Slacking.

What a major, major slacker I've been lately. In my defense we have been without internet for a week. It's like were pioneers or something. But today I came home and hallelujah we have internet again. And to my defense # 2, this week has been the longest week of my life. Between my first calc test and babysitting 3o+ long hours I've been a bit preoccupied.

Last Friday I made dinner. 

 Part of that dinner was this.

Blue-Cheese Scallion Biscuits

source: Vanilla Garlic

Ingredients:

2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
a few grinds of black pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
7 tablespoons butter
2 scallions, finely chopped
2 ounces blue cheese
3/4 cup buttermilk

Sea Salt, for topping

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425F. 

2. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, mustard, salt, sugar, pepper, and baking powder if using. Set aside.

3. Dice the butter and toss with the flour mixture until finely coated. Add the scallions and blue cheese and toss until finely coated. 

4. Messy Alert** Add the buttermilk and mix with your hands until it just comes together. Do not over-knead.

5. Form into an 8x8 square on a lightly floured service. Cut into squares and top with a bit of high-quality salt. Bake for 12-16 minutes or until golden. 

I'd like S'more Please!

Like I said I have a whole heck of a lot of time on my hands so I've been playing catch up and finally getting around to posting all most the recipes from this past semester.

S'mores are my favorite. 

Then again I feel like I say everything is my favorite in every post. But s'mores are just so good. And remind me of my childhood when we used to going camping every summer. And then when I was older and Italy came and never had s'mores before. And then when I was in high school and we had fires like every weekend senior year. 

We made these for our Christmas Party and they were a hit. The cookie tray even went missing temporarily. Someone was trying to steal all the cookies!

S'mores Cookies

source: Baked Perfection

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 dash of cinnamon

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 cups miniature chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
2 Hershey bars, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl combine the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda, salt, and dash of cinnamon. 

3. In a larger bowl beat together the butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract until creamy.

4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 

5. Slowly beat in the flour mixture until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips.

6. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet.
7. Bake for 8 minutes, and remove from the oven. Push 3 to 4 marshmallows and a few pieces of hershey bar into each cookies. 

8. Return to the oven and bake an additional 3-4 minutes until fully cooked. 

9.Cool cookies on a wire rack.

Sweet Treats

My Friday consisted of:
5 mile run: check.
Trip to Wegmans: check.
Dinner planned and made: check.
Homework for Sunday due: semi-check.
Cookies made for the boys: check.


Friday was rather productive if I do say so myself. But at this point I think I was filling my time up so it would go quicker and 8 o'clock would come faster because then we'd be off to Oswego which meant I got to see Mariah, yay!! and hang out with N's friends who I've adopted as my own after many trips over the past semesters. 


If you recall I made these bad boys back in April and I'm pretty sure all the boys thought they died and went to heaven. Until last night when they had my "sweet treats" that were a "roller coaster of flavors" maybe it was the alcohol talking but after half the bag was gone in 10 minutes and Mike made it his personal job to give everyone there a cookie, and Josh requested me as a personal chef, I'm thinking hoping it wasn't just the alcohol ;)


Anywho, I saw a recipe for cookies that needed white chocolate, milk chocolate and Oreos, I was dead set on not going to Wegmans either so I saw a bag of hugs in the cupboard, okay perfect that's white and milk chocolate and I saw a bag of Oreos in the pantry, good, great. I'd be all set to bake on Thursday. Funny how I am knee deep into the recipe and the Oreos are MIA. Time to improvise. So, here is my adaptation of Triple-Chocolate-Oreo-Chunk-Cookies.

Triple-Chocolate-Cookie-Chunk Cookies
source: Two Peas and Their Pod 
makes 45-50  

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup dutch processed cocoa

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 bag chopped Hugs (or 1 cup milk chocolate chunks, 1 cup white chocolate chunks)

1 heaping cup chopped Keebler Chips Deluxe Cookies

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa.
3. With a mixer, cream butter and sugars together until smooth. Add in eggs, one at a time. Then, add in vanilla extract. Mix until blended.
4. Slowly add flour mixture to sugar mixture. Stir in chocolate chunks and Cookies.
5.Drop cookie dough by rounded tablespoons onto prepared baking sheet, about 2 inches apart.
6. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes. Don't over bake. Remove from oven and let sit on baking sheet for 3-5 minutes. Move to a cooling rack and cool completely.

A staple.

A staple in our apartment were Turkey and Feta burgers. They were so easy and quick to make and they were deeeelish. The recipe was for sliders but we turned ours into burgers for our meal.

Turkey and Feta Burgers
source: Picky Palate

Ingredients:

Burgers:

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 lb ground turkey

1/2 Cup crumbled feta cheese

1/4 Cup sun-dried tomatoes, jarred in olive oil

1/2 Cup fresh baby spinach leaves, chopped

Pinch of Kosher salt, fresh cracked pepper and Lawry’s Garlic Salt with Parsley

Sun-Dried Tomato Mayonnaise:

1 Cup mayonnaise

2 Tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes, packed in olive oil, drained

Hamburger buns, split

Directions:

1.  Heat oil into a large skillet over medium heat.  

2. Place turkey, feta, sun dried tomato, spinach and seasonings into a mixing bowl.  Mix until just combined.  

3. Form patty’s and place onto a cookie sheet.  Once all are formed, place batches in hot skillet.  

4. Cook for 5-6 minutes per side or until golden brown and cooked through (depending on size).

5.  Place mayonnaise and tomatoes into a bowl; mix to combine.  

6. Spread mayo over rolls. Top with a burger and spinach.

Triple Berry Bars

Growing up triple berry pie was always a hit in my house. We rarely had desserts laying around but when we made pie, my father and I always made triple berry pie. One time we tried making it for my mom and it was a total disaster. But other than that little fiasco we've had nothing but success with it.

When I saw a recipe for triple berry bars, I knew I had to make them. I had the perfect opportunity to when my aunt and uncle were visiting from California a few weeks ago, so to finish off our dinner of Red Wine Marinated Flank Steak filled with Prosciutto, Fontina and Basil and a side of risotto we had these bars. Oh boy were they hit, especially with my father and uncle.

Triple Berry Bars

source: Pinch of Yum 

Ingredients:

Crust and Topping

2 cups all-purpose flour 

1 cup quick oats

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled

Fruit Filling

 4 large eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup sour cream

3/4 cup flour

pinch salt

zest of 1/2 lemon  

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 (16-oz) packages frozen mixed berries (strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries)

Directions:

Crust and Topping:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 pan.
2. Put oats into the food processor and pulse until a coarse “flour” forms.  

3.Add the regular flour, sugar, and salt to the food processor. Pulse a few times to mix.  

4. Cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes, and add to the flour mixture. Process until the butter is evenly distributed but the mixture is still crumbly, 30-60 seconds.  

5. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the mixture to use as the topping.  

6. Press the remaining mixture into the bottom of the pan, and bake 12-15 minutes.  Cool for at least 10 minutes.

 Filling:

1. Whisk the eggs in a large bowl, then add the sugar, sour cream, flour, salt, lemon zest, and vanilla extract. 

2. Fold in the berries and spoon the mixture over the crust.  

3. Sprinkle the remaining flour mixture evenly over the filling, and bake 45 to 55 minutes.

4. Cool at least 1 hour before cutting into bars.  

5. Serve warm or chilled, and try not to eat the entire batch!

Eggplant Parmesan

I love eggplant parm. I love chicken parm. Quite frankly I love anything cheese and sauce related. Last semester I decided to make Eggplant Parm and all the eggplants were frozen in Texas, if you recall. Thankfully, they are unfrozen and we are back to normal sized eggplants.

I cut the recipe in half because it was just my mother and I, if you are confused as to why the pictures only show a small pan.

Eggplant Parmesan

adapted from Gina's Skinny Taste

8 servings

Ingredients:

2 large Eggplant

1 tbsp Olive Oil
12 oz Ricotta

1/4 cup + 2 tbsp Pecorino Romano

1/4 cup fresh Parsley, chopped

1/4 cup freshBasil, chopped

1 medium egg

2 cups Mozzarella, shredded

3 cups homemade tomato sauce

salt

Directions:

1. Prepare your homemade sauce, do not even think of using a jar.

2.Slice the eggplant into 1/4 inch thick slices and lightly salt the slices and put in a colander to release excess moisture for about 1/2 hour. Lay on paper towels to soak up any extra moisture.
3.Preheat oven to 450°. Brush eggplant lightly with olive oil on both sides and place on cookie sheets.

4.Bake for 20-25 minutes, turning half way through until eggplant is golden brown.
5. In a medium bowl combine ricotta, egg, parsley, basil and 1/4 cup of grated cheese.
6. In a 9x13 baking dish, lay a little sauce on the bottom of the dish and put a layer of eggplant to cover the bottom of the dish. Top with 1/3 of the ricotta cheese mixture, mozzarella cheese and sauce. Add another layer of eggplant and repeat the ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese and sauce until everything is used up. Top with sauce and the mozzarella cheese and the remaining grated cheese.
7. Cover with foil and bake until cheese is melted and everything is bubbling, about 30 minutes at 400°. Remove foil and bake an additional 8-10 minutes.  

8. Let sit about 10 minutes then time to feast!

Of course I forgot a picture of the finished product, but you get the idea..

Strawberry and Onion Salad with Poppyseed Dressing

I love salad. 

Any kind.

Especially Strawberry and Onion Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing.

Daddy does not like his salad with fruit inside. We have this when he is away and I am a happy camper.

Strawberry and Onion Salad with Poppyseed Dressing

serves: 8

source: Applehood & Motherpie

Ingredients:

Salad:

1 head Romaine Lettuce

1 pint Fresh Strawberries, sliced

1 Bermuda Onion, sliced

Dressing:

1/2 cup Mayonnaise

2 tablespoons Vinegar

1/3 cup Sugar

1/4 cup Whole Milk

2 tablespoons Poppyseeds

Directions:

1. Chop lettuce, slice strawberries and onions in a large salad bowl.

2. Place all ingredients for dressing in a bowl.

3. Whisk until blended.

Dressing can be stored in refrigerator for several days.

The Ultimate Snack

Remember how I was on a mission to buy shoes on Monday? Isn't it just my luck they didn't have my size. But it turned out to be just fine because I found shoes I love almost as much, maybe even more than these.

Remember how it's 1:45 am right now? Oh insomnia, how I missed you and thought you only roamed the halls of 121 Farm Acre Road. Where your growling stomach would lead you to the kitchen to munch on the endless supply of pretzels and hummus. And where 90% of the time, you would soon here rustling from another sleepless member stumbling to the kitchen.

True story. Insomnia lived in our apartment, much to our dismay.

So did a tub of pretzels, this tub magically reproduced, duplicated, never. ran. out. It was a sad, sad day when the container hit the curb on move out day. Along with an endless supply of pretzels, was an endless supply of hummus. It was a rare, and scary day if there was no hummus in the fridge. We went through it like mad men, we used it on anything and everything. 

I had always wanted to make my own so I finally did it because I found a recipe for Roasted Garlic AND Red Pepper Hummus all in one. Hello, the only two kinds we every buy.

Roasted Garlic and Red Pepper Hummus
source: Heather's Dish

Ingredients:

2 can Chickpeas**

1/4 cup Olive Oil

1/4 cup Water

1/8 cup Lemon Juice

1/2 bulb Garlic, Roasted

2 jarred Roasted Red Peppers

Salt, to taste

Directions:

1. Roast the garlic- break apart the bulb- leaving skins on the cloves, drizzle with olive oil and wrap in foil. Pop into the oven at 300 for 30-40 minutes, until soft.

2. Add all ingredients into food processor until creamy.

**My full intention was to buy 2 cans of chickpeas..but then this happened..So I had to cut the recipe in half..and it's gone..already..

Muffin Monday- Glazed Doughnut Muffins

Happy Monday! I'd say happy if the high for today weren't 67..but that does give me the opportunity to go to the mall and hunt down heels I found for 60% off, making them only $20 woohoo!

After my day with my long lost friendsys, I was exhausted. Talking takes a lot out of you. Or maybe that I don't think I slept a wink Saturday night in anticipation for Sunday. But, I had a job to do, make muffins for my momma. After running out of vanilla, thankfully I had enough for the batter and could pop those in the oven while I waited for the trusty neighbors to come to pop on over and borrow some for the icing.

Apparently they are pretty darn good, as my brother devoured one sans frosting and then another once frosted. Good thing I made a few extra or mom would look kind of funny going into work with a handful of muffins.

I came across Sweet Pea's Kitchen recently and does it have a million good recipes let me tell you. That and the fact that it's called Sweet Pea's Kitchen I was instantly drawn to it. Good thing it does the name well.

Glazed Doughnut Muffins

makes 12-14
source: Sweet Pea's Kitchen

Ingredients:

Muffins:

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup milk

Glaze:  

3 tablespoons butter; melted

1 cup confectioners’ sugar; sifted

3/4 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons hot water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line 12 muffin cups with muffin liners or spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter, vegetable oil, and sugars till smooth. 

3. Beat in eggs, one at a time. With the mixer on low speed, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and vanilla until just combined. 

4. Stir the flour into the butter mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour and making sure everything is thoroughly combined.
5. Spoon batter into cups, filling the cups, and smooth tops. Divide batter equally among prepared muffin cups. 

6. Bake until muffin tops are a pale golden and springy to the touch, 15 to 17 minutes, rotating halfway through baking time. Cool muffins in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool 10 minutes before glazing.

Glaze:

1. In a medium bowl mix together the melted butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla and water. Whisk until smooth.
2. When muffins have cooled slightly, dip the muffin crown into the glaze and allow the glaze to harden. Once hardened, dip a second time  and allow to harden then serve.

Brown Sugar Oatmeal Cookies

I have a lot of time on my hands. When I say a lot, I mean a whole-heck-of-a-lot-read-a-new-book-every-three-days-amount-of-time-on-my-hands.

I wish I was kidding. I've spent the majority of my time with people under the age of 10 and the amount of time is only going to increase starting June 22nd. Hence why I am reading and taking Calc online. To keep my brain from becoming fluff and thinking of other things other than applying sunscreen to squirmy children, keeping track of who ate the last packet of mini muffins and who can swim across the pool the fastest.

And the whole Calc thing, clearly not my choice to spend my summer doing limits and derivatives. Alex Gerling time to come home and do this nonsense for me, since I know its enjoyable to you. The sole purpose is so that come May 2013 I will be walking through the Dome with a cap and gown on. Much to my dismay. 3 more years of college would be just fine with me, not so much for my parents and that hefty sum Syracuse feels the need to charge.

Today I get to have interaction with people above the age of 10 and under the age of 40. Hooray! (Not there is anything wrong with people above the age of 40, love spending time with you mother and father.) But I need a little bit interaction, you know, gossip, mindless chatter and planning our next semester and just how fabulous it will be. 

Clearly, I needed to bring some sort of baked good to this gathering. What kind of roommate/ neighbor would I be if I didn't?

I had huge elaborate plans to make Lofthouse Style Frosted Cookies because every time we went to the store we would stop and remember our childhoods and how we consumed these high fructose, preservative packed cookies in one bite. Then I realized that you had to refrigerate them over night and quite frankly this morning I'd be too excited to have the patience to be baking and frosting cookies of any sort. So yesterday morning I decided to make some cookies I came across last week and put my own spin on them.


Anything brown sugar calls out to me. And cinnamon. And oats. Well quite frankly because it is the only breakfast that I like. Breakfast, if I wasn't a starved Sally in the mornings, would be skipped. 




Brown Sugar Oatmeal Cinnamon Chip Cookies
makes 20+
adapted from How Sweet It Is

Ingredients:

1 stick Butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup Brown Sugar

1 Egg

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1 3/4 cups Flour

1/4 teaspoon Salt

1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

1 1/2 teaspoons Cinnamon

1 tablespoon Milk

3/4 cup Oats

1 cup Cinnamon Chips

Directions:

1.Preheat oven to 375.

2. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. 

3.Add egg and vanilla, mixing well until combined. 

4. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon on low speed. Mix until dough comes together. 

5. Add in milk. If dough is still crumbly, add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until it comes together.*

6.Stir in oats and cinnamon chips.

7. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

8. Remove dough from fridge and roll into 1 1/2 inch balls or scoop out with an ice cream scooper.    

9. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes. Let cool completely. 

* My cookies did not spread, literally stayed in the balls I scooped them into. But, they stayed moist and still tasted good. Many people commented on this in the original post, it may be due to the different amount of milk added. My dough came together with only 1 tablespoon, but it may vary.

**I wrote this before I went, and when I arrive home I got a text from Emily saying.."Holy shit soooo good! I've already had 3"

Grilled Vegetable Naan Pizza

Thinking of something every night for dinner to make can be a daunting task.

There's some nights when all I want to do is hit up Campus Food.

And some nights I just make up wild and crazy concoctions.

I had this one night at school. Then recreated it the other night for dinner for my mother and I.

The kitchen was filled with smoke. Good thing the alarm didn't go off.

And good thing it was super tasty. 

Grilled Vegetable Naan Pizza 
2 pizzas


Ingredients:

2 pieces of Naan (we used whole wheat)

Any vegetables you'd like (we used cherry tomatoes, zucchini, onions, peppers, mushrooms)

Olive Oil

Garlic, minced

Salt and Pepper

Blue Cheese (you could really use any cheese you wish, but not feta-doesn't melt..been there done that)
Balsamic Vinegar (optional)

Directions:

1. Slice up your veggies and coat them with olive oil, salt and pepper.

2. Grill veggies until tender.

3. Place the naan on the grill to get nice grill marks.

4. Pour olive oil onto the naan (side with the grill marks) and brush to coat.

5. Add a generous amount of minced garlic and spread around.

6. Place your grilled veggies onto and crumbled cheese.

7. Throw the pizzas onto a baking sheet, under the broiler until cheese melts.

8. Splash with balsamic vinegar and serve!