I have a problem

I cannot sit down.

At least, not when I'm home alone. If either Matt or Mason are around, I am usually pretty good about just hanging out with them or relaxing on the couch. But on my days off, when Mason is sleeping, this is what I do...

Pioneer Woman's Sour Cream Noodle Bake

(This was pretty bland. I should have added way more sauce.)

Made's Coconut Lime Banana Bread

(I need to find a way to infuse that glaze into the whole loaf!!!)

Joy's Hope's Toffee Crack

(Made this for Matt to take to work. Always a big hit. Ridiculously easy and SO yummy.)



Now I'm going to pretend I don't just check out recipes all day long and look forward to my days off so I can try them...

Recipes

Add these to your "I have to make that" list...

Bakerella's Red Velvet Cake

That frosting is sooo amazing

(Happy birthday to my dad, who turned 52 last week!)

Veggie Muffins

Don't roll your eyes at me, these were GOOD! Of course, it helped that some had the above referenced frosting on top of them. Even without the frosting though, they were surprisingly tasty.

Chicken Penne Bake

Low-cal and delicious. I made this for our monthly family dinner and it was a hit with everyone. It was even easier because I cooked the chicken in the slow cooker and prepared everything ahead of time. I doubled the recipe and had a ton of leftovers (um, which we cleaned up for lunch the next day).

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

These really are best when eaten while camping, but St. Patrick's Day is an acceptable alternative. While Mason napped yesterday I made a batch of Smitten Kitchen's Whiskey and Beer cupcakes. One recipe made 3 jumbo cupcakes (or, as we like to say in our house, "Matt-sized" cupcakes), 10 normal-sized cupcakes, 8 minis and a small cake. Don't worry, we shared with work people.

Here is the recipe, so you can make your own. My birthday is coming up in less than three months. Just sayin'...

First, make your Guinness cupcakes.

1 cup Guinness

1 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups all purpose flour (I use whole wheat and they still taste amazing-- shhh)

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

2/3 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring beer and butter to simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in large bowl to blend. Using an electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add beer-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using a rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake about 17 minutes.

 

While your cupcakes are cooling, make your chocolate-whiskey filling.

1 cup chocolate chips
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 to 2 teaspoons Irish whiskey

Pour the chocolate chips into a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. Add the butter and whiskey and stir until combined. Set it aside to cool and thicken up.

Now make your Baileys butter cream frosting.

1 box powdered sugar

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 to 4 tablespoons Baileys (or more...)

 

Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar. When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle in the Baileys and whip it until combined.

Now go back to your cooled cupcakes and use a small spoon (I actually used a strawberry-huller) and scoop out some of the middles.

Use a pastry bag (or a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off) to fill up the holes in the cupcakes with the chocolate-whiskey goodness. Frost those babies and enjoy!

Oh, and you'll have to cake left over from the parts you scooped out. Make cake balls with the extra frosting and chocolate! And then go run 10 miles to burn off the deliciousness. Sooo worth it though, trust me.

Cranberry Sangria

Here is the Cranberry Sangria recipe I made for Jaime's shower. It was adapted from THIS Bobby Flay pomegranate sangria recipe. Lucky for me, there was a bit left over by the end of the shower, and I finished that off last night. Mmm. :)



Ingredients:

- 1 bottle fruity red wine (I used Crane Lake Cabernet-- it's $3 a bottle at Winco)

- 1 1/2 cups Trader Joe's Sparking Pomegranate juice

- 1/2 cup cranberry juice
- 1/2 cup brandy (VSOP was quite tasty)
- 1/2 cup Triple Sec
- 1/4 cup simple syrup (equal amounts sugar and water, heated until sugar dissolves, cooled)
- 1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
- 2 Mandarin oranges, thinly sliced
- 1 green apple, cored, halved and thinly sliced

Directions:
Combine all ingredients except for the Sparkling Pomegranate juice in a pitcher, cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 48 hours before serving. Immediately before serving, add the Sparkling Pomegranate juice and serve over ice.

I doubled the recipe for a shower of about 12 and it was so yummy, I will definitely make this again. In fact, Mason's birthday is next weekend... I could work that into a "One Fish Two Fish" theme, right? :)

If you want to impress dinner guests

Make THIS soup,

serve it with THIS fish,

(I made it with tilapia and omitted the shallots/onions)

and add THIS quinoa salad.

The whole meal took half an hour, start to finish, and everyone raved about it. Seriously. And they all went back for seconds.

Homemade Popsicles

Mason can't get enough of these pineapple popsicles. The ice cube size is perfect and he finishes it just before it begins to melt all over him.

Apparently they taste better when you're standing on the chair.

Because sitting is not cool.

Pineapple Coconut Popscicles

(adapted from a recipe found HERE)

1- 13.5 oz. can coconut milk

1 c. chopped pineapple

1 banana

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 c. shredded coconut

Combine everything in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Pour into molds and pop into the freezer. After about 30 minutes push popscicle sticks (or you could use toothpicks) into each mold and back into the freezer they go.

Enjoy!

Weekend Fun

This weekend was all about the water

We spent Saturday at the neighborhood pool, which is only for kids under 7 and has a cool mushroom water feature

Sunday we hung out at Auntie Lindsey's

No one had better tell Mason that frozen peas and roasted beets aren't "snack" foods

Before you feel sorry for him, he did get a whole (mini) cupcake to himself

Margarita cupcakes with lime frosting

(you can find the recipe HERE)

Have a great week!

Homemade Ketchup

Those of you who already think I'm crazy for doing stuff like making yogurt and potato chips, you're right. At least I know it.

In case you were wondering how these things happen, this time it started with an empty bottle of ketchup and an abundance of tomatoes.

"How difficult could it be to make ketchup?" I ask myself.

The answer? Not difficult AT ALL.

Start by putting all of this in a big pot:

(Recipe adapted from HERE)

Simmer the whole pot on the stove on low for about 4 hours (or if you're impatient, like me, set it to medium low and simmer for 3 hours, stirring every once in a while). You want the mixture to reduce down until it's really thick. Next, pour everything into the blender and blend until smooth.

Done.

You just made ketchup.

Seriously. It's that easy.

Then you can use the ketchup to make Beer and Ketchup Meatballs.

Enjoy!

*Next time I use that ketchup recipe I'm going to double or triple the amounts. It made about 2 cups.

Weekend Fun

You'd think all I did this weekend was bake...

Prudent Baby's Apple Cream Cheese muffins

Whatever's Baked French Toast

The Larson Lingo's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough cupcakes

And Tage's favorite Sweet Potato Blueberry Bread by Bonnie the Baker

Add to that 11 hours worked between two jobs, church, the farmers market and a bike ride-- and there you have our weekend fun!

Oh, and I almost forgot, we watched Lance Armstrong and the Amgen Tour of California ride by our street on Sunday. So cool!

When life gives you lemons, make cookies

After we moved the second time last year I haven't been able to locate an entire box of kitchen supplies. Every so often I'll be looking for something and cannot find it anywhere. And we live in 900 square feet. There is not a lot of room for things to be "hidden."

Annoyed that I couldn't find my shamrock cookie cutter last night, I settled on using the 1" heart cutter.

It was that or a onesie-shaped cookie cutter.

Then I realized...

Hearts can make shamrocks!

Here is Ina Garten's "Best Ever Pecan Shortbread" recipe I used:

3/4 lb. unsalted butter

1 c. sugar

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 tsp. pure almond extract

3 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 c. small-diced pecans

Cream together butter and sugar until just combined. Add vanilla and almond extracts and mix until smooth. Add flour and salt and mix. Add pecans and mix until incorporated. Shape into a disk, wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes. Roll the dough 1/2 inch thick and cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Let cook and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Enjoy!

Bran Flax Muffins

I realize "Bran Flax Muffins" doesn't sound enticing. How about we just call them "Blueberry Breakfast Muffins"? I'm not much of a cook (as in I rely heavily on recipes) nor am I one of those, "it needs a little more ___" people. Thank goodness for the internet. I can pick an ingredient from the kitchen and find something to make with it. In this case it was 3/4 c. of oat bran. Random, I know. I can't even remember why I purchased the oat bran in the first place but it has been driving me nuts in cabinet and I can't throw anything away. Ever.

The recipe for these muffins was adapted from one on the side of the Bob's Red Mill Flaxseed Meal package:

1 1/2 c, whole wheat flour

3/4 c. flaxseed meal

3/4 c. oat bran

1 c. brown sugar

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 1/2 c. shredded carrots (I used some parsnips too)

1 c. frozen blueberries

3/4 c. milk

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine dry ingredients.

Mix in shredded carrots and blueberries.

Whisk together milk, eggs and vanilla.

Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients.

Fold together (don't over mix).
Spoon into muffin tins (makes 12).

Bake 15-20 minutes.

I substituted the carrots, parsnips and blueberries for raisins, apples and nuts from the original recipe because Tage isn't a fan of nuts in food and I really like carrots and blueberries together. They turned out great! The muffins taste really rich and almost buttery. Make sure to enjoy them warm with a little *real* butter or fresh jam.

Combined with a big cup of green tea, it was the perfect start to my day off.

I ♥ Wednesdays

Homemade Kahlua

Every year for the past several Christmases I've intended to make kahlua using my great grandma's recipe. This year I finally did it in time! Homemade kahlua takes a month to "season" in order to get the richest vanilla flavor, so if you want the drink to be ready for consumption when you give the gift, you've got to prepare ahead of time.

Want to make your own? Here is Grandma Ina's recipe!

4 c. beet sugar

4 c. + 1/2 c. water

3 c. decaf instant coffee crystals

1/5 of your choice of liquor (gin, whiskey, bourbon, vodka or brandy)

1 whole vanilla bean

Step 1: Bring the sugar and 4 c. of water to a boil and let simmer for 5 minutes.

Step 2: Combine the 3 cups of instant coffee crystals to the 1/2 cup of water.

Step 3: Break the vanilla bean into 1/2 inch pieces and add to the sugar water.

Step 4: Combine the coffee with the water/sugar/vanilla bean mixture and let it cool.

Step 5: Add the 1/5 of whatever liquor you chose.

Step 6: Pour into bottles or jars (make sure to include a couple of pieces of vanilla bean in each container) and sit in a cool, dark place. *Note: You can purchase mason jars or glass bottles, but we try to reuse as much as possible-- so you're looking at an assortment of re-purposed wine bottles and various glass jars (like from the Pizza Friday marinara sauce) in the photo above.  

Shake the containers a little each day for at least a month.

Add a cute fabric top and a fun holiday label. Enjoy!

Pizza Friday (for $12.55)

For a while now Friday nights in our house have been designated Pizza Fridays. It is Tage's favorite food and an easy weeknight meal to plan for. Up until recently we would just pick up a Safeway or Freshetta boxed pizza-- which we know isn't the healthiest meal.

When we were in Iowa we watched an episode of Man vs. Food where they were in New York and visited a Sicilian pizza parlor. They made this AMAZING looking pizza that Tage was pretty sure he could duplicate (he is definitely the cook in the family, not me.) We tried it out a couple of weeks ago and it was delicious! Not only that but we had left overs for daaays. A small piece was enough to satisfy both of us for dinner and I'm pretty sure we had pizza for breakfast and dinner the rest of the weekend.

Here is how you can make your own Sicilian pizza (thank you to my own personal Sicilian chef for obliging me and taking pictures while cooking.)

(All of our ingredients were purchased at Trader Joe's)

You'll need:

2 packages of pizza dough ($1.29 each)

(we use the garlic and herb for extra YUM)

1 jar of marinara sauce ($2.29)

(my favorite is the no salt, organic kind)

8 oz. mozzarella ball ($2.99)

shredded romano and parmesan or, in this case, TJ's Quattro Formaggio cheese ($4.69)

Step 1: Follow the directions on the pizza dough package to prepare. You have to let TJ's pizza dough "rest" before you roll it out. If you use a canned pizza dough like Pillsbury you can just open it up and unroll it in the pan.

Step 2: Roll out your dough and place in a 13 x 9 pan. If you don't have stonewear, I highly recommend it. It is extremely durable, easy to clean, and food doesn't get stuck to it. Plus we just put the entire pan in the refrigerator and keep the leftovers in it.

Step 3: Slice the mozzarella ball into about 12 slices and spread them out evenly on top of the dough. Trust me, we didn't skip a step. The sauce goes on AFTER the cheese! At this point take a moment to sip your Blue Moon (top left of the photo.)

Step 4: Now pour the marinara on top of the mozzarella and dough. We use about 2/3 of the jar.

Step 5: Sprinkle your shredded cheese on top of the marinara.

Step 6: Drizzle the pie with extra virgin olive oil.

Step 7: Bake in a 450 degree oven for at least 25 minutes. You can follow the instructions on the pizza dough package, just know it's going to take a bit longer because of how thick the crust is.

The mozzarella melts and covers the crust and it makes this unbelievable cheesy layer beneath the sauce that is even better the next day when you're eating it cold. (Don't act like you don't do that.)

Enjoy!

Get your finger out of my soup!

Monday night we made Sausage and Potato Soup to go with these "creepy finger" bread sticks. You can make bread sticks from scratch or use pre-made ones (like we did). Use a knife to make indentations for knuckles and almond slices (or whole almonds) for fingernails. I like the almond slices because they look more like dirty fingernails-- gross!

Here is the recipe for the soup...

5-6 medium sized potatoes, cut into 1″ cubes
1 lb. pork sausage
1 medium onion, chopped (we omitted this)
1 cup light cream (we used half and half)
1/4 cup butter
6 cups chicken stock (we used vegetable)
1 1/2 Tbsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
freshly ground black pepper

Bring the stock to a boil in a large pot. Add potatoes (and onions, if using). Cook until the potatoes are tender. Meanwhile, brown the sausage in a separate pan. Add the cooked sausage to the potatoes and stock. Add the cream and butter. Stir until butter is melted. Add the vanilla and balsamic vinegar right before serving.