Chocolate party, year 2!

Remember last year's chocolate party?  It had to happen again.  I invited lots of lovely ladies, looked through my Pinterest and cookbooks, bought brown paper goods, and had a blast!  Somehow I didn't even have anxiety about it.  I knew whatever fell into place would be enough, and the important part was to have a place for everyone to enjoy themselves.

S'mores fudge - a make-again recipe

I've been planning for several years to tackle chocolate satin pie.  It wasn't the cheapest pie, but it was delicious and cheaper than buying it from Marie Callender's.  It wasn't hard to me, but I realized how grateful I am for all of the cooking knowledge I've gained over the years.  I knew what it meant to whip cream until stiff and to fold said cream into the chocolate mixture.  This will definitely make it to future Thanksgiving dinners.

I also made chocolate peanut-butter cake balls and chocolate dipped Nutter Butters, and bought ice cream.  (Huh.  I just realized I tackled three new recipes in one day - even though cake balls aren't hard, grocery shopped, shopped for and went to a bridal shower, and still wasn't stressed.  I didn't even wake up early. That rocks.)  The rest was provided by other people, including a gourmet hot chocolate bar.  

 I shoved around furniture and then watched the place transform into this!  

People helped clean up.  I managed not to overindulge and therefore didn't feel sick, and had a (mostly free thanks to credit union rebate) burger to balance out the sugar.  Success!

Dip of the week

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I dreamed up some yummy dip for game night and thought I'd share!  You'll need 1 lb of Velveeta, 1 can of chili (I used hot), 1 tube of chorizo (I used beef), 1 package of cream/neufchatel cheese, and 1 1/2 C sour cream (not pictured).

Cook up the chorizo.  This is maybe the second or third time I've cooked it and it looks pretty weird to me.  It has tons of grease so just cook it until it feels a little solid (like sausage).  I actually stuck a meat thermometer in a pile of meat I scooped out of the grease, just to make sure it was done.

Then drain and drain and drain the fat.  I pressed this in layers of paper towels and napkins.

In a medium glass bowl, microwave together chunks of velveeta and cream cheese with the chili for 2 minutes, then stir.  Add the sour cream.

Add the chorizo, and microwave for 3-5 minutes until it's bubbly around the edges.  You could also bake it.

We were too busy eating with Fritos scoops and tortilla chips to get a final picture, but enjoy! It was a hit both at game night and leftover at work today.


Dip of the week:

1 lb. Velveeta cheese (or store brand substitute)
1 package cream cheese 
1 can hot chili
1 tube chorizo
1 1/2 C sour cream

Fry the chorizo and drain.  Cook the velveeta, cream cheese, and chili for 2 minutes in the microwave. Stir in the chorizo and sour cream and microwave 3-5 minutes or bake until bubbly.  

Man, I make good food!

Yesterday I hosted dinner for a few friends. It was supposed to be more than a few, but people had to cancel at the last minute.  It's okay - it meant we could all fit around the dining table.  Plus I have delicious leftovers!  It would be sad if my house still smelled of tastiness but I didn't have any to eat.  I was up a little too late Friday night meeting...we'll call him Texting Man...for the first time, and being on my feet cooking for hours also wears me out. I'm glad to rest today.

The menu:

Rolls

Ham

Funeral potatoes

Green beans with bacon

Carrots with brown sugar and butter

Raspberry jello with blueberries and mandarin oranges

Deviled eggs - plain or topped with curry powder, nutmeg, or caraway seeds

Strawberry lemonade

My friend loaned me his vacuum and I got the couch looking better than it's looked since the good vacuum moved out with Nathan a year and a half ago. My cheap vacuum is awful!  Then Echo decided to add fur again.

A friend made lemon icebox pie with meringue topping.  It was a perfect spring dessert, and the pale yellow matched the tablecloth.

1-2-3-4 Cake

Last weekend I made birthday cake for my friend Drew.  He had mentioned he liked funfetti cake, but by the time it was decided to have the party, I had finished grocery shopping for the day and refused to go again.  I have mixed feelings about food coloring.  It's fun but I know it's bad for you.  Anyway, I decided to make a plain cake with swirls of colored batter.  My newer cookbooks didn't have a white/yellow cake recipe, so I resorted to a cookbook published in 1930 and a recipe called 1-2-3-4 (Measure) Cake.  I made two colors of vanilla-flavored batter and one color of almond-flavored.  Older recipes assume basic cooking knowledge.  This one at least listed a temperature but not how many pans I'd need.  I guesstimated two large round pans, which was correct.  

My round pans aren't non-stick and I don't have much experience with cakes that have to be removed from the pan.  I lost a little to the edges.  Also, the cake fell in the middle, so I threw in a bit of Nutella and fresh strawberries before adding frosting and the next layer.

I dug out my 1985 chocolate cookbook for a delicious chocolate frosting recipe and added almond extract.  It was delectable and I wondered, yet again, why people buy frosting.  So easy to make and much tastier!

Forgot to take another picture until it was half-consumed.  The cake was a little dry around the edges, but the flavor was good.  I put it on the most colorful plate I own, to add to the effect.

S'mores Bars

A few birthdays ago, my biological father and his wife gave me the most fantastic cookbook.  It only contains appetizers and desserts.  Dip and dessert...does it get any better?  Last night I crashed guys' night and watched a basketball game.  We had chili cheese dogs and tots, plus a recipe I hadn't tried before from this cookbook.  Well, as we were assembling S'mores Bars, I realized the instructions didn't mention one of the ingredients.  I did some googling and found the complete recipe in a few places.  My cookbook has a handwritten addition.  We have a new favorite dessert.  You get to drool over the pictures and make these rich treats for yourself!

I didn't set a timer or notice the time I put them in the oven, because I was trying to start eating real food at the same time.  Mine ended up a little burned on top in a few spots, but that's okay because I prefer my marshmallows to be caught on fire twice rather than carefully toasted.

S'mores Bars

3/4 C butter

3 C graham cracker crumbs

1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 C butterscotch chips

1 C baby marshmallows

1 can sweetened condensed milk

Mix together butter and graham cracker crumbs.  Press into bottom only of 9x13 pan.  Evenly sprinkle chips and marshmallows over graham crust.  Drizzle sweetened condensed milk over top.  

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until the marshmallows look bubbly.  

Cool 15 minutes on cooling rack.  Then chill in fridge until cool.  You must wait until they are completely cooled to slice into bars or you'll make a mushy mess.  Once chilled, they hold together well in bars.



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Banana-cherry-coconut bread

The problem of being a real vanilla extract snob (I like the flavor better than imitation) is that sometimes I take my vanilla to a friend's house to bake and accidentally leave it there.  So much for making chocolate chip cookies today!  Trying to think what could survive without vanilla, I looked in the fridge and freezer and decided to defrost some bananas and cherries for quick bread.  Here is the resulting recipe.

Banana-Cherry-Coconut Bread

3 C mashed bananas
1 C blended cherries (just chuck them in the blender and blend until fairly smooth)
5 large eggs (or 6 medium)
1 3/4 C sugar
5 1/4 C flour (I used part white flour/part soft white wheat flour)
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
shredded coconut if desired (I think I put about a cup, loosely packed)

Mix everything up and grease 3-4 bread pans.  I couldn't decide on the remaining ingredients so I made three different kinds.  Pan #1, no coconut, a little brown sugar on top.  Pan #2, a middle layer of butterscotch chips, mini chocolate chips, and brown sugar.  Pan #3, a middle layer of candied orange peel and brown sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees for approx. 45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out mostly clean.  Enjoy!

I honestly can't decide which one I like best - orange peel or chocolate chips.  Mmm.

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Peach bread and a GIVEAWAY!

This is post 500!  I would have liked it to coincide with hitting an amazing (to me) pageview count but that happened a few months ago and I didn't feel like doing a giveaway at the time.  Thanks to everyone who still reads, despite how neglected my blog has been for months.

I'll be giving away 1-2 dozen cookies (depending how big they are) to one lucky person.  If you're outside the U.S. (sorry, Carolin), I'm not willing to pay for shipping...so U.S. residents only.  If you live close enough for me to deliver them, they'll be even fresher.  :-)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now a recipe from my latest baking adventure.  As usual, my brain jumped all over in creating this.  Here is the resulting recipe!

Peach Quick Bread

2 2/3 C peach sauce (mine is slightly sweetened and chunky, see picture below)
3/4 C maple syrup
1/2 C brown sugar, packed
1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
3 5/8 C white flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/4-1/2 tsp nutmeg

Mix peach sauce, maple syrup, brown sugar, vanilla, and eggs.  Add in dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Pour into greased loaf pans, 3 smallish ones (not as small as the disposable ones).  Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out mostly clean.

I thought about adding streusel topping but the pans were a bit full.  After baking, I spread maple syrup on one loaf and put a little butter on my warm slice.  It was good, but even a plain slice with no syrup or butter still held its own.

Altitude disclaimer: I live at almost 4800 feet, so I try to reduce fat a little or substitute fruit sauces.  Did you know that you can find out the altitude for your address at this website?  The posted altitude for my city is several hundred feet lower than my house.  Good info to know if you do canning.

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http://www.bunsinmyoven.com/2013/07/31/whats-cookin-wednesday-30/

Banana muffins with cherry chips

When I cook, I'm okay working from a general concept of ingredients that should taste good together, but no recipe.  When I bake, I typically take a base recipe and then alter as desired, keeping the general liquid/dry ingredient ratios the same.  I haven't been comfortable dreaming up a recipe from scratch.  Recently I saw a blog post detailing the ratios needed to invent your own cookie recipe.  I'm really excited to try it, but for now I'll just keep altering.

Sometimes when I alter a recipe, I still have a good idea of measurements so I can share my new version of the recipe.  Sadly, today's adventure was delicious, but I didn't measure most things (just eyeballed the batter consistency) so I have no confidence in providing a recipe.

Basically I made banana muffins with extra banana and no oil, coconut milk instead of regular milk, added vanilla and nutmeg, and half the muffins with a spoonful of Nutella on top and half with cherry chips mixed in. The Nutella ones were decent but improved by spreading the baked Nutella and a little fresh Nutella over the top.  The cherry chip ones...AMAZING.  

These muffins are fluffy, moist, and oozing with flavor.  The cherry chips partially melted throughout each muffin.  The flavors of vanilla, banana, and cherry worked together perfectly.

I am so sad that I don't know how to make these again, because I've made many variations of banana bread and these rate up near the top.  I'll figure it out though!  

Side note: my best friend as a teenager could do amazing things in the kitchen.  Her food (including banana bread, of course) was always drool-worthy.  I wanted to be just like her when I grew up.  One day I realized my dream had come true - I have my own mad kitchen skillz!  We aren't close anymore, but this week I found out she's 18 weeks pregnant.  She's gone through a lot of trials in her life, including a controlling/abusive marriage and health problems, and she deserves this.  I'm so happy for her and I know she'll be a great mommy, and that kid will eat some mighty tasty things!

I've still got it in the kitchen!

I'm getting back into cooking/baking finally.  It's nice to know I still have the ability to experiment, improvise, reach beyond my comfort zone, and end up with tastiness.

Recently it was a British coworker's birthday.  She is always doing nice things for other people and I wanted to make her a special dessert, so I asked a mutual friend what she'd like best.  He told me a dessert name and I was scared to google it at work, so he gave me a link.  It's a steamed pudding.  I've never made a steamed pudding.  I've never seen suet before.  I got a local meat market to order me some.  I wasn't sure how to chop suet, so I blended it with the milk.  I converted everything to U.S. measurements, tied the pudding in parchment paper and steamed it.  And steamed it.  And steamed it.  Once I was late to work, I gave up and finished it in the oven (which Google told me was acceptable).  I didn't make the custard that is supposed to accompany it and I didn't even know what it was supposed to look/taste like.  The birthday girl was still really happy to have a taste of home.  :-)

I offered to make a dessert for an Eagle Scout court of honor.  I wanted something individually sized for convenience, but not cookies.  I make banana cream pie with Nilla wafers as a crust (not crushed, just whole cookies lining a pan), so I made bite-sized ones.  Nilla wafer, banana slice, banana pudding (made with 75% of the milk), and whipped topping.  I used ziploc bags to squeeze on the pudding and whipped topping, which is how I fill my deviled eggs.  It was very quick and popular.  I made more for friends the next day.

Memorial Day clearly demanded amazing dip, and I was torn between two very tasty recipes I've had pinned for awhile.  I opted for the Loaded Baked Potato Dip.  At the suggestion of my foodie sister Tammy, I did part cream cheese instead of all sour cream.  I also added smoked Gouda because I had a little chunk in the fridge.  It was salty but very delicious, especially heated up to the melty-goodness stage. No picture.  I never wanted to stop eating in order to take a picture.  It lasted through several people, several days, and more than one bag of potato chips.

Tonight I made fruit salad and potato salad for a church Young Women picnic.  I needed one more edible item.  I had some turkey lunch meat and cheese slices in my fridge, left from camping (whoops, still need to blog about the Grand Canyon!).  I made whole wheat pizza dough with Italian type seasonings (basil, oregano, onion powder, freshly ground pepper medley).  I rolled it out, brushed with olive oil, layered on meat and cheese, and folded over the crust like a giant Calzone.  Brushed it again with olive oil and sprinkled liberally with cheap Parmesan and lightly with salt.  I also fork-stabbed each Calzone.  After they rose for 30 minutes, I baked at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  I sliced them into 1-2" slices.  I thought they were very tasty...sorry no pictures, but you should really try making them!  The flavored crust is key.

Cream cheese cherry-choc chip cookies

Yesterday I needed to throw together cookies in a hurry, and didn't have enough butter defrosted, but I did have 1/2 package of cream cheese.  From there, a new recipe evolved based on my normal chocolate chip cookie recipe.  It went about like this...

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

3/8 C brown sugar

3/8 C white sugar

1 tsp vanilla 

1/8 tsp almond extract (Don't skip this!)

1 large egg

1 3/16 C flour (measure 1 1/4 C but scoop out a spoonful)

1/2 tsp baking soda

3 dashes of salt

1/2 C milk chocolate chips

1/2 C cherry chips

Cream together the cream cheese, sugars, extracts, and egg.  Mix in the flour, soda, salt, and then the chips. This will NOT look like the texture of normal cookie dough.  The dough is more...elastic.

Parchment paper recommended even with non stick cookie sheets.  My cookies stuck.  Put small spoonfuls on a cookie sheet.  They hold their shape so you can space them closely.  Bake at 375 degrees for 9-10 minutes, cool on sheet for 2-3 minutes.

These are very chewy and have a good flavor.  If you're trying to use up some melted chocolate, you should try dipping a few of the cookies.  :-)

Easter 2012

We were blessed to have friends and family join us for Easter dinner.  Nathan's mom bought us a beautiful new tablecloth that fits the table with both leaves in.  Awesome!  I've been using a sheet up until now.  

I did most of the work on Saturday and utilized both crockpots to minimize work on the Sabbath. It was nice.  The food was good and we did potluck so I didn't have to make it all.

The ham was awesome (I loosely followed a recipe) - recipe here.  The macaroni and cheese will now be a permanent item in Easter dinner (so yum!) - recipe here.  We also had deviled eggs, funeral potatoes, Caesar salad, homemade bread, steamed carrots, and cheesecake.  

I like to always have a new-to-me skirt for Easter.  I didn't have any fresh hand-me-downs, so I hit up the thrift store and found one I liked for $3.  It isn't very spring-like, but it's super comfy.  I needed a little pick-me-up because I really need to lose weight and I am limited to a few skirts that fit me right now.

After dinner, Sarah taught her parents how to salsa dance.  Then Nathan's mom hid Easter eggs filled with chocolate and money.  She was super generous since all of us are adults - $1 bills!

Nathan's birthday party

I decided weeks ago to throw a LAN party for Nathan's birthday (where people hook together their computers and play games for hours).  He hasn't really done this since we left CA.  He tried once a few years ago and no one came.  We now know more people up here that game, and I gave warning far in advance so people could clear their schedules.  It was a huge success.  The food was great; Nathan de-junked his dungeon to make space and we improvised extra computer tables; and people floated in and out for 14 hours.  

Here's most of the food:

These were a huge hit.  (Recipe here)

We had two TVs, each with an xbox.  A friend loaned us the Rock Band game and instruments.  At one point we had 7 people on computers.  They alternated between xbox and computers depending who was here (we also had xbox-only guests throughout the day).  The last person didn't leave until 4am and I felt some weird obligation to stay awake so I wouldn't be a bad hostess.  Since I got up at 6am on the day of the party to continue cleaning/cooking, it was a very long day.

At one point our friend Seth and his fiancee stopped by on their way home from the Festival of Colors and we lured Nathan outside for a surprise chalk-attack.  He turned all kinds of colors.  So did his underwear.  And the shower.  And the driveway.

 

 

All in all, it was a fantastic day and much enjoyed.  :-)