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TASTESPOTTING IS BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sorry for the insanity; I literally JUMPED and SQUEALED with joy when the page came up!!

Gratuitous Photo

So a friend at work request I bake my spiced chai cake again, which I gladly did. I decided to double the recipe as there are quite a few people at work, but I decided to cut down on the amount of tea that I use to make it more friendly. But anyhoo, I just really like the way the spices look right before I whisk them together!

Marlboro Man Sandwich

Odd name, I know. That's because it's Ree's (the Pioneer Woman) husband's favorite sandwich and she calls him the Marlboro Man. It is also very similar to a dish my mom used to make (which I'll post the next time I make it - I forgot last time oops).

Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich (which I shall henceforth call the Marlboro):
2 1/2 lbs cube steak .. now, I just ordered 3.. I'm not sure how many pounds. it was just enough for hubby and me
1 large onion, cut into thin strips or half circles
butter
Chachere's (me) or Lawry's (Pioneer Woman)
approx. 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
a few splashes of Tabasco
buns/rolls .. whichever rock your boat

Melt 2 tbsps butter in a large skillet. Add the onions and cook over a medium-low heat until they are nice and soft.
While the onions are cooking, slice the cube steaks against the grain (if you look closely, you can see that the tenderization of the meat has created a grain for you to cut against). Season with Chachere's/Lawrys.
So after about 5-10 minutes, your onions should be nicely cooked. Remove them from the pan (place in a bowl, on a plate.. just not in your mouth... hey, I'm not the only one who was tempted, was I??)
Melt 2 more tbsps of butter in the same pan. Let it brown a bit (though not blacken) then add the meat, making sure it's in a single layer.
DO NOT stir the meat for the first minute or so; you want the bottom to brown. After that, flip the meat, browning all sides.
Once your meat is totally browned, add the 1/2 cup of worchestershire. Then splash in some Tabasco. (Shockingly, this was my first time really using Tabasco, even though I grew up not an hour away from where it is made!!)
Add 2 more tbsp butter to the sauce and mix well. Add the onions and cover while you prep the buns.
Butter the buns (or the new cooking surface you'll be using: skillet, griddle, etc). Place the buns buttered-face down until the surface is golden and crispy. Flip over momentarily, just until they are warm.
Load delicious meat and onions onto your bun, then spoon some of the juice over it.. Yuuuummm. Enjoy; try not to burn your mouth eating it.



Yeah, that's right; I served it with premade tater-tots. Because we were supposed to do laundry tonight .. and I do not discriminate against most potato products.

Cookies & Cream Brownies

For today's work treat, I decided to pull out an old recipe from my first days of really getting into baking. My grandma had given my mom these amazing Taste of Home cookbooks and I LOVED them. This recipe comes from one of the books, I'm sorry I don't have specific information - I'll try to find it.

By the way, these were absolutely devoured in the first two hours of my shift.


Cookies & Cream Brownies:
Cream layer
1 pkg (8oz) cream cheese, softened
¼ cup sugar
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla extract
Brownie layer
½ cup butter or margarine, melted
½ cup sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup baking cocoa
2 eggs
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
12-18 oreos, crushed (I use "Double Stuf")

In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla until smooth; set aside.
For brownie layer, combine butter, sugars, and cocoa in a large mixing bowl; blend well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Combine flour and baking powder; stir into coca mixture. Stir in the vanilla and cookie crumbs.
Pour into a greased 11 x 7 x 2 baking pan. Spoon cream cheese mixture over batter; cut through batter with a knife to swirl.
Bake at 350º for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with moist crumbs. Cool completely.

Apple Blondies

I made these gems for work; I received great compliments and one marriage proposal. I forgot to take a picture before I left for work in the morning, so this is all I have left to photograph:


This recipe comes from Maria over at The Goddess's Kitchen. It is GREAT, though if I make this again, I won't include the icing. It's sweetness detracts from the absolute divine nature of the blondies. Please note, many of my coworkers disagree with me.

Apple Blondies:
Batter
2/3 cup butter, softened
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup peeled, chopped apples
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Frosting
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup milk or cream
2 cups powdered (confectioners) sugar

Preheat oven to 350F and grease a 9x13 pan.
On medium speed, beat butter, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla for about 3 minutes.
In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to batter and mix well.
Stir in apples and cinnamon.
Spread into greased pan and bake for 25-50 minutes (until the middle is set).
Cool completely.

To prepare the frosting, melt butter in a saucepan. Stir in the brown sugar and milk and let the mixture come to a boil. Remove from heat and let it cool until lukewarm.
Stir in the powdered sugar - I did this 1/2 cup at a time and stirred vigorously to make sure the sugar mixes in completely.
Spread the frosting over the bars. Let it cool completely before cutting into these AMAZING bars.

New York Style Cheesecake

I've mentioned before that hubby loves cheesecake. He always gets one for his birthday and usually no other time. But with all my baking craziness lately, I decided I'd make him one just because he's so darn cute. I have many saved recipes; caramel cheesecake, vanilla bean cheesecake, etc. But no, hubby wants a plain old New York style cheesecake. With strawberries. Like always. I did have a new plain cheesecake recipe by The Repressed Pastry Chef, utilizing a water bath, so I decided to try it.


Because hubby and I prefer my old recipe and the owner of this recipe wants me to ask permission before linking to her recipes, I'm just not going to post it. Instead, I'll post the recipe I usually use, because we think it's better.. I've had it for YEARS and I have no idea where it came from. Hubby prefers this cheesecake because it's "so thick and creamy" and he likes his cheesecake dense. What hubby wants, hubby gets (when it comes to homemade cheesecake).

New York Style Cheesecake

2 lbs cream cheese
¾ cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 cup sour cream
1 ½ cup graham cracker crumbs
6 tbsp melted butter
¼ cup white sugar

Preheat oven to 400°.

Mix graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, and ¼ cup sugar together. Press mixture onto the bottom of one 9 or 10 inch springform pan. Place in freezer for 10 minutes.

Cream ¾ cup of sugar and cream cheese until smooth. Beat in eggs, vanilla, and cornstarch until just mixed. Stir in sour cream until blended.

Pour into prepared crust. Bake for 45 minutes. Turn oven off and leave cake in oven with door ajar for 3 hours.

Now, some people like their cheesecake swirled with caramel or chocolate (me). Others like raspberry or strawberry (hubby). I have no problem serving it with strawberry, but i REFUSE to use the gross strawberry goop you find at grocery stores. Instead I made my own (thinner) strawberry sauce.

Strawberry Sauce:
1 carton strawberries
sugar
(it's that easy)

Slice your strawberries as thin or thick as you'd like them. Place them in a tupperware container and sprinkle them with a few tablespoons of sugar. Give it a good stir, then cover and place in the fridge. As the strawberries break down in the sugar, they'll get a bit softer and a little less tart while a nice little sauce forms. You can add more sugar if to create a slightly thicker goop.

Honey Dijon Chicken

See my little smashed potato there? So delicious! Also, that green thing is an attempt at a lettuce wedge. I didn't quite succeed, which is okay because I didn't try too hard. But, neither of those things are the point of those post, are they?

I am intrigued by the idea of baking a whole chicken. I don't know why. It's not like I've never had baked chicken before. It's just something I think about.. alot. I came across this recipe which seemed nice and it came to mind when I was pondering what to serve with those potatoes for dinner. Well, I didn't have time to cook a whole chicken. I took forever trying to decide what cut of chicken to use: breasts? thighs? drumsticks? I decided tenders would cook quickly and would have a nice sauce to meat ratio, which is highly important to us.

Honey Dijon Chicken:
1 lb chicken (I used strips of breast meat)
olive oil
salt and pepper
approximately 2 tbsp dijon mustard
approximately 2 tbsp honey
parmesan cheese (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Season the tenders with the salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a skillet; brown the chicken.
Remove the tenders from the skillet and place into a baking dish. Bake for 10 minutes.
While the strips are baking, mix together the honey and dijon. The exact measurements don't really matter, but you do need to have equal parts of the two ingredients.
After 10 minutes, remove the chicken from the oven and spoon the sauce over each tender. Return them to the oven and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, sprinkle the tenders with parmesan and let bake for another minute or two.

Smashed Potatoes

Ree at the Pioneer Woman Cooks is amazing. I fell in love with her blog months and months ago after making a shrimp penne in this delicious tomato cream sauce (note to self: make that soon!). Today, I discovered her Crash Hot Potatoes (posted, amusingly enough, on my wedding anniversary; a sign this is meant to be). I HAD to have these, and what Mama Sarah wants, Mama Sarah gets (in all matters over which she has total control and sound self-justification).



Okay. I realize the blogging is getting a little weird. It's late and I want to go to bed, but I REALLY want to finish up these posts so I can pretend I'm not really a slacker (said to the dishes sitting in the kitchen). Two glasses of wine probably aren't helping matters either. It's not my fault the cork is wonky and I don't have a bottle top!

Back to potatoes...I think we've established that I love potatoes. If I were stranded on an island, a sack of potatoes would be on my list of things to have with me. Something about them satisfy this innate, never-ending craving in my soul. It IS that intense.

Smashed Potatoes:
small new potatoes (or other similar potato), 2 per person seems reasonable
salt and pepper
olive oil
an herb, I used Rosemary

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, then add your potatoes. Boil until they are "fork tender". I don't think I let mine get fork tender. It's difficult to gauge that.
Preheat oven to 450F.
Drizzle olive oil on a baking sheet; you want the entire sheet to have a bit of the oil so the potatoey goodness doesn't stick.
Place the potatoes on the sheet, spacing them out. Using a potato masher, gently press down on the potato (it might slide around.. you might not be so gentle, it's okay). My potato masher is funky and not the standard shape, so I ended up with lots of little mashed potato crumbles, which baked up nice and crunchy so I'm okay with it. Anywho, rotate your masher 90 degrees and press down again.
Your potatoes shouldn't be too smashed up, just flattened a good bit. It should still be a whole potato, just mangled.
Next, brush (or drizzle) with olive oil, then sprinkle your salt, pepper, and finely chopped herb on the potatoes.
Bake at 450 for about 20 minutes or until they appear deliciously crisp and amazing.

Cinnamon Cheesecake Blondies

One of my supervisors/friends at work is very blase towards baked goods, so I see him as a challenge (so far, he's only liked the smores bars, and who wouldn't like smores bars?). Finally, after another round of baked goods leaving him unimpressed, I quizzed him on the things he does like. Most were things that I can't easily bring to work. We both share a fondness for angel food cake, but I want to wait to make one until I have the right pan. But he likes cheesecake, and I happened to have a recipe for Cinnamon-Cheesecake Swirled Blondies from Blonde Ambition. Fate, right? The fact that it's a bar treat makes it easy to bring to work. Perhaps, I won't get such an disappointing reception from him this time.

These blondies are what brought me to the cinnamon chips. For this, I will forever be grateful. I shall put these chips in muffins and cookies and bread and bars. .. Moving on..

Cinnamon Cheesecake Blondies:
cinnamon cheesecake portion:
5 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg yolk
blondie portion:
6 tbsp butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup Cinnamon Chips

To prepare the cheesecake bit, beat cream cheese, sugar, cinnamon, flour, and vanilla until it's smooth. Beat in the egg yolk until just combined. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 350F and prep an 8x8 baking dish by lining it with foil and spraying it with Pam.
Melt the butter and allow it to cool for 5 minutes (it's good to do this while you're mixing up the cheesecake ingredients).
Beat together brown sugar and butter until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla.
Whisk together salt, flour, baking powder, and cinnamon. Stir into wet mixture.
Stir in cinnamon chips.
Pour the blondie batter into the pan, spreading it evenly and level. Pour the cheesecake mixture over the blondie batter. Using a knife, swirl through the mixtures.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until it's set in the middle. I'm not sure how long mine baked; it seemed like it took awhile. I was super anxious about it cooking all the way through, so I cut into the middle to see how it looked. Good thing I did, because it still had a while to go.
Let cool before cutting. Warning; the edges might be crunchy and a bit difficult to cut.. if you're using a butter knife.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

It has been quite the day in Mama Sarah's kitchen. Had my first rum and coke last night, and needless to say, I slept later than normal today. Spent an hour or two feeling funky, then the cooking commenced! I'm going to do everything in separate posts, as I've decided I really like to have only one recipe per post, but I'll give you a quick run down of everything I made. First, for work, we have pumpkin spice cookies and cinnamon cheesecake blondies. For dinner, I baked smashed potatoes and honey dijon chicken tenders. And for the hubby, I made a cheesecake and a simple strawberry sauce to go with it. Hopefully, I'll get all the posts up tonight..

First up, the cookies:


This recipe comes from Joy the Baker. Like Joy, I harbored a can of pumpkin deliciousness in my pantry. I'm not ashamed; it gave me the opportunity to make these amazing cookies which will replace pumpkin pie at my Thanksgiving dinners. Seriously. They are fluffy, yet slightly dense with a perfect level of spice. Mmmmmm. I'd eat another one now if they weren't meant for work (and if I hadn't eaten so many goodies already today).

This morning.. er.. afternoon when I made my way to the store, I planned on following the recipe exactly, using chocolate chips.. Then I started thinking that maybe dried cranberries would go well. THEN after baking the blondies (I'm not sure why I didn't post in the order that I baked) I discovered Hershey's cinnamon chips. Nom nom deliciousness. My favorite chip. I hit this horrible (yet wonderful) point where I could NOT decide which of the three to put in. So, I mixed up the batter and dropped 6 cookies onto a cookie sheet. I made two of each, pressing the cranberries/chocolate chips/cinnamon chips into the cookie dough, then kind of mixing it around gently. After they baked, hubby and I sampled them and both decided the cinnamon chips were the boss of this match. The cranberries didn't add the right flavor, and the chocolate chips were too overwhelming, in my opinion.

These are delicious.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup cinnamon chips

Preheat oven to 325F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves together. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar until they are smooth and a light yellow color - about 1 minute.
Mix in the oil, pumpkin, and vanilla. Add the flour; mix until incorporated.
Stir in chips.
Using a cookie scoop or 1/4 cup measuring cup or whatever else floats your boat, drop the cookie dough onto the cookie sheets. Slightly flatten them.
Bake for about 16 minutes, or until springy to the touch and an inserted toothpick comes out clean (unless you hit a chip.)

The cookies have an amazingly fluffy texture, which I love. I hate crunchy cookies. I love these.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Due to the flooding in town, my work is currently operating out of a college in town. We are no longer within walking distance of places for lunch, so the company has been trying to provide at least some sort of food (usually chips). I decided I'd help out a bit and bring in some food. I made another loaf of the Honey Vanilla Challah and these delicious Chocolate Chip Cookies from Karen at Do Better. In my experience, people usually appreciate free food, especially homemade baked goods, but the response to these cookies was amazing. So many people stopped me to tell me how delicious they are (even the head networking guy!). Hubby's friend said they were the best cookies she's ever had. Cool deal right?


The recipe makes A LOT of cookies, somewhere around 6 dozen. My little hand mixer had quite a difficult time in the final mixing stage, so I had to switch to good ol' hand powered stirring.

Chocolate Chip Cookies:
4 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tbsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
6 cups flour (the original recipe is half white and half wheat, but I only have all purpose)
1 bag chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate, original recipe calls for semi-sweet)
1 bag white chocolate chips (I used vanilla chips)

Preheat oven to 350F.
Cream the butter and sugars together. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, whisk together salt, baking soda, and flour. Gradually mix into wet ingredients. Stir in chips.
Using cookie scoop (or whatever method you prefer) drop onto cookie sheets. Bake for approximately 11 minutes, until just slightly golden.

These cookies remain nice and soft instead of hardening up like some cookies. That's an important cookie feature for me.

Oh, and by the way, these cookies have hubby's seal of approval. He's not big into baked goods, so if he really likes something, it must be good, right?

Sausage and Penne in Mustard Cream Sauce

So we're back up! Water isn't at 100%, but we can do normal household things like wash dishes. YAY! I've had a productive day (more on that later). Since TasteSpotting has gone down, other sites have begun to crop up to replace it (HAH!) I've been checking out Food Gawker and came across this recipe today, which I decided to make for dinner, on a whim, while standing in the produce aisle of the grocery store. I kind of followed the recipe and kind of did my own thing with it.


Sausage and Penne in Mustard Cream Sauce:
Penne, 2 servings worth
1 lb sausage (I used Hillshire Farms Italian Smoked Sausage)
olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
2-3 stalks of spring onions, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2-1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1/2-1 tsp ground mustard
salt and pepper
3/4 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper

Prepare penne. While pasta is boiling, slice sausage. In a skillet, brown the sausage in a bit of olive oil. Remove from pan.
Saute garlic and onions for a minute, until fragrant and onion is slightly wilted. Add mushrooms and saute until tender.
Add sausage, mustard, cream, salt and pepper. Simmer over low heat until sauce reduces a bit.
Once penne is cooked, drain fully and toss with sauce.
Serve with parmesan sprinkled on top (I forgot to do this, but it would be tasty!).

Heartbreak

Last Friday, TasteSpotting featured this message:
"Thanks for a great 18 months! In light of recent legal complications, NOTCOT will no longer be operating TasteSpotting.com"
I had hoped it was some sort of Friday the 13th foolery, but as it's Monday and the message remains, I guess TasteSpotting is really gone. I am wretchedly saddened by this and a little miffed at the lack of warning or information.
Regardless, it was a great site and I'll really miss it; it's where I found most of my recipes.

Quick Update

Due to the crazy Iowan floods and subsequent water shortage, I won't have anymore updates for until, until the water supply is back to normal. Our apartment is fine, but my office was completely under water. We are up and running in a temporary location. Basically, we're on "drinking water only" restrictions. Until the restriction is over, I won't be cooking. I hope to be back soon!

Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies

So funny thing.. the more I bake, the longer it takes for me to update things because I have so many to do! Silly me. I'll try to do better (I say that a lot, don't I)


So hubby loves cheesecake. I make him one for his birthday every year. When I came across the Hungry Housewife's recipe for Strawberry Cheesecake cookies, I figured that could be a nice treat for hubby. When this past Saturday rolled around, I found myself baking to repay a favor, I decided I'd bake these up for hubby too. He enjoyed them, and wouldn't let me share them with others. That, my friends, is a testament to good baked goods.


Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies:
1/2 cup cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 cup flour
1/4 cup(ish) strawberry jam

Preheat oven to 350F and prep a cookie sheet.
In a large bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter. Gradually beat in the sugar until it's light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and salt.
In a small bowl, whisk together baking powder and flour. Mix into cream cheese mixture.
Drop by rounded tablespoons onto cookie sheet.
Place jam into a bowl and stir it well so it isn't lumpy or too gelatinous. Dab a bit on jam onto each cookie, then swirl the jam and top bit of cookie dough together.
Bake for 10-14 minutes or until edges are just golden.

The cookies are soft and slightly sticky. After the first batch, hubby requested a little less jam. It's totally a matter of personal taste. Seriously though, he didn't let me bring them to work to share.

"Murky" Rice

Back home, one of my favorite foods is dirty rice. But, as my family isn't actually Cajun, I didn't grow up making it or anything. It was a food to be had at other people's homes. For our first thanksgiving with just the two of us, I decided to make each of our favorite dishes; hubby wanted dirty rice. After searching the internet and talking to some family, I found a recipe that worked pretty nicely. This past thanksgiving, the in-laws came to visit and granny took care of the dirty rice. Even though hubby and I both really like this dish, I never really make it.

Today while trying to figure out what I could make for dinner with the pitiful contents of my kitchen, I decided to do a meat-rice dish. I originally planned to season it differently, but decided dirty rice would be quite satisfying tonight. I'm calling it murky rice because I used ground turkey; dirty rice calls for ground beef and sometimes pork.


Murky Rice
1 lb ground turkey
1 onion, moderately chopped. I cut mine into thin slivers
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 can beef broth
1/4 cup water
1/4 - 1/2 cup mushrooms, coarsely chopped
tony chachere's (or other seasoning mix, like season all)
1 cup uncooked rice

In a large skillet, brown the turkey. Make sure the meat is pretty crumbly. It will need to be distributed throughout the dish.
Once the meat is thoroughly browned, add the onions and garlic. Let them cook down a little.
Now you'll want to season your meat. How much you use depends on what you're using and how spicy you want it to be. Taste as you go. It's important to remember that you're adding rice to this dish, so you'll have to offset the blandness of the rice with the seasoning on your meat.
Pour in broth and water. Bring to boil.
Stir in the rice. Cover and lower heat. Simmer for about 20-25 minutes, or until rice is cooked.

* To note, the rice on the very upper edges of my dish just would not cook. I added more water and let it cook longer, but they refused. I just spooned the undercooked rice out before serving it and made sure to serve from the center.

Super tasty with garlic toast.