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Dishin’ Up Love Recipe Contest Winner!

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OK, OK, OK. I know it’s WAYYYYY past Valentine’s Day. And I am weeks overdue in posting our winner of the recipe contest. Several freak illnesses, a few major storms that knocked out utilities, and one Valentine’s Day later, we have a winner!

Valentine's Day Meal

The "Wooing Meal"

There was a husband who loves cheese. There was a dorm room kitchen experience that ended in a proposal, there was a strawberry pizza. Again, you guys never cease to amaze me with your stories and your culinary talent. The winner was chosen for several reasons. I love the idea of the “wooing meal.” I think all us Gal’s have one or two of those up our sleeve. I get all warm and fuzzy thinking of new love. And, it’s hysterical that this recipe came off a bottle of Amaretto. I have a funny picture in my head of a bunch of marketing executives in 1978, sitting around a conference table trying to come up with recipes they can use to sell more Amaretto. (Of course! Amaretto Chicken! It’ll sell CASES!) So, Karen Christiansen, you won our hearts with your “wooing meal.”

This is a recipe I got from the tag hanging from a bottle of Amaretto di Saranno over 30 years ago.   I was in college at the time and it is one of the first meals I made for my boyfriend, who is now my husband.  He still calls it the “wooing meal”.  Every time I make it I think back to those days when our love was new.

Chicken Amaretto | Serves 4
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Curry powder, to taste
Garlic powder, to taste
Flour, for dredging
1/4 cup butter
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup Amaretto liquor
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tbsp. cornstarch

Directions

  1. Cut chicken breasts into 1-inch slices. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, curry powder and garlic powder. Dredge in flour.
  2. Saute in melted butter until brown on all sides. Add mushrooms, Amaretto and lemon juice. Simmer 5 minutes.
  3. Mix chicken broth with cornstarch. Pour over chicken.
  4. Simmer until sauce thickens. Serve over patty shells or cooked white rice.

Note: If you’re cutting down on fat, you can make this using just 2 tbsp. of butter and it’s almost just as good.

It was so hard to choose a favorite (oh my job is so hard!), so I wanted to share with you one more recipe that made it to the top of the list. It was submitted by Kimberly Woods, and we LOVE it!

This is one of my favorite recipes to make for romantic sleepovers.  It is also perfect for a Mother’s Day breakfast in bed.  Children enjoy the strawberries and love when a cookie cutter is used to make the french toast into a fun shape (heart, star, etc).

Strawberry Stuffed French Toast
¾ cup milk
5 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp cinnamon
1 tbs sugar
8 slices French bread, 1 ½ – 2 inches thick
10 ounces brie cheese, sliced
3 ¼ cups strawberries, sliced
¼ cup butter
powdered sugar
maple syrup

Directions

  1. In large bowl, beat together milk, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, and sugar.
  2. Cut slices of bread horizontally to form a pocket.
  3. Set aside 1 cup of sliced strawberries for garnish. Place remaining strawberry slices and brie in bread pockets.
  4. Dip bread slices in egg mixture, coating them completely. Place bread slices on a plate, cover and chill for 20 minutes in the refrigerator.
  5. In large frying pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add bread slices, cooking on each side about 2 minutes or until golden and cheese starts to melt.
  6. Remove from pan, dust with powdered sugar and garnish with strawberries. Serve immediately with maple syrup.

Either of these recipes is a great excuse to dish up some love in your kitchen!
~ Gal Foodie

Do you know The Muffin, Man?

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Perfect Muffin,
I’ve been hunting for you. I’ve been dropping serious dime in cafés everywhere to find out where you are. What makes you so dangerously irresistible? I’ve been asking around, and I’ve been tipped off by professionals in your kind of business.  I’m on to you, Muffin. I’m on to you. I finally know what makes you tick. And I’m about to expose you for the greater good of all muffin lovers everywhere. Consider yourself found.
~ Gal Foodie

For years, the perfect muffin has eluded me. I don’t consider myself a prolific baker. I tend to shoot from the hip when I’m in the kitchen, and baking is so, well, safe. But to be able to wake the house up on Sunday morning with the smell of perfectly moist, fresh baked muffins? I’ll risk playing it safe. Sort of.

I have used mixes. I have used recipes from Joy of Cooking, Fannie Farmer, Stonewall Kitchen, the Internet… the list goes on. I had yet to make a muffin that wasn’t flat on top, with the consistency and taste of dry cardboard. And then my friend Jean Kerr gave me a copy of her cookbook Windjammer Cooking: Great Recipes from Maine’s Windjammer Fleet, and after I was done deftly identifying all the schooners I had sailed or worked on in my “former life,” I discovered the recipe on page 82 for Orange-Chocolate Muffins.

I didn’t make them.
But the recipe intrigued me because unlike other recipes, it required very little butter, the liquid was orange juice, not milk, and it had very few other ingredients. It also didn’t have “penalty of death” warnings of over-mixing, although I will tell you that through trial and error, over-mixing muffin batter usually does result in lead-like muffins that are better suited for Tom Brady-style practice throws off my deck.

I decided to use this muffin recipe as my baseline, and  started switching things up, experimenting with different liquids and measures and ingredients. I shared an almost perfect batch of the modified muffin with Jean and the cookbook’s co-author, Spencer Smith, and both gave it a resounding  “Delicious!” But I wasn’t done. It still wasn’t right.

Batches later… Victory was mine. I captured the Perfect Muffin.

Strawberry Banana Peach Muffins

Strawberry Banana Peach Muffins
Makes 5-6 Jumbo Muffins

2 cups Flour
1/2 cup Sugar
1 tbsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
2 Eggs, beaten
1/2 – 3/4 cups Peach Juice
3 tbsp Melted Butter
1 tsp Vanilla
1 Very Ripe Banana, mashed
2 cups Sliced Fresh Strawberries
Sugar In The Raw for sprinkled topping

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400. Lightly grease a jumbo muffin tin – I use jumbo muffin cup liners to make it easier to clean.

2. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl, making sure to mix well.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together all wet ingredients, including the banana.

4. Combine all ingredients in the large bowl, add strawberries, and hand mix until just combined. The batter should be wet but not runny. If it seems too dry, add touches of juice until it is mixable. Do not over mix unless you want to practice your football passes later.

5. Fill muffin cups completely to the top. This will result in a nice round top. Sprinkle with raw sugar.

6. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until centers are firm to the touch, and tops are just beginning to brown. I have found that this particular recipe yields about 5 jumbo muffins. Smaller muffin cups can be used, just reduce the cooking time, but still fill cups to the top edge for a full muffin experience.

Variations on a Theme:
I have used 1 cup of fresh chopped cranberries with orange juice – just add a little extra juice to accommodate for the missing moisture the banana would provide – or add a banana! I have also used 2 cups of Maine blueberries. I added them frozen right to the batter. I used milk but preferred using orange juice. Banana nut? Carrot raisin? What’s your poison? The key is making sure the batter has enough liquid, but isn’t runny.

Light, moist, sweet deliciousness is all mine.
Now that the hunt is over, I plan to sleep in next weekend.
~ Gal Foodie

P.S.  There’s still time to enter the Dishin’ Up Love Recipe Contest!

P.S.S – Still need a sweet treat for Valentine’s Day? Check out last year’s blog post For the Love of Cheesecake.