Simply Impressive Cooking School

It’s so cold outside and I’m in a mood for soup. Albondigas soup sounds like the perfect dish for this weather. Try our recipe for a simple and delicious version.

Try the best albondigas soup recipe ever Albondigas Soup We went to a favorite Mexican restaurant the other day and my husband ordered albondigas soup. It was really good and I...

We recently had people spend the night and of course we had to serve breakfast the next morning. I like to prepare something thr night before and this time, I kept seeing dishes using tater tot’s. I decided to make a tater tot’s breakfast casserole. While I used sausage, peppers and onions, you can let your imagination run wild with this.

I might add some sautéed poblanos and mushrooms next time. We happened to have some salsa verde which was delicious on top of this too. This would also be delicious with ham, bacon, or even vegetarian.

Tater tot breakfast casserole

Servings: 6

•
All measurements are approximate
•2 tbsp evoo, divided
•1/2 onion, diced
•3/4 cup diced bell peppers, diced
•1 lb breakfast sausage
•5 eggs
•1/2 cup half and half or milk
•Salt and pepper
•8 oz pepper jack cheese
•1 lb frozen tater tots

Steps
1 Sauté onion and bell peppers in 1 tbsp evoo until soft. Set aside
2 In same pan, sauté breakfast sausage. Drain if there’s a lot of fat.
3 In a medium sized bowl mix together eggs, half and half or milk, salt and pepper.
4 Preheat oven to 350.
5 In a 10” cast iron pan or oven safe nonstick skillet, spread remaining 1 tbsp evoo in the bottom of the pan or you can also put bacon fat if you have it.
6 Place the sausage and onion mixture evenly on the bottom. It should cover the entire bottom. Pour the eggs over the sausage, then crumble the Monterey Jack cheese on top of the eggs. Place the frozen tater tots over the cheese. Place in the oven and bake about 30-40 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to rest about 5 minutes before serving.
7 We also had some salsa verde and decided to drizzle some on top of egg casserole after slicing.

If you’re looking for a very simple and delicious dessert for the summer that doesn’t need any baking, I have the perfect option. I made my take on a mud pie….Oreo pie crust topped with coffee ice cream topped with whipped cream. When served, we drizzled hot fudge over it and added some chopped nuts. There were some crumbs on the bottom of the pan so I sprinkled it on top of the mud pie, too.

I made this In a springform pan, but if you don’t have one, it’s perfectly fine to make in a pie plate.

To make an Oreo pie crust, I crushed up 36 Oreos and combined them with 3 tablespoons of melted butter. I then pressed it in the bottom of a 9” springform pan. Soften ice cream and press tightly into pan over crust. Then top with whipped topping. Freeze until ready to serve.

I made my own hot fudge topping, but it’s perfectly fine to buy some.

This dessert took just a few minutes to put together and it was so delicious and perfect for a hot summer night.

My friend always gives me an abundance of lemons from her tree and I try to make the best use of them. I had some extra ricotta and with google as my friend, I found a recipe that was similar to,what I was trying to mak. I don’t remember where I found this so I can’t credit the person….sorry

My notes, including high altitude notes, are in the recipe. Enjoy,

Meyer lemon ricotta pound cake

Ingredients
•
1 ½ cups all purpose flour used a little more
2 tsp baking powder used 1 1/2 at high altitude
1 tsp salt
¾ cup unsalted butter room temperature
1 ½ cups ricotta cheese
1 ½ cups granulated sugar used about 1 tbsp less
3 pcs large eggs room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract used 2
1 tsp Meyer lemon zest ( can use regular lemons used 2 tbsp)
2 tbsp Meyer (or regular) lemon juice used a little more

Steps

Preheat oven to 350F. Line the bottom and sides of a 9x5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper and generously grease with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder and 1 teaspoon salt. Set aside.

Using a handheld electric mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat 3/4 cup butter, 1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese and 1 1/2 cups sugar on medium-high speed until incorporated, 2-3 minutes. The mixture will look like scrambled eggs at this point and that's OK!

Switch to low speed and add the eggs one at a time until combined. Then add 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 teaspoon lemon zest and 2 tablespoons lemon juice.

Once your wet ingredients are incorporated, add your flour mixture a little a time until just combined. Do not over beat.

Transfer your batter into your pan and bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out with minimal crumbs (see note 2).

Cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

We’ve been enjoying Dave’s killer bread copycat recipe. It’s filled with seeds, grains, and a whole lot of flavor. I found this recipe on the internet from the blog "A Pretty Happy Home" Dave’s Killer Bread UPDATED Copycat Recipe.

I happened to have just about every ingredient this recipe called for the first time I made it but if you do not, you may be able to substitute like ingredients. I also found that I really like sunflower seeds in the bread so I added more although the recipe shows the original amount.

Here’s the recipe. Let me know if you make it. My neighbors have already had the pleasure of enjoying this bread a few times and are anxiously awaiting more.

Dave’s killer bread copycat
Servings: 2 loaves

Ingredients:

2 cups of warm water
2 Tablespoons yeast
2 Tablespoons coconut oil
3 Tablespoons molasses
3 Tablespoons honey
1 Tablespoon kosher salt (use whatever salt you have)
1/2 cup vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup quinoa
1/4 cup flax seed
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup long cooking oats (quick cooking oatmeal would be fine if that’s all you have)
1/4 cup steel cut oats
2 cups all purpose white flour
2 – 3 cups wheat flour*
olive oil for drizzling
extra honey for drizzling, optional

Fill large bowl with warm water. Ideally, it will be 115 degrees Fahrenheit. Sprinkle the yeast on top of the water and let set for 5 – 10 minutes so the yeast can start working.

Add coconut oil, honey, molasses and salt to the water/yeast mixture. Give it a quick, gentle stir with a fork to break up the coconut oil (it usually comes as a solid).

Add in the oats, sunflower seeds, flax seed, quinoa and wheat gluten. Give it another gentle stir to combine.

Add in 2 cups of the white flour and 2 cups of the wheat flour. *SET ASIDE THE REMAINING CUP OF WHEAT FLOUR. (You may or may not need the remaining flour).

Stir in the flour with a fork and then begin working the dough with your hands. If the dough remains sticky after you’ve kneaded it several times, start sprinkling a little bit of your reserved cup of flour in the bowl. Work the additional flour in with your hands. It should not be too sticky. Knead for about 5-10 minutes. I DID THIS IN MY KITCHENAID STAND MIXER.

When the texture of the dough is ready, form the dough into a ball. Drizzle a little olive oil in the bottom of the bowl for the dough to rest on and drizzle a little on top of the dough. Smear around with your fingers so the entire dough ball is lightly coated. Cover the dough and let it rise until it has approximately doubled in size. I KEPT THE DOUGH IN THE KITCHENAID MIXER BOWL AND LET IT RISE IN THE SAME BOWL.

Punch down dough and knead it out for 3 to 5 minutes. (I let the dough rise in my mixer bowl and just put the dough hook back on for this kneading. Recover the dough and let it rise again until the dough is approximately doubled in size.

Punch the dough out and again knead the dough for 3 to 5 minutes.

Select half of the dough and form it into a loaf-like shape. Place it into a greased bread pan (cooking spray works too). Do the same with the other half of the dough. Drizzle a little olive oil and honey on top of the loaf. (I rub it around gently with my fingers to lightly coat the entire top of the loaf.) Cover both bread pans and let the dough rise until it peeks over the top of the pan. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

When the dough is done rising, place it in the oven to bake for 30 minutes at 425 degrees. Check at the 15 minute mark I HAD TO COVER AT 10 MINUTES SINCE TOP ALREADY GETS TOO DARK and cover lightly with foil if need be so the bread doesn’t get too dark on top. When finished baking, remove bread from pan promptly and let cool on a baking rack.

The photo with the bread in the pans is what the dough should look like while it’s still raw and has had its final rise. The other photo is what the bread looks like when cut open.

This bread freezes well. I sliced it and put it in the freezer sliced so I could remove only what I needed.

These are the items I used for my 5 minute caramelized onion and Boursin shells appetizer. Easy peasy

Today I made a great 5 minute appetizer. I used phyllo shells, Boursin cheese and caramelized onions. While caramelized onions are not a 5-minute thing, I always keep some in the freezer for when I need to use them.

Basically I took phyllo shells which are usually in your grocers freezer section and spooned in some flavored Boursin cheese. I then topped them off with some caramelized onions. They’ll go into a 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes until heated. Before I serve them, I like to sprinkle some chopped thyme on top. They are delicious hot or room temperature.

You can also use cream cheese or flavored cream cheese in place of the Boursin cheese.

Happy entertaining!

It’s hard to believe that thanksgiving is just a few short weeks away. Today I got an email that had a thanksgiving planner. I thought there was some useful information in it and wanted to share.

A few things….I find that turkeys DO NOT defrost in the times they show. It always seems to take longer. Also this list was created by Williams-Sonoma and when they show the pages with tools you will need….they went way overboard. I have a lot of kitchen equipment… a lot… and even I don’t have all the items they show.

One thing they missed, IMHO, is I start some things a day or two before thanksgiving. Their schedule begins on thanksgiving morning.

So start planning your event as soon as you can and see if there is anything helpful in this planner.https://www.williams-sonoma.com/netstorage/pdf/ws-thanksgiving-workbook-2021.pdf

www.williams-sonoma.com

The other day I saw a sale in squash and saw one I never heard of mit was called a red kuri squash. After doing a little research, it’s similar to butternut squash. I looked for ways to use it and found a soup that looked interesting so I bought it

Today I’m making a soup but using ingredients I have in my pantry and fridge. While I won’t necessarily have a recipe for you, I’ll post what I did when it’s done so you can try something new this fall too,

I have a great kitchen tip for you. I was making sandwiches that used Brie on it. It was very difficult to slice and sometimes I got chunks rather than thin slices. It was a mess.

Today I needed to slice it again so I thought I’d try freezing it before I sliced it and then using a cheese slicer to get thin slices. I froze it for an hour and when I tried to slice it….all I got was a mess.

So I wrapped it up again and put it back in the freezer for another hour. After that hour, the cheese was nice and firm and I was able to cut off the rind easily without too much waste. Rather than a cheese slider, I used a serrated knife, I was able to cut nice thin slices. It definitely was a game changer.

So if you ever need nice slices of Brie, remember to freeze it until firm turn slice it.

Simply Impressive Cooking School updated their information in their About section.

I felt like having a dinner salad and wanted something a little different. I decided to make a Chinese chicken salad. I didn’t make a recipe but this is so flexible, you can use any ingredients you want. Here’s what I used

Precooked teriyaki chicken cut into diced pieces
Romaine lettuce, torn into bite sized pieces
Crunchy shredded cabbage
Mandarin oranges, drained
Sliced water chestnuts, drained
Raw snow peas, cut into strips (about 3 strips from each snow pea)
Green onions, sliced thinly on the diagonal
Chow Mein noodles
Toasted slivered almonds (optional)

Then I found an Asian salad dressing recipe I used as a base for mine. Sorry, I don’t know who to credit for the original idea.

¼ cup oil
¼ cup seasoned rice vinegar
1 ½ tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons sesame oil
1 ½ teaspoons soy sauce
Pinch of ground ginger
pinch salt
1 -2 cloves garlic minced

To make, just Shake all ingredients together. This is great in a canning jar if you have one.

Refrigerate any leftovers

I love to make coffee cake and this one has been a favorite of mine. I combined two different recipes to come up with this. While it is easily adjusted for high altitude, this is for sea level. If you want the high altitude version, just let me know.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Servings: 15 -18 SERVINGS
Ingredients
COFFEE CAKE INGREDIENTS:
•
1/2 cup ( 1 stick) butter, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

For the streusel
3 cups all purpose flour, spooned and leveled
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted

TO MAKE THE COFFEE CAKE:
1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray, set aside. Prepare the streusel topping (see below), set aside.
2 In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar on medium-high speed for 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and add the eggs to the mixture, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3 In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add half of the dry ingredients mixture to the butter mixture, and mix on medium-low speed until just combined. Add in half of the sour cream, and mix until combined. Repeat with the remaining half of the dry ingredients mixture, followed by the remaining sour cream.
4 Pour half of the batter into the prepared baking pan, and spread it around so that it covers the bottom of the pan in an even layer. It is very thick and will be a little difficult to spread. Sprinkle half of the streusel topping evenly on top. Spread the remainder of the batter on top in an even layer . Sprinkle the remaining streusel topping evenly on top.
5 Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
6 Serve warm. Or let the cake cool to room temperature, then cover and keep for up to 3 days.

To make the ton of streusel topping:
1 Mix all,ingredients together and use half in the middle, and half on the top

Perfect dish for the Lenten season.

For those of you asking what I did with the zucchini pasta yesterday here's a "sort of" recipe. Amounts are approximate and veggies were chopped. If you need exact measurements, this recipe is not for you. It was really good and I'll be making it again. When I do, I might measure and write up an exact recipe.

Zucchini noodles with artichokes, olives and sundried tomatoes

4 med size zucchini, spiralized,
3/4 cup marinated artichokes,
1/4 c kalamatas
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes in oil,
1 can diced tomatoes in Italian seasoning. 1onion,
Few cloves garlic
1/4 cup Italian salad dressing
1 can Garbanzo beans drained,
grated parm,
Italian seasoning
fresh basil.
A few tbsp tomato paste, optional

Sauté onion and garlic in evoo. Add zucchini and sauté a few minutes until beginning to soften.

Add in everything else and cook a few minutes for flavor to blend. Don't overlook or zucchini will get mushy. I think I cooked it 3 minutes more.

I might add mushrooms next time.

Also if sauce is really thin I added a few tbsp of tomato paste to enrich the sauce and thicken a little bit.

I love to make beef jerky but mine is good..,not great. So today I’m using Mad Hunky Meats cure. I’m sure it will be fantastic. I’ll take photos and review when it’s done

The best asparagus soup recipe to serve hot or chilled

It’s that time of year again and asparagus are available in stores. I love this soup and know you will too. It’s spring in a bowl. http://kitchentipjar.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-best-asparagus-soup-recipe-to-serve.html

kitchentipjar.blogspot.com It is Spring and Spring fruit and veggies are showing up in the grocery store. Lately, asparagus have been available. Usually the ...

www.milfordspice.com

It’s been chilly and I love soup. I couldn’t decide if I wanted minestrone or pasta fagiole soup...so I made a cross between the two. This was another recipe where I used Milford Spice Company’s South Lyon Spaghetti Sauce Seasoning.

The recipe can be found at
http://www.milfordspice.com/Simply-Impressive-Minefagiole-Soup_b_307.html

By the way....I had some spice mix left over and decided to throw it into a few Italian dishes I made. It made a nice addition to my Chicago deep dish pizza sauce and crust as well as a simple marinara sauce I made. As you can see, it’s not just for spaghetti sauce.

milfordspice.com Simply Impressive Minefagiole Soup (Minestrone + Pasta Fagiole) Serves 4-6 1 tbsp Oil 1 med Onion, diced 2 cups Carrot slices (or substitute Frozen crinkled carrots) 2 tsp Garlic, minced 1 lb Lean ground beef (or turkey meat) 2 tbsp + 1 tsp Milford Spice's South Lyon's Own Spaghetti Sauce Sea...

www.milfordspice.com

I may have mentioned that I’m trying out some spice mixes I found at Milford Spice Company. I wrote up several recipes which are on their blog. I’ll post links to them so you can try them.

The first Spice mixture I used was their Marks espresso rub II. I initially grilled a steak using the rub. I took the leftover steak and made a salad. To go along with the salad, I made candied nuts and an espresso vinaigrette. It was hearty enough for a lunch or dinner.

You will find all 4 recipes at http://www.milfordspice.com/Espresso-Beef-Salad_b_308.html

A word of caution....double or triple the candied nuts. I can guarantee you will have trouble keeping everybody out of them long enough to make your salad.

milfordspice.com Recipes courtesy of Judy Toth, Simply Impressive Cooking SchoolEspresso Beef Salad Romaine lettuce CucumbersTomatoes Chopped onions Espresso beef (leftover from dinner) Goat cheese Espresso pecans Espresso vinaigrette Make a salad using the ingredients shown above, or use whichever ingredien...

Playing around with some of the spice mixes from Milford Spice Company. I got an espresso rub for steaks but decided to make a vinaigrette using it. Can’t wait to post that recipe too.

You may have seen that I’m trying out a few more spice mixed from Milford Spice Company. They sent me a coupon for future orders and said it could be shared.

I’ll be posting a recipe for “minefagioli” soup shortly.

If you are planning on trying their products, feel free to use this coupon code

Can’t wait....I ordered some spices from Milford Spice Company and they should be coming in soon. I can’t wait to start writing up recipes using their products. I’ll post links as I write some up. First one is going to be my “world famous” lasagna soup.

I brined some chicken breasts in a brine from Mad Hunky Meats and they were fantastic. If you’re looking for a delicious brine, check theirs out

As you may know, I make a lot of cheesecakes and I love graham cracker crusts. Usually I buy a box of graham crackers rather than already crushed, so that I have other options for use. But I never know how many crackers I should crush for my recipe.

The rule of thumb is 14 full sheets of graham cracker equals about 1 cup. Each sheet has two crackers so this should give you some idea of how many crackers to crush and eliminate waste.

You can either crush the graham crackers in a ziploc bag using a rolling pin or put them in a food processor for more uniform crushing.

Instant Pot Tips: 15 Ways You're Using Your Instant Pot Wrong | Eat This, Not That!

I belong to a few instant pot groups and see people asking the same questions over and over. Getting started can be intimidating for some, and others just let their IP sit in the box because they are scared.

This article has some good info to help you get started and address some of the problems new users seem to have. https://www.eatthis.com/instant-pot-tips/?utm_source=nsltr&utm_medium=email&utm_content=best-processed-foods&utm_campaign=etntNewsletter

eatthis.com The Instant Pot can prepare everything from sauteed veggies to fluffy rice. New to the tool?Here are Instant Pot tips we gathered from the pros.

Yesterday, I posted a photo of some tater tot nachos I was making. Several people have asked for the recipe, so I cobbled something up quickly. They are really delicous. We had them at a restaurant but what I didn't like was that they put so much liquidy stuff on the tots, that they were soggy. I made some modifications to my recipe to make sure they aren't soggy. You can control that by making your cheese sauce thicker or thinner and also by straining the meat well so the juices from the meat don't make the tots soggy.

Here's the recipe. Let me know how you like it. It's become a new family favorite.

Tater Tot Nachos
Serves 2-4

Cheese Sauce
1 Roasted red pepper
2 Chipotle in adobo
4 oz Cream cheese
3 oz Grated cheddar cheese
2-4 tbsp Milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Tots
1 lb tater tots, baked according to directions
1 cup Chili con carne OR Taco meat, drained of extra juices, warmed
Garnishes
¼ cup Pico de gallo salsa
3-4 Scallions, sliced thinly
Guacamole
Sour Cream
Grated cheese

To prepare roasted red pepper chipotle cheese sauce, place 4 oz cream cheese and a few tablespoons of milk in a medium saucepan and stir until cream cheese is starting to melt. Add cheddar and stir until melted. Grind the roasted red pepper and chopotle in a food processor. Stir into cheese mixture. Add salt, pepper to taste. Set aside.

Meanwhile, bake tater tots according to package directions. When they are done, put you can start assembling the nachos.

First, put some of the cheese sauce on the bottom of the platter. Depending upon how long the cheese sauce has been sitting, you may need to heat it up a little. Place the tots on top of the cheese sauce.

Sprinkle warmed chili or taco meat over tater tots. Then dollop the remaining cheese sauce over the over tots. Sprinkle scallions pico de gallo over the tots. Top with a few dollops of sour cream and guacamole. Serve while warm.

Note….if you prefer, you can try cheese whiz or velveeta instead of cream cheese and cheese mixture. Just stir in the chipotle and red pepper mixture to melted cheese whiz or velveeta.

If you use taco meat, feel free to sprinkle some black beans over the tots when you sprinkle the taco meat on.

Say Goodbye to Grade B Maple Syrup: Vermont Changes Its Maple Syrup Labeling

Previously in classes using maple syrup we did syrup tastings and discussed the various types of maple syrup. My favorite was always Grade B.

It has become impossible to find Grade B maple syrup lately so I did a little research on why. It seems that maple syrup grading has been renamed.

This article was very helpful to understand the new naming of maple syrup grades. It’s probably still a little difficult to find some of the other grades, but I always had good luck finding them at places like Sprouts.

For detailed information check out this article https://www.thekitchn.com/no-more-grade-b-maple-syrup-vermont-changes-its-maple-syrup-labeling-196648

thekitchn.com (Image credit: Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association) Grade B, Grade A… have you ever been confused by maple syrup labeling? Grade “A” sounds like a higher-quality product but this is misleading; personally, I prefer Grade B, which is just as pure but darker and more robust in flavor. Wel...

Simply Impressive's Chicago deep dish recipe

If you like to make pizza for munching on New Year’s Eve, try our Chicago deep dish recipe. That’s what we’re having. https://kitchentipjar.blogspot.com/2015/12/simply-impressives-chicago-deep-dish.html

kitchentipjar.blogspot.com If you are from Chicago, you know that it's difficult to get a great deep dish pizza anywhere in the Phoenix area. There are a few places t...