Valentine Brownies - put a heart on it

Valentine Brownies - made February 9, 2013 from Saltbox House

Valentine's Day kinda crept up on me.  It's not like I didn't know it was on February 14.  More like, wow, it's already February.  And then, it's not even early February anymore.  In my defense, a lot of occasions/holidays seemed to come stacking up on top of each other all at once and I just couldn't keep up.  Chinese New Year (didn't get to do anything with this although now I'm dying for a cocktail bun), Mardi Gras (King Cake - check), Valentine's Day and of course, the annual arrival of Girl Scout cookies which is always good for a cookie theme or two.  But you (or I) can always "cheat" with a shortcut.  I didn't do anything fancy or Valentine-y like a cutesy play with red velvet or anything pink or red.  But you have to go with chocolate for Valentine's Day and that's what I did with this frosted brownie recipe from Saltbox Lunch.  My cheat was embedding a chocolate heart on top of each piece, burrowing it into the thin layer of frosting so it would adhere.  Tada - Valentine brownies.  Work with me here.  I sent these to my nieces for a Valentine's care package.  The brownies are a nice, basic fudgy brownie and the frosting, while a tad sweet, is a good complement to it.  I had hoped to find caramel-filled chocolate hearts so you're not just eating a big chunk of chocolate on top of the brownie but I couldn't find any when I did an emergency run to the store to Valentine-ize these (yes, I know that's not a word).  But I like how they turned out and satisfy my criteria for a Valentine's treat.  So if you're pressed for time and need a fast treat to mark the occasion, just go with the chocolate hearts - your friends and family will still love you.

1 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup cocoa, sifted
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
4 eggs

4 teaspoons vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9 x 13 pan with foil and spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Melt butter and stir in cocoa, whisking until smooth.
3. Add sugar then eggs and vanilla extract.  Add flour and mix until smooth.  Do not overmix.
4. Spread batter into prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out with moist crumbs.  Let cool 10 minutes then frost.

Chocolate Frosting

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup cocoa

3 cups powdered sugar

Dash of Salt

1. Whisk cocoa and powdered sugar together.  
2. Beat in softened butter then milk.  Beat until smooth.  
3. Frost brownies 10 minutes after you remove them from the oven.  When cool, cut into squares and place a heart-shaped chocolate at the center of each square.

King Cake - Get Your Mardi Gras On

The King Cake made from the NOLA mix

Tuesday, February 12 is Mardi Gras.  On my New Orleans trip, I mentioned earlier that my friend Jen brought me, amongst other things, a slice of King Cake from Gambino's Bakery.  So I got to taste authentic king cake from a fabulous bakery during Mardi Gras season - yay me.  And, being me, I also bought a king cake mix (yes, that three-letter word) to bring home with me so I could try making a king cake on my own.

The box of goodies Jen brought me from Gambino's

The King Cake from Gambino's, surrounded by Mardi Gras beads

There are plenty of recipes out there for making King Cake from scratch.  And someday I want to try this one from Emeril Lagasse. I have to admit I copped out with a mix for 2 reasons: 1) it was locally made and certified to have been made in Louisiana so I had to support their local economy - hey, it's not like it's Pillsbury or Betty Crocker from my grocery store :) and 2) honestly, I didn't want to go out and buy purple, green and yellow sugars separately, lol.  Easier to get them all in the mix.

The King Cake Mix I bought in New Orleans

King Cake is essentially a brioche dough, with a ribbon of brown sugar cinnamon (or praline sugar) running through it, baked in an oval shape, glazed with royal icing and sprinkled with the aforementioned Mardi Gras colors.  Tradition decrees that a plastic baby (or sometimes a much more edible pecan) is hidden amongst the slices and whoever finds that plastic baby in their piece is responsible for hosting the next round of Mardi Gras parties.  (Note to any novice bakers: you do NOT bake the plastic baby inside with the cake - it'll melt and make your cake unsafe to eat.  The baby is usually tucked underneath the slice of cake after baking and serving.)  I'm a personal fan of the Mardi Gras colors and I like a good brioche as much as the next person so it's hard not to like king cake.  

The mix made for a soft dough which was a little concerning but I followed the instructions to the letter and hoped for the best.  After the first rising, the dough was still soft so I had to flour it liberally to handle it.  I didn't bother with a rolling pin since it was so soft and I was able to shape it out into a rectangle with my hands, brush it with melted butter, sprinkle the praline sugar all over it and roll it up, jelly roll style.  With careful handling, it wasn't too hard to bring the ends together to form an oval and pinch the edges shut.  Then I let it rise a second time until it had doubled in size then I baked it off.  I didn't bother brushing with egg wash to make it brown nicely since it was going to get covered in glaze anyway.  The glaze packet also came with the mix and was likely just powdered sugar that I added vanilla and a little milk to until it was the consistency I wanted.  The fun part was sprinkling the colored sugars on top: purple for justice, green for faith and gold for power.

The king cake from the mix actually wasn't bad.  It was a little more cakey than the one from Gambino's (that one was really good) but still tasty and the "cake" (more like a brioche) was complemented nicely by both the sweetness of the glaze and the crunch of the colored sugars.  Next time I definitely want to make one from scratch and see how it turns out.

Asian Pork Chops

Asian Pork Chops - made February 2, 2013, found on pinterest

I wish I could attribute this to the original site like I normally do but I found it on pinterest and the recipe was in the text while the pin only led back to a jpg file of the picture.  So, sorry to whoever it is that I can't give you credit for it but I don't know who you are.

This was another slow cooker recipe that suited my cooking skills.  I had pretty thick pork chops so I ended up cooking them for longer than the recipe said to, mostly because I like them to be fork tender. It was pretty good, probably made better because it was so simple.

P.S. If you notice my write-ups have been brief lately and I'm not participating in link parties like I used to, I'm just short on time these days so I'm just getting the posts up when I can and letting everything else go by the wayside for the moment.

Mix 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup ketchup, 1/2 cup light brown sugar, 2 cloves minced garlic, and black pepper to taste. Put meat in the crock pot (2.5 pounds boneless pork chops). Pour the sauce mixture over the meat, cook on low for about 5 hours (I had it on high for 2 hours then on low for 5-6 hours until the pork chops were fork tender).

Glazed Coconut Bread

Glazed Coconut Bread - made February 2, 2013 from Just Get Off Your Butt and Bake

I'm a big fan of coconut and am always looking for recipes that use it.  Bonus that this also uses buttermilk because I had some to use up.  I don't like coconut extract however so I substituted vanilla extract instead.  I like the texture of this bread as it was more cakey than bread-y.  However, the oil taste was a bit too pronounced for me - it wasn't oily but I could taste the flavor of the oil.  I'm not sure if it was the recipe or if the oil I used (the last in a big container from Costco) was beyond the time to be used in baked goods.  I will need to try this later with fresh oil and see if that makes a difference.  Or better yet, adapt it and make with butter.

I listed the glaze from the original recipe below but I just made a simple glaze with confectioners' sugar, just enough whole milk to make it the consistency I wanted and a teaspoon of vanilla extract for flavor.

1 cup oil
2 cups sugar

4 eggs
1 cup buttermilk (do not substitute)

2 teaspoons coconut extract (I used vanilla extract)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup coconut

1. Mix together the oil and the sugar.  Add the eggs and beat well.  Mix in the buttermilk and extracts.  Add flour, salt, soda and baking powder, and mix until well blended.  Mix in 1 cup of flaked coconut.  Mix.
2. Grease and prepare 2 small loaf pans.  Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and five minutes.  Cover with foil if bread starts to get too dark.  Cool in pans for 10 minutes, while preparing the glaze.

Glaze

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon coconut extract (or vanilla extract if you don't like coconut extract)

2 tablespoons butter
Coconut for sprinkling, optional

1. Mix all together over medium heat, and boil mixture for about 4 to 5 minutes. Spoon all of it over the bread. Sprinkle coconut on top of glaze before it sets if desired.

Crockpot Chicken Teriyaki

Crockpot Chicken Teriyaki - made February 1, 2013 from abeystyle.com

While I can (and have) followed complicated baking recipes and enjoy taking all the time necessary to bake something, I feel the exact opposite about cooking savory dishes as opposed to desserts.  When I cook, it's got to be something quick (stir fry) or easy (slow cooker) or both.  I tend to do most of my cooking on the weekends so I can stock my freezer with lunches and dinners for the week.  Even if I end up eating a few of the same dishes over and over, it's easier for me than trying to cook every night after work.

I love using my slow cooker because when I work from home on Fridays, I can throw everything in the crock pot while my computer boots up, turn it on and leave it alone for most of the day.  This was a shorter recipe and by lunchtime, it was ready and I could take a quick lunch without any fuss or bother of cooking.  This had very sparse directions from the original link so I fleshed it out a bit.  Using 3 cloves of garlic made the garlic taste pronounced so if you're not a garlic lover, you may want to cut back to 1-2 cloves.

Teriyaki Chicken with Brown Rice

1 pound chicken breasts, cubed or whole
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce or soy sauce (I used soy sauce)
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 minced garlic cloves
2 tablespoons cornstarch + enough water to make a paste

1. Combine chicken broth, teriyaki or soy sauce, brown sugar and garlic in the slow cooker.  
2. Add chicken, cover and cook 5-6 hours on low or until chicken is tender and cooked all the way through.  
3. 30 minutes before it's done, combine 2 tablespoons of cornstarch with enough water to make a thick paste.  Add to chicken mixture and stir to thicken. Serve hot.

Shrimp Spanish Style

Shrimp Spanish Style - made January 29, 2013 from Ancient Omnivore

I took the picture while the dish was still steaming hot, hence the fuzzy

If you ever need a quick 5-minute dish to throw together, it's hard to go wrong with shrimp.  I buy it in bulk from Costco, raw with the tails still on.  I just strip the tails off, wash the shrimp and they're good to go.  Even easier and faster when it's just a quick stir fry.  This is one of those weeknight meals that's ideal to make after a workday when you come home hungry and don't want to spend a lot of time cooking dinner.  This was a bit spicy for my somewhat bland taste buds but still tasty.  If you want to cut back on the spice, omit the red pepper flakes and ease up on the paprika.  Otherwise, it's pretty good as is.

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 teaspoons very fresh garlic, chopped
1/8 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes or more to taste
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 pound jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tablespoons sherry cooking wine
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
a dash or two of freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
lemon wedges for serving (optional)

1. In a medium-sized skillet, preferrably cast iron, warm the olive oil over medium heat. 
2. Add the garlic, red pepper flakes and paprika and saute for 1 minute. Raise the heat to high and add the shrimp. Cook, stirring constantly, 2 minutes. 
3. Pour in the sherry wine and saute another 60 seconds. Do NOT overcook. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper, add the parsley, stir, and serve with the pan juices and optional lemon wedges.

Snickerdoodle Cinnamon Bread

Snickerdoodle Cinnamon Bread - made January 25, 2013 from Creations by Kara

I was going to Vanilla King's birthday party a couple of weeks ago and I know he likes snickerdoodles but I wanted to do something a little different this time as I think I've already made him several different kinds of snickerdoodle cookies and even snickerdoodle brownies.  I've made snickerdoodle cupcakes before as well but not snickerdoodle bread so I went with this recipe from Creations by Kara.  I made the bread in mini metal loaf pans but since I was giving the mini loaves away, I baked a small amount of batter in a separate ramekin for my taste test.  I enjoyed this bread - it's really more of a quick bread and the cinnamon sugar topping gives it a little sweet crustiness that complemented the soft, fluffy texture of the bread.

I did make a rookie mistake though in letting the loaves cool a trifle too long in the mini loaf pans.  Subsequently, they were a little difficult to get out cleanly and most of them crumbled around the edges, to the point that I had to cut off the ends and tell my gift recipients I only cut the ends to make the loaves more presentable, not that I nibbled away at them.  Next time I would make these in paper loaf pans that can be given away intact or line the loaf pans with foil for easy lifting and peeling away. Oh and I didn't have cinnamon chips so I omitted those and thought the bread tasted just fine.  But if you're a cinnamon fan, add them in for additional cinnamon flavor and texture.

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup sour cream
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 cups cinnamon chips, optional

Topping:
3 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Cream butter and sugar till fluffy. 
3. Mix in eggs, vanilla, and sour cream. 
4. Stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Add to wet ingredients and stir lightly. Add the cinnamon chips, if using, and stir until combined. 
5. Divide  batter into 4 mini loaf pans.  Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle over the batter in each of the pans. Bake for 30-38 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 5-10 minutes before removing from pans onto cooling racks.

-Makes 4 mini loaves