Thus far, there is only one thing I have recently managed to succeed in doing with regard to this blog, complete the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2012.  Last year, I participated in the 1^st Annual Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap, sending out three dozen of my Grandmother’s Gingersnap Cookies to three different food bloggers who I was paired with at random, and in return I received a dozen cookies each from three different individuals.  After last year’s cookie swap success with more than 600 blogger participants, Lindsay, of Love and Olive Oil, and Julie, from The Little Kitchen, decided to continue this project to bring food bloggers from all over the United States, and this year, the world, together.

The premise this year was the same, sign up, receive the names and addresses of three other food bloggers.  Cook up three dozen cookies never before featured on your blog, send one dozen of those cookies to each of your three blogger matches, and receive a dozen cookies from three other bloggers.  Enjoy the yummy homemade creations of your peers, and finally, post your recipe for others to enjoy!

This years’ Cookie Swap included 576 food bloggers who sent more than 20,000 cookies around the globe and partnered with Cookies for Kids’ Cancer and OXO to raise $4,400 for cancer research.

As for me, I received two batches of cookies form California and one from Arizona.  The first to arrive were a dozen Gingerbread Spice Cut Out Cookies from Diane at Created by Diane.  Second, were some white chocolate dipped Pistachio Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies from Aubrey and Stacey at Real House Moms.  Third and final, were a batch of Banana Reese’s Pieces Cookies from Bonnibella.  Thanks to each of you for your yummy creations!

In return I also sent out three-dozen Kahlua Fudge Bites to Kristi in Virginia at Cook In Love, Traci in Utah at the Burnt Apple, and Rachel in New York, NY at Kvell in the Kitchen.  I hope all of you enjoyed these decadent little squares of heavenly chocolate goodness!

I came across this recipe several years ago in the Christmas edition of Fine Cooking Magazine, which I picked up on an impulse buy due to its cookie laden cover.  As my Father would say, any cookie is better than no cookie, but I think we can all agree that not all cookies are created equal, and these Kahlua Fudge Bites are not far from the pinnacle if you are a lover of chocolate.  The beauty of these little bites is the fact that they hover on the boarder of a fudge while still maintaining a delicious cakey texture.  Over the past seven years, they have become a staple in my Christmas cookie routine and my husband, who is not what I would refer to as a chocoholic, say that they are by far his favorite.

Kahula Fudge Bites

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease a 9 x 13 inch pan.
2. Sift dry ingredients together in a medium sized bowl.
3. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over low heat.
4. Pour butter into a large mixing bowl and whisk in the cocoa powder making sure there are no clumps.
5. Add brown sugar one cup at a time, whisking until smooth after each addition.
6. Add eggs one at a time whisking until fully incorporated after each addition, adding the Kahlua and vanilla along with the last egg.
7. Add the flour mixture a ¼ cup at a time, stirring with a spatula until just incorporated.  Do not over mix.
8. Spread batter evenly in the prepared pan and bake for about 30 minutes or until a few moist clumps still cling to a toothpick inserted into the center.  DO NOT OVERBAKE.
9. Let cook completely and top with chocolate glaze (recipe follows).  Bars can be frozen unglazed for about a month before thawing, glazing and serving.

* If you do not wish to use a liqueur, increase vanilla to 1 ½ teaspoons.

Chocolate Glaze:

1. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate, butter and corn syrup and whisk until smooth.
2. Spread evenly on top of the fully cooled fudgey base.
3. Refrigerate until set, at least 1 hour.
4. Cut into one inch squares maximum and serve.

Makes 8 to 10 dozen depending on size bites are cut and will keep uncut for up to a week in the refrigerator.

I have found that the key to making great tacos as opposed to just good tacos is the tortilla.  It is important to make sure that you use a high quality corn tortilla as your taco vehicle.  Whether you buy or make that tortilla is up to you, but trust me when I say that the tortilla matters.

This taco filling is cold and would also make a great pico de gallo salsa. However, if you plan to use it in a taco the key is for the tortilla to be warm. One option is to wrap your tortillas up in foil and place them in a 300 degree oven for 10 minutes to warm, but Gabi at Honest Fare offers and excellent addition to her recipe for these tacos.  Gabi uses two tortillas for each taco and makes what is effectively a cheese quesadilla out of them and then uses this as the taco shell.  Yum!

These tacos are great simply topped with homemade guacamole, a little diced fresh tomato and sour cream, but would also be excellent as part of a fish taco.  If you wish to add this type of protein, try some tilapia fillets.  Simply sprinkle the fillets with salt and a bit of cayenne pepper and pan fry them in a Tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat for 3 to 5 minutes a side.

Green Tomato and Corn Tacos

1. Place all the salsa ingredients in a medium bowl and mix until fully combined, then set aside so that the flavors can meld.
2. In a medium skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat until oil shimmers.
3. Place 1/8 cup cheese between two corn tortillas and cook until cheese melts and tortilla starts to crisp, about 3 minutes per side.  Repeat for the remaining tortillas.
4. Top the warm tortillas with the green tomato and corn salsa, homemade guacamole, diced ripe tomato, sour cream and serve.

Makes 2 servings.

My little garden also yielded a number of beautiful red cayenne peppers which I have dried whole for use this winter, as well as a great number of jalapeno and spicy black peppers, most of which I have already used up over the course of the past few months.  One thing that saddened me about my CSA is that I did not receive any hot peppers all summer which makes me very grateful that my own did so well this year, seeing as how I use them all the time.

My tomato plants also did pretty well this year, but in August the top of one, heavy with green tomatoes, fell over in a wind storm.  I left the bent over plant alone hoping that at least some of the big beautiful green tomatoes would still ripen.  Unfortunately, they did not.  As a result, this one plant has left me with more than three pounds of green tomatoes.  I hate to let things go to waste, so I decided that I had to find something to do with them.

Fried green tomatoes were the very first thing to come to mind.  I saw the movie years ago and was never a big fan, but I do love the real thing.  In all honesty, I guess I should admit that I love all kinds of fried vegetables, zucchini, summer squash, pickles…never mind potatoes and sweet potatoes.  I mean who amongst us can really resist such things even though we know that they aren’t good for us?  In moderation however, a little fried goodness isn’t the end of the world, especially if they are homemade with less salt and oil.

These fried green tomatoes make a great appetizer or snack, perfect for game day or any other event.  Try drizzling them with your hot sauce of choice, an infused honey, or dipping them in a sauce like perhaps this creamy horseradish sauce.

Crispy Fired Green Tomatoes

1. Lay tomato slices out on a plate and sprinkle both sides with a little sea salt.
2. In three separate shallow dishes combine flour and Cajun seasoning, milk and egg, and cornmeal and bread crumbs.
3. In a large skillet heat oil over medium heat until it is very hot and the oil shimmers.
4. One at a time, dredge the tomato slices in the flour mixture until well coated, then the milk and egg and finally the cornmeal and bread crumb until throughly coated.
5. Cook the tomatoes in batches for 3 to 6 minutes a side or until golden brown, flipping only once.  Serve warm with the sauce of your choice.

Makes 4 servings.

The answer to your question is, yes, I am alive.  Unfortunately, however, it is September, and I have not posted a single thing since December of 2011.  At this point, I think it is fair to say that I have been more than a little bit of a failure at this for the better part of a year.  Between everything to do with planning a wedding, a job that was consuming my soul in a way that I would prefer not to discuss, applying for jobs, getting an interview three days before my wedding, getting married, getting a new job two days later, giving my notice, traveling to Ohio for a second wedding reception, starting my new job, and all those millions of little things in between that life throws at you, I have been both physically and emotionally exhausted.  However, there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel now that I have posted the last of my thank you notes!

Over the past year, there have been so very many recipes that I have wanted to share, and while I have taken many photos and made many notes, I have failed to post anything at all.  Now I am left with a terrible loss of words at where to start…as a result, I have decided to start fresh…so I guess I will jump right in… My CSA (community sustainable agriculture – a way of supporting a local farm and getting local food in return where you buy a seasonal share of a farm’s produce in the spring so that they have the upfront cost needed to plant and grow, and then you reap the rewards off your investment as the season progresses in the way of produce) this year yielded many wonderful things, and faced with my very last pick up tomorrow I deeply regret not having been able to share with you the many wonderful things that I created from this summer’s bounty.

The good news is that I have signed up for a winter CSA share this year which will consist mostly of root vegetables but will also include things like leeks, spinach, lettuce mix, arugula, broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts, broccoli leaf, collards and kale for as long as they can be produced in Vermont, as well as both chicken and pork.  This CSA will start November first and run on a biweekly pick up schedule through December and then revert to once a month schedule through March.  As a result, I will still have lots of local food to work with and perhaps some things that I will have to get creative with.

Over the course of the summer it has been a challenge to get through everything we receive at any given week’s CSA pick up before the next weekly pick up arrives.  If you get behind on your weekly consumption then things start piling up in the fridge, which can be nearly impossible to claw back from if you are not careful.  Making sure that nothing goes to waste requires creativity.  The fact that you never know what you are going to get at your weekly pick up makes menu planning impossible ahead of time, but essential once you know what you have to consume that week so that no stray veggie gets left out.

These leek fritters, from my beloved Yotam Ottolenghi’s Plenty (Did you know he has a new book out?!  I am so excited!  It is called Jerusalem.  I can’t wait for its release in the States next month!), are a great early fall dish.  The make wonderful use of fall produce, yet they are still a lovely light meal for when your body has not sunken into its need for lots of hearty starchy goodness.  They are crispy on the outside while the inside melts in your mouth.  They showcase the delicate leek flavor beautifully and are delicious when served with this cool and refreshing citrus accompaniment.

Leek Fritters

Adapted from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi

1. In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat and sauté leeks and shallots until soft, about 15 minutes.
2. In a large bowl combine jalapeño, parsley, spices, salt and sugar.
3. Once the leeks and shallots are soft add them to the bowl and mix until combined.  Set aside to cool.
4. In a second bowl, whisk the egg white into soft peaks.
5. In a third bowl, combine flour, baking powder, egg, milk and butter.
6. Fold the egg whites into the vegetable spice mixture and then gently mix in the flour batter.  Do not over mix.
7. Wipe out the skillet used to cook the leeks and use it to heat the vegetable oil over medium heat until skillet is very hot.
8. Spoon the batter into the pan to make three or four fritters at a time depending on the size of your pan, about 1/3 cup of batter each.
9. Cook the fitters for 2 to 4 minutes a side or until golden brown and crispy on the outside.
10. Repeat the cooking process until all the batter is gone.  Serve warm topped with creamy lemon and herb sauce (recipe to follow).

Makes 4 servings.

Creamy Lemon and Herb Sauce

1. Place all ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth.

Makes about 3/4 of a cup.

This year is especially hectic for me however, because I have, as many of you many have undoubtedly noticed, been behind on my ‘to do’ list since the beginning of November.  This is due to the fact that as of October 31st I started a new job that is quite different from anything I have ever done before, and has therefore been quite a change for me.  I am still hope to get to all the delicious blog posts that I have on back log from the past month and a half, but I wanted to be sure and get my post up for the end of the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2011.

It was quite exciting to open the boxes I received in the mail.  The first one actually took me by surprise, because I had completely forgotten that I would be receiving them in the mail.  Nate and I both looked at each other, perplexed and asked , “what did you order from New Jersey?”  I received delicious rugelach cookies from Rona and Alyssa at Two Minds Cook Alike, some yummy apple pecan oatmeal cookies from Stephanie and Mel at La Pura Vida and, my favorite, raspberry ribbons from Elyse at The Cultural Dish (Elyse gave me a few extra which I was thrilled about, yum!).  Meanwhile, I dispatched three boxes of my Grandmother’s Gingersnap cookies, a family favorite, to Katherine at Precent Blog, Lily at Small Kitchen College, and Fred at Grown Away: Adventures in Food.

My Grandmother’s gingersnaps have been one of my favorite treats for as long as I can remember.  She was the type of wife/mother/grandmother who tried to make sure that the cookie jar on her kitchen counter was always full of delicious homemade cookies for anyone passing through to enjoy.  For me it was always a toss up to decide whether her Gingersnaps or her Mincemeat cookies were my favorite all-around cookie.  Now, this all-around status, of course, does not include her Christmas cutter cookies, which are also excellent for any occasion, but which I tend to only make surrounding holidays.  It is so difficult to really have a favorite when you are presented with so many delicious options…

These Gingersnaps have just the right crispy snap to them, while still being slightly chewy in the center if they are cooked correctly.  If you prefer your Gingersnaps to be as crisp as can be, you can just cook these slightly longer to achieve the perfect crispiness.  However, the best part about these cookies is their depth of flavor.  They pack an explosive punch of spices, but are also rich in molassesy sweetness.

The other great thing about this recipe is that it makes over one hundred cookies!  (I only made one batch for the cookie swap and still had plenty left to distribute to various family members)  They are quite thin, so storing the whole batch is not a problem.  However, I find that we can never get through a whole batch before they start to get old unless we have a large number of people visiting or I give them away.  As a result, I usually only cook half the recipe at any given time.  This is in my opinion one of the best things about the recipe.  I always make the full recipe of dough, because it is so easy to whip up in one batch, but before I start cooking, I scoop half the dough into a bag and pop it into the freezer to save for later.  This means that I almost always have cookie dough in the freezer, so that I can have fresh cookies ready at a moments notice.  The best part is, that the dough only needs to thaw for about ten minutes before it can start being cooked.

There are two changes that I have made to my Grandmother’s original recipe.  I no longer use margarine as it calls for, I use plain old butter instead.  Margarine tends to be higher in trans fat than butter and the chemical processing used to produce margarine turns me off.  Butter is much more natural and wholesome than margarine and also contains lots of Vitamins E, K and D.  Of course, the vegetable oil used in this recipe is not far removed from margarine, but the substitution for this is less clear to me.  The one other change that I have made to my Grandmother’s recipe is substituting two cups of whole wheat flour for two of the all purpose flour that she used.  This way there is half whole wheat and half all purpose, adding a little more whole grain to the recipe.  In my opinion, neither of these substitutions detracts from the cookies in any way.

Grandmother’s Gingersnap Cookies

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and 2 cups sugar.
3. Add oil, molasses and eggs, and mix until combined.
4. Sift dry ingredients in a separate mixing bowl.
5. Add dry ingredients to wet, one cup at a time, mixing to combine after each addition.*
6. Drop batter in walnut size balls onto an ungreassed cookie sheet.
7. Place 3/4 cups sugar on a small plate, rub the flat bottom of a glass in the sugar and then use it to squish down a ball of cookie dough into a round disk, re-sugar the bottom of the glass and repeat.
8. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until medium brown and slightly puffed in the center.
9. Let cookies cool for 2 minutes on the sheet before moving them to the cooling rack.

*If you wish to freeze part of the dough, do so after all the dry ingredients are incorporated.

Makes about 9 dozen cookies.

I work very hard to be economical in my kitchen, I don’t buy or make things that I don’t have some sort of plan for because I absolutely hate to waste food.  Learning how to maximize your ingredients and to reduce the amount of waste in your kitchen, is not always a simple as it might sound, but it is, in my opinion, a very important skill to attempt to master.  Such an endeavor requires creativity in cooking and the willingness to experiment.

These cakes turned out to be a delightful endeavor undertaken thanks to a new cookbook I picked up at a farmers market last weekend, Cooking Close to Home: A Year of Seasonal Recipes by Diane Imrie and Richard Jarmusz.  While I think that the pumpkin flavor in these cakes was lacking, there was certainly no lack of flavor.  Between the ginger, herbs, cayenne pepper and fresh lime juice, never mind the black beans, these cakes were packed with a delightful combination of flavors, perfectly complemented by this delicious horseradish sauce.  Nevertheless, I think next time I might try experimenting with a little pumpkin puree as well, in hopes of dialing up that flavor element.

Pumpkin – Black Bean Cakes

1. Combine everything but oil in the bowl of a food processor, and pulse until throughly combined.
2. Using your hands, form the mixture into 8 equal cakes.
3. In a large cast iron skillet, heat enough oil to fully cover the bottom of the pan, over medium heat, until it shimmers.
4. Place 4 cakes in the pan and cook over medium heat until the outside is crisp, about 5 minutes a side, flipping only once if possible.  Repeat for the second batch.  Serve warm, topped with Creamy Horseradish Sauce (recipe follows).

Makes 4 servings.

Creamy Horseradish Sauce

1. Mix all ingredients together until throughly combined.

Makes about 1/2 cup.

The recipe calls for a “mild-flavored lager, such as Budweiser” but there is no chance in h*ll that you will ever find Budweiser in my fridge, the only time I will drink that is in the sugar house.  In fact, I don’t really care for any kind of mild or light beer.  Having left college well behind (I don’t miss Keystone light, the choice of beer at my alma mater), I saw no reason to buy any when I only needed a little over a quarter cup and there was plenty of good beer in my fridge, so instead I used a nice red ale from a local micro brewery, Trout River Brewing Company Rainbow Red Ale.  In the end I think this was a good choice, because the red ale seemed to give the bread a nice touch of sweetness and a whole lot of flavor.

My advice on choosing a beer for this recipe, is to go with what you like.  You are only going to use a small amount, and therefore will end up with an open beer that is about three quarter full, so you might as well drink it.  We don’t want to be wasteful now do we?  In terms of the bread, I doubt you could go wrong with any lager.  Personally, I would recommend something with a bit more flavor to it, because even though the amount used is small I think it adds something to the hearty earthy wheat flavor. I think an IPA could be nice, possibly adding a little hoppy kick,  I thoroughly enjoyed the red ale and while I think a stout might be a little much, I wouldn’t be opposed to trying it.  Experiment with this, I know I will.

On this first attempt my loaf did turn out slightly browner than I would have liked, but this bread is was so flavorful and delicious, that I didn’t even notice.  The recipe recommends that you use an enameled cast-iron Dutch oven, but sadly I do not own one (someday…).  While it says that a regular cast-iron Dutch oven will work, I think that the enameled one insulates the bread a bit more while it cooks so that it doesn’t get too brown on the bottom.

Whole Wheat Nearly No-Kneed Bread

1. Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, including yeast.
2. Dissolve the honey into the water.
3. Add the beer and vinegar to the water/honey mixture.
4. Stir wet into dry, folding gently until a sticky ball forms, incorporating all the flour.
5. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit on the counter for 8 to 18 hours.
6. Lay a large piece of parchment paper in a 10 inch skillet and spray with oil.
7. Flip dough out onto a lightly floured surface and kneed 10 to 15 times, shaping into a ball.
8. Place dough ball seam side down on the parchment in the center of the skillet.
9. Spray the dough with oil and lay the plastic wrap loosely on top.
10. Let rise at room temp until doubled, about 2 hours. (30 minutes before baking, place a 6 to 8 quart Dutch oven with lid in the oven and preheat to 500 degrees)
11. Sprinkle the top of the risen loaf with flour, using a sharp knife, make a 6 inch long, 1/2 inch deep cut along the top of the loaf (do this gently, try not to pull or tear the dough, you may want to do this by dragging the knife gently along the same line 4 or 5 times to active the correct depth of the slit).
12. Place the Dutch oven on the stove top and remove the lid, gently lift the four corners of the parchment paper, and transfer the loaf from the skillet to the Dutch oven.
13. Replace the cover on the Dutch oven, allowing excess parchment to hang out, and return the pot to the oven.
14. Reduce the heat to 425 degrees and bake for 30 minutes.
15. Remove the lid and continue to bake for another 20 to 30 minutes, until deep brown.  The loaf should sound hollow when flicked on top (an instant read thermometer inserted in the center should read 210 degrees).
16. Lift the loaf out by the parchment and let cool on a wire rack.

Makes one large round loaf (about a 9 inch loaf).

Spicy Black Bean – Wheat Berry Chili with Turkey Sausage

1. Remove turkey sausage from casings and sauté over medium heat in a large Dutch oven (if you don’t plan to use sausage heat 2 Tablespoons olive oil).
2. Add onion, bell peppers, garlic, chili, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper and sauté until tender, about 5 minutes.
3. Add beans, tomatoes and juice, chipolte peppers, corn, broth and sugar and bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat and simmer covered for about 25 minutes.
5. Add wheat berries and cook until heated through, about 5 minutes.
6. Remove from heat and stir in lime juice.  Serve warm, topped with avocado and cilantro.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Wheat Berries

1. Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat and simmer covered for one hour.
3. Drain, rinse again and serve warm.

Makes about 2 cups.

Best Black Beans

1. Place the beans in a sauce pot, cover with water by about 1/2 inch and let soak over night.
2. The beans should puff up and absorb most of the water, drain any excess water in the pot.
3. Add garlic, cover the beans with fresh water by about 1/2 inch and bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally, or until beans are tender (you may need to add a bit more water if they get too dry).
5. Remove from heat, drain any excess water and stir in the remaining ingredients.  Serve warm with a bit of cilantro.

*I tend to use whatever tomato concoction I have left over, just hanging around in my refrigerator, I have never been disappointed.

Makes 4 to 5 servings.