S'more Cups

I made this treat for a party with some old friends last night.  There were no leftovers to take home.  It was a fun transformation on the classic s'more treat.

S'more Cups

Ingredients:

7 whole graham crackers, finely crushed (about 1 c.)

1/4 c. powdered sugar

6 T. butter, melted
4 Hershey bars, divided
12 large marshmallows

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, and butter.  Using small scoop, put scant amount of crumb mix into each cup of a mini muffin pan.  Press to form cup.  Bake 4-5 min until edges are bubbling.  Meanwhile break 2 Hershey bars into rectangles and cut marshmallows in half crosswise with scissors dipped in cold water.  Remove pan from oven.  Put one chocolate rectangle in each muffin cup.  Top with one marshmallow (cut side down.)  Return to oven for 1-2 minutes until the marshmallow is slightly softened.  Remove from oven.  Cool.  Carefully remove from pan.  Melt remaining Hershey bars in microwave for 1-1 1/2 minutes, stirring every 20 seconds until smooth.  Dip top of each marshmallow into melted chocolate.  Let stand, top side for 40 minutes or until set.

In my test kitchen:

I wasn't sure if I should grease the muffin tins or not.  Since it did not specifically say so in the recipe I decided not to.  They came out of the pan just fine.  In fact, I think 6 T of butter might be a little too much.  The graham cracker part came out a little bit greasy.  I would use 4-5 T next time.  Also, the recipe wasn't very clear on exactly when to remove the s'mores from the muffin pan.  I let them cool for about 10 minutes and started to transfer them to a wire rack.  Some came out well but a few of the cups seemed a little crumbly, as if the graham cracker was still too warm.  So I left them in the muffin pan to cool completely.  They were much easier to transfer at this point. 

Clint thought a little toasted coconut would be really good sprinkled on top.  I love coconut flavoring but am not a huge fan of actually coconut.  But I must agree...a little coconut-flavored crunch on top might be really good.  I may find a way to incorporate that next time I make it.

~Happy Cooking!

Penne with Spicy Vodka Tomato Cream Sauce

Lately I have been searching for recipes that will allow me to use up different items in my fridge before they go bad.  I had a package of Mild Italian Sausage links that I had NO idea what to do with.  So I turned again to my trusty All Recipes app on my phone and found this recipe. 

Penne with Spicy Vodka and Tomato Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

1 lb. uncooked penne pasta

1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 t. crushed red pepper flakes

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

3/4 t. salt

2 T. vodka

1/2 c. heavy whipping cream

1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley

2 (3.5 oz) links sweet Italian sausage

Directions:

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.  Add pasta and cook for 8-10 min or until al dente; drain.
In a large skillet, heat oil over moderate heat.  Remove casing from sausage and add to skillet.  Cook; breaking up the meat, until brown.  Add garlic and red pepper and cook, stirring until garlic is golden brown.
Add tomatoes and salt; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 min.
Add vodka and cream and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and add pasta.  Toss for 1 minute.  Stir in fresh parsley and serve.

In my test kitchen:

I love reading other people's reviews of a dish!  I found lots of helpful suggestions for this one.  One person said he was a pasta snob and preferred a pasta in this dish that "snuggled the sauce."  This made me laugh!  But I decided to switch out the penne for a pasta called Campanelle.  It looked snuggly enough for me.  I really like meat so I added an extra link of sausage and also was careful not to break it up too much so there were nice big chunks of meat in it.

I didn't have vodka on hand and didn't want to buy any but I had white wine so I used about 4 T of that instead.  I thought it still enhanced the flavors of this dish really well. 

Red pepper is quite strong.  Seth kept telling me his tongue hurt.  So I will reduce this dramatically next time so it is more kid friendly.

And I took some advice from others on ways to make this dish a little healthier.  I added raw spinach to the dish when I added the white wine and I substituted half and half mixed with 1t. of cornstarch for the whipping cream.  And I finally sprinkled some shredded parmesan on the pasta right before serving.

~Happy Cooking!

Pork Egg Rolls

My mother-in-law had Seth over at her house last night for a sleep over so Clint and I grabbed some of our favorite ham fried rice from a chinese restaurant and decided to relax at home and watch some episodes of Pysch.  But I'm all about the side dishes.  I can't just eat ham fried rice.  I need little appetizers to go along with my meal.  So I whipped up these pork egg rolls in just a few minutes to eat as well.

Pork Egg Rolls

Ingredients:

1/4 c. soy sauce

2 T. rice vinegar

1 T. light brown sugar

6 c. vegetable oil

1 napa cabbage (about 2 1/2 pounds), thinly sliced
4 medium carrots, coarsley grated
4 garlic cloves, minced

1 T. grated fresh ginger

coarse salt and ground pepper

6 scallions, thinly sliced

16 egg roll wrappersn (6-7 inches square)

1 large egg, lightly beaten

bottled sweet and sour sauce and spicy mustard, for serving

Directions:

In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar.  In a large skillet, heat 1 T oil over med-high heat.  Add cabbage, carrots, garlic, and ginger; season with salt and pepper.  Cook, tossing, until vegetables are tender, 3-5 minutes. 

Raise heat to high; add pork and soy mixture.  Cook tossing , until pork is no longer pink and liquid has evaporated, 5-7 minutes.  Mix in scallions.  Transfer mixture to a plate to cool.  Lay wrappers flat on a work surface, Place 1/3 c. pork mixture in the center of each egg roll wrapper.  Using a pastry brush, wet border of wrapper with egg.  Fold point of wrapper that's closest to you over the pork mixture and tuck under the filling.  Fold both side corners in toward the center of the wrapper.  (It should look like an open envelope.)  Tightly roll up filled pocket to close wrapper, then gently press down to seal edges. 
In a 5 quart pot, heat remaining oil until a deep-fry thermometer registers 350 degrees.  Working in batches of 4, and returning oil to 350 degrees for each batch, fry egg rolls until golden, turning occasionally, about 2 minutes.  Drain on paper towels.  Serve with sweet and sour sauce and spicy mustard.

In my test kitchen:

Having never really worked with cabbage before, I bought a pre-packaged bag of sliced cabbage for this recipe.  Worked out great.  I also sort of eyeballed the amount of cabbage I put in the skillet and I don't think I really used enough.  By the time I realized this, I felt that it was a little too late to add more cabbage to the mixture.
I didn't have fresh ginger on hand so I used the powder.  (I just recently learned that dried spices are actually stronger in taste than fresh spices so I used 1/2 the amount called for in the recipe.)
I also saved myself the trouble and used a deep fryer to cook these rather than heat oil on the stove.

So as I'm typing this recipe out, I am asking myself, "what didn't I like about this recipe?"  Clint really liked it but I didn't love love it.  I realized that it may be because I used ground pork sausage as opposed to just ground pork.  Is there a difference?  I'm not sure so I'm going to check out the meat section next time I go grocery shopping.  I don't know, for some reason Clint just loves pork sausage in won tons or these egg rolls but it just doesn't taste as "chinese-y" to me.  Does that make any sense? 

Still, it was a good first attempt.

~Happy Cooking!