Sour Cream Pound Cake

We had a potluck luncheon at work recently and one of my coworkers, Mike, brought in a Pound Cake. Since I can't pass up anything sweet, tried some and loved it. Of course, I asked him for the recipe and served it recently to our friends. I served it with fresh strawberries and whipped cream, but it's also good just plain(had another piece after they left). This is a real simple recipe, everything goes into one bowl and mixed. Hope you will give it a try, I am sure you will enjoy it too.

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups sugar
  
• 2 Cups flour
  
• 1 8 oz container of sour cream
  
• 3 Eggs
  
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
  
• 1/2 Teaspoon baking soda
  
• 1/2 Teaspoon salt
  
• 2 Sticks of butter, softened
  

Beat together for 3 minutes at medium speed and put into Bundt pan.

Bake in 325 degree oven for 55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Next blend together with a whisk:

• 1 Cup Powdered Sugar
  
• 3 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice
  

Drizzle over cooled pound cake and serve.



P.S. I bet it will taste great with lemon extract or fresh lemon juice instead of the vanilla extract. Will give that a try next week and let you know how it turns out. Stay tuned!!!

Crustless Spinach Mushroom Quiche

I am not really a fan of egg bake recipes(probably because I really don't like eggs), however, I found that I liked quiche. Here is a quick quiche recipe that you can make for breakfast, brunch, lunch or a light dinner. I made this one with spinach, but broccoli works well too. What is nice about it, is that you can kind of create your own quiche based on what you and your family like (or what's left in the fridge). This one was made without a crust, but you can make it with a crust also. Hope you will give it a try. Enjoy!

Mix following ingredients together until combined, but not frothy, then set aside:


• 1 Cup of half and half
  
• 4 Eggs
  
• 1/4 Teaspoon salt
  
• 1/4 Teaspoon nutmeg
  
• Dash of pepper
  

In a skillet melt 1/4 cup of butter, then add and saute the following ingredients:

• 1 Can of mushrooms (drained) or 1/2 Cup of fresh mushrooms
  
• 1/2 Cup chopped onion
  

Next add to the skillet the following and saute:

• 1 10 oz package of frozen spinach, thawed and well drained (fresh spinach works even better if you have it available)
  
• 1 Tablespoon parsley dried or fresh
  
• 1/2 Teaspoon salt
  
• Dash of pepper
  

When completely sauted, remove from burner and set aside to cool slightly.

Next grate 1/2 lb Swiss cheese and place it in the bottom of a buttered quiche dish or 9 inch pie dish. If making quiche with a crust, butter pie dish before putting in crust.

Spoon Spinach/Mushroom mixture on top of swiss cheese. Pour Egg Mixture on top.

Bake 375 degrees 40-45 minutes or until puffy and golden brown

Cool for 10 minutes before cutting. This serves 8.

Roasted Tomato Pasta with Mascarpone Cheese

Here's a quick recipe that only takes a few ingredients. My daughter-in-law actually tried it first and it's been a big hit in our family ever since. You can serve it as a lite meal or as a side dish to something else you are serving. Only thing you have to remember (I have messed this up a couple of times) is to remember to reserve some pasta water before straining the pasta. The mascarpone cheese needed for this recipe can be found in the speciality cheese section at your local supermarket. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 2 Pints grape tomatoes
  
• 1 Lb shell pasta (medium size shells)
  
• 1 1/4 Cups mascarpone cheese (from a 1 lb container)
  
• 2 oz finely grated parmigiano-reggiano or parmesan cheese
  
• 1/4 cup minced chives (optional)
  
• Salt
  
• Pepper
  

Put oven rack in upper third of oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line large cookie sheet with aluminum foil and then butter the foil.

Cut tomatoes in half and arrange tomatoes, cut side up on the cookie sheet. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. Roast 15-20 minutes until slightly plump.

Cook pasta in a pot of boiling salted water stirring occasionally, until pasta is al dente(10-12 minutes).

When pasta is done, reserve 1 1/2 cups of pasta cooking water before straining.

Strain pasta and return pasta to the pot,add the following ingredients, toss until melted together:

• Mascarpone cheese
  
• Reserved cooking water
  
• Tomatoes
  
• Half of the parmesan
  
• 3 tablespoons chives (optional)
  
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
  
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  

Butter a 13x9 baking dish. Toss pasta mixture again, and spoon into buttered dish. Sprinkle remaining parmesan over top.

Bake pasta until golden and bubbly. 18 to 20 minutes, 400 degrees. Sprinkle with remaining chives.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Here is the Barefoot Contessa Chicken Soup recipe I referred to on my last posting that goes great with the Gourmet Grilled Cheese Sandwich. The first time I made it, I sent some of the soup to a neighbor who wasnt' feeling well. When she returned my pot, her comment was "feel free to refill at anytime". I did end up using chicken stock from the market(I found Kitchen Basics Natural Chicken Cooking Stock to be the best) because I didn't have time to make my own stock and added a couple of cloves of garlic to the soup also.

Ingredients:

• 1 whole (2 split) chicken breast, bone in, skin on
  
• Olive oil
  
• Kosher salt
  
• Freshly ground black pepper
  
• 2 quarts homemade Chicken Stock (I used Kitchen Basics Natural Chicken Cooking Stock)
  
• 1 cup medium diced celery (2 stalks)
  
• 1 cup medium diced carrots (3 carrots)
  
• 2 cups wide egg noodles
  
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
  

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place the chicken breast on a sheet pan and rub the skin with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with sale and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until cooked through. When cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones, discard the skin, and shred or dice the chicken meat.

Bring the chicken stock to a simmer in a large pot and add the celery, carrots, and noodles. Simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes, until the noodles are cooked. Add the cooked chicken meat and parsley and heat through.

Season to taste and serve.

Source: Barefoot Contessa Family Style, 2002

Gourmet Grilled Cheese

When unexpected company arrived I went into a panic. (I'm Italian so it's tradition to feed any who comes to my home). I had chicken soup in the freezer (will pass along that recipe later) and added noodles to it but I still needed to serve some kind of sandwich with it. Left over pesto that I had made earlier in the week (Barefoot Contessa Recipe below) and mozzarella cheese were in the fridge, all I needed was italian bread. My husband ran to the market and came back with fresh sourdough bread instead which actually worked out better. Needless to say, even though it was a basic grilled cheese, they loved it. If you are not into pesto (I'm a pesto freak....) then just make it with cheese and tomatoes, trust me guests will be impressed.

Ingredients:

• 8 slices sourdough or italian bread
  
• whole milk mozzarella cheese(fresh mozzarella would work good also if you have it available, I didn't so used what I had in the fridge)
  
• basil pesto, recipe below (you can also buy basil pesto in the market)
  
• Softened Butter
  

Place bread slices on cutting board. Spread each slice with pesto. On half of the bread place two slices of mozzarella and then place the remaining slices of bread pesto side down on top. Spread soften butter on outside of bread.

Place buttered side of bread in ungreased heated fry pan, when lightly browned, turn over and spread butter on other side of bread. As second side is cooking, place another heavy fry pan over the sandwiches so they press down and cheese melts completely, kinda like make a panini sandwich for those of us without a panini machine. Serve warm.

Barefoot Contessa Pesto Receipe:

• 1/4 cup walntus
  
• 1/4 cup pignolis (pine nuts)
  
• 3 tablespoons chopped garlic (9 cloves)
  
• 5 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
  
• 1 teaspoon kosher sale
  
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  
• 1 1/2 cups good olvie oil
  
• 1 cup freshly grated parmesan
  

Place the walnuts, pignolis and garlic in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process for 15 seconds. Add the basil leaves, salt, and pepper. With the processor running, slowly pour the olive oil into the bowl through the feed tube and process until the pesto is thoroughly pureed. Add the parmesan cheese and puree for a minute.

Notes: Air is the enemy of pesto. For freezing, pack it in a container with a film of oil or plastic wrap directly on top with the air pressed out.

To clean basil, remove the leaves, swirl them in a bow of water, and then spin them very dry in a salad spinner.

Pesto Source: Barefoot Contessa Parties, 2001

Welcome to My Blog

Welcome to my kitchen. My name is Posie and I found that I love to cook. I guess you can say I'm a "born-again" cook. Working full time and taking care of a family as you know is not easy, but I was determined to show everyone I could do it all. Even though I didn't consider myself the best cook (a good baker maybe, but not really a good cook), I always made sure family sat down to a hot meal everynight(except Friday because that was Pizza night). Most of the time it was semi-homemade, but it wasn't fast food.

Well, I'm here to tell you that cooking is not only fun, but it's not as complicated as I thought. I would watch the Cooking Channel, drooling over the fabulous meals that were made but thinking "it looks too hard, I could never do that". When I finally got up enough courage to try one of the recipes from the cooking channel, I couldn't stop. Trying new recipes became an addiction. My family and friends give me feedback (my new neighbors are loving it!) and based on their comments, I either keep the recipe or scratch it.

I will be sharing with you some of the awesome recipes I've found so that you too will become a "born-again" cook. Hey if I could do it, so can you.....hope you give it a try and enjoy!

Posie