Cajun Red Beans and Rice with Drop Biscuits

I make no claims about the 'authenticity' of this dish; all you need to know is it's delicious.

This meal has earned a place in the meal rotation of late. It's relatively fast and simple and always satisfying. I need to remember to double it so I can have enough for lunch the next day.

2 tablespoons olive oil

6 oz. (or more) chicken andouille (or other chicken sausage), chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped

1/2 an onion, chopped

2 or 3 stalks of celery, sliced

1 1/2 teaspoons salt-free Cajun seasoning
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (15-ounce) can red beans (kidney beans), rinsed and drained
1/4 cup water
1 (14.5-ounce) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 cups cooked rice (I use brown)

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage, onion, bell pepper, and celery to pan; sauté 4 minutes. Add Cajun seasoning, salt, oregano, and garlic to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Partially mash beans with a fork. Add beans, 1/4 cup water, and tomatoes to pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat; stir in pepper. Serve over rice.

Drop Biscuits

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

4 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces

1 cup skim milk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Lightly grease a muffin tin with cooking spray.

Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl.

Blend in cold butter using a pastry blender (I like to use my hands). Mix in the butter until the dough resembles coarse meal. Add in the milk and stir just until moist.

Spoon the dough into the muffin cups.

Bake for 12 minutes or until golden. Serve warm.

Recipes from Cooking Light

Chewy Peanut Butter Butterscotch Squares

Whew! That is a long name for something so simple. I have seen some people refer to these as "Scotcheroos". That is certainly shorter but I am not committed to it yet....

I made these a couple weeks ago and instantly became addicted. I had to make another batch yesterday because I couldn't get them out of my head. This rarely happens to me.

I suggest you try them at once!

6 cups rice krispies

1 cup sugar

1 cup honey

1 cup peanut butter

12 oz. bag butterscotch chips

12 oz. bag semisweet chocolate chips

Measure rice krispies into a big bowl. Set aside.

Add sugar and honey to a medium saucepan. Heat pan over medium heat until just boiling. Remove from heat. Add peanut butter and stir until all incorporated. Pour mixture over the rice krispies, stirring until all coated.

Pour into greased 9X13 pan and smooth out the top with your hands (carefully, it may still be hot!).

Melt the butterscotch and chocolate chips together, stirring until totally combined. Quickly pour over the (slightly cooled) rice krispies layer and use a rubber spatula to spread the chocolate to all the edges and smooth it out.

Refrigerate for them to set up faster, but they will set up if left on the counter for a couple hours, as well.

Enjoy!

Florentine's and Chocolate Panna Cotta

I participated in my first Daring Baker's Challenge this month.

The February 2011 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

Chocolate Panna Cotta

Recipe actually from Bon Appetit:

1 cup whole milk

1 tablespoon (envelope) unflavored powdered gelatin

2 cups whipping cream

1/2 cup sugar

5 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (3/4 cup)

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Pour milk into a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over the top, set aside for 2-5 minutes.

Place a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir in cream, sugar, and vanilla. Bring to a low boil. Remove from heat.

Add chocolate and whisk until melted. Whisk the milk/gelatin mixture into the chocolate cream mixture. Whisk until gelatin has dissolved.

Transfer to ramekins or nice glasses for serving.

Cover and chill 8 hours or overnight.

Nestle Florentine Cookies

2/3 cup unsalted butter

2 cups quick oats

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup flour

1/4 cup dark corn syrup

1/4 cup whole milk

1 tsp vanilla

pinch of salt

PREHEAT oven to 375° F. Line baking sheets with foil.

MELT butter in medium saucepan; remove from heat. Stir in oats, sugar, flour, corn syrup, milk, vanilla extract and salt; mix well. Drop by level teaspoons, about 3 inches apart, onto foil/parchment-lined baking sheets. Spread thinly with rubber spatula.

BAKE for 6 to 8 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets on wire racks. Peel cookies off foil or parchment paper.

After baking and cooling the cookies, I melted a cup of chocolate chips in the microwave and spread about a tablespoon of chocolate onto a cookie and sandwiched it with another cookie.

Welcome to my newly redesigned blog!

With a little (okay, a lot of) help from my very talented hubby my blog has an awesome new look!

Enjoy these pictures of some Valentine's treats I made this week.

This was my first attempt ever with royal icing. They turned out good enough for my first try. It's certainly a labor of love, and best to be worked on after the kids have gone to bed!
Ryan has been wanting me to make red velvet cupcakes for a while. I thought Valentine's Day was the perfect occasion for a heart-shaped (or is that Mickey?) cupcake. I also had a breakthrough while making the yummy cream cheese frosting; I licked the spoon clean, unheard of for me!

Oreo Cupcakes

These cupcakes are a fantastic treat, especially for Oreo-lovers. I prefer to store them in the refrigerator so the frosting is firm. Yum!

For the cupcakes:
24 Oreo halves, with cream filling attached
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 2/3 cup sugar
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup milk
20 Oreo cookies, coarsely chopped (I quarter them)

For the frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 tbsp. heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line the wells of two cupcake pans with 24 paper liners. Place half an Oreo in the bottom of each liner, cream side up.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir together with a fork to blend and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar and beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Blend in the egg whites one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in the vanilla extract.

With the mixer on low speed, beat in half of the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Add the milk and beat just until combined, then mix in the remaining dry ingredients. Gently fold in the chopped Oreos with a rubber spatula until evenly incorporated, being careful not to over-mix.

Evenly divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Blend in the vanilla extract. Beat in the confectioners' sugar until incorporated and smooth, 1-2 minutes. Add the heavy cream to the bowl and beat on medium-low speed just until incorporated, then increase the speed to medium-high and whip for 4 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Frost the cooled cupcakes. Can decorate with cookie crumbs or half an Oreo.

A glimpse of the delicious inside and bottom of the cupcake. These are so good!!

Giant (or not) Double Chocolate Cookies

These cookies really hit the spot when it comes to a chocolate craving. The original recipe calls for these cookies to be portioned out to 1/4-pound pieces of cookie dough, resulting in 12 giant cookies. I thought such giant cookies would be too dangerous to have lying around so I made them smaller and got 2 dozen instead.

1 cup (2 sticks) cold, unsalted butter, cubed
1¼ cup sugar
2 large eggs
½ cup dark cocoa powder
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. coarse salt
1 tsp. baking powder
2½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Blend in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed. Mix in the cocoa powder until well blended. Add the flour, salt and baking powder to the bowl and mix on low speed just until incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula. Transfer the dough to a work surface and knead briefly by hand to be sure the ingredients are well combined.

Divide the dough into 4 ounce portions (or divide into 12 equal pieces). Roll each portion of dough into a ball and flatten just slightly into a disc. Place on the prepared baking sheets, a few inches apart. Bake 16-20 minutes (decrease baking time to 12-14 minutes for smaller cookies). Let cool on the baking sheets 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe found on annies-eats.com

Sweet Corn Muffins

Let's just cut to the quick:
1) these are basically cupcakes masquerading as muffins and
2)they blow cornbread out of the water (in my humble opinion).

1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup Albers® White or Yellow Corn Meal
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cups milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 Tbsp butter or margarine, melted

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Grease or paper-line 18 to 20 muffin cups.
COMBINE flour, sugar, corn meal, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Combine milk, eggs, vegetable oil and butter in small bowl; mix well. Add to flour mixture; stir just until blended. Pour into prepared muffin cups, filling 2/3 full.
BAKE for 18 to 20 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 5 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool slightly. Serve warm.