Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Oh honey, it's time to GRILL!

Honey Chicken Skewers
by: Laura

   After Erin posted about her delicious grilled pizza, this test nest sister had the itch to fire up the grill too.  Actually, I've been ready to fire up the grill since March 1st, but the weather didn't exactly cooperate.  Unfortunately, it still isn't so hot, but at least it's above 50 degrees, so I say, fire up that puppy!

   One thing I love to make (sometimes weekly in the spring and summer) is Honey Chicken Skewers.  I found this recipe in an issue of Real Simple magazine a couple of years ago.  It is literally the easiest thing you can make on a week night.  It takes a total of 20 minutes (at most) and it turns out perfectly every time.  Not to mention, it takes only four ingredients.  That's right, four.  Chicken, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and honey.  Now, you can't tell me that you don't have those ingredients in your pantry. Check out the easy prep below.  You will be amazed at the big flavor in the end.


Let's begin with those three ingredients: 1/2 cup of ketchup, 1 Tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, and 2 Tablespoons of honey.  (I put in a bit of extra honey to balance the ketchup)



Once you have those ingredients in the bowl, whisk them together throughly, if you don't get the flavors to meld, it will be too ketchupy. (you know what I mean)


Next, get your skewers out.  Mine happen to be metal and from IKEA. I love them because I don't have to worry about soaking them in water like I would with wooden skewers.

 Now, for the meat, which you know I love.  Cut up 2 or 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts into small strips and thread them onto the skewers.  Salt and pepper to taste.


 Oh, and I'll mention that as I was working on my skewers, I decided to prep my side dish: couscous.  If you haven't tried this, it's really a great alternative to the usual sides like potatoes and rice.  You can find it in the rice aisle, actually, in a box labeled "plain couscous."  I love it because it only takes 10 minutes to make, including cooking time.  I start off with a tablespoon of butter, melted.


 Then I add in some onion (this is about 1/4 cup) for flavor and cook it for about 3 minutes.  I also throw in a bit of salt and pepper. 



 Finally, I add in the broth (chicken or beef) and bring it to a boil.  Once the water is boiling, add the couscous. Take it off the burner, cover it, and five minutes later you have your side dish!  (Note: This is just one variation to couscous, you can do much more!)


 So, now let's back track to the skewers.  I greased the grill and put my chicken on to start sizzlin'.  It cooked for a total of eight minutes.  


In the last two minutes of cooking I slathered on the sauce I made earlier. 
I had a delicious meal in 20 minutes.  Take a look at that, would you.


Don't you feel like firing up that grill now?  I know I'll continue to do so all spring and summer long.  I'll keep you posted.  Check out the detailed recipe below for the Honey Chicken Skewers. 

HONEY CHICKEN SKEWERS
courtesy of REAL SIMPLE magazine
Serves four

1/2 cup ketchup
2 T. Honey + a bit more
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast

Directions:
Heat grill to medium high heat.  In a small bowl, combine the ketchup, honey and Worcestershire sauce; set aside.

Slice the chicken lengthwise into 1/2 inch strips.  Thread each strip onto skewers.  Season with salt and pepper.

Lightly oil the grill.  Cook the chicken, turning occasionally, until cooked through, 6-8 minutes.  Bast with ketchup mixture during the last 2 minutes of cooking.

Yep, that's it!  How easy it that?

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Grilled Pizza Party

grilled pizza with artichoke hearts, basil, mozzarella, and goat cheese

My friends and I have a lot of really fun traditions: Swing Beach visits, pool tour and spring break grilled pizzas.  This spring break was overcast, cold, and rainy.  It looked like grilled pizzas weren't in the cards for us, but Mike spotted sunshine in the forcast on Saturday so, in his words, we needed to 'Carpe Pizza,' which is exactly what we did! In this post the Test-Nest will give you the tools you need to through your own grilled pizza party, how to grill pizzas and our professional pizza grilling tips.

Party Planning

1.  The grill: You need a gas grill.  Any old one will do, in fact, the first time I grilled pizza I did it on one of these mini propane grills. Just make sure your propane tank is full.  Last time we grilled pizzas Andrew's pizza only got half done because we ran out of propane, and he had to finish it in the oven. :(

2. The people: Usually when it comes to parties, I say the more the merrier.  This is not necessarily the case when grilling pizzas.  If you have too many people, you could be waiting a long time until it's your turn to grill.  We usually have 5 or 6 people, which works just fine.

3.  Ingredients:  Our parties are BYO toppings.  That way you get an eclectic mix of toppings and it helps you to try new and interesting combos.  Take a look at these beautiful toppings (Eva, nice plate arranging!) . . . pesto, basil, mozzarella, parmesan, mushrooms, onions, peppers, zucchini, olives, prosciutto, pine nuts, roasted garlic, etc!

Toppings
 4.  The dough:  I make the dough ahead of time.  I use Ina Garten's pizza dough recipe which can be found here.  I like to plan on people eating a lot, so I doubled the recipe. If needed, we could make 12 pizzas.  We ended up making 9 and there were 5 of us. 

Grilling the Pizzas (pizza models are Mike Morell and James Gavin-Smyth)

1. Create a game plan for what you are going to top your pizzas with.  Once the dough is on the grill, you will need to work quickly.
Mike and James put the dough on the grill.

2. Put your pizza dough on the grill.  Brush with olive oil. 

Gently brush with a little olive oil.

3.  After one minute.  Turn the dough over, brush with olive oil and top!

James and Mike are extremely skilled and calm pizza toppers. 

4.  Close the lid of the grill and let the pizzas cook for 5 minutes.

Look, one handed!

5.  Eat your pizza!

Biting into a slice of delicious grilled pizza!
6.  Did you save room for desert?  Probably not, but who can resist the dynamic duo's, Mike and Eva,  homemade ice cream sandwiches.  Yeah, I said it, homemade!  Mike made lemon ice cream and Eva made ginger snap cookies to make ice cream sandwiches.  These two are never afraid of a new adventure in the kitchen or in life (Do I hear guest bloggers at the Test-Nest?  I think so.)
Delicious and so refreshing!
Grilled Pizza Helpful Hints

1.  Be prepared.  James advises grillers to put their ingredients on their plates before starting to grill, that way you aren't rushing around.

2.  Avoid sodium overload!  Eva says to make sure that your pizza toppings aren't all salty.  Olives and prosciutto may be a good thought, but they are both quite salty and can distract from the good flavor of the pizza.

3.  Top to the edge.  No need to to create a big outer crust for your pizza.  Take those toppings all the way out to the edge!

4.  Is there such thing as too much cheese?  Yes!  Let the other toppings do the work.  Plus if you go crazy with the cheese it hinders the cooking time.  Your pizza will burn while you wait for all that cheese to melt.

5.  Let it get dark.  Now you don't want your pizza to burn, but you want that baby crispy like in Old Napoli, so some dark brown on the bottom of your pizza is a good thing.

James displayed a pizza bottom done to perfection!


5.  Ambiance.  Floating candles in a rain-filled fire pit adds to an already delightful evening.




So have you already started to put together your grilled pizza party?  How about those toppings?  What are you going to bring?  Make sure you share your yummy pizza combo by commenting on this post.   That way we can all share our grilled pizza adventures!

Happy grilling!

Max is highly satisfied!









Friday, April 22, 2011

Solid Foods = Cloth Diaper Sprayer


bumGenius Diaper Sprayer
THE DIAPER SPRAYER!
  


The benefits of a Diaper Sprayer
by: Laura

Yes, the ladies at the cloth diaper store, CIRCLE ME, were right...don't start solid foods until absolutely necessary, because with solid food comes solid diapers.

  Ella has been doing very well with her new foods, she loves fruits, of course, but she is also partial to sweet potatoes and squash.  This has been evident in her last few diapers.  As these diapers were coming, Derek and I were taking diapers to the toilet and scraping off the dirtiness (so to speak) with toilet paper.  After roughly a week of that method, we decided it was time to invest in a diaper sprayer.  I went to the bumGenius website to see what they recommended and low and behold they have a diaper sprayer of their own.

  Unfortunately, I couldn't purchase it on the website, so I looked around for the best prices.  All of the places I looked had it for roughly $45.  So, I got it from diapers.com and got free shipping.  That works.  It came in no time and Derek installed it right away. (He had to get it done before the next dirty diaper!)

   As far as the installation went, it was a breeze.  There is no need to call a plumber for this job.  Derek was in and out the bathroom in 15 minutes at the most.  I was truly impressed.  Now all we have to do is turn a nozzle and we have an instant diaper cleaner.  Totally worth it! (Also note that your toilet must be fitted with flexible tubing to install the sprayer.)
Note the hook up to the toilet hose

   So, if solid foods are in your future, be sure to check something like this out.  It makes cloth diapering even easier once you hit that solid food stage. We love it and I know you will too.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Home cookin'--Parmesan chicken and mashed potatoes

It's INA time, boys and girls.  And how bad could that be?  Yes, that's right.  My mother and I recently prepared an all Ina Garten meal when I was home for the weekend.  What's on the menu?  Parmesan chicken and parmesan mashed potatoes.  We also threw in some peas and carrots to satisfy the need for at least one veggie with this decadent meal.

Parmesan chicken is easy!  It is delicious!  It makes me happy!

Let's check out the steps.

Pound your chicken thin--really thin.  So it cooks quickly and evenly.  I used this.  It works like a charm!

Three stations.  Flour, egg, and breadcrumbs

Dredge the chicken in seasoned flour...

Dredging...

A fuzzy action shot of dipping in breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese.  Delectable.


Adding the chicken to the skillet which has some oil and some butter.

Fry until golden.  Ours look a little more than golden because we used wheat breadcrumbs.

Finished product, ready to be devoured!

This is a flattering shot of me serving up some yumminess.


Plate that grub.

You should definitely check out these recipes.  Parmesan chicken is not nearly as intimidating as it sounds.  It makes for a nice change from your normal chicken breasts.  And mashed potatoes and peas and carrots?  How much more home-style can you get.  This is comfort food, people.  So, if you're ever feeling a little--well, uncomfortable, you know where to come.

Check out the recipes for parmesan chicken and parmesan mashed potatoes.  Ina serves her chicken parmesan with a lovely salad and vinaigrette on top.  I've made it that way before and it is delectable.  

Check it out, folks.  And enjoy it.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Choc o Lot of Gooey Goodness Cookies

i.e. Chocolate Chip Cookies
by Laura

Well, you might have noticed that the test nest sisters are kind of on a sweet tooth streak here, but it's impossible not to be when you're looking at mouth-watering pictures of delicious treats.   We don't have to see pictures of cakes and cookies, though, to get our sugar radar to sky rocket.  In fact, it does that without any kind of trigger.  Why, you ask?  Well, the answer is, Jacque, our mother.  We were brought up having dessert after every meal and cookies for after school snacks.  Don't get me wrong, I loved it and frankly I still do, but my waistline does pay the price a bit.  But, really, it's worth it for the taste of a warm gooey chocolate chip cookie (or two) right out of the oven.

The following cookie recipe is amazing and guess where I found it?  My Baking Addiction.  That's right, the blog with absurdly delicious recipes including a few we've done on the test nest already, like s'more cookies.  If you've never been a sweets lover, just browse this blog and you'll become one or if you are, go and be amazed and then get baking.

 To begin, get out the butter, baby!  You know a cookie is always better with butter.  The recipe actually called for two sticks of cold butter.  I loved that - no need to wait for softening.

Next I creamed the butter, sugar and vanilla.
 Look at that mixing action...
 Eggs and more going into the mix.
 Perfectly formed cookies.  The recipe is actually called big chocolate chip cookies, but I made them smaller and they turned out just fine. 

Finished product.  How fantastic do those look?  They were just melt in your mouth delicious.  I had four to begin with and then two more later.  Ummm, whoops. So good.


Check out the recipe:



Big Chocolate Chip Cookies


Ingredients
2 sticks cold and cubed unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon table or fine sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 cups good quality semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
add in 1 cup of walnuts if you fancy them
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
1. In bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle, cream together butter and sugars until well blended and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mix in vanilla and beat until well incorporated.
2. Add flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and mix until just combined. Gently fold in chocolate chips/chunks and nuts.
3. Transfer dough to clean work surface and gently mix dough by hand to ensure even distribution of ingredients.
4. Weigh out the dough into 4 ounce portions and gently roll into a ball. (I got ten 4 ounce cookies out of this dough).
4. Place each on sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake in the preheated oven 15-20 minutes depending on how gooey and rawish you like the interior, until very lightly browned, taking care not to overbake. I baked mine for 16 minutes, which seemed to be perfect in my oven.
5. Let cool on rack and store what you don’t immediately eat in an airtight container.
Notes:
-These are best eaten on the day they are made (ESPECIALLY warm out of the oven – like most chocolate chip cookies).
-To freshen them after a few days (if they last that long), give them a quick nuke in the microwave for 5-10 seconds.
- I did not attempt to make these smaller than 4 ounces. I am sure they will be equally as amazing, you’ll just have to play with the baking time.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

No Nonsense No Bake Cookies


Today, my friends, is an exciting day; I am not wearing a jacket, cardigan, tights, or even those pesky socks.  Yep, it is warm out.  A for real spring (summery) day.  My widget is clocking the temp at 83 degrees.  Despite the warmness I was still antsy to bake something, but I didn't want to be married to the kitchen, what if an impromptu BBQ started, or Max wanted a rematch in croquet, or Lisa invited me to her porch for a glass of wine?  I need to be available yet feed my itch.  So there was little question on what I needed to bake, or should I say not bake.  Yep, pretty much my favorite cookie, No Bake Cookies.  These babies took me all of 20 minutes, and now I've got a snack to bring to any of the said afternoon activities.  Let me share this Oh So Easy recipe with you. 

No Bake Cookies
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup peanut butter
5 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups oatmeal

Boil butter, sugar, and milk for 1 minute. It is important to let this boil for exactly one minute.  Otherwise the consistency of the cookie will be off. 


Remove from heat and add peanut butter, cocoa, vanilla and oatmeal.

Mix thoroughly and drop on waxed paper.  Let cool then eat.  Or eat a bite or two of the warm oatmeally goodness!  I certainly can't resist.

10 minutes later. . .

Enjoy!

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Braised Country Style Pork Ribs...mmm mmm

Braised Country Style Pork Ribs
by Laura

This Christmas my Mom and Dad gave me a beautiful dutch oven, which I absolutely love.  It's so convenient to move from the stove right into the oven without worries of using the wrong pan.  Because I got this new pan, I've been finding recipes just for it.

I happened upon a new episode of 10 Dollar Dinners (Melissa De'Arabian's show on the food network) and she was using the dutch oven to make these ribs.  On the show, she mentioned that country style pork ribs were nearly always on sale and if they were cooked low and slow, they were destined to turn out perfectly.  The ingredients in the recipe were simple; carrots, onions and a few other things, so I decided to try it, and guess what?  The ribs were on sale that same week and they were delectable indeed.

Oh, and by the way, don't freak out when you see the cooking time (4 hours!). On the episode in which Melissa made the ribs, she also made polenta, which took 4 hours.  I opted for corn casserole, which is a delicious choice as well.

And so the process began...




 So, here are the ribs that happened to be on sale at the perfect time. (Another raw meat shot by yours truly.)

 Browning the ribs in the ole dutch oven.

 Here are the tasty and cost effective vegetables found in the recipe: carrots, celery, and onions.  
How easy is that?

 A little garlic to give it some flavor flave. 

 Tomato paste stirred right in...

 And some chicken stock almost covering the meat. 
 Into the oven it goes.


 Two treats in the oven.  The smell was overwhelmingly good.  Can't wait!

 And here are the finished products.  The ribs aren't pretty, but that doesn't mean they didn't taste fantastic.

Corn-pone casserole (as my mother would say!)


Finished product...once again, I might add that it doesn't look the best, but the flavors are fantastico.  Pretty impressive with so few ingredients.

Check them out below.

Braised Country Style Pork Ribs

Ingredients

  • 3 pounds bone-in country-style pork ribs
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 1 stalk celery, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 1/2 cups chicken stock
  • Creamy Polenta, recipe follows
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Pat the ribs dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat and brown the ribs on all sides, working in batches if needed. Remove the ribs and set aside. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the Dutch oven and reduce the heat to medium. Add the onions, carrots, celery, salt, and pepper and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, to remove the raw flavor, about 3 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the vinegar, and then add the red pepper flakes and bay leaves.
Add the ribs back to the pan and add enough stock to reach halfway up the sides of the ribs. Bring the pan to a simmer, cover, and place in the oven. Braise until the meat is tender, about 1 1/2 hours. During the last half hour, uncover to allow the liquid to reduce and the pork to brown.
Serve the ribs with Creamy Polenta, spooning the sauce on top, and garnishing with parsley.

Creamy Polenta:

  • Vegetable cooking spray
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 1/3 cups half-and-half, divided
  • 2 tablespoons butter, divided
  • 1/3 cup coarse polenta, or corn grits
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
  • Special Equipment: slow cooker
Spray the insert of a slow cooker with cooking spray (for easier clean up) and preheat on high.
In a medium saucepan, add the milk, 1 cup half-and-half, 1 tablespoon butter, and polenta. Season with salt and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, whisking constantly to keep the mixture lump-free. Boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Pour the mixture into the slow cooker and cook on high for 2 hours, stirring once or twice per hour. Once you are ready to serve, open the slow cooker and whisk in the remaining 1 tablespoon butter, remaining 1/3 cup half-and-half, and Parmesan. Salt and pepper conservatively since the polenta will be served with a robustly salted dish.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Oh honey, it's time to GRILL!

Honey Chicken Skewers
by: Laura

   After Erin posted about her delicious grilled pizza, this test nest sister had the itch to fire up the grill too.  Actually, I've been ready to fire up the grill since March 1st, but the weather didn't exactly cooperate.  Unfortunately, it still isn't so hot, but at least it's above 50 degrees, so I say, fire up that puppy!

   One thing I love to make (sometimes weekly in the spring and summer) is Honey Chicken Skewers.  I found this recipe in an issue of Real Simple magazine a couple of years ago.  It is literally the easiest thing you can make on a week night.  It takes a total of 20 minutes (at most) and it turns out perfectly every time.  Not to mention, it takes only four ingredients.  That's right, four.  Chicken, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and honey.  Now, you can't tell me that you don't have those ingredients in your pantry. Check out the easy prep below.  You will be amazed at the big flavor in the end.


Let's begin with those three ingredients: 1/2 cup of ketchup, 1 Tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, and 2 Tablespoons of honey.  (I put in a bit of extra honey to balance the ketchup)



Once you have those ingredients in the bowl, whisk them together throughly, if you don't get the flavors to meld, it will be too ketchupy. (you know what I mean)


Next, get your skewers out.  Mine happen to be metal and from IKEA. I love them because I don't have to worry about soaking them in water like I would with wooden skewers.

 Now, for the meat, which you know I love.  Cut up 2 or 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts into small strips and thread them onto the skewers.  Salt and pepper to taste.


 Oh, and I'll mention that as I was working on my skewers, I decided to prep my side dish: couscous.  If you haven't tried this, it's really a great alternative to the usual sides like potatoes and rice.  You can find it in the rice aisle, actually, in a box labeled "plain couscous."  I love it because it only takes 10 minutes to make, including cooking time.  I start off with a tablespoon of butter, melted.


 Then I add in some onion (this is about 1/4 cup) for flavor and cook it for about 3 minutes.  I also throw in a bit of salt and pepper. 



 Finally, I add in the broth (chicken or beef) and bring it to a boil.  Once the water is boiling, add the couscous. Take it off the burner, cover it, and five minutes later you have your side dish!  (Note: This is just one variation to couscous, you can do much more!)


 So, now let's back track to the skewers.  I greased the grill and put my chicken on to start sizzlin'.  It cooked for a total of eight minutes.  


In the last two minutes of cooking I slathered on the sauce I made earlier. 
I had a delicious meal in 20 minutes.  Take a look at that, would you.


Don't you feel like firing up that grill now?  I know I'll continue to do so all spring and summer long.  I'll keep you posted.  Check out the detailed recipe below for the Honey Chicken Skewers. 

HONEY CHICKEN SKEWERS
courtesy of REAL SIMPLE magazine
Serves four

1/2 cup ketchup
2 T. Honey + a bit more
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast

Directions:
Heat grill to medium high heat.  In a small bowl, combine the ketchup, honey and Worcestershire sauce; set aside.

Slice the chicken lengthwise into 1/2 inch strips.  Thread each strip onto skewers.  Season with salt and pepper.

Lightly oil the grill.  Cook the chicken, turning occasionally, until cooked through, 6-8 minutes.  Bast with ketchup mixture during the last 2 minutes of cooking.

Yep, that's it!  How easy it that?

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Grilled Pizza Party

grilled pizza with artichoke hearts, basil, mozzarella, and goat cheese

My friends and I have a lot of really fun traditions: Swing Beach visits, pool tour and spring break grilled pizzas.  This spring break was overcast, cold, and rainy.  It looked like grilled pizzas weren't in the cards for us, but Mike spotted sunshine in the forcast on Saturday so, in his words, we needed to 'Carpe Pizza,' which is exactly what we did! In this post the Test-Nest will give you the tools you need to through your own grilled pizza party, how to grill pizzas and our professional pizza grilling tips.

Party Planning

1.  The grill: You need a gas grill.  Any old one will do, in fact, the first time I grilled pizza I did it on one of these mini propane grills. Just make sure your propane tank is full.  Last time we grilled pizzas Andrew's pizza only got half done because we ran out of propane, and he had to finish it in the oven. :(

2. The people: Usually when it comes to parties, I say the more the merrier.  This is not necessarily the case when grilling pizzas.  If you have too many people, you could be waiting a long time until it's your turn to grill.  We usually have 5 or 6 people, which works just fine.

3.  Ingredients:  Our parties are BYO toppings.  That way you get an eclectic mix of toppings and it helps you to try new and interesting combos.  Take a look at these beautiful toppings (Eva, nice plate arranging!) . . . pesto, basil, mozzarella, parmesan, mushrooms, onions, peppers, zucchini, olives, prosciutto, pine nuts, roasted garlic, etc!

Toppings
 4.  The dough:  I make the dough ahead of time.  I use Ina Garten's pizza dough recipe which can be found here.  I like to plan on people eating a lot, so I doubled the recipe. If needed, we could make 12 pizzas.  We ended up making 9 and there were 5 of us. 

Grilling the Pizzas (pizza models are Mike Morell and James Gavin-Smyth)

1. Create a game plan for what you are going to top your pizzas with.  Once the dough is on the grill, you will need to work quickly.
Mike and James put the dough on the grill.

2. Put your pizza dough on the grill.  Brush with olive oil. 

Gently brush with a little olive oil.

3.  After one minute.  Turn the dough over, brush with olive oil and top!

James and Mike are extremely skilled and calm pizza toppers. 

4.  Close the lid of the grill and let the pizzas cook for 5 minutes.

Look, one handed!

5.  Eat your pizza!

Biting into a slice of delicious grilled pizza!
6.  Did you save room for desert?  Probably not, but who can resist the dynamic duo's, Mike and Eva,  homemade ice cream sandwiches.  Yeah, I said it, homemade!  Mike made lemon ice cream and Eva made ginger snap cookies to make ice cream sandwiches.  These two are never afraid of a new adventure in the kitchen or in life (Do I hear guest bloggers at the Test-Nest?  I think so.)
Delicious and so refreshing!
Grilled Pizza Helpful Hints

1.  Be prepared.  James advises grillers to put their ingredients on their plates before starting to grill, that way you aren't rushing around.

2.  Avoid sodium overload!  Eva says to make sure that your pizza toppings aren't all salty.  Olives and prosciutto may be a good thought, but they are both quite salty and can distract from the good flavor of the pizza.

3.  Top to the edge.  No need to to create a big outer crust for your pizza.  Take those toppings all the way out to the edge!

4.  Is there such thing as too much cheese?  Yes!  Let the other toppings do the work.  Plus if you go crazy with the cheese it hinders the cooking time.  Your pizza will burn while you wait for all that cheese to melt.

5.  Let it get dark.  Now you don't want your pizza to burn, but you want that baby crispy like in Old Napoli, so some dark brown on the bottom of your pizza is a good thing.

James displayed a pizza bottom done to perfection!


5.  Ambiance.  Floating candles in a rain-filled fire pit adds to an already delightful evening.




So have you already started to put together your grilled pizza party?  How about those toppings?  What are you going to bring?  Make sure you share your yummy pizza combo by commenting on this post.   That way we can all share our grilled pizza adventures!

Happy grilling!

Max is highly satisfied!









Friday, April 22, 2011

Solid Foods = Cloth Diaper Sprayer


bumGenius Diaper Sprayer
THE DIAPER SPRAYER!
  


The benefits of a Diaper Sprayer
by: Laura

Yes, the ladies at the cloth diaper store, CIRCLE ME, were right...don't start solid foods until absolutely necessary, because with solid food comes solid diapers.

  Ella has been doing very well with her new foods, she loves fruits, of course, but she is also partial to sweet potatoes and squash.  This has been evident in her last few diapers.  As these diapers were coming, Derek and I were taking diapers to the toilet and scraping off the dirtiness (so to speak) with toilet paper.  After roughly a week of that method, we decided it was time to invest in a diaper sprayer.  I went to the bumGenius website to see what they recommended and low and behold they have a diaper sprayer of their own.

  Unfortunately, I couldn't purchase it on the website, so I looked around for the best prices.  All of the places I looked had it for roughly $45.  So, I got it from diapers.com and got free shipping.  That works.  It came in no time and Derek installed it right away. (He had to get it done before the next dirty diaper!)

   As far as the installation went, it was a breeze.  There is no need to call a plumber for this job.  Derek was in and out the bathroom in 15 minutes at the most.  I was truly impressed.  Now all we have to do is turn a nozzle and we have an instant diaper cleaner.  Totally worth it! (Also note that your toilet must be fitted with flexible tubing to install the sprayer.)
Note the hook up to the toilet hose

   So, if solid foods are in your future, be sure to check something like this out.  It makes cloth diapering even easier once you hit that solid food stage. We love it and I know you will too.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Home cookin'--Parmesan chicken and mashed potatoes

It's INA time, boys and girls.  And how bad could that be?  Yes, that's right.  My mother and I recently prepared an all Ina Garten meal when I was home for the weekend.  What's on the menu?  Parmesan chicken and parmesan mashed potatoes.  We also threw in some peas and carrots to satisfy the need for at least one veggie with this decadent meal.

Parmesan chicken is easy!  It is delicious!  It makes me happy!

Let's check out the steps.

Pound your chicken thin--really thin.  So it cooks quickly and evenly.  I used this.  It works like a charm!

Three stations.  Flour, egg, and breadcrumbs

Dredge the chicken in seasoned flour...

Dredging...

A fuzzy action shot of dipping in breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese.  Delectable.


Adding the chicken to the skillet which has some oil and some butter.

Fry until golden.  Ours look a little more than golden because we used wheat breadcrumbs.

Finished product, ready to be devoured!

This is a flattering shot of me serving up some yumminess.


Plate that grub.

You should definitely check out these recipes.  Parmesan chicken is not nearly as intimidating as it sounds.  It makes for a nice change from your normal chicken breasts.  And mashed potatoes and peas and carrots?  How much more home-style can you get.  This is comfort food, people.  So, if you're ever feeling a little--well, uncomfortable, you know where to come.

Check out the recipes for parmesan chicken and parmesan mashed potatoes.  Ina serves her chicken parmesan with a lovely salad and vinaigrette on top.  I've made it that way before and it is delectable.  

Check it out, folks.  And enjoy it.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Choc o Lot of Gooey Goodness Cookies

i.e. Chocolate Chip Cookies
by Laura

Well, you might have noticed that the test nest sisters are kind of on a sweet tooth streak here, but it's impossible not to be when you're looking at mouth-watering pictures of delicious treats.   We don't have to see pictures of cakes and cookies, though, to get our sugar radar to sky rocket.  In fact, it does that without any kind of trigger.  Why, you ask?  Well, the answer is, Jacque, our mother.  We were brought up having dessert after every meal and cookies for after school snacks.  Don't get me wrong, I loved it and frankly I still do, but my waistline does pay the price a bit.  But, really, it's worth it for the taste of a warm gooey chocolate chip cookie (or two) right out of the oven.

The following cookie recipe is amazing and guess where I found it?  My Baking Addiction.  That's right, the blog with absurdly delicious recipes including a few we've done on the test nest already, like s'more cookies.  If you've never been a sweets lover, just browse this blog and you'll become one or if you are, go and be amazed and then get baking.

 To begin, get out the butter, baby!  You know a cookie is always better with butter.  The recipe actually called for two sticks of cold butter.  I loved that - no need to wait for softening.

Next I creamed the butter, sugar and vanilla.
 Look at that mixing action...
 Eggs and more going into the mix.
 Perfectly formed cookies.  The recipe is actually called big chocolate chip cookies, but I made them smaller and they turned out just fine. 

Finished product.  How fantastic do those look?  They were just melt in your mouth delicious.  I had four to begin with and then two more later.  Ummm, whoops. So good.


Check out the recipe:



Big Chocolate Chip Cookies


Ingredients
2 sticks cold and cubed unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon table or fine sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 cups good quality semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
add in 1 cup of walnuts if you fancy them
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
1. In bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle, cream together butter and sugars until well blended and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mix in vanilla and beat until well incorporated.
2. Add flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and mix until just combined. Gently fold in chocolate chips/chunks and nuts.
3. Transfer dough to clean work surface and gently mix dough by hand to ensure even distribution of ingredients.
4. Weigh out the dough into 4 ounce portions and gently roll into a ball. (I got ten 4 ounce cookies out of this dough).
4. Place each on sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake in the preheated oven 15-20 minutes depending on how gooey and rawish you like the interior, until very lightly browned, taking care not to overbake. I baked mine for 16 minutes, which seemed to be perfect in my oven.
5. Let cool on rack and store what you don’t immediately eat in an airtight container.
Notes:
-These are best eaten on the day they are made (ESPECIALLY warm out of the oven – like most chocolate chip cookies).
-To freshen them after a few days (if they last that long), give them a quick nuke in the microwave for 5-10 seconds.
- I did not attempt to make these smaller than 4 ounces. I am sure they will be equally as amazing, you’ll just have to play with the baking time.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

No Nonsense No Bake Cookies


Today, my friends, is an exciting day; I am not wearing a jacket, cardigan, tights, or even those pesky socks.  Yep, it is warm out.  A for real spring (summery) day.  My widget is clocking the temp at 83 degrees.  Despite the warmness I was still antsy to bake something, but I didn't want to be married to the kitchen, what if an impromptu BBQ started, or Max wanted a rematch in croquet, or Lisa invited me to her porch for a glass of wine?  I need to be available yet feed my itch.  So there was little question on what I needed to bake, or should I say not bake.  Yep, pretty much my favorite cookie, No Bake Cookies.  These babies took me all of 20 minutes, and now I've got a snack to bring to any of the said afternoon activities.  Let me share this Oh So Easy recipe with you. 

No Bake Cookies
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup peanut butter
5 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups oatmeal

Boil butter, sugar, and milk for 1 minute. It is important to let this boil for exactly one minute.  Otherwise the consistency of the cookie will be off. 


Remove from heat and add peanut butter, cocoa, vanilla and oatmeal.

Mix thoroughly and drop on waxed paper.  Let cool then eat.  Or eat a bite or two of the warm oatmeally goodness!  I certainly can't resist.

10 minutes later. . .

Enjoy!

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Braised Country Style Pork Ribs...mmm mmm

Braised Country Style Pork Ribs
by Laura

This Christmas my Mom and Dad gave me a beautiful dutch oven, which I absolutely love.  It's so convenient to move from the stove right into the oven without worries of using the wrong pan.  Because I got this new pan, I've been finding recipes just for it.

I happened upon a new episode of 10 Dollar Dinners (Melissa De'Arabian's show on the food network) and she was using the dutch oven to make these ribs.  On the show, she mentioned that country style pork ribs were nearly always on sale and if they were cooked low and slow, they were destined to turn out perfectly.  The ingredients in the recipe were simple; carrots, onions and a few other things, so I decided to try it, and guess what?  The ribs were on sale that same week and they were delectable indeed.

Oh, and by the way, don't freak out when you see the cooking time (4 hours!). On the episode in which Melissa made the ribs, she also made polenta, which took 4 hours.  I opted for corn casserole, which is a delicious choice as well.

And so the process began...




 So, here are the ribs that happened to be on sale at the perfect time. (Another raw meat shot by yours truly.)

 Browning the ribs in the ole dutch oven.

 Here are the tasty and cost effective vegetables found in the recipe: carrots, celery, and onions.  
How easy is that?

 A little garlic to give it some flavor flave. 

 Tomato paste stirred right in...

 And some chicken stock almost covering the meat. 
 Into the oven it goes.


 Two treats in the oven.  The smell was overwhelmingly good.  Can't wait!

 And here are the finished products.  The ribs aren't pretty, but that doesn't mean they didn't taste fantastic.

Corn-pone casserole (as my mother would say!)


Finished product...once again, I might add that it doesn't look the best, but the flavors are fantastico.  Pretty impressive with so few ingredients.

Check them out below.

Braised Country Style Pork Ribs

Ingredients

  • 3 pounds bone-in country-style pork ribs
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 1 stalk celery, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 1/2 cups chicken stock
  • Creamy Polenta, recipe follows
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Pat the ribs dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat and brown the ribs on all sides, working in batches if needed. Remove the ribs and set aside. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the Dutch oven and reduce the heat to medium. Add the onions, carrots, celery, salt, and pepper and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, to remove the raw flavor, about 3 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the vinegar, and then add the red pepper flakes and bay leaves.
Add the ribs back to the pan and add enough stock to reach halfway up the sides of the ribs. Bring the pan to a simmer, cover, and place in the oven. Braise until the meat is tender, about 1 1/2 hours. During the last half hour, uncover to allow the liquid to reduce and the pork to brown.
Serve the ribs with Creamy Polenta, spooning the sauce on top, and garnishing with parsley.

Creamy Polenta:

  • Vegetable cooking spray
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 1/3 cups half-and-half, divided
  • 2 tablespoons butter, divided
  • 1/3 cup coarse polenta, or corn grits
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
  • Special Equipment: slow cooker
Spray the insert of a slow cooker with cooking spray (for easier clean up) and preheat on high.
In a medium saucepan, add the milk, 1 cup half-and-half, 1 tablespoon butter, and polenta. Season with salt and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, whisking constantly to keep the mixture lump-free. Boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Pour the mixture into the slow cooker and cook on high for 2 hours, stirring once or twice per hour. Once you are ready to serve, open the slow cooker and whisk in the remaining 1 tablespoon butter, remaining 1/3 cup half-and-half, and Parmesan. Salt and pepper conservatively since the polenta will be served with a robustly salted dish.