School Morning Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients
* 1 can Pillsbury Crescent Rolls, or crescent roll sheet
* 6 teaspoons softened butter, divided
* 1/4 cup brown sugar
* 1/4 cup white sugar
* 1 tsp cinnamon  

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the bottom of a pie plate. Add the brown sugar to the butter and stir to combine.
3. Unroll crescent dough and pinch seams together to create one big sheet (or if it is just one sheet, no need to pinch seams!). Spread with remaining softened butter. Combine white sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the buttered dough.
4. Roll the dough back up into a log, and cut into 8-10 cinnamon rolls.
5. Place rolls in prepared pie plate. Sprinkle with any remaining cinnamon sugar. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
 6. Top with glaze or frosting of your choice and serve warm.

Notes
What a brilliant idea to create a cinnamon roll that uses crescent roll dough as the base!!!  My kids love cinnamon rolls, and I love the ease of this recipe.  When crescent rolls or sheets go on sale, this will be a recipe I will be making for the family!

Sauteed Green Beans

Ingredients
* Green beans
* 1-2 tsp olive oil
* seasoning of your choice (I like to use Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle seasoning)
* salt and pepper, optional


Directions
1. Clean and trim the green beans. Blanche in boiling water for about 6 minutes, then cool in an ice water bath.
2. Heat the oil in a saute pan, and saute the green beans with the seasoning of your choice. Cook them for just a few minutes, maybe 2-3.  You want them to be hot, but don't let them get mushy!
3. When the beans are done, transfer to a serving plate and if desired, sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Notes
These are easy and delicious beans! Green beans aren't always my first choice in vegetables, but since I've been making them this way, they are finding their way into my grocery cart more and more often! I use Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle seasoning most often, to give the beans a little kick!

Nut Crusted Chicken

Ingredients 
* 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of excess fat
* Kosher salt
* 1 cup peanuts
* 4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
* 1 medium shallot, minced (or about 3 tbs of onion if that is what you have on hand)
* 1 cup panko (Japanese-style bread crumbs)
* 2 tsp finely grated lime zest
* 1 tsp chile powder
* 1/2 tsp ground cumin
* 1/2 tsp ground coriander
* 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
* 3 large eggs
* 2 tsp Dijon mustard
* ¼ tsp ground black pepper
* 1 C unbleached all-purpose flour

Directions
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350°.
2. Poke thickest half of each breast 5-6 times with a fork, Sprinkle evenly with ½ tsp kosher salt.  Refrigerate while preparing coating.
3. Process nuts in food processor until they resemble coarse meal.
4. Heat butter in 12-inch skillet over medium heat; cook 4-5 minutes, swirling pan constantly, until butter turns golden brown.
5. Add shallot (or onion) and ½ tsp kosher salt. Cook stirring constantly until just starting to brown (about 2 minutes). Reduce heat to medium-low, add panko and ground nuts. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring often, until golden brown.
6. Transfer panko mixture to pie plate and stir in lime zest, chile powder, cumin, coriander, and cayenne pepper.
7. Lightly beat eggs, mustard, and black pepper together in second pie plate. Put flour in third plate.
8. Pat chicken dry with paper towel. Dredge chicken breast in flour (one at a time), shaking off excess, coat with egg mixture, allowing excess to drip off. Coat all sides of chicken with panko mixture, pressing gently so crumbs stick.
9. Transfer breaded chicken to a prepared wire rack set on rimmed baking sheet. Bake 20-25 minutes until the juices run clear.

Notes
You will be amazed at how well the coating sticks to the chicken, and how crispy this gets in the oven.  The recipe may seem like there is a lot going on between the spices, mustard, butter and so forth, but it is worth it, and turns out delicious!!!  Way to go Cook's Illustrated!!!

April 6, 2012

Happy Easter, and Happy Passover! Can you believe it is April? I must say, I did pull a great prank on my daughter on April Fool's Day - though let's give credit where credit is due - I took the idea from my sister. Toothpaste filled Oreo cookies- it was hilarious, and very unexpected! Tuck that idea in the back of your mind for next year - it was easy and very effective!

My mother-in-law is visiting, and of course that gets us thinking about my father in law and wishing he were visiting us as well. One of his all time favorite desserts is banana cream pie, so the dessert that was voted a keeper this week we'll call Deconstructed Banana Cream Pie. Maybe we can entice him to come visit with the promise of this dessert...

Two other recipes earned keeper status this week, and writing about them here makes me want to put them on the menu for this coming week again! We love salmon, but I wanted to take it up a notch, and we found the prefect accompaniment - spicy cucumber relish. Talk about delicious! At the end of the meal I put a little extra relish on my plate even though I had already finished my salmon. Definitely a keeper. As a side dish the same night I made sauteed mushrooms with garlic, Parmesan and breadcrumbs. I think I could have eaten the entire bowl, but there were two other adults that were fighting me for it! If you enjoy mushrooms, you may just love this side dish.

Not sure what next week will bring, but hopefully some new keepers!

New Recipes
Sauteed Mushrooms with Garlic, Parmesan, and Bread Crumbs
Spicy Cucumber Relish
Deconstructed Banana Cream Pie

Deconstructed Banana Cream Pie

Ingredients
* vanilla pudding (make as directed)
* 2 bananas, sliced
* caramel sauce
* fresh whipped cream
* graham cracker crumble (recipe below)

Ingredients and Directions for Graham Cracker Crumble
* 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 10 full sized crackers)
* 1/3 cup butter, melted
* 1 tbs sugar

Crush crackers in a large zip top type bag. Pour crumbs, sugar and melted butter into a bowl and stir until fully combined. Pour into a 9"x13" casserole dish and press into a even layer. Bake at 350*F for 10-12 minutes, until light brown. Allow to cool, and crumble. Store in an air tight container.

Directions
Layer graham cracker crumble, vanilla pudding, sliced bananas and caramel. Top with whipped cream, additional graham cracker crumble, and a final banana slice. Serve immediately.

Notes
Quick and easy dessert, and fun to serve each person an individual dessert. This also makes it easy to customize - you can leave out the bananas for those that may not like them.

Sauteed Mushrooms with Garlic, Parmesan, and Bread Crumbs

Ingredients
* 2 slices hearty white sandwich bread, torn into quarters
* 3 tbs unsalted butter
* 1 tbs vegetable oil
* 1.5 pounds white mushrooms, trimmed and quartered
* 2 garlic cloves, minced
* salt and pepper
* 1 oz Parmesan cheese, grated (1/2 cup)
* 2 tbs minced fresh parsley

Directions
1. Pulse the white bread (torn into quarters) in a food processor until coarsley ground. Heat 2 of the tablespoons of butter in a 12” skillet over medium- high heat. Add bread crumbs and cook, stirring often, until dark brown, about 3 minutes. Transfer crumbs to a small bowl and set aside.
2. In the now empty skillet heat oil over a medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms release their liquid, about 5 minutes. Increase heat to high and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has evaporated, about 8 minutes longer. Turn heat down to medium, add the rest of the butter and brown the mushrooms, about 8 minutes longer.
3. Add the minced garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Season with salt and pepper to taste and transfer to a medium bowl. Toss with the Parmesan until the cheese melts. Add the bread crumbs and parsley. Serve.

Notes
It is amazing to me how so many mushrooms can cook down so much and become so small. But talk about flavor! The cooking method turned ordinary inexpensive button mushrooms into a fabulous side dish! I am even thinking of making these again this weekend because they were so good.

Spicy Cumcumber Relish

Ingredients
* 1 cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, cut into 1/4 inch dice
* 1 serrano chile, stemmed, seeded and minced
* 2 tbs chopped fresh parsley
* 1/2 small shallot, minced
* 1-2 tbs fresh lime juice
* salt

Directions
Combine cucumber, chile, parsley, shallot, 1 tbs lime juice and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Let stand at room temperature to blend flavors for 15 minutes. Adjust seasoning with additional lime juice and salt to taste after 15 minutes. Serve with the cooked fish of your choice.

Notes
Wow! The adults at the dinner table LOVED this over salmon! Talk about delicious! The flavors were bold and fresh, and added such brightness to the salmon. This is definitely my new favorite way to have salmon.