Barefoot Bloggers: East Hampton Clam Chowder

I love clam chowder. LOVE IT. I'm sure part of it stems from growing up in Seattle which is home to some of the world's best clam chowder. Or at least I think it's some of the best. I'm sure there are a few cities in the Northeast that claim to have the best, and I'm sure there are some there that are quite good, but I'm biased. I'm okay with that.

As much as I love clam chowder, I don't think I've ever tried to make my own. I was pretty excited when I saw that Laura from Family Spice Home had chosen Ina's East Hampton Clam Chowder as the Barefoot Blogger's first recipe for October. Technically if I stick to my diet it's not something I'm supposed to have because of the potatoes, milk, and flour, but it's not like I'm going to eat the whole pot of it.

East Hampton Clam Chowder
From Barefoot Contessa Family Style, 2002, All Rights Reserved

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, divided
2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
2 cups medium-diced celery (4 stalks)
2 cups medium-diced carrots (6 carrots)
4 cups peeled medium-diced boiling potatoes (8 potatoes)
1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme leaves (1/2 teaspoon dried)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 quart (4 cups) clam juice
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
3 cups chopped fresh chowder clams (1 1/2 pounds shucked clams)

Melt 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) of the butter in a large heavy-bottomed stockpot. Add the onions and cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, or until translucent. Add the celery, carrots, potatoes, thyme, salt, and pepper and saute for 10 more minutes. Add the clam juice, bring to a boil, and simmer, uncovered, until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.

In a small pot, melt the remaining 8 tablespoons of butter and whisk in the flour. Cook over very low heat for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Whisk in a cup of the hot broth and then pour this mixture back into the cooked vegetables. Simmer for a few minutes until the broth is thickened.

Add the milk and clams and heat gently for a few minutes to cook the clams. Taste for salt and pepper. Serve hot.

*****

Since it's still in the 90-degree range here for the daily high temperature I decided to cut the recipe in half. Who wants to be eating a steaming bowl of chowder when it's still hot outside? Plus I didn't think the boys would really eat it, and I can't eat a ton of it so I can keep getting skinny. I mention this so you can avoid a potentially very big mistake that I made. Make sure you cut all the ingredients in half. Like...don't put in the full amount of flour when you're only supposed to do half of what is listed. Of course I realized this after I had the roux going and couldn't figure out why it wasn't melting down more once I added in the broth. D'oh! I ended up pulling out some of it, adding more butter, and I used canned clams so I put the juice from their cans in with the roux. I think that managed to salvage it.

Having never bought canned clams before (although I should do it more because my uncle makes an awesome clam dip, and I bet since I'm his favorite niece he'd give me the recipe), I didn't realize how absolutely tiny chopped clams would be. Yikes. They were minced as fine as garlic. I'd much prefer chunks of clams in my chowder, but that's my own mistake.

The recipe itself is really tasty. Not as good as some of the chowder restaurants in Seattle, but given that this was my first attempt at making it on my own, I was pretty pleased. The husband sampled it as well and rated it highly. It was relatively easy to put together, too. I gave myself an hour for it, and that's about how long it took, but I was also working on something else in the kitchen, so I wasn't completely focused on the chowder.

This is definitely better than any canned chowder I've tasted, and really it's better than most chowders I get here in Phoenix. If I get them, which is rare since the quality is generally subpar. When I get a hankering for chowder and flying to Seattle for chowder from Totem House or Ivar's is out of the question, this will definitely be my go-to recipe.

Clam juice. Interestingly enough, my mom was asking recently where to buy clam juice. Mom, it's with the canned meats. Safeway and Fresh & Easy both carried it, but it was about half the price at F&E!




Mmmmm...bowl of chowder. Normally I like it with extra pepper and oyster crackers mixed in, but this time I just had it plain.

Barefoot Bloggers: Ultimate Grilled Cheese

Wow, I had no idea how behind I was on Barefoot Bloggers assignments until I just went to my Barefoot Bloggers tag and saw it's been quite some time since I've done any of them. Oops!! I hope I don't get kicked out of the group. I'll have to look over what ones I've missed and try to incorporate them into my next couple weeks' meal plans. I tell ya, moving a couple months ago really threw a wrench into a lot of things!

I was excited to see a bonus recipe for August from Ina's not-yet-released new cookbook. And it claimed to be the Ultimate Grilled Cheese. Why wouldn't I try something like that?! We're big fans of grilled cheese around here. Plus it had bacon...cheese and bacon together?! Yes please!!

Ultimate Grilled Cheese
From Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa How Easy Is that?

•12 slices thick-cut bacon, such as Nodine’s applewood smoked
•1 cup good mayonnaise
•1/4 cup Dijon mustard
•1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
•1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
•1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
•1 white pullman loaf or sourdough bread, sliced 1/2-inch thick (12 slices)
•6 tablespoons salted butter, at room temperature (for spreading, you probably won’t use it all)
•6 ounces aged Gruyere or Comte cheese
•6 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, such as Cabot or Shelburne Farms

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Arrange the bacon on a baking rack set over a sheet pan in a single layer and roast for 20 to 30 minutes, until nicely browned. Drain on a plate lined with paper towels and cut in 1-inch pieces.

2. Meanwhile, combine the mayonnaise, mustard, Parmesan, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Lay 12 slices of bread on a board and spread each one lightly with butter. Flip the slices and spread each one generously with the mayonnaise mixture. Don’t neglect the corners!

3. Grate the cheeses in a food processor fitted with the largest grating disk and combine. Distribute the bacon evenly on half the slices of bread. Pile 1/3 cup grated cheese evenly on top of the bacon and top with the remaining bread slices, sauce side down.

4. Heat an electric panini press. When the press is hot, cook the sandwiches for 3 to 5 minutes in batches until the bread is toasted and the cheese is melted. (Or, heat a nonstick skillet on medium-low, place two sandwiches at a time inside, and use a lightweight metal cake pan to weigh them down gently. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes. Flip the sandwiches, press them down with the cake pan, and cook for about 2 minutes, until golden brown. Repeat until all of the sandwiches are done.)

5. Allow the sandwiches to cool for 2 minutes. Cut in half, and serve warm.

*****

We were too excited to try these, so we cooked the bacon in a skillet instead of in the oven. That's the only change I made because I trust Ina and assumed they'd be awesome. Well, I was right. They were freakin' fantastic!!! I probably went overboard on my cheese usage, but for the ULTIMATE grilled cheese, I figured that was acceptable. The husband thought these would be better on a Texas Toast style bread and done in the skillet instead of a panini press, but he ate two sandwiches so he must not have had too much of a problem with them.

This will definitely go into our sandwich/panini rotation for sure!! Way to go, Ina!!

We like cheese in our house!


My husband is the bacon cook in our house. He was a master grill operator at the Waffle House back before I knew him, so all breakfast food cooking duties are his.


Cover your keyboards so you don't get drool on them!!

Barefoot Contessa's Caesar Club Sandwich

One more Barefoot Bloggers recipe that I missed posting in the correct month and finally got around to doing! I think I only have three recipes left (one of which I'm making Friday night) and then I'm fully caught up. woo hoo!! One is a cookie recipe, so I'll have to enlist the boy's help for that one as he loves to help make cookies.

Anyway, this recipe was chosen back in March by Karen of Shortbread. It's from the Barefoot Contessa at Home cookbook, which was the first Ina cookbook in my collection. My sister-in-law got it for me for my birthday many years ago. This sandwich was always one I wanted to try, but I'm not sure why it's taken me this long to make it. Let's see, I got the cookbook in April 2005, so five years?! Good lord. I'm serious when I say I have a major procrastination problem. In seeing what BB recipes I'd been slacking on preparing I saw this one and figured I'd go ahead and add it to the meal plan.

Barefoot Contessa's Caesar Club Sandwich
Copyright 2006, Barefoot Contessa at Home, All Rights Reserved

2 split (1 whole) chicken breasts, bone in, skin on
Good olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
4 ounces thinly sliced pancetta
1 large garlic clove, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 1/2 teaspoons anchovy paste
1 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup good mayonnaise
1 large ciabatta bread
2 ounces baby arugula, washed and spun dry
12 sun-dried tomatoes, in oil
2 to 3 ounces Parmesan, shaved

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the chicken breasts on a sheet pan skin side up. Rub the chicken with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until cooked through. Cool slightly, discard the skin and bones, and slice the meat thickly. Set aside.

Meanwhile, place the pancetta on another sheet pan in a single layer. Roast for 10 to 15 minutes, until crisp. Set aside to drain on paper towels.

Place the garlic and parsley in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and process until minced. Add the anchovy paste, mustard, lemon juice, and mayonnaise and process again to make a smooth dressing. (Refrigerate the Caesar dressing if not using it immediately.)

Slice the ciabatta in half horizontally and separate the top from the bottom. Toast the bread in the oven, cut side up, for 5 to 7 minutes; cool slightly. Spread the cut sides of each piece with the Caesar dressing. Place half the arugula on the bottom piece of bread and then layer in order: the sun-dried tomatoes, shaved Parmesan, crispy pancetta, and sliced chicken. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and finish with another layer of arugula. Place the top slice of ciabatta on top and cut in thirds crosswise. Serve at room temperature.

*****

I only changed things up slightly. Well, maybe a little more than slightly. I pounded out two chicken breasts so they'd be thinner and then cooked them on my grill pan instead of Ina's oven method. I also had some homemade Caesar dressing I'd made (shoot...did I ever post that? It's a Rick Bayless recipe...), so I skipped that part of the recipe and just used up what I had. And I used bacon instead of pancetta because I already had some. And I used regular tomatoes instead of sun-dried. Want in on a little secret? I'm not really a fan of sun-dried tomatoes. If they're in something and I don't have to taste them on their own, I don't mind them. But I got quite a few tomatoes from my produce co-op last week, so I went with that instead.

So, after FINALLY trying this, I'm so sad I waited five years!! This was an awesome sandwich!! We had something going on at our house on Sunday when I made this, so dinner was going to be ready really late. We ended up feeding the kids chicken nuggets, then the husband and I had this after they had eaten so as to not postpone their bedtime. Honestly I'm glad we didn't have to share it with them. We each ate a third of the sandwich, then he took the leftover piece to work for lunch the next day. This was really easy to throw together, especially since I already had Caesar dressing made up in the fridge. I foresee us having this on a regular basis over the summer when it's too hot to cook.

Ina, you've done it again!! You never cease to amaze me!!

Barefoot Bloggers: Coconut Cupcakes

I've fallen so behind on the Barefott Bloggers group. I check each month what we're making but then forget to put it into my meal plan. These cupcakes were one of the February recipes. Oops. They looked amazing, but the husband doesn't like coconut, and I really needed a reason to make them so I didn't eat all of them on my own. I finally made them last week to take to my Bible study group on Wednesday night. They were a hit!! A couple people even took some home. I had the husband take most of what was left to work the next day because I knew otherwise I'd eat all of them.

Coconut Cupcakes
Copyright 1999, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, All rights reserved

3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
5 extra-large eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk
14 ounces sweetened, shredded coconut

For the frosting:
1 pound cream cheese at room temperature
3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
1 1/2 pounds confectioners' sugar, sifted

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In 3 parts, alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry. Mix until just combined. Fold in 7 ounces of coconut.

Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Fill each liner to the top with batter. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove to a baking rack and cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the frosting. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, on low speed, cream together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla and almond extracts. Add the confectioners' sugar and mix until smooth.

Frost the cupcakes and sprinkle with the remaining coconut.

*****

I really, really, really love coconut cakes and pies, so I thought these were fantastic!! In reading some of the reviews from other Barefoot Bloggers, I saw that someone had put lime juice in the frosting. I thought that sounded great, especially since I'm not a big fan of almond extract, so I substituted lime juice for the almond extract. It gave it a really nice, light citrus taste that also helped the coconut stand out some more. I have to say, too, that the cupcakes were almost even better the next day.

As much as I liked these, I don't know if I'd make them again since the husband doesn't like coconut. I'd make them to take somewhere for sure!

Oh, by the way, I had some cupcake batter spillage in my oven (which reminds me, it's still there...) filling the tins all the way to the top, so I'd suggest either not filling them as full (plus they were kind of hard to get out of the pan like that since the tops were on the pan if that makes sense) or putting something underneath the tins to catch any spills.

Hello, beautiful cupcake batter, ready to go in the oven!


Same cupcakes, 30 minutes later...


Golden beauties waiting for their frosting tops...


(By the way, unless Ina has some kind of huge cupcake pans, 18-20 cupcakes is BS. I got 24 out of my batter AND had enough left for at least four more cupcakes, I just didn't have another pan to use.)


Oh, frosting, how I love and hate you all at the same time.


Mmmm...finished cupcakes...

Barefoot Bloggers: Indonesian Ginger Chicken

Okay, I really want to go to bed now, but I was so excited to actually be posting my Barefoot Bloggers recipe on the right day that I'm staying up to do so! I'm so dedicated, I know. Okay, not really. I just checked this week to see what the January recipes are that we're going to be making. When I saw the title of this one I thought for sure I'd have to go buy a bunch of fancy ingredients which would totally defeat the Pantry Challenge, so I was pleasantly surprised when all the ingredients are things I have on hand. I even had a whole chicken I could use! Thanks to Todd of A Cooking Dad for choosing an easy and tasty sounding recipe to kick off the new year!

Indonesian Ginger Chicken

1 cup honey
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup minced garlic (8 to 12 cloves)
1/2 cup peeled and grated fresh ginger root
2 (3 1/2 pound) chickens, quartered, with backs removed

Cook the honey, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger root in a small saucepan over low heat until the honey is melted. Arrange the chicken in 1 layer in a shallow baking pan, skin side down, and pour on the sauce. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the baking pan in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover the pan, turn the chicken skin side up, and raise the temperature to 375 degrees F. Continue baking for 30 minutes or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh and the sauce is a rich, dark brown.

*****

I forgot to get a whole chicken out to defrost, so I decided to just use chicken breasts instead. And I didn't have any fresh ginger on hand, so I just threw in a couple teaspoons of the powder stuff to make up for it. And I missed the part initially about marinating overnight. Oops. I mixed up the marinade and then just poured it over the chicken breasts and let it sit all day. Oh, and I cut all the marinade ingredients in half since I was just using four pieces of chicken instead of two whole ones.

This was FANTASTIC!!! All four of us devoured what was on our plates. The butternut squash mash I made to go with it was not so good, however, so I'm not even going to bother typing it out. None of us ate that. Sad waste of a butternut squash. Anyway, make this chicken! It's easy, it's tasty, and if you have a well-stocked kitchen, you should have everything on hand for it!

Oh, and I also made another side dish from the Make it Fast, Cook it Slow cookbook--rice in the crockpot!! Instead of posting the recipe, here's the link to it on her blog. I don't remember if I've shared before that I'm not good at making rice. Brown rice and basmati I can make okay, but plain ol' white rice always comes out gummy. I was intrigued by making it this way, and honestly...it's the best rice I've ever had!!! Mine took about two hours to cook, maybe a few minutes longer. Then I just turned off the crockpot and kept tasting it every now and then to make sure it wasn't getting gummy--and it didn't!! And it sat for at least 30 minutes. This is definitely my new favorite way to make rice.



Check out my cool retro crockpot! It was my grandma's...I love it!

Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms

Merry (belated) Christmas, everyone! I hope you all had a good holiday. Ours was great, now I'm just trying to make room for all the toys and such my kids got from my very generous family. I need some serious toy organization in my house!! It was a fun day. Christmas gets more fun each year as my boys get older and get more excited about it. Well, really the older one is the only one that gets it, the baby just knew there was a big tree in the living room with a gate around it so he wouldn't touch it. ;)

Our Christmas Eve celebration consisted of church, take-out Chinese food, and then "snow" at a local outdoor mall. Next year we need to hit the "snow" earlier in the Christmas season because seeing "snow" and all the Christmas decorations really got me in the Christmas spirit.

Anyway, for Christmas dinner we went to my mom's house. Normally we have a big fancy dinner, but we had decided this year to just have an appetizer buffet like we do for a lot of birthday celebrations in our family. I have to say I liked it a lot better! Not that our dinner isn't usually good--it's usually VERY good--but it was nice to just have it all ready and my mom and whomever not have to rush around to get everything served while also opening presents. It was quite the feast! My mom made chicken wings, coconut shrimp, Lil' Smokies, bacon wrapped scallops, pepperoni bread...I think that was it. My contributions were stuffed mushrooms, baked brie, a Rick Bayless queso recipe, and a cheeseball. Although my mom said why didn't we skip the cheeseball because we had so much other stuff, so that bad boy is still in my freezer for another time. And I ended up making the queso the next night as we had another family dinner then.

I've kind of fallen behind in following the Barefoot Bloggers recipes lately. I don't remember what Novembers were. The first one for December was a croissant bread pudding which sounded awesome, but it made a lot, and I just didn't need to sit here and eat an entire 9x13 pan of bread pudding by myself. When I saw that this was the second one for the month I figured it would be perfect to make for our Christmas "Dinner" Appetizer Fest.

Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms
2009, Ina Garten, All Rights Reserved

16 extra-large white mushrooms
5 tablespoons good olive oil, divided
2 1/2 tablespoons Marsala wine or medium sherry
3/4 pound sweet Italian sausage, removed from the casings
6 scallions, white and green parts, minced
2 garlic cloves minced
2/3 cup panko crumbs
5 ounces mascarpone cheese, preferably from Italy
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
2 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Remove the stems from the mushrooms and chop them finely. Set aside. Place the mushroom caps in a shallow bowl and toss with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and Marsala. Set aside.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage, crumbling it with the back of a wooden spoon. Cook the sausage for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until it's completely browned. Add the chopped mushroom stems and cook for 3 more minutes. Stir in the scallions and garlic and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the panko crumbs, stirring to combine evenly with all the other ingredients. Finally, swirl in the mascarpone and continue cooking until the mascarpone has melted and made the sausage mixture creamy. Off the heat, stir in the Parmesan, parsley, and season with salt and pepper, to taste, Cool slightly.

Fill each mushroom generously with the sausage mixture. Arrange the mushrooms in a baking dish large enough to hold all the mushrooms in a snug single layer. Bake until the stuffing for 50 minutes, until the stuffing is browned and crusty.

*****

The only thing I changed about the ingredients were to use regular Italian sausage instead of sweet, and I used a full pound since I used more than 16 mushrooms. I didn't realize how hot my mom's stove got, so a little bit of the sausage was slightly over-cooked because I was trying to get other things done while it was cooking. It was really a small amount and didn't make a difference in the taste at all.

These were a huge hit!! I was eating the stuffing mixture straight out of the pan, I thought it was so good. I changed the cooking time a bit, too. Everything else that was going in the oven was at 400, so I had them in there for probably 20 minutes. Plus 50 minutes seemed like a really long time since all the ingredients were already cooked. If the sausage hadn't been cooked I could see 50 minutes, but that sounded too long.

I would definitely make these again for a party or if I need to take an appetizer somewhere...or if I have all the stuff on hand and they just sound good to me. ;) It came together really easily and tasted awesome!! I even had one cold the next day and thought that was good, too.

Barefoot Contessa's Caramelized Butternut Squash

This past week Barefoot Bloggers had a Bonus Recipe Challenge (BRC) where five recipes were posted that were optional to try throughout the week. One of them I'd made before--Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars--and didn't have all the ingredients on hand to make them. There was a Potato Leek Soup I thought about making, but my friend Jen B. had made it before and wasn't impressed, so I figured it wasn't worth it. There was a chicken chili recipe that sounded good, but I already had minestrone slated for one night during the week and thought two soups might be overkill. We've been on a big butternut squash kick lately, so I thought this one sounded perfect!

Caramelized Butternut Squash
1999, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, All rights reserved

2 medium butternut squash (4 to 5 pounds total)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut off and discard the ends of each butternut squash. Peel the squash, cut them in half lengthwise, and remove the seeds. Cut the squash into 1 1/4 to 1 1/2-inch cubes and place them on a baking sheet. Add the melted butter, brown sugar, salt, and pepper. With clean hands, toss all the ingredients together and spread in a single layer on the baking sheet. Roast for 45 to 55 minutes, until the squash is tender and the glaze begins to caramelize. While roasting, turn the squash a few times with a spatula, to be sure it browns evenly. Taste for seasonings and serve hot.

*****

I only used one squash, and it was plenty for a side dish for my family. This was REALLY tasty!! The husband loved it, I think butternut squash is his new favorite food. The boy didn't really eat a whole lot of it, but the baby liked it too. This was such an easy way to make a tasty and pretty healthy side dish. I actually went to Trader Joe's again and bought two more squash. I think I may use one of them to make this again sometime this coming week...it was that tasty!!

Barefoot Contessa's Cheddar Corn Chowder

I forgot last week when planning out my menu that it was a Barefoot Bloggers recipe week! Oops! So I decided I'd make it this week to have for lunches. It's still not soup weather here in AZ (really it's only soup weather for maybe a week or two out of the whole year), but it's cooler so I figured it would work. Plus I love a good soup! This recipe is from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, but it's also available on the Food Network website. Jill from My Next Life chose this recipe for us to try.

Cheddar Corn Chowder
Copyright, 1999, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, All rights reserved

8 ounces bacon, chopped
1/4 cup good olive oil
6 cups chopped yellow onions (4 large onions)
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
12 cups chicken stock
6 cups medium-diced white boiling potatoes, unpeeled (2 pounds)
10 cups corn kernels, fresh (10 ears) or frozen (3 pounds)
2 cups half-and-half
8 ounces sharp white cheddar cheese, grated

In a large stockpot over medium-high heat, cook the bacon and olive oil until the bacon is crisp, about 5 minutes. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and reserve. Reduce the heat to medium, add the onions and butter to the fat, and cook for 10 minutes, until the onions are translucent.

Stir in the flour, salt, pepper, and turmeric and cook for 3 minutes. Add the chicken stock and potatoes, bring to a boil, and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. If using fresh corn, cut the kernels off the cob and blanch them for 3 minutes in boiling salted water. Drain. (If using frozen corn you can skip this step.) Add the corn to the soup, then add the half-and-half and cheddar. Cook for 5 more minutes, until the cheese is melted. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Serve hot with a garnish of bacon.

*****

I read the ingredient list and thought, "Wow, that makes A LOT of soup!" Then I realized it said 10-12 servings. I'm really the only person in my house that eats soup, so that was going to be way too much. I decided to cut it in half. I also figured there were a few things I could do to make it slightly healthier. I figured since the bacon would render a lot of fat, and the recipe called for butter I could easily cut down on the olive oil. I used maybe two teaspoons, but it was probably closer to just one. I also used fat free half and half. I wasn't about to skimp on the cheese because I heart cheese. :)

*****

I sat down to have a nice bowl of this soup for my lunch once both kids were down for their naps. I was a bit leery of it because the picture in the cookbook didn't really look like a chowder to me, it looked more broth-y. Mine ended up looking like chowder, but I definitely had my reservations while it was cooking until it had that creamy chowder look to it. I'd read another Barefoot Bloggers review of this recipe, and she thought it was under-seasoned as it's written in the recipe and had added in Old Bay. I was ready to add some in if it needed it, but I really liked the flavor of it without adding anything additional. I had one bite that had the perfect amount of cheese flavor, a bacon piece, potato, and corn in it...it was fantastic!! The other bites were good but that one especially was great.

This was pretty easy to put together, and really tasty. I used frozen corn for mine and thought it was fine. Plus it's much easier to pour some frozen corn into the soup pot than having to cut the kernels off cobs.

I will definitely make this again at some point! Oh, and I put the recipe into the Recipe Calculator on the Weight Watchers website, and it came out to seven Points per serving, which I thought was pretty decent, considering chowders can be pretty decadent soups.

Birthday Sheet Cake

Man...how is it I've fallen off the blog posting wagon again?! what is wrong with me?! Oh yeah, I haven't really been cooking. Last week was a FAIL. We didn't have the stuffed peppers because the husband thought they looked weird and wasn't crazy about the filling, so we pulled some veggie lasagna out of the freezer and had that instead. I had every intention of having the peppers for lunch, but then we ended up eating out for lunch like five days in a row. Weird because that NEVER happens. Friday night we didn't have dinner because he wasn't feeling good, so Saturday night we had Trader Joe's marinated ahi tuna, which ended up being a little mealy since it had been sitting in marinade for 24+ hours. Sigh. Sunday we went to my mom's for dinner, Monday the husband had a meeting at church and had dinner there. It's just crazy when I go through spells like this!

I did do some baking over the weekend for my Barefoot Bloggers group. The first recipe for September was chosen by Susy at Everyday Gourmet in honor of her birthday. Happy Birthday, Susy! This was a recipe I hadn't paid much attention to before (from Ina's Barefoot Contessa Family Style cookbook) because I don't like to do a lot of baking. It just seems to dirty so many dishes and take so much longer than cooking. But, the boy likes to bake with me, so I do it for him. Ah, the things we do for our kids. Anyway, I read the reviews of this recipe on the Food Network website and was surprised to see that a lot of people didn't like it. I'd never seen that for an Ina recipe before!! I was glad I read through all of them because I figured out how to change mine up so it would be a little better. I'll post the original recipe and then note afterwards how I changed it.

Barefoot Contessa Birthday Sheet Cake
Copyright 2002, Barefoot Contessa Family Style, All Rights Reserved

For the cake:
18 tablespoons (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups sugar
6 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
8 ounces (about 1 cup) sour cream, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 lemon, zested
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

For the frosting:
24 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
Chocolate candies for decorating (recommended: M&M's)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 12 by 18 by 1 1/2-inch sheet pan.

To make the cake, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. On medium speed, add the eggs, 2 at a time, then the sour cream, vanilla, and lemon zest, scraping down the bowl as needed. Mix well. Sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking soda. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir just until smooth. Finish mixing by hand to be sure the batter is well mixed. Pour evenly into the pan, smooth the top with a spatula, and bake in the center of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan to room temperature.

For the frosting, place the chocolate chips and heavy cream in a bowl set over a pot of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until the chips are completely melted. Off the heat, add the corn syrup and vanilla and allow the chocolate mixture to cool to room temperature. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the chocolate mixture and softened butter on medium speed for a few minutes, until it's thickened.

Spread the frosting evenly on the cake. Have the children decorate the cake with chocolate candies.

*****

I really had no need to make an entire sheet cake, plus a lot of the reviews said their sheet pans weren't tall enough, and the cake spilled over. I HATE cleaning my oven, so I wanted to avoid that at all costs. In reading posts from some of the other Barefoot Bloggers, I discovered a couple people had done cupcakes! Perfect, I thought! So I cut the recipe in half and did cupcakes. I omitted the lemon zest because I'm not a fan of citrus and chocolate together, plus a lot of the reviews said it was overpowering. They also advised cutting the baking soda down to 3/4 teaspoon, so since I was halving the recipe I only did about 3/8. For the frosting, I used half semisweet chocolate chips and half milk chocolate chips. Did I think to cut the frosting recipe in half? Nope. Now I have a huge container of frosting in my fridge that I don't know what to do with. got any suggestions? Leave me a comment!

Anyway, I overfilled the cupcake pans, so mine ended up kind of square on top once the cupcakes puffed up while baking. Oops. Just gave me more surface area to cover with frosting! I really liked the flavor of the cupcakes themselves...great texture, great flavor. Denser than cupcakes you get from a boxed cake mix, which I enjoyed. The frosting was really, really sweet. I liked it, but I felt like I couldn't put too much on each cupcake because it was so sweet. Maybe because I added in milk chocolate with the semisweet chips. I don't know. I think I'd make these again but use a different frosting recipe for it. Ha! Who am I kidding...next time I need cupcakes I'll just go get a mix. ;) But, if you like to bake then give this a go!

My zany kitchen helper:


This is why I hate baking...all these dishes for 18 cupcakes?!


My square-topped cupcakes, pre-frosting:


Mmmm...M&Ms on top of cupcakes!

White Pizzas with Arugula

Here's the other Barefoot Bloggers recipe for August. A picture of this recipe is on the back cover of the Back to Basics cookbook, and it's always looked super tasty to me. I was excited that this was one of the recipe choices!

White Pizzas with Arugula

For the dough:
* 1 1/4 cups warm (100 to 110) water
* 2 packages dry yeast
* 1 tablespoon honey
* Good olive oil
* 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading
* Kosher salt
* 4 cloves garlic, sliced
* 5 sprigs fresh thyme
* 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

For the topping:
* 3 cups grated Italian fontina cheese (8 ounces)
* 1 1/2 cups grated fresh mozzarella cheese (7 ounces)
* 11 ounces creamy goat cheese, such as montrachet, crumbled

For the vinaigrette:
* 1/2 cup good olive oil
* 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
* Freshly ground black pepper
* 8 ounces baby arugula
* 1 lemon, sliced

Combine the water, yeast, honey and 3 tablespoons of olive oil in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. When the yeast is dissolved, add 3 cups of flour, then 2 teaspoons salt, and mix on medium-low speed. While mixing, add up to 1 more cup of flour, or just enough to make a soft dough. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes until smooth, sprinkling it with the flour as necessary to keep it from sticking to the bowl.

When the dough is ready, turn it out onto a floured board and knead it by hand a dozen times. It should be smooth and elastic. Let it rise. Place the dough in a well-oiled bowl and turn it to cover it lightly with oil. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Place 1/2 cup of olive oil, the garlic, thyme and red pepper flakes in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over low heat. Cook for 10 minutes, making sure the garlic doesn't burn. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. (Be sure your oven is clean!)

Dump the dough onto a board and divide it into 6 equal pieces. Place the doughs on sheet pans lined with parchment paper and cover them with a damp towel. Allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes. Use immediately, or refrigerate for up to 4 hours.

Press and stretch each ball into an 8-inch circle and place 2 circles on each sheet pan lined with parchment paper. (If you've chilled the dough, take it out of the refrigerator approximately 30 minutes ahead to let it come to room temperature.)

Brush the pizzas with the garlic oil, and sprinkle each one liberally with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the pizzas evenly with fontina, mozzarella and goat cheese. Drizzle each pizza with 1 tablespoon more of the garlic oil and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until the crusts are crisp and the cheeses begin to brown.

Meanwhile, whisk together 1/2 cup of olive oil, the lemon juice, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

When the pizzas are done, place the arugula in a large bowl and toss with just enough lemon vinaigrette to moisten. Place a large bunch of arugula on each pizza and a slice of lemon and serve immediately.

*****

The only thing I changed up was that I used my quick homemade pizza crust recipe instead of the dough/crust recipe here. Mostly because I didn't want six pizzas, I just wanted one and knew what size crust I'd get with my recipe. And it doesn't have to rise/rest for very long, so I didn't have to get it together way in advance. Getting things together in advance is not my strong suit! Oh, and I didn't have fresh thyme, so I just sprinkled in some dried. I was bummed because I really like fresh thyme, but I couldn't find it at either store I was at yesterday (Walmart and Trader Joe's...I actually didn't look at Walmart because I figured TJ's would have it...that's the first time TJ's has let me down...sigh.).

*****

Wow. WOW. This pizza was so yummy!! The husband was darn near drooling looking at the piles of shredded cheese on the counter when I was assembling the pizza. I ended up only putting the arugula on half of the pizza because the husband seemed really skeptical of it, and I didn't know if the boy would eat it that way. I LOVED it with the arugula on top...I love the peppery bite of arugula and with the lemon and olive oil mixed in it added a great flavor and texture to the pizza. I honestly thought the bites I had with just cheese and no arugula were a little too cheesy--and that's not something I say very often, if ever! We all really liked this, and this will definitely be a pizza I make again!

(Picture to come later once I get it uploaded!)

Mango Banana Daiquiris

Quite awhile ago, my friend Jen B. told me about a blogging group that makes recipes from the Barefoot Contessa cookbooks called Barefoot Bloggers. If you read my blog regularly, you know that I heart Ina Garten, so I was very excited to find this group and be accepted as a member!

Each month, two members each choose a recipe from one of the Barefoot Contessa cookbooks and all the members of the group make those two recipes. I missed the actual date this was supposed to be done, but I think as long as I post by the end of the month I'm still allowed in the group. ;)

The first recipe for August was Mango Banana Daiquiris, chosen by Veronica of Supermarket Serenade. The husband is from New Orleans, and if you've ever been to New Orleans you've probably seen (or gone through) a drive through daiquiri stand (apparently if there's a straw it's considered an open container but no straw is fine). He is always game for trying some kind of daiquiri. I thought this would be a great accompaniment to our grilled pizzas tonight (which actually might end up being baked in the oven instead of grilled because it's looking a bit stormy outside).

Mango Banana Daiquiris
serves 4 (or 2 if you're at my house!)

2 cups chopped ripe mango (1 to 2 mangos, peeled and seeded)
1 ripe banana, chopped
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice (4 limes)
1/4 cup sugar syrup*
1 1/4 cups dark rum, such as Mount Gay
Mango slices, for serving

Place the mango, banana, lime juice, sugar syrup, and rum in a blender and process until smooth. Add 2 cups of ice and process again until smooth and thick. Serve ice-cold in highball glasses with the mango slices.

*To make simple syrup, heat 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water in a small saucepan until the sugar dissolves. Chill.

*****

Mmmmmm...I love me a good fruity frozen drink. I hate cutting up mangoes, so I took the easy way out and bought a bag of frozen mango chunks at Trader Joe's. My bananas aren't super ripe, but I'm not too concerned about it. Heck, it may give me a reason to try these again soon. ;)

*****

You know what I just saw? This is my 600th post! How exciting!!

It's Saturday night now and the husband and I just finished off ANOTHER batch of these bad boys. We had two batches last night. I think we've found our summer go-to drink (fantastic, now that it's late August)! These are so super yummy. When I said my bananas weren't that ripe--wow, that was the understatement of the year. They were still green and difficult to peel. I think with ripe bananas, these would be even better. I added a little more simple syrup to try and compensate for the lack of extra sweetness ripe bananas would have added to it. I found the first batch to be too limey (which may have been because I just haphazardly squeezed in juice from four limes instead of measuring it out), and we left the lime juice out of the second batch. Now, whether they were really better without the lime juice or if it was just because we were on batch #2, I'm not sure. The husband wanted to add more rum, and I tried to convince him to just try them as they were, but he insisted that it needed another shot. He added one to his and then said it was too much rum. He obviously doesn't know to trust Ina!! Although, I did add 1-1/2 cups rum instead of 1-1/4, so I guess technically I did add extra but not once they were done.

Ina, once again you've done me right!!!!