Voodoo Saturday

Happy Saturday! I hope everyone is having a fabulous Saturday, I know I am! Started off with a maple bacon bar from Voodoo Doughnuts (thanks dad!!!!), and ended by helping my dad cook up a special dinner to enjoy with my cousin, her husband and their son visiting from Washington. In between, my sister Anna and I did some antiquing in Sellwood and discovered a GREAT thrift store, "Really Good Stuff." I got three cute little plates for three bucks. I am sure they will be making an appearance on the blog very soon. Here's some pictures of highlights from the day. More to follow with the recipe for Dad's Special Beer Can Chicken, Lemon Asparagus, and Champagne Vinaigrette Marinated Veggies. Be excited cause the recipe's are awesome just like my dear old dad! I will get them posted soon so check back ☺

Voodoo!

According to this vintage ad, salt is the way to a man's heart.... good to know!

This is easily the most terrifying antique photo I have ever seen!

It's true! I do!!

S'more Please!

I am sooo excited to share this next recipe! It is seriously, seriously FANTASTIC! Lately it seems like every supermarket I go into has all of their s'mores fixings put up in some tempting display right as I walk in. On a whim the other day I bought a bag of mini marshmallows and a box of graham crackers because they were on sale 2 for 2 dollars! That's a pretty darn good deal and I figured that I would eventually find a use for them. Well dear friends, that day has come... I absolutely love smores but haven't had them in years. My family are not big campers so the s'mores I usually had were from the microwave, or in the form of a pop tart. This recipe started out based on a recipe for Marshmallow Blondies I found on thegirlwhoeatseverything.blogspot. As I went along I kept modifying and modifying according to what i had on hand hoping and praying that they would turn out edible. Messing with ratios of ingredients while baking is a RISKY business to say the least, I have had many, many disastrous results as a consequence of trying to adjust recipes. However, these turned out A M A Z I N G! I am sure the original recipe is fantastic as well, however, i didn't happen to have any butterscotch chips but I DID have a hankering for something s'mores like! I used milk chocolate chips in place of butterscotch and added crushed graham crackers into the batter. I also sprinkled the top with mini marshmallows, graham crackers, and more chocolate chips after I pulled it out of the oven. It turned into crunchy, rich, gooey deliciousness. Words cannot sufficiently describe these, I just urge you, with all haste, go bake them!

S'mores Bars

based on the recipe for Marshmallow Blondies found here

Ingredients

1¼ cup milk chocolate chips (I think it would be really yummy to mix peanut butter chips and chocolate chips too)

¾ cup butter

Scant 1½ cup all-purpose flour

1 cup brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1½ tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2 ½ cups mini marshmallows

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

¾ cup crushed graham crackers + more for topping

Preheat oven 350 degrees.

In a double boiler over medium high heat melt butter and 1 cup milk chocolate chips. Stir constantly so it doesn't burn. When melted remove from heat, let cool to room temperature. Mix in flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, vanilla, eggs.

When well mixed, mix in semi-sweet chocolate chips, marshmallows, and graham crackers. Spread into well greased 13x9 inch pan. Bake for 24-26 minutes. It will look really ugly when you pull it out of the oven because the marshmallows spread out and get a little brown on top but don't worry the topping will cover this up! Sprinkle with mini marshmallows, tent with foil so they melt a little bit for about two minutes.

Sprinkle with remaining chocolate chips and graham crackers. Let cool before cutting and munching.

Enjoy!

Fill in the Blank Friday - thanks Lauren!

1. The best thing about being in school was/is seeing all your friends every day and at least for college the amazing feeling of napping through class!

2. The worst thing about being in school was/is PE I HATED it.... I was a very unfortunate, awkward child.....now I like to run but back then pure torture... and don't get me started on gym uniforms!

3. My favorite subject in school was/is English. I was a bookworm to the max! I would literally bring books to the dinner table. Mr Poppers Penguins was the best!

4. One subject I wish I could have mastered/would like to master is Geography, I don't think I could even place all 50 states on a map

5. I could never get tired of studying Home Ec! Or anything that had to do with pioneers, I was obsessed with the Oregon Trail.

6. The most memorable teacher I had was Mrs. Kent, but not for the good reasons

7. If I could choose between going to school for the rest of my life or working for the rest of my life, I'd choose work. I actually like what I do most days! If this question were work or start my own bakery/granola company the answer would be verrrry different.

Have a beautiful weekend!

Pasta Primavera

It's high time I posted a recipe that is neither baked nor sweet! And with the various array of fresh produce available right now, this seems the perfect time to do so. I originally found this recipe on Cooking Light's website. What I like about it is that you can use pretty much any fresh vegetables you happen to have on hand. I used carrots, zucchini, asparagus, and garlic spears. It would also be good with some chicken or shrimp thrown in there.

I bought these garlic spears at the farmer's market this past weekend. I had never seen them before and was intrigued. Raw, they are spicy with chive like undertones; steamed, they are similar in taste to really tender asparagus. I steamed them to add to the pasta. Next time I make this I am going to add even more vegetables and use a bit less pasta. Any good veggie suggestions?

Happy Cooking!

Pasta Primavera

Adapted from Cooking Light, April, 2002

2 large carrots (peeled and chopped into one inch spears, or use baby carrots)

1 1/2 cups asparagus chopped into one inch spears

2 cups chopped zucchini squash

7 garlic spears, cut into one inch pieces

2.5 cups whole wheat pasta (I used Penne)

1 tsp olive oil

3 coves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Salt (to taste)

Chili powder (to taste)

1/4 cup dry white wine

1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese (plus more for sprinkling on top)

1/4 cup fresh basil chopped into thin strips

1/4 cup chopped parsley

I started by chopping up the carrots and asparagus into one inch strips. I also chopped all the other vegetables at this time just to get it out of the way. I like to have everything ready to go once I start cooking.

Next, bring two quarts water to a boil. Cook carrots and asparagus for about three minutes or until done. While these are cooking, steam the garlic spears.

Remove carrots and asparagus from water with a slotted spoon, set aside.

Add pasta to boiling water and cook according to package directions .

Drain.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add squash and sauté three minutes. Add in carrots, asparagus, salt, pepper, garlic and chili powder sauté for two minutes. Stir in wine, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add chopped garlic spears. Stir in cream and juice; cook 1 minute.

Add cheese and pasta and stir well to coat. Remove from heat, stir in basil and parsley. Top with more fresh grated parmesan.

There you go, a healthy, quick, yummy dinner recipe.

Whisked Away Wednesday: Mini Pecan muffins

This week for whisked away wednesday I had a hankering to make muffins. There are SO many different recipes for muffins, it can be overwhelming at times! I finally settled on this recipe from Sister's Cafe because I had all the ingredients on hand and I haven't seen many nut-muffin recipes so I thought I would try something a little different. The recipe couldn't be simpler! I forgot to flour the muffin tins but I did butter them and the muffins popped out without a problem. The only thing I added to the recipe was that after I pulled the muffins out of the oven I dipped them in melted butter and then into a mixture of raw sugar and cinnamon. It gave them a little more crunch and looked really pretty. They came out a beautiful brown with cute sparkly little tops.

Mini Pecan Muffins

Recipe from Sister's Cafe

1 c. packed brown sugar

¾ - 1 c. flour

1 c. chopped pecans

2/3 c. butter (no substitute) – melted and cooled

2 eggs, beaten

Stir dry ingredients together.

In a small bowl combine eggs and butter.

Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredents just until moistened.

Grease mini muffin tins. Fill about 2/3 full (not more or they will overflow while cooking!)

Bake at 350° for about 15 minutes. When cool enough to handle, dip muffin tops in melted butter then in a mix of raw sugar and cinnamon.

Makes 2.5-3 dozen

*Little muffin making tip: When I take muffins out of the oven I always run a knife around the edge and then flip the muffins up onto their sides. This stops them from getting too brown on the sides and bottom as they cool.

Happy Baking!

Weekend Recap

10 Reasons This Weekend Was Great....

1. Coffee with Violet this morning

2. Finding Lucky Charms for 50% off.... don't know why they were in the bargain bin, dont want to know why... they still taste magically delicious to me!

3. Refreshing Stash Iced Tea

4. SUNSHINE!!

5. Scoring a sweet new (to me) electric mixer and bread machine at a random garage sale I stopped at

6. Pizza Pretzels!

7. My three new cookbooks

8. Getting my first Real Simple issue in the mail on the same day I got my Martha Stewart Everyday Food cookbook in the mail

9. Finding really cool jewelry at the Lake Oswego Farmers Market. You can check some of it out at Teri Sprouse's etsy store at www.2monkees.etsy.com. Beautiful and SO creative!

10. Fresh strawberries EVERYWHERE! Check out some yummy looking recipes for strawberries over at Lynne's Kitchen Adventures

Hope your weekend was great too!

My Early Saturday and Pizza Pretzels

Yay!! Its FINALLY the weekend! AND it's only 12:30 and I have already had a pretty great day! How, you may ask... Well, when you wake up at 4:45 in the morning with the random urge to make something delicious, you have a lot more time to enjoy your day. A brief recap of my day thus far: woke up with the desire to create something. Does this ever happen to anyone else? You just wake up and want to get stuff done? Well, I threw some laundry in the wash (sorry neighbors), put the dishes away (dropped one... again sorry neighbors :/), and then decided to see what I could pull together for a good baking session.

My on hand ingredients were somewhat limited as I have been working ALOT this week and haven't done any shopping. So when I remembered seeing a super simple recipe for garlic soft pretzles on the picky palate website I decided to try it out. Apparently I wasn't thinking very clearly because it didn't occur to me that I had no garlic or garlic salt, or canola oil. But, never one to give up easily, I browsed through my spices and settled on my favorite Red Robin seasoning and some rosemary and figured good old vegetable oil would have to work. I worked in some additional changes as I was making them which I will share with you below. In the end, they turned out pretty good, kind of like a pizza pretzel!

After I finished with my baking frenzy, I enjoyed a nice warm pretzel, watched food network for a bit, read my new Martha Stewart and decided to head over to the parents to grab my mom and hit up the Lake Oswego farmers market. My favorite weekend activity! It was great as usual, strawberries are really coming into season as are cherries, and there were lots of yummy samples to be had. After that, we headed over to the Booktique a used bookstore in Lake Oswego. I scored two sweet vintage cookie cookbooks and one AMAZING cookbook from the fifties that I will be sure to share with you all at a later date. From there, we trekked to Whole Foods and finally ended up at the Stash Tea store for some tea sampling. I bought some refreshing Mango Passionfruit iced tea as well. So, all in all a pretty productive Saturday, and it's only half over!

Pizza Pretzels

Adapted from http://www.sugarlaws.com/garlic-soft-pretzels (be sure to check out her pictures, they are really super!)

1 tsp active dry yeast

Pinch of sugar

1/3 cup warm water

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tbsp white sugar

1 tbsp canola oil

Spices a tu gusto (to your liking)

I used about a teaspoon and a half Red Robin Seasoning, a teaspoon of rosemary, and a dash of pizza seasoning

3 tbsp baking soda

1 cup hot water (as hot as your tap can get)

Cheese for sprinkling

Dissolve yeast into water with a pinch of sugar. Stir it a bit, then let it stand for about 10 minutes or until creamy in color.

In another bowl mix sugar, flour, salt, canola oil (this is where I realized I was missing garlic powder), Red Robin Seasoning Spice, rosemary, and pizza seasoning. Add yeast mixture to flour mixture and knead about 8 minutes.

Put dough in greased bowl in a warm place with a warm towel over the top. Allow to rise until doubled in size, the original recipe says about an hour but mine took about two hours (my apartments pretty cold).

Preheat oven to 425. Divide dough into six parts. Take each part and roll it into a long strand. When finished, pick up each strand, stretch into pretzel shape (mine were not all the same, it takes practice I guess!), and place on a cookie tray lined with parchment paper.

Stir baking soda into hot water until dissolved. Pick up each pretzel and give it a quick dunk before placing it back on the cookie sheet. Here I sprinkled half of my pretzels with cheese, I only did half because I was worried the cheese would burn so I wanted to leave some of the pretzels au natural to see how they turned out in comparison.

Turns out the cheese is a yummy addition, I highly recommend it! Bake for about 8 minutes, until pretzels are lightly browned.

After cooking, I found a jar of marinara sauce in my fridge and dunked the cheesy pretzels in marinara. It was a great (although a little strange for breakfast), combination.

I think next time I make these I may add a bit of whole wheat flour and maybe do a sweet topping, or parmesan cheese like Auntie Annies, or sesame seeds!

The possibilities are endless!

Have a great weekend!

Bacon flavored envelopes and pickle pops...

Its Friday, a day that seems to stretch on forever for me because I am counting the hours until the weekend finally arrives. I thought I would share a very entertaining website that is sure to make time move at least a little faster toward the glorious freedom that is Saturday.... When I recently stumbled across onemoregadget.com, I ended up spending a good hour going through their posts on all kinds of remarkable gadgets that I had no idea even existed. Let me just say, this is my new favorite time-waster (as if I need another one). Anyhow, love, love, love this website! Some of the strangest items I encountered there were envelopes that taste like bacon (I have to admit... i'm intrigued), a doggie high chair (really?), pickle flavored ice sickles... and this which I actually think I am going to invest in...

http://www.perpetualkid.com/wire-blooms-cable-clips.aspx

I have wires going from my TV that are particularly hideous... Hindsight is 20/20, don't go with Dish Network, they run a cable from the dish on your back patio through to your tv. Which for me means right through my kitchen! But these cute little clips may be the solution I have been looking for! Genius!! Enjoy the website and let me know if you find something amazing!

Liz

Whisked Away Wednesday

Is it a cookie, a bar, a cake? NO, it's a CHEWIE!!

I have a confession, I am a cookie dough fiend. Don't get me wrong, I love cookies too... but there is something about a spoonful of cookie dou

gh that just is irresistible to me. It takes me right back to my childhood when I would sneakily steal spoonfuls of delicious cookie dough as soon as my mom turned her back. Even today, when I make cookies and help myself to a bit of that yummy dough, I feel a little guilty afterwards... but not guilty enough not to grab another spoonful, of course ☺. That being said, the first time I made this recipe, it did not turn out well. First of all, I kept 'sneaking' little spoonfuls of dough, so when I went to spread it out in the pan there wasn't enough dough left. Then, I left it in for too long and they burned on the bottom. But, instead of getting discouraged and giving up, I whipped up another batch. And let me tell you, I am now OBSESSED with this tasty little cookie bar! I have brought it to countless potlucks and events and it is my most highly rated, raved about recipe! I first tasted Chewies at a friend's super bowl party. I wasn't expecting anything all that special, to me they looked like just another bar cookie, and I wasn't a fan of the name, I mean Chewies? That's kind of a strange name for a baked good... However, being the open minded dessert lover that I am, I managed to force myself to pick one up and pop it in my mouth (haha, right, like anyone has ever had to force me to eat any sugary treat...) Anyways, from that moment on, I was hooked. I knew that this was a recipe I HAD to have. After much cajoling and, I admit it, begging, I got the recipe! It is a super simple recipe with a grand total of six ingredients. The trick is to be sure to pull the bars out of the oven right before you think they look done. I compulsively check them about every six or so minutes because over-baking will make them cakey and dry (believe me, I found that out the hard way). Avoid this and you will have a guaranteed home run, especially when paired with a glass of ice cold milk or a big bowl of creamy vanilla ice cream... YUM!!

Really! These are all the ingredients you're gonna need!

Mix together....

Spread it out, pop in the oven

Remove from oven...

Enjoy!

Chewies

1 box Yellow Cake Mix

½ cup Vegetable Oil

2 Eggs

2 Tblsp Brown Sugar

1 Tblsp Vanilla

6 ounces chocolate chips (Dark or milk, I use whatever I have on hand)

Preheat oven to 325. Mix all ingredients together, spread out into a 9x13 inch pyrex pan and pop into the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Oh, by the way, this recipe is the first recipe in a series I thought I would call, "Whisked Away Wednesday," cause I can't resist a good opportunity to utilize alliteration ;) The plan is to share a new baked recipe with you all every Wednesday. It might not be a dessert, but it will be baked! I am also thinking about doing a series of adventurous/unusual recipes.... hmmm.... so many possibilities... Let me know what you think!

Liz