Speedy Spaghetti, Of Sorts- Spaghetti Squash with Eggplant Bolognese

I've been wanting to try out spaghetti squash for awhile now, but just hadn't really figured out what I'd make it with. Recently though Tracy over at Shutterbean shared a Martha Stewart Living recipe with spaghetti squash that she had tried and loved, and it inspired me. She made Living's Spaghetti Squash with Turkey Meatballs. When I saw that spaghetti squash were on sale I picked one up on my last grocery trip. However, I didn't have a whole lot of free time on my hands this week with plenty of school work on my plate. I did however have a batch of Eggplant Bolognese in my freezer. I followed MS Living's recipe to cook my squash, heated my thawed sauce on the stove, and then topped the squash with it when everything was done. Some fresh Parmesan on top and I was ready to go.

Simple Pleasures- Raspberry Sorbet

The July issue of Martha Stewart Living arrived in my mail box last Thursday, and I finally worked my way to the back of the magazine by Sunday morning. Which is where I discovered this super simple recipe for Raspberry Sorbet. It is starting to get really hot here, it's definitely summer in Texas, so I thought this might be just the thing to make to help keep us cool. And this easy fruit based dessert seemed like just the right treat to try while I'm still trying to work off those few extra pounds I picked up while on bed-rest. So I gave it a shot Sunday evening and the results were delicious. Definitely going to be returning to this recipe again.

Raspberry Sorbet
Recipe from Martha Stewart Living; Serves 4


1/4 cup water
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 12 ounce bag frozen raspberries

• Stir the water and sugar together until the sugar has dissolved.
• In a food processor, pulse the frozen raspberries until coarsely chopped. With the processor running, slowly add the sugar water and pulse until mixture is smooth.
• Transfer to an airtight container and freeze for at least 30 minutes. Serve.

My notes: My only complaint about how this came out was the seeds. There were so many seeds! This recipe was so easy though I'll definitely use it again. I am looking forward to trying it with other frozen fruits like peaches, mangoes, or pineapple. If I do raspberries again I may press some or all of the mixture through a sieve before placing in the freezer. But seeds aside, the taste was fabulous. A great treat for the summer heat.

A Fresh Start with Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

Wow, hold on just a moment. Let me dust away some of these cobwebs. There, that's a little better. It's been a while, huh? But I'm trying to get back in the cooking saddle around here and the best way to do that is to get back in the habit of sharing what I make again. I'm going to be a lot busier these days as we're gearing up for a trip at the end of June, and then I'll be starting school in the fall. My goal is to try and post twice a week. Sometimes it might just be a tip or trick for coming up with something fast and easy, since that's going to be key for me soon. And I'm using my handy-dandy iPhone for pics more often now, since I found having to upload from my camera seemed to be a point of procrastination for me. I'm debating making some other changes around the blog, so if things get a little wonky, it's just my inept html/css skills at work.

To start things off with a taste of summer I made some delicious cookies. I was planning on making them on Sunday to take with us to our Concert in the Garden picnic that evening. However we went to a lunchtime barbeque at Josh's dad's house that we didn't leave until late in the afternoon, which left me little time to do the baking. So I made them on my day off yesterday instead. The cookies were so good, and really easy to make. the most time consuming part was dicing the berries. I am admittedly very slow with knives though, so that might be specific to my kitchen. No creaming butter and sugar, no adding eggs. In fact, I'm happy to tell you that there are no eggs at all. Which makes it far less dangerous to eat the cookie batter. Which you will want to do, because it was so, so good. I recommend you bake most of the batter before you taste it though, because otherwise you might never find out what the baked cookies taste like.

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies
Recipe from Martha Stewart Living June 2009; Makes about 3 dozen


12 ounces strawberries, hulled and cut into 1/4-inch dice (2 cups)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
3 ounces (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup heavy cream
Sanding sugar, for sprinkling

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine strawberries, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining 7 tablespoons granulated sugar in a large bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter, or rub in with your fingers, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cream until dough starts to come together, then stir in strawberry mixture.
• Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment, spacing evenly apart. Sprinkle with sanding sugar, and bake until golden brown, 24 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool. Cookies are best served immediately, but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day.

My notes: I used my 1 1/2 tablespoon cookie scoop to form my cookies, and I came about with roughly 28 cookies. I didn't have any sanding sugar, so I just gave them a little sprinkle with regular granulated. These cookies would be great for picnics, cookouts, even a brunch. If I was preparing them for more than just our own consumption I would have made some whipped cream to drop a dollop of on each cookie.

Balsamic Mushrooms

It may seem I have gone a bit mushroom crazy lately, but these recipes haven't been prepared as close together as they are being posted. That said, I have a meal with mushrooms on the menu this week, so perhaps I have gone a little mad cap. Get it? Cap, mushroom, mushrooms have caps. Alright, I'll reign in my attempts at humor and just tell you about this delicious recipe. Way back in January Josh had himself a birthday, and I wanted to make him a little something special. Can you believe that I had never made him a birthday meal before? We always have a lot of family dinners to celebrate, so I'd never really had the opportunity. This year though I really wanted to put something together. I wasn't looking for the hardest or fanciest recipe. Josh isn't a foodie frou-frou, he just likes stuff that tastes good. I roasted a pork loin that came pre-stuffed with mild Italian sausage (ohmygodsogood), and roasted up some asparagus along with it since we're both a big fan of that. I didn't really want to make a dessert for him (did I mention we closed on our house just two days after his birthday?), so I picked up some of our favorite Tiramisu from Central Market. Don't worry, we put a candle in it. So, now that you know about all the rest of the meal, here's the side that became the show-stopper. This recipe had been on the to-cook list for a while. It comes from the June 2007 issue of Living, but I stumbled across it online and had printed it out for future use. I thought it would be just the thing, especially since I could make it on the stove top since I already had so much else going into the oven. These mushrooms cook up really fast, and they are just as good at room temperature as they are fresh from the stove. I think that is a great trait for a good side dish to have; I am not always the best at planning my kitchen timeline. Well, I'll stop rattling on and just share the recipe already so you can give it a shot sometime soon.

Balsamic Mushrooms
Recipe from Martha Stewart Living; Serves 4














1/4 cup olive oil
12 ounces white mushrooms, halved (quartered if large)
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
Freshly ground pepper

• Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in vinegar, salt, and red-pepper flakes, and season with pepper. Cook 1 minute more. Transfer to a bowl, and serve.

Sugar High Friday #28

Alrighty, to help me stick with my resolution to keep up this blog I decided to have a go at participating in some blog events. This will be my first entry in the monthly Sugar High Friday event, created by the Domestic Goddess and this time being hosted by Cardamom Addict. Not only is this my first entry in Sugar High Friday, but it's my first blog event entry ever. Hopefully I do everything right! So, on to the sweetness.

For round #28 Cardamom Addict has come up with the theme Sweet Seduction. Very fitting for the month of February, no? I was thinking, and thinking, rolling ideas around in my head. And then it hit me while I was re-reading my February issue of MS Living. The very first sight in the "Warming Winter Puddings" article was a delightful looking dish, called Eve's Pudding. Named so for the first lady of Eden and the inclusion of her weapon of seduction, the apple. Cardamom Addict mentioned several different angles to approach from- something you've made to seduce someone, something your planning to make to seduce someone, something someone made to seduce you, or something you wish someone would make to seduce you. In my mind this particular item falls into two of those catagories. I used the possibility of this delicious dish to help sweeten the deal when convincing Josh to take me to Ikea, so I suppose you could say I used it to seduce him. And then, there is the lovely thought of sharing this decidedly British dessert with Colin Firth, after he whipped it up for me. Remember how helpful in the kitchen he was in Bridget Jones' Diary? Before I get too distracted, let's get to the recipe.

Eve's Pudding
Recipe from MS Living; Serves 8 to 10














1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened,
plus more for baking dish
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Salt
1 3/4 pounds baking apples, peeled,
quartered, cored, and cut into 1/8" thick
slices
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup whole milk
Heavy cream, for serving

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8 1/2" square baking dish; set aside. Whisk flour, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt ina medium bowl; set aside.
• Put apples, 1/4 cup sugar, the lemon juice, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt into a large bowl; toss to combine. Transfer to prepared baking dish, and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons water over top; set aside.
• Put butter and 6 tablespoons sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition. Mix in vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture, alternating with milk. Mix until combined.
• Spread batter over apples, and sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Bake until batter is cooked through and juices are bubbling, about 40 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack 15 minutes. Spoon into dishes; serve drizzled with cream.

My notes: I (so, so, sadly) don't have a stand mixer. I used my regular handheld mixer up until the flour point, and then mixed with a rubber spatula from there. Also, my square baking dish happens to be 8", not the above-mentioned 8 1/2". I baked the pudding on a foil lined baking sheet, in case of any over-spill. None occured, so I imagine that 1/2" isn't all that important. Lastly, I also sprinkled a little cinnamon atop the batter with the remaining sugar, to add a little color, and because I love cinnamon. :)