Slow Cooker Pot Roast with Veggies and Tomato Wine Sauce

I have finally found it!  After years of searching and testing, tonight I have discovered what will now be my wintertime "go-to" slow-cooker pot roast recipe.  And I promise, that I will be forever faithful, never wavering, for better or worse, till death do us part...


Okay, maybe not till death do us part.  I got a tiny bit carried away.  After all, I found another recipe that I want to try with cranberry sauce and chipotle peppers.  But I am telling you, I take my relationship with red meat seriously!  And wouldn't you think that a girl who loves to cooks should have an awesome pot roast that she can whip out on a snowy, blustery day like today?  So she can sit down after work, eat her pot roast and then, glowing with warmth and satisfaction, get cozy with The Christmas Carol and begin a present-wrapping extravaganza?   I would definitely think so.  But I've tried a variety of slow-cooker recipes over the years and just haven't found "the one", much to my disappointment.


Until today.


This came off a random website and I tweaked a few things and it was everything that a pot roast should be.  There is nothing earth-shattering in this list of ingredients.  But they work wonderfully together.  Hope you try it and love it like I did!


Slow Cooker Pot Roast w/ Veggies and Tomato Wine Sauce

2lb boneless beef chuck roast

2 teaspoons paprika ( use the smoked kind if you have it, otherwise normal is fine or you can skip it too)

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup beef broth

1/2 cup red wine

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon honey or brown sugar

1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce

1 pkg sliced mushrooms

1 large onion, thinly sliced

1 large carrot, cut in 1/2-inch slices

2 medium sweet potatoes, cubed (or regular potatoes)

3 cloves garlic, minced

- Rub roast with salt, pepper and paprika.

- Heat olive oil in a pan and brown the roast on all sides.

- Place veggies in crock pot in this order: cubed sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, mushrooms, garlic

- Place browed roast on top of veggies.

- Mix broth, wine, vinegar, honey or brown sugar and tomato sauce together and pour over roast.

- Cook on high for 1 hour and then reduce to low for 7-9 hours more (or leave on high for an additional 3 ½ to 4 hours)

- Remove juices and simmer them in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk about a tablespoon of flour, cornstarch or tapioca starch (my favorite) in about 1/4 cup warm water and add this to the juices. Stir until thickened.

- Serve slices of the roast with the veggies and gravy.

Merry Christmas! May your holidays be filled with lots of love and warm, yummy food!

Homemade Pot Pie (with Turkey leftovers)

I am a little late getting this post out as I'm guessing most of you will have already come up with a means for devouring your leftover Turkey by now.  That said, Jeff and I were trying to figure out what to do with his on Sunday and we decided to use it in a Pot Pie.  I've never made one from scratch before, but it was pretty simple and I had a lot of fun with it!  I think this might become a post-Thanksgiving tradition for us.

I did a little pot-pie research and ended up kind of winging it based on some simple principles.

1. Decide whether you want the pie-crust kind of pot pie or the biscuit-kind of pot pie.  If you want the biscuit kind, you'll have to look elsewhere.  Jeff and I are both definitely pie-crust pot pie kinds of people!

2. Decide whether you want to shave a few calories and just top your pie with crust or whether you're going to go all out and make this like a real pie with a top and bottom crust.

3. Once you have those very important pot-pie decisions made, proceed with making or buying a single or double version of your favorite pie crust.  You can find mine HERE, although for pot pie, I left out the sugar and I mix by hand instead of using a food processor.

4. Prepare your filling.  I chopped up about 2 cups of turkey leftovers and set them aside.  Then I diced 2 carrots, 1/2 onion and about 6 or 7 mushrooms and sauteed them, in that order (spaced about 2 minutes apart) in some butter.  Meanwhile, I defrosted 1/2 bag of frozen peas under some cool water.

5. Prepare your gravy.  For this I melted 5 T of butter in a sauce pan.  When it was just barely starting to brown, I added in 6 T of flour.  Stir constantly until smooth.  Slowly, stirring constantly, add 1 3/4 cups chicken broth and 1/2 cup of Half & Half.  After combined and smooth, add whatever seasonings sound good to you.  I did: 1/2 tsp salt, a few grinds of fresh pepper, about 2 tsp of italian seasoning a few hearty shakes of garlic powder and a dash of Marsala wine.  Stir over low heat until the gravy thickens.

6. Assemble.  Mix the gravy with the turkey and veggies.  Roll out your pie crusts and assemble the pot pie.

7. Bake at 425 F for 35-40 minutes until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly.

8. Let rest for about 10-15 minutes and dig in!

I think this would be a little bit easier to eat if I could make individual pies next time.  But I didn't have any oven safe bowls on hand.  And this was still lovely.

If any of you have creative ideas for Thanksgiving leftovers, I would love to hear about them!

Thankful!

Thanksgiving was amazing for me this year for a couple of special reasons.

1. Jeff and I hosted it together.
2. I got to prepare most of the dishes myself and I had a BLAST!!
3. Jeff took me to Walmart at 11:45pm on Wednesday night so we could buy stuff to make the table pretty  (that man knows how to make me happy!)
4. Most amazing of all, I ate everything that I made and did not get sick!

Those of you who have read this blog for a while know that I have had some health issues for years and have been on a long journey, particularly in the last year and half.  It has been a very difficult road for me.  Many many times I have wrestled with the Lord over my struggle with daily pain and fear of food and His "seeming" silence and inactivity in the middle of what has been one of the most difficult seasons of my life.

The thing is, He wasn't being silent or inactive.  He just wasn't taking it away like I wanted Him too.  Two weeks ago, I had a small surgical procedure and we found that my primary issue was actually not food at all!  My doctor found what she suspected might be the cause and was able to remove what appears to have been the primary source of my pain!  I was a bit sore recovering from surgery but I am thrilled to share that I have now spent 4 days in a row with no pain whatsoever!  Its been over a year and a half since I could say that and I don't know how to express the gratitude that I feel!

I am incredibly thankful that on Thanksgiving Day, I had the simple joy of being able to eat a dinner roll and a piece of pie.  But I am even more thankful for a God who has shown me, vividly, that although He doesn't always take away difficult things in the way or the timing that I want, He will forever show Himself to be FAITHFUL to carry me through them.

My camera ran out of space about 1/2 way through so I am missing pictures of us with one of our guests (Sorry Emmie!!)...  But here is a peek at our day.  Wishing all of you a wonderful holiday season!!

Getting the Beer Brine ready!!  (And of course taking a few swigs in the process)

Prepping the dough for some Parker House Rolls from one of my favorite bloggers.

Getting that bird prepped for the Weber to do its magic...

Enjoying the lovely warm day while we wait for the last few dishes to finish cooking...

Aren't those pretty??  I was quite proud of them...

My mom brought her award-winning Apple Bavarian Pie and also a Pumpkin Bourbon Pecan Pie.  She is amazing!!

No caption is really needed on this one.   This was our bird taking a little rest before we dove in...

Happy...

Ready to give thanks and EAT!

Honey Butter

Honey Butter.  Doesn't that sound sweet and endearing?  Like it should be a term of endearment for someone you love?  (Don't be alarmed Jeff...  I'm thinking more along the lines of a little kiddo nickname!)

Or if you are not a nickname person, maybe you can just spread it on your toast and be satisfied with that.

There is nothing profound about this post.  You can find hundreds of posts with the same recipe on the web.  But I made a little batch of this to go on some homemade Whole Wheat Maple Oatmeal bread last week and it was tasty!  I'm planning to make a little pot of this to go with dinner rolls on Thanksgiving and thought I would share the idea.

So here you go:

Honey Butter
1 stick, salted butter, room temp
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp orange zest  (the secret ingredient!)

- Using a hand mixer, blend all ingredients together until smooth.
- Store on the counter to preserve fluffiness!
- (And if you allow it to sit very long, you may need to stir it again because the honey tends to separate from the butter)
- Consume within 2-3 days.

Wild Rice Stuffing (w/ Cranberries, Pecans, Fresh Herbs and all kinds of deliciousness!))

The holidays are coming!  And I am oh, so excited for them this year!

Adding to my excitement, Jeff and I are hosting Thanksgiving dinner at his house this year for my parents and a couple friends.  I've helped my mom prepare the meal for years and my old roommates and I used to put on a Thanksgiving meal for friends, but I've never actually been the hostess for the whole meal before.  Of course, I do have a partner in crime!  I've been trying to decide whether to rely on some tried and tested family-favorites or bust out and try some new things.  Regardless of which way I go on other dishes, one dish will not be changed.  And that is my Wild Rice Stuffing.  A friend of mine shared the recipe with me a few years ago and it has become my family's staple stuffing recipe.  It is gluten-free but even my family members that don't need to eat GF, really enjoy this.  It is nutritious and colorful and full of flavor!

Here you go!

Wild Rice Stuffing (w/ Cranberries, Pecans, Fresh Herbs and all kinds of Deliciousness)

1 32oz container of chicken broth

1 cup wild rice (uncooked)

1 1/4 cups brown rice (uncooked)

1 stick butter (I sometimes sub with olive oil, but butter gives a richer flavor)

1 sm. yellow onion, diced

3 stalks celery, diced

1 cup fresh parsley

1/4 cup fresh sage

1 cup pecans, finely chopped

1 cup dried cranberies

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees

- In a large pot, bring the broth and 2 cups of water and rice to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer until the rice is cooked (about 45 minutes to an hour).

- In a large skillet, melt butter and cook onion and celery for 10 minutes.

- Add cooked veggies to rice, along with herbs, nuts, cranberries, salt and pepper.  Stir.

- Transfer to a buttered casserole dish.

- Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes.

- Voila!

One year, I add some Italian Sausage to this recipe when I brought it to a Thanksgiving potluck at work.  It definitely added richness to the dish.  I like it just fine without it.  But consider it an option if you like sausage in your stuffing.

Also, don't fudge on the fresh herbs for this and try to sneak in dried ones instead.  The fresh herbs add beautiful color and bright, vivid flavor!

Hope you enjoy a lovely holiday season!

Whoopie!

A few weeks ago, after watching a special on the Food Network while jogging at the gym, Jeff put in a special request for some Whoopie Pies.  Do you know what they are?  It's essentially a grow-up sort of Oreo Cookie:  two rounds of chocolate cake-meets-chocolate-cookie with a thick filling of vanilla creme!

Most of the recipes that I found called for Marshmellow Creme in the center and I'm not a huge fan.  So I settled for one that uses some shortening, butter, vanilla, powdered sugar and corn syrup.

This first attempt turned out pretty darn good, according to Jeff and the kids.  However, I need to perfect the cookie part a little bit more before I post the recipe.  The requests were:

Could the cookie-part be a little fudgier?
Could you make them bigger and a little more flat (Because the creme is really what I care about!)?

I'll be working on these and when they are perfect, I'll post the recipe.  But here is a peek at round one!

"There is a fine line between a pumpkin and a cupcake..."

(This morning, in the kitchen at work, said with great confidence) Jenny to Tarah:  "There is a fine line between a pumpkin and a cupcake"

Wait.  Stop.  There is a red flashing light going off somewhere in my brain.  Something in what just came out of my mouth was not quite right.  Thinking...  Thinking...

Ah, silly me!  What I meant to say was "There is a fine line between a muffin and a cupcake."

And there is a fine line.  I made some pumpkin muffins for the office this morning (with leftover ingredients from the Pumpkin Cake with Browned Butter Frosting that I made on Tuesday for an office birthday party).  The muffin recipe I found online was titled:  Pumpkin Spice Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting.  Now, am I totally off or is that just a bit delusional?  I call anything with frosting a cupcake, all the way.  And without frosting, it can totally be a muffin.  But thats just my opinion.  If you disagree on the line between cupcake and muffin, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

This was a big pumpkin week for me.  Apparently the passing of Halloween flipped a switch in my mind and with one 26oz can of pumpkin, this week I made a birthday cake, a batch of muffins and a very tasty breakfast of Gluten Free Pumpkin Pancakes.  In case you find yourself in mood for some pumpkin, here are a few ideas...

Pumpkin Cake with Browned Butter Frosting
(Slight adapted from Shutterbean.com)

Cake
1 2/3 cup flour (+ 3T)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda (just under)
1/2 tsp baking powder (just under)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup warm milk (+ 2T)

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease and flour a 9 inch x 2 inch cake pan (I used a Springform pan and it worked beautifully)
- Mix flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and spices and set aside.
- Cream butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy.  Add eggs and beat to combine.  Add pumpkin and milk and mix to combine.
- By hand, add the dry mixture and stir until just incorporated.
- Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake for 55 minutes.
- Allow to cool in the pan for 20 minutes.  Remove.  Top with frosting and enjoy!

Browned Butter Frosting
4 T butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 T milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

(Parenthesis reflect high-altitude adjustments!)

- Melt butter in a pan over medium heat and cook, stirring frequently until the butter turns medium brown.
- Remove from heat and add to sugar, vanilla and 1 T milk.  Stir.  If you think it is too thick, add the other tablespoon of milk.
- Allow to sit for 5 minutes and then spread over the cake.  The consistency will be a little bit like a glaze.  And don't worry that it doesn't make much.  All you need a is a little!

I took pictures of this cake but they turned out a big "gray".  Not quite blog-worthy.  So you'll have to use some imagination...  Or go to the link above under the recipe name.

Okay.  Deep breath.  I know this is longer than most of my posts.  But I have one more yummy recipe for you.

Here we go:

Pumpkin Spice "Muffins"
(Slightly adapted from The Pioneer Woman blog)

After looking over a couple web recipe for pumpkin muffins, I chose this one because amazingly enough, in the full batch, it only calls for 1/2 cup of sugar.  Another recipe I saw called for 3 cups!  And this one has no oil and just 4 T of butter.  So as far as muffins go, this one is a bit healthier than some.  Hope you enjoy!  (And reference her beautiful blog for pictures!)

1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt
4 T butter
1 heaping cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
Cinnamon Sugar, optional

- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Grease 12-cup muffin tin or use paper liners
- Mix dry ingredients: flour - salt
- Cut in the butter using a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
- Separately, mix the pumpkin, milk, egg and vanilla.
- Add to the flour/butter mixture and stir by hand until just incorporated.
- Pour into muffin cups.  Top with a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar.
- Bake 25 minutes.  Allow to rest 15 minutes.

And enjoy!

Whole Wheat Apple Cinnamon Bread

Yep, the bread obsession continues...

In all the years that I have loved to cook, I don't think I've ever been as fixated on one thing as I am right now.  I'm not sure what my deal is.  But I'm having so much fun!  And in a way that surprises me, my enthusiasm is spreading.  After being subjected to my semi-fanatical state over the last few months, a bunch of my co-workers are now baking bread for themselves and their friends and families and coming back and telling me about their cool ideas.  One of my co-workers came up with her own version of a chocolate swirl sweet bread.  Another one started baking the communion bread for her church and is considering baking hot loaves to give away to visitors on Sunday mornings.  Another one figured out his own jalapeno cheddar bread and is in the processing of trying to figure out how to make bread bowls for soup.  Another one has been grinding his own wheat and baking bread for years and is helping me figure out what ratios of wheat flour and white flour make the best bread.  For a small seafood company, we've been having a little too much fun with this!  I am blessed to work with such wonderful people and I'm being blessed to see something as silly as bread-baking connecting us in such a fun way.

Sigh...  I'm just super blessed on so many fronts and feeling very thankful this morning.

Okay.  Back to bread.  Of everything I have baked thus far, this one has been my favorite!  And can we just pause for a moment and I'll let you imagine what this loaf smells like while it is baking??  Think warm homemade bread smell meets and gives a big smooch to homemade apple pie smell.  Wonderful.

Here you go:

Whole Wheat Apple Cinnamon Bread
(Slightly Adapted from Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day)

Makes enough dough for approximately 2 - 2 pound loaves.

4 cups whole wheat flour
3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 1/2 T yeast
1 T salt
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
2 1/4 cups lukewarm water
3/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup honey
5 eggs
Eggwash (1 egg beaten with 1 T water)
Turbinado sugar

- In a bowl, mix the flours, yeast, salt and gluten.
- Separately, in a large bowl, mix the water, melted butter, honey and eggs.
- Add the flour all at once and mix thoroughly.  No kneading.  Just mix.
- Transfer to a 5 quart tupperware, rest the lid on top (don't seal) and allow to rise on the counter for 2 hours.
- Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Apple Cinnamon Filling


2 medium apples, finely chopped (skin on)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped pecans, options
1/2 cup raisins, optional

When you are ready to bake your loaf:

- Remove a 2 pound portion of dough (about the size of a cantalope).  Sprinkle with flour and form a ball by pulling the edges toward the bottom and rotating in your hands.
- Roll out into approximately a 10 inch x 14 inch oval/rectangle.  Pretty much, just roll it as thin as you can.  The dough is very elastic and will resist some.  But the thinner you roll it, the better dispersed your apples will be in the loaf.
- Spread the apple mixture evenly over the dough and roll into a log (like you are going to make cinnamon rolls).
- Fold the two ends in toward the middle.  Flip it over and place it in a greased loaf pan.
- Allow to rise on the counter for 90 minutes.  (Or if you prep this at night, allow to rise in the fridge overnight and bake in the morning!)
- Brush the top of the loaf with egg wash.  Slash it once down the middle.  Sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
- Bake at 350 for about 1 hour and 10 minutes.

I did not take pictures of this process or the loaf.  But the cookbook website has some lovely ones.  Click HERE if you want to see!

Have a lovely Saturday!

Goodbye Garden. Hello Bagels.

This morning was the kind of glorious Autumn day that begs you to be outdoors and to make homemade bagels.  I don't know why Fall makes me want to bake bread.  But it does.  And I'm not fighting the urge!

My garden has been pretty much done for a a week or two now and it is starting to look quite ugly and full of dead things.  I took a few hours this morning and harvested the last of my tomatoes, peppers, onions and herbs and bagged everything else up for the Trash Man.  Can I just say, even when dead and crunchy, mint leaves still smell totally wonderful?

I also tried my hand at some homemade bagels this morning using the Master Dough Recipe I blogged about a few weeks ago.  It was pretty simple...

Make small dough balls, about the size of a peach.

Poke a hole in the middle and stretch it out a bit.

Drop the bagel dough balls into some boiling water (to which you have already added a 1/4 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of baking soda).  Simmer 2 minutes.  Flip them over.  Simmer 2 more minutes and remove.

Let them sit for a moment on a flour dusted towel.  Brush the top with egg white and top with whatever your little bagel-loving heart desires.  (I did two with sesame seeds, two with cinnamon sugar and 4 with sliced serrano chiles and cheddar cheese!)  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  Remove and serve warm.

Ta Da!!
(In case you are counting, one of the cheese ones is missing because Jeff ate it...  He is my trusty taste-tester)

Totally makes me happy!

Molten Chocolate Microwave Brownie (Revisited)

Tonight, I wish that I could send you a smell...  You know, like how I can take a photograph of something wonderful and share it with you?  It isn't the real thing, just a snapshot that enables me to share a glimpse of a moment with someone else.  We can do that with photos and video and audio recordings.  But there is no way to share a whiff of my Molten Chocolate Brownie.  Sorry... I'd send one if I could!

I spent a fair chunk of time this afternoon wrestling with a rather intense craving for a brownie.  However, I'm still trying to keep my sugar intake pretty low.  So I most definitely do not need a WHOLE batch of brownies laying around and tempting me.  And I'm still avoiding wheat, dairy, soy and egg, common inhabitants of the chocolate/brownie kingdom.

Then I remembered a recipe I posted last summer for a single serving molten microwave brownie.  No dairy!  No egg!  No soy!  And I could use gluten-free flour.  It worked beautifully and I am sitting here, savoring molten chocolate-y goodness as I write.

Molten Microwave Brownie in a Mug (June 2010)

I left out the Kahlua tonight and just added some chopped walnuts.

This is wonderful and you should try it!  And you shouldn't feel guilty about it because, hey, at least you are just eating one serving!

Hope you enjoy.

Homemade Bread (But I promise, its super easy!)

After months of thinking about it, I sat down a few weeks ago and composed a "bucket list."  Do you have one?  After that movie came out a few years ago, I have had the experience over and over again of friends referring to something on their bucket list and the idea intrigued me.  I've always been a bit of a dreamer so I had fun sitting down and writing a list of things that I want to do or learn before I die.

After finishing my list and reviewing, I found one item that really didn't belong:

#7 - Get over my fear of yeast and master the art of making homemade bread, pizza crust and cinnamon rolls.

I thought to myself, "Jenny, that is not a life-long aspiration.  That should just be your cooking goal for this year."  And so item #7 was removed from my bucket list and I promptly pulled out a book I was given a few years ago called, Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.  It has been collecting dust on my shelf for quite a while because I haven't been eating bread for about 6 years.  But...  I have this great guy in my life and he has two kids and guess what?  They eat bread!  And I have an office full of co-workers who are also good friends and guess what?  They eat bread!  I have all these people who would be super happy to have me bake them bread.  And since cooking is part of how I say "I care about you" I dove in!

In the last week, I have baked 4 loaves of homemade bread.  No bread-maker.  No loaf pans.  No kneading.  No punching down.  Nada!  About 15 minutes worth of effort and a WHOLE lot of excitement.

I am not going to repeat the recipe/method here.  It is all over the internet and you can find it in their books.  Below is a short video that will give you the gist of it.  In addition to the master recipe, the book is full of variations and explains how to use the master recipe to make homemade pizza dough, pita bread, cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, coffee cake, pastries and more.  They also have another book called Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, that I have on hold at the library.  It talks about how to use this method with whole grains instead of just white flour.

As a side note, they recommend using an oven thermometer, baking stone, pizza peel and broiler pan for hot water/steam.  I don't have any of these things and still got a lovely result just trusting my oven temp, using a cutting board and regular cookie sheet and skipping the steam.  Easy!

So have at it!  Revel in the fragrance of baking bread filling your home! Do a little celebration dance around your kitchen when your first loaf turns out perfectly lovely!  Tell someone, "I love you" and serve them warm homemade bread!

Chicken, Apple, Herb Breakfast Sausage

Yippee!!!  I found another breakfast option!  And it's super tasty.  Here we go...

You might be wondering to yourself, "What is wrong with this girl?  Why would she take the trouble to make Chicken Apple Sausage when she can drive her little self right down to the store and just buy some??"

I have two responses to such a person.  First, this is just who I am.  I get a strange and inordinate amount of pleasure over making for myself what most people would just buy.  Its fun for me.  Its a creative outlet. Its an adventure.  Often its cheaper.  And, best of all, it makes me feel like a domestic queen!

Secondly, when it comes to sausage, they just put funky things in it.  Even the supposedly all-natural stuff has things in the ingredients list that I'm not familiar with.  And during this time when my poor little digestive system is feeling so fragile, sausage that I can make myself is a great option!

So if you happen to LOVE sausage, like I do and are up for a little adventure, give this recipe a try.  I don't think you'll be disappointed!

Chicken Apple Herb Breakfast Sausage
(From the FoodNetwork.com, passed along to me by my dear friend Tarah, who is always on the lookout for new recipes that I can eat.  Bless her!)

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup grated Fuji or McIntosh apple
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 1/2 pounds ground chicken
1/2 pound ground pork
1 tablespoon chopped, fresh thyme
1 tablespoon chopped, fresh sage
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon white pepper

- Heat olive oil in a pan.  Add onion and apple and sautee about 3 minutes.  Add garlic and cook for another minute.  Remove from heat and cool completely.
- In a large bowl, mix the meat, herbs, salt & pepper and cooled onion/apple mixture.  (I had to get in there with my hands to get it to mix well.  But I'm super tactile and didn't mind...)
- Form into patties and cook!  (Or, if you are me, crumble and cook in a pan with some veggies for a little sausage/veggie stir-fry breakfast)

My only thought on this, was that it might be good with just a hint of sweetness.  I might try adding a tablespoon or two of maple syrup or agave nectar to my next batch.

Happy Labor Day!

Spicy Homemade Hummus

Last night I went to an engagement party for two of my favorite people and was asked to bring hummus. I made it Thursday night and pulled it out last night before the party to check on the flavors. Not enough garlic. And much too "stiff".  I decided to try remixing it with more olive oil and garlic and I decided to do it in my blender. I've been irritated with my food processor recently and thought my blender might do a better job.

Not my best idea.

Take a tip from me: Don't try to make this recipe in a blender. Its too thick and you will mix the heck out of the bottom while the oil you added stays right on top.

And then you might decide to turn off the motor and try to mix it up a bit so the liquid gets to the bottom. Which would make a big mess and cover your wooden spoon with thick, garlicky hummus that drips on your floor. And it wouldn't work anyway.

So then you might try to prod at it with your wooden spoon while the motor is running. That wouldn't work either. So, foolishly, you might go deeper and deeper with that wooden spoon. 

And then... yes... Your wooden spoon might get caught in the blade and split the top in half, making a terrible noise, and flinging more bits of garlicky hummus all over your clothes and floor.  Irritation!

But, best of all, you then might not be able to find the 1/2 of a top of a wooden spoon in your very "wood-colored" hummus!  Sigh... Yep, I washed my hands and then dug right in, hunting for 1/2 a spoon in my hummus with my bare fingers.

After a huge mess and hummus all over my hands, counter, kitchen sink, etc, I retrieved that darned 1/2 of a spoon, cleaned my kitchen, tried to get the garlic smell off my fingers and had a wonderful time with friends celebrating two people that we really love.

So here you go with the recipe. Even if you have a crummy food processor, just go with it and leave that blender in the cupboard!

Spicy Homemade Hummus
2 15-oz cans garbanzo beans or great white northern beans (or, if you're feeling adventurous, try black beans!)
8 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup tahini (sesame paste - think peanut butter, but made from sesame seeds)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 T soy sauce (I use gluten-free)
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp ground corriander
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2-3 T cold water Olive Oil

 - In a food processor, pulse garlic cloves until chopped. Add beans and pulse a few more times.
- With the motor running, slowly add in the tahini, lemon juice and soy sauce. Blend until smooth.
- Add spices. Add the water.
- Now you are pretty much going to add olive oil until the hummus reaches a consistency that you want.

This is best if you let it sit overnight so that the flavors can really blend and then pull it out of the fridge for a couple hours before serving. And when you are ready to serve it, drizzle a little olive oil over the top to keep it from drying out and looking ugly!

 There you go! Have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend.

(I'm hoping to cook up a storm this weekend! I have 3 new things to try out: One involves my favorite meal of the day... One will create what is perhaps my favorite smell in the world... And the other will be my celebration of the quickly approaching end of summer... Stay tuned!)

Pickle Madness!

I've been a little obsessed with homemade pickles recently. The funny thing is, generally, I like pickles in just a normal kind of way where I might buy a jar a couple times a year and then forget about them entirely for months on end. But for some reason, I just feel inordinately COOL to be making them on my own. Hence the temporary homemade pickle obsession...

My beast of a cucumber plant is producing about 15-20 cucumbers per week. I can make a 1-quart jar of pickle spears with 4 cucumbers. You do the math... I just gave a way a huge bag of them to my friend's mom because I was being totally overtaken!

Anyway, all that to say, after lots of experimenting and forcing co-workers and boyfriend and boyfriend's children in to formal taste-tests where I grill them with questions, I have narrowed down my favorite two recipes and I am ready to share!

Basic Pickle Brine:

(Follow these quantities to make 1 jar of refrigerator pickles. Increase proportionally if you want more!)

1 cup water
1 cup vinegar
1 T salt
approx 4 pickling cucumbers, sliced into spears or cross-wise for sandwich slices
1 sterilized 1-quart canning jar

- Bring water, vinegar and salt to just a boil and then remove from heat. Make sure the salt has dissolved. Cool to room temp.

Now, for your flavorings... You can get totally wild and creative with these and just start throwing in whatever sounds good! I made one jar with garlic, fresh basil, pepercorns and Jamaican All-Spice berries. They turned out pretty good. But the two basic recipes below were my favorite and got the best "review" from my trusty taste-testers.

Simple Garden Dill Pickles

3 large garlic cloves, slightly crushed
1/4 white onion, sliced into rings
1 tsp freeze-dried dill
1 jalapeno, cut into rings (*If you remove the seeds, you will get a little jalapeno flavor but no heat. I am going to try leaving the seeds in next time for a little extra "kick")

-Place ingredients in the bottom of the jar. Pack in cucumber spears or slices. Pour brine over all until the jar is filled and put on the lid. Refrigerate at least 7 days.

Zippy Spicy "Give Your Taste Buds A Shock" Pickles

(Sorry for that title... I've been sitting here for 10 minutes trying to figure out what to call these ones and that is all that came to me.)

3 large garlic cloves, slightly crushed
1 tsp freeze-dried dill
3/4 T Penzey's pickling spices (This spice blend is amazing! It has bay leaves, mustard seed, cassia, ginger, allspice, cloves, dill seed, star anise, coriander, cardamom, coriander and crushed red pepper flakes)

-Place ingredients in the bottom of the jar. Pack in cucumber spears or slices. Pour brine over all until the jar is filled and put on the lid. Refrigerate at least 7 days.



And there you have it. These are way too easy and if you can't get your hands on pickling cucumbers, just use regular store ones. None of my jars have lasted more than a week, but from what I've read, these should last about a month in the fridge.

Have a lovely Saturday!

Sweet and Sour Chicken

I've never turned my hand at Sweet and Sour anything before. For someone who really loves to cook, its amazing how many of the "staples" I've never actually made. But tonight, I tackled and conquered some Sweet and Sour Chicken and it was downright tasty. Also pretty fast, with simple ingredients. The only thing I had to pick up at the store was the chicken breasts and some Apricot Preserves.

I won't elaborate much on this one. Its pretty straightforward :)

Sweet and Sour Chicken

(From Cooking Light, January/February 2011, "Chicken Breasts, 25 Ways")

4 chicken breasts
Salt & Pepper
1/4 cup low sodium chicken broth
3 T Apricot preserves
1 1/2 T low sodium soy sauce (I use a gluten-free one...)
2 T fresh lime juice
1 tsp Thai chile paste (or Sriracha Sauce, YUM!)
cilantro, chopped

- Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper and cook in a pan with a little olive oil. Set aside.
- In the same pan, while hot, add chicken broth, preserves and soy sauce. Scrape the bottom to get all the lovely little brown bits and bring the sauce just to a boil.
- Remove from heat, add lime juice and chile paste.
- Pour over chicken breast and top with fresh cilantro.

Voila! If you did some rice in a rice-cooker while this was going and added in a salad, you'd have a tasty dinner in about 20 minutes.


P.S. I adore Sriracha sauce (spicy, a little garlicy, almost sweet, MMMM) and it was perfect in this recipe. That said, I doubled the sauce portion of this (because who doesn't love extra sauce, right?), but the 2 tsp of Sriracha was a bit much. Running eyes and nose during dinner is totally inconvenient! But I'm a bit of a light-weight when it comes to heat. So just go slowly with your Sriracha. Don't get carried away, like I did. And you'll be fine.

Chipotle Mashed Sweet Potatoes

I've never been a huge fan of the marshmallow, brown sugar, sweet SWEET sweet potatoes people do at Thanksgiving time. (With the exception, Sami, of the ones you made for our roomie Thanksgiving a few years ago. Those were amazing! But I think they had like a 1/2 cup of butter in them right? Butter makes everything amazing...)

I digress... In general, no "sweet" sweet potatoes.

But savory sweet potatoes are another story. I was introduced to those at Trinity Brewing Co about a year and a half ago via their Sweet Potatoes Fries with Rosemary and Curry Ketchup. I've been making my own version for a year or two now and that has been the extent of my sweet potato consumption.

Until a few nights ago...

I was making dinner for Jeff and I had the chicken and some salad (from my garden... makes me SO happy). If I were just feeding myself, this would be plenty. But men eat a lot. And dinner is a bigger deal to them than it is to many of us ladies. I'm being educated on this currently: No popcorn for dinner. No "how about some lunch meat and goat cheese and a few carrots with hummus". No apple and peanut butter. No cheese and crackers and a glass of wine. Well, I'm told the wine is okay but it needs a real meal to go with it. So, all of that to say, when I'm "on" for dinner, I have to make real food. And I don't actually mind this. It gives me a great chance to play around with new recipes.

I digress again... (Sorry, feeling "wordy" this morning)

I had chicken and salad and also a couple sweet potatoes on hand. I did a search on savory mashed sweet potatoes and came up with this super easy recipe. Jeff loved it and so did I! If anything, the leftovers were even better the next day. And with no added cream or milk and only a tiny bit of butter, this is quite healthy. Hope you enjoy!

Chipotle Mashed Sweet Potatoes
(makes about 4-5 servings)

3 regular-sized sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 T butter (I use ghee because it tastes like butter but is actually lactose free!)
1-3 whole canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (start with one and increase according to your tolerance for spice - I used 2)
2 tsp of the canned adobo sauce (again, just adjust to taste)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt

- Steam cubed sweet potatoes until soft.
- Mash together with remaining ingredients, adjusting to taste.

These are great because you get the "sweet" naturally from the potato and that blends really nice with the smoky/spicy from the chipotles and adobo sauce. Yum!!! I still have some leftover and am thinking about using it to make some sweet potato pancakes for breakfast with a little caramelized onion and goat cheese on top...

Happy Saturday :)

P.S. (Mom's Homemade Nut Bars)

I'm making another batch of these as we speak and I forgot to include a couple ingredients on my last post. (I've gone back in and updated it.)

In addition to the other ingredients, I also like to add about 2 tsp cinnamon and about a 1/4 cup each of flax seed and chia seeds for added fiber and good omega oils.

Thats all!

Happy Monday :)

Mom's Homemade Nut Bars

Over the last 6 months, "nuts" and I have moved from casual acquaintances to intimate friends. Or perhaps it might be more accurate to say we've moved from casual acquaintances to THEY ARE NOW A TOTAL AND COMPLETE LIFESAVER!

Try figuring out what to eat for breakfast without using wheat, dairy, eggs, grains, soy or peanuts?

See? Its hard. In the face of that dilemma, nuts came galloping in to my rescue and I in their debt.

My mom makes the following protein nut bars on a regular basis. I have started making them weekly as well. I crumble them up in a bowl, top them with a little coconut milk and fruit and then have myself a tasty and filling breakfast. These also work beautifully for camping food or a hiking snack. And when I am desperate for a dessert, I can almost pretend that they are a cookie!

Below is my mom's recipe. I had to change a few things and I put those in parenthesis. This is an awesome recipe for improvisation. So have fun!

Mom's Homemade Nut Bars


1 ½ cups ground almonds (Or almond meal)
1 ½ cups ground walnuts
¼ cup sunflower seeds
½ cup pecans
½ cup hazelnut pieces (Or cashews or any other nut that strikes your fancy...)
¼ cup mini chocolate chips (I don't use chocolate chips. But some dried fruit would be lovely)
2 scoops Metagenics protein powder (Or any other favorite protein powder. You can also just omit this part)
1 cup Rice Krispies
1/4 cup flax seeds
1/4 cup chia seeds
2 tsp cinnamon
½ cup chunky peanut butter (I use Sunflower Seed Butter, but almond butter or cashew butter would also work well)
½ cup agave nectar

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.
Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. The mixture will be somewhat sticky. Press into 9x11 baking dish that has been sprayed with Pam. Bake for 30 minutes to one hour depending on how toasty you prefer it. Cool; cut into 24 bars. Store in refrigerator or freezer.


I will say the up front cost of these ingredients will seem like a lot. But my mom worked it out and it actually comes to about $0.59 per bar. I loaded up on all this stuff a bit ago and will probably get 4 batches of bars out of it.

Hope you enjoy!

A Quick Summer Drink

I don't have too much to say today. Just popping in for a little quickie post...

I've been struggling to get my water in the last few days. Not sure what my problem is... I just have a mental block. So I compromised and made myself some plain iced tea. But that wasn't cutting it either.

Flash of brilliance!

I have mint simple syrup and limes in my fridge (so that I can make mojitos at whim). I added 2 tsp of mint simple syrup to a tall glass of iced tea and gave it a squirt of lime.

Voila!

Might not quite be on par with the simple purity of good water, but at least I am getting my liquids in again.

Happy sipping!

A Sneak Peak...

Anyone feel like playing a guessing game?

What have I been more exited about than anything in my garden this year?

What did I spend over an hour researching today?

What prompted the happy purchase of a case of 1-quart canning jars?

What is going to keep me on the edge of my seat for the next 5-10 days?

Here are a few hints:







These babies have to hang out in my fridge for the next week or two before I'll know if they're any good.

Practicing my patience...

30 Years Old!

Amazing... I'm not sure how this happened, but I actually turned 30 years old yesterday! I promise I was 19 only a few months ago :). When did I become so officially "adult"? I feel like I am just barely starting to get a glimpse of what older people are talking about when they say no matter how old you get, you still feel about 18 years old inside. Do you think that is just our soul that is eternal and therefore, technically ageless? I think it might be...

Jeff threw me a party on Saturday night and we had friends over for a blow-out taco fest! (That man is awfully cute when he is in the taco zone!)

Then we spent Sunday with my parents. They got me a new cookbook called Booze Cakes! Just flipping through it makes me want to put on an apron, fix myself a cocktail and get busy with my mixer and cake tins!

And then last night Jeff and I dressed up and he took me to The Broadmoor for what was, hands down, the BEST meal I have ever had! I'm not being dramatic. It was exceptional. I had Prosciutto and Herb-Wrapped Fillet Mignon with Goat Cheese Potatoes, Bearnaise Sauce and Asparagus with Tomatoes that had been cooked down in Madeira Wine. Is your mouth watering?? There really are no words... And we sat right by the lake and there was candlelight and white table-clothes and an amuse-bouche and I wore a new dress and felt pretty. Sigh... Totally wonderful!

We didn't take tons of pictures over the weekend but here are a few:

FOOD!!!



Getting in a little sweet baby love...



My sweet taco-making man and me :)



The gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, egg-free dessert that I made for myself. I know... You are wondering what good ingredients are left after you take out gluten, dairy, soy and egg! This dessert is primarily almonds and coconut and it turned out pretty good. I'll share the recipe soon!



Me (at The Broadmoor feeling incredibly loved and happy and fancy)



The dinner to king all dinners. I think I might judge all further meals against the amazing-ness of this one!



For all of you who called or texted or made it a point to spend time with me, THANK YOU! A girl could not ask for more wonderful friends and family and I find myself entering this new decade humbled and full of gratitude for the gift of you all.

Let the thirties begin!!

My hardy little garden...

I've been meaning to take pictures of my garden for several weeks and just kept forgetting to bring my camera over to Jeff's house.

And then, two weeks ago, it did this:



I thought for sure my little garden would be trashed!

But it is hardier than I thought... Just two weeks later, it looks like this:



I planted Zinnias throughout the garden and they are popping up and bringing color and making me very happy!



I planted mini cucumbers because I want to make dill pickles. The plant has gone CRAZY and I probably have close to a hundred of these little guys starting to form. I'm going to have pickles coming out my ears! (Not literally...)



I know its hard to see, but this is my cucumber vines in the back, chives, onions, rosemary, basil and cilantro.



Lettuces...



Brand new strawberry plants that I just put in to replace some sugar snap peas that died, radishes that we ate and carrots that didn't come in well...



This picture does not do my tomatoes justice. They have turned into 3 beasts! I planted them too close together and am having to prune them back almost every weekend because they are growing so fast and there isn't room to just let them go. You can't see it in this pic, but the center plant (cherry tomatoes) are already ripening. Of course, we're nibbling on them as fast as they ripen. Its a full-out competition between us and the squirrels...

And there's the update I've promised a few of you.

Happy Thursday :)

Love People. Cook them tasty food.

So, remember how yesterday in my post I wrote that cooking for people is part of how I show love?

Guess what they GAVE me when I was in Penzey's Spice shop yesterday? (I didn't even buy anything. Was just browsing...)



Is that an awesome magnet or what? I had just seen one like it at a friend's house and wondered where she got it.

I love Penzey's!

And my refrigerator full of faces that I love.

And the little note below my shopping list from Stacey when she came to get the curling iron of hers that I've had for 2 months!

Bittersweet Chocolate Pudding Pie

I've gotten several semi-confused comments recently about my continuing to bake things that I cannot currently eat... I know it sounds weird, but it is still super fun for me to try things out and test them on people, even when I can't eat them myself. And it continues to be a way that I tell people, "I love you and it makes me happy to feed you".

That said, my man told me recently that I am going to make him fat if I keep testing my desserts on him, so I saved up this new recipe for a get-together with my old roomies:



Aren't we cute?? I love these girls! So I made them some Bittersweet Chocolate Pudding Pie...

If you have people in your life that you are feeling some love for, you could make them some Bittersweet Chocolate Pudding Pie too! I took lots of pictures this time, so get ready!

Bittersweet Chocolate Pudding Pie
(From Bon Appetite Magazine)

CRUST:
1 cup. chocolate wafer cookies (about 1/2 of a 9oz box)
2 T sugar
5 T butter, melted
2 oz bittersweet chocolate (60% cacao), finely chopped

- Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
- Pulse cookies and sugar in food processor until finely ground. Mix with melted butter and press into a 9-in pie dish.
- Bake for 12 minutes and remove from oven.



- Sprinkle chocolate over crust and let sit for about 2 minutes.



- When melted, spread in an even layer over the bottom.



- Cool completely and refrigerate until set. (My old roomie, Sami, said she thought this kept the pudding from making the bottom of the crust soggy. She is super smart!)

FILLING:
1/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 T cornstarch
1/8 tsp salt
1 3/4 c whole milk, divided
1/4 c heavy whipping cream
4 oz bittersweet chocolate (60% cacao), finely chopped
1 T dark rum
1 tsp vanilla extract

- Mix sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt in a heavy saucepan. Turn on medium heat and whisk in 1/3 c milk. Continue whisking until mixture thickens to almost a paste. Add remaining milk and cream. Stir constantly for about 5 minutes until mixture just begins to bubble and thicken into a lovely chocolate pudding. Add chocolate and stir until smooth.
- Remove from heat and add vanilla and rum.
- Pour into pie crust and refrigerate overnight. (Or... Get up in the morning and make your pie and just be sure it gets a solid 6-8 hours in the fridge)



Top pie with Cool Whip or homemade whipped cream and chocolate shavings or chips. The original recipe called for a Creme Fraiche topping, but I ran out of $$ at the grocery store and happen to think that plain ole' Cool Whip is pretty awesome.

Remove the pie from the fridge a good 30 minutes before eating so that the chocolate layer on the bottom can soften slightly. This will make it easier to slice.



And there you have it! Feedback on the pie was that it was nice and light and super yummy, but really not sweet at all. So if you are a dark-chocolate kind of person, this is the pie for you! But if you have to be one of "those" milk-chocolate kinds of people (yes, there was a tiny bit of snobbery in that comment...), you might want to increase the sugar in the pudding. (I dipped the corner of a fork prong into the pudding part and tasted the tiniest bit and thought it was just right).

Hope you enjoy!

2011 Manitou Springs Pie Baking Contest

Yes, I did it... I entered my second ever pie-baking contest yesterday! The first was when I was 13 or 14 or so and I entered an Apple Pie in the Los Angeles County Fair. It was tied with another pie for first place and so to break the tie, the judges gave the award to the other pie because it had a top crust and that is more difficult. But the judge asked for my recipe. (16 years later, my dad still likes to brag about that!)

This year I entered a Vermont Maple Peach Pie in the 2011 Manitou Good Ole Fashion Ice Cream Social and Pie Baking Contest. How is that for a long title? I posted this recipe last year but made a few changes and learned a good lesson while baking yesterday:

1. I used a Pate Brisee crust recipe, in an attempt to get the sliced piece to look pretty. It turned out great!
2. I used 1/4 cup Quick Cooking Tapioca in place of cornstarch and the filling thickened up BEEE-AUTIFULLY. I highly recommend this if your fruit pies tend to turn out runny.
3. I brushed the top of the pie with butter and sprinkled it with cinnamon sugar. This was the wrong thing to do. Too much butter! (I know... You were wondering if such a thing is possible. It is!) The butter made the top surface look funny and it pooled a little in the midding and worst of all, it started to drip in my oven and then burn and smoke. Ugh.... I spent an hour getting heat-blasted in the face while swapping out foil every 10 minutes or so to keep the smoke alarms from going off. That was the least fun part of my day yesterday! So if you make this crust recipe brush the top with a little milk or some egg and then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar.


I did not win the contest but I had a great time! There were some beautiful pies and some lovely people. I was told by a contest veteran that the "pretty" pies typically win over the "tasty" ones. I'm already scheming up how to make a prettier pie next year!

My good friends Tarah and Chris came to cheer me! (Remember THIS?? Yes, one and the same!) Chris is a professional photographer and she snapped some shots of the fun and put them on her blog. You can take a peak HERE. And just to say it, her photos are amazing! If you know anyone in need of a wedding or other special event photographer, send them her way!

Happy Tuesday :)

Jenny's Mint Mojitos

Have you ever grown mint? If you haven't, let me give you a tip... Make sure you have a plan for how to use it before you put it in! This stuff morphs from a fairly normal-looking little plant into a total planter-conquering beast in just a couple of weeks!

My "mint plan" consisted of hanging out with my man on his patio during the summer evenings and sipping mint mojitos. Sounds nice, right? (It was!)

This is my favorite summer cocktail. And lest you think I am more sophisticated than I actually am... I should probably confess that this is also the only summer cocktail that I know how to make. But I am hoping to make THIS soon and try my hand at some spiked strawberry lemonade! Or maybe I'll do peaches instead of berries and make a hard peach iced tea... Yum!



Here you go:

Jenny's Mint Mojitos
(adapted from several online versions)

Mint Simple Syrup
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 cup mint leaves

Bring water and sugar to a simmer, stirring until all sugar dissolves.
Remove from heat, add mint leaves and steap, covered for 30 minutes.
Strain out mint leaves and store syrup in a covered jar in the refrigerator





Mint Mojito (1 serving)
1 1/2 oz mint simple syrup
5-10 mint leaves
1 1/2 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
1 1/2 - 2 oz rum (Increase this at your own risk... One of the first times I made these, I couldn't taste the rum and so decided to add more... I didn't feel tipsy but I walked into a wall trying to make it back inside from the porch! More than a little bit embarassing! Now I stick to a firm 2oz max.)
About 5-6 oz sparkling water or ginger ale
Crushed ice

In a glass, add the simple syrup, mint leaves, lime juice, rum and crushed ice. Muddle together with a spoon. Top off with sparkling water or ginger ale. (I always use ginger ale).

If possible, go find the man that you love and hang out on the patio and enjoy a summer evening sipping away!

Homemade Strawberry Sauce

Deep down... I have this secret fantasy about one day cultivating my own berry bushes and annually morphing into an absolute berry pie-making, jam-canning, syrup-bottling domestic queen. And I would make my own little label and tie bows around cute canning jars and give these as gifts and feel like I contributed to making the world a sweeter place.

Maybe someday...

In the meantime, last week I went to King Soopers and bought 2 pints of strawberries and made homemade strawberry sauce to go on top of an Almond Birthday Cake. The sauce was a hit. It was also the only portion of the dessert that I could eat given my current food restrictions. So I poured a generous portion over some raspberry sorbet and enjoyed what was one of my first real desserts in 6 months!

This would be completely lovely over vanilla bean ice cream or mixed in with some plain yogurt. I put a little over some rice granola and banana with my breakfast last week. Or you could use it in place of jam. OR!!! An idea just came to me... You could mix it in with some lemonade and a little sparkling wine!

Here you go:

Homemade Strawberry Sauce

2 pints strawberries, roughly diced
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

- Place 2/3 of the cut up berries, the sugar and vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Cook until sugar dissolves, juices release and sauce begins to thicken slightly - about 10 minutes.
- Take 1/3 of this mixture and put it in a food processor or blender and puree.
- Mix the puree, remaining cooked berries and juice and fresh berries and chill.

Make about 2 1/2 cups of sauce. Will keep in the refrigerator for about a week.

Almond Cake

I'm feeling rather sheepish as I sit down to write this... It has been almost 3 months since my last blog post! Shameful, I know...

But to any of you still out there reading, I have something scrumptious for you today: Almond Cake!

Don't think "almond" like chunky nuts inside of a cake. Think "almond" like Swedish butter cookies at Christmas-time and Celestial Seasonings Almond Sunset Tea. Think "almond" like a whole tablespoon of almond extract and one whole dreamy can of almond paste. YUMM!

My family used to joke about baking: When in doubt, add almond extract. We did (and I still do) add it to almost everything sweet. So if you happen to get a little giddy about this one particular flavor, then this cake is for you.

Without further ado, here you go:

Almond Cake
(feeling tempted to make the name fancier...)

Absolutely Addictive Awesome and Amazing Almond Cake
(much better...)

1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
1 cup sour cream at room temp *(+ 2 T)
1 tsp baking soda *(3/4 tsp)
2 cups all purpose flour *(+2 tsp)
½ tsp sea salt
1 ½ cups sugar *(1 ¼ c.)
1 - 7oz tube ( 8oz can) almond paste, cut into small pieces
4 egg yolks, at room temp
1 tsp almond extract

*Parenthesis are for high altitude adjustments
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease spring-form pan; cover with waxed paper; grease waxed paper (YES, this step is completely necessary! Anything that uses almond paste gets sticky and it will stick to your pan)
Mix together sour cream and baking soda in a small bowl
Sift flour and salt into another bowl
In electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy
Add almond paste a little at a time and beat for 8 minutes
Beat in egg yolks one at a time and fully incorporate (it will look a little curdled - don’t worry)
Blend in almond extract and sour cream mixture
Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually incorporate flour mixture until just blended
Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly

Bake about 50 min - 1 hour until top springs back and edges have pulled away
Cool and dust with powdered sugar

OPTION: Top with toasted slivered almonds or strawberries or drizzle with chocolate

I made this recipe for a birthday party at work last week and served it with homemade strawberry sauce and whipped cream, almost like a strawberry shortcake. I will do a post on the strawberry sauce soon. It was almost good enough to eat by itself!

Enjoy your summer day!

Irish Cream Chocolate Mousse Cake

I went on a little cake-making adventure this weekend! I stumbled on a recipe for an Irish Cream Chocolate Mousse Cake on the Bon Appetite website last month. It was featured as a part of their St. Patty's day special recipes. It is totally different than any other kind of cake I've ever made and I've been itching to try it out, just for the challenge of trying something new. My sweet friend Marney had a birthday party last night and we agreed that I would attempt this cake (with her understand that it might totally "tank").

But it didn't tank. It turned out really good. This is the first time I've made a new cake recipe that I couldn't taste myself. But it got all good feedback from my trusty tasters. It was quite time consuming to make, but I think part of that is because it was my first time with the recipe and I made a few mistakes. You can view the original recipe HERE and see their lovely pictures. Or you can read below. I made a few very small alterations.

Irish Cream Chocolate Mousse Cake


Cake
6 large eggs
3/4 cup plus 2 T sugar
2 T instant espresso powder
pinch of salt
1 cup flour

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Grease & flour a 9 inch springform pan
- Using a standing electric mixer, beat eggs, sugar, espresso and salt for 8 minutes until very thick.
- Lightly sprinkle 1/4 of the flour over the egg mixture and fold in. Repeat 4 times until all the flour is incorporated.
- Pour into springform pan and bake approximately 35 minutes until golden and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool 10 minutes and then remove from springform pan. Cool completely.
For my first try, I added the flour in 3 batches and didn't sprinkle over the top but just dumped it in. Unbeknownst to me, it all sunk to the bottom of my bowl. I didn't discover this until I was almost done pouring the batter into the springform and saw all the flour at the bottom. I tried to mix it in in the springform, but it didn't work. The finished cake completely sunk in the middle. I made it a second time and was much more careful with only adding a little flour at a time and it came out beautifully. I made this portion of the recipe on Friday night, wrapped it in plastic and then refrigerated it.

Chocolate Mousse
12oz semisweet chocolate
4 large eggs
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups chilled whipping cream
1/3 cup Bailey's Irish Cream

- Melt chocolate, either over a double boilers or in a microwave and let sit while you prepare the rest of the mousse. You want it about room temp by the time you incorporate it in.
- Whisk the eggs and sugar and heat in a double boiler, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens and reaches 160 degrees. (I don't have a double boiler so I just put a metal bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and it worked fine).
- Place egg mixture in a standing electric mixer and beat on med/high speed until completely cooled and very thick (about 10 minutes).
- Beat whipping cream and Bailey's until stiff peaks form. I did this with a handheld mixer while the egg mixture was in the standing mixer.
- Fold chocolate into egg mixture. Then fold this into the whipped cream. Chill at least 2 hours or overnight.

Syrup
2/3 cup sugar
5 T water
5 T Bailey's Irish Cream

- Put sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat until sugar melts.
- Bring this to a boil and then remove from heat.
- Add in the Baileys and let stand until syrup reaches room temp.
- Carefully slice the cake into 3 layers & drizzle syrup over each.
- Wrap layers and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Assembly:
- Place bottom cake layer on the serving dish. Spread approx 1/3 of the mousse over the top.
- Place middle cake layer on top. Spread with another 1/3 of the mousse.
- Place on the top cake layer. Use remaining 1/3 of mousse to "frost" the top and sides of the cake.
- Top with chocolate shavings.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve.







(Had to slip this one in of me and my boyfriend making his silly "too cool" face!)

With all the steps and time involved in this cake, I've decided this is a special occasion/you-must-be-one-of-my-very-favorite-people-in-the-whole-world cakes. But I really had fun with the challenge of trying something new. From looking at the cut pieces when I served it and listening to the people who ate it, this cake feels very light. There is more mousse than actual "cake". And the cake layers are spongy and moist, almost like a tiramisu.

Yay to adventures in baking!!