Fried Mozzarella Sticks

Posted by: Maggie


I love fried mozzarella. Honestly, is there anything better than hot, crispy, deep-fried cheese dipped in marinara sauce? Annie certainly didn't think so as a child. She wouldn't order anything other than fried mozzarella when our family went out to eat.

A bad mozzarella stick experience prompted me to make these at home. Jeff and I ordered takeout a few weeks ago, and happened to get mozzarella sticks with our pizza. Because...who doesn't need additional ways to stuff their face with hot cheese and sauce..amiright? Anyway, while the pizza was delicious, the mozzarella sticks were lukewarm. Rubbery. Flavorless. The marinara sauce was cold.

I refused to be relegated to a lifetime of mediocre fried cheese. I made these, and my mouth rejoiced. Well, it rejoiced after the burning stopped. Don't eat one of these right out of the hot oil. I'm super smart in case you haven't noticed!

Here's what you'll need:

8 mozzarella cheese sticks, cut in half to make 16 sticks
1 cup flour
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 cup panko bread crumbs, slightly crushed into finer crumbs
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
Pinch of garlic powder
Canola Oil for frying
Marinara Sauce for dipping

Beat together eggs and milk in a small bowl and set aside. Mix bread crumbs, parsley, and garlic powder in a small bowl, and set aside as well.

Set up an assembly line with the flour, egg mixture, and panko mixture. First dredge mozzarella sticks in the flour, then dip in the egg, and then roll them in the panko. It won't stick very well...don't fret, we're going to double dip it! Repeat the prior steps, but don't re-dip in the flour.

Place mozzarella stick on a parchment lined baking sheet, and repeat process with additional pieces of cheese. Place tray of breaded sticks in the freezer for 30 minutes.

15 minutes into freezing, heat 1 - 1 1/2 inches of canola oil over medium heat in a large, deep, heavy bottomed skillet. It depends a lot on your stove, and the pan you're using, but my oil took about 15 minutes to get to a temperature appropriate for frying. To tell if it's ready, sacrifice one mozzarella stick to the hot vat of oil, and if it fries up perfectly in about 2 minutes without cheese oozing everywhere, and without tasting like an oil slick you'll know it's good to go.

Fry the remaining mozzarella sticks in 2 batches, for about 2 minutes total, flipping the sticks over halfway through. Drain on a paper towel lined plate, and serve right away with warmed marinara sauce.

Adapted from: Tasty Kitchen

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Roasted Banana Ice Cream

Posted by: Maggie

This is the second recipe I've made from David Lebovitz's "Perfect Scoop" cookbook, and I think it's safe to say that I'm now addicted to making ice cream. I selected this recipe because I had 3 overripe bananas languishing on my counter, and I wanted to use them up on something other than banana bread. Plus, the oh-so-reliable Wikipedia says it's National Ice Cream month, and who am I to let such an occasion go by without celebrating?

For those of you who also like to make homemade ice cream, I wanted to share this company that I recently found. They're called Sweet Bliss, and make plain white pint and quart sized disposable ice cream containers. The first time I made ice cream, I stored it in a regular tupperware, and it turned into a freezer burned rock hard mass. I searched and searched online for a place to purchase a more appropriate storage vessel for my frozen treats.

I wanted disposable containers, but most places make you buy eleventy billion of them at once. Not happening. I live in a 600 square foot studio in a high rise apartment building. Closet space is at a premium, and there is not a shot in hell that I'm storing enough ice cream containers to last the zombie apocalypse, especially when there are shoes and purses to be stored.

Enter, Sweet Bliss. I was able to purchase a reasonably sized 25-pack of pint containers and a 25-pack of quart containers, that will surely last me for many, many years. As an added bonus, they fit neatly on a shelf in my closet. Sweet Bliss has no idea who I am, and are not paying me to advertise their product - I'm just a fan and wanted to share!

Here's what you'll need for the ice cream:

3 medium-sized ripe bananas, peeled
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter, cut into small pieces
1 1/2 cups whole milk (do not sub low-fat or skim - the texture of the final product will be off)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cut peeled bananas into 1/2 inch chunks. In a 2 quart baking dish, combine bananas, brown sugar, and butter. Gently toss with your hands to thoroughly combine, and bake for 40 minutes, stirring once halfway through.

When banana mixture is done, add the bananas and the syrup that has formed in the baking dish to a food processor or blender. Add in the milk, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, and salt. Process or blend for about 30 seconds, or until smooth.

Chill the mixture in the fridge for at least 12 hours (I waited for about 20 hours,) and then freeze chilled mixture in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions. For those of you who use the popular Cuisinart model (the kind I have,) the ice cream took a little less than the recommended 20 minutes to be done.

Makes 1 pint.

Addendum: I have never posted nutrition information on here before, but I often figure it out for stuff I make and thought it might be useful to others if I shared! I won't be posting it for everything because that will be tremendously annoying to figure out, and frankly, I don't always want to know how much damage I've done. I hope on the occasion that I decide to figure the nutrition stats that you all find it helpful! Also, I usually calculate nutrition stats using a program like fitday.com, or by adding up the data on the products I use, so be advised that there may be a slight margin of error when you make it! 

Serving Size: 1/4 of recipe
Nutrition per Serving: 255 calories, 7 grams fat, 49 grams carbs, 4 grams protein

Spinach Dip

Posted by: Maggie

Happy Monday!

Not.

Please pardon my attitude...it is hot as sin here in DC today, which makes me unreasonably grumpy. In honor of this miserable weather, I present to you a recipe that requires no stove, no oven, and no microwave.

Those of you who have been reading A Bitchin' Kitchen for awhile may remember that I shared a recipe for Hot Spinach Artichoke Dip back around Christmas. Hot spinach dip will always be my personal favorite, but this cold version of spinach dip is so simple and delicious that it deserves a place on the blog as well. It uses a packet of salad dressing mix, so any readers who are strictly against packaged stuff like that may want to avert their eyes now, and come back for Wednesday's very homemade recipe! (Hint: It is in celebration of National Ice Cream Month!)

Here's what you'll need for about 2 cups of dip:

2 packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed, and thoroughly wrung out (I used my potato ricer to wring out the spinach and it worked like a charm!)
1 cup mayonnaise
1 packet ranch salad dressing mix
Pinch of nutmeg
2 scallions, green parts chopped

In a medium bowl, combine the wrung out spinach and scallions. In a small bowl, thoroughly mix together the mayonnaise, salad dressing mix, and nutmeg. Add the dressing mix to the spinach mix, stir together, and chill until you're ready to serve. Tastes best when served with crackers, tortilla chips, or a spoon!

Source: My lovely Mom!