Catching Up January 30, 2009

I am supposed to be doing work right now, but I am really not interested so I figured it would be a good time to catch up on my blog. 

 

We’ve had some very random meals lately.  Many were not at all bad, but just not really worth mentioning.  Here are some of the highlights (some good and some not so good).

• Chicken Pot Pie.   I originally wrote about this recipe in this post.  I love this recipe.  The thyme is very tasty and the wine adds a very nice flavor.  I made this one day last week when we were stuck home in the snow.  I decided to switch it up in a few ways.  First, I made it in the crock pot.  I made up the sauce on the stovetop and poured it over 2 large chicken breasts in the crock pot.  I added carrots, celery and onions and cooked it on low for about 6 hours.  Once the chicken was cooked through, I removed it from the crock pot and shredded it up with a fork. While I was shredding, I added a cup of frozen peas to the sauce in the crock pot and let them heat through.  I mixed the chicken back in with the sauce and put it in an 8×8 baking dish.  Now – here comes the special trick that made it extra tasty -  a few Sunday’s ago, Ross made homemade biscuits for breakfast.  He makes awesome biscuits and I always beg him to make them for me.  I think this was the second time, so hey, I can count on them once every couple of years or so.  Anyway, he froze extra dough.  I thawed it out and rolled it into an 8×8 square.  I placed it on top of the chicken mixture and baked it at 350 for about 25 minutes.  It was awesome.  I don’t know his recipe for biscuits, but any recipe would work.  It is much tastier than a pie crust, I  promise you that!
• Tonight, we had another crock pot meal (I’ve been on a crock pot roll lately).  I was in a hurry this morning, so I just put some chicken in there and poured Lawry’s Caribbean Jerk marinade over it.  It was horrible.  I hardly ate any.  It was the saltiest stuff ever, so salty that I couldn’t even taste any of the flavor of the sauce.  I will definitely never buy that again, or probably any Lawry’s marinade.  It was that bad. 
• In addition to the chicken (thank goodness we had something else with it) we had a Southwestern Corn Chowder.  I didn’t make it; this one came in a box.  Yes, a box.  It was a V8 soup.  Who knew V8 made soups?  I don’t think I could force myself to drink a V8 juice, but soup I could try.  It was great!  As advertised on the box (looks like an overgrown juice box) there is a full serving of veggies inside.  That along with a great flavor and hearty, thick texture, you can’t go wrong!  Apparently there are several other flavors.  I want to try the Butternut Squash and the Garden Broccoli!

•   I have one other random note, and I add this only  because Amy Burns of Amy’s Confection Company isn’t making cakes so much as her other sweet treats anymore.  After finding out that Amy couldn’t make my wedding cake, I went on a long and difficult search for someone to do the job.  We ended up going with Once in a Blue Moon Bakery in Cary.  I am pretty sure that other than “congratulations”, the comment I heard most on my wedding was “where did you get that amazing cake?”  Not only did it look beautiful, but it was the best tasting cake I have ever had (again, only saying this because I’ve never tasted one of Amy’s!).  I mention this because I just ordered another cake from there for a gathering I have this weekend.  I ordered the same flavor as my wedding cake, chocolate with hazelnut mousse and cream cheese frosting.  I can’t wait to eat it.  They are also super cool because you can place your order online if you do it 72 hours in advance.  If you ever need a great cake for a special event, I highly recommend them!  They also have a really cute little cafe where they offer breakfast treats,  lunches and other sweet treats.  Check them out!

This isn’t the best picture of our cake, but it was the most convenient one for me to put here. 

OK, now I am off to go do my work!  Yay for tomorrow being Friday!!!

Birthday Party January 3, 2009

My sister’s birthday was last Monday, but we didn’t get to celebrate with her until last night.  She offered to make dinner as long as I brought her a chocolate birthday cake.  Kara loves chocolate, and she loves brownies.  So I started by just googling chocolate brownie cake.  Well, what I found Kara and I have decided to call Chocolate Butter Brownie instead.  Any recipe that calls for butter in terms of pounds rather than tablespoons is a bit scary… and automatically delicious.  It really just calls for 1/2 lb, which is 2 sticks, but when you say it in terms of pounds it just sounds like more.  Plus, there is an additional stick in the frosting.  And a pound of confectioners sugar.  And a brick of cream cheese.  Wow.  The recipe for Chocolate Brownie Cake is from Emeril and is definitely worth a try.  It isn’t too hard to make and tastes great.  The frosting recipe is a good one to keep on hand, it is a great chocolate buttercream frosting that could be used for anything, not just this cake recipe.

 

For our main course, Kara made fried black bean cakes which were awesome.  Just as great was the cilantro cream sauce she made to go along with them.  We also had Mexican pie (not sure what it’s really called, but that is what I call it) which is just layered tortillas, refried beans, salsa and cheese put in a pie plate and  baked in the oven. SO good.  We were stuffed!

 

Before dinner, Kara’s boyfriend Mark tested out a theory.  He wanted to prove that wine tasted differently after breathing.  He set up a pretty high tech tasting where we each got 4 mini glasses of wine, 2 had breathed and 2 hadn’t.  We had to match up the 2 that were the same, determine which ones had breathed and determine which ones we liked better.  I was surprised at what a difference there was.  I wasn’t surprised that I totally messed mine up.  I had to taste about 2 million times and eat 48 crackers in between to try to figure it all out.  I ended up having them not even matched up, I got so confused, but it was fun and I learned that for even an unsophisticated palate such as mine, there is a definite difference and it does taste much better after breathing.  It was fun!

 

After dinner, we played a new game that Ross’ sister Lara gave us for Christmas.  Smartass is the name of the game, and as advertised on the box, you can win even if you are a dumbass!  We actually played it twice, and had a ton of fun.  Nights with Kara and Mark are always some of our favorites. 

 

As a side note, I must add that one of my many wonderful Christmas gifts this year was a Slanket.  A Slanket is a blanket with sleeves.  Best. Invention. Ever.  I am sitting here typing on my laptop and my entirebody is warm, not just my lower half.  I am covered in blanket from neck to toe and all the way down to my wrists.  I can play the Wii and stay warm, and I can lay on the couch and read a book, reach for my coffee, the remote or the phone and not have to suffer through that terrible cold breeze that comes when you have to pull your arm out from under the blanket to do any of those things.  It’s great!  I still have my piles of regular blankets everywhere else in the house that are perfect for sleeping and laying around, but this one is a nice addition to use when you want to be warm, but need to be doing something at the same time!

 

Sugar Cookie Pops! December 14, 2008

Tonight, my sister Kara is hosting a cookie exchange at her house.  I am super excited because I have never participated in a cookie exchange before.  Everyone is bringing 4 dozen of one type of cookie and we will all go home with a big variety of cookies to share with family and friends. 

 

I really searched to find a recipe for this.  I wanted to find something that was holiday-ish (not just an everyday sort of cookie, but something special), tasted good, and was cute.  I don’t know why, but I really wanted my cookies to look cute.  I think it is because I have a complex about my cookies always being flat with craters in them and it makes me so frustrated. 

 

I found the recipe for Sugar Cookie Pops in my Southern Living Christmas 2007 cookbook.  They seemed easy, inexpensive to make, and they were definitely cute.  Sugar cookies coated in different sprinkles sitting atop a stick, made to look just like a lollipop!

 

I love these . They taste good, but mostly they are just cute and fun.  Here are some pics Ross took while I was working on them this morning!

 

These were pretty easy to make.  Once I mixed everything together, I just let them chill for awhile, rolled them into balls before I went to bed last night, and this morning I just rolled them in the sprinkles and baked them. 

 

I can’t wait to come home with a whole bunch of tasty treats!

You Must Try November 9, 2008

Limited Edition Old Fashioned Candy Cane Creme Oreos. 

 

Oh my goodness.  These are so tasty.  They look just like regular Oreos (the package has a candy cane on it) but they have just the right amount of peppermint flavor.  Not too overwhelming, but just enough to make it so delicious.

 

I am thinking of making Ice Cream Cake with these Oreos and vanilla ice cream as a holiday treat.

 

One of my other favorite treats from childhood was my Dad’s milkshakes.  In first grade, my class came up with a class cookbook as a gift for our parents.  We had to include our favorite recipe that our parents made.  My mom made homemade meals every night, always something new and delicious.  However, for my favorite recipe from home for this cookbook, I chose my Dad’s milkshakes!  Poor Mom.

 

Anyway, I think milkshakes would be awesome with these Oreos, too.  Put some vanilla ice cream in the blender, add a few Oreos, some vanilla (or some peppermint extract, depending on how pepperminty you wanted them to be) and a bit of milk and you’ve got a tasty treat.  You could even add red food coloring to make it festive.  Hey, if you really  wanted to impress, you could make  a red batch and a white batch and layer them in a glass to look like a candy cane!  Whoa.

Hot Fudge Cake October 30, 2008

This is one of my favorite “I need chocolate and I need it now” recipes. 

 

When I first moved to NC and lived on my own for the first time in my life, I found myself craving chocolate badly one night, but didn’t have the dorm stash of junk that I was used to and didn’t have Mom’s home baked desserts always waiting on the counter.  I also didn’t have eggs.  I started searching the labels of the baking ingredients in my apartment for a recipe I could make without going to the grocery store late at night.  I found the recipe for Hot Fudge Cake on the inside of the Hershey’s cocoa label.  (I find it hilarious now to think of myself alone in my tiny apartment tearing apart labels at 10 pm trying to find a recipe I could make with chocolate and without eggs.  I must have really been in a rough spot that night). 

 

Well, as we were sitting here tonight playing the Wii, I felt a strong need for some chocolate and I knew I wanted this cake.  It is quick and easy and soooooo good.  It is very much like Molten Lava Cake that some random restaurant serves.  But better, of course, because it is homemade.   It ends up being like a homemade chocolate brownie/cake with a hot pudding like goo running through it. Sounds gross yet delicious at the same time, right? It is best served with vanilla ice cream, but is also good with homemade whipped cream, which is what I am about to make while this bakes in the oven.

 

Hot Fudge Cake

1 c flour

3/4 c sugar

6 T cocoa (divided)

2 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

1/2 c milk

2 T vegetable oil

1 t vanilla

1 c brown sugar

1 3/4 c hot water

 

Combine flour, white sugar, 2 T cocoa, baking powder and salt.  Stir in milk, oil and vanilla until smooth (I stir this together right in the 8×8 pan that I bake it in to save washing a bowl).  Spread in ungreased pan. 

Combine brown sugar and remaining 4 T cocoa.  Sprinkle over batter.  Pour hot water over all.  

Bake at 375 35-40 minutes.

 

Allow to cool, but eat while still warm or re-heat!

 

Also, this is a good time to mention one of my other favorite cooking tools.  This Oxo measuring cup is the coolest ever.

It is slanted so that you can look straight down at it and see how much stuff you have in it.  You don’t have to bend over and get at eye level so that you can make sure you have the right amount.  Call me lazy, but I think that is the best thing ever.  Thanks, Mark!

Dinner and a Friday Treat October 24, 2008

For dinner tonight, we had another Rachael Ray recipe found in the May ‘08 issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray.  Ironically, the recipe came to me today in the weekly menu planner that Rachael (yes, she herself I am sure is the one who sends the messages) sends me.  The recipe is for Pepper Steak, and it was pretty good.  Not knock your socks off good, but tasty.  I don’t know what shell steaks are, so I bought some NY strips and they came out very tender and juicy. 

 

This week at work has been very, very rough for lots of reasons.  I felt like everyone could use a Friday treat, so I decided to make a recipe I found several years ago for pumpkin cookies.  I wanted to spice them up a little bit, so I added some cream cheese frosting to them.  I have to admit, I’ve already eaten one.  I mean, they wouldn’t all fit on the platter that I am taking to work, so what was I supposed to do with the extras?  I think I might need to eat another one in a few minutes.  They are gooooooood.

 

Pumpkin Cookies

1 box yellow cake mix

1 can pumpkin puree (I bought pumpkin pie filling by mistake and just used a little less than what was called for and they are fine).

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (I didn’t have any, so I added some cinnamon, a little nutmeg and a few shakes of cloves)

1/4 c butter or margarine, softened

You can also add some raisins, chocolate chips (my personal favorite) or oats if you’d like.

 

Mix all ingredients, drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 11-12 minutes.

 

For the frosting, I just looked at a few different recipes and made this up with what I had at home.  I like it a lot.  Good texture for cookies or cakes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 c 10x sugar

8 oz cream cheese

1/4 c butter or margarine, softened

1 t vanilla

Mix all ingredients together until smooth.

 

Happy Fall!  I love pumpkin stuff!!!

A Repeat and a Random Favorite August 20, 2008

I had a meeting tonight at CCCC to get ready for fall classes.  I can’t believe the summer has come to an end and it is time to start teaching again.  I have 2 classes this semester and am looking forward to fewer papers to grade than the past few semesters!  I wasn’t going to get home until late, so we planned something quick and easy.  Fettuccine with Sweet Pepper Cayenne Sauce is a recipe we made for the first time a few months ago and we really enjoyed it.  It is very easy to make, and toss a few chicken breasts on top and you’ve got a complete meal.  It is ready super fast, too.  It took less than 30 minutes altogether.  Take that Rachael Ray.

 

Here’s the link to the original blog I wrote about it. 

 

For something new, this is a recipe I have been craving.  As soon as I get a bundt pan, this is going to be the first thing I bake in it.  My Mom used to make this cake all of the time.  I remember so many evenings smelling it baking in the oven and feeling my excitement rise.  Nine times out of ten, I would be crushed to find out that it wasn’t for us, it was to be taken to work or a PTA luncheon or something like that.  That was the worst. 

 

Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cake is the perfect combination of so many things.  The sour cream makes it dense and moist, the chocolate chips add the chocolate that is necessary in any wonderful dessert, and the cinnamon and sugar add just the right amount of sweetness.  It is different than any other common cakes, but simple to make and always a crowd pleaser.  The BEST part, by far, is the cinnamon-sugar-chocolate chip chunks that form on top.  Whether it was being made for us or for someone other than our family, Kara and I would get in trouble for sneaking into the kitchen at night and picking off the chunks on top, when the chips were still just a teeny bit melty from the oven.  It’s just a little piece of heaven.  If you bake this cake, you must treat yourself to picking off a chunk.  It might not look as pretty afterwards, but it is so worth it.

 

Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cake

1 stick butter

1 c sugar

2 eggs

1 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

2 c flour

8 oz sour cream

 

Filling:

1 package chocolate chips

1/2 c sugar

1/4 c cinnamon

1/2 c nuts (I personally do not care for nuts in my baked goods, so I would never add these, but the real recipe does call for them).

 

Mix all batter ingredients together.  Fill greased bundt pan with 1/2 of the batter.  Spread with 3/4 of filling, then rest of batter.  Top with remaining filling.  Press gently with a spoon.  Bake 50 minutes to 1 hour at 350.

 

Aaaaaahhhhhhhh.  So good.

Oh. My. Gosh. August 11, 2008

That was all Emily and I could say over and over after we conducted our “research” today.

 

Amy Burns of Amy’s Confection Company said today that she would be able to make treats as favors for the wedding.  Immediately, Emily and I figured that in order to make a proper informed decision, we better head over to the Shops of Steele Street and taste a few things so that we knew what would be just right for the guests.  Having heard so much about the Carolina Cake Truffles, we had to try those. 

 

Oh. My. Gosh.

 

We really couldn’t find any other words.  They are that good.  Even after hearing from so many people how delicious they were, I still didn’t think that they would be that good.  If you haven’t tried them, you must do so!  I joked to Emily that I was treating the box as though it were my child.  I carried it into every store we went in to to shield them from the hot sun.  I am also being careful to only let people try them who I am sure will truly appreciate the pure deliciousness of them.

 

If you promise to really enjoy them as they deserve to be enjoyed, head over to the Shops of Steele Street and get yourself some!  Also stop by to visit Amy’s blog to see some of her amazing talents!

I’m Back! July 30, 2008

After lots of driving and a hectic weekend, I’m back home.  I had tons of fun in NY, including one of my very best friend’s wedding and a shower for me!  Being at her wedding and at my shower made it seem VERY real that I am actually getting married in about 2 months.  Crazy!

 

We made pizza pockets for dinner tonight.  They were pretty good, and fun to make.  This would be a fun meal to make with kids.  There are of course, a million different ways you could make these, adding any fillings that you wanted.  It was very easy, too.

 

We are having another celebration at work tomorrow (see, I told you we celebrate a lot), this time saying goodbye to one of our part time employees.  I am making a cheesecake that I made for the first time on Mother’s Day.  It is very tasty and I can’t wait to eat it again.  Ross is pretty upset with me that I am making it for work and not here. He suggested making it into an 80’s party and having a pac man cheesecake with a slice missing.  While that idea didn’t quite fly, I am making a pan of brownies (in some of my new bakeware!) for the house.  While plain ol’ brownies don’t really compare to Brownie Caramel Cheesecake, it is a start.  Maybe I’ll have to make another cheesecake for the house soon…

Ice Cream Cake June 16, 2008

This is a recipe that my Mom used to make and my sister and I still make it often in the summer.  It is easy to make and a great summer treat!  I made it today for our Father’s Day celebration with Ross’ family.  I made some changes… I’ll give the original recipe first.

 

Ice Cream Cake

1 package Oreo cookies

1/2 gallon ice cream of your favorite flavor

1 jar hot fudge sauce

1 container cool whip

 

Set ice cream out to soften.  Crush oreo cookies.  Place 2/3 of crushed cookies in bottom of 9×13 pan.  Carefully spread ice cream over cookies.  Top with hot fudge (usually needs to melt a little bit in the microwave first, about 30 seconds).  Spread cool whip on top.  Garnish with remaining 1/3 of Oreo cookie crumbs.  Freeze to solidify ice cream and fudge.

 

My changes today:

I love chocolate chip cookie bars.  I am never successful at making good cookies.  They always turn out flat and full of craters.  However, I LOVE cookie bars.  They only turn out really well when following the Toll House recipe.  Make cookies as instructed on the back of the Toll House chocolate chip package.  Spread batter into a 9X13 pan and bake for 22 minutes or so.  SO much easier, and I think they taste even better than the cookies!  I decided I wanted to make ice cream cake with these instead of with the Oreos. 

 

 I made the batter and spread 1/2 of it into a 9X13 pan.  I spread the remaining 1/2 into an 8×8 pan.  I baked the 9X13 pan for about 10-12 min (until they were golden brown on top) and left the 8×8 pan in about 5 min longer, until they were golden brown as well.  I chilled the 9×13 pan and made the ice cream cake as directed above, minus the Oreos.  I let the 8×8 pan cool, chopped them up into tiny chunks and topped the ice cream cake with those.  It was definitely sweet, but pretty tasty!