Baked Brie Bites

My go-to appetizer to please any party goer is baked brie. It's cheap, easy and ALWAYS a hit. There has never been a time where I didn't end up with an entirely empty plate. So when I stumbled across this gem of a recipe while perusing an amazing food site, Tastespotting.com, I knew I hit the baked brie lottery! I decided to make it when my friends Abby and Zack came over for some drinks. Zack doesn't like jam, so I made some without (I know, he's crazy!).

Crescent Brie and Raspberry Bites
by Taste and Tell

1 tube refrigerated crescent rolls
Il de France brie (I am not a brie snob, so choose what you wish)
raspberry jam

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a mini muffin pan.

Unroll the crescent dough. Separate into 4 rectangles by pinching 2 triangles together. Slightly flatten out rectangles. Cut each rectangle into fourths, making 16 smaller rectangles.

Arrange dough in the mini muffin pan, forming small cups. Cut brie into small pieces, about 1/2 - 1 teaspoon each. Put one piece of brie in each crescent cup. Top each with 1/2 - 1 teaspoon of raspberry jam. (Definitely do not overfill your cups, no matter how tempting.. they will runneth over!)

Bake in preheated oven for about 10 minutes, until crescents are golden brown and cheese is bubbly. Remove from oven. Serve warm.

I think I could've cut these into even smaller pieces for the bites. More brie, less bread.

I prefer a rind-less brie.

See.. definitely could've gotten more bites out of that dough.

These pieces of brie may have been a little aggressive. Next time I'll go smaller.

Jam and jam-less.

They came out a little messy b/c of over filling, but I think next time I will experiment with baked brie balls! I'll just fold the dough completely over!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Layer Cake

Chocolate and peanut butter is by far my favorite combination of food. It's my go-to flavor of Baskin Robbins ice cream and I'll never turn down a Reeses Cup, so it was obvious to me when I came across this recipe that I HAD to make it. However, "when?" was the question. Well, Valentine's day duh! Ben and I had no problems picking this as our dessert, plus neither of us had ever baked a cake this big. We added our own touch by topping it with chopped up Reeses, which I would highly recommend. It was delicious and rich, however next time we will change up the peanut butter filling and make it more peanut buttery and less cream cheesy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Layer Cake
adapted from The Other Side of Fifty

1 3/4 cup sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs plus 2 large egg whites
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 cup Dutch-processed cocoa
2 tsp espresso powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray cake pans with cooking spray and flour generously.

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla with mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Scrape down bowl and beaters.

In a separate bowl combine flour, cocoa, espresso powder, baking soda and salt. Beat into creamed mixture alternating with the buttermilk. Scrape down bowl and beaters and continue mixing on medium speed for one minute. Pour into prepared pans.

Bake for 28-30 minutes and until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. This actually ended up being about 35 minutes in my oven with the 6"x2" pans.

Remove from oven and cool for 15 minutes before removing from pans to cool completely on cooling rack.

When cakes have completely cooled, slice them in half horizontally, now giving you four separate cake layers. Place one layer on plate and spread peanut butter filling over the top. Repeat with remaining layers but do not top the last layer with peanut butter filling. Pour ganache over the top of the cake and let it run down the sides.

Peanut Butter Filling

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup marshmallow creme (Fluff)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy cream, chilled
Pinch salt

Mix all of the filling ingredients together with a mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scraping down the bowl as necessary.

Chocolate Ganache

1 1/3 cups (8 ounces) chocolate chips or chopped semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy or whipping cream
2 tablespoons light corn syrup

Combine the above in a microwave safe bowl and heat in 15-20 second increments until cream is hot enough to melt the chocolate. Stir until chocolate is melted and ganache is smooth.

Top with desired amount of Reeses Cups (I used minis).

All the dry ingredients

Butter, sugar and vanilla

Using our new hand mixer!

My arm got a serious workout!

Who wants to lick the mixer??

Two beauties

That's how you cut a layer of cake!

Mmmm, the peanut butter layer goes on.

Ready for the ganache!

We added some extra chips :)

OMG

Chop, chop, eat. Chop, chop, eat.

Almost done....

Final product!

Ranch Mac & Cheese

Sorry for the silence! I've been beyond busy at work helping to launch our new food site! Check it out: Kitchendaily.com It's currently in beta and there's a lot more to come! I am literally submersed in food content alll day long and the last thing I want to do when I come home is get on my computer. But now it's the weekend and I have so much to update on my blog!

Valentine's Day is long gone, but I'll take you back there with this post :) We decided to make our own meal instead of going out to a restaurant. We love challenging ourselves, particularly when it comes to baking (stay tuned for that post!). The hardest part? Choosing our menu! Since we always eat healthy we decided to splurge and make some sinful deliciousness!

This recipe came from one of my favorite food blogs, The Noble Pig. It came out better than I could have ever imagined. I can't wait to make it for my favorite Ranch lover, Colleen. She puts Ranch on EVERYTHING! And she loves mac & cheese to boot!

Ranch Mac & Cheese
Adapted from Taste of Home

1 package (16 oz.) elbow macaroni
1 cup milk (I used whole)
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 envelope ranch salad dressing mix
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon garlic pepper blend
1 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded Colby cheese
1 cup (8 oz.) sour cream
1/2 cup crushed saltines
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Begin by shredding your Monterey Jack, Colby and Parmesan cheeses.

Cook macaroni according to package directions, however, do not use salt in the pasta water. Meanwhile in a Dutch oven, combine the milk, butter, dressing mix and seasonings; heat through. Stir in Monterey Jack and Colby cheeses until melted. Stir in sour cream.

Drain macaroni; stir into cheese sauce with the saltines. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Milk, butter and seasonings

That's me!

Cheesy nomness!

That's a lot of sour cream!

YUMMM!

Stir, Stir Stir

Are you drooling yet?

The final product, topped with crushed red pepper of course!

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Today is day seven of being snowed in. Well, I was able to make it to the store on Tuesday, but besides that I haven't seen civilization in a week! The other day while I was wandering around the kitchen, snacking and taking a break from work, I noticed our bananas were getting to the point where neither myself nor Ben would eat them, well I probably would've, but I decided I would much rather make some banana bread. So I found a simple recipe that only required 3 bananas (luckily I had one in the freezer)! I just added a random amount of chocolate chips to the recipe so use your own judgment on that ingredient. And because Ben and I are newly living together, we don't have all the cooking goodies one needs... so we improvised with cake flour and a random sized baking dish! It still came out delicious and I know this b/c it's already almost gone after just 3 days of being made! :)

I found this recipe via Google... what would we do without it?
Credit: Simply Recipes

Ingredients

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

Method

No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Squishy squish squish nanners

Oh heeeyyyyyy Paula Deen

I should've cropped this photo...

I wish you could smell how delicious this is.

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of cake flour is equal to 1 cup of all purpose flour

The best part!!

The cooking time was a little off b/c we used a different pan, but it was oh so yummy!

Ewww cleaning up is not fun!

Squash-tastic Shepherd's Pie

So with round two of the blizzard I'm finding a lot of free time on my hands, which means more time for cooking. This time it was Ben's turn to cook dinner. He chose another Hungry Girl recipe which I hadn't tried before. It turned out so delish!

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash
• 1/2 cup chopped onions
• 1 lb raw extra-lean ground turkey
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• dash of garlic powder
• dash of onion powder
• dash of black pepper
• 3/4 cup fat-free gravy
• 1 1/2 cup frozen mixed veggies
• 1 tbsp light whipped butter or light buttery spread
• 1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place the squash in a large microwave-safe dish with 1/2 cup of water. Cover bowl and cook squash in the microwave for 12 to 14 minutes, until squash is soft.

Meanwhile, in a medium pan over medium heat, cook onions until slightly browned (2 to 3 minutes).

Add the turkey, minced garlic, garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper to the pan. Stir well. Cook until meat is browned.

Drain any excess liquid from the pan. Place meat/onion mixture in a casserole dish. Pour gravy evenly over the mixture. Spread the mixed veggies on top and then set dish aside.

Once squash is cooked, drain excess water and mash well. Add butter and salt to the squash and then mix thoroughly. Layer the mashed squash on top of the veggie layer. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes (until crust looks slightly crispy).

Peel Peel Peel

Beautiful squash and plenty leftover for squash fries!

Time to zap in the microwave

Lean ground turkey with onions (blah I hate onions, but I sucked it up)

Our crust didn't end up very crispy, but it was still really good!

I'm ready for leftovers night :)

AHHHHHHHHHH!!

Snowpocalypse 2010

So the blizzard is officially over and now it's shovel, shovel shovel! I took a break to make a healthy snack for the Superbowl. Spicy Roasted Chickpeas! YUM! I didn't take any personal photos b/c I am too lazy to upload right now. But here's the recipe and a photo from Noble Pig. She insists on lime wedges, but I think they are just as delish without them.

Spicy Roasted Chickpeas
Adapted from Best Holiday Appetizers

2 15-ounce cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne)
Lime wedges

Rinse chickpeas in a colander. Drain them well, shaking the colander to remove as much water as possible. It's okay to take out a bit of aggression on the peas, they won't mind.

In a medium sized bowl, combine rinsed chickpeas, olive oil, salt and black pepper. Mix well to coat the chickpeas. Spread the chickpeas out on a foil lined baking sheet, one large enough to hold chickpeas in a single layer.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes or until chickpeas begin to brown, shaking pan twice during baking.

Remove chickpeas from the oven. In a small bowl, combine chili powder and ground red pepper. Place the mixture in a small sieve to sprinkle over the cooked chickpeas. Bake another 5 minutes or until a dark, golden-red.

Eat 'em up!

-------- SNOW PICS!!!! --------

The house is under all the snow!

Our neighbors' 3 year old... look how high the snow is on their deck!

Knee deep in the driveway

Waist deep on the cart path!

Curbing My Sweet Tooth

As you have probably figured out, I have a huge sweet tooth and am always looking for healthy ways to curb it. Thank goodness for Hungry Girl! She always has great alternatives. Here's what I stocked my freezer with last night to keep me and Ben dessert-ed through the impending snow storm!

Ingredients:
Carmel Corn Rice Cakes (they were out at the store so I got the chocolate ones)
Cool Whip Free

Just spread 1/4 cup of the Cool Whip Free on one rice cake and plop another on top and stick in the freezer for at least 1 hour. Voila! "Ice Cream" sandwich cookie at just 130 calories!

These should keep us satisfied for a few days

Our backyard from Tuesday's snow... can't even imagine what it will look like on Saturday! eek!