Cookie Extravaganza! White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

I was trying to come up with a creative name for this cookie that wasn't such a mouthful. I did not come up with one. So these cookies with a long name will stay long-named.

We usually make just plain oatmeal cookies. (Although last year we added chocolate chips). The pig likes his oatmeal cookies to be slightly overbaked, hard, and crunchy, but no one else does. That means the pig ends up eating most of the oatmeal cookies. So we needed a new plan for our oatmeal cookies...

Cookie Extravaganza! S'mores Cookies

Wow.

There are two events worthy of a wow today:
1) These cookies.
2) This is also our 100th blog post!

Quick celebration for #2: yay!!!!

Back to #1: S'mores are one of the best treats ever created.  I really don't think you can go wrong when you combine marmallow, graham cracker, and chocolate.   Unless you combine them with like, asparagus. 

That would definitely be wrong.  Please don't defile chocolate like that. 

Anyway, when you combine s'mores ingredients with cookie ingredients, do you know what happens?  Magic.  It's like cookie-campfire-chocolate-childhood-gooey-delicious-magic.   

Let the 2nd Annual Cookie Extravaganza begin...

Yes, I know it's 10:45 PM.

Once upon a time there was... Crockpot Chicken Enchiladas

We have one more recipe left to share from our October Greek Week, but it's going to take a while to finish. Rather than leave you hanging again, we have a great simple recipe for crockpot chicken enchiladas.

We first discovered these at Samster Mommy - her recipe looked so delicious and easy that it inspired us to give it a try. We combined hers with the one on the enchilada can and some new ideas of our own to create this Castle Farm version. This is a really great weeknight recipe and it makes fantastic leftovers for lunch all week!

Pastitsio... Finally!

See that?  It's glory.  Pure glory.  Also very late glory.  You know how when you get sick for a week it feels like it takes 3 weeks to recover from the time you were sick?  That's what happened to us.  I woke up really sick the morning after making this amazing meal.  Then, after neglecting our blogging, we wanted to be able to commit to sticking with it a little better when we came back.  After another 3 or so weeks of that, we're still not feeling less busy, so I make no promises that consistent blogging will happen! But at least for today, we finally present Pastitsio! 

Greek Week Presents... Pastitsio!

so here's what happened... i (the pig) got sick.  drugged up on cold medicine, head-pounding, sinus infection sick.  so greek week, and our birthday celebration, came to an abrupt halt.  the celebration will continue - just slightly delayed...

_______

ok, I should say almost presents.  I am writing this at 10:15 Tues night, and we just put it in the oven.  It bakes 45-60 minutes.  Then it has to sit at least 30 before we can touch it.  And we haven't cleaned the disaster we made in the kitchen or prepared for tomorrow.  So, this post is coming...  we promised you a recipe every day and we will deliver! Just maybe not until like 10 pm tonight.

but i really think it might be the most amazing thing we've ever made.  its like a giant baking sheet of glory.   soon you will see...

Greek Week Presents... Baba Ghanoush!

Whew! What an exhausting day at the Castle Farm! We made pitas, tzatziki, htipiti, hummus, and also baba ghanoush!  We don't necessarily recommend making all of these at the same time.  It's a lot of work for you and your food processor.

Anyway, we picked this baba ghanoush recipe from The Way the Cookie Crumbles because 1) it looked delicious and 2) she described an oven method of roasting the eggplants.  Though we ended up accidentally roasting them differently (we'll explain below).

Greek Week Presents... Hummus

Hummus is one of those things we always think about making and never do.  Since we were planning to make a bunch of dips for Greek Week, we finally had our opportunity to make it.

This recipe is pretty good.  If you like basic-but-good hummus, this is the one for you.  We prefer hummus with added flavors.  We're going to try a garlicky one next time.  Of course, maybe it's just unfair to compare it to all the other dips we made...

Greek Week Presents... Htipiti

What's htipiti?  Greek roasted red pepper and feta dip, of course!

This dip was AMAZING.  Like, we could just eat it by the batch. That probably wouldn't be a good idea though.  Plus, we have three other pretty great dips to eat at the same time.

Greek Week Presents... Tzatziki

Since we just gave you a wonderful pita recipe, it's only fair that we give you a few things to dip them in. No Greek feast would be complete without Tzatziki!

This recipe is a Castle Farm original, created through many test batches to find our favorite blend of seasonings.

Greek Week Presents... Pitas!

Greek Week continues on the Castle Farm Cookbook! To those just joining us, we are having a week long celebration to mark our blog's first birthday.

No Greek feast would be complete without an appetizer of pita and dips. We made pita pocketsa while ago, but we have never shared our favorite pita recipe with you.

Greek Week Presents... Grecian Meatballs!

Welcome to Greek Week!

In honor of our Blog's 1st birthday (they grow up so quickly...) this Saturday, we are sharing recipes of our favorite Greek foods all week!  That way, you can have your own Greek feast to celebrate with us.

Kicking off our Greek week is a simple, Greek-twist on a classic meatball recipe. We've made this many times and always love the result.  It's originally from our Perfect Greek cookbook.

Big Announcement!

I know you've all been super excited all week wondering what our big announcement was going to be! So here it is:

It's Greek Week!!

That's right, all week long we are going to have all new recipes featuring our favorite cuisine! Normally, we only post 2-3 times per week, but we are giving you at least one recipe each day. That way, on our Blog Birthday, Saturday (10/2), you will have all the recipes you need to celebrate with us by having your own Greek feast!

Opa!

Once upon a time there was... a clue...

Hey Castle Farm Cookbook readers, are you excited for our special celebration next week?!?!? Here's a big clue, the recipes will be all about one of our favorite places....

Once upon a time there was... Twice-Baked Potatoes

Last week when we shared our recipe for Scalloped Potatoes, we got a little carried away talking about all the ways to combine potatoes and cheese. The first thing that popped into our heads was Twice-Baked Potatoes. Mooooo. (That's what cows say instead of ooooo. And all the time really.)

This is another recipe that our fancy food processor revolutionized. We used to have to spend a very long time shredded lots of cheese, but now we put it in the top and hit the button and have a giant bowl of perfectly shredded cheese. We probably end up with more cheese in our potatoes this way, since hand shredded tends to lead to lots of eating along the way....

Even with the revolutionary technology of the food processor, this recipe is a nearly 2 hour process. Don't let this scare you! It's easy! But maybe save it for a weekend night.

The Castle Farm recipe does not contain bacon, since Cornelius objects. In fact, the original source at All Recipes includes bacon. So, if you want to add bacon to yours, I won't tell.

Once upon a time there was... Lemon Pasta with Chicken and Pine Nuts

When Cal and I want a quick, weeknight meal, pasta is a good choice. Unfortunately a good recipe is hard to find. Most easy pasta recipes have one of the following problems:

1) they are boring (i.e. spaghetti with sauce from a jar)
2) they are fattening (i.e alfredo, amaretto cream sauce )
3) they require fresh ingredients on hand (i.e penne with fresh pesto, ricotta, and tomatoes)

This recipe is like a magic solution to all of those problems. Just try it. You'll see what we're talking about.

Baltic Cruise

Unlike our other posts this week, this post is not about cheese. It is also not a Blooper. It's not even about food at all! Now you are probably thinking what kind of a food blog is this??? We promise, there is a perfectly good explanation!

We left you all hanging without any new posts for a long time this summer. . . While you were all staring at your computer screens hoping and praying for your favorite food blogging animals to return, we were busy taking vacations. We shared some pictures here and here of our International Tour of America roadtrip, but we did not post pictures of our other summer adventure. So, while we were not sharing delicious recipes with you, here's what we were up to!

toured Copenhagen

standing on either side of the Berlin Wall

Once upon a time there was... Scalloped Potatoes

You might notice a little bit of a theme this week. CHEESE.

We highly recommend putting cheese on as many things as possible. Potatoes, of course, are one of the best pairings for cheese. Twice-baked potatoes, cheese fries, cheesy mashed potatoes... there are so many possibilities when it comes to mixing cheese and potatoes. Today, we will show you how to make just one of them: scalloped potatoes.

Once upon a time there was... Pretzel-Crusted Chicken Breasts with Cheddar-Mustard Sauce

This is one of our all-time favorite recipes. As you may be aware, we really enjoy smothering things in cheese. And it just so happens that this recipe makes a giant pot of cheese that can be used for smothering! Rachael Ray is behind this terrific idea - we've only slightly adapted her recipe.

Blooper Friday! Avocado Soup FAIL!

Even highly skilled cows and pigs fail at cooking sometimes. We thought avocado would make a cool, refreshing summer soup.  Maybe it does.  These avocados did not.  

Once upon a time there was... Watermelon Sherbet

Technically, it's still summer. We realize that school has started and leaves are starting to fall in some places, but it's still summer for another 2 weeks... That means you still have time to make this sherbet! You can still find juicy watermelons in the grocery store and the weather is warm enough to crave an ice cold treat - but only for a few more weeks!

Once upon a time there was... Mac and Two Cheeses with Caramelized Shallots

Alright Castle Farm Cookbook readers, today you are in for a delicious treat.  This macaroni and cheese recipe is pretty much the best thing ever.  Why top your noodles and cheese with dried out bits of stale bread when you could gloriously coat them with buttery caramelized shallots instead?  That's what we thought.

We were originally introduced to this recipe when a friend brought it to us as part of a potluck.  After stealing all of the leftovers for ourselves, we took her recipe, too.  (She found it at Epicurious.)

Once upon a time there was... Summer Roasted Chicken

Well Castle Farm Cookbook readers, we're back! Did you miss our cute faces and delicious recipes? I bet you did! Well, we missed you, too! We had a long, unannounced, unexpected summer break from our blogging. We took several vacations (an International Tour of America, a Baltic Cruise, and a Poconos weekend) and we moved (still outside the beltway in DC). We're 90% unpacked at the new Castle Farm, so now its time to get back to blogging.

For our first new recipe, we decided to make a summer roasted chicken. During the summer, we do not often consider roasting chickens - it's a very fall thing to do. But we added some lemon, basil and thyme instead of apples and potatoes, and now its a summery meal. This recipe is a Castle Farm original! We're also pairing this one with some prepared potato and macaroni salads to complete our summer meal.

International Tour of America, Part 2

Hi readers, we are very sorry for our lack of posting, but we have been so busy with our various trips and events! Before we leave for another two week adventure, here are some more pictures from our International Tour!

Here's the Parthenon:

And the great pyramid of Memphis:

Here we are with the famous Peabody ducks:

And with a kangaroo! (they are really soft and furry, by the way)

And in case you forgot this was a food blog, here we are with some cheese:

That doesn't really have anything to do with the International Tour, but we do love cheese!

We'll get back to actual recipes soon, we promise.

Moo!

International Tour of America Part 1

Hello Castle Farm Cookbook readers! Sorry we haven't updated much lately; we've been getting ready for (and now taking) a trip!  We are on an International Tour of America.  We're driving through Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia in search of amazing things.  Here's some we found so far...

We went to the Virginia Safari Park:

(here we are stealing some of the animals' food)

We had a wonderful breakfast at the Loveless Cafe:

and we saw Foamhenge:

and the Eiffel Tower:

It's been an exciting trip with lots of delicious food, international landmarks, and driving so far.   We'll keep you updated with a few more pictures this week and hopefully we'll be back to your regularly scheduled Castle Farm recipes shortly...

pig, out!

Once upon a time there was... Tomato and Feta Fritters

These are also called ntomatokeftedes, which is a long Greek word that means tomato fritter.  We found this recipe over at Closet Cooking, where Kevin the blogger makes all kinds of delicious and beautiful food.  We definitely recommend checking out his site.  Anyway, Greek fritters...

I was super excited about making them, Cal was less convinced.  Once we finished them, Cal loved them, too.  They definitely take a little time, and aren't great for reheating.  Perhaps these would make a better party food than weeknight dinner, but you should still make them.

Blooper Friday! Sugar Cookie Bar Semi-Fail

The thing about sugar cookie bars is that they are impossible to fail.  We ran out of time, melted a plastic container, used the wrong pan, and didn't fully cook them and they were STILL delicious.  So unlike other Blooper Fridays, we are actually going to show you this recipe.

We first saw the cookie bars at Recipe Girl, complete with beautiful, colorful pictures and knew we had to make them.  She adapted the recipe from The Repressed Pastry Chef, to make her own version (<-- that's where you can find the full recipe and see what these are supposed to look like). We adapted it a little from hers.

Once upon a time there was... Bulgur Wheat with Caramelized Onions & Pine Nuts

We've been intrigued by quinoa for a while now... such a funny word. So, we were watching our favorite food blogs for a good recipe to try. Then we saw it! On Cara's Cravings, a really delicious looking recipe for Quinoa with Caramelized Onions & Pine Nuts. We gathered our ingredients and started to cook up the onions. Then, we discovered a problem. In trying to buy quinoa, we somehow ended up with bulgur wheat. As it turns out, this was not too much of a problem, they are very similar. So we supposed it doesn't matter what grain you use... We've heard quinoa is healthier, but the bulgur wheat was quite tasty. Maybe we'll get around to trying quinoa someday. For now, here's our inadvertently-adapted-from-Cara's recipe.

Once upon a time there was... Creamy Baked Chicken with Almonds

This recipe used to be called Baked Almond Chicken.  (We adapted it from Taste of Home.)  Whenever we scanned our recipe binder for what to make, we would glance over it, thinking it was chicken dipped in crushed almonds and baked.  In fact, it is something completely different! So, we have renamed it so that we can remember how yummy and unique it actually is!

Once upon a time there was... Lemon Dijon Chicken

Today we have a delicious, quick, easy, healthy chicken recipe.  You never can have too many! We originally found this one at All-ChickenRecipes, we adapted it slightly, and it has become a staple at the Castle Farm.  The ingredients listed below are enough for 6 chicken breasts.  We usually 1/2 them since we are only making 2.

Once upon a time there was... Broccoli and Cheddar Soup

So, we are not the biggest fans of eating our vegetables. . .

But we do like cheese! So, in order to eat our vegetables, we smother them in cheese!!! Really, this is an excellent idea that can be applied to most foods you might not otherwise like.  (Adding some onion and butter can't hurt either.)  There are a lot of variations of broccoli and cheese soup out there, but we really liked this classic, simple one we found on AllRecipes.

Once upon a time there was... Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

This really might be the most delicious thing ever.  We probably could eat an entire batch of this every night.  Luckily (or not, depending on how you look at it), it takes a little time to make a batch of frozen yogurt.  So, we restrained ourselves and made it last like 4 days.  Since strawberries are in season (enough), we were trying to figure out what to do with some when we came across this recipe from David Lebovitz.  We don't own his book, but now we think we are going to have to get it.  He offered some variations in his original recipe - here's how we made it.

Once upon a time there was... Chicken Piccata Pasta Toss

Chicken Piccata is one of our favorite recipes. So, when we first heard about a piccata pasta toss, we knew we would have to try it. It came out great the first time we made it and every time since. This wonderful idea is originally from Rachael Ray but we adapted it to make the portions less completely ridiculous.

Blooper Friday! Pear Muffins

Well readers, Breakfast Week has come to a close.  We have showed you four delicious breakfast meals.  What are you missing? One not-so-delicious breakfast meal! Obviously, we are not going to share the recipe for this one because we were very unimpressed.  They weren't awful, just not great - a little dry, a little small, definitely not CFC blog material.  But they look so beautiful in pictures! So, in the spirit of Blooper Friday, here's our Breakfast Week blooper.

Once upon a time there was... Farm Animal Buttermilk Pancakes

Breakfast Week continues!! We love buttermilk pancakes. Blueberries, chocolate chips, strawberries, and warm maple syrup can only make them better. But do you know what makes them the best? Shaping them like farm animals!!! When we were at our local Williams-Sonoma we saw these and knew we had to have them. Luckily, the pig's mom saw our faces too and bought them for us. We were going to use a recipe that we had found online, but there was a recipe right on the package of the molds that was almost identical, so we followed that instead. This recipe is also a tutorial on using these fantastic molds.

Once upon a time there was... Brown Sugar Raisin Bread

Welcome back!  Today is the third day of Breakfast Week at the Castle Farm Cookbook.  Today we are making the most complicated recipe of the week, Brown Sugar Raisin Bread!  This one definitely takes some time, but a lot of the time is just sitting around while the yeast does the real work. Don't let the yeast and number of ingredients scare you away - we promise it's not that bad!  Plus, when you are done you will have 2 loaves of homemade raisin bread.  We found this recipe at Williams-Sonoma's website.

Once upon a time there was... Easy Banana Bread

Welcome back to our second day of breakfast week! Today we are doing another great breakfast meal that you can make on a Sunday afternoon and enjoy all week. Plus, everyone loves banana bread - especially monkeys! That's why we've asked our friend Grover the monkey to help us out today.

There's a lot of recipes out there, but this is Grover's favorite because he has made it many times and it always comes out perfectly. He found it in The Everything Cookbook. The recipe makes two loaves, so if you don't want that much bread, you can always freeze one for another week of breakfast. It also halves pretty well, so if you just have a banana sitting on your counter that is too old to eat, make some banana bread!

Once upon a time there was... Make-Ahead Breakfast Sandwiches

It's Breakfast Week at the Castle Farm Cookbook! Each day this week, we'll be posting a great breakfast recipe.  This first one is so easy and versatile, we think of it as more of an idea than a recipe; it's our famous breakfast sandwiches.  We were eating at Starbucks one morning and we ordered a turkey bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich - all they had to do to make it for us was pop it in the oven - it was already pre-assembled.  So, we figured we can do that too!