This is an actual conversation that happened in my house tonight.
Me: I think it might be time to take the front rail off of the girl's crib and make it a toddler bed.
Husband (offended): Do you know how long it took me to put that thing together?!
Me: ::stares blankly:: So do you think we should keep her in there forever?
H: ::glares::
It's coming down this weekend. Maybe.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Raspberry Cheesecake Cupcakes
A friend sent me this recipe when I was trying to think of something to make for one of our daycare teachers. I have made a cheesecake bar recipe for years that is awesome and is always requested for parties. But they are a bit time consuming so I don't make them often. Regardless, I went ahead and used my recipe with this technique. Result? Perfection.
Recipe from Cook's Illustrated
Inspired by Annie's Eats
Ingredients:
Crust:
6 tbsp butter, melted & cooled
7 whole graham crackers, broken into 1 inch pieces
3 tbsp light brown sugar
2 tbsp AP flour
1/8 tsp salt
Filling:
2 blocks cream cheese (8oz), softened
2/3 c sugar
2 eggs
1/4 c sour cream
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
Swirl:
6 oz raspberries (or your fruit of choice)
2 tbsp sugar
Preheat oven to 325.
In a mini food processor, pulse the graham crackers to a fine crumb consistency. Add the remainder of the crust ingredients and pulse until well mixed. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until fragrant. Set aside.
While the crust is baking, make the filling & puree...
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese with the paddle attachment until creamy. Add sugar and mix for another minute. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg. Beat in sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla until incorporated. Set aside.
To make the raspberry puree, combine the berries and sugar in a blender. Process until smooth, then press through a sieve to remove the seeds. We then poured the puree into one of my flood/squirt bottles but a spoon would be fine for the marbling.
To assemble...
Put 2 tbsp of cheesecake filling into each cup.
Drop (or squirt) 3 drops of puree into each cup. Swirl with a toothpick or bamboo skewer for a marbled effect. If you do 3 dots and just one circle through all three, it makes a cool looking heart pattern. Very Valentine's Day appropriate.
Bake for 22 minutes, turning halfway through baking time. Let cool then remove from pan (or they will stick and you will tear the papers getting them out) and chill in the fridge for 3-4 hours (or overnight).
These are just ridiculously delicious. You could do almost any fruit with these: strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, peaches...I'm already making a blueberry/strawberry concoction in my head for the fourth of July. Make these today!
Recipe from Cook's Illustrated
Inspired by Annie's Eats
Ingredients:
Crust:
6 tbsp butter, melted & cooled
7 whole graham crackers, broken into 1 inch pieces
3 tbsp light brown sugar
2 tbsp AP flour
1/8 tsp salt
Filling:
2 blocks cream cheese (8oz), softened
2/3 c sugar
2 eggs
1/4 c sour cream
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
Swirl:
6 oz raspberries (or your fruit of choice)
2 tbsp sugar
Preheat oven to 325.
In a mini food processor, pulse the graham crackers to a fine crumb consistency. Add the remainder of the crust ingredients and pulse until well mixed. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until fragrant. Set aside.
While the crust is baking, make the filling & puree...
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese with the paddle attachment until creamy. Add sugar and mix for another minute. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg. Beat in sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla until incorporated. Set aside.
To make the raspberry puree, combine the berries and sugar in a blender. Process until smooth, then press through a sieve to remove the seeds. We then poured the puree into one of my flood/squirt bottles but a spoon would be fine for the marbling.
To assemble...
Put 2 tbsp of cheesecake filling into each cup.
Drop (or squirt) 3 drops of puree into each cup. Swirl with a toothpick or bamboo skewer for a marbled effect. If you do 3 dots and just one circle through all three, it makes a cool looking heart pattern. Very Valentine's Day appropriate.
Bake for 22 minutes, turning halfway through baking time. Let cool then remove from pan (or they will stick and you will tear the papers getting them out) and chill in the fridge for 3-4 hours (or overnight).
These are just ridiculously delicious. You could do almost any fruit with these: strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, peaches...I'm already making a blueberry/strawberry concoction in my head for the fourth of July. Make these today!
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Homemade Honey Mustard Sauce
I made this sauce to accompany the homemade pretzels that I made for the Super Bowl and hol-ee shitballs, this stuff is good. Pretty sure you could smear it on your shoe and it'd be tasty.
I know some people like to do nacho cheese with their pretzels but that's slightly disgusting to me so when I was searching for a dipping sauce for the pretzels and saw this, it immediately clicked and I am SO GLAD I went this route. Another plus for this recipe is that there are no fancy ingredients; I had everything I needed in my pantry. Recipes that taste fantastic without making me buy something out of the ordinary are always top notch in my book. (Side note: this is actually why I love the entire Pennies on a Platter blog; she has great recipes using ingredients that are in every cooks pantry. I love that she doesn't go all Emeril on her readers.)
I loved the pretzels alone but with this sauce, they were to die for. This would also be EXCELLENT with chicken nuggets. I'm drooling just thinking about it.
From Pennies on a Platter
Ingredients:
1 c mayonnaise
2 tbsp yellow mustard
3 tbsp honey
1 tbsp lemon juice
Whisk all ingredients in a bowl. Serve.
That's it, people. The original recipe does say to chill it for 2-3 hours before serving but I didn't make this until 20 minutes before we left so that wasn't an option. I did add just a tad bit more honey than it called for so maybe that makes a difference. Regardless, make this today and put it on everything. You can thank me later.
I know some people like to do nacho cheese with their pretzels but that's slightly disgusting to me so when I was searching for a dipping sauce for the pretzels and saw this, it immediately clicked and I am SO GLAD I went this route. Another plus for this recipe is that there are no fancy ingredients; I had everything I needed in my pantry. Recipes that taste fantastic without making me buy something out of the ordinary are always top notch in my book. (Side note: this is actually why I love the entire Pennies on a Platter blog; she has great recipes using ingredients that are in every cooks pantry. I love that she doesn't go all Emeril on her readers.)
I loved the pretzels alone but with this sauce, they were to die for. This would also be EXCELLENT with chicken nuggets. I'm drooling just thinking about it.
From Pennies on a Platter
Ingredients:
1 c mayonnaise
2 tbsp yellow mustard
3 tbsp honey
1 tbsp lemon juice
Whisk all ingredients in a bowl. Serve.
That's it, people. The original recipe does say to chill it for 2-3 hours before serving but I didn't make this until 20 minutes before we left so that wasn't an option. I did add just a tad bit more honey than it called for so maybe that makes a difference. Regardless, make this today and put it on everything. You can thank me later.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Homemade Pretzels
This has been on my foodie bucket list for a looooong time. Soft pretzels just always seemed very intimidating and the ingredient list had a couple things I wasn't familiar with. But I was determined to make a smaller, bite-size version for Super Bowl Sunday and like the blog gods were smiling down on me, the very next day a recipe for pretzel bites popped up in my reader. That is not the recipe I used though. That recipe caused me to do a search which led me to this recipe which is the one I used. I had everything I needed in my pantry which is just the way I like it.
From Pennies on a Platter
Ingredients:
4 tbsp butter, melted
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp kosher salt + more for topping
1 1/2 c warm water (115-120)
1 pkg instant yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
22 oz AP flour (approx 4 1/2 cups)
2/3 c baking soda
1 egg yolk + one tablespoon water
Combine butter, sugar, salt, and water to the bowl of a stand mixer. Add yeast then flour. Mix with dough hook on low until the dough comes together. Then mix on medium for 4-5 minutes or until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides. Take the dough out. Lightly grease the mixing bowl with nonstick spray, put the dough back in, cover with saran wrap, and place in a warm spot for about 45 minutes to an hour or until it doubles.
Once your dough has doubled...
Preheat oven to 450. Get two to three cookie sheets and use nonstick mats (if you have them) or parchment paper. Put a large stockpot of water on the stove.
Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and cut into 30-32 pieces (I use my bench scraper for this). Form into mini pretzels and place on the cookie sheets. Nikki has provided a handy picture on her blog of how to form the pretzels.
Bring water to a boil and SLOWLY add baking soda to boiling water. I really wish she would have mentioned that if you dump 2/3 cup of baking soda into a pot of boiling water, a mini volcano happens in your kitchen.
Working 2 at a time, boil pretzels for 30 seconds then place on the nonstick cookie sheet. Brush with the egg yolk wash and sprinkle with kosher salt.
Bake on 450 for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Try not to forget your second batch in the oven like I did.
Serve with homemade honey mustard. Recipe to come.
These were really, really delicious. Within about 20 minutes of us arriving, 3/4 of these were gone. Making the pretzels is by far the most time consuming part. Otherwise, these came together pretty easily. If you're an experienced yeast baker, this will be easy peasy for you. Enjoy!
From Pennies on a Platter
Ingredients:
4 tbsp butter, melted
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp kosher salt + more for topping
1 1/2 c warm water (115-120)
1 pkg instant yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
22 oz AP flour (approx 4 1/2 cups)
2/3 c baking soda
1 egg yolk + one tablespoon water
Combine butter, sugar, salt, and water to the bowl of a stand mixer. Add yeast then flour. Mix with dough hook on low until the dough comes together. Then mix on medium for 4-5 minutes or until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides. Take the dough out. Lightly grease the mixing bowl with nonstick spray, put the dough back in, cover with saran wrap, and place in a warm spot for about 45 minutes to an hour or until it doubles.
Once your dough has doubled...
Preheat oven to 450. Get two to three cookie sheets and use nonstick mats (if you have them) or parchment paper. Put a large stockpot of water on the stove.
Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and cut into 30-32 pieces (I use my bench scraper for this). Form into mini pretzels and place on the cookie sheets. Nikki has provided a handy picture on her blog of how to form the pretzels.
Bring water to a boil and SLOWLY add baking soda to boiling water. I really wish she would have mentioned that if you dump 2/3 cup of baking soda into a pot of boiling water, a mini volcano happens in your kitchen.
Working 2 at a time, boil pretzels for 30 seconds then place on the nonstick cookie sheet. Brush with the egg yolk wash and sprinkle with kosher salt.
Bake on 450 for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Try not to forget your second batch in the oven like I did.
Serve with homemade honey mustard. Recipe to come.
These were really, really delicious. Within about 20 minutes of us arriving, 3/4 of these were gone. Making the pretzels is by far the most time consuming part. Otherwise, these came together pretty easily. If you're an experienced yeast baker, this will be easy peasy for you. Enjoy!
Week 5
1. Graduate - Master's exam is scheduled. No one bother talking to me the last week of March. I'll be getting wasted in a bar at approximately one pm on April 2. Yes, that is a Monday.
2. Church - 4-1. The girl is almost getting better behaved too.
3. New job - Not a lot this week. I found another position to apply for. It's on my to do list for this week.
4. Feel better - I had to start a semi detox/diet. I only plan to do it for a week but I ate Raising Cane's last week and OMG, I felt terrible for 2 days. So I totally watched what went into my mouth for 3 days and felt better. Then I went to a Super Bowl party and felt terrible again last night because there were ridiculous amounts of good food there and I stuffed myself. Bad Shoe.
5. Me time - Still no pleasure reading which I am SAD about. But I did get to try some new recipes this week so that made me happy. I did some dulce de leche cookies (the filling was amazing but the cookies were too biscuit-like; they'd be better with shortbread), raspberry swirl cheesecake cupcakes (delish), and homemade pretzels (which has been on my foodie bucket list for well over a year) with honey mustard dipping sauce. Both of those were a huge hit at the SB party. Huge.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Blueberry Muffins
A couple months ago I started making muffins and then bringing them to my office and keeping them in the freezer so I had breakfast every morning. It was great. I did pumpkin for a few months which was fantastic in the fall months. Then I tried a new recipe for peanut butter and jelly muffins. They were ok. Not bad, not great. Not blogworthy. I love blueberry muffins but the recipe that I use is also just ok. I like it but I always feel like I need to add butter to it. Over the years I've tried many, many different blueberry muffin recipes and I think I might have finally found a winner. This one is pretty darn fantastic. I won't say it's the best (yet) but I do recommend trying it. Very fluffy and delish.
Blueberry Muffins
from Allrecipes
Ingredients:
1 stick butter, softened
1 1/4 c sugar (plus more for sprinkling)
2 eggs
2 c AP flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c milk
2 1/2 c blueberries
Preheat oven to 375.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, until incorporated.
In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Alternate adding flour mixture and milk, beating on low with each addition. Fold in blueberries.
(The reviews for the recipe said that while the muffins were good, they stuck to the pan so I used muffin cups and then sprayed nonstick spray all across the top of those. None of my muffins stuck so I did something right.)
Fill each cup and bake for 30 minutes. Enjoy!
Therapy Fund
Someone needs to start one for my child because I TRAUMATIZED her tonight.
Seriously. Take away my parenting rights now.
It started off innocent enough. I had class till 7:30 so after we ate and home girl had her bath, we went to read some books and go to bed. Like I said. Innocent. I arranged all the stuffed animals in the crib like she likes them, fixed the blanket, found Kitty Cat, grabbed some books...we were ready to go.
I sit in the chair with my sweet, innocent girl (who has no idea that I'm about to ruin her life) standing 2 feet in front of me, holding her blanket and Kitty Cat (it was so sweet). And I glanced down to see her favorite baby doll, lying on the ground, naked, and...beheaded.
I was traumatized by this! How did this happen?! It's a fucking Bitty Baby and those things are NOT CHEAP! So I did the most logical thing at the time. I picked up both pieces of the doll in disbelief. And my precious innocent daughter took one look at her favorite baby doll TORN IN TWO and promptly burst into tears. Only it wasn't normal tears. It was like, OH MY GOD, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY BABY kind of tears. It was traumatizing tears. Oh God. I wish I could forget it. But I can't so I decided to document it.
So I start yelling for the mister like the crazy bitch that I am. He races in the room because he thinks there is an emergency (I really think that my child's doll being beheaded is an emergency, no?), yells at ME because I scared him (wtf, yo?). I'm screaming, "get her out! get her out! Bitty Baby has no head!" as I try and hide Bitty Baby behind me. All while my child is wailing uncontrollably.
It was a complete clusterfuck.
I am happy to report that I was able to repair Bitty Baby, MrShoe brought our traumatized child back in the room where I showed her how happy Bitty Baby was to be whole again (I swear to God, she side-eyed me). We even tucked Bitty Baby into her own crib (and covered her creepy little face) and then read books like nothing had happened.
MrShoe SWEARS on his favorite knife (which is like a bible in this house) that there was no horse playing that could have caused Bitty Baby's decapitation "incident" which leaves me to suspect the dogs but lets face it...if our dogs had gotten ahold of Bitty Baby, there may not have been a body left to attach the head to. So I have no idea how the hell this happened.
I do know that I could not make this shit up if I tried. And that my baby needs a therapy fund.
Seriously. Take away my parenting rights now.
It started off innocent enough. I had class till 7:30 so after we ate and home girl had her bath, we went to read some books and go to bed. Like I said. Innocent. I arranged all the stuffed animals in the crib like she likes them, fixed the blanket, found Kitty Cat, grabbed some books...we were ready to go.
I sit in the chair with my sweet, innocent girl (who has no idea that I'm about to ruin her life) standing 2 feet in front of me, holding her blanket and Kitty Cat (it was so sweet). And I glanced down to see her favorite baby doll, lying on the ground, naked, and...beheaded.
I was traumatized by this! How did this happen?! It's a fucking Bitty Baby and those things are NOT CHEAP! So I did the most logical thing at the time. I picked up both pieces of the doll in disbelief. And my precious innocent daughter took one look at her favorite baby doll TORN IN TWO and promptly burst into tears. Only it wasn't normal tears. It was like, OH MY GOD, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY BABY kind of tears. It was traumatizing tears. Oh God. I wish I could forget it. But I can't so I decided to document it.
what she looked like. kind of.
So I start yelling for the mister like the crazy bitch that I am. He races in the room because he thinks there is an emergency (I really think that my child's doll being beheaded is an emergency, no?), yells at ME because I scared him (wtf, yo?). I'm screaming, "get her out! get her out! Bitty Baby has no head!" as I try and hide Bitty Baby behind me. All while my child is wailing uncontrollably.
It was a complete clusterfuck.
I am happy to report that I was able to repair Bitty Baby, MrShoe brought our traumatized child back in the room where I showed her how happy Bitty Baby was to be whole again (I swear to God, she side-eyed me). We even tucked Bitty Baby into her own crib (and covered her creepy little face) and then read books like nothing had happened.
MrShoe SWEARS on his favorite knife (which is like a bible in this house) that there was no horse playing that could have caused Bitty Baby's decapitation "incident" which leaves me to suspect the dogs but lets face it...if our dogs had gotten ahold of Bitty Baby, there may not have been a body left to attach the head to. So I have no idea how the hell this happened.
I do know that I could not make this shit up if I tried. And that my baby needs a therapy fund.
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