This month for the Secret Recipe Club I was assigned K&K Test Kitchen by Kim and Kelsey – a mother/daughter duo! How fun! I had such a hard time deciding on what to make! I must have booked marked at least a dozen things.

But, I decided that since Busy Season (aka tax season) was over it would be fun to bring in something to the office so I settled on their Brownie Cookies. What an amazing idea. And yes, they do actually taste like a brownie only they’re cookies! How amazing is that? I love making brownies but they’re so difficult to bring to events; there needs to be a spatula or knife for everyone to cut them. But cookies? Just set them out and everyone can easily grab one. They were a total hit at the office, and then I made them again — yes I liked them so much that I made them twice in one week — for a family gathering on Sunday and they were a hit there too.

The batter for these cookies is extremely thick, and I have on good authority from my eldest sister that the batter is absolutely delicious. She may or may not have “pre-washed” the mixing bowl once I was done. I used a medium cookie scoop to dish out the batter and that seemed to be a good size. The cookies are very very rich, so I think anything larger would be too much. But who knows, I’m not a huge chocolate person so I could be totally wrong :)!

For the office, I made a double batch and the cookies came out more like cakey brownies than fudgey brownies. The second batch was a single batch and those came out a lot more like fudgey brownies. But I think that has more to do with the oven in my apartment vs. the oven in my parent’s house than anything else.  I forgot to count how many I got from the first batch, so I counted the ones I made yesterday and I had about 3 dozen cookies.I’m definitely keeping this recipe around for parties.

On top of that the recipe is super simple and it very easy to double, so it’s perfect for small gatherings or big gatherings! For the record, there were no cookies left over from either my office for my family gathering yesterday. As fun note, one of my very good friends who lives in England told me she was making brownie cookies last week as well and without knowing it we used the same recipe. We’re totally the same person. And if they win the approval of two different groups in California and one across the pond? Pretty sure these are keepers!

Brownie Cookies

From K&K Test Kitchen

½ cup butter
4 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3 cups (18 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a medium sized saucepan combine butter, unsweetened chocolate and half (1.5 cups) of the chocolate chips. Melt over medium heat stirring constantly. Once melted remove from burner and allow to cool while prepping the next steps.

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large mixing bowl (I used my kitchen aid) mix together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Scrape the bottom of the bowl. Next, add in the salt. Then, add in the baking powder. Slowly add in the flower (I did three 1/2 cup measures). Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.

Add in the melted chocolate and the rest of the chocolate chips. Mix until combined. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl one last time to make sure everything is mixed.

Scoop the cookies out onto ungreased cookie sheets about 1 inch apart. Bake for 10 minutes. Allow to cool for about a minute or two on the sheet then remove to a cooling rack.

You may also like:

1. Secret Recipe Club: Eat the Rainbow!
2. Secret Recipe Club: Spicy Roasted Olives
3. Holiday Recipe Exchange: Russian Tea Cookies
4. Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
5. World Peace Cookies

Thank the Lord for the Secret Recipe Club; it makes sure I post at least once a month! Which, is sadly all I seem to have time for. Not that I’ve been cooking a whole lot lately. If I don’t eat dinner at work I get home late enough that all I eat is popcorn. I just keep reminding myself: 3 weeks left! I do, however, still love my job. I’d just like to be able to cook/bake more! :).

This month I assigned the blog Enriching Your Kid by Shirley. I was caught by her post about eating the rainbow; the photograph of the pasta just looked too good to pass up! Sadly, it didn’t have a recipe so I went with the idea of the post and did my own pasta recipe.

Shirley talks about how foods that have different colors are rich in different vitamins and you should “eat the rainbow” as often as possible in order to get the biggest benefit form the foods. I do try to eat as many different colors in a meal as I can, since it also makes it interesting to eat! Especially when I make savory dishes, it tends to start in the produce section of a grocery store and I just grab what looks good. Generally that means when I do cook, I cook with lots of different colors. If pinterest is any indication, people are always looking for ways to eat more healthily and I think this is one very easy way to fill up on vegetables. Instead of just reposting all of Shirley’s information, you should wander over to her blog and check it out.

For this recipe, I had corn, an onion, asparagus, chicken, an orange bell pepper, garlic, marinara sauce, basil and cheddar cheese on top.  I used the basic seasonings; salt, pepper and then for kicks I threw in some Cajun seasoning. It turned really well and it worked wonderfully for lunches at work!

I had wanted to put mushrooms in this dish and I even bought them, but I forgot to put them in! I was so sad after the dish was done. It still tasted delicious though. If you like mushrooms I think they’d make a wonderful addition!

Eat the Rainbow
inspired by Enriching Your Kids
As with most savory recipes I make, the seasoning amounts are estimates. I really need to get better about measuring things before I throw them into a pan.

Serves 8-10

1 lb of pasta of your choice
2 tbsp oil
2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1 bundle of asparagus cut into bite sized pieces
1 medium onion
4 gloves garlic minced
2 cups of frozen corn
2 orange bell peppers cut into bite sized pieces
1 bunch of basil, sliced thinly
2 tbsp Cajun seasonings
1 tbsp Italian seasonings
1 jar of marinara sauce
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

Cook pasta according to your package instructions.

In a large pan eat oil over medium heat and add in the onions and garlic. Once the onions have become translucent add in the bell peppers and asparagus, cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add in the chicken breast along with the Cajun seasonings, and Italian seasonings and cook until the chicken has turned opaque and the pink is gone from the middle. When the chicken is about done, add in the frozen corn.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Mix in pasta, basil and marinara sauce once the chicken is done. Sprinkle the cheddar cheese over the top of the dish and cover with aluminum foil or lid for a few minutes and allow the cheese to melt.

Serve into bowls or plates and enjoy!

You may also like:

1. Secret Recipe Club: Brownie Cookies
2. Secret Recipe Club: Spicy Roasted Olives
3. TMI…and a pasta recipe
4. Tex-Mex Rotelle
5. Asparagus, Cherry Tomatoes with a White Wine Sauce and Goat Cheese Pasta

I’ve finally done it. I finally branched out and joined a cooking club! I’m so excited! I’ve wanted to join a food blogging club since I started blogging but always thought I wouldn’t have the time with school. So now, I decided to join the Secret Recipe Club which assigns you a blog to cook from and then reveal what you made on a due date. Once a month.  I can totally handle that! It also reminds me of monthly secret Santa and who doesn’t love a good secret Santa?

For my first round with the Secret Recipe Club I was assigned the nifty blog Rhubarb and Honey. After looking through Kimberly’s recipe list I decided on her spicy roasted olives. I love spicy foods and olives. Perfect for me!

I decided to make the olives when my parents were coming up to Sacramento so my dad could help me put together an Ikea dresser. Does anyone else hate Ikea directions or is it just me? I’m just not visual enough for only pictures. I need words with my picture instructions thankyouverymuch. Luckily my dad is good with Ikea instructions so the dresser went together easily enough.

But, I digress. This was supposed to be an early afternoon appetizer since they were supposed to get up here around 1pm. Well, as life happens they didn’t actually make it up to Sacramento until around 5pm, so this became a feast of roast olives, fruit, salami and cheeses. It was really quite filling and the olives were really the star of the show. Everyone loved them. They were spicy without being overwhelming spicy and the thyme and basil added some nice flavors to the olives too. The original recipe called for parsley and I really just can’t do parsley. It takes like soap to me, but I love love love basil so I always switch out parsley for basil and haven’t had it ruin any recipes yet! :)

I bought the olives from Safeway’s olive bar that were marinated for a Greek-types salad so the roasting only enhanced those flavors and I probably could have cheated and only thrown in garlic and crushed red chili flakes if I needed a quick appetizer for unexpected guests.  I’m definitely going to have to keep this recipe around and have olives on hand quite often especially after busy season for when I have people over!  They were delicious hot and I’ve even been munching on them cold. I love foods that are good hot and cold. Simplifies my life which I’m all for.

The only thing I need now is more people over so I can make copious amounts of these olives. In fact, I think I’m going to polish off the rest of these tonight as an evening snack. Hooray for healthy snacks! Another fantastic thing about these olives is that they’re really hands off. Put everything on baking tray, throw them in the oven for 30 minutes and then go back to socializing until your timer goes off. Easy and delicious. Fantastic. To make things even easier, I got already peeled garlic from Trader Joe’s which cut down the prep time by a few minutes. And I didn’t have to peel any garlic! I love garlic, but I’m not a fan of peeling it.  I also zested the lemon before juicing it over the olives because the zest has a ton of flavor and I  love lemons.

Spicy Roasted Olives

From Rhubarb and Honey

2 cups mixed green and black olives
10 whole garlic cloves, peeled
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Juice of 1/2 lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
2 or 3 fresh thyme sprigs

Preheat oven to 350.

On a baking tray mix everything together. After the oven has preheated bake for 30 minutes.

Put in a serving dish and enjoy!

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2. Secret Recipe Club: Brownie Cookies
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4. Roasted Chicken with Veggies

The odd thing about my Papa asking for a cake is that he doesn’t particularly like sweets. So I wanted a cupcake that when frosted wasn’t sweet. When I asked my mom what kind of cake I should make him, she said any cake would do.

…..  ….  …. ….

Friends, I’m horrific at decision making when it comes to creative things (or what to eat). I’m fantastic at someone saying “I want <insert dessert/food>” and then going forth to find a recipe and making it. But having to decide stuff with no input? I dither for daaaaays. And occasionally I go the way of Eeyore and dither for days, weeks, months…years. (Not really years but months – totally).

So one morning, on my three week break before starting work, I randomly woke up early and decided that I would make my Papa cupcakes, instead of a cake, because they travel more easily than a full cake. And they can be frozen and then defrosted individually.

I finally came across a white cake recipe from Andie over at Can You Stay For Dinner? the post has both white and yellow cake, but since I like the yellow cake recipe from Smitten Kitchen I decided to go with the white cake recipe.  I paired the cupcakes with my go-to chocolate ganache from Alice over at Savory Sweet Life which can be made three ways – whipped, glazed, and piped. I generally use the glaze version of the frosting since it’s the quickest way to top cupcakes. And they travel very well since you don’t have to worry about frosting getting everywhere.

I used dark chocolate from Trader Joe’s (the pound plus bars are amazing) for the ganache which added some sweetness but not a whole lot making the final cupcake a great balance of sweet and yet not coyingly sweet.

 The recipe from Andie only makes a dozen, which was perfect for my application (because really, who needs more than a dozen cupcakes to themselves?) could pose a problem if you wanted lots of cupcakes. Or it might just be a me problem is I dislike scaling up, or down, recipes.

All in all, the white cake itself was very airy and wasn’t very crumbly, it reminded me of a good bakery cupcake – or a good wedding cake. Its really the perfect blank canvas for all sorts of combinations. I’m definitely going to be using this in the future as my go-to white cake.

Yikes. Now that I have a go-to yellow and white cake recipes what do I need to search for now?

 White Cupcakes

From Andie of Can You Stay for Dinner?

Makes 12

1 cup cake flour
1/2 cup whole milk, room temperature
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
5 tbsp unsalted butter, softened but still cool

Preheat oven to 350, then line your cupcake tin with liners and spritz with nonstick cooking spray.

Whisk milk, egg whites, and vanilla together (not in your standmixer, please.)

In your standmixer, mix the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt togther. Mix in the butter and beat on low speed until the mixture looks like moist crumbs. No large clumps of flour should be hanging around.

Add 3/4 of the milk mixture to the flour mixture and beat on medium speed for about 1 1/2 minutes. Scrape down the sides. Then add the remaining milk mixture and beet for another 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides again and beat for another 20 seconds. (I also like to scrape the bottom just in case something is sticking there).

Distribute the batter evenly in the cupcake tin and bake for 20-22 minutes. A toothpick should come out clean.

Once the toothpick is clean remove from tin and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

You may also like:

1. Yellow Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache
2. Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
3. Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes
4. Lemon Hazelnut Mini Cupcakes
5. Cupcakes of Yellow and Chocolate Descent

Waaaay back in high school, I made friends with a girl named Kristin whose mother, Mrs. C, also happened to be my chemistry teacher. Mrs. C became a sort of surrogate mother when I was on campus during school. Had a bad day? She was always waiting with a hug. Shit hit the fan with a history teacher my junior year? Totally there to help me figure out what to do next. Forgot lunch or lunch money? She generally let me riffle through her lunch for food. I also much lived in her classroom.

Her daughter, Kristin is a spitting image of her mother. A nicer, more caring, more empathetic 20something I have yet to meet. She is currently doing her masters in counseling (I think) at Saint Mary’s (I know). She wants to be high school counselor, and I can’t think of anyone who is better suited for that job. If she cares, she cares deeply. If you decide to do something that makes you happy she’ll be there cheering and encouraging you all the way through, which is what I think a lot of high school students need.

Now every Christmas I go over to Mrs. C’s house and make Pioneer Woman’s cinnamon rolls, albeit with a few modifications, with Kristin. The dough we make per the recipe, but the filling we use about half the sugar and butter and for the frosting we make about half to 2/3 of what the recipe calls for. Everything still works out and tastes delicious, but the rolls just aren’t swimming in the frosting.

I blogged about the rolls last year – but this year I got some pretty pictures and I  wanted to update the amount of things we used to be more accurate. This year was as tasty as last year. There is always some downtime with making the dough: the milk, vegetable oil and sugar all have to be mixed together, then scalded, and then cooled which takes about 45 minutes to an hour. After that cooling period, you throw in the yeast and let that sit for a minute or so. Then the dry ingredients get mixed in, and then you let it sit in a warm place until it’s doubled in size which is about an hour. So there’s about 2 hours of inactive time which is just fine with me because it gives plently of time for Kristin and me to catch up! This year we chatted and watched White Christmas  which I’d never seen before.

After we rolled out the dough we put about 1/2 a cup of butter on the rolled out portion and then go more-or-less hog wild with the cinnamon and only sprinkle about half cup to 2/3 cup of sugar over the dough. Then you roll everything up into a nice neat package, which isn’t as hard as you think it would be, and start slicing.

As a perk to making the rolls at Kristin’s house I get  to look out their kitchen and see this view:Isn’t that an awesome view?

The overall flavor reminds me of Cinnabon cinnamon rolls but better. I think it’s the frosting that makes them. The maple frosting seems less cloyingly sweet then Cinnabon’s frosting. The maple also adds a nice flavor that I don’t normally seek out – I’m not a huge maple fan but it works with the rolls.

Mr. C was home by the time we started baking so he, of course, had to taste one right after they’d been frosted. They won his approval just like last year – so at least Kristin and I know we’re consistent! The recipe makes about 36 rolls, I put them in disposable pie pans with six rolls in each. This year we decided to test how they taste after freezing (bake, ice, and then freeze – reheat in a 250 degree oven for 15 minutes) and they tasted just as good as fresh out of the oven.

The Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Rolls
The filling and frosting have been cut in half to reflect what Kristin and I actually do
Ever so slightly adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl

Dough

1 quart Whole Milk
1 cup Vegetable Oil
1 cup Sugar
2 packages Active Dry Yeast, 4.5 teaspoons
8 cups (Plus 1 Cup Extra, Separated) All-purpose Flour
1 heaping teaspoon Baking Powder
1 scant teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Tablespoon Salt

Filling

1 cup butter – more if needed
1 cup sugar – more if needed
Generous sprinkling Of Cinnamon

Maple Frosting

1 pound Powdered Sugar
1.5 teaspoons Maple Flavoring
.25 cups Milk
3 tablespoons Melted Butter
1/8 cups Brewed Coffee
pinch teaspoons Salt

Extra melted butter for the pans

Dough

In a large pot mix together the milk, vegetable oil, and sugar. Heat over medium heat until it’s just about to boil. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 45 minutes to an hour or until the mixture is about body temperature (you should be able to leave your finger in mixture and have it feel warm but not hot).

Pour in the yeast and allow to proof for a few minutes. While the yeast is proofing measure out 8 cups of flour. Mix flour and yeast-milk mixture. Cover and allow to sit in a warm place to double in size – about an hour.

Mix in baking powder, baking soda, salt, and the last cup of flour. Remove half the dough (if you’re feeling overly neurotic you can weigh the dough or you can just eyeball it) and roll it out til the dough measures about 30″ by 10″.

Filling

Pour 1/2 cup of the melted butter over rolled out dough. Sprinkle cinnamon generously over the butter. Then sprinkle 1/2 cup of the sugar over the cinnamon – use more if you need to.  Starting from the 30″ edge roll towards yourself until the entire thing is rolled. Pinch the seam to secure the roll. Cut in to 1.5″ slices.

Pour a little bit of the extra butter into pie pans. And arrange the slices in the pan being careful to not overcrowd them – they expand! Set aside for 20 minutes.

Repeat for the second half the dough.

Preheat oven to 375. Bake for 13-17 minutes or until golden brown.

Frosting

Mix together the powdered sugar, milk, butter, coffee and salt. Then add the maple flavoring. You can tinker with adding more of any of the ingredients to get the flavor you’d like – the frosting, in the end, should be think but still pourable.

After the rolls come out of the oven, pour the icing over the rolls.

Enjoy!

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Having this blog gets me to make things I wouldn’t ever think to buy in a store. Case in point: marshmallows. They aren’t very flavorful when they’re from the store, but homemade has this light airy texture and FLAVOR. And they taste way better in hot coco than regular marshmallows. I also think that homemade marshmallows melt more quickly into your hot coco but I could be completely wrong.

As an aside: what the difference between hot coco, hot chocolate, and hot cocoa? Anyone know? I’ve always been kind of confused.

Anyway, don’t be scared of homemade marshmallows. I really believe they’re easier than brownies. Yes, I typed that correctly. Easier than brownies. For the marshmallows there are only two things you might not have lying around your kitchen: corn syrup and a candy thermometer. Woah, woah, woah! Don’t leave. Yes, I said thermometer, but it really does take all the guess work out of it and makes the whole thing super simple.

The recipe itself, from Ezra Pound Cake, is mostly hands off and the most time consuming thing is the waiting for the marshmallows to dry. Once the sugar is dissolved you don’t stir the pot at all so all you have to do is watch the temperature to make sure you turn off the heat at the right point. After the sugar is cooked to 240°F, you add it to the gelatin that has been blooming (I used Knox Original Gelatin) and just whip the holy bajesus out of it.

Marshmallows always reminds me that I really really need to get a handheld mixer. You want to get your egg whites whipped as close to the time you need to add them to fluff as possible. I always have to whip them first then set them aside and then refluff them right before adding by had since I don’t have a hand mixer. Boo. After adding the egg whites you add whatever flavor extract you want to the fluff.

When removing the fluff for drying its VERY important to spray your spatula with Pam (or whatever spay oil makes you happy). The fluff won’t stick to it and you can spread it around. I end up respraying the spatula a few times, but it really does make all the difference. For the mini marshmallows like these ones, I used a jelly roll pan in order to be able to spread the fluff thin enough.

For the red swirls right after spreading out the fluff quickly drop some red food dye on to the top of the marshmallows and then using a wooden skewer swirl the red food dye around the marshmallows. I’ve found that I have to do this fairly quickly or the marshmallows start to set up.

The entire cooking process takes about 40 minutes with the bulk of it waiting for the sugar to reach 240ºF.  With it being this easy, why buy marshmallows ever again? Homemade are simple and way tastier!

Homemade Mini Marshmallows

From Ezra Pound Cake
1 cup powdered sugar
3 1/2 envelopes (2 tablespoons plus 2 1/2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup hot water (around 115°F, about 15 seconds in the microwave)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites (or meringue powder reconstituted according to the manufacturer’s directions)
2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon vanilla extract (or any other extract flavor. I used peppermint)

Spray a jelly roll pan (for mini) or 9×13 (for regular/thick) with oil (such as Pam) and dust with powdered sugar.

In the bowl where you’ll actually whip the marshmallows, place the cold water and gelatin and allow to bloom while you cook the sugar.

In a heavy or medium sauce pan combine the hot water, corn syrup, salt, and sugar. Over low heat stir the mixture until the sugar completely dissolved. Clip in the thermometer. Over medium heat cook the sugar mixture to 240°F.

Pour the cooked sugar mixture into the mixer bowl that has the gelatin and mix, using the whisk attachment, on high until the mixture has tripled in volume and looks glossy. It will fill most of the bowl. In another bowl (and either a clean whisk or using a handheld mixer) beat egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Add the egg whites and extract to the marshmallow fluff and mix until they’re just combined.

Spray your spatula with oil and scrape the fluff into your prepared pan. You may have to respray your spatula a few times. Sift some powdered sugar over the top and allow to sit for at least 3 hours. I usually let it sit overnight.

If swirling in some food coloring, drop small amounts of food dye all over the top and quickly swirl using a red food dye. Then dust with  powdered sugar and allow to firm up.

Once dried out, take a small knife and run it around the edges and then dump it out onto a clean work surface and cut into whatever size/shape you’d like. Toss each cut marshmallow in some powdered sugar to make sure they don’t stick.

Enjoy!

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Then, earlier this year my friend Lulu was in Scottland and sent me a postcard from this set, which in turn came from this book Taking Tea with Mackintosh: The Story of Miss Cranston’s Tea Rooms, with a recipe for Scottish Shortbread cookies. I’m all for recipes on postcards so I decided to put it somewhere safe so I could make it the next time I had the time to bake some cookies.

Friends, that safe place? Its a lie. A trap. Don’t put anything in a safe place. I lost that dang postcard and had to try every search I could think of to find that post card (which led me to the book, so hurrah!). Luckily I found the recipe again and was able to make it.

The recipe itself is fairly simple but incorporates semolina flour which I have never seen before in a shortbread recipe. Granted, I don’t look too closely at shortbread recipes because as I mentioned before I’ve never been a fan. But, these cookies have won me over. I’m assuming its the semolina in the mixture that gives it a light, crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth flavor that I just haven’t found in other recipes.

It doesn’t take too long to make up a batch of these cookies, since its just flour, semolina, sugar and butter. The most important thing about this recipe, I feel, is that your butter has to be at room temperature. I’m totally guilty of forgetting to take out butter early enough so it’s room temperature by the time I need it, but since it’s the only thing holding the flours and sugar together you want to make sure its easy to combine everything.

The longest part is mixing everything together to form the dough – at first it’ll look like its just going to be a crumbly mess, but keep going! You’ll be rewarded with an awesome dough.  The recipe says to make it into a disk and cut into 8 wedges…well you COULD do that. But then you’d only have 8 pieces. And I’ll eat all 8 pieces without thinking about it. So, I used my little disher to make lots of little cookies. Which are just adorable because they’re little and everything is much more cute when they’re smaller.

I also liked that the disher makes them slightly rounded on top rather than just flat. You could smoosh them down after they come out of the disher but then it takes an extra 30 seconds per cookie dough ball and that adds up quickly. I just want them to get into the oven and then into my mouth. Yum. This way they’re also perfect for an afternoon tea…or a midnight tea if they last that long. They’re really just perfect at anytime. Much like bagel bites. Only better.

Scottish Shortbread

Taking Tea with Mackintosh: The Story of Miss Cranston’s Tea Rooms

This recipe serves as a perfect base for any flavored shortbread. I love to mix the zest of a lemon or orange into the mixing bowl before I start combining everything.

200 grams/8 ounces/2 cups flour
50 grams/2 ounces/.5 cup semolina flour
75 grams/4 ounces/ 2/3 cups sugar
150 grams/8 ounces/2 sticks butter

Preheat oven to 325. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment mix everything together until it forms a dough. Once dough is formed use a small disher (#70) or a tablespoon to make uniform balls. Place on parchment and bake for 25-30 minutes. Cookies will not brown much – just the edges!

Allow to cool on cooling rack.

You may also like:

1. Gluten Free Pecan Shortbread
2. Holiday Recipe Exchange: Russian Tea Cookies
3. Lemon Custard Creams
4. Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Things that help Rene-cicles? Soups. Lots and lots of soups. Luckily last week, even though it wasn’t that cold out, I really wanted a minestrone-style soup minus the noodles…which just becomes a bean soup. Delicious bean soup.  With the sudden drop in temperatures around here, it was fortuitous that I made up some bean soup last week.

I have awesome memories of my mom making chicken noodle soup for me when I sick and her version of split pea soup was my first encounter with the stuff, and still remains my favorite. My dad also made soups but he liked bean soups, Navy Bean Soup and Ham Hock and Beans. Except after Thanksgiving. Then he makes this amazing turkey noodle soup with broth that’s made from the barbequed turkey carcass so it has this wonderful smokey flavor to it. This year I hope to photograph it and share it with everyone :).

This 3 bean soup definitely warms you up from the insides out and not just because its soup; I added some crushed red peppers to it for an additional kick. A definite perk of this soup is that its fast and easy. I used canned black, red kidney, and cannellini beans rinsing them all thoroughly to remove as much of the salt as possible.

I cooked the onions, carrots, celery and mushrooms in a garlic infused olive oil that my roommate has from Costco. Seriously it makes any dish taste amazing.

Since,in my mind, I was going for a minestrone-style soup itself was simply seasoned with some salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, lots and lots of garlic, lemon zest and juice, and the aforementioned red crushed peppers for heat. After finishing the last bowl of soup, I wished I had put some earthy sort of spice in the mix too; it seemed like the soup was missing something. I’ll definitely throw in a bay leaf or two the next time I make it. Maybe some cumin? Cinnamon might be an inspired choice too. What spice/spices would you add to the soup for a more earthy flavor?

The lemon was kind of a last second addition. I absolutely love citrus and the lemons added a nice note of brightness to the soup. It also made the soup not feel as heavy as it could have been. That being said, its definitely a snuggle-under-the-blanket kind of soup. Perfect for those chilly nights ahead!

This soup also has the perk of being infinitely  customizable. Don’t like spice? Cut back or completely leave out the crushed red peppers. Want it to be vegetarian? Use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock. Not a huge fan of garlic? Cut back on the cloves used! Although, every time someone on campus tells me I look like Bella Swan from Twilight I eat a clove a garlic.

3 Bean Soup

1 tablespoon garlic infused olive oil
1 medium onion diced
1 lb mushrooms sliced
4 medium carrots cut into rounds
4 medium celery cut into rounds
1 can each: black beans, red kidney beans, canellini beans – drained and rinsed.
1 can petite diced tomatoes with their juices
1 box chicken stock
3-4 garlic cloves chopped
2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon crushed red peppers
1 lemon, zested and juiced
Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, warm garlic infused olive oil. Once warmed add in the onions and allow to cook while chopping the carrots and celery. Once the onions are translucent add in the carrots and celery. While those are cooking rinse and slice the mushrooms. Add in the mushrooms and continue to cook for about 5 minutes or until the mushrooms are cooked. Once everything is almost completely cooked turn off the burner and remove from heat.

2. In a large pot pour in chicken stock and tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Add in the cooked vegetables. Add in the drained and rinsed beans. Add in seasonings, red peppers, lemon juice and zest. Stir to mix. Salt and pepper to taste. Cook until the vegetables are fork tender. Adjust seasonings to fit your taste once done.

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I’m weird. And slightly neurotic.

But this isn’t a post about any sort of accounting nonsense; I think I’d lose everyone on that post. Eyes would glaze over, brains would go numb, people will wonder how accounting students stay awake in their classes (lots and lots of coffee).

This is a post about a friend’s baby shower from the beginning of the month with a fun medical twist! (For me, not for Erin pictured in purple).

Photo curtsey of Suzy Hall Jurgensen.

I helped my friend Alaina make a whole mess of food for the party of about 25 people. We had things like croissant sandwiches, pasta and fruit salads, spanakopita (probably the best thing EVER – and from Costco) and lots and lots of baked goods.

Grab a cup of coffee/tea/water cause this is gonna be a long post.

I, oh so awesomely, decided to start with the hardest thing first: brioche. That ended up not being the hardest thing – go figure. Tuesdays with Dorie did a brioche recipe about a month ago so I actually used the tagging system in Google Reader and tagged it for the shower. Planning ahead? Will wonders ever cease?

I saw that Bridget from The Way the Cookie Crumbles made them in a mini muffin pan and thought that would be perfect for a baby shower. Unfortunately Alaina didn’t have a mini muffin pan so I improvised; I just rolled the dough into smallish balls and cooked them like that. It worked out great – not as great as if I had the mini muffin pan but well enough :). Then some I left plain – and they were like heaven in a roll. Then, I decided to get fancy: I dipped about half of them into melted butter and then dipped them into a cinnamon sugar mixture. I actually forgot to eat one of the fancy dancey ones :(.

The dough takes some prep since it’s yest dough, but really it was hands off. Now that these turned out well, I have a lot more confidence to try making croissants. If you have a favorite recipe, or any tips! Let me know in the comments! Or just send me an email :).

The second thing I made were homemade Ding Dongs. Why? Because I’m crazy. The original recipe from Adrianna from A Cozy Kitchen looked easy enough and pretty freaking fantastic, so I had to give it a try even though I’m more of a Ho-Ho kinda kid than a Ding Dong kinda kid. Adrianna made a full cake and then used a round biscuit cutter to cut out the final Ding Dong shape, but I decided that I would first make cupcakes then peel off the wrapper so I could make the most of the batter. Now I realize why she cut them from a cake round – you need the the sides to be perfectly flush so the glaze will run down the sides nicely.They still worked out nicely, I’m going to make them again and either make sure the cupcakes don’t rise above the wrapper or cut off the edges of the cupcakes.

These went very very quickly, and from what I heard the filling was awesome too! Yay! I didn’t get one, I was too busy pigging out on pasta salad and croissant sandwiches. Whoops.

I also made these yellow cupcakes from Deb over at Smitten Kitchen, which I’ve blogged about before here. I made a whipped cream frosting that was tinted green and had peppermint extract in it  and then I whipped the chocolate ganache (from the Ding Dongs) but it didn’t quite work out like I had planned. I had had to make the ganache without a scale so I don’t think it had quite the right ratio. The underlying cake, however, is ALWAYS a huge hit when I make it. The recipe is essentially a from scratch version of Duncan-Hines’ yellow cake mix and it is part of my normal baking list for events.

Here is some of the other food, that I didn’t help make so I don’t really remember what was in them but here’s a quick rundown: fruit salad, spanakopita (from Costco), lemonade – Erin is obsessed with lemons, and iced tea, and finally a really good pasta salad with pesto from Costco. We also had some croissant sandwiches which I didn’t get a picture of because I totally spaced, because I found out the next day I’m terribly allergic to a family of antibiotics which made my entire face swell up.

Friends, I HAD NO EYES. Or bridge in my nose for that matter. I looked like something out of Star Trek or Battle Star Galatica. Yes, I’m an epic epic nerd. So all of the pictures for the day were taken with very stingy eyes. Here I thought I’d somehow burnt my eyes from the oven from opening and closing the oven so often the day before. Silly, silly kid. Luckily it wasn’t life threatening but it did put me out of mind with benadryl and zytrec for about 36 hours. So. Much. Fun. I do have a picture of it, which when I showed my dad all he had to say was “you look terrible in that picture!” My response you ask? “Yeah! I was having an allergic reaction!” We had a good laugh about it.

**The recipes are available by clicking on the links in the post. I feel like this post is long enough without three rather long recipes in it as well. It also gives you a chance to check out three awesome bloggers! (And an older post from me!)**

No related posts.

There are four trainers that teach all the classes and they all make an effort to learn everyone’s name and any limitations they have  due to injuries. For example, I have messed up lower back and both my wrists are obnoxious, I left for about a year and when I came back they still remembered who I was by name and my injuries. Seriously awesome.

They have spin, sculpt, boot camp, Pilates and Zumba classes and you’ve never laughed your way through so many exercises. Most days the hour goes by very quickly and everyone who works out there are very friendly and inviting. Not only do they have workout classes, but they also offer lifestyle/food workshops.

Probably one of my favorite aspects of  Healthy Habits is that since the classes are so small you can ask the trainers things like “what are you having for dinner?”. A few months ago I was able to get a few recipes and I’ve just started to get around to making them.

The first one I made was the apple pie oatmeal since I just want it to fall already. Cooler weather! Yeah! The recipe called for chopped pieces of walnuts which I knew we had, but they have somehow wandered away so I sadly didn’t get any walnuts. But even without the walnuts, the oatmeal was very satisfying and definitely had an apple pie like flavor that put me in the mood for fall.

I had never thought of putting cinnamon on oatmeal before; my family does oatmeal, raisins and brown sugar with milk. The cinnamon added a nice spice and the apple bits added a great crunch to the oatmeal.

Apple Pie Oatmeal

From Healthy Habits Studio

1/2 c. cooked oatmeal (made with water or skim, almond or light soy milk, if desired)
4 apple slices cut into bite sized pieces
sprinkle of cinnamon
1 tsp. chopped walnuts

Cook oatmeal, add in apples and walnuts and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Enjoy!

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