Batter-Splattered

Nordy bars

I stumbled upon this recipe recently in the recipe swap section of Oregon Live, which I've been reading every morning because I have a trip to Portland coming up soon. I like to get a feel for a place before I go there -- and what better way than through the local paper. And then of course, I'm always drawn to a food and recipe section when I see one.

I'd never heard of these bars or seen them sold at my local Nordstrom but they were spoken of with such religious devotion, you know I had to make them. Further research showed that these were originally made and sold at the Nordstrom Café (where you can get a mighty fine salad) but are no longer offered on the menu there.

Pity, because they're really good. You melt butter and butterscotch chips in a saucepan, add some dry ingredients, then stir in chocolate chips, marshmallows, and walnuts. A little something for everyone!

I cut mine up into bite-sized morsels for a party and put them in little paper cups so guests wouldn't get all that ooey-gooey goodness all over their fingers, although I doubt anyone would have complained.

 

Nordy Bars

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 (11-ounce) package butterscotch chips
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 (12-ounce) package semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 cup chopped pecans

In medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat; add butterscotch chips and brown sugar, stirring until they're melted.

Remove pan from heat and stir in eggs; add flour, baking powder and salt, mixing thoroughly. Stir in vanilla; set aside until cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

When cooked mixture is cool, stir in chocolate chips, marshmallows and pecans; spread in greased 9-by-13-inch pan.

Bake 25 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool, cut in bars.

My new favorite noodles

What's a girl to do when her husband comes home early from work tossing his cookies into his new best friend, the toilet bowl?

First, try to resist the urge to spray him in the face with disinfectant.

Second, remain ever-vigilant all day long, acutely in tune with one's own body, seeking out signs of oncoming sickness, alarmed that one might come down with whatever pestilent scurvy the man has brought into this house.

Third, figure out something to cook without him in mind because, clearly, he's not going to be interested in eating. It would be a shame to waste a perfectly good Sunday spent puttering around the house in one's pajamas (prime time to tackle one of those recipes that takes all day to cook).

Well, I now have some whole wheat bread dough rising in a big bowl and I pulled this recipe for spicy peanut noodles out of my very large and always-growing stack of to-be-tackled recipes.

Am I ever glad I did. Even the sauce is to-die-for with its peanut butter, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, cayenne pepper, and fresh ginger. I wanted to eat it with a spoon. But I didn't. Well, not much of it anyway. A straw might have worked better.

The linguine gets tossed with orange bell pepper and sliced green onions, then topped with cilantro and chopped peanuts.

I'm definitely going to take a big bowl of this to work with me tomorrow for lunch.

It's not that the husband wouldn't like this, persay. It's just that if it doesn't have meat in it, he fails to see the point unless of course it's a side dish served alongside a heap of meat. You could make this meaty -- add some cooked shrimp or some rotisserie chicken.

Spicy Peanut Noodles

Makes 6 side-dish servings

6 T peanut butter (the original recipe calls for creamy but I used chunky and it was good. the original recipe also says not to  use old-fashioned style or freshly ground peanut butter)

1/4 c chicken broth

3 T rice vinegar

3 T soy sauce

1 1/2 T sugar

1 T sesame oil

1 T fresh peeled and minced ginger

1/4 t cayenne pepper (or more depending how spicy you like it -- the original recipe calls for 1/2 t and I thought it was a little overwhelming)

8 oz. linguine

1 orange bell pepper, sliced thinly into strips

1/2 c sliced green onions

1/4 c chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 c chopped salted peanuts

5 large lettuce leaves (optional -- for display purposes)

Combine first 8 ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk to blend. Set dressing aside.

Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to the bite. Drain pasta and run cold water over it until noodles cool off. Combine bell pepper, green onions, and noodles in a large bowl and pour dressing over the top. Toss to coat thoroughly (get your hands in there - that works best). Season with salt and pepper.

Optional (I didn't do this part but it would look pretty): line a serving bowl with lettuce leaves. Transfer noodle salad to bowl.

Sprinkle with cilantro and peanuts.

Chocolate Walnut Apple Bread

The original recipe for this bread describes it as a "gently-spiced and chunky apple bread." I concur. It has a cinnamon-y, sugar-y crumb topping that's just wonderful. I printed the recipe out months ago, thinking it sounded swell but rather than baking it right then, I added it to my constantly-growing pile of to-be-tested recipes. Then I kept pulling it out and looking at it, thinking I should make it, then putting it back in the pile of all those recipes that stack up, waiting for just the right occasion.

You know how that goes.

Well, apparently a rainy day in late July is the perfect occasion for Chocolate Walnut Apple Bread. I had the house to myself and Man vs. Wild was playing on the television all afternoon long, so I cooked this bread up whilst repeating back Bear Grylls' ominous and adorably British narration. Things like: "A crew of twenty men perished whilst coming ashore on an Icelandic beach just like this one." And then there was the episode where he straddled a knotty log as he inched his way across a raging river and he was bemoaning the damage it was doing to his 'manhood'...

Oh,that guy.

I felt compelled to add a few things to the bread, of course. More chopped walnuts. More chopped apples. More chocolate chips. More. More. More.

The blonde batter:

Straight out of the oven:

It's sure to be as tasty as that rabbit you just caught in a trap you built and set yourself whilst lost in the Moab Desert -- gutted, skinned and skewered on a tree branch, roasted on a spit over a campfire you built from a flint, a stick, and a bit of tree moss... or something like that. You know what I mean.

I should go change the channel.

Chocolate Apple Walnut Bread

Makes one loaf

Topping:

2 T sugar

1/4 t ground cinnamon

1/4 c walnuts, finely chopped

Bread:

2 c all-purpose flour

1/2 t salt

1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t cinnamon

1/4 t nutmeg

1/2 c margarine, softened (I used Smart Balance. Shortening or butter would probably work just as well)

1 c sugar

2 eggs

1 t vanilla

2 T buttermilk

2 medium-sized apples, peeled and chopped -- 1 1/2 - 2 cups

1 c walnuts, chopped

1/2 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To make topping: in a small bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon, and walnuts. Set aside.

To make bread: combine flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl. Set aside.

In a mixer, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Gradually beat in flour mixture in two portions, alternating with tablespoons of buttermilk.

Stir in apples, walnuts, and chocolate chips. Pour batter into a greased 9x5x3 baking dish. Sprinkle with topping. Bake for 50 - 60 minutes until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in dish on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove from baking dish and let cool completely on the wire rack.

Grilled Cajun Chicken Salad with Spicy Buttermilk Ranch Dressing and Sweet and Spicy Candied Walnuts

Or in the alternative: cats are mean little creatures.

I may never be able to eat this scrumptious salad again without thinking of tonight, juggling the grilling of chicken with the fending off of the neighbor's cat to keep it away from a wounded woodpecker that flew into my window and broke its neck, paralyzing it below the wings. The neighbors weren't home so I couldn't ask them to take their cat inside. I certainly didn't want it inside my own house. My apologies to cat lovers, but I just don't get them.

I had to throw several handfuls of gravel at that cat to drive it away, not to mention smacking it on the ass a couple of times with a very long wooden spoon (from stir-frying to swatting hungry-eyed cats -- now that's what I call a versatile kitchen tool). Such an unfair fight -- a fat domestic cat and a wounded wild animal that was once a beautiful and bad-ass bird. I couldn't stand by and watch the cat torture it to death the way I've seen it do to mice so I stood guard over the woodpecker, a shot of whisky in hand to steel my nerves, till my husband could get home and finish the bird off cleanly and quickly while I averted my eyes (there's something to be said for having a former butcher in the house).

Now how's that for an appetizing story, eh? I tell you what: cooking can be a challenge, some times more than others.

And note to self (I've never owned a cat so I had no idea): tying a cat to a patio chair with butcher's twine is not a viable option. That cat was purring away while I tied my knots, thinking it was going to get a nice rub between the ears on top of an easy meal. When I walked away and it realized it was tied up, that cat flipped right the hell out. I thought for sure the neighbors were going to come home to find a strangled cat but then it realized it could lean way back and slowly but surely pull its own collar off. Then it darted off into the woods, apparently aware that without its collar and despised jinglebell, it could steathily and silently hunt livelier prey than my woodpecker. I grabbed my kitchen shears and darted over to cut the twine off the neighbor's chair, stuffed the twine in my pocket and tossed the collar off to the side for the neighbors to puzzle over later when they returned home. This was not a story I wanted to share.

And did I mention that all the while, the wounded woodpecker was calling back and forth with another woodpecker hidden in the trees in the distance? It was breaking my heart clean in two.

In spite of all that to-do, I was able to finally go back inside, compose myself and shake off a strong case of the willies, and have a bowl of this salad -- a testament to my iron-clad belly. I made this salad as part of my July project: making lots of cajun/creole-influenced recipes. Just click on cajun/creole in the Category Cloud on my sidebar to see the other recipes I've sampled so far.

Buttermilk for the ranch dressing ready to be poured from a little restaurantware cream pitcher:

I got the little pitcher from my favorite source ever for vintage restaurant ware: Fish's Eddy. God, I loved that store when I lived in New York City for a short time a few years ago. I regularly walked from my apartment on East 80th all the way down to Hudson Street to stroll the aisles there. Most of my old dishes come from thrift stores but I still have the few items I got at Fish's Eddy.

I love buttermilk. Even the word makes me smile. And it makes a mean buttermilk ranch dressing in this recipe. Ordinarily, I'm not a huge fan of ranch dressing but this one is full of zip and zing.

The chicken is rubbed with lots of cajun seasoning, then more buttermilk is poured over the works and allowed to marinate for a while. I picked some lettuce leaves from my garden boxes:

I used this recipe as inspiration and added my own touches: dried cranberries instead of raisins; sweet and spicy candied walnuts instead of the toasted pecans called for in the recipe. I was fresh out of pecans or I would have candied some of those. Ooey-gooey walnuts ready for the oven:

You can bet I licked that spoon. Candying completed:

My versions of the recipes:

Grilled Cajun Chicken Salad with Spicy Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

Makes four servings

Seasoning ingredients:

1 t salt

1/2 t garlic powder

1/2 t onion powder

1/2 t dried thyme

1/2 t dried oregano

1/2 t black pepper

1/2 t paprika

1/2 t cayenne

Salad dressing ingredients:

3/4 c buttermilk (you'll need an additional cup of buttermilk -- see below)

1/2 c mayo or Miracle Whip (I've used both and they're both fine)

2 T chopped green onions

2 T chopped fresh parsley

1 T apple cider vinegar

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 t grated lemon peel

More ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts or tenderloins

1 c buttermilk

Mixed baby greens (5 oz. bag if you're purchasing rather than picking)

Sweet and spicy candied walnuts (recipe follows)

1/4 dried cranberries

Mix all seasoning ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside 1 1/2 teaspoons for adding to salad dressing later. Place chicken in a large bowl and rub with the remaining seasoning, cover with 1 cup of buttermilk, turn to coat, and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 3 hours.

Whisk salad dressing ingredients with remaining cajon seasoning in a medium bowl until well-blended. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate.

Prepare the candied walnuts according to the recipe that follows.

Once the chicken is done marinating, preheat the barbecue to medium-high heat. Remove chicken from buttermilk marinade, shake off excess and grill chicken until cooked through. Let rest on cutting board for minutes or so to cool. Slice on the diagonal. Toss all the salad fixings together in a big bowl and serve or allow everyone to build their own salad.

Sweet and Spicy Candied Walnuts

3 T light corn syrup

1 1/2 T sugar

3/4 t salt

1/4 t pepper

1 1/2 cups walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Combine first five ingredients in a medium bowl and stir to blend. Gently stir walnuts in and pour onto baking sheet in one layer.

Bake for 5 mintues then stir walnuts to coat using a fork. Continue baking until walnuts are golden and the coating is bubbly, about 10 minutes more. Transfer to a sheet of aluminum foil and using your fork again, QUICKLY separate walnuts and allow to cool.

Makes 1 1/2 cups -- more than you'll probably need for this salad, so you'll have leftovers to enjoy!