The Nifty Foodie

If you put a bag of Reese’s in front of me, consider it gone almost immediately. It’s one of my vices, and I know I can’t keep that kind of stuff in my house. When my husband and I went shopping at Sam’s Club a few weeks ago, however, I saw Reese’s minis…in bulk. Ugh. I totally bought it, justifying that I would bake with them. Haha. Yeah…

Well, 1 bag mysteriously disappeared , but then I was asked to bake up a simple cake for my work’s birthday club. Every month, they have a cake to celebrate birthdays for those in the office who had a birthday that month. Previously, they would just buy a sheet cake from a grocery store, but since my coworkers know I love to bake, they asked me to do it from now on. Um…how could I say no to that?!

I figured a Reese’s cake would be a tasty one, so I made chocolate cake with a chocolate peanut butter frosting, and then topped it with chopped Reese’s minis. The cake may not be the prettiest (ugh…my cake totally stuck to the pan in the corners so I used frosting to glue it back together), but darnit…it was GOOD! I had to pour dish soap on the leftover frosting or I seriously would have eaten the rest with a spoon. So good!

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting
Source: cake from Ina Garten, frosting adapted from this post

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cups cocoa powder
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 cup buttermilk, shaken
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

For the frosting:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 5 tbsp. heavy cream
• optional: Reese’s minis (chopped), for decoration

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare an 9×13 inch cake pan by lining the inside with baking spray or butter/flour
2. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer, and mix on low speed with the paddle attachment until combined. In another large bowl, mix the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla together. Turn the mixer on low speed again, and slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula, and then slowly add the coffee and mix until everything is just combined.
3. Pour the cake batter into the prepared 9×13 inch pan, and bake for 30-40 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan for 30 minutes, and then turn it out onto a cooling rack to finish cooling.
4. While the cake is cooling, make the frosting. Place the two sticks of butter in a clean bowl of your electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment and cream it on medium-high for 2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Turn the mixer to low and add the confectioners sugar, cocoa powder and salt until well-mixed. Scrape the bowl down, and then, add the vanilla extract, peanut butter and heavy cream and mix on low for 30 seconds to incorporate the ingredients. Turn the speed up to medium and whip up the frosting for 2-3 minutes, until fluffy.
5. Once the cake is completely cool, frost your cake and if preferred, add the chopped Reese’s on top for decoration.

Growing up, I have so many memories of my mother making breakfast for a family of 6. On weekends, we’d all get “Scramble Bambles” (eggs) or “Mickey Mouse pancakes”. I’m sure dealing with picky kids, this wasn’t an easy feat. We’d all whine over someone having a burnt pancake or heaven forbid the pancakes weren’t all the same size! I don’t know how my Mom did it. I really don’t.

In the afternoons, we’d either snack on bananas, smoothies or for a sweet treat, muffins. Blueberry muffins were our absolute favorite, and they wouldn’t last long in our house. I’ve always had a love for muffins since my childhood, and when we had some strawberries in the fridge to use up, I knew these muffins just had to happen. This was one of those times where my husband decided to bake. I sliced up strawberries and he whipped up the batter.

My husband is the type of guy who just loves to change up a recipe, and since you have to be sort of careful with baking, he thought the simple addition of cinnamon and nutmeg would make these awesome. He also added applesauce instead of butter (which is ALWAYS a winner for quick breads and muffins). He was right…the spices added a wonderful little something to these muffins. I will admit that I decided after the first batch baked up, a few mini chocolate chips wouldn’t hurt these muffins either (and I was right lol).  C’mon though…when does it hurt to add chocolate to baked goods?

Spiced Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins
Source: adapted from Confections of a Foodie Bride

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 1/4 cup chopped fresh strawberries, divided

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and line two muffins tins with 15 cupcake liners (dividing the liners in the pans with 8 in one, 7 in the other).
2. In the bowl of a mixer, cream the cream cheese and sugar together on medium-high for 2-3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Switch the mixer to low and add the applesauce and eggs, one at a time, until each egg is fully incorporated in the batter.
3. Add the buttermilk, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg to the batter. Mix until everything is just combined.
4. With the mixer still on low, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, mixing the batter until things are just combined. Add 1 cup of the strawberries to the batter and mix for 5-10 seconds to just distribute the berries. Scoop the batter into the prepared pans, and fill them just 3/4 of the way full. With the remaining 1/4 cup berries, add a couple of pieces on top of each muffin, lightly pressing them into the batter.
5. Bake the muffins until the tops are golden, for about 20 minutes, and rotate the pans 10 minutes into baking.
6. Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, and then move them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

 

You know it’s Spring in Louisiana when….

….everyone and their momma is at Home Depot in the gardening section on the weekend.
….we all go crazy over a sack full of crawfish.
….the wardrobe goes from sweaters and boots one week to tank tops and flip flops the next.
….strawberries are everywhere and are DIRT CHEAP.

Lately, I can’t get enough of strawberries. When they’re $1.50/clamshell, something in my brain sets off and before I know it, there are at least 4 of them in my cart. Mind you, it’s just me and my husband (ok, ok…and the dog) in this house. So, I do go a bit overboard. However, at least they freeze well, and it’s good to know that I can enjoy these strawberries year round in that case.

Last week, I decided to go for my first warm weather run for the first time since…well…October? I’ve gotten used to running in cooler conditions, and my pace has vastly improved over the winter. However, when I went to run that day, the warm weather + humidity got the best of me, and I found myself sitting on someone’s curb in the middle of the neighborhood. Every time I’d get up, I’d see those black spots. You know those black spots if you’ve passed out before…I call those the point of no return. I was so scared that I was gonna pass out, but luckily, my neighbor was walking with her two little boys. She quickly went back to her house & got me water, and made sure I made it home OK. I was so thankful for her in that moment…I honestly never had this problem before, so I took it as a sign that I really need to slow things down again. Phew…

When I got home, I thought about it, and I figured the best way to say “thanks” is through baked goods. (Am I right??!) Since I had strawberries in the fridge, I figured I’d make something using those and came across these strawberry crumb bars. Perfect. After we made them, my husband and I couldn’t wait for them to cool…we totally took a spoonful and gave it a try. Let’s just say my husband and I agreed that these had to get out of our house ASAP. These bars are just wonderful!

Strawberry Crumb Bars
Source: Can You Stay For Dinner?, originally adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 1 2/3 cups sugar, divided
• 1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• juice and zest of one lemon
• 5 cups chopped, fresh strawberries
• 1 tbsp. + 2 tsp. cornstarch

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a 9×13 inch baking pan with aluminum foil, allowing for extra foil to hang over the sides of the pan so the bars are easy to remove. Coat the foil with baking spray and set aside.
2. To make the crumb mixture, in a large bowl whisk the 1 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar, the flour, baking powder, salt and lemon zest together. Use a pastry blender (or fork) to blend in the cold butter and egg. The dough will be a crumbly consistency. Pat half of the dough evenly into the 9×13 inch baking pan.
3. In another large bowl, stir the remaining sugar, lemon juice, strawberries and cornstarch together. Then, evenly spread the strawberry mixture over the crust. Then, crumble the remaining crumb dough over the berries. Bake the bars for 45 minutes, or until the top of the bars are just turning golden brown. Allow the bars to cool completely in the pan before serving. Cut into small squares and enjoy!

This past Christmas, my Mom and Dad generously gifted us with an electric pressure cooker. I opened it, and quickly imagined a pressure cooker explosion in my kitchen. I’ve always heard that pressure cooking can be dangerous, so I was pretty worried about using this. However, I did a little research, and they make pressure cookers a lot safer nowadays. Thankfully.

It took me a while to finally break this bad boy in, but after the St. Patrick’s Day parade, we found our fridge FULL of vegetables that we caught that afternoon (What? They don’t throw vegetables at your St. Paddy’s Day parade?!). With all of these root veggies, I just had to make beef stew, and I figured why not try the pressure cooker for this? I did a quick search for pressure cooker beef stew, and this Williams Sonoma recipe caught my eye. 20 minute beef stew? HOW?!

My husband and I were skeptical. In fact, we had our Le Creuset at the ready in case the meat was too tough/not cooked. I just didn’t think this would work, y’all. However, after 20 minutes of pressurized cooking (I say pressurized, because you have to wait for the appliance to reach the right pressure before the timer counts down, which took about 15 extra minutes), we had the most tender, flavorful beef stew. I’m a believer. We definitely need to use this appliance more often!

20 Minute (Pressure Cooker) Beef Stew
Source: Williams-Sonoma

Ingredients:

• 3 lb. boneless stewing beef, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups red wine
• 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 2 celery stalks, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/2 lb. new potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 1/2 cups beef stock
• 3 fresh thyme sprigs

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, add the beef and toss it with the flour, salt and pepper to coat the beef evenly. Put your electric pressure cooker on the “brown” setting, and add the olive oil as the cooker is warming up. Add the beef in batches and brown the beef pieces on all sides, for about 3-4 minutes. Transfer the browned beef to a bowl, and repeat until all of the beef is browned.
2. Change the setting on the pressure cooker to “simmer” and add the red wine, stirring to scrape up the browned bits of meat. Once your finished, add the beef back in, along with the chopped onion, garlic, carrots, celery, potatoes, tomato paste, stock and thyme. Stir everything together to combine. Cover the pressure cooker (and seal), change the setting to “high pressure”and set the timer to 20 minutes on the cooker (do not use a kitchen timer…it’s crucial to use the timer on your appliance since the timer starts when it reaches the desired pressure to cook).
3. Release the pressure naturally (which takes another 10-20 minutes, depending on your appliance), and then uncover. If you would like the liquid to be thicker, you can transfer the beef and vegetables to another bowl, set the pressure cooker to the “brown” setting and cook the liquid down until it’s reduced to the consistency that you want. Add the beef and vegetables back in, and serve immediately. Enjoy!

 

Isn’t it a shame how quickly the weekends fly by? I feel like the ultra-productive ones leave me longing for another weekend. This past weekend was one of those weekends. I swear, I took 3 trips to Lowes and Home Depot to get more flowers or plants, only to think that the garden definitely needed something more. The third time, I went on Saturday. You would have thought they were practically giving away flowers or something. It was packed…like Black Friday packed. Everyone got the Spring itch at the same time, I guess.

After all of that work outside, I spent most of Sunday doing some Spring cleaning. Junk mail stinks y’all….I wish I actually kept up with it, but nope. I usually regret sifting through a huge pile a few weeks later. Once that was done, I definitely was in the mood to bake. I had a good bit of cream cheese in the fridge that as about to expire, and I’ve had this recipe starred on Google Reader for quite some time (as usual). It did take a little bit longer to throw together the three components (crust, cheesecake filling, raspberry topping), and since you’re making about 3 dozen little cheesecakes vs. one large one, it can be a little tedious. However, I found it completely worth it. These desserts are adorable (I mean, who doesn’t like mini desserts?), and they taste great! I think they would be perfect for a Spring party or for Easter.

Raspberry Swirl Mini Cheesecakes
Source: Annie’s Eats, originally found in Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the crust:

•  1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 4 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 3 tbsp. sugar

For the raspberry swirl:

• 6 oz. fresh raspberries
• 2 tbsp. sugar

For the cheesecake filling:

• 2 lbs. cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line your cupcake pans with cupcake liners. In a small bowl, add the graham cracker crumbs, butter and sugar. Stir everything together until everything is well mixed and the dry ingredients are moistened. Measure 1 tbsp. of the graham cracker mixture into the bottom of each cupcake liner, and press down (I used a 1/4 cup flat measuring cup.). Bake the crusts for about 5 minutes, until set, and transfer them to a cooling rack.
2. While the crusts are cooling, make the raspberry puree by blending the raspberries and sugar together in a blender or food processor until smooth. Pour the puree through a fine mesh sieve to remove the seeds.
3. To make the cheesecake filling, beat the cream cheese on medium-high speed for 3 minutes, until fluffy. Add in the sugar and mix until smooth. Then, mix in the salt and vanilla. Add in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
4. To prepare the cheesecakes, add 3 tbsp. of the cheesecake filling on top of the crusts. Then, dab 1/2 tsp. of the raspberry puree in small dots over the filling. Use a toothpick to swirl the raspberry puree in for a marbled effect.
5. Bake the cheesecakes for about 22 minutes (until the filling is set), rotating the pans halfway through the baking process. Transfer the cheesecakes to a cooling rack and allow them to cool to room temperature. Then chill the cheesecakes in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours before serving.