I love the farmers market!

I bought some goodies at the farmers market this weekend. Including two things I've never cooked with before - eggplant and okra! Look for some recipes with those ingredients soon. 

Summer Fruit Crisp

After an embarrassingly long hiatus, I'm back! With a summer fruit crisp! I've had a crazy busy past few months that left me little time to get creative in the kitchen and even less time to think about blogging any creations I did have. But with that "new graduate smell" slowly fading, I am ready to dedicate some time, energy, and love to my blog again.

I made you a fruit crisp. In individual portions. Someone recently pointed out to me that fruit crisp could really be a breakfast food. It's essentially just fruit and grains. Sure, it may have some extra sugars in the crisp, but really...it's like eating not-so-healthy cereal with fruit. Breakfast. So I put ice cream on mine to avoid any confusion.  I love this recipe because you could absolutely whatever fruit you wanted into it. I'm calling this one summer fruit crisp because it has peaches and cherries - distinctly summery fruits (especially in Nebraska where apples and bananas are just about the only fruits you can find in the winter).

Summer Fruit Crisp 

Ingredients:

• 2 fresh peaches
• 2 cups fresh cherries
• Sprinkle of sugar
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 tablespoon honey
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 F. Which I always forget to do. So don't forget.
2. Cut up your peaches and halve and pit the cherries. You can peel the peaches if you want, I chose not to. This is really just personal preference.
3. Combine peaches and cherries in a bowl and sprinkle with sugar, mix to combine. Don't go crazy with the sugar here. Fruit is naturally sweet, so the sugar really just serves to help make a little juice when you bake the crisp.
4. Divide fruit mixture between 4 ramekins. If you don't have ramekins, you can absolutely just throw all of the fruit into one baking dish!
5. In a new bowl, combine melted butter, brown sugar, flour, rolled oats, honey, and cinnamon. Mix well.
6. Sprinkle crisp over each fruit-filled ramekin evenly. Lightly press down into fruit. The measurements for the crisp are intentionally easy to double - if you like more crisp, go crazy! Double, triple, or quadruple the crisp to your liking!
7. Bake your ramekins in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until you start to see the fruit mixture bubbling. Serve with ice cream if you are concerned about people thinking it is breakfast :) Enjoy!

 
 

 

For the record: I find the whole cobbler vs. crisp vs. crumble thing to be very confusing. But I'm pretty sure this qualifies as a crisp.

Martha Stewart's Glitter Ball Cookies

I'm a little premature with my January Martha Stewart Cookie Calendar cookie.  It's not quite January, but these cookies just screamed New Year's Eve to me.  The glittery look that the sanding sugar gives them makes me thinks of the big ball drop in Times Square.  I am not a huge fan of the fresh ginger, but I still like the cookies; my dad loves them, he's eaten three so far.  Fresh ginger is a matter of personal preference in the flavor department.  I might try them with ground ginger next time, just to see what difference there is.

Ingredients

- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened

- 1/2 cup powdered sugar

- 1/4 teaspoon salt

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

- sanding sugar, in assorted colors

- Creamy Ginger Filling

     - 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

     - 2 teaspoons finely grated, peeled fresh ginger

     - 1 cup powdered sugar

     - 1 tablespoon honey

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Beat butter, powdered sugar, and salt with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.  Beat in vanilla.  Add flour and mix until just combined.
3. Shape dough into 3/4 inch balls.  Roll each ball in sanding sugar and place on parchment-lined baking sheets, about 1 inch apart.
4. Bake until edges are slightly golden brown or bottoms brown, about 15-18 minutes.  Rotate pans halfway through baking time.  Remove cookies from pan and let cook completely.
5. Prepare Creamy Ginger Filling by mixing all ingredients together either by hand or with an electric mixer.
6. When cookies have cooled, spread each with just enough filling to stick two cookies together.  Sandwich cookies together.

I hope you everyone has a safe and happy New Year! I'll probably be dropping some of these cookies into my belly while watching the ball drop tonight!

Mini Egg Bake/Quiche-Like Things

Okay...but really, I think I'll call these mini egg bakes.  Because, although they are quiche-like, they are missing the quiche crust AND I've found that there are many people who think they hate quiche and will therefore not try anything that even has the word quiche in it (my dad).  So, they are mini egg bakes in order to trick more people into trying them.  But really, they're super yummy!  And the combinations are literally endless with these little guys.  I made two different variations and I've got the recipe for each of these below.  One of the great things is that you can throw just about anything into these.  If you come up with some good combinations, be sure and post them in the comments!

Ingredients
Breakfast Burrito Mini Egg Bakes  (Yield: 12)

- 5 eggs

- 3 egg whites or 1 cup liquid egg whites
- 1 cup milk

- 1 cup ground breakfast sausage, cooked (I used Jimmy Deans precooked for extra ease)
- 1/4 cup scallions
- 1/2 cup shredded colby jack cheese
- 4 teaspoons of your favorite hot sauce
   Side Note:  I used Taco Bell packaged hot sauces, which I realize is kind of funny and probably completely anti-culinary, but I have two good reasons: 1) The little sayings on the packages make me chuckle and 2) When we make actual breakfast burritos at home, I always put Taco Bell hot sauce on them.

Ham and Broccoli Mini Egg Bakes  (Yield: 12)
- 5 eggs
- 3 egg whites or 1 cup liquid egg whites
- 1 cup milk
- 3/4 cup chopped up canadian bacon
- 1/2 cup colby jack cheese
- 1 cup broccoli
- dash of pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 F.  Line regular sized muffin tin with foil cupcake liners.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, egg whites, and milk.
3. Add all other ingredients listed to egg mixture and stir.
   
4. Evenly divide the mixture between the 12 liners.  (I used a 1/4 cup measuring cup for this and it measured out perfectly).
5. Bake in preheated oven until tops just start to brown, 30-35 minutes.  Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

New Year's Resolution involve counting calories? They're about 90 calories each, which obviously varies with what you put in them.

The great thing about these is that you can keep them in the refrigerator for 3-4 days or keep them frozen for a month.  Just microwave them for 30-60 seconds.

This is literally exactly what I ate for breakfast yesterday, times two.  Two of these egg bakes and little fruit are just enough breakfast for this girl!

Pretzel Hugs and Turtle Pretzels

I was thinking about something the other day (I try to do this on a semi-regular basis). How is it that certain holiday goodies become exclusive to the holiday season?  Whether it be your favorite holiday cookie, peanut brittle, or fudge, there seem to be certain confections that people only make for the holidays.  I thought of this as I was making these wonderfully delicious chocolate and pretzel bite-sized treats right after Thanksgiving.  I was making them and thinking to myself, "This isn't right. I shouldn't be doing holiday baking when November isn't even over."  But really, this is silly.  There is nothing about chocolate and pretzels that screams holidays.  Nothing. But, I still intentionally staged them to look like Fall/Thanksgiving in the pictures to make me feel better about it.

These are so easy, yet so tasty. You're going to read the instructions and say, "Why does this justify a recipe post on your blog?" Because you need to make them. And share them with the people you love.

Pretzel Hugs

Ingredients

1 bag of Hershey's hugs

1 bag of Pretzel "Snaps" (you will not use the whole bag)

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350F. Place some parchment paper or wax paper on a cookie sheet.
2. Unwrap all of your hugs and put them in a bowl. Count them if you're slightly OCD like me.
3. Place one pretzel on your cookie sheet for each hug. Place a hug on each pretzel.

Side Note: If I were Martha Stewart crafty, I probably would have used those wrappers in the background to make some kind of holiday craft. But, I'm not. So I threw them away. Feel free to to turn yours into wreaths and ornaments.

5.  Place the cookie tray in the oven and let chocolates soften for 2 minutes.  Do not leave in any longer. The goal is not to melt the hugs, just to soften them.

6.  Remove cookie sheet from oven and let stand for another minute.  Then, sandwich another pretzel on top of the ooey gooey hug.

7.  Let set until chocolate hardens again. If you're impatient like me, stick the tray in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Turtle Pretzels

Ingredients

1 bag Rolos

Your choice of pretzels (Snaps and Twists will work best)

Your choice of Almonds or Pecan Halves

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2. Unwrap your Rolos and place them in a bowl. Again, feel free to count them.

3. Place one pretzel on the cookie sheet for each Rolo.  Place a Rolo on each pretzel (I would recommend putting the bigger end of the Rolo on the pretzel).

4. Put your cookie sheet in the oven for 4 minutes to soften (not melt) chocolate. Remove and let sit for another minute.

5. Press an almond or pecan halve into each Rolo.

6. Let set until chocolate hardens again. Refrigerate for 30 minutes if you just can't wait.

Even though I staged these for Fall and insist that there is nothing about chocolate pretzels that should be holiday-exclusive, I intend to make these again and give them for Christmas.

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

This was the second cupcake I made for my cupcake bake off at work.  It was the overall winner!  Martha Stewart has a Snickerdoodle Cupcake that I've seen a lot of people use, but I opted not to use her recipe because it uses the creaming butter and sugar method, which I rarely have good luck with.  Instead, I decided to use my favorite base vanilla cupcake and modify it.  The cake is wonderfully moist and the frosting looks like a little pillow with glittery cinnamon sugar on top.

Ingredients

Cake

1 3/4 cups cake flour 

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup sour cream
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup milk

Frosting 

3 cups powdered sugar

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-2 tablespoons whipping cream 

cinnamon sugar for garnish 

Directions 

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Fill cupcake pan with liners. I made one pan of mini cupcakes and one pan of regular sized ones.

2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix together cake flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

3. Add butter and mix on medium-low speed for three minutes.  Because there is so little butter, you'll end up with a very fine crumb texture.

4. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, oil, and vanilla extract until smooth.

5. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined.

6. Slowly add milk and mix on low speed until just combined.  The batter will be liquid.

7. Fill cupcake liners. I use a tablespoon for mini cupcakes and 1/4 cup for regular sized cupcakes.

8. Bake for 10-12 minutes for mini cupcakes and 14-16 minutes for regular cupcakes.  Let cool 10 minutes, than remove from tins and let cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting:

1. Combine butter, powdered sugar and vanilla extract in a large bowl with a hand mixer.

2. Add whipping cream one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.

3.  When cupcakes have cooled completely (at least 1 hour), frost. Sprinkle tops of cupcakes with cinnamon sugar.

Pineapple Upside Down Inspired Cupcakes

I was challenged to a cupcake bake-off at work recently.  Another coworker and myself enjoy cooking and baking and occasionally bring in treats for everyone to enjoy.  Someone at work suggested that we go head-to-head with our baking skills, leading to this baking challenge.  We are each to bake two different flavors of mini cupcakes and bring them to work.  This is one of my flavors.  It was the favorite at home, but not the winner at work.

I have always enjoyed a good pineapple upside down cake.  Believe it or not, I'm not a big frosting fan, so it used to be my birthday cake of choice.  These cupcakes are not exactly like a pineapple upside down cake, but they definitely take their inspiration from them. I made a brown sugar frosting, but found the flavor was a littler overpowering for the cakes, so I mixed it half-and-half with a butter cream frosting.

Ingredients

Cupcake

2 cups cake flour

1 + 1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon bking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs, at room temperature (I put mine in a small bowl with warm water)
1 (10 oz) can crushed pineapple, drained
1 (16 oz) jar maraschino cherries, drained and dried (halved if making mini cupcakes)


Brown Sugar Frosting
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/8 cup milk
1 cup powdered sugar

Butter Cream Frosting

1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cupcake tin with cupcake liners. I made one pan of mini cupcakes and one pan of regular sized ones.

2. In a large mixing bowl, mix cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

3. Add softened butter, butter milk and vanilla. Beat with a hand mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes, occasionally scraping sides of bowl.

4. Add eggs, beat for 2 more minutes.

5. Fold in drained pineapple.

6. Pour batter into cupcake lined pans. For mini cupcakes, fill with a tablespoon. For regular cupcakes, fill with 1/4 cup. Place half of a maraschino cherry on top of mini cupcakes or a whole cherry on top of regular cupcakes. Bake 10-12 minutes for mini cupcakes and 13-15 minutes for regular cupcakes.

7. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans to finish cooling (at least 1 hour before frosting).

I prepare my frosting while the cupcakes are cooling.  You'll want to make the brown sugar frosting first:

1. Melt butter in saucepan.

2. Add brown sugar and bring to a boil. Lower to medium-low heat and continue boiling for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

3. Add the milk and return to a boil, stirring constantly.

4. Remove from heat and let cool until lukewarm.

5. After cooled, add powdered sugar gradually and stir until combined. The frosting should be thick enough to stand up, but not so thick that it can't be spread.  If it's is too thin, add more powdered sugar. If it is too thick, add some hot water.

6. Prepare the butter cream frosting.  Beat the softened butter and powdered sugar together until combined. Add milk until it reaches the desired consistency.

7. Mix the two frostings until combined.  You could certainly use the brown sugar frosting or butter cream frosting on their own; just double the ingredients for whichever you are using.

8. Frost cupcakes after they have cooled completely.

The pineapple flavor on these came through wonderfully! And the frosting tastes a lot like the glaze you would find on a pineapple upside down cake.
  

The maraschino cherry!

I'll post my other flavor for you. It was the overall winner at work!

Tomato Tortellini Soup

I hate tomato soup. I think it's gross. I realize I may be alone in this, but it's the truth. I'll "eat" tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich, which is really just me dipping my grilled cheese sandwich in the tomato soup and then refusing to finish the soup.  However, there is a restaurant in town, right by work, that serves a delicious creamy tomato tortellini soup.  It is to die for.  They serve it with a garlicy, buttery bread and I'm in heaven.  So I went in search of this recipe on the internet.  Unfortunately, this is a local restaurant, so there aren't hundreds of people out there trying to recreate the recipe.  I finally found a recipe that looked like it might not taste like the tomato soup I loathe and decided to give it a whirl.  It. Is. Fabulous.

I've been cooking quite a bit lately and discovered that working with onions and garlic is my least favorite thing in the world (for now).  And everything I want to cook as at least one, if not both. I wasn't feeling well when I made this and the idea of having to both cut up onions and mince garlic was horrible, so I used garlic salt and powder, and stuck with the real onions.  I've got both garlic options listed for you in the ingredients though. So if mincing garlic is your idea of fun, go crazy.

 

Ingredients 
adapted from Creamy Tomato Basil Tortellini Soup

olive oil

2 garlic gloves, minced OR 1/4 tsp garlic powder and 1/2 tsp garlic salt

1 small onion, chopped

2 (15 oz) cans diced fire roasted tomatoes

2 (10.75 oz) cans Campbell's tomato soup

2 soup cans full of milk

1 tbs dried basil

1 (14.5 oz) can chicken broth

3 tbs tomato paste

1/2 c half-and-half

1/4 c parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish

1 (19 oz) bag frozen tortellini


Directions

1. Coat bottom of large pot with olive oil. Add onion and garlic and saute until soft.

2. Add diced tomatoes, tomato soup, milk, and basil.  Stir until combined.

3. Add chicken broth and tomato paste and stir until combined. Simmer for 20 minutes.

4. Add half-and-half and parmesan cheese. Stir until combined.

5. Add frozen tortellinis and cook until tender. At least 15 minutes.

6. Serve with parmesan cheese and your favorite bread (crunchy is best).