Happy Pi Day! 3-14

Happy Pi Day Everyone!!! 3-14-16

In honor of Pi Day here is a link to my Banana Cream Pie!!!  I hope you check it out and what Pie will you be eating today!! LOL!! 🙂

https://whatscookingwithchefamy.com/2012/06/17/banana-cream-pie-for-fathers-day/

National Chocolate Cake Day!!!

So yesterday was National Chocolate Cake Day, and I got the itch to make a
Chocolate Cake and I brought it in for the office today!!!  

I know they will happy, since this is the second thing I made this week, on Monday
I made a Cinnamon and Walnut Coffee Cake and they all loved that!! 🙂

So I didn’t have my usual ingredients at the house that I have used in my Chocolate cakes before, like
buttermilk or sour cream those things make my cakes moist and I like using them.

So I just followed the recipe on the back of the Hershey’s Cocoa Powder can.

The only thing I did differently was two things:
1. I used 1 cup of cocoa powder, instead of what it said, (I can’t remember LOL)
2. I used Hot Strong Coffee instead of Hot Water.

I also made it in a bundt pan 🙂 Bake for about 40-50 mins, just until a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean.

The I made Cream Cheese Frosting and that recipe is below 🙂

Adding the chocolate to the cream cheese, butter and sugar (sorry i didn’t take better pictures)

whipped up altogether 🙂

frosting!!

Done 🙂

now Enjoy!!!

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

• Difficulty: easy
• Print

2 – 8 oz. packages of cream cheese, softened
2 stick of butter, softened
1 3/4 – 2 cups powdered sugar
3 oz. unsweetened chocolate
3 oz. bittersweet chocolate
1/4 cup half and half

In a double boiler add chocolate and half and half, stir until chocolate has melted and mixture has before like a thick paste.  Remove from heat and set aside for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl mix cream cheese until fluffy, then add butter and mix until combined and fluffy.
Then add powdered sugar, I only used 1 3/4 cup but if you like it sweeter add more, mix until combined.

The mix in chocolate and continue to mix until all in combined and fluffy.

This recipe covered the bundt cake and I had about 2 cups left over.

Store cake in the refrigerator, let set at room temperature for at least 1 hour before serving.

YUMMY!!! Enjoy!!

It Was An All-Star Week!!!!

Well if you are not a sports fan and don’t live in Cincinnati, then you may not even know what I am talking about 🙂 but for a year the city has been planning for Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game.

Let me say the city was crazy, I did go downtown a couple of days but if you didn’t get down there early to find a parking space, lot or garage it was nuts.  So to say the least I just drove around and then went back across the river 😛

But the Home Run Derby was exciting since Todd Frazier of the Cincinnati Reds won it this year!!!

All and all I think Cincinnati and Northern Ky. did an outstanding job hosting this years All-Star Game.

I did take some pictures, I have some here that friends took as well, but as I say it was an “All-Star Week”

There were are couple birthdays in our family and of course I made a few things, so check out my pictures and enjoy!!!

First of the birthdays was my little niece I made cupcakes 🙂

She likes presents and bubbles 🙂

Around town they made these mustaches statues here are few of them

here is the picture of all of them that they made, pretty cool 🙂

Here are few of my souvenirs

Buskin Bakery made the cookies got to love that!!

Here are some pictures of the Red Carpet Parade,
the players start at their hotel and end at the ball park, all on red carpet 🙂
Grand Marshall – Barry Larkin

 

Mr. Red and Gapper

 

Rosie Red

 

Some other mascots

Todd Frazier and his family

 

You can see on Todd’s hand the blisters from the Home Run Derby 🙂

 

Few other Players 🙂

Some of the city skyline and downtown

yes they had a zipline too

 

My All-Star Pizza, half spinach & garlic
other half was spinach, Gorgonzola cheese,
sliced almonds, sliced strawberries and
balsamic glaze…so so GOOD!!!

 

The other birthday was my Mommy!! 🙂

I made her cookies peanut butter with no flour 🙂

Dinner – Braised Short Ribs, butter noodles and carrots 🙂

Peach Ice Cream (I just scooped some out to take the picture)
she took the Ice Cream, cookies all home 🙂

And for actual dessert I made Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting 😛

I must say I agree is was an All-Star Week 🙂

Summer Cooking Class Series!!

Yes I know I have been a little “MIA” lately!!!

But this summer has been busy and I can’t believe its JULY!!!! 
I have my hand in so many different little things that I am just so busy and it’s been hard to find the time to blog.  Plus I have not been cooking anything really good for myself, so hence no blogs.

But I did finish a couple weeks ago a cooking class series that I did in 3 of our stores 🙂

They all turned out great, a lot of grilling and a few out of the box recipes, beer sampling with one too!!

Here are a few pictures of the dishes and the crowds, it was a great time and I had a LOT of help from some of GREAT co-workers.

I hope you enjoy!!!

Grilled Fruit Pizza – naan bread, Camembert cheese, blackberries, strawberries, basil and balsamic glaze

Grilled Asian Corn with peanuts

Grilled Watermelon with arugula, feta and balsamic glaze

Crowd pic

Veggie Pizza – Garlic naan bread, red pepper hummus, grilled veggies topped with goat cheese

Grilled pound cake and pineapple

Grilled German Potato Salad

Grilled veggies with garlic couscous topped with basil

crowd pics

Zucchini & tomato salad with ricotta, Parmesan and pesto

Hawaiian Rice – cooked in coconut milk, golden raisin, macadamia nuts and green onions

Mango & pineapple salsa

Crowd Pics

Grilled romaine with mango vinaigrette, shredded jicama, pineapple, red pepper and black sesame seeds

Me – having fun with the microphone….I love being on the Microphone 😛 

One Lovely Blog Award!!

Recently I was nominated for the “One Lovely Blog Award” by Ka@My Uni Kitchen

Ka has a terffic blog, he has amazing Recipes, How to Guides and Cooking Tips, so please go over to his
blog and check out all those good things he has to offer 🙂

There are few rules to accepting the award you must tell everyone 7 things about yourself and nominate 15 blogs
for the award.

So here we go 🙂

1. I worked on a cruise ship for 6 1/2 years

2. My first career was in Theater Costuming before going into Culinary

4. I love Hockey

5. I worked for our home town Hockey Team by sewing names and numbers on their jerseys

6.  During the baseball season, I am on call for the Cincinnati Reds and the away teams
      that come into town and play the Reds, to sew their uniforms (sewing names & numbers),
      for any last minute call ups.

7.  The most I was ever paid for sewing 1 single uniform for an away team was $100.00
and that was for 1 hour of work, that included the call, me driving to the ball park
(i live very close) getting in there sewing the name and number and then 
      back in my car.  🙂  

Bonus – here’s the picture 🙂

I hope you enjoyed the few things that most of you did not know about me 🙂

 

Here are the blogs that I think are fantastic and I give the “One Lovely Blog Award” too

Suzanne@apuginthekitchen

Gretchen@Feeding My 3 Sons

Ginger@Ginger&Bread

Loretta@Safari of the Mind

Angie@The Novice Gardner

Julie@Hostess At Heart

Michelle@Giraffes Can Bake

Suzi@Beach Blanket Bacon

Jhuls@The Not So Creative Cook

Coco@Crafty Little Coco

Lili@Lili’s Cakes

Max@Dante’s Kitchen

Linda@La Petite Paniere

Ms. Frau@Frugal Hausfrau

Petra@Food Eat Love

Vidya and Chitra I added you as well
I know Ka added you to his blog
but I wanted to let you know I love
your blogs too, so you can consider mine
with his 🙂

Vidya@Traditionally Modern Food

Chitra@Chitra’s Healthy Kitchen

Thank you everyone for checking out my blog!!!

 

 

 

Roasted Garlic Bean Dip Recipe!!

Okay so I am trying to think of new ways to get my face out there in the world…yikes 😉

So I started to make videos, some will be product tests and some will be recipes.

This is just in the beginning stages, I only have a iPhone and my computer, but I am trying to make them better and better, sometimes I just laugh at myself when I watch them back :p LOL

But you have to start somewhere right, I will get better and its okay if you laugh I will not mind 😛

So here is the first one I did so check out I hope you enjoy it!!

FYI – I have already changed few things from this first video like I said it is a work in progress 🙂

Roasted Garlic Bean Dip

• Time: 10 minutes
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

1 can Cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup roasted garlic
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 – 1/2 tsp. sweet paprika
1/4- 1/2 tsp. hot paprika
2-4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

In a food processor add garlic and pulse a few times, then add beans and seasonings, pulse again and add oil and pulse until mixture is smooth.

Then serve with chips or veggies, you can also add spread on tortilla for a wrap.

 

Red Velvet Cheesecake!!! “Fiesta Friday #63”

“Red Velvet, Red Velvet, send “Cheesecake” right over” LOL

Anyone remember playing “Red Rover, Red Rover” as a kid 😉 if not just google it LOL 😛

Anyway I was trying to start my blog out in a silly kind of way, but there is no silliness when “Red Velvet” is involved 😉

Of course Red Velvet everything starts to come out around Valentine’s Day, and this is around that time I made this delicious cheesecake.

Of course I did share with several friends and I must say I had “zero” complaints 🙂 LOL

So I thought this would be perfect for this week’s “Fiesta Friday #63”, of course our host is Angie@The Novice Gardener her new blog for Fiesta Friday’s is here and her co-host this week are Julianna@Food On Board and Hilda@Along The Grapevine.

So I’d like to thank them for letting me share this recipe 🙂

So without further ado here you go!!

 

Ingredients

Crust –

place biscuits in food processor

 

 

Pulse until it becomes fine crumbs

this is the 1 1/2 cup of the tea biscuits

 

Add melted butter and crumbs together

 

 

butter & crumb mixture

 

 

spray your spring-form pan

Pour crumb mixture into pan

with your fingers firmly press crumb mixture into pan
and up the sides about 1 inch

Filling – cream cheese softened

 

blend the cream cheese until smooth

 

add eggs one at a time, blending well after each one

 

add the sugar

 

add sour cream

 

add salt & cornstarch

 

add vanilla

scrap your bowl

put about 2 1/2 cup of the filling in another bowl

add red food coloring and cocoa

 

whisk together

Pour red mixture on top of cream mixture
and give it a swirl and bake

 

once its done turn oven off, crack the oven door open
and let cake sit inside for 1 hour

 

remove from oven and let cool for 3 hours

 

Chill overnight or for at least 3 hours before
cutting and serving

 

Its came out just delicious!!!

Enjoy!!

Red Velvet Cheesecake

• Servings: 8-10
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Crust:
2 1/2 cups cookie crumbs (graham or flavored)
(I used 1 1/2 cups Cappuccino tea biscuits and 1 cup graham cracker crumbs)
6 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar

Mix all together in a bowl, in a 9 inch spring-form pan press mixture down on the bottom and up the sides about 1 inch, set aside.

Filling:

2 8oz. bricks cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sour cream, room temp
3 eggs, room temp
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. corn starch
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. red food coloring
1/4 cup cocoa powder

In a large bowl with a stand mixer or hand mixer, mix the cream cheese until smooth and creamy, add one egg at a time, making sure each is mixed in before adding the next.  Then add the sugar, sour cream, vanilla, salt and then cornstarch, scraping the bowl as needed.

Take 2 1/2 cups of the mixture and add it to a small bowl then mix in food coloring  and cocoa until fully combined.

Pour white mixture into the pan and spread around, then add red mixture and just swirl the 2 mixtures together.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes, edges will be puffed up and slightly brown, turn off oven, leave the door cracked with cheesecake inside for 1 hour.  Then cool at room temp. for about 3 hours, place in refrigerator to chill for at least 2-3 before serving.

Irish Beer Cheese Soup!!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day 2015!!!

So in honor of today I have my Beer Cheese Soup recipe for you today 🙂

I made this soup a couple of years ago when I did a St. Patrick’s Day Cooking Class, I also served Guinness Mac & Cheese, Guinness Black Lager Irish Stew and Guinness Stout Cake Pops 🙂

We all had a great time and everyone loved the food and of course the beer 😉

So before we get to the recipe for the soup, here is what a few of the people over here at the office look like today dressed in their St. Patty’s Day garb 🙂

First let’s start with the man that was named
after this day… Sir Patrick!!

Here is Connie with her Irish scarf

Janet and Jennifer have their green on 🙂

And Kathie and Heather have their head bobs on 🙂

Kathy in her green

There are the “Meat” guys in green too 🙂

Ann has a head bob too

 

Margie being silly 🙂

 

Here is the advertising girls pretty as ever

And I think Tina wins the prize
as she is all decked out!!!
Her tie lights up too and her head
bob thing does too just can’t tell

 

And this is one of ladies that Demo’s
for us in one of our stores, she Dressed
up for the day too 🙂

 

So what ever you do today enjoy it and have fun and make some soup!! 🙂

• Servings: 6-8
• Time: 1hr
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

1 cup onions, grated or finely minced
½ cup celery, grated or finely minced
½ cup flour
1 stick butter
1 bottle Harp Beer
3 cups chicken stock
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
16 oz. Sharp cheddar, shredded (Tillamook is what I used)
8 oz. extra sharp cheddar, shredded (Cabot Vintage Choice)
2 cups cream
Cooked bacon for garnish
Green onions (tops only), thinly sliced

In a stock pot over medium heat add butter, onions and celery sauté until softened.  Add flour, whisk and cook for about 3 minutes, whisking often.  Whisk in beer slowly and same with the chicken broth, bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 15 – 20 minutes.  Then add dry mustard and Worcestershire then add cream while whisking and then cheese a good handful at time until all added keep whisking until smooth and cheese has melted.  Cook for about 10 minutes more. Taste, season with salt and pepper etc., if too thick add more broth, beer or cream, too thin add more cheese.  But nothing extra was needed; garnish each bowl with bacon and green onions.

Let me say the bacon really put this soup over the top, serve with my Harp Beer Bread recipe and you are good to go…Enjoy!!! Cheers!!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!!

Here are my Guinness Stout Cake Pops…yummmy!!!

Royal Chocolate Biscuit Cake!! Fiesta Friday #58

Welcome to Fiesta Friday #58!!

I want to thank Angie@The Novice Gardener and her co-host for this week are Caroline @Caroline’s Cooking and Elaine @foodbod 🙂

I would like to share my “Royal Chocolate Biscuit Cake”

This past weekend in the states was the final episode of Downton Abbey Season 5!

My friend Paul and I decided to get together and watch it together and have a little Downton Abbey Dinner.  He bought the Downton Abbey Cookbook so we picked out a couple of recipes to make.

We made Crawley Family Chicken Breasts with Caper Cream Sauce, Lord Grantham’s American Italian: Risotto alla Milanese and Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan.

Of course we had some cocktails too I made “Huckleberry Clover Club’s”  a few pictures of the night 🙂

Oh and Downton Abbey did not disappoint it was just wonderful with happy endings, I cried of course 😛

Our table 🙂

 

Huckleberry Clover Club

 

 

Our dinner

I knew the dessert had to be special and for our love of Prince William, I decided to make Prince William’s Grooms Cake, this was his favorite cake growing up.

I saw Carolyn Robb the former chef for the British royal family make this on Good Morning America in December and I was like I have to make that sometime for some occasion.

This was the perfect occasion to make it, here is the original recipe, but this is what I did I changed it slightly.

Ingredients

Butter in the pan

golden syrup added

Melted all together

the chocolate, vanilla and cocoa

 

add the chocolate

the vanilla

now the cocoa

whisk until silky smooth

biscuits ready

pistachios and figs

Mix those together

pour in chocolate mixture

mix all together

my pan

 

pour into pan and cool

rack

 

now chilled

place upside on rack

 

melt chocolate with crisco

pour on top of cake

spread all over

cake comb

melt white chocolate with criso (blurry)

drizzle over cake

add maltesers

Enjoy!!

Royal Chocolate Biscuit Cake

• Servings: 10-12
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

3 sticks unsalted butter
3/4 cup golden syrup
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup cup semi-sweet chocolate
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup shelled pistachios
1/2 cup packed soft, plump dried figs, diced
1 pound digestive biscuits, each biscuit broken into 4 pieces
To Decorate:
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate
3 Tbsp. white chocolate
1 1/2 Tbsp. crisco & 1 tsp. crisco
small bag of ‘Maltesers’ or ‘Whoppers’

Melt the butter with the golden syrup in a small saucepan. Do not let it boil. Remove from the heat and add the cocoa powder, semi-sweet chocolate and vanilla. Stir until you have a very smooth, glossy mixture.
In a large bowl mix together the pistachios, figs and broken biscuits then pour the chocolate mixture over top and mix well.
Line a round 9 inch cake pan with plastic wrap. Pour the mixture into the tin and press it down well to fit, I did this lightly because I did not want to crush the biscuits. Leave to cool thoroughly at room temperature  for 2 hours before covering and chilling in the fridge for about 3 hours.
When set, remove from the tin, peel off the plastic wrap and place it on a cooling rack lined with wax paper upside down. Melt the semi-sweet chocolate with 1 1/2 tbsp. Crisco and white chocolate and 1 tsp. Crisco separately. Spread the semi-sweet chocolate all over the cake. I used a Triangular Cake Decorating Comb over the top of the cake, then drizzled the white chocolate all over, place the Maltesers around the top of the cake before the chocolate sets.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge, let set at room temp for about 30 minutes before cutting and serving.

Everyone that got some LOVED IT!!!  You must make this one 😉

Veggie-Chicken-Chile-Soup!!! Fiesta Friday #53

So here it is Fiesta Friday again and I am joining in again, I want to thank Angie@The Novice Gardener for hosting the Party and her two co-hosts Selma@Selma’s Table and Nancy@Feasting with Friends.

So about a month ago a co-worker (Heather) was telling us that her son is a picky eater, what child is not a picky eater right 🙂

Any way she said that he did not like red chili and thought that he may eat white chili, so a few weeks went by and I saw a slow cooker recipe for the white chili and printed it out for her to try, as far as I know think she said she was going to try it this weekend. 🙂

I hope her son Blake will like it 🙂

I decided to make my own version 😛 hence the word veggie in title.

Now I am not a chili person at all…at ALL!!  So when I thought about this I did want to make it more of a soup instead of a then a chili.

First I after I got a few things from the store, I really just went looking in my pantry and refrigerator for what I could through in it 🙂 and I wanted to use my electric pressure cooker.

Let me just take a minute to talk about the “electric pressure cooker”  I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really really do!! I love making soup in it because it’s like its been cooking all day, and Nancy@Feasting with Friends gave me a recipe for hard cooked eggs that the shells peel off perfectly and I love that!! I also have a macaroni and cheese recipe here you can check out too.  But if you have a chance to buy one I so recommend it for sure 🙂

Okay so here’s my dish

This is what I used – except the spinach in the bag, when I started pulling everything out the fridge, I thought yes I will add spinach but then I didn’t 🙂

 

Pinto beans, chick peas and leftover white beans
in the Vita-mix

Add water and pulse

to get this

 

carrots, zucchini and onion in Vita mix
add water

and this

Add that to my pot and this is my Chicken Base
I use Better than bouillon you can use just broth

added my seasonings, Cumin and Fajita Seasonings

Mix it up

 

added two chicken breasts

 

Time to cook

I put it on the “Stew” setting and increased the time
to 30 minutes then start

DONE!!!

Oh yeah!!!

Pulled out the chicken breast to shred

shred your chicken

add back to the pot

taste for seasonings, I added salt

 

and more of my seasonings

Done!!!  Add a little diced jalapeno and enjoy!!

Veggie Chicken Chile Soup

• Difficulty: easy
• Print

1 bottle of Taco Bell salsa verde
1 can diced green chiles
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed*
1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed*
1/2 cup white beans, drained and rinsed*
2 zucchini*
3 carrots*
1 onion*
2 large boneless chicken breast
3-4 tsp. cumin
3-4 tsp. Penzeys Fajita seasonings*
6-8 cups chicken broth*
salt and pepper to taste

To the electric pressure cooker or large stock pot or slow cooker, your choice.
Add salsa and chiles, if you want whole beans then add then whole, if you want it like I did, then blend up with broth or water, the same with the veggies, either diced or blended.

Pour all into your pot, add the seasonings and stir, if using chicken base add this now, if you are using broth add the rest.  I say 6-8 cups because it depends on the size of your cooking choice, the less that is used makes it thicker.
Cook in pressure cooker on “stew” setting for 30 minutes, slow cooker for 4-6 hours on high, and stock pot on stove, bring to almost a boil, the reduce to low for 2 hours or until all is cooked through.

Remove Chicken and shred, return shredded chicken back to pot, taste for seasonings, add salt or pepper, or more seasonings it is up to your tastes.

Serve up with diced jalapeno, tortillas chips or some cheese, its up to you!!  Just grab a mug or bowl full and sit back and enjoy the game this weekend 🙂

*use what ever beans you want, this is just what I had, same with the veggies its just what I had.
I like using chicken base you can use broth instead.  Seasonings from Penzeys the Fajita seasonings that I used had the following in it: salt, black pepper, Turkish oregano, cayenne, garlic, celery seed, basil, nutmeg, marjoram, thyme, Mexican oregano, cumin and rosemary.
You can certainly use any of these seasoning or something close, just check your local store.