TWD--Brioche Berry Tart

This weeks recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie was chosen by Denise of the blog Chez Us.

I only made half the recipe, baking it in two 4-inch tart pans. Not being a big fan of plums, I decided to use some cherries and blueberries that I had on hand. I used a cherry jam as well.

Dorie said the dough would be better after an overnight in the fridge, and that worked for me. Unfortunately, I didn't get to bake this for another day, but I don't' think that affected the outcome.

Here they are, ready to rest for 30 minutes before going into the oven

One pretty little tart

Vincent had to jump in for a photo op...even though he wouldn't even try a bite of my tart

I must admit that while these little tarts were resting for what was supposed to be a 30 minute period, bed time was upon us and my boys were ready...and I was even MORE ready. So, I left the room and came back about 40 minutes later. At this point, my tarts were out for a bit more than an hour and the brioche began to climb out of the pan and onto the cookie sheet.

I got them into the oven ASAP where I checked them at 15 minutes and they were looking good. I couldn't see the tart pans anymore, but they still looked good. Five minutes later, my brioche was super dark and I got scared. They seemed done to me, so I took them out of the oven. By this time, I was wiped, so I called it a day and looked forward to some fresh Brioche Berry Tart in the morning.

I cut into a tart before I got the camera out. I was anxious to give it a try.

See how dark? And simply enormous...there was a tart pan in there some where!

A little on the crunchy side.

Still good and pretty.

Overall, we did like this and Marc and I both thought it was a good breakfast treat. While I liked it, I think I'm more of a coffee cake or cookies for breakfast kinda girl and I don't know if I would make this again. Still...very tasty, though.

If you would like the recipe, please visit Denise's blog. And if you have a few minutes to spare, stop by TWD where you can find hundreds of other versions of this recipe absolutely with ogling and drooling over.

Roasted Red Pepper and Walnut Dip

Back in May, I saw this recipe over at Mare's blog, Meet Me in the Kitchen. I had recently been sent some POM Wonderful juice and was looking for ideas to use it up. The photos she posted along with her rave review made me realize I had to try this dip.


What's more is that the recipe is from Ellie Krieger and is in her cookbook, The Food You Crave. This, of course, is the book I am using to participate in CEiMB. It just stunned me that this recipe was sitting in that book and that I hadn't really taken enough time to look through it.

Well, here we are in July and I've finally made the Roasted Red Pepper & Walnut Dip by Ellie Krieger. Also known as Muhammara, this dip has just a little bit of kick from a touch of cayenne and just all around great flavor.


I enjoyed it for lunch with sliced cucumbers and carrots and a handful of pretzels. It was so good, I had it with my burger for dinner, too.


And...I've made it twice already and will be making it again this week. Give it a try. :o)

Roasted Red Pepper & Walnut Dip
Ellie Krieger, Food Network

• 3/4 cup pomegranate juice or 4 teaspoons of pomegranate molasses
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 3 tablespoons unseasoned bread crumbs
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 (16-ounce) jar roasted red peppers, drained
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin, plus more for garnish
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus 1 teaspoon for garnish
• Salt
• Pita Toasts, for serving
  

Put the pomegranate juice, into a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, until juice is reduced to about 2 tablespoons, about 6 minutes. Set aside to cool and thicken.

Toast the walnuts in a dry skillet over a medium-high heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Put the walnuts and bread crumbs into a food processor and process until finely ground. Add the reduced pomegranate juice or pomegranate molasses, lemon juice, red peppers, cayenne pepper and cumin and process until smooth. With the processor on add the olive oil in a thin stream. Season with salt, to taste. Sprinkle with cumin and olive oil and serve.

Serve with pita toasts.

Blueberry Oat Scones

I found this recipe in the July issue of Bon Appetit.


I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed the article, "Maine Attraction", that accompanied this recipe. It was written by Molly Wizenburg and I just didn't want it to end. Thankfully, I've learned that she has a book out that received rave reviews from Jennifer of Cooking For Comfort. Thanks to her recent post about some books she's read, I have some new books waiting for me at the library. Thanks, Jennifer!!

Anyway, Molly Wizenburg described these scones so enticingly well, that I knew I had to make them the moment I got my hands on some blueberries. Thankfully, I didn't have to wait very long.


I couldn't wait to bite into one of these scones and after letting them cool just a bit, I was not disappointed. I thought I might like them a little more on the sweet side, but they were perfect as they were.

The recipe calls for a little oatmeal and raw sugar to be sprinkled on before baking. Unfortunately, I forgot to do that because there was a duel going on in the kitchen at the time. It was an early, rainy morning and my boys were quite boisterous.


Vincent loved these and that just about floored me. Well...he wouldn't eat the blueberries, but he loved the "crust" around them. I made these again the next day (no pictures, unfortunately) and made 1/2 the batch with chocolate chips and the other half with more blueberries. This time, I remembered the extra oats and sugar. Delicious.

Tex-Mex Lasagana ala Cooking Light

My apologies to my friends at CEiMB, but I just could not get to this weeks chosen recipe. The recipe was chosen by MacDuff of Lonely Sidecar and she chose the Lobster or Shrimp Roll. You can find the recipe here on Food Network or on Lonely Sidecar.

As it happens whenever I skip a recipe, I'm sure I will be kicking myself for not carving out the time for this as I peruse the blogs of my fellow CEiMB members. Maybe I can get to it in the future.

In the meantime, I give you a Tex-Mex Lasagna that I made last week and that has been patiently waiting in my draft folder for me to get my act together.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is a simple, easy, and meatless main dish meal that I found pretty satisfying. It was perfect on a day that was full of things to do. I put it together in the morning and it was waiting for me in the afternoon, ready to go into the oven.


Although Marc liked it, he was looking for some meat in his lasagna. But I really liked it the way it was. I especially like that this gives you 4 fairly large servings from an 8 x 8 dish. The leftovers were tasty, too.


You can find the recipe here. Oh, one note. I did add a single chopped chipotle pepper to my salsa, just for a little bit of smokiness. And I also used a can of fire roasted tomatoes. Yum.

This recipe is from Cooking Light. (I know...what a big surprise!) You can find the recipe here.

TWD--Katharine Hepburn Brownies

This weeks recipe was chosen by Lisa of the blog Surviving Oz. Lisa recently won the competition to redesign the TWD logo.

Isn't it great?!

So, Lisa got to choose the recipe for this week and she chose Tribute to Katharine Hepburn Brownies. They are rich and decadent and pure chocolate. They have a little bit of cinnamon and espresso powder in them and they are pretty darned good.



My 8x8 pan was in use when I made these, so I used a 9x9 metal pan. I baked for about 25 minutes and they looked good, even if they were a little thin. I was worried about the goo-factor of these, since Dorie mentioned that they can be fairly gooey.

And while they were certainly fudgy and slightly gooey, they weren't a mess.

The verdict?? Good brownie.

My kids don't care for them, but that leaves more for me and some to share. These would be perfect under a scoop or two of ice cream. Thanks, Lisa!! It's a fabulous logo and wonderful recipe.

Brown Sugar Vanilla Ice Cream--SMS

A truly sweet Sunday for Sweet Melissa Sunday. Thanks to Karen of Karen's Cookies, Cakes, & More we have this very tasty ice cream recipe.


Honestly, when I first saw the ingredient list for Brown Sugar Vanilla Ice Cream, I thought about skipping this one. Although it sounded delicious, and I'm a sucker for ice cream, I would have to purchase some non-fat, dry milk to complete it. And around here, the smallest amount I could find of non-fat dry milk was a giant box with 24 envelopes that could each make 1 quart of milk. And, here's the kicker, it cost $8.99! I only needed a 1/4 of the stuff for the ice cream. But I laid down the cash and I know have PLENTY of non-fat dry milk in the pantry for this ice cream in the future.


This week, we also had the option of making the Hot Fudge or Butterscotch sauce from the Sweet Melissa book. After all...what's ice cream with out some kind of sauce on top, right?? Well, although I made both, I only have photos of the hot fudge. I liked the Butterscotch, but the consistency was a little thinner than I was hoping for and it was very sweet. I usually don't mind sweet, but it was almost too sweet for me.


The hot fudge was super rich and extremely decadent. I was surprised to see that there is no heavy cream in it at all. Just lots and lots of chocolate. Good stuff!

Thanks, Karen for a perfect summer recipe! If you would like the recipe, please visit Karen's Blog.

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies

Happy 4th of July!!

This photo is from last summer, but I thought that nothing says PARTY like an empty ice cream container on someones head!! Have a great day!

Now, onto the Cookies...

Here is another one from the June issue of Cooking Light. I've used that issue so much, I'm surprised it's not falling apart yet. And I must pat myself on the back for trying so many recipes from Cooking Light recently. Currently, it's the only food magazine I subscribe to and everything is always so good.


Naturally, when I saw a recipe for a lighter Chocolate Chip Cookie, I had to give it a try. I followed the recipe as written and got 8 large cookies from it. The cookies were soft and the teeniest bit on the cakey side for my liking. However, they did have a slightly crisp edge. And they are all gone, so we obviously liked them.


You can find the recipe for these Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies here, on the Cooking Light site!