Toffee Pecan Caramel Pound Cake

Toffee Pecan Caramel Pound Cake - made June 15, 2014 from Carlsbad Cravings

I got a new job last week and had to break the news to my coworkers that not only will I no longer be doing my day job for them but yes, the weekly desserts in our communal kitchen provided by yours truly were coming to an end. I'm not entirely sure which they were more upset about: loss of my day job support or their "involuntary dessert diet" once I leave. I don't change companies very often but since I've baked for every company I've worked in, I've come across this reaction before.

The first instinctive response varies from "congratulations!" to "nooooooo, you can't leave" (always nice to hear). Then once the news sinks in, the next click is "wait, does that mean you're not going to bake for us anymore?" Once I get them past the denial and I-reject-this-news stage, we get to the bargaining stage: "hey, any chance you can still drop off baked goods to us on your way to your new office?" Um, probably not but I did promise to step up the baking in my remaining time in my old job so I can leave them in sugar comas by my last day.

Starting with this pound cake from Carlsbad Cravings. I modified the recipe slightly to leave off incorporating pecans into the batter and instead used them as a garnish on top. I don't mind adding toffee into the cake itself but I discriminate against nuts in cakes. The nuts soften during baking and lose their crunch. In my mind, the main purpose of nuts in cakes is to provide a crunch contrast so putting them into batter and having them lose their purpose is not my baking path of choice. You can still get the flavor of the pecans but you'll also get their texture when using them as a garnish rather than incorporating them into the cake itself.

I didn't bake this cake as long as the original recipe directed. I'm horrible about timing things since I go by looks and the toothpick test so I don't know how long I baked this for but I don't think it was as long as an hour, if that. It definitely wasn't in there for 85-90 minutes. But ovens vary so I suggest checking this at least at 45 minutes and then every 5-10 minutes after that. I did have to cover the top loosely with foil towards the end to prevent the cake from getting too brown.

Let the cake cool completely before you spoon the caramel sauce over it. If you glaze it while the cake is still warm, the caramel will melt into your cake instead of remaining as a distinct covering of caramel. Or if you want to serve it warm, pour the caramel over it, sprinkle with toffee bits and pecans and serve immediately. I don't recommend garnishing it with pecans too far ahead of when the cake will be consumed because the pecans sitting on top of the caramel will absorb the moisture from the caramel and soften. Then they lose their purpose in life once again.

I really liked this cake. I held back a tiny portion of the batter to bake in a small ramekin as my taste test and ate it just slightly warm with the caramel poured over it. Yummmmm. It had the perfect pound cake texture, not too dense or too light and the brown sugar toffee flavor was delicious. I think I preferred my ramekin version instead of a normal slice from the Bundt cake but that's probably because I had the ramekin cake while it was still lukewarm. It's hard not to like a caramel-covered cake in that state.

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
5 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1 8-ounce bag toffee bits
1 cup pecans, toasted, chopped
1/2 cup to 1 cup caramel (you can make your own or use storebought)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and generously spray a 12" nonstick Bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Beat the butter until creamy then add sugars, beating until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture in thirds, alternating with milk between each third. Beat until just combined. Stir in toffee bits and pecans then spoon batter into prepared pan.
4. Bake until a toothpick inserted near the center of the cake comes out clean, 85-90 minutes (check it at 45-50 minutes). If your cake is browning too quickly, lightly cover with a piece of aluminum foil.
5. Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes. Loosen from pan with flexible spatula and invert onto wire cooling rack. Let cool completely before spooning caramel over cake.

Slow Cooker Cheesy Spaghetti

Slow Cooker Cheesy Spaghetti with Turkey Sausage - made June 14, 2014 from Skinny Ms

The main reason I made this recipe is I still had my crock pot out and rather than climbing up on my step stool to stow it away on the top shelf of a cabinet I can't reach, I decided it would be way less effort (yes, this is what sarcasm looks like) to look at the cooking recipes on my pinterest board, make up a grocery list of ingredients I didn't have, drive to the store, buy what I needed then come back to throw everything in the crock pot. Totally makes sense, right? Yeah, I thought so too. It was just an added bonus that this made enough to feed me for 2 weeks.

True to its title, this is pretty cheesy spaghetti. I don't get how Skinny Ms got hers to look so "clean" in terms of not creamy with the cheesy sauce. Mine didn't turn out looking like hers. And that's with me doubling the amount of noodles in the recipe but keeping the sauce ingredients the same amounts. I doubled the noodles because I don't like a bunch of runny sauce and since I was using the slow cooker which has a tendency to make things watery, I was afraid the sauce would be watery so I wanted the extra noodles to sop it up. My fears turned out to be unfounded because doubling the noodles really did make for a thick concoction without much extra sauce. I thought this was pretty good but I think it would've been better to let the sauce simmer on its own, boil the noodles separately and just mix it all together at the end. I found myself checking the slow cooker too often to determine if the noodles were done. Which defeats the purpose of a crock pot since you're supposed to turn it on, walk away and just come back when everything's cooked. It does make a lot so this is good for a potluck or a large gathering. Or two weeks' worth of carb-heavy meals in the freezer.

1 lb lean ground turkey sausage (see recipe below)
1 (24 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce (no sugar added)
8 ounces (uncooked) 100% whole wheat spaghetti, about 2/3 of a 13.25 oz box, break into small pieces before adding to meat mixture
1 cup low fat cottage cheese
1 cup skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 cup low-fat ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon chopped (fresh) basil
Kosher or sea Salt to taste
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Turkey Sausage
1 lb lean ground turkey or chicken
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried sage
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano

1. Add all the sausage ingredients a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly. Cook ground turkey sausage in a large skillet over medium heat, breaking into small pieces while cooking. Ensure the turkey loses its pink color before removing from heat. Drain, discard any fat and set aside. Combine meat with marinara and broken spaghetti pieces.
2. In a medium bowl combine cooked turkey sausage with the remaining ingredients, add to slow cooker. Cover and cook on low 2-3 hours or until spaghetti is al dente and cheese is bubbly.

Restaurant Review: Naschmarkt

Naschmarkt - dinner on June 5, 2014

A few of my coworkers and I went out to dinner a couple of weeks ago and we tried out a new-to-me restaurant that one of them recommended. Naschmarkt is located in downtown Campbell, CA and the biggest reason I'd never been there before is parking in downtown Campbell on a weekday, weeknight and the weekend sucks. Truly. It's a cute little neighborhood with lots of cute shops and restaurants but parking (did I mention it sucks?) is so hard to find that I rarely bother. So when I do go, I try to make the most of it.

We showed up early because 5:30 pm was the only time available on Open Table that was close to the dinner hour. Otherwise the next open slot was 8 pm. As we were seated, our waiter explained that they fill up fast since their space is small. I've been in smaller places so I thought Naschmarkt was a nice size and we were lucky enough to score a table by the front window.

I've never really had Austrian food so I don't know if I can attest to how authentic Naschmarkt fare is but I will say what we ordered was delicious. There were four of us and two got the Jager Schnitzel while I and another person ordered the goulash.

Jager Schnitzel

I had assumed goulash would be some kind of stew with vegetables and figured I'd just pick out the veggies (yeah, I know, that exasperates my parents to this day) but, wonder of wonders, this turned out to be my perfect dish because it was beef in sauce. Just beef. Sweet. It was supposed to come with a dollop of sour cream but I don't like sour cream so I asked them to leave it out which they obligingly did. The beef was tender and the sauce was tasty. It was like eating an upscale pot roast but better. I also had a bite of the Jager Schnitzel and that was good too, even the mushroom cream sauce it came in (bear in mind I don't even like mushrooms).

Hungarian Beef Goulash

The goulash (as well as the jager schnitzel) comes with Herbed Spatzle. Spatzle is a soft egg noodle or dumpling and the one at Naschmarkt was delicious. Our waiter recommended we spoon the spatzle, which is served separately, into the sauce of the goulash and mix it in. I tried that and yup, he was right; that was a great way to eat it.

Spatzle

Dinner was pretty filling but that's never stopped me from getting dessert and I had three friends with me who I could lead astray. The four of us split 2 desserts: Schoko Kuchen (aka molten chocolate cake) with salted caramel ice cream and Apfel (apple) Strudel.

Schoko Kuchen

The molten chocolate cake was gratifyingly liquid chocolate in the center and, more importantly, it was obvious Naschmarkt uses the good chocolate. This was yummy. My friends laughed at me because I not only had to get a picture of the molten chocolate cake before any of us cut into it (above) but I also had to capture proof that it really did have a molten center (below). Hey, I believe in truth in advertising and documenting when something lives up to its name.

The apple strudel was a must-get since it's a more traditional Austrian dessert but I always forget this isn't the season for apples. It's always better to get apple desserts in the fall when they're in season. Yes, you can get apples year round but for the truly flavorful apples, fall is the best time to have apple desserts, especially from restaurants who source their produce locally. I thought I would favor the apple strudel but it was a bit too tart for me and I ended up liking the molten chocolate cake better. One of my coworkers favored the strudel so we ended up balancing each other out. And I wasn't shy about forking up the last bite of that chocolate cake either.

Apfel Strudel

I liked Naschmarkt. Prices are in the mid to slightly high range, depending on what you order but I thought it was reasonable given the quality of the food. Portion size wasn't too large or too small but you can definitely leave full. Trust me on that. Service was good and the waitstaff was very nice. We all had a lot of fun that night so that also helps me think fondly of the experience. So the only main drawback was just finding parking in the neighborhood.

Smoky Corn Chowder with Shrimp

Smoky Corn Chowder with Shrimp - made June 7, 2014 from Bev Cooks

Are you flabbergasted that I keep posting savory recipes instead of desserts? Yeah, me too. Don't get used to it though. It's just a phase. As in "still too hot to turn my oven on very much" phase. And this was during the "still have to heal my shin splints so I'm not running and therefore have time to cook" phase. FWIW, I don't really care for either phase. But life, lemons, lemonade, yada yada.

I had a package of shrimp in the freezer to use up and all the other ingredients were ones I'm familiar with so one trip to Trader Joe's and I was set. This was easy to put together but I have to say, I think I went overboard on the shrimp which kinda crowded out the chowder part. This didn't end up having much liquid so it was more like a thin sauce covering the shrimp than a creamy chowder. It was still good but may not have been what the original blogger intended. Regardless, whenever my cooking doesn't quite come up to par, I remind myself my main goal is not to give myself food poisoning from my cooking and that resets my perspective.

2 slices bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1/2 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 pinch crushed red pepper
3 ears fresh corn, kernels removed
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup half and half
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
basil slivers for garnish (optional)

1. Heat a medium-sized pot over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until crispy. Remove bacon from the pan and set aside on a paper towel to drain. Drain all but 1 tablespoon of bacon fat, if you have that much in the pot.
2. Raise the heat to medium-high. Add the shrimp to the pot and sear on one side for 2 minutes. Flip and sear 30 more seconds. Remove shrimp from pot and set aside.
3. If you need to add a little oil (or bacon fat) to the pot, do so. Add the onions to the pot and sauté 5 minutes. Add the garlic, paprika, crushed red pepper and a pinch of salt and pepper. Sauté another minute.
4. Add the fresh corn to the pot and toss to combine. Sauté 1 minute.
5. Add the stock and half & half to the pot. Stir to combine. Keep on a low simmer for 15 minutes. Salt and pepper as needed.
6. If you have an immersion blender, place it in the pot and pulse it a few times until about half of the soup becomes creamy, still leaving whole kernels as well. If you don’t have an immersion blender, ladle about a cup and a half of the soup into a blender and pulse until creamy. Pour back into the pot and stir to combine.
7. Serve chowder with the shrimp and reserved bacon crumbles. Garnish with slivered basil if desired.

Crockpot Beer Chicken

Crockpot Beer Chicken - made June 7, 2014 from LaaLoosh

I've discovered it's hard to take an appetizing picture of anything I make in a crockpot. It's always so soupy and I'm not artistically inclined enough to make my food pose and look fabulous. Nope, you're just going to have to see it as I do - chicken swimming in liquidy, watery....water?

Actually that's beer. I'm still working on the 6-pack of Heineken I bought for the Slow Cooker French Dip. This is bottle #3. I truly don't like the taste or smell of beer but fortunately, the alcohol cooked off in the hours the chicken was in the slow cooker. Unfortunately, there seems to be very little flavor in this. Perhaps a dark beer would have imparted more flavor; I don't know. The chicken breasts came out tender which was good but since I didn't want to use the sauce, which is mostly beer, with rice or noodles which is what I normally do with soupy slow cooker dishes, I ended up eating just the chicken. And it was just chicken. Not my finest moment with a crock pot.

2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 bottle or can of your favorite beer
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1. Place all ingredients in the crock pot and cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 6-8 hours until chicken is tender. 
2. If you want "prettier" chicken, sear the chicken breasts in a frying pan to give them a little more color before placing in slow cooker.

Restaurant Review: Kenny's Cafe

Kenny's Cafe - lunch on June 4, 2014, 4.5 stars on yelp based on 51 reviews

You know what I love about yelp? I can search for the most random lunch places and it'll always kick out options I want to try. Usually places I've never heard of before, would never notice if I was driving by and/or wouldn't know whether I should go in or not. Yelp helps take all the guesswork out even just by bringing to my attention that the place exists.

Which is a good thing as I don't know that I would've gone into Kenny's Cafe without checking them out first. Not that there's anything bad about them from the outside but they're in a location I normally don't go to even though it's technically not far from my office. They're located in a very mini strip mall near the airport and it would be all too easy to just keep on driving by. But they got good reviews and I was able to talk one of my coworkers into trying them out with me.

Similar to Big Ed's Buzzard BBQ, Kenny's Cafe is more like a casual eatery than a restaurant. It's bigger than Big Ed's though and offers a lot more choices. They also have a variety of different cuisines so you can either think they have something of an identity crisis or you can enjoy a wide range of options to choose from: Japanese to Korean to Thai to American, whatever suits your fancy. I went with a French Dip for no other reason than I wanted fries and my coworker went with originally what she thought was bibimbap (Korean).  But her order took so long to come out that we suspect she either got someone else's order for a chicken bowl or the kitchen prepared the wrong dish.

That may not sound like an auspicious introduction to Kenny's Cafe but I thought it was a decent place for lunch. Single entrees were mostly under $10 and a combo meal with a side and a drink were in the $11-$12 range. You order your food at the counter, seat yourself at one of the tables in the large open room and someone brings out your food. If you order a drink, you can choose it yourself from the refrigerated cases of soft drinks, bottled water and juices. It isn't fancy but it's simple, good food and, as always, another way to support a local small business.

Korean (Ground) Beef

Korean Beef - made June 7, 2014 from Berry Morin Bits and Tips

I'm in the midst of training for my half marathon but got sidelined the past couple of weeks with shin splints. Exercise is a normal part of my day but now that I'm supposed to be resting to heal the splints, I found myself with some unexpected free time last weekend. Normally I do my long runs on Saturdays. I was up to 9 miles for my long runs and from driving time to the gym (yes, I run all miles on the treadmill, don't judge) to running to showering and heading back out, that usually sucked up most of my Saturday mornings. Not being able to do that last weekend meant I ran out of I-don't-have-time excuses to cook real food.

Being me, I opted for the easiest recipe I could find and this one fit the bill nicely. The ingredients were familiar and easy to get and I even felt smugly virtuous that I did a proper mise en place to have everything ready before I turned on the stove: ginger was peeled and minced, garlic was minced, green onions were washed and sliced, and everything else measured out. That was more of a survival tactic than anything since it was still hot and I didn't want to be over a burner any longer than necessary. I liked how this turned out. Although I'm normally a bland eater, this had some nice heat/spice from the ginger that I enjoyed. I like ginger in moderation and this one flavored the ground beef very well. Thumbs up for a quick, tasty meal even an inexperienced cook can make.

1 pound lean ground beef 
1/4 - 1/2 cup brown sugar (I used 1/3 cup)
1/4 cup soy sauce 
1 tablespoon sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced (I used a little more because I like ginger)
1/2 - 1 teaspoon crushed red peppers (to desired spiciness)
salt and pepper 
1 bunch green onions, diced

1. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and brown hamburger with garlic in the sesame oil. 
2. Drain most of the fat and add brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger, salt and pepper and red peppers. Simmer for a few minutes to blend the flavors. Serve over steamed rice and top with green onions.