Time To Bake The Cookie’s…

December 7, 2008 by 44 Comments

I’ve been doing lots of cookie baking lately, besides making them for friends and family, I also went to a cookie swap that my Italian/American club had this year. Each year I usually make most of my old standbys, but I always try to change things up and make something new and different.

This year I tried these colorful and tasty Pistachio Cranberry Icebox Cookies, the recipe is seen here, on Epicurious. I love the way they look with their square shape and the vibrant colors of the green pistachio’s and red cranberries, that paired with the flavor of a shortbread dough, is a winning combination! They look cute peeping through cellophane bags tied with ribbon too, a great gift idea!

The recipe said they would last 5 days in an airtight container, well mine lasted 2 weeks and tasted just as good as the first day I made them. I kept them in a cool area, and they were perfect.
So you can definitely make these in advance!

The colored sugar I used around the edges is what I had on hand, I tried to find plain white, but after 2 stores I gave up. Solid red, green, or white sugar would be really nice too.

At our cookie swap we had a Mandolin player who was treating us to beautiful Italian music, as we exchanged cookies, and of course sampled some along with our coffee.

Did you know there were different kinds of Mandolins?? I didn’t!

The table was huge, everyone was told to bring 3 dozen each for the swap, along with extra for eating that night, the recipe, and a family story about the cookie if you wanted to, and last but not least a container to take your goodies home in!

We’re in the process of making a club cookbook, so all these cookie recipes will be added into it.

This is peek into my container I brought home. Anyone else do a cookie exchange? It’s really fun, and you end up with tons of variety!
Happy Baking!!

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Veggie Ribbon Pasta

December 2, 2008 by 60 Comments

Are you craving some lighter food right about now? I know I am! This pasta dish will satisfy that craving, and you won’t sacrifice any flavor at all!

Thin ribbons of zucchini and carrot, that are lightly sauteed in olive oil along with paper thin sliced garlic, then tossed with fettuccine, grated lemon peel, finely chopped fresh parsley and basil. Finished off with a grating of pecorino romano and a few toasted pinenuts. It’s so good!!!

Just take your vegetable peeler and make ribbons out of your zucchini and carrots, then slice up your garlic paper thin, by using either a knife, or a garlic slicer, (which I used). See all that garlic in the photo? I used it all! 5 or 6 cloves, believe me it makes the dish! I also used 3 nice size carrots and 4 nice size zucchini.
Grab the biggest saute pan you have, drizzle in some olive oil, and saute all of your garlic till it gets limp, which doesn’t take long because it’s so thin. Next, throw in all your veggies and gently keep tossing them with tongs till they become limp and their natural juices come out. Keep them slightly al dente. Have your water boiling for your pasta, I used 1/2 lb of fettuccine cooked al dente, but you could also use tagliatelle, or papadelle.

After you drain your pasta, lightly toss it in with your veggie mixture, be sure to get all the juices from the veggies, and garlic incorporated. Grate the rind of one whole lemon, toss in your chopped fresh basil, and parsley, and freshly grated pecorino romano, additional salt & pepper, and maybe a drizzle more of olive oil. Garnish with some toasted pine nuts if you want.
I make this dish because we love the way it tastes, but then I was thinking, in reality it practically costs nothing to make, and in these hard economic times, this would be a healthy and economical meal to feed a family with. Locally, and world wide, there are many people less fortunate than us.
Raising awareness of world hunger is something going on throughout the blogging community, that’s why I’m sending this dish off to my blogger friends Val, of More Than Burnt Toast, Giz and Psychgrad, of Equal Opportunity Kitchen, and Ivy, of Kopiaste. A group of caring bloggers who have joined forces for this wonderful cause. They started BloggerAid, please click on the link to find out more about their mission, and how we all can help.
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Turkey Day Leftover Solution!

November 30, 2008 by 33 Comments

If you’re still wondering what to do with some of your leftovers from Thanksgiving, why not make some soup! Today I took the last of my turkey leftovers and made a pot of Creamy Turkey and Rice soup.

I saved the breast carcass, put it in a pot with some water, celery, onions, carrot, and a splash of white wine. Seasoned with salt, pepper, and thyme, then simmered it for about an hour and a half.

When my stock was finished I strained it of all the veggies, picked the meat off the bone, and also added in some breast meat I had put away in a container. Then in another pot, I sauteed in butter, some celery, carrots, onions, and crimini mushrooms, mixed in 1/2 cup of flour, let that cook till it was all blended, then ladle, by ladle I whisked in the stock and after it thickened up, I threw in some cooked brown rice, and then finished it off with a little half and half for color. Garnish with some parsley.

The salad was just pears, arugula, red onion, blue cheese and walnuts, tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette.

It was perfect for a cold and snowy day we had here today! Yes, it snowed a little already! Yuck!

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