Tag: clove

ICC – Peach Cobbler Trifle

Well Dined | Peach Cobbler Trifle

I’ve joined a group called Improv Cooking Challenge, where each month 2 ingredients are chosen for us to make dishes with.  This month was peaches and cream – yum!  I scrolled through my saved recipes on Pinterest and found this Peach Cobbler Trifle that looked perfect for the challenge!

Well Dined | Peach Cobbler Trifle

Pound cake is layered with a pudding mixture, peaches, and a crumble topping.  My trifle dish is actually a punch bowl, so I only made 2 layers.  But with a taller, narrower dish – you could make 3 layers.

Well Dined | Peach Cobbler Trifle

I really liked that the pudding mixture used orange zest and sour cream to take it out of too sweet territory.  I added a pinch of salt to the crumble mixture and the peaches to help in this regard, too. (more…)

SRC – Pastitsio from Sarah’s Kitchen

Well Dined | Pastitsio

It’s Secret Recipe Club time again!  This month I was assigned Sarah’s Kitchen – a name that I love, obviously.  Sarahs of the world unite!  Sarah is from England, but now lives in Texas – which is kind of funny because I’m from Texas and once lived in Ireland (which I realize is not the same as England, but is geographically/culturally similar).  Spooky.

Anyway, I was clearly craving a casserole while looking through Sarah’s blog because every recipe I was drawn to was one.  Like this Stovetop Beef and Penne Casserole, this Eight Layer Casserole, these two Mexican Casseroles, this Chicken and Dumplings Casserole, and this Turkey Tetrazzini.  They all looked tempting, but as soon as a saw a recipe for Pastitsio, I was done.  This Greek lasagna like casserole is one of my all time favorite dishes.  So let’s make it!

Well Dined | Pastitsio

Start by sauteing onions and garlic, then browning beef.  I actually chose to use half beef and half lamb.

Well Dined | Pastitsio

When the beef is browned, stir in tomato paste. (more…)

Christmas 2012

I wanted to do a big Christmas dinner, but I didn’t want to be in the kitchen all Christmas Day. I also wanted to try something different than the usual rib roast and Yorkshire pudding. So I decided to do dinner on Christmas Eve and to do some easy, low-prep dishes for Brunch on Christmas Day.

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I ordered a half fresh ham through Whole Foods to try cooking a Christmas ham for the first time, but I made a few mistakes.  I wanted to cook it in the slow cooker with brown sugar and cider to make a glaze, but I didn’t realize that “fresh ham” is not really what we consider ham – without the curing or smoke, it is more like a pork roast – so I didn’t really get the flavor that I wanted.  I also couldn’t get the whole thing to fit in my (very large) slow cooker insert, so I had to chop a chunk off – which actually ended up being a good thing because I roasted that piece and it came out better. (more…)