Roasted Beef Tenderloin
Serves 2 – inspired by The Joy of Cooking

2 – 8 ounce pieces beef tenderloin
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Pat the meat dry, and season all sides with salt and pepper. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Sear the meat on all sides until brown, then transfer the skillet to the oven to cook through. Cook for about 30 minutes for medium-well. Remove from oven and cover with foil. Let the meat rest for about 15 minutes before serving. Transfer to plate to serve.

I recently purchased a food thermometer which comes in handy for all sorts of things. It makes it much easier to tell if your meat is cooked to your desired doneness. The Joy of Cooking book gives these guidelines: 125-130 degrees for rare, 135-140 for medium-rare, 150-155 for medium. I also learned that inserting the thermometer into the side of the meat gives a more accurate temperature than inserting it into the top.

Roasted Haricots Verts
Serves 2

2 handfuls haricots verts (french green beans) – or substitute green beans
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees (these can go in the oven at the same time as the beef tenderloin).  On a sheet pan, drizzle the beans with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Spread into an even layer then cover with the parmesan cheese. Place sheet pan in oven and roast beans for approximately 15 minutes, or until tender and the cheese is crispy and golden brown. Transfer to plate to serve.

Pasta with Truffle Butter
Serves 2 – Adapted from the Barefoot Contessa

8 oz fettucine
1.5 oz truffle butter (I found it at Kowalskis in the deli section)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain the pasta, reserving a small amount of pasta water. Return the pasta to the pot, add the truffle butter, cream, and parmesan cheese, stir to combine. Add a bit of the pasta water if the sauce is too thick. Add salt and pepper to taste.  Transfer to plate to serve.

French Toast
Serves 2

5-6 slices challah bread, cut into 1-inch thick slices
2 eggs
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of salt
Maple syrup, for serving
Powdered sugar, for serving
Butter, for skillet

Beat together the eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt in a shallow dish or pie plate. Heat a skillet over medium to medium-high heat, melt 1/2 to 1 tablespoon butter (depending on how big your skillet is). Coat the bread slices on both sides in the egg mixture. Add to the skillet and cook for a few minutes on each side until golden brown. Transfer to a plate and sprinkle with powdered sugar for a little extra sweetness. Serve with maple syrup.

Fried Ravioli
Serves 2 or 3

1 package cheese ravioli from the refrigerated section of the grocery store. Recommended: Buitoni Riserva Quattro Formaggi Agnolotti
1/2 cup flour
3 eggs
1 cup italian bread crumbs
Marinara sauce, for serving. Recommended: Classico 4-Cheese
Vegetable oil, for frying

In a large saucepan, heat enough oil to be a few inches deep in your pan over medium to medium-high heat until it reaches 350 degrees (a candy/frying thermometer is helpful to have). Note: you can test the temperature of your oil but dropping a little piece of bread into the oil. If it bubbles and floats to the top and starts to fry, the oil is ready.

Make an assembly line with three bowls. Place the flour in the first bowl. In the second bowl, beat the eggs with a small splash of water. Place the bread crumbs in the third bowl. Lastly, line a large plate with paper towels.

Dip the ravioli in the flour and coat completely. Then coat the ravioli in the eggs, then in the bread crumbs, coating completely. Next, coat in the egg and bread crumbs again. This second layer is key to getting a nice thick crust that will stay attached to the ravioli. Repeat with all ravioli.

Place 2 or 3 ravioli gently into the oil and fry until golden brown. Don’t add too many ravioli at once, or you will decrease the temperature of the oil leading to soggy ravioli. Remove the ravioli from the oil and let cool on the paper towel-lined plate. Repeat with remaining ravioli.

Warm the marinara sauce to serve with the ravioli. Serve with a salad to make a meal. Enjoy (in moderation)!!

Now I’m not one to shy away from complicated recipes, but I saw Alton Brown make baklava on Good Eats on the Food Network once and it was really time consuming, not to mention that I have no idea where you would find the rose water his recipe calls for. If you love baklava like me, but don’t want the hassle, try this recipe. You could make it even simpler by buying those phyllo dough mini cups they sell in the freezer section of the grocery store.

Simple Baklava
from Giada DeLaurentiis, Makes 24

1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup walnuts
1/4 cup chopped dried apricots
1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
Pinch of salt
1 stick of butter, melted, divided
3 tablespoons honey
12 sheets phyllo dough

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Finely chop the almonds, walnuts, apricots, bread crumbs, sugar, cinnamon, ground cloves, and salt in a food processor. Transfer the mixture to a small bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of the melted butter and the honey and stir to combine.

(You can skip this step if using the pre-made phyllo dough cups) Place 1 sheet of phyllo on your work surface. Using a pastry brush and the remaining melted butter, brush the entire sheet of phyllo with melted butter. Cover the first sheet with a second sheet of phyllo and brush with melted butter. Continue until there is a stack of 6 sheets of phyllo. Cut the stacked phyllo rectangle into 12 equal pieces.

Gently press each cut piece of phyllo into a mini-muffin pan. Press 1 tablespoon of the nut mixture into each of the phyllo cups. Gather the ends of each of the phyllo squares and twist to make a sachet shape. Continue shaping the remaining sachets in the other mini-muffin tin. Bake until the edges of the phyllo are golden, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in muffin tins.

Iced Banana Muffins
Makes 10-12 muffins, or 24 mini-muffins

3 ripe bananas
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of sea salt
1 1/2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mash bananas by hand and mix with the melted butter. In a separate bowl, beat the egg, then mix in sugar, vanilla, and nutmeg. Add in banana mixture.  Add flour, salt, and baking soda and fold in. Grease a muffin or mini-muffin pan and fill the cups with batter. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes (about 15 minutes for mini-muffins) until light golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Make icing:
1 tablespoon melted butter
1/2 to 3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon milk

Mix ingredients together (either add more milk or more powdered sugar if icing is too thick or thin). Place icing into a piping bag or plastic baggie with corner cut off, and drizzle over cooled muffins.

Monster Cookies
from the Baked cookbook, makes A LOT

1/2 cup flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
5 3/4 cups oats
3/4 cup butter, cold and cut into cubes
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
5 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups creamy peanut butter
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup M&Ms

Mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the oats and stir until combined.

Cream the butter until smooth and pale in color, then add the sugars and mix until just incorporated. Scrape down the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time (scrape the bowl after each addition). Add the corn syrup and vanilla, beat just until incorporated.

Add the peanut butter and mix on low speed until just incorporated. Add the oats in three additions. Fold in the chips and M&Ms. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 5 hours.

Heat the oven to 375. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a Silpat. Use a large ice cream scoop or two tablespoons and drop onto cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake for 12-15 minutes (rotate pans halfway through) until just beginning to brown. Let cookies cool on the cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes, then cool completely on wire rack. Enjoy with a big glass of milk, or if you’re out of cereal, eat them for breakfast like John did. (Hey, they have oats in them)

According to her book, this was one of the most famous menu items at Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa store. To impress your friends, pipe the frosting on in a circular motion using a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip. Note: I did cut this recipe in half to make 10 cupcakes, but I’ve included the original recipe below.

Coconut Cupcakes
from the Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, makes about 20 cupcakes

3/4 lb butter at room temperature
2 cups sugar
5 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
14 oz sweetened, shredded coconut
Cream Cheese icing (see below)

Heat oven to 325. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes) then add the eggs one at a time. Scrape the bowl frequently. Add the almond and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and powder, and salt. In 3 additions, alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the batter. Mix until just combined (you don’t want to overbeat cake batter!). Fold in the coconut.

Line a muffin pan with liners and fill each cup with the batter (an ice cream scoop works will for this). Bake 25-35 minutes until light golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Cool completely on a baking rack. Make the icing.

Cream Cheese Icing
1 pound cream cheese (room temperature)
3/4 pound butter (room temperature)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 pounds powdered sugar (sifted)

Beat the first 4 ingredients together, then beat in the sugar and mix until smooth. Frost the cupcakes and top with additional coconut.

Honey-Whole Wheat Bread
from the Gold Medal Whole Wheat Flour package, makes 2 loaves

2 packages active dry yeast (1 pkg = 2 1/4 teaspoons, in case you’re like me and have a jar of yeast in your fridge)
1/4 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup butter
3 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 cups very warm water (120-130 degrees)
4 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 3/4 to 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water; set aside. In large bowl, mix honey, butter, salt, and very warm water; cool 5 minutes.

2. To honey mixture, beat in 3 cups of wheat flour with mixer on low speed, scraping bowl frequently, until moistened. Beat on medium speed 3 minutes, scraping bowl. Beat in remaining 1 1/2 cups wheat flour and dissolved yeast. With spoon, stir in 2 1/4 to 2 3/4 cups of the all-purpose flour until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.

3. Place dough on floured work surface and knead in remaining 1/2 to 1 cup all-purpose flour (or use dough hook in your stand mixer) and knead 5-10 minutes until dough is smooth and springy. Grease large bowl and place dough in bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and cloth towel. Let rise in a warm place (80-83 degrees) for 30-45 minutes until doubled in size.

4. Grease two 8×4 or 9×5 inch loaf pans. Gently push fist into dough to deflate (de-gassing: my favorite part of bread-making!) and divide dough in half. On lightly floured surface, roll each half of dough with rolling pin into 18×8 inch rectangle. Starting with the 8-inch side, roll up dough tightly, making a log and press with thumbs to seal. Fold ends under loaf; place seam side down in pan. Cover, let rise in warm place 30-45 minutes until doubled in size.

5. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Uncover dough; bake 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake 10-15 minutes longer or until loaves sound hollow when lightly tapped. Immediately remove from pans to cooling racks. Cool completely (about 1 hour) and cut into slices.

Peppermint Meringues
Adapted from Martha Stewart

3 large egg whites
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
Red gel-paste food coloring (Note: you can find this in the cake decorating section of your craft store, like Michael’s)

Heat oven to 175 degrees. Fit a piping bag with a large star tip. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or a Silpat. Set aside.

To make cookies, heat the eggs whites and sugar over a double boiler, stirring gently until sugar is dissolved, about 2-3 minutes. Transfer to bowl of electric stand mixer with whisk attachment. Mix on high speed until stiff peaks form (should look like this). Stir in peppermint extract.

Use a new, clean paintbrush to paint 2 or 3 stripes of food coloring on the inside of the piping bag. Fill the bag with meringue and pipe stars onto baking sheets.

Bake until crisp, but not brown – about 1 hour 40 minutes. Cool completely on cookie sheet. Enjoy – they melt in your mouth!

We make them small, because they look cuter (and you can eat a few without feeling guilty!). Although I’m not always a huge fan of making cut-out cookie because they can be somewhat labor-intensive, this recipe is great because it calls for just a few ingredients and they taste so good!

Cream Wafers
From this recipe, although we make ours to look more like this

For Cookies:
2 cups flour
1 cup butter
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
Sugar

Mix flour, butter and the whipping cream together. Cover and refrigerate about 1 hour or until firm. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Roll dough 1/8 inch thick on lightly floured surface. Cut into desired shapes with small round cookie cutters. Put sugar in a shallow bowl. Turn each cutout in sugar to coat both sides. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Prick each cutout with fork about 4 times. Bake 7 to 9 minutes or just until set but not brown. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Meanwhile, make the filling.

For Filling:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon of flavor extract of your choice (we use vanilla or almond, but you could do lemon, peppermint, or whatever you want!)
Food coloring, if desired (we use green and red)

Mix all ingredients together. If the frosting is too thick, you can add a bit of milk or water. If it’s too thin, add more powdered sugar. Spread the frosting onto the backside of a cutout cookie, then sandwich together with another cutout cookie. Tip: we put the frosting into a piping bag to frost the cookies. It’s really easy and looks a lot neater.