Peanutbutter Buttercream

I made these "Peanut butter Whoopie Pies" (dumb name, I know) for a dessert open house. The peanut butter butter cream inside was to die for delicious and super easy...the cake-like chocolate cookie was good, but not to die for so I will just be sharing the buttercream recipe...unless one really wants the cookie recipe. This came from a Martha Stewart magazine a few years ago. I have been holing onto this recipe meaning to make it forever.

Ingredients

2/3 creamy peanut butter

8 TBSP butter

3/4 cup powdered sugar (+ up to 1/4 cup more)

Instructions

Cream the peanut butter and butter in electric mixer with paddle attachment on high speed. Switch to low and slowly mix in the 3/4 cup sugar until combined. Then beat on high speed until fluffy and smooth, about 3 minutes. (At this point I added a little more powdered sugar. It was still a little thinner than I wanted, I am sure due to the heat around here.)

Broiled Tilapia

Great recipe if you are wanting to start dabbling into seafood but you are a little nervous about it. Tilapia is pretty mild...might as well be chicken! JK-not really. I thought this was SUPER delicious. The lemon and basil make it really fresh and flavorful. This is a recipe I got from one of the girls (Megan) when we were doing our meal swap during dental school. Make sure you hold out for the browned top under the broiler after you put on the spread, gives nice flavor.

I halved this and spread it over 3 fillets, but I will leave the measurements big in case you are cooking more.

Ingredients
½ cup Parmesan cheese
¼ cup butter, softened
3 TBL mayonnaise
2 TBL fresh lemon juice
4 fresh big basil leaves chopped
¼ tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp celery salt
6-8 tilapia fillets

Instructions
Preheat oven broiler. Grease a broiling pan or line pan with aluminum foil. In a small bowl, mix together the Parmesan cheese, butter, mayonnaise, and lemon juice. Season with dried basil, pepper, onion powder, and celery salt. Mix well and set aside.

Arrange fillets in a single layer on the prepared pan. Broil a few inches from the heat for 2-3 minutes. Flip the fillets over and broil for a couple more minutes. Remove the fillets from the oven and cover them with the Parmesan cheese mixture on the top side. Broil for 2 more minutes or until the topping is browned and fish flakes easily with a fork. Be careful not to over cook the fish.

Honey Wheat Sandwich Loaves

Honey Wheat Sandwich Loaves (Makes 2 loaves)
(Culinary Art Institute Home Baking Cookbook with some Lyndsey Changes)

I wanted something that I could make sandwiches with and have on hand all the time. I added an extra cup of Whole Wheat flour and cut down the cooking time and temp since I was getting burnt loaves.

3 Cups bread flour
2 cup whole wheat Flour
2 ½ tsp active dry yeast
2 cups whole or low-fat milk (Microwave 2 minutes until warm enough to activate yeast)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup honey
2 tsp Salt
Cooking spray for greasing
Egg wash (1 egg whisked with 2 tbsp cold milk for brushing)

Combine the flours and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the milk, oil, honey, and salt and mix on low speed until dough forms a shaggy but evenly moistened dough, about 2 minutes. Increase the speed to medium and knead until the dough feels satiny and elastic, about 5 minutes.

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turn to coat, cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel, let rise in a warm place until nearly doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Fold the dough over on itself, pressing gently to release the gas. Turn it out onto a floured work surface and cut into 2 equal pieces. Round each pieces into a smooth ball, pulling the outer layer taut and pinching together the excess dough at the base of the ball. Place the dough seam sides down on a lightly floured work surface. Cover the dough and let rest until relaxes, about 20 minutes.Coat two 9-inch loaf pans lightly with cooking spray. Stretch each dough ball into 8 x 12-inch rectangle. Fold each short end of the rectangle 1 inch toward the center of the dough to keep the sides straight and the corners square. Fold a long edge into the center and use the heel of your hand to seal the edge of the dough. Fold the dough in half lengthwise and use your fingertips to seal the 2 edges together; keep the seams straight. The dough should be about 10 inches long. Roll the dough into a cylinder 12 inches long. Push the ends of the cylinder toward the center until it is 10 inches long and place seam side down into the loaf pan. Brush with egg wash.

Let the dough rise in a warm place, uncovered, until the pans are three-quarters full and the dough springs back slowly to the touch, 1 hour. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375F

Bake until the loaves have a rich golden brown crust and the sides of the bread retain their structure when pressed, 30-45 minutes. Check at 30 minutes. Remove the bread from the pans immediately and let cool completely on wire racks before slicing and serving. (I know it is tempting but wait until it cools to slice it, you will ruin it!)

A-1 Pot Roast

2 10 ounce cans cream of mushroom

1 lipton onion packet

3/4 bottle A-1 Sauce (10 ounce size)

Roast (any cut works just fine, we generally use a chuck roast)

Place roast and all ingredients into a crock pot, you don't even have to mix them together. Place a piece of foil over the crock pot/under the lid. Cook on high for 3 hours, then flip the roast over, turn the heat to low and allow to cook 2 more hours. The meat will be super tender and really flavorful!

*This is not a very appetizing picture.... this is a 5 star recipe in my book!

Baked Ziti

Ingredients

• 1 pound dry ziti pasta
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 2 (26 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce
• 6 ounces provolone cheese, sliced
• 1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
• 6 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ziti pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes; drain.
2. In a large skillet, brown onion and ground beef over medium heat. Add spaghetti sauce, and simmer 15 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer as follows: 1/2 of the ziti, Provolone cheese, ricotta cheese, 1/2 sauce mixture, remaining ziti, mozzarella cheese and remaining sauce mixture. Top with grated Parmesan cheese.
4. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheeses are melted.