Monday, September 5, 2011
You know how you see a recipe & can’t get it out of your mind until you make it. And you HAVE to make it immediately. Please tell me I’m not the only crazy foodie fool here.
Recently, this Fluffernutter Cookie recipe caught my eye. First of all, fluffernutters are total “take me back to childhood” guilty pleasure food for me. Second, these cookies need just 3 ingredients. So seriously folks, this recipe is as easy as 1 – 2 – 3! Of course, the group of friends whom I shared these cookies with thought I was crazy when I called them “fluffernutter cookies”. Apparently, none of them knew what a fluffernutter was! Oh well, they were still delicious!
Fluffernutter Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup peanut butter
1 large egg
1 cup marshmallow fluff
Directions:
1. Mix together peanut butter and egg until well combined.
2. Add in marshmallow cream until just barely incorporated (you will want to see white swirls)
3. Refrigerate dough for about 10 minutes{(this will help prevent the cookies from being completely flat & is actually a good tip for any cookie recipe!}
4. Spoon mixture onto a cookie sheet lined in parchment paper and bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
This is actually a recipe that I made a long time ago but haven’t had a chance to post yet. {side note: let me take this moment to apologize for my sporadic posting lately, life has been extremely busy with wedding planning & traveling this summer. Hopefully soon it will calm down & I can resume some more regular posting.}
I was inspired by a twitter friend of mine who said that she had honey polenta with ratatouille for dinner. Honey + Polenta = Yumalicious!
I decided to make mine as a little round disc & top with crisp bacon & goat cheese drizzled with honey on top. The finished product turned out to be delicious. All of the flavors really complimented each other and the soft creamyness of the polenta was nicely broken up by the crisp bite of bacon. The saltiness of the goat cheese & bacon was a nice contrast to the sweet honey flavor of the polenta.
Honey Polenta Cakes
Ingredients:
Polenta
Honey
Goat Cheese
2 pieces of bacon
Directions:
1. Cook polenta according to package directions, adding in a few squirts {roughly 2 tablespoons} of honey to the mixture. Once semi cooled form into cakes approximitely the size of a crab cake.
2. As polenta is cooking, crisp two pieces of bacon on the stove top. Crumble once crisp.
3. Plate the polenta cakes & top with bacon & crumbled goat cheese.
4. Drizzle honey on top & serve along side your favorite dish.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Well dear readers, in exactly two months from this date I will be getting married to my best friend. {awww, insert cheesiness}
I honestly can’t believe how the time has flown since our engagement in late December. I guess having a million things to do with planning a wedding helps! Yesterday I picked up my wedding dress & the fact that it is sitting in my closet {wrapped up nice & go so there are no peeks by the groom} adds to the reality that we are indeed getting married!
In the midst of some crazy planning {made better by my fabulous wedding planner, though!} I have a few details I want to share with my you all. I know if you read this blog you are a foodie like me so let’s get right down to business with the food aspects of this wedding.
A few things make me very happy:
1) A Shrimp & Grits bar! imagine a huge bowl filled with creamy cheesy grits, accompanied by smaller bowls with shrimp, bacon peices, green onions, & more cheese. Oh yes my friends, the wedding diet shall end at this shrimp & grits bar & I am oh so excited!
2) Fried Green Tomatoes as a passed hors d’oeuvre. Doesn’t get much more southern than that now does it? Side note, as a yankee child I loooved the movie Fried Green Tomatoes. My best friend & I used to quote the line “Would you like some more pie, Gradddyyy” in a {horrible} southern drawl.
3. The wedding cake. We went the non-traditional route and skipped the standard vanilla and chocolate options. A foodie such as me needs a much more sophisticated cake. Our bottom layer is carrot cake with cream cheese icing & our middle layer is strawberry cake with vanilla icing. The SC picked the top tier, vanilla cake with vanilla icing {booooring} but fortunately this is the one we will freeze & attempt to eat 1 year later.
One thing we have not confirmed yet is the bar. Some of those involved in the decision making want an open bar and others of us {*cough*ME*cough*} would rather have beer, wine & two signature drinks. The problem that I am having is in coming up with the drink options, truth be told I’m more of a wino then a cocktail drinker. The SC is a Jack Daniels man so I immediately thought of Jack & Coke as one but my mom thinks that is boring. Know anyway we can incorporate Jack & make a more exciting drink?
For my signature drink I’m thinking of a spiked Arnold Palmer. But I’m not overly attached to that & also find it a bit boring)
So, today you are obligated to leave a comment & suggest a signature drink for our wedding. If we pick yours I promise we will toast to you on our wedding night {& maybe save you a piece of cake – haha!}
Monday, August 1, 2011
A few weeks ago when the SC & I were in the Northeast we took a day trip to Cape May, NJ. First, as a Yankee transplanted in the south I have to say that I am appalled by the bad publicity that the Jersey shore is getting thanks to that awful MTV show by the same name. In fact, the other day I was telling someone that we went to the Jersey shore and they actually laughed in my face. In the words of Stephanie Tanner, How. Rude!
The Jersey shore is actually a great place to vacation & enjoy the beach. And Cape May happens to be one of the cutest towns ever. It is filled with Victorian style homes like this.
I insisted on taking the SC to the Lobster House for lunch. Last summer I was introduced to The Lobster House by my best friend Krista of Kristastes. Her parents have a house in Cape May so that lucky girl gets to spend her summer weekends at the beach & indulging in the freshest seafood in the world.
The Lobster House has two options, 1) sit in the large dark restaurant and order slightly more expensive food. or 2) order takeout at the butcher style counter & take it out to the dock overlooking the marina.
At first the SC wanted to eat in the restaurant but I convinced him otherwise.
He ordered oysters & the seafood combo & I got the 2 lobster tails, shrimp & scallops. All of the orders come with a baked potato & coleslaw. Not only was this some of the best seafood I have ever had but my meal also cost less than $15.00!! SCOOOORE. For real, if you ordered this in a restaurant it would cost $30+.
Hiding under the shrimp were three of the most delectable & tender scallops that I have every eaten.
If I could eat this everyday I would die a happy lady.
So, are you a seafood fan?
obviously I am!
Friday, July 29, 2011
I recently made these s’more bars for my friend Jen’s going away party. Jen is embarking on an adventure in which she is moving to Costa Rica to be the director of a school. How cool is that? She was really supposed to teach kindergarteners, but got bumped up to DIRECTOR mere weeks before her departure. Hmm, I used to teach kindergarten…wonder if I could direct a school, too? Anyway, I am super happy for Jen but we must get back to the subject at hand. Wonderful, warm, gooey, graham cracker, milk chocolate, marshmallow goodness.
Jen is a fellow foodie & loves all the things that I bake/cook so that earns her mega brownie points in my book. I knew I needed to pull out the big guns on this one, especially since I was coming off the high of the success of my salted samoa bars a few weeks prior. Luckily, these s’more bars were a huge hit! I served these a few hours after taking them out of the oven and was amazed at how the chocolate remained melted & the inside was deliciously gooey. Satisfy your s’more craving sans campfire & make these soon!
S'more Bars
Just like your favorite campfire dessert but this time soft & chewy, too!
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 king-sized milk chocolate bars
1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined.
4. Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan.
5. Place chocolate bars over dough.
6. Spread marshmallow fluff over the chocolate.
7. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff
8. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned.
9. Cool completely before cutting into bars
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