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The UnKitchen Diva and Garlic Herb Butter Hamburgers

Jennie — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 22:03:57 +0000

The UnKitchen Diva finally got around to rolling up her sleeves and moving forward with her quest for the perfect burger. When this woman gets an idea in her head you best watch out! She did not care that it was March, that she knows nothing about grilling or that the winds were gusting up to 30 miles/hr. She’s seen numerous Facebook posts of men bragging about how they grilled in the middle of blizzards this winter. The UnKitchen Diva would not be bested – she had a mission!!

Well as all missions go, you tend to learn a thing or two. The UnKitchen Diva actually had one mind blowing revelation. Mind Blowing, I tell you! Hold on… wait for it…. When you cut a 1lb of ground beef into quarters you get 1/4 pounders!!! So simple and yet so deceptive. Who knew?? Certainly not The UnKitchen Diva. Her world is now changed FOR.EVER!!

As for the other two lessons 1) It would be best to check the propane tank before you light it. This way when you run out of gas 5 minutes in (and it takes you another 5 to notice it) you won’t have to make a best judgement call as to when the burgers maybe, possibly, are done…. 2) One persons idea of buttering a bun is another persons slathering. Slathered buns do not toast well! In fact, they get kinda mushy.

Over all this burger is not bad. Not bad at all. The UnKitchen Diva went with potato rolls on the recommendation of two friends and was pleasantly surprised. She does NOT like a bun that is to bready – it’s all about the burger baby! The burger definitely was juicy thanks to the fattier ground beef and butter. She loved the Boars Head Lacey Swiss as the cheese of choice and will definitely be using that again. The UnKitchen Diva only wishes that the herbs were more spread throughout the entire burger instead of the 2-3 bites in the center.

Garlic Herb Butter Hamburgers

Hamburgers

1 1/2 lbs ground beef (85% lean) salt

4 tbs garlic herb butter pepper

swiss cheese potato rolls

1. Light the grill and preheat to high. However before you even do that The UnKitchen Diva would suggest that you check the propane levels in the tank…

2. Take a huge honking knife and cut the ground beef into quarters – quarter pounders!!

3. Take a quarter form into round patty and make a divot in the center.

4. Mush in a slice of the herb butter into the center divot. Then fold the ground beef around it so that the herb butter is inside the center of the beef patty.

5. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss a little over your shoulder because, hey, why not.

6. Place burgers on hot grate and cook 5-7 minutes per side for medium. (The UnKitchen Diva is not oppose to her burgers mooing so her timing is a tad bit different.)

7. After flipping the burger, place a slice of swiss cheese on top.

8. Butter the buns and lightly toast on grill – 30 seconds to 1 min.

Viola – Garlic Herb Butter Hamburgers!

Garlic Herb Butter

3 tbs of finely chopped fresh herbs (The UnKitchen Diva used oregano and parsley)

1 clove garlic 1/2 tsp black pepper

1 stick salted butter plastic wrap

1. Take the butter out of the fridge and place it on the counter sitting in the sun. I don’t care how powerful your mixer is this stuff won’t cream unless it’s a little soft. Not that The UnKitchen Diva would know of course….

2. Wash and chop the herbs (and really who are we kidding it’s more like shredding than chopping!) Then mince the garlic.

3. Throw the butter, herbs, garlic and pepper into a mixing bowl and let that sucker run!

4. Rip off a piece of plastic wrap, get all crumbled up and wrapped around itself – toss and start again…

5. Plop the butter mixture onto plastic wrap and fold wrap over butter. Start rolling into a log shape – this is where your hours of playdoh play come in handy – see Kindergarten really did prepare us for everything!!

6. Twist the ends of the plastic wrap to make on giant herb butter like candy.

7. Put into fridge to firm the butter back up

The herb butter will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days or 3 months in the freezer.

On A Quest for THE Perfect Burger – 2011 with The UnKitchen Diva

Jennie — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 14:14:58 +0000

Juicy, thick, medium rare with cheese dripping down the side… hmmmmm. The UnKitchen Diva loves burgers. No I mean, LOVES burgers! She has been on a quest to find the perfect burger for years; only to be disappointed more times than she cares to remember. Out of the huge number of burgers she ate in 2010, she fondly remembers two. The first was in Mercersburg, PA in a local pub/bar – Flannery’s Tavern on the Square.

The UnKitchen Diva was working in Mercersburg last spring when she stumbled upon this burger. It was huge, juicy and the bun wasn’t to bready – everything she dreams a burger should be. In fact, she’s been known to ponder the idea of making a trip to Mercersburg just so she can relive this burger experience. More than one person has heard her say “I’ve been craving a good burger. Mercersburg is only about 2 hours away. Maybe I’ll go this weekend…” The UnKitchen Diva has not given in to the calling yet but she knows before 2011 is out she will.

The other memorable burger was in Westbrook, CT at the Cafe Routier. The UnKitchen Diva was introduced this burger by a close friend and fellow burger LOVER. Knowing her friend’s love of burgers rivals her own she had no doubt that she was in for a good burger but she had no idea the depth of it’s goodness. A complete week after The UnKitchen Diva ate this burger she was still craving a second helping. Westbrook is only two towns away from where The UnKitchen Diva’s parents live so a repeat trip to Cafe Routier is definitely in her future for 2011!

This brings us to the 2011 Quest for THE Perfect Burger. For all the LOVE that The UnKitchen Diva has for the burger, she has no idea how to reach burger perfection in her own kitchen. Right now, the burger staple in her kitchen is Original Bubba Burger. Of all the frozen, pre-made burgers she has tried over the years the Bubba Burger is the best by far. In fact that is a Bubba Burger in the image above but she is still left craving the hand formed, rounded, thick juicy burger…

In her never ending quest, The UnKitchen Diva has put her foot down and demanded this will be the year of THE Perfect Burger. She will sacrifice her arteries, learn how to use her grill and WILL achieve Burger Perfection in her own kitchen this year!

The Great Cookie Caper! – Part II

Jennie — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 12:12:33 +0000

Whew! Did you take a deep breath? Are you ready to move on?? In case you missed it, and I don’t know how you could have, here is a refresher of where we’ve been - The Great Cookie Caper! – Part I! In Part I we we discussed and went over the finer points of Krumkake, Spritz, Ethel’s Sugar Cookies and Snickerdoodles. It’s time now to delve into the final four:

5) Kringla – Another traditional Norwegian cookie that found The UnKitchen Diva reliving her play dough rolling days…

6) Berlinerkranzer – Why stick to one Norwegian and play dough rolling type of cookie when you can have two?!? This is also when The UnKitchen Diva realized that most of the traditional cookies are colorless and the tray of cookies may be a little less than festive looking….

7) Lemon Whippersnaps – A favorite, favorite, favorite of The UnKitchen Diva and the cookie that started the whole ‘thing’ off!

8) Spice Cookies – German spice cookies. The UnKitchen Diva has always loved the smell of spice cookies but strangely enough not so much how they actually taste. These cookies remind her of a spice cookie that her father loves but also for the life of her she can’t remember the name of them…

Kringla

The UnKitchen Diva is stepping up and letting you all know, this was probably the most unsuccessful of all the cookies. Really who knew that rolling dough into 7-8″ pencil like strips would be so challenging. Wasn’t this a skill she perfected in kindergarten with Playdough?? Apparently rolling pencil like strips is not like riding a bicycle….

1½ cups sugar 4 cups flour

1 egg, beaten 2 tsp baking soda

2 ½ cups sour cream ¼ tsp salt

1. Heat oven to 350˚

2. Mix sugar, egg and sour cream together.

Mix flour, baking soda and salt; blend thoroughly into sour cream mixture.
Divide dough in half; form each ½ into a long roll.
If kitchen is warm (what kitchen isn’t??), refrigerate one roll until ready to use.
Cut off a narrow slice of dough.
Lightly roll dough with hands on lightly floured board until slices are in 7-8” long pencil strips. (It took The UnKitchen Diva forever to figure out what size “narrow slice” of dough would roll out to 7-8”. She thinks she only figured it out on the last 5 cookies….)
Form a modified figure 8 by pinching end together tightly; bring pinched ends to center of the ring; tuck under, fastening securely.
Place on lightly greased (that’s a new one – all the others have been ungreased!) baking sheet.
Bake 12 – 15 minutes or until lightly golden.

Makes 6-7 dozen – there are a lot of these – gave The UnKitchen Diva plenty of dough rolling practice for the next cookie!

Berlinerkranzer

The UnKitchen Diva is unsure how she feels about these cookies. She thought the wreath like shape with the added candy fruit would be cute – the finished product didn’t exactly look like what she had in mind. Taste wise they are very similar to the Spritz.

1½ cups shortening 4 cups flour

1 cup sugar 1 egg white

2 tsp grated orange rind 2 tsp sugar

2 eggs red candied cherries

green citron

Heat oven to 400˚
Mix shortening, sugar, rind and eggs thoroughly.
Stir in flour.
Chill dough.
Break off small pieces of dough and roll about 6” long and ¼” thick. (Seriously The UnKitchen Diva had no idea she need a ruler to bake!) If dough splits apart or seems crumbly, let it warm or work in a few drops of liquid until the dough sticks together.
Form each piece into a circle, bring one end over and through in a single knot. The cookie should look like a wreath with a knot on top. Leave ½” end on each side of knot.
Place cookies on ungreased baking sheet.
Beat egg white until frothy. Gradually beat in 2 tbsp sugar.
Brush tops of cookies with the meringue mixture.
Press bits of red candied cherries into center of knot for holly berries and add little bits of green citron for leaves. (The UnKitchen Diva thought this would be the fun part but no not really. One – she had to look all over for citron only to find the very last one at Wegman’s. Was highly disappointed to find most of the citron was more golden than green. In all this step was just, well… sticky!!)
Bake 10 – 12 minutes or until set but not brown.

Make about 6 doz 2” cookies – Yummy if not so pretty!

Lemon Whippersnaps

This is a favorite with The UnKitchen Diva. Not only are they yummy but ohh so easy to make! An added bonus – she covered them last year around this time. Instead of rehashing it all you can go over and check out the recipe – here.

Each Christmas The UnKitchen Diva’s family makes them in both lemon and chocolate flavors. She’s sure they can be made into many different flavors and would love to know how your flavor experiments turn out. She has one friend who is contemplating them in Red Velvet!

Spice Cookies

This is a cookie that The UnKitchen Diva traditionally can take or leave but somehow this winter they’re growing on her. Mostly, they reminder her of her childhood and going to a bakery in Colchester, CT to get a certain type of Spice Cookie for her Dad. This exact recipe came from The UnKitchen Diva’s Grandma Grace’s friend, E.D Keller.

¼ lb butter (1 stick) 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

3 cups sifted flour 2 eggs, slightly beaten

4 squares chocolate, grated (1/4 lb)

1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp cloves

½ tsp grated nutmeg 1 tsp baking powder

Heat oven to 350˚
Cream butter and sugar together.
Add eggs to mixture, mixing thoroughly.
Mix flour, chocolate, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and baking powder together.
Gradually add flour mixture to sugar mixture.
Roll dough out to about ¼” thickness.
Cut out cookies with cookie cutters and place on ungreased baking sheet.
Bake 8 – 12 min

Makes a whole lot!

How, you may ask, did The UnKitchen Diva store all these cookies?? She had a plan. The UnKitchen Diva cleaned out the bottom two shelves of her freezer, double bagged all the cookies and froze them as soon as they cooled. It was the only way she could keep them all fresh. Plus, it helped her loose 4 lbs during this cooking extravaganza! Can’t snack on the goodies if they’re frozen!! As you can see here, her freezer is chocker block full of cookies!

And that, my friends, is the end of The Great Cookie Caper! The UnKitchen Diva’s kitchen is officially closed until after the New Year. Happy Holidays and Enjoy!!

The Great Cookie Caper! – Part I

Jennie — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 22:37:39 +0000

Where to start? Where to start? Do we begin with the fact that it’s a Norwegian holiday tradition to serve 7 different types of cookies? Why 7? No one seems to be able to recall.

Or do we go down the road of how The UnKitchen Diva has some how started a new tradition of baking cookies for her friend Mary’s Dad? What started as a joke has now turned into a ‘thing’. A ‘thing’ of such epic proportions that the man is now receiving his own humongous tray of 8 (an extra type thrown in for the heck of it) types of cookies for Christmas. (No need to worry that The UnKitchen Diva has let the cat out of the bag – he believes that the internet is the death of all society and won’t be reading this at any point and time.)

Perhaps it’s really just the story of a woman who won’t be able to make it home for the holidays and wants to have a small sense this year of home and holidays past. Whatever the true reason it now finds us here – so let’s get down to it!

The Cookies in order:

1) Krumkake – A traditional Norwegian cookie that is all sugar, cream and buttery goodness!

2) Spritz – another buttery goodness with vanilla flavoring.

3) Ethel’s Sugar Cookies – Who is Ethel? The UnKitchen Diva has no idea! She does however have a fondness for these sugar cookies.

4) Snickerdoodles – The UnKitchen Diva doesn’t recall these being part of the traditional mix but her sister mentioned them around Thanksgiving and the idea was planted in her head that they must be made!

5) Kringla – Another traditional Norwegian cookie that found The UnKitchen Diva reliving her play dough rolling days…

7) Lemon Whippersnaps – A favorite, favorite, favorite of The UnKitchen Diva and the cookie that started the whole ‘thing’ off!

So there you have it – the line up. In part I The UnKitchen Diva will share the first four recipes. Part II will cover the second four. This is going to be EPIC!! Wish us luck!!

Krumkake

Ok, The UnKitchen Diva starts here, with full knowledge that this cookie will be made by slim to none. The reason being, it takes a special cookie iron (much like a pizzelle) to make. The UnKitchen Diva inherited her grandmother’s. She loves the connection back to family and tradition when she makes these cookies!

These cookies are included because they are priceless!! You hoard them, hide them and eat them by the fistfuls. This is the first cookie we run out of – usually before the end of the 25^th! Without further ado – Krumkake:

3 eggs, well beaten 1 cup sugar

½ cup melted butter ½ cup heavy cream, whipped

½ tsp vanilla 1 ¾ cups flour

¼ tsp salt

1. Beat the eggs with the sugar until very light and fluffy.

2. Fold in the cream, butter and vanilla.

3. Mix well – do a small taste test. (quality assurance of course!)

4. Mix flour and salt; fold into egg mixture – another taste test here wouldn’t be out of order…

Heat the Krumkake iron over the burner slowly. Brush lightly with oil. Ok here’s where it gets interesting. Put a rounded spoonful of the batter in the center of the iron. Close the iron and cook about 45 seconds then turn the iron over and cook for another 30 seconds or so.

Why is this interesting you ask? Because it can take several ‘cookings’ to get the iron heat/oil ratio right. This year it had The UnKitchen Diva cursing and muttering – wondering why the heck she had decided to make these as she already had the traditional 7 made… Finally success!!

Immediately take the cookie off the iron and roll them into a tube shape – think cannoli. They will be very hot when you do this! As Gram use to say “You need asbestos fingers, asbestos fingers…”

Makes about 3 doz – Let cool and enjoy the yumminess!!

Spritz

This cookie is small and unassuming but what The UnKitchen Diva loves about them is the buttery wallop of goodness they deliver. It wouldn’t be Christmas without them. She quickly found herself standing in line at Crate and Barrel buying a cookie press so she could deliver!

1 cup butter ½ cup sugar

1 egg ½ tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla or almond 2 ½ cups flour

Heat oven to 400˚
Mix butter, sugar, egg, salt and flavoring thoroughly.
Measure flour by dipping method – work in flour. (Here is where The UnKitchen Diva had issues – the dough was sticky sticky – not of a consistency to put in a cookie press. Her remedy – keep adding flour til it got there…)
Using ¼ of the dough at a time, force dough through cookie press onto an ungreased baking sheet in desired shapes. (The UnKitchen Diva loved playing with all the different shapes! She didn’t even get to use them all. Now she’s in search of another cookie dough she can put through the press!)
Bake 6-9 minutes or until set but not brown.

Makes about 5 doz – Viola buttery goodness plus!!

Ethel’s Sugar Cookies

The UnKitchen Diva has no idea who Ethel is but is very thankful for her sugar cookie recipe! While she was on the trip to Crate and Barrel for the cookie press she remembered to pick up some cookie cutters too! Now if only she had remembered the rolling pin on that trip….

¾ cup shortening 1 cup sugar

2 eggs ½ tsp lemon or 1 tsp vanilla flavoring

2 ½ cups flour 1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Mix shortening, sugar, eggs and flavoring thoroughly.
Measure flour by dipping method. Stir flour, baking powder and salt together.
Blend two mixes together.
Chill for at least 1 hour.
Heat oven to 400˚.
Roll dough 1/8” thick on a lightly floured board. (The UnKitchen Diva has learned what one considers lightly floured doesn’t necessarily mean the board will consider itself floured at all…)
Cut with cookie cutters and place on ungreased baking sheet.
Sprinkle with jimmies and colored sugars.
Bake 6-8 minutes or until cookies are a delicate golden color.

Makes about 4 doz and gets flour, jimmies and colored sugars everywhere but worth it in the end!!

Sinckerdoodles

Now really, if The UnKitchen Diva’s sister hadn’t mentioned these cookies over Thanksgiving, they never would have been made. But the seed was planted and wouldn’t be put aside until they were made. In fact, they were the first cookies made this year!

1 cup shortening 1 ½ cups sugar

2 eggs 2 ¾ cups flour

2 tsp cream of tarter 1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt 2 tbsp sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

Heat oven to 400˚
Mix shortening, 1 ½ cups sugar and eggs thoroughly.
Measure flouring by dipping method.
Blend flour, cream of tarter, baking soda and salt.
Stir into the sugar mix.
Shape dough into 1” balls.
Rolls in mixture of 2 tbsp sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon.
Place 2” apart on an ungreased baking sheet.
Bake 8-10 minutes. Cookies puff up first then flatten out.

Makes about 6 doz – yum, yum yum!!

So there we have it – Part I of the Great Cookie Caper!!

So Stinkin’ Addictive – Pumpkin Bread with The UnKitchen Diva

Jennie — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 14:50:03 +0000

Three UnKitchen Diva posts in a row! I know, you ask yourself how can this even be possible, an UnKitchen Diva trifecta!! She blames the Slow Roasted Tomatoes. You see, the tomatoes lead to the Mexican Black Bean Chili, which lead to the perfect side accompaniment - Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread!

This bread is like crack! Both times the UnKitchen Diva made this recipe, she ate one whole loaf in two days, all by HERSELF!! She doesn’t even like pumpkin. Pumpkin pies, lattes, muffins… you can have them. She won’t even go near them. This, this bread is like frozen Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies – one can never have enough. Add to the fact that she got to use her KitchenAid Mixer (the one that she lusted over for years, for no apparent reason and her mother floored her and gave it to her as a Christmas present one year!) and really has no idea how to use, just made her day!!

Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree 4 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil 2/3 cup water

3 cups white sugar 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground cloves 1 teaspoon ground ginger

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚ and grease two standard size bread pans. Cough like crazy because you used pam baking spray and got the back spray straight in the face.

2. Pull out the KitchenAid Mixer and get tingles up your spine. Your using it, your actually using it! Now, what are all these attachment paddle mix thingies…

3. Put in the beautiful stainless steel mixing bowl – the one once you touch you will never get your fingerprints off again – pumpkin puree, eggs, water, sugar and oil. Realize as you’re measuring the oil you are 1/8 (1/8!!) short and make a made dash to the nearest local and open food store…

4. Return home with not only more oil but plastic silverware as well??!!?

5. Mix together until all blended.

6. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Take a deep breath and think mmmmm this reminds me of Grandma’s, mmmmm.

7. Pour the dry ingredients into the mixer on LOW speed. Unless of course you feel your ceiling needs a good cleaning and that’s EXACTLY what you where planning on doing next in your day….

8. Pour the batter into the patiently waiting bread pans.

9. Stick in the oven, turn the oven light on so you can come back several times because your sure no way is this going to work and bake for about 1 hour 20 minutes or until a toothpick poked in the center of the bread comes out clean.

Viola! Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread

Don’t hate The UnKitchen Diva if you just can’t stop eating this bread. She did warn you!

The UnKitchen Diva Stirs Up a Pot of Mexican Black Bean Chili

Jennie — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 12:57:50 +0000

The UnKitchen Diva went on a dinner date the other night – she does occasionally get out! Within the first few minutes, her date commented, “You’re particular about your food, aren’t you?” Now it wasn’t a full on When Harry Met Sally moment where it took 10 minutes get the full order in and everything had to be on the side, but the thing is, he was right. The UnKitchen Diva IS particular about her food! How, you ask, does this tie in with chili??? It’s like this. The UnKitchen Diva has very strong opinions on what make a good chili. The chili should be meaty and thick with lots of flavor, melty cheese and sour cream. She does NOT like her chili hot but she does like it to have kick, a bit of a bite, if you will.

It’s been years and years since she last tried her hand at chili and she decided to give it another go. Back when this started she also promised to share her failures as well as her successes. Now this chili wasn’t a complete failure but it’s missing that necessary kick/bite. The UnKitchen Diva has made it twice now with some small adjustments and still can’t seem to get it right. She’s definitely asking for your help and suggestions here. So here is what she’s tried so far:

Mexican Black Bean Chili

1 cup diced onion 1 cup diced green bell pepper

1 lb ground beef 1 tbs chili powder (2nd time around added 1/2 tb of hot mexican-style chili powder)

1 1/2 tps cumin 3/4 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp salt 1/8 black pepper

3 garlic cloves sour cream

1 (29 0z) can black beans, drained

8-10 slow roasted tomatoes

1 (14 oz) can beef broth

Shredded mozzarella

1. Chop green peppers and onions.

2. With tears running down your face (those dang onions!!) measure out the spices and put them into one of those pretty little glass pyrex bowls.

2nd time around, I added 1/2 tbs of hot Mexican-style chili powder to the 1 tb of regular chili powder.

3. Cut the slow roasted tomatoes into bite size pieces, pile into bowl large enough to hold them all and pour the juices from the cutting board over them.

4. On medium heat cook onions, peppers and ground beef until beef is browned (umm yeah that means – no pink!).

5. Next step is to drain the meat mixture. Yeah, I never do that. I’ve convinced myself it’s just added extra flavor… that’s right, faa- lay – vooor!!

6. Dump in all the other ingredients – all the spices, black beans, slow roasted tomatoes, beef broth and garlic cloves.

7. Simmer baby, simmer. Stir occasionally. In approx 20 min everything should slightly thicken up.

8. Ladle into big bowls. The original recipe says 1 1/2 cups = a serving, but trust me THAT is a lot of chili. 1 cup does me just fine!

9. Toss a handful of shredded mozzarella on top and add a dollop of sour cream.

Viola – Mexican Black Bean Chili!

This recipe is ok, not bad – not great (although served up with a slab of pumpkin bread definitely makes it better!!). The UnKitchen Diva is asking for your help here. She desperately wants to make this chili awesome! How can she give this chili some kick??

The UnKitchen Diva and Slow Roasted Tomatoes

Jennie — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 12:44:28 +0000

So, The UnKitchen Diva religiously went each week to pick up her CSA share, always wondering what she would find. By the end of the season she was overwhelmed by the amount and type of tomatoes on display. Now, admittedly, she is not fond of tomatoes in any shape or form but she figured there had to be a way to utilize them. She vaguely remembered a friend telling her something about throwing them in a oven for hours at a time to later be used in sauces etc… Off to the internet to do some research!

Now, as you all know, it’s impossible to find a straight answer to anything on the internet. However, the UnKitchen Diva prevailed and found this gem of a recipe to share with you all.

Slow Roasted Tomatoes

tomatoes garlic bulb

olive oil kosher salt

pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 325˚.

2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Wrestle it down until it stays in place without to much curling up.

3. Start washing all the tomatoes and realize you have 5+ lbs of tomatoes – 5+ lbs!!

4. Cut all of the tomatoes in 1/2 length wise and find the biggest bowl you own to put them in. Realize you are only going to be able to fit 2 1/2 lbs in the bowl and go get a second cookie tray ready…

5. Separate the bulb of garlic into individual cloves because you think it’ll look prettier in the final picture this way. The second time you try this recipe you realize it’s easier to leave the bulb whole.

6. Pour in olive oil, kosher salt and pepper – enough to coat everything. Get your hands in there and start tossing it all around making sure everything gets covered.

7. Realize that the cookie tray is across the kitchen and your hands are all greasy. Contemplate which is easier – carrying over an empty cookie tray or full bowl of oiled tomatoes with greasy hands. Trust me, if you’re smart, you go for the cookie tray…

8. Layout the cut tomatoes on the tray with the cut sides up. Intersperse the garlic cloves into open spaces. It should all look something like the images below. (Here is where if you use the garlic bulb whole, you roll it around in the leftover oil, salt and pepper in the bottom of the bowl and place it in the center of the tray.)

9. Plop the whole thing in the oven for 3 hours. Yes, you read correctly, 3 hours! They weren’t kidding about the whole slow part of this recipe.

10. Around 1 1/2 hours in you’ll think your kitchen smells like an Italian Momma’s kitchen – not that you know an Italian Momma let alone been in her kitchen.

11. Finally!! Buzzer is going off and 3 hours are up. Pull out the tray and your tomato 1/2′s should look all wrinkly and brown on the edges. Let cool.

12. Now several people out in the big, bad world advocate plopping them in your mouth and eating them like candy. So not happening here! Instead, pull the skins off the back – they peel off really easy – cut up the tomatoes and use them and all their juices to spice up spaghetti sauce or as an alternative to canned crushed tomatoes (8-10 tomatoes based on size). Around here they went into a sauce for a lasagna and a homemade chili – delish!!

Viola – Slow Roasted Tomatoes!!

Chard and Garlic Scapes – Say What?!?

Jennie — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 12:38:06 +0000

Yes it’s true – The UnKitchen Diva went on a rather long hiatus this spring. During that time a house was sold, she went on the road for 21 days straight and moved to Maryland. To say she was otherwise occupied would be an understatement!! Once she got to Maryland she heard over and over again about CSA. What is this CSA?? Apparently all over the country there are Community Sponsored Agriculture (CSA) projects. You buy a share in a local farm and every week pick up fresh produce. Everyone in her area of Maryland raved about One Straw Farm – so obviously that was the place to go. Besides The UnKitchen Diva figured if this didn’t get her to like vegetables NOTHING will!! After getting lost and then saved by one of the owners of the farm, she was escorted into the huge cooler. In there were Strawberries, Lettuce, Chard, Garlic Scapes and other things she had no idea what to do with. The UnKitchen Diva turned to the farm owner, relayed her story (probably in far to much detail) and asked for help! This is how she ended up with Chard and Garlic Scapes in her bag of loot! Now what to do with it?? I give you Baked Chicken with Sauteed Chard and Garlic Scapes!

Baked Chicken with Sauteed Chard and Garlic Scapes

1 Chicken Breast Olive Oil

1 Garlic Scape Several Chard Leaves

1/2 Cup Brown Rice (precooked) Pepper

Paprika Garlic Salt

Salt Spoonful of Butter / Margarine

1) Get the owner of the farm to tell you in step by step detail how to cook the vegetables in your bag, immediately forget it all, go online to learn it all over again…

2) Preheat oven to 350˚. Plop a frying pan on the stove top and pour some Olive Oil in (I’d guess about a tbs. but honestly I just pour until I think –“yep that’ll do”). Measure out ½ cup of cooked brown rice, put in microwave bowl, put some tabs of butter on top and put in microwave.

3) Take one Garlic Scape (and seriously am I the only one who wants to say Snape and thinks of Harry Potter??) Chop up into ¼” pieces and put into cute little glass bowl – because where else are you going to put it??

4) Take 3-4 leaves of Chard, roll them individually length wise like your making a snake with play dough, unroll because you forgot to wash them, wash them…, re-roll. Cut them into 1” sections. Then cut sections in ½ (first time I made this I didn’t cut them in ½ and it was like trying to eat long spaghetti strands of chard – difficult at best!!). Put in cereal bowl and make sure it’s heaping over the sides.

5) Unless your super speedy your oven should be heated now. Take a square pyrex pan put a huge spoonful of butter/margarine in the bottom and stick back into oven to melt.

6) Take 3 sections of paper towels – why 3 no idea, but it must be 3 – wash hands, rinse chicken breast, get grossed out by chicken fat, put on the 3 folded sections of paper towel and wrap the towel like a burrito around the chicken to dry, wash hands again!!

7) Take pan out of oven, put on stove top – not counter…, unroll chicken from paper towel burrito, place in pan and roll in melted butter, getting butter everywhere.

8.) Sprinkle on salt, garlic salt, pepper and paprika – in that order – it’s easier to see how much you put on – trust me….

9) Stick in oven and set timer for 9 minutes.

10) Run around the house, check your email, update your Facebook status….

11) When the timer goes off turn the burner under the frying pan on to medium to medium high heat. Take chicken out of oven, flip, sprinkle spices again, stick back in oven and reset timer for 9 minutes.

12) When oil is hot plop in the Garlic Scapes, move them around, hear the sizzle, look for some browning on the edges – about two minutes.

13) Ok this part is like magic – I was told it would do this but didn’t believe it. Dump the Chard in, mixing it up so it gets covered in hot oil. Stir a bit and then watch it shrink to ½ it’s size – seriously it’s like a Honey I Shrunk the Kids moment! Stir around making sure what’s on top gets to the bottom etc. After about 2 minutes it looked done to me and there was 3-4 minutes left what to do? I moved it to the back of the stove and stuck a top on it – seemed like a good plan to me!

14) When the timer reaches 2 minutes press the 2 minutes express cook on your microwave to heat the rice.

15) Timer goes off take chicken out of oven and cut into cube like pieces.

16) Layer chard, then rice, leaving the chicken for the top – making it look pretty!

Viola – Baked Chicken with Chard and Garlic Scapes!!

The UnKitchen Diva meets the Tsp Spices Ladies

Jennie — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 20:49:17 +0000

It was back in January, the UnKitchen Diva was having coffee (hot chocolate in her case) and discussing the finer points of Twitter with a friend, when she first heard about Tsp Spices. She was explaining the cooking project/challenge she had set for herself and the upcoming year when her friend almost literally jumped out of her seat and said “I have the perfect company for you!”

Tsp Spices is a company that was created by two girlfriends, who lamented the fact that no matter how much they loved to cook, their spices would turn before they could use a whole jar. Their amazingly brilliant and simple solution – package spices by the tsp. You love it already right?!?

Back to the coffee shop – she was telling her friend how fantastic their idea was and couldn’t believe she hadn’t heard of them earlier! The UnKitchen Diva was also thinking what a perfect product this was for her challenge! Her girlfriend was getting more and more excited. “You have to meet them! We have to find a way for you to meet them.” Now, she thought that would be really cool, but couldn’t see how it would actually happen.

Well… you see… life is a funny thing. Between her girlfriend knowing someone, who knows them, and a cousin, who has a friend who works with them, she actually DID get to meet them! Crazy, right? She met Katie and Sara, along the rest of their crew, in their offices in Towson, MD. They couldn’t have been nicer and she completely enjoyed her time with them.

As she was leaving, they gave her a tin of cookie spices and a tin of cardamon. The UnKitchen Diva hasn’t had a chance to work her magic with them yet. She’s thinking she’ll save the cookie spices until her nieces and/or nephews come to visit and is a little stumped on the cardamon. She loves cardamon, but associates it with the traditional Norwegian Christmas bread and cookies she grew up with. She needs your help!! She’d love if you’d send ideas/recipes on how to cook with cardamon!! We promise to feature the dish here too!

*disclaimer – I have offered to help the Tsp Spice ladies spread the Tsp Spices story – it’s an amazingly brilliant idea and I love their story!*

The Things You do for Your Art…

Jennie — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 01:24:56 +0000

Valentines Day was huge for The UnKichen Diva. That day she not only tackled lasagna but also in a fit of madness decided to make homemade marshmallows! I kid you not.

I saw homemade heart shaped marshmallows somewhere on etsy in the weeks leading up to Valentines Day and I KNEW that I wanted to use something similar for my “Love Is…” project over on Strawberry Road. I thought how hard can this be? I was sure I could do it and went off to hunt through my mother’s cookie cutters looking for heart shapes. Actually, it really isn’t that hard at all but very, very messy and sticky!! Here’s the link to the recipe – recipe I used. They explain it far better than I can – plus they have photos for each step – gotta love that! I made mine vanilla flavored and used red and blue food coloring to get the pink color I liked. Then I cut the marshmallow slab into all different size hearts and odd shaped square bits…

So now I have two containers of homemade marshmallows – what do you do with that?!? Make hot chocolate of course. Not just any hot chocolate but Ghirardelli Cocoa hot chocolate! I have to admit I’ve never made this before – I am traditionally a Swiss Miss girl through and through. But pink homemade marshmallows deserve something a little higher class. I just followed the recipe on the container and WOW this was some mighty yummy hot chocolate!! Between the hot chocolate and marshmallows I think I put myself into a sugar coma that lasted several hours!! As for the rest of the marshmallows – I packaged them up and sent them to the two ladies I knew would most appreciate them – my 2 and 4 year old nieces. And to think, this all started because I had this fabulous idea for a photo….