Chocolate Chip Muffins

The best, most perfect chocolate chip muffins. This is my Mom's recipe. She would make these for me in high school and would almost always bring them when she came to visit me at college. So, to me, they are the ultimate comfort food. I used a similar recipe for the apple walnut muffins I made in 2009; I think these measurements make the perfect muffin.


Ingredients
3/4 cup of milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg

1/3 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp or less of salt

1 cup more or less of semi-sweet chocolate chips

mix the milk, oil and egg together. Then mix the dry ingredients. Combine both mixtures just until everything is moist. Then add in your chocolate chips (or anything else you want to use)
It should remain clumpy. cook for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Trust me, they won't stay untouched until morning. Eating usually commences once they are cool enough to not burn your mouth.

Black Bean and Veggie Quesadilla

There's really not much to say about this, but, like pizza, it's up there in my top 5 of comfort food.

I used...

black beans, fresh mozzarella, salsa (don't go crazy with it), chopped up veggies like celery, peppers and carrots (do go crazy with it), and, being my spicy little self, some jalapenos.

Dan likes chicken in his so we usually get one piece of roast chicken at the deli counter and just chop it up into cubes.

cook on the oven top in a frying pan until everything is soft and gooey. If you have one of those iron things so you can heat both sides, use it. I realized last time I should cook it on the cuisinart griddle in order to really get both sides.

Now have a meal where you don't talk to each other because you are only thinking about the food - that's when you know it's good.

have no fear

Have no fear, new posts and updates shall soon appear! Chocolate chip muffins on the way...

Yellow Pepper Pizza

Yum. Pizza. This was a quick easy dinner. I bought the little mini pizza breads and just layered on some traditional tomato sauce, leftover soppressata (from paninis a night or two before), chopped tomato, chopped yellow pepper, fresh basil, fresh mozzarella, some oregano and a drizzle of olive oil. Cook for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees or so and munch! yum!

Creamy Alfredo Sauce

My current life of cooking has so many firsts. Sometimes I'll be in the kitchen and realize it is my first time making something that I have eaten my whole life. You definitely take it for granted that people (your parents, chefs) can create something you recognize and enjoy over and over again. Sometimes you don't really think about how the things around you exist...

Annyyywayyy, seeing as I'm a huge pasta buff, I thought some creamy alfredo sauce would add some good diversity to my Italian dishes. I wasn't really sure how to make it, and was shocked at how incredibly easy it is! I suppose it is just the calories that keeps people from making this more often. Either way, if you need something fast -- go for it.

Ingredients:
1 cup of heavy cream
1 cup of high quality shredded parmesan cheese
1/4 cup of butter
Black pepper

extra: I like to add diced tomatoes to mine. I do this because a) I always love it when restaurants do that b) it adds some more vitamins and c) it gives it a little color and some more texture.


In a pan melt butter and add in a cup of heavy cream, mixing continuously. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Then add in the cheese and keep mixing, it will start getting thick quickly. Toss in some pepper... voila! I added my diced tomatoes a few minutes before eating and I actually added my already cooked spaghetti (from 2 nights before) into the sauce and kept mixing.

Dan sauted some zucchini slices in oil and added these as well. Quick, yummy dinner! Very filling... don't let your eyes get too big.

Peanut Butter Cookies with Hershey Kisses

mmm, my favorite cookies in the whole world. I baked these for a friend in high school when he got his heart broken because I think they have some healing powers. I made about 2 dozen with this batch. Dan and I got a little ambitious though and our cookies probably should have been smaller. So when you are rolling them into balls avoid making meatball sized ones. whoops! And try not to eat too much of the batter... although it's hard not to.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of butter
1/2 cup of peanut butter (I used smooth but you can also use crunchy. Definitely use high quality peanut butter... not that reduced fat stuff either)
1/2 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar (dark or light)
1 egg
1 3/4 cup of flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
3/4 tsp of baking soda

Mash together the butter (softened), sugars and peanut butter. Then add the egg.

In a separate bowl add together the remaining dry ingredients and then mix all together. Let the batter cool in the fridge for a few hours before making the dough balls. Roll into roughly 1 inch balls on a cookie sheet and use a floured fork to press down on and create a criss-cross pattern. Cook at 375 degrees until the edges start to brown. Be careful not to overcook. This is why its important to not make cookies too large.

Immediately upon taking out of the oven, place a Hershey's kiss on top (push down lightly). I would suggest having the Hershey's kisses unwrapped before the cookies come out. Enjoy!

on my way...

Hey followers. I have some recipes and pics to upload (peanut butter and kiss cookies and a yummy alfredo dish). Got a little overzealous this weekend watching Dexter and got a virus on my comp. Fortunately Dan will be donating his technology to our cause. Check back tomorrow night!

Spaghetti Bolognese

Meat. Tomatoes. Spaghetti. All is right in the world. Like Forrest Gump, I have nothing more to say about that.

I cooked for myself and the man and had leftover for 1 or small 2, so you can do the math of what you would need.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 can of crush tomatoes + extra tomatoes OR some diced tomatoes OR some tomato paste OR some tomato sauce. Whatever is floating in your cupboard. When I did this I only had the 1 can of crushed tomatoes and while it was really good I still wanted a little more sauce when I was eating.
1 carrot or several baby carrots
1 onion
1-2 cloves of garlic
1 stick of celery
chopped basil leaves
1 lb spaghetti
love


Turn on the heat to boil pasta water in a large pan. In a large skillet, saute some chopped onion (I used about 1/4 a large onion) and 1 or 2 cloves of garlic with olive oil. This makes the house smell sooo good. I let it saute for at least 5 minutes, until the onion was definitely soft. Chop up the carrot and celery and toss with the onion and garlic. Let this cook for another 5 minutes or so. Feel free to add any other veggies you have, but these ones are mandatory.

Add about 3/4 a pound of the beef. Mine was very meaty even without the other 1/4. Keep moving the meat and trying to prevent chunks until all the pink is gone. At this point your pasta water should be boiling and you should start to cook the pasta.



Once all the pink is gone from your meat, add your chunks of tomatoes and all your other ingredients. It will thicken as time passes. Keep stirring until your pasta is ready.

Serve!

Honey and Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots

I had this as a side dish last night and it was so delicious. Like the Acorn Squash I did in October it tasted more like a desert than a vegetable.



In a frying pan melt some butter. Rinse however many baby carrots you plan on eating and place into the pan. Squeeze in an ample amount of honey and then after a couple of minutes sprinkle on brown sugar. Keep on the pan (continually moving) for around 8 minutes. The carrots will start to get that glazed look and then the mixture on the bottom of the pan will start getting thicker and more molassesy (I love making new words) looking. Serve hot and pour any leftover glaze on top of the carrots when you plate them. Yum! Even bratty little kids should like this one!

We ate this with red beans and rice (I'm enjoying this love affair with Zataran's) and some chicken cooked in the wok. yumm

Chocolate Pudding with Orange Zest

So simple. I thought I would try being fabulous like Giada de Laurentiis.

I made this pudding using one of those jello pudding boxes. You mix the powder with two cups of milk. Mix and heat on the stove while continuously stirring (so it doesn't get chunky). Once it starts to boil shut it off and serve in dishes. I sprinkled some orange zest on top and stuck in a cinnamon stick. Yum! Serve chilled.

Baked Chicken, Dirty Rice and Cream of Mushroom Soup

This was just an experiment that fortunately came out right. The flavor was really good, even though it wasn't the prettiest thing when we were making it.

Ingredients:
-chicken breasts
-one can of cream of mushroom soup
-Zataran's dirty rice
-water and a dash of olive oil

We also had left over beans and corn from the vegetable soup so I threw that in as well. On the stove we heated up the rice in a pot with a cup or two of water, some olive oil and the cream of mushroom soup. We only left it on for about 5 minutes, just to make the rice tender. We also threw in those vegetables I mentioned. This made a brown sludgy soup that slightly terrified Dan. He was ready to order in sushi but I told him to have no fear!

We poured the "sludge" into a baking dish and put the chicken breasts on top with some seasoning (salt, pepper, some parsley). I baked it at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes. It turns out... it was very good! The chicken cooked perfectly, and the soup kept it nice and moist. The rice also cooked perfectly and had a great kick to it.

What's really great is that it's so easy to prepare this dish. You whip it together and toss it in the oven. Now all we have to do is get around to washing those dishes...

Ave's Salmon Loaf, Sweet Potatoes, and Couscous with Craisins

My mom and dad had this dish last night. I think the sweet potatoes look especially delicious! This is what the chef has to say...

"I made the salmon loaf from a basic salmon loaf recipe. I use canned pink salmon because its cheaper then red salmon. Most recipes call for two cans but I cut the whole recipe in half because it was just Dad and I. The sweet potatoes were awesome. I washed one sweet potato (leave skin on), and cut it in slices. To the slices I added some olive oil, salt and pepper. I put these on a cookie sheet with parchment paper (foil is fine too) and sprinkled a little brown sugar on top of all the slices. I baked them at 450 for 15 minutes turning the slices over half way through. The potato should be soft to a fork when done and the skin was a bit crispy. Wow!!! My friend Sue gave me this idea. Sweet potato is loaded with nutrition. The couscous was just whole wheat cousous cooked according to the recipe on box (only takes 5 minutes) then I added a little olive oil and craisins and fluffed it up."

Orrechiette Pasta with Sweet Italian Sausage and Jalapenos

This dish was inspired by Trinity Restaurant (not affiliated with Trinity College). I ate there a few times in college and this dish was really yummy. So yummy in fact, that I recall a devastating afternoon when I heard the loud crash of a plate and then the waiter asked "who ordered the orrechiette?" It was painful. Normally it would call for broccoli rabe, but when I went to buy it at the store it looked a little funky. Therefore I used spinach leaves instead. However, if you have more trustworthy greens at your supermarket you may want to try that. Damn you Hannaford's-you are so fertile.

Ingredients
Orrechiette pasta
Sweet Italian sausage
Jalapenos
Shredded Romano cheese (something sharp tastes best)
Spinach leaves (or broccoli rabe)

Boil the pasta ("little ears" in Italian). Heat/Cook the sausage. Just before the pasta is done cooking, throw in the spinach leaves. The only problem is that the spinach shrinks... perhaps one of my followers has some advice. You can hardly see the spinach in this dish even though I added quite a few leaves. Maybe next time I should just add more. Once you have drained the pasta, throw in the cut up jalapenos and the cheese. Serve all together on a plate!

Vegetable Soup and Cornbread

I love the holidays--spending time with family, cuddling with the dogs, sleeping in, seeing friends, and eating delicious food. However, this last item means that sometimes I don't feel my healthiest when I get back to Brooklyn. After many donuts, lasagnas, and take out meals, I feel pretty...urp. Yes, "urp" is probably the best way to describe it. It's that slight tightening of the pants, a bit of lethargy and occasional discomfort. Urp.

Tonight I just wanted to do something light. I know the man was hesitant about soup as the main dish (not really a soup kinda guy), but I was able to convince him otherwise. He really liked it. This meal, unintentionally, is a fall-themed meal. I think I am getting a little tired of winter. I am more of a "summer" person. Sorry. I had to. We also had some yummy raspberries as a side. Saltines made eating the soup fun.

Vegetable Soup
tomato, onion, carrots, celery, corn, green beans, kidney beans
-melt 4 tbsp of butter in a deep pan
-Using a food processor (which I now own!), chop up some fresh onion, celery, carrots, and tomato. Depending on the season, you can also chop fresh corn and green beans. I used canned corn and green beans, however.
-Once the butter is melted, which should be quickly, add all the vegetables and 1 can of kidney beans into the pot. Let it cook for about 10 minutes, mixing occasionally so nothing gets too brown.
-After 10 minutes, pour in 4 cups (1 box) of chicken broth. Let it simmer for about 30 minutes or less depending on how much time you have. I bought free-range chicken broth... I suggest you do the same. Serve hot! (not scalding). Salt and pepper to taste if you like. Pet peeve - don't salt or pepper anything until AFTER you taste it in it's original form! It's more polite.





















Cornbread

I actually had never made cornbread. It's so easy, and yummy, and all that is right.

-1 1/4 cup flour
-1 cup of cornmeal
-1/4 cup of sugar
-2 tsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp of salt
-1 cup of skim milk
-1/4 cup vegetable oil
-1 beaten egg

Mix all together! I cooked mine in a muffin tin but you could also use a standard 8 X 8 pan. Make sure you butter the pan before so it doesn't stick. Cook at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy!

Snowball Cake

For Christmas day my Mom made her first attempt at a Snowball cake and it came out really well. Things got a little messy when we began cutting but I think that was our fault in our cutting technique. This is great around winter holidays and you could do it for Valentine's Day as well. Sprinkling some pink granulated sugar on top would do the trick and would make this perfect for you and a significant other, your family, or coworkers. Here are the cooking instructions. The only thing I would modify is that after you put your cream mixture on top, I would add even more cake batter around the edges. This will guarantee that the cream mixture is completely covered by the top. When we cut ours the cream mixture was very close to the top and I think that is what got things a little messy. Plus I'm probably sloppy with a knife. Unlike Dexter, who I became obsessed with over break.

Prep: 15 minutes
Total: 2 hours 20 minutes ( inc. cooling )
Makes: 16 servings


What you need:
1 pkg ( 2 layer size ) devils food cake mix
1 pkg. ( 8 oz ) cream cheese softened
1 egg
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1 pkg. (3.4 oz ) vanilla flavored instant pudding
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 cup cold milk
2 cups thawed Cool Whip whipped topping
1 cup flaked coconut

Make it!
Heat oven to 350 F. Prepare cake batter, in 2 1/2 qt. OVENPROOF bowl, as directed on package; scrape side of bowl. Beat cream cheese, egg, and granulated sugar until well blended; spoon into center of batter in bowl. (at this point I would follow that tip at the top, where you add a little extra cake batter along the edges to make sure a thick layer cooks over the cream)
Bake 1 hour 5 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in bowl 10 minutes. Loosen cake from bowl with knife; using potholders if necessary, invert onto wire rack. Remove bowl. Cool cake completely.
Meanwhile, beat dry pudding mix, powdered sugar and mild in medium bowl with wisk 2 minutes. Stir in Cool Whip. Refrigerate until ready to use
Place cake on plate; frost with pudding mixture. Cover with coconut. KEEP REFRIGERATED.
Tip: to keep cake from sticking scrape sides of bowl before baking!
2'nd Tip: I sprayed bowl with Pam type of spray before adding batter to bowl!


Below is a picture of your end goal result. Considering this was the baker's first attempt I think it came out very close! Either way it was delicious - which is the most important thing.

Followers

Also, if you follow this blog, do you mind signing up as a follower? I know some people follow this but they are not signed up as followers. I would really appreciate knowing who checks out and supports my work!

Thanks!

Hey All

Hi Followers!

I have been MIA due to the holidays. It's great relaxing and having someone else cook for you (thanks Mom!). Recipes will be on the way. Santa brought me a food processor so I'm excited to see how this affects my cooking. Nicole also got me an awesome cookbook (Giada.. so jealous) so I should be tweaking some things I find in there.

Best news of all... Dan the man got me a new camera. Picture quality should sky rocket. The camera even has a "Gourmet" setting for taking pictures of food... sick.

My mom made an amazing snowball cake that I plan on putting up as well. Keep checking back!