I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this, but I’m married.  For almost six years now.  And if you’re married you know part of  the wedding process is registering for gifts. I registered for a lot of kitchen ware because I love to cook.  But as with every bridal, wedding and/or baby shower, there are people that get you gifts that were no where on the registry.  I received such a gift. It was a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker and ice cream cookbook. I never returned it because I’m a big ice cream fan and I always thought I’d use it.

So, one day soon after the wedding I cracked open the cook book only to discover all the measurements were in metric.  Needless to say I closed the cookbook, put it back on the shelf and packed away the ice cream maker saying I’d do something with it some day.  Well, that day has come, six years later.

I love coffee ice cream.  And recently I discovered Ben & Jerry’s makes a spectacular coffee ice cream called Coffee, Coffee, Buzz, Buzz.  It’s rich, strong coffee ice cream with big chunks of chocolate chips in it.  Why they don’t sell this flavor in the stores is beyond me.  You can only get it at an actual Ben & Jerry’s “scoop shop”, and of course there aren’t any near me.  So, I decided to pull out my ice cream maker and make my own. While it wasn’t quite as strong as Ben & Jerry’s, considering it was my first time using the ice cream maker, I was very pleased.

I whipped up the ice cream two weeks ago.  It was super yummy, but somehow, I’ve made it last.  The question is, will you?

Coffee Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups skim milk
• 3 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup of your favorite coffee
• 1/2 cup of semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

Combine egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and blend with an electric beater for about five minutes.

Heat milk and cream in a pan but do not boil it.  Once scorched turn off heat.

Slowly add 1 cup of hot milk mixture to the egg mixture, all the while beating rapidly.  Once mixed, pour egg mixture back into pan with the rest of the hot milk mixture.  Beat the whole thing with a whisk.

Heat the mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly for a few more minutes until it thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon.  Turn off the heat.

Pour the mixture into a bowl, cover and put in the refrigerator until it’s completely cold – this could take four or five hours.

Once cold, pour into your ice cream maker and follow the machine’s directions.  Five minutes before it’s done churning, add the chocolate chips.  Once finished churning, place the ice cream in an air tight container in the freezer for at least two hours and serve.

Makes about 2 quarts.

Every so often when I’m in a restaurant I’ll order the soup as an appetizer.  It’s rare, but it happens.  And it’s usually very good.  Then I go home and I want to try my hand, but I get caught up in what I had and how yummy it was and I immediately get intimidated.  I don’t know why, it just seems it’ll be easier for me to crack open a can of Campbell’s than take the time of creating my own version.  Well, I finally got over my fear.

A few weeks ago I started getting my “Daily Parenting Tip” from Parents magazine. They send me a little tip each day in an e-mail and included are usually some recipes.  Well, one such recipe was for tomato soup. I love tomato soup, especially when it’s a bisque and I’ve always wanted to try and make it.  So, upon seeing this recipe, I threw caution to the wind and decided to give my soup-making skills a try. It was delicious. Even my one-year-old liked it. It was rich and thick and the chunks of tomatoes that ran through it, made it that much better.  I threw in some Ritz crackers and dinner was served. 

Since I threw caution to the wind, and I’m sure there will be at least a couple more chilly nights before summer is upon us, I invite you to grab some tomatoes and a pot and do the same.

Creamy Tomato Soup

Makes 6 servings

• 2 cans (28 oz each) of chopped tomatoes in their juice
• 1 shallot diced
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

In large pot heat the olive oil. Add the onions and cook until tender.  Add tomatoes and their juice.  Add chicken broth, sugar, and black pepper and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Puree the soup in batches in a blender or food processor. Return to pot and stir in the cream until heated through, 2-3 minutes.  Remove from heat, stir in the balsamic vinegar and serve.

For the mommies out there: What’s great about this dish, is it’s already all blended up for baby.  You don’t need to do anything except put it in a little baby bowl.  It’s perfect for babies ages 6 months and up.

**As always, this is based on my own personal experience. Please check with your baby’s pediatrician on introducing solid foods, as these suggestions may not apply to your infant. **

I’m so excited that spring is finally here.  Okay, I know spring has been here officially since the end of March, but in Los Angeles, it actually finally feels like spring. The sun is out, the temperature’s up in the high 70′s, there’s no rain or wind… in other words it’s gorgeous.  Just the kind of day you want to spend outside, maybe even at a park with the little one.  Which is exactly what I did last week.

See, I have this mommy group. We get together at least once a week to hang out with the babies. It gives our little ones a head start on their socialization skills while giving us moms a chance to get out of the house.  For all you new moms out there, you know what a big deal this is.  After spending so much time inside playing with baby toys, you need to get out and have some adult human interaction.  So, I have my moms.  We get together, hang out and eat.  Everyone brings something from hummus to salad to cookies, and they’re always yummy.

One of my specialties is fruit salad because it’s easy, it always looks great and it’s always a hit.  And now that spring is here, I can start making it again.  See, the fall and winter months make this dish a difficult one because there’s never any good fruit available.  But last month the strawberries and blueberries came out.  Next month we’ll finally have peaches and pluots.  So I thought to celebrate the return of spring and soon-to-be summer fruit and to celebrate the one year anniversary of my Mommy group I’d bring back my fruit salad.

Fruit Salad

Makes about 12 servings

• 1 pear – sliced
• 2 kiwi fruit – peeled and sliced
• 24 grapes – halved
• 12 strawberries – sliced
• a few handfuls of blueberries
• a few handfuls of raspberries
• Splash of Amaretto liquor

Throw all the fruit into a nice serving bowl, toss with the Amaretto and serve.

Note: These are just the fruits I used this time around.  But once peaches, pluots and plums are in season, I start adding those to the mix.  In other words, feel free to use any of your favorite summer fruits for this nice light salad.

I know Passover has come and gone, but I still have leftover matzoh. It never fails, no matter how much I buy, whether it’s one box or six, I always have at least a few pieces of the unleavened bread left on the shelf.  And while it does make an okay cracker, if the box is open, the matzoh gets stale pretty quickly.  But there’s no need to throw out the unused matzoh. It can still be saved and used in one of my favorite breakfast meals – Fried Matzoh also known as Matzoh Brei. 

Now you may be thinking that fried matzoh is just for Passover.  But I heartily disagree.  While it is a great breakfast choice during the holiday, there are sometimes during the year when I would love nothing more than a couple pieces of the fried yumminess.  And what makes it even better, is how easy it is to make.  Everything you need is probably already in your refrigerator: matzoh, eggs, salt and butter.

And don’t think you can cut out the salt and butter.  You can’t.  Those two ingredients are what make fried matzoh.  I know salt and butter are bad for you, but there are just certain recipes where they’re absolutely necessary and skimping on them means having a bland dish.  This is one of those recipes.  They are the key to good fried matzoh.  So make absolutely sure you add enough of each.

Fried Matzoh

• 2-3 pieces of matzoh crushed
• 1 cup of hot water
• 1 egg
• 1-2 tsp salt (it’s all to your taste)
• 2 Tbsps butter

Crush the matzoh into small bite sized pieces. Place crushed matzoh in a bowl, drown in hot water and let soak for 2-3 minutes until mushy. Drain the water. Add the egg and salt and mix all together. 

Melt 1 tbsp of butter in 10 inch fry pan over medium heat.  Once the butter is melted spread the matzoh mixture over the pan with a fork, making a big pancake.  Cook over medium heat for 1-2 minutes per side.  I usually cut the pancake in half to make it easier to flip.  I also add another pad of butter.  Once cooked transfer to a plate and serve.

As I mentioned in my previous post, The Grilled Cheese Invitational was May 24th and I, along with several hundred other Southern Californians decided to enter what I consider the best cooking competition ever created – a grilled cheese cookoff.   Since I talked about the event in my last post, today I’m going to tell you what I made.  

There were 3 categories you could take part in: The Missionary, The Kama Sutra, and The Honey Pot. 

The Missionary was your basic grilled cheese. It could be any kind of bread and any kind of cheese, but that was it. No bacon, no tomato, no extras. That’s what the Kama Sutra was for. 

The Kama Sutra was the exotic grilled cheese which pretty much meant you could do whatever you wanted.  As long as the contents were 60% cheese, you could put anything else, including the kitchen sink in that sandwich. And believe me, people did.  There was one guy – a 10 year-old – who won a judge’s award for his Kama Sutra masterpiece. It included Tillamook Cheese, queso fresco, grilled portobello mushrooms, sauteed onions, tomato, ground spicy cheetos, and sauteed chorizo. Sounds disgusting, I know. But several people, including at least one judge, raved about his concoction. 

Then there was the Honey Pot. Again as long as the contents were 60% cheese, anything else could be included.  But unlike the Kama Sutra, this sandwich had to be sweet – like a dessert. I decided this was the heat for me since I love baking sweet things.  

You wouldn’t believe some of the creations: a team called the Suzie Homemakers won two awards for their Gimme S’more which included sweet brown bread, marscapone cheese, chocolate, and marshmallow fluff. 

The Suzie Homemakers with their Gimme S'more

The team next to me created something called the Cardiologist’s Dream. It was made up of cheddar cheese and bacon sandwiched in the middle of a glazed doughnut. Then they drizzled maple syrup over it and garnished with a slice of apple “to keep the doctor away”. 

Then there was my creation which I dubbed American as Apple Pie because one of my favorite combinations is apple pie with a slice of cheddar cheese.  But I didn’t think cheddar was the way to go for the Invitational.  I thought a better cheese to use would be brie. And I’ve had it with sliced apples before so I knew the two would go together perfectly.  Since I only had 50 minutes to make 20 samples of my sandwich for the competition, I made the apple pie filling ahead of time.  Then at the competition itself, I placed a few slices of brie on a slice of french bread, covered it with my pre-made apple pie filling, topped it off with another slice of bread and fried the whole thing in butter ’til golden brown and the cheese oozing out the sides.  Then as a finishing touch, I drizzled a little sauce over it I’d made out of burbon and apple cider. Yummy!  

So the next time you’re in the mood for grilled cheese but are looking for something a little more exotic, give this a try. It’s yummy and different and will absolutely satisfy that salty/sweet craving so many of us have from time to time. 

American as Apple Pie Grilled Cheese 

Apple Pie Filling 

• 3 apples sliced (I used a Pink Lady, but whatever your apple of choice is, is fine)
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 1/4 cup of flour
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 Tbsp bourbon
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Grilled Cheese Sandwich 

• 2 slices of French bread
• 3 slices of brie cheese
• 1 Tbsp butter
• Apple Pie Filling

Apple Cider Bourbon Sauce 

• 5 cups apple cider
• 5 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 3 Tbsp bourbon

 Apple Pie Filling: 

In a medium bowl mix the sliced apples with the flour and sugar until coated. Pour the apple mixture into a medium sauce pan cook over a low heat.  Stir in the cinnamon and bourbon.  The flour and sugar combined with the juice from the apples will start to thicken.  Continue to cook on low for 15 – 20 minutes until sauce is thick and apple slices are tender.  Place aside and let cool. 

For Apple Cider Bourbon sauce:
Boil apple cider in heavy medium saucepan until reduced to 3/4 cup, about 45 minutes. Add butter and sugar and whisk until butter melts. Boil 3 minutes, whisking occasionally. Remove from heat. Whisk in bourbon. Let the sauce cool. 

For the Sandwich:

Place your cheese on one slice of French bread.  Cover the cheese with 2 -3 spoonfuls of the apple pie filling.  Place the second piece of bread on top.  Melt the butter in an 8 inch fry pan.  Place the sandwich in the melted butter and cook over medium heat until goldenbrown, about 2 minutes per side.  Place the sandwich on a plate, drizzle the Apple Cider Bourbon sauce over and enjoy.