Butterscotch Cannolis

The other night, I went to my parents' house for a big Italian dinner. Afterwards, my dad asked where the cannolis were, but there were none. That was about it for me. I couldn't stop thinking about cannolis. Little did I know how ridiculously easy they are to make (provided you buy the shells). I thought I had chocolate chips, but I ended up having every kind of chip but chocolate. I opted for butterscotch and Kevin thought it was better than the regular chocolate chip. These were Natty's first cannolis. I think he approves!


Butterscotch Cannolis
8 oz marscapone cheese
3 tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup butterscotch chips
6-8 mini cannoli shells (depending on how much you like in each shell)
Combine cheese, sugar, and vanilla in a medium bowl with a hand mixer. Stir in butterscotch chips. Cut the corner off a sandwich bag and use it as a piping bag to fill the cannoli shells.

Tarte Normande Ice Cream

I wanted to make a couple of small tarts with the leftover tart dough I had, but I ran out of frangipane. So, I decided to make an ice cream with the same flavors and serve it in the shells I made. I'm happy to report - it worked!


Tarte Normande Ice Cream
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/8 tsp lemon oil
pinch salt
1 pear, cut into small pieces
1 handful frozen wild blueberries
Mix all ingredients up to salt together. Add to ice cream maker and prepare according to maker instructions. When the ice cream reaches soft serve consistency add pear and blueberry. Freeze to desired consistency.

Tarte Normande

Thanks to KT for the awesome tart pan for Christmas. Here's my first tart - Tarte Normande. It was delicious and I'll be making another one for a gift for our midwife tonight. Thanks KT! 

Beef Stew

I've never actually made beef stew before since that has always been Kevin's ballywick, but I got this dutch oven for Christmas and it seemed like a good first recipe for the oven. Kevin liked the stew a lot, so I call it a win. I served it with homemade biscuits, which were also delicious and way too easy to make for something that is not at all good for you!


Beef Stew
2 tblsp olive oil
1 lb stew meat
1/4 cup seasoned flour
1 large onion, cut in bite size pieces
3 large carrots, cut in bite size pieces
4 white potatoes, cut into 1" chunks
1/3 bottle red wine
2-3 cups stock (I used chicken since that's all I had on hand, but of course beef would make sense here)
1 small can tomato paste
1/2 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper
Heat olive oil in dutch oven over medium high heat. Toss beef cubes in seasoned flour and then brown all sides in hot oil. Add onion and carrots. Cook until tender. Deglaze pan with red wine. Add potatoes and tomato paste and cover with stock. Add thyme and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to low. Cook over low heat for 3 hours. Adjust seasonings before serving.

Felishki

Alright Andrej, you might be the only other person I know who has ever heard of this dish. If you have and you know how to spell it, let me know. Apparently this is a Czechoslovakian dish that my parents learned from my dad's family. It's not a terribly exciting dish, but it's really tasty and an excellent use of leftover ham if you, like me, happened to make an 8 lbs ham for three people. I always loved the noodles that would get crispy on the top. Yummy!

Felishki

1/4 bag egg noodles

1 1/2 cup leftover ham, cut into bite size chunks

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 cup milk

paprika

salt and pepper

Cook egg noodles according to package directions. Combine noodles and ham in a medium casserole dish. Combine eggs with enough milk to total 1 cup of mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour egg mixture over noodles and ham. Sprinkle top with paprika to your taste. Bake at 375 until casserole is set and top is lightly browned.