All right, menfolk. This post is for you. Not because I think you’ll like it (I do) and not because I thought, you know, I should really reach out to the men who read this site (I didn’t) and not because I’m hoping that by doing you this favor, you’ll repay me by moving some furniture (seriously, I need to buy a new bed). No, no. I’m doing you this favor out of the kindness of my own heart. And if you happen to be around when I’m moving a new bed in, well…that’s just random. Entirely random.
But pay close attention to this post. Because you need to learn to make this dish. This dish is your “get out of man-jail free” card. It is easy to make, it looks impressive, it is delicious and it’s so chocolaty I think I might die just thinking about it. Your significant other will adore you for it—girlfriend, boyfriend, real doll, doesn’t matter. Seriously. Well I’m not serious about the Real Doll. But maybe you are. Who am I to judge? The point is, this dessert is your chance to be the Old Spice Guy.
I should make a note here—I ran out of milk yesteryday. So where it says “3/4 cup of milk,” I actually used cream. It made it extremely rich and delicious, but if you don’t want the insides of your partner’s body to turn into molten rivers of chocolate and fat, you might want to stick with the milk. I also topped mine with grated chocolate because I like extra chocolate on my chocolate. Read the rest of this entry »
Chock Full o’ Cherries Coffee Cake
maybe she meant, let them eat cherries
Or, “What to do with 14 pounds of canned cherries.”
Josh likes cherries. Josh likes canning. Josh cans cherries. Lauren carries off two cans of cherries. Lauren cooks cherry cake. Cherry coffee cake. Cherry coffee cake with canned cherries. Josh is cheery. Josh likes cherry coffee cake with canned cherries.
I was bored on Saturday and that’s usually a recipe for disaster deliciousness because when I get bored, I bake. Only I was running low on ideas. It’s amazing, really—there are seven hundred and fifty recipes in my Evernote cookbook and yet, not a single thing I wanted to make right then and there. Well, that I could make anyway, with what I had on hand.
So I went offline and in search of my 40-something cookbooks. I wasn’t inspired by much there that day either, until I went through a Tastebook I had put together several years ago. If you’ve never been to Tastebook, it’s basically a site that lets you organize and print your own cookbooks—it’s rather nice, and I especially like it for gifts. But anyway, I’d printed myself a cookbook of recipes I found online a few years ago and one of them–the very first recipe in the book, actually—was for a cranberry coffee cake. Well I could do that, I thought. But I don’t have any cranberries. But I did have a basement wine cellar full of unfermented fruit (I know—I’m doing it wrong). That is, full of cherries that Josh bought fresh and canned a few weeks ago. Josh likes cherries. Josh likes cake. Cake likes cherries. Lauren cooks cherry cake. Read the rest of this entry »
Hearts of Pom: French Toast Style
So like I mentioned in the last post, Pom Wonderful sent me another free batch of their pomegranate juice to see what I could do with it. I love when this happens. I like having to be creative with something. Especially something free. And plus, you know, I figure that pomegranate juice is so healthy for you that it totally trumps all the egg and cream that’s in this french toast recipe, plus the breakfast meats (with an ‘s’) that I served it with.
Ok, maybe not. Maybe it won’t instantly unclog your arteries but it is full of antioxidants and hey, every little bit helps.
Oh, also it’s really tasty. And let’s be honest here. That’s the most important thing. What did Lennon used to say? “All you need is love deliciousness.” I’m pretty sure that’s what he said. It sounds right.
So anyway…I came up with this on kind of a whim this past Sunday. I come up with most things on a whim. And a prayer….Who could it be? Believe it or not, it’s just meeeeeee…..
Sorry. Had a “Greatest American Hero” moment there for a second. Where was I?
Oh, right, right, french toast. With pomegranate.
Josh is a big fan of french toast. I’m really more of pancake gal myself, but Josh, he loves him the pain perdu. He makes a mean french toast casserole. The only downside is that french toast casseroles take some planning and work. And you know me–I like to do things on a whim. And a prayer. Who could it be? Sorry, I’ll stop now. Anyway, I like to do things on a whi–er, more spontaneously, and with few ingredients. I honestly was just preparing a basic french toast batter and I thought, hmm, maybe I could just throw in some of that pomegranate juice and add a little flavor without any real work. Turns out, yes I can. Read the rest of this entry »
That's why the rum's gone
Josh and I took the plunge this past Saturday. No, we didn’t get married. Well, we did but that was three years ago. No, no, this event was almost as important. We bought a new grill. It was definitely time. Our friend Brian helped us drag it home from the store, down the side of I-94…sorry about that traffic backup near Belleville, but we lost one of the wheels and I had to run after and retrieve it.
Just kidding. We put it in Brian’s truck. And drove it back. And we didn’t even take 94.
Anyway, as a thank you to Brian and a celebration of our newest member of the family (what? I take my grilling very seriously), we had Brian and a couple other friends over for burgers and things. Josh decided he wanted more mojito slushies at this particular event and I obliged. Two things made these mojitos even more awesome than the original version. The first was the substitution of pomegranate juice for the lime. My dear friends at Pom Wonderful sent me a free case of pomegranate juice. I love when this happens. Last time, I made pomegranate barbecue sauce, molasses and pomegranate-braised beef. This time, I’m making these mojito slushies and…well, a few other things that will be posted later. Read the rest of this entry »
200th Post! Homemade Snickers Bars
Oh yeah, we’ve hit the big time here. That’s right, this is my 200th post on this blog. 200 entries of deliciousness, tastiness, snarkiness and about 1,322.57 other -nesses that need not be named. I had to prepare something special for this momentous occasion. I decided to make something that covered all the bases: included chocolate and caramel, wasn’t something you’d generally think of making on your own, had a few different steps but wasn’t overly complicated. Snickers bars.
You can think our friend Jeff for this. At some point, Jeff got the bright idea that if he just posted a recipe to my facebook page, I would then make it for him. It was a risky gamble. Actually, not that risky. He was pretty much right. As I’ve proven here. Anyway, he posted a link to this recipe for snickers bars. I was intrigued. I like making my own candy–I mean, so far I’ve done mints, peanut butter cups, chocolate and turtles. But I’d never made nougat before. Or as complicated a candy as a Snickers bar. And I love Snickers bars. I love anything that includes chocolate, caramel and nuts. So I gave it a go. Read the rest of this entry »
Banaberry Streusel Muffins
Where do banaberries come from, you may ask? Well *pats seat* come here and sit down. We should talk.
You see, when a banana and a blueberry love each other very much, they go out on a date. Sometimes drinking is involved and they end up doing some things they don’t remember in the morning, which is probably for the best as it’s most likely somewhat uncomfortable and disgusting. Banana sneaks out in the morning to avoid awkward conversation. And shortly later the fruit of their love is born: the banaberry.
Or…
In coming up with a more succinct name for these muffins I baked yesterday, I shortened the original lengthy moniker of “Banana Blueberry Muffins with Walnut Streusel” by combining the terms “Banana” and “Blueberry” into “Banaberry.” But that’s hardly romantic now, is it?
Anyway, so I was home all day yesterday. It was a planned day off to wait for FedEx to drop off my new iPhone (yes, I’m one of those). What was not planned was that FedEx dropped it off a day early on Tuesday. But hey, I’d already taken the day off. Might as well be productive and bake something delicious.
Three somethings, actually. I made a couple batches of les petits pains au chocolat for Josh, some more cornbread (sans the prosciutto this time) for both of us (but mostly me, really) and a batch of these rather lovely little muffins, which I took to work. Read the rest of this entry »
Are you ready for the coming aporkalypse?
This post is Not Safe For Vegetarians.
I had a delicious dinner last night. “But, Lauren!” you say, “You have a delicious dinner most nights.” And you’re right, you crazy kid, you. But last night was especially delicious. I dunno, maybe it was the Lauren-friendly sunny, hot weather. Maybe it was the light, fresh romaine salad straight from my Needle Lane farm share box. Maybe it was the company of my husband and the relaxed atmosphere of our very old house.
Or maybe it was the pork wrapped pork with the side of pork-filled cornbread.
Oh yeah. You read that right. Pork wrapped pork. Pork filled cornbread.
This whole thing got started because a) Josh’s department was having a picnic-themed potluck and b) I found a recipe for Savory Prosciutto Muffins on EatingWell. I thought, hmmm, what kind of picnicky item can I make for Josh? Muffins. Muffins can be picnicky. Muffins are an anytime food. And these proscuitto muffins sound great. But you know what’s better than regular muffins? Cornbread muffins.
Cornbread. Ain’t nothing wrong with that. Read the rest of this entry »
“They’ve jammed the radar!”
That headline’s a reference to Spaceballs, by the way, if you didn’t recognize it. And if you didn’t recognize it, shame on you. Your penance shall be sitting down immediately and watching this national treasure of a film—while you’re waiting for this jam to cook down, that is.
So I’ll be up front here. I am not a domestic goddess of any sort. I’m barely a domestic imp. I don’t sew–I can, but I don’t and I don’t have any desire to. I clean but not nearly as much as I should. I don’t really decorate. My gardening skills and interests are minimal. I don’t can. (That sentence looks so wrong, by the way.) I don’t bake my own bread. And I know those things seem kind of odd, seeing as how I do cook a great deal and I’ll even make my own candy, chocolate, oreos and now I’m working on Snickers bars. But I dunno. Canning doesn’t really appeal to me and seems like quite a bit of work for an end result that’s not chocolate. But I do like jam, and I like it minimally processed (as I prefer all foods to be, except Taco Bell, which gets an exception because it’s not really food anyway). I don’t like jelly though. I guess you could say that I’m not ready for this jelly. (No? No good? Well they can’t all be winners). But I do love jam, especially stirred into some plain Greek yogurt with some chocolate chips and walnuts—that’s a winning breakfast right there, my friends. Raspberry jam is awesome. But strawberry jam is awesomer still. Because I love strawberries so, so much. It’s my second favorite flavor next to chocolate, and right before “barbecue.” And it’s June! Fresh strawberries abound cheaply. Take advantage of it. Read the rest of this entry »
Farm Share Goodies: Stinging Nettles
Oh yeah, you read that right.
Our farm share started up again–finallly! One of the best days of my year is the day that I can start picking up our produce box from Needle Lane Farms. This year has the added bonus of us being able to pick up our box at the Depot Town Farmer’s Market in Ypsi on Saturdays, which I love, being that I love a 1 minute drive or 10 minute walk from Depot Town. Love. It. Also, I appreciate local organizations giving local love to Ypsi.
So yeah, last Saturday was a banner day. Not only had we just come back from our trip to Alaska, but I was all geared up to make my own food and the arrival of the farm share was the culinary equivalent of choirs of angels heralding the dawn. Well, close anyway. I was prepared for the usual late spring suspects: the garlic scapes, the radishes, the lettuces, the rainbow colored Swiss chard. But once again, Needle Lane blew me away and introduced me to something I had never even considered being a possibility:
stinging nettles. Read the rest of this entry »
Strawberries are just little red mountains
I have been to the mountaintop.
No, really. I just got back this weekend from a cruise to Alaska and I really did stand on top of a mountain. Not a very tall mountain, mind you, and it’s not like I was climbing up it, huffing and puffing with my faithful sherpa, Hodgkiss, a few patient yards ahead of me, doing all the real work. No, I was very comfortably ferried up there by bus, 3300 feet up into one of the most beautiful landscapes anywhere.
So yes, Alaska was fantastic. I was looking forward to it (I wanted to see whales—and did!) and it did not disappoint. I mean, who knew that me, Little Miss Sunshine who is always either in front of a computer or iPhone screen, could enjoy being completely wifi-free in the frozen northwest? Although I will be honest…it wasn’t exactly “frozen.” Well, parts of it were. We did see the Sawyer Glacier and that was pretty frozen, as you can imagine.
But the rest of the time, we were blessed with 70 degree, sunny weather. And the highlight? Part of me (the cheeky part) wants to say that it was seeing a street performer dressed as Darth Vader playing the violin.
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