Fresh Homemade Strawberry Sauce

For Valentine's Day, I made some Nutella French Toast and knew the perfect pairing to it would be some homemade strawberry sauce on top.

Source: Our Best Bites

Ingredients:
1 pint of strawberries
1/3 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon almond (or vanilla) extract
 

Wash the strawberries well, then hull and quarter.

Place in a large pot over medium heat and add the sugar and extract.

These beauties needed a closeup.

Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes to break down the strawberries. The aroma is intoxicating!

Let the berries cool for a bit and then put in a blender or food processor and puree.

Perfect topping for the Nutella French Toast!

Can the rest and enjoy later!

Nutella French Toast

I know Valentine's Day is over but this recipe was too good not to share. I made this for dinner on Valentine's Day because who doesn't love breakfast for dinner?

 Nutella Stuffed French Toast
Source: Nook & Pantry

Ingredients:
1 egg
3/4 cup of milk
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
Brioche or Challah bread
Nutella

Cut the bread in slices.

Slather Nutella on one side of the bread and assemble sandwiches.

Mix together the egg, milk, flour, butter, sugar, vanilla and salt.

Dredge each sandwich in the egg mixture and pan fry in a skillet with some butter.

Pour on some fresh homemade strawberry sauce.

Voila!

Happy Chocolate Day!

The other day I ran across Giada de Laurentiis' recipe for Brownie Walnut Pie  and knew that I had to make it for Valentine's Day.

Now, I'm counting down the hours until dessert. 

Biscotti Crumb Crust Ingredients:
8 biscotti
1/2 stick of butter (chilled and diced)
1/4 cup dark brown sugar

Preheat your oven to 350°

 Break up the biscotti and put them in a food processor. Add to it the butter and the sugar.

Pulse together until a crumbly mixture forms.

Pour mixture into your pie pan.

Press down along the bottom and sides. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Perfect!

Brownie Walnut Pie Ingredients:
6 tablespoons of unsalted butter
3 ounces of unsweetened chocolate
1¼ cup dark brown sugar
3 eggs at room temperature (click for a tip!)
¾ cup flour 
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup toasted walnut pieces

Preheat your oven to 350°

Put a double boiler on the stove (or fashion your own with a pot of boiling water and a glass bowl on top - watch out for escaping steam!). Add chocolate.

Add diced butter.

Keep stirring as it melts.

Almost there!

Perfect!

Take chocolate mixture off the heat and add the brown sugar.

Add the eggs one at a time. 

Now add the flour.

Now that the chocolate mixture is set, chop up the walnuts.

Toast walnuts on the stove top. Keep a close eye on the nuts as there's a thin line between toasted and burnt. Once you're able to smell the walnuts, they're done.

Fold into the chocolate.

Pour into the cooled pie crust.

Place pie plate on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven for about 35 minutes. The edges should be set but a toothpick should come out of the center gooey.

Beautiful!

Tips & Tricks: Room Temperature for Eggs and Butter

You know you've seen those two little words in the recipe and totally disregarded them - Room Temperature. Do they really make a difference?

Room temperature eggs are less viscous and thus make lighter, fluffier baked goods! We all like light, fluffy cakes, right? But who thinks ahead enough to put the eggs out hours beforehand to warm up? Well, here's a tip. Put the eggs in some warm water until they're not cold to the touch any more. Ta-da! Spur-of-the-moment bakers, rejoice!

Now, what about room temperature butter? Having room temperature butter will allow the most amount of air to be beaten into your batter, again, making lighter, fluffier baked goods! When you cream your butter, it creates air pockets that will expand when you add your leaveners (baking powder or soda). Conversely, you'll want to use cold butter for things like pie crusts because the butter won't be absorbed as much and will result in flakiness.

You can quickly get butter to room temperature by cutting it into small cubes and letting it sit for a bit, microwaving it in 5 second bursts, or by grating it.

Demure Demi-Dots

I recently bought a Nude toned nail polish while grocery shopping. I always seem to do that - browse the make-up and nail polish aisle and see if anything jumps out at me. Inspiration can hit at any time.

I wanted to do something simple but classy. I came up with this:

To do this, I applied three coats of the nude to get the shade that I wanted. Then, after it was dry, I poured out a bit of black and took a nail and dipped it in the polish.

I tried the big flat end first, but the dots were a bit too large. So I switched to the pointy end and it worked perfectly!

Doesn't it remind you of those old-fashioned lace up boots? You know, these?

Guess I was channeling some L.M. Montgomery today.

Try some other color combinations and let me know your favorite!

Homemade Chinese Steamed Dumplings

My local Wegman's grocery store has recently gone on a bit of an Asian kick. Lots of fresh cut veggie combos and simmer sauces. They also had some fresh potsticker wraps which piqued my curiosity. Of course, my favorite food blog, Closet Cooking, had a great recipe which I based my dinner on.

Ingredients:

1 package of ready made potsticker wrappers
1 lb. ground pork
1 can mini salad shrimp
2 large napa cabbage leaves
2 green onions
2 tablespoons bamboo shoots
2 tablespoons fresh chopped ginger
2 cloves grated garlic
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Gather your ingredients. I noticed that the ginger I had bought for my recipe was missing. Guess dear hubby used it all on the meal he made while I was out on a much deserved girls night. Can't really get upset about that, he held down the fort and put the baby to bed! I just substituted some ground ginger instead.

Dice up the shrimp, bamboo, cabbage, garlic and green onions.

Place the diced ingredients in a large bowl with all the other ingredients.

 

Mix well.

Lay out your potsticker wrappers and put a spoonful of the meat mixture in the center.

Pinch up the sides.

Put a pot with a steamer on the stove top with a little water on the bottom. Place a cabbage leaf in the steamer and lay a few dumplings on it. The cabbage leaf will keep the dumplings from sticking to the steamer and will cook them evenly. Cover the pot and steam for 6 minutes.

You'll have to do a few batches to get all your dumplings cooked but make sure you keep adding water to your pot so it doesn't scortch.

Steamed to perfection!

Delicious!

I also whipped up a little dipping sauce with 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon of sugar, a splash of olive oil, a teaspoon of chili powder and a clove of grated garlic.