple slices of proscuitto in a pre-heated skillet until crispy. Crumble and reserve for later.


5. Bake 30-35 minutes until pudding puffs up and custard is set. Remove from oven and cool slightly before serving. Sprinkle with crumbled crispy proscuitto and additional goat cheese.

And thats that! Be prepared to see more recipes from Julia's blog because everything she makes sounds to die for. If you want to learn more about the SRC or join, you can check out the SRC website here.

Spanakopita

I've never really been a Gordon Ramsay fan. I wasn't big on his bad language and confrontational style as portrayed on all the promotional commercials and trailers for shows he has been on in the past as I'm sure many people aren't. Then I started watching Masterchef USA and slowly he grew on me. He is always very quick to praise when someone does a good job and the way with which he encourages people is unbelievable and you'll never see that side of him in any commercial or trailer for his shows. Needless to say, I went out and bought one of his beautiful cookbooks - Gordon Ramsay's World Kitchen. About a month ago I made Gordon's Spanakopita recipe and it was super delish!


Gordon's note about this recipe is as follows: "This spinach and feta pie is probably the most popular of all Greek pies, which are everyday fare in Greece and typically eaten as substantial snacks. I prefer to serve this scrumptious pie as a main course, or a a side dish to roast lamb."

Spanakopita

Recipe from Gordon Ramsay's World Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil


• 2 large sweet onions, peeled and minced


• sea salt and black pepper


• 1 lb spinach leaves, washed and drained


• nutmeg, to grate


• 9 oz feta, crumbled


• 2 large eggs


• generous 1/3 cup heavy cream


• scant 1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted


• scant 1/2 cup butter, melted (you definitely won't need all of it)


• 14 sheets phyllo pastry

Method:

1. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat and add the onions with a little salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, for 6-8 minutes until soft but not colored. Transfer to a large bowl.


2. Wilt the spinach leaves in several batches: stir them in a large saucepan over medium-high heat until just wilted, then tip into a colander. Press down on the spinac with the back of a ladle to squeeze out as much excess water as possible. Allow to cool slightly, then chop roughly.


3. Add the spinach to the onion and grate over a little nutmeg. Add the feta, eggs, and cream. Season with a generous grinding of pepper and just a small pinch of salt - as the feta is salty. Finally, stir in the pine nuts. Chill until ready to serve.


4. Preheat the oven to 400F. Brush the base of a large ovenproof dish with a little of the melted butter. Now layer 10 sheets of phyllo pastry in the dish, brushing each layer with butter and allowing any excess pastry to overhang the sides. Spoon the spinach and feta mix over the pastry sheets and then fold any overhanging phyllo over the filling. Layer the remaining phylo sheets on top, buttering generously and scrunching for an attractive finish.


5. Bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes until the top of the pie is golden and the filling is set. To check, insert a small knife into the center of the pie - the filling should not look too runny.


6. Let stand for at least 10 minutes before slicing. Serve the pie either warm or at room temperature.

We definitely love Greek food in this house, so everyone was very excited about this Spanakopita. Hopefully you enjoy it as much as we did. :)

Happy Cooking my Friends!

Coffee Beans

Its no secret, I like coffee, in fact I can't really function without it. Me minus coffee on any given day = grouchy, cranky, headachey etc. All in all, not fun! So I must have coffee... good coffee! I'm always checking out new types of coffee and the other day I stumbled across this delicious coffee put out by Level Ground Trading. I'm not really one to get sucked into all the fair trade, organic stuff, but after checking out their website, this company does some cool things and also does some great things for the people they buy their products from. So I thought I would share with you!

According to their webside, their mission is to "...trade fairly and directly with small-scale producers in developing countries, offering our customers ethical choices." So we've got a company thats going to source high quality, delicious products and pay their suppliers a fair price?! Awesome! Another cool thing about this company? They're based in Victoria, British Columbia! I won't go too crazy about their history, but you can check it out here if you're interested! These folks uphold some pretty high standards though, what with being certified organic, zero-waste, participatants in upcycling and green commuters I don't think you can get much more virtuous than that!!!

Level Ground sources delicious coffee from locations such as Peru, Columbia, Bolivia, Tanzania and Ethiopia. They also source dried fruit and sugar. They have been slowly building up their product base over time as they build relationships with the farmers who grow the products they source. One of the things that struck me was the fact that the bag of coffee said "We shake the hands that pick our beans". You can go on their website and look up detailed information about each individual farm that grows the products they source! To me this just shows what a great company this is - the fact that they can put relationships and fair trade above the ever pressing drive to make a quick buck. It pays off though - they've got some delicious, high-quality products that deserve to be shared. I would encourage you next time you buy coffee to check out a bag of Level Ground coffee to support a great company!

Cheers!

Speedy Cinnamon Rolls

Need something to whip up for breakfast tomorrow? Love cinnamon buns, but don't want to get up super, duper early to get them rising before everyone in your house gets out of bed? Make these speedy cinnamon rolls - delicious, tender cinnamon rolls without yeast!! Oh yeah, thats right - no yeast therefore you can make these in under an hour!! And the ingredients are very basic, so you likely have them on hand. So go ahead, make a delicious Sunday morning breakfast that your family will love!

Speedy Cinnamon Rolls

Recipe from The Guy Can't Cook

Ingredients:

• 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour


• 3 tbsp granulated sugar


• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder


• 1/2 tsp salt


• 1 cup of buttermilk (or one cup of plain yogurt will work too!)


• 1/2 cup whipping cream (I've used milk in a pinch and they've turned out fine)


• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus extra for brushing


• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened


• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar


• 1/4 cup granulated sugar


• 2 tsp ground cinnamon

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.


2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, cream, and melted butter. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and stir until the liquid is just absorbed - don't worry if it looks a little dry. Turn the dough out onto the counter and knead it lightly, just until it holds together. Knead in a little more flour if the dough seems sticky.


3. On a piece of parchment or waxed paper, lightly form the dough into a rectangle. Use your hand or a rolling pin to gently roll until its about 18 by 10 inches.


4. Spread the dough with the softened butter. Combine the brown sugar, white sugar, and cinnamon. Dust the mixture evenly over the dough.


5. Starting with the long end, roll the dough as tightly as you can, using the parchment paper to aid you. Pinch the seam to seal and place the roll, seam-side down, on the counter. Cut the dough roll into 12 even pieces using a sharp knife or a piece of dental floss (to use the dental floss, simply slide the floss under the log, cross the ends of the floss over the log and pull to slice through the dough).


6. Pick up each slice carefully, pinching the base slightly to fit each roll into a cup in an extra large, non-stick muffin pan. Brush rolls with melted butter.


7. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Turn the rolls out onto a cooling rack and serve while still warm. Makes 12 rolls.

I hope this recipe makes it onto your to-bake list! Its worth it. The other weekend I baked a batch to take camping and we ate them for breakfasts with coffee - they were a hit! Everyone loved them and they disappeared quickly.

Happy Baking my Friends! I am pretty excited - I borrowed my friend D's ice cream maker attachment for my KitchenAid mixer and have some chocolate ice cream chilling in the fridge right now until it is cold enough to start churning in the icecream maker! Can't wait!

Cherry Pie!

Whew! What an insane week. I don't know where the time went, but it sure flew by fast. My hubby is out of town and I've been studying and working like crazy, oh and trying to fit in a few 6am spin classes to squeeze in some much needed exercise too! Any way, last weekend during some of my *ahem* spare time, I decided to use up my 10lbs of cherries I purchased in the Okanagan while we were there. So I made cherry pie! YUM!! I think this was my best cherry pie yet - this claim can be backed by various co-workers' rave reviews, including one cherry pie afficianado who claims it is the best cherry pie he has ever tasted. Hows that for an ego boost?

You're probably thinking this is a lot of work, or some outrageous recipe. Nope! Sure isn't. Its just Anna Olson's basic cherry pie recipe from her cookbook Fresh. I tweaked the recipe a little. Here is where you can find the original recipe.


Now, I made a few changes! First off - for the pastry - I used all butter (one whopping cup of buttery goodness) instead of half butter and half shortening. I think it lead to a flakier and richer tasting crust. You could definitely taste the butter. Be warned, this does make the pastry a tad more difficult to work with because it heats up and the butter melts a lot faster, so keep handling to a minimum and be sure to chill thoroughly prior to working with the pastry.

Next, I used sweet cherries because thats what was for sale in the Okanagan while I was there. To thicken the pie filling, I used a mix of half cornstarch and half flour, I also used a heaping quarter cup (total) of the cornstarch/flour mixture as I found that in the past the filling was a tad runny. This slight adjustment lead to the perfect consistency of pie filling!

An thats it! Easy, peasy!


Happy Baking my Friends! I promise to try to catch my neglected blog up to speed with some interesting posts this weekend. :)

Skinny Caesar Salad

If you've been following my blog, or browsing my archives, you may have noticed that I don't post many healthy recipes. I love baking, and most baking recipes are inherently laden with fat! And the recipes I usually make from my fav cookbooks are also usually laden with fat too... I do make healthy recipes most of the time during the week, but I don't usually blog about them because I'm always in a rush to get dinner on the table and never bother to photograph any of the healthy things I make... why would people want to read healthy recipes and look at pictures of healthy food?! *gasp*!!

Any way, getting on with the story, I whip this up on a super busy weeknight and plop it on the table in front of my husband and he stops me before we dig in and says "aren't you going to photograph this? It looks like restaurant food". Of course I burst out laughing, but was secretly flattered that he thought dinner looked that good!! It honestly made my day. So, I took pictures and decided to share it with you because it is a delicious and easy healthy recipe that even the most discerning caesar salad lover will enjoy!

Skinny Chicken Caesar
Recipe adapted from Cook Yourself Thin
Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts


• 2 heads romaine lettuce


• two handfuls of low fat croutons (I like the herb and garlic ones)


• 2 medium eggs


• 2 tbsp grated parmesan


• one recipe of caesar dressing (see below for recipe)

Method:

1. Preheat your grill and grill the chicken breasts with a little salt and pepper, or any seasonings you like. Remove from grill and let rest until the rest of the salad is ready to go.


2. Wash the lettuce and dry. Chop or tear the lettuce leaves into bite size pieces.


3. Carefully drop eggs into boiling water for 4 minutes exactly (for a runny center, for a soft, but not runny center, cook more like 6 minutes). Remove from boiling water and immediately immerse in cold water. Leave in cold water until the rest of the salad is ready.


4. Place the lettuce leaves in the bowl you mixed up the dressing in and toss together to coat. Add the parmesan and toss again.


5. Divide the coated lettuce among your serving plates. Slice the chicken and place on top of the lettuce. Sprinkle with croutons and a little extra parmesan if desired. Slice the egg in half and place on the plate as well. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and serve.

Caesar Dressing
Recipe from Cook yourself Thin

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp fat free greek yogurt


• 1/2 garlic clove, minced


• 2 tsp dijon mustard


• 1 tsp malt vinegar


• 1 tbsp olive oil


• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Combine all dressing ingredients in the bowl you will toss your salad in. Whisk together until emulsified and creamy.

Happy Cooking my Friends!

Cranberry Oat Scones

Want a delicious and easy breakfast you can whip up quick on the weekend? Make these awesome scones! If you have house guests, whip them up and pop them in the oven before they get up in the morning and they will be impressed, and you don't even have to tell them how easy they were!!

Cinda Chavich's (author of The Guy Can't Cook) tip on perfect scones is "a light touch - don't handle the dough too much or your scones will become heavy". Follow her advice and you'll end up with light and fluffy scones every time. The reason this tip works so well? When you cut the butter into the mixture it stays cold so that it fills up pockets in the dough. When you bake the scones the butter melts leaving a lovely fluffy scone. If you handle the dough too much, the butter will melt before the scones are baked, therefore leaving a more dense scone with a heavy texture. :)

Cranberry Oat Scones
Recipe from The Guy Can't Cook

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour


• 1/4 cup granulated sugar, divided


• 1 tbsp baking powder


• 3/4 tsp baking soda


• 1/2 tsp salt


• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes


• 1 cup rolled oats


• 3/4 cup dried cranberries (I used cranberries from here)


• 2 tbsp finely grated orange zest


• 2/3 cup buttermilk

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 425F.


2. In a food processor, combine the flour, 3 tbsp of the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the butter and pulse until the butter is chopped into small pieces and the mixture is crumbly. Pour into a large bowl and stir in the oats and cranberries.


3. In another bowl, whisk together the orange zest and buttermilk and add to the dry ingredients. Stir quickly with a fork until the batter begins to cling together.


4. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently pat into an 8 inch square about 1 1/2 inches thick. Cut into four 4-inch squares, then slice each square crosswise to make 8 triangular scones. Set triangles on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the tops with buttermilk and sprinkle with remaining sugar.


5. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden, then transfer to cooling rack.

I hope you enjoy these delightful scones! I recommend you make a double batch because they won't last long. Happy Baking my Friends!