It’s “Tasty Tuesday” and I have a great biscotti recipe for you. Being Italian I grew up eating my fair share of biscotti cookies and all different types.
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Holiday
Rapini with Garlic
It’s “tasty Tuesday” and I’m gonna tell you all about Rapini (also known as Broccoli Rabe)…are you familiar with rapini? Rapini is something I grew up with and I just love, love, love love it. It’s definitely has a unique flavor and you may even say it tastes bitter. I will explain how to remove that bitter taste later on so make sure you read the whole post if you are brave enough to make rapini.
I remember when we first moved from Connecticut to California my mother and a cousin would “find” these open fields with rapini growing wild, we’d all get out of the car and quickly cut as much as we could before we would rush off. I would saute some and make a “pizza pocket” type of a snack out of the rapini. What I mean with regards to the pita pocket is is that I would roll out some dough, put some of my rapini (the way I’m demonstrating today) and then fold over the dough, seal it and bake it. It was something my grandmother would make for us growing up and I still make and love today. I made this dish as part of our Easter dinner as I love the way it compliments ham. You can also make some and throw it over pasta…OMG it’s so good that way!!!
Ok for my recipe, I used 2 bunches of rapini from the market (when you are buying rapini, do not buy the bunches that have yellow flowers as that means that the plant is older and more bitter and if the market doesn’t have any without the flowers, I’d pass on buying it). Rapini is like spinach when you cook it, starts off looking like you will have tons and then as it cooks, it withers down to nothing. So if you are trying it out for the first time, you can purchase 1 bunch but be prepared you will not have an abundance.
Anyway, I took my first bunch and cut off the ends from the bottom of the stems, I then cut the rapini into 1 1/12 inch pieces
I wash it in my sink like I would lettuce and remove as much water as possible.
I then put my oil in a pan and add my red pepper flakes
I walked away for like a second and ended up burning my first batch lol so lesson learned…don’t walk away!
I basically cleaned out my pan and started over by putting my oil in my pan and then the red pepper flakes, I then added my chopped garlic
be careful at this next step…I then I added my rapini to my pan…see how high it starts out?
In 5 minutes of cooking it
5 minutes more
and when it’s completely cooked…and remember I did 2 bunches
If you find that the rapini is too bitter for you, you can boil it as boiling it will remove most of the flavors and nutrients. If you boil it, I would recommend putting olive oil, garlic, salt and red pepper flakes on top and serve.
I hope you enjoy!
Rapini with Garlic
Ingredients
- 2 bunches Rapini
- 2 tablespoons Canola oil
- 1 teaspoon Red pepper flakes (more or less to taste)
- 2 teaspoons Garlic, chopped
- salt to taste
Directions
- Cut your rapini into 1 1/2" pieces and wash thoroughly.
- In a fry pan, put your heat to high and add your oil and red pepper flakes (watch it or it will burn), add your garlic. Add your cut rapini and cook uncovered for 4-6 minutes.
- Toss your rapini and cook for an additional 4-6 minutes.
- Toss again, cover and cook until it's tender. Can be served hot or cold.
Recipe belongs to Patty @MmGood.com, please contact me to use for personal use
Roasted Butternut Squash Recipe
It’s “Tasty Tuesday”…while I know that butternut squash is not a spring vegetable and usually you only find it in the fall, in today’s day and age, seems like you can find anything anytime. I was shopping in my local Costco and I noticed they had precut butternut squash, my initial thought was it’s out of season but when I picked up the package, it looked so fresh I just had to buy it.
I usually roast my butternut squash, even if i’m making a soup out of it as roasting them brings in a whole new element to any dish. When I roast my butternut squash, I usually toss my butternut squash in some olive oil, then I put it on a baking pan add brown sugar, salt and pepper and I bake it in a 400 degree oven for 50-60 minutes. It comes out amazing!!!
I thought to myself, is there another option? So I searched the web and found a recipe I believe belongs to Ina Garten, although the recipe I got only had the measurements and not the actual instructions. I knew I had two options, I could look up her butternut squash recipe to confirm the ingredients and how to make it or I could take the measurements and create it the way I thought would work. If any of you know her recipe or want to look it up, I’d welcome your feedback.
The biggest difference is is that she uses melted butter instead of olive oil. I know this small change of butter instead of oil would add a lot of flavor and calories but I was up to the challenge. It’s a very rich dish and very easy to make.
I melted my butter with my brown sugar and salt/black pepper
I then placed my cut butternut squash on a baking dish
Coated the butternut squash with the melted butter/brown sugar mixture
I placed it in my 400 degree oven and baked it for about 20 minutes before I tossed my butternut squash
I tossed my butternut squash and cooked it again for 20-25 minutes
I poked my butternut squash and they were cooked all the way through but I still wanted more of that caramelization so I put on my broiler and stuck my butternut squash in for an additional 4-5 minutes (sorry for the blurry photo)
here is one of the butternut squash in a bowl
and here it is plated with my Lemon Chicken with Artichokes and Mushrooms
I will say that while I really enjoyed the butternut squash cooked with the melted butter, they were very rich. I personally think I enjoy them my way. I will do them that way next time so you too can compare.
Nonetheless…enjoy!
Thank you for visiting my site and I hope you enjoy this recipe along with others. To make sure you are being kept up with all my new posts, please make sure to subscribe in the box listed on the top of the page. You will be emailed with a link to confirm you are interested in the subscription so be sure to click on that link too. Thank you again!
Roasted Butternut Squash
Ingredients
- 2 pounds Butternut squash (mine were already cleaned and cut for me)
- 8 tablespoons Butter, melted
- 1/4 cup Brown sugar, packed
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Black pepper
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 400, put your cubed butternut squash on a baking sheet.
- Melt your butter with brown sugar, salt and pepper
- Once your butter is melted, coat your butternut squash with the melted butter and spread your butternut squash out in a single layer on your baking sheet. Place in your oven.
- After 20 minutes toss your butternut squash, toss again in 20 minutes. Your butternut squash is probably cook through if you are happy with the outcome then you are all done. For me, I put my broiler on and broiled it for an additional 3-5 minutes.
Recipe belongs to Patty @MmGood.com, please contact me to use for personal use
Sweets for Valentines…
With today being Valentines day I just had to post some of my favorite photos of baked goods that I’ve made…recipes will follow in time….thank you for all your support of my site…I appreciate all the emails.
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Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies…Perfect for Valentines Day!
It’s “Tasty Tuesday” and it’s 2 days before Valentines Day so what shall I post…hmmmm….I think I found the perfect recipe just for you!!!!
I don’t know about you but I LOVE Red Velvet PERIOD, enough said! While I have yet to find the perfect Red Velvet cake recipe, I did find this recipe for a Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies and thought “why not?”. I can promise you this, while it appears to have many steps in this recipe for Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies, it is well worth making them as they are delicious and they look very cute on the table.
You basically make your base recipe which is like a brownie but it’s got food coloring in it to resemble red velvet cake, the brownie bottom is very thick, which is normal so don’t panic. Then your whip up the cream cheese topping and place that on top of your brownie mix, you add in some of the base (that is milked down) in globs and then the fun come in…you take a toothpick or knife and create swirls. I didn’t go too crazy with the swirls as I liked the white to show through. Then you bake it….once it’s all cooled, you use a heart shaped cookie cutter to create your shapes. You can always cut the brownies into bites ized bars and present them that way as well.
If you have a partner that enjoys it when you set the mood for Valentines day, these cut out brownies will help you along the way although you can just cut them in regular brownie sized bars as well and bring them to an event. If you have kids, they will love the swirling part and cutting part so don’t leave them out!
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I have.
Thank you for visiting my site. To make sure you are being kept up with all my new posts, please make sure to subscribe in the box listed on the top of the page. You will be emailed with a link to confirm you are interested in the subscription so be sure to click on that link too. Thank you again!
Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies
Ingredients
- 3 1/4 cups Flour
- 2 1/4 cups Granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons Cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking powder
- 3 large Eggs
- 1 cup Oil, not olive oil
- 4 tablespoons Milk, divided
- 1 tablespoon Vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon Red food coloring
- 2 teaspoons White vinegar
- 2 8oz packages Cream cheese, softened
- 3/4 cup Granulated sugar
- 2 large Eggs
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla
For the Red Velvet Layer
For the Cheesecake Layer:
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13x18 jelly roll pan and set aside.
- In large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, vegetable oil, 2 tablespoons milk, vanilla extract, red food coloring and white vinegar.
- Combine the dry and wet ingredients until completely combined (your batter will be a really thick it's what you want).
- Remove 3/4 cup of the batter and place it in a medium bowl. Whisk in the remaining 2 tablespoons of milk (into the 3/4 cup of batter you just took out). Set aside the 3/4 cup batter.
- Pour the remaining batter into the prepared jelly roll pan. Using a spatula, smooth out the batter to reach all the edges.
- In your stand mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar until fluffy for about 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla, and continue to beat until combined and there are no lumps. Pour the cream cheese mixture on top of the red velvet layer and smooth mixture till it reaches all the edges.
- Drop spoonfuls of the remaining red velvet batter (that you mixed with milk) onto the top of the cheesecake layer. Drag the tip of a knife through the red velvet and the cheesecake layers to create swirls.
- Bake for 28-30 minutes, rotating half way through or until the center is set and it no longer jiggles (you do not want to over bake these).
- Let your brownies cool completely on a wire rack before cutting.
- I used a medium sized heart cookie cutter to create the perfect heart just in time for Valentine's Day treat!
Recipe belongs to Patty @MmGood.com, please contact me to use for personal use
Spicy Gingersnap Twig Cookies
It’s “Tasty Tuesday” and boy do I have a great recipe for you. This is not one of my own recipes as I found it while reading through one of my magazines, I think it is from Better Homes and Garden. I will say that I followed the recipe as it was written so nothing was modified by me, except for the 2nd baking time (read my last paragraph).
The recipe was developed by Nancy Baggett who recently launched “Simply Sensations Cookies“, I do own the book but I have yet to make anything out of it. These Spicy Gingersnap Twigs recipe from the magazine sounded so unique and tasty that I knew I just had to make them. I didn’t even mind rolling the dough with a rolling pin, measuring and slicing, baking, breaking it all apart and baking again! I will share with you that the spicy gingerbread twigs were amazing! and so tasty and addicting that one was not enough (you may want to make extra…lol).
So yes, you make the dough as per instructed, you then roll the dough between two sheets of parchment paper,
you then sprinkle with raw sugar and using a ruler, you cut your pieces (I used a pizza cutter as using the knife was a bit more challenging for me).
then into the oven it goes, you bake it and remove it from the oven and break the pieces apart, sprinkle on your color sugar (if you have any, I had red) and bake it again.
When you are done, there should be a crisp to them (this is the only thing I did change to the recipe, the original recipe indicated to lower your oven to 200 degrees for the second bake. I didn’t do that as I was finding it was taking too long for them to harden so I left my oven at the regular temp and baked until they were firm). Then I removed them from the oven
I could not wait to eat them and I loved the hint of spice they left behind. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!
Spicy Gingersnap Twig Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups Flour
- 1/3 cup Brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon Cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons Ginger, ground
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon Allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
- 1/3 cup Butter, melted and cooled
- 1/3 cup Molasses, not blackstrap
- 1/4 cup Coffee, brewed, cooled
- 1/3 cup Turbinado sugar (raw sugar is the same thing)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Set aside 2 large baking sheets and four 15" long pieces of parchment.
- In a large bowl, stir flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, salt, cloves, allspice and cayenne pepper until well blended. Make sure all lumps are gone.
- In a small bowl, whisk together butter, molasses and coffee until well blended. Immediately add butter mixture to flour mixture, stirring vigorously until evenly incorporated.
- Turn dough onto floured surface, knead with your hands for 30 seconds to make it smoother and more malleable. If dough is too dry or crumbly to roll out, work in a few drops of water until it hold together; off too wear, thoroughly knead in 1-2 tablespoons of flour.
- Divide dough in half. Roll each portion between two pieces of parchment into a 6x12" rectangle. If necessary, cut and patch to make sides roughly even (don't worry if it's not perfect). Peel off top pieces of parchment. Evenly sprinkle each rectangle with about 3 tablespoons of coarse sugar and about 1 tablespoon edible glitter. Lay parchment over dough; gently pressing sugar into dough. Remove top pieces of parchment.
- Using a pizza cutter, cut each rectangle into 1/4 to 1/3x6 inch strips. It's ok if the edges are rough and uneven. Slide rectangle and parchment onto baking sheets.
- Working with one rectangle at a time, bake for 13-16 minutes or until firm when pressed in the center and edges are browned. Immediately slide rectangle and parchment onto a cutting board. Quickly (before rectangle cools and becomes brittle) retrace the cuts between strips and cut off uneven edges. (if necessary, return rectangle to the oven, warm until soft enough to work with) discard the uneven, over baked end sections.
- Reduce oven to 200 degrees (I left mine at 350 degrees), when rectangle is cool enough to handle use your hands to gently separate strips. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet. If desired, sprinkle with additional edible glitter. Bake for 10 minutes. Slide strips and parchment onto a wire rack; cool completely.
Recipe belongs to Patty @MmGood.com, please contact me to use for personal use
Crostini with Parmesan Cheese
So as simple as it may seem, crostini always was that item I had difficulties making…as a matter of fact, every time I would TA for school and crostini’s were needed, I’d offer to do anything else before volunteering to make them.
That was until last night when I had a catering job to do and I suggested bruschetta (I had to make bruschetta as the heirloom tomatoes from our local farmers market were too amazing) and I knew my client would love them!
I have overcome my fear of making crostini and hope you enjoy the simplicity of this recipe….look out for the bruschetta recipe that will follow 🙂
Also 1 baguette does 42 slices (my loaf did anyways).
Here they are sliced and ready for the oil and parmesan cheese
Here is the before baked and after baked
and here is the final product with bruschetta on top…yummy!
Crostini with Parmesan Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 Baguette loaf (I used La Brea Bakery)
- 1/4 cup Olive oil, or more if needed
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese (or more if you like it)
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
- While your oven is preheating, slice your bread in 1/4" slices...it is important to cut all the bread the same thickness as it will cook the same in the oven.
- Brush on your olive oil, season with salt and pepper and lightly add your Parmesan cheese. Bake for 5-8 min, depending on your oven. I did 8 minutes but I knew I was adding a liquid topping and I didn't want them too soft as I didn't want the liquid from the tomatoes to bleed through.
- Remove from the oven to cool. You can store them in a plastic bag and use at another time if needed.
Recipe belongs to Patty @MmGood.com, please contact me to use for personal use
Best Thanksgiving Turkey…Gobble Gobble
It’s a week before Thanksgiving and all through the house,
I have recipes all scattered…and you won’t find a mouse.
The turkey is bought, yes it’s a week still away,
the fixin’s are all counted for and I know I won’t stray.
I’ll make the same thing as last year as everyone left content,
I want to skip on making the peas…wait did i just say that? It’s not really what I meant.
I hope you all find joy and happiness and make sure to give thanks,
and if you can’t make a turkey, you can always make yourself some franks!
Ok so that was my attempt at a cute Thanksgiving fun. I can’t tell you all the stories I’ve encountered with making turkey for Thanksgiving but I can share that there has been uncooked turkey, overcooked turkey, butterball turkey…and every other kind of turkey story in between. A few years back, I called my Zia (aunt in Italian) and asked her how she prepared her turkey as my mother is no longer with me and I wanted some family advice, she gave me some of her pointers and I included my normal Thanksgiving turkey fixins and now I have what I consider to be the best turkey recipe ever!!!!
1) First off, I always start with a brine, I use the William Sonoma brine which we just love and I just follow the directions on the package, the brine is great because you do it the night before and I do really believe that it helps with keeping the turkey moist.
2) I always give my turkey a “wine bath” I basically purchase a cheap bottle of white wine and after the brine, I pour white the wine to wash off any of the brine.
3) I always use sliced oranges on the bottom of the pan with fresh bay leaves.
4) I always stuff put some butter that has been left at room temperature and mixed with chopped herb sunder the skin of my turkey.
5) I always stuff my turkey with lemons, apples, oranges, celery or whatever else I have around, this year i even used onions!
6) I try to get a turkey that is 17 pounds or less as it’s much more tender then the bigger turkeys (I have been known to even buy two turkeys for larger parties)
7) Finally, I always follow the baking rules for the turkey I buy.
I hope you enjoy this recipe as it’s my “no fail” amazing turkey!
Best Thanksgiving Turkey…Gobble Gobble
Ingredients
- 20 pound Turkey, brine over night
- 1 jar Brine, William Sonoma
- 1 ½ sticks Butter, room temperature
- 2 packages Fresh poultry herbs or fresh poultry herbs from your garden
- 1 package Sage
- 1 package Bay leaves (I use fresh from the farmers market)
- 4 whole Oranges
- 1 whole Lemon
- 1 whole Green apple
- White wine
- Oil
- Salt and pepper
- 3 Stalks celery
- Orange juice
Directions
- Twenty-four hours before Thanksgiving, brine your turkey, following the instructions on the jar or package. Whether or not you brine, make sure to remove the neck and giblets that are in the cavity of the turkey.
- On Thanksgiving Day, remove your turkey from the brine and, use half a bottle of wine to give your turkey a "wine bath," basically rinsing your turkey. This is my Italian secret). Reserve 1/2 of the bottle of wine for later. Pat your turkey dry with paper towels. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
- On the bottom of a roasting pan, add the orange slices and lay the bay leaves on top. Set the pan aside.
- Chop the fresh herbs (excluding the bay leaves) and combine with the butter. Add the orange and lemon zest to the butter and mix well. Put the butter mixture under the skin of the turkey, focusing on the breast area. In the cavity of turkey, place lemon, and remaining orange slices, celery, apple and any remaining herbs.
- Place turkey on top of the orange slices, breast side up. Add the orange juice and the remaining wine to the pan. Put some oil on the turkey and season it with salt and pepper.
- Cover it with aluminum foil and cook until thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reaches an internal temperature of 180 degrees. The juices of the turkey should run clear.
Recipe belongs to Patty @MmGood.com, please contact me to use for personal use