Chocolate-It's What's for Dinner

So here's what I made with the fresh pasta. Tomatoes & Cream Pasta (Adapted from 365 Ways to Cook Pasta ) 1 lb fresh tomatoes (preferably plums or grape tomatoes) 1 T fresh basil 2 clove garlic, minced 1 1/2 c heavy cream 1 lb pasta salt/pepper Boil water for pasta. Peel, seed, and rough chop the tomatoes. If you are using grape tomatoes, there is no need to peel and seed them. Just cut them in half. Place the tomatoes in a skillet and a little salt to help the tomatoes release their juices. Cook off some of the liquids from the tomatoes probably about 10 minutes. If you are using regular tomatoes, it may take a little longer. If you are using grape tomatoes, it may be less time. Add garlic and continue to cook until garlic is fragrant. Add the heavy cream and basil. Cook over low until the sauce thickens slightly. Add salt and pepper. Pour over fresh pasta. There was a lot of liquid from the tomatoes, so I really cooked them down more than usual This is a ver...

This was one of those recipes I got out of the books my mother's friend gave me . I found it so interesting that it used whipped cream. There is really no leavening other than the eggs (and whipped cream). Whipped Cream Pound Cake (adapted from Family Cookbook-Central Baptist Oakridge Tennesee - circa 1981) 1 c heavy cream 2 sticks butter 3 c sugar 2 t vanilla zest & juice of one lemon (optional) 3 c flour 1/2 t salt 6 eggs Grease and flour a tube pan. Whip cream in mixer until peaks form. Set aside.  Cream butter and sugar together.  Add vanilla and lemon. In a small bowl mix flour and salt together.  Add flour and eggs by alternating. Mixing well after each addition. Bake at 325 for 1 hour 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes and then turn out of pan. Dust with confectioners sugar and serve. I put my whipped cream in the refrigerator while I prepared the rest of the cake as it was a rather wa...

Cheese, Cheese, Cheese - is cheese a good thing or what?  Mascarpone is a relatively easy cheese to make. Although I must admit the first time out of the box was a failure - the curds did not form.  I think I heated the heavy cream too high. But I decided to try again and YUM! is all I can say. All you need to buy is the tartaric acid.  I bought mine here . It is pretty cheap and you only use a little so it will last a long time. It says to store it in a cool dry place so I'm storing mine in the refrigerator. Macarpone 1 quart heavy cream (or half and half) 1/4 t tartaric acid In a double-boiler (don't worry if you don't have one-you can use a metal bowl placed over a pot of boiling water) heat the cream to 185 degrees. Stir occasionally-especially the sides as they tend to be hotter. Shut off heat. Add tartaric acid and gently stir for about a minute. The cream will begin to look curdled. Remove bowl from heat and let rest for 30 minutes.  Meanwhile set up ...

Sometimes I defrost chicken breasts for dinner with nothing particular in mind for them.  I poke around the refrigerator and see what's in there, look in the pantry to see what's there, and then sort of come up with dinner. This was one of those days.  Chicken with Mushrooms and White Wine 1lb chicken breasts salt/pepper canola oil 8oz mushrooms (baby bello, button) 1 t herbes de Provence 2 garlic cloves chopped 1 c white wine 1/2 c heavy cream Place chicken breasts between plastic wrap.  Sprinkle a little water on top of the chicken breasts. (the water prevents sticking so they won't tear). Pound chicken cutlets thin.  Use the Jacard meat tenderizer to tenderize the meat and prevent shrinkage.  Season one side chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Heat skillet and add oil.  When oil starts to shimmer, add chicken breasts seasoned side down.  Season the other side of the chicken breasts.  Do not crowd the pan.  You will need ...

DO NOT be deceived by the blah-looking pasta you see here. This was such a creamy, lemony, yummy pasta.  I found it in one of my old Fine Cooking magazines from 2006 (yes I do have so many recipes ripped from magazines that I've been dying to try that I needed to database them.  This was the pre-gee-every-recipe-is-posted-online days. And we won't even discuss how many cookbooks I have with recipes awaiting testing!).  Plus now that it looks like I have a job again, I better get cracking on some of these quick-cooking weeknight recipes! I didn't have fresh parsley, which would have made it a lot prettier looking. I also decided to use penne since that's all I had on hand. I used vodka too instead of the gin or grappa because once again that is what I had on hand. So maybe this isn't really the original recipe from the magazine, but it's still really good and you should try it! Trust me!

Why would you want to make your own butter? Because it tastes better! And it's easy. All you need it heavy cream, salt, and a mixer-although you can get away without using the mixer. If you are using a mixer, you will need to cover it with plastic wrap, unless you're really into cleaning up splatter. Pour heavy cream into your mixer. It doesn't have to be fresh. It can be close to its expiration date. This time I used 3 cups because I had an open container and an unopened one. You just whip it for about 10-15 minutes on high. It first looks like whipped cream, then starts to deflate a bit, then starts to get a yellowish hue, until finally you hear a clunk clunk noise and you know you have separated the butter from the buttermilk (boy was that a run on sentence or what?). By this time the plastic wrap is so covered in splatter you can't see into the bowl any longer. Butter:  Buttermilk: From 3 cups of cream you end up with about 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk. Str...