Confections of a Foodie Bride

Football and cheese. And we love them both.

There are several ways to detect when it’s playoff time ’round these parts:

MMMmm. Velveeta. You can say whatever you want to about the congealed block of processed cheeze food - I think it rocks. And it’s the only legal item I can think of that’s measured in bricks, you know, besides real bricks. We use it in this house exclusively for queso:

Chili Queso = 2 cups leftover chili + 1 brick Velveeta.
Quickie Queso = 1 can of RoTel + 1 brick Velveeta.
Not-So-Quickie Queso = see below

And on the rare occasion that I have any left, Velveeta makes a wicked grilled cheese to accompany my favorite tomato soup.

I have a love-hate relationship with homemade queso. I admit that most of the time, I’d rather just go out for it. In the mood for Queso Blanco? Escalantes is the best bet. Want “regular” queso? Get thee to Lupe Tortilla or Texadelphia. Sure, I have to immediately jump in the shower to get the smell of the restaurant out of my hair but it’s worth it.

I have the hardest time getting “real” queso to come together consistently. Chihuahua and asadero cheeses melted with green chiles and sauteed onions… when it works, it’s fantastic but two batches made on the same day with the exact same ingredients and method can yield a 50% failure rate. Velveeta, while not “real” queso - and maybe not even real cheese? - has never, ever let me down.

Not-So-Quickie Queso
8 oz Velveeta, cut into large cubes
1/4 cup milk
1 Tbsp vegetable or olive oil
1/2 cup white or yellow onion, diced small
1-2 large jalapeno peppers, diced (~1/4 cup, I leave the seeds in)
1 tomato, diced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
Pinch of salt
Dash of cayenne

Place Velveeta and milk in a medium bowl and set aside.

Heat oil in sauce pan over medium-high. Saute onions and peppers until the onions are translucent. Pour over Velveeta. Microwave for 60-90 seconds at a time, stirring until melted and thoroughly combined. Stir in tomatoes, cilantro, salt and cayenne. Serve hot with chips of your choice or warm flour tortillas.

Pizza is in heavy rotation on our weekly menu. We’re crust people - and I don’t leave a scrap of it behind. Nothing screws up a good pizza like a bad crust. We’ve gone through several pizza doughs looking for the perfect crust and we always come back to The Usual. We’ve been baking pizza with the Gourmet recipe for nearly 4 years now.

Occasionally, I’ll want to try something different and I stumbled across an old bookmark that provided the perfect opportunity: Deep Dish Pizza. Not just any deep dish - one that promised a far less messy outcome than some of my previous attempts.

I swapped out The Usual for Baking Illustrated’s Basic Pizza Dough. The recipe has been on my radar for a while because I frequently see it baked into all kinds of tasty forms on one of my favorite food blogs, Annie’s Eats. The recipe also conveniently yields enough dough in a single batch to get a deep dish pie on the table for dinner.

I was pleasantly surprised. The bread flour for which the Baking Illustrated recipe calls produced a noticeable difference in texture. I’m not sure that I’m ready to completely give up The Usual but this crust is definitely at least the second best pizza crust recipe we’ve tried.

Deep Dish Pizza
For the dough:
1 3/4 cup warm water, divided
1 tsp sugar
1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp) instant yeast
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing bowl and springform pan
4 cups (22 oz) bread flour, plus more for dusting
1 1/2 tsp salt

For the pizza:
1 cup pizza sauce
2 cups shredded fresh mozzarella
Fillings of your choice (we used cooked italian sausage, pepperoni, and pineapple chunks)

Put 1/2 cup warm water into the bowl of your stand mixer and stir in sugar until dissolved. Sprinkle the yeast over the top and let stand until frothy, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining water and oil.

Add the flour and salt to the stand mixer bowl fitted with the dough hook. Mix on low until the flour is combined and then turn up the speed and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl (I remove the dough, oil the stand mixer bowl, and put the dough back in… one less dirty dish). Cover with plastic wrap until it doubles in volume, about 1 ½ to 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 400. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Divide the dough into two pieces, about 2/3 and 1/3 in size. Gently form into two balls, cover with a damp cloth, and let the dough relax for ~10 minutes. Assemble a 10-in spring form pan and oil the bottom and inside ring.

Shape the larger piece of dough into a round and drape over the springform pan. The dough round needs to be large enough to cover the bottom and slightly hang over the edges of the pan. Use small pieces from the other dough ball to patch any trouble spots.

Sprinkle 1/3 cheese over the bottom of the pan. Top with the fillings of your choice and cover with half of the remaining cheese. Shape the remaining dough into a round and drape over the springform pan. The dough round should also slightly hang over the edge of the pan. Taking a rolling and roll over the top edge of the springform pan to seal the pizza. Tuck the crust edges around the top of the pizza. Using a pair of kitchen shears, cut a few steam holes in the top crust. Spoon pizza sauce over the top and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake for 40-45 minutes until crust is golden and cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown. Remove the pizza from oven and immediately remove the ring from the pan. Cut into wedges and serve.

Yields: 8 wedges
Source: Crust adapted from Baking Illustrated; Springform method from Evil Mad Scientist

Meatballs are typically only served in two ways in this house: Meatball Subs or drenched in wine and berries as an appetizer but mostly the former. I joke that my husband has become a meatball connoisseur - he can describe in great detail the subtle (and not so subtle) differences between the meatballs served at the various restaurants and delis that we frequent. He has his meatball obsession. I have my queso quest. We’re a yummy pair

Meatballs are always a hit on the appetizer buffet. I only recently tried the Grape Jelly-Chili Sauce meatballs at a party (something about that combo always scared me… no doubt it was the idea of mixing grape jelly with chili sauce). And then my husband proceeded to eat my weight in them. (Yeah… it was totally him that made three trips to the crockpot.)

Cranberry-Red Wine Meatballs
2 cups whole berry cranberry sauce
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup of your favorite red wine (I used our Cab)
2 tsp hot Chinese mustard
2 tsp Worcestershire
1 batch of meatballs, cooked

Add cranberry sauce, brown sugar, red wine, mustard, and Worcestershire to a sauce pan. Heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the meatballs to the pan, stirring to coat and heat thoroughly. Serve warm. Alternately, you can pour the sauce over the meatballs in a crockpot set to warm for serving.

Adapted from: CDKitchen

I’m not really that decent of a couponer but I do try. There aren’t really coupons for the stuff that we usually buy but every once in a while I’ll score a good deal that makes me absolutely giddy. Last week, I ended up with free King Arthur Bread Flour and a jar of yeast. A couple of weeks before that, I ended up with two free bags of King Arthur Whole Wheat flour. Free bread and bagels for a month

When we want bagels, we usually run to a neighborhood cafe chain. Our last trip there was wickedly frustrating. My cranberry-walnut bagel was smaller than my fist (and I have tiny, tiny hands) and should have been officially licensed by the NHL. My husband’s french toast bagel, on the other hand, was 3 times the normal size and soft like Sunbeam bread. My husband got a probably unwanted, impromptu invitation to a lecture on the art of proofing bread dough over $7 of disappointment.

It stinks to go out and pay for something that isn’t anywhere near as good as what you could do at home, for cheaper. And when that happens, I’m usually not-so-subtly handed a challenge of “You know, we should really make these at home.” And by “we,” he means me.

I’ve made bagels before; those bagels were good. But these bagels? These bagels were phenomenal. The biggest differences between the two recipes was reducing the amount of yeast and allowing an overnight rest in the fridge. The texture and taste were fantastic. No hockey pucks here! And they were so much prettier this time, too

Half-Wheat Cranberry Walnut Bagels with Hazelnut Cream Cheese
For the sponge:
1 tsp sugar
2 1/2 cups warm water (divided)
1 tsp active dry yeast
3 cups bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour

For the dough:
1/2 tsp dry active yeast
2 1/2 - 3 cups whole wheat flour
1 Tbsp vital wheat gluten
2 3/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp honey
3/4 cup dried cranberries (optional)
3/4 cups walnuts, toasted and chopped (optional)

To finish:
1 Tbsp baking soda
Cornmeal or semolina flour for dusting
Toppings of your choice (Hazelnut Cream Cheese, recipe follows)

Make the sponge: Dissolve sugar into 1/2 cup warm water in the bowl of your stand mixer. Sprinkle yeast over top and let proof for 5 minutes. Add the remaining water and flour and mix on low with the paddle until sponge is smooth and the consistency of pancake batter. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit until doubled, approximately 2 hours. (The sponge will be foamy and bubbly and will collapse when the bowl is tapped on the countertop).

Make the dough: Fit the mixer with the dough hook. Add the additional yeast to the sponge and mix on low until combined. Add 2 cups of the whole wheat flour, all of the salt, gluten, honey, and the dried fruit and nuts (if using). Mix on low until the ingredients form a ball, adding additional flour 1/4 cup at a time to stiffen the dough (I used exactly 2 3/4 cups of whole wheat flour).

Knead the dough for 6 minutes. It will be firm but still pliable and smooth and should clean the sides of the mixer bowl. The dough should pass the windowpane test. If the dough is too dry and rips, add a few drops of water and continue kneading. If the dough seems tacky or sticky, add more flour to stiffen. The kneaded dough should feels satiny and pliable but not be tacky.

Form the bagels: Divide the dough into 4 oz pieces and shape into rolls. Cover the rolls with a damp towel and let sit for 20 minutes. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Shape the bagels by pushing a hole through the center of each roll and working the dough around your thumb, stretching out the hole to 2.5 inches in diameter. Place bagels 2 inches apart on the pan. Cover with a damp towel and let sit for 20 minutes.

Fill a small bowl with room-temp water. Drop one bagel into the water. If the bagel floats within 10 seconds, remove the bagel, pat it dry, return it to the pan, and place the pans in the refrigerator overnight covered loosely with plastic wrap. If the bagel does not float, pat it dry, return it to the pan, and test again in 10-20 minutes.

Baking the bagels: Preheat the oven to 500 with the two racks set in the middle of the oven. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the baking soda. Boil the bagels in batches 1-2 minutes on each side (for chewy bagels, go 2 minutes). Remove with a slotted spoon or spatula. Immediately top bagels with your choice of toppings when they come out of the water.

Sprinkle the same parchment-line baking sheets with cornmeal. Transfer the pans to the oven. Bake for 5 minutes and then swap the pans in the oven. Lower the oven setting to 450° F and continue baking for about 5 minutes, or until the bagels are golden brown. Remove from the oven and let the bagels cool on a rack for 15 minutes or longer before serving.

To freeze: I slice the completely cooled bagels almost all the way through, enough that they flip open all the way but still are just barely attached so tops and bottoms stay together. A square of wax paper in the middle keeps them from freezing shut. I layer them in a gallon freezer bag and put in the freezer. To reheat, I place the frozen bagel halves in the oven when I turn on the broiler to toast. They thaw, heat, and toast perfectly!

Yield: ~12 bagels
Adapted from: The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, by Peter Reinhart

Hazelnut Cream Cheese
8oz cream cheese, 1/3 less fat (chilled is fine)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4-1/2 tsp hazelnut syrup*
1-3 Tbsp sugar
1/3 cup hazelnuts, chopped, toasted, and cooled

*Find in the coffee & tea aisle with the flavored syrups.

Add cream cheese, vanilla, 1/4 tsp hazelnut syrup, and 1 Tbsp sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer. Whip on high until light and fluffy. Taste for sweetness - add additional sugar as desired, whipping until sugar dissolves after the addition. Add an additional 1/4 tsp of hazelnut syrup, if desired. Mix in chopped hazelnuts.

With Foodie Baby’s impending arrival, I started thinking about ramping up our deep freezer inventory. As soon-to-be first-time parents, we’ve been told countless times over the last several months that we’re going to be too tired to cook so we should make sure that we have a freezer full of food or delivery on speed-dial. We’ve also been told that we’re going to be too tired to eat… possibly by people who don’t know us very well

And then I discovered the great “freezer meal” debate among expecting mothers. Freezer meals are full of processed crap. There’s no way you can eat healthy. I’ll never be so tired that I can’t manage dinner. Good luck getting rid of the baby weight! I get why “freezer meals” come with a negative connotation. I really do. The first things that I used to think of when I heard “freezer meals” were lasagna, sodium-bomb frozen dinners, and “cream of” casseroles.

The idea of the two of us living off the mushy contents of a 13×9 for 4 days straight? No thanks. And the Foodie Groom? Riiiiiight. The dish has to be spectacular - or pizza - for him even touch a leftover. Don’t get me wrong, we do love us some lasagna. But there’s way more to freezer-friendly meals than a vat of lasagna.

Our deep freezer is now pretty well stocked. We’ve found keeping a variety of our freezer-friendly “greatest hits” on hand has been super helpful, baby or not. We’re not casserole fans. There’s nothing special about the food that goes in there, either - it’s all “normal” food. Prep work is usually limited to moving something from the freezer to the fridge the night before, roasting a veggie, boiling some pasta, or whipping up a salad. And clean-up? Far easier when it’s limited to side-dish prep which is something I can really appreciate since I can turn my kitchen into an OSHA hazard just by making sandwiches!

Not everything can be frozen. Not everything should be frozen. I’ve gone back and added the Freezer Friendly tag to recipes that I’ve made specifically to be frozen and included To freeze instructions, where necessary.

The biggest thing for me was understanding that size does matter. I take advantage of cooking large-batch dishes in portion-friendly containers for the freezer. The throwdown containers that they sell in the baking aisle of my grocery store are cheap and recyclable. And bonus - you don’t deplete your baking dish supply. Soups, pulled pork, and sliced brisket freeze flat in quart-sized zipper baggies. Meatballs get double-batched and divided into two gallon-sized zipper bags for meatball subs or a quick appetizer.

Muffins and bagels (pre-sliced) also get the gallon bag treatment. Enchiladas (recipe below) and manicotti go into 8×8 containers in two-people servings and stuffed shells go into mini-loaf pans in single-servings (7-8 shells each). Chicken pot pie also gets the individual-serving treatment. Lasagna does get baked in the 13×9 vat but the leftovers are wrapped and frozen into individual squares.

Also, another helpful element is letting the freezer do some of my prep work. Nothing is more frustrating than deciding that you want fajitas at 5pm and realizing that you need 2 hours to marinate the meat. It takes less than 5 minutes for me to whip up a batch of fajita marinade and pour it over a flank steak in a freezer bag. The marinade in the bag does double-duty as the meat thaws.

There are also the obvious safety concerns in for-the-freezer food prep, like following appropriate cooling techniques (if I’m making something specifically for the freezer, I’ll use an ice bath to cool it quickly). Check out the USDA’s freezer safety tips for more information. Happy freezing!

Green Chile-Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas
4 boneless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 Serranos, diced (seeds-in if you like the heat; reduce to 1 if you’re not a fan of spicy food)
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups sour cream
16 oz jar of your favorite tomatillo-based/green salsa
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
12 tortillas, small fajita size
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
1 cup shredded Monterrey Jack
1/2 medium onion, diced

Preheat the oven to 350. Melt butter over medium-high heat. Saute Serranos until soft and then add the garlic, cooking for 1 minute. Stir in the flour and let cook 1-2 minutes. Whisk in the chicken broth until smooth and let cook until bubbly. Stir in the sour cream, salsa, cumin, cayenne, salt, pepper, and cilantro until the sauce is smooth. Remove from heat.

Spray/grease a 9×13 baking dish. Add 1 cup of sauce to the bottom of the pan. Add chicken, cheese, and chopped onion to the center of each tortilla and roll, placing seam-side down in the dish. Pour the sauce over the enchiladas, top with leftover cheese, and bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until top is brown and bubbling.

To freeze: Cook the sauce and cool completely (I do it quickly using an ice water bath). Assemble the enchiladas in portion-friendly dishes and wrap well with plastic wrap or foil. To cook thawed, bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes (or to an internal temperature of 165). To cook straight from the freezer, increase the baking time to 45-55 minutes.

Yields: 12-15 enchiladas
Adapted from: Homesick Texan

“It’s… green.” It was the first and only thing I could say and I stared at the picture of Creme de Menthe Cheesecake.

“Let’s make that!” My husband had exclaimed. My husband’s job was to pick the dessert that we would bring to his family dinner. Easy or complicated. Simple or incredibly fancy. He just had to find something that he wanted. And he picked an 8,000 calorie neon green cheesecake. The reasoning behind his choice quickly became clear as I scanned the ingredients… the cheesecake was loaded with one of his favorite candy, Andes mints.

I’m very much a visual person. Or maybe I have the eating habits of a 3 year old… Either way, if it doesn’t look good, you’re going to have a really hard time convincing me to try it. And if you put a slice of green cheesecake in front of me, I’m not going to eat it. Green cheesecake screams, “I’m loaded to the gills with mint.” We’re a house divided: I’m a Caramel deLites girl and he’s a Thin Mints guy.

I sucked it up, made a few changes, and after discussing the psychological ramifications of green cheesecake ad nauseum, we finally agreed to leave out the non-essential food coloring. After all, that’s the only reason the cheesecake was green. And then we made fun of me being the picky one.

There were two slices left after dinner. The cheesecake got rave reviews and even I enjoyed the few bites that I stole off of my husband’s plate. It was less Creme de Menthe Cheesecake and more Vanilla Bean Cheesecake with Andes Mints. Tomato, tomahto. At least it wasn’t neon green.

Creme de Menthe Cheesecake
16 Oreos
4 8oz blocks of cream cheese, room temp
1 cup sugar
4 Tbsp all-purpose flour, divided
1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream, room temp
1 vanilla bean
2 packages (4.67 oz each) Andes crème de menthe candies, divided
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 cups heavy cream

Preheat oven to 325. Spray the sides and bottom of a 9 or 10-inch springform pan with baking spray. Finely crush the Oreos in a food processor and press the crumbs into bottom of the pan. Bake 8 minutes. Remove pan from oven and let cool.

Place cream cheese, sugar, 3 tbsp flour, and vanilla into the bowl of your stand mixer. Mix on medium for 3 minutes, until well blended. Add eggs one at a time and mix on low for 2 minutes. Split and scrape the beans from the pod. Add vanilla beans and sour cream and mix on medium until smooth.

Reserve seven candies for the topping. Unwrap and cut the remaining candies in half crosswise and toss with remaining flour. Shake off the excess flour. Pour half of the filling into the pan. Arrange candies over the filling, slightly overlapping. Pour remaining filling on top. Bake 55-60 minutes or until center appears nearly set when gently shaken (the center will firm as it cools). (I didn’t bother with the water bath this time because I knew I could hide any cracks with the ganache topping… and I did!) Remove from oven and cool completely, about 3 hours.

Place chocolate, cream, and reserved candy into the microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring until melted and smooth. Spread topping over center of cheesecake. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight before serving. (I made it two days ahead.)

Adapted from The Pampered Chef
Yields: Up to 16 servings

One of our favorite splurge meals is sushi. I like to make it at home but I love going out for sushi. And while I love the variety of the restaurant-specific interpretation of sushi rolls, I’m completely content with an ice cold platter of mini-slabs of fresh fish in front of me. The Foodie Groom? He lives for his Alaska Roll.

The Alaska Roll at the sushi place that we frequent is fresh salmon and avocado rolled inside-out style and fried, crusted in panko. That’s enough to make a person swoon already but they don’t stop there. They top the sliced rolls with eel sauce and a fresh jalapeno slice… and if you’re feeling really adventurous, it’s topped with the tiniest dab of Sriracha by request.

If you’re going to make sushi at home, you’ll need some tools. We’ve been making simple sushi rolls at home for a few years now but if you’ve never done it, take a peek at The Pioneer Woman’s sushi adventures for a list of things to get you going. Not many tools, but a few - like a mat on which to roll the rolls and if you ask me, a rice cooker. I can’t tell you how much rice I’ve ruined before dropping $25 on the greatest invention ever. You also need a bowl of cold water to keep your hands wet. Sushi rice sticks to everything but wet hands and plastic wrap.

Rather than using my old trusty sushi rice recipe, I tried the recipe that the Pioneer Woman’s house-call-making chef used - it’s much more like the rice that we get out so we’re making the permanent switch. And since the At-Home Alaska Roll got two thumbs up from The Foodie Groom, we might not be going out for sushi for a while.

Panko-Crusted Alaska Rolls
3 Nori sheets, halved
1 recipe Sushi rice, see below
1/2 large avocado, pitted and sliced into 1/4-inch strips
1/2 lb fresh salmon filet, skin removed and sliced into 1/4-inch strips*
2/3 cup flour
1 large egg
1 cup panko
2-3 fresh Jalapenos, sliced (you need 1 slice per piece of sushi)
Eel sauce
Soy sauce, for serving
Wasabi, for serving
Pickled sushi ginger, for serving
Vegetable oil

*Talk to your seafood counter guy to see if they sell fish that’s appropriate for sushi. The sushi bar in our grocery store uses specific fish from the counter. It’s super fresh so I won’t buy it more than a day ahead.

Pour enough vegetable oil into a pot to come about 2.5-3 inches up the side of the pot (you want to be able to submerge the entire roll). Heat the oil to 375.

Cover a bamboo rolling mat with a couple layers of plastic wrap. Cut nori sheets in half crosswise. Lay 1 sheet of nori, shiny side down, on the plastic covered mat. With wet hands, spread about 1/2-2/3 cup of the rice evenly onto the nori. Flip the sheet of nori over so that the rice side is down. Line the salmon and avocado strips in the center of the nori.

Grab the edge of the mat closest to you, keeping the filling in place with your fingers, and roll forward, forming the roll into a tight cylinder, and pressing on the mat lightly to shape and secure. Pull away the mat and set the roll on a plastic wrap-covered plate. Cover with a damp cloth. Repeat until all of the rice has been used.

Place the flour and panko in separate shallow dishes. Beat the egg and place in another shallow dish. Roll as many sushi rolls as will fit in your pan in the flour (brushing off the excess), in the egg, and then in the panko (pressing the crumbs lightly into the roll). Carefully slide the roll into the heated oil and fry for 30 seconds (this is just long enough to brown the panko, not overheat or cook the filling; I used two sets of tongs to get the rolls in and out of the pan). Drain on paper towel to wick away excess oil. Repeat for remaining rolls.

Use a very sharp knife to cut the roll into 6-8 slices. Top each slice with a bit of eel sauce and a slice of fresh jalapeno. Serve with soy sauce, prepared wasabi, and pickled ginger if desired.

Yields: 36-48 pieces

Sushi rice, adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks
1 1/2 cups uncooked sushi rice
1/2 cup sushi vinegar or rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp mirin

Put sushi rice in a sieve and set the sieve in a larger bowl full of cold water in the sink. Using your hands, stir the rice to rinse it. Change the water in the bowl as it becomes cloudy. Continue to rinse the rice until the water remains clear. Drain the rice and place it in a rice cooker, using the manufacturer’s measurements for the rice:water ratio.

In a small sauce pan over medium heat, combine remaining ingredients and whisk until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and let come to room temperature.

Place the rice in a large bowl and pour over the vinegar mixture. Stir well and let sit for 10 minutes, covered with a damp cloth. Stir again to fluff and use slightly warm.

Yields: ~4 cups rice, enough for 6 inside-out rolls