What’s for dessert tonight?

 

I have no problem admitting laziness and apathy sometimes takes over in the kitchen.  There are goodies I long to eat but don't have the time or energy to make them.  Sad but true. 
Being an admitted nut-a-holic, I often crave desserts laden with nuts of any kind.  I'm not picky. 
Baklava has always been one of my weaknesses and a labor of love for me.  Always worth making and eating.
But as life is busier than ever, you better believe I jumped for joy when I came across this recipe for The Lazy Cook's Baklava.  Well, that's not what the magazine called it but, Baklava Cups, just didn't do it for me.  I wanted to celebrate my find of a super-quick, easy and absolutely yummy, lazy girl treat.
This recipe will give you Baklava taste in less than 30 minutes.  These are also great for a dessert buffet where hundreds of little bite-sized treats are needed.
So delicious, easy, yummy and for the lazy.  You will love them, but you must love nuts too.
Let's make these up, they'll be ready in minutes...

Here's all you will need:  Frozen mini fillo shells, honey, pistachios, almonds and cashews.  Ingredients not shown:  Water.

Chop pistachios, cashews and almonds until you have a 1/3 cup of each.  Combine into one mixture.  Fill shells with nuts and bake in a 350 degree oven for 8 minutes or until shells are lightly browned.

Mix 1/4 cup honey with 1 teaspoon water.  Remove the cups from the oven and spoon in honey mixture (really fill them up).

Serve warm or at room temperature.

This is easy enough for the kids to handle in the kitchen while you work on dinner.  Even if they do not like nuts, they love to just be involved in the meal preparation.  Mine always do.

Little bites of heaven...if you like this sort of thing.
The Lazy Cook's Baklava
Inspired by Woman's Day

1 box (2.1 ounce) frozen mini fillo shells
1/3 cup chopped pistachios
1/3 cup chopped cashews
1/3 cup chopped almonds
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon water
Chop pistachios, cashews and almonds (If you do not trust yourself with knifes, put in a food processor, or a blender or even a coffee bean grinder and chop, just make sure you do not pulverize them too fine!).  Combine into one mixture.  Fill shells with nuts and bake in a 350 degree oven for 8 minutes or until shells are lightly browned.
Mix honey with water.  Remove the cups from the oven and spoon in honey mixture (really fill them up).
Serve warm or at room temperature.

Whats for dinner tonight? Migas. It’s All About Migas.

 

I first had Migas in Austin, Texas, when I was living there. I woke up one morning a raging case of LBSCBDO, or Low-Blood-Sugar-Cranky-Butt DisOrder. I went to a plce I had seen on my way to work, it was a quaint little restaurant that resembled a tiny house.

The waitress told me Migas were the house special, and on Sundays they were half priced. So I gave in and since they were on sale and I was a more than a little intrigued by the name of the dish. Migas? What was this strange dish?

I would soon find out. Migas, in a word, is heavenly. In another word, divine. In another word, dadgum delicious! I was instantly hooked, and spent the next several months perfecting my own version.
Unless you’ve visited or lived in the Southwest, you probably haven’t heard of Migas, a delightfully flavorful scrambled egg dish made fabulous with the addition of bell peppers, jalapenos, onions, cheese, and—the best part—fried, chopped corn tortillas. The corn tortillas absolutely make the dish, and while some more, ahem, “health conscious” eaters elect simply to warm or grill the tortillas prior to adding them to the skillet, I find they’re best when fried in oil, then chopped. Once they’re stirred into the egg mixture, they soften and take on the beautiful flavors of the eggs, onions, and peppers. It’s enough to make a person moan, which is what you’ll do as soon as you sink your teeth into this wonderful breakfast dish. It is good for Breakfast, lunch or supper!
Let’s make it, mis amigas!

Begin by roughly chopping onion, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, and tomato. Then very finely dice a fresh jalapeno, removing the seeds if you can’t HANDLE the heat. As the heat of any pepper is in the seeds, not the flesh.

Next, grate some cheese. Monterey Jack works well, or you can use a Mexican Cotija (pictured here.)
I love Mexican Cotija.

Then mix some eggs with half & half and whisk together.

Finally, fry up some corn tortillas until crisp. I use a small skillet with about 1/2 cup vegetable oil heated to medium.

If the oil’s hot, it should only take about 30 seconds on each side to crisp ‘em up.

Don’t let ‘em get brown; just fry ‘em ’til they’re no longer floppy.
Yes, I just said “floppy.”, now get your mind out of the gutter!

When they’re fried, stack them up on a cutting board.

And pressing down with a sharp knife, cut the tortillas into strips…

Then turn then in other direction and cut them into a large dice.
Now it’s time to get serious. Very, very serious.

Begin by heating a mixture of oil and butter in a large skillet. Add the onions and peppers…

And cook until they start getting nice and brown. This’ll probably take 3 or 4 minutes. Don’t let ‘em get too soft!

Next, add the chopped tomatoes…

And continue cooking for 30 seconds or so, just to warm them up.

Now for the fun part: Throw in the fried tortilla pieces!

Stir them around, then toss in the diced jalapeno. Stir around and reduce the heat to low.

If I had all the words of all the great poets of the world at my disposal, I still would not be able to express to you how wonderful this smells.

Now, pour in the egg mixture. You just want the pan to be mildly hot; you don’t want to brown the eggs at all.
Browned eggs. YUCK. That’s a flavor right up there with velveeta in my book. BLECH. PPPTTTTHT.

Now, the secret here is to cook the eggs, gently folding the mixture with a spatula. Definitely don’t stir or beat up the mixture…just fold. Gently fold.
You’ll know then the eggs are done; they’ll be set but not overly dry.

At the very end, throw in a generous amount of grated cheese.

And plenty of chopped cilantro! C’mon people—if you think you don’t like cilantro, give it one more try.

Speaking of opening your heart. Goodness gracious. You must experience Migas at least once in your life.
Preferably, this morning or tonight for dinner, or a midnight snack.
That is what I wish for you. my dear friends.
Migas
4 corn tortillas
Canola oil, to fry tortillas
10 to 12 large eggs
1/4 cup half & half
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped
1 green bell pepper, roughly chopped
4 plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 to 2 jalapenos, seeded and finely diced (leave white membranes if you like things spicy)
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped cilantro, depending on your taste
1 cup grated Monterey Jack or Cotija cheese
In a bowl, whisk together eggs and half & half. Salt and pepper eggs, then set aside.
In a small skillet over medium heat, heat oil and fry each corn tortilla just until crisp. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Chop tortillas and set aside.
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt the olive oil with the butter. Add onions and bell peppers and cook until starting to turn brown/black, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add in diced jalapenos and stir to combine. Add tomatoes to the skillet and stir around, then add tortilla pieces, stirring gently to combine.
Reduce heat to low.
When the heat has decreased, pour egg mixture into skillet. Stir gently to cook with the peppers, folding mixture very gently as it cooks. Add in grated cheese and chopped cilantro, and stir to combine. Serve with black beans and iced coffee.
Delicioso!
Hope you love it as much as I do.

Think bite-sized sticky buns without the time-consuming yeast dough. Rich, tender, cakey, with a bit of caramely brown sugar goop. These little cheaters are made with a quick stirred-together cream biscuit concoction. Too simple for words.

Chewier, Gooier, Crispier, Crunchier Note: Everyone, it seems, expects something a little different from a sticky bun. So while these buttery little bites are really quite nice, just to be clear, they are not the puffy, yeasty rolls of your childhood that, incidentally, took hours to make, roll, rise, and bake. These are more like scones in a sense, with their denser, chewier substantialness, their shy sweetness, their dough that comes together in mere minutes. So if you’re particularly fond of caramely loveliness, consider doubling the filling. Like your sticky buns exceptionally moist? Err on the low end of the baking time. Partial to pecans? Chop some and add them to the filling. And so forth and so on. You get the idea.

Equipment 1 miniature muffin pan with 24 cups or 2 miniature muffin pans with 12 cups each

Sticky Pecan Bites Recipe
Ingredients

24 pecan halves
1 cup (4.5 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for the work surface
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt, plus additional for sprinkling
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup (3.5 ounces) packed brown or muscovado sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, very soft, plus more for the muffin cups

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). Position a rack in the lower third of the oven. Lightly butter the muffin cups unless they are nonstick.

2. Place a pecan half in each muffin cup, top side down. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and mix together thoroughly with a whisk or fork. Make a well in the center. Pour the cream into the well. Use a rubber spatula to fold and stir the flour mixture and cream together just until the dry ingredients are completely moistened and a soft dough is formed. The dough should not look perfectly smooth. Let the dough rest for 2 to 3 minutes to firm.

3. Meanwhile, mix the sugar with the cinnamon.

4. On a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin, roll the dough to a rectangle about 12 by 7 inches and 1/4 inch thick. Use a small offset spatula or your fingertips to spread the dough with the soft butter, then sprinkle with a pinch of salt and the brown sugar, leaving a 1/8 to 1/4 inch border. Press the seam to seal. Starting at one short end, roll the dough tightly. Gently stretch the dough to lengthen the roll slightly to about 12 inches in length. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

5. Cut the dough roll crosswise into 24 equal pieces. (It’s easiest to do this by cutting the dough in half, then cutting each half in half, then cutting each portion into 6 pieces. This is easier to do than it sounds.) Place each piece of dough in a muffin cup, cut side up.

6. Bake the sticky buns for 12 to 15 minutes, until browned. Rotate the pan(s) from front to back halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking. (The longer you leave them in the oven, the crisper the edges but the drier the dough.) Immediately turn the buns out onto a sheet of parchment on a heatproof surface. (And we do mean immediately, otherwise the buns may stick to the pan.) Serve warm out of the oven.

Girlie-Man Super Bowl Recipes

Before any of you dudes haul off and clock me, let me just say (and I’m sure your wives, girlfriends, mistresses, sisters, and even mothers would agree) that it’s time to get out of your SBR – otherwise known as Super Bowl Rut. How many sliders, pizza's and bowls of chips and dip can you down anyway? (Wait, don’t answer that.)

Granted, why should you take Super Bowl advice from a woman whose most athletic feat to date has been jumping to a conclusion? I may not know who’s playing this year, the Packers and Bruins, right?...(I am from Wisconsin, so I do at least know that the Packers are playing...or they would kick me out of the state.), and I certainly know food. And by girlie-man recipes, I don’t mean tea sandwiches or feathery snacks you have to eat with your little finger perfectly arced. But if some of you bruisers want to eat with your pinkies perfectly arced, who am I to judge?

What I mean is, aim for more refined flavors. Think outside of the box. For example, instead of cheeseboards buckling under their own lactic weight, why not intensely cheese-alicious Cheddar and Parmesan crisps? Why slog through plain ole pizza when you can toss around a Spanish version, with Manchego cheese, chorizo, and poblano peppers? (Although the recipe doesn’t call for it, black Empeltre olives from Aragon aren’t a bad thing, either.) And why reach for those grotty dips in a tin when you can whip up a batch of Green Goddess Dip? Too frou-frou? I thought as much. So add a bit more herbs and call it Badass Green Bay Dip. Problem solved, masculinity intact.

There’s also a fringe benefit to getting your game day grub on, that is if you include some lady friends in the mix: All you guys without wives, girlfriends, and mistresses just might score a date for Valentine’s Day next week. And don’t sweat it, I’ve got you covered with all those dishes, too.

Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies. Major, Major Yum.

These are evil. And they must be destroyed. I’ve decided that I never want to be without them, they’re so fundamental to my survival at this point. And they’re as simple as it gets: Cream cheese-stuffed jalapenos wrapped in bacon. Cook ‘em. Pop ‘em in your mouth. Sing praises. Faint. They’re absolutely addictive.



The Cast of Characters: Fresh Jalapenos, Cream Cheese, and Bacon. Three ingredients! This is simple stuff.




Start with a jalapeno. Hello, jalapeno! Try to find ones that are 2 to 3 inches long; not too big.



Slice the jalapeno in half length-wise.



Ack! I just love this shot—looks like I’m about to lob off my fingers.
Please, please don’t lob off your fingers.



Now it’s time to seed them. (Or is it "de-seed?" I never do quite get that whole thing.)



With a spoon, gently scrape out the seeds and white membranes. This process moves pretty quickly.


If you’re impervious to the spiciness, you can leave a little membrane and/or a couple of seeds inside. If you prefer things a little on the mild side, go ahead and clean ‘em out reeeeel gooooood.



Now cut the bacon slices into thirds. I usually just go ahead and cut the whole package at once. I like shortcuts.



Now unwrap the softened cream cheese and your assembly line is all set!


Now start smearing cream cheese inside each jalapeno half.



No need to be particularly neat about it…




Just schmear it in there generously.



Just keep going until you have the quantity you want. That’s the great thing about this recipe: you can make as few as two or as many as 49,382! There’s no huge commitment.



Now take a piece (1/3 slice) of bacon and wrap it around the jalapeno.



Wrap it snugly, but not too tightly.



Keep going until you’re finished.



Now stick a toothpick through the middle of each one; this will keep the bacon from coming off in the oven. Place them on a pan with a rack (so bacon grease can escape) and bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes. (or the BBQ grill, or smoker)Here’s what they’ll look like:


Oh, baby. Oh, oh, oh baby.


These are so divine, you should seriously consider making four or five times the quantity you think you’ll need.
In an unexpected twist, a friend came to my house and plopped a couple of these on top of his burger! What a great idea.
No, go forth and wrap jalapenos with bacon. You’ll never, ever regret it.