Southern With A Twist: Ally's Kitchen

Showing posts with label Ally's Kitchen. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Ricotta Dumplings with Dole® Raspberry Sauce

I am so honored to be a part of the fun with Dole Packaged Foods ‘Live on Green’ Food Blogger Blast Party 2016 Rose Parade where Dole California Cook-Off Champion Ally Phillips of What's for Dinner, Ally's Kitchen will perform live cooking demonstrations and share quick and fun recipes featuring Dole Packaged Foods’ products. She will showcase this recipe and several others at the Dole Bistro where she'll be cooking 'live on green' December 29 and 30th as part of the Tournament of Roses Parade.

On January 1, tune in to watch the Tournament of Roses Parade where Dole Packaged Food’s float, “Soaring Over Paradise,” explores the world’s rainforests. The float includes four waterfalls, a zip line that travels through the rainforest canopy and a flock of Macaws that appear to take flight over the floral gardens.

3/4 cup ricotta cheese

1/4 cup mascarpone cheese

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 package (8 oz.) refrigerated crescent roll dough

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup DOLE® Frozen Raspberries

1/4 cup raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Combine ricotta, mascarpone, vanilla and powdered sugar in a bowl. Stir to combine.

Roll out the crescent roll and press into a muffin tin. If using a crescent roll sheet, roll out the sheet and cut into eight squares. Drop 2 tablespoons of cheese mixture into the center. Pull up opposite sides to make a pouch.

Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Heat a small saucepan over medium heat, and add butter, raspberries and jam. Cook for 5-7 minutes. Dust dumplings with additional powdered sugar, if desired. Serve sauce with dumplings.

These dumplings are light, fluffy, sweet and tart! Dole California Cook-Off Champion Ally Phillips of Ally’s Kitchen will prepare these warm, golden brown Ricotta and Marscarpone cheese dumplings topped with a DOLE® raspberry sauce. They’re so DOLE-ightful.

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Miniature Dole® Pineapple Upside Down Cakes

I am so honored to be a part of the fun with Dole Packaged Foods ‘Live on Green’ Food Blogger Blast Party 2016 Rose Parade where Dole California Cook-Off Champion Ally Phillips of What's for Dinner, Ally's Kitchen will perform live cooking demonstrations and share quick and fun recipes featuring Dole Packaged Foods’ products. She will showcase this recipe and several others at the Dole Bistro where she'll be cooking 'live on green' December 29 and 30th as part of the Tournament of Roses Parade.

On January 1, tune in to watch the Tournament of Roses Parade where Dole Packaged Food’s float, “Soaring Over Paradise,” explores the world’s rainforests. The float includes four waterfalls, a zip line that travels through the rainforest canopy and a flock of Macaws that appear to take flight over the floral gardens.

2 cans (20 oz. each) Dole pineapple slices
1/3 cup butter, melted

2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 package (18.25 oz.) yellow or pineapple flavored cake mix
9 maraschino cherries, cut in half

Drain pineapple; reserve juice.

Stir together the butter and brown sugar. Evenly divide sugar mixture into 18 (2/3 cup each) muffin cups* coated with cooking spray.

Lightly press well-drained pineapple slices into sugar mixture. Place cherries in the center of the pineapple, slice side up.

Prepare cake mix according to package directions, replacing amount of water called for with reserved juice. Pour 1/3 cup batter into each muffin cup.

Bake in a preheated 350 oven 20 to 25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes. Loose edges and invert onto cookie sheet.

*Note - If muffin cup is smaller than 2/3 cup, it will not be large enough to hold pineapple slice and batter. I used some small rounded ramekins to make mine fit perfectly!

These mini cakes are moist and delicious! Everybody was coming in the kitchen asking me what smelled so delicious! They won't sit around long no matter what occasion you make them for this new year!

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Ally's Kitchen~A Passport for Adventurous Palates

I am happy to announce the release of my friend Ally's cookbook, Ally's Kitchen~A Passport for Adventurous Palates! It is an amazing culinary road trip for all who love food, family and adventure! Believe me, this cookbook is not for the bland of heart! We are talking a bold bohemian rhapsody of flavors and passion for foods!

Scroll to the bottom to enter to win a copy!!!

I enjoyed reading about Ally's childhood, her adventure in retracing her steps and her recollections of the family and foods that "reflect the legacy and heritage of her homeland." Beautifully written and excellently photographed, it is so full of bold, colorful food that you can almost smell the rich exotic aromas!

My Own Mama~Bohemian Style!

I chose to honor Ally's book on my own Mama's birthday! A day when I reflect on the multitude of hours, days, years in the kitchen with the women who made me who I am today! Ally's style and stories remind me of the summer's we spent with family on the water's of Mitchum Creek in Topping Virginia.

"We would get up early in the morning, pack a lunch, and go fishing. I loved fishing with Uncle Perry. (Helping gather bait... watching the crabs in the bucket blowing bubbles... watching Daddy on the front of the boat trying to scoop up the peelers on top of the water with the dip net... watching Uncle Perry cut up bait... Mama getting so tired from catching fish, but she wouldn’t quit. She’d just hook them then call Daddy to reel them in...) When we got in we would clean the fish and then get cleaned up ourselves. Usually, we kids could get in a good scavenger hunt before supper. Going through the crab boxes... pulling Periwinkles off the weeds by the water... playing on Uncle Perry’s boat... watching the hummingbirds from the porch... Grandmama having to walk so slow with the feeder because the hummingbirds would come to feed as soon as she opened the front door... Later that night we all came out on the porch to eat supper. In the usual family tradition, there was always mounds of food. Grandmama’s fried oyster fritters, fresh fried fish, fried chicken, Aunt Vashti’s pan fried squash, plates of tomatoes and cucumbers, biscuits and much, much more. And, of course, if Daddy had gotten a couple of peelers, we had soft shell crabs too! Uncle Perry was sitting at the head of the table, to my left. As usual we all over-ate. We sat for a rather long time talking about the day and the ones that got away."

~ Southern With A Twist

The recipe which I chose to make and tell you about is Croatian Potato Salad. (hrvatska krumpir salata) It's different from the potato salad of the South. There is no mayonnaise in this recipe! It's an oil and vinegar style dressing with lots of spices and herbs. I topped it off with some fresh Purple Basil and Sweet Basil as a garnish! Absolutely Delicious!