Luci's Tasty Adventures

I have to admit that I am not much of a cake girl, but knowing that I would be baking in my mothers fancy convection oven sealed the deal.  Cake was for desert.  The next step was what kind of cake should I make.  I was thinking chocolate and then carrot, and in the end I wanted something that would go well with cream cheese frosting.  I borrowed the cake recipe from Martha Stewart, and added a little less coco powder than she did.  I wanted this cake to scream red, and it did.  Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the cake and its sinfully good frosting.

Method:

• Unsalted butter, for cake pans
• 2 1/2 cups cake flour, not self-rising
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/8-1/4 cup cocoa powder- add 1/8 for a brighter red cake, ¼ for a deeper red cake.
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups canola oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup red food coloring
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease cake pans with unsalted butter and dust with flour.  Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl; cake flour, salt coco powder; set aside.
Fit your electric mixer with the paddle attachment and combine the eggs and sugar, beat for a few minutes; add eggs one at a time.  Add food coloring and vanilla; please not that red food color can stain your kitchen, so be careful!

Add flour and buttermilk to mixture; alternating and scraping down sides as you go.  In a small bowl mix baking soda and vinegar; add to batter.  Beat for 10 seconds and then divide evenly into cake pans.
Bake for 30-35 minutes till toothpick comes out clean.  Cool cakes on racks before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

I used this cream cheese frosting recipe on my red velvet cake.  You can add fresh orange, lemon, or lime zest to this recipe to change it up.   

Method:

• 16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 16 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups of confectioner's sugar, sifted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice

Place cream cheese and butter in mixer fitted with the wire whip attachment; whip on medium speed till combined and smooth.  Gradually add sugar; beat till smooth.  Add vanilla and lemon juice and blend.

This was my first prime rib, and I have to say it came out pretty good.  When I got the prime rib home from the store I realized how big it was, and I got a little scared.  Worried that I would over cook it, under cook it.  In the end I put my faith into my probe thermometer, and like always it delivered.  The flavor of the meat with horseradish was just mouth watering.  It was a special treat to prepare this fine piece of meat for my family.

• 10-12 lb prime rib bone attached roast
• olive oil
• kosher salt
• freshly grated black pepper
• granulated garlic
• 4 cloves of garlic, slivered
• 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary

Method:

Ask your butcher to cut bones away from roast and to tie them back onto the roast with butchers twine.  Remove your roast from refrigerator 2 hours before cooking, it must come to room temperature before you place it in the oven. 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Place prime rib in a roasting pan with 3 inch high sides.  The roast should be placed bone side down.  Pat the roast dry and liberally coat the roast with salt, pepper, and granulated garlic.  Rub olive oil the the two sides of exposed meat, not on the fat portion on the top of roast.  Cut small holes all over the top of the roast with a paring knife; insert pieces of the slivered garlic and rosemary.












Insert probe thermometer.  Seer prime rib for 15 minutes at 450 degrees; then turn oven down to 350 degrees.

Your prime rib will be done when your meat thermometer tells you, it takes about 20 minutes per pound.  125-130 degrees for a medium rare roast.  Once your roast reaches 125 pull it out of the oven and cover it with foil.  Let it sit for a good 30 minutes before carving.

This soup is just delicious, I made it as the starter to my fabulous Christmas dinner feast.  You could easily freeze left overs of this soup for easy lunches.

Ingredients

• 4 Tbsp olive oil
• 4 leeks, white part only, washed well and chopped
• 2 clove garlic, minced
• 2 small potato, peeled and cubed
• 2 (8-ounce) package frozen artichoke hearts, thawed and chopped
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp chopped chives, for garnish

Heat oil over medium heat in a large stock pot.  Add Leeks, garlic saute for two minutes.  Add the potatoes and saute for 7 minutes.   Add the artichokes, chicken stock, cream cheese, salt, and pepper; cook over medium low heat for about 40 minutes till every thing is nice and tender. 

Blend soup using a hand held immersion blender, or work in small batches in a blender.  Taste and season soup and add salt and pepper to taste.  Add lemon juice to the soup right before server, garnish bowls of soup with freshly chopped chives.  Enjoy
Serves 8

This dish is always a hit.  I made it for both Christmas Eve (double batch), and Christmas Day (single batch).  This goes well with Ham, Beef, and Turkey.  Enjoy. 

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
• 5 large Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/16 inch think slices
• 1 sweet white onion, cut in half and sliced into 1/16 inch think slices
• 5 oz. Gruyere cheese, shredded
• 1 Tbs. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley 

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine eggs, cream, salt, pepper, nutmeg in a large bowl.  Toss in sliced potatoes together using your hands.  Arrange onion slices at the bottom of a 3 quart baking dish; add potato mixture on top, make sure you distribute the potatoes and cream mixture evenly over the onions.  Cover with Gruyere cheese and parsley.  Cover backing dish with foil and bake for about an hour till tender, remove foil and bake for 15 more minutes to brown cheese.

These cookies are a favorite with my family at the holidays.  The first time I had them was on a trip to Chicago.  I remember how flaky they were and how I so wanted to master making them.  They are a little labor intensive but very worth it, trust me.  Enjoy!

• 1 lb Butter, softened
• 8 oz Cream cheese, softened
• 3 c Flour
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla
• 1 Egg, beaten

Filling:

• 2 can Solo raspberry, apricot or poppy-seed

Cream Cheese Filling:

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• ½ tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix together and set aside.

Egg Wash:

• 1 egg yolk
• 1 Tbsp water
• Beat together and set aside.

Method for pastry:
Cream the butter and cream cheese together; once blended add egg and vanilla.  Mix in flour and chill in the refrigerator over night.

The trick to this dough is to work in small batches and always keep the dough you are not using refrigerated.  I work with about ½ cup of dough at a time.  Roll dough out to about 1/8 in on a heavily floured surface. 
Cut dough into 2 by 2 in squares. Place a row of your favorite filling, about 1 teaspoon.












Fold on edge of dough over the filling, dot with egg wash.  The egg wash is used as a glue, try not to get it on the outer portion of the pastry.















Seal pastry and place on a parchment lined backing sheet.










Back in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes.  Let cool and dust them when powder sugar before serving.

Yields 80

The past few days have been so cold in the Bay Area.  Time for some more soup!  This recipe is pretty simple, and you can you chicken legs or thighs if you prefer them over breasts.  I used breasts cause they are a staple item in my freezer.  Enjoy!

• 
  
• 3 boneless skinless cooked chicken breast, cubed
• 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 4 celery stalks, finely chopped
• 3 carrots, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 oz egg noodles
• 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• salt and fresh grated pepper to taste
• 2 Tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

Method

Heat olive oil in a stock pot over medium heat, add onion, celery, carrots, and garlic.  Saute till tender about 7 minutes. 

Add stock and bay leaf to pot and bring to a small boil.  Add egg noodles and cook for about 8 minutes.  Fold in chicken, remove bay leaf, add lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.  Serve each bowl with fresh chopped parsley.

Serves 5