Afternoon goodness

The best dessert from P.F. Chang's:  Banana Spring Rolls with Coconut Pineapple Ice Cream.  I need to figure out how to make this ice cream!!!

Mushrooms in phyllo

Because I am somewhat scatterbrained and get easily distracted when someone comes home early, we do not have a picture of the final product. But oh well. Supposedly this is pretty tasty, and was one of the main ideas that convinced me to buy the phyllo dough calling to me at the supermarket.

"Rebecca, Rebeeeeecca...buy meeeee!"

Okay, okay. So I did.

Plus, I need to come up with a way to use the mound of mushrooms the manfriend bought at Costco. I don't like them, all dark and slimy. However, I don't begrudge those who do like them, and I refuse to let the mountain of them go bad.

Ingredients:
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 large onion, finely diced
5 cups sliced mushrooms
Salt and pepper
1/3 cup white whine
6 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 oz feta
2 sheets phyllo
olive oil for brushing

Preheat oven to 375.

Heat oil in a pan. Sauté onions. Add mushrooms, salt and pepper, thyme, and wine. Cook until tender. Remove sprigs of thyme.

Let cool. Add feta.

Layer two sheets of phyllo, brushing with olive oil in between. Cut sheets in half lengthwise. Place half of mixture 2 inches from end of half of the phyllo. Fold sides in, and fold mixture down length of phyllo. Place on greased baking sheet. Lightly brush with oil.

Bake for 15 minutes until phyllo is golden brown. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

Spinach and cheese cigars

I bought phyllo dough the other day, for a simple recipe or two I wanted to try. (Bananas in phyllo dough surrounded by nutella and baked? The manfriend was in heaven.) But, of course, the recipes didn't call for the entire package.

This was inspired by spanikopita, a Greek dish involving similar ingredients baked inside phyllo dough.  But I'm not all fancy schmancy to try to make the triangle packets.  Without further ado, Spinach and Cheese Cigars.

Ingredients:

4-5 sheets phyllo dough
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves sliced garlic
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
6 oz fresh spinach
2 green onions
2-3 large shallots
3 oz feta cheese
2 oz goat cheese
2 egg whites
1 oz hard cooked salami
Olive oil for brushing

Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium sized pan, saute garlic in olive oil until golden brown in color. Remove most of the garlic, but leave oil. Add spinach to pan and cook until wilted, 1-3 minutes. (If need be, wilt spinach in two halves.) Remove spinach from pan and place in a bowl to cool.

Slice shallots and green onion and place in pan over medium heat. Saute. Add to the wilted spinach. Mix in the parsley. Cut the salami into bite sized sections and combine with veggies. Let cool while you prepare cheese.

Beat egg whites, feta, and goat cheese together until mixture is creamy. Toss in cooled vegetables and stir to combine.

Lay one piece of phyllo dough onto a large cutting board. Cover the remaining dough with plastic wrap and then place a damp towel on top to prevent phyllo from drying. Lightly brush phyllo dough with olive oil. Cut the dough in half to create two even sections. Using one of the pieces, spoon mixture into a line at the end of the phyllo. Wrap phyllo around mixture into a cigar shape and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Repeat with the other half of phyllo. Continue the process with the rest of the dough until the mixture is gone.

Lightly brush finished cigars with olive oil. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.

Enjoy.

It's tasty, I promise! I went back for seconds, and the manfriend for thirds.  I also forgot to brush the cigars with olive oil before baking, which is why mine are so white in the pictures.

Tiramisu pancakes

Breakfast this morning was anything but healthy... I had a moment of inspiration and decided to modify a tiramisu pancake recipe for something decadent to kick off the weekend.

Basically, it's chocolate and coffee pancakes soaked with a little bit of coffee, and a whipped cream using tiramisu marscarpone cheese, coffee, and cream.  It just screams "eat me," doesn't it?  I very happily obliged...