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A Life From Scratch.

A Life You Adore Around A Table You Love.

Archives for March 2011

‘If I’m going to eat a burger…’

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It’s going to be this one.

If you haven’t figured out by now, I have a sweet tooth. Scratch that – I have sweet TEETH. It’s a bit of a problem if not properly balanced out with extreme healthy eating when it comes to my meals. I have to admit – I am quite disciplined. Extremely healthy breakfasts (aside from the sticky buns), almost always a salad for lunch, and a homemade dinner where I can control the quality/quantity of ingredients. Not bad.

But then I have moments where I just HAVE to have a burger. Since it’s rare it better be amazing. I’m not going to waste the opportunity on driving through Culvers. No way. I’m making my own brie/blue-rugala burgers.

What on earth are those? Well, they are a combination of a few things: 1. Rachael Ray’s original recipe titled ‘Blue-rugala Burgers’ and 2. M’s refusel to grow up and join the adult world’s absolute LOVE of blue cheese so we need to purchase TWO excellent gourmet cheeses, blue and brie. Way to keep the grocery costs down M.

But wait! The burgers don’t stop at the cheeses. The meat is flavored perfectly, there are slowly caramelized onions with spicy dijon mustard and brown sugar, and to top it all off, peppery arugula to sit on top. Or, as my editor’s husband would say ‘salad that tastes like dirt.’ Honestly – why am I dining with these people? Catherine – let’s go out.

Blue/Brie-rugala Burgers
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Ingredients
  1. 1 1/2 lbs ground sirloin
  2. 3 cloves garlic, mined
  3. 3 TBS worchestershire
  4. Handful of parsley, chopped
  5. 2 onions, sliced
  6. 2 TBS olive oil
  7. 2 TBS butter
  8. salt & pepper
  9. splash of water
  10. 1 TBS light brown sugar
  11. 2 TBS spicy dijon mustard
  12. Good quality brie cheese
  13. Good quality blue cheese
  14. Arugula, enough for 4 hamburgers
  15. 4 buns, toasted if you prefer
Instructions
  1. Mix meat, garlic, worchestershire sauce, and parsley together lightly with a fork. Form 4 patties.
  2. Heat large skillet over medium low heat. Melt the butter and olive oil together. Add in the onions, season with salt & pepper, and cook over low heat for 20 minutes. Add in the splash of water, brown sugar, and mustard. Stir to combine, heat through, and then turn off heat.
  3. Meanwhile, heat the outdoor grill or indoor grill pan. Cook the burgers over medium heat for about 8 - 10 minutes. The last minute put a thick slice of the brie cheese and a thick slice of the blue cheese on each of the burgers. (Unless you are M. In this case he won't even touch the blue cheese going on to my burger. Sigh.) Toast the buns at this point if you'd like.
  4. Top the cheesy burgers with the caramelized onions and 'clean' arugula.
Adapted from Rachael Ray
Adapted from Rachael Ray
A Life From Scratch. https://a-life-from-scratch.com/

Totally worth logging in some miles on the treadmill. Totally.
Courtney

L’s chopped pecan cookies

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A long Monday at the salt mines. I couldn’t wait to get home to bake. The butter and eggs were already on the counter, thank you MB. L is funny – most of the time he ignores my baking with the occasional ‘why do you ALWAYS have to do that’ when the mixer is swirling around. Good question. But today he was all about it. I barely had my coat off and his stool was pushed up against the cabinets ready to go.

‘What are we making mom?’
‘Well, I was thinking chocolate chip cookies. With pecans. I bought a lot of pecans and would like to use them.’
‘Ok, peanut butter too right? For daddy?’
‘Ummm….no. I wasn’t planning on that.’
‘Daddy will be mad.’
‘I doubt that.’
‘He will.’

I then distracted him with some chocolate chips and we were good to go. Things were going well – all the ingredients were, for the most part, making it to the mixer and there were no egg shells in the batter. Things turned a bit south when the pecan chopping process began. I already got through the two cups when L pulled the stool around to help me. He grabbed, what I thought, was one of our very dull every day knives. No problem there – chop away dude. A few moments later I realized he was slowly and diligently chopping the pecans with one of our very NOT dull steak knives. Now daddy might be mad at that. Disaster avoided though – all 10 fingers were still in tact. Whew!

These cookies are chewy and crunchy all at the same time. If you love pecans you’ll love them. You can of course substitute walnuts. Bonus, there is only ONE stick of butter in these cookies. What a nice change of pace from my typical 2 sticks. Ok fine, yes, (sometimes) 3 sticks.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies
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Ingredients
  1. 1 stick unsalted butter
  2. 3/4 cup sugar
  3. 1 cup light brown sugar
  4. 1 tsp vanilla
  5. 2 large eggs
  6. 1 1/2 cups flour
  7. 1 tsp baking soda
  8. 1 tsp salt
  9. 1 cup oats
  10. 12 oz chocolate chips
  11. 2 cups pecans, chopped
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Beat the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add in vanilla and mix, then eggs one at a time and mix together. Add in sifted flour, baking soda, and salt slowly. Stir in oats, chocolate chips, and pecans by hand. Drop by just the TBS onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
  3. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes, depending on your oven.
A Life From Scratch. https://a-life-from-scratch.com/

Spending the time with L baking these and enjoying them together is just what I needed on this particular Monday late afternoon.

Thanks L,
Courtney

‘Occasional’ Sticky Buns

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Before we proceed: these are not, by any means, a healthy way to start your day. If you are looking for that please head on over to the homemade granola bars or the banana crunch muffins. Those are both completely acceptable forms of breakfast for your normal day to day routine. These are not.

We were at brunch while on vacation when I saw M consume a sticky bun in lighting fast speed. I’m don’t think he even made it to the table to eat it – more of a ‘grab from the serving table and inhale on the way back and hope no one is looking’ kind of thing. But I was. I’d never seen him eat something so sweet so fast. So of course my first Saturday home I had to replicate.

I LOVED how this recipe turned out and it will for sure become a ‘staple’ in our home. I will always try to have the ingredients on hand to whip them up in case a good friend stops by or a neighbor deserves a treat. They are everything a sticky bun should be – warm, gooey, melty, chewy. With a glass of (I’m thinking skim) milk they are the perfect occasional treat for breakfast.

'Occasional' Sticky Buns
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Ingredients
  1. 1 stick unsalted butter
  2. 1/3 cup light brown sugar
  3. 1/2 cup peans, chopped in large pieces
  4. 1 package frozen puff pastry, defrosted
For the filling
  1. 2 TBS unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  2. 2/3 cup light brown sugar
  3. 3 tsp cinnamon
  4. 1 cup raisins or cranberries
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place a 12 cup muffin tin on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
  2. Mix together the stick of butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar. Place 1 rounded tsp of the mixture in each of the 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle the pecans evenly among the muffin cups on top of the butter/sugar mixture.
  3. Lightly flour a wooden/stone surface. Unfold 1 sheet of puff pasty with the folds going left to right. Brush the whole sheet lightly with the melted butter. Leaving a 1 inch border on the puff pasty, sprinkle with 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1.5 tsp of cinnamon and 1/2 cup of raisins/cranberries. Starting from the left side slowly roll the pastry snugly finishing the roll with the seam side down. Trim both ends of the roll. Slice in 6 equal pieces and place each piece, spiral side up, in 6 of the muffin cups. Repeat with the second sheet of puff pasty for a total of 12 sticky buns.
  4. Bake for 30 minutes, until the sticky buns are golden brown. Allow to cool for 5 minutes only then invert the buns onto the parchment paper. Spoon out any of the filling that did not fall out. Yummmm.
Adapted from Ina Garten
Adapted from Ina Garten
A Life From Scratch. https://a-life-from-scratch.com/

I’m thinking plain whole wheat toast with fruit for breakfast tomorrow…
Courtney

83 degrees to 33 degrees. Time for some comfort.

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Tuesday morning I was sunning myself in 83 degrees. Tuesday night I was dragging my luggage through the parking lot at O’hare with the wind/rain/ice hitting me at a balmy 33 degrees. Awesome. Why, again, do we live here? We seem to ask ourselves that question yearly and yet we never move. Hmmm.

The past 2 days have been a bit of a system shock. Snowy weather + no food in the house + back to the saltmines = one slightly cranky Courtney. Time to get myself to a better place. Beautiful hydrangeas on sale at Fresh Market? Yes please. Comforting bowl of Italian Wedding Soup? On it.

I’m obsessed with this recipe. It definitely falls in my ‘top 5’ soup category. I find it really fun making teeny tiny little meatballs – they are super cute. And the ‘body’ of the soup comes together very easily so it doesn’t take long before you go from chopping away to sipping comfort. Let’s hope this melts the last of the snow on the ground away….I can see tulip bulbs!

Italian Wedding Soup
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Ingredients for meatballs
  1. 3/4 lbs ground chicken
  2. 1/2 lbs italian chicken sausage, casings removed
  3. 2/3 cup fresh bread crumbs
  4. 1 egg, lightly beaten
  5. 2 garlic cloves, minced
  6. 3 TBS milk
  7. 3 TBS freshly chopped parsley
  8. 1 cup freshly grated parmesan
  9. salt & pepper
Ingredients for soup
  1. 2 TBS olive oil
  2. 1 large onion, chopped
  3. 6 carrots, chopped
  4. 4 celery stalks, chopped
  5. 12 cups good chicken stock
  6. 3/4 cup good white wine (use the bottle you are sipping on!! Yum)
  7. 1 cup small pasta (stars, noodles, whatever you prefer)
  8. 1/3 cup freshly chopped dill
  9. cooked meatballs from above
  10. 12 ounces fresh spinach or kale, whatever looks freshest
  11. salt & pepper, to taste
  12. more parmesan, for sprinkling on top
Directions for meatballs
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Mix above ingredients together with a fork until just combined. Drop by the TBS onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 30 minutes. It should make about 30ish small meatballs.
Directions for soup
  1. Heat olive oil in large soup pot over medium heat. Saute onion, carrots, and celery until tender, about 8 minutes. Pour in stock and wine and bring to a boil. Lower heat, add pasta, and cook for 7 minutes. Add in dill and meatballs and simmer for a few minutes. Add in spinach/kale and allow to cook for another minute. Add salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls immediately and top with freshly grated parmesan cheese.
Adapted from Ina Garten
Adapted from Ina Garten
A Life From Scratch. https://a-life-from-scratch.com/

I REFUSE to put on my winter coat again.
Courtney

P.S. These changed my day and I love things like that so had to share – I hope they brighten yours:

‘French Onion Soup – Pasta Format’

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Are you a big fan of a warm and cheesy bowl of french onion soup? How about we take those flavors, break them down, and put them into a hearty pasta dish? Yes please.

This recipe has been a staple in our home for years now and every time I make it I hear M say ‘wow, this is SO good!! Why don’t we eat this more often?’ (Blank stare from me)…..well…..we do. It just doesn’t get old, apparently. The flavor is amazing for the little amount of ingredients the recipe has. And it comes together quite quickly on a busy week night. Solid all around.

The only time consuming part of the recipe is slicing the shallots. If you are someone (like me) that finds it calming to peel and slice things then you’ll really enjoy this step. If you find it annoying – well, I’m sorry. Make it anyway because I promise the (annoying) shallots will make it up to you later when they are all caramelized and cheesy and wrapped around pasta.

French Onion Soup - Pasta Format
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Ingredients
  1. 10 large shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
  2. 2 TBS unsalted butter
  3. 2 TBS good olive oil
  4. salt & pepper
  5. 1 package whole wheat spaghetti
  6. 1/4 cup starchy cooking water (from pasta)
  7. 1 cup good parmessan, plus more for sprinkling on top
  8. freshly chopped parsley
Instructions
  1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add salt and cook pasta just shy of al dente. Reserve 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid.
  2. Meanwhile, in a large saute pan melt butter and olive oil together over low heat. Add sliced shallots to the pan, season generously with salt and pepper and mix around. Go check on the kids. Come back and give them a good stir. Open the mail. Give another good stir. Help with homework, stir, pick up the toddler pulling at your leg, have the toddler stir, put a show on 'On Demand', stir, pour yourself a big glass of wine, let's put the toddler down now, and finally stir again. Super multi-tasking dinner, see? Give the shallots about 25 minutes or so over the low heat until they are nice and soft.
  3. Add the drained pasta, starchy cooking water, and parmessan to the shallots and toss together. Put pasta in deep bowls and top with freshly shaved parmessan and chopped parsley. Serve with a side salad.
Adapted from Rachael Ray
Adapted from Rachael Ray
A Life From Scratch. https://a-life-from-scratch.com/

Dinner is done and the kids are in one piece. Success.
Courtney

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