Spicy Lentil Samosas

A few weeks ago I decided I really wanted to try making Indian food. I love Indian food! I didn't know where to look for the best recipes, but found this recipe on the way. It was definitely time-consuming, but I love that these are baked instead of fried! They were really easy (just, like I said, VERY time consuming) and made a TON (we had that plateful, above, as well as a bunch more I froze to bake up sometime in the future).

These were pretty good, although not very spicy. I definitely have to play around with the insides recipe to get it perfect, but it's a great starter-recipe! I served this with long-grain rice and some easy chicken curry (I tried to find a legitimate "easy" recipe, which definitely decreased the quality, but at least the samosas were yummy). Great to make ahead!

Spicy Lentil Samosas
Recipe from Eat Healthy Eat Happy

1 c lentils
3 c water
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2 small or 1 large carrot, diced
a 2' cube fresh ginger, chopped fine
5-7 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 large onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 green chile (optional), seeded and diced
2 Tbs olive oil
1-2 tsp curry powder
1-2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp paprika (ideally smoked)
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
¼ - ½ tsp red pepper flakes
½ tsp salt
12 egg roll wrappers
nonstick cooking spray

Heat the oven to 375. Rinse the lentils well, then combine with water in a medium pan. Put a lid on tilted so steam can escape, and simmer on medium heat about 20-25 minutes. While the lentils cook, get the veggies, ginger and garlic ready.

In a large pan, combine the oil and chopped onion over medium heat. Cook until the onions start to get tender, about 5 minutes. Add the potatoes, carrot and spices and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Lower the heat if things start to stick. Add the pepper, ginger and garlic and cook for another 10 minutes. Add some water if it starts to look dry.

When the lentils are done, stir them in. Cook everything together for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding water if needed.

Spray two cookie sheets with nonstick. Prepare samosas as shown and arrange on the sheets. Bake 10 minutes, then turn them over and bake another 10 minutes.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

I love lemon poppyseed muffins. When I was growing up, my mom had 3 standard muffin recipes: banana mini-muffins, lemon poppyseed normal-sized muffins, and blueberry jumbo-muffins. I love them all, and eating those kinds of muffins is always very nostalgic for me.

This isn't the recipe my mom makes, but I thought I'd try it out. It's a very soft muffin--almost like cake, but a little less sweet. Next time I might try sprinkling the top with sugar (as the original recipe suggests), but the overall crunch and lemony-ness was pretty good.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
Recipe by Dine & Dish

1/2 cup sweet creamy butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs, separated
1 1/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
2 lemons, zest of, grated
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk or 1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.

Add the egg yolks, one at a time. Beat well after each.

In a separate bowl, stir together the dry ingredients, poppy seeds, and lemon zest.

With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternating two times with the buttermilk, then lemon juice, and then vanilla. Beat just until smooth.

In another bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.

Gently fold them into the muffin batter until blended.


Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, 3/4-full. Bake at 350°F for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to cool completely.

Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

The last few recipes have been breakfast recipes, and it can't hurt to add more. Breakfast is one of my favorite meals of the day...well, if I have time to cook. Generally I eat something quick during the week, but I love going out for breakfast or having time to cook or bake something delicious at home!

This recipe was pretty good! I used spicy sausage and that had a perfect amount of flavor. I'd recommend adding more salt to the gravy but other than that this was a yummy, hearty breakfast! Just try not to look at the gravy before reheating it if you can't eat it all in one day.

Biscuits and Sausage Gravy
Recipe from Taste and Tell

Biscuits:
2 C flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 C buttermilk
Additional flour
2 Tbsp melted butter

Sausage Gravy:
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 16 oz. tube of pork sausage
Additional fat if needed: bacon grease or butter
4 Tbsp flour
3 C milk
A little bit of dried herbs (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste


To make the biscuits:
Preheat the oven to 500F. Spray a 9-inch cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and baking soda. Using a pastry cutter or fork, cut in the butter until you have coarse crumbs. Fold in the buttermilk. Stir just until blended - the mixture will still be lumpy.

Line a small plate or bowl with flour. Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup or an ice cream scoop to scoop out the dough and put on the plate of flour. Roll the dough in the flour to coat. (Note - the "dough" will be very sticky and wet - not like a typical biscuit dough. It is best to use a scoop so that the mixture won't stick to your hands.) Place the dough balls in the prepared pan - 9 balls around the outside and 3 balls in the center. Brush the tops of the balls with the melted butter.

Bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes then lower the temperature to 450 and bake another 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

To make the sausage gravy:
Heat the 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil in a heavy duty skillet or cast iron skillet . Add the sausage and cook until cooked through, breaking up the sausage as it cooks.

Remove the sausage and drain, reserving the fat. Return 3 to 4 tablespoons of the fat to the pan. (If you don't have enough grease, add more bacon grease or butter to make up for the difference.) Add the flour and whisk, allowing the flour to brown and form a dark roux. Keep whisking and pour in the milk. Whisk out the lumps. Return the sausage to the skillet and add in any herbs you'd like. Simmer the gravy until it thickens.

Serve the gravy over split biscuits.

Baked Cinnamon Donuts

I just went on vacation to Hawaii earlier this month. I miss vacation already. About a month before that, I went to Boston with Adam, and got to eat delicious Dunkin Donuts. When will it come to San Francisco! So dying for the delicious vanilla-frosted nommy-ness...the iced coffee was super good, too. So strange.

I decided to bake up some donuts on my new donut pans to enjoy with my Dunkin Donuts coffee mug (I love buying mugs that remind me of places I've been that I loved!) shortly after my trip. I got the recipe from my mom, who made these the last time I visited home.

Baked Cinnamon Donuts
Recipe by Ina Garten

Baking spray with flour, such as Baker's Joy
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
1 1/4 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 doughnut pans well.

Into a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, melted butter, and vanilla. Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients until just combined.

Spoon the batter into the baking pans, filling each one a little more than three-quarters full. Bake for 17 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then tap the doughnuts out onto a sheet pan.


For the topping, melt the 8 tablespoons of butter in an 8-inch saute pan. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Dip each doughnut first in the butter and then in the cinnamon sugar, either on one side or both sides.

Our Favorite Buttermilk Pancakes

Hey! Remember me?

Here's my go-to pancake recipe. You don't need to make it with blueberries. I've used both fresh and frozen blueberries, and you could also go plain, go chocolate, whatever you like! I've made it with fruit and whipped cream on top, with syrup, powdered sugar...whatever! The picture you see above (nicely decorated with my foot and a greasy bacon tray) is from Adam's birthday last month. I'm still cooking and taking pictures of food, so hopefully I'll share some of the recipes I've been trying out soon!

This is definitely our favorite fluffy pancake recipe. If you're looking for a delicious standard to always keep in your back pocket, try this out!


Buttermilk Pancakes
Recipe from Ambitious Kitchen

2 cups Gold Medal Flour All-Purpose Flour (or White Whole Wheat)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 2/3 cups low-fat buttermilk, plus extra if needed
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 container (6 oz) Nonfat Vanilla Greek Yogurt
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. In a medium bowl, combine buttermilk, eggs, melted butter, vanilla, and yogurt until smooth. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Lightly coat a large nonstick skillet or griddle with butter or cooking spray and heat over medium. Drop batter by 1/4 cup onto skillet. Sprinkle tops with a few blueberries. Cook until bubbles appear on top, about 2 minutes. Flip cakes and cook until golden brown on underside, 2 minutes. Wipe skillet clean and repeat with more melted butter and remaining batter. Makes 14-16 pancakes.

Rosemary Lemon Chicken & Asparagus

Here's a great complete meal idea. Relatively complete--the greens and protein go along perfectly together (the asparagus were perfect!) and I served it as the main course following a crab leek risotto (the grains), so if you were to serve this with a wild rice or some bread then that would be more complete together (if you weren't serving the appetizer). This was a pretty straight-forward recipe.

Rosemary Lemon Chicken & Asparagus
Recipe from ShopCookMake

2 Chicken Breasts, in bone, without skin
14 Asparagus Spears
1 Lemon, cut into 5 rinds
2, four inch Rosemary Sprigs
2 tbsp Olive Oil
3 tbsp Butter
1/2 cup Chicken or Vegetable Stock
Salt and Pepper

In a small pan, melt the butter in the oil with the rosemary and lemon. Over low heat, cook the seasoned chicken breasts for about 50 minutes (until done), covered. Turn a few times, to cook well in both sides. You may need to add a few pours of stock, only if necessary, to create a bit of a sauce for the chicken to cook in.

After the chicken is cooked, remove from the pan onto a plate ad cover with foil. Let it rest.

Cook the asparagus in the leftover sauce.

Crab and Leek Risotto

This recipe made a ton of risotto! It was pretty good--I'd never made risotto before but overall it was relatively easy to do. I bought a can of crab claws to make this recipe, which was pricey but a cheaper option as opposed to getting fresh crab, but it's probably better fresh.

I served this as an appetizer for a rosemary lemon chicken and asparagus main course. It's best the first day, and was pretty fun to make.

Crab and Leek Risotto
Recipe from Alyssa and Carla

5 cups chicken stock
½ cup white wine
1 cup thinly sliced leeks (white and light green parts only)
1.5 cups of risotto rice, such as Arborio or Carnaroli
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
8 oz fresh crab meat
Parmesan cheese and parmesan rinds (optional)
Lemon zest from about ½ lemon
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the stock and wine in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a simmer.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of butter and the olive oil over medium heat in a large saucepan. Add the leeks, a sprinkle of salt and a few cracks of fresh pepper to the pan. Sauté until the leeks begin to get tender but before they start to brown. Add the rice and sauté the grains become translucent.

Using a ladle, add one scoop of the stock mixture at a time to the rice. Stir thoroughly until the stock is absorbed. Repeat until the rice is cooked through but don’t let it get mushy. This will take about 20-30 minutes. If you have parmesan rinds, add them to the rice after about 10 minutes of cooking.

Remove from the heat.

Reserve a few larger pieces of crab meat to garnish the plates. Add the crab meat, half of the lemon zest, half of the parsley and the remaining tablespoon of butter to the pan. Stir gently to incorporate. Add parmesan, salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish the dishes with the remaining lemon zest and parsley and the reserved crab meat.

Roasted Broccoli Alfredo

This was a great easy dish that was pretty yummy. Because I've been kind of...not really participating in eating what I cook for my boyfriend (still trying to eat somewhat healthier or cleaner), I've been trying to cook a lot of simple dishes (not because I can't eat it! Just because I occasionally have to prepare two dishes, his and my even simpler one...haha). I grabbed a jar of Trader Joe's alfredo sauce and wanted to try it out, so decided on this straightforward recipe that called for a lot of ingredients that I already had. I just used chicken apple sausages from Costco.

Roasted Broccoli Alfredo
Recipe from Simple Green Moms

1 lb. fresh or frozen broccoli florets sliced in half
3 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 package tortellini pasta (or other pasta of your choice)
4 to 6 links chicken Andouille sausage (optional)
2 cloves minced garlic
1 cup Alfredo sauce (I used Trader Joe's)
Parmesan cheese (for serving)

To roast the broccoli – Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the broccoli with 2T olive oil, salt and pepper. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil then spread the broccoli evenly on the sheet. Roast for about 15 to 20 minutes or until they are crispy on the outside and soft of the inside. Carefully remove from the oven and set aside.

To cook the sausage - Heat remaining olive oil in a skillet on medium-high. Slice the sausage then cook, turning occasionally, for about 6 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic, and continue cooking for another minute or so until the garlic is fragrant and the sausage is browned.

To cook the pasta – Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Once the pasta is cooked, drain the water then toss together in a large saucepan with the Alfredo sauce, sausage, and broccoli.

You can add a little extra milk to make it creamier, if desired. We think it is best served warm, and sprinkled with freshly-grated Parmesan cheese!

Arugula Sausage Rolls

This was a great, easy lunch to whip up for my boyfriend on the weekend. It could also be used for a simple appetizer or a yummy game-day snack! There's nothing fancy about it, but it's just too easy and too good to pass up. The cheese spread (I used Rondole) is delicious. I used chicken & apple sausages from Costco for the sausage...always a good choice.

Arugula Sausage Rolls
Recipe from The Weary Chef

1 can crescent roll dough
2 full-cooked chicken sausages, sliced into half circles
½ c. garlic and herb cheese spread (or substitute onion chive cream cheese)
1½ c. arugula

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Unroll crescent roll dough, and divide dough into eight triangles. Spread about a tablespoon of cheese spread down the center of each triangle, evenly arrange arugula leaves over the cheese, and place sausage over the greens. (You can use a large piece of sausage as shown or bite-sized pieces).Sausage Rolls with Arugula

Fold two corners to the center, and pinch to seal. Sausage Rolls with Arugula

Place sausage rolls on a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat or parchment paper, and bake 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Seafood Paella

SO. MUCH. FOOD. It was pretty good. A maleable recipe. I had to add a lot more spices etc to it, but I didn't use the best stock or anything so maybe that was why. I pretty much used the recipe as a guide of what to add, and could have definitely used fresher and better seafood, but used the frozen mix at Trader Joe's since it's a decent deal.

This was very easy to make, and a great dish if you're too busy to cook for the rest of the week and don't mind eating lots of leftovers!

Seafood Paella
Recipe from Abbe's Cooking Antics

1 tbsp olive oil
1 leek - chopped
1 red bell pepper - deseeded and chopped
1 clove garlic - crushed
3.5 oz/100g spanish chorizo sausage - chopped
1 tsp turmeric
10.5oz/300g long grain rice
2 tbsp cherry tomato paste/puree
1 ltr hot fish stock
5oz/150g frozen petit pois peas
14oz/400g frozen cooked seafood mix - defrosted

Heat the oil in the pan, cook the leek, pepper and garlic for 5 mins. Add the chorizo and fry until it releases its oils. Stir in the turmeric and rice and coat with the oil.

Add the tomato paste and stir it through the rice. Pour in the fish stock. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 15 mins, stirring occasionally.

Add the peas and cook for 5 mins, then stir in the seafood to heat through for a final couple of minutes cooking. Remember the seafood has already been cooked and will turn rubbery if you over heat it.

Avocado Shrimp

I have a bunch of recipes actually sitting around in the queue, but it's been a) so hectic that I haven't had time to post about what I feel about the recipe and b) now a long time since I've made it so I can't even remember what I felt about the recipe!

This was a pretty good one though. I loved the fresh chunks of ripe avocado. Very yummy (I mean, come on, it's shrimp) and very easy. So quick to whip up! Just a little bit of prep, a very short amount of cooking, and voila!

Avocado Shrimp
Recipe from Apple of my Eye

1.5 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, diced
½ tbsp honey
¾ lb. Shrimp
1 avocado, diced
½ tomato, diced
2 limes, juiced
Salt and pepper, to taste
Red pepper flakes, to taste

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan. Add in the garlic, sautéing for 1 minute.

Add in the honey, stirring to combine.

Stir in the shrimp and cook for 3-4 minutes or until just done. Don’t overcook!

Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes. Add in the diced avocado, tomato and lime juice.

Season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste. Serve hot or cold!

Sweet n Sour Sesame Tofu

Due to my current even-more-conscious-eating 2-week trial, I couldn't eat this, barely tasted the sauce just to make sure it didn't taste like poo...but apparently it was perfect and I nailed it. Wee!

I served this with rice and some spinach that I cooked by first sauteing some minced garlic over sesame oil, then cooking the spinach (about a bag) til almost all wilted, then adding about a tablespoon and a half of soy sauce and the same amount of granulated sugar, mixing that up over low heat til done, and then taking it off the heat and adding about a tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds.

These dishes went great together. I recommend you try the tofu out at least! Pretty good--I didn't fry every side of the small chunks of tofu perfectly (they were so small and kept breaking!) but used a spatula to turn them as best I could.

Sweet 'n Sour Sesame Tofu
Recipe from The Spice Train

3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon dark or light brown sugar
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon honey
about 1 pound firm tofu
1/2 cup flour
4 scallions, chopped
about 3 tablespoons vegetable oil for frying

Put the soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, sesame seeds, sesame oil, red pepper flakes, cornstarch and honey into a bowl and whisk well until fully combined. Set aside.

Cut the tofu into 1-inch cubes.

Roll the tofu cubes in the flour, making sure you are coating them on all sides.

Fry the tofu in vegetable oil until golden brown on all sides. Set aside.

Pour the sauce ingredients into a sauce pan and bring to a full boil. Keep boiling the sauce until it becomes transparent and thickens. Take off the heat and pour over the tofu.

Serve with rice and sprinkle chopped scallions on top.

Green Tea Matcha Cheesecake

I don't know why I've delayed from sharing this for so long. I made this for Valentine's Day dessert because my boyfriend doesn't like many sweet things, but really likes things that are green-tea flavored--and has ordered yummy green tea cheesecake in restaurants before.

This was pretty easy (although finding affordable matcha took me a while). I adjusted the original recipe for a heart-shaped pan...but I don't have pictures because unfortunately I left my cheesecake in the oven a little too long and it cracked! It was super delicious though! The matcha flavor was very subtle but perfect.

Green Tea Matcha Cheesecake
Recipe adapted from Dodol & Mochi

1.5-2 packs honey (plain) graham crackers
.75-1 sticks unsalted butter, melted and let cooled slightly

(A)
20 oz cream cheese, softened
6.60zcaster or granulated sugar

½ cup heavy cream
1.5 medium-size egg, at room temperature
2 ¼ tablespoons cake flour, sifted

(B)
4.5 teaspoons matcha powder
4.5 teaspoons caster or granulated sugar

2 ¼  tablespoons cherry brandy, or, kirschwasser (I couldn’t find it so used vanilla extract).

Lightly grease the sides of a 9-10 inch springform pan, and line with parchment; line the base of the pan with aluminum foil. Secure the ring (i.e. sides) to the base of the pan. Then wrap two layers of aluminum foil on the outside, around the base and sides of the pan. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Place the graham crackers into a Ziploc bag, press to force the air out of the bag, and seal the bag tightly. With a rolling pin, bash the biscuits into fine crumbs. Alternatively, a food processor will help you do the job. Mix in the melted butter, then press the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan to get an even layer. Chuck the whole thing into the fridge to chill.

In the meantime, using a hand mixer, cream together (A) till smooth and creamy. Then, stir in the heavy cream, and followed by the egg, in two to three times to avoid curdling of the mixture. Next, mix in the sifted flour. Whisk together (B), and stir into the batter to combine. Lastly, mix in the liqueur.

Pour the batter over the crust, and place the whole pan into another larger baking pan that comes with sides taller than those of the springform pan. Prepare the bain-marie by filling the baking pan with boiling-hot water. Place the assemblage into the preheated oven and bake for 40 minutes, till almost cooked through and the cake’s surface begins to spring back when gently touched. Turn off the oven, leave the oven door opened ajar as you let the cheesecake cool to room temperature in the oven.

Remove the cooled cheesecake from the oven, the bain-marie, and then the layers of aluminum foil. Refrigerate for at least at least three hours, preferably overnight, before slicing to serve. Cheesecakes, including this one, keep real well in the fridge.

Italian Sausage Stuffed Peppers

I made this for Adam last night and it looked soooo good, but I'm going on a little diet so couldn't participate myself. He completely devoured it...so assuming it's good. I adapted the recipe a ton (I used leftover long-grain rice, cut it in half to use just one pepper, and used fresh parsley and added enough salt/pepper/garlic powder to make it taste excellent) but below is the base recipe. I can't wait to try it myself! From the taste I got to make sure it was seasoned correctly, I really missed out!

Italian Sausage Stuffed Peppers
Recipe From Nine Months Baking

2 bell peppers (red, yellow or orange) halved and seeded lengthwise
½ pound spicy italian sausage (casings removed)
1 cup bulgur
1¼ cup almost boiling water
1½ cups spinach
1 sweet onion chopped
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp parsley
Olive oil for drizzling
Parmesan for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 and line a baking sheet with foil.

First in a large bowl (because you will use this bowl later on for mixing) add your bulgur and your almost boiling water. Cover and let sit for 20 minutes.

While bulgur is “cooking” take a pan over medium heat and add your italian sausage, breaking up into smaller pieces and cook until browned.

Once sausage is almost done cooking add your chopped onion. Let sauté until onions are translucent.

Add your garlic powder, salt, black pepper and parsley. Mix.

Add spinach and let cook for one minute and remove from heat.

By now your bulgur should be done. Taking your sausage mixture add to bulgur and mix well.

Taking your peppers, cut side facing up, add to lined baking sheet and place in oven for about 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and add stuffing to each pepper being sure to pack it in, drizzle lightly with olive oil and place in oven again for another 10 minutes.

Cilantro Lime Shrimp

Super yummy and easy shrimp! Hard to go wrong with shrimp. Shrimp shrimp shrimp. Shrimp is one of my favorite foods...sooo good but pretty expensive. I served these super easy critters with some breadcrumb-crusted-parmesan-sprinkled zucchini (zucchini slices dipped in egg and coated with breadcrumbs and then sprinkled with parmesan, baked at 400 degrees for...uh...about 20 minutes? Til crispy, before burnt, and you can flip halfway). Pretty frickin' tasty.

I approximately doubled this recipe. Very easy and hard to get wrong even with approximations.

Cilantro Lime Shrimp
Recipe from House of Yum

1/2 pound shrimp
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 clove minced garlic
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon cumin
Juice from 1/2 lime
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

Heat olive oil and garlic over medium heat.

Toss shrimp with sea salt and cumin then place in heated pan.

Cook the shrimp thoroughly and then remove from heat.

Squeeze the juice from half a lime over the shrimp and then toss with the cilantro.

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Yum yum yum yum yum. I always love banana bread and I just love baking in the morning for breakfast. My boyfriend has expressed slight disinterest (not extreme, just slight, but enough) in banana in the past, so I tried to find a very yummy, sugar-topped, chocolate-filled version for him. These are SO GOOD! A big hit! I was actually fine with just 2 large bananas for this recipe.

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Recipe from Better With Sugar

Muffins:

1-1/2 C all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 large bananas, mashed (or 4 medium)

3/4 C granulated sugar

1 egg

1/3 C unsalted butter, melted

3/4 C chocolate chips (optional)

3/4 C walnuts, chopped (optional)

Crumb Topping:

3 TBS all purpose flour

1/4 C packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 TBS butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with muffin liners.

In a small bowl, mix together all of the ingredients for the Crumb Topping. Stir together with a fork, and then use your fingers to make it crumbly. 

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix this together really well or you'll get that weird baking soda/powder taste!

In a separate small bowl, mash the bananas (with a potato masher if you have one. If not, a wooden spoon will do). Then beat in the sugar, egg, and melted butter. 

Add the banana/sugar/egg/butter mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined (do not overmix!)

Fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts if you are adding them.

Spoon the batter into the muffin tin. 

Sprinkle the crumb topping on top of each muffin.

Bake for 22-23 min, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean. 

Let cool in the pan on a rack for about 10 minutes, and then transfer the muffins out of the pan, and onto a rack to cool completely.

Salted Caramel Cupcakes Encore

I know you probably want NEW recipes, but come on. Look at these cupcakes. LOOK AT THEM. IT'S A CAT PARTY. A CAT PARTY. THERE ARE CATS ON TOP OF THESE GORGEOUS CUPCAKES (ignore my smiley man in the background).

Recipe can be found here. I made these last year for my birthday alongside my red velvet cupcakes that I make ALL the time. This time I made it for my very belated joint birthday party with my soulmate, Sophie, and they were sooo pretty and sooo yummy...of course.

Madeleines

For my birthday this year, my friend Marrisa sent me two Madeleine pans. I've ALWAYS wanted Madeleine pans, but for some reason never got around to getting any. Finally, FINALLY I could make some! A few weekends ago I made these alongside our breakfast coffee. SO good. I was starting off following one Allrecipes recipe, but while using their app, somehow my finger swiped too strong and the recipe changed without me noticing. I was suddenly following another recipe and was slightly confused by the change from what I'd remembered were the portions of each ingredient, but thought that maybe I'd misread the recipe the first time around.

By the time I noticed I'd switched recipes, it was too late, and I decided to just wing it. They turned out deliciously light and buttery. SO good. Love the zesty lemon flavor. I'd make these again in a heartbeat.

Madeleine's
Recipe adapted from Madeleines II and French Butter Cakes

2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp lemon zest
1/4 cup butter
1 cup confectioner's sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Butter and flour 24 (3 inch) madeleine molds; set aside.

Melt butter and let cool to room temperature.

In a medium bowl beat eggs, vanilla and lemon zest with an electric mixer on high speed for 5 minutes. Gradually beat in the confectioners' sugar. Beat for 5 to 7 minutes or until thick and satiny.

Sift together the flour and baking powder. Sift one-fourth of the flour mixture over the egg mixture, gently fold in. Fold in the remaining flour by fourths. Then fold in the melted and cooled butter. Spoon batter into the prepared molds, filling 3/4 full.

Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges are golden and the top s spring back. Cool in molds on a rack for 1 minute. Loosen cookies with a knife. Invert cookies onto a rack and cool. Sift confectioners' sugar over the tops. Store in an airtight container.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes - Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We celebrating St. Patrick's Day yesterday in the beautiful, clear-blue-sky, sunshiny weather, on a boat. Such perfect weather! We had a little barbecue, had a lot of fun, and I got to make cupcakes for the occasion. These were FANTASTIC! I'm always in the mood to bake cupcakes for people and this was my first time having a filled cupcake. These cupcakes have a Guinness chocolate cake base, filled with Jameson chocolate ganache, and topped with Bailey's buttercream. SO GOOD. SO SMOOTH. SO YOU MUST MAKE THIS NOW. Pretty sure my friends thought this was the best cupcake I have ever made.

This recipe easily made 12 cupcakes. I was afraid that there wasn't enough frosting, but there definitely was. Man that frosting is good.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Recipe from Better With Sugar

Cupcake:
1/2 C Guinness Stout
1/2 C unsalted butter, chopped
1/4 C + 2 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder
1 C all purpose flour
1 C granulated sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/3 C sour cream

Ganache Filling:
2/3 C semi sweet chocolate chips
1/3 C whipping cream (or heavy cream)
1 TBS butter, room temperature
1 tsp whiskey

Frosting:
1/2 C butter, room temperature
2-1/2 C icing sugar
3 TBS Irish Cream

Preaheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners.

Make the cupcakes: Heat the Guinness and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until it's simmering, or the butter is melted and it just begins to bubble a bit.

Remove the pan from the heat, add the cocoa and whisk until it's smooth. Set aside to cool a bit.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.

In another separate, large bowl, beat together the egg and sour cream.

Add the Guinness-chocolate mixture to the egg mixture, and beat just to combine.

Beat in the flour mixture.

Pour the batter into the prepared cupcake tin. Bake for 21-22 min, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool on a rack.

Make the ganache: Heat the cream until simmering over low-med heat, then pour it over the chocolate chips. Let it sit for a minute, then stir it until smooth using a rubber spatula.

Add the butter and whiskey and stir until smooth again. Let the ganache cool until it has thickened up a bit but it still soft enough to be piped or spooned.

Cut out the centers of the cupcakes. I do this using the big open end of my 1M decorating tip. You could also use a sharp knife to cut a hole, going about 2/3 of the way down the cupcake.

You can either pipe the ganache into the holes in the cupcakes using a piping bag, or just spoon the ganache in.

Make the frosting: Using an electric mixer, whip the butter on med-high speed for a couple minutes. Add about 1/3 of the icing sugar and 1 TBS Irish Cream, beat on low. Repeat until all of the icing sugar and Irish Cream is mixed into the butter. Whip the frosting on med-high for another couple of minutes.

** Store in the fridge

Sriracha Chicken

Lately I've been posting things from forever ago in random orders at random times. I'm going to have to continue to do that since I'm super backed up with recipes and never have time to sit down and really go through all of these (aka I don't have time PERIOD to work on this but trying to find bits of time here and there to do what I can), but first while it's fresh in my mind I really really want to share this recipe.

SO.

YUM.

I found this recipe a while ago but was cooking with a friend who didn't want deep-fried (I don't really like deep fried either, but luckily my boyfriend does so I get to eat it on occasion) so we stuck with another Sriracha Chicken recipe that I'll post another time (it was also SUPERB).

This recipe was really easy to follow. SO easy to tweak the sauce, which was perfect and I honestly barely measured exactly I just threw things approximately together and heated it up and it seriously tasted as good as those Trader Joe's Orange Chicken things that you get in the freezer isle and reheat and OMG. I mean, different sauce, but same idea. This recipe was really fun and simple to follow. The sesame seeds tossed in at the end was also a great touch.

Chinese Sriracha Chicken
Recipe From Blog Chef

3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into chunks)
salt and pepper (to taste)
2 eggs
1 cup cornstarch
oil (for deep frying)
Sauce-
¼ cup sugar
4 tablespoons ketchup
½ cup vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt
Sriracha hot sauce (to taste)
crushed red pepper flakes

In a medium bowl whisk together sugar, ketchup, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic salt, and Sriracha sauce, and crushed red pepper flakes. Set aside.

Heat oil in a deep-fryer to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl beat the two eggs. Add the cornstarch to a shallow plate or pie dish. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Dip the chicken pieces first into the eggs and then roll in the cornstarch. Place chicken into the deep fryer, and deep fry the chicken pieces in batches at 375 degrees until golden brown and fully cooked (the internal temperature has reached 165 degrees). Drain on paper towels.

Pour the sauce mixture into a large sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. In a large bowl toss the chicken with the sauce. Top with sliced green onions and sesame seeds.