Seriously Delicious

This here is a life lesson

2010-01-11T12:17:00.000-08:00

Hello my darlings, today I'd like to discuss failure. Well, not failure exactly, more like a brilliant idea that went horribly horribly awry (as most of my brilliant plans do). You see, I had some leftover mashed potatoes in the fridge and I was hungry. Not so hungry that I was a roaring, swearing she-beast of terror (which tends to happen when my blood sugar gets low), but my tummy was a growling and I needed some snackage.

Now when my brain and stomach are hungry, things always look tastier than they should. Ideas creep into my head and I don't have the power to stop and think about what the heck it is I'm doing. Which is why fried potato pancakes sounded like a brilliant idea. But why stop at that? Why not add garlic? And cheese! Cheese is always welcome in my house.

"I AM THE THOMAS EDISON OF POTATO SNACKS" I cackled to myself, removing various things from the fridge. So I shredded my cheese, crushed my garlic, salted and peppered all while sweating feverishly as my stomach growled and cracked it's metaphorical whip. I made up my little potato patties, set them aside and then...I made a fatal error.

I poured olive oil into the pan.

Some of you might be sitting there, scratching your heads, wondering why that is such a terrible thing. Isn't olive oil the basis for all creation? Isn't it a GOOD thing?

Not when cheese is involved. You see, the oil got hot...very hot. And the cheese melted, which in turn compromised the integrity of my little potato patties. Instead of frying up and getting nice and crisp and wonderful...it melted. It oozed. It started to smoke slightly. In my panic I smooshed everything together in the pan, swore like a sailor and dumped it into a bowl.

A bowl of cheesy despair.

So now what? I threw the smoking pan in the sink, wiped my tears away, and decided I was just going to take a bite and DEAL WITH IT. And you know what? It was pretty damn good. Warm and garlicy, with delicious pockets of melty chedder, and just the slightest hint of some crispy goodness.

Was it what I wanted? No. Could I have done it better? Yes, and I plan on trying it again since I'm still convinced this is a good idea. But was this really a failure? I think not. It's not pretty, and not at all what I had wanted, but what's the point of being a chef if you don't bother to experiment?

Never be afraid of the kitchen. The kitchen should be afraid of YOU.

And that my children, is something you should remember.

Turkey Pot Pie

2010-01-06T23:29:00.000-08:00

Oops! I know I said I was going to post this a few days ago, but I got distracted with life (and Ikea) and cleaning the house (and Ikea) so I totally forgot. But here it is now!

So, you're probably all out of christmas turkey by now, but this is still a great recipe to keep on hand. It's perfect for using up any leftover chicken or turkey you might have, and it's perfect winter comfort food. Pot pie can be made in a number of different ways, this just happens to be my favorite. Obviously you can use whatever veggies you like or happen to have on hand, don't feel like you have to use what I did.

But enough stalling, let's get going already!

You'll need some cooked turkey or chicken, chicken broth, an onion, heavy cream (I use soymilk and it works perfectly), salt, pepper, and assorted veggies. Also flour.

Start by giving all your veggie a rough chop.

Then toss them in a pot with some olive oil and let them cook until they start to soften. Roughly 5 minutes or so.

Then chop up your chicken/turkey and add that into the pot as well.

Sprinkle in the flour and mix everything together well. Cook it for another couple of minutes to help cook out the flour taste. It's going to look a little strange, and it may seem like a lot of flour, but trust me. It will make the gravy thicken which is super important. No one wants a soupy pie.

Pour in your cream and broth. Also now is the time to toss in any frozen veggies like peas or corn. Let this come to a boil and then reduce it to a simmer until the sauce starts to thicken. You can use this time to make a crust.

I've included my crust recipe below, and I'll do a full pie crust post at some point since I didn't take pictures this time. Of course you can always use whatever crust recipe you like best. I'm not going to hate you for it or anything.

Well. I might..but I'll get over it someday.

Pour all that goodness into a greased casserole dish. You can also use a pie plate of course, provided you have one deep enough. And you will want a fairly deep one. If the filling goes alllll the way to the top, it will most likely bubble over and cause a mess. It'll still taste good of course, but that's just more clean-up.

I hate doing clean-up.

Put your crust over it, and crimp the edges however you please. Then cut some vents in the crust so that the hot steam can escape. Don't blame me if you skip this step and your oven explodes.

Ok ok, that would never happen. But still. You should do it.

Then pop it in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. YUM.

Then scoop into a bowl and serve with the beverage of your choice! Just don't expect to get actual slices out of this. Despite being called PIE, it doesn't actually have a pie like consistency, So don't say I didn't warn you.

Now go make some!

Turkey Pot Pie

1/2 c. carrots, chopped
1/2 c. celery, chopped
1/3 c. mushrooms, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large potato, chopped
frozen peas
frozen Corn
2 c. leftover turkey or chicken
1/4 cup flour
2 c. chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream (soymilk is perfectly fine also, or 2% milk)
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbl. olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Heat olive oil in large pot. Add onion, carrots, and celery, and cook until softened (about 5 min). Add turkey and stir. Sprinkle flour over mixture and stir constantly over medium heat for a few minutes. Pour in cream and broth, bring to a boil and simmer for a few minutes to allow sauce to thicken. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Pour mixture into a casserole dish or deep pie pan.
Roll out pie crust and place over mixture. Crimp the edges and cut vents in the top of the crust.
Bake for 30-40 minutes or until very golden and bubbly.

Pie Crust
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 tbl sugar
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbl butter
2 1/2 tbl shortening
4 tbl ice water

Add flour, sugar and salt together in a bowl and cut in butter with a pastry cutter. Add shortening and cut in until texture begins to have the consistency of fine crumbs. Mix in ice water until dough forms a ball. Wrap in plastic and chill until dough is firm enough to roll out. Roll out until dough is 1" larger than pie plate, place on top, crimp edges and cut vents into the top.

Serves 4-6

I'm Back!

2010-01-04T10:36:00.000-08:00

It's aliiiiiiiiiive. It's also updatiiiiiing!

Yes, I have in fact returned from the dead. Sometime around November I got sick with the plague and didn't update for a week or so. Then that week turned into a month and well...you know how it goes. So I've made it a resolution this year to try and be more proactive with my blog.

First thing you may notice is that I have a whole new layout. It's not perfect (like the fact that the damn TITLE of my blog is off-center) but I guess I can live with it for now. Unless some HTML web genius out there wants to make me some sort of awesometastic layout, this will have to be how it is. Either way it's fresh and new, plus BUTTERFLIES. Because I always associate food with colorful flying insects....

Anyway. Next item on the list! My original idea for this blog, besides showing you MY favorite recipes, was to get suggestions from my readers. So send them in! Anything from making rice, to pancakes, to creme brulee. Curious about what to do with leftover mashed potatoes or stale bread? Let me know! Send me emails and I'll work on whatever recipes *you* want me too. Unless I don't wanna. In which case you can't make me nyeh nyeh nyeh.

...

*ahem*

That brings me to my next point. Contact information can now be found by clicking on the "Contact" button at the top of the page. It has my email, my twitter account (which I suck at updating) and my facebook page for this blog. Which doesn't actually exist yet, but might someday if I feel popular enough, or not lazy, whichever comes first. And of course feel free to shoot me an email anytime, I love to hear from you guys. Even the trolls, because they allow me to vent all my rage and sarcasm all in one place.

Finally, I created a FAQ section. Again, you can get there by clicking the "FAQ" button at the top of the page. It's empty right now, but soon enough it will be full of questions that I asked myself, and you asked me. They'll be mostly food related obviously, so don't bother asking me what kind of underwear I have on or anything like that.

So that's it then! New Year, New Layout and New Recipes (including all new trashy recipes, truffles and other amazing things I can't tell you about yet)! I have one all set up and ready to go, so I'll be posting that later today. In the meantime, leave a comment, shoot me an email, I'd love to know if people are still even reading this darn thing!

The End!

-Her Chefness

40 Clove Slow Cooker Garlic Chicken

2009-11-09T12:00:00.000-08:00

First off let me say that if you hate garlic with the passion of a thousand fiery suns, you don't belong here. At this blog I mean. Only because I use a LOT of it and I don't want to hear anyone complaining about it. If you complain, I'll assume you're a vampire.

But not one of those ones that sparkle.

I'm mean, not inhuman.

Anyway, this dish is for garlic lovers. It's not overwhelming, but there is definitely the smooth, nutty taste of garlic throughout the dish. It's heavenly. The slow cooking allows the garlic to literally melt away and just leave behind the mellow flavor while the chicken literally just falls apart. Plus it's done in the slow cooker so there is little to no effort involved. The best kind of recipe!

Lets get started shall we?

You'll need olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, an onion and garlic. You also need 3-4lbs of chicken. You can use a whole chicken, thighs, breasts, whatever you like. I used breasts since I have a ton of them in my freezer.

Also, please excuse the extra terrible pictures. My hands were super shaky that day and I have no idea why.

I also loved this recipe because it gave me a chance to use the fancy paprikas my grandmother brought back from Hungary several years ago. Obviously you can use regular store bought paprika no problem, I just wanted to be ~fancy~.

Start by peeling the garlic. You just need to place your knife on top of it, give it a quick smack with your hand (be careful!) and bam, the jacket just pulls off. You could also buy pre-peeled garlic if you need this to go even faster, or you're super lazy. Whichever.

Also, while the recipe is called 40 clove chicken, you can really use anything from 20-40 cloves. I think I used about 30 or so.

Then mix the oil, paprika, salt, pepper and garlic together in a small bowl. Then dip each piece of chicken in there and get it all coated. (if you're using a whole chicken, just make sure to rub this all over it in the cooker).

Slice your onion and use it to line the bottom of your cooker.

Then place your chicken pieces in the cooker and pour the rest of the oil mixture and garlic cloves over it. I placed some rosemary on top, but that's totally optional.

Then let it go for 4-6 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low. I cooked mine on high for 4 hours, then turned it to low until my boyfriend got home for dinner.

Serve with whatever sides you like. I served mine with some homemade gravy, roasted potates and fresh greenbeans. While I didn't take any pictures of those processes, I included the recipes for them (the gravy and potatoes) at the end of this post anyway.

This is such a wonderful recipe. The garlic cloves will mostly be melted away when it's done cooking, so no need to worry about chomping down on a huge piece (unless you're like me and actually find that to be enjoyable). The leftovers work well in all sorts of dishes (I want to try it in next day chicken soup sometime) and are also plenty tasty on their own.

Enjoy!

40 Clove Slow Cooker Garlic Chicken

Recipe from Crockpot365

3-4 pounds chicken

1 onion, sliced

3 tbl. olive oil

2 tsp kosher salt

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp cracked pepper

20-40 garlic cloves, peeled, but intact

Grease crockpot (or use a liner) and line with onion slices. Toss chicken with oil, salt, paprika, pepper and galic cloves. Place in crockpot and pour leftover oil mixture and cloves on top. Cook for 4-6 hours on high, or 6-8 hours on low. Please note that you shouldn't need any liquid for this, the onions and chicken should provide the liquid. If it does start to dry out, add a small amount of water or chicken broth.

Garlic Gravy

1 tbl butter or margerine

1-2 tsp. flour

pan drippings (this would be whatever liquid is in the crockpot)

chicken broth

salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a small saucepot over medium heat. Add flour and stir with a whisk to make your roux. Add pan drippings and chicken broth and stir briskly until combined. (Please note that this part is tricky and you can end up with flour lumps if you're not careful. Also add the pan drippings first as they are warm and will help dissolve the flour. Add however much liquid you need to make enough gravy for everyone). Heat through, salt and pepper to taste. Serve over chicken.

Roast Yukon Gold Potatoes

2+ lbs yukon gold potatoes

olive oil

kosher salt

Preheat oven to 425. Wash potatoes and chop into wedges or bite-size pieces. Coat with oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake 20-30 minutes or until potatoes are golden and cooked through. When potatoes are almost done, add fresh herbs if desired.

Pan-Fried Porkchops in Cumin Tomato Sauce

2009-10-28T11:00:00.000-07:00

Oh look! A recipe that DOESN'T involve baking! How different and unusual! Hopefully you are all still here. It's been oddly quiet recently....

*cue crickets*

Anyway! This recipe is amazing. I found it a while ago over on Dining Alone and it's become one of my favorite weeknight meals. It's both easy and fast to make, tastes fabulous and is full of cumin.

I used to HATE cumin. My dad loves the stuff and for a while he was throwing handfuls of it into everything he could. It's a wonderful spice, but if ever there was one that you could overdose on easily, cumin would be it. So I moved away, vowing to never touch the stuff again. Then I ran across this recipe and rediscovered my love of this spice.

If you've never tried it, this would be the perfect first dish. The tomato really helps balance out the strong, warm aroma of the cumin. Plus it's said that cumin keeps both chicken and lovers from wandering, so that's a bonus right there! I hate it when my chickens just wander off....

You'll need some boneless pork loin chops (which are usually pretty inexpensive at my local store, another reason I love this recipe), celery, onion, garlic, olive oil, diced tomatoes, salt, pepper, cumin and lime juice.

You could also use chicken breasts in this recipe if you don't like/can't eat pork. You can substitute chicken in pretty much any recipe that calls for pork, and visa versa.

Ignore the asparagus, I was roasting it as a side dish and it's not needed for the recipe. Unless you love roasted asparagus the way I do, then by all means, MAKE SOME.

Did you know I used to hate asparagus too? Go figure.

Start by seasoning your chops with salt and pepper then tossing them in a pan with some olive oil. You want them to get nice and brown on both sides, about 4-5 minutes per side. Use this time to get everything else all chopped up since it goes pretty quickly once the pork is out.

Chopped garlic and onion.

And chopped celery. Yes there are leaf bits in there. Celery leaves actually have more flavor than the stalks and are super tender. Ignore the large outer leaves and embrace the little babies in the center. Mmm..I love 'em. Also if you chop your celery really small, it's a great way to trick your kids into eating more veggies.

Unlike my mother would would plop down giant platefuls of zucchini and give us the evil eye until we had eaten it all.

Parents these days are soft.

I still get panic attacks and start to hyperventilate if I don't eat all my veggies. Thanks mom! ♥

Take the pork out and wrap it in foil to keep it warm.

Then toss in the onions and garlic. Scrape up all the delicious brown bits, that's where the flavor is! Cook for a few minutes until the onions start to soften.

Then add in the celery and cumin. Your house will start to smell amazing, please try not to drool into the pan.

I used whole cumin, crushed with my mortar and pestle. I like that best because it allows the cumin to not lose any flavor and it just seems like the right way to go about it.

But by all means, you can used ground cumin! Add as much or as little you prefer. It's up to you!

Then toss in the tomatoes and lime juice, season to taste with a little salt and pepper if you feel it needs it. Please ignore my disgusting stove. I promise I cleaned it right after taking this picture. Ok..right after dinner. Ok ok ok...I cleaned it the next day. But it's clean and shiney and not gross at all anymore.

STOP JUDGING ME.

Then add your chops back into the pan. Simmer!

I served mine with delicious roast asparagus and some homemade garlic bread. Pile on the sauce, it's the best part!

Pan-Fried Pork Chops in Cumin Tomato Sauce

(Altered from the recipe on Dining Alone)

2 boneless pork loin chops, about 1" thick

1/2 c. chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 stalks celery, chopped

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 can (15oz) diced or crushed tomatoes

Juice of one lime (roughly 2 tbl)

olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Heat 2 tbl olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Season pork with salt and pepper, then place in the pan. Brown both sides, about 5 minutes per side. Remove from pan and keep warm.

Add onions and garlic to the pan. Scrape up brown bits and cook 2-3 minutes, until onion has softened. Add in celery and cumin, cook 1 minute. Add in tomato and lime juice and stir until fully combined. Salt and pepper to taste. Add pork back into pan and coat with sauce. Simmer 15-20 minutes or until chops are cooked through.

Serves 2.

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

2009-10-23T14:28:00.000-07:00

It finally that time of year again! The time when I can shamelessly make as many pumpkin dishes as I desire. Technically I could make pumpkin stuff whenever the heck I want. But if you show up with a pumpkin pie in the middle of June, people tend to look at you funny.

Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything. But enough talk of my pumpkin faux pas! Lets talk muffins.

Muffins are amazing right? Single serving, easy to transport, super tasty, and sometimes even healthy. But not for me. Bran muffins are THE DEVIL. If you like bran muffins, just walk away now. Before I shove a double chocolate chip muffin down your throat while screaming "BREAKFAST IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY!" at the top of my lungs. Ahem.

These muffins are delightful. Pumpkin-y, full of wonderful spices and perfect for fall. The streusel topping adds a bit of a crunch and a light sweetness. Plus they plump up just like muffins should. Flat muffins are sad muffins.

True story.

The recipe I came up with was supposed to make 12, but I got 16 decent sized muffins out of it. I think I should have filled my cups up a bit more, but whatever. I'm not going to complain.

These guys, you'll need 'em. Might as well stock up on this stuff now since there will be lots of holiday baking happening in the next few months.

Start by creaming together your butter and sugar. I went with a 1/4th cup of butter, but I think it might need to get bumped up to 1/3. The muffins did come out a little more dry then I like.

Cream together until fluffy and well blended.

Add in your eggs and mix.

Then add the vanilla, pumpkin, and molasses. Trust me on the molasses. It adds a wonderful deep rich undertone to the muffin. Mmmm..undertone.

Then pour in the milk. I used soymilk (blahblah lactose intolerance blah) but go ahead and use buttermilk if you prefer. Or even regular milk if you have nothing else. Your batter will be very thin and liquid at this point, but don't fret!

Now we add the dry ingredients.

Then add in the flour. You can do this two ways.

1) Sift the flour, soda, powder, and spices together and add it in slowly, stirring until just combined.

2) Add the flour, start to mix, suddenly remember the spices, add those as well, continue mixing until just combined.

Guess which way I went?

Yea. Multitasking is hard. At least I remembered everything!

A wild muffin batter appears! Set this aside and make up your streusel topping in a separate bowl.

Now, you can just make up the streusel recipe I've posted below, or you can toss on some oats if you're trying to be good and healthy. Or skip the streusel and whip up some cream cheese frosting...or drizzle on some icing. Go nuts!

Pour the batter into the muffin cups (I remembered what they're called this time!) and top with some of the streusel.

Ummm...yea. Serious yum right there.

Go ahead and pop them in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Now *that's* breakfast.

Pumpkin Steusel Muffins

1/4 c. butter, softened

1/2 c. sugar

1/4 c. packed brown sugar

1/2 c. canned pumpkin

1/2 c soymilk or buttermilk

2 eggs

2 tbls molasses

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 c all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp cloves

1/8 tsp allspice (op.)

1/4 teaspoon salt

Streusel Topping

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons cold butter

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Cream together butter and sugars until fluffy. Beat in eggs. Add in pumpkin, soymilk, vanilla, and molasses.

Sift the dry ingredients together in a small bowl and mix into the batter. Stir just until combined. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin tins 2/3 full of batter.

For streusel, combine the flour and brown sugar in a small bowl. Cut in butter until the mixture is crumbly. Spoon streusel topping over the muffins and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and cool. Makes 12 muffins.

Snickerdoodles

2009-10-14T11:34:00.000-07:00

Snickerdoodles are hands down one of my favorite cookies. Probably in the top three, along with chocolate chip and molasses crackles. They're light and sweet, perfect to have with a hot mug of tea. Plus they're just fun to say. This recipe is super easy and unlike most snickerdoodle recipes, it doesn't call for cream of tartar. Which is awesome because I never have it just laying around.

So lets get started shall we?

You'll need flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, butter, salt, and eggs.

Place the butter and sugar in a bowl and cream them together until light and fluffy.

I promise I will buy myself an electric mixer someday...

Add in your eggs and mix well.

You know, I think the wooden spoon is highly underrated in this day and age. I have like 6 of these things and I love them. They just don't make spoons like they used too..

Start adding in your flour, powder, salt and cinnamon. The best way to do that is sift it all together in a separate bowl and then add it in small batches. But I didn't. Wanna fight about it?

Mm..I love cinnamon.

Tada! The batter should stick together and not be crumbly. You can put it in the fridge at this point for a day if you want, or just make them now. Make them now, it's better this way.

In a small bowl, mix together the extra cinnamon and sugar.

This is particularly delicious sprinkled on warm buttered toast. Or a warm buttered tortilla. So tasty!

Then go ahead and line your baking pans with parchment paper. I only recently discovered this stuff and HOLY CRAP. It's amazing! I cannot tell you how awesome this stuff is. You can also just grease your pans with non-stick spray of course, but seriously...try some of this stuff. It's super.

I also decided to test out the silpat my mom got me for my birthday. This thing is ALSO amazing. Totally non-stick, easy to clean and it doubles as a non-slip pad under my cutting boards. Fantastic.

I'm not getting paid to say these things. I wish I was, but I'm not. Just in case you were wondering.

Anyway, roll 1" balls of dough in the cinnamon sugar until they're covered. I went a little light on the cinnamon this time, but you can add more, or less, depending on how you feel when you make these.

Then place them 2-3" apart on your baking sheet and pop 'em in the oven.

Out of the oven! The ones on the left were baked on the paper, the ones on the right were on the slipat. I think it's interesting that the silpat cookies turned out flatter and more that perfect cookie shape, while the others were more...rustic looking.

Rustic. The PC term for weird looking cookies.

Cinnamon sugar cookie heaven. Eat them fresh out of the oven. You'll thank me.

Just don't burn yourself.

Deelishus.

Snickerdoodles

Original recipe can be found here

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbl cinnamon

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs

For rolling:
2 tbl white sugar
2 tbl ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F. Sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt; set aside. Put butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture.
Stir together cinnamon and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl. Shape dough into 1" balls; roll in cinnamon sugar. Space 2-3" inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are golden, 12 to 15 minutes.

Crock-Pot Pot Roast

2009-10-12T00:10:00.000-07:00

I'm slowly but surely working my way through my old entries in order to fix the images. Thanks for being patient with me. I promise to get everything up and nice looking ASAP. But in the mean time..here's a new recipe!

It's suddenly become quite chilly here in the Pacific Northwest which means two things. Firstly, I won't be seeing the sun again until June at the earliest and secondly, I can now justify making TONS of meat and potato dishes. Sort of.

I recently bought myself a crock-pot and I've been trying to take advantage of it's wonderfulness. I never really ate much crock-pot type food when I was younger so I've been starting off slow with the basics. This pot roast turned out juicy and flavorful, with the veggies being *just* tender, not little balls of fat and mush. Plus it cooked while I was busy doing other things. That plus some french bread made in my bread machine and well...I welcome our robot overlords. As long as they can make a decent brisket.

Lets get to the recipe shall we?

You'll want a decent sized piece of meat, roughly 2-3lbs. Any more than that and it won't cook fast enough and will be in the bacterial "danger zone" for too long. Plus my crock-pot can't hold much more than that. Also grab some carrots, mushrooms, celery (not pictured), potato, onion, rosemary, thyme, garlic, salt, pepper, and beef stock (I used buillion cubes which is probably worse in terms of sodium..but whatever).

Pro tip: go ahead and substitute half the stock with some beer. I dare you.

Chop up your onion.

Grease your crock-pot and line the bottom with your onions.

Chop your roast into smaller chunks so that it will cook quicker and more evenly. This also helps it to fit in the pot easier.

Place the meat on top of the onions.

Chop your veggies and add those as well (this includes the garlic. You can dice it if you like a more subtle flavor, or just be like me and toss whole smooshed cloves in there).

Place your rosemary and thyme sprigs on top and add salt and pepper to taste. GO EASY. You can always add more later when it's done cooking.

Add enough liquid so that the meat is covered and the veggies are just starting to get submerged. About 1/2"-1" from the top.

Then pop the lid on and let it go for about 6 hours on low. When the veggies are tender and the meat easily separates, that's when it's done.

Pull the meat apart with two forks and serve with the vegetables and some fresh crusty bread. This is comfort food to the max. Yum!

Obviously this recipe can be adjusted to suit your personal tastes (different veggies, more/less garlic) plus the size of your crock-pot. Feel free to ask if you have any questions!

Crock-Pot Pot Roast

2-3 lb chuck roast (The more marbled it is, the more tender the roast will become)

1 medium onion, sliced

2 carrots, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

1-2 medium potatos, chopped

1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped

3-4 cloves garlic

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

1-2 sprigs fresh thyme

1 cup beef stock (or enough to fill your pot about an inch from the top)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Grease or line your crock-pot. Slice your onion and place in the bottom of the pot. Chop your roast into several large chunks and place on top of the onions. Chop your veggies and place them on top of the roast along with the garlic (either diced or whole). Lay the herbs on top and add salt and pepper (more may be added later if needed). Pour in enough stock to cover meat (about an inch from the top). Place on low for 6-8 hours.

When ready, pull the meat apart with 2 forks and serve with a generous scoop of the veggies and a large chunk of crusty bread. Serves 2-3.

Bandwidth Issues

2009-10-03T10:32:00.000-07:00

Hey All. You may have noticed some, if not almost all of the images on my blog are currently not showing up. This is because I managed to exceed my bandwidth with photobucket for this month. I'm currently in the process of fixing the problem, so please be patient. I'm hoping to have the issue resolved soon.

I'm currently down in California visiting family (my poor father has a slipped disc). So new updates and recipes are on hold for the moment. I promise to be back with fixed images and new good recipes soon.

Thanks for all your comments <3

Raspberry-Lemonade Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

2009-09-29T16:25:00.000-07:00

So recently I got a request from a friend to make up a batch of raspberry-lemonade cupcakes. I don't really like lemon *anything* so I was stumped as to how to go about making these. I googled around and finally ended up just picking and choosing bits from various recipes. This is my version!

Yes my recipe uses boxed mix. These would probably be even better with made-from-scratch lemon cake, but I made these at 10 at night and didn't feel like making it more difficult for myself. But by all means, use whatever lemon cake recipe you like!

You'll be needing this stuff. Lemon cake mix, eggs, oil, sour cream, raspberry jam, vanilla, butter and confectioners sugar (plus milk and water which are missing from the picture for some reason...)

Throw together the cake mix according to the directions on the back, or whip up some homemade lemon cake. Whichever you prefer.

Add in your sour cream. This adds a wonderful moistness to the cupcakes..

Off topic, I hate the word moist.

My best friend like to tease me by throwing it randomly into sentences and watching me cringe.

She's cruel like that ♥

Mix it in there really good. Yay swirls!

Then fill up each..uhh..cupcake paper? I forget what those things are called. Wow..serious brain fart. Anyway, fill them up halfway.

Then add a dollop of jam to each one...

And swirl it with a toothpick or small knife.

Pretty!

Then fill it up the rest of the way. This will make it easier to frost.

If you don't plan on frosting these, then fill the tin up almost all the way and then swirl in the jam. You'll get a lovely swirled pattern on the top.

This is what they look like when they're done. The ones on the left got the top for frosting, the ones on the right didn't. These are really really yummy while they're still warm, just be cafeful because that jam is HOT.

Or let them cool completly before frosting.

To make the frosting, place a softened stick of butter in a bowl.

Add in the milk, vanilla and confectioners sugar.

Then add in the jam until it's raspberry-ish enough for you. Add more milk to smooth it out, more sugar to thicken it up.

Then frost!

Enjoy!

Raspberry-Lemonade Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

1 box lemon cake mix (plus the eggs, oil, and water it calls for)

1 cup sour cream

1 stick butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups confectioners sugar

2 tbl. milk

A jar of Raspberry Jam (I used about ~1 tsp for each cupcake and ~1/2 a cup in the frosting)

Make cake batter according to directions. Add sour cream and mix well. Fill each cupcake liner half full. Drop a dollop of jam in each one and swirl with a toothpick or knife. Add more batter on top to cover. Bake for amount of time required on box, or until toothpick comes out clean. Place on a rack and cool.

Icing: Place softened butter in a bowl. Add vanilla, sugar and milk, then beat until well combined. Mix in jam until well incorporated. Add more milk to thin it out, more sugar to thicken and more jam until you are happy with the flavor and consistency. Pipe or spread onto cupcakes and decorate!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownies

2009-09-25T14:12:00.000-07:00

So, I've been on a total baking kick (binge?) recently. But I know I shouldn't really be eating ALL the stuff I bake so I've discovered the best thing to do is to make delicious things and then give them to people I know. BRILLANT! WHY DIDN'T ANYONE ELSE THINK OF THIS!?

Oh..wait...

This does have the drawback of convincing most people thatyou're fattening them up for some evil and nefarious reason which I totally am is just ridiculous.

Anyway, last night I decided I wanted to bake something delicious. But what? I had no clue. So I scoured the internet searching for the perfect cake..cookie..muffin..ANYTHING. Just something. I needed to get my baker fix. Then I stumbled across this recipe over on Baking Bites.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownies. Say it again. Let the concept reeeally sink in...then explode from delight and rush into the kitchen to whip up a batch of these wonderful treats!

You'll need this stuff. The recipe calls for chocolate chips, but I didn't have any on hand so I decided to use chocolate syrup instead. I have no idea if it made a difference...and I don't really care.

Start by creaming together your butter and peanut butter. Redundantly delicious!

Then add in your sugar and beat until it's light and fluffy. Or as light and fluffy as a butter/sugar mixture can get anyhow.

Like this.

Add your eggs one at a time.

Then your vanilla and chocolate syrup

In a separate bowl, mix or sift the dry ingredients together.

Like so.

Mix the dry into wet until just combined.

Pour into a greased 9x9 pan. I decided to try out the brand new edge pan my Mom and Sister picked out for my for my birthday earlier this month. I think next time I'll double the recipe since there was juuuuuust not enough batter for this pan.

Then pop 'em in the oven for 25 minutes or so.

These are very tasty! Very peanut buttery with a hint of chocolate.

I think next time I'll add the chips to add more of a chocolate kick. The peanut butter is definitely the main character here. Not unpleasant, just intense.

But they are chewy, moist and really quite tasty!

I'll be passing out little gift baggies of these to a few people later today. Does that make me evil...or awesome? I can't decide.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownies

Adapted from the recipe at

1/4 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbl chocolate syrup

1/3 cup all pupose flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

(1 cup chocolate chips may be substitute for the syrup. Add right before baking)

Preheat oven to 350F and grease a 9×9-in square pan.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and peanut butter until smooth, then beat in sugar until light and fluffy. Add in eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla and syrup.

In a small bowl, sift together cocoa, flour, salt and baking powder. Mix in to peanut butter mixture at a low speed, stopping when just combined. Scrape batter into pan, spreading into an even layer.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until set. Edges should feel slightly firm and the center should not look wet or jiggly.

Cool on a wire rack then slice and serve!

Makes ~16 brownies.

Panko Breaded Pork Chops

2009-09-21T13:33:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe I found over on Tasty Kitchen. It's a recipe site the Pioneer Woman put together and it's chock full of amazing user submitted recipes. I stumbled across this one while trying to figure out what the heck I could do with some boneless pork loins I got on sale last week.

This dish is fast, easy and super tasty! Panko crumbs are one of my top 5 favorite things to cook with since they stay light and crunchy without soaking up much oil at all. You could also use chicken breasts in this recipe if pork just isn't your thing.

Lets get started!

You'll need some boneless pork loin chops, flour, an egg, panko breadcrumbs, parsley, olive oil, garlic salt (or kosher is fine too) and pepper.

Start by pounding your chops, or do what I did and just cut them in half. You want them to be about 1/2" thick so they'll cook quickly. Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper.

Then set up your dipping stations.

Flour...(I do mine in a bag so I can just chuck it when i'm done. One less bowl to clean.

Egg...

And your panko and parsley.

Pour about a 1/4 c. of olive oil in a pan and bring it to heat. You'll want to to be fairly hot, but don't burn it or you'll have a huge smokey mess on your hands.

Then take each piece of pork and dip it first in the flour, then the egg, then coat it in the panko like so:

Then put the pieces in the hot oil and let them sizzle! Figure about 2 minutes per side, or until a lovely golden brown.

Like this.

Then place them on some paper towel and wrap in tinfoil to keep them warm while you prep your side dishes.

I served mine with a salad (why yes I do consider tomato and lettuce a salad, why do you ask?) and some steamed broccoli. Also serve some lemon slices with it, to squeeze over the pork.

Yum!!

Panko Breaded Pork Chops

Adapted from this recipe from The Tasty Kitchen

Serves 2

2 1/2" Boneless Pork Loin Chops

1/2 cup Panko Bread Crumbs

1 Tbl dried or fresh parsley, chopped

1 egg

1/4 cup flour

1 whole lemon

Salt & Pepper

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Slice or pound chops until they're 1/2" in thickness. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Preheat pan over medium-high heat and coat with enough oil to cover the bottom. You can add more oil in between batches if you need too.

Dredge chops in flour, then dip in egg and coat in the panko parsley mixture.

Place chops in hot oil (you should get a nice sizzle) and cook for 2-3 minutes per side (or until golden brown). Place on towels to drain, and wrap in foil to keep chops warm.

Slice the lemon into wedges and squeeze over chops. Serve with some veggies and enjoy!

Greek Wedding Soup

2009-09-20T19:38:00.000-07:00

First off I'd like to say hello to all my new readers! It's so exciting for me to be able to share my recipes with you all and I really appreciate you taking the time to read my blog. I'm perfectly happy to answer any questions you might have, so feel free to ask! You can leave a comment here or email me at: srslydelicious@gmail.com

Secondly! I set up a twitter account for my blog! Go and follow me at SrslyDelicious to hear about what I'm making, blog updates and other stuff. Like what my cat just ate (I think it was a dustbunny)! You can also see my updates on the right hand side of your screen. Yay gadgets!

Ok, on to the good stuff!

The weather here in Washington is starting to slowly become more Autumn-like. It's getting chilly in the evenings and that means it's time to start making soups and stews, my favorite! This is a recipe I found over on one of my favorite food blogs Dining Alone. It's a take on Italian Wedding Soup. It's warm and filling, but still light and delicious.

Perfect for fall!

Gather up your ingredients! You'll need some sort of ground meat (I used chicken, but the recipe calls for beef or lamb. Go ahead and use whatever tickles your fancy!), lemon, chicken broth, orzo (it's pasta not rice, you can find it where you find all other pastas in your grocery store), parsley, oregeno, basil (fresh or dried herbs, whichever you have handy), salt, pepper, garlic, an egg, breadcrumbs and an onion!

Start by combining the meat, herbs, egg, breadcrumbs, garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl. Squish it together with your hands to combine. You can use a fork if touching raw meat and egg squicks you out, but I find the hand method really does work best.

You can also add a little feta cheese at this step if you'd like. I can't use dairy because of my boyfriend lactose intolerance, but I imagine it would be amazing!

Then make your meatballs! I try to make mine bite-sized, but it doesn't matter too much. It's not an exact science. Then go ahead and stick them in the fridge while the broth gets going. You can also freeze the meatballs at this step for use at a later date.

Pour some olive oil into a large pot on medium heat.

Toss in your diced onion (and some more garlic if you so desire. (And BOY HOWDY do I ever desire more garlic). Cook until the onions are soft and slightly translucent.

Then pour in your broth.

Bring it to a rolling boil and then turn it down to a simmer.

Then drop in the meatballs and toss in the orzo. Well..not LITERALLY toss since that would be messy..

While the pasta is cooking, go ahead and zest and juice your lemon. Then add both the juice and zest to the broth. DON'T SKIMP. The lemon is what makes this soup taste fresh, bright and oh so delicious!

Cook until the orzo is to your liking. I like to cook it down just a little until the soup gets a little creamy and almost risotto-like. But you can have it however you like!

Serve with a little parsley on top and you're ready to go!

Enjoy!

Greek Wedding Soup

Adapted from Dining Alone

8 cups chicken broth (2 32oz. containers)

3/4 lb ground beef or lamb (you can also use chicken or turkey)

2 tbl. chopped parsley

1 tsp. basil, chopped

2 sprigs oregano, chopped

1/2 c. breadcrumbs (a generous handful)

1 egg

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 medium onion

1 cup orzo pasta

zest and juice of 1 lemon

salt and pepper

Combine meat, herbs, egg, breadcrumbs, garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl. Form into 1" balls and place aside. Meatballs can be frozen and used later if you wish. Add 2 tbl. olive oil in a large pot and put on medium heat. Add onions and cook until slightly translucent and soft. Pour in broth and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and add meatballs and pasta. Add lemon zest and juice. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook until orzo reaches desired doneness. Ladle into bowl, garnish with parsley and serve!

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

2009-09-13T13:45:00.000-07:00

This frosting is simply the best chocolate frosting ever. It's easy to make, super tasty and can be made to a variety of consistancies which makes it perfect for decorating. Of course my idea of decorating a cake is tossing a handful of sprinkles on it, so I'll leave the fancy stuff up to someone else.

Lets make some frosting!

Start with these. Milk, cocoa powder, vanilla, butter and powdered sugar.

Start by melting your butter in a large bowl.

Add your cocoa, vanilla, milk and powdered sugar.

And stir. The end. Add more milk to make it thinner, more sugar to make it thicker and more cocoa to make it chocolatey-er.

See! Easy! I mixed mine by hand, which is why it's not as smooth as it could be. If you have an electric mixer, make use of it for smooth, lump-free frosting.

Stick your finger in (or use a utensil if you want to be all crazy and hygienic) and give it a taste.
Begin to feel the onset of diabetes.

HAW. I love that macro. Ok..moving on...

Here's a decorating tip! If you take a square of waxed paper....

...and cut it into smaller pieces...

...then put it on the plate you'll be decorating the cake on, you won't get frosting all over the plate! Just place the close to the edge, place the cake on top, decorate, then slowly pull out the pieces of paper. You'll have a frosting free plate!

Ta-da!

Yea..I'm a lazy decorator.

I love sprinkles...

That's it! Now go frost your cake!

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. (1 stick) butter
2-3 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. cocoa powder
2 tsp. vanilla

Melt butter in large bowl. Add sugar, cocoa, vanilla and milk. Beat well until combined. Add more milk to make it thinner, more sugar to make it thicker until frosting reaches desired consistency. Frost everything within arms reach. Enjoy!

Chocolate Fudge Cake

2009-09-11T17:17:00.000-07:00

I love a good chocolate cake. I love a mediocre chocolate cake too, but that's besides the point. This is a GOOD chocolate cake. It's the recipe my mom always uses and it's definitely my chocolate cake of choice. It's a perfect balance of moist and fluffy, with enough chocolate to satisfy your sweet tooth. Of course everyone has their *own* favorite recipe, so I by no means am saying that this is the only chocolate cake that should ever be in existance. I'm just saying that you should give it a try.
This weekend would be a good time to make it.

Let's get started shall we?

First we need to rally the troops! This cake traditionally calls for bakers chocolate, but I didn't have any on hand so I used cocoa powder and oil. It will be lighter and fluffier if you use the powder, but you'll loose some of the moistness. I've included the amount of both types in the recipe down below so you can use whichever you prefer. Just remember to omit the oil if you're using bakers chocolate.

Preheat your oven and grease 2 cake tins. I always line the bottom with waxed paper along with spraying with non-stick spray and it makes things sooo much easier.

Start by sifting your flour, soda, salt and cocoa powder together. Place to the side.

I don't believe in sifting, so I just kind of stirred everything with a fork until it was fluffy and separated. I'm sure baking purists all over the world cringe and sob as I do this, but whatever. Sifting is for the weak....and motivated.

Place your butter and eggs in the bowl. Realize you don't own a kitchenmaid mixer. Cry quietly to yourself. Realize a spoon is NOT the right instrument for the job. Mutter angrily and grab a whisk.
If you own a kitchenaid or other electric type mixer, caress it gently..then make it mix everything for you. You lucky bastard.

Add in your brown sugar, mix until well combined and fluffy.

Add your vanilla and oil.

Add part of the flour mixture and combine well. Please excuse how I didn't bother to scrape the sides of the bowl at ALL. I'm not suer why I didn't. I'm going to blame the cat. He's good to blame things on. I'm sure it's all his fault.

Then add part of the sour cream and mix well. Continue to add the flour mixture and sour cream until everything is mixed in and well combined. The batter will be very thick at this point.

Pour in your boiling water (CAREFULLY!) and mix slowly until combined. The batter will now be a bit on the thin and soupy side, but that' what we WANT. So don't fret my dears.

Pour the the batter into the greased pans and pop them in the oven. Make yourself a cup of tea and wipe the flour off your shirt.

If you insert a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean, they're done! Pull them out and let them cool completely before frosting! You can use whatever frosting you prefer, or you can use the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting that I will be posting tomorrow. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to fortify myself with another slice.

Chocolate Fudge Cake

2 1/4 c. flour
9 tbl. cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c. (1 stick) butter or margarine, room temp.
2 1/4 c. packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3 tbl. canola oil
1 c. sour cream
1 c. boiling water

(**NOTE!!** 3 squares of bakers chocolate may be used in place of the cocoa and oil. Just melt it, cool it and add it when you add the vanilla.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 round cake pans. Sift flour, soda, salt, and cocoa together and place aside. Beat butter until soft in large bowl, add brown sugar and eggs. Beat with mixer on high until light and fluffy (~5 minutes). Beat in vanilla and oil.
Stir in dry ingredients alternately with sour cream - beating well after each addition - until batter is smooth and thick. Pour in boiling water and mix well (batter will be thin). Pour into pans and bake for 35-40 min until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Giambotta

2009-09-02T18:34:00.000-07:00

I love stews. They're all the joy of a warm comforting soup, with the filling punch of a steak dinner. Or something. Look, they're good ok? That's all I have to say about it.

Giambotta is traditionally an Italian vegetable stew. One that adorable Italian grandmothers would feed to you by the bucketful while brandishing a large wooden spoon and telling you you're too thin.
"Eat! Eat! You're nothing but skin and bones! Here have some more with a side of pasta and bread!"
Those Italian grandmothers love their carbs I tells ya.
ANYWAY. I digress.
This recipe comes not from an Italian grandmother, passed down through the years by word of mouth or well loved index card, but from the internet. But we can pretend.
It's not traditional at all, especially because I add chicken, but it is good and it is filling and it is most definitely comfort food.

Start with these things here. Red wine, diced tomatos, garlic, red wine (I had an open bottle of merlot lying around so I used that. I don't care if it's the proper kind or not), chicken broth, and shredded cooked chicken. Obviously you can omit the chicken and use vegetable broth instead if you want to make this a vegetarian meal.

Also grab these. Use what ever veggies make your heart go pitter-patter. I used and onion, carrots, eggplant, asparagus, bell pepper, potatoes, zucchini, celery and mushrooms. I'm serious when I say you can use whatever veggies you want. Use 2, use 10, use 20 different kinds. I don't care. This is what makes cooking liberating.

Go ahead and slice up your onion and dice your garlic. These are the building blocks of 99.9% of my recipes.

Then toss them in a pot with some olive oil and a couple bay leaves. Let the onions start to sweat and get nervous while you chop the other veggies.

Add your thickest veggies first. Potatoes and eggplant go in first.

Then come these guys.

Let everyone hang out and get to know each other for a moment. Stir up the pot so everything gets nicely distributed.

Why yes! I do love the macro setting on my camera! Why do you ask?

*Ahem* Moving on...pour in your chicken broth...

And red wine...

And tomatoes. Give everything a good stir.

Last one. I promise.

Go ahead and cover the pot, let it simmer until all the veggies are nice and tender.

Then toss in your chicken! Let it warm up and then you're ready to serve!

Top with some fresh chopped basil (I forgot. My bad.) and serve it with some nice crusty bread and a glass of wine. Buon appetito!

Giambotta (Italian Vegetable Stew)

3 tbl. extra-virgin olive oil
1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 larg onion, sliced
2 large potatoes, chopped
1 medium eggplant, chopped
1 medium zucchini, chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
2-3 stalks celery, chopped
1 cup chopped mushrooms
2 (14-ounce) cans diced tomatoes
1 cup stock, chicken or vegetable
1 cup good red wine
1-2 cups cooked chicken, shredded (optional)
Chopped fresh basil (optional)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat a medium soup pot over medium heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil, bay leaf, chopped garlic and onions and let them begin to sweat as you chop the rest of the veggies. Add veggies in order of longest cooking time: potatoes, eggplant, carrot, zucchini, celery, mushrooms and bell pepper. Pour in broth, wine and tomatoes (more or less liquid may be used, depending on amount of vegetables added. You want enough that everything gets cooked in it, but not so much that you have a soup). Season with salt and pepper, cover and cook 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until vegetables are tender. Uncover and add chicken, cook 5 minutes more, to heat through. Turn heat off, ladle into bowls and top with basil.
Enjoy!

Chicken Ceasar Salad

2009-08-26T18:16:00.000-07:00

So we've been having record highs here in Washington (actually we broke the record today for hottest day on record at 102 degrees) and you couldn't PAY me to turn on the oven. Plus the heat kills my appetite, so when I want something to eat, I want it light and cool. This salad is just that (not to mention low in fat)! My boyfriend gobbled it up which is a true testament to it's deliciousness, since he's really not a salad/vegetable lover. I also make it with eggless dressing, since the concept of raw/coddled egg really freaks me out. Anyway! Without further ado....

Start by making your dressing. You'll need anchovy paste, olive oil, worcestershire sauce, dijon mustard, a lemon, garlic, salt and pepper.

First juice half your lemon. This is just an excuse for me to show off my adorable juicer.

Go ahead and put it, and all the other ingredients in a small bowl.

Whisk briskly until it's all combined and smooth. Go ahead and adjust it to your liking. Then cover it with saran wrap and put it in the fridge to hang out while you get everything else ready.

Go ahead and put some olive oil in a large pan and heat it so it's hothotHOT. You could also make the chicken on the grill, but I didn't feel like farting around with flames and charcoal. Grilled chicken is extra good though.

Take your chicken breasts and slice them in half lengthwise. I have one extra because one breast was MASSIVE. You want them to be about 1/2" thick.

Season them with salt, pepper and the juice of the other half of lemon. Yum!

Then when your pan is screaming hot, put in the chicken. You want to cook it quickly, about 2-3 minutes per side, or until it's got a lovely brown crispy alllllmost burned crust.

You can achieve this by putting the chicken in the pan and NOT MESSING WITH IT. Moving around makes it brown slower.

Then wrap it in foil to keep it warm while you get the lettuce ready.

You can make your own crutons, but it was WAY too hot to turn on the oven, so boxed is perfectly fine. Also romaine lettuce, no other kind will work. Trust me.
Tomatoes are really not traditional at all, but I wanted something else to help flesh the salad out. They were perfectly ripe and cold and delicious!
You can use them too...I won't report you to the salad police.

Rip (or chop, I have nothing against chopping lettuce), rinse and dry your lettuce then put it in a large bowl.

Pour some of the dressing over it and toss to coat.

Add in your tomato and crutons and mix them around. Feel free to add more dressing if you'd like.
NOTE!!
If you're planning on saving this for later, or having leftovers DON'T MIX IN THE CROUTONS!!
They'll soak up all the dressing and get soggy which is really gross. Just add them on top of each salad instead.

Place a serving of salad on a plate, chop or slice your chicken and put it on top. Feel free to sprinkle with either shredded or shaved parmesan cheese (forgot to take a picture of that) and serve! The warm chicken is a perfect compliment to the cold salad.

Enjoy!!!

Chicken Caesar Salad

Dressing:
1/3 c. Olive oil
1 1/2 tbl. Dijon Mustard
1 tbl. Anchovy Paste
1-2 tbl. Worcestershire sauce
2 large cloves crushed garlic
Juice of half a lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl until dressing is smooth and creamy. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Chicken:
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Juice of half a lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbl. Olive oil

Slice breasts in half lengthwise (roughtly 1/2" thick) and season with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Heat oil in pan until very hot, then quickly cook chicken (~ 2-3 minutes per side). Cover chicken with foil and set aside.

Salad:
1-2 heads romaine lettuce
1 cup croutons
2 medium tomatos, diced (<--optional)

Rinse and rip lettuce, place in large salad bowl. Pour in some of the dressing (about 1/4 of it) and coat thoroughly. Add tomato and cruotons and toss. Add more dressing until it's just the way you like it.

Place lettuce on plate, slice or cube chicken and place on top. Serve and enjoy!!

Brownies with Sweet Berries

2009-08-26T18:14:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite summertime desserts because there's always such a wonderful assortment of fresh fruits to be found. The brownies are rich and fudgey without being too sweet, which compliments the berries perfectly. I used strawberries this time since they were $1/lb at my local store, but this would be wonderful with raspberries, blueberries or blackberries as well. Or any combination!

Gather your ingredients. Bakers chocolate, sugar, flour, baking soda, vanilla, 2 eggs and butter.

Start by coarsely chopping your bakers chocolate. This requires a very sharp knife or a food processor. I hate getting my processor dirty for such a small thing so I used a knife, be careful and watch your fingers!

Also cube your butter. You don't *have* too, but it helps it melt faster.

Put them both in a medium saucepan and melt slowly at low heat. You could also do this in a double boiler. But I didn't. Wanna fight about it?

Melt until all the lumps are gone and the chocolate is smooth. I warn you not to stick your finger in and taste it because no matter how delicious and smooth and creamy and wonderful it looks...you will be very very sorry. I think we all learned this lesson as children actually...
But I digress.
Put the chocolate aside to cool.

While it cools, go ahead and chop up your berries (or just rinse them if you're not using large berries).

Place them in a dish and sprinkle with 2 generous tablespoons of sugar. You can also drizzle a shot of Rum or Grand Marnier over them to make delicious drunken berries. But I didn't have any in the house so I just stuck to sugar. But oh man..the liqueur makes them THAT much more wonderful. Trust me. I'm a scientist.
Cover the berries with saran wrap and put them in the fridge to soak up all the goodness and get nice and chilled.

Your chocolate should be cool now, so go ahead and add your sugar and mix.

Then add the eggs one at a time, stirring well after each one. (This is why the chocolate needs to be cooled. If you add the eggs while it's still hot/warm, they'll cook. And that is very very very bad.). You can also toss in your vanilla now as well.

Now, if I had been thinking ahead, I would have used a LARGE saucepan or pot and just used that as my bowl. But I wasn't, so I just poured the chocolate into a large mixing bowl. Now is your chance to correct my mistake! Use a large enough pot and you'll have one less dish to clean.

Add the flour and baking soda and mix until just combined. You could sift it first, but I never sift. Sifting is for sissies and people who actually went to culinary school. Me? I'm a rebel and lazy.

Mmm...sweet chocolate deliciousness.

Pour the batter into a VERY WELL GREASED pan. I used a very large pan (I don't even know the dimensions because it's so old that the writing on the bottom has worn away) and ended up with very flat, but dense brownies. Which are perfect as a base for the berries. But you go ahead and use whatever pan you love best.
If I had a pan that was all edges, I'd use that. I loooooove brownie edges.

Pop 'em in a 350 oven for 20-30 minutes or until you can poke it with a toothpick that comes out clean. Your house will smell amazing and all boyfriends, husbands, and sons within a 1 mile radius will start to migrate in your direction. Be prepared to wack hands with a wooden spoon while yelling "NO! NO! THOSE ARE FOR DESSERT! GET OUT OF MY KITCHEN!".
I'll happen.
Trust me.

They're best if you serve them while still slightly warm, the chilled berries are perfect with warm gooey brownie.
Otherwise cool them, slice them and store in a tupperware or under saran wrap until you're ready to serve.

Generously spoon the berries over the brownie. You can also top it with fresh whipped cream, or add a dollop of vanilla ice cream if it's an extra hot day. This recipe is super versatile and so much fun to play around with.

Let me know what you come up with!

Now go and Enjoy <3

Fudgey Brownies
3 oz. Bakers Chocolate
1/2 c. Butter
1 c. Sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla
2/3 c. Flour
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Coarsely chop the chocolate and cube the butter. Place in medium (or large if you don't want to move to a bowl later) saucepan. Melt over low heat. Place to one side and allow to cool.
After chocolate has cooled, mix in sugar. Add eggs one at a time and mix well after each addition. Stir in vanilla.
Add flour and baking soda and mix until just combined. Pour into well greased pan and bake for 20-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Serves 9.

Sweet Berries
2-3 cups fresh berries
2 tbl. sugar
1 oz. Rum or other liqueur (optional)

Rinse and chop berries. Place in large dish and sprinkle with sugar. Drizzle with liqueur and stir to combine. Place covered in fridge until well chilled. Serve over warm brownies or ice cream.

Molasses Crackles

2009-08-26T18:11:00.000-07:00

These are one of my favorite cookies, but for some reason I never seem to make them. Anyway, I discovered I still had a lot of molasses left over from holiday gingerbread cookies and decided that it needed some love. Sweet sweet molasses love...*ahem*

Ingredients! The sugar is back there too, I promise. Also you can use butter instead of shortening of course, but that was what I had on hand at the moment.

First cream together your shortening and sugar. I don't have one of those fancy Kitchenaid mixers, so I do it the old fashioned way. Elbow grease! Mmm..delicious!

Add the egg and molasses. Pretend like you don't constantly have really shaky hands....fail.

Mix that together really well.

Add in your flour and spices. You can go ahead and sift it, but I never bother. It's one more thing to clean and waaaay too much effort. Plus neither does Amy Sedaris..so..there?

Mix it well until everything is incorporated and dough starts to stick together.

Shape into roughly 1" balls and roll them around in sugar until coated.

Mmm...sugar balls.

Then pop them in the oven for 10 minutes or so until golden brown and crackled on top. The less perfect you made your balls, the more crackled they'll be.

Sorry, I didn't feel like getting a fancy plate all dirty just to take a picture. Plus I ate this like 30 seconds later. It was AWESOME. Crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside. Just the way a cookie should be.

Now go make some!

Molasses Crackles

3/4 cup shortening (or butter)
3/4 cup sugar (plus 1/4 cup for coating)
1/4 cup dark molasses
1 egg
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven 375º. Cream together shortening and sugar. Add in egg and molasses, mix well. Add flour and spices and mix until all ingredients are incorporated and dough is still slightly crumbly (dough should stick together when squeezed though). Shape into 1" balls and roll in sugar until covered. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown and cracked on top. Place on wire rack to cool.
Makes 2 dozen.

Swimming Rama

2009-08-26T18:09:00.000-07:00

Both Ian and I absolutely ADORE Thai food, so I've recently started making it at home. I never really realized how easy it is to make restaurant quality Thai food.

This dish is one of our new favorites and I found it on one of my favorite blogs, Dining Alone, although I altered the recipe a little (I always do).

You can make it in under 30 minutes and it's total comfort food. Not exactly low-fat, but whatever. I can't say no to a recipe that includes peanut butter.
Recipe and pictures under the cut!

This is what you'll need. It's surprisingly simple stuff, you probably have most of it in your house already! Peanut butter, fish sauce, brown sugar, coconut milk (unsweetened), spinach, onion, a bell pepper, garlic, lime, paprika and crushed chili peppers.
You'll also need 2 chicken breasts (figure 1 per person. This recipe serves 2).

Start by boiling a pot of water and cubing up your chicken. When the water has reached a rolling boil, turn off the heat and dump the chicken in and cover it. The chicken will poach in the hot water. If for some reason you HATE poached chicken, go ahead and sauté it in a pan, but for this recipe I think poaching is better. Just trust me.

Go ahead and chop up your onion...

And garlic. Don't be afraid to use LOTS of garlic. It make a huge difference.

Also measure out your peanut butter. It really helps to have everything already measured, since it goes pretty quickly once you start making the sauce.

Also zest and juice your lime.

Then go ahead and heat your oil. I used olive oil because it's better for you, but you could use vegetable oil if you prefer.

Add in your onions and garlic. Sauté.

Once they're tender and almost translucent, add in your peanut butter, brown sugar and fish oil. Stir it all together.

Then add your paprika and chili pepper. You can add more or less pepper depending on how hot you like it. Stir it together.

Then SLOWLY start mixing in your coconut milk. I usually add a bit, mix it in completely and repeat. That way I'm less likely to splash it everywhere.

By the end of the can you should have something like this. Smooth...creamy...and really hard not to eat by the spoonful. It is SO tasty.

Now, I like my sauce a little on the soupy side, but if you prefer it a little thicker, go ahead and add a little bit of cornstarch/water mixture to help thicken it up a bit. I won't hold it against you.

Also if you wanted, you could stop here and use it as a sauce on vegetables (REALLY yummy on broccoli) or on some noodles. It would also make a great dipping sauce for satay.
But we will press on! We have naked chicken that must be covered!

While the sauce simmers, chop up your bell pepper. Set a little bit aside to put on top of the dish.

Add your chicken, bell pepper and lime. Stir it all together. Let it simmer for a few moments so that the chicken really soaks up the flavors.

Then put some cold fresh spinach on a bed of warm rice and drown it in delicious peanut heaven. Do this really quickly so you make a mess because you just realized it's ALMOST 9PM and you still haven't eaten.

Enjoy!
This is *so* tasty and easy to make. Leftovers are fantastic the next day since you'll probably have some leftover sauce. It's amazing over rice. I would eat this sauce on pretty much anything though...

Swimming Rama

2 skinless boneless chicken breasts, cubed
2-3 cups spinach, rinsed and dried
1-2 cups rice, cooked.
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chunky or creamy peanut butter
3 tbl brown sugar
2 tbl fish sauce
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 can unsweetened coconut milk
1 large bell pepper, chopped
zest and juice of one lime

Bring pot of water to a boil, remove from heat, add chicken, cover and set aside.

In a large saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons oil and add onion and garlic. Cook 2-3 minutes or until onions are soft and translucent. Add peanut butter, brown sugar and fish sauce, stir until smooth. Add paprika and red pepper flakes, stir. Slowly add coconut milk until smooth and well blended. Add chicken, lime zest and juice, and all but 2 tbl bell pepper. Stir until well coated.

Place spinach over rice, cover with chicken and sauce. Garnish with remaining bell pepper. Serve hot.

Serves 2.

Delicious Beef Stew

2009-08-26T17:53:00.000-07:00

This recipe comes from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook which is chock full of basic, easy to make foods. I usually make this stew on Sunday and then eat the leftovers all week long. It's also boyfriend approved since it contains large hunks of beef.

This is what you'll be needing.

Start by heating up a few tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot of dutch oven.

Dredge your beef and cook both sides so it gets nice and browned.

It should start to look something like this. The browner the better.

Slice up your onion (or dice it, which ever you prefer) and finely chop your herbs. You can always used dried of course, but I try to keep fresh herbs around because they have so much more flavor. I used some oregano and sage this time.

Once your meat is browned completly add your liquids, onion, bay leaf and herbs. Cover and simmer the heck out of it. Your house will start to smell AMAZING. Meanwhile you can start chopping up your vegetables. Just a rough chop is fine, I like nice big chunks of veggies in my stew.

Chop up some potatoes...

Celery...

Carrots...

And mushrooms. Actually you can add or omit whatever veggies you like. I happen to LOVE all these.

Especially mushrooms. Most people hate them which leaves MORE FOR ME.

They're also fun to photograph. But I think I've gotten a bit off topic here.

Check your beef after an hour or so. It should look thick, brown, and delicious. Resist sampling it....

Or not. I won't tell if you won't.

It can be hard to resist.

Add your chopped veggies and big handfuls of both corn and green beans. Throw in a little salt and pepper to taste. there's already plenty of salt in the broth, so go easy. You can always add more later if you think it needs it. I also add a little more broth at this point since most of the liquid has boiled away.

Then let it cook for another 30 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.

Serve it up with nice big chucks of crusty french bread and a big glass of red wine. Or beer. Or anything really. But I recommend beer, stew and beer are like bread and butter for me.

Enjoy!

Old Fashioned Beef Stew

2 tbs flour
12 oz. stew meat, cut into chunks
2 tbs olive oil
3 cups vegetable broth
1 cup water
1 onion, sliced
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp beef bouillon granules (I used one large cube)
1 tsp dried oregano (or 1/2 tsp fresh)
1/2 dried marjoram (or 1/4 tsp fresh)
1 bay leaf
2-3 medium potatoes, chopped
2-3 stalks celery, chopped
2-3 large carrots, chopped
1 cup mushroom, chopped
1 cup frozen green beans
1 cup frozen corn kernels
salt and pepper to taste.

1. Place flour in a plastic bag. Add meat a few pieces at a time, shaking to coat. Brown meat in olive oil and drain fat. Stir in vegetable broth, water, Worcestershire sauce, bouillon granules, herbs, onion and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium. Simmer covered for 1 to 1 1/4 hours or until meat is nearly tender.

2. Stir in vegetables, add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium. Simmer for 30 minutes or until meat and vegetables are tender. Serves 5 to 6.

Bread Pudding

2009-08-26T17:50:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe I got from my mother, who probably found it in some obscure early 80's cookbook. You know, the ones that have more casserole recipes than anything else, and ask for ingredients like meat tenderizer and MSG, even in recipes involving nothing but vegetables. Those were the days...
I actually found a nearly empty container of MSG when I was cleaning out my Grandmothers house a few years ago. But I digress..

Call me crazy if you must, but I have always felt that Bread Pudding should actually have the consistency OF pudding. I find most restaurant versions to be to chunky and far too crunchy. I want delicious, melt-in-your-mouth bread pudding, so that's what this recipe is. If the concept of giving chewy stale bread a luscious pudding texture freaks you out, go elsewhere. The rest of you can come over for dessert at my house anytime~

You'll need this stuff. Eggs, Milk, Sugar, Bread, Salt, Vanilla, Cinnamon, and Chocolate Chips (not pictured).

Start by pouring yourself 3 cups of milk and scalding it. You can either do it in a pot on the stove, or in the microwave. I do it in the microwave because it's easier. Don't know how to scald milk? It's easy! Place the milk in a pan on low heat. Stir occasionally until milk is just hot with steam and small bubbles appear around the edges. Just make sure not to boil it!

While the milk is doing it's thing, toast and butter your bread. This is a GREAT way to use up the heels of sandwich bread. I used a combination of those and some stale french bread from a few nights ago. Once I made it with stale cinnamon raisin bread and WOOBOY was that ever good.
So basically use whatever you have lying around. If you have nothing but a fresh loaf of wonderbread, go ahead and use that, just make sure to toast it really well!

Tear your buttered bread into large chunks and place them in a WELL GREASED casserole dish. Seriously people, grease the hell out of it. You'll thank me later. You should also add your chocolate chips/raisins/cranberries/etc at this point. I forgot and had to add them later which was a pain. Make sure to give it a toss so it gets evenly distributed through the pudding.

In another bowl, crack your eggs and beat them together.

Add the sugar, salt and vanilla and mix it together.

Then stir the egg mixture into your scalded milk. I like to let my milk cool a bit before doing this so the egg doesn't cook. Mix WELL.

Pour the milk/egg mixture over your bread (I finally added my chips. Go me!). Let it sit for a good 10 minutes so the bread can soak up all the delicious sugary goodness. Poke dry pieces down so everything gets coated.

Sprinkle the top LIBERALLY with cinnamon sugar. Or I suppose you could just do a little bit...but I find it makes a nice crisp crust so I pour it on. There can never be enough sugar <3
Then pop it in your oven right before you eat dinner. It'll cook while you're eating and you can serve it hot from the oven.

Glorious!

Spoon into bowls and serve. The bread is deliciously sweet and soft, while the top is just crispy enough. I've made this recipe for just about everyone I know and it's ALWAYS been a hit. Like in a "HOLY CRAP YOU MADE THIS? OUT OF BREAD?!" kind of way. Disbelief is always a good response as far as I'm concerned.

Now go forth and bake!

Bread Pudding
5-6 slices stale (or day old) bread
3 cups milk; scalded
3 eggs; beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbs butter or margarine
1/4 tsp cinammon
1/2 cup chocolate chips or raisins (or any kind of dried fruit)

Toast and spread bread with butter. Tear into large chunks and place into well greased baking dish (something deep but not wide). Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Stir salt, vanilla and all but 2 tbs of sugar into eggs. Add egg mixture to scalded milk and stir well; pour over toast and allow to stand for 10 min. Sprinkle with cinnamon and leftover sugar. Bake for 45-50 min @ 350. (Min ended up taking about 60 minutes, so time definitely varies depending on your oven)

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Fingers

2009-08-26T17:44:00.000-07:00

I'm very firmly convinced that most anything is made better by chocolate or peanut butter. It's even better if you find a way to combine the two. A veritable taste EXPLOSION..or something. Anyway. These are pretty simple to make and taste freaking amazing. Please be prepared for people to fall at your feet and beg for ~~your hand in marriage~~ the recipe.

You're gonna need this stuff.

Into a bowl goes the white sugar, brown sugar and butter. I recommend the butter be room temperature so it's easier to work with. Cold butter is cranky butter.

Cream the butter and sugar together and the egg.

Then add your salt, peanut butter and vanilla. You can use either creamy or crunchy peanut butter, which ever you prefer. I find that the oats add plenty of texture so I use creamy pb here. Mix this all together.

Add the oats and flour.

Grease and flour a 9x13 pan.

Spread the mixture in the pan. This can be a little tricky because the dough is sticky, but I find using a greased spatula helps a bunch. Then pop it into the oven.

While that's baking, lets put together the peanut butter part of the frosting. Mix the powdered sugar, milk and peanut butter together. I'm using crunchy pb for the top (yes, we keep both kinds in our house. We're equal opportunity pb lovers.) because I like the little crunch that it gives, but use whichever kind you like.

Mix it all together. It should be thick, but spreadable. If it's too thick, add a little milk. If it's too thin, a little more peanut butter.

When the dough is done cooking (it'll be a nice golden brown color) pull it from the oven and immediatly toss a cup of chocolate chips on there. The heat from the pan should be enough to melt them, but feel free to pop it back in the oven for a few second if they don't seem to be melting enough. JUST A FEW SECONDS SHOULD DO IT. You want them to be easily spreadable, not a burned mess.

Pour on the peanut butter mixture and spread the two around together. The less you spread, the more marbled the texture will be. I went a little crazy and ended up mixing it all together. It tastes the same but doesn't look as neat.

This is what you're going for. DEELISH!

Let the bars cool completely, then slice and serve. They last for about a week or so, but will probably get eaten before that.

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Fingers

* 1/2 cup butter
* 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1 egg
* 1/3 cup peanut butter
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
* 1/4 teaspoon soda
* 1 cup flour
* 1 cup quick oats
* 1 cup semisweet or milk chocolate chips
* 1/2 cup powdered sugar
* 1/4 cup peanut butter
* 2 to 4 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350°. Cream together butter, sugar and brown sugar. Mix in the egg, peanut butter, salt, vanilla and soda until well blended. Stir in flour and oats and mix everything together. Spread in a greased and floured 9x13 pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and pour chocolate chips on top. Spread evenly over cookie mixture. Combine powdered sugar, peanut butter and milk, spread over cookie mixture. Let cool and cut into bars.

Awesome Bastard Dumplings

2009-08-26T17:41:00.000-07:00

These dumplings were the brainchild of ladydem who originally got the recipe from her godmother (I think). We played around with them and created our own version, and now I've fiddled with it even more. These are like the bastard love child of Gyoza and Pierogi, and they're freaking addictive. They make a great appetizer, although I usually just eat them on their own for dinner (SO HEALTHY). My measurements are random, but I tried to come up with general measurements in case you want to make these for yourself.

You'll need some of these guys. Ground turkey or chicken (you could use beef too I suppose, but I've never tried it), Onion (not pictured), Green Onion, Garlic, Ginger, Salt (optional), Pepper, Soy Sauce, and Worcestershire Sauce. (Also flour for the wrappers)

Combine all the ingredients for the filling in a bowl. Feel free to play with the filling. These would be good with potato and cheese (traditional pierogi filling), or you could make sweet ones with jam or fruit. But I digress.

Mix everything together. Make sure it's really mixed well so you'll get some of everything in each dumpling.

In a seperate bowl you'll need to make up your dough. I usually go with 1 cup of flour and then add enough water until it just starts to stick together. This won't be enough dough to use up all the filling, but I usually make it in 1 cup intervals so it won't stiffen up while I put everything together.

Roll the dough out on a floured surface and use either a biscuit cutter or a glass to cut out circles.

They should be roughly the size of your palm. A little large is fine, but too small and it won't hold enough filling.

Put a dollop of filling in each circle. Careful not to put too much or it'll leak out the ends.

Fold the dough over and pinch it closed. If you're feeling ambitious, use a fork to make the edge look pretty, or fold the edges all fancy like. Or be lazy like me and just leave it as is.

Place your finished dumplings on a greased and floured baking sheet (mine is lined with wax paper for easy clean-up)

Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil.

Pop in your dumplings and let them boil away until they float to the surface.

While the dumplings are boiling, go ahead and heat up some butter and olive oil in a large skillet.

Drain your dumplings and place them in the hot pan. Cook them for roughly 3-4 minutes on each side, until they're golden brown and crispy.

Serve with a dipping sauce and enjoy! Be careful because it's really easy to eat a ton of these in one sitting. So tasty!

The dipping sauce can be anything you want! The boyfriend usually makes up a batch of his secret sauce (secret even to him as he never seems to remember the ingredients. It usually involves soy sauce, chili powder, honey and a buttload of garlic ♥), but you can use plain soy sauce if it's easier. You can also try gyoza sauce, tempura sauce, bbq sauce, awesome sauce or sour cream (which is REALLY good on the potato ones).

Leftovers (HA!) can be refridgerated for roughly a week, uncooked dumplings are perfect for keeping in the freezer for an easy dinner. No need to defrost! Just dump them in the boiling water and go!

Srsly Delicious Dumplings

Like I said at the beginning, I just eyeball EVERYTHING for this recipe so these are not exact amounts. Definitely add more/less of something if you'd like. The best part of this recipe is how adaptable it is.

* 1/2 Pound ground turkey or chicken
* 1/2 Medium onion, diced
* 2 or 3 Green onions, finely chopped
* 1 or 2 Cloves garlic, minced
* 1/2 tsp Ginger
* 2 tbl Soy sauce
* 1 tbl Worcestershire sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 to 3 cups Flour
Water
1 Tbl Butter
1 Tbl Olive oil

1) Combine turkey, onion, green onion, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and mix well.

2) Combine flour with water until dough just begins to stick together (make batches of dough in 1 cup increments to avoid stiffening)

3) Use a bicuit cutter or glass to cut out palm sized circles. Fill each circle with a little filling and pinch closed.

4) Drop dumplings in boiling water and cook roughly 5 minutes, or until they float. Drain.

5) Melt butter in skillet with oil. Add dumplings and cook 3-4 minutes per side or until golden brown and crunchy. Serve hot with your favorite sauce.

As usual I'd love to know if you make these! Especially if you decide to invent your own filling.

Deelishus Muffkins

2009-08-26T17:37:00.000-07:00

I swear to god these are some of the BEST muffins I've ever made. Plus they have fruit! That makes them healthy...right? They're pretty easy to whip up and freaking delicious fresh from the oven. Just be careful because those blueberries are like little bubbles of LAVA when hot. Your mouth will thank you.

Our cast of characters!

Mix your dry ingredients together and put it aside for now.

Rinse your blueberries (I like frozen blueberries in my muffins. I don't know why..either frozen or fresh works fine) and toss them with a tablespoon or so of your flour mixture. This keeps them from sinking to the bottom of the batter while baking.

Ta-da!

Cream together the butter and sugar. The creamier the better <3

Add your eggs one at a time and beat well. WAPSHH! *cracks whip*

And the vanilla. Vanilla is your God. Know it. Love it. Use it in everything.

Add your flour mixture slowly and mix until just moist. I hate that word. Just in case you wanted to know.

Pour in your milk (soymilk). ACTION SHOT! Woo!

Also add your blueberries at this point. If you add fresh berries you won't get this purple discoloration. But I think it's awesome looking.

Oh god I'm getting hungry just looking at this. I may have had to taste it at this point. Just to be sure I didn't forget anything...you should too.

Grease and/or line some muffin tins and fill each cup 2/3's of the way with your batter. My pans are older than I am.

Now you should sprinkle the tops with some turbinado/raw sugar if you have it. I didn't so I just used some regular sugar..which wasn't as good. But sugar is sugar and use what ya got.

Pop 'em in the oven and take yourself a short nap. Then pull them out and let them cool completley.

HOLY CRAP WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT!?
OM TO THE FUCKING NOM.

Now go make your own ♥

Blueberry Muffins
Recipe from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook

Makes 1 dozen muffins

Ingredients

* 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 cups fresh blueberries
* 1 cup granulated sugar
* 2 large eggs
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1-2 tablespoons turbinado sugar (optional)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper muffin cups.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

In another bowl, toss the blueberries with about 1 tablespoon of the flour mixture.

Set aside both the flour mixture and the blueberries.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until combined after the addition of each egg. Mix in the vanilla extract.

With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture. Beat just until combined. Add the milk and beat just until combined. Do not overbeat. Lightly fold in the blueberries using a rubber spatule. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. If you’d like a little crunch on the top of the muffins, sprinkle a small amount of turbinado sugar over the batter in each muffin cup.

Bake until the muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the muffins comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes. Remove muffins from pan and let cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Pumpkin Spice Scones

2009-08-26T17:31:00.000-07:00

The other day I went to starbucks and was disappointed that there were no pumpkin scones. So I decided to make some of my own. They're not really traditional scones in any sense, but they are pumpkiny and delicious so I will let them get away with it. <3 I got the recipe from Recipe Zaar and then altered it to fit my tastes.

Gather your ingredients! Nothing too fancy, you should have most things on hand already. I tend to always have huge cans of pumpkin in my house because I just love it so much. The recipe does call for half and half, but I always substitute with soymilk because my boyfriend can't do the dairy (even in small amounts). I've never had any problems (I even use soymilk in place of evaporated milk in pumpkin pie and it turns out fine!).

Mix your dry ingredients together.

Use a fork or a pastry cutter (or CLEAN fingers) to cut in the butter (or butter substitute in my case XD) until it's crumbly.

It should end up looking like this.

In a seperate bowl, whisk the wet ingredients together. You'll probably have a ton of pumpkin left since this recipe only calls for a half cup. Freeze it! It'll keep pretty nicely in the freezer then you can just pull it out next time you want to use it.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry, then mix until the dough starts to stick. Form the dough into a ball and roll it out onto a floured surface (or be more awesome than me and just pop it into a scone pan).

Slice dough twice vertically, so you have three rectangles. Then slice each of those diagonally so you end up with six trangles.
Note: These turned out HUGE. I would seriously consider making 8 triangles next time because I don't always want to eat an entire GIGANTOR scone.

Place triangles on a greased baking sheet and pop them into the oven for 15 minutes. They should look golden brown.

While the scones are baking, we'll get our glaze ingredients together. The recipe doesn't call for vanilla in the glaze, but it's a crime NOT to use it. If you want pure white glaze I won't stop you, but I will think you're a glaze racist.

Mix it all together. My glaze is discolored from the soymilk (instead of actual milk) and vanilla. But it tasted soooooo good. Totally worth it.
Also!
The recipe says to make two diffrent glazes, but I just used the plain glaze, then added the spices to whatever was left over from the first glazing. Much easier that way.

Pull your scones out of the oven and let them cool.

Brush over the scones with the first plain glaze.

After the first glaze has set, brush or drizzle on the spice glaze. Let the scones sit out so the glaze can harden for at least an hour.

Ta-da! They're not what I'd call "low-cal", but I really don't give a crap about that anyway. Besides, they're tasty so it's totally ok!

Pumpkin Spice Scones

Scones
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 7 tablespoons sugar
* 1 tablespoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
* 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
* 6 tablespoons cold butter
* 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
* 3 tablespoons half-and-half
* 1 large egg

Powdered Sugar Glaze

* 1 cup powdered sugar
* 1 tablespoon vanilla <---My addition right thurr <3 * 2 tablespoons whole milk Spiced Glaze

* 1 cup powdered sugar
* 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
* 2 tablespoons whole milk
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1 pinch ginger
* 1 pinch ground cloves

Directions

TO MAKE THE SCONES:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet or line with parchment paper.

2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices in a large bowl. Using a pastry knife, fork, or food processor, cut butter into the dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly and no chunks of butter are obvious. Set aside.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, half and half, and egg. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Form the dough into a ball.

4. Pat out dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a 1-inch thick rectangle (about 9 inches long and 3 inches wide). Use a large knife or a pizza cutter to slice the dough twice through the width, making three equal portions. Cut those three slices diagonally so that you have 6 triangular slices of dough. Place on prepared baking sheet.

5. Bake for 14–16 minutes. Scones should begin to turn light brown. Place on wire rack to cool.

TO MAKE THE PLAIN GLAZE:

1. Mix the powdered sugar and 2 tbsp milk together until smooth.

2. When scones are cool, use a brush to paint plain glaze over the top of each scone.

AS THAT WHITE GLAZE FIRMS UP, MAKE THE SPICED ICING:

1. Combine the ingredient for the spiced icing together. Drizzle this thicker icing over each scone and allow the icing to dry before serving (at least 1 hour). A squirt bottle works great for this, or you can drizzle with a whisk.

Enjoy!

F.A.Q

2009-08-25T17:23:00.000-07:00

Your questions, coming soon!

Contact Me!

2009-08-25T00:18:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite parts of this blog is meeting all you wonderful people. I love getting emails and comments from you guys, so feel free to contact me any time. Send me questions, comments, recipe suggestions...anything your little hearts desire. I read them all, and try to reply as fast as possible. Don't be shy!

Go ahead and shoot a email to me at: srslydelicious@gmail.com

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