Anniversary presents -- for you!

We are thrilled to be celebrating our one-year anniversary this month! We're so excited, in fact, we're offering two giveaways this week.

Everyone's a winner in the first: We've compiled 10 of our favorite recipes for Halloween celebrations in a free e-booklet, yours for the taking!

This free collection -- Spook Play Explore -- includes a few special treats that aren't yet available on the site, such as the Ghosts and Creepy Crawlers Coconut Treats pictured here. Click here to get your copy, or click the link to the right.

Our second giveaway is a $25 Amazon gift card. To enter, please leave a comment on this post by midnight next Wednesday, Oct. 20. (We know some folks have had trouble submitting comments; if that's the case for you, please click here to send us an e-mail.) We'll randomly draw a number and announce the winner over the weekend.

Thank you all for your support and encouragement! We've surprised ourselves: The Cook Play Explore recipe box is bursting with original recipes (172 and counting), and more than 1,000 wonderful people have subscribed to the blog. Thank you for joining us on this adventure.

We hope you enjoy Spook Play Explore, and don't forget to leave a comment for your chance at an Amazon gift card!

Make It With Milk: Mascarpone

We've made yogurt, and we've made butter. Don't you think it's time for a treat? The latest in our occasional series on cool stuff you can make with milk is decadent mascarpone.

Fresh, rich mascarpone is best known in tiramisu, but it's beautiful in all sorts of sweet and savory dishes. It's a rich finish for a homemade pasta sauce, a heavenly companion to fresh fruit, a willing partner to stronger cheeses for a delicious spread. You can use it to make our Hands-On Gnocchi or Popeye Sauce ... or eat it straight with a spoon. Or your fingers. We enjoyed it in strawberry-topped crepes, then in strawberry-mascarpone parfaits.

My older son swooned over it; the younger one wouldn't even try it, but he doesn't like whipped cream either. (I hope he'll outgrow the condition.)

This is deliciously simple, perhaps 15 minutes total hands-on time. But it does take time for the magic to work -- up to 24 hours. Tartaric acid may be hard to find, but if you love mascarpone, it's worth tracking down (try online shops, brewing shops, or earthy-crunchy stores). You'll have plenty left over to make this again and again and again.

Mascarpone

This yielded just over 9 ounces of mascarpone. Tartaric acid is available at beer- and wine-making supply shops, and online (try the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company). It is not the same as cream of tartar! Also, avoid using ultra-pasteurized milk products here. Pasteurized is fine; ultra won't work well. This is drawn from several recipes floating around the Interwebs, but relies most heavily on Fankhauser's Cheese Page.

1 pint half-and-half
1 pint heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon tartaric acid (see Note)

Combine half-and-half and cream in a pot and heat to 180 to 185 degrees. Dissolve the tartaric acid in a tablespoon of water, then stir into the heated cream mixturey. Keep the cream at 180 to 185 degrees for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. It should start thickening a bit.

Put the cream in the refrigerator in a covered container (I keep it in the pot) and let it cool thoroughly (I leave it about 12 hours).

Line a fine-mesh strainer with clean muslin, cheesecloth, or a coffee filter and set it over a bowl. Pour the thickened cream into the strainer, cover, and let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours until the mascarpone thickens to the consistency you want. Store the finished mascarpone in a covered container and use soon. Some people say you need to eat it in a day or two; others say a week. Use your judgment.

Kids Cook Monday: Beef, Spinach and Mushroom Pockets

This recipe has a very specific inspiration: the Syrian-Lebanese sfihas served in Rio de Janeiro. Traditionally in their original source, they are made with ground lamb, but the popularity of those delicious morsels - as easy to prepare as to eat -  was so big that after crossing oceans and generations they ended up being adapted and now have all different fillings.  They may be stuffed with ground beef, green collards, and even some kind of ricotta cheese. Sfihas might be also found with different types of dough and shapes. But the one I can't forget was a perfect triangle, and each bite of it made my mouth be full of water .
That said, I can now indulge on something else. As a recipe that is beyond an adaptation. A free-short-cut and free-style interpretation of sfihas. And a very easy one, so that I could invite the kids to cook with me. Kids helped to roll and cut the dough and even wrap their beef in diverse shapes. The result was delicious. And the now are asking me if this is going to be a regular Monday dinner!

Spinach and Mushrooms Beef Pockets

Those can be prepared ahead time and par-baked. I followed the instructions for my favorite whole wheat pizza dough sold at TJ - about 10 minutes at 450 F, and you can leave a bit less to end baking later or the next day. A possible vegetarian/vegan alternative for this recipe is to work with firm tofu instead of beef. 

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, and plus to garnish and spray on the top
1 pound ground beef (15% fat maximum is great, I used grass-fed organic ground beef)
Kosher salt
1 cup finely sliced crimini mushrooms or baby Portabella
1 cup spinach, chopped (fresh or frozen)
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 package of fresh pizza dough
More olive oil, to be sprayed with a mister
Z'aatar (more about it here)  or sesame seeds to be sprinkled on the top

Start up with the filling: Heat olive oil in a pot. With high heat on, add beef and fry it up to when it is almost totally cooked. Turn heat to medium, adding mushrooms and spinach. When all is cooked (mushrooms still al dente) get rid of the liquid collected on the bottom of the pot. Add allspice. Simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring to get all juices in the mix.
In the meantime, turn the oven to 450 F. Sprinkle a baking sheet with some whole wheat flour or corn flour and spray a thin layer of olive oil over it. Roll the dough and cut all shapes that kids (or you) like. Transfer the dough pieces to the baking sheet. With the help on one spoon, put beef filling over pieces of dough, and close the parcels as you like. You mary roll, wrap the contents on a rectangle or triangle shape or just in a pocket style. You can invite kids to both of those parts of the process. Spray olive oil and sprinkle za'atar or sesame seeds on the top of each morsel. Add some couple more minutes to the time recommended by the dough package or your recipe if you are using home made dough. Garnish with a stream of olive oil around the pocket and some more spices if you love them. Enjoy while it is still hot.