A Geek in the Kitchen

Cocoa Crinkles

2012-01-22T15:54:00.004-05:00

Today is one of those days when I have been incredibly lazy. I did laundry, so that should count for something. Other than that, I've spent way too much time online surfing for recipes and fun things to make.

And I saw The Muppets at the cheapie theater. I didn't expect to like it so much. It made me very nostalgic and now I kind of miss my childhood (as if I needed a new reason to do that!)

Now I'm just sitting here watching me some football and baking up a batch of my favorite cookies to take to work tomorrow. I absolutely LOVE the chocolately goodness in these cookies. I don't make them often enough, and I think it's because the dough needs to chill. I'm an instant gratification kind of girl, so having to wrap up the silky chocolate into plastic wrap and banish it to the refrigerator makes me cranky.

But it's SO worth it in the end. I don't remember where this recipe came from... I've had it forever... long before I started searching for recipes online. Every other version I've seen of these uses powdered sugar to roll the cookies in, but I much prefer using granulated sugar.

Cocoa Crinkles
Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter

1 3/4 cups sugar, divided

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.

Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Cool slightly.

Add 1 1/4 cups sugar. Whisk until smooth.

Whisk in eggs, one at a time, until blended.

Stir in vanilla until smooth.

Stir in flour mixture just until combined.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350º. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls.

Place 1/2 cup sugar in a shallow bowl. Roll balls in sugar.

Place cookies on baking sheet. Bake 11 minutes or until cookies are set to the touch.

Geektastic Number {Three}

2012-01-21T07:48:00.007-05:00

I have discovered Pinterest. So I probably don't need to explain where I've spent most of my free time this week. Now I want to cook, bake, make things, buy a house, decorate it, travel, go shopping, exercise, have kids, dress them, make things with them... oy. Perhaps I should add "clone myself" to that list!

In honor of my newly discovered obsession, these five recipes were all pins from people I've never met that I thought looked yumtastic... and repinned for myself.

Chipotle's Cilantro Lime Recipe from Skinnytaste
I know a lot of people love Chipotle, and it's not really my favorite. I much prefer Salsarita's. However, I LOVE this rice so I cannot wait to try to make it myself!

Cupcakes Baked in a Jar from Running with Glitter
You MUST click on this recipe, just to see how cute it is. As far as foodie stuff goes, this is probably the cutest thing I have ever seen. It makes me smile just to look at it!

Baked Raspberry Oatmeal from A Cozy Kitchen
I had never ever heard of baked oatmeal before and this is the second time in three weeks that a recipe for it has caught my eye!

The Best Chicken Enchilada Soup from Mel's Kitchen Cafe
I pinned this one without even realizing it was from a blog I already follow. Thought that was pretty cool. I'm easily entertained. But I love all the veggies in this soup.

Sweet Potato Pie with Cinnamon Roll Crust from A Taste for Adventure
What caught my eye was the crust! Cinnamon rolls. Brilliant.

That's all for now! I'm off to check out the other lists that were linked up to Finding Joy in My Kitchen... can't wait to see what else I can pin. I think I'm going shopping later this afternoon, and to finally see The Muppets. If I can manage to tear myself away from the computer, of course ;)

Have a great weekend! Oscar nominations come out on Tuesday!

Chili with Bread Bowls

2012-01-15T10:00:00.003-05:00

Baby, it's cold outside! And I'm perfectly fine with that. The ONLY person in Western New York who's fine with that. Ha.

I'm trying to figure out what to do with myself today. But I do know what I'll be doing later... it's Golden Globes night! Wheee!! Head on over to my movie blog to see my picks. I'm very excited for the fashion and to see who wins, but I'm less than thrilled about the second encore performance of Ricky Gervais. Not a fan.

I was talking about this last night with a friend of mine. I find him to be just so incredibly mean. And I don't do mean. My comment was actually that the only person I'm ever mean to is myself. Perhaps I should work on that!

You know what else I need to work on? Taking pictures of my food. This is a delicious recipe, but has no eye candy to go along with it. So just Google "Ryan Gosling" and you'll get a nice healthy dose of it;)

The chili recipe is adapted from Top Secret Recipe's version of Wendy's chili. There are as many ways to make chili as there days in the year, I think. And this is my favorite. The original recipe makes a GINORMOUS pot of soup. Even my version make a huge batch.

The bread bowls are from Betty Crocker's Soups, Stews & Chilies magazine that I bought a year or so ago. They came out so cute and were the perfect way to round out the chili recipe.

Chili
Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

1 15-ounce can tomato sauce

1 15-ounce can kidney beans with liquid

1 15-ounce can pinto beans with liquid

1/2 cup frozen diced onions

1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes with chilis

1 tsp cumin

1 1/2 tbsp chili powder

3/4 tsp black pepper

1 tsp salt

1 cup water

Brown the ground beef. Drain and rinse.

Comine beef in a LARGE soup pot with the remaining ingredients. Bring to a simmer over low heat. Cook for at least two hours (the longer the better), stirring fairly regularly.

Bread Bowls
Ingredients:

1 lb frozen bread dough, thawed

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp dried basil leaves

1/2 tsp garlic salt

Lightly grease outside of 6 10-ounce custard cups with shortening. Place cups upside down on a large cookie sheet.

Divide dough into 6 equal pieces. Roll each section into a ball and press onto the bottom of the custard cups. Work the dough down the edges.

Brush wit olive oil and sprinkle with basil and garlic salt.

Cover and let rise in a warm place for 20 minutes.

Heat oven to 350º. Bake 16 - 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool for 5 minutes and gently remove from cups. Place right side up on a cooling rack.

Geektastic Number {TWO}

2012-01-13T18:25:00.005-05:00

I had SO much fun blog-hopping this week to come up with my list of five recipes to try that I kind of forgot about posting my own recipes. Oops. I have a delicious chili recipe to share and I plan on doing that tomorrow. It's just that everyone else's recipes looked soooo good that I didn't want to stop sifting through them.

I'm easily distracted.

It's FINALLY a real winter day here in Buffalo. We didn't get a huge amount of snow (my guestimate would be maybe five inches?) But the wind has been so obnoxious (it woke me up at 4am and I never fell back asleep) that it was a blowing and drifting mess, causing lots of accidents and most everyone I know to be late for work. No worries on my end as far as that's concerned. Did I mention I woke up at 4am?? :p

So.... today is a happy {HAPPY} day for me. It was my last day at my current job. I start in a new department on Monday and I am ecstatic!! Can't wait! I went out with some friends for dinner last night at Chef's and tomorrow I have another celebratory evening with a different friend at Ilio DiPaolo's. Gonna be lots of yumminess going on there! WNY has some great local restaurants.

Now, on to the recipes!

Homemade Taco Seasoning by Mel's Kitchen Cafe
I made tacos the other day and wondered if it would be easy to make my own seasoning, and lo and behold I stumbled upon this post. Can't wait to try this! If I make my own sloppy joe, of course I can make my own taco seasoning!

Smashed Raspberry Chocolate Chunk Pancakes by Joy the Baker
Reading Joy's blog is like chatting with a friend, and she has the yummiest recipe ideas. These sound so good and I am always struggling with breakfast ideas.

Bean and Sausage Soup by Recipe Girl
I love bean soup. When someone else makes it. Mine just never turns out right, but this simple recipe uses sausage instead of ham and it sounds so comforting for a cold winter day!

Chocolate Mascarpone Brownies by Spork or Foon
While the author of this blog post isn't a fan of brownie mixes, I admittedly love them. I'm a little more Sandra Lee than Martha Stewart most days, and I make no apologies for it. However... I absolutely love mascarpone cheese and these sound to DIE for.

Creamy Pesto Dressing by Savory Sweet Life
I love making my own salad dressings. I almost never have a store-bought bottle in my fridge. Mine usually aren't creamy dressings though, and this sounds like a delicious change of pace.

Looking for some more inspiration? Check out the list at Finding Joy in My Kitchen. Lots of great ideas!!

Happy long weekend!

Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies

2012-01-08T10:29:00.002-05:00

It's actually (barely) snowing here in Buffalo this morning. This has been the strangest winter ever. Yesterday it was 45º and I was outside without a jacket. Makes me worry about what July is going to bring.

I stumbled upon this recipe during my blog hopping adventure yesterday and immediately ran out to the store to buy the raspberries. Surprisingly, the fresh berries were about the same price as the frozen, so I went with the fresh.

I'm not at all ashamed to tell you that I used a packaged brownie mix instead of making my own. I only wish I had bought the dark chocolate mix instead of the fudge brownie mix. But they are scrumdiddlyumptious! I mean really, how can you go wrong with chocolate, cheesecake, and rasberries?! (I apologize for the picture... I didn't have my camera handy, so it's a cell phone shot.) I think I probably dove into these a little bit sooner than I should have, because my layers don't look nearly as nice and neat as Rebekah's do. But I couldn't wait! Here is my cheater version.

Ingredients:

1 pkg brownie mix (plus the ingredients used on the box)

1 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 (8 oz pkgs) cream cheese, room temperature

5 oz raspberries, fresh or frozen

Preheat oven to 350º. Spray the bottom of a 9x13 cake pan.

Mix up the brownie batter as directed on the package.

Beat together the cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until it’s smooth and creamy mixture.

Spread 2/3 of the brownie mixture on the bottom of your cke pan. Pour the cream cheese on top and spread it out evenly.

Now add the remaining chocolate mix on top of the cream cheese by spoonfuls. Using a knife, marble the cream cheese and brownie mix.

Gently press the raspberries into the cheesecake so they're even with the surface.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until the cake feels set when gently touched in the center.

Let the brownies cool, then refrigerate several hours, preferably overnight, before cutting them in squares. (Or realize, that you can't possibly wait that long and enjoy them right away!!!)

Geektastic Number {One}

2012-01-07T18:24:00.005-05:00

A funny thing happens when you blog hop... you discover a bunch of recipes you can't wait to try, and some fun ways of sharing them.

On Finding Joy in My Kitchen, there is a weekly post where she lists five recipes she's discovered through various blogs and has bookmarked to try. AND she allows other bloggers to link up their own list!

How fun is that? Leave it to the blogging community to find fun ways to SHARE!

I'm a day late to this week's party, but I thought it would be a lot of fun to play along. So here is my list of five GEEKTASTIC recipes that I can't wait to try!!

Buffalo Chicken Cheese Bites from Macaroni and Cheesecake
This is the newest blog added to my Food Porn list, and these immediately jumped out at me, probably because I'm a Buffalonian! Cannot wait to make these!!!

Chicken Tortilla Soup from Tried and True Cooking with Heidi
I love, love, love chicken tortilla soup and I'm always trying out new versions.

Southern Silken Peanut Butter Delight from The Loving Bistro
How can you go wrong with peanut butter pie?? Reminds me of being younger and hanging out with friends after work at Perkins!

Chicken Pot Pie Soup by skinnytaste
Chicken Pot Pie might be my absolute favorite food. I love all varieties, including the cheapo Banquet brand! But I also love soup and combining the two is genius as far as I'm concerned!

Baked Spaghetti by Eat at Home
I think pasta dishes should be fairly easy and delicious, and this sure looks like it fits the bill!

Want more awesome foodie lists? Don't forget to head on our to Finding Joy in My Kitchen to get linked up!

Lasagna Roll Ups

2012-01-03T19:38:00.008-05:00

Happy New Year! Hopefully I'll be posting more often in 2012. I've been cooking a lot, but admittedly got very discouraged that I can't seem to scrounge up much traffic for my little bloggy.

So, new year... new name. It's definitely very "me" so we'll see what happens!

Every year I have a small Christmas party with my closest friends. I love playing hostess and getting my group of people together to hang out, eat, and chat. Planning my menu is one of my favorite things and I look forward to it all year.

This year I made lasagna roll ups as the main course and WOW! Were they ever DELICIOUS! Here is what they looked like before putting the top layer of sauce on them.

I wound up combining two different recipes to come up with these bad boys. I took the Bacon Sauce from a recipe Beau MacMillan shared on The Best Thing I Ever Made and threw in some ground beef to go with it. Then I used a recipe on allrecipes and adjusted the serving size to make the roll ups themselves.

Here are the two original recipes:
Bucatini with Bacon Sauce and Meatballs
Lasagna Roll Ups

Here is my mashup which very generously serves 8. It could feed at least 10 people, easily.

Ingredients:

7 or 8 strips regular bacon

1 large onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

2 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes

1 pound ground beef

5 cups ricotta cottage cheese

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

4 egg, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon onion powder

24 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1 tsp or so of sugar

Cut the bacon into pieces. In a dutch oven, cook over medium heat until almost crispy. Don't drain.

Add the onions to the pan. When the onions are almost cooked and start to become translucent, add the garlic and salt and pepper to taste.

Cook for 1 to 2 minutes.

Add tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer on low for about two hours.

Add the sugar to taste (or omit it completely)

Brown the ground beef. Drain. Add to the sauce.

Spoon half the sauce into a greased baking pan. (I wound up using a 9 x 13 plus a small square disposable pan.)

Combine ricotta cheese, parm cheese, egg, and onion powder.

Spread 1/4 cupful on each noodle.

Carefully roll up and place seam side down over meat sauce.

Top with remaining sauce.

Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.

Cover and bake at 375 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until heated through. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. Here's to an AMAZING 2012!!!!

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Are you hungry for more bacon recipes? Check out the bacon fest going on over at Eat at Home!

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Garlicky Black Beans

2011-04-03T18:10:00.008-04:00

I love foodie blogs. You know what I love even more? Foodies blogs with lots of links to other foodie blogs! Blog-surfing is fun.

Something else I've been loving lately is roasted veggies. Carrots are my favorite! Unfortunately, I did NOT love Melissa D'Arabian's Roasted Radishes. But hey, I tried it! That's the important part, right? And I gave the leftover (unroasted) radishes to my mom. She loves them raw. I hate the texture.

Anyway, one of the blogs that I stumbled upon (and added to my Food Porn list) is In Praise of Leftovers. Which is kinda funny considering how much I generally dislike them.

As I was surfing through her blog the other day, I came upon a recipe for Roasted Yams with Black Beans and Chipotle Crema. I thought the picture looked yummy, so I decided to create my own version.

This was turned into a one-person recipe, so plan accordingly. The original recipe was for four people.

Ingredients:

1 sweet potato (peeled and cut into 1/2-inch or so squares)

1 cup black beans

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp Chinese Five Spice Powder

1 Tbsp water

1/2 Tbsp minced garlic

dollop plain yogurt

Preheat the oven to 425º. Toss the sweet potato with the olive oil. Spread onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle with the Chinese Five Spice Powder. Roast for 25 minutes.

While the potatoes are roasting, simmer the black beans, water, and garlic in a saucepan.

Serve with the yogurt.

What great recipes have you found while blog-surfing?

Raspberry Viniagrette

2011-04-02T18:33:00.004-04:00

Several months ago (too long, really!) I had some friends over and one of the things I made was this homemade viniagrette. It's a recipe I found on allrecipes and it was stellar! I didn't use the whole salad recipe (although it sounds delicious). I just wanted a simple homemade dressing and this was perfect.

The rasperry vinegar was a little spendy, but the recipe doesn't use a whole lot and I'll get plenty of use of the remainder because I will definitely be making this dressing again.

Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon honey

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/4 cup raspberry vinegar

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Combine all the ingredients in a cruet (you know... that free bottle you get when you buy the powdered Italian dressing mix). Shake well and refrigerate until ready to use.

I used the dressing on a spinach salad and it was sooo good!

Salted Caramel Cupcakes

2010-09-06T18:21:00.008-04:00

I was reading the latest copy of Food Network magazine and the editor's letter was talking about Sunny Anderson's dinner with the Biden's (yes, those Biden's) for disabled veterans. I've watched Sunny's show before, but never caught this, so maybe someone can clue me in. The editor made it sound like Sunny uses the expression "Oh My Garlic!" a lot. I've never heard her say that, but it totally made me smile.

After eating these cupcakes, I think I need to come up with my own expression like that because these are absolutely delicious. The only reason I even found this recipe was because it was linked on the Disboards.

The blog is called Joy's Hope and it's a cute little blog. Check it out.

AFTER you make the cupcakes!

Sorry I don't have a picture. I wasn't thinking.

She includes a link to a homemade cake and homemade caramel here. I just used a devil's food cake mix and a jar of caramel ice cream topping. I also left off the Skor bars.

Ingredients:

one box chocolate cake mix (and ingredients to make it)

3/4 tsp sea salt

4-5 Skor or Heath bars

12-oz jar of caramel ice cream topping

can of frosting, or use the following ingredients to make your own

stick of unsalted butter, room temperature

1-lb powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 Tbsp whole milk (I used 1% and it was fine)

pinch of salt

You will also need a squeeze bottle. I got mine at Michaels by the candy-making-cake-decorating stuff.

Mix up your cupcake batter and bake according to the package directions.

When they are done baking, pour the caramel topping into a glass measuring cup. Add the sea salt. Microwave for one minute and stir. Pour the caramel topping into your squeeze bottle.

Let the cupcakes and caramel cool (I waited about ten minutes). Insert the tip of the squeeze bottle into the cupcake and give it a good firm squeeze. I did this twice to get a good amount of caramel. Save a little bit of the caramel to use on top of the frosted cupcakes.

Now you need to decide if you want to use a can of frosting or make your own. I have no problem with canned frosting, but decided to try the recipe she provided. It was easy and quite yummy. (And I love the way she displayed her recipe as a pretty little image on her blog!)

To make the frosting:
Cream together the butter and sugar. Add remaining ingredients. Mix until thick and creamy.

That's it. Easy peasy.

Frost your cupcakes.

If you're using the candy bars, now is the time to let out your aggression!! Smash those babies up into little pieces and sprinkle on top of the cupcakes.

Finish with a little bit of remaining caramel drizzled on top.

So good.
I'm not telling you how many I ate!

---
I'm going to be participating in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Light the Night walk in a couple weeks. If you're like to make a donation, click on the link over there on the right-hand side of the page.

Chicken Marsala Stew

2010-04-21T20:35:00.005-04:00

Chicken Marsala is one of my favorite foods in the whole world. So good. I have to force myself to order something else when we go out to eat, because if I didn't I would never try anything new! We went out for my birthday a couple weeks ago and I was very tempted to order it... but I was a good girl. We went to Bravo and I had the Chicken Scaloppini. And really... how could I NOT order it with this mouth-watering description:

Sauteed chicken with roasted portobello mushrooms and Provolone with lemon caper butter sauce, Feta and diced tomatoes and served with herb linguine

It was delicious!

Sooo, back to the Marsala. My mom knows that I love it and she cut this recipe out of the newspaper for me. It was so incredibly good and I can't wait to make it again. Next time I'll use more wine and more chicken broth, because there wasn't a whole lot of broth. But other than that... superb!

[Picture coming soon....!]

2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided (I used a little less)

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks

1/2 tsp salt, divided

1/2 tsp ground black pepper, divided

8 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced

8 ounces baby carrots

1 cup frozen baby peas

1 large sweet onion, chopped

3 Tbsp all-purpose flour

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 cup Marsala wine

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

In a large Dutch oven or stock pot, heat 1/2 tablespoon of the oil over medium-high. Add half of the chicken pieces and season with 1/4 teaspoon each of the salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate and repeat with another 1/2 tablespoon of the oil and the remaining chicken, salt and pepper. Set aside. [Next time I make this, I'll probably cook all of the chicken at the same time... my pot was more than big enough to accomodate all of the chicken.]

Add another 1/2 tablespoon of the oil to the pot. Add the mushrooms and saute until they begin to soften and give off liquid, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the carrots and peas, then saute for another 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

Add the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of the oil to the pot. Add the onions and saute until they soften and start to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the flour and garlic and cook, stirring for 1 minute.

Pour in the Marsala and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes longer. Add the chicken broth and reserved vegetables, then bring to a simmer.

Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Add the reserved chicken and vinegar and simmer until heated through, about 3 minutes.

Makes 4 servings.
[Here is the link to the original article. So good!!]

Banana Bread

2010-04-04T14:20:00.007-04:00

I had a friend request banana bread the other day and I just happened to have some brown bananas sitting on my counter. I buy healthy food with the best of intentions, and then wind up ignoring it in favor of Pringles and ice cream. So bad.

But I love banana bread, so this worked out well. Ha. This is the banana bread recipe I always use. Turns out delicious.

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas (about six bananas)

Preheat oven to 350º. Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

I made a loaf for my friends and a little loaf for myself as well. I love these mini loaf pans. So cute.

This had to be sent to my friends through our interoffice mail and I couldn't send just a loaf of banana bread. Boring. So I packed a box with the bread, some of my favorite cookies, and some goodies I found at Wal-Mart.

When I was shopping, I also came across these fun sprinkles:

So I baked up a batch of lemon cupcakes to take to work. Nothing special... just a box cake mix and a can of frosting. They were yummy and really cute (if I do say so myself!)

Hope everyone has a very happy Easter!

Egg In The Hole

2010-03-24T19:17:00.000-04:00

Wanna hear a secret? I can't make fried eggs. They always turn out gross... the egg white always spreads out too much in my pan and then I wind up overcooking it to get the edges crisp. Yucky. Well, all that changed when I saw a recipe in The Pioneer Woman's cookbook for "Egg-in-the-Hole". It's right there on page 46.

(Can I just tell you that I love this cookbook more than any other? The pictures are incredible, the food delish, and the writing style is comforting... like talking to an old friend. Love it. Seriously.)

Now I can make fried eggs any time I want and they always taste yummy.

The funny thing is, the newest issue of Food Network Magazine has a picture of an egg-in-the-hole on the cover. It made my niece laugh when I told her that I make MY eggs the exact same way! (If you're looking for more egg ideas, this issue's booklet features 50 different ways to make eggs. And Jeffrey Saad's blog always has interesting egg recipes, too.

And it's easy peasy! All you need are:

1 Tbsp butter

a slice of bread

an egg

a Star Trek glass... okay, any glass will do!

Cut a hole in the center of the bread with the glass. You can use a biscuit cutter or a cookie cutter, too. But it's more fun to use a glass. On medium-high heat, melt 1/2 Tbsp of butter in a frying pan. (I use less butter than Pioneer Woman, just because I do. LOL.) Put your slice of bread (and the cutout circle, too) in the pan and let it griddle for a minute. Crack open the egg into the hole in the bread. Let cook for a minute. Lift the bread and egg out of the pan with a spatula and plop down the other 1/2 Tbsp of butter. Flip the bread over and cook the other side for about a minute. Don't forget to flip over your cutout circle, too.

PW seasons hers with salt and pepper. I prefer to leave it without, but use whatever you would normally use on a fried egg.

These are sooo good and they always turn out perfect for me! Why eat toast when you can have griddled bread? YUM. [The picture isn't the best, but there's no way that I'm wasting food just to get a good photo.]

What is something "normal" that you can't cook no matter how hard you try?

Perfect Brownie Pan

2010-03-17T18:31:00.001-04:00

Have you ever bitten off more than you can chew? (Seemed to be an appropriate question for a food blog!!) I had decided earlier in the week that I wanted to make the Chicken Pot Pie recipe that was posted on Delightful Country Cookin' the other day. Looked delicious and it's one of my favorite foods. I already had all of the ingredients, so I was good to go. Took the chicken out of the freezer and then wound up with a lot of other things to do! So I realized that I needed to cook this chicken.

Not a problem. Except that I also need to make food to take to work tomorrow. I'm making a taco dip... easy peasy. Except the cream cheese needs to soften. And because I'm ambitious and ♥ sharing food with my coworkers, I'm also making brownies. Orange-chocolate brownies in honor of my boys, the Syracuse Orange. Yay!

I almost never make from-scratch brownies, because I have great results with brownies mix and that is just so easy. But I'm adding a teaspoon of orange extract to make them yummy.

I've wanted a Perfect Brownie Pan since the first time I saw them advertised and my sister got it for me for Christmas. I love it! Since it's a smaller pan, the brownies turn out nice and tall and the texture is perfect. I was worried that the edges would be too chewy, but they don't turn out that way at all.

There is a little bit of preparation that needs to go into this, but in the end it definitely saves time. And you look like you're All That when you take brownies into work that are cut into perfect little rectangles.

Here are some tips:

Make sure you spray all of the pieces, or the divider will not pull out once the brownies are done baking

Line the bottom with foil before adding the middle piece. Otherwise, the brownie mix could seep out through the sides

Be careful when you're washing it! The inside edges are very sharp and I cut my finger when I ran my finger along the edge of it.

Cake Mix Cookies

2010-03-11T18:56:00.001-05:00

These cookies are so good and extremely versatile. They're nice and soft and everyone loves them. You can mix and match the cake mixes with different flavored chips. My taste testers like devil's food cake with peanut butter chips the best. The picture is devil's food cake with white chocolate chips.

Around Christmas time I found bags of mint chips at Wal-Mart. I stocked up, because chocolate and mint is my favorite flavor combination. Every now and then I'm able to find raspberry chips and those turn out really good too!!! I've also used mini M&Ms. Yummers. Lots of possibilites and they're sooo easy.

1 devil's food cake mix

1/2 cup oil

2 eggs

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350º. In a large bowl, mix all of the ingredients. Drop by spoonfuls (or use a handy-dandy cookie scoop) onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. They will set as they cool. Delicious.

Cream Puffs

2010-03-07T12:30:00.000-05:00

Happy Oscar Day!!!! I live for this stuff... just can't get enough of it. And I'm really excited because I have actually seen all ten Best Picture nominees!! So I can't wait for the festivities. My personal favorite out of the bunch was Precious, but I don't think it stands a chance. So I'm pulling for The Hurt Locker. I was really impressed that in this political climate, Hollywood made a war movie that was completely non-political.

Anyway, I made these yummy cream puffs for my dinner with friends last weekend and I'm thinking of whipping up a batch just for me to enjoy while watching the Red Carpet. I didn't really make any huge adjustments to this recipe when I originally made them, but next time I will cut the filling in half (which is reflected in my recipe below). I did follow the suggestion of one of the reviewers to add the eggs all at once. The hot fudge sauce is my own addition. These are sooo good and sooo easy.

1 (3.5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla, divided

1/2 cup butter

1 cup water

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

4 eggs

1/4 cup hot fudge sauce

Mix together pudding mix, cream, milk, and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Cover and refrigerate to set.

Preheat oven to 425º. In a large pot, bring water and butter to a rolling boil. Stir in flour and salt until the mixture forms a ball.

Crack open the eggs into a small bowl. Add a teaspoon of vanilla. Transfer the dough mixture to a large mixing bowl and immediately add the bowl of eggs. Mix on medium speed for 2-3 minutes (until the dough gets tacky and starts to stick to the sides of the bowl). Drop by tablespoonfuls (or use a cookie dropper) onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and poke a toothpick into the side of each puff to let the steam escape.

When the puffs are cool, split them in half and make a "sandwich" using the pudding mixture as the filling.

Warm the hot fudge sauce in the microwave and drizzle over the puffs. Keep in the fridge until ready to serve.

Herb Roasted Potatoes

2010-03-03T18:47:00.000-05:00

I'm weird... I prefer cooking to eating. Last night I made a huge pan of baked ziti. Ate one portion, saved one portion for dinner for another night, and took the rest to work. I think everyone appreciates my strangeness because it means they get to eat. LOL.

For dinner tonight, I wanted something simple. So I adapted this recipe to what I had on hand. Turned out delish. Don't yell at me for not eating enough. It falls on deaf ears!

one large potato

1/2 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp Herbs de Provence

Preheat oven to 450º. Peel and cube the potato. Place the potato in a bowl and toss with remaining ingredients. Spread out potato cubes in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve immediately.

Makes one serving.

Coq au Vin

2010-02-27T17:07:00.000-05:00

I saw Julie and Julia several months ago when it was still in the theater. What a great movie! And unlike the general consensus, I thought Amy Adams was adorable as Julie Powell and I found her character more relatable than Julia Child.

Anyway, apparently the movie had more influence on me than I realized. I'm having friends over tomorrow and my menu has a definite French theme! The main course is coq au vin and it smells soo good in my house right now. Maybe I'll try taking some pictures to post tomorrow. We'll see.

This is adapted from several different recipes.

2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces

2 cups Merlot

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup (approx 4) sliced carrots

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 6-ounce can tomato paste

1/4 cup chicken broth

2 strips precooked bacon, cut into 1-inch slices

2 tbs Zesty Herb Marinade mix by McCormick (in the little envelopes)

1 bay leaf

Mix all ingredients together in a crockpot. Stir to combine. Cook on low 6 hours. Serve over egg noodles. (Don't forget to remove the bay leaf first)!

Penne Gorgonzola with Chicken

2009-12-20T19:18:00.000-05:00

This is what I see when I look out my window. I'm one of the six people in Buffalo who love this weather. Ha.

Here is the main dish I served at my Christmas gathering. It's a winning recipe from Taste of Home magazine's October/November 2009 issue. I didn't change a thing... it was perfect as is!!

16-oz pkg penne pasta

1 lb boneless skinless chicken, cut into 1/2-in pieces

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 large garlic clove, minced

1/4 cup white wine

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup chicken broth

8-oz crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

6 to 8 sage leaves, thinly sliced

salt and pepper to taste

grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

minced fresh parsley

Cook pasta according to package directions.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium heat, brown chicken in olive oil on all sides. Add garlic; cook one minute longer. Add wine, stirring to loosen browned bits from pan.

Add cream and broth; cook until sauce is slightly thickened and chicken is no longer pink. Stir in Gorgonzola, sage, salt, and pepper. Cook just until cheese is melted.

Drain pasta. Toss with sauce. Sprinke with Parm-Reg and parsley.

Tiramisu Layer Cake

2009-12-20T14:07:00.000-05:00

I love having friends over, so I figured Christmas was a darn good reason to invite a bunch of my favorite people over for food and football! This recipe was absolutely delicious. The original recipe (with a ton of rave reviews) can be found on allrecipes.com. I only made a couple adjustments, mainly because it was just easier for me. Thank you, Bettina, for a great recipe!

Cake:

1 (18.25 ounce) package moist white cake mix

1 teaspoon instant coffee powder (I hate coffe, so I used one of those packets that you can mix into hot water... kind of like the Crystal Light drop-in thingies)

1/4 cup coffee (made using the packets!)

1 tablespoon rum

Filling:

1 (8 ounce) container mascarpone cheese (minus a spoonful that I ate while making it!

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons rum

Frosting:

2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons rum /li>

Preheat oven to 350º. Grease and flour 3 9-inch) pans. Prepare the cake mix according to package directions. Pour a third of the batter into one pan, and another third of the batter into a second pan. Stir the instant coffee into remaining batter and pour into the third pan.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine brewed coffee and 1 tablespoon of rum; set aside.

[For filling] In a small bowl, using an electric mixer set on low speed, combine mascarpone, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons rum; beat just until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

[For frosting] In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer set on medium-high speed, beat the cream, 1/4 cup powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons rum until stiff. Fold in 1/2 cup of the mascarpone (filling) mixture.

Place one plain cake layer on a serving plate. Using a toothpick, poke holes in cake about 1 inch apart. Pour one third of reserved coffee mixture over cake, then spread with half of the filling mixture.

Top with coffee-flavored cake layer; poke holes in cake. Pour another third of the coffee mixture over the second layer and spread with the remaining filling.

Top with remaining cake layer; poke holes in cake. Pour remaining coffee mixture on top. Spread sides and top of cake with frosting.

Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving.

[The original recipe calls for garnish of cocoa powder and chocolate curls. I loved the way it looked without the garnish... like a great big snowball... so I left it as is.]

Pineapple Cherry Dump Cake

2009-09-21T21:19:00.000-04:00

This was so good and so ridiculously easy! I also found a resource with a bunch of variations. Can't wait to try them!

1 can cherry pie filling

1 can crushed pineapple (with juice)

1 box yellow cake mix

1 stick butter, melted

Combine pie filling and pineapple in a casserole dish. Sprinkle cake mix on top. Pour melted butter over cake mix. Bake at 350º for 1 hour.

I served this cold with Cool Whip during the Bills game. I think it would also be really good warm with vanilla ice cream!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-05-09T22:13:00.000-04:00

These are my absolute favorite cookies. Sooo good. Enjoy ♥

1 cup butter

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cups rolled oats (not the quick cook ones)

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350º. In a large bowl, cream butter and both sugars. Add eggs, vanilla, and cinnamon. Mix thoroughly.

In a separate bowl, combine baking soda, salt, and flour. Stir into the sugar mixture.

Add oatmeal and chips. Stir until well blended.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.

Bake for ten minutes.

Crescent Cheesecake Squares

2008-09-16T21:24:00.000-04:00

1 tbsp butter, melted

2 tubes crescent rolls

2 pkgs cream cheese, softened

1 cup plus 1 tbsp sugar, divided

1 tbsp cinnamon

Spray 13 x 9 pan. Layer bottom of pan with one tube of crescent rolls to form a crust. Combine cream cheese and 1 cup of sugar. Spread over crust. Layer second tube of crescents on top of cream cheese mixture. Brush with melted butter. Combine 1 tbsp sugar with the cinnamon. Sprinkle on top. Bake at 350º for 30 minutes. Refrigerate 2 hours. Cut into squares.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cheescake

2008-08-31T17:01:00.000-04:00

This was adapted from a recipe I got in a twopeasinabucket recipe swap. This got rave reviews from my taste-testers (my coworkers)

1 purchases Oreo cookie crust

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

3 packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup sour cream

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup hot fudge topping, divided

6 peanut butter cups, cut into small wedges

Microwave peanut butter for 30 seconds. Spread over crust. Beat cream cheese, sugar, and sour cream until smooth. Add eggs. Beat until combined. Stir in vanilla. Pour one cup of the mixture into a bowl and set aside. Pour remaining mixture onto crust. Microwave 1/4 cup hot fudge topping for 30 seconds. Fold into batter that was set aside. Spoon into pan, swirl with knife. Bake 55 - 65 minutes at 350º. Cool 10 minutes. Spread remaining hot fudge on top. Sprinkle with peanut butter cups. Refrigerate overnight.

Really yummy!!!