Ground beef with pasta and peas

Comfort food is most welcome on Mondays at Chez Bliss. This was a particularly trying one as all the littles finally returned to school after their illness extended Christmas break. We needed something soothing at the end of the day and Emily Franklin's recipe for ground beef with pasta and peas filled the bill. This is from her wonderful book Too Many Cooks. I want to be Emily when I grow up and have you seen her kitchen? It's featured on http://www.thekitchn.com/. Wow!!

Ground beef with pasta and peas

1 pound ground beef

1 pound small shaped pasta, macaroni is best

1 10 oz. bag frozen peas

salt and pepper to taste

1. Brown the ground beef in a skillet and drain.

2. Boil the pasta per the package instructions and drain.

3. Add the frozen peas and cooked ground beef to the pasta, heating until peas are cooked through.

4. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve in bowls. I like a dash of red pepper flakes in mine.

This recipe seems too simple and that's what makes it great. My husband and children devour it. The leftovers make a fantastic lunch the next day.

Pizza puffs

Dear friends of ours host an annual New Year's Eve party and that is always a good time. It's an evening of friends that have become family and all our many collective children. The kids participate in an early bird countdown and then they are off to bed so the moms and dads can visit and celebrate. When I saw this recipe on the Babble Family Kitchen blog, I knew I was bringing it for New Year's Eve.

Mother Nature had other plans. NYE 2010 found my daughter and me asleep quite early after an all nighter in the emergency room for complications of the flu. So much for making plans..

Tonight, however, was a different story. We were all relatively healthy and ready to properly ring in 2011. We celebrated with pizza puffs, sparkling grape juice and chocolate peppermint bark cookies. There were horns to blow, noisemakers to shake and Rudolf's Shiny New Year to watch. We let the old year out the back door and greeted the new year at the front. It was a wonderful celebration.

Pizza Puffs

3/4 c flour

3/4 c milk

3/4 t baking powder

1 egg

1 1/4 c shredded Italian cheeses (I used asiago, parm, fontina and mozzarella)

2 t Italian seasoning (I used pizza herbs)

1 c pizza sauce

1. Preheat oven to 400 and grease a mini muffin pan.

2. Combine all ingredients except for pizza sauce.

3. Spoon batter into muffin pan, dividing evenly among the 24 cups.

4. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until tops begin to brown.

5. Heat pizza sauce and spoon a small amount onto each puff. Serve hot.

The original recipe can be found at www.babble.com/family-kitchen

Chocolate peppermint bark cookies

The final holiday treat I make is chocolate peppermint bark cookies. This accomplishes two objectives. It yields a great festive confection and clears the last of the Christmas candy out of my pantry. So without further adieu...

Chocolate Peppermint Bark Cookies

3 c unbleached flour

1c cocoa powder

1 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

3/4 t sea salt

1 c unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 c sugar

3 large eggs

1 T vanilla extract

2 c peppermint bark, roughly chopped

1/2 c holiday mini morsels

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter, beat in sugar and add eggs one at a time until combined. Stir in vanilla.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in 3 increments, stirring after each addition. Carefully fold in the peppermint bark and mini morsels.

5. Drop a heaping tablespoon of dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 10 minutes, just until fragrant. Be careful not to over bake. Cool on a wire rack. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

The original recipe can be found at http://www.101cookbooks.com/. So long Santa!

Berry Cream Cheese Pound Cake

My dad's birthday is Christmas. Each December he chooses a cake for the celebration. Being an avid reader of newspapers and the Internet, he's made some unique choices over the years. I always look forward to stretching my baking skills with his requests. In the past there has been a red velvet cake, an Italian cream cake and an "interesting" confection involving cherry pie filling and Dream Whip to name a few.

This year, my dad had just one requirement - portability. My folks were heading out of town for New Year's and my dad wanted something that would travel. Pound cake is a great road warrior so to the Babble Family Kitchen I turned. Julie VR had posted a cranberry orange pound cake with cream cheese that I was anxious to try. It turned out great but there was one complaint. With my folks leaving the day after Christmas, there were no leftovers! I made the cake again today with dried cherries and orange oil to accommodate my bare pantry. It turned out just as well. Enjoy!

Berry Cream Cheese Pound Cake

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened slightly
8 oz softened cream cheese
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
zest of 1 orange or dash of orange oil
1 1/2 t pure vanilla extract
2 c unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1t kosher salt
2 c chopped fresh cranberries (freeze first then pulse in food processor) or 2 cups dried sour cherries

1. Preheat oven to 325 and spray loaf pan(s) with nonstick spray. I used a set of 3 loaf pans in graduated sizes.

2. Cream the butter and cheese in a standing mixer with the paddle attachment. Add sugar and mix until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add zest or oil. Add vanilla extract.

3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.

4. Add flour mixture to the batter and mix just until combined. Gently fold in the fruit.

5. Distribute batter among the loaf pans and bake until done. My smallest pan took 30 minutes to bake. The other pans were done after 45 minutes.

The original recipe can be found at http://blogs.babble.com/familykitchen. Thank you Julie!

Sick day soup

Dinner tonight was an old favorite straight from the freezer stash. What with the return to school, doctor appointments and another pharmacy run, supper had to be quick. Fortunately, I tripled a batch of Kelsey Banfield's sick day soup during the last family cold outbreak and had dinner in the bank, so to speak. I do this with most soups I make. It's a hot, homemade meal with no stress, just thaw and serve with bread.

Tomato Tortellini Soup

2 T olive oil
3 cloves chopped garlic (I use 3/8 t garlic powder)
1 medium onion, chopped
4 c chicken broth
2 t Italian seasoning
9 oz fresh cheese tortellini
28 oz crushed tomatoes with juice
8 oz baby spinach, chopped

Salt & Pepper to taste
Grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese

1. In a deep, heavy bottom pan, heat olive oil. Add garlic and onion. Saute until onion is wilted.
2. Add chicken broth and italian seasoning.
3. Bring contents to a boil and add tortellini.
4. Boil until pasta is cooked through, lower heat, stir in tomatoes and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until soup reaches the desired consistency.
5. Add spinach and cook until wilted.
6. Season with salt and pepper; serve with grated cheese and crusty bread.

This freezes very well. I've also made it with cheese ravioli in place of the tortellini. You can find the original recipe from Kelsey Banfield at www.thenaptimechef.com.

Back into the kitchen

We are almost back to normal. My son and daughter are on the mend and I cooked today! It felt wonderful to be in my kitchen for something more than a medicine run. This morning I assembled a batch a pulled pork for tacos. It will last us the next several days, yeah! I'll even freeze a couple containers for future meals. The meal was a hit except for my youngest who doesn't want to eat anything right now. I used the jar of Williams-Sonoma pulled pork starter I found in my Christmas stocking. I'm not much of a fan of prepared foods but this Williams-Sonoma starter really rocks! I'm not compensated for this endorsement in any way, I just really love their stuff when a shortcut is in order. I have a food allergy and have never had a problem with any of their products. The recipe is as follows:

Pulled Pork Tacos

4 T olive oil
1 pork shoulder, about 7 1/2 pounds
salt and pepper
1 jar of pulled pork starter
1 package of flour tortillas
1 avocado, sliced
shredded chihuahua cheese to taste
sour cream
chopped cilantro

1. Heat the olive oil over medium high heat in a dutch oven until almost smoking. Salt and pepper pork on all sides and brown in oil.

2. Pour starter over pork. Cover and bake at 325 for 4 hours or until the meat can be pulled apart with two forks.

3. Pull the pork apart into bite sized pieces and drain remaining sauce. Skim fat from the sauce and discard. Return the sauce to the pot coating the meat.

4. Serve with warmed tortillas, avocado, cheese and cilantro.

This recipe makes a good deal of meat, plenty to share and freeze. It would be a great meal to make for a new mom with enough remaining to feed you own family as well. This is also a fabulous party recipe. I made it for Superbowl Sunday last year and got rave reviews.

The idea for the tacos came from Kelsey Banfield at http://www.thenaptimechef.com/. She also has a recipe for homemade sauce to use in place of the starter.

On the second day of January...

So the flu has come to stay and that means no appetites in the house. To soothe our tender tummies, yes, I'm now feeling it too, we had BRAT drink and saltines today. 2011 isn't off to much of a start as far as food is concerned. The upside? It's got to get better from here. I'm hoping to break out the slow cooker tomorrow for pulled pork but I cannot make any promises. The recipe is from Kelsey Banfield at www.thenaptimechef.com and her tacos are worth getting better for, here's hoping. Yeah, this really is a food blog, I really can cook and bake and usually do it daily for my family.