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Category: Cooking
- Super Bowl 2014
  
  Posted at 7:27 pm by Lisa Cavallari
  
  Feb 3rd
  Happy Monday! Here is a recap of our Superbowl gathering from yesterday. The menu consisted of: chili (thank you G), pasta salad (thank you Sylv) Polish sausage, baked ham and cheese sandwiches, meatballs, a bloomin’ onion loaf, hot swiss cheese dip with crumbled bacon, chocolate chip cookies, salted caramel cheesecake bars, Rice Krispie treats and adorable football and turf cupcakes (thanks Sylv). All-in-all, entirely waaaay too much food, but still fun to try a little of everything. Too bad the game wasn’t exciting, but Bruno Mars had a spot-on performance and this is coming from a girl who changes the station every time his overplayed songs come on the radio (entirely not his fault). Sorry Bruno. I would love to see you in concert.
  
  The Superbowl XLVIII Commemorative ball. This is my husband’s idea of accessorizing our entertainment center. I admit that it looked sharp for the game.
  
  Here are the girls getting ready for the arrival of their friends. Sydney is sporting a 2 bar Jets helmet from the 1960s (left)and Olivia is wearing a throwback helmet from the 1950s (right). Unfortunately, I was not able to take as many photos of the food as I would have liked, but hey, catching up with friends is definitely more important.
  
  Bloomin’ Onion Loaf. The recipe can be found at the bottom of this post.
  
  Baked ham and cheese sandwiches. They were good, but maybe a bit too sweet so I would cut back on the brown sugar next time. The recipe is below.
  
  Caramel Cheesecake bars. These were awesome! Recipe in tomorrow’s post. Promise! Another great thing about game day-using low maintenance plastic utensils and paper plates and napkins.
  
  Turf cupcakes brought by my friend, Sylvia and mini Rice Krispie Treats. Love the football cupcake wrapper.
  
  An easy game to whip up for the kids was Pin the Football On the Goal Post. Do I even need to mention that I got this idea from Pinterest? Cut out the goal post using yellow construction paper, then just have the kids design and cut out their own footballs, attach some tape to the back, grab a blindfold and voilà! You’ve got yourself a fun highlight for their night.
  
  Now that football season is over let’s gear up for baseball…and warmer weather. Go Cubs!
  
  Bloomin’ Onion Bread
  
  Ingredients
  
  One round loaf sourdough bread
  
  1/2 cup melted butter
  
  1 tsp poppy seeds
  
  1/2 cup chopped green onions
  
  6 ounces sliced Monterey jack cheese
  
  2 tsp garlic salt
  
  Directions
  
  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice sourdough loaf without cutting all the way to the bottom. Turn loaf and cut crosswise creating little squares. This part is a little tougher, but the sourdough is strong enough to take it. Place sliced cheese in between the bread squares that you just created. Combine melted butter with garlic salt, green onions, poppy seeds. Pour mixture over sourdough bread. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake covered for 15 minutes. Take off foil and bake for another 10 minutes.
  
  Baked Ham and Cheese Sandwiches
  
  Ingredients
  
  16 white sandwich buns
  
  Honey baked deli ham
  
  Sliced Provolone cheese
  
  Topping
  
  3/4 cup melted butter
  
  3 tbs brown sugar 2 tsp yellow mustard or 1 tsp dried mustard
  
  2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
  
  1 tbs poppy seeds
  
  Directions
  
  Assemble ham and cheese sandwiches in a 9×13 pan. Combine melted butter, brown sugar, mustard, poppy seeds and Worcestershire sauce. Pour mixture over sandwiches. Cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate for at least 2 hours if not overnight. Do not allow to sit for longer than 12 hours or bread may be soggy. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake covered for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 5 minutes. Serve warm.
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  Posted in Baking, Cooking | Tagged bloomin' onion, football cupcakes, Superbowl, Wilson
- Butternut Squash Soup
  
  Posted at 10:07 am by Lisa Cavallari
  
  Nov 24th
  With Thanksgiving almost upon us and Christmas just a breath away, I wanted to include a recipe that is simple, tasty and healthy…that is, if you omit the bacon. This soup has many layers of flavors that meld together perfectly. My father-in-law devours it and I recently had someone ask me if it was an old family recipe. I actually found it a few years ago in a magazine so here it is without further ado. Happy Thanksgiving!
  
  Butternut Squash Soup
  
  serves 8
  
  1 2 1/2-3 pound butternut squash
  
  1/4 cup butter
  
  1 medium onion, chopped
  
  1 large carrot, coarsley chopped
  
  1 stalk celery, coarsley chopped
  
  2 cloves garlic, minced
  
  2 large Braeburn or Gala apples, peeled, cored and chopped
  
  1 48-oz box reduced sodium chicken broth
  
  1 cup apple cider
  
  2 chipotle peppers from can with adobo sauce, coarsely chopped
  
  1/2 cup light sour cream
  
  3 oz smoked Gouda or smoked cheddar cheese finely shredded
  
  Crumbled cooked bacon (optional)
  
  1. Peel, seed and cube butternut squash. In 6 quart Dutch oven melt butter over medium-high heat. Add fresh squash, onion, carrot, celery, and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add apples, broth, cider and chipotle peppers. Bring to a boil, reduce heat. Cover, simmer 25 minutes or until vegetables and apples are tender. Remove from heat; cool slightly.
  
  2. When slightly cooled, puree in pot using an immersion blender. (Or puree in small batches in a blender; return soup to saucepan.) Blend in sour cream. Heat through. Remove from heat; stir in shredded Gouda until melted. Top with bacon.
  
  To make ahead, simply freeze the soup after it had been blended. You can add the sour cream and Gouda after it is thawed.
  
  Good luck!
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  Posted in Cooking | Tagged butternut squash, butternut squash soup, chipotle, soup, squash
- Get to Kneading-Homemade Spaghetti
  
  Posted at 2:06 am by Lisa Cavallari
  
  Oct 30th
  Gorgeous
  
  Last weekend we had a few friends over for some wine and, after we had some time to catch up, it was time for the girls to roll up their sleeves, crank up some Sinatra and begin concocting our own homemade spaghetti. The pictures below really speak for themselves thanks to my talented friend, Sylvia and my husband for taking some good photos. Speaking of talent, my other friend Georgette as well as Sylvia rocked it. Their pasta turned out way better than mine…said the teacher who planned this little shindig. Just goes to show that newbies need not be afraid.
  
  Grandma Cavallari’s Homemade Spaghetti-this was a fun recipe to learn in my husband’s grandmother’s kitchen years ago. She was and still is a very tidy cook, but I think if you end up with flour on the floor then you are doing something right. Enjoy!
  
  Please note that we used a pasta machine that can be anchored to the edge of your counter top. They also have attachments to stand alone mixers that you can use too.
  
  The process was pretty simple. Begin with setting a pot of water to boil on the stove adding enough salt to make it taste like the ocean. Measure about one and 1/4 cups of flour and pour onto a clean surface. Create a well in the middle that will resemble a moon crater. Then crack two eggs into the center of the well and begin to slowly work the dough through your fingers. The dough will probably start off very sticky, but you can gradually add more flour as you need it. You are looking for a pliable consistency that is not sticky, yet not hard like putty.
  
  Rolling and cutting dough
  
  Cranking the dough
  
  Crank it!
  
  Keep cranking!
  
  Almost there…
  
  I see it!
  
  Olivia’s very own spaghetti
  
  Spaghetti
  
  Wine: an important component
  
  Then, using a rolling pin, roll out the dough and cut it small enough to fit into the pasta machine. I am sure the size cut varies depending on the machine, but our dough pieces were about 3 1/2 to 4 inches wide. My machine had three different slots to crank the dough through. The first was the lasagne which we used first to flatten it out. Then, we ran it through the lasagne slot again to make sure it was even and thin enough. Finally, you run the dough through the spaghetti slot and you get a wonderful pile of spaghetti.
  
  Place the spaghetti on a cookie sheet and keep working in batches. We went through a total of six eggs so it ended up factoring out to be one egg per person.
  
  Gently place the spaghetti into the boiling water and stir gradually. The pasta will cook very quickly and plump up a bit as it cooks too. Give it about a minute or two to cook stirring constantly and drain immediately.
  
  My three old daughter was having fun helping with the process so if she can do it, then we can all give this a try. Good luck!!
  
  Tomato sauce with Sweet Italian Sausage- I made this sauce before my friends arrived to save on time. If you plan to do the same, just keep it covered with the heat on very low. Stir it every 7-10 minutes until you add the spaghetti.
  
  serves 6
  
  Ingredients:
  
  1/4 cup olive oil
  
  1 1/2 pounds sweet Italian sausage
  
  2 28 ounce cans crushed tomatoes
  
  2 cloves garlic chopped
  
  2 bay leaves
  
  1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
  
  1/2 tsp saffron
  
  1/2 tsp fennel seeds
  
  1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
  
  1 1/2 cups fresh basil leaves, torn
  
  About 1 pound spaghetti
  
  1 cup shredded pecorino cheese
  
  Directions:
  
  1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook until brown, about 7 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook for another 6 minutes. stirring everything together.
  
  2. Add the garlic, bay leaves, fennel seeds and red pepper flakes to skillet. Scatter the saffron seeds over the mixture. Cook for about 2 more minutes. Add the parsley, 1 cup basil and 1 teaspoon Kosher salt. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 15 mintues stirring occasionally. Remove and discard the bay leaves.
  
  3. Meanwhile, take the spaghetti you made above or boiled from a box (no judgement here) and drain reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water to add to the sauce. Add the spaghetti and cooking liquid to the sauce and cook for about 5 more minutes.
  
  4. Remove pan from heat. Add pecorino and remaining basil and serve immediately. Buon appetito!
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  Posted in Cooking | Tagged home made pasta, Homemade Spaghetti
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