Busy Kitchen Extravaganza Sunday

After a delicious brunch of smoked salmon hash with poached eggs, I set about making:

Pistachio Biscotti



using the Food Network recipe from Tyler Florence,

Peppermint Bark



using a mix of a few different recipes I found online,

and goat cheese and sun dried tomato stuffed chicken breast with sauteed kale for dinner.

The chicken was an Ina Garten recipe from the Food Network and the kale is an Emeril recipe from Emeril Green on PlanetGreen. The chicken and the greens were both delicious recipes we will be making again, for sure.



Wine: Kemblefield 2009 sauvignon blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand. Pretty good. I'd drink it again.

Peppermint Bark:
about two cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used about 1/3 of a 32oz bag of Guittard)
1 12oz bag white chocolate chips (I used Guittard)
a scant 1/2 Tbsp peppermint flavor (peppermint oil and other oil)
1/2 cup crushed candycanes

Line 13x9 pan with foil, spray with Pam. Spread chocolate chips in bottom of pan and place in 250 oven until melty. Spread into even layer. Allow to cool until hard (for me, I let it cool on the stove for awhile, then the fridge for 20, and the freezer for 15. I was afraid to move the pyrex pan from stove to fridge or freezer. Melt white chocolate chips in microwave - 1 minute on high, stir. (The bag said 2 minutes on half power, stir, then go in 15 second increments until melted.) Stir in peppermint oil or extract. Measure extract with 1/2 TBSP because your 1 tsp. and 1/2 tsp. are dirty and you can't be bothered to clean them. Pour over chocolate layer and sprinkle with candycanes. Super easy. When layers separate when you try to cut them, stick the whole thing back in the oven at 250 to re-melt them slightly. Allow to cool. Mine got pretty messy. I'm still not sure they are going to stick together, but I re-baked them and they're cooling in the fridge again.