Wisconsin Beer Cheese Soup

Origin: Wisconsin, USA
Prep Time: 40 mintes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

The list of ingredients for this one is long, so I will just share the link we used here!

Basically we started the soup with a mirepoix (onions, celery, and carrots) with some spices. We added vegetable broth, beer, and milk as well as some spices and of course LOTS of cheddar cheese. Here are the pictures!

Pizza Style Monkey Bread

Origin: Italy...kind of
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 20 minutes

It seems that we have about 1,000 for some sort of pizza-related food item. We are college kids, so usually they look pretty appealing to us. This is a recipe for a fun twist on this Italian classic!

We started by making the dough with the following ingredients:
1 packet of active dry yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1 and 1/2 cup water
2 cups baking flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tbsp salt

We let the dough rise for about an hour, I think that next time we will give it a little bit more time because it was still a bit tough, but we were hungry so we didn't wait!

 We then rolled the ball into monkey bread size pieces, dipped it in flour first and then butter, followed by a mixture of mozzarella cheese, shallots, garlic, parsley, and Wee Willy's seasoning.

Bake in a muffin pan or a mini-bundt pan.

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes

Yum!

We also made our own marinara sauce using whole canned tomatoes, red wine, olive oil, basil, and garlic-

Vegetable Lo Mein with Peanut Sauce

Lisa had some Trader Joe's peanut sauce to use up, so we decided to add to our Asian theme night with a simple veggie and peanut lo mein. Flavorful, healthy, and filling.... What more could we want?

We simply sauteed the veggies with a wok and added the peanut sauce and some red chili sauce to spice things up. The veggies we used are as follows:

Pea Pods
Green Beans
Water Chesnuts
Mushrooms
Green Onions
Red Pepper
Carrots
Broccoli

We boiled the lo mein noodles, added the sauteed veggies and voila!

Chicken and Cashew Cakes

 Origin: Asian
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes

This is another recipe that caught our eye from the Philadelphia cookbook. Here are the ingredients:

1 red onion, finely chopped
1 lb. ground chicken breast
1/3 cup cilantro
4 oz. cream cheese
1/3 cup cashews, finely chopped
1/3 cup fresh basil, chopped (the grocery store was sold out of basil, so we skipped it)
zest of 1 lemon
flour for coating

Combine the ingredients listed above in large mixing bowl until well incorporated. Roll into balls and flatten slightly. Dip in flour to coat the entire outside.

Cook cakes in batches. Use a large skillet coated with oil over medium high heat. Cook 3-4 minutes on each side or until golden brown on both sides and internal temperature is at least 165 degrees. Drain on paper towels.

We also made a sweet/spicy vinaigrette to go along with them. We used:

1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp. sweet chili sauce
2 tsp. fish sauce (we used oyster sauce because we had it in the fridge)
1 serrano chili, diced finely
2 tbsp cashews, finely chopped

Mix ingredients in sauce pan. Cook 3 to 5 minutes or until sugar is dissolved and sauce is slightly thickened, stirring frequently.

This is how they turned out!

If I were to make these again, I would cut back on the onion a little bit, because the flavor was really overwhelming. Also, the cilantro added a very strong taste, so if you don't care for cilantro you should probably cut it out of the recipe altogether. The sweet and spicy sauce turned out really well, and could be used to top a variety of different Asian dishes.

Deep Fried Pickles

Origin: Southern USA
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 5-7 minutes

This is a little snack that Sarah has been wanting to make for a while. Yes you heard right, deep fried pickles. Many of us Minnesotans had never heard of this treat until we ran across the deep fried pickle stand at the "great Minnesota get together" but this has been a southern favorite for many generations.

We decided to try this Food Network recipe last week. The main ingredients in the breading are corn meal, flour, and spices. Basically you just dip the pickles in an egg wash before you batter and deep fry them. We liked the recipe, but if we were to make them again we would probably try more of a batter than a breading like they make at the fair.

This is how they turned out:

They can be served with seasoned sour cream, ranch, or cream cheese....Or just eat them plain! Don't knock it 'til you try it!




Oh, and stay tuned for some Asian cuisine we're planning to make this week! We're excited!

Tapas Night Part Three: Ham and Egg Empanadas

The last but not least item of the night was called "Valencian Empanadas" which included ham, cheese, hard boiled egg, onions, peppers, and tomatoes. We used crescent roll dough for the outside. As much as I wish we could have made homemade dough, we faced a few time and resource constraints which forced us to go with the store bought kind. Maybe someday?

Before they were folded and put in the oven

After!

As much as we were trying to stay authentic, we ended up dipping these little babies in sour cream and salsa. Sometimes you just have to stick to your American roots when you know it's going to taste good, right?

You may be wondering, "How can you make tapas without using any SEAFOOD?!" Trust me, as much as I wanted to use seafood we have to keep in mind that we live in western Wisconsin, the dead center of the continental USA. Quality of seafood isn't exactly the greatest, especially during the winter. We also weren't allowed to do seafood dishes for the simple fact that I am also allergic to shellfish. No food is worth a trip to the hospital....actually maybe it is, but I wasn't going to chance it.

Among these three dishes, we also enjoyed some homemade sangria and stuffed peppers, prepared in traditional Spanish style. Unfortunately we didn't snap any pictures of these items :( It was pretty chaotic in the kitchen this day!

Thank you to our good friend Alisha for letting us use her kitchen for the night as ours was occupied!

Oh I almost forgot the link for the recipe! Here it is!

Tapas Night Part Two: Spanish Omlette (Tortilla)

Origin: Spain
Prep Time: 15 minutes per omlette
Cook Time: 10 minutes

When I was studying in Sweden, I had the opportunity to share a kitchen with a few Spanish amigos, and this is an item I watched them prepare many times. A Spanish omlette is very similar to our familiar American ones, except they add sliced potatoes to the mix. You just simply cook the potatoes for about 10 minutes or until tender, then add your egg mixture. They also call this dish a "tortilla" which as you can see, is extremely different from the Mexican version of a tortilla...

The link for the recipe can be found here!

Casey helped me flip the omlette like a pro

Just to add an American twist, many of us ate this with ketchup....very non-traditional

Some of our friends being VERY helpful in the kitchen. (AKA drinking sangria and laughing...)

Tapas Night Part One: Stuffed Mushrooms

Origin: España
Prep Time: 20 minutes (depending on how good you are at chopping veggies)
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Our good friend Izzy came to town from California last month so we decided to invite a few girlfriends (and two guy friends) over to make tapas. "Tapas" is a term used for a wide variety of appetizers commonly served in Spain. We had never tried Spanish inspired cooking before, so we thought we would give it a shot. (Might I remind you ladies and gentlemen, Spanish cooking is NOTHING like Mexican cooking).

The first recipe we got started on was wholeliving.com's recipe for stuffed mushrooms, these were my personal favorite of the evening! The link to the recipe can be found here!

The best part about these is that the mushroom filling can be made a day ahead of time. If you're planning a party and want as little prep work as possible, this is something that can quickly just be popped into the oven a few minutes in advance.

The main ingredients include: scallions, bread crumbs, goat cheese, red bell pepper, cilantro, parmesean, and salt & pepper to taste.

Chicken and Cranberry Bites

Another recipe we tried from the Philadelphia cookbook is this appetizer. We actually ended up eating it after our meal, and it worked just as well because of the puff pastry and cranberry add enough sweetness to make it a suitable dessert. Again, this snack requires very few ingredients:

1 pkg. frozen puff pastry, thawed
3/4 cup cream cheese (1 8 oz package)
1 1/2 cups chopped chicken breast, cooked
1/2 cup whole berry cranberry sauce

1. Heat oven to 425
2. Unfold pastry sheet onto lightly floured baking sheet.  Cut into 12 squares.
3. Spoon 1 1/2 tsp. cream cheese onto center of each pastry. Layer cranberry sauce and chicken on top.
4. Bake 14-15 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.

For Sarah, we just skipped the chicken, which tasted just as good in my opinion!

Trattoria Ravioli

A trattoria is an Italian style eating easablishment less formal than a ristorante, but more formal than an osteria. There are generally no printed menus, the service is casual, wine is sold by the decanter rather than the bottle, prices are low, and the emphasis is on a steady clientele rather than oh haute cuisine. The food is modest but plentiful (mostly following regional and local recipes) and in some instances is even served family-style (i.e. at common tables).

We got this recipe from the cookbook Spread a Little Joy made by the producers of Philadelphia Cream Cheese.... so as one may assume, it is incorporated into every recipe in the book (Score!)

We plan on using this book over and over again, but the first recipe we decided to make is the one you see on the cover (instead of tortellini we used ravioli).

It requires only a few ingredients:

The exact recipe calls for:

2 packages of refrigerated cheese tortellini or ravioli, uncooked
1 cup milk
4 oz cream cheese, cubed
6 tbsp grated parmesean cheese
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper (we always add a bit more)
6 oz fresh or frozen baby spinach leaves (we used fresh)
1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes

The process is very quick and easy...

1. Cook pasta as directed on package *someday we will make our own ravioli from scratch! I promise!
2. Meanwhile, cook milk and cream cheese in large skillet on medium heat until cream cheese is melted. Incorporate until well blended. Stir in parmesean and pepper. Add spinach; mix well.
3. Drain pasta. Add to spinach mixture with tomatoes, mix lightly.
4. Buon appetito!

Sarah ended up adding a little bit of garlic salt for some extra flavor. We concluded that this is a "reduced guilt" version of alfredo sauce, because it doesn't involve nearly as much milkfat as traditional alfredo, especially if you use reduced fat cream cheese and milk! Overall, we LOVED this meal!

Mozzarella Stuffed Meatball Subs

Origin: Italia
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes

We have to make the exception to our vegetarian rule every once in a while, so Megan and Lisa decided to invite some friends over to make a delicious omnivorous dinner, inspired by the lovely Giada De Laurentiis.

These meatball subs were relatively simple, and they turned out tasting great. To start, we seasoned the hamburger with our secret weapon, Wee Willy's Buttery Herb and Garlic Seasoning.It's made in MN and you can literally put it on ANYTHING that needs a bit of an herby kick. (Megan and I use it for pasta a lot).

Along with Wee Willy's, we used a few crushed ritz crackers, 1 egg, 1/2 cup ketchup, salt, and pepper to make sure the hamburger held together during the cooking process.

The second key ingredient is Bel Gioso Mozzarella Pearls. These tiny little pearls of fresh mozzarella are about 1/2 inch in diameter and taste great!

Simply make sure the seasoned hamburger surrounds the mozzarella pearl. Bake in the oven at 350 for about 15 minutes or until hamburger is cooked through.

Meatballs are done!

We then sliced some french bread in half, topped it with provolone slices and marinara sauce along with the cooked meatballs.

 Alisha, Andy, Megan, and Lisa busy in the kitchen

Put the sandwich in the oven and broil it until the bread gets toasted.

We've got some exciting ideas for cooking this week, so stay tuned! This one is a crowd pleaser for sure.

We will return shortly to our regularly scheduled programming....

As you may have noticed, we have taken a short break from posting lately. Too many midterms, exams, and projects have gotten in the way of our weekly cooking routine, but we promise to return shortly after spring break with some great new ideas :)

Consider Donating to Oxfam

The three of us feel blessed not only to have food on our table every night, but to have the ability to cook with a variety of fresh, nutritious, and clean ingredients. Unfortunately, not everyone is able to have the same luxury as we do, there are many starving people living in poverty throughout the US and the rest of the world. For Megan's event planning course, her class is putting on a fundraiser to help Oxfam America build a school in an impoverished nation. Oxfam America is one of the best relief agencies in the world, helping citizens in over 98 countries.

From the Oxfam website:

"Oxfam is an international confederation of 14 organizations working together in 98 countries and with partners and allies around the world to find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice.
We work directly with communities and we seek to influence the powerful to ensure that poor people can improve their lives and livelihoods and have a say in decisions that affect them."

The event costs only $5 and is being held this Thursday, March 3 at UW-Stout. Their goal is to raise $1,500 through ticket sales and donations. Please consider coming to this event! If you are not able to attend, any donation will help.

Link: Oxfam's Website

Link: UW-Stout Oxfam Hunger Banquet Information

Check Out This Awesome Website

Do you need an idea for dinner tonight? Don't have time to run out to the store? Completely exhausted any sort of creative ideas to "use what you've got"? Well this website offers solutions to any dinner dilemmas. My Fridge Food allows you to fill out a simple checklist of ingredients you've ALREADY got in your fridge or pantry and then spits out some new recipes for you to try based on what you have! It's a great way to get new ideas and save time and money by making it possible to purchase very few extra ingredients.

Link: My Fridge Food

Have fun!

Twice Baked Potatoes and Spinach & Romaine Salad

Prep time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Origin: USA (for the most part)

This has been one of our favorite meals this semester because there's a great variety of flavors and textures involved with both items. We decided to go with a nice and hearty main dish, twice baked potatoes to go along with this chilly Wisconsin weather. We freshened up our evening with a delicious and crispy salad made with spinach and romaine lettuce, topped with mandarin oranges, fresh strawberries, and toasted almonds and Sarah's homemade peanut vinaigrette. Bon Appetitio!

 Sarah prepping the salad

Ingredients for the vinaigrette: honey, rice vinegar, peanut sauce, olive oil, ground ginger, and toasted almonds. Most ingredients were added to taste (We need to do a better job at keeping track of exact measurements... sorry!)

 Making the potato filling

 Gutting the potatoes

 These bad boys cooked at 350 degrees until the cheese was melty and bubbly. Yum.

 The salad put together

Picture perfect! And very fitting for a chilly February evening.

Twice  baked potatoes are pretty simple, so we didn't use a recipe at all. Generally this is how it went:

Bake 4 large potatoes until soft
Assemble the following ingredients in a medium sized mixing bowl:
2 tbsp melted butter
4 oz. sour cream
3 oz cream cheese
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
chives, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste

When the potatoes are done baking, cut them in half and scrape most of the insides out from the skin. Combine potatoes with above ingredients, spoon back into potato skins, and bake at 350 until warm. Top with fresh chives!