Oh Martha, you did well

Do you ever get in the mood to bake or cook? I often am in that mood but sometimes life gets in the way, and other times lets face it, you don't want to do anything but veg out after a day of working. Being that it's summer now I'm not turning on the oven less as I typically would. But with the weekend forecast being in the 60s it was pretty safe to bake.

I was craving a bit of chocolate and stumbled upon this great recipe from Martha. 

Black & White Cheesecake Squares, they are pretty tasty. 

Yes Martha, these are a good thing. 

Recipe can be found here. 

Tastes of Fall

When you think of Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter what are some of the first thoughts going through your head? For me I think of the food during that time, Thanksgiving brings mouth watering memories of hearty helpings of green bean casserole, and Easter dozens of deviled eggs, it does not get any better than that. Just as holidays make me think of the wonderful foods I will partake in seasons do as well. Winter is full of hearty meals that will fill you up and take the edge off of the winter chill, Summer is full of grilling, non-oven meals and scrumptious salads and fall is full of hearty soups, and the tastes of the season; pumpkin, squash, and lots and lots of apples.

{Zucchini + Oatmeal}

I whipped up some Zucchini Bread Batter Oatmeal for breakfast. I've been meaning to try this recipe for a while now, it's been book marked & on my "must try" list for a month now. I was a bit hesitant about this recipe, who has ever heard of mixing an egg into their oatmeal? Don't worry the recipe didn't disappoint it was tasty and filling. I think there really might be something to mixing a beaten egg into oatmeal.

{Ginger Molasses Cookies}

For some reason this recipe makes me think of fall, a spice filled ginger filled goodness and great to dip in your coffee or tea. My family is quite fond of Molasses cookies. I grew up on my Grandma Sweetie Pies iced cut out molasses cookies that her boys still beg for today. At some point along the way she discontinued making them, and in stepped my mom who found a wonderful recipe that you roll in swedish pearl sugar and started making these for her family.

When I stumbled upon this cookie recipe in the latest Taste of Home magazine I knew I had to try it. The recipe was unique and different because of a few of their ingredients, now don't be scared, it's alright - but a few of their unique ingredients are cayenne pepper, white pepper and cardamom. The "special" ingredients set off the cookie just right and help the spice of the ginger and molasses come out. To finish off the cookie you roll it in turbinado sugar giving it just the right crisp, to the outer edge of the cookie and a glitter like shine.

I knew these were a winner after taking the first bite. I've now made this recipe twice and don't plan on stopping anytime soon.  I brought a HUGE container of these cookies to share with Fiery C & Curly Locks when we went up north, they were a huge hit I came home with an empty container. 

Recipe can be found here

What reminds you of Fall? What are the tastes of your season?

Burgers PW Style

PW? Maybe you have heard of a little blogger called Pioneer Woman, she is insanely funny, loves butter and discusses her husbands chaps all the time? Yes you have? Wonderful!

I happen to droll over her recipes and subsequently gain 5Ibs everytime I look at them. The other day I made Pioneer Womans' Mushroom & Swiss Sliders with Spicy Fry Sauce. They were tasty!

Tasty!

The spicy fry sauce is DELISH!

Dinner Party

Welcome to my dinner party! 

Sit back and relax

Earlier this week I prepared supper for my roommates and a friend. Just a simple meal that's all I wanted. Simple and healthy, something I could feed some friends. To the cookbooks and internet I went. I knew some of the sides I wanted, a green salad with walnuts and blueberries with a raspberry vinaigrette. But what to make for the main entree... I decided upon Chicken with fire roasted tomatoes topped with feta cheese. But what else? I threw in some sweet potatoes ( LOVE THEM) and some MN farm fresh green beans.

I really wanted roasted pears for dessert. But of course pears are out of season. I decided to go with the same idea but with peaches. Oven roasted peaches with a slight drizzle of butter and a bit of brown sugar roasted in the oven topped with a generous scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. Simple and delicious. The way dessert should be.

Scoop of Hagan Daz ice cream makes everything better 

I am pretty sure I came close to using every bowl, spoon, pot & pan in the house.. erh apartment. But the fun of my first dinner party at my own apartment? Using fun bowls and sets of plates that you don't normally use. 

Semi-Homemade Flatbread Pizza

I've been craving a really great flat bread pizza for a while now. But in the summer months I always live by the moto of oven-less cooking. My craving for pizza still would not diminish despite ignoring it something fierce and then I ran across this recipe from Best Bites for a flat bread pizza. It sounded so tasty! That post totally gave me the inspiration to make my own, I did add my own little twists and come up with my own takes but the recipe was so yummy!

Best Bites had also suggested using Naan as your flatbread as an alternative, I was all for that since I had been wanting an excuse to buy naan for a while now. I caramelized some onions, sliced a tomato, and whipped up some homemade pesto as my sauce of choice, but I'm sure that the alfredo used on Best Bites pizza would have tasted just as good. I sprinkled some parmesan cheese on and a bit of feta from my own fridge and threw it in the over.

Chicken would have been great on it, and mushrooms... oh mushrooms would have been fantastic. But it was wonderful just the way I made it. Simply scrumptious! Thanks Best Bites for the wonderful inspiration!

Homemade with Love

Granola Making 101

Small group was hosted at my home this week and being me I wanted to make something tasty for people to snack on as they wished. I love making food for people and trying new things but my apartment is the home to three women, we don't always need a whole pan of brownies, cookies, or cake for the three us, actually we perfer that not sitting around tempting us. I'm not around enough half of the time to even eat my own food so what better way to enjoy cooking & baking as well as sharing it with others than to make food that I too get to enjoy but am not left with a ton of it later {hopefully}.  I also desired to make something that was not all sugar & sweets something a bit healthier. As I was talking to small group friend Amanda Sue she suggested make your own parfaits with homemade granola! What a wonderful idea! No wonder she is the culinary queen.

Easy Homemade Granola

from "Baked: New Frontiers in Baking" by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

Ingredients:

2 cups rolled oats

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/3 cup whole almonds [Note: I used slivered almonds, and they worked fine.]

1/3 cup whole hazelnuts

1/3 cup golden raisins

1/3 cup dried cherries

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, toss the oats with the cinnamon and salt.

In a medium bowl, stir together the oil, honey, brown sugar, and vanilla. Whisk until completely combined.

Pour the honey mixture over the oats mixture and use your hands to combine them: Gather up some of the mixture in each hand and make a fist. Repeat until all of the oats are coated with the honey mixture.

Pour the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet. Spread it out evenly, but leave a few clumps here and there for texture.

Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven and use a metal spatula to lift and flip the granola. Sprinkle the almonds over the granola and return the baking sheet to the oven.

Bake for 5 minutes, then remove from the oven and use a metal spatula to lift and flip the granola. Sprinkle the hazelnuts over the granola and return the baking sheet to the oven.

Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven. Let cool completely. Sprinkle the raisins and cherries over the granola transfer into an airtight container. Granola will last about 1 week. 

{Yogurt Parfaits}

For the Build Your Own Parfait Station I provided vanilla yogurt, as well as several different flavors of other yogurts in smaller personal sizes. I offered pitted cherries and blueberries as well for fruit in their parfaits. Days later I'm still eating yogurt and homemade granola. But that's ok, it's a much better combination than cookies and other sweets. 

The homemade granola would look so cute in a little decorated bag or small jar with a cute tag and a bit of raffia and given away as a present. Maybe around the holidays or as a housewarming present for a new neighbor.

ps. I omitted the raisins. Raisins only belong in oatmeal raisin cookies and hot oatmeal with brown sugar. 

Crepes

 Crepes: a thin pancake made by pouring the batter into a hot frying pan that has a slight trace of butter on the greased pan.

Whenever I hear about crepes, or see a street vendor selling them I just think it's a delicacy that I could never make at home. So when I saw that Our Best Bites made it look so easy I decided to jump right in and make some batter up. I'm sure you have all of the necessary ingredients at home milk, flour, sugar, eggs and oil with a bit of butter to grease the pan. Now you could go out and buy a fancy crepes pan, and a fancy wooden stick.... or you could use a frying pan {like I did} and a rubber spatula, they worked just fine for me.

Fancy Crepes pan from Chefs Catalog

Per the recipe I decided the fastest and easiest way to make my batter would be just to throw everything into the blender to avoid any pesky lumps. Make sure your pan is screaming hot and them run some butter around and pour in your batter. This was the tricky part you want your pan {screaming} hot but as soon as you pour your batter in it instantly begins to cook. The trick is to grab your pan with one hand and pour your batter in with the other hand will twisting and turning your pan to help the batter coat all over. My first crepe turned out a bit lumpy and was slightly on the thick side. You also want to try and not pour your batter over itself since it starts cooking instantly and then will be a little bit thicker on that part.

The crepes only take a few seconds to cook and end up tasty and so thin. I have an overabundance of fruit and berries in my fridge so I topped my crepes with a dollop of whip cream and a handful of berries. But anything would be tasty, some vanilla yogurt and fruit, nutella, jam, syrup. Or you could try your hand at savory crepes and add sauteed mushrooms, cheese, a bit of meat. How about a dessert crepe with chocolate chips, marshmallow creme and toffee? The possibilities are endless.

Today I'm linking up with Beauty & Bedlam. Go check out what's cooking!

… all pictures for better or for worse taken by me unless otherwise noted …

Tasty Eats!

When I saw that Hungry Girl had a new cookbook out I was so excited that I immediately requested it from the library. Well my requested copy FINALLY came in! Just in time for the LOST party and for me to make something tasty out of it!

I thought both of these recipes were tasty & quick. And no need to heat the stove & oven up, which was nice since it was in the 90s Sunday and very sticky & humid. 

source

Buff Chick Hot Wing Dip

courtesy of Hungry Girl 1-2-3 by Lisa Lillien

8 ounces Fat Free Cream Cheese, room temp

1/2 cup Franks Redhot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce

1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup fat free ranch dressing

1/4 cup fat free plain greek yogurt

2- 9.75 ounces can 98% fat free chunk white chicken in water, drained and flaked

Place cream cheese in a large microwave safe dish and stir until smooth. Mix in Franks RedHot Pepper Sauce, mozzarella cheese, ranch dressing, & yogurt. Stir in chicken until throughly combined. 

Microwave for 3 minutes, stir and then microwave for 2 more minutes

per serving 

{about 1/4 cup}: 68 calories, 1.5g fat, 616mg sodium, 2 carbs, 0g fiber, 1g sugar, 10g protein

This recipe was so tasty and yummy. I think it would be really good mixed in with some chunkier chicken and tossed on a salad or as a spread on a veggie sandwich. My family loved eating the leftovers, very tasty indeed. 

Fruit Salsa

So I did not really use a recipe, I did go online and look at several different recipes, this recipe from Best Bites was pretty usefully to me. I mixed strawberries (cut), blackberries and raspberries and half an apple right before serving. 

You can make your own Cinnamon & Sugar Pita Chips... but why bother when you can pick up a bag from Archer Farms :)

I added a tablespoon or so of sugar, a squirt of lime juice and a dash of cinnamon. 

Super tasty. I love the recipes that are more guidelines than directions. 

What's cooking in your kitchen? Do you have any favorite recipes that you pull out for special occasions and parties?

A Recipe: Broccoli, Bacon & Cheese Salad

I LOVE this salad, as does my entire family. My mom makes this for a ton of family get togethers with her in-laws and let me tell you if that group of men eat this salad with gusto you know it's gotta be tasty! 

The flavors just blend so well together. The only problem with this recipe? You have to let it sit about 24 hours for the flavors to meld and mingle together and become friends. This recipe is good no matter what the occasion. This week the salad will be a side with brats for supper.

Broccoli, Bacon & Cheese Salad

2 large bundles broccoli (grocery store bundle size) - cut into flowerets 

1 lb bacon cooked and diced

2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1/2 cup red onion, diced

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons vinegar

1 cup mayonnaise 

*typically need/use a double recipe of the dressing (cup, vinegar, mayo)

Toss the broccoli, bacon, cheese and onion together. After mixing the dressing together separately toss over the broccoli mixture. This salad gets better with time, it definitely needs to sit and let the flavors meld. I typically let it marinate for 24 hours or so. 

I'm not sure where my mom originally got this recipe. So if this recipe looks familiar to you please let me know so I may give credit where credit is due!

My big fat German family on Mothers Day

Most of my saturday was spent making cinnamon rolls and going out and buying the plant my mom wanted for mother's day. I typically like to have my gifts picked out early but as it was a plant I had to go last minute. Let me tell you it was pretty miserable shopping I was "technically" inside Linders but it was still cold and my hands were freezing by the time I left with my two plants... but I digress ...

Back to the cinnamon rolls .... my grandma typically makes the cinnamon rolls/sweet rolls for almost every holiday and get together. But this year I offered to make them for her since they would be out of town till Saturday afternoon. Now I was a bit worried about offering because my grandma is a wonderful cook who has most of her recipes in her head and nothing compares to her cooking. But I took up the task of making cinnamon rolls... not her cinnamon rolls mind you because she assures me if I have a cook book I don't need her recipe as it will be just the same (my dad disagrees).

I decided to use the Cinnamon Rolls recipe from Ree of Pioneer Woman sans the maple frosting... that would be a bit to much change for my family, and my grandma always makes almond flavored frosting... it's delish! I only made half a recipe as the original recipe is intended to make 7 pans of 8 for gifting to friends & family and I did not need to make 56 rolls, instead I made 26 rolls and came home with none. 

Every year for Mothers Day the men of the family prepare made to order omelets with every fixing you can think of and more and there is always fruit and sweet rolls, muffins and hash browns. I absolutely love it. But it does require people to eat at different times, but that's ok, it's only once a year.

My grandma said that my cinnamon rolls were superb and I will say they were excellent and will make them again. Now I just need a reason to make them again. So go forth and make Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls, you will NOT regret it!

To all those mom's out there Happy Mothers Day

Ice Box Cake

When I stumbled across the icebox cake recipe at Smitten Kitchen I knew I just HAD to make it. Mine did not look nearly as pretty as SKs did but it was quite tasty. 

My mom use to make this a lot when I was younger, it always reminded me of a ice cream cake. Mom's version was more of a "loaf" version like seen on the package below. Basically you use chocolate wafers and whip cream. SKs version had you making your own whip cream... there is totally a time and place for making your own whip cream. But let me tell you - that time and place was not my kitchen a few days ago. 

Sk has wonderful directions but you alternate between laying down your wafers and then topping with whip cream. May sound simple and weird but totally worth the 15 minutes it takes to make. 

The only downfall to this fast, quick and easy 'cake' is the fact that you have to let it freeze overnight. My brother LOVES this cake and gave it an A plus if that helps you make your decision :)

Tasty!

A few food items I've enjoyed recently and in no particular order.

I LOVE this Indian Summer Chili by Rachel Ray. So tasty and good. I love how you can change the flavor by the barbeque sauce you use. I make mine super spicy.

Homemade Tofu Stir Fry

I love me some stir fry and decided to try and use tofu. It was excellent!

(with some Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce - best stuff ever!)

Dinner with the Family at Smash Burger

Twin Cities SmashBurger

Smashfries with rosemary, garlic, and other herbs

J got haystack onions which seemed pretty good too. Everything is ordered a la cart. You can totally share the fries and haystacks, that's what we did.

Steel Cut Oats

Totally loving these at the moment, so much better than regular oatmeal and has almost 3 of the servings of whole grains you need in a day in one portion. I ate mine with some fresh cut mango mixed in, mighty tasty!

A Cake... A Truffle... No it's a CAKE BALL

The Tasty Suprise I made the other day was..........

.......... (drum roll please)...........
....................
.......................
................................
.......................................
.................................................. Cake Balls!

Cake Balls you say?
Yes Cake Balls.

Cake Balls were made popular by Bakerella. If you have not seen her site please click on over. She makes gorgeous and creative yummy desserts. I followed her recipe for Red Velvet Cake Balls.


My verdict?
They were good, not as good as I imagined... but also better than I thought they would be.

Makes sense right?
No...
I know it doesn't.


They are very putzy though. And I can't quite figure out how Bakerella got the chocolate so smooth. Would I make them again? Possibly.


But SO unhealthy for you I am sure. But I am not sure If I want to find out how truthful that could be.

I love me some Chinese Food!

I absolutely LOVE chinese food. Besides being Valentines Day on Sunday, it was also Chinese New Year. To celebrate I decided to make some Dumplings/Potstickers. (Apparently potstickers are a type of dumpling).

I tried a new recipe than the one I typically use. Enter Rachael Ray's Pork Dumpling Recipe. The recipe was good (very similar to the other recipe I had used before). But the way you cooked the dumpling was very different. With RR's(rachael ray) recipe you boiled the dumplings vs. the potsticker way of pan frying and then steaming. The recipe turned out fine but I did not enjoy the dumpling texture, it would have been fine in wanton soup, but I definitely like the crisp of potstickers. I think for future I will pan fry & steam. The texture is so much better, and the pan frying doesn't add that much oil so nutritionally it's not that different. But I think this recipe yields a bit more pork mixture than one of the others that I have used in the past.

*BTW I did not make my own wanton wrappers.. I took the easy way out and bought them from the grocery store, located in the produce section. They taste yummy and are more convenient.

This week is National Pancake Week. So go pick yourself up some pancakes or make a yummy recipe at home - I know that's what I'm planning on doing :)

Tonight I made myself stir fry and Szechwan Green Beans. The green beans were delish! So yummy! The stir fry unfortunately was not so great. I tried a healthier version of stir fry noodles that were made out of tofu and yams... Needless to say not so great. I managed to eat the meat and veggies from it, but the noodles were lost on me.

Monte Carlo Szechwan Green Beans

Serves 4

1 lb. fresh green beans

Oil to cover beans

2 tbsp. minced yellow onion

¼ tbsp. crushed red chili peppers

1 tbsp. peanut oil

3 tbsp. soy sauce

1 tbsp. oyster sauce

1½ tsp. brown sugar

Heat oil to 375 degrees. Deep fry beans in oil until they wrinkle. Towel dry beans and set aside.

While beans are drying, saute the onion and chili peppers in peanut oil until the onions soften. Add the soy sauce, oyster sauce and sugar and cook until the volume is reduced by half. Add the beans and stir long enough to coat and warm the beans.

Nutrition information per serving:

Calories 140

Carbohydrates 11 g

Protein 3 g

Fat 10 g

including sat. fat 1 g

Cholesterol 0 mg

Sodium 950 mg

Calcium 56 mg

Dietary fiber 3 g

***Notes: I did not fry the beans. I made the sauce and then sauteed my green beans in that. But they still turned out great!

I made a very scrumptions meal the other night. I made grilled chicken with pico de fuji on top. What is pico de fuji? It is a recipe from Hungry Girl. Hungry girl is known for her good for you, low calorie and low fat recipes.

Pico De Fuji

ingredients
2 medium Fugi apples, peeled, cored and diced
1 small lime
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded & diced
1/4 cup blueberries (fresh is best, but I used frozen without the juices)
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon diced red onion
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions
Place diced apples in a large bowl. Squeeze the juice from the lime over the apples. Add jalapeno, blueberries, cilantro and onion and salt. Toss well.

Chill for 30 minutes at least. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. Serve over salads, fish, poultry and anything else you can think of.

There are only 43 calories in 1/2 cup And .5 grams of fat


I would totally make this. It was so yummy and fresh. Made me dream of summer.

I also made a apple broccoli slaw from Hungry Girl... that was ok. But worth a try.

One of my all time favorite comfort foods is soup. Soups of all kinds. Actually the last few years for Christmas I have agonized over what to give my grandparents for Christmas. They have everything they need or want. But I decided to make them soups and freeze them. They LOVED the idea and enjoy the fact that there are several pre-made dinners in the freezer.

The recipe below is one of my favorite soups, I make it constantly, at least once a month. The recipe is from Rachael Ray, the queen of 30 minute meals. I did adapt it a bit to fit my desires more.

Buffalo Chicken Chili

from the kitchen of Rachael Ray

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 2 pounds ground chicken
• 2 large carrots, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 ribs celery with leafy tops, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon smoked sweet paprika
• 1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 cup hot sauce
• 1 can tomato sauce (15 ounces)
• 1 can stewed, fire-roasted or crushed tomatoes (15 ounces)
• 1 sack whole grain tortilla chips, lightly crushed
• 3/4 pound Maytag Blue cheese, crumbled
• A handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped

Preparation

Place a large pot over medium-high heat with the EVOO, 2 turns of the pan. Add the ground chicken and break it up, lightly browning it for 5 minutes.

Add the carrots, onion, celery, garlic, paprika and bay leaf and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 7-8 minutes. Add the chicken stock and scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the pot.

Add the hot sauce, tomato sauce and the stewed, fire-roasted or crushed tomatoes to the chili and bring up to a bubble. Simmer for 8-10 minutes more to let the flavors come together.

While the chili is simmering, pre-heat the broiler.

Spread the chips out on a cookie sheet. Top with the crumbled blue cheese and transfer to the oven to melt the cheese, 2-3 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the chopped parsley.

Top each serving of Buffalo Chicken Chili with a few blue cheese chips.

Tips:

I add half the hot sauce to the recipe

I don't make the blue cheese chips. I do serve it with crumbled blue cheese & hot sauce so each person can garnish their bowl to their own liking. Chips are served on the side - because who doesn't like eating tortilla chips with their chili?