Fallen Souffle

I have been dreaming about cupcakes for about a week now…literally. I woke up one morning with a huge craving for cupcakes…no particular flavor, just a petite bit of cake and a scrumptious icing. I didn’t want the usual chocolate or vanilla, oh and I wanted to make it all from scratch. I decided to experiment with lemon cake, so I whipped up a batch and added raspberry jam to half and frozen blueberries to the other. They were both heavenly by themselves but they could be even better with a nice frosting. I didn’t want to have to pull out the butter and powdered sugar for this one, I liked the clean taste of the lemon and didn’t want it overshadowed by a mound of sugary frosting. After a bit of research I found this recipes for what seems to be pretty much a meringue. It was so easy to make, only took about 10 minutes and is fat free!

This icing was perfect for the lemon cupcakes…adds the perfect amount of sweetness and a nice creamy texture. This would be a great addition to an angel food cake (which I plan to try later on this week!)

Easy Fluffy White Frosting

1 cup white sugar
1/3 cup water
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used lemon for my lemon cupcakes)

1. In a saucepan, stir together the sugar, water and cream of tartar. Cook over medium-high heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is bubbly.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, whip the egg whites and vanilla to soft peaks. Gradually add the sugar mixture while whipping constantly until stiff peaks form, about 7 to 10 minutes. Frost the cake of your choice.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Evan noticed that I have been trying out new recipes, and I am glad they are turning out! We used to rotate the same 8 or 9 recipes and I just got sick of the same old grilled burritos, so my new year’s resolution was to try new dishes for dinner and so far so good!

I was trying to come up with a good name for this dish but there are just so many different flavors it’s hard to pinpoint. When you look at the ingredient list it may look a little odd but this is truly a great dish…probably my new favorite chicken dish. Even Evan liked it and I wasn’t sure if it would because of the mix of flavors. I had everything in my pantry and just had to get some chicken from the store. This took me exactly one hour to do, the last 15 minutes I threw in some broccoli to roast and dinner was done.

Sweet and Smokey Chicken

1 whole chicken, cut up
1/2 cup butter, divided
salt and pepper
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup dijon mustard
1 teaspoon curry powder

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place chicken in 9×13 inch pan, season with salt and pepper, and pour 1/4 cup of melted butter over. Bake for 45 minutes uncovered.

2. In a medium saucepan; combine remaining butter, honey, molasses, mustard and curry powder. Cook over low heat for about 5 minutes or until butter is melted.

3. After 45 minutes, pour sauce over chicken and bake another 15 minutes or until juices run clear.

On a side note, I want to congratulate our friends Thomas and Ashley who tied the knot this past Saturday and have moved to Seattle to start their new happy lives together. We wish you nothing but the best and will miss you!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

One of our favorite restaurants is a little Italian restaurant about 2 minutes from our house called Lubrano’s. They have an extensive menu of including pizza, pasta, seafood and meat dishes and we go about every other month or so. As extensive as their menu is I am stuff on one dish…Penne with Vodka sauce or if I am looking for a slight change, Penne with Spinach Ravioli. YUM!

So Evan got me this fabulous new cookbook for Christmas, The Silver Spoon. It is kinda like the Italian Joy of Cooking or Good Housekeeping Cookbook. It has every Italian recipe you could ever dream of and at over 1200 pages it offers much inspiration for Italian food lovers. I haven’t even flipped through the entire book but I did find a recipe for my beloved Vodka sauce and to my surprise the ingredient list was simple and I conveniently had everything in my house!

The original recipe calls for chopped ham but I decided to brown up pieces of chicken breast instead. I also omitted the fresh parsley because I didn’t have any but the addition of some red pepper flakes brightened up the dish nicely. Evan commented that the sauce was surprisingly light this is because it only calls for tomato paste so we didn’t have to worry about chunky sauce. It also cooks up nicely in one pan for easy clean up.

You could get creative with this dish and add olives, capers or anchovies for more depth of flavor. This basic sauce makes a wonderful canvas to start from.

Penne with Chicken and Vodka Sauce
serves 2
derived from The Silver Spoon

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into bite sized chunks
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 box of penne, cooked al dente
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cloves minced garlic
red pepper flakes to taste
salt and pepper
1/4 cup vodka
5 tablespoons heavy cream

1. Melt butter in pan and brown chicken over medium heat. Add tomato paste, garlic, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper and cook for about 3 minutes. Add vodka and heavy cream and cook until you can no longer smell the vodka.

2. Taste to adjust seasoning. Add cooked pasta and allow the dish to heat through.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

OK I know…this has absolutely nothing to do with food, but it’s my blog

I just watched the most amazing college football game ever in my life. Two un-defeated teams, one team with two consecutive national titles under their belt and looking for the third in a row…until Vince Young and the Texas Longhorns showed up! I try not to get too excited too early in these type games because with my awful luck my team will always lose, but this is one amazing team with one awesome quarterback! My heart was literally pounding out of my chest…it came down to the last seconds and the Longhorns broke the 34 game winning streak of the USC Trojans. Wow…just awesome!

Now we all go into a deep depression until August when college football starts up again…and I hope Vince comes back to play his senior year but if not…I am still one happy Texas fan!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

This was by far one of the best gifts I got this year (along with the carpet steam cleaner, Coach bag, and pink Yankees hat :), I have been wanting and lusting over these for ages. I made my Mom go into the outlet store in Smithfield just so I could drool over all of the beautiful pots…yes they are beautiful! So needless to say this gift brought out the 8 year old in me when I opened it Christmas morning. I shrieked and danced and skipped for joy when I opened the mammoth gift. I couldn’t figure out how to open to box, which was frustrating in and of itself and I all about carried it around with me all morning. My kitchen felt complete.

So it was about time I broke this baby in. She weighs a ton but her heft is worth the incredible cooking job she does. She retains heat like no ones business and I have never cooked such a meal so fast and efficiently. I made a true one pot meal.

I took some inspiration from Giada on this dish and had all intentions of following her recipe exactly but when I was at the store the mushrooms looked superb so I decided to try them out. I figured I had had such luck with brunch yesterday that I would see if the food gods were on my side again today. Oh yeah…I must have been a good girl because I made an incredible meal that made the whole house smell cozy and even perked up the hubby who was engrossed in a college bowl game.

This takes about an hour or so in all to cook and the flavor is just amazing, I think it has to do with the lemon juice added at the end. I could literally just eat the veggies, they were so flavorful and the artichokes pick up the lemon so well. Yum!

Chicken and Artichokes

4 tablespoons olive oil
4 chicken thighs
4 cloves of minced garlic
6 small red potatoes, cut in quarters
1 small package of button mushrooms, wiped clean
1 15 oz can of artichokes, quartered
1 cup white wine
1 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary
salt and pepper
1 lemon

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Over medium high heat, heat olive oil then add thighs skin side down and allow to brown. Flip and allow to cook about 8 minutes or so. Remove from pot and add potatoes. Allow to carmelize a bit, about 7 minutes. Add wine and broth and scrap brown bits from bottom. Bring to boil and add mushrooms and chicken to the pot. Add garlic, salt and pepper (about 2 teaspoons each), rosemary and juice of one half of the lemon. Cover and put in oven for about 20 minutes.

3. Check chicken after 20 minutes, the temperature should read 180 degrees. When done remove from oven and stir in artichokes and juice from the other half of the lemons.

I whipped up some biscuits and dinner was done! One pot to clean!

As you can see, I tend to be a bit like Rachael Ray and not measure much when I cook, but I tried to take better notes of what I was putting in. I hope you enjoy!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Ok so for us it was more like Good Afternoon We had a wonderful time at our party last night, saw lots of friends and drank lots of champagne. The onion dip was a hit! We slept in till about 11:30, which actually meant I got up and transferred to the couch to watch Food Network. Everyone was making breakfast this morning and by 3pm I was starving! I knew I needed to get a dose of black eyed peas today for good luck but I was also intrigued by all of the “hashes” the Food TV stars were making, so I decided to get a little creative and combine the two…and boy was it good! I was quite shocked that it turned out, because I had been on a been of a streak of failure when it came to trying to experiment, but this dish was a complete 180…who knows what I will come up with for dinner!

This would be great as a New Year’s Brunch dish, I made it all in one large saute type pan so clean up was easy. You could cook sunny side up eggs in with the mix but I just topped them with some scrambled eggs and cheddar. Add Giada’s Iced Amaretto Cappuccino’s and that’s one heck of a start to the new year!

Jen’s Black Eyed Pea Breakfast Hash
serves 2

1 large baking potato, cubed
5 strips of turkey bacon, cut in bite size pieces
1 small onion or half of a medium
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 can black eyed peas, drained and rinsed
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

1. Boil potatoes until about 3/4 of the way done. You don’t want to over cook them or they will break up in the hash but boiling them helps speed up the cooking process. Drain the potatoes in a colander.

2. In a large saute pan, cook the turkey bacon until just turning brown. Add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and add onion and potatoes. Allow the onions to begin to carmelize a bit before you stir it. This also allows for a nice crust to form on the potatoes. Once the onions begin to brown a bit stir in the garlic and black eyed peas. Carefully stir the mixture, allowing for the potatoes to become brown and the peas to heat through.

3. Salt and pepper to your taste. Top with eggs prepared to your liking and some shredded cheddar cheese.

Happy New Year! With this dish, the upcoming year is sure to bring lots of good luck!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!