Days 126, 127 & 130: #TBT Carbonara & Flag Cake 2 Ways (plus a BONUS recipe!)

It's time for #TBT!!!  Tonight I quickly whipped up carbonara for us after Noah's 1 year check-up and before going to Life Group.  That's how quick and easy this recipe is!!!  Believe me when I say it--as long as it takes you to boil water and cook pasta, is as long as the entire recipe takes to make.  Try it, you'll love it!

Here's my final "catch-up" from my no-post streak last week and over the weekend.  I bring you Sunday (Day 126) and Monday (Day 127): Flag Cake 2 Ways!!!  Okay, the truth is, I didn't cook at all on Monday.  Memorial Day, I stepped away from the stove.  After the catering and other cook-outs, I was done.  We got up early for a family photo shoot Memorial Day morning, and then spent the day with my parents.  It was fabulous!

So on Saturday, you know I made a flag cake with a yellow cake recipe I'm not yet ready to disclose, and a raspberry filling, whipped cream frosting, and blueberries and raspberries on top.  But, I made a second, bigger cake that was similar!  I used the same yellow cake recipe, but made a strawberry filling instead.  I also swapped out the whipped cream frosting for a buttercream frosting and used strawberries instead of raspberries on top.  Disclosure: this cake recipe doesn't travel well.  On Sunday, we attended a cook-out in CT, which is why I made the big cake.  I knew it would be a long drive, so I opted for the buttercream frosting, figuring it would hold up better than whipped cream, which I assume it did.  However, the juices from the fruit do melt the frosting a little bit and cause dripping.  So, my suggestion if you're going to travel with a cake like this is, place the fruit topping on the cake when you arrive!  It could be a fun thing for guests to help with, also. :)  As I said in my previous post, the exact recipe for this cake is still a work in progress, and I think every cooking girl needs a "secret" recipe anyway. ;) 
Hopefully these cakes provide some inspiration, though, for your July 4th get-together!

BONUS RECIPE

Crust-less Quiche
I love finding ways to use leftovers.  Recipes that include "everything but the kitchen sink" are great for that!  So this morning, (yes, before work) I threw together this crust-less "quiche."  Remember those spring veggie tartlets I made for Friday's luncheon?  Well, I had a ton of leftover chopped vegetables from when I prepared those!  I stuffed them all in a bag and threw them in the fridge.  The yellow cakes I made also used a lot of egg yolks.  So I saved the whites.  Randy's not a fan of egg white omelets, but I saved them anyway.  That's when it hit me--throw them together with the veggies and make a quiche.  I had some leftover cheese in the fridge, and some deli turkey.  And ok, I added 2 whole eggs just for a little extra protein. ;)  Combine it all in a pie plate and bake at 400* for 45-50 minutes.  Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting into it.  What a great breakfast!!!

Days 125 & 129: Cook-Out Favorites & Beer-Marinated Chicken w/ Summer Vegetables

We finally had a nice sit-down dinner as a family at home tonight!  It feels like it's been forever!  I no longer sell Tastefully Simple products, but before I "de-activated" I "stocked up" on some seasonings.  Yes, they are relatively easy to make on your own if you use the right combination of spices and herbs, but when they're all perfectly pre-mixed for you right in your pantry, who can resist?  And these seasonings have added plenty of "kick" to my meals recently.  Tonight, I enlisted the help of their new summer beer-marinade, and their Seasoned Salt for my potatoes and vegetables.  Dinner was so easy!  Last night I pulled out my chicken to defrost and this morning Randy got it marinating for me.  Simply mix 1 packet of the powder "marinade" with a 1/2 cup of beer and marinate the chicken for however long you have.  Tonight I grilled it and finished it in the oven.  It was super flavorful!  Here's how I like to do summer vegetables:

Seasoned Summer Vegetables
1 zucchini, thickly "chunked"
1 summer squash, thickly "chunked"
1 red pepper, cut into bite-size pieces
1/4 of a red onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
olive oil
"Seasoned Salt" (Tastefully Simple)
onion flakes (or Tastefully Simple's "Onion Onion")
paprika
cumin

Layer the vegetables on a baking sheet and coat with olive oil.  Sprinkle the seasonings on liberally and cook in a 400* oven for 10-15 minutes or until cooked through and fragrant.

Let's bounce back to Day 125 (Saturday), when we had Noah's birthday cook-out.  When I invite people over for a birthday party, I'm more inclined to do most of the cooking because people coming are already bringing gifts.  If someone asks to bring something, I let them, but I usually assume I'll do most of the cooking.  When I'm having a regular barbecue or get-together for no reason, I don't have a problem saying "I'm providing the meat, you bring a dish to share" or something like that.  For Noah's party, I did have some voluntary help, but I provided the majority of the meal.

Normally we like our burgers medium-rare.  I was not in charge of the grill...

Here's my basic burger recipe:

1 lb hamburg
1/4-1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp chipotle chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1 garlic clove, minced
1 TB onion flakes
oregano, parsley
salt, pepper

Mix well and form into 4 patties.  Cook on the grill or under the broiler.

To go along with the burgers, I made orzo salad, classic potato salad, broccoli salad, fruit skewers, and some Tastefully Simple dips with chips.  I also had a garden salad brought by my mother and my sister-in-law made deviled eggs.

Broccoli Salad
I've seen this made different ways before--all of them so delicious!  At Whole Foods, they call it "Broccoli Crunch" and sell it from the deli.  This salad is incredible... try it!

1-2 bunches broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup of mayonnaise
scant (just under) 1/2 cup of sugar
2 TB red wine vinegar
1/4-1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup walnuts
10 strips of bacon, cooked and chopped

Mix the broccoli, bacon, raisins, walnuts, and red onions together.  Whisk the mayo, sugar, and red wine vinegar.  Pour the dressing over the salad and serve immediately.  (If you want to make it up ahead of time, keep the dressing separate and pour it on right before serving.)

 For dessert, we had Noah's chocolate chip "snowball" cookies, cake pops, and a flag cake.  The idea for the flag cake came from and Ina Garten cookbook, but I didn't use her recipe at all.  I wrote my own cake recipe, and made a raspberry filling to go inside.  The frosting was a whipped cream frosting and I used blueberries and raspberries to decorate the "flag."  I'm not ready to share my recipe yet because 1) I'm not 100% satisfied with it and 2) I think every cook needs a secret recipe, so I'm not sure I'll ever be ready to divulge the recipe. ;)

Happy birthday, my sweet man... hope you enjoyed the party you'll never remember!  (Your Momma sure did!)

Day 124 & 128: Luncheon Specials/Appetizers

Since I'm a little behind on my blogging, I thought I would combine some of my days to help catch up.  Today (Day 128) the kids are having mac & cheese, veggies, fruit, chips, and probably leftover cake for dinner.  They were babysat by my wonderful cousin.  Randy and I have been very busy lately, and I figure I'll just come out and say why: we're house shopping.  I haven't disclosed this information yet because we like to maintain a certain degree of privacy.  But I'm tired of cryptically saying that we have "appointments" all the time around dinner.  For those who have house-shopping experience, you know that it involves a lot of last-minute appointments and dinnertime house-viewings.  This is why I haven't had many new dinner recipes to share lately.  Luckily, my recent catering jobs and Noah's party will provide some new recipes to post on my blog!
 
Friday (Day 124) I provided some appetizer specials for a luncheon at school.  The menu included homemade hummus with vegetables, honey-mustard dip, lemon-grilled chicken with satay dip, spring veggie tartlets, fruit skewers, gluten-free fruit tarts, and chocolate-chip "snowball" cookies.

All of my business cards were picked up at the luncheon!  Time to print more...

Here are a few of the recipes from the teacher luncheon:

1. Homemade Hummus
I got this recipe from my mother, which may have come in her Vitamix Blender.  Here is the original recipe, but I should disclose that I doubled it and added more garlic! ;)

2 15 oz cans of chickpeas, 1 drained & 1 with fluid
1/4 cup raw sesame seeds
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 TB olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tsp cumin
salt

Place all ingredients (except the salt) in a blender or food processor and mix well.  Add the salt to taste.

2. Spring Veggie Tartlets (makes 18 tartlets)
I came up with this recipe myself.  It was inspired by the idea of "finger" appetizers like the warm goat cheese & onion tartlets I make but wanting something with a different flavor, more reflective of spring.  These tartlets are served cold, so you can easily make them ahead of time.

1 box puff pastry
1 egg for egg wash
4 oz cream cheese, softened
2-3 oz plain Greek yogurt
1 TB onion flakes
1 TB fresh chives
salt, pepper
1/2 cucumber, sliced & quartered
chopped red onion (1/4 or less of the onion)
chopped yellow pepper
chopped broccoli

Preheat the oven to 400*.  With a circle cutter, cut 9 circles out of each sheet of puff pastry.  Place them in a mini-tart (mini-muffin) tray and gently press down.  Brush each tartlet with eggwash and bake for 10 minutes.
Mix the cream cheese, yogurt, onion flakes, chives, and salt & pepper to taste together for the spread.  When the tartlets come out of the oven, allow them to cool a few minutes, then press them down to form little cups if necessary.  Spread the cheese mixture on top of each one and top with a cucumber quarter-slice, some red onion, yellow pepper, and a little broccoli.  Refrigerate for a few hours and serve cold.

3. Noah's Chocolate Chip "Snowball" Cookies
I love these cookies!  They are not too sweet, which definitely helps bring out the chocolate flavor.  I got the recipe from a friend who made them for me and brought them to the hospital the day after I had Noah.  Childbirth definitely gives you a case of the "munchies" and I thoroughly enjoyed these cookies!  They always remind me of when Noah was born which is why I renamed them after him. :) 

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsps vanilla
1 egg
2 cups of flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Blend the butter, sugar, and vanilla.  Add the egg and mix well.  Mix in the 2 cups of flour and salt.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Shape into 1 inch balls and bake at 350* for 13-15 minutes.

4. Gluten-Free Almond Fruit Tart
This was the first gluten-free recipe I've made!  The recipe itself doesn't make much.  I actually quadrupled the recipe to get 2 normal-sized (in my opinion) tarts.  For this (and other) recipes I made for this luncheon, I actually used a lot of low-cal or fat-free cream cheeses, mayos, etc.  This is not how I normally cook.  But I had to consider my audience. This recipe is probably one I would consider making again (with full-fat cream cheese).  The almond crust was really good (it is the only aspect of the recipe I took from the internet--the filling was my recipe)!
 
For the Crust:
1 cup almond flour
1/8 tsp sea salt
1 egg
1 TB butter, melted
3 TB honey
1/4 tsp almond extract

Preheat oven to 350*.  Grease an 8" tart pan.  Blend the egg, butter, honey, and almond extract.  Add the almond flour and salt.  Spread over the tart pan and bake for 10-12 minutes or until light golden brown.  Remove from oven and cool completely before inverting and filling.

For the Filling:
8 oz cream cheese
3 TB honey
1 TB apricot preserves
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1-2 TB milk

Cream/blend ingredients together and spread over a cooled crust.  Top with strawberry slices, kiwi slices, and blueberries.  (Add grapes, too, if you'd like!)

Day 120: Bacon Ranch Chicken Sandwiches

So, if you're keeping track, you may know that Day 120 was actually Monday.  Yep, almost a week ago!  I have been totally M.I.A. and lagging on my post upkeep, sorry.  When doing a "daily" challenge like this, it's hard to not let life get in the way.  I didn't know that this blog would take off and become a "business" website of sorts for the time being.  In fact, I didn't even know I would be going into the catering business when I started this blog!  But now I have big plans for it and other things related to the business, food, and blogging.  All of this will unfold (probably slowly) in the future.  So with 2 catering jobs this past week (and all of my business cards are now GONE!), Noah's 1st birthday party to prepare for, and daily life, I have a bit of catching up to do.  Unfortunately, the only new recipe I have to share from dinners this past week was from Monday, so I'll start there.  Stay tuned for more posts about other recipes I prepared for the catering jobs and our cook-out (and Noah's cake)!

Bacon Ranch Chicken Sandwiches (4 sandwiches)
I would say the inspiration for these came from Wendy's, probably. I've mentioned before how I like to re-create some fast food fixings at home--better health, better taste, better cost. ;)  So here's how I do it...

1. Pound out 2 chicken breasts so they are thin and can be cut in half.  Sprinkle each with salt, pepper, and 1 tsp of ranch seasoning on both sides.  Grill chicken on the stovetop or grill.

2. Meanwhile, cook 4-8 slices of bacon in a 400* oven.

3. Slice 4 kaiser or bulkie rolls in half and spread with butter. Sprinkle the remaining ranch seasoning from the packet on the buns.  When the bacon is done cooking,  turn the broiler on and toast the buns under the broiler.

4. Slice a tomato and tear some lettuce so they are ready for toppings.  When the chicken is just about done cooking, place a slice of cheese on each piece of chicken just so it melts a little.

5. To assemble the sandwiches, place the bacon on the bottom bun and top with the chicken & cheese, lettuce, tomato, and drizzle with barbecue sauce.

Asparagus Spring Pasta Salad

So that is the scene of my dining room table and has been for about a week.  I've had 2 catering jobs to prepare for and carry out plus Noah's 1st birthday party that I'm gearing up for!  I live by lists and since I don't have a smartphone, I write everything out by hand.  I've been pouring through recipe book after recipe book for ideas, ingredient lists, and recipes to compare in order to write my own yellow cake recipe.  It's busy, but I love this stuff!  If only it could be my full-time job...

Anyway, I will show the pictures from my most recent catering gig, but instead of writing a story (it'd be pretty boring, anyway--things went smoothly) or sharing the recipes for all of the dishes, I picked one to document and will write about that.  The other recipes are either repeaters or I'm sure I will make them again and write out the recipe at that time for you all.  So here's my recipe for a spring pasta salad featuring asparagus!

Asparagus Spring Pasta Salad
The idea for this recipe came from Rachael Ray, I believe, but I don't really know what her exact measurements of ingredients were.  I made a double recipe for the luncheon, but here I will just document a "single" recipe, though it will probably feed quite a few people!  The dressing is a little more involved than just using a salad dressing or (gasp!) mayonnaise (although those pasta salads do taste wonderful) but the added effort is worth it because it makes for a healthier dressing and a flavorful salad!

1 lb Farfalle (bowtie pasta)
1 bunch asparagus
1 red pepper, sliced or chopped
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 shallot
1/3 cup olive oil (or extra virgin)
3 TB white wine vinegar
salt, pepper

1. Wash and cut the asparagus.  You can get a good idea of where to cut the asparagus by bending a spear.  Wherever it breaks naturally, is where you should cut.  Discard the ends.  Then cut the remaining spears into thirds or fourths.

2. Boil and salt a large pot of water.  Get the pasta cooking.

3. Blanch the asparagus.  Par-boil it in a saucepan (about 2 minutes) then immediately plunge the spears into ice water to stop the cooking and "lock in" that beautiful, green color.

4. Finely chop the shallot and then get it cooking with the olive oil.  Cook for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant.  Allow to cool.  Add in the white wine vinegar and mix.

5. Drain the pasta.  Combine the pasta, dressing, and frozen peas.  It's important to add the dressing while the pasta is hot so it can absorb some of the flavor.  Adding the peas right away will help defrost them.

6. Add the red pepper and asparagus.  Season with pepper.  Mix well.

The cookies are cooling.

Abby with an icing-covered face!

I've decided that if I'm going to go into the business of cooking and baking, I cannot lick the beaters ALL THE TIME.  Actually, like, never.  Not anymore!  But Abby still can! :)  Check out these shots of the whoopie pies I made for the luncheon.

 

The finished products!

Sunday's lunch:

chicken piccata

herb-roasted potatoes

There's that pasta salad!

I made a few fruit pizzas...

I loved this design I came up with and was so disappointed that it got smushed in the car!!!

Days 115-119: TBT & My West Coast Pizza

Wow!  I have a lot to catch up on!!! Well, I have good reason, I think.  I have 2 catering "gigs" I've been working on, plus Noah's 1st birthday coming up.  Not to mention the regular rigors of the day-to-day and we are getting into graduation/cookout season so things are starting to pick up on the social calendar.  Whew!  The Dattolos have been busy.
I'm particularly proud to feature my own recipe for a West Coast style pizza in today's post and the rest of it will be a quick overview of our other dinners.  Dinners this past week and in the coming week will be fast, furious, and cheap.  Whenever I have a party to cook for (like Noah's) or other catering jobs, my family dinners take a minor hit.  We have to eat simply because I'm not about to prepare a 4-course meal while I'm also preparing a banquet for someone else, and they have to be cheap when I'm purchasing food for our own upcoming party.  So I have one recipe to share from you today, then I'll share a recipe from my most recent catering gig and after that, I believe I have about 1 new original recipe coming up this week before Noah's party and that's about it.  So savor these few recipes in the upcoming week(s) and happy cooking!!! :)

Day 115 (Wednesday): Tonight featured my "ThrowBack Thursday" (yes, on a Wednesday) meal--turkey sausage lasagna.  I re-vamped the post for this recipe and re-posted it on Thursday.  For the recipe and new pictures, see the link.

Day 116 (Thursday): Bethany's West Coast Pizza (see recipe & pictures below)

Day 117 (Friday):  How lucky am I to be able to eat fantastic meals in the name of "research?"  :)  A friend of mine and I went out for dinner tonight and I was debating between a salad, the pasta dish I normally get, or a new shrimp scampi that was featured with summer vegetables.  I opted for the 3rd choice.  I was not disappointed.  It was delicious and definitely provided inspiration for a future home-cooked meal!

Day 118 (Saturday):  Well I spent most of the day (and evening) cooking for a luncheon on Sunday (one of my catering gigs).  So naturally, we ordered pizza for supper!  I'll include pictures from the luncheon and a recipe for a new dish in tomorrow's post.  Stay tuned!

Day 119 (Sunday--today):  Luncheon and graduation party!  It was a busy but wonderful day!!!  I spent the morning cooking and making sure I was ready for the luncheon I catered and beyond that, started to prepare for my next gig, and then relaxed at a graduation party held at a local (Fitchburg) martini bar.  What a great time!

Bethany's West Coast Pizza
This recipe is inspired by Randy and my recent trip to California where we shared a "West Coast Combo" pizza that was excellent!  This incorporates all of the ingredients of that pizza except the mushrooms.  It was delicious and brought back fond memories!
 
pizza dough
2 chicken breasts, grilled and cubed
pepperoni
sliced tomato
1/4 of a red onion, sliced
4-5 pieces of cooked bacon, broken up
fresh basil, julianne (sliced in strips)
2 cups cheddar jack cheese
Ranch dressing
drizzle of barbeque sauce

1. Drizzle a pizza stone with olive oil.

2. Place the dough on the stone and roll it out to cover completely.  Bake the dough in a 400* oven for about 8 minutes then remove.

3.  Grill the chicken then cut it in cubes or shreds.

4. Brush ranch dressing on the crust.

5. Sprinkle 1/2 of the cheese on the crust.

6.  Spread the chicken over the cheese and crust.

7. Top with the pepperoni, sliced tomato, and red onion. And sprinkle with the bacon and fresh basil.

8.Top with the remaining cheese and drizzle with barbeque sauce.

9. Bake another 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.