More Parisian Almond Cookies

I continue my march through Dorie's book.  We back with Tele-Crocques, which sound kind of weird but mean "T.V. Snacks."  I'll tell you the verdict in advance:  ridiculously habit-forming.

Limited ingredient list, again:  almonds, sugar, butter, flour, SALT.  That is the delicious difference here for you salty-sweet fans--the bite of salt along with a rich almond cookie.  Here we go...

Grind the almonds with the sugar.  Add butter, then flour and salt.  Dorie gave a range of salt, and I used the middle-of-the-road amount.  Next time I'll make them saltier, because I'm a big salty/sweet fan.

Turn everything out--it is kind of loose--and press it into a log or a lump.  At this point you could refrigerate it but why wait?  Pinch off little pieces and place them on the cookie sheet.

Bake and you're done!  They don't spread.  They just kind of firm up and get more delicious.

Everyone liked these, and they disappeared really fast.  But part of the problem there is, like other recipes in this book, the amount is just so darn small.  A recipe with 3/4 cup of flour will be inhaled in my house.  I'll probably make these again, but I'll make a double recipe just so it's worth hauling out the food processor!

Vacation eating--and good at home, too

We were in Montana a couple of weeks ago.  Can it really be a couple of weeks ago?!  We rented a house and spent our days skiing our legs off.  So at the end of the day, we'd pile in the hot tub and then relax in front of the television.  The last thing I wanted to do was whip up a gourmet meal in the kitchen!  And the second-to-last thing anyone wanted to do was sit in a restaurant to eat anything.  We wanted easy and comforting after a long day on the slopes.

Here's one dinner that I make at home all the time, but hadn't realized how really simple it is.  We had a simply-stocked kitchen, and I had also picked up Bisquick along with our other staples because we like pancakes or biscuits in the morning.  One evening we were hungry for a little taste of home:

Chicken and Dumplings, Vacation-Style

Two or Three Chicken Breasts--boneless or not.  (Pick bone-in for better broth, but boneless for quicker cooking)

Onion if you have one (I didn't)

A couple of celery sticks if you have them (I didn't)

A couple of carrots if you have them (I did)

Two cups of Bisquick

2/3 cup milk

A bag of mixed frozen veggies (the old-fashioned cubed kind)

Trim as much fat as you can from the chicken.  Place the chicken in a pot and cover with water.  Season with salt and pepper and add the fresh veggies if you have them.  You can also add thyme and oregano if you have them.  Heat over medium heat and boil for  little while.  For boneless chicken I always go about twenty minutes.  That might be too long but I am completely paranoid about undercooked chicken.

Remove the chicken from the pot and shred it.  Pour the broth into a bowl and strain it back into your pot.  Make sure you remove your cooked veggies.  These should look gross now anyway.  This is where it is important to have trimmed a bunch of fat off the chicken--it's really hard to defat your broth because you don't want to wait around for it.

Put your shredded chicken into the pot with the broth.  Add more water (or canned broth if you have it) to cover the chicken and a little more.  Toss the frozen veggies in, too.  Bring this to a boil.  While it's heating, mix the Bisquick and milk.  When the broth is boiling, drop small biscuit-size pieces of dough on the broth.  You'll end up covering the entire surface of the broth with the dumpling dough.  Cook uncovered for 10 minutes, and cover the pan and cook for 10 minutes more.  

That's it.  Not fast, but easy, hands-off, and really tasty and warm.  The frozen veggies let the mom in me feel okay about the endless chicken fingers, hot dogs and hot chocolate we were consuming during the day. 

I didn't think about a picture of dinner when I made it, sorry, but the picture up there sums up part of our apres-ski routine every night.  I think they were watching Idol or something.

This post links back to my friend Mary's blog at Homegrown Learners, and her "Wednesdays What's for Dinner."  She is such an innovative mom, full of great ideas for homeschooling and being a mom in general.  Of course, she's also a really nice person, too.  Hopefully I'll have a French Fridays with Dorie post again, but for now my quick recipe here will have to do!

This is turning into a recipe blog.

A friend wanted the recipe for the macaroni and cheese my daughter took to school today, so here it is.  Actually, she said,"I must have the recipe!  I almost licked D's container at lunch..."  So, you know who you are and here's the recipe.  It makes a generous 13 x 9 pan.  The original recipe, years ago, was plenty for my family of six, with leftovers for my lunch the next day.  I've increased the recipe a good bit, because now my kids eat a lot more and there weren't any leftovers to fight over!  It's that good...

2 c. small elbow macaroni
2 c. 1/2" cubes sharp cheddar cheese (about 8 oz.)
1/4 c. flour (I use Wondra because it's smoother)
2 t. salt
2 t. dry mustard (or use about 1 T prepared dijon mustard)
1/2 t. pepper
scant 1/4 t. cayenne pepper (or use Tabasco)
scant 1/4 t. nutmeg (really, go light on this, somewhere between 1/8 and 1/4 t.)
2 c. half-and-half
2 c. whipping cream (yes there are about a million creamy delicious calories in this!)
1 c. sour cream (light is okay here if you must)
3 large eggs
1 1/2 t. Worcesteshire sauce
2 c. grated cheddar cheese (or whatever you deem appropriate for the topping)

Cook the macaroni according to package directions.  Drain and place in a Pyrex 13 x 9 pan.  Add the cubed cheese and mix.

Mix the dry ingredients.  If you are using prepared mustard and Tabasco wait to add them with the sour cream.  Then whisk in the 1/2-and-1/2, whipping cream, and all the other ingredients down to the Worcesteshire sauce.  Pour over the noodles and cheese.  Top with grated cheddar cheese.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.  Check it during the last five minutes.  You want it to be wobbly in the center when you take it out of the oven.  Let the mac and cheese stand for about ten minutes before digging in.  Enjoy!

Wish I had a picture of the bubbly creamy goodness but I wasn't thinking. This is what I fixed for dinner last night (Halloween).  I had six excited kids at my house who couldn't will the sun to set any faster.  They were impatient but I knew they needed to eat before they headed out.  This was yummy enough to get their attention, and with some baked ham and green beans I felt like they wouldn't be completely sugar-overloaded.

Bon appetit!  Maybe some shop blogging a little later...We had an amazing sale last week.  I learned a lot and it went really well, far beyond my expectations.

Best. Cauliflower. Ever.

Yeah, I know.  Unbelievable.  But in continuing to blog about whatever the heck I'm thinking about, I'm sharing another recipe.  We had a fantastic fall menu last night:  pork roast, sweet potatoes, apple pie (that recipe is also on this blog!).  But the best part of dinner was the roasted cauliflower.  This recipe is several years old, torn out of the paper (AJC) way back when we still got the paper.  Here it is:

A head of cauliflower, rinsed
1/4 c. golden raisins
4 garlic cloves
2-3 T olive oil
2-3 whole thyme sprigs (which I usually forget; they aren't critical)
1/4 c. panko crumbs
2 t butter

(Oven at 400.) Cover the raisins in hot tap water and let them sit while you do the other things.  Core the cauliflower and separate it into small flowerets.  You want the cauliflower to be fairly uniform in size.  Crush the garlic and remove the papery husks.

Place the cauliflower and garlic, along with pine nuts, in a 9 x 13 pyrex dish.  Drizzle with olive oil and stir.  Spread it back out, add thyme sprigs, and place in oven.  Roast for about 10 minutes, give the mixture a stir, and pop back in the oven for 10 more minutes.  Add oil if it looks dry.  Stir again, and roast for 5-10 more minutes.  The cauliflower will start to look caramelized around the edges.  Remove the pan from the oven, remove thyme sprigs and garlic cloves, and turn the oven up to broil.  Add the raisins and give things another stir.  Then push it all together so it is touching but still pretty much in a single layer.  Sprinkle with an even layer of panko crumbs and then dot with butter.  Broil for about 2 minutes, about 6 inches from the heating element.

YUM.  Just had some leftovers for lunch.  Enjoy!