Bean Dip

My husband introduced me to bean dip the other day.  It was simple, I had the ingredients on hand, and it was the perfect food to eat while watching a movie.  What's not to love?

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Bean Dip

1 large can refried beans
1 cup salsa
1 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp lime juice

1. In a medium-sized saucepan, combine all ingredients.  Warm over medium heat until the cheese melts.
2. Grab some tortilla chips and a good movie.  Enjoy!

Cream Cheese Frosting

For those of you who were wondering, the red velvet cake was a total success!  I found this recipe for cream cheese frosting on allrecipes.com and used some of the ideas from the reviews.  It was amazing.  My husband loved it so much that when we ran out of cake and had extra frosting, he said I should make another cake and not let the extra frosting go to waste.  This isn't one of those fluffy, sugary, just a hint of cream cheese kinds of frosting.  It's cream cheese goodness to the core.

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Cream Cheese Frosting
(adapted from this recipe)

8 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup butter (not margarine)
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar

1. Let the cream cheese and butter sit on the counter until they are soft and room temperature.  Skipping this step is no bueno.
2. In a mixing bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter.  Add the vanilla, and slowly mix in the powdered sugar.  Beat for 2-3 minutes or until it's deliciously creamy.
3. Frost your cake, brownies, pumpkin cookies...and enjoy!  Store whatever you frosted and any leftovers in the fridge.

How to Rock Your Valentine's World With a Cake Mix...and Some Kitchen Magic

Cake mixes are easy.  I love them.  Sometimes you want something just a bit fancier than a plain old cake mix, but you don't have time to make something amazing from scratch--because you're spending all day making an awesome lasagna for your Valentine's Day dinner...or because your child is sick and wants you to read Little Blue Truck to him all day long.  In any case, there are a couple of ways you can spice up a cake mix to make it taste divine without putting in hardly any extra time or effort.

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• Use applesauce instead of oil to make the cake more moist.  Make sure your applesauce isn't chunky though.  In some cake flavors, there might be a slight apple taste, but for the most part it works great.
• Add a bit of extract to the cake batter--vanilla, almond, mint, etc.  Just a touch should do it.
• Give it some texture by mixing in nuts, marshmallows, chocolate chips, dried fruit, or fresh fruit pieces.  Just keep in mind that if you're using fresh fruit, the moisture content can affect the cake batter.  If it seems too runny, just add a bit of flour to even things out.
• Do something cool for icing, rather than just plain icing.  Press nuts into the frosting along the sides of the cake.  Use stabilized whipped cream or cream cheese icing.  Lay down a layer or lace or a paper doily and shake powdered sugar over it, then remove the doily and admire powdered sugar "lace."  You can also do the same thing with a paper stencil and icing to make words, as shown here.  Or top it with chocolate or white chocolate shavings.  Who can resist that?

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Or you can do my personal favorite.  Throw out the directions on the cake mix box entirely and add:

• 4 eggs
• 2/3 cup oil
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 large (5 oz) box instant pudding mix.  
• 2/3 cup sugar (definitely optional, but if you're going all out, why not?)

Bake the cake in a bundt or tube pan for 1 hour at 350 degrees.  This one is particularly fun because you can change up the flavors of pudding, depending on what cake flavor you have.  Some tasty combos are:

• Chocolate pudding with yellow or red velvet cake
• Butterscotch pudding with Devil's Food cake
• Vanilla pudding with carrot cake

I'm making a red velvet cake with chocolate pudding and cream cheese icing for Valentine's Day.  That's two whole days away.  I don't know if I can make it...

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Thai Peanut Noodles

There's this awesome Thai place we like to go to every once in while--one of those hole in the wall types that you never hear about unless your husband's boss used to live in Thailand and loves to scope out Thai restaurants and happens to tell you about it.  It's called Tea Rose Diner (doesn't really look or sound Thai, but it is), and as far as I can tell, the food is authentic and delicious.  While I'd love to go there all the time, I can't.  Sometimes you've got to make it yourself to keep your budget happy.  Thai recipes often have long lists of ingredients that I have never heard of before.  So when a friend made this recipe for me and I saw that it only calls for normal-ish ingredients, I knew it was going in the recipe box.  We're having it for dinner tonight, actually (and probably for three more nights afterward).  This is a make-ahead kind of recipe, so I made it this morning, and I've definitely snacked on it already.  Mmm... Is it dinner time yet?

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Thai Peanut Noodles

(adapted from this recipe and this recipe)

16 oz whole wheat linguine

1/4 cup sesame oil

1.5 - 2 tsp crushed red pepper (You can use more or less, depending on how spicy you want it to be.  If you're used to the ratings in Thai restaurants, 1.5 tsp would be about a level 1, while 1 Tbsp would be about a level 3.  If you're making this for the first time, start out with less--that way you can add more the next time and don't end up with a whole pile of noodles that are too spicy to enjoy.)

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup chopped green onions

2 carrots, peeled and shredded (the carrots neutralize the spiciness a bit, so if you made it too spicy, just pile on the carrots)

1/2 cup cilantro leaves, roughly chopped

3/4 cup peanuts, roughly chopped

1. Cook the pasta according to package directions.  Drain and rinse in cool water.

2. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine the sesame oil and crushed red pepper.  Warm the oil over medium heat for about 2 minutes.  It doesn't need to boil or anything, just get a little warm.  You'll smell it when it starts to work.

3. Strain out the crushed red pepper using a fine mesh sieve, and reserve the sesame oil in a large mixing bowl.  You can toss out the red pepper now.  It's done its job already.  Mix the honey and soy sauce into the oil, and stir to until combined.  Throw in the noodles, and mix well.  Cover the bowl, and refrigerate it overnight or until it's cold (which can actually take quite a while, so make sure you start early).

4. To serve, simply toss with green onions, carrots, cilantro, and peanuts.  You're in business!  

Also, here's a fun fact about spicy food: Did you know that eating spicy food causes your body to release endorphins?  So you will feel happier after eating a really spicy meal?  True story.

Tip Tuesday #14 {Use Ice Cubes to Get Crusty Bread}

Did you know that steam is actually what causes bread to have deliciously crusty crusts?  You can do it a few ways, but one of the best ways I've heard of is to stick a metal pan or rimmed cookie sheet into the oven as the oven is preheating.  Then when you stick the dough in to cook, throw a few ice cubes onto the hot pan and shut the door quickly.  The ice will melt and steam in the oven, leaving you with delicious, crusty bread.  Also, this way, you don't have to worry about burned with hot water or shattering glass bowls or any such dangerous nonsense.  Nice, eh?

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This lovely tip was brought to me (and, consequently, to you) in this post by the lovely Becky Pitcher, whose blog has lately become one of my favorites.

Fluffernutter Apple Dip

Well folks, it's been a while.  My keyboard was broken there for about three months, but I've got a keyboard now, and all 26 letters work!  And the space bar--the glorious space bar!  So we're back in business.  Thanks for sticking with me.

You know how you hardly have any memories of when you were a little kid?  Well let me tell you, this fluffernutter dip is one of my few memories. When I was maybe three, my parents signed us up for sign language classes.  At the end of every lesson, we'd get apples and fluffernutter dip.  Now, two decades later, do I remember any signs?  Maybe banana and umbrella...  But I remember this dip!  If that doesn't tell you how life-changing it is, I don't know what will.  It's best with apples, but I bet it would be killer with celery too.  Give it a try!

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Fluffernutter Apple Dip

1/2 cup marshmallow fluff

1/2 cup peanut butter

Sliced Apples (or celery)

1. Combine marshmallow fluff and peanut butter.  Mix until smooth.

2. Grab apple.  Dip.  Fluffy nutty glory!  

Alright, alright.  This may be the shortest recipe in the history of this blog, but sometimes the simple things are  the best, you know?  

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Growing up, sweet potatoes were always a part of Thanksgiving dinner--my favorite part (besides the stuffing, of course).  We'd have them baked and slathered with butter and brown sugar.  So the other night I wondered how they would taste in the form of mashed potatoes.  I added a little of this and a little of that.  They've got just a hint of sweetness, but you still feel like you're eating a vegetable, which is probably the best of both worlds.  We took them to dinner at a friend's house, and they were complimented several times.  I'd say that if you test out a recipe on friends and they like it, that's definitely success.

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Mashed Sweet Potatoes

4 lbs sweet potatoes (I used 3 extra-extra-large ones)

6 Tbsp butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.  Wash the sweet potatoes, then prick the skin with a fork several times.  Place the sweet potatoes in the oven and bake for about an hour or until the potato is cooked through.

2. When the potatoes have cooled enough to handle them, remove the skins, and mash them in a large mixing bowl.  Either an electric mixer or a good old fashioned potato masher will work just fine.  Add the butter, brown sugar, and salt, and mix until thoroughly mixed.  Add the milk, and continue mixing until smooth and creamy.

3. Serve up some sweet potato goodness.  Is anyone in the mood for Thanksgiving yet?

Tip Tuesday # 13 {Crack Your Eggs on a Flat Surface}

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Did you know that when you crack your eggs on a flat surface, such as a counter top, you are far less likely to lose little eggshell pieces all over your kitchen or into your food.  And now you know.  So unless you like little eggshell pieces on your muffins, please don't crack the eggs on the side of the bowl or on some other non-flat surface.

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

I came across this recipe on Pinterest, and it looked yummy, so I filed it away.  But tonight I decided to make something with quinoa for dinner.  And since my husband kindly requested that I make something other than my usual quinoa go-to dish, I pulled this one out.  It took a chunk of time to make, but it was well worth it.  And apparently they freeze well, so you can make a bunch when peppers go on sale (which is now in my neck of the woods) and freeze them for quick dinners or easy lunches.  My husband loved it as is, but I thought it could use a little kick--maybe some cayenne pepper or a can of diced green chiles?  If anyone out there gives that a try, I'd love to hear the results.  Let's move on to the recipe, shall we?

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Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

(adapted from Vegetarian Times)  

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 cup onion, minced (roughly one medium onion)

2 stalks celery, sliced

1 1/2 tsp garlic salt

1 Tbsp cumin

10 ounces spinach (you can use a container of frozen spinach too, as long as you thaw and drain it first)

2 cans (15 oz) diced tomatoes, drained with the liquid reserved

1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed

1 1/2 cups shredded carrot (roughly 3 large carrots)

3/4 cup uncooked quinoa

1/2 cup shredded cheese (cheddar or pepper jack), divided

4 large red or orange bell peppers, cut in half lengthwise with the ribs removed

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Throw in the onion and celery, and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until just tender.  Add the garlic salt and cumin, and saute for another minute or so to let those flavors start to blend.  

2. Throw in the spinach (as much as you can fit in the pot at a time) and stir it until the spinach wilts.  When there's room again, throw in the rest of the spinach.  If you're using frozen spinach, no need to wait and stir.  Just move right on ahead.  Stir in the tomatoes (which you remembered to drain, right?  And you remembered to reserve the liquid, right?).  Cook and stir until almost all of the liquid has evaporated.  

3. Add the beans, carrot, quinoa, and water.  Cover, and reduce the heat to medium-low.  Simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the quinoa is tender.  Stir in 1/4 cup of the cheese.

4. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Remember that reserved tomato liquid?  Pour it into a baking dish (a 9x13 pan works great).  Place the peppers in the dish cut sides up, so they're like little pepper boats amongst the tomato liquid.  Fill each pepper with about 3/4 cup quinoa mixture.  Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for an hour.  

5. Uncover the dish, sprinkle on the remaining 1/4 cup cheese, and continue baking (uncovered) for 10-15 minutes.  When the cheese is just starting to brown, remove the peppers from the oven and let them sit for about five minutes while you gather the family around and say prayers.

6. Enjoy your vegetable goodness...because it won't even seem like you're eating vegetables.  It will just be plain old goodness.

Nutty for Oats Cookies

First of all, I must apologize for completely and entirely neglecting the blog.  The keyboard on my computer is broken, and I've just been lazy and haven't bothered to use someone else's computer to write a post.  And so, to make it up to you, my lovely readers, I present my new favorite cookie--perhaps one of the best cookies I've ever made.  The weather's cooling down, and that just makes me want to bake cookies--chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, oatmeal cookies... And this year I found this cookie recipe that is basically a combination of all three. And, even though it doesn't call for any flour, it tastes amazing.  Are you ready?

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Nutty for Oats Cookies

(from the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking cookbook, of course)

2/3 cup smooth peanut butter

4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 eggs

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats, ground for 30 seconds in a food processor, grinder, or blender (You basically want it to be like a coarse flour-ish consistency.)

1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

2 cups chocolate chips

1. Preheat Oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease 2 baking sheets or line them with parchment or waxed paper.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, cream together peanut butter, butter, sugar, vanilla, salt, and baking soda.  Beat in eggs, scraping the bowl, then add the ground oats, the rest of the oats, and the chocolate chips.  Mix until combined, then drop the dough by tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets.  By the way, did you know that when a cookie recipe calls for teaspoons or tablespoons to be dropped onto the sheet, they aren't really teaspoons and tablespoons like we normally use?  It actually refers to the spoons we use when eating at the table.  Technically a "teaspoonful" of dough equals about 3/4 of a tablespoon, and a "tablespoonful" is about 4 teaspoons.  So now you know.

3. Bake the cookies for 11-13 minutes, or until they're barely set and barely browning on the edges.  Don't forget to rotate the pans halfway through (switching top and bottom pans and rotating them around so the front is at the back) so they cook nice and evenly.  Remove the pans from the oven and let the cookies cool completely on the pan.  

4. Grab a glass or milk or some hot cocoa and enjoy your delicious cookies.  But try not to eat the rest for breakfast the next day or your toddler will spend the whole day crying because he wants more cookies.  You might cry too when you run out of these.  They're that good.