I know I can’t be alone when I say that being in the kitchen in the summer is a drag. It’s hot outside, I don’t need it to be hot inside, too. And since it’s Utah, where central air is not especially common inside homes – they favor swamp coolers here – it is frequently already hot inside anyway so the last thing I want to do is make it hotter. I prefer to flavor my food with kosher salt, not beads of sweat.

Gross.

Anyway, like most people we move to a great deal of low-maintenance cooking in this wretched heat, like grilling or things that cook quickly, and especially things that can be served cold, like this fantastic pasta salad from the June/July 2010 issue of Cooking Light. It is everything you could want in a summer dish – bright, sunny notes from the fresh dill, the tang of lemon, the smooth, silky bite of cold orzo and the crunch of crisp red bell pepper and cucumber. And the best part? I listed nearly all of the ingredients right there. The full recipe is, as usual, behind the cut.

I know, too, that it’s been a long time since I’ve updated. I won’t apologize for it, since I was using that time well, or promise that I will update more frequently, because you can see that’s worked out so well in the past, so instead I will encourage you to subscribe to my RSS feed so that you’ll get the updates whenever I do get around to posting them.

And you don’t want to miss the chocolate peanut-butter cookies coming soon!

Lemony Orzo-Veggie Salad
adapted from Cooking Light
(yields four 1 1/4 cup servings)

You will need:

3/4 cup uncooked orzo (get the bronze-die cut, it’s worth it!)
1/4 tsp lemon zest
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 large clove minced garlic
1/4 tsp honey
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup diced English cucumber (these are frequently marketed as seedless, longer than standard cucumbers, and might be wrapped depending on your store)
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions
1 Tbsp chopped fresh dill (Utahns: Sunflower Market is great for fresh herbs)
1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled goat cheese (optional)

Cook your orzo as the package recommends, but don’t salt or oil the water. Drain and rinse with cold water, drain again and place in a large bowl.

While the orzo is cooking, combine lemon zest, juice, olive oil, salt, garlic, honey and black pepper in another bowl, whisking well to get them all together and full of deliciousness.  Pour over your cold orzo, stir well to coat. Add cucumber, bell pepper, onions and dill, and toss gently again to coat veggies. Sprinkle with the goat cheese, if you like that sort of thing. Crumble cheese are not my thing. Stick your head in the bowl and enjoy.

Just kidding. It’s for eating – so eat!

Also known as lemony fish with greens and taters, which is why I do not work in marketing. The actual recipe calls for escarole, but after going to 5 grocery stores in search of it, I made do with curly endive – escarole is endive though a different and supposedly less bitter variety. I read that radicchio is virtually indistinguishable from escarole in taste but I had this awful fear that the red color of it would bleed onto the fish and that just did not sound appealing to me at all. Anyway.

For those of you who don’t actually like seafood – like me – tilapia is a very, very mild fish. If it’s the fishy flavor you hate, you would be fine eating this. If it’s the texture of fish, you’re hosed, don’t make it. If you can, though, it’s got nice protein content, not to mention low mercury content.

Tilapia with Endive/Escarole and Lemon-Pepper Oil

You will need:

–1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
–12 oz baby fingerling potatoes, halved
–4 cloves of garlic, smashed (I used five because I’m a rebel)
–1 bunch curly endive OR 1 head escarole, torn into pieces
– Kosher salt and ground black pepper
–1 1/4 lb tilapia fillets, patted dry
–2 sprigs fresh oregano, leaves torn, or a couple shakes of dry oregano if you (like me) were unwilling to spend 3 bucks on fresh oregano that will just go bad in your fridge
–Juice of one lemon

Heat up 1/4 c of that oil in a large skillet – and I do mean large. 12" or bigger. (so many things that could be said here….)

When the oil is warmer, put your potatoes in cut side down, to get them all brown and tasty on le bottom. The garlic should go in too. This process should take you roughly 5 minutes. My oil was not optimal temperature when I put my potatoes in so it took longer for them to crisp up a bit. Plus they stuck to my pan. How that happened with a freakin’ lake of oil coating the bottom of the pan, I’ll never know.

They really do look like fingers. I’m going to put a big bowl of them smothered in ketchup outside for Halloween. Looks aside, they are creamy and delicious on the inside and worth getting. Once they’re done, add your endive/escarole.

This may take some work, I had to stuff mine in there pretty good since I only have a 12" skillet. It does however wilt down relatively quick once you add 1/3 cup of water and cover with a lid, which you should do once it’s all in there. Give it another 5 minutes or so to steam and soften up.

While that’s happening, get your fish dried and seasoned with salt and pepper. After the 5 minutes is up, place the tilapia on top of your now-wilted greens, cover and steam for 5 more minutes or until the fish is cooked through. (5 minutes should do it just fine)

While the fish is cooking, whisk together the remaining 1/4 cup of oil, the lemon juice, a bit of salt and a healthy dose of black pepper. If you are feeling adventurous (and aren’t breastfeeding/pregnant) I think a glug or two of a dry white wine would go great in this. I don’t ever feel adventurous with a new recipe – and I’m nursing – so I don’t know if that actually tastes good, I only know that the flavors, especially combined with the bitterness of the greens and the relative sweetness of the fish, should balance nicely with the addition of a little wine.

Getting the now-cooked fish off those greens can be tricky. I tried tongs first and that was really dumb of me, I should have learned that lesson from the Dover sole a few weeks back. Fish and tongs – shredded mess. Make use of your slotted spatula here and lift the fish onto the plates. Serve with the greens, dig some of the potatoes off the bottom of your pan, drizzle with the lemon oil and bon appetit.

It should be noted that while this is a tasty dish, I did not like the endive. In the interest of fairness though, I am not overly fond of wilted greens, particularly dark greens as they tend to be bitter and unpleasantly textured for me. That’s just personal though and Warren, who likes basically any kind of green raw or cooked, thought it was good.

Warren, my husband, really likes Reese’s Cups. He will stick a bag of the miniatures in the freezer and only have one or two at a time, so it lasts him about a hundred years. I have no idea how he can do this, as I would eat one or two every 12 minutes or so, give or take a few seconds. So anyway, with the economy being as it is and some adjustments to our budget and another baby on the way, we opted not to do any Valentine’s Day presents this year, and instead of paying the babysitter and going to dinner and a movie, we ordered a pizza and watched a movie we already had instead.

Unfortunately, I am unable to not give presents of some sort on holidays. It’s necessary that I find some way to show my appreciation or else SOMETHING TERRIBLE WILL HAPPEN, I am sure of it. So, I thought, I have a cup candy mold from making Cupcake Bites (a post yet to be written), I have a toddler so there’s bound to be peanut butter, what on earth should I do? I know, I’ll make peanut butter cups! Genius, I tell you, sheer genius.

Guys, this turned out to be the easiest thing in the world. I looked at a few online recipes, decided none of them really worked for me and I might as well improvise, so I did and I call it a success. My success, let me share it with you.

• Ingredients:
• 1/2 bag milk chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter, plus 2 tablespoons
• 2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
• 1 sheet graham crackers, crushed fine

• Tools:
• A cup candy mold OR
• Paper baking cups OR
• Cupcake liners
• Microwave-safe bowl
• Spoon
• Ziploc sandwich bag

Four ingredients! That’s it! Awesome, I know. Anyway, moving on, I mentioned three potential methods just in case you don’t have a candy mold and don’t want to buy one, and though I made one batch for Warren the day before Valentine’s, I only made twelve so I had quite a bit of the peanut butter mixture left over. Thus, for the purposes of this sharing time, I made another batch today using all three methods. I have to say, the candy mold set me back a whopping $1.50 at a local craft store (Roberts, for you Utahns) and it was significantly easier to use and the end results look much cleaner from it, so if you even think you might enjoy these and make them again it would be worth it to try to locate one of your own. Let’s get started, shall we?

The measurements listed here will net you the following amounts:

• 12 miniature cups (candy mold)
• 10-12 cups (mini muffin cups)
• 6-8 cups (cupcake liners)

First, pour about 1/4 of the bag into a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Add one tablespoon of peanut butter and stir to melt and combine. Microwave for another 15 seconds to achieve a slightly runny texture if needed.

Once your chocolate is melted and combined, spoon into molds (cups, etc), roughly 3/4 teaspoon per cup. If it doesn’t look like enough, add more. This will be the sides and the foundation of your cup so too much chocolate is better than not enough.

Once all your cups have chocolate in them, use the back of your spoon to squish it up the sides of the cup, all the way to the top if you’re using a candy mold, about halfway to the top if you’re using mini cups, and about 1/3 of the way up on a regular cupcake liner. Swirl the remaining chocolate around the bottom if any parts look too thin.

If you’re using a mold, chuck it in the freezer for 10 minutes or so or until chocolate is solid. If you’re using paper cups, put them on a plate, tray or baking sheet first or you’ll make an unholy mess in your freezer. While that’s going on, let’s mix your peanut butter filling. Since I already had some made, I didn’t take any pictures, but grab a bowl and put your 1/2 cup of peanut butter in there. To be perfectly honest, I have issues with putting things like peanut butter in measuring cups, so I used the back of a large spoon and just threw what looked to be around 1/2 cup* in there. I really don’t think you need to be too exacting with this.  Once your peanut butter is in the bowl, add your 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar (or powdered sugar if that’s what you know it as) and your graham crackers. I should note I estimated the amount of sugar, too, since I just sprinkled in what looked to be around 1/4 cup*. I also added a pinch of kosher salt, just because I was trying to get something close to Reese’s and they have that faintly salty tang to balance out the sweetness. The graham crackers serve little to not purpose beyond textural -?” again, trying to copy those Reese’s cups. Stir to combine thoroughly, and then check the flavor/texture to see if it’s to your liking. If it is, throw it all in a ziploc sandwich bag and cut off a tip of one corner. Mine was around the size of a dime and worked like a charm. This is an easy, mess-free way of piping your filling into the cups. If you want to be fancy you could use a piping bag and tips but why bother? This way you just throw it away when you’re done.

(*I made a double batch)

By now your cups should be sufficiently chilled for filling. Remove them from the freezer, grab your ziploc and go to town.

You’re probably looking at about 1/2 tablespoon of filling per cup, but if you think that looks like too much, err on the side of caution. Don’t worry if it forms a peak, you’ll squish it down after you’ve got them all filled. This looks vaguely unappealing, doesn’t it? But it’s delicious, I swear, despite looking just a little bit like baby poop.

When your filling is all piped in, grab a spoon and smooth the peaks down, forming as flat a surface as possible. It’s totally fine if there’s a dip in the center, the idea is just to make sure there’s room for more chocolate on the top. If you happen to be like me and have a toddler in your household, no doubt you’ve got one or two plastic baby spoons hanging around. Those are so great for getting the chocolate on the sides of the cup and again for squishing down the peanut butter, they’re just the right size. But a regular spoon will do the job, too. Precision is not mandatory here.

Here’s where we repeat step one. I used the same bowl as before because, well, I’m lazy. Chuck another 1/4 of the bag of chocolate chips in the microwave for 60 seconds, add a tablespoon of peanut butter, stir to combine, give it another 15 if it isn’t runny enough. (an interesting sidenote, because of the oils in the peanut butter, it assists in smoothing and thinning the chocolate for coating. it also tastes amazing.) Now you’re going to spoon at least a teaspoon into each cup, adding more if you think it won’t cover. Err on the side of caution here – you can always add more chocolate if it needs it after you’ve done the smoothing, it’s significantly more difficult to try to remove it if you add too much.  Go ahead and smooth out your chocolate once you’ve added it all, and don’t worry if it’s not perfect. You can’t be expected to compete with a machine whose sole function is to stamp out chocolates. I suppose you could use a ruler or a pastry scraper on the candy molds to make them flat but I don’t actually own either of those things, so mine look homemade. I cry about it at night, I really do.

Now they go back in the freezer for another 15 minutes at the very least. I actually store mine in the freezer because, well, they’re just better when they’re cold, and the chocolate doesn’t melt as fast. Speaking of melting chocolate, we’re doing something of a shortcut here. Chocolate chips are tempered when you buy them, and they can go out of temper if you get them too hot, which won’t allow them to set and you’ll just have a mess of peanut butter and chocolate. When you’re microwaving, you want your chips to hold their shape but melt when stirred. This will keep your chocolate in temper and everyone is happy.  So anyway, once your cups have chilled sufficiently, bite into one and enjoy. You may notice that mine appears to not be filled with peanut butter, and you would get points for being observant. I ran out of peanut butter on the last big cup and threw some marshmallow creme in there instead. I suspect that with a little butter, a little honey and some toasted coconut, that would be something very tasty reminiscent of a Mallo Cup. Mmm. Mallo Cups.

And now this heavily pregnant woman is going to bed. Happy belated Valentine’s Day!