T is for Tomato and Tea

Today I wanted to bring you something southern,

 and what is more southern than an Alabama tomato?

This recipe was given to me by my friend Lyndsey. If you haven't met Lyndsey, you are missing out. She is totally awesome: she is always so fun to talk to; she cuts my hair; she makes soap; she has a fun blog (Misch Masch); she does it all. Thanks for sharing Lyndsey!

 Tomato Tart

For topping:

• 2T butter
• 1 1/2t sugar
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1T apple cider vinegar
• Salt and Pepper

For Pastry: 

• 3/4 cup of all purpose flour
• 1t dried oregano
• 1t dried basil
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup of butter
• 4T cold water

Melt the butter in skillet on medium high heat and add sugar. Turn the stove off and stir in the tomato, garlic, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Spoon into four 4" ramekins. 
In a medium bowl combine flour, oregano, basil, and salt. Cut in the butter with a pastry mixer or fork until the mixture looks like wet saw dust. Stir in water to make the dough. Roll out the dough to 1/4" thick and cut out four 4" circles. Top the ramekins with dough and poke vent holes with a fork.

 

Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees until the crust is golden brown. Run a knife around the edges of the tart and flip it over on a plate. 

Southern Godfather

For some time now my drink of choice has been a godfather, whiskey and amaretto. I first had it when me and the Mrs. went out for sushi and decided to order for each other the whole night. (Mrs ordered me a Godfather, edamame, and a Candy Cane Roll (avocado, cucumber, with salmon and tuna) in case you were wondering) I had this take on the Godfather at a birthday party and my tastebuds tingled. It was everything I loved about the original with a southern twist, y'all!

•  6 cups black tea
• 2 cups of whiskey
• 3/4 cup of amaretto
• 1/2 cup of mint simple syrup**
• 2T fresh lemon juice

Mix all ingredients together in a large pitcher. Serve in a highball glass on ice and garnish with a sprig of mint and a lemon slice.**To make ahead, mix 1/4 cup of water and sugar in a cup. Microwave for 2 minutes and stir until sugar is dissolved. Put about 8 mint leaves in hot simple syrup and let steep for ten minutes. Let cool before adding it to the Southern Godfather.

-J

S is for Sweet Potato

Sometimes you just get a crazy idea that you just have to try.

This was one of those ideas for me. It came after I was reading an old cookbook I found the Mrs. got for me a long time ago. With work being insane, and me getting home late, there really hasn't been any time for me to just cook for the two of us. And honestly I didn't have any real inspiration to cook. Recently I have been trying to make an effort to go back to doing things I love again. Work has been consuming my entire energy, focus, and time. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy my job at the cupcakery but there are other things I love too. Just like the portions this recipe makes, there should be plenty of me to go around.

Sweet Porky Pie

• 4 long sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 3 russet baking potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 apple, cored and cubed
• 1 lb. left over barbequed pork**
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup of milk
• 2T butter
• 1t paprika
• 1t salt
• 2t black pepper
• 1T brown sugar

Place peeled and sliced sweet potatoes in a bowl of cold water. Boil russet potatoes until soft. Saute onions and apples in skillet until brown. Drain  boiled potatoes and place them in electric mixer with butter and milk, and whip on medium speed, add the egg and continue to whip until it is combined. Add the onions, apples, pork, paprika, salt, and pepper. Incorporate on low speed.
Line the bottom and sides of a pie pan with sweet potato slices. Pour in the whipped potato mixture. Sprinkle the top with brown sugar, and arrange the remaining sweet potato slices around the top and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

**If you do not have any left over barbeque, here's what to do.
Take 1 lb. of pork chops and rub paprika, salt, pepper and brown sugar all over the sides. Line a baking dish with tin foil and place the meet in the pan. Pour 2T of apple cider vinegar and bake for one and a half hours at 280 degrees. When you bring it out of the oven cover the meet with a sheet of tin foil and let it rest for 10 minutes. Chop the meet into small pieces and add the liquid in the pan to the mix.

It is always good when you have good help with you in the kitchen. This was my ever-ready-to-clean-up-the-floor kitchen help. She did a great job!

The Mrs. said that this meal tasted like fall, and we could not be more ready for that season here. It means football games, family coming to town, and of course plenty of food

See you next time!
-J

R is for Rice and Rhubarb

Remember me?

So a lot has happened since last I blogged. First, The Mrs. and I have moved. We recently bought a house and are really happy being homeowners and having a mortgage. Next, Mrs. ALPHAbiteICAL got accepted to graduate school! She'll take her first class in the fall for Higher Education Administration. And lastly, the cupcakery I manage has opened a second location. There have been several challenges to work out with the new store but it is going pretty well. Cupcakes have been selling like... well cupcakes and that's all I can ask for.

Recently I had a chance to play in my new kitchen and here are the results.

Rice Balls

-1 cup uncooked rice

-3T cilantro, chopped

-3t paprika

-1t oregano

-1/2cup chopped onion

-2 cloves of minced garlic

-2 eggs

-2T mayonnaise

-2t salt

-1t pepper

-1 cup Panko bread crumbs

-Oil for frying

Cook rice and drain water. Stir in cilantro, paprika, oregano, eggs, mayonnaise, onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Roll the rice mixture into balls and roll in bread crumbs. Heat the oil and when it is hot fry the rice balls for about 4 minutes.

Rhubarb Pie

-2 stalks of rhubarb, chopped (about 2 cups)

-6 strawberries, chopped (about 1 cup)

-1/4 cup brown sugar

-1/4 cup sugar

-2T flour

-1t lemon juice

-1t lemon zest

-1T instant tapioca pudding

-2 sheets of puff pastry

Spread the puff pastry sheets on a floured surface and roll out the pastry 1 inch. Press the pastry into 4 ramekins. Roll out the remaining dough and cut out 4 circles to top your pie.

Mix all the other ingredients in a large bowl and fill the ramekins with the mixture. Bake for 40 minutes in a 360 degree oven.

Remind me to blog if you don't hear from me soon. Enjoy the food!
-J

Q is for Quinoa

Quitters never win...

So it has been a while since I blogged, so long that you may have even forgotten about me.
Hey!
I still exist.
I wish that I had a Quick Quotes Quill to dictate to fill you in on everything that has happened since my last post. I don't so here goes: Halloween, Thanksgiving, a tree fell on our house and we moved in with the in-laws, went on a cruise, the bosses opened another cupcakery, Christmas, and New Years.

With all of that there was a part of me that thought that I should quit the blog and just leave it where it was. I questioned if I could even get through the ALPHAbite. With the letters that are on the horizon it is even more daunting than when I started. But it is a new year, a new day, and my first day off since...I have no idea, I really haven't been keeping track, so who cares. I'm back to tackle the ALPHAbite one letter at a time.

Enjoy.

Again.

Hopefully.

(sorry.)

Quinoa Stuffed Squash

• 1 quarter of a quart (cup) quinoa
• 2 cups water
• 3 squashes
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 cup of crab meat
• 1T drained capers
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/2 cup chopped almonds
• 1/4 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
• 1 lime, juiced
• salt 
• pepper
• olive oil

Cook the quinoa by boiling 2 cups water and adding 1cup of quinoa. Reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes. Saute onions in olive oil. Stir in crab meat and add in the wine (quick before you drink it) Add the onions, crab, cilantro, capers, lime juice, and almonds to the cooked quinoa and stir.
Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds.

Lay the squash in a baking dish and fill them with the stuffing. Put the rest of the stuffing around the squash and top each stuffed squash with a little bit of Parmesan cheese.

Bake at 325 for about 30 minutes.






...and winners never quit.

P is also for Popcorn

Perhaps I should just post about the food.

 Popcorned Chicken 

• 2 cups of popped popcorn
• 1/4 cup onions, minced
• 1t dried oregano
• 1/2t salt
• 1/2t pepper
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup water
• 2T mayonnaise
• 1T brown mustard
• 7 chicken tenderloins

Pop popcorn according to the package directions.** I used buttered popcorn, because it is what I had in the cabinet. The only thing worse than watching a bad movie is watching a bad movie with unbuttered popcorn.

**Don't burn the popcorn. The only thing worse than watching a movie with unbuttered popcorn is watching a movie with no popcorn and the stench and smoke of burnt popcorn lingering in the air.

Place your popcorn in a plastic bag with the minced onions, oregano, salt, and pepper. In a bowl combine the egg, water, mayonnaise, and mustard. Soak the chicken tenders in the egg wash mixture. Then roll the chicken in the bag of popcorn.


Preheat a large skillet with a little bit of olive oil to medium heat. Cook the popcorn coated chicken for about 7 minutes on each side.

This was the mine and the Mrs's lunch today. It was the perfect way to spend my day off. Tomorrow it is back to cupcake world.

My Plate Runneth Over

Hello readers, if you are still out there.

    I know that it has been a little while since my last post, but several things have happened since then. I have been so busy with all these things that I haven't had time to get in the kitchen and cook. Last week was a anomaly in the ALPHAbiteICAL household - The Mrs cooked dinner two nights last week! Even the pooch-o was confused by it all.
Let me fill you in.

Poultry Princess
    The Mrs has started a new job as the student recruiter for the Department of Poultry Science. She is in charge of planning and hosting events for the department, helping with the Poultry Science Club, traveling around the state to high schools to tell them all the things the department has to offer, and a whole host of other things that I am forgetting. Her first big event was this past weekend and it went very well, and the food there was very good too: smoked chicken (of course). 
    I am so proud of how well she is doing this job, however her jokes nowadays have become a bit fowl. I dont want to ruffle her feathers, and dont get me wrong some of her jokes have been some clucking funny, but others...not so egg-celent . If you know any good chicken jokes send them our way. To get you in the mood, watch this video courtesy of Lawrence Welk.

Poison precautions
    In the food business it is important to know how to not poison your patrons. The owners of the cupcakery I work at approached me to see if I would be willing to become ServSafe certified.The health department requires that at least one person on staff be certified to insure food safety. Well we had that one person, but they felt that it would be better if there were multiple people on staff were certified including themselves. They are in the process of expanding their business and opening a new location soon, and thought that the more people that they have with the certification the better for them.
    I have been studying my brains out and am happy to report that I passed. The tricky part about the studying and the test was I work at a bakery not a restaurant. Things like how to properly freeze fish for sushi and how to hold food at temperatures for hot service on a buffet and transporting cold food for catering isn't what I do at my job. We make cupcakes. Hundreds of cupcakes every day, that is it. It just wasn't practical for me, but to pass I had to learn it. And I passed, so there you go.

Promotion
    As I said before, the owners of the cupcakery are expanding their business. They are opening a new store location hopefully by the end of November/early December, and are also looking to open another store location ideally in the middle of next year. I really like my job baking cupcakes all day; it really is a lot of fun for me. However, I knew that I could not be a permanent part-time employee.
    With them expanding, I also knew there had to be something else for me with their company. After a few conversations and then an interview, I am now the manager of the cupcakery! They hired me to take care of the day to day things so that their efforts can be focused on opening the new store locations. I am very excited about the new job and extremely pleased to be full-time.


    All that to say I haven't gotten to cook in my kitchen much and I am having withdrawals. I need to whip up something fast or I am not going to know what to do with myself. Thank you to everyone that has shared recipes with me I am adding them to my list of things to try as we speak. If you have something that you think that I would like send it my way!

Just look at what some of my friends have sent me:

Homemade Pop Tarts with a sweet avocado filling found on scarlettabakes.com sent via from my good friend Jenn. 

She said, "Make these and invite me over to eat them." 

I will Jenn!

Pumpkin Pancakes found on tastykitchen.com sent via my cousins Blair and Chad. They tried this recipe and said it was perfect for the season. I cannot wait to try them too!

And, my parents' next door neighbor shared a family pecan cookie recipe with me. I think that I will make them for when our small group meets next.


I'm hungry, so I'm off to the kitchen. Stay tuned for what ever happens next.

-J

P is for Peach

Party over here, Party over there!

A Peach Pyramid

Perhaps you are one of those people that that have phriends. Perhaps you like to throw parties for your phriends. Well for "P", I wanted to take the opportunity to show you a few fun recipes that you can party down with.

First I want to show you a highly portable dessert for your party guests. Being bigger than the average bear, I find it difficult to maneuver around a crowded room at the best of times. Add a drink in one hand plus a plate of food in the other, that my phriend is a recipe for disaster. Why just the other day at a phriend's birthday party, I poured half a glass of lemonade on the floor trying to push my way up to the chip bowl. Talk about embarrassing.....  no let's not talk about it..

With that fresh on my mind, I thought we could use a grab-and-go food that is easy to eat. Also I didn't want a plate. No knife or pfork required please. (the k and p are silent respectively).

Pie with no knife or pfork? Bring it on!

With these Peach Pie Pops you quite literally grab, and go. Go mingle. Go socialize. Go pal around, if you will. Go do practically anything you want.
This will also help you be a better host. With this dessert you are free to move around you party and pop in and out of conversations. Phenomenal!

Peach Pie Pops

 For Dough*

•  2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1t salt
• 1/4 vegetable shortening
• 1 stick of unsalted butter
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup of ice water
• plus one more egg

For Filling

• 1 peach, small dice
• 3T butter
• 2T all purpose flour
• 2T sugar
• 2T brown sugar
• 1/4t ground cinnamon 
• pinch of nutmeg

makes 16 servings

*you can use frozen pie dough for this recipe if you wish.

Sift flour, salt, and sugar into a large bowl. Cut in the shortening, and then the butter. Combine the egg and water and stir into the flour mixture until dough forms. Split dough in half and warp in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

For the filling, melt butter in a skillet. Stir in flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg for 3 minutes. Add peaches and cook for another 3 minutes until thick.

Roll out dough very thin, 1/4"-1/8" thick. Cut small circles of dough and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Fill with pie filling, leaving a 1/4" boarder around the edge.

Press a 6" lolly-pop stick into the filling. With a little bit of egg wash, wet the rim of the exposed pie crust. Top with another piece of crust and crimp the edges with a pfork. Poke vent holes in the top of the pie with your pfork as well. Brush the top with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 15-20 minutes in a 375 degree oven until the crust is golden brown.

Don't have phriends to throw a party for? No worries!  

Just look at the fun you can have with a Peach Pie Pop and a camera with a self timer.

and now I have glasses.

That was a party in itself. I hope that you enjoyed that as much as I did. Anyway more phantastic recipes to come! Stay tuned!

-J

O is for Olive

Orange you glad I'm back.

Once upon a time, the Mrs wouldn't eat olives. I am happy to announce to you all that today that all changed, with these. She says, "Even the non-olive eater would enjoy this one!" One point for me (but who is keeping score, right.)

Oh how I love olives. They are just so dang tasty. Not to mention that this is where we get olive oil from. Without olive oil, my kitchen wouldn't function.

I always think about olives when I eat fruit salad, and tomatoes too but that's not the point.. They say that you are smart if you know that olives and tomatoes are fruits. And you are even smarter if you know that olives and tomatoes do not belong in fruit salad.

Olive and Provolone Tart

• 2 shallots, thinly sliced
• 3t olive oil
• 1t salt
• 1/2t sugar
• 1/3 cup of sliced Kalamata Olives
• 1 sheet of puff-pastry dough
• 3 slices of Provolone cheese
• 2t light brown sugar

Heat a skillet on medium high heat with olive oil. Caramelize the shallots seasoned with salt and sugar, ~25 minutes.


Roll out puff-pastry dough over the tart pans, and press the dough into the sides. Place a slice of Provolone on the bottom of the tart, spread a layer of shallots evenly on top of the cheese, and arrange the yummy Kalamatas on top.

Sprinkle a little brown sugar over the olives and bake at 375 degrees for 12-14 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown.

They are delicious, I mean what could be better than flaky buttery pastry with sweet caramelized shallots and the salty Kalamata Olives. To tell you the truth, the tarts didn't last long at our house. They were too good, but we did save you a bite.

-J

O is for Orange

Quick post:

On the off chance you made those Nutella cookies,

and you have the other half of the cookie dough to use.

Or if you just want some orange cookies. 

Roll out the dough, use what ever cookie cutter that you want, or don't use a cookie cutter. One could just roll a some dough balls in one's hand and press them into disks. Bake at 375 degrees for 7 minutes. Place cookies on a wire rack with a sheet pan underneath.

Then take 1 cup of powdered sugar and 3 tablespoons of fresh squeezed orange juice. Whisk it. 

Spoon the orange glaze on top and let the cookies.

 Let them dry.

Eat 'um.

That's it and that's all. For now.

Off to another Other things O.

-J

N is for Nutella

Never in my life have I had a bite of Nutella.

Until now of course.

Not only do I have a new ingredient in the kitchen, I have a new island!! I cannot express to you how much I needed and wanted this. My kitchen is large in square footage, but the counter space is lacking.  I had to stack pans and plates on top of each other. There was nowhere to put nothin'. But with the island, my counter space is tripled.

This weekend, me and The Mrs. traveled to my uncle's house in West Alabama to pick up this masterpiece. Uncle Bill made the island in his spare time. It has a butcher-block top made out if red oak, yellow oak and accents of mahogany. The base is yellow oak, and it has casters so I can cart this around anywhere in the kitchen. And the best part - it is tall! Since I am 6'5", Uncle Bill wanted to make it at a comfortable working height for me. I Love It!

While we were there he gave us some of his homegrown goodies. Habanero peppers, a watermelon, and a jar of his homemade pickles were packed up in the truck and are just waiting to be devoured. 



Now, the food - Nutella. For those of you that like me until recently have never had Nutella, let me explain. Nutella is a chocolate-hazelnut spread almost the consistency of creamy peanut butter. It is made with no artificial preservatives, and has less grams of fat than peanut butter per serving size. For those of you that have had Nutella, back me up, it is delicious. On February 5th, you should all celebrate National Nutella Day with me by making these cookies.

Nutella Thumbprint Cookies

**Note you can use a premade cookie dough or follow the recipe below.

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4t baking powder
• 1/4t salt
• 1lb butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar plus 1/4 cup for topping
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1t milk
• 1/2t vanilla

• 1/3 cup Nutella
• 1/4 cup mascarpone cheese
• 1/4 cup toasted almonds, chopped

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar together for ~2 minutes. Add the egg and mix until incorporated. Add the milk and vanilla. Turn the mixer down to a lower speed and slowly add the flour mixture. Stop the mixer once a dough ball forms. Scrap down the mixer and split the dough half. Form the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.
Mix the Nutella and mascarpone cheese in a small bowl.


Roll out the dough to 3/4" thick and cut out cookies. Press you thumb in the center of the cookie and dip the cookie in sugar. This will rim the edges of your cookies in sugar, making them sparkle and shine.


Fill the center of the cookie with the Nutella mixture, and bake for 7-8 minutes. As soon as you remove the cookies from the oven sprinkle them with chopped toasted almonds.

 As always ALPHAbiteICAL readers, N-joy! I'm off to outline a plan for O.

-J