Dutch Baby, Baby!

About a year and a half ago, I was up really late at night just flipping channels and landed on a network called "Create TV." Create is a PBS station that only shows TV programs that deal with DIY stuff like cooking, crafts, and home repair. I became obsessed with this channel. For a long time it was always on at our house. And what got me so obsessed was America's Test Kitchen and Cooks Country. These two shows inspire me every time I watch. I watched it so much that our little boy (who is 7 months now) can recognize the theme song and loves to sit and watch it with me. I had to get their cookbook, so Laura got me their America's Test Kitchen: The Complete TV Show Cookbook  that has all of the recipes from all 11 seasons of their show. We have been going through the recipes and every single one turns out to be our favorite. So you will probably see a lot of their recipe's, with our own little tweaks, show up on this blog. But I have to say, you need to watch their show, it's definitely one of the best cooking shows out there.

But one day I watched them make whats called a Dutch Baby. I have always known these as German Pancakes, but theirs looked so much more amazing than any German pancake I had ever been served. So we had to try it. The recipe is super easy, super quick, and tastes incredible. Perfect for those lazy Saturday mornings or when you want to have breakfast for dinner.

Dutch Baby

Adapted from Cook's Country by America's Test Kitchen

1-2 Tb vegetable oil
1 C flour
1/4 C cornstarch
a few scrapes of Lemon zest
1 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 1/4 c milk (they prefer skim milk but we used 1% and it was just as good)
1 Tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
Powdered sugar
Maple syrup
Whipped cream

Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees.  Brush the oil on the bottom and sides of an oven-proof skillet. Place the oiled skillet into the heated oven for 10 minutes.

Combine flour, cornstarch, lemon zest and salt in a large bowl. Whisk eggs then add the milk, butter, and vanilla and whisk until incorporated.  This is important: whisk about half of the egg mixture into the flour mixture until smooth. This will prevent any lumpiness. Once smooth, add the rest of the egg mixture.

Pull out the hot skillet from oven and carefully pour the batter into the skillet.  Bake for about 20 minutes or until edges are crispy and golden brown. Remove from oven and slide the dutch baby onto a cutting board. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with your favorite french toast toppings. I really like the classic maple syrup and whipped cream, where Laura likes berries. The recipe also recommends just squeezing lemons on it.

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4th of July Soda Grilled Brats

This Fourth of July I was having the biggest craving for bratwurst. Gross! is how my wife reacted when I told her. I've always had a fond love for bratwursts. They always bring me back to when my family would visit Leavenworth, WA, a small Germany alpine town  tucked in the mountains just outside of Seattle. If you get a chance, I highly recommend visiting. Every time we would go, we would stop at this small sausage shack and get an authentic German Brat. I haven't had one in years so I felt that we had to try it this year. Someone mentioned to Laura's mom that the best way to cook brats is to boil them in beer or some sort of soda. It gave me the idea to par-cook the sausages in the liquid, then take them to the grill and finish them off. I also wanted to see if there was a difference between cooking them in Coke or Sprite. So we did two batches. The coke ones were good but I preferred the Sprite ones, they were amazing and super juicy! Even Laura agreed they were pretty good. Here's the recipe:

Soda Grilled Bratwursts

6-8 Bratwursts (I prefer the natural casing ones but sometimes they are hard to find. I think we got ours at costco)
2 cans of Sprite (or Coke)
Buns and toppings

So this is super simple. Just put the sprite in a pot and get it boiling. Place the brats in the soda and let it boil for about 5 minutes until they are really plump and grey. Take them out of the soda and put them on a grill preheated to med-high. Grill until golden brown and crispy, about 6-8 minutes turning occasionally.

This was so simple and easy, I think I'm going to make it a Fourth of July tradition.

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Awesome Tomato Basil Soup/Grown-Up SpaghettiO's

When I was a kid, I was succumbed to eat different varieties of the Chef Boyardee and SpaghettiO's line of canned spaghetti in tomato sauce. I was particularly fond of the spaghettiO's with meatballs. Of course, as a child you never realize the quality of food you are eating just as long as it was quick to make and tasted somewhat decent. I have forgotten the days of those canned spaghetti products until a few days ago when Laura and I were experimenting with a recipe for a Tomato Basil soup. A friend gave us about 20 leaves of fresh basil and we needed to find a way to use them before they went bad. We made this soup and it was pretty good. However, then next day we had a stroke of genius and added some pasta to the soup and made our own amazing "grown-up version" of SpaghettiO's. So here is the Tomato Basil soup recipe along with the optional step to make it the Grown Up SpaghettiO's.

Tomato Basil Soup

Ingredients:

1 28oz. can of whole peeled tomatoes (or 5-6 fresh tomatoes)

4 cups of tomato juice (1 quart can)

15-20 leaves of fresh basil

1 cup of heavy whipping cream

1-2 tsp. of chicken bullion to taste

2 cloves of garlic

7 tbls. of butter

1/3 cup of Parmesan cheese

Salt and Pepper to taste

Optional:

1/2 pound of rotini pasta

In a large stock pot, place tomatoes and tomato juice and heat on medium. Simmer for 25-30 minutes. Add the garlic, bullion, and chopped basil leaves to the tomatoes and puree with a immersion blender or remove and puree in a stand blender and return to pot. Keep on medium heat and add the heavy cream, parmesan, and the butter. Season with salt and pepper and stir until the butter melts. Simmer for 10-20 minutes and serve.

To the Grown-Up SpaghettiO's, cook the rotini pasta until done and add to the soup. It is so amazing and even better the next day!

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Sweet Pork and Creamy Tomatillo Ranch Dressing

While living in Provo a few years ago, we became friends with a really fun couple, the Noordas. They, like us, were major foodies. One day they shared this recipe with us and we were blown away. They have since moved to Chicago but we still think of them every time we make these recipes. (and we hope they don't mind us sharing their recipes with everyone on our blog)

There has been an explosion of Tex-Mex type restaurants in the past 5 or 6 years around us. They all pretty much serve the same type of food, large salads, burritos, and tacos. They are all pretty much known for their sweet pork and Creamy Tomatillo Ranch Dressing. Laura and I spent a while trying to find a replica recipe for these and failed to recreate them. Then the Noordas shared their version with us and we have been making it ever since. So thanks to the Noordas for this awesome recipe!

Sweet Pork

1 big hunk of pork butt (again we highly recommend the pork roasts available at Costco, if there is one nearby)

2 cans "el pato" (green or yellow cans in the Mexican aisle by the salsas & enchilada sauce. Just an FYI: the yellow can is milder than the green can)

3 cans of tomato sauce

2-3 cups of brown sugar

1 cup of water

We like to cook this on low in the crock pot for up to 8+ hours. By that time it should be really soft and easy to pull apart with a fork or tongs. Put the shredded meat back in and cook for a little longer to get the flavors to penetrate the shredded meat. Serve in any of your favorite styles of Mexican dishes. We really like it with taco salads and large burritos, but our new favorite is making large nachos.

Creamy Tomatillo Ranch Dressing

3 fresh tomatillos, peeled and quartered

juice of a lime

1/2 c. buttermilk

1/2 c. mayo

1/2 c. sour cream

a pkg dry Ranch Buttermilk Dressing mix

1 c. fresh chopped cilantro

6 stalks green onions, with ends

2 cloves crushed garlic

3-4 tsp sugar

5 cross-section slices of a jalapeno pepper(optional if you want a kick)

Mix well in blender or food processer. Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.

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Bruschetta

So the other night we watched Julie and Julia which made us really want to cook again. And of all the dishes cooked in the movie, Laura was fascinated with the Bruschetta. So we had to try it out the Julia Child way. We first tried this recipe over the holidays in Seattle with my family and have made it almost twice a week since then, they are that good! Here's the recipe:


Easy (but addicting) Bruschetta

5-6 Roma tomatoes (or plum tomatoes)
Olive Oil
Garlic Cloves
Fresh Basil
Parmesan Cheese
Bread (traditional Baguette or we used French bread and really liked it)
Salt and Pepper
Italian Seasoning

Cube tomatoes and finely chop about 5-7 leaves of basil and place in a mixing bowl. Also add about a 1/4 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese to the bowl. Pour about 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the tomato mixture and combine. Sprinkle some Italian Seasoning and Salt and pepper to taste. Let that sit in the fridge for a while so the tomatoes will take on some of the flavor of the basil. Next, slice the bread in 1' slices. Coat the bottom of a skillet with olive oil and place on med-high heat. When hot, add the bread and brown on both sides. You may have to keep adding more oil to make the bread crispy. Peel a garlic clove and cut it in half. Rub the garlic clove on one side of the toasted bread. How much garlic you rub is up to your taste in garlic, but 5-6 rubs works good for us. Place the tomato mixture on the garlic side of the bread and enjoy!

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Easy Chicken Salad

In keeping with our little theme of really quick and easy meals, we thought we should share our little Lunch secret. Chicken Salad! I'm sure everyone has made chicken salad before, but this is our quick and easy recipe for those who aren't as cooking literate as others. We always make this on Sunday night and make enough for both of us to have for our lunches all week. It literally takes only 5 minutes to prepare. And the best part about it, you can do so many different variations with it. However I'll share with you our normal recipe.

Easy Chicken Salad

2 large cans of white chicken breast. (you can find these at Costco or Sams for a really good price)
2-3 large spoonfuls of Best Foods Mayonnaise
2-3 large spoonfuls of sour cream
Season-All Seasoning
Salt and Pepper
1 cup of chopped almonds
1/2 cup of shredded parmesan cheese (not the dry grated stuff)

Okay, so I never measure for this recipe because it's a lot up to your taste. So first things first, place the chopped almonds in a flat layer on some aluminum foil and place in the oven under the broiler to toast. (It is crucial that you keep an eye on this! Almonds can burn really quickly so you need to check it almost every 30 seconds.) When the almonds are starting to turn slightly brown and you can smell the awesome nuttiness, pull them out and let cool.

Drain the cans of chicken and place in a large Tupperware container. Mix in the mayonnaise and the sour cream with a fork. season with the Season-All. Add the shredded Parmesan cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Finally add the cooled roasted almonds and mix thoroughly. Place in the fridge overnight to let the flavors meld together. Enjoy with your favorite bread or croissant.

There are tons of different things you can add to this, it just depends on your taste. You can add chopped celery, sliced apples and grapes, cashews, carrots, onions, and lots of other stuff to make it fancy.

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Honeymoon Monte Cristo

So we have envisioned this blog as being both a place to share some of our favorite meals and recipes, but we also want it to be a place where we can dispel the myth that cooking is hard and needs to take hours of preparation and skill to create something delicious and satisfying. A good example of this is our next recipe, Honeymoon Monte Cristo.

When Laura and I first got married, we stayed at the Anniversary Inn the night we got married. In the morning they bring you a breakfast of yogurt parfait, juice, cinnamon roll, and this really good croissant type sandwich, which they called a Monte Cristo (even though a real Monte Cristo is a sandwich that is dipped in batter and fried, but I think I'd prefer it this way). When we left SLC and stayed in a beach house in Oregon for the rest of our honeymoon, we needed to find something for breakfast since we had to make it ourselves. So we decided that we should try to make our own version of the croissant sandwich that we loved so much. What resulted was something that I think we ate almost every day for about a month, our Honeymoon Monte Cristos.

The Recipe is really simple and quick and addicting. But I think that is what makes this a great breakfast sandwich:

Honeymoon Monte Cristo

1 Large Croissant (Preferably the large ones from Costco)
1-2 Slices of Black Forest Ham
1-2 Slices of Tillamook Swiss Cheese (Yes it has Tillamook. Why? because there is nothing better! Well, I guess you don't have to use it but we recommend it highly)

The instructions are super easy: Cut the croissant in half, place the ham on one side of the croissant and the cheese on the other side. Place in the oven "open faced" under the broiler for a few minutes until the cheese gets all bubbly and the sides of the croissant start to turn brown from toasting. Pull out of the oven and close the sandwich and serve. That's it! Really simple and it only takes about 4-5 minutes to do. We enjoyed playing around with the ham to cheese ratio in this sandwich until we both found a combination that we really liked. Laura likes more ham than cheese, where I personally like the balance of both. But we hope that you will try this out and love it as much as we do.

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