#93 - Arugula and Parmigiano Flatbread

For Emily's birthday, the Becks came down from New Jersey, and we went out to eat with both sets of our parents (and Dan and Dee) to Lia's in Chevy Chase. One of the appetizers we had was a flat bread with arugula and burrata cheese. For recipe #93, we took our inspiration from that appetizer to have another Hungry Hundred Original.

Arugula and Parmigiano Flatbread

A Hungry Hundred Original Recipe We're kind of in an arugula phase right now, but maybe that's because arugula is delicious. Other than that, all you need is some pizza dough, Parmigiano cheese, and a few other things. So we start out by rolling out the pizza dough and cooking it with just a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, and some sprigs of fresh rosemary. You're going to want fresh rosemary, so you can remove the sprigs once the dough comes out of the oven. Then you dress the arugula with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper. Once you take out the dough from the oven, you discard the rosemary, cover it with the dressed arugula, and top with the Parmigiano. And that's it. So this is a pretty good little appetizer. For being so simple, it's really tasty. It's light and flavorful, and - this may not sound like a good thing, but we mean it in a good way - it's kinda like a salad pizza. This is so simple, you should give it a shot next time you have some pizza dough.

Ingredients

• 1 lb pizza dough
• Olive oil
• 4 sprigs rosemary
• Salt
• Pepper
• Arugula
• Balsamic vinegar
• Parmigiano cheese, sliced

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 450.
2. Roll out the dough on a working surface using a small amount of flour and your hands.
3. Transfer the rolled dough to a pizza stone.
4. Using a pastry brush, cover dough with olive oil.
5. Salt and pepper the dough.
6. Place full sprigs of rosemary on the dough.
7. Bake until lightly golden, about 25 minutes.
8. Remove from heat and discard rosemary.
9. Place the arugula in a medium bowl.
10. Add enough olive oil and vinegar to coat lightly.
11. Add salt and pepper and toss to combine.
12. Cut flatbread into small slices.
13. Top each slice with a small pile of arugula and a piece of Parmigiano cheese.

#92 - Arugula Salad with Caramelized Onions, Goat Cheese, and Candied Walnuts

It's December, and we're winding down the 100 recipes! This one is #92 so after today's salad, there'll only be eight more recipes to go!

Arugula Salad with Caramelized Onions, Goat Cheese, and Candied Walnuts

From Bon Appetit We saw this recipe in Bon Appetit and had to try it. It's a salad with candied nuts on top. That's right, salad with candy. Like with the Caesar Salad we made a few months back, the first step is to make homemade croutons. Yet another thing that makes this recipe awesome. Then you caramelize the walnuts, caramelize the onions, and put it all together, topping with some goat cheese. So how was it? Well, let's just put it this way. We may never make another salad again.

This was so tasty with the bitterness of the arugula meeting the sweetness of the walnuts, combining with the flavors of the onions and goat cheese, and the crunch of the croutons. What's not to like? Here's what you need to do to make a salad that everybody you know or care to know will enjoy.

Caramelized Onions

Ingredients

• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 Tbs balsamic vinegar
• Salt
• Pepper

Preparation

1. Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Add the onions and saute until golden, about 18 minutes.
3. Remove from heat.
4. Sprinkle with the vinegar and stir to blend.
5. Season with salt and pepper.

Candied Walnuts

Ingredients

• 1/6 cup (packed) light brown sugar
• 1/8 cup water
• 1 Tbs butter
• Large pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup walnut halves

Preparation

1. Combine sugar, water, butter, and salt in a medium skillet over medium heat.
2. Bring to a boil, whisking.
3. Boil for 1 minute.
4. Add the walnuts and stir.
5. Toss until the syrup forms a glaze on the nuts, about 3 minutes.
6. Transfer the nuts to a sheet of foil and quickly separate nuts with forks.
7. Cool completely.

Croutons

Ingredients

• 2 cups 1/2-inch cubes crustless country bread
• 1 1/2 Tbs olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Place the bread cubes in a large bowl.
3. Drizzle with the olive oil, tossing to coat evenly.
4. Spread the cubes on a rimmed baking sheet.
5. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Bake croutons until crisp, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.

Salad

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 Tbs olive oil
• 1 1/2 Tbs balsamic vinegar
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 5-oz package baby arugula
• 1 5-oz package soft goat cheese, broken into 1/2-inch pieces, chilled

Preparation

1. Whisk olive oil and vinegar in a small bowl.
2. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Place the arugula in a large bowl.
4. Drop in onions, tossing to distribute evenly.
5. Add nuts, croutons, and goat cheese.
6. Toss with enough dressing to coat lightly.

#91 - Parsnip and Apple Soup

As he did with the Sorrel Soup back in September, Farmer Randy helped us out with a new recipe by giving us this parsnip and apple soup recipe and providing practically all the ingredients.

Parsnip and Apple Soup

From Star Hollow Farm This soup has parsnips and apples (as the name suggests), and the cumin-corriander-spice combo we've used three other times. You start out by chopping your apples, parsnips, and onion, and then you plop them in a pot with some melted butter. Then you add the spice mix and stir it all together. Then you add some chicken stock and let it simmer for about half an hour. Eventually you puree the whole thing and add some cream.

So this is a weird one. As you're cooking it, you're smelling that spice mix, and you're adding chicken stock. But when you eat it, it is not as savory as you might expect. The apples really cut through it, and it's very balanced and tasty. Again, as you're cooking it, you don't think that coriander and cumin and curry powder would go well with apples, but that was the best part.

So, different, but delicious. And we probably prefer this one to the sorrel soup, which if you remember we liked quite a bit. So there. If you find yourself in the possession of parsnips, try this:

Ingredients

• 1 Tbs butter
• 1 lb parsnips, thinly sliced
• 1 lb apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp cardamom
• 1 large clove garlic, crushed
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Chives, chopped

Preparation

1. In a large soup pot, heat the butter over medium heat.
2. When butter is foaming, add the parsnips, apples, and onions.
3. Soften them, but do not let them color.
4. Add the curry powder, cumin, coriander, coriander, and garlic and cook for 2 minutes, stirring well.
5. Pour in the chicken stock slowly, stirring until well mixed.
6. Cover and simmer gently for about half an hour, or until the parsnips are quite soft.
7. Salt and pepper to taste.
8. Using a blender, liquidize the soup.
9. Add the cream and reheat, without boiling.
10. Serve garnished with the chopped chives.

#90 - Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

So for Thanksgiving, we didn't just make the Caramel Apple Cheesecake. We also made the other half batch of those pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (we had frozen half of the cookie dough). Oh, and these Oreo cupcakes from Bakerella.

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

From Bakerella So this dessert is an Oreo-and-chocolate cupcake, with Oreo-infused icing, and topped with some sort of Oreo topping. So besides your usual chocolate cupcake ingredients, you're gonna need - you guessed it - Oreos. So to get the chocolate cupcakes infused with Oreos, you crumble one and put it in the cupcake liner. When you pour in the batter, the chunks will float up and fill the whole cupcake. See? Then when you're making the icing, you sprinkle Oreo crumbs in it to get little black speckles in the white frosting. Oh my gosh, these were good too! We completely rocked Thanksgiving dessert! The cupcakes were very chocolatey, but it didn't go overboard. They may have been a little bit sweet, but if there's one day to splurge, it's Thanksgiving. Any other day, you probably don't need the Oreo on top. Here's what you need to do to turn your standard chocolate cupcakes into something that'll turn heads.

Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup hot water
• 24 Oreos, plus more for crumbs

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Line cupcake tray with 12 paper liners.
3. Break apart 12 cookies and place the broken pieces in each cupcake cup.
4. Mix the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl using a wire whisk.
5. Add the eggs, oil, vanilla, and milk and mix well until completely combined.
6. Add the hot water and mix until combined.
7. Transfer the batter to a large measuring cup.
8. Pour batter into each baking cup so it's about 3/4 full.
9. Bake for 16-18 minutes.
10. Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting

Ingredients

• 1 cup shortening
• 1 lb powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3-6 Tbs milk
• 2 or more tsp Oreo cookie crumbs

Preparation

1. Beat the shortening in a mixer until smooth.
2. Add vanilla and mix until combined.
3. Add the powdered sugar in three additions, scraping down the sides after each addition.
4. Add a tablespoon of milk at a time and mix together until desired consistency is reached.
5. Add the cookie crumbs and mix until completely combined.
6. Place frosting in a decorator bag with a large tip and swirl on top of each cupcake.
7. Insert a cookie on top of each cupcake.

#89 - Cousin Johnnie's Caramel Apple Cheesecake

We saw this recipe on Food Network while we were flipping channels after work one day, and now that it's Thanksgiving, it's time to give it a shot.

Cousin Johnnie's Caramel Apple Cheesecake

From Paula's Best Dishes It's a Paula Deen recipe, so you know it's going to be good and that you're going to need some butter, y'all. You start out making the graham cracker crust, by mixing graham crackers, butter, and sugar in the food processor and then baking for 10 minutes. Then you make the filling, pour it in the cooled crust, and bake the whole thing, floating in a water bath. Ours sank a little in the middle, but other than that it already looked really good at this point. Then that needs to sit overnight in the fridge, until it's time to work on the topping - caramel apples and pecans. And if that doesn't look delicious, look at how the cheesecake came out when we took it out of the springform pan. This was awesome! Our last attempt at a cheesecake was not the greatest. The no-sugar-added-nonsense made it a little bland, there wasn't any exciting topping, and a lot of cracks formed in it (maybe due to the lack of a water bath). But this cheesecake was unbelievable. It was rich and tasty but not too sweet (a first for a Paula Deen dessert). The crust was delicious, and the topping was crazy. All in all, a perfect Thanksgiving dessert. Try this at home now, and you can claim you're just practicing for next year's Turkey Day.

Crust

Ingredients

• 3 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 9 Tbs butter, melted
• 1/2 cup sugar

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Wrap the bottom and sides of a 10-inch springform pan tightly with foil.
3. In a food processor, mix the graham cracker crumbs, butter, and sugar.
4. Press the mixture into the bottom and halfway up the sides of the prepared pan.
5. Bake the crust for 10 minutes.
6. Remove crust from the oven and let it cool completely.

Filling

Ingredients

• 4 8-oz packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 Tbs cornstarch
• 1 16-oz container sour cream
• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 5 eggs

Preparation

1. With an electric mixer, mix the cream cheese, sugar, and cornstarch until smooth.
2. Add the sour cream, orange juice, and vanilla and blend until smooth making sure there are no clumps.
3. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, blending until just combined.
4. Pour the filling into the crust.
5. Put a roasting pan on a rack in the center of the oven and transfer the cheesecake to the pan.
6. Fill the roasting pan with hot water to come halfway up the sides of the cake pan and cover it loosely with foil.
7. Bake until the center moves only slightly when the cake pan is shaken, about 1 hour and 45 minutes.
8. Check the water level about 1 hour into the baking, adding more water if needed.
9. Carefully remove the pan from the oven and transfer the cake pan to a wire rack to cool.
10. Refrigerate overnight.

Topping

Ingredients

• 8 Tbs butter
• 1 1/2 lbs Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Preparation

1. Melt the butter in a large skillet over high heat.
2. Add the apples and pecans and cook, stirring, until they are coated with butter, about 2 minutes.
3. Add the sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves and the liquid comes to a boil, about 3 minutes.
4. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the apples and pecans to a bowl.
5. Reduce the heat to medium-high and cook the remaining liquid, stirring often, until it turns a deep amber color, about 6 minutes.
6. Remove the skillet from the heat to stop the cooking and add the cream, being careful not to splatter.
7. Return the skillet to the heat and bring to a boil, whisking constantly.
8. Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the apples and pecans.
9. Allow mixture to cool until lukewarm.
10. Spread the caramel-apple mixture evenly over the top of the cheesecake.
11. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

#88 - Breakfast Biscuit Sandwich

If you take the best part of breakfast - the eggs, cheese, and meat - and you take the best part of lunch - the sandwich - and you put them together, then you're on to something.

Breakfast Biscuit Sandwich

From Food & Wine This is a ham, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich on a biscuit. If you don't have ham, we suppose bacon will be just as good. Or better. So you start out with the biscuits, making the biscuit dough, rolling it out, and baking for half an hour. Once those are ready, you cut them open and heat them with a little butter while you're frying up an egg. These sandwiches were definitely tasty. They were kinda hard to assemble because you want to make it right when the egg is finished and melting the cheese on the biscuit is a tough feat.

They also were kinda hard to eat. These might have been better as an open face sandwich because the biscuits are a little big, and that's a lot of bread for one egg. But for flavor, the biscuits were really delicious, and if you can get the proportions right, it tasted great with the ham, egg, and cheese. If you want a breakfast sandwich or you just want to learn how to make biscuits, you'll find what you're looking for below:

Ingredients

• 4 cups flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 1/2 Tbs salt
• 1 1/2 Tbs baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, cubed and chilled, plus more for spreading
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 10 oz sliced ham
• 10 oz sliced cheddar cheese
• 10 fried eggs

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 400 and position the racks in the upper and lower thirds.
2. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
4. Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut the butter until it is the size of small peas.
5. Add the buttermilk and stir until a shaggy dough forms.
6. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface.
7. Knead until it comes together.
8. Pat the dough 3/4-inch thick.
9. Using a 3 1/2-inch round cutter, stamp out as many biscuits as possible.
10. Reroll the scraps and stamp out more biscuits.
11. Transfer the biscuits to the baking sheets.
12. Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden and risen, shifting the pans halfway through baking.
13. Let the biscuits cool.
14. Split the biscuits and spread with butter.
15. Preheat a griddle and cook the biscuits, cut side down, until golden.
16. Fill the biscuits with ham, cheddar, and fried eggs; close and serve.

#87 - Banana-Pecan Bread

Besides the chorizo strata, we also made this new recipe for Emily's aunts and uncles - banana-pecan bread.

Banana-Pecan Bread

From Sophia Renda This is the third recipe that we've tried from Emily's cousins. The first two - Celina's coffee cake and Tessa's zucchini bread - were big successes, and we expect nothing less from Sophia's banana-pecan bread. How could it not be though? Look at the tasty ingredients.

There are chopped pecans. And ripe bananas. And those two ingredients are delicious no matter how they're prepared. But look at this bread! This thing was delicious. We're big fans of all sweet breakfasty breads, we're big fans of bananas and pecans, and this was the perfect combination of all of the above. Need a new addition for a family brunch? Make this. And invite us over.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 6 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 cup pecans, finely chopped

Preparation

1. Grease 2 loaf pans and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 325.
3. Cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.
5. Sift together the salt, flour, and baking soda.
6. Incorporate the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture.
7. Stir in the bananas and chopped pecans.
8. Pour mixture into the two greased loaf pans.
9. Bake for 1 hour an 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out of the center clean.