Woodstock, Mt. Washington, and Franconia State Park

Nate and I went on a mini vacation! We went camping in the North Conway New Hampshire area and saw some of the sights! This was a cool vacation in which we had no time constraints and were able to stop off at any places that looked exciting! 

 

 

Woodstock, NH
Lost River Gorge and Boulder Caves - Really cool!!! This is a boardwalk hike with caves along the way. You can cut through the path using the caves to get to the next portion of boardwalk, or you can skip the cave and walk ahead. The caves are very fun! It is well taken care of and there are also informational plaques(?) along the trail. One of the caves was tight, and wear clothes that you don't mind getting a little dirty. You are brushing up on the sides of some of the caves or sliding along on your belly. It is next to a river and waterfalls so it is a little damp (aka caves!!). 

 

Dilly Cliff Trail - Access it in the Lost River parking lot. It is a 1/2 mile hike and climbs 700 feet. That means it is a fairly steep hike. It is over rocks so wear the right shoes. I work Tevas and was fine. But sneakers would have been safer. We took about an hour.
 

Mt. Washington
 Pinkham Notch- This is the base for many Mt. Washington hikes (Tuckerman's Ravine). We stopped in and walked up to the Crystal Cascades to check out the waterfalls! This is a 10 minute, .3 mile walk up the trail, small incline over rocks. 

Mt. Washington Auto Road - There are many options to get to the summit of Mt Washington: train, hike, drive, or guided tours. We chose to drive up ourselves. Wow! Scary drive up! The road is a very narrow and you are on the edge of the cliff. It is two lane traffic so you have to pull off to the side at times. The entrance fee includes an audio CD that details the creation of the auto road and some of Mt Washington's history/geography. Bring a jacket, it is cold and windy up top! This is a very intense mountain and the weather can change at any moment so prepare well. If you don't like narrow roads this might not be the drive for you.

Franconia Notch State Park

Flume Gorge - We did the 2 mile loop. It starts with a dirt path, through a covered bridge, and then follows a boardwalk style hike (stairs too) and then goes back to dirt path. There are areas that are dirt paths as you go along. It was very pretty area with lots of waterfalls and mossy rocks. Bring bug spray. The top link is to the State Park website that doesn't have lots of information, if you want more start with some of the reviews on Yelp or Trip Advisor.

The Basin- This was one of the unplanned stops along the way. We parked in the lot off the highway and it was a 20 minute short walk along some very pretty rocky waterfalls and river.

Food
Woodstock Inn Station and Brewery - Lots of filling food options. We had the slider sampler, nachos, and pulled pork sandwiches (we went twice... !). Great pulled pork! Reasonably priced and fast service. Ability to eat inside or outside. I didn't have any of the beers, but Nate did and said it was tasty.

Godmother's Mac & Cheese Casserole (Plus Chicken & Broccoli)

N and I were looking to make something for dinner and we decided to make a mac & cheese casserole. Now, who makes the best mac & cheese casserole? My godmother. It is cheesy, creamy, and topped with buttery Ritz crackers.

The recipe actually comes from the back of the Prince elbows pasta box, however there is a secret ingredient! A tsp of ground mustard. Where did this addition come from? I have no idea. But this is a very easy dish that is great to bring to big family parties.

I doubled some of the recipe (typical me, I only had enough to double some of the ingredients). You can also find it on this blog as well.

I wanted to make this more filling so I added 2 chicken breast and a crown of broccoli.

I started with the cheese sauce. I combined 2 tbsp of melted butter with 1/4 c of flour, 1 tsp of onion powder, 1 tsp ground mustard, and salt & pepper. I let this all combine. Now I get creative. I added the (mostly defrosted) chicken and let that cook a little bit. Then I tossed in the chopped up broccoli. I didn't have enough milk, I used 2 cups of 1% milk. I also used 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese. The recipe called for double that. However I didn't let that phase me and continued to stir until the cheese melted into a thick sauce. It looks like broccoli and cheddar soup!

 

I cooked the pasta according to the directions on the box. Elbow pasta was not on sale so I purchased rigatoni for $0.88 instead of elbows for $1.29.

I drained the pasta and put it back in the pot. I poured the cheese sauce over the pasta and stirred. I dumped the entire pot into my casserole dish and covered with another cup of mozzarella cheese.

Next is the cracker topping. I used my food processor to crush 15 Ritz crackers and combine it with a tbsp of melted butter.

 Baked it for 25 minutes at 350F.

Next time I would use the correct amount of cheese which is 4 cups. But everything cooked perfectly and made about 4-6 servings!

Godmother's Mac & Cheese
4-6 servings

1 box of pasta (16 oz)
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup of flour
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp ground mustard
salt & pepper
1 crown of broccoli
1 lb of chicken - 2 chicken breast, diced
4 cups of cheese
3 cups of milk

15 Ritz crackers, crushed
1 tbsp butter, melter

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cook pasta according to directions. Drain.
3. Meanwhile, in a pot, melt butter, add flour, onion powder, ground mustard, salt, and pepper. Add chicken and broccoli (if using). Let good for a few minutes. Add milk and cheese. Stir until melted. 
4. Combine pasta and sauce. Pour into 9x13 baking dish.
5. Combine crushed crackers and butter. Sprinkle over the pasta mixture.
6. Bake for 20-30 minutes until golden and bubble. 

Enjoy!

Garlic Butter Sauce

I went to dinner with my cousin the other night and had an incredible pasta, chicken, and broccoli dish that was covered in this mushroom garlic butter sauce. Wowww. I also tragically forgot my leftovers on the table. Typical. I had even portioned out enough for lunch!!

So what else to do but try and recreate this!

I Googled several garlic butter sauce recipes and once I had a basic concept I just went along with it. Here is my creation! This meal took about 15 minutes to prepare.

Cook noodles according to package instructions. I chose egg noodles because that was what I had. Any pasta works.

Melt butter in a pan.
Add oregano, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, garlic, and onion. I eyeballed this and shake it into the cap and into the pan.

Stir it about for a minute.

Add diced chicken (smaller pieces = faster cooking) and peas. Per usual my chicken was only semi thawed. Soft enough to cut up but definitely not thawed out. Took about 7 minutes to cook the chicken all the way through.

Add cooked noodles into the pan and toss to coat.

If you wanted more "sauce" add some pasta water and cornstarch about 1/8 of a tsp at a time.

This is enough for 2 folks. Maybe serve with salad or bread too. This is an easy enough sauce to bulk up too. Add some veggies, add more chicken, add shrimp. I would have added some sliced zucchini or broccoli if I had some hanging out in the fridge. You can always add more butter as you go if you find you are running out of "sauce" but you can't take out the extra butter.

Another thought would be to use olive oil with a little butter mixed in.. or make it cream based and add some milk and flour to thicken it... I'll keep you posted! :)

Garlic Butter Sauce
Makes approx 2 servings

1/4 of a stick of butter
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
salt & pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 chicken breast, diced
1/2 cup frozen peas
2 cups dry egg noodles

1. Cook noodles according to package instructions.
2. Melt butter in a pan.
3. Add oregano, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, garlic, and onion. Stir it about for a minute.
4. Add diced chicken (smaller pieces = faster cooking) and peas.
   
5. Add cooked noodles and toss to coat.

Enjoy!!

Candied Pecans

N. bought me a silpat mat!! What is a silpat mat, you ask? Basically its a reusable nonstick baking mat that can be used instead of parchment paper. Isn't he the best? I had to try it out and make him something. Since it was late and I was tired, I wanted to go with an easy recipe that didn't require needing to chill dough (shortbread was the other choice).

Seriously, this recipe is pretty much fool proof. It will be tasty no matter what. I wanted to half the recipe, but only successfully halved some of the ingredients... still came out good though!

I made this for the holidays last year, your house will smell amazing! If you wanted to half this recipe, it is easy. If you wanted to double the recipe, it is easy.

The original recipe calls for pecans, which are so good! However, I didn't have enough, so I used 1 cup of walnuts and 1 cup of pecans.

Whip an egg white and tbs of water until its frothy. Didn't half it, just used the whole thing.

Add nuts and coat in the egg white.

Add cinnamon (not halved), sugar (halved), and salt (halved).

Stir it all up. Because I didn't use all the nuts my mixture had some liquid in bottom of the bowl.

Put on a grease/parchment paper/silpat covered cookie sheet and bake at 250 for an hour. Stir them on the cookie sheet every 15 minutes.

(Note the pretty new mat!)

I'm impatient and I was tired, I took them out after 45 minutes.

I let them cool for a little bit and then put them into containers to store at room temperature.

These are tasty as a snack but also would be good on a salad!

Candied Pecans
Makes 1 lb

1 egg white
1 tbs water
1 lb pecans
1 cup white sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 250F. Prepare 1 baking sheet.
2. Whip 1 egg white and water until frothy. In separate bowl combine sugar, salt, and cinnamon.
3. Add nuts to egg white. Add dry ingredients. Stir until well coated.
4. Spread out on baking sheet
5. Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Molten Lava Cakes for 2

My friend made these cakes before, I thought it was the greatest! I found the recipe online here, it is also a video. So I made them once before but I wasn't focused and since they didn't come out right, you can safely assume I didn't follow the directions. This time I did. This time they came out like lava cakes! These are the easiest lava cakes you can make. Total time? Maybe 15 minutes. 10 minutes of that is it baking.

I melted the chocolate and butter in the microwave. Normally I do this on a stove top. Once the butter was melted I stirred until the chocolate squares was also melted. My oh my, it starts to smell yummy!

Next I added in the egg and egg yolk.

Since I wasn't at my apartment, I had already combined the powdered sugar and flour. So, I added that to the chocolate mixture and it turned into cake batter! Don't over stir, just stir until combined.

Divide cake batter into the greased custard cups. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes. If you want you can flip them out of the cups (directions below), but it was just easier to eat them in the cups. Just be careful because the bowls are HOT! 

Next time? I am thinking of adding in peanut butter chips, or walnuts, or raspberry compote, or fresh strawberries, or vanilla ice cream, or whipped cream...

This was a great base but the addition of something else would make it amazing.

Lava Cake

Makes 2

2 squares Baker's Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
3 Tbsp. flour

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Nonstick spray 2 small oven safe bowls. Place on baking sheet.

Microwave chocolate and butter in a bowl for 30 seconds or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted.
Stir in sugar.
Stir in egg and egg yolk.
Stir in flour.
Divide batter among prepared custard cups.

Bake 10 minutes or until sides are firm, but centers are soft. Let stand one minute. Carefully run a small knife around cakes to loosen. Invert cakes onto dessert dishes. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!!

Turkey and Spinach Stuffed Shells

I was making dinner last night and decided to attempt my cousin's Stuffed Shell Recipe. It had been a while since I've made this, so I made it up as I went along. I decided to stuff it with turkey, spinach, and ricotta. I used mushroom pepper jar sauce and covered it in mozzarella.

From start to finish this recipe took about an hour to prepare and cook, but makes about 30+ stuffed shells. Depends on how much filling you put in each one, mine were fairly hardy. We ate about 6 each. The filling could be used for Lasagna or Raviolis as well.

I used my food processor (still awesome!) to dice/chop up the onion and the garlic. Put it in a hot frying pan and let it get soft. I added in some seasonings here. Oregano, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. I stirred this around for about a minute. Then I added the meat. I used ground chicken but turkey or beef would be fine too.

Once it cooked through there was a lot of liquid in the pan. I drained it then added in the spinach leaves. I was rushing around the grocery store and just grabbed a bag of spinach. Not all bags of spinach are created equal. This bag had spinach with stems and I had to pick through it. Next time I'll make sure I get baby spinach leaves just for making this dish a little easier. However it made no difference to the taste. I wilted the spinach in the meat mixture. The meat was very chunky and not the texture I was looking for so I dumped it all in the food processor and pulsed it a few times until it was coarse sand texture.

Next I added in the container of ricotta cheese. YUM!

Meanwhile, I cooked the jumbo shells and had them drained and waiting to be filled. I under cook them a two minutes because I am against soggy pasta and it is going to bake in the oven more too.

I put some sauce in the bottom of the pan and started to stuff the shells and place them in the baking dish. I used a jar of Mushroom and Pepper sauce. Nothing super fancy.

Next I covered it with the rest of the sauce and then a bag of mozzarella cheese. Baked it uncovered at 375 for 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and starting to get a little golden.

Changes for next time? Well, we didn't think it had enough flavor. I think I might try it with chicken sausage (out of the casings), or double/triple the herbs when cooking the meat. And for those who don't like ground turkey, it didn't taste like there was any meat in it, and because I pulsed it in the food processor there wasn't any meat texture either.

All and all a tasty meal and not too intensive. It can be changed easily for your food preferences or whatever ingredients you have in the house.

I made Molten Lava Cakes for dessert!

Turkey and Spinach Stuffed Shells

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

Jumbo Shells

1 med/small vidalia Onion

5 cloves Garlic

1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes

1 tsp Oregano

Salt & Pepper to taste

1 lb ground turkey 

16 oz (ish) of fresh spinach

16 oz part skim ricotta cheese

1 jar of sauce (or homemade sauce)

2 cups of mozzarella cheese (it is 1 package)

Directions

1. Heat pan with some olive oil and add chopped onion and garlic.
2. Add red pepper flakes, pepper, oregano. Stir.
3. Add meat and continue to stir.
4. When mostly done cooking add in spinach until it wilts (about 30 seconds).
5. Pulse in food processor until everything is about the same size.
6. Let mixture cool.
7. Boil water and cook shells a few minutes shorter than the recommended package directions.
8. Add in ricotta, salt, pepper, any more seasonings, and then egg to the cooled meat mixture.
9. Put some sauce in the bottom of the baking dish, stuff shells, top with rest of sauce and mozzarella.
10. Bake at 375 for about 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy!!

Never Fail White Rice

There has been much debate regarding about how to cook the perfect pot of rice. Here is the result:

• Boil 1 3/4 c of water
• Add 1 cup white rice and stir for a second or two
• Cover with a paper towel sandwiched between the pot and the cover (this will let the moisture escape and prevents it from boiling over)

• Set stove to low and cook for 20 minutes (no peeking!!)
• Stir it up and serve!

Enjoy!!

Shredded Chicken and Smoked Sausage Gumbo

Happy Mother's Day!

We had such nice weather. I met mom in Chinatown for some dim sum, then I went home to make my mom something special for dinner. I normally make mom macadamia nut white chocolate chip cookies, however this year I decided to make something different. I went with Emeril Lagasse's Chicken and Smoked Sausage Gumbo with white rice. Original recipe found here. This is a fairly time consuming dish, but is quite tasty! It takes about 4 hours from start to finish, however half of the time you aren't doing anything but occasionally stirring the pot as it simmers away. I spent that time visiting with my father and sitting outside. What a great day. :)

I sliced up the 12 oz package of chicken sausage (mild Italian, they didn't have spicy) and let that brown in a little oil in the dutch oven for about 8 minutes. This is uncovered and stirred occasionally. I was a little worried because things were sticking to the bottom. I believe it was due to it being a different type of pot than I usually cook with. FYI, a large regular pot also works fine.

While that was browning I diced up some onions, celery, and a green bell pepper. I also combined the spices that make up the "Essence" seasoning. The recipe that is posted on Food Network creates 2/3 of a cup and then only asks you to use 1 tbsp of it... So I changed the measures to less than what was originally listed. We also like our food on the spicier side, so this recipe has some added kick to it. My adjustments are listed in the below recipe.



Once the sausage was browned I took it out and put the chicken in the pot. The recipe calls for 4lbs of chicken thighs, but I used 2 lbs of chicken breast to keep it healthier and I thought that 4 lbs was a bit overkill.. I forgot to put the seasoning on it first, so I just dumped in the entire mix on the chicken and tossed it around a little. I let that get nice and brown for about 8 minutes and then pulled it out. By this point there is a quite a bit of "things" stuck in the bottom of the pot. However, that is the flavor and this is a 1 pot meal (well, 2 if you make rice in a pot...)!

I let the chicken cool on a plate then put it in the fridge. It doesn't come back into the picture for another hour or so.

This next step is a little tricky and I basically made it up as I went. You need to make a roux. Use 1/2 cup (or so) of oil and then slowly combine in about 1 cup of flour. I used a bit over 1/3 of oil and about 3/4 cup of flour. Stir this constantly while scraping up the flavors that are stuck to the bottom of the pan. This step only took me about 5-10 minutes and the original recipe says 20-25 minutes. My pot was very hot at this point. I continued to cook this until brown and looked a little like Thanksgiving stuffing. Sort of clumpy and soft.

I added in the onions, celery, and bell peppers in next. Stir this around until its combined in with the roux. Then 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp cayenne, and 3 bay leaves; stir around. Add sausage back in. I added in 6 cups of chicken broth and 3 cups of water; stir around.

Bring this to a boil then let it simmer for about an hour. I think I waited 50 minutes because I'm impatient.

Add chicken after desired time has elapsed and submerge into the pot. By this point you have a pretty good idea for how thick the broth is going to be. (The shredded chicken will add some "thick" to this too). If you like it thicker take some more flour and combine with hot water until it turns into a paste similar to what the roux looked like, and slowly add into the pot.

I let the chicken breast stay in there for about an hour. I checked and by that point it was very tender and starting to shred when I used a fork to test it. I took the chicken out to shred using two forks. At this same time I stirred in a 16 oz bag of frozen okra. After the chicken was shredded I added it back in. Adding in the chicken thickens this up a lot as well.

Its nice to serve over rice or mix in rice if you want it a little thicker too.

THIS IS VERY SPICY. My family likes food spicy. If you do not, please taste as you go and add the spices in slowly. 

Here is my dad's never fail white rice recipe.

Happy Mothers Day to my mother!! xoxo.

Chicken and Smoked Sausage Gumbo
 Serves 4-8

1 tbsp oil
12 oz chicken sausage (Italian flavor), cut crosswise
2 lbs chicken breast
Essence seasoning below
1/3 c oil
1/2 c flour
1 celery heart (approx 1 cup)
1 med onion (approx 1 cup)
1 green bell pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne
3 bay leaves
6 c chicken broth
3 c water
16 oz bag of frozen okra

Essence seasoning: 2/3 tsp of each: paprika, salt, garlic powder, black pepper, onion powder, cayenne pepper, dried oregano, thyme

1. In large pot heat 1 tbsp of oil over med high heat. Add sausage and cook until browned. Remove.
2. Season chicken with Essence and add into pot. Cook on med high heat until well browned. Remove and let cool. Refrigerate until ready to use.
3. Combine1/3 c oil and 1/2 c flour and stir slowly and constantly until its a brown roux (color of chocolate).
4. Add onion, celery, bell pepper and cook until wilted. Add sausage, salt, cayenne, and bay leaves. Stir. Slowly add in chicken stock/water and stir until combined. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to med low and cook stirring every once in a while for an hour.
5. Add chicken and simmer for approx an hour or until chicken is tender and falling apart.
6. Remove chicken and add okra.
7. Shred chicken and add back in.

Serve over rice.

Enjoy!!