Pick a Recipe, Any Recipe

I feel as if I’m so far behind on all the things I want to share with you!  So I’m going to combine a few recipes here that I’ve tried in the past month or so. 

Let’s start with breakfast. 

Besides just getting B a gift on Valentine’s Day I wanted to show him in other ways how special he is to me.  So for breakfast I made homemade donuts.  Typically I try and stay away from using yeast because it just makes me nervous.  The water temperature has to be just right and I’m always afraid I’m going to mess it up and all my work will be in vain.  But sometimes I have to just swallow my fear. 

The recipe I used for the the donuts can be found here.  Make sure you flour the surface really well.  Notice that my donuts aren't perfect and at first that frustrated me but it did not affect the taste.  Just go with it.  Since it was Valentine's Day I decided not to ice them with chocolate but to make a pink glaze instead.  I just mixed water and powdered sugar until it was the consistency I liked and dipped the doughnuts (once they were fully cooled).  My glaze was not very thick because I wanted the glaze to drip down over the entire doughnut (or at least a lot of it).  As you can see the glaze didn't show up as pink liked I had hoped but there was a pink tint.  I also followed the recipe for the doughnut holes and they were equally delicious.  If you're nervous about the water being the right temperature for the yeast just use a thermometer.  I know, I know experienced bakers don't have to do this but whatever, I'm not an experienced baker I just want my food to taste good.

Don't you think that one looks like a heart?  Maybe it's just me.

Next, stuffed zucchini.

I’m always looking for unique ways to include fresh fruits and veggies in our meals.  This was a super tasty option for zucchini.  Plus the “stuffing” could be altered about a million different ways to satisfy all taste buds.  The recipe can be found here.  I did alter a few things on this recipe.  During the sauteing of onions and peppers I also added mushrooms.  When I was mixing everything together I added about a cup (maybe a bit more) of cooked ground beef and a cup of cheese.  Oh, I didn't have tomatoes so I didn't add those in either.  Really I kind of just mixed up whatever I wanted or had in my fridge and pantry.  They turned out delicious and will definitely be made again at 8050 place.    

Finally, what is a meal without dessert?!  

Part of B’s Valentine’s gift was a matching mug set (see below) so what better way to give them to him than filled with cake!  You can find the recipe here.  The only ingredient that is kind of funky is whole wheat pastry flour but if you notice you can substitute it for all purpose flour.  Also, I did not double the recipe because our mugs were kind of small but I should have.  It truly is a small amount so if you have two mugs double it!  

Take the time to try a new recipe, maybe even a challenging one.  ENJOY!

(P.S. Let me know if you try one of these by commenting on the blog.)

Sweetheart Cocoa

With Valentine's Day right around the corner, do you need a quick, sweet treat for your valentine?  I have just the recipe for you, Sweetheart Cocoa!  (original recipe can be found here)

Trust me, this is an easy recipe and it only took me about 10-15 minutes.  You only need a few ingredients and most of them can probably be found in your pantry right now.  

Dump 1/2 cup of sugar and 4 tablespoons of butter in a medium size pan.  Turn the stove on medium high heat.  Add 1 pint (2 cups) of strawberry ice cream in with the butter and sugar.  (I also added a handful of milk chocolate chips.)  Whisk until melted.

While you're waiting on this to melt, grab 1 cup of chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate) and melt.  The original recipe says to melt this on the stove top but I opted for the microwave.  I just turned the power down to 50% and cooked for a minute at a time stirring after each minute until the chips are melted.  Once, they're melted take your mug and dip in the chocolate so that it covers the rim.  

Okay, so back to the mixture that should be melted on the stove by now.  Whisk in one cup of hot water at a time, whisking between until you have added 3 cups of water.  You can add less or more water depending on how rich you want the cocoa.  I suggest tasting between adding each cup of water as well.  After the desired amount of water is added heat until steaming.  B likes his coffee and tea hot so I made sure it was extra steamy.  

This treat isn't completely finished without a topping of whipped cream and sprinkles.  This could be Redi-Whip, Cool Whip, or if you don't have either you can improvise, like I did.  I typically keep heavy cream in the fridge so I mixed about 1 cup of heavy cream with 1/4 cup of sugar (these are estimated measurements) on high in my mixer until it was fluffy.  

Ladle the cocoa in to the chocolate rimmed mug, add a dallop of whipped cream and sprinkles, and ENJOY!

What a great Valentine morning surprise or dessert after a romantic meal together.  Whenever or however you decide to share this with your Valentine make sure you let me them know that you love them!

Love List

While Monday’s cool weather may not be the official end to summer, in my mind fall is here!  And it happens to be my very favorite time of year. 

But . . . if you need one last taste of summer here’s your chance,

NO MACHINE REQUIRED ICE CREAM. 

 

Yes you read that right, no machine required.  How you ask?  Read on.

I once bought an ice cream machine for $5 at a yard sale and for some reason I thought it was a good deal.  While a lot of the things I buy at yard sales are good deals this one was not.  I was still in a very early stage of understanding how to make good, quality homemade ice cream.  Since then I have learned that the machine is the key ingredient.  And that key ingredient can cost around $100.  Much less than the best won’t turn out good, quality ice cream.  Needless to say my $5 ice cream machine is in some landfill and my homemade ice cream skills aren’t much better.  So when I discovered this recipe on Kevin & Amanda (a website I like to follow) I didn’t believe it myself. However, after testing a few combinations I must add this to my . . .

So, feeling pretty confident in my new discovery and my newly developed homemade ice cream skills I decided to share this with my bible study group (aka women in my sunday school class).  Brooke fixed cookies and cute bottles of milk for everyone while we worked. 

There are two necessary ingredients.  Yes,only two.  Can you believe that? 

1 – 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk

2 cups of heavy cream

So all you do is put the 2 cups of heavy cream in a mixer and whip until the cream forms stiff peaks.

Pour the sweetened condensed milk in a separate bowl.  You can add in a variety of other ingredients to “flavor” your ice cream.  Mix the other ingredients (chocolate chips, berries, crushed oreos, cookie dough, etc.) with the sweetened condensed milk.  Click here to see Amanda’s combinations. We made two combinations; Smores and Cinnamon Bun.   (See recipes at the end of this post.)

Once the cream has formed stiff peaks fold it into the sweetened condensed milk mixture.  Fold doesn’t mean stir it.  You want the cream to stay fluffy. 

Pour into a 2 quart container and freeze.  That’s it!  The recipe says it needs to freeze for around 6 hours but just until firm is sufficient. 

(one of my combos)

ENJOY! 

Thanks girls for a fun night!

Smores

2 cups heavy cream

1 (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

½ cup mini chocolate chips

½ tsp vanilla extract

½ cup marshmallow cream

Cinnamon Bun

2 cups heavy cream

1 (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

3 tbsp melted butter

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp vanilla



Not a bad way to top of sushi . . .

So if everyone else jumped off a bridge would you?  Well, no of course not but this isn't jumping off a bridge, this is just joining the blogger fads and welcoming a GUEST BLOGGER!!!!  Who you ask is the very first guest blogger of 8050 place?  Introducing, the one, the only Emily!  But seriously. . . today my good friend Emily is joining me.  She had a fun idea that I wanted her to share.  You have to try it.  And, as you will see, we've worked out all the kinks for you.  Also for a shameless plug, Emily and her husband have a blog you need to check out, The Entire Gospel.  So now without further ado . . .

   

What’s a girl to do with her super trendy waffle iron received at her wedding shower (one of four she received) and used only once the previous year? Make brownies of course.

In the name of convenience and cuteness, three friends and I set out to copy a sensational dessert we were sure would sweep toddler birthday parties and girls-only movie nights…brownie batter waffle sundaes. Who doesn’t have a dusty brownie mix in the pantry that could use a pick-me-up? Wendy and I (rather pleased with our secret dessert plans) dined at a local Asian bistro with two other friends and talked over spring rolls about how stunned they would be with our sweet ending (we have something of a reputation for making great desserts). Not to disappoint, the ingredients and iron were kept in a Whole Foods grocery bag until the unveiling after dinner at home. Needless to say, after pulling out the waffle maker and mix (complete with a ‘ta-dah!’), our friends were confused after such talk of raising the bar with our recipe but were quickly converted when we told them our plan.

With the quiet confidence of the Barefoot Contessa herself, we set out mixing the brownie batter according to package directions (maybe it was at this point someone should have asked if we had done this before or if we were following a recipe). The waffle irons were hot and liberally sprayed with Pam. Wendy delicately plated sensational toppings for our waffle sundaes: almonds, blueberries, sprinkles, colored sugars and syrups to name a few. Carefully, the batter was poured with a soft sizzle and spread evenly with a spatula. We only were left to wait for our creation to cook.

The smell of chocolate and char filled the kitchen; when we checked the waffles, they were still a rich brown color…no burning to speak of. Soft to the touch, we left them in the iron (probably eight minutes at this point). We tried to pull the first one and only fluffy brownie chunks came out. Since this was the deep, rounded waffle iron, we tried the batter in waffle iron #2 (small, square and cheap) in hopes of a quicker cooking time and better results. So we poured and we let it be. About 11 minutes later, with shouts of rejoicing, we extracted a full waffle! As the minutes ticked, we noticed it became harder and harder and inedible at best. A quick internet check revealed a few mistakes:

1.       Leave the water out of the recipe, even though the box calls for it.

2.       Cook short, cool long: turning the waffle iron off and letting it cool before removing it is key to a tasty (not rocky) waffle.

We had just enough batter to implement our new strategy (minus the water issue…too little too late). The winning batch cooked for about 4-6 minutes with a cooling and setting time almost the same. After pulling our successful brownie waffles, making them into sundaes was a reward worth the effort. With an evening of technique-refining behind us, we eagerly decorated and ate and made plans for an even better brownie waffle sundae event.

Figuring it out truly is half the fun. Anyone can buy a packaged cheesecake or settle for plain brownies. The innovative use of a somewhat neglected kitchen appliance gave us a night and dessert we will not soon forget…not a bad way to top off sushi!

-emily

Fried Green Tomatoes (not the movie)

While I like the movie Fried Green Tomatoes as much as the next girl this post is not about the movie.  It’s summer for goodness sakes, I’m talking about the real thing.

I hate to admit it but I don’t like tomatoes.  I like tomato juice, salsa, chili, spaghetti sauce, ketchup, and most everything else made of tomatoes but not plain, old, raw tomatoes.  However, I do really enjoy fried green tomatoes.  Go figure.

On my way home from the vet today I stopped at Bennett’s Market.  As I was perusing through the fresh vegetables the box of green tomatoes caught my attention.  I recalled tearing out a recipe from Southern Living (June issue) for fried green tomatoes.  I picked up three and planned to add them to supper.  Brandon has been away for work since Sunday so I wanted to have a home cooked meal ready for him.

When I arrived home, I started digging through my stack of “want to try” recipes and found the one.  I had all the ingredients.  Hooray!  It was super easy and they only take 4 minutes to cook.  I definitely think you should try it!

Ingredients: 1 egg, ½ cup buttermilk (I’ll tell you how to make it), ½ cup SR cornmeal, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp pepper, ½ cup all purpose flour, 3 medium firm green tomatoes

Note:  If you don’t keep buttermilk (I don’t)here’s how to make it.  Pour 1 cup of milk and add 1 tbsp of vinegar then let it stand for 10 minutes.   Voila, buttermilk. (so for this recipe you need ½ cup of milk with ½ tbsp. of vinegar)

You need three bowls

1^st bowl:  ¼ cup of all purpose flour

2^nd bowl:  egg, slight beaten and buttermilk

3^rd bowl:  cornmeal, salt, pepper, ¼ cup of all purpose flour

Slice your tomatoes about 1/3 inch thick.  Dip a slice in the 1^st bowl (front and back), then the 2^nd bowl (front and back), then the 3^rd bowl (front and back).  Then drop in a cast iron skillet (really any skillet will do but you can’t beat cast iron) filled with ½ inch of oil.  I put my heat on medium.  Let the tomatoes cook about 2 minutes on each side.  Drain on paper towels. 

ENJOY!

We enjoyed them so much we decided to share!



When you’ve got limes, make limeade

I LOVE LIMES!  The flavor, especially in the summer, is one I can’t get enough on.  There are so many uses you might not have even thought of.  We marinate chicken in lime juice, squeeze it over tortilla chips, or simply drop it in a glass of ice water.  My good friend Emily has introduced me to yet another use that I thought you might want to try as well. 

I keep limes in my kitchen almost all the time.  Today I noticed they were starting to turn brown and if I didn’t use them I was going to lose them (and I sure didn’t want to do that) so I made limeade. 

I have made fresh limeade before with limes, sugar, and water which is quicker and easier.  So, if you don't have time for this recipe you can make it that way.  However, it seemed there was something missing until I tried this recipe. 

Ingredients:  Limes, Sugar, Water, Club soda

Step 1:  Simply take your limes and squeeze them.  As you can see I used a simple, cheap juicer.  I don’t have anything electronic and fancy like you see on Barefoot Contessa.  (Although that would be a good gift idea.  Anyone?  Anyone?)  You need at least one cup of juice and then set it to the side.

Step 2:  On the stovetop over medium heat mix 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup of water.  Stir continuously until sugar is dissolved which will be about 5 minutes.  Drop in the limes or their peeling for added intensity. 

Step 3:  Immediately turn the heat up and bring to boil.  As soon as the mixture starts to boil turn down the heat to a simmer and allow to simmer for 5 minutes.  Then remove the pan from the heat and let the mixture slightly cool. 

Step 4:  After the mixture has cooled, add the lime juice.  Place in the refrigerator until completely cooled, approximately 3 hours. 

Step 5:  Take the mixture out of the refrigerator and mix with ½ liter of club soda.  Sip and enjoy!

Options:  You can substitute the limes/lime juice with lemon or even orange. 

Other options:  You can change the ratio to make a larger batch; 3 cups of sugar, 1 cup of water, 2 cups of juice, and 1 liter of club soda.