Chocolate Strawberry Marshmallow Panini

All I can say is that we have teenagers in the house.  I won’t say what or which one but she…

My latest kitchen gadget acquisition is a panini press (mine is a Breville Panini Duo).  Sur La Table was essentially “giving it” to me so I “had” to buy it.  There’s been a lot of panini-ing lately which means  lots of online research for recipes.  My favorite one (so far) has been a dessert panini – which is shocking really.  It’s kind of like a s’more with marshmallow creme and chocolate.  I had you at “marshmallow creme,” admit it.

Ingredients

• Brioche loaf, sliced or croissants, cut in half
• Mini chocolate chips, like Nestle Toll House
• Marshmallow crème, like Kraft Jet-Puffed 
• Strawberries, sliced into thin rounds

Heat the panini press while you assemble.  

Spread a thin layer of marshmallow crème on one slice of brioche (or the bottom half of a croissant).  Sprinkle chocolate chips on top.  Then layer the strawberry slices.  Place another slice of brioche (or the top half of the croissant).  Set on the panini press and heat until grill marks are made and the chocolate chips have melted.  Flip over and create grill marks on the other side.   

Double Chocolate Muffins

Do you know the muffin Mann?  Yep, that’s me.  I’m on a quest for muffin recipes.  The taste testing is giving me a muffin top.  The kids like this recipe although Travis claims it needs a sauce on top.  I reply “it’s a muffin – not a cupcake!”

Double Chocolate Muffins

Congrats, Mimi, for a significant 30 years of service to TCC!

Ingredients

• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• ¾ cup cocoa
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup milk
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips.  Stir to mix.  In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, water, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla.  Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix.

Line muffin cups with paper liners.  Fill the cups 1/2-2/3 full using a 1/4 or 1/3 cup measuring cup.  Bake the muffins for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the muffin comes out clean.  Remove the muffins to a wire rack to let cool completely.

Key Lime Cheesecake

6 degrees of separation between key lime cheesecake and the college cheating scandal:
Key lime cheesecake is my favorite flavor at The Cheesecake Factory.

Andrew watched an Eater video that proves The NBA Loves Cheesecake Factory.

Andrew is convinced that we saw Dallas Mavericks NBA player, Ryan Broekhoff (#45, small forward, 6’7”), while shopping at Central Market the other day. 

If we photoshopped Andrew’s head on Ryan’s body, maybe Andrew could get accepted to USC.

If you cheat to get into college (or lie or generally behave badly to try and get ahead in life), bad things will happen.  

If you don’t follow the instructions when baking, like not putting in the right amount of baking soda, it results in wacky, hollow chocolate chip cookies and that’s bad because I really wanted a cookie.

You can learn life lessons from baking: follow the rules because karma is a b*tch.

Key Lime Cheesecake

Buddy vs. Duff.  
Hands down: Duff.

Ingredients

Crust:

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 14 rectangle graham crackers, crushed)
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling:

• 3 packages (24-ounces total) cream cheese, softened to room temperature 
• 1 cup granulated sugar 
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch 
• 1/2 cup key lime juice 
• 3 large eggs 

Topping (adapted from the mixed berry sauce for French Toast Waffles)

• ½ pint (1 cup) fresh strawberries, sliced
• ½ pint (1 cup) fresh raspberries
• 1/8 cup granulated sugar
• 1/8 cup water
• 1 heaping tablespoon raspberry preserves
• ½ tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Instructions

For the crust:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Position one oven rack just above the middle position and another is in the bottom third of the oven. Lightly grease a 9-inch springform pan.

In a medium bowl, stir together the graham cracker crumbs and sugar. Add the melted butter and mix until the graham cracker crumbs are evenly coated in sandy in texture. Press the mixture into the bottom and 1/2-inch or so up the sides of the prepared pan.

Bake the crust for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool while you prepare the filling.

For the filling:

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, whip the cream cheese, sugar, cornstarch and lime zest together until smooth and creamy, 1-2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the lime juice and mix until combined. Add the eggs and mix until just combined (over mixing can cause the cheesecake to crack while baking thanks to all the extra air beat into the filling).

Pour the cheesecake filling over the crust and spread evenly. Place a metal 9X13-inch or similar-sized pan on the bottom rack of the oven and pour in 2-3 cups of boiling water. Immediately place the cheesecake on the upper rack and bake for 50-65 minutes until the cheesecake is set around the edges. A slight jiggle in the center of the cheesecake is fine.

Turn the oven off and prop the oven door open about 4 inches. Keep the cheesecake in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove and let cool completely.  Refrigerate the cheesecake overnight.

For the topping: 

Combine the strawberries, raspberries, sugar and water in a medium saucepan, bring to boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until the berries are soft, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool for 5 minutes. 

Transfer the berry mixture to a blender or food processor, add the raspberry preserves and lemon juice and blend until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and let cool to room temperature. The sauce will keep in the refrigerator stored in a container with a tight fitting lid for 1 week.

When ready to serve, serve the berry mixture with each slice (pour it on top of the slice of cheesecake or on the plate under the slice or on the side) and maybe even add a little whipped cream.  

Orzo Salad with Roasted Cauliflower, Spinach and Feta

Orzo Salad with Roasted Cauliflower, Spinach and Feta

My vast experience with cauliflower had been during cafeteria duty.  Somehow, they always managed to serve cauliflower on my day to volunteer.  It seemed odd that they would serve this to lower school kids in a self-serve, hot foods line.  There it was: a whole head of cauliflower with a cheese sauce poured over the top.  Even at age 4x (I’m not sharing), that giant head of cauliflower seemed daunting to try and scoop off a piece and put on a tray.  Can you imagine if you were age 7-10?  Fast forward to this recipe (from Cravings by Chrissy Teigen) shared once again from my friend, Elizabeth.  I am still unsure if I am carving this thing correctly but I end up with florets for roasting and that’s good enough for me.  The salad is really pretty good and must be good for you with cauliflower and spinach.  Try it for a new change of pace this spring or any of these other orzo recipes: Orzo Salad and Orzo with Arugula, Dried Cherries and Ricotta.

Ingredients:

For the Salad:

• 1 small head cauliflower, broken into small florets (about 5 cups)
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup orzo pasta
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 2/3 cup dried cherries
• 4 cups baby spinach

For the Dressing:

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a bowl, toss the cauliflower with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, the garlic, salt, and pepper. Spread on a large baking sheet and roast until tender and cauliflower is slightly charred, about 20-25 minutes. Let cool, chop into smaller pieces, if you choose, and set aside.

In a pot of salted boiling water, cook the orzo until al dente following the directions on the box. Drain in colander, rinse under cold water, drain well, and toss with the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

In a large bowl, make the dressing.  Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, honey, mustard, salt ad pepper.  Add the cooked orzo, roasted cauliflower, red onion, crumbled feta cheese, and dried cherries.  Toss until well coated with the dressing.  Add the spinach and toss one more time.  As needed, season with more salt and pepper. 

Chicken Enchilada Verde Casserole

It’s not for a lack of trying.  Really.  Andrew invited a friend over recently and this poor kid found 3 of 4 items on his plate from the TBM test kitchen.  There was steak and root beer floats so I think the friendship will survive.

A recent dinner party with childhood friends resulted in this winner.  My friend, Elizabeth Ann (as compared to me – Anne Elizabeth) enjoys cooking and asked “do you want to swap recipes?”  Yes! Yes! Yes!  The original recipe is for pork enchilada verde casserole and we did try that with leftover pulled pork from David’s big green egg.  It was really good but the chicken version is a quick and easy one to pull together.

To my favorite sous-chef, David - happy 21 years and 364 days!!

Ingredients

• 1 rotisserie chicken cut into bite size pieces
• 12 corn tortillas (9 of those sliced in half)
• 1 jar Herdez Roasted Salsa Verde, medium (or for less zing/spice, Salsa Verde, mild)
• 2 1/2 cups (12 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• Sour cream, avocado/guacamole, jalapeno, cilantro, optional toppings for serving

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

In a 10-inch cast iron skillet or 9-inch Pyrex dish, ladle 1/2 cup of the salsa verde into the bottom of the skillet or dish. Place 4 of the tortillas in the pan (place a whole tortilla in the middle and then arrange the 6 halves around to fill in the gaps.

Evenly top the tortillas with half the chicken, 1/2 cup of shredded Monterey Jack, and 1/2 cup of the salsa verde. Top that layer with 4 more tortillas and then add the rest of the chicken, 1/2 cup of the cheese, and 1/2 cup of the salsa verde.

For the final layer, top with the remaining 4 tortillas. Evenly pour over the tortillas the rest of the salsa and then top evenly with the rest of the cheese (1 ½ cups, if you’ve lost count).

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until the casserole is lightly browned and bubbling. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving. Serve warm and add toppings, as desired.