Once upon a time I believed that asparagus was only to be enjoyed steamed and smothered in cheese sauce because that's how I grew up eating it. But, over time I've learned that asparagus is amazing even when it's not bathing in dairy- who woulda' thunk?

My first sighting of it in the produce section each year makes me giddy with excitement and I can't wait to get my hands on it. My latest bunch of asparagus was beautifully thin and just screamed "put me on something delicious". So clearly, that's what I did.

We're starting with pre-made flat bread here, but I bet my heaps of laundry that if you felt so inclined to make your own flat bread  it would be divine. Just follow the directions on the link above for assembly and baking if you decide to do so.

In a large skillet heat a couple of tablespoon olive oil and stir in some sliced onions and salt. Once the onions get some color on them, toss in the asparagus and continue to cook until the asparagus is bright green and the onions are a nice, golden brown.

Top each piece of flat bread with pesto and arrange some baked potato slices over the top- forgetting to bake them first will only make you sad. Sprinkle 1/4 C of mozzarella cheese over the tops of the potatoes and you're ready for the next step.

Follow up the potatoes and cheese with a good helping of the perfectly cooked asparagus and onions.

Everything is better with a little parmesan cheese, right? Right. So on goes a couple tablespoons of grated cheese followed by a nice little drizzle of olive oil.

Place in a 425 degree oven and bake until the cheeses are melted and the bread is nicely browned- about 10-15 minutes. Slice, serve, and enjoy!

You want some now, don't you? [pinit]

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 Many, many moons ago when I was going to cooking school, I spent my last term interning as a cake decorator at a local bakery. And when I say interning, I mean I got 2 days of training and then was set free to be THE cake decorator for the entire shop. No pressure, right?

The first few weeks were a little bit sketchy, but for the most part I was able to hold my own when orders came in. That is until we got an order for 26, 10” 6 layer dessert cakes that were all different flavors due the next day. Dessert cakes are super easy to decorate but the most time consuming part was making all of the mousses,  fillings and whipped creams they needed. I usually kept a good supply of baked cakes in the freezer to pull out and decorate as needed, but this time my stash was completely depleted and I needed to bake the cakes too.

Oy.

If you’ve ever decorated a cake, you know that you typically end up with a nice little pile of cake scraps from leveling it off. Having made so many cakes my  pile wasn’t so little anymore and quickly grew in to a mountain of fierce temptation. I hadn’t stopped for lunch, dinner had passed and my mountain was magically dissappearing. It turned out that little bits of  chocolate cake topped with dabs of fresh raspberry mousse tasted pretty darn good and I was stressed out.

So, I ate it.

I ate lots of it.

It really is incredible how much you can eat when you’re just taking little bits at a time. Incredible and disgusting. Oh, and delicious.

So what does this have to do with Hawaiian wedding cake?

Here’s the deal- Once you make this it’s going be sitting in your fridge and every-so-often you are going to grab a fork and take a little bite straight out of the pan. All will be fine and well until you go to thrust that fork into some creamy cake and there’s none left.

You ate it.

You ate it all. Basically the moral of the story is to not be like me. Can you handle that?

Now, onto the cake! I honestly don’t know the real reason why this is called Hawaiian Wedding Cake. I’m just going to go out on a limb and say that it’s because it’s eaten at Hawaiian weddings but don’t quote me on that. What I do know is that it’s a great summer dessert because it’s cold, creamy, and fruity.

You’ll start by draining 2, 20 oz cans of crushed pinepple. Make sure to save the juice as we’ll be using it in the cake batter.

[pinit]

Garlic bread is a MAJOR weakness of mine. Heck, plain garlic just about does me in. But when it's paired with butter and bread and sometimes cheese I'd rather die 10,000 horrible deaths than have a loaf of it in front of me and not be allowed to eat it. This being said, I bet you have already figured out that it frequents our dinner table.

You know what the hubs said to me a few weeks back after eating a meal with garlic bread?

"You know, garlic bread is good and all but maybe you should come up with some sort of herby bread that isn't garlicky."

Huh?!

This statement just about made my world turn upside down. "What's better than garlic bread? ... Why fix something that isn't broken? Why does he have to be so difficult? This isn't the man I married. He liked garlic!?"

And then, a few days and a couple handfuls of peanut butter M&M's later, I got my act together and realized that buttery bread without garlic didn't have to be criminalized and it wasn't the WORST idea in the world. I mean, it's bread and butter- what could go wrong?

The answer my friends, is nothing. Nothing. At. All. So this recipe is dedicated to my dear husband who puts up with my crazies and let's me be my garlic-smelling self. Thanks babe.

 It starts with a cube of softened butter, dried parsley, oregano, dill weed, tarragon and black pepper.

Give it a stir and a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice to brighten it up a bit.

Green onions get sliced and stirred right into the butter mixture too. I like to use the tender middle part of the green onion for this.

Next up is the bread. When I'm making a bread that will be baked, or in this case grilled, I like to buy par-baked loaves. They are usually pretty easy to find at most grocery store bakeries (I get mine at Fred Meyer) . I use them because they are less likely to become dried out and rip-the-roof-of-your-mouth-off-crunchy after being baked since they are already under baked to begin with. If you can't find them regular loaves work too, they will just be more crunchy.

Cut your loaf long-ways into two halves, cut each half into two, and spread evenly with the butter.

Heat your grill to medium-low and place the loaves bottom down on the grill. Cover and cook for about 5-7 minutes or until the bottom of the loaf is light golden brown.

Flip the loaves to the buttered side and cook an additional 5 minutes or until the tops are toasted to your liking. Remove from the heat, slice, and serve! This bread is flavorful and bright but still gives you the satisfaction that a good slice of garlic bread does- making it perfect in my book!

[pinit]

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[pinit]

Are you ready for Mother's day? It's coming up this Sunday just in case you need a little reminder. If you don't have a plan yet, I'm pretty sure Mom won't mind waking up to a pan of these warm, soft cinnamon buns.  I sure wouldn't.

Ahem.

These buns are are great because you can make them up a day in advance and then bake the next morning. The only bad part about this is that you don't get extra points for waking in the wee hours of the morning to make them... unless you don't tell anyone. In which case, my lips are sealed! I'm all about helping people get as much sleep as possible while trying to achieve kitchen greatness.

These buns are basically a simplified cinnamon roll; they have all the same flavors but don't take as much effort. They also have a key ingredient that make them super soft and moist- instant potatoes. I'm using potato pearls for the photos here, but regular potato flakes work just as well in the same quantities.

Let's make 'em! You'll start by heating some butter and water on the stove top until the butter is just melted. It's important that you don't get your water too hot or it can kill the yeast. You want it about bathtub temperature so if it gets any hotter let it cool off a bit before adding to the other ingredients.

Measure out some brown sugar, instant potatoes, powdered milk, and salt into your mixer and pour the butter/water mixture over the top. Mix until combined.

Add the yeast and a couple cups of flour, and mix until incorporated- it will look like runny cake batter. At this point, set your mixer aside for about 10 minutes to let the yeast activate. When you come back to it you'll see some bubbles forming on the top and it should start to look foamy. It's now time to add some eggs and the rest of the flour.

Making bread is a fickle process. I don't tell you this to scare you, but to make you realize that it might turn out perfect using 9 cups of flour one time and 11 the next. When making any kind of bread it's more about the way the dough feels than anything else. The amount of flour a bread dough will take varies on everything from humidity to temperature to type/brand of flour being used. For this recipe we're aiming for the dough to be sticky but manageable. The less flour used, the more tender the bread will turn out.

I usually add flour until the dough just starts to come away from the sides of the bowl. Once this happens, I like to coat my fingertips in flour and take a piece of the dough out of the bowl. If I can roll it with my floured hands without making a huge mess, it's ready. If not, I add a little bit more flour and repeat the process. This recipe will take 9-11 cups of flour.

Once you've added all the flour let it knead for about 8 minutes, transfer the dough into a bowl and cover to rise until it's doubled in volume. I love my Bosch because I can put the lid on and let it rise right in the bowl without having to dirty another bowl. But sometimes I leave it in there for a bit too long and I walk into the kitchen to find this...

Turn your dough out ont0 a floured surface and start to divide into even portions. This recipe makes a big batch so I like to work with only half of it at a time and go from there. I basically just keep cutting pieces in half until I come to the size of roll I'd like. I explain a little bit better in my dinner roll recipe.

Place the rolls on a lined baking sheet about 1-2" apart. Can you see the turtle my 6 yr old made in the background?

If you're not in the mood for sweets this dough also makes excellent rolls and you could bake them up just like this. BUT what's not to like about some cinnamon, sugar, and frosting, right? Dip the top of each roll into melted butter...

...and then into some cinnamon sugar. The recipe calls for 1 tbsp of cinnamon for every 1/4 C of sugar and that might seem like a lot of cinnamon to you but it works, promise!

Cover the pans with plastic wrap and let the rolls rise until doubled on the counter top or overnight in the refrigerator. When ready,  bake for about 15-20 minutes or until the tops are just lightly golden and frost while still warm with cream cheese frosting (recipe below).

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To you.

Because, well, I like you. So here we go with my first installment of “Things”.

1. I’m getting my hair cut on Friday. I’ve been growing it our since Thanksgiving which is a huge accomplishment for me. I’m kind of addicted to the feel of a fresh hair cut and having someone wash, dry and style my hair for me. When I went short last year (I know, I never updated my picture here) I had to go every month and a half to keep it up and I loved it!  I’m not quite sure how I’ll walk out of the salon this week though. Part of me wants to go all edgy and funky but the other part of me wants to stay low-key/maintenance. We’ll see what kind of mood I’m in.

2. Who else is super excited that the new season of Arrested Development is coming out the end of this month? I’m loving the posters they came up with to promote it. If you’re not familiar with the show, you should be. Or at least I think you should be. We happen to really love it, but it might not be for everybody. Or maybe it is. Who can say?

3. I’m headed to Disney World next week for a few days and I absolutely can’t wait! It will be my first time there and I only have about 2 full days + 1 night to play. For those of you who have been, what are your absolute do/see/EATS. I probably don’t have to explain why I emphasized the eat. I’ve already got Dole Whips and Waffle Sandwiches on my list. What else should be on there? Favorite restaurants?

4. Can I just say how happy I am that the whole “Harlem Shake” fad is dying out. H-A-P-P-Y. Happy. I never got it and never will.

5.  Who went and saw Iron Man this last weekend? I haven’t gone yet but I’m pretty sure I’ll be more in love Robert Downey Jr. than ever based on the trailers. I’m glad my hubby agrees that RDJ is a sexy beast, our date night might be a little awkward if he didn’t have a little man crush himself. I love him.

See you tomorrow with a new recipe!

The post Tuesday Things appeared first on Heather Likes Food.

[pinit]

Happy Monday to ya! We had a GORGEOUS weekend here in the Pacific NW and I sure hope the evil I'm-going-to-tease-you-with-summer-and-then-make-it-rain-until-July demons don't come knocking on our door. Stay away evil-doers! My legs may be pasty. My mom-shorts might be frumpy. But good gracious, bring on the summer!

We use the grill a lot during the summer months and these grilled sweet potatoes are going on our permanent rotation this year. They are so easy to throw together and can cook right on the grill while your meat is doing it's thing and your kitchen stays clean!

You'll start by washing and peeling a handful of sweet potatoes. I find that cutting them longways into about 1/2 inch potato "steaks" makes them the easiest to cook, but you could cut them into the strips if you really wanted to. Just be prepared for a few casualties to the grill grates.

Mix a little dressing made of  olive oil, vinegar, cinnamon, chili powder, pepper, and salt and pour over the potatoes. Toss until each piece is coated.

Place on the grill and cook for about 20-30 minutes, turning frequently until they are soft and cooked through. I really love it when my food gets a little charred so I like to leave them on there a little longer.

Once they are cooked to your liking, transfer to a bowl and toss with a little butter and some fresh green onions. At this point you can break up the potatoes into bite-sized pieces which totally makes the dish look homey and like something that came out of your southern aunt's kitchen.

Okay, I don't actually have a southern aunt, but if I did, she'd be a rock star in the kitchen and would make things like this for me. Enjoy!

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Skinny Pork Carnitas A classic reconstructed to be a little kinder to your hips.

Chili Colorado Burritos Slow-cooked beef wrapped up in a flour tortilla and smothered in homemade enchilada sauce. Amaze-balls.

Baked Crunchy Taco Casserole This is one of the most-view recipes on HLF and it’s for good reason. It’s definitely one of my favorite ways to cook tacos.

Green Chili and Cheese Enchiladas A quick homemade green enchilada sauce over a cheesy jack filling wrapped in corn tortillas.

Mexican Style Ground Beef This is great for filling burritos, tacos, enchiladas, or topping nachos when you don’t want to use a seasoning packet.

Black Bean Confetti Salad Filled with black beans, corn, tomatoes, onion, peppers and lightly dressed. I love eating it straight up or rolled in tortillas

Broiled Fish Tacos with Tangy Slaw  The fish cooks quickly under the broiler and with a bag of coleslaw mix you can have dinner done in 2o minutes, easy

Slow-Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup This might be my favorite soup ever. Just sayin’

Homemade Enchilada Sauce Super simple to make and  you probably have all of the ingredients on hand already!

Queso Blanco Dip LOVE. THIS. STUFF. the end.

Slow-Cooker Cilantro Ranch Chicken This chicken is great in tacos, burritos, over rice or just on it’s own. Super flavorful and simple to make.

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas It’s a classic, but this time I made them WITHOUT the cream soups. I just might convert you

The Best Guacamole There’s a secret ingredient in this guac that makes all the difference in the world.

Vegetable Quesadillas One of my earliest attempts at blogging! The picture might not scream yum but these are amazing.

Happy Cinco De Mayo! What do you have planned?

The post 14 Tasty Cinco De Mayo Recipes appeared first on Heather Likes Food.

If there is one thing I always make sure my pantry is stocked with it's canned tomatoes. I use them in everything ( see exhibit A, B, C, D) and they are especially helpful in getting dinner ready and on the table in minimal time.  This creamy spinach and tomato spaghetti is a family favorite of ours. It comes together super quickly and is great on it's own or along side a grilled chicken breast or sliced Italian sausage.

I'm usually all about a funny side story, but my mind is totally drawing a blank right now. Is this what writer's block is? Good grief, I don't even know who I am anymore. Guess we'll just go straight to the recipe and hope for a better write-up with my next post. Pasta cures all, right? At least that's what my Italian grandmother would say if I had one. An Italian one, that is. I do have a grandma.

Anyway...

We start the sauce by building our first layer of flavor- caramelized onions. These will give the sauce some much needed sweetness and that tastes-like-its-been-simmering-for-hours effect.

Once your onions have cooked down and caramelized in a couple tablespoons of olive oil with some garlic cloves, toss in dried oregano, red pepper flakes, salt and sugar. Next up is adding the chicken broth and the tomatoes; you'll need some canned diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and a couple tablespoons of tomato paste. If you're like me you hate opening up a whole can of tomato of paste for only a few tablespoons. So next time you're at the store look for tomato paste in a toothpaste-like squeeze tube. I've noticed quite a few store have started carrying them and they are prefect for recipes like these; squeeze out what you need and put the rest in the fridge for next time! Genius!

Bring the sauce to a simmer, add the cream cheese to the sauce in chunks and stir until the cream cheese has melted into the sauce. I'm not going to lie- it takes a little bit of work to get the cream cheese to mix in completely but if you keep at it, I promise it will. This last time I used my non-stick skillet so I couldn't use a whisk and I was able to get it combined in about 5 minutes. If I had a silicone whisk it would have gone MUCH faster. A Note about types of cream cheese: some low-fat and all fat-free cream cheeses have stabilizers that make them extremely hard to combine with hot liquids and usually curdle. Substitute low-fat options at your own risk :)

Once your sauce has come together or even before, throw a pound of spaghetti into a pot and cook until al dente. Before draining the cooked pasta, reserve a cup of the hot pasta water and set aside.

Add 4 cups of fresh baby spinach to the sauce, stir until wilted and remove from the heat.

Once your pasta has been drained add it directly to the sauce, adding a little bit of the pasta water to loosen it up a bit if needed. Top with grated parmesan cheese and get ready for a plate of pasta goodness.

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Back in the day when I was single and more-often-than-not had no one to kiss on New Year's Eve, my roommate and I made it a tradition to go out to breakfast on New Year's morning. I think our tradition only lasted a couple of years before we both found our Mr. Charming and preferred snuggling up to dragging ourselves out of bed after a long night. But talking over the events of the night before with glazed, tired eyes and thinking about the new year was always fun. Our breakfast spot of choice was Cracker Barrel and we'd wait ridiculous amounts of time waiting for a table just so we could have a side of their cheesy hashbrown casserole.

I'm a sucker for all things starchy, cheesy, and otherwise detrimental to my dierriere so it's a given that I can hear most types of  hashbrown casseroles call my name even when I'm sleeping. Yes, even the kind with corn flakes on top

It's been almost a decade since I've been back to a Cracker Barrel so my memory might not be so crisp, but this is the recipe I make when I have a hankering for those New Year's morning potatoes. They are cooked in a skillet and then baked which makes for a crispy crust and creamy underbelly. Am I allowed to use the word underbelly on a food blog?

Let's make 'em! You'll need a package of frozen hashbrowns, some shredded cheese, minced onion, milk, beef broth, butter, and some herbs and spices. Mix everything but the butter in a big bowl until combined.

In a medium-sized skillet (mine is 10 inches) melt a few tablespoons of butter and spoon in the potato mixture.

Over medium heat stir constantly until the cheese is completely melted and creamy.

It will look a little something like this...

Toss the whole pan into the oven and bake for about 45 minutes or until it's bubbly and the top is crispy. Sometimes I  add a little fresh parsley to the top to spruce it up a bit.

It's creamy, cheesy, and definitely a keeper!

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With the summer grilling season right around the corner I want to share a couple of recipes that are great for entertaining and warding off that summer heat: Spiced Apple Pork Burgers and Strawberry Banana Smoothie Pops

When your husband finishes off 2 burgers and asks when you can make them again, you know you've got a good recipe on your hands---or more accurately, in your face. This recipe comes from my friends at Tree Top and I'm so glad they introduced me to it. In all honesty when I first looked at it I thought, "pork burgers? Is that really a thing?" but I quickly learned they were in fact a glorious thing when I had that first bite. They are juicy, full of flavor and I seriously can't wait to make them again.

The secret ingredient in these is the addition of apple sauce to the ground pork.

The other thing that makes these so special is the combination of spices used to season the meat. Chili powder, cinnamon, ground mustard and black pepper marry together the apple flavor marvelously with the pork.

Give the meat a good little stir and portion it out for patties. When I make burgers I like to form the meat into a mound in the bowl and score it so I don't end up with one huge burger and a bunch of little ones or vice versa. It's not fair to give your burgers a little man complex.

These patties are great for grilling and work equally as well on the stove top. Cook just like you do regular burger patties; once they are  no longer pink in the middle you're set! The finishing touch on these burgers is a maple-dijon sauce. A super simple mixture of dijon mustard and real maple syrup makes a sweet and tangy sauce that is perfect on these

I topped our burgers with caramelized onions, fresh baby spinach, a tomato slice and, of course, that dreamy maple-dijon sauce.

Hello, lover.

These burgers prove that apples are great for all types of cooking. I love using applesauce as a substitute for fats in my baking and adding apple juice to savory recipes like soups and sauces can create amazing layers of flavor. Tree Top's 3 Apple Blend juice is one of my absolute favorites for cooking and drinking alike.  Here's a fun little info graphic on the juice making process at Tree Top.  Click to enlarge

Speaking of using juice in your recipes, homemade smoothie popsicles are a great way to cool off, save money, and sneak copious amounts of fruit into your kid's unsuspecting bellies. This recipe uses fresh strawberries, bananas, apples, yogurt and apple juice. Just throw all the ingredients into the blender, mix until smooth, pour into a popsicle mold and freeze!

What's not to love about a popsicle speckled with  fresh strawberries? Ah, I love summer!

This is a sponsored post by Tree Top Inc. All comments and thoughts, as always, are uniquely mine. 

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