House of Blues Rosemary Cornbread

I was trying to share this recipe with a friend of mine and was shocked to find out I never posted about it!

This is soooooo yummy. My favorite things about this are the bits of corn in every bite, the rosemary - heaven in bread, the sugary pan - forgive me, I'm drooling.

Eat this with Red Beans & Rice. Eat this with piping hot Chili. Eat this with Barbeque. Just EAT THIS!

House of Blues Rosemary Cornbread

Ingredients:
3 ounces frozen corn
1 tablespoon roughly chopped fresh rosemary leaves (no stems)
1 cup heavy cream
1 package corn muffin mix (I always have Jiffy stocked in my "pantry")

1/4 cup finely diced red pepper

2 eggs

1 tablespoon minced shallot or green onions (I usually prefer shallots over green onions - but who want to make another run to the G-store?)

Spray a 9x9-inch or 8x8-inch dark cake pan with non-stick oil and coat with granulated sugar.

In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Pour mixture into cake pan and bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes at 300 degrees F.


Raise temperature to 325 degrees F and bake an additional 20 minutes.

Martini's Bistro: The Twist

A few weeks ago, I was blessed to join a few book clubbers for dinner in Longmont, CO.  The book: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond (aka Pioneer Woman). I LOVE me some Pioneer Woman, I love everything about her: her humor, her life, her and her hunky husband's love story, her recipes. But I'm not here to talk about my beloved Pioneer Woman. Today is for the glory of Martini's Bistro's menu.


Their martini's FAB.U.LOUS!
Their appetizers SCRUMPTIOUS.
Their choices for entrees MOUTH-WATERING.

I gobbled (not kidding...I was hungry from a long day of work and a wimpy lunch) the Sassafras. I have a thing for sweet potatoes.

My friend Kelli was sitting next to me and ordered the Twist. We poked at each other's plates (and martinis) and were delighted in deliciousness.

I left the restaurant in complete tummy satisfaction. My hour-long commute was in taste-bud bliss. And a few days later, I still couldn't get the menu off my mind. So guess what I made.

Here's my version of the Martini's Bistro's The Twist.

And here's the part you can't see in the close-ups.

Oregano fresh from the garden, infused in liquid gold!

If you look at the menu, you'll see all the ingredients you need. I used chicken, seasoned with garlic powder, salt and pepper and drizzled with olive oil, that I baked in a 350 deg oven for 20 minutes. I used Cherub Grape Tomatoes - really, there's nothing better unless you grow them yourself (mine aren't ready for picking). I also used canned artichokes and halved kalamata olives in their own brine.

Frontega Chicken Panini

 

Ok. I've mentioned this before...I Truly. Madly. Deeply. Love me some Panera. Their pastries, breakfast, bread, lunch and dinner make my heart skip a beat. Really.

It's the perfect place. Right?

Well, with two little ones on the go, a perfect place is virtually non-existent.

Wait, I take it back. If it has a drive thru and they don't ask, "Do you want fries with that?", then it's perfect. Unfortunately, those places are EXTREMELY hard to find.

Anyway, back to Panera. My Go-To order is some combo that includes the Frontega Chicken Panini. I love it. I love it so much I don't even know why they bother to put any other panini options on the menu.

So one day, I was curious and looked up copy cat recipes.

Bingo! I found it here.

Except, it wasn't exactly what I had envisioned. So I changed it up a little bit and didn't bother with measuring.

The result: Wow! Could it be?! Did I manage to one-up Panera on this one? You be the judge!

Here's what I did:

Frontega Chicken Panini

Focaccia Bread, sliced sandwich style
Rotisserie Chicken (seriously, who has time to cook chicken and then make a sandwich?)
~1/2 c. mayonnaise
~1 T. diced green chile
~1/2 t. crushed red pepper
Basil leaves, cut into strips
1/2 red onion, sliced
1 tomato, sliced (and for me, seeded...seeds...bleh!)
Shredded mozzarella cheese

Mix mayo, green chile, and red pepper until combined. Set aside to let the flavors meld.

Heat olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Saute red onion slices until onions are tender and start caramelizing. (Why do I do this??? Because I don't like raw onions - the one exception is white onions in piping hot albondigas soup. But I digress. This is the one thing I don't like about Panera. You can't ask them to remove the raw onions. They just won't. So I just remove them before eating. But at home, I can have onions any way I want. And sauteed is the way I like it.)

Spread the mayo mixtures on the top and bottom slices of the focaccia bread. On the bottom slice, start by spreading the rotisserie chicken first, followed by the cooked onions,a single layer of tomatoes, the basil strips, and lastly the mozzarella cheese. Top it off with the other slice of bread.

Bake in a 350 deg oven for ~7-8 minutes. (I don't have a panini press. This could possibly take this sandwich to a whole new level for me. I don't plan on buying one any time soon. But I can dream.)

Panera Bread Broccoli Cheese Soup

Panera Bread Broccoli Cheese Soup

Love Panera Bread! LOVE THIS SOUP!!

If you don't have a Panera near you. I am sorry. We are bread people. Bring on the carbs. Hello Fontega Chicken Panini. Hello Cinnamon Crunch Bagel. Hello French Bread (for French toast). We <3 Panera!

Anyway, back to the recipe.

What I did...

I chopped the broccoli into tiny, tiny pieces.

I used bagged shredded carrots.

I didn't set the sauteed onions aside. One less dish to clean, the better.

I skipped the whole puree part. Again, less dishes to clean.

I didn't have any on hand tonight, but serve this with a yummy French bread baguette. When I'm in Panera I use my baguette as my spoon. :P

Pavo Panini

Lagarto’s is one of my favorite restaurants. Their panini’s are THE best. Sadly, I hear they are closing in the near future because the rent is too high. This is surprising to me because every time I’ve been there it’s been busy. Hopefully they won't completely close and will find another location. Anyway, one of my favorite paninis there is called the Pavo. I’ve made it at home and it's pretty close.

If you don’t have a panini grill, you can just to what I do, use two heavy skillets. One skillet not heavy enough? Stack the second one with a couple cans of tuna :)

Pavo Panini

Pesto Sauce (Preferrably home-made – I made a sauce using almonds instead of pine nuts because I had them already on-hand and they’re cheaper)
Cranberry Sauce (I used canned and jellied sauce)
Oven roasted turkey breast
Brie cheese, sliced
Focaccia bread, halved

Heat the grill or skillet medium-low to medium.

Generously spread some pesto sauce on one half of the bread. Generously spread some cranberry sauce on the other half of the bread. Layer a few slices of turkey breast and the cheese between the bread slices.

Place the sandwich on the grill and press. Heat until bread is toasted and cheese is melted.

If using two skillets, place the sandwich on the heated skillet and top the sandwich with the other skillet. If the sandwich doesn’t get pressed down, weigh down the second skillet with a couple of cans (tuna works well – they have a low center of gravity :)). Flip the sandwich over to toast both sides.

Sometimes, if I can't grill my sandwich fresh, I'll just eat it un-heated, which is also yummie.

Enjoy!!!

Spring Fling Cake

To commence sweets eating, I thought I'd begin with a Spring Fling Cake. I got the idea from my officemate whose wife made it. He showed me pictures of what it looked like and I thought it looked soooooo beautiful - the perfect welcome-back-I've-missed-you-come-and-get-it dessert. The recipe is on the internet and is supposed to be the recipe for the Spring Fling Cake served at The Market Coffee Shop in Larimer Square in Downtown Denver.

A few notes:

- I'd keep the middle layer of fruit to a minimum. I think I went overboard and the filling had a hard time saying in the middle. After a little car ride I found that part of the filling has slipped out.

- At the recommendation of my officemate, I doubled the frosting. I actually forgot to double the amount of powdered sugar, but it turned out perfect - not too sweet. The recipe only directs you to frost the in between and top of the cake, but I just did the whole thing.

- I sliced the kiwi and strawberries with an egg slicer. This made for even slices.

- Next time I'll arrange the fruit on the top better, such that the slices overlap more.

- The cake texture, once baked, is more like a muffin texture (not as firm as bread, but not as firm as cake). I bet they'd be just as yummie as cupcakes.

Spring Fling Cake

For the cake:

2 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
5 eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sour cream
1/2 tablespoon plus ½ teaspoon vanilla extract (for frosting)
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt

For frosting:
3/4 cup cream cheese
1/4 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream

Fruit for cake:
1 pint strawberries, cleaned, stemmed and sliced
4 kiwi fruit, peeled and sliced
2 mangoes, peeled and sliced
1 pint blueberries
Apricot glaze, or apricot jelly thinned out with a bit of warm water, optional

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch cake.

• To prepare the cake: Shred the zucchini in a food processor. In a large mixing bowl combine shredded zucchini, eggs, sugar, oil, sour cream and ½ tablespoon vanilla.

• When thoroughly mixed, combine all dry ingredients and add to bowl; mix well. Batter should be fairly wet and easy to pour.

• Pour in the batter and bake for 50 to 70 minutes, testing with a toothpick in center.

• Cool finished cake on a rack for 10 minutes, then remove it from the pan and allow it to cool completely. (You can make the cake a day ahead and refrigerate.)

• To prepare frosting, whip room temperature cream cheese and butter until smooth. Gradually add the powdered sugar, mixing until well combined.

• In a separate bowl, whip the cream until stiff, and then fold it and the ½ teaspoon vanilla into the frosting. Do not overmix.

• To assemble cake: Cut the cooled cake in half lengthwise, making two layers. (The Market cuts the cake into three layers, which you may do if desired.)

• Spread an even layer of frosting over the first layer, and then add a layer of the various fruit pieces (repeat if three layers).

• Put on the top layer of cake and evenly frost. The sides of the cake are not frosted; use extra to fill in, as needed.

• Arrange the fruit in circles all over the top of cake, slightly overlapping fruit pieces.

• To finish: Spread the apricot glaze over fruit on top of the cake with a pastry brush.

Pan Fried Tilapia with White Wine and Capers

This dish reminds me of my favorite dish from Johnny Carino's. I actually think it was taken off the menu, but Alex assures me that this is a repeat dish in our house.

It's a very forgiving recipe. Annie always wants to be held whenever I need to make dinner so I hardly ever measure anything. You'll notice hardly any of my posts require baking which requires a certain degree of accuracy.

I made a few additions to the recipe to make it more like Johnny Carino's. I added a few sliced black olives (canned) and some green olives and pimentos (from a jar) to the wine mixture. I also served it over angel hair pasta. And lastly, I didn't use parsley.

20 min

1/4 c. dry white wine

1/4 c. tomato (chopped and seeded)

2 T. fresh lemon juice

2 T. capers (drained)

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 t. dried basil

4 tilapia fillets (6-ouces each)

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. fresh ground black pepper

1/4 c all-purpose flour

cooking spray

1 T. olive oil

2 T. butter

2 T. parsley

1 lemon (cut into wedges, optional)

Combine the first 6 ingredients, stirring well. Set aside.

Sprinkle fillets with salt and pepper. Dredge fillets lightly in flour, and coat both sides of fillets with cooking spray.

Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over med-high heat. Add fillets; cook 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium; turn fillets, and cook 3 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Remove from pan.

Add wine mixture to pan; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in butter until melted. Spoon wine mixture over fillets; sprinkle with parsley. Serve with lemon wedges, if desired.

Spicy Romano Chicken

Back when Alex and I used to eat out often, we loved going to Johnny Carino's. And one of my favorite dishes there was the Spicy Romano Chicken: Bowtie pasta, cayenne pepper romano cream sauce, artichokes, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and green onions. It has two of some of my favorite things, artichokes and sun-dried tomatoes! Turns out this dish is really easy to make. I made it using rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, without mushrooms and with Parmesan cheese instead. Here is the recipe courtesy of recipezaar.com.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (cooked, thinly sliced)
1/2 cuo sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup diced green onion
1/8 cup sliced sun-dried tomato

alfredo sauce (made from your favorite recipe or from a jar)
1/4 cup grated romano cheese 1 (12 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
cayenne pepper
bow tie pasta, cooked

In pan melt butter, saute chicken, mushrooms, green onions, artichokes and sudried tomatoes until hot.

Add Alfredo sauce and Romano cheese. Simmer.

Add cayenne pepper to taste. Serve over bowtie pasta. ENJOY!