Oreo Truffles

I got this recipe from my girl Colleen. She used to make these delectable chocolate-y truffles for us at PSU, so I thought I'd take on the challenge myself. But of course, I gave it my own little twist! You can't tell from the picture but under the chocolate shell, and inside the truffle are either peanut butter or caramel fillings.  The peanut butter ones are soooo good!

Oreo Truffles

Ingredients: 

- 1 bag of Oreo cookies

- 1 package of cream cheese (room temperature)

- 1 bag of chocolate chips (white, or semi-sweet.. your choice!)

- 1 cookie sheet and wax paper (optional)

- 2 tablespoons shortening

Procedure:

1.   Crush up entire pack of oreos (food processor would work best, if not a blender works, or even putting them in a ziploc and pounding).  The finer you crush the oreos, the better.

2.  In a bowl, add room temperature cream cheese to crushed oreos.  Combine completely until mixed evenly throughout.

3.  Spoon 1 inch balls of cookie dough onto a cookie sheet covered with wax paper. This is where I added in the peanut butter and caramel. Just dab inside the middle of the cookie dough and roll up!

4.  Put into refrigerator for an hour (or until completely firm)

5.  Once firm, melt half the bag of morsels with a dab of vegetable shortening (to thin) in the microwave (follow melting directions on packaging) *I do half a bag at a time just to keep the chocolate soft

6.  Dip balls into melted chocolate

7.  Drizzle remaining chocolate over top of the truffles

*These truffles usually need to be refrigerated at all times to avoid melting of the outer chocolate.

Thanks Coll! 

Smoothie Time!

Good morning Hoboken! Every morning, I wake up and make a smoothie for breakfast. This usually consists of me throwing what ever fruit and juice I have in a blender then running out the door. But today, I had a little more time to put some love into my creation.. and it looked so pretty that I just had to take a picture!

Today we have - Acai juice, bananas, mangos, spinach (yes spinach!), strawberries, and yogurt.

Drink it up!

Roasted and Pureed Cauliflower

This was a fun and easy recipe to make; similar to mashed potatoes.. but better!  I've never had cauliflower puree before but after making it, I'm definitely a fan! Trust me, you should give it a try. It's a delicious side dish to any meal.

Roasted and Pureed Cauliflower

• 2 heads cauliflower, core removed, cut into florets
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 cups whole milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1/2 bunch chives, minced for garnish

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

- On a sheet tray, spread 1/4 of the florets with the oil, season with salt and bake until caramelized, about 25 minutes.
- Meanwhile, combine remaining cauliflower, milk and half a teaspoon of salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
- Bring mixture to a simmer, cover, and cook until cauliflower is tender, about 20 to 25 minutes. Strain cauliflower from milk mixture, reserving both.
- Transfer cauliflower to a blender. Add remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt and butter to the blender. Add half of the reserved milk liquid.
- Secure top on blender and puree mixture until smooth. If mixture is too thick, thin by adding some of the remaining liquid. Season, to taste.
- Serve in a large serving bowl topped with caramelized florets.
(foodnetwork.com)

Special White Pizza

Today's lunch special: Garlic white pizza topped with spinach, broccoli, mutz (in Hoboken thats means mozzarella), and goat cheese. SOOO good! My sister Jillian gave me the recipe to her pizza dough a while back and I use it often... Homemade pizza just tastes so much better than take out.


Pizza dough:

2 cups flour (I use 1 cup whole wheat and 1 cup white)
1 1/4 tsp yeast
3/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
3/4 cup warm water

Mix dry ingredients.
Add olive oil and water.
Knead and let rise.

Vermont Cheddar Soup

Cheese. Yum. Enough said.

This recipe was given to be my Dave; he actually went to a Simon Pearce restaurant and was so impressed by this soup that we had to make it ourselves! Here is the recipe.

I have always wanted to make a homemade soup and this one was a great first choice! All the cooking steps were moving very quickly, so it was great to have some extra help in the kitchen to chop and stir! Celina actually got to enjoy some leftovers when she came to visit me in Hoboken over the weekend and it tasted even better the second time around.


As you can see, I am a big fan of spinach salads. Once again, this is due in part to Dave's influence. The definition of proper salad is spinach, a nut, a fruit, and a cheese. Simple but perfect. We also make a homemade dressing, which I will post another time. Pictured with the soup we have spinach, cashews, green apples, cranberries, and goat cheese. Yum-o!

With a cold winter approaching, be prepared to see more soups!

Tangerine Beef with Scallions

Here we go. Meal numero uno. Looks good right? Well here is the story... I arrive at the supermarket one day after work with no idea what to make for my first meal. So what did I do? I grabbed a cooking magazine from one of the register aisles and flipped through for a recipe!

Well after rounding up all of the ingredients, I realized how I would need to purchase the magazine in order to have the recipe. So what did I do then? Simply put, I took pictures of the recipe in my phone.


My review: The meat marinating over night made the steak really tender and filled with flavor. Unfortunately, the tenderness does not hold well when the meat is overcooked (a mistake on my part). Also, I accidentally sliced the meat before marinating instead of after being broiled, whoops! On a positive note, the flavors of the marinade were uh-ma-zing! It kind of tasted like a teriyaki with a little BAM and citrus love. You could really taste every ingredient.

Recipe:

1 ½ pounds beef tri-tip steak, timed of excess fat

1 tangerine

4 scallions, sliced, plus more for garnish

¼ cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil (I used olive oil)

2 teaspoons sugar

2 tablespoons chopped peeled ginger

3 cloves garlic, minced

Pinch of red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons orange preserves (I used my mom’s homemade peach preserves)

1. Pierce the steak with a fork several times on each side. Remove a 2-inch strip of zest from the tangerine, halve the fruit and squeeze the juice into a resealable plastic bag. Add the zest, scallions, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, ginger, garlic, pepper flakes and ¼ cup water to the bag and mix well. Add the meat, seal the bag and turn to coat. Refrigerate overnight.

2. Preheat the broiler with a broiler pan in place (I used a baking sheet!). Remove the steak from the bag and reserve the marinade. Pat the meat dry and place on the preheated broiler pan. Cook, without turning, until the meat is golden brown and a thermometer inserted in the thickest part registers 130 degrees for medium rare, about 10 minutes. Let rest 5 to 10 minutes before slicing, reserve the drippings.

3. Meanwhile, boil the marinade in a small pot over medium-high heat until slightly thickened. Stir in the orange preserves and the drippings from the meat. Slice the meat against the grain and top with scallions. Serve with the sauce.

My New Blog!

Cooking Lessons Learned Together? Pam and Cheese? PamSpot.BlogSpot?...
Actually it's... Green Eggs & Pam!

Welcome welcome welcome... PamSTAR in the house! This time I am learning how to cook new dishes and blogging about them for all to read. Once a week, I will try to cook something new from any recipe that sounds interesting to me, so if you have any ideas, pass them on down.

You may agree or disagree, but to my standards, I would consider myself an intermediate chef(cook?), recognizing the fact that I have been cooking for myself and others for almost 4 years, and have had some positive feedback. So don't be afraid to laugh at me because I'm sure to make many mistakes along the way (My roommates from PSU can recall a few moments - shout out to Coll-baby and Missy-butt!).

So join me on my journey in becoming a talented CHEF, and pray for those who will be chowing down my meals with me (Hey Dave!).

CHOW!