By request: Fruit "Salsa" and Cinnamon Sugar Chips

So about a year ago I found this recipe on foodgawker (which is awesome by the way) and decided to make it for my friends. Unfortunately due to the ratio at RPI my friends are mostly impatient males who eat things before they're done to the point where they went through about 80% of the chips before the salsa was done and then didn't have anything to eat the salsa with and then complained a lot. Oh and they kept burning their hands because the concept of "just out of the oven = hot" is too difficult for their engineer brains. Drunk people are annoying sometimes.

Moral of the story: Make the salsa in advance.

Rainbow Fruit Salsa:

• Red: I used strawberries. Pomegranate seeds would probably be awesome too. Other red things: raspberries, watermelon, blood orange
• Orange: I used mango. Other orange things: peaches, nectarines, oranges/tangerines/clementines, cantelope (which is for losers)
• Yellow: I don't remember for sure but I think I used pineapple. May have cheated and used apples which are really more white than yellow. I think there are some weird citrus fruits that are yellow too, but I don't know.
• Green: I used kiwis. That's really the only good option. Starfruit and honeydew are also green, but not nearly as awesome as kiwis.
• Blue: Blueberries are blue. I don't remember if I used them or not.
• Purple: Blackberries are pretty close, if nothing else they get purple juice on everything when they inevitably get mushed. Also blackberries are fantastic.
• Sweetener: Honey, white sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar. They all have ups and downs. I went for a combination of honey and white sugar that let you taste a hint of honey without it being too in-your-face.
• Other stuff: I added coconut to it and I DEFINITELY recommend you do the same. Other stuff that could be cool: chopped walnuts, bits of candied ginger, a very small amount of mint.
• Spices: I don't think it really needs spices, but you can add some cinnamon to go with the chips if you want.

Directions:

1. Chopping: Chop everything into little tiny bits.
2. Mixing: Mix all the durable ingredients (not berries).
3. Stick it in the fridge: Then go make the chips. Come back when the first batch of chips is about to come out of the oven.
4. The chips are coming out of the oven!: Ok, now you mix those fragile berries into the salsa and put it out on the table (yep, before the chips).
5. Salsa Complete.

Chips Ingredients:

• Flour Tortillas
• Melted Butter
• Cinnamon Sugar (make this by combining cinnamon and sugar. 3/4 c sugar + 4 Tbsp cinnamon is what I got from a Google search, but I always just eyeball it)

Directions:

1. Oven: Preheat to 350 F.
2. Cutting: Cut tortillas into 6ish chip-like pieces. (wedges are great)
3. Topping: Put the tortillas in a single layer on some cookie sheets with a little space between them. Brush with melted butter. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. You only need enough butter so the sugar will stick, but you can get pretty liberal with the sugaring before anyone complains.
4. Baking: Bake 10-12 minutes or until crispy. The edges will kind of turn up a bit and they may or may not puff a little if they have air bubbles.
5. Serve: So to be honest, these are extra-great when they're still warm. If you put a cookie sheet of them in front of college kids, it won't even last two minutes. Ideally you get them to put the salsa on the chips, but that's kind of a lost cause on some people (sigh)

I unfortunately don't have any pictures of last time I made this, but if I make it again or someone else decides to make it, they may be added retroactively :)

Original recipes:

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/04/sweet-fruit-salsa-with-cinnamon-chips/

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/04/baked-cinnamon-chips/

Potato and Beet Gratin

So I wanted to make beets for Easter, but I also wanted to make asparagus. And potatoes. So I combined the potatoes and beets based off of recipes I've made in the past and here's what I came up with:

• Beets (I used 4 smallish ones because that's what the grocery store had)
• Potatoes (I used an equal amount to the beets)
• Gruyere (or something similar)
• Cheddar (optional)
• Parmesean (optional)
• Cream
• Thyme
• Nutmeg
• Olive oil

1. Slicing: Slice the beets and potatoes very thinly. I used the slicer on my (super awesome) food processor so the slices ended up being about 1/4" thick.
2. Oven: Preheat it to 375 F.
3. Shredding: Shred the cheese(s). My shredder was broken so I ended up using a vegetable peeler (y-type) to "peel" the cheese. It worked pretty awesomely on the gruyere, but the cheddar was too mushy so I had to resort back to the broken grater.
4. Layer: Drizzle olive oil in the bottom of a casserole/baking dish (anything ceramic or glass is fine). Place a layer of beets and potatoes in the bottom. Then a layer of cheese. Sprinkle in some thyme (fresh if you have it). Then a layer of beets and potatoes. Then a layer of cheese. More thyme. Repeat until you're out of stuff or out of room. Cover the top in an extra-cheesy layer. Dump some cream on it. I used about 3/4 c (guessing) for a 9x9ish dish that was half full. Then sprinkle with ground nutmeg.
5. Bake: Cover in aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove aluminum foil and bake another 15-30 minutes. It should be bubbly and delicious smelling and the beets and potatoes should be tender.

I may or may not add pictures here at a later date.

Nutty Chocolate-Raspberry Thumbprints

These are basically the most delicious cookies ever. They were a finalist recipe in the Cook's Country Christmas cookie contest, which coincidentally happened to be in the first issue my grandparents sent me.

Nutty Chocolate-Raspberry Thumbprints

Makes 3 dozen cookies

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened, or shortening
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped fine
6 tablespoons seedless raspberry jam
½ cup white chocolate chips, melted

1) Make Dough: Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. With electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Reduce speed to low, add flour mixture, and mix until just combined.

2) Shape and Bake: Place pecans in shallow dish. Roll 1 tablespoon dough into 1-inch ball, then roll in pecans, pressing to adhere. Repeat with remaining dough. Place balls 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Using teaspoon measure, make indentation in center of each ball. Fill each dimple with ½ teaspoon jam. Bake until set, about 10 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking. Cool 5 minutes on sheets, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

3) Drizzle Chocolate: Drizzle cookies with melted chocolate and let sit until chocolate hardens, about 15 minutes. (Cookies can be stored in airtight container at room temperature for 3 days.)

Tips:
- Dutch-processed cocoa has deeper flavor than natural cocoa.
- To pipe the white chocolate from a plastic bag, pour the melted white chocolate into the bag. Use scissors to snip one corner and drizzle the chocolate over the cookies.

(Source: Ronna Farley, via Cook’s Country)

Suggestions and Requests

If anyone remembers something specific that someone else has made, request it here! Also, if there's a general recipe you're looking for a good version of, make a suggestion and maybe someone will know of something tasty!

• DJ, the cinnamon sugar chips and fruit salsa you make are delicious.
• Kate, your hummus recipe was awesome.

40-minute yeast-free vegan bread

I discovered this recipe a couple of summers ago when Natalie was vegan. It's super-low-fuss and perfect for someone like me who never thinks ahead enough to make real bread. I almost always add the olives but you can really add anything you want.

3 cups whole wheat flour (white flour doesn't come out as well)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups water (You can substitute tomato juice or something similar)
1/4 cup oil (I use olive)
Chopped green olives or sun-dried tomato (optional)

Do not sift the flour!
Mix everything
Stir until there is no more dry flour.
The dough should be moist but not sticky.
Score lightly the surface in a diamond or X shape to prevent splitting of the crust.
Shape into a ball or whatever
Place on clean baking sheet.
Bake for 40 minutes at 400F.
I usually brush the top with olive oil and a liberal sprinkling of kosher salt and oregano

Sage Fruit Salad

Named after Russell Sage Dining Hall, where I stole this recipe from. I haven't quite worked out proportions for this recipe yet, since I usually just do it by taste, but I'll edit the post when I've had the chance to make it a few more times.

Sage Fruit Salad

Makes ???

canned pineapple, drained
canned mandarin oranges, drained
cilantro, fresh or dried
red onion, finely chopped
jalepenos, finely chopped

1) Put equal amounts of pineapple and mandarin oranges into a bowl. Add small amounts of cilantro, red onion, and jalepeno until it tastes awesome.

2) Experiment; it's really all up to your own preferences. Leave a comment if you discover any other good combinations!

I bet fresh peaches and/or mango would also go well, but I haven't been able to try them out first hand yet.

Breakfast Buttercups

Here are the breakfast buttercups we made at girls' night! So delicious.

Breakfast Buttercups

Makes 10 buttercups.

Note that while most recipes call for large eggs, this recipe calls for medium eggs.

10 medium eggs

10 slices white or wheat sandwich bread, crusts removed

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

10 thin slices deli Swiss or cheddar cheese (about 5 ounces)

5 thin slices deli ham (about 5 ounces), halved crosswise

salt and pepper

1) Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Place eggs in large bowl and cover with hot tap water. Let sit 10 minutes.

2) Meanwhile, following instructions 1 and 2 below, roll bread as thin as possible with rolling pin and press into 10 perimeter cups of 12-cup muffin tin, leaving 2 center cups empty. Brush bread cups with melted butter and bake until light golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes.

3) Top each cheese slice with a ham slice. Make cut from center to 1 side of each stack. Fold each ham and cheese stack into cone and press into toasted cup. Crack 1 egg into each cup and season with salt and pepper.

4) Return muffin tin to oven and bake until eggs whites are barely set and still appear slightly moist, 14 to 18 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Let sit 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

Engineering the cup:

1) Roll the bread thin before pressing it into the muffin cups; this makes it easy to shape the bread without tearing it.

2) Pinch the opposite long sides of the bread and press each slice into a muffin cup. Brush with butter and bake until light brown.

3) Cut a slit from the center to one side of each ham and cheese stack.

4) Fold each ham and cheese stack into a cone and place each cone in a toasted cup. Now you're ready to drop in an egg.

Tips:

Use oversize sandwich bread for the toast cups for the best muffin-cup coverage.

(Source: Cook's Country.)