Cooking On the Side

Cuban Dinner Party

Kathy Strahs — Wed, 16 May 2012 06:30:26 +0000

The mambo music was turned up, the mojitos were muddled – we were all set for a festive evening when our dear friends Karin and Tony and their two little kids arrived for our Cuban-themed dinner party this past weekend.
When I visited Cuba about ten years ago on a business school study trip, I was absolutely struck by the vibrancy of the culture – the people, the music, the food. It was my first inspiration when McCormick Gourmet, in conjunction with their Dinner Party Chain promotion, challenged me to come up with a creative, gourmet dinner party incorporating their spices. I was excited to relive fond memories of “La Habana” with a fun, family friendly, Latin-tropical spread for our friends.

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Check Out Some of My Most Popular Posts:

~ My most popular post to date was the one in which I compared three different brands of self-rising flours to see which produced the best biscuit. Find out which flour won!

~ King Arthur Flour calls these The Best Ever Fudge Brownies and I agree.

~ My Ice Cream Cookie Pie was over-the-top scrumptious.

About Cooking On the Side...

It’s the recipe collection I didn’t even realize I had – the one derived from the side of a bag of fresh vegetables, a box of sugar, a jar of mayonnaise. Cooking On the Side – as in on the side of food packaging – is all about “revealing” these on-the-package recipes, with photos of how they actually turn out, cooking notes and more descriptive directions than package space usually allows for. -- Kathy

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Chicken, Caramelized Onion and Mango Quesadillas

Kathy Strahs — Fri, 04 May 2012 04:45:10 +0000

Yesterday, for me, was one of those “and this too shall pass” kind of days. You know the ones where every last thing seems to go wrong – spills, leaks, costly repairs, overcharges, email snafus, you name it.

I’m turning the page on yesterday – today is a new day and we’re going to start fresh. To send some positivity out into the universe, I want to share a little anecdote from my high school days. It has absolutely nothing to do with these Chicken, Caramelized Onion and Mango Quesadillas that we had for dinner over the weekend…except to say that, like this story, the bright colors and flavors in these fantastic quesadillas remind me that there are lots of little “good things” we encounter every day. We just have to open our eyes to notice them.
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Maple-Pecan Crusted Chicken

Kathy Strahs — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 04:22:16 +0000

Just hearing the words “maple-pecan crusted” I’m already interested. I’m thinking about something a little sweet, a little nutty, definitely crunchy – a foray into a satisfying bite. Even though I’m not usually a big fan of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, the promise of this coating – made even crunchier with panko bread crumbs – convinced me to give Maple-Pecan Crusted Chicken a try.

I have a love/hate relationship with boneless, skinless chicken breasts. On the one hand, they’re so easy – they cook fast and it’s lean protein. I can easily chop them up for my kids without having to navigate around bones. But they can turn out dry so easily (in restaurants they almost always seem to be inedibly dry) and they’re often just so blah, flavor-wise. I much prefer a juicier bone-in, skin-on chicken breast or, better yet, thighs.

That said, I’m still open to trying recipes involving boneless, skinless chicken breasts if there’s a flavorful marinade, goodies like prosciutto and cheese stuffed inside, or (as in the case of today’s recipe) there’s a great crust. This chicken turned out to be terrific – crunchy and gently sweet on the outside, moist on the inside. As you can probably tell from the photos, these pieces were on the huge side, so my trusty meat thermometer once again came in handy to ensure I cooked the chicken to the right temperature (but not a degree more!). The only small addition I made to the recipe, which I found on the back of a box of Progresso panko bread crumbs, was to season the chicken before applying the coating.

That’s it – start to finish in under 30 minutes, perfect for a weeknight dinner. While the chicken was baking, I pulled together some Vanilla Glazed Baby Carrots and Lemon Jasmine Rice with Peas and Mint (I’ll be sharing that recipe soon!) to serve on the side.

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Rocky Road Brownie Pudding Pie

Kathy Strahs — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 05:16:55 +0000

This Rocky Road Brownie Pudding Pie is one of those recipes that separates the serious rich chocolate dessert fans from the rest. To take it on, you have to be willing to bake a pan of brownies ahead of time so that you have one bar to crumble into the pie. It requires you to crush nine dollars’ worth of chocolate chip shortbread cookies (thanks to Walker’s Shortbread for providing me with the cookies to create this post) to form the crust. You’ll need to make a from-scratch chocolate pudding, toast walnuts and whip fresh cream – nothing especially difficult, but there’s a time investment.

It is worth it.

I loved this pie. Everyone in my house did. It’s as amazing as “Rocky Road Brownie Pudding Pie” sounds.

There is the tiniest bit of salt in the shortbread cookie crust but it’s enough to really wake up the chocolate in this pie. Folding whipped cream in with the chocolate pudding gives it a light, mousse-like texture. Marshmallows and toasted walnuts complete the “rocky road” profile – like a grown-up version of the ice cream from your childhood.

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Petit Pain au Chocolat (Chocolate-Filled Croissants)

Kathy Strahs — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 18:43:53 +0000

Bookmark this recipe for your next brunch potluck – this recipe for Petit Pain au Chocolat couldn’t be easier and the results will score you huge points among your chocolate loving friends (at least it did with me). For this simplified version, you just wrap puff pastry around some good chocolate, brush on some egg wash to give it a nice golden color and bake.

It’s a culinary goal of mine to learn to make my own puff pastry, but until then I’m very glad there are such good-quality pre-made puff pastry options out there. After using Pepperidge Farm’s puff pastry for years with great results, I was intrigued to try out a new all-butter variety from La Boulange. They’re a San Francisco-based bakery that’s recently launched their product at Whole Foods. Bakers all have their opinion about going all-butter, all-shortening or a combination of both when it comes to pastry. For me the jury is still out, but I definitely enjoyed working with this puff pastry…and I loved these easy chocolate-filled croissants.

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My Top 9 Favorite On-the-Side Recipes…Celebrating 3 Years!

Kathy Strahs — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 00:07:17 +0000

Three years ago this week I decided to branch out from panini-making a bit and start this blog “on the side”. I hoped to discover some hidden gems among the recipes I found printed on the food labels in my kitchen…I wound up finding a real treasure trove.

To celebrate Cooking On the Side’s blogoversary (blog birthday, whatever you like to call it) I thought I’d share with you my Top 9 Favorite On-the-Side Recipes from the past three years. These are dishes that have either become instant favorites, like last week’s Yogurt Mixed Berry Pie, or that have become my go-to recipes that I make all the time now. It was a challenge to narrow the list down to just these nine – here they are, in no particular order:

Meyer Lemon Whipping Cream Pound Cake (adapted slightly from the Swan’s Down Cake Flour box)

I originally described this pound cake as “the lightest, most velvety, lemony pound cake I’ve ever tasted” and I still stand by that. I loved this cake so much I baked several back-to-back for last year’s Food Blogger Bake Sale (by the way, this year’s sale is coming up on April 28, 2012 – find one in your city here).

Vanilla Glazed Baby Carrots (adapted from the back of the Trader Joe’s Baby Carrots package)

These glisteningly sweet vanilla-glazed carrots were from one of my very first posts on Cooking On the Side. They have become my go-to side dish for special occasions as well as for everyday. Even my vegetable-avoidant two-year-old will eat these!

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Yogurt Mixed Berry Pie

Kathy Strahs — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 17:41:02 +0000

“It dee-WISH-us!!”

That’s the highest level of culinary praise from my two-year-old son. That and plate licking…both his own plate and that of his big sister. This Yogurt Mixed Berry Pie, from a recipe on the Chobani Greek Yogurt package, beat out even chocolate chip cookies among my kids this weekend. It’s got to be the easiest pie in the world to make and relatively healthy too. How perfect!

Think softer-style cheesecake…that’s pretty much what this pie entails. You drain the Greek yogurt overnight to get a very thick, creamy yogurt cheese. Mix it with a little sugar – not too much, you still want that tartness to shine through – spoon it into a graham cracker crust and top it with berries. That’s it!

It’s Pi(e) Day (3.14) – I hope you’ll have a chance to relax with a slice today!

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Asparagus Quiche

Kathy Strahs — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 20:51:20 +0000

Can someone please explain tart pans to me? I finally bought one over the weekend – the last remaining holdout in my baking arsenal – and, wow, was it a pain to use! Like literally – I ended up with no fewer than ten superficial quarter-inch cuts all over my hands following 20 minutes of scrubbing away all of the baked-on pastry from the innumerable crevices of the fluted edges (desperately avoiding Purell and other stinging agents right now).

Sorry for that visual, but ouch!!

The other thing that happened – major leakage from the removable pan bottom. Soon after my quiche went into the oven the savory aromas began to swirl around the kitchen. Then things turned a little less savory. Kinda burnt, actually. Sure enough, there was a puffy yellow pool of custard on the oven floor, with more oozing its way down from the base of the pan. At least I’d had the foresight to slip a baking sheet under the pan so the mess wasn’t quite as bad as it could have been. But seriously…is there some kind of trick to using these things? Your advice will be much appreciated!

On the bright side…the Asparagus Quiche with which I debuted this treacherous new tart pan did ultimately come out wonderfully. The recipe comes from a package of Challenge Butter. If you recall their Orange Mango Nut Bread with Ginger Honey Butter, Gingerbread Biscotti with Apricots or Pumpkin Spice Cake you know these guys know their way around butter. Obviously, the chance to showcase the beautiful fresh springtime asparagus we’re starting to see in the markets is the main reason to bake this quiche. But I’ll bet you’ll also fall in love with the sweet onions that are sautéed in curry butter – mmm! If I can just get the hang of this tart pan, I’d love to make this quiche again a few more time before spring is up!

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Blueberry Streusel Muffins…and a White Lily Cuisinart Baking Giveaway!

Kathy Strahs — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 05:28:42 +0000

Some people dedicate space in their house for special bottles of wine – I have the special White Lily section of my pantry . It’s where I keep “the good stuff”. You Southerners who can find this super-light flour in any local grocery store are so lucky! I have to pay a pretty big premium to have it shipped to California, but for the lightest cakes, muffins and biscuits it’s worth it.

Today’s Blueberry Streusel Muffins recipe marks the fifth White Lily recipe I’ve featured on this blog – a record! Technically, it’s from the White Lily website and not the actual flour package itself (I’ve actually already made all of their on-the-package recipes!). What I love most about this recipe is it’s simplicity. They are simple, straightforward, fluffy homemade blueberry muffins you can bake on a weekday morning in about 30 minutes. What a treat! One thing to note: the streusel topping is more of a light, sugary crust than a thick crumb layer.

We’ve got a great baking giveaway today! White Lily would like to send one lucky Cooking On the Side reader their Baking Essentials Kit, which includes a Cuisinart 7-Speed Electric Hand Mixer, one bag each of White Lily Self-Rising and All-Purpose flour, a variety of baking tools, recipe pamphlets and a grocery tote. Read on for the Blueberry Streusel Muffins recipe and for details on how to enter the giveaway! [THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED]

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Chicken Tomato Saute + Nonstick Skillet Giveaway!

Kathy Strahs — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 05:49:40 +0000

There are only 2 teaspoons of olive oil in this entire heart healthy Chicken Tomato Sauté dish – I was amazed! Most recipes usually call for 2 tablespoons of oil, but when you’re using a nonstick pan you scarcely need any at all. I often forget this about my nonstick pans. I usually just glug in a tablespoon or two regardless of the type of pan I’m using (I blame too much cooking TV!).

The folks from Teflon sent me a Farberware Restaurant Pro 12-Inch Skillet to try out (they’re also giving one away to one lucky reader – find out how to enter at the end of this post!) in honor of February’s Heart Health Month campaign. If it looks like there’s a ton of food in that skillet in the photo it’s because there is. This is a wide, deep pan with sloped sides – almost like a wok – and it easily accommodated all of the lean chicken breast and fresh vegetables I chopped to prepare this dish. And, as you might expect, everything slid out easily when it came time to serve.

I don’t use nonstick pans for everything – when I want to get a good sear on meat or I need to transfer a skillet from the stovetop to the oven at high heat I’ll go with cast iron or stainless steel – but they’re very much a part of my everyday cooking. And from now on I’ll be going a little easier on the oil when I use them! Read on for the recipe for today’s Chicken Tomato Sauté plus enter to win a Farberware Restaurant Pro 12-Inch Skillet of your own! [THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED]

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