Tag: Delicious

Banana Birthday Cake for My Mom

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Today is Memorial Day, but it’s also my mother’s birthday.  While you’re all probably grilling and pie-making, I made a cake to celebrate a very special lady.

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My mom claims to not like cake and dessert, but really I know she’s just picky.  She loves certain desserts and she loves everything banana.  No crazy combinations here, because of her picky palate, I went the simple route.

I made a simple banana cake like the little banana cake I made before (recipe doubled for a full cake), but with a few changes to the filling

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I whipped up a ton of whipped cream with sugar and a touch of vanilla for filling and frosting, fried some bananas with rum and added some slivered almonds.

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and ta-da! A birthday cake just for my mother.  I added some fresh flowers for a pop of color.

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Happy Birthday Mom!

Is your mother picky about desserts like mine?  I feel like that’s one thing my children will never have to worry about.  I’ll pretty much enjoy anything.

Chipotle Fish Tacos

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Cinco de Mayo just happened.  You’re probably tired of Mexican food, but let’s be honest Corona and Guacamole don’t really qualify as Mexican food.  That doesn’t really qualify as food.  That’s a snack.

And it’s Tuesday.  Taco Tuesday.  How about some tacos?

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Trust me.  You need these tacos in your life.

I remember the first time I ate these tacos.  Jesse made them for me, pretty early on in our relationship, and I was skeptical.  But I swear it was love at first bite.  I’m talking about the tacos here.

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Ever since that first time, I’ve probably had them a dozen times with a million variations: shrimp, chicken, etc.

But these are the best.

Chipotle Fish Tacos

3 pieces of tilapia, cut into small pieces
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 an onion, diced
1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro
Juice of 1/2 lime
salt and pepper
1-2 cups cabbage, thinly sliced
1 diced tomato
1/4 cup mayo
1 tbsp sriracha*
a few lime wedges
1 avocado sliced
6 tortillas

Heat oil in the pan.  Add 1/4 of onion (so you’ll have 1/4 of onion left for putting on the tacos) and cook for a few mins.   Add fish and chipotle (depending on how hot you want it use 1-2 or more, for less spice just use the adobo sauce, not the chile itself), cook for a few minutes until fish is no longer translucent.  Stir in juice of 1/2 lime, about a tablespoon of cilantro and season with salt and pepper.  Set aside.

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Stir together sriracha and mayo.  Thin out with some lime juice or water.  Depending on how spicy you like it, the ratio of sriracha to mayo  might be different for you.  Add a bit, try it and add more if you’d like.

Now you can start assembling your tacos (this recipe will make about 6 tacos).  Heat up your tortillas.  Start by laying some fish in the center.

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Then you add your ingredients of choice.  We like to have it all on a plate at the table and assemble as we go.

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Lay on the cabbage, tomato, onion, cilantro and avocado.

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Then drizzle with sriracha mayo.  Squirt with a wedge of lime and devour.

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That’s exactly what I do.  I devour these, because they’re amazing.

Happy Taco Tuesday!  What’s your favorite kind of taco?

I love fish tacos, but I think shrimp tacos are my favorite.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Pie in a Pretzel Crust

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This blog post was original a dramatic complaint about how my life isn’t perfect.  I just re-read it, and I feel dumb, capricious and immature.  Because I realize all the things I worry about are trivial.  There are far more serious things in life than the fact that I have a pile of student loan debt, a mean comment from a reader or a little bit of back pain.

Last week, I thought I was having a terrible week.  Things kept going wrong, or so it seemed.  But I was wrong.

This week is far more terrible, because terrible things didn’t happen to me.  They happened to my loved ones, and that is a million times worse.

So in those moments when I feel like my life is crumbling, like a pie crust that doesn’t have enough water to help it stick together, food is important.  Those moments are when pie is essential.

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Really though.

Even if you don’t eat it, because by now I know turning to food when things aren’t going well is wrong, make the pie and give it away.

Give it to a loved one who isn’t having the best day, or a friend you haven’t talked to in a long time.

Pie doesn’t heal all wounds, but it helps.

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Peanut Butter and Jelly Pie in a Pretzel Crust

1 1/4 cup of pretzel crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter, smooth natural
4 oz cream cheese, softened
7 oz sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
1/2 cup + 3 tbsp strawberry jam

First make your crust by mixing together pretzel crumbs, butter and sugar.  Press into a 9” pie dish and place in the freezer until ready to use.

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Next, beat together peanut butter, cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk.  Beat 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream until if holds firm peaks.  Fold whipped cream into peanut butter mixture until combined.  Set aside.

Beat remaining 1 cup of whipped cream.  Once it start to form peaks, add in 3 tbsp of strawberry jam.  If you want to avoid clump, blend your jam before adding it to the whipped cream.  Set aside.

Next assemble the pie.  Spread half of the jam on the bottom of the pie crust.  If it’s hard to spread, feel free to add a little water or blend it to make it smooth.  Next spread on half the peanut butter mixture, then another layer with remaining jam. Top with remaining peanut butter mixture.  Transfer whipped cream to piping bag and pipe strawberry whipped cream onto the pie, alternatively you can just spread it.

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Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight and serve cold to someone special.

This is comfort food to the max, because sometimes we need a little comfort and a big hug.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Until about 5 days ago, I thought “brown butter” was a crock of shit.

I hate to be crass, but let’s be honest, food bloggers are some of the best bullshitters I know.  Don’t worry, I’m include myself in that sweeping comment.

I mean really, we love to make basic things and give them a fancy name that hipsters will repin like crazy and drive traffic to our sites.

Examples:

Chocolate Pudding with Peanut Butter Mousse and Maple Candied Bacon = Chocolate Pudding with stuff sprinkled on it

Spinach-Quinoa-Peach Salad with Honey-Sage Vinaigrette= a salad with fruit and grains

You’re welcome.

I’m just calling it like it is.  And you know what hipsters love?

Butter.  Especially brown butter.

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So for a long time, I avoided anything with brown butter, because it just sounded sort of silly, but then on Friday I was bored and I needed to make dessert for the next day.  So I thought to myself, why not give it a shot?

At worst it, it’s still just a damn cookie.  At best, it’s an amazing cookie.

I won’t lie.  It’s a pretty amazing cookie.

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Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from Food and Wine

1 stick of butter
1 cup + 2 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup dark chocolate chips

In a pan, melt butter over medium heat.  Allow to brown, about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat, transfer to large bowl and allow to cool to room temperature.  In the meantime, combine flour, salt, and baking soda in a bowl and set aside.

Once the butter has cooled, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add 1 egg at a time, then vanilla and continue to be beat for about a minute.  Add in flour mixture.  Mix until almost combined. Fold in chocolate chips until dough is just combined.

Place dough in the freezer while oven preheats to 350F.

Once oven has pre-heated, form dough into walnut sized balls.  Place on parchment paper-lined pan and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden around the edges.

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Remove from oven, leave on pan for a few minutes then transfer to a cooling rack until cool.  Then serve!  This recipe makes about 20-24 small ish cookies.  If you want larger cookies, bake longer and you’ll probably get about 10.

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So I’m going to go ahead and tell you that these are great.

I’m going to swallow my pride and admit I was wrong.  Brown butter is pretty tasty.  They weren’t lying when they said it gives it a nice nutty flavor.

Ok now be a hipster and…

30 Day Paleo Challenge: Days 3 & 4… Epic Paleo Dinner

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Cauliflower is totally having a moment.

I’m obsessed.  A few years ago, Kale was all the rage.  Now it seems like Cauliflower is all over the world (and by the world I clearly mean the big world of food blogs and Pinterest).  Since I’ve been eating the same things for breakfast and lunch that past few days (Day 1 and Day 2), I decided I needed to make something awesome for dinner and cauliflower would be included, because all the cool kids are doing it.

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Jesse and I have dinner together pretty much every Wednesday night, so this seemed like a good opportunity to show off my paleo cooking skills.

Chicken and Sage Mushrooms over Cauliflower Puree

inspired sorta by Real Simple

1 head of Cauliflower, chopped
2 slices of bacon
3-4 boneless skinless chicken thighs*
10 oz sliced mushrooms (I used baby bellas)
1 tbsp fresh chopped sage
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 tbsp chopped parsley
salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder

Put cauliflower in a pot with some water to boil.  Boil about 20 minutes or until tender.

In the meantime, in a skillet, cook 2 pieces of bacon.  Remove from pan and allow to cool once cripsy, chop then set aside.  Season chicken with salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste.  In the same skillet, cook the chicken until done (about 5-6 mins per side).

Remove chicken from pan and turn off heat.  Reserve that pan to cook the mushrooms in, but make the cauliflower puree.  Drain the cauliflower and put in the food processor with salt and garlic powder.  How much?  It depends on your palette.  I use a good amount of both (maybe 1/2 tsp? start there then taste it add more if necessary). Puree until smooth.

Next make the mushrooms, turn the heat back on to medium and throw the mushrooms in the pan.  Cook about 5 minutes or until almost cooked through.  Add sage, garlic, salt and pepper and cook for another minute or two.  Add in bacon, toss and turn off heat.

Next assemble the dish.  Lay some cauliflower puree on a plate, top with a piece of chicken, some mushrooms, then sprinkle with parsley and serve!  This will serve 2-3 people, depending how hungry they are

*I fit more pieces of chicken in the pan and made about 6 so that I had leftovers.  You can do the same.  This will make meals a lot easier for the rest of the week!  But if you want to make this for 2, you can also just make 2 pieces of chicken and it all works out fine 🙂

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I fed this to Jesse and his first question was: “This is Paleo?”

Yes.  It is.  And super tasty too.  I felt totally gluttonous while eating this!

Paleo Challenge Update:

Day 3:

Day 3 was the hardest so far, but even then, it wasn’t so bad.  I was just hungry and munchy (maybe a little stressed?).  Luckily, I’ve been overpacking when it comes to food at work.  I also took a bag of almonds to stash at my desk.  I’m glad I had them yesterday, because it was Bagel Wednesday at work…

I ate my lunch with a stack of bagels in the background.

I stayed strong though! No bagels!

Day 4:

Better than Day 3.   Breakfast and lunch were the same as above.

For dinner, I came home and had leftover cauliflower puree with some mushrooms, the remains of a week-old rotisserie chicken (I really hate throwing food away!), a banana with almond butter and some mango chunks to kill my craving for cake.

Now I need another epic dinner idea for tomorrow!  Any suggestions?

Little Banana Cake with Caramel Filling

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Sometimes you just don’t want a big commitment.  Saturday, I went on a 16 mile hike up the highest peak in Orange County.  That was a big commitment; there was snow at the top of the mountain.. in Orange County…

I was totally ok with that commitment.

But sometimes, dessert can be a big commitment, especially cakes.

Because of this, I think my 6 inch cake pans were a great investment, and I think this banana cake has been my greatest creation from them so far.

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I actually made this twice, so I can tell you with confidence that it’s doubly tasty.

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Little Banana Cake with Caramel Filling

adapted from Epicurious

For Cake:
1 cup + 1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp corn starch
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) butter
1/2 cup sugar, heaping
1 egg
1 ripe banana, mashed
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp whole milk
1/2 tsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

Caramel filling:
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt

Icing:
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Pre-heat oven to 350F.

Sift together flour, corn starch, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy (about 3 minutes).  Add in egg, continue to beat for another minute or two.  Beat in mashed banana, milk, vinegar and vanilla.  Add in flour mixture until well combine.

Pour batter into 2 (6 inch round) cake pans (greased, floured and bottom lined with parchment paper).  Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden and cooked through (mine took 25 mins, but yours might differ based on your oven so start checking after 20 mins).  Allow to cool completely.

Make caramel filling.  Melt sugar in a sauce pan over medium heat.  Once sugar starts to melt turn flame to low.  Work out any clumps by stirring.  Once the sugar syrup is a deep amber color, remove from heat stir in butter (mixture will foam a lot but keep stirring), stream in cream as you stir, then stir in vanilla and salt.   Set aside to cool a bit.

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Level off each layer using a serrated knife.  Place your bottom layer crumb side down on a plate (put some pieces of parchment paper around the edges to get a clean frost).  Spread half the caramel in the middle of the cake.  Put second layer on top and spread with remaining caramel.  Caramel should still be warm to the touch but not pourable.  You’ll have to spread it with the wooden spoon and it will smooth out on its own (if you let it cool too much you won’t get a smooth top.  Alternatively if the caramel is too hot, it might flow over the edges, no biggie, you can cover that with icing).

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Next make frosting.  Beat half a cup of heavy cream, once it starts to form soft peaks add in sugar and vanilla.  Continue to beat until it forms firm peaks.  Frost the cake as desired.  If you plan to frost the entire thing (including the top) and decorate, double the frosting.  I only frosted the sides

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then used a piping bag with a star tip to decorate the edges to leave the caramel exposed.  Both are great, tasty options.

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If you’re ready for a big commitment (aka a full size cake), double the recipe and bake in two 8 or 9 inch cake pans.

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Either way, store this cake in the fridge until about 45 minutes before you’re ready to serve it.  Don’t come complaining to me that your caramel is too hard if you take it out of the fridge and slice it immediately.  Like all commitments, that part needs time too.

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What’s your next commitment?

Please tell me it’s this little banana cake!

Banana Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

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2 great things inspired this blog post.  They both start with a B.   The first is Bacon.

That word inspires so many people to eat copious amounts of things.  I feel like Bacon is particularly fitting today, as it’s Super Bowl Sunday.  I would be a big fat liar if I told you I wasn’t excited for today, but I’ll be honest.  I’m more excited for the food than for the game, and only marginally more excited for Beyonce (that’s the second B…).

She’s my lady, and I love her.  Probably as much as most people like bacon.

So my contribution to Super Bowl Sunday (aka this…

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are these cookies

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Banana Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup butter
6 slices of bacon, cooked and fat reserved*
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips
 2 cup banana chips, roughly chopped

Cook bacon in a pan over medium heat until crispy.  Place on to a paper towel and allow to cool.  Once cooled, chop and set aside.  Reserve 1/4 cup of bacon fat.

Cream together butter, 1/4 cup bacon fat, and sugars.  Add each egg, beating about 1 minute after each.  Add flour and baking soda, beat until almost combined.   Fold in bacon, banana chips and chocolate chips.  Chill dough in the freezer while you preheat the oven to 350F.

Form dough into walnut sized balls, and place on parchment paper-lined baking pan.  Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown (this varies on the size of your cookies and your oven).  Allow to cool completely and serve.  Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

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*Note: if you don’t want to use bacon fat, omit bacon fat and use 3/4 cup of butter instead of 1/2 cup.

So make sure you get on this quick.  You’ve got a few hours until Beyonce (and the Super Bowl).  Run and get some bacon then make these cookies!

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Crazy Good Biscuits

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My boyfriend confessed to me that one time, I ate his biscuit.

That sounds totally gross.  Let me back up.  Once night, we had a crazy hankering for KFC.  So like any normal couple, we satiated the craving with a bucket, 4 biscuits and 2 sides.  Apparently, after dinner, I wrapped up the leftovers and told him to take them.  When he went home, he forgot them.

The next day, lunch rolled around and I ate the last biscuit, but left Jesse the remaining chicken and sides.  At least that’s how I remember it.

Yesterday, he confessed.  I ate the last biscuit and he was silently sad about that for a while.

Naturally, I laughed and apologized profusely.  Then, of course, made some biscuits to make amends for my biscuit-devouring habit.

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Crazy Good Biscuits

adapted from Epicurious

2 cups flour (plus extra for rolling out)
2 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
5 tbsp butter, cold
1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
1-2 tbsp melted butter (for brushing)

Preheat oven to 425F.  Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.  Add butter and using your fingers work the butter into the flour until you get coarse crumbs.  Next, add yogurt, cream and milk and stir with a spoon until combined.  Turn onto a floured surface and knead 2 or 3 times, then form into a disk shape.  Pat it down with your hand until it’s about 1 inch thick.  Using a biscuit cutter or the bottom of a cup (I used the bottom of a mason jar I use to make pies in jars, so mine were small biscuits), cut out biscuits and place onto a parchment paper lined baking pan.  Repeat until all dough is used up.  Brush with melted butter and bake 10-15 minutes (this will vary depending on the size of your biscuits) until golden brown.   This will make about 2 dozen biscuits (depending on size).

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Serve with whatever you like.  We like to keep it Latin so we ate them with carne asada, grilled corn and squash.

Tasty.

Bourbon Caramel Apple Pie

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So today I realized it’s been a while since I’ve written a blog post.  I blame it on one thing: The Walking Dead.

I’m about 859395 minutes late to the party, so I spent the last week watching the first two seasons.  It was an enormous race to watch all the episodes before the new episode on Sunday.  Good news: I’m all caught up.

Now I freak out when my lights flicker, but that’s okay.  If fictional tv shows freak you out (like they do me), just think of pie.

Then head into the kitchen to make this…

Bourbon Caramel Apple Pie

Single Pie Crust:

175g All Purpose Flour
1 tbsp Sugar
pinch of Salt
1 stick of Butter, cold
2 tbsp (maybe more) Ice Water

Filling:
6 apples, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
3 tbsp bourbon/whiskey

Caramel:

1 cup sugar
3 tbsp butter, softened
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp Bourbon
few pinches of salt

Topping:

1/2 cup Flour
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
2 tbsp White Sugar
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
pinch of Salt
3 tbsp Butter
1 tbsp bourbon

Prepare pie crust by combing flour, sugar and salt.  Using your fingers, break the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles very coarse crumbs (even pea sized is fine).  Add ice water and bring it all together into a ball using your hands.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate a few hours.  You can make this up to two days in advance.

Once your dough has rested sufficiently, you can start to assemble your pie.  Roll our dough and place into a 9inch pie dish, trim the edges, make them look pretty if you’d like.

Next make the caramel.  In a deep saucepan, melt sugar over medium heat.  Do not stir.  Once it reaches a golden brown color, remove from heat.  Stir in butter (it will bubble a lot, keep stirring), then stream in cream while stirring then stir in bourbon and salt.  If you get some clumps it’s not a big deal.    Set aside to cool slightly.

Preheat the oven to 350F.   Stick the prepared crust in the freezer while you make the filling and topping.  For the filling, I like to throw all the ingredients into a large ziploc bag, close it and toss it around.  A bowl works too.

Set aside while you make the topping. Next make crumble topping.  Combine dry ingredients.  Add butter and using your fingers work it into the mixture.  Drizzle in bourbon and toss to combine.  The mixture should look sort of like crumbs.

Next assemble the pie.  Pour a bit of the caramel into the pie crust and spread.  Next lay in half the apple mixture, pour some more caramel sauce (maybe 1/3 of it? also note if your caramel cooled too much and hardened just warm it up a bit on the stove).  Add the remaining apples and drizzle with some more caramel.  You should have about 1/4 of the caramel left over.  Sprinkle the crumble topping on the apples, then drizzle remaining caramel on top.  Place pie on a baking sheet and bake 45-60 mins or until golden and the fruit is bubbling in the middle.

Remove from oven, allow to cool completely then serve!

I recommend having this with a glass of bourbon while watching The Walking Dead (or maybe Vampire Diaries is more your supernatural style?).

Lemon Cupcakes with Berry Whipped Cream Icing

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I’m starting to realize I have a tendency toward repetitiveness.  I do things over and over again without really getting tired of it.

Example #1: Today I listened to the same song over and over again from about 10am until 4pm. I literally kept hitting repeat on YouTube.

Example #2: Every so often, when I have nothing to do, I like to watch Pride and Prejudice alone in my bed and cry my eyes out when Elizabeth is telling her father how much she loves Mr. Darcy.  It gets me every time.

Example #3: I make lemon cupcakes for any number of occasions.  I never get tired of experimenting in my quest to make the perfect lemon cupcakes/cake.

I think this is the jackpot though.  Oh wait, do I claim that every time?  Who knows… let’s go with it.

Lemon Cupcakes with Berry Whipped Cream Icing

adapted from Epicurious Moist Yellow Cake

3 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cup sugar
5 eggs
zest and juice of 2 lemons
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4- 1 cup milk*
1 box instant vanilla pudding mix
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup powered sugar
3-4 tbsp berry jam (i.e. strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, etc)

Pre-heat oven to 350F.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

Combine lemon juice and milk.  You want enough to make 1 1/4 cup of the mixture.  So squeeze the lemon juice into a measuring cup and fill until you get 1 1/4 cups.  Set aside.

Cream together butter and sugar.  Beat 3-5 minutes until fluffy.  Add lemon zest, vanilla and one egg at a time, beating 30 seconds between each egg.   Add flour mixture 1/2 cup (ish) at a time and milk mixture, alternating add each one.  Lastly, mix in the instant pudding mix.

Pour batter into line cupcake pan.  Bake 15-20 minutes depending on the strength of your oven, or until golden brown and cooked through.  Makes about 30 cupcakes.

Allow to cool completely and make the icing.  Beat heavy cream to soft peaks.  Add powdered sugar and jam, a bit at a time.  Keep beating until stiff.  Put icing in a piping bag and top off cupcakes (or spread with a knife).

Serve immediately or keep refrigerated until about an hour before serving.

This is definitely something I’d like to repeat, not just because I like making cupcakes but because they were delicious. I think this is going to replace any other lemon cupcake recipe I thought was best.  These are better.  Trust me.  Give it a try, then repeat.

I’d also like to repeat the shrimp tacos I made for dinner last night that I’m kicking myself for not photographing.  Oh well.  For the sake of repetition, here’s one more photo…  Is that okay?

It’s past midnight.  I can’t sleep.  I’m listening to the same song I listened to all day and am tempted to go into my kitchen to make these again.  Or maybe I should break my repetitive streak and make something new.  What do you think?