July Secret Recipe Club: Baked Caprese Salad

Baked Caprese Salad

You'd think I wouldn't be surprised when the fourth Monday of the month rolls around these days. I should be accustomed to how fast months go by. But I'm not. And I got caught off guard. Again. But never fear! This delightful Baked Caprese Salad came together in no time flat and totally hit the spot!

Ain't nothin' better than a juicy tomato. 

This month's Secret Recipe Club assignment the fun blog The Adventures of an Epic Baker. She's got tons of great recipes and I found myself drawn to all of her cheesy, tomatoey dishes: Asparagus, Cherry Tomatoes in a White Wine Goat Cheese Sauce; Mozzarella, Tomato, and Basil Couscous; Caprese-Esque Pasta. I had a four hour drive home from a wedding shower today (totally worth it to see so much of my family!) and wanted a fast and easy dinner. I really wanted the pasta, but alas, no wine can be purchased on Sunday, and I didn't think in advance.


So I perused The Adventures of an Epic Baker one last time and picked out the Baked Caprese Salad. I make something similar that I fondly call Cheesy Bread. But this recipe elevates Cheesy Bread to the next level. Yum. Of note, the grocery store was out of basil. And well, I haven't started my herb garden yet. Oops. I picked up parsley instead and loved the grassy, fresh taste. Would basil have been better? Of course!


After reading the author's comments, I made several small tweaks. Enjoy!

Tomatoes on toast? Yes, please!

Baked Caprese Salad
lightly adapted from The Adventures of an Epic Baker


Ingredients:
6 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
2 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
5 thick slices Italian bread
1 ½ teaspoons olive oil
salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Brush olive oil on bread on one side in an even layer. Bake for 5 minutes or until lightly toasted. 
3. Remove from oven and turn the oven to broil. 
4. Layer lightly salted chopped tomatoes and torn mozzarella pieces on the bread pieces, piling your ingredients to the height of your liking. Lightly salt and pepper the cheese.
5. Return to the oven until the cheese is melted (your oven is on broil, start checking after one minute!). If you prefer your cheese bubbly and brown, go for it! Sprinkle liberally with herb of your choice and serve. 

THOUGHTS:
There is something about tomatoes and mozzarella that just makes my belly happy.


VERDICT:
It's-delicious-but-I-should-have-added-garlic: 1 vote!

Cheesy, tomatoey goodness!

Baked Peanut Butter Oatmeal: June Secret Recipe Club

Baked Peanut Butter Oatmeal in an all edges brownie pan

It's time for Group D's Secret Recipe Club June reveal! I have to admit I was quite intimidated this month! I was assigned the woman who just became SRC's head honcho! Yikes. But it's all good. I love April's style of cooking: “While you wont find any gourmet recipes here, you WILL find yummy, down-home cooking, that is easy to prepare and taste great.” Now that's a cooking philosophy I can get behind.

I scoured the Recipe page of Angel's Homestead looking for something I could make from pantry ingredients. It was so hot today that I couldn't bare the thought of getting out of the house and driving to the grocery store for extra ingredients. I'm also on a quest to find more breakfast stuff that I might actually be willing to eat. I kind of abhor cereal. My friends think I'm a freak, but I just can't stand soggy cereal. I can definitely go for a crunchy granola with Greek yogurt and blueberries, but a girl can only eat that so many mornings. And the option at work is an egg and cheese biscuit. I admit, I go for that way too many days out of the work week. So, I decided to try out one of April's baked oatmeals.

I had to make a few changes because I only had steel cut oats in the house. My changes were made purely to accommodate the extra liquid and extra cooking time required for the steel cut oats.

The all edge pan was not a brilliant stroke of genius, but I've had
it for six months and decided it was high time to use it!

Baked Peanut Butter Oatmeal
adapted from Angel's Homestead, originally from Tidy Mom

Ingredients:

¾ cup steel cut oats

¼ cup brown sugar (can use more if you like it sweeter)

2 ½ cups milk (pick your favorite)
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp salt
½ cup peanut butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8x8 pan with cooking spray.

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl and stir well. Pour into pan and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until set.

THOUGHTS:

I actually used 3 cups of milk instead of 2 ½, but found the liquid to be a bit too much. I hadn't thought about accounting for the liquid of the egg when I decided how much milk to use. Tastewise though, I thought the oatmeal was spot on. I enjoyed the texture of the oats (I'm a steel-cut-newbie). As long as I thought of the oatmeal as oatmeal instead of a cookie, I found that I quite enjoyed it. Bender was expecting dessert when he tried it, so he thought it was a fail. But I disagree!

VERDICT:

A-great-alternative-to-instant-oatmeal: 1 vote!

Eww: 1 vote

Breakfast is served!

Secret Recipe Club May 2012: Fanned Potatoes

Fanned Potatoes with Sirloin Roast and Brussels Sprouts

Hello last Monday of the month! It's a holiday, I'm on vacation, and I'm enjoying my time away. But don't worry, before I left for vacation I whipped up my recipe for Secret Recipe Club!

I drooled over my assigned blog this month, Lynsey Lou's. She's got a great selection of sides, pastas, and desserts. Frankly, I could keep going about the deliciousness, but I want to introduce you to these fabulous fanned potatoes I chose.

Be very careful slicing those potatoes, most likely you'll go completely through
the  potato a few times. Don't sweat the small stuff. 

Fanned Potatoes

adapted from Lynsey Lou

1 russet potato
1 onion, thinly sliced

butter

salt

pepper

garlic (if fresh, minced, otherwise powder)

1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
2. Thinly slice the potato, not quite all the way through so that the potato is able to fan out.
3. Cover the potato with pats of butter (1-2 tablespoons), and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic to taste. Drape over onions if desired.
4. Roast the potato until cooked through, about 1 hour.
5. Enjoy!

THOUGHTS:

I love potatoes, and these didn't disappoint. These potatoes are easy, inexpensive, and have a lovely mouthfeel. They are crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside. The only thing that would make these better would be more fat, preferably in the forms of bacon and cheese. But if you are going for a low fat healthy version, feel free to just use butter.

VERDICT:

Not-too-bad: 1 vote!

The-possibility-for-stuffing-these-potatoes-are-endless: 1 vote!

I'm all over the one skillet cooking.

Secret Recipe Club: Goat Cheese Marinara

Goat Cheese with Roasted Tomatoes

Can you believe another month has come and gone? I can't. A lot has changed in the last month. I now have a full time job and am headed towards a permanent position. And we are looking for a house. We've been going to open houses every weekend since we moved to Nashville and now have an agent. So yes, things are moving along.

In the chaos, my cooking has fallen by the wayside. The first week out with agent, I cooked twice. While that is not a small amount for some people, I normally cook 7-9 times per week. So twice was just nuts to me. In the meantime, we've been exploring the restaurants in the area where we are house hunting. Because of course we aren't house hunting where we live currently. That would make WAY too much sense. What can I say, we crave a bit more urban of a lifestyle than where we are now.

Oh, but this all leads us back to Secret Recipe Club! Woot! I love participating in this club every month. And I adore that I was able to pick a recipe that fits with my current out-of-the-kitchen lifestyle. So Tasty, So Yummy has so many choices that I didn't know where to start. So I looked at it when I got my assignment and then didn't look at it again until the Saturday morning before our post date. I didn't have to scroll very far into her new stuff before I started drooling. You see, she posted a dish that I've had on my list to make for TWO YEARS! Two years, I tell you! And I came thisclose to making it. Alas, my weekend plans changed and Anthony Bourdain's Roti de Porc au Lait has yet to happen.

But don't fret, I still adored what I made! As I thumbed through her labels, I found one that sang to me: goat cheese! You see, I had already planned to make my Risotto Primavera. I never use the full 4 ounce log of goat cheese in my risotto and was looking for a way to use the leftovers. I had every intention of serving this Goat Cheese Marinara with toast, but the more I looked at it, the more it looked like the perfect risotto topping. And thus, that's how it was served. Oh, and the reason I used fresh tomatoes instead of canned as recommended by So Tasty, So Yummy? I knew I'd be the only one eating it and wanted to scale down without wasting the rest of a can. I'll be using the can when I make this for a crowd. Do check out the original recipe!

Fresh tomatoes with salt, pepper, and sugar

Goat Cheese Marinara

adapted from So Tasty,So Yummy

serves 2

Ingredients:

1 tomato, diced

¼ tsp sugar

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

1 ½ ounces goat cheese

Directions:

Preheat toaster oven to 400ºF. Toss diced tomato with sugar and spices. Place in small ramekin and bake 15 minutes or until tomatoes are juicy and soft. Add goat cheese to top of the tomato mixture and return dish to toaster oven. Bake another 15 minutes or until goat cheese is browned on top.

Serve with toasted slices of French bread or as a topper to your favorite Risotto Primavera.

THOUGHTS:

Oh so easy to make and oh so delicious. The acidity of the tomatoes played off the goat cheese beautifully. And added to the risotto? Magnifico!

VERDICT:

Yummy-as-a-dip-or-a-risotto-topping: 1 vote!

I-don't-feel-like-trying-something-new-tonight: 1 vote

Goat cheese marinara turned risotto topping

Secret Recipe Club: Homemade Fajita Seasoning

I used to love making those layered sand thingys!

It's Secret Recipe Club time! Believe it or not, I have four dishes ready to go on the blog, but have failed in the writing-it-up stage. I seem to have writer's block. Or at least, that's what I'm calling my I'm-too-busy-obsessing-over-house-hunting-to-focus-on-anything-else brain. :) But alas, Secret Recipe Club beckoned and I temporarily came out of my house obsession to make some scrumptious food!

Secret Recipe Club comes around once a month on my blog, but you can check out Secret Recipe Club creations 4 Mondays a month! Are you a blogger interested in joining in the fun? Sign up here!

I have to admit I was quite intimidated when I saw the blog I was assigned: Anne Jisca's Healthy Pursuits! This woman is pretty amazing. She grinds her own flours and her normal kitchen stock is incredible. One day I'll be like her! I drooled over Anne's breads (spelt biscuits, Hearty Harvest Bread, Rye Bread, Spelt Bread), and came thisclose to making her granola bars. I'll definitely have to try out her recipe when I finally decide I'm ready to make granola bars!

So what did I go for? A recipe where I had everything in the pantry! Woot! I love it when that happens! I was also able to tie it into a Double Take with Tabitha. I love multi-tasking recipes! Almost as much as I love spice rubs! So yes, I picked a spice rub-ish. We'll call this one a spice mix :)

All Shook Up!

Homemade Fajita Seasoning

adapted from Anne Jisca's Healthy Pursuits

2 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp paprika
1 Tbsp sugar
½ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp cumin
½ tsp cayenne
¼ tsp red pepper flakes

Combine ingredients in an air-tight container. Two heaping tablespoons is equivalent to one packet.

THOUGHTS:

I modified my fajita seasoning because I was using the crock pot and cooking the chicken directly in chicken broth, so I did not need chicken bouillon. Also, I left out the cornstarch because I wasn't sure how it would hold up in the crock pot. If someone else knows, do let me in on your secrets!

In the future, I would stick to Anne's use of the fajita seasoning rather than going for shredded chicken in the crock pot. Check out her original post for the recipe and directions! Also, I think the mix would make an excellent rub on grilled chicken for tacos. The fajita seasoning has a nice balance of flavors. If you like heat on your fajitas, feel free to double the cayenne and/or red pepper flakes.

VERDICT:

The-fajita-seasoning-is-a-hit: 2 votes!

Pulled Chicken Tacos with Queso Blanco, Tomatoes, Lettuce, and Salsa