Month: August 2015

SRC: Strawberries and Cream Muffins

~ lk529 ~ 21 Comments

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Good morning and welcome to another edition of The Secret Recipe Club. For a little “behind the scenes” information, The Secret Recipe Club (SRC) is divided into four group. Each group posts on a different Monday of the month. I am in Group D and always post on the 4th Monday of the month. This means that those special months with five Mondays there’s a week without any fun reveal day! That is all about to change, beginning with today. On the 5th Monday of the month there will now be a themed reveal and it’s a “free for all,” which means that there aren’t any group restrictions. I’m looking forward to getting to know some of the other bloggers in the club.

That being said, I’m very familiar with my assigned blog for today’s tailgating themed reveal. My assignment this month comes from Group B, but I’ve participated in many blogging events with her in the past. Quite conveniently, she was a member of the #10DaysofTailgate blog event two years ago! Needless to say I had a lot of recipes to choose from that fit with today’s theme.

So who is this mystery assignment? It’s Ashley from Cheese Curd in Paradise!

I promised myself that I would not pick a dip recipe because 5 of my last 8 reveals were a dip recipe. This meant her pizza dip, Mexican spinach dip, and loaded baked potato dip were off limits.

Auburn tailgatingInstead I thought about those morning games. Morning games are probably my favorite ones for tailgating. We would get to campus early and have a tailgate tent complete with fresh fruit, bagels, coffee, and muffins. Then after the game return back to the tent for more “traditional” tailgating fare of burgers, chips, dips, and beer. (I get pretty “home sick” during football season, wishing I could be back on the Plains cheering on my Auburn Tigers in person, throwing the football with family, and enjoying the atmosphere that is SEC football.)

I decided between Apple Strudel Muffins, Blueberry-Lemon Yogurt Muffins, and Strawberries and Cream Muffins. It’s a good thing I didn’t pick the apple ones because I ended up making Apple Cinnamon Muffins for my standard SRC reveal day (I made this tailgating muffin weeks before)! The only reason I picked strawberry over blueberry was because I had strawberries in my fridge that were reaching the end of their shelf life. Besides, there’s no way I can “waste” blueberries for baking – they’re my little man’s favorite food, he’d eat the whole pint if I let him!

We really liked these Strawberries and Cream Muffins – my only regret is that I misjudged how much of the cream cheese mixture to put in the muffins and there wasn’t nearly enough. My advice: use it all, it’s the best part! I loved having these muffins on hand for that mid-morning snack.

Strawberries and Cream Muffins 2 Sew You Think You Can Cook

This recipe makes 12-15 muffins.

Strawberries and Cream Muffins

Ingredients for filling:

  • 4 oz cream cheese, softened
  • 11/2 tbsp of beaten egg
  • 1/3 C sugar
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Ingredients for muffin:

  • 2 C flour
  • 3/4 C sugar
  • 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 stick butter, melted
  • 1 C milk
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/8 tsp almond extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 C diced fresh strawberries

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line muffin tins with liners.
  2. Make the filling: Whisk together the cream cheese, egg, sugar, and vanilla until lump free. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
  4. In a small bowl (I actually did this in the glass measuring cup I used to melt the butter), whisk together the melted butter, milk, vanilla extract, and almond extract. When slightly cooled, whisk in the eggs. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients.
  5. Fill prepared muffin tins halfway with the batter. Add a few strawberries, and top with a generous amount of cream cheese filling. Top the muffins with batter and stud with some more strawberries.
  6. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out cleanly. Allow muffins to cool 5 minutes in the tin before removing to a cooling rack.

*This recipe is adapted from Ashley at http://cheesecurdinparadise.blogspot.com/2012/08/recipe-swap-apple-strudel-muffins.html*

Strawberries and Cream Muffins Sew You Think You Can Cook

To see the other bloggers who participated in the themed Secret Recipe Club this month click here:

Key Lime Cheesecake Filled Graham Cracker Bundt Cake

~ lk529 ~ 5 Comments

Happy Birthday… to me!

I am very excited to share my birthday cake with you. This cake recipe comes from one of my fellow #BundtBakers, Tux over at Brooklyn Homemaker. Back in April we were tasked with the theme of “hidden surprise.” I have been sitting on his recipe for four months just waiting to make this cake my birthday cake.

Why? Because key lime pie is my absolute favorite dessert and he took it to the next level with our shared love of beautiful bundts! The “hidden surprise” inside a graham cracker cake batter is a key lime cheesecake.

Key Lime Cheesecake Filled Graham Cracker Bundt Cake (baby) | Sew You Think You Can CookI brought this cake to a game night and only one piece returned home with me, which my husband was thankful for so he could try more than a bite. When I tried my piece after photographing the cake, my little man raced around the table to get a taste. It was pretty much the funniest and cutest thing. (But I’m pretty partial.)

Thank, Tux, for a fabulous cake recipe worth of anyone’s special day!

Key Lime Cheesecake Filled Graham Cracker Bundt Cake

Ingredients for filling:

  • 8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1/4 C sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 4 tbsp key lime juice
  • zest 1 lime

Ingredients for cake:

  • 2 sticks butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2 C sugar
  • 1/2 C brown sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 C finely crushed graham crackers (I got this from about 9 sheets in food processor)
  • 1 1/2 C flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/4 C buttermilk

Ingredients for glaze:

  • 4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 2 tbsp key lime juice
  • 1 C powdered sugar
  • up to 3 tbsp milk

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heavily grease bundt pan.
  2. Make the filling: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together cream cheese and sugar with a pinch of salt until there aren’t any lumps. Add the egg and mix until combined. Add in the key lime juice and lime zest until smooth. Set aside. (If you don’t have a second stand mixer bowl transfer the filling mixture to a separate bowl and clean the mixer bowl and paddle.)
  3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and both sugars. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and mix until combined.
  4. In a bowl, whisk together graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
  5. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the stand mixer, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.
  6. Pour batter into prepared bundt pan. Create a well by pressing the batter up the sides of the pan. Pour the filling mixture into the well – if you’re talented and brave enough, swirl the filling into the cake batter being careful not to touch the sides of the pan. (Mine didn’t quite swirl and instead I had a lovely tunnel of key lime cheesecake.)
  7. Bake cake 50-60 minutes until a cake tester comes out cleanly. Allow cake to cool at least an hour in the pan before turning out onto a cooling rack.
  8. Make the glaze: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the cream cheese and powdered sugar until there aren’t any lumps. Add the key lime juice and as much of the milk as needed to achieve desired consistency. Drizzle over cooled cake.

*This recipe is adapted from Tux at http://brooklynhomemaker.com/2015/04/16/graham-cracker-bundt-cake-with-key-lime-cheesecake-swirl-bundtbakers/*

Key Lime Cheesecake Filled Graham Cracker Bundt Cake | Sew You Think You Can Cook

Tomato and Bean Salad

~ lk529 ~ Leave a comment

Late spring and summer this year have been fairly wet. All of the rain yielded quite the tomato crop over in my neighbor’s yard. Which means just about every week I’m being given fresh homegrown tomatoes! (Black cherry tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, and roma tomatoes) I’ve even been handed two quarts of homemade tomato sauce.

This pregnancy I’ve found that I adore tomatoes. BLTs have been shamelessly scarfed down for lunch at least once a week, and those cherry tomatoes turned into my favorite salad (tomatoes, thinly sliced onion, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, S+P).

I took a play on that aforementioned salad and added beans and basil to make a heartier potluck contribution at a church function.

Tomato and Bean Salad

Ingredients:

  • 1 can (15 oz) white beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 very large heirloom tomato, chopped
  • 1 tbsp chopped fresh basil (I used Gourmet Garden lightly dried basil)
  • 1 heaping tbsp minced red onion
  • 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tbsp agave
  • 1/2 tsp minced garlic

Steps:

  1. In a large bowl, gently toss together beans, tomatoes, basil, and onion.
  2. In a small bowl, whisk together vinegars, oil, agave, and garlic. Season to taste with S+P.
  3. Dress salad and keep in refrigerator until ready to serve (at least 30 minutes).

*This recipe is adapted from Rebekah at http://rebekahrose.blogspot.ca/2015/07/bloggerclue-white-bean-tomato-and-basil.html*

tomato bean salad | sew you think you can cook

5 Ingredients or Less Potluck Party

~ lk529 ~ 1 Comment

This month I put out a vote to my Recipe Club friends for the theme for our monthly potluck: 5 ingredients or less, tailgating, or a new dish. I wasn’t surprised to see that 5 ingredients or less won the vote by a landslide, especially with school starting up and schedules being busy.

5 ingredients or less potluck

What I didn’t expect was the plethora of desserts! My Lemon Ricotta Pasta was the only savory item on the menu! I had to adjust the recipe to fit the theme though. I eliminated the sausage and used garlic powder in the sauce instead of taking the effort to fry up garlic in olive oil. (Olive oil would not have counted towards my 5 ingredients, though.) I made my pasta dish right before heading out the door and kept it warm in a slow cooker at the event.

Thank goodness for boxed cake mix – we had an incredible apple pie dessert (apple pie filling, yellow cake mix, butter) and a berry crumble type dessert (berries, cake mix, butter), no one would know these desserts were “semi homemade.” And one of my friends turned to our group as guinea pigs to experiment with two different brands of gluten free cake mix for her daughter’s upcoming 1st birthday.

A cheese cake inspired dessert joined the menu because of a broken oven (cream cheese, condensed milk, lemon juice, cool whip, pre-made crust). And to round out the cold sweet offerings, a frozen blueberry dessert (blueberry pie filling, evaporated milk, lemon juice, almond extract, cool whip).

A dinner of pasta, desserts, and great conversation meant we were a happy bunch of ladies!

SRC: Apple Cinnamon Muffins

~ lk529 ~ 21 Comments

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It’s Secret Recipe Club Reveal Day! In the Secret Recipe Club, each participating blogger is assigned a blog from another participating blogger and secretly searches their site for something to recreate. The accompanying blog post then goes live on reveal day! So while I was immersed in my assigned blog, someone else was picking through mine! I’m so excited to be part of this group, to see what on my blog peaks other’s interests and to stumble upon new blogs and new recipes.

This month I was assigned the blog Life on Food written by Emily. (Emily was charged with my blog last month!) Emily has been blogging since 2008 so there was an incredible recipe index to search through. She has a few different ways to search through her files: by course, by key ingredient, alphabetically, and the most intriguing by cooking method.

I took the alphabetical route and almost stopped at “A”! I didn’t, though, and after making my way through I had 11 recipes to decide between! I was all set to make Maple Cinnamon Quick Bread until I realized it was a previous SRC post. As I had cinnamon on the brain, I wanted to make her Apple Cinnamon Donuts (although mine would have been mini muffins) but I couldn’t fine apple cider in stores just yet – don’t worry, it’s almost fall. As you can see I took the “next best thing” and went with Apple Cinnamon Muffins.

In retrospect I should’ve gone with a savory item on my list because the amount of baking that’s been happening in my kitchen is completely uncharacteristic of me! Caramelized Brussels Sprouts will definitely need to happen next time my in-laws are in town, Angel Hair with Corn, Feta, and Tomato would be perfect for this summer’s produce, and that 1905 Dressing sounds like a much healthier option to muffins…

IMG_5369But who doesn’t love muffins!? Especially when they’re bursting with apples! My little man definitely approved.

This recipe makes 12 large muffins.

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Ingredients:

  • 1 stick butter, softened
  • 1 C sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 C flour
  • 1 C white whole wheat flour
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 C unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 apple, peeled and diced

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tray with liners.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
  4. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the applesauce to the stand mixer, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Fold in the diced apple.
  5. Divide batter evenly between the 12 muffin tins. Bake 12-15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out cleanly.

*This recipe is adapted from Emily at http://lifeonfood.blogspot.com/p/recipes.html?recipe_id=6043170*

Apple Cinnamon Muffins for Secret Recipe Club from Sew You Think You Can Cook

To see the other bloggers who participated in the Secret Recipe Club this month click here:

#SundaySupper: Asian Cuisine

~ lk529 ~ 16 Comments

Last week my mom was in town to help out with the little man so I could have a less stressful doctor’s appointment during which I had the absolute pleasure of drinking a 10 oz bottle full of sugar for my glucose test. (I passed! Which is good, because there has been a lot of baking happening in my kitchen this month.)

I know my mom likes to keep a lighter diet than I typically cook so it’s always welcome to have my hand forced into healthier options. We had the chipotle lime shrimp and strawberry salsa for Mexican Monday and this CPK remake for a salad night, which we topped with rotisserie chicken (not pictured).

For those who might not know, CPK = California Pizza Kitchen. One of my favorite restaurants that I must return to when I go home to visit. While I am keen to have their spinach and artichoke dip as my entree I have to share the appetizer with the rest of the table, so I order a half size of one of their {quite large} amazing salads. Their Thai Crunch is one of my favorites so I was very happy to have found this Copy Cat recipe. Now all I need is to figure out their recipe for “spin dip!”

This Copy Cat salad fits in beautifully with today’s Sunday Supper theme of Asian Cuisine. (Although, I’m sure it’s far from authentic Thai.) For an impressive variety of Asian eats scroll past my recipe. A big thank you to Amy of kimchi MOM for hosting today’s cultural menu.

Copy Cat: CPK’s Thai Salad

Ingredients for the salad:

  • 1 romaine heart, thinly sliced
  • approximately 2 C shredded red cabbage
  • 3 carrots, shredded
  • 1/2 C frozen shelled edamame, thawed
  • 1 yellow bell pepper, diced
  • 3-4 scallions, sliced
  • handful fresh cilantro, chopped
  • other optional salad mix-ins: avocado, peanuts, cucumber, cooked chicken

Ingredients for the dressing:

  • 4 tbsp peanut butter
  • 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 2 tbsp lime juice
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp real maple syrup
  • 1/2 tsp dried ginger (I used Gourmet Garden lightly dried ginger)
  • 4 tbsp canola oil
  • 3-4 tbsp water

Steps:

  1. Toss all salad ingredients in a large bowl.
  2. Put peanut butter, vinegar, lime juice, soy sauce, syrup, and ginger in a blender. Blend until combined. Add in the oil and blend until combined. Add 3 tbsp water and blend until combined. Add the last tbsp water if a thinner consistency is desired.
  3. Divide salad onto serving plates and individually dress each salad as desired.

*This recipe is adapted from Kelley at http://www.mountainmamacooks.com/2015/06/thai-crunch-salad/*

Copy Cat CPK Asian Salad for #SundaySupper from Sew You Think You Can Cook

Small Bites

Soupy Goodness

Big Plates

On the Lighter Side

Cheers!

Oodles of Noodles

8387592742_f6164fd5a8_oJoin the #SundaySupper conversation on twitter on Sunday! We tweet throughout the day and share recipes from all over the world. Our weekly chat starts at 7:00 pm ET. Follow the#SundaySupper hashtag and remember to include it in your tweets to join in the chat. To get more great Sunday Supper Recipes, visit our website or check out our Pinterest board.

Would you like to join the Sunday Supper Movement? It’s easy. You can sign up by clicking here: Sunday Supper Movement.

Lemon Ricotta Pasta with Sausage

~ lk529 ~ 1 Comment

Up until I discovered this pasta recipe, I never knew what to do with leftover ricotta cheese. I actually wasn’t quite sure if I even cared for ricotta outside of ravioli filling and lasagna layers. This quick recipe has changed how I feel about ricotta! I will be more open to other uses of ricotta. I now never worry about if the container I bought is too big because if I can’t find something else to do with it, I can make this pasta. Something I have done four times already (once without the meat, too!)

IMG_2976I chose to use veggie fusilli pasta in an effort to “sneak” veggies into my son’s mouth. (I know it doesn’t yield the best photographs.) He has loved this pasta each and every time. He now doesn’t discriminate against certain colored pasta, but the first time we enjoyed this dish he picked his way around the green spinach noodles. I also added Italian sausage as I knew my husband wouldn’t consider this a real meal. Feel free to omit the sausage (increase the garlic to 1 tbsp and saute very quickly in the oil. Add the entire garlicky oil mix to the ricotta sauce) if you prefer and make this a great side dish.

Lemon Ricotta Pasta with Sausage

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 links Italian sausage, casings removed
  • 1 tsp minced garlic
  • 1 lb fusilli pasta
  • 1 C ricotta cheese
  • 1 C heavy cream
  • zest of 2 lemons
  • juice of 1 lemon

Steps:

  1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and keep warm.
  2. In a small skillet, brown the sausage over medium-high heat, breaking it up as it cooks. When the sausage is almost cooked through, add the garlic and saute another minute or two. Remove from heat and set aside, draining any extra fat if needed.
  3. In a bowl whisk together ricotta, cream, lemon zest, lemon juice, and season to taste with S+P.
  4. In a large bowl toss together pasta, sausage, and ricotta sauce.

*This recipe is adapted from Cooking from the Farmers’ Market*

Lemon Ricotta Pasta with Sausage | Sew You Think You Can Cook

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

#BundtBakers: Sprinkles

~ lk529 ~ 33 Comments

4ae7b-bundtbakerspostThis month #BundtBakers are baking cakes with sprinkles! #BundtBakers is a group of bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bundts with a common ingredient or theme. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme or ingredient. This month fun host is Terri of Love and Confections.

Surprisingly, I was stumped by the task. As much as I love Funfetti cake (I used to request it for my birthday in college) I thought, “There has to be something else I could do!” So I reached out to Kate and she provided me with this recipe for Pistachio Cake. Sprinkles BundtTo fit our sprinkles theme I used green sprinkles instead of food coloring. The cake is already a light green thanks to the pistachio pudding so my green sprinkles melted into the cake creating an almost zebra like pattern! I did take a photo of the sprinkles in the batter as proof that I did indeed use sprinkles in my cake! (Photographic evidence to the right.)

This August marks the first in 5 years that Kate and I aren’t making a birthday cake together. (Cue the tears.) Her birthday was last Thursday and mine is in 9 days. If we can’t be together I might as well use her mom’s recipe! And the real reason we (aka I agreed to Kate’s suggestion) chose this pistachio cake is because the birthstone for August is Peridot – a light, bright green. A perfect fit for our August Bundt.

Pistachio Sprinkle Bundt Cake

Ingredients:

  • 1 box yellow cake mix
  • 1 box pistachio instant pudding
  • 4 eggs, beaten
  • 1 1/4 C water
  • 1/4 C vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp almond extract, divided use
  • 3/16 C sprinkles, plus more for decoration (optional)
  • 1 1/4 – 1/2 C powdered sugar
  • 3 tbsp milk

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a bundt pan.
  2. In a large bowl whisk together cake mix and instant pudding. Add the eggs, water, oil, and 1/2 tsp almond extract until combined. Gently fold in the sprinkles, if using. Pour batter into prepared bundt pan.
  3. Bake 37-40 minutes until a cake tester comes out cleanly. Allow cake to cool in pan at least 30 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.
  4. Make the glaze: whisk together 1 1/4 C powdered sugar, 3 tbsp milk, and 1/2 tsp almond (or vanilla) extract. Add more powdered sugar if a thicker glaze is desired. Pour over completely cooled cake.
  5. Decorate with sprinkles!

Pistachio Sprinkle Bundt Cake for #BundtBakers from Sew You Think You Can Cook

You can see all our of lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about #BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

And don’t forget to take a peek at what other talented bakers have baked this month:

Black Onyx Bundt Cake from Living the Gourmet

Bourbon Walnut Pound Cake from Magnolia Days

Bubblegum Frosted Funfetti Vanilla Bean Bundt from Baking in Pyjamas

Bundt Cake Extra Chocolateado from la mejor manera de hacer…

Celebration Confetti Bundt Cake from Cali’s Cuisine

Chocolate Chip Cheese Cake from Tea and Scones

Chocolate Sprinkles Sour Cream Bundt Cake from Spice Roots

Chocolate Walnut Cake with Sprinkles from FoodJam

Confetti Bundt Cake with Whipped Chocolate Ganache Frosting from How to Philosophize with Cake

Crazy Coco Bundt Cake from Los Chatos Chefs

Eggless Vanilla Confetti Bundt Cake from SimplyVeggies

Funfetti Bundt Cake from Liv for Cake

Funfetti Bundt Cake from Recipes, Food & Cooking

‘Guild the Lily’ Bundt from Jane’s Adventures in Dinner

Irish Butter Chocolate Sprinkle Cake with Ganache from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice

Jammin’ Jimmies Bundt from Noshing With The Nolands

Nutella Bundt with Nutella Glaze from Food Lust People Love

Oatmeal Cookie Bundt Cake with Sprinkles from The Spiced Life

Orange Dreamscicle Confetti Cake from Our Good Life

Raspberry Ricotta Bundt Cake from Brunch With Joy

Red Velvet Sprinkle Explosion Bundt Cake from Love and Confections

Sprinkled Jelly Donut Bundt Cake from Making Miracles

Sprinkles of Love Cake from A Day in the Life on the Farm

Strawberry Sprinkled Bundt Cake from The Freshman Cook

Triple Chocolate Zucchini Cake with Sprinkles from Baking and Creating with Avril

Vanilla Bundt Cake with Sprinkles from I Love Bundt Cakes

Vanilla Mini Bundts from Passion Kneaded

Watermelon Bundt Cake from Eat, Drink and Be Mighty

CIC: Cashews and Coffee

~ lk529 ~ 12 Comments

CIC-header

I can’t believe I am actually posting with the Crazy Ingredient Challenge today! I loved seeing the winning flavor combination of Cashews and Coffee but simply kept forgetting about actually making my dish.

I immediately though of a play on a frappuccino, because you hear coffee you think Starbucks (or at least I do since my best friend is a store manager). I really wasn’t sure how to make that happen and simply pushed it out of my mind. But then I saw a commercial for cashew milk last week and this month’s challenge came screaming back to me. To be that guy in the almond milk commercials, “I don’t know what it tastes like so I don’t want to try it.” It’s not that I don’t want to try it, it’s that I don’t want to be stuck with a half gallon of cashew milk if I don’t like it!

Back to the drawing board and I thought of brownies. I know a lot of people add instant espresso to their chocolate desserts to intensify that chocolate flavor. And I only have a measly two recipes for brownies on this site. It’s a dessert I tend to forget about, but absolutely adore when I have them. These rich, fudgy brownies are studded with salty cashews for a perfect late night craving buster.

Fudgey Cashew Brownies

Ingredients:

  • 7 tbsp butter
  • 8 oz semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1 tsp instant espresso coffee
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 3/4 C sugar
  • 1/4 C brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 C flour
  • 1/2 C chopped cashews

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8×8 (or 9×9) pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.
  2. Place butter, chocolate, espresso powder, and salt in a large glass bowl over a double boiler. Warm over low heat until butter and chocolate are melted together. Remove from double boiler (and heat).
  3. Mix in the sugars until combined. Mix in the eggs and vanilla until smooth. Stir in the flour until there aren’t any lumps. Fold in the cashews.
  4. Pour batter into prepared baking pan. Bake 22-25 minutes, until the brownies are set. Place pan on a cooling rack. Let brownies cool before cutting.

*This recipe is adapted from Yvonne at http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2013/10/one-bowl-espresso-cashew-brownies-recipe.html*

Fudgey Cashew Brownies for Crazy Ingredient Challenge from Sew You Think You Can Cook

To see the other bloggers who participated in this month’s Crazy Ingredient Challenge click on the link below.

Dominican Beet Potato Salad

~ lk529 ~ 1 Comment

Remember that beet potato salad I said I made with the beets from the Farmer’s Market? Well, today’s the day I finally share the recipe!

It’s National Potato Day!

This potato salad recipe comes from one of my dad’s aunts. It’s one of those family recipes that doesn’t actually have measurements – and the ingredient values I did have were huge! I went with the flow and did my best at recreating this Dominican side dish. I used Yukon gold potatoes instead of Russet because that’s what I had, and instead of canned beets I used a fresh one from the Farmer’s Market. I will say, I added way too much onion so I’ve adjusted for that in the ingredients, I would still suggest adding it sparingly and to taste. There was a note on the “recipe” to gently mash the salad after it’s all mixed so that there’s a creamy texture but still with chunks of potato. Because I didn’t peel the potatoes this didn’t quite work, but I enjoyed it without the extra “mash” texture.

I don’t remember caring for these potatoes when I was a kid – but I definitely remember them! How does one forget pink potatoes!? My little man though greatly enjoyed it. Check out this video I posted to Instagram of him humming while he ate. 🙂

Tia’s Beet Potato Salad

Ingredients:

  • 1 small beet
  • 5 Yukon gold potatoes
  • 1 hard boiled egg, diced
  • 1/4 C mayonnaise
  • 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tsp grated onion (or less, to taste)

Steps:

  1. Peel beet and cut into quarters. Place in a small saucepan and cover with water, salt. Bring to a gentle boil and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and let cool. Finely dice the beets.
  2. Cut potatoes into quarters. Place in a saucepan and cover with water, salt. Bring to a gentle boil and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and let cool. Cut potatoes into bite sized chunks – remove skins if desired.
  3. In a large bowl whisk together mayo, olive oil, and vinegar. Add potatoes and hard boiled egg. Season to taste with S+P.
  4. Grate the onion over the bowl so as to collect the juices. Add the beets and mix until pink. Season to taste again with S+P. Note: If the onion taste is too strong, add more mayo.

Dominican Beet Potato Salad | Sew You Think You Can Cook