CEiMB: Aromatic Noodles with Lime-Peanut Sauce

I was very excited when MrsBethorama from Supplicious picked this recipe, as it was on the short list when I was trying to find a CEiMB pick. It looked flavorful and healthy and were it not for Father's Day, I probably would have picked it.

So much enthusiasm and happiness going into this week. I cut up all my veggies the night before while something else was cooking to speed up putting this together. I hate to admit this, but it was the first time I bought Sugar Snap Peas or Snow Peas. Now I'm a big fan. Since I'm not a big fan of whole wheat pasta I decided to try something else. I found some Rice Sticks at Trader Joe's that looked intriguing, so I gave them a try. I found them very delicious and perfect for this dish. I just love Trader Joe's!

I got a chance to use my still-relatively-new Cuisinart food processor, yay, and it all came together quite nicely. I cut the recipe by half, and the three servings I got seemed fairly small, but I didn't feel hungry after I ate the first one.

I liked this so much (by far my favorite CEiMB recipe to date) that I may bring one to work today even though my company is buying us lunch. Whatever they will feed us just won't be as good as this. This will definitely be going into dinner/lunch rotation soon.

TWD: Brioche Plum Tart

There are days when it is just too hot to bake. This past weekend in San Diego was mighty toasty, so I was a bit worried that this just wasn't going to happen for me. Happily there was a break in the heat wave, because man oh man, was this yummy!

I don't have a large tart pan, and I certainly didn't need 6 servings all to myself. So I broke out the mini tart pans and planned to make two individual tarts. Usually I would make only 1/3 of the dough recipe, but I've learned that one can divide the recipe down to almost nothing, which is very difficult to work with. So I made the complete dough recipe, and would just do enough filling for the minis.

The dough came together easily, and I planned to do the "slap dance" Monday evening and bake it this morning. Although it required a lot of time, the dough really took no effort at all.

I lucked out and got some very yummy, very ripe organic plums from Trader Joes. I thought I had some strawberry jam, but apparently it has been in the fridge too long to use (I'll leave it to you to create the word picture here....). Luckily I had some apricot jam from another Dorie project, and it worked surprisingly well on the plums.

I baked for 15 minutes and then tented the minis and gave them another 7 minutes in the oven. They looked mighty pretty if I do say so myself, and I just couldn't wait to make a cup of tea and have one for breakfast. The other went to a co-worker celebrating her birthday. Elegant baked goods are such a better gift than knickknacks!

These were so good that I may have to do an experiment and see how well the dough does after a whole day in the fridge. Yeah.....that's it..... another batch would be a service to the wider TWD community and would be seen as an effort to expand our culinary knowledge. Yeah.....

Many thanks to Denise at Chez Us for a great pick. This will definitely be put into heavy rotation (but only when it's not 90 degrees in my kitchen!). I can't wait to try other fruit options. YUM!

TWD: Parisian Apple Tartlet

Jessica at My Baking Heart is my new hero and best friend, though she doesn't know it. Anything with baked apples is at the top of my culinary loves. One day remind me to wax poetic about the Tarte Tartin I had during my 48 hours trip to Paris. It was long before I knew anything about food, but the trip gave me an inkling of what I was missing. So I was totally on board with any pick that has apples and sugar in it. Then add to the fact that on the busiest week of my year Jessica picks a recipe with no need for a mixer, a bowl, a sauce pan or most any other kitchen tools, well, I almost fell to my knees in gratitude!

I had some puff pastry from our friends at Trader Joe's in the freezer. Only needed to pick up some apples from the store, and I was ready to go. This couldn't be easier to make. But just like the last few recipes I've tried, it took longer to bake than stated in the recipe. And even then my apples weren't completely cooked. I was worried about the puff pastry being a little too done, so I made do.

It was yummy for dessert last night and yummy for breakfast this morning. I love the fact that I could whip this up at basically a moment's notice. We've had other desserts that were prettier, more decadent and/or sinful, but this wins in the "easy to make but with bang for your buck" category (don't worry if you didn't know that was a category until now. Neither did I).

This will be it for me until sometime next week. Plans for Mom's party are in full swing with relatives landing on Thursday AM and being drafted into work upon arrival. Shopping on Thursday, food prep on Friday, panic on Friday night into Saturday morning, then "too late to change anything now" mode at noon on Saturday. Wish me luck. I'll report on how it all turns out next week (I'd say after I've recovered, but it would be nice to make an appearance here sometime before 2010).

Will miss you while I'm gone. Have a nice week and see you soon!

Mac and Two Cheeses with Caramelized Shallots

I'm new to Bon Appetit magazine. I saw one of those deals that I couldn't resist, so I'm giving it a whirl. What lured me in, besides the ridiculously low price, was the fact that two of my favorite food writers are regular contributors - Dorie Greenspan (a la Tuesdays with Dorie) and Molly Wizenberg (who's blog is one of the most sublime reads ever. How does she put all those words together so beautifully? And when she wrote about her wedding last year.....well.....I needed a hanky.)

I mentioned this recipe in another post, but thought I'd give it a solo entry. It was the first recipe out of the magazine I tried. I'm incredibly busy at my job, so comfort food was really attractive. To say the results were yummy would be an understatement. It was beyond yummy. And frankly, with the ingredients listed, how could it be anything but yummy. I must caution you, however, that if you truly want to enjoy it, DO NOT read the nutritional information at the bottom of the online recipe. Seriously! Just make it, enjoy it, savor it. Perhaps small helpings so as not to overload your arteries all at once. Oh and perhaps run a marathon after you're done. Then you'd be a-okay.

With that warning, here's all you need for serious comfort and yum!