Stracciatella

40 Days & 40 Nights

2012-02-21T19:53:00.000-08:00

Hello readers! I know I've been gone for over month (has it really been that long?), but I am back and ready to blog and give you tons of great recipes to try (and ones I am sure you will love as much as I do)! But, before I get back into the swing of things and dazzling you with photos and laughter of yummy recipes, I want to fill you in on a recent challenge I've decided to take on.

This time of year brings lent. Most of the people I know are deciding what they are going to give up and go without for the next 40 days. I am not catholic, but have always contemplated, "should I give something up?". As the years have gone by, I never did it, but for some reason, this year, I have decided to challenge myself and step it up a notch. I thought about all of the things I could give up and boy was it hard to come up with something that was a challenge, but not completely crazy. Well, what I am about to tell you might seem crazy (especially seeing how much I love it), but I know I can be strong and make it through the next 40 days. Before I go telling you what I decided to give up, let me tell you about the few other things that passed through my mind while I was trying to decide:

Caffeine - That wouldn't work considering I don't drink it any more. I stopped drinking coffee almost a year ago and stopped having my monthly diet pepsi last month. I'm trying to drink mostly water and staying away from artificial sweeteners as much as possible. It's not easy, but I'm determined to keep with it.
Wine - Ya, right. I'm sure I could give it up for a month, but maybe next year.
Facebook - Technology is so addicting, so this one would be really really hard.
Television - I am addicted to a couple of shows (my boyfriend will probably hate my for admitting this on my blog, but my guilty pleasure is Jersey Shore - sorry Ryan!) and look forward to watching them after a long work week. That and I can't miss Top Chef and 2 Broke Girls.
Blogging - Since I already took a month off, I don't think I should take another month off. Most of my readers are already sad I've been gone this long!

A few other things came to mind, but nothing seemed quite right. That is until it was staring me right in the face - CHOCOLATE!

Yes, you are hearing it right. I've decided to give up anything and everything chocolate for 40 days and 40 nights. I know I am crazy, but seeing as how much I love chocolate and love to bake with it, this is going to be a real test of my willpower and strength. I try not to eat too much chocolate so my booty won't grow, but if you put a piece of yummy chocolate cake in front of me or a big warm chocolate chip cookie, it's really hard for me to walk away. I mean, let's be real here. Who wouldn't have a hard time with that, right?

I'm sure you'll hear my ranting and raving over the next several weeks about my chocolate withdrawals (Ryan - sorry ahead of time if I get cranky!), but I am feeling good about this choice and know I can stick with it. The best part of this is knowing at the the end, it will be my birthday, and I will be eating a BIG piece of chocolate cake. Or chocolate cheesecake. Or a big ooey gooey brownie. That I can promise you. For now, I am off to enjoy my last night of being able to have chocolate by eating a piece of Ryan's left over chocolate birthday cake. Go big or go home, right?

Now, here is my question to you - what would you be willing to give up?

Better Than Brownie Cookies

2012-01-18T05:57:00.000-08:00

I know you're already thinking - can these cookies really be better than brownies? And I'm going to tell you right now, they are pretty darn close. My sister doubted me when I brought these over for her and her boyfriend to try, but they ate them up fast and even asked for more. My mom tried to only eat half of her cookie and ended up eating the whole thing. My dad said they were the best cookie he had (maybe he was just saying that to be nice) and were way better than brownies. I gave a whole bunch of them to Ryan too. He thought they were made with pudding because of the dense and most texture. Nope. No pudding here. Although, pudding in cookies - hmm, I may have to experiment with this. I've seen, but never tried, pudding in cakes. But pudding in cookies. You may be on to something here, dear. I even added a little special touch to these that really brings out the chocolaty flavor. Can you guess what it is? Sorry, I'm not going to tell you right now. You'll just have to keep reading to find out what it is!

The whole reason I decided to do this recipe is because I had a TON of bittersweet chocolate chips left over from all my holiday baking. You think I'd be able to resist the 5 pound bag sitting in the pantry and use it for my baking, but nope. I'd take a small handful here and there for dessert. Maybe even eat them with a blob of peanut butter. Ya, I know, bad. But it's so good. Needless to say, I needed to find a way to get rid of those chips and FAST. I can't resist them. I may have a problem.

maybe I should have removed the kitchen wipes from this photo. oops!

here is my double boiler. you don't need anything fancy, just use what you have in your kitchen. If you use a metal bowl like me, use a pot holder. it gets HOT!

wet & dry

melted chocolate and the secret ingredient!

adding the dry

baked and cooling. the recipe said it made 24 large cookies, but somehow mine made 28. and that was after eating some of the batter (don't tell!)

close up of the cookies. yum!

Better-than-Brownies Chocolate Cookies (slightly adapted from browneyedbaker.com)

Makes 28 large cookies

2 2/3 cups (about 16 ounces) bittersweet chocolate, chopped ( I used chips, so no need to chop)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 eggs
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips ( I needed to get rid of my chips, so I used more bittersweet here. Ryan mentioned it was a bit bitter, so I will be trying semisweet here next time)

1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper of a silicone baking mat.

2. Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set it over a saucepan of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally, until completely melted and smooth.

3. In the meantime, stir together the eggs, vanilla, sugar and espresso powder (optional) in a medium bowl. Set aside.

4. In a small bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder.

5. Add the melted chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and stir to combine well. Slowly add the dry ingredients, folding them into the batter. Once all of the flour is incorporated, stir in the chocolate chips.

6. Scoop 1½ tablespoons of dough (a medium cookie scoop’s worth) onto prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until they are firm on the outside. Like brownies, do not over bake! Leave to cool completely on the baking sheets.

These cookies are super easy to make and taste amazingly delicious. If you do not have the tools to make a double boiler (in step 2), you can slowly microwave the butte and chocolate until melted and smooth. Just make sure to use a microwave proof bowl and that you heat it in increments - 2 minutes on power 3 or 4 (stir after every time to ensure that all the chocolate is melting evenly). Every microwave is different, so just keep an eye on the chocolate. If you burn it, you will have to start over again. And no body likes burnt chocolate!

Low Fat Pumpkin Granola

2012-01-13T06:18:00.000-08:00

I love, LOVE granola, but why does it have to be so high in calories? Darn you oil! I love to just grab a handful as a snack, have it with a splash of milk or sprinkle it on top of some yogurt. So, the research began. How can I still enjoy granola, but find a low calorie version that doesn't contain oil? Well, let me tell you, I found one and boy was it delicious.

To replace the oil, this granola contains pumpkin, apple sauce and maple syrup. And don't think just because this doesn't have oil that it won't get crunchy and clumpy. Oh, it will. Okay, it doesn't get hard crunchy like normal granola, but just trust me, it's good. Even better it won't break your teeth when you eat it. You know how some granola is super hard? Ya, you don't want to chip a tooth while eating. That just makes for a bad day. If you want your granola a little more clumpy, just use your hand to form them. If you don't like the clumps (who doesn't like the clumps?!), then break them up in the pan. This recipe is easy, simple and makes for the perfect little thing to have in the pantry for a quick breakfast. I bet this would even be great to bring a long on a hike. Just add some more nuts or dried fruit to it (dried cranberries and some pecans - just an idea), to give it more of a energy boost. Yum!

if you can, get your oats and nuts in bulk. It will help you save a few dollars!

mixing the oats with the spices, pumpkin and other delicious stuff

half way through the baking process

stirring in the pepitas (pumpkin seeds) after baking


YUM!

Low-Fat Pumpkin Granola (slightly adapted from www.twopeasandtheirpod.com)

5 cups rolled oats (not quick oats!)
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup applesauce (I used unsweetened)
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

1. Preheat the oven to 325° F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine oats, spices, and salt. Mix well.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together brown sugar, pumpkin puree, applesauce, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth. Pour wet ingredients into oat mixture and stir until the oats are evenly coated. They will be moist. Evenly spread the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet.
4. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove pan from the oven and stir. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes or until the granola is golden and crisp. Remove from the oven and stir in pepitas. Let cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

The best part of making this (besides it tasting so good) is that it makes your house smell like a pumpkin candle. A pumpkin candle and pure deliciousness. Once you start making homemade granola, you will never go back to buying it from the store!

Pea Salad

2012-01-12T21:25:00.000-08:00

Let my first start off by saying that this is my grandma's recipe. That and I have only met a few people, other than those in our family, that really enjoy this salad. Wait, can we even really call it a salad? It doesn't have lettuce and it's definitely not a healthy selection. Although, it does have peas, so it has to be healthy, right? Sure. I try to tell myself that as I shove a spoonful of this in my mouth.

It's super easy and super simple. It's canned petite peas, real mayo (yes, real. none of that olive oil or light stuff here), green onions and swiss singles cheese. I know what you are thinking, singles cheese? Gross. Ya, it's not the best, but there is some chemical reaction between the mayo and the cheese that over time, creates this gooey sauce. I know you are probably grossed out right now, but please tell me you will try this at your next holiday or family gathering. It's a tradition in my family and it's always at the table during Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. My sister has even been known to make it when she is in a funk. This pea salad has magical powers. How could you not love it!

I've always wanted to submit this to Paula Deen. I think she would love this one. I know it doesn't have butter, but it has mayo. Which I'm pretty sure is her second love.

5 ingredients or less

you must use young small peas!

key step - draining the peas

tower of cheese

my sister took this picture.

add all ingredients and mix. don't mix too hard or you'll squish the peas. no one likes squished peas.

yum!

Pea Salad

3 cans young petite peas, well drained

rounded 1/2 cup of real mayonnaise

1 bunch green onions chopped (whites included)

1 package swiss cheese singles, unwrapped and chopped into cubes

Drain three cans of peas in a colander for about 30 minutes. This is important to not add any extra moisture or liquid to the salad. Unwrap the singles, stack and chop into little cubes. Set aside. Cut up the green onions and set aside. Once the peas are well drained, add them into a large bowl and mix in the mayo, cheese and green onions so everything is well coated. Cover and place in the fridge at least six hours before you want to serve it. Overnight is best.

Easy peasy. Ha, that was funny. Peasy. Peas. Get it? Never mind.

Vanilla Chai Cupcakes

2012-01-04T21:43:00.000-08:00

This will tell you how far behind I am - I made these cupcakes for my sister's birthday back in November. Yes, you heard me right. November.

I decided to make these cupcakes for my sister because I know how much she loves chai. I would have made her chocolate cupcakes, but I wanted to spice it up and make her something she wouldn't expect. There was this little cafe place next to her apartment in Berkeley that she used to go to get chai when she was an undergrad. Who doesn't love a cup of warm chai during an intense study sesh? I wish I remembered the name of the place, but there was also this fantastic middle eastern restaurant below that had the best naan. The garlic naan was to die for good. Jess, can we go here next time I come to visit?

Okay, back to cupcakes. See how easily I get off track. Yikes. Anyways, these cupcakes are spicy (not hot spicy, just full of warm delicious spices), dense and have the best chai cream cheese frosting you ever put in your mouth. Not joking. It's dense as well, but somehow the cupcake and frosting work perfectly together. You've just got to try them. There is just something about the cardamom that warms you up. It's a spice that you might not think you will ever use again, but trust me, you will.

It's always nice to spice up (no pun intended) and change up the cupcake recipes you have in your back pocket. You should see the list of cupcake flavors I want to try. I have one with avocado frosting. Strange? Maybe. Delicious. Yes!

spicy spices

spices

butter and sugar!

can you see the swirling spices?

ready to bake

baked and cooled

Vanilla Chai Cupcakes (from http://gimmesomeoven.com/vanilla-chai-cupcakes/)

Ingredients:

Cupcake Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 tsp. chai spice mix (recipe below)
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
Chai Spice Mix Ingredients:

1 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
Frosting Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
remainder of the chai spice mix
1 Tbsp. cold milk, if needed to thin out the buttercream 4oz cream cheese, softened

Cupcake Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a cupcake pan with liners.
In a small bowl or plastic bag, combine the chai spice mix ingredients. Set aside. Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the vanilla and beat in one egg at a time. Stir in 2 teaspoons of the chai spice mix. Fold in the flour and buttermilk alternately and stir until combined, don’t over mix. Mix together the baking soda and vinegar in a separate bowl, then add it to the batter and mix until combined. Scoop into prepared cupcake tins until 3/4 full and bake 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Frosting Directions:
In a stand mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese until it is creamy. On low, mix in the vanilla and the rest of the chai spice mix. Carefully beat in the powdered sugar about ½ cup at a time. If the buttercream is too thick add 1-2 tbs of cold milk until the desired consistency is reached. Frost each cupcake with frosting.

If you love chai tea as much as my sister does, try these. I know you will love them. I brought them into work to have them sample the flavors and a whole dozen were gone in under 30 minutes. 12 cupcakes gone in 30 minutes. That means they were good right? Just don't eat the cinnamon stick decoration. I did have someone ask me if they could eat that. Yikes!

20 New Year’s Resolutions For 20-Somethings

2012-01-03T19:57:00.000-08:00

I thought this was too good not to share! I'm starting with #13 (even though I love brussel sprouts). Which one are you going to start with?

20 New Year’s Resolutions For 20-Somethings

Jan. 2, 2012

By Jessie Rosen

Before you status update, Tweet, Tumble or Instagram, pause and say to yourself, “is it entirely necessary that I share this morsel of thought with my entire social network?”and if the answer is not, “yes, I absolutely must,” then step away from the Internet.
Know which candidate you’re going to vote for in the upcoming presidential election, and know why.
Enough with the 14-day juice cleanses. If you want to lose a little weight quickly, eat less and exercise like crazy. If you want to lose a lot of weight slowly, do whatever Jennifer Hudson did.
If you really like the person you’re hooking up with and would like them to be your boyfriend/ girlfriend, find a way to tell them, and hope for the best. If you don’t and wouldn’t, stop.
Find a way to save approximately 300 dollars and spend it on a flight to see a friend or family member who lives far away.
Please stop liking the Kardashians, all of them. It’s not helping anyone, least of all the Kardashians.
Spend less than or equal to the money you earn each month.
Wear clothes that fit you, especially to work.
Call someone on the phone at least once a week, and speak to him or her for at least ten minutes.
Start preparing now to get over the fact that Facebook is probably going to change again in six months. You’re not going to deactivate your account. You don’t know how.
Wait 30 seconds before you look up a fact you can’t remember on your phone, and try to remember it using your brain. This is what the olden days were like.
Replace one terrible reality show you’re currently watching with one wonderful scripted show currently available on television. Swap suggestion: Real Housewives of Anywhere for HBO’s Enlightened.
Try that food you think you don’t like but have never actually tried, unless it’s brussels sprouts. They really don’t need any more attention.
Cut one person out of your life who you truly do not like and add one person who you truly do. Note: not on Facebook, on Earth.
If you’re still blacking out regularly, you should stop.
Volunteer once over the next 90 days. You’ll feel really good about it, and probably end up volunteering again over the next 275.
Tell someone who you love that you love them on a more regular basis. To their face, not in a text.
Back up your entire online life onto an external hard drive, especially your photos.
Crap or get off the pot. This applies to whatever thing you’re not doing that you should just sack up and do already.
And in the eternal words of Tom Haverford, “TREAT YO SELF!”

Happy 2012 everyone!

from http://thoughtcatalog.com/2012/20-new-years-resolutions-for-20-somethings/

Egg Nog Breakfast Bread

2011-12-29T18:00:00.000-08:00

Every Christmas for as long as I can remember, my family always had something a little extra special for breakfast. It was one of those things you always remember. You wake up early, open gifts, have cup of cocoa or coffee and then have a warm and delicious breakfast. This year, we did things different - we had breakfast before all the other fun stuff. It was rather nice because after opening gifts and relaxing, who wants to make breakfast.

One of the other blogs I follow closely posted a recipe for egg nog waffles. Yum, right? They were so good. We served them with parmesan and chive eggs as well as the totally and fabulous chicken breakfast sausage from Trader Joes. Those sausages are great - there are 130 calories for three links and they taste even better than regular breakfast sausage. At least I think so. If you like them, swoop them up while you can and put them in your freezer. I don't see them all the time and when they are out, they go like hot cakes.

Okay, back to what we are here for. Egg nog bread. There is just something out the flavor of egg nog that wins me over. Maybe it's the nutmeg. Since I can't have real egg nog (hello lactose intolerance), I always buy Silk soy egg nog. It tastes just the same and doesn't give me all that tummy trouble. I went to the store to get some to make this fantastic bread and of course they were all out! Since I knew I would not be drinking this, I decided to buy the organic low fat version. You can you use soy, the real deal or any kind of egg nog that you store has.

Since I knew my family would be having something eggnoggy and special for Christmas breakfast, I wanted to make something for Ryan and his mom (she was in town for the holidays - hiiii Kris!) to nibble on when they woke up in the morning. Plus, this was the perfect time to try out a new holiday recipe and switch it up from the plain old banana bread. Even better, this one has an egg nog glaze that you pour over the top as it's cooling. Who doesn't love a gooey glaze? I know I do.

ingredients - wheaties do not go in the batter :)

dry ingredients

wet ingredients

whip that batter!

before going in the oven

pow sugar + vanilla + egg nog for glaze

cooling and glaze dripping

Egg Nog Breakfast Bread (slighty adapted from http://www.recipegirl.com)

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 large eggs
1 cup granulated white sugar
1 cup eggnog

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla

Glaze:

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dash nutmeg
2 to 3 teaspoons eggnog

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, eggnog, melted butter, and vanilla. Add egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir just until moistened (batter will be lumpy).

4. Spoon batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 45 to 50 minutes. Check for done-ness by inserting a toothpick into the center of the loaf -- it should come out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on a rack.

5. For the icing, combine sugar, vanilla, and nutmeg. Stir in enough eggnog to reach drizzling consistency. Drizzle cooled loaf with icing. Grate a little bit of fresh nutmeg over the icing, then let icing set completely before wrapping loaf.

Like I said, I did not try this bread, but Ryan said he ate two pieces on Christmas morning. Couldn't have been that bad, right? Also, if you want to use up your extra holiday egg nog and freeze this bread for another time, follow all the steps, but do not glaze the bread. Once you make and defrost the loaf, then glaze the bread.

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

2011-12-29T14:23:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, Ryan thought it would be fun to have a pie-off for the Porter's holiday party. I was kind of nervous since Ryan makes some of the best desserts I've had (his cheesecake is AMAZING), but I was up for the challenge! I searched high and low for a recipe that I could use and came up empty handed on my first hunt. The next day I narrowed it down to an apple cranberry pie with a crumb topping or a chocolate bourbon pecan pie. Tough choice, right? Apples are a great fall fruit and great in pie, but I wanted to kick it in to high gear and go with the chocolate bourbon pecan pie.

I made my first pecan pie EVER about a month ago. Ryan was over and after dinner he asked what was for dessert. I didn't make anything that night, but pulled out a couple of cookbooks to see what I could throw together. I had everything for some cookies and even ingredients for brownies, but I always make cookies and brownies. I had a couple of pie crusts in the freezer and thought, let's make a pie! I had just enough pecans and corn syrup, so I whipped up a pecan pie. It was quick and easy and best of all delicious. We didn't let it cool enough before we sliced in to it, but come to find out hot pecan pie is still just as good as cooled pecan pie. Yummy. Just don't burn your tongue.

So, I was more than excited to try a pumped up pecan pie with bourbon and chocolate. How good does that sound? The bourbon cuts through the sweetness of the corn syrup so it's not as sweet, but you still get that boozy tingle on the back of your tongue. That's right, I said boozy tingle. The chocolate adds this brownie like flavor that is, well, you just have to try it to know. So yummy and so good. Even better, it's super easy to make. Next time you need a great holiday pie, you can whip this one up in no time and you will be a superstar. That I can promise you.

pie ingredients. not featured - the pie crust

melting the butter and chocolate

whipping the eggs and sugar

want to know how to get the sticky corn syrup out of the measuring up easily? spray with non-stick spray first!

the corn syrup sunk to the bottom of the egg mixture

pie crust ready to go - and leaves!

look at that leafy crust. my sister bought me that leaf cookie cutter at goodwill so I finally got to use it. Then I took a paring knife (don't worry, I was careful) and made the veins in the leaves. All you need to use is water to made the leaves adhere to the crust!

pre-bake

all baked and cooling! YUM!

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie (recipe courtesy of Tyler Florence)

1 pre-made pie crust (2 if you want to do a crust design such as leaves or a braid)

1/2 stick unsalted butter
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup dark corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons bourbon (I used Jim Beam, but you can use whiskey or even spiced rum, if you have it)
1/4 teaspoon salt
11/2 cups pecan halves

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Press the dough into the pan so it fits tightly and trim the excess around the rim. Place the pie pan on a sturdy cookie sheet so it will be easy to move in and out of the oven.

To make the filling, melt the butter and chocolate in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once melted and combined, remove from heat and let cool. Beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl until frothy and then blend in the sugar. Stir in the syrup, vanilla, bourbon, salt, and the melted butter mixture until well blended. Arrange the pecans on the bottom of the pie crust and carefully pour the egg mixture over them. Bake until the filling is set and slightly puffed, about 45 minutes. Test for doneness by sticking a thin knife in the center of the pie, if it comes out pretty clean, you're good to go. Transfer the pie to rack and cool completely before cutting.

See, pecan pie is super easy to make! Of course I decided to use a refrigerated pie crust from the grocery store, but feel free to use homemade. Sometimes when I am in a pinch, I love to use the ones from the store, because they are already done for you so all you have to do is take the chill off of it, and place it in the pan. This pie got so many great reviews, I decided to make it again for Christmas dinner dessert. Even better, it freezes great so you can save a whole pie or just a piece!

Sexy Scar

2011-12-27T22:13:00.000-08:00

For those who want to see the super sexy scar, here you go. It's a little gross, but not that bad. It's not like I'm showing you the inside of my thumb. I already crossed that off my bucket list, so I don't think you want to cross it off yours!

My sister took lots of photos from the beginning stitch to the end. She even took a video of me being a big 'ol baby when I had the dressing removed and stitches cleaned for the first time. Ya, I won't be showing you that. HA.

I am still healing, but doing much better. The part I tried to cut off has healed back just fine. The doctors originally thought it might not - yikes. The only benefit of it not healing and having that part removed would have been starting a life of crime. The ER doctor told me that it would grow back, but would have no thumbprint. That would have been cool. Kinda. Good thing it was fine and we don't have to go down that path, right? Right! Getting the stitches out today was definitely not painless, but I survived. I'm just glad it's over. Even better, I hope to be back on my normal blogging schedule shortly. I have TONS of recipes to catch you up on!

Craft Project Gone Wrong!

2011-12-27T10:58:00.000-08:00

Hi all. As you may have noticed, I have been away from the blogging scene for a couple of weeks. Why you may ask? Well, I had a little thumb v. knife incident that sent me to the emergency room. Even better, I wasn't even cooking - I was crafting for holiday gifts. There was probably my first problem. Here's the story.

I was looking on Pinterest after Thanksgiving for crafty holiday ideas when I came across this idea to make a jewelry holder from old wine corks and picture frames. Super cute idea, right? I thought so. So, after Thanksgiving, my sister and I went to Goodwill (they have 50% off the whole store the day after a holiday!) and I bought some old picture frames that would be perfect for this project. Then I cleaned the glass and wood and sprayed it with some spray paint ( I picked a hammered copper color). Since it wasn't too warm outside, I took awhile to dry - about a day. Then, I was ready to start placing the corks to fill it up. I filled up the whole thing, but realized there was one spot left where I needed half of a cork. So, I got out a long serrated bread knife and started slow. I got about half way when things turned red and bloody. The cork slipped and the knife took a good part of my thumb with it - the thumbprint part of my thumb. It was a good flap of thumb, but good thing it was still attached. I will spare you any more gross details. They will make you go "ewwww". At least that's what Ryan says.

Are you grossed out yet? Since my parents live not too far from me, I called them right away and they took me to the ER. Four hours and ten stitches later, I was good as new - well, kinda. It was really painful, but at least I didn't cut off my thumb. Here are some pictures of the incident, but don't worry, no pictures of the wound itself. Promise!

after triage and waiting for them to bring me back to an ER bed for shots and stitches. My mom took this picture and that's when I realized my sweater had blood on it. Gross.

After all was said and done. Wrapped and protected so I would not bang it on anything. Eating the hamburger with with the other hand, not so easy. Holding a fork. Not easy. Washing hair. Not easy. Buttoning pants for work. Not easy.


Here is the finished craft project. See, pretty!

I didn't think I was going to finish the cork jewelry hangers in time for Christmas since doing things with one good hand isn't so easy, but I did. I made one for my mom and my sister - all made with a note on the back saying "made with love and blood". I thought it was cute.

Good news is that it has been ten days since my epic slice and dice and I am headed back to my doctor to get the stitches out this afternoon. I hope that it won't hurt. Ryan says it will just tickle, so I hope he is right. Once all the stitches are out I will take a picture so you can see my sexy scar. Ya, I said sexy.

Lesson of December - be very VERY careful with sharp knives!

Green Monster Smoothie

2011-12-13T18:58:00.000-08:00

After all those holiday treats, I bet you are looking for something light, refreshing and green! At least I know I am. I have a goal this year to not gain any weight over the holidays (even trying to lose!) and this smoothie has been a lifesaver. It's simple to make and you can whip it up in minutes. All you need is a banana, a bit of peanut butter, ground flax seed, agave nectar (or honey), ice and spinach. That's it. Whip it up in a blender and you have a smoothie that is loaded with vitamins and is super healthy.

I promise you that you can't really taste the spinach. I know that's what you are totally thinking about. Spinach in a smoothie? Gross. No, don't think that. It's really good. You do get a small hint of spinach, but if you didn't know better, you'd never know it was in there. The banana and peanut butter really shine through. If you really want to up the bonus factor, add in a scoop or two of your favorite protein powder. I use soy vanilla protein powder from Trader Joes. You've probably seen the huge container of it in most of my ingredients photos. I really don't have a good place for it so it kind of just sits on my counter or wherever I have room for it that day. I need a bigger kitchen. I keep telling Ryan I need a bigger kitchen, but he keeps telling me I have to buy him an airplane first. Fair trade? Hmmm.

yummy ingredients

pre-blend

swirling spinach

delicious and healthy shake!

Green Monster Smoothie (recommended by my friend Lauren, also from ohsheglows.com)

1 cup milk of choice (I used unsweetened vanilla) almond milk
1 ripe banana, chopped
2 handfuls spinach
1 teaspoon ground flax seed (you can always leave this out if you can't find it, but use it if you can!)
1 tbsp nut butter (here I used organic peanut butter)
3 ice cubes

Starting with the liquid, add in 1 cup of milk of your choice. Now add in the chia or flax and nut butter. Next, add in the spinach followed by the banana on top. Blend until smooth. Add in your ice cubes and blend some more. Serves 1- about 2 cups.

I know I still probably haven't convinced you to try this, but I am sure you have most of these ingredients in your fridge. Can you at least promise me that you will think about making this? I have yet to try it with other fruit, but I can promise you that I will be trying other fruit combination's to see how well I can hide that spinach!

Dark Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies - The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap

2011-12-12T19:13:00.000-08:00

As many of you may or may not know, this year I decided to participate in the first ever great food blogger cookie swap! I know you all might be thinking this sounds a little strange, especially the whole getting cookies from strangers thing, but it was really a lot of fun. Here is how it works. First and foremost, you must have a blog to participate in the cookie fun. Then, you sign up and get the names and address of three other bloggers. You then make and bake your cookies, package up one dozen and send them off and hope they don't arrive as cookie crumbs. In return, you will receive one dozen cookies from three other bloggers. So many cookies and so much fun! I decided to have my cookies shipped to my office so I would not be tempted to woof three dozen cookies at home by myself (not that I am sure I could do that anyways) and so I could share them with my co-workers. Good idea, right? Don't worry, I made sure to save my #1 taste tester some samples. Guess I should have asked him which one was his favorite. That may not have been a fair question considering he almost got week old cookies. Sorry dear.

My first batch of cookies came in last week on Tuesday. They were a wonderful Norwegian Delicacy from a blogger in Texas. They reminded me of big Swedish cookies, but with coconut. Crunchy and so buttery.

almost too pretty to eat!

mmm cookies!

That same day I got another box delivered. Two boxes of cookies in one day? Heck yes! These cookies were called cowboy cookies and came from a blogger in Tennessee. They were chock full of oatmeal, chocolate chips, pecans and cinnamon. Not to mention, they were perfect for dunking in coffee or hot cocoa.

giddy up!

My third batch arrived later in the week and they were from a blogger in Seattle, Washington. If I had to pick my favorite cookie of the three, this would be them. They were a twix cookie bar. So delicious. They had a shortbread cookie bottom, a gooey caramel middle and a chocolate topping. Just like twix, but bigger and better.

look at those layers!

All of these ladies made fantastic cookies and their blogs are full of great recipes. I somehow misplaced the inserts they put in the shipments with all their blog information, so I will post the links to their blogs soon so you can check them out!

Now, on to the cookies I decided to make. One of the rules of this swap was that it had to be a cookie that you had not previously blogged on. Darn, there went my idea to use my crack cookies! I did a lot of research and even started to come up with my own recipe when my mom mentioned that she saw a great recipe in one of her holiday magazines - red velvet shortbread cookies. How delicious, right? I'm more of a chocolate chip cookie girl than a shortbread girl, so I was slightly hesitant when I read this recipe. They sounded fabulous, but I just wasn't sure if they'd be the right cookie to send out. Especially, since I never made shortbread cookies before. I didn't want to give some of my fellow bloggers the wrong idea about my cookie making abilities. Come to find out, all the ladies I sent my cookies to loved them! They are crunchy, chocolaty and super easy to make. My only recommendation is to be very careful with the red food coloring. If you spill it or even get some of the dough on your nice white carpet (like I did), it will stain. Just don't fling the dough all over like I did. You'd think I was trying to make a pizza or something. Wild woman over here!

just a few ingredients to make these.

dark chocolate cocoa powder. you can use regular if you have it.

look at that dough - yum!

hummus and pickles do not go in these cookies. chilling the two logs of dough. I was originally going to just slice the logs and bake, but the cookies were too small. Got to have big cookies!

rolling out the dough. I did not have a cookie cutter, so I just improvised and used the top of a canning jar lid. Perfect size!

baked and ready for the swim in the white chocolate.

dipped and covered in gold sprinkles.

packaged up and ready to ship off to my fellow bloggers!

Dark Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies (slightly adapted from my mom's holiday magazine, recipe also located on www.bhg.com)

1 1/4 cup flour

1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened dark cocoa powder (you can use regular cocoa powder if you have it)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 unsalted butter, cut up into pea size chunks
1 tablespoon red food coloring
3 ounces white chocolate, cut up (I used white chocolate chips)
1 1/2 teaspoon shortening

Sprinkles or nuts for decoration

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a stand mixer combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Add butter and red food coloring and mix until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Continue mixing until mixture just forms a ball.

Wrap and place dough in the fridge to firm up for about 15-20 minutes. Once chilled, on a lightly roll or pat dough to a 1/2-inch thickness. Using a floured 1-1/2-inch round cutter, cut out dough. Place cutouts 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press scraps together, reroll and cut out. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until centers are set. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool.

In a heavy small saucepan, melt white chocolate and shortening over low heat, stirring constantly. Dip half of each cookie into melted chocolate. If desired, sprinkle with pistachios or nonpareils. Let stand on waxed paper until set.

How badly do you want to get in your kitchen and make these? These cookies are great to make to bring to the office or to package up as a holiday treat for family and friends. Other ideas for decorating these fabulous cookies are to use other cookie cutter shapes, use dark chocolate instead of white for dipping, use red or green sprinkles or even pistachios!

Zuppa Toscana - An Olive Garden Remake

2011-12-07T21:55:00.000-08:00

I don't go to Olive Garden very often, but when I do, I always seem to order soup. You might ask why, considering all the other things they have on their menu, but I just love the soup. Soup. Salad. Breadsticks. What could be better? My bestest girlfriend Andrea and I go here every so often to catch up, have girl talk and have our favorite soup - chicken gnocchi. I always get this soup, but the last time we went, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and try the zuppa toscana. This soup was different, but so delicious. It had Italian sausage, kale and potatoes. There was a light broth with a splash of cream and a kick of hot flavor from red pepper flakes. Doesn't that sound fantastic?

This soup is super flavorful and is super quick to make - about 30 minutes! This recipe called for one pound of Italian sausage, but I decided to try to cut back the fat and calories and use Sicilian chicken sausage from Trader Joes (it's SO good). You can of course use turkey Italian sausage, or the real thing. Whatever you have or whatever sounds good that day. Picking out which type of sausage to use might be the hardest part of making this soup. All you do is brown the sausage (casings removed), then the onion, then the garlic and pepper flakes. Add the wine, broth and then everything else back into the pot and simmer until the potatoes are fork tender. That easy and quick. Perfect for a quick dinner after a long day at work or a quick dinner on the weekend. It does have a spicy kick to it, so if you or someone you are making this for isn't a fan of that tingle on your tounge, use half of the amount or just a sprinkle to start. You can always add more, but you can't take the heat away!

yes, that is my glass of wine. the cook always has a glass of wine while cooking!

browned sausage

onion, garlic and red pepper flakes. what a heavenly smell.

adding the wine - steam shot!

adding the kale. always looking for more ways to use kale!

simmer simmer boil boil

served with homemade croutons!

Zuppa Toscana (slightly adapted from annies-eats.net)

1 lb. Italian sausage (or half regular, half turkey sausage)
1 large onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup white wine to deglaze the pan
½ tsp. red pepper flakes
2 russett potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch chunks
2 cups fresh kale, chopped
3 cups chicken broth
2.5 cups water
1/2 cup heavy cream (or more if you like)
Salt and pepper

Place a large pot on the stove over medium heat. Crumble the sausage into the pan and cook until well browned. Remove the cooked sausage from the pot with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl; set aside. Add the chopped onion to the pan and sauté until tender, about 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes to the pan and cook for a minute more, just until fragrant. Add the wine to the pot and stir, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen any browned bits. Add the potatoes, kale, chicken broth and water to the pot. Return the sausage to the pot. Increase the heat to medium-high, bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer on medium-low. Cover and let simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork-tender and cooked through. Stir in the heavy cream and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

This soup is great by itself, but even better with homemade croutons to absorb all that yummy liquid! That and a glass (or two!) of pinot grigo and you are set.

Homemade Croutons

2011-12-06T22:17:00.000-08:00

This recipe is inspired by Barb's totally amazing homemade croutons. When Ryan and I were last up in Oregon, she pulled out these deliciously crunchy croutons for our dinner salad. How genius of her to make her own croutons. I never thought to make my own, which seems strange seeing as how I have a mild crouton addiction. Wait, no. Correction. I have a HUGE crouton addiction. I will seriously skip the salad part (bad, I know) and just eat the croutons straight from the bag. I have not done this in a long, long time, but I have been known to just eat croutons for dinner. They are just so crunchy and delicious! When you make them yourself, you can use any flavor you want. Even better, you know that there are no preservative and you can watch the sodium too (store bought ones are loaded with salt!).

So, after making the crusty Italian bread that was a little too crusty for me, I knew it would be the perfect time to try the croutons. Since the loaf was so large, I cut up the whole thing into about one inch chunks (of course you can make yours smaller or bigger if you want to) and put half of them in a ziploc for the freezer and then used the other half for croutons. Of course you could use the other half for homemade bread crumbs, but that's for another day and another post. We're all about croutons today!

These crunchy and crusty bites are the perfect amount of garlic and parmesan cheese. All you need is olive oil, bread, garlic, parmesan cheese (not the stuff in the green can) and salt and pepper. That's it! The most important part is to let the garlic infuse the oil at room temperature for an hour or two. This will get that oil nice and garlicky, which we all know I love. Again, another obsession - garlic. If you have a loaf of crusty bread that you just don't know what to do with, make these bad boys. They are great on salad, soup or just to eat by themselves. Once you try one, you will have a hard time putting them down. Don't say I didn't warn you.

mmm, croutons

garlic and olive oil getting all delicious

look at that garlic!

garlic oil and bread

mountain of cheese

almost ready to bake

after the first 15 minutes of baking

ready to eat!

Homemade Croutons

4 cups cubed day old bread

1/3 cup olive oil

3/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Salt and Pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

In a small bowl, place olive oil and garlic. Let sit at room temperature for at least one hour. Add your cubed bread into a large bowl - large enough to toss everything together. Once the garlic and oil are ready, strain the oil over the top of the bread and mix to coat. Then, add 1/2 cup of the grated parmesan cheese. Toss to coat and add salt and pepper.

Lay out the coated croutons on a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 15 minutes and give them a toss. Bake for another 15 minutes. Then, take them out and sprinkle over the remaining 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese. Bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until browned and cooked. Let cool completely on baking sheet before storing.

This recipe is great because it is so simple and you can really switch up the flavors to whatever you like. If you like it with a kick of heat - sprinkle on some cayenne pepper. If you are not a garlic lover, you could always just do olive oil and some salt and pepper. The bread is a blank canvas, so have fun and make some croutons!

Crusty Italian Bread

2011-11-30T20:37:00.000-08:00

What goes better with lasagna than a big loaf of Italian crusty bread? Not much. Well, maybe a bowl of salad and some wine. Ya, that sounds fantastic! The first loaf of bread I really made was a recipe my sister gave me for no-knead bread. It was super easy to make, but I didn't feel like it rose enough. It was more dense than airy, so this time around I wanted to try a true yeasty bread-y bread. I searched through all of my favorite cookbooks at home and even some of my favorite blogs when I finally came across the ultimate bread that I knew I needed to make - crusty Italian bread. Italian lasagna. Italian bread. What a perfect match!

Let me tell you - this made a HUGE, no MAJORLY HUGE loaf of bread. The outside was crusty and brown and the inside was fluffy and light. Even better, this bread is super easy to make. The one exception to making this bread is that you need to spray it down with water a couple of times during the initial baking phase. I didn't have a spray bottle on hand, so I picked one up at the dollar store for cheap. No need to spend $5 on a "kitchen" spray bottle. There is no skipping this step (it's crucial!), so go and get one. You will most likely need it for other bread recipes in the future, so it will be worth it. Promise.

Now, let me tell you what happened with my bread. I did everything right and followed the directions perfectly. I don't know how crusty this bread was meant to be, but I felt it was just too crusty for my liking. If this happens to you while baking this bread, or in the future, do not throw the bread away. Save it and make bread crumbs or homemade croutons. Can you guess which one I did? Homemade croutons! I must admit, I have a slight crouton addiction. I will just eat them sans salad. Munch, munch, crunch, crunch. So good. When Ryan and I were up in Oregon visiting his Dad and Barb, Barb had made some fantastic croutons. I had never made them before and decided that this was a must. There will be a whole separate blog on this soon, so you will just have to wait until then. Neener neener.

Just a few ingredients

bloomin' yeast

kneading that dough!

before

after!

loaf rolled and ready to bake

look how big!

it's the growing loaf of bread. now even bigger!

see, super crusty

Crusty Italian Bread (from www.browneyedbaker.com)

2 cups lukewarm water (~100°F)
1 package active dry yeast
5 to 5¾ cups bread flour
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2½ teaspoons salt

Directions:

Stir the yeast into ½ cup of the warm water. Let proof as you measure out the dry ingredients.

Combine 5 cups flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the yeast mixture, remaining water and olive oil. Using a dough hook attachment, mix on lowest speed of electric mixer (stir setting on a KitchenAid) until a dough starts to form, adding more flour as needed. Knead on low speed (2 on a KitchenAid) for 7 minutes. Transfer dough to lightly floured surface and need by hand for 1 to 2 minutes, or until a smooth, firm, elastic dough is formed. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and spray the dough with a thin coating of cooking spray. Wrap the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside to proof in a warm, draft-free place for 1½ hours or until doubled in size. Remove the plastic wrap, punch down and flatten the rounded dough with the heel of your hand. Roll the dough up tightly, sealing the seam well after each roll. The dough should be elongated and oval-shaped, with tapered and rounded (not pointed) ends.

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Place the dough on an inverted baking sheet. Allow the dough to proof, loosely covered with a floured canvas cloth, for 30 minutes, or until doubled in size. Using a razor blade or sharp knife, slash the dough lengthwise about 1/4-inch deep, keeping the blade at a 45 degree angle. Spray the dough generously with water from a water bottle and place in the oven on the baking stone. Immediately close the oven and bake for 3 minutes. Open the oven door and spray the dough again with the water bottle. Close the oven door and bake for an additional 3 minutes before spraying the dough for a third time (the spraying of the dough will ensure a crisp golden brown crust).

Bake the dough for a total of 45 minutes, or until a hollow thud is heard when tapping the bottom of the bread. Allow the bread to cool before slicing.

Bet you can't wait for that homemade crouton recipe now. Garlic and parmesan croutons to be exact. I wish I had a bowl of them to eat right now!

Grandma Patty's Lasagna

2011-11-30T19:42:00.000-08:00

Okay, I am back. Finally. After a couple of weeks of being MIA from my blog, I have a TON of things to post. Seriously, a TON. Let's get to it. Time for lasagna.

I bet after all that turkey from last week that you are looking for something different than the bird and a side of stuffing. Ew, I hate stuffing. Sorry, I know. I just don't like it. Soggy bread and celery, ew. Sorry, I get side tracked easily. Back to lasagna. This lasagna is not like any other lasagna. This is my grandmother's lasagna. It's meaty, it's cheesy and it's full of yumminess. It's not hard to make at all, but it does take some time and patience since you need to let the sauce simmer for a couple of hours (or longer if you can). The longer it sits, the better it gets. In fact, if you have any after dinner for leftovers, it will get better as each day goes by. If it lasts for that long. I don't know what it is about spaghetti sauce or a dish that has it in it, but I really want to know what makes them better as the days go by. Maybe it's all the flavors absorbing and expanding. Who knows. All I know it this is yummy and everyone who I've given this recipe to says they love it. It must be good then, right?

The sauce for this starts out similar to the same sauce I taught you how to make in the previous post "homemade" lasagna. Of course you could always substitute the jarred sauce for Italian canned tomatoes (san marzanos), but they are so expensive, and the jarred sauce (which ever brand you like) always work great. It's what you add to it that makes it special and super delicious. Trust me, no one will ever know and you will be a star after making this. I can never get mine to taste just like my grandmas, but it comes pretty close to what I remember hers tasting like. Hers is different in the fact that she just doesn't use ricotta and mozzarella cheese. She uses cheddar too. At first, I thought this was weird, but after I tried it - YUM. Who would have ever though that cheddar cheese in lasagna would be good! Wow, my whole mouth just filled up with saliva. Yikes. Keep in mind that if you have any extra sauce, freeze it and keep it on hand for a quick pasta dinner another week. There is so much you can do with pasta sauce. You could even use this as pizza sauce for homemade pizza. Wow, why didn't I think of that sooner? I am so doing that with the sauce in my freezer.

Oops

2011-11-26T15:18:00.000-08:00

Hi readers! I have been neglecting my blog over the last few days since I haven't been feeling well the past week (the doctor put me on some antibiotics, so my tummy has been a mess and all I want to do is sleep when I get home from work) and I have just been pooped from normal and busy schedule. I promise to get back in to the swing of things and get you those recipes you've been waiting for. I have at least 20 - yes 20 - recipes in the queue and can't wait to get posting about them. They range from sweets, to savory, to canning (I hope you love canning as much as I do now) and even product reviews. I've even been able to cross a few more items off my fall cooking to-do list too! So stay tuned over the next day or so as I start blogging like a mad woman again.

Hope you all had as great of a thanksgiving as I did and are still relaxing and enjoying all that left over turkey. Yes, there will be a blog on my families thanksgiving experience. So much fun cooking with the family and so much fun documenting it all. Question - do you even have turkey left over? My family does and my mom is whipping up her leftover turkey soup with stuffing dumpling recipe tonight. Last year I missed this goodness, so I can't wait to try it. If you're lucky enough, my mom may even let me share this recipe with you. Maybe.

Roasted Butternut Squash & Sweet Potato Lasagna (Vegetarian & Gluten Free)

2011-11-15T20:30:00.000-08:00

Don't get me wrong, I love lasagna - cheesy, tomato-y, noodle-y lasagna. Even better, all the wine, bread and salad that always seem to accompany it. Wow, are you starting to salivate like I am? Yikes. I love the traditional lasagna, but I am always looking for ways to spice it up and to step away from the tomato based sauce (as much as a I love it). I really wanted to make something new and something that screamed fall.

A couple of weeks ago, Ryan and I took our friends Matt & Lauren (hiiiiii!), up to Apple Hill and then we came back to my house for dinner that night. Since I knew we would be gone all day, I wanted to make something that I could put together the night before and then just pop in the oven while we were all hanging out and relaxing. The first thing that came to mind was lasagna. You can make it ahead, you can freeze it for another time - lasagna is the perfect make ahead meal for tomorrow or for a month from now (that is your tip of the day). I knew I would make my grandma's lasagna recipe for the boys, but I wanted to make a super scrumptious vegetarian lasagna for Lauren. I thought I could just do the same one I was making for the boys sans meat, but I wanted to step it up. No plain jane lasagna here. Let me just make it clear that my grandma's lasagna is not plain jane. It is amazing, but I will explain all about how to make her recipe later this week. It's another must make. Yum!

I was doing my normal nightly blog reading and came across the ultimate fall vegetarian lasagna - roasted butternut squash & sweet potato lasagna. Seriously - how good does that sound? This recipe called for no-boil whole wheat noodles, but I ended up using brown rice (gluten free) lasagna noodles. Whole Foods was out of them, and I shockingly found them on sale at my local Safeway. If you are trying to eat gluten-free, these noodles are great and I am sure you can find them at your local store. Lots of stores these days are selling brown rice noodles as well as all other varieties of gluten-free products. They cook up just like regular lasagna noodles, but still have a slight bite to them. Not crunchy. More like al dente. I like my noodles that way. No one likes a soggy noodle.

With roasted fall veggies, sage, mascarpone and shallots what is not to love? I give this one two thumbs up. It's rich, but it is so good. Next time I make this, and I will be, I will be having a small piece with a big salad and a glass of pinot grigio. I think that would be perfect. The recipe says it could serve 2-4 for a main meal or 4-6 for a side dish. I think the 4-6 size piece would be perfect. Maybe that is just me though. Once you take a bite of this, you may want to eat the whole pan. At least I did. Mmm crispy sage.

delicious ingredients

roasting those veggies

here are the brown rice noodles that I used. You can use any noodle you have or want

butter, garlic and shallots. best smell ever.

sauteed garlic and shallots mixed in with mascarpone. I could eat this with a spoon or spread it on bread. YUM.

look at those layers of goodness

pre-baked

post baked. look at those crunchy edges. I would just eat those.

Roasted Butternut Squash & Sweet Potato Lasagna (from www.howsweeteats.com)

9-12 whole wheat lasagna noodle sheets (preferably no-boil)

1/2 medium butternut squash, peeled and cubed (about 2 cups cubed)

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed (about 1 1/2 cups cubed)

12 ounces mascarpone cheese, at room temperature

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 shallot, thinly sliced

3 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed

1 1/2 cups freshly grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup freshly grated mozzarella cheese

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

a bunch of sage leaves

olive oil for drizzling

Preheat oven to 350 degree

For squash & potatoes: Lay cubed squash and potatoes on a baking sheet, and drizzle with a bit of olive oil (only about 1-2 teaspoons). Use your hands to coat the squash and potatoes with olive oil, then sprinkle with nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Roast for 50 minutes, tossing every 15 minutes or so. Remove from oven and let cool. Once cool, mash with a potato masher or fork. After mashing mine, I actually used a hand mixer with beaters to “whip” them a bit more, but that isn’t necessary. The consistency is up to you. Just make sure it is spreadable.

For mascarpone filling: Heat a skillet over medium heat and add butter. Add in shallots and garlic, and whisk every 30 seconds or so for 2-3 minutes. The butter should brown and the shallots and garlic should be fragrant. You don’t want the butter to burn – if it seems too hot, reduce the heat. If it does burn, start over (sorry – totally worth it though!). Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.

In a bowl, combine mascarpone, 3/4 cup parmesan cheese, remaining salt and pepper, and the shallots, butter and garlic. Mix until somewhat smooth and spreadable.

Layer lasagna: Spray an 8×8 pan with non-stick spray, then lay 2-3 (depending on size/brand) noodles down. Spread half of the squash mixture evenly over top, then spread/crumble half of the mascarpone on top of that. Sprinkle half of the mozzarella and remaining parmesan on next, then repeat with one more set of noodles, squash, mascarpone, and cheese.

Top the dish over with a bunch of sage leaves that will crisp up in the oven. Bake for 45 minutes, or until cheese on top is golden and bubbly.

There is not much else to say other than go make this now. Run. Wait, now that I think about it, this might be a great dish to throw in some of that extra thanksgiving turkey into if you want to add in some more protein. Right in between the roasted mash and the creamy cheese layer. Ya. That sounds fantastic. I might have to try that out. I bet it would be great with a little cranberry sauce on the side too. Oh no, here comes the saliva again.

Pumpkin Sherbet

2011-11-14T21:58:00.000-08:00

Warning! Over the next several weeks you will see lots of pumpkin recipes. I love pumpkin and am going to trying to use it in many ways. Got to get in the pumpkin goodness while I can!

Let me tell you about sherbet. I love it. That is all. Just kidding. Sherbet is more or less a sorbet with a little bit of dairy in it. My all time favorite kind of sherbet is rainbow sherbet. There is just something about it that is so delicious and comforting. Whenever I had surgery, my mom would always get me some. It just make me always feel better. Not sure why, it just did. I'm pretty sure the next time I have surgery, my mom will be there after with a big bowl of rainbow sherbet (yes, my mom is better than yours. Sorry). I can even remember the first time I had it. The day care that my sister and I went to always had a day during the month (during the summer) where we would go on a long adventure walk to Thrifty to get an ice cream cone. All of the other kids got chocolate or vanilla, but I always got rainbow sherbet. I love when you get to the end of the cone and you can push all the sherbet in the grid and then eat it. YUM. I so want a big bowl of that now. I guess the cup of fat free hot cocoa will have to do for now. Darn.

Back to pumpkin sherbet. I was looking for a low fat and rather low cal creamy pumpkin recipe and came across the perfect one. Pumpkin sherbet. Sherbet and pumpkin together? I was sold! It was creamy, it was spicy, it was a pumpkin pie party in my mouth. If you love pumpkin and are looking for a healthy alternative to pumpkin pie ice cream or to that big slice of pumpkin pie, try this one out. Totally refreshing and totally delicious.

forgot to take a picture of the ingredients oops. here is the milk. I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk, but use whatever milk you have in your fridge.

milk and pumpkin

spices!

adding spices to the bubbling pumpkin and milk

swirling spices. mmm.

ready to chill

churning sherbet

mmmm!

Pumpkin Sherbet (from skinnytaste.com)

2 1/4 cups almond milk (or whatever milk you have)
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
pinch of clove
pinch of salt

Directions: In a saucepan, combine milk, sugar, pumpkin, and heat over medium heat. Bring to a full boil while whisking, then reduce heat to low, and simmer for thirty seconds. Remove from the heat, and add the vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon and clove, and stir. Transfer the mixture to a bowl, and chill in the refrigerator until cold, about an hour. When chilled, freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

The best part of this is a 1/2 cup serving is just about 153 calories and 1 gram of fat. I wish I still had some of this in my freezer. If you want to add a little topping to this, try crushed up graham crackers for extra crunch!

Kale Chips

2011-11-12T20:13:00.000-08:00

If you love potato chips and are looking for a great way to stop eating half the bag in one sitting (let's be real here - who can just have a handful or two?), well then I am here to tell you about my new love. Kale chips! When you are at the grocery store, I'm sure you've seen kale and I'm sure you've run far far away from it. I'm one of those people that love dark greens, but I must admit, I don't eat enough of them.

Kale chips are now on my favorite veggies and snack list. It's super simple and they taste fantastic. If you've had kale steamed or in another dish, you know that it is bitter and the flavor is kind of, uhm, not the best. Don't let that scare you here though. All you need to do is grab a bunch of kale, which is super cheap (I found mine for under $1!), some olive oil and seasonings to taste. I used just simple salt and pepper, but you could add cayenne for a kick or even garlic powder. Once you get the basics down on making these, you can try all kinds of flavors.

My town recently became home to a new Whole Foods store and boy oh boy am I in love. It's definitely not a store for my every day shopping, but they have awesome items, especially those lactose free items for me. I found my new favorite lactose free yogurt the other day. Even sour cream! I will be posting about this soon in my next product review, so stay tuned for that. Lots of items and lots of things I think you will love as much as I do. Now why did I start talking about Whole Foods? Oh ya! On the shelf behind the yougurts I saw kale chips. In all kinds of flavors - everything from plain to ranch to BBQ. I was about to try the BBQ ones when I saw the price. Almost $4! I just did not have the heart to pay that much when I knew I could make them at home.

Like I said, this a low cost and low calorie snack that I am sure you will love. If you love potato chips, try these. If you don't like them, well, at least it didn't cost you that much to make them (but I know you will like them).

three ingredients - kale, olive oil and seasonings

de-ribbed kale

tossed in olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper

look how much they shrunk!

crispy and delicious!

Kale Chips (from smittenkitchen.com)

1 bunch Kale

1 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper (to taste)

Preheat oven to 300°F. Rinse and dry the kale (pat dry with paper towels or use a salad spinner), then remove the stems and tough center ribs. Cut into large pieces, toss with olive oil in a bowl then sprinkle with salt. Arrange leaves in a single layer on a large baking sheet (I used two since I had so many leaves!) Bake for 20 minutes, or until crisp. Place baking sheet on a rack to cool.

I wish I had some of these right now. Talk about guilt free snacking!

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap

2011-11-09T21:27:00.000-08:00

Was brave enough to sign up for this today!

What happens here is that you get the address of three other bloggers and send them each one dozen of the cookie you've decided to make. In return, you will also get three shipments (all one dozen each) from three other bloggers so you can test out their cookies. Once all the cookies have been received, you then blog about your recipe so that all can see how you made them (and even try making these themselves). How fun, right? I think it will be. I definitely don't need three dozen cookies around tempting me during the holiday season, so I sure hope that Ryan, my family and colleagues at work can help me eat them.

Now comes the question - What type of cookie should I send out? I am thinking something fun and new. A cookie no one would expect. I have a few ideas up my sleeve, but does anyone have any recommendations? Shipments go out on Friday, December 2nd!

Apple Cider Caramels

2011-11-08T20:26:00.000-08:00

Since it's officially fall and true chilly fall weather has arrived, it is only perfect that the apple recipes start coming in full force. Fall is my favorite season - it's chilly, but not too cold and it's time to pull out the boots, scarves and sweaters from the closet. I love how the trees change color. I love how nice it is to curl up with a big bowl of soup and a big snugly blanket. Best of all, I love those cool rainy days that make you just want to snuggle in bed all day. Doesn't that sound nice? I think so.

Speaking of snuggling, you might just want to snuggle up to a big bowl of these apple cider caramels. They are appley, cinnamony and so so so good. It's like eating liquid apple pie. No joke. Keeping with the theme of fall and apple goodness, in comes Apple Hill. If you are in the Sacramento area, you have got to go. There are tons of orchards, tree farms, wineries and even a brewery too. You can pick your own fruit, or do like Ryan and I do and go wine and pie tasting. Best combination ever, right? Heck yes! Each place makes their own pie and it's really fun to taste them all and pick out the subtle differences. A couple of weeks ago we took our friends Matt and Lauren up there for their first time, and we had a ton of fun. I love me a good piece of apple pie, but I must say, the apple strudel we had at the first place (my favorite - Boa Vista Orchards), was pretty darn good.

Wow, I really get off topic quick don't I? I could talk about apples and fall all day, but let's get to caramels. I've never made caramel before in my life, and I am not going to lie, I was a little nervous. I shouldn't have been though. Caramel is not hard to make, you just have to be patient to let the boiling sugar lava come up to temperature. You all know that I am not very patient when it comes to these things, but I am slowly learning. If you are scared about making homemade caramels, don't be. It was way easier than I thought and the most important thing to have is a candy thermometer. I picked one up at a local store for under $5, so don't go spending your whole paycheck on one. That and you want to use good apple cider. Not apple juice. Apple cider. You can of course get this up at Apple Hill, but you can also use anything you find in your local grocery store. I used Simply Apple (they also make lemonade and orange juice), but I have seen cider at Trader Joes. I'm sure with the fall season in full force, that cider should be easy to find.

Ready to make caramels? Let's do this! Once you make these, you will want to make them for everyone. They are like little bites of fall in your mouth.

ingredients

apple cider reduction. make this about an hour before you want to start. it will need to cool before you can start making caramels!

here is the candy thermometer I bought.

apple cider spices added to the cream

prepare your pan before you start so you can pour in the caramel right away.

boil - round one. cream, water, sugar and corn syrup

add that butter

add the cider and the rest of the cream and bring up to temperature.

getting impatient - almost to temperature!!

caramel ready to cool - this take a couple of hours.

I got too excited after making these and forgot to show you how I wrapped them up. All you will need is wax paper and then wrap them up like a tootsie roll. I packaged mine in a chinese take out box (one I got from Michaels craft store, not a used box) and put a bow on them. Not only are these perfect to have as a treat, but they are perfect to give away as a little hello. Plus, saying that you made caramels - Hello, winner!

Apple Cider Caramels (from ourbestbites.com)

2 c. high-quality apple cider (like Simply Apple)
1 c. heavy cream or whipping cream, divided
1 tsp. ground cinnamon*
Pinch nutmeg*
1/4 tsp. allspice*
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. light corn syrup
1 stick (1/2 c.) real butter, cubed

*If you’d rather, you can use 1 tsp. apple pie or pumpkin pie spice + 1/2 tsp. cinnamon instead of the full teaspoon of cinnamon plus the nutmeg and allspice.

Pour cider into a medium saucepan and boil on high for about 20 minutes or until the cider is reduced to 1/3 c. (keep a glass or silicone measuring cup handy so you can pour it out and back in again if you need to). Set aside to cool.

Line an 8″ square pan with parchment paper, making sure to leave about 1″ hanging over the edges for easy removal. Spray with non-stick cooking spray and set aside. In a small bowl, combine 2/3 c. cream, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and reduced apple cider. Set aside.

In a large, heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, 1/3 c. whipping cream + enough water to reach the 1/2 c. line on the measuring cup, and corn syrup. Cook over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Insert the candy thermometer and simmer until the syrup reaches 234 degrees.

Remove from heat and slowly whisk in the cream mixture. Add the cubed butter and stir until the cream and butter are fully incorporated. Return the pan to heat and re-insert the candy thermometer. Cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until the temperature reaches 248 degrees.

Remove from heat and pour the caramel into the prepared pan. Let the mixture cool completely at room temperature or in the refrigerator. Cut the caramels into 1/2″ squares and wrap each caramel in wax paper. Store in an airtight container or in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

One word of advice for making these - do not be in a rush. It does take time to reduce the cider, make the caramels and let them cool. All in all, the whole process takes a good 3 hours at least (depending on how fast the caramels cool). Also, the first time I made these, I didn't think they needed to be kept in the fridge, but I think they are best kept in the fridge. If you don't they will get all squishy and hard to eat (Sorry Bea & Chris!).

Cookie Dough Hummus

2011-11-07T18:58:00.000-08:00

I know what you are thinking - she's crazy. Cookie dough hummus? No I am not kidding. I am dead serious.

My sister came across this recipe about a month ago and told me how good it was. I must admit, at first, I was not sure how chickpeas and a few other ingredients would taste like cookie dough, but boy was I wrong. I guess I should have known when my sister said she almost ate the whole recipe in one sitting. I knew it had to be good! I had everything I needed to make it (chickpeas, peanut butter, baking powder and a few others), so I decided to whip it up one night for a quick and easy dessert. Let me tell you, IT WAS SO GOOD. Of course it's not going to be just like cookie dough, but for what was in it, it was pretty darn close. If you love hummus as much as I do, pretty pretty please promise me you will try this. I promise you won't regret it. I think my sister would agree too.

This is best served with apple slices, at least that is how I ate it. I bet even honey graham crackers would be great too. Or you can just eat it with a spoon. I would have been tempted to do that if I didn't have any apples. Your fingers would work well for this too. Just don't let anyone see you do that!

I used a bit of agave nectar to sweeten mine, but you can use brown sugar instead

rinsed and draining those chickpeas!

everybody into the mini chop!

blend baby blend

stir in chocolate chips after all smooth

serves with apples!

Cookie Dough Hummus (adapted from chocolatecoveredkatie.com)

1 1/2 cups chickpeas (1 can, drained)

1/8 tsp plus 1/16 tsp salt
tiny bit over 1/8 tsp baking soda
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2-3 Tablespoons peanut butter (you can use any nut butter here)
up to 1/4 cup nondairy milk (Start with 1 T, and add more as needed)
1 Tablespoon Agave Nectar (or brown sugar)
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Add all ingredients (except for chocolate chips) to a blender or food processor, and blend until very smooth. Then mix in the chocolate chips and serve!

If you are lucky, maybe I will show you how to make the hummus that tastes like snickerdoodles. Yes, a hummus that tastes like snickerdoodles. Who would have ever though, right?

Turkey Chipotle Chili - Chili Cookoff!

2011-11-05T11:39:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, there was a sign up list for a chili cook-off at work. The first ten people to sign up would participate and if they won, their chili would be featured in the cafeteria at work for a week. The deadline came and went (I was so busy with work, it slipped my mind), and I thought I had missed out on my chance to try and win this thing. I was wrong. I went to the cafeteria to get my silverware and glass of water during lunch and noticed that there were only a few people on the list. I guess it was meant to be. So I signed up.

The first thing that came to my mind was that I did not want to make just plain ol' chili. Don't get me wrong, I love regular beef and bean chili, but I wanted to spice it up and do something the judges would love (hopefully). I few years ago my mom got me hooked on this turkey chipotle chili. It has the right amount of spiciness from the chipotles in adobo (more on this later) and the right amount of heartiness from the cannelini beans and crushed tomatoes. It's quick, it's easy and you can have it ready to eat in just about 30 minutes. Seriously, 30 minutes. How awesome it that. Who doesn't love a quick dinner. I know I do. Especially after a long day, who wants to slave in the kitchen. Not me. Okay, I am getting away from the reason we are here - chili!

This is easy and I bet you already have everything you need to make this. Well, maybe not the chipotles in adobo, but you can find those in just about any store these days. They will most likely be located in with all the other Spanish or Mexican ingredients in your grocery store. Here are what the ones I picked up look like. They are usually in a small can and about $2, give or take. For this recipe you will only need two plus a little of the sauce, so make sure not to throw the extras away. Put them in a plastic baggie or small tupperware and toss them in your freezer. Trust me, you'll be wanting to make this recipe again after you try it.

Like I said before, this one is super easy. It's more or less a throw everything in and let it simmer until you are ready to eat. Cook the onions and garlic until soft and then add the seasonings and chipotles. Then add the ground turkey meat and cook until fully cooked and browned. Add the beer (I used Firestone here, but I am biased for San Luis Obispo beer, but use what you have on hand), beans and tomatoes and simmer. See, told you. Easy!

if you can, use the leanest ground turkey you can. This will make for an even lower fat chili!

love this garlic - pick it up and keep it in your freezer! One cube = one clove. Find it at your local Trader Joes!

onions, garlic and spices. smells heavenly. too bad this picture is not scratch and sniff.

cut open the chipotles and remove the seeds. Keep them in if you like it hot.

turkey meat. gobble gobble.

beer and tomatoes added

beanssssss

simmer simmer boil boil

Now, let's take a break and let me know you how how to make your own oven baked tortilla strips and chips to top your chili with. All you will need is corn tortillas (white or yellow, whatever you like or have on hand), salt and some non-stick spray. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Cut you tortillas into strips or small little chips. Spray the pan with non-stick spray, lay your chips on the pan in a single layer. Then spray the tops with the non-stick spray.

ready to bake!

Bake for about 8-10 minutes, but keep an eye on them. I would say, check on them at about 6 minutes just to be safe. If they are at your desired level of brownness, take them out and sprinkle a little sea salt on them. You can omit the last step, but if you do add the salt, do it as soon as you take them out and toss them around a bit. Warning - don't sample these as soon as they come out of the oven. You will burn your tongue. At least I did. Ouch.

YUM

Once the chili has simmered for about 30 minutes, you are ready to eat! I serve my with a dollop of low-fat or fat free sour cream, green onions and some of the strips. Where is scratch and sniff when you need it.

this is almost too pretty to eat.

Turkey Chipotle Chili (slightly adapted from Rachael Rays 30 minute chili)

1-2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 chipotle chile en adobo, coarsely chopped, with 2-3 tablespoons sauce
1 pound ground turkey
1 (12-ounce) beer
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced, with their juice
1 (15 1/2-ounce) can cannelini beans, rinsed and drained

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, salt, chili powder, and oregano and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and the chipotle chile

Ladle the chili into bowls and serve with the garnishes of your choice.

How good does that sound? I always double this recipe and save the left overs in the freezer for a day when I don't want to make dinner or need an easy lunch. As for the results of the chili contest, I did not win, but that is okay. It was a blind tasting and the winner had more of a traditional chili. I still feel like a winner though. My old boss LOVED my chili. In fact, he thought it was the best one and he had no idea it was mine (remember, blind tasting). He told me the next time we have a company party, that I have to make the chili. YES SIR!

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

2011-11-02T19:10:00.000-07:00

I've only made homemade cinnamon rolls one other time in my life - about two years ago when I first moved in to my apartment. I thought it would be nice to have my parents over for breakfast so I made parmesean & chive eggs (so good!), fruit salad and homemade honey pecan sticky buns. They were good and nice and sticky, but they weren't good. Do you know what I mean? They were sweet and delicious, but I thought they could be better. Since then, I was always weary of trying to make them again since one batch always makes so many (and I really don't need cinnamon rolls in my house that are screaming "EAT ME!") and, who wants to get up three hours before everyone else to make them for a special breakfast surprise. Not me. Even though I still tend to wake up before everyone else does, I definitely don't want to wake up even earlier. A girl needs her beauty sleep.

In comes overnight cinnamon rolls. I was slightly skeptical at first, but thought, be brave and give it a whirl. Plus, since cinnamon rolls are on my fall baking to-do list at #12, I had to make them. I found the perfect recipe in one of my William-Sonoma baking cookbooks, and although there are a few more steps than I thought there would be, this recipe is easy to follow and is a winner. First you need to let a little yeast, water and flour "bloom" for about half an hour. You'll know when this is ready when you see it bubbly (picture later). Then you mix in the rest of the ingredients and knead- I used my Kitchen Aid for this - until smooth and then let it rise for about two hours, or when doubled in volume. You might need longer. You might need shorter. Just make sure it's about doubled! Once you have gotten to this part, you are almost there. The hardest part might be waiting for the dough to rise and then waiting to eat them once you put them in the fridge!

Once the dough is ready, you will roll it out in to a big rectangle and then sprinkle on the cinnamon and sugar. Roll it up, slice it up and then place the slices of cinnamon roll into a buttered container. Cover with plastic wrap and then put in the fridge until you are ready to eat these scrumptious things. Just remember to take them out about an hour to an hour and a half before you are ready to bake them. They rise slightly in the fridge, but this extra hour before baking, outside of the fridge, is key. Don't forget that. After about 30 or so minutes in the oven, you will have brown and totally delicious cinnamon rolls ready. Your house will start to smell all cinnamony delicious after about 10 minutes of these being in the oven. Let these bad boys cool for about 5 minutes (if you can wait that long) and top with all the ooey gooey icing. These cinnamon rolls turned out pretty darn good for one of my first tries with them. In fact, my mom even said these were the best cinnamon rolls she'd ever had. I don't know if she was just saying that because she is my mom or if she was serious. Although, they were pretty darn tasty. If you love cinnamon rolls, pretty please promise me you will try this one. So easy and so delicious.

WARNING: LOTS of pictures. Let the drooling begin!

only a few ingredients for this one. I bet you have all of these in your kitchen already.

cover the yeast and flour mixture and let bloom for 30 minutes

here's what it looks like after 30 minutes

kneading that butter into the dough!

cinnamon roll station!

dough has about doubled

roll out!

hello butter, cinnamon and sugar

roll up!

cut up in even pieces. Make them as large or as small as you want

put in one large pan or two smaller ones. make sure those pans are buttered!

after baking.

with icing and ready to eat. GET IN MY BELLY!

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls (from William Sonoma's Baking Cookbook)

For the dough:

1 Tbs. (1 package) active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (105°F)
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
4 eggs
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. kosher salt
8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup granulated sugar mixed with 1 Tbs. ground cinnamon

For the vanilla glaze:

1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
2 Tbs. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

To make the dough, in the bowl of a stand mixer, sprinkle the yeast over the water, allow to bloom for a few minutes, then whisk until smooth. Whisk in 1/2 cup of the flour. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand in a warm spot, about 30 minutes.

Add the eggs, granulated sugar, salt and the remaining 4 cups flour to the yeast mixture. Fit the mixer with the dough hook and knead on medium speed until smooth, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the room-temperature butter and continue to knead, adding a little flour to reduce stickiness if needed, until the dough is smooth, 10 to 12 minutes. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise until doubled, about 2 hours.

Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish or two smaller dishes. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface. Roll out into a 15-by-10-inch rectangle. Brush the rectangle with half of the melted butter, leaving a 2-inch-wide strip uncovered on one long side. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the butter. Starting at the long side covered with sugar, roll up the rectangle snugly and pinch the seam together. With the seam facing down, cut into 10 equal pieces. Place the pieces, cut side up, in the prepared dish. Brush the rolls with the remaining butter. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in the refrigerator overnight.

The next morning, remove the rolls from the refrigerator and let rise until half again as high, about 1 hour or an hour and a half. Preheat an oven to 350°F. Bake the rolls until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes.

While the rolls are baking, make the vanilla glaze: In a small bowl, sift together the confectioners’ sugar and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, milk and vanilla, then stir into the sugar mixture to form a smooth paste. Spread the glaze over the warm rolls and serve immediately. Makes 10 large rolls.

After I made these, I used two small round foil pans for ease of clean up and baking. Of course you can use whatever pan you have at home, but this also makes for easy freezing if you want to make a whole batch, but save half of the cinnamon rolls for another time. If you do this, make sure you wrap the extra tin in lots of plastic wrap and then place in a ziploc. You don't want that pesky freezer burn getting to your cinnamon rolls! Next time I make these, I will for sure be adding thinly sliced apples. There is a restaurant in Winters, CA that I swear has these in their HUGE cinnamon rolls. If you live close to Winters or are in the area, definitely go check out Putah Creek Cafe. You won't be sorry you did. You'll be sorry if you don't!

Double Layer Chocolate Cake with Blackberry Jam Filling and Chocolate Creme Frosting

2011-11-01T18:53:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago was my Mom's BIG 50th birthday! As you know, we did a mini family vacation to Bodega Bay for my Dad's 50th, so we had to do something fun for my mom too. Well, our plan to take her to San Francisco for the weekend and stay in a fancy smacny hotel did not work out. Everything was booked solid. BOO. Nevertheless, we made the best of it and had my sister and Jeffy come into town for the weekend and Ryan joined us too. We got my mom all kinds of fun 50 stuff to wear (hello flashing tiara that did not flash and a boa!) and then went to see a movie and then out to a nice dinner at Sergio's here in town. If you ask me, best Italian food in town. That's just my opinion, but I am biased.

For my Dad's birthday, he of course requested his all time favorite cake - Carrot Cake. Thus, I asked my Mom what kind she would like, because she deserved a homemade Christina cake as well. All she told me was chocolate. Wait, milk chocolate. Thanks Mom, that's doesn't help me at all. So, I began to research and found lots of chocolate cakes, but I wanted to change it up a bit and do something different. Not just chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Then it came to me - chocolate cake with a fruit filling! After searching and searching, for what seemed like hours, I came across the perfect cake for my Mom - Double Layer Chocolate Cake with Blackberry filling and a Chocolate Creme frosting. Oh man, my mouth is filling up with saliva just talking about it.

The cake is like a thick brownie, but still fluffy. The blackberry filling is like heaven on a spoon. Here is my tip for this, use the best jam you can find. Not the stuff loaded with high fructose corn syrup or other gross things. Go for totally awesome jam. One that you'd eat straight out of the jar. I ended up using a bottle of jam from Kolowski Farms in Sebastapol, CA. This was jam from my parents trip up there the day I came home from Bodega Bay. Such good jam. You have no idea. I have no shame in telling you that I would lick the jar clean if my tongue could reach that far. Seriously. Oh and lets not forget about the frosting. The marshmallow cream makes this so light and fluffy and totally hits the milk chocolatiness (is this even a word?) my Mom was looking for. The brownie like cake, smooth blackberry filling and light chocolate creme frosting make this cake one you need to try.

ingredients.

brownie batter. well kind of. I totally licked the beater. Ryan would be proud.

blackberry filling ingredients

baked cake!

ingredients for the chocolate creme frosting

blackberry jam filling. give me a spoon!

look at that huge layer of jam filling.

frosted and decorated with candy pearls for my momma.

Double Layer Chocolate Cake with Blackberry Jam Filling and Chocolate Creme Frosting (from alwayswithbutter.blogspot.com)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cups cocoa

2 cups granulated sugar

1 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup blackberry jam

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 8-inch-round cake pans and line bottoms with parchment paper. Combine flour, cocoa, granulated sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Add eggs, vanilla, sour cream, oil, vinegar (for leavening and a more tender cake), and 1 cup hot water and mix with a wooden spoon until batter is smooth. Pour batter into prepared pans and bake until a wooden skewer, inserted into cake center, comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool cakes in pans 20 minutes, release from pans and cool completely on wire racks. Beat butter and jam together using an electric mixer set on medium speed until fluffy. Add confectioners' sugar and beat until smooth. Spread filling between 2 cake layers and frost with chocolate creme frosting

Chocolate Creme Frosting

1 cup butter
6 ounce bittersweet chocolate, melted and slightly cooled
2 cups marshmallow cream
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

Using a mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and chocolate together until fluffy. Reduce speed to medium and beat in marshmallow cream. Add vanilla extract and sugar, increase speed to medium-high, and beat, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally, until smooth and fluffy. Chill 20 minutes before using.

This cake tasted like heavenly fruity goodness between two layers of brownie cake. Next time I make this, I will be trying it with cherry jam or cherry preserves. Note - this cake was a little hard to slice warm (the middle kind of oozed out), so make sure to keep this cake in the fridge until ready to serve!

Zucchini Chocolate Cupcakes with Sweet Potato Frosting - Recipe Fail!

2011-10-25T21:50:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we harvested another LARGE zucchini and I thought that I would try to spice things up from my normal zucchini bread recipes and try a cupcake. Even better, a cupcake with sweet potato frosting. Sounds strangely delicious, right? I thought so too. Key word, thought.

I got super excited to make these for everyone at work and got to making these right away so they would be fresh to bring on Friday morning. I used my kitchen aid attachment to grate the huge zucchini and can you guess how many cups this big boy yielded?

Five cups! This guy is definitely not suitable for your every day cooking, but is great for baking. I followed the recipe perfectly, but when it came time to test them for doneness, they were still super moist and gooey. Strange. So, I put them back in the oven and checked them every three minutes until the tester came out clean. After the recommended 45 minutes of baking, they were still not done. After an hour, still not done. Something didn't seem right. I checked the recipe and ingredients again and didn't miss a thing. Figuring I did something wrong regardless of the recipe, I started all over again. Shoot, I had enough zucchini to try it. I double checked every ingredient and went super slow. As I put them in the oven I did a little cupcake prayer in hopes that the first round was baker error. 45 minutes later I went to check them and the same thing happened again. GOOEY AND NOT COOKED.

Let me tell you, I was super frustrated. I may have even cried a little bit inside, but I didn't tell you that. This was the first time in a long time that I have not had something turn out. Guess you can't win them all. As the captain stays, you win some, you lose some. I will be trying this again, but not anytime soon. Maybe you will have better luck with them? They sound so good, so I hope someone will have success with these.

ingredients.

swirling cocoa powder.

pre-baked. I was so mad when these didn't turn out, I gave up taking photos. Oops.

Zucchini Chocolate Cupcakes with Sweet Potato Frosting (www.nearsightedowl.com)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
(use less/more for taste with even amount of milk)
1/3 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 regular-sized zucchinis, coarsely grated (about two cups)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cups of a standard (12-cup) muffin tin with paper or foil liners. Set aside. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, cocoa, and salt. In another bowl, combine zucchini, oil, eggs, milk and vanilla; add to flour mixture, and mix just until combined (do not overmix). Divide batter evenly among cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool in tin on a wire rack for 10 minutes; turn cupcakes out, right side up, and cool completely.

Meanwhile, make frosting.

1/2 pound cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 small sweet potato, cooked and scooped out of skin
Whole pecans for garnish

Microwave the sweet potato for a few minutes or until soft. Do this part ahead of time and cool in fridge or put in a bowl with ice to quickly cool down. In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter, sweet potato and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy. Fill ziplock back with frosting, cut corner and use as a pastry bag to squeeze frosting on cool cupcakes. Top with one whole pecan per cupcake.

Maybe in a couple of months I will be willing to try this one again. In the meantime, I have been working on putting together a list of all the cupcakes I have made to date and the flavors of other ones I want to make. Boy has the list gotten long. Can't wait to share with you all my up's and down's of experimenting with cupcake flavors. Next up on the list - Guinness chocolate cupcake with a vanilla bean buttercream and crushed chocolate covered pretzels for decoration. Totally awesome right? If this one turns out, I might call it the Captains Cupcake. The captain loves Guinness and chocolate and this one sounds right up his alley.

Pumpkin-Nut Oat Bran Muffins

2011-10-24T20:10:00.000-07:00

I am always looking for new things to make for breakfast - especially something quick and easy and something I can grab on the go as I am headed out the door to work. I love oatmeal and cereal during the week, but I also love a good muffin. Too bad all the ones I seem to like are loaded with sugar and a bazillon calories. This is why I usually say no to them (although the banana peanut butter ones Ryan makes are SO good and I can not resist. They aren't that bad for me, right?!). The other downside to muffins is that they never seem to keep me full for longer than an hour or two. I need fiber and protein. Wow, I sound like a 80 year old woman. Nevertheless, my friend Lauren (hi Lauren!), told me about this totally awesome muffin recipe with oat bran and a few other ingredients.

I browsed my pantry and really didn't have any of the ingredients, but I am sure glad that I went out and hunted them down. Most stores these days carry oat bran and agave nectar (Lauren said she found oat bran at Trader Joes), but I found mine at one of the local health food stores. I bet it would have been a lot cheaper if I would have gone to Trader Joes. Mental note for next time. These muffins are super easy and you don't even need a mixer to make them. I used a bowl and a wooden spoon. I love my Kitchen Aid like no other, but I love recipes that can be done with a bowl and a spoon. Easy peasy.

Lauren made a couple of different versions - banana and applesauce if my memory serves me right. Those sounded awesome, but since I am on such a huge pumpkin kick these days, I thought I would make pumpkin ones. Yum, right? They were totally delicious and totally filling. Not to mention totally low in calories. These bad boys kept me full all through my busy morning at work and I really wasn't hungry until lunch time. SCORE! Just note, that when you are making these, the batter will seem super thick and slightly dry. You are doing it right, that's just how it is. That and they don't really rise much in the oven, so don't be surprised by that either. They are dense and scrumptious. If you are looking for a new breakfast item that fills you up and keeps you going strong, this is it!

just a few ingredients

wet & dry

all mixed together

baked and ready to eat. not sure why this only made 11.

Pumpkin- Nut Oat Bran Muffins (sightly adapted from twopeasandtheirpod.com)

2-1/4 cups oat bran
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 egg whites
2 tablespoons agave nectar (or honey)
1/4 cup pecans, chopped (or whatever nut you like)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a standard muffin tin with paper cups.

In a large bowl, whisk together the oat bran, baking powder and brown sugar. In a separate medium bowl, mix together the mashed bananas, egg whites and agave nectar. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until combined. Fold in the nuts. Divide the batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups. Bake until the muffins are lightly browned and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 12 to 15 minutes. Cool the muffins in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

See, how easy was that? These awesome muffins ring in at about 110 calories a piece. Great calorie deal for such a filling little thing. If you like, you can even heat these up in the microwave and top them with your favorite jam (or butter). Oooh, honey would be good too. These are great just how they are, and I love them. I think I am going to try Lauren's applesauce version with chopped apples in them. I am already salivating.

Banana Cupcakes with Honey & Cinnamon Frosting

2011-10-19T20:23:00.000-07:00

I am always looking for new ways to use up ripening bananas. I do love me some banana bread, but it does get old after awhile - even when trying new twists on it. On my fall cooking to-do list I have a banana cake that I want to try, but I thought it would be fun to do it in a cupcake version. I have been in this kick to try out a couple of new cupcake recipes a month (who wants to be my guinea pig?), and what better way to start then to try a classic flavor such as banana.

This cupcake was moist and dense and resembled the texture of banana bread. Of course you could eat these plain, but why eat them plain when you can have them with frosting! I thought a vanilla bean butter cream or a basic cream cheese frosting would be awesome on these, but it needed to be spiced up. Literally. Say hello to cinnamon and honey butter cream. It was the perfect match to the banana and was the best combination of sweet and spicy. It reminded me of honey butter, but better. I could probably smear this frosting on just about anything just like I could put honey butter on everything. But, don't worry. I don't. So simple, but so good.

hello spotty bananas

yum yum banana batter

ready to bake


frosted and dusted with chopped walnuts and cinnamon. oh, and a banana chip for extra love.

Banana Cupcakes with Honey & Cinnamon Frosting (slightly adapted from www.marthastewart.com)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 ripe bananas), 2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Honey-Cinnamon Frosting (see below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix together butter, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla. Stir to incorporate flour mixture (do not overmix). Dividing evenly, spoon or scoop batter into muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely on a wire rack. Spread tops with Honey & Cinnamon Frosting. Just before serving stop cupcakes with chopped walnuts, a dusting of cinnamon and a banana chip (optional)

Honey & Cinnamon Frosting

1 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

In a medium bow, using an electric mixer, beat confectioners' sugar, butter, honey and cinnamon until smooth - about 5 minutes.

These cupcakes were great, but I would love to try to make these lighter and fluffier. Here's to experimenting with leavening agents to make this winner even better!

Question - since this kind of resembles the banana cake, can I cross it off my baking to-do list? My gut says no. What do you think?

Homemade Hamburger Buns

2011-10-18T20:19:00.000-07:00

While making the wonderful crockpot beer chicken, I thought it would be fun to attempt to make my own hamburger buns to serve this on. I've always wanted to explore making more yeasty breads and this was the perfect time to do it since dinner would be simmering away all day. If I can do it, you can do it. Promise!

I used the dough hook on my Kitchen Aid to make this, but you can do this one by hand, stand mixer or even in a bread machine (do people still have these?). There is no need to make a starter with this recipe - you just mix everything together and kneed until the dough is smooth and soft. This took be about 5 minutes, give or take. Although, this was using a stand mixer on medium speed. I am sure if you are kneading the dough by hand, it might take a little bit longer. Once the dough is kneaded and soft, place in a slightly oiled bowl and let rise until doubled. The recipe said this would take about two hours, but mine seemed to take slightly more than that. About two and a half hours. Maybe my apartment wasn't warm enough, but don't be alarmed if it takes more than two hours or a little less to double in volume. If it does not start rising with in an hour, you may have killed the yeast and I would advise starting over. I am sure you won't kill the yeast here. This recipe is hard to mess up. Like I said, if I can do it, you can do it. You just need patience and time to let the bread rise.

you can use reg flour or bread flour for this one. since I had a TON of bread flour, I used that.

swirling bread

the bread rose - woo!

bread divided into eight equal rolls

rolls are puffy after rising for another hour

pre-baked - brushed with one egg white and 1/4 cup water whisked together. Top with your favorite toppings. I used poppy seeds on one half and sesame on the other. I bet onion flakes would be good on this too. Or plain.

baked, browned and beautiful.

Homemade Hamburger Buns (from www.kingarthur.com)

1 cup lukewarm water

2 tablespoons butter

1 large egg

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour (or bread flour)

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon instant yeast

1. Mix and knead all of the dough ingredients — by hand, mixer, or bread machine — to make a soft, smooth dough.

2. Cover the dough, and let it rise for 1 to 2 hours, or until it's nearly doubled in volume.

3. Gently deflate the dough, and divide it into 8 pieces. Shape each piece into a round ball. Flatten to about 3" across. Place the buns on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, cover, and let rise for about an hour, until noticeably puffy.

4. Brush the buns with the egg white solution (one egg white whisked together until foamy with 1/4 cup water). Sprinkle on toppings.

5. Bake the buns in a preheated 375°F oven for 15 to 18 minutes, until golden brown.

These buns would be great for any sandwich or even with a big bowl of soup. They are light and fluffy and super easy to make. Just make sure that when you are buying yeast at the store to get instant yeast and not regular yeast. I had regular yeast in my freezer and almost made the mistake of using this. Good thing I didn't. These buns have inspired me to try more yeasty breads knowing that I could make these come out fabulous on the first try. Ps. These rolls freeze great! Just make sure to double wrap in plastic wrap and then place in a ziploc bag.

Crockpot Beer & BBQ Chicken

2011-10-18T19:51:00.000-07:00

I usually just don't come out and say this so early on in a post, but I am just going to go ahead and say it now. This recipe is probably one of the best crockpot recipes I have tried in a loooooong time. Seriously, that many "o's". The best part is that it is super easy and it comes out so flavorful and juicy. Also, this meal is one that is easy on the pocketbook and feeds a crowd at the same time. My tip of the day for you is to keep an eye out for chicken breasts when they come on sale (or get them at Costco!) and this will keep the cost down even more. Oh man, I am already drooling for another one of these bad boys covered in BBQ sauce. YUM!

All you need for this is a few spices, which I am sure you already have in your pantry, chicken breasts, beer, and BBQ sauce. That's it. Combine all of the spices (salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika), sprinkle it all over the chicken breasts and the pour in the beer and BBQ sauce. Cook on low for about 6-8 hours (pending on how hot your crockpot gets or how big your chicken breasts are). Shread chicken and serve on your favorite bread or dinner roll. I decided to make my own and will be showing you how to do this soon!

How easy is that? Just keep in mind that this does make a lot of chicken and it is great for freezing for an easy dinner in a few weeks or a month from now. My advice would be to use this within three months to keep freshness and so that it doesn't lose its flavor or yumminess in the freezer. Wow, that was two tips in one post. You are lucky.

Get in your kitchen and start making this now. I promise, you will not be sorry you tried it.

mmm firestone. use a beer that you would drink when making this.

breasts rubbed with seasonings (don't giggle)

beer + bbq sauce

shredded chicken with some of the cooking sauce added in

look at that. are you drooling? I am.

Crockpot BBQ Beer Chicken (from www.howsweeteats.com)

3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 6 large)

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

12 ounces of beer

32 ounces of barbecue sauce

Season chicken with onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper. Add to crockpot, then add beer and 24 ounces of barbecue sauce. Cook on low for 8 hours, tossing once or twice if desired. After 8 hours, shred and add remaining barbecue sauce. Serve as desired.

I used one of my favorite BBQ sauces from Trader Joes, but feel free to use what you like. Hot, spicy, homemade, sweet. It all will work. The extra sauce from this recipe makes a good topping to pour on the chicken or even better, whip up a batch of homemade coleslaw and use this on top of the chicken. I wish I would have done this when I made these (to make it more pork sandwich like), but it is just as good without. Next time I make these, and I will be, I will be adding coleslaw. It will be a match made in heaven.

Sangria!

2011-10-17T19:33:00.000-07:00

The last time I made sangria I was in college. That seems like a long time ago. Not to mention, I'm pretty sure I probably used boxed wine to make it. I know, I know. I was in college and didn't know the difference between good wine and well, boxed wine. Since then, I have learned. Bad wine tastes like feet and good wine, is well, you just know when it's good.

Since I was making guacamole, I figured the perfect thing to wash it down was sangria. How good does that sound, right? Wine + lots of fruit + orange juice + deliciousness = fabulous. I think Ryan may have even said this one tastes like a boozy hawaiian punch. At least that's what I think he said. This one is super super easy to make and you can whip it up in no time. All you do is put the wine in a pitcher (or bowl) with the fruit and other ingredients and let the flavors meld overnight. The longer it sits, the better it gets. That and you can make a small batch or easily double or triple it if you are having a lot of guests. The next time you have something mexican for dinner and want to spice it up, make a batch of this. You will love it, promise! Just be careful when you bite into the chunks of fruit the next day - wowza are they boozy. Maybe you'll like them, but they were a little much for me. I'll just stick to drinking the sangria.

booze and fruit. yum. ps. got this wine with bevmo's 5 cent sale. If you have a bevmo around you, check it out. This sale is great to stock up on wine of all kinds at a killer price! ps. excuse the pants in the background of this pic. how embarrassing.

everyone soaking. I cubed the apple and sliced the oranges. Perhaps I should have taken a photo to show you all the sliced fruit. oops.

after one night of soaking. The sample was delicious!

Red Wine Sangria (a Bobby Flay Recipe)

1 bottle red wine (preferably a Spanish wine)
1/2 cup brandy
1/4 cup triple sec
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup pomegranate juice
1/4 - 1/2 cup simple syrup, or more to taste (equal parts sugar and water, heated until sugar dissolves, cooled)
Orange slices
Apple slices

Mix all ingredients together and let stand in a tightly sealed container or pitcher for at least 24 hours in the refrigerator before serving.

See, told you it was easy. I love easy recipes and this is one of them. You could even do this with white wine, if you are more of a white wine person (I love both - go figure). You could add peaches and peach schnapps with a splash of oj, or you could do apples and berries with a splash of chambord. Experiment with what fruit and flavors you like. You don't even need to add a liqueur. If you have it, try it - you don't need to go out and get it. Simple sliced fruit and wine will turn out a great cocktail!

The Best Guacamole Ever

2011-10-13T20:04:00.000-07:00

This is hands down the BEST GUACAMOLE EVER. Yes, it requires all caps and yes I am shouting this at the top of my lungs. My awesome friend and roomie from college, Leah (hiiiii Leah!), introduced me to this recipe. I can't remember which year she started making this (we lived together for three years), but I have never forgotten about it and make it all the time. Seriously, that good. It's so addictive you may just eat the whole bowl. Again, not kidding. Leah makes tons of good things (hello tamale pie and tempura veggies and shrimp!), but this one is one of my favorite things she makes. Now that I think about it, I bet this would have went well with our quesadillas with cheese rings and jalapenos! Aww, college memories. But I digress.

The best part of it all, is that this one is so simple and has a secret ingredient that will leave you thinking, "why did I not come up with this?!". All you will need is avocado, garlic, salt, pepper, lime juice and queso fresco. Have you figured out the secret ingredient yet? QUESO FRESCO! It's salty, creamy and crumby and its the best addition to guacamole. Most stores carry this next to all the other cheeses, so you should not have any issues finding this in your local supermarket. Leah mentioned to me recently that she also adds chopped tomato and red onion. I am not sure how I forgot she did that, but you can add it if you like it and leave it out if you don't. Next time I make this, I will be adding those two things. Love onion and tomato.

Beware, there is no real recipe for this one. If you have only a few avocados, mash them up and then add the rest of the ingredients to your taste and liking. Usually, I do five avocados, about three to four limes (juiced), four cloves garlic, chopped (give or take a clove), 3/4 of the queso fresco (crumbled) and then salt and pepper to taste. If you like more lime, add more lime. If you like more garlic, add more garlic (I usually do this and then it's a hair too garlicky for some people, but we all know how much I love to keep the vampires away). Mash and mix it all up and give it a taste test with some chips. Or your finger. I've been known to do that too.Make adjustments as needed for flavor and let it chill for at least 30 minutes before serving (this is my rule). It allows the flavors to meld and get all guacamole-y. Just remember, when you do this, make sure to put some plastic wrap on top of the guacamole (touching it), so that it limits the brownness from happening. This happens when air touches the avocados. It doesn't change the taste, it just looks unappetizing. If this happens, just mix it all up and no one will know. Maybe add a squeeze or two of lime juice too. This will freshen and brighten it up.

I am seriously drooling now. Leah, let's have a reunion and eat lots of guacamole and tamale pie (sans foil). Deal?

mmm, guacamole ingredients. I could probably eat the queso fresco by itself

mashing those avocados!

my avocados were a little stringy (for what reason I don't know), so I pureed them in the blender. Seemed to do the trick to smooth it all out.

See, told you I liked garlic

I was too excited with eating the guacamole, that I forgot to take a picture of the final product. Oops! I am not sure why my avocados were stringy, but usually I just mash them up and keep them in more of a chunky consistency. If you like it smooth, go ahead and puree it, but that is totally up to you. Regardless, you've got to make this and try it for yourself. I know I say this a lot, but once you try this you will become just as addicted to it as I am.

Here is a tip for ripening avocados fast. Take your avocados and place them in a brown paper bag with apples and/or bananas. Close the bag and place it in a dark area, such as a cupboard. Within a day or two, you avocados will be perfectly ready for scooping and guac making! Note - this make take a day or two longer (or it may go faster) pending on how hard or un-ripe your avocados are. With my experience, it's usually one to two days before they are good to use!

Lemon-Limoncello Cupcakes

2011-10-12T21:24:00.000-07:00

The first time I ever made these, I tested them out on Ryan with out him knowing that I was getting his opinion on flavors that I would be making for his graduation party. Sneaky I know, but I am pretty sure he had no idea - at the time that is. They turned out great, but the first taste test came out with reviews of too tart and too much frosting. I am a frosting person and say, the more the better, but Ryan does not feel the same way. He believes there should be a proper cupcake to frosting ratio. Which I do agree, but I get carried away and get a little crazy with the frosting. I am working on it and someday, I'll get it down. Needless to say, the frosting ratio was fine considering how much lemon curd was filling the cupcakes, but the curd was too tart. Time for some minor adjustments.

The next time I made these was for Ryan's graduation party (woo masters degree - SO proud of you my dear!) and they were probably the most popular of all the cupcakes. I couldn't believe it. I like lemon, but never thought these would beat out the carrot cake or chocolate cupcakes. Boy was I wrong. This time around, I lessened the curd filling and went lighter on the frosting. It was the perfect ratio of sweetness to tartness. There is a little bit of cream cheese in the batter as well, so it gives the cupcake this dense moistness that just ties it all together. If you are a lemon lover, you've got to try these out. Just note that the curd does take some time to set up, so my advice would be to make the curd the day before you want to make these. If you made it a few hours before you wanted to use it, it will cool in time, but I just like to do it the day before so all the flavors can meld and so it's nice and chilled. I also feel it helps getting this out of the way so that there is less to do and you don't feel so overwhelmed when making these cupcakes. That's just my two cents though. You can find the curd recipe here.

limoncello - how can you go wrong?!

adding in the limoncello

cooling cupcakes

filled with lemon curd. I just used a teaspoon to help scoop out the center and fill.

iced, sprinkled and ready to eat!

boxed and ready for delivery. you can pick up these cute boxes at Michaels. If you have a Target in your area, keep an eye out for them in the dollar section, sometimes they are there too!

Lemon-Limoncello Cupcakes (from browneyedbaker.com)

Makes 12 cupcakes

For the cupcakes:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 ounces (½ stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons limoncello
½ cup buttermilk
¼ cup lemon juice
Zest of one lemon

For the cream cheese limoncello frosting:
2 ounces (½ stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tablespoon limoncello
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, cream cheese and sugar on medium speed until light and creamy, 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the limoncello and beat an additional minute. On low speed, add flour mixture and buttermilk alternatively, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Add the lemon juice and zest and mix on low speed just until incorporated. Divide the batter between 12 muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the middle comes out clean. Let cool completely.

Cream cheese limoncello frosting. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and cream cheese on medium speed until light and creamy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the limoncello and beat for an additional minute. Reduce the speed to low and gradually add the sifted powdered sugar and beat until fully incorporated and smooth.

Assemble the cupcakes. Cut a hole into each cupcake with the large end of a melon baller or the back end of a large pastry tip or teaspoon. Fill each cavity with the lemon curd. Pipe or spread frosting onto the cupcakes and decorate with lemon and sprinkles, if desired.

If you are having trouble locating limoncello, check your local bevmo. They will have it. Most grocery stores carry it as well, but bevmo will have it for sure. It is a little expensive ($25 or so), but it is well worth it. I think I may have even seen it at Costco, so check there too. Not only can you use in these cupcakes, but you can use it in so many other things - cocktails, cheesecake, and even cake!

Lemon Curd - Lesson Two

2011-10-11T20:44:00.000-07:00

As you know, I recently made lemon curd for a lemon layer cake that I felt was just too eggy for my taste. No one else seemed to notice this, but I sure did. Maybe it's because I am way too critical of the things I make, but I knew I had made a better one in the past. I attempted the lemon cake again last week for a co-workers birthday and let me tell you, it was SO much better with the new and updated lemon curd. It was the perfect balance between tangy and sweet and no eggy taste. Hallelujah!

If you are nervous about making your own curd, don't be. This one is just as easy as the last and it can be doubled, even tripled for any recipe you want to use it for. If you are going to try this one with the lemon layer cake, make sure you triple this one. Yes, it is a lot of lemon squeezing, but it's worth it. And no going to buy that bottled stuff. You'll need fresh lemon juice. It makes all the difference. Promise. Even better, this curd is used as a filling in one of my cupcakes - just wait until I give you that recipe!

just a few simple ingredients

lots of zest

sugar, lemon juice and zest simmering and eggs on the other side

tempering the eggs with the hot lemon solution

lemon curd ready to chill. make sure to cover with plastic so there is no skin!


Cake - Round Two

Tangy Lemon Curd (from browneyedbaker.com)

Zest of 2 lemons
½ cup lemon juice
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk

In a heavy medium saucepan, stir together the lemon zest, juice and sugar and bring to a simmer over medium heat. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and egg yolk. Whisk the lemon mixture into the eggs to temper them. Scrape the mixture back into the saucepan and place over medium heat, whisking constantly until it thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, and let cool completely.

The lemon curd is great for cakes, cupcakes or whatever baking recipe calls for lemon curd. I've been reading on how to save this for later recipes and canning seems to be the way to go. Lemon curd on call anytime you want it? Heck yes! Have any of you ever canned curd before?

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

2011-10-11T19:54:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago (this tells you how far behind I have fallen on my blogging again), someone at work approached me about selling some of my cupcakes. They needed about 30 cupcakes for a family party they were planning and having tasted some of the ones I made before, they wanted to know if they could buy them from me. I couldn't believe it. Someone wanted to buy my cupcakes?

After doing some thinking and deciding on pricing (I ended up charging too little - I underestimated the price of pecans!), I decided to say "yes!". The order was in and there was to be 10 german chocolate, 10 carrot cake and 10 lemon limoncello cupcakes (recipe coming later!). I have featured the german chocolate ones before and if you are interested in making them, check them out here. So good. I wish I had one right now.

leaning tower of cupcakes ready for delivery!

These carrot cake cupcakes are to die for good. The first time I made these were for my Dad since this is one of his all time favorites. I also made these for Ryan's graduation party as well and everyone loved them. They are moist, slightly sweet and best of all they have raisins! There is something about having raisins in the cake that is a must. They get all plump and juicy when they cook in the oven and when you bite into the cupcake, they burst in your mouth. That and paired with the ultimate cream cheese frosting, it's heaven. I shouldn't admit this, but I would totally eat this frosting by the spoonful if I knew it wouldn't go straight to my booty. This is without a doubt the best carrot cake cupcake I have had or made and is now a recipe that will be part of my collection for a long time. I bet once you try these, you will feel the same way too. Oh and if you don't like raisins (who doesn't like raisins!?), you can leave them out. Same goes for the nuts. If you don't like walnuts, use pecans. Or visa versa. I must admit though, the nuts do give these an extra crunch next to the soft raisins. It's now time for you to get in that kitchen and try these. Seriously, run!

ready, set, bake!

look at the color on those carrots. ORANGE.

scooped and ready to bake

cooling cupcakes

frosted and ready to eat.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes (from joyofbaking.com)

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

4 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1 cup canola oil

2 cups finely grated raw carrots

1 cup grated apple (about 2 large)

1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped

1 cup raisins

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place rack in center of oven. Place paper liners in 20 muffin cups. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon. In another large bowl whisk the eggs, sugar, and oil until slightly thickened. Fold in the flour mixture until incorporated. Then, fold in the grated carrots, grated apple, chopped nuts, and raisins. Evenly divide the batter between the 20 muffin cups and bake about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack. Pipe or with a knife or small metal spatula spread the cream cheese frosting on top of each cupcake. Cover and refrigerate the cupcakes until serving time.

Frosting: In the bowl of your electric, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese until very smooth and creamy. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar until fully incorporated and smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract.

How can you not like carrot cake? My mouth is seriously filling up with saliva as I type this. Seriously. Lots of saliva.

Perfect Roast Chicken

2011-10-10T19:45:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to try this one for quite some time, but have been a little nervous about cooking a whole bird. I have cooked one in the crock pot before (check it out here), which turned out fine, just a little bit more dry then I had hoped. Which is strange considering it was basting in its own juices all day. Anyways, it was time to be a big girl and attempt another whole chicken recipe. One of my close friends, Amanda (hiiiiii Amanda!) talks about making a roasted chicken all the time and how awesome it turns out. She said it's super easy and tastes great, so I figured this is a must make! I do love me some chicken and am always looking for new ways to make it. Sometimes chicken can get boring, which I'm sure you can agree with.

Last time I made a whole chicken, I was very squeamish of all the gizzards inside. Even though this was a fresh fosters farms chicken, I decided to go on a hunt for one at Trader Joes. Not only did they have organic and free-range chickens, they were on sale! I ended up picking up two and putting one in the freezer for another time (this one is that good, so I am glad I bought two). You'll want to try to find a bird that is about 5-6 pounds. If you find one a little smaller or bigger that day, that is fine too. You'll just have to adjust the cooking time a hair. No biggie deal.

If you get freaked out about pulling out the innards, just use some tongs. That's what I do. Pull them out, and then rinse the chicken with cool water. Once rinsed, pat dry and salt and pepper like there is no tomorrow. Trust me, do not go light on this part. It really makes a difference. Then stuff the bird with a quartered lemon, bulb of garlic and a bunch of thyme stems. The recipe I used said to tie the legs together, but I couldn't find kitchen twine anywhere and it didn't seem to matter. I cooked the bird in a 9x13 glass baking dish and it was just the right size. If you have a larger pan, go ahead and use it, but I would say, use at least a 9x13. I cut up a hand full of carrots, sliced an onion and some red potatoes to place the bird on. After cooking for about an hour and 20 minutes, the bird came out golden brown and the vegetables were roasted and full of deliciousness. The veggies do absorb all the chicken juices and were a little fatty for me, but I did try a few of them and THEY WERE DELICIOUS. If you like richer roasted veggies, then definitely serve these with the chicken. If you don't, steam or roast some other veggies while this is big bird is roasting away.

If I haven't convinced you to try this one yet, you are crazy. Well, if you don't eat meat, then I understand, but if you do, try this. You won't regret it. It is a great dish for anytime, but especially for a cold night when you want something warm and homey. You can even save the drippings and juice and make a fabulous gravy out of it. Just make sure to skim off the fat. This is was on my fall cooking list and I am sure glad I attempted it. One down, 19 more to go. Let's do this!

bock, bock

veggies for the chicken to sit on

lots of salt and pepper!

stuffed bird ready to bake

when the bird is done, cover with foil and let rest.

look at that bird. YUM.

Perfect Roast Chicken (Ina Garten's Back to Basics Cookbook)

1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken
Sea or Kosher Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus a few extra sprigs

1 lemon, halved
1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise

1/4 stick butter, melted
1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced
4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks
5-6 medium red potatoes, cut into wedges
Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove the chicken giblets, rinse the chicken inside and out and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and potatoes in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, the extra sprigs of thyme (to your taste), and olive oil (enough to coat, but do not drown them). Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.

Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.

Not only is this easy and tasty, it makes your house smell heavenly delicious. It kind of reminded me of thanksgiving the way it was roasting and the smell of thyme in the air. Yummy. That and if you are like me and cooking for one or just two, the extra chicken can be shredded and frozen for another meal. I had extra chicken from mine and we used it in one of Ryan's moms totally delicious mexican casserole dishes. I am not sure what the official name of it is, but I am going to call it Kris' casserole. So good and so comforting. Stay tuned for Ryan and I's version of this later in the week!

Zucchini Bread

2011-10-10T19:22:00.000-07:00

This is my basic, all time, go to zucchini bread recipe. It's simple, flavorful, loaded with zucchini and most important - delicious. Not every one likes pumpkin zucchini bread, but this one is perfect. You can make it when you have tons of zucchini (hello, home garden!) and freeze the loaves for another time. All you have to do is pop a loaf out the night before you want to eat it, let it defrost over night in the fridge, and you are good to go. Once it's fully thawed you can even pop it in the oven to warm through and it will taste like it was just baked. Or even better, you can slice it thick and pop it in the toaster for a little crunchy bite. Sometimes it is tricky to get the slices out of the toaster, so be careful. No using a fork to get this out - you will hurt yourself. Instead, use some of these, toast tongs! You can find them almost anywhere and if you are a toast or bagel person, these are a must have in your kitchen. Plus, then you won't burn or electrocute yourself trying to get out those stubborn pieces of toast from the toaster.

the line up

shredded zucchini

swirling cinnamon

pre-baked

can I please eat this now? YUM.

Zucchini Bread (adapted from The New Cookbook - Limited Edition by Better Homes & Garden)

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 egg

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup finely shredded zucchini

1/4 cup canola oil (or unsweetened applesauce)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grease the bottom and 12 inch up sides of an 8x4x2-inch loaf pan and set aside. In a medium bowl combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg. Make a well in center of flour mixture. In another medium bowl combine egg, sugar, shredded zucchini, and oil. Add zucchini mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy). Spoon batter into prepared pan.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely on a wire rack. Wrap and store overnight before slicing.

See, easy and delicious. This recipe yields one loaf, but I recommend you double it and put the extra loaf in the freezer - if it lasts that long. Even better, no one will ever guess how much zucchini is ever in this!

Product Reviews

2011-10-05T19:13:00.000-07:00

I am always weary of trying new products and thought this would be a great new addition to my postings. Who doesn't like to try new things? When I did Weight Watchers years ago during college (it really works - bye bye 100 pounds!), part of the meetings were other members sharing their favorite new low-fat items that they thought we all would like. There were some great finds! Keeping the spirit of those meetings, I thought it would be fun to share with you some of the things I've found that I really like - although, they might not all be low calorie. You should have no problem finding any of these in your local supermarket.

Ready, set, here we go!

My mom told me about Amy's and I have been in love with it ever since. Especially this Santa Fe Enchilada Bowl. It is so delicious. It has corn tortillas, organic rice, beans tofu and vegetables all combined with cheese and enchilada sauce. Even better, it's gluten free. You're probably wondering - no meat? Trust me, you will not know that there is no meat in here. It's so flavorful and the whole bowl comes in at 350 calories. Mega good calorie deal for lunch and it's packed with 9 grams of fiber and 16 grams of protein. Try this one out!

I've been on a major oatmeal kick lately and saw this one on sale at the store. I love Kashi cereal, so I thought I'd give this a whirl. It comes in at 160 calories a packet and is loaded with fiber to keep you full and going strong all morning. This oatmeal is not as sweet as Quaker brown sugar & maple, but the flavor is still there and tastes more natural. At least I think so. If you are looking to switch out of your old breakfast habits like me (bye bye protein bar!), try this one out. Or if this flavor doesn't tickle your fancy, try one of the other flavors they have. I've also seen apples & cinnamon.

Last week I was craving chocolate, but needed something low calorie and quick. As I was wandering throughout the store, this was on an end cap and I automatically stopped. This one is super fast and super tasty. Even better you can whip it up in no time and it's ready to dig into in about 30 minutes. You mix the pudding powder packet with milk (even better for me, I could use soy!) for about three minutes, add the hard crunchy topping and let set for half an hour. That's it! This whole box makes 8, 1/2 cup servings for 130 calories each. Totally chocolaty and totally satisfying.

I am not sure what all the rage is these days about coconut water, but while at Trader Joes this past weekend, I decided it was time to try it. There were lots of flavors ranging from plain, to fruity to sweet. I decided to try chocolate. It took me a few days to open this up, but once I tried it, I was glad I did. This may not be an everyday thing to drink, but for 110 calories, it totally curbed my chocolate craving and was delicious. Grab one and try one for yourself!

I will be trying to post these at least once a month, if not sooner. So, stay tuned for more product reviews!