About Carrie Zinnecker

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Argentine Flank Steak with Salsa Criolla

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To kick off the long weekend we had a great dinner with Ben’s parents who made the trip up from Austin to visit.  I’ve had this recipe from Fine Cooking printed out and in my wonderfully organized recipe binder for a while now with every intention of making it, but just never got around to it.  So, I pulled this out with high hopes that it would be a winner.  Here is the link to the original recipe.

It turned out to be a great meal that we all really enjoyed.  All the preparation can be done 24 hours in advance, so that made this meal an even better choice for company.  I rubbed the meat down and made the salsa about 7 hours before dinner, which was plenty of time for the flavors to infuse the meat and for the salsa to get really yummy.

The steak alone has a bit of kick.  The cool, vinegary, slightly sweet salsa is a great complement to the spice.  I served this with a green salad, simple scalloped potatoes, and baguette.  The recipe recommends using any leftover steak and salsa mixed in with scrambled eggs and cheese.  I wish we’d had more leftovers!

Here are the very few changes I made to the recipe.

I used one 2-pound steak since there were only four of us.  However, I made the same amount of rub, so that makes me think that if you plan to make 4 pounds of steak you may want to consider doubling the rub ingredients.

The 1/2 cup of olive oil in the salsa just seemed like too much to me, so I reduced it to 1/4 cup and added just a slight drizzle more.  Mix up the salsa and use your own judgement and preferences as you do so.  Add a small amount to start, then add more if you need it.

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Cinnamon Pecan Muffins

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These muffins, while a tad bit crumbly, are so incredibly delicious.  I have a true and undying love for pecans, and so these had me from the very beginning.  The combination of cinnamon and pecans in these muffins is wonderful, and greasing and sugaring the muffins cups gave them such a great crunchy, sweet exterior.  You can always use paper muffins cups instead of greasing the muffin pan.  These are on the sweeter side for breakfast muffins, but I don’t mind that.  Anything I can do to fit in another dessert in my day is a good thing.

I found the recipe on Group Recipes, but used melted butter instead of the oil originally called for in the recipe. Here is the link to the original recipe. The oil would probably make them more moist, so I might try that the next time I make these…and there will be a next time.

These are great when enjoyed warm, but also great at room temperature.  I warmed mine in the microwave for about 15 seconds each morning as I enjoyed them all week.  That’s just one of those things you must deal with while living with only one other person, leftovers always last a long time.  Sometimes this is a good thing, like with these muffins.  Other times I wish I had more people to eat the last couple servings of a dish.  Our family is growing, but Baby won’t be enjoying these muffins for a while!

Cinnamon Pecan Muffins

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon shopping list
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup, 1 stick, melted butter
  • 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

  1. Mix first 5 ingredients together, then add egg, milk and butter.
  2. Mix until almost blended, adding pecans. Do not over mix batter.
  3. Fill greased and sugared muffin pans two-thirds full.
  4. Bake muffins at 375°F for 20 to 25 minutes.

Daring Bakers: Ice Cream Petit Fours

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This challenge sure snuck up on me…like many other Daring Bakers challenges of the past.  Thankfully I remembered enough in advance to get this dessert completed in time!  We had an option this month to complete one or both of these desserts; ice cream petit fours and baked Alaska.  One day I will try baked Alaska, but I chose to make the petit fours only.

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

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Brown Butter Toffee Blondies

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Martha Stewart offers a “Cookie of the Day” email that I have been getting for over a year now.  I have made a few of these cookies, but rarely do the cookies just scream out and beg for me to make them.  These brown butter blondies, however, were something I just couldn’t resist.

Browned butter is something special.  You can smell the nuttiness as it begins to brown in the pan, and the rich flavor that it gives to baked goods is tremendous.  This brown butter frosting is delicious, and worth a try on the pumpkin cookies, on vanilla cupcakes, and especially nice on pumpkin cake or bread.

These blondies are rich, and so your sweet tooth can be satisfied with a small square.  But, if you’re like me, you justify having a second small square since you only had one small piece to begin with!  Make sure to let these cool completely before cutting and removing from the pan.  They will seem a bit gooey in the center after 40 minutes of baking, but resist the urge to keep baking.  Just let them sit and be patient.  I replaced the walnuts called for in the original recipe with pecans, but everything else in the recipe remained as written.  Here is the link to Martha’s recipe.

Brown Butter Toffee Blondies

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for pan
  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 cups packed light-brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup chopped pecans
  • 1 cup toffee bits

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.
  2. In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the butter until it turns golden brown; remove from heat, and let cool. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
  3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine browned butter and both sugars; stir with a wooden spoon until combined. Attach bowl to mixer; add eggs. Using the paddle attachment, beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add vanilla, and beat to combine. Add flour mixture, walnuts, and toffee bits. Mix until thoroughly combined, and pour into prepared pan.
  4. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes (do not overbake). Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before turning out of pan onto a cutting board. Cut blondies into 3-inch squares. Blondies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

Thin, Crispy Pizza Crust & The Rudy

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There are a few pizza doughs that I’ve tried that are delicious, but require an overnight rise in the refrigerator.  Since I decided to make pizza for dinner the morning of, I wouldn’t have the luxury of letting the dough rise for 12 hours.  So, I went in search of a quick rise pizza crust and found this recipe for a California Pizza Kitchen type crust.  I made the basic dough, but I’ll have to try the honey wheat when I can remember to buy whole wheat four.

One of my favorite restaurants in Amarillo is Fire Slice Pizzeria.  It is a little hard to find, tucked behind a shopping center, but your efforts in finding it will be rewarded.  The last time Ben and I were there they had some really great live music, which is not something you find very much of in Amarillo.  The pizzas here have a great thin crust, and unique and tasty toppings.  They do have a wonderfully simple Margherita pizza, but they also have a green chile cheeseburger pizza that Ben really likes.  My favorite is The Rudy.  The Rudy is a white pizza topped with bacon, spinach, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese.  It is delicious.  I love it.  I want a slice right now.

I tried to recreate this pizza with my new pizza crust recipe.  While it didn’t turn out quite like Fire Slice, the flavors were good and I’d definitely make it again.

The first thing I needed to do was find a white sauce to use.  The sauce I found was OK, but pretty thick.  I added about an extra 1/2 cup of 2% milk to thin it out.  The flavor was good, and I liked it as the base of the pizza.  The real Rudy may not have any sauce under the toppings, but I liked it this way.

Now to the toppings!  These amounts made enough for 2 pizzas, so double them if you intend to make all your pizzas with these toppings.

Bacon: 6 slices of bacon cooked in a skillet, drained and cooled, then chopped up.

Mushrooms: 8 ounces of mushrooms, roasted with olive oil and garlic cloves for 30 minutes at 375°F.

Spinach: 12 ounces of fresh spinach, sauteed in a little olive oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper.

Assembling the Pizzas
  1. Divide your dough into 4 pieces, roll each one out to 10-12 inches in diameter.  The dough will be thin.  Transfer the dough to a pizza peel (or unrimmed cookie sheet) dusted with corn meal.
  2. Spread some of the white sauce on to the pizza, leaving a thin border which you can brush with olive oil is desired.
  3. Top evenly with spinach, mushrooms and bacon.  Sprinkle a little shredded cheese (mozzarella or provolone).
  4. Bake on a preheated pizza stone at 400°F for 15-20 minutes.

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Chicken, Spinach & Mushroom Lasagna

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This week was going to be a busy one.  With every other night but Monday being packed with some event, I wanted something to make for dinner on Monday night that would create good leftovers for the week and be quick to reheat.  Lasagna it would be.  And because I like to try new recipes, I tried this one.

It was OK, but Ben agreed that I have a better white lasagna recipe that I’ll probably stick to for now.  This artichoke and mushroom lasagna is pretty spectacular.  You can add chicken to it if you want to, but it doesn’t need it.  It is a great vegetarian dinner option.  I’ve made it for a few guests before and everyone seems to like it…or they’re just being nice!

Anyway, there were some great things about this lasagna.  Melted in to the béchamel sauce is a creamy herb cheese that gives a great lively flavor.  I made the mistake of trying to use 2% milk instead of whole milk in the béchamel, leaving it pretty runny even after baking.  I’m not entirely sure it was just a milk problem, though.  When I’ve made béchamel sauce in the past I’ve always made a butter and flour paste before adding the milk.  This recipe didn’t call for any flour.  I ended up adding some when I saw how thin the sauce was, but it didn’t solve the problem.  So, I made some changes to the recipe below to help others avoid the runny béchamel.

Another change I would make it to cut the chicken into smaller pieces.  I might even suggest shredding it.  The pieces were just a little too big to get a good combination of noodle, mushroom, spinach, chicken and sauce in one bite.

The flavors are wonderful, and I like the combination of ingredients.  I skimped on some of the cheese since I have often found lasagnas a bit too heavy on the cheese, but I might have skimped too much since the layers didn’t hold together well.  It’s hard to tell what this would have been like if the béchamel had been thicker.  It may not need more cheese…but then again it may.  I don’t know for sure.  I would guess that a thicker sauce would mean the same amount of cheese listed would be fine.  But if you like cheese or you just don’t trust me, add more.

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Blueberry Muffins

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When I first started to get a little crazy about baking in college I asked for this Martha Stewart Baking Handbook cookbook for Christmas.  I used it quite a bit at the beginning as evidenced by the flour crusted on the front cover and bits of food scattered on some of the pages.  Sadly, I haven’t used it as much recently.

This is a beautiful book with lovely photos of every single recipe.  After making these muffins I have a newly rekindled love for this book and for Martha.  I need to take a break from online recipes and get back to my huge collection of cookbooks.  Why have them if I’m not going to use them?  You might know what I’m talking about if you have at least 30 cookbooks, many of which are just sittin’ pretty on a bookshelf, and yet you find yourself searching on the internet when you want to make something.  What a shame!  Let’s get back to loving our cookbooks.

Every recipe in this cookbook is great.  The cinnamon raisin bread is especially delicious and I’ve made it more than just a few times.  It was the first yeast bread I tried that worked!  It has a great cinnamon swirl and lots of juicy raisins.  I am making myself crave it right now, so I might have to go make a loaf or two…

The blueberry muffins were easy to prepare and made my house smell delicious while they baked.  The generous amount of blueberries guarantees at least a few juicy berries in every bite.  I ate these at room temperature and also halved and toasted with a nice spread of butter.  Either way they are wonderful.  Watch the muffins after about 20 minutes, because mine were done after 25.  I did not sprinkle the sugar/nutmeg mixture on the muffins, but think they would be extra yummy with the nice crunch.  Enjoy!

Blueberry Muffins

Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups fresh blueberries
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Generously grease and flour a standard 12-cup muffin pan.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Working over the bowl, toss blueberries in a fine sieve with about 1 1/2 teaspoons flour mixture to lightly coat; set aside the flour mixture and the blueberries.
  3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using a handheld mixer, beat butter and 1 cup sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
  4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined. Mix in vanilla.
  5. With the mixer on low speed, add reserved flour mixture, beating until just combined.
  6. Add milk, beating until just combined. Do not overmix.
  7. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the blueberries.
  8. Divide batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups.
  9. If desired, in a small bowl, mix together remaining 1/4 cup sugar and nutmeg. Sprinkle sugar mixture on top of muffin batter.
  10. Bake, rotating pan halfway though, until muffins are golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center of one muffin comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool 10 minutes.
  11. Remove from pan and let cool.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Cold Oven Pound Cake

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Another recipe from America’s Best Lost Recipes that I received for my birthday and where I got the recipe for the peach puzzle.

The only unexpected thing about this pound cake is the baking process.  The pan goes into a cold, as in DO NOT PREHEAT, oven.  It then cooks for an hour and a half.  I’m not sure if the time the cake is sitting in the heating oven is what creates such a nice crusty exterior, but that crust is lovely.  Encased within the crust is the soft, sweet, buttery cake that just melts in your mouth.

I absolutely love plain pound cake.  It’s for the same reason I would rather have a plain slice of cheesecake than one with caramel, chocolate or fruit sauce.  Simple is just the only way to go sometimes, and with pound cake you can focus on the textures and delicate sweet vanilla flavors instead of whatever extras are interfering.  I know even while I type this that sometime very soon I will probably have to eat my words and fall in love with some fancy pants pound cake.  But, for today at least, I am a plain pound cake lover.

The only complaint I have with this cake is that it gave me some trouble coming out of the pan.  I can grease and flour a pan with the best of them, but it still stuck…not terribly, but it wasn’t exactly picture perfect.  Despite this minor imperfection in appearance, the cake is delicious and definitely worth trying.

Cold Oven Pound Cake

America’s Best Lost Recipes

Ingredients

  • 3 cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup skim milk (or 1%)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 5 eggs, separated
  • 2 sticks butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
  • 3 cups sugar

Directions

  1. Grease and flour a 12-cup tube pan.
  2. Whisk flour and salt in a medium bowl.  In a separate bowl, whisk milk, vanilla and egg yolks.  In a separate bowl beat egg whites to soft peaks.
  3. In a separate bowl beat butter, shortening and sugar on medium high until fluffy.
  4. Reduce speed to low and flour mixture and milk mixture alternately, in 4 batches, beating after each addition until just combined.
  5. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the egg whites.  Scrape batter into prepared pan and place in a COLD oven.
  6. Heat the oven to 300 F and bake for 45 minutes.  Increase the temperature to 325 and bake for an additional 45 minutes.
  7. Cool the cake in the pan for 20 minutes, run a knife around the edge, then turn the cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
  8. Serve plain or with fresh berries and whipped cream.

Chicken, Tomato & Zucchini Packets

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One of the best things about this meal, besides being quick and simple, is that it is almost completely free of any kitchen clean up!  By baking the chicken and vegetables in little foil or parchment packages, you don’t have to worry about scrubbing down a pan that is coated with the remnants of roasted vegetables.  It felt so good to just wad up the foil and toss it in the trash!  I am sure Ben was thankful as he is almost always the one who does the dishes after dinner.

So, is this quick, simple and clean-up free meal any good?  I thought so.  The recipe is from Eating Well and is full of vegetables.  I love when a meal is heavy on warm cooked veggies.  Having a salad can be a good way to get your daily amount of vegetables, but it can often become monotonous.  This is a good way to actually incorporate vegetables into your main course instead of having a separate salad with your meal.

I used more tomatoes than called for in the recipe, replaced the cubanelle pepper with an anaheim, and only used one shallot since the ones at the grocery store were monsters!  These guys were huge.  I also made the great error of leaving out the mustard.  This came to my attention as they were coming out of the oven…not the best timing.  So, I just spread some mustard onto the chicken after it was cooked, and all was well.  I am sure it would have been better had I remembered the mustard earlier, but it didn’t ruin dinner.  I served the chicken with white rice, and so the liquid that remained in the packets was a good sauce despite its thin consistency.  Since I had it on hand I used dried thyme, but I think that fresh would give this a much better flavor.

Overall, a good, tasty meal that can be scaled down to make a quick dinner for 2. If you’re like me, finding recipes and cooking for 2 is often a challenge, unless you want leftovers for the rest of the week.  A reviewer on eatingwell.com said she doubled the ingredients and cooked everything in a Dutch oven, so that is another way to go to serve a larger crowd.  Enjoy!

Chicken, Tomato & Zucchini Packets

From Eatingwell.com

Ingredients

  • 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, (1 1/4-1 1/2 pounds)
  • 2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
  • 2 small zucchini, thinly sliced
  • 2 sweet banana peppers, or cubanelle peppers, cut into 1-inch pieces (I used 1 anaheim)
  • 2 shallots, thinly sliced (I used 1)
  • 1 1/2 cups halved grape or cherry tomatoes
  • 4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme, or 1 teaspoon dried
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
  2. For the foil packets you will need 4 pieces of foil, about 18 inches in length.
  3. Place a chicken breast in the center of one piece of foil and spread with mustard.
  4. Toss zucchini, peppers, shallots, tomatoes, oil, thyme, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Place about 1 1/4 cups of the vegetable mixture on top of each piece of chicken.
  5. Close the packet to cover the ingredients. Starting at the top, seal the packet by folding the edges together in a series of small, tight folds. Twist the tip of the packet and tuck it underneath to help keep the packet closed. Place the packets on a large rimmed baking sheet (packets may overlap slightly). Bake until the vegetables are tender and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken registers 165°F, about 25 minutes. (Carefully open one package to check for doneness and be cautious of the steam.) Let the packets rest unopened for 5 minutes before serving.

Swedish Pancakes

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There are some foods you ate when you were younger that will always hold a special place in your heart and make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside when you think about them.  This is one of those foods for me.  I remember having “Who can eat the most Swedish pancakes?” contests with my sister.  Those were the days.  It was always so exciting on a weekend morning when my mom made these for us.  It’s probably something I’ll do for my kids, and I hope they’ll have the same fond memories.

If these are not what you think of when you think of Swedish pancakes, well, I’m sorry!  These are more crepe-like than American pancakes, and much better…in my opinion.  They don’t fill you up to the point that they sit in the pit of your stomach for hours after breakfast.  There is no right way to eat these light and delicious pancakes, but I will recommend a few things that have never let me down.

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