Quote of the week

"Vegetables are a must on a diet.  I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie."  ~Jim Davis

Monkey Bread

You know that age old question: If you could eat dinner with one person, dead or alive, who would it be? My answer use to be, hands down Bill Clinton, for so many reasons. Well really just one he was my first crush. But sorry Bill my answer has officially changed. I would have dinner with the inventor of Monkey Bread. Who is this person? And where did they come up with such gooey deliciousness? 

I have been late to join the monkey bread parade, as it is apparently well known and loved, but I am now a dedicated follower for life. 

The preparation was blissfully easy and the outcome was sinfully sweet. The whole premise of the dish is cutting up biscuits and gluing them together with butter, sugar and nuts! While there are many variations of this recipe I decided for my first attempt I would use the simplest version I found online.

I invited a few girlfriends over (to ensure I wouldn't eat the entire thing) and it was the most popular dish at brunch!

Cooking time: 40 minutes
Servings: for a lot of people!

Ingredients:
2 (16.3 oz cans) of buttermilk biscuits
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup of margarine, melted
1/2 cup of walnuts, chopped

Baking:
1. Cut the biscuits into quarters
2. Mix sugar and cinammon in a ziploc bag. Add biscuit pieces and shake, shake, shake
3. Grease a bundt pan. Place the pieces on top of each other to fill the pan, mixing the walnuts in between pieces.
4. Melt the butter over low heat. Add brown sugar and stir.
5. Pour mixture over the biscuit pieces.
6. Bake 30-35 minutes.
7. Let cool for 10 minutes and Invert pan to serve.

Chocolate chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream

 I have a rule of thumb: A bakery is only as good as it's chocolate cake. It comes from the same theory as a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link.

I always crave chocolate, I am a girl after all, and hasn't chocolate been linked to the X chromosome? Well not yet, but I think my eating habits could be a pretty valid hypothesis!

The problem is whenever I order chocolate cake, I end up with a mouthful of a dry, unflavorful, imposter of what chocolate tastes like. Harumph. Why is it so hard to get that delicious chocolatey fudgeyness into cake form??? Well chocolate lovers I have found the solution to the choclate cake woes, or rather Ina Garten's friend Beatty has. I have no idea who Beatty is but in my head she encompasses everything pure and great. She's god.

The cake is so moist and full of chocolate flavor I almost teared with the first bite. She has a few unfamiliar ingredients such as buttermilk and freshly brewed coffee that add great flavor. The buttercream is out of this world. It's important to use good semi-sweet chocolate instead of chocolate chips. I used a bar of Ghirardelli chocolate.

After icing this cake I had to fight ever fiber in my body to not faceplant it. It's amazing. I have come to the conclusion, when done right, there is absolutely nothing more satisfying than chocolate cake.

Here's a link to the recipe

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/beattys-chocolate-cake-recipe/index.html

(I'll be giving you links to Ina Garten's recipes for now. She has them copyrtighted and I haven't quite figured out what that means for blogging.)

Fav of the week!

 

This pear salt n' pepper shaker is my favorite thing of the week. They're functional and cute! I love the metallic gold color it adds to the kitchen. In an all white kitchen, one item that screams fabulous is entirely necessary! 

Buttermilk Cornbread

Unfortunately buttermilk is an item you buy in a quart and only use a cup of for any given recipe. Fortunately having leftover buttermilk always encourages me to bake new things! Its become a game for me. What can I make with leftover buttermilk? Ive tried biscuits, cakes, muffins, and now cornbread!

It was late when I started the recipe search, so I looked for something quick and more importantly not messy! I found this on allrecipes.com. At first I was skeptical because I wasn't sure of the dependability of the site, but it was someone's grandmother's recipe and for some reason that made me trust it. Anything that has descended a couple generations must have some merit. And it did! 

This cornbread was denser because of the buttermilk but absolutely scrumptious. Next time I will add in some bits of real corn for some extra texture and sugar. I definitely have a go to recipe now for my leftover buttermilk!

Cooking time: 40 minutes
Servings: 9 pieces of cornbread

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs*
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Baking:
1. Preheat oven to 375 and grease and 8 inch square pan.
2. Melt butter in a large saucepan. Take off the heat and add the sugar, mix well
3. Add eggs and make sure they are mixed well.
4. Mix buttermilk and baking soda together and then add to the mixture
5. Mix in cornmeal, flour, and salt and stir until there are few lumps
6. Pour into pan and Bake 30- 40 minutes and until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the pan.

*Tip: Always crack your eggs in a separate bowl to ensure you do not mix a bad egg into your batter. You will know if you have a bad egg as soon as you crack it because of the rotten smell.

Quote of the week

" One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well. ~Virginia Woolf"

Weeknight Pasta

The scene: It's 6:30 pm, no meat or fish defrosted, and I'm about to reach for the take out menu......but no something stops me. Somethings telling me, WAIT you are resourceful! you are creative! You can cook.......right????

So I reached for the box of pasta instead. I found 2 veggies in my fridge, mushroom and spinach and started to improvise. It was delicious and so fast that I had an extra 30 minutes in my night to blissfully do nothing.

Try this as your next weeknight quick fix!

Cooking time: 20 minutes
Servings: 5

Ingredients:
1 box of Whole Wheat Spaghetti
2 tbl olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 package baby spinach
1 (8oz) package of sliced cremini mushrooms
1/4 cup of white wine
1 tbl fresh thyme, minced
3/4 cup reserved pasta water
Parmesan cheese

Cooking:
1. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large saute pan. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute
2. Meanwhile bring a large pot of water to boil and add pasta, cook according to package directions
3. Add mushrooms to pan and cook for 2 minutes. Add spinach and continue to cook until spinach wilts.
4. Pour white wine over mushroom and spinach mixture and bring to a boil. Cook for about 7 minutes or until most of the white wine is evaporated
5. Before draining the pasta reserve 3/4 cup of the pasta water
6. Drain the pasta and add it to the mushroom and spinach mixture. Also add the reserved pasta water
7. Add thyme and cut chunks of Parmesan cheese to add on top
8. Drizzle each serving with olive oil.

Garlic Shrimp

There's something you should know about me....I'm a Food Network Junkie.  

I have favorites, I watch the shows, I make the recipes, I love all of it. I also love shrimp but I get bored with the same scampi.

I tried this recipe from Bobby Flay and really enjoyed it! The simple ingredients kept the meal light but also full of flavor. I did eliminate the chili powder because i'm not a fan of spicy but feel free to add 1/1/2 tbl of chili powder to the marinade.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons chopped thyme leaves
6 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
24 (or more up to 30 is fine) large shrimp, shelled and deveined
Salt and black pepper
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
Wooden Skewers

Cooking:
1.Heat the grill medium to high heat.
2. Soak wooden skewers in water 
3. Make the marinade: 1/4 cup of olive oil, chopped garlic, 2 tbl thyme
4. Skewer the shrimp and brush with marinade
5. Heat the rest of the oil and cook the sliced garlic until golden brown
6. Remove the garlic and reserve the oil separately
7. Increase the grill to high, salt and pepper the shrimp. Grill on each side for 1.5 -2 minutes
8. Remove shrimp from skewers to a platter and drizzle with some of the reserved oil, garlic chips, and sprinkle with the rest of the thyme

Quote of the week

"Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside." ~Mark Twain

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

 Hello Lovaaaas. 

I honestly never saw the big whoop about red velvet....I know, I know most of you are gasping right now, but just wait for it...UNTIL I started to make my own.

I'm intrigued with how unique the ingredients are to red velvet. A few tablespoons of cocoa really do make all the difference in this delicious combination of vanilla and chocolate cake.

This recipe is from Magnolia bakery and it is absolutely the fluffiest red velvet i've ever tasted. You will need a few specific ingredients so plan a trip to the supermarket. I also altered the red food coloring from 6 tbl to 4 1/2 because I dont like the color to look fake but more earthy.

The filling is a recipe from Paula Dean, the queen of anything butter and cream cheese. I actually was planning to bring them to some friends who were visiting.....but they never made it past the kitchen. ADDICTIVE. enjoy. 

Ingredients:

 Whoopie Pies

3 1/3 cups cake flour (not self-rising)  

1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 ¼ cups sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature *
4 1/2 tablespoons red food coloring
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 ½ cups buttermilk
1 ½ teaspoons cider vinegar
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda  
Powdered Sugar for dusting 

Filling

2 8oz packages cream cheese, softened

2 sticks butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups powdered sugar

3/4 cup finely chopped pecans, optional

Baking: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 2 baking sheets (make sure the sheets have rims). Place parchment paper in each and butter and flour again 

2. Cream the butter. Add sugar and beat on high until fluffy - 3- 5 minutes

3. Add eggs one at a time 

4. In separate bowl whisk together cocoa, red food coloring, vanilla. Then add to mixture and scrap down all sides of the bowl.

5. Sift the cake flour, set aside

6. Mix Buttermilk and salt. 

7. Add flour and buttermilk to mixture alternating, starting and ending with flour

8. Mix together apple cider vinegar and baking soda and add to the batter

9. Divide the batter in the prepared pans about 3-4 cups per baking sheet

10. Bake for 10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the tray

11. Let the cakes cool completely! Then proceed to cut with cookie cutters (I did a heart) or the rim of a cup ( like I did for circles). Then FILL and roll in nuts if you desire....I do.

 

Filling

1. Cream the butter, cream cheese and vanilla

2. Add the sugar on low then increase to high until light and fluffy

* TIP: To get your eggs to room temperature either leave them out for 2 hours or place them in a bowl of luke warm water for 5 minutes.

My First Tomato!

My Pride and Joy. The first fruit of labor to come from my new vegetable garden. A few months back I had the idea to plant some herbs to supplement my cooking and also save some money. The more trips I made to the store for soil, the more vegetable plants I saw, tomatoes, peppers, brussel sprouts...each one would get me so excited I became a vegetable impulse buyer. I know, i'm a dork for getting so excited over vegetables, but I have discovered the satisfaction with seeing the growing process. Ofcourse we all know that vegetables come from the ground and people somewhere grow them, but seeing them bud from my own plants got me saying "Oh My Gosh its true!" I was so excited when this tomato started turning red, it could have been rotten and I would have still gobbled it up. Lucky for me this was the sweetest ripe tomato. I sliced the lil' guy up salted it and was in heaven for a whole 30 seconds.

Limonana

Let me introduce you to the most refreshing, delicious lemonade: limonana.

I found this drink during a summer I spent in Israel. They sell it in every cafe, coffee shop, and restaurant. On a sunny afternoon my sister and I decided to recreate it. It's essentially just lemonade, mint and ice. A minty lemonade slushy. Are you craving summer yet???? Well at least spring is close...invite some friends over and serve this.

Is it the weekend? Add a few shots of vodka!

Cook time: 10 minutes
Servings: 6

Ingredients:
4 lemons
2 1/2 cups of water, cold
1/2 cup of sugar ( add more to your own taste)
A bunch of fresh mint (10-12 leaves)
Ice, a lot

Blending:
1. Juice the lemons and mix them in pitcher with the water
2. Add sugar
3. Pour in a blender and add mint leaves
4. Fill the rest of the blender with ice and turn on high
5. Serve immediately

White Bean and Tomato Medley

   

Mmmmmmmmm don't you just love a good medley. Ok so medley isn't exactly a gourmet culinary term, but its the perfect word to describe my favorite bean dish. 

While living abroad in Athens, Greece I discovered a dish that I lovvvvvvved called Yiyantes, translated as Giant. The traditional dish is baked in a tomatoey sauce and is perfectly seasoned and super filling. 

That summer I returned with a craving for white beans! This is my rendition of the fabulous greek dish. I always add in a green vegetable to pack in some more nutrients, this time I used fresh spinach, but its easily replaceable with green beans or any veggies you have on hand. 

I make a huge batch and eat it over a few days, hot for dinner and cold for lunch! Its perfect both ways.

Cook time: 25 minutes

Servings: 6-7

Ingredients: 

3 (15.5 oz) cans white cannelini beans 

1/4 cup of olive oil 

2 fresh tomatoes or 1 (8oz) can of diced tomato

1 small yellow onion, diced

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 bag of fresh spinach

1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, minced

Salt & pepper, to taste

Cooking: 

1. Heat oil over medium heat and drain beans

2. Add onions to the oil cook for 5 minutes, add garlic cook for 1 minute

3. Add beans and tomatoes and season with salt and pepper and cook for 10-12 minutes until beans are cooked through

4. Add spinach and cook for 4 minutes until spinach is wilted

5. Add thyme leaves and cook for 1 minute, taste and season with salt and pepper 

Stuffed Cabbage

You're probably thinking "what is this saucy hot mess." 

Stuffed cabbage is an old Eastern European recipe. I used the recipe from the one and only Mrs. Ina Garten. It is hearty enough for a main course and also fun to make. 

 Rolling the cabbage is suprisingly easy, and the sauce mixed with brown sugar, tomato and raisins is a perfect combination of sweet and savory. 

Ina suggest blanching the cabbage whole, but I found afterwards that some of the inner leaves were too hard to use and I had to blanch them separately. The second time I made the recipe I blanched the cabbage longer. I also had leftover meat filling so I made a meatloaf. 

The queen of stuffed cabbage, my 90 year-old Polish grandmother, even approved. Phew.

I provided the link with the recipe and also a video at foodnetwork. Try it, you won't be sorry!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/stuffed-cabbage-recipe/index.html

Sauteed Zucchini & Tomatoes

Zucchini doesn't have much taste so it's up to you to find great ways to bring out the natural flavor. Don't be discouraged! I love this vegetable because it allows me to be creative each and everytime I use it.

For this side dish I wanted something light becuase it was being paired with breaded chicken. I used classic flavor infusers like garlic, onions and fresh herbs.

Simple & Delicious.

Ingredients:
Olive oil 
2 large Zucchinis or 4 medium, sliced lengthwise and in half 
2 tomatoes, diced or  1 (8oz) can diced tomatoes
1/2 yellow onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbl fresh thyme, minced
Salt & Pepper

Cooking:
1. Coat saute pan with olive oil and put on medium heat
2. Add onions and garlic and cook for 5 minutes
3. Add zucchini and season with salt and pepper. After 5 minutes add tomatoes.
4. Saute until zucchini are cooked through and become soft, 10 -15 minutes, they will turn from white to a slightly yellow color
5. Add thyme and cook for 2 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper