Confessions of a Food Junkie

I've been on a lemon kick lately.  So when I saw this dessert, I knew I had to make it.  Especially since it was featured in one of my favorite recipe blogs, twopeasandtheirpod.com.  I made them twice on Good Friday, one batch for each Easter dinner I was attending.  They are simple to make, with a fresh lemony flavor.  Just what your tongue needs in time for spring!

1 can sweetened condensed milk - 14-ounce can
½ cups lemon juice (fresh, if you can)
1½ cup flour
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup brown sugar
⅔ cups butter, melted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch salt

Last weekend we had a family get-together, a kind of going-away party for my cousin, who is being deployed to Afghanistan with the Marines.  Get-togethers in my family always include food, and lots of it.  I made this up because I couldn't decide if I wanted to make a spinach artichoke dip or an artichoke crab dip.  Why not all three at once?  Seemed reasonable to me.  It was a huge hit with everyone.  There is no picture...I forgot to take one before we left for the party with it.

1/2 package of Neufchatel cheese (or any cream cheese), softened
1 c mayonnaise
1 c low-fat sour cream
1 can lump crab meat, drained
1 (10 oz) bag chopped spinach, squeezed dry
1 can artichoke hearts (NOT marinated), chopped
1/2 c mozzarella cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly spray or grease a medium sized baking dish.

Combine the Neufchatel, mayo and sour cream in a medium sized bowl.  Add the crab meat, stir well.  Stir in the spinach and artichoke, mixing well to combine.

Spoon the dip into the baking dish, smooth out with back of wooden spoon.  Sprinkle top with mozzarella cheese.  Bake 15-20 minutes, or until heated through and the cheese is golden and bubbly.  Serve hot with tortilla chips or crackers.

I always like to have something in the family of bread/rolls/biscuits when I serve anything with my tomato sauce.  Last night I planned to make tortellini, and mini biscuits sounded perfect.  I made this up with the ingredients I had on hand, and once they came out of the oven my taste-testers lined up.  After agreeing how good they were, my daughter said they taste "like the biscuits they give you at that restaurant...you know..."  After a second of thought, we both said, "Red Lobster!"  Yep, they are very much like the Cheddar Bay Biscuits, only much less greasy and less salty, and I would imagine much better for you.  Easy and delicious.

2 c Bisquick
1 - 1 1/2 c shredded mozzarella
3 garlic cloves, minced
sprinkle of sea salt
2/3 c milk


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly spray or grease a mini muffin tin (or if you don't have one, use a regular cookie sheet).  In a bowl, combine the Bisquick, cheese, salt and garlic.  Stir in the milk just until moistened.

Drop by rounded teaspoon into muffin cups (or onto sheet).  Bake for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve warm.

Makes 36 mini biscuits.

I found this amazing recipe and have been dying to try it.  I made them yesterday morning, and they are delicious.  So much so that I've already received requests to make them again.  They are quite easy.  Make sure you use fresh lemon juice...I don't know if they would be quite the same with bottled juice.  I used low-fat ricotta, so don't feel like you have to use the whole milk version. 

The turbinado sugar that is sprinkled on the top of the muffins is easy to find in the baking aisle.  I bought the Sugar in the Raw brand, and as I won't use it much for anything other than baking, I got the box of individual packets rather than the box that will essentially be open until used again.  Bonus--it was a little cheaper that way.  In case you don't know, turbinado sugar is large grains of sugar along the lines of sea salt.  Perfect for topping muffins or sweet breads.

If you don't have fresh blackberries, use frozen.  I did.  Also, if you're not a blackberry fan, these would be good with any other kind of fruit as well.



Photo courtesy of http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/

To view the recipe, go here:
http://twopeasandtheirpod.com/lemon-ricotta-blackberry-muffins/

I am not the least bit Irish, but I thought I would jump on the St. Patrick's Day bandwagon and make something, well, St. Patricksy for the first time.  A couple of weeks ago I made my first corned beef (see recipe) and it turned out really well.  This time I thought I would take it a step further and make the corned beef into a reuben casserole.  I LOVE reubens.  I didn't know how my family would like it.  I figured my daughter wouldn't and my son would (I was right on both), but I wasn't sure about my husband.  He loved it. 

I didn't spice this up like I did my last beef, because reuben sandwiches aren't spiced very much, if at all.  I only used the spice packet it came with.  Also, I used provolone cheese instead of swiss, because I asked my husband to pick up some swiss on the way home...and he brought provolone.  This couldn't be simpler to make.  Enjoy.

1 lb. corned beef, plus spice packet
1 package of baby carrots
1 small cabbage, quartered
1 can sauerkraut
6 pre-sliced slices of provolone cheese
1 bottle thousand islands dressing
6 slices of good rye bread

Heat olive oil in a deep pan or skillet.  Sprinkle seasoning packet onto both sides of the brisket.  Brown both sides.  Add enough water to almost cover the brisket.  Add your carrots and the cabbage.  Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer.  Simmer for 3 hours.

Remove brisket from skillet.  Trim off any fat.  Cut the brisket into bite sized pieces, then shred.  Place shredded brisket into the bottom of a baking dish sprayed with nonstick spray.  Next top with a layer of sauerkraut.  Top that with the thousand islands, as much as you want.  Cut three of the cheese slices in half, spread over top of the dressing.  Rip up the bread slices and place on top of the dressing.  Cut the three remaining cheese slices in half, place on top of bread.

Bake at 425 for 25 minutes, or until the bread is browned and the cheese is brown and bubbly.  Serve with the carrots and cabbage.

My mother found this recipe for Beer Muffins over the weekend.  She made hers by adding savory ingredients (spices and cheese) and omitting the raisins.  I ended up making mine according to the recipe, but into bread because the oven was busy with dinner, and I had to fit this into the toaster/convection oven.  This bread (or muffins, however you choose to go) has a distinctive beer taste to it, at least in my opinion.  So for those of you who think it should always be beer:30, this is not one to miss!

3 cups buttermilk biscuit mix (such as Bisquick)
2 Tbsp. white sugar
1 can of beer
1 c chopped raisins (I used Craisins)

Mix all ingredients together to form a dough much like cookie dough.  Grease a muffin pan or 9x9" pan, pour into cups/pan.  Bake at 350 degrees -- 15 minutes for muffins, 25-30 for bread.  Serve warm with butter.

My daughter loves popcorn shrimp...the kind that's deep-fried in a restaurant or from a box in the freezer section.  Shrimp is so good for you, but the rest of it...well, you know.  So I wanted to make it for her in the hopes that she could enjoy one of her favorites without all the fat and badness that comes from deep frying.  She didn't like it as well as the bad-for-you kind, but I thought they turned out fantastic.  If you like breaded shrimp, give this a try. 

1 bag of raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 egg
panko breadcrumbs
Old Bay seasoning
garlic powder

Rinse your peeled shrimp.  Cut each shrimp in half to make two.  Put the raw shrimp in a ziplok bag.  Whisk the egg, add it to the bag of shrimp.  Work the egg through to make sure all of the shrimp are coated.

Mix your breadcrumbs and seasonings in a shallow dish.  Add a handful of the shrimp, make sure each one is coated well with the breadcrumbs.  Place the shrimp on a baking sheet lined with foil and sprayed with nonstick spray.  Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes, or until shrimp are pink and lightly browned.