Clafoutis

Tonight I made a Cherry Clafoutis from here.

I think this recipe has a lot of potential. While I love fresh cherries, I've decided I don't love them baked, so next time I will try another fruit.

The clafoutis (pronounced kla-foo-tee) is like a big, thick crepe with fruit baked inside. It's not an overly sweet dessert. While traditionally made with cherries, pits intact, it can be made with just about any fresh fruit: apricots, plums, berries--or so I've read.

3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp. almond extract or vanilla
2 cups cherries, or other fresh fruit

Pre-heat the oven to 400 F. Beat the sugar and the eggs with a mixer (whisk attachment) until they are light yellow. Slowly add the butter while continuing to beat. Add the flour and whisk until smooth. Add vanilla, then slowly pour in the milk while beating to incorporate. The batter should be very smooth and shiny.

Place the fruit in a buttered glass baking dish, (9 or 10 inches in diameter). Pour the batter over the fruit. Bake in the pre-heated oven 30-40 minutes until slightly browned and almost completely set in the middle. Let sit at least 15 minutes before turning out onto a plate and serving. Serve warm or at room temperature. Dust with powdered sugar, or serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream if desired.

Leftovers are great for breakfast, because we all love having dessert for breakfast.

Fettucine Alfredo (My Go-To Recipe)

Recipe adapted from KraftFoods.com
4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) cream cheese, cubed

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup butter

1/4 tsp. white pepper(or black if you don't mind seeing it)

1/8 tsp. garlic powder

8 oz. fettuccine, cooked, drained
1/2 lb cooked, peeled and deveined shrimp (optional)

1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

In skillet over medium low heat, mix cream cheese, Parmesan, milk, butter, pepper and garlic powder until smooth.

Serve over hot fettuccine and shrimp. Sprinkle with ground nutmeg.

Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce

This recipe is another keeper. All five members of the Heber Sullivan clan gobbled it up. The recipe came from here, but I made some slight modifications. The way I made it serves about 6.


1 T. olive oil
1/2 C. finely diced onion
2 t. minced garlic
1 can diced tomatoes
1 t. salt
1/2 t. sugar

2 C. heavy cream
dash of cayenne pepper
3 T. finely chopped fresh basil leaves

½ C. shredded mozzarella or cheddar cheese
1/4 C. parmesan cheese

1 diced fresh tomato

Heat oil in saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions and saute until translucent (about 4 min). Add minced garlic and saute an additional minute or two. Dump in tomatoes, salt, and sugar, bring to a boil, and simmer for 5 minutes. Reduce heat and stir in cream. Lightly simmer (do not let it boil) until mixture is reduced by 1/3. Remove from heat and stir in cheeses.

Pour over 12 oz hot cooked whole wheat pasta, I used rotini. (You really want to use whole wheat if you are serving this as a main dish to make it more filling. This is a great sauce to cover the texture if you aren't used to whole wheat.)

Egg and Tomato Gratin

Maybe it was because the boys had spent the afternoon swimming and were famished, but everyone in the family downed this. So despite the fact that this has eggs and, therefore, is only loosely vegetarian, it is still going in the 2009 12 meatless meals my family loves.

I've made it with scrambled and hard boiled eggs. Both were great. Serve it over toasted French bread.

Egg and Tomato Gratin (from Orangette)

Pepper Steak and Mushroom Rice Pilaf

Link here.

Brownies

Recipe from my mom


2 sticks of butter
10 tbsp cocoa (1/2 c. + 2 Tbsp)
2 C sugar

Beat well.

Add:
4 eggs
1 1/2 C flour
dash of salt.

Combine. Batter is very thick. Spread in 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Tuscan Lentil Soup

This Tuscan Lentil Soup is nothing spectacular, but it's good, and every person in my family ate it, multiple bowls even. Therefore, it is going in the top 12.