Pumpkin Whoopie Pies: Secret Recipe Club

It's time again for Secret Recipe Club!  This month I had the awesome blog of Suzanne, Thru the Bugs on my Windshield.  Suzanne writes about her cooking, travels, photography and grandkids.  She's also the hostess of my Secret Recipe Club group, Group B and does a fantastic job getting us all organized and handling questions and issues.  I knew I wanted to bake something and as soon as the 'cool' weather (highs in the 60s instead of 80s) I knew I wanted something that had fall flavors.  There's nothing more fall to me than pumpkin, so as soon as I saw these whoopie pies my mind was made up.  We had just bought several cans of pumpkin at the grocery store for baking purposes and we had all the ingredients on hand so it was easy to whip up.  The day I sat down to make the recipe I traced it back to the original source and was happy to discover it was from one of my favorite cookbook authors -- the guys at BAKED.  Since I (semi-) regularly participate in BAKED Sunday Mornings, I knew I could trust that the recipe would be delicious.  

This is the first thing I've baked from Matt and Renato's first book, BAKED: New Frontiers in Baking, but it definitely won't be the last!  I halved the recipe as Suzanne did, but used the original spice combination from the BAKED book.  I couldn't imagine a pumpkin recipe without cinnamon; it's my favorite sweet spice by far and I think half the reason I enjoy pumpkin desserts so much is their frequent use of cinnamon!  I also added a touch of nutmeg since I had it and I thought it fit the rest of the flavors well.  These were perfect.  I made a mini-version and they came out beautifully.  

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
makes 12 regular-sized cookie sandwiches or 24 mini cookie sandwiches
From BAKED, as found via Thru the Bugs on my Windshield

Ingredients:

for whoopie pies:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt or 1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ginger
1 tablespoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon cloves
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 1/2 cup (or 1 15 oz can) pureed pumpkin (not pie filling, just plain pumpkin)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

for filling:
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
4 ounces cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.
• In a large bowl whisk together brown sugar and oil until combined.  Add the canned pumpkin and whisk until combined.  Add the egg and vanilla and again whisk until combined.
• Sprinkle flour mixture over the wet ingredients and then whisk until combined.  
• Using a cookie scoop, portion the dough onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment (or a silpat).  For regular sized cookies use a 2 tablespoon scoop, for mini-cookies use a 1 tablespoon scoop.  For either cookie leave about 1 inch of space between cookie dough.  
• Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out of a cookie with no crumbs.  
• Allow cookies to cool completely on baking sheet.  
• While cookies are cooling, make filling.  In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until completely smooth.  Add in the cream cheese and again beat until completely smooth.  Add in the vanilla and beat for 1-2 seconds, or until incorporated.  Add the powdered sugar  and beat until smooth, scraping down sides as needed.  

Easy Egg Cups: Secret Recipe Club

Hi all!  So in my last Secret Recipe Club post I mentioned moving and buying a house which is the reason I haven't posted since the last SRC!  We're all moved in and spent an afternoon signing my name more times that I have total in my life up to that point, so we are officially homeowners!  Yay!  Here's where we now call home:

But, on to my recipe.  This month I was assigned Gluten Free from A to Z by Judee.  My family doesn't eat gluten-free, so a lot of the substitutions and different ingredients were really interesting for me to read.  I chose a recipe that would be super helpful now that I am back to school.  I'm a teacher here in Northern Virginia, I don't know if I've ever mentioned that specifically on the blog, so well, now I have!  Now that I'm back to setting an alarm (ugh) and getting myself together and out the door quickly (double ugh) it's very convenient to have quick and easy breakfasts.  I made these egg cups on a Sunday evening and then was able to enjoy them throughout the week.  They are infinitely customizable and very little effort.  We did sauteed spinach, red onion, colby jack cheese and hatch chiles and they are delicious!

Easy Egg Cups
from Gluten Free from A to Z
makes 12 cups

Ingredients:
6 ounces spinach
6 eggs
1 cup milk
salt
pepper
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1/4 cup hatch chiles, diced
1/2 cup shredded colby jack cheese

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat.  Spray with cooking spray and add in the spinach.  Stir and allow to wilt down.
• While the spinach is wilting, in a medium bowl whisk together eggs and milk.  Season with salt and pepper.
• Start building your egg cups -- Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray.  Put about a teaspoon of red onion in each muffin tin, then follow with a teaspoon of chiles.  Sprinkle two teaspoons of cheese on top of the onion and peppers.  
• Once the spinach has wilted distribute it evenly into the 12 muffin tins.  Pour the egg mixture into each tin, distributing evenly.  I transferred the egg mixture to a 2 cup pyrex measuring cup (the kind with a spout) to make this step easier.  
• Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the center is set.  

Chicken Gnocchi Soup: Secret Recipe Club

For this month's Secret Recipe Club I was paired with Jen of Jen's Journey.  I had many great recipes to chose from on her blog.  She also has lots of great reviews on her blog, I even found a few new books to read while I was there!  This recipe caught my eye because we were expecting 'cooler' weather here in the DC area.  And, by cooler I mean highs were going from the low 100s to the low 80s.  Not exactly typical soup weather, but it worked!

It was delicious -- I made a few changes but nothing drastic.   The tender gnocchi paired well with the sweetness of the carrot.  We did just throw the frozen gnocchi into the soup to cook, so we had to add quite a bit more liquid, I used chicken stock.  We used a leftover grilled chicken breast for the shredded chicken and it added a nice, smoky flavor.  We thought it was tasty and will definitely make it again when it really does get 'cooler' this fall.

Chicken Gnocchi Soup
adapted from Jen's Journey
serves 6

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup onion, finely diced

2 minced garlic cloves

4 tablespoons flour

6 cups chicken broth

1 cup carrots, finely shredded

1 large chicken breast, cooked and shredded

1 pound potato gnocchi

1 bag fresh baby spinach
2 cups half and half
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Freshly grated Parmesan cheeses(optional)

Directions:

• Heat a large pot over medium heat.  Melt the butter and add in the olive oil.  When melted, add the onion and garlic and saute until translucent and softened, about 5 minutes.
• Add the flour and stir to make a roux.  Cook mixture for 1-2 minutes, until begins to turn a very light brown.  
• Whisk in 4 cups of the chicken broth and turn to medium-high.  Let the mixture simmer until it begins to thicken.  
• Add the shredded carrots, shredded chicken, gnocchi and remaining 2 cups of chicken broth to the pot.  Stir well and allow the soup to simmer again.  Once returned to a simmer, add in the spinach and stir to wilt.  
• Add the half and half, thyme and oregano to the soup and stir well.  Bring back to a simmer then serve.  Top with grated parmesan if desired.  

Creamy Chicken Taquitos: Secret Recipe Club

I was so excited to get my assignment for this month's Secret Recipe Club!  This is a blog I've been following for a few years now so I already had it in my Google Reader with plenty of starred recipes ready to go!  Even though I thought I was pretty sure of what I wanted to make, Rachel at Good Thymes & Good Food had plenty of mouth-watering pictures to make me reconsider my choice several times!  My first thought was her recent Chocolate and Salted Caramel Pudding Pops, which I am sure I will make at some point this summer, but then I found myself gravitating toward dinner dishes to complete our weekly menu.  This Southwest Chicken Meatball Skillet was on my list, and is another recipe I am sure we make make before the summer is over, but I finally chose (with Zach's help) Creamy Chicken Taquitos.


These were all the rage on many food blogs in 2011, but I never made them.  I tend to have an unusual reaction when something is popular and it seems like everyone is saying "You MUST eat/read/do this/watch/listen to/make these RIGHT NOW!"  The more I hear that, the less likely I am to do the activity in question.  But, now that the hype has died down over these taquitos, I read the recipe and decided that I'd give them a try.  Now that no one was insisting that I run out and buy the ingredients to make them this very instant I was much more likely to actually make them.  Call me an opposite hipster; hipsters like things before they are cool, I suppose I like things after they are cool.  Just add Creamy Chicken Taquitos in with The Dark Night, The Hangover, Adele, Bridesmaids, and The Voice.


Anyway, we thought these were really great.  The flavors were delicious and they made a nice dinner with the addition of sides of brown rice and refried beans.  We used one giant chicken breast, seared in a pan with just salt and pepper, but you could definitely use leftover roasted or rotisserie chicken as well.  The only thing I might change would be to add in some of the Hatch chiles we have in our freezer next time.  We used a medium size tortilla, not the small taco ones and not the large ones for burritos or wraps. Our grocery store calls them 'gordita' sized.  Using the smaller, taco-sized tortillas would make for a super appetizer for a party.

Creamy Chicken Taquitos
from Good Thymes & Good Food
Makes 10 medium taquitos or 16 small


Ingredients:
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup green salsa
1 Tablespoon fresh lime juice, about 1 lime

1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
3 Tablespoon chopped cilantro
2 green onions, sliced
2 cups cooked chicken, shredded
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed
8 ounces shredded cheese (I used a Mexican blend, but you can use any combination you like.)
10 medium flour tortillas
Kosher salt
cooking spray

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  
• Combine cream cheese, salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, cilantro, green onions and chicken in large bowl.
• Add in black beans and cheese and stir gently until just combined.
• Portion 3-4 tablespoons of mixture on each tortilla.  You should place it on the bottom third of the tortilla and then wrap up the tortilla, rolling tightly.  Place the rolled tortillas on a baking sheet, seam side down, about an inch from each other.  
• Spray the tops of the rolled tortillas with cooking spray and sprinkle with kosher salt.  Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until tortillas are browned and crispy.  

 

Puffy Apple Pancake: Secret Recipe Club

It's time for another installment of Secret Recipe Club! This month I got Debby's blog, A Feast for the Eyes. It was super tough to chose only one recipes -- in fact I ended up making two! But it was hard to narrow it down to two recipes even! I had many, many ideas, both savory and sweet but ended up going with two sweet choices. Watch for the second recipe to be posted on Wednesday! 

This first one is a breakfast I've had many a time at a pancake house and was excited to try to recreate at home for myself. It was great! It had great crispy edges and a tender texture inside. I really questioned if it would rise, since the batter didn't have any baking powder or baking soda, only flour and eggs, but it definitely did! It loses it's puff as it cools, but it still tastes delicious! We topped with powdered sugar and enjoyed!

Puffy Apple Pancake
from A Feast for the Eyes
serves 4

Ingredients:
1 large apple
2 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

3 eggs

1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
powdered sugar

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  
• Peel, core and slice the apple into 1/4 inch thick pieces. 
• Using an open-proof 10 inch skillet, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the apple slices, making one layer and saute for 3-4 minutes, until beginning to soften.  
• Turn apples over and add brown sugar and cinnamon to the mixture, stirring to coat apples with sugar.  Continue cooking apples for 3-4 minutes longer.
• In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs then add milk, flour and vanilla and whisk until lumps are broken up and mixture is smooth.  
• Pour the batter on top of the apple and sugar mixture and place skillet in the oven to bake, about 15 minutes.  The pancake will puff up and be golden brown on the edges.  
• Remove from oven, cut into four wedges and serve with a dusting of powdered sugar.  

Spiced Roasted Nuts: Secret Recipe Club

Welcome to another Secret Recipe Club post!  I've covered the basics of the club before, but a quick overview is that you join, get randomly assigned a blog and then have a few weeks to read the blog and chose a recipe to recreate and post about on a given day and time.  This month I got Sarah's blog biking and baking.  It was an interesting blog for me to read since there were a lot of recipes way outside my comfort zone.  She has many vegan recipes, lots of smoothies and some ingredients that just never really enter my kitchen, or cross my mind for that matter!  Tempeh, vegan cheeses, tofu aren't on my typical grocery lists.  I really did enjoy reading about 'another side' of the food world, so to speak.  I strongly considered making these sweet potato enchiladas, but left the final choice of two recipes up to Zach and he chose the roasted nuts.  I'm holding on to the enchiladas though, and hope they make an appearance on one of our menus soon!


These nuts were perfect for a party.  They are sweet, just a little spicy and have an addictive smell and flavor thanks to the curry powder.  I made a few changes to the recipe.  First, I added in pepitas, or shelled pumpkin seeds, since we had some on hand.  Second, I chose to roast the nuts in the oven instead of toast them in a skillet.  I had the oven going for a few other recipes and decided just to throw them in there and let the oven do the work!  Both of these changes worked out quite well!  I love when I can take a base recipe, make a few adaptations and still end up with a great product, it always gives my kitchen confidence a little boost, so thanks for that Sarah!  Read about my slightly adapted version of Spiced Roasted Nuts here then head on over to the Secret Recipe Club page to see what everyone else has cooked up!

Spiced Roasted Nuts
slightly adapted from baking and biking


Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup shelled pistachios

1 cup almonds, roasted but not salted

1 cup pepitas

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a large bowl mix together the oil and spices. 
• Add the nuts to the spice mixture and stir until they are evenly coated.  Spread the nuts into a single layer on a sheet pan.
• Roast the nuts for 15-20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so.  Remove from oven and let cool.  

Homemade Corn Tortillas: Secret Recipe Club

Secret Recipe Club is back!  They/we took a break for the month of January but now we're back at it again for February.  This month I got the blog Adventures in All Things Food, which I found ironic at the time since my blog was name Adventures in Marriage and I was in the middle of the creative part of the name change process, which led to the 'new' What's Brewing in the Kitchen.  Anyway, I was excited to get this blog since Andrea seemed to have a good deal of DIY-style recipes posted and I'm always interested in learning how to make some basic items on my own.  

I chose the DIY Corn Tortillas and they turned out fabulous!  The texture (crisp, but still tender) and flavor (toasty and corny) were far, far better than store-bought.  I will definitely be returning to this recipe in the future!  We made our tortillas on the smaller side; we used 1 ounce balls of dough which gave us about a 4 inch diameter tortilla.  Small, but workable.  I didn't complain since it meant I ate 5-6 tacos instead of 2-3 of the larger size!  

If you are interested in making tortillas on your own, I highly recommend this recipe.  The only additional equipment you need is a tortilla press.  We found ours for about 20 dollars at a local international grocery store.  We didn't mind making the investment since we know we will use it in the future.

Corn Tortillas

from Adventures in All Things Food

makes approximately 20 4-inch tortillas

Ingredients:

2 cups masa (corn masa flour, or maiz meal)
1 1/4 cups water
1/4 teaspoon salt 

Directions:

• Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl.  Dough will be thick, and on the dry side, definitely not sticky.  
• Using a kitchen scale, measure 1 ounce portions of dough and form into balls.  They will be approximately one inch in diameter.  

• Keep the balls on a sheet pan under a wet towel.  They will get dry if left uncovered.  
• Cover your tortilla press with plastic wrap and put a ball of dough inside.  Place it closer to the hinged side, not in the center as it will not spread evenly when smooshed.  

• Place the newly formed tortilla in a skillet brushed with shortening or vegetable oil.  Cook on medium heat for 1-2 minutes per side, until the nice blister marks appear.  
• As the tortillas finish cooking, make a pile on a plate and cover them with a towel to keep warm.  

Visit the Secret Recipe Club to check out everyone else's reveals!

Arepas with Peppers and Eggs: Secret Recipe Club

This is my fifth post for Secret Recipe Club and a very delicious one!!  If you haven't heard about Secret Recipe Club before, then you should definitely check out the website.  Every month a bunch of bloggers get assigned another participating blog to make a recipe from.  This month I had Debbi's blog -- Debbi Does Dinner ... Healthy and Low Calorie.  I had a great time looking through her blog and picking out a recipe to try.  It was hard to narrow it down -- I strongly considered the onion rings, bacon chocolate chip cookies and black bean and corn quinoa.  I finally settled on the arepas with peppers and eggs.  

If you know me, you know how crazy this sounds -- but I actually left bacon out of a recipe.  I love bacon, it makes everything better.  I fully intended to include bacon in the recipe but we forgot to pull it out of the freezer that morning, so it was still frozen solid at dinner time.  Oh well, this recipe was just as great without it.  We topped with pickled red onions we had leftover from a previous recipe, the roasted poblanos and it was a great way to have breakfast for dinner - yum! 

Arepas with Peppers and Eggs 

from Debbie Does Dinner ... Healthy and Low Calorie
serves 4

Ingredients:

2 large poblano chile peppers

1 cup finely ground cornmeal

1 can corn, 15 ounces, drained

salt

1/2 cup shredded colby cheese

1 cup milk

2 Tablespoons butter

vegetable oil

8 eggs, beaten

pickled red onions

Directions:

• Heat broiler to high, put the poblanos under the broiler.  Place under broiler, turning until blackened on all sides.  Place in a glass bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Let chiles steam in the bowl for 10 minutes.  Peel, seed and chop.
• While chiles are steaming, place cornmeal and corn in a bowl and season with salt.  Add cheese and toss until corn and cheese are coated with cornmeal and distributed evenly.  Warm milk in the microwave, but do not boil.  I usually do 2-3 minutes at half power.  Add the butter to the warm milk to melt it.  Stir the milk mixture into the cornmeal mixture.  Let soak for 10 minutes.  
• Heat a thin layer of oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Add spoonfuls of the cornmeal batter to the hot oil, cooking for 3-4 minutes on the first side and 1-2 minutes on the second side.  Transfer the first batch to a plate when cooked then continue cooking the rest of the batter until all arepas are made.  
• While finishing the last batch of arepas, beat the eggs, seasoning with salt and pepper.  In a medium skillet, cook eggs, scrambled to desired doneness.  
• To serve, put several arepas on a plate, top with eggs, roasted poblanos and pickled onions, if desired.  

Baked Vanilla Doughnuts: Secret Recipe Club

This is my fourth post for Secret Recipe Club and I'm so excited to share it with you all!  Every month a part of being in Secret Recipe Club is to go around and read the other posts written and revealed on the same day in your group.  Every time I've been to this blogger's site I've thought, "Man, it would be neat to get her blog sometime!"  Then this month, I did!  For October I was assigned the blog Fake Ginger.  I've enjoyed this blog for quite some time now, and I actually already had a few connections to it already -- she's a fake ginger, I'm a real ginger; and about this time last year I was the winner of one of her awesome giveaways!  So it was fun to get assigned her blog after reading it for awhile and even participating on it as well.

I was especially excited to see that she had some posts about baked doughnuts.  I had been seeing baked doughnuts popping up all over the blog world in the last few months and I've been wanting to make some for myself.  The only problem was that I needed a doughnut pan.  Since we live near a Williams-Sonoma outlet, I tend to wait for things like this to show up there so I can get them at a discounted price.  I've been stalking the shelves and a doughnut pan hadn't yet arrived.  But, I was at another fantastic kitchen supply store -- Sur La Table and found a doughnut pan on sale for 3.99.  It was the long, cruller shape and not the typical round but I figured for 3.99 it's worth a try!

So I had the doughnut pan, all I needed was the recipe.  A few days later I got my Secret Recipe Club assignment and was thrilled to find baked doughnuts on Amanda's page.  I let Zach chose the flavor -- he picked vanilla with vanilla glaze, but if it were up to me I would have made her Peanut Butter Doughnuts with Chocolate Glaze recipe.  We had these for a lazy Sunday breakfast and they were amazing.  Nice and tender, great vanilla flavor and super delicious.  I love having them warm form the oven when the glaze soaks in a bit and makes them extra moist and sweet.  The only change I really made was to double the cinnamon since I love cinnamon.  Other than that it was great as is!

Baked Vanilla Doughnuts

from Fake Ginger

makes 3 cruller-shaped doughnuts (or 6 round)

Ingredients:

For doughnuts:

1 cup flour

6 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons buttermilk
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon butter, melted

For glaze:

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 – 2 teaspoons half and half
sprinkles (Sprinkles!  Who doesn't love a recipe that calls for sprinkles?!?)

Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.  Spray your doughnut pan with cooking spray.
• In a medium bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.  Stir until combined.
• In a small bowl whisk buttermilk, egg, vanilla and butter until combined.  Pour buttermilk mixture into flour mixture and stir until just combined.  
• Portion batter into doughnut pan (3 crullers or 6 round doughnuts).  Bake 8-10 minutes for round doughnuts or 20-25 minutes for the larger/thicker cruller shape.  They should spring back when touched.  Let cool for 5 minutes in pan before removing.
• While doughnuts cool, make the glaze.  Combine powdered sugar, vanilla and 1 teaspoon half and half, stirring and adding half and half as needed to achieve the right consistency.  
• Remove doughnuts from pan, top with glaze and sprinkles and serve.

Check out the other recipes and blogs that are a part of this week's Secret Recipe Club reveal day!

Pretzel Rolls: Secret Recipe Club

As soon as I had sent Zach a link to my Secret Recipe Club blog assignment for this month, Patricia's ButterYum, I almost immediately got back a response that consisted solely of a link to the the recipe for these Pretzel Rolls.  And I can't say it was a bad choice!  These pretzel rolls immediately reminded me of the kind we get at our favorite grocery store, Wegmans.  They baked up deep golden brown and delicious.  They are great just out of the oven and taste just like a pretzel.  The remaining rolls would be great heated briefly in the oven, or a toaster oven, for just a few minutes until they get nice and crusty again on the outside and steamy and hot on the inside. 

Pretzel Rolls
from ButterYum

Ingredients:
2 3/4 cup bread flour
2 1/4 teaspoon yeast (one packet)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons water

8 cups water
1/4 cup baking soda
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg white, beaten
coarse salt

Directions:

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine bread flour, yeast, kosher salt, sugar and water.  Use dough hook on low speed, mixing until dough ball forms.  Then move speed to medium-low and knead for one minute.  Coat a large bowl with oil and transfer dough to prepared bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap and towel and let rise until doubled in size, about one hour.
• Punch dough down and transfer on to floured work surface.  Cut into 16 equal pieces.  Work pieces into a circle with one smooth, tight, uniform 'skin' of dough.  Place on to parchment or silpat lined baking sheets, leaving space between rolls (I did two sets of 8 rolls on two half-sheet pans).  Let rise until doubled in size, about 40 minutes.
• During the last ten minutes of the second rise, First preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Then bring the 8 cups water, baking soad and sugar to a boil in a large pot.  When the shaped rolls have doubled in size, boil them for 30 seconds per side.  We fit 3-4 of the small sized rolls in the large pot at once.  
• Remove from water, drain and place back on sheet pans. Brush with the beaten egg white and top with coarse salt.  Once salted you can use kitchen scissors to cut an X shape in the top of each roll.  This will help steam escape and keeps the round shape. 
• Bake the rolls at 375 for 25 minutes, until a deep golden brown.  Cool on a rack for 10 minutes before eating. 

Check out what everyone else made for Group B of the Secret Recipe Club!!

Summer Succotash: Secret Recipe Club

For this month's Secret Recipe Club I was assigned Sweet Flours written by Allison.  Allison is a young mom with a sweet tooth!  Her lovely blog (such a great, simple, elegant design -- you should really check it out!) is filled with tempting sweets and treats.  So many that it was impossible to decide on just one, so I went the other direction and chose one of her savory dishes.  When I picked this recipe Zach was shocked.  I don't do lima beans, one of the typical main ingredients in succotash.  Limas and succotash were always one of my sister's favorite sides growing up (as were peas -- ick!) so I only ever thought of it as lima beans and corn.  I love that Allison's recipe got me to open up my mind about succotash!  


It was such a great recipe for summer -- it highlights the veggies at their best, barely cooked and so fresh.  We used corn that Zach bought that day at a farmer's market and the farmer said it was picked that morning.  Unless you're lucky enough to grow corn in your backyard it can't get much fresher than that!  It was delicious and quick.  The leftovers made a satisfying lunch.  I'm already envisioning a mexican version -- swapping in black beans and spices like cumin, paprika and fresh cilantro.  I did make a few changes -- I switched out cannellini beans for the butter beans, throw in some peppers, use an extra ear of corn, used all yellow summer squash and to double up on the seasoning since I had added in the extra veggies.

Summer Succotash
slightly adapted from Sweet Flours

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 large onion, chopped
5 ears sweet corn, cut off the cob
2 large yellow summer squash

1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 can (15 oz.) canellini beans, drained
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup chopped basil

Directions:

• Heat the butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. 
• Add the onion, corn, squash, salt and pepper to the pan.  Saute until tender, 5-7 minutes.  
• Add the beans and cook until heated through, 2-3 minutes more.
• Remove pan from heat and stir in the tomatoes and basil.
• Serve and enjoy!

Check out these links to see what other fantastic recipes were posted today in the Secret Recipe Club!

Salt and Pepper Oven Fries: Secret Recipe Club

Last month I read on one of my favorite blogs, Beantown Baker, about The Secret Recipe Club.  Basically, you join up and at the beginning of the month you are randomly assigned a different blog.  You peruse that blog and pick a recipe from it to make.  Everyone in the Secret Recipe Club posts their chose recipe on the given date and time.  It sounded like a great way to see a few new blogs and try a few new recipes.  So, I joined!

This month I was assigned This Mama Cooks!  There were lots of great recipes to chose from, but I chose something fairly simple, yet I can never get quite right -- oven fries.  Sometimes mine turn out crispy, but sometimes mushy, sometimes burnt even!  I think it's because I don't really rely on a recipe, I just wing it hoping it will turn out okay, but it doesn't always.  So, I figured this was a good chance to follow a recipe, hoping it would give me a foolproof result and it did!  These were crispy and crunchy and delicious!  They would be a great side dish to just about anything -- what doesn't go with fries really??  I cut the recipe in half since there are only two of us, and leftover fries really aren't that great, but otherwise I kept it almost the same.  I did up the amount of pepper, since we like black pepper, and omitted the parsley since we were out of it.

Salt and Pepper Oven Fries
slightly adapted from This Mama Cooks!


Ingredients:

1/2 pound potatoes, cut into wedges
2 Tablespoons oil (canola or olive, I used olive)
1 garlic clove, chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground


Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  On a medium baking sheet, spray cooking spray to coat the bottom surface.
• Cut potatoes into long wedges.  In a medium bowl, toss potato wedges with 1 tablespoon oil.  
• On prepared baking sheet, lay out potato wedges in a single layer.
• Bake for 15 minutes, flip the wedges over and bake for 15 more minutes.  Potatoes should be golden brown and crispy.  
• When you turn the wedges over, heat the remaining tablespoon oil in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Add garlic and cook over medium-low heat until golden, about 4 minutes.
• Pour the garlic oil over the wedges, adding in the salt and pepper.  Toss to coat and serve.