Penne with Vodka Sauce

My husband and I both grew up in homes where alcohol was forbidden even for cooking. A few months ago in a conversation with my mom she mentioned having fresh parmesan cheese in the house. I found this unusual for my mom (just not something you find my mom's kitchen). She said she needed it for a recipe she had made recently. The cheese lover in my inquired as to what she made and she replied, "Penne with Vodka Sauce". I was intrigued. I asked, "You went to a liquor store and bought Vodka?!?!". She replied (as if this was no big deal), "Yes". Picture now my jaw hitting the floor! I was in amazement and needless to say I asked for the recipe!

My youngest brother plays soccer, basketball and baseball for the small Christian school he goes too. Some of his friends play every sport with him. One night before a big game one of the moms made Penne with Vodka Sauce for the team. My brother then requested my mom to make it his birthday dinner and she agreed. Anyone want to guess out of 5 children where in line this brother falls?

This recipe came from the mom of my brother's best friend. Its their family recipe. I know that my mom has played with the recipe. The nutrionist in her didn't like the fat content. I have for the original recipe, I think my mom is still perfecting her version. I think I am going to make a few changes in the future. I didn't use the panchetti and wish I had because I think it would have added a lot of flavor and I thought this was a little bland.


Penne with Vodka Sauce

Ingredients

1/4 pound panchetti, diced
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup vodka
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
1 pound penne pasta, cooked
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cup tomato sauce

Directions

Melt butter in a large fry pan, when butter foams add panchetti and brown slightly. Add vodka and stir. When finished smoking, stir in tomato sauce and cream. Stire for 5-8 minutes. Add cooked pasta and parmesan cheese.

Apple Spice Bars

It is only day 5 NaBloPoMo and I find myself already struggling to get this post up. It is not for lack of material to post but a lack of creativity. I find I don't know what to write. I don't know what to say to inspire to get to your kitchen and make the recipes I'm posting. I find great joy in my kitchen. And when I am successful I find even more joy.

Maybe that is why I am struggling today. I have lost my joy. I am frustrated with circumstances in my life. I want answers. If I can't have an immediate answer than give me some hope that we can find one in the future. I want to feel normal. I don't just want to just feel normal, I want to be normal! I realize for many of you that little tantrum doesn't make any sense but that is what is on my mind right now. Those are the thoughts clouding my mind.

These bars however, give me great joy! It is the next best thing to a homemade apple pie without all the work. This recipe is super easy to whip up. The longest prep is the slicing and dicing of the apples. Truthfully, if the apple cutting was any easier, these would be in my house far too often! I love the spice combination of cinnamon and nutmeg mixed with a touch of clove. And the house smells wonderful when they are in the oven!

The original recipe comes from Katie at Good Things Catered. I have made a couple slight changes but you can find her original recipe here.

Apple Spice Bars

Ingredients

2 cups plus 2 Tablespoon flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla
2-3 apples, peeled, cored and diced
cinnamon sugar mixture for sprinkling

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray. Give it a good coating, these are sticky when cooled.
In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Whisk to combine well and set aside.
In bowl of stand mixer, combine sugars and butter. Beat on medium high until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well to combine. Add vanilla and beat to combine. Fold in apples. Spread mixture evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle top with cinnamon sugar mixture.
Place in oven and bake until cooked through, when top slightly bounces back to the touch, about 30-4- minutes. Remove from oven and let cooled completely before removing from pan, cutting and serving; bars will be very soft.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

This is the first of many, many posts that I have never posted. I think I baked these cookies back in September. I got the recipe from a friend who copied it out of a cookbook at Barnes & Noble. So, I don't have an exact source for this recipe.

I made one batch with chocolate chips and another batch with raisins. I preferred the raisins but the chocolate chips went over better with the middle schoolers that my husband teaches. Go figure!


Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

1 c. flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. (1 stick) softened butter
1 c. brown sugar (packed)
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. solid-packed pumpkin
2 c. uncooked oats
1 c. dried cranberries (optional)


Sift flour, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and baking soda

In separate bowl beat brown sugar and butter in large mixer - 5 minutes or till light + fluffy

Beat in eggs and vanilla

Add pumpkin and beat at low speed till blended

Beat in flour mixture until blended

Add oats, mix well

Stir in Cranberries (or chocolate chips)

Cook at 350 for 12 minutes or until golden brown
Makes 2 dozen cookies

TWD: Chocolate Armagnac Cake

I have the most amazing husband ever! Life has just been very crazy for me for the past several weeks. My in-laws were in town this past weekend and then I got the double bonus of a snow day on Monday! I took full advantage of resting and relaxing. Now I did do some baking but I chose to make chocolate chip cookies first. You see my husband just finished up the production of Godspell at the high school he teaches at. I decided that he needed a little treat. So, I made him his favorite cookies.

Then, I was too tired to make the cake I needed to make this week. Would you believe my amazing husband offered to make it for me?!?! I tend to be a little possessive about TWD and usually decide I can do it better my way when he offers to help. Being the smart man that he is, he waited until I left for work. He even took pictures for me!

I usually cut the recipe when I don't have somewhere to take it. So, he made 1/3 of a full recipe and used our large sized Corningware ramekin. He used Amaretto instead of Armagnac (since we don't have any) and used cherries instead of prunes.

The cake was okay. It tasted good and I really liked the tartness of the cherries in contrast to the sweet cake. I'm not a big lover of chocolate cake and so far I have only found one chocolate cake that I love.

I am very grateful to my husband for making this recipe. Thank you to LyB for this week's selection!


PS. He used his King Kong plate to show his manliness!!

NaBloPoMo

March is National Blog Posting Month! Since I need something to get my blog going again. I am giving myself this goal, to blog everyday in the month of March. I certainly have enough material to post!

The theme for this month is Giving (UP). I don't know if I will follow the theme or not. I do know that I am not ready to give up on this blog so if nothing else the theme is providing me with motivation to NOT give up!

Comments are always good encouragement, especially because I know that someone is actually reading my blog. Feel free to keep me accountable to this goal!

TWD: Caramel Chrunch Bars

Life has just been crazy here in out house. I apologize for my lateness. But I couldn't just let this one slide and not post it. These bars were amazing! Pure butter and sugary goodness.
Thanks to Whitney for a great selection!

TWD: Devils Food White Out Cake

Chocolate Cake! Do I really need to say anymore than that?

This week's recipe was chosen by Confessions of a City Eater! It was a perfect selection. I made this cake for my husband and I for Valentine's Day. We both loved it.

I didn't make the frosting in the book. I don't have a candy thermometer and by the time I realized I needed one it was too late to go out and buy one. So, I just whipped some cream and we had a whipped cream topping. Let us just say It was hard to not eat the whole cake in one sitting!

Tuesday with Dorie!

TWD: World Peace Cookies

I am down to the last hour but it is still officially Tuesday here on the East Coast. This week's recipe was chosen by Jessica of cookbookhabit. Thank you Jessica!!!

These cookies were a bit of a challenge. You see, there is no egg in this recipe, therefore, no binding ingredient to hold everything together. So, the dough is in crumbles. I followed the instructions and took some advice from my fellow bakers. The first log that I rolled together sliced pretty well. I had a few crumbs but I had a few successful cookies as well. The second log I rolled together was very unsuccessful. Mind you both logs came out of the same recipe so who knows what I did wrong. Maybe I didn't wrap the second log tight enough for everything to stay together.

The crumbs certainly did not stop me from loving these cookies. I am a huge fan of sweet and salty snacks so this was a fabulous cookie in my book! So, what do you do with cookies crumbs??

Put them on top of ice cream!!

My camera batteries were dead so the good looking cookies were long gone by the time my camera was ready to be used. I will be making these again!!

Check out my fellow bakers on Tuesday With Dorie!

TWD: Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread

This week's recipe had me skeptical. I am not usually a big fan of ginger. It is a strong, spicy flavor. However, I learned this week that when it is used in the right combination of ingredients, ginger can be fabulous.

Now I have to admit because I was previously not a fan of ginger, I skipped the optional ginger. I didn't use the crystallized fresh ginger or the stem ginger in syrup so my bread just had ground ginger in it. I used chocolate chips and just added them instead of melting part of them. I also used dark karo syrup instead of molasses and added a bit of vanilla for flavor. And if you couldn't tell by the picture, I skipped making the chocolate ganache topping as well.

I have to admit that I loved this bread! All my chocolate chips sunk to the bottom and the middle of my cake also sunk. My husband loves the cake including the chocolate layer on the bottom. I preferred the cake by itself. I liked it without the extra ginger but maybe next time I'll double the ground ginger and leave out the chocolate chips altogether.

Our host for this week was, Heather of Sherry Trifle.

Happy Baking!!

PS. TWD authorities, I'm sorry for posting this late, I really did make it on time! :)

TWD: Berry Surprise Cake

I really wanted to bail on this week's recipe. Several TWD bakers had tried their hand at whipping up this cake before I got to it and some were not very successful. I was not excited about failing. Particularly because I planned to serve this cake as dessert at my first party this past weekend. Not exactly the first party I've ever planned or hosted but the first in my own home in NYC with new friends. I wanted everything to be perfect. So a tricky cake recipe was calling me chicken.

As you can see from the pictures I baked the cake! Thanks to my husband for pushing me out of my comfort zone (he's good like that!). He reminded me that one of the reasons I joined TWD was to learn to bake out of my comfort zone. Cakes are just not my thing.

So, I rolled up my sleeves and got to work and a lot of work it was. There was several time consuming steps for this recipe. Many TWD bakers complained about the cake sinking in the middle, though it is normal for it to sink slightly, many were disasters. I carefully followed the instructions (I love Dorie's descriptions!). My cake sunk slightly but I considered it normal. Once I had the cake fully assembled, you couldn't even tell it sunk. The filling does a good job of make up for lost cake!

I altered the filling a bit and added more sugar and more vanilla based on a few complaints that it was bland. I loved my end results and have been eating my leftover filling but the fingerful straight out of the fridge! I also had to give in and use frozen berries. I couldn't bear the thought of buying berries out of season; they are too expensive and don't look good! I thawed them before putting them in the middle of my cake.


In the end, I was very pleased with my cake. I was glad I made it and I loved the filling. However, I didn't love the cake. It was bad but just not was I was expecting. A slight disappointment for me in the end BUT my husband LOVED it! And by love I mean, I think he ate half! I was surprised because neither of us really love cake. But, my party was a big success so all is well in the end! :)

Thank you to Mary Anne of Meet me in the Kitchen for challanging me to step out of my comfort zone. You can find the recipe here. Check out the other TWD bakers to see how their cakes turned out!

CEiMB: Beef Tenderloin with Rosemary and Chocolate

Well, if you follow my blog regularly you know that I have been absent from Craving Ellie in My Belly. But I'm back! I have to confess that my husband actually made this week's recipe but he gave me the approval to claim it for myself. I have such an amazing husband. Work has been physically stressful this week and he knew how much it meant to me to participate in this week's recipe so he offered to make it. I sat at the counter and kept him company.

Ellie mentions in her notes that this really works for any cut of beef. Since it is just the 2 of us, I decided to just pick up 2 steaks. The sauce takes quite a while to reduce down but it was worth the wait. I was very hesitant. If fact the picture above is my husband's plate, my sauce was in a dish on the side in case I didn't like it! I was pleasantly surprised.

The aroma of the sauce with the spices was quite overwhelming and I thought for sure I wouldn't like it but Ellie proved me wrong and I will definitely make this again in the future.

Other than substituting the cut of meat, the only other change we made was using a cooking sherry instead of red wine. I was not interested in making an extra stop to the liquor store this week. I'm not a wine drinker so I can't tell you if it made a huge difference but if it did than I like it better my way!

Thank you to Amanda of Beckett Bakes It for this week's selection. You can find the recipe on her blog. Don't forget to visit CEiMB too!

TWD: Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins

I'm sure you all thought I abandoned my blog but that is just not true. I am back on board with TWD! I have missed a lot and I hope to catch up on a few of the ones I missed.

This week's recipe was a great one to jump back in with. It was super quick and easy to mix together. I am do not love things too spicy and I have a hate relationship with cilantro so I left out the bell peppers and the jalapeno peppers and the cilantro. My husband likes corn muffins but does not like corn. So, I scooped out 6 muffins for him before stirring in the corn. Since, it was only 1/4 of a cup, I didn't cut it in half for the last 6 muffins and in the end I wished I had doubled the corn for just my 6 muffins. I really liked the sweetness of the corn with the spiciness of the chili powder and wished I had added more of that too.

I made these at the last minute so we just ate them by themselves but they would be a great addition to many meals. Therefore, I will be making these again!

Thanks to Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake for this week's selection! Please visit her blog for the recipe! And if you'd like to see the muffins with peppers, check out the TWD blogroll.

TWD: Grandma's All-Occasion Sugar Cookies

Ulrike from Kuchenlatein was our host this week and she picked a fabulous sugar cookie, very festive! I thought these were super easy to make. I did both the slice and bake and rolled the dough in colored sugar before slicing. I also did the traditional cutouts. I loved these!


Check out the TWD website to see many other fabulous versions of these sugar cookies!

TWD: Thanksgiving Twofer Pie

I made the pie. It was quite the event. Then I got very sick. Then I went out of town for Thanksgiving. So, more details of my pie making to come later today, I hope.

CEiMB: Four Cheese Macaroni and Cheese

I made it. It was fabulous. More details and recipe to come later :)

CEiMB: Oven Fried Chicken

I have been finding it really hard to cook or bake lately. Work is kicking my butt! If that weren't enough, Jake has been super busy. He is gone pretty much every night. So with my work schedule craziness and his work schedule craziness, we have been doing very little cooking. It has been all about convenience these days.

All that to say I had to drag myself into the kitchen last night to make this week's recipe. And so glad I did!!! This week's selection was chosen by MacDuff. He chose this recipe out of a love for fried chicken. I loved this recipe just for the addition of a new chicken recipe.

I made a few alterations. I used white saltines because that is what I buy. I left of the sesame seeds and cayenne pepper because I didn't have any. I subbed in ground pepper and onion powder. I wanted to leave out the Dijon mustard because I really don't like mustard but in the end I found some honey mustard in the fridge and threw it in. I used boneless skinless chicken breasts and made chicken tenders.

I will definitely be making these again. I even cut up the leftovers onto a salad tonight so I had another convenient dinner.

Check out MacDuff's blog for the recipe and the new Craving Ellie in My Belly blog.

TWD

Not this week folks. I just couldn't make it happen. Please visit Isbelle or TWD to see rice pudding.

I promise to return next week with a special Thanksgiving treat-Dorie style!

CEiMB

I have to apologize for missing another week. My husband has been in the middle of rehearsals for an upcoming show that opens tonight! So, meals have been low key and quick.

Please head over to the new Craving Ellie in My Belly website to see Portobello Lasagna Rollups with Easy Tomato Sauce that everyone else cooked up this week! Our selection this week was chosen by Marthe.

Please head over to What's for Supper? by Natalie, new leader of CEiMB!

Tragedy

I am out of sugar!

Don't you hate when you think you have more of something on your pantry shelf and when you need it, its not there! TWD is not going to happen for me this week. I would make it late but I am leaving in the morning for a business trip to Boston!

Check out TWD website for everyone's Kugelhopf and thank you to The All-Purpose Girl for this week's pick!

Viagra Commercial

Sometimes I just can't help myself!