How to Make an Easy, Romantic Valentine's Day/Anniversary Dinner

I know it's not so popular to say that I'm not into Valentine's Day because I'd rather be given flowers or candy on a random Tuesday, not because Hallmark tells you to show me you love me. For more, I wrote a review of Valentine's Day. Little did I know it would cause such an uproar, and surprisingly enough, most of my naysayers were men. But, like I told them, I'm not super anti-VD, I just don't like to get caught up in the craziness of it. I usually reserve that for Christmas LOL. Unfortunately, I missed our 3 year anniversary on Feb. 4th, so we postponed it until this weekend which happens to be V Day weekend. Luckily for me, I can combine both celebrations into one dinner at home that I had wanted to impress him with anyhow and that I can share with you guys that don't want to get caught up in the craziness of it but, still want to show your special someone that they're...er...special.

So, let me know if I'm crazy but, I'm thinking Baked Chicken with Herb Skin and Roasted Garlic Cream Gravy with Oreo truffles for dessert. He love Oreos and chocolate, so there you go for dessert. The beauty of the Baked Chicken dish, thank you very much Rachel Ray, is that you will have three meals for the price of one- absolutely perfect for these economic hard times!

Baked Chicken with Herb Skin and Roasted Garlic Cream Gravy

INGREDIENTS:

• 6 boiling onions or 8 cipollini onions
• 2 large heads garlic
• Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), for liberal drizzling
• 2 sprigs rosemary, finely chopped
• 1 roasting chicken
• 6 sprigs fresh tarragon
• 6 sprigs flat leaf parsley
• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
• 2 fresh bay leaves
• 6 tablespoons butter, divided
• 1/2 pound baby potatoes
• 1 cup purple carrots or baby carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup cream
• 4 cups baby spinach, packed, coarsely chopped

 PREPARATION:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit.
2. Take out the gizzards and organs (I know, I said a huge OMGOMGOMG my first time I did this)
3. Prepare veggies and place in a roasting pan- I would quarter potatoes and cut the carrots into smaller pieces, so that they will roast easily. 
4. Cut the heads of garlic to expose all of the cloves. Drizzle EVOO over the exposed garlic, then press into the rosemary to coat. Wrap the garlic in foil and roast in the oven until tender, 45 minutes.
5.  Loosen the skin of the chicken that covers the chest and thighs and legs. Arrange the tarragon and parsley sprigs, bay leaves and thyme leaves under the skin, distributing evenly around the bird. Rub 4 tablespoons of softened butter all over the bird skin, then season liberally with salt and pepper. Settle the bird over top of the potatoes and vegetables. Roast for 1 hour and 15 minutes, then switch on the broiler to crisp the skin, 5-8 minutes.
6.  When the garlic is done, let cool until it's cool enough to handle. Squeeze the garlic cloves out of the skins and mash into a paste.
7.  In a saucepot, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat, then stir in the flour. Cook for 1 minute, then whisk in the stock and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and whisk in the mashed garlic. Let thicken for 5 minutes, then add the cream and reduce the heat to low.
8. Remove the chicken from oven and carve. Fold the spinach into the vegetables to wilt. Serve the vegetables and chicken with gravy on top.

Oreo Truffles: Makes: 3 1/2 dozen  Takes: 1 1/2 hours

Ingredients

• 1 (16 ounce) package OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, divided
• 1 (8 ounce) package PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
• 2 (8 ounce) packages BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, melted

 

 

Directions

1. Crush 9 of the cookies to fine crumbs in food processor; reserve for later use. (Cookies can also be finely crushed in a resealable plastic bag using a rolling pin.) Crush remaining 36 cookies to fine crumbs; place in medium bowl. Add cream cheese; mix until well blended. Roll cookie mixture into 42 balls, about 1-inch in diameter.
2. Dip balls in chocolate; place on wax paper-covered baking sheet. (Any leftover chocolate can be stored at room temperature for another use.) Sprinkle with reserved cookie crumbs.
3. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Store leftover truffles, covered, in refrigerator.

Footnotes

• How to How to Easily Dip Truffles 
• Place truffle ball in melted chocolate to coat; roll if necessary. Lift truffle from chocolate using 2 forks (this will allow excess chocolate to run off) before placing on wax paper. 

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   The Baked Chicken recipe comes via Rachel Ray. The Oreo Truffles is the genius of Bakers fudge.

So, what do you guys think? I'll have to let you know how it turned out and how F liked it!

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'Tis the Season For Baking....

So, it's the holidaze and I've been baking up a storm! My three favorite crowd-pleasers for this season are fudge, Neiman Marcus' cookies (I'll tell you a funny story about that later) and an apple pie recipe that I got from Real Simple that wowed my family at Thanksgiving. If you're like me and want to save some money this holiday season, baking your neighbors, co-workers, and friends some treats, (as a potluck addition, X-mas presents or as a thank-you-for-having-me-over) is a nice, inexpensive and delcious way to say that you appreciate them. Without further ado, here are the recipes all in one place to make it easy for you!

Fudge: Makes 48 servings or 3 lbs. Total time: 2 1/2 hours, includes cooling

1 7oz. jar of marshmallow creme
1 1/2 cups of sugar (you can cut this down a little if you like your fudge less sweet, my FI complained it was a little too sweet for his taste and he LOVES chocolate)
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup of BUTTER (don't sub margarine in for butter, it has much more water and will affect the fudge)
1/4 tsp. of salt
2 cups milk chocolate chips (one 12oz bag)
1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp. of vanilla extract

1) Line a 8x8 pan with aluminum foil, so that the foil goes over the side. (I put mine in a 9x9 because I didn't have a 8x8 and it turned out well and if you double the recipe- put it in a 13x9 pan.)
2) In a large saucepan, heat on low to start: marshmallow creme, sugar, evaporated milk, butter and salt. Make sure that you have your ingredients measured out before putting them in the saucepan to keep from burning- start it on low and slowly increase to boil to cook for 5-7mins, constantly stirring. Keep an eye to make sure it doesn't burn.
3) Remove from heat and pour in the chocolate chips, stir until melted and the mixture is smooth.
4) Stir in vanilla.
5) Pour into pan and chill the fridge for 2 hours or until firm.

Neiman Marcus' Cookies: Makes 120 cookies Total time: 1 hour, includes bake time

OK, before I give you the recipe, I owe you a story. I'm not sure if this is true or some sort of publicity stunt, I tend to think it's true. A woman, some friend of a friend of my mom's, was shopping at Neiman Marcus and had stopped by their bakery/cafe to have a shopping snack. She had decided to try their cookies and thought that they were to die for, the best things she's EVER tasted. So, she asked the salesman if he had the recipe and if she could have it. He said, "Sure it's 250." So, she (I guess having forgot she was at NM) said, "OK, put it on my bill", thinking he meant $2.50. She got her NM bill and lo and behold, $250 for this recipe. She was so upset that she decided to post the recipe everywhere so that NM wouldn't make another penny on it. I thought I'd try it out before pimping out the recipe and I have to say, they're pretty damn good. So, here you are- for free. Happy Holidaze!
2 cups butter
24oz chocolate chips
4 cups flour
2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 cups sugar
1 8oz. Hershey chocolate bar, grated
5 cups blended oatmeal
4 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups chopped nuts

1) Preheat oven to 375.
2) Measure the oatmeal and blend in blender until it's a fine powder.
3) Cream the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar.
3) Add: eggs and vanilla.
4) Mix with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, baking soda. Add: chocolate chips, grated Hershey bar, and nuts.
5) Roll into balls and place 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet.
6) Bake at 375 for 10 minutes (though I've cooked these at 25 minutes and they turned out perfectly)

Gingery Apple Crumb Pie (via Real Simple's November '09 Issue): Serves: 8 Total time: 3 hours, includes cooling
1 piecrust, store-bought or homemade, fitted into a 9-inch pie plate
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp. all-purpose flour. spooned and leveled
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 pounds of apples (about 4 apples like Granny Smith, Braeburn, or Empire), peeled and thinly sliced- when I did this for Thanksgiving I had extra slices, so you'd probably be safe with 3 apples instead of 4.
1 tbsp. grated fresh ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. kosher salt (I've substituted regular salt for this and it's fine, if you don't have any kosher in your kitchen)

1) Set an oven rack in the lowest position and heat oven to 375F.
2) In a food processor/blender, pulse the butter, 3/4 cup of the flour, and 1/4 cup of sugar until large clumps form. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate until ready to use.
3) In a large bowl, toss the apples, ginger, cinnamon, salt, and remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and tbsp of flour.
4) Transfer the apple mixture to the crust, sprinkle with the crumb topping, and bake until the top is golden and the apples are tender, 55 to 60 minutes. Serve warm at room temperature. (Vanilla ice cream optional but, HIGHLY recommended ;p)

I hope these recipes bring you, your family and your loved ones much joy this holiday season. Enjoy!
Happy Holidays- Team Bride.

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