STRAWBERRY "CHEESECAKE" PARFAIT

Dessert...Dessert...Dessert!

I love cheesecake but am a little leery of making it from scratch and the whole "baking" thing.

This tastes just like cheesecake and you can use whatever sliced fruit or berries and roasted glazed nuts....sometimes I even substitute crushed biscotti cookies for the nuts...whatever you like!

It is a great make-ahead dessert too which I need since I am just not a baker or much of a dessert fan. This makes about 4 servings so adjust the ingredients for your crowd.

Ingredients:

2 ounces Brie cheese, room temp

3 ounces cream cheese, room temp

2-3 tbl sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

2 cups sliced strawberries

1/2 cup butter-toffee glazed sliced almonds (bulk section of your grocery)

drizzle of honey (optional)

Discard the rind of the Brie cheese. In a medium bowl beat Brie, cream cheese, sugar and lemon juice until almost smooth.

In a parfait glass divide about half the strawberries in the bottom of the glasses. Top with the cheese mixture and then sprinkle with almonds. Repeat this and if you want, drizzle some honey on the top.

And just for GRINS...costs about $3.50 per person and only has 250 calories per person!!!!!

ENJOY!

CHICKEN TETRAZZINI

There are few baked pasta dishes that I like and I love this one! The cream and milk combined with the nutmeg to make a bechamel is so delicious and the added spices are wonderful! It seems like a lot of ingredients but you only have to chop 5 of them!

Ingredients:

4 tbl olive oil

12 tbl unsalted butter

4 boneless chicken breasts

1 lb white mushrooms, sliced

1 sweet onion chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup Italian parsley chopped

3/4 cup frozen peas

1 tbl fresh thyme chopped

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/3 cup flour

4 cups whole milk, warm

1 cup heavy whipping cream, room temp

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup parmesan cheese

1/4 cup italian breadcrumbs

salt

pepper

1 lb linguine

1/4 cup slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Grease a 13 x 9 pan with 2 tbl butter. In a saute pan melt 2 tbl butter and 2 tbl oil. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and add to the pan. Cook until golden on both sides about 4 minutes per side. Let cool on a plate and shred into a bowl.

In the same pan melt 2 tbl butter and 2 tbl oil. Add the mushrooms and cook over medium-high heat about 12 minutes. Add the onion, garlic and thyme and saute about 8 minutes until the onions are soft. Add the wine and simmer until it mostly evaporates - a couple minutes. Transfer this mixture to the bowl with the chicken.

Melt 3 tbl of butter in the same pan over medium-low heat and add flour. Whisk for about two minutes until the flour is incorporated. Whisk in milk, cream, broth, nutmeg and season with salt and pepper. Increase heat to high and cook uncovered until the sauce thickens - about 10 minutes..stir often.

Cook linguine according to package directions, but not completely about 8 minutes and drain. Combine the linguine with the sauce, chicken mixture, peas and parsley. Pour into the baking dish. Combine cheese and breadcrumbs and sprinkle on top. Dot with remaining 3 tbl of butter and bake until golden and bubbly - about 25 minutes. Let cool a few minutes and dot with slivered almonds.

Serve with a nice glass of Chardonnay!

ENJOY!

FOOTBALL SNACK - BEAN DIP WITH PITA CHIPS

Sorry fans..tried to get this on the blog yesterday...had crazy internet issues....blah blah blah....!!! But here it is.

Another great snack to serve at your next football tailgate. The dip can be made as much as two-three days ahead and kept in the refrigerator. So on game day all you have to do is toast the pita chips. You could also serve this dip with a low salt tortilla chip.

Ingredients:

15 oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

3 cloves of garlic

2/3 cup olive oil

2 tbl fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup italian parsley

dried oregano

dried rosemary

dried thyme

salt

pepper

pita bread cut into 8 wedges per slice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

In a food processor, add beans, garlic, lemon juice, 1/3 cup olive oil and parsley. Pulse until the mixture is coarsely chopped. Season with salt and pepper and refrigerate.

Arrange the pita wedges on a baking sheet and brush with 1/3 cup olive oil and sprinkle with oregano, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper and bake for about 10 minutes until toasted and golden brown.

Another great snack to watch Da Bears and The Patriots!!!

ENJOY!

HAPPY 60TH DUNKIN' DONUTS!

Living out west, you would be hard-pressed to find a Dunkin' Donuts.....but when we travel East...you can't stop counting them! There are ones across the street from each other and a building in downtown Boston has TWO of them!!!

In 1948, Dorchester native Bill Rosenberg founded a coffee shop called Open Kettle in Quincy, MA. He didn't like the name so he held a brain storming meeting with friends to make a change. His architect friend said, "What do you do with a chicken..pluck it...what do you do with a doughnut...Dunk It"..and so in 1950 Bill opened his first Dunkin' Donuts. Now there are more Dunkin' Donuts franchises per capita in Massachusetts than there are any other restaurants of its type anywhere! In 1990 a British company bought it, but years later a Boston based company brought it back home.

Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, says when the team wins, he goes inside his local Dunkin' Donuts for his "Large with milk no sugar"...when the team loses he goes to the drive through.

Today there are 9,186 shops worldwide in 35 states and 31 countries. There are 94 pages in the manual that governs the Dunkin' Donuts coffee recipe.

So Happy 60th Birthday Dunkin' Donuts...."I'll have A regula"..Ben Affleck is that YOU!... (regula is cream and two suGAS"

ENJOY!

POTATOES BAKED WITH TOMATOES

This is a great side dish with a nice steak, chicken breast and even fish!!!!! Nice and cheesy..and it's a great new way to bake potatoes. It needs to bake for about an hour or more depending on how soft you like your potatoes, so plan your main dish around the timing for these. If you can't find good tomatoes used good canned ones.

Ingredients:

2 large sweet onion, preferably Vidalia sliced thin
2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, or Russet sliced thin
1 lb tomatoes sliced with their juices
8 oz mozzarella cheese sliced very thin
1 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup chicken stock
2 tbl fresh basil chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
salt
pepper


Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Spread some of the olive oil in the bottom of a baking pan. Arrange a layer of the onion on the bottom followed by layers of potatoes and tomatoes, overlapping the pieces as you go. Pour a little oil on top and season with salt and pepper. Repeat until you have used all the pieces and include one layer of the mozzarella cheese. Add chicken stock and tomato juices. Sprinkle the basil and oregano on top and add parmesan cheese. Finish with a little more olive oil. Bake for about 1 hour until the potatoes are tender.

If the top starts to brown too much, cover with foil for the remaining cooking time.

ENJOY!

ASPARAGUS, PROSCUITTO AND MOZARELLA PASTA

This is a great dish that can be ready in about 20 minutes....REALLY! So in the time it takes to uncork a nice bottle of wine after work and get caught up with your family, dinner is ready.



I love asparagus and it LOVES YOU! Nice dark greens have all kinds of great antioxidants for you and as I mentioned in a previous blog, asparagus helps prevent a hangover, just in case you find the wine bottle empty after dinner!!!!






Ingredients:

2 lbs asparagus cleaned and ends trimmed

5 cloves of garlic minced

1 large shallot minced

6 oz prosciutto thinly sliced and cut into strips

6 oz smoked mozzarella cheese, diced (regular mozzarella works too)

4 tbl fresh basil thinly sliced

5 tbl olive oil

1 box pasta (spaghetti is fun here)

salt

pepper

red pepper flakes



Boil asparagus in a pot of salted water for about 3 minutes and immediately remove them with tongs and toss in an ice water bath to stop the cooking process. In the same boiling salted water cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain the pasta and reserve 1 cup of pasta water.



When the asparagus cools cut into 1 inch pieces. Heat olive oil in a saute pan and add garlic and shallots and cook for about a minute. Add the asparagus and season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Add the pasta and if you want, some of the pasta water. Add the prosciutto, mozzarella and basil and combine. Take the pan of the heat and taste for seasoning. DONE!



Of course, serve with Parmesan cheese and nice crusty bread!

ENJOY!




Love You Laurie!!!!

FRIDAY COCKTAIL - BLACK WIDOW

It's OCTOBER

and that can only mean

HALLOWEEN

So let the planning begin. My daughter and her friends spend endless hours planning the perfect group costume ensemble...crazy....this year it went from Jersey Shore characters to Glee folks...quite a stretch!

I remember the days of ballerinas and Cinderellas and dressing my son up as a pumpkin ...year after year...he didn't care..IT IS ALL ABOUT THE CANDY anyway.

Well here is the first of several "adult" options for your Halloween parties

Black Widow

1 part good vodka (recipe called for 42 Below)

2 parts dark grape juice

1 tsp raw sugar

4 slices fresh ginger

4 blackberries

ice

2 blackberries for garnish

Muddle together the 4 blackberries, ginger and sugar, add the vodka (then add a smidge more). Shake well and strain into a well chilled martini glass. Garnish with 2 blackberries.

You can add the plastic black widow spider too!

ENJOY!