The Nifty Foodie

Man, what a year it has been! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season with their friends and family.

Most years, I feel like time has flown by, but for some reason, it feels like last January was truly a year ago. So many great things have happened to us this year (as well as some really crappy events).  

Some highlights and not so highlights:

• It was our first full year in our new house, which has been such a blessing. It’s just awesome to finally have friendly neighbors, who don’t throw their trash in our backyard or play loud music at 2am (side-eye to the neighbors at the old house).
• My husband and I have both decided to live healthier. Between us, we’ve lost over 150 lbs. this year. (I’m sure my husband is rolling his eyes at me sharing this, but seriously..I’m gonna brag here!) That’s just amazing to me. I’m so proud of us.
• Another weight loss highlight. I fit into a clothes size that I haven’t been able to wear since 10th grade. That was 12 years ago. OMG!
• A not so highlight. Hurricane Isaac…don’t want to go into too much detail with that one, but yeah, hurricanes suck. Oh, and for the record, labradors don’t care if the winds are 50 mph outside. If there’s rain/water, it’s playtime! (ugh)
• I think I’m making some good progress on my 101 Goals in 1001 Days list.

And of course, it’s been another fun year blogging. I really appreciate all of y’all taking the time to read my tiny corner of the Internet. Thank you for your sweet comments, emails and tweets. In January, it’s gonna be this blog’s 5th anniversary, and I’m just amazed by all of the friends I’ve made and people I’ve “met”  through this blog. You guys are the best!

Just to round up the year, I wanted to share with y’all your top 10 most read posts from 2012.

10. Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Salted Caramel Buttercream - These whoopie pies were made for a work fundraiser, and they were a huge success. Great pumpkin/spicy flavor, and the salted caramel buttercream just makes them super indulgent. Pumpkin + caramel is a wonderful combination!

9. Red Velvet Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting - I love anything red velvet. This bundt cake is a fun change from a regular cake, and it was pretty easy to throw together and bake!

8. Baked Oatmeal - My breakfast has been forever changed by this. This oatmeal is not soggy at all (which I hate about cooked oats), and it’s very sweet with the addition of bananas.

7. Peanut Butter Cookies - Just simple, classic peanut butter cookies. Very good!

6. Candy Corn Oreo Truffles - Oreo truffles are insanely good, and it was fun to make these with seasonal flavors. Always a favorite when I bring these truffles to work!

5. Fresh Strawberry Pie - I’m SO glad strawberry season is back. I need to make this pie again…it’s not rich at all, and since it involves no cooking (except for the crust), it tastes so fresh!

4. Snickers Cupcakes - Oh, I totally need to make these again. If you love Snickers, you will LOVE these!

3. Homemade Strawberry Lemonade - Meyer lemon season + strawberry season? Um…guess I need to make this too and ASAP!

2. Red Velvet Swirl Brownies - These were just delicious, and so pretty too! Perfect for Valentine’s Day!

1. Spinach, Strawberry, Pecan and Feta Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette - This is a huge favorite of y’alls. I think Pinterest made this a popular one, and it is VERY easy to throw together! This is a salad you want to make for your next party…it’s an awesome combination!

Thanks so much for reading this blog, and I hope everyone has a Happy New Year! Time to get used to writing/typing “2013″.

This time of the year is just crazy. Sunday’s weather was well into the 80s and then Monday evening, the low was in the 30s. We had a party to go to on Saturday that I bought a sweater dress for, and of course, it was 70s/80s outside. I still wore the dress, but it was a little odd wearing a sweater dress with tights and boots, considering mosquitoes were biting like crazy outside. Thankfully, we’re in for a freeze warning, so that should get rid of the darn bugs.

Since it finally feels like December again, it definitely feels more natural to bake up a storm. This past weekend was the big holiday bake-palooza, and after baking up dozens of cookies, I just feel like I should be baking something every day. This cake is one of those things…I love baking bundt cake. They’re so pretty right out of the pan, which makes decorating them super easy. You can easily decorate bundt cakes with a thinned icing type of glaze or sifted powdered sugar. I’m loving the powdered sugar topping lately, since it looks like a layer of snow. So festive, right?

This cake is a recipe that I had bookmarked for a while (story of my life), and I thought it sounded interesting…pumpkin with oatmeal in a cake. I decided to add mini chocolate chips to give it a little boost, and it came out amazing. I had some doubts since this batter was SUPER thick, but the cake came out beautifully.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake
Source: adapted from Erin’s Food Files, originally on Dine and Dish

Ingredients:

• 2 cups granulated sugar

• 1 cup quick cooking oatmeal

• 1/4 cup boiling water

• 1 cup butter, softened

• 4 large eggs

• 1 cup canned pumpkin

• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

• 3 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 tsp. cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg

• pinch of cloves

• 2 tsp. baking soda

• 1 tsp. salt

• 2 cups mini chocolate chips

• powdered sugar

 Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. To prep the bundt pan, either spray it with non-stick baking spray (they usually include flour in them) or just butter/flour the pan.
2. Place the oatmeal in a small bowl, pour in the boiling water over the oatmeal and stir the mixture together. Allow the oatmeal/water mixture to stand for 10 minutes.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter and sugar and beat the mixture for about 2-3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs in one at a time, and mix until everything is well incorporated.
4. Add the pumpkin, oatmeal/water mixture and vanilla to the wet mixture, mixing on low until everything is well mixed.
5. With the mixer still on low, add the flour one cup at a time, and then add the spices, baking soda and salt to the mixture. Mix everything until it’s well incorporated.
6. Pour the cake batter into the bundt cake pan, and bake the cake for 60 minutes, or until a cake tested inserted into the center comes out clean.
7. Cool the cake in the bundt pan for 10 minutes, then invert the cake onto a cooling rack to finish cooling. Dust with powdered sugar and enjoy!

I’m sitting here in disbelief that Thanksgiving is a few short days away. As much as I love this time of the year, I can tell it’s just gonna fly by all too quickly! For example, I’m currently knitting stockings for my husband, the pup and me, and I’ve been working on them since early October (which was just yesterday, right?). It just blows my mind that they’ll be on our mantel this weekend. I guess I should finish up my husband’s stocking ASAP, eh?

With this time of the year, I just can’t help but bake. I was asked to bake up some cupcakes (I’ll share the reason with y’all later…have to keep hush for now), and the first thing that popped in my head was pumpkin. I wanted to jazz them up a little bit, so I spiced up the standard cream cheese frosting and drizzled the cupcakes with my favorite caramel sauce. I made enough of these to also share with my coworkers, and a few of them asked for the recipe! Even my Mom is baking these up for Thanksgiving, which is a huge compliment since my Mom is pretty much my cooking/baking idol (along with my Memaw).

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting
Source: cupcakes adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
• pinch of ground cloves
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 15 oz. can of pumpkin puree

For the frosting:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 8 tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• pinch of ground cloves

For the caramel drizzle:

• salted butter caramel sauce, cooled

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line your cupcake pans with cupcake liners and set aside.
2. In a medium sized bowl, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Whisk the ingredients together until well-combined and set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the sugars, butter and eggs together until fully mixed. Add in the dry ingredients, and mix on low until the mixture is smooth. Scrape down the bowl. Add in the can of pumpkin puree, and mix until everything is well-combined.
4. Fill each cupcake liner about halfway full, and bake for about 20-25 minutes, rotating once after 10 minutes. You’ll know the cupcakes are done baking when  a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely.
5. To make the frosting, whip the cream cheese and butter for a full 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract, as well as the cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, and mix until well-blended. Add in the confectioners’ sugar one cup at a time, mixing on low, until everything is mixed. Then, whip the frosting one last time on medium-high for about 30 seconds.
6. To decorate the cupcakes, pipe the frosting on the cooled cupcakes, and then drizzle with caramel sauce. Enjoy!

You may have noticed a little pattern here. Pumpkin, pumpkin and more pumpkin?

Yup.

See, the Fall in Louisiana is short-lived. Pretty soon it’s either going to be in the upper 80s again and before we know it, it’s gonna be stuck in the 30s. So, don’t judge me if I use pumpkin as much as possible in recipes. I promise, I’ll get over pumpkin soon, but for now, I should be purchasing pumpkin in bulk. I’m not tired of it.

My husband asked me to bake something for his office, and who am I to turn down an opportunity to bake? Seriously, send me to a doctor if I refuse to bake. I’ve been wanting to make these whoopie pies for a while now, and of course, this was the perfect excuse to bake these little treats up. I didn’t want to use a cream cheese frosting, since I’m always paranoid about leaving cream cheese out for an extended period of time (I know…super paranoid), so I thought that this salted caramel frosting would serve just fine.

I love when my husband forwards me emails from his coworkers about what I bake for the office. It’s always good to hear when a recipe is good, and this one was GOOD. Pretty darn popular amongst the people in his office, and they are known to be very honest. I’ve never had a complaint, but one time, my husband was sent home with a recipe request haha!

I made these whoopie pies with a mini scoop so there would be more than enough for his office. Making this recipe with a mini scoop makes about 36 complete sandwiches.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Salted Caramel Buttercream
Source: whoopie pies via Culinary Concoctions by Peabody (originally from Baked), buttercream from My Baking Addiction

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tbsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. ground fresh nutmeg
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 cup canola oil
• 3 cups chilled pumpkin puree
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• Salted Caramel Buttercream (for filling)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mat and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk your dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg) together, until everything is well-mixed.
3. In another bowl, whisk the granulated and dark brown sugars together, and add the canola oil in. Mix the ingredients well. Add the pumpkin puree to the sugar/oil mixture and whisk until everything is well-blended. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk until everything is incorporated. Whisk the flour mixture into the wet mixture a little at a time, until everything is thoroughly mixed together.
4. To make mini whoopie pies, use a tbsp. sized scoop to drop tbsp. amounts of batter onto the baking sheets, leaving 1 inch between each cookie for spreading.
5. Bake the whoopie pies for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies just start cracking on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (without crumbs). Remove the whoopie pies from the oven, and allow them to cool thoroughly on a rack before assembling.
6. To assemble the cookies, drop a tbsp. of frosting on the bottom side of one whoopie pie, and then press together the flat sides of two whoopie pies. Enjoy!

 

This past weekend, Hocus Pocus was on cable. Twice. So I watched it twice, of course. Thank goodness LSU’s game was a morning game or I would have been a little torn. Growing up in the 90s, Hocus Pocus just screams Halloween to me. I actually remember my parents not letting us watch the movie at first, because it was rated PG. Yes, I know how sheltered this makes me sound, but I understand. I probably would have had nightmares about my life being sucked out by a witch or something.

I love my parents, but as a kid, they were very strict about what my siblings and I could have. For example, when I got my first CD player, “Santa” included a copy of “Jagged Little Pill” with it, and the minute my mom heard “da*n” from the CD, I had to return it and ended up with Spice Girls. No offense to Spice Girls, but I really wanted Alanis Morissette’s CD. Also, when I had braces, most of the kids in class were rule breakers. They ate sticky candy and chewed gum, but I didn’t dare try that in front of my parents. One of the biggest candies I missed was caramel. Caramel is in so many things I love, like Snickers or a good ice cream sundae. So yeah, the braces phase of life REALLY stunk.

Now that I’m an adult, of course I don’t have anyone to tell me no PG movie or gum for you. I don’t necessarily junk up my life, but it’s cool to have that freedom, especially in the kitchen. A few weeks ago, I noticed these caramel bits in the grocery store and immediately thought of throwing them in cookies. Since it’s fall, of course I had to involve pumpkin, and I found this recipe. The original recipe involved butterscotch chips, but I added caramel bits and dried cranberries instead. Fantastic, right? Oh heck yes. You can’t go wrong with these cookies…in fact, the pumpkin oatmeal base makes it too tempting to add all sorts of fun ingredients to them.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
Source: adapted from Two Peas & Their Pod

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• pinch of ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 3 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 3/4 cup caramel bits (or you could use chocolate chips)

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Prepare two cookie sheets by lining them with parchment paper or a silicone mat and set those aside.
2. Whisk the dry ingredients in a small bowl. (flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and salt) Set the dry mixture to the side while you prepare your wet ingredients
3. In the bowl of a mixer, mix the butter and sugars for a couple minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract, and mix until well-blended. Add in the pumpkin puree and mix until well-blended.
4. Slowly add in the dry mixture, and mix until just combined. With a spatula or spoon, stir in the oats, dried cranberries and caramel bits (or chocolate chips).
5. Using a tablespoon sized scoop, scoop the dough and drop each dollop onto your cookie sheets (giving about 2 inches in between). Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies appear to be set and are golden along the edges. When they are done, allow the cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes, and then transfer the cookies to a regular cooling rack until they are completely cool!