Tuna Noodle Casserole

Due to some random events, we have a cupboard full of tuna that I have been trying to use up.  And while I love a good tuna sandwich, 20 cans of tuna isn't going to go very fast that way so I've been looking around for other options when I remembered seeing this casserole recipe a while back.  I actually never had tuna noodle casserole growing up so I can't really compare this to the traditional casserole.  But with a made-from-scratch sauce, sauteed mushrooms, creamy Swiss cheese, and a crispy Ritz cracker topping, odds are good that this is better than what you might have grown up with. 

Tuna Noodle Casserole

Number of Servings: 6
Time to Prepare: 1 Hour

• 8 ounces medium shell pasta
• 4 Tbsp butter, divided
• 2 medium stalks celery, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup diced onion
• 8 ounces mushrooms, diced
• olive oil, as needed
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 (14.5 oz) can chicken broth, warmed
• 1 cup milk, warmed
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/8 tsp dried dill
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp dried parsley
• 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese, divided
• 7 oz can tuna, packed in water (you can use a 5 oz can, there will just be slightly less tuna in the casserole, obviously)
• 1/2 cup Ritz cracker crumbs
• 1 Tbsp melted butter

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Meanwhile, melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet.  Add celery and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add onion and cook 2-3 minutes longer, stirring often.  Add mushrooms and cook 3-5 more minutes, until mushrooms are cooked down. If needed for moisture, add a drizzle of olive oil to the pan after the mushrooms are added; more if needed during remaining cooking time.  Remove vegetables from pan and set aside.

Melt remaining 3 tablespoons butter in pan and add flour.  Stir constantly for 30 seconds.  Slowly add broth and milk, a little at a time while constantly whisking until mixture is smooth.  Bring to a low simmer.  Add salt, pepper, and dill.  Stir constantly until thickened and bubbly, 2-3 minutes.  Reduce heat to low and add lemon juice, parsley, and 1/2 cup Swiss cheese.  Whisk until smooth and taste.  Season with additional salt and pepper to taste, and extra lemon juice if desired.  Remove from heat and add pasta, vegetables, and tuna.  Stir to combine and place in a 3 quart baking dish.  Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese.  Mix melted butter into cracker crumbs and sprinkle on top of the casserole.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, until top is golden and pasta is hot and bubbly.  Let rest 10-15 minutes before serving to allow sauce to thicken.

Source: slightly adapted from Our Best Bites
Produce Used: Celery, onion, mushrooms, lemon

Lemon White Chocolate Butter Cookies

Let's get something out of the way here...I have a major sweet tooth.  I would make a different dessert or treat every day if there wasn't all that darn guilt involved.  Of course I probably still make too many sweets, as evidenced by all the fun times I spend at the dentist's office.  I got this cookie recipe from my mother-in-law and it is a double win for me.  Not only do I absolutely love both lemon and white chocolate, but my husband doesn't like either one.  More cookies for me!  Of course, my 3-year-old still takes his fair share.

Lemon White Chocolate Butter Cookies

Number of Servings: about 60 (small) cookies
Time to Prepare: 40 minutes

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp light corn syrup
• 1/2 tsp lemon extract
• 1 Tbsp lemon zest
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 cups flour
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Cream the butter, sugar, salt, corn syrup, lemon extract, and lemon zest until light and creamy.  Add the yolks, one at a time, and beat with each addition, just to blend in thoroughly.  On the lowest speed, beat in the flour until blended.  Stir in the white chocolate chips.   

   

Scoop in rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.  Press to flatten slightly.  Bake until the edges just begin to brown, about 8 minutes.  Remove to a cooling rack to cool.

Source: adapted from a recipe from my mother-in-law

Pumpkin Creme Brulee

I know pumpkin has generally been an autumn food, but I just love it so much!  I made a pumpkin black bean soup the other day (super delicious and one of my regular favorites...I didn't take any pictures so I will have to make it again before I can post it, but I'm sure that will be coming along down the line sometime) and had some pumpkin left over so I decided to make this creme brulee.  It's a fun variation on an already fun dessert, so how can you lose?

Pumpkin Creme Brulee

Number of Servings: 6
Time to Prepare: 3 hours 45 minutes

• 2 cups heavy cream 
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar, plus more for topping
• 8 large egg yolks  
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ground ginger
• 1 cup canned pumpkin (I had slightly less than 1 cup this time and it still worked fine)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Arrange 6 (8 oz) ramekins or custard cups in a large metal baking pan.

In a medium saucepan, combine the cream, brown sugar, and 1/4 cup white sugar. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat.

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks until frothy and lemon-colored. Slowly add 3/4 cup of the hot cream mixture, whisking constantly. Add the egg mixture to the remaining hot cream, and whisk.  Add the vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and pumpkin, and whisk until smooth.  Divide among the prepared custard cups.

Add enough hot water to come about 1 inch up the sides of the cups. Bake until the custards are just set in the center but not stiff, about 1 hour 10 minutes.  (Could take a little more or less time depending on how full the custard cups are and how deep your water bath is.)  Remove from the oven, take out of the water bath, and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 3 hours or overnight.

Sprinkle each custard with 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of white sugar. Using a kitchen torch, caramelize the sugar. (Alternately, preheat the broiler, and broil until the sugar melts and caramelizes, watching closely to avoid burning and rotating the cups, about 1 to 2 minutes.)

Source: slightly adapted from Emerils.com

Sweet Potato Rolls with Maple Pecan Butter

It seems like not too long ago, you really only saw sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving, but they have seen a huge surge in popularity lately.  What with them tasting awesome and being pretty darn good for you, who can blame people?  I personally love just about anything with sweet potato and rolls are no exception.  These spiced rolls are pretty tasty on their own, but once you add the slightly sweet maple pecan butter, it just puts them over the top.

Sweet Potato Rolls with Maple Pecan Butter

Number of Servings: 16 to 20 rolls
Time to Prepare:  about 3 hours

Rolls 

• 1 (.25 oz) package active dry yeast
• 2 Tbsp white sugar, divided
• 1/2 cup warm water (about 110 degrees)
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 cup cooked, mashed sweet potato
• 3 Tbsp butter, softened
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 1/2 cups flour

 Butter

• 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup pecans, finely chopped or ground
• 1/4 cup maple syrup

In the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve yeast and 1 Tbsp white sugar in the warm water.  Let stand 5 minutes (it should be foamy).

Add remaining white sugar, brown sugar, sweet potato, butter, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and eggs.  Stir to mix well.  Add 3 cups of flour and mix with dough hook until it starts to come together.  Add remaining 1/2 cup flour slowly, as needed, to make a soft dough.  Knead for about 3 minutes, until smooth.  Place in an oiled bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled.

Punch dough down and allow to rest for 2 minutes.  Divide into 16 to 20 balls and shape into rolls (I used the method demonstrated in this great video by Mel's Kitchen Cafe).

Place rolls on a greased baking sheet.  Cover loosely and let rise until doubled.  Bake at 375 for 12 to 14 minutes, or until golden brown on top.

While the rolls bake, beat the butter in a small bowl until smooth and creamy.  Add pecans and syrup and mix well.

When rolls are done baking, brush the tops with some of the butter.  Save the remaining butter for serving with the rolls.

Source: slightly adapted from Sweet Pea's Kitchen
Produce Used: Sweet potato

Raspberry Cantaloupe Milkshake

This is a great refreshing milkshake for those hot days of summer.  I tend to like my frozen drinks really sweet (much to my husband's chagrin) so feel free to start small on the sugar and add as needed.  Also, the more ripe your cantaloupe, the better the milkshake will taste (and the less sugar you will need).

Raspberry Cantaloupe Milkshake

Number of Servings: 2 to 4
Time to Prepare: 10 Minutes

• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 cups cubed cantaloupe
• 4 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups crushed ice
• 1/2 cup frozen raspberries 

Put all ingredients in your blender in the order listed and blend until smooth.

Source: Adapted from food.com
Produce Used: Cantaloupe, raspberries

Green Beans with Tomatoes and Feta

This is a super easy side dish and since I usually have most of the ingredients on hand, I love to throw it together any time I have feta cheese in the fridge.  I may or may not sneak a few chunks of feta off the top of these beans as I make them...I do love my cheese!

Green Beans with Tomatoes and Feta

Number of Servings: 4 to 6 (as a side dish)
Time to Prepare: 15 to 20 minutes

• 1/2 pound fresh or frozen green beans
• 1 1/2 Tbsp butter
• kosher salt
• black pepper
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

If using frozen green beans, put them in colander and run them briefly under warm water to thaw.  Drain well.


In a small bowl, combine diced tomato, vinegar, garlic, and oregano.  Set aside.

Melt butter in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat.  Once butter is melted, add green beans and season liberally with kosher salt and black pepper.  Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently.  Stir in tomato mixture and cook an additional 5 minutes or so, until green beans are cooked through.  Sprinkle with feta cheese.  Remove from heat and cover for 2 minutes to allow cheese to melt a bit.  Serve warm.

(You may have noticed in the picture that some of my green beans are a bright green and some have gone beyond that stage and are a darker green.  We had some fun times with the one year old and a roll of toilet paper being unrolled.  I got a bit distracted and didn't stir the beans so the bottom ones cooked faster than the top ones....just a demonstration of the importance of stirring the beans while they cook!)

Source: Me!
Produce Used: Green beans, tomato, garlic

We're back!

My husband and I originally created this blog to help give ideas of recipes that would use ingredients from our weekly "Bountiful Basket" in Utah. When we started getting the baskets, we had looked for blogs with recipe ideas specifically for the basket ingredients and while we found a few, it seemed that they mostly posted recipes that would use just one ingredient.  We wanted recipes that would use several basket items so we decided we would create our own blog, just to try to be a small resource to others in our situation.

We have since moved to New York City and aren't able to get Bountiful Baskets (which we are still sad about). However, we still like to cook and try new recipes.  We had wanted to keep the blog going, but really weren't quite sure how to do that.  After a year and half long hiatus, we decided to resurrect the blog in a bit of a new way. Now I will just be posting recipes that I make and we really like. I will still tag posts with labels of the produce I use in case that is helpful to our (very few) readers, but I will also be posting recipes that don't necessarily use produce.

I do want to put a disclaimer out there....I am not a food blogger and I'm really not trying to be. I don't have a fancy camera (or any photography skills to speak of)--I take pictures with my phone. This is really just a way for me to document some of the great recipes I try out, and if it ends up being helpful to other people then great!  In looking back at our past posts, I know there are some improvements that can be made in how we post (serving size information, more clear instructions, etc.) so I will try my best to make those improvements and post these recipes in a way that makes them easy to follow, but please don't be too hard on me! :)

Just as a little teaser, I recently climbed my Everest of baking and made homemade croissants.  I was pretty nervous about it through the entire (very long) process, but they turned out so delicious!  I will have to make them again before I can post about it because I need to take some process pictures to help explain how to make them, but that will be coming soon, along with many other delicious recipes.