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Well, nowhere really.

My head just has not really been in food blog land as of late.

I have been spending a lot of free time at the gym. Nick, who used to have to harass me about getting off my butt and going to the gym, actually said to me last night that it was annoying how much time I spend there and that I need to go less! I will take that under advisement honey.

I have also been enjoying some free time shopping. I have apparently decided to singlehandedly stimulate our economy by spending all my money on clothing and shoes.

We have also had some exciting news from our family and friends recently:

One of our closest friends Dianna just got engaged to her adorable Italian boyfriend while on a trip in Italy. I couldn’t be more excited for her and for their wedding, which will most likely be in Italy!! Yay!

Nick and I also learned that we will soon become an Aunt and Uncle, so we are definitely excited about that as well. However, I don’t think that a new baby will help curb my shopping addiciton

And of course, I have been cooking. I have actually made the last 3 Craving Ellie in My Belly recipes, but just did not have the energy to take a decent picture and write a post. I feel like a bit of a slacker, so here is my attempt at redemption:

Chicken Chop Suey - this was a great choice by our one and only Healthy Hostess, Ali. I did think that the flavor of this was very similar to a lot of Ellie’s other Asian inspired recipes, but it was definitely tasty and filling. I loved the crispy baked wontons!

Tuscan Vegetable Soup - I can’t rave enough about this soup and I have to thank Pam of Lobster and Fishsticks for choosing it. It is so hearty and filled with yummy veggies. I loved that the broth has just a hint of redness from the tomatoes, and I also simmered mine with a parmigianno rind which gave it tons of flavor. I always keep my leftover cheese rinds in the fridge for things like this. I made this on Saturday night after it had literally been raining in DC nonstop for days, and it was so perfect.

And this week’s pick was Chicken & Mushroom Quesadilla and was chosen by Marthe of Culinary Delights. I have actually made these before, and they were really good. So this time I changed it up a bit, mainly to use up some stuff I already had in the fridge/freezer. I stuffed them with some leftover roasted veggies that I had on hand from roasted veggie lasagna I made the night before. I sauteed up some extra mushrooms to add to that, and I added some cooked shredded turkey to Nick’s that I had in the freezer. Topped with a generous helping of reduced fat colby/jack cheese mix, these were sooooo good, and easy. Although, I had a good laugh at Ellie’s suggested serving size of a half a quesadilla! Nick and I both had our own whole one, and it was a perfect dinner portion for me.

I also made the Allspice Crumb Muffins, which was a Tuesdays with Dorie pick a week or so ago. This was chosen by one of my Craving Ellie girls, Kayte of Grandma’s Kitchen Table. I was so happy that she chose these because I have been eyeing them for quite a while. And I will pretty much try any muffin recipe under the sun. These got two thumbs up from me. I made some with and some without the buttery crumble topping, and both versions were delicious. I loved the surprising flavor of the allspice, this was a nice change up for me as far as muffins go. Great pick Kayte!

I am really going to try to get back into posting and reading all your blogs regularly, since it is something that I truly enjoy doing!

Later.

Applesauce Spice Bars. I can’t say that this is something I would have chosen to make on my own. However, as is the case with most Dorie Greenspan recipes, they were quite good. This cake was spiced with the usual suspects of cinnamon and all spice, and rounded out with a nice splash of brandy. The cake could really not have been more moist, and the glaze, oh boy. The glaze was by far the best part. Just combine yourself the right amount of sugar and fat and you have liquid happiness. I let my bars cool 100% completely before I made the glaze so I would have a nice thick icing. Some of it still did seep into the cake, but most of it set quickly and stayed on the top where it belonged.

This cake really reminded me of a muffin, in the process of making it and in the texture and taste. I am sure some people did bake them into muffins and they probably came out wonderful. I might try to lighten this recipe up in the future and make some healthier muffins with it. I really loved the chunks of apples and nuts, and I even enjoyed the raisins in this which can be hit or miss for me. Nick suggested that I make these again during the holidays and make a boozed up version of the glaze to top it with. Sounds good to me.

Nick seemed to enjoy these a lot, and I hope the rest of his coworkers do as well, as I am dumping a huge pan of them in his office this morning. They must get out of the house. I am so untrustworthy around anything sweet that I bake myself. Even if I don’t really like something, I will still eat it because it’s there and it’s home baked by me.

This was a super Tuesdays with Dorie pick by Karen of Something Sweet. You can find the recipe at Karen’s blog or on page 117-118 of Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie is Brownie Buttons which can be found on page 106-107 of Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. They may just look like some normal mini brownies, but they are not. These fabulous bite size brownies are bursting with rich and bright flavors. The secret is…orange zest.

This is a fairly basic brownie recipe. Butter, sugar, chocolate, flour, eggs, and vanilla. Then Dorie adds a nice brightness with some orange zest, I used the zest of almost a whole orange so the orange flavor was very pronounced. Though she does say that the zest is optional, I think it is what sets these apart from just a regular brownie. I love the orange and chocolate combination, it reminds me of the chocolate cointreau souffles that Nick makes.

I made these to bring to the beach for a weekend vacation, as a treat for Nick’s 7 year old son. Since he is pretty much the pickiest eater on the planet (thanks mostly to the fact that he is continually fed junk and fast food when he is not with us) I opted out of the white chocolate topping. I actually wanted there to be a chance that he would eat these, and the orange zest was already worrying me. Good news, he did like them and had no complaints about the orange flavor. Since I was making them for little taste buds, I also decided to use semi sweet and milk chocolate instead of bittersweet.

I scanned the P&Q, but did not see anything about the weird thing that happened to my brownies. As I was removing them from the silicone pan, I realized that they had all caved in from the bottom. They were nice and fluffy on top, but the bottoms had sunk, but it was more like they were sucked in from above. What in the name of baking science went on in my muffin pan? Anyone???

Great TWD pick this week by Jayma of Two Scientists Experimenting in the Kitchen. Hey, maybe she can solve the case of my mysterious reverse cave in brownies.

[There’s a hole in this cake]

This week’s Tuesday’s with Dorie is Classic Banana Bundt Cake. A great pick by Mary of The Food Librarian. You can find the recipe on Mary’s blog or on page 190 of Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

I really enjoyed this cake. It’s nothing dramatically out of this world unbelievable, but it is a solid, easy to make cake, which is something that everyone needs a few of in their repertoire. It is a great dessert to bring to a party or give away as a gift or a welcome to the neighborhood type of thing. And it will feed an army!

I made this cake with my sister while I was visiting my family in NY over the weekend. Finally, some people to share my baked goods with! We enjoyed this cake on Saturday night after a yummy dinner of burgers on the grill with my homemade rolls. Nick made his famous hamburgers as well as the Triple S burger which my dad had just seen in the newspaper. It was a burger of freshly ground short ribs, sirloin, and skirt steak. Do I really need to tell you all that it was delicious?

Anyway, back to the cake. My cake came out moist and delicious and surprisingly the banana flavor was not overwhelming. It was a hit with the whole family. I think a handful of chocolate chips would be fabulous in this cake, and I am sure that some of my fellow bakers did just that.

Even though I tented it after a 1/2 hour, it still got a bit browner than I would have liked. Fear not though, because it’s ugliness was covered up quite nicely with a lemon vanilla glaze.

In an effort to lighten this up a bit, I subbed one of the sticks of butter for 1/4 cup of canola oil, and I used fat free Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. I suppose it may have been even tastier if I had made it as written, but really, this cake was so good the way I made it do I really need all that extra fat? I don’t think so.

This was yummy in my tummy with a nice cup of coffee and the company of my mom and sister.

There may have been a well of glaze in the middle of the cake that flowed out after I cut the first piece, and we may have spooned generous amounts of that glaze all over our cake. We may have.

Full recipe after the jump

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Vanilla Ice Cream. Pure and Simple. So Good.

I ate it with my favorite ice cream topping - colored sprinkles. I was going to make some of Leslie’s hot fudge, but I may or may not have been too lazy to make it.

As I was taking this picture I started to wish that I had dumped some sprinkles into the ice cream as a mix in, which reminded me of all the TCBY Shivers I used to eat in high school. YUM! I am so doing that next time I make some ice cream.

This is a great custard based ice cream recipe, and only requires a few steps to deliciousness. I steeped one vanilla bean in a mixture of whole milk and heavy cream, then tempered the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks and sugar, and finally let it cook for another minute or so until thickened and registered between 170-180F. I let my mixture chill in the fridge for a good 6 hours before churning it.

The verdict - The vanilla flavor mellowed nicely after a day in the freezer, and the ice cream had a perfect consistency balance of hardness and softness.

Now, what’s a girl to do with a quart of this stuff. Kind of hard to give away at the office, and I hate exercising too much to keep such delicious confections around the house.

This perfect for summertime recipe was chosen for Tuesdays with Dorie by Lynne of Cafe Lynnylu You can find the recipe at Lynne’s blog or on page 428-429 of
Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

These are Dorie Greenspan’s Tribute to Katherine Hepburn brownies. They are the best brownies ever. They are everything I think a brownie should be - rich and chocolaty, moist, fudgy, and just a bit ooey gooey. They are almost flourless and have no rising agent, so they are thin and dense. They are worth the calories and fat.

This Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was chosen by Lisa of Surviving Oz. You can find the recipe on her site or on page 96-97 of Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

I used pecans in my brownies, and surprisingly I really loved them. I am generally not a nut in my brownie kind of gal, but they worked really well here. They gave a bit of crunch in the midst of the soft moist chocolate. I also enjoyed both the coffee (I used instant espresso granules) and the cinnamon flavors that Dorie included. I don’t think that either were over powering, but both were pleasantly noticeable.

I baked these in a glass pyrex square pan at 325F for about 31 minutes, and luckily I had no doneness issues. I know some bakers decrease the oven temperature by 25 degrees when using glass pans. I suspect that because I had a pizza stone in the oven while I was baking these, they cooked quicker throughout and therefore did not plague me with overcooked edges and a raw center.

I let these guys cool for about an hour before I de-paned them and began cutting, but they were still too soft to cut. How delicous does that melty chocolate look:

I put them in the fridge overnight so I wouldn’t destroy them in the cutting process. The next morning I cut them while they were cold and then let them sit at room temperature for the whole day before trying one after dinner. I agree with Dorie that these are best served at room temperature.

These were so good. When things are so good, I tend to laugh in joy and giddiness while eating. I was definitely giggling while eating my brownie. They are too good to stay in the house, they will be removed from the premises tomorrow. Better to fatten up our co-workers than us.

The bottom line is if you love brownies and/or are looking for a knock out chocolate brownie recipe, you should make these immediately. I think they will replace my current go-to triple chocolate brownie recipe.

I am sure my fellow TWD bakers made some great additions and accompaniments to these brownies, so check out the blogroll to see for yourself.

Well, I just didn’t have a layer cake in me this weekend, and I especially could not reach deep enough to make a buttercream with 3 sticks of butter. Softening an entire pound of butter for cake and frosting is hard to swallow when you have no real occasion for it.

I did consider just making a smaller version of the cake, but my parents came to visit this weekend and we were out and about walking around DC, shopping, and eating. So it was easier and less time consuming to whip up a batch of cupcakes when I had some down time. Besides, I did my fair share of pigging out on delicious food and dessert this weekend, I certainly did not need a cake at home on top of all that.

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Sunday night is a breeding ground for aggression and confrontation in this house. Unlike the more intelligent portion of the human population who spends their weekends actively accomplishing things, Sara and I rather embark upon a ~40 hour adventure of listlessness. The sloth at times reaches a degree of soliciting a wrathful hand from divine to rightfully smite us. As such, on Sunday nights there is always so much shit to do any not nearly enough time (and even less patience). Mix 1 part of this with 2 parts of loathing the forthcoming work week and we have conditions in play for a perfect storm.

Enter Tuesday’s With Dorie.

What do you mean you’re not going to do TWD this week? Oh really? I don’t care if they relaxed the participation requirements. Don’t you care about the blog, our readers, our online image? Oh well if you want me to write more posts then I will, but that is a completely separate subject. This sounds absolutely delicious. I don’t care if it’s “3 pages long” it can’t possibly be that complicated.

(finishes beer and spitefully throws it into recycling bin - at least I’m an eco-conscious asshole)

Well you wanna know something? If it’s in this “simple baking book” there is no reason I can’t make it to perfection. In fact, I’d venture to say it would be THE BEST TWD post this week if I make it. Besides, you know, men are highly underrepresented in the TWD group. Most of the greatest bakers of ALL TIME are men. I’ve been meaning to do something about this for a long time. Quotes Joepastry “if a man feels like whipping up a nice almond cocoa genoise or a few madeleines, well…he should be able to.” FINE! You go to the grocery store alone, I am going to stay home and work on this, because unlike you, I CARE ABOUT THE BLOOOOOGGGGG!!!!

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I give you Apricot Honey Ice Cream.

This was a really yummy treat. Thanks to Tommi of Brown Interior for picking this wonderful recipe for this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie. It can be found on page 437 of Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

I used apricots instead of peaches, because the peaches I bought turned out to be rotten. It is always nice when you go to start making something and realize that your main ingredient literally belongs in the trash. I could actually cut through the peach pits!

I read the playing around that Dorie provides and she said that you could also use nectarines or apricots. I like both of these more than peaches. Excellent!

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Puff pastry and bacon are cut from the same cloth. The cloth of whatever you are making if you add some bacon or puff pastry, it will automatically be ten times more delicious. That is a fact, not an opinion.

In short, this tart was flaky buttery goodness. Apples, butter, brown sugar, puff pastry (I added some cinnamon at the end, mainly for color). Nick and I split one of the little tarts, and the rest were removed from the premises post haste. I have been doing a good job lately of working out and not being a pig in general, so I didn’t want to derail my work by keeping these evil temptresses in the house. Oh, but they were good!

Nick has made puff pastry a few times, like real deal puff pastry that takes hours and multiple turns. However, we were fresh out so I did buy the all butter Dufour puff pastry. This cost me $10.49, which is why my tarts are square and not round. Sorry Dorie, I am not wasting perfectly good puff pastry just so I can have a circular tart. We did not like the Dufour as much as Nick’s homemade puff pastry. The flavor was better on the homemade which we attributed to the salt content and the Straus butter he used. That said, I would certainly not throw this Dufour puff pastry out of bed and I can’t wait to use it up on more tasty treats.

The bottom line is that this is really easy and delicious and the filling can be adapted to pretty much any fruit that you like.

This wonderfully delicious and easy Apple Tartlet was chosen for Tuesdays with Dorie by Jessica of My Baking Heart. Great pick Jessica!