Beer Cheese

This weekend we fell way off the wagon.  We went out to eat a couple more times than I had planned and one night I saw the most amazing recipe ever and just skipped dinner entirely to pig out on yes, beer cheese and pretzels.  Honestly, can you blame me? I didn’t think so, but I still feel guilty.

½ lb sharp cheddar cheese, I used a Welsh Cheddar which was very flavorful
1 garlic clove, smashed
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
¼ tsp ground mustard
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, plus more to taste
½ cup Hefeweizen beer
Homemade Pretzels

I have a small food processer with only one blade so I had to improvise a little on this.  If you have a large food processer with a shredder attachment, grate the cheese then replace the shredder attachment with the blade. Add the garlic, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, black pepper and cayenne pepper and pulse to combine.  With the processor running, slowly pour in the beer and blend until a smooth mixture forms.

I wasn’t able to do any of that with my food processor.  I chopped the cheese into ½” pieces and threw ~half of everything in all at once and mixed until a smooth paste formed.  I scooped it all out and did the same with the other half.  Now you have 2 pastes that are a lot less volume than the chopped cheese so I put both mixtures back in the food processor to mix and then seasoned to taste.

I divided this between 2 ramekins, covered them with cling wrap and let chill in the refrigerator.  The longer it sits the more flavors develop, but I only made it about an hour, just long enough for me to make a batch of pretzels.

Yields 1 ¼ cups, actually quite a lot

We ate this as our dinner with pretzels one night then as appetizer with crackers another night and still haven’t quite finished it all.

Homemade Soft Pretzels

I found this recipe in the Penzey’s catalogue and thought, well that is just cruel.  This is so simple and oh so good.  It is terrifying for me to know how to make such addictive foods quickly, easily, and with ingredients I usually always have on hand.

1 ¼ cup warm water (105-115 degrees)
1 Tbs rapid rise yeast
¼ cup brown sugar, packed
2 cups bread flour
1 ½ - 2 cups all purpose flour
4 cups water
4 Tbs baking soda
Pretzel Seasonings: Flake salt, garlic powder, cinnamon and sugar, etc.

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and let sit for a few minutes, until it is frothy.  Add the sugar and 2 cups of bread flour, stirring well.  Add the first cup of the all purpose flour and stir to combine again.  Turn the dough out onto the kitchen table and add as much of the remaining all purpose flour as needed to make a soft dough.  Add a sprinkle of flour at a time while kneading, as soon as the dough starts to stick.  Knead for about 10 minutes or until you have a nice smooth elastic dough ball.  Form a ball and place in a bowl.  Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.  It doesn’t have to double in size but it should be substantially bigger.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.  Divide the dough into 12-18 pieces.  Bring the 4 cups of water to a low boil and dissolve the 4 Tbs baking soda.

Roll each piece of dough in a “snake” about 18” in length.  Twist into pretzels and pinch the ends into the turns they cross over to hold in place.  Dip each pretzel one at a time into the water for 5-10 seconds, making sure to get the water over the top of the pretzel.  I hold the pretzel on a slotted spoon and this seems to work well.  Shake off most of the excess water and place on baking sheets greased or lined with parchment paper.  Sprinkle with your seasoning of choice and bake for 6-8 minutes.

The pretzels will look done on the top before they are brown on the bottom so lift them with a spatula to check they are done on the bottom before taking out.  Remove quickly to a cooling rack to cool.

Try and tell me you don't want to eat your screen right now. Yeah, I don't believe you.

Upside Down Pear Cake

I am now about to start week 5 of my 7-day meal planning and I think we are doing pretty well sticking to it.  We have deviated a couple times, but not many.  J has already lost a couple pounds, and I am back to my pre-Christmas/Thanksgiving weight, but that’s about it.  I will say that my plan every day is 1500-1700 calories for me and most days I am actually not hungry in between meals and I’m satisfied after eating the food we’re eating, so that right there means a lot for me.  I am also not starving my husband, which this is actually a first time we have done some kind of structured “diet” and he has not felt hungry all the time.   So having a well made plan seems to be working well for us.

But last night we did make a rather significant unaccounted for addition to our calorie intake for the day, but as this turned out so well I think it was kind of worth it.   I worked a little harder on the elliptical this morning and probably made up for about ¼ of what I consumed last night.

For the topping
3 tbs butter
¾ cup brown sugar
Fruit of your choice – I used 2 pears cut in chunky slices with a handful of blackberries – You could do pears, apricots, apples, plums plus any berry you like to fill in the wholes

For the cake
½ cup butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
1 ½ cup all purpose flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
½ cup milk
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
½ cup milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a 10-inch cast iron skillet over medium-high heat melt the 3 tbs butter.  Add the brown sugar and stir until the sugar is melted and begins to bubble.  Remove from heat and let cool.
Once cool, arrange the fruit in a pinwheel design, add berries if desired.

To make the cake, beat  ½ cup butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add the vanilla, then the eggs one at a time.  Beat until smooth.  Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together then add half to the egg mixture and stir to incorporate.  Add the milk, stir to incorporate, then finish with the remaining flour mixture.  Stir the batter just until the flour is incorporated, do not overmix the batter.

Spread the batter over the fruit and bake for 45-60 mins.  The cake is ready when it begins to pull away from the sides of the pan and the center feels just set.

Let cool for 20 minutes then place a cake plate on top and flip the cake out of the skillet.  Be careful because it will still be hot, especially the caramel.

I of course didn’t bother with that nonsense because I wanted to eat it as soon as the caramel was no longer scalding and I didn’t care enough to get the whole cake out of the skillet for anyone to see it whole.  Sorry no pretty picture of the whole cake, it was too tempting, couldn’t wait the 20 mins.

Serves 8, 405 calories, 17 g fat, worth it, especially since I haven’t had much sweets in the past month

Broccoli and Cauliflower Au Gratin

This was another one of those dishes where the first thing to mind after a bite of this is “holy cow”.  This was surprisingly rich, simple, and low cal.  This was so good there is no reason why you shouldn’t be making this right now so I will just get right to it.

2 cups cauliflower
2 cups broccoli
1 small yellow onion, sliced in rings
2 tsp olive oil
1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1 ½ cup milk, non-fat
2 tbs flour
½ cup shredded gouda cheese
½ cup shredded havarti cheese
1 tbs dry mustard powder
½ tsp black pepper
Salt to taste
2 tbs bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place cauliflower, broccoli, and carrot in a steamer basket over water and steam until tender.  Remove from burner and set aside.
In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, sauté onion in olive oil for 1 to 2 minutes, or until translucent.  Add milk and flour and heat for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.  Stir in cheese and mix until melted.  Season with mustard, pepper and salt.

In an 8x8 glass dish, add cauliflower and broccoli in an evenly distributed layer.  Pour cheese-carrot mixture over top then sprinkle with bread crumbs.  Bake for 25 minutes to brown the bread crumbs.  Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

As a side, 4 generous servings, 230 calories, 13 g fat

This was easy to throw together and was oh so good.  It obviously adds a lot more calories than just eating the cauliflower and broccoli alone, but it’s just so good and every once in a while you need a change.  Make this change, you won’t be sorry.  The key of course is the cheese, you must use high quality cheese or this isn’t worth it.

Fried Egg Sandwich with Cheese and Tomatoes

During the week I am not able to make a real breakfast because we try to work out in the mornings then go straight to work from the gym, so for one of my first breakfasts at home I tried a fried egg sandwich.  This was easy and filling.  Food doesn’t have to be loaded with ingredients, or fats, to taste good.  The more I cook the more I realize that simple meals can often be the most appealing, satisfying, sophisticated, and healthy.

4 slices rye bread
4 eggs
1 oz Jarlsberg light cheese
3 grape tomatoes
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp butter

Break 2 eggs in a skillet set to medium.  Gently pierce the yolk to let some of it run out over the whites.  Once the egg is no longer runny, fold it over so you basically have the two eggs stacked on top of each other and flip.  Finish cooking until the egg is cooked through.  Slide the egg on to one slice of bread, top with a slice of cheese and 1 ½ sliced grape tomatoes.  Season with salt and pepper and top with another slice of bread.
Repeat for the second sandwich.  After both sandwiches have been assembled, add ½ tsp butter to the skillet.  Once it’s melted put one of the sandwiches in the butter.  Cook for about 1 minute to toast and warm up the bread.   Repeat for the other side of the bread and for the other sandwich.  I think this is a good idea because once your egg has been sitting on the bread for a couple minutes it gets a little soggy, this will crisp your bread up so it won’t fall apart or feel mushy at all.

Serves 2, 410 calories, 17 g fat

This was quick and easy but a good start to the day with the protein from the eggs and carbohydrates from the bread and was satisfying with the richness from the cheese without being too high in fat or calories.