My Favorite Coffee Cake Recipe

I think that there are a million and one different ways to make coffee/crumb cake out there. Growing up making coffee cake was a really big treat only reserved for mornings where we had no where to rush off to. It meant putting on my child-sized Little Mermaid apron on and getting up on a stool to help my mom with stirring, cracking open eggs, and whatever other good little sous chefs do. Then waiting a painstaking 45 minutes for the cake to bake and cool off enough to be eaten. I remember watching it on the counter and taking off pieces of the crumb topping because I'd be so hungry I just wanted something!

Now I can obviously make coffee cake whenever I want to, but I still tend to save it for those days when I've got time to be lazy. I throw on a classical CD or three, make a cup of tea, and sit on the couch and relax while my apartment fills with the smell of cake and brown sugar. So if that wasn't tempting enough, here's the recipe I use these days. Different from my mom's, but just as good (if not better).

For the cake:
- 1 1/3 cup Bisquick (I like using this instead of flour, which requires a different recipe, because I like the taste of the cake better)
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3 tbsp room temperature/softened butter (don't melt it, adding the cold milk will harden it up and it won't displace properly)
- 1 egg (also, if you melt the butter it might cook parts of the egg)
- 3/4 cup of milk
- tsp vanilla

For the crumb topping:
- 1 stick (8 tbsp) of butter
- 8 tbsp of room temperature/softened flour
- 4 tbsp of sugar
- 4 tbsp of brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease your 8x8 square pan.
2. Mix cake ingredients together and poor in the pan.
3. Mix together crumb topping with a fork. Make sure the butter is not too melted otherwise you will have a really hard time spreading it around. (I admit to doing this a lot because I always decide last minute to make this and have to defrost the butter in the microwave. But using your hands is a mess...although delicious!)
4. Top the cake with your crumbs and bake for about 30 minutes. In a 9x9 pan it may take only 20-25.
5. Let cool a little bit and serve!

Dressing Recipe

Three times now this year I have made Trader Joe's Stuffing for a big holiday feast and each time it's gotten great reviews. Outside of the bird, stuffing is called dressing. Don't ask me why as this confuses the crap out of me. When I initially searched for stuffing recipes that didn't require being inside an animal "dressing" kept popping up and I kept thinking, "I do not want to make salad; what the hell Google?" But apparently that's what the South calls it, so that's what we're going to call it too.

Alrighty, now on to the recipe!



What you need:
- 4-5 strips of bacon cut into small pieces
- 2 sweet sausages (I usually go for Apple, Champagne, etc. ones) cut into small pieces
- 1 large apple peeled and diced
- 1 medium onion diced
- 4-5 crimini mushrooms diced
- 4 cups of Chicken Stock
- 2 Tbsp Butter
- 2 Tbsp olive oil

1. Melt the butter and cook the onion on medium heat. When the onion starts to become a little bit transparent add the bacon then sausage.
2. After 3-4 minutes add the mushrooms and cook for another 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently. Then add the apple.
3. When all the vegetables and meat are cooked all the way (don't worry about the apple), transfer to a BIG BIG bowl and add the contents of the stuffing box (seasoning + bread cubes). Then add chicken stock. Stir and put in a casserole dish.
4. Bake at 350 degrees until hot/brown on top (this depends on size of dish and the amount of stuff in your oven).

Recipes: Spaghetti Squash & Butternut Squash

This year Thanksgiving is obviously a little bit different for me and what originally was going to be a pot luck dinner with my friends has turned into a small very chill night with just a few of my favorite people. In all honesty, I think I kind of forced Thanksgiving on them because I didn't want to be alone. But to make up for it I am cooking an amazing meal (everything but the bird which someone else is taking care of) as my way of saying thank you for putting up with me, not only today but over the last three months.

I have to say, in the past when I've gone through hardships I've generally opted to do things by myself and shy away from life then emerge out of my cocoon more or less looking like a deformed butterfly. This time around I said things would be different, but even if I hadn't made that decision I don't think my friends would have let me do things any other way. Right now, more than any other time in my life, I have the most amazing support system and some of the best friends ever. I don't know if I'll ever be able to show just how much gratitude I have for them; hopefully making huge meals like this for the rest of my life will be a good start.

My menu consists of:

- Caramelized onion and goat cheese quiche
- Dressing (that's stuffing just not in the bird)
- Green bean casserole
- Butternut squash
- Spaghetti squash
- Ice cream for dessert (I was vetoed on actually making any dessert)

I am a little bit disappointed that my famous smoked gouda mac and cheese which is my contribution to most holiday meals and pot lucks is not on there, but I'm making it tomorrow for another get together and I couldn't do it two days in a row. But all of my other favorites are there, including multiple kinds of squash. I love 99% of squashes out there. Chalk it up to my obsession with the fall, but it's hard for me to be disappointed with this vegetable.

Here's the two recipes I used for the squashes listed above.

Roasted Butternut Squash with Cranberries:

- 1 Butternut squash halved and de-seeded
- 1/2 cup (or more depending on the size of the squash) of Cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place the squash directly on the oven's top rack with a cookie sheet on the bottom rack underneath (or if you're doing this at the same time as the other squash, put that baking dish underneath) to catch the juices that fall so that they don't burn and dirty your oven.
3. Cook until the squash is soft when pricked with a fork. Then let cool for 5-10 minutes.
4. When the squash is not hot anymore, peal the skin off (you should be able to do it with your hands, but you can also cut it with a knife or scoop the squash out with a big spoon).
5. Next cut the squash into chunks and place it in a small baking dish. Add the cranberries.

I've cooked this two different ways before so you have some choices with regards to the rest of the flavor:

Option 1:
1. Sprinkle in blue cheese and chopped walnuts. Stir to evenly distribute.
2. Add a drizzle of maple syrup on top then bake for another 10 minutes to melt the cheese.

Option 2:
1. Add 1/4 tsp of clove, 1/2 tsp of nutmeg, 1/4 tsp of cinnamon (all of these can be adjusted to your taste) and mix evenly.
2. Cut up 1/2 of a stick of butter and place all around the dish then bake for another 10 minutes until melted.

Spaghetti Squash:
(recipe adapted from this one by Emeril)

- One spaghetti squash
- water
- 1/2 stick of butter
- hazelnut oil (or olive oil)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of Adobo
- 1/2 tablespoon of Rosemary

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Using a sharp knife, cut the squash in half lengthwise and place, cut side down, in a baking dish. Add enough water to come 1/2-inch up the sides of the baking dish and cover with aluminum foil.
3. Bake for 45 minutes, until the squash is easily pierced with a fork. Turn squash over and cover with foil again and continue to cook another 15 minutes, until the squash is very tender. Remove from the oven, uncover, and allow to cool slightly.
4. Add butter to pan and melt it on medium. Using a spoon, remove the seeds and discard. Using a fork, gently pull the strands of squash away from the peel and place the squash strands into the pan.
5. Add 2 tablespoons of oil, rosemary, and Adobo. Saute the squash for 5 minutes stirring frequently. Serve while hot.

Veggies and Eggs for dinner?

Sometimes my best recipes come when I have leftover vegetables and I have to get rid of them. The other day this was the case and as I thought about what I wanted to eat, and what I had, all I kept thinking about was breakfast. Breakfast for dinner happens on a somewhat regular basis in our house, so it's not completely out of the question that if I'm in the mood for some chocolate chip coconut pancakes to make them.

On Wednesday night, keeping with the theme of now being healthy people, I wanted to finish up our veggies and make something light but filling. But all I wanted was an egg over easy. So to fulfill both of these things, I ended up making a really great breakfast for dinner that Nick and I both liked so much that we'd consider making it for company when we're not in the mood for our usual huge fatty brunches. Here's the SUPER simple recipe:

What you need:
-Sliced bread
-Cherry tomatoes
-1 Super Big Shallot (or 2 or 3 smaller ones)
-1 medium Zucchini
-Olive Oil

1. Heat up your oil in a pan. While this is heating, cut up the shallots (I slice each bulb in half and then cut them across like you'd do with an onion). When you're done add to the pan.
2. Next cut up the zucchini. First cut lengthwise then cut into bite sized pieces. Add that to the pan.
3. Stir regularly and add only a tiny bit more olive oil if needed. After this has cooked long enough that the shallots and zucchinis are starting to look a little bit cooked add the cherry tomatoes whole.
4. Make some toast. When the cherry tomatoes start to pop that's how you know they're done. Transfer the veggies to the top of your toast.
5. Leave the heat on, and in the same pan you made the veggies now make your eggs. Crack the egg open over the pan and without touching it, let it cook for a minute. Then cover it with a pan/pot top. After about 30-60 seconds check to see if the clear part of the egg has almost completely turned white. If there's just a little bit of clear egg left, carefully flip it over. Cook for 10-20 seconds, then transfer and put on top of your eggs and veggies. One egg for each piece of toast.

I'd suggest no more than 1 at a time if you're not used to making eggs this way. It takes a few tries to get them right and not break the yolks. It's also easier to use a metal spatula.

This recipe should be be enough for 3 people depending on the number of toasts/eggs you make (about 6 toasts).

Other vegetables that would be good with this are onions, asparagus, and mushrooms. I think if you want to make this slightly more dinner like, it would always be amazing over polenta instead of toast.

Crepes

I think that Crepes may be in my top 5 all time favorite foods. A deliciously thin pancake I can stuff with anything I want from savory to sweet or both? How is that not the perfect food? I tend to have phases with foods and will eat one thing non-stop for as long as I can get away with. Sushi, pad thai, anything with smoked gouda cheese, and of course crepes. I'm not in a crepe phase right now, but I'd dangling dangerously on the edge of one. So while I drool for crepes and think about how I have the fixins to make my own for dinner tonight if I wanted to, here's a few of my favorite places to get crepes.

In New York City...

- There are a few savory crepes on their regular menu, but their dessert crepes are out of this world. My normal order when I go there includes the asparagus crepe, then the peanut butter one. The waitstaff must think I'm nuts...just really obsessed.

Creperie - A little whole in the wall place I dragged my family to one of their locations for some crepes after a graduation ceremony when I was finishing up my masters degree. Since then I've been back a couple of times and have tried several different items on their menu, each one more delicious than the next. But if I had to pick a favorite, it would be the one with Brie, walnuts, and apples.

In Palo Alto...

Stanford Library Cafe - Right outside of Stanford's Green Library there is a food kiosk that has sandwiches, salads, and of course crepes. They are huge, filled with yummy stuff, and cheap.

Crepewine - This is actually a chain and I've been to a couple of different Crepevines. There's lots of different stuff on the menu, but really, why get that other stuff when you want crepes? The Le Delice (cheese and onions), Jamaican (bananas in caramel rum sauce), and Monaco (the old standard Nutella and bananas) are all good but I think the Santorini (Walnuts, pistachios, brown sugar, coconut, cinnamon and mascarpone) is next on my list to try.

Bistro Maxine - I have actually not been here yet but I've got some friends who have been and really like it. This is another little place tucked away on a side street. I've walked past several times and it has a very quaint European feel to it. I'm hoping I can drag Nick there soon. Some menu options that sound good are: La Cévenole (goat cheese, walnut, honey), the Gorgonzola (ham, mushrooms, cream of gorgonzola), and the Crème de marron (chestnut purée).

And if you're like me and you can't wait to go out to the next place and you want to make your own...

Stonewall Kitchen - Search for this at your local specialty food shop, Crate and Barrel, William Sonoma, or just buy online. It's taken me a little bit to get the hang of it, but with a super thin rubber spatula and large frying pan, you can make your own crepes for breakfast, lunch, or dinner at home. It takes some time because we do it buffet style which means you cook the veggies first, set out TONS of options on the table, and make each crepe individually (one batch can make anywhere for 6-10 depending on the size you make them---just keep in mind that too big=difficult not to break but too small=not lots of space to stuff), but it's well worth the effort.

Some of our favorite stuffins are:

-Gruyere cheese with mushrooms and onions
-Semi-sweet chocolate sauce or chocolate chips, peanut butter, bananas, and coconut (make sure you nuke for about 10 seconds)
-goat cheese, cherry tomatoes, and smoked salmon

I think I've made up my mind, this is what I'm making for dinner tonight.

Recipe: Chicken and Hummus

Ok, so I think some people may read the title of this and say Chicken and Hummus, together, in the same bite? You are freaking crazy lady! But I kid you not, it is delicious. A couple of weeks ago Nick and I went over to some friend's house for dinner. One of the items on the menu was chicken kabobs off the grill and then they put hummus out. I have no idea if that's what they intended it for, but I saw two Mediterranean items and assumed they went together. Holy moly it was good. And I don't even like chicken. So this week, while Nick was away, I decided I would do some experiments in the kitchen one of which was to try to recreate this taste without the grill. I know I can cook, but I have to say, sometimes I even impress myself. I just might get the fixins to make this for dinner on Sunday so Nick's first night back is a nice one. Here's what I came up with:

You need:
-1 large onion
-2 chicken breasts
-regular hummus (or garlic)
-1-2 tablespoons of butter (depends on the size of the onion)
-olive oil
-soy sauce
-A good quality smokey finishing sauce (like this one)

1. Mix equal parts of soy sauce and finishing sauce into a bowl. When picking a sauce, I suggest smelling it first just to make sure the soy sauce will taste good when blended together.
2. Pound down chicken breasts with a tenderizer until thinned out. Cut into cutlet sized pieces. Dredge and let sit in the sauce until you are ready to cook.
3. Heat up a large skillet with butter. While waiting for it to heat up, slice up onion thinly. Then add onion and cook for a few minutes.
4. Next add some olive oil. Give a good turn and let it cook for another minute, then add chicken and the leftover sauce mixture.
5. Cook the chicken for a few minutes on each side (do not get it brown yet). Then remove chicken onto a plate and let the onions continue to cook until brown and tender and the liquid has just about completely evaporated.
6. Push the onions and left over liquid off to one side of the skillet and add the chicken in batches. Now cook the chicken until browned on each side. Dump whatever juices was leftover onto the plate onto the onions to keep them from drying out.
7. When done, serve chicken with onions on the side and spread a generous helping of hummus on top of the chicken.

If you are die hard about having a balanced meal, this would be really great with some small roasted potatoes or pitas or naan to get up those extra juices and hummus with. I'm really into Trader Joe's whole wheat naan at the moment.

Homemade Pizza

I know the last thing you really want to do during the summer and bake anything, or even be in the kitchen at all, but I've got a really great fun dinner that I think you should all hear about.

Being from New York, we are really spoiled in the food department. There are so many great restaurants with cuisine from all over the world. Not to mention the bagels and the pizza. I really do think there is something about that dirty city water, because out here, bagels and pizza just don't cut it. I've found a couple of pizza places that are *ok* but nothing like home. And because sometimes a New York girl just really needs her pizza, I've started to make it at home. The recipe is so easy (mainly because I cheat and buy premixed dough) and you can customize it however you want. Kind of worth it to turn the oven on for that.

Ingredients:

-Some kind of sauce
-Some kind of cheese
-Pre-made pizza dough from your local super market (you can usually find it in the dairy section around the cheese)
-Any extra toppings you might want

1. Leave the dough out of the fridge and let it get to room temperature (it's much easier to spread out and work with if you do).
2. Preheat the oven to the temp directed on the dough bag.
3. If you plan to add vegetables on top. Now is the time to pre-saute (not precooking will leave the veggies dried out after you bake them).
4. Spread some flour on the counter and coat the dough in it and you spread it out.
5. Place the dough on your baking sheet or pizza stone (this should also have a thin coat of flour on it to prevent sticking). Top with desired flavors. Bake!
6. Let it cool a bit before you cut it up or try to eat it. Certain cheeses (especially ones with more oil in it like mozzarella) will be very hot.

Besides the normal pepperoni, some pizza topping options might include:

-Vodka sauce, goat cheese, and yellow and red peppers
-Pesto, mozzarella, and crumbled up meatballs (or veggie meatballs)
-Fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and basil
-Caramelized onions and blue cheese
-Chicken, monterey jack cheese, a dash of BBQ sauce, a dash of soy sauce, onions
-Brie, apples, walnuts, and gorgonzola cheese

Or you can make one of our personal favorites:

Mozzarella & Smoked gouda cheeses, Butternut squash sauce, onions, and mushrooms

Fried Zucchini Blossoms

Last year when we moved I started a vegetable garden with the hopes of figuring out the hell I was doing and maybe getting something (one thing) edible for my efforts. Considering it was started in late August, I didn't get that much out of it. A few pea pods, and lots of sprouts that either died during the "winter" or are still growing today. But one thing we did have a lot of was zucchini blossoms, so we took advantage of that and had many many fried blossoms for appetizers and with dinner. Here's some tips and recipes for eating them.

When harvesting, only pick the male ones because female ones are the ones that produce fruit. You'll know the difference because the female blossoms will have little round things underneath the blossom (that's your zucchini that's starting to grow!). Also pick them when they start to open up, but eat them within 24 hours otherwise they'll shrivel up. You can save the blossoms for a day or so longer if you keep them in ice water or a cold damp paper towel. Make sure you clean them out before eating (I like to make sure there's no pollen on the inside, and obviously no bugs!). Blossoms from other squash plants aren't so great.

What you need:

- Zucchini Blossoms
- Bread crumbs
- 1 Egg
- a dash of milk
- Flower
- Oil
- Mascarpone and Blue cheese

1. Mix together some Italian seasoned bread crumbs, flour, egg, and just a little bit of milk until you get a nice thick batter.
2. Put a little bit of mascarpone cheese and a lot more blue cheese on the inside of a blossom. (We've tried several different cheeses, and due to the mildness of the blossom, a cheese with a little bit more kick to it works best.) Twist the ends together to close up the blossom. (Side note, if you use mascarpone cheese on it's own, it will explode and drain everywhere when you bite into it.)
3. Dip the blossom in the batter (you'll know if it's too thick or too thin based on whether it sticks to the blossom at all or runs completely off.
4. You can either bake them or fry them. If you fry, preheat the oil and when it is very hot, drop the blossoms in. They only need a minute or two to cook. Remove with a slotted spoon when browned and let cool on a paper towel. If you bake, bake in a in a tin with walls (either a cookie tin or a cake tin) with some olive oil in preheated 400 degree oven until batter is cooked.

And if that was enough effort for one meal, here's a quick and easy pasta dish that you can eat these next to (ie. not part of).

Make spaghetti the way it says on the box and drain. Add some olive oil and butter, garlic (fresh or powder is fine), parsley, basil, nutmeg, and parmesean chesse. The end.

Guest Blogger: Lynsey

So as I said a few days ago, it is just about finals week around here. I expect this quarter to be especially brutal. 4 finals, plus a paper. And then when all of that is said and done, we have 2 major end of the year Comp exams (essentially they test us in two different core areas to see if we are competent enough to move on to the next part of the program). This is all spread out over 3 weeks, which is a lot nicer sounding than it actually is.

Sometimes I talk to my friends and I have to remind them, this isn't like normal college (which is hard enough as it is). Psychology is a lot like med school. We may not be cutting into people's bodies, but we are playing with lives and sick people. So they expect us to really know our stuff inside and out. It ain't easy. And of course other areas of my life suffer because of it. I stop eating real food, and when I do I reach for the nearest cheesey thing. Nick forgets what his wife looks like, and I wish I didn't have a life and could run away to the nearest 5 star hotel. No, not to relax, but to study uninterrupted. And of course, the blog gets lonely.

I've decided that I may have to make a yearly celebration out of my hell month and invite guest bloggers to post. This way you all can have something to read by some really diversely talented bloggers. A call was put out far and wide on the internet this past week and I got lots of responses, so I have some very good reads for you that have been slowly trickling in. They will be dispersed with some of mine when I actually have 2 minutes to post something. Hope you enjoy them!

First up is an entry from Lynsey.

--*-*--

Thank you for popping my guest blogging cherry :-D . After days of serious writers block, I’ve decided to simply give you a really good cookie recipe.

One of my favorite cookie recipes (and my husband’s) is “Melt In your Mouth PB Cookies” from a book called One Smart Cookie. This recipe is super duper easy, delicious, & gluten-free. Bestcookieever. Promise.

The good stuff:
1 1/2 cups reduced-calorie peanut butter or regular peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg white

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl, mix peanut butter, sugar, brown sugar and egg white until completely blended.

Roll dough into 1"-1 1/2" balls and place about 2" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press down on each cookie once or twice (crisscrossed) with the back of a fork.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, until pale golden and set around the edges.

Gently transfer to a wire rack to cool. If they are too crumbly to move, let cool for a minute or two on the cookie sheet first.

Makes 2 dozen cookies (or less depends on how big your balls are).

Variations – you can add some mini chocolate chips, white chocolate chips or smashed peanut butter cups (about ½ c or more depending on your liking); you can try to dip part of the baked cookie in chocolate and let that set.

Not just for guys Burgers and fries

I seem to be on a huge summertime/crappy food kick lately! That's pretty rare for me. Normally my body is very much in tune with its evolutionary seasonal changes. During the winter I want lots of comfort food and to pack on the pounds to hibernate, and during the summer I want sushi and fruit to feel lighter and less hot. For some reason, lately, though, all I want is pizza and burgers. Very weird.

Anywhoo, when I can't be lazy and go to The Counter for a burger that's just the way I like it, I make my own sliders and fries. Here's my recipe:

Sliders

You need:
- 1 lb ground beef or bison beef
- smoked gouda cheese
- a handful of Italian seasoned bread crumbs
- 1 egg
- Smoked Maple Chipotle Sauce from Bittersweet Herb Farm
- olive oil (only if you're not grilling)
- mini ciabatta rolls

1. Make sure the meat is room temperature. Turn on the skillet you'll be cooking in and add a little bit of olive oil.
2. Add the egg, bread crumbs, and meat all in a bowl. Then add cheese (it should be grated, you can add as much as you want, I usually do about 1/3 of a cup. And 2-3 tablespoons of the sauce.
3. Mix together, do not over mix or the burgers will dry out. If you need some more bread crumbs you can add a little bit, but again not too many because the burgers will dry out.
4. Separate into slider sized patties (should be 5-7 depending on the size you want). Do not mush them down with anything, again, you'll dry them out.
5. Add to pan, don't over crowd it. Cook a few minutes on each side until they start to brown up or blood comes through the other side. If you want them well done, keep flipping ever couple of minutes to make sure they don't burn. You can also cover the pan as well.
6. Toast your buns if you are so inclined!
7. Depending on the cheese you want to put on top, during the last minute or so of cooking add the cheese on top of the burger to get it melty. I think these burgers taste best with more smoked gouda (which requires some melting) or blue cheese (which does not). With both of these cheeses, adding some caramelized onions or sweet onion marmalade makes the perfect burger in my opinion.

French Fries

You need:
- Potatoes (I really like fingerling or medium/large sized Yukon Gold)
- Oil
- Salt
- Slotted spoon
- Paper towels

1. If you don't have a fryer heat oil in a large and deep pot.
2. While the oil is heating up, wash and slide potatoes into fry sized pieces.
3. When the oil is moving around you'll know it's hot enough. Add the potatoes and cook until they just brown a bit on the edges.
4. Now here is the key step! Take out the potatoes and let them cool off for 15-20 minutes on some paper towels. Salt generously.
5. Start reheating the oil. When it's hot enough again (and it should be screaming hot), add the potatoes back in and cook until they are brown enough for your liking.
6. Salt again if you'd like when they're done.

The double fry method lets the potatoes cook a bit the first time so that it's thoroughly cooked, and then just cooks the outside the second time. If done right (and this largely depends on the potato you use and the size you cut it into) you get a nice crunchy outside and a softer inside.

Baked Brie Three Ways

I absolutely love brie. It's so versatile. You can have it on its on own, with something sweet, or something savory. For an appetizer, as part of your meal, or wih dessert. Hot or cold. What more could you ask of as a food? Here's four of my favorite ways to eat it when you heat it.

Baked Brie wrapped in Crescent Rolls

Baked Brie in a Mini Loaf Pan - Cut up brie to fit in your loaf pans (depending on the size of the block you bought, it could be 1 or 2). Heat oven to 350 degrees. Put toppings on top of brie. Cook until brie is completely melted. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Baked Brie on crostinis - Toast bread (or buy bread that's already toasted) in toaster oven for 5-7 minutes. Pieces should be decent sized. Spread toppings on taost, then cut blocks of brie and place on top, heat for 4-5 minutes (cheeseshould be soft, but not runny).

For each of these three ways to eat it, you have a multitude of topping options. Here's a few ideas:

- Brown sugar and nuts (walnuts and almonds are our favorites)
- Raspberries and black berries (this is also good with the brown sugar and nuts)
- Pesto
- Chutney, Jams, or cranberry sauce
- Sundried Tomatoes
- Sauted veggies like peppers, onions, or mushrooms
- Smoked Salmon
- Honey
- Dried fruit (also good with nuts)
- Apples or pears (again good with the brown sugar and nuts)

And don't be chintzy with those toppings!

Potato Bacon and Blue Cheese Quiche

I recently decided to do a different take on the Spanish tortilla style quiche and it was really really good. My friend, Brooke, would make fun of me if she saw this because it has bacon in it. According to her, everything I make has bacon in it. I guess just call me baby Paula Dean.

Here's the recipe. Hope you enjoy!

Basic Quiche (like the one from this entry)
Ingredients:
- 5-6 eggs
- 1 pie crust (I like Pillsbury the best)
- 1/2-3/4 cup of cream (or milk) (the more you add the fluffier the quiche will be)

In addition:
- 2-3 small Yukon potatoes peeled
- 3-4 slices of bacon
- 3/4 cup blue cheese
- 3/4 cup gruyere cheese
- 1 small onion
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Spray some nonstick cooking spray on your baking dish. This is especially important on the bottom edges as your pie crust there will stick the most. Cook pie crust for 5 minutes then take out and let cool (keep it in the dish).
2. Boil salted water with potatoes. Cook until soft when pricked with a fork, but not as soft as you would need them for mashed potatoes. When they are done, cut them into bite sized chunks.
3. While potatoes are cooking, chop up bacon and cook with onion in the butter and olive oil until the onion is cooked.
4. Whisk eggs and cream together. You can either do this with a hand mixer or by hand. Whisking adds air to the eggs, and the more you whisk, the fluffier the quiche will be. Just don't whisk so much that the cream whips.
5. Add in the cheeses and your other ingredients. Mix a little bit, then dump into your pie dish. Make sure the ingredients are spread out evenly in the dish and bake until the top is just starting to brown.

Super Easy Berry Tart

Sometimes you need a quick recipe. Last minute dinner guest, you forgot to make something for that BBQ you're going to, or you promised you'd make something for the bake sale and just didn't get around to it. This berry tart that I made up when I was faced with one such situation should help you out in a pinch too!

Ingredients:

-one bag of frozen mixed berries (I really hate Dole's. The strawberries are not ripe and are very tart. The ones from Whole Foods or Trader Joe's are better)
- a regular frozen pie crust
- 1/4 cup of sugar
- 1/2 cup of flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- optional 2 tsp coconut extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line a pie baking dish with your frozen pie crust (don't press it down the sides).
3. In a bowl mix together the other ingredients. You may need more or less flour or sugar depending on how it looks. The sugar makes the tart sweet and juice, but the flour thickens the juices up so they don't run around everywhere. I pretty much eyeball it every time and use my hands to measure out, so it's really whatever you prefer.
4. Dump the mixture into the pie crust and fold up the sides around it leaving an opening on the top.
5. Timing for how long it cooks will depend on how frozen the berries still are when you bake it. If they're still hard as a rock, it could take 40 minutes or more, if they're softer then it make take only 25-30 minutes.
6. Eat alone or top with whipped cream (if cool) or vanilla ice cream (if still warm).

The Most Vesatile of Breakfast Foods: The Pancake

Pancakes, what can I really say about them besides the fact that they are amazing? Everyone loves them, and if you don't it's because you haven't had a good enough one yet. Here's a bunch of recipes that are sure to be crowd pleasers.



For all of these, you should start off with a base of regular Bisquick pancakes.

Banana Orange - Before making the batter mush up one very ripe banana in the bowl. Then after the batter is added, add in 1 1/2 tsp of orange extract.

Chocolate Chip - You could make this with whatever your favorite chocolate is, but chopped up semi sweet or dark chocolate works the best (and chopped up is better than full chips, you can more bang for your buck in each bite). If you want a sweeter pancake, add 1 tsp of vanilla too.

Coconut - Add 1 1/2 tsp of coconut extract, 1/3 of a cup coconut flakes, and 1 tbsp sugar to the batter. Top with whipped or vanilla ice cream and garnish with more coconut.

Lemon Blueberry - Add blue berries and 1 tsp of lemon extract.

Strawberry White chocolate - If you can, dice some strawberries at least 1 hour before (the night before is fine too) for garnish. Then dice up some strawberries for the batter and add in white chocolate chips/chunks. When pancakes are done, garnish with the strawberry/sugar mixture you already made.

Some great toppings:

Stonewall Kitchen Makes - Amazing syrups in many flavors. Blueberry, butter pecan, apple cinnamon, raspberry, blood orange, apple butter, and strawberry. Seems like they keep coming out with more!

Whipped Cream - Heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla on high until light and fluffy. Add just a touch of cinnamon or another extract for some extra kick.

Fruit - If you don't want your fruit inside, on the outside some good options are strawberries, blueberries, peaches, apples, pears, and bananas.

Ice Cream - Probably best to leave any fancy additions out (except for cookies and cream), just plain creamy goodness here. Flavors like cinnamon, strawberry, peach, coconut, malt, pumpkin, blueberry and of course vanilla work the best.

Recipe: Polenta with veggies and meatballs

Today kicks off a week of birthday celebrations for me. Besides a dinner date with my husband and an 80s party with my friends next Friday, today I'll be hosting a tea party at the apartment. I baked all week and now just have to do the salad and sandwiches. Pretty psyched because all week long I've had open windows and sunshine coming in. It'll be the perfect day for some floral dresses and girly laughs.

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For the life of me I cannot remember where Nick and I went out to eat the first time I ever tried polenta. But oh my gosh it was amazing. So rich and buttery, so savory. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it. For a long time after that when we went out one of us ordered something with polenta as part of the dish, but we haven't gone out to eat in awhile and I was starting to crave that taste. So last week I decided I would experiment and made up a recipe that turned out amazing. And now that I've conquered my polenta cooking fear, I can make it whenever I want.

For the meatballs:
-1 lb of ground beef
-1 handful of Italian seasoned bread crumbs
-1 egg
-1 handful of parmesean/pecorino/romano/etc. cheese
-1 tbsp of smoked chipotle sauce
-1 tbsp of olive oil
-1 tsp of nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add ingredients in a bowl and mush together with your hands until blended. You may need more cheese and bread crumbs.
2. Roll into small balls and place into preheated pan with a little bit of olive oil.

3. When the meatballs are slightly browned on all sides, add to a baking dish with some olive oil.


4. Bake for 15 minutes.


For the polenta:
-1 package of pre-cooked polenta (the kind that comes in the tube)
-1 cup chicken stock
-5 tbsp of butter
-1 onion diced
-2/3-3/4 cup frozen peas
-3-4 baby bella mushrooms diced
-2 cloves of chopped fresh garlic
-nutmeg
-1/2 cup parmesean/pecorino/romano/etc. cheese
-olive oil

1. Using the same pan you cooked the meatballs in, add 2 tbsp of butter. When melted, add garlic and onions. Cook on medium-high heat. When the onions start to look opaque, turn down to medium heat.
2. Add mushrooms and peas and cook until it's cooked (duh!).

3. In a large glass bowl, open up the polenta. Add half of the liquid and remaining butter, microwave for 1 1/2 minutes. Stir until polenta becomes the consistency of mashed potatoes (you will need to add more liquid little bit by little bit and keep reheating).

4. Add cheese to polenta and stir until mixed evenly. Sprinkle nutmeg on top.

To put the meal together!

Spoon some polenta onto a plate. Put veggies on top. Meatballs next, some freshly grated cheese to look pretty and a few pieces of bread on the side. Devour!

Puerto Rican Dinner

One of the first meals I learned how to make was what we in our family affectionately call "Puerto Rican Dinner." My dad is Puerto Rican, and while the follow is probably just just the standard Caribbean food we all know and love (rice and beans, spare ribs, and maduros), to us it's a piece of our family. A recipe handed down from my great-granny and probably even further back.

So if you're ever hankering for some good rice and beans and you don't have a decent Spanish restaurant near you, this is a recipe for an amazing meal hopefully your family will love too.

For the Rice:

Vigo Rice, just follow the directions on the bag (you will need olive oil and water).

For the Beans:

1 Can Goya Black Beans
3 TBSP of Sofrito

2 TBSP of Recaito

A Generous amount of Adobo (I prefer the kind without pepper)

1-2 TBSP of Olive Oil

Heat on High for 5 minutes, then let simmer on low until rice is done. Stir frequently. There is also a good recipe on the can, but with Sofrito and Recaito half your work is done for you already so sometimes I prefer to be lazy.

For the Ribs:
As many spare ribs (pork) as you think you'll need.
Brown sugar
Soy Sauce

Boil the spare ribs for about 20-30 minutes until the meat is cooked. Drain, then put into a large bowl(s). Coat in soy sauce and brown sugar. Let sit for as long as desired. Then either BBQ or Bake until the edge are singed.

For the Maduros:
You can take two routes with this. If you can find the right platanos to use (there are two kinds, one is the maduros which are soft and sweet and usually more expensive and the other is tostones which you fry up, press down, then fry again to make it like a chip) then I'd rather make them fresh. You usually need at least 2 for 4-5 people. Slice and fry/saute in olive oil (be generous with the amount you use, with just a little bit they are dry out and burn more easily) until they start to brown. If you can't find them, use Goya and follow the directions on the box.

Recipe: Pasta with Peanut sauce

It's been forever since I've posted a recipe, and since I've recently become re-obsessed with one I made up last year I figured I should share it so all you peanut fans can love it too!

Ingredients
- 1 box of spaghetti (I especially like whole wheat with this, and Barilla pasta plus in particular)
- 1 red pepper sliced into long strips
- 1 medium sized onion, also sliced into thin long strips
- 2 table spoons of butter
- 1/2 cup of peanut butter
- 4-5 TBSP soy sauce
- 4-5 TBSP honey
- 1/3 of a block of extra firm tofu
- olive oil

1. Melt butter into a hot pan. When melted add onions, then about 1 minute later add peppers. Add olive oil to make sure there is enough moisture to cover all the veggies.
2. Around this time start pasta.
3. Before working with your 1/3 block of tofu, let it drain. You can either put it in a strainer and let it sit for several minutes, or you can cheat like me and squeeze it between some paper towels. Then cut into little cubes.
4. When the veggies look like they are 3/4 of the way to being cooked, add the tofu.
5. Once the tofu is added, add the soy sauce, then the peanut butter, then the honey. Stir and remove the pan from heat.
6. When the pasta is done, you'll probably want to put everything into a serving bowl and stir it in there (from my picture you can see I put everything into my pan, and made a huge mess everywhere as pasta flew in all directions).
7. It's important to note that the "sauce" depends largely on how many veggies you put in there and how you want it to taste. I like mine to be on the peanuty sweet side, but others may want it more salty so you would need more soy sauce. I would start with the ingredients here and add more as necessary to your liking.

I think would also taste good with some orange and yellow peppers too and maybe some mushrooms. And if you want to substitute tempeh for tofu you could totally do that, just add the tempeh in when you add the peppers in. And if you want it spicy, add a few dashes of hot sauce!

Enjoy! I know I will be...until I'm so sick of it I don't eat it for awhile!

Chocolate Orange Sandwhich cookies

For Christmas we (I) were gifted with an amazing cookbook from Nick's sister, 1001 Cupcakes, Cookies, & Other Tempting Treats. After a quick flip through on Christmas I was so excited to get home and bake some things from it. With recipes like Banana Caramel cookies, Peanut butter Cupcakes, and goat cheese and scallion muffins I knew I could bake something different every week for 5 years, never repeat, and always be happy.

So last week I went on a cooking spree (part of which resulted in the Mini Chicken Pot Pies) and made Chocolate and Orange Sandwich Cookies from one of the recipes in the book. They looked amazing and everyone who tried them (which was a lot because I made them to share) said they were delicious. So I am sharing with you the recipe, with my tweeks of course.

Ingredients

For the cookies:
- 1 cup butter softened
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cups flour
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
- 3 1/2 oz. (100g) semisweet chocolate finely chopped (I chopped up chips, you definitely need to chop them up, though because in full chip form they are too big for the cookies)
- 2 tsp zested orange rind (I may have only used 1 1/2)

For the frosting:
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 7 oz (200g) white chocolate (again I used chips)
- 1/2 tsp orange extract
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line baking tins with parchment paper (if you can don't use a baker's stone. I am without one baking sheet right now and using the stone made the edges of the cookie thin and crumbly).
2. Mix together butter, sugar, and orange zest in a bowl until light and fluffy. Then add the vanilla and egg yolk.
3. Sift flour and cocoa together before adding to the mix. (I personally think the sifting is really only important for the cocoa). Add chopped semi sweet chocolate.
4. Once mixed well, scoop out cookies with a tablespoon and roll into balls and place on cookie sheet. Then flatten the tops with the back of a spoon. If they stick, dip the spoon in water once in awhile.
5. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool completely before icing.



Before icing we had one extra and we got to split it. Soooo good.

6. Bring cream to a boil in a small saucepan then immediately remove from heat. Stir in the white chocolate until mixture is smooth. Then add vanilla and orange extracts. I also added food coloring because I wanted to let everyone know the cookies had orange in them, and it made them look ready for Halloween. I'd imagine you could make them red for Valentine's Day, green for Christmas, purple for Easter, and yellow for the summer.
7. The book didn't say this, but when mixture is completely cooled, whip up on high speed.

Before being whipped...not such a good looking frosting center.


And after...that's much much better!


8. Spread on cookies when everything is cooled (otherwise the icing will melt and go back to being liquid). Don't be stingy when spreading. It doesn't look like a lot of icing, but I actually had a little bit left over. Great on French Toast.
9. Keep in fridge if not being eaten. But why would you want to not eat them?

Finished product. Dangerous!!

Quickie dessert: Mini berry nut pastries!

This recipe is so super simple. On Sunday I made the Chicken Pot Pies and had some leftover pastry bread so I decided to take a cue from my friend, Katrina, and make something tiny and delicious with them.

Step 1. Take 1/12 of puff pastry shell and put some brown sugar, a walnut (this would also be good with pecans), and berries of your choice. Here I have one blackberry and one raspberry.



Step 2. Pinch down sides to close. If too big secure with a toothpick (just make sure you dip it in water first to prevent from burning).

Step 3. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.



Step 4. Eat and be careful because the berries will burst with hot yummy juices.

Mini Chicken Pot Pies

Sunday was kind of a crappy day. 50s and on and off rain. I know that doesn't compare to the weather at home, but considering the 60s and sunny weather we had for the past couple of weeks, it wasn't exactly welcome. The chill reminded me of fall and after the two weeks of Spring time weather it kind of made me go back into my shell a bit. Not that I was in a funk, but I went from wanting to wear floral dresses and bright colors to breaking out my comfy jeans and sweatshirt with a strong desire to curl up on the couch and watch a movie with Nick.

Since I was in a wintertime snuggly mood, I wanted some comfort food and started to crave chicken pot pie. Luckily we have soooo much food in our freezer thanks to an extremely generous gift from one of my cousins right after we had bought 6 chicken breasts (with the way we eat meat, those chicken breasts were going to last us 3 months), so I had more than enough fixins to make some. The end result was so fantastic. I really impressed myself, especially since I had never made a pot pie before. This recipe is conglomeration with some changes of several I saw online.

Makes 4 individual pies in a ramekin.

Ingredients

- 1/3 cup butternut squash soup
- 3/4 cup frozen peas
- 1 large chicken breast cut into small cubes
- 1 stick of butter
- a little over 1/3 of 1 sheet of pastry dough
- 1 egg, beaten
- olive oil
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1 chopped small onion
- 5 crimini mushrooms diced
- nutmeg

Yeah, there's cream in there. You know this is going to be heavy duty.

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Melt half a stick of butter and some olive oil in a pan. Cook onions, chicken, mushrooms, and peas (add to the pan in that order). Add some nutmeg. When done, turn off heat.
2. Take semi frozen pastry dough and break off one third of the sheet. Cut into thirds. Cut off one more piece to make your fourth. Place on a cookie sheet and brush top with egg. Cook for 6 minutes in the oven.
3. Melt other half of stick of butter and add cream to it. Mix with a whisk and add flour a little bit at a time until the sauce is thick like a rue. Then add butternut squash soup and some nutmeg.
4. When sauce is finished add to the pan with the chicken and vegetables and stir. Split up evenly in each ramekin. I added some goat gouda to the top, I'm not sure if it did much for the flavor other than add more calories. I guess Nick and I could use some fattening up, though!


Next top each one with one of the puff pastries.


5. Place the ramekins on the cookie sheet you used earlier and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes (until puff pastries are golden brown and the insides have had a chance to bubble a bit.



Don't they look yummy?