We took a weekend trip to get out of dodge for a few days, and stumbled upon a great little German restaurant called Edelweiss, in Staunton, Virginia.

The food was delicious. Matt had the Jagerschnitzel while I had a long-time favorite: Beef Stroganoff.

I determined I HAD to recreate this at home.

The following recipe is my version:

Hardware:
4-6 qt Crock Pot.
3 qt saucepan, for pasta.

Ingredients:
1 Chuck roast approximately 3lbs, cut into 1.5 inch cubes.
2 cups Onion, thinly sliced.
8 oz Baby Bella Mushrooms, cleaned, trimmed, and quartered.
Salt, Pepper, Garlic powder, and Cayenne powder, to taste.
1 – 12oz bottle Yuengling Lager beer.
1 can Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup.
8 oz Daisy Sour Cream.
1 lb Extra-Wide Egg Noodles.

Optional:
Butter.
Asiago/Parmesan cheese medley, shredded.
Crusty bread, toasted.

Place beef cubes and sliced onion into crock pot and season with spices, tossing to coat evenly.
Pour in the Yuengling beer and the can of Cream of Mushroom Soup. Stir to combine.
Cover and cook on high 5-6  hours, or until beef is fork tender.
Add mushrooms and cook for an additional 45 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare egg noodles according to package directions.
Drain in colander and toss with oil and/or butter.
Once mushrooms are softened to liking, turn off crock pot (or set to warm setting).
Check for seasoning, and add more if necessary.
Stir in sour cream.

Serve beef mixture over noodles with shredded cheese and crusty bread, if desired.

I was moved by the spirit (of awesome food) to share with you an accidental discovery.

But first, a little background: I love roasted tomatoes. Specifically, cherry, grape, or pear tomatoes. They are so sweet and flavorful I routinely use them as a side-dish with fish, chicken, or even a grilled panini sandwich.

I usually pick up a pint at Giant and after a wash, slice them down the middle, throw them in a pie pan with olive oil, salt, and maybe some turmeric and bake them at 400′/425′ until they bubble with deliciousness (about 10-12 minutes)

Well, last night, I forgot about them. I really did. I’d eaten my supper of roasted rosemary garlic chicken and was relaxing…until I smelled tomatoes. Uh oh!

I ran back into the kitchen to “check” them and behold, they were reduced, wrinkly, black in places, and smelled like tomato pesto.

I was intrigued.

When they cooled, I tried one. They had the best, most intense flavor ever, and I immediately ate far too  many of them.

I did the exact same thing I always had except using butter for olive oil, omitting the turmeric, and letting them cook possibly twice as long (to be honest, I’m not certain, it could have been up to 30 minutes).

Applications for this lovely accidental delight include: cherry tomato pizza sauce (puree in blender and voila!), a topping for bruschetta, pasta sauce, or even a tomato soup base (though you’ll want to dilute a bit, the flavor is strong).

Happy Monday!

Since folks are asking, I’m passing along my mom’s excellent Tortellini Soup recipe.
This makes a lot of soup (which is fantastic). It makes great leftovers and you can freeze and gently heat for later, but you can half the recipe if you don’t need all three-plus quarts. A bonus is that the recipe is easy to make remember, I can usually have it on the table in an hour or less.

Olive oil for pot (2-3 tablespoons as needed)
8-10 ounces Italian sausage rolled into 1-inch meatballs (hot or mild…I’ve even used Jimmy Dean’s sage sausage with great results—very aromatic)
1 large onion, chopped to about ½ inch pieces
2-3 med-large green bell peppers, chopped to approx ¾ inch pieces
(Mom uses chopped carrots as well, but I don’t. Sorry Mom! )
2-4 gloves garlic, pressed
12-14 cups beef broth (I use reduced sodium.)
8-12 ounces tomato sauce
Italian seasonings, to taste (approx 1-2 tablespoons)
Cayenne, to taste (approx ¼ teaspoon)
Salt, Pepper
1 “Family size” package of 3 cheese tortellini (Buitoni is good).
1-2 small or medium zucchini, cut into half-moon slices (maybe 3 cups?)

The Extras:
Parmesan cheese for garnish (grated is great, but shaved is even better—it melts more smoothly).
Hearty, crusty bread for dipping

Heat olive oil in large (3.5-4 qt.) soup pot over medium heat. When oil shimmers, add meatballs. Saute, stirring gently to brown evenly. When halfway done, add onions and more oil if needed (this depends on your sausage fat content—I usually need to add a bit more). Add bell peppers, stirring occasionally until onions are translucent.

Add garlic, tomato sauce, beef broth, and Italian seasonings. Stir to combine evenly. Bring to a simmer and maintain for five to ten minutes. Add cayenne, more Italian seasonings, salt and pepper as desired.

Cook for another five minutes. Add tortellini and zucchini. Bring to a low boil and cover. Cook, stirring to cook pasta and zucchini evenly. When tortellini is floats, is soft, and zucchini is soft, remove from heat and taste. If needed, simmer a bit longer until flavors meld.

Cook time: Maybe 40 minutes, give or take.
Prep time: 10-15 minutes

When I got my first one, I was rather underwhelmed. I saw everyone else skating under the black lights with the sticks fastened around their necks and wrists; theirs sizzling shades of electric blue, neon green, and hot pink.

Mine was…kind of a light gray, really. Clearly, mine was defective. Now that I had this unremarkable piece of plastic, what was I supposed to do with it?

But just about that point, a couple of my friends came by with theirs, which they were shaking vigorously.

“Mine doesn’t work.” I complained.
“Well, no duh. You didn’t break yours yet. You gotta break and shake them before they’ll work.”
Oh. Like anyone knows that the first time.
So I (carefully) broke mine and began shaking. It was slow to respond at first; but finally, a brilliant purple flowed through the tube.

Under the darkness and glow of the black lights, I joined the party of swirling glowing streams on the skating rink.

We are like glow sticks. Unless we are properly (and carefully) broken and endure the shaking, we will never glow as we are made to.

I think as we do, we allow ourselves to find unique purpose and beauty, becoming part of something bigger; a stellar choreography.

I discovered this several years ago from Sarah Moulton’s (I believe, top chef at Gourmet Magazine) “Sara’s Secrets” show on, yep, The Food Network (I really was not kidding when I said they taught me how to cook). But I made a few changes: instead of goat cheese, I use a hard cheese like Parmesan or Asiago, add chicken, and I flavor my cream with garlic powder.

This recipe may sound complex at first blush, but I just made it again yesterday from memory, and had it in the oven in less than an hour. It really is easy to do.

To begin with, you’ll need:
1.5 – 2lbs fresh, preferrably young/thin asparagus. Ends trimmed, and cut into bite-sized pieces (if thick, 3/4 inch pieces, if thin, 1-1 1/4 inch). Keep tops divided from stalks.
Olive oil.
4-5 cups of chicken broth (preferably homemade, but box is fine)
2-3 Tbsp. butter
1/4 – 1/3 cup white flour
Salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder
2-3 cups cooked, shredded chicken
1, 8-oz box Barilla no-boil lasagna
2 cups heavy whipping cream
6-8 oz grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese (really a matter of personal taste)

Hardware:
2-3 quart sauce pan
1 or 2 cookie sheets
9 x 13 baking dish
Wisk
Mixing bowl
Spray grease, such as Pam.

Pre-heat your oven to 450*. Place all asparagus pieces on cookie sheet (you may need 2). Remember, tops are in a separate pile. Season and toss with salt, pepper, garlic, and olive oil. Place into oven and cook for 5 minutes. Stir, and cook for another 5 minutes, until asparagus is somewhat wilted, but still has a slight crisp (I like to keep an eye on this to make sure it does not over cook. Also, personal taste rules, here.). Remove asparagus from oven and set aside. Reduce oven heat to 400*.

Next, melt butter (and a drizzle of olive oil–helps prevent burning) in sauce pan. When butter bubbles and melts, add 1/4 cup flour. Wisking to prevent clumping (I sometimes use a small mesh strainer here). If needed, add more flour to make a paste. Stir roux, cooking it for a few minute, until it turns a light brown, and bubbles. Add chicken broth, wisking to blend well. Raise heat to high and wisk at intervals. Bring mixture to a boil. Chicken broth should resemble a gravy of medium thickness. If it looks too thick, add a bit of water or broth. If not thick enough, make a slurry to thicken further. Add salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste. Reduce heat to low and cover.

Next, take your 2 cups of whipping cream in mixing bowl, add 1/4 tsp. garlic powder (or, as much as you’d like), and begin to wisk. Wisk until mixture stiffens into whipped cream. Set aside in refrigerator until ready to use.

Assembly:
Spray 9 x 13 dish lightly with spray grease. Add 1-2 ladles of chicken sauce into bottom of dish, spreading around (this helps to prevent sticking).

Make a layer of no-boil noodles, overlapping them slightly. Sprinkle 1/3 or 1/4 of shredded chicken, then asparagus (reserving tips for top layer), then grated cheese. Top with 1-2 ladles of sauce.
Repeat for a total of 3 layers (if you can make four, that’s great). Use asparagus tips for the very top layer, and use all the sauce (you’ll need this for no boil noodles to turn out right). Sprinkle on remaining cheese, as desired. Finally, spread whipped cream on the top. (This helps to insulate during cooking, and melts into the sauce).

Cook for approximately 40-50 minutes, or until cream has dissolved and noodles are tender. Cool for 10 minutes, then serve.

The entire album is brilliant and breath-taking, and I highly recommend it.

But there is one song that I want to write about in particular. The track Cosmic Love speaks such volumes to me in a deeply personal way.

As the song begins, you’re immediately clued in on a love story between a celestial being and the singer, whom one can assume is either a frail human, or spiritual in nature. Looking up at the beauty of the sky’s expanse, a falling star falls from its heart (God’s perhaps?), so beautiful, but causing tragic, horrifying damage: it blinds the singer, leaving her hysterical and in pain, stumbling in darkness.

The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark
No dawn, nor day-I’m always in this Twilight
In the shadow of your heart

The singer can no longer see any heavenly markers to guide her way. She’s panicking, groping for guidance, to know her love has not left her alone. But she finds nothing. You left me in the dark.

And in the dark, I can hear your heartbeat
I tried to find the sound
But then, it stopped, and I was in the darkness
So darkness I became

So sure of her abandonment, she sinks into the darkness. She can’t even be guided by hearing, anymore.

I took the stars from my eyes and then I made I map
I knew that somehow I could find my way back
Then I heard your heart beating
You were in the darkness, too
So I stayed in the darkness with you

Somehow, the singer remembers the power of the very thing that blinded her. The object of her affliction actually gave her a way out: stars provide guidance and light. Which  she can use to return to happiness, where she wants to “go back to,” instead of moving forward.

At that point, our singer hears the heartbeat of her love. Suddenly, getting out of the darkness doesn’t seem so important. Rather, it’s not where she was, it was whom she was with that mattered.

God is this way. We are the frail human staring up at His other-worldly beauty, falling in love. And God does afflict us, but like the stars, those very objects are intended to ultimately guide us to a new place of faith and intimacy.

When we can realize, like our singer, that He has never left us, but has just gone silent, we learn that it isn’t important where we are, it’s Who we are with that matters. I don’t want to be in the light if He is in the dark. We’re never meant to bond with our environment, but bond with the One who placed us there.

So I’d seen this recipe on the defunct Food Network show, Calling All Cooks, maybe 5 years ago. I’ve always wanted to try it, but never had. Until this week…

It’s no more difficult than regular creme brulee (maybe easier since you don’t need to boil the cream), and the apples are a fantastic addition.
I substituted apple cider for the water, which may make it too rich for you, but everyone enjoyed it.
I may serve this for Thanksgiving.

So here’s the link. If you try it, let me know!
Calling All Cooks: Apple Cinnamon Creme Brulee

In a moment of what I believe to be divine intervention, a stroke of heavenly genius, an idea came into my head: Pesto Chicken.

But I had both sun-dried tomato pesto and basil pesto. So I got a little crazy: I did half and half.

The important thing is to put the goo under the chicken skin. It really saturates the meat and keeps it moist. I also kept the dividing membrane between the two breasts intact, so the seasonings stayed on their own side.

Aside from the pesto, I only added a little pepper and a hint of cayenne. The pesto has enough salt by itself.

My husband raved, saying it was the “best chicken ever.” And the secret is, it’s so much easier than the hand-made rosemary goop I’d have usually labored over.

I cooked it on 375′ for a little over two hours, and turned the pan halfway through cooking so it would brown evenly.  Pretty much your average package directions.

If you try this, let me know what you think!

So, when I became addicted to Panera Bread’s chocolate pastry (aka, pain au chocolate), I knew I had to find a worthy substitute to have at home that didn’t have to spend 3 hours making.

Therefore, I went to the grocery store and bought, yep, Pillsbury crescent rolls.  Not the buttered kind, and not the BIG ones. I used the smaller can of 6.

Then for the chocolate. I just happened to have in my possession Scharffen Berger’s 62% semi-sweet baking chocolate.
Once whittled into smaller chunks, this made for the perfect filling in my croissants.

Just roll them out and space them on your baking sheet, fill with about a tablespoon of chocolate pieces, and trail a little “dust” down the tip, and roll. When finished, roll it down onto the point so it doesn’t fall apart when it bakes.

Bake per the package directions (10-12 minutes), until lightly golden. After a minute or two of cooling, you can enjoy a warm and gooey treat that doesn’t take all day.

As many of you know, I don’t really measure anything. I think measuring sucks. It’s why I tend to avoid baking. Ratios are the most important thing, so I do try to be mindful of how much-to-how much I’m actually putting in. All measurements are really guesswork on my part.

Putting pepperoni on top of lasagna is not a stroke of genius I can claim as my own. I actually saw Guy Fieri do that on his show, Guy’s Big Bite. However, the rest of it was something I threw together. Enjoy!

To make this you’ll need
2 lbs ricotta cheese
About 1- 1 & 1/2 cup chopped, drained spinach (look through it for tough stems before using)
8-12 oz shredded mozzarella cheese (Kraft has a kind out now that incorporates a bit of Philly cream cheese. It’s super creamy and delicious)
1/4 lb thinly sliced sandwich pepperoni (the BIG pepperoni)
1 sleeve Jimmy Dean’s sage sausage (I know it may sound weird, but it’s perfect for this. And this is seriously the best all-purpose sausage I’ve seen out there. Of course, you could use Italian instead.)
1 lb lasagna noodles (I don’t use no-bake for this)
3-5 cups quality spaghetti sauce (homemade or good jar brand like Classico)
Garlic powder, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, oregano/Italian seasoning.
Wooden Spoon.
Wide bowl.
10-12″ frying pan.
1 Tbsp. Olive oil.
9x 13 baking dish.

To begin with, start a big pot (I use my largest, maybe 6-8 quart) of water for boiling. Add a good bit of salt (not too much). Set to high and cover. It’ll save time, but it will still take a while to come to a boil.

In a wide bowl, mix the ricotta cheese with about 2-4 ounces of the mozzarella. I like to do this because it gives the ricotta filling a stringy, cheesy texture which my husband likes. It’s kind of “something extra.” Add in the spinach, crumbling it into smaller clumps. Stir to make sure it’s well-incorporated. Add garlic powder, salt, pepper, cayenne, and oregano to taste (and I do mean taste…it’s one of my favorite parts of making lasagna!). Set aside.

In a wide (10-12″) pan, heat olive oil on medium-high heat. Add sage sausage (whole sleeve for the whole lasagna pan, or half for just half the pan. I usually do just half because I don’t like meat in my lasagna. My half is veggie.) With a wooden spoon or very stiff spatula, break up the sausage as much as possible during cooking, making the crumbles small so it doesn’t dominate your lasagna layers. Season as you like with garlic, oregano, cayenne, etc. I usually don’t use salt. When sausage is lightly browned and no longer pink, remove from heat and set aside (I just put the pan on a trivet and let it cool. There usually isn’t a lot of fat from this sausage, which is why I add olive oil. It won’t be swimming in grease.)

When water has come to a boil, add lasagna noodles, one at a time, inserting them on a clockwise rotation (12 o’clock, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.) to minimize sticking. Cook according to “al dente” package directions (you want it firm—otherwise it will be soggy after oven cooking), stirring VERY gently to insure proper flow and separation. When done, remove from heat and pour off majority of water. Fill pot back up with cold water. Pour off again. Repeat until noodles are cool enough to handle, and remaining water is minimal. I don’t like to use a colander here, as it can damage pasta.

You can transfer pasta from pot to an impeccably clean tea/dish towel to lay flat and dry. Just pat with towel to remove excess water.

This is when I like to preheat my oven to 400 degrees. If you have a convection oven, I’d recommend 375.

In a 9×12 baking dish, add about a cup of sauce to coat the bottom (this prevents tragic noodle stickage.) Add a layer of (patted dry) pasta, overlapping them slightly.
Cover with some of ricotta mixture. Add desired amount of sausage (approx 1/3 – 1/4 of pan). Add approx. 1/2 cup of sauce over pan (not too much or it will be runny. Think “dry.”).

Continue layering, up to 4 layers. Cover remaining layer with pasta, sauce, and remaining mozzarella cheese.

The final step is to layer pepperoni on top of lasagna.

Bake for approx. 35-40 minutes at 400. But if you have a convection oven, start lower and keep an eye on it (pepperoni cooks and curls quickly in convection ovens. Ask me how I know?)