Exciting things!

I'm back from a wonderfully fun Birthday trip to Disney, where I got to let myself be fun and fancy free. Now I'm back in the real world, but with a new fun toy I got for my birthday.... my parents lovingly got me a new MacBook! This is my first expedition into the Mac world and I'm super excited to start really using it!

And I'm baking my favorite chocolate cake recipe tomorrow for a contest at work... Beatty's Chocolate Cake from Ina Garten. This is some seriously delicious eats. I'm tempted to make two so I can have one at home and bring one to work!

So stay tuned for pictures!

In the mean time, please enjoy this picture I found and instantly fell in love with.

Barefoot Blogging: Chinese Chicken Salad

I'm posting this early because I'll be out of town through next Sunday... I'm going to Disney World for my Birthday! Yay!


Our first recipe for April is Ina's Chinese Chicken Salad chosen by Kenzie of McKenzie's Kitchen. I am shocked to say that I haven't actually seen Ina make this yet, I guess I haven't caught that episode yet. But this recipe is utilizing some spring veggies and you can totally make this your own by adding what veggies you'd like or what you have on hand.

All I'm saying is that you NEED to make this and bring it to a party this spring or summer. It's a wonderful variation of the usual chicken salad made with Mayo. You can actually bring this to a picnic and no one will get sick if it's outside!

Ingredients

4 split chicken breasts (bone-in, skin-on)
Good olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound asparagus, ends removed, and cut in thirds diagonally
1 red bell pepper, cored and seeded
2 scallions (white and green parts), sliced diagonally
1 tablespoon white sesame seeds, toasted

For the dressing:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup good apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
1/2 tablespoon honey
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon peeled, grated fresh ginger
1/2 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat your oven to 350 while you season the chicken breasts. Rub the outside skin liberally with olive oil, and season very well with salt and pepper. Remember you'll be removing the skin after it cooks so you want as much flavor as possible to get into the breast meat. Cook these for 30-40 minutes until the flesh is no longer pink.

While the chicken is cooking, you'll want to prep your veggies and make the dressing. Let's start with the Red Pepper. Slice it in half and rip out the core and seeds.

Slice these into thin strips, and then slice the strips in half. I'm not a fan of huge chunks of red pepper.

The asparagus is a little trickier. You'll need to slice them into 3rd. Check out the red lines.

Then we're going to put them in boiling well-salted water for 3-4 minutes. They should still have a little bite to them.

After they are fulled blanched, then shock them in an ice water bath. This helps stop the cooking process and lets the asparagus keep it's lovely green color.

Then we're going to slice some green onions. Ina says to cut them in thirds like the asparagus, but I say nay to that. I only like cooked green onions that big. So I did it in small chopped bits.

And here we've got all of our sliced veggies ready to go!

Next up.... the sauce. It's pretty simple. Just add all of the ingredients and whisk until combined!

What's that smell? Oh yes... the roasted chicken. This is my first time trying Ina's method of chicken. Otherwise I'd stick the boneless, skinless breasts in the oven and do it that way. Well let's see how they turned out...

WELL NOW! That looks pretty great!!! Once it's cool enough to handle, peel the skin off and strip off the breast meat with a fork. You should have nice big edible chunks.

I was naughty and mixed the chicken pieces in with those juices on the sheet pan. Hey, Ina's all about the extra flavor!

So now all you need to do is grab a big bowl and mix all parts of your salad together. Chicken, veggies, dressing. I only added half of the dressing at first. And it turned out great. Once mixed, top with sesame seeds (and I added edamame!)

And as always, if you'd like a printable copy of this recipe, then please click here!

Spinach and Cheese Manacotti

My mom takes advantage of the fact that I am off on Fridays. So on those days I'm in charge of dinner. This week she had bought some manacotti shells at the store, so I used that as my inspiration for my Spinach and Cheese Manacotti.

I really didn't use a recipe or anything for it, I just went off what I knew. Here's what I used.

Filling:
1 32oz Container of Ricotta Cheese
1 package of chopped frozen spinach (thawed and liquid squeezed out)
1 tsp chopped rosemary
1 tsp chopped thyme
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup shredded parmesean cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzerella cheese
2 eggs
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and fill into cooked manacotti tubes. You may need to make it fit into 2 9x13 pans. Top with 2 cups of shredded Mozzerella cheese ( or any cheese of your choice). Cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes, taking the foil off for the last 5 minutes so the cheese doesn't burn.

Enjoy!

Barefoot Blogging: Tomato and Goat Cheese Tarts

Anne of Anne Strawberry chose Tomato and Goat Cheese tarts for our last March recipe. Excellent choice if I do say so myself!

Okay. I'm going to admit something. I'm not a huge Goat Cheese fan. I can take it in small doses, but just eating slices with crackers? Forget it. I'd rather have a big hunk of Feta or Bleu cheese any day.

Trying the herbed goat cheese with this recipe made me actually enjoy it more, savoring it with the caramelized onions and the juicy tomatoes. This was a pretty easy recipe to make and the results look simply fantastic! These would be great for a bunch or for a wedding shower party. Ready for instructions... here we go!

Ingredients

• 1 package (17.3 ounces/2 sheets) puff pastry, defrosted
  


• Good olive oil
  


• 4 cups thinly sliced yellow onions (2 large onions)
  


• 3 large garlic cloves, cut into thin slivers
  


• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  


• 3 tablespoons dry white wine
  


• 2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme leaves
  


• 4 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan, plus 2 ounces shaved with a vegetable peeler
  


• 4 ounces garlic-and-herb goat cheese (recommended: Montrachet)
  


• 1 large tomato, cut into 4 (1/4-inch-thick) slices
  


• 3 tablespoons julienned basil leaves

Crap. I forgot to put the goat cheese in the family photo. Please forgive me.

Go ahead and preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

First you're going to want to take your defrosted Puff Pastry and roll it out to 11 inches by 11 inches.

You're going to cut two 6 inch circles from this piece of pastry. Please don't mind my ghetto pastry cutter... this is the only thing in my kitchen that's 6 inches in diameter, haha.

Once you've cut them out, place them on a sheet of parchment paper on a sheet pan. Only put two pastry circles per sheet pan. Throw them in the fridge until it's time to work with them later.

Now... on to the really good stuff.

Take your two onions and remove the skins. Slice in half by slicing through the root. We want nice thin slivers. So cut the onions into slivers like this. You're going to do the same thing with your three cloves of Garlic!

Next up, put 3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil in your sautee pan and then throw in your thinly sliced onions and garlic.

Sautee this mixture for about 15-20 minutes until your onions are limp and there is no moisture left in the pan. After this, you're going to add the 1/4 tsp of Pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of Salt, the 3 Tablespoons of White Wine, and the 2 tablespoons of Thyme. Like this... ( can you already see how delicious those onions look?!)

Cook this mixture for another 10 minutes and then remove from heat.

At this point, go to the fridge and grab your pastry circles.... Using a paring knife, score a 1/4 inch border around each of the pastry circles.

Then take a fork and prick the pastry that's inside of that scored line.

Take 1 tablespoon of your grated parmesean cheese and lovingly sprinkle it on each pastry round, staying inside of the scored line.

Take 1/4 of your caramelized onion mixture and spread it out on top of that parmesean cheese

Crumble an ounce of your goat cheese on top of the onions...

Place a slice or two of tomato on the center of each tart and brush with a little bit of olive oil. Then sprinkle with salt and pepper and sliced basil.

Take your block of parmesean cheese and make 4 or 5 shavings per tart. I use my veggie peeler to make the shavings

Oh man. This looks like a pizza. A delicious tasting pizza. My mouth is watering already and it's not even in the oven yet!!!

Since I don't want to eat uncooked pastry dough, I unwillingly put these in the oven for 20 to 25 miutes, until the pastry is golden brown. And look what came out..... OH MY HEAVENS.

I hope you'll try these for a party.... they are seriously delicious. And if you're not a goat cheese fan, I bet thin slices of mozzarella or crumbled feta would be just as yum on this!

If you're looking for a printable version, just click here!

Barefoot Blogging: Brownie Pudding

Once again, I must sing praises for my friend Tia at Southern, Eh? for choosing Ina Garten's Brownie Pudding for one of this month's Barefoot Blogging recipies.

Well I tried a bit of it and I think the heavens opened and the angels sang. This pudding is crispy on top and the edges like a brownie, and the inside is gooey like a molten lava cake. Well HELLO lover, this is such an easy recipe to make and so delicious. I need you to make it for the next event you have.

It serves quite a few people, or one with a lonely heart. I can see myself curling up with the entire dish of this and the 6 Hour BBC version of Pride and Prejudice.

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus extra for buttering the dish
• 4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup good cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean
• 1 tablespoon framboise liqueur, optional
• Vanilla ice cream, for serving

Add your 2 cups of sugar and 4 eggs into your mixer

Mix these on a medium speed for 5-7 minutes until pale yellow and thick, like this.

While that's mixing, take your Flour and Cocoa and sift together.

Add the sifted mixture to the Egg/Sugar combination.

Mix until just combined and add in your 2 sticks of Melted Butter....mmmmm butter.

And mix again until just combined. It should be a yummy looking batter like this. Without a doubt, I WILL be licking the beaters. Don't watch!

Pour this sinful chocolate mixture into a greased or buttered (I used Baker's Joy) round 9x13x2 pan. Bake this at 325 degrees for 1 hour.

Serve this with vanilla bean ice cream and a dollop of whipped cream if you're being fancy. Please take a moment to grab a napkin because you're about to start drooling....

If you'd like a printable copy of this recipe please click here. I'm off to go jog 4 miles to burn off all of this butter and sugar! :)